AN: Sorry bout not updatin' in a long time. Christmas break is coming up soon so I'll hopefully have time to update.
Disclaimer: I don't own anyone cept Kegani and Zakago. (I think that's all) But man Tasuki would be nice to own.***Daydreaming***



The Second Chapter of Suzaku

Neptune Princess


Chapter seven: Preparations

The morning rays shone through the window, waking up Tasuki. He opened his eyes and saw that he was staring into a tuft of auburn hair. He looked around and noticed that Miaka was curled up against him, and he was holding her. For a second he panicked, thinking he had done something wrong. Then he relaxed as memories of the previous night filled his mind, and hugged her tighter.


'Miaka's mine instead a Tamahome's. Well, she's not a thing I can posses, but she loves and god do I love her. Huh, I wonder what it'll be like with me and Miaka ruling over Kutou.' He realized she was starting to stir. He peeked over and saw her eyes flicker open.

"Hmm," Miaka sighed. Then she felt Tasuki's arm draped around her and his warm, masculine body against hers. "Ahh!" she screamed, jumped out of bed, and turned to face Tasuki.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, HOLDING ME LIKE THAT?!"

Tasuki, too jumped up at this.

"Hey don't blame me! When I woke up you were against me!"

"Well, you could have moved!" Tasuki became quiet. It's true, he could have moved. Now that he thought of it, he should have, so why didn't he?

Then he turned around and replied, "I'm so sorry Miaka, I know I should have moved."

The depressed tone in his voice made Miaka instantly regret yelling at him like that. She crossed over the bed to him and hugged him from behind saying, "Gomene Tasuki, I know you didn't do anything, I was just surprised is all. In fact, I loved waking up like that."

Tasuki smiled and took her cheek in his hand. "Honto Miaka? Perhaps we should wake up like this more often." They were just inches away from a kiss. Miaka could feel his sweet breath on her lips and parted them slightly, closing her eyes.

KNOCK*KNOCK*KNOCK*

"Nani?" Tasuki said, a bit irritated at having his moment with Miaka broken.

"Tasuki, do you know where Miaka is? She wasn't in her room." It was Hotohori's voice and it sounded panicked. TAsuki and Miaka exchanged wide eyed glances. No one said anything, but they knew exactly what to do.

"I'm in here Hotohori," Miaka said approaching the door and opening it. As the door slid open, both Tasuki and Miaka came face to face with an angry emperor.

"TASUKI! WERE YOU IN HERE WHILE SHE SLEPT?!" The room shook as Hotohori conveyed his rage.

"Hai," Tasuki said in a calm voice as if challenging Hotohori to do anything about it. Miaka decided that it would be better if she talked to Hotohori alone right now.

"Tasuki, why don't you go change in the bathroom.(it's still there!) I'll just talk to Hotohori ne?"

"Okay," Tasuki said retreating to the bathroom. He didn't like the idea of her being alone with him like that, but he knew he could trust Miaka.

"So Hotohori, why were you looking for me?"

"Did you forget Miaka? Today is the day we get prepared to go to Sairou."

"Iie, I didn't forget, I just got a late start this morning."

"Well, I'll just let you get dressed, and then come to the dining hall for breakfast, okay?"

"Hai, Arigato Hotohori."

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A few minutes after Hotohori left Tasuki came out in his usual bandit outfit.

"Uh...Tasuki, I need to go to my room to change. I didn't bring any clothes."

"All right. Why don't I carry you to your room. I mean," Tasuki said blushing, "you didn't bring any shoes either so you could hurt your feet."

"Oh. Okay," Miaka consented.

Tasuki bent down to pick her up while Miaka put her arms around his neck. She slid the door open for him and then shut it when they were outside. Tasuki turned right towards Miaka's room and kept walking. Neither Miaka nor Tasuki noticed one pair of eyes on fire as he watched them go.

