Disclaimer: Please see the Prologue of Suzaku's Oracle for a blanket disclaimer.

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Warnings: Rated PG-13 or Fiction T. Tasuki is in this chapter, but surprisingly, he doesn't swear!

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Notes: 7-27-13 In the last chapter, Tasuki came back! It was time he became more involved in the plot. As with Chichiri, I've also spent considerable time thinking about Tasuki's character. The two are so different! Tasuki tends to be brash, arrogant, stubborn, and impulsive. At the same time, he's got a soft side and tends to wear his heart on his sleeve. Tasuki is often used for comic relief, depicted as an idiot, but I don't think that's who he is at all. Sure he can do and say stupid things, but that's just a consequence of his impulsiveness. His old boss whom he looked up to never would have chosen him as a successor if Tasuki were truly stupid. More in the End Notes. ~Sapphire

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Oracles of the Four Gods

"Suzaku's Oracle"

By: Sapphire

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Part Eight ~ Premonition

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Aneko groggily rolled onto her side and pushed herself up into a sitting position. She blinked rapidly as her sleepy eyes adjusted to the light. Slowly, she looked around at her surroundings and felt a deep fear growing inside her. She was in a room with a wooden floor and strange walls that glowed with outside light. Along the top of the walls there was a series of intricately decorated windows mimicking the same pattern found on the door. The room wasn't very large, nor was it small. It contained the bed she rested on, two chairs, and a small table near the door with a vase of fragrant blue flowers on it. Carefully she rose from the bed and circuited the room, but there was nothing else to discover. She felt uneasy, especially since she had no idea where she was or how she had gotten there.

She noticed her own clothing was folded neatly on one of the chairs, and she quickly exchanged the cream colored cotton robe she was wearing for her own clothes. She grimaced as she slipped the sleeve of her blouse on over her left arm. Each time she jostled it the dull ache intensified to outright pain. She'd noticed that who ever had brought her here had at least had the decency to put her broken bone into a splint of some kind, but she was still in pain. A splint was no substitute for a cast. But she didn't have time to consider it much further than that. She had to get away from there and find a way to get home.

She paused at the door before opening it and listened carefully. The only sounds were chirping birds. She leaned toward caution and waited a few more moments just to be sure the space outside the door was deserted. Slowly she slid the door open and stepped outside. She was surprised to find herself within the confines of a large compound of some sort. There were gardens stretching before her, weaving in and out among the many pagoda style pavilions scattered about within a high outer wall. Everything was built and styled in the ancient Chinese form from the gardens to the architecture. She was absolutely amazed.

Caution was abandoned as she made her way down several stairs to the ground level and into the gardens. She wandered along the groomed paths not coming across a single soul. Soon she found herself on the edge of the gardens looking out into a wooded park, complete with a large pond. There wasn't a soul to be seen there, either. And the high wall that enclosed the compound circled all the way around the park grounds. She simply stood there gaping, wondering how she was going to get out of that huge, sprawling place. Suddenly she felt a light touch on her shoulder. Stifling a scream, she spun around to face who ever it was that had found her there. To her surprise, it was the wanderer who'd stopped the slave traders' attack on her. The tall red head who accompanied him was obviously not happy to see her, and she took a tentative step backward to distance herself from the potential threat.

Aneko took a moment to study the wanderer carefully. He was dressed in very old-fashioned clothes. Of particular notice were his long robe draped over one shoulder, fastened across his chest, and the staff with four links through a heart shaped, ornamented top that he grasped in one hand. Both were peculiarly odd, she thought. His hair was a light shade of blue, and his face was...unlike any face she had ever seen. Not quite real, but not quite unreal at the same time. For some reason it seemed his features were different than they had been before. It felt as though he were hiding something from her, and she didn't like it. She didn't trust people who weren't what they seemed. And considering the circumstances of their first meeting, she was even less inclined to trust this man.

At the same time Chichiri was studying her. He scrutinized her for a long while. Her appearance- the way she dressed, the style of her garments, the arrangement of her hair- could only be likened to two people he had known. Two people who had come there from a world far from his own: Miaka and Yui, the Priestesses of Suzaku and Seiryu. But if she was from that world, then what was she doing in his? All the Priestesses had already appeared. How was she brought there? Had one of the four beast gods brought her there? Did Suzaku have anything to do with it as he and Tasuki suspected?

