Mieri woke to the sound of bird calls. Now that's unusual. You don't hear many birds in Tokyo. She opened her eyes a bit to stare at the beautiful forest canopy. Forest?! She sat up in alarm. Then she remembered all that had occurred the previous night. "Oh," she whispered to herself. She glanced down at her chest and was relieved to see that there was still no sign of blood. Though her chest still hurt and she was still a bit weak, it seemed that nothing worse had come from her encounter with Tomo and Nakago.
"Nakago," she hissed the word as if it were a curse. A thought suddenly occurred to her. "Yuko!" she scrambled hastily to her feet. And took off in a random direction. After several minutes, she stopped to rest against a tree. "This is getting me nowhere. I've got to figure out how to get out of these woods!"
Suddenly, she thought she heard music drifting through the trees. It was a soothing melody both light and encouraging. Mieri straightened up. Where was it coming from? She decided that it would be a good idea to follow the sound. It might bring her to a village. Or at the very least to some human beings.
The music was very clear and grew louder as she walked. Finally, it seemed to come from the very spot she was standing. "This was a dumb idea," she muttered to herself.
"Could I be of some assistance?" a voice above her asked.
"Ahhhh!" Mieri jumped, startled. She turned her gaze skyward into a pair of green eyes. "Where did you come from?!"
A boy with a flute perched in the tree and smiled down at her. "I've been here. I was watching you run around."
Mieri gazed at the boy with a bland face. "You saw me running around here and didn't bother to help?"
"You didn't wait long enough for me to call out to you. Just kept running around in circles." He jumped down and gave a small grunt as he landed. "So I had to get you to come to me."
"That was you playing the flute?" she asked cautiously. Mieri'd had her fill of strangers that acted nice only to try to kill you in the night.
"Yep!" the boy smiled shyly at her. "I'm Amiboshi."
"I'm Mieri."
"Do you need help? Are you lost?"
"What do you think?" Mieri asked sarcastically. "Can you lead me to the nearest town? Or at least out of these woods?"
Amiboshi looked hesitant. "I was looking for someone myself. But I guess it would be okay if I took you with me. I'm headed out of these woods myself."
"Great!" Feeling much better already, Mieri smiled at Amiboshi. "Let's get going then!"
"Okay!" Amiboshi smiled back and started off in the opposite direction Mieri had been headed. With a sigh of resignation, Mieri followed after the boy.
"So. Who are you looking for?" she asked him.
"My brother. We've been separated."
"Oh! Is he younger or older?"
"Younger, I suppose," Amiboshi answered.
"Is he with your parents or something?" Mieri couldn't help but ask.
"No. Our parents died a long time ago. He's all the family I have left now. And vice versa."
"I'm sorry," Mieri apologized. "I didn't know."
Amiboshi flashed her a quick smile. "It's ok!"
"Do you know where your brother is? How old is he?" Mieri questioned.
Amiboshi looked askance at her, "Of course, I know where he is. And he'd be seventeen now."
"Oh," Mieri felt a flash of surprise. Amiboshi didn't look that old. But maybe he was only eighteen. That would explain it. Mieri followed in silence for awhile. After an hour or so, her feet began to hurt. "Are we almost there?" she asked after pausing to rub her feet.
Amiboshi looked back at her. "Yeah, just a couple more miles."
"Miles?!" Mieri grimaced.
Amiboshi laughed. "Here. I'll play my flute a little while. Maybe the music will make you forget about your aching feet!" So saying, he pressed the little flute to his mouth.
Mieri had doubted whether music was going to make her feet feel better, but surprisingly enough, when the light and carefree music flowed over her, she felt a little better. She got to her feet and followed Amiboshi once again.
As they walked and she listened to the music, instead of feeling worse, Mieri actually felt much better. So much so that she actually started whistling along to the melody. Or tried to anyway.
Amiboshi glanced back at her in surprise without missing a beat. His eyes crinkled to show her he was pleased. Without warning, he began to play an alto line.
Mieri, while unprepared, kept up the melody with surprising accuracy. At times, she ran out of breath and had to pause. But Amiboshi switched back to the melody until she could catch her breath again. It was in this way that the two merrily made their way to the first village.
"We're here!" Mieri cried out in delight. "I didn't think we'd ever make it!"
Amiboshi ended the cheerful song with the ease of a master. "Do your feet still hurt?"
Mieri laughed. "You know, they don't! You've distracted me quite nicely!"
"My pleasure," Amiboshi smiled at her with his eyes. "Now, are you hungry?"
The roaring of her stomach made any answer unnecessary.
"Very well, then," Amiboshi smiled. "I happen to know that there is a kind family always willing to share a meal with some hungry strangers."
"You've been through this area before?" Mieri asked as he led the way to the family's house.
"Well…sort of," he smiled a mysterious smile. "Yeah. You could say that."
Mieri thought him very secretive but nice, so she said nothing.
