Love Hurts 5 Ways (OUTDATED STORY)

by Aloubell

This is an outdated story and the beta version for the current Destiny Song series. The story premise is generally the same, but in this beta version, things just kind of happen without much of a plan. I'm keeping it on this site as a record of what used to be. Please check out "Destiny Song" if you want a more coherent story. Thank you!

34. Trail of Tears

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!

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*On the last chapter of Love Hurts 5 Ways, we found that Miaka Yuki had returned to the Universe of the Four Gods to continue on with her priestess duties. Even though most were thrilled, both Akimoto and Miaka had become concerned regarding their friend Yui Hongo who was nowhere to be found in their world.

Aki had resolved to not tell anyone of her vision of Yui from three months before, but had promised to find her preferably in the rival country Kutou to get her back. After reuniting with both Tamahome, Miaka's love interest, and Chichiri, the blue-haired sorcerer-monk, Aki felt that Miaka was in good enough hands for her to go off on her own and find the missing girl. But in order to do so, Aki purposely got arrested for the sake of getting into the Kutou palace.

But who or was that shadow creature that had been stalking her? And will her search be a success?

The story continues to unfold…*

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Our short pilgrimage to the highly decorated palace of Kutou wasn't exactly an exciting one. Well, technically if a random normal person were to be chased around some foreign city only to be wrapped up in steel chains and then lead to the country's leader, they probably would have thought that their day was pretty darn exciting! This wasn't my description for a couple reasons. One, have you seen what my life has been for the past year or so? I mean, come on! This was probably the most tame when it came to excitement compared to some of the crap that had been thrown at me. And two, this was like the umpteenth that some chumps from this freakin' world had arrested me or taken me hostage in some manner. If this had been my world, no one would ever hire me because of all of the marks that would have been on my record.

Had I been less of a decent person, I'd just burn the place down in order to find Yui rather than pretend like these ordinary soldiers actually stood a chance against me. But since most people didn't deserve that cruel demise, I had no choice but to submit until I was sure that Yui was safe and not the Priestess of Seiryuu.

There was absolutely no possible way to avoid the gawking eyes of the citizens the closer we got to the royal fortress. With the way that those soldiers had set me up, the lot of them forming a seemingly impenetrable barrier around my person, it was almost like I was some serious fugitive that single handedly caused the second Holocaust or something. I couldn't exactly blame them for their judgmental glares since I could have been a potential threat to their peaceful lives—and I could have very well been, it all depended on the next move that they decided to pull. As long as they kept their distance then there was a much less chance of either Shokyoku or me making their lives a living Hell.

For the most part, though, I just kept my head down like I usually did when it came to situations where I happened to be the center of attention.

Boy did I hate those situations.

But before I knew it, I was being leaded up a bunch of stairs that most likely lead to the prestigious Kutou throne room. Just like with the palace back in Konan, there were various banners with silver and blue designs that were incorporated into a picture with a proud and intimidating dragon. With my acquired knowledge courtesy of Hotohori and Tamahome, I knew that that dragon was the Kutou god Seiryuu. While the decorations were nice and all, there was an unsettling disturbance at the pit of my stomach whenever I looked at them. Seiryuu only reminded me more and more of the chance of there being yet another god to make things more complicated with the war. These people were the enemy and if they found a way to make someone their priestess and summon Seiryuu before Miaka could call forth Suzaku, then Konan could seriously be screwed. At this point, I was still unsure of the four god's power and for all I knew, I stood a chance against them with my power alone. However if they had the power to grant whatever wish that their respective priestesses wanted as well as the ability to shake and influence the world as a whole, then I could definitely see a storm brewing off in the distance.

Even though it was true that I was still relatively new to the world and technically allying myself with someone already was a bit rash, I sincerely felt that I should help defend Konan. From what I had seen, the land was scenic and beautiful—the waters were as clear as the pure Hawaiian seas and nature seemed to be untouched by man for the most part. Unlike the world of the twenty first century where Miaka and I came from, the atmosphere was fresh and considerably lacking in any harmful pollutants. When taking in the fact that this world was based around ancient China…of course there wasn't the kind of technology I was used to that had the ability to screw up a world for good. So in a way, there was a chance that every country in the Universe of the Four Gods was just like Konan. But still…

I've met people in Konan…People who…meant something to me although I didn't know exactly what.

Besides all of that sentimental stuff, Kutou declared war on Konan so I was really just playing on the side of the victims as part of their badass self-defense. And for the most part, I was happy to help—more than happy to after the Kutou soldiers had the audacity to arrest me. Okay, yeah, the Konan soldiers did too, but at least they didn't chain me up like some wild animal (they may have wanted to, but they never went through with it).

The throne room was nothing less than extravagant—drapery made up of the finest materials and beautiful candle-lit chandeliers that lined the ceiling up until the throne itself. You could tell that the leader of this country wasted absolutely no time in trying to show off to others his aesthetic tastes as well as vast fortune.

Personally, I preferred the palace of Konan—at least they weren't trying so hard to make a point about evident wealth.

"Why do you present this woman before me in chains?" A gruff, deep voice called out from the most predominant area in the prestigious chamber. My captors came to a halt as they respectfully bowed down to the man of whom they served. The emperor sitting on the dignified throne seemed to be middle-aged, most likely older than I was pinning him out to me. While being decorated with various jewels and expensive robes, the hefty ruler of the country stroke his seemingly coarse black beard as he inspected my unexpected arrival. "Is she to be a new addition to my harem? I would have expected you to give me someone whose appearance was more worth my time." My fists reflexively clenched at the obvious insult. That guy just called me plain-looking! Not worth his time? Please! I was insulted just by being in his presence. At least with Hotohori I had something pleasing to look at. He smirked cruelly. "But the chains add a nice touch." Not on your life pal! This was one of those times when first impressions pretty much meant everything. And already I could tell that this emperor wasn't such an enjoyable person to be around.

It was becoming a good thing that this emperor was both inconsiderate and a pompous jerk. That way, there was no incentive or temptation to staying in Kutou any longer than I honestly had to. Seeing how this countries' ruler acted automatically made me assume that simply asking for the information I wanted wasn't going to be an option.

Okay, since he's obviously not going to make my life simpler, maybe I should just do this the old fashion way—bust up the place until I get what I want. At this point, my first main objective had been completed—I made it into Kutou's palace where Yui could have potentially been. So what was honestly stopping me from breaking free and resuming the search without these losers?

Of course, the only way to escape would have probably been more destructive than I really would have wanted. With the metal chains limiting my mobility, I'd end up having to either get creative or just choose to rain Hell all over that sorry fortress.

The thing was I really wished to get this whole thing done as neatly as possible—without any real conflicts or difficult situations. I never usually wanted to cause a fuss anywhere I went, it just happens ending up that way. But my philosophy continuously results in becoming "whatever you have to do in order to get the job done." In this situation, though, I wanted to just get in, get Yui, then get out. Really, that's all I wanted. Was that seriously too much to ask for?

Perhaps waiting this out and see where it leads would be the least apocalyptic way of reaching my goal.

After bowing for what seemed like forever, the soldier in charge of my arrest, who was also the same one holding the end of my chain, spoke up to the emperor first. "My lord, this woman has not been brought forth to you as a gift. She has not only sneaked past the border into our country but she has also threatened the lives of our soldiers and people." Scoffing, I thought to myself, Blame yourself for all that crap dude. If you had just let me keep walking, I wouldn't have had to react the way I did. Besides, I knew perfectly well that I wasn't anywhere near hurting someone seriously let alone killing them. Exaggeration much?

The emperor gave a deep laugh that's sound seemingly ricocheted against each wall of the throne room. "This commoner woman? You must be joking."

"No sire! It's true!" The soldier tried to convince his ruler. "She harbors powers like that of a Celestial Warrior. I guarantee you that she's a menace and very dangerous—we must take precautions against her to prevent her from—"

"She doesn't look all that dangerous to me," an unfamiliar voice called out from behind my direction of focus. Turning around slowly, I found myself staring into the sharp, deep blue eyes of a man I had never met before. His tone seemed as chilling as ice, yet at the same time emitted charisma and practically oozed power. Some unpleasant sensation managed to swiftly crawl up my spine the moment I was able to take his character in. The sinister vibe he happened to give off nearly made me freeze entirely with intimidation, but his shining good looks nearly blinded me while managing to tempt my curiosity enough to not tear my eyes away. He wore mainly white and blue armor with an equally blue cape that draped over his right shoulder, covering that side of his body almost completely. His radiantly blond hair was long and sleek, the length going several inches past his shoulder blades. The bangs in the front were sophisticated, the locks so long that they almost covered his eyes if it weren't for the parting on the left side. But yeah, there was absolutely no doubt that this guy, whoever he was, had top-notch looks—rivaling even that of Hotohori's.

Congratulations dude, you managed to capture my attention.

The guy holding my chain as well as the other soldiers instantly stiffened up out of fear, revering the newcomer as if he were the devil himself. "General Nakago! Sir!" So this guy's name is Nakago?

He spoke to them with that same daunting voice that he displayed earlier. "You fools mean to tell me that you were outwitted by this woman?" Glaring intensely, he continued with, "What a huge disappointment."

"G-General, sir, sh-she is no normal woman—far from it!" The soldier's words stuttered slightly, showing just how much their blond leader installed terror into their souls.

The guy closed his eyes briefly, showing the shame he had towards his subordinates. "Regardless—I expected more from warriors of your caliber." He eyed me once more, making me slightly uncomfortable from the unwanted attention. The way he was looking at me, it was almost like I was as transparent as glass, allowing him access to each and one of my flaws—my secrets. "You disgraces couldn't even manage to genuinely capture her." It wasn't until Nakago addressed me that I realized how hot my face had become from almost staring at the model-worthy soldier. My eyes flashed wide for only a split second with his statement. Just by inspecting me that guy, Nakago, was able to tell that I pretty much let them take me in. Was it that obvious or was he just really perceptive?

Just as I was deciding whether or not to respond, something—or rather somebody—in the same area caught my eye. Poking her head out from behind the mysterious man, the perky and curious girl Miaka peeked to see what all the commotion was about. I immediately gasped, but kept it discreet to assure that none of the enemies have noticed. What the hell is she doing here?! She is going to ruin the plan completely! I had left Miaka to Nuriko, Tamahome, and Chichiri in high hopes that they'd keep her out of trouble—not drive her head on into the lion's den! Really, I could have left a kitten with mental disabilities in charge of her and it would have done a better job than them!

Nakago must have noticed the exchange of familiar glances between my kohai and I, which pretty much meant that it was too late to look as if I had never met her before. Deciding to play it cool, he informed me, "I see that you are rather curious about this young woman with me—her peculiar clothes are enough to turn heads, without any doubt. She claims that she is our much awaited priestess that we had been searching for." Other than the fact that I wasn't sure of whether that last part was directed towards me or his emperor, it was that last part that struck me with mild shock. She told him that she was who?! "While I would prefer to investigate her claim a bit more," His piercing, yet fascinating blue eyes seemed to have pierced right through me like powerful lasers effortlessly zapping through their prey. "I am slightly interested in knowing how exactly you two know each other. And don't lie by saying that you don't—I'd rather that you didn't insult my intelligence."

I gulped inconspicuously, trying to come up with an answer that wouldn't foil Miaka's plan that safely brought her to the Kutou palace. She had told this guy here that she was the Priestess of Seiryuu in order to be able to investigate whether or not Yui was involved in the situation or not. It was actually a pretty legit plan—I had to give her some credit on this one. Of course there was that slight flaw where if they found out that she was literally the exact opposite of the Priestess of Seiryuu, then there would have been some serious consequences.

Either she was completely aware of the seriousness of the situation, or she was being totally reckless and making stuff up as she went along.

What I wanted to know was what role I'd put myself as in this plan of hers. But before I even had a chance to think things through completely, the olive-eyed girl spoke up semi-enthusiastically. "She's my older sister so you don't have to worry about her being an enemy or anything!" I literally wanted to comically fall right then and there. You idiot! Don't tell them that! It sounds suspicious!

Nakago's eyebrow cocked up with interest as he switched his attention from me to Miaka interchangeably. "Sister?"

Quickly attempting to save the situation, I added in somewhat frantically, "Not biologically—she just calls me that out of respect and…to be honest I really had no say in the matter!"

"So you do in fact know this girl." The emperor profoundly spoke out after assessing the scene below.

"Yeah, but it's not that big a deal—it's a small world after all, right?" Oh my gosh did I really just say that? After a certain point, I was beginning to believe that my ability to give more believable answers was being completely suffocated the longer I was forced to be bound in those damn chains.

As he continued to inspect me, Nakago suspiciously asked, "If that is the case, then what exactly is your relationship with Miaka here? And why were you two separated?"

When in doubt, lie like a lawyer. "Well if you really must know," the added confidence in my tone really helped the performance on a bit. "I happen to be a…a…" In my mind, a light bulb finally lit, giving me the just the idea I needed to get out of this mess. "I'm a Warrior of Seiryuu, here to protect my priestess." My lips morphed into an assured grin as I peered over at my kohai. "Miaka."

What I didn't expect was for the emperor to burst out in laughter almost as if I told some hilarious joke or something. "You can't be serious—a weak-looking not to mention insignificant female such as yourself couldn't possibly be blessed with powers from our most powerful god." Okay, though it may have been true that I wasn't a celestial warrior of any kind, you could bet your ass that I was offended by his unnecessary comment. In fact, I was this close to knocking his sorry head off of his shoulders—screw the fact that he was in charge of a country—I didn't give a damn! If he wanted proof of what I could do, then I'd be happy to duct tape him to a wooden chair with needles and make him sit through hours of watching a DVD recap of my life from the past fifteen months.

Still pretending to be something I wasn't, I faked a pleasant smile. "Well you are mistaken Your Majesty," Ugh. Boy did that leave a nasty taste in my mouth. "I am in fact a celestial warrior that fights under Suzaku." It wasn't until my sentence sank in that I realized what I had just said. Knowing full well that they caught on to my mistake, I pitched back in before any of them had the chance to accuse me. "Did I say Suzaku? I meant to say Seiryuu. Suzaku only came up since I was just in Konan spying on those damn Suzaku worshiping bastards. Yup," Chuckling nervously, my eyes steadily trailed away to avoid Nakago's sharp gaze. My head hung low out of disgrace for myself. "I am going to shut up now." I was worried about Miaka messing this up? Jeez, if my acting was any worse, Shakespeare may come back from the grave just to slap me with a white glove! And what the heck was up with me and all of those Freudian slips lately? It was really messing me up.

Part of me just knew that Nakago knew I was lying my butt off—there was absolutely no way that he could have actually bought that whole performance unless he was some sort of moron.

See kids? This is why I am not an actress.

