ATTENTION READERS: This is the Beta version of LH5W, if you want to read the official, updated version of the story, you'll have to go over to DeviantArt. com and head on over to my page. My username is Aloubell. You can also get there by going to my fanfiction. net profile which provides a link over there.
In any case, this Beta version is basically the rough draft of LH5W, my first attempt at it. Much of the plot points from this version will be the same in the official version, but there are significant and consistent characterization changes, a few (but very important) plot differences, expansion of past ideas, and overall better quality in storytelling.

All of this will be done over on DeviantArt. I no longer will write the story in traditional prose nor submit/update it here to fanfiction. net. The Beta version will remain here, just know that it isn't the 100% official story.
The official version will be written in a lazy prose mixed with play-writing elements (you'll get what I mean when you see it).
This is the new format for the story from now on.
So please head on over there if you're interested in updates to the story! Thank you for stopping by =D

-Aloe

PLEASE NOTE: The official version is being written somewhat out of order. The official version will start on chapter 46, the place where the Beta version left off. The official version will go on to complete the last chapters of Season 2. Once those are done, I will redo the story over again from Chapter 1 which will be the official version.

Having said that, if you choose to continue on reading, I hope you enjoy the Beta version and look forward to the official!

Just like when I had first began my trek of seeing Konan to its fullest (which I didn't exactly get to do thanks to a certain flame-headed bandit and blue-haired monk), I found myself soaring over the vast landscape filled with luscious greenery, rivers, and a few simple houses here and there. Unfortunately, I couldn't take every little detail in, not at the speed that I was flying at. Off to my right, I marveled the best I could at the magnificent lowering sun, which seemed to be the only thing that wasn't rushing by me at an amazing rate. Its rays helped paint the sky with different shades of blue, reds, and yellows—yet another romantic atmosphere that I had absolutely no one to share it with.

How cliché and irritating.

Seeing as how it would still be a while until I reached the palace, I decided to catch up with my Letters to the Universe. It had been some time since I had a good vent and reflection of the things that happened. It would also help pass the time!

Dear Universe,

TAKE THAT YOU VAST BITCHIN' ENTITY! I survived your stupid maze! Along with Tasuki and Chichiri, we passed every one of your trials and we all got out alive. It was touch and go there a little near the end, but we made it out! Time and time again you messed with us and nearly killed us, not to mention you being at the highest level of irritation you could possibly get—although having that said, you're probably thinking of yet another way to make my life more twisted.

But you know what?

I learned a bunch of new info as well as met some interesting people which may or may not influence the path that my life is going in. But with the previous comment, considering that knowledge is power, I'd say that I'm another step closer to making it so that you have no more power over me. Most people appreciate the attention, but I'd be a lot better off (not to mention happier) if I wasn't your favorite toy to play with.

Going onto a different topic, a lot has certainly happened since the day I left the palace. I never would have expected to experience the things I had—or end up traveling with other people with a goal in mind. Even though I didn't get to see Konan to its fullest, it would be a lie to say that I was bored and didn't get an eyeful of wonders.

Let's see…I had a run in with some bandits, befriended one after much reluctance, met an odd blue-haired, bang-defying-gravity monk, took out some siren-like shadow-kissed women, found that I was bonded with previously mentioned bandit on some cosmic level, became magically and physically bound to said bandit thanks to previously mentioned monk (which made me almost want to kill both of them), was forced to look at the face of my ex-boyfriend when it wasn't really him, and I learned how to see auras (even if it was only possible to me with my eyes closed).

After that, I was suckered into an underground nightmare where Chichiri and I temporarily lost our powers (leading me to bend the rules for the sake of getting the hell out of there), went through some more irritating trials, learned to use my kunai more efficiently (though Genrou kicked my ass when it came to hand-to-hand combat), got caught up in some lame circus trial where we had to go against killer lions and clowns (yeah…clowns), leading up to the "show of a century" where some sadistic and obnoxious brat made us the star of his stupid puppet show, causing my almost tragic death if it weren't for my companions.

Damn that bratty kid to Hell!

If I had another chance, I would strangle that kid no matter how much he cried. And maybe I'd painfully insert strings into his back and put him in a show that he'd never forget. I'd show that twerp just how dark I can really be!

*ahem*

Sorry, I almost lost it a bit there.

Luckily, we acquired the Sacred Blood Lily for the Mt. Reikaku bandit leader, so all of our troubles weren't in vain. What was the icing on the cake? I learned that Genrou is actually Tasuki, a Suzaku Warrior (getting used to the name is still a work in progress for me)! That would explain his superhuman speed—Suzaku must have given it to him! It kinda sucks that I can't tell anyone especially Miaka. That old hag Taiitsukun would be at my throat if she found out that I messed with Miaka's sacred duties of finding her warriors on her own. No worries though, if the girl finds herself lost and can't find her fellow warrior I'll gently "nudge" her in Tasuki's direction without telling her. You feel me?

On another note, I find it a bit weird how Chichiri just brought up Suzaku out of absolutely nowhere. It would be skipping to conclusions if I just rule him out as a Suzaku warrior. After all, in this land, most people probably know the prophecy, and with my futuristic clothing, it wasn't completely odd that he ended up asking. But still…I have a peculiar feeling about him—I'm still curious about why he has a scar on his eye as well as why he feels the need to wear a mask. I totally respect him and think he's a nice guy, but I'm starting to get the impression that he knows a lot more than he leads on. And why would he just get up and go like that? Suspicious…

Since we're on the topic of weird people and phenomenon, what is up with whatever is going on between Tasuki and me? Even Shokyoku admitted that he was different—which is a huge understatement in the grand scheme of things—he and I have some spark that is exchanged between us whenever we are at high emotional levels and touch, not to mention that he can see what no one has ever saw before: the dark ring a.k.a. Shokyoku! He' not even affected by my almost constantly flaring negative energy. Even with the somewhat complicated relationship we have, I still would have never expected him to be the one and only person I could have a normal friendship with—well, more so normal without the influence of my curse. I'm not complaining though! The question is...where do we go from here?

Of course, because of all the events listed as well as being forced into some God-forsaken maze for who knows how long, I never got to really make an effort to achieve my wish or even take out some Shadow Maidens. And now it would be put off even more since I have to help Miaka and follow the trail of drama that she stirred up in the palace of Konan.

Oh. Joy.

The more I think about it, the more I come to the conclusion that life over there (with Nuriko, Tamahome, Hotohori, and Miaka) is very similar to that of a soap opera. Thank God for all the action and antics on the side though. Otherwise, things would be predictable (but really, as if you would make things boring for me—I would only be so lucky). But at least we can move along with the whole summoning Suzaku thing. That way, Miaka can get her duties over and done with so that she can be returned safely back home and out of the face of danger.

Lastly, I want to discuss the whole Shokyoku issue. The problem isn't her necessarily, I mean, she doesn't want to do what she does, she just does it 'cause that is what she's created to do. If there was anyone to blame, it would most definitely be that twisted mother of hers—whoever that bitch is. I'm extremely thankful since now I know a lot more than I did before. The little girl did shine some light on the mystery of my life, I mean now I know what the ring is and fundamentally why it's there, but there were still a bunch of questions that followed up. For example: who is this mother of hers who found it necessary to bestow her daughter onto me, making it incredibly difficult to form relationships with anyone. So not only am I miserable, Shokyoku is forced to stay in that little space where she's virtually always alone, always looking out and observing my life through my eyes. That's all she does and I'm the only person she really knew and accepted.

Whoever that woman is, she is messed up to the MAX.

It was also painfully obvious that Shokyoku, and most likely her mother, had a real problem with Tasuki's existence. I wonder why…

*sigh*

There always seems to be unanswered questions, leading to even more hardships—you never make things easy for me or even give me a break. You really suck universe, you know that?

Love Always, with a HUUUUUUUUGE amount of sarcasm,

Aki

Just as expected, upon finishing the letter I was able to spot the busy capital city up ahead, with various carts and travelers/farmers/citizens walking in and out, carrying on with their everyday business. Of course, if it weren't for the very evidently decorated palace in the further distance, I would have absolutely no idea that this was my desired destination. I may have been in this world for a while, but I was almost nowhere closer to memorizing the geographical features than I was when I had first arrived. Come on! Give me a break—I was stuck in a universe-formulated maze for the majority of my absence. Of course I didn't have time to map out my surroundings.

The familiar city brought back the memory of when Miaka and I had first arrived—on a search for the mysterious man with the character for "ogre" on his forehead. Miaka ended up becoming hungry, big surprise there, so she indirectly stole some food, leading to us being chased by the poor man who had to deal with her. Oh, but the fun didn't stop there! The girl's gullibility allowed us to get caught up with some punks who had the agenda to rape and trade us. If I wasn't so committed to hiding my powers at the time, I would have made sure that those guys never walked straight ever again—by this time, they'd still be chipping the charred flesh off of their bodies.

Eh. Coulda, woulda, shoulda.

That specific memory led my mind to trace back to mine and Tasuki's run in with those no-good Mt. Kaou bandits who had used sneaky means of kidnapping us due to some grudge they had on my flame-headed companion. At the time, Tasuki and I couldn't stand each other, but I supposed that it was sort of thanks to them that he and I became friends. Funny how things work out that way, huh?

Despite my minor thankfulness to them, I was still kind of hoping that they didn't forget the little threat I made to them—they better have continued keeping their word and being good. The last thing I needed was to be bothered by another bunch of sorry vagabonds who had a serious death wish. Checking up on them just wasn't going to happen—much too out of my way—so only time could really tell. If they ever did come back around, then I'd end up reinforcing the little lesson that I demonstrated for them before. Here was the equation: Aki + Obnoxious Bandits = Pissed off sorceress who wasn't afraid to dish out destructively lethal spells. While that would be a huge bother, there was no doubt that it would help relieve some stress.

As I flew over the bustling marketplaces and homes, I couldn't help but notice the stunning number of people who suddenly stopped what they were doing to look up and gawk up at the strange phenomenon that was a woman who was flying around almost as if it were the most natural thing in the world. They were the ones who were making it weird—they couldn't have just left it alone and kept on walking. No, they had to keep staring like I was some kind of circus freak—ugh. Circus? I can't believe that I used that noun after all that has happened. One of the things I hated the most was being the center of attention—having people just stare at me with all of their judging eyes.

Instead of panicking, I played it cool as I mentally frantically tried to find something to take my mind off of it. So I decided to just look ahead at the large, brilliant palace—not allowing my eyes to trail back down to the citizens. It was an amazing sight that never ceased to amaze me. Complete with banners decorated with scarlet and gold on an authentic Chinese-esque royal foundation. It does feel like it has been a long time since I've been here. Sure, I had no idea just how long, but apparently long enough for me to comment about it. Still though…I was somewhat thankful to Suzaku for keeping Miaka away long enough until I completed my promise with helping Tasuki out. And if it weren't for that vision, I'd have absolutely no idea that she had even returned. After all this time, one would think that I would be wondering as to why I even received visions such as that. But after a while, you come to realize that there are just some things not worth asking about so you just take what you've got and go with the flow. Besides, I've been having them for a while and had already become used to them occurring. And they had been very useful.

Well…

Except for that one peculiar one I had before leaving the palace—the one I had about Miaka's best friend Yui Hongo. That was the first time that my vision just fizzled out like that, leaving me on the edge of my seat like some kind of cliffhanger. Something literally blocked my ability to see the complete message…and that bothered me. I'd have to make sure to ask Miaka about Yui when I saw her. Hopefully it was nothing and the girl was still safe and sound back in our world.

I immediately ceased my more powerful flow of energy, leaving me to nonchalantly float a little over a mile above the palace. Arms crossed, I tried to formulate the best plan for entry. Should I just arrive by entering through the front gates? Or should I just lower myself right into the courtyard? Weighing my options carefully, I realized that just landing where I needed to initially be would have been less trouble than waiting at the gates waiting for confirmation from the higher-ups or whatever. I mean, I had already been in there once—what were the chances that they'd try to arrest me again? They should have known my face by that point.

Having my plan finally be decided, I steadily descended to the ground below, appreciating the fact that no one troublesome seemed to be around at the time. I could just walk in and meet up with Tama, Hotohori, Miaka, and Nuriko without any problems.

That was the plan anyway.

As I found myself touching the familiar marble floor, I admired the way that the unique lighting of the setting sun made the courtyard seem like a completely different place. It was interesting how different colors and tones had that kind of effect on a particular area.

The next step was to head onto the throne room to meet up with my unsuspecting comrades. Before I could even make my move, a plethora of footsteps cadenced on all around, causing my body to immediately tense up and scan my surroundings. It didn't take long for a flurry of guards to completely surround me, each one of them pointing the sharp blades of their staffs at my person.

I groaned. You've got to be kidding me.

"State your name and purpose intruder!" One of them demanded. Intruder?

