Three days!
Mia galloped along in the middle of the column of weary soldiers and worried. It would take three additional days to reach the second pass through the mountains. Since they had encountered the spy and learned that their path back had been closed to them a new route had been mapped as she slept. There was no way that fourteen soldiers, her and Chichiri could take on 200 battle hardened Kutou soldiers. Sure, her guys were great, but the odds against them were staggering! Sixteen to Two hundred!!! That was suicide. They'd have to kill a dozen soldiers each to win.
As much as Mia enjoyed a good scrap, and always cheered for the underdog, she simply could not see anyway for that to succeed, unless one of her friends suddenly pooped out some canons or high explosives. Now, a well-placed explosion could possibly open up a hole in the enemy's ranks and demoralize them. But, that was just a wish since, as far as she could see, such devices did not exist here. Must have been some type of trade off for the presence of magic and godly protections. Still….
Even though it was still terribly cold in these higher elevations as they skirted the edges of the mountain range looking for a second pass, Mia was beginning to sweat under her multiple layers of clothing and armor. This would take too long. She consulted her pages in her fanny pack so often that the yellow, lined legal pages were beginning to curl and darken. There were only ten days left before the first quest of her younger self drew to a close. Only ten days until the younger priestess would return to the palace and attempt to summon Suzaku for the first time. But even fewer days were left before Chichiri had to abandon them and return to the palace. If she calculated right, he had to leave in four or five days. That was just two or three days after they cleared the pass! She clearly remembered him being at the palace in his Hotohori disguise upon their return when the Emperor slipped off to trade places with him. That was the first time that Tasuki and Mitsukake realized that the Hotohori that had traveled with them was in fact the Emperor.
Mia pulled the lined paper out again and studied the information for the millionth time as Tank continued to gallop along on auto-pilot. Good thing for smart horses. In the back of her mind, Mia wished that she could ask Suzaku to reincarnate the incredible war horse, but what kind of life could he have in her world?
Her younger self was out wandering looking for the last warriors. They had already found Mitsukake but had not visited Tamahome's village to heal his father yet. She fingered the timeline she had sketched in the margin and figured that Miaka and the warriors were three or four days away from Tamahome's village.
She then tried to calculate how far away her group was away from the palace, Tamahome's village and Sairou. If they needed help or reinforcements, it was good to know where they could be found. What worried her the most was trying to figure out when the time would come where there was no way she could reach the Byakko Shinzaho and return to the palace in time to witness the first summoning. At some point of no return, she would have to decide too much time had passed and simply return to the palace with her tail between her legs. In the back of her mind, it seemed important to be present for the initial summoning. No, important wasn't the word. It was imperative. It felt as if her not being there would bring the entire world of the book crashing to ashes. Maybe, after the summoning, if Miaka were successful, she would still be permitted to continue her quest into Sairou. It was something to think about, but at this point, she was not willing to admit defeat so easily.
As much as she had hoped to avoid interacting with the younger Miaka and the other warriors, some things were just inevitable. No matter if she had written them into her edited story. A half smirk crossed her face as she realized how unpredictable her journey was. She thought she had covered every possible aspect of this adventure when she had rewritten the Universe of the Four Gods, but there seemed to be a second intelligence at work. For the hundredth time, she berated herself for placing the additional blood on each page in case the book wanted to add some details. She should have just left it alone. Stupid book!
Another thing that truly caused Mia to worry and sweat was the presence of Nakago and the other Seiryu warriors. Every now and again, she would get a sense of them not far behind and then it would vanish. It felt to her like a blink of power. Each time, it made her skin crawl. Nakago was very distinctive in his aura, and the others just felt insignificant in comparison. Thankfully, it was not often Nakago that she felt, but one of the others. Maybe they were transporting over to supervise the troops that dogged their trail. Maybe the blink of sensation came from a communication technique like Chichiri's "peeping Tom hat?" Whatever it was, it kept her from relaxing and enjoying the ride.
