Epidemic
by Michaela Wills
I think it's an epidemic of sorts. Or perhaps a bizarre sort of Suzaku Senshi curse. I'm pretty sure Suzaku is the only God with all male . . . all technically male Senshi.
I mean, Tamahome has it bad, no da? Miaka-chan's his life. Considering all they have been through I'm alternately unsurprised by their devotion and shocked by it. It stands through absolutely everything. I would call it inhuman if I didn't know for a fact both Miaka and Tamahome are completely mortal. It's unearthly and almost unheard of how strong their devotion is.
Hotohori-sama's still entranced by her, devoted to her. It's milder now, he's not as infatuated by his idealism with the Suzaku no Miko. It's sweet and endearing and she's good for him, well to be honest, because she let him finally see that the Suzaku no Miko is a human. And although he now knows she doesn't complete him, he still loves her.
Nuriko took a bit longer. At first it was a devotion of friendship, but it grew. I don't know if Miaka has realised it. It doesn't matter anyway. He loves her and that's all he cares for. Her knowledge of it is immaterial.
Tasuki, well he turned out to be as obvious as Hotohori, though not quite as elegant, when it came down to it, no da? Considering he was bewitched when it first became apparent I think most of the others have written it off. I know better though. He looks after her like an older brother, but he still gets this odd gleam in his eyes sometimes.
Mitsukake is the only one I don't know. Perhaps he's unaffected. He after all, is still stuck on Shoka's image, no da? The other possiblity is that he simply hides it better than most. Considering the odds, I'd have to bet against Mitsukake on this one, no da? It only makes sense to add one more strike to the silent youth's history.
And as for Chiriko well, it's visible when you catch him looking at her. And because of it, you don't catch him looking at her often. He's easily the most intelligent about it. He knows it's an infatuation, that it will end, and that he doesn't stand a chance. I really respect the boy for it, no da?
Then, there's me. Yes, the epidemic affects me too; Chichiri. I love Miaka. Like Nuriko and Tasuki it was gradual, like Chiriko and Mitsukake it's hidden, like Tamahome and Hotohori-sama it's endless.
If it is an epidemic, than it's in a good way.
It has been said that Suzaku is the God of Love, that this emotion is his special power and his greatest virtue. In a way, that may explain why Miaka has such a pervading effect on us all. It is perhaps part of her position as the Priestess of Suzaku, no da? When I think about it, this explaination makes more sense than anything else.
Seiryuu is known as the God of War. I have met Yui and around her is the pervading air of a warrior. She is a fighter at all costs. I get the impression is it a wild, untrained sort of battle prowess, perhaps more like a scholar warrior than a true blood warrior. Miaka is similiar. The longer she was Suzaku's Priestess, the more loving and dear she became. I think Yui is slowly struck more and more by the effects of Seiryuu on her.
It is now that I wish there were more records of the Priestesses of Genbu and Byakko. They too, may have slowly begun to exhibit more characteristics of Genbu and Byakko as time past under their guidance.
If my hypothesis is correct, well than, no one can blame any of us for what has happened. Love of the Priestess of Suzaku was a cost of being a Senshi. In that case, it really is an epidemic.