Alatáriël: Welcome back!!!

Kate: She owns me!

Chichiri: She doesn't own me, but wishes she did, no da! Can't touch this! Na na na na na, no da!

Kate: You feeling ok, Chiri?

Chichiri: ^___^ Yes, no da.

Alatáriël:... What happened to the cookies I made?

Chichiri: *grins* Yummy!

Alatáriël: O_O Do you KNOW how much sugar was in that?!

Chichiri: NOPE, NO DA! *twitches*

Kate: O_o Let's get going... Chichiri is scaring me.

Alatáriël: PS. There is a dream here. It is indicated by ~, ok?

*Everyone runs off stage*

Chapter 9: FIGHT! Snow of fury! Rowr.

Kate skipped down the road, quite ignorant to the world around her as she looked around randomly for her favorite blue haired friend. Of course she would be totally oblivious to a thug that had just came up behind her from a dark ally... or at least she acted clueless.

Inwardly she grinned. She hated to admit it, but she liked a good fight about as much as Tasuki did. A simple, "Hey girly!", caused her to spin around with a grin on her face that screamed I-know-something-you-don't- know. The man seemed to ignore her behavior. He had a stuck-up, cocky, brute strength, and ugly look about her and made Kate smirk.

"Yeah?", Kate asked with one fist on her hip. "Hand over the bag and i'll be easy on ya. Be difficult and your own ma won't recognize you when i'm done with ya", he said with a grin and extended his hand. 'Why does this guy think he is?', she thought and felt her face go emotionless.

When she got mad, really mad, her face lost all true signs of emotion. It was a trick she learned in school to be defiant against the bullies that liked to beat her up when no one was looking. They didn't like her because of a rumor that she was gay... that set many of the local male bullies into a rage after she turned down one of their friends.

She mainly put up with it because of her strong support of the gay community... and that they just wouldn't leave her alone... It's not like she could, if she wanted to, prove them wrong either. She took it the best she could and it seemed it was going to pay off.

She learned quickly that if she yelled or did something to show her fear or pain it just made them want to hurt her more. She preferred not to fight at school so she always welcomed a private fight. Ancient China was just about as private from her life she could get.

She had a habit of fighting males. She had never fought a girl. She couldn't help but lock eyes with him as she growled. "Hmm? This bag? Sorry, it's mine. You can buy your own in a few centuries", she said. He frowned, seeing this wasn't going to be your normal gig and stepped up to her.

He was really tall and very intimidating, but not as much so as the football jock at her school she had to fight in order to make it out of the gym one day when he saw her talking to his girlfriend. Of course she never agreed to being his girlfriend, but that was besides the point...

"Look. Hand over the fucking bag, wench!!!", he yelled in a voice that normally would have made her crawl under a rock and die. "How about no, wench", Kate said and took a step back. She was sure someone was hearing what was going on and she was sure it was more likely someone to come to his aid then to hers.

She looked around herself quickly for an emergency exit, upon locating one she smiled inwardly. He growled and lunged for her screaming something about learning her place. She quickly blocked his fist and sent one of her own into his stomach. He growled and brought his leg up to kick her. She tried to move out of the way, but it caught her half way. She cringed and jumped back.

She let out a breath before going into a stance. He seemed confused for a second before reaching out to grab her. She took a jump back and sent a kick into his side. He reminded her of a big bowl of Jell-O that seemed to take the damage without any result. She didn't like this.

"Back down", she said with a hiss. He just laughed, "You wish, girly", he said and brought both his arms up over his head to hit her. "TOO SLOW!", she screamed and ran into him with all her weight on her shoulder. It was a trick she picked up from the football players. She never thought in a million years she would be thankful for fighting them.

That seemed to get his attention as she brought her leg around and into his knee. He lost his balance, but not before he hit her hard with a single punch that caused her to see spots. A sudden commotion and the arrival of several unfriendly faces caused her to lose her cool.

She quickly turned tail and ran down the ally way she had spotted earlier. She heard him running after her and guessed she didn't kick him hard enough to handicap him and growled. Behind him followed his buddies, seeming to want to play too.

She darted about like a cat being chased by a pack of dogs. She really wished they couldn't climb trees. She hit a quick left suddenly the caused her to slide on the snow and run into a building. She really hated running in the cold of weather, but it wasn't like she had a choice.

A sudden right caused her to ram into someone. She didn't look and said a fast "Sorry!" before running off. Before she got three feet any farther a hand caught her arm and she looked up. The first thing she could think of was that she had gotten caught.

"Kate? What's going on, no da?", Chichiri asked and Kate's eyes widened. "Chichiri!!!", she yelled and hugged him in joy. He seemed confused as he looked over her and saw several men running toward them. "... Oh boy, no da", he said with a sweatdrop as they tried to look tough.

