DISCLAIMER: ~sings along to "Rent" (from, incidentally, the musical Rent) and doesn't worrya bout the fact that she in no way owns either Rent or FY~

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Bashou killed me with a dictionary ^_^

I am in the middle of getting the entire soundtrack of Rent.

I have a take-home quiz I should be doing.

There was an accident outside my neighborhood today.

(To be serious for JUST A SECOND I wanna GLOMP everyone! ~GLOMP!~ Lord, the reaction to this story lately has been so overwhelming! I was so sure people wouldn't like this story because it's very stereotypical, but maybe I was wrong ^^ Anyway, it'll get even weirder soon, and probably more confusing. But I'm gonna put in handy guides to stuff, like who everyone is. If you have any questions, just ask!)

And no one is obliged to review (although I won't say no if you want to! ^_^)


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"Reijirou-san. Reijirou-san, wake up, you have visitors."

Reijirou slowly awakened to the morning sun shining in his eyes and a smiling nurse taking his temperature. "Hhfhoo fif fit?"

"One moment, then you can talk." The thermometer beeped and the nurse took it out of his mouth, glancing at the measurement. "Well, you don't have a fever, that's good. You didn't contract any disease when you got cut then. Now, I'll bring them in to you." The nurse smiled her way out of the room, leaving Reijirou blinking at the ceiling. He glanced at the clock. 8:30. He smiled ironically. The same time he woke up yesterday, although under very different circumstances.

"Reijirou-san!" A blur rushed into the room and climbed up onto the foot of his bed. "Reijirou-san, Reijirou-san, Mama said you got hurt!"

Reijirou smiled. "Hai, I did Naora-chan, but I feel better."

Naora crawled on her hands and knees further up the bed, inspecting him with wide, curious eyes. "You don't look hurt. You look tired!"

"Naora! Don't go running off like that without us!" Miaka and Taka walked into the room, giving their daughter what could only be described as "parent looks". "Reijirou needs his rest."

"It's all right, I was awake anyway. Thank you for coming."

"Reijirou-san, what happened to you?" Naora asked, now sitting cross-legged by his uninjured arm.

He reached up and patted her head. "Some bad men did a bad thing. But they won't anymore." There was a wisp of movement in the corner of his eye. He quickly glanced over and saw Nuriko come drifting in through the door and over to Miaka. He whispered in her ear, and her mouth dropped open. Reijirou took that as a signal. "Naora-chan, would you mind letting me and your mother talk for a minute?"

"Hai!" She scrambled off the bed and ran to grab her father's hand. "Papa, let's go down to the store we saw on the way in! We can get Reijirou-san a teddy bear!"

Taka laughed and picked up his daughter. Reijirou could hear Nuriko laughing too. "All right Naora-chan, we can go look. We'll be back in a few minutes." Taka nodded at Miaka and Reijirou, then headed out the door with Naora, who was babbling excitedly away.

"Ashitare." There's was no question in Miaka's tone.

"Yeah."

"He almost killed you."

"Nuriko saved me." Reijirou looked over at Nuriko.

Miaka did also, and smiled sadly. "Arigato Nuriko, somehow you always seem to be saving one of us." She went over and hugged the seishi, almost resting against him for a moment as if to regain her strength.

"Just doing my job," Nuriko said softly, stroking her hair. "You were so stupid you needed a lot of looking after. And now he does, too. I'm not going to just sit by and let myself die again, now am I?"

"No, you wouldn't." Miaka pulled back, wiping away a tear and smiling. "But still, thank you."

"Miaka, we know why this is happening now." Reijirou's voice was almost back to normal, but he was incredibly hoarse. Nuriko and Miaka both glanced at him. "Ashitare wants us dead."

Miaka gasped. "It can't be…"

Reijirou and Nuriko looked at each other with equally grim expressions, and nodded in sync. "Do you want to hear what he said Miaka?" Nuriko asked gently.

