Author's note: Gomen for the long wait! I had a mind block and was busy. Okay, I admit, I was lazy. So here you are, Chapter 3. Hope you like it. Review this or mail me to tell me how I should improve further or continue the story! Arigatou!

Chapter 2: Nyan-nyan

I opened the door to find a girl of maybe ten.

"What you want you little brat!"

"Chichiri-sama, don't you remember me?" the little girl said.

I hadn't told anyone my seishi name. Here, in the village I was always the poor man on the hill, or the mad man as the kids call me. No one had bothered to ask my name. They just used the circumstances I was in to give me a name. Chichiri, the Suzaku seishi was forgotten. Now, my brothers and I were just legends. Nothing more.

But this girl...How did she know? As I stared into her face, I saw a glimpse of an annoying girl I remember fondly as the cute Nyan-nyan. The little toddler had grown...

I just kept silent, knowing it was that old hag who sent her. She was the Creator, my mentor, my savior and also the source of my hate and anguish. There was always two sides to a person, or in this case a goddess...

"Taiitsukun needs your help..." Nyan-nyan said.

A part of me was glad and was applauding. Yet there was another part of me, the old Chichiri, the Suzaku Seishi, which was pitying her and urging me to help.

I guess that sense of righteousness in me hadn't died. I grabbed my staff, my hat, and my robes. Nyan-nyan looked at me patiently.

"Done no da. Now let's go."

"Okay." She said, still perched precariously on a half-balanced stool.

As I approached the door, I realised that little twerp wasn't following me. She was still on the stool.

"Hurry no da!"

"Okay...I thought we were going to be teleported?" Nyan-nyan said, "Because I remember it took 4 weeks to even get to the desert."

I am so stupid.

As soon as I stepped into the courtyard, I could hear a terrible cry. Nyan- nyan had quickly disappeared, leaving me alone to wander around the garden. As I got closer to the palace steps, the cries grew louder and louder.

The horrible sound of anguish was unbearable. It was extremely painful and it made me feel like my heart was being wrenched. I wept, sympathising with the person and with myself. The cry was exactly how I felt deep within the recesses of my soul; as though a part of me had died. As I stepped up into the hall of the 28 columns, I soon found out the source of the incessant crying. It was Taiitsukun. I was startled at first but somehow, I felt that she deserved the pain she was going through.

"That will teach her a lesson..."I thought, as I slowly approached the weeping old lady.

As she turned her head towards me, I saw the glistening tears in her red eyes. She was indeed a pitiful sight. Seeing her cry broke my heart and I realised that I shouldn't have bore a grudge against her.

"Taiitsukun, why are you..." before I could finish the sentence, Taiitsukun stood up and wiped away her tears with her sleeves.

"I'm so sorry that you saw me in this state...Chichiri. You see, all the four gods...they...they're..." before bursting back into tears and then tried to regain her composure.

"All of you will be dead unless the gods get their strength back," she said.

"What no da ! Are the gods are sick? then couldn't you conjure up something no da?"

"No, they…they're dying. And with their demise, this world shall cease to exist."

"You're kidding right no da?"

"No. Their life force is being siphoned away by that devil. I wish I can help but…" she sobbed,her head bowed down low.

"But you're the creator!" I cried, expressing my surprise and anger.

"Not anymore. Tenkou..."

Her words trailed off as her voice got softer and softer until it became an inaudible mumble.

"SO? What you expect me to do? Go to Hell?" I screamed at her, surprising her and even myself. I guess my screams brought her back from lala land. She tried to regain her composure before proceeding or repeating herslef, I couldn't be sure which.

"Not yet. You'll have to gather all the seishis and mikos first. I doubt that some will willingly follow. They have to be found within 28 weeks, when all the heavenly bodies are aligned.It won't be easy. Here, take this," she said, as she conjured up a crystal ball. It was opaque until I tilted it slightly and I saw the colours of the rainbow.

I then realised that she had said all the seishis and mikos. I justassumed that they had all been reincarnated. Taiitsukun conjured up the portal and it sucked me in. Before I was completely sucked in, she cried out, "And don't use your powers unless needed!"

"Bham", I fell, onto a red cart, triggering an extremely annoying sound. An enraged man came out of a building cursing, flinging punches in the air at me as he started chasing me. I quickly ran, not wanting to be the centre of attention. I needed to blend in. and what a fine job I was doing.

As I turned into a dark alley, I saw a group of tough-looking people, all wearing black and sporting outrageous hairdo. They had pierced strange balls onto their lips, their noses and other body parts. The girls wore rags. I wanted to laugh at the absurdness of their costumes. It was very outlandish and weird. Yet they exuded an air of danger.

As a passing cart sped past, the light shone was bright enough for me to see a couple of things to make me wish I never had been there. All of them had ink etched deep in their skins and wielded dangerous weapons like the samurai sword. I gulped. Even with my magic, I couldn't defeat them single-handedly. It was like a hundred to one. Not to mention I was too exhausted to wage a battle using magic.

Just then, something in my satchel felt warm. I took out the warm crystal globe. It was glowing as red as the royal throne of Suzaku. The glow was unfortunately bright enough to bath the entire alley in red and also enabled me to see each and every one of the faces of the pierced humans. A kanji letter soon appeared.

"Sei "

Star.

Hotohori. It surprised me. Not one of them looked like Hotohori. I tried scanning the big crowd for a glimpse of him until one of them stepped forward.

"What you staring at!"

His hostility towards me was somewhat disturbing and frightening. I quietly stepped back and ran for my live.

"Let's get that &$$$(#!" a youngster with shortly-cropped hair cried, and the others cheered in unison, raising their weapons as one would raiseone's glass in toast. That voice...it seemed like it was Hotohori's but I didn't want to get into any more trouble. I turned back to see that they were slowing down. As I turned into a corner, I heard them cry out, "Weakling!" and they started laughing. Something in me shattered.

"How could the most well-mannered diplomatic person I've ever known be...be..."I thought. It was hard to even describe what Hotohori now was. As I sat on the curb, I watched the lights in a small restaurant across the street being switched off. I looked up at the sky but couldn't see the stars. Perhaps, it was too bright. I heard a bell ringing 10 times in the distant. I saw a long black cart coming down the street and it stopped beside me.

I saw a well-dressed man stepping out of his car and I decided to ask him for help. He didn't look very fierce, just quite haughty. I decided to try my luck with him. Surely he was friendly than those scary hooligans.

"Excuse me sir, but can you tell me how to contact Miaka Yuuki, no, I mean Miaka Sukunami?"

"Go look at a phone book you baka!" he cried before brushing me aside as he stepped into a building. I walked on dejectedly when I heard a loud beeping sound.

"Yo, Chichiri, wanna ride?"

Sorry it turned out to be a reincarnation fic but I had to if I wanted to merge this with a previous fic. Guess who it was that offered Chichiri a ride? Sorry, if some of the characters were OOC but I had to have it as it will be weird.