Hey peeps, new addition. I also fixed up a few errors in my other chapter. Omake will be out later in the week. I want to go and lie down now. My shoulders and neck are sore from swimming, or something. (please someone just let me die or crawl into a hole and become a hole person who only has to work for food and clothes and doesn't have to pay mortgage or taxes, because she's living in a hole)

:: We've been walking for about three days before we came upon the Cutoo (more like Coo Coo) Palace. Let me tell you. This place was huge. It was bigger than the white house! I couldn't believe my eyes. Yet at the same time, it inspired me for some character drawing and a bit of dialog. Celtis and Rie continue to talk to me in my head, as well as talk amongst themselves. This gets annoying at times. Like when I'm supposed to be paying attention and all I hear is Celtis and Rie. It's no wonder the teachers gave up on me at home. Why does everyone require me to talk to them? I've got nothing to say to them, so they should just shut up and leave me alone! :: Taiko was sitting in a finely decorated room with Kyougen, Shelby, and Yunika.

:: Well anyways. Since we haven't stopped in the longest time, I haven't been able to draw any. All I've been doing the whole time I'm in this stupid book is observe things and retain the information in my mind. I hate being here. I miss...OK so miss is exaggerating a bit. I 'want' my bed; and my room; and my videogames and television programs, for that matter. I want indoor plumbing and air conditioning. OK well a fan would do. Even one of those mini handheld fans! Something that shows there's technological life here!!! And I'm ranting and getting off subject. Anyways. We came here to this palace place, and we were escorted to this huge throne room. I noticed Kyougen shift back into her 'Nuriko' form. They had explained this whole Fushooigui Yugui thing to me on the way here. Yunika has been sleeping a lot lately. She said she's not used to traveling this much. What with living with monks, I wouldn't be used to it either! :: Taiko stared down at his hands while Shelby and Kyougen continued to talk about the day's events.

"-and he was so nice and understanding too!" Shelby was talking to Kyougen.

"Yes, but I am still a bit skeptical about his motives. Why, after all this time, would he just want to STOP fighting? Seiryuu is the war god! Why not continue the fighting and crush Hokkan?" Kyougen put her thumb and the side of her pointer finger on her chin, thinking about it.

"He just wants PEACE, Kyougen. Think about it. If you had been fighting your whole life, what would you want to do?" Shelby started at Kyougen, arms raised at her sides, rolling her eyes. Shelby wanted to trust this emperor. She didn't need an enemy so early in the game.

"I ran away," Kyougen stated, eyes glazed over, not looking at anyone in particular. Taiko looked up at Kyougen a moment, and then went back to his thinking.

:: OK, so we were taken to the throne room. We saw this guy sitting in a big, overly decorated chair, and he had two little people leaning on either side of the chair, on opposite sides. So he was in the middle, there was a small girl to his right, and another small girl to his left. They were all looking at a piece of parchment, and the girls were leaning on the arms of his chair. When the guards that were holding us captive cleared their throats and announced us, all three of them looked up. They looked us over, and went back to their parchment. This made me furious. We had been traveling OUTSIDE (WALKING no less!) for three days, and here this guy gives us the once over and dismisses us! Well then the guards leave us in there and close the doors behind themselves. So I calmed down, seeing as they were leaving us in here, which probably meant that the guy was actually going to speak to us. Shelby started walking up to the guy first, hoping to catch his attention. It was then that those two weird girls floated away from the guy and he looked up. Yunika was standing next to me and started pulling on my pant leg, telling me telepathically that those girls were Ying-Yang masters. I had no idea what she was talking about, but just shook my head at her, like I understood. Celtis and Rie were laughing at my stupidity, until I asked them if they knew what they were. They promptly shut up and didn't laugh at me again. :: The next time Taiko looked at the scene going on in the room he was in, he saw Shelby hugging an expressionless Kyougen, telling her she was sorry and that she forgot about that. Taiko rolled his eyes at the scene. :: She's always forgetting things... ::

:: Perhaps we should go and see if dinner is ready? :: Yunika stared at our little group, expectantly.

"Yes, that might be a good idea," Shelby got up and started to walk over to the door, when someone knocked at the other side of the room. Kyougen went over to the other door, and opened it.

"Dinner is ready in the dining hall, if you are hungry, Lady Priestess, and honored Seiryuu seishi.

:: OK so then the guy looked up and told us he was the emperor, and that he knew we'd be coming. He told us that Hokuin was attacking Konun and Cutoo, because of their union. He said that this had been going on ever since Boushin had made peace with the late Emperor Tomi, and they had no defense left to protect their land. Hokuin was usually a peaceful country, and it had never bothered the other two nations before, but when there was a union of the two nations, Hokuin got scared that Cutoo would attack it's borders again, with it's new ally, Konun. So Hokuin decided to hit Cutoo when it was still recovering from the death of the former emperor and new government system. Cutoo was very vulnerable then, because most of its army had been killed off in the Cutoo war. :: Taiko noticed everyone getting up. Rousing himself from his thoughts, he walked over by everyone else.

