Nuriko sat alone in his room, thinking over the events of the day. Not only had Yumi managed to get Tasuki back from the enemy, almost losing her life in the process, but also the priestess of Seiryu herself showed up, along with two of her warriors. He stood up and left his room, intent upon checking up on the guests. Nuriko wasn't sure it was wise to play host to the warriors of Seiryu, even if Megumi and Yumi were friends. He arrived at the right hallway and stopped. Nuriko hadn't seen the visitors yet, but he had been told where they were staying. All of Suzaku's warriors knew that bit of information. "In case of an emergency," Hotohori had said, but Nuriko couldn't see how it would be helpful. Nothing seemed amiss. Nuriko sighed slightly, turning away. What's gotten into me? If Yumi says we can trust them, then I know its true.
"Hey, Nuriko! What are you doing here, no da?" Nuriko jumped and looked over his shoulder to see Chichiri standing not two feet away. Nuriko turned to face him, wondering how to explain the bad feeling in his heart.
"Well, Chichiri, I've been getting this feeling that something isn't right. I don't know, but it might be connected to Seiryu." He didn't want to sound accusatory, so he just gave Chichiri a broad explanation that meant absolutely nothing. Chichiri seemed to know what was going on in his head, for he suddenly became serious.
"I know what you mean, no da. I've been trying to figure out what it was, and all I've been able to do is eliminate the possibility that Seiryu's priestess is the threat." Nuriko nodded, not sure what to say next. Chichiri turned to look back the way they had come.
"What's wrong?" Nuriko asked, but Chichiri didn't answer. A minute later, a door opened and a woman looked out. She saw the two of them hanging around and suddenly became suspicious. Chichiri immediately pretended to study an intricate vase on a nearby table.
"You don't have to treat us like criminals, you know." She said, and Nuriko realized that she must be a warrior of Seiryu. Nuriko was about to apologize for whatever had made her angry when he heard a crash from the other end of the hallway.
"Attack! Attack! Get out of bed and defend Konan! There's an attack!" A man in armor was running through the halls, and Nuriko heard him long before he saw him. Nuriko and Chichiri looked at one another, and as one, dashed off in different directions. Nuriko soon lost sight of Chichiri as he rushed along the corridor to wake the guests. Chichiri had undoubtedly gone to wake the other warriors and face the threat. Kutou. So that's what he was feeling. Nuriko opened one of the doors.
"Wake up!" He cried, "I have to get you to safety…" He had barged in on the boy warrior. Suboshi, if he remembered correctly. Suboshi sat up and rubbed his eyes. He looked at Nuriko and was suddenly alert, posing to fight. Nuriko sighed and rushed to explain before the boy attacked him.
"There's been an attack, and you need to get to safety." Nuriko said as patiently as he could. Suboshi looked at him suspiciously.
"Why bother to help me? I'm the enemy, remember?" Nuriko felt like tearing his hair.
"No, you're not." He said firmly. "And besides, what kind of host allows their guests to be murdered?" Nuriko thought he sounded logical, but Suboshi still resisted.
"Kutou attacked, right? Do you really think they would kill their own warriors and priestess?" Nuriko didn't know what to say to that, so instead he grabbed Suboshi's arm and pulled him bodily out of the room, stopping only to wake the girls up. To his surprise, they were already gone. Nuriko cursed inwardly. Now what? He released Suboshi now that he was awake and went off to help defend Konan. Remembering what Yumi had said about fighting, he looked for some kind of weapon on his way, but didn't find one until he was outside in the darkness of night. The sound of battle crashed upon his ears, causing him to draw back in surprise. He couldn't see anything, and to make matters worse, it was still raining. He stumbled along and tripped on something. He felt around to find out what he had tripped on, and was rewarded with a spear. Trying not to think about where the spear's original owner was, he pushed forward, his vision adapting to the gloom.