Tamahome stood outside his room fuming. 'Hey! That's the way she used to hold me!' Tamahome's blood boiled. Then he remembered what Suzaku and Seiryu had said about Miaka and Tasuki. 'Uhh!!! This is so frustrating! Why! Why must they be all lovey-dovey in front of me? Choto, they didn't see me.' Tamahome's blood came down to a simmer as he came to this realization.

Tamahome walked forward behind them, when Tasuki turned into Miaka's room, Tamahome almost ran up and beat the crap out of Tasuki. He decided better though, and kept walking.

"Arigato Tasuki, for carrying me here. Do you mind though? I need to get dressed now."

"Oh right," Tasuki said and quickly headed out the door.(AN: Miaka doesn't want to dress in the bathroom.)

'Hmm..Tasuki is so sweet. He doesn't remind me at all of Tamahome. Tamahome would never have done that. Sheesh, Tamahome always made me cry, but Tasuki hates to see me cry.' She was thinking about this all while getting dressed. 'He also manages to make me laugh a lot.' She thought as she walked back out in her uniform towards the waiting Tasuki.

"Okay, let's go get breakfast!" Tasuki chuckled and walked with her to the dining hall.

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"Okay, how are we going to get to Sairou?" Hotohori asked. "We need to plan it out. It's a long way to Sairou."

"We should take horses," Nuriko said.

"Choto, we have to find Chichiri, Chiriko, and Mitsukake!" Miaka exclaimed jumping up.

"Okay then, we'll go look for them where we first found them."

"Right. Chiriko is the closest since he lives in Jozenski. Then we'll go to Tamahome's village. We might find Chichiri there. We'll get Mitsukake last since he's the furthest away."

"Then it's settled. Tomorrow we head out to Jozenski for Chiriko," Hotohori said in a regal air. When he looked at Miaka he sweatdropped. "Eh...Miaka were you listening?" While she was still shoveling food into her mouth she said, "I can eat and listen at the same time."

Tasuki laughed. "Miaka, have you considered not eating every hour of every day?" Miaka's face flushed from embarrassment. She swallowed and put the rest of the food down. Everyone laughed. "I think we should go pack our things now," Miaka said trying to distract attention from herself; it worked. All five of them got up and walked toward their own rooms, including Tasuki and Miaka.

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Miaka put the rest of the food she had packed back in her brown book bag. 'Gee, last time I went to Sairou I met Amiboshi. Yui was also my enemy, but now she's in Tokyo safe and sound. I wonder if Amiboshi will still be there, and remembers me.' Her smile turned into a frown as she remembered one other crucial detail in Sairou. 'Chi Fong is also there, with Tamahome's daughter Kegani. I wonder what she looks like.'

Miaka made a mental picture of what Tamahome's daughter would look like. 'According to what I know Kegani must be two.' A loud knocking made Miaka jump. "Nani?" she said trying not to sound startled.

"Uh...I brought you a little something." The voice belonged to none other than Tamahome. A slight gasp escaped from her mouth as she walked to the door and opened it. "You're already done packing?" she asked not looking at him. The images of what he had done to Tasuki were still fresh in mind, even if it happened the day before.

"Miaka? Onegai, look at me. I want to see your face." Miaka did as he asked and looked up. She noticed his eyes widen, but she didn't notice his right hand start to come up.

When she looked up, Tamahome's eyes widened a little. He had forgotten the beauty they held. Before he realized what he was doing his hand started to come up. Then he came back down to reality and lowered it again. He couldn't do that anymore.

"Well, what is it?" Miaka asked, trying to analyze Tamahome's features.

"Here." He held out a bead necklace similar to the one Yuiren had made for her, except it didn't have a feather. This time it was Miaka's turn to be surprised. Her eyes widened and she held a shaky hand out to take the necklace from him.

'He actually put it back together. Heh, I can't believe it.' Just about when she almost touched it, an image of Chi Fong appeared in her mind. She somehow knew she wasn't supposed to take it and drew her hand back.

