Love Hurts 5 Ways (OUTDATED STORY)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This is an outdated story and the beta version for the current Destiny Song series.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!

42. Pursuing the Spark

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!

---

*On the last chapter of Love Hurts 5 Ways, Nuriko tried to adjust to Aki who is under the influence of a silver ring used to give her mobility at the expense of what remained of her shattered emotions. But the frustrated purple-haired Suzaku Warrior came to learn, but not fully accept that this Aki was a completely different person. Then it had come to Aki and Shokyoku's attention that the others had finally learned of Tamahome's absence—the opening he had left them in order to buy Konan more time in the war. The distraught Miaka lamented over her love's leaving her, but with the encouragement of the Suzaku warriors and her determination, Miaka resolves to find the rest of the Suzaku Warriors in order to bring Tamahome home and in order to find some way to help Aki. Hotohori's plan to go along with this consisted of only Nuriko, Chichiri, and Miaka venturing out while he and Aki stay at the palace. This angered Shokyoku who accused the Suzaku Warriors and Priestess of not having any faith in Aki by keeping her confined on the sidelines. They assure her that this isn't the case and that they all have Aki's best interest at heart, while at the same time, they have to perform their duties and protect Miaka.

Hotohori reveals to Aki that he was the one who gave her the flower some time ago in order to encourage her and expresses how sorry he is for both contemplating using her as a weapon, and not being able to completely be there for his friends so that he may perform his duties as emperor. This is when a peculiar stirring occurs inside of Aki where she wants to help Hotohori, although she doesn't know why. Shokyoku notices and confronts Aki, who suddenly expresses a need to find what she has lost. This sets out a plan between the two to find Tasuki, formerly known as Genrou, for he may somehow, have what it takes to help her.

The story continues to unfold…*

---

The hour quickly passed and the two assigned Suzaku Warriors and their priestess prepared to depart from the palace in search for their remaining comrades. Nuriko and Miaka sat atop a brown stallion, Miaka sitting in back, equipped with whatever supplies they'd need for the journey and Chichiri was situated behind them on his own grey horse with a significantly less amount of supplies. We all gathered in the courtyard facing the strong gate that led into the city and on into the wilderness, the place that they'd be heading towards first and perhaps onto any more towns and villages in Konan after that. No one really had any idea how long it would take to find the remaining warriors—even if I did know about Tasuki, and even if I was allowed to reveal this information to the others, absolutely none of us knew about the identities or whereabouts of the last two. And for all we knew, the Seiryuu Seven were all assembled and accounted for, meaning that it would only be a matter of time before Konan's downfall.

But that part didn't necessarily appeal to me. My only concern was finding Tasuki and getting back whatever it was that I lost…if Shokyoku was right about her theory anyway…

Hotohori, dressed in his more impressive royal attire, approached the horse carrying Miaka while Shokyoku, who was once again under her parasol to protect herself from sunlight, and I lingered behind watching the good-bye. Patting the side of the horse's face, he looked up at his priestess. "Tell me, do you have any idea how you will go about locating the final three? The last thing I'd want is for you all to travel blindly." He sighed. "I really wish I could be of more assistance to you."

Miaka smiled down at him and fanatically waved her palms. "Oh no Hotohori! Don't worry about a thing!" Reaching into her pocket, she brought out a small circular hand mirror with a red rim and showed it to him. "Taiitsukun gave this mirror to Chichiri who gave it to me! It's supposed to warn us whenever we happen to get close to one of the other Suzaku Warriors. I just know we'll find them in no time!"

Winking in confidence, Nuriko said, "Have confidence in us Sire! We'll find the others and bring Miaka back nice and safe. Then we'll get Tama-kins back, Aki will somehow be healed, we'll summon Suzaku and crush Kutou, and then we'll all live happily ever after!"

Chichiri tilted his head to the side in confusion. "Is it really that simple? I would have thought that we'd go through a lot more trouble, ya know?"

Miaka looked back at him, keeping her optimistic smile. "Of course it is! Mind over matter! We think positively and only good things will happen!"

"See? Miaka's got the right idea!" Surrounding them were peculiarly rising and twirling transparent flowers that not only seemed oddly animated to a point where it looked unbelievable, but it only remained in their area as the two of them smiled. This space consisted of a magically yellow background and a soft glow covering them with sparkles. What reason do they have to be happy like that? What's fueling it? So Miaka had a mirror that could tell her if she was near a Suzaku Warrior, that didn't necessarily mean that the game would play in her favor.

