Hey Minna! Sorry for the long wait… softball season just ended and college apps are getting stressful too. Buutttt I decided to write anyways…cause I could … Hope you enjoy this next chap! REVIEW please!!!

--Dancing With Fire—

Chapter Four: 'The Violent Geisha'

-Recap-

BOOM! Commotion stirred all around them. Genro shot out of the tent. Chaos began bucking wildly, neighing dangerously into a dark part of the forest. Any normal person would have taken it to be caused by an animal, but Genro knew better. He ran straight back into the tent.

"MIAKA!!! GET UP!! WE GOTTA GO! WE'RE IN DANGER! COMMON!!!" He yelled directly in her ear, shaking her firmly.

Miaka woke up immediately, and the first thing she saw was the panic in his eyes.

--End of Recap--

"Wha..?"

"Don't ask! Jus' get up! LETS GO!!" Genro extended his arm and pulled her out of bed before she had a chance to do so herself.

Terror began to gnaw at her insides and she swore she could feel her heartbeat shake the ground beneath her tiny feet.

Genro yanked her outside the tent, grabbed his fan, and raced to retrieve Chaos. Just as he was untying the horse's rope from the tree, a firm voice sent his movements to a halt.

"Jackpot! Man, did we score big this time, eh Shun'u?" A tall, round, man walked up to Genro and deliberately spat in his face.

Miaka, not thinking of who she was with, clung onto Genro's arm tightly, fearful of what the large man would do. She felt her arms begin to tremble as she took in their surroundings. There had to be 100, if not more, bandits; all of whom were clutching long swords and jagged daggers. Her knees felt weak, but also frozen in place, and if possible her hand began to shake more. Before she realized what was happening, a large hand gripped her tiny one firmly in its grasp, as if to stop the trembling. Too shocked to be disgusted, Miaka found that she could only stare up at him, but his eyes were too preoccupied with something else; and the only hint of life in the two enraged orbs was a tiny flicker of gold.

"Fuck off Koan" Genro growled.

"Your words speak more than your actions Shun'u, or should I say, leader of the Mount Reikaku Bandits…"

Miaka gasped slightly at the mention of those words, her memory reverting back to two days ago.

["Bandits? There're bandits here?" Miaka asked curiously, not caring to turn around.

"Yea. Lots of 'em. The best ones are The Bandits of Mount Reikaku!"

She felt her heart race at the thought. He had been a bandit all along? Most of all, the LEADER? Had he been plotting to take advantage of her after all?

'How could I have been so ignorant?'

Her slight gasp caught the attention of the man, so called 'Koan', and he returned it with a malicious grin.

"Well, well, Shun'u… I thought you had no intention of desiring a woman? Is she that good? Maybe I should try her out for myself…." Koan took a step towards Miaka and started to extend his arm….

Genro immediately stepped in front of Miaka, thwarting Koan roughly with his tessen. His once amber eyes had turned to almost a dark shade of brown as he glared at his adversary. Miaka watched his arms tense up and his hand shake as it gripped the handle of his tessen even harder.

"Go back to Mt. Kaou, and take the rest of your pussies with you."

Koan chuckled at Genro's weak attempt of altering his ego.

"Or what? I'll be toasted for dinner? If anyone's the pussy here it's you; not including your girlfriend there." Koan nodded his head towards Miaka, and she felt her knees buckle underneath his stare. Inside however, she was enraged; enraged that any man would make such a crude comment. Her actions went first, her mind barely even thinking, and she regretted what she was about to do before it even happened.

"To be honest, you'd look much better in a Geisha costume than he would. I wouldn't be surprised if you begged for it either." Each word came loaded with revulsion and sprung off her tongue like ice.

"Interesting, Genro. Not only is she a woman WITH YOU, but she's a woman with a sharp tongue." He took a step towards Miaka, giving her a good eye up and down. His glare felt like slugs crawling every inch of her skin, and afterwards she felt contaminated.

"I could suffice a good punishment for that…" Koan raised his arm and signaled his followers with a simple twitch of his fingers. "Get them."

The simple demand held much power and Miaka held her breath, unsure of where to run. With a quick turn of her head she realized that her partner was already devising a plan.

"Get behind me." It was half of a whisper but Miaka could see the side of his lips forming the three simple words.

As soon as Miaka took a step behind him she felt the earth shake in response to Koan's battle cry. "NOW!!"

Genro's muscle's tensed, sensing their approach, and with one swift movement held his tessen straight out.

"REKKA SHINEN!!!!"

