I don't own FY

Sorry for the late update guys, with my second semester of college I've been terribly busy. I've had barely any time to relax! Honestly I had to put my homework aside to write and re-read this chapter… which wasn't the smartest idea on my part because now my work load is about to topple over on me and cause me to completely stress out T.T I just spent 7 hours doing an assignment due tomorrow! Oi! My eyes hurt now and my fingers are crampt T.T I really hate painting (though for one part of I was painting the four gods of this story (all black and white, thank god). It came out pretty cool, but it was so tedious! Dang little lines! Grrrrr). And I'm animating this semester (traditional animation), which is already taking a few hours off of each weekend, never mind the work my 5 other classes give.

Anyways this chapter isn't anywhere near as fluffy as the last, but it does get back to the reality of things (or the reality of our favorite monks mind anyway. Lol).

Thanks for reviewing:

Noyesgirl– Sort of I guess. Lol. She was hunting them though. I kinda wish I had busted her nose in this chapter, it would have made me feel better. Lol

Tsukikage- XD Yes she does. Lol. …Maybe –chuckle- Thank you, the same to you (even though it late now…. Sorry).

plutobaby494- …maybe. Lol. It'll be revealed soon enough what it's meaning is. Thank you and sorry for the delay.

PsYcho PaRfait – Lol. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Sorry for the delay

Chichirifan- (or should I say CF. Lol) Thank you. Ya, I was craving sugar myself when I wrote the last chapter, so it kind of leaked out. Lol. No, I haven't been able to just yet, sorry. I've just been so dang busy. I'll get to it eventually though!

Dimonah Tralon- Thank you :) Lol. We all love Tasuki anyway, right?

Everqueen- hehe, Soi got what she deserved XD

Gammergirl- Thanks :) Ya, I recently downloaded Bleach, but I haven't really been able to watch it. I tried watching it when was I painted my project, but it's REALLY hard to paint and read subtitles at the same time. Lol.

Where I Walk Alone- Glad you enjoyed it :) Sorry for the delay!

SAI C- Thank you :) YEY! Cookies for the stressed college girl –munches on one as she thinks about her ball bouncing with a fox tail (yey for traditional animation. Lol. Lots of fun, but lots of work XP)-

R.W.A 13- Lol. Aw, that's alright :) Fanfic writing is very distracting T.T I loved the distraction, don't get me wrong, but I picked a bad time to want one –sigh-

bant- Fluff is good everyone and again, right? Lol. I'm glad everyone enjoyed that :)

Flames of Sadness Hurt and Betrayal- Sorry for the delay. Hehe, gotta love girls with huge chocolate cravings XD

Crimson Firefox- Thank you :D Ya, I had a ball writing the last chapter :)

D.D.Z. – Duel review! Woot! Lol. Thank you. I'm glad the last chapter was such a hit :D

Chichiri's Wanderer- XD Oh but of course. Lol So many questions…. Mind can't register O.o Lol XD

Ayshia- I'm glad you are enjoying it :) Sorry for the delay!

Painted Angel Wings- Lol. Hey, it makes for better suspense. Lol

Chapter 23

Soi growled angrily as she glared at the fire before her with such bitterness that even Suboshi sat as far from her as possible while still being warmed by the fire. It had been several hours since their last encounter with the Suzaku seshi, but her nose still pained her and a red tinge continued to linger upon it as if to remind the world of how easily she had been defeated by the otherworldly girl.

Electricity crackled around her as she sat there brooding. It was enraging to think that she, a Seiryuu seshi, had been removed from battle because of an accidental blow dealt by an average girl. Nakago would not be pleased to hear of this, something that angered her even further. That retched girl had been causing nothing but trouble for them since the day they had met and with each encounter she was coming up with better ways to both annoy and evade them.

Growling once more she found she could say one thing soundly- at least Keara wasn't the Suzaku no miko. In her opinion they were fortunate to have the naive Miaka as their opposing miko, the girl seemed hardly capable of taking care of herself in their world and wasn't anywhere near as cunning as the Seiryuu no miko, even if she was being manipulated by Nakago.

This new brat however had proven herself irritatingly intelligent when it came to keeping out of their grasp, or devising plans to escape when caught, powerful enough to knock out Nakago, a feat even Tamahome had great difficulties with (not that she understood how Keara was capable of such powers), and even had the unbreakable friendship of the Suzaku seshi. There was little doubt that had Keara been called forth by the god of the south it would have proven much more difficult to deceive her with things such as placing a false seshi in her clutches.

The fact remained however that Keara was not a miko, nor was she a seshi. She was a normal girl, or as normal as one gets for being from another world, and all they needed to do was find that simple weakness and exploit it before she had a chance to counter.

