Hey Everybody! Sorry for the long pause in updating! I just...badminton practice started today and that is sooo tireing! lol. Seriously...lunges suck. lol. Well I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Chapter 9
The next day everyone was packed up again and on the horses walking through the woods. Time passed as they followed clues to the where about of Chiriko. They were following this through all the way into Genbu's territory. "I hear Kuto is close to gathering all seven," A certain villager told them.
"Really…" Miaka sounded disappointed. Actually it was more of worry. They had traveled far. It had taken them about a week to get here since the two girls had returned from their trip. They had a lot of time to make up.
"Maybe we should split up." Mitsukake suggested since the town was huge.
"Good idea!" Miaka said smiling clasping her hands together. "We'll cover more distance that way. I'll divide us up!" Miaka smirked. "Tasuki…you're going with Tamahome…you two need to learn to get along better." She chuckled as both made a shocked face at the pairing. "Keiko is coming with me because I want the girl company and Nuriko can come with us." She smiled. "That leaves Chichiri and Mitsukake together. Everyone alright?" She asked although they all knew this wasn't up for debate. Everyone nodded. "So…now how are we going to contact each other? This place is huge."
"Here." Tasuki said bringing out some flare like things he had purchased.
"Why did you get those things?" Tamahome asked dumbfounded as he pulled them out.
"Because he's a pyro and wants to light things on fire?" Keiko suggested laughing. Everyone else laughed too for Tasuki to glare at her.
"No…" He huffed angrily.
"Then what were they for?" Keiko asked grinning with curiosity.
Tasuki looked around to see everyone waiting for his answer, "You know what it doesn't matter! They're handy now right!" Tasuki yelled passing them out to the groups. He was muttering something about not being a damn pyro and that he just liked fire.
"Alright let's split up then!" Miaka cheered as they were all given directions for searching. The group of three began heading north deeper into the city. Keiko stopped at a booth and spoke with the man their quickly.
"He says that there are two seishis here. One Sieryu and the other Suzaku. He also said that one of them lives up there in that mountain range." She said pointing to the mountain not too far off.
"Then we go that way!" Miaka said confidently.
Keiko bit her bottom lip, "I don't know…we don't know which one is up there." She said with a worried look.
"Well we won't know if we don't find out!" Miaka said back to her.
"Miaka is right…" Nuriko said although he agreed with Keiko. "We just need to be careful." He said making a point to add that in.
"Alright…" Keiko said pulling the coat closer to her body and crossing her arms over her stomach as they began to walk now up towards the mountain.
It began to snow heavier as they entered the mountain range and only a few trees could be spotted here and there otherwise it was all white clean snow. "Whoa look at that." Miaka said pointing to something in the snow. Both people came over but only Nuriko looked down at what she was pointing to. Nuriko looked puzzled, "They look like wolf prints…but they're kind of big for that…" He said trying to inspect them more when Miaka screamed. He jolted his head up to see Keiko had reacted faster as she made a wolf like creature fly through the air. It hit a rock hard and whimpered but then growled menacingly at the trio. They realized now that this was the Sieryu warrior as it had a symbol.
The wolf came charging again as it then took another trip through the air to hit the rock. "Damn thing doesn't learn." Keiko said smirking as the wolf creature came again. Although this time before she could send it flying she was hit with an arrow on her shoulder. She let out a small scream from pain and mostly shock of being hit. This was the wolf's chance to attack her. Although it never made it as Nuriko grabbed it from behind and began wrestling it. Miaka ran to Keiko in attempt to help but Keiko pushed her down and held her arms a little level as the wind kept anymore arrows from reaching them.
"Is Nuriko okay?" Keiko asked not being able to check herself otherwise there would be an onslaught of arrows.
