I didn't expect the theme half-way through this, but it did. Oh well! It works better this way. This is the first time I've really written Suboshi, so it was rather difficult, and I got distracted singing to FY music instead… I'm sure he wasn't very happy with me. But he should be happy now that it's done. Also, as much as I'd love to write Chiriko and "Chiriko" stuff, it won't work in this setup, so there will be no Amiboshi chapter. I'm sorry. :x

In all my wildest dreams, I never imagined I'd be willingly following a mortal enemy to go meet his fellow deceased comrades. He didn't seem to find it all that strange. It was almost as if I was just another puppy following him home. He stopped abruptly, and looked around. Someone was sure to be close by.

"There you are," he said. "Come out here, why don't you?"

A boy barely older than me dropped swiftly out of a tree. His sudden entrance startled me, but I was more surprised by his appearance.

"What are you doing here with one of the Suzaku, Nakago?" he sneered, obviously displeased by my presence. Before Nakago could respond, I was already blurting out my observations.

"That's the boy who impersonated me!" I pointed. I only had a brief look at him back then, but there was a perfect resemblance. "Pleased to meet you, Amiboshi."

He snubbed my polite introduction by looking away. "I'm Suboshi. Amiboshi was my twin brother."

Nakago leaned down to my ear and expanded on that. "He was the evil twin of the two."

"I heard that perfectly, Nakago!" he yelled. It made more sense to me now that they were twins, since the other one, as I understand, had a much slower temper. "Now what is he doing here?"

"Spirits can go wherever they wish. It's not as if this is your personal territory," the calm general responded. "Seeing the Suzaku as our enemies now is obsolete. Behave yourself and give your guest a formal introduction."

Though he probably had no reason to obey Nakago now, he did (begrudgingly). "I'm Suboshi of the Seiryuu seven. And you must be Chiriko?"

"Ah, yes," I responded, a little flustered.

"I'll leave you two to yourselves," Nakago turned around. "I'll be back later."

"Wait, Nakago!" I called back after him. "You're just going to leave?"

"I do as I wish," he said, and faded off into the distance. Suboshi rolled his eyes and turned around to leave back for his spot in the tree.

"You're going to leave, too?" I shifted back to him.

"Why not? I do as I wish."

"But," I fretted, "I don't even know where I am!"

"This is still Sairou," he pulled himself back into the tree, and didn't bother looking back at me. I wondered what reason he would have for staying in Sairou. He didn't die in this country like I did, and was quite a ways away from where he watched Seiryuu be summoned. I stepped under the tree branch to look down on the small village he was watching. There wasn't anything of interest, except for Suboshi's mirror image working in he field, smiling all the while.

"Isn't that…?"

"Yes, that's my brother. Did you come to pester him for impersonating you?"

"No, no, of course not," I said. "It was partly my fault. I have no reason to blame him."

"Then why did you come?"

"I'm not sure of that myself."

A few more moments of silence passed, filled only by the laughs of the village people down below. Since Tasuki and Chichiri were able to see us in our spiritual forms, I figured Amiboshi would, too. Therefore, I was surprised when he turned his head to look up the hill towards the tree, and didn't seem to notice us at all. "Why didn't he see us?" I asked Suboshi curiously.

"He has no reason to, since he doesn't have any memory of either of us. Any of us, for that matter," he buried his chin in the nest of his arms. "And there's no reason to make him remember."

"Doesn't that make you upset? You're his twin brother, after all."

His eyebrows twitched as he got an uneasy smile. "I'd be lying if I said it doesn't. But I'd feel worse if he did."

"But what is he without his memories?" I got a little upset, since it seemed unethical to let him fool himself into another reality.

"Much happier, that's for sure. Besides, I've got enough memories last us both a lifetime."

It still didn't feel right, so I added more to my argument. "People need bad experiences in order to grow stronger, and ultimately it's because there are bad memories that the happy ones are so much better, right?"

"I'm sure in the back of his mind he's still scarred, if that's what you mean," he snapped back. "No amount of forgetfulness juice could probably erase the images of his whole village being killed around him!"

At this new tidbit of information, I immediately shut my mouth and looked the other way in embarrassment. It seemed to be the ice breaker for Suboshi though, as he continued speaking.

"My brother is getting the life we had both always dreamed off, and getting everything that was denied to us. Parents who treasure him, a quiet community, and no duty to destroy," he clentched the meteor ball he still had with him. "He doesn't have to become as evil as those who ruined our lives. No children to smite, no women to defile, no comrades to betray."

I never knew much about Suboshi besides his existence, but this gave me reason to believe he had commited all those acts he had listed. His voice started to waver as he held back tears and looked up at the sky. "I'm still so angry. I want to blame someone else that I have to suffer now, but it's really all my fault. It would be wrong of me to make him remember all of this with me. And that's something I'd never be able to forgive myself for."