Still convinced that we could actually pull this off, Miaka, with her spunky personality, put in her two cents, "Aki-nee-chan is the best warrior a priestess could find—I can't guarantee that you'll never find another like her. With her help, I know I can summon Seiryuu no problem!" The girl tried to hug me but found it a useless gesture with me being tied up and all.

For a few moments, all of the newly acquired information (though falsified) mulled itself over in the minds of our enemies. Our blonde adversary was a bit difficult to read considering his face never really revealed his inner thoughts—in fact, in this case it was rather stoic. "What a load of crap!" The emperor shouted out. "My incredibly keen eye can tell when someone has the essence of a warrior, and you," he accusingly pointed to me, a strained tone hanging off of his words, "are not by any means a warrior."

Nakago gave him a look with response to what he said (better him than me considering I would have probably blown the emperor miles into the air for that rude comment of his…if I wasn't wrapped up in linked iron anyway). "Your Highness, allow me to verify whether or not she is who she claims to be." I couldn't exactly place why, but the way in which he addressed his ruler seemed somewhat insincere. The words were obviously the proper protocol for when a person had to talk to a monarch (I supposed), but there was an—oh I don't know—edge to the way he said it? It could have just been me since it didn't really seem like anyone else caught on. So I just dismissed it. Right as the blond warrior switched his visual focus to me, I could instantly see a snide flicker in his eye that unsettled me a bit. "This would be more my area of expertise after all." Without even waiting for the "go ahead" from his emperor, he briefly bowed to him before walking over to me, ending up only a couple feet from where I was standing. Nakago towered me by almost a good foot and a half, but I was still more distracted with his skyrocketing-above-average exterior. I was almost desperately trying to peel my eyes away from him, but for the most part, my efforts proved in vain.

'Even roses have thorns, Aki—always be on your guard,' Shokyoku's voice sprang out at me. But unlike in the past when "the mysterious female voice" showed up, I stayed calm and without question. This time I knew what was up and was allowed much more access to new info than before. One thing was for sure: I had to pretend that no one was talking to me. I didn't need our enemies thinking that I was insane or anything or that I literally had "inside help". 'There is something not right about this guy.'

I responded to her. Oh, so you noticed it too, huh?

Almost immediately she said, 'Of course I did! But at this point it is sort of difficult to determine how careful exactly you have to be.' Shokyoku already didn't like humans—she made that very clear when we met face-to-face. For her to directly warn me about someone that just popped into the scene (without even getting to know him at all) probably gauged how serious the situation really was.

Duly noted. Yeah, Nakago's looks may have been top-notch, but come on! I wasn't born yesterday. Anything this guy was concealing from us was surely going to bit us in the butt later on. There was also the unsettling vibe that I received from the whole Kutou palace in general. Not only did I have that itching feeling that someone somewhere was watching me, but my whole body couldn't shake the unnerving chill that had been plaguing me since the night before.

This far into the game made me perfectly aware of what was up—a Shadow Maiden was lurking around…somewhere. And I'd bet my left foot that it was the same demented chick who had been stalking me ever since we went into that forest to look for Tamahome. It was unclear of whether she was aware of this or not, but I had danced this dance before—shadow creatures spying on me from the shadows waiting for the right time to pounce, it was completely their style and I wasn't surprised at all. The part that bothered me the most was that I had no idea where the sinister feeling was coming from. In fact, I had sensations coming from everywhere, not just centered in one place. Weirder still was the fact that the strongest flares of Darkness energy was emitting off of Nakago. Why is that? He's not Shadow Kissed and he certainly isn't a Shadow Maiden.

Who was this guy? And why did he come off to me as a Shadow Maiden?

"Your name is Aki, right?" He asked while keeping a wary eye on me. "Show me your sign of Seiryuu," he commanded. Oh crap! I hadn't even thought about that. If each one of the Suzaku warriors had a glowing character somewhere on their bodies, then it would have made sense that the same thing applied to Seiryuu. Damn. I did not think things through. Nakago's cold blue eyes seemed to be mocking me in a sense. I felt almost as if he were baiting me in, or rather just stringing me along as he reveled in my sad attempts to keep this game of pretend going.

I wouldn't allow him the satisfaction. The way I saw it, there was only one way to avoid crashing.

"Sorry, but that would be a bit difficult. You see my symbol is near a…uh…private spot if you will. And I wouldn't be very comfortable showing it." I was pretty much hoping that he would just leave it at that and not expect me to do anything so scandalous with as big an audience that we had. Most people would respect one not wanting to bare themselves and potentially lose some of their dignity.

"That answer will not suffice here," The general coolly said. "I'm not really giving you an option—if you don't show me your symbol, then I will be forced to assume that you are deceiving us. And in that scenario," His eyes singed through my skin, making its way towards my soul, "I will be forced to react unpleasantly." Sighing, I closed my eyes to think things through a bit—my eyebrow twitching from the added frustration. Okay, so this guy is hard to break. As my brain tried to formulate another route I could possibly take, he continued. "Then again, I'm not completely opposed to you and me stepping into a more isolated room in order for you to show me that elusive symbol of yours. That way I'd be the only one you expose yourself to." In my mind I scoffed in disgust and disbelief. Pervert! If I weren't pretending to be such a loyal Kutou goody-goody, then that last statement of his would have been the catalyst for an extremely unfortunate accident (courtesy of moi). What seemed to bother me the most was how he said most of these things with a rather serious expression—like how everything that was happening in this whole situation was incredibly trivial—bsolutely nothing on his face or body language made me believe that he was joking at all.

Plastering on a fake smile (that probably looked like someone grabbing the corner of my lips and forcing them to curve upwards), I replied with, "As awesome as that suggestion sounds, how about a demonstration instead?" From what I had gathered, people in that world really only had powers if they were associated with one of the four gods in some way. So that should have been a valid enough point to make on my part—hopefully enough to convince them for a while. And as an added bonus, they would pretty much be forced to release me from my binds in order for me to prove myself to them. It was like a win-win situation!

The model-worthy soldier looked down at me while trying to decide whether or not he wanted to go with my proposal. It was almost like the guy was searching past my eyes to see any hint of deception. They say that when one is lying, they tend to trail their eyes to the right since the right side of the brain is your more creative side—the left would be where you access your more logical and factual information. There was two things that I was counting in in this instance: one was that these guys weren't aware of that whole brain thing and two, if they were, then hopefully my eyes didn't trail the wrong way. Once Nakago's decision was made, he switched his attention to the barrier of paranoid guards that were surrounding me and keeping me chained up. "Release her."

With that command, each and every one of them seemed to quite literally jump from their spots in apparent fear and shock. Their leader, the one who was actually holding onto my chain, spoke up with a slight stutter. "B-b-but sir! Are you certain?" In a way, you could sort of tell that he was trying his best to make it seem like Nakago's presence wasn't enough to make him completely wet his pants. "This woman is not to be trusted—"

"Are you soldiers questioning a direct order?" As if on cue, all of them straightened up out of cowardice and respect with the very evident threat.

"No of course not General—"

"Need I remind you, Captain, that if she turns out to actually be a warrior hand-chosen by our god Seiryuu, then you would have committed the ultimate disgrace by binding her in these chains?" The soldier he was addressing seemed to almost literally shrink in fear as sweat trickled down the sides of his face from the increased anxiety. "If that were the case, then the penalty for your little mistake would be an immediate death." Even I couldn't help but gasp at the severity of the consequence. Dude, that's a bit harsh! Nakago didn't even flinch with that promise he gave—he was really going to kill the guy just for chaining me up (ya know…if I were actually a Seiryuu Warrior). Sure, I intimidated people too, but most of the time I either distributed empty threats or ended up dishing my punishment by the means of mild violence.

These people in Kutou are a cold bunch!

I was somewhat surprised when the guy turned his attention over to me. This time, however, he actually had a slightly wicked smile on his face that practically spelled trouble. Somehow, though, that grin of his seemed to lower the chilling temperature in the atmosphere a few more notches. Whoever this guy was, he was definitely not the person you'd want to meet alone in a dark alley.

Without warning, he reached out and grabbed my chin, guiding it over as I resisted, forcing me to look at him straight in the eye. Bitch if you value your hand, you will take it away right now. He spoke in a suave tone as he kept his hand where it was—making sure that I got the point across. "If she ends up doing anything suspicious, I'll make a personal promise now to apprehend her myself…my own way." His smile became darker. "And I guarantee you that it will not be pleasant."

Bring it Blondie.

Without further question, I began to feel the chains around me being tugged just as he released me from his grip. The pion soldiers had decided to comply with their leader's command, not wanting to test the guys' patience any further. There was just something about Nakago's way-too-calm-yet-daunting expression that really irked me and, for some reason, installed terror in the hearts of his subordinates. Right at the very evident sound of a click, my arms instantly felt a wave a relief as they separated from being squashed against my body—mobility became possible once again. My bindings felt to the floor as a circle around my feet making it official that I had finally been freed.

Almost immediately, the first thing I did was turn my head slightly and look out of the corner my eye towards the chumps who tied me up—followed by one of the nastiest glares you had ever seen. Most of them took a cautious step backwards and kept their hands close to the hilts of the swords that were on their waists. My focus on them only distorted a little when Miaka strolled over and wrapped her arms around one of mine.

"Onee-chan, you're okay, right?" She was most likely referring to whatever they might have done to me in between the time that I left her with the others and when we met up again. As far as she knew, I could have been mauled by thousands of soldiers just because I looked at them funny (aside from the number being exaggerated, the theory wasn't that far off…). I wondered how her, Tamahome, and Nuriko reacted when they found out that I was gone. Hopefully Chichiri relayed the information in such a way that they didn't do anything drastic (considering Miaka was there in Kutou and away from them, it was a pretty safe bet that they had already gone past drastic the moment they let her get away (hidden message: SHE WASN'T SUPPOSED TO BE THERE!) Her presence there only complicated things. Sigh).

Nodding my head lightly, I responded to her while still keeping a wary eye on the guards. "Yeah, I'm fine." A little ticked off, but fine.

Nakago crossed his arms. "Well?" Let's see…should I continue playing this game or should I just grab Miaka and come back another time to search for Yui. I much more preferred doing what I went there to do, I just had to deal with the fact that I had extra baggage and hope to her dear Suzaku that she wouldn't get hurt.

Okay then…This time, it was I who smirked, but it was mostly directed as a warning to the soldiers behind me. Focusing my energy, I dug down deep to take full control of the elemental Darkness. Shokyoku?

Without delay, the disembodied voice of the little girl responded, 'Right! Whenever you're ready!' As with the Dragon Slave, I found that utilizing the dark ring/Shokyoku better focused the negative energy and amped up the strength of the attack—which was quite useful. Now knowing that Darkness was indeed an element installed in me a bit more confidence that I could more easily control it if I was able to acquire Shokyoku's assistance. With an incredibly dangerous element such as Darkness, you could never be too careful since there was always a high chance that it could somehow backfire on you (in my case, projecting my negative emotions onto others at involuntary times. In the case of Shadow Maidens (and myself if I don't become careful) consuming their souls and completely inverting the person they once were into a monstrous, hollowed version of their former selves. And the list goes on…).

Holding up the arm that Miaka wasn't clinging onto without turning completely around, a dark, almost black-ish purple energy poured out to cover my whole hand, palms up, in a field of negative energy. By this point, the guards were unsheathing their weapons slowly while trying to fight off their curiosity. "What the—"

Before they could even finish their pondering, I closed my hand into a fist as I chanted, "Gravirei." Instantaneously, a fierce gravitational field consumed the lot of them behind me and violently smashed their bodies to the ground—it didn't exactly help that each one of them was wearing armor which probably already weighed a hefty amount as it was. If I wanted to invest more power into it, I could have caused a crater under them from the sheer force of pressing them even harder and harder, ever so painfully—allowing the sudden increase in gravity to crush them all into indiscernible goo.

But I didn't.

Lowering my arm and calling back the spell, the halo of Darkness around my hand went away and in correspondence, released my captors from the pain they were previously enduring.

Showing them all a fake cheerful smile, I closed my eyes and told them, "See now? That wasn't so bad—all is forgiven!" But chain me up again and I'll put a whole new meaning to the phrase "Clean-up on isle 1".

Miaka, who was still on my arm, looked back at the group of guards who were, at this point, cursing under their breaths and most likely thinking of some way to get back at me (ha). She had an expression of awe as she tried to make sense of what had just happened. "I'm not really sure if I should be scared or really impressed," she chuckled nervously.

The mean-looking emperor, who was beginning to look like some sort of bear/human hybrid to me, spoke up with a version of giddiness and excitement to his voice. "So the woman really does have powers! She managed to bring a group of my finest and highly trained soldiers to the ground in one go!" He stroked his chin in pondering, his mind changing its initial perspective about me. "We can use that kind of power...Yes. With you as yet another Seiryuu Warrior, we can no doubtingly crush our enemies who serve under that ridiculous phoenix. We will bring Konan to its knees! Then we will prove who is more superior! It will all be mine!" The man let out a deep and thunderous laugh that echoed against the walls of the throne room. Wait a second…did he say "another" Seiryuu Warrior? Does that mean that my hypothesis was right before? So it was true that with the palace came installed already its very own celestial warrior (other parts not included and may require some assembling. Collect them all! (lol) Okay, I was having too much fun there…). But really, if there was already a Warrior of Seiryuu around, then where would they be? I had to make sure to keep my guard up at that point.

Pointing to the Kutou emperor in triumph, Miaka exclaimed, "See? This proves that we are who we say we are!" Whispering to me in my ear to where only I could hear, she added, "You're doing a great job Aki-nee-chan. I think we can actually pull this off!"

Part of me was beginning to think so as well…before I took a glance over at Nakago, who, unlike Miaka, had a rather unimpressed and unconvinced demeanor about him. There was just something that I wasn't catching onto regarding that guy—he was a puzzle to me. I had the small impression that he was not only smarter than everyone else in the vicinity, but knew that we were lying through our teeth and just building on more and more to our story. No one ever said that either my kohai or I were great actors (in fact I knew that I sucked—why do you think that I never participated in theatre? And here we were doing something that I was especially horrible at: improv—making stuff up on the spot and trying to make it sound believable or rehearsed). For a guy who seemed like he wouldn't take crap from anyone, he sure liked to string us along. I wondered why. But instead of calling us on our bluff, he unexpectedly bowed to us.

Both Miaka and I blinked at the unusually placed gesture. "I apologize for accusing you before—you see we can't be too careful during times of war. Certain precautions have to be met."

Scoffing slightly, I gave a small smile in victory while confidently and condescendingly turning my head to the side. "It's alright—even the best of us make mistakes sometimes." Then more quietly I said, "Some more than others."

