Okay, I know it has taken me awhile to get this up but I've finally gotten it done. Anyways, here's another chapter so hope everyone enjoys it! Oh and before I forget, thank to the guy who wrote scripts for the x-men comics, cos I quoted him in here.

            Miaka and Chichiri looked behind them to find Nakago and a handful of palace guards hot on their trail.

            "Keep going! We've gotta get out of here no da!"

            They ran toward the shutting palace gate with all speed. If they didn't reach it in time they would be locked in. They were so close! Chichiri shoved Miaka through the gate ahead of him. It was more important that she get out. He could always catch up to her later.

            Miaka stumbled out the last few feet of the gate. She turned to look back just in time to see a swarm full of arrows cut through Chichiri's shield a drag him to the ground as the gate shut in her face.

            "No….NO! DAMN YOU!"

            She beat her fists against the gate as hot tears welled up in her eyes. Not him too. This couldn't be happening! But it was. One by one she was losing the people that she had come to love in such a short time. The people she had come to count as family.

"Miaka, run! You've got to help the others! Hurry!"

Chichiri.

"Get a move on Miaka! There isn't much time!"

Nuriko.

It was as if an intangible force took hold of her then, guiding her to her remaining warriors. They were close. She could feel it. Tamahome. Please be alright! Nothing mattered as she ran through the woods, branches hitting her in the face, leaving scratches here and there.

Miaka soon found herself in a large open glade where the remaining Suzaku and Seiryu warriors, as well as a dozen or more Kutou palace guards were fighting. Chiriko, Mitsukake, Tasuki, Tomo, and several of the palace guards were already dead. She hadn't gotten here in time.

"ENOUGH!"

A booming voice rang out over the open glade from somewhere behind Miaka. At the sound of the voice the fighting immediately stopped. Tamahome looked up to see Miaka standing there.

            "Miaka!"

            "Tamahome!"

She ran to Tamahome and threw herself into his arms. He was alive. That was all that mattered at that second when she felt his arms encircle her.

            "It is good to see you are well, but we must save the reunion for later," Hotohori said.

            "He's right. We have other things to deal with first."

            "So, you managed to make it back here."

            "Nakago…how?

Miaka stared in shock at the blonde general who now stood in the open glade only a few feet from where she had been standing. How he had gotten there so quickly was beyond her.

            "I'm shocked that you would leave me so soon priestess. Especially after how close we've become. I'm surprised your darling Tamahome still wants you."

            "Shut up." Miaka said through clenched teeth.

            The last thing she wanted was for Tamahome to know that she had slept with Nakago. He would probably never forgive her for it, and there was no way she could bear to see that look of both hurt and disgust in his eyes.

            "Miaka, what is he talking about?"

            "Oh, he doesn't know! That's rich. You didn't tell him how you found comfort in another my arms and in my bed."

            "It's not true…Miaka…tell me it isn't true," Tamahome said, the hurt evident in his voice.

            But Miaka couldn't meet his eyes. She was too ashamed to admit what she had done. What she had let Nakago do to her. Her body shook with feelings too deep to be called rage or pain. All she felt was an unnatural cold fill her body.

            "I'm sorry Tamahome…I'm sorry….I'm so so sorry…I never meant to… it just happened….and I know that's a poor excuse but it's the truth…I'll understand if you hate me now, and if you don't want me…I'm sorry…."

            "Miaka…"

            Miaka met Tamahome's eyes then and saw something she didn't understand. Love. Burning, unconditional love. Despite what she had done, he still loved her. Not only that, but he also forgave her.

            "Miaka…it doesn't matter. I told you that I loved you and I meant it. I don't care about what happened in the past. It's over with. I love you, and I always will, regardless of what's been said and done. I was born solely to love you and to protect you. It's destiny."

            Miaka didn't know what to say to that, so she didn't say anything. Actions speak louder than words, so she chose an action they would both understand. She leaned up and kissed Tamahome deeply, not knowing that this would be the last kiss they would ever share.

            "How sweet, I'm getting a tooth ache."

            Nakago looked across the glade for his remaining warriors only to find that sometime in that split second when he had stopped the fight, the last of the Seiryu warriors, including Soi, the woman whom he had truly loved, was dead.

            "Soi…you will all die for what you have done here. You and your precious Priestess!"

            Nakago unleashed a life force blast unlike any ever seen before. He now rode what all warriors called the killing edge and there was no stopping him.

            "Miaka!"

            Tamahome and Hotohori shielded Miaka with their bodies, and all that could be heard amidst all that destruction were their screams of pain as they were killed.

            When the dust finally settled, Miaka saw her last two warriors including the man she loved, dead. Her heart felt as if it had been ripped from her chest and stomped on. Nakago had taken everyone in this world that had mattered to her.

