Disclaimer: Fushigi Yuugi doesn't belong to me!……..wish it did……..but it doesn't.

Authors Note: I'm back! Here is the next chapter. I'm in the middle of exams (one more left, Bio, and then I'm free!) right now, but I could get it out of my head, it needed to be posted. Just to let you know this is only half of Ch.6, the rest well be out soon. Hope you enjoy, review please! On with the fic! Enjoy…..

Ch. 6: Bonding Part 1

Willow looked around, trying to figure out where she was. She was in a tavern of some sort; there were people all around eating and drinking. She decided to ask someone about this place when she heard familiar voices from behind her. She turned to find Miaka and the others sitting at a table, minus Hotohori. Scanning the table again, Willow's eyes landed on herself? Then it hit her, she was in another one of those dream/memory thingies. There sitting with the others was Nuriko, eating and talking.

Willow started to make her way towards them, when she happened to look out the window behind them, she stopped in her tracks. Walking around the table where the priestess and her seishi sat, they didn't notice her, they never did, she came to a stop in front of the window.

She stared at the giant mountain before her. It towered majestically above the land, the top covered in blankets upon blankets of snow. Many grey, ominous clouds gathered around the area.

She turned back to the table with sad eyes. Would he still have done it? If he had known, would he still have gone? What would you have done different Nuriko, if you had known that in a matter of hours you would be dieing a slow and painful death? Tears gathered at Willow's eyes as she watched them all together.

Lost in her thoughts, Willow never saw the knife till it was too late. He wouldn't!

As she watched, the dream/memory turned into a nightmare. She ran as fast as she could to stop Nuriko as he brought the knife to his hair.

"No!" she screamed as he cut. "Not the hair! No….."

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"Noooo!"

Willow shut up in her seat. She looked around wildly to find the whole class and teacher staring at her like she was crazy.

"Miss Chou, would you please explain why you so rudely interrupted me in the middle of describing Lady Macbeth's summing of the evil spirits?

"Ahhhh…" think Willow think. "No….Lady Macbeth….don't summon the evil spirits?"

The teacher glared at her. She was about to start her lecture on paying attention when the bell rang. Willow quickly gathered her things and ran out of the classroom before the teacher called her back.

She stopped outside to put on her spring jacket before she started to make her way to Sai's house. It was a nice sunny, cool day. Over the last two weeks the snow had melted and it had gotten a bit warmer. Willow liked this weather change, she hated the cold. Even though the snow had fascinated her at first, she didn't like now. She had a feeling it had something to do with the fact that Nuriko had died surrounded by it.

'Nice going back there,' Nuriko's voice came at that moment. 'If your going to be spacing out during class make sure you have a good excuse when you're caught.'

'Hey don't start; it's your fault anyways. Do you think I like make an idiot of myself in front of people like that?'

Nuriko just started to laugh and mimic her. 'No Lady Macbeth, don't summon the evil spirits!'

'Shut up, it's not that funny. Umm…can I ask you something?'

Nuriko stopped laughing when he heard the seriousness in her voice, 'sure.'

'Okay, ummm…if you had known that you were going to die that day, would you have still…?'

'Yes,' Nuriko interrupted. 'I would have still gone. I loved Miaka like she was my sister. I would have done anything to help her.'

'Oh, I was going to ask if you would have still cut your hair, but that's a good one too.'

There was a moments silence before Nuriko asked, 'My hair? Are we on that again?'

'Well can you blame me, I…?'

'No, I don't want to talk about this again.'

'But…'

'No!'

'But Nuriko…Nuriko? Fine be like that then, see if I care.' she stuck out her tongue at him for a few seconds before she remembered that he couldn't see her. She sighed, and continued down the street. Forgetting about Nuriko for the moment, Willow thought back to the last two weeks.

The last two weeks had been a whirlwind of discovery for Willow. In between classes and homework, she had spent as much time with the others, getting to know each other. She had spent at least one day with each of them.

