Darius and his Mom walked through the doors of their house, and kicked off their shoes. Darius yawned. "Did you like the movie, ma?" he asked. She nodded. "It was funny. Do you suppose Aki is asleep?"

"Most likely not," Darius laughed. "You know she's always studying or something in her room."

His mother glowered. "Studying? Good. She needs to be doing more of that anyway."

Darius said nothing, but gave a weak smile. He bid his mother goodnight while she walked towards her room, and he walked up the stairs to his.

The hall leading to his room also had Aki's room in it, so he peered through the door.

"Aki? You awake?" he said softly. There was no response. He walked through the door and saw her lying on the bed, motionless, her eyes closed.

"Sleeping, huh?" he said. He laughed quietly. He shook her slightly. "Aki?"

He shook her harder.

"Aki?"

He shook her even harder and she almost fell of the bed. "Aki!" he yelled. The girl in front of him remained silent, not even reacting to his touches.

"…Aki?" he asked quietly. He took her pulse. "Well, at least we know she's still alive," he said. He looked around, and saw a box next to her bed.

Thoughts raced through his mind. 'The box with no return address! Could it have been poison? Or something!'

He looked through the box's stuffing for some kind of clue, and he found…

A red, tattered old book, that said…

"The Universe of the Four Gods?"

A warm sun beamed down on Aki. Her eyes fluttered open, and she yawned, stretching out her arms. She felt someone holding her. It was nice. And warm. She snuggled close to him and almost fell asleep until she thought…

Wait… I don't NORMALLY wake up in guys' arms, do I?' Her eyes snapped open. She jerked away from the man and found a very surprised Tasuki.

"Tasuki?" she asked. "What? Why am I here?" she looked around. This was most definitely NOT her bedroom. She was in the woods.

"Well, you're here cause we had to save you from that Nakago guy!" said Tasuki. "I would have gotten that bastard too if it wasn't for the fact he cheated!"

"By the way," he started again. "What's your name, Priestess?"

Aki looked at him dubiously. "You mean… you hold a girl in your arms all night and you don't even know her name!" She stood up. "Pervert!"

"Whhhaaattt? That's the thanks I get for making sure nobody else of the Seriyu Seven found you again?" Tasuki whined. He stood up. "And I'm not a pervert!"

"Liar!" she said, and stuck her tongue out at him. She sighed, and said, "If you must know, my name is Aki. And… thanks."

He smirked triumphantly. "You're welcome. Now where's that monk?"

"I'm right here y'know?" Chichiri said, popping up from behind Tasuki.

Tasuki fell to the ground. "Don't do that! How many times to I have to tell you NOT to do that?"

"Sorry, y'know?" said Chichiri, obviously smiling. "I'm so sure..." was Tasuki's reply.

Aki laughed. And laughed. And laughed.

Chichiri and Tasuki stared at her.

"This is it!" she started saying. "I've finally snapped! All of that studying must of gotten to my head! All those all nighters!"

Tasuki and Chichiri said nothing.

"I must have conked out and I'm dreaming! Or I'm hallucinating. Whichever! So, I'm just gonna sit right here," she said, sitting on a mossy rock, "And wait until I wake up!" She closed her eyes.

Tasuki pinched her. "OW!" she yelled, and slapped him. He rubbed his face. "Well, you felt that right? So you're NOT dreaming."

Aki opened her mouth in protest, but then decided that telling two guys that the only time she's seen them before was when she had dreams about them might seem a little… weird.

Chichiri smiled. "Sorry Aki, y'know? Your name is Aki, right?" She nodded. "Well Aki, we have to get out of here before some trouble happens, y'know?"

Dark clouds began to circle above them.

"Does that count as trouble?" asked Aki, pointed up at the sky. Tasuki laughed. "That's just storm clouds!"

Chichiri had a grim expression, well, as grim as his masked face can be. "It might be, y'know?"

"W-what?" asked Tasuki. "I can't seem to transport us right now, y'know?" said Chichiri. Rain began to fall on them.

Aki sneezed.

Tasuki looked up at the sky. "What do you mean you can't transport?" yelled Tasuki.

"Exactly what I said, that I can't transport, y'know?" said Chichiri, slightly irritated.

"I need you to take Aki and leave. Now, y'know?" Chichiri added. Tasuki stared at him, "But it's just rain—"

Lighting interrupted him, and it struck the rock Aki was sitting on. "AKI!" yelled Tasuki and Chichiri simultaneously.

"I'm fine!" yelled Aki. She hadn't been harmed… but the rock was split in half.

"That wasn't ordinary lighting, y'know?" said Chichiri.

Tasuki growled. "It must be one of the Seriyu Seven…" And, as if on cue, a shapely woman with purple-ish hair put up, wearing a skimpy outfit, laughed.

"So, this is the new Priestess?" she said, laughing.

Aki stood up. "Who are you? And what's all this talk about the Priestess?"

The woman smirked. "My name is Soy. And I am of the Seriyu Seven," her mark flashing. Aki subconsciously rubbed her wrists. "Just like Nakago…?" she asked. Soy laughed again. "Yes. And just like Nakago, I am going to do everything it takes to dispose of you!"

Aki started yelling. "Why! Why must you try to kill someone to get what you want?"

"Because…" began Soy, "What I want is for Nakago to be happy, and for him to be happy, he wants you dead."

The clouds rumbled.

"Now DIE, Priestess of Suzaku!" she yelled, lighting cracking down.

Aki was too surprisied to move. "Aki!" yelled Tasuki. He dove towards her, barely knocking her out of the way of the lightening.

Meanwhile, Chichiri was chanting spells. Light began to crack through the clouds, barely. "TASUKI! AKI! I can get us out of here, y'know? BUT HURRY!" he yelled.

Aki had fainted from hitting the ground when Tasuki knocked her out of the way. "Aki?" asked Tasuki. "Aki's unconscious!" he yelled.

"She'll be fine, y'know? Just come on, we have to go!" responded Chichiri.

"Not so easily!" yelled Soy. Lighting cracked in front of Tasuki. Tasuki carried Aki on his back, and supported her with one hand so he could take out his fan. "REKKA SHINEN!" he yelled. The fire made Soy close her eyes long enough so Tasuki could run over to Chichiri with Aki on his back. They all stepped through his hat, again.

"What IS this?" asked Darius. He cracked open the book. "This book is the tale of a young priestess and her seven warriors, the Suzaku Seven," he read aloud. He flipped through the pages. "More than 90 of this book is blank!" he said. "Maybe it's the diary of all those weird dreams Aki has been having lately? Like a dream diary she's been writing in?"

He turned the next page.

"'Aki watched as her brother walked out of the door. 'A package?' she said to herself. 'Wait Darius! Do you know what's in it?' she called after him. There was no answer. After hearing the door shut, she walked down the stairs and found a brown package with no return address.'" He stopped reading, surprised.

"This is exactly… what happened yesterday…" he said. He scanned the rest of the pages.

"'Nakago held her down to the bed, with the intention of taking away her virginity so she could no longer become a problem…'" he read again. "What! That bastard!" he said.

"It's a good thing Aki kicked him…" he mused. "Wait. What am I saying? This is just a story, right?"

He turned through the next couple of pages… and gasped.

"The words… they're writing themselves," he said, dropping the book in surprise. He cautiously picked up the book again.

"'The Priestess fell unconscious, and Tasuki picked her up and carried her on his back,'" he read again. He shook his head.

"Can this be happening?"

She looked at his sister's form on the bed. "Is her soul… trapped in this book?" he asked.

Obviously, there was no answer.

Akikko: This should prove to be interesting, shouldn't it?