Chapter Ten – The Storm

Green eyes opened slowly. She remembered the previous day's events and was torn between several confusing emotions. It didn't take long for her confusing emotions to turn into pure confusion. Why didn't she hurt? She touched her leg, then moved it, then sat up.

"Nakago," Miaka nudged him. His arm was still in her lap, and he was a little limp. "Nakago, wake up."

She looked around and began to unwrap her bandages. Just then, the doctor came in. "What are you doing?" she asked, running over to her. "You shouldn't be moving... you shouldn't even be able to move..." she trailed off as Miaka finished unwrapping herself and looked down.

"They're healed?" the doctor gasped, moving in for a closer look. All of the burns on her body were healed, and all that remained were faint incision lines and the stitches that closed them.

"I'm still a little tender," she said, poking herself. "I feel really bruised."

"This is medically impossible," the woman stood back, simply staring. "How is the possible?"

"I don't... wait..." Miaka looked down at Nakago. She hadn't noticed before, but he was emanating a faint blue aura, and so was she.

"Do I have any sort of color to you?" she asked the doctor, looking at her glowing hands.

"A little pale, but nothing unusual for having just had surgery. Aside from the fact that you're almost completely healed..."

"I've always been a fast healer. I eat lots of good foods!" she laughed.

"I'm going to run some tests, you wait here," the woman said, going off to find the aides.

Miaka peeled Nakago's body from hers and watched the glow disappear. "I knew it," she said. "NAKAGO!" she shouted, waking him. He opened his eyes tiredly.

"Why are you disturbing me?" he growled.

"You healed me. How did you heal me?" she asked, trying not to show how thankful she was. He had used up all of his energy to heal her.

"I discovered that, to some extent," he mumbled, turning over to face her better. "My powers have returned. I am able to transfer my life force into your body very slowly to heal you."

"How? I mean, before, you had to, you know..." she blushed. "And with Soi you had to..." she blushed even darker.

"I don't know, but when I touched you in the morning, I realized that our energy was exchanging, so I forced mine into you and went to sleep so I wouldn't die from energy expenditure."

"But why?" she turned to him. "Why did you do that for me?"

"Because you were distraught about the possibility of being barren, so I remedied the situation. I am always fixing things for you, it seems. When will I ever get credit for my noble actions?" he mused tiredly to himself, his usual sarcasm ever present.

Miaka came to the realization that Nakago had, in a way, always been there picking up the pieces. Ever since they had been thrust into the book together the year before, ever since he had become her ally, he had been there, making her feel secure when she doubted, making her happy when she was sad, fixing things when they broke. And now he had fixed her, so that she could be happy and have children... maybe his children, she thought suddenly, both terrified and thrilled to her core by the thought. She turned to him and hugged him, and he looked down at her as they laid side by side on the tiny mattress.

"Don't you owe me more for my services?" he questioned.

Miaka smiled, crying, and kissed him, not just a peck, but deeply, and he took over, rolling on top of her. She opened her eyes and he took her hands and held her there.

"Stop," she said, and he did.

"What is it?" he inquired. "Are you uncomfortable being beneath me?"

She shook her head. Truthfully, she had gotten used to being at his mercy, and she didn't really mind it, surprisingly. "I was just making sure."

"I figured as much," he said to her, giving her a twisted smirk and straddling her. She laughed and he began to kiss her neck and she squirmed as his light kisses tickled her.

The doctor returned and cleared her throat. "My patient is not to be active so soon after her injury."

Nakago casually and gracefully leaped from the bed to his feet and flattened his hair in the most nonchalant way possible. Miaka managed to look out of breath, flushed and rather flustered. Nakago took a moment to comb down his somewhat rumpled blonde strands and looked good as new. Miaka did not.

"I ran some tests. You're healed outwardly, though God only knows how, but inside is still healing. You need to stay off your feet, and off your back, for a few days. In all seriousness, the contractions associated with orgasm could tear open your stitches and that would require more surgery. I want you to keep your hands off each other for at least a week."

"We weren't," Miaka sat up suddenly and regretted it. "I mean, I wasn't... I mean... he... I... I'm a virgin!" she cried, face so red she felt like it would catch fire.

"Admirable, Yuuki-san, but things can change in a very short time, so please, obey the doctor's orders," she peered over her glasses in a motherly sort of way. Nakago excused himself to bring her some clothes and the doctor watched him pass. Miaka noticed her eyes wander lower as he bent over to pick up his shoes. After he had gone, the older woman sat down on the edge of the bed.

