Author's note: I have chapter 5 done too! I LOVE IT! I'm so excited for you guys to read it… this one too. I need some ideas for 6 before I start working on it. Thank you so much to those who are staying with me and reviewing! I've had a lack of reviewers sine the sequel started, so I'm very grateful to you guys.
To Poruporu: A seishi come out? Hmm… that would be interesting, ne?
To Silver Pain: I already like my sequel more than part 1. Kazuki is an excellent villain, ne?
To Amaya-san: Your "hard-bodied lover"? Ha ha. He's a doll, isn't he? I luvs Tasuki. I've gotten comments on my spelling errors… I need to check better, don't I? Oh well. When will Chichiri show up? Some day.
Chapter 4: Blindly Reaching Out
Yuuki Keisuke woke up early the next morning, never getting his mind off the news that Taka had told him the day before. The look on his brother-in-law's face was painful to see. What was worse is that no one knew why it was happening... or even what it was...
He sighed, dragging the computer mouse over the pad as he surfed online for information he didn't care about at the moment. He had been right... once you open that book, you're stuck.
Keisuke didn't have class until later that morning because of his Saturday schedule. He taught World History in the morning, and helped coach the gym classes in the afternoon. Having a full-time job resulted in Keisuke now living in his own apartment, which was a relief... the idea of a 28-year-old still living at home was pathetically sad. Keisuke had a feeling his students wouldn't enjoy the lesson today... he just couldn't get into it.
"Keisuke?" Mayo appeared in the room, getting some knots out of her hair with her fingers. She frowned. "You're worried."
He nodded, clicking on a random link the search engine had brought up.
Keisuke felt two arms encircle his shoulders, Mayo's red hair pouring over the side of his neck. "It will be okay, I promise. Miaka has been in that world so many times... she has friends there who are taking care of her, I'm sure of it."
The coach leaned his head against Mayo's and released the computer mouse from his loose grip. "I know... I just want to know what's going on..." Keisuke stood up, Mayo letting him go, and he headed back into his bedroom. "I've got to go to that library. Yui went last night, but couldn't get into that room upstairs because it was too crowded."
Mayo's violet eyes followed the older man. "Let me come with you."
"Alright."
Mayo walked to the doorway. "Keisuke... what if it's not there?"
Keisuke pulled a shirt out of his dresser and slid his pajama top off. "Then I'll check every damn library in Japan if I have to. We have nothing to go on, Mayo, we have to do something..."
xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx
"Has Nuriko left?" Miaka asked the elder Konan prince, holding a steaming teacup in front of her as he took a seat across from her.
"Yes, he's going back to see his family, he said he would be return in the morning." Boushin explained.
Miaka gave a slight nod, taking a sip of her tea. "It's late... I hope he gets home alright in the dark..."
"He will be fine." Boushin said, "he has the light of Suzaku to guide him."
The two sipped their tea quietly for a while, both having things on their mind that distracted them from any conversation. Something that had been on Boushin's mind since he saw Miaka in the palace surfaced enough for him to ask.
"Miaka-san," he broke the silence, "How is Saori? You do still keep contact with her, right?"
Miaka put her tea down. "Oh yes, Saori's a very good friend of mine. She's doing fine."
Boushin nodded. "How have things been for her? She must be... 20 years old now?"
"Hai." Miaka took another taste of her tea. "Let's see... what's changed since you last saw her..." Miaka smiled. "She's grown her hair out a bit, it reaches her shoulders now... She works for Tetsuya as a secretary..."
"Tetsuya?" Boushin repeated. "Who is he? And... what is a secretary?"
"Tetsuya is my Onii-chan's best friend, and a secretary... well, she does lots of writing and contacts people for him." Miaka simplified it in words that wouldn't lead to more explaining. "She lives in her own apartment now... it's like a small house that's connected to lots of other houses..."
"I see. Does she live alone?"
A nod.
"Is that safe?" Boushin raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, she's fine, she's lived there for over a year and nothing's ever happened. There's a lot of personal security where I live." Miaka went on.