With this thought she let her mind explore the possibilities, each one worse than the last.

vvvv

Keara groaned softly as she slowly became aware of the world around her. Even though her mind was awakening from the well needed slumber she wanted nothing more than to stay where she was and fall back into the realm she had wandered within for the past few hours. It had been a wonderful place filled with all the things she loved from her world- family, friends, gymnastics, chocolate and other such things.

Not wanting to return to the world of reality just yet she hugged her pillow tightly… or at least it would have been her pillow had she been home. While the object she was clinging to did have something of a soft feel it definitely had a firm structure underneath its surface, unlike her extremely soft pillow that simply squished when she hugged it. Aside from this her pillow didn't normally have much of a scent to it, but this object smelled a bit musty, due to the dampness, and richly of a campfire.

Curiosity overtook her will to sleep and she opened her eyes only to find herself looking strait at a slightly dirtied white shirt. This completely confused her. Where was she?

As she turned her gaze upward she found her answer as well as her inability to breath. The object she was clinging to was a person! More to the point, it was Chichiri! How in the world has she ended up in this position? She could have sworn she had fallen asleep with some distance between them!

Despite her tight embrace, something often seen from small children who refuse to let go of their favorite stuffed animal, the monk still remained comfortably asleep. In fact he even had an arm draped around her, though his embrace was more protective than clingy.

Her vision suddenly started to blur and she realized she had been holding her breath for the past few moments. Exhaling sharply she took in a well needed breath of oxygen and mentally smacked herself for forgetting such a basic necessity.

When her breathing became normal once again she loosened her grasp on Chichiri and listened out for any signs of their other companions, wondering if they had awakened already. The only sound she heard however was the monk's soft breathing. Not even the crackling of the fire could be heard, which meant no one had gotten up to tend to it in the night. For this she grateful because it meant that no one had seen them in their current predicament and she wished to keep it that way, even if she found the placement rather comfortable.

The simplest and most painless way to awaken the monk turned out to be about the same as the one she had used only a few hours before, but instead of tickling him this time she only gave him a playful pinch on his side. If a simple poke to the area made him shift something a little more assertive was bound to make him awaken.

Chichiri groaned tiredly and shifted slightly to the touch, but not enough to free her. With an amused smile Keara repeated the action and silently laughed as the monk involuntarily twitched and uttered a soft, "meh." Had he been standing he would have either jumped or taken a step back, but he was lying on the ground and hadn't anywhere to go.

She was about to repeat the action once again when she felt a hand lock around her wrist. "Good morning Keara," Chichiri murmured with a faint smile, knowing full well who his attacker was even with his eye closed.

Deciding to not let her playfulness end so soon she twist her wrist around enough to poke his arm, an action that caused the monk to chuckle and release her. Grinning to herself she sat up and stretched. She had won the battle, now all she had to do was win the war.

Chichiri yawned quietly as he followed suit. "Sleep well?" Keara nodded and gestured towards him as if to ask the same thing. "Hai," he replied softly. Even though he would not admit it he had slept very peacefully, much more so than he had in quite some time.

"It's already late morning," Chichiri murmured to himself as he looked out the cave entrance. He turned his gaze to the young woman before him and smiled, "will you help me wake the others?"

With a nod Keara crawled off towards her first target- a certain redheaded bandit leader.

vvvv

"I can't believe we slept in so late," Chiriko said with a sigh. They had been walking for a few hours now, but they had originally planned to have traveled many more miles by this point in time.

"It doesn't help tha' some people-" he glanced over at Chichiri and Keara, "were causin' a racket las' night."

Chichiri scratched the back of his head nervously, "gomen no da." His mask was back in place and his kesa over his shoulder.

"Everyone needed the rest as it was," Mitsukake interjected. "We have all been exhausted from the constant battles with the Seiryuu seshi." No one could deny this fact, but it still remained that they were behind schedule and they desperately needed to catch up with their miko.

vvvv

Suboshi looked all about him. They had been traveling since dawn and still there were no signs of the Suzaku seshi or the girl they were after. It was extremely frustrating to chase after this group, especially when they did not know if the seshi were ahead of or behind them. If they were behind them all he and Soi had to do was slow their pace and keep their eyes open, but if the Suzaku seshi were ahead of them such an action would further the gap that had already been created.

With a sigh the boy crossed his arms and kept up his pace. Without having anything to go off of they were being led blind, but it was better to be ahead than behind if that was in fact their current placement. If they were ahead they would get to Sairou first and be able to tell if the Suzaku seshi had been there and if they had not all he and Soi had to do was backtrack and set up a trap.

