Gemini: ... Hum... seems to be a little quiet today, don't you think so Cancer?

Cancer: Ah huh...

Gemini: Hum... Am I forgetting something here or what?

Cancer: Ah huh...

Gemini: Hum... (Scratches her head) what could that possibly be?... let me think (scratching her chin while thinking)...DING, Light bulb goes on Oh, the DISCLAIMERS!!!

Cancer: Ah huh...

Gemini: Sigh... Okay, here it goes...

Disclaimer: We, Twin Girls do not own Fushigi Yuugi. This amazing anime is created by Yuu Watase, Flower Comics, Shogakukan, Bandai, TV Tokyo, .....

Cancer: STOP!!!

Gemini: .....

Cancer: I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS, CAN YOU BE MORE ENTERTAINING THAN THAT

GEMINI?!?!? YOU'RE PRACTICALLY SAYING THE SAME THING OVER AND OVER AGAIN MAN, OMG!!!

Gemini: ...... Uh.... Did I? (Sweatdrops) Well, any NEW ideas Cancer?

Cancer: Why can't you just say this:

Disclaimer: Yo man, we Twin Girls do not own the Fushigi Yuugi... BUT WE DO OWN KAYLA, SO WHAT ARE YA GONNA DO ABOUT IT HUH, HUH HUH, BWAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Gemini: (Sweatdrop grows bigger and suddenly collapses to the ground and fainted)...

Cancer: .... What? Well, isn't this disclaimer more UNIQUE than the ones before?!?! Don't you guys think so?

Chapter 6: Temporary Truce

Kayla woke up to a strange sensation. Her body felt sore and it hurt her drastically when she tried to move any part of her body not to mention an almost intensive raw pain on her right arm.

She tried to open her eyes but found everything blurry as her mind was still making the shift back to reality. Her head hurt a little, but it was at least better than before she had fallen unconscious.

Where am I now? She silently asked as she shifted her head to her right and looked at the surroundings through her blurry vision. She was lying on some hard yet comfortable surface in which she presumed to be a bed or something. She realized that her hands were no longer bound together once she had found that she could move her right hand quite freely. However, the raw pain on her right arm still dominated the aches and pains of the rest of her body.

To her surprise, she realized that she was not alone when her vision began to clear! SOMEONE was in the same room with her at the moment. In fact, she could sense that his or her presence was very close to her right now!

Her eyes widened in shocked and she was no longer dazed. There was a MAN by her bedside, with her right sleeve torn open and revealing her bare right arm! Her mind was still too shocked to think clearly and therefore she just acted instinctively and irrationally....

'SLAP'

"HENTAI!!"

"KUSO!!"

The man swore as he held his hand to his face where Kayla had slapped him. Kayla jumped to the farthest side of the bed away from him, facing him in a defensive position ready to attack if he tried anything funny.

The man looked at her clearly annoyed. "What the hell did you do that for?!?!" He demanded.

"You.... You HENTAI!!! How can you even asked that?!?! After you ripped my clothes when I was unconscious!!" Kayla cried back furiously.

The man looked at her in surprise but quickly resumed back to annoyance and anger once more. He then replied in a deliberately slow and forceful voice like he was talking to a three-year-old. "What the hell did you think I was doing?.... In case you haven't noticed, you and I are both men!!! I'm not interested in that sort of thing even though I hate women!!! The reason I torn off that stupid sleeve of yours was so that I could bandage your fcking wounds!!!"

Kayla blinked, then blinked again and finally turned to look down at her right arm. She realized that he wasn't lying. Her arm was injured. It was covered with deep rashes that look like burnt marks. So that's where the raw pain is coming from.... I must have gotten burned somehow while I had fallen unconscious or something she thought as she looked back at the man who had only saved her. Her face felt hot from the embarrassment of making a fool of herself.

"Uummm.... I.... I...." She stammered and didn't know what to say. What do you say to a man whom you just accused of being a pervert, even though he believes that you're a man?

"Save it!" he retorted before she could finish. Kayla could tell that he was in a bad mood. She didn't blame him.

For the first time since she had woken, Kayla took a closer look at the man in front of her. Through all the chaos, she had been too distracted to have actually really looked at the man.

He wore dark beige pants with a matching dark blue trench coat and black boots. Along with the beaded necklace around his neck, he had on a matching pair of earrings. However, his most startling, yet most intriguing features were his flame-coloured hair and his intense golden-brown eyes, which matched the colour of her eyes.