Miaka had been watching the battle intently. "Yeah he's doing really really well!" Miaka said noting Nuriko's few cuts and how bad the once wolf creature looked. Nuriko seemed to have a fury and the battle soon turned to death match as the wolf kept trying to come back after Keiko. Guess he was pissed about the whole flying ordeal. Miaka held her breath the entire time but decided not to inform Keiko to keep her form worrying. Suddenly the field fell quiet and Keiko dropped her arms confused. She figured out the problem was that Nuriko had just murdered the Sieryu seishi and his broken neck lay twisted the wrong way. Nuriko was breathing heavily from being tired from the fight but otherwise looked in good shape.
Keiko's breath became staggered as her adrenalin left her and she fell to her knees. "Keiko!" Miaka yelled seeing the young woman fall. She gasped as she saw the red snow around them. It had been from the arrow Keiko refused to let her remove. Nuriko ran over quickly inspecting the wound.
"Damn it Keiko!" Nuriko yelled hitting his hand in a fist against his open hand.
"Just-shut up Nuriko." Keiko said not in the mood to be yelled at. "Just…pull it out." She begged her breathing harsher.
Nuriko nodded. "Miaka I need you to pull it out while I hold her." He said as he helped Keiko into a sitting position in front of him as she winced. He held her to him with her facing him. His arms were locked behind her back.
Miaka took one hand firmly on the arrow and the other she placed against Keiko's shoulder then pulled as quickly as she could dislodging the arrow from Keiko's shoulder and Keiko let out a small cry of pain after it was removed.
Nuriko removed his over shirt with only his undershirt on. He ripped and created a quick make shift bandage as he applied pressure in attempt to stop the bleeding. "We need to go back to the village and quickly." He said as he helped Keiko stand and he was letting her good arm rest around his shoulders and his arm around her as he helped her walk back to the village.
Nuriko looked worried with the way Keiko was beginning to breathe and how she looked so tired. She was still bleeding through the shirt and he was worried with how much blood she was actually loosing. They saw a small boy walking around with a scroll which kind of confused the trio.
"Excuse me," Miaka asked politely tapping the boy on the shoulder.
The boy was startled for a minute and he grinned when he saw Miaka, "Yes Priestess?" He asked.
"Do you know where we could find some medical supplies?" Miaka asked looking worried.
"What do you need?" He asked a little alarmed then looked behind the girl to see the bleeding woman supported by a man. "Hurry and come with me priestess." He said as he led them swiftly through the village. He entered a small house that was empty of other people.
"Here you can lay her on my bed." He said leading them to a small bed inside a small room to the right.
Nuriko walked into the small house and helped Keiko to the bed where she laid on her side.
She was breathing heavily which worried him, "God I'm tired…" She whispered as she closed her eyes lying on the bed.
"Hey stay awake here." Nuriko chastised as he took a cloth the small boy walked in with to wipe the beaded sweat on her forehead with.
"Oh…that went deep." The small boy said examining the wound. He hurried outside and came back in with a plant he washed. He ripped off a few of the small leaves and mixed them with some cream. He then took a cloth and scooped some out of the bowl then placed it over the wound. "Um…will you bandage her?" The small boy asked looking up at Miaka blushing lightly.
"Uh…sure." Miaka said a little unsure if she knew exactly what she was doing but figured it couldn't be that hard. She shooed the boys out of the room then a few minutes later let them reenter with Keiko completely bandaged and sleeping on the bed. "Thanks for helping us! And I'm sorry she fell asleep…I could wake her up and we could leave…" Miaka said feeling like they were imposing.
"No don't wake her up. She looks exhausted and she lost quite a deal of blood. She needs some rest." He said smiling.
"Well thank you…I'm sorry we don't know your name…and if I may ask…how did you know what herbs to use?" Nuriko asked curious how such a young boy understood what to do.
"Oh." The boy smiled. "Well…I'm Chiriko." He said slipping off his shoe to reveal the symbol on his foot. Miaka was ecstatic to find her seventh warrior.
"Here I'll be right back." Nuriko said taking the flare like object outside and lighting it to send a red flare shooting up into the air. He waited outside as everyone showed up a few minutes later.
