Disclaimer- No, I don't own it. No, I haven't bought it. No, Chichiri is not mine… or is he…? Mwahahahaha…
AN- After my friend the century of not updating, here is shadow priestess with a gory little chapter. Well, a little bloody, but same difference. Umm… hi everyone. My writing, I may warn you, is steadily going downhill. I blame it on my teacher, who is totally clueless in English and is therefore ruining my style. So none of this horror is my fault! My real style is specialer! *nodnodnod* Ah, and Sakata Ri Houjun, (you're so cool!! *worship*) Hotohori was in fact a little tiny bit off, but it's special!! And this won't become a self inclusion fic because I promised myself that there would be no original characters. Besides, Crystal Phoenix is my self inclusion thing. MWAHAHAHAhahaha…ha…ha.
Miryokuteki Yuugi- The Alluring Game- Chapter Four- A Reason to Get a Tetanus Shot.
"Well," Houjun said finally. "That simplifies things quite a bit na no da. I suppose then that these characters are the mark of a seishi, but is there anything else? I'd expect that few would notice them, and I do still have exams coming up no da."
"The shichiseishi will be drawn by your life force," Hotohori offered. "Technically they will assemble around you. Sometimes there are mistakes, but it usually works out fine. The only problem seems to be that you indicate you have little time remaining to gather them."
"Sono toori na no da!" (AN- this is from the "No da da da" thing that's going around the internet, which means "exactly na no da!")
"Mebbe ya kin sense them," Tasuki offered rather grumpily, obviously still annoyed that he was going to end up protecting this crazy guy anyways. "Hakurou said somethin' about it. Lotsa ki or somethin'."
"The first clue is "palace strength"," Hotohori offered, just then remembering the scroll that he happened to be holding in his hand. "All we are required to do, then, is to find the most valiant man in the palace."
"I'd think that's a matter of opinion na no da," Houjun remarked, falling into a light trance and beginning to search the palace for any extraordinary amounts of ki. He did sense one, but it didn't seem to be in the warrior's quarters. 'Strange.'
{The young man decided to take Tasuki's advice and search the palace for his third seishi, but Nuriko was not to be what he'd expected in a celestial warrior…}
"Ya can't be serious!!" Tasuki scoffed, glaring at the woman in front of them.
She was a court lady, slightly shorter than anyone else present, and certainly didn't look worthy of the clue. Palace beauty, perhaps, but Genrou was rather skeptical of the fighting ability of anyone who looked so delicate, especially given his inherently negative attitude about women.
"Suzaku no shichiseishi Nuriko," Houjun confirmed, though he sounded distracted. There was something distinctly strange about this Nuriko's ki. It was decidedly non-feminine, though certainly had hints. He shook it off though, dismissing it as perhaps the influence of a brother. "I'm Ri Houjun na no da!" he added to the violet-haired seishi, who merely nodded.
"How do you propose to find the others?" Hotohori inquired, breaking the relative silence the group had fallen into.
"Dunno," he muttered, the paper mask appearing a bit listless. "I'm tired na no da. Gotta headache nda… think I'm sick." He pressed a hand to his forehead tiredly. (AN- my current state, pain and suffering abound.)
"Are you sure?" Hotohori asked, alarmed. It just wouldn't do for the priest to arrive in his country and prepare to save it, only to die of some random disease. No, it wouldn't do at all. He made a note to throttle his physician, who of course was innocent.
If looks could kill Hotohori, emperor of Konan, would be in a twitching heap on the ground. "Do you think I'm sure?!" Houjun inquired acidly. "Would I pretend to be sick?" Living proof that sickies are snappish.
"Um… ah…"
"Oh whatever." He rested his hand against a wall, and was quite shocked to feel a nail rip into his arm as he did so. "I—ITAI!!!"
Back in the library, Koutoku blinked very slowly as blood began to gush from a spot on his wrist, staining the pages of the book a bright crimson. Strangely, the pain felt muted, as though dulled by drugs.
"Hou… jun…?"
{The young man impaled himself on a particularly violent nail. Little did he realize it at the time, but a few weeks of agony were going to make him really regret missing his tetanus shot.} (AN- Does the book have a sense of humor…?)
Houjun poked his wrist with a stunned expression. He'd just accidentally attempted suicide in the middle of a book. Did things get any weirder? He didn't have any time to contemplate the deeper mysteries of life, though, as he could see it dripping onto the floor in the form of blood.
Hotohori, on the other side of the room (other side of the moon!) found himself looking rather disgusted at the steady drip. Not exactly the most flattering position, but he soon recovered. "Bandage! The priest of Suzaku can't just be left to die!" He added a postscript to his mental note reminding himself to prolong the throttling of his physician.
At the emperor's call, about the entire population of Eiyou raced forward to tend to the priest. Unfortunately, they all had differing ideas on the tending of people who'd just been stabbed by a rusty nail.
"Someone needs to suck out the tainted blood!"
"No you moron! Then you'll get infected! We need to find a snake to counteract the poison!"
"GOD!! Don't you know anything? We've gotta feed him pepper til he throws up the evil blood!"
"Umm… no da?"
At this sound, everyone froze and turned to look at the (rather pale) source of the voice. Houjun was sitting up and had by now edged far far away from these strange little people. He'd known they were a little behind technologically, but this was just too much.
"I think," he began slowly. "That I'll just kinda go home and get treated instead, OK no da?" He glanced hopefully from person to person.
"Ah," Hotohori said. "Now why didn't we think of that…?" Seeing as this couldn't be dumped on his physician, he shrugged and decided to get the cook for this.
Tasuki rolled his eyes. "What're we waitin' fer then?"
"The priest, presumably," Nuriko said disdainfully. The population was once again crowded around, this time offering "professional" advice on whether the priest was healthy enough to transport himself home.
"No I'm not," Houjun whispered.
"We could… go to Taikyokuzan…" Hotohori suggested tentatively. "Tai Itsukun may be able to help us get Houjun-san home."
"I still don' see what we're waitin' fer," Tasuki complained. "If we're gonna go we're gonna go! Suzaku!"
"We're off then no da!" Houjun announced, injecting as much false cheer as he could muster into his voice.
They're… off to see the wizard! The wonderful wizard of Konan! Wait… I used that already. Oops… Anyways. Is it short again? Darn. Whatever. But now they're off and we're getting into Oracle territory in terms of what's happening. Bit fast it is, but I'm lazy no da. Long stories bug me deep inside. Thanks to all reviewers who took the time, though there were less last chapter than the one before. Where ARE you mean people?!?! In any case, the next chapter will appear one day, fear not!