Lonely Angel

Disclaimer: I do not own any bit of this story, Fushigi Yugi belongs to Yuu Watase, and Harry Potter/Hogwarts belongs to J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros.

Author Note: Again, this chapter is 13 pages in word! My full rough draft is up to 85 pages. Thank you to all my wonderful reviewers! You guys/gals are awesome!

Assassins

Getting very tired of waking up with a monster headache, even though it had happened only twice, Nozomi tried to stretch, and found out she couldn't. She was tied up, and there was no sign of her cloak, or wand. Looking over at the other three, she found they were still asleep, though showing signs of coming too. Wasting no time, while they seemed to be alone, she burned the ropes around her wrists into ashes.

Once her hands were free, she untied her legs. She was just making her way over to untie the others when the door burst open, scaring her to no end. A man with dark blue hair and a scar across his left cheek came striding in, with two of his buddies in tow. As she had been caught red-handed without her binds, Nozomi stood up tall to face the three men.

"Thought we'd try to escape, huh?" the blue-haired man said. "Well, if you have that much energy, maybe you'll be the one I take to the boss." After taking one last look at all her warriors, Nozomi stared the man in the eyes until he grew visibly uncomfortable.

"Very well, I will go willingly, lead the way." She refused to show fear, even though she was unquestionably nervous about what was going to happen to her once she was alone with the boss. But it had occurred to her that with Suzaku's power that strongly within him, the fourth warrior might very well be the boss; it would certainly insure that he rose to the top very quickly.

Scar-cheek, as Nozomi had mentally dubbed him, no longer accompanied by his thugs, silently walked through several corridors, and finally stopped at a set of double doors. Facing it, he began the oddest speech Nozomi had ever heard.

"Knock, knock, who's there? It's the wonderful Kouji, with a woman for the boss as ordered. Yes, Kouji, come in. Thank you." With the last two words, Kouji opened the double doors wide enough to admit him, and the smaller form of Nozomi. Once the doors had opened in front of them, the smell of many different medicines assaulted Nozomi's nose.

Peering around her guide, she saw a middle aged man, lying motionless on a futon in the middle of the room, several men stood around the bed, looking distinctly uncomfortable and unsure of themselves. Another man was awkwardly bent down, trying to persuade the sick man to drink some water.

"Ah, Kouji, good. We've got no idea what to do 'round here. He's gettin' worse, 'e needs some proper nursin'."

Catching on, Nozomi cried indignantly, "You want me to nurse him? I'm not a medical professional! Why didn't you get a doctor, if he's so bad?"

Kouji turned on her. "The village closest to us has a plague going around, they can't spare a single doctor, and we don't want to introduce him to any more disease!"

Understanding dawning in her eyes, Nozomi responded, "Okay, I'll see what I can do, but I don't make any promises."

She walked over to the apparently sleeping man, and gently laid a hand on his forehead. He had a really bad fever, he was sweating like crazy, and now that she was closer, she could smell stale sake on his breath.

Turning an accusing glare in the general direction of the obviously clueless males in the room, she spoke with as much venom as was in her eyes. "Has any idiot been feeding this man sake?" Immediately all faces began to look guilty, except one. That one had fire-orange hair, matching amber eyes, and was wearing a surprising amount of jewelry for a man.

Returning her attention to the guilty faces, she continued. "Do you realize that when someone is sick, like this man here," she indicated the sick man who she was currently tending with a cool cloth, "they need lots of fluid in their system to fight off the fever? Sake is a diuretic, meaning that it dehydrates the body, which only helps the fever grow and creates more problems. And, if there is anything more serious going on here than a fever, an over-fondness for sake might very well be the root of the problem, in which case, you are again only making him worse." She turned to Kouji. "You were obviously right to bring me here. I don't want any of these idiots near him until he's stronger; the only people I'll allow close to him are you, and the red-head."

