I don't own FY

Sorry for the LONG delay guys! I meant to work on this over Thanksgiving, but I hadn't the time because I was spending the time with family. After that I completely lost track of time because I had only two weeks left of school and teachers were throwing things at us to do and I accidentally discovered a program on my computer to make music video's and got stuck on that for two or three days (not a good thing since I had a big test to study for). But I am now home for winter break and I plan to try and update once a week.

For those of you who also read Cry of the Gods I will be updating that within the next few days.

Thanks for reviewing:

Ayriel– Lol. Yey romance! We'll see what's up with her and Tamahome soon enough, promise. I haven't forgotten about them…yet. Lol

Where I Walk Alone– hehe, I'm so evil leaving everyone to guess at that -grins-

plutobaby494– Sorry for the delay! Hmm, is there more cuteness in this chapter?

Everqueen– blondie is evil -twitch twitch- Lol. Thank you, that's good to hear.

Tsukikage – Lol. Yes, I am the evil cliffhanger person of DOOM! …sorry, I just had a big thing of hot coco and am now hyper. Fweeee. Lol. Thank you and sorry for the delay.

Chichirifan – Gah! -hides as questions are shot out at her- So-many-question-must-not-answer. Lol. You'll see soon enough :) Lol. Tasuki needs a bar of soap for his mouth, ne? -chases after the bandit with soap in hand-

D.D.Z.– Sorry for the grammar errors. I try to catch them when I reread my stories, but, unfortunately, I can't catch them all. Sorry for the delay!

Gammergirl– Ya, courage has one thing about it, you'll see the other reason as he muses in the beginning of the chapter. Lol. The sign language is fun, especially since I'm teaching myself as I write this story (I found a good site that teaches countless different phrases). Sorry for the delay!

Ayshia– Thank you :) Sorry for the delay! I hope you like this chapter too.

evilnaraku– Lol. We shall see. I have certain events all planed out right now :D

ChirikoFan– Hm, I wonder. Lol. Sorry for the delay!

KamiKaze no Kage– Yes, that is her plan anyway. Will I allow it? Hmm… I can be rather evil with plots twists, I'll have you know. Lol. Sign language is fun! Sorry for the delay!

bant– Explosions are fun. Woot! Lol. Sorry for the delay!

Akari kitsune– Hmm… I could, but likewise, it may not. Lol.

YueMichiruNaragisawaMiko– Lol. Ya, Chichiri is so cute in his chibi form. Sorry for the delay.

Chichiri's Wanderer– We shall see in due time. Lol. Is that so. Hmmm. Lol. Sorry for the delay!

Chapter 21

Chichiri sighed to himself as he found he was once again watching Keara's back as they traveled. The group had set off some hours ago on the trail he and Chiriko had chosen. It would take them several days to get to Sairou, but they hoped they would meet with their miko and Tamahome along the way.

Without meaning to he found his mind wandering back to the events of that morning…

"So, um," Chichiri seemed to be looking for the right words. "How do you say 'like' or 'love' - as in I love fishing," the latter part seemed hastened for some reason.

Keara gave him an amused look as she raised a brow. Whether it was part of the little game that had grown between them or an honest question, perhaps with a hidden message, she was not quite sure, but she would play along.

With a smile she brought her left hand flat upon her chest. From there she took her hand away and brought her thumb and middle fingers together. Following that she brought her forearm up, fist loosely clenched, her right hand was also in a loose fist, but was about six inches from her other arm. In a flowing motion her left forearm went back and forth, just as a fishing pole would when fighting with a fish, and her other hand made a circular motion. Even though Chichiri did not know what a reel was he did understand the general motion.

On the ground she wrote, 'I like fishing.'

Chichiri half smiled at the memory, half frowned. He was not sure what to make of it. Had she known what he had meant, something that caused the monk to subconsciously blush, but wanted to tease him or had she simply answered his question as he had asked it?

