Okay, this chapter is extremely late. T.T Sorry, sorry! More of an explanation after the chappie. . .

endymion015- Thanks so much! : ) I try to update weekly. XD

Hotohori Fan- Oh, nice to see you again! –hug- Yup, I'm still updating. XD Yeay! I'm glad you really like Amefuri. Hmmm . . . You know, he should get in trouble, but since he's a Warrior and the Emperor's friend maybe they'll let him side. : ) Maybe? Lol! And of course, the future relationships are secrets! Or are they? XD

Care- Oh, another inquiry about Ame-chan and Nashie! : ) Secrets, secrets! XD lol!

Kaeru Soyokaze- Yeay for Kutou Soldiers! Makes you sort of wonder what Commander Shuri is like. O.o lol! Well, no fear! Within ten chapters or so, there should be some romance. No, definitely in fact! And hopefully a new Warrior or something . . . lol, yeah right. Like that's ever gonna happen. : ) Just kidding!

taiyoukai-chan- lol, yeah! : ) I hope you like this update. Hmm . . . Is Nashie a Celestial Warrior, or is she not? XD Secrets, secrets!

Suzuno Oosugi- Ah, thanks so much! : ) Yup, I think I like making Tatara x Suzuno moments. But I'm gonna change Tatara's diologue and edit it in past chapters- I was reading it, and it's too weird! It'll be a little more casual, but still sort of noble. Or something . . . And oh, boy! If you think saying 'Toroki' is annoying now I wonder what you'll think for the next 15 chapters or so. O.o lol!

Lady Rhian Knightmage- Aaaaah, no problem! It's probably better you read them late anyway, since my compu was dumb. Thank the Lord it's better now! : ) –Dances- Ooooh, you like Tamora Pierce? I do too! –hugs- I've only read the Protector of the Small series though. T.T I need to read the prequels with Alanna and Daine!

Chapter Twenty-Three

Since the two were close to the edge, they quickly swam to the small strip of land in between the palace and river. From their height before when they were in the palace guest room, it was normally impossible to see.

"Do you spot anything?" Nashie asked as she pushed herself out of the water, trying to shake some of the water that was retaining in her thick-cotton clothing. As she twisted the front of her shirt to squeeze the liquid out, she eyed Amefuri suspiciously to see if he would stare at her very divulging breasts, but he didn't seem to have interest at all, and was looking around.

"Well?" she asked after a moment of silence, annoyed. She watched his gaze as he scanned around, then his face stopped. She followed his eyes until quite a distance away from them. Still closer to the castle but further over was a long, thin white snake. Something triggered in Amefuri.

"I knew it was strange," he muttered more to himself again. Nashie gave him a puzzled expression as she let go of her top and put her hands on her hips.

"What is?"

"That snake creature . . . It was the only one of it's kind here in this lake. It's the same color as the rest of the Teething fish here, but just lar-"

Nashie didn't let him finish his sentence as she pulled on the dark emerald clothing on his shoulder, jerking him up the strip of land they were running on. She was giving him barely any time to catch his ground, but after a moment she let go of him and let him run on his own. Personally, he didn't mind the fact that she interrupted him, and was in fact rather glad since they needed to see who was in trouble.

As they came closer, they saw a young lady leaning as far back into the wall as she could before the Serpent, which had it's head raised high above her. Amefuri immediately recognized the girl as the one he was with last night, the timid young lady named Oku.

Oku had noticed them out of the corner of her eye, and she turned to them slowly, her body shaking a little more violently than the average person, even when afraid. Small tears were streaming from her face, and her Kimono had been ripped from the shoulder. Blood was seeping from the same place, though it was not enough to seem life threatening.

"Your Highness! Lord Amefuri!" She shouted after a moment, her voice just as unstable as her body. "P-P-Please . . . Help . . ."

Amefuri came to her first, trying his best not to focus on the Serpent as he kneeled down in front of the frightened woman, putting his hands on her shoulders and being careful not to touch her cut, as not to affect her with poisons that could be lurking in his palm. "It's alright, Oku; everything will be taken care of soon, don't worry."

Oku's pale face had a glowing pink, and she realized it was truly the first time she had looked at him; she couldn't remember last night, but she knew that the morning was so awkward for her she just didn't want to see his face. Now, seeing his lovely, strong eyes, she thought that perhaps he wasn't such a horrible man at all. Maybe making love to him wasn't such bad luck, even if she was one in a million for him.

'He's so brave,' she thought, and she smiled as he stared down at her, trying to convince her that everything would indeed be alright. Looking at him, suddenly her troubles felt like they were a mile away. She closed her eyes and nodded, a small tear that was hiding in her eyelid sliding down her cheek. "Thank you."

