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 23: Confessions

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

-Conversations between twins-

A week or so had passed since Miboshi's nighttime talk with Nuriko. She tried to act like nothing had changed in her life, but it was difficult. Everything in her life seemed brighter.

Nuriko, too, was happier than usual. An was the one that noticed it the most and took it upon herself to ask him what was going on.

She sat on his bed while he got ready for the day. "Ni-chan?"

"Yeah?" He ran his fingers through his messy hair, the extent of his morning hair care, and turned to his sister.

"Did something happen between you and Miboshi-ne-chan last week? You've both been in a good mood since then…"

"What makes you think she had something to do with it?" He asked with a slight blush.

"Well, I'm guessin' something happened after I went to sleep." She stood up on the bed. "Is Miboshi-ne-chan gonna have a baby?"

Nuriko turned bright red. "An! Nothing like that happened."

"Oh." She flopped back down on the bed. "Rats."

"And just why do you sound so disappointed?"

"I wanted to be an aunt." She pouted.

Nuriko sighed and shook his head in order to hide a bigger blush. "An, we don't have that kind of relationship."

"Not yet." She answered confidently.

"What are you? A matchmaker?" He laughed and started fixing her dark blue hair.

She nodded vigorously. "Uh huh! Kohana-ne-chan says I'd be good at it!"

He rolled his eyes and pinned her hair into two buns on the sides of her head. "You hang around Kohana too much."

An giggled and hopped off the bed. "Come on Ni-chan! You know you like her!"

"As a friend, yes." He tried to say it confidently but even Nuriko didn't believe his own words.

"That's the same thing she said and I don't think she believes it either." She pouted.

Nuriko raised an eyebrow. "You really think she likes me?"

"Yeah! And you'd be so cute together!"

Nuriko smiled and rolled his eyes. "Why don't you go the dinning room and wait for breakfast?"

An wrinkled her nose at her brother and dashed out the door. Nuriko sighed again. 'I wonder if An is right…I mean…she didn't stop me from kissing her last week…I really do like her…I've never met anyone like her…' He shook his head and left his room. Walking down the hall, he found himself behind Chiriko and Tomo. He could hear them yelling at each other and couldn't help but laugh to himself.

By now, everyone knew they were in love. Nuriko wondered if a relationship between a Suzaku and a Seiryuu seishi would work out. Suddenly a realization hit him. They were in love and didn't care who knew. Tomo made that evident when he kissed her in front of everyone at dinner sometime last week. They would make it work.

It was a comforting thought for him. He did, after a moment or two of quiet thought to himself, realize he loved her. But he was still sure in his mind that she only thought of him as a friend.

He headed down to the dinning room where just about everyone was. He slipped into a chair next to Miboshi. "Morning." He smiled at her.

"Good morning." She smiled back.

Breakfast was served and everyone began to carry out conversations with the people they were near.

Nakago was quieter than normal. Momo looked at her with a bit of concern. "Nakago, are you alright?"

"I'm fine. I'm going to tell everyone…"

"About the baby, you mean?" She looked around Nakago at Soi who was talking to Hotohori and Kohana.

"Yes…better I do this now. It'll be difficult to explain once the baby really starts to grow…"

"Does Soi know you're going to tell?"

She nodded. "We talked about it last night."

"Well, I guess it's now or never right?"

"Indeed…" Nakago pushed her plate away from her place and stood up. Soi was the first one to notice and stopped his conversation with Hotohori. One by one, everyone stopped talking and faced Nakago. "Everyone…I need to make an announcement…"

Kohana looked over at Momo, who smiled and nodded. Everyone else waited quietly.

Nakago took a deep breath. "I'm pregnant."

No one spoke for a long moment.

Tasuki broke the silence by jumping to her feet. "I knew it!"

Tomo was so shocked he slipped off his chair and landed with a loud thud on the floor. Chiriko whacked him in the back of the head.

"Idiot…"

"Ow…" He picked himself up, embarrassed, and sat back down. "Sorry."

An was the next one to move. She jumped out of her seat and ran around the table to hug Nakago. "Congratulations Miss Nakago!" She smiled widely. "Do ya know if it's gonna be a boy or a girl?"

