Sorry about the late update; I have a writer's block on Chapter Five, so I didn't want to post the next chapter, but I was thinking, meh, it's just sitting here.. Might as well just update. :P

Disclaimer: FY and all its characters belong to Yuu Watase. The personalities for the Byakko/Genbu seishi not seen in the show however, belong to me! And I would also like to thank Kitty for giving me the original idea to this.

Chapter Four – Western Stars

Chichiri spun his staff as he walked down the corridors of Mt. Taiyoku. Already it had been a week since he had healed from his wounds. Working with Suzaku and the other Gods had been quite an interesting experience, he mused. Byakko had been the most fun to work with, what with his quiet demeanor and the simple way he explained everything. Occasionally, the tiger God had cracked some jokes, making Chichiri laugh as he tried to practice his spells. Suzaku, on the other hand, was the easiest to talk to, extremely easygoing and cheerful. And Genbu, although he was surly, knew what he was talking about, making it pleasurable to discuss various matters with him. He was also extremely opinionated, stubbornly sticking to his point until he could convince everyone to agree with him. Although Chichiri didn't agree that that was always a good trait, it had helped the God win many a debate against him. His thoughts turned to Seiryuu, the most enigmatic of the Gods. Seiryuu didn't like to talk much, but whenever he did, he always added spice to a conversation. The dragon always tried to help his brothers, although they didn't always like his plans, with the possible exception of Byakko. He acted standoffish, but deep down, Chichiri knew that he cared greatly about his three older brothers. As for Taiitsukun... he bit back a laugh. He could still clearly remember the very first time he had met her.

He had just woken up and headed down for breakfast. Suddenly, he saw the most hideous face. "DAAAAAAAAA!" He screamed and jumped onto the nearest object. Unfortunately, it proved to be Nyan. She tumbled down under his weight, and he ended up on top of her.

"Um, sorry. Didn't mean to do that. It's just that that woman scared me, no da." He stared down. "Uh, I'm really sorry for landing on you." He lifted himself off her and helped her up.

She nodded her head wisely. "After several hundred years, I'm used to it. That's Taiitsukun. She's going to be your instructor in magic."

He gaped at her. Surely she couldn't be serious! "That's Taiitsukun, the Creator? But she's so ugly, no da!"

She shushed him. "Don't let her hear you!" But it was too late. Taiitsukun had turned around and was glaring at him.

"How dare you call my beautiful face ugly? Chichiri, I expected better of you. You're not Tamahome or Hotohori. It's all right for them, but you! I've knew you for more than thirty years in your past life!"

"S-sorry....."

She shook her head. "But it doesn't matter. Today's the day you begin training. Follow me."

Chichiri shook his head and managed to clear his mind of the memories. Now wasn't the time to daydream about the past. He could do that when he went fishing in the afternoon with Byakko and Suzaku. He stopped spinning his staff and fingered the scroll Kageyo had given him. I wonder if I'll ever see him again. A smile came over his face as he remembered the gift exchanging the two of them had done. Someone tapped him on the shoulder and Chichiri turned around to see Nyan.

"Chichiri, Taiitsukun wants to see you," Nyan said softly. "It's about something important."

"All right, I'll head over right now then, no da."

. . . . . .

Eighteen-year old Karasuki, one of the Byakko Seven, awoke. He had just had a vivid dream of a silver-haired demon stretching his claws at him, trying to draw him into his grasp. He thought for a moment. Should I ask Kokie the meaning of this dream later? No, I shouldn't trouble her right now, especially since she's coming back today.. He got up from bed, flung the covers to one side, and walked to the window, where the sun was rising. He let the sun soak his skin and shook himself free of the nightmare he had just experienced. It's a new day, Karasuki. Don't spoil it with your silly worries, he scolded himself. The rooster crowed, and he snapped out of his thoughts.

"Karasuki! Are you up yet?" Amefuri shouted.

"Yep! I'm comin' down, so y'all better watch out!" He sprinted out of his room, swung around the pole, and slid down the staircase banister. He landed cross-legged on the ground and spread his arms out. "How are the five of you doing today?" He asked cheerfully.

They stared at him, aghast. Then a girl appeared from behind Amefuri.