He could see what was going on now. Kutou soldiers were attacking the front gate, but it was still being held, for the moment. Nuriko couldn't see anything he could do to help there, so he ran along the wall, certain that the enemy would try to climb over it. Where is everyone? He couldn't help wondering as he jogged along. Every once in a while he had to crack the head of an invader, but he seemed to be alone in doing this. The scene was brightly illuminated for a moment as lightning crackled, coming down right next to him. Nuriko was knocked off his feet by the blast.
"Nuriko! Are you okay?" Nuriko looked up. A woman in armor dashed over to him. Who is this? Oh yeah, Soi.
"What…" Had she just tried to kill him? Soi pointed, and Nuriko could see a charred cinder wearing black robes, a long knife still clenched in burned fingers.
"Uh, thanks…" Nuriko thought she hated all of them, but… Nuriko saw Megumi run up, a concerned look on her face. Ah. So the priestess was the force behind it.
"Are you okay?" She asked, repeating her warrior's words. Nuriko nodded dumbly, getting up and steadying himself. His night vision had been ruined thanks to the lightening bolt; but then again, his life had been saved as well, even though she'd only done it for her priestess. He could see the said priestess looking at him with concern and he smiled, trying to reassure her. She seemed the worrying type.
"Um, yeah, I'm fine." He said, nodding. He fought to make the dancing lights in front of his eyes go away, watching as the older woman took a place beside her priestess, apparently ready for trouble. Eventually he was able to make out the forms of the people around him. He could faintly see a few of the celestial warriors as well, when their powers flared. Nuriko could see Chichiri's ward pop up to block arrows every now and then. Hopefully Tasuki had gotten Yumi out of danger.
Nuriko continued walking down the stairs, trying to get to level ground. He wanted to make sure Yumi was okay. Chiriko couldn't fight, and he was probably with Mitsukake in the palace. So far no one had breached the walls, and it seemed all the fighting was happening outside. Nuriko noticed that the two Seiryu followers were on his trail, but he didn't really question it. If that priestess wanted to help then let her, plus that lightning was handy in a tight spot.
He wondered where Hotohori was. If he'd gotten rid of his advisors then he was probably around here somewhere, fighting. If not, then he was in the palace. Nuriko's mind tried to keep track of everyone at once. He had no idea where Tamahome was. Come to think of it, he didn't even know what that boy's power was. All he knew was that he was a warrior of Suzaku. After all, he had the mark.
Suddenly, he thought he heard something. Tightening the grip on the spear he held, Nuriko turned quickly, but only met the gazes of the Seiryu priestess and that woman, Soi, who glared at him as if he were an idiot.
"Did you hear something just now?" He asked quietly. Soi shook her head and the priestess blinked.
"I didn't, but I'm hearing deficit anyway…" The priestess said. Her name was Megumi, if he recalled correctly, and he knew he did. Nuriko turned around again and reached the bottom of the stairs, on edge. He could have sworn that he heard something strange, but it might have just been his nerves or something.
Then he heard it again, closer this time. It sounded like… a wild animal. He turned slowly, almost praying that he was hearing nothing again. Two eyes stared at him from the shadows, and Nuriko had hardly any time to react as a large form hurtled towards him. The creature hit him in the chest like a ton of bricks and he was aware of a sharp pain in his shoulder and the back of his head as he fell backwards and hit the ground.
Somehow he managed to bring his legs up and kick the thing off of him, scrambling up as quickly as he could and backing up until a lit brazier illuminated the area. Someone, probably Megumi gasped as the beast came into view. It was large and… hairy, looking like a wild animal, but it walked on two legs. It growled low in its throat, a noise that reverberated in his very bones. As it shuffled forward, chains wrapped around it clinked noisily. Its eyes were wild and feral, without humanity.
"I'll kill you… Suzaku celestial warrior…" It spat in a gravelly voice. Nuriko looked around quickly. Soi and Megumi were on the edge of the circle of light cast by the burning brazier. Soi looked caught off-guard.
