Authoring Fangirling: Plot plot plot plot plot plot plot! I'm running out of things to say in this space as the chapters are getting more dense. Please remember to leave a review, thanks! -Appa

They had decided to wait at Miaka and Chichiri's little house overnight to see if they would came back. There was still no sign of them, and they were left to assume that they had gone somewhere with some unknown purpose. Boushin didn't mind—he didn't feel like seeing Miaka at the moment anyway.

What he did mind was that Chiriko had decided they'd go straight back to the palace to drop Boushin off and then go look for Miaka. Apparently, Suzaku warrior business was too important to let the emperor be involved. It seemed he wasn't even important enough to be involved in their conversation when they were back on the road early the following day.

"Maybe they were already traveling somewhere when they found out."

"Yeah, but where would they 've gone, and how far if they're not back by now? Did they go visit our old friends in Kutou or somethin'?"

"Or they could have gone to Mt. Taikyoku!"

"Oh sure, because they'd really wanna see Taiitsukun."

"Under the circumstances, yes! Kutou isn't entirely out of the question either. The stars in the east are also—"

Chiriko had stopped abruptly, and Tasuki stared at him. "…Did'ja forget where you were goin' with this?"

"He is here."

"Who—"

Tasuki didn't have time to finish before Chiriko dismounted and armed himself with his scroll, looking around carefully, and as soon as so much as a shadow of a demon approached, he was already looking past it for the real enemy. The silhouette of a man sitting in the air appeared, holding an unusual spindle and laughing. The scholar's face crinkled into a snarl. "Miboshi."

The bandit snapped into action at the sound of the name, and barked at order at Boushin to get down and stay alert. Though the boy was aware that they were about to enter battle with a Seiryuu warrior, his mind was strangely clear as he armed himself and eyed the additional demon approaching them.

Miboshi had had enough time to plan exactly what he was going to say when the moment was right to approach the only person who had beaten him—however temporary that had been. "Still holding a personal grudge against me? How adorable. I'm glad to see it wasn't one-sided."

"You did manage to get free."

A hearty laugh. "I wasn't even captive for a day, child. I was impressed, though—you can bet I won't be making any mistakes like that again."

"I won't let you off either."

Another laugh. "And how?" he asked with a cocky smile, his nose in the air. "Have you been planning how to reach into another body and strangle me? Ha! Even if the previous owner of this body perished long ago, you wouldn't dare."

"I sure would!" shouted Tasuki as he lifted the tessen. "Rekka—"

"Tasuki, don't! Just protect Bou—" Chiriko shouted back until he was choked by a demon's appendage; he dropped the scroll and reached both hands to his neck as he tried to get air. The other demon rushed at Boushin, but he was just in time to lop off its arm before it could reach him with its claws. Tasuki spun around and fried the rest of it, and then wasted no time turning back to the source of the demons. The way Tasuki's mind worked, it was always best to act quickly when the moment called for it, and getting rid of Miboshi would be the quickest way to end the battle. Neither Chiriko nor Boushin could react faster than his reflexes, and Miboshi didn't even seem to care as the head of the body he occupied burned.

The demons fell to pieces and the lifeless body the attacker had occupied slammed to the ground. Chiriko sank to his knees as he took in a gasp of air. Boushin had been keeping enough mental track of everything he had been told so as to know the danger was not over yet. Still holding the sword tightly, he did the first thing he could think of—hold his ears and clench his eyes shut, mentally shouting, Don't take me! Don't take me! I won't let you! My will is strong! Go away! Go away! Don't take me!

Chiriko had the same worry, and as soon as his body allowed him to, he sprang over to Boushin's side and put his hands over Boushin's around his ears, as if doing that could protect him. They stayed that way a few more moments, until Chiriko removed his hands, and Boushin could only assume that they were safe. He looked over to his chaperone for reassurance. His hair had fallen over his downcast face, so Boushin couldn't read his expression.

"Well… it's safe now," Tasuki finally said to break the silence.

"Why did you kill him?" Chiriko shot back at him with a sharp, angry tone. "Did you think that would be the end of it?"

"Did ya want me t' just let ya' turn blue over there or somethin'? I did what I had to!"

"That might have been just want he wanted! It's an easy matter for him to toy with us and find another host. That's what he's been doing this entire time, Tasuki! This entire time!"

"Sorry, I…"

"This entire time..." he sank down and pressed his hand to his forehead, temple to temple. "Who is he going to attack next? Someone else is going to lose their life to him now. He's only going to come back in more sheep's skin. This entire time… I should have just… ahh…"

Tasuki had nothing else to say as Chiriko grit his teeth and began to cry hot tears.

The scene made Boushin highly uncomfortable. Maybe there was some other way to get rid of Miboshi, he pondered, like the strange spindle he left behind. He glanced over at the body, but the spindle had disappeared, as if following the master off to the next host.

