It's a long chapter, but I'm getting tired of doing this. But I did it. So maybe now the story will make sense, and people will start reviewing. Much love.

Disclaimer!!!!!!

"What do we do now?" Hamatsu whispered to Miyoko.

"Play along with it. We don't have a choice. Besides, we can probably do some major spying, since they think you're the Priestess and all. Of course, sooner or later they'll find out…" Miyoko's voice trailed off. "Y'know, they told me that the Kutouins were barbaric. I mean, that general was rather rude to me, but he was very nice to you… How mean can they be?"

But Hamatsu's mind was preoccupied. "Spying?? I'm James Bond!" she declared. Luckily, they were walking through a nearly vacant hallway of the palace, so not many people heard. The blonde general pretended he hadn't.

"Shush! Act dignified!" Miyoko said, hitting Hamatsu on the back of the head.

"Hey, watch it! I'm the Priestess of Seiryuu, and I'd say my little warrior dude over there could kick you're warrior, say, Tamahome's, butt."

By the look on Miyoko's face, Ha-chan knew she'd said the wrong thing. "Um, okay… I'll be quiet now." They walked along in silence.

"I see," the Kutou Emperor drawled. "So this girl claims to be the Priestess of Seiryuu as recounted in 'The Universe of the Four Gods'?"

Hamatsu and Miyoko both stared at the Emperor. He was old and ugly looking, completely different from Hotohori.

"Yes, so she claims. We found them at the border gate," the general said.

"Well done! Well done!" the Emperor cackled. "Now we have nothing to fear, not even the Priestess of Suzaku!" Miyoko felt an urge to throw shuriken at the man. "I'll have that child Hotohori whimpering and groveling at my feet!"

"Hey! You guys might be enemies, but you've got NO RIGHT WHATSOEVER to say anything bad about Hotohori!"

"What is the meaning of this?!" the Emperor demanded.

"I beg your forgiveness, sir!" Miyo said desperately. "She… She doesn't always stay in her right mind… Her Priestess powers are still like any others; her insanity doesn't affect it."

"Fine," the Emperor said dismissively.

"Yes, we will find the Priestess of Seiryuu, and then you will die a horrible death, you perverted, goddamn son of a…" the general trailed off. Miyo's face turned white.

"What's the matter?" Ha-chan asked.

"You mean you didn't hear that?!" Miyo asked. Hamatsu gave her a weird look.

"Actually, Your Majesty, there was one other I wished for you to see," the blonde man said calmly. He waved to the guards to let the girl enter. She walked in slowly, but then stopped when she saw the two girls.

"SAISSA!!!" Miyoko screamed, running towards the girl and hugging her. "Is it really you? I can't believe it!"

The girl looked like she might've been a ghost. Her skin was made up to be white, even though that was mostly her skin color already. She had short black hair and a sad expression, an expression that was enhanced by the tears that began to flow form her eyes. "Miyoko…" she whispered.

"Are you all right?! You were going to meet us to study, and I was afraid that you had gone into the book also! I had to come and find you, Saissa."

"You came back just to find me?" she asked.

"Of course I did!" Miyoko said. "You're like a sister! You and Hamatsu and I were all going to go to the same high school, us next year and you the year after us. Of course we came to find you."

"Thank you, Miyoko," Saissa said, hugging her again.

"Then she's from another world too!" the advisers clustered around the Emperor said. "Which of the three is the real Priestess of Seiryuu?"

Just then, the general spied Miyo's small bag she had taken with her. He picked it up, and looked at the scroll inside it.

"This is the Konan version of the 'Universe of the Four Gods!'" he proclaimed. "That means that you must be the Priestess of Suzaku!" He smirked. "I had that impression when we first met."

"Take Hamatsu and that one away!" the Emperor commanded, and immediately the girls were surrounded by spear-tips.

Suddenly a guard burst into the room, panting. All attention was diverted to him. "Excuse me, sire! An intruder has broken through the gate! Several soldiers are trying to contain him, but we can't hold him back!"

"Let's go!" Miyo whispered, grabbing both Saissa and Hamatsu.

"Where are we going?" Saissa asked.

The general stared after the girls, unimpressed. "After them, but be sure no harm comes to Saissa-sama." Soldiers rushed off.

The three girls hid behind some curtains.

'What now?" Hamatsu asked. "We've got to get back to Konan somehow."