Silently, Kouji motioned for everyone to leave. They did, but with much grumbling and complaining. After they left, he and the red-head knelt down to watch her work. "Why did you let Genrou stay?" He asked with curiosity apparent in his voice.

"He was the only one who didn't look guilty when I asked if anyone had been feeding him sake." She explained simply. "So your name is Genrou? Nice to meet you, I'm Nozomi." The man named Genrou looked at her rather oddly. There was something about this girl, he couldn't put his finger on it, but there was something different about her, other than her odd clothes, of course.

Usually he hated women, all women, but strangely enough, he couldn't bring himself to hate her. She hadn't done more than glance at him briefly, but he found himself wanting more. But that was ridiculous, he hated women, and he certainly didn't want them looking at him, which is why he became a bandit in the first place. Shaking his head, as Nozomi had already occupied too many of his thoughts, he concentrated on the boss.

"Will he be alright?" he asked as Nozomi applied a cool cloth to his forehead yet again.

"I honestly don't know, I don't know much about medicine, and I don't have any supplies with me, but I do know the first thing to do is to get rid of this fever. He's going to need a lot of water, and if we could have some soup with leeks in it, that's good at reducing fevers. He is pretty bad though, I have to tell you. He's been like this for quite a while, hasn't he?"

Genrou didn't reply for a while, he was too busy gaping at her obvious concern for the boss. Usually when they kidnapped people, they were either extremely angry or scared, and either way they refused to cooperate. Again, this girl was different. Mentally shaking himself yet again, Genrou replied that yes, the boss had been sick for a while. Nodding her head, Nozomi assured both of them that she would do her best.

While Nozomi was tending her duties in the sick room, Tamahome, Hotohori, and Nuriko had awoken, and were demanding to know where Nozomi had been taken. An obviously drunk young man had come up to them, and was taunting them as only an inebriated person can.

"Hehe! Spirited ones, aren' ya? Thin' yer all tha, don' ya? Well, hehe! I know somethin' you don'! I know where the girl is! Hehe! An' I ain't gonna tell ya nothin' 'til you pretty things" motioning to Hotohori and Nuriko, "serve us some sake!" This enthusiastic declaration was followed by many cheers from his other obviously drunk friends, as well as the few sober ones. Hotohori was going to protest with all the dignity he could muster while being tied up like a hog at Christmas, when Nuriko nudged him in the ribs.

"If they untie us, when they're all so drunk they can barely stand, we can overpower them easily. Then we can get to Nozomi faster. And it's certainly a lot faster than if we let them know that you are a man." Still grumbling a little, but convinced, Hotohori allowed himself to be untied, with Tamahome screaming in the background to be released as well.

While Nuriko wasted no time going to serve drinks, Hotohori begged, in his most girly voice, to be excused for just one minute. Turning his back to the assembly, he powdered his face just a touch. Whirling around to face them, he struck a dramatic pose, making everyone, especially Nuriko, fawn over his beauty. Even Tamahome had to sweatdrop at the man who looked like a woman.

They were still serving drinks when Kouji and Genrou came into the room. Immediately there was an uproar, guys asking if the girl had lost her virginity yet, and who the lucky guy was. Nuriko had to physically restrain Hotohori when those words were spoken; he was trying to strangle the man. Kouji just smiled and said something about the girl's usefulness wasn't over yet, so no, no one had spoiled her.

Genrou was completely silent. Though he would never admit it, he too felt like punching the guy who had suggested that Nozomi's virginity should be taken away. He had no idea where this feeling of protection came from, but he didn't like it, not one bit. But he was usually silent, so none of the guys noticed anything. Not that they would, with as drunk as they were.

He sat down, and the guy next to him clearly tried to whisper confidentially, though his slurred words were crystal clear to everyone in the room. "I hear she's a fine one, maybe even fine enough for you to be tempted, eh, Genrou? Ya gonna ask the boss fer her? You know he'd let ya, yer his favorite. Just don' forget to pass her along when yer done."

