Ello Again! On with the story

-Chapter 8-

Oh My God I Love a Pyro!

When the shadows cleared themselves from my vision I blinked about the palace gardens. Chichiri was sitting by the pond and jumped up when he heard the leaves crunching beneath my feet. He removed his mask when he saw me and smiled. "I'm glad you came back okay. No da."

I smirked at him playfully, "Psh…it was only Kuto." I rolled my eyes and giggled when he just shook his head and laughed.

"Well no da…I had Hotohori prepare you a room since I knew eventually you would come back.

"Hah. Of course you thought I would come back. You'd miss me too much if I didn't." I giggled.

"Oh of course no da." Chichiri said rolling his eye this time. "But I do have to say…someone else missed you more than I did. No da."

I raised an eyebrow curiously but then glanced over at the bushes where someone was hiding.

Tasuki.

I growled under my breath, "Where's my room?" I asked Chichiri politely. He was restraining a smirk himself from knowing all too well that Tasuki was spying on us but he obliged by telling me how to find my room.

After receiving directions I walked off to my new room. How dare he? You know lead me on and then go off to flirt with Miaka of all people. Ick. And then to spy on me while I was enjoying my time with Chichiri!

I then blinked in surprise at the path my thoughts had taken. Wait one damn minute. Who cares if he flirts with Miaka? I sure don't! I nodded my head as if reassuring myself of this.

Some people never learn. I thought with a sight as Tasuki trailed me. I made sure to slip though the door and then lock it behind me. I was surprised to find my closet full of clothes. After blinking away the surprise I decided to put them to use. I changed into a white long sleeved gown of silk. A red and black phoenix was trailing up the side. I pulled half my hair back and pinned it there with an elaborate clip I found on my dresser. I shrugged at my appearance. It wasn't my normal clothes and it was 'dressed up.' I couldn't understand why so many girls enjoyed making themselves look like this. Oh well.

My stomach growled and I blushed. I guess I had forgotten to eat today. I was wondering if there was a back door for me to slip out when there was a knock conveniently on the one I had just walked through. I sighed heavily as I opened my door. Tasuki stood there fumbling with an edge of his outfit. He had the cutest fanged scowl across his face. I mentally slapped myself, stop thinking like that! "Ya?" I asked impatiently.

His Amber eyes flashed up at me and they contained a fire in them. The fire wasn't from anger. I unconsciously shifted my body. "I wanted…..ta ah…..welcome ya home I s'pose…" He finally got out. "I ah…didn't think ya were gonna come back after out a lil…"

"Blow out?" I finished for him. I was confused. "Well um…ya thanks I guess." I said going around him. He turned and followed after me after cursing at himself. He caught up to my pace rather quickly.

"Can I ah show you something?" Tasuki asked me. I stopped walking looking at him suspiciously.

"What is it?" I asked.

"It's a surprise…" Tasuki grinned. There was his confidence. I relaxed a bit. Tasuki seemed to be back instead of whoever had melted at my door.

"Really?" I asked my curiosity getting the better of me.

"Ya know…to um…apologize about earlier today…I didn't really mean it…" Tasuki said his Amber eyes cast somewhere else.

"Well show me…and I'll see if I forgive you." I said with a smirk after I folded my arms.

Tasuki chuckled. "Alright. Close yer eyes." I gave in and shut them. I nearly screamed of shock when he took my hand and began to navigate me about the castle. I felt a flush covering my face as we walked. I was letting Tasuki lead me by the hand to Suzaku knows where…had I lost my mind?

"How far is this place fang boy?" I asked a smile spreading across my face. I heard him chuckle at the nickname I had given him.

"We're here." He responded although oddly he didn't release my hand.

I opened my eyes and gasped. He had led me to a small sparkling pond. It was surrounded by black, white, and red rose bushes. There were willow trees about it with leaves that dangled down to the ground. The light played with the shadows and they chased each other about on the surface of the water. "Wow…" I finally managed out. I walked over to the water passing rows of fruit trees and patches of flowers on the ground. I knelt down next to the bank of the water letting my hand trail in sparkling water. It was crisp beneath my fingers and felt refreshing.

"So you like it?" Tasuki asked coming up behind me.

"Hm…" I muttered standing back up and looking at him thoughtfully. He was wearing some white and maroon outfit that looked quite charming. UGH! I had to get these thoughts out of my head. I needed to…cool off. I smirked and grabbed him by the arms disappearing in the shadows.

"Kura!" Tasuki yelled at me grabbing on to me tightly now too.

"Hold your breath!" I laughed releasing us. He screamed as we fell into…well the pond beneath us. It wasn't very deep. I could stand in the center of it. I came to the surface of the water taking a deep breath.