"Trying to get a monk to help you? Don't make me laugh, missy", the main dude said, whom she had tried to fight earlier. "Die", she said simply and glared at him. Chichiri rose an eyebrow. "What's going on, no da?", he asked. He had a pretty good idea, but decided to seem harmless to Kate's pursuers.

"Nothing, Monk. Stay out of this", the main guy answered with a hiss and grabbed Kate. She tried to knee him, but it came out weak. He faked pain and when she put her guard down he kicked her legs out from underneath her. The second she hit the ground she knew she was in trouble.

Kate closed her eyes seeing him quickly lunge for her. Suddenly the man froze in mid air. Chichiri waved his staff, causing the men to get thrown across the ally. Kate quickly got up and ran off. Chiriko, who had seen it all from on top of the horse, quickly ran off.

Kate and Chichiri found refuge in an abandoned building. Entering was hard though. They both had to squeeze threw a very small hole in a window that was boarded up. Inside the house, Kate dusted herself off and helped pull Chichiri threw. Chiriko and the horse had disappeared down the road seeing as they could out run any followers.

Kate sighed and peeked threw the window. "What are we going to do?", she asked Chichiri, who seemed to be thinking the same thing she was. He couldn't use a lot of magic because he would tire easily and he was sure those guys were just going to let them go.

"Why were they after you, no da?", Chichiri asked. Kate scratched the back of her head sheepishly. "Umm... They tried to mug me so... uh... I fought that dude.... I lost.... so I ran for it", she said and Chichiri looked irritated. "You could have gotten hurt! What were you thinking?!", he asked.

"I was thinking that I didn't want them to get a hold of me", she said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Chichiri sighed and looked out the window to see if any of the men were coming. "Look... I... Um... Thanks, Chichiri... I hope you're not too mad at me", Kate said and looked to the floor in a sudden fit of shyness.

Chichiri didn't say anything and she feared she had gotten him angry. She sighed and slumped down against the wall. A few seconds later Chichiri motioned for her to get down. She did so just as the men ran by. They stopped for a minute to inspect the house. "Hey, boss... Foot prints in the snow lead into here!", one of the men said and Kate held her breath.

Suddenly a horrified scream filled the air and Kate shivered. Ashitare had arrived. "What is THAT?!", one of the men screamed outside. Running was heard and Kate and Chichiri looked out the hole in the window. Kate cringed when she caught sight of Ashitare, who was jumping from roof to roof. "Seiryu!", Chichiri yelled and Kate noticed Ashitare was burnt. 'Damn it! I'm too late!', she thought. "Let's go!", Kate yelled and quickly crawled threw the window.

An hour later they were still on Ashitare's trail when Chiriko showed up on horse back. "Kate-san! Chichiri-san! It'll snow soon! We need to find an inn!", Chiriko said with eagerness. Kate looked to Chichiri, who nodded. "We lost him, no da... Let's just hope no one got hurt", he said and they quickly found an inn. (AN: In the manga it seems everyone is separated until the day Nuriko leaves)

Kate was walking back and forth, clearly worried about the fact that if she didn't find Nuriko very soon he was going to die by the time she could reach him. It was snowing hard outside and there was no way she could find them in this weather. Eventually she left the room to find the others. Chiriko was sitting down stares in the tavern talking with Chichiri. Kate sat down next to Chiriko with a smile.

"Hey, Kate! We were just discussing our course of action. We're done now though. We didn't find anything useful in the city, did you?", Chiriko asked. "In a since I did...", she answered with a far off look. Chriko and Chichiri looked at her curiously. "I found this", Kate said and pulled the mirror out of her pocket (AN: it's big, but so are her pockets). The guys looked at it curiously.

"It has a ki, no da", Chichiri said and inspected it. It was silver and was nicely made. "Where did you get it?", Chiriko asked. Kate shrugged, "Old dude gave it to me". Suzaku told her not to show it to anyone till it was time, but she needed them to know now. She picked it up from Chichiri's grasp. "Watch", she said and looked down at the glass. "Show me Miaka at this current time", she said and the glass made the ripples as she spoke.

Chichiri and Chiriko watched as the glass shifted and Miaka's form came to view on the surface. She, Tamahome, and Nuriko were sitting around a table in an inn eating. "Miaka!?", Chriko called, seeing if they could communicate. No one seemed to notice. Kate sighed and put it away, feeling slightly drained from the power of the mirror.

"What else can it do?", Chiriko asked. Kate's face took on a hardened look, "I can see the future, Chiriko", she said and looked at him seriously. Chiriko swallowed and broke eye contact with her. Everyone grew uncomfortably silent and she put it away. "But... the future is changeable... and I hope to do just that", she said and got up.

She walked back to her room and sat down on her bed with a sigh. She felt the tears coming, but tried to fight them back. In the end she lost and ended up crying into her pillow. "Stay close to Chichiri", Suzaku had said. She felt the warning in that voice. If she did anything rash she would die. They were so close... so very close... She cursed Nuriko then for not waiting for Mitsukake and felt herself nod off.