He chuckled, a reaction that I did not anticipate as a response to my last statement. "Yes well, I feel that it's necessary to properly introduce myself." M'kay… "You'll refer to me as Nakago—I not only lead the army here in Kutou, but I am also…" His eyes narrowed at me for added intimidation. "A Seiryuu Warrior." Imaginary lightning bolts seemed to flash behind me in complete shock from the newly given information. My eyes grew wide as I deliberated what he just told us. So that's part of the reason that he's been giving off such out of the ordinary vibes! Things were finally starting to come together in my mind. The reason why people feared him so much—obviously this guy's abilities weren't just a puff of smoke—no—he had to have had some kind of power that made people want to just crawl under a rock and pray for mercy. Of course this didn't exactly tell me why he practically oozed of Shadow Maiden, but at least part of the conundrum had been solved.

And would it have been wrong of me to state that I was sort of excited and curious to find out just what he could do? It wasn't like fighting was my favorite pastime or anything like that, it more seemed like the challenge intrigued me—not to mention the mystery of just what he could do. Why does what I just said sort of come off as something Tasuki would say? Probably because he would say something along the lines of that. Probably like, "Sure, I'll fight 'em! Real men don't turn away from a fight and none of 'em refuse challenges. The more bruises and broken bones shows just how tough you are! Bring it on!" Yup. He would definitely say something like that. Oh gosh, has that guy rubbed off on me? I shook my head to clear away the present thoughts. Focus Aki.

"Just one last thing," Nakago started up once more, this time his words directed at Miaka. "While she has confirmed who she is," "She" being moi, "there is still the matter of verifying if you are truly our priestess."

Sighing, I asked him, "Can't you just take my word on it?"

Miaka's arms tightened around mine to silence my objection, her eyes gazing up at me, revealing a determination to complete her task at any cost. "It's okay Onee-chan." She gave Nakago her full attention. "What exactly do you want me to do? Just name it and I'll prove to you who I am!"

"Very well, Lady Miaka." He motioned over to someone who was apparently standing inconspicuously behind the throne, under the heightened doorway that I hadn't noticed before. "To give you a more accurate diagnosis of the situation, there had already been a girl whom we were already convinced was the Priestess of Seiryuu. But now that you showed up, it's vital that we know the truth…from the deception." As he ended with that, a young woman with short, dirty-blond hair and midnight-blue eyes came steadily into view. She wore the exact same brown skirt uniform as Miaka, signifying that not only did they come from the same world, but the same school as well. It was the girl that we had been looking for the longest time…

Yui Hongo.

Slowly, Miaka's arms slid off of mine as the gravity of the situation progressively affected her. An overwhelming flurry of emotions washed over her entire being as her olive eyes locked onto the sight set before them. She tried ever so hard to speak her heart, but the inevitable tears were already choking her up, allowing her to form only one word—the only important sound to her at the time. "Y-Yui…Yui…" Reaching out for her once long-lost soul sister, she watched her in high hopes that she wouldn't disappear ever again.

Yui's widened blue eyes were already filling up with tears as she stood staring at us at what seemed like disbelief—figuring maybe that we were some kind of cruel illusion that was being presented before her (boy did I know that feeling). Blinking hard, she clenched her fists. Upon opening her eyes, a single, gentle stream of tears flowed down her cheek, followed by another as she tried to keep her composure. Taking a careful step forward, the fifteen-year-old hesitated, almost as if she were asking permission to proceed any closer.

Almost by some sort of simultaneous cue, the two best friends ran towards each other and were finally able to embrace after what seemed like forever to them. Between the cheerful sobs and hiccups, Miaka managed to get out, "Yui, I missed you so much! I've looked for you all over the place and I thought that you had gotten hurt or something. If something had happened to you…I'd-I'd—"

"Miaka, you're such a crybaby sometimes," Yui replied with a sympathetic smile, she herself crying from the wave of joyful emotions. "Honestly, you're crying is contagious! I-It's your fault that I'm doing it too." Yui and Miaka had met only a little time after I rescued the girl's teddy-bear from that group of jerk-ish boys some years ago. If it weren't for Yui, I would have been stuck with Miaka (who didn't seem to be affected by Shokyoku quite that much) as a shadow for who knew how long. For the longest time, Miaka made me incredibly uncomfortable (she wasn't exactly Kajou's favorite person either). When Yui managed to retrieve Miaka from my company, I was filled with feelings of great relief and thankfulness towards the girl.

Yui and I weren't exactly the closest couple of people, we were only tied together by the glue that was Miaka. You could say that there was a healthy relationship of respect between us, which was probably the reason why she called me "Senpai". Hell, if Miaka didn't exist, I was pretty sure that I would have never even given Yui the time of day. But she was a good kid. Not only was she a very bright student, but she had a level head on her shoulders, and had a significant level of maturity and responsibility that she displayed a lot of the time—a maturity that Miaka very much…with a lack of better words…didn't possess. This, of course, always made me question why Yui hung out with a crybaby, food-obsessed, not-as-bright, naïve, and clingy girl like Miaka Yuki (I was obviously leaving out her better qualities for a reason). It absolutely baffled me! They were opposites in so many ways yet they cared so much for each other and always stood by one another's side—for almost ten years!

Those two were the model of friendship that I had always longed for in life but could never have. They were so different in many ways, and they their bond was seemingly unbreakable. Despite of how nice it all was, there would always be a deeper part inside of me that absolutely couldn't stand the sight of them. They always had the security that they'd be together—for me, that was never set to stone. I always had the fear of being forced out of a world, and, even before I started my journey, that I'd scare people away with my curse. Those girls were always so safe—it was wonderful and yet incredibly irritating.

Life is unfair…and the universe is such a bastard (yeah, I know I usually call it a bitch, but either way, I don't like it). Seriously, if you think that I'm just being some whiny pest and complaining of why and how my life is horrible and such, may I direct you to the story starting at chapter one? Yeah, see my point? Thank you.

Anyway!

As I stood there watching them, a small smile crept across my lips. Regardless of my conflicting feelings, I was happy to see that they had been reunited again. I was even more relieved to find that Yui was okay—finally I could throw all those other fears out the window.

But something was…off…about this whole thing—adding to the already distorted sensations I got from the Kutou palace and Nakago. This feeling was slightly different though.

Gosh what is up with this place?

When the two teens decided to break apart, Yui looked over at me and flashed me a meaningful smile. "It's great to see you again Akimoto-senpai—it's been a really long time, hasn't it?" I nodded. The last time I saw her, she was still in elementary school (about five or six years ago) and her hair had been a bit longer then. But I think a while ago Miaka mentioned something about Yui cutting her hair so that boys wouldn't continually gawk at her beauty…or something along those lines. Patting her best friends head, she continued to speak to me. "I want to thank you for looking after Miaka here. If it weren't for you, then I don't even want to think about what kind of trouble this Odango head would be in. She can be such a spaz at the worst possible times."

Chuckling at that statement, I rolled my eyes and thought, Don't I know it. Turning my body to the side, I crossed my arms as I spoke. "I guess now that you're back in the picture, I can pass the baton back to you. She's your problem now." Watching them out of the corner of my eye, I grinned jokingly. "I do, of course, expect compensation for my duties."

Catching onto the joke, she played along. "Your shift has been an honorable one Senpai and I salute you—I will humbly take on this task."

Throwing her fists down and lifting onto her toes, the oblivious Miaka exploded at us. "Will you two stop acting like you're babysitting me or something? I'm not that high-maintenance!" When the two of us ended up just laughing at her, she puffed up her cheeks and calmed down a bit. "You guys are so mean." Yui and I may not have been close, but we could both agree that keeping up with Miaka and watching out for her was definitely an adventure in itself. Plus ganging-up on her like that was always fun when the opportunity presented itself. Miaka could be an amusing creature when the right conditions were met—apparently Yui agreed with me. Ha.

"So how is it possible that you all know each other?" Nakago's smooth yet fearsome voice cut through our previously happy atmosphere, once again replacing it with the unsettling one I resented before. As we were in the moment, I temporarily forgot that we were even in the Kutou palace, practically being interrogated by some blonde, vogue-model soldier. It didn't even occur to me that my knowing Yui would actually jeopardize the story that we were trying so hard to get everyone to believe. Judging from the two girls' outfits, of course they were associated with each other in some way. But technically, if I were really a celestial warrior, then I would have been born and raised in the Universe of the Four Gods. By that logic, and the fact that I had been around Miaka the whole time, then there really wouldn't have been an opportunity for me to meet Yui let alone get to know her well enough to exchange such banter like we just had.

"Well—we…uh…" Miaka stuttered to come up with a good excuse—sweat staring to trickle down the side of her face from anxiety. She was also catching on to how illogical our story was actually starting to sound. There needed to be only one discrepancy—especially for a seemingly calculating guy like Nakago—in order for us to truly slip up.

Right before my eyes, our semi-elaborate plan was unraveling itself.

My mind was practically screaming, Just grab Miaka and Yui and bust out of there! I had what I went there for, Yui was safe and sound and there was really no reason for sticking around. There wasn't much of a reason for me to continue pretending like people were actually buying our crap. If anything, the only obstacle would really only be Nakago who was still a mystery when it came to what his abilities were. Despite his intimidating exterior, I was fairly certain that I could take him. But then there was the issue of Miaka and Yui getting caught in the crossfire.

Hmm…

The general steadily walked up to us, peering down at us in a patronizing fashion. His eyes almost immediately caught sight of something to Miaka's side, a pouch of some sort. It was the same one that she had been wearing ever since we left the palace in Konan. Hotohori had given her something in confidence—something that still made me rather curious. And I had a sinking feeling that that object, whatever it was, was what Nakago found sudden interest in.

Attempting to switch his attention elsewhere, I tried to say, "If you're gonna give the girls a test of some kind, then you should just—" Without warning, the guy reached down swiftly and grabbed the exposed scroll (I was finally able to see what it was) from her without even asking permission—as if he really sought for it.

"Hold on! You don't need to look at that!" Miaka reached out her hand to try and retrieve it, but Nakago gave her no such luck. Instead he grabbed her extended arm by the wrist, forcefully keeping her in place as he unraveled the documents with his free hand.

Hold on a second…

I gasped. My brain finally clicked on as it processed just what the scroll could be/probably was. However I failed to understand why the girl had brought it with her—that was the ultimate cheat sheet revealing just who we were and who we were associated with.

Holding the struggling priestess as prisoner, Nakago scanned over the contents of the scroll, ending his investigation with a daunting sneer. "This is Konan's Universe of the Four Gods. So you really are the Priestess of Suzaku."

Damn. It was what I thought. Why the hell would Hotohori give something like that to her?! And why would she bring it into enemy territory? Out of all the places to take it, she brings it to Kutou—the biggest enemy to Konan! That was possibly the most important papers in the whole kingdom and he gave them to Miaka…Miaka?! I mean she left it out in the open for Pete's sake! Bad move Princey…bad move.

Not only that but my suspicions about Nakago were right. He knew that we were lying this whole time—he was just playing us, trying to see what we'd do—perhaps even evaluating us.

Now he was holding onto Miaka, never loosening his grip, pondering about what her fate should be for waltzing into a region where she was almost practically Public Enemy Number One. She was the one thing determining whether or not Konan could win this war—of course she was a target. A look of terror in her olive eyes, the girl struggles and fought in determination to break free and run.

Yui's face didn't look happy. She looked sternly at the blond soldier and demanded, "Nakago, let her go!"

"Lady Yui," he began, without even giving her a quick glance—all the while his focus stayed on Konan's priestess. "You must understand that I can't do that. She is our enemy and must be treated as such."

"We have been deceived!" Kutou's emperor's face was red with fury, smoke practically blowing from his ears like something comical you'd see on the Looney Tunes. Pounding his fist onto the arm rest, he roared, "Take the wench away! Let's see how Suzaku does when his precious Priestess has been put to death!"

The girl looked back at me with plea in her big eyes. She shrieked, "Onee-chan!"

Time to take action.

Leaping swiftly backwards a few times, I called upon the power of Water to be manipulated from the droplets that were always present in the air. "Dolph Strash!" A spear-like shockwave of Water went rushing towards Nakago at a flashing speed, giving him little time to respond. He instantaneously backed up and pushed Miaka away, allowing the spell to intervene between them, breaking the ground beneath it in a straight line as it continued on. The guy would have had no chance whatsoever had it hit him (he got lucky). But the most important thing was that Miaka was out of his grasp.

Without even a second thought, she ran over to my side, finding comfort in the fact that someone was there to protect her. Remembering that there was door behind the throne, I yelled out to the two girls. "You guys need to get out of here!"

Miaka blinked at me. "But…what about—"

"This isn't up for discussion! You need to leave. Now!" The extra strain in that last word got my point across completely. She understood and nodded, a look in her eye telling me to be careful. Hurrying over to Yui, she took he hand, and the two of them dashed off to the corridor that Yui emerged before. I had no choice but to stay behind. Knowing that Nakago was part of the Seiryuu Seven made me cautious, never wanting him to leave my sight until I knew just what he was capable of doing—know thy enemy. It also boiled down to the fact that I stood a much better chance against him than Miaka and Yui (combined). They needed all the time they could to get away anyway.

So I stood there facing my enemy, ready to dish out whatever I had to in order to achieve survival.

Scowling by this point, Nakago looked back towards the gawking soldiers and commanded, "Why are you fools just standing there?! Go after them!"

Just then, another guard showed up, panting vigorously, as he gave a slight bow to his superiors before relaying his message. "Sire! There are intruders in the palace—they're putting up quite a fight and making their way past our forces!" The coward ran away from his post to tell the emperor the news just so that he could escape. Pathetic. But in my mind I was more wondering who the other intruders could be. There was no way in Hell that it could have been Miaka and Yui—not only were the two of them not even in that direction, but, really, like they could honestly take on a bunch of armed, highly trained guys. The only people I could think of who were against them (Kutou soldiers) and making their way to the throne room could only be Tamahome, Chichiri, or Nuriko—perhaps all three! It made sense. After all, they did sort of let their priestess slip from their fingers (so darn easily I might add), and it was their duty to look after her.

Upon hearing the news, Nakago didn't hesitate to act like the general he was and give another command. "Then assemble more men to take care of them all! Having the enemy in two separate places is no excuse for negligence!" Right as they were about to scurry away, he added on with a harder tone, "Be careful of Lady Yui—if she is harmed at all, don't expect to leave here without rightful punishment."

Shivering with fear, they all stood frozen at attention for a moment before attempting to go off. "Yes General!"

Not feeling that I should give them the chance, I continued to use the power of manipulating phases of Water. Lifting both arms in the air, palms facing the ceiling, I called out, "Freeze Rain!" A medium-sized sphere made of ice hovered in the air above me, ready for me to give the extra push of energy needed to initiate the rest of the spell. Focusing on the area that the guards were headed (to the entrance of the hallway where the girls went), an intense flurry of sharp icicles came rushing out, destined to shred whoever was unfortunate enough to be caught in their path (I was…fairly confident that the icicles wouldn't kill these guys only 'cause they were wearing armor and I didn't necessarily want a bloody mess all over the floor. Macabre just isn't my thing).

