Meeting the Emperor

Part Three

Tamahome had gotten the group lost. What really made Megyn mad was that they were only a few miles away from the capital.

"Tamahome, you ditz," she screamed at him. "Why'd ya have to go and get us lost when we were so close?!" She had been yelling at him for quite awhile now. By this time, he was huddled at the foot of a nearby tree.

"Da, Megyn?" said Chichiri. "You should stop scaring Tamahome, you know."

Before she could bite his head off too, she heard a voice nearby. She ran towards the voice leaving a rather shaken Tamahome behind. She saw a group of men on horses and walked up to the one that seemed in charge. She bowed.

"Excuse me, sir. My companions and I have an urgent message for his highness, the emperor. We have lost our way. Could you please direct us to the palace?" She looked up at the man. He was obviously a noble. He had long brown hair and beautiful brown eyes.

"Well, sir," said one of the other men. "If you have a message for the emperor, then tell him."

"I would if I could find the palace," she retorted, trying to stay calm.

"But this is-," said one of the men, but he was cut off.

"Let her speak," commanded the brown-haired gentleman. "Please tell me the message."

"Pardon me, but how do I know that I can trust you, sir?"

"Because if the message is of no importance, I shall hardly go bother the emperor with such trivialities."

"Our message is," Megyn hesitated, "that we have found the Priestess of Suzaku." The men whispered frantically.

"Kindly bring your party here," said the brown-haired noble. "We will take you to the palace at once."

Thanking him, Megyn bowed and ran back to where everyone was trying to figure out why she ran off in the first place.

"Come on," she urged. "We're going to the palace. Don't ask questions. Hurry up."

She led them to where the men were waiting. When they got there, Tamahome and Chichiri dropped their horses' leads and kneeled. Jamie and Megyn looked at them.

"Bow you idiots!" yelled Tamahome.

"Idiots?!" the girls yelled back.

"Do we have to beat you up again?" Megyn asked.

"Calling me, the Priestess of Suzaku, an idiot," said Jamie shaking her head mockingly. "Suzaku will smite you for that."

All of the men whispered excitedly. Why are they so excited?

"Let's go to the palace now, please," Megyn said. The noble offered his hand to her. "Thanks," she said as he pulled her in front of him. She glanced at Chichiri. He looked annoyed at the noble. Kawaii. He's jealous.

It only took them a few minutes to arrive at the palace. As soon as they entered, the nobleman Megyn was riding with disappeared. He reappeared momentarily, but now wearing the royal robes. It took Jamie and Megyn a millisecond to put two and two together. That's why Chichiri and Tamahome bowed. He's the emperor.

When the horse shuffled backwards, Megyn realized where she was and closed her eyes. I am not on a horse. I am not on a horse, she chanted to herself. A hand touched hers. She looked and saw Chichiri offering to help her off the horse. He didn't know about her problem with horses. She grasped his hand as he helped her down. "Thanks." He smiled at her. His smile turned to a look of slight pain. She let go of his hand. "Sorry."

They all bowed as the emperor neared them. "Do not trouble yourselves with formalities," he said. "I am Hotohori, Emperor of Konan, and fellow sichiseishi. You will be shown to your rooms to refresh. Then we will eat dinner."

"Thank you," they said. Servants led them to their rooms. Tamahome's room was first, then Jenna's, then Chichiri's, and then Megyn's. The rooms were very nice. Megyn's room consisted of a bed, a desk and chair, a changing screen, and a chest.

There was a knock on Megyn's door. "Come in." A servant girl walked in carrying some clothes. She bowed. Megyn waved it off.

"The emperor wishes for you to accept these clothes."

"Thanks." She handed Megyn the pile of clothes, bowed, and left.

Chichiri walked towards Megyn's room and knocked on the door. "Just a minute," came the call from inside. He could hear footsteps nearing the door. The door opened and she looked at him. She seemed surprised. "I thought I would come to pick you up, no da," Chichiri said cheerily.

"Thank you, Chichiri," she said looking up at him. She smiled. Chichiri held out his arm and she took it.

They walked towards the dining room. "You look very beautiful tonight, no da." He looked down at her. Her dark hair was out of its usual bun and was gently brushed so it draped over her left shoulder. She wore a black silk dress embroidered with red phoenixes.

"Thanks," she said looking at her feet as they walked. Her ears and face went from their normal rosy color to a deep shade of magenta.

"You know what, Jamie?" Tamahome asked as they followed Megyn and Chichiri towards the dining room.

"Hmm?"

"I think of you and Megyn as part of my family, my little sisters."

Jamie looked at him, stunned. Then she smiled. "We can't be like your family. Your family adores you. We, on the other hand, just tease you and beat you up."

"Yeah, but still…" he said sheepishly, lowering his head.

"Oh, c'mon," she said, punching him playfully on the shoulder. "You know we love ya. You're like our big brother…who we tend to beat up occasionally, but hey. You've been taking care of us almost since we first arrived in Konan and your family when you weren't there." She squeezed his hand and smiled up at him.

"I'm sorry we kept you waiting," Megyn said as they entered the dining room.

"Please sit," said the emperor. Jamie and Megyn sat on either side of the emperor. Chichiri made a move to sit beside Megyn, but Tamahome was faster and sat down first. He eyed Chichiri suspiciously. Chichiri walked around to the other side of the table and sat next to Jamie, but all the while he was looking at Megyn.

The emperor watched this whole exchange carefully. He coughed to get their attention. They turned to him. He looked at Megyn. She bent her head down as she felt her face get hot. Jeez! That was embarrassing. She looked up again as he began to speak.

"You," he began, looking at Jamie, "are the Priestess of Suzaku?"

