Chapter Twenty Two
Night was falling by the time the Suzaku Seishi arrived in Eiyou, and the moon was already climbing high in the sky over the capital city as they entered through the main gates. They had decided to make the short journey on horseback, despite Chichiri's protests that he could handle another transportation, and consequently Aidou, Anzu and Tamatama had ridden with them, making it a party of eight who approached the Kounan royal palace.
As they abandoned their horses, Hotohori gazed up at the familiar columns of his former home, and a flicker of regret surfaced in his goldish eyes.
"For the last time, I fear." He murmured, more than half to himself, and Mitsukake laid a gentle hand on his shoulder.
"Not an ending. A new beginning." He said softly, and Hotohori started, sending his friend a smile. He nodded.
"Indeed." He agreed. "But...to enter, must we not disturb the palace guard? And Houki...Houki may..."
He faltered, and Chichiri shook his head.
"It's all right, you know." He said with a grin. "I'll use my magic to get us into the shrine. Noone need see us at all - I think it's better they don't see you, Heika, considering how badly you scared that poor boy the other night."
"You've already been told once, Chichiri - lay off the magic until we're inside the shrine." Nuriko eyed him severely, shaking his head. "You almost drained yourself getting us to Jouzen and you can't keep pushing yourself over the limit. We don't know what power any of us needs to do this - or if we even can...if the likeness of Suzaku is enough of a medium for us to use to try and recreate Tamahome's 'existance'. But it's no good if you wipe out before we even get to that point. We'll go through the gate. I'll speak to them. It's no problem...they'll let us in."
"You're dead, Nuriko." Tasuki eyed him doubtfully. "What are you going to do?"
"No violence." Hotohori held up his hands. "I will not disrupt my son's sleep with reckless breaking and entering. If we must use the gate, then I insist we find some way of doing it which doesn't require Nuriko to use his strength."
"I wasn't going to use my strength." Nuriko said with a grin. "Look at me. In this light, Hotohori-sama - and if I was to be cloaked and hooded - who might I be, do you think? Dressed this way - in Tamatama's fine silks?"
Hotohori's eyes widened, and Nuriko dimpled.
"I'm hurt." He bantered. "Are you so in love with Houki now that you forget she and I, we have a lot in common in terms of appearance?"
"Noone will ever believe you're the dowager empress, you moron." Tasuki snorted. "Come on. You might look kind of alike, but they're going to notice that you're flat-chested, to begin with. You're not a woman, even if you prance around like one - that's the material difference."
"Tasuki-chan, noone is going to be looking at my chest." Nuriko said sweetly. "I'm simply going to act as a diversion. Nothing else. Although Anzu, you should probably give him a slap for speaking that way...doesn't it bother you that he's talking about other women's breasts when he's meant to be with you?"
"Tasuki-san?" Chiriko's eyes became big, and Tasuki reddened, clapping his hands over Chiriko's ears as colour rose in Anzu's cheeks, also.
"Shut up. It's not that way." He protested, even as Chiriko wrestled himself free of the bandit's grip. "I was just saying, Houki's a woman and you're a man."
"Not like this I'm not." Nuriko shook his head. He cast Tamatama a questioning glance, and Tamatama grinned, nodding.
"You look like a girl to me." He said lightly.
"Well, if it will prevent a fight." Hotohori sighed. "Nuriko, promise me that you will do nothing to dishonour my widow's good reputation in all of this, will you?"
"Relax." Nuriko said firmly, even as Anzu unwound her cloak from her shoulders, handing it to the Seishi to better disguise his face. "Houki and I are old friends. Bosom buddies from halcyon harem days. And we have changed places before - on more than one interesting occasion. I did pick her out for you, after all - you should trust me to be able to pull off the Dowager Empress, if I was able to pull off Chou Kourin for eight years."
He adjusted the hood slightly to conceal his shorn hair, then nodded.
"All right. I'm ready." He said briskly. "Give me five minutes or so. I'll pull them away from the gate...you head for the shrine. I'll join you just as soon as I'm able."
He winked.
"I won't be long."
"Do you think he really can do it?" Tasuki looked doubtful.
"Well, if anyone can, it's Nuriko, you know." Chichiri rubbed his chin. "Although I wish you would all stop fussing about my magic. It's fine now. Thanks to Mitsukake's power and the time in Jouzen away from that northern atmosphere, I'm quite all right...living bodies recover more quickly than dead ones, after all...I could have got us in there just fine."
