As far as I'm concerned, last week didn't exist either. I was acting strangely, which lead to having to put up an act about feeling ill. As I should have expected, Houki made sure to inform a servant that I wasn't feeling well, which lead to His Majesty finding out and making sure I had excellent care. I'll admit, being doted on brought me out of that slump pretty well.

Now that I consider myself back to my usual self, it's time to attack the situation again. And by that, I mean the emperor being single for far too long situation. As long as I still get to provide company and watch over him, I'm perfectly content. This will teach Miaka to be gone for so long—she'll completely lose her chance with him before she gets back! Hahaha! I can't wait to see the look on her face the day she comes back and finds out he's married!

Well, it shouldn't bother her. She'll still have Tamahome, though he'll probably be a brat again when she gets back and pretend that he's not happy. It'll be funny to see if he tries to hide it!

"What are you up to, Tama-kins?" I chirped behind him as he crouched over the dirt with a stick in hand. There was a sloppy outline of a circle with two circles at the top sides of it. That was a hairstyle I knew well no matter how poorly portrayed.

"Nothing! Just… making business plans!"

"Business plans… right."

"No, really, see! It's a… it's a map. I'm just planning on where I'll be headed next to go make some money."

"A map? That sure doesn't look like any city I've been to."

"No, those are… lakes. They're lakes! Right! If you head northeast of the capital, towards where I'm from, there are some lakes like this. Er... ponds, I guess..."

I decided to humor him and not make him lie more about nonexistent lakes. "So you're from the northeast?"

"Yeah, it's a pretty small village near the border."

"How are things up there?"

"Pretty quiet, last I checked. Seeing as we've been waiting around here for a while, it's been a while since I've been back."

"When did you leave?"

"Just a day or so before I met Miaka. It was like I finally knew it was time to head to the capital for work, and what do you know? It earned me an extended stay here in the palace!"

"A drive to do things out of the ordinary, huh? Now that you mention it, the day I met her was the first time I approached His Majesty."

"He'll rue the day, I bet."

"You want to repeat that?" I lifted a rock above his head.

"It was a good day, huh?" he corrected himself. "Say, how do you feel about Miaka?"

"Me?" I blinked. "Well, not like that, as I'm sure you'd know."

"Yeah, I already know that," he rolled his eyes. "When I first met her, it was kind of like she was just another little sister to watch out for. Like I knew right away I was supposed to protect her."

"Oh, that's it? Well," I pretended to act disinterested. "Just make sure you keep a good eye on her. Keep her out of trouble and you'll probably stay out of more trouble yourself."

"Funny how you make it sound like it's all my job. You're a Suzaku warrior too, you know."

"I'm just keeping an eye out for you, that's all," I shrugged, but he started laughing. "What?"

"You've actually got a pretty protective side too, don't you?"

"I do not," I argued before even considering what he said. "That's a man's job; we both know I'm not cut out for that kind of work!"

He looked immediately exasperated. "Nevermind, my mistake."

The following couple weeks, as usual, were fairly idle. Tamahome and I had both stopped going to many meetings; it was apparent to everyone that we weren't very useful after all, but I still was allowed to be around Hotohori—I mean, His Majesty!—for chatting. At first I thought it was an honor, and then when I was afraid he felt threatened by me, I took solace in him assuming I was sick so that it would make a good excuse not to see him face to face. He did, however, make personal inquires about my health. At first I whined and dismissed his inquiries because I was only important to him for summoning Suzaku, but as he became more persistent, I finally allowed him to come in and visit me.

"You look like you're feeling much better," he said. "I'm relieved."

"Well, I suppose," I had my arms folded and my nose indignantly in the air as I sat in bed.

"Will you be well enough to join me again soon?"

"…I beg your pardon?"

"Your emperor requests your presence," he had smiled to me as he left. I felt like I could float at that moment—after all the long months of longing to hear those words, he spoke them. He spoke them to me!

It didn't take me very long to figure out that he enjoyed my presence simply because I enjoyed his. He wanted someone around to appreciate him so he wouldn't have to do it by himself in the mirror. Well, no matter—I was happy to shower him with compliments and he was just as happy to hear them. There's nothing very romantic about this at all, as I had originally imagined, but I like it. His Majesty is genuinely a very enjoyable person to pass the time with.

My visits with Houki have also become more infrequent. Actually, we hadn't had a lunch date since my feigned illness. It broke our pattern. We had visited briefly, of course, and I had insisted that she was welcome at any time, but without much of a reason or a habit of visiting, it was awkward to go so far out of our way to spend time together.

I'd be lying if I said that was the only reason I felt awkward.

Even if I wouldn't admit it to any other soul, living or dead, I might as well admit it to myself. But I didn't even want to do that, for fear of what it would do to our friendship. It was easier just to not see each other as often so as to prevent anything from changing. I could keep my mind fairly busy daydreaming about how happy she and His Majesty would be together, and how beautiful their children would be, and how they'd name their first daughter after me. But would they name her Kourin, or Nuriko? Oh, and I suppose they could name the youngest daughter after Miaka. No need for her to be entirely left out.

