Author Fangirling: I usually make it a point not to add original characters to fanfiction where they aren't necessary, but Chou and Shu were born out of necessity. By this point, however, I really enjoyed writing them. I tried to base them on the nameless mass of counselors that populate Hotohori's peanut gallery, but I'd be lying if I said they weren't a little influenced by my having rewatched Saiunkoku Monogatari by this point in the fic. I was also under the influence of a big handful of Jin Yong-style kung fu dramas throughout the whole writing process, now that I think about it! Perhaps they had more stylistic influence than the original FY did, seeing as my emotional memory of FY is now my stronger than my desire to actually sit down and rewatch the series (yet again). Ahh, but the feelings... the feelings, man!

Juan was a little nervous when Chiriko woke him up and told him to go with them to the palace right away. "The imperial palace, you mean? Me? Why?"

"Apparently we're summoning Suzaku today."

"What?"

"I don't know," the adult warrior looked bewildered but wasn't daring to argue.

It was a very short distance away by carriage, and the other warriors had already gathered at the steps of the shrine since Tamahome had gone ahead to inform them.

"Over here, Miaka," Tasuki called. He couldn't wipe the wide grin off his face. "I tell ya, I like this method a lot better than tryin' to get those old fogeys to agree on anything!"

"We're proud of you, Miaka," beamed Nuriko. "And you, too, Mayo."

She blushed. "I've just been sitting around and wait…ing…"

They crowded around to catch her as she fainted, as the sunlight had made her dizzy on top of already being frail. Chichiri lifted her up to carry her, and was surprised at how light she was. "It's a good thing we aren't waiting any longer. You better hurry and perform your purification, you know."

"Right!"

"Everything's prepared, right, Chiriko?"

"Yes, but… but what if we get caught? The court still hasn't approved—"

"If you're worried about getting caught, then I'll just skip the purification!"

"But Miaka, you only do this once," Nuriko whined. "Don't you want to look pretty and dress up for it?"

"This is the second time, remember?"

"Okay, nevermind."

"Still, I'm all nervous that it'll go like last time. Remember?" Tasuki was still grinning.

"Yeah, but we're pretty sure of who all is supposed to be here this time."

"Haha, right. Except half of us are dead."

"I'm not dead," insisted Juan.

"I guess I really haven't changed much, after all these years," Miaka mused aloud for all to hear. "It's strange, after all these years of avoiding it, I'm at peace with it now. I still love the people I'm surrounded with here and want more than anything to wish for their happiness," she turned to look down to Juan, and held his cheek. "Whether they need Suzaku to help grant that or not."

"Then save... save your wishes for what only Suzaku can grant."

They all stopped on the stairs at the sound of Boushin's voice, and they turned around to face him. His face was red and he was panting, and the threads at the hems of his robs were unraveling. Catching his breath, he stood up straight and spoke louder. "We act on behalf of Konan, and that is why we will defy Nakago's wishes." He took another gulp of air before continuing. "Consider your wishes very carefully. Don't wish for anyone else's happiness, because they can attain it themselves, given the chance. Give all of Konan a chance to claim back our happiness."

"I will," she assured him.

"Where have you been, anyway?" he whined and wiped his sweaty forehead. "I've been looking everywhere for you!"

"Sorry," she chuckled. "I'll need to keep my world safe from Nakago, but I want to make sure your entire world is safe, too."

His eyes stung and started to get blurry with tears. "Even if you know all that it is?"

"Boushin, it's so much more to me than that."

He choked back a sob as he was overcome with relief and gratitude. "Priestess of Suzaku, please accept this scroll," he held it out to her. "Please give Konan Suzaku's blessing."

He caught the rest of his breath as he watched them enter the shrine and close the door behind them, and after a few still moments, he decided it was about time he left if he didn't want to attract any attention to the others' activities. Of course, he'd have to hide his tattered robes and fix his hair if he didn't want to attract any extra attention to himself, either. The sun was getting lower and the court would have to be wrapping up their discussion soon. Their fruitless discussion, unless they had started making plans for defense.

Within the shrine, the warriors and priestess assembled and watched the fire that was still burning.

