Author's Notes: Hello, everybody. I know I don't usually put author's notes in my chapters, so I'll try to make this quick so you can get on with it. Firstly, I apologize for the wait. I have been excrutiatingly busy lately because of my summer classes. I didn't realize the workload would be so great, but it is and I have been writing papers and studying for tests left and right. I know I promised weekly updates, but alas, it seems that that particular plan has failed. I will be updating as much as possible, though and I promise you, this story will be completed.

A few people have commented on some syntax and formatting errors in my stories. I went back and proofread the chapters in question and found no such capitalization or punctuation errors. I believe does not agree with my file format and has, to put it bluntly, jacked it up. Hopefully, there are no such errors in this chapter, but if there are, please forgive me and try to ignore them. I am working on remedying the problem.

I am fairly certain that is all. I will continue to update. I hope you all will read and review. Your wonderfully comprehensive reviews (you know who you are) really motivate me to continue despite increasing lack of time. Thanks for all your support and please do enjoy!

Chapter Twelve – A Past Revisited

"Hello?" Yui tapped the phone in vain, hoping it was only a brief disconnection. No such luck. She set down the receiver and looked to her rapt audience, shrugging. "Either she hung up or the phone died."

"Can you get her back?" Keisuke asked.

Yui dialed the number again, but only got an operator's message. She set it in the cradle once more. "Nothing."

"So what did Miaka say, anyway?" Tetsuya asked.

"It was Nakago I was speaking with when the line died," she corrected, leaning a hip against the kitchen table. She hemmed thoughtfully and then turned around. "He didn't get to finish, but I think the purple ribbon has some significance... perhaps there has been a crime scene..."

"Does that mean that there's a murderer on the ship with Miaka!" Keisuke yelped, his blue-grey eyes wide and worried.

"That would explain the presence of the ribbons," she replied thoughtfully.

Keisuke did not understand Yui at times. To her, this was nothing more than a difficult and detailed math problem that needed to be solved. Perhaps under time limit, but why rush and solve carelessly? Things weren't so simple for Keisuke. He knew Yui and Miaka were best friends, but he doubted the same emotionality was involved with her as with him. He was her brother. He had been with her through the worst times of their lives; times he doubted Yui even knew about. She didn't survive their father only to die on a ship. He began to pace.

"Maybe Tamahome figured it out?" Tetsuya suggested in an off-handed sort of way. It was almost as if he was thinking out loud. "Those letters held threats about telling, saying that the attacker had destroyed the evidence, that he or she would make sure there was no clue left. Remember that about two weeks before he was hospitalized, somebody vandalized his locker at the university, right? And a few weeks before that, there had been a break-in at his apartment.

"There was a break-in?" Yui asked. "I never heard about that."

"Tamahome didn't mention it, I just put two and two together. I saw on the news that several apartments had been broken into in that building. I didn't realize it until later, but his was one of them. I think he didn't want to worry Miaka. Maybe he knew what was going on but figured he could handle it."

"If he knew what was going on, why didn't he stop it?" Yui questioned. "He may not have had all his Seishi power, but he had to have some. Nuriko, Hotohori, even Nakago, they're all excessively powerful, considering how normal they should be. He could have at least mentioned it."

"Maybe there was no proof?" her boyfriend replied. He scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Tamahome usually weighs consequences heavily, especially concerning Miaka. Maybe the person held some threat over his head. Some blackmail... possibly something that could hurt Miaka?"

"Obviously, we're missing something. There have to be clues. If he was, in fact, murdered, there would be clues everywhere. He died in a hospital. They have to have some medical records, or somebody who we can talk to about his case. We should also talk to his friends from school and find out who he had been spending time with, and if anything had seemed strange the past few days. Keisuke," Yui barked, snapping her friend's brother out of his reverie.

"I wonder if he wrote anything more about it in his journal," Keisuke looked up.

