Author's Notes:

Hallo, hallo! I'm vewy zowee vfor keeping you guyz vaiting… Anyway, I was uploading my other two stories, ehehe… *laughs sheepishly* Belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

Uhhmm… this may be a little wee bit late but I have to tell you something. I just sorta forgot to mention it in the first chapters. It's like this: This fic mainly focuses in the love triangle of Hotohori-Miaka-Tamahome. So, the Suzaku seven, all of them are alive, not ghosts, k? And for the Seiryuu seven, they are also alive and kicking, as with Yui Hongo. This is important, remember the events in the first few chapters? I hope you hadn't forgotten about it… partly my fault for not touching the topic . in the previous chapters.

And no, I don't like torturing Miaka… ^_^

And yeah, any suggestions, comments or just plain hello, email me at caress149@white-star.com. Sorry to those I haven't replied too, well… But I assure you that each email is well treasured.

Disclaimer: WATÁKUSHI WA… never mind, I don't know Japanese. I'll just simply say I DON"T OWN FY.

A VERY ROUGH DRAFT

Still Loving You…

By: g3ozL!zh

Chapter 9

As Hotohori was closing the door to Miaka's room, one of the lady servants, Keika Sodiro, was passing by, head bowed.

"Keika."

She stopped and raised her head. "Yes, your Highness?"

"Stay here with Miaka while I'm gone and I want to be assured that she is well attended to. Be sure she takes in her medicine or the poison might resurface again."

"Yes, your Majesty but if you don't mind me asking…" She stared questioningly at him.

Hotohori gave a slight nod.

"Where are you going, sire?"

"Nowhere. Just to my room." He then turned to live.

~ * @@@ * ~

"Huuuuhhhh… I know this is gonna be a loooong tiresome journey without our powers." Tasuki leaning his arm on a tree, catching his breath.

Chichiri, who was quite ahead of him, turned his head and said, "Quit complaining. Just save your breath. Your continuous yapping drains you of your energy, you know." He then resumed walking with a smile.

"Yeeech! I know this was a bad idea." He straightened up and looked around, searching for a nice spot to lie down and rest. "Hey, why don't we stop for a while. I'm like pooped."

Before Tasuki can take another step, Chichiri called out. "Oh, I don't think that's a good idea. We had a break just few minutes ago, you know. If we keep this up, we're never going to arrive at the palace."

"Spoilsport! I should have known better than to come with an old guy." But he trudged along at a snail's pace, muttering incoherently.

"OOOWW!" He glanced at the rock.

"Hurry up!"

~ * @@@ * ~

Miaka painfully rolled her head to the side and slowly raised her eyelids. If it was Hotohori she was expecting, she was disappointed.

The girl smiled, seeing that she's now awake.

Miaka tried her self to smile but it got out to be more like a grimace. "Who are you?"

The girl stood up from her sitting position and gracefully bowed. It reminded Miaka of Yui's mannerisms and she smiled. Almost.

"My name's Keika Sodiro, a servant. Master Hotohori asked me to take care of you for the meantime." She remained standing on her spot.

Miaka just nodded… or what appeared to be a nod.

"It's a good thing that he's also concerned of his own health. He's been slaving himself these past few days you were out cold. I' --- we're all really worried about him. He should not make this any harder for himself, otherwise he'll fall ill. We can't have that, can we?"

It may just be her disoriented mind playing tricks on her but Miaka could have sworn that she could feel something else about this girl. Just the way she was talking just now, telling her… Miaka glanced at the girl again and found her to be smiling sweetly, no trace of anything to prove her thought there. Still, she suddenly felt uncomfortable and wants the girl out of the room as soon as possible.

"Could you go out for a while? I kinda want to change from this awful clothes." She, with all her strength, willed herself to arrive in a sitting position.

At first Keika just stared at her, both amusement and confusion written on her face. "Maybe you meant to say you want to get away from that awful blanket."

It was Miaka's turn to stare quizzically at her. Then she glanced down and realized that indeed, it is the blanket she wants to get away from, not her clothes, for it's the only thing that's covering her. Again? How many times have I awaken naked in bed just because I was injured or something? Can't they have at least offered me a night shirt? Sheesh! At that moment, she could have thought of a lot of… ahem reasons why she's always stark naked whenever she was treated for something in Emperor Hotothori's palace. But due to the many grave things going over her mind and troubled heart, she was not in the mood to even chuckle at that one.

She clutched the cloth tightly to her body and laughed sheepishly. "Oopsy! I forgot. Anyway, can you shoo now?"

The servant girl went out.

She quickly (in her own quick pace, considering how weak she still felt) got out of the bed. As she shakily stood up, she noticed a piece of thin twig-like wood on the floor, just underneath the wooden table where her medicine, she assumed, is. Curious, she bend over, much to her body's protest, to pick it up. She recognized it as the one that poisoned her and wondered why it was still there and not thrown away. Just as she was about to do it, she noticed something white sticking out. Tugging on it but careful not to tear whatever it is, there slipped a thin paper. A note!

Tamahome

And a rough sketch of a map with a big X at a certain point.

Miaka's heartbeat quickened. How the paper ever got to fit inside the wood was beyond her but what intrigue's her most was about Tamahome. Tamahome! Yes, finally, I'll have you back! She pressed the paper to her heart. But who wrote this? She glanced at the now crumpled note.

