Chapter Three:
Kutou's Craptacular Seishi
Dee and I were quite comfortable the next day in our regular clothes: jeans and T-shirts. After breakfast, Hotohori-sama led us to a small room with a desk and four chairs in front of it. He sat behind the desk and motioned for us to sit down. We did as he er...motioned.
He put his elbows on the desk and his chin in his hands, looking at Dee and me intently. "Now, first off, you both traveled here?"
"Yes," I answered. "At the same time, and we were both told that we were to become Priestesses."
"Oh..." Chichiri scrunched his eyebrows together in that oh-so-cute way. "I should have realized this earlier." His voice dropped again. "Hotohori-sama, there's one other nation that hasn't summoned its god yet no da."
Hotohori's eyebrows rose. "That's right. Kutou still needs to summon Seiryuu."
"Sei-what?" I tried to repeat.
"There are four great empires here, and each has their own prophecy about a Priestess coming to summon that nation's guardian deity no da," Chichiri explained. "Genbu and Byakko have already been summoned, leaving Suzaku and Seiryuu."
Dee and I looked at each other. "So does that mean that one of us is the Priestess of Seiryuu?"
Hotohori nodded. "In all likelihood, yes."
"How are we gonna find out who's who?" asked Genrou, voicing our thoughts.
"Taiitsukun may be able to help us no da."
"Ah, Taiitsukun," Hotohori-sama nodded in agreement.
Genrou nodded sagely, then looked up with blank eyes. "...Taiitsukun?" Poor Genrou, he may have been a seishi, but he was still clueless.
"The controller of this universe," Hotohori told him.
"I can teleport us to Mount Taikiyoku right now no da." Chichiri began spreading his robe out on the ground.
"Wait, Chichiri." Hotohori stood. "I think for today we should look at the scroll for clues as to where the other seishi might be located. If you can teleport that quickly, we won't be losing much time."
"Oh...that would make sense no da. We can go to Mount Taikyoku in the morning." Chichiri looped his robe back around his shoulders.
"The scrolls are in the Suzaku shrine." Hotohori-sama led the way to a pair of large double doors. He opened them with an exaggerated "CREEEEAK!" noise and then stepped back, allowing us to walk into a spacious room with a huge statue of a phoenix standing at its center.
"Is that Suzaku?" Dee asked, craning her neck up at the giant figure.
"Yes." He walked to the front of the statue and lifted up a scroll. "Come in, we can study it in here." We followed his suggestion. I walked in last, and the doors shut by themselves behind me with a loud SLAMMO!
As soon as they did, needles of fire began racing up and down my arms. I let out a short gasp and fell to my knees, clutching at my chest and shivering uncontrollably. Dee, Chichiri and Genrou ran over to me.
"Haley-chan, what is it?" Genrou asked as he and Dee knelt next to me.
"I don't... know. It hurts though..." I managed to squeak out, my hands clenching hard into my arms.
Dee put a hand on my shoulder, leaning down and asking quietly. "Is it...that time of the month?"
"NO!" I snapped. "That kind of pain doesn't run through your arms too!"
"Maybe not for you!" Dee defended. "But when I get them, I-"
"Get her out of here," Hotohori said, interrupting our little girl-talk. His voice managed to stay calm, but there was a note of urgency in his tone. "She needs to get out of the shrine."
"Can you stand no da?"
"I don't know..." Chichiri and Tasuki helped me up as Hotohori pushed open the doors.
"Looks like I'll have t'carry you again." Genrou picked me up and ran slowly (well, for him) through the doorway with the others following. He set me down in the hallway against a wall.
I stood up, rubbing my arms. "It's gone. As fast as it came, the pain's gone."
"Hotohori, why did that room do that to her?" Dee asked.
The Emperor managed to look concerned and happy all at once. "I think we've found our Priestess of Seiryuu."
I looked up at Hotohori. "You mean I am?"
"No, I mean yo mama is!" The four of us shot questioning looks at Hotohori-sama for his sudden outburst. "Of course I mean you. I'll go call for some guards to escort you to Kutou."
Genrou had a thought. "Wait a sec! Hasn't Kutou been pickin' fights with us recently?" He scowled and crossed his arms over his chest. "Why should we give them their Priestess?"
"I will not withhold a country from the eternal peace that has been promised to them."
I forced a smile in the bandit's direction. "He's right, Genrou. The freaky cat thing said I was going to become a Priestess. I think this is just what I have to do."