From beside me, I heard a faux gagging sound coming from Shokyoku as she held her parasol with one hand. "It's so pathetic to see them faking their happiness like that." A bit of the sparkles from that peculiar anomaly sitting as a backdrop to Miaka and Nuriko's giddiness sprinkled over to where we were standing. Almost immediately, Shokyoku scrambled behind me, only to take a peak with one eye towards the scene. "Just tell them to keep their shameful glitter away from me!" Okay…so if it was the case of them faking their happiness, then I especially didn't understand the notion.

Even Chichiri sweat-dropped from seeing their stressed performance. "Given the situation, I kind of admire the added enthusiasm, ya know? But I think it might be a bit much…"

As the emperor cleared his throat, Nuriko and Miaka came back down to earth from their artificial high. He gazed into her dark olive eyes. "Just…please be safe Miaka. Come back to me safe and sound."

At this, Nuriko looked offended. "Hey! The rest of us are here too, Your Highness."

Hotohori blinked at the hint. "Oh, yes of course! I wish you all safety on your travels as well. I thought that went without saying…"

He forced an uneasy smile. "It'd be nice to hear it anyway Sire." Jealousy…At least I could still recognize that. Nuriko still harbored feelings of companionship towards Hotohori. So much to a point that he went through sneaky and selfish means to achieve what he wanted—all for naught since he still didn't have what he wanted. And yet he continued to foolishly chase after a lost dream. He was a Suzaku Warrior and he had much bigger things that he needed to focus on.

This was one of the many examples of why I believed that emotions hold people down and blind them from what's important.

I didn't need them.

I knew I was better off…especially better off than this bunch of people who only seem to function on emotion. It was a wonder how they even functioned at all. The inefficiency of it all…

Miaka just giggled nervously. "You guys…Nuriko, of course Hotohori cares about you! No need to get upset! And Hotohori…" She stopped giggling, but kept a wide, appreciative smile on her face. "Thank you for worrying, but we'll be fine! I promise! Plus, don't forget that I can be pretty tough as well!" She said while holding up a fist and holding her flexing bicep with the other.

Chuckling softly in response, most likely as to humor her, Hotohori said, "Yes, I know."

"Try not to miss us too much here at the palace," Nuriko told him. He brought a palm up to his face and held his cheek longingly. "It really is a shame that you can't accompany is. I could, of course, stay to keep you company if you'd like~"

"People become less attractive when they're desperate," Shokyoku bluntly commented. I couldn't really judge on regards to the attractiveness, but they certainly did become more pathetic.

"I won't really be alone here," Hotohori commented with a smile as he signaled to me. "I'll have Akimoto here to accompany me."

Looking at me for a few seconds, Nuriko's playful smile flipped upside down as he pouted. Turning his head around, as if no one could hear he mumbled somewhat softly, "A girl without emotions isn't company—might as well be talking to your reflection. At least that way, you'll be engaged in somewhat meaningful conversation…" Then he brought his head back around, completely missing the sour look Shokyoku was giving him, and motioned for Miaka the emperor to come in closer so that he could tell them something in private. But obviously not so private that he failed to lower his volume enough. "Aki is just no fun without her emotions, she takes things too literally, and not to mention that she's seriously lacking in the teamwork category." He sighed. "I like the girl, but I just can't stand her like this. And I'm pretty sure you have similar sentiments Your Majesty." I'm not fun…how does "fun" get the job done? I'm too literal…how else am I supposed to take things? And I don't understand teamwork? That last part, I supposed I understood. I and the Suzaku Warriors and their priestess haven't exactly been seeing eye to eye—I've been doing things the right way, and they've been inefficient. They say it was a matter of opinion—I corrected them and told them it was fact. They didn't need teamwork to get the job done, they needed someone who wasn't willing to let emotions get in the way.

Miaka perked up from their little whisper group. "But that's just another reason for us to go and find the final three! Because once we find them, we'll be as strong as ever, then we can go back to Kutou, and once we have Tamahome back, we can get that Shadow Maiden to make Aki-nee-chan normal again!" No matter how many people they thought would help, it wouldn't work. Stella was a completely different being on a completely different level. It didn't matter that Suzaku was on their side, they were still only humans and this wasn't their fight. Chichiri's somewhat solemn expression in response to his priestesses comment revealed that his frame of thought was similar to mine.

