Chapter 11
Confrontation
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Riina watched as Lana glared at Tasuki, who was getting too nosy for his own good. She leaned to the wall, idly running her fingers through her thick hair and ended up rubbing the corner of her left eye that was turning red.
"Now where to start." she mused.
"How's about beginning no da?" Chichiri suggested.
"That'd be longer and harder to explain than you'd think." Lana rolled her eyes.
"But not a bad thought though. Let's begin with the basics." Riina tried to calm Lana and then turned to look at the two seishi. "I want you two to look at us. Look at us really hard. Tell me what do you see."
"I see just two girls who were dressed really weirdly when we met on the day before." Tasuki shrugged. "Are ya trying to say that yer not from this world?" he asked, raising his brow.
"For the starters." Lana nodded.
"Yer telling me yer from the world where the Miko's come from?" Tasuki stated with wide eyes.
"Not exactly." Riina shook her head.
"Your features. They're strange no da." Chichiri interrupted and pointed at Riina. "You resemble something between of the Hin tribe and the people of the North, Genbu's land, but not quite no da." and then he pointed at Lana "But I can't quite place you no da." Lana had to grin at this, shaking her head and muttering something about America being the 'Great melting pot'.
"Bingo." Riina grinned and then turned to Lana. "Now, have you seen my bag?"
"Yup. Tasuki gave it a while ago, when you were taking a count." Lana reached over and grabbed the blue back pack from under the bed, handing it to Riina, after she had snatched another Marianne and tossed it to her mouth with a happy grin.
"Okay. Here's the thing." Riina started while digging through her bag. "Think of a bubble... And a bubble inside of a bubble... Inside of a bubble... Inside of a bubble, reaching in both ways as far as eye can see and further." she pulled from her bag a black, flat square and flipped it open.
"Hey, you have a way cool laptop." Lana breathed and leaned for closer look.
"Costed me a fortune." Riina said distractedly.
"Mac or PC?"
"PC of course... Almost no-one uses Mac in Finland." Riina rolled her eyes.
"Weird." Lana muttered.
"PC?..." Chichiri stated question marks hanging over his head.
"Fi-what?" Tasuki blinked. Riina and Lana snapped out of their conversation.
Riina typed a little and then sifted to sit on the floor between Tasuki and Chichiri, her back turned to them so that they could see the screen. Lana climbed to the bed next to Tasuki and almost leaned to his lap, trying to see something, making him blush slightly for a second.
"Now, there is your world, where we are right now... a bubble... There's a world where Miaka came from... Inside of a bubble... And we're from a world outside of that... Inside of a bubble." Riina explained, drawing continuously bigger circles in the air with her index finger.
"And on top of that, me and Lana here, are even from different countries." she laid her finger on a plate that was below the keyboard and the cursor moved on the screen. She tapped an icon to open and flip through few files. "There." she muttered and opened the right program.
"Magic." Tasuki breathed.
"No. Technology." Lana corrected by his side.
"A what no da?" Chichiri asked.
"Never mind." Riina said. A large map opened to the screen. She typed something into a small space on the right corner of the window.
"I haven't ever seen writing like that no da." Chichiri said.
"I suppose you haven't. It's the western alphabet. We have only somewhat 24 basic writing characters, some extra characters depending of the county and the language and you read everything from left to right." Riina explained.
"Interesting. What does it say no da?" Chichiri asked curiously leaning forward for a closer look, nearly putting his chin on Riina's shoulder.
"It says 'Search; Finland'." Lana explained.
"Fin-land?" Tasuki blinked, when the image zoomed up and piece of land near sea was lined with red.
"That's where I'm from. And you were right on one thing Chichiri. I'm part of a northern group of people as you can see." Riina explained, pointing at the screen. Chichiri just nodded.
"And Lana..." She typed some more and the image changed back to the large picture of the whole map. "Is from the USA." The map shifted some more to the south and left, across the large sea between the continents. A large part of the land lined up with red.
"Actually, I'm from here." Lana reached over Tasuki and pointed the center of the country near northern border .
"Am I right to assume that these countries are nowhere near each others no da?" Chichiri looked at the two girls.
"Yes."
"How come you two are sisters then?" Tasuki asked confusedly. Riina thought of how to explain it.
"We met on the net and have been on contact for few years now. And soon she kinda took me as her adopted little sister." Lana grinned.
"Something like that." Riina smiled back to her.
"Net?" Tasuki blinked.
"An invisible web of information. Don't even try to understand. Let's just say that it's something like mind talk sometimes." Riina sighed.
"How come you two are here together then no da?" Chichiri asked.
"I was on my way to China to study and work for a year as part of my *mmm* gradu, and I stopped on her country for a visit on my way before the school would begin. Guess how surprised we were to find ourselves instead of here" she pointed at Lana's country at the map "in here!" she moved the map to the left. A long way to the left over the sea and over the huge continent, finally stopping at the coast and tapping at the screen. A few writing characters flashed to the screen.
"What does it say?" Tasuki asked.
"China." Lana said solemnly.
"That's a long way no da." Chichiri breathed.
"You could say that." Lana made a 'no-kidding,-just-realised-it?' face.
"But that doesn't explain how do you know so much about of us no da." Chichiri stated seriously while Riina closed the laptop and climbed back to sit on her bed.
