AN: Hi minna, I'm back!!! It didn't seem that long, right? ^_^ Well, here's a new chapter of Promises. I think that it's going to finish pretty soon, at least I hope so ^_^. I sort of need a break from writing so many FY/SM stories. And I want to write another chapter of Forbidden too. So much to do, and so little time ^.^; Why can't March break be a little longer? I only have a week to relax, life is not fair . Oh, I have IM now ^_^ Feel free to chat with me, both my ICQ and AIM names are on my author's page ^_^
Thanks to: AznAngel, Kaijin (I've already updated Haunted), Celes (sorry but I don't really like Miaka that much, as for Usagi, you'll see ^_^), Michi Hatabaki (@_@ you have a Nakago doll? Share?), Zackire (let's see, if you hack me to death, who's going to finish this story? But I don't mind if you hack Yui ^_~), StaRsHiNe, Nakuru (*glomps Nakuru* Arigato!!! I'm so happy that you like this story to review so many times. So here's the next chapter, and I made it long too^_^), Ikin (thanks for the treat ^_^), Kuroi Atropos (good, another person who doesn't like Miaka), Shawna ( yippy! I get a new den ^_^ Now I have a double layer of gundanium between me and violent readers ^_^), Bluejello, themoonmaiden (I was visiting my great aunt, and I meet comet~princess at TO, so it was very cool, thanks for asking), Catteni (I didn't torture that many people, *smirks* did I?), Sailor Cardcaptor Ryoko (it'll be cool to meet you too^_^), Daystar Flame, Chaska (hum…I don't know, I might make her sleep forever…), Pan, Usa-chan (hehe, the almighty Nakago, poking people with a stick…), Love Nuriko,
Chapter 13
"Is everything ready?"
"Yes master. All the obstacles have been taken care of. In a matter of a few days, this universe will be under your rule," the female figure answered quietly in reverence, before she was dismissed by the body cloaked by the shadows.
"Soon…everything will fall into my hands…even you, Cosmos," Insane laughter echoed in the dark cave.
~*~*~*~
"Miaka!"
The Suzaku no miko quickly wiped her eyes when her seishi approached her. She wasn't surprised to see that Tamahome wasn't with the rest of the group. After what had happened between them, she didn't think that she would be able to face him again without begging him to take her back.
"Baka! We were so worried about you!" Tasuki cried out angrily. "don't you know that it's dangerous to be by yourself? Chaos might…" The words died off when Miaka turned to face him.
"Miaka," Nuriko whispered in shock, taking in the red and swollen eyes, and the tear stains on the miko's cheeks. "What happened?"
The red haired girl turned away, hiding the trembling of her expression, as she forced to say in a cheerful voice. "It's nothing. Yui and I finally got to talk over what happened, and overcome our misunderstandings. I'm just crying because I'm so happy that she has forgiven me, that's all."
Everyone looked at their miko in suspicion, after all, know their former enemy, it couldn't be so easy for the Seiryuu no miko to forget her revenge, could it? But they chose not to question Miaka further, since judging by her shaking shoulders, she might break down into tears at any given moment.
"Hey! Where's Tamahome?" Chiriko asked lightly, trying to ease the tension. After all, if there was anyone who could get their miko out of her misery, it had to be her boyfriend.
"I think that I saw him talking to the old man in the garden earlier. I'll go get him now if you want Miaka," the red haired bandit offered generously, though secretly, all he wanted to do was to get away before the water works could start. God knows that a crying female was the most annoying thing that was next to a horse with an attitude.
"No."
Everyone froze at the single word form their miko. Slowly all the Suzaku seishi present turned to face Miaka. Had they heard correctly? Miaka, refusing to see Tamahome? But why? Normally, she wouldn't let the blue haired seishi out of her sight for even one second. What could've caused her to act this way? Even though her voice sounded forced, a determinate look was on her face.
"Ah Miaka? Are you feeling okay? Did something happen between you and Tamahome again?" Nuriko asked carefully, inching his way up to the girl, and resting the back of his hand against her forehead. "It doesn't feel like a fever. Maybe it's that time of the month?"
"I need to talk to you guys for a minute," Miaka announced, completely ignoring Nuriko, causing everyone to stare at her in surprise again. Normally when anyone teased her like that, they would find themselves the victim of Miaka's bad breath and outraged shrieks, but right now, she acted as if she didn't hear what Nuriko said. It wasn't usual for their clumsy, food loving miko to be so spaced out on a subject other than Tamahome and food.
Wordlessly, everyone followed Miaka into an empty room, all curious to know what had caused the change in their miko.
"What do you want to talk about Miaka?" Mitsukake asked.
"As the Suzaku no miko. You guys are bounded by destiny to serve and protect me right?"
