By the time they made their way back into the capital and caught sight of the palace, Boushin was starting to feel a bit hungry from the journey. It was tempting to stop before reaching home, but the fanfare he would receive almost sounded like it would be welcoming. After all, this time he was triumphantly returning. Wouldn't all his counselors be so proud of him for attaining the Universe of the Four Gods scroll? He pictured the looks on their faces as he would hold it up proudly for them to see.

Upon arriving, there was indeed a hubbub of voices reacting to his return. "His Highness has arrived!" "His Highness, he's finally returned!" "Bring him into the throne room immediately!" he heard. He hurriedly shuffled into the throne room behind the guards who met him. Not even the Priestess of Suzaku and her warriors were sparred a moment's greetings. It quickly became apparent that something was wrong.

With as quick a deep breath as he could muster, and he took his seat. "Please inform me what has happened in my absence."

"Your Highness," Chiriko stepped forward with a box inscribed with the Kutou royal seal. Opening the box to reveal a letter, he spoke of its contents. "You have received an invitation to visit the emperor of Kutou."

"Nakago?" he stood in shock. "He must have heard about our plans to summon Suzaku!"

"Based on the inferences in the letter, we fear you are correct," added Counselor Chou. "You've been invited to discuss security measures on behalf of an occupied territory. To me, this seems to be saying all but to cease and desist."

"You cannot go, Your Highness!" insisted Counselor Shu. "If you deliver yourself into his hands, he'll merely use you as a ransom."

"He must go," Counselor Chou argued back. "Under the treaty conditions, Konan is in no position to refuse. If the invitation is ignored, it will be taken as contemptuous. If he wasn't blatant in mentioning Suzaku, then we'll treat it as it is written. Your Highness, you'll have to be careful to stay out of whatever traps he is setting out."

"You're going to trust a child to stay out of his traps? No one has ever stayed out of his traps!"

"We should start setting some of our own if we ever hope to be a independent state again!"

"Forget that, let's have them summon Suzaku to deliver us before we even craft a response to the invitation!"

"That would be an invitation to full out war!"

"Silence, please!" Boushin shouted, and then asked for the letter to read himself. Indeed, it was a politely worded veil over Nakago's true message: You had better not summon Suzaku without permission. But why him, instead of inviting the Priestess of Suzaku herself? That had to be his true aim, right? "Hasn't he already done enough to interfere?" he shouted and banged his fist which held the letter. "If he could have simply stayed out of Konan's affairs in the first place, Suzaku would have long since been summoned with nothing to do with Kutou! It's because of his meddling that Konan is taxed to poverty now, what more complacency can he expect?"

"Your Highness," Counselor Shu looked teary eyed. "You use such grown up language now."

"You shouldn't doubt him because he's young," added Chiriko. "How do you propose to respond then? Defiance?"

Silencing himself, the emperor looked back over the letter. Under the guise of diplomacy, Boushin felt he was left little room to refuse. "I believe Counselor Chou is correct. We must accept this as an official invitation. Please draft a letter in response thanking him and informing him that Counselor Ou and I will visit him at the Kutou palace, as requested."

"Y-Your Highness, the invitation said nothing about me."

"He couldn't expect a child emperor to accept an official visit by himself," he replied. "And for his true aims, he couldn't expect us to leave the Suzaku warriors completely out of this."

"Alright!" shouted Tasuki. "Let's suit up and get ready to go see another old friend!"

"Um, Tasuki, I didn't mean…" he trailed off, then took a deep breath to regain his composure. "We can't let a diplomatic meeting resemble an ambush."

"Which means the rest of us are being asked to stay here," clarified Miaka. "Boushin, is this meant just to protect me? I'm not afraid of him."

"I'm comforted to hear you said so. As the emperor of Konan, I cannot be afraid of him either. If… if it will make you all feel more secure, though," he started to have a quiver in his voice, "I will bring my father's sword with me."

"In that case, Your Highness," Counselor Chou spoke gruffly, "Let's have a defense lesson."

The lesson was partially an excuse for a private strategizing session. "His main goal is to prevent Suzaku from being summoned," the man said between the clanging of blades. "If that's what he wants, then give it to him! We've survived without Suzaku for hundreds of years as it is. Use it as a negotiating point. If he'll grant our sovereignty back, then we'll pledge not to have the god summoned."

"That… that might work. We could lower the taxes again."

"Whatever you do, don't mention the priestesses if he doesn't know about them already! We can probably assume he's heard about Lady Mayo if he's acting now, but Lady Miaka might still be a mystery to him. Not likely, though."

"He might also want Lady Yui back."

"Lady Yui?" he stopped and gawked. "Who is that one?"

"The—the Priestess of Seiryuu…" he trailed off as he watched his counselor's expression flare. "She's returned as well..."