Tetsuya and Yui looked at each other. "The numbers!"

"The what?" Keisuke quirked his head, blinking.

Yui ran out of the room, leaving Keisuke wondering if it was something he said. He was relieved when she returned. She slammed a book down on the table.

"That's Tamahome's journal, right?" he asked, coming closer.

Yui nodded, opening it up. She pointed to a page. Keisuke began to read. "It's about his trip to Okinawa."

"Not the words, stupid, the little numbers. Why would Tamahome write strings of numbers in his journal entries? Unless they had some meaning. Look at this," she turned to the front page. "This, right here, this is the day he met Miaka again after he was reborn. I remember because it was our graduation."

"There are extra numbers," Tetsuya pointed out. "That date should have eight digits, not ten. There are extra numbers at the beginning and end of each date. Look at them, they're all dates. But what do the extra numbers mean? There are hundreds of them."

"They repeat themselves," Keisuke said suddenly. "Each page, the string repeats, even though there are different dates between them. Five, one, seven, four, eight, three, two, one, one, two, six, etc etc. This must have taken forever to do."

"This is big, this has got to be significant," she scratched down the string of about thirty digits. "I'm going to take this to the university with me. I'll ask if any of these numbers are significant when I talk to his friends and professors. You two, go to the hospital and get his file. After you do that, talk to any of the staff that was on his case or even crossed his path, from doctors and nurses to janitors," Yui grabbed her jacket and purse and headed for the door.

Keisuke and Tetsuya followed suit. "Do you think they'll just hand it over?"

"I didn't say you should ask for it," she smirked and turned the corner briskly, leaving the two dumbfounded men staring at an empty hall.

"Where did you get that sword?" Muji asked, taking two steps for every one of Nakago's as they strode through the dimly lit servant passages, deep within the bowels of the ship. "I know they don't allow weapons on board."

"It was in one of the cases of antiques in the captain's office. I borrowed it," he smirked.

"You're walking around with an antique sword?" he asked, shoving one of the rolls of toilet paper that had tried to make its escape back into his pants. He briefly lost his footing as some of the things in his arms shifted.

"Why not? It obviously has never been used. Pity. It is a sturdy weapon."

"So... you learned to sword fight in your past life?" he asked, attempting to sound casual and failing.

"I learned to kill. One of the weapons I chose to employ was a sword, so I suppose yes, I learned sword fighting, in a sense."

That was not entirely true. Nakago had never been taught to use any sort of weapon. He simply knew. He was not sure whether it was because of his bloodline or his relationship to the god of war, but he had never learned any sort of fighting skills. He had trained to improve them, but the knowledge had been innate, once the necessity presented itself.

Muji struggled to think of something else to say. He was at a loss.

He erred for a moment and finally settled on a fairly reasonable question. "What are we doing?"

"We are rescuing Miaka."

"I mean," he sighed. He felt so slow and stupid next to this man. He felt like an infinite loser on so many levels. "How are we doing that? Obviously, you have a plan. Would you mind filling me in? I am an accomplice."

"Actually, I believe at this point I am the accomplice, because I broke you from jail. You, on the other hand, are going to be an accessory to assault and battery, and possibly murder." Nakago turned back and quirked one side of his mouth upward in a little smirk.

Muji looked frightened for a moment.

"But that's only if something has happened to my hapless little Miko," he shrugged his shoulders and came to a halt. Muji nearly ran into him. "Otherwise, probably only assault. And whoever it is wouldn't dare sue me. I'm a lawyer."

Miaka sat on the floor clutching her cheek where the man had hit her with one hand, rubbing her backside with the other. She glared angrily up at the man, but in truth was pretty frightened. Nifei was on her feet and pleading for him not to hurt her friend. Miaka felt touched that Nifei would be so concerned with her even after everything she had been through.

"Come with me," he said quietly, his voice barely above a whisper.

"You have to promise you won't hurt her."