"We're all going to dinner now, Jaren," Shelby filled him in on why they had gotten up. "It didn't look like you were listening, so I thought maybe I'd tell you where we were..." Taiko walked in the opposite direction that they were going. He wanted to go back to his room, and didn't feel like eating with the 'group'. Shelby sighed and looked at the floor, disappointed that her brother wasn't going to try and get acquainted with everyone. :: I should be used to him doing this by now, but...I just wish he would be there for me, sometimes. ::

:: Cutoo didn't have much of anything left. That was when it was possible for Hokuin to win against Cutoo. What they didn't expect, though, was for Emperor Boushin to react to this invasion. Boushin was known everywhere as Boushin the Good, and they took that title a bit further, to think him naïve. They thought Boushin would attack Hokuin by pressing for peace between the nations. When the Hokuin emperor agreed, Boushin would then be forced to agree to unreasonable terms, or else Hokuin would attack their ally Cutoo and Konun as well. But when Boushin reacted by sending large masses of soldiers to Cutoo, Hokuin realized how wrong they were about Boushin. It was in that moment that Boushin proved to the people that he was not so blind to war, and that he could protect their nation as well as their new ally's. In the years that followed, Konun trained Cutoo people to be warriors and Cutoo built up a large army as well to defeat the Hokuin invasion that was steadily working it's way through Cutoo. But now that it has been 90 years, the current emperor wants to end this fighting. There have been too many dying. It's been 90 years he says, and the old emperor is dead. The current emperor is probably just fighting still because it's been like this for 90 years. The emperor wants the help of Shelby so that she may stop the fighting and open people's eyes more to reason, rather than war. People have become corrupt in this stage of fighting, and all they can think about is hate, and revenge. Civilian fights are beginning to break out more, and there is nothing the emperor can do to stop them. :: Taiko was sitting in an ornately decorated room, all alone, and shut up in there like a prisoner. He wasn't a prisoner, of course, he just chose to stay in his room, instead of with everyone else. He needed to be away from all that was strange and new and be by himself so he could do something that was familiar and not unusual. He was drawing on his sketchpad, making notes next to the pictures.

:: After the emperor person told us that he believed our priestess story, he gathered his people (people? Subjects? Loyal servants? Underlings? They'll all do.) and proclaimed to them that Shelby was the new Priestess of Seiryuu, and that she was to be given a room and board, etc, etc. I didn't listen to most of what he was saying, because Celtis and Rie were complaining about food and alcohol, or something of the sort. So after his 'great proclamation', he sent us off to our rooms where we were to put our stuff and wait for someone to come and get us, so he may dine with us. Well, after we had put our stuff down, I had to suffer through another talkative session with Shelby and Kyougen. I was listening to Yunika as well, but her voice was quite a bit softer, and easier to tune out. So after they were done talking, some people knocked on the door to Shelby's room, which was where we all were at the time, and told us that dinner was ready. We all filed out of the room, but as they went towards the dining hall, I was able to slip into my own room. Shelby noticed my leaving, though, and had someone send me a platter of food. I ate about half of it...most was stuff I didn't recognize, so I didn't eat it, and to my luck, she hadn't poisoned it. One might be wondering whom I'm talking to, but in all essence, I'm thinking to myself, as in an effort to convince myself that this is all real and actually happening. I don't know if it's working, yet, but Celtis and Rie keep telling me I'm crazy. :: Taiko was drawing a pair of girls on a page of white printer paper. He had made a few notes around them, such as: Sisters, will do anything if paid enough, etc. Celtis and Rie were screaming in his head about going home, where they liked it, and he was screaming right back about how they couldn't go back, or else his head would be chopped off by one person or the other (that is to say Shelby, Kyougen, or Tsuomo (K's uncle)). He started on a new sheet of paper, he was drawing a guy standing up and pointing at a lot of people gathered around him.

:: I'm drawing the emperor dude, telling everyone his 'proclamation'. :: After a few minutes, he was done with the emperor and his chair, so he started drawing in the people that the guy was pointing to.

"How can you seem to my eyes like open doors? Leading you down into my core, where I become so numb," Taiko heard someone singing Evanescence outside his room.

:: Who would know that music?! ::

"Wake me up inside! Wake me up inside! Call my name and save me from the dark. Bid my blood to run! Before I come undone! Save me from the nothing I've become!" Taiko got up suddenly, flung open the door, and stared out into the hall. The singing stopped all the sudden. Taiko looked a little down the hall, and saw a girl cleaning the floor. She had looked up from her work to see who had opened the door.

"Who are you?" Taiko asked, skeptically.

"I'm just a servant here. Is there anything you need?" The girl got up from the floor, looked at Taiko a minute, then stared down at the floor, as if she were unworthy to look at him.

"I...was that you singing just a minute ago?" Taiko stared at her, even more incredulously.