In truth, there was nothing to enjoy about this particular ride. All the men were aware of the encroaching enemies that were surrounding them. After the encounter with the spy, it became more obvious that Mia and the column were being herded along the ridge of snow-capped mountains. At least one good thing was that they were being forced to travel west, which was the way they were supposed to head to reach Sairou. Hopefully, this detour would shorten their time in the desert.
Although, Mia had been really looking forward to some sun and sand to scour away the feeling of her freezing limbs. She had not ever warmed up after her little ice entombment at the hands of the Genbu warriors. If those two WERE reincarnated into her world, she was going to get even with them. Maybe she'd lock them in a freezer for an hour. Or dump ice water down their pants! Or toss them out into the snow in just their boxers! An evil little smile graced her worried face as she took a mental vacation and planned all the ways she could get revenge in her world. Of course, not being truly evil at heart, most of her plans were rather sophomoric and childish. Still, it eased her troubled mind for a time.
Lieutenant Kanai and Chichiri had already about decided that the Kutou forces were setting up a trap for them in the next available mountain pass. It only made sense, since they had closed their previous egress out of the country. With the fifty enemy soldiers at the border and the hundred following behind them, it would be easy to be cornered in a dead end canyon in this unfamiliar mountain range or bottled up in the western pass with the enemy before and behind them.
The pace set by the Lieutenant had been grueling. The camp had been struck even before the sky had thought about brightening to indicate the approach of morning. For some reason, the cold morning had seemed even colder with the singing of the birds that heralded dawn. Mia remembered pulling all-nighters in college and she had a particular, irrational hate for those annoying birds. Probably because they signaled the end of her cram session and the approach of the deadline she was dreading, be it a test, or a project that needed turning in. The combination of exhaustion and dread was never a pretty picture.
So, as the sun lightened the sky to the East, the column of Konan soldiers galloped off to the west at a break-neck pace. Mia realized quite early on that she needed to learn to gallop in her half asleep state, and had a few near disasters as she learned this useful skill. She felt bad for Tank. He simply carried on as he was instructed and seemed to know when he needed to shift about to keep her centered on his back. Good thing it was such a broad back. It was almost like sitting on a kitchen table. At one point, she really thought about just leaning back and resting her head on his rump but she figured that would be "disgraceful" for a soldier of Konan, an image she was honor bound to uphold. Also, after glancing back at the muscles bunching and shifting on his rump, she realized that would make a horrible pillow.
The front detachment of soldiers were actually riding far forward from the center of the column, with Yamane out scouting the best paths through the treacherous wintry country side. It would be a mistake to just plunge along blindly, and this is what the short powerful man was trained for. When the remaining men would meet up with the advanced scout, the column would pause for a moment to rest the horses and let Yamane continue his search.
At the first such pause, Mia had been handed some dried meat for what she assumed was Breakfast. The ration didn't seem very appealing, and the smell was even more offending that the meat's appearance. With a bit of a shrug, she slid off her horse, and approached one of the two pack animals where her travel duffle was strapped. It took a bit of work, but she finally twisted the bag around so she could unzip the pocket that held her own provisions, and withdrew some commercially dried meat and the packs of dried fruit. She placed enough for breakfast and a few snack breaks into the hidden pockets of her jacket that hid under her soldier uniform, and secured the duffle bag. With a side trip to a nice snow covered bush to take care of some morning business that she had not have an opportunity to address, she was mounted back up on her favorite gelding and ready to proceed when the signal came from the advanced guard.
Hour after hour they galloped like the Devil himself was on their heels. All the days of riding had toughened Mia's more tender parts, but they had not prepared her for this. Her muscles cramped from continuous usage, and the parts of her body that came into contact with the saddle felt like someone had beaten her with a hammer. What made it worse was that there was no happy banter to distract her mind from her aches and pains that multiplied. Each man seemed to be strung as tight as the string on the bows on the backs of the archers behind her. Their anxious alertness was indeed contagious. Even the usually cheerful Chichiri had lapsed into morose quietness and meditation.