"No use in arguing about it now." Hotohori said heavily. "We should enter."
"What about us?" Anzu asked softly. "We can't...enter the shrine of Suzaku...can we?"
"You're going to have to." Tasuki said frankly. "Think we're leaving two women and a wannabe-woman out here in the dark in the middle of Eiyou where anyone could be hanging around? Get real. This ain't the mountains - this is Eiyou. And besides, when Nuriko's done playing with the palace guard, they'll come back and want to know why you're hanging around here. You'd be better coming in. It'd be safer that way."
"Tasuki's right, you know." Chichiri agreed. "Even if it is unorthodox, you'll have to come at least as far as the outer chamber. Otherwise it might be dangerous."
"They've gone." Chiriko whispered, peering across towards where the armoured soldiers had been standing just a moment or two before. "Nuriko-san's either convinced them or he's been arrested. Either way, the coast is clear now."
"Then we shouldn't waste time." Mitsukake said gravely. "We should go and let him."
"Yes...but quietly." Chichiri warned. "Tasuki, you should just not speak till we get there, in fact. Your voice carries...and we don't want to be found out just yet."
"What do you mean, I should just not speak!?" Tasuki protested, but Anzu grabbed him by the arm, shaking her head.
"Do as he says." She pleaded. "I don't want to wind up in an imperial dungeon - do you?"
"We wouldn't. We're Seishi. Houki already gave us leave to move around the palace." Tasuki pointed out.
"Yes, but by the time such formalities are smoothed out it might be too late for the north, you know?" Chichiri shook his head. "You might not care, but it bothers me if the Shouryuu floods again - and our job is to protect all the people in Kounan. Not just the ones who live around your mountain. Just hold your tongue a while, all right? We'll be in before you know it."
Tasuki grimaced, but obediently fell silent, and the group crept cautiously between the ornate columns, making their way across the palace complex to the shrine of Suzaku. As they reached the entrance, Chichiri paused, his expression twitching slightly as he used a flicker of magic to unfasten the lock. Then he pushed the door open, gesturing for his companions to follow.
"It's dark in here." Chiriko whispered. "Tasuki-san, if you used your tessen to light the torches, we'd be able to see where we were going a little more clearly."
"On it." Tasuki nodded, pulling his harisen from his back and flicking it in the direction of each of the wooden torches that hung in wall-sconces along their way. "There. Better now?"
"You do take your time." A voice startled them from the darkness, and Anzu gasped, almost tripping over her own feet at the sudden sound. She fell against Tasuki, who pulled her roughly to her feet with a whispered curse, and there was a laugh from the blackness as a figure stepped into the flame-light.
"You're all so jumpy. Don't you have faith in me?" Nuriko eyed them playfully. "I told you I'd get them away...and that I'd meet you here."
"What did you say to them?" Hotohori looked suspicious, and Nuriko chuckled.
"So untrusting." He chided. "Nothing terrible at all. I told the guards I was worried that I'd seen strangers heading for Prince Boushin's chamber. That's all. I acted the frightened, worried mother. In their panic to check on the boy, none of them stopped to wonder why Lady Houki was walking around the place like that...I suppose they don't want to lose another Emperor."
Hotohori sighed, shaking his head.
"I have left a heavy weight on his head." He admitted. "But I suppose...it is good to know that even at the murmur of danger, my son's life is constantly protected."
"And it worked, you know. We got in just fine." Chichiri looked approving. "All right. Anzu, Aidou, Tamatama-san...the next door leads to the inner sanctum of Suzaku's shrine, where the beast God's statue stands. It...I don't know what we might do, to combine our powers and bring things to rights. It might be...dangerous, if you were to go beyond this point. I think you should be safe enough here, though."
"Will you be...coming out again?" Aidou asked uncertainly, and Chichiri laughed, nodding his head.
"I imagine so." He agreed. "At least, Tasuki and I will. If all goes according to plan...well, who knows what else might happen. But yes...don't look so worried, Aidou. Nothing's going to happen to your brother - even despite last night's fever I think he has more life in him than any of us."
"You better believe it." Tasuki nodded. "It takes a hell of a lot to kill Genrou, and that's a fact."
"This is where we part ways, though, isn't it, Kourin?" Tamatama said softly, and Nuriko turned, opening his lips as if to protest at the use of his sister's name. At his friend's expression, however, the words died unspoken and instead he frowned, nodding slowly.
