Author Fangirling: Boushin's got to make up for not even appearing in the last chapter. This is your fic, kid, go for it!

"Mayo!" Nuriko shouted.

Once he heard what had happened, the ghost warrior went on ahead to scope out where she would be, and found Nakago riding away from his camp with her gagged and bound, and with only a small party of servants and warriors behind him in attendance. She heard him and looked up with a desperate plea written across her face, but when Nuriko tried to get closer he was repelled by Nakago's life force. With nothing else he could do personally, he retreated to tell Miaka and the others how to find her. Taking advantage of Chichiri's cloak, the group soon arrived on the road a few paces ahead of him. As if he had been expecting it, Nakago stopped and called out to them.

"You have gall to enter Kutou territory like this."

"Give Mayo back!" shouted Miaka.

"I welcome your ghost back to the world of the living, Priestess of Suzaku. It surprises me that you've been silent this long."

Chichiri instinctively moved between her and the emperor, signally that Nakago should not dream of using Miaka should his plans with Mayo fall through. Chiriko also moved forward, armed with little more than words. "Your fears about this world may not be groundless, Your Highness, but there is nothing to necessitate traveling to the Priestesses' world."

"I see I did not manage to succeed in convincing you of the threat to this world, Chiriko."

"Please release Mayo and let us have more dialogue if it concerns you so much."

"Do you mean to imply that you have more information since we last spoke?"

"With Miaka's cooperation, of course. That's worth more than your years of speculation."

He smiled, both amused and impatient. "I take it you did so with Konan's best interests at heart."

"Of course. I am both a Suzaku warrior and an official of the court, and I am primarily concerned with Konan's safety. What we know doesn't just have to benefit Konan, though."

"My plans with this girl pose no threat to Konan. If you will kindly step out of the way, I am happy to call this war off and restore full sovereignty to Konan."

"We wouldn't be such cowards!" shouted the priestess. "Besides, you're not acting for the good of anyone—you just want to have your misplaced vengeance!"

"It seems dialogue is of little use," he said, and lifted a hand towards them. Specks of blue light started to gather there as he prepared to shoot them with a blast of his life force. "Get out of my way now if you would like to live."

Before waiting for an answer he released the blast, and Chichiri pushed her out of the way of its trajectory just in time, though his back was badly singed. "Now, Miaka!" he hissed.

"Suzaku!" she raised her voice, and a mark on her forehead began to glow. "Send Mayo back to her own world, safe with Keisuke and Tetsuya. May she never enter this world again! Kaijin!"

Mayo's body immediately began to emit a red light, temporarily blinding Nakago, but he could tell by the loss of weight under his arm that she had disappeared. When the light subsided he looked back out at the road, and saw that the Suzaku warriors and their priestess had also disappeared.

Once they had returned, Tasuki was waiting for them in the strategy hut. He and his bandits had come back to regroup, only to hear from the other generals where his celestial comrades had gone. "And? Well? Where's Mayo? Does Nakago still have her?"

"No, Miaka send her back to her world with one of her—uh!" Chichiri stopped and flinched in pain. Miaka peered around his shoulder to take a look, and, gruesome though it was, she was relieved to see that it wasn't terribly deep.

"You should go rest up with that an' let us take care'a things here," the man next to Tasuki squatted down and took a look. Miaka gave him a puzzled look. "Did I say somethin' wrong?"

"Who are you?"

"It's Kouji, Miaka! Knock knock!"

"Oh!" she gasped, immediately noticing her mistake. "You look—your scars! Your scars are gone!"

"Yeah, people are havin' trouble recognizin' me left and right. I'm havin' an identity crisis here, but at least I'm alive and kickin. Better stop little Juan before ya lose yours too," he pointed Chichiri in the face.

"Kouji's right. Go heal up an' leave Miaka to me," added Tasuki. "And keep an' eye on Juan while you're there."

"Is Juan alri—," started Miaka, but the moment she tried to stand she sank to floor, her limbs void of any strength. Chichiri and Tasuki were quick to support her, and she looked between them, confused for a moment. "I… I'm fine. I knew this would happen after using my wishes, haha. You go on and get some treatment, Chichiri, I'll just rest here."

Chiriko was preoccupied organizing all the new information in his head before he forgot anything. "Do you have any news from your end, Tasuki?"

"We lost about two hundred troops an' one captain in the last skirmish. Five hundred and four the day before that. We abandoned that position t' come help reinforce this stronghold, and most of us are still 'n good condition for that."

