Author's Note: I'd just like to say thank you to all of you readers out there, for continually supporting me with your reviews, special thanks goes out to Pil-Z and Crimson Firefox, you two have reviewed the most on this story, and I appreciate it very much. I plan to keep writing this story to the end of Fushigi Yuugi, but I'm not sure if I'll stick the O.V.A plots in there or not yet.
The Cost of Protecting Someone
Tamahome ran back to Miaka and Nuriko swiftly, breathing heavily on the way through the backstreets of the city.
Meanwhile, Nuriko was battling a huge creature named Ashitare, one of the Seiryuu seven. He grabbed the blue-green flare that Chiriko had given him, he knew he'd have to use it to protect Miaka instead of the item's original purpose. The flare shot at Ashitare with blinding speed and a stream of multicolor light followed behind it like a shadow, and it exploded right in Ashitare's eye causing it to scream out in pain, it's skin sizzling when it had been almost burned off. It stepped back and staggered as it continued to scream in agony, holding it's face. It turned around and ran away, still screaming. Nuriko sighed in relief, but then winced when he felt the pain of his own wound, scratch marks from Ashitare, they were bleeding, but nothing serious. Miaka looked at Nuriko.
"Are you all right?" She asked, concerned and walking up to him. Nuriko nodded.
"Yeah, I'm all right, it's nothing serious, at least you're not hurt at all." They both turned when they heard footsteps behind them and saw Tamahome rushing towards them. Miaka had a huge smile on her face.
"You're all right!" She ran up to him, laughing and hugged him, holding him close. He smiled at her.
"I found out the whereabouts of the Shinzaho, it's on that mountain." Tamahome pointed at the huge mountain behind them, it was covered in snow and looked very windy as well. Nuriko took one long look at it.
"I'll go and check if that's true or not." He said, starting towards the mountain. Tamahome cut him off.
"Wait, there's something else I should tell you guys... Yui's here too, looking for the Shinzaho as well." Miaka's eye's widened and she was silent. Nuriko just looked at Tamahome.
"I'll go check, I'll be fine, you guys go check on Tara, she could be awake by now." Nuriko said, hopping on his horse. Tamahome frowned.
"Are you sure that you can handle it alone?"
"Don't worry, it'll be a-ok." Nuriko smiled at them both and headed off towards the mountain, becoming smaller as he got farther away. Miaka looked Tamahome in the eye.
"Is Yui really here?"
"I wouldn't lie to you Miaka, she's here looking for the Shinzaho, like we are." Miaka looked down.
"Let's go check on Tara, like Nuriko said, she could be awake by now." She looked at him again and smiled, heading off towards the inn. Tamahome looked back at the mountain, still sensing Nuriko's presence. He followed Miaka towards the inn.
Nuriko had gotten off of the horse, the snow was too deep for the horse to continue on. The wind was whipping at his newly cut hair, his hand were in front of his face to protect it. up ahead he saw what looked like a huge boulder in front of a cave. He had a small smile on his face, he had found it! The Shinzaho had to be in there. He was right near the boulder when he heard laughing behind him. Nuriko turned to see that creature, Ashitare laughing at him as he got closer.
"You again?"
"You're going to pay for taking my eye!" Ashitare replied, leaping at the purple-haired Suzaku warrior, swinging his claws. Nuriko dodged out of the way and tried to kick Ashitare, but he was too fast and blocked it, sending Nuriko flying through the cold air. Ashitare punched Nuriko while he was trying to get up and get his balance. Nuriko screamed in pain and Ashitare picked him up and jabbed his claws through Nuriko's side, blood starting to drip out of the huge wound on Nuriko's chest.
"You...shouldn't have attacked... Nuriko!" Nuriko said, starting to beat Ashitare up now. He punched and kicked and threw Ashitare around, until he was dead. Nuriko dropped onto his knees.