The room went silent as all the seishi stared at the girl. It was true that the reason of their existence was because of their miko. But Miaka never seemed to care about that. She treated all of her seishi as equals, even Hotohori. Why would she suddenly remind them of their duty?
"That's right, no da."
"Will you obey all of my orders?"
"Yes. It is a seishi's duty to follow their miko no matter what," Chiriko answered, still confused. "But Miaka, you know all of this."
"I just want to hear you guys say it, I want to be assured, that's all," the red haired girl said quietly. "Minna, I want to summon Suzaku."
"But, but you can't!" the fiery haired bandit coked out beneath his stunned expression.
"Why not?" the Suzaku no miko demanded, eyes flashing dangerously before she turned away, hiding the rest of her anger from her seishi. They just said that they would follow her no matter what, but already, they are disobeying her. It was all her fault.
"We can't summon the beast god without all the seishi! Hotohori-sama is still at Konan, it's impossible for him to come here and leave Konan leaderless. Besides, we don't even have the shinzahos!" Nuriko argued.
"We don't need the shinzahos to summon Suzaku."
"But…don't you remember what Taitsukun said? We need the power of the shinzahos to awaken the gods," Nuriko argued, before he realized what he just said, and a hand immediately cover his mouth.
"Exactly. We don't need the shinzahos. We only need their power; the power that we can get from Usagi Tsukino."
"Miaka, do you know what you are saying?! You can't kill another human being just to summon Suzaku! Why can't you get it into your head?" the fiery tempered bandit growled out, slamming his fists onto the table in front of him.
"But tell me. Is it better to kill one person, or to have thousands of others die?" the miko asked relentlessly.
"What do you mean?"
"I promised Hotohori that I will summon Suzaku and protect Konan from Kutou's invasion. If I can't summon the beast god, think about how many innocent people will die when Kutou attacks."
"Stop making up excuses Miaka. This is a totally different story! You don't even know if Kutou is going to attack or not. You can' just decided someone else's life for them!"
"Why are you guys being so selfish? Can't you see that I'm doing this for all of you?!" the red haired girl cried out. "Ever since Usagi Tsukino came to this world, everything went wrong. If it wasn't for her, Chaos would never be here in the first place, the shinzahos wouldn't have been stolen, and Tamahome would still be with me!"
"Is that why you are going to summon Suzaku?" Chichiri asked coldly after the shock of hearing his miko's words. "To get rid of Usagi, and to wish Tamahome back to your side?"
"It doesn't matter! Are you going to help me or not?" the miko demanded equally cold, even though she refused to look at any of them.
"I'm sorry Miaka," the monk answered without flinching under Miaka's betrayed look. "I will not help you in hurting yourself. Even if you have Tamahome back with you, by Suzaku's power, will you be truly happy with the knowledge that he is only being controlled not loving you, and that you will have to live on knowing that the cost of your happiness was bought at the price of another's life?"
"I agree with Chichiri, I don't want to see you hurt Miaka," Tasuki got up and walked to the monk. One by one, all the Suzaku seishi present quietly joined the masked man.
"I have nothing else to say then…except I'm sorry," Miaka whispered quietly to herself, before unplugging the small bottle hidden in her hand.
In the small closed room, it didn't take long for the poison to diffuse through the air. Tears fell as one by one, her own seishi dropped to the ground, their accusing glares boring into her heard, before they fell unconscious.
"I'm sorry ... "
~*~*~*~
"Tokaki-sama! Subaru-sama!"
The two Byakko seishi turned in surprise when the door of Usagi's chamber was suddenly slammed open by an out of breath Xi Fang.
"Is something wrong?" the lady of the house asked frowning. It wasn't like the young woman to be so loud, and especially not at a time like this, when Usagi was still unconscious, and Nakago refusing to budge from her side.
"There's a message for you Tokaki-sama," Xi Fang panted out, holding an arrow, with a bit of white cloth tied to the end.
Taking the arrow from the dark haired girl, the old Byakko seishi examined t carefully. It seemed like an ordinary weapon, no poison. "We have Tatara." The three simple words were written in blood, staining the shite silk.
"Who delivered the message?!" the old warrior cried out, grabbing and shaking poor Xi Fang by the shoulders.
"I don't know. I was picking the vegetables for tonight's dinner in the garden, when this arrow landed into the cabbage field," the girl stammered out.
"Who can it be? Why do they want Tatara for? He doesn't guard the shinzaho anymore…I didn't even feel any disturbances in his ki…"
"Go."
Both Byakko seishi turned to stare at the Seiryuu seishi, who still had his back turned.
"Usa-chan wouldn't want her grandfather to be hurt."