Instead of assuming an attack position, I just sunk my shoulders and sighed in exasperation. "Seriously?" It wouldn't have been so bad if this were the first time this happened. But this was starting to become the normal routine whenever I happened to encounter these guys. I would be totally justified by saying that this whole thing was really getting old. The first time? Okay, Miaka had unexpectedly run in front of the emperor to ask him for one of his jewels, so yeah, they could be suspicious about that. The second time, Tamahome, Miaka, and I escaped from prison and they were pursuing us. And now? This was just plain ridiculous.

"Listen!" The same man prominently commanded. He was probably the captain or whatever—the leader of this particular group of soldiers. "We will not go easy on you just because you're a woman. Now tell us your business in the royal palace or prepare to suffer the consequences." His eyes narrowed at me as the blade on his staff inched closer to my skin. "Or perhaps we should just arrest you now for sneaking in? Who's to say that you're not just some assassin who is bent on murdering our lord."

"'Murdering' him?" I scoffed in disbelief. "You can't be serious about this. I would never—"

"Lies!" The paranoid captain called out. "Why else would you just show up? It was a mistake to break in. We are willing to risk our lives for His Highness and will never allow the likes of you to even get near him!" What the? Why didn't these guys recognize me? I was there not too long ago!

With my index finger, I slowly guided his staff away from my body, making sure to maintain my unfazed demeanor. "Look, since you guys are too dense to figure it out, I'm just gonna tell you—I'm Akimoto Tsubaki, remember? Your priestesses' older 'sister'?" I felt the need to illustrate the word "sister" in air-quotes with my fingers. "Ringing any bells? I was here before and we've already done this fun little display."

They all look around at each other as some whispers are exchanged, however they never lowered their weapons.

Once again, the captain spoke up. "How do we know that you aren't lying? You could be an impersonator!" Oh my f&%$ing gosh! Either I was gone for a really long time making it so that none of them knew about me, they were just morons/being overprotective, or my less than flattering appearance was throwing them off. After all, my clothes were tattered, and I had various bruises, looking like I had been through some intense battle (I never did get around to healing myself completely, just to where I could get around on my own. The idea of wasting my energy on over healing didn't exactly appeal to me).

Despite all of that, my eyes—my red eyes—should have been a dead giveaway.

Looking into their determined eyes, I could see that they probably weren't going to let up anytime soon. Trying to convince them any longer would have become a bit irritating and I definitely wasn't getting anywhere at that pace. Sighing once more, I focused my energy to my hands, preparing for whatever I had to do to get through. The idea of being thrown into that jail once more didn't exactly sit in my stomach the right way. I understood that they were just trying to do their job, and that they were completely loyal to their emperor, and I respected that. But if they weren't willing to listen to reason, then there was no point in me having to pay for it.

Just as I was formulating a good enough battle strategy, a weird occurrence stopped me cold turkey. In my peripheral vision, I could see soldier after soldier being thrown a good thirty yards away, going both to the left and right by some mysterious force that was storming its way through. The possibility of this being yet another threat flared up in my mind, but upon hearing the familiar voice of the one coming towards me, I stared off at the site with a look of incredulity mixed with a hint of relief.

"Out of my way! Move it!" The feminine voice called out as more men were flung away as if they were rag dolls. "If you don't want to get hurt, then you'll step aside!" It didn't take long before the person made his way to the center of fun, right where I was at. Knowing what to expect, I was sort of happy to see this person again. My life had been filled with much more farewells than hello's or hello again's—my partings were usually permanent, something I was used to but still painful all the same. Being able to see someone's face again after parting once uplifted my spirits quite a bit, even if I didn't show it.

Annoyed, blazing pink eyes stared me down almost like I were their prey. "Aki, you've got some nerve showing up after all this time!"

Nuriko.

"What?" I asked in a slight accusing voice. "What did I do?"

From anyone who didn't know better, they would have thought that the individual standing before me was a beautiful woman with thick, long purple hair which was partly in a bun on top of their hair that shined a bit with the setting sun. The nearly flawless and mature facial features as well as perfectly shaded red lipstick complimented with the feminine pink, orange, and reddish robes would also throw a person off if they weren't informed of the truth. But a small few of us knew what was really up.

Even with his obviously ticked off features it was still good to see Nuriko…who wasn't such a bad person in contrast to what I used to think of him.

"When you left, we all expected you to just be away for a little while—say like a few weeks." He puffed out his cheeks. I couldn't help but notice that ever since he arrived, the guards carefully backed off a considerable amount.

Smart men.

"Yeah…?" Trailing off my question, the goal was aimed at trying to get him to get to the point.

Putting his hands on his waists, he continued. "Do you have any idea how long it's been?" Getting closer to my face, his shouting lecture persisted as he lifted up on his toes at an effort to make himself look taller and more threatening (which was a bit pointless to me since he already towered me by a good two or three inches). "You've been gone for a little over three months!" My eyes widened. Three months? That's how long I was gone? The maze had kept us its prisoners for more than a fourth of the year. No wonder my hair had grown that much. Chichiri sure wasn't kidding when he said that time raced on with the world of the outside the maze—it only felt like a few weeks, maybe four at most to us. And for a second, he switched the topic."By the way, what's up with your hair?"

I blinked at him. "My...hair?"

"Yeah...it was much shorter before. How did you grow it out that long in just a few months?" And without any warning, he reached out and took hold of my cheeks with his palm, inspecting my face as he turned it slightly to both sides. Now I'm getting a bit annoyed. What the heck was he looking for? "And now that I think about it...something is different about your face too. Is it possible that you matured a bit?"

Pulling away, I was about to tell him off thinking that he had insulted me in some way. But then I was struck with a hunch. Tilting my head down slightly, my hand raised up and took hold of a lock of my hair. It had grown longer...probably like seven inches, allowing it to regain the prominent upwards curl at the ends that it characteristically attained after a certain length, something that would in normal circumstances be impossible for as little as three months. And he said that my face was different? Matured? Hmm...something about what Taiitsukun said before resonated with me a bit. Could it have been that...that maze accelerated our ages when we were in it? The idea wasn't completely random. The old woman did say that time and space differed across the worlds, so why couldn't that be so in some whacked maze? If that was the case, did that mean that I was older than I thought I was?

Putting his hands on my shoulders, thus breaking me away from my thoughts, Nuriko didn't even hesitate to shake me violently back and forth. "Well anyway, I suppose that doesn't matter now...after a month and a half had passed, I started to get worried! People only stay away that long if something horrible had happened. I began to wonder if you were killed or raped or robbed of your innocence." The world kept shaking repeatedly as he refused to stop treating me like a shaken milkshake (him having super strength didn't help at all). "Would it have honestly killed you to at least write a letter, send a pigeon—something?"

Lifting my arms up and out, I forced his hands off of me but my brain still felt a bit rattled up. As I tried to make everything get back into focus, I talked with a rather astonished tone to my voice. "Wow Nuriko, I never knew that you cared so much."

He chuckled bitterly while flipping a lock of his long violet hair. "Normally I wouldn't to that extent, but my conscious could be a real bitch sometimes."

I cocked up an eyebrow. "What does your conscious have anything to do with my well-being?"

His eyes slowly trailed away from mine, ending up at the corner. "Nothing…" he muttered suspiciously. What a load of crap. You were worried about me. Maybe he had the notion that his previous horrible thoughts about me (during the time when we were sworn enemies) would have somehow influenced the universe to do horrible things to me. That would have definitely been some inversion to karma that I did not want to deal with anytime soon.

Deciding to just shrug it off, I chose to address the initial issue. "Okay whatever. But if you recall, I did say that I'd come back when Miaka did. And since she has…here I am."

With a blank look on his face, he blinked at me a few times. "Miaka you say?"

"I apologize Akimoto, but Miaka has not returned to us yet." After the scene in the courtyard, Nuriko and I brought our conversation to the throne room, where the oh-so hot emperor Hotohori, who also noticed my hair growth and complimented me, sat in his royal garments with his arms wide open in welcome. There was absolutely no denying to myself that seeing him again was a definite pleasure. Luckily (for them) the guards backed off completely and left us alone when they found that I was in fact who I said I was—if they couldn't trust the word of a Suzaku warrior (Nuriko) then who could they trust? But seriously though…I still thought they were a bit too anal about their duties. For some reason, it seemed like the security had been bumped up considerably since the time I left.

Gazing into Hotohori's sharp, yet softened and caring hazel eyes almost caused me to practically melt and lose track of the issue at hand. Oh my gosh did I really just say that? Getting my mind off of that, I shook my head and tried to focus—I was supposed to be shocked by his news. How could what he have said be true?

"But…I had a vision. She was standing right there," I pointed to the middle of the room. "And she had a way-too overstuffed backpack on…" There's no way that I could have misinterpreted that. But what if…what if the vision was wrong? Was it just possible that my visions were malfunctioning?

Nuriko snickered while covering his mouth with his long sleeve, trying to act like a proper, snooty lady. "Perhaps your brain is out of commission and can no longer produce adequate visions. What a pity." My reflexes caused me to automatically shoot him a distasteful look—he of course, avoided the glare. Calm down Aki. This is just how Nuriko plays with people—he doesn't mean it. I had seen his nice side when we were at Mt. Taikyoku—there was no doubt in my mind that he could actually be a really decent guy when he wanted to be. Apparently, though, he still felt the need to put up this snobbish façade.

Shaking his head either at Nuriko's response or my explanation, Hotohori told me, "I am sorry for all of the confusion. I do hope that this hasn't caused you any trouble." Standing up from his throne, the young emperor progressively made his way down a few steps and over towards Nuriko (who was swooning big time—hearts could almost be seen floating around him) and I. "We have been eagerly awaiting her return, but I can understand her long absence. It is my biggest wish to have Miaka be well." A certain look in his eyes flashed for only a few seconds—like he was worried about something. Almost immediately, his demeanor changed back to a rather uplifting one. He probably didn't think that I caught that quick shift in atmosphere. I wonder what that's about…A pleasant smile played across his lips. "Akimoto I am very happy to see you again."

Without my consent, my face started to heat up while my eyes involuntarily looked away from his. Making sure that I didn't look like I was melting, I just cleared my throat and forced my eyes back forward—not being able to do anything about the blush. However, his comment sort of threw me off so I had absolutely no idea how to respond back.

Nuriko's jealousy made his body practically blaze in fury as he gritted his teeth and wrung his long sleeve in a comedic fashion. What I didn't expect was for him to snap back into a happier mode as he held both of my shoulders with his hands and brought me in for an awkward side-hug. "Yeah, I sort of missed having you around as well—you and Miaka that is. My days were less boring with you two around." I tossed him a sideways glance in skepticism. Catching my drift, he whispered a bit into my ear. "And it was thanks to you two that I got to spend so much time with my beloved emperor!" A slight fan-girl squeal could be heard in his voice. Oh brother was what I thought when I rolled my eyes. The moment he released me, Nuriko's wide, scanning pink eyes observed me top to bottom. "My word Aki! What the heck went on with you while you were gone? Your hair is an absolute mess and your clothes—ugh don't even get me started! I'm almost insulted by the way you look." Feeling instantly offended, my eyebrow twitched as I reflexively clenched my fist.And…the snobbish attitude came back. "You could have at least presented yourself better before coming into the palace."

Hotohori groaned lightly as he closed his eyes and head fell. "Nuriko—"

"Well excuse me Nuriko for not giving a damn about my looks—'cause you know how easy a thing like that is when you're trying to fend for your life." In a case like this, sarcasm came just so darn easy to me.

The emperor's eyes flashed somewhat wide with concern. "'Fend for your life'? What do you mean by that? I have also been quite curious as to what you've been up to for the past three months."

Beginning with a sigh, I saw no harm in telling them about the adventures that I managed to find—or rather have thrown at me—while I was gone. And with that, I began the long story of the moment I met Tasuki (but using the name Genrou instead) and the troublesome bandits to the meeting of Chichiri and saving the village to the "exciting" conclusion of our battle in the maze and ending with my departure from said bandit. Of course, I left out the tidbit about me finding another Suzaku warrior (for obvious reasons) as well as my realization about Shokyoku (that was a bit more of a private issue). The emotional stuff was also not mentioned and neither was the fact that I was pretty much dead (still weighing whether or not I really died, my memory is still a bit fuzzy about that day). So yeah, I basically just gave them a slightly detailed outline.

Clapping his hands once, a pepped-up and impressed Nuriko spoke with widened eyes. "Wow Aki I gotta say—you're way more hardcore than I initially pinned you to be." He chuckled as he winked at me. "I'm sort of jealous. You've been having all that fun this whole time—it almost isn't fair." It's pretty darn easy to make this one jealous. After sighing and putting his hands on his hips once more, he gave me a smile that was both exasperated and amused at the same time. "Well I suppose that you're excuse for the sorry way that you look right now." Gee…thanks.