"Where are the girls!" Tasuki asked seeing him alone.
"They're inside sleeping," Nuriko said giving Tasuki a quizzical look as if like 'what's your problem'.
"Sleeping?" Tamahome asked confused.
"Yeah…we ran into some trouble." Nuriko said shrugging. "But I took care of it."
"Then why are they sleeping?" Tamahome inquired.
"They were tired maybe?" Nuriko snapped. "Why do people usually sleep?" He asked sarcastically.
"Did you find Chiriko no da?" Chichiri asked trying to change the topic since everyone seemed to have a low level of patience at the moment.
"Yeah…this is his house." Nuriko said gesturing with his hand.
Suddenly the young boy emerged from the house and smiled at the group of everybody. "Hello,"
"Hey." Tasuki said with a short wave then turned back to Nuriko, "So where is he?"
"Here." The young boy answered still smiling. Everyone did a double take.
"You're Chiriko!" Tasuki said a little dumbfounded.
"Yep." He smiled and once again removed his shoe to show them his symbol. "You don't have to stand outside its kind of cold…" Chiriko said gesturing towards the house and he went in.
"Some kid is a seishi?" Tasuki asked as if unsure.
"Yeah….he's extremely smart." Nuriko said nodding his head as he went in.
"How do you know?" Tamahome asked.
"I just do…it's a long story okay?" Nuriko asked tired himself as he took a seat on the couch. "Hey Mitsukake…will you go check on the girls?" Nuriko asked hinting towards the room.
"Sure," Mitsukake said catching on. He headed back to the room to see the two sleeping girls. He then figured out why Nuriko sent him back there. He went over to Keiko and removed the bandaging carefully then healed the wound and her fever. He then went back to the group, "How did Keiko get shot with an arrow?" Mitsukake asked leaning against the wall and looking questioningly at Nuriko.
"She was shot with an arrow!" Everyone yelled alarmed.
"She's alright don't worry," Mitsukake said expecting the reaction.
"How did you let her get shot with an arrow no da!" Chichiri asked still alarmed.
"We were checking the mountain range because we were told a seishi lived up there." Nuriko began. "Then a Sieryu seishi appeared and began attacking but Keiko had it covered. She threw him into a rock over and over again each time he tried to come at
Miaka. But then I guess there were other people there because next thing we knew she was shot in the shoulder with an arrow. But even then she blocked the arrows…" Nuriko said trailing off his hands clenching slightly.
"What about the warrior?" Tamahome asked intrigued by the story.
"He went after Keiko….but…" Nuriko said as if not wanting to answer.
"But what! Spit it out!" Tasuki yelled.
"I killed him." Nuriko said simply. Silence filled the room.
"Don't you think….that was taking it a little far?" Tamahome asked after the silence grew unbearable.
"Well let me ask you Tamahome. Which would you have preferred? The wolf demon was either going to kill Keiko or I had to stop it! Which would you have done!" Nuriko asked yelling.
"You thought it was going to kill Keiko no da?" Chichiri asked.
"Yes!" Nuriko yelled. "You should have seen the look in its eyes! It had one goal in mind and it was getting to the girls so I intervened." Nuriko said trying to calm down by leaning back in the chair.
"I'm going to go see Keiko now no da." Chichiri said dismissing himself from the room.
"I'll check on Miaka." Tamahome said leaving as well.
Tasuki stared at Nuriko, "Ya did the right thing Nuriko."
"Thanks Tasuki." Nuriko said sighing.
A while later the girls woke up and Keiko made them some dinner after having her couple hour of chastising which she practically tuned out the entire time. Chiriko laughed at how the seishi girl wouldn't listen to her brother or husband who continued telling her not to do that again and so on.
Later that night a door opened with the two parents stepping in. They were quite shocked to find their small home occupying eight other people besides their son. The situation was explained and the parents seemed to glow with pride for their son. Everyone set up the small mats and blankets in the main room of the house.