Tasuki came up…noisily. "Were ya tryin' ta kill me woman! I can't fuckin' swim!" He shouted at me.

"Oh hush! It was fun! Besides you can stand and it feels sooooo good." I said dipping my head back in the water to relax but to also drowned out his complaining and startling confession.

Tasuki scowled at me. That's when I looked at him. If I had to keep my thoughts 'pure' getting him wet wasn't exactly the best idea. I felt my cheeks turn lightly pink.

"What!" Tasuki said as I looked away from him. He seemed to notice me know…oh shit I was wearing white! Thank god the black and red phoenix covered any real personal areas. None the less it was still way too revealing.

"I didn't exactly think about swimming wear." I said embarrassed. I sunk into the water so that only my head was exposed. My black hair floated on the surface about me.

"Ya didn't think at all." Tasuki corrected me turning his beat red face away from mine. He trudged to the edge of the pond and took off his trench coat holding it out behind him.

I blushed deeper but took his coat happily. "Thanks…" I muttered.

"No problem." He grumbled getting out of the water. He walked away quickly after that without saying good bye. Completely embarrassed I returned to my room again.

This time I showered and changed into more practical clothes. This outfit was dark green with pants. No matter how much I tried to calm down I couldn't make the pink blush go away and I couldn't stop thinking about Tasuki. Seeing his drying trench coat by the fire, that made my entire room smell like him, didn't help though I suppose.

I saw the sun setting outside and decided that I would head to the kitchens. Hopefully everyone would be eating by that time. I realized that I was starving. As I approached the kitchens I heard everyone shouting inside. I poked my head in curiously and they didn't even acknowledge the fact that I was there.

"I'll go with ya Miaka!" Tasuki, now dry, clean, and with new clothes, shouted loudly from across the table at the young girl cowering behind Chichiri.

"We don't really need to take everyone, no da!" Chichiri said exasperated as everyone else had objected to Tasuki and put in there own name.

"What exactly are we all trying to kill each other over!" I put in sharply cutting through everyone's noise. I sure did seem to know how to turn the attention to me. Everyone shifted and blinked.

Miaka beamed at me, "I'm going to get Tamahome! Chichiri is going to take me!"

"Oh really?" I asked casting an icy gaze at him. "I think that is…" I trailed off calmly walking to the table. "The most foolish and irresponsible idea I have ever heard!" I shouted. "This is Kuto we are talking about! I am not letting anyone go over there right now. We are on the brink of war and so you want to invade!" I asked looking at them angrily.

Some of them gulped. Miaka didn't. Her gaze met mine challengingly. "I'm going." She said finally. "If none of you will take me I'll go myself."

My mouth hung open but then I smirked, "You think you can sneak off out of my sight?" I then laughed. "You're not going."

"But we need him." Nuriko muttered quietly from his seat at the table. He was one of the few not standing.

I cast my glance over at him, "We what? Right now?" I asked confused.

"We need to perform the ceremony…" Nuriko elaborated.

"But we're still missing someone!" I shouted looking at them like they'd all lost their minds.

"We uh…found the last warrior…he's outside somewhere." Nuriko said. I then noticed that maybe not everyone was present. Mitsukake was gone too.

I sighed, "Well…I still don't like this idea." I looked across the table pleading with Hotohori to somehow help me in this absurd idea. I mean he was an emperor…he had to know this was an insane idea.

"Alright." Hotohori said calmly resting his palms on the table. "Chichiri will take you. Tasuki will go with you because he can run if need be and his fire would be useful to you if something were to happen. And Kura…you go because likewise if anything happened once again we could retreat. All three of you would be able to run away if something bad happened." He repeated.

My mouth fell open, "You-you want me to go!" I asked. I then felt like that was a stupid question. That's what he had just said wasn't it? I sighed defeated. "Okay…" I walked over to them. Hotohori had a point. It only made sense for me to go. I was after all the only one who knew there was a crazy guy on the loose. "I assume we're leaving now…?" I then looked at Chichiri.

"The cherry tree. In the gardens." He told me taking Miaka's hand as he removed his hat to teleport.

"Come on Fang Boy." I said waving for him to come over. He came over with a smug look as if he himself had won the argument. I then whisked the two of us into shadow.

"I can't believe you all think this is a good idea!" I scowled as soon as we were blocked off from the world. I was walking about the shadow realm with Tasuki close at my heels. The shadows flashed bitterly at my temperament.

Tasuki scowled, "We need ta perform the ceremony."

"Oh yah that's right. No wonder you're in such a hurry." I said angrily. "You just want to get back to that mountain!" I said mockingly.