In her dreams she was back in Tamahome's house with his dad. ~"I can tell you this much... I will do whatever I can to save you all... My future isn't decided... and I wish to change yours", he nodded and turned as if to walk away but instead said, "There is someone you love, isn't there?", he asked and she looked at him questionably.

"You should return to him. I don't want anyone risking their lives for us... Life goes on and people grow... You will see with time that everything happens for a reason", he said and gave her a smile. "Good night, Miss Kate", he said and left.~

Kate woke up with a groan to a knock at her door. She quickly wiped her tears away and pulled back her hair before opening the door. "Hello?", she asked. It was Chiriko! "Miss Kate, will you have dinner with me?", Chiriko asked with a small blush. Kate smiled at him. "Sure, Chriko!", she said and closed the door.

The tavern down stares was now very busy with people running around and travelers talking and laughing at the tables. They got a table and sat down. Eating was mostly done in silence, but Kate had to ask Chiriko to read the menu for her much to his amusement.

After dinner he invited her back to his room where they talked about various things regarding his life and such. "I have a mother and brother. They are all extremely supportive of my becoming a government official", he said. Kate nodded, "I have a mom and a dad... and a dog if he counts. I really haven't decided what I want to be. I would hate to have a government job though! I can barely pass government forget becoming a governor!", she said with a grin.

"Governor?", Chiriko asked. Kate nodded and tried the best she could to describe the US government as best as she could. Chiriko seemed extremely interested so it wasn't that bad. She ran threw basic laws and documents and had gotten into history by the time a knock came to the door.

"Yo!", Kate answered the door. Chichiri seemed kind of surprised to see her there, but greeted her. "What are you two up to, no da?", Chichiri asked. "My government's system", she answered with a laugh. "It's very interesting", Chriko said from across the room. He was sitting on his bed in his pjs hugging a pillow. (AN: can't you see this?! It's so cute!)

Chichiri smiled and Kate let him in. "It doesn't look like it's going to stop snowing soon, no da. I was talking to the inn keeper and he said it won't stop till morning, no da", Chichiri said and glanced out the window. Kate looked at her watch. It was 6:59 pm.

"What's that?", Chiriko asked pointing to her watch. Chichiri also looked interested. Kate laughed. 'It looks like i'm going to be a story teller this night', she thought and took her place sitting down in between her two friends. She described everything from watches, to computers. She had fun explaining modern books, in which she pulled out her favorite, Green Rider by Kristen Britain, from her backpack and let them look at it. Chriko made her read the first chapter aloud.

By ten everyone was nodding off and by ten thirty they were all asleep on the bed. Kate was cuddled near the wall with her book in her hands. Chirko had his feet on the pillows and had his head near hers. Chichiri was taking up the rest of the bed and had his kesa draped over everyone.

Alatáriël: Hmmm... I think that'll be all for now. I have small writer's block... Does anyone have any suggestions as to when I should start any fluffy stuff??? O_o I've been looking into it and stuff... I'm not sure where this story is going at the moment, but not to worry! I shall continue!!!

Kate: *smiles and claps* I want to do the reviews!

Alatáriël: ok!

Kate: *clears throat* I would like to thank...

Jedi of Oro: Hey, M! *hugs* Thank you for that information! If you find out anything more tell me, ok? Hope you like Volume 9!

Opaaru Tsuki: *Laughs* Thank you! Ha ha ha. Alatáriël tries not to fall behind too bad, but it's hard!!! Heh heh. I hope you like this chapter!!!

Mikari: Thank you! Thank you, Alice. ^_~ I couldn't just LET Tamahome's family die... They are just too cute! Ha ha. I'm very happy to like it! Heh heh. Alatáriël makes a lot of mistakes, eh? Well, she can't spell to save her life so please ignore all that stuff. *Alatáriël throws a shoe into Kate's head* ACK!

Songwind: -_-;; I have no clue what is going to happen to Nuri-chan... Thanks for the ward! LOL. I hope you liked this chapter!... There is nothing wrong with being insane, by the way.

chibichibi386: It tells the future and present, perhaps even the past! MWA HA HA. It has other powers too, but Alatáriël won't tell me what they are. *Frowns*

Selene Serenity: *giggles* I want fluff too!!!... I think Alatáriël is having problems thinking up anything in character though... Suzaku pity her.

Chiri26: Happy Chinese new year to you too!!! Ha ha ha. You'll have to wait until the next chapter for Nuriko.

Kate: Ok! That's all!

Alatáriël: *sighs* The next chapter is going to be a big one!!! Everyone hold onto your hats!

Kate: Oh boy...

Chichiri: *Walks on stage* What's going on?

Kate & Alatáriël: See you all next chapter!

Chichiri: What?! I missed the closing, no da?! Darn it!