Amefuri, satisfied, stood all the way up and turned around next to Nashie, nearly craning his neck up to stare at the long creature before them in the water. It was very much like the Teething fish, with thousands, millions of tiny silver scales protruding through it's slender body, from its' neck all the way to in the clear water. The face seemed almost dragon-like, with a thick, pallid colored armor-face over hoary and minuscule eyes, with a pointed, beak-like mouth of the same tint. The warrior smiled. 'This creature has no teeth,' he noticed as it opened its' mouth.

"I guess it's not a Teething fish," he spoke to himself again, holding out his hand to melt a small bit of poison in his palm. As enough gathered to fill his hand but not melt it away, he quickly threw his hand back and tossed the fluid in the direction of the Serpent, which so far had only seemed to angrily observe the three of them.

But, as soon as the acidy substance came just close enough to touch the scales, the snake-like fish darted into the water like lightning, and the poison landed on the water, its' peach color floating and sizzling slightly as it mixed in with the fluid. Nashie turned to him, her face in shock.

"What did you just do?!" she asked, focusing mostly at his palm. It was a little pink from the poisons' effects. "What are you?"

"I'm a Warrior, Princess," he joked, though on the inside he was nervously disappointed. After all, this wasn't going to be an easy foe in the least if he couldn't throw the poison after it. It went in the water before he could practically blink. What if he dived in and swam after it? Could he catch it then? 'Impossible.'

"We need something that could close it off so it can't move so much," he told Nashie, who listened. Amefuri pointed out to the river, following one far point to the next as far as they could see. "With all this water and with its' speed, no one will be able to stop it; I don't know if I can poison it, but for now we need to worry about narrowing it's escape routes."

"And how do we do that?" The Princess asked, raising an eyebrow. Her voice was thick with sarcasm. "Build an underwater gate?"

Amefuri's face seemed astounded for a moment, then he smiled and nodded. "Actually, that's not a bad idea!"

Nashie seemed very proud of her little moment of genius, putting a hand on her chest and getting ready to speak in an even more smug tone than her usual voice. However, right before her where Amefuri was standing, something suddenly darted by so quickly it was barely even a visible blur. A loud snapping blare erupted with an echo and when she turned her head, there was a large crack in the castle wall.

Oku had stood up away from the spot she was previously in, but now her hands were to her face and her eyes wide as she saw what took her place. The body of the Serpent was leaning comfortably on land, separating the two girls, and it's large mouth, though toothless, seemed very tightly clamped around Amefuri's body, which was forcibly pressed against the wall. The Princess was almost ready to shout his name in worry, but it wouldn't have helped; he looked knocked out cold.

'Amefuri,' she thought as the creature let go of the body and slid slowly back into the water. For once, she didn't want to keep her pride; hard as it was to admit, Amefuri was a Warrior. He was stronger than her, and obviously stronger than Oku. Trying her best to be cautious, she ushered the servant girl with her hands for her to come over to her side. The young lady listened, tiptoeing on weak stick legs over the part of the ground the slimy-scaled snake had slid upon.

Nashie quickly hurried over to pick up Amefuri, placing him on her back as if she were giving him a piggy back ride. She immediately felt a warm liquid on her bare back, and knew that he was bleeding. Before, his clothing was so dark she wouldn't have been able to tell.

"Let's leave," she told Oku. The girl nodded. "It's no good staying here until we come up with a more solid plan."

"Y-Yes, your Highness," she agreed, and the two began to run.

The Serpent had lifted its head high above the water, looking down on them as if they were nothing but petty rats. Nashie tried her best to ignore the looming feeling, but couldn't pass up glancing at it one more time and hoped that it didn't attack her for it. The moment she saw it, her eyes could only focus at the peculiar symbol on it's thin body.

"Is that. . ." she started, her voice trailing off as she panted for air while running. 'That was a symbol of Byakko!'

Puriti moaned a bit as she felt the light from the window hit her eyes. She turned her body away from it and pulled the fluffy pink covers over her head, trying to get at least a few more minutes in. She was sure that school was going to start soon, but what did she care? The second day was as boring as the first, and the teachers were only concerned with paperwork.

At first under the covers was quite comfortable, and she thought she could lull back into a sweet sleep; unfortunately, there wasn't much air to breathe, and so much closed in made the temperature underneath far too warm. She decided that it was probably best to sit up and get the tired feeling she had out of her eyes. She rubbed them as much as she could, trying to get the sleep and blurry vision out, then a strange realization struck the teenage girl.

She was in someone else's room.

This place was far different from her own; the walls were a sweet, girlish pink and the shelves were lined with cute little stuffed animals from one end to the other. The dresser had a tiny lamp with sunny yellow flowers decorated and next to it a radio. She felt strange in such a place as she stretched her arms as high as she could.