But right when I was beginning to feel assured, I found that my spell had been deflected by some sort of force field that was protecting the soldiers. One by one, the icicles shattered upon impact, none of them even reaching the soldiers much to my chagrin. And before I knew it, they had already disappeared down the hall, taking the opportunity that luck had given them.

As I lowered my arms and backed off on the energy flow, half of my brain had been telling me to go after them, but my more curious side wanted to investigate who disturbed my spell so easily. I only had to think it over for a few short seconds before my mind had formulated the obvious answer.

Instead of turning around to face him abruptly, I smirked and addressed Nakago without mentioning his name. "So…what gave us away?"

Without even looking at him, I heard the smugness in his tone. "Would you prefer that I go down the list or would you rather I tell you the obvious reason?" As if he really gave a damn about my reply. "If you knew anything about our world and our legends of the four gods, then you would have known the simplest detail of how each celestial warrior is named after a constellation in the skies of their respective deities." In my mind, I slapped my forehead hard for that mistake I made. What made my fluke even more stupid was how I had friends who were Suzaku warriors and I should have suspected that my name didn't sound divine or anything like that at all. Damn, how could I miss such an obvious factor like that? "'Akimoto' is not a name that one can find in this world, let alone Kutou." All of that would have to mean that he knew we were bluffing from the start—perhaps even when he fetched Miaka from who knows where.

"Nakago!" Face still boiling red with anger in conjunction with the situation, the emperor was practically jumping out of his seat with anxiety and anticipation to have this troublesome dilemma resolved by any means. "What're you waiting for? Kill that woman! I will not be made a fool of in my own kingdom!" Please. You don't need my help to look like a fool. Let's notice how he was staying on his throne without any intention of trying fight the problem off on his own—you know, like an honorable leader would. I knew for a fact that if something were going down in his palace in Konan, Hotohori wouldn't have even hesitated to take action to protect his people—it wasn't in his character to wimp out like that.

Rapidly turning around to face the countries leader as well as his perfectly-shaped subordinate, I jumped into the air and called upon the power of Fire to my being—feeling the intense head as it gathered around me. "Mars Celestial Fire!" With a finger, I traced a vertical ring of fire around me, only to spread my arms out and let the flames concentrate into seven intense floating discs. Bringing my arms in front of me, I finished the spell by saying, "Surround!" Like they were being launched by some high-tech machine, the discs went flying towards the emperor like circular, ignited razor blades.

Yet again, I found my attack had been deflected by another barrier created by Nakago. Kutou's emperor still looked up in horror as his would-be assassins (okay, maybe not "assassins"…'cause once again, I wasn't looking to murder anyone) were being prevented from reaching him.

Now I know what you're thinking: if you knew that Nakago was more of a threat, then why didn't you attack him instead of the emperor? Well, I wanted to one, confirm that he was indeed the one who had stopped my Ice assault earlier and two, I was curious as to how he'd react if I were to try again.

"Th-Th-That fire! You're with Suzaku aren't you?" The emperor stuttered in shock and fear.

Putting a hand on my hip, I gave him a sassy expression. "Dude, you can assume what you want 'cause I'm not gonna tell you anything." Adding a more ominous, yet mischievous tone to my voice, I told him, "You have my permission to run away now."

Practically climbing out of his seat and inching to the exit, he pretended to act tough. "Y-You'll pay for this! You, Konan, and your precious Suzaku will all feel the wrath of Kutou's army and power—" Taking a violent stomp forward, I allowed a single gust of wind to shoot out and intimidate the cowardly emperor once more—he needed no more cues to get the hell out.

Putting my attention onto Nakago, his cold blue eyes narrowed at me as he smirked. "Shall we?"

Switching to a more serious expression, I prepared mentally and physically for anything he could potentially throw at me. However, deciding that I didn't want to be on the defending/receiving end of this battle, I went ahead and took the initiative and quickly casted, "Infinite Earth, mother of all things. Stone Spiker!" Slamming both of my palms onto the ground, a plethora of lethally sharpened stone spears emerged from below, each one creating a path that wasted no time in chasing after my enemy. Nakago, almost effortlessly, evaded each one, allowing the pile-on of spikes to pollute the throne room, making it more and more dangerous to even move around. But still I stayed in my spot, busting out more spikes, refusing to let the guy get much closer to me.

It didn't take long before Nakago took note of the dangerously situated battlefield and sought to alleviate the problem. Extending an arm out, a menacing sphere of blue energy with a blackened aura shot out from his hand, destroying the tops of each of the spikes that were already above ground. Then he crouched down and put a hand to the ground, sending out a wave of blue that traveled below the surface of the floor, progressively eliminating the chances of any more of my spears from appearing. The ground below me began to crack and implode from the unstableness, causing me to lose my balance and jump out of the way before completely toppling over.

My concentration had been broken from this, leaving me wide open as I tried to think of what to do next. Nakago didn't give me a chance to even ponder. Before I knew it, he had taken out a black leather whip from his side and began snapping it at me. Really feeling the intense need to not get hit by that thing, I got up and took to the air, if only by a few feet off of the ground. It would have been suicide to turn my back to him, so I had no choice but to face him as I backed up. Snap after painfully sounding snap, he persisted with pursuit—a few times the whip had gotten so dangerously close that if my hair were caught in it, no doubt that it would have been hacked off (…by a whip…that's how intense this guy was).

I groaned. Okay, so this guy can use spells of some type and he can use weapons? That's so unfair for so many reasons! As a spell-caster, I always had to be cautious not to get too close to my enemy—my strengths lied with being a ranged fighter. If someone got too close, I'd in no doubt be in some serious trouble.

Suddenly feeling my back hit something hard, I found myself being halted in mid-air by one of the throne room's pillars. The surprising pain made me grab the back of my head with an arm and lower myself a little, increasing my susceptibility to Nakago. In that instance, the whip snapped out and wrapped around my wrist, making me wince from the stinging sensation yet somewhat thankful that Nuriko had given me long gloves for this outfit, otherwise, my skin would have broken for sure. With a powerful tug, Nakago had forced me out of the air and slammed me into the ground. Reeling me in as if I were the catch of the day, I was dragged along the floor of the throne room, which had already been littered with piles and piles of debris from the attacks exchanged.

Still recovering from the minor damage that had already been inflicted, I managed to put up a struggle and resist being brought to him like some sort of present. Putting an arm out forward, I used a defense spell. "Ma Seshield!" A large, light pink disk-like shield appeared in front of me in an instant. And without hesitating, I pushed it ahead with my energy, making it hit Nakago and force him back towards a distant wall, consequently causing him to lose his grip on the whip and drop it, allowing me the freedom to stand up, out of his grasp.

Even with the added breathing room I was allowed, I was shocked to discover a huge spike in chi levels in the atmosphere—one like I had never felt before. My eyes grew wide to see that my own Ma Seshield had been pushed right back at me at an even faster speed than I launched it at. Finding no other way to avoid it, I hurled my body to the side, falling straight to the ground once more, scraping my knee as I skidded. The Ma Seshield had impacted the wall that was behind me not even a second before, effortlessly crashing straight through and creating a huge hole of cracking and falling material.

The whole time, my eyes remained as wide as Jupiter in response to the past events. He…he flung my attack right back at me—my shield! How did he…? I didn't know what to be more surprised of: the fact that he manipulated my spell, or the sight I was looking at. There was practically an intense field of energy surrounding Nakago—most likely a result of that spike earlier. On his forehead, behind his long bangs, was a light-blue glowing character (same location as Tamahome's!).

Slowly bringing myself back to my feet, I never allowed my eyes to leave his presence. So…this is his power. I could definitely tell why he was feared by virtually everyone in the Kutou palace. Getting a grip on myself, I mentally slapped my cheek—snapping me out of awe and back onto the task at hand. Alright, so if he wants to play hardball, I'll give him a hardball.

Suddenly, a familiarly unpleasant chill returned, crawling up my spine, freezing me in my tracks in alarm. While still facing Nakago, my eyes darted all over the place trying to find the cause of this obvious warning. A Shadow Maiden could attack me from anywhere, at any time, and I wouldn't have even known where to start. It was like…the feeling was all over the place—not just concentrated in one area (which would have helped me immensely in pinpointing its location). What the hell is going on here? I knew in my mind that switching my focus like that was an incredibly dangerous thing in this battle, so I had no choice but to put the chilling feeling at the back of my mind.

Still though…

I'll only do this for a second…Closing my eyes, I used Aura Vision to take a better look at the man standing before me. He was surrounded by a flaring halo of dark blood red mixed with greys. But something was weird…I could sort of see that there was an extension of his aura of some sorts, but I couldn't exactly tell what it was or why it was there—it did unnerve me quite considerably though. Damn it! If I had just learned to see aura's the right way, then I wouldn't have been so limited. A certain number of hues were completely foreign to me with my eyes closed. Even Nakago's aura was almost too dark to really see (the red made it slightly easier).

"Feeling so confident that you'd close your eyes in battle with me?" My eyes instantly snapped back open the moment I heard him speak. "You are truly ignorant to the traditions of combat."

Offended by his comment, I blurted out, "I know way more than you think I do Blondie. It will be the last mistake you ever make to underestimate me." So you got a few lucky hits in…big deal.

He straightened up as his energy began to fall back down to reasonable levels. "Good to know. And by the way Princess Akimoto…" "Princess?" Is he mocking me or something? Not that I didn't ordinarily mind the added salutation, it's just the way he said it. Slowly, almost mockingly, he walked towards me in a casual manner. "I know better than to underestimate an opponent—regardless of you being a woman. You'll find that I'm much more capable than those fools you faced before."

So I've discovered. Feeling threatened by his inching closer, I brought my hands out in front of me, one covering the one which palm was out. "Wind, crimson flame. Grant the power of thunder to my hand!" Getting the sensation of an intense surge of energy focusing at my hands, I continued with, "Digger Bolt!" A lethal blast of lightning shot out from my palm, heading right for Nakago, this time I was heavily sure that he wouldn't have escaped so easily.

Just as the spell seemed to have gone right through him almost too effortlessly, there was a swift blow of wind that came from behind, making me gasp at what had just happened. Out of nowhere, an arm came from in back of me and hooked around my neck, almost cutting off my flow of oxygen completely, grabbing hold of me tight as it brought me in close, up to someone's chest.

My captor lowered his face down and whispered in my ear, his blond hair rubbing up against my skin. "I've heard so much about you—you honestly expect me to believe that that was your best shot?" Nakago? But how did he—I looked ahead to where I thought I hit him. Was that some kind of substitute or something? I continued to struggle to break free and for air—it literally felt like the tubes that normally helped me breathe were being replaced with straws that had been chewed at the ends, making the air that was supposed to come up feel constrained. "You're too reckless with your magic—you barely think things through at all. And the way you assess the situation is almost laughable." Well it did help that the people I fought a lot of the times were morons, so perhaps fighting them was a bit simpler. But still…was I really that reckless and uncalculating? Or was it Nakago? Maybe he was just significantly (and I mean significantly) sharper than I gave him credit for.

Continuing to put up the best fight that I could, I thought of using some sort of spell to get me out of that bind. I can't do that—I'd just get hit with my own spell being this close to the target! Besides…I had already used quite a bit of magic that day. If I wasn't careful, I'd hit the red-zone in no time at all. But what choice did I have? There was also the chance that my spell casting would go haywire again like it had back in the maze when the little kid took control of my body. Without my hands and proper focus, I couldn't control the direction of where (or determine when) the attacks would happen—even Tasuki and Chichiri almost got hurt thanks to my doing. Kind of tied to the first reason why using a spell at that time would have been bad, I decided against it.

No matter how much I squirmed, Nakago's arm didn't budge at all—I was stuck there. Remembering what he said a bit earlier, I asked, still straining to breathe. "Wha—you said earlier," I tried to take in a deep breath (to no success). "A-Abou…hearing about…m-me? H-How?" I had never even met that guy at all or even seen him before that day, and I couldn't even think of anyone he could have possibly talked to in order to acquire info about me.

"Speaking right now wouldn't be very wise, Princess. Since I don't want you to black-out on me so suddenly, I'd rather have it so that you don't talk." As much as I hated to admit it, he was right. With my air flow being restrained, I was already becoming a bit woozy in the mind. Images of the world around me were beginning to distort—I couldn't afford to lose any more air. Otherwise, game over. "It doesn't really matter how I know about you—the only thing that's important is the fact that I do. I know about your famous confident exterior and how all of it is just some pitiful façade. You are more fearful and timid than most people think—but that's how you want them to think, right?" I stopped struggling, allowing his words to sink in. What? "You act tough to keep people away from knowing the truth about you." Lifting his free arm, he touched my cheek intimately with the back of his hand—slowly caressing it as if I were completely helpless lover of his. Another, sort of different kind of chill crept up my spine in conjunction with my face heating up from the feel of his skin on mine. "How a fragile woman such as yourself has been tormented almost beyond compare. Those crimson eyes of yours alone…show all of your pain." He then went on to comb through my hair with his fingers, even in the awkward yet painful position that he had us in—me still gasping for air and insulted that he thought that he could have his way with me like that. Where the hell could he possibly get all of that information about me?! That stuff is personal! How dare he talk to me as if he knows—how DARE he! "I knew that we'd meet eventually—it was inevitable. You could say that was one of the primary reasons I knew for a fact that you weren't a Seiryuu warrior."

"D…amn y-you," I gasped like a fish out of water, being threatened by how it could all end in a matter of seconds. None of what was going on made any sense. What put the thought of me into his mind? Why would he figure that we'd meet? Argh! Not knowing aggravated me so much!

Tightening his grip on my throat, I began to kick and flail even harder for my release—Nakago wasn't fazed. "Princess Akimoto, you and I have a lot in common, even if you aren't aware of it. I can open…so many doors for you." Bite me…you bastard. "Well let's see if this interests you: I know what you really are." Once again my body went limp with his words—that last sentence of his not only caught my attention, but managed to replay itself in my head over and over like a broken record.

"What you really are…"

"What you really are…"

"What you really are…"

What I…really am? What did he mean by that? He snickered. "So you really don't know everything about yourself, do you? Like I said before, I can open doors for you—I can reveal things that you'd never image in your present state…but not now…" Without warning, he pushed me away from him, my lack of oxygen making me fall wobbly on my knees, coughing vigorously and taking in gulps of precious air. "You will seek me out one way or another—either to seek answers or purely for desire. Whichever way you want to look at it, you and I will have our alone time once again. As for now," He held up his arm towards me as I continued to stay down in my vulnerable state, "I have Celestial duties that I must attend to. My apologies Your Highness." Arm glowing with ominous blue once more, he fired out a canon of energy that came straight at me.

