Gomenasaaaaiii. U-U This chapter just wasn't working well for me. I'm still not satisfied with it, but oh well. I still have what I was typing up for what happens at the temple if people are really interesting, but… eh. It didn't flow well. So, on with what I did finish?

To be honest, I had been trying to avoid Tasuki, the fiery bandit of the Suzaku warriors. Besides just being brash, he was a criminal, and therefore someone I was nervous around. Every time I saw him he was picking a fight with one of the other warriors. If Nuriko knew how I felt about him, maybe he wouldn't have left me with him. Even worse, he left me responsible for hiding him until he calmed Tamahome down.

The spoken-of man was crouching down behind me, carefully looking left and right. "Here's not a good place, the crowd is too sparse. Where are you gonna' hide me?"

"To be honest, I was just on my way to the temple," I half-lied. "So if you don't mind, I--"

"That's perfect!" he smiled. "He wouldn't think of looking for me there! Come on, I'm suppose to be inconspicuous. I'll behave, honest! Just get going!"

I'll admit, it was kind of funny seeing the big, bad bandit at my mercy, but I reluctantly took Tasuki with me to the temple, hoping that I might be able to meditate like I originally planned. He really was trying to behave himself, but his short attention span kept drawing attention to him. However, more attention came as the sudden fire in the temple was snuffed out. Concerned about Tamahome finding him at the scene, we fled.

"Ta-Tasuki," I caught my breath. "I thought it was just to… huff… be a quiet visit."

"It's not… huff.. my fault!" he yelled back at me and I winced. "The candle was too close to the curtain, it's not like I'm the one who set everything on fire! Heck, I'm th' one who put it out!"

His yelling startled me, but I saw it necessary to quiet him down. "I didn't say that. But it would be wise of you to shush if you don't want Tamahome coming back here to find you."

"Quit getting on my case! What did I do so wrong today?"

"Getting Tamahome so upset in the first place. Is he mad enough to still be following us?"

"Shut up about that! It's wasn't that bad!"

Maybe I was being too harsh. Not having a good response, I shut my mouth, and my character faded away again. Tasuki's face was set in a distanced glare and didn't look back for a moment, letting his steam run dry.

"By the way, since you're the smart one, do you know where we wound up?" he asked as he looked around at the empty back roads. I didn't say anything, so he looked back down at me instead. "Chiriko?"

"…what were we doing here again, Tasuki?"

He gave me one of the most puzzled looking faces I had ever seen. "We fled the scene, dontcha' remember? That was just now…"

"We did?" I looked back at him with a childish face.

"Yeah, we did," he looked at me suspiciously.

"Oh," I replied and paused for a moment, letting my slower mind piece things back together. "Tasuki?"

"What?"

"…Are we criminals?"

"Heck no!" he yelled. "What the heck is wrong with you? Were you sleeping through the whole fire or what!"

I figured my fellow warriors would find out about my spilt personality anyway, but I was hoping I wouldn't have to explain it so soon. Especially to one who intimidated me so much. Through tears, I told him how dependant I am on my character, and apologized profusely for my current state of mind. He stayed fairly silent until I was finished.

"Well, that's…" he began speaking, arranging his response to my problem. "…kinda dumb. Does that make you the defective warrior or something?"

"That-that's not helping much!"

"Ha ha! Wouldn't we be in luck if the Seiryu warriors have a defective one, too?" He laughed.

I pouted. Tasuki was trying to make me feel better, but had a different way of doing it than Hotohori or Chichiri. Nevertheless, he continued.

"Don't be so worked up about these things. It's a weird a problem, so what. You'll have it when you need it, right?"

I felt that guilt swelling up inside of me again. If I had it when I needed it, I would have come to the capital before it was too late to save the ceremony. It wasn't a very punctual character. I don't know whether he picked up on my lower mood or not, but he said more.

"And when you don't have it, that's when we all need a laugh, right?"

"Is that all I'm good for?" I whined. I must have looked pretty pitiful.

"Of course not. Like right now, you're good for helping me ditch Tama. Jeez, all that fuss over some little cat toy," he moaned and opened his palm to reveal a familiar feathered acorn.

"Tasuki, that's--!" I stopped myself as Tamahome's words ran through my head. He told me not to tell anyone about such a cute family practice.

"It's what?" he looked back at me, curious about what I was going to say. I wish I could have told him, since he'd probably find it as amusing as I did. He got a big smile. "It's a secret, huh?"

I nodded. He got more interested.

"Come on, you can tell big brother Tasuki!" he cupped his hand to his ear with a giant smile of anticipation.

"You promise not to tell?"

"I promise. Don't worry about it."

Not having my character meant I lost my logical skills, but that didn't mean I couldn't be creative. "When Tamahome was about my age, he used it to catch a fish big enough to feed his entire family for a couple days. They never had such a big meal before!" I whispered to him

"They- they never did?" he looked concerned. I couldn't help but smile as I shook my head in response.

"Tamahome was going to give it to them so they would be able to catch their own fish. It was one of the only ways he could think of for him to make sure his family has enough to eat while we're all away."

"I.." he said quietly. "I didn't know that."

I guess I should feel kind of guilty for making Tasuki feel so guilty, but he was right. I shouldn't worry so much. He resolved to return it to Tamahome, and we started to head back towards the palace to meet him.

Where ever that was, anyway.

"Now wouldn't be a bad time to get your character back and figure out where we are," he said and tried to get his bearings.

"I'll get back to you on that," I bit my lip and looked up at the sky getting darker. We took a gamble and headed back he direction we thought we came, but it lead us closer to the outskirts of town. It surely must have been a while we were out there until we found our way to the top of a hill, which looked down on the rest of the capital.

"I found it, Chiriko!" Tasuki pointed to the lights of the palace down below as I caught my breath. The sight of all the lights just turning on in the twilight was spectacular, but we quickly noticed the lights in the sky just showing up as well.

"There are the Suzaku constellations," I smiled and pointed to them. No matter where I found myself, they were always familiar to me since I was a small child, always watching them and finding the "Chiriko" constellation. As if on cue, my character finally decided to return and view the stars with us.

"Wow," the fiery bandit leaned his head back to look at them. "Where's mine?"

"It's that one," I pointed.

"I can't see where you're pointing. Those ones?"

"No, next to those."

"Those?"

"The other side!"

We didn't stay very long, but it was a view I probably won't soon forget. Having had an higher view of the city, we were able to plot a course for home and follow it there before too long. A few of the others scolded us for being so late, but I didn't really mind.

I should get to bed soon. It's been a very long day, and I offered to help our Priestess study for her own exams tomorrow.