Hello everyone! I hope you all had a great Christmas, and New Year's is very close! : D I can't wait. I have plenty of New Year's resolutions I'd like to accomplish! Like, making it to chapter fifty on this story, and finishing my Naruto and Kingdom hearts fanfictions since they're meant to be shorter. Or at least, I feel like they are . . . lol!

Toyha-Chan- Thank you very much! Actually, Suzuno is a real Watase Yuu character that's explained in season two of the Fushigi Yuugi Anime, so that's why you haven't heard of her. She's also in Volume 11 of the manga, so look out for her!

Kaeru Soyokaze- Yeay for feelings! Feelings iz a good thing . . . I hope I'll be able to tie it in properly!

Suzuno Oosugi- O.O Wow, a very good theory about Toroki! Hee, Nashie has so many love interests that people like, doesn't she? Amai, Amefuri, and we still haven't met Sousui! And yup, our little Ame-chan is falling love. XD lol!

Chapter Twenty-Five

Subaru agreed to heal Amefuri later after she had discussed the issue of going to Inmetsu with the Emperor of Sairou. He wanted to laugh when she said this, and wished her luck that he wasn't to drunk enough to understand. Even then, they could probably still get something out of Nashie. She was a very capable person when it came to discussion.

Waiting for them to leave, the warrior was surprised when Lanva was the only on who stayed behind once the doors were closed. He sighed heavily as if out of relief that the others left and threw his head back on the soft, cushioned pillow, flinching a bit at a deep breath he made far too sharp. He was with only one person now; he didn't mind showing how weak he felt.

"Okay," Lanva began, pulling a chair up next to the bed. We swung it around and sat on it backwards, crossing his arms on what was supposed to be the rear of the chair. He smiled very cheekily. "Now, tell your big brother Lanva what's bothering you."

"Shut up!" Amefuri spat back in a more embarrassed than angry tone; he was about to open his mouth to speak again, but he began coughing instead. He really hated this sort of state; it was making him irritated too easily.

"Your face looked pissed the entire time Suzuno was talking about what's been going on."

There was a long pause between the two of them, and for a moment Lanva was wondering if Amefuri was just trying to find the right words to explain or if he was still so annoyed that he was ignoring him entirely. He may have been raised a little different from the average boy, but couldn't he respect his elders just a little?

Lanva's ears became alert when Amefuri finally spoke. "What has Suzuno so chipper? It's different."

"Riiiiight . . . that." Now the both of them seemed aggravated, and Lanva looked as if he didn't even want to get started on the subject surrounding Suzuno's sudden happy appearance.

'But,' he started in his head, groaning a little while he argued in his head, 'I did did ask what made him so mad. I should've seen that one coming.'

He noticed that Amefuri was smirking a bit. "And what has you so annoyed with it? Come on, tell your little brother Ame what's bothering you."

"Bite me, slut," Lanva replied, sitcking out his tongue. The younger of the two took no offense to his insult, and just decided it was best to ignore it. "It's that Tatara guy."

"Oh . . . What has he done?"

"He's a ghost from the Haunted Mountain, by the way."

"What?!" He sat up again, suddenly holding his stomach like someone kicked it, but his eyes were wide and nervous as if he were dying. He took no notice of the throbbing in his throat from shouting so loud, as well as Lanva's jumpy expression. "He's a . . . a . . ."

"No, I lied!" Lanva said, laughing a bit and slapping the side of the chair, feeling a little too amused. Amefuri's face turned sour and lied back down, specifically turning so he was facing away from his companions' direction. "You really should have seen your face though, it was priceless!"

"Ass."

"Anyway . . . Yeah, he's the guy who made the Haunted Mountains what it is; the forest and everything, because his Celestial ability is like . . . I dunno, kinda controlling plants and stuff." Amefuri wasn't sure if he made Tatara's power sound so weak on purpose, or if he really couldn't find the right words to make it sound more impressive. "He's not a ghost though. You should really learn to get over over that, you know."

"When are you going to answer my question?" Amefuri asked, trying to get off the subject of his unusual trepidation.

"It's just that the moment he showed up in Hashi, Suzuno slowly starting acting louder. I mean, we were finally on good terms with her before he came around, but when they're together, she just acts like he's Byakko's gift to the world -No pun intended- and sometimes he'll say something to her that I can't hear and she acts even happier!"

