--Hello, all! I'm back with a new chapter! Yay!!
AmY-DyLaN-SoHiA-aNiKi – Omigosh. Please don't talk to me about the Twilight series. I picked up Breaking Dawn when I hadn't read one of those for, like, two years. I read 5 pages (FIVE PAGES) and chucked it at the ground. I CANNOT read those books. (tosses series in a fire pit and roasts marshmallows) But I am certainly NOT doing a love triangle with Tai involved. My lovely friend Sarah ("Tai") does not want to sleep with more than one person…Actually, she's kinda uncomfortable about me writing graphically about her sleeping with one person…I am going to try to do a threesome, though…In fact, some of my pervy friends and me made a list of kinks I could try writing about. Some of them are…interesting…I seriously hope you guys keep reviewing when I put them in…(looks nervous) And I hope they're good!...I'll just apologize in advance… (bows repeatedly) Gomen! Gomen! Gomen!
Oh! Whoever's proud of me, raise their hand! I'm getting over my fear of spiders! Now, I think it's just a mutual despising…
I also finally figured out my perfect personality disorder, though an Internet quiz. I'm schizotypal…(looks around for a response…hears crickets) It means that I'm eccentric, sometimes confusing, slightly schizophrenic, and believe I'm psychic…Which I totally am! My astrology report said so! It said that all I need now to help me control my powers is a fish tank…xD (Also, if anyone's interested…I took the Dante's Inferno Test…I'm going to the eighth level. I could just hop on the elevator to go downstairs and visit my best buddy Satan, ahahahahaha. We'd be friends, of course, because I got the ninth level the first time I took the quiz…xP)
I just want to say…Braces are evil. Worse than Jigsaw. Okay, so it's not that bad…Well, yes it is. Nevermind.
And for my BFFL: I LOVE JORDAN EVANS WITH A BURNING PASSION!! Also, she has an account on FictionPress under the name ManyManyFaces. I encourage everyone to check out her stuff.
Disclaimer: I don't own Saiyuki or Fullmetal Alchemist.
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-Chapter Three-
(A/N: Do you people realize that, in all actuality, this is chapter 55 of my story?? This. Is. AMAZING.)
Goku stared at Tai, wide-eyed and mouth full, as she finished her tale.
"B-But," he stammered. "If she's your friend, then why th' heck would she try ta kill ya?"
Tai sighed. "I don't know…" She looked up, glaring at nothing in particular. "But I'm gonna beat her brains out…like, with a toaster or something…"
"Um, Tai-san. You do realize that Mizuru may have met with foul play, leading her to not be herself?" Hakkai: Always the voice of reason.
"Yeah! Like that creepy doctor guy!" Goku chimed in.
Tai growled. "Well, that would be unfortunate…But I'd still beat her…For being so weak, giving up when she had plenty of people to help her go on." Her eyes gazed into the distance, reminiscing.
No one said anything for a while. Then, Gojyo broke the silence.
"Jeez, Tai. You sound just like Sanzo." He burst into laughter.
A vein popped on Sanzo and Tai's foreheads. Within a moment, Gojyo found himself looking down the barrel of the priest's pistol. He gulped as he felt Tai's reiatsu-infused fist pressed against his head.
Hakkai chuckled. "Come now. Let's not ruin the table. Blood stains are not easy to get out."
Sanzo and Tai back off, and Gojyo exhaled in relief. Then, Hawk and the large man came in with more food. The others suddenly noticed that the plates in front of them were empty.
"Shit, Goku," Gojyo said. "You ate everything."
Goku just grinned at the new food that was being carried toward the table. The moment the plates were exchanged, he dug right in again. Hawk stared in amazement, then shook his head and turned to Tai.
"Will you be needing anything else, Madame?"
"How 'bout some more alcohol?" Gojyo shook the empty pitcher a bit.
Hawk smirked slightly and produced a full pitcher from behind his back.
Gojyo's eyes widened. "Shit, man. That's insane."
Hawk shrugged. "You pick up a few things when you run a tavern."
