Disclaimer: Fushigi Yuugi belongs to Yu Watase and not me. Happy reading!

Chapter 12

Both girls screamed as the door slammed shut behind them.

"Mei?" Miaka asked in a shaky voice.

"Stay there, Miaka. I'll try to find us some light." Mei carefully moved in the dark cavern and groped along the wall for a torch. She found one not too far from them and quickly stooped down to pick up some stones. The sounds of the stones striking each other filled the silence for a few seconds before a spark ignited the torch.

The two girls ventured further into the cavern, lighting other torches along the way. Halfway through the tunnel, Mei tensed up as she felt Genbu's power, then saw ice arrows fly at them a second later.

"Miaka watch out!" The demi-goddess dropped the torch she was holding and pushed the priestess down on the ground with her.

"What was that?" asked Miaka fearfully.

"Ice arrows," Mei answered absently, staring where the arrows came from. To herself she thought, 'That can't be possible. Those arrows came from a Genbu seishi. But I remember Taiitsukun saying that all the Genbu seishis died 200 years ago.

Mei and Miaka both gasped as a deep booming voice echoed around them. "You who seek the shinzaho will only find misfortune."

"Trespassers are not welcome in this sacred place," another voice cried out.

Mei's eyes windened as two male figures appeared a few yards in front of them. There was no mistake, the power they were emanating was definitely Genbu's.

Miaka stood up. "Who are you?"

"We are the guardians of the Genbu priestess. I am Tomite," answered the man with black hair.

"And I am Hikitsu," said the man with long gray hair. "We will show no mercy to those who trespass."

"You're Genbu seishis?" Miaka smiled happily. "Great! Then you'll understand. We desperately need to recover the shinzaho." Without thinking, the priestess ran towards the seishis and failed to notice that Hikitsu had closed his eyes and brought up a hand for an attack.

Mei saw the ice snakes before Miaka did and frantically cast a spell to protect her friend.

"What the …" Hikitsu said in surprise as his attack hit nothing but air. Both him and Tomite looked on in shock as a pig squealed where the brunette had once stood.

"Oh no!" exclaimed the green-haired girl as she ran towards the pig. "Not again. What am I gonna do?! I just turned the priestess of Suzaku into a pig.

"The priestess of Suzaku?" repeated Tomite. "Are you of the Suzaku Seven?"

Mei was not listening. Her concern was focused on returning Miaka into her original form. She concentrated, but managed to only turn the priestess into other animals- from an ostrich, to a mule, then a rabbit.

The young woman sank to her knees in despair. She picked up the rabbit and pitifully said , "You really did it this time, Meiling. Oh gods, Taiitsukun's gonna kill me for sure."

"You know Taiitsukun?" asked Tomite in disbelief.

"Unfortunately," Mei dejectedly told them. "The old hag is my sister." She briefly recounted how she came to be with the priestess of Suzaku and her seishis.

"But now," Mei finished. "Because of my incompetence, I just ruined any chances of saving the empire of Konan."

Mei hugged the rabbit to her chest and cried. "I'm so sorry Miaka. I just wanted to help."

A lone tear fell on the rabbit's fur and a bright light engulf the animal's body. Mei let go of the rabbit and all three watched in amazement as the priestess slowly returned to her original form.

Tomite glanced at Hikitsu. He saw that his fellow seishi also sensed the truth in what the girl said. They gave each other a nod and decided to trust her.

Mika blinked her eyes, then cried out in surprised as Mei embraced her in a tight hug.

"You're back! Oh thank the gods!" the demi-goddess cheered.

"Back? But where did I go?" A confused Miaka looked at Mei and the two men. "What happened?"

Mei froze and quickly racked her brain for a reasonable excuse. However, she was surprised when Hikitsu spoke up for her.

"I placed you under a trance," the seishi lied. "Do not worry. I merely wanted to know how pure your intentions are for the shinzaho."

The demi-goddess could not believe that they were covering up for her. She looked at both the seishis in the eyes and saw that they understood and believed her. Gratitude sparkled in her eyes and she returned the smile they gave her.

"Please accept our apologies," added Tomite. "Follow us and we'll lead you directly to the shinzaho."

******

"Where could those two have gone to?" Tamahome said, getting frustrated. He and the four other Suzaku seishis had began to worry and search for Mei and Miaka when they did not return. "I had a feeling that Miaka needed our help or something."

"Don't worry, Tamahome," Chichiri reassured his friend. "I'm sure Mei won't let anything happen to Miaka, no da."