He scowled even deeper. "Fine, but I don't trust yer guards t'take her." Genrou looked up at Hotohori-sama. "I'll take her myself."
"I understand, but for the sake of our country you cannot get caught."
"Aaah, don't worry about me Hotohori-sama! I'd never get inta trouble!" Genrou said with a grin. Dee, Chichiri, and I all sweatdropped.
"In that case, you may use one of our best horses for the journey. I'll take you to the stables." We followed Hotohori as he led us to the stables. He gestured to a black horse with a white diamond on his forehead. "This is Diamond."
"Real creative, Haley."
"SHUT UP, DEE! WHO'S WRITIN' THIS THING?"
"...He'll serve you well," Hotohori continued, looking at Dee and me strangely. "Here is also some money for food." Hotohori pulled a bag of money out of thin air and handed it to Genrou.
"That was pretty cool!" I exclaimed. "Is your Celestial power magic?"
"What? Me? No, I'm a swordsman."
"Oh... okay..."
"Good luck. Oh yes, you may want to wear this cloak so people don't get suspicious because of your clothing." He pulled a black cloak out of thin air and handed it to me.
"O...kay...thanks..."
"Don't get into trouble no da!" Chichiri advised with an oh-so-cute smile.
I smiled back, though mine was a forced one. "Thanks for everything. I wish I didn't have to leave."
Dee grabbed me in a bone-crushing hug. "Haley, I'm sorry I called being the Priestess of Suzaku!" she cried.
I laughed. "Dee-chan, I'm sure that had nothing to do with it. Don't worry about it." I gasped for air. "Um... Dee... I can't breathe."
"Oh, sorry." She let go, giggling in embarrassment.
"Bye Dee! Bye Chichiri! Bye Hotohori-sama! Bye pony in the corner! Bye haystack! Bye Chichiri's staff! Bye-"
"We get the idea!" screamed Genrou. "C'mon, we don't have all damn day!"
"Right. Bye everyone!" I started to climb onto the horse...and fell off, flat on my bum.
Dee pointed at me and started laughing. "Hahaha! It's a good thing you're both riding on the same horse! Remember that tree branch you slammed into when we went horseback riding?" She grabbed her sides and started cracking up.
I grabbed Dee by the back of her shirt. "Kneel."
She stopped laughing, raising an eyebrow. "Huh?"
"KNEEL!"
"O...kay..." Dee knelt and I stepped on her back as the already-mounted Genrou helped me onto the horse. "Ouch-ka-bibbles..."
"Bye everyone!" I waved as we trotted out of the stable. "Bye Dee-chan!"
"Bye Haley-chan!"
"Bye-bye clean people!" The hobo's toothless grin flashed in a nearby window.
xxx
"Hotohori-sama!" Chichiri pointed at a spot on the Suzaku scoll. "This scroll says the next two seishi will be found within the capital city no da."
"The capital city? We'll have to start a search," Hotohori reasonably reasoned.
"Ew..." Dee made a face. "We're not gonna have to do a strip search, are we?"
"Of course not, no da! The symbol won't even appear unless the person becomes excited no da."
"Ew..."
"That's not what I meant no da! It won't appear unless something raises their life force no da!"
"Ew..."
"LIKE IN BATTLE NO DA!"
"Oh..." Dee sweatdropped.
"Some of the seishi may not even know about the symbol on their body, or about what it means," Hotohori reminded them. "However, that's not likely. I'll call a conference for all the best fighters in the capital. Maybe one of our seishi will be among them."
xxx
"Could you maybe loosen your grip? Damn, I'm not gonna be able to breathe if you keep this up."
"Sorry... I'm not really all that great with horses." I let go of Genrou a little. "Um, Genrou, can I ask you something?"
"Does it have anythin' t'do with the two 'roommates' back at the hideout?" he replied nervously.
"Oh, no." I stifled a laugh. "I figured that out myself."
"Oh, well what is it then?"
"Why did you offer to take me?"
Genrou glanced over his shoulder at me. "Did you want those complete strangers t'take you?"
"Well, no, not really," I replied.
"Then why're ya askin'?"
I hesitated, not sure how to answer that. After a moment, I shrugged. "I was just wondering about it. Forget it."
We rode on in silence, until Genrou's sharp eyes picked out something in front of us. "Hmm...what the hell's goin' on here?"
"Huh?" I looked ahead of him. In the middle of the trail were three men, smirking dangerously.
Genrou stopped the horse, glaring at the trio. "What the hell d' you three want?"