With a sigh he questioned why he had even asked the question to begin with. He knew he felt something toward the girl, but that something could be anything. For all he knew he could just care for her as he cared for his miko, yet something nagged at him upon thinking this. He was concerned for her safety just as much as he was for Miaka's, he was willing to endanger his life just the same as well. So, what was the difference? He knew for a fact that he did not love Miaka. So if nothing was different that must mean -

'You are bound by destiny to protect the miko, but you have no such bond with Keara,' a voice in his mind suddenly said, stopping his train of thought before it had reached an end. 'You voluntarily protect and care for her.' He knew who the voice was, it was himself, or more to the point, a part of him he had locked away after losing Kouran and Hikou years ago. But why was it free now?

Shaking his head he pushed the former him further back into his mind. This was no time for that part of himself to emerge, nor would it ever be. He was different now and even though his past still deeply troubled him he would not revert back to how he was before the tragedy, it just did not seem right to those he had lost.

He was brought from his thoughts as Keara fell in step with him. Looking over at her he saw a motion in her silent language. She had her left hand at chest level, palm up. Her left hand then came in at and angle to fall in it side ways then went strait up so it made her appear as if she were half praying.

Before he could ask her what it meant she was taking out her sketch book and a pencil. She wrote out 'are you alright?' and handed it to him.

Nodding he handed the paper back to her, "Just thinking."

She raised a brow, a simple gesture that let him know she wanted him to elaborate. "My past."

A nod was all Keara gave. She understood now why he had looked depressed and would not press him any further.

vvv

The group did not stop their journey until dusk had begun setting in that day. As to be expected everyone was exhausted by that time, but there was still one chore left to be dealt with - preparing supper. It was a task Chichiri took upon himself to complete, as there was a stream not far from the camp sight.

Keara watched the monk go, frowning to herself. He had been relatively quiet throughout the day and judging on the conversations she had with him earlier she bet it was due to his past once again creeping upon his mind.

Getting up she waved to the others to let them know she was leaving and headed off after the monk. Even if she really couldn't talk to him she hoped that offering some company would lighten his spirits.

Finding Chichiri did not prove difficult in the least. In fact she spotted him at nearly the same moment she came in sight of the stream. He sat with his back to her, fishing pole in hand and was waiting patiently for a bite, just as any fisherman would.

Chichiri easily sensed another presence, but knew it was not one to worry about. Looking back his thought was confirmed and he smiled softly, "Hello Keara no da."

The girl smiled and took a seat on the ground next to him. It had been some time since she had last heard his childish 'no da' and she hoped that with its return he too would revert back into the way she had come to know him by.

Silence was all that was passed between them for some time, neither knowing how to react to the other. A thought eventually came to Chichiri's mind, one that had been nagging at him for a while now. Placing a hand into his pocket he took out a slip of paper and handed it to her. She gave him a curious look as she took it from him.

"Do you remember that poem?"

Opening it up Keara had to nod upon scanning the first line. She had written it for him only a few nights ago, though it felt even longer because of all the events that had been playing out before them.

"How did you…" he paused, feeling as if he had started in a way he had not meant to. Sighing he took off his mask and looked strait at her, "You sound as if you have great pains of your own, ones that trouble you as much as my own do to me."

Taking in a deep breath she nodded. She had expected the subject to be brought up eventually, but, much like he must have felt, had wished it would not have. Taking out her sketch book she searched for a drawing she had done in the past and handed it to him.

At first Chichiri was marveled at her drawing ability, but quickly came to realize the message she meant to convey by showing it to him. In each corner of the paper were drawings, all of which had something to do with one another and led to the picture in the middle.