They were up early the next morning and Keiko insisted on helping make the breakfast with Chiriko's mother who actually appreciated the help. The two young women discussed random things together in the kitchen and Keiko nearly screamed when Miaka popped up out of nowhere and stole some food.
They were off later that morning and waved to the parents who stood in the doorway. The first hour of the trip was pretty silent on the horses.
Then Tasuki opened his mouth, "This boring! I'm tired!" He complained from his horse.
"Now Tasuki no da…we've only been gone for an hour." Chichiri said realizing that this trip couldn't end soon enough now.
"But…I'm bored too." Keiko sighed. Everyone sighed. They realized that Tasuki and Keiko seemed to be similar in ways other than just looks. They listened to Tasuki complain for about two more hours before Keiko interrupted over him, "Shut up oni-chan!" She shouted. She then smirked and winked at Tasuki who nodded in agreement. They began a heated argument that the group could only stand for about fifteen minutes because of the shouting from the twins.
"All right! We'll stop so Tasuki can take a break and Keiko can stop complaining about Tasuki complaining." Tamahome yelled throwing his arms up in the air.
"Fine." Came the reply from the twins as they huffed and looked the opposite direction. After everyone dismounted Tasuki came up and gave Keiko a high-five.
"Works every time." Tasuki laughed.
"Man…we are so evil." Keiko laughed along with her brother. They enjoyed their thirty minute break before they got back on the horses to continue on their way. The rest of the week followed pretty much that routine daily. Really in simple it was uneventful. About the fifth day they stopped to take another break. This one because Miaka complained she was hungry. So Keiko made a small meal with Chichiri's help and they were all sitting around talking and enjoying the food for a while. Suddenly Miaka dropped her bowl of food and was staring straight forward with a shocked face. She got up and ran forward.
Keiko looking up confused then saw the Sieryu priestess there. Miaka hugged her and kept trying to talk to her but the young blonde didn't seem interested. She looked cold heartedly at the group. Yui took Miaka's hand roughly and started dragging her back to the group.
"You killed one of my seishi!" Yui hissed menacingly at Miaka.
"Yui wait you don't understand!" Miaka tried but Yui's grip tightened quickly and Miaka yelped in pain.
"Let her go." Keiko said standing up first while everyone else was trying to understand if this was really happening.
"No." Yui glared. "She's my friend anyways and I thought she wanted to see me so desperately."
"Yui let Miaka go please…then tell us what you want." Keiko said calmly surveying the situation.
"What I want?" Yui asked. "Well you better be able to give me whatever the hell I do want! You killed my seishi!" Yui screamed a few tears in the corners of her eye. Even if she hadn't been fond of him she didn't want him to die.
"We had no choice. It was our life or his." Keiko responded quietly to her. Her voice level.
"Yeah….well you're going to pay for taking his life." Yui hissed angry her eyes glaring at Keiko. Yui then looked at Miaka. "Pick Miaka." She said forcefully.
"What…?" Miaka asked blinking not understanding.
"Pick which seishi will come with me." Yui said flatly. "You took one of my seishi…so I'll take one of yours." She said simple.
"Yui you can't take one of my seishi!" Miaka said back now alarmed with what was going on.
"Miaka…you will pick one…or I will." Yui said glaring.
"I won't pick Yui. You can't have any of them." Miaka said challengingly. The others looked confused at what to do. They couldn't fight Yui because she held Miaka. And they couldn't really give her what she wanted.
"What are you going to do?" Keiko asked looking at Yui.
"Do? What do you mean do?" Yui asked.
"I mean what would you do with a seishi that isn't yours." Keiko asked as if this was a stupid conversation.
"Whatever the hell I want." Yui snapped back.
"And what the hell do you want!" Keiko asked back. Yui stared at Keiko blinking. "Exactly! You can't summon Sieryu with a Suzaku seishi. And you aren't the person to kill someone. So what are you going to do with a seishi that is of no use to you?" Keiko asked.