An immense fire exploded out of the tessen and its range shot to the far depths of the forest. Miaka felt it, the same thing she had felt the other day. The fire was not warm on her skin, but yet it was warm inside of her.

When her hopes began to rise about the outcome of the battle, Koan lunged for them, knocking Miaka, Genro, and the tessen flying in complete opposite directions.

The force sent her nearly 15 feet from her original destination and she landed roughly, relying on her hands and arms. Pain seared up through her twisted wrist as an uncomfortable snap let itself ring through the air. Following it, her body tumbled, colliding roughly with the ground. Miaka winced in pain, her eyes shutting, afraid of what possibly could happen next. She wished it would go away with the blink of an eye, but when Miaka opened her eyes again, it was all still there and Genro had already sprang back up to fight off his challengers.

Sweat glistened on his body and soaked his hair, making his thick locks to appear to be a spitfire orange. Miaka found it hard for her eyes to follow his quick paced moves, but none the less, she knew he was winning.

'There's no way that speed is human…'

Genro fought furiously, punches sent this way, kicks the other, as he continued to knock Koan's followers one by one. As the next opponent came up, Genro sent a direct punch towards him, however, the young follower easily blocked it. Instead of kicking him off guard, the bandit hesitated for a split second and sent an easily blockable punch towards Genro's midsection.

'He hesitated…' Genro took advantage of the opportunity and knocked out his opponent.

The next bandit stepped up to Genro, sending a weak kick towards his head. Genro blocked it easily and quickly sent a sharp punch along with it. His fist hit his opponent's face dead on, but when the amateur bandit recoiled he hesitated just as his predecessor had.

'They're waiting for something?' Genro took a step back, eyeing his surroundings. He immediately turned to Miaka who was trembling as she tried to push herself up. No one however, was near her, or close to taking her. So why were they hesitating? Then he saw it. Just as he was about to continue fighting, a tiny glimmer caught his eye in a distant tree, and it was pointed straight for Miaka.

"Miaka! Duck!" He ran for her hoping she'd see the weapon, but it was too late, the arrow had already been released. Genro pushed his body at full speed towards the tiny girl's body, without giving his actions a second thought.

Miaka watched in horror as Genro sprint at her in full speed, just as the arrow neared closer to her body. She closed her eyes, knowing there was no way Genro would make it. She waited for the sting, but instead was greeted with an overcoming tackle, sending her and Genro flying back. His body landed roughly on hers, gluing her to the ground.

Miaka, unsure of the outcome, slowly lifted an eyelid, only to find the worst of options had succeeded in fate. Genro grunted as the arrow struck him deeply in his right shoulder. He felt his flesh go numb, and his own blood slowly leak out of the arrow's hole.

"Iie! Genro?" Miaka slowly lifted the man off of her, but in return she only received a grunt of pure pain. Miaka stared at his wound in horror, blood slowly seeped out of him, as did his life.

'He really was here to protect me… And I doubted his loyalty...'

Miaka looked up to find that all commotion had come to a stand-still. Koan eyed Genro, his lips curving upwards in contempt. Miaka's insides fumed at the malevolent man and she immediately began planning her next move. There was only one option… and she wasn't even sure it would work. Her eyes darted frantically around her before Koan had the chance to approach her. Almost 10 feet away, the tessen rested on the ground underneath a bush.

Miaka looked up at Koan, who still had his attention on his rival, and she made her move. She lunged for the bush, rolling her body to a stop at the tips of its branches.

When Koan realized what was happening, his eyes widened and he immediately yelled: "GET HER!!!"

His attempt however, was too late. Miaka grabbed hold of the tessen and pushed herself up to face the remaining bandits. To her surprise however, they still approached.

"GET AWAY!!" she screamed, pointing the fan towards her opponents.

"Such a brash move child. You think you can burn me as did Genro? That tessen works for him and ONLY him." Koan approached her, laughing at her foolishness.

Koan's laughter sent incessant chills down her spine at each bellow. Her grip on the fan began to falter, as her hands shook once again. He was now within 10 feet of her wavering body.

"GET AWAY!!" she flicked the fan at him; nothing happened.

Miaka's face went pale, as her only option of survival died out.

Koan laughed even harder. "Now time for you to come with us you little conniving brat."

Miaka, in a flash of survival mode, cut to her senses. She held the fan once again; ready to give it one last try.

'Please, help me do this!'

With just those few words Miaka felt the welcoming sensation of an eternal warmth flowing throughout her body. She opened her eyes only to find Koan and his adversaries backing away in disbelief. A slight red glow coated her body, leaving her speechless to the new-found power.