In the top left corner were two people, one, Chichiri knew right away, was Keara and the other was a boy he had never before seen. They were hugging, their smiling faces pressed together by their cheeks, a small heart above their heads. The next image, in the top right corner, was of two girls, one was Keara and the other he did not know. The two of them seemed to playing - the other girl had Keara in a head lock and both were laughing happily. The image diagonal from it had the boy from before sitting in a strange setting (a cars interior) his head bowed low and what he assumed to be blood covering most of his face. In the last corner was the girl from before only she was sprawled out on a couch, one hand dangling off of it and someone standing behind her. A glass lay not far away, some kind of a liquid lay on the floor with a skull and cross bones within it.

Lastly, if the images had not already ripped at his heart strings, in the center, surrounded by darkness, was a girl hiding her face in her knees, her shoulders apparently shaking. A small block came off of it to reveal a face, Keara's face, distorted by tears and pain beyond words.

Chichiri closed his eye and shut the book painfully. He now understood. They had their vast differences, yet had great similarities when in came to the pains of the heart.

Looking over to her he found she had lost her gaze within the terrain just beyond the stream. Her face was calm and at first glance if would have seemed as if she were lost in a simple, carefree dream, but her eyes gave away the pain she felt inside.

Keara's mind was in fact gone from her body as she unwillingly found herself thinking of the two people she had lost. In truth they had never really left her mind, but with so much going on since her arrival in this world they had been pushed to the back of her mind. She could remember all the wonderful times she had with the two of them before their demise, times she knew she could never again relive.

She was brought back to reality as a pair of strong arms wrapped around her shoulders. Panic began setting in as the thought of the Seiryuu recapturing her entered her mind.

"It's only me," a soothingly voice, Chichiri's voice, said upon feeling her body tense up. "I'm sorry, I hadn't meant to startle you," his warm breath tickling her neck as he spoke.

Turning her head she saw his mask-less face smiling comfortingly at her. She had not seen him move, but, when she thought about it, she had not been watching anything for the last few minutes. Smiling wearily she brought her gaze back forward and allowed herself to be pulled back to rest against his chest.

"The past is troublesome thing isn't it," he said as he rested his cheek against her temple. He didn't have to see her expression to know she was making a face at him. "I know you can't answer that at the moment," he half chuckled despite himself.

As if to tell him she did not appreciate the comment she blindly poked his side, causing him to shift with a small laugh. Raising a brow Keara found herself wondering if she had found a weakness in the monk's defenses.

Placing his cheek back where it had previously rested he found himself sighing softly. "Sometimes I wonder if our minds like to remember things just to spite us." He had not expected any response, but he got one with the slight shrug of her shoulders.

Silence passed between the two of them for sometime, a time when not even movement spoke silent words. Only the soft crashing of the water against the shore and the gentle rustle of leaves as they swayed in the breeze, with the occasional chirp of a cricket, could be heard. Words did not need to be spoken however. The company they offered each other was more than enough to comfort their weary hearts.

It was during this time that Keara became very aware of her placement. When Chichiri had sat behind her he had sat up on his knees, leaving a gap between his legs with the intention to do as he had – pull her back to him. Now she rested between them, something that made her blush and become slightly uneasy.

She had to find some way to advert her attention from this and found that the best way to do so was to assault his arms, which were still secured around her shoulders, with gently pokes. The action was not outlandish to her, in fact it was something of a game often played with friends, but the same could not be said for the monk who was both bewildered and enthralled by the game.

"Enjoying yourself?" He asked and only chuckled when the girl nodded.

He had been brooding over his past throughout the day, something that had cast a depressed emotion over him, but now he felt at ease, lighthearted even, as he held Keara. A question suddenly emerged within his mind and before he even had a chance to think about it he found his mouth uttering, "What is about you that I –"

His sudden stop confused Keara for a moment, but she quickly realized what had grabbed his attention- his fishing pole had gone flying into the water.

"I forgot I was fishing," Chichiri murmured, but made no move to retrieve the object as it raced across the water with the unfortunate fish still attached.

Can you say "bye buy fishing pole." Lol. Aww this chapter was so cute :D

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