"I don't care what I do with them…but I still get one. A seishi for a seishi." Yui said her free hand drawing a small blade. "Pick Miaka." Yui said bringing the blade daringly close. Keiko was pissed and went to move but Chichiri jumped up and grabbed her.
"No Keiko…don't." Chichiri whispered to her holding her gently but firmly.
"Chichiri!" Keiko yelled in disbelief. "She's threatening our priestess!" She yelled. Yui smirked.
"Seems like you can't do anything," Yui sneered.
"Really?" Keiko asked blinking her eyes big. Suddenly Yui went flying into the air away from Miaka. Miaka ran to Tamahome. "If you call that nothing then sure." Keiko smirked at the Sieryu priestess a few feet away getting up.
"How dare you!" Yui yelled.
"Exactly." came a boy's voice. Suddenly Amiboshi emerged and was helping Yui up.
"Amiboshi?" Miaka asked confused.
"No…Suboshi." Keiko corrected looking at him.
"I should kill you for that you know." Suboshi said back at Keiko. "But you did save my brother's life so…I guess that's fair trade."
"Fair trade! I saved your life by letting you go!" Keiko growled at him.
"Yeah…well need I remind you of the market place." Suboshi asked grinning evilly.
"Shut up." Keiko whispered.
"I think you actually still owe me for that. I keep handing out favors…" Suboshi smirked at her. "If it wasn't for my brother and I…who knows where you would be."
"Shut up!" Keiko yelled at him.
But Suboshi continued, "Probably still with that man I suppose…"
"Shut up!" Keiko cried shutting her eyes with a few tears falling down her cheeks.
"I always meant to ask you…was that the first time? When we found you?" Suboshi asked.
Keiko was crying now her legs giving way and being held up by Chichiri not being able to listen to what he was saying. "Stop!" Chichiri yelled glaring at Suboshi as he lowered to the ground holding his traumatized wife.
"Whatever." Suboshi sneered at him. "Now…which one of you will be coming with us? It will probably be good to be on our side soon anywas…" Suboshi smiled.
"We've already told you…none of us…will be going." Chichiri answered as calmly as he could. He quickly then unraveled his kesa. Everyone understood and came running towards him as they all disappeared inside.
So how did you like it? Ha-ha i didnt kill Nuriko! Yea Nuriko lives! I was sooo disapointed when he died though...i couldnt have him die in my story though! Yea! (grins) lol. Well i would like to first inform you all that i posted another story. It's called the final summoning. Just thought if you were interested you might want to check it out. Maybe maybe not. lol.
And guess what? The next chapter is the last one! Gasp! (Well there is an epilogue...) lol. But the story will end with chapter 10! I know its shocking lol. But there is going to be a sequel. I already started it to! But remember updates are gonna come later for stories i havent written chapters for yet...only because school is starting and badminton goes till five every night and then theres all the extra honors homework...so there's gonna be less time to write...SORRY! It's not like i chose for it to be this way! Well chapter 10 will be up soon!
Now for my lovely reviewers!
caspercatt22: Its okay that you took longer to update. Sorry i was just worried cuz i didnt know what happened lol. I freak easily. lol. So no problems! And i'm glad that you like my story! Thanks for the review!
DevoTheMadCashCow: Oh so you were on vk? Did you enjoy it? Hope so! Vk's are fun! And it's alright that you couldnt read. lol. I figured you went somewhere. Well i hope you enjoyed this chapter! I can't believe there's only one left! Oh my gosh...I'm actually almost sad to post it! Like...i like the ending. It's the one i knew i wanted from the beginning but...idk. lol. There's at least two BIG shockers lol. Oh great...now i have you really wanting the next chapter lol. (i hope!)
kristall: Hi ya! I think its so cute you have a baby! They're so cute! I wish I knew somebody with a baby i could see! lol. But maybe i should pick you up out of your pile of mush state...im getting worried someone might slip...i mean! You might not like being liquid. smiles trying to cover up her slip lol