That's how things were. I might spent the day following Tamahome around, and the evening with His Majesty after his work was done, and then I wrote up cute little stories about things the two of them would do to send to Houki every so often. Things didn't become stirred up until I was out on a walk with Tamahome one day.

"Hello-o-o-o, Tama-baby, are you in there?" I called and waved my sleeve in front of his face. Spacing out again as usual, poor love-sick fool.

"Yes, I'm in here!" he barked back.

"What are you thinking about?"

"Money."

"It figures."

"It's already been almost two months," he hung his head. "I don't know how much more I can stand of this."

"Really? I'm enjoying it."

"Don't you miss Miaka at all?"

"Of course I do. She's a lovable little twerp."

"Twerp?"

"Haha, of course she still has lots of growing up to—"

I stopped when I noticed a dark figure approaching, quietly trying to hide in the tree tops. I didn't like how suspicious it was and stepped between Tamahome and the intruder, stretching my hand back in front of him to hold him back. "What do you want?"

The figure dropped out of the tree and approached slowly. "You're the Suzaku warriors, aren't you?"

"And?" I crouched slightly, ready to spring into whatever action the situation might warrant.

"Please, help me get to the palace. I need to deliver a message," he strained his voice and took a heavy step forward, revealing an arrow sticking out of his leg. "I was one of the spies sent to Kutou."

Of course we helped him right away, but not before Tamahome gave me an amused glance after observing my posture. I folded my arms and turned away as if I did nothing and motioned for him to go carry the spy like a man should. (Just for the sake of speed, I wound up carrying him anyway while Tamahome sent for the officials and a doctor.)

"They're aware of our presence," the spy grunted through his teeth as the arrow was removed. "I barely got away to tell you that they're increasing action near the border. They have plans to send disguised troops across the border to try to hunt down the Priestess of Suzaku."

"Then they've already heard about her," His Majesty furrowed his brow in concern. "Do they know she isn't here now?"

"It doesn't seem so, Your Highness."

"How far have they gotten?" an official asked.

"Only as far as—ah!—just over the border. They might begin small attacks there to increase fear and suppress the villagers." Tamahome's eyes shot wide at that statement.

"If they're already aware of the spies, it's too dangerous to leave them there. Can we send anyone a message to have them return early?" His Majesty asked, and they began discussing amongst themselves what course of action they had best take next.

Tamahome, it seems, had already decided what he was to do. After things had calmed down, he announced to me and His Majesty that he was leaving.

"I've already been here too long. There's money to be made out there, after all. I'll come back when Miaka does, don't worry."

His Majesty frowned. "If that's what you insist on. Listen for any news about her return and stay safe until then."

I had a feeling money wasn't the only thing that was making him leave. The kid did care about more than just Miaka and money, perhaps. Well, if he was too shy to even admit liking Miaka, then he was probably was even more bashful about doing anything heroic.

His Majesty was on edge when he left, worrying about his safety. It also had him thinking again about how much longer we'd have to wait for Miaka to return—or if she ever would, for that matter. "I pray that wherever she is, she is safe," he admitted to me in private.

"It's very kind of you to worry," I tried to comfort him. "But I'm sure she's safe right now, wherever she is."

"It pains me as her warrior not to be at her side," he went on in a low voice. "I'm sure you can understand that."

"Well, I suppose," I lied. Of course I wanted Miaka to be safe, but I wasn't particularly worried about her at that moment. I had been trying to avoid wondering too much about her or I would start to feel just as anxious as everyone else. "The way I see it, she is a girl from another world. It's only while she's in this world that she needs our protection. She's probably fine there."

"Even when she comes back," said he, "she'll likely need to leave to find the other warriors. We can't realistically expect them all to congregate here like we were able to."

"That was our fortune, wasn't it?" I smiled. "And we don't need to think about those things until they actually happen."

"Perhaps you are right. I do wish I could go with her, though."

My heart dropped a little. I knew what he meant by that. He was a man in love, but being the emperor wouldn't allow him to pursue romance. Like any other man, he could still pine for someone. If he wanted it he could order it, but he didn't have the freedom to let something like that take a natural course.

Maybe I count as "any other man" after all. That being said, I want to see Houki as much as I don't want to see her. I feel afraid of myself, and how I want to take away people for myself, keep anyone else from touching them. That wouldn't be good for anyone, though. I can't be a woman for the emperor, and I can't be a man for the harem maiden.

I can't even be a useful celestial warrior what with my priestess being in an entirely different world and my power only being a distinct lack of gentleness. Besides, if Miaka were ever in immediate danger in front of me, I wouldn't even be the first one to her—Tamahome and His Majesty would move too fast for anyone to get in their way. But as long as I can be there to keep them all out of harm's way, as long as they all can be happy together, that's enough, right?

Whatever. It's not worth thinking about. I'm starting to sound like a man or something.