"Why are you looking me like that?" She sweat dropped when Chichiri, Tasuki and Lana looked at her from the other bed as if waiting for something.
"Go on, you're better explainer than me, sis." Lana smiled innocently and rubbed her right shoulder blade. "Damn it itches." she muttered, Tasuki rolled his eyes and reached over, scratching the hard to reach spot for her and snorting when she grinned at him.
'Damn... How to put this? I just can't tell them that they're just manga characters in our world.' Riina scratched her hair in unease.
~You're gonna pay for this kittling.~ she sent a half hearted threat for Lana.
"Don't mind if I won't be holding my breath while waiting." Lana smirked back, leaning back and looking pleased with herself. Riina ignored this.
"*mmmm* In our world.." she started slowly. "There are dreamers among of us. Inspired by their visions, they shape them into forms of stories to tell it to others. Sometimes good, sometimes bad. I think that in a way, some dreams are windows to other worlds. A little like Shijin Tenchi Sho is a physical gate and window from Miaka's world to yours. But every world is still real." Now Riina started to look troubled. "I don't even know what am I explaining anymore..." she blushed. "Let's just say that we know the story of Suzaku seishi and their Miko..."
"That made a lot sense." Tasuki sighed and rolled his eyes.
"I'm sure it did, Kou Shu'nu. You try to explain something that can't be explained." Riina sneered, then turned SD when she realised her slip when Tasuki stared at her with huge eyes. "Oops."
Without a word Lana reached over, grabbed her pillow and threw it full force straight at Riina's face, who fell on her back on the bed.
"Idiot." A vein popped on Lana's forehead.
"Thank you." came a pained muffled answer from under the pillow.
"What she's TRYING so hard to say." Lana continued while Riina pried the pillow off her face and lied on the bed with swirly eyes. "Is that we know what has been going on since Miaka appeared the first time on this world 'till the summoning of Suzaku." 'Of course... Not specifying exactly to which one of the summonings....' Lana added to herself, crossing her fingers behind her back 'So that's not exactly a lie, right?...'
"So you're saying that you know about of the rest of the Seishi and what happened to them?" Chichiri said slowly with his low voice. Lana looked down at this.
"Yes." She whispered. "We know about the Shichi Seishi... Nuriko... little Chiriko... Mitsukake.... Hotohori-sama...." Lana named every seishi in their dying order and sniffled, brushing a tear away from the corner of her eye. "And Tamahome's leaving." she added. "In a way, we were there."
"Nuriko.... Chiriko..." Tasuki whispered, looking away. "It's been a while..."
"I know." Chichiri murmured, putting his hand on Tasuki's shoulder in comforting way then looked sharply at Lana. "What about the time before Miaka came?"
'Why's he giving me the third degree?' Lana sweat dropped. "Well..."
~Don't tell 'em, kittling. It's not our place to know. They tell us if they wish.~ Riina suddenly whispered on Lana's mind.
"Only what has been told or hinted at during the whole Miko thing." Lana smiled innocently "I only remember the bigger happenings...." she laughed nervously with a small sweat drop hanging by the side of her head. "One head through summers and winters and so on..."
Chichiri and Tasuki looked at her doubtfully.
"Anycase." Riina stated sitting up, holding her head and grimaced. "Itai.. That hurted..." she murmured. "Anywhoz. We don't know why we are here and why these things are happening.," she said tiredly, referring to their sudden abilities. "Honestly." she looked calmly straight to Chichiri's masked eyes, that gave away no emotions.
"Maybe... we should go to see Tai-Itsukun no da. Perhaps she'd know something about this no da." Chichiri said slowly.
"We'll leave tomorrow morning. I'll have everything ready for travel then." Tasuki said solemnly.
"Oh great! We're gonna meet the all-mighty Sunakake-Baba!" Lana gave a wide grin and jumped from bed to another. She would have fell to the floor if Riina wouldn't have grabbed the back of her shirt and pulled her down to sit.
"Come on. No cracks about her in front of her. She'd send you into a one-way trip through the nine hells... Or to a trip to higher earth orbit like the Nyans." Riina couldn't help but chuckle at the thought.
"Taskiteeee....* " Lana said quietly, mimicking the end of old "Fly" movie. Both girls burst into a hilarious laughter, leaving Chichiri and Tasuki staring at them once again.
*CAN: There's a pun between Tasuki's name and the Japanese word 'taskite', which means 'help' or 'save me'. This is actually explained rather well by Tamahome when he finds Miaka after Nakago's assumed rape and tries to cheer her up. Sorry if it's misspelled and I can't recall the episode right now. (Read: too lazy to dig through the whole damn series.)
"Y'know Chiri. I think they might be even scarier than the old hag." Tasuki slowly stated to Chichiri.
Suddenly Riina looked at herself in an invisible hand mirror and looked shocked. "Ahhh! I have a wrinkle!!" then she turned mock thoughtful, holding her finger on her cheek and raised a brow. "*Hmmmm* Now would that be Hotohori or Tai-Itsukun?...." The two of them started laughing hysterically again.
"Now I know they're scarier than her." Tasuki declared to the world generally. "They're both insane!"
"No, that's Nuriko finding his first wrinkle." Lana laughed.
