Kokie and Amefuri were going to cut through Konan to get to Kutou, so we were unable to travel together in the same direction. Tatara didn't emerge that morning to bid us farewell, and Amefuri looked worried.

"Maybe this isn't the best idea. What if something happens here?" She said, her brow furrowed. "Tatara doesn't seem like he'll be alright alone."

"I talked to him," Tokaki said, "He'll be fine."

Kokie looked amused, and nearly laughed out loud, but caught herself. She looked at me, and I heard her voice in my head. Right, like he's such an expert. But I didn't say anything. I was nervous enough about having to spend so much time alone with Tokaki. Amefuri had talked to me the night before about it, and while I had assured her that everything would be alright, I hadn't succeeded in convincing myself.

We parted at the gates of the capital. Amefuri put on a brave face and Kokie muttered something about this "being no problem", but I left it only at a good look to them, and Tokaki said nothing.

We set out on the road to the East. The silence was uncomfortable and I had to say something lest my anxiety get the best of me, so I finally spoke. "…Where are we going?"

Tokaki shrugged. "The rebels' main base is somewhere near the eastern border."

"But I thought you said you could find Karasuki?"

"Once we're close enough, yeah."

"Oh." There was another long silence. "What did you talk to Tatara about?"

"Huh? Oh… Uh, about Suzuno, you know. That he shouldn't really dwell on her too much."

I looked down at the road. "He seems to really love her."

"Yeah, he does," Tokaki replied awkwardly. "But I don't think he should. When she's done summoning, she's going back to her world, anyway. He should find someone else and forget about her."

"Suzuno doesn't feel that way," I interrupted, "She told me she's going to use one of her wishes to stay in this world."

"What if Byakko-seikun doesn't grant that wish? All the legends say that the Miko comes from her world, saves her country, and then goes back to her world. I've never heard anything about a Miko staying in this world."

"Well… Maybe Suzuno will be the first," I protested half-heartedly. He had a point that I hadn't thought of before. Surely there had been other Mikos who had wanted to stay here.

"Besides," Tokaki continued, "She's a Miko. She's something holy. Tatara shouldn't be looking at her like that."

At first I didn't say anything; after all, those had been my own feelings earlier. But now that I saw how much Suzuno didn't want to be holy, how she didn't want to be so special, that she just wanted to be a normal girl and be able to be with the man that she loved, I was supporting her. She should be able to have what she wants. Finally, I muttered, "Like you've never looked at her in any other way than as a Miko."

Tokaki stopped his horse and stared at me. "That's completely different. I didn't fall in love with her!"

"Right, you seem to be avoiding that." The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them. I looked away, but my cheeks burned red when I still felt his eyes on me. I could feel tears in the back of my eyes, but I blinked them back.

"…We should keep moving," Tokaki said in a flat voice, and I barely moved my head in a nod.

Both of us were silent for the rest of the day. I mentally berated myself for having to bring up that subject again. All it did was bring me pain, so why did I have to dwell on it? I had to get over this. It hurt like hell, but I resolved to do so.

In the late afternoon, we reached a village and I pulled up on the reins of my horse, looking around, then heading towards the small building with the "Inn" sign hanging out front.

"Where are you going?" Tokaki called, looking confused.

"You don't really think we should travel all night, do you?" I replied dully.

"No… But it's still early."

"…And we don't know where the next town is. Besides, there are bandits in this area, and I don't want to be stuck out there as an easy target."

"I could take care of--"

"No, you can't." I didn't say it as a doubt of his fighting skills, but instead as a refusal to be protected by him. But still, I almost regretted the words. "…We're staying here."

Inside, the elderly innkeeper informed me that there was only one room left. I was rather suspicious, as this wasn't a very large town, but he explained it to me. "Bandits, my dear girl! During these summer months, many people wouldn't mind staying out in the wilderness, but since there's been so many raids by the bandits lately, no one wants to take a chance."