"Saissa, if you become the Priestess of Seiryuu, we'll be enemies! I know that Tamahome all of the Suzaku Celestial Warriors would love to have you in Konan," Miyo said.

"Tamahome?" Saissa murmured. "I think I read about him, when I first opened the book back in our world."

"Hey, what's with this?" Hamatsu said, holding up Saissa's hand. "How did you get this scar? Did someone hurt you?" Miyoko cleared her throat and fidgeted anxiously.

"Oh, this is just a scar!" Saissa said, smiling. "I probably hurt myself when I first entered the book. I was suddenly sucked into the book, and I had no idea what to do. That blonde general saved me."

"Yeah, that guy. He doesn't look Chinese," Miyo commented.

"Nope, he says he's a foreigner."

"A foreigner?" Hamatsu asked, puzzled. The other two girls saw her mental picture of people mourning over a grave.

"Foreigner, not a forefather!" Saissa asked, sweatdrops appearing.

Outside, it was raining. The general stepped over the unconscious men lying on the sidewalk, and stared at his opponent. He was a young man, dressed in commoner's clothing. The blonde man could just barely see the 'oni' symbol underneath the other's rain-soaked hair.

"Where's Miyoko?" the man, Tamahome asked, staring at the general furiously.

"You're a warrior of Suzaku. I'd guess you're… Tamahome. You entered enemy territory alone to save your Priestess. A noble act. Or perhaps I should say a stupid one?"

"I asked you where she was!"

"Does it matter?" the general said flippantly. "I'd never hand her over to you."

"Fine! Then I'll have to fight to get her back!" Tamahome yelled, aiming a kick at the man's face. As Tamahome's foot grazed the man's arm, sharp pains shot through is body, and he fell to the ground.

'All he did was touch me! How can this guy do this?' Tamahome thought.

The general smirked.

"Tamahome!" Chichiri cried. "Get away, no da!!"

"A spell? Another warrior, perhaps?" the general asked. He was frozen, like the guards were before.

"Thanks, Chichiri!" Tamahome yelled, making a run for it.

Suddenly Chichiri was thrown off the roof he had been sitting on. "Daaaaaaaa!" he cried.

"The warriors of Suzaku are… cute," the general laughed.

"We'll never escape at this rate," Saissa said, sighing.

"Oh no!" Miyoko said. "I forgot the 'Universe of the Four Gods'! I have to have it to find the other constellations! I mean, I could use the glowing ball thingy Tai Yi Jin gave me, but we need it for the ceremony too, and… I have to get it back!"

"And people call me scatterbrained," Hamatsu said, shaking her head.

"You can't go now; there are too many guards around right now. Wait, in there!' Saissa said, pulling the girls into an unlocked, dark room.

There was no one else in there, and apparently the guards had already checked the room. They wouldn't think to look back there… Except for the one guard that saw them scurrying into the room…

"Hey! It's you!" the man accused, starting towards them. He was stopped, however, when Tamahome hit him hard on the head, causing him to drop to the ground.

Saissa was bewildered, Miyoko was trying to decide whether to hide from Tamahome or to injure him, Tamahome was staring at the three girls, and Hamatsu was, for once, the only one left with most of their mind at that moment. She pushed everyone inside the room. "Come on!" she hissed.

"So… you're Tamahome?" Saissa asked, staring at him.

"Um… yeah. So, you know these two, huh? You probably kept them out of trouble, right?" he said, smiling.

Miyoko remained silent. In fact, they were all silent, and Tamahome was nervous.

"Ouchie," he said. "That foreign guy messed up my leg a little," Tamahome said, wincing.

"He did that to you? I'll talk to him! I'll get back the 'Universe of the Four Gods' and make sure we all got back to Konan… together," Saissa said. "Don't worry, he can't refuse me!"

"I'll go with you!" Hamatsu volunteered. "Don't worry; I'm a ninja. I can be invisible!" That, and she thought it would be better to endure the Seiryuu warriors than to endure silence between Miyoko and Tamahome.

"Well, all right; but you'd better be invisible!" Saissa said. They quietly walked out of the room.

The room was silent now, but Miyoko knew that Tamahome was giving her the Death Glare. Tamahome sighed and stood up. He looked around the room, trying to see whether or not he could sell anything in there. He picked up a music box and wound it. It played a soft, almost sad tune.

"Why did you do all this on your own?" Tamahome asked. "Why, Miyoko?" he stood before her, putting his hands on her shoulders so she couldn't turn away.

She sighed.