He had felt Reiko's presence the same way the night Kaishi tried to kidnap her. Only tonight, it was an even worse feeling of dread. On his horse, Tasuki stops dead in his tracks. A sense of hopelessness fell upon him.

I am nowhere near her, he thought to himself. Who is going to protect her from whatever is happening right now?

He couldn't decide whether he liked this spiritual connection to her or not. It was great when I could go to her, he clenches his fists. But now...

Tasuki shakes his head in disbelief. "I can't be giving up on her now."

Since Tasuki left Mount Taikyoku, Chichiri, Ryo and Kaishi had been planning their next step of action. Kaishi had suggested to go back into Hokkan and spark a civil war in order to overthrow Nakuto. The other two did not accept this whole heartedly because Nakuto still had complete control of the army, and arming whoever still loyal to Reiko proved to be a great difficulty. After much deliberation, they decided to go to Hokkan, but not to lead a war. They needed to see how the situation had become after not knowing any news for a month.

"Can't we just get Chichiri to magically transport us over there?" Ryo asked.

"If you want to be dead the moment you get in there we can," said Kaishi. "After Chichiri's little foray into the palace and taking the katana with him, Nakuto would have hired some magic wielding guards I'm sure. They'd sense us coming and we'll be dropping in on our own trap."

"He is right, no da," Chichiri nodded in agreement. "But I could get us closer to the borders without trouble."

Chichiri's magic cut down their traveling days drastically and they could see Hokkan by night's fall. Even at that distance, they could see that Hokkan was a dead city.

Instead of going towards the city gates, Kaishi led them into an undergrowth.

"The Militants dug a tunnel leading out of the city," Kaishi explains. "Only our members know about this. Nakuto, I hope hasn't found it yet. I think he does not even suspect it."

Carefully counting his steps and looking for familiar signs, Kaishi clears the ground of leaves and twigs. Beneath, was a trap door. Using his magic to light the torches in the tunnel, he leads Ryo and Chichiri into Hokkan.

"Are you alright?" a hand reaches out from the darkness.

"Yes, thank you," Reiko replies, helping herself up. She realized it wasn't Tasuki who saved her, and she didn't know whether to be happy or sad.

The young man stepped out of the shadows. His hair was the same colour as Tasuki's, only longer, and his eyes were of a mellow green. Reiko is immediately reminded of Tasuki and she bites her lip to stop herself from crying.

"My name is Shun," he introduces himself. Seeing Reiko about to burst into tears, he suddenly embraces her. "Do not cry, it's alright. I'm here."

For a moment, Reiko was surprised at him, but to finally have somebody to be with in this place was enough for her to trust him.

"You are cold," he let's go of her. "And I assume you are hungry too?"

Reiko nods and let's him lead her to an inn.

Tasuki searched the area around Mount Taikyoku for signs of Reiko. It was hard, but he did have to start somewhere.
Following whatever signs he found, he hoped he was going the right direction. Hardly stopping for a break, and going on at full speed, Tasuki began to worry when he realised where Reiko had gone.
"Good thing I heard your scream back there, huh," said Shun as Reiko eats. "Want to order anything else?"

Reiko shakes her head. "I don't have any money left."

"Don't worry about it," Shun assures her. "I'll take care of it."

"Why are you so nice to me?" Reiko starts to think that he was too good to be true.

"I don't have alot of friends here, and I'd like one, if you don't mind."

"You're buying me off?"

"No. I saved you right? I think that's enough to consider me as a friend." He seemed hurt.

"I'm sorry," Reiko felt bad. "Thank you, again. But I can't be taking whatever you give me."

"Of course you can. I'm just being a good friend to you. That's all. No strings attached."

At that moment, a servant at the inn comes forward to give Reiko a new set of clean clothes. "By the way, I got these for you. I hope I got the right size," Shun tells her.

"I can't, really," Reiko tried to refuse.

"You can't be walking around in those. You must have been wearing them for days now."

"I'm alright in these, really."

"Please just accept my gift, as a friend."

Reiko was starting to hate the clothes she was wearing, tattered and torn. "You have to promise to let me pay you back some day."

Shun nodded with a smile.

Quietly emerging from below, Kaishi, Ryo and Chichiri make for the Militant's hideout. With a warm welcome, Kaishi's adopted family of loyal soldiers and spies updated him of recent changes.

Nakuto did indeed strategically place sorcerors to prevent anymore Suzaku warriors from getting into the palace. He also became even more aggressive in eradicating any found opposition to him. Worst of all, he sought the services of a powerful sorceress to track the princess down.

Ryo, for the first time, regretted letting Reiko go.Unlike Tasuki, Ryo had lost his connection to Reiko, and he didn't know why. He did not feel her anymore like before, and he began to hate himself more and more. Why didn't I run after her?

Amidst his thoughts, the members of Kaishi's group kept looking at Ryo in awe and reverence.

Chichiri was surprised at this atmosphere. He could feel their strong loyalty to Ryo, the royal family and even Reiko by the way they spoke about them. After dinner, Chichiri had a talk with Kaishi.

"The late Emperor must have been a truly charismatic and great man," Chichiri says. "Even though he's dead, no da, the people here still hold such high regard for him."

Kaishi nods. "For years before, Hokkan was always ruled by terrible kings. In the time of our miko, there was alot of trouble going on with the royal family. Then, Reiko's father becomes emperor, and for the first time, Hokkan was led by a stong yet kind emperor who truly cared for his people. And the people learned to cherish him, and since then, they were loyal to him and his family."

"If they were so loyal, how come nobody was able to stop Nakuto?"

"Nakuto's treachery caught everyone by surprise. Nobody thought anybody could do something like that to the Emperor. Especially not Nakuto. He was the Emperor's most trusted ally. He even made Nakuto general and entrusted the nation's army to him. So nobody knew who they could trust anymore. And Hokkan plunged itself deeper into despair. Many retreated into their own homes and cut themselves off from the trouble. Only a few of us took action and formed the Hokkan Imperial Militants. And this only happened many months after Nakuto's betrayal. It was difficult to sift out the loyal ones from the rest. The Captain has been a great leader for us."

"We haven't met this Captain of yours," Chichiri realises.

"He is currently out on duty," Kaishi tell him, with excitement. "I will bring you to him tomorrow."

Reiko sat on the bed in the room that Shun had rented for her. She was glad that he was looking out for her, but she can't help but feel that maybe Shun was being too keen. People always helped her out, but not as readily as Shun did. Even Tasuki only helped her after explaining her situation first.

Suddenly, she remembers her vision of Tasuki dying again and this time, she lets her tears fall. She clasps her hands over her mouth as she sobs.

Shun knocks on her door, and seeing her cry, he hugged her again. Reiko is startled by his closeness to her, but she lets him hold her as she cries and cries. He does not even ask her why.

She falls asleep with dried tears, in Shun's arms.

Tasuki asks around for Reiko, but most of the people just shrugged him off or ignored him. I've always hated Kutou, Tasuki thinks to himself.

Determined to find her, Tasuki searches for her throughout the night.

Kristall,

I'm sorry I ended this so badly! I always manage to keep readers annoyingly hanging. P Apologies. I made it longer than I usually do so you could read more and I hope the countless breaks didn't bother you too much. I just wanted to have the events happen simultaneously. And I am so glad somebody actually still reads this (: means alot to me. Watch out for this space!