Counselor Chou helped Boushin up onto his horse, and with a final farewell, he and Chiriko left the palace grounds and weaved their way through the capital, and eventually past the outskirts of the city. Boushin had seen the capital itself on parades, but never anything beyond it—the busy streets that were once fascinating were familiar enough that he kept looking forward instead of around at the people, even though it might have been one of his first chances to see what their lives were like when they were not fixated on him. He had more extreme places he wanted to see—villages crippled by drought, ravaged by thieves, and decimated by disease. Those were the people he needed Suzaku to save!

Of course, he was also excited to get beyond the busy streets so that he and Chiriko would have the freedom to start discussing their purpose. He was anticipating the stories Chiriko would tell of the others' valor and adventures, and imagined that even if they talked for the entire journey, he would still not hear it all.

To his dismay, Chiriko was silent, apart from his heavy breathing. His face was flushed red as sweat poured down, and he looked as if he would collapse at any moment. That's disappointing, the boy's spirits dropped. I thought he would be more like a warrior.

Chiriko finally spoke up. "Your Highness," he panted. "Perhaps you would like to take a rest?"

"Thank you for your concern, but I'm fine. And please, call me by my personal name."

"If it's alright, Boushin, I think there may be a restaurant not far from here. Would you like to stop for lunch?"

"We've already packed lunch, so we should be able to cover more distance before nightfall."

"Your… Boushin, nightfall is still many hours away…"

He wasn't going to get anything out of his traveling companion at this rate. "Chiriko, if you need to get out of the sun, you can just say so."

"Yes, please. Just a few minutes."

They found a clearing where some trees provided broken shade, and tying their horses to the branches, they both settled down at the trunk. Chiriko gulped some water and then took a deep breath, exhausted.

Boushin didn't bother hiding his disappointment as he glowered. "Were you really a Suzaku warrior?"

"I've spent the majority of the past decade behind a stack of books. I'm not used to this anymore."

"I know. You're not quite the warrior you once were."

They sat quietly a few minutes looking out at the road and listening to the horses clop their feet and swish their tails at the flies around them. Chiriko's heavy breathing was no longer audible.

"Hey, Chiriko," he started, "What was being a warrior like?"

Collecting his thoughts, he did not answer immediately. "…I remember I had a strong sense of purpose."

"To protect the priestess?"

"Not that I did much of that. Rather, I felt driven to serve Konan. After Suzaku was sealed I lost some of that motivation, but the memories I had with His Majesty and the others inspired me to keep trying. I miss them very much."

"Do you miss your priestess too?"

"Miaka," he stared off. "Even now, she is still my priestess and I am still her warrior."

Chiriko's indirect answers made Boushin feel unsettled. "Who is the first warrior we're going to meet?"

"I was thinking I'd take you to Tamahome's grave. A lot would become clearer to you there."

"Tamahome," he repeated, "he was also killed by Nakago, wasn't he?"

"Yes. He and Hotohori were two of the only ones capable of confronting Nakago alone; perhaps Chichiri might have also. If only his powers had not been sealed, I'm sure the outcome of his battle would have been different. Nakago was already weakened by the time Hotohori went out to face him, but he deeply regretted not having gone sooner—if not to help Tamahome fight, then to at least have stopped Miaka."

"Did Nakago murder the priestess as well?"

"No."

Then stop her from what? She couldn't have chosen to kill herself, could she? Is that what everyone has kept from me? "My father did not succeed in killing Nakago. Why did the war end after that? Kutou could have easily won."

"It's my understanding that ultimately dominating Konan was not his goal. When the other surviving warriors and I traveled there as peace envoys, we learned more about Kutou's unstable political state. They were not blessed with wise emperors like Konan has been. Nakago had used the war as a tactic to disrupt power in his own capital."

"Then we were a scapegoat!" Boushin yelled and stood up in anger.