"I see. I'll go write a report for Boushin tonight, and we'll break up into positions to protect the fort immediately after that. Miaka, Chichiri—please focus on getting your strength back."

As Kouji left to take Chichiri to be treated, Tasuki carried Miaka bridal style to her tent, where he laid her down limp on the bed. "Good job today, Miaka," he whispered. "Making wishes isn't all that scary now, is it?"

She shook her head slightly, hiding the real reasons she had been holding off, and not directly addressing his suggestion that she should hurry up and wish for successful warfare. Too tired to use many words, she motioned for the teddy bear on the table, which he grabbed for her to snuggle with. A little grin crept onto his face, and he tucked her in with a blanket and knelt down near her face as she closed her eyes. "I'm proud of you, Miaka. I always knew ya had this in you."

"Mm."

"Just a real drag to see it in a situation like this again. That's what war can bring outta us, I guess," his smile grew faint, and images of a war years past shook themselves to the surface of his mind. Not one to bottle things in, he went on. "You were really somethin' back then, too. But maybe ya shouldn't have come with us to the front."

"..."

"Then you wouldn't have had t' see... damn it, you would have regretted not bein' there more. And, well... good for Tama. That you were there, I mean. He was probably a lot happier to go in your arms than mine! But I still cried and screamed just as loud as you did. You probably didn't hear me, but I did. Somethin' broke inside me, too, and I lost it. Really, what the hell was I thinking? Takin' you to right up to Nakago to take out our anger? If it wasn't for me you never would have been hurt like that. Why'd it have to be you and not me? I was too ashamed to even face you for a while after that, so that's why Chichiri took you, and I guess... I'm sorry."

"..."

"Yeah, I know, I'm weird for bringin' this up! I know it's a little late bring this up now, but-"

She was already asleep by then, and his heart sank when he saw her grip on the teddy bear. "You really do miss your own world, don't you? That's where priestesses go when they're finished, huh?" he said put a hand on top of hers.

Doing so, he heard a voice.

Tasuki, can you hear me? Mayo is safe here. When she wakes up—

The bandit's scream could have woken the dead, but Miaka did not stir. He stood and drew away from the talking toy, gawking at it.

Another voice continued.

I don't think Tasuki was in on it yet, Keisuke.

Oh, oops.

"Wha… what the hell!?"

The following morning Chiriko was up early to see the messenger off, and paused to look at the brightening sky. It lifted his spirits, but when Tasuki approached, he didn't seem quite as cheerful. His face was dark but his eyes were wide, and his lips were pursed.

"You look awful, Tasuki. Did you sleep at all?"

"Far from it."

The younger warrior noted where he had come from. "You spend the night in Miaka's tent? Tasuki, that's—"

"As if I'm up for a joke like that right now! I was up all night having an existential crisis brought on by a stuffed bear!"

"Ah," he struggled for a response. "How much did you hear?"

"The whole story! Ha, as ironic as that is! Miaka's brother and his friend went ahead an' told me everything," he said, then gave Chiriko a swift knock lopside the head. "That's for tryin' t' keep me in the dark!"

"Ow!" he held his head. "I didn't think you'd want to know."

"Course not! But knowing's better than keepin' secrets. And that's why we should tell His Majesty and Nuriko, too."

"Actually," Nuriko appeared in front of them. "Tamahome already did. We're dead, so there's not much that can shock us. If it's important to keeping this world safe, it's a good thing we know."

"Aw, great. Then I really am the last t' know these things. Great t' know you all trust me with information about the end of the world and how insignificant our lives were in the first place."

"Now don't go saying all that, Tasuki, our lives are plenty significant if we value them," the deceased one smiled. "It not worth letting it get to you. But on that note, Juan doesn't know—and he doesn't need to."

"That's right. He's just a kid," the bandit quieted. "Poor Boushin had to go and find this all out from Nakago. He must'a been a wreck."

"That was what Hotohori thought, too. He's probably at the palace now seeing how he is."

Hotohori had been watching Boushin, but it was difficult to appear before him when Boushin was in such low spirits and unwilling to be pitied. When he did appear his son politely acknowledged him, but did not venture to give voice to his concerns.

Hotohori could not think of a way to open conversation with him either. "I heard about everything Nakago told you."

"Do you think it's true?"

"Miaka confirmed some of it. But you shouldn't let it worry you."

"I see. Thank you."

