Disclaimer: Kohana, Momo, Piaoliang Feng, Shen Yuan, Naraku, An Hua, Ayame and Ruri are my characters. The personalities and looks of the new seishi are mine.

Red Wings of Fate

Chapter 19: The Ties That Bind

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

Flashbacks

-Conversations between twins-

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Shen sat quietly staring into the fire long after everyone had gone to sleep.

"Shen, are you okay?" Tasuki's voice jolted him from him thoughts. "Have you been up this whole time? Everybody's been asleep for a while."

"I've been thinking." He ran his fingers through his hair.

"You've been thinking an awful long time. Worried about Piao?" She sat on a tree stump across the fire from him.

He shook his head. "No…I know she can take care of herself. And it's not like she's alone. I'm more worried about…" He motioned with his head to Tamahome's tent. "You know…"

"Oh that…yeah…" Tasuki made a face.

"I don't like the way he glared daggers at Hotohori when he's not looking. Or even if he is looking…" Shen sighed.

"Can't say I trust him either…Mitsukake was telling me about something he overheard just before he met Kohana and Tamahome."

"What?" Shen stared at her through the fire. "What the hell did he say?"

"He said Tamahome threatened her and Hotohori…that she'd be sorry she chose Hotohori over him."

Tasuki's eyes narrowed. "He's insane, I swear…something in him has cracked."

"Wouldn't surprise me…"

"Think Mitsukake's got anything that would make him lose his memory? He'd be a lot easier to deal with if he was doped up." Tasuki asked with a slight amount of hope in her voice.

"I think if he had something like that, it would already be in him." Shen shook his head. "It isn't safe to have him around Hotohori."

"I'm worried about Naraku using him. I certainly wouldn't put it past the old bitch. She could probably trick him into helping her." Tasuki crossed her arms.

"Shut up. You'll give her ideas."

"I'm going back to bed. Night." Tasuki got up and walked back to her tent.

"Night." Shen rubbed his temples and continued to stare at the fire. He and Hotohori had been very good friends since Shen had come to the capital. Their friendship was more than just as emperor and guard. He couldn't believe this was happening now.

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After a week's worth of traveling turned up no information about Naraku, the group of eight stopped off in a remote village to rest. During breakfast the next morning, Tasuki quietly watched Nakago eat. Something seemed strange about the general, but she couldn't put her finger on it.

"Hey, somethin' wrong?" Suboshi nudged Tasuki's arm while he ate.

"Suboshi…how much does Nakago usually eat?" Tasuki was staring at the two empty plates in front of Nakago and the third one she was working on. She was eating at a calm, steady pace. Tasuki also noticed that even Soi looked a little surprised.

He shrugged. "Enough. She's usually pretty careful about what she eats."

"Don't you think she's eaten a bit…well…a lot?"

Suboshi looked over at Nakago and for the first time noticed at the plates. "Well…I guess it is a lot…but we have been eating dried travel food for the past week. Maybe she's grateful for some real food. I know I am." He shoved the last bit of food from his fourth plate in his mouth.

"Yeah well, you're a teenage guy. You're supposed to eat like a pig." Tasuki smirked.

"I do not eat like a pig!" Suboshi looked rather indignant.

"Yeah you do." Tasuki finished off her food. "I'm gonna go pack up my stuff." Tasuki excused herself from the table and went back to the room she had shared with Nakago.

A few minutes later she heard the door open again and Nakago's boots clicked across the floor.

Tasuki scoffed a little. "Let's hope we don't have to sneak up on Naraku anywhere. She could probably hear those from a mile away."

Nakago rolled her eyes. "Your concern is noted."

Tasuki ran her fingers through her wavy sea green hair. "I feel honored."

"Are you always this sarcastic this early in the morning?"

"Do you always stuff yourself this early in the morning?" Tasuki shot back.

Nakago whirled on the other female seishi. "Just what are you insinuating?"

"What do you think I'm insinuating?" Tasuki narrowed her eyes.

"I'm surprised you know what the word means."

"Maybe I am just a pirate, but I am sure as hell not an idiot!" Tasuki growled. "I'll thank you not to treat me as such."

The two women stood in silence glaring at each other for what felt like an eternity.

"I'm surprised you have the guts to stand up to me."

"I'm not afraid of you. You may thrive on other people's fear of you, but you won't have mine. I'm not afraid of the poor little tortured general who hides her own fears by causing fear in others!" Tasuki held her chin high.

Nakago grabbed Tasuki's shirt and dragged her closer. "If it weren't for Naraku, you'd be dead right now. Be glad she's around. Don't pretend to know about my life." She hissed through her teeth.