"He used us for many things back then; you could even say he couldn't have done it without us. We never succeeded in summoning Suzaku, but our efforts allowed Seiryuu to be summoned," Chiriko shook with head with a vacant smile. "He had least had the sense to stop when he realized we could do no more for him."

"But he still rules Kutou and collects taxes from Konan, and their biggest problem might only be that they don't want immigrants fleeing from Konan."

"There are food shortages in some areas, but in general the people aren't miserable. Once you make some friends outside of the capital, you might understand their lives a bit better."

Friends? He inwardly laughed away the thought, and turned to untie his horse. "I believe we've rested enough. Let's keep going."

Kutou was indeed safe. It was safe and happy did not have much use for an imperial army when there was no conquesting to be done. Nakago, the emperor, had said that he did not want to waste resources on wars the people were tired of and that it would make them more likely to rebel. After years of rebuilding, Kutou was thriving—and Suboshi was bored.

It was mostly a formality based on his rank as a surviving Seiryuu warrior, but he was a general in the imperial army. He kept his troops disciplined and in shape, but otherwise they had very little purpose. Suboshi himself did not even have much decision-making power—as Nakago said, the most efficient way to run a country was through a single dictator. What was the point in Suboshi being there, just beating on his troops every day? Surely it would do no harm to take a trip out on his own somewhere, far away—like Sairou.

He hated to admit that he was still too afraid of Nakago to ask permission. Even though Suboshi would plan on coming back, Nakago did not trust anyone. And if Suboshi dared to stay away, would Nakago be livid enough to go after him?

The general at least took some solace in the fact that he had a secret Nakago didn't know about. In the safety of his own private quarters, he pulled a decorative bow out of the inside pocket of his tunic. The color had faded only slightly over the years, and to any other person there would be no trace of her, but Suboshi could still call to mind Yui's scent when he breathed in its smell.

He was the only one left in his entire world with any connection her. It was his, and not even Nakago could take that away. Suboshi would not let him.

Hours had gone by, and it finally was getting dark. "Tamahome's grave isn't something we'll reach today, is it?"

"I'm sorry, I thought it would be…" he trailed off and looked around anxiously at the thickening trees.

"Could it have been moved?"

"They couldn't have razed the entire village since the last time I was here!"

"Does this look like the right place?"

"…No, it looks like we've wound up in the mountains instead."

Wound up!? Boushin mentally yelled back at him. "Could we be lost?"

"It does appear we went in a different direction that I originally intended, but this route can still take us there in a couple of days."

You put us days off course!

"Please do not worry, we can be assured of our safety in most of the mountain passages."

The instant Chiriko said that, he and his horse disappeared. Boushin's horse reared back in surprise, and the boy hurriedly dismounted to run and see where his chaperone had gone. Shaking in his steps, he carefully approached the spot he had been, and saw that there was a large ditch where the road should have been. Chiriko was inside, unconscious.

Boushin jerked away from the edge of the ditch, and his fearful mind fragmented his thoughts so that he could not think clearly about whether to try to rescue him or run away. He sensed danger, and heard footsteps approaching-many shifty footsteps.

The time to use his father's sword had already come. The sword itself seemed to move freely out of the sheath, and Boushin clenched it readily. Once his enemies saw that he was armed, they came forward quickly from the shadows. Even though Boushin expected them, he was still startled by their aggressiveness, and had to scream to clear his thoughts and charge. His sword clanged against a dagger when he met the first attacker, and he had to exert himself to throw him off before a second one came from behind him that he had to block. He needed more room before he could strike—taking a step backwards, he—

…found himself in the air, dangling by his ankle well above the attackers' heads.

The men who had attacked pointed and laughed at him in their trap, and then moved on to the ditch where Chiriko was. Struggle though he might, he could only watch helplessly as they rummaged through the bags they had brought. Soon his head was uncomfortably heavy, and he began to fade, and could only focus all of his effort on holding on to Hotohori's sword. The moment he lost consciousness, however, it fell to the dirt.