A pattern developed where they rode at an insanely swift speed. Then, they caught up to the advance detail and waited. Once the correct path had been located, a signal sounded, and they rode off like maniacs again. This continued all day, without cease or deviation. At one stopping point, Mia realized that Eguchi, the ex-ninja, healer, had ridden up behind the column. She hadn't even noticed the quiet man missing, but then realized that he had been erasing their trail through the mountains. Maybe that would be enough to slow the enemy and give the column a bit of breathing space. Then they continued on and the monotonous routine resumed.
So, not only was there nothing to distract her mind from her bodily pains, but there was nothing to distract her mind from its manic worrying. She turned over each facet of her plan and each leg of the journey, over and over, looking for anything that might help or might hinder them. By the end of the first day of hard riding, she was actually wishing for some type of attack from the following enemy, just to give her something else to think about!
After the sun set, they kept riding onward. It was more difficult because the long shadows in the forested areas hid any possible watchers, and the path could easily be lost. Mia was again almost completely blind. Of all the things she regretted in her life, her lack of night vision was becoming the greatest hindrance now. She could see the shadows of her companions against the snowy patches that dotted the foothills of the mountains, but that was about all. With the oppressive darkness, all the fears from childhood resurfaced, just as they had the night before. And no matter how often she chastised herself for her irrational fears, they did not depart.
For the first time in hours, she spoke out into the echoing silence. "Lieutenant? How long are we going to travel in the darkness? Because, I think I might need to ride with someone who has better eyesight. I can't see a bloody thing!" Her ears strained to locate each member of the column around her. She had thought once that the other senses grew sharper to compensate for the lack of one, but apparently, that took longer than a few hours.
At her left elbow, his calm, deep voice answered her. "We will ride half way through the night if Yamane can continue finding such wide trails. Our goal is to reach the second pass before the Kutou troops at the border can move to meet us. So far we have probably been traveling much faster than they are. Still, we have to calculate in the time we will lose in the deeper snow of the higher pass to the west."
Chichiri spoke in his almost normal friendly voice to her right elbow, "You may ride with me if you wish. It might also help you to get some sleep, without having to worry about falling off your horse, you know?" She could just hear the grin in his voice and picture the smile that made his expressive eyes squint shut. Yes, she would forever be the butt of the joke about her horsemanship skills. Whatever!
After a huffed assent to this plan, Mia felt Chichiri's horse brush up against her right leg. She turned in that direction to ask what he was doing, only to be swiftly grasped under her arms and hoisted out of the saddle. For only an instant, she dangled precariously between the two warhorses, and a vision of her being dropped and stomped flashed across her mind. Then, she was being settled sidesaddle across the tops of Chichiri's thighs and snuggled as his arms draped across her front and back to regain control of his reins.
Without even thinking, she whacked Chichiri on his closest arm as she protested, "You could have warned me, you know! So much for being a gentleman!" The only response she received was a bemused chuckle from her blue-haired friend. She was almost too tired to even argue with this man, but she pulled up enough energy to complain, "I bet you wouldn't manhandle Miaka, now would you!"
His calm, voice tickled her ear that was closest to his face as he explained, "You most likely would not have the energy to dismount and remount my horse so I thought I would help you. Besides, I know your younger self is being closely guarded by a very jealous Tamahome, and I enjoy my face remaining where it is."
In a hazy part of her sleepy mind, Mia noticed that the mention of Tamahome didn't dredge up the grief that usually plagued thoughts of her lost beloved. It was as if she had placed that life into a box in her mind and closed the lid. She would think about it when there was time, but until then, she just had to survive somehow.
The motion of the horse beneath them matching the gait of the column seemed to lull the anger out of her. Truthfully, she had not been angry, simply surprised. And she had learned long ago, that sometimes, she masked her surprise by reacting like she was angry. It kept people at a safer distance.
Chichiri spoke again and brought her attention back to himself. "Mia, you should probably get some sleep. I promise I won't let you fall. Tomorrow will be just as long a day as today."