"Nu-uh. He'd just cover it with a make-up." Riina smirked and then thought for a moment. "On the other hand, so would probably Hotohori." she laughed. This time Tasuki chuckled with them and Chichiri tried to hide his amusement.
"More than likely." Tasuki agreed, "Hotohori was somewhat narcissist and Nuriko a real drag-queen." he smiled fondly to the memory.
"No he wasn't. She was a cross-dresser." Riina waved her finger to them, defending her third favourite Seishi.
"We know no da." Chichiri said softly, looking at her intently. "We miss all of them no da."
Riina looked ashamed of bringing up such a painful subject and turned serious again. "How's about we call it for tonight and go to sleep? We have an early waking tomorrow." she suggested.
"Ya can't be tired already, Riina. You just slept for a whole day." Lana blinked.
"Well I am." Riina said firmly, standing up suggesting that it was time for the two men to leave. Chichiri also stood up and Tasuki followed the suit grumpily as Riina opened the door for them.
"Night, Tasuki." Lana said, conquering her bed back.
"The same." Tasuki raised his hand in goodbye on the door and disappeared to the hallway. "Come on buddy. Time to get up and going. *che* What the heck h've ya been eating? Yer heavy." came from the hallway, as Tasuki helped the unconscious Kouji to his feet from out side of the door, where Lana had slammed him.
"Good night no da." Chichiri gave a slight, more formal bow before he turned to help Tasuki.
"G'night. See ya tomorrow." Riina nodded and shut the door behind of him and then leaned against of it. 'Finally!' she mouthed to Lana, who rolled her eyes.
"What was that all about of?" Lana asked, putting her hands behind her head "It isn't that late yet."
"I just hate of being questioned like that." Riina muttered, annoyed as she walked to her bed and undid her cotton shirt "It makes me feel like I'm being blamed for everything and that I'm good for nothing." she threw her shirt and jeans over the small stool beside her bed.
"I know the feeling." Lana agreed as the older girl slipped under the covers and frowned "Okay, what crawled up your leg and bit you? Are you okay? You've been tight as a string since you woke up." she asked worriedly starting to get ready to sleep herself.
"I've felt better, but I'll be fine. Will ya turn off the candles when you're ready?" Riina answered, turning her back to Lana.
"Turn off the candles?" Lana asked with amusement as she threw her jeans in to a messed heap next to her bed.
"Switch off... Blow off... What ever..." Riina murmured sleepily, waving her hand. She heard Lana snickering and blowing out the candles on the drawer one by one.
"Night night, big bister." was heard in the darkness.
"Nights" came the yawned reply.
Soon there was quiet snuffing.
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In Chichiri's room Chichiri was lying on his bed, ready to fall asleep. He crossed his hands behind his head and closed his eye, calming his mind and reaching out to touch the people in the nearby rooms to make sure that everything was alright. Tasuki's room was one door away from his and he still could clearly hear his snoring. Chichiri groaned at this and considered of putting his pillow over his head.
'He never changes no da.' he smiled as he followed Tasuki's calm sleeping chi. He was apparently seeing some pleasant dream or perhaps a memory.
Chichiri took a quick glance at Kouji, who's room was across Tasuki's. He was fast asleep, his chi having passed the point where you dream.
Chichiri reached out once more, further this time, to the other wing of the fortress, where girls shared room was. He found easily Lana's chi. Chichiri was surprised to find her chi filled with such a strong emotions and he quickly moved on, not even daring to guess what she was dreaming about of. Next to Lana he could pick Riina's chi, that was still tense, but other wise had calm patterns though there was deep dark currents under the surface of her chi.
Chichiri pulled back, deciding that she wouldn't need him to guard her sleep tonight. He turned to his side and with a deep sigh he soon fell asleep himself, though not before sending a silent prayer to Suzaku on Riina's behalf.
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Lana was dreaming.
She was standing on a high cliff. The cool wind was rustling her hair. She looked around and noticed Tasuki standing nearby, wearing just black pants and a simple white shirt. He was watching the setting sun, his red hair almost turning onto living fire on the reddish light. He turned to look at Lana with a grin and beckoned her to come watch the burning sky with him.
Lana smiled back and walked to his side, admiring the burning red and orange as Tasuki put his arm around her shoulders in a calm way. He said something that she couldn't quite catch. The two of them joked around and Lana was having the time of her life. Tasuki carefully slid his arm around her waist turned her to look at him. Slowly he leaned closer, closing his eyes.
Lana though that her heart would have stopped when they shared a kiss. First soft and gentle, then deeper as Tasuki pulled her into a gentle embrace. The world disappeared around them, turning to the colors of the setting sun. Spirals of fire whirled around them, but she knew that they would never hurt her.
(*AN: Lana: =^^= *blussshhhhh* Riina-chan, you get a gold medal for kawaiiness right here.)
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Tasuki was dreaming.
He was sitting on the cool shades of palace gardens of Konan with Kouji and Lana, drinking himself silly with Kouji while Lana had some sort of weird other world drink. He laughed with them and looked around the garden with a wide smile.