"Ah. Miaka, doshite? Why won't you take it?"

"It's not mine Tamahome, it belongs to Chi Fong." At this statement Tamahome took her chin and lifted her head up so that his eyes met hers. He was so close Miaka could feel his breath on her face. "Miaka, I don't love Chi Fong as much as I love you. I am going to get a divorce. I will still look after Kegani, but I will not have any ties to Chi Fong. This necklace was made for you by Yuiren. I know that you and I can't be together and it pains me. I f you wear this necklace, then I'll know that you at one time or even now loved me."

"Tamahome, I don't know if I should take this."

"Please Miaka take this." miaka grabbed the necklace and put it on. When she looked up at Tamahome again she was met with a kiss. At first Miaka kissed him back, but then Tasuki's face appeared in her mind, and she pushed away. "Dame Tamahome, this isn't right."

"Miaka, please one last kiss and hug, then I will try to leave you alone." She blushed at his request and nodded her head.
Just when Miaka's and Tamahome's lips were about to touch, the door opened revealing a startled Tasuki. "Mia," he stopped, his eyes and face quickly turned from happy to jealous and pained, and the small box he had been holding fell to the floor.

"Tasuki," Miaka said in a soft voice. She started to go to him, but he held a hand up. "Tasuki please, don't take this the wrong way."

"Save it Miaka," his voice now held anger towards his miko, "I guess you still love Tama here. Ya know, I thought that we could be together, but obviously I was wrong, how could I have thought that you would ever love me?"

Miaka's eyes filled up with tears, and as Tasuki left, they fell like a waterfall. She slumped past Tamahome and sank to her bed. "Tamahome? Please leave." Tamahome walked to the door, picked up the box, and opened it. Inside was a necklace with a ring through the chain. The chain was pure gold and the stone on the ring was a white diamond. At that moment Tamahome knew that he had caused his friend deep, deep pain.

He knew that Tasuki would give up anything for Miaka and immediately felt bad for what he did. He closed the box and walked over to Miaka. He set it down on her bed and made sure she knew it was there. Then, on his way out, he whispered, "Gomene Miaka."

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Miaka wept for hours before she noticed the box. 'Hmm. I wonder what this is. Tasuki was going to give it to me, so I should open it.' As soon as she opened the lid her eyes began to tear up again. She didn't notice TAsuki standing at the door looking at her.

"Ohh." She took the necklace out and was about to put it on when she remembered she had Tamahome's necklace on. "I guess I better take this off first." She took the necklace off and put Tasuki's on.

"Oh it's so beautiful. I should go talk to him." She got up and turned around. She gasped when she saw Tasuki. "Thank you. I thought you'd like it. Listen, I'm sorry Miaka I just got jealous."

"I don't blame you Tasuki. Truthfully, you were a bit right, I do still love Tamahome, but Tasuki I love you more than anything." She walked over to Tasuki and hugged him. "It's a beautiful necklace. Let me explain what Tamahome was doing."

"No Miaka, you don't need to. I trust you."

"Hmm. Thank you Tasuki."

"Hey, It's lunch time, why don't we go eat." During lunch they all discussed what the itinerary for tomorrow was. Tamahome stayed away from Tasuki and Miaka, and barely said a word. He felt guilty about what he had done, but he didn't regret it. Nuriko noticed Tamahome's quietness, and, after lunch was done, he went to ask Tamahome about it.

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"Ne, Tamahome?" Nuriko said in a soft voice. "Oh Nuriko, it's you. What's up?"

"That's what I wanted to ask you. You were so quiet at lunch, and you sat away from Miaka."

"It's okay, I'm trying to keep my distance from Miaka, that's all."

"Well, if that's it, ja," and with that Nuriko left.

'Now all that's left is the week with Miaka and Chi Fong, and all of us in the same room.' Tamahome quit thinking about that and kept packing.

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