Yui had returned to life as usual—attending class, going to her part-time job, and looking forward to her next date with Tetsuya. It had gotten more difficult to do that since he started his new job at a large company, and being on the bottom most rank, he frequently had no choice but to stay late. He had suggested she join a club at school, but Yui wasn't sure yet what she would be interested in. She had friends on the surface, but no one she would stay up all night talking with or ditch school with or have around to pounce on her with love. Miaka was irreplaceable, and perhaps a part of Yui was afraid to make friends with someone new and let them know her secrets.

Of course, she didn't bury those secrets herself. Keisuke and Tetsuya gave her the dirt and shovels with which to hide it, and they were careful not to bring it up more than necessary once they had all decided they had processed it enough to move on. In the first year, there had been many conversations about how the book had always followed Miaka, and what Yui's experience of it was, and they eventually felt they had mutual understandings about what had actually happened—however relative truth and fact were.

Yui had surprised herself by bringing up the book again—and even having an inkling of interest about what its pages might say now. It would have been simple to dismiss the thought as pure curiosity, but she was scared that the book—or something in it—could be calling to her again.

Boushin's head still felt heavy, but consciousness returned like the tide. His torso felt tight, and he could hear boisterous voices beyond the walls. It wasn't clear how long he had been asleep, so he forced his eyes to creak open so that he might see if there was daylight or not. There wasn't, but the room was dimly light by the moonlight.

"Boushin, are you awake?"

At least that meant Chiriko was alive. Boushin, though tied up in ropes, twisted around to face him, and saw a large bruise on his forehead. "What happened to us?"

"We've been kidnapped by bandits."

"Kidnapped by bandits?" he gaped. How incompetent was this counselor to have led him straight into bandit territory? His mother was right; he couldn't trust Chiriko to do this right! "Shouldn't we have tried to avoid something like this? What will happen if I never get back?"

"We aren't in that kind of trouble yet," he smiled. "Depending on which bandits we're with, we might be safe."

"Yet? Might? We need to get out of here before anything happens! Be the warrior you are and get us out of here!"

"I never had that kind of power, Boushin."

"Then I'll get us out of here," he sprang into a standing position, but with his ankles tied together and his hands behind his back, he only fell forward onto Chiriko's lap.

"They'll come back eventually, and we can try to escape based on how the situation changes then," Chiriko looked down to him with a smile, but Boushin looked away and tried to hold back tears of frustration. He never should have gone on this trip. As a tear escaped and rolled towards his ear, Chiriko frowned deeply and looked away.

Boushin rolled back into a sitting position, and they listened to the roars of laughter and drunken song on the other sides of the walls. There were bits and pieces of intelligible conversation, but nothing either of them wanted to listen to. Boushin tried to pick out of the muck of it anything having to do with their fate or where his sword might be, but they seemed to not be worth the bandits' conversation.

At some point, the sounds of "I'm sorry, forgive me" rang out not far from the door to their room, and the voices of that conversation grew louder, perhaps closer. "Why didn't ya come tell me right away, huh? Don't ya think people like that would've been important?" "I could tell they were rich, that's why we brought 'em back here at all…" "That's why ya should'a brought 'em t' me! I get to deal with my own people!" "Hey man, this hasn't happened in years, who would'a thought of this anyway?" "Does this sword mean anything t' you?" "Well, 't me, but…" "Fine, I got it. Good job, go have a party, go away, and leave this t' me! Just Kouji 'n I are goin' in there until I say so. The rest of you screwballs go get the hell out!"

"We've found the right bandits," smiled Chiriko. Boushin wasn't sure what he meant, and sat at attention facing the door. In came the red-haired, fanged leader of the bandits and his scarred companion. He was carrying the sword Boushin had misplaced, and he and the other man kneeled down before Boushin.

"Your Majesty," he greeted him with his head lowered, and then he smiled directly at him while offering the sword in both hands. "You've gotta keep a better eye on this, Hotohori."