"All your money," the guy peered over Genrou's shoulder, grinning, "and is that a girl behind you?"
"No, it's yo mama!"
"HEY!" I slapped Genrou over the head. "That's rude!"
"Ooh... feisty." The head man winked at me, and I flipped him off. He continued. "Either you give us the money, or you give us the girl."
"Sorry, but I can't give you either. You'll save yerself a lotta time an' pain if y'just let us through." Genrou unsheathed his tessen, ready to use it if necessary.
The man glared at him. "How dare you defy the bandits of Mt. Whitey Tighty!"
"Dammit...I don't have time for this. Hold this, Harii." He handed me his tessen, grabbed the reins with his right hand and with his left pulled out three... slips of paper? "Go get em boys!" As soon as he threw the slips of paper, three wolves appeared and leapt for the frightened bandits. "See ya!" He rode past the screaming men, and I clutched him around the waist to keep from falling off.
I glanced over my shoulder at the bandits, then back at Genrou. "How did you do that?"
"It's an illusion spell. I got those from a peddler a while ago. You write on 'em, and whatever you write appears as an illusion. I always write wolf, since it's kinda my trademark."
My curiosity got the best of me. "So if you wanted, you could write a person on them and then... do stuff with the illusion?"
"Uh... yeah, I guess you could." Genrou sweatdropped.
I giggled. "Kinky."
xxx
"Everyone, thank you for coming. It is now my pleasure to introduce to you the Priestess of Suzaku!"
There were many "ooh"s and "did he say?"s as Hotohori motioned to Dee. Then the entire crowd bowed before Dee, touching their foreheads to the ground. "Uh... Hotohori... I wish you would have warned me," the bewildered Dee whispered.
"My apologies," he whispered back. "You should talk to them now."
"Oh...um..." Dee took a step forward. "I'm looking for the Suzaku shichi seishi. Do any of you have marks upon your body?"
"I do." Dee couldn't help but google-eye a little as a glossy, cerulean-haired—
Dee frowned and glared at the sky. "Teal, Haley, teal. If you're going to be specific then at least do it right."
FINE THEN! I'LL JUST SAY GREEN! Geez... a green-haired man stood up. "I'm the seishi known as Tamahome."
"Step forward." Tamahome did as the Emperor commanded. "If you truly are a seishi, your symbol will appear."
"Oh..." He looked down nervously. "About that..."
Hotohori nodded to a nearby soldier. "Guard, come fight this man."
"Eh?" The guard the emperor was pointing at cocked his eyebrow.
"Just do it."
"Like Nike!" Dee cried out of nowhere, receiving several strange looks. "Just... never mind."
"Well, okay. RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" The guard charged at Tamahome, who easily blocked his punch before pulling back his arm and socking the man square in the jaw. The guard fell over. The so-called seishi Tamahome folded his arms across his chest; he wasn't even breathing hard. "Do I get paid extra for this?"
"No."
"Damn."
"Where's your symbol?" Hotohori wanted to know.
"Yeah... um, about my symbol..." He poked his index fingers together. "I don't feel like showing it to you."
"Why not no da?" The three looked questioningly at Tamahome.
"Um... because... um..." He motioned for Chichiri to come forward, then whispered in his ear.
Chichiri's eyes probably would've been the size of dinner plates if it wasn't for the fact that they were always squinty; instead, he just sweatdropped. "Da...I see no da. Hotohori-sama, we need to go somewhere private no da."
"All right." Hotohori turned to the crowd. "Is there anybody else with a symbol here?"
"ME! ME! ME!" The familiar dirty hobo ran up to the platform and danced around. "Check this out!" He held out his hand. On his palm was a red scribbling.
"You did this with paint!" Dee accused.
"YOU BIG FAT LIAR!" he screamed in her face.
Hotohori moved in between them, hand on his sword hilt. "You try to trick us with this measly scribble, and then you call the Priestess a liar! Guard, take this man away." The guard rubbed his jaw and groaned, but moved toward the hobo anyway.
"NOOOOOO! I CAN'T BE TAKEN AWAY!" The hobo ran and ran... right into a pole. "Ouchies."
The hobo collapsed, and the pole cracked. It began shifting downwards.
Chichiri turned to his seishi comrades and the Priestess. "Quick! This place is going to collapse no da!"
Hotohori took Dee's hand and ran out of harm's way.
"Um... Hotohori-sama no da?"
Hotohori looked back and saw that it was not Dee's hand. He let go of Chichiri, looking around with concern. "Where'd Dee go?"