She shook her head in denial, "No. It's not fair for me to sleep while the rest of you are staying awake. I can handle it. It's just that I couldn't see where anything was and I didn't want to slow down the column by falling off, or running into a tree." Her body seemed to have a mind of its own as she found her head resting against the chest of her warrior. She snuggled her cheek into his warmth.
He laughed quietly again at her movements. "No, it's fine. We are used to traveling long into the night. You are not. Besides, we have a vested interest in keeping you healthy. You are the only one who has any idea where we are going! You know?" Then he wrapped his arms a bit tighter around her petite frame. If she were not wearing the army issue helmet, he might have enjoyed burying his nose into the crown of her auburn hair. Even though it had been four days since the bath that Mia had won against Yamane, Chichiri speculated that her hair still smelled better than most women he had ever known.
Her only answer to his reasoning for why she needed to sleep was a breathy "hmm" followed by complete silence. When he felt her body lean heavily against him, he realized that she had already fallen asleep. A smile of adoration graced his real face as well as his mask. With as little jostling as he could manage, he switched both reins into his right hand and brought his now empty left hand around her waist towards her back so it was encircling her frame.
It was then that he noticed how truly thin she was. With all the clothing she draped over herself, it had escaped his notice. Her backbone was quite prominent even through her uniform, and the sharp points of her shoulders and hips poked at him a bit as she leaned against him.
His quick mind again compared her older self against what he knew of the younger self. Young Miaka ate like a man, but was still small, with a bit of baby fat to her face. This older Mia was still quite lean and strong, but had lost quite a lot of weight apparently due to her grief and suffering. He could only imagine what a totally healthy Mia in her prime looked and felt like. He blushed just a bit at the idea of "feeling" a healthy Mia. Of course, he meant feeling as in a hug. Nothing more. Just a friendly hug, among old friends.
Maybe, if her plans worked out like she hoped, he would get the chance to know that Mia as well, in her world. He actually was looking forward to watching her in one of those competitions she had described when they were all telling stories. Then, an image of her, married and pregnant with her daughter flashed in his mind and he hugged this fragile woman against him a little tighter. The vision was stirring on a totally male level. Some men were turned off when their wives were round with child, but Chichiri didn't feel that way. A woman carrying a new life was indescribably beautiful in his eyes. He found himself hoping to be around when she was like that also.
The urge to snuggle this precious woman again surfaced in him like a recurring dream. He leaned back in his saddle just enough that she could truly rest against him without feeling like she would slide off. It might put a strain on his back muscles, but it would be worth it if he could be her comfortable bed for the night. It swelled his male pride that she could trust him so much that she could instantly drop to sleep in his arms. Then he blushed a bit again as he realized what he had thought. She was sleeping in his arms.
He struggled with his thoughts a moment before he decided he needed to meditate a bit to center himself. He did not close his eyes this time since that would probably lead them into a tree. His horse was not quite as docile or intelligent as Mia's gray gelding. So, he performed the beginning exercises that had become second nature to him after so many years of Taiitsukun's tutelage.
After feeling calm and in control of himself again, he thought back over the previous night's events. Between himself, Lieutenant Kanai and Assistant Suitani, they had come up with the plan of driving towards the western pass. It was higher in elevation, so it was more treacherous in the snowy months, but they had little choice. None wanted to attempt to plow through the enemy at the lower pass, and the mountain range stretched the length of the country. Enough hard riding and skills of the company's ninja doctor, should make it almost impossible for the troop following them to keep up. If they could pull far enough away from the 100 men following them, they would only have to deal with the 50 of so men at the border. And that was only if the border division knew of their plans and moved to intercept them.
If luck was truly on their side, not to mention their skills as soldiers, tacticians and horsemen, they would cross the border before the enemy could shift to cut them off. Still, surely, Nakago knew that if he blocked one pass, they would turn towards the other. Was there some hidden danger lurking in the supposedly open western pass?
If the mountains themselves were not so imposing, they had even discussed the possibility of simply traveling up and over a shorter mountain. But, with their time restraints, that seemed an impossible suggestion. If nothing else, it was their last ditch effort for leaving the country in a group. If even that failed, and there was no other way, the Lieutenant demanded that Chichiri transport Mia out like he had traveled back to the palace. The rest of them would find their way out eventually.