"A girl." Soi answered with a smile.

An looked at Soi. "Are you the daddy?" He nodded. "What's her name gonna be?"

"We haven't decided yet." Nakago sat back down and finished off her drink. "We still have about 8 months to figure that out."

"I'm sure whatever you pick'll be perfect." An grinned and went back to her seat to finish her breakfast.

After the shock passed, everyone did their best to continue breakfast normally. Though, admittedly, no one really remembered what they had been talking about before Nakago's announcement so they talked about either this news or about another random topic.

Soi and Nakago left the room together after a few other people had left.

"Nakago?"

"Hmmm?"

"There's something we should consider…"

"What?" They stopped in a hallway with a good view of the gardens.

"Marriage."

The word scared Nakago. She had thought about it and hoped Soi hadn't. "What of it?"

"Should we get married?"

She leaned on the wall and chuckled. "Marriage…never thought I'd be having this conversation with anyone…" Soi didn't say anything. Nakago rested her hands on her stomach. "But I want her to know her father…"

"So…is that a yes?"

"Are you actually proposing?" She cast him a sideways glance.

"In a roundabout, informal way, yes."

She was quiet, thinking about her, her coming daughter, Soi…Naraku. "Do you think Naraku will be around when she's born?"

"There's really no way to tell…I certainly hope so."

"If Naraku is gone before she's born, I'll marry you."

"And if we don't defeat Naraku before then?"

"If you still want to get married…we do it when she's born."

Soi embraced her from behind. "The baby needs a name. We can't keep calling her 'she.'"

"I've got a few in mind."

"Really?" He lightly kissed her neck. "Like what?"

"I'll tell you later."

"Why not now?"

"I'm still thinking about them."

Soi rolled his eyes and kissed her again. 'What a life this will be.'

Two days later, Kohana, Momo, Piao, Chiriko and Miboshi gathered in one of the bedrooms to talk. One of the spell books that they had gotten from the island was sitting in the middle of their circle of 5. Hime walked around between all the girls.

Miboshi looked at Piao. "So have you figured out how to get rid of her yet?"

"Well…yes and no…" Piao picked up the book and set it in her lap. "I think I found a spell to destroy her or whatever…but I can't exactly read it and neither can Shen."

"Why not?" Kohana asked.

"I've never seen half of the symbols and markings on some of the pages…"

"Lemme see it." Chiriko put her hand out for the book. "Maybe I could figure a little out."

"You're welcome to try." Piao handed her the book.

Chiriko leafed through the book, hoping she could figure out a little. But after flipping through a few pages, she shut it again. "Well, I'm lost."

Momo sighed and lay back on the bed. "Well, we're screwed then. You're supposed to be genius right?"

Kohana kicked Momo in the leg. "We are not screwed so shut up. We can still summon Suzaku and Seiryuu to help."

Momo sat up and rubbed her leg. "Ow. But we don't even know when we're going to do that. That takes a lot of work right?"

"It does. But in the meantime, I'll train you to fight her…" A voice none of them had ever heard before echoed in their heads.

The five girls stared at each other. Momo swallowed hard. "Miboshi, please tell me you're playing mind games with us…"

Miboshi slowly shook her head, wide-eyed as the other four. "Wasn't me…"

"I was afraid of that…"

"It was me." The voice drew their attention to the window where Hime was. A white mist swirled around the cat and when it dissipated, a very elegant young lady stood in the animal's place. She wasn't very tall and had black hair. But she also didn't seem to be completely there, like a cloud.

All the girls wanted to scream, but they couldn't seem to find the ability to make noise. Another part of each one of them sensed no threat from the woman.

"Who are you?" Piao squeaked out.

"Don't you know me Piaoliang?" The woman looked slightly amused.

Kohana looked at Piao. "Do you?"

Piao looked at the woman for a long time. "I certainly feel like I should…"

"Should we be afraid of her?" Momo, who was closest to the woman, scooted away from the window.

The woman laughed, a light laughter that reminded them of bells. "You have nothing to fear from me, Priestess of Seiryuu. I'm here to help."

"Where's my cat?" Kohana suddenly blurted out.

"You're worried about your cat now?!" Chiriko looked at her incredulously.