"That is good." Boushin lifted his cup, but didn't drink. "I am glad to hear of her well being. Please, when you see her again, tell her that she is still in my thoughts."
-
Tasuki shut the door to the north study to give the two seishi some more privacy.
"I can not comprehend the meaning to all of this." Hotohori spoke first, sitting in his chair and tapping a quill on a blank piece of parchment. "I have pondered it for two days now, and nothing has come to mind. It is almost like a mystery that will be impossible for me to solve unless I leave this world and enter Miaka's."
"D'you know how long it's been..." Tasuki quietly responded off topic, "since we first started all of this? Since we really became seishi and summoned Suzaku? Almost 20 years..." He answered his own question. "Damn I feel old..."
Hotohori paused for a moment. "I have noticed your more sentimental nature recently, Tasuki. I do not wish to keep you from your own duties, however..."
"It's not that." Tasuki glanced a golden eye to the emperor. "I hate not knowin' what I'm up against, y'know?" Tasuki tried to explain to the Suzaku warrior he probably knew the least, "I don't know if I c'n do it all again... I'm sick of all of it, all of it that always happens... The death, the pain... the heartbreak, the distance." He smiled, a fang appearing over his lip. "If I don't die in battle, I'll probably die servin' Suzaku. The pathetic thing is that I'm still willin' t'do it."
Hotohori nodded when he had finished. Of all the celestial warriors... of all the men Hotohori has met, perhaps, Tasuki proved in many ways his opposite. However, now Hotohori saw the common goals and feelings that lay between them, and on a different level, reached an understanding with him.
xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx
Saori slouched in her chair, carefully smoothing the diamond fold she was making on a piece of lined paper. Four cranes made of the same material lay on the desk beside her, leaning on one wing or the other in order to stay upright. Saori had gotten the whole day's work done, and had nothing to do since Tetsuya wasn't in that day, for obvious reasons. She glanced at the clock above the far door. It read 4:38. Twenty more minutes until she could call it a day and go home. The idea of taking the subway home wasn't too pleasant, it was always crowded... but her car would be ready to pick up tomorrow if the mechanic's estimate was right...
A firm knock came at the double doors below the clock and a tall, larger-framed man stepped in, small glasses rimming his eyes. He was an American, Mr. Nicholas, and one of the head-managers of building.
"Ah, Kawai, glad I caught you." He said in Japanese. "We have a lot to get done before the work week is over, with the inspections report due and everything. Okimoto has his hands full, I need you to finish this up for me."
Saori now noticed the thick manila folder under Nicholas's arm. "D-demo..."
He walked in, checking his watch as he did so, and laid the folder on the desk, almost crushing one of Saori's cranes. "I need it all done tonight and turned into the payroll desk, I've marked what needs to be re-typed." He smiled. "You'll get the standard over-time wages, don't worry. I have the confidence you'll do an excellent job."
Saori gave a weak smile. "Hai."
With a nod, Nicholas left the office and shut the door, leaving Saori to stare at the large folder. She lifted a finger and daintily opened it, looking at the stacks of stapled and paper clipped documents.
"I should have left early..." She sighed. Oh well, it was part of the job, right? She could always use the money anyway. Pulling out the first small stack of papers, she looked it over, noting the green streak of highlighter at the top of the paper. She'd have to re-type the whole report, double-checking grammar and everything as she went.
"Oh joy." Saori commented, tapping her finger on the space bar of her computer to recover it from stand-by mode.
xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx
It was a bright spring morning back in the fiction world, the warm sun rising over the dulled mountains, beaming fully over the cloudless sky. Townspeople awoke from their beds refreshed, stretching out their arms to prepare themselves for another day of work and reward in the peaceful country of Konan.
Nothing, of course, was more rewarding than waking up after a full five-hours of sleep with the sensation of a 35 pound weight dropping right on your stomach.
Tasuki leapt up from his bed like a spring, only barely keeping himself from cussing up a rainbow when he saw what delight had smashed into his gut and pulled him out of dreaming. Instead of the usual (and updated) bandit vocabulary, Tasuki expressed himself with a muffled groan and mild wince.