"Perhaps." He admitted cautiously. "If...if we succeed, then I suppose...everything will go back to how it was before. I mean...how it should be. And what was interrupted...I suppose we'll be reborn. Won't we?"
"I would think so." Chiriko nodded his head. "That's my thinking, anyhow. That all of this is the world trying to fix itself, and using us to help do it. While our powers are at their strongest, the world can stabilise and exist. That's why it needs us in the forms we are now - but when that's done - once this world is safe again - we have new lives to begin and there'll be nothing to stop us beginning them."
Tamatama bit his lip, then he hugged his friend tightly, taking him off guard.
"Then I'll wish you luck." He said quietly. "For everything you have to do as Nuriko, but also for the next life, just in case it is the last time I'll see you. I won't forget you, Kou...Nuriko, I promise you that. Even if you don't remember Yukigase or Yukiyasha or any of those things - I'll always remember them, and that I had a friend once who was one of a kind - even beyond death. So make sure you choose the best damn new life you can, all right? Because after all of the things you've done - and been - you deserve it."
"Tamatama." Tears glistened in Nuriko's eyes, and he nodded his head. "I will. I promise."
He grinned, looking sheepish.
"You taught me to look pretty enough to fool an Emperor, after all." He said lightly. "I appreciate everything, you know that. I hope...I hope you find Tenbun, in the city, and tell him everything he doesn't already know. And tell him that I'll say hi to Byakuren for him, too - I promise. Wherever I end up - I'm going to make sure I live my life this time...that I don't throw it away because of regrets and other things I didn't understand. Your faith in me helped me recover myself as much as Kourin's or these guys, really - you've helped save Kounan too, this time. Tell Tenbun that. I'm sure he'll be happy, when he knows."
I don't think anyone who's met any of you will ever be able to forget." Aidou said reflectively, and Anzu nodded, casting Hotohori a sad smile as she dashed away her own tears.
"I promise to keep practicing with a sword, even though you didn't get to teach me as much as I'd have liked." She said quietly. "I wish I'd known you when you were alive, Hotohori-sama - but I'm glad I got to meet you, even like this. And I will keep practicing. I swear."
"So long as you have faith in your spirit, that's enough." Hotohori smiled at her. "It's all about that, and you have a strong spirit, Anzu-chan. It will take you far."
"So are we going in already, or are we all going to stand around crying?" Tasuki asked bluntly, and Chichiri laughed.
"We're going in." He said evenly. "Tasuki's right. We're wasting time."
With that he pushed his hands firmly against the door of the inner sanctum, and they slid apart, revealing the shadow of the Beast God's statue looming in the darkness.
"Well, we're here." He said unecessarily, as Chiriko carefully closed the screen behind them. "Just like we've been before, with the God watching over us. Tasuki-san, lights, if you please?"
"With pleasure." Tasuki flexed his tessen once more, and the room was illuminated in the warm glow of his flame.
"It feels a little strange to be standing inches from my own gravesite." Hotohori eyed the foot of the statue doubtfully. "I'm not sure it's a sensation I like. What we're going to do - it isn't going to, well, dig me up, is it? It isn't that I'm afraid of meeting my own mortality, but I really don't want to see what time has done to my body, encased in such a place."
He shivered involuntarily.
"All that talk about decomposition earlier on was enough." He admitted. "I'd like to go on to my next life remembering that I was beautiful, not with an image of a half-decaying corpse."
"Believe me, none of us want to see that. "Tasuki pulled a graphic face. "Don't worry. We ain't digging anyone up. I promise."
"But we are going to use the statue as our medium?" Nuriko questioned, eying it pensively. "Do you think we can do it? If this world is running on us - if Kounan is starting to break down because the strain is too much for us to handle alone - can we really use this thing to project Tamahome back into the stellar atmosphere?"
Chichiri pursed his lips, running a tentative finger over the underside of the bird's wing.
"Suzaku is the God of love and the God of rebirth." He said softly. "As well as being the Guardian of Kounan. Everything that's happened...has been to do with us. Our bond. Our connection. The six of us, plus Tamahome, even if he isn't here any more. We all know that there aren't Suzaku warriors without Tamahome...we've all mentioned him at one point or another, during the last few days. He's still in our thoughts, as Mitsukake says. And when you stop and think about it, it's the connection we share that has allowed you to come back in the forms you are now. The bond we have with each other and with Miaka helped you to fight Nakago and combine all of our spirits into Tamahome's body to help save Miaka's world. In that moment, we were one being. One stellar sky - we were Suzaku's power. And we...we were kibon. The spirit of this world."