"Are you sure you don't want to prepare, Miaka?"

"I'm still pure enough, Nuriko," she smiled. "I'm ready to do this right now, and proud to do it even in rags. At long last! We had worked so hard for it." She turned to Hotohori, who smiled back gently. "I'm sorry it's taken me this long."

He shook his head. "I'm only pleased I'm here for it."

"In some sense, anyway," Tamahome broke into a wry smile next to him.

"Miaka!" a high pitched voice caught their attention. Behind her, three Nyan-Nyan were hovering in the air. "We told you we'd be here!"

"Tamahome, Hotohori, and Nuriko can use us to attend the ceremony!"

With everyone assembled, Chichiri laid Mayo on the altar, finding it ironic that Suzaku was already in their presense. "Just a little longer, Mayo."

"I'm fine," said she. "Don't worry about me."

"Then… shall we begin?"

When Boushin reached the bottom of the stairs leading up to the shrine, he took another look at it. From the outside, it was just as still as always, no indication of anything happening inside. He half expected to see Suzaku himself, but there was no such sight.

Slipping back into his quarters, he whispered for the first servant he saw to bring a change of clothes, but he wasn't sly enough. "Your Highness!"

The boy flinched, then peaked over his shoulder. Counselor Chou was marching towards him with a number of other counselors behind him. "Yes?"

"Where has Your Highness been… again?"

"Nowhe—," he stopped himself, as it would be obvious he was lying. "Do you require my attention?"

"Please give me the Universe of the Four Gods scroll," he said gravely and held out his hand.

"I beg your pardon?"

"We have come to the conclusion that you should entrust it to us until Your Highness has matured."

"Don't give it to them!" another voice came from down the hall. Counselor Shu was walking as fast as his aging legs would take him so he could stand between them. "Your Highness, they only mean to make it impossible to summon Suzaku ever again! That's not what your father would want!"

"Stop being a romantic, Shu!" Chou and a few of the others argued. "Under the circumstances, it's too early to even consider it."

"Ten years ago we were only concerned about it being too late! And if another young woman has come and suffered for our country's destiny to be fulfilled, we would be impudent to prevent it!"

"Do you desire another war, Shu?"

"If Konan has any pride, it must be prepared for war!"

Boushin was taken aback to hear his counselor's passion, and startled when he faced him again. "You don't understand how long we've waited for this. Give me the scroll, Your Highness."

"Don't listen to his ravings," Chou pushed him aside and stared down at Boushin, forcing him to back against the wall. "We only desire what is best for Konan. We must put aside outlandish hopes and selfish wishes—Your Highness must do so as well. Now, if you please, the scroll."

"I," he hesitated, eyes wavering as he looked at his counselor's large palm. "I can't do that."

"Your Highness!"

"I can't do that!" he shouted back and then dashed away to run down the hall. Barely a few steps later, he was caught by the wrist, and couldn't wriggle free.

"Stop being so childish!"

"I am not a child! I am the emperor!" he yelled back. "As the emperor, I will only relinquish that scroll to the Priestess of Suzaku!"

"Your pride is misplaced!" Chou raised his voice. "Do you disregard our experience and foresight for the sake of your favorite bedtime story?"

"It's not a bedtime story!"

"It's Konan's destiny! What's gotten into you, Chou? Do you really have such little hope?"

"If it's gotten into me, it's gotten into everyone else. You're the one being unreasonable, Shu."

"Let go of me! Guards! Mother!"

"Quiet yourself!" he lead him to his bedroom and forced him inside. "You force me to treat you this way," he grimaced. "Please, cooperate and leave the scroll in the court's hands. You can reassume that responsibility when you're older, if you desire it that much."

Boushin couldn't help but grow a smug grin, and he refused to look at his counselor. "So I have no responsibility now?"

"You are responsible to your people, not to the gods."

"Then I suppose the scroll was bestowed on me for no reason. Ha! You're right. I don't have that responsibility."

"That's right. You don't," he repeated, with a hint of a relieved sigh. "Now please get the scroll." Boushin didn't move, but continued smiling. Chou's relief did not last long. "Your Highness, the scroll!"