And yet… "That's exactly how we should be thinking, ya know?" He scratched the back of his head nervously while grinning. "But I don't exactly think that saying she'd turn Aki 'back to normal' is the most accurate way to put it. Aki wasn't exactly normal in the first place, ya know?" If he agreed with me, then he shouldn't have been fueling their ambitions even more like that.

"Yeah Chichiri, because you are the poster-child for 'normal'," Nuriko mused whimsically, which earned him a laugh from Hotohori and Miaka.

Chichiri just turned his head back and forth from them all and asked, "What's so funny?"

"Humans sure know how to stall," Shokyoku remarked, finally coming out from behind me. And she was right, they could have just said their good-byes and been off already. I couldn't quite get what the hold-up was.

Somehow getting the cue from us, Hotohori soon became serious again and addressed the two Suzaku Warriors going along with Miaka. "You two make sure to keep Miaka safe. I'm counting on you." And then, he gave Chichiri a knowing look and then nodded to him. The monk nodded back in response. The whole subtle exchange went by without Nuriko or Miaka even noticing.

I knew exactly what that was about. About an hour earlier, I relayed to Hotohori a plan I figured would help him achieve his wish to go along with Miaka on her journey for the final three. And in order for that plan to work, not only would Chichiri have to be on board, but everyone else in the palace would have to have actually seen Chichiri go off with Nuriko and Miaka in order to fool them into believing that that was the actual group meant to go off on this trip. Seeing as how only the monk and the emperor nodded at each other, I could only assume that Nuriko and Miaka weren't in on it yet. Which was fine, I supposed, they weren't exactly needed for this exchange to work.

I was there when Hotohori relayed my plan to Chichiri, and not during any of that time was there a point where I was considered to go along as well. They still planned on keeping me at the palace doing nothing, which would have been fine if I wasn't out on a mission of my own. So I took the initiative of adding myself into their plan, on Shokyoku's encouraging, whether they accepted it or not. And my addition would end up being so spontaneous, that they would have no choice but to tolerate my tag along. Somewhere along the way, Miaka's group would run into Tasuki…and I needed him. Theoretically anyway… I still wasn't completely sure as to how he would help (by touching me?), but Shokyoku did always mention how she knew the most about me and I was beginning to question how much exactly I knew about myself. I was just…malfunctioning and whatever it was needed to be fixed. Other than Shokyoku, I had no other leads on how to fix myself. Of course, there was Stella, but she was my enemy, and the last thing she would want would be for me to be fully operational.

I…had to trust Shokyoku…this one time I would have to look to someone other than myself who was the only person worth trusting. Just this once…

It didn't take much longer after that for the group of three to make their way out of the palace gates and onto their adventure. The three of us that remained didn't budge until we couldn't see them anymore. Hotohori then turned around and walked towards me, stopping just as he was about to pass Shokyoku and I.

"Feel free to go anywhere you'd like in the palace, just refrain from using your—uh, Shokyoku's powers unless threatened by the enemy. And…" He flashed me a sympathetic smile again. "Try to overlook any expressions given to you by my soldiers or anyone else. They're all just trying to be cautious. You understand?"

My answer was unfaltering. "Yes, I understand." I'd be alienated just as I was while growing up. It wasn't like I wasn't used to this style of living. Only, now I didn't care if they got hit with the crossfire or not. So it was to their best interest to just stay out of my way.

"Come see me if you need anything at all," was what he said before stepping back into the immediate palace, leaving me standing in the courtyard technically all by myself and technically not because of the phantom-like Shokyoku.

"Huh, he's not holding you on as short of a chain as I initially thought he would," Shokyoku said in a somewhat astonished tone of voice. "I was so sure that he'd hold you on a leash or something."

"Are you impressed?"

"Goodness no! That monkey emperor isn't even worth praising." She turned around and gazed upon the ancient structure of Konan's royal palace. "He may have expanded your boundaries, but he still insists on keeping you locked up here—telling you what you can and can't do. I won't stand for it!" She rested a hand on her hip as she looked up at me from under her parasol. "We'll follow him and show those monkeys that only you control your destiny."

I nodded at her. "Let's go."

---

For the next few hours, I spent the time trailing Hotohori's movements throughout the palace—watching him consult with his supervisors, signing some parchments, as well as other miscellaneous royal duties. A lot of the time, he didn't even get a chance to himself, so I figured he didn't even catch onto my presence. Or maybe he did and chose not to give it any attention. I had to stay close to him if I wanted to intervene on the plan between him and Chichiri—a plan that would be difficult to initiate unless he was alone. All the while, I managed to receive some of those disdainful looks that Hotohori was talking about. The various residents didn't approach me in regards to following their emperor around—their hesitance was mainly out of fear. All the better, though. They would have just gotten in the way if they had voiced their inner thoughts at me. And it would have wasted their time.