Karasuki almost fell over. "K-Kokie? What are you doing here? I thought you were still at the palace!"

Amefuri laughed. "That was our surprise. We went before you woke up and got her."

Kokie walked up to him and touched his forehead. "Karasuki? Are you feeling all right?"

He blinked, then gently removed her hand. "Kokie, you don't need to worry about me. I'm fine. I just had a really strange dream earlier."

Her blue eyes stared worriedly at him. It felt like she was reading his mind, something he wasn't sure he wanted her to do. "Karasuki, are you sure? I mean, you don't normally act like this."

Tatara looked up from where he had been sitting. "Kokie's correct. What has gotten into you today?"

He wanted to yell in frustration that nothing was wrong, but that would have convinced the four of them that something really was wrong. "Look, it was nothing but a bad dream, got it? Now stop bothering me. I want to eat. Who cooked?"

Tatara looked like he wanted to say something, but he held his tongue. "Amefuri did."

Karasuki sat down and picked up a bowl. He silently filled it up with rice porridge and began eating. The other four stared at him for another moment. "What? Are the four of you still worried about my dream?"

Finally, the five of them finished eating. Subaru and Tokaki joined them, having finally woken. "Hey, what's up, guys?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing? All right, then Tokaki and I will head down to the marketplace and buy some more goods, all right?" Subaru grinned. She stretched up and pecked his cheek. "Tokaki, let's go." She grabbed his arm and jerked him out the door.

"Subaru, watch it! I'm going to need this arm one day!' Then, he added an afterthought. "Of course it isn't every day that I get jerked by a hottie! Kokie, how about you? Would you like to-"

Subaru slapped him at this. "Quit your girl chasing habits, Tokaki! Sheesh, we're married for a few months and this already?"

Tokaki tossed her a sheepish grin. "Sorry, forgot. It sure is hard being married. No more 'girl-chasing" as you call it."

Subaru gave him a frosty glare. Finally, she sighed. "Some people never change, eh?" She grabbed him by the ear and began dragging him out the house. "Come on, let's go."

"Ow, ow, ow! Subaru, let – Ow! – go!" Karasuki, Kokie, Toroki, Amefuri, and Tatara heard Tokaki shouting as he and Subaru disappeared.

The five of them glanced at each other, then all except for Toroki, burst into laughter.

"Didja see the look on Tokaki's face? Hehehe, that was so funny! Kokie, ya sure showed him!"

Kokie blushed. "Karasuki, I didn't do anything. That was Subaru."

"Psh, does it really matter? You gave Subaru an opportunity to show Tokaki who's boss!"

For the first time since this morning, Toroki spoke. "I just sensed a dark force near us. Don't you think we should prepare for it?"

Karasuki gave him a weird look and tried to hide his worry. "What weird force? I sure didn't sense anything."

Tatara looked at Kokie and Amefuri. "Did the two of you sense anything?"

Amefuri thought for a moment. "For a second, I thought I did, but I thought I was just imagining it."

Kokie didn't say anything; she just stared at the ground. "I-I should have mentioned this earlier. A few days ago, I had a really strange dream. There was a silver-haired demon who was trying to grab me. I consulted my crystal ball immediately and-"

Karasuki interrupted her. "Wait. You had a dream about a silver- haired demon, too?"

"So, the two of you had that dream, too? Hmm, I find that extremely interesting. Kokie, what did that dream mean?" Toroki slipped in.

"Wait, so now three of you had that dream, too? How strange. That's the exact same dream I had just two days ago." Tatara mentioned.

"Ok, this is going to get even scarier. I had that dream about a week ago, but mine was slightly different. There was blood all over the place, and I saw my ghost. There were also seven other people in that dream. Two girls and five guys. Kokie, what does this dream mean?"

Kokie's eyes instantly filled with tears. "Oh, Amefuri!" She whirled around and fled the room.

Amefuri stared blankly after her. Finally, he asked Karasuki, "What was that all about? I mean, you're her cousin. Ask her for me, could you?"

Karasuki nodded, then took off after her. He ran into her room, where he found Kokie sobbing on her bed. "Kokie, what's wrong?"

"Oh, Karasuki." She flung her arms around him and wept. "Amefuri, he, Amefuri's going to die! That's the meaning of his dream. Karasuki, something terrible's going to happen and Amefuri's going to die because of it!"