He frowned.
"It makes a strange kind of sense, when you review it." He added. "The legends of the Miko aren't meant to play out at the same time - the world calls to them one by one so that they can heal and strengthen each land in turn. Things went awry when Yui-sama was called here at the same time as Miaka - the two stories played out against one another, creating conflict and uncertainty and war between our lands. That's not the purpose of the Priestess or the Warriors, at the end of the day, you know? We're here to protect our lands, not harm the others. But fighting that war...just made us stronger in terms of our links to one another. It didn't break us down - it consolidated our strength. And that's why I think we can make this work, you know. Tamahome is here. Inside all of us. And even if he lives in Miaka's world now - he's still a Suzaku warrior, just as we are."
"All the memories we have, and all our feelings and thoughts towards Tamahome...those are the things we need to draw on." Chiriko added. "With as much strength as we can. He was a man of Suzaku too. One of the Beast God's servants. That's why it needs to be here, in the shrine, where we first tried to summon Suzaku. Miaka-san didn't leave Kounan with a Shinzahou - whatever it was, it must have stayed in her world when we all left there. But we do still have this place to go to - it's as close to Suzaku as we can get, without summoning him again."
"I think Miaka's Shinzahou isn't something we can touch. I think it's something intangible." Chichiri admitted. "Which is why I'm sure this will work. I think her Shinzahou is based in love - and the faith she had in all of us."
"And she'd want us to keep faith now, wouldn't she?" Nuriko mused, his eyes softening as he reflected on the monk's words. "That's what she'd be saying, with that wide, silly grin of hers and those big, guileless eyes. "Just do your best - I believe you can." That's what Miaka'd say now."
"Even without Miaka, we're still Shichi Seishi." Mitsukake reflected. "Even dead, even flung into strange places, bereft of our memories. We're still tied to one another, and it's that tie that made us able to remember things again. Memories are strong things, I think. Strong enough to even keep someone alive. My memories of Shouka keep her with me all the time. Chichiri, I'm sure you feel the same about Koran and Hikou. Nuriko, you've never forgotten your sister...we all carry those things with us. Those are the things that make us real, aren't they?"
"I'm starting to lose the plot here." Tasuki objected. "I thought we were doing some kind of magic with the bird statue here...not reminiscing about dead people with, well, other dead people! I thought it was an emergency - are we just standing about now?"
"No, we're not." Chichiri shook his head, turning back to the statue as he cast a glance briefly around at the shrine walls. "I'm going to cast a spell over the statue...a strong one, I'm not going to hold back. All the strength I have left in me, in terms of my magic. I can't create life - none of us can do that. And I can't bring Sou Kishuku back from Sukunami Taka's body. But if I can create an aura of some sorts around Suzaku's form...if everyone concentrates their thoughts and memories on that...I can try and bind them together. And then, with all of us...I'm banking on the fact that this place is as strong as I think it is where Suzaku's power is concerned. That Miaka's Shinzahou really was a form of love, after all. What we're doing - more than bringing Tamahome's stars back to the southern sky - is restoring the balance of this world. All the negativity, all the doubt - we have to use our strength to drive that out. Anzu is the one who made that clear to me - when she helped drive the byouma out of Tasuki's body by simply believing in his strength to survive. We have to believe in this one hundred percent. Give one hundred percent...show that whatever plane of existance Tamahome currently lives in, we believe he's still with us here, in this world. And that whatever happens - he always will be."
"He always will be." Nuriko murmured, then nodded his head, bringing his hands together in prayer as his companions followed suit. "All right, Chichiri. Ready when you are."
Chichiri cast a glance around at his companions, seeing the same look of resolution on each face as he felt within his own heart. Then he brought his hand up before his face, closing his good eye as he focused his strength on the statue, encasing it in a reddish haze as he stabilised his spell.
"It's done." He said softly. "The world is waiting...let's put Tamahome's stars back in the Southern sky."
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"Do you suppose they're all right in there?"
Anzu cast the closed door an apprehensive look, sinking down against the wall of the outer shrine complex as she let out a sigh. "I know Chichiri said...but I'm still worried. I mean, they're trying to save a whole country, aren't they? Maybe even the whole world. What if they can't? Or what if they wind up hurt? What if...?"
