Disclaimer: Fushigi Yugi blah blah, Yu Watase blah blah, corporates blah blah, no compensation to me blah blah.

Warnings: This part rated PG-13 for language. Overall rating of PG-13.

Notes: Oh, this is exciting. My first finished work on FF.net! ~Sapphire

Oracles of the Four Gods

Suzaku's Orakuru

By: Sapphire

Chapter Twenty-Nine ~ Disruption

The pompous, stocky drunk lunged at Tasuki, but Tasuki easily sidestepped him. Angry, the brute got up from the floor where he'd fallen and tried again. While Tasuki threw himself with relish into this common tavern brawl, Aneko found herself being hauled away unceremoniously toward the back of the establishment.

Most of the tavern customers were engrossed in the battle going on between Tasuki and the lumbering muscle mass. The only people who noticed Aneko were a few men too drunk to care. One even smiled lasciviously at them and said, "lucky man," before passing out across the table he occupied. With a whimper, Aneko thought she was doomed. She tried to free herself, or at least slow her tormentor, but she was being pulled steadily by the arm toward the stairs that led to the guest rooms of the inn. The closer she got, the more desperate her struggles became.

"Tasuki!" she shouted, but he was too engrossed in his fight to notice she was missing, and the shouts of the onlookers drown out her cries of distress. Then, just as they reached the steps leading upward, Aneko felt a warmth in her blood that she was coming to know well. "Suzaku!" The skin on her forehead tingled and by the look on her captor's face, she knew a character had just appeared there.

"You have the ogre symbol on yer forehead!" he exclaimed in shock. "What- who are you?" Aneko didn't bother to reply. Instead she let fly a powerful kick from the side and connected with his ribcage just under his raised arm. "Ouff!" The man's grip relaxed for a split second, just long enough for her to extract her arm from his big hand. She sent the flat of her hand up into the underside of his chin, forcing his head to snap back, and the man to stumble backward. A single well placed hit into the base of his neck rendered him immobile, and he collapsed along the side of the wall. Aneko backed away cautiously, astonished at herself. She'd been so cold and calculating through all that. It wasn't like her, she almost frightened herself. She shook her head, dismissing it all, then turned and ran for the crowd that was still gathered around Tasuki.

The bandit seemed to be enjoying himself, she noted. He was currently playing around, taunting the muscle man that had tried taking her from the bumbling idiots that had started the whole ruckus. The stocky guy made a rush for Tasuki, but the bandit pulled a quick turnaround and brought the hard handle of his Tessen down on the man's head. She shook her head, watching. He was like a child at play.

Suddenly she felt a hand snake around her waist again. She could tell by the foul stench and the way she was manhandled that it was the old man who'd originally approached her. She caught sight of his son making for them from the corner of her eye. The look on his face was less than inviting, but she had a surprise for him. Playing the helpless victim for a few moments, she struggled meekly in the older man's grasp until the son reached them. Then with a smirk, she laid out the old man with a knee to the groin, and took out Junior with a flying kick that made contact with the hard skull just above his right temple. He collapsed in a heap next to his prone father.

Aneko looked around the silent, speechless crowd. They were busy looking between her, and Tasuki, who'd finally decided it was time to take out his opponent. Tasuki's glare challenged any of them to try something. There were no takers, and they all wandered back to their tables, talking to each other in low whispers, pointing at Aneko at they gave her fleeting glances.

Tasuki stepped down off of the stocky man's back where he'd been standing, pinning him down, and took hold of Aneko's arm. He maneuvered her through the tables, benches, and people making his way to their table. He carefully kept a surly glare roving from man to man throughout the establishment to discourage any further unwanted confrontations.

"The symbol fer 'oni' is on your forehead," he hissed in Aneko's ear before pushing her gently down onto the bench at their corner table. Aneko glanced upward, going cross-eyed as she tried to see for herself.

"It seems so," she agreed, "though all I can see is the red glow."

"Everyone's starin' at you an' I don't like it," he glared at the room in general as he took a seat beside her, up against the wall, where he had a good view of everything. "Can't ya turn it off?"

"I can't make it come or go," Aneko responded, "It'll go away soon on it's own, I think."

"Not soon enough," Tasuki grumbled. "Where'd Chichiri go?"

"Is something wrong?" Aneko asked in a soft voice. "Did I do something?"

"No," was Tasuki's curt reply.