"He is a lovely male specimen. Are you really a virgin?" she questioned, not harshly.

Miaka nodded fervently.

"He seems very cold at times, yet so very passionate at others. Strange, strange man... How did you meet him? "

"It's a very long story," about two-hundred pages, she added mentally. "But we were enemies, and then we were friends. After... after my fiance died, I didn't think I would find anybody like him, but..."

"You think it might be him, eh?" she questioned kindly.

Miaka nodded, embarrassed to have this woman knowing such details about her life. "I'm not sure how it happened, but he intrigues me. Each time I think I understand, he surprises me again."

"He is a dark man, with a dark past," she said calmly, with a hint of warning. "Just be certain that he has left his past behind him before you allow him into your future. You seem like a lovely, sweet young woman, if a bit innocent. I would hate to see you get hurt."

"Thank you, but I know now, without a doubt in my mind, that while he remembers the past, he holds onto it now only to remind him of what he continues living for."

"You are an understanding woman," the doctor patted her leg amiably and stood up. "And a lucky one, too, I think," she winked. "I'm going to discharge you. There's no reason to keep you here now."

Miaka returned to her room, carrying her teddy bear and wearing the pajamas Nakago had brought for her the previous night. She got some odd stares, but didn't care. The doctor had removed her stitches, and aside from not being completely healed, she felt amazing. She had decided that she would tell Nakago in no uncertain terms that she was ready for whatever he had to offer.

She walked into her room and was immediately handed the phone.

"...one finger on her I'll kill you, Nakago! You won't be able to hide anywhere you go!"

"What is this about?" Miaka hissed at Nakago, who simply shrugged.

"I told him that you were naked in bed and that I would give him the phone when you got your clothes on."

Miaka's face contorted in a wide variety of emotions and eventually settled on resignation. "Keisuke?" she asked.

"Miaka?" he asked, stopping in the middle of a sentence, that had begun with 'when I find my hedge trimmers...'

"Nakago was just pulling your leg," she said. "I wasn't naked and I wasn't in his bed, which I'm sure he led you to believe."

"For all I knew you were," Keisuke heard him say in his defense.

"This isn't good for my old heart," he moaned. Miaka vaguely heard Yui and Tetsuya in the background asking loudly 'WHAT HAPPENED!'

"Don't worry, Nakago's older than you."

"His sister isn't in the hands of a merciless fiend..." he muttered.

"Anyway, what did you want?" she asked.

"Well, Tamahome's family called here and asked if you would come help them clear out his old room. His dad doesn't think it's a good idea for it to stay there like a shrine. It's not good for Yuiren and Chui has been depressed for months... he thinks they need to move on. Well, we offered to clean it out for them, because, you know, it would be easier for the three of us to do it, but we ran across something really strange."

"What was it?" she asked carefully.

"Well, it was a box of letters."

"My love letters?" she turned away from Nakago, asking nervously. "Because we never did any of those things I talked about, it was just to keep him..."

"No... what things?" he asked suspiciously. "Whatever, what was found was hate mail. Hundreds of letters of hate mail. All of it... well, it sounded like a jealous lover. It said things like that he wasn't worthy to have you, that he would ruin you and that he wasn't good enough... that only he understood your true purity... It was pretty graphic, saying all of these things about how he would kill him if he could get away with it... that he would steal you forever. Miaka, you don't think it was... Nakago, do you?"

"What?" she gasped. "That's ridiculous. He would never."

"I didn't think so, but Yui..."

"I'm sorry, Miaka, I was just listing off names of people who might be interested in you and it came up... I didn't mean anything by it," the young woman said frantically from the other phone.

"It's okay... wait, you think he was interested? Before, I mean."

"Yeah, he stopped by a few times, to get one thing or another or ask something, but that was a while ago, just after Tamahome... He always asked how you were."

"Really?" she glanced to Nakago out of the corner of her eye. "That's interesting..."

"So about the letters?" she returned to the subject at hand.

"Did any of them have any identifying marks?"

"No, the paper was plain, the ink was red, and the envelops were white with a purple ribbon wrapped around them."

"A purple ribbon?" she asked. Nakago stopped pretending he wasn't listening.

"Let me speak to them," he said, taking the phone from her. "Yui-san?"

"Nakago," she said, surprised. "Where did Miaka go?"

"Tell me about the ribbon. It was a deep violet, correct? Slightly iridescent with no ribbing?"