"I don't. What I do know is that as seishi, our lives suck pure and simple." Tasuki pulled herself out of Nakago's grip, tearing her shirt in the process. "You lost your parents when you were a kid? Well, guess what? Most of us have! Out of 14 seishi, Chiriko is the only one who still has parents to speak of and she doesn't even get along with them!"

"It was more than losing my parents! You know nothing of my life!"

"And you know nothing of mine!" Tasuki screamed at her. "I ran away from home when I was 10 because if I had stayed around, I would have been married to some 40-something-year old fat abusive bastard by the time I was 13! I have no idea what going on with the rest of my family either. They could all be dead for all I know!" Tasuki then slapped Nakago across the face. "If you took one minute to stop your own pity parade and listen to some other people's stories, maybe you'd see that we're not so different from you!"

A deafening silence fell over the room. Nakago stared at the younger woman in shock. Tasuki stared back, wondering if she was going to die within the next few seconds. But she didn't have to wonder about that for long.

Just when Tasuki though Nakago was going to pull out her sword and chop her head off, she suddenly clutched at her stomach and fell to her knees. Nakago let out a small whimper.

Thinking Nakago wasn't being serious, Tasuki put her hands on her hips. "What is this Nakago? Start losing an argument so you pretend to be sick?" But Nakago didn't move. Her head hung forward and her whole body shook. Tasuki realized she wasn't faking anything and knelt next to her. "Nakago? What's wrong?"

Nakago sucked in a breath through her teeth. "N-nothing…" She stammered.

"This isn't 'nothing'…you look sick. I'm going to go get Mitsukake." She started to get up.

"No." Nakago grabbed her arm. "I'm fine…it's probably that time of month…or maybe I did eat too much. Don't bother the doctor…"

"Wait a minute…" 'Being moody…eating a lot…sudden cramps…'  "Nakago…are…are you pregnant?"

"What?" Nakago glared at her. "Of course not!"

"Everyone knows you've been with Soi at least once. That's all you need." Tasuki protested.

"I'm not pregnant Tasuki. Get that thought out of your head." The nausea passed and Nakago got back onto her feet.

Tasuki stood up. "Think about it Nakago. You're moodier than usually and you ate almost as much as Suboshi this morning! Now this! I think there's a good chance you are!"

"I. Am. Not. Pregnant." Nakago picked up her bag. "And don't you dare breathe a word of this conversation to the others. I'd deny it anyway."

She left Tasuki standing alone in the room. Tasuki ran her hands about half way through her hair and pulled it. "Man…what the hell is going on? I don't believe this shit…" She angrily picked up her stuff and walked out of her room.

"Something wrong, Tasuki?" She turned around to see Soi walking behind her.

Tasuki took a deep breath. "Nakago…ah…she and I got into an argument…that's all…" She shook her head.

"I could hear you down the hall." He chuckled.

"You didn't hear what we were screaming about did you?"

"Nah. Too muffled. Suboshi figured you were arguing over the mirror."

"The mirror…" She laughed a little. "Too bad it's not that simple…"

"So what were you arguing about then?"

"Nothing really…you know…she's unhappy about having to deal with me…"

"She'll warm up to you eventually."

"As long as it's not the way she warmed up to you, fine." Tasuki smirked and slung her bag over her shoulder.

Soi laughed. "So everyone knows about that huh?"

"Hell yeah…" Tasuki thought for a moment. "Hey Soi…"

"Yeah?"

"Don't mention this to Nakago, but while we're out here, keep a close eye on her, will you?"

"Why? Is something wrong?" Soi looked concerned.

"She was acting a little funny while we were arguing…"

"Funny? What do you mean 'funny'?"

"Look, if you really love her, and the gods only know why you do, just look after her."

"Well, okay…" Soi was confused, but he did love Nakago so he'd do as Tasuki asked.

"Well, we got a busy day ahead of us so no use wasting more time here." Tasuki nodded and walked off down the hall.

"Must be a woman thing…" Soi muttered to himself and walked after her.

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"Hey Momo, what cha doin'?" Kohana leaned over Momo's shoulder.

Momo was staring at a blue beaded bracelet on her wrist. "Nothing really…"

"Looks like you're trying to burn a hole in that." She looked at Momo's other wrist. It was bare. "Hey…weren't there two of those?"

"Yeah…I umm…let someone borrow one…"

"Here? You wouldn't let Izanami borrow one and you let someone here borrow it? Who?"

"Su…Suboshi…" She turned red.

"Aw! That's adorable!" Kohana giggled.

"Shut up, will you?" Momo tried to be angry but she couldn't. She smiled.

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"Suboshi! Suboshi, wait!" Momo ran down the steps of the Kutou palace as he was leaving.

