Warnings and Disclaimers on Chapter one!!

Thanks: Thank you to AniDragon, aka Riona-chan (twice! And redid the dream!), and Chibi Leelee Milo for your reviews! I appreciate them all so much! With school and projects, it's good to just sit down at the computer and just see people who enjoy what your imagination comes up with! Oh! AND SUPER THANKS TO ANIDRAGON, AKA RIONA-CHAN FOR YOUR FANART! Everyone! Go see it! The address is in the review section and don't forget to review!

Willow's Heart-- The Reflection

This was it. This was the river that banked the large, beautiful willow tree in his dream.

~Flashback~

Listening…wind through…willow tree... I'm just enjoying…peace away from the palace… Ne, Tasuki-chan, stay with me. It's nice…someone to talk to… We…here for a while… What happens after this? Sadness

I dunno…back ta Kouji and the others…Miaka and Tamahome…back to her world. Hotohori…emperor. What didja think would happen?

Surprise

Me, Tasuki, what will I do?

Questioning

The palace…

Confusion

No, Tasuki-chan, my place is not here. Everyone else has a place. You…have your worlds to go back to, but this life…only I have known…I am lost…

Hopelessness

Beautiful…

Awe

Tasuki?

Wonder

Oh, dun mind me. It's just that willow suits you perfectly. Like I said, beautiful…

Passion

Tasuki-chan…

Understanding

~End Flashback~

Nuriko slowly approached the gentle sweeps of the leaves in a ghostly waving. He weaved himself through the greenery and found himself muffled to the outside, hand resting softly against the rough bark of the willow. Was any part of his dream real? "What is my connection to him?"

"To who?" The voice startled Nuriko, the bark scratching his hand as he jumped slightly.

"Chichiri-kun!" He saw the unique blue hair of the seishi. "What brings you out here?"

"I was worried, no da. You were very distant today." Nuriko partially listened to the older seishi, running his fingers along the scratched skin on his hand. "I think I must insist, no da, that you take the magical check-up."

"No!" Chichiri glanced at the other suspiciously. "I mean, no," his voice calming. "I really don't believe that that is necessary. I do feel fine. I just wish to be alone right now."

"Gomen ne, no da, but I'm going to have to insist." Rose eyes widened in surprise as a red powder was thrust into his face, and closed when he fell unconscious to the grass-covered ground. "I'm just going to have a little look. Forgive me for intruding, no da, but I just have a bad feeling about this." Suzaku's red power stretched out from the monk and dove into the pathway of Nuriko's soul.

Nuriko's soul room was dark. Loud echoes suddenly attacked Chichiri's ears.

"You don't fit in here!" "I need you." "You don't know anything!" "Lead me to the light." "Do you love me?" "I can't breathe…" "Hold me, ne?" "It's hurting me!" "Please, stop!" "Who am I?"

"Where do I belong?"

Emotions flowed into Chichiri's essence and it filled the room with an eerie light. Love. Hate. Confusion. Understanding. Pain. Betrayal. Acceptance. Compassion. Kindness. Mirth. Sadness. Depression. Life. Death. Hope. Desperation. Fear. Strength. Power. Control. Lust. Need. Want. Take. Give. LOVE. The light dispersed.

Looking down in the darkness, a violet thread once again floated through the ink blackness. He couldn't quite make out what other thread was intertwining with it so he called on Suzaku's light once again. He frowned. It was as he expected. A blue thread glowed strongly against the violet practically merging with Nuriko's soul. However, another very faint thread was reaching out to Nuriko, trying to pull him back from the Seiryuu blue thread. There was an essence around the thread, pulsing with compassion and sympathy…Tasuki. The bandit's very soul was trying to reach out to the violet thread and seemed to have an all-encompassing grasp. The orange-red thread was fading at times and stronger at others. Chichiri concluded that this Nuriko was still being controlled. Tasuki was trying to get through unintentionally, but it was helping either way. It was Nuriko, but it wasn't. He didn't believe even he was making sense to himself. Going further into the soul room, he was led to a hallway where there lay many doors. He tried the first to his left. The monk was sucked into the blue emptiness. There was a sound in the distance in front of him. There didn't seem to be a solid ground, but Chichiri moved forwards hesitantly. The noise grew louder and was identified as laughter. It wasn't joyous or carefree, but cynical and bitter. A hand flew across Chichiri's chi, making him feel like being slapped and saw Soi glaring at him.

"Nuriko-san, what do you think you're trying to do? You don't belong here. Not with him."

Who was Soi talking about, 'him'?

"It's true, Nuriko-san. Soi's right. You have no right to come into our lives like this." A tall man with long, dark hair stepped forwards and suddenly, Chichiri was watching a conversation between Nuriko and the two Seiryuu seishi.