"Tasuki," Chiriko smiled from next to the boy, "This isn't Hotohori. This is his son, Boushin."

Tasuki stared at Chiriko widely, and then switched his attention back to Boushin like lightning. "What!" he exclaimed and grabbed the boy's face to get a square look at him. Boushin only stared back, bewildered. "Crap! It really is!" he yelled and then shimmied back into a kneeling position with his face to the floor. "Forgive me, Your Highness! This all isn't what it looks like! I'll explain, really! Really, I'm on your side!"

"No, it's alright, I gathered that," he said slowly. "You… you're celestial warrior Tasuki, aren't you?"

"Yes," he looked back up with a confident smile, reassured that he hadn't gotten in trouble with the newest emperor. "I knew your father well, but this is the first we've met."

"He'd like to know the truth about the legend of Suzaku now, so it was about time you met," added Chiriko, still beaming to see his friend again.

"I'm glad," Tasuki looked back to the boy with a proud smile, almost as if he would cry. "You do look so much like Hotohori."

"So I've been told," he blushed.

"Hey, Genro, just a suggestion," interjected Kouji, "Maybe you'd make friends faster if you untied them."

Before long, Boushin and Chiriko were welcomed to the banquet hall where the bandits all cowered in apology. They had already been introduced under their official titles before having set foot in the hall, and all the bandits were on their best behavior—best they knew how, anyway.

Chiriko took a seat next to Tasuki and held a cold cloth to his bruise, but was still smiling. Boushin sat on his other side of the bandit leader and was bombarded with men crowding for a closer look. "This is the kid who beat you up?" one asked another, the one with no shirt nodding proudly while showing the others the fresh cut on his arm he had received from royalty.

"Hey, Your Highness," another one pushed in. "I fought alongside your father on the battlefield!"

"Me too!" another wedged in.

"You're just as skilled as he is!"

"No, he'll be even better!"

"My father fought alongside bandits?" he smiled at the oddity of the thought.

"Yeah," one nodded. "We captured him a long time ago."

"Only the Reikaku bandits are capable of capturing two emperors!"

"He was so beautiful…!"

"That's enough outta' you."

Chiriko looked on proudly. "He fits in surprisingly well."

"Yeah, you've been keepin' an eye on him all this time over at the palace, but if you want a break you could leave 'im here for a while!" laughed Tasuki.

"Still, to have thought he was Hotohori," the younger gave him a wry glance, "You must really miss him."

"I didn't think it was him, I just thought it'd make sense if he had been reincarnated," he retorted. "After all, Mitsukake did."

"What?"

Boushin's attention snapped back towards his chaperone. Even the bandits had quieted.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure," Tasuki nodded. "I'm sure it's him."

"Are you sure it doesn't just look like him?" he asked in a severe tone.

"He's just a kid, so of course he doesn't look just like the person he used to be. But I still get that sense around him. You'll get that sense too—I'll take you to his village to meet him tomorrow."

Chiriko furrowed his eyebrows, only nodding in response. Boushin was troubled, but didn't have a chance to dwell on it with more bandits in his face telling him stories about their wartime valor.

After the meal Tasuki barked at the others to give them some space, and took Boushin along with him to his own private quarters. "I want to show you something," he had a toothy grin, which made the young emperor's stomach jump in anticipation. Tasuki turned to a locked cabinet, and then turned back with a fan that looked like paper. "Hold this."

The Harisen! Boushin mentally exclaimed. He had only read about this weapon before and wasn't sure it even existed. He picked it up with one hand, but it sank as soon as he took it from Tasuki. "It's heavy!"

"Look closer."

Boushin did so and noticed a hint of his reflection in the blades. "It's not paper. It's like metal."

"It used to be paper when I first got it. Then Taiitsukun made it stronger with her powers."

"Taiitsukun… that's… the sand witch who lives on Mount Taikyoku, right?"