"Come with me," he said again in that deathly cold tone, nodding very slightly. He began to walk back toward the room where she had been attacked. Nifei followed.

Miaka looked around. It appeared that there was nobody else in the room, so Miaka headed for the door. She figured if she could find Nakago, she could bring him back and rescue Nifei. The young woman poked her head out the door and looked around, only to see a surly guard glaring at her from beneath heavy brows.

"Just needed some air..." she said quickly and closed the door again. She swore to herself and looked over to the room. She wondered what was going on and decided to try to figure it out. She pressed her ear against the door.

"Lay down," he said to her.

Nifei made a soft sound of protest and the bed creaked, but she didn't raise objection otherwise. The bed creaked more loudly, presumably as James joined her on it. Miaka tried to turn the doorknob but the door was locked from the inside.

"You need not oppose me in what I'm doing," he said to her.

Nifei didn't respond.

"You, of course, realized what the deal was. She won't be harmed, but you must do as I say. If you continue this blatant defiance, I will have no choice but to... reconsider the contract."

"I won't do anything to put her in jeopardy," she said softly but with great defiance in her voice. "But you will pay if anything happens. I'll see to it."

Miaka heard once again the sound of clothes being removed, but this time Nifei stayed silent. The young woman on the outside of that terrible room slid down the door, praying she would not be forced to enter it, and that Nakago would come soon.

"So what happened in this past life of yours?" Muji couldn't stop himself from asking. It seemed intriguing, even if it was a little outlandish. People claiming to remember past lives, were not, by any means, a rare occurrence.

"I was born, I was the Shogun of an army, I died."

"Surely there is more than that?" he questioned, disappointed.

"Of course there is, but firstly, I don't necessarily trust you enough to disclose it all, and secondly, there is far too much for me to answer based on that pathetically vague question. Perhaps if you asked me about a particular facet of the time, I would be more inclined to answer."

Muji was silent for a moment, shocked that he had been, in essence, scolded, and also decidedly more curious than he had been minutes earlier. He chose his words carefully. "What was your family situation like?"

"I lived alone with my mother until our village was attacked, and she was raped and killed. I was the one who killed her; accidentally. Her and nearly everybody in the vicinity."

Muji was inclined to ask how he had done that, but refrained, allowing him to continue.

"Those who survived collected me and took me to their king, claiming I was a Seishi – one chosen to protect the Miko and summon the god Seiryu, who grants wishes. My father was the Shogun of that country, but I didn't discover we were related until after he was dead."

"What happened at the king's palace?" he questioned. "If you were chosen, surely they treated you well?"

"Hardly," he laughed stiffly, peering around the next corner as the walked. He kneed a pirate lurking in the hall in the gut and they quickly shuffled past the groaning man. "The king decided I was pretty."

Nakago didn't have to say any more for Muji to get the picture. He grimaced and tried to keep with the taller man's long strides. It seemed that the more he asked, the more agitated Nakago became. The only sign was the steadily increasing speed of his walk. Muji didn't really think he was walking at all anymore, more like running a short marathon.

"That continued for several years until I was old enough to resist, and then he simply used me as his military dog to take over neighboring countries and the like. Finally, after many more years, the Miko landed very much in my lap."

"Miaka?" he asked. "Did she also live in that time?"

"No," he replied, knocking another guard to the floor and changing direction as a few more pirates spotted them. "Miaka was not my Miko, she was the Miko of the god Suzaku. Her friend Yui was my Miko. They were drawn in through a book called the Shijintenshisho."

"Miaka and her friend were pulled into a book? That was... what, a gateway to the past?"

"Actually, the book itself is a dimension all its own. I believe so, anyway, otherwise the random appearance of people from the future would have drastically changed her time before she returned."

"If I asked her would she say that?"

"If she thought you would not try to commit her to a mental institution," he said frankly. Miaka was not a liar but she wasn't going to say anything incriminating.