With these words, both Hotohori and Nuriko rushed for the man, and began their torture session. Tamahome broke free of his bindings in his rage, grabbed Hotohori's sword, and tossed it to him. In the commotion that followed, no one noticed a very drunk, very ugly man sneak through the door in the direction where Kouji had taken Nozomi.

"You're awake." A gentle voice spoke above him. His vision was slightly blurred from the fever, but it was getting much better with every passing moment. Blinking, he tried to clear the film away from his eyes, so he could look upon the source of that voice.

Gradually a young girl swam into view, she was in bright red clothes that brought color to her pale cheeks, had light brown hair that fell down next to her face, and genuine concern and relief in her light eyes. He cleared his throat slightly.

"'My dead?"

A small laugh came bubbling from the young girl. "No, you're very much alive. You had a nasty fever, though."

"If I'm not dead, then how come there's a girl nursing me? There're no girls in our group." The man thought about what he'd said for a moment, while the girl looked on, clearly amused. "Oh, of course, I didn't think. We're bandits, we kidnapped you."

Nozomi nodded. "Yep, me and my three companions. We were about to eat in your restaurant when we were attacked. Your men have been very worried about you, you know."

"Then where are they?" He looked around, realizing for the first time that he was alone with this strange girl.

"I told Kouji and Genrou to go get something to eat, they both looked pale, and I ordered everyone else out, because before I came they were dumb enough to give you food that would only make you worse."

He was amused beyond belief. "You ordered out an entire group of my men?"

"Well, Kouji backed me up, which was probably best, as they went without a fight then. If it had been just me, I probably would have had to beat a few of them up to get them to leave. And I do hate to fight."

"If you're so sure of your ability to beat up my men, then how did they capture you and three others?"

"I let them. I was looking for you anyway, and getting captured happened to be the fastest way to accomplish that."

"How do you figure that?" As much as he could, he expressed incredulity at the girl's actions and thought processes. In response to his query, he merely got another smile.

"You sound like Nuriko when I told her that. But if you think about it, it does make sense. We could have wandered the mountains for days, and if we ever got close to your headquarters, we probably would have gotten captured before we could get there anyway. You know the terrain around here, and could easily have set traps for us, and we would never know. We could have followed the men in the restaurant of course, but they eliminated that option when they ganged up on us. So the best course of action seemed to be getting caught."

Listening to this speech, he did realize that it made a certain sense. And he knew for sure that none of his own men would have thought of it like that. Her brain obviously worked in highly unusual ways, but at least it did work. He could respect that, even if she was a woman.

"So why were you looking for us?" Nozomi had barely drawn breath to answer when the door opened, revealing possibly the ugliest man Nozomi had ever seen in her life. She had no time to question him, however, as he immediately sprinted to a wooden box at the other end of the room. Opening it, he drew out a fan, and aimed it threateningly at Nozomi, who had stood up to protest his presence in the sick room.

"Shut up and do what I say, or else." He said in a drunken slur.

Hands on hips, Nozomi looked at him like the idiot he was. "You expect me to be frightened of a fan? Come on, even though it is iron, it's hardly threatening." She ignored the slight tugging of her slacks that meant the invalid was trying to gain her attention.

"This is no ordinary fan! It's a tessen! Rekka Shinen!"

Nozomi saw the fire, and instinctively ducked. The top of her head got a little singed, and she could feel the heat warming the rest of her skin almost unbearably. When the flames had passed, she stood up once again to face the superior smirk on the monkey man's face.

"What's your name?" she demanded to know.

"Eiken! The next boss of the Mt. Reikaku bandits!"

Nozomi clenched her fists slightly to hide the fire already burning there. In a voice that revealed her impatience, she declared, "Eiken, if you're going to be the next boss, then I should teach you a very valuable lesson. You're not the only one that can play with fire!"