"No! Kokie, you have to be wrong! Amefuri's not going to die! Kokie, look at me." She lifted her head off his shoulder. "Nothing bad is going to happen, and Amefuri is especially not going to die." Karasuki wrapped his arms around her and gave her a hug. "I promise."

. . . . . .

Chichiri opened the door and peeked in. Taiitsukun was sitting on a mat mediating. He was about to back away when Taiitsukun opened an eye and motioned him in.

"You called for me?" he asked as he sat down next to her.

Taiitsukun waved her hand and a map appeared in her hand. She spread it across her lap. "Look. Here are all twenty-eight of the seishi." She pointed out his sign. "Here's yours, Chichiri."

Chichiri bent down. "Oh, and there's Mitsukake and Chiriko's!" He looked at Taiitsukun curiously. "Why are you showing me this, no da?"

She gave him a long look. "You remember Tenkou, right?" she finally asked him.

He nodded. "Miaka sealed him away back in the old days."

Taiitsukun passed a hand over the star map and half of them lit up. "Look closely," she said quietly. "Do these look familiar to you?"

Chichiri said all the names softly and looked at Taiitsukun. "Besides Chiriko, Mitsukake, and Tamahome, I don't know who the people could be, no da. But..." his fingers traced first Tomo, then Hatsui's signs. "I sense a significance in these."

"You were supposed to remember on your own, but I suppose it doesn't really matter now." The lights blinked out and she turned to face him. "Before you were reincarnated, you and thirteen other seishi volunteered to help us fight against Tenkou.

"You remember Nyosei?"

"Yes." A smile came over Chichiri's face as he reimbursed in past memories. "That's where we all had to cross-dress and Mitsukake almost got killed, no da."

"Well, my plan right now is to create a new God and seven new Constellations so a new Priestess may be brought to our world and destroy Tenkou once and for all." Taiitsukun looked at her hand and a black orb appeared in her hand. "Nazo, Arashi, Kaminari, Chou, Kizuna, and Kiri..." As she said each name, a character swirled up. "These are the names of the seven seishi of Nazunu, Steel Wolf of Nyosei." She gently set the orb down. "As of now, I have not yet sent these souls down to the world. I will be doing so soon, but until then, I need people to help Seiryuu, Suzaku, Byakko, Genbu, Nyan, and I to fight against Tenkou. Will be you be one of them?"

Chichiri stroked his face. "I would be happy to help, no da, but I'm not sure if I'm strong enough."

At that, Taiitsukun smiled. "What do you think you've been doing this past week? Just be a rock and not do anything?" A smile came over her face and she chuckled. "I'm only teasing, Chichiri." Her tone changed however. "But we only have a week more of training before you have to set out to gather the seishi."

"Seishi?"

"The seishi who volunteered to help fight," Taiitsukun revised. It seemed that Chichiri didn't remember everything after all. She would have to do something about that. But even she wasn't allowed to return memories to a reincarnated person. She would have to figure out a way he could remember himself.

Chichiri began pacing around. "This is something I'm supposed to remember, isn't it? I can just feel it."

Suzaku burst into the room. "Taiitsukun! Trouble in the West quadrant! We need your help now!"

Taiitsukun gave Chichiri a look. "We shall continue this conversation later."

. . . . . . .

Toroki looked up. He thought he had sensed something. No... why would someone attack the Byakko seishi? He glanced at Karasuki and Kokie, then Tatara and Amefuri. Tatara was thinking deeply, most likely of Suzuno, his love from his past incarnation. Amefuri just stared at his food, still surprised at Kokie's interpretation of his dream. Toroki peeked at Karasuki and Kokie from the corner of his eye. The two cousins were still leaning next to each other, with Kokie hugging Karasuki as tightly as she could. Byakko, how he wished he were Karasuki. He didn't remember how long he had loved Kokie, but it was longer than he could remember.

"Um... do any of you sense anything?" Amefuri hesitantly asked. "I get the feeling that someone's about to attack us."

Karasuki cocked his head. "You're right, Amefuri. Ok. Listen up, everybody. Power up, 'cause somebody's 'bout to attack us." To Amefuri, "Thanks for the warning."