"What if you kept a little faith in them?" Aidou asked softly, and Anzu faltered, staring up at her companion with wide eyes. Aidou nodded.
"You had faith the other night, didn't you? Faith to drive out a demon." She said matter-of-factly. "Where'd that go?"
"I...I guess I still have faith." Anzu admitted slowly. "I'm just...is it wrong to be scared for them? For Genrou, because I love him. For Chichiri, because he always understands and looks out for me - I know he does, like Raimon used to do. For Hotohori-sama, because he saved my life, and because I'm worried about him being able to start afresh in his own. For all of them, because of the fact one of them is missing. I...I just want them to be all right, that's all."
"We all do." Tamatama said gravely. "Even if that means saying goodbye."
"You and Nuriko are close, aren't you?" Anzu glanced at him, and he nodded.
"Yes." He said evenly. "And I won't pretend I'm happy, letting her go like this. But for her - it's the best thing. This time, she can be who she wants to be - not what Suzaku and her past made her become. Even when we first met, she had doubts and grief dictating her movements. I'd like her to be able to move past that, and live for herself."
"You say 'she', but Nuriko's a..."
"Nuriko is a woman in spirit, whatever form her body takes." Tamatama shook his head. "You may or may not take me seriously, choosing to live this way - and I've reached a stage in my life when I really don't care. I know all too well that you can be a woman without being a woman. Nuriko is. So yes. To me she's still Kourin - to me she's a she."
"I suppose appearance really doesn't matter." Aidou said absently. "How someone looks...isn't who they really are."
"And when they're reborn, they'll choose their own new starts." Tamatama nodded. "Whatever that entails. And Chichiri-san and Tasuki-san will do what we will - go on with these lives until it's our turn to roll onto the next one. Life's a much bigger thing than just breathing, eating and sleeping...Aidou-san is right...have faith."
"I suppose so." Anzu rested her chin in her hands. "I just feel helpless, being out here. Like there's nothing we can do."
"I think you already did enough." Aidou's lips twitched into a smile. "It's their turn now. Hou Jun said that everyone was powerful in their own way - everyone's contribution is important. You made yours last night, didn't you? Against Shun'u's fever."
"Yes..." Anzu sighed. "All right. I get it. And I do believe in them, Aidou...I do. I just...I worry. That's all."
"I don't think any of us aren't worried." Aidou admitted. "Even though I've accepted what my brother's calling is, I'm still afraid for him. But I...I've decided that I'm going to try and have faith in his decisions, for a while. It hasn't got him killed yet - and Hou Jun will look after him - I think in some ways he always has."
Anzu was silent for a moment, mulling this over. Then she raised her gaze once more to the older woman, nodding her head.
"It's easy to take life for granted, and just exist." She said softly. "And I've had times when I've done that - just existed. Even times when I didn't care if I was alive or dead. When I came to Kounan, the only thing that kept me going was the thought of Genrou and Reikaku-zan - the thought of finding someone who mattered to me again. I thought...if he died...I wouldn't know how to carry on. I was that afraid of being alone, that I couldn't bear the idea of him not being there. So I followed him, I put myself in danger - I didn't think about protecting myself or my safety and if not for Hotohori-sama, I'd have been killed or something worse. It was silly. Being a child again...I thought that caring for Karin and everything else had made me so grown up, but maybe it hasn't."
She shrugged, getting to her feet.
"But I won't leave him this time." She reflected. "The truth is that now, I'm not staying with him because I'm afraid to be on my own, or because I'm clinging onto some memory from two years ago. I'm staying because I do love him - really and truly - and that matters to me most now. And if he died...I still...I still couldn't bear it. But it's for different reasons. Instead of saying I loved him and thinking I meant it, I know now that I do mean it."
"Sometimes loving someone means letting them go." Aidou reflected pensively, and Tamatama nodded.
"It does." He agreed gravely. "Or making incredible sacrifices so that they can go on in peace or safety."
"But I'm selfish." Anzu admitted. "And if anything happens to Genrou - I don't think...I can let him go."
"Well, I don't think it will." Aidou said evenly, her gaze flitting back towards the closed door. "Besides, most people are selfish. Most people won't make that kind of sacrifice - it's just being human."
She smiled slightly, a faintly ironic look in her bronzeish eyes.
"Besides, you're not the only one who worries." She murmured. "I do, too."
"Well, he is your brother." Anzu nodded. "I'm sorry, Aidou. I seem to fling my feelings at you when you're feeling just as rough as me."