"While all of that does sound rather exciting," Hotohori began, his understanding smile forcing the blush to return to my face, "I'm more grateful for the fact that you didn't have to face all of those dangers on your own and that you've come back here safe and sound." Again I couldn't help but look away in any random direction from him to hide my apparent embarrassment. Hearing him say such thing made my stomach completely flip inside out—hearing anyone say it would make me embarrassed, but hearing him say it was much, much worse. It was so odd to have someone be that concerned about me like that. The awkwardness I was feeling was completely ridiculous. "It would have devastated me to know that something horrible happened to you and I hadn't been there to prevent it." I was shocked with his next course of action—he extended his arms out and brought me in for a friendly embrace.

By this point, my face felt like it was boiling something fierce. Even my body had turned completely stiff (too stiff to pull back) at the close proximities of our bodies. Being that close to anyone in such an intimately friendly way—with a man no less—was definitely so far out of my comfort zone that you needed a high power microscope to see it clearly (unless you borrow one from NASA I don't think that you'll be very lucky). I was way too occupied with the moment that it was difficult to give a thought about the return of Nuriko's envy.

Why the hell does Hotohori have to be such a freakin' tease? The guy was head over heels in love with Miaka yet he was so nice to me. It was so cruel in a way. I just couldn't understand why he had to be so nice—that friendly—with me when I wasn't even the object of his affections. The guy had been like that since we met—well more like after all the formalities and such were out of the way. But I could still remember that night when Nuriko, Tamahome, and I were eavesdropping on him and Miaka. While it was rather odd to me that he fell in love so quickly and easily, I didn't count it out as impossible. From what Nuriko had told me he was lonely as a kid and had always dreamed of the day when he would meet his one true love—the lady of legend, the kind Priestess of Suzaku. That was how things were. I just couldn't understand why he was so friendly with me though. It wasn't like it would lead to anything.

Ever since Hotohori and I met and became friends, I had been denying what was going on with my feelings, hoping that it would go away like things like that normally did. But they were still there. Turned out that I had no choice but to admit to myself that I did have a little, tiny, insignificant crush on the guy—nowhere close to what Nuriko felt for him. No, what I was feeling was one of those silly teenage infatuations or stirrings a girl could get when they meet and befriend someone who is attractive to them (and boy was he). I had really been hoping that the three month separation would help me get my priorities straight and make the crush go away. But considering my luck he just had to be so sweet and good looking!

The moment my brain managed to function again, I immediately seized the first idea that popped up. Stepping out of his embrace, I summoned the beautiful silk scarf that the village Tasuki, Chichiri, and I had saved a while back. Holding the smooth material in my hands, I marveled down at what was probably the most exquisite hand-made cloth I had ever seen in my life. The scarlet material which had glittered swirls of gold and silver practically emitted the warm and thankful feelings of the citizens we rescued. Something as important and sacred as that shouldn't just belong to one person.

Nuriko's pink eyes suddenly lit up—sparkles and all—when his gaze caught hold of the scarf in my possession. Before I knew it, Nuriko had the thing in his hands, rubbing his face up against it as he went completely ballistic. Staring down at my hands, I tried to figure out how he even got it out of my hands without my noticing.

"Oh my goodness! This material is to die for! I've never felt anything so smooth or seen any designs that intricate and lovely!" Blushing feverishly, he continued to gawk at it and continuously rub up against it like some type of weirdo. What's up with that?

Swiping it back from him at an amazing speed, I left Nuriko speechless as he searched his hands for the absent scarf. Presenting it to Hotohori I said, "This was given to me by the chief of that village I told you about. It's very old and I'm thankful to them for allowing me such a significant item, but I really have no use for it. So if it isn't too much trouble, please hang it up somewhere for everyone to see and enjoy—for them to get the good blessings from it that that village had. Present it to Suzaku if you wish…"

Slowly taking the present from my hands, Hotohori gave a slight bow before marveling at it a bit. "I humbly accept this in the name of all of Konan and our god Suzaku." Bringing his head up from the bow, he flashed a charming smile once again. "Your bravery is very admirable Akimoto—you never cease to amaze me."

Nudging me with his elbow, Nuriko jokingly told me, "You know…I'm sure that if you kept that, you could have made a real nice dress or something wonderful out of material like that." He cooed as he slapped his hands onto his cheeks and blushed some more. "You'd look absolutely royal!"

"I'm not interested in things like that," I flatly replied as I looked down and searched for a meaningful answer. "That village cherished it so much…Something that sacred shouldn't belong to just me alone—everyone should be able to benefit from it. Besides…" Pretending to act indifferent to my generosity, I added, "It's really no big deal. Like I said, I really have no use for it."

Softening up a bit Nuriko steadily let out a sigh as he patted my shoulder in approval. "I guess you're right—I mean if it really did mean that much to them. You did a good thing for those people and should be proud of yourself." My blush was returning with his comment. Part of me was really regretting telling them about saving those people. When anyone showed gratitude to me like that and made a huge deal out of it, I couldn't help but feel uncomfortable from all of the attention. I just wasn't used to it—it really felt awkward. The sad thing was that I was more used to people blaming me for things and making hateful comments—how else would lashing back as countering come so natural to me (along with sarcasm and indifference)?

"I just did what needed to be done." Scratching my cheek sheepishly, I went on to say, "Anyone in my position would have done the same thing." So please just drop it…

Feeling a hand suddenly and unexpectedly pat and rub my head, I raised up my head to see that the hand belonged to Hotohori. "I apologize if all of this praise is making you uncomfortable. But you deserve it—I'm positive that those two men who were traveling with you were very fortunate to have you on their side." Truth was that I was lucky to have them on my side. Even if I didn't want to admit it outwardly very often, they had saved my ass on more than one occasion. Who knew the state I'd be in if I didn't acquire their friendship?

Speaking of which…

Since I was already in the groove of taking things out of my "space", I went ahead and summoned the kunai to my hands, only to present the intricately designed weapon to the emperor. "Thanks for letting me use this Hotohori—you can have it back now."

Widening his eyes in confusion, he gently pushed the hand that was holding the kunai back to me. "It's yours Akimoto—I meant what I said before about it assuring me more of your safety. It would make me happier to know that you always have the weapon in your possession." Before I had left the palace three months before, Taiitsukun had informed Hotohori, Tamahome, and Nuriko that I would require their assistance when it came to certain battles. Without my consent, she had mentioned my weakness with close combat fighting and how my physical skills weren't all that great. Those three were experts in that sort of fighting while I needed time in the background to cast my spells. If the flow of energy for a spell was interrupted then it couldn't be executed properly. Having that being said, Hotohori had given me the kunai just in case I got into situations where I had no choice but to fight in close combat with someone. While his gesture was really sweet, it didn't take long for me to realize how unskilled I really was with it. But I was fortunate to have Tasuki give me a few pointers, now if anything did happen to where I needed the kunai, I'd be a bit more ready (however I still felt that I needed some kind of edge to where I'd be at an advantage in a fight to where my kunai was the only option. Unfortunately, I hadn't figured out what that edge would be yet).

A good portion of me counted more on my magic than anything else, so I prayed that I'd never be forced into a situation where my powers didn't work—again.

As I stood there, something suddenly came to my attention in which I was ashamed didn't occur to me prior. Mentally smacking myself, I looked around for the person I had excluded since I had arrived. "Hey, where's Tamahome?"

"Oh, that sorry guy?" Nuriko answered. "After sulking around here for a few weeks, Tama just up and left."

"He left?" In an accusing tone, I pointed a finger at the feminine man. "I thought I told you to look after him while I was gone?"

Crossing his arms, he looked away with a smug attitude. "He's a big boy that can take care of himself. Besides, it wasn't much fun watching out for him if all he did all day was plod around like a zombie." Even though he had never outwardly said it, Tamahome had deep feelings for Miaka—it was written all over his face. Ever since she went back to our world, he had been missing her so much that all motivation to do anything had been completely drained from his body. "You see my agenda was getting filled with non-Tama-kins related stuff. So I figured, why not let him go? He certainly wasn't happy moping around here."

"You completely lost track of him? You have no idea where he went?" Something like that could prove to be an issue in the long run.

Flinging his arms up in the air, Nuriko said, "What was I supposed to do? Hang onto his shirt and force him to stay in the palace against his will?" Umm…yeah? Out of all the times he had decided to be forceful with someone, why did it have to be this time when he got bored with the idea?

"Why not? You can do that! Does your having superhuman strength not ring any bells for you?" Pinching the space in between my eyes for a second, I tried to sort through my thoughts, making sure I calmed down before I was tempted to blow things away. "What if Miaka had come back right after he left?"

"But she didn't. Even now that you're here, she still hasn't returned. So there's no point in making a big deal out of it." He spoke with a matter-of-fact smile on his face—feeling completely confident about his words and how right he was. Not only that, but Nuriko had this thing to him where he could stay completely calm even when you'd expect him not to be. More often than not, though, his calmness was mixed with obvious smugness.

I, on the other hand, couldn't stay quite as calm as him since I seemed to be the only one noticing the seriousness of the subject. "There is a big deal to be made out of it! Tamahome's a Suzaku warrior and now he isn't here for his priestess!" In order to have the whole summoning Suzaku thing get done—I still wasn't familiar with the whole process—all seven of the warriors were necessary. Tamahome was complicating things if we had to not only search for the others but re-find him once more.

Knocking on my forehead as if it were a wooden door, he spoke. "Hello? Is anyone in there?" Wincing from his more than intended forceful knock, he continued, speaking somewhat slowly to get his point across—almost like he was talking to a little child. "Our priestess isn't back yet. So just calm down for now."

"We don't even know where he is."

"It's not like he's lost at sea or anything. If we need to find him, then we'll find him. Plus," Giving me another wink, he threw in, "we can always use our ace in the hole when she comes back." Ace in the hole? What did he mean like that? When he noticed the baffled look on my face, he continued. "I mean Miaka silly! Once she comes back, then he'll more than happily come running back. Give the kid his candy and he'll be performing flips for us!" I thought we weren't referring to him as a kid anymore. I sighed, getting irritated of the whole back and forth thing we were doing.

"Akimoto…" Hotohori broke Nuriko and mine's conversation as a rather serious expression was painted onto his face. "I feel that I must inform you of something that has been going on during your absence."

Blinking a few times in confusion, I asked, "What?"

"A little while ago, Kutou, the neighboring country to the east has declared war against Konan." His eyes narrowed. "It's unfortunate, but their becoming greedy with power and wanting to take control over more land is putting my people in danger." War? Huh…That must have been why the guards were so uptight earlier—they might have thought that I was from the enemy country and came to kill Hotohori or sabotage or something. So I guess that their wigging out wasn't completely unjustified.

But still!

My eyes people! My crimson eyes are a dead giveaway to who I am! Everyone and their mothers can recognize me that way!

Three months wasn't exactly long enough to forget my most obvious feature as well as the fact that I was their priestesses "sister". I may have started giving them the benefit of the doubt, but they were still idiots.

However the name of that country, Kutou, sounded somewhat familiar…what was it?

"Akimoto? You look troubled," Hotohori observed.

"Kutou…there's something about that country…Is there anything special about it?" Trying to be more specific, I added, "I remember Tamahome saying something about it to me when we were looking at the statue of Suzaku."

Grabbing his chin, the emperor trailed through his thoughts. "If it was the statue that stimulated your conversation, then Tamahome must have been telling you about the other gods. You see Kutou is protected by their god, a great dragon named Seiryuu."

Which probably means… My voice got low as it acquired a horrified tone. "There's the possibility that they could find a priestess as well." If they had that kind of power on their side—if they summon Seiryuu before we could summon Suzaku, then Konan could be in real trouble.

Swinging his arm back playfully, Nuriko slapped me in the back, causing me to almost fall over due to his strength, as he laughed in amusement. "Don't get all serious like that! There's nothing to worry about—two priestesses have never been around to summon two separate gods all during the same time period—it's never happened before! So it's very unlikely." Regaining my balance, I shot him an annoyed look for making me almost tip over. Ignoring my glare, he went on to say, "Having that said, with Miaka on our side almost automatically ensures our victory." You really shouldn't count your chickens before they hatch. It always put me in a state of unease whenever someone sounded that sure of themselves. Like I had told Tasuki after we left the maze and Chichiri while we were underground and powerless, the universe is always looking for an opportunity to make a person's life more challenging (mainly mine). So whenever it begins to think that a person has had it too easy or aren't being modest, the universe makes sure that they are given a much harder time. Call me paranoid for thinking that, but I had seen that theory be proved time and time again.