As the word 'fire' erupted from her mouth, her hands were raised, aimed on either side of Eiken, and fire burst from her palms, scorching him much like he had burned her. As the flames licked around him in their eternal dance, Eiken dropped the fan to protect his ugly face from the searing heat. When she was satisfied, Nozomi summoned the fire back to her hands.

"Now get out of here before I decide not to miss." Eiken didn't need telling twice, completely forgetting about the tessen he ran as fast as his stubby little legs would carry him. Shortly after he had burst through the door, leaving it wide open in the process, Hotohori, Tamahome and Nuriko poked their heads in.

"You alright in here, Nozomi?" Tamahome asked bluntly.

"Oh yes, just a small pest control problem, but its okay now." She spoke nonchalantly, but all the same Hotohori came up and hugged her. He had to reassure himself that she really was alright, that no one had touched her. They certainly wouldn't now that he was by her side once again. Warmth spread through him as she hugged him back, and whispered soothing phrases against his chest, where his heart was beating so hard he thought it might jump out at the petite girl pressed against him.

"I take it these are your three companions?" Nozomi gave a small start at the voice coming from the floor. She had been so engrossed in soothing Hotohori, and the feeling of warmth that had spread though her that she had completely forgotten about anything else. Distancing herself only slightly from Hotohori's arms, as he refused to let her go entirely, she looked at the man she had been nursing, nodded, and introduced everyone. After this short greeting, he looked once again at Nozomi.

"You never answered my question. Why were you looking for the Mt. Reikaku bandits?"

"I am the Priestess of Suzaku, and these are the three warriors I have found so far. We have reason to believe that the fourth warrior is one of your men."

A knowing smile crept onto the old face. "Tasuki." He said weakly. "Tasuki is the one you're looking for. But before we deal with that, I have personal business I must attend to; I need to speak to Genrou and Kouji." No sooner had the words come out of his mouth than those two gentlemen came through the door.

"Yeah, boss?" Kouji asked. Genrou just came and knelt down beside him, and took his hand.

Chuckling a little, the boss asked if they'd been listening. Both nodded without a trace of remorse. "Genrou, in spite of this girl's attention, I know I don't have long. Judging by Eiken's actions, most of the men know too. Take the tessen now, Genrou. You're the new boss of the gang. I'm in no fit state to lead anyone anymore, and it's not going to get better. But remember, Genrou, you have other business outside of this mountain you need to take care of, so if you have to leave someone else in charge while you're gone, choose someone you trust, like Kouji here."

Trying, and failing, to look confused, Genrou asked the boss, "What business do I have, boss? What are you talking about?"

"You know what I mean…Tasuki. For once in your life don't avoid your destiny." At his softly spoken words, four heads immediately turned to the red-head. Laughing at the young man a little, the boss continued. "As far as women go, she's not too bad. She scared the shit out of Eiken, and you know what he's like towards the opposite sex."

Nozomi walked over to where Genrou was. "You're Tasuki?" She asked hesitantly.

Inwardly sighing, he answered in a gruff, don't-speak-to-me-because-I'm-a-badass voice. "Yeah, but I'm sure as hell not going with you. I hate women."

Nozomi appeared not to notice the warning in his voice. Instead she answered with almost sickening cheerfulness. "That's okay; we're really quite unbearably petty creatures. Aren't we, Nuriko?"

"You better believe it." The 'lady' replied.

"See?" Nozomi said oh so innocently. "She doesn't like me either. It's all good."

"Tasuki, go with her. It's your destiny, you can't avoid it forever." His boss was still insisting on calling him by his warrior name. It seemed to be his way of telling Tasuki that he really did need to go.

"But if you want to take care of business here first, we can come back for you after we find the others." Nozomi interrupted. She wanted to accommodate the new leader of the bandits, and her fourth warrior, because she did realize that he had other duties besides those of Suzaku.