"It's no longer my responsibility," he replied.

"You didn't," he growled, beginning to shake his head in disbelief.

Boushin only continued to smile, head turned indignantly.

They were interrupted by a growing furor of voices in the hall outside Boushin's bedroom. As the voices became more distinguishable, Chou yelled back, "what's going on out there?"

"They're bringing Lady Miaka to her room. She's fallen unconscious—it seems she was in the shrine!"

"No!" he shouted and followed the crowd out without another word to Boushin, but he did shoot him an angry look before slamming the door. Boushin returned the look with a spiteful smile, but as soon as he was left in silence, he had a sinking feeling. Falling to his knees, he started to feel nauseated, and he was blushing down to his fingertips.

He had never been so rebellious or acted with such contempt towards the counselors, who had all raised and supported him. It had been liberating for a few fleeting moments, but the shame was overwhelming.

Did I make the right choice?

No one else spoke a word to Boushin that evening, and the silence kept his mind racing. The following morning he waited for a servant to wake him at the usual time, but they didn't come until he started walking the halls. As usual, they did not make eye contact, but today they seemed especially distant.

Following his usual routine, he ate his breakfast, and then headed to the discussion halls for morning assemblies. Outside of the door, he paused and listened to the raised voices.

"He should have listened to our advice!"

"He couldn't even wait for advice. He's an impatient child, what would you expect?"

"We were wrong to look for a second Saihitei in him. We were lax in our judgement of his maturity."

"Had His Highness Saihitei been less foolish, we wouldn't be looking for a second one!"

The voices were indistinguishable from one another for a few minutes. When the hum buzzed down, he could start to distinguish individual voices again.

"You have no place to say that. You've shown contempt for the court by cooperating."

"We've thought too highly of you, Ou Doukun."

Chiriko! he gasped and listened closer as the pit in his stomach deepened, but the voices merged together again. When it started to sound outrageous, he decided it was time to appear. The instant the doors opened, the ministers were silent. Instead of being seated around the long table as usual, they were standing and in eachother's faces. "Forgive me for being late," he said.

They began to look to one another with mixed expressions, and then Counselor Shu stepped forward with a deep frown. "Your Highness, please entrust matters to us for today."

Surely, Counselor Shu would have defended him! Or so he thought. He felt the sting of tears, but staved them off to nod, and make as graceful an exit as he could muster. As soon as the door closed behind him, he ran as fast as he could to find someplace to hide. The tears would not wait, and soon he didn't care which direction he was taking down the winding halls. He stopped abruptly, however, when he bumped into someone.

"Boushin!" said Mayo, quite surprised.

"Mayo!" he gasped, and wiped his eyes as fast and casually as he could. "You're alright!"

"Strangely, yes," she had an odd smile. "After a night of sleep, I feel better than ever. It's like everything with Suzaku never even happened."

"He's gone?"

"He's not gone, Miaka summoned him!" she corrected him. "She's still sleeping, though. I'll bet she would have had more stamina if she had summoned him a long time ago instead."

"Then it did work. No wonder my counselors are in such a furor."

"Well, yeah," she had an upbeat smile before leaning down to whisper in his ear. "But I'll bet a lot of them are secretly pretty excited!"

"Oh," he replied. "That would be nice."

"I've got to admit, I've been so bored all morning!" she stretched. "Time to play some basketball again, or something! Anything!"

"Basketball?"

"Suzaku is out of our hands now," she continued. "But you can count on me for anything, Boushin! You name it!"

"Um, thank you. Should anything come to mind, I'll let you know."

"I'm sure you'll think of something. After all, Konan's going to go to war, right? Nakago has to have some idea. Boushin? You don't look like you're feeling very well…"

"O-oh? Perhaps I'm a little unwell," he replied and then quickly walked past her a few paces. "Um, where's Juan? I think I'll go see him."

"He's in the guest quarters," she replied. "But I wouldn't suggest you have him treat you."

He slowly turned back to her. "I wasn't going to…"

"Oh? That's good, then," she turned forward and continued in the opposite direction from him.

