AN: SORRY FOR NOT BEING ABLE TO UPDATE SOONER! actually, mum's been after me to study more…and gods is it a pain in the ass. Not to mention, I've been trying to improve my writing style and had one of my teachers help me with all of that…so I got to sit and watch quietly as she tore apart a short story that I had written for a writing contest. I'll probably post that on fiction press and if I do, I'll let you know. Anyway…enough with the endless chatter…on with the fic!

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As they looked at it now, it seemed funny that Suzaku would have even looked her way. Hotohori knew that there were endless reasons to be attracted to her. As did they all. But knowing and accepting are two entirely different things.

Chiriko sat next to Chichiri and Mitsukake and watched silently as the two meditated to clear their minds. Of the group of them, Chiriko knew that Chichiri was the most worried. Doubtless, Nuriko and Tasuki could wear holes in the carpet from their pacing. But, Chichiri was the one responsible for taking care of Miaka. He knew it and took the task as seriously as he'd taken his duties as one of the senshi. Despite the cheerful smile on his face, everyone could tell he was as worried as they were.

Chiriko tried to help, but couldn't. He found himself cursing his young age and his inability to cope as well as the others appeared to. Moping about that was worthless, and he knew it. But sometimes, he couldn't help but want to be older.

"Riko-chan." Chichiri looked up from his meditation.

"Hai."

"Calm down; you're in a state of emotional imbalance." Chichiri took hold of the child's hands and sighed. "We all are. Come on. You need some air."

Chiriko followed the older man quietly out the door and down the steps to open the twin glass doors leading to the cold night air.

"What's wrong?"

"…" Chiriko didn't answer. He looked towards the stars and growled in frustration.

"The demon star is still too close; I know. His star is still too close to her. Look farther than that, Riko. There's more to the stars than the location. Look at the rest of them." Chichiri gripped the young boy's hand and motioned toward the sky. "Look."

Chiriko gazed steadily at the stars and glared at Tamahome's. "I don't see anything, Chiri-nii-san. There's nothing different about the stars."

Chichiri shook his head sadly. "Of all of us, you can observe the stars much more closely than we can. How sad that now, your abilities are useless."

Chiriko growled again and lifted his hand to eye level. "Why is it always the youngest that is the useless one?"

"You aren't. you never deserted her in her time of need. We're still here. He chose to shatter her spirit. We didn't. Of all things, at least know that you are a loyal man. You stayed by her side; we all did. She was broken by what he did to her and we helped her through it. You are never useless. Being the youngest does not mean that you are the useless one. He is useless because he abandoned his duties and loyalty to his priestess." Chichiri looked towards the stars and sighed. Tamahome's star was the dimmest of the seven. How Chiriko missed that baffled him. The child was distraught. Chichiri shook his head. It was a feeling he knew all too well. Despair and distress had gone hand in hand for much of his life.

Chiriko looked to the skies again. The same stars had once been his solace. But those were times long gone, left only inscribed on pages of a crumbling book. He looked at their positions and discerned nothing more than the pain Miaka had been in. he closed his eyes in defeat and stopped trying to divine his information from the stars. He opened his eyes slowly and gaped in shock.

"Chiri-nii-san! Tamahome's star…it's…"

"Yes. It is. He's slowly losing his power and soon will fade from the world of the senshi. Now do you understand?" Chichiri glanced down at the young man.

Chiriko nodded.

"Then let's go back inside."

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The butterflies in her stomach refused to cease their fluttering. His gaze was too deep. She knew that. It unnerved her, the way he looked at her, almost as if he were trying to read her soul.

Miaka glanced towards the side and gasped in pain.

"What's wrong?" Suzaku felt her grip tighten on his arms. The vice-like hold she had on him would bruise his arms. "Miaka! Look at me! What's going on?"

"…mahome." She barely managed to spit out his name before she collapsed, crying.

'Damn it. Tamahome! You were supposed to protect her, not hurt her!' Suzaku whipped his head to his left. Tamahome held a girl in his arms, gazing lovingly at her, whispering tender words of adoration. Suzaku let go of Miaka for a moment and turned to face Tamahome fully.

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Something in Tamahome had not forgotten Suzaku's touch. He felt a flicker of power and turned to face an angry god. "Suzaku-sama!" He bowed deeply in respect.

"Do not bow to me! Idiot!" Suzaku swept the unsuspecting girl aside. "Did you honestly think that I would let you harm my own and escape unscathed? Fool!" Suzaku struck Tamahome with the back of his hand. Tamahome fell to the ground.

"What are you talking about? I didn't hurt anyone!" Tamahome glared furiously from his prone position.

"You deny that you hurt one of my own? Do you realize that I could destroy you as easily as saying your name?" Suzaku rushed ahead without waiting for the answer. "And yet, you still deny that you hurt her! Harming someone does not always mean the marks left are physical wounds!"

Tamahome looked beyond the crimson haired man before him. "Miaka…I didn't mean for this to-"

"SILENCE!" Suzaku pulled him from position on the ground. "I have had enough of your shortcomings. I will not punish you with death, as I rightfully should. Far be it to deny myself the pleasure of watching you writhe in pain, however, greater pleasure will come to me in a different way."