He stopped and turned to her. "What is it?"

After a moment to catch her breath, Momo held out one of her beaded bracelets. "I uh…ah…here. Take it."

He stared at the bracelet. "But Momo…you never take these off…why are you…?"

"It's not like you can keep it…" She looked at the ground. "I want it back when you come back. But until then…just…just keep it…"

He smiled. "Thank you Momo." He slipped the bracelet onto his wrist. "I'll be back before you know it."

"Good…'cause I won't forgive you if you don't bring it back." She crossed her arms.

"I swear I'll be back soon. And you'll get this back before you know it." He embraced her for a moment. "Good bye for now Momo…"

She watched him go. She wanted to cry. She had a bad feeling about him leaving. "Dammit Suboshi…look what you made me do…" She wiped away the tears that threatened to fall. "You better come back…"

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Kohana smiled. "So when do the Mini-Momos and Suboshis start appearing?"

"Around the same time Mini-Kohanas and Hotohoris show up." She stuck out her tongue at the other priestess.

"Momo! You're horrible!"

They both laughed. It was strange to laugh in such circumstances, but it showed Naraku that she still hadn't won.

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Another week of traveling had turned up nothing. But on the eighth day, they learned that Naraku had attacked a nearby village not even a few days ago. They hurried to the village and what they found wasn't pretty.

Not many people had died, only the ones that would have rather fought than let Naraku have free range in their village, but many of the buildings were decimated. Smoldering piles of rubble lined the streets instead of a marketplace.

Nakago scanned the area. "I don't understand…if Naraku has this kind of power, why hasn't she killed us?"

"She's probably enjoying toying with us." Hotohori turned a burnt piece of wood over with his foot. "She'd probably rather have us fear her than be dead."

"She was searching for something." A new voice entered the conversation. "Or perhaps someone…"

They all turned to see an older woman and a younger attendant behind them.

"Who are you? What do you know?" Tamahome asked.

The older woman took a few steps closer to them. "I am the village elder here. Rumors have been flying recently that whatever can defeat Naraku, or at the very least, weaken her, is in her home village. But she herself does not remember where she is from. She's looking for her own village. The pendant she wears lets her continue to exist, but it prevents her from remembering her life except for her defeat by her sister."

"Does anyone know where her village is?" Shen asked.

The old woman stepped closer to Shen, taking him along with everyone else off guard. "Who are you, boy? I can tell you are not a seishi…but you are still powerful…"

"I'm…my ancestor was the man who helped defeat Naraku…"

"So that is what I felt when you came here…" The old lady started to walk away. "Come on. Come with me." The seishi stared at each other, unsure what to do and what was going on. "I said let's go. We don't have all day and you people need direction."

One by one, the seishi began to follow the elder and her attendant. Tamahome stayed still. Hotohori looked at him. "Something wrong?"

"You talk like you don't know." Tamahome snarled at him. "Kohana is mine!"

"Kohana is not property! Don't treat her like she is!" Hotohori snapped, angry that Tamahome claimed to love her and still said such things about her.

"She only loves you because you're the emperor. You think she loves the real you?"

"If that was the case, which I don't believe it is, I wouldn't care. For whatever reason she chooses to walk with me, I'm grateful for it."

"You're full of it." Tamahome pulled a long knife out of his belt. "This ends now. Winner take all."

"I won't fight you Tamahome. We're seishi of the same god. We shouldn't be fighting." He made no move for his sword.

"Then you're going to die." Tamahome lunged at Hotohori, meaning to kill him in one strike. Hotohori sidestepped the stab, but still earned a deep gash in his left upper arm.

Tamahome laughed. "This will be easy."

A drop of blood slid off the edge of the blade and into a pool of water left by a recent storm.

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Momo sat counting the beads on her bracelet when suddenly she heard Kohana cry out in pain. Her head shot up and she saw Kohana slumped over clutching her left upper arm.

"Kohana! What's wrong?" Momo hurried over to the other girl.

"Hotohori's wounded…"

She pulled Kohana's fingers off her arm and gasped at the sight of a large gash and a lot of blood. "Hotohori's wounded? What about you?"

"I'm hurt because he is…a while ago, in order to save me, Hotohori gave me blood…now I guess…we're bound by that…someone's trying to kill him…"

"Naraku's demons?" Momo tied up her arm with a handkerchief from her pocket.