"So what happened?" he questioned.

"I tricked her friend into believing she had been assaulted. I manipulated her to do my bidding and summon the god. Miaka and I did meet on more than one occasion."

"But you were enemies. You didn't hurt her, did you?"

"Nearly," he said, sounding a bit more distracted than he had been as he looked around a corner. "But that's ancient history. I died, I was reborn here. Interestingly, I was already alive in this world before the Mikos were taken into my world."

"How did you become so close, then, if you were enemies?" he asked. Nakago glared at him to speak more quietly. He had already attracted a number of men patrolling.

"I met her brother by chance at a restaurant at which he was employed. He realized I was a Seishi, though he did not realize that I was not hers, and insisted I come back to see Miaka. I did so, hoping to amuse myself by her reaction at seeing me alive and well, and then while I was at her apartment, we were both drawn into the book. This was... two years ago, I believe. After that adventure, we settled out differences."

"So did you date?" the younger man whispered, looking cautiously around.

"No, she was engaged to be married."

"Was?" Muji asked.

"Her fiance died," Nakago said simply. "We met on this cruise by chance, although I am beginning to believe that nothing that happens in this world is by chance." He cursed Taiitsukun silently for that and continued. "She has grown on me."

"It sounds like you've grown on her as well," Muji replied. "She's lucky to have you to protect her, it seems."

"I'm lucky to have her protecting me," he retorted softly.

"Protect you?" the accessory questioned. "From what?"

"Myself."

Yui walked slowly through the halls, looking lost. She was not sure why she had decided to go to the university. Thinking back on it, she probably would have been better off at the hospital. She had plans to be a doctor and she did have some connections that might have been useful to her. As it stood, Tetsuya and Keisuke were probably harassing some poor nurse into showing him the files.

The blonde looked into one of the rooms with an open door. "Oh my!" she gasped. "You really should close the door if you're going to be doing that!" she squeaked, her voice high, face scarlet. She slammed the door shut behind her.

"Subaru... where are you?" she looked down the residence hall again. "Maybe I'm on the wrong floor..."

"Who are you looking for, pretty lady?" a cheerful voice asked from behind.

Yui turned and looked up. The man before her was attractive. He had black hair and deep brown eyes, with a charming smile. He wore silver rimmed glasses, a yellow t-shirt and blue jeans. His hands were casually in his pockets.

"Hello... I'm looking for somebody named Ikeda Subaru. Do you know him?" she questioned hopefully.

"I sure do," he smiled.

"Wonderful. Could you take me to him?" Yui asked, smiling brightly.

"No need, I'm him."

"Oh! What a coincidence," she blinked. "Do you mind if I ask you some questions?"

"No problem. What do you need to know?" the young man named Subaru asked her, leaning casually against the wall.

"You knew Sou Kishkou, correct?"

"Nobody ever called him that, but yeah, I knew him. He went by Taka around here. His girlfriend called him Tamahome, I think."

"You know Miaka?" she asked.

"Yes, but how do you know her?" he replied, suspicious. He wondered why some strange girl was asking questions about a friend who had been dead for a year.

"She's my best friend. I'm Hongo Yui. They may have mentioned me..."

"Oh!" suddenly his demeanor was friendly again. "Of course, Taka talked about you all the time. He said his friend Tetsuya was crazy for you. I can see why," he winked.

She blushed a little.

"What can I do for you, Yui? Do you mind if I call you that?"

"It's fine. Well, I was wondering what you could tell me about these numbers. I found this book in Tamahome's room when we were cleaning it for his father. It's a diary. We found these strings of numbers hidden within dates all over the place. This string of thirty digits repeats itself continually throughout. I was wondering if you had any insight."

Subaru took paper she offered him and looked over the number. "This first one is a date. Five-one – May first."

"What does it mean?"

"I probably shouldn't mention this in the hall," he looked around at the people passing. "Let's go somewhere more private."