After eating, Amiboshi and Mieri started off again. "This is getting monotonous," Mieri sighed.
"Hmm?" Amiboshi looked her way.
"Well, my friend and I were walking, then I was walking by myself, and now I'm walking with you! I've done nothing but walk since I got to this stupid place!"
"Your friend?"
"Well, her name is Yuko. We were here together," Meiri's expression darkened. "That is until Nakago and Tomo showed up!"
Meiri was so focused on the ways she'd make Nakago pay, she didn't even notice that Amiboshi had stopped until she was several yards away. "Amiboshi?"
Amiboshi looked a little pale and definitely shaken. "Did you say Nakago?"
"Yeah."
"And Tomo?"
"Yeah! They tried to kill me!"
Amiboshi regarded her in a new light. "Tried? They didn't succeed?"
Mieri hit him lightly on the side of the head, "Duh! No! Otherwise, I wouldn't be here."
"How did you escape?!"
"Well…" Mieri hesitated. Would this strange boy believe what she had seen? Only one way to find out. "Nakago found me and Yuko. We were kinda lost."
"That happen often with you?" Amiboshi asked wryly.
"Not really," Mieri sniffed. "That would be my friend Aya much more than me. But anyway! He told us that he'd find a way to get us back home. But that he needed to find his 'companions' as he called 'em. When he saw Yuko was asleep and thought I was, he snuck off into the woods. I followed him and caught him talking to this Tomo guy. Strange character, let me tell you!" Mieri wrinkled her nose. "They were talking about killing me off. Seemed to think I was some kind of priestess. But they wanted Yuko cause they thought she was their priestess. The priestess of…Oh! What was the name?!"
"Seiryu?" Amiboshi offered quietly.
"Yeah! That was it! So they thought she was this Seiryu no Miko. Well, about then I stepped on a stick, and they found me. Tomo used this shell-looking thing he called the Shin. I think it creates illusions," Mieri waited hesitantly for derision, but when none came continued her story, "He made an illusion that he stabbed me with some freaky feathers he has in his hair. I thought I was gonna die for sure!"
"How did you escape the illusion?"
"I remembered what my grandmother said about pressure points and things. They're supposed to break the hold the hallucination or whatever has on your mind and body."
"Very clever," Amiboshi nodded. He seemed more pensive than earlier. "So this Nakago has your friend now?"
"Yeah," Mieri grew sad. "I don't know what kind of lie they told her to make believe I wasn't there."
"It's possible Tomo created another you," Amiboshi reminded her.
"Oh, yeah."
"Well, whatever the case, we should keep moving," Amiboshi stated firmly. "When we find my brother, he'll help us. I'm sure of it!"
"Okay," Mieri smiled tremulously up at him. She was a brave girl, but this was too much! If only she knew that Aya and Rika were okay. Yuko was probably in no danger with that scumbag around her, but what about the others?
"Amiboshi?!" a voice down the road caused both Mieri and Amiboshi to halt.
"Amiboshi!" a group of people hurried to meet them.
Amiboshi seemed to recognize them and grew paler still.
"Are they friends of Nakago's?" Mieri asked worriedly.
"No," Amiboshi whispered back. "Worse."
"You'd better not be running with the Seiryu pack again!" a very loud boy with orange hair raced to the front. He held in his hands what looked like a big metal fan. "Or you're gonna roast!"
Amiboshi looked unsure and took a step back. Mieri glared at the boy before turning her attention to the others that were hurrying up beside the loud-mouth.
"Tasuki, wait!" a tall boy cried out. "Don't do anything hasty!"
"Hasty?!" Tasuki protested. "He masqueraded as Chiriko and tried to kill us all! Don't you think we should take better precautions this time?!"
Mieri was shocked and turned to Amiboshi. "You what?!"
"He made up for it," the tall one replied firmly. "He saved both mine and Miaka's lives."
"Tamahome!" Tasuki whined.
"He's okay with me, no da!" a slightly shorter man with amazingly blue hair chipped in.
"You, too, Chichiri?!" Tasuki looked around him in annoyance. "And Nuriko? What do you say about this?!"
A beautiful girl stepped out from behind the one called Tamahome. She shrugged. "I'll go with Tamakins on this one. He seems to know what he's talking about."
"He always sides with Tamahome," Tasuki grumbled as he put away the fan.
"He?" Mieri looked at the girl in confusion.
Nuriko grinned, "Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm much too beautiful and graceful and smart and just plain gorgeous to be a guy! But…" she shrugged again.
"Don't push it," Tasuki growled playfully.
"What are you doing here, Amiboshi?" Tamahome asked. "And who are you traveling with?"
"This is Mieri," Amiboshi gestured at a slightly dazed Mieri. "She was lost in the woods, so I was helping her out. Now we're looking for her friends."
Mieri looked at him strangely. Wasn't he going to ask them about his brother? But his eyes begged her not to say anything, so she refrained from speaking.