"Thanks, Hawk," Tai said, flipping him two coins as he left.
Hakkai shook his head. "I do wonder where you get all that money…"
"Oh, yeah!" Tai rummaged around in her pack, finally pulling out a yellow and black book.
"All…ch…em…ey…for…Doo…mies…" Goku read haltingly.
"'Alchemy for Dummies'," Hakkai corrected him.
"What's that suppos' ta mean?"
"That she's an idiot," Sanzo growled.
Tai gave him a death glare. "It's where I learned how to make money." She gazed down at the book, smiling sadly at a distant memory. "I used to yell at Mizuru for using it because it was illegal…"
"'Ille…gal'?" Goku asked, the word outside his limited vocabulary.
"If it's illegal, then why are you using it now?" Hakkai asked.
A mischievous glint appeared in Tai's eye, making her for a moment look much like Mizuru, back when she was Skye. "It's only illegal if you get caught." She held the book at eye-level, peering at it with narrowed eyes. Then she yawned, stretching a bit, causing the book to dip into the candle's flame. It lit up easily, the flames quickly spreading across the cover and smoldering the pages.
"Um, ya know your book's on fire, right?" Gojyo asked, eyebrow raised.
Tai raised her eyebrow back. "No, I hadn't noticed." She turned her attention back to the said object. "You know, this is the only copy in the universe…or at least this universe…"
"Then why in the world are you burning it?!" Hakkai exclaimed.
Tai held up one finger. "First, because it is illegal…and I'm…not supposed to support that. Out of Mizuru and myself, I'm supposed to be the responsible, mature one." (A/N: It's so true! (cringes) I love you, Sarah. Please don't hurt me.) She raised a second finger. "And also, it was hers. I shouldn't even have it. Unfortunately for me, she has a photographic memory…so I assume that as soon as her memories return, she'll remember every word of this book."
"Why is that bad for you?" Sanzo asked, finally showing some slight interest in the conversation.
"Because it seems that we're enemies now, her and I…and if that's true, this knowledge will make her even stronger."
"Whoa, seriously? Lemme see!" Goku reached for the flaming book.
Tai swung it away from him and popped him on the head with her other hand. "No! Equivalent Exchange is unhealthy!"
Gojyo reached over and lit up a cigarette from the burning paperback.
Tai glared at him. "And so are cigarettes!"
Hakkai gave Gojyo a pointed look that said "You-see?-I'm-not-the-only-one-who-thinks-so-after-all".
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Mizuru sat on the ledge, silhouetted by the moon. She gazed down the some fifty miles of the sheer cliff face atop which she was, down at the thin wisp of smoke snaking up from the campsite where the others slept.
The dark-haired girl clutched her head, trembling as if in pain.
"It's all coming back," she whispered.
She glanced down at the ends of her hair, shining silver in the moonlight. What was deepest black only a few days before was reverting back to its original dark brown.
She reached for the bandages over her right eye, wondering how thorough the changes were. She brushed the side of her cheek, hissing as the pain shot through her.
"Nope. Guess not…" she breathed.
Sighing, Mizuru gazed up at the moon. "Oh…" She suddenly remembered. "Emily…" She paused. "Wait. No. She called herself 'Tai'…"
Leaning forward, she propped her chin on her hand, gazing out over the valley with its silver river slithering like a slim viper.
"Tai…hmm……"
Her lips curved marginally, into the ghost of a smile, disfigured by the moonlight, and swept away on the wind.
-End-
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--So there we go. Chapter three, aka. Chapter fifty-five. Um, so Ruri-chan's gettin' her memories back, as well as her old looks. Tai's chillin' with the Sanzo Ikkou. Life is good. Well, sort of. It'd be 50x better if I didn't have these goddamn braces digging into my cheeks!! Ahem. Well, anyway…uhh…What was I talking about again…? Sigh. I don't remember...
Um, remember to look at the stories of ManyManyFaces, and I'll talk to you guys soon! Love you all! Ja ne!