Yui had Suboshi had spent the night in a large, vacant mansion. There was a ghostly sense that they shouldn't be there, but Kaika's wife had assured them it was fine to help themselves and stay there until she had a chance to prepare her husband. When she brought him the next morning it didn't take long for he and Suboshi to lock eyes, both sharing the same startled stare. Even their roughly-shaven chins seemed to mirror each other.

The moment was long enough for the others to observe with interest the resemblance and the reunion. At last, Suboshi spoke. "You don't remember me, but I'm your…"

"My twin brother," Kaika's face melted into a smile. "Xi Fang explained it to me already. I got over my shock about ten minutes ago."

"Oh. That's… that's good, then."

"…How… how's your life been?"

"I've got my complaints, but... And you? Are you happy…?"

"Probably the happiest I've ever been in my life, though I can't really say for sure," he laughed. "You must have heard about my amnesia."

"Yes… it was the juice."

"That's the most likely culprit around here."

"Yeah, that's right."

"Right."

"Yeah."

They both looked to the floor wondering what to say next, and Xi Fang took that opportunity to introduce Yui. "This is the Priestess of Seiryuu, who we'll be taking care of."

"Nice to meet you!" he smiled to her. "Though it sounds like you already know me. I'm so ashamed, really! I've known for a long time that I was a Seiryuu warrior, but I'm such a failure that I can't even remember what my own priestess looked like, haha!"

"Actually, this is our first meeting," Yui smiled back, a little amused to see how meek and normal one of her warriors seemed compared to all the rest. "Though I had a guess what you might look like."

"I suppose so! Ha… ha…" his voice sank. Reunions were always awkward for people with amnesia. "I told my parents that a distant cousin of Xi Fang's would be staying with us. They're excited to meet you. Though… uh…"

"We haven't said anything about you coming," his wife finished for him, turning to Suboshi. "They've always been very defensive about anything from Kaika's past threatening to come back and claim him, and they'd recognize you as a threat right away."

"Oh. Well, are they nice parents? You said they were, the last time I saw you…"

"Yes, they're wonderful! They keep a good eye on the boys, too!"

Suboshi's face lit up. "You have sons?"

Kaika's face lit up enough to match, welling with pride.

In a lifetime that had already been unnaturally long, Miboshi had only experienced mortal fear once. He certainly did not expect the cause of it to be a mere child. First, he was shocked to have been restrained at all, and then to have been dragged slowly down to death. In a soul worn thin by prolonging its life jumping between bodies, he could feel his very existence shrinking down into nothing.

He dissipated until the child had stopped suffering and forced him in a cage. All of Miboshi's senses were cut off—it was dark and silent there, and there weren't even walls to beat against. He was sure he was screaming in madness, but he couldn't even hear himself. Once he finally saw light again, he realized he had been freed; even so, his condition was already particularly worn down, and he was in no condition for a fight. After drifting in whatever state he could hold together, he found a shell-shocked soldier among a sea of dead bodies, and entered him before there would be any resistance. Dazed and confused, he wondered around in that body on two feet on the ground.

He eventually encountered Nakago, who was returning to Kutou, leading the armies and carrying Soi's corpse. Miboshi was in such a sorry state that he couldn't even stutter out his name when he recognized him, and was only taken back to recover at the Kutou palace because Nakago had recognized his life force.

"I was there for ages," Miboshi recounted to him when he had recovered enough to speak clearly.

"You were released when Suzaku was sealed. You weren't even there an entire day."

"It had to have been longer than that!"

Ten years later, and he clearly could recall the eternity he spent there. He knew he couldn't have been forced in so easily had he not already been dragged so far down to death, but his new body would still shake when he thought of it. At that point he would start shaking more violently with anger that any mere child—no, that any mere mortal—could do that much against him.

In comparison, ten years had gone just as fast as any other period in his existence. He had taken time to lay low and recover, and then retrain himself to attain his previous strength. Now that Seiryuu had already been summoned and Nakago had attained control of Kutou, there was not much purpose for him to continue living—except, perhaps, to show that he would continue to live, and that no one could subdue him.

Revealing that he was still alive and showing Chiriko his failure was the most intense pleasure Miboshi had ever experienced. Still, the pleasure could not match the anger and humiliation he harbored. Since he had already been observing, the next step to take was obvious.

Lonely after Boushin had left, Juan stroked Tama's fur and sighed. Shouka had tried to cheer him up, but there were moments when she wasn't able to distract him. Furthermore, she had chores to do that day and didn't have time to play. Maybe I should go find some chores to do too, he thought.

Bored and staring off into space, he didn't notice Tama tense up and hiss.

Stiff though the "luxurious" bed had been, Mayo felt a bit better when she woke up the next morning, though still not ready to be as active as the athlete she typically was. Perhaps her body was getting used to being under the weight of Suzaku.

When she mentioned this to Houki, the empress carefully chose how she would comment. "I find it very interesting that you've already summoned Suzaku. Perhaps we were wrong, but we always thought the priestess needed to hold a ceremony with her warriors first."

