Disclaimer: I had dinner today. That dinner is mine, as it's in my stomach now. But no, FY isn't in there, so it's not mine. *Eats FY*

Note: This chapter was written 2 weeks after the last one; showing that Juufan has somewhat recovered from the effects of writer's block. Let's just hope that she doesn't get another bout of that again .


Things were getting worse and worse. First we had that little trouble with the fire, and now some kid has to come in here to burst the bubble on us for being Genbu seishi. Genbu, what wrong had we done to deserve such punishment?

Whispers and murmurs had begun to spring up from every corner of the bar, each about Takiko, Hikitsu and me. Apparently, even the legend of the Genbu no miko was known here, judging by the sudden silence. I could even sense the tension in the air as Hikitsu released my shoulder to walk up to the innocent-looking blond haired boy who blinked questioningly but didn't utter a word regarding the man's advance towards him.

"Why do you want to know if we are, my little friend?" he asked, his voice deadly calm in that dangerous sort of way. I immediately stiffened, ready to hold him back if he started to beat up the kid for letting the cat out of the bag. We didn't need more publicity for now, at least. Takiko herself looked slightly alarmed, and her eyebrows had already raised to phenomenal heights as she looked at me and nodded.

The big, brown eyes blinked innocently at Hikitsu as the boy spoke, evidently unaware of what might happen to him if the seishi did explode. "Well…I thought I could thank that oniisan there for saving me," he spoke, pointing at me, and I blinked, surprised at the new revelation. "Besides, my 'niichan wants to see you."

I blinked again, then leaned further to look more closely at the ruffled blond haired boy who seemed to stare admiringly up at me. Well, I was honoured by the acknowledgement that he was giving me, but this was a bit too much, especially when we were trying so hard to keep our profiles low. Wait a minute- did he say his 'niichan'? Who was this 'niichan'?

"Your 'niichan?" I inquired, pushing the tall, silver haired seishi to the back with the back of my arm. "Thanks for the acknowledgement, but who is he, may I ask?"

Before he could reply, a small, high voice spoke timidly behind us, making me jump. "Well, if you want to know, his brother's a farmer who lives somewhere around the west of this village."

I spun around to see a small trembling girl whose arms were shaking so hard that the drinks that she was carrying had spilled onto the wooden tray. She seemed to be looking at us with total awe, as if the emperor had finally decided to enter this place, and I sighed. The popularity was definitely not doing us any good.

"Ne, oniisan, can you come with me? My 'niichan really wants to meet the seishi who saved my life!"

Feeling a hand on my shoulder, I turned, and saw Hikitsu's extremely serious face. He seemed to be prodding me to make up my mind; this could either be an innocent gratitude from that brother of his of perhaps a trap from the Kuto side to foil the plans of summoning Genbu. His eyebrows seemed to plunge from its original position and I glanced at Takiko, who was busy looking at the boy with wide open eyes.

"Well…I guess it wouldn't do any harm to pay a little visit to someone."

-------

We were led through so many winding back alleys and streets that I totally lost my sense of coordination, confused by the many buildings that seemed to look the same as the next one. The boy didn't seem to have any problems however, he was skipping along, and I guessed that he should be used to this; he lived here, anyway.

It took us a little time to catch up with him (Takiko couldn't run fast, despite that skirt of hers. Wonder what was the use of tearing it in the first place…) and when we finally caught up with him, he had rounded another corner and disappeared. I muttered something under my breath and sped up to keep in track with him.

"I wonder if we're walking straight into someone's ready trap," Hikitsu mumbled aloud beside us, as he looked doubtfully at me. "Are you sure you made the right decision, Tomite?"

I shrugged, feeling the cold wind blow from the sea that apparently wasn't that far away and shivered. The freezing weather around here was driving me crazy; even back in my village, I hadn't experienced such chill before. It drove me nuts to be sleeping with five blankets every night in that inn and getting queer looks from Hikitsu when we settled in every night.

The boy's head popped around a corner, beckoning us with a slight impatient look on his face as he motioned for us to follow him. "Come on, oniisan! The house isn't far away! We'll be there in a couple of minutes!"

For you, it's a couple of minutes, I thought, noticing that Takiko had slowed down again, much to my exasperation. But for us older people, it'll take us half an hour, so slow down!

I hadn't stopped to ponder if his words were true, but simply shrugged it off. After walking through the next alleyway, we were greeted by the sight of a small house beside a plot of land that seemed to be planted with every single plant imaginable (at least to me) from vegetables to flowers.

Screeching to a stop, I stared at the place, only to have someone bump into me from the back, thus pushing me forward to land on the muddy soil. I gave a yelp in surprise at the sudden shove and thud, I was face-first into the mud.

"Oh….gomen!!" I heard Takiko's voice from somewhere on top and my mind immediately registered her words. She. Pushed. Me. Temero!!

