Hamatsu breathed deeply. This was going to test all her ninja training.
"I guess it's time to give it all I got," Chichiri said, readying himself. He took a breath and concentrated.
Back in the other world, Miaka and Keisuke Yuki read anxiously. Neither could believe their eyes. Miyoko had always, always been there for Saissa… Why was she doing this now?
"But… why?" Miyoko asked.
"Doesn't anything shut her up?" Nakago asked exasperatedly. He threw her back towards the wall again.
"It takes a whole lot more to shut the Ninja Master up!" Hamatsu yelled.
"What?" Nakago asked. Ha-chan had jumped up from behind him, silently, with a sword she had found inside the shrine. She struck, and it connected with the armor on his shoulder. It was a powerful blow, and dented the extremely well made and sturdy armor the warrior wore.
Meanwhile, Chichiri had appeared inside the shrine, and caught Miyoko before she hit the wall of the shrine again. Hamatsu raced towards them, and Nakago grunted, clutching his shoulder. "Well, well," the man said. "What power is this that you possess?"
"That was a nice shot, Hamatsu!" Chichiri commented. "And this was a close call! She would've died if she'd hit the wall again."
"A creature of Suzaku came through the wards?" Nakago asked, his shoulder not distracting him now. "I see you have learned the way."
"Chichiri?" Miyo asked. She was wavering between consciousness and unconsciousness. She was extremely bloody by this time. Chichiri focused his energy, and the shrine blew up. Tamahome shielded himself from the flying debris. The oni symbol was glowing.
He saw Chichiri holding onto the wounded Miyo. "Miyoko!" he yelled. He began to walk forward, even though the bolts of lightning still struck him. It was as if he couldn't feel the pain of forcing himself through the wards; as if he were in a completely different state of mind.
"Your Eminence, please step back," Nakago told Saissa. Suddenly Tamahome punched out at Nakago, and hit his stomach. Nakago bent over slightly, eyes closing from pain. Tamahome rushed to his friends.
"Miyoko! Are you all right? Speak to me, Miyo!" Tamahome told her desperately.
Miyo's eyes opened for a second. "Tamahome?" she said weakly.
Saissa's eyes teared up. "Tamahome…"
Chichiri held out his hat towards Tamahome. "Come on! You have to carry Miyo back through my hat! Hamatsu, you're going with them too! It will take you straight to her!"
"Who?" Tamahome asked.
"I'll hold them off here! Just go!" Chichiri yelled.
"Wait!" Miyoko said, suddenly wide-awake. "Saissa's still…" She stretched her hand out towards Saissa.
"Never!" Nakago said, stepping in front of Saissa. Chichiri threw powerful blasts towards Nakago, and his chibi mask fell off–revealing a scarred face underneath. One of his eyes would not open, for the scar was covering his right eye. "Go now," he said. His handsome face looked sad, and made Hamatsu wonder how he got the scar.
One by one they disappeared into the hat, Miyoko still calling for Saissa to come. Nakago, bewildered, watched this happen. Once they were gone, he picked up the hat, which seemed to be quite ordinary to him. "I'm sorry, Your Eminence," he apologized.
"It's all right, Nakago," Saissa, the Priestess of Seiryuu replied. "Where would the fun be if this were over quickly?" She stared at her scar. Miyoko's friends had forced their way into the shrine just to save her. Miyo never truly was alone. She would never understand.
'Before I entered the book, and I was just reading it, I read about the handsome young warrior Tamahome,' Saissa thought. 'Miyoko once told me it was possible to care for characters in books, because it was as if you went through their ordeals with them. That's when… That's when I fell in love with Tamahome…'
Miyoko's eyes opened suddenly, hearing this. "Saissa?" she mumbled. "Where are you?"
"Sleep," Lai Lai ordered, and immediately the girl was asleep again.
"Saissa?" Miyoko asked, peering into the deserted building. They had stopped construction on it, believing it was haunted. Actually, some gangs just wanted it for their hideout. After looking for a few minutes, Miyoko found Saissa huddled in a corner.
"Who's there?" Saissa called sharply, ready for an attack.
"It's just me," Miyoko said. Then she caught a glimpse of Saissa's tear-streaked face. "Saissa, I've brought some people to… oh my god," she said, seeing Saissa's wrist. Saissa cried, and Miyoko hugged her.
"Miyo, where are you? Oh!" Miaka said. She and Keisuke had wanted to meet the abandoned girl Miyoko cared for.
"Oh Saissa, don't give up," Miyoko said sadly. Neither Hamatsu nor herself had been able to find Saissa recently, and obviously it had an effect.
"I thought you had left me," Saissa said quietly, her sobs abating.
"No one is going to leave you anymore," Miyoko said. "I promise, promise you, you are not alone. Even if we can't be around all the time, we will still be around whenever you need us."
Miyoko didn't want to wake up. She wanted to go back to sleep… It was a dream from when she and Saissa were still friends… But the voice that woke her belonged to Tamahome, so she opened her eyes. "Tamahome?" she asked groggily. She quickly awoke when she noticed the lack of clothing on both herself and him. "DISGUSTING PERVERT!" she yellow, throwing shuriken at Tamahome.
"No! You've got it wrong!" he yelled. He rubbed the side of his face gingerly where the shuriken had grazed him. "I didn't take your clothes off! We were both like this when I woke up!" he insisted, defending himself.
"My wounds are healed," she noted. "Where are we, though?"
"I don't know. There haven't been any signs of Chichiri. Hey, what's the matter?" he asked, seeing her bury her head into the sheet. He hugged her, the sheet between them. "Is it about Saissa? Miyo, you had no choice."