"Yes, how did you..."

"I think Tamahome's murderer is trying to kill me," he said to them. Yui made a soft sound of shock and Keisuke began asking questions about how he knew it was murder and just what was going on, when the power went out. Miaka stubbed her toe and cursed loudly.

Nakago set down the phone and pulled out his cell phone. There was no service, but the LCD lit the area enough that they could see. Miaka stopped hopping on one foot and swearing and moved toward him. "What happened?"

"The power has gone off."

"Well, I know that," she huffed, exasperated. "But why? Do you feel anything?"

"Aside from a vague uneasiness, no," he retorted dryly. Nakago went to the window and opened the curtains. Light flooded the room and he looked outside the boat. As he had suspected, the fans on the hull were on, meaning somebody had turned the power on the inside off. "Perhaps you wish me to investigate?"

"Oh, would you?" she asked sweetly, smirking to herself.

"I saw that," he said to her, going into the hall. He wandered toward the stairs and went down to the main hall. He heard people screaming and running about and decided something was definitely wrong. He went back upstairs and moved to the first window he could find. It was still bright out, but the ship had few windows in the halls, so without power it was very, very dark. He wasn't sure where he was. Something caught his eye; there was a rope tied to the railing of the ship. He jumped from the window to the deck and went to investigate it. Nobody was around. At this time of day, people would be eating breakfast on the deck, taking swims or getting some sun outside, but there wasn't a soul to be seen. It was disconcerting.

Nakago went to the railing where he had spotted the rope, and looked overboard. Floating beside the ship, tied securely with thick rope, were about twenty small motor boats. In the distance was a large, old ship with a pirate flag.

A man wandered onto the deck and instinctively, Nakago removed himself from sight. He turned the corner and hid behind an abandoned dessert cart. It wasn't the most dignified place to hide, he admitted, but he had the strangest feeling that he needed to remain unknown. Another man came out suddenly, joining the first, and they began to converse.

"Have you found them yet?" the first man asked.

"They should be on the third deck, but no sign yet. They may be in a room," the other answered. "We found the vault, though. There's enough bounty to hold us over for a year, not to mention the fine wines in the kitchen. I say we ditch the passengers on our clunker and steal this one."

"You idiot, a cruise liner gone missing is pretty conspicuous, don't you think?" the first hit him over the head with a breadstick that he'd been eating.

"Maybe they were having breakfast. Do you think I should check the dining hall?"

"Sure, why don't you just go ask everybody we've held if they know them, you dolt!" he swore, hitting him again, this time not with the breadstick. "Get out of my site, you dunce, before I throw YOU overboard. Just find that rich girl and her little friend, we already told her father we have her."

Nakago made an escape to a more concealed location and mulled over the situation. He had a bad feeling and he had learned to trust his instincts when it came to these things. As far as he could tell, these men were pirates. They were looking for two people; two women, one was prominent, the other obviously a friend. He cursed when he realized what was going on, and despite the lightheadedness he felt because of transferring most of his energy the previous night, ran inside to find Miaka before they did.

Nifei ran into the room, also using her phone as a guiding light.

"Miaka, I heard you were released. Are you well?" she asked, her eye glowing errily in the dark. "I'm so sorry about what happened. One of the servants told me. I wish it had been me." She looked sincere.

"Don't worry about me, I'm fine, but what happened?"

"I'm in trouble... There was another murder, next door, and... and... I saw it! I saw him do it! He's after me! He... we have to run!" Nifei grabbed her hand and ran out the door.

"Nifei, where are we? Aren't we safer in there than out here in the dark?" she asked, feeling unnerved. Something wasn't right. She had a cold feeling in the pit of her stomach; the same sort of feeling she'd gotten before she had been blown off the ship, and when bad things had happened in the book. "I think we should find Nakago." Something told her that this situation was not as innocuous as it seemed, and she felt fear pounding at her from all sides. Something was wrong.

"It's too late," the phone went dead. "My battery just died. I'm scared, Miaka," she grabbed her arm and held it tightly. "He's after me... They're after me."

"Come on, we'll just retrace our steps... if only I knew which direction we came from. She felt Nakago's presence calling for her so she followed her instincts. Suddenly, a pair of strong arms wrapped around her. "I'm so glad I found you! I thought I would..." he words were cut short by a hand across her mouth.

Nifei shrieked, and Miaka heard dark laughter, and pure abyss followed the blinding pain in her head.