But it should be any time now.

As predicted, the time finally came when he shook off all of his entourage, which signaled the initiation of the plan. So of course we pursued him down the hallways towards wherever his destination was. A few yards after turning a corner, I poked my head around to see him walking even further down towards what looked like his throne room.

But before he reached it, he stopped in his place. "Akimoto, come on out." I figured he knew. Complying to his command, I stepped out from my spot and stood behind him. "I gave you the freedom to go about the palace as you please and you choose to follow me?" Why was it that he sounded somewhat amused by this? He turned around and we met eye to eye. "Is something troubling you? I wouldn't want you to feel as if I'm confining you or anything."

"I don't feel," I answered, "and that's not why I'm here."

For a brief moment, his sincere smile fell to my statement, but he forced himself to bring it back up. "Yes, of course. But I'm surprised that Shokyoku is okay with you pursuing me. I've gathered that she doesn't like us very much."

"You can say that again," Shokyoku replied while crossing her arms. The shadows provided by the afternoon sun allowed her to go without her parasol as we strode throughout the palace. "And believe me, if there was another way, we wouldn't be following you."

"Hotohori…" I began. He blinked with curiosity. "I know about the plan you have with Chichiri, it was my plan after all, give or take a few details. So you shouldn't be all that alarmed with me saying this: I'm coming with you, and your opinion about it doesn't really matter."

He let out an exasperated sigh. "You're right, I'm not surprised. But that doesn't mean that I approve to your agenda." I opened my mouth to tell him once more that his opinion as invalid, but he continued, "Look Akimoto, it's because that I care about you that I want you to stay here and just wait until we have all seven Suzaku Warriors. In your condition, I think it unwise for you to be exposed to the outside world." He didn't want me out in his country and endangering his people or somehow making the burden of the war even worse.

"It's not for you to decide."

"But it is." Using a bit more force with his tone, a part of him still hung onto sympathy. "I have a duty to protect my people, and as I've said before, I've come to think of you and Miaka as part of this country. And I'll do anything to protect you. But please don't make me choose again between you and everyone else that I'm responsible for."

Shokyoku glared at him as she tugged at my sleeve. "I'm going," I told him. His face scrunched uncomfortably as he prepared for a more zealous protest, but I prevented the continuation of an argument that was going nowhere. I extended my arm and held my palm out to him to hush him up. "Wait, Shokyoku wants me to relay a message to you." So I proceeded to say everything exactly as she put it.

"For once in your life, stop acting as if you know everything and how the world works," She said, and I repeated. "You can continue to be stuck in the delusion that your little Suzaku grouping can actually make a difference in Aki's condition, but we are actually going to take the initiatives that will most likely work. The secret isn't to get Stella to change her back, but to find another means—Darkness doesn't have the capability to heal, only to destroy. And I have reason to believe that Aki will find what she's looking for while traveling with Yuki. I'm not looking for an inferior human such as yourself to understand, and I don't expect you to. But we are going to do this." She looked him straight in the eye as he took in all I was resaying, and it seriously looked like he was taking all that she was saying into consideration. "I'm not telling you to trust me, I don't want that, but I am telling you to trust my knowledge. I care about Aki more than any of you ever could, so no one more than me wants her back." Then she shouted, on the verge of tears, "Will you be an intelligent monkey and do the right thing?! What do you think Aki would want—the real Aki?" I had always wondered about Shokyoku's significance. If she was only meant to be my curse, then why was it that she seemed much more than that? Who exactly was she? And what was it to her that I achieved what I lost? I mean, in this state, she was more or less released from her confines in the Dark Ring, if anything, the state of my condition was benefitting her. And yet she was so dead set on going through with this. Her motivation baffled me.

For a few minutes, Hotohori just stood there contemplating everything he just heard, closing his eyes as he rattled his mind. And to my surprise, he actually smiled slightly. "I do believe that Akimoto would be quite passionate about this, so who am I to get in the way?" He opened his eyes. "Somewhere deep inside, you are still the Akimoto I met those months ago. So I can say with confidence that having you come along will not be a mistake." Then, the most peculiar thing, he actually bowed to us. "I can tell that Shokyoku deeply cares for you, and even though I do not agree with how she goes about things, we can all at least agree on something, right? And I apologize if I ever stepped over the boundary at all. I'm just trying to do what's right."