Tokaki spoke up from the doorway behind me. "That's okay, I'll stay outside with the horses. Just in case something should happen." He didn't sound too happy about it, but I didn't say anything.

In the middle of the night, I awoke with a start. Something was wrong - I felt oddly ill at ease. It had started to storm at some point during the night, and now the rain and wind pouded against the wooden shutters on the window. I thought that it must have only been the thunder that pulled me out of sleep, but over the sounds of the storm, I could hear shouting outside.

I dressed hastily, then ran down the stairs to see the innkeeper and his wife standing in the doorway, looking out. I pushed my way between them to see Tokaki outside, standing over a dark figure who was kneeling on the ground. My heart leapt into my throat - this wasn't just a simple bandit. I looked around quickly to see if he was alone.



A sudden flash of movement on the roof of the building across the street caught my eye, and I looked up to see another dark figure. A flash of lightning illuminated the scene, and I could make out the figure better - to see that they held a dagger, and were taking aim.

I screamed and squeezed my eyes shut. Almost instantly, Tokaki was beside me, grabbing onto my arm. After a long moment, I heard him mutter "Shit." I opened my eyes to see that the dagger had hit the man on the ground. "…Shit, shit, shit."

"…What was that?" I said in a quiet voice, my heart still pounding.

"One of Karasuki's minions," he replied, slowly letting go of my arm. "…Let's go inside, you're getting all wet."

The innkeeper's wife brought us blankets and sat us by the fire in the kitchen. Tokaki told them that the men were simply bandits, and they seemed to accept that and went back to bed, shaking their heads and mumbling about "godforsaken bandits".

We sat there quietly for a few moments, then I finally asked, "Why did his own companion kill him?"

"Dead men tell no tales." Tokaki threw the blanket onto the ground. "If he lived, I would've been able to find out where Karasuki is."

"What did they want?"

"To stop us, of course. 'Give up now, while you still have your lives,'" he mimicked with a smirk. He leaned over to pick up the blanket again, and I noticed that there was blood on his sleeve. He glanced up to see what I was looking at, then waved his arm. "It's nothing, I'm fine."

I shook my head, then got up and walked over to him. My hands were shaking as I placed them on his arm, and I whispered, "Onmikartera whamasu Tokaki."

Surprised at the disappearance of the wound, Tokaki pulled his arm away and pushed up his sleeve. He looked up at me a bit of wonder in his expression. "That's really amazing."

Shaking my head again, I let a small smile cross my lips. "Right, but it's not teleportation. Or telepathy or…"

"Hey, come on, no low self-esteem. Byakko gave us all these powers for a reason, right? So we're all equally useful. Besides," he added, "If you couldn't do that, then I'd have to whine about being wounded. And I heard about how you saved Kokie's life. That's hardly something to be ashamed of. Everyone's different. You don't hear Amefuri and Kokie bitching about not being the prettiest seishi, do you?"

My cheeks burned, and Tokaki took his eyes off me and looked into the fire. When I glanced at him, I thought I saw a bit of red in his cheeks, but I told myself it was probably just the fire.

Finally, I excused myself to go back to bed, and although Tokaki said he'd be fine there, I felt kind of guilty. The truth was that I was rather terrified. It had taken all this time for me to realize my fear over what had just happened with Karasuki's followers. What happened if they came back? More specifically, what happened if they came back and Tokaki wasn't there to protect me? I couldn't defend myself; I had no fighting skills. I winced when I remember that it was just earlier that day that I had told Tokaki that I didn't want him to protect me. But tonight, when I screamed, he had appeared next to me right away, even at the risk of that one assassin escaping.

Even at the risk of his life. The realization dawned on me suddenly. If he heard me scream, then he would have seen that I was in trouble, and to protect me even then. There should only be one person that we should put our lives in danger for, and that was Suzuno. Why would he do that?

I didn't want to think about the answer.