Sitting up, I glared at her apologetic face, knowing somehow that it had been done on purpose because she had been wishing for revenge over what happened yesterday night. Still, she didn't have to dirty one of my few pairs of clothes!

"Nice try, miko-sama," I retorted sarcastically, trying my best to wipe the mud off myself, instead making a terrible mess out of myself. "Now that I'm all dirty, you've managed to get your revenge. Satisfied?"

She glared back at me. "And what makes you think that I'm so free to make you trip and fall? It was hard enough keeping up with that boy too!"

"Oh, so it was my fault, I see?"

"Well, at least you know how not to blame other people for your own wrong doings! If it wasn't because you were standing right there, I wouldn't have crashed into you! Look, even I'm dirty!" she pointed at the gigantic, muddy brown stain on her skirt as I glared.

"Well, you're the miko, so you can get whatever you want. I'm just a poor person who has no money. Can't you just take a while to think?!"

"May I ask if you two are going to sit out there and argue in the mud or come in?" Hikitsu asked with a raised eyebrow from the doorway of the house where he had been conversing with the apparent 'niichan' who seemed to be looking quite amusedly at the both of us too. "If you like the wind that much, we could always leave you out here to enjoy it."

Takiko turned her glare back on as she looked at me as fierce enough to burn through my stomach. "See, now because of you, I look like a complete fool!"

"Like you weren't one in the first place," I muttered, standing up while frantically trying to clear myself of any mud that had hardened. "Come on, you damn head hitting onna, I wouldn't want Genbu to kill me just because his miko froze out in the cold."

"What? Let go of me, you hentai!" she screamed as I picked her up, expertly dodging a whack that seemed to be aimed towards my head. I had too much experience to go through to the same thing for ten times already.

"I'll do that…when I think I should, that is," I grinned as I carried her into the house.

-------

The interior of the building was extremely warm with a roaring fire warming each crack and crevice to give off a very welcoming glow of heat. It was a brilliant change from the low temperature outside, and I promptly dropped Takiko on the floor to warm my hands, not caring when I heard the loud bump and the string of words that had something to do with 'baka' in it.

The heat was so nice, and so good and so-

"Er, Tomite? I realize that you like the fire, but at least look at our host first," I heard Hikitsu's reprimanding voice and a deep, rich laugh from the other man. He was of a short build and slightly round in the belly while his hair seemed to have streaks of white, signifying his age. He didn't look like the boy one bit, despite the fact that the kid was now staring up at him as if he was a god.

"It's okay, Hikitsu-san," he shook his head, and I wondered just how much of our information had the older seishi given away. "After all, you are our guests, and I can't expect you people to be warm after that trip. Now, Keniji, go and get some tea for our guests. Your niichan will be back shortly."

I looked with much astonishment at the jolly round man who somewhat reminded me of the fat old man back in my village who seemed to enjoy letting out a stream of curses at me every morning I passed his house. Well, he was different, judging by how warmly he was treating the three of us.

"You mean you're not the niichan that he was talking about?" I blurted out, not able to contain my surprise. He laughed, watching as Keniji slowly took a kettle of water that had been boiling in the fireplace off and put it on the table.

"No, I'm not that young to be referred to as a 'niichan'. It's Sho Huang that you're looking for. He'll be back in a few minutes- he's just gone to the market to buy some things. I'm sure he'll be back in-"

SLAM!

"Tadaima, ojisan, Keniji! By the way, kid, they need you down at Teiki's place; you'd better run down and have a look. It looks as if they're having problems with the repairs."

I stared at him with stupefaction, taking in the trim, tan figure that had suddenly entered the house. The yellow blur that was Keniji raced past, the kettle forgotten and was picked up and swung around the room.

"Niichan! You're back! What did you buy?"

"Oh, nothing, just a little odds and ends to help with the work around here. Teiki's having a really hard time; he told me to send for you. I think he wants to apologize over what happened yesterday. Run along, Teiki was never a patient person, you know."

"Demo, niichan, the seishi who saved me yesterday is here! Don't you want to meet him?"

The newcomer's attention was finally drawn away from Keniji who was put down on the floor, and I caught sight of his profile for the first time. What struck me immediately was his abnormal yellow eyes that resembled those of a cat, and the bright green hair that seemed to have the slightest tinge of blue in it that hung past his shoulders.

"Oh, I'm sorry! Didn't know we had company. All right, go and pour the tea, Keniji, and remember not to spill any. 'jiisan won't be pleased if you burn a hole in the mat again. You do want that puppet for your birthday, don't you?"

It was quite amusing to watch as Keniji resumed his work and the boy, whom I guessed to be around 19, sat down opposite of me, seeming to study my features. "So, you're the person who saved Keniji's life yesterday? The Genbu seishi…?"