Tamahome and Miaka were sitting under a tree on the other end of the garden, talking quietly and sharing a kiss once in a while. Hotohori was walking to the garden in his more regular travelling outfit with Nuriko hanging on his arm with wide chibi eyes, dressed into a pink men's outfit. Tasuki chuckled at this and noticed Amiboshi, Chiriko and Mitsukake sitting by fountain, Chiriko explaining something while Mitsukake played with Tama-neko and Amiboshi was playing a happy tune with his flute to them. Tasuki had always felt bad about Amiboshi's assumed death. He had come to be fond of the young Seishi in the short time he had been with them, though he always tried to hide it. He looked worriedly around some more and sighed with relief when he saw Chichiri and Riina by the palace pond. Chichiri was sitting on the rocks and fishing as usual and Riina was lying on the rocks next to him, basking on the sun and waving her toes idly in the water.
Tasuki sighed and took another swing of sake. He leaned back against a tree. His heart was full. All of his friends were alive and with him on such a beautiful day. He closed his eyes with a confident smile. Nothing could ruin this perfect moment.
Suddenly there was a crack of thunder and everything turned dark when deep violet clouds were starting to cover the sky. Demonic yellow eyes appeared to the air above the palace roofs and cold laughter echoed through the air, sending cold shivers through Tasuki's spine. Everything started to crumble around him.
Tasuki woke up with a gasp from his dream turned to a haunting nightmare. He calmed his breath and turned to his side, falling instantly back to sleep.
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Riina was dreaming.
She was sitting on the shores of the river that ran through her home village. It was an early morning and there was a slight bite on the air. She watched as the mist curled on the still surface of the water, the first rays of the morning sun playing with the beautiful mist tendrils. She smiled happily. The moment was perfect. Everything was as she has always remembered. She glanced at the red wooden church that was on the small hill across the river and saw bright light coming from it's windows and a lady dressed in long white night gown stepped out of the church doors.
'I know her...' was all she could think of as she stood up and ran across the old dam that crossed the river and kneeled to one knee in front of the lady as she walked down the hill.
~I know you.~ said the lady, now wearing an long old fashioned black dress. She looked at Riina coldly.
~Yes, ma'am.~ Riina looked down and bit her lip, knowing what she would say.
~Are you aware the depth of your deed?~
~Yes, I am. I take full responsibility of my crime and accept the sentence that shall fall on my shoulders.~ The lady in the dark dress nodded at this and her look turned freezing.
~Very well. You shall not belong as part of this blood no longer. The family shall not look over you, nor your descendants any longer.~ a tear escaped down Riina's cheek. At this as the high looking lady half turned away from her.
~ I shall not recognise you as of my own anymore.~ she said over her shoulder, turned away and disappeared into a soft glow.
Riina sat to the sand road, choked sobs escaping from her as the morning turned night and everything was surrounded in darkness. Dark figures rose from the darkness, slowly surrounding the unmoving girl and reached their half-rotten hands to grab her. She screamed.
Riina woke up with wide eyes and sweat gleaming on her skin.
'No!' she choked through unshed tears and turned to her side, pondering her dream. She sighed and tried to fall asleep again. She turned again. And again. Soon she had turned full three sixty in twenty seconds. She snorted in frustration and glared at the ceiling.
'Damn it. It's way too hot that I could sleep.' She kicked off the sheet that was her blanket and tiptoed to the small window that was on her side of the room and opened it wide.
'No good. It's still hot. How can Lana sleep on this heat?' she looked at the sleeping figure on the other bed.
'I'll go and get something to drink.' Riina decided and sneaked across the room and lit a candle to look at the clothes. When she turned around she had to bite her lip to stop laughing when she saw Lana. She had sprawled as wide as possible across the bed, one leg hanging outside of the bed, right arm under her head and her head almost falling from the other side of the bed. On the top of this she had somehow managed to twist herself laying the wrong way on the bed, so that her right foot was on her pillow.
'Dreaming of Tasuki, huh?' she smiled amusedly at the sleeping Lana, who's hair had turned flaming red and she was blushing deep red on her sleep. She suddenly flopped to her belly and let out a deep, happy sigh, murmuring something incoherent.
'Talk about restless sleeper. That beats even Tasuki. I wish I had camera now. That's so priceless...' Riina snickered on her mind as she put on her shirt, only tying few straps loosely on the front. She pondered whether to put on jeans or not.
'Nah. They're too hot.' she decided and pulled the thin sheet for a blanket and, folding it on two, wrapped it around her waist and tied it with tight double knot.
'Voilá. A temporary wrap-skirt! Not a beauty, but it'll do.' she smiled and tiptoed with her bare feet across the room and opened the door carefully, soundlessly slipping out of the room.
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Chichiri was dreaming.
He was sitting by the river of his childhood village, tossing a stone to the water. He crossed his legs and started to meditate, trying to let his spirit flow as calm as the cool water in front of him.
Slowly everything turned black and then into a beautiful red. Chichiri looked around confusedly. He had never had a dream like this. Soon he noticed a red phoenix flying to him. Chichiri gasped when the glorious bird turned into a tall redheaded man standing in front of him with his large red wings spread wide.
~Suzaku!~ Chichiri breathed.
~My precious Seishi Chichiri.~ rang the God's gentle voice on his mind and Chichiri dropped to one knee in front of him and his mark started to flare in the presence of the God.
~Once more needs to my beloved Seishi's gather in order to stop the evil that threatens both of the worlds.~ he said.