"I must have. You're acting strangely," Aneko insisted.

"It ain't you, it's them." He indicated the tavern's patronage with a nod of his head.

"Them?"

"Four of 'em already tried somethin' with you. The rest are just as fuckin' drunk. Can't trust 'em." That seemed to satisfy her curiosity. She fell silent. For the first time in the entire trip, Tasuki was glad she wasn't being sociable.

"Rooms," she said. Tasuki nearly jumped, her simple statement was so unexpected.

"What?" Tasuki demanded, confused.

"Chichiri went to rent some rooms, and find a place for the horses," she replied. "Isn't that what you wanted to know?" Tasuki nodded almost imperceptibly. He'd almost forgotten he'd asked. He drummed his fingers impatiently, his arms crossed over his chest imposingly.

"He better hurry the hell up." No sooner had the words left his mouth than the monk in question came in through the door on the far side of the tavern. He weaved his way toward them, then slid onto the bench opposite Tasuki and Aneko.

"Hey, 'oni' is glowing on your forehead, no da," he said to Aneko.

"She knows. And it's about time you showed," Tasuki muttered. "After we beat off the bad guys." Chichiri looked at them questioningly. "We had a little trouble," Tasuki explained vaguely. "The faster we get out a here, the better."

"Did you get us rooms?" Aneko asked. Chichiri nodded reluctantly.

"What now?" Tasuki growled. Wasn't anything going to go right for a change?

"Only one room, it's all they had." Aneko raised her eyebrows.

"That's probably a good idea anyway," Tasuki snorted. "Can't turn yer back on her for a second or she'll find trouble." Aneko glared at him, not appreciating his remark.

"Well, anyway, there's nothing we can do about it, no da," Chichiri said. They collected their belongings and headed for their room.

~~~~~

"Father Yoshi, I'm worried...about Danno. He's late, and he hasn't called."

"Aneko," Yoshi's voice was strained. "Danno was in a crash." "He didn't make it."

"Didn't...make...it?"

"He died instantly," Yoshi told her.

"Died?"

"Yes." There was silence.

"Father Yoshi?" Aneko asked. Still silence. Tears wet her face as they streamed down her cheeks. Yoshi Toya wasn't there any more. Why would he be when Danno was gone? "Why did you leave me, Danno, why?"

"I didn't leave you," Danno's voice spoke to her. "I'm right here." And he was. They were sitting in her living room, two mugs of hot chocolate on the coffee table between them. She suddenly realized she was dreaming again.

"I'm so sorry, Danno," she said, her tears still damp on her face. "I keep forgetting."

"Me? How could you forget me?" He looked at her with sad, lonely, dark green eyes.

"I didn't mean to forget-"

"But you did," he pointed out. "I'd never have forgotten you. Why did you forget me?"

"Because I- because I don't love you," she admitted hesitantly.

"You don't love me?" his voice sounded strange, almost angry. "You don't love me so you forgot me?"

"Danno, I-"

"I loved you," he cut her off. "I still love you." Aneko started to cry. "I don't understand what's happened to you." She sat there helplessly. "Could you learn to love me?" he asked. Aneko looked up, surprised.

"I- I don't know," she said through her sniffles.

"Then I'll make you love me. Somehow," he told her.

"But Danno, you're dead."

~~~~~

Aneko's eyes flew open. She stared up at the ceiling and tried to steady her ragged breathing as tears trailed from the corners of her eyes. She turned her head and looked across the room where Tasuki and Chichiri were sleeping. They appeared to be in the depths of slumber, and Aneko was glad her nightmare hadn't caused her to disturb them. Using the corner of the blanket to dry her tears, she quietly got to her knees and crawled toward the window that was inset in the wall just above the center of her bed. She inched the shutter open to reveal the night beyond it. She leaned on the wide sill, sitting with her feet tucked up beneath her, and gazed up at the stars. Somewhere out there were the constellations of Suzaku. Though she couldn't recognize them yet, she spoke to them with her mind.

"What does it mean?" she asked. "What does my dream mean?" A thin wisp of a cloud passed over the half moon shining down on the street below her window. "Does it mean something, or was it simply just a dream?" There were no answers out there for her to find, she knew, but she looked for them anyway. Leaning heavily on the sill, she fell asleep there just as the first light of dawn began to tinge the eastern sky.

~~~~~

To be continued…

End Notes: One more to go! ~Sapphire