Aidou looked startled for a moment. Then she shook her head.
"I don't mind. It takes less courage to deal with your feelings than my own." She said frankly. "And besides, it wasn't what I meant. Shun'u...I'm not worried about Shun'u. I told you. I'm going to have faith in his ability to escape death like the slick bandit he is."
"Then what do you mean?" Anzu looked startled. "If you're not worrying about Genrou - then what?"
"Chichiri-san, I imagine." Tamatama sat down heavily on the edge of the patterned walling, arranging his skirts fussily over his knees as he regarded the two women with some amusement.
"Chichiri...?" Anzu trailed off, her eyes widening as she took in the awkward flush of Aidou's cheeks at Tamatama's words. "You mean...Genrou was...right?"
"Shun'u wasn't right about anything." Aidou said firmly. "You know full well that Hou Jun was busy trying to save his life...my brother just has a filthy mind, from living too long with bandits."
"No...but...that's not..." Anzu faltered, then, "But he was right in that you...you like Chichiri...wasn't he?"
Aidou did not answer, and Anzu bit her lip, unsure whether she had gone too far. It was Tamatama who broke the silence, offering Aidou a companionable grin as he did so.
"It's no worse a thing, to love someone even if they love someone else." He said lightly. "Even if they always do."
"But I thought...didn't you...in the war against Kutou?" Anzu was still struggling to digest this, and at this Aidou turned, a rueful smile touching her lips. She nodded.
"I did. Two years ago." She agreed. "Which is when I decided to have nothing to do with men again. Outside my family, anyway. I'm too old to marry, and anything else is foolish. So no, Anzu, you can entertain yourself all you like with romantic ideas. I'm a realist. So we won't speak about it again. Understood?"
"I...I won't say anything to him, or to Genrou." Anzu shook her head. "But I...I don't believe you mean that, Aidou. The look on your face...I think Tamatama-san is right. I think you do have feelings for Chichiri."
Aidou frowned, glancing at her hands.
"It's been a crazy few days. Things pass." She said briefly. "I wouldn't call it love. Admiration, maybe. Friendship, definitely. I have a lot of respect for him. But love? I don't think so. It's not sensible...and I'm not a fool."
"Ah, but you are a woman." Tamatama said wisely. "And there's no deceiving a female heart...even one like mine that beats in a male body. Tell yourself that all you like, my dear - it won't do you any good."
He sighed, shrugging his shoulders.
"I understand, because I'm fated the same way." He said regretfully. "I've loved two men, and both have left me. It's hard, but a girl's heart has to recover and soldier on. No matter how scarred it gets - it can always find a way to love again. No matter what."
"Two men?" Anzu stared, then, "Was one...Nuriko?"
Tamatama grinned, winking at the young acrobat playfully.
"As a man or as a woman, there was always plenty to love about Nuriko." He agreed. "But it was quite unrequited. And she, in her turn, was fated to love Hotohori-sama - and love him without ever having it returned, either. Such is the cruel wheel of a girl's love for a man, when it plays itself out...even when all hope seems gone, it keeps on going."
"You talk rubbish." Aidou got to her feet, moving restlessly to the window of the chamber. "You don't know me, so you don't know anything about my heart or what it does or doesn't do. I may admire him. I don't pretend otherwise. But I am not in love with Hou Jun or any man - I'm not that stupid. So drop the subject...I won't discuss this any more. When we get back to the mountain, I have a father to care for, a mother to help, and a future and a village to worry about. I don't know where I'll live, let alone anything else at the moment. Silly, girlish fancies ain't anywhere near the top of my mind."
Anzu bit her lip, but registering the look on her companion's face, obediently fell silent. Her mind whirled, however, and as she met Tamatama's gaze, the brawny transvestite shrugged his shoulders, giving her a knowing look.
"Genrou was jumping to mad conclusions, but there was something in it, after all." She murmured to herself, huddling up against the wall as she considered. "Does Chichiri know? Would he let on, if he did? Somehow, I don't think he would...he understands people so well, that I think...no, I know that he'd say nothing at all, even if it was obvious from the start. But...but it wasn't obvious to me. No wonder she's so tense - my heart is pulling for one man I love, but hers...hers is pulling for two."
She hesitated, then put her hands together, closing her eyes as she focused a heartfelt, inward prayer to the Beast God.
"Keep them safe, Suzaku." She whispered. "Keep them strong and let them save Kounan - please!"