~How could someone be such a threat to the whole world?~ Chichiri asked.
But before the winged God of love and fire could respond there was a loud crackle. There were deep violet cracks spreading through the red space, like cracks spreads through the glass and the dream shattered, waking up Chichiri.
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'What was that no da?' Chichiri thought as he bolted to sit up. An annoying feeling that something was out of place or missing was poking around the back of his mind. He looked around the room and found nothing missing. Which was a miracle on a bandit fortress. He wrinkled his brows, a look of worry inching it's way to his un-masked face. He put his hand to his knee over his character and once again reached out to see if everybody were still asleep.
'Kouji.... Tasuki... the girls...' his eye widened 'Wait a moment. Where's Riina?' Suddenly he could feel almost audible crack of chi just outside of his room and Chichiri jumped out his bed, only wearing his forest green pants and hurried to see what was going on.
Riina was standing on the hallway, breathing hard, and her hand held in gesture as if she'd swiped something off. She was staring angrily something at the far end of the hall. Chichiri looked to his left and noticed a large human shaped hole on the wall. He sweat dropped at this.
"Anou....You're supposed to push people away... not through the wall no da." he said slowly, turning to look at the girl, who straightened her clothes.
"The bastard will live." Riina snorted and then looked at Chichiri defensively "He was making some not so polite suggestions and couldn't take the no."
"We are definitely going to start practising tomorrow of how to control your powers no da." Chichiri sighed and then noticed of what Riina was wearing. "No wonder. That outfit will give some…ideas.. to Tasuki's gang no da." Then he pointed at her makeshift skirt "What is that anyways no da?!"
".... It's a skirt." Riina said dryly.
"It looks like a sheet no da." Chichiri shook his head, hiding his smile behind his hand.
"It's way too hot to put on any serious clothing. Besides." Riina gave a smug smile and looked at Chichiri slowly up and down, obviously enjoying the view. "Look who's talking, or do you usually go out like that?"
Chichiri looked down and realised for the first time that he was only wearing his pants in front of a woman and took a step back to the shelter of his room, trying to save what was left of his dignity while blushing deep red. Riina cracked up into an amused hearty laughter at this.
"I couldn't sleep anymore and thought to head for a drink or something to cool out. Would you care to join the company?" she smiled friendly and thumbed towards the general direction of the kitchens.
"Anouu....." Chichiri poked his head from the room with a sheepish look on his face and still blushing.
"'S okay. You don't have to." Riina waved her hand and turned to leave "Oh well. You know where to find me if you change your mind." She walked down the hall and turned on the corner, passing the new hole on the wall.
Chichiri looked at her disappearing back thoughtfully and then the hole on the wall. He sighed and grabbed his shirt, quickly pulling it on.
'I can't let her bring down the whole fortress... Besides, I don't feel like sleeping anymore.' he took his mask from the small night table from the side of his bed and fingered it for a moment, biting his lower lip nervously. Soon he tossed it back to the table and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Soon after the sunrise on the next morning, four figures slipped out of the gates of Mt. Reikaku's bandit's fortress.
"Bye Kouji! No hard feelings, ne?" Lana shouted and waved to the figure standing on the wall above the gate. They could clearly see him wincing.
"Hah! I bet he won't be stepping to the same room with ya anytime soon after that beating ya gave to him last night kittling." Tasuki smirked to Lana, who sweat dropped at this, poking her index fingers embarrasedly. Tasuki turned to look at Kouji.
"I'll leave ya in charge while I'm gone, Kouji. So take care of these bunch of trouble makers will ya?" Tasuki shouted to him.
"Don't I always?" Kouji shouted back, waving his hand reassuringly.
"Ya better or I'm gonna fry yer arse." Tasuki laughed.
"Just come back in one piece yerself." Kouji shouted as the four of them turned and started to walk away.
"Are they always that loud?" Riina asked from Chichiri, trying to hide a wide yawn.
"Unfortunately as far as I know no da." Chichiri answered, the rings of his staff softly jingling in rhythm of his step.
The time passed by fast, as they walked on and the deep mountain forest changed into a more open land, though they still were on the highlands.
Lana and Tasuki were walking somewhat side by side and they were lost in endless heated bickering, arguing or just having fun and Lana couldn't pass the chance to irritate Tasuki by trying to talk with every passing animal, were it on legs or not. The last drop was when she leaned to look at a pretty butterfly sitting on a nearby flower and tried to make a contact with it. The only result being headache and bright patterns of the butterfly's wings on her face. Tasuki stared at this for a second before cracking up in howling laughter. Which made Lana to chase him running around Chichiri and Riina, in solid attempt to harm him severely if she'd ever get her hands on him.
Chichiri and Riina were lost in a wordless conversation. Last night they had talked into the early hours of the morning, Riina having to tell off two more bandits, and Chichiri nearly getting violent on a third who made certain 'suggestions' while he was present. When they had left that morning, it hadn't been without leaving a few of the bandits just a little bruised. Every now and then Chichiri would toss a stone up and down on his hand while Riina tried to catch it and hold it on the air. The result of the first attempt was a small bang when the stone suddenly exploded on the air, making Lana to jump to the air and hide behind Tasuki and Tasuki to whip around to see what it was.