He took a deep breath, as if saying all of that was really getting him wound up. "He really just pisses me off. He's not trustworthy at all; way too mysterious. But then again, he's not the only guy who's annoying the shit outta me."

"Can you tell me what's been going on?" Amefuri asked. Lanva drew attention away from his own mind-drama to look at his younger companion.

"What?" he asked.

"Tell me what you've been doing since you've found Tatara."

"Sure."

The Priestess, Lanva, Subaru and Tatara had only taken half the night to reach the closest town they could find. It was still dark by the time they reached there, but the place was anything but dead. In fact, there were still lit lamps adorning the outsides of all the street houses and shops, and towards what looked like the center of the settlement was a huge, drawn crowd. Heavy shadows from a fire inside of the throng and the loud cheering and sound of celebration made it seem like there was almost a festival.

"Seems pretty cool," Lanva said, being the first to walk towards the larger party. He would have started into a run he was so curious, but he felt Subaru's hand reach for the collar of his clothing and jerk him back. "Ow!"

"What if they don't like interruptions?" Subaru said sternly, "Besides, we can't bring risk to Suzuno!"

"But-"

"This is Midoru," Tatara said, gaining everyone's attention. Mostly he was speaking to Suzuno. Out of the three companions ready to protect the Priestess with their life, he was standing closest to her. In fact, he actually had his long this coat over her and himself, as if they were together under a blanket to shelter them from the cold. The young couple both found it odd since he had not so long ago rejected the idea of journeying with them. "It's not a place that is known to be hostile. On the other hand . . ."

"What?" Subaru and Lanva said together curiously, waiting for his answer.

"They're also another town that was attacked by the Torokicreature."

Suzuno tensed up a little when he mentioned this. Earlier that night, when they had to run with their lives to escape from the Kutou Soldiers in Hashi was the first time Tatara told them of the Toroki that seemed to have been running around lately. He said that the latest sighting of it was in Inmetsu of Kutou of all the unfortunate places, but inhabitants of other small towns in the enemy country along with Sairou had claimed to see it. Since Lanva and Subaru both knew what he was talking about, she figured it was a big deal.

As Tatara continued with the story to Suzuno while they were running through the desert, he said that there was only one strange thing about the Toroki that made it hard to believe anyone was telling the truth about it: Everyone described it differently. The only things alike about the sightings were the Celestial Symbol, along with the fact that they were all aggressive creatures.

'Is it really one of our Warriors?' she thought, the idea of such a mysterious malefactor upsetting her. Is a person who is a Warrior sometimes bad too? So far, the three she had were wonderful people, even if they each had a few flaws. She could never really talk about something like that, though 'I'm a little too flawed myself to be boasting about other peoples' faults.'

For a moment, Suzuno desperately wanted to meet a Toroki, just to be able to see if they were really a Warrior. Whenever she was close to Tatara, Subaru and Amefuri and they had their symbols were visible, she had this strange sensation. Maybe that was something natural, an occurance because she was in total awe of their abilities. Somehow though, she felt like she could feel it because she was the Priestess.

"Lanva!" Subaru scolded, bringing Suzuno back to the outside world again. She noticed the young woman was half-stumbling, trying to run after her fiance who seemed to take on Tatara's belief that the villagers weren't such antagonistic people. She still shouted protests as he continued on curiously, but in the end she followed him as well.

Looking up at Tatara, Suzuno checked his expression to see if she should go too. She wasn't really looking for his permission, but more like a 'If you're going to go, I'm going too!' sort of inspection. He looked down at her, and smiled with soft features.

"Is there anything wrong?" he asked. She shook her head, and he nodded and started to walk. Since they were together, she began to walk as well, trotting a little once in a while to catch up to his large steps; after all, his legs were very long.

When they stopped just before the crowd, Suzuno pulled up the large shawl and checked up on the warm little tiger, curled up as comfortable as it could be in between her arm and chest. It's tiny head was nuzzled against her, and she felt a happy, balmy feeling inside that brought a smile to her face. Aoi-Yuki was so cute!

Out of the four, Lanva was the only one who was pushing through the excitable crowd, partly wanting to cover his ears because of their loud, shouting voices. They were all saying the same thing, that much he knew, but what it was they were saying was a mystery to him. Shouting was fine and everything, but what was the point in celebrating when no one knew what you were saying?