He didn't actually intend to visit, but had instead been looking for an excuse not to see anyone at all. Initially, a little time to himself outside was a relief, but as the hours went on, the loneliness was getting under his skin.

The servants were all gossiping among themselves in a whisper, and though he cared not to hear, his ears were young and picked up on every word. One frazzled maid caught his attention, however, for speaking of happenings outside the palace rather than inside it. "Now what?" she heaved a whine. "No one will let see either Master Shu or the Priestess of Suzaku. That young lady must be long gone by now."

"Yui?" he asked.

The maid yelped when she saw that they emperor had spoken to her, and bowed with her face so low he could hardly make out her muddled response. "Yes, Your Highness. The one you speak of. A man came to collect her and she went willingly, leaving only this note for the Priestess of Suzaku. We tried to have her wait, but it was beyond us to…"

"Thank you for your trouble. Seeing the Priestess of Suzaku will be difficult now, but I'll see to it that the note is delivered."

"Boushin," he heard a familiar voice behind him later in the afternoon. With a deep frown and a knot in his throat, he looked over his shoulder to Chiriko, who was smiling and carrying a small plate of dumplings. "I heard you skipped lunch. That's not good for you."

There were plenty of angry ways Boushin thought of to respond to that, but he held his tongue for fear of his voice merely coming out as a squeak.

"Why don't we share these?" continued Chiriko, with the light smile that however sincere makes children feel as though they merit no seriousness.

Seated with his young counselor in the pavilion on the pond, the emperor finally had the will to open his mouth. "They're mad at you, too."

"I knew they would be. Don't worry, I'll be fine."

"I'm sorry I forced you into this."

He shook his head. "In the end, I always wanted it. If anything, I should thank you for pushing me to it again. For pushing all of us."

"Only if it was the right choice. What have I done, Chiriko? What if Nakago was right after all? Even if he was, I couldn't tell anyone any of that! Maybe we should just band together against the other world after all. I'm so childish that I just didn't want to listen to anything Nakago wanted. It'll all be my fault if…"

"I think you made the right choice. Nakago said a lot of compelling things. Who knows? Our world may very well have been created as a matter of convenience for another. That's where I think we should follow Nakago's example."

"What do you mean?"

"The most satisfying revenge is rising above what's been done to you. If that world wanted to do away with problems they didn't want to deal with, then we should spite them by giving everyone in Konan the chance at a long, happy life."

He couldn't help but feel relieved at the sound. "You're right. There's no need for Nakago to take revenge any other way. I shouldn't feel like I have to help him! I want to see Konan live well."

"And they will."

"They will."

"Even though we're about to go to war," he added, sucking his previous statements dry of any comfort they could have provided.

"I'm sorry. It's my fault!"

"No, no! We should have seen this coming a long time ago. Suzaku or not, it may have been inevitable. We had just hoped that by looking on the bright side, the possibility might go away. We'll do our best."

"Chiriko," he kept a low tone. "You're shaking."

"So I am," he look down to his hands.

"You can't hide that you're terrified."

"I was only a child during the previous war. I didn't help fight, but I do remember it clearly." His tone fell as moments flashed around his mind-screaming alongside Chichiri for Mitsukake to stop, inconsolable when he heard of Miaka's death until Hotohori whispered the truth in his ear. That was the last he had seen of him.

"You weren't just a child. You were a Suzaku warrior."

"Which is why," he continued, "I'm going to fight alongside my fellow warriors."

Boushin felt as though Chiriko had punched him.

"Primarily as a strategist!" he fumbled as he noticed the boy's sunken expression. "Besides, I'm also busy with everything else Nakago gave us to think about. You can leave the permanence of this world to me and Miaka. We'll make sure that summoning Suzaku will not bring about the end of the world. Seeing as Suzaku's role is to save Konan, that wouldn't even make sense in the first place! We do need an emperor to make sure it's taken care of, though. Can I leave that to you?"

He sighed. "There's no one else to leave it to."

"I promise to survive this war if you do."

Even Chiriko is treating me like a child. "It's a promise."

"Here you two were," a voice called from over the pond. Nuriko was floating above the water as he came towards them. "Miaka finally woke up! You should come and see her."