"Not bad, but you're using perhaps too much force no da." was Chichiri's only comment as he coughed and brushed some sand off of his smiling mask.
"Way too much..." Lana muttered at this and Tasuki nodded in agreement.
Later on the noon Chichiri and Riina were having a break from their practising and the girls were walking together ahead of the Seishi. Chichiri had disappeared to somewhere and Tasuki had taken a small side trip to check out their surroundings.
"Hey Riina?" Lana started.
"Mmm?"
"What do you think is going to happen? Are we going to be part of the story or something?" Lana asked, her hair turning in turn to short or shoulder length and changing it's color to reflect her thoughts and moods. At the moment they were reaching to her cheek and turning from ocean green into worried light violet.
"I don't know. Perhaps it should be best to assume that we are in the OVA, like, in real life, at the moment and try not to screw things up, hmm?" Riina pondered and looked at Lana.
"Daaa.... Honestly kittling, that sifting of yours is getting worse and worse every moment." she sighed.
"Hm?" Lana tugged a lock of her hair to see better. "Awwww." she moaned, "Now I have a Nuriko hair... And violet just isn't my color." At the thought of Nuriko she turned to resemble small female Nuriko, which made Riina to grin widely. Lana closed her eyes and concentrated hard, slowly turning to herself. She reached to scratch her right shoulder again.
"*Grrrr* This itch is going to drive me nuts soon." she muttered. "Anyway. What are we gonna do when Miaka appears and Tenkou starts to make everybody's life a living hell?" Lana asked, looking worried "I just don't want to see Tasuki or Chichiri so torn."
"Maybe.... If we can't stop things from happening... maybe we could try to make 'em less painful, ne?" Riina looked sadly at Lana and over her shoulder.
"In the meanwhile..." she started with huge eyes and pointed at something behind Lana "Whut the heck is that supposed to be?!" she asked in high voice.
Lana turned around to take a look.
"*er* A monster?!" she asked, the shock momentarily taking away her fear before returning it to her in full force.
"YAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!" Both of the girls screamed in unison as the ugly looking thing, that resembled something that dog would have thrown up, towered over them.
"LEKKA... SHINÉN!!"
A wave of purifying fire engulfed the three of them, burning the monster to cinders. When the flames finally died and Lana opened her eyes she noticed that she and Riina were surrounded with a thick chi barrier glowing in crimson red.
"I think I over did it again..." Riina commented and knocked the barrier thoughtfully as it disappeared.
"You did that?" Lana asked in amazement as Tasuki walked to them.
"Well whada ya know. I just turn my back to ya fer few seconds, and you're making some new friends a' ready. Dunno should I be jealous or annoyed." Tasuki smirked to the girls and then turned serious. "Konan hasn't been th' same anymore since those damned monsters has started to roam around." he tapped his shoulder with his tessen "We've made few cleansing raids with th' gang 'n just Chiri 'n me but it hasn't helped much." he looked worried.
Lana and Riina looked at each other. They knew what was bringing on the demons.
~Wasn't that the spot when Miaka and Taka were supposed to appear over here?...~ Riina commented to Lana when they continued their walk. This time Tasuki walked by their side, glancing around every now and then.
'Something sucks here... big time.' Lana quietly thought back.
"Hey Tasuki, where did Chichiri go?" Riina asked from the bandit. She squeaked and sweat dropped when Chichiri suddenly appeared right in front of their faces. "Never mind."
"What happened no da? I felt you screaming and Tasuki using his fire no da." Chichiri asked from them.
"Ah, nothing much Chiri. Just a monster wanting to make a snack of 'em. Y'know, the usual." Tasuki grinned to Chichiri.
Before Chichiri had the chance to scold him Lana let a high pitched delighted squeal and hang into Tasuki's and Riina's arm.
"Ohhh!! Look at that over there!! Isn't it gorgeous?! I just GOTTA go and touch it..." Lana let go of their arms to point at a beautiful red phoenix standing patiently on a big stone at the edge of the forest. Lana started to run as fast as she could to the bird.
"Is that a sort of peacock?..." Riina asked before she could stop herself and making the phoenix to turn slightly SD and sweat drop at it. "Wait! Lanaaa!..." Riina shouted and started running after Lana.
"It can be..." Tasuki breathed and then also took off to the bird after Lana, Riina and Chichiri right on his heels.
"That little idiot." Riina breathed as they ran.
When Lana reached the bird it gracefully jumped from the stone and landed to the ground. When it's feet touched the ground it was engulfed in red light and the red phoenix turned into a tall, noble looking red-haired man who had big red wings spread wide behind of him and long red tail feathers brushing the ground.
Lana immediately latched herself into his waist, turning chibi with huge starry eyes and wide happy smile.
"Kawaiiiiiiii..." she breathed and ran her chibi fingers through the wing feathers.
"Suzaku!" Chichiri and Tasuki breathed in unison and dropped to their knee few steps away from their God.
"Great." Riina sweat dropped, when the God looked down to his waist and hint of surprise touched his handsome features.
"Can I have wings like that too?" Lana asked, giving chibi puppy eyes to Suzaku, her hair already turning as blazing red as his.