"Miaka? Daijobu?" Miaka had slowly collapsed into one of the chairs. "Miaka?"

"Us… all of us?" She asked shakily.

Nuriko took that as a yes, kneeling in front of her and placing a hand on ehr shoulder, not letting her look away. "He said to Reijirou: 'And I won't do it just to you. Your family, your friends, all the Suzaku… you'll get there first, but you won't be alone long. And Nakago. He killed me too, even after I'd done his bidding, because he had no use for an animal like me. Him, and all the Seiryu… you can continue your little war… in hell!' He had just asked Reijirou if he knew why he was being murdered like that." The word "murdered" sent chills up Reijirou's spine. "He said everyone. And I think he meant it."

"Our friends… our families… not just us, even though most of us don't even know about it, but everyone who's close to us?" Miaka whispered. Her hands clenched into shaking fists in her lap. "Why? Why this...?"

"Miaka…" Reijirou said quietly, "it won't happen. I'll make sure it won't happen. I won't let anything happen to you or Taka or Naora-chan. You can count on it."

"Reijirou…"

"I won't either Miaka. You fought hard to have this life. No one will take it away while I can help it."

"Nuriko…" She smiled. "Arigato. You two really are the same."

"We know," they chorused. Nuriko grinned at Reijirou. "We're getting good at that."

"Hai." Reijirou grinned back. "Maybe we can start playing practical jokes that way."

"Ooh, got any ideas?"

"Possibly."

"Oh, knock it off you two." Miaka had to grin also. "Or I'll feed Naora-chan a bag of sugar and have you both baby-sit her for a few hours."

They both paled dramatically. "NO!"

Miaka just smiled sweetly.



~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~




"I see. I'll call Yui-chan as soon as I get home and let her know what's going on. Hopefully she'll be free for the next couple of days so we can finish this quickly." Reijirou and Nuriko had just explained everything they'd worked out the night before, leaving out one tiny item: Reijirou refused to tell Miaka about Gesshin/Tasuki. He still wasn't sure what she'd do. He knew it would have to come out sooner or later, but the more time she had to cool off, the better. Nuriko had seemed to understand that and had noticeably left Tasuki off when they'd related the list of seishi they'd found the day before.

"Yeah, that would be good. But why is Yui so busy lately?"

Miaka smiled proudly. "She's studying for her degree in business law."

Reijirou whistled. Nuriko looked puzzled. "What's that?"

"Something very complicated," Reijirou explained.

"Oh." Nuriko apparently decided not to inquire further, something Reijirou thought very wise. "Well, while you try to get Yui, Miaka, we'll try and find the rest."

"Nuriko, we should probably try to find Nakago first."

Nuriko shuddered. "That guy gives me the creeps. I wish we could leave him alone."

"Whatever he did in the past, even killing us, is in the past. Whoever he is now is gonna be gone after. He deserves a fair warning."

"I know, I know, but it doesn't mean I have to like it." Nuriko grumbled. "Ashitare may have killed us, but he was under Nakago's orders. But I'll do it. It is fair."

"Good, 'cause I think I know who he is…"

"WHAT?!" Nuriko leapt over and grabbed the collar of Reijirou's hospital gown, yanking him up. "Why didn't you TELL me this already?!"

"Can't… breathe…!"

Nuriko looked down at Reijirou's face, which was slowly turning the color of his hair, and yelped. "Gomen!" He let him go and he fell back against the pillows. "Gomen nasai!"

Reijirou rubbed his throat with his left hand, twisting his head back and forth to get it working right again. "You better be. And I just remembered it a minute ago, so I couldn't have told you before then."

"I guess not then."

"You know how strange it is to see Nuriko doing that to himself?" Miaka was sitting in her chair, giggling. "I've seen him nearly choke Tasuki and Tamahome and random people in the street, but not himself."

"I would've gladly avoided the experience if I could have."

"Hey, I said sorry."