Tamahome

Is it from Tamahome himself or did somebody else wrote this? What's more, maybe this note is meant to be for him. The note didn't say to or from Tamahome. Just Tamahome. She suddenly shivered and realized that she had been standing with nothing on for too long. And to think somebody might just enter the room. She neatly folded the note and stashed it away under one of her garments, her pink baby tee and black shorts. It's about time she has a change of what dress to wear. After securing that the note is invisible form anybody else, she hastily wrapped the blanket around her and crossed the room to go have a nice warm bath. One thing's for sure. I'll definitely follow the map. It may not lead me to Tamahome exactly but it's a start. And with that, her world seemed much brighter. And this time, I'm going there alone.

~ * @@@ * ~

Miaka woke up early the next morning. She excitedly dressed up, the pink baby tee and black shorts, and after eating a ravish breakfast with Hotohori, she popped him the question. They were walking along the grounds of the palace, just having a bit of exercise.

"It's a good thing you're feeling better now, Miaka." Hotohori smiled down at her, his eyes having that sparkle.

Miaka stared up at him in reply, noting that he would look better with his hair down. "I sure do. It must be that miraculous medicine."

Hotohori chuckled. "Who won't get well taking that herb in? It makes one sleep that days away." He stared meaningfully at her.

That gave Miaka an idea for later. "No wonder I was always drowsy most of the time."

Silence passed between them.

"That reminds me. I sort of retained the poisoned twig just so we can study it for its antidote. It's a good thing it wasn't that serious. Really just to scare us away. I want to know who did it but I kind of misplaced the thing." He glanced at Miaka. "Did you by any chance see it anywhere in your room?"

Miaka shook her head. "No." She doesn't like where the conversation was heading. If Hotohori is determined to catch the culprit, it's alright but just not now. It wasn't there to harm her anyway rather, it was leading her to Tamahome. Having Hotohori on the case might just complicate things up. She'll just have to be cautious, for his sake. "I don't really want to converse about it."

"I understand."

They continued to trudge along, each in their own thoughts.

Miaka suddenly halted, turning to Hotohori. He did the same.

"Hotohori, would it be okay for me to go search for Tamahome again?" Miaka had this hopeful expression on her face.

"Would it be okay if they go search without you?" Hotohori asked, although he knew the answer already. It doesn't hurt to try.

Miaka lowered and shook her head slowly. "No. I want to be there when they find him. Besides, I think I know where he currently is."

Hotohori's brows raised. "You do? So I'm assuming you found the note tucked inside that twig."

Miaka's head shot up. "You knew about it?" Her brows creased. "Why didn't you tell me? I --- we could have done something sooner about it."

"With you out cold, I don't think so. Besides, I've already made a copy of it and sent some of my best men to go looking for him."

"It isn't the same without me. I know him better. Now that your men have shown their faces around the world in search for Tamahome, it might have scared whoever abducted Tamahome away."

"Abducted? What gave you the idea that he was abducted?"

"Well, Tamahome never do go away this long, with not even a word back to inform us wherever he is. Maybe he did go on a journey without telling us 'coz he thought he'd be back the next day but now that we never saw him again, I'm pretty sure that something bad happened to him."

Miaka could be right but deep down inside, Hotohori had a different hunch. He couldn't explain it but he knew that that's not the case.

Miaka continued to talk. "That's like five days gone bye-bye! You knew that I wasn't really that out cold. I'm conscious ---"

"Semi."

"--- when I eat or take that medicine. Hotohori ---" She clutched at his robes.

"Miaka, please. I know you'll find this hard to understand but I did that because of you. I don't want you diving into dangerous measures again without fully recovering from the consequence of our previous endeavor." Hotohori hoped that Miaka would see his side of things.

Miaka have had it with Hotohori always being practical up to the extent of even giving up what little chance they have in finding Tamahome. "You can't tell me what I should or shouldn't do! You don't own my life!" Miaka hands were clenched in a tight fist at her sides.

He gave her an even stare. "I can if I know it's the best for you."

"That's exactly it! You don't know what's best for me. You're always assuming. God! You sound like a father I never had! Did you ever come to stop and think if I'm happy with the way things are right now?"

Hotohori was silent.

"Well, I thank you now for everything you've done plus the lodging and all." Miaka turned her back as if ready to leave but paused when Hotohori spoke.

"I still love you, Miaka but I never did order you to love me back. I'm doing all this for you. If Tamahome left you with not even a word of goodbye, I felt that I was left there to protect you. To make things all right. Suzaku knows how hard I tried to do those, just so you can finally move on with your life."

Miaka didn't turn around when she spoke. "You can never replace him in my heart, Hotohori." Her tone was flat and had a finalization to it. "These times he hadn't been by my side made me realize how he truly meant to me. If at first I've been torn between the two of you, well now I know where I stand. I hate telling you these, Hotohori, but I feel that it's time for you to move on with your life." With that, Miaka left, leaving Hotohori with the cold air despite the warmth of the morning sun.

Author's Notes:

Now I know it sounds lacking but I'm just submitting this for the meantime 'coz I feel that I've kept you waiting for so long. This is a very rough draft so if any of you have any suggestions as to how to make this better, with much more impact, do email me. I'll email you back if I like your suggestion and give you credit for it, otherwise, I may have overlooked your email and it would be just a coincidence that I had the same idea as you have! ^_^

And yeah, I don't know yet the significance of Tasuki and Chichiri's scene since it's not part of my original plot but then, all will be explained in due time.

The reason it took me long to come up with this installment is because I have this tendency to branch out from my original plot. Tee-hee!