'Is this really the same room as Suzuno's?' Puriti thought, finally stepping out of bed. She shrugged, and felt more than ready to strip off the lace white pajamas that were far too small for her anyway. 'Normally a girl with a place like this would be happy. And . . .'

Puriti blushed and suddenly clamped her hands over her bare chest, glancing around a bit as if someone were watching her. She felt unusually self conscious when she was thinking about him. 'To have a Father like Takao . . . What more could she want?'

The young girl jumped when there was a knock on the door and she hurriedly pressed her body against the back of it so the man on the other side couldn't open it. It made an embarrassingly loud 'smack!' sound, but she only heard him laugh.

"I see that you're awake," he joked, and she heard a small click of glass. "When you're ready, there's a meal outside your door, alright?"

"S-Sure!" she said hastily, picking up her unwashed uniform which she threw on the ground when she was ready to go to bed. "I'll get it!"

As she slipped on the skirt, not minding the odor of sour milk that still seemed to cling to it from Suzuno's escapade the day before, her eyes caught a glimpse of a third item on the drawer. Sitting there comfortably, looking like a little worn and dirty, was the Universe of the Four Gods.

What a strange book it was.

Previously, if she hadn't seen Suzuno Oosugi get dragged into the book herself, she wouldn't have believed the story of Takiko Okuda. That girl was a very close friend of Takao's ten years ago, and she had also become a Priestess for the God Genbu. Reading about Suzuno's adventure so far in comparison to the grand tales her Father referred to, it almost made her angry.

'If I was the Priestess of Byakko,' she thought to herself, straightening her shirt as best as she could with her hands before putting it on, 'I would make it much more entertaining.'

But then again, did Suzuno ever once mention to herself the possibility of being in the book? It was more than obvious, but perhaps . . . what if even she didn't know where she really was? All Puriti could remember hearing was her dream of going back home, and how she couldn't stand not being with out her Father.

So . . . Was this a dream to Suzuno, or a reality she couldn't figure out?

In a sort of strange impulse after being completely dressed she grabbed the Universe of the Four Gods from the dresser; even if Suzuno made it boring, it was still all in all quite an amazing tale. She opened the door to walk out in the hall, almost knocking over a small television dinner table with a warm bowl of Miso soup and a glass of water. She smiled.

"Takao Oosugi . . ." she said, suddenly a warm feeling in her chest.

Nashie was far too exhausted to climb the steps to go back to the guest room, and as soon as she came in, immediately demanded that some of the male servants take him up to her room at the top of all places. It wasn't necessarily that she wanted him there, but it was the highest place in the castle, and she wondered if the creature could follow the scent it left on the Warrior.

"It's best to keep him as far away from that thing as possible," she explained to Oku, who still seemed quite a bit frightened. She pointed to the female servant. "You- take a back in the royals' bath chamber and I'll see to it that you have medical attention."

"T-The royals' bath chamber?" The young lady's brown eyes broadened. "But wh-"

"Don't ask why, just do it!"

"Y-Yes ma'am!"

After Oku had run over in the direction she was demanded to head, the Princess sighed, running her hands through her now raggedy hair; with the sweat and the mix of the water when she fell in the river, it felt disgusting. Also, while she never touched the Serpent itself, it was probably best that she took a bath as well later.

"First things first, however," she muttered to herself as she began walking up the stairs near the entrance of the palace, heading to the room her Father often stayed in for entertainment. "Someone has to take care of things out here, and it will never be that idiot of a drunk."

X x x x x

Well, now for more info.:P I'm not stopping this story, even if it went on a hiatus because my compu went all funny! XD It wouldn't let em open any programs or log into anything because it had like, ten Trojans.X.x It's fixed now though! Should be, anyway.

But yeah, definitely not stopping. I've already written ahead at least sixty pages, and I've scripted while at school at least another eighty more!: )I definitely am loving this story very, very much! Now, about those Warriors . . . will they appear soon? Did we already meet one? I love my secrets!

Sooo, back to regular schedule! –cheers- And, I'll also update on Thursday as well as Christmas for a present and a sorry for not being able to update in so long. : ) Is that okay? I hope!

Aaaaand . . . a profile! Because forever ago when I did these I forgot to put up Lanva's. T.T I'm so sorry!

Lanva Hahmu

Age: 19

Personality/Extra: Lanva is Doulin's fiancée, a mix-up made by both of their parents. He is someone that seems like a pretty face at first, but he's after your pretty face too. Lanva is a very laid-back person who wants to enjoy the pleasures of life, and doesn't care what others think of him. Even though he just seems like a pervert who wants to give attention to his fiancée and more, he really does care for Doulin in particular, and tries to hide the fact that he's smart and responsible. In other words, he's a good guy with all the right ideas intact, but he doesn't want to show it.