Looking from his boss's determined face, to the hopeful one of his priestess and his fellow warriors, he realized that his boss was right, he couldn't avoid destiny forever. He could give it a try, but it wouldn't work. Usually his stubborn side would insist that he avoid it for as long as humanly possible, but part of him actually wanted to go with these people. After a few moments of internal struggle, he agreed to go. Reluctantly, but he still agreed.

"Kouji, you're in charge until I get back, which might not be for a while. We'll leave in the morning."

During dinner, when Nozomi was trying to talk to Tasuki, she found out about a hot springs near the base. "There's a hot springs here? You mean warm water? Where is it?" Tasuki told her, very confused why she was so excited. "Excellent. I'll be back."

"Wait, where are you going?"

Nozomi looked at him like he was being dense. "To take a bath."

Tasuki rolled his eyes and downed his sake. "Women."

At the Hot Springs

Nozomi sighed with pleasure as the warm water soothed away all sores and rinsed away the funky smell that had adhered to her person over the past few days. 'Hot water feels so unbelievably wonderful. It's amazing what you take for granted in the 21st century.'

She was humming softly to herself when a man scared her out of her wits. Being in her girly mood, Nozomi did credit to her sex by letting out the most high-pitched scream on record to date. The man merely smirked and pulled out a very long knife. "I wouldn't do that again if I were you, lady. Now be a doll and get out of the water."

Having now regained control of herself; Nozomi stared at him disdainfully. "No."

"Oh really? If you'll notice, I have your clothes right here. I can wait as long as it takes. Eventually you'll have to get out, and there's no way to hide yourself."

"Your plan is really rather stupid. You know that, right? This stream is so close to the base of the Mt. Reikaku bandits that a reasonable person could only suppose that I am one of them. And since my scream could be easily heard at headquarters, I must assure you that my traveling companions are running here at full speed as we speak. So unless you want to get your ass kicked by myself and the four males now heading this way, I suggest you drop my shirt and run."

The man appeared unmoved by this warning speech. "I just want you to come out of the water. I'll take it from there."

"Oh, I see. So you want a glimpse, is that it?"

"For now." A nasty smile spread across his face.

"Well, keep watching, it's going to go by quickly." Nozomi ducked under the water, and turned so her back would face him. Gathering speed under water, Nozomi broke though the surface, giving the man a first hand view of her tail. As she had hoped, his shock about that completely distracted him from his previous aim. What her speech failed to do, the sight of her tail succeeded. The man fled, still with a vice grip on her clothes. And Nuriko finally allowed himself to laugh out loud.

"Oh hello, how long have you been there?"

"I came just in time for your big speech." Another laugh. "I would have interrupted, but I thought you had it pretty well in hand."

"Did you hear me scream?"

"Yes, but that's not why I'm here. Hotohori noticed you were missing, and when Tasuki told him where you were, he asked me to keep an eye on you."

"Female as you are?"

"Exactly. Finished?"

"Yes, just need to dry my tail so I don't scare anyone else."

"This is the first time I've seen your tail. It's red, isn't it?"

"Yes. Did you know there's a difference between freshwater mermaids and tropical mermaids? Freshwater mermaids always have silver tails, very pale skin, and green hair. But possibly the biggest difference is the way they talk. When they're below water it's exactly the same, but unlike tropical mermaids, when freshwater mermaids are above the water, even though they're speaking the same way, it comes out as these horrible screeching sounds. But that screechy sound is actually a learnable language. It's called Mermish."

"Could you demonstrate?"

"Um…actually…no. You see, it's rather ironic, but even though I'm one half mermaid and can speak to almost any animal under the sun, I don't speak a word of mermish."

Back at Base

Nozomi and Nuriko were slightly the worse for wear, as they came storming up to Tasuki, where he was talking and drinking with Kouji. Nozomi was draped in an outer layer of Nuriko's clothing – which effectively hid the fact that her wings were out, though folded bird-like at her back. Nuriko forced Kouji to one side, while Nozomi plopped herself down on Tasuki's other side, effectively pinning him in. Not wasting any time, they began a verbal attack on the unfortunate, slightly tipsy red-head.