"I sense her ki over..." Chichiri looked back at a crumble of rocks.
Hotohori gasped dramatically. "Dee!" He ran to the crumble of rocks and began trying to move them, with Chichiri using his magic to help.
Meanwhile, under the rocks...
"So… Tamahome... you said your name was?" The only reply was grunts. "Um... I know you're helping me and all, but do you think you could keep from sweating? Some just dripped in my mouth."
"Sor... ry..." Ba-dump! Ba-dump! Ba-dump! "What's... that... noise?"
"Huh? Oh..." Dee looked up into his glossy face and tried to think of a story to hide the fact that her heart was beating harder than usual. "A... helicopter." Tried is the key word there. A few moments later, some sky peeked through. Someone had pushed away the largest rock slab. Tamahome rolled over on his back and gasped in a lungful of air. Dee wiped the sweat that had dripped onto her face. Then she looked up at a woman who was... lifting the rock? She didn't get to look for long, though, because Hotohori enveloped her in a hug. "I'm so glad you're not hurt."
"Tamahome, you okay no da?"
"I'm fine," he panted.
Hotohori let go of Dee and turned to face Tamahome. "You don't have to show us your symbol."
"Oh." He blushed. "Thank you!" The man bowed repeatedly to Hotohori.
Dee frowned. "How come?"
"Don't ask no da," Chichiri muttered. He faced the woman who had moved the rock. "You must be a seishi too no da."
"That's right! I'm Nuriko." The woman pulled down her shirt a bit to reveal a red symbol.
"That's five all ready!" Dee exclaimed. "I hope Haley has as much luck!"
xxx
"State your names and business!" Six swords pointed at us from all sides.
"My name is Han Shunu," Genrou lied. "And this is Harii, um..."
"Haley (BLEEP!)," I responded.
One of the guards looked at me curiously. "Why did she just bleep?"
"For protection reasons," I answered.
"Oh... okay... what's your business?"
"She's the Priestess of Seiryuu," Genrou told them.
"The Priestess of Seiryuu!" The guards immediately fell to their knees. "We're so sorry! The General said you would come soon!"
"Er... please don't bow," I said, blushing a little in embarrassment.
"Priestess of Seiryuu. How nice it is to finally meet you."
I looked towards the deep voice to find a tall, serious-looking man with long blonde hair and blue eyes. He was quite snazzily dressed, I may add.
"Snazzily isn't a word Haley-chan!" Dee's voice seemed to echo from nowhere.
Everyone looked around. "Who said that?"
"My Chief Editor."
The blonde man sweatdropped. "Anyway..." He walked forward and offered his arm. I accepted his help and jumped off the horse with my hand on his arm.
"Thanks, um—" I started to ask for his name, but he immediately jerked me behind his back and whipped out his sword, pointing it at Genrou's throat. "What the hell are you doing?" I demanded.
The well-dressed man narrowed his eyes as he glared at Genrou. "There's something about this man that I don't trust. I'm afraid he'll have to leave immediately."
Genrou glared right back. "Don't worry about that. I was plannin' on it." The two stared at each other for a moment, as if sizing one another up. Suddenly a bubbly noise erupted through the tense silence, followed by a rotting stench. Genrou wrinkled his nose. "Geez, couldn't you have held that one in?"
The blonde man looked away innocently. "It... it wasn't me."
"It is too you! I'm right behind your ass and I heard it!" I cried.
"Damn...I really ruined the moment." The blonde man sheathed his sword and hung his head in shame.
Genrou shook his head. "Bye Harii... and good luck. Looks like yer gonna need it." He turned the horse around and trotted back through the gates.
All of a sudden, a wind whipped through the courtyard, blowing my hair in a non-messy way. Cherry blossoms that were out of season fluttered regally around my glossy form. "Thank you! Thank you… for everything!"
The blonde turned, walking past me. "We have business to attend to. Follow me."
"Can I follow, like," I plugged my nose at the lingering stench, "ten feet behind you?"
The man sighed. "Yeah. Sure."
xxx
"Our next clue says the seishi is a healer no da."
Dee and the four seishi at the palace sat gathered at the dinner table waiting for their gourmet dinner. Just then, the dining room double doors flung open. Tamahome and Nuriko jumped to their feet in posed-ready-for-battle mode, as a shadowy outline of a man with wild hair and gold eyes emerged from the darkness.
"Wow, that's gotta be some kind of record," Dee remarked casually.
"What the hell's the big idea?" Tasuki demanded, glaring at the posed-ready-for-battle seishi.