"Hmm…a human bowing down to us…" Shokyoku stroked her chin and smiled mischievously. "I can get used to this. It's good to know that not all monkeys are completely inadequate. Maybe this one can be trained." Assuming that she still wanted me to repeat her, I told him what she said.

He blinked at me curiously. "What?"

"Aki! You weren't supposed to repeat that part!" She whined.

I tilted my head to the side. "You didn't tell me to stop."

"Oh Aki…" It almost looked like she was trying to frown, but it all went in vain when she just squealed and used her energy to wrap her arms around mine. "I can't stay mad at you! I love you too much!"

"Well," Hotohori motioned to the open door of his throne room, "shall we go inside? Our guest should be waiting for us there." I walked forward, now noticing the lack of soldiers stationed in this particular area. Guess he got rid of them too for the time being until the plan commenced. Upon entering said domain, he closed the door behind him and then proceeded to the middle of the room. Without wasting a second more, a familiarly patterned cloak manifested, bringing forth a masked monk with blue hair sporting a kasa hat.

Once both feet touched the ground, he lifted the hat from over his yes and asked, "What took you so lo—" He stopped mid-sentence as he took notice of me. Sliding up to Hotohori, Chichiri put up a hand to conceal his failed whispering. "Um, Your Highness? You are aware that Aki is standing right there, right?"

"Why yes, I'm aware. And it's fine." Chichiri lowered his hand at the okay. "She's in on it and she's—um, they are coming along."

"Oh…umm…" He brought his hand back up, acting as if I couldn't hear what they were saying. "I'm not quite sure that's a good idea, ya know?"

"Will you stop doing that?! Obviously we can hear you!" Shokyoku yelled while throwing her fists down. "If you're trying to be polite, you're doing a rotten job at it!"

Hotohori shook his head. "It's fine Chichiri. I trust them."

Both the monk and Shokyoku asked, astonished, at the same time, "You do?"

"Yes. And I think that Akimoto needs this. It's been brought to my attention, that there may be something about this journey that may be able to help her."

Chichiri only looked skeptical about this, crossing his arms as he thought about it. Part of me was preparing for a similar scene that occurred right outside between Shokyoku, Hotohori, and I. Because for some odd reason or another, these people had a baffling tendency to repeat themselves on a particular topic—especially on topics they strongly opposed. And considering they usually all had similar sentiments, I could already predict what would perspire next.

Chichiri released his arms and grinned. "Well, if you say so Your Highness." Huh? My eyes widened a bit from hearing him say that—I was so sure that he'd stretch it out a bit longer. However, this suddenly uplift in his spirits suddenly led to a more solemn atmosphere. "We are still unaware of any kind of contamination inside of Aki due to the side-effects of that Shadow Maiden failing to Turn her." Without thinking, my hand reached up over my heart and pressed against my chest. Stella had done something to me from the inside…she took something away, something I needed to function properly. And he was right, there could be something else there that I wasn't even aware of—something dangerous. My hand unconsciously balled up into a fist.

Shokyoku gazed up at me with concern riddled on her features. "Aki…"

"You'll have to be ready for anything," Chichiri told us.

And then, my body worked on its own again without my consent, as I uttered the words, "We will." They all turned to face me. I was powerless to stop the message passing my lips. "And if I do anything to deter from the mission, or if anything unexpected happens due to my faulty programming—a sort of time bomb implanted by Stella, if you will, then I request for my immediate extermination. And don't hold back." An expression of horror crossed all of their faces. "I know I won't." Why did I say that? It was my survival that mattered the most, so why would I tell them to kill me? Even if something was internally wrong, I wouldn't give up my life just so that they would live. I had to do what it took to achieve completion, no matter who the casualties were.

"Aki!" Shokyoku maneuvered herself in front of me and grabbed my hanfu as she buried her face in the area just below my chest. "Why would you say something like that? I don't care what's wrong with you, I'd never allow you to die! And certainly not at the hands of these people!"

"We'd never even consider that as a last resort! It's not even an option!" Grabbing my wrist, Hotohori brought it up and held it between us as he covered my hand with his other palm. "I swear to you, on my honor as emperor, and as your friend, that nothing will go wrong."