"In a sense, she is your cat Kohana." Piao said slowly. "She's Naraku's sister…my ancestor. She just uses the form of a cat to move around in our worlds."

The 4 girls stared at her. 'Hime' smiled. "I guess we won't have to start from complete scratch."

Momo held her hands up. "This is all getting way to complicated for me. I never signed up for this."

"Me either." Kohana sighed.

"Girls from your world never know what their gonna get here." Miboshi smiled.

"So you'll teach Shen and me what to do?" Piao looked up at the woman near the window.

She nodded. "That's why I came. I can't fight my sister on my own so I'll train the two of you to do what my fiancé and I never did." She turned to the other girls. "If you don't mind, could you 4 go find that Shen boy and send him here? We really do need to start as soon as possible."

They nodded, dumbfounded, and hurried from the room. They found Shen and hurriedly explained to him what was going on. He quickly left to find Piao.

Miboshi watched the other girls go to the men they loved to tell them what was going on. She blew a strand of hair out of her face. 'Boy, do I wish I had someone to go to.' She sighed and walked towards the front doors of the palace. 'I guess I could go for a drink right about now.' She pushed open the door and walked down the stairs, past the guards, through the front courtyard and to the front gates.

"Miboshi!" Her hand stopped on the gate when she heard someone calling her.

"Nuriko." She turned to see him walking towards her.

"Hey. Where are you headed?" He asked with a smile.

"I was ah…going to get a drink."

"I was going to a little bar in town. Keep me company?" He offered her his arm.

She slipped her arm through his. "Sure."

"So I heard Piao's ancestor showed up today." They headed out into town.

"Yeah…she did…scared us all speechless for a little while."

"I would think so." He chuckled. "So do we have a chance against her now?"

"I think it's better than it was before. Power isn't enough if you don't know how to use it. At least they'll know how to use it."

He nodded. They had finally come to a small bar Nuriko came to quite often. "So what do you want to drink?"

"Oh I dunno. Nothing too strong. I don't want to get drunk…"

Later in the day, Nuriko watched in horror as Miboshi downed another glass of alcohol and ordered another one. He wondered if she had really meant it when she said she didn't want to get drunk.

Miboshi stared at the newest glass in front of her. She giggled. "It's dancing…"

Nuriko looked up at her. "What's dancing Mi-chan?"

She eagerly pointed at her glass. "The glasses! All four of 'em!"

He raised an eyebrow and looked at her and the glass. "Uh…are you completely drunk?"

"I'm not drunk! Just happy!" She shakily grabbed the glass and swallowed it in one gulp. "Yummy!"

"Miboshi…just how much have you had?" He looked at her nervously.

She proudly held up five fingers. "Three!"

Nuriko pushed down two of her fingers. "Three?" 'Why do I think it's more than 5?'

Miboshi's violet eyes widened like she'd never seen her hand before. Then she started laughing. "Look! It's my hand!"

Nuriko let out and exasperated sigh. "You're not drunk…you're wasted…"

She stuck her tongue out at him. "You're so mean!" Then she saw his glass. "What cha drinkin'?"

He looked at his own glass. "Uh…it's called a Nuriko special…" 'Please don't ask for it… Please don't ask for it…'

She reached for it. "Can I try it?"

'Damn.' He pulled it a little closer to him. "Uh…I don't think it's wise to drink so much…"

She slapped his hand hard. "You're being mean again!"

He blinked and rubbed his hand 'Well…if she gets too drunk, she'll pass out…at least that will stop her drinking…' He let her have the glass. "Fine…just don't drink to much."

She drank about half of what was in the glass. Her face scrunched up a great deal. "Wow! Yummy!" She started to tip over, but was still giggling.

His eyes widened and he caught her before she fell to the floor. "Whoa there! Don't drink so fast!"

She stared up at him. "You have big, green buggy eyes!"

He raised one eyebrow. "Oh I do?"

She giggled hysterically. "Yeah! You look funny!"

He chuckled. "I bet…No more drinks…okay?"

She sat back up. "Okay…I'm sleepy anyways…" She suddenly passed out on top of him.