Chichiri dismissed the questions swimming around in his head and concentrated on the woman herself. After taking him in, she apparently didn't like what she saw. She was wary of him, and the deep blue eyes fixed upon him held a spark of disapproval. Every so often she would glance at Tasuki who, Chichiri guessed, was doing his best to 'loom' behind him. It was obvious she was afraid. He didn't blame her, not after what she had been through at the hands of those slavers.

"You don't have to be afraid, no da," he finally said to break the silence. She only stared at him, remaining silent. Her coldness made both he and Tasuki uncomfortable. Chichiri tried again. "Do you remember me?" he asked.

"I remember, all right," she answered quietly, "Those slave traders, as you said, and you." She eyed both men before her. "I don't remember how I got here, but I'll bet you had something to do with it," she accused.

"I brought you here after I found you on the side of the road," Chichiri explained calmly, choosing to ignore her suspiciousness, as well as leave out a few choice details.

"I'll bet," she retorted with a glare. Chichiri couldn't help but sense Tasuki's waning patience with the woman. The bandit didn't respond well to sarcasm that wasn't his own. She briefly glanced at the palace grounds. "What is this place?"

"You're at the Imperial Palace in Eiyou," he answered evenly. He paused a moment while she digested that information. She seemed a little surprised by it. "I was on my way here when I found you sleeping. I tried to wake you. I brought you here when you wouldn't. There wasn't a doctor to treat you, so I did what I could for your arm."

"Why wasn't there a doctor?" Her voice sounded curious now, rather than cold and accusing. Chichiri felt he was making progress with her.

"There was an earthquake," Tasuki answered, startling the woman with his abrupt entry into the conversation. "Anyone who calls himself a doctor is out east helpin' the injured."

"I've been taking care of you," Chichiri continued in a more friendly tone. "Sometimes the Empress would sit with you when she had time to spare."

"I-" She seemed a bit speechless. He could tell she still didn't trust him but she wasn't afraid of them anymore. "I apologize for being so rude," she finally managed. "It's just- " She didn't seem to know quite what to say, Chichiri thought.

"Why don't we sit down and talk," Chichiri suggested, gesturing toward a small, open-sided, roofed structure that was obviously meant to provide shade and a comfortable place to sit. "There are things I want to ask you, no da." She nodded and fell into step between them as they walked the short distance to the little gazebo.

Aneko walked in silence, wondering if she'd been too hasty in judging the strange wanderer. He was behaving quite kindly toward her, and he had gone to some trouble to help her out. She didn't know about the red-head, but the wanderer seemed to be friend rather than foe. As they reached the three steps leading up into the shelter, a deafening crack above them echoed in Aneko's ears and she looked up in time to see the roof begin to crumble, about to come crashing down on their heads.

"Look out!" she shouted in warning, realizing the stranger with the red hair would get the worst of it. She reached out and grabbed hold of his forearm and pulled him stumbling backwards down the steps. Aneko glanced up at the roof, and was confused to see it in perfectly good condition. She glanced at the two men. The red-head quickly regained his balance and turned on her. Anger flashed in his eyes. Confusion akin to Aneko's own graced the expression of the wanderer.

Before she or they could utter a word, an earsplitting crack broke the serene quiet of the court gardens. Looking up, they saw the roof begin to crumble. Aneko felt herself pulled back as the wanderer grabbed hold of both her and the red-head. As the roof began to come down, the wanderer tripped over a small clump of flowering plants and fell, taking the other two with him, landing among a patch of violets. The ground shuddered a little beneath them and the air echoed with a loud boom as the structure collapsed in on itself. Looking up, Aneko saw rubble where they had been standing only moments before. She felt utterly confused again, and wasn't quite sure she should believe what she was seeing, considering she'd just seen the same thing happen twice. After a moment, Aneko felt the men's gazes on her. She turned to see they were staring at her in stunned wonder.

"Did you know?" the wanderer asked her. She nodded in shock. "How did you know it would fall?"

"I'm not sure," she replied in a whisper. "I just did. I just did."

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…...

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To be continued…

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End Note: On the rare occasion, we saw another facet of Tasuki. When something deeply troubles him, he tends to keep it to himself. He was genuinely torn between staying with the Leikaku Bandits or joining Miaka after meeting her, and the only person he confided this to was his closest friend, Kouji. Also, his budding feelings for Miaka in the OAV's were very confusing to him, and he tried hard to hide them from others. Though I try to present Tasuki as the bandit we know and love, the differences you find, I hope, reflect the wisdom and maturity he's attained through his experiences with Suzaku no Miko and the other Celestial Warriors, not to mention the adventures I've envisioned for him in the interim between the cannon story and OFG. ~Sapphire

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