"Suzaku needed to change the rules since his first priestess was a failure. He's a god, what's so strange about that?"

"Then he was able to unseal himself?"

"He called out to me, and I took him back from the Priestess of Seiryuu."

"I see. It strikes me, if you don't mind my saying…"

Mayo shot her a brief glare. "It sounds unbelievable?"

"No, I merely thought your condition reminds me of being with child."

"With child?"

"Pregnancy!" Keisuke and Tetsuya shouted together as they read the words on the page. Tetsuya turned to Keisuke and asked, "As her teacher, did you have any idea…?"

"No! And look, Sakaki's even defending herself and saying how she has to be a virgin to be the priestess."

"Not that she is the priestess. But maybe Houki's on to something here with this 'Vessel' thing. Suzaku's been sealed all this time, right? Maybe he needed to build up his strength…"

"Or what if that's the only way he could get back there? He needed a medium of some sort, or something."

"If that's the case, then she's going to have to get to Miaka so she can finally summon him! Miaka better hurry up and find Yui and then figure that out. Miaka said she could sense Suzaku too, didn't she?"

"I-I don't know all this! Just let me keep reading."

Mayo was incensed. How could Houki dare to suggest she was just some whore, trying to take advantage of the situation and make herself look special? Mayo would show her. "Suzaku, hurry up and come forth," she closed her eyes and commanded, but nothing happened. Frustrated, she decided to look through her bag she had brought to find something to amuse herself. She reached for it, but the bag was suddenly further than she had judged it to be. No matter, she'd simply reach further—

This time she was sure the bag had moved, as she fell out of the bed reaching after it. Angrily, she reached again, but instead of scooting away, the bag floated up into the air. She gasped, then glared at it as she jumped for it a few times, but each time it moved away from her. With a grunting sigh through her nose, she gave up and lied down to take a nap, and the bag floated back down and settled on the floor.

Over the course of the day, Yui and Suboshi had openly discussed the situation with Kaika and Xi Fang. She wasn't aware of it, but Suboshi was beginning to think it was his fault for letting his desires get the best of him and summon her back into potential danger. As soon as the thought hit him clearly, it started to weigh on his mind. If he had sensed that Yui would return, then Nakago was even more likely to have picked up on something. But he didn't have her bow. She closed herself off to him. She was only open to me, he reassured himself.

As much as he didn't want to leave, he was an adult now, and had a better idea how to take responsibility. Perhaps having to leave Yui's side and protect her from afar was his punishment for summoning her. He waited and watched when the couple brought Yui into their home to introduce her to their family, and then he waited for it to get dark and for someone to come for him. He was patient—he spent most of his time alone anyway, so it wasn't particularly difficult.

At last, Kaika came out and silently motioned for him to follow. His parents had already gone to bed, as had his sons. They silently crept in through a large window, and then Kaika held up a candle for Suboshi to see the sleeping boys' faces.

Suboshi felt excitement rush to his cheeks and smile hit his face. "They're twins!"

Kaika nodded with a smile. "It's supposed to be a sign of good luck."

"That's right." They shared a smile, but it quickly faded. One could guess that the other knew how that might not have been the case. Suboshi continued, "How old are they?"

"Five. They're a handful, and egg each other on. Their names are Kouei and Shuuei."

"Do they play the flute too?"

"Oh, you knew," he blinked, then decided it probably wasn't that strange. "They're learning, but they're not very good yet."

"I'd love to hear them," he smiled down to his nephews, brimming with wishful thinking about how wonderful their lives should be.

"Do you play, too?"

"You taught me some."

"I see."

"You were usually the stronger one."

"I'm sorry."

There was a pause.

"It's not your fault. I wanted you to escape. I'm sorry I came back, but I'll make sure nothing else comes here to haunt you."

Kaika reached out and touched his shoulder, giving him a sympathetic look. "It's alright. Once it was clear that I had been a warrior in the past, I always knew my destiny would come back for me. There was no way a little juice could stand in the way of that."

Suboshi stared back, surprised and relieved to hear him take everything in stride. However, if even his amnesic brother had premonitions about this, it could only fill him with a sense of dread. The worst he could imagine was his small nephews having to suffer like they had. "I just want you all not be bothered by anything anymore."

"It sounds like you're the strong one now."

They slipped out just as quietly as they came in, but Yui went out the front door to see them off. "You're leaving now, Suboshi?" she whispered.

"Yes. Nakago only expected me to be gone a short time. I need to get back and keep him from getting suspicious about anything."

"Thank you for your help. I'll figure out what I should do now."

"You should stay here. Kaika will take care of you."

"I'm sure I'm here to do something."

"Just wait for me," he stepped forward and embraced her, the first time he had done so since she had returned. Yui was too surprised to resist or embrace him back. "I'll come back," he pulled away and assured her, holding her hand as he stepped back, only releasing it as he darted off into the darkness.

Kaika grinned. "He really cares about you."

"Yes, he does," she frowned.