I don't own Fushigi Yuugi

Thanks for reviewing Bishiglomper (lol. I thought it was a fun idea too), ladysakaya (well gymnastics is more than being flexible. I could never be a human pretzel, lol, but I can do a full split), Tohmas Girl (yey no gun! Moves will be seen in a few chapters), Lord Pengu(aw, thanks) and Chichiri's Wanderer (Lol. That's good to hear, I was a bit worried when I first posted this story)

Chapter 5

It was dark out now and only the light given off by the crescent moon and torches illuminated the palace grounds. Millions of stars decorated the sky in a manner Keara had never seen before, even at her home where there was little light pollution.

Sleep was not on the mind of the mute teen as she sat on the ground and look up at the sky. Too many things were going through her mind for her to find any sliver of fatigue large enough to make her body know that it was time to rest. Questions such as 'Am I the right person to help,' 'Am I truly as courageous as Mitsukake thinks I am,' 'How did the guys go' and 'when will I get home,' were troubling her mind.

Had she a voice she would have screamed in agitation, but she had to rest with screaming mentally and giving herself a headache. With a sigh she lay down with her hands under her head.

'You should get some rest no da," the voice of Chichiri came to her. He had told her an hour and a half ago to do this when he had led her back to her bedroom.

Taiitsukun's voice was the next to visit her busy mind, "Despite everything you've been through you put on a 'mask' of glee so as not to worry others. This attitude might very well save a great amount of people."

'It couldn't save Jason,' Keara thought bitterly. If there had been one person she would have done anything to save it was Jason. He had always been there for her and always thought of her before himself. Unfortunately he was gone and there was no way to bring him back.

The stars seemed to twinkle sadly down at her and she felt a few stray tears form in her eyes. She quickly sat up and wiped them away from her eyes and mentally cursed herself for letting herself nearly cry again.

"You alright no da?" a familiar voice said from behind her.

Keara looked behind her to find Chichiri standing there looking down at her. When she nodded he said, "You should be getting rest no da. You've had a big day." He knew something was troubling the teen, but decided it was better not to press further since he did not really know her.

"I'll lead you back to your room," Chichiri said, a small smile played on his mask.

With a small nod she followed him trying her best to remember every turn and how many doors down the hall her room was. It did not take long for the two of them to reach her room for the third time that day.

Chichiri turned to her, "Sleep well no da." Keara gave a small smile and nod as well as a simple motion to show that she wished him the same thing.

She entered her room and closed the door before sighing sadly. Sleep was still far from her, but she hoped it would soon greet her and take her to the world of dreams.

She noticed a small bundle of cloths on the table and walked over to inspect them. They consisted of a pair of white pants, long sleeve white shirt, blue tunic and light blue sash to go around her waist. 'Cloths for tomorrow I suppose,' she thought to herself as she put them back down neatly.

After inspecting her cloths from earlier she found that they were dry, 'Guess I'll sleep in these.' With that decided she changed and let her hair out of its pony tail so that it was laying its full length; to her shoulders.

As she crawled into bed and pulled the covers up to her chin she found that she was now amazingly tired for some reason. It didn't take long for her to fall into the world of dreams where they were plagued with memories that had not died when Jason was buried four months ago.

vvvv

The next morning rolled around and Keara found herself being awakened by a ray of sunlight on her face. With a yawn she stretched out her limbs before climbing out of bed and changing into the cloths that had been put in her room the night before.

After putting her shoes on and putting her hair up she walked out of the room, where she was blinded by the sun. 'It burns,' Keara thought to herself with a silent groan before smiling, 'And I'm not even a vampire.'

She wandered out to the gazebo. No one was there, but that did not seem to bother her as she walked into it. Being a bit bored she did a handstand and let her feet gently lean against one of the beams.

"What are you doing?" the familiar voice of Tasuki came to her ears.

Keara opened her eyes and looked at him; he was upside down to her. Tasuki was giving her a curious look while his hands where folded over his chest. She closed her eyes and set her feet on the ground. When she was upright she turned to the red head and striated out her tunic, which had come up when she had been in the handstand.

"How'd you stay up like that?" Tasuki asked since he had not seen her feet on the beam. With a silent laugh Keara did another handstand, but did not lean against anything, before rolling out of it.