Wait a minute!!! Flame-coloured.... KAMI-SAMA NOT HIM 'AGAIN!' Kayla couldn't believe her bad luck. It was that annoying, flame-haired baka again! The LAST person she expected to see again. It was all because of this man that she was in this mess!!!

The flame-haired man studied the boy in front of him. Strange boy… stupid too he thought fumingly. What an idiot... Did he really thought that I would actually try something funny on him?!?! From how he reacted, you'll think he's a girl or something!

Despite his anger, he couldn't help but found this boy to be very familiar. That feeling had been nagging him ever since he brought the boy to his hideout. He wasn't sure why he saved the boy from Eiken in the first place. It was not like he cared or something, he didn't even know the boy for Suzaku's sake! However it just didn't feel right to just leave the boy with that bastard. Maybe he just decided to save Eiken's prisoner just to piss Eiken off, it was the only logical explanation he could think of.

He had found the boy to be small and incredibly light when he carried him here on his shoulders. His dark braid was long compared to most men he had seen with long hair before. In fact, the only other guy he had seen with hair like that was earlier yesterday when....

Damn!! His eyes widened in recognition and mentally kicked himself for not noticing it sooner. It's that same runt who stole my horse last night! He thought. He didn't know whether to be angry, shocked or amused from the whole turn of events... Anger won.

As if on cue, both of them snapped out of their trances and jumped at each other.

"You!!" They both exclaimed at the exact same time, determined to chew each other to pieces if needed.

"This is all your fault!!!!"

"Where the hell is my horse?!?!" Both of them shouted at each other, almost oblivious to the other's shouting.

They realized that they were going nowhere and ended up glaring at each other with such fierce intensity that the room seemed to shudder under the mighty aura emitting from the two. It seemed like an eternity before the man broke the silence.

"What the hell did you mean that this is MY fault?!?! You're the guy who stole my freakin' horse!!" He shouted angrily.

Kayla narrowed her eyes. "It is too, YOUR fault, if you had kept your big stupid mouth shut, I wouldn't have been discovered by those two stupid bandits, then I wouldn't have taken your horse which led me into the forest ONLY to be robbed AND kidnapped by ANOTHER group of bandits, which resulted to me being here with you AGAIN by some cruel twisted fate!!!.... Plus I DID NOT STEAL your horse, I was just BORROWING it, I was going to return it!" Kayla shouted angrily before she took a deep breath. She had said all that in one breath, old habits were always hard to change.

The man was surprised at the small boy's ability to talk so much in only one breath but recovered quickly. "Borrowed my ass! You and I both know that you STOLE it!!! Now just where the hell is my horse?!?!"

Kayla was on the verge of exploding. "For the second and LAST time I did not, I repeat, DID NOT steal, I only BORROWED your horse, so get that into that thick head of yours!" She took a deep breath to calm herself before continuing. "Besides, I CAN'T return your horse to you even if I wanted to anyway... If you weren't listening to me before, then I will REPEAT myself again!!! I was robbed and kidnapped by some mountain bandits...."

She paused as a question occurred to her. "Just how did I get here anyway? Not that I'm complaining but the last thing I knew was that I was with that bandit leader, Eiken and just who the heck are you?!?! How in the world did I end up here with you?!" She said accusingly.

The man smirked at the boy's confusion. He folded his arms in a casual gesture. "What's wrong with being with me? I'm sure I'm a much pleasurable company than that bastard leader you were with before." He said with a smirk obviously mocking her.

Kayla glared at the irritable man, refusing to let him get the upper hand. "Don't flatter yourself." She said impatiently. "Just answer my question alright unless you want to experience another slap on the face," she threatened.

The man snorted at her threat. "I doubt you'll be able to slap me again, you just got lucky that you caught me off guard last time, however.... if you must know, most people know me as Genrou and that so-called 'Leader' of the Mount Leikaku bandits is a fraud and a traitor. He stole the leader's position when the former leader died. The man who was suppose to take the leader's place afterward had left earlier to find a cure." Genrou's voice lowered in anger as he spoke and his fists tightened as he thought of that bastard, Eiken. He wanted no more than to beat that traitor to a bloody pulp.

Kayla slowly digested the information into her mind as she listened. She looked at Genrou, noticing his fists were clenched in anger. She didn't comment. Instead she asked, "And how do you fit into this whole picture?"