Not to my surprise, Hotohori had voiced my reasonable thoughts. "It would be wise not to get too confident with your words Nuriko." The purple haired cross-dresser had lost his hype slightly the moment his person of interest spoke. "There are still many obstacles in our path and we can't afford to lose sight of our objective—summon Suzaku and keeping as much people safe as possible." It was nice having someone around who saw the important bigger picture when it came to important situations like this. But it made sense—after all he was the ruler of an entire country—at such a young age no less…he had to think rationally, otherwise a lot of people could end up paying for it at his expense. I'd be lying if I had said that I wasn't impressed with the guy, the stress on him must be almost unbearable. I wonder if that kind of lifestyle ever gets to him.

The truth of all that had been said regarding Seiryuu, Suzaku, and their priestesses started to make me worry about something. Sure, Nuriko did say that there had never been two priestesses before, but the more I thought about it, the more the legend's words had entered my mind. A girl was supposed to come from another world and gather up the seven celestial warriors of that land. She was then to summon that respective god and help save the land.

When Miaka and I had first arrived at the palace, Hotohori had initially assumed that both she and I were the priestesses of Suzaku. I declined, of course, but Miaka ultimately ended up agreeing. That had been all nice and dandy then, but now that a new country and god were thrown into the picture, I was becoming a bit uneasy. Since I had declined becoming the Priestess of Suzaku, the fact still remained that I was from a different world. So what if…what if I was actually the Priestess of Seiryuu?

Shaking my head feverishly, I did my best to snap myself out of that frame of thought. There was something that I was forgetting: a girl can choose whether or not she wants to be the priestess. I said no to being Suzaku's…so naturally, I should be able to do the same for Seiryuu.

I nodded lightly but confidently. Yes…that's right. I can just say no. Looking up at Hotohori and Nuriko, I hadn't even realized that they were gazing down at me with concern in their eyes.

Maybe I didn't rely on Suzaku, or Seiryuu, or any of the other gods to keep me protection and keep me well or whatever—I believed in a higher God—but the people I had befriended were fighting in the name of Suzaku for their land, so I'd stay on their side. Fighting with the enemy and against my friends would really be uncool on my part, and I really wasn't one for betrayal.

'I still don't understand it Aki.'

Huh? Blinking a few times from the random little girl voice, I mentally spoke, Shokyoku? Apparently she was completely dropping the older-woman's voice that she used to speak to me with—before I discovered who she was.

'Yup! It's me! But that's not what we're focusing on now.' Before I could even ask what she was talking about, she continued. 'You're worrying so much about this whole ordeal when you know just how it's going to end up—they'll just end up hating you no matter which side you decide to choose.' My expression steadily became grim with the progression of her words—the words I was hoping that wouldn't be stated considering I felt that things could potentially change.'They aren't special Aki—they can't escape your negative energy. Even if you keep it in as long as you can, it will become too unbearable at some point and you'll have to let it out.' I didn't need her to go on…I felt that she'd somehow bring up that incident with Nuriko (and the innocent bystander Tamahome). For a few seconds, I couldn't control the darkness around me—Nuriko had just made me so angry that I wanted him to suffer. My mind had become clouded and for a few short seconds, I had no problems with doing just that.

I immediately regretted harming the two of them.

The thought of that happening again—or maybe even worse like it had at Ouran with those guys—absolutely terrified me. All of the people I had met on my journey seemed so nice and I felt that I could have potentially really strong friendships (you know, if the whole memory wiping thing wasn't an issue). But there was always a part of me that knew that something could always go horribly wrong. Luckily, nothing had tipped my emotional state so far that no one had gotten seriously hurt—yet. If I just kept a check on my emotions, everything should be okay…

…right?

I told you before Shokyoku—I'm dedicated to change. I won't hurt these guys. And with that final thought, Shokyoku just kept quiet. From what I gathered about her when we had met, I knew that she really wanted to look out for me—she wanted to make sure that I stayed safe and didn't get hurt. Although I appreciated her for that, she didn't quite grasp onto the fact that I wanted things to be different. She thought that it was impossible and maybe at a time, I would have thought that too. But after all of the things I had been through in the past almost year and a half, if anything, I was starting to understand that barely anything was impossible. Pushing past those barriers was hard work though…the question was whether I was up to it or not—or whether my curse would weigh me down just like it always had.

Telling myself my new signature self-chant, I repeatedly thought, Just one step at a time. Just one step at a time. Just one step at a time.

How long would I be able to continue believing that?

"Akimoto?" Blinking hard, a familiar voice knocked me back into reality and out of my thoughts. When I observed my two companions, it finally dawned on me that I must have been off in Aki-land for who knew how long. Feeling a blush wipe onto my face due to embarrassment, I reflexively looked down. Hotohori gently put his hand on my shoulder. "I can tell that you're tired—you've been through a lot and had to consume a bunch of new information. Don't worry about anything at the moment, alright?" Nodding slightly, I still felt bashful for zoning out completely like that. If only they knew about Shokyoku—perhaps it wouldn't have seemed so weird and spazzy. That was so uncharacteristic for me. Sucking it up, I scanned back up into the emperor's tender hazel eyes. "Why don't you go and take a bath and get some rest. I'll also see to it that you have some replacement clothes."

Chuckling nervously, I thought, I can only imagine how beat-up I must look to them. Unfortunately I wasn't able to heal all of myself completely after getting out of the maze. My main objective was to get myself able to walk, fly, fight, and cast spells again—which I was able to do (thank God). After I found that I could do those things again, I didn't find it necessary to waste anymore of my energy (times two) just to get rid of bruises that my body was naturally able to heal. And it wasn't like they were all over the place making me look like I was the object of the "what's black and blue and white all over" sort of joke. It was just in a few places—a few patches on my legs, arms, and one on my forehead that was covered by my bangs.

Not only that, but my jacket was destroyed by that sadistic little brat, not to mention that my clothes were really tattered—the clothes that Miss Emiko gave me. They looked like I had been wearing them for years while living in the wilderness.

I felt pretty bad for not taking better care of them. But…that maze showed no sympathy towards anyone for anything whatsoever. Unfortunately nothing could be done to make them new again. Oh well. I'm still a girl after all—so like I said before at Ouran: new clothes were always appreciated!

And don't even get me started on the state of my hair.

Traditionally, I'd tell someone "no thanks" to someone going out their way to helping me like that, but… "Thanks Hotohori—I appreciate it." Smiling back at him, I acknowledged that I hadn't had a proper day or night of rest in a really, really, REALLY long time (passing out with my drunk friend on the side of the bed did not count as a good night's sleep). Finally getting cleaned up was just the icing on the cake.

When I was dismissed from Hotohori and Nuriko's company, I was once again led back to the room that I had used when I had first arrived to the palace three months prior. To see that everything still looked fresh and kept up, I was rather impressed. Really, it was like I was living in a Chinese themed hotel that had room service twenty-four seven. The canopy bed had a few layers of sheets and covers made of some kind of seemingly valuable material, and the pillows looked so incredibly plush that they were filled with the feathers of angels (not realistically of course). There was even a slight flowery scent floating around the room, tracing back to a few incense that had been lit and were slowly deteriorating.

Every fiber in my being wanted to just plop right on down that majestically prepared bedspread, but I still had the slightly higher desire to become cleanand then plop down and knock out.

One of the royal servants thoughtfully led me to the somewhat intricately constructed outdoor bath. By "intricately" I mean that there were a series of mini waterfalls, fountains, and even the water had healing minerals in it, giving it a slight greenish color.

Of course I was a bit uneasy about bathing outside, but it wasn't like it was any different from what I did back in the maze. Actually it was better since there was a wall of boulders ensuring my privacy.

Having my hair up in a high ponytail (it was actually long enough now for me to be able to do that) to avoid it from getting wet, proceeded with my cleansing. The moment my bare body made contact with that wonderfully hot water, I honestly felt like I was in heaven. Every single bone and muscle in my being literally started to sing in pure joy. When the majority of my body was submerged, I just sat there reveling in the momentary lapse of every single bad thing that had ever happened to me—it all seemed to just wash away. On a still relatively sore body, the water was really doing wonders, even though I hadn't even been in there long.

Lying back, feeling more relaxed than I had been in a while, I stared up at the now night, midnight-blue sky. The stars were like diamond dust drops that were scattered in a beautiful pattern up above. Steam from the high-temperature water flew up and swirled around, almost as if it were dancing, up until it disappeared completely.

If only I could feel this at ease all the time—I don't need Shokyoku to remind me how much of a delusion that is. The memory of that night when Tasuki and I were in the hot spring ran across my mind. It was during our first trial in the maze when I had to learn how to see past the illusion of seeing Hikaru who was really Tasuki. To add to it, Chichiri had bound us together with a spell at our hands to make it easier for me to learn how to see auras.

I couldn't help but allow a small chuckle to escape my lips. As the memory continued to play out, I thought, I have no idea why I'm laughing at that. At the time, I was miserable and there was absolutely no reason to be laughing. Yet a slight small remained.

Crazy how much time had gone by...

Sitting there in the bath prompted me to lift my arm up, inspecting my skin as droplets of water rolled off and dripped. The veins from before—the silver ones—were completely gone. Once Shokyoku had been sealed due to the sacred powers of the maze, mysterious silver, vein-like lines covered my body—my skin—from head to toe. They had an odd magical sense to them, glowing brightly whenever a surge of energy coursed through me. To add more of the truth onto it, I felt completely free and it was like me and Wind was one. The way I was with those veins felt so natural. But why were they there?

And once Shokyoku came back, the veins disappeared. The question was, were they still there—just…unseen? Or was that just a one-time thing? I sighed.That should have been something to ask Shokyoku when I had the chance. With that one though, she probably would have given me a hard time or said that it was a "secret". Either way, I still wanted some answers. Why is it that after I get answers, more questions pop up and I want more answers?

Trying to get that out of my head (mostly because I knew that I'd never be able to figure out what the lines were on my own—not with all the holes in the mystery), I turned my attention towards other things. Like whether or not Tasuki managed to get that flower back to his leader. He better have after all that we did to get it. I just hoped that he didn't get there too late—we were gone for three months after all. Actually…I had no idea how long he had been searching for a cure. He was out and about looking for one when he met me… I just hope that everything turned out okay…

In the interest of things turning out fine, I was also praying that Miaka was alright. True, Taiitsukun had said that the flow of time was different between the two worlds—time in our world was slower than it was in the Universe of the Four Gods. But still…I had a vision about her coming back and usually my visions signify something that was going on at the exact same time that I had it. What if something bad happened to her? The whole screwy vision regarding Yui was still a huge mystery to me.

When (or if…hopefully when) Miaka came back, she would have to deal with the responsibility of being a priestess and summoning Suzaku to prevent Konan from being destroyed. Not only was the pressure unbelievable, but who knew about what things she had to go through in order to get the job done? And what if something went wrong? Miaka was such a sweet girl—a bit of a cry-baby and reckless, not to mention she's a spaz, but a sweet girl. She's innocent, for the most part, and always relied on me, Yui, or her brother to keep her safe. The girl had never done anything this big before and I really hoped she would accept.

But she did.

I just couldn't understand why she wanted to mix herself up with something so dangerous. To make matters worse, I'd have to continue looking out for her (just like when we were kids) and I'd have to deal with my missions, plans, and destiny either being put on hold or mixing with hers. Now how is this going to complicate things?

What also seemed to unsettle me was the fact that the Shadow Maidens haven't showed up in forever—which sort of made sense, I suppose. Shokyoku said that the sacred powers of the maze were too much for the element of Darkness—that was why she couldn't be active there. When Chichiri and I faced those Heartless and Hellhounds, they were just creatures formulated by the maze—they weren't affiliated with the Shadow Maidens in any way. The last time I fought off anything Shadow creature related was at that village with the Shadow-kissed women who were given siren-like abilities. And before that, Nuriko, Hotohori, and I went up against more Shadow-kissed women in the throne room. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I hadn't actually fought a legitimate Shadow Maiden since...I gasped.

Since that day in the park in Miss Emiko's world!

On that day, I used the biggest wave of Light that I had ever used in my life. Of course I had the help of Inuyasha, Kyo, and Hikaru, but it still made a huge impact on my enemies. Taiitsukun even said that my power pushed them back and forced them into a corner.

Ordinarily, a person would feel happy and confident to know that their enemies have been recovering from a pretty bad blow—perhaps they were even cowering in fear. But I knew better. Knowing them—as much as I did know anyway—they were planning something: their comeback. They were probably just waiting until the right moment—regrouping and gathering up their strength for some unbelievable wave of revenge and Darkness.

Can't wait.

If only I knew who was controlling them and why I had to be their victim—why those girls turned Shadow Maiden in the first place. What really discerns regular girls from us? And what was the Shadow Maidens' ultimate plan—

An unfamiliar and unnatural swishing in the water several yards away from me automatically tore me away from my thoughts. Ceasing everything for a few seconds, even slowing my breath, I tried to see if I could hear the sound persist any more. And there it was—a swishing that seemed to crescendo. Standing up in the shallow waters, my body tensed up, ready for whatever was coming closer. What is that? My heart-rate started to increase, not knowing what to expect from the intruder.