"LANA!!! You don't talk like that to a God!!" Tasuki shouted to Lana, turning chibi himself with a red face. Riina walked calmly to Suzaku, picking a strong enough looking branch on her way.
"Excuse me." she smiled apologetically to him and started to crane Lana away from Suzaku's waist. Soon Riina dragged the chibi Lana away from Suzaku and tossed her for Tasuki, who held her in the air her from her waist, as still chibi Lana's legs thrashed in the air in attempt to get back to the God.
An amused smile touched Suzaku's face at this as he watched the scenery and tried to hold in a chuckle.
"My beloved Seishi." he smiled fondly to Tasuki and Chichiti and spread his wings to lightly brush them as in blessing. In response both of their characters started flaming brightly.
"The others are missing you." he started but was cut off this time by Riina.
"That's it." she muttered. The only warning was the irritated twitching of her brow before Riina exploded to Suzaku.
"YOU FEATHER BRAINED TWIT!!! You irresponsible dolt for a god!! You just HAD to screw up your first move and the only chance you had!!" she continued to shout right to Suzaku's face, switching between Finnish and English and there was few words also in Swedish. For the first time in history anyone saw a God sweat dropping and looking slightly uncomfortable.
This time it was Chichiri's turn to turn SD as he grabbed Riina from her shoulders and tried to calm her down.
"Riina no da!! Try to behave na no da!"
"I AM behaving!" Riina snarled through her gritted teeth and then took a deep breath to calm herself.
"If she's behaving now..." Tasuki whispered to Lana on the background, staring Riina with huge eyes.
"I know. I don't wana see when she burns her fuse..." Lana whispered back, clinging to Tasuki's arm in fright.
"What the nine hells are we doing here instead of Miaka and Taka and why are we suddenly bonded to you?!" Riina asked, crossing her arms.
"Actually, that's why I'm here." Suzaku said softly "I was calling for my Miko, in order to prevent evil from destroying the two worlds, when Byakko decided to give unasked help to break through the barrier to her world and bring her forth." Suzaku gave a small sigh. "The result of that was unsuspected and uncontrollable power surge that broke beyond her world."
A tension mark appeared on Lana's forehead as she said, "Excuse me? Are you calling us mistakes?"
"So in other words, you screwed up." Riina stated. Suzaku looked at her for a moment.
"No I didn't."
"Yes you did."
"No I didn't."
"Oh yes you did!" Riina shook her head.
"No I didn't. It was Byakko's interference's fault."
"Right."
Tasuki, Lana and Chichiri looked at the arguing girl and God with huge sweat drops hanging by the side of their heads.
"And this is the God you worship." Lana muttered.
"And that is your sister no da." Chichiri muttered back.
"I don't know that stranger..." Lana made a face.
Suzaku finally sighed and rustled his wings in slight irritation. "Your explanation of the realities was actually rather correct but there has also been a side step and now the future is uncertain."
"Great." Riina muttered "I bet Seiryuu is laughing his scales off."
"No, he's not. The situation is more serious than you think. We don't have any more time to fix things, so I am now asking you to two to be as my Seishi because you two are the unknown factor that can bring the balance." Suzaku looked at the two girls.
"Do we take the part of Miko?" Lana asked.
"You two would be Miko and Seishi in one. As well as the medium between the two worlds." Suzaku answered.
"What do we get if we agree?" Riina asked.
"You shall receive full control of your Seishi powers if you accept and the three wishes if you succeed." Suzaku started to turn intangible. "So what will be your answer?"
The girls looked at each other for a second.
"Why not?" Lana asked, enthusiasm glowing on her eyes.
"I never said no." Riina shrugged smiling faintly and the two turned to look at Suzaku.
"We accept." they said in unison.
Suzaku smiled fondly at this and reached to touch both of the girls foreheads on tip if his fingers. The right shoulder blade on Lana's back started to glow in crimson red and character of "kagami", 'mirror', shone through her silk tunic. The corner of Riina's left eye started also glow in crimson red and the character of "ki", 'emotion', appeared.
~Done!~ Suzaku smiled and his victorious voice echoed on their minds as he disappeared in red light.
"That was weird." Riina murmured.
"It makes me feel all fuzzy, weird and dizzy..." Lana swooned with swirly eyes. Suddenly Chichiri and Tasuki were by their side and without a word they gave both Lana and Riina a tight embrace.
"Wha?.." Riina smiled confusedly and blushed when she was being crushed between Chichiri and Lana and she could feel Tasuki arm somewhere on her back.
"Whadda ya know... It seems we're not getting rid of ya anytime soon." Tasuki gave a wide goofy grin and rustled Lana's bright red hair and Chichiri reached to take off his mask, giving Riina's arm a squeeze.
"And now there's suddenly four of us no da. "Chichiri gave a wide smile.
"Hey... Now that you mention it.... I can feel some sort of connection between us." Lana grinned widely then blinked and almost broke her neck when she tried to look over her shoulder to see her character. "What is it? What does it look like? Tasuki! What does it saaaaay?" she whined and started turning around like a dog chasing it's tail.
"Hold still will ya?" Taski laughed and grabbed Lana by her shoulders and promptly turned her around. Then he realised that he would need to take down her shirt to reveal her shoulder and blushed deep red. "*ummm* Chiri, ya read."