"Well don't you want to get rid of us! I mean if we summon Suzaku you don't have to put up with any of us anymore!" Tasuki said back defensively. I couldn't help but think he was asking me two questions there.

I felt a stab in my heart at that and my face fell from anger to upset as hurt mixed into the formula. "Ya…I guess you're right." I had never actually thought about after the ceremony. But then again I never thought about the ceremony. We lapsed into an awkward silence. "We're um…here." I got out as I found our destination. "So brace yourself." I warned as the darkening realm dissolved and moonlight filled the Sieryu gardens.

I had this uneasiness in my stomach as we walked across the gardens. Some flower petals rolled about my feet by a slight wind. "Stay close." I whispered. I wasn't sure where that man was…but then again he had no chi there would be no way for me to know if he approached us. I then felt myself flying across the yard as Tasuki screamed my name. I hit a wall hard with a soft grunt. I opened my previously shut eyes and looked at the smirking man in front of me. "Miss me?" I asked with a smirk of my own. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction of seeing me gasp for the air that my lungs burned for.

Tasuki was running towards us, "STOP!" I shouted. Obediently he halted in his tracks. He was glaring at the man with murder in his eyes. "You know where you're needed." I told him. He seemed torn but with my intense glare he darted off to help Chichiri and Miaka.

I was disappearing into the shadows but I felt myself yanked back harshly and thrown across the field again. I was skidding across the grass. A small shriek had escaped my lips just from shock. I pulled myself up quickly so that I could land a fair kick to him this time when he came charging at me. I spat out blood from scraping my lip open. I then licked it and set a hard glare at him. "Fool." I was taking a few steps towards him as he was picking himself up from the ground. I then dodged as he attacked me again.

It was the hardest I had ever fought. We were evenly matched. I would throw a punch but he would block. Neither of us had a weak point and neither or us seemed like we were gonna stop until the other lay broken at our feet.

We began to use our speed across the forest. The trees and flowers becoming blurs around us. He was fast, not like Tasuki, but at my level. He had drawn a dagger taking swipes at arteries. He always came dangerously close yet I still managed to keep just out of reach.

I lost track of time. The blurs of trees around us disappeared. I didn't stop to look although it would have been wise of me too. Next thing I knew there was a lake behind me. No big deal. A little water never hurt anyone.

"Kura!" I heard Tasuki shouting from across the field. I made the mistake of looking in his direction completely startled. He had pushed me all the way to my seishi and priestess. Tasuki was fighting off Tamahome who was still possessed. He was beaten up pretty bad. The look of absolute horror was on his face. I was confused; he was the one bleeding everywhere.

That was when I turned back to my opponent seeing his wide smirk. I felt a cool presence behind me. I gulped and suddenly was sucked backwards. I went up and then crashing down. It took several moments for me to realize that I was under the pond that had been behind me. I tried to swim up but it suddenly felt as if there were spirits in the water and they all had a hold of me. They were pulling me downwards.

I could see the moonlight on the surface of the water and I could see it rippling above me just tantalizingly out of reach. I was being dragged downwards. Deeper and deeper into the abyss I went as the water rippled above me. Then it was disturbed again. I saw someone coming after me. It wasn't until he was within arms reach that I noticed his hair was flaming red.

Tasuki dove in the water after me! Was he nuts? Didn't he tell me he couldn't swim! With both our lives on the line I heard Chichiri yelling at me to leave and that they were fine and that they had left. He sounded frantic as if he wasn't sure I could hear him or not. I sent back. 'ok.'

Tasuki had wrapped his arms around me. I could feel it getting darker around me. No. I had to stay conscious. I started to mentally cling out to any nearby shadow. I caught a hold of a small tiny one and tugged at it, as my life line. I felt the water be forcibly pushed away from around us. I then landed harshly on solid ground with Tasuki. Ironically by that small stream I used to train by. I coughed up water while Tasuki heaved in air.

Tasuki then turned to me with searching eyes as he watched me catch my breath, "Never! Never ever! Do you look away from the enemy! Ya baka!" He coughed. Droplets were dripping off his hair and he looked dashingly handsome with that scowl on his face.

"I thought-you couldn't swim?" I coughed back ignoring his names.

He looked down at me, "I can't." I then reached my arms up around him pulling him to me. He was quick to respond. Our lips tasted each other twice before our tongues met to dance with one another. His hands seemed to touch all the right places and I knew I was doing my fair share when he deepened our kissing.

We didn't go back to the palace until morning.

So what'd you think? I know I know...its short...hahah but are you really that upset? I mean come on...you cant be that upset...They are FINALLY together...I mean it took EIGHT chapters. Okay? lol. Those prude pple hahahaha.

Please review!

Till Next Time

-miracle