"Ashitare?" She said suddenly, her hand flying to her chest as if in shock. Nuriko didn't have any more time to analyze her words when he realized that his left shoulder wasn't working properly. He looked at it. That thing, Ashitare, had bitten him, leaving jagged rends in his flesh, but it wasn't… too deep. The man-beast sprang at him again, and this time Nuriko brought up the wooden spear to block. Ashitare, or whatever the thing was, gripped the spear in his clawed hands, snapping it into two splintered pieces. Nuriko looked down at the pieces briefly before dropping the blunt end.
The creature circled him, like an animal, as Tasuki had done before. Nuriko could have laughed right then and there if he didn't think his life was in danger again. Hah! That is the Seiryu warrior Tasuki was impersonating! Wait until I tell him. He'll have a fit… he thought briefly before he was forced to duck as the beast-man swung a heavy hand at him. Nuriko returned the swing with his spear end, but Ashitare caught it and pulled it away, tossing it to the ground with a feral grin.
Nuriko backed up as Ashitare advanced on him, hoping that somebody would show up to help him. This thing was faster and just as strong as he was. He didn't know how in the world he was going to beat it on his own. Why wasn't that Soi woman helping him? His back bumped against something hard and metallic and he suddenly realized that he was very hot, despite the wetness prevalent in the air from the rain. He had hit the brazier.
That gave Nuriko an idea. Ashitare sprung at him once more, the muscles in his shoulders tensed, snarling. Nuriko ducked down to the floor and kicked the bottom out from under the brazier, sending the burning hot coals and flames onto the unsuspecting Ashitare.
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Soi didn't know why Ashitare was here. Last thing she had known, the half-wolf was in a cage in the dungeons being trained. It was painfully obvious though, what he was doing here. He had been sent to kill the Suzaku warriors, the enemy. Soi looked down when she realized that Megumi was tugging on her sleeve.
"Soi? Who's that? Is he one of my warriors?" She asked insistently, a look of intense worry in her brown eyes. Both of them were soaked, but it was raining. This way she could easily summon her lightening at least. Soi was torn now, between loyalty to her priestess and Nakago. Well, she supposed it wouldn't hurt if she just bent the truth a little.
"It's Ashitare. See the symbol there, on his back?" Soi said, knowing very well that Megumi was not wearing the things she called glasses. Ashitare's symbol was not glowing at the moment. Megumi frowned, but took her on face value. Soi actually felt a little bad about lying to the girl. Nakago had told Soi about Ashitare, and also how very easy it was to manipulate the priestess. Soi had never felt bad about lying before.
"Can't you help Nuriko? Yumi would be so mad at me if I let one of her warriors die!" Megumi said, on the verge of tears. Soi looked at the fight. Ashitare had just snapped the man's weapon. She knew he was a man, but he dressed awfully feminine.
"I can't, Your Eminence. If I called down lightening on Ashitare, even though he is one of us, I would hit that Suzaku warrior." Soi said in a no-nonsense voice. Megumi was fretting, she could tell. She was biting her nails. Soi was wondering whether she should try and comfort the poor girl a little when she heard Ashitare snarling in pain.
That Suzaku warrior, Nuriko, had finally shown some intelligence. He had knocked the brazier into Ashitare, catching him on fire. Nuriko was trying to stand up, clutching his left shoulder. Soi knew Ashitare hated fire, and it was now a measure of how trained he was as to whether he would continue the fight. Miboshi had failed to kill the child warrior, Chiriko, but maybe Ashitare would… Soi stopped herself.
Ashitare was howling now, like a wolf. He was rolling on the ground, trying to extinguish his burning fur. Soi supposed she could hit Ashitare with her lightening without injuring Nuriko now. But of course, she wouldn't. After all, no matter how much she pretended they weren't, the Suzaku chosen were her enemies, Nakago's enemies.