"Yes. I will stop if it is bothering you," The girl turned her face more towards the floor, to hide her shame and embarassment.

"No, I was just wondering where you knew that song from," Taiko stepped out from his room and walked a few steps towards her before stopping himself.

"I...don't know. I just know all these songs. They fly into my head, and I feel like singing them, even if I don't understand some of them. Most people think..." The girl stopped. She shouldn't be talking this freely with someone of (seeming) upper class. She shouldn't even be talking to him at all, in her opinion.

"That song was written by Evanescence, in 2003..." Taiko was very confused.

"Two thousand and three?! You must be joking! It is only the year 1050 of our emperor Yuan!" The girl dropped onto her knees, forehead and palms touching the floor. "Forgive me! I did not mean to speak..."

"What are you talking about? You can talk however you want..." Taiko wasn't used to people treating him like he was better than them. "Stop...get off the floor..." Taiko pouted at the girl. :: Bowing...how inappropriate. ::

The girl got off the floor, turning red in the face from embarassment and even more shame, "I'm sorry," The girl turned around and was going to start on the floor again.

"By any chance, do you have a blue symbol anywhere on your body?" Taiko didn't like the sound of his question. It made him bristle. It was a stupid question. Only reserved for those who actually believed in this place that he was residing in at the moment. :: She must think me insane for asking...but I'm curious. If she doesn't have any special ability, then how does she know songs from the 21st century?! :: Taiko cleared his throat and started to make his way back to his room, because the girl had frozen up and hadn't said anything.

All the sudden, she cleared her throat. Taiko turned around and saw a blue symbol glowing on her left shoulder.

"I am a Seiryuu seishi, if that's what you're wondering. I have powers of provocation. I suppose, if I just had the power of singing, you probably wouldn't of come out of your room and ask about the song I was singing. Provocation provokes people to do things, and in my songs, I always sing them for other Seiryuu seishi, so I will provoke them to come for me," The girl looked down at the floor. I knew what song I was singing, but...I didn't want you to think me daft when I told you I was a Seiryuu seishi. I just waited to see if you'd ask me," The girl smiled at him. "I'll sing for you anytime you want. My name is Mau. It means dance. Now if you'll excuse me," Mau looked at the floor again, and went back to washing it, as Taiko went back into his room and closed the door.

KT - (New comments: Hey, sorry for all who read this and saw the really long paragraph. It probably looked like a monster to you! XD! OK, maybe not...but anyways. As I had written somewhere in here before, I hadn't edited this much, AND hadn't taken into consideration that it would be hard to read that REALLY long paragraph. This is edited now, and is all ready for you guys. I added some stuff, as you can tell, and if any of you guys have any ideas for the OMAKE's, please tell me in a review, and I'll think about writing your idea (or elaborating on your idea) BAI!) Hey. I felt bad about writing such a short chapter earlier. This one is even shorter though, so you can just think of it as an extension to the previous chapter, if you want. It's done in all of Jaren's POV (and please pray that Joe doesn't kill me for this chapter, because he just might, since I put in his creations, Celtis and Rie). I figured you needed to get to know some of the characters better, and I had been doing a lot of Shelby and Kyougen POV. (I'm sure Joe would've liked it better if I hadn't done this in Jaren's POV, but I couldn't stop myself!) In the story, I like to call Taiko, Jaren, and Yunika, Sukunai, so if you see me do that to their names, point it out for me, and I'll change it! ^^;! For all of those who were wondering, first day of swimming was hell. I don't want to go back. Some one save me! Please? (my school starts next wed! ;-; ^^) OK so I had to wake up at 6:30 AM. .! Then I was so nervous I couldn't eat anything, but I was able to stuff a graham cracker into my hungry body, as well as a glass of milk and a glass of orange juice. I was so nervous. My stomach was all topsy-turvy. I didn't want to go, and I wanted my friends to be there, and well just a bunch of other stuff...anyways. The practice wasn't that bad (besides the fact that it was way too long! 7:00 to 10:00). My mom was an hour and a half late to pick me up, because she got stuck at some doctors office for sports physicals, then when she picks me up, I'm in this horrible mood for having to wait for so long, and it was really hot out and stuff. When I get home, I can't find anything to eat, and my dad yells at me for coming in his office to get the phone, while he's on an important business call (he works in our house, but he had the house phone in his office, so I wanted to call my friend, so I had to disturb him to get the phone), and I got mad at him and he was just as PO'd as me. So it's been a pretty bad day, but it got me to write, ne? And I think I was most in tune with Jaren (while I was in this mood, that is) so I wrote it in his POV. He sounds like a weirdo thinking to himself, but I can't see Jaren writing in a diary, or something like that, so he was thinking the whole story to himself as you reviewers read it. ^^; Really it was supposed to be like he was talking to you, but then I realized I can't do that, so...I didn't want to write the whole thing over again...but you know how it goes. Well this is all I'm going to write for now. Bai people! - KT