I had suddenly found that squinting my eyes to see past the steam was in vain when I heard a voice sing, "Oh Aki~! Where are you?" My eyes widened the moment my brain processed who was near. "Aki?"

"N-N-Nuriko?" I stuttered as my face rose to an even higher temperature than the water. Quickly squatting down into the water, my swift movements causing a huge splash, I covered my bare cleavage with my arms and shrieked, "What the hell are you DOING HERE?"

Ignoring the rage and surprise in my voice, he still progressed closer even though I didn't see him yet—he was most likely around one of the boulders in front of me. "Well I knew that you were out here and thought how much fun it would be for two girlfriends to wash each other's backs!" He said happily.

Slowly scooting backwards, I countered in a still relatively loud voice, "We are not GIRLFIRENDS! You have to be a GIRL in order for that to work you dumbass!" Even if he were a girl, I still would have thought that it was weird for them to wash each other's backs or anything together in a bath. "Just go away!"

"Aww…" Disappointment could be heard in his feminine voice. If I had never discovered the true identity of his gender, I would have been convinced that it was a woman talking to me. "You know that I'm a woman on the inside—this body really means nothing!" His voice started to become excited. "We could gossip and talk about what a great couple His Highness and I would make!" The moment I saw a hint of his violet hair, I used my energy and manipulated Water. Swinging my arm back, I released it forward, causing a huge wave of the mineral water to rush upwards and overwhelm the progressive Nuriko. With a large thud, I was sure that he landed somewhere outside of the bath.

One of the woman servants called out to me from somewhere beyond the boulder wall. "Miss Akimoto? Are you alright?" She must have heard all of my shouting along with the other commotion from my freak-out.

"Y-Yeah!" I cried out as un-shakily as I could. "Don't worry about me!" Right as I heard her footsteps become progressively weaker, I faced the direction that Nuriko was in with a blazing fire in my eyes. "What the hell you stupid cross-dresser?"

He became defensive. "Why're you saying that to me? And why did you kick me out of the bath? That was incredibly rude!"

"Rude? Who are you to talk about being rude?" I swear if I wasn't naked, I would kill him! "What you were trying to do wasn't classy at all!"

"I was just trying to be nice! Isn't that what you and Miaka wanted?" The volume of his voice got higher. "What's so wrong with one woman giving another a back-wash?"

"You. Aren't. A. Woman!" I called out to him, never letting back on my obvious annoyance and anger. The whole time, I still made sure that at least one of my arms was covering my bosom the best that I could. Realizing that my attack caused the bath to lose about two and a half feet of water, I made sure to manipulate it back before anyone could see anything they weren't supposed to. Sure, he wanted to be a woman, but there was still the plain fact that he wasn't one. I couldn't allow him to see me without any clothes on—I just wasn't ready for anything like that.

Hearing faint sobbing come from his direction, he said, "That's cold Aki—here I was trying to be a good friend who just helps another friend out. I'm crushed Aki, really crushed." I rolled my eyes. Oh please. That wasn't the first time he faked crying like that—he would have fit perfectly in the Host Club.

The argument persisted even after I got out of the bath. At least I was given a silky white robe, allowing me the opportunity to yell at Nuriko face-to-face. He had lost that sad attempt at making me feel bad about lashing out at him, so he continued to try and rationalize his actions.

With my fists clenched at my sides, I stormed down the hallways and toward my room—Nuriko circling me like some kind of satellite. During my mini silent treatment, he suddenly gasped, running in front of me to block my way. "Oh I see what's going on!" He snickered. "You thought that I was trying to make a move on you." Inching closer, a sneaky, amused look morphed onto his face. "Did you think that I was going to steal your virginity Aki~?"

Steam practically escaping through my ears, I stood on my tip-toes as I leaned toward him and yelled, an apparent blush on my features. "OMG get over yourself!" Calming down a bit, I just let out a huge exhale and walked around him.

The sound of glee still hung on his every word as he followed me. "Oh, so not only have I found out that you're still a virgin, but also that you have a rather naughty way of thinking—" On an impulse I put all of my force (plus the help of Wind) into a ferocious punch, putting a huge crater into the wall next to me. Gawking in my display, Nuriko chuckled nervously and asked, "You seem mad—is anything wrong?"

Slowly turning my head back towards him as best I could, I glared at him out of the corner of my eye—a huge vein popping out near my temple as I tried to ignore the pain shooting from my knuckles. I growled, "What do you think?" At first, I wasn't really all that mad at him. After all, he was gay and was under the impression that he was a woman in a man's body, so he most likely didn't have any sexual desires towards me. Okay, I got that. But what was pissing me off the most was how irritating he was—he just kept pressing and pressing at my temper. And that…was never a good idea.

Closing his eyes and backing off a bit, he smiled uneasily as he held up his hands to fend me off and in defense. "There's no need to get angry." Relaxing, he lowered his arms as he put one of his hands on his waist. "Honestly, a lady knows when to control herself." Oh yeah, you're one to talk. "Leave it to a little girl to not be able handle talking about such adult things." Hearing his pet name for me tempted me to punch at the wall again. I would have punched Nuriko if I honestly thought it would do some good. But having a punching match with someone with super strength didn't exactly seem wise. "Sex is a part of life Aki and is a very beautiful experience. You see with His Highness, my fantasy—"

Shuddering from the "s" word, I immediately blushed and turned around to face him with incredible speed to cover his mouth with my hand. It wasn't exactly a topic that I was the most comfortable talking about. The whole idea of it embarrassed me and I didn't even like saying the word. It still amazed me how I managed to go through all my school years—high school especially—without having to say it—not even in health class. "Don't you dare finish that sentence—I do not want to know. And I am so not having this talk with you."

Taking my hand off of his mouth, he said, "And the rudeness and immaturity persists." Laughing softly, his pink eyes stared right into mine allowing me to, for a second, see a certain depth to them that I had never seen before."Although," he winked at me, "I do find it cute how innocent you are—the way you responded to the things I did and said was absolutely adorable! Who knew it would be so easy to get you that worked up?"

With the blush still on my face, I did my best to fish through my mind to find an appropriate response. "I—well—you—uhh—umm." Clearing my throat, I straightened up, crossed my arms, and chose a default answer since my brain was pretty much fried at that point. "Whatever." Seeing that the door to my room was right next to me, I placed a hand on the knob and closed my eyes as annoyance still rained on around me. "I am so done with this conversation." Turning said knob, I entered my room, which was now only being supported by only several candles for light. It gave the place a real homey feel that I couldn't help but feel relaxed to. As I scanned around, something on my bed happened to catch my eye. Walking over to it, I picked up what seemed like folded robes of some sort. "What's this?"

The question was initially meant for me as a thinking out loud sort of thing, but I had so absentmindedly forgotten to close the door behind me. So there Nuriko was to speak up. "Well, I found it fitting to be the one to pick out your next outfit." Before I went into the outside bath, I had no choice but to scrap the clothes that Miss Emiko gave me. In the state they were in, I'd say that they were grateful to finally be put out of their misery. Hotohori did say that he'd see to it that I'd get new clothes, but I certainly didn't expect to get them from Nuriko. The snobby tone returned to his voice. "Otherwise, who knew what kind of rags you would have ended up in. Only I can really see the detail in things and know which style goes for what people. And that is definitely your style!" I'll be the judge of that. Having the garments in my hands, I couldn't exactly say for sure what it would look like on me, but I did notice that there were other components that were off to the side, consisting of an intricate sash, another sash-like attachment, and some other things that I didn't exactly feel like figuring out at the moment. Jeez, why does the clothing in this world consist of so many parts?

"Thanks I guess," I told him. When I finally had a chance to put it on, I'd have to make sure that the guy didn't purposefully give me a clown suit or anything—this kind gesture of his seemed too out of character for my liking.

"Do you want me to help you put it on?" Before I shot him another deathly look, he added, "I just want to make sure that your person is worthy of my genius fashion sense."

Drooping my eyelids, I responded with, "No thanks."

His eyes becoming wide with curiosity, he asked, "What's wrong? All of your answers suddenly became short and unexciting." In my mind, I could imagine myself tying a noose and putting it around my neck, ready to finally end my misery. Things had just been so exhausting for the longest time and all I wanted to do was rest. Having to deal with Nuriko made that dream practically impossible. It was hard to tell what required more energy: arguing with him or having him as one of my "girlfriends" (as he would put it). The fact of the matter was that I still wasn't quite used to being around people all of the time—certainly not people who always wanted to talk to me either. For so many years, I had been left alone and eventually that became the lifestyle that I was most used to and comfortable with. When I began this journey, I certainly didn't expect to be shown so much attention.

Not feeling like answering his question, I walked over and sat down on a chair that was stationed in front of a small dresser and a tall mirror. Looking at my reflection, I observed my features. There I was, Akimoto Tsubaki—still nothing all that exciting to look at. I had always considered myself rather average looking which made it sort of ironic that whenever someone called me plain, I'd get extremely ticked off. The only real interesting thing I, or anyone, found about me were my irregular crimson irises. Although I had already met two people from different worlds who had red eyes like I did, it was still extremelyrare. In my world, no one had seen it before. Many people saw it fitting for me to have irregular eyes like that—with my negative powers in conjunction with them, I was seen as a demon. The thought had always been ridiculous to me—not to mention downright ignorant. But considering everything I had been through, the abilities I possessed, those silver lines that were on me, and my discussion with Shokyoku, the idea wasn't sounding so farfetched.

Gazing into the mirror, I tried to find anything that would seem other than human. But what if I really was a demon or some type of monster?

"If you're going to go out in those clothes, whenever you decide to, you might as well have your hair be decent," Nuriko stated. Taking hold of the brush that was only an arm's length away from me, he held it up in the air—as seen in the mirror. "How about I brush your hair for you? I promise not to make it any worse than it already is." Grinding my teeth feverishly, I thought to myself, Restrain yourself Aki. He's a Suzaku Warrior—Miaka needs him. You can't annihilate him just yet. Still remaining silent, the guy went on ahead and decided for me. "I'll take your silence as a 'Yes Nuriko I do want you to do my hair since I lack your sense of style and will be pitied if I choose otherwise'." He giggled like a little girl. "Wow Aki, I never knew you thought so highly of me. Perhaps it should have been you that I made my servant instead of Miaka—"

Shooting up out of my seat, which happened to knock into Nuriko and push him down to the floor, I took out my giant toy hammer, which, I will remind the audience was almost the same size as me, and held over my head prepared to attack—comical fire blazing in the background and in my eyes. "Nuriko, meet the Hammer of Justice—Hammer of Justice, meet Nuriko's pretty face!" Swinging it down with full force, I was surprise to find that my attack was immediately interrupted by some other force. Shifting just enough to see what was wrong, my eyes widened when I saw that Nuriko had effortlessly stopped my toy hammer with one finger. Not wanting to give in, I let up, only to swing at him from the side, but again, he stopped it without any problems. Repeating this process a few more times only to find that I would undeniably fail, my body remained in a position where Nuriko clearly had the upper hand, not allowing me to move anymore. Panting vigorously, I realized how useless this feat was. You know, this isn't quite as effective (or fun) when it isn't with Tasuki. Nuriko having super-strength kills the point of the attack entirely.

Yawning in a tauntingly way, he flashed a snooty smile. "Nice toy you have here Aki. Did you use it to play with your little boyfriends?"

Cocking my eyebrow up, I asked, "Boyfriends?"

His face became playful and mischievous. "You were traveling with two men whose hormones are on the rise. Really, you can't expect me to not know what you three were doing that entire time—"

Putting away the hammer, I swiftly picked the brush up from the floor beside Nuriko and sat back in the chair. Holding it out behind me, I quickly said, "If you're going to brush my hair just get it over with already!"

Without any further pushing, he stood up and combed through his long, luscious purple hair with his fingers before tossing it behind his back and proceeding towards me as he laughed. "You are so easy and innocent! Oh I can't believe it! Did your other friends ever find you this entertaining?" Only the people back at Ouran really—the Hitachiin twins in particular—but for a completely different reason. It had taken me years to set up a tough front in order for people to think of me as intimidating and independent. Who would have thought that it would take some purple-haired, pink-eyed, super-strength cross dresser to completely make my image crumble before me? When Suzaku is finally summoned, Nuriko dies.

As he took the brush into his hands, I released my hair from its binds in the ponytail, allowing it to fall down free on my shoulders, still curling up at the ends in a distinct way. It didn't take long before I felt the soft bristles of the brush press onto the top of my head, trailing down repeatedly and firmly almost like a massage. Closing my eyes, I reveled in the pleasant shivers running throughout my body with every brush stroke.