            "You bastard….I'll kill you. I'LL KILL YOU!!!"

            Out of nowhere a long handled blade appeared in Miaka's hand. It was too small to be called a sword and too long to be considered anything else. The handle was a burning red that looked like a cross between feathers and flames.

            The red light that surrounded her body as she charged Nakago was almost blinding and there was nothing that could stop her. Not even Nakago's barrier shield was enough to stop her from attacking.

            Nakago stood, paralyzed with shock as the blade pierced first his shield and then his skin. Miaka drove the blade deep into Nakago's body, twisting the blade as it went in, destroying vital organs. In only minutes he was dead. Miaka looked around the now empty clearing and walked back over to Tamahome's body. Then she did the only thing she could do, the only thing that would keep her from going insane. She screamed.

            "Do not despair Priestess of Suzaku."

            "Who…?"

            Miaka looked up and found herself staring out the most magnificent being she had ever seen. His body was surrounded by a brilliant red light and he had large, flame red wings. Real wings!

            "Who are you?"

            "I am Suzaku Seikun. I have come to help you."

            "It's a little late for that." Miaka replied.

            Suzaku looked about the glade, at his fallen warriors and the blood stained field, at the misguided lives that had been lost. So much killing. So much pain.

            "It wasn't supposed to be like this," he said sadly," This was supposed to be your second chance."

            "My second chance….at what? Don't you get it? They're dead! They're all dead! And it's all your fault!" Miaka screamed as the tears ran in lines so hot they seemed to burn.

            "Are they?"

            "What?"

            "Look around you Priestess, are you so sure your Warriors are dead."

            Miaka suddenly found herself very much alone, in that place between sleep and awake, reality and fantasy.

            "Listen to me Priestess of Suzaku, and listen well. This is now. A moment of great potential and great pain.  This reality, this now is all based on a foundation of the past. Somewhere in that past, it has been sabotaged, and two decades of history have been erased, leaving this present, this now, to crystallize, and shatter. Because none of this ever happened."

            "What does that mean? None of this ever happened?"

            "You will understand."

            "Hello! Earth to Miaka! Come in please?"

            "Huh?"

            Miaka suddenly found herself staring at the back of Yui's hand, she had completely spaced out without ever having realized it.

            "Sorry," she replied ,doing her best to keep the overwhelming joy of seeing her friend alive and well hidden.

            "Hey, did you need a ride home, or did you still want to walk?"

            "Walk?"

            Miaka looked down the street in the direction of the alley where her life would fall apart. It was better this way. Suzaku was giving her a chance at a normal life. The life she would have had if she had taken a ride that first time rather than walked.

            "I'd like a ride please."

            "Okay."

            That night Miaka fell into a restless sleep. She was haunted by thoughts of Tamahome. Was he alright? Were the others okay? Were they alive?

            A week later Miaka and Yui had gone to the library and headed upstairs to that room. Miaka searched the shelves looking for that book. The Universe of the Four Gods.

            "Here it is."

            In her mind she kept thinking, "I'm coming Tamahome."

            The red light came again and swept them both off to the world of the book. It was different than before. Instead of being in the city they were out in the middle of nowhere.

            "Um…Miaka…we've got a problem."

            "Huh?"

            Miaka looked toward where her friend was looking and saw what she had. A group of slave traders were headed right toward them.

            "Come on Yui! We have to get out of here!"

            The girls attempted to run but were not able to get far enough out of the thugs grasp.

            "What do you think you're doing?"

            Miaka and Yui were dumbfounded as a young man baring the symbol of the ogre on his fore head came to their rescue. Miaka's heart leapt with pure joy at the sight of Tamahome.

            "Thank you for saving us," Yui said,

            But Tamahome's eyes were all for Miaka. It was her. The woman he had dreamed of for the longest time. Somehow, he knew it was her.

            "Miaka?"

            "Tamahome?"

            In the blink of an eye they were in each other's arms, wrapped in a passionate embrace.

            "Miaka. I love you. I love you. I knew you would come back."

            "I came back and I'm never leaving you again. Tamahome!"

            Somewhere far above, two entities looked down at the scene and smiled.

            "That is the way it should be for them," Tai Itsukun  said.

            "What of the other girl?" asked Suzaku Seikun.

            "She may return to the other world."

            Tamahome and Miaka were completely oblivious to the flash of light as Yui was taken back to the other world.

            "What about them?"

            "Let them be. After all you still must be summoned. Besides, how many second chances do you get?"

The end!!!! So whad'ja think? Good? Bad? Okay? Please review!!!! I need the info. Oh and watch for my new fic. I haven't posted it yet but it'll be up soon.