"I don't think so…" Kohana closed her eyes, trying to get a better feel for his situation. "I think it's another person…he's not fighting back…he refuses to…"

"But he could get killed! So could you if this keeps up! I didn't think we could be physically hurt here but I guess I was wrong…"

Kohana said nothing. She just stared at her arm. 'Oh Hotohori…please fight back…no matter how much you don't want to…if anything happens to you…I'd die from the grief…please…I have to see you again…'

Momo stared at Kohana and held onto her bracelet. 'Suboshi…if you could hear me just once while I'm here in this forsaken abyss, let it be now…find Hotohori…something is horribly wrong…he's hurt…Kohana is too…please do something…'

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Suboshi walked near the front of the group. He was wondering how long they'd have to walk when he felt a bolt of pain shoot up from his wrist and back down through his legs. He gasped and hit the ground with a dull thud.

Mitsukake was the first to offer help. "Suboshi, are you alright?" He helped him back to his feet.

Suboshi looked around, a bit dazed. "Where…where are Tamahome and Hotohori?"

Everyone looked around and neither man was around. Tasuki was the first one to take off. "Son of a bitch!"

The others quickly followed, though they couldn't keep up with Tasuki.

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"You'll have to try harder than that to kill me." Hotohori deflected another of Tamahome's vicious slashes.

"Well…what do you know? The romantic emperor does have a backbone." Tamahome wiped some blood off his lip. "I'd be happy to try harder."

"The only person you're hurting if you do that is Kohana."

"What the hell are you talking about? She's not even here."

"She's with all of us. Kohana and I share a blood bond. Her pain is mine. Mine is hers."

"Then maybe I should just be done with the both of you. No more pain period."

The fight had become more of a test of endurance than skill. The bright flashes of red earned them a small audience of confused townspeople. Unfortunately for Hotohori, Tamahome's powers gave him the advantage. Tamahome managed to catch Hotohori's arm and throw him to the ground.

"Looks like I'm the better warrior." Tamahome stood proudly above Hotohori.

"It doesn't have to be this way." Hotohori spoke evenly, despite his fear.

"This is the only way it has to be." He raised the knife above his head, ready to kill. The mark on Tamahome's forehead glowed blood red.

"Then do it." Hotohori held his chin up, symbol glowing bright red. "See if it really makes things any better."

"REKKA SHIN'EN!!!"

Before Tamahome could even begin to begin the downward strike, Tasuki's voice rang out and a stream of flames engulfed most of his arm, severely burning him and reducing the knife to a smoldering lump of metal.

Hotohori looked to where the flames came from and saw nothing. When he looked back to where Tamahome was standing, Shen had him pinned down, right knee on his chest, left foot on good his arm and holding a knife of his own against Tamahome's throat.

"What do you think you're doing, you worthless son of a bitch?!" He pressed the knife down slightly harder.

"Shen, don't." Hotohori forced himself to get up.

Tasuki leapt down from her rooftop perch. "How can you say that Hotohori? He tried to kill you!" She let him lean on her.

"Killing him won't solve anything." Hotohori looked at the other seishi. Tamahome was in too much pain to say anything. "He's still a seishi…"

Shen looked at him in disbelief. "Sometimes I wonder if you are too kind."

"I gotta agree with him, Hotohori. He'll probably try again…" Tasuki slid her weapon into its sheath on her hip.

"I don't doubt it…but we still need him…"

Shen sighed. He put away his knife but punched Tamahome in the head as hard as he could. Tamahome was now out cold. Shen got up. "I think it's more than he deserves…"

By now everyone had found the small battleground. Mitsukake looked at the two battered seishi. He walked over to Hotohori and held his hand out over him. "What happened here?"

"Tamahome wanted to settle things…" He stood up straight up after Mitsukake finished his job. "I think they are for now. How did you find us? You didn't notice when we stopped…"

Soi nodded at Suboshi. "Thank him. He's the one that noticed you two were gone."

Suboshi stared at the ground. "Momo told me something was wrong…"

"She what?" Nakago raised an eyebrow.

Suboshi pushed up his sleeve, revealing the bracelet. "Momo gave this to me before I left for Konan…while we were walking, it felt like someone shoved pins in my wrist around the bracelet. The pain kinda shot through my whole body and I heard Momo ask me to find Hotohori because something was wrong…I don't know how she could have known though…"

Hotohori sighed. "Kohana knew…we share a lot, including pain…wherever they are, Kohana knows what happens to me."

"Is she alright now that you are?" Shen asked.

Hotohori nodded. "She's fine now."

"Trouble with a comrade, eh?" The village elder appeared again. "Well, bring him along and tell me what's happened. I'm sure we can come up with a solution."

Mitsukake and Soi hauled the unconscious Tamahome up and everyone followed the elder again.

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So was that better than the last chapter? I think it was but it's not like it's the greatest thing ever either…and I'm pretty sure the writers' block is now gone so I should be able to update at a semi-regular pace. I should be any way…

-Shadow Hawk