Reacting as quickly as I could, I crossed my arms in front of my face and casted in a whisper, "S-Seoshi!" This particular Seoshi wasn't a deeply rooted into the ground as it normally was. So I was pushed back by the intense blast, up against a wall of the throne room. The sheer power of his attack was enough to force my protecting dome not only against the wall, but to make it crack (the wall that is…). Still I kept my ground as he persisted, never allowing my barrier to falter. In the end, his assault won the battle as it sent me flying past the wall, the overflow of energy causing me to lose my grip on my spell and make the Seoshi disperse mid-air.

Landing harshly on my back, I found myself fighting to stay conscious and not give out. I was out there, motionless for only a few minutes as I stared up at the still, peaceful blue sky—a few puffy clouds here and there adding to the deceiving sereneness. Boy did I wish that I could just stay there. But we all know how impossible of a dream that would be for me. My eyes trailed over to the hole that Nakago had made with his attack to the palace. It was huge and it was gaping.

Holy crap—what have I gotten myself into?

I could have taken him, right? There were several factors distracting me and I did sort of go into that fight belittling him. Okay, that was definitely a mistake on my part. But now I knew (more or less) what he was capable of and I was fairly certain that next time I fought him (at full strength), I'd show him what I was capable of. Nakago may have been pretty, but that was no excuse for him acting like some elusive jackass.

Next time, I'll give him Hell if that's what he wants.

And I'll get some answers.

"What you really are…" "Really, what was all that about? And what was all that 'Princess' and 'Your Highness' crap? Was that just meant to throw me off?" I asked myself aloud as I lied there. He wasn't even there anymore, said something about attending to some celestial duties or something.

Celestial duties, huh?

...

...

...

...

"Oh crap! Yui and Miaka!" Without even giving it another thought, I jumped up, brushed myself off and re-entered the palace through the hole that Nakago had made only a little time before. I stored what had happened there in the back of my mind, but you could bet yourself that I'd re-open that whole situation once this whole infiltrating Kutou business was over and done with.

The moment I stepped back in was when I witnessed the destruction the two of us managed to pull off in such little time. The throne room was nearly as spotless and show-offy as it was when I had first arrived there. We really did a number on that place. Smiling only slightly, I felt sort of proud of myself. If only I didn't have anything important to do—otherwise I could revel in this all day long. What really would have been a sight would have being able to see Kutou's emperor's face after he saw all of that. But alas, I wasn't fortunate enough to be handed such pleasures.

Feeling that I had recovered enough from my rude encounter with Kutou's general, I levitated myself off of the ground and began to search the palace starting with the corridor that I demanded the two girls go through. Another thought came into my head of how I technically should have run into those "intruders" that were mentioned earlier. In some sense, we should have met up somewhere along the way, or at the very least, they should have followed all of the commotion that was being made during out battle. Then again, if it really was any of the Suzaku warriors, then somewhere along the lines we would eventually cross paths (we were all headed for the same girl after all).

Floating down the hallways, I saw a definite difference of cleanliness and orderliness in comparison to the now-ruined throne room. But even so, there were still various guards stationed almost all over the place—either looking for the girls or trying to protect the place from me or the other intruders. However you sliced it, getting around without being detected was still quite the chore. After a certain point, I completely lacked the motivation to fight those guys. Going up against someone like Nakago not only took a lot out of you, but you begin to see other enemies (pion ones such as those other non-important soldiers) as nothing more than just ants—you can crush and step on them all you want, but they are just so small and virtually defenseless that the excitement and the point of it all sort of just goes down the drain. The only time I'd actually bother with them would have been if they actually saw me and made a big deal of it. I needed to save the rest of my magic for when I really needed it. This was definitely no time to start coughing up blood just because I refused to be stopped by my limits.

As I searched the palace, the ever-present feeling of Shadow Maiden never left my conscious. Wherever I went, the sensation was there. Knowing this never gave me even a moment's peace. More than anything, I really just wanted to get out of that palace once and for all.

Stopping where I was, I decided to conduct a little aura experiment. Being fully aware that I couldn't see certain colors with my eyes closed, I tried to see if I could, even for a second, catch a glimpse of something using Aura Vision with my eyes open for once. Though I had never achieved it before, there was a first time for everything. Looking upwards towards the ceiling, I began to strain my eyes, never allowing them to blink and attempting to make every cell in them work to my favor (or whatever thing in the eyes that made seeing auras possible). From all of the added stress on them, my eyeballs started to quiver with the increased lack of comfortableness, but still I kept on with trying to see what couldn't normally be seen. Soon enough, something odd appeared in my vision. I could see some sort of black, wispy cloud covering the walls, ceiling...everything really, in the Kutou palace. The cloud almost seemed like it was alive as it constantly rippled somehow like waves (believe me, that is the best way that I can explain how they looked, you'd kind of had to be there in order to see what I saw. Plus, you kind of needed the ability to "see" them as well).

Feeling that I saw all that needed to be seen, even more questions arising in my mind, my eyes finally gave out from the pile-on of strain—I just had to blink. It definitely hurt more to try and look at auras with my eyes open-apparently the way you learn to look at auras primarily is the one you have to stick with (and in my case, that's eyes closed). But I did feel a little comfort in knowing that with a little (a lot) of extra effort, it is somewhat possible for me to see things with my eyes open (...well duh, but come on, you guys know what I mean!).

But it has definitely been confirmed—the Kutou palace was riddled with negative energy. THAT was why I've been getting such screwy signals from that place.

For only a second, I started to wonder if I should concern myself more with finding Yui and Miaka, or if I should actually do my job and fight off the Darkness wherever the source of it was (which began with looking for it of course). Hmm...

Just as I lowered my guard, I was surprised to find a non-specifically-shaped shadow, swaying back and forth with glowing yellow eyes staring me down...right in the middle of the hallway. It took my body and brain a few milliseconds to respond, but once the messages got through, I backed up and prepared expected the worse.

Shadow Maiden.

The more I thought about it, the more that it came to my attention that they hadn't shown themselves in the Universe of the Four Gods before. I had dealt with faux shadow creatures and I had to take on those who were Shadow Kissed, but since that day in the park in Miss Emiko's world, it was like they had disappeared from the face of existence. Or more like, according to Taiitsukun, held back and regrouped—perhaps getting stronger. This lone Shadow Maiden I was looking at had been the first one in quite a while.

I wonder if this is the one that had been stalking me this whole time—perhaps even the one that infected this palace! Usually by that point, the creature would have attacked me by now but this one was just...standing like when my journey had first began and they were all surrounding me but not doing anything. Though back thenI thought they were harmless since they insisted on staying put. Boy did I wish that were the case, but I know better.

Progressively floating closer to it, I started to say, "Well, if you're just going to stand there doing nothing, then I guess you wouldn't mind if I brought a little Light into your life." I was the only one that I knew who had the power to access Light to its fullest (more or less) and defeat Shadow Maidens. It consisted of me summoning up precious memories and feeling from deep within—things that were more of a foreign concept to me as opposed to other things. But with thehelp of the times I had with the Host Club and the others, as well as the bracelet that my ex-boyfriend Hikaru had given me, unlocking that power wasn't impossible. Reaching out the hand with the now glowing gold piece of jewelry, I took advantage of the fact that the being didn't want to move (and I didn't mind or ask questions at all—as far as I wasconcerned, having it—her—just stand there made my job that much easier).

All of a sudden, a shadow as stringy and flowing as a ribbon came out at me from behind and wrapped tightly around my ankles. "What the—?" Then from the front came another ribbon-like string of shadow that launching at me, wrapping itself around my wrists, binding my hands together. The two shadows steadily brought me down and out of the air, bringing me to submission on my knees before the waiting Shadow Maiden. Trying to break my hands and feet free, I found that brute strength would not allow me to get out of that bind so easily (not like I had all that much brute strength to begin with). Looking up into the evil glowing eyes of my adversary, my eyes widened progressively in response to the process happening before me.

Slowly, the Shadow Maiden's form began to change, giving her more of a prominent humanoid shape. She was still a shadow, so she was more of a silhouette more than anything else. Even so, her head began to grow what seemed like long, peppy pigtails that started high on her head and flowed down to her hips. All she had was the naked human silhouette, no outline of clothes could even be seen (not like she needed them—she was a shadow for goodness sake!). Her new form allowed her the advantage of actual fingers, unlike before when she didn't even have arms or legs. Finally, her circular, yellow eyes morphed into a more almond shape, never losing their menacing glow followed by the formation of what looked like a wide, Cheshire-cat smile with sharp white teeth that seemed to illuminate brightly on her pitch-black form.

All the while, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Never before had I ever witnessed a Shadow Maiden doing anything like that before. Hell, I didn't even know that they were capable of doing that. I thought that they were always destined to be in that non-specific shape. Or perhaps this one was just the one-man (woman) out.

Once the transformation was complete, she stood there, brought her hands to her mouth and gave one of the most obnoxious and high-pitched laughs I had ever heard in life. It was like a mixture of conceited and hyena (if you can imagine that, then bravo for you).

To my incredible surprise, she actually spoke. "Sugah, I can't believe y'all fell for such a trick like that. Now don't you feel as dumb as a tree?" What the hell? Not only could she talk (without even moving her lips, mouth, or teeth by the way) which had never been done before, but she also had an American Southern-Bell accent (again, what the hell?) "I figured you were much smarter than that, hun, but I guess that serves me right for setting you up to high on the scale. Catching you was just too easy." In this case, I had to completely ignore that insult and focus more on the fact that a Shadow Maiden that just shape-shifted into a human-like form just spoke to me...in an accent. WTF?! I'm sorry, but I just can't get off of that. If she's smart enough to talk and do all of those other things, then I wonder if she still has any humanity left... Shadow Maidens used to be girls like me who asked the universe for the wish and was then whisked away by Taiitsukun to enter other worlds. The only difference between them and me was the obvious fact of I haven't surrendered/lost my soul to Darkness (...yet) and I still had my Light. After that point, I just concluded that they lost all sense of humanity and just became senseless monsters that were incapable of thought or feeling. But right before my very eyes, my past theories were being unraveled, one by one, all by this one particular being standing before me.

"You're," I began to say, "You're capable of thinking on your own-you're aware of what you're doing?"

"As sure as the sky is blue! The sky is still blue, right?" I gave her a peculiar look. Are Shadow Maidens colorblind? She giggled. "I'm just foolin' with you. Seriously, how stupid can a chick be? It's kind of disappointin' that you're the honestly the last hope that Light has."

That slightly got me out of my fascination. "Watch it—I'm not stupid."

"Coulda fooled me, hun!" She started to twirl around like a ballerina without a speckle of grace. "But to answer any more questions ya probably have, let me just interrupt you're thought processes for a sec and tell you that I'm not like the average Shadow Maiden—oh and thanks by the way for givin' us a name, we could not for the life of us come up with one—talk about lame, right?" I flashed her a look that said "get on with it". "Anyway, like I said, I'm not like the others. In fact," bending down from her waist, she looked at me in the eye. "I'm much stronger and much more of a threat, sugah." I was also quite curious about where she got that ridiculous accent, but more importantly, she mentioned that she was stronger than the others. Was that why she was capable of the things that she did? Lightly dropping a fist in her hand, she looked at me and asked, "Oh and by the way," It sort of aggravated me how casual she was being with all of this (having me be tied up no less), "there's somethin' that many of us have been wonderin' about you. Why the heck are you goin' through such lengths for a bunch of humans?"

I scowled at her. "What're you getting at?"

"I mean, it's not like they're all that important. In the grand scheme of things they're more a side project than anythin' else." Side project? What could that have meant? "Not only are they completely incompetent, but that sorry excuse for a species has an incredible inability to control Darkness or truly access their Light, as if that would be useful to them anyway." Couldn't really disagree completely to that last part she said. Normal humans lacked the ability to manipulate the hidden energies that everyone was born with—Darkness and Light (that's what Shokyoku told me anyway. And it did make some sort of sense). They are so sensitive and weak, able to be manipulated by virtually anythin' with little to no effort. Plus they let their emotions control them like they were their bitch or somethin'." The more she thought of the idea of the human race, the more that she couldn't help but stifle a laugh.

Scoffing with skepticism, I told her. "I'm sorry, they can't control Darkness? Who's the freaky Shadow figure in front of me that was once an opaque being?" I pretended to think about it for only a few seconds before gasping at a fake "aha" moment. "Oh yeah! The one who got possessed by Darkness! Ringing any bells yet?"

Squirming at faux innocence, she shook her head as her wide, sharp smile temporarily went away. "No there's a difference! We aren't weak humans! We found the truth! You know how they say that knowledge is power? Well it's true! The fact is that Darkness is the true essence in all that is—we aren't consumed by it—we embrace it with open arms—and its amazin'!" As her grin crept back, her sentences were progressively becoming more obsessive and crazy sounding, almost as if she were about to finally snap. "If it weren't for me findin' the truth, I'd still be in that pathetic shape I was in before. Humans can't handle the power—they weren't destined for it. They'd get swallowed up without even a second thought." That was when she let out that insane and annoyingly high-pitched laugh from earlier (what an inappropriate place to laugh).

"That's some high and mighty talk coming from someone who used to be a human…" I muttered.

With that, her laughter immediately stopped as she stared at me for what seemed like minutes—I was trying to figure out what part of what I said got this kind of reaction out of her. Then her creepy smile widened even more. "Human? Human?! Excuse me…let me see if I got this right…You think that I was a 'human'? Which means that…" She stared at me for a few more seconds trying to see if I'd interrupt her and tell her that I was joking or something. Apparently she was fishing for a pun that just completely went over my head this time. "Seriously? Oh my. Nobody told you yet? After all this time? This is just too funny!"

I blinked a few times, still annoyed that I wasn't catching onto her drift. "What's funny? What has no one told me?"

Much to mu irritation, she ignored my question. "This is just too rich! That old woman Taiitsukun really needs to step up her game if she's keepin' that from you."

Eyebrow twitching from all of her antics, this whole hyper bit of hers was getting old…fast. With a calm yet frightening tone, I demanded, "I am not going to ask you again."

Unfazed by my threat, she chuckled and revealed the preciously kept secret. "Aki my dear, you aren't human—never was, never will be." A single powerful heartbeat could be felt from my chest the moment I was stricken with shock of the news. In the pit of my stomach, nausea imposed without any warning. My eyes trailed down to the floor as I tried to process the information—for some reason, some of the wires weren't quite connecting the right way. I'm…not human? I'm really not a human? People throughout my life had always assumed that there was something wrong with me—making cruel jokes about me being some type of demon. Was it really turning out that their accusations weren't that far-fetched? An ordinary person should have been inflicted with more shock than I had…but somehow, part of me expected that it was something like that. I was so different than the people I both avoided and tried to befriend, and I was finding that it wasn't really even my magic that made me so different—why I felt different.

