QoH: twitches violently i cant believe it… i had this new chapter almost entirely written, and then it up and disappears on me! GAH!!!! bangs her head on the desk evilevilevilevilevilevilevilevil!!!! gets dizzy ah… anyway, i know its been forever… crosses her fingers and hopes that people will give her a chance and read but i wont bore you with the screwed up details of my life (save for the fact that my pc has died more times than i care to remember… oO() and I work a lot now, so theres little opportunity for me to get to the library) so, yeah… hope you like, people

ps: oh, yeah… more one-sided shonen-ai stuff here hehe and yes, it WILL remain Hoto/Mia. sorry to all Hoto/Nuri fans out there. aside from the fact that i think Hotohori and Miaka belong together, im not used to the yaoi fandom yet, so I don't wanna butcher it XD (i might do one later, since some of you are so gung-ho about it hehe gonna need a freakin good idea tho…) lol the only reason im able to write this is cuz ive gotten a bit of inspiration from a lovely anime called Gravitation stupid grin i got the first ep with my newest NewtypeUSA edition (best anime/manga mag on the planet, in my opinion. that and Shonen Jump :D)

Chapter 7: Out Of The Darkness

Hotohori scrambled away so quickly that he came in rather rough contact with the wall behind him. Rubbing his head, he eyed the offending obstruction for a moment before turning back to stare at Nuriko, "What in the name of the four Gods do you think you are doing?!"

The crossdresser got to his feet, somewhat offended at the sight of His Majesty nearly falling off the bed in an attempt to put as much distance between them as possible, but taking it in stride as he shot back, "Well, excuse me for being worried out of my mind about you! Miaka's not coming back, no matter how much you pine for her! Did you think I was just going to stand by and let you die?!"

Golden eyes lost their momentary spark as the emperor slumped back against the wealth of pillows at the mention of her name and looked away, "If that is my destiny, so be it."

"Do you really think that Suzaku wants you to die?" Nuriko sat back down helplessly, careful to keep a respectful distance this time, "Outside of Nakago and his lot, why would anyone want that?"

"And if I were to go on with my life as though she never existed," he lifted his hand in a "so what" sort of gesture, "what then? What purpose do I have?"

"What about the thousands of people who love you? You're the most beloved Emperor in generations! Don't you, at least, have a duty to be there for us?"

"Duty…" Hotohori closed his eyes as his fingers went to his mark, his smile faintly tinged with bitterness, "That has been my whole life. Is it wrong of me to want something more? For someone to love me for the man, not the ruler? Miaka did that, as much as she could, and I must be content with that."

"What about me?!" Nuriko exclaimed and threw his arms up in frustration, getting worked up again at his stubborn refusal to see reality, "Am I just invisible to you, Your Majesty? Do you think I stayed in the inner seraglio for so long because it was fun? It was the dullest place on the face of the planet, but I stayed because I hoped that I might see you! Then Miaka shows up--"

"Jealousy does not become you, you know," he replied in a flat tone and returned to his previous "invalid" position, his gaze on the ceiling again, "I was under the impression that you were over that. Even if I were not in love with Miaka, that does not mean that I would be with you."

That one stung, and the purple-eyed warrior knew that he knew that. It's not like you to be so hurtful… Has her leaving changed even your personality? He sighed and studied his kimono-clad knees, "A fact that has been made abundantly clear multiple times, Your Majesty. Forgive me. I only thinking about what is best for you, and I can't imagine how your living like a hermit is doing any good."

Hotohori finally turned his head a little and met his gaze. A true, however faint, smile appeared on his face for the first time in recent memory, "No, forgive me. I should not have said what I did. I know you and the rest of the seshi are worried about me, and I was wrong to imply that your motives were any less honorable. Everything has been so strange of late…" he whispered softly to himself, but his companion caught it all the same, "I suppose I really should try to go on…"

At last, he's coming back to m- us. Nuriko amended the thought quickly, before his heart could lead his brain down that path again. It's enough if he just gets better. "Does that mean you'll reassure us all and go outside, before you become permanently attached to this bed?" he grinned hopefully.

"I couldn't possibly go out like this…" he looked down at himself, then at his tangled brown hair, as though aware of it all for the first time and not liking what he saw, "I look horrible!"

