CRACK! Especially a forest full of dry twigs and sticks. Shaking her head, Mieri continued following a faint trail that she thought Nakago had taken. At this point, she really wished that Aya was here. Her best friend practically lived in their woods back home and was as comfortable in them as her own house. More so in fact. She would have had no trouble at all following Nakago and slipping up on him. She probably would have agreed about not trusting him, too. Despite the fact that Aya was a ditzy blonde, she was never stupid and had a skeptical streak that put Mieri to shame. Unless, she had taken a liking to you. Then nothing save an incident in front of her own eyes would shake her faith in you. But the same was true if she disliked you. It was hard to overcome Aya's general impressions once she had made up her mind.
Voices up ahead drew her back to the present situation. It was Nakago speaking, but Mieri couldn't quite discern whom he was talking to or what he was saying. She moved a bit closer and found that she could now both see and hear what was going on.
"You are sure?" a strangely feminine voice came from the young man Nakago faced. But much about this young man was strange. He had huge amounts of makeup on his face, hiding his true face. His hair from what Mieri could see was a dark brown and was pulled up in some fancy style. Two long feathers trailed from somewhere in that luxurious hair. He was a bit shorter than Nakago and could very easily have made a beautiful woman.
"Of course, I'm sure," Nakago chided softly. "Try to sense them yourself. The girls are not far away."
With a start, Mieri realized that the two were talking of Yuko and her! But what could interest them? And what did they mean by sensing?"
The young man stilled and closed his eyes. After a few seconds, he opened them again. "You are right. They are totally devoid of any kind of presence. They must be powerful indeed. The probability of them being the new priestesses is strong. But how do you know this Lady Yuko is of Seiryu?"Your Lady Yuko has the feel of Seiryu about her. The other of Suzaku. And the one of Suzaku..."
"Call it instinct, if you will," Nakago smiled coldly.
"Then this other..."
"Mieri is what she calls herself," Nakago supplied.
"Something tells me thisThis Mieri is much closer to us than Lady Yuko. She is somewhere near here, I believe," the young man scanned the woods as he spoke.
From her hiding place crouched behind a tree, Mieri stiffened. How could they tell where she was?! And could they pinpoint her location? She backed up a step slowly intending to escape.
Nakago also turned his attention to the woods. "She is, is she? Well, I suppose it's always possible that she went out into the woods for some reason and disappeared for one reason or another. In fact, with your powers, we could include Lady Yuko in on that little tidbit, Tomo."
The young man, Tomo apparently, nodded. "I will have it arranged. Would you like me to take care of Mieri now?"
Nakago paused. "I suppose so. It is not necessary for her to be there in person for your illusion to do its job. If you're creating one illusion, you might as well create her, too."
Tomo nodded again. "It shall be done."
Mieri was still backing away slowly, using their hesitation to make her escape. But if you're backing up, you can't see where you're going nearly so well. CRACK! Another stick, this one much bigger, broke under Mieri's foot.
Both Nakago and Tomo turned in her direction. "It seems you shall not have to look for her after all," Nakago commented. "There she is. Get it done."
Tomo bowed his head. "Very well." He turned to her and held up something on his palm. It was very small and appeared to be some type of shell. "Do you like my little clam shell? I call it the Shin. It has very interesting abilities indeed."
Mieri knew she had been seen and turned to run. She went into an all out sprint. Just when she thought that maybe they wouldn't chase her, something appeared directly in front of her. She skidded to a halt and almost fell.
Tomo stood grinning in front of her. "Didn't I tell you that the Shin has interesting abilities? Did you think I was lying?" He laughed a horrible laugh that set Mieri's nerves to singing. "You can't escape." One of his long feathers came to life and stroked her cheek lightly. "Too bad you couldn'thad to be of Seiryu.Suzaku. You're not my type, but you could have provided some entertainment at the least."
"And what would your type be exactly?" Mieri stalled for time even as she shuddered from the touch of that vile feather.
"Oh, I like my women not at all," Tomo replied with that horrendous laugh of his. "I prefer the stronger sex."
"You're gay?!" Mieri blinked. But it wasn't all that surprising really. Just look at him. He looked more woman that man.
Tomo shrugged, "If that is what you wish to call it. I prefer the term 'picky'. Not just any woman can have her way with me. Usually, it's not any at all!" Again that laugh. "But now, my dear, it is time to say farewell. You should not have come into Kutou. Kutou is an unsafe place for the Suzaku no Miko of any but Seiryu."
"What is that?" Mieri asked, frantically scanning for an escape.
"Why a the Priestess! of Suzaku! That is what you are. Just as Lady Yuko is most certainly the Seiryu no Miko. We are the Seiryu seishi."
A flicker of recognition. Suzaku...the seishi...That book! Mieri put the facts together quickly. But how did he know of that? We can't be...in the book!
"Goodbye, my dear Mieri. Say hello to the afterlife for me. Seeing as how I so recently left it."
What...? Suddenly the feather that had been caressing her cheek so softly stiffened. It drew back and in one quick movement pierced her flesh. Mieri felt the shock of the blow and knew that it had at least nicked her heart. I'm going to die! She felt the feather come out of her back. Just as swiftly as it had struck, the feather withdrew and hung deceptively still by Tomo's side.
But there's no blood on it...Mieri crumpled and fell to the forest floor. She felt the blood pumping slowly out of her. She would die here on this forest floor. But there's no blood on the feather, she thought weakly. Then, something Nakago had told Tomo flashed through her mind. 'It is not necessary for her to be there for your illusion to do its job.' Illusion...An illusion! Mieri struggled against the growing darkness. This is just a really good illusion! That stupid clam! That's its ability! Mieri closed her eyes.