I gulped hard, but I couldn't stop myself from crying, too. Life could be hard enough, but why did we have to carry so much of it with us? Why couldn't our Gods take mercy on us and let us forget all the hardship? Of course, that request directly contradicted what I had just been arguing about.

"You don't have to cry, too," he said with his previous attitude as he rubbed the little tears away from his eyes. "I was just saying I could take all the sadness myself."

"I'm sorry," I wiped my own tears. "So that's really all there is for you? No hope at all?"

"My brother's happiness is my hope. He has to be happy enough for the both of us. And no, that's not all. I died just when my priestess needed me most back in her homeland. I don't even know what became of her. Whether she found happiness again, or if she's still…" he trailed off.

"The priestess of Seiryuu?" I thought back to when Miaka summoned Suzaku. "As I understand…"

"You know what happened her?" he perked up and looked me straight in the face in anticipation. "Tell me! How is she? Is she alright?"

"A-as I understand, she was consumed by Seiryuu," I started, but his rapid change in expression mixed up my train of thought. "And something about her not having been raped, and making an enemy out of Nakago, and--"

"Yui!" his face was full of shock. "How could--"

"B-But Miaka rescued her with one of her wishes to Suzaku! And it's thanks to her, that she able to summon Suzaku at all… last I heard, she was fairing alright…"

He stayed silent for a moment to take everything in, and then sighed very long, and very slowly. "I don't know whether to hope you're right or not. But I guess I missed a lot more than I thought."

"I guess so," I laughed nervously. "I'm sorry I don't know all the details."

"No, as long as she's alright now," he smiled , but seemed very distanced from what he was saying. "Thanks for letting me know."

I beamed. A simple "thank you" from one of my former enemies was enough to bring my entire mood up. "So… it might be daring to ask, but… you and Amiboshi were the last ones left in your village, I take it?"

"Yes," he climbed out of the tree to sit next to me. "After that, we sort of raised each other, and learned to use our powers from Seiryuu to get revenge. It wasn't until later we found out we were celestial warriors."

"Then you taught yourselves how to fight when you were still very young."

"Yeah," he twirled one of the meteor balls as he spoke. "But we weren't very good at first. Brother used to scold me for hurting myself with these," he laughed a little, thinking back to it. "And every night that I'd start to have nightmares again, he'd have to play his flute to calm me down. He really babied me."

"That's hard to imagine," I laughed with him, and was pleased to hear he still had some fond memories. He carried on to tell me a few more of the things they would do together, and soon we heard a flute from down in the village. We quieted down to listen to it, such an uplifting tune. Miaka had sometimes mentioned how much she loved the way he played, and I understood now what she meant. A part of me wanted to be swept away in the sound, and to go play with him on a flute of my own.

Suboshi turned his head to me in surprise as I started making a shrill sound with a leaf whistle. After trying to match Amiboshi's tune for a few measures, I put it back into the palm of my hand to crumble it up. "Not the effect I wanted."

"I could never do that," he rested his head on his hand. "He'd get mad at me for spitting all over the leaves when he'd be playing."

"It's a hard skill to pick up," I contently let the leaf fall from my hand. I guess I wasn't the only one who wanted to be part of that joyful tune. It reminded me again how Suboshi wanted so much to join his happiness, but was unable to do that, too. Hopefully, he wouldn't be doomed to stay here watching over him all this time…

He didn't have to, it occurred to me. "Suboshi?"

"Yes?" he raised an eyebrow and dragged his attention away from the music again.

"If Amiboshi is happy here, and you know he'll happy here forever, why don't you go to your priestess?"

"To Yui?" he raised both eyebrows. "I'm dead. How would I…?"

"If your will is strong enough, perhaps you could find your way to her world again to watch over her. It worked for us when Miaka summoned Suzaku."

"If I could see Lady Yui again…" he looked back towards Amiboshi's village. The flute was hitting higher notes now, as if to tell him to go. He closed his eyes in thought, then stood up. "If I can, I have to try."

I stood up after him with a smile, and offered my hand out to him. "I wish you good luck."

He shook it, and turned looked back at the village one last time. "I'll be back for him," he said, and then disappeared. I felt proud to have helped him a little bit, and enjoyed the flute a little longer, praying for his happiness.

"Shouldn't you feel guilty, giving him false hope like that?" a deep voice came from behind me. The surroundings grew dark as I turned around to see Nakago.

"Why shouldn't he have hope?" I furrowed my eyebrows at him.

"The reason you were able to join your priestess at that time was because the physical presence of Tamahome and myself served as a medium between our worlds. It was also her will, and the help of your Taiitsukun, that enabled you to go to her. Suboshi doesn't have any of these resources."

"Nothing is impossible," he tried to sound confident. "I'm sure that if he strives for it, he'll be able to see her again."

"I'm not in the mood to argue," he closed his eyes. "Come, Tomo is waiting."