"And what? Is she hiding out in Shu's place too? How many of them does he have over there?"

"Only three! That I'm aware of…"

"This is ridiculous! If it's at all possible, try to pretend you've never heard of this one. Only let on that you know what he reveals he knows. But who even knows what to make of this madness anymore? Who ever thought that foreign girls falling out of the sky was ever going to help anyone?"

"I… I suppose when you put it that way that it does seem rather flawed…" he said unconfidently and looked the ground, then inwardly scoffed at his own efforts. What right does Konan have to ask for sovereignty when it can't even depend on its own people? "But Suzaku is still destined to save Konan, and was set aside for that!"

"By whom?"

Boushin had no answer.

When the time came for Boushin to depart for Kutou, he was dressed in his finest robes and seated in a lush horse-drawn carriage. Chiriko, also in his best regalia, sat beside him. As they solemnly started the journey, the furthest Boushin would ever be from the palace, Chiriko asked him, "Are you starting to miss your routine at home?"

"This time, I might."

"Yes, they left already!" Yui groaned seemingly to the air. "I don't think they really know what they're getting into. Sending a child to face Nakago? Come on!"

Didn't you try to warn them?

"I have, but that was before I knew what Nakago would do. How can he always stay ten steps ahead of me? Oh, Tetsuya, I… I'm so angry at myself for how I let myself be strung along by him in the past. He turned me into such a monster."

Well, part of it was that you were a teenager, that can't be helped. But it does take an especially evil person to break up the friendship you and Miaka had. How about this, Yui? I'll get some white-out and erase him from this whole book for you.

She giggled, only to be interrupted by Nuriko calling out her name as he floated in the room. She turned and asked what was wrong.

"Did you really ask for the guards to go out and find Suboshi? Much less bring him here?"

"Did they find him?" she immediately started for the door to go see. No sooner than the ghost could answer, she heard angry screams from the front hall—unmistakably her warrior. When she caught up to the sounds, she saw him being wrestled half-way to the ground, covered in raw skin and burns, and it seemed the guards had struggled with him all the way to the capital. "Suboshi!"

"Lady Yui," he stopped struggling and stared as if all of the anger had just been sucked out of him—momentarily. "The Suzaku scum really did kidnap you!"

"I didn't get kidnapped, they've been treating me fine here," she dismissed his concerns as she knelt down next to his head, dangled above the floor as he was held back by his arms. "Look at you," she sounded pained as observed his wounds. "You've suffered so much."

"It's only because your captors tried to kill me!" he hissed and whipped his head around as he yelled the last couple words, only to tear open some of his fragile skin. Even he could not help but wince in pain, and Yui was alarmed.

"Suboshi! Hang on, we'll have them take care of you, alright? Just don't struggle anymore."

"I… I can help him," Juan meekly opened his mouth. He had been silently watching the commotion. Stepping forward, he lifted his left and used his celestial power, as if it were second nature. Suboshi quieted in the warmth, and sank to the floor as he fell asleep.

When he awoke, he found himself in a sunny room with lush décor—albiet he was tied to the bed. Just as Suboshi opened his mouth to shout curses upon whoever had done that to him, Yui entered the room with some food and smiled as she noticed he was awake. That smile immediately calmed him, and as she explained why she had escaped to Konan under the Suzaku warriors' care, she unrestrained him so he could sit next to her and listen. He was strangely silent as he was completely engrossed in what she told him—that Nakago had been planning something so dastardly all along, and that Kaika's condition was unknown after he had used his celestial powers to help her escape. They both had the same idea to try to trace a message to him on Suboshi's arm, but there came no reply.

They sat in silence for a few moments letting their predicament wash over them. Never had Suboshi felt so powerless. "You know," he said. "I can never go back to the life I had now."

"I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault you came back."

"I had to…"

"But it's not your fault!" he shouted at her. She winced and slightly leaned away, so he shied back a bit. "It's alright. It's not a life I'd care to go back to anyway. I had influence and power, but it was like living in a void. Without my brother, and then without you, I had nothing. Do you understand that emptiness?"

"Yes," she frowned. "When I thought Miaka died, it was like a piece of me went with her. She left a hole inside of me. But," she stared off with a faint smile. "I found a couple people to try to fill it. It's not the same, but they kept my life from being a void."

"Nothing could ever be the same. Nothing in this world could replace you, Lady Yui. And as long as you're in this world, I'll never let anything take you away again. Not Nakago, not even Seiryuu!"

"Suboshi, you…" she edged away as he leaned towards her, staring her down. "You're making me nervous."

"I don't want to live this life anymore if you're not going to be in it."

