Author's Note: Once again, forgive me for not updating sooner! I had my exams and then I couldn't figure out how I wanted this next chapter to work… so, please forgive me for the lateness of this chapter! And thank you to everybody who reviews this story, especially Pil-Z and Crimson Firefox.

Disclaimer: I don't own Fushigi Yugi or any of its characters.

Tara's Awakening

Miaka had raced off after Ashitare, and Tamahome had found Taiitsukun who had told them that Miaka was sick and that she would catch up later. Tamahome had gone back to the others, who were waiting with the horses at the bottom of the mountain.

"Did you find her, no da?" Chichiri asked, waiting by his black and brown horse. Tamahome shook his head, and walked over to his horse and mounted it. Mitsukake and Chiriko both got on their horse and Chichiri got on his. Tasuki was the last one to mount his horse because he was still carrying a sleeping Tara. She had regained some color and warmth in her face, meaning she was fighting off the poison a little. Tasuki placed her on the horse first and then mounted the horse, he let out a sigh of relief.

"She needs to lose some weight, she's pretty damn heavy!" He said, readying the horse for departure. He heard her let out a groan as she shifted slightly, almost falling off the horse, but Tasuki shoved her back in the other direction.

"We should head to Sairo, Miaka said she'd meet us there." Tamahome said, and started to move out towards the next Shinzaho. The others followed behind him, not saying a word until they reached the desert.

"Hey look, there it is!" Tasuki yelled.

"You guys keep going, Miaka should have caught up by now." Tamahome said, almost to himself, and turned his horse around, speeding back to where his true love was. The others looked back at him for a few moments, and then obeyed what he had said before, they began to head over to where Sairo was.

A person in a tree was talking to Yui and Suboshi. His name was Tomo.

"Yes, I have set up the perfect illusion, they'll think it's real!" He said, walking out from inside the tree to face the two.

"I shall now steal the priestess' virginity, making it so she can never summon Suzaku!" And with that, Tomo left the two frightened teens to just stand there.

"Let's go Lady Yui, we have things to do." Suboshi said, terror still trembling in his voice and Yui nodded, mounting her horse.

Tasuki set Tara down on a bed in Sairo, she needed all the rest she could get with her condition. He saw her shift slightly again.

"Ya think she'll be okay Chichiri?" Tasuki asked, staring over at his friend sitting at the table.

"I'm sure it's not deadly, from what I can tell, but I've never seen someone poisoned this bad, if she were a regular human, she would have died on the spot." He replied, frowning under his mask. Tasuki then noticed something on the shelves behind his companion… sake. Within the next hour, Tara's health hadn't improved, but Tasuki had become quite drunk, he was making impersonations with the two bottles he had just finished off.

"Look! I'm a dragonfly!" He placed the bottles on his shoulders to make wings and was standing on one leg to show he was "flying". Chichiri sighed and tried to ignore Tasuki. Then Tasuki impersonated Miaka's hairstyle.

"Look at me, I've got Miaka's hairstyle hiccup." He almost fell to the floor he was so drunk, but since he had been drunk like this many times before, she kept his balance and continued his impersonations. Chichiri was deep in thought.

"How is it that all the people here in Sairo are all treating us so nicely?" He continued to think when he looked up to see that Tara had vanished.

"Tasuki, where'd Tara go?"

"Wha? She's missin'? When'd that happen? hiccup." He quickly regained his composure when he realized what Chichiri meant.

"What do you mean she's missing?" He was still a little drunk, but mostly sober now, he rubbed his eyes and looked over at the bed that Tara had been asleep on, and there was no Tara sleeping there anymore.

"We should go look for her." He said to Chichiri, who in turn stood up and grabbed his staff.

"You're right, let's go get Mitsukake and Chiriko from downstairs." The two warriors ran down the stairs to where Mitsukake and Chiriko were. Chiriko was reading a long scroll and Mitsukake was working with potions.

"You guys, come on, Tara's missing, no da." Chichiri said, putting Chiriko's scroll down. He looked up at the blue-haired man and nodded. Mitsukake carefully placed the potions he had been working on, onto the desk.

"All right, let's go." Was his quick reply.

Soi looked at the sleeping girl lying there in front of her. The girl had been poisoned by one of Nakago's concoctions a day or so ago. She had managed to fight off the poison quite well, but not well enough to fight the effects. She would soon attack her fellow Suzaku warriors when the time was to come. She grabbed Tara and shook her.