"Your hair is a lot smoother than I initially thought it would me," Nuriko commented, being real gentle as he handled my locks. "Perhaps if you kept it tidied more often, that would be more obvious to others." Feeling the urge to lash out again, something became apparent to me at that moment. I noticed that he had the habit of either insulting me then complimenting me or vice versa. It was difficult to tell whether or not he was doing that on purpose or if that was just his personality. I was having an incredibly hard time trying to decipher what his personality was. Really, you wouldn't think so, but Nuriko was turning out to be one of the most complex people I had ever met in my life—perhaps he already was. There was almost no denying that he was going to be more difficult to understand than Hikaru and Kaoru were.

Brushing down on my bangs, which were long enough to just barely cover my eyes, he spoke up again. "You know, you should think about showing off your eyes more often. Their color, I'll admit, is unique and women are much more attractive to men if they can show off one of their best features. They do say that the eyes are a window to the soul after all." Getting more excited, a blush ran across his face. "That is definitely going to be one of the many reasons why His Highness is going to fall head over heels in love with me!"

Still keeping my eyes shut, I finally gave one of my calmest answers all night. "It's not really my concern if I'm attractive in that way or not." Not at the moment anyway. There was just way too much to think about and crap that I had to deal with to worry about my looks to impress some guy that might not even come along.

Gasping, he told me, "Well it should be your concern!" All of a sudden he stopped brushing and put on a lecturing voice as he waved the brush at me (as a substitute finger wagging). "If I'm going to go out of my way to find you a man, then you have to step up your game."

Opening up my eyes in an instant, I turned my head to face him. "You mean…you're still going to do that for me?"

Closing his eyes, he showed me a bright smile. "Of course I am! I don't go back on my promises, and I gave you my word. Just leave everything in Big Sister Nuriko's hands." He may have been a confusing guy, but I still knew that down deep, Nuriko was a considerate person—I'd seen that person back at Mt. Taikyoku.

I couldn't help but be a bit jealous of him, Miaka, Tamahome, and Hotohori. Each one of them knew who they wanted to be with and that all had the opportunity of going for it without having to worry about being forced out of their loved ones world, leaving said loved ones to have their memories wiped. They also didn't possess the intense fear of harming their loved ones in such an awful way—they didn't have a curse that made their lives so messed up. Still I couldn't push myself to hate Shokyoku—none of this was necessarily her fault. She was, after all, just doing what she was pretty much programmed to do.

By her mother.

When Nuriko felt that he was done grooming me, he offered to walk with me to dinner—saying that it would be more exciting than just boringly walking all by ones lonesome. Not feeling as hungry as I could have been, I declined, wanting to get as much sleep as I possibly could before Miaka did come back and we'd end up having to work night and day in our efforts to summon Suzaku.

The moment something crossed his mind, he got a rather sour look on his face. "You do know that His Highness might end up getting upset if his favorite isn't there to enjoy dinner in his company…"

I couldn't help but scoff at the comment. "Please. I am so not his favorite—you know that just as well as I do. Both you and I know perfectly well that he fancies Miaka more than anything." The two of us, along with Tamahome, all heard Hotohori confess his love for the young girl as well as ask her to marry him. You can imagine how that whole ugly scene caused some uneasiness between the four of them for a while because of the whole love rectangle type of thing that was going on. Knowing how much it meant to Nuriko to be with the emperor, I had a feeling that it didn't exactly make him happy to hear what I said. But he had to face the cold, hard truth if he was planning on doing anything about it. "I'm sorry Nuriko, but Miaka is the object of his affections right now."

For a moment, it really seemed like he had lost all of his spirit and pep. A frown lied on his scarlet lips as he looked down and away, thoughts going through his head as he processed my words. The dark place he was in—it was so bizarre to see him in such a vulnerable state. I didn't exactly know what to say to make him feel better. Telling him that he had a chance with Hotohori might have given him false hope—not to say that Hotohori wouldn't, but he's head over heels in love with Miaka. But who would have thought that Nuriko felt that strongly for the emperor? All of these intertwining feelings between my friends will, I'm sure, either create even stronger tensions or dug up old ones and bring them back with a vengeance.

Hmm…shadow creatures and deep drama. Can anyone else see a problem happening somewhere down the road? If so, please map it out for me so that I can find an escape route. Thank you.

Holding up a fist, Nuriko's fire suddenly burned again, putting an intense look of determination in his pink eyes. "No matter. I'll just have to try even harder to win his heart—I saw him first, therefore he will be mine!" This was followed up by a somewhat snobby and high-pitched laugh. So much for me worrying about him—this guy bounces back extremely fast. In fact he continued laughing all the way to the door as he took the knob in his hands. Waving me in an excited fashion, like he suddenly consumed gallons of caffeine, he shouted, "Goodnight Aki!" then slammed the door behind him. Even after he was out of my sight, I could still hear him laughing down the hallway until it completely decrescendo.

Continuing to stare at the door with an "oh brother" expression on my face, I tried to recall all of the crazy antics that were just pulled in the last hour or so. I'll definitely give it to Nuriko—he is quite the character. Shaking it all, away my mind, for some reason, started to focus back on the Hotohori topic. Finally reaching a rationalization to why he acted so nice to me, I figured, He just knows how to talk to women, that's why he's been like that this whole time. That was just like how Dark was in the little time that I knew him—a smooth talker who could pretty much swoon any woman in a ten mile radius in combination with his mysterious essence. Of course, Hotohori was much less of a playboy, but the principle was still pretty much there. It made sense though, right? I mean, Hotohori was the leader of an entire country—he had to be diplomatic and charming in order to make treaties and talk to important people and such.

Now hopefully continuing telling myself that would help stifle my crush on the guy.

Floating over to my bed, I didn't wait another second to drop myself on top of the warm, soft comforters. My whole body just sunk deeper into the heavenly material as my tensed up being finally had a chance to relax. I was way too comfortable to move a few inches forward towards my fluffy pillow. But there was no use—the position I dropped into would be my haven until I decided to wake up after my hibernation. Not wanting to fight it off any longer, I lowered my eyelids, and quickly drifted off to sleep.

My body was once again covered with the silver veins as I stood over what seemed like some type of crystal clear liquid that had shimmering golden crystals at the bottom. Somehow, they beautifully glowed on their own, illuminating a light that was just so wonderfully brilliant that I could just bask in it all day. The ripples in the water caused by passing winds made the light coming up towards me seem as if it were elegantly dancing. Up above, the sky was a goldenrod color, complete with twinkling stars—many of them feeling the need to move on as they raced across the vast canvas. Even as I looked all around, there weren't any signs of life or land anywhere. The shining gold ocean stretched on as far as the eye could see. Sure, I was alone, but there was a sort of serenity that made me feel calm and collected.

For some reason, I didn't even question why I was there or why the veins had mysteriously came back. All that I wore was a simple, loose white spaghetti strap dress that went all the way down to my feet. Every time there was a swirling gust of wind, the dress fluttered around as my body felt weightless and free.

It was when five mysterious figured surrounded me that the realization of not knowing what was happening finally impacted me. Quickly turning myself in different directions, I found that the five figures were actually in the shapes of men—assuming by their distinguishable structures anyway. Something was obscuring my vision enough for me not to be able to really tell the identities of the five guys. None of them said anything though—they just stood there looking into the center—at me.

Who are these guys? And what am I supposed to do? It sort of bothered me that I couldn't decipher who they were as well as my reason for being there. Their hidden identities let up a bit, allowing me to realize that all of them were different—their features, such as heights and overall outlines were diverse from one another. Yet, I was still kept in the dark about who they were.

An idea randomly popped up in my head. Am I—Am I supposed to choose one of them? Is that why they are staring at me? Is that why they are here?

Rushing over to one of them, I reached out, anticipation riding in my heart. When what I expected was to make physical contact, my hand just went right through, as if that person wasn't really there. As my hand just sat there, feeling nothing, the figure instantly evaporated into a wispy, smoke-like substance. Then it was completely gone.

Four guys left.

Changing directions, I tried the process again, but found that he just disappeared before my very eyes just as my hand phased beyond his chest. Eyes widening from the phenomenon, I attempted my luck twice more, frantically trying to make some sort of progress. But no luck.

One guy left.

I was afraid to turn around and face him—frightened that if I went to him and reached out, he'd just evaporate like the others. It was I who made them disappear…If I had never come along, they'd probably still be there—all because of my selfish desires.

Holding my hand up to my face, I observed the glowing lines branched throughout my body. It was nothing I had ever seen on a human before—nothing like I had seen on anyone before. Were these hands only meant to cause pain?

Hugging my arms, I shivered as a cold sensation blew throughout me. Should I turn around? Should I try again? Would it be worth it? If I made him disappear too, then I'd be all alone. And this time, I wasn't okay with the thought of that at all. Was it better for me not to turn around at all? If I had continued doing that, then what would have been the difference between me being alone from him evaporating and me being alone due to isolation?

Taking a huge gulp, I slowly turned to face him…Only to find that he was already standing so close to me that our bodies were practically touching. The mysterious guy was about seven inches taller than me, so I was forced to look up to get a look at his face. For some reason, I just couldn't register in my mind who he was. But…oddly…I felt secure, warm even.

Feeling the impulse to speak to him, I froze, seeing as how my voice didn't seem to work. It didn't matter. In the blink of an eye, he put his hands on my shoulders and brought his face down to connect his lips with mine.

My body stood immobile from the kiss, completely stupefied, but filled with wave after wave of pleasure and happiness. I didn't feel the need to break apart from him though. No, I wanted to stay there and enjoy the bliss while it lasted.

Soon, even he slowly faded away, however never causing the incredible feeling of the kiss go away. But instead of his smoke going up into oblivion, it transformed into a golden mist that surrounded my body like a veil. The sensation was empowering, a bit overwhelming, but it made me feel better than I had in a long time—perhaps even in my whole life! It was like…It was like my mysterious man was still with me, staying close to my heart and always being the shield I needed.

Just when I was swimming in incredible satisfaction, I sensed a disturbance in the serene environment. Snapping my head to the side, my eyes progressively widened at the horrible sight before me. Off in the distance, the golden sky was being polluted by an ominous dark cloud. The waters beneath the monster pushed back a considerable amount, only to morph into some kind of pitch-black wave that rose up and rushed towards me with incredible speed and power. The ferocious clouds immediately flashed bolts of lightning, the thunder encouraging the huge tsunami to rise up even higher, swallowing the golden water underneath to be converted into the tainted Darkness.

Completely facing the wave, I told myself to not look away. Evading it was impossible, and running was out of the question—there would be no point, not with the incredible power that that thing was giving off. I had no choice but to face it.

Something told me that I had a chance to face it, survive, and protect everything precious and beautiful. I had to protect the Light.

Gathering up all the energy I had, the golden veil around me blossomed into a blazing halo, the intense force of it caused the liquid below me to open up and reveal the crystal gold—the liquid itself fanning to the sides. As the wave hovered over me, threatening my existence, I stood firm and released my hidden energy—there was no holding back.

Opening my eyes and panting hard, my upper body shot up like an arrow. Reliving the vivid scenes of my dream, as well as reacting to a sudden urge, I presented my arm before me. Rolling up the sleeve of the white robe I was wearing, a gasp escaped past my lips. The silver veins were still there, flickering away steadily, but they were definitely there. Before I could even process everything that happened, the veins disappeared altogether, going back to wherever they went before. And of course, Shokyoku's ring came back with a vengeance.

Sighing, I thought, there's no doubt about it—those lines definitely mean something.

Straight rays from the sun shone through the skinny, long windows that were built near the ceiling of the room. The candles from the night before had long since burned out but it didn't really matter, the space had been well lit by the time I woke back up.

I wonder how long I was asleep? Swinging my legs over the side, I stood up, feeling refreshed from a good night's slumber. Finally prepared to put on the clothes that Nuriko picked out, I walked over to them, holding the garments once more in my hands. No matter what my actions seemed to be, though, I just couldn't figure out what that dream of mine was about. Everything that happened seemed so real. It also seemed like there was some sort of meaning to it, but what? That dark tsunami that was consuming everything and headed towards me…did I defeat it or did I lose? What caused it to happen exactly? None of the things that unfolded in that dream made much sense, and yet…it felt natural and like it was meant to be.

Finally being able to see the clothing in a well-enough light, I got a good look of the features, the colors, and what it consisted of. The primary garment was basically an open, cross-collared robe that was, for the most part, a deep navy blue. The cuffs, collars, and hems or the entire ensemble was an orchid color, a shade of purple that was almost near Nuriko's hair color. There were also a pair of loose pants that were also the same purple-ish color. When I took a look at the white undershirt that I was expected to wear, I quickly frowned. So not my style.