He found himself wondering if Soi had the patience for something so simple however. For some time now the lightning seshi had been hell-bent on killing the mute girl, but with recent events the ideal had increased tenfold, making her seemly possessed and extremely frightening to be around.

In some ways he felt bad for the girl they were hunting, but in other ways he knew she had brought it upon herself. Had she just cooperated with them from the beginning none of this would be happening.

"Why are women so damn complicated?" he muttered to himself.

vvvv

Dusk was beginning setting in when the Suzaku seshi decided to stop for the night. Everyone was exhausted from the hard days travel since they had attempted to make up lost time and gladly accepted the chance to rest.

When camp was set Tasuki, feeling as if he had enough energy, disappeared to go hunting, leaving the others behind to do as they may. The youngest of the group took the free time to look over a map and make sure they were travling on the right paths. Mitsukake was next to him grinding herbs into powder. Even Keara was busying herself writing something in her native language- English. She was so involved in it that she took no notice as Chichiri get up and walk off. Perhaps that was a good thing though, for the monk seemed to want to be alone.

Chichiri wandered through the trees that grew to one side of their campsite with no destination in mind. On a normal day he would have been fine to sit around the fire and wait for Tasuki to return, but today something troubled him and it was making him uneasy.

A small lake came into sight several moments later. Its body was twinkling with the rays of the waning sun and the wondrous colors of sunset decorated the sky like a magnificent painting. Had he known this beauty was here he would have volunteered to get supper.

A gentle breeze blew past him, caressing his skin and rustled his hair as it went, but he paid little heed to it as he wandered over to a bolder that protruded some ways into the lake. The water swayed around the great multicolored rock as its small waves washed towards the shore to moisten the earth that had been left to dry during low tide.

Chichiri came to stand at the very end of the bolder to overlooking the lake, losing his mind to the gentle splashing of water below him. The scene was very peaceful, but within him was a conflict of such intensity that it canceled out the emotions of the place. This conflict dealt strongly with a certain young woman who had crept her way into his heart without his notice… or perhaps he had noticed it, but had refused to let himself think much of it because of the lingering grief of losing Hikou and Kouran those years ago.

Sighing he wondered if he would ever be able to forgive himself for that event. Part of him, the one that had dominated his mind since that fateful day, clearly said no, but the other part of him, a part that had been growing steadily stronger, wanted nothing more than to say yes.

With yet another sigh he brought a hand up to his face and removed the mask that idly sat there. He had created such covers to conceal his scar, knowing that it startled people, but that was not the only reason for its existence. Perhaps the biggest reason he wore it was to keep his past to himself and let others live their lives the best they could without feeling the need to worry over him. Even if he told his past to his friends they simply pushed it to the back of their minds when there was no sign of the scar to remind them of the dreadful tale. In all respects it was a normal human reaction.

His mind now spun wildly with grief and confusion and without realizing it he crushed his mask with one hand. Everything seemed so wrong. His mind wanted to stay loyal to his deceased friend and fiancé, but he found his heart betraying him by reaching out for Keara. It was as if his very heart was a stubborn child who was running away from his parents after an argument, only to take a moment to look back and stick his tongue out before continuing on his way.

But which should he follow, his head or his heart? One would keep him on the steady path he was currently on and the other would take him down a path much like the one he had traveled in the past- a path that had been filled with happiness for quite some time, but turned into nothing but grief and chaos by the end. Would the latter path turn out as the last one had? Or would it be different?

There was no answer for these questions and he doubted even Taiitsukun would be able to give him an honest response. The only way to find out would be to travel upon the rode, but by doing so he might just doom Keara, as he had doomed Kouran and Hikou, and this was not a risk he was keen on taking. And even if no would end up being killed because of his decision there was sill the fact that Keara was not from their world. She, like Miaka, would have to return home eventually…

The mere thought of losing Keara sent a jolt of pain through his chest, or, to be more precise, it felt like a dagger had just being ruthlessly jammed into his heart. In an attempt to ward of the emotion he shut his eye tightly and clenched his jaw, but this did little more than cause his jaw muscles to cramp.

It was a horrible pain, one he knew far too well. He had felt it after the flood years ago, when he lost those dear to him, and now that the thought of losing someone else, someone just as important, entered his mind the emotion had resurfaced as if to drown him.

Perhaps the thought had been taken too literally. The next thing the distracted monk knew something or someone shoved him off the bolder and into the lake.

So Chichiri was brooding. Silly monk, don't you know things happen to those who do that…. Like getting shoved into a lake for instance! But who would do such a thing? ….the world may never know XD Just kidding, we'll find out next chapter :D

Holy Suzaku (hehe) it's nearly 1am O.o I have a 8:30 class! Gah! -runs off-

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