Then…

What did that make me to Kajou? Was I not really her sister? Were my parents really my parents? Was my whole family like me? How did this whole thing work? But mostly…

"What exactly am I?" I asked her with a slight plea in my voice. Give me a break here, I just found out that I wasn't the creature that I thought I was my entire life—I was allowed to lose my edge a bit in this case.

Wagging a finger at me, she taunted, "No, no, no, no, no. It's way too much fun keeping you in the dark, hun." As some cruel joke from the universe, everyone seemed to think that. Taiitsukun, Shokyoku, this Shadow Maiden, and even Nakago knew more about who I was than I did! Every person was supposed to know more about themselves than anyone—that makes sense, right? That's how things should have been. But my life was so screwed up…of course things like this keep happening to me. Maybe I just wasn't meant to know something's…"I think that I'll just keep it at that for now." Am I not willing to accept that? Damn straight!

Mulling it over in my mind, I thought rationally about my desire to press on. Knowing my luck, however, I realized that this conversation could have just gone around in circles like it always had. So instead, I chose to move it along. "Whatever. Just…tell me what you guys want with me." Just as things were settling down, I was brought back to the reality of how I was being tied up by my wrists and ankles by one of the creature who had been trying to Turn me and/or kill me for the longest time. And here I was having a legitimate conversation with one of them. Since this one could talk, might as well try and get what answers I could out of her.

"Well I can't exactly speak for my sisters in this particular instance, since this was mainly my idea."

This spiked my interest a bit. "What was your idea?"

"Oh, ya'll will find out soon enough. And speakin' of which…" Taking a glance at her wrist, she pretended that there was actually a watch there for her to keep time with. "I think that the show is just startin' now!" Show? "I think that you're really gonna to enjoy this—I know I'm gonna!"

"Where are we going—" Right as I asked, another ribbon-like shadow covered my mouth to prevent me from talking any more.

"Sugah, I'm about to take you to a magical little place that will prove my point about humans. Oh, and we're about to phase through a wall, that might feel weird the first time, but ya'll get used to it." Before I knew it, I was being shrouded by a sheet of Darkness, my body feeling a certain weightlessness, like I was being submerged in a deep pool of water without even being wet. Just as I was in the moment of submersion, gravity soon came back into play as I was able to feel all of my weight once again. Once my vision cleared, I found that I was being suspended over some sort of shrine room or something—only assuming that since there was a nice-sized statue of a mighty dragon (who I assumed was probably Seiryuu based on the country we were in). Back in the Konan palace, there was a huge golden statue of the phoenix Suzaku where Tamahome first told Miaka and me about the four gods. This room, although darker and more secluded than the Suzaku shrine, seemed to be quite similar, with various lit candles and sweet smelling incense placed in front of the statue out of respect.

Down below, I was surprised to find Yui and Miaka standing away from each other—the biggest shock being that Yui was being backed up by the sadist, blond vogue model himself, Nakago. And he was standing comfortably there as if Yui actually wished for him to do so. On that note, why were they facing Miaka like that? They sort of reminded me of a pack of wolves backing their prey up against a tree before going in for the kill. But it couldn't have possibly been anything like that, despite what it looked like. After all, I obviously came in at some odd moment where I missed a bunch of the stuff that happened before my arrival. Yeah! I just didn't have the full story.

My attention then switched over to the entrance of the room. There was Tamahome and Chichiri standing before the doorway, both of them standing there as if something were preventing them from getting any closer. How peculiar it was to see Tamahome so far away from his beloved—especially with a dangerous character like Nakago around. Then…why? Something was definitely wrong with this picture.

And where was that pesky Shadow Maiden? She just left me there floating and gagged, unable to be detected by everyone below us. We were just spectators to the event…whatever the event was.

"I hate you…" Yui said harshly under her breath then even louder, "I hate you Miaka!" She cried out from across the room to my Odango-headed kohai. Miaka's olive-green eyes grew from disbelief and shock. Her body began to shake as it tried to hold back from bawling like a baby and at the same time, staying strong and refusing to accept what was just said. I wasn't exactly having the best time absorbing Yui's words either. What did she mean by she "hated" Miaka?

"Y-Yui—"

"You abandoned me…you left me in this stupid world and you didn't even care!" The dirty-blond-haired girl clenched her fists. "The only reason you came back was to be with Tamahome—whether or not I was okay never even occurred to you!" Yeah, Miaka wanted to see Tama, but her heart was dead-set on finding her best friend, no matter what the costs. From day one all Miaka could think about was being reunited with Yui—how could she honestly think that Miaka would do otherwise?

Shaking her head, Miaka shook her head and forced a shaky smile. "No. Yui that's not it at all. I came back for you—I was so worried about you and hoped that you were safe. You're my best friend Yui…please don't act this way. Just stop joking around alright? We'll get out of here and go back home—just you, me, and Onee-chan—"

"Shut up!" Yui yelled out. "That's a lie! You don't want to go home—you just want to stay here with your precious Tamahome and life out your life in bliss. If it was up to you, you'd just make your life in our world just fade away." No, actually that's what I want. Miaka, for the most part, was a pretty happy girl and was satisfied with her life. If her mother wasn't too anal about grades, I'm sure that Miaka's already mostly happy life would improve by thirty percent. She never complained about not liking the direction her life was going in—all I did was see her only smiling most of the time (once again, when her mom wasn't being anal). It had been my dream for the longest time that I find a home somewhere with people who appreciated my existence and leave my troubled past behind me.

But this wasn't about me, it was about them. And there I was, shocked that Yui would speak to Miaka in such a harsh manner. Things were really becoming topsy-turvy in such a short amount of time.

"You have absolutely no idea what I have been through since coming to this world in exchange for you." Yui heavily strained that last "you", lathering it with hatred. "You could never know! And now it doesn't even matter 'cause you don't give a damn!" Miaka opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by Yui once more as she looked away and avoided eye-contact. "I can never be the same now…only…" She looked back for only a second to glance at Nakago who stood tall and firm. "Only Nakago was there when I needed someone to understand me—he let me confide in him—he protected me. And most of all, I can trust him! I can't trust you Miaka and I have no desire to have anything to do with you anymore!" This can't be happening. Yui was actually siding with Nakago? Nothing was making any sense here. How could she say that Miaka didn't care and that she was being selfish? Sure, Miaka could be absent minded sometimes but never did she ever give a second thought when it came to Yui. Those two had always been connected practically at the hip. I'd never seen them apart for more than half a day. "You always had it so easy—having people taking care of you—loving you—you've never been alone, never really knew what it was like to be tormented by something!" By this point, Miaka was repeatedly shaking her head slowly, tears running down her cheeks and dripping from her chin. She was backing up slowly against the shrine, knees knocking together making it difficult for her to stand.

"Yui…I—please—"

"No!" Yui took a step forward, making Miaka tremble even more. "This has been your fairy tale. Instead of being met with anything too bad, you've just been waltzing around with your new friends and your prince Tamahome having a good time. I didn't get that chance Miaka! I went through Hell—my own personal nightmare—and it's all your fault!" She was crying as well, but instead of having a sympathetic expression, the only message she gave off was one of anger and sorrow. How could any of this possibly been Miaka's fault? And what could Yui have been through that was so bad that could just turn her against her best friend so easily?

Ever since I could remember, Yui and Miaka's relationship had been the strongest I had ever witnessed. In such a world that I grew up in, one where people held friendship lightly, took things for granted, betrayed, and broke bonds as if they were nothing, it had been those two who had given me hope. They were my silver lining, ensuring me that the world could get better—that people could change and that things weren't as bad as I had learned to believe. In fact, they were one of the reasons that I didn't want to give up.

I refuse to just sit here and let their friendship crumble!

Gathering up all of my faith in those two, the bracelet around my wrist began to fiercely glow with a golden light, causing the shadows holding me to burn and disintegrate. Once again, my arms and legs were free and I fell straight down to the scene below, landing comfortably on my feet using the assistance of Wind. Consequently, I ended up smack dab in the middle of the conflicting friends.

"Onee-chan?" Miaka said in between gasps.

Catching onto the desperation in her voice, I faced Yui. "You two have been friends forever—how can you honestly just stand there and ruin something so precious? You can't be serious Yui!"

She didn't seem to be affected by my sudden entrance. "I am serious Senpai. From the time I left Miaka when we first came to the world, I never left that library—I stayed with her the entire time. When she stabbed herself to save you guys, I endured the pain with her, ensuring her that she wasn't alone. But once the roles were switched," Pausing for a second, she looked over my shoulder and narrowed her eyes at Miaka, "she wasn't there—she left me all alone in a dangerous place."

"And of course I came for Lady Yui's rescue," Nakago chimed in from behind her. "I thought that it was inconceivable for someone to leave a flower such as herself all alone to fend for her life. She deserves so much better." What the hell is this guy going for? He acted like he was completely interested in me earlier and now he's playing the part of Yui's knight in shining armor? I didn't buy it. Walking up to her, he put a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"When Nakago came along, I felt safe—he made me realize my destiny." Putting her hand on his, she flashed him a knowing smile (that was still a bit dark somehow…) "I was hesitant before, but now…" Turning her head back forward, she gave Miaka a look that practically spelled death. "I'm positive that I was meant to be the Priestess of Seiryuu." No, no, no! This wasn't supposed to happen! The two reasons why I separated myself from the others to come to Kutou was yeah, to save Yui, but to also ensure that they wouldn't awaken their priestess and summon their god. There was no doubt that the war would have gotten uglier than it already would have been when high and might deities got involved. Of course I was rooting for Suzaku in the long run, but let's remember that I never wanted a war in the first place! And now it was looking like the battle was going to get worse because not only did we have two priestesses, but we had two priestesses from rival countries! When and why did things get so messed up?!

All the while, Miaka's throat was too choked up for her to reason with Yui. But she tried anyway. "Y-Yui please…don't….don't…don't…please! I love you Yui and I don't want this to tear us apart!"

Yui showed absolutely no sympathy. "We're enemies now Miaka. And I swear to you that I'll make sure that you and your friends are defeated." Gazing into her blazing blue eyes, an epiphany struck me like I had been hit with an eighteen-wheeler. Holy crap! She's serious! She may have been Miaka's best friend, but this was hurting me on the inside as well. It was like my faith in humanity was quickly deteriorating—

I gasped.

That Shadow Maiden…This is what she was talking about. Gritting my teeth, I shook my head vigorously. No! I refuse to give her the satisfaction!

"However…" Yui began. Miaka and I snapped our heads back up at her as our thoughts were interrupted. "Akimoto-senpai, I have absolutely nothing against you. So I'm inviting you to join us here on Seiryuu's side. Before you know it, Miaka will just betray you like she did to me."

Sighing, I couldn't help but accept that the Yui we once knew was gone. So that's how it's gonna be, huh? Taking a few steps back to Miaka's side, it was clear who I was supporting in all of this. "I don't quite believe that and somewhere deep, deep down inside, I don't think that you do either. So I'm staying on the more justified side." As I put my arm around Miaka to comfort her, I continued to speak to Yui. "This whole thing is wrong." I started to wonder if that Shadow Maiden had anything to do with this. She was so eager before to get me here. There was a chance that she was manipulating Yui somehow or screwing her behavior just to get a rise out of the situation.

Somehow…I just couldn't believe that. No matter how rational it sounded.

"You're always on Miaka's side just like everyone else—it isn't fair!"

Trying to set her straight, I told her, "I was never really on anyone's 'side'—it's not about that. This is an account of what's right and what's wrong. And this…is wrong Yui Hongo." Before she had a chance to rebut, I went on. "Miaka had been worried sick about you this whole time and this is how you treat her?"

"That's a lie Lady Yui," Nakago muttered to her (but not hushed enough for me not to hear). "She never cared about you—why else would she leave you here…in exchange for her? If she hadn't found Tamahome, then what assurance would you have that she would have returned?"

"You're stepping into dangerous waters Blondie," I growled. Whether or not the Shadow Maiden was involved, it was clear that Nakago was twisting facts and Yui believed him.

"No, he's right Senpai…I had been blinded all these years. But now…I know the truth." She took time out to look over at the door that somehow blocked off Tamahome and Chichiri. "And Miaka…once this whole thing is over, I'm taking Tamahome away from you—you don't deserve him."

What?

Without hesitation, a barrage of dark-blue energy attacks erupted from Nakago, firing off like some magical machine gun. Neither Miaka nor I had expected the abrupt assault, but I was still ready regardless. And this time, I wouldn't hold back on him.

Clenching both of my fists, I was prepared to defend and counter. "Seosh—" Just then, Chichiri appeared in front of us out of nowhere, holding up his golden staff whose barrier reflected that oncoming attack.

"Chichiri!" I breathed in astonishment.

Managing to keep his ground, his masked face looked back at me with a slight strain, but gave a small smile. "I'm here to help, ya know?" Nodding at him, my mind began to formulate a plan to get us out of this mess and potentially get Yui back whether she wanted to come with us or not. Sliding out from in back of our monk friend, I had a clear shot of Nakago who was still occupied with the defending Chichiri.

But then I saw something peculiar.

Nakago's wavering shadow below him started to shift unnaturally and soon, it lifted itself from the ground and took shape.

It's her!

Why did she come from his shadow?

"How's it goin' hun? Mind if I play too? Seems like ya'll are havin' a blast!" She greeted with her southern accent. Her and Nakago flashed a look between each other before she jumped up and literally dove into the ground as if it were a swimming pool, her body disappearing from view.

I had no idea where to even begin looking for her. She could have literally been anywhere! Frantically searching the floor, I couldn't seem to come up with a good enough plan to ensure that she wouldn't sneak up on me or cause significant trouble.

Man did I hate fighting a shadow.

Her voice echoed from all around. "If we're gonna play by my rules, then I'll need to get rid of a minor…handicap." Dammit! Where is she?

Chichiri was steadily being pushed back by Nakago's ongoing attack. Then he allowed just one hand to handle the guarding staff as the other did some sort of hand-sign. He muttered a few words under his breath and from across the room, I saw Nakago cautiously look down. Just then, he ceased his assault and jumped out of the way merely second before a pillar of light blue energy shot up from the ground where he once stood.

"AHHHH!" I heard a spine curdling scream come from behind me followed by someone else's creepy laugh.

"Sorry about this cousin, but you're not my focus right now. You understand, right?" The world seemed to slow down as I turned to see the Shadow Maiden standing in front of Miaka, her back to me as she didn't necessarily think that I could stop her. Her arm stretched down, resembling black taffy, and phased into the ground below only to unexpectedly launch back up in the shape of a mallet, impacting Miaka in her gut, sending her flying—mouth gaping open as the wind was ferociously knocked out of her.