"Don'tcha have somethin' better ta do this early in th'mornin'?" Tasuki spoke lightly, rubbing the thin hair on top of Prince Shouei's head.
Shouei smiled, grabbing Tasuki's hand with his tiny fingers and bouncing on his torso. "Are you stay this time?" He giggled.
"Just for a little while, kid." Tasuki said, sitting up while avoiding toppling the toddler over the side of the bed. "Where's your dad, huh?"
"He's in the big room with Niko." Shouei said, carefully sliding off Tasuki and landing his sandaled feet on the floor.
"Nuriko came back early? Eh... guess it's a good thing that ya woke me up." Tasuki flung the covers off, yawned, and stood up, scratching through the thick orange hair that matted on top of his head.
"Come on! We must hurry!" Shouei jumped with a smile. Though he looked just like Boushin had at his age, the second prince wasn't quite as docile as the first had been in his younger years.
"Hold on kid, I gotta get a shirt on or somethin'..." It was at that point that Tasuki realized that in the midst of his teleportation, he hadn't brought any clothes with him, so he'd have to repeat garments. His gang was probably wondering where he had gone off to too...
Tasuki spotted two sets of clothes on the chairs to a small table in the room, clothes that someone must have brought in while he was dozing. They were a bit fancy for his taste, but they'd do. He was back at the palace anyway, it was a good idea to be polite and accept them.
-
"So Hokkan's our only real hint right now, and he'd probably be back for a visit by the time we found him." Nuriko explained, arms folded.
Hotohori rubbed his temple gently. "As I feared... I do not wish to send an entire brigade northward to locate him... it would take weeks..."
"Well," Nuriko continued, "We'll have to go without him for a while. Chichiri's pretty good about visiting and staying in touch, we'll see him before Summer's out."
The quick, light steps of the second Konan prince grew louder and louder until he appeared in the throne room, a big smile on his round face as he ran to his father. Tasuki appeared seconds later.
"Finally decide to wake up?" Nuriko asked, stifling a yawn himself.
"Where's Miaka?" Tasuki answered a question with a question.
"She is still resting, all of these recurring events have been hard on her." Hotohori responded, patting Shouei's shoulder.
Tasuki brushed his untrimmed bangs out of his eyes. "Y'know, it's just a thought, but I bet I could get Chiriko t'help find Chichiri." He said, overhearing the last bits of conversation the other celestial warriors had been having. "It's worth a shot, y'know."
Hotohori lifted an eyebrow. "Please explain further, Tasuki."
"I ain't talkin' about that government crap he's in, but the kid's got some real developin' of those powers of his goin' on. I can see if he c'n help. It's not too far to the Chouan Prefecture, right?"
"You'd hit it within an hour, I'd say." Nuriko responded. "It's a good idea, Chiriko could be a big help if it works."
"I agree." Hotohori consented. "I will provide you with a horse immediately, Tasuki, we have no time to lose. Do you want accompaniment?"
"Nah." Tasuki spoke, "But if you could send somethin' t'my boys and let them know what the hell is going on, that be nice."
"I will have it taken care of." Hotohori replied.
Within half an hour Tasuki was riding through the palace gates, leaving Nuriko and Hotohori to check up on Miaka. With directions pointing westward, the bandit leader headed in the late-morning hours to the Chouan Prefecture.
-
Like Nuriko had said, Tasuki arrived at the destination a quarter short of an hour. It had been a while since his last visit, and he was used to entering from the north, not east. It looked a lot like the streets of Eiyo, minus the guards and palace backdrop. The town's building was in the center of the prefecture. Tasuki dismounted his mare and lead her by the reins as he navigated through the city.
-
"If you have ridden out for the electoral meeting, it is not until tomorrow evening. I can recommend and inn if you'd like..."
"I'm not here for that, gramps." Tasuki spoke to the man who had stopped him at the entrance to the grounds the main building was on. It was just his luck that Chiriko's real name had managed to slip his mind, making it harder to ask for him. "Listen, just go in their where all your officials are for this place and ask for Chiriko, he'll know who yer refferin' ta."