"I couldn't balance like that," Tasuki said quietly.

Keara smiled and walked up to him and gentle hand on his stomach area and upper back. Tasuki was confused and blushed slightly, but as he felt the gentle pressure on his back he understood what she wanted him to do.

He bent over and put his hands on the ground. When he felt one of Keara's hands move to his legs he knew to kick up. Keara was forced to catch his legs with one arm as he did not push with enough force into the kick up. She brought them up so that they were directly over his head and made him point his toes with the use of her other hand.

"Oi, this is weird," Tasuki said a bit loudly, "Everythin's upside down."

"What are you guys doing?" Nuriko asked as he looked into the gazebo.

Keara turned her head to him before setting Tasuki's feet back on the ground. He striated out his trench coat and ran a hand through his hair after standing up, "Well that was fun."

With a small smiled she nodded and walked to Nuriko. "Morning… Keara right?" Keara nodded in response. Nuriko smiled, "Well you must be hungry, let's go get something from the kitchen for you."

Tasuki was left in the gazebo, not that he cared. His left hand drifted to his stomach where Keara's hand had once laid, a small blush coming to his cheeks, "What was with that…?" Not being from her world he had no idea that what she had done is exactly what a coach would have done to someone learning to do a handstand.

"Those cloths look good on you," Nuriko said with a light laugh, "Looks like I picked out the right things."

Keara pointed to him then to herself with a curious look on her face. Nuriko was slightly confused, "If you're asking if I left them in your room the answer is yes."

With a thankful nod Keara mouth, 'Arigato.'

"You're welcome," Nuriko said with a smile. "I wasn't sure if I should have given you a dress or not, but after thinking of those drawings you showed me I thought that pants were better." Keara nodded to show that he had thought right.

As the two of them neared the kitchen they met up with Chichiri. "Morning no da," he said happily.

"Morning," Nuriko replied. Keara smiled and gave a curt nod.

"We leave later today no da," Chichiri told them. Keara raised a brow in curiosity. "We're going to go find the shinzaho in Hokkan, the capital of the northern lands. We need it to summon Suzaku no da."

Keara nodded as she understood. To be sent home Miaka needed to summon Suzaku and if that meant that she needed to get this 'shinzaho' in another land so be it.

She just wanted to get home.

vvvv

Keara stood at the port looking at a rather large boat for the time period. The craftsmanship left her in a state of awe; she'd never see boats like this in her time. There was a slight rustle behind her and when she glanced over her shoulder she found Tasuki hiding behind a tree. She raised a brow at him.

Tamahome seemed to notice Tasuki as well and took the opportunity to torture the poor bandit. "You can't swim can you?"

"Of course I can!" Tasuki yelled.

Tamahome smirked and picked him up as he ran to the edge of the dock, Tasuki screaming like a girl the whole way. Keara let out a silent laugh at the spectacle.

Chichiri came up to her side, "Want to explore the boat no da?" At Keara's nod he grabbed her hand and ran onto the boat with her.

The monk acted much like a child as he ran about chibi style ooh-ing and ahh-ing at everything. Keara smiled and laughed soundlessly as she watched him more than she looked about the boat.

As he came running back towards her he tripped over him kesa, which for some reason had been dragging on the floor, and fell flat. Keara jogged up to the fallen monk and knelt down. Chichiri looked up a second later and gave her the victory sign to show he was alright.

She gave out a silent sigh and shook her head before standing up. Tasuki came up behind her and placed a hand on her head, "There you two are. Tamahome, Miaka and Nuriko just left."

"Where to no da?" Chichiri asked, still in chibi form.

"Hotohori told Tamahome that his family could stay in the city while we're gone, this way he doesn't have to worry over them. The three of them set out to bring them here."

Keara moved out from under Tasuki's hand and moved towards the front end of the ship. Tasuki looked at her retreating form in slight surprise, "Something bugging her?"

Chichiri went back into his normal form, "She seemed fine a moment ago no da… Perhaps she's homesick after hearing about Tamahome's family."

Poor Keara, she's homesick and unable to communicate all that well.

So what mess it she going to get herself into in the future?

Please review

Thanks.