"I can still tease you."

"All right you two, calm down. You said the doctor, Seo Murai, is Mitsukake?"

"Yes, we both felt it." Reijirou said, while Nuriko nodded his agreement. "And when he touched my wounds, they felt cooler. It would fit if he really is Mitsukake."

"And those friends of your brother, they're Suboshi and Amiboshi."

"Right."

"Katai even plays the flute," Nuriko commented ironically.

"I wonder how many more there are…" Miaka folded her arms, a considering expression on her face.

"At the most, thirteen, at the least, six. Us, Tamahome, Suboshi, Amiboshi, Mitsukake, Nakago." Nuriko counted off on his fingers. "And of course you and Yui."

Miaka frowned at the floor. "Even if there's only that many from the book, there's all the family members, close friends, possibly even co-workers… maybe about a hundred people."

"But we're not going to let him, Miaka." Reijirou reminded her gently. "We already said we wouldn't. I'm not gonna let a couple of wounds stop me." He smiled.

She smiled back. "Arigato."

The room was quiet for a few seconds, everyone lost in thought. Nuriko was looking out the window again. He seemed to like doing that. Suddenly a question popped into Reijirou's head, and he spoke without thinking. "Miaka, how did you know this was coming and that Risako and I would be involved in it?"

Miaka gave him a sideways glance. "It's sort of a miko power. Not very well defined though. I started having these strange dreams one night. I couldn't remember what happened in them, but I always woke up with this feeling of fear and horror and anticipation. The only things that stuck with me were two faces: a Nuriko who was not Nuriko, and a girl with long, dark red hair. When I saw Risako a couple of days ago I knew it was her, and after I figured out that you weren't Nuriko-" she smiled ironically "-I guessed you were the other. After all, how many Nurikos can there be at one time?"

"Two at least, and I bet we could get more!" Nuriko called. Everyone laughed.

Suddenly a sharp pain lanced through Reijirou's chest, and he cried out. Nuriko yelled at the same time he did, falling to his knees and doubling over his torso, shaking visibly. Reijirou clamped his arms around himself and shivered violently, gritting his teeth against another yell.

"What?! What's going on?!" Miaka jumped out of her chair, knocking it over, looking in horror back and forth between them.

"I… I don't know…" Reijirou managed to get out.

The pain began to fade after a few seconds. Nuriko slowly began to unbend, Reijirou relaxed his death grip on himself. He was sweating, and Nuriko would have been as well if he were able. The pain suddenly disappeared entirely. Reijirou took a shuddering breath. "What was that…"

"I think…" Nuriko said as he slowly stood up, "something happened to Risako…"

"Risako?!"

"That's only a guess. I'm going to go find out. Now." Nuriko vanished.

Reijirou dropped back into his pillows, breathing deeply. "If it is Risako, how did I feel that…?"

Miaka came up beside him and pulled his blanket up, tucking it around him. "I don't know. I just hope she's all right."



~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~




She knew she was dreaming. She knew she was dreaming, yet it all seemed so real, and she could not wake up. She couldn't tell where she was, but she knew there were a lot of people with her. And other things, things that were like people, but not quite. She had the feeling she knew two of them very well.

She could see the great shape in front of her, separating her and several others from the people and not-quite people. She knew she was scared. Yes, she was very scared. And very determined. And very pissed off. And directly in front of the shape stood the person she knew the best, yelling something as loud as possible, but she still couldn't make it out. The great shape had a dramatically smaller one with it. It wanted to harm the small one. She knew she had to stop it.

The pain. The pain was quite real. She could feel the ice-hot fire of the wounds. She thought she screamed. Or maybe it was that person. Another shadow flew past, towards the big shape. There. The pain was lessening. Or she was losing feeling. She thought she saw another shape running towards her…

Risako opened her eyes, looking wildly around her room. It was the same as it had been the night before, when Nuriko appeared out of nowhere and woke her to help Reijirou. There was nothing there she didn't know about.