He caught her and sighed. "That was quick…"

The bartended looked at Nuriko and the unconscious Miboshi. "Will you be goin' now, Mr. Nuriko?"

He nodded. "I guess so…"

"I'd be careful with that one. Haven't seen a woman put so much away in a while."

He managed a small smile. "Yeah…I bet…"

The bartender wiped a glass clean. "Well, have a nice night."

He sighed and picked her up. "You sure can put it away…" He smiled as he carried her outside.

Nuriko suddenly felt her cuddle close to him. "You smell nice Nuri-chan…"

He turned a deep shade of red and looked down at her. "What?!" She didn't answer him though. She was asleep again and snoring slightly.

He raised an eyebrow and sighed. 'Hmm…I kinda wish she would get drunk more often…' He shook his head and carried her to an inn. 'I can't bring her back to the palace like this. This place looks fine I guess…'

The innkeeper looked up when he heard the bell. "Evenin' sir. What can I do for you?" He saw Miboshi and raised an eyebrow.

"I need a room. Preferably with two beds if you don't mind."

"We're all outta the room wit' two beds. But what would ya want with two beds anyway? One should be enough for the two o' ya." He smirked

Nuriko's eyes narrowed when he realized what he man meant. His symbol flared up. "Because a real man doesn't do that. Right?" He leaned against the counter.

The man's eyes widened and he stumbled backwards. "Nuriko-sama! Sir! I didn't realize who you was! Sorry!"

"Yeah, well now you know." He calmed down and the glow went away. "I guess we'll take a one bed room then."

"Y-You can have the room at the end of the hall…it's free…"

Nuriko blinked a few times. "Really? Ya sure?"

"J-just go ahead. It's just one room after all."

He smiled. "Thank you then."

"Have a nice night sir…"

He headed down the hallway. "Well, that was nice." He chuckled and looked down at Miboshi. "You must be good luck."

She woke up a little bit. "Huh? Where are we?"

"We're at an inn. You need some sleep."

"Okay…"

He smiled at her and put her down on the bed. "You might have a headache in the morning…I told you not to drink so much."

She sat up and started crying. "I'm sorry I'm such trouble Nuriko…"

He looked hurt and brushed her forest green hair out of her eyes. "Mi-chan…you aren't trouble…"

She shook her head furiously. "Yes I am! I bet you hate me now!" She curled up into a little ball in the middle of the bed.

'Well…she is really drunk now…I guess that's why she's so upset over nothing…' He gently rubbed her back. "I don't think you're any trouble…and I don't hate you."

She rolled away from him. "I've always been trouble for everyone for the people I care about! I'm so stupid! I'm sorry…"

"Miboshi, listen to me!" He grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her up. He pushed the strands of hair that covered her face away. "You're not stupid and I don't hate you." He cupped her cheek with one hand and kissed her gently. "I don't…I…I lo…"

She stared up at him with big tear-filled eyes. "I love you Nuriko…"

His eyes widened. "Wh-what?!" 'Does she really mean that?' Suddenly she fell over again, out like a light. He sighed, a little disappointed. "Yup…She's wasted…" 'Could she really have meant that? Or is she just saying random drunken things? …And why do I hope she was serious?' He shifted her to the top of the bed and pulled the covers over her. "'Night Mi-chan."

Her hand suddenly shot out to grab his sleeve. "Nuri…please stay…" She sounded pitiful.

He looked down at her. Her eyes were barely open. "I don't think…"

Tears began to fall from her eyes. "Please…I don't want to be alone anymore…" She nearly choked on her own words. "I can't stand it anymore. Just for one night I want to have someone near me…it's so cold…please. Just once…"

Nuriko felt pain in his chest. He knew how she felt. Even with An around, he still felt cold and alone. Yet around her, it wasn't so cold. "You're never alone…ever." He slid under the covers with her. "That better?"

She curled up against him and cried softly. "Nuriko…" He wrapped one arm around her and pulled her close. He wrapped his other arm around her and gently rubbed her back. As her sobs subsided, she rested her head on his chest and fell asleep.

"Sleep well Mi-chan…" He watched her for a long time. All he wanted was to make her happy. He loved her and planned on telling her as soon as he could.

-Shadow Hawk