"Well…ah…" I raised an eyebrow at my counterparts, only to see Takiko shaking her head frantically. "…Not exactly. I had some help, but that's not important at the moment. In the first place, how did you find out that we're, well…seishi?"

Before he could answer, a few porcelain cups were set in front of us very clumsily as Keniji went around putting the cups of hot tea in front of us. I watched as the steam rose up to the roof, bringing together with it the sweet smell of the flowers in the mountains during the clear days.

The old man seemed to realize the sudden lingering silence, and quickly bustled out with Keniji. "Tell you what, Keniji, let's go out and have a look at those puppets that you pointed out to me yesterday. Tell me which one you like, ne?"

Immediately, the two had left the room, leaving us together with Sho Huang who sat quietly in his seat before looking up at us. This time, the glimmer had gone from his eyes, and he was gazing at us with seriousness which even was able to rival Hikitsu's.

"I could sense it. Besides, I was the one who rescued you, if you haven't realized by now."

Immediately, Hikitsu sat up straighter beside me and laid a warning hand on my shoulder, shaking his head, his eyes sharp. This person could sense our ability (or at least Hikitsu's) and had rescued me and that Keniji? Wait a minute…that could only mean that he was…

He seemed to be able to decipher what I thought and nodded agreeably. "That's right, Tomite-san, Hikitsu-san. Genbu shichiseishi Iname at your service, miko-sama," he spoke, bowing slightly. I had the utmost pleasure watching as Takiko's eyes grew bigger and bigger at each moment, before she turned to look to at the two of us pleadingly.

"A…Ano…"

I grinned amusedly, extending my hand to shake his as I caught sight of the green character for 'cow' shining through his clothing on his lower thigh, just above the knee. This was the first time that I had seen Takiko rendered speechless by such a revelation.

"Welcome to the group, Iname. Watch out for that head-hitting onna- or rather miko- of ours. If your head isn't protected, you'd better take a few hints from me," I winked, only to get hit right on the head by her.

"I know how to introduce myself, thank you," she glared at me. "Don't mind that hentai baka- he only knows how to look at girls. Typical for people like him anyway, don't you think? I'm Okuda Takiko, by the way…and the Genbu no miko," she added, pronouncing the last words with slight difficulty. Apparently, she still hadn't gotten used to saying that yet. Well, she had better; she was going to be introducing herself in that way for the next few…months if it took that long.

"I'm not like that, you head-hitting onna! Well, even if I was, it just means that your assets aren't that valuable compared to other people's…"

WHACK!

"Itai!" I collapsed onto the floor with swirly eyes, and could clearly see Hikitsu sweatdropping from where he was.

"We're not exactly alone here, the two of you…" he sighed, shaking his head as he set down the cup of tea that he was sipping. "Can't this wait till we get back to the inn?"

Suddenly, Iname spoke up with great concern in his voice. "Oh, does that mean that I'll be having trouble?"

"Nani?"

Both Takiko and I blinked as Iname turned an unflattering shade of red. He averted his eyes, the red tint growing larger every second. "Well, if you want to know I am an…eeto…"

He pointed to his chest area, and immediately, all our eyes widened in horror and surprise. I laughed nervously, not wanting to believe what I hoped he wasn't going to say. "You're a…what?"

"...Onna."

"NANI?!"

The birds outside flew from the tree beside the house in surprise after the loud exclamation.


Author's Notes: Seventh chapter done!! ^_^v It took me a week just to churn this chapter out, and yes, I've been having relapses of that dreaded writer's block. That is…not good… .

Iname is here and…yes, she's a crossdresser! She's not going to be modeled after Nuriko (gomen nasai... -_-;;), so for all you Nuriko fans out there, don't worry! Note: Keep your eyes peeled for Namame's appearance in the story: she/he'll have Nuriko's traits! No, don't peel your eyes like that. NOO!!! *turns away as everyone's eyes peels* Of course, Iname is an onna, not an otoko… -_-;;

If you're asking why (s)he was called as 'brother' by the girl in the bar, take it this way. She's a crossdresser, and usually, no one knows about their gender unless they tell or find out for themselves, of course, a la Nuriko style, ne? ^_~ And so, Keniji doesn't know about his niichan's...other gender...

It was very hard to write this time, and I've contemplated taking some time off to cool my head down before it overheats. *points at head which is smoking and sweatdrops* See???

By the way, I've finally got an idea for the Hikitsu side story! I can finally tell his past, and once I post it, you people have to review it, okay? Of course, you mustn't forget this fic either, ne? *grins* Balance is good! Very small hint for that fic: It's tragic like the entire FY! *grins* Try to imagine…you'll have to put up with your own imagination while I write it, people!

By the way, the reviews were great! I never knew this fic could even get reviews in the first place, to tell the truth… ^_^;;;;;;

Okay then, until next time, ja ne ~!