"A dream…" Risako sighed and wiped her hand across her forehead. She'd been sweating heavily. Well, she wanted a shower anyway. She turned over in her bed, clutching the comforter to her chin. What had that dream been…?

"Risako!" POP. Nuriko appeared out of thin air in front of her. And ducked as one of her pillows went flying over his head. "Ne, ne, it's me!"

"Nuriko! Sorry!" She put down the other pillow sheepishly. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to see if you were all right, baka. Obviously you are if you try to hit me with stuff."

"All right?" Risako blinked. "What do you mean all right?"

"At the hospital just a few moments ago both me and Reijirou felt this excruciating pain. I thought something had happened to you, so I came here." Nuriko politely turned around. "And I'd get some new sleepwear if I were you, those are getting pretty ratty."

"Gah!" She chucked the other pillow at him, which he easily dodged. "I'm fine, I'm fine, I had this strange dream that's all."

"Strange dream? What about?" he asked, his back still turned.

She took the opportunity to get out of bed and pull on her robe. "I'm not exactly sure. I don't know where, when, how, or who, but there were people I knew, and one I was damn mad at. And that one was... I'm not sure what they were doing, but I had to stop it… then the pain came. I don't know how, but I felt this massive pain. Then it seemed to lessen. The last thing I remember was one person going over me and one running to me. Then I woke up. Then you popped in."

"And then you tried to hit me."

"Sorry, all right?! Out. Back to the hospital, I have to change. I'll be down there to look at pictures in a couple of hours."

Nuriko grinned. "I'll leave you to yourself then." He popped out.

"Risa-chan!" her mother called to her. "Come here and help me!"

Risako groaned. Somehow she could tell this was going to be a long day…



~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~




"Reijirou-san, we're back! Look what we got you!" An excited Naora burst in the room, running fast and trying not to trip over the extremely large light neon purple teddy bear she was carrying. The thing was almost as big as the girl.

Reijirou smiled. "Arigato Naora-chan, that's very kind of you." He hid laughter as she tried to climb onto the bed while holding the bear, not having much success. She really was so incredibly cute.

"One moment Naora-chan." Taka came in, grinning widely. He picked up his daughter and lifted her onto the bed. "How do you like your present, Reijirou? She picked it out all by herself."

"You did?" Naora nodded. He smiled again. "Then that makes it even better." She beamed happily up at him, snuggling in next to him on the creaky hospital bed.

He heard a soft popping sound as Nuriko appeared back in the room. Reijirou willed himself not to look that way.

"And you have something else, Reijirou." Taka held up a black bag, still grinning.

"More presents? I'm touched."

"Don't be." Taka opened the bag and began taking out books, grinning even wider. Miaka was grinning too. "It's the work you'll probably miss for your classes."

Reijirou groaned loudly. "I can't even write and I'm expected to do homework? Forget it."

"Now now Enomoto, don't be a bad influence on Naora-chan here."

Naora was looking back and forth between them like a spectator at a tennis match, one finger in her mouth. "What's a bad influence Papa?"

"I'll tell you later." Taka gently removed the finger from her mouth and glanced at his watch. "Sorry Reijirou, I have to be at the university soon."

Miaka stood up and pushed the chair back into its place by the wall. "I have to be going too, gomen. Come on sweetie." She came over and picked up her daughter, being careful not to jostle Reijirou too much. "We'll try to come back soon, Reijirou."

"Hey, how did you all get here now? I thought they had restricted visiting hours."

Taka grinned. "We told the truth. I said I was bringing you your school work."

Reijirou grumbled as the Sukunami family left his room.

Nuriko drifted over to the bed, looking amused. "That is one big, bright bear."

"Definitely."