The man shook his head, not giving Tasuki the time of day. "Come back for the electoral meeting tomorrow..."
Tasuki was ready to slam his head against the gate he couldn't seem to get past, not nicely, anyway. "Hey," he said, a mischievous glint in his eye, "you ever seen a diamond fan before?"
"Routo-san, it's quite all right, you can drop your guard." Chiriko came sprinting down the hillside that lead up to the large building. "He's a friend of mine."
Routo gave a sharp look to Tasuki before stepping out of his way. "This... ruffian is a colleague of yours, Doukun?"
Doukun! That was it. Tasuki remembered it was a funny-sounding name.
"My dear Routo," Chiriko spoke, arriving at the spot, "This is one of Suzaku's holy warriors. He is more than a friend."
Routo's eyes widened as he looked over Tasuki again, as though he was skeptical. "Very well, I shall adjourn with you later." Routo placed his hands inside his sleeves and walked back to the building.
"Who th'hell was that guy?" Tasuki stuck a thumb in Routo's direction.
"He is an authority here, a doctor." Chiriko answered him. He embraced Tasuki quickly. "Did you ride clear from Reikaku to come here? It's been so long since I've seen you!"
Tasuki smiled. "I'm comin' from the palace, actually."
"I see, then it's about Miaka?"
"How'd you know?"
"Come, Tasuki." Chiriko stepped past the taller man. "My home is not far, I'll explain on the way over, then you can return the favor."
-
"You want me to contact Chichiri?" Chiriko set a cup of tea down in front of Tasuki. "If these strange events are still occurring, then Chichiri would be of best service for it, but Tasuki, I don't think I can."
"Sure you can." Tasuki took the cup, but waited to drink. "Hell Chiriko, the way yer mind is developin', you could reach him no problem."
Chiriko stared at his reflection in his own cup. "I will certainly try, Tasuki... but Hokkan? I would doubt my mediocre abilities if he were still in Konan."
"Well, tryin' is all any of us are gettin' done right now." Tasuki commented.
Chiriko drank his tea rather quickly and sat the porcelain cup back on the tabletop. "I will need quiet concentration. Do you wish to return to the palace?"
"I ain't makin two trips, I'll be quiet." Tasuki said.
Chiriko seemed to want to say something to that, but didn't. He nodded and exited the kitchen, going down the hall to his bedroom. He made himself comfortable on the floor, leaving the door open. His eyes filled with anything but confidence as Tasuki approached the doorway and he closed them, concentrating on sending his thoughts into Hokkan, the country that was separated from his own by an entire ocean.
xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx
"I'm not that into books, Kazuki, but this is getting pretty interesting." Hachiro said after reading the last line of the book, describing Chiriko's mental strain towards Hokkan.
"Isn't it?" Kazuki voiced with a bit of excitement. He paced back and forward like he always did when the wheels in his head started turning. "But I've read books, Hachiro. Oh, have I read so many novels that can't even begin to compare with the possibilities this book offers! I think we haven't even touched the limits of what this story could offer. We need to build, Hachiro. I don't have anything like a climax in store, but we need the rising action."
"Yeah... I never got that whole chart in high school..." Hachiro mentioned.
"It would be so much more interesting if the antagonist hit closer to home." Kazuki finally decided. "Something that would stir up more emotion, more angst..."
"What are you talking about? Antagonist? Is that like, the hero or something?"
"That is the protagonist, Hachiro. For God's sake, just write and leave the brilliance and creation to me." Kazuki rubbed his chin. "An attack on one of the warriors... no, not yet, I want to work up to that."
"What about the priestess... Miaka?" Hachiro suggested.
Kazuki shook his head. "Her location is too guarded, and everything revolves around her, I want to pull the action away from the main character... for now." He thought harder. "Perhaps Houki? She is the empress, I believe. But again, she's guarded... and the attack I had on the palace before wasn't as exhilarating as I hoped it would be. Besides, she's a bit old for a damsel in distress..."
Hachiro smiled. "Damsel in distress? Hey Kazuki, I got an idea..."