As soon as he had shoved far enough that he could see the center, his eyes went wide, and he understand why the crowd was so far away from their focus as he noticed earlier. In the very middle, almost twenty feet from the first row was people was the largest bonfire he had ever seen. It was as if everyone in the population of the town had donated a piece of wood, it was so huge.

The freezing cold he was feeling from the icy desert was gone, and he felt like he could get sunburn from the monster of a blaze. He covered his eyes with his hand, feeling his eyes water. Then he noticed something peculiar; there was something, a huge something, inside of it.

"Lanva!" He turned to see that Subaru had also decided to heave through, and she made sure there was enough open room for their other two companions to walk through as well. "What's over the- Oh, ye Gods . . ."

"That's amazing," Suzuno muttered, though the comment was too quiet for anyone to hear over the roaring of the people. She had to lift her head up some, her eyes squinting to be able to see the top. She began to wonder why they hadn't noticed it before, and she guessed it was because of the distance.

She looked over to Tatara again who was the only one she hadn't heard a reaction from, and she saw that he was watching too. There wasn't much of an expression there; his eyes seemed oddly enough a little more open than usual, as if he were taking it in. The thing she did notice easily since they were sharing clothing, however, was that he took a few steps back.

"Tatara?" she asked, though he hadn't heard it. She decided that if he really wanted to move, he would; he didn't really seem the type to do things he disliked. When things were quieter she would ask him later, and she smiled. Though the mass was unbelivably loud, their cheering seemed almost inspirational, and she felt a little brave.

Lanva tapped the shoulder of a man next to him, cupping his hands in his mouth and partly-shouting in the mans' ear. It didn't seem to bother him, and he even did the same thing as he spoke back the the young man. For a second time in a short period, his eyes went wide. He nodded and mouthed a 'Thank you' before taking one more glance at the fire and turning around.

"What did you ask-" Subaru asked, but she was cut off when he pulled on her arm. He jostled through everyone again, followed by the Priestess and her warrior who also stepped aside and followed them after.

One of the first places in Midoru was a two-floored Inn, like every other building it was brightly lit with colored lamps. He opened the door there, still holding his fiance's upper limb and pulling it if she were a doll. When the four were inside, things quieted down dramatically and he let go of her. He looked around and noticed that all the chairs and tables were clear, so he took a seat at the very first one in front of him.

"What the hell was that for?!" Subaru snapped, massaging the shoulder part where her muscles were most sore. "What did that guy say to make you act like such an idiot!"

"Sorry," Lanva muttered, a bit of annoyance in his voice from her nagging. But quickly his expression changed to something a little more serious; it surprised the two girls who knew him much more than the male warrior that accompanied them since he rarely acted serious.

"Something just bothered me," he said in a distant voice; Suzuno wasn't sure if he was upset by something (which made her think of Tatara's strange attitude) or if he was thinking deeply. Suddenly, even through this moment of importance she couldn't hold back snorting at the thought, even if she didn't mean it. 'Lanva doesn't seem the type to really be able to think.'

Luckily for her, no one caught her rude gesture, and she pulled a little on her and Tatara's robe, using it to cover to just above her nose.

"So," Subaru finally said, trying to start the ball rolling, "What happened?"

Lanva almost looked like he didn't want to talk about it. "They were burning something."

The female warrior, though trying her best to be sensitive to the moment, was excited about what it was, and also partly scared. Anything that would make Lanva act so normal must be shocking.

"They were burning a body."

X x x x x

Ooooh, burning stuff! More Toroki thingies . . . And Ame still showing ghost symptoms. TT He's afraid of other things too! They'll pop up later in the story, 'cause the stuff he's afraid of are fun. XD Yes! -Hugs her Ame-chan-

And another profile! We haven't seen him in a while, but I still like him. Will he come back? Maybe! Or maybe not. XD Depends!

Jin-Shun

Age: 15

Personality/Extra: Jin-Shun is an extremely huge guy, part of one of the more childish gangs of Sairou. He's a friendly rival of Amefuri's, and is willing to try anything to push his buttons as long as it's not too life threatening. Even though he tries to act tough, he's very much a Momma's Boy and supports recklessness without foolishness. He's a nice guy, but his jealousy of Amefuri and his role for Sairou is the one thing that may make him act stupid every once in a while. Because of his large size, people are afraid of him, and that's made him a very sensitive boy.

TT Poor big people . . . I luv them! Jin-Shun and Amefuri are both pretty mature, but they're also immature around each other . . . How weird is that? Lol!