"Well, it looks like I blew it big time... How am I going to look superior to Miaka now?" He smiled and laughed to himself. He stumbled over to the boulder, and wished to his bracelets that he could lift it. It took all the strength he could muster to lift he, and he threw it aside, it landing on the white snow. He fell backwards into the welcoming snow, sighing. He knew he was going to die, it was the cost of helping and protecting the ones you cared about.
Tamahome looked out the window at the mountain, feeling a drop in Nuriko's presence. He stood up from the chair he was sitting in, it falling on the floor with a clatter. Miaka looked at him.
"What's wrong Tamahome?"
"I think something happened to Nuriko. I'm going to go check."
"I'm going too, Tara is sleeping, so she should be fine for now until we get back." Miaka stood up and followed Tamahome out of the inn towards the mountain.
It didn't take long for them to reach the spot where Nuriko was. Tamahome ran over to Nuriko, holding him up.
"Hey, wake up! What happened?" Nuriko opened his eyes slowly and smiled at the fellow warrior.
"That creature that attacked me and Miaka... found me up here and attacked me... but I moved the boulder." Tamahome turned his eyes to where the cave was, a huge metal door was there. Miaka was kneeling beside Tamahome, crying.
"Miaka... don't cry, you gotta be strong and get that Shinzaho... so you can summon Suzaku and be with Tamahome... so be brave and don't cry..." Nuriko had a small smile on his face. Miaka stood up.
"I'll go get Mitsukake." She turned and started running and stopped as she felt Nuriko's presence dissapear.
"Nuriko? Nuriko, wake up." Tamahome was shaking Nuriko's body slightly so not to hurt him, but Nuriko was dead. Miaka turned around.
"He's gonna get up, he's just resting." Tamahome looked at her, a sad expression on his face. Tears were starting to prickle in her eyes. She turned around and started running away, not wanting to face the reality of Nuriko's death that had just occured.
At the same time that Nuriko died, all the other Suzaku warriors felt it and headed for the mountain. Tara, still laying on the bed in the inn sleeping, opened her eyes at the time of his death. She shakily sat up in bed.
"Nuriko?" She blinked as she felt dizzy again.
"Something happened..." She stood up and stumbled over to her jacket, putting it on and staggered out the door. She headed off towards the mountain slowly. Her head was throbbing, and she knew she shouldn't be out in the cold and snow, but she had to know what had happened to her warrior friend. When she was part way up the mountain, she fell to her knees in the deep snow. She stared at the top of the mountain, her destination, but she couldn't go any farther, she was feeling sleepy and her eyes started closing, welcoming her to the darkness of rest.
Tasuki and Chichiri were at the mountain now, and hopped off of their horses, starting the hike to the top of the mountain. Along the way Chichiri saw something in the snow, what looked like a person. He ran up to them to see that it was Tara, sleeping.
"What's she doing here?" Tasuki asked, as he poked her with his harisen.
"She must have felt it too then. No da." Chichiri said, picking her up, her face was cold from the wind and snow, and she was shaking, from the poison that still flowed through her veins.
"There's no time to take her back, so she'll have to come with us." Tasuki said, starting to walk again. When they reached the top, everyone was already there, grieving. They walked up to Tamahome, who had set Nuriko back down on the ground.
"What's Tara doing here, she was sleeping in the inn when we left." Tamahome said, meloncholy.
"We found her about half way up he mountain, and decided that if she woke up, she'd want to be here." Tasuki replied, tears starting to sting his eyes as he looked at his fallen comrad. He looked at Mitsukake.
"You can bring himback, can't ya?" His arm was on Mitsukake's shoulder.
"No, I can't do that, my powers aren't that great." Tasuki walked over to the boulder that had been thrown and sat against it. He was crying now. Tara slowly opened her eyes and saw Nuriko laying there, and tears stung her cold face. Nuriko was buried on that mountain and they said their goodbyes, continuing their journey for the Shinzaho.
Okay, another chapter done, as I was writing this, i was starting to cry... it's such a sad part of the story!