I'm having a bit of a hassle with the whole HTML format thing being that my computer is really old and doesn't really have the necessary software. But imagine if you will that all the flashbacks are in italics.

Chapter 6

   The attic was extremely dark. Taka stepped forward to find the lights and ended up bumping his knee into what looked like an end table with cupids on it's legs. He was surprised that the attic didn't smell musty or unused as his was prone to. Instead it smelt vaguely of lemon and phenol - a rather nice smell that seemed to surround Mrs. Yuuki most of the time when she was at home. "She must have come up here recently to look for something", he thought to himself. He finally located the light switch in the far corner of the room above a chest of drawers. He turned it on and had to shade his eyes from the sudden glare of the yellow lights before they adjusted. He then got his first real look at the attic and sweat dropped. Mrs. Yuuki's cleaning spree had extended to here as well. The walls were clean and appeared freshly painted. There wasn't a speck of dust in the entire room, nor was there a paper out of place. He wondered how much tension she really had to work off before she was able to return normal. Everything gleamed as though brand-new and he had no doubt that it had been organised and compartmentalized according to whatever Mrs. Yuuki considered her personal system. There were at least six large chests in the room not to mention the large chest of drawers and the bookshelf in the corner of the room. Now, the only question left was - where should he start?

   He figured he would go with the bookshelf. While he had no doubt that the book would not be there, he figured it would be simplest to get it out of the way since everything was already organised into neat rows of books. Miaka and Keisuke would never have put the book in such an obvious place to look. On the other hand, maybe hiding it in plain sight would have been the best option. It couldn't hurt to check the possibility out. He scanned through the titles quickly, finding a large quantity of books on action and good housekeeping. It was obvious from this selection that the bulk of the reading in this small family was done by Keisuke and Mrs. Yuuki. Miaka had a very small section at the bottom with a few baby books and a large number of romance novels. He looked closely at the covers of these books and had to muffle his laughter at the sight of the various half naked positions the models had contorted themselves into. He pulled out the one that appeared the most worn with frequent use and read the title and it's summary.

   "A fateful reckoning. Mia knew when she first met the dark lord of her lands that he was no ordinary man. She could sense the energy flowing out from him, beguiling her and tempting her. Although she tried to fight it, her emotions were too strong and her heart was forever ensnared. The dark lord, Shallen, looked down at this sweet witch who had dared to step in front of his horse and found himself pulsing with desire. She was ripe and sweet like a siren calling for her mate. He would take her back to his castle where she would be his tempting prisoner. He had thought only to enslave her passions but found himself enslaved as well. But before he gave her his heart, there would be – a fateful reckoning!"

   Taka couldn't help himself. He laughed so hard he had to grab onto the bookshelf to steady himself. The couple on the cover appeared to be vaguely discomfited as they stared vapidly into each other's eyes on top of a large black horse. The man was wearing what appeared to be large poky black spikes as shoulder pads and a purple flowing cape, which was hiding large portions of the woman's anatomy from view. The woman was obviously naked. The man appeared to have received the bulk of the clothes, having shoulder pads, the cape and a pair of leather pants with large sturdy looking boots. For an instant, the sight of the man nudged something in Taka's memory –

   Ice cold blue eyes staring at him with no emotions in their depths. He felt the pain of the lash upon his body .He was paying the price for trying to escape. But he had no choice. He could not sit back and do nothing. He had promised his return once he was assured of her safety. He heard the harsh clatter of discarded armor.  The shogun's heavy armor lay piled at the side of the small cell. From the corner of his eyes he could see the spikes that normally rested upon the shogun's shoulders. He tested the chains again as the lash stung his back once more. He had to escape somehow. He was needed to return. She was dying…..

   He shook himself and trembled slightly. He could still feel the pain of the whip and feel the desperate urgency that had fueled him. These visions were getting much stronger now. Taka was almost afraid of what was to come. He remembered Miaka and Keisuke telling him about the general of the Kutou army, Nakago. The memory must have been linked to him. But Miaka had said nothing about him being whipped, only that he had been controlled by means of some sort of poison. Were these visions really what occurred? Were they holding memories back from him or was his subconscious starting to make them up? It made no sense. Miaka had also said nothing about her almost dying, only that she had been ill during that separation and the doctor guy, Mitsukake, had healed her and everything had gone back to normal. They had another seishi and Mitsukake had been able to save his love from some sickness demon. He was beginning to believe that Miaka and Keisuke had been telling the truth regarding the book. But then, why would Yui be so uncomfortable around him? He knew that Miaka and she had fought and later made up but where did he fit into the picture such that the very sight of him made her tense up. She usually started to finger the blue stud in her ear whenever  -

   The stud rested in his hand. He was tempted to crush it beneath his heel but the pretense was called for. They had to retrieve the scroll for the summoning before it was destroyed. His temper still simmered at the way they had manipulated him. Then suddenly, he was there, demanding an accounting. The anger boiled up, almost choking him but he played his part. Until the shogun realized the deception and pulled out the whip. Never again would he fall under that whip! The earring was suddenly flying out of his hand towards the face of his enemy. Then the girl was there. The rage was still there, but he knew what had caused this change in her. He would be waiting when she was ready to return. For the sake of his love, he would accept her again…..

   Taka collapsed onto the floor gasping for breath. Yui had gone against Miaka and had been in on whatever had been done to him with the poison. Maybe she could have had something to do with his whipping as well. Could she have ordered it? That would go against everything he knew about Yui's personality. Whenever Miaka referred to the time when they apparently had some sort of trouble, she always placed the blame firmly on Nakago's shoulders. It was probably his fault then, not Yui's. Miaka had always said that the shogun had tricked her best friend somehow and Yui, alone and unknowing had been forced to adapt to his demands. "Well", Taka thought, "If she had made some mistakes in the past that may have caused me to dislike her a little, it isn't surprising that she's feeling wary around me now. It's probably cause she thinks that I might hold her responsible for whatever she did while that bastard was pulling her strings."

    But that really didn't explain her flinching away from touch. If anyone other than Miaka had touched her, she used to flinch away with a look of acute discomfort on her face. Keisuke and Tetsuya seemed to understand her reasons, as whenever it happened, they would give her time to adjust. The looks of understanding that they shot her were also loaded with sympathy. Taka didn't have much of a clue as to why everyone treated Yui with kid gloves. Keisuke had explained that she had a tough time in the book, what with her being manipulated by Nakago and all. He said that she just needed a little time to adjust to the real world again and realise that not everyone was trying to manipulate her. And Yui had made a large amount of progress in the span of time that he was around. It was only recently that she could relax around them without jumping whenever someone touched her arm or when Tetsuya slung his arm over her shoulders, a fact that Tetsuya often loudly attributed to his irresistibility and good looks. Taka didn't think that was exactly the reason and had no trouble saying it aloud.

   Taka moved on to a chest situated in a dark corner of the room. It was a dark chest that had been lovingly polished. And it was locked. The large padlock gleamed