"Tamahome, Nuriko. This is Tasuki, the other seishi that we have discovered," Hotohori-sama explained.
"Oh... sorry," Tamahome mumbled as the two relaxed and sat back down.
Chichiri smiled teasingly. "He does look a bit evil sometimes no da."
"WHAT WAS THAT PEACOCK MAN?"
"Nothing no da..." The monk sweatdropped.
"I'm glad to see you made it back safely," Hotohori-sama said.
"Thanks, but I'm a bit worried for Harii. That man smells like a rotting carcass." The four seishi and Dee exchanged looks.
xxx
"This is our shrine to Seiryuu," the blonde-haired man explained as he led me into a big room with a statue of... well, Seiryuu. "I'm Nakago, one of the Seiryuu seishi, and also the General of the Kutou army."
"An army? That's great!" I cried happily. "We can use your army to help us find the rest of the seishi!"
"Um..." He rubbed at an arm, looking down.
"What is it?"
"I've already found all of them. I didn't want to tell you that though, because I wanted to lead them mysteriously into the story one by one as they attack the Suzaku seishi."
"What? You can't have them attack the Suzaku seishi!"
"And why the hell not?" he asked.
"There's no point," I explained.
"How about, um... we want to invade Konan, but they'll be granted eternal peace if they summon Suzaku? Duh." Nakago waved his arm in the air, snapping his fingers in a "Z" motion and placing one hand on his hip. He reminded me of an Amazonian school girl.
I sweatdropped. "That could work... Or… How about we summon Seiryuu, I get my wishes granted, you get peace, yada yada yada, and all's well and good?" I offered.
"Okay." He smiled hopefully. "And then we attack the Suzaku seishi."
"AAAAAH! NO!" I screamed, falling over.
"You're no fun... no fun at all," he pouted.
"We'll talk about this later," I said. "First I want to meet the other seishi."
xxx
"Ah...that was soooo good." Dee lay on her bed, rubbing happily at her full stomach. "Too bad Haley wasn't here to pig out with me."
"KNOCK! KNOCK!"
Dee sat up, glancing towards the faraway double-doors. Much too far to get up and open them. "Come in."
"CREAAAAAK!"
"Hi, Hotohori. You know, you don't need to make the sound effects with your voice."
"Oh... sorry." He smiled that charming smile. "There's something I've been meaning to talk to you about."
Dee set her hands excitedly on her knees, smiling back at the Emperor. "Hey, if it's about those other seishi, I think I've got an idea on how to find the healer! I saw it in a movie once. Maybe if one of us pretends to break our legs and lies in a canyon screaming things like, 'I'm still alive only I'm very badly injured' and 'The wound is beginning to smell a little like almonds' his seishi sense will start tingling and he'll come to find us..."
Hotohori leaned over her and cupped her chin in one of his smooth palms. "That's not what I wanted to talk to you about." He slowly leaned in and kissed her, until she finally came to her senses and pushed him off.
"What are you doing?" Dee demanded. "I don't really know you all that well, and you didn't even give me a warning, or—!"
A gust of wind whipped through the room out of nowhere, blowing his hair around gracefully. He clasped her hands in his and knelt on the floor in front of her. "Ever since I learned of the Suzaku legend, back when I was a little tyke," Dee wished he'd stop randomly talking like a Dustbowl rancher, "I've looked forward to the day when the Priestess of Suzaku would come. You're everything I've imagined and more. I want you to be my Empress."
"WAH?" Dee fell off the bed. "But I'm only fifteen! It's too early to even think about marriage, never mind about becoming an Empress!" Dee jumped up, stalking across the room and facing the wall. "I can't talk about something like that right now."
Hotohori stood up. "Forgive me. You should have time to consider my proposal. You don't have to give me an answer now, but..."
He stopped short, jerking up and whipping around to face the door. He walked over to the door, unsheathed his sword, and cut open the doorway. Tasuki, Nuriko and Tamahome were leaning against the paper screen with their ears to the doorway. Seeing the Emperor, they all ran around in circles waving their arms.
"Lalalala!" laaa'd Tasuki.
"Hotohori-sama, we weren't listening at all!" exclaimed Nuriko.
"We were just dancing down the hallway!" Tamahome sang as he led the others out of sight.
Hotohori turned around to face Dee, smiling slightly. "Good night, and don't worry about all of this. You may take a while to answer if you wish." With that, he walked out.
xxx
"Everyone, this is Harii-sama, the Priestess of Seiryuu." All of the other seishi touched their heads to the floor as Nakago introduced me.