"He chose me, Tomo-san. I can't control what he decides." The violet-haired seishi that Chichiri was familiar with stood before him, clothed in a flimsy robe and loosed locks over his shoulder. "He never wanted either of you. Just me."

"You… you didn't come along until a while ago." The tone was acidic. Tomo reached out a long finger and tilted Nuriko's head up so that their eyes met. "Don't get in my way, Nuriko-san." Chichiri's chi was pulled further into the blue void, the notes of a flute floated through his senses and yells of "Aniki!" A low growling resonated and a figure of a vicious wolf-wan creature pounced through his chi, giving him a jolt of fear and anger.

"Come this way, sir." A soft, child-like voice beckoned Chichiri forward. "This way please, if you want to know the truth." The voice let out a cry and disappeared. Nakago stood before the monk. He didn't seem interested in the Suzaku chi's presence. In fact, the general smirked and moved aside. Chichiri was riveted. Soft caresses, kisses, and passionate embraces between Nuriko and Nakago invaded before slowly fading. Chichiri saw the next image and pushed himself out of the room. Nuriko and Nakago doing THAT was not something he wanted to see.

The door right across from the Seiryuu room was starting to pulse with a red light. He gently pulled the handle and found another corridor. As his essence pulled through the long corridor, he noticed that there was glass on both sides. He found Miaka behind one, eating and joking around with Nuriko. The next panel was Nuriko flirting with Hotohori. Knocking Tamahome over with Nuriko's natural strength. Long, intricate talks with Mitsukake. Watching over Chiriko as he was still a child. Going to Chichiri for normal, everyday advice. All the good times and even some bad times with fellow seishi and miko were locked up behind glass walls. As the end of the corridor neared, he found that two panels were open. He glanced inside one and saw Tasuki, the redheaded bandit under a willow tree, talking in a dream-like volume. Just beside it was Hotohori, the scene of love and betrayal flashing between appearance and disappearance. What is this? Hotohori and Nuriko? Since when were they together? What is this supposed to mean? The corridor had ended suddenly, but a large black cloth covered the dead end wall. Chichiri's essence pulled the cloth down from its perch and what he saw terrified him. The replaying scene of a little girl, who looked very much like Nuriko, getting run over by a carriage was behind a thick piece of glass. Echoes started to ricochet onto the glass.

"Who am I?"

"Where do I belong?"

"Am I real?"

"KOURIN!!!" The last word, that single name, burned into Chichiri's essence. It knocked him backwards, everything rewinding at a blurring speed.

A whisper. "You don't want to remember."

The blue-haired monk was out. His essence had been pushed from the soul room and back into his consciousness.

"You're still part of Seiryuu." Nuriko's rose-colored eyes cracked open from his state on the ground. "What are you trying to do here, no da?"

"I don't believe I know what you're talking about, Chichiri-san." The violet-haired seishi brushed himself off and pulled his small frame into a sitting position.

"You know, no da." His voice turning serious. "Were you going to turn against us? Were you going to kill us, no da?"

"I don't know what I was going to do." The statement was whispered, but picked up in the silence. Chichiri's good eye widened under his mask in hope more than in shock. "No, I was trying to get closer to everyone to see how we can go about destroying you, but... wait, you invaded my mind. You know what I'm thinking about."

"I know that something has locked up your Suzaku memories no da."

"I am of the Seiryuu. Nothing has changed from when I faced you all on the Yami Fields. Nakago-sama told me that something painful turned me to him and I believe him after I've seen what I've supposedly gone through."

"Hotohori, no da." Nuriko's eyes flashed with anger.

"Yes. He was probably the one who hurt me enough, but I'm happy now, happier than my past self. Nakago makes me happy."

"Is it just the sex, no da?" The younger seishi almost choked. "I saw some things in your mind. The first half, no da, was something I did not wish to see."

"That's your own fault, Chichiri-san. I see what I was and I know what I am now. I like 'now' better." He regained his posture and stood. Looking up at Chichiri's hidden face, he sneered. "I'm not going back."

"Sometimes, you must take the harder course to reach happiness." Nuriko snorted.

"Don't give me all that monk nonsense, Chichiri. This isn't my life!" In a flurry, the willow branches parted for the seishi and Chichiri followed, bracing himself for what was about to happen.

"Nuriko." The sound was disappointed and angry.

"K'so!"

~~~~~~~~~

It's been too long once again, but my computer has been really messed up these days and so is my Internet connection. I can't even get this on when I'm finished. I'm listening to Ayanami, End of Eva. At least that's when the computer calls it and that is giving me ideas for the next little bit. I will start writing the next part for all y'all and since I can't go onto the Internet right now, if I miss any names of reviewers, I'll get y'all next time. Luv ya and keep on R&R-ing like you do! They are a wonderful compliment and useful for more great ideas!

~Nuriko no Tenshi~