With only a tight pocket of air between them, he leaned towards her more aggressively, forcing her against the backboard of the bed. Suboshi reached for Yui's cheek to stroke her hair back, revealing the single earring she was wearing. He sharpened his glance at it, then grabbed it. "Is this Nakago's? It makes me sick to my stomach to see it on you."

"No, I got rid of that!"

"Then get rid of this too!" he yelled and crushed it, pinching her earlobe hard enough to make her shriek. The chunks and dust fell between his fingertips as he let go, and dragged his fingertips along her chin bone. Thumbing her lip as he breathed the scent he still recognized from her ribbon, he said, "I love you, Lady Yui." He then forced a kiss on her.

She tried to lean away, but had no where else to go. Tetsuya! she mentally screamed. Tetsuya, help me!

Mustering all of her strength, she squeezed her hands between them and pushed him off, and once her breath was her own again she shouted his name. "Tetsuya!"

"Who is that?" he snapped.

"Tetsuya! He's the one I love! He's filled my void in a way no one else ever will. Tetsuya! I love you! Tetsuya!" The more she screamed, however, the more the silence weighed down on her. Tetsuya, answer me!

"Do you enjoy tormenting me?" he tore the canopy off the bed in frustration. "Why would you flaunt that and tell me you'd rather I just be void forever? I… haha…" he rose unsteadily, laughing at himself for lack of a better reaction. "I am isolated from this entire world. I never had any hope of having either of you back, did I? Neither you nor my brother even remember I exist. This… this is what it means to be alone! Hahaha!"

"If you're going to be such a maniac, maybe you should be alone!"

"Of course you should be mad at me!" he roared back. "It's my fault you're even back here. Seiryuu used my loneliness as a tool to call you back here. I was used, and it's my fault you'll ever suffer again! If seeing me miserable brings you any consolation, then fine," he sneered. "Take all the consolation you need. I still love you! And if loving you means only pain, then at least there is something to fill the void."

She shook her head at him and a stubborn expression.

"And because I love you, I don't care what happens to me. I'll go kill Nakago so you and my brother can be safe. And then I'll go after Seiryuu himself."

"You can't kill Nakago! Not unless you want your homeland to be swept into war again—"

"Kutou can burn for all I care!"

With that, he darted towards the window, but he stopped with one foot still in the room. With a calmer glance back at her, he asked lowly, "Well? Are you going to have your Konan guards and warriors stop me?"

"Do as you please."

He stared a moment longer, inwardly begging for her to say something more. Anything more! Instead she let the absence of words fill the room, and he made up his mind. "Good bye, Lady Yui. I'll still make this up to you." He propelled himself through the window, and she waited in silence until she was sure he was gone.

"Tetsuya," she said under her breath in a pitiful whine that bordered on tears. "Why won't you answer me?"

Across the hall, Mayo and Juan listened cautiously to Yui and Suboshi's raised voices. Their silence was only broken when the boy coughed. Mayo was relieved and took that as a chance to speak. "Sounds like they're having some issues over there, huh?"

"Yes…"

"It's not really his fault, though," she had a sheepish smile. "It's mine. I practically threw Yui back into this world. That's what made the most sense to try to get Suzaku back."

"How did you know we needed Suzaku?"

"He called out to me and told me he needed me," she smiled. "Maybe I've been taken advantage of, but I want to see this through to the end. I'll hang on. Thanks for taking care of me."

Juan merely coughed in response.

"It makes me wonder, though," she gazed off. "Have my parents noticed I'm missing? They might have found out I skipped school, so they're probably mad at me. And if they're worried about me, they're probably just yelling at each other. No, they wouldn't be. They're probably just mad at me."

"That can't be true!" protested Juan.

"No," she smiled and shook her head. "I'm doing them a favor by freeing up their lives again. Now even if they get a divorce, they'll have nothing between them to bother them. And I'll probably be a big deal at school for a while, but they'll soon enough forget about me."

"I'm sure they want to see you again! Please don't say you'll be forgotten!"

"Well, you tell me. Do you think they'll remember me here in the Universe of the Four Gods?" she said calmly and gave him a peaceful smile, though inwardly she pleaded for him to say yes.

"You—" he started, but then doubled over into a coughing fit.

"Ju-Juan?" she stroked his back. "Are you okay? Hey!" Rolling him over on his side, Mayo saw that his face was terribly flushed. "You… you used your power again today, didn't you? You have to stop! You may have been a Suzaku warrior before, but you have the body of a child now!"

"I have to," he breathed. "I don't want to see… anyone else suffer… because I wasn't there…"

"You won't be, at this rate! Stop forcing yourself!" she protested. "Wouldn't it make Shouka sad if you never came back again? And just think how sad Boushin and all your old friends will be! They want you, not your power!"

"Your family… will be sad, too… please don't give up…"

She shook and stuttered on a response, and chose to ignore him. "Don't say anymore. Just stay here and rest."