She's a sound sleeper…this will be harder then I thought it would be. Soi thought to herself. Then a grin appeared on her face. She threw Tara at the ground causing a cut on her jaw and above the eye. She picked her up again and threw at a nearby rock, breaking the rock and causing Tara to scream. Soi hadn't expected the scream, and she feared that in their illusion, the Suzaku warriors would hear. She peered over the edge of the cliff and saw that they had heard her, and were running towards the noise. She had to finish this fast now. She picked Tara up again, this time by the back of her neck and felt her grab her arm and squeeze it hard. Soi dropped her and held her arm, the girl had almost broken it.

She's strong! I thought she would be weaker then this, hiding behind her summons…. Soi's face was pure horror. Tara rose to her feet and looked Soi in the eye, Tara's wounds were completely healed! Soi then noticed that Tara was turning her attention to Tasuki and the others.

"Not yet, Seiryuu warrior, it's not time to kill them yet, for now, you will go to where Tomo is." Soi sourly said and noticed that Tara was listening to what she was saying, she had started walking off in the other direction towards where Tomo was dealing with the priestess and Amiboshi. This girl was going to be the key to beating the Suzaku warriors and their beloved priestess, just as Nakago had told her. The girl could be used for good or evil, and she was going to kill Suzaku's warriors soon enough.

"Tasuki, slow down, we don't even know where she is, she could have been a part of that illusion all along!" Chichiri yelled at the fire-red haired teenager. Tasuki stopped for a moment and turned towards his companions.

"It's all my fault this happened," He quietly said. "I should have been watchin' her." He continued, his fist shaking.

"We'll find her Tasuki, don't worry, we feel responsible for this too you know." Chiriko said, looking up at Tasuki.

"Let's keep going in the direction of that scream we heard, no da." Chichiri added, and then started running in the direction of the cliff.

Soi had left Tara to head towards Tomo on her own, because she had been ordered to deal with a distraught Tamahome, which she was going to do. She was disguised as Miaka through a charm Tomo had placed on Soi not long ago, and she was going to seduce Tamahome, buying Tomo time to do what he was told to.

Tara headed towards Tomo, her eyes were clouded over with hate and the poison. Her memories had been altered so that it had seemed that the Suzaku warriors were the ones who made her life miserable and hurtful. Tasuki was the one who burned her village, Mitsukake hadn't done anything to heal them, Chichiri was laughing and causing pain to the elderly, Chiriko just stood and watched with a smirk on his face, Hotohori had sent his warriors to help kill the people, and Tamahome was attacking her family, brutally slaughtering them. These things caused Tara to hate them, and feel that they needed to be destroyed. She saw Tomo up ahead in a trance with his shell and Amiboshi was tied up in vines. She noticed that Amiboshi had just broken his fingers to release himself from the illusion, and used his flute to break the illusion on Miaka. Tomo was snapped out of his trance and he grimaced.

"You little brat! You ruined the illusion!" Tomo yelled, and saw Tara walking towards them. Miaka also noticed her.

"Tara! You're awake!" Miaka had a small smile on her face.

"Should I destroy her?" Tara asked, looking at Tomo. Tomo shook his head.

"No, let's let her suffer, she saw her celestial warrior, Tamahome, fall off of the cliff." Tomo said, looking over at Miaka, who had passed out again. Tara's attention turned towards a spray of fire that came from a nearby hill. It was Tasuki, and he had a huge grin plastered on his face.

"I see that yer all right, Tara." Tasuki said, getting ready to run over to her, but Chichiri grabbed his shoulder.

"Wait, Tasuki, look at her eyes, they're clouded over, I don't think she's herself right now." Chichiri said, as he let go of Tasuki's shoulder. Tasuki looked at her again, and realized that something wasn't right. Tara looked over at Tomo.

"Do you want me to destroy them?" She asked, emotionlessly. Tomo looked over at the group, thinking she didn't stand a chance, but then there's the possibility that they won't attack her.

"Yes, puppet, go and destroy them all!" Tomo yelled, and Tara shot towards the group of Suzaku warriors.

Okay, I'm stopping it there. And once again, please forgive me for taking so long to update, I don't do it on purpose! Anyway, I hope you like this chapter, it took me a while to think of it, with my summer brain, soon I'm going to be away on vacation though, so I probably won't update for a month or so… anyway, please review if you have the time, much appreciated!