"And how the freak is she suppose to do that?!" shouted Tasuki. "She's no warrior like us. Who the heck is gonna protect her when they ran into trouble. She'll probably do something stupid again. Dang women, why do they always think they're so freakin' invincible. They just run off without a freakin' care in the world and do as they dang well please. Arrgh, when I get my hands on her …"

Chichiri listened to the redhead rant and rave about Mei. With a sad smile, he realized that the bandit really cared about Mei. But as long as he had known Mei, he knew that the soft-hearted demi-goddess had never responded well to harsh words. Chichiri remembered how hurt Mei had been the last time Tasuki yelled at her and hoped to spare the girl a second helping of Tasuki's temper. When there was a pause in the redhead's tirade, the monk quickly spoke up.

"Calm down, Tasuki. I don't think that's the right way to show Mei how worried you were, no da."

"Oh yeah?" retorted Tasuki. "And just how would you do it?"

"Err … give her a hug, no da?" Chichiri answered hesitantly and hoped he would get the hint.

"Hmph, I just bet you would," came the mumbled reply.

"What did you say, no da?"
"Nothing." Tasuki clamped his mouth shut and directed his anger towards himself. 'What the freak is wrong with you?' he asked himself. 'You're jealous of your friend over a girl you barely know.'

'Na-ah,' replied his subconscious. 'You know she's brave, kind, and selfless. She's basically beautiful inside and out. No wonder you've fallen for her.'

"Ah, shut up," Tasuki said out loud.

"I didn't say anything, no da," siad a startled Chichiri.

"Not you," the redhead replied irritably. "I was talking to … never mind."

"Hey you guys!" cried out Chiriko. "Look over there." The youngest seishi pointed at a gigantic door that was slowly opening at the moment.

"What is it?" Mitsukake asked. "Do you think that's where the …"

"Miaka!" Tamahome suddenly called out as he saw the two girls emerge from within.

The other also saw them and ran after Tamahome. Mei and Miaka beamed at them as they approached.

"Tamahome, look," Miaka announced ecstatically. "We found the..umph." The rest of her sentence was cut off as the seishi drew her into his chest.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to make me worry like that?" he said softly into her hair.

"I'm sorry. We saw the cavern so we went to get the shinzaho. The spirit guardians of the Genbu priestess showed us where it was."

"Spirits?" asked Chichiri. "You mean ghosts, no da?"

"Uh-huh. Mei nodded. "They were very helpful. They tried to stop and attack us at first, but Hikitsu and Tomite said that's the reason they stayed behind - to protect the shinzaho. They also told us that we needed …"

"What?!" Tasuki suddenly shouted. The redhead, who had successfully controlled his tongue up to his point, exploded at the mention of someone hurting Mei. "Where are those scums? I'll teach them to attack defenseless girls!"

"It's alright, Tasuki." Mei lay a hand on the redhead's arm and held him back before he could charge inside the cavern. "We're fine. We didn't get hurt. They understood after we explained things to them. Besides, the Genbu seishis are gone. They've fulfilled their duty."

"What the freak were you thinking?!" Now that there was no one to pound on to release all his pent up emotions, Mei received Tasuki's anger. "Why do you always throw yourself in dangerous situations? Jeez woman, do you have a death wish or something?"

Mei's insides soared as the seishi went through what she had began to recognize as his I'm-mad-because-I'm-worried-about-you routine. Without thinking she enclosed his right hand in her hands and gave it a squeeze.

"Thank you for worrying, Tasuki. But really, I'm fine." She looked him square in the eyes and smiled brightly.

Everybody witnessed the effect of Mei's smile on the redhead. Their jaws almost dropped to the ground when Tasuki's face took on a dazed expression before softening - all traces of anger gone.

"Yeah … well, just try not to run off again without us knowing where you're going." Tasuki noticed everyone staring at the two of them and tried to bring the situation to a more familiar footing.

"You gonna give me back my hand there or what?" he asked Mei sarcastically.

The girl quickly let go of his hand and turned away to hide her blush. In doing so, she missed the small smile that crept into Tasuki's lips.

Suddenly, without warning a wolf jumped in their midst and snatched the shinzaho from Miaka's hands. It looked back at them with what looked like a sneer.

"That's Ashitare!" Mei exclaimed as she sensed the animal's familiar chi. It was not as strong as it was when he was in his human form, but it was the Seiryuu seishi nonetheless.

Miaka looked at Mei in confusion. "But I thought he's dead. You said Nuriko … Hey come back here!" she suddenly yelled at the retreating wolf. She took off after the animal and did not look back.

"Miaka, wait!" Tamahome followed the priestess, with Mei hot on his heels.

"What the freak?!" Tasuki exclaimed in disbelief. "I thought we just talked about you not running off again!" With a frustrated growl he told the others to remain where they were and then went after Tamahome and the two girls.

Author's notes: Sorry to cut it short, but this chapter is way too long already. Anyway, hope you liked it. And thanks for the reviews Flying heart, Princess Death (and for adding me to your fav list), and to Angel of AnimeXOXO. Angel all I can say is wow. Thanks for taking the time to review every single chapter. I enjoyed reading each one of them. 'Till next time.