"But…what about…"
"Don't worry. Even if Yui wants to kill Usa, I double she'll do it when I'm here. And there are the Suzaku seishi. We will be fine, " The blond man assured the two old seishi. How ironic was it? To think, he was turning on his own miko and seishi, with the Suzaku seishi backing him up. Destiny worked in deceitful ways.
"We'll be back soon," Subaru promised, before the old couple quickly left for the Byakko shine.
"I'll make some soup for Usagi-san," Xi Fang said quietly, before she too left the dark chamber, closing the door softly behind her.
~*~*~*~
A soft knock on the door made Nakago snap into a defensive position beside Usagi's bed. He knew all too well who the intruder was, even through the closed door. The wooden door squeaked softly as it was pushed open by the Seiryuu no miko.
"Yui," Nakago acknowledged coldly, not even bothering to turn around. "What the hell are you doing here?"
The sand haired girl flinched slightly at the chilling tone. She noticed that the seishi didn't even use -sama in addressing her. The old Nakago would never be so rue to her! This only further deepened her hatred for Usagi. If it wasn't for that slut, he would still be the most important person in the shogun's life now. In a meek and humble voice, she pleaded with him. "Can I talk to you Nakago? Please?"
"There is nothing to talk about," the blond man replied. "Especially between enemies."
"Enemies? But… but …" the miko stammered.
"I can not forgive you for what you've done to Usagi. Anyone who hurts her is my enemy."
"It wasn't my fault! Nakago, you have to believe me! Soi was the one who suggested to let Miboshi cast the curse on Usagi! I had nothing to do with it."
"Yet, it was you who gave the final order to do it, wasn't it?" the shogun demanded relentlessly, standing up. "I know that Miboshi would never listen to Soi, unless you have an order."
Yui shivered as she found herself pinned down by furious blue eyes. Faint blue aura surrounded the seishi, and for the first time in her life, she was afraid of him. He had always been so gentle and kind to her, how could someone like Usagi turn him against his own miko so easily?
"Please Nakago, let me explain!"
"What's there to explain?"
"I'm here to help Usagi. Please, just hear me out one more time. Soi is after Usagi!"
The last sentence stopped Nakago from advancing upon the frightened girl. "Say that again."
"It's true, I over heard Soi telling Suboshi that she was the one who sent the Byakko seishi away. She's going to distract you somehow, then Suboshi and Miboshi will steal Usagi-san's body to summon Seiryuu. I don't want to kill Usagi-san, that's why I'm here. I want to warn you before the others find out."
The blond man was silent as he watched the miko in suspicion. The story seemed credible, he wouldn't put it past Soi to do something like this. But the fact that Yui was actually warning him, made him more than a little wary. "Why? Why are you telling me this?"
"Because…" Yui hesitated, turning away from Nakago's piercing eyes. She continued in a whisper, her voice shaking. "You saved me. You were the person who took care of me and protected me when all I wanted was to end my life. I want to return this favour. I want you to be happy …. Because …."
The shogun waited patiently of the Seiryuu no miko to continue.
"Because … aishiteru!" the short haired girl cried out, and spun around to face the blond man. Taking advantage of his shocked form, Yui quickly put her arms around Nakago and press up to brush her lips against his in a quick kiss.
The touch of another's lips against his own made the seishi quickly realize that he was kissing someone beside his beloved. "What the hell are you doing?" Nakago hissed in anger pushing Yui away.
"Why Nakago," the miko drawled out leisurely, all of her previous genuine expression completely gone from her face. The tears seemed to have dried up in a blink of an eye, and Yui smirked as she looked up to her former seishi. "Can't I even get one last goodbye kiss from you?"
"Last?" he echoed, before recognizing the faint bitter taste on his lips. Kodoku.
"I can't believe you fell for your own trick Nakago," Yui sneered as the poison started to take effect, and the blond man dropped to the floor.
"You bitch …" the seishi gasped out, even as his vision began to blur.
"I think that you got it wrong. I believe that your precious Usa-chan is to blame of all of this. If you abandoned her and chose me, this wouldn't have happened," the smug miko said, bending down to meet his eyes. "But it's too late now isn't it?" Yui asked sweetly, before delivering a kick into Nakago's stomach. "This is for Endymion-sama," she added softly, giggling when she saw Nakago's face twisting with pain.
With a quick snap of her fingers, the door of Usagi's chamber was pushed open Just before he completely succumbed to the darkness, Nakago could make out the dark figures of the rest of the Seiryuu seishi, as they stepped over him one by one, and approached the bed, where the silver haired goddess lay peacefully.
AN: ^_^ Finished. The next chapter update for this will in May, when school is finished, or if I have time, during Easter. For now, Ja!