Chichiri also blushed red and coughed embarrassedly. Riina just shook her head amusedly and then pushed Lana from behind few steps forward so that both of the men were standing behind of her.
"Now take up your shirt kittling. I'll make sure they won't peak." Riina chuckled and Lana gacked and then inched her shirt up to reveal her right shoulder blade and tried to hide as much as posible of her front.
"So what it says already?" Lana asked, blushing.
"It is 'Kagami' which means 'mirror' or 'reflection' no da." Chichiri said, tracing the character on her back with his index finger as he read it.
"Really? Cool!" Lana said and pulled her shirt down. "It doesn't tickle anymore by the way."
"I think it was because the character tried to show up before but couldn't no da." Chichiri guessed.
Riina looked at Chichiri "So what does mine say?" she asked and pointed at her face.
Chichiri tilted her head for a better look.
" 'Ki' in the meaning of 'emotion' or 'mood' no da."
"Hmm?" Riina raised her brows, surprised "Nice." She snapped her fingers when she suddenly remebered something and looked at Lana. "Lana, you need to take Tama's jewel of memory right now!"
"How do ya know of those?!" Tasuki asked.
"Why?" Lana asked.
"Never mind about that. Just take it now if we want to stop Tama from disappearing and stop Tenkou."
~And they're his memories of Tasuki...~ she added quietly to Lana, who blinked at this and turning chibi attacked at Tasuki, tackling him to the ground and started to dig through his purple vest and the pockets of his pants.
"Hey watch what you're digging at!! Geroff!!!" Tasuki shouted, blushing deep red when Lana finally pulled the red stone from his pocket and lifted it to the air with a victorious smile.
"Got it!" she grinned and suddenly her eyes widened as the jewel started to react to her, bursting into millions glittering bubbles that surrounded her and drifted to her.
"Wow" was all Lana could say when the images of Tamahome's memories of Tasuki flashed to her mind.
She was in Kutou, fighting for his life against Tasuki, beating him into crap. She was standing in the snowy mountains next to Nuriko's body and saw Tasuki sitting against the rock, tears falling down his face. She saw him giving her his lopsided smirk.
"That was something..." she breathed and looked down as she was still sitting over him. There was hint of worry on Tasuki's eyes.
"You two quite done?" Riina asked dryly.
"*um* Right..." Lana blushed and climbed up, helping Tasuki up from the ground.
"Good. Now then. We need to get to see Tai-Itsukun, Chichiri." Riina nudged Chichiri's arm "She can fill us in of what's going on and we need to get your jewel too."
"Then we'd better to take a shortcut na no da!" Chichiri slipped his mask back to his face, giving his cheerful masked smile again, and unclipped his kesa, spreading it to the ground and hit his shajukou on its center. The cloak started to ripple gently from the magic and Lana, Tasuki and Riina sank to its depths while Chichiri jumped in as last and the cloak disappeared with a jingle of metal rings.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Hi ya everybody! ^^ I thank all of you, who have reviewed this fic. You all encourage us continuing of writing this fic. And then some news. Bad ones unfortunately. I'm not going to update this fic for a while for three reasons, 1) because I'll be off for at least a week, 2) I really need to focus into the school for a while. -_-; (*sighs* Springs…) And 3) we need to write couple of chapters more, before I'll put up anything else.
But now for the reviews. *puts on sunglasses* Have a nice spring everybody! ^^ And please, feel free to comment the fic. What is good and what is bad. What did you like?
paws-bells – So how's about that? They guys took it pretty calmly, don't you think? .... *swetdrops* perhaps Tasuki should'a made a scenery about it... but aaaanywayz. Unfortuantely, as I said, I'm gona keep a pause for now. 11 chapters in 3 month is quite fast and I need a break....
Songwind - *huggs* I'm glad to see ya
back!! ^^ I was a bit worried there for a moment, when I didn't hear from ya.
;p *hold 'wind's hand and pats her head* *aw* No need to smack yerself. Anyone
can miss a new chappy. *winks* That's why i use author allert... I do my best
to stay true for all of the characters, but sometimes it just slips.. -.-;;;
*imagines Tasuki suddenly wearing old English stylished clothes and kneeling in
front of Lana, holding out a rose for her when they're sitting in a inn and
staring to quote Shakespear with a nasal voice* Oh my.... *glances at her muse
thoughtfully, before falling to the floor, rolling with laughter*
Tasuki: *glares and taps his tessen against his shoulder* Don't even think
about it.... Don't make me fry ya....
Atomic-Witch - *smiles and blushes* Thank you! =^^= Lana 'n I will try to keep up working. *chuckles* And if ya didn't notice from this chapter, I like to write dream sequences. *winks* They're so easy to write. ;p
Opaaru Tsuki - *erm* Lessee.... At first, Lana posted the four first chapters here in ff.net also posted it to my old site, BlueDreams, but I only reached the chap 8 or 9.... And now since, Lana hasn't been active in ff.net for a while, we talked about it and she was okay with it that I took our fic under my name and have now been updating it. So there's a chance that you red it when Lana was still posting it or that ya ran into my site. Or that you've read similar fics here in ff.net... ;p *chukles and winks with a shrug* Hey, fanfics... How many ya can have before they start repeating the same? Or should I say, how many truly original fics are there among similar fanfics. ^~