Jamie had her mouth full, already, and muttered something incomprehensible. She blushed and swallowed. "Well, sort of. Taiitsu-kun said that Megyn was supposed to be the priestess, but she didn't want it. So she gave me the job," Jamie said. Hotohori looked at Megyn, shocked.

"Why did you not want to be priestess?" he asked.

"It wasn't that I didn't want to be priestess. It was...well...umm..." She nervously looked around at everyone. "Jamie has something...a quality, sort of, that you need to be priestess. I don't have that quality. Well, it's not really a quality at all. It's more something I have that Jamie doesn't. I'm just surprised that Taiitsu-kun didn't notice it," she finally said. They looked at her. "It's nothing important," she muttered hoping they would drop the subject.

Luckily for her, Tamahome got the message and changed the subject. She gave him an appreciative smile. He hid a smile and winked back.

There was a knock at the door. "Megyn?" It was Jamie. Megyn didn't especially want to talk, but it was Jamie.

"It's open." The door opened and Jamie peeked in. "Hey. What are you doing up so late?"

"Shouldn't I be asking you that question?" she asked. She looked like she wanted to say something, but didn't know how to bring it up.

"What is it?" Megyn asked. What could it be that she wants to talk about? We can talk about nearly anything together. Yeah, nearly anything.

"Well, I thought that we could chat about...stuff," she mumbled. She sat down next to Megyn on the bed.

"What kind of 'stuff'?"

"Well...um...I dunno," she stuttered. "Well, for starters, why...why didn't you become the priestess, like Taiitsu-kun wanted?"

"It's like I explained it. Nothing more."

"What is the 'quality' thing that I don't have?" Jamie persisted. God, she won't give up! Megyn was silent. "TELL ME!!" she screamed, angrily, slamming her fists down beside her.

"Jamie!" Megyn said, flabbergasted. "I...I...I just...can't," she replied softly.

"WHY THE HELL NOT?!"

"James, be quiet, you'll wake the whole palace."

"I WON'T BE QUIET UNTIL YOU TELL ME!" she continued to scream. "I DON'T CARE ABOUT THE PALACE! THE EMPEROR AND THE WHOLE DAMN PALACE CAN WAKE UP AND KILL EACH OTHER OFF FOR ALL I CARE!"

Just then the doors to Megyn's room flew open. Chichiri, Tamahome, the emperor, several advisors, and a woman were standing on the other side of the doorway.

The first thing Nuriko saw when the door opened was a blond-haired girl yelling at a brown-haired girl. It surprised him that a girl so small could be that loud. They all filed inside the room.

"What is going on here?" demanded the young emperor. Nuriko sighed inwardly as he spoke. Oh, sire. You are so commanding.

The blond girl turned to them. Her face was red, though he could not tell if it was from yelling or embarrassment. "Forgive me, your highness. We were in the middle of a heated discussion," replied the blond girl hoarsely.

"Discussion?" asked Tamahome, or so Nuriko was told by one of the serving girls. "It sounded more like you were having a cat fight to me."

"It was nothing," said the dark-haired girl standing up.

"Are you sure?" asked the man with blue hair.

The brown-haired girl's eyes locked onto Nuriko's. It felt like she looked straight into his heart. Her eyes began to water, as if she was going to cry. Instead of crying she burst out laughing, which brought on tears of its own. Then, in front of the beautiful emperor himself, she snorted. She fell back onto the bed holding her stomach. Everyone stared at her fit of laughter.

"What's wrong now?" asked Tamahome.

"I think I need some air," she said, giggling. She stood up and walked towards the door. She grabbed Nuriko's arm as she passed. "You can come with me," she said pulling him along. "So I don't get lost." Everyone stared as he was dragged away. He knew that he could easily break her grip, but he let her lead him to a secluded part of the garden; he was curious.

When they were far enough away, he broke free of her grip. "What is it you wish of me, miss?" he asked trying to sound sweet.

She looked him up and down. "You sure did pull it off, Kourin, or should I call you Ryuuen, or, better yet, Nuriko."

Nuriko was dumbstruck. "How...how did you find out?" he stuttered.

"I'm sorry, but when our eyes met I was able to see so much about you. I didn't mean to."

"I would rather you not tell anyone."

"Don't worry! Your secret is safe with me. I won't tell a soul," she said tracing an 'X' over her heart with her finger.

"What's your name?" he asked. He was curious about how much else the girl knew about him.

"My name is Megyn. Umm...what should I call you?"

"Please, call me Kourin. Only you know about me here."

"How did you get to the palace?" asked Megyn.

"I thought you knew everything about me?" Nuriko said teasingly.

"Well, I only saw bits and pieces of your life."

"After Kourin died, I became her—you saw that right? I felt that she would still be alive if I became her. A few days ago, I got a message that I was to join the imperial harem. I had just arrived before the other girl started to rant and rave."

"The other girl is Jamie; she's the priestess of Suzaku," said Megyn. Her voice was completely void of emotion.

"You mean that other girl, Jamie, is the priestess of Suzaku," he said bewildered.

"That's what I said, isn't it?" She sounded annoyed.

"It's just...someone that has...such a powerful…presence," he said still trying to get over the shock.

"Yeah, I know. She's annoyingly loud and obnoxious."

"So, you won't tell anyone?" Nuriko was worried. What if she told someone?

"I told you once. I swear that I will not tell anyone."

"Thank you. I'll see you sometime then. Bye, Megyn," he waved to her and walked off towards his room. Boy, was I out of character. I never act so…nice. I've never been so open before. Will she keep her promise?

"See ya later, Kourin," Megyn called after him…uh…it. She couldn't help humming as she walked back to her room. Kourin was really kinda nice. He…uh…I mean she…IT! Maybe I shouldn't have made that promise. I mean a seishi being so close and only me knowing. Shouldn't I say something? No. I'll wait until the time comes.