"Don't call her that! She might hear you!" he slapped a hand over his mouth and looked around the room anxiously. When all seemed quiet, he sighed in relief and withdrew. "Yeah, that's her alright."

Maybe she would know more about how to get a new priestess. "Are you still able to communicate with her?"

"No," his voice fell. "None of us have heard anything from her since before the war."

"Is she gone?"

"No, I just think…" he shook his head, unsure where he was going with his thought. "I think she's abandoned us."

A chill went throughout Boushin's body. First Suzaku, and now Taiitsukun?

Tasuki continued, "A long time ago I went out to find Mount Taikyoku. I went exactly where Chichiri said it would be, and everywhere around there, but there was no mountain at all. It was just barren. They say that Taiitsukun only appears to those worthy enough t' see her or somethin' stupid like that, and I guess that after we failed we weren't good enough for her anymore."

"Why did you go?"

"I wanted to know if it was still possible… summoning Suzaku."

"I'm the same."

His serious tone caught Tasuki's attention. "Oh?"

"I wanted to know more because I wanted to know if it was still possible. I know the priestess and even some of the warriors are dead, but there must still be some way." Tasuki only stared for a moment, and Boushin was afraid he said something wrong. "Tasuki?"

"Did nobody tell you anything about Miaka yet?" he asked, still wide-eyed like a curious bug.

"What? Well, no, not much…"

"Oh. I see then. Hahaha! Haha!"

Boushin had been bothered by Chiriko's indirect half-answers to all of his questions, but he had no idea what to make of Tasuki's laughter, and could only find himself chuckling with him. "Could I ask you more questions?"

"Nobody's stoppin' you from asking."

"You said that one of the celestial warriors has been reincarnated…"

"Oh, yeah, that's Mitsukake."

"What was he like?"

"Quiet as a log. Big as one too!"

"He was really strong then, wasn't he?"

"Well, I've seen him punch the lights out of some zombies, yeah. Fighting wasn't really his style, though."

"Then he was just smart, like Chiriko?"

"No, no, Mitsukake was probably the most important person to have around," he stared at the ceiling as he thought back, and then he pointed to his left palm. "With just one hand, he could heal people. That was his power."

"Wow," he gazed back in wonder. All this time he had only imagined the warriors all being like his father—armed with holy weapons with which to tear through their enemies.

"Doesn't mean he used it all the time. People like me still had to heal up the old fashioned way so that we wouldn't wipe 'im out. Even if we did, he'd never complain or anything."

"What is he like now?"

"Just your average kid," he laughed. "No powers, no memories of bein' a warrior. Oh, but he does have Shouka. Not all kids are in love like that," he laughed louder. "How 'bout you? Got a harem assembled yet?"

"Not that I've bothered to think about," he blushed and looked to the floor. "Chiriko is approached with more proposals than I am."

Tasuki grew a wide grin, and then burst out even more outrageous laughter. "I guess somebody's gotta take over as the lady-killer around the palace now that Hotohori isn't there."

Not that the women see him; it's merely politics among the officials, he thought, but didn't bother explaining. "And what about you? Do bandits keep wives—"

"No! No women!" he barked. "Too much trouble when you keep them around too long! Bossy brats!"

Boushin noted not to broach that subject again. "Are there any other things here you can show me?"

"Sure! These are just my things, but we've got storerooms full of stuff! Stuff that… uh… happens to come from travelers… come to think of it, your stuff might be mixed in with it all by now…"

"It's alright. I have my father's sword back, and the rest is replaceable. We might need another horse, though."

"I'm goin' with you, so I'll take care of all that. I wanna get back and see Tama's village again, too."

"You're going?" he lit up. "I'm relieved! Chiriko isn't dependable at all!"

"Hey," his expression turned stern. "You don't know anything about Chiriko either, do you?"

"I… I do…"

Tasuki didn't look like he believed him. "Let's get some sleep. Tomorrow's gonna be a big day."

Bigger than today was? Boushin smiled. He couldn't fathom a busier day.