Suzaku smiled eerily, crimson eyes alight with a sick sort of insane joy. "From this day forth, you, Tamahome, are removed from the list of those who protect the priestess. You are stripped of your duties as one of the protectors of the Suzaku no Miko."

"You can't be serious! It was not an offense! Can you tell me it was my fault for falling out of love?" Tamahome yelled.

"No. I blame you for breaking her spirit." Suzaku lifted his hand and released a gust of a scarlet wind. A small crimson dart flew towards Tamahome's heart. The rest of the winds surrounded his body, trapping him inside several ribbons of deadly air. The winds disappeared as suddenly as they came and Tamahome's body slumped to the ground. "From this day forth, you are marked as the one unfit to care for any being."

Tamahome looked up, his eyes glazed over in pain, shock, and anguish. A crimson drop flashed brightly in his eye.

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Hotohori stood up. "Where are Chichiri and Chiriko?"

"Here!" Chiriko walked to Hotohori's side.

"What's happening?" Nuriko looked over at the identical expression Chiriko and Chichiri wore.

"We've lost a warrior." Chichiri looked at Chiriko. "Riko, is it him?"

He nodded. "He's gone." Tamahome had been removed as one of the priestess's guardians. "Suzaku did this. He's the only one capable of it besides Miaka and she wouldn't."

Tasuki frowned. "Then what do we do about everything else? Don't we need a seventh?"

Hotohori shook his head. "I don't know. Nowhere in the history of the Universe of the Four Gods has something like this occurred. I would have no idea how to proceed from here. The four groups have stayed thus because of long-standing tradition."

Chichiri nodded in agreement. "Overall, I would say that losing him really doesn't do much of anything to us. We had already begun to lose him when he broke Miaka's heart. His ki had gone elsewhere by then. So, we've learned to adjust without him."

"I agree." Mitsukake spoke for the first time that night. "He was of no use to us earlier and he is even less of a use to us now. It's best we forget about him as Suzaku willed it. Why else would he remove him?"

"He removed him as a punishment for breaking my heart." Miaka walked in and calmly sat on a chair by the fire.

"MIAKA!" Nuriko and Chiriko rushed to her side.

"I'm fine. Just exhausted. I've had a pretty interesting day. Hori, is it okay if I stay here tonight? Your place was the closest and I'm too tired to move." Miaka looked over at her old friend.

"Of course. Shall I call your brother to inform him of your decision?" Hotohori bowed his head in agreement.

"Arigato."

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Hotohori paced as Miaka slept in the room next to his. Damn it. He was supposed to have forgotten her. He wasn't supposed to love her. It had been unrequited then, it would be unrequited now. Nothing had changed but the men she fell in love with. One had been a big mistake, the other remained to be seen.

"Have you no faith in me?"

Hotohori stopped pacing. "Suzaku."

"Yes." Suzaku sat on the edge of Hotohori's bed. "Do you really think that I would hurt her more than she already is? She can't take much more heartbreak now, and I know that."

"Are you insinuating that I don't?" Hotohori snapped. "I won't apologize for anything I say."

"You wouldn't mean it. I understand." Suzaku shook his head. This was going to be difficult. "I don't insinuate things. I say them. I know you know what state she's in right now. I would hope you had figured it out before the rest of them. You did know her better than the rest of them."

"What are you trying to say?"

"Nothing. I know you love her still and I'm sorry that it is me now who stands in your way. You waited for her for your entire live; I've waited for her ever since the beginning of time. Can you truly begrudge me this? All I ask is that at least once, I want to live like a normal man. I know that it is nearly impossible for me, and yet, I still want to try. I still want to be with her. Can you fault me for falling in love with her?" Suzaku stood and crossed the room.

"No." Hotohori smiled a choked smile. "I can't fault you for falling in love with a woman like her. I can't even hate you for it. All I can do is pray that you make her happy and stay by her side and protect her. That was enough before, and it will be enough again."

Suzaku nodded. "I'm sorry to do this to you twice. But no one can control love. Even I cannot. It can be guided and shaped, but never controlled."

Hotohori sat again and stared into the fire. "What did you do to Tamahome?"

"I declared him anathema. He can no longer protect her. He cannot even speak her name. If you ever see him again, you will see the crimson speck in his eye. He will walk by you; he cannot see any of my own. So long as that crimson dart poisons his eye, he will not be able to see my loyal warriors or my priestess."

"Then what of us?" Hotohori stared unseeingly at the wall. "What of our power? Has it changed? What will change?"

"Nothing happens to you. You retain your original powers and his energy is distributed among the loyal six. That is all that will happen. Many things will change. We would be fools for thinking that nothing changes when something happens.I can only promise you that I will never hurt her in any way." Suzaku looked over at him. "I give you my word."

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AN: I tried to make the update longer to make up for my lack of updating…I've been busy and will remain so for a while even though school is out. I don't know when I'll be able to get the next chapter up, but I will try to get it out as soon as I can possibly type.