I didn't blink. "You can't promise that, you don't know the future. All I'm relaying to you is the reality that could be. In which case, you now know the solution." My eyes caught on to Chichiri in the background, a frown on his mask has he looked down and away. He most likely understood the situation as well as I had and was aware that worse could most certainly come to worse.

"But I'm sure that won't happen, ya know!" The monk shot his head up and held up his index finger as he replaced his frown with a smile to hide his inner thoughts. Why did I suddenly get the impression that Chichiri was responding more to what I said in my mind that what Hotohori said out loud? "Now Aki…" Hotohori released my hand as we listened intently to the monk's words. "If you're set on doing this, then I won't stop you. Just be smart on your decisions and sometimes, it's okay to at least pretend that you can empathize, ya know?" I raised an eyebrow. How is empathy going to help anyone? "And as long as you keep that ring on your head, you should be able to walk around. Just refrain from using your powers. Since we don't know down to the last detail of what Stella did to you, your flow of chi could have been affected severely, ya know? In that case, it could literally be a bomb!"

Shokyoku gave him the sort of grimace one would have if they were about to vomit. "How could you say that so enthusiastically?"

"So I theorize, as long as you keep the ring on your head and do what I said regarding your magic, then none of that bad things we dread will even happen, ya know?" Without the ring on my head, then I'd just revert to that helpless, immobile state where I was literally drowning in whirlpools of Darkness. I couldn't possibly be any more useless…or unstable. They had to keep me in a magically sealed room to protect the outside world from how much of that Dark energy I was leaking. But at least then, I was feeling something. Which made me wonder, if that me was any more capable of realizing what I was missing than the me that lacked emotions completely.

It didn't matter. I'd get this resolved soon and then it wouldn't be an issue anymore.

"I won't be without defense," I said. "I have Shokyoku who specializes in Darkness-based magic. As long as I direct her in what spell to use, she'll execute it. Until I'm able to use my own powers again, this will have to do." He nodded in understanding. Then, without warning, his voice came into my head.

'So, are you hoping to run into Genrou? Or should I say, Tasuki?'

Oh, so you are aware of his celestial destiny? I asked back.

'I've been aware of it the entire time. You just technically weren't the person to tell, ya know? So are you?' I nodded in confirmation. 'I can't exactly guarantee that that's gonna work."

Neither could we. I have to try.

"Well, now that we have that serious stuff out of the way, we can get down to business!" He outwardly exclaimed. Grabbing the emperor's arm, he led him a few yards away from me and then released him. "Wanna see a cool trick?" Throwing his cloak into the air, he let it fall down on Hotohori, completely covering him, which was sort of odd because I could have sworn that that cloak wasn't big enough to achieve something like that.

Hotohori tried to let out a few words, "Chichiri, what're you—"

"Don't worry, Your Highness! I'll be done in a few seconds, ya know?" Using his hand, he twirled Hotohori around a few times while he stood covered by the cloak. And after saying, "Presto Change-o!" Took the tarp away and revealed Hotohori wearing his more civilian and convenient clothes—a long-sleeved white shirt and burgundy pants with light-blue cloth boots tied with string, and over the shirt and pants he wore a long red, no sleeve robe that went past his knees, tied in the front with a dark blue belt. His hair was down in a really loose ponytail. "Tada!" Chichiri finished and then bowed.

"Wow!" The impressed Hotohori said, he and I clapping. I only clapped because it was a customary thing to do when it came to magic tricks.

"And now for myself!" Twisting his fingers into some sort of sign, Chichiri's body then poofed (literally) and out from the smoke, came an exact replica of Hotohori in his imperial robes! Huh…I had forgotten his ability to change into anyone. Or…did I even know about it in the first place? Hmm… "While you're off doing your thing Your Highness, I'll just be here substituting for you, and no one here at the palace will even know the difference!" Hotohori looked a bit distraught from the sight and Chichiri took notice. "Anything wrong?" How could there have been anything wrong? He looked exactly like Hotohori. They could have been identical twins…or clones…

"It's just that…" The emperor looked at Chichiri with complete seriousness. "My body is way sexier than that." Shokyoku and Chichiri both fell over and sweat dropped after hearing this.

Shokyoku was the first to scramble up and complain. "ARE YOU SERIOUS?! Someone please tell me that this narcissistic monkey was born in this world accidentally! I don't see how on earth he wasn't meant to be in that Host Club! I mean, really! This is a joke, right?!"

Scratching the back of his head sheepishly, Chichiri slowly stood back up. "Y-Your Highness…"

"Sexy?" I asked, trying to figure out what all that commotion was about.