Genrou smirked again. It was really beginning to annoy her. "And here I thought you were a smart little guy," he said mockingly. Kayla glared at his comment but he didn't notice. "I'm the one who was suppose to take over the position when the leader passed away, and so therefore I'm also the one who left to find a cure."

"So you're... you're a BANDIT also?!?!" Kayla didn't know why she was so surprised. She should have figured it out by the way he dressed with his fancy jewellery, his clothes and his downright rude attitude. She stood up from the bed in exasperation. "What's with you bandits anyway?!" Kayla asked frustratingly.

Genrou was confused with her outburst. "What....?" but Kay didn't let him finish.

"Do I have a sign on me that says 'ROB ME' or something that I'm not aware of. What is it with me that makes you stupid bandits to keep harassing me all the time and making my life miserable?!" Kayla knew she was being a little unreasonable but it was true. What were the chances of her encountering bandits not one or two, but THREE times within two days? It was like she was a prime target for bandits or something.

Genrou's eyes narrowed at her comment. "Note that 'this stupid bandit' as you so-called put it, had just saved your ass or else you would have been still trapped in there and getting your ass kicked if it wasn't for me."

Kayla's temper only grew at the implications he was making it sound like she was helpless. "I didn't need your help, I was fine on my own," she said stubbornly.

Genrou smirked in amusement. "Oh I'm sure you were 'fine' especially since he had beaten you to a point of unconsciousness last time I checked." His voice was heavy with sarcasm.

"I wouldn't have been in that position if it weren't for you in the first place? This is all your fault!" Kayla was clearly losing her temper as she stepped closer to Genrou face to face (well as close to face to face since she only reached up just underneath his chin anyway).

"My fault?!?! You're the one who stole my horse!" He shouted back.

"I said 'borrowed'!! Not 'stole'!!! Get that into your thick skull already!!"

"And I say you stole!"

"Borrowed!"

"Stole!"

"Borrowed!!"

"Stole!!".....

Both of them could have gone on arguing forever if it wasn't for the unexpected knocking at the door that had broke the fierce tension in the room. Both stopped arguing and turned to face the door while continued shooting each other death glares.

'Knock, knock.' "Who's there?... It's me, Kouji, here to see Genrou, his best friend.... Kouji! Come on in, the doors' unlock!.... Thank you."

Kayla sweatdropped, undoubtedly knowing whom it was at the door. She only knew of one man with that strange knocking habit.

Kouji opened the doors and stepped in, revealing his ever confident, yet casual grin on his ruggedly handsome face. "Genrou!" He cried as he saw his best friend.

"Kouji!!!" Answered Genrou, forgetting his recent argument for the moment. He went over to Kouji, hooking his arms with him and started dancing in circles in their traditional bandit dance they did every time they see each other.

If possible, Kayla's sweatdrop grew bigger. That's even a bit weirder than Kouji's knocking habit she thought as she watched the two of them danced.

The two bandits eventually settled down from their dance and started joking around and basically ignoring Kayla for the moment. Kouji then finally noticed the unexpected 'guest' in their secret hideout.

"Hey it's you!" Exclaimed Kouji in recognition of the boy from before. He was wondering what had happened to him after Genrou went to surprise Eiken with his presence. "Are you alright? Sorry that I had to leave you in there with Eiken but as you had seen, I had no other choice but to follow him until Genrou gets back."

Kayla regarded him suspiciously but realized that he was actually being sincere. She smiled a little. At least he seems more decent than that flame-haired baka over there She decided. "I'm alright I guess."

Kouji nodded "That's good, hey! I didn't catch you name last time but you know mine, so what is your name?" Genrou listened, surprised that his friend knew this boy before. Amazingly, after all this time talking/arguing with the boy, he too didn't catch his name either.

"It's Kayla," Kayla answered without thinking. Then she cursed herself when she realized her mistake too late.

"Kayla?" asked Genrou with one eyebrow raised in surprised. "Don't you think that's a little.... a little too girlish for a boy's name?"

Shit! Why did I tell them my real name? It's too suspicious to have a girl's name when you're suppose to be a BOY! It's too late to go back now, how am I going to fix this?! Kayla could kick herself for slipping up, now she would have to think of some other excuses fast before Genrou and Kouji get too suspicious and figure out her secret!!

