Chapter 2
Yui too woke in a start. When she woke she seemed to find herself in a strange place. Where am I, how did I get here? Before she could ponder the question anymore she heard a knock on the door. The door began to open and standing in the doorway was the man she loved, Tamahome. Yes, now I remember I wished that I was the Priestess of Suzaku. I must be in Konan in the palace. And now I have Tamahome.
"Are you ok Yui, I was just taking a stroll in the night when I thought I heard some noise in your room. Is everything alright?"
"Oh yes, I'm fine. I was just having some trouble going to sleep. I don't know why." Tamahome then moved closer to her. He then sat next her on the bed and took one of her hands and put it in his. "Don't worry I'm here now. I won't ever let anything happen to you because you're my Priestess and you're my love. I love you so much. I know you've been feeling homesick lately and I wish I could help you, but I do have something to ask of you. I know you want to go home, but I wish that you would stay. Stay here with me and be my wife."
Yui was stunned. She hadn't thought that things would have moved so fast. She was very flattered, but a part of her felt suffocated. She couldn't explain why but she got all tensed up. Isn't this what you want? Yes, of course it is, what am I doing? She put her arms around him and said, "Yes, of course I'll marry you." Tamahome was so happy that he lifted Yui in the air.
"Hey, I thought I was the one who had super strength?" came Nuriko's voice from the door. Shocked by the other's sudden appearance, Tamahome lost control of Yui and she toppled to the ground. She landed with a very hard thud. "Ow, who dares interrupt us?" Yui bellowed obviously seething with anger at this sudden turn of events. This was supposed to be perfect. No idiot in drag was going to ruin her relationship with Tamahome. "Well someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed today." Nuriko would have said more but Tamahome butted in. "She's just feeling homesick, Nuriko, it's ok."
Nuriko, yes, that was one of the other annoying seishi. I guess I'll just have to take the negatives along with the positives. And why is he wearing a dress? "Why are you wearing a dress, you look absolutely stupid, are you gay or something?" she said voicing her thoughts.
Nuriko's smile slowly faded as the realization of what she said sunk in. Why was she being so mean? She knew why he dressed like a girl and definatily knew that he wasn't gay. True, he did like Hotohori, but he was more than just gay or straight. But that wasn't really what got to him. It was the way she said it. It seemed like she truly didn't know him, and more less despised him. This puzzled him. How could his priestess hate him? He tried to look back at other incidents. All he could remember were happy moments, but then again he didn't ever see her face. He saw the same school uniform she preferred to wear, but no face. Stop getting all paranoid Nuriko, she's the same old Yui, but there's something about her today. Maybe there's something more bothering her than she will let on. I'll just keep an extra eye on her; it's probably just homesickness. But nevertheless there's something wrong with her today.
"Well, I almost forgot what I was here for, Hotohori asked me to get you. Apparently he has something very urgent to talk to us about." "Alright, we'll be there in a minute," replied Tamahome as Nuriko shrugged and left the room. "Are you sure you're fine. I could always tell Hotohori to wait till you feel a little better." "No, I'm fine, let's go." And with that they headed for the throne room.
As they entered they saw all the other seishi. Hotohori was wearing his usual emperor outfit and sitting on his throne. The rest were scattered all around. They all stopped everything once Yui and Tamahome entered.
"I'm glad you came Yui, I know how down you've been lately. But I have some news that might lighten your worries a little and some not so good. First of all, we think we've figured out how to summon Suzaku without having the book of the universe of the four gods. It would have been easier the other way around, but I know this way can work. That way if you really do want to go home, you can. But unfortunately I do have some bad news. It seems as though our neighboring land, Koutou has also found their Priestess. They've had her for quite some time now. At this point in time though, it doesn't seem like they're going to attack. Either they are waiting for the perfect time to strike so they can gather up their forces, or they already have the means of summoning their god Seiyru and are completing the last stages to the ceremony. Either way could be treacherous. So I've decided, even though I don't want to, that we must kill this Priestess. I know I know it is kind of harsh and rash, but I'll put the safety of the nation over the safety of that girl."
"This sounds more like bad news than good news to me. What are we to do?" asked Nuriko. "Ah, yes the point, if I weren't the emperor I would join you too, but I can't. You shall split up. Chichiri, you and Tasuki should go to Koutou and kill their priestess. The rest of you go with Yui to search for the Shinzaho. Using that item we can summon Suzaku. I have complete confidence in all of you."
'I'm not as sure as you. Something's fishy about the whole thing.' Thought Nuriko as the party headed off.