Hotohori sighed longingly. "Oh well, I guess it'll have to do. To the untrained eye, one could say that we're identical. Just try not to blow your cover, alright Chichiri? If you need anything just contact me." Walking over to his throne, he reached down for something, which turned out to be his sheathed sword which he had kept hidden.

Chichiri still had a sweat-drop as he chuckled uneasily. "O-Of course Your Highness…"

Then something occurred to me. "Not to rush anyone, but if we don't move this along, the guards will eventually get curious."

A determined face struck Hotohori's clone. "Right!" Picking up his kasa hat, Chichiri held the inside of it, which looked like a black void, out to us. "Good luck you guys! And be careful!"

"We're counting on you Chichiri," Hotohori told him. And with that, the three of us were immediately sucked into the hat, a portal that somehow defied the physics and warped space. Because of how I was, I couldn't feel what was happening to us in the mere moment we were being transported, so I could only rely on my other senses…which really weren't telling me much. Everything was pitch- black and there were no sounds.

But as instantaneous as it was, we fell out of the portal and back out into the logical world faster than I really had a chance to take in the distortion of that peculiar space. The three of us managed to land on our feet without injury and take in our new environment.

We were in the wilderness alright, but where? All around us were tall, lush trees that seemed to cover most of the terrain along with different rock formations that seemed to become higher and more plentiful, as the trees dwindled in numbers, as I looked onwards towards a rising slope in the distance. In fact, the rock formations were becoming so impressive that I only noticed an ongoing series of rough and jagged hills that covering the landscape for quite a distance.

I hadn't been to this part of Konan before…

"Ahhh! The sunlight is touching my delicate skin!" Shokyoku whined, causing her to use her abilities to conjure up her black parasol once more, which, in turn made her location more obvious since her powers had more of a physical form than she did. She exhaled with relief. "Mmm much better! So, where are we anyway? I don't see Yuki or the purple-haired monkey anywhere."

"I don't know…" You'd think it more logical for Chichiri to place us in a more convenient spot instead of expecting us to locate them ourselves.

Hotohori was stuck in the same conundrum. He both listened and watched for any signs of his priestess and comrade in the middle of the wilderness. "Where do you suppose—" Just then, a squeal rang out that pierced our ears, coming from a particular direction.

"Nuriko!" It was Miaka's voice coming from behind one of the larger rock formations.

"Miaka!" Hotohori ran in the direction of the scream while Shokyoku and I followed suit, however in not as much of a panic state as he. Once we went around, a small one-story restaurant type of place lay by itself in the middle of the forest. And from it, as we got closer, we could hear multiple voices and sounds of action with plenty of movement as well as things breaking.

When we cautiously approached the building, windows shattered, prompting us to avoid the sharp glass fragments that flew outwards. Hotohori proceeded on and inside from the entrance, as inconspicuously as he could to avoid detection. I decided to look inside using the broken window in order to inspect the full situation. There were a few, menacing and unrecognizable men carrying both blunt and sharp weapons as they surrounded and launched themselves out at Miaka and Nuriko, who was trying to protect his priestess. One of the brutes came charging at Nuriko with a long, thick blade, to which the Suzaku warrior reached out and caught without cutting himself on the sharp part, and used his incredible strength to throw the criminal straight through the wall that contained the window I was looking in from. The guy landed outside and out cold, unable to continue with the assault. So I turned my attention back onto the action.

Miaka tried to back up and take cover, but was met with someone who had other plans for her. He violently took hold of her arm and tried to drag her out. As small as she was, she gave him enough resistance to force him into physically subduing her.

"Miaka!" Nuriko took notice but was unable to assist her, seeing as how the thugs realized that he was the bigger threat and honed in on him. But even though they were no match for him, there was no possible way he could reach Miaka in time to save her from getting lethally impaled. The man brought up his arm and as he was about to swing, she closed her eyes to prepare for impact. Just as he was about to follow through, his body jolted as he lost his grip on Miaka and fell to the floor. Standing behind the unconscious man stood Hotohori, who, I supposed, used the hilt of his sword on the back of the guy's neck in order to knock him out.

"Hotohori!" Miaka cried out with relief at her savior.

Nuriko, on the other side of the room, and surrounded by a couple unconscious bandits, had one of the thugs tucked tightly underneath his arm by the neck, as he continuously punched his face in. It wasn't until he saw his emperor that Nuriko had decided to let the guy drop to the floor. "Your Highness! Boy are we glad to see you! Kind of unexpected, but we are glad!"