Gasping in horror, I screamed out, "Miaka!" That Shadow Maiden was not only stronger than the others but she was indeed smarter—possessing abilities that I hadn't even seen before. Her intellect was making her a formidable force that I couldn't afford to take lightly (obviously). Immediately afterward, the Shadow Maiden disappeared once again as she went through the floor.

What was also bothering me was that her best friend was being attacked and Yui was just standing there, not responding to anything that was happening. Had she completely lost her soul? How could she be acting so cold?!

"Miaka!" Tamahome shouted in concern from the other side of the barrier. Her body impacted the wall in the background, creating a painful crater. As she slid to the floor, her head hung down signifying that she had been knocked out. Infuriated with her being attacked, Tamahome ran into the barrier yelling something fierce, electricity flashing out the harder he pushed. With incredible determination, he took a step forward…and then another. And soon, his pace became progressively faster as his love propelled him forward (yeah, cliché I know), no matter how much apparent pain he was enduring.

Once the barrier was broken, Tama ran to Miaka's side and fell to the floor beside her. His body looked pretty beat up—various bruises and burns—and his clothes were incredibly torn from him ripping through the obstacle. "Miaka! Miaka! Please be okay!" As he moved to hold her, she let out a soft groan, informing us that she was still alive, just unconscious. Thank God. It didn't take long before Chichiri rushed over to us as well.

"How is she?" He asked.

"She'll survive," I told him. Then I gave one of the nastiest glares to our adversaries. "Which is more than what I can say about them."

"Aki, I think that we should just take what we've got and retreat for now, ya know? We can think of a plan later when we're all at our best."

I cocked an eyebrow up at him, surprised that he'd get out of a battle so quickly—especially one as important as this. "Why?"

His expression turned to one of concern. "How much magic have you used today?" My body stiffened up at the question as my eyes trailed to pan away from his. Judging by the inquiry, it was obvious that he knew something about my energy-using limit. Perhaps he knew because he was a magic-user as well. That made sense.

Even if I was reaching my limit, something still needed to be done about this—this…messed up situation. Just because I got to that point, it didn't mean that I lacked the ability to use my spells. It only meant that my body would start tearing itself up from the inside. But that didn't matter. Not anymore. "Don't worry about me."

Using his kasa hat, Chichiri created a large enough portal to transport all of us out of there thought I couldn't exactly tell where we'd end up. "C'mon everyone! Get inside!"

Carrying Miaka as he limped along, Tamahome didn't need anyone to tell him twice to evacuate. Before going through he turned to face Yui. "Come with us—we can help you."

Instead, she shook her head and kept her bitter expression. "I'm staying here—I meant what I said before. Miaka is my enemy now as well as anyone who fights for her." Closing his eyes in remorse, Tama shook his head and took Miaka through the portal to get her to safety.

"Aki, hurry up! We gotta go before they decide to attack again, ya know?" Chichiri warned as he prepared to step in as well.

There were two people in that room who knew something about that I didn't regarding my existence—not to mention a backstabbing girl who caused my kohai to get hurt due to her hostile jealousy and animosity. If he expected me to just turn away after all of that, then he was seriously mistaken. Keeping an eye on the enemy, I responded without looking at him. "I'm staying."

"But—"

"Just get Miaka out of here. I'll be fine." Glancing at him out of the corner of my eye, I reassured, "You know what I'm capable of Chichiri. I'll make it back to you guys—there's no way in Hell that I'd leave the situation as it is." I'll bring Yui back Miaka—count on it. Seeing my determination made Chichiri lose all hope in trying to convince me to come along with them. Once he ducked inside, the opening closed and the kasa hat disappeared along with my companions.

I was left alone to fend for myself.

Perfect.

"This time I'm not asking you to come with us Yui—I'm telling you." I held out my hand as if I were holding something. "Source of all power, light which burns beyond crimson, let thy power gather in my hand." In an instant, a Fireball ignited in my hand, just waiting for me to throw it at whomever I pleased. Witnessing my spell prompted the girl to find comfort in Nakago by pressing herself against him. In response, he put an arm around her to keep her close, still keeping a wary eye on my movements. "Last chance."

Just as I was about to chuck the ball of intense flame at them, a freezing sensation came from my wrist followed by the inability to move my arm, as if something were holding it back. When I peeked backwards, I found that the Shadow Maiden was making sure that I didn't complete my attack.

"Sugah, that wouldn't be very nice…Now. Would. It?" Forcefully taking hold, she bent my arm back into an unnatural and painful position (no one's bones are meant to bend that way). The more she tugged, the more shooting pains coursed through my appendage. As I growled and winced from the agony, the Fireball fizzled away, causing her to giggle menacingly. "Besides, I thought that this was between you and me? Why dilute the fun by addin' in more factors?" Another tug on my arm made me want to scream out in jolting pain. But there was no way that I'd allow her yet another reason to laugh at me.

Nakago and Yui began backing up into the darkest parts of the shrine, trying to creep away from the new ugly scene that was unfolding. "Make this quick," Nakago commanded. Then without another word, the two of them were out of sight.

Dammit.

Keeping up what was left of my shattering morale, I forced a smirk. "I'm surprised that you're taking orders from a human. Or maybe you're just smitten with him—" Now twisting my arm, I was reflexively forced onto my toes in order to escape from the incredible discomfort.

Her southern-bell voice still kept an amused façade, but her new words were lathered with a hateful chill. "Don't confuse my intentions, cousin. And I'd shut that pretty little mouth of yours before you say anythin' unnecessary."

Evilly thinking of awful things I could do to her in my mind, I made a new point arise. "Would you really be satisfied with defeating me in such a boring way?" Judging by her irritating personality, I could tell that she was more of the type to add some spice to her life instead of keeping things simple and plain.

After a few seconds of thought, she agreed. "You're right. I love seein' you suffer but it's just no fun when no real struggle is involved." Grabbing my arm away from her, I took a few cautious steps away from her, rotating my arm from the shoulder to realign my bones.

"And what the hell did you do to Yui?" Some speckle of hope inside of me was still grasping onto the idea that this Shadow Maiden had done something to her to make her act the way she was towards Miaka.

"Oh come on hun, you can't seriously think that this was my fault, can you?" I blinked at her a few times to show skepticism. "Okay, I can see why you'd think that, but believe me cuz," She did that annoying head roll thing to try and add some sass to her point, "I didn't need to do anythin' to make her turn on her bud—or shall I say, ex-bud. Ya'll have that ability to sense us and our power, right? Then just by that, you already know the truth sugah." I seriously had the urge to punch something at that moment. While Yui was acting bizarre, never once did I get any of those chilling sensations coming from her—no aura filled with heavy concentrations of Darkness—nothing telling me of any Shadow Maiden influence. Sure the palace practically reeked of Darkness, but technically that was something different entirely. Yui was virtually untouched. She hadn't been Shadow Kissed or anything—I would have known that from the start if she were. And even if she was being influenced by Shokyoku, it still would have just been an amplification of her true emotions—yet I was still fairly sure that Shokyoku wasn't as active as she used to be, so that couldn't be it either! That was her talking and that was how she really felt.

My head started spinning as anger began boiling in between the depths of my being.

How dare she?! How could Yui do that to Miaka? Is nothing sacred anymore?! That girl had a lot of nerve for completely shattering ten years of friendship. Was their bond honestly so fragile that literally anything could break it as if it were a weak twig? She took their precious friendship and stepped on it without regret.

Yui…

That Shadow Maiden…and Shokyoku…they both told me about how weak humans really were—how they so easily allowed Darkness to overcome and manipulate them—slowly eating at them without even fighting back—making them do awful things—because they couldn't…they lacked the ability—the strength or the initiative—to fight it. Beings that weak were…unreliable—that was what they told me. I'd seen examples of this in my life and had dismissed it, telling myself that things could get better—that they had to get better. In my entire existence, thanks to the curse, I repeatedly relived all of those awful things—the shunning, the isolation, the ridicule, and… Kajou's death.

But still I had my silver lining—Miaka and Yui.

Never once did I think that anything could break them up.

I refuse to accept this!

"Aww," The Shadow Maiden commented with faux sympathy, "judgin' by that goofy expression on your face, I'm gonna assume that you still have a shred of hope that their friendship will survive, right?" I shot her a look that warned her that she's taking things too far. "Denial is an ugly thing, hun, and we wouldn't want that pretty face of yours riddled with ugly now do we—"

"Ya know what?" I interrupted her, feeling a build-up of energy rise up inside of me. Inside the shrine room, a current of Wind started to pick up. "It was fascinating at first to find that you can talk but now I want to rip those vocal chords right from your throat and drop them in the nearest paper shredder!" Or whatever allows her to speak.

"Charmin'." On an impulse I ran at her and pinned her to the ground, holding her down in submission—her bright smile disappearing from the surprise. With my bracelet sporting hand, I tried to summon forth all of the positive energy of Light that I could. Something was different this time, though. The warm feeling came and went within only a matter of seconds—sizzling out quickly whenever I tried to maintain it. My hand would acquire the golden glow only to have it dim back to normal. It was like trying to start a car that's engine was failing—repeatedly turning the key proved to be rather futile. Holding my hand up to my face, I thought with worry, What's going on? Noticing my distress, her smile crept back, bending all the way up to the corner of her glowing eyes. "What's wrong hun? Not feelin' very positive today? How unfortunate." How did she? "Yeah that's right, I know about your method of summoning Light—recallin' happy thoughts and feelin's, no matter how cliché the idea is. But without those feelin's you can't defeat me." Much to my horror, she was right—I just didn't have it in me to be happy at that moment. It also didn't help that her increased strength was causing an even bigger unbalance between my already conflicting internal Darkness and Light. Without warning, she grabbed my shoulders and flipped me around, landing the bitch on top of me—thereby turning the tables. "Oh and I never really favored that tacky piece of jewelry you have there. How about we fix that?" Wrapping her blackened fingers around Hikaru's gift, the sturdy gold material began to get duller and duller. And then…

She crushed it into thousands of pieces—my widened eyes catching each beautiful fragment falling to the ground.

No…

No…Hikaru's lovely present—the one he made especially for me. He cared about me so much that he made it…just for me…and now it's…it's…

My vision became blurry with the tears that started to form—words were so far away from me that I couldn't even speak properly. I couldn't even come up with the right words to describe how awful I was feeling at that moment. There was a gurgling, chaotic pool of negative emotions swirling around deep inside me and I couldn't do anything about it.

The Shadow Maiden cackled cruelly at my despair. "Beautiful, isn't it? I can feel Darkness growing inside of you. Embrace those feelings of hatred and sadness Aki—they will bring you closer to true Darkness and…the truth. It will make you stronger—just like it did for the rest of our kind." From beneath her, I tried to struggle free or even cover my ears. I didn't want to hear anything she was telling me. If it were possible to hurt her with the other elements other than Light, then I would have brutally mutilated her by that point. "Suffering is required to achieve true happiness, hun. That's the way things are whether you wanna accept it or not. But you already know all about that, don't you?" Placing her hand on my cheek, she continued with, "The thing is that you've been suffering for all the wrong reasons. Allow me to help you." Much to my horrific surprise, the Shadow Maiden brought up her arm and then plunged it deep into my chest. But…it wasn't a physical interaction…It felt like my body was being frozen from the inside out. Her hand was grabbing for something…but what? There was an empty space inside and she was going deeper and deeper, much further than an arm's length should normally be able to go. She wasn't even hitting organs or anything—she was somehow on some other plane.

All I knew was that she was violating me, searching for something that should only stay hidden. My whole body just lied there, paralyzed from the shock and extreme cold. My fingers twitched but that was really the only message any part of my body received from my brain. What is she doing? What could she possibly be looking for?

Putting her head all the way down to my chest, she reached even further. "Damn woman, how deep could it possibly be? Your system sure is keepin' it well protected I'll say that much…" Then she paused as her finger touched something. "What's this?" Another touch. "Oh! I do believe we have a winner!" The moment she grabbed whatever it was, my upper body involuntarily shot up from the intrusion. It was like…it was like she was seizing my whole body and yet she just took hold of one thing. One. Thing. My mouth gaped open as I tried to speak, but all I could manage to do was continually gasp like a weak fool. What is this? What's this feeling? "Your Wind element sure gives one hell of a security system but that's not gonna help you here, hun. I'm far stronger and much more real than that primary Darkness of yours that you normally fend off, so your version of anti-bodies doesn't affect me as much." Her glowing yellow eyes narrowed slightly. "Hey, wanna see something cool?" While she continued to hold on to whatever it was, she stood up as she lifted my whole body up by using just that. Moving her arm to the left, then to the right, my body followed without question. I was being swished around almost as if I were a rag being used to wipe a huge smudge off of a wide window. I had no power over what she was doing. Whatever she had a hold of, it was my core—the central control of my being—who I was. Having that in your hands meant that you had…me.

As she finally stopped waving me around, she just held me there, dangling above the ground—defenseless. Never before had I felt so damn weak. I was disgusted with myself… and confused…with everything.

Who am I?

What am I?

What happened to make this woman this way?

Why am I so different?

Why did things turn out like this?

"You think that's awesome? Well you're gonna love this next part." Her hand squeezed, leaving an extra sheet of awfulness that spread itself all over the horribleness I was already feeling. "The pain will only last for a little while longer Aki—once you get past that, you'll be one of us. And don't worry, you'll learn to love it."

No…

Every happy feeling I had ever felt—every joyful memory I possessed from meeting new friends and sharing experiences…learning lessons that I couldn't have done all on my own, they were starting to drain away from me. I tried my best to hang onto them for dear life, but the more concentration I invested into trying to hold onto them, the farther away they became. It had been so long…I worked so hard for those memories and feelings of hope for a regular and wonderful life… and now they were leaving me behind—leaving me back where I began…back in that pitiful state I was in before. All of that beauty I had come to know and hold so dear…the smiles I had come to enjoy…the laughs…the bonds that were beginning to finally anchor.

Fading into nothingness…

Nothing matters anymore.

My eyelids went heavy from the weight of everything that was happening. Hanging my head back, I found no more use in struggling and putting up a fight. What was the point? It wasn't like there was anything to look forward to anyway.

Suddenly, a dark and violent wind picked up, resembling a mini hurricane that could blow away anything. The mysterious force seemed to have disturbed the Shadow Maiden as she attempted to complete her duty. "What's this?" She asked to no one in particular.

From inside, I heard a loud scream. 'Leave my Aki ALONE!'

My eye flickered. Shokyoku? She was trying to help me?

Black Wind covered my body like a protective blanket, swirling around as if it were a barrier that desperately wanted to keep anyone and everyone away. The currents pushed mercilessly at my tormenter, threatening her ability to go through with what she was doing.

She scoffed. "Ya'll think that that Insurance of yours is gonna protect you from me? Hun, I think that you forgot that I'm filled with Darkness—you can't win that way."