Chichiri's mind then turned to the odd discussion that followed this change in plans. It had been decided, by all the men that were conscious, that none of them would mention the celestial visit that night to Mia or the other soldiers. It seemed that the beast god had some reason to appear without waking the slumbering priestess.
The look on the ethereal God's beautiful face had disturbed Chichiri as he had pondered over it all day. It was the look a father had for a child, or a husband had for a wife. None of this fit with anything he had ever learned about the Guardian Gods of the Four lands. The more he thought, the more questions he raised. It was now imperative that he contact Taiitsukun to ask about these developments.
He had listened to Mia talk about the "time line" of the other quest and tried to figure when would be the best time to leave for a bit in this search. Should he go before they reached the pass? Should he wait until after they avoid the possible ambush at the pass? What if they fell to the greater forces? What if Taiitsukun could offer some advice that might help their chances of survival?
With all these thoughts and more, he planned to excuse himself late on the second day of their dash for the pass and return before dark. In his excursion, he would also take the time to update the Emperor on the changes and strange happenings on this journey. He was sure that Hotohori would be impressed with the power of this older Mia. Then he would reinitialize his Emperor puppet at the palace to enhance its believability. It should be running out of power soon and it would be bad to have the Emperor simply fade from existence and be replaced by a sutra.
Mia shifted in his arms and he felt her face snuffling around the scratchy fabric of the army uniform until her soft skin made contact with his neck. Her forehead was pressed against the side of his neck, and her gentle breath blew down the gap between his own robes and the uniform over them. He stiffened as all his attention was locked on the woman gracing his arms. He had not felt anything like this in so long. Not since his beloved fiancé had passed away.
In her sleep, she turned her face up farther into the warm expanse of skin and whispered, "So warm." Before Chichiri could even register anything, her face pushed farther into his skin, causing him to shiver. Then he felt the warm, wet lips against his pulse as she kissed his exposed neck.
His world shattered for a moment at the intense emotions that swirled free in his head. He sucked in a huge gasp as he realized what she had done. When she did not continue, but rather, shifted back so her forehead was against his neck, he forced himself to relax. Her body went limp in his arms and he sighed in relief that she had fallen into a deep sleep again.
He tried to calm himself and analyze what had just happened. Obviously, she had been asleep, so it didn't really mean anything. Sleeping people did stuff all the time without realizing it. Also, she might have thought he was Tamahome.
Still, what worried him the most was his reaction. The simple contact had lit him on fire and doused him with ice water all in the same motion. He had felt thrilled with the show of affection, and terrified at the implications all at the same time. It almost seemed like a crack had opened up inside him and those warm feelings of being in love and cherished leaked out into the open.
He had sworn a vow of celibacy after the death of his beloved fiancé when he entered training under Taiitsukun. He had purposely kept women at arms length to prevent any unforeseen complications. The last thing he needed was a woman who fell in love with him when he couldn't return those affections. It had never occurred to him that he might be the one with feelings that couldn't be returned. He almost felt like he was betraying his fiancé. And he knew for a fact, that he was betraying his friend Tamahome.
With these new heavy thoughts to weigh down on his mind, the blue-haired warrior knew sleep would not claim him tonight. That was a good thing, since he held Mia to allow her to sleep. He also knew that he had to take a serious, long look at his feelings for this winsome woman from another world. He was confident that by morning, he would know what to do, and how to act. He knew that he would do nothing to jeopardize her mission or their friendship. The rest, he would just have to wait and see.
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AN: Okay, a bit of Chichiri fluff for you die-hard fans. I mean, I know she might not jump right into a relationship because of the trauma of losing her whole family a few weeks to a month ago. But, Chichiri has been alone for...what...6 years? Something like that. He might be susceptible to feelings growing without his knowledge.
So, I hope you are all sufficiently fluffed for now.
Review if you want