"Ummm.... you see my parents had always wanted a girl and they even thought of a name for her, which is Kayla but when they had me, a 'boy' obviously, they decided to keep the name because they were uhh... lazy I guess.... yeah... umm... too lazy to think of another name. That's why my name is kind of girlish hehe..." She tried to explain as she made it up along the way. That was so lame!! I hope they will buy it, please let them buy it!! She silently prayed as she waited for their responses.

"O...k.... whatever.... Kayla..." Genrou started slowly, not really knowing why Kayla was acting so nervous about his own name. He didn't really care what his name was and neither did Kouji as he just shrugged in indifference.

"So how did you get here Kayla?" Kouji asked. However before Kayla could answer, Genrou had already answered for him. "I saved him while Eiken was beating the crap out of him," he said with a smirk. That made Kayla mad again

"I didn't ask for your help." She said stubbornly again.

"Yeah, yeah whatever," Genrou replied, waving his hand with indifference, which made Kayla even madder. She was about to burst at his ignorance when Kouji decided to step in before things went too far.

"Genrou, I've figured a way to get into the hideout and steal the Tessan back from Eiken without hurting our own men," Kouji said facing Genrou. Genrou's eyes darkened at the mention of the traitor's name. "It's about time, I was beginning to think that I would have to wait forever or something for a little action like that." He replied, cracking his knuckles in anticipation.

They continued to talk as Kayla watched them, not really knowing what she could do. In moments like these where she had nowhere to go and without a friend by her side, she couldn't really help but feel a little lonely. She wished that her parents were with her. Okasan... Otosan.... I still miss you terribly, it still hurts too much she thought as her hand went unconsciously to her chest where her necklace would be. She gasped, when she felt nothing. Her necklace wasn't there! She realized immediately that her necklace was still in Eiken's greedy clutches! She had to get it back, even if she had to tear down the whole stronghold to do it!

Genrou and Kouji stopped talking when they heard Kayla gasped. When they looked to see what was happening, they saw a frown appeared on the boy's expression. Then to their surprise, he began to walk towards the door. "Where the hell are you going?" demanded Genrou, though it didn't seemed like he was overly concerned.

"Back" retorted Kayla as she opened the door.

"What! They'll catch you the minute you set one foot in there!" exclaimed Kouji, shocked that the boy could be so foolish.

"I don't care," answered Kayla. "I have to get my necklace back, it's all I've left." One could hear the little desperation in his voice as he started out the door.

Kouji quickly closed the door before Kayla could walk out and grabbed her arm to stop her. Unfortunately, he had accidentally grabbed Kayla by her injured arm and she yelped in pain. Kouji let go instantly as he realized his mistake. He then looked at Kayla with disapproval. "See, you're still injured. How do you expect to get in without getting caught first?" He asked challengingly

"I don't care, I'll find a way, it won't be a problem," whispered Kayla stubbornly while cradling her injured arm. She didn't have a choice. She had to get it back. It's all she had left from her parents.

"You mean it's suicidal. You talk some sense into him Genrou" Kouji said, looking at his best friend for help.

However, Genrou snorted and just folded his arms across his chest in an 'I-don't-care' sort of manner. "I don't see why you care. Just let him go do whatever he wants, get himself killed for all I care, he's been nothing but trouble since I first met him." He said harshly as he leaned against the wall.

Kayla silently fumed at his comment while Kouji rolled his eyes. "Geez... you're a lot of help, thanks a lot" he replied sarcastically. Genrou grinned, showing off his famous fangs. "You're welcome," he replied. Kouji just ignored his friend's comment and turned back to Kayla "Look, I know how much you want to go back but if you can wait, we already have a plan of how to get in unnoticed"

Kayla looked at him suspiciously. "Why are you helping me? Why do you care?"

Kouji grinned "I don't... it's just that having you storm in there and getting caught will alert Eiken and the others and it'll spoil our own plans to get in unnoticed.... so what do you say? Do we have a deal?"

Kayla hesitated as she looked at Kouji's expression. He seemed trustworthy enough even though he was a bandit. After all, he was somewhat nice to her even when she was caught. However, she couldn't be too sure with Genrou as she looked at him, still leaning against the wall waiting for her answer. It was just that ever since she had met him, she was constantly in danger. However... she thought. He did saved me even though he didn't have to... that kind of proves that he does have a heart under all that big ego of his... plus Kouji seem to trust him a lot too. She nodded as she made her decision.

"On one condition," she said looking up at Kouji, indicating that she meant business. "I have to come with you."