'Yeah well I'm MADE of Darkness you big bully!' The little girl shouted. 'You're just some cheap knock off of the real thing—a shadow of your former self. Well I'm the real thing bitch! Let's see whose Darkness is stronger!'

Soon, my eyes were closed and I no longer had the tenacity to stay conscious. I had no idea how Shokyoku would be able to fend without me, but there was nothing else I could do. Sounds from the battle, even the sensations on my skin were starting to flicker in and out. The last thing that I could recall was a crash—a commotion—and my body was thrown somewhere only to be caught by somebody, though I couldn't discern who.

---

Eyes staring off into no particular space, I sat there quietly in the corner, reflecting on the torturous experience that I had previously gone through…and the aftermath. Turned out that Chichiri had saved me back there at the last minute along with Shokyoku's assistance (even though they couldn't communicate or even see each other). Though he didn't have what it took to take down that Shadow Maiden, he managed to bring me to Mt. Taikyoku, where he took Miaka and Tamahome before swinging back for me.

Mt. Taikyoku…

The place where Taiitsukun resided here in the Universe of the Four Gods…The last time we were there we helped Miaka get back to our world. Back then, none of us had even suspected that Yui had been brought into this world in exchange for Miaka. She had been here for three months and then some and none of us were even aware.

Seeing as how I still looked the same as before and hadn't Turned, it was pretty safe to say that whatever that Shadow Maiden was trying to accomplish, it didn't succeed. When I came to, Chichiri sensitively told me that my aura—which had never changed its light-grey color except for when Tasuki was around (then it apparently changed slightly gold when we were near each other)—was now partly blackened. He told me that he had never seen anything like that before…which didn't surprise me very much. It wouldn't have surprised me at all regarding the things about me that would shock him and just about everyone else. When we arrived at Mt. Taikyoku, he suggested that I go rest but I refused. I wanted to stay up and think…as well as wait for Tamahome and Miaka to wake up from their rest.

The only thing that really went through my mind was how things went horribly, horribly wrong. Not only had I lost my most precious gift from Hikaru, but I…I lost my happy memories. Don't misinterpret that, I still remember stuff, more or less, but any joyful emotions associated with them were completely taken away from me. The thing about minds and memory was that living creatures associated memories with their emotions and sensations. But since I lost the vast majority of those emotions…and no longer had the ability to feel pleasure (I couldn't remember what that felt like anyway), those recollections were fuzzy. The information about who was involved and the location was still there but the more important things…the things I fought and lived for…were gone.

What was worse? Because of the curse on me, I could still relive my bad experiences in life—as always, they continued to haunt me. And now, there wasn't any Light there to dilute the pain.

I was a shell…a shell of the person that I had grown into. And…I couldn't even feel my body. Ever since I woke up, either the Nyan-Nyan's or Chichiri had to help move me around. No matter how much I tried, my whole body system—the feeling of touch included—was completely shut down. I was no better off than some doll left on a shelf.

Part of me really wanted to cry. But in order for a person to cry, they'd have to feel pain from losing something precious or positively valuable. Since I could no longer remember what it was like to be anything but miserable, I couldn't recall what I had lost.

However I was feeling extremely guilty.

At this point, there was a chance that Miaka was no better off than I was. She was heartbroken from Yui's betrayal. Yui was a huge, positive part of her life for so long that this must have been tearing the poor girl up on the inside. It was my fault that she got hurt…and I wasn't even able to get Yui back for her.

The other emotion I was feeling? Anger…incredible anger.

She took away everything from me.

I absolutely despised that Shadow Maiden—Stella. That was her name—at least it was before she Turned. When she made contact with my…core?...we connected for a split second and I became an eye-witness to glimpses of her past life and the things she had been up to. Somehow, she was linked to that tough guy who was a part of the Seiryuu Seven—Nakago. But my head was way too hazy to even attempt to make sense of anything.

As I sat there drifting into my sorrowful thoughts, Miaka and Tamahome came walking into the room along with a couple of the floating child-like Nyan-Nyans. The moment their eyes locked onto me, they came running to my side in concern. Miaka added onto the notion by dropping to the ground, matching my height.

Even as they came to help me, I couldn't bring myself to look at either of them in the eye. Miaka shook my shoulder as she thought that I wasn't quite conscious. "Onee-chan? Onee-chan?! What happened to you? Onee-chan?"

Tamahome sourly looked over to Chichiri and Taiitsukun who were also present. "What's wrong with Aki? What went on after we left her behind?"

Chichiri crossed his arms as he pondered on the question, his mask not showing its usual cheerfulness, but worry. "It's kind of hard to say, ya know? I found her in the cruel possession of some shadow creature—I think Aki calls it a Shadow Maiden. Instead of standing there and asking questions, I got her away from that thing and brought her here for recovery, ya know?" His head tilted to the side. "I'm still unsure about what that thing really did to her…"

Miaka put both of her arms around me for comfort. Still I didn't show them any signification that I was indeed awake and aware of their presence. "So…can she be healed? I mean, whatever's wrong with her can be reversed, right?" She turned to Taiitsukun and the Nyan-Nyans. "You can fix this like you healed us before, right?" Don't worry about me…There was no reason for them to show so much concern for the likes of me. Just leave me here…

"Well…" One of the Nyan-Nyans spoke up. "Her case is a bit more complicated than some simple physical wound. We can't simply hear her that way—we've tried but to no avail…"

Old woman Taiitsukun closed her eyes as she explained calmly. "As for now, the only thing that might help her is time itself. Until we find what can help her, we'll have to rely on her soul's repair system."

Eyes widening, Miaka gasped, "Her soul?"

"Dammit!" Tamahome groaned in frustration as he punched the wall beside him. "I knew that we shouldn't have left her there alone…"

I felt Miaka's arms tighten the embrace as her voice became choked up as tears started to fall. "I am so sorry Aki-nee-chan. It's all my fault." No...it's my fault. Everything is my fault. Her touch felt so warm on my now dead-cold skin. My now tainted aura practically froze me—even stepping close enough to it made your breath show up.

When my only signal to them ended up being a blink, Tamahome asked, "Why is it that she won't talk back to us? Can't she speak anymore?" It wasn't that I couldn't, I just didn't want to. That was how things used to be when I was younger. When in public or any place that I wasn't around Kajou, I didn't like talking to people—it always ended up with them rejecting me. The only time I really spoke was for confrontational reasons.

The monk shrugged. "That's kind of a tough one too, ya know? Since we got here, she's been sort of unresponsive. The only time she really said anything was when she wanted to stay out here instead of sleeping for a while, ya know? Other than that, nothing."

"Why…" Miaka spoke quietly at first as she stared at the ground. Then she snapped her head up and turned to Taiitsukun. "Why did these things happen? And why would Yui let these things happen? I don't…I don't understand what happened! I just want to know what I did to put her into so much pain that she would…let these things happen…" Quickly getting up on her feet, she looked all around, scanning for something that she needed. "I need to leave here—I need to go back and find out what went wrong. I have to ask Yui why she's become so hateful. There has to be a good reason, there just has to be a good reason why—there just has to be…She's still the Yui I know and love…I still believe that." No…she's no longer the Yui that was your best friend—that Yui is gone…perhaps forever. Miaka held onto that last gleam of hope—it was just something that she did. But there was no point. I had come to terms with Yui being our enemy. Even if we hated it, that was an aspect of reality that we all had to accept.

Right as Miaka turned to walk away, Taiitsukun stopped her. "Now hold on there—you shouldn't go into anything as worked up as you are."

"I have no choice!"

"There is always a choice!" The old woman exclaimed. "Besides, if you really want to find out what happened, there is an easier way." Upon snapping her fingers, a giant mirror rose up from the ground, tall enough to match the height of a basketball hoop. "This mirror has the power to recall events that happened in the past, so it can tell you the truth. Are you positive that you really want to know what happened?" Her question was more like a warning. Witnessing whatever we were going to see might have been one of those eye-opening-life-changing-things that could really change a person or even traumatize them.

As if I could honestly get any more messed up than I already was.

Miaka nodded. "I do. Please."

Upon hearing Miaka's quick decision, Taiitsukun touched the mirror. "Very well." Ripples began to appear in the reflection, eventually switching to show us a picture other than of our own images. We were being shown some town somewhere in the Universe of the Four Gods (it had to be in that world since I knew no place back home that nearly resembled this place). The marketplace was buzzing with moving people and purchases being made, going on with their day as if it was nothing special. Soon enough, the picture focused in on a frightened and confused Yui who was walking in a more desolate part of the town.

Wait a second…this looks familiar…

She was looking around, probably either searching for Miaka or any signs of a friendly face. Just being dropped into a foreign world like that and all alone could really frighten a person. As she shuffled along, we spectators took notice of a few guys who were suspiciously following her. Once she began to suspect that she was under pursuit, she started to walk faster and faster and they followed suit. It didn't take long until she broke out in a sprint, desperately trying to escape those men. But it was no use. They caught up to her without much trouble and started grabbing at her, saying things like her clothes would sell for a hefty price and how she was really good-looking (that sure brought back memories of all the times jerks like that tried to mess with me or people I knew). Without even a second thought, they began ripping off her clothes, not caring about how much she screamed, pleaded, and kicked. They had pinned her down and started taking advantage of her. It wouldn't have been long before they—

"Stop! Stop please! Shut it off! I can't watch anymore!" Miaka screamed as she crouched down and covered her ears. Taiitsukun instantly made the mirror lose its painful recollection image. Miaka's face was drenched in tears as she sobbed in aching sympathy for her best friend.

So that was why Yui had changed so dramatically—why she was so mentally unstable.

She was raped.

The thought of being all alone in such a horrific event would leave anyone feeling vulnerable and defenseless—questioning any of the good left that the world had to offer. I'd bet anything that Nakago came into the picture sometime after that—which was probably why she held him so close, as if he were a security blanket. That guy had a little over three months to completely screw her mind and he succeeded. The question would be how he knew that Miaka was the Priestess of Suzaku and how he knew that those two would eventually end up having that confrontation. Of course, that guy seemed to have known a lot of things that he shouldn't have—things about me that he couldn't have known without help.

Stella…

This whole mess had something to do with her—I just knew it.

Nonetheless, Yui should not have turned on Miaka so damn easily. Nothing that lasts for ten years could honestly be so weak that she'd take the word of some stranger and be willing to utterly destroy the bond between her and Miaka. There was no excuse for that—even if she was raped. Miaka knew absolutely nothing about what was going on and if she did, there was no doubt that she would do everything in her power to fight for her best friend. Yui shouldn't have been willing to switch sides so quickly just because Miaka wasn't given the memo a little earlier. To make matters worse, Yui sat idly by and watched as her crony Nakago and his partner in crime, Stella, tried to kill innocent Miaka.

That was unforgiveable.

Everyone else I had ever come across in life—I never thought much of them. Or rather, I never really got my hopes up before going on this journey. But if I was sure of anything, it was that Miaka and Yui would always stay true to each other. Now that that fantasy was pretty much dead, what else was there to hold me up for support?

"Miaka," The girl looked up from her tears and slowly looked over at the overly stern Taiitsukun. "You now see the importance of performing your duties as the Priestess of Suzaku. Kutou now has their priestess which could end up making things catastrophic for our world. You'd have the power to fix everything if you manage to summon Suzaku before they can summon their god Seiryuu." Rubbing her cheeks and eyes to dry the tears, Miaka listened to the wise old woman intently. "You can't afford to falter or hesitate on your decisions anymore. From now on, it is imperative that you gather up the seven warriors of Suzaku and fulfill your destiny."

"Right…I'll do it," she sniffed and cleared her throat to sound more presentable. "For Yui I'll do it. And I'll make sure that no one suffers anymore because of this."

That girl was just so optimistic even in as grim times as that.

What an ignorant fool. She was still so innocent and naïve that's he couldn't see the truth. It wouldn't matter if she managed to summon Suzaku and rescue Yui from Kutou's grasps. The knowledge would always be there of her betrayal. Their friendship would always be tainted after that. It would always be known that their relationship was just as weak as the rest.

"I'm sorry." Everyone in the room simultaneously switched their attention to me. Each one of them surprised that I finally decided to open my mouth and speak my mind. "I couldn't do anything to stop this." The universe shows no mercy to anyone. It just happens to shove it in my face more than the average person. However recently, I found out that I wasn't an average person. Hell, I wasn't even a person. I had no idea what I was. But did that really matter? Things would always end up turning out the same, washed out with waves of disappointment and broken dreams.

"No Onee-chan…it wasn't your fault…"

Tamahome tried to reason with me as well. He crouched down and flashed me a kind smile as he placed a hand on my shoulder. "Yeah Aki, it's not like you could have foreseen any of this."

I couldn't bring myself to look at any of them in the eye—especially not with what I was going to reveal. "I…had a vision three months ago, before I went off on my own. I saw Yui walking in some place—just like what we just saw. But…" Recalling that day added on with the new knowledge we had acquired didn't make telling them this any simpler. "…something went…wrong…"

"What do you mean?"

"Usually, I can see things clearly, without question. But this time someone—or rather, something—mixed the transmissions. The image was blocked and I couldn't see anything anymore. My vision was interfered and screwed with. If that hadn't happened," I sighed, ashamed that I couldn't prevent the events that unfolded, "then I could have saved her and we could have avoided this whole mess." Closing my eyes, I gritted my teeth and repeated, "I am so, so, so sorry." Please don't hate me.

Miaka and Tamahome exchanged glances, leaving me just sitting there in self-misery for a few moments. Then the guy showed me that charming smile of his once again, shocking me only slightly that they weren't abandoning me on the spot. "You can't possibly expect us to blame this on you."

"Yeah Onee-chan." Miaka put her hands on her knees as she bent down to look at me better. "You said it yourself—your vision was interrupted, so there was no way that you could have known. This whole thing was as big of a shock to you as it was to us. And for what it's worth," through her still forming tears, she managed a cheery smile, "You still went out of your way to go save Yui—greater still was that you stayed behind and risked your life twice for us to allow us the opportunity to help her get out of there. If anything, I'm sorry that I was so weak that I couldn't hold onto her."

"But we'll get her back on our side, ya know?" Chichiri chimed in. "Plus finding the other Suzaku warriors in the meantime wouldn't be such a bad idea either!"

Tamahome nodded. "Yeah, and well do it together. We'll figure something out."

My friends…

What did it really mean to have a friend? What was the appeal? The idea wasn't looking so attractive to me anymore. What was the point of fighting for something that could break so easily—something that human's couldn't hold onto and took for granted?

This whole experience had been a test. And the results showed just how fragile friendship could be. My belief in close, permanent bonds were dying.

And I…was somehow enduring the agony of the slow, painful demise.

So…what now?

---

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!