'What was it that Genro said to get this thing to work? Rekki? No…Rekko…urgh! Wait!'

"REKKA SHINEN!!!"

Miaka felt the tessen push back at the overload of power, but at the same time a new inferno reached far greater levels than either of Genro's attacks had.

From behind her, Genro had been able to slightly lift one of his eyelids; enough to encounter the phenomenon occurring right in front of him. His eyes widened in disbelief at the power she was creating.

'How is this possible?'

Genro then recognized the warm red glow enveloping the girl's body. A translucent red light candy-coated her curves, causing his adrenaline to flow faster than it needed to. His fanatical guesses had been right; now if only he could find a way to sustain his survival.

'I found you, Suzaku no Miko'

With this last thought Genro felt a darkness shroud around him, and all of his acute senses faded away, taking the red-glowing miko with them.

By the time the flames subsided, all other life forms had vacated the forest, and each piece of mother nature surrounding Genro and Miaka was coated in a thick sheet of black ashes.

Miaka stood frozen, her eyes staring past what she saw in front of her. What exactly had just happened? Had Genro's fan really been that powerful? Or were her senses drawing in false endeavors? Was it possible for all of this to still be a dream? A quick throb of pain in her wrist told her otherwise…

Shaking out of her dazed situation, Miaka ran to Genro's side praying it wasn't too late. When looking at Genro however, Miaka's hopes began to flutter away. His eyes were closed, his breathing was barely noticeable, and his shoulder had already leaked quite a bit of blood. It had to be poison; a wound like this shouldn't have caused so much pain. Knowing that it was too late to try and suck the remaining poison out of his wound, Miaka went straight to the basics, the only things she knew.

Gently, she grabbed the arrow that situated itself deeply in between the crevice of his scapula and one of his ribs. Tugging tenderly, she began to pull the arrow out of his flesh.

An audible groan erupted from his mouth and his face scrunched in pain. Once the arrow was out however, Miaka heard nothing from him for a long time.

Ripping a long but thin strip of fabric off the bottom of her skirt, Miaka gingerly wrapped his wound, hoping to reduce the blood flow.

Miaka stood up, holding her face in her hands. She still had one major problem. How was she going to get him to a doctor and where would the closest one be? While Genro was a thin man he was also extremely toned, leaving most of his body mass to be made up of dense muscle. There was no way she could carry him, not even ten feet. Her mind raced for ideas, knowing that with each second she took to think Genro's life shortened considerably.

Taking her face out of her hands, she looked around for her last and only hope. Genro's first escape route was gone; Chaos was nowhere to be seen. Had the creature even survived the blast? Miaka then recalled one short moment she had encountered with Genro the other day.

[She looked up from her daze only to realize that the young man began walking down the slope of the mountain. He stopped for a second and let out a loud, ear splitting whistle.

Seconds later Miaka felt it. Hoof beats pounded on the ground, approaching the two of them and in sight, appeared the most unique horse Miaka had ever seen.

'He whistled!' Miaka immediately brought her hand to her mouth, and to the best of her abilities, let out a deafening whistle.

She realized at least one thing had to go right that night when she heard foreign hoof beats in the distance. While Chaos approached at almost full speed, Miaka felt as if hours were flying by. If she couldn't get Genro to a doctor soon, there was no telling what she would do…

Finally, the slightly shaken horse approached her, and when it caught sight of its limp master, rushed to Genro's side. Chaos nudged Genro lightly in the side but Genro made no reply. The horse let out a heartbreaking neigh and turned its attention to Miaka.

His pure white mane glimmered in the moonlight, appearing almost as if it were made from strings of diamonds.

"Chaos I need your help…" Miaka sent a gesture towards Genro, and then to her injured wrist.

It was as if the stallion was human, because in a matter of seconds it bent down on its knees, allowing Miaka a short distance to lift Genro onto its back. Carefully, but with all of her might, Miaka scooped Genro up, trying her best to avoid contact with his wound. Once she had accomplished getting Genro in the right position, Miaka then hoisted herself upon the horses back behind him.

Allowing Genro to lean back upon her, Miaka took a firm grip on Chaos's mane. There was only one place she could think of that the horse would understand and where she might get the quickest results.

"Chaos, go home" Miaka tightened her grip.

With those three words Chaos felt the urgency of the situation and took off through the forest at an implausible speed.

Gomen, minna that it took me more than three months to get out. Life has been unbelievably busy. I hope to write more once thanksgiving break starts… which is actually this Wednesday. So check up for an update sometime within a week! Hope you guys liked this chapter! Please review!

Usagi Princess