Lowering his sword, Hotohori addressed both of them. "I am happy to see you both unharmed. What happened here?"

Miaka answered. "We were just sitting here innocently eating our lunch and those jerks ambushed us!" Then she pouted, "Ruined a perfectly good meal…"

"Yeah, who would have thought that this place would be a trap?" Nuriko added.

Just as I was about to reveal myself, Shokyoku cried out my name, but it was too late. An arm wrapped around my neck, bringing a small knife into my sight with his other. "Are you with those bastards that took out my buddies here? They'll regret leaving you out here all by your lonesome, sweetheart." At first I thought it was the guy that Nuriko knocked out first, but this guy was completely different, seeing as how the other guy was still face first into the ground and rubble. The guy threatening me was probably the one-man reinforcement or something along those lines. The Suzaku people were slipping for missing one like this. He held the blade up against my neck…or at least that's the general area I assumed it be near since my peripheral vision downwards could only go so far. "Well? Aren't you gonna cry or scream or beg for mercy?"

"And why would I do that?" I causally asked him.

"Aki!" My three other traveling companions must have heard the bandit while they were inside since they ran outside to investigate and found me at the "mercy" of this uneducated brute.

"Just stand right there guys," I told them. "No need to step any closer."

"Did I give you permission to speak to them?!" He tightened his grip around me and displayed the knife to the others. "If you all surrender your goods to me and send over that other chick with the weird clothes," he signaled to Miaka, "then maybe I'll promise to keep this one alive." So many flaws to pick at…

I casted, "Disintegrate, you black dog of Rondanini. Look upon yourself with horror and then claw out your own throat…"

"Eh? What did you say?!" The guy demanded an answer, and he was about to get one.

Shokyoku stood before us and used her fingers from the hand not holding the parasol to draw out a red glowing symbol in the air. I completed the spell by saying, "Geki." And once she completed that first part, she extended that palm out, fingers closed, towards the guy who captured me. Her body became engulfed with an eerie red aura. That same red energy then completely covered the bandit holding me, completely paralyzing him in his place. Taking the opportunity, I calmly shimmied my way out of his grasp and stood to Shokyoku's side as she kept him in place.

"Bitch! What're you doin' to me?!" He managed to mutter.

"Oh, we're not even done yet!" Shokyoku exclaimed almost too enthusiastically. "Teach a nasty human like you to threaten my Aki!" She tossed a look to me, practically begging me to proceed.

I opened my mouth. "Gravirei." She released the red energy and as soon as she did, the little girl unleashed a heavy gravitational field that landed right on top of the guy, smashing him into the ground in an instant, creating a crater and completely knocking him out cold upon impact. I stood there looking at the pathetic piece of flesh that lie inside that crater, thinking that he was lucky I didn't use a more lethal spell. He just wasn't worth the time or energy.

"Jeez Aki, think you did enough?" Nuriko asked as he approached me and inspected the damage. "I mean, he wasn't really a threat to you."

"Which is why I didn't kill him."

He squatted down and poked the guy with a stick he conveniently found nearby. Not a second later, a painful groan escaped the guy's mouth. Nuriko blinked with surprise. "Well! What do ya know, he is alive!" Turning his head around, he grinned at me. "I guess your spells look more intimidating than they actually are, huh?"

"They were low-level spells…unless he was completely incompetent, they shouldn't have killed him," I explained.

"As for how much damage they actually cause, that's a different story!" Shokyoku snickered.

---

When we left that particular location, Nuriko and the others thought it appropriate to leave those bandits there and tied them to a tree, just as a warning and to make life a tad more unpleasant for them when they all came to. A little after we ventured down a trail through the woods, Hotohori took Miaka off to the side to talk to her in private. In the meantime, Nuriko, Shokyoku, and I excused ourselves to a small area nearby, within listening distance to the couple.

Nuriko was crouched behind a tree as he intently listened in to their conversation, while Shokyoku and I sat a couple feet away from him, she enjoying the shade that the close proximity trees provided and me not really paying much attention to anyone's voice.

Why does it seem like it's been such a long time since I've been outside? It wasn't that long ago when I was traveling around with Chichiri and Tasuki…or when I went off on my own to Kutou. I had been out plenty of times and my confinement in Konan's palace was only for a short while. Since that was the case, I didn't understand why my brain was fooling me in thinking that the world looked so new to me. It may have