Toroki shoved his braid off his shoulder. "Don't thank him until we're safe, Karasuki."

Karasuki laughed. "Toroki, you're such a pessimist. The seven of us can handle anything!" he replied confidently.

Oh? Toroki thought to himself. Well, we'll see soon enough. He reached behind him and drew his sword out. Then he started powering up, preparing to use his telekinesis against the attacker.

Tatara plucked something from his hair and a seed appeared. It began to unfurl and the vines started waving around in preparation.

Kokie pulled away from Karasuki and got her crystal ball out. She peered into it and paled, as if seeing a ghost.

"Kokie? Are you all right?" Karasuki asked. Ever since she had married the Emperor of Sairou, he had always been worried about her. If only he was able to visit her more often; he would know if she was being treated right. He had heard of how jealous concubines could often gang up on a favored wife and torment her.

Kokie touched her forehead. "I pray my crystal ball is wrong. For if it is correct, our lives are indeed lost!"

"Lost?" Amefuri whispered.

"What did you see?" Tatara asked urgently.

"The demon from our dreams comes to attack us. And he has never been defeated. The most one could do was seal him away for a hundred years. Karasuki, what are we going to do?"

He narrowed his eyes. "We're going to do what we have to do. Fight him, even if we die."

. . . . . .

Taiitsukun examined the map of the five kingdoms in the War Room. She slid a finger over Sairou. "Chichiri, this shall be your first test on how well you have trained. Go to Sairou and battle one of the Byakko seishi." Innately, she knew that Tenkou, her arch-nemesis was heading that way. However, this was the perfect way to see if Chichiri was ready to start the real journey, especially if the Byakko seishi were expecting a real enemy. She knew that she would be able to hold off Tenkou for a little while with the help of the four gods.

Chichiri tapped his staff on the ground. "Why battle them? Aren't they our allies, no da?"

"That's exactly why you should, because they would know when to stop," Taiitsukun explained. She knocked her staff on the ground and a circle of light was revealed. "Go through this and you'll reach Sairou."

Chichiri nodded and stepped into the circle. There was a flash of light and he vanished.

. . . . . .

Something went off in Toroki's head and he glanced at the wall. Someone was coming, but was he good or bad? He touched the dagger in his hair and he felt his sign flare up on his forehead. Luckily, it was covered by his bandana, but... His gray eyes looked around alertly and he shot a look at Amefuri. Amefuri gave him a nod. So. The Rain Net had sensed it, too. He wondered if Karasuki, that childish fool, had sensed it, too.

Karasuki took a step back and watched the wall. He narrowed his eyes, trying to figure out what it was. The wall began swirling, turning into a violet vortex. Toroki seized his dagger and flung it at the wall.

Chichiri caught it between his fingers. "Whoa, watch it there, no da. You could have killed someone!"

Tatara raised an eyebrow. "And who might you be?"

Chichiri grinned. "Chichiri, no da, of the Suzaku Seven. Taiitsukun sent me to test myself against one of you."

Karasuki nodded his head slowly. "Is that so?" He looked over at Toroki. "Toroki, how would you like to try?"

The ninja's eyes flashed, but only Amefuri caught the anger in his eyes. "As you wish," Toroki answered. He pulled another dagger out of his hair and flipped it in the air. "I'll be using weapons, if you don't mind."

"Weapons against magic? Toroki, are you sure that's a good idea?" Karasuki asked.

"You don't trust my skills?" Toroki responded silkily as he moved forward.

"No, it's just that Chichiri's been trained by Taiitsukun."

"Look, let's just start," Toroki snapped. He untied his bandana and revealed his sign. "Let's go."

. . . . . .

Right.. anyways, I have a block on this story, just like almost every other one.. T-T I'm trying to get rid of it though. Heheh. Once I get past this part, it should flow smoothly. Hopefully. :P Anyways, thanks to those who have reviewed so far. Anyways, the Byakko seishi are back. :P

And yeahhh.. I'm sorry about the fact that this doesn't run too smoothly. -- ;; Part of it I wrote a long time ago as part of a different story, so now you know why. :P

By the way, if you read, please review. --;; Feedback is VERY GOOD. :P