"You don't get it," she said miserably. "We went into the shrine and told Nakago to attack me. She told me that she hated me, and wished I would die. But… she told me she loves you, Tamahome," she said. Tamahome's eyes widened. "She read about you in the book, and she fell in love with you, I guess. We've got to go back," she declared.
"What?" Tamahome's mind was still reeling from all the information.
"We've got to go back to Kutou! I've got to know. What happened to her that made her hate me so much? It must be more than just her feelings for you; it has to be! She must be being brainwashed. I just know it!" she said, near hysterically. "There's no way Saissa would ever say those things to me!"
"Calm down," Tamahome said, smoothing her hair. "We'll figure things out. Don't worry, love."
Then they began fighting over the one sheet. Suddenly Tai Yi Jun appeared. "The second your wounds are healed, you start horsing around?" the woman said crossly. Tamahome was so surprised that he fell off the bed. Chichiri stood by Tai Yi Jun and the Lai Lais, smiling calmly at his companions.
"Then this is Daichi-san," Miyo reasoned.
"It's been a while, Miyoko, Tamahome," Tai Yi Jun said. "Chichiri suddenly appears with the three of you, and you're covered in blood!"
"It's good to meet you, Priestess of Suzaku!" a Lai Lai chirped.
"Fortunately, your wounds were light, so I–"
"Healed you! Healed you!" one Lai Lai interrupted.
"Fixed your clothes, fixed your clothes!" added another.
"I can't get a word in," Tai Yi Jun grumbled.
"Chichiri, why would you bring us here?"
Chichiri laid their clothes on the bed. "No da." He took off his mask, revealing the scarred face underneath. "I had the honor of training here for three years," he said softly. "No da."
"Miyoko! You're awake!" Hamatsu yelled, running in the room. "Sheesh, you guys have been out of it for two days! Or, were you guys just pretending to be asleep for so long, so–"
"If you finish your statement, I swear I'll demote you," Miyoko promised. Hamatsu fell silent.
"So you insist on going back to Kutou?" Tai Yi Jun asked, eyebrows raised.
"Yes! We have to rescue Saissa! And I need to find out what happened when she first came here. That has to be a clue as to why she's doing this," Miyoko said.
"Well, first things first then," Tai Yi Jun said. "Isn't it wiser to see what happened before you go? Come with me, then decide if you want to go back."
She led them (Miyoko, Hamatsu, Tamahome, and Chichiri) into a room with a huge mirror in it.
"Wow!" Hamatsu said admiringly. "Hotohori would love this."
"That's right, he collects mirrors, doesn't he?" Tamahome said thoughtfully.
"This mirror contains the memories of the entire world," Tai Yi Jun said. "My memory slips sometimes."
"So it's kind of like a VCR?" Miyoko asked.
"It should be able to show us what happened in Kutou when Saissa first came."
The mirror flickered, like a television, and then Saissa appeared on the screen.
"That part of town's not fit for a girl," Tamahome commented. Saissa wandered about, wearing her old school uniform. She only had two sets of the uniform, and both were rather worn-out. Miyo had given them to her after they stopped fitting her.
"Hey, look at the honey!" a man laughed, approaching Saissa. His friends snickered. Saissa, confused, stumbled backwards.
"She's dressed weird, but she's a babe!" another man said. They appeared to be drunk. They were like some of the gangs back at home. The difference was, Saissa was sometimes a part of those gangs, and besides, everyone knew to never hurt Saissa, or you'd have a ninja making your life hell. These creeps didn't know that.
Saissa normally could've fought back, but she had no idea what was going on. It was like a dream. After all, why else would she be in ancient China! She backed into a wall, and looked about frantically for anyone she could call for help. "Mi… Miyo!" she yelled.
"Hey, whaddya say we have some fun?" one of the men laughed.
Saissa bolted away, between the two men. "Miyoko!" she cried.
"Not so fast!" one of the men said, grabbing her jacket and pulling her back.
"Miyoko!" she cried, over and over. "Help me! Why don't you answer me? Help!"
"Shut up!" one of the men snarled. Tamahome looked away.
"I've seen enough," Miyoko said quietly. "Stop it!"
"How could they do that?" Hamatsu asked angrily, clutching the shuriken holster. "How could they do that to an innocent girl like her?"
Tai Yi Jun looked at them gravely.
"So you are the real Priestess of Seiryuu?" the Kutou Emperor asked Saissa, raising his eyebrows. She nodded firmly. "Good. Then bring us the Celestial Warriors. It's too bad the Priestess of Suzaku escaped. However, we can count on you to take care of her, yes?" he asked Saissa. Nakago looked at the girl.
Tears were streaming down Saissa's face, but her voice did not waver. "Yes," she said, in a hateful tone of voice that not many people had heard before. 'Miyoko wasn't going to come for me! She just manipulates things to suit herself! She never answered me when I called for help, even though she said she would always take care of me. I thought she was like my only family. I guess I was wrong.'
"Yes," she repeated. "I will take care of the Priestess of Suzaku."
"We're delighted, Your Eminence," the Emperor replied. "Then we will not interfere in the affairs of the Priestesses. We will have to postpone the invasion of Konan until after the Suzaku Priestess is eliminated. It would be pointless to invade, only to be driven out by their Priestess. We would just waste our men's lives."
"I understand," Saissa said. The Emperor dismissed her.
She stood straighter, walking back to her room. 'There's no turning back now,' she thought to herself. 'I won't let you have your way, Miyoko. You will never find happiness with Tamahome.'