~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~




"No… Nothing…" Reijirou had fallen back asleep for a couple of hours, only to be woken by Owake and Fujimara, who'd brought their books of photos. Risako was late. He'd spent the past fifteen minutes looking through them seemingly alone, although Nuriko was watching over his shoulder. It was Nuriko's job to remember Ashitare's new name if he was in there, although they wouldn't tell the police. So far they'd had no luck.

"It's okay, just take your time. Getting the right one is important."

Reijirou pushed that book away and grabbed another one, flipping it open with his left hand to a random page. He scanned the photos.

"Nothing," Nuriko said over his shoulder. "No one even close."

The door flew open. "Sorry, Mom needed my help and wouldn't let me leave," Risako explained, rushing into the room. Fujimara graciously stood up, offering her his chair, which she pulled next to Reijirou's bed and sat in. "Thank you. Any luck so far?"

"No. I'm getting depressed."

"Don't worry, if they're not in these, we've got a few more at the station," Owake said.

"That's good." Reijirou turned the page. Then he turned the page again. And again. And again. Then he went back to the pages he'd skipped and flipped through those. Nothing. Ashitare was not in there.

"None of them look familiar," Risako said next to him. He had to admit she was playing her part well.

"There's still another book." Fujimara handed her the last and thickest book they'd brought. Risako put it on Reijirou's tray and opened the cover. Reijirou went through this one more slowly, giving each face a more careful glance. There was always the chance he didn't look exactly the same.

"Reijirou. Look. Third from the right," Nuriko said from behind him after a few pages. Reijirou casually let his gaze wander to that picture.

It was Ashitare all right. The hair was a bit shorter, and he had a bruise on his face, but it was him for certain.

"Koiso… Akihiko…" Nuriko read out loud. "Koiso Akihiko… hmm…"

Reijirou kept turning pages, although now he only pretended to look. Finally he closed the book and sighed. "Gomen nasai, I don't recognize anyone."

"I don't either," Risako said, sounding just as apologetic.

"That's all right kids, we can bring the rest of the pictures here some other time. Probably not for the next couple of days though, I think your doctor is getting annoyed with us, Enomoto-san." Fujiwara collected the books, putting them in a cardboard file box.

Reijirou shrugged with his uninjured arm. "He means well. And the faster I'm better the sooner I get out of here."

Owake grinned. "True. Then we can recruit you to the force."

"Me? A policeman? No way."

"Ahh, just think about it, you wouldn't be too bad."

"Too bad. That's still bad." He grinned. "That's not for me."

"Oh, I don't know Reijirou, I could picture you in a uniform," Risako got into it as well, grinning.

"Oh no, not you too," he groaned. He could hear Nuriko muffling laughter behind him.

"Well, we'll set up an appointment with your doctor. We'll see you soon." The two officers waved as they left.

"You would be a good policeman, Reijirou."

"You'd be better." He gave her a look. "Are you all right?"

She nodded. "Hai, I'm fine, I already told Nuriko that."

"Right after she threw her pillow at me." Nuriko piped up

"You ducked!"

"You still threw it!"

"Wouldn't it have gone right through you, Nuriko?" Reijirou asked.

Nuriko blinked. "You know, I don't know." Risako giggled.

Reijirou turned back to Risako. "Are you sure you're okay? What I felt was almost as bad as when Ashitare did this to me."

"Baka. I'm fine. It was just a dream."

"A dream?"

"Yeah, why?"

Reijirou didn't answer. Instead he reached over and picked up the bedside phone, dialed the outline, and hit 0. "Operator, I need the number for someone named Sukunami Taka. Yes. That's right. Sure." He waited a moment. "Miaka? This is Reijirou. Listen, how soon will you and Yui be ready for a mass summoning?"



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AUTHOR'S NOTES II: Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I guarantee NO ONE'S safety. Seriously. No one is safe in my hands. Just see Market for evidence to that pint --;;; It's not that I want to torture them (wellllllllll... only in certain circumstances, and only if it'll be funny), but the plot needs it... Anyway, just remember that and we should get along fine ^_^