"Has it been done?" Nakago's voice sounded above her head.
"Yes, Nakago. She has been pierced by my feather. She will die shortly."
"Good. We should be getting back to Lady Yuko. If she wakes up, we had better be there to use that wolf illusion."
"Very well," the voices grew further away as Nakago and Tomo headed in the direction of Yuko.
Mieri struggled to right herself when she was sure they weren't returning. She managed to support herself against a tree. When she was positive she wasn't going to topple over, she glanced down at her chest. Bright crimson blood pumped from the hole in her chest. "But it's not real," she told herself firmly. She reached a hand up to touch it. It came away sticky and red with the blood. "It's really good," she continued, "but not real. Okay. How do I stop the illusion?"
Mieri tried to remember anything and everything her Aunt Sanyo had told her. Her aunt was into this type of stuff. Old magic and traditions. "Pressure point!" Mieri whispered weakly. "That's what can break the illusion. But where is one?" She racked her brains frantically trying to remember what her aunt had said. "Okay, there should be one somewhere one my chest," Mieri remembered. She raised her hand with only a bit more effort than it should have taken. Luckily, the blood was flowing slowly. Feeling around for a bit, Mieri finally had what she thought was the correct point. "Well...here goes nothing," Mieri took a deep breath and pushed. Pain like nothing she had ever experienced shot through her and left her gasping for breath. Even Tomo's feather hadn't hurt this much. Her vision swam as Mieri peered down at her chest. This time it was whole. No blood, no wound, and no reason to worry. But even as she thought that, she slipped into unconsciousness. Her mind had tricked her body into thinking it was weak and hurt. She wasn't going to die, but she was going to need some rest before she moved any time soon.
Nakago and Tomo made their way quickly back through the woods to the clearing where Yuko still slept. "She is still asleep. That's good," Nakago peered down at her. "She's the one that will call Seiryu and bring me revenge on the Suzaku seishi."
Tomo waited patiently behind him. Nakago had been the undisputed leader of the Seiryu seishi. He was the most powerful and therefore the one in charge. "Shall we do it now then?"
Nakago looked up from his thoughts of revenge. "Yes, we might as well get it over with. I shall wake Lady Yuko; and when I do, you start the illusion." Tomo nodded. Nakago strode over to where Yuko lay sleeping peacefully. "Lady Yuko. Lady Yuko!" he shook her gently.
"Hmm?" Yuko stirred. "What is it?" she opened her eyes and looked around her. "Oh! It wasn't a dream! I thought for a minute it was."
"Lady Yuko, have you seen Mieri?" Nakago asked in his almost monotonea worried voice. Monotone, but very sexy. "She seems to have disappeared as "I wasreturned from gathering some firewood to find her gone."
"Did she go to the bathroom or something?" Yuko asked sleepily.
"I'm not sure. Perhaps you could—" An earsplitting scream sounded off not too far away.
"What was that?!" Yuko shot up, wide awake now. "That sounded like Mieri!"
"I hope she has not come to any trouble," Nakago commented. At that moment yips and barks reached their ears. Another scream, closer this time, rang through the air.
"Wolves!" Yuko leapt to her feet. "Mieri's out there with wolves!"
"Lady Yuko, this is Tomo, one of my friends that I spoke of earlier. He shall look after you while I go see about Mieri," Nakago motioned towards the silent Tomo and rose to his feet.
"But—" Yuko started forward.
"I do not wish you to be hurt as well," Nakago informed her. He gave Tomo a meaningful look.
There was a rustling of leaves and out of the bushes darted Mieri. Immediately after her bounded the biggest wolf Yuko had ever seen. Mieri sprinted across the clearing in an attempt to reach them. With one huge leap, the wolf sailed through the air and landed on Mieri's back, pushing her to the ground. He sunk his fangs into the back of her neck and shook his head sharply. Mieri moaned and thrashed then lay eerily still.
"Mieri?" Yuko staggered forward a step. "Mieri?! Get up!"
The wolf looked up, muzzle covered with blood, at the sound of the shouts. White fangs flashed as he snarled at them. He left the body of Mieri and headed in their direction.
"Foul beast!" Nakago roared. He stepped in front of the trembling Yuko. He stared at the wolf intensely for a second. With a yelp of surprise, the wolf found himself surrounded by a blue aura and twenty feet in the air. Nakago jerked his head to the right, and the wolf went sailing through the air. Snarls and whines brought his attention back to the surrounding woods. Yellow eyes stared hostilely out at him from the safety and cover of the bushes. "Be gone!" Nakago growled. The eyes stayed a moment more and then disappeared one by one as the wolves retreated into the dark.
At this point, Yuko found she could no longer stand. She started to slip to the ground; only Tomo's surprisingly strong arms prevented her from twisting her ankle or worst. He helped her down to the ground and then rose. It was Nakago who offered his shoulder for Yuko to weep on. And weep she did. She cried and cried until she was in danger of becoming sick. Finally though, she cried herself to much needed sleep, even if it was filled with dreams of the happier times.
When Nakago was sure that Yuko would not awaken, he motioned to Tomo. "You can get rid of the body and the blood now."
Tomo said nothing, but both the body of Mieri and the blood that was everywhere disappeared in an instant. "What would you have me do now?" he asked Nakago.
Nakago thought for a moment. "I suppose nothing for the moment. We shall see what time brings."