There was something that I sort of lied about before when I said that I had scrapped all of my torn up clothes. Well, truth was that I still kept the black tube top. It was just so easy to move around in and the damage to it wasn't as bad as I made it out to be—just a few tears here and there. Since I was technically going to wear a silk robe over it anyway, no one would see all of the scratches and rips in it. I also found it wise to keep my strapless bra and panties around. The moment I discovered that this world didn't believe in either one (and by "didn't believe in" I mean that they hadn't really been invented yet—or rather the use of them wasn't widely used yet. This was an ancient Chinese-like world after all), I thought it wise to have them handy. In the bath I had a chance to clean them off and make those things fresh again.

As I slipped on said underwear and tube top, I stepped through the loose pants and slid my arms past the sleeves of the blue silk robe. That was when I hit a snag: a long sash (also the orchid color) was involved and I had absolutely no idea how to wrap it around me efficiently. Groaning, I remembered how Nuriko offered the night before to help me out—this must have been one of those things that I needed assistance on. Weighing my options, I thought to myself, Okay, I could ask Nuriko to do that. But after last night's performance I can definitely see ridicule in my future. I could also wait until one of the maids/servants walk by to help me out. But then that would be a bit frustrating having to wait and make sure that it's a woman who passes by. I'm certainly not going to walk out of this room halfway dressed just to look for someone. Crossing my arms, I started to get irritated with the miniscule problem at hand.

Snapping my fingers, I came up with a reasonable solution. Got it! By simply wrapping the long sash around a few times backwards, I was able to tie a somewhat okay bow from the front. Then I slid and turned it around backwards onto its appropriate spot.

Observing what the outfit looked like so far in the mirror, I found that there were golden-yellow flower designs on the exposed spots on the outside. Seeing as how I could still see the majority of my arms, I was surprised to find that the sleeves were actually pretty short. Usually with the traditional wear in this world, extremely long sleeves were the main style, but these ones, although really baggy and consisting of a lot of room, only went to about where my elbows were. Seeing the whole outfit in detail, though, something seemed to be missing.

Due to my paranoid side, I searched all around for something else that could possibly complete this ensemble. At the foot of the bed, I did indeed discover parts that I might have left out. There were long, thin black gloves that had the thumbs, index, and middle fingers cut from them, leaving only my ring finger and pinky to be covered with material. Oh…so that's what Nuriko was getting at. Giving me a shorter-sleeved robe, he picked out long gloves to make it seem like my arms were still completely covered.

The other component of the outfit perplexed me a bit. There was a shorter, skinny sash-like thing that had connected to it a longer, wider and more intricately designed sash that hung down on its own. On the sides of it were two long golden yellow braids that almost reached the length of the more prominent sash in the middle of them. The piece is pretty and all, but where does it go?

Tick…

Tick…

Tick…

…

…

…

Ding!

The light bulb finally went off in my brain, leading me to groan once more. I ended up having to take off the sash I had already worked to put on and putting on the more complicated one that I had just discovered. Then I put on the previous sash on top of that one to cover the top where the other attachments met.

Praying that I wouldn't have to do anymore of that unnecessary taking off, replacing, and putting back on, I finally got a chance to see the end results of my efforts.

Wow.

I really looked like I belonged in the Universe of the Four Gods. When Miaka and I had first arrived, my fashion conspicuously stood out like a sore thumb. It was same story for when I was in Feudal Japan with Inuyasha and the others. When you're wearing clothes that aren't from the same era that you happen to be in, you'll most definitely turn some heads. But now, it actually seemed like I'd visually fit in—which relived me since I couldn't stand it when those people continuously stared at me like they honestly had nothing better to do with their lives. Holding up my right wrist, I never failed to admire the beautiful bracelet that Hikaru gave me when we were still together. No matter how much time had passed, I would always cherish the gift since it was the first real one ever given to me by someone other than Kajou.

Making sure that I didn't get stuck floating along lethargically in memory lane, I shook my head and looked at the overall picture, smiling at the result. I've got to give him credit—Nuriko sure did know what he was doing when he picked out this outfit. It really is my style! I gave him extra points for giving me an ensemble that I was able to move around easily in—one that made fighting non-restricting in any way. And the gloves? Nice touch.

Beside my bed on the floor was a pair of black pompes to wear on my feet. They were simple, but were pretty much the equivalent to the convenient ballet flats that were so popular in my world.

Feeling that I was decent enough to leave my room and catch up with Hotohori and Nuriko (and after gawking at my new outfit for a nice number of minutes), I walked over to the door to open it. Just as I was walking out, something that was lying before my doorstep happened to catch my eye. There was a pretty flower with larger magenta petals on the edges and a bunch of light pink, skinnier petals on the inside that had more well-defined points at the ends. Tied around the greenish stem of the flower was a scarlet ribbon, wrapped on neatly, as if it were a gift.

Blinking a few times, I tried to figure out why there would be a flower—that was clearly meant for someone—on my doorstep. There was the possibility that someone dropped it…No…it was placed down way too nicely for that. Then again there was also the chance that it was meant for someone else and the deliverer got the rooms mixed up. But all the people who live and work here should know the palace by heart. They shouldn't have made a mistake like this. Unless…

Unless it was meant for me!

Why would someone leave me a flower?

It was impossible—no one had any reason to leave me something like that. Don't get me wrong, it was a beautiful flora, and I was sure that any woman who received one from somebody wouldn't be anything less than joyful, but I just couldn't understand why it was me.

Bending over to pick up said plant, I couldn't help but notice the sweet and refreshing aroma emitting from it. Even though it wasn't intentional, I smiled at the gift—its loveliness and scent just flipped on some sort of switch that made me somewhat happy.

As I sniffed it again, the question as to who could it left it there reminded me of the other events that unfolded in my dream. More specifically, I was directed to that kiss that that mysterious guy gave me. The very thought of the idea made my face instantly heat up. I had never had a dream like that in my life, so it sort of took me off guard. That guy was more distinct from all of the others—he didn't leave me. But that doesn't mean that I wasn't curious about who those four other guys were either. The more I thought about it, the more baffled I became.

Maybe I was thinking too much about it. After all, the majority of the time, dreams were only things thought of by ones subconscious. They rarely meant what people thought they meant. That was why psychologists or whatever came up with dream dictionaries—so that people could interpret their dreams a bit more accurately. So really, my dream probably had no meaning to it at all.

I sighed. Maybe I'll just ponder more about it later. I don't exactly want to spend the rest of my day trying to interpret something that might end up being nothing.But knowing the routine of my life, there was a chance that this was way more than nothing.

I am going to hope that this is nothing. And if it is something, then would it be too much for the universe not to bother me with it until after I eat? At least? Thank you.

Absentmindedly bringing the flower along with me, I continued to stare down at the plant with skepticism. From my point of view, I only accepted the flower because I was still pondering on the meaning of it—not necessarily because I actually believed that someone gave it to me for some sentimental purpose. There was always the chance that everyone got a flower and I was just one of the last people to get up that day. Perhaps that was the reason as to why I didn't see anyone else with one. Argh! I just couldn't figure it out!

It…It really was a nice flower though…

The ribbon made it obvious that it was meant as a gift, and that was what perplexed me the most. If the ribbon weren't there to present it as a present, then the scenarios I came up with earlier would have made much, much more sense. But I just couldn't see why someone would give it to me.

Being lost in my thoughts so much, I hadn't even realized that I had gotten myself lost in the palace—again. So much for finally knowing my way around.

God dammit!

The place was just too big for a person to fully navigate their way around when they had only been a resident there for such a short time. Of course, it was sort of my fault for not paying attention…

Screw it.

Levitating myself into the air, I planned on getting a birds-eye view on the whole structure of the palace—which was vast, but made it simpler for me to work around. From up above, the majority of the roofs from the many different buildings looked very similar, and I didn't particularly have the patience to check every single one for the particular room I was looking for.

The moment my nose caught the scent of something that smelled delicious—like of meats and seasonings—I was instantly drawn in like Miaka in an all-you-can-eat buffet. If my knowledge served me right, then I knew that the banquet hall was near the kitchen and both were near the throne room. Okay! We have a plan. Allowing the scent to pull me in all on its own, my body just sort of floated on the tasty currents. I didn't mean to seem like a Miaka clone or anything, but for the first time in a while, I was actually hungry—which was sort of irregular for me. I didn't know why, but I had never exactly been a big eater. Nothing looked appetizing to me the vast majority of the time (and yet…I had slightly more curves than most of the skinny girls I knew—in other words, I wasn't a scrawny chick due to starvation). To be more accurate, I had this thing were I suddenly craved food for just one day.

Usually I ate my fill, then I no longer required big meals to support me for weeks, maybe even months. It was like my body was able to store in the energy of the food for long periods of time, and then distributed said energy in even, small amounts, making it so that I wouldn't need to stack back up on energy until later. Quite oddly, Kajou, Saru, and Kyoko were the same way. Huh. Maybe it was those reflective cells that I had heard about somewhere in biology class.

This was one of those times—I was hungry! I guess using up all of that energy and having to go through all of that crap with the maze and other stuff finally made my metabolism and stomach go "Hey! Our fuel gauge is on empty! Do something about it!"

Once I landed, I rushed into the well decorated banquet hall, completely ignoring the well-lit crystal chandelier, fancy drapery on the walls, and incredibly long table that seemed to be crafted out of the finest wood, and focused mainly on the multiple bowls of breads, meats, pastas, and a bunch of other wonderful things.

With the biggest smile on my face, I folded my fingers in a prayer style as huge sparkles took refuge in my eyes. It just looks so darn beautiful! Luckily, no one I knew was around to witness my closet giddiness. I'd be so embarrassed if someone saw me being anything other than tenacious, intimidating, and sarcastic. For the most part, I was most comfortable acting in those normal tendencies, but every now and then, I should be allowed the freedom to go outside the norm.

After I finished eating the food that made my taste buds sing, I was perfectly content—knowing that I wouldn't have to fill up again for quite a while also settled me a bit. I could have thoroughly described the magic that was being unfolded with every bite of food, but not only would that have required a long paragraph for each item on my plate (and words wouldn't even have been able to describe how I felt), but it all went by so fast, like some sort of blissful dream, that I couldn't exactly remember it all happening in the moment. Before I knew it, my plate was empty and the dream was over. Oh come on, you all know that you've had dreams like that.

Upon entering the throne room—this time no guards attacked me (we'll see how long that lasts!)—I wasn't surprised to find Nuriko hovering around Hotohori as he sat on his throne. A blush flashed on my face for only a second when I first caught sight of the emperor in conjunction with a sudden flip in my stomach. Mentally slapping myself, I forced myself to get a grip. Damn this stupid crush! Even in his full emperor attire he was still attractive! No stop thinking that way! You're not interested! It's just a stupid crush—practically nothing. Taking in a deep breath and releasing it, the heat in my face went away and I walked into full view.

I was about to say good morning to them when I suddenly remembered that I still had the flower in my hand. Why do I still have this with me? Leaving it in my room had definitely been an option, but for some strange reason, I chose not to take it. Why oh why didn't I take it? While the origins of the gift didn't intrigue me, I didn't exactly need it to be the new conversation topic. Who knew what thoughts would be going through Nuriko's head if he saw it? That wouldn't have necessarily been a problem if the guy didn't have the incredible tendency to say almost everything that was on his mind—especially if it were for his own entertainment.

Right as I swiftly hid the plant behind my back, Hotohori looked over at me and flashed a charming smile. "Akimoto, it's a pleasure to see you this morning. I trust that you slept well?"

Trying not to ask suspicious, I responded with, "Yes. Thank you Hotohori. I appreciate you allowing me to stay here in your palace even though I'm not the Priestess of Suzaku."

Shaking his head lightly, his smile never faltered. "Think nothing of it. You are very close to our beloved priestess—being seen as her older sister and all. So we—I am honored to have a wonderful woman such as you in our presence." Shifting uncomfortably in my spot, I restrained the temptation to look down or away bashfully like I usually did whenever he complemented me with that smooth voice of his. I was really beginning to wonder whether or not he was aware of how I acted around him. Hopefully, I was hiding my reactions a lot better than I thought I was. Being the "emotionless robot" that people thought I was back in my world for so many years sort of gave the reassurance that I was hiding my feelings pretty well. Judging by Nuriko's obliviousness to it (and by oblivious I mean that he wasn't trying to kill me yet), I'd say I was doing a pretty good job at concealment.

Eyeing me from top to bottom, Hotohori commented, "That ensemble really suits you—"

"And for that you can look to me since I was the one who picked it out for her!" Nuriko blurted out in an excited fashion. "I didn't want you to go through the trouble of having to dress the guest Your Majesty, not when you already had so much on your plate. So I took the initiative to take the challenge on myself." An offended expression wiped onto my face. Challenge? Leaning over the emperor with an apparent blush on his face, he pressed on further. "Of course it wasn't the simplest task since I had to acquire an outfit that satisfied all of her needs, but everything came out perfect in the end—just like I thought it would. You have no idea how happy it makes me to know how much you approve!" Just by looking at him I could tell that Nuriko wanted to give Hotohori one of the biggest hugs and hog him all to himself. "You can tell that Aki here absolutely adores it as well!" Turning to me with a look that said "you better agree with me before I strangle you", he asked, "Right Aki?"