"What?!?!" cried Genrou as he jumped up and stormed to where the other two were standing. "There is no fcking way that I'm going to let some boy tag along and spoiling our plans." He glared at Kayla but for once she ignored him, as she fixed her gaze on Kouji who seemed just as surprised.

"I won't be in the way and I won't spoil your plans if that's what you're worrying about," she said determinedly. "Either you let me come along or I'll go alone and risk getting caught. It's your choice." She folded her arms waiting while Genrou was swearing up a storm.

"I can't believe we're even having this conversation! If we're so worry about him alerting Eiken, I say we just tie up the runt and gagged him before we go!" Genrou said, looking at Kouji while grinning evilly at Kayla.

Kayla shot him a warning glare. "If you dare so much as to even touch me, I'll swear you'll live to regret it," she threatened. "Just try me!" Threatened Genrou as he advanced towards Kayla but stopped when he felt a hand on his shoulder holding him back. He turned to see Kouji who smirked at him.

"We may need his help" Kouji replied, and Genrou could swear that he heard amusement in his voice. He actually thinks this is funny?!?! He silently fumed. "I doubt it," retorted Genrou, still glaring at Kayla who returned the favour with another death glare, hence another glaring contest.

However, Kouji ignored it and hold out his hand to Kayla. "You've got yourself a deal, truce?" Kayla smiled and took his hand in a firm hold. "Truce," she confirmed while secretly flashed Genrou a cocky 'I-win- this- round' smirk.

Genrou shook his head in disbelief. Damn! We're screwed!

"THIS is your plan?!?!" exclaimed Kayla as she stared at the near hidden cave in front of her. Beside her stood Genrou while Kouji was somewhere else at the moment carrying out the plan. A few hours had passed since they had made this temporary truce and already she was beginning to have very doubtful thoughts.

Genrou let out an exasperated sigh. "Yes, this is the place, you've got a problem with that?!"he demanded as he looked at Kayla. To his surprise, he saw the boy looking at the cave seemingly uncomfortable. Suzaku! Is he actually nervous?!?! In going into a cave?!?! This should be good... Bwhahahaha!! He mentally laughed. One could practically see the evil glint in his eyes and the wheels turning in his head.

"N...No!!" answered Kayla, trying to control her stammering. "It's just that when you said a secret passage to the leader's room, I was expecting.... expecting... well certainly NOT expecting this!" she said pointing at the cave.

Genrou looked at Kayla strangely then smirked. "What were you expecting? A fancy hallway with decorations and a sign that says 'Secret Passage' on it or...." he leaned towards Kayla and whispered. "Or are you afraid of the dark?"

"I am NOT afraid of the dark!" retorted Kayla as she glared at the annoying man beside before looking back at the cave again. He's laughing at me! I can't believe this!

Genrou smirked at the boy, obviously satisfied with himself. "Good," he replied as he headed towards the cave without a backward glance to see if Kayla was following. "We better get this over with, Kouji will be waiting for us on the other side. Of course.... if you don't want to...." He let the option hanging as he went into the cave, no doubt laughing at Kayla.

Kayla hesitated for a moment before following him into the cave. There was absolutely NO way she was going to let some egotistic jerk get the better of her. Even if it meant that she had to go into some unknown cave with a man whom she only met a few hours ago.

Self-preservation was never her strong point.

Author's Notes:

Gemini: Wow!!! This has been one long chapter and it had taken me a while to write it. However I really enjoyed writing it. BUT this story is not getting enough REVIEWS!! (starts crying)

Cancer: (Pats Gemini on the shoulder). There, there Gemini, it's not the end of the world (hands her a handkerchief)

Gemini: WAHHHH!!!!!! BUT IT IS!!!!!!! (Cries harder)

Cancer: (Sweatdrops) Uummm.... well at least you still have me to read your story.... Hehehe....

Gemini: (Stops sobbing and hugs Cancer in a tight grip). Thank you, Thank you.... you're my only friend in the whole wide world!!!!

Cancer: (Starts to turn blue and chokes) Please.... get her.... off me!!!!.... PEOPLE.... PLEASE REVIEW so that she can.... turn back .... to normal already!!!!

For those who have been following this story, we thank you very much, it's nice to know that some people like our story. We hope you enjoy chapter 6!! and chapter 7 will come soon AFTER we get some more feedbacks, we promise LOL. Anyway, what can possibly happen next for Kayla and Genrou (Tasuki) in a cave and when they battle Eiken?!?! Your guess is as good as ours! Bye for now!!