Oh, yeah. He's back. His smile widened as he replied, standing up, "That's why you've got me!"

"Eh…"

"Don't worry, I won't do anything." Nuriko sweatdropped, holding up his hands innocently, "It's just that your servants are kind of occupied right now…"

"What did you do with them?" Hotohori gave him a weird look, unsure if he wanted to know the answer, "You didn't toss them over the balcony, did you?"

"I locked them in the closet down the hall," his grin turned sheepish now as he went around the bed to help his friend up.

The emperor chuckled a bit as he stood on shaky feet, leaning on the bedpost, "You were really worried, weren't you?"

Miaka suddenly felt very happy, which was odd because just seconds before, she was highly irritated at Taka for being late. She shook her head, wondering where in the world that feeling had come from as she sat on the step outside the apartment building where she lived. He said he'd be here this morning… Where is he?

Sighing, she wrapped her arms around her knees and watched a bird flitting through the cloudless early-afternoon sky. Having nothing to do until Taka came, she took the opportunity to ponder the recurrent dreams that had plagued her over the past few days. I should probably talk to Yui again. I wish she'd tell me what she thinks about this. I just know she knows more than she's telling. It's just a matter of getting her to spill it, which won't be easy…

She stood up and stretched, looking around for her overdue fiancé, "C'mon, Taka… what's taking you so long? You know waiting makes me antsy, especially when it involves a surprise of some sort. After everything we've been through, I've come to detest surprises…"

"But, what am I talking about?" Miaka asked herself, smacking herself upside the head as she paced along the driveway, "This is Taka! It's not like he's gonna spring some depressing shocker on me, or anything. I bet it's just a little present he thought I'd like." Still, the element of the unknown made her a little uneasy, and kept her going up and down the length of the yard.

At long last, she finally spotted him, pelting up the street like he was in the "Running Of The Bulls" race, and desperately trying to stay ahead of the horns. She stared at him as he skidded to a stop, panting heavily with his hands on his knees, in front of her, "What on earth are you doing, Taka? Come here and sit down."

Gratefully, he let her lead him to the step she'd previously occupied and plopped down, still gasping, "Sorry… I'm so late… My car… broke down…"

"Why didn't you call?" she wondered, bewildered as she took his hand, sitting beside him.

"Couldn't… find… a pay phone…" he replied and let out a long breath, leaning back against the railing with his eyes closed, "I was downtown… when it happened…"

"You really need to get a cell phone…" Miaka sighed, shaking her head, then gave him a weird look as she realized the last thing he'd said, "You ran all the way from downtown? That's at least four miles!"

Taka smiled, a bit recovered now, and sat up straighter, "I know, but I wanted to give this to you as soon as possible." He produced from his back pocket a polished, ornately carved oak box approximately the span of his hand and gave it to her.

She blinked at it as it sat there, rather weightily, in her grasp, "What is it?"

"Open it, silly, and find out," he chuckled, obviously anxious to see her reaction.

She giggled and did so, then gasped at the contents. Nestled and gleaming in the little black sponge were their future wedding bands. Once again, as she stared at their respective rings, that strange feeling overtook her, and made her question whether she was awake or dreaming. Why does this keep happening? What does it mean?

"-them engraved." Taka was saying, smiling at the box in his fiancée's hand. Then, noticing that she hadn't moved even a centimeter since she'd opened it, he frowned in concern, "Miaka, are you all right?"

She shook off the hazy feeling and smiled at him brilliantly, "I'm wonderful! But, this must've cost so much! You didn't need to do all this!"

Chalking his bride-to-be's odd behavior up to simple shock, he smiled again, a bit shyly this time, "Yeah, well, I figure I've been too stubborn with this whole money thing lately. You deserve the best I can possibly give you, and this is my way of saying I'm sorry. Whoa! Easy, easy!" he exclaimed as she glomped him enthusiastically, but was laughing all the same, "I just ran several miles, remember?"

Miaka backed off, blushing in mild embarrassment as she grinned at him and stood up, "Well, why don't we go inside? You can call a tow truck for your car. Where'd you leave it, anyway?"

"About two blocks from the jewelry store," he laughed wryly and took her offered hand, getting to his feet as well, "I got to see some interesting scenery flying by on my way here, though."