"Do you realize," Nozomi began, "exactly how many random predators are freely roaming around your territory? In a space of a ten minute period, Nuriko and I came across three. Just by the hot springs!"

"What kind of bandits are you? Don't you have traps to prevent this kind of thing?" Nuriko added.

"Wait a minute." Hotohori interrupted. "You were attacked while taking a bath? Again?" Tamahome turned slightly red, but no one paid any attention.

"Well, you can hardly count the first time, that was a simple misunderstanding. But the first one tonight, with something less than chivalry, stole my clothes, and demanded I get out of the water."

"Hey, that one was pretty funny; it's the other two I'm ticked about."

"I suppose it was rather amusing how he turned tail and ran. But I am upset that he didn't think to leave me my clothes. I liked that shirt."

"He even took your cloak." Nuriko pointed out.

"I know! Good thing I'd emptied the pockets. Otherwise I wouldn't have had my pepper spray for our next visitors." Laughing and smiling, the two gave each other a high five, thoroughly confusing everyone else in the room.

"Okay, shut the fuck up, and tell us what the hell happened." Obviously Tasuki was getting impatient. Though they didn't verbalize it, every sober person, who consisted of the Suzaku warriors, felt the exact same way.

Losing the smile very quickly, both ladies told the story.

"It was as I was, uh, drying off after our first visitor. Two men, with long black cloaks, came up to us, and without any sort of warning, attacked us. One had a weapon I've seen before, but I don't remember the name, a curved blade on a handle, attached to a chain. He just threw it at us."

"We both rolled out of the way" Nuriko continued when Nozomi seemed too upset. "Then the other one took a sword, and tried to stab Nozomi. She rolled away again, grabbed me, and we tried to fly away, but as soon as her wings came out, three arrows pierced one."

"It was strange. It happened so quickly, almost like they were expecting it. We never saw the man who shot the arrows." Nozomi paused to think for a moment. "So we probably ran across four random predators in the space of ten minutes."

"Anyway, then the ones we could see sent a ki blast, or something similar, not quite sure what it was, one for each of us. Didn't do much damage, but it hurt like hell and pushed us back into the trees."

"Fortunately for me, I landed near where I'd stashed the contents of my pockets. My wand was way out of reach, but I did get my pepper spray."

"Probably saved both our lives."

"Or mine at least. The one with the sword grabbed my arm, and I sprayed him. Nailed him right in the eyes. Then I hit him with…well, you can probably figure out what I hit him with, considering I was still wet."

"Yes, please continue." Hotohori's concern was well and truly visible by this point.

"In the meantime, the other one was throwing his weapon at me from a distance. Until he heard the sword guy scream. Then he started throwing it at Nozomi. She managed to miss the first one."

"But when I rolled, I rolled right into the one I'd sprayed, and he grabbed me so I couldn't move. It's a very good thing Nuriko made it in time to snatch the guy's weapon. She broke the chain off."

"But when the chain came off, the sharp part went sailing towards her. It hit her other wing. And what happened next, I'm a little upset with Nozomi for, now that I remember."

"I thought it was best. I couldn't think of any other way to get them to leave us alone." Nozomi said rather defensively to Nuriko. Turning to the others, she began to elaborate. "You see, I knew that the one holding me couldn't see because of the pepper spray, so when I screamed, he didn't know where I'd been hit. And the one that had hit me was at an angle where in the dark he could easily be persuaded that it had hit me in the chest, instead of the wing. So I played dead."

"So well she had me convinced. Brat."

"Sorry."

"Anyway, both of them disappeared after that."

The room was silent for what felt like a whole minute. In reality it wasn't nearly so long. Finally Hotohori spoke. "There is a chance those last ones weren't so random."

