AN: Yeah. Somebody said it was too bad I didn't show the morning after… blush I don't have problem's reading stuff like that but when it comes to the actual writing of… that kind of stuff, even just the right before and right after scenes, I get completely embarrassed and I just can't seem to write it. Boyfriendless Wonder here has never been in a relationship so… yeah. When I finish this and start revising I'll try harder with those scenes. wrinkles nose And hope mom doesn't come in and wonder what I'm doing. :P

We Will Meet Again

Chapter 17

Yumiko Kaze

Miaka slowly opened one eye. I'm alive? She had flung herself backward when the gun had fired and was sitting curled up by the door in a fetal position with her hands protecting her head. She blinked, realizing that she wasn't bleeding; her head just hurt a bit from its recent encounter with the wall.

Glancing to the side Miaka saw that one of her mother's vases that had been sitting on a shelf ten feet to the side was now shattered into a million pieces. Green eyes wide, Miaka turned to see Ayame standing, looking equally as shocked as Miaka that she had actually fired.

Boy am I lucky she's a bad shot. Miaka thought.

Ayame stared at the gun as though it were a foreign object. She hadn't actually ever meant to shoot. Her purpose in coming here had been that she wanted to scare Miaka into dumping Andy. She had just gotten so overcome by emotions that she had lost control and in her shaking had accidentally fired.

That was when the door flew open and two bodies came hurling through it.

Jumping at the noise as well as the sudden motion, Ayame turned and fired twice.

This time her aim was dead on.


Andy and Taka sprinted up the stairs of the apartment, cursing the fact that Miaka didn't live on the ground floor. They had heard the gun shot and Miaka's scream and had immediately forgotten their fight and rushed to see what was going on.

Taka pounded up the last flight of stairs. The seishi instinct had overtaken him and the adrenaline was pumping through his veins in preparation to protect his priestess.

A feeling that Andy couldn't quite place was surging through him. In a sense it felt vaguely familiar, like something was calling him—pulling him would be a better term—and he simply could not refuse.

Taka was the first to reach the door and flung it open and barged in.

Andy followed him, at the same time reaching for something at his waist that wasn't there. He disregarded what he had just done, standing shoulder to shoulder with Taka and taking stock of the scene that they had just walked in on.

He had just enough time to see Ayame standing in the middle of the room with a handgun before two more shots rang out. Andy turned, prepared to leap away from the bullet as well as looking for Miaka. Somehow, her safety was really all that mattered to him.

But he was too slow.

"Miaka!" Andy's golden eyes widened in surprise as the bullet neared. Everything had seemed to go into slow motion. It seemed that he could see the air ripples around the bullet as it sped towards him.

FLASH.

The bullet was no more, and what was bearing down on him seemed alternately completely surreal and yet so much more formidable than mere metal. A blue ball of cold fiery energy filled his vision as he struck true with the blade of his sword. The ki danced over his skin and through his body like a strange sort of electricity, burning muscle and sinew and rendering them useless even as he fell from his horse and could hear the sickening crunch of bone as he hit the ground.

Even as he fell before the blonde man before him, one face was clear in his mind. Her green eyes glowed with life and her hair blew freely with the wind.

Miaka…

FLASH.

The bullet hit. It drove itself without mercy into the flesh, tearing through blood vessels and tissue. Andy cried out in pain as it nicked a bone and fractured it.

He wasn't sure if it was an attempt to get away from the bullet, or the momentum from getting shot, but he fell backwards. He grimaced as he hit the wall and slid down it, leaving a bloody trail as he went.

Andy could hear Taka and Miaka somewhere nearby, shouting incoherently. He saw Ayame standing in the middle of the apartment, holding the gun that had obviously been the source of the noise had and Taka had come to investigate, not to mention Miaka's scream.

Andy blinked as he put a hand to the wound from which blood was rapidly escaping and frowned. Was all of that coming out of him? There was so much of it…

FLASH.

Miaka was lying there, her shirt torn open, Nuriko bent over her, trying hurriedly to stop the bleeding. She had done this to herself to save her friends. Without worry for her own well-being, Miaka had bled herself in order to give them the chance to survive.

So much blood…

FLASH.

Andy put a hand to his head. All of the memories and thoughts in his head were so disjointed. None of them made any sense. What was wrong with him anyway? None of those things had ever happened. Was his mind making these things up because he'd lost so much blood?

Andy moved as though to get up, but suddenly his body felt as though it were made of lead. The edges of his vision were going gray and it seemed like he had suddenly gone deaf. His head and most of his body felt as though it were on fire.

The grayness crept over him, and within seconds Andy had passed out.


Ayame screamed when she saw what she had done, her hands flew to her mouth and she dropped the gun. Her entire attention was trained on Andy as he slid down the wall and struggled to get up, pale as death and looking as though he were going to be ill.

Taka stared, knowing that he should do something but too shocked at seeing his fellow seishi fall to move. It was only when he heard Ayame make some sort of whimpering noise that he could tear his eyes away from the scene before him.

His eyes met Ayame's horror stricken ones. Taka was unsure whether to attack the girl or what. He was vaguely aware of pain in his arm where the second bullet had nicked him.

His decision was made for him.

A ceramic lamp connected with Ayame's skull with a very satisfying CRACK. The lamp shattered, the peices raining down and getting caught in Ayame's hair like strange snowflakes. Taka saw Ayame's eyes go wide in surprise before closing as she slumped to the floor.

"Miaka?" Taka stared.

Miaka stood over Ayame, bleeding hands curled into fists and ready to pummel Ayame if she appeared to be awake. Nudging her wither toe to make sure that Ayame was completely out Miaka looked at Taka, face determined and eyes as hard as stone, "No one else is going to die because of me."


AN: Wow. This goes on record as one of the shortest chapters I've written. Heh.

So, Hayai. Now do you why I thought it was funny? You actually guessed what was going to happen—though you didn't believe that I would actually let poor Andy get shot. Kudos to you! Your psychic reading skills are improving!!