The first thing Hotohori and Nuriko did, once the slowly mending emperor had declared himself somewhat "passable," (which, for most people, would equate to fancy wedding attire) was let the attendants/guards out of the closet. Coughing and stumbling their way out of the tiny, musty old room, it took the two a few moments to realize just who was standing, smiling, before them. Once they did, their eyes widened in shocked joy, and might've danced around and/or hugged their beloved Heika-sama, had they not been so finely trained. But, since they were, both were merely sent dashing off in search of the other Suzaku warriors and bring them to the garden, with strict orders not to say a word as to why they were doing so. Violet met gold in a gleeful conspiratorial glance; they wanted to see their friends' jaws hit the floor.

And they got their wish, or mostly. Tasuki was the first to arrive, no doubt having raced through the building at top speed from wherever he'd been, and true to form, gaped like a freshly hooked fish at the rather unbelievable sight before him. He was still trying to get his vocal chords to cooperate when Mitsukake and Chiriko, within seconds of each other, burst through opposing doors and onto the scene, also obliging in their entertaining stares. Even Tama-neko, clinging to her (A/N: it is a female… right? () i forget) usual spot atop the doctor's shoulder, looked to be, aside from mildly windblown and not particularly happy about that fact, quite stunned.

Chichiri, however, showed up a full five minutes later, calm as you please, strolling up the walkway. In that time, the large square of nature had become quite crowded with servants from all over the palace who, intrigued by their co-workers' wild running around and repeated, ecstatic yelling of "the garden," had popped up to see what all the fuss was about. The monk (or, more accurately, his mask) smiled slightly in amusement, looking around at the near-mob proportions of the joyous gathering before turning his gaze to Hotohori, "It's good to see Your Highness up and around again, no da." Said emperor nodded his thanks, a little smile in return.

Nuriko pouted and crossed his arms, sort of miffed that his plan didn't go quite as he'd wanted, "Can't we ever surprise you?"

"In the unlikely event that you ever do, you'd probably never know it, no da," he answered serenely and ducked a punch from a suddenly animated Tasuki, who also looked fairly put-out.

"Hey, no fair!" the fiery ex-bandit yelled as he tried again and again, generally coming out looking like a complete idiot as Chichiri eluded him easily at every turn, "How come y' knew about this before, and didn't tell any of us?!"

"I didn't, no da," he said, blocking three more wild swings with his staff as the rest looked on, enjoying the show, "This wasn't what I sensed, however happy the news is, no da.

"What was it, Chichiri?" Chiriko wondered in interest, thinking it might have something to do with the way the stars have been so restless lately. If I'm right… Rather than openly replying, the monk nodded slightly at the child genius, and the two shared a knowing glance.

Noting Tasuki's mounting irritation at being left out of the loop, Mitsukake went up to the emperor and bowed low, "I'm relieved to see you doing so much better, Your Majesty," he raised a brow at Nuriko as he straightened up, "How in the world did you persuade him to come out of that room of his?"

"Thank you, Mitsukake." Hotohori smiled wanly, despite his new resolution to be strong. Getting over depression is a long and difficult process, after all, "He merely showed me that I still have reasons to go on, even though she's gone."

"Ya, welcome back, man!" Tasuki grinned, slapping him on the back rather hard, "Knew y'd make it!"

"Oh, Tasuki…" Nuriko sidled up to in a deceptively calm manner, then punched him into the nearest wall (which was ten feet away, mind you) when he turned to face him, "don't do that, you baka!"

Peeling himself from the wall, the ex-bandit came back with a vengeance and tackled him. There was a collective resigned sigh from everyone as it escalated into a full-blown brawl. Hotohori chuckled a bit and wandered away through his roses, closely followed by Chiriko, Chichiri and Mitsukake. The servants, also used to these things by now, didn't bother them and went about their business.

"I'm gonna pound your face in!"

"Oh yeah?! Rekka Shien!"

QoH: heh… what to do about tama-baby…. :D votes, anyone? ive got some ideas wanderin around in my brain, but im open to suggestions too ill even consider the outrageous ones hehe mainly cuz itd be funny to see what you guys come up with, and think about what theyd turn out like in the fic. Oh, and sorry if it sounds like theres tasu-bashin here () literally. hes my second fave char, but he makes for some great comic relief :D