"Um... please stand up. You don't have to bow for me." They all did as I said, and I got an idea. "Okay, now bark like dogs." They obeyed again. I smothered a laugh. "Okay, I'm done now."
Nakago nodded to the first seishi. "This is Soi, a girl who's madly in love with me. This in itself amazes people. Along with that, she's quite handy with the weather."
"I am at your service Harii-sama." She smiled, but the look quickly disappeared as she was hit in the face by a man wearing... feathers and makeup?
"I'M THE ONE WHO LOVES YOU, NAKAGO-SAMA! NOT THIS LIGHTNING BITCH!" The feathery man scowled at Soi.
"Right, right..." Nakago sweat-dropped. "This is Tomo, a cackling illusionist who uses his powers in quite kinky ways."
"Kinky? What... do you mean?" I asked.
"He's a complete weirdo! He doesn't deserve your love, Nakago-sama!" Soi screamed.
"Would you guys please stop?" A young man with light brown hair and a headband yelled. Then he turned to face me, flashing a strained smile. "I'm sorry about them, Harii-sama. I'm Amiboshi."
"Nice to meet you," I said, returning the smile.
Nakago sighed as Soi and Tomo engaged in a bitch-slapping fight. "Moving on: This is Suboshi."
"You mean Amiboshi," I said. "I've already met him."
"No, this is Suboshi, my brother," Suboshi replied...wait a minute...!
"Suboshi? Amiboshi? You guys are twins? Geez, do you really have to have similar names, too?" I grabbed my head. "That's gonna confuse me. Can I give you guys nicknames?"
"Um..." Suboshi... no Amiboshi... no... one of them glanced at the other.
"…I guess," Suboshi... no Amiboshi... no... one of them responded.
"All right. So your name now is?" I pointed to the one on the left.
"Amiboshi."
"Okay, well... I'll name you P. Diddy," I said.
"P... Diddy?"
"Yeah, and you'll wear this to help me out." I grabbed some sunglasses that must have just appeared out of my ass because I'm not quite sure where they came from and put them on the wide-eyed P. Diddy. "And you, Amiboshi, you'll be..."
"I'm Suboshi."
"Whatever, from now on you're Snoop Dogg."
"Snoop Dogu?"
"Yeah, sure, Snoop Dogu..." I sweatdropped. "And you'll be wearing this." I pulled a black baseball cap that must have come out of my ass and put it on him backwards. "There! Much better." That having been completed, I turned to the one in sunglasses. "So what's your power, P. Diddy?"
There was complete silence for a moment, then, "Oh yeah...that's me. Well, I can play the flute to manipulate people."
"And you Snoop Dogu?" I asked.
"I have big meteor balls."
"SNOOP DOGU! I didn't know the Seiryuu seishi would have such potty mouths." I glared at him and crossed my arms.
"No, I mean..." He held up floating balls on strings. "I use these balls."
"Oh...heh, I knew that! I was just, uh, joking!" I received many strange looks. "Is this your pet?" I turned to a giant wolf wearing raggedy clothes.
The wolf glared at me. "Rah rah rah rah rah rah RAAAH! RAH rah RAH RAH!"
I rubbed a finger in my ear. "He's kinda loud."
"This is Ashitare, the sixth seishi," Nakago explained.
"Oh...sorry." I reached out to pet him, but he turned away with his nose in the air.
"Unfortunately, he can't talk. He does understand everything you say though," said Nakago.
"Heh..." I looked around, realizing that someone was missing. "Where's the other seishi? On an errand or something?"
"This is all of your seishi," Nakago told me.
I shook my head. "Nakago, there's a total of seven seishi."
"There is?" he asked with wide eyes.
"Yeah."
"Shit."
Next Episode Preview…
FREAKY CAT THING: The two friends have been split up, and now they are forced to fight against each other as enemies...
HALEY: Um, no we aren't.
FREAKY CAT THING: But you've been tricked into thinking Dee's your enemy...
DEE: No she hasn't.
FREAKY CAT THING: But... but the script says...
HALEY: There was a script?
FREAKY CAT THING: AAAAAAGH SCREW IT! DO WHATEVER THE HELL YOU WANT! Last time I try to get Americans to do drama...
DEE: Well, maybe we'll give the script a look-over for the next chapter... ah, who'm I kidding? Stick around for Chapter Four: "The Floating Baby's Dreidel of Doom!"