"…"

After being absent for most of his life Hotohori felt inadequate as a father figure, and despite the years he had spent watching over him, death was an insurmountable obstacle. They could not pretend to have a normal relationship simple because they could now exchange words. What words would they even exchange in a situation like this? As Boushin sat idly at his throne or in his bedroom, Hotohori could only watch.

There came a knock at his door, and a servant entered. "Your highness, a private message from Counselor Ou. Another report has been sent to the court."

With a deep breath, he received it. In its contents, Chiriko wrote about their success in communicating with the other world and gaining information on how to ensure the safety of this one. The message went on to tell him that Mayo had tried to attack Nakago and that Miaka used her first wish to send her home, which left Boushin a bit shaken.

"What's the matter?" asked Hotohori. "Is it something about our world?"

"No, that part is fine," he shook his head, showing it to him. "It's Mayo. This is what she meant she left and wrote that note—she had planned all along to deal with Nakago directly."

"How foolish."

"She's one of the bravest people I know. She knew something needed to happen, and she tried it," he said, then continued reading the update on the war Chiriko provided—causing him to gasp again. "That's the last stronghold before the main route into the capital! We aren't prepared to meet troops here—if they take that stronghold, we're finished!"

Hotohori stared wide-eyed at the letter for a moment without replying, and Boushin went on. "We can't expect to win at this point. Even with Suzaku, they still have Seiryuu. Nakago is in control, and he doesn't even care how this war ends as long as he can leave this world. Maybe there's still some way to bargain with him. At least if I can talk to him directly, maybe I can buy time for more preparations—"

"Boushin, where are you going?"

By that time he was already dashing into the hall, down to meet with his counselors. "If this is going to work, I have to send an invitation to him right away. We can meet halfway between here and the stronghold, and that way we can keep the rest of the Kutou army outside while only he and his small party come in."

"No! Boushin, you can't!"

"Who says I can't!"

"Nakago can't be reasoned with. If anyone goes out to meet him, it should be in battle."

"Look how well that worked!"

Hotohori was silenced. With a deep frown, he looked away, and Boushin felt a twinge of guilt. They stopped and stood in front of each other for a wordless moment, until both opened their mouths to apologize at the same time.

The ghost shook his head. "I fully believe in what I did, but I still regret the decision. I would regret it even more if anything were to happen to you."

"I'll take your sword, but I don't plan on using it. The important thing is to meet with him diplomatically, and so long as nothing goes wrong, I don't think he would be interested in harming me."

Downcast and as if he'd cry, Hotohori said nothing.

"I'm sorry, Father. I have to go-but part of the reason why I'm going is because you've always inspired me."

The counselors did not take well to Boushin's demand for a meeting. "Your Highness, don't be rash!" pleaded Counselor Shu. "We can't afford to risk your safety!"

"Because I don't have an heir?"

"Well, no... you're the only one like you, Your Highness. You would have no replacement."

"And you're not a replacement for your father, either," added Counselor Chou. "You're Emperor Reizeitei… our beloved Boushin."

Boushin felt flushed at their words—words he could tell were sincere instead of flattery or dumbing down to a child.

"I don't want you to go if you feel you have to follow in your father's legacy and meet the enemy face to face. You should only go if that's the right thing for Emperor Reizeitei to do on behalf of Konan," he said, and knelt before him—not in servitude, but to be eye to eye. "As the emperor, I think you were right to disobey me before, but I advise you out of love. I hope that you will consider our advice not to go."

He grimaced back the impulse to cry, and shook his head firmly.

Counselor Shu was having much more trouble containing himself. "Your Highness, we would not stand to lose you to that monster. I wish for you to rule your country in peace and safety for many years to come."

"I know, Counselor Shu," he replied. "But if I don't do this now, that peace and safety will never come—and there may not be a Konan left for me to rule over. I hope you understand—as emperor, I must face danger for my people."

The old man chocked on sobs, and he melted down into a respectful bow on the ground before him. "What a brilliant boy, and such a kind leader. If you—if you must go, I request permission to go with you."

"I do as well," Chou mirrored the other's humble posture. "As your counselor, I wish to use my experience to assist you in this meeting."

His face hot with emotion, Boushin nodded. "Permission granted. I will depend on your support and experience, as I have relied on you for years of dedicated service already." So saying, he turned his attention to the rest of the court. "Prepare a meeting point and invitation at once! Summon the fastest messengers in our service!"

Hotohori stood in their midst and wept as the court cheered a long life to the young emperor.