Witnessing the whole scene, I used a flat voice to give my answer, unfazed by his deathly glare. "I'd like to say that but your lack of modesty is steering me towards a different answer." His glare intensifying, I could have sworn that he was close to shooting a laser from his pupils just to punish me for not cooperating. The emperor noticed the visual and silent interaction happening between Nuriko and me so he quickly turned his head to see what was up. Automatically, the cross dresser's expression became pleasant and sparkly with the attention of his interest. But the moment Hotohori faced me again Nuriko's face went back to demonic. The fact that he was able to hide his angered face from Hotohori was pretty comical for the most part. Snickering softly, I subdued. "Fine, I was kidding. These clothes are actually very nice and even I have to applaud Nuriko for his choice."

Switching his focus onto the guy next to him for a moment, Hotohori expressed his gratitude. "That was a very selfless thing to do Nuriko—I appreciate you helping Akimoto out. I completely agree with her when she says that your choice for her clothing is rather impressive and well thought out."

Practically floating on his own Cloud Nine, Nuriko blushed so much that there was steam coming out of his ears and nostrils. "Thank you so much for thanking me Your Highness!" He squealed. "I will cherish your gratitude for the rest of my life!" Realizing the eccentric scene that he was making, the femininely dressed guy immediately hyped down and cleared his throat. "You are very welcome Your Highness—I would be honored to assist at any time that I can." Classy, huh?

"Yes…well…" Still confused about Nuriko's spaz attack, Hotohori shook it off and faced me once more. "How long have you been awake Akimoto?"

"Hmm?" Thinking about his question, I answered making sure that the flower was still behind my back and out of view. "Oh! I'd say about an hour or so—maybe a bit longer."

Surprise struck him as I gave my reply. "You don't say! Well how come you didn't say anything? I would have been more than happy to supply you with some company." Using his hand to present the fellow next to him, he said, "And I'm sure that it would have been no trouble for Nuriko to join you either."

Pleasantly, and with a sweet smile on his face, Nuriko added in, "Why yes! There's nothing I would have enjoyed more than to spend a delightful breakfast with someone who isn't my true love. Wouldn't that have been casual and enjoyable?" Gee, what a subtle way of him saying "you're not His Highness, so don't even bother". Couldn't there have ever been a time whenever that guy wouldn't hand out cheeky answers by the dozen? I mean, sarcasm was my thing!

Both of us ignoring Nuriko's obvious sourness, I responded while fighting the temptation to reclaim my spot as the Sarcasm Queen. "No it's okay, really. I had some time to think about stuff while being on my own."

Rushing over to me, Nuriko hooked his arm around my neck as he inconsiderately pinched my cheeks in a playful matter with his free hand. "Think about stuff, huh? What kind of stuff? Daydreaming about who your true love might be?" That wittingly outward comment only made me blush slightly—not that it was true, I just didn't want someone—let alone him—say anything like that out loud. He giggled. "Or perhaps you're deciding on which one of those men you traveled with suit your desires the most~."

Addressing the one person in our audience, I pushed him away and quickly explained to the emperor. "His words are completely unwarranted—I wasn't even thinking about that!" Making sure to keep the flower concealed, I forcefully grabbed at Nuriko's collar with my free hand and brought him in close—not caring whether or not Hotohori was looking. Speaking in a low tone, I demanded, "Why the hell do you always have to cause trouble for me wherever I go? I'm getting sick of you and your stupid hijinks—our 'friendship' is becoming completely baseless thanks to you, so knock it off already!"

Mumbling under his breath, he said, "So impulsive for a young lady…" Pulling back, he adjusted his robes to fix the wrinkling I caused as he spoke to me. "Does it really bother you that much?"

I nodded. "Yes—it really does. So could you please quit it altogether?"

Pretending to think on it, he put his finger under his chin. "Hmm…" Pointing up, he came out of his train of thought. "Nope!" I couldn't help but sigh. Figures."But…" Seeing that he lightened up a bit, I listened to what else he had to say. "If this is really risking our friendship, then I guess I can ease up. It would be foolish to let something as stupid as this ruin something we worked hard at." That was definitely something that I didn't expect to hear from him. Then again, this was probably that hidden, considerate Nuriko that I was talking about earlier. Making his way back over to Hotohori, he looked back at me with a smile playing on his ruby lips. "But don't think that my fun will cease altogether—you're way too entertaining to not play with every now and then." Oh freakin' joy. Well, I had to give him credit for being mature and acknowledging that he was really getting under my skin and resolving to fix the problem—more or less.

"Nuriko," Hotohori scorned with a stern tone, "it's not very proper to trouble our guest in such a way. Your constant slandering of Akimoto here will not be tolerated!"

The cross dresser cowered down in shame, tears forming at the corners of his bright, pink eyes. "B-But Your Highness—"

"It's fine." I interrupted. Nuriko turned his head towards me for a second before going back forward. "Nuriko is just showing one of his many faces and for the most part, I have accepted the complete bizarreness—not to mention ridiculousness—of it all." I felt the need to defend him at this point. Due to his promising to attempt better friendship habits, I figured that I might as well have done the same. "The particular way he responds to things is sort of worth questioning, but I suppose that that is just the way he does things." It was troubling indeed, but it wasn't like I could use some spell to change the guy's personality—that was simply how he was—how he expressed himself. Although irritating most of the time, it never hurt anyone. I was just thankful that he wasn't a complete bitch like he was when he first met.

"Aki…thanks…" Nuriko breathed a sigh of relief as I vouched for him.

Switching glances from Nuriko to me, Hotohori had a questionable look on his face. "Well if it doesn't bother you—"

"Oh no it bothers me—I just have a tolerance for it." We had to make sure that I had that established before going on which, of course, earned me a bittersweet expression from the one I just protected. Take it or leave it dude. "In all seriousness, though, there is something that I wanted to talk to you two about…" Feeling the need to change the subject, I recalled the dark elements from my dream as well as the conversation between Shokyoku and me. Something had to be said and I felt that this was the best time to just go ahead and do that.

"What is it Akimoto? We're listening." Concern hung on Hotohori's voice, most likely automatically alarmed as my tone changed.

Fishing through my mind for the right words, my eyes steadily moved around in conjunction to the search. "As you might have guessed, things are probably going to get really serious, not to mention dangerous. I can honestly say that I have absolutely no idea what the universe has in store for us. And with me on your side, it's a pretty safe bet that things won't exactly roll by smoothly for you." The two of them listened intently for me to explain the reason for my argument. "I have…a deep feeling that somewhere along the way, something far more intense than a war between humans will break loose, even though I don't exactly know what it is yet." True, I was skeptical as to whether that dream meant anything, but if it was foreshadowing something—an overwhelming darkness threatening all that is beautiful and pure—then I deserved the right to warn my allies. It was just a gut feeling that my had, regardless of the fact that that was only a small portion of the dream and the rest of it made absolutely no sense to me whatsoever when it came to the bigger picture. Whichever way things ended up unfolding, I knew that somehow, I might not only be involved, but at the center of the disaster that was still in its developmental phases.

Gosh was this really one of those instances where I truly wished that my gut was wrong.

Recalling the talk I had with them, Tamahome, and Miaka once before I said, "I apologize again for anything we might face because of me—or any pain that you might feel." What I really wanted to ask of them was to not hate me when or before this whole thing was over. I wanted them to be able to hold off on their hatred and sadness until I could finally find a way to break free from my curse. But even I knew that sometimes, the effects of Shokyoku and my Darkness were just too strong—too overpowering. Burdening them or anyone had never been my intention. I tried to reassure them, almost as if I completely believed myself. "Once I figure things out, I promise you that things will be alright."

How many mental wars and barriers (the physical ones as well) did I honestly have to fight through before the universe was satisfied? When I made my wish, I deeply hoped that things would be simple and that things would change for the better. Instead, even more problems arose. Was my wish really as impossible as Shokyoku had told me? And was all of the trouble I went through and dragged people through worth it? I might have been given more answers than when I began this whole thing, but I still had no idea why a bunch of things were happening and why they were in the first place. For example, why were there Shadow Maidens in the first place? What really made us girls who went on the journey that much different than normal girls? What made us different? And the identity of Shokyoku's mother was also of real interest to me. Who wouldn't want to know about the skank who ruined her life? I definitely knew that I wanted a few words with her—pay her back for her pleasant favor.

That would be my newest, potentially most important mission: find answers. I'd never be satisfied, and things probably wouldn't improve if I didn't know the truth about things. My happily ever after would have to be put on hold.

Admittedly, being alone wasn't exactly something I enjoyed or loved. Who really did? I had learned to live with my sad reality over the years, so if I failed with my quest, I'd be okay with things going back to how they used to be before I had my powers unlocked. People refusing to be near me as well as a life filled with misery, emptiness, and disappointment used to be my day-by-day lifestyle that I had adapted and accepted. At the time, that was simply what was and I didn't question why.

But now that I've tasted a more satisfying lifestyle, I knew that I wanted better for myself—that I could have better for myself. My heart would have been filled with nothing but hate and regret for myself if I didn't at least make an effort to change my destiny. Bringing myself to just sit idly by and watch the rest of my life race by, watching as I fell deeper and deeper into despair simply wasn't something that I could bring myself to do any longer. Keeping negative energy inside, awful memories, harming others—I had to find a way out before it drove me insane or lead to unnecessary deaths and other disasters.

Shokyoku may have considered wanting companionship as a weakness, which may have very well been true, but it was a need that I was born with. So I could not, for the life of me, throw away my emotional desires, no matter how much I denied them.

Somewhere along the way, I'd figure things out.

'Aki, you shouldn't try so hard for those humans—it's not a hopeless effort. Well…Shokyoku returned to include her lovely and positive input on the situation.As long as your Darkness remains on the outside, people will continue to suffer. No doubt about it. If you just lose the need to be accepted, then you'll find inner peace.'

Marinating in her reasoning, I told the little girl, It isn't necessarily about being accepted. My situation wasn't like some high school where you want to be accepted by the cool kids and have everyone you know think that you're awesome. No, it's not about that. I just wanted to know that I can love, and can be loved—that someone actually wanted me around, that I could do so much more than just cause despair—a reason for my existence. Otherwise, what reason would there be to live? I had to find a reason to live.

The woman who put the curse on me—or rather assigned Shokyoku to me—had a twisted sense of the word protection if she thought that she was doing me a favor.

Whatever.

There wasn't much point in continuously complaining about it if I didn't do anything about it. But believe me, when the opportunity came where I would meet this woman, I'd take action—no matter what it took.

One step at a time.

Seeing as how I was falling deeper and deeper into the abyss that was my thoughts, Nuriko and Hotohori gave me looks of concern and sympathy. There was no way to tell what they were thinking regarding my words, but I prayed that they understood.

Just as one of them was about to respond to me, a powerful energy filled the room in great amounts. Each of becoming alarmed with the switch in intense atmospheres, we stood at the ready for whatever presented itself before us. Collecting in the center of the room was a bright crimson light, flashing somewhat repeatedly with bolts of what seemed like red lightning. What the hell? The energy began to take a human form before too long, the light eventually dimming down as the process was completing itself.

Appearing out of the light was what seemed like a young woman with familiar olive eyes and an Odango hairstyle. Wearing her signature brown middle school uniform and an overly packed yellow backpack, the girl blinked a few times as she assessed the situation—probably making sure that she had completed her transaction. When she caught sight of us, she gave a wide smile, one that could brighten even the darkest of rooms.

Miaka Yuki had returned.

ATTENTION READERS: This is the Beta version of LH5W, if you want to read the official, updated version of the story, you'll have to go over to DeviantArt. com and head on over to my page. My username is Aloubell. You can also get there by going to my fanfiction. net profile which provides a link over there.
In any case, this Beta version is basically the rough draft of LH5W, my first attempt at it. Much of the plot points from this version will be the same in the official version, but there are significant and consistent characterization changes, a few (but very important) plot differences, expansion of past ideas, and overall better quality in storytelling.

All of this will be done over on DeviantArt. I no longer will write the story in traditional prose nor submit/update it here to fanfiction. net. The Beta version will remain here, just know that it isn't the 100% official story.
The official version will be written in a lazy prose mixed with play-writing elements (you'll get what I mean when you see it).
This is the new format for the story from now on.
So please head on over there if you're interested in updates to the story! Thank you for stopping by =D

-Aloe

PLEASE NOTE: The official version is being written somewhat out of order. The official version will start on chapter 46, the place where the Beta version left off. The official version will go on to complete the last chapters of Season 2. Once those are done, I will redo the story over again from Chapter 1 which will be the official version.

Having said that, if you choose to continue on reading, I hope you enjoy the Beta version and look forward to the official!