"What do you mean?" Nozomi asked.

"There are some people who would much rather you not summon Suzaku. Kutou, one of the other countries I've told you about, have been after Konan's land for a long time, and if we summon Suzaku, they would have no hope of that."

"So what are you saying?"

"They might have sent assassins."

Nozomi went pale. If she had been standing, she probably would have fallen down. "To…to kill me?" She put her head in a hand while trying to digest this information. "I wondered why I needed bodyguards. They must have spies too. Otherwise, how could they have known?" Nozomi continued to think with a dejected expression.

"Nozomi," Nuriko interrupted hesitantly, "I know this isn't the best time, but we do need to get your injuries looked at."

Nozomi clutched her borrowed clothes even more tightly against her. "Right. The mirror is on the table over there, and Tasuki, if you'd be so kind as to show me to an empty room I can borrow. And I don't suppose you have any medical supplies around here?"

The slightly drunk warrior looked at her, a little confused, and then glanced at the floor she was sitting on. "Holy shit! There's a puddle of blood around you!"

Hotohori and Tamahome leapt to their feet at his words to see for themselves. Sure enough, there was a small pool of blood on either side of Nozomi. Apologetically, she looked up at them. "I can't retract my wings if they're injured, or they don't heal right. But that's all I know about it. I've never had a wing injury before. That's why I'm hoping to talk to the palace doctors through the mirror."

"Can I see how bad it is?"

"Not here! My shirt was stolen, remember? That's why I want an empty room."

"Tasuki, is there a vacant room she can use?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, firs' door on the left." His words were starting to get a little slurred, and he obviously wasn't paying any attention to their conversation.

"Do you want me to carry you, or can you walk?"

"I can walk, only my wings are injured. I'm not losing much blood either. I know that looks incriminating, but I've been sitting in the same place for a while."

So with Hotohori's and Tamahome's help, Nozomi made it to the room Tasuki had indicated, while Nuriko used the mirror to demand to talk with one of the palace doctors.

Nozomi proceeded into the room alone, until she could arrange herself decently. She tried wrapping Nuriko's clothing around her so it would cover all her front, but her wings were always in the way. Eventually she had to satisfy herself with laying face down on the floor, her wings unfurled. Her bra was still on, thank goodness, and she had her pants, but the rest of her was completely bare. A fact which Tamahome and Hotohori were totally unprepared for.

As soon as they realized her state of undress, both men turned around so their backs were to her. "We'll just guard the door so no one but Nuriko comes in."

"Guys. Did either one of you think that Nuriko just might need help? You're not seeing anything inappropriate, and I trust both of you. It's okay, you can stay."

Before either one could reply, Nuriko came in with the mirror in her hand. "Your advisors insist they need to talk to you, Hotohori-sama."

Rolling her eyes, Nozomi cut in impatiently with, "Oh for heaven's sake, give it here." Nuriko tried (and failed) to hide a smile as he handed the mirror over to Nozomi's outstretched hand. 'She's finally lost her patience with them. This is gonna be good.'

Propping herself up, Nozomi put the mirror on the floor in front of her, and dove right into her lecture. "There is a time and a place for everything. Right now, I am bleeding on the floor of the headquarters of the Mt. Reikaku bandits. Now is not the time to argue about the colors for the wall hangings in the new formal dining room."

Without another word she handed the mirror back to Nuriko, but not before every one in the room heard the poor advisor say, "How'd you know?"

"Ouch!" Nuriko dropped the mirror, his fingers pink where he'd touched it.

Nozomi looked at her hands and realized they were giving off a small flame. Clapping them together to put it out, she said, "Sorry. I guess I got a little angry."

Giving her a strange look,he pulledhis sleeves over his hands and grabbed the mirror again. "You heard her, sir; we need to talk to one of the palace doctors." After that, everything went fairly smoothly, and before a half hour had passed, Nozomi had two rolls of bandages wrapped around her wings.