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Miaka had been the first one. At first Willow had been nervous, she still blushed when she remembered their little 'incident,' but with Miaka there's never a dull moment. She some how roped Willow into going to the mall with her. Taka had warned her not to let her get out of control, but Willow hadn't paid attention to the warning.

Everything started out fine; they walked around, going into various stores. Willow didn't purchase anything; everything was a little too girly for her taste. Miaka went crazy, buying shoes, skirts, jeans, dresses, shirts, and jewellery and so on, till she had gone flat out broke, she maxed out all her cards, and all of Taka's, she had some how "borrowed" them from him with out him knowing.

Before Willow knew it, she'd been roped into carrying must of the bags. They had been walking by an ice cream shop, when Miaka's eyes lit up like it was her birthday.

"Ice cream!" she had squealed. "I love ice cream!"

It turned out that she didn't have any money at all to buy some. She had been near tears as she stared longingly at the ice cream that Willow'd felt bad for her and offered to buy her some ice cream.

Big mistake.

Miaka had gone crazy when she had seen Willow's credit card. After the ice cream she dragged her to various food venues to buy her more food. Willow had gotten sick by just watching her eat all that food. She had eaten burgers, hot dogs, fries, tacos, pizza, more ice cream, pastries, and so on. Willow lost count after the pastries. She would never be able to look at Miaka and food in the same way again.

By the time they'd gotten back to Sai's house, Willow'd been dead on her feet. As soon as they entered the house they heard Taka calling from the kitchen, saying there was pizza for dinner. Willow had gone green at the mere thought of food. Miaka, forgetting about all the food she had consumed a few hours ago, squealed and ran to the kitchen. Willow had gone to the living room, dumped all of Miaka's stuff on the floor and fell on the couch, ready for a nice long nap.

Ten minuets later, Willow awoke to fell someone shaking her shoulder softly. She opened her eyes to find Sai leaning over her.

"Hey," he whispered. "Long day?"

Willow nodded, sat up and starched. "Have you ever been to the mall with Miaka?"

Sitting beside her, Sai smiled, "Unfortunately no, I haven't had the pleasure."

"Consider your self lucky," Willow said, trying to stifle a yawn.

Sai just smiled that breath taking smile of his, and put his arm around Willow's shoulders. Willow was too sleepy to notice, all that mattered at the moment was that she was warm and comfortable. Snuggling closer to Sai, Willow sighed and closed her eyes.

"Does she always eat like that? Like she's starved?" she asked in a low, sleepy voice.

It took a moment for Sai to answer her. He was distracted by the fact that she was snuggling into his side, falling asleep. "Yes," he answered as he brushed a stand of her soft purple hair out of her face. He watched as she started to fall asleep again, he would have loved to watch her sleep all night long but he knew that she was exhausted; she needed to be more comfortable. Reluctantly, he reached out and softly shook her shoulder again.

"Hey," he whispered. "Lets get you up to a bed, you'll be more comfortable." She just mumbled, still half asleep. Seeing no other way around the situation, Sai decided to carry her up to the bedroom.

With one arm under her legs and the other around her shoulders, Sai made his way up to the bedroom Willow was using the nights she stayed over, it was the same one that she had woken up in after her accident with the door.

Sai was so lost in his little world that consisted of Willow, that he never noticed Houjun standing in the door way, watching him and Willow together. He also missed the knowing smile that appeared on his face as he watched Sai carry Willow up the stairs.

Maybe it will be different this time, Houjun thought, his hand going to his eye, maybe.

Sai froze in his tracks when he reached the second floor landing; Willow wrapped her arms around his neck and snuggled closer to him. She laid her head on his shoulder and sighed. It took Sai a few more moments before he continued on to the room.

Once there he pulled back the covers and laid her down, pulling the covers over her, he kissed her forehead and left, closing the door behind himself.

The next morning Willow woke up in confusion, why and how did she get to her bedroom, they all considered it hers since she slept here when she spend the night. They had asked her to move in, but she had declined, sure she slept here most of the time but she still had her dorm in case she wanted some time to herself.

The last thing she remembered was talking to Sai. Could it be that he had brought her here? But how? Willow blushed as it started to come back to here, he'd carried her here. Pulling the covers over her head, she sighed in frustration, this was so complicated.

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Willow smiled to herself as she remembered the memory. She had told herself not to make a big deal over what had happened, so she hadn't mentioned it to Sai when she'd seen him after.

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The next day it had been Taka's turn. Willow had been coming down stairs telling herself to act normal around Sai and not make an idiot of herself, when she'd heard shouting coming from the kitchen.

"HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU THAT YOU CAN'T DO STUFF LIKE THIS!"

"Taka, I'm sorry. I swear I won't do it again."

It was Taka and Miaka, and it sounded like Taka wasn't in a good mood today. Willow wondered what they were fighting about. What Taka said next told her just what they were fight about.

"I'm taking away all your cards, again, till you show me that you're responsible to have them back, and I'm returning everything you got yesterday."

"But Taka…"

"No buts, I'm returning it all back, and I'm going to have a word with Willow too, I warned her before you two left yesterday."

There was a moments silence, then Miaka said in a frustrated tone, "Fine!" then she came storming out of the kitchen, Willow jumped back in time before Miaka crashed into her. Spotting her she said, "I wouldn't go in there if I were you." and stormed up to her room.

Willow looked at the door before her and gulped. Maybe she should go find something else to do at the moment. She started to back away only to bump in to someone. She looked behind her to find Sai standing there, behind him stood Genrou, Houjun, Dokun, and Myojuan. They all smiled at her.

"Maybe you should just get over with it, no da," spoke up Houjun, wearing an amused look.

Willow just stared back, shocked.

"Don't worry, he won't hurt you……much," Genrou said, giving her a big toothy grin. This caused Houjun to whack him on the head. "Hey…."

"Don't worry," peeped up Dokun, glaring at Genrou. "He won't do anything worse then yell for a few minutes." Myojuan just smiled and nodded.

Then she found herself being steered toward the door. "Don't worry," Sai said into her ear. "If you need help I'll come and rescue you." With a reassuring smile he pushed her gently through the door. Willow stubbed in to find Taka pacing around the kitchen.

He stopped as soon as he saw her. "There you are, I need your help."

This surprised Willow; she had been expecting him to shout at her. "Ummm….sure, what can I help you with?"

"I need you to come to the mall with me so I can return all that stuff Miaka bought yesterday," sitting on one of the chairs in the room, he sighed heavily.

"Sure," sitting across from him, she studied him before she asked. "You're not really mad at her are you?"

"No," he answered, a smile on his face. "I love her to death and that will never change, no matter how much we fight."

Willow just nodded and smiled, seeing that he really did mean it.

And so that was how she spent her day with Taka, at the mall, returning all of Miaka's purchases. While they did this they got to know each other better.

Willow learned that he was studying to become a university professor, and that he had a part-time job working with Miaka's brother, Keisuke, who was a gym teacher. Taka had assured her that they would be meeting soon, it seemed that he knew all about the ShiJinTenChiSho book, seeing as how he read it when Miaka and Yui where both in the book. She didn't really know who Yui was, Taka just told her that she was Miaka's best friend, but she knew that there was more that he wasn't telling her. She made a mental note to find out why that was.

They had returned everything; the only thing left was a small hand mirror. "Why she needs this I have no idea," Taka mumbled under his breath as they entered the store. As Taka went to return it, Willow decided to look around the store. She didn't really remember being in the store yesterday, what with Miaka running here and there.

The store was full of beautiful antique items. Jewellery, mirrors, ornaments, and so on. She was about to turn a corner, when she heard a familiar voice from the other side of the store.

"How many times do I have to tell you? I don't want a refund, I want you to get rid of it permanently, destroy if you must. I never want to see it again!"

"But Sir," argued back a second voice. "If I give you the refund, you can just choose another item from with in the store of equal price, and you never have to see the mirror again."

"No! I wan it destroyed!"

The shouting had drawn Taka, seeing as he recognized Sai's voice too. "Come on," he said, making his way to the shouting. Willow followed and listened as Taka gave an exasperated sigh. "This is just great; he's having another one of his….episodes again."

"Episodes?" Willow asked as she started to get worried.

"Don't worry its nothing major. One thing you're going to learn as you spend more time with us is that a part of us from the book likes to pop up once in a while. It doesn't happen often, but when it does it can be very exasperating."

They rounded the corner and sure enough there was Sai having a shout match with one of the sale clerks, who cowered in front of him.

"I command that you destroy this mirror as soon as humanly possible!"

"Now sir, there's no need to get that tone with me, as I was telling before, you can have a re…."

Sai glared at the poor clerk, who looked like he was about to run as fast as he could far, far away.

Before the argument could continue, Taka step forward and placed a hand on Sai's shoulder. "He'll take the refund," he said the clerk. The clerk sighed in gratitude, turned, and made his way to the counter.

"I don't want a ref…"

"I don't care, you're making an idiot of yourself, so drop it," Taka interrupted. "It's just a stupid mirror, you'll thank me later. Now let's go before you make an even bigger fool of yourself in front of Willow."

That's when Sai noticed that she was there as well. He blushed a little, and nodded. He then turned and left the store. Taka and Willow followed.

"But what about the refund?" Willow kinda whispered to Taka as they followed.

"Let's forget about that, we don't want that to happen again," he whispered back, he nodded toward Sai. "I don't think he wants to go through that again." Willow nodded understandingly.

Before they could go any farther, Taka stopped in his tracks and swore. "Damn, I forgot to return this." he held up the hand mirror they were supposed to return. "You guys go on, I'll meet you at home." before Willow could say anything, Taka was gone. She turned to find that Sai had already started on with out her, she ran to catch up to him. As they walk in silence beside each other, Willow noticed that he walked stiffly. He was deep in thought, pretty much ignoring her. She sighed in exasperation, not knowing what to do. Should she say something? But what if by saying something she said something wrong? Knowing herself that was bound to happen, so she kept silent.

As they walked in silence, Sai berated himself for acting like such an idiot in front of Willow. She properly thought he was insane after that like stunt with the mirror. It wasn't his fault; it was because of Hotohori that this had occurred. That side of him had surfaced when he had looked at the mirror earlier. He had thought that it made him look ugly in a way, and he couldn't have that. He hated the fact that the old him acted this way some times, and it wasn't only him, it happened to the others as well.

The soft sigh from his side reminded him that he wasn't alone. He turned his head a little to the side and watched the easily readable emotions that crossed Willow's face. Uncertainty, confusion, and frustration, which was followed by another sigh. Sai did the first thing that came to mind.

No matter how hard she tried, Willow just couldn't figure out what was the matter with Sai. She didn't like this "Being Ignored by Sai Idea." Damned emotions, she sighed in frustration. Hadn't she told herself she wasn't going to make a big deal out of this?

She was jerked out of her thoughts as she was suddenly yanked and pulled in to a hug by non other then Sai. The moment his arms where around her she felt the panic start to rise in her, old fears stared to resurfaced. After a few minutes and some deep breath, she was able to push back the panic. This is Sai, she told herself. He isn't going to hurt me. Not really understanding what was going on, she leaned into the hug, it just felt right.

Sai noticed how Willow had stiffened in his embrace. Before he had a chance to step back, she returned to hug. Taking this as a good sigh he drew her closer so that her head rested just bellow his shoulder. As he held her he couldn't help but notice how perfectly they fit together.

"I'm sorry," he whispered in to her ear.

"For what?" she tentatively asked.

"For that little scene back at the store."

"Oh that. Its okay, Taka explained it to me."

"But still…" Looking in to her eyes, Sai saw the understanding there. Of course she would understand, she did have the voice of her former self in her head didn't she?

Bring this close to her, he could only think of doing one thing….kiss her. For understating, for caring, and for finally being here, where he could be close to him. Sai strongly believed that this was not only his second chance, but hers as well. It was their second chance to be together. He knew that he loved Nuriko, and this person standing in front of him was that person. Nuriko wasn't a boy or a girl, Nuriko was Nuriko. Sai could see that Nuriko and Willow were different, but he could also see the similarities. He would do what ever it took to win Willow over; nothing would stand in his way. With that in mind he started to lean forward….

Willow noticed the movement and its meaning as soon as it happened.

'What is he…? Is he doing what I think he's doing?' Willow started to panic again. 'it couldn't it? Yes he is! He's going to kiss me!'

As soon as this registered in her mind the alarms started to go of in Willow's head.

RUN RUN RUN

But she couldn't….she didn't want to. She was tired of running, of having panic attacks, and most of all, hiding. She didn't want to hide anymore. She wanted to be able to enjoy life with out looking over her shoulder every minute.

As Sai leaned closer, time seemed to slow down, and Willow found herself wanting him to kiss her. With this resolve in her mind she pushed the memories of what had happened last time she had given in to her feelings. Slowly she started to lean forward too.

As he got closer her mind started to shut down, all that mattered was this time, this man, this kiss. Giving herself over to her feelings, Willow closed her eyes. She trusted him, no matter how little time had passed since they had met, she trusted him…and she couldn't explain it…..

Just then, in the few seconds before it happened, she felt it. That presence in her head that could only mean one thing. Then it spoke and the voice confirmed her suspicion….Nuriko…

"Hey Willow, what's new………….OH MY …is he going to kiss you! He is, he is going to kiss you! OMG OMG OMG …….." Nuriko started to jump up and down, chanting this over and over.

Try as she might, Willow couldn't ignore it. Before she could stop herself she yelled.

"SHUT UP!"

"………."

That was all it took, with those two words the moment was spoiled. Looking up into Sai's confused eyes; Willow could feel her face turn red. Thanks a lot Nuriko.

Nuriko just snickered and ran away. (A/N: Don't ask where, cuz I have no idea.)

Taking a step back, she looked down at the floor, wishing it would open up and swallow her whole. Great, Sai probably thought she was a weirdo now. Just then she something caught her attention, looking up she found Sai laughing, at her. Perfect, she thought, just what I need.

"I'm leaving." With that she turned and started to walk away, only to have her hand taken and turned around. Okay, so she had to agree that watching Sai laughing was a wonderful this, but she wasn't just going to stand around while he had a good laugh at her expense. She tried pulling her hand back but Sai wouldn't let go.

After a few seconds Sai was finally able to calm down. "Sorry, but it was Nuriko wasn't it?"

"Look," Willow snapped, now she was mad. "Just like you have your little 'episodes' I do too, but you didn't see laughing at back at the store did you?"

"I know," Sai said, pulling her into a hug. "I wasn't laughing at you. I was laughing at the idea of Nuriko jumping up and down saying whatever it was that annoyed you, I can see him doing that."

"Right," she pulled away, even if she really like being hugged by him, and stared to walk way again. I'm leaving, see ya at home," she called over her shoulder.

"But…..but….I'm sorry!"

Sai ran after her, in a dignified way of course. Willow just smiled and kept walking.

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A.N.: I hope you all enjoyed that! The next half well be out soon. Still have to do Tasuki, Mitsukake, Chichiri, and Chiriko. If any of you have any ideas let me know and I'll see what I can do.

Shy Girl1988: here's the mirror scene! Hopefully it came out Okie I hope you heart's okay

Aya-Mikage2002: sorry to keep you waiting! Hope you enjoyed this chapter, such as it is ;;

ChibiNuriko310: thank you! Hope you enjoy this chapter!

mizz Tasuki: Awww, lol, I love your name, yes I have to say that again! Thank you for loving ma fic, it needs all the love it can get. don't worry, I'll write more about Soi later.

THANK YOU ALL FOR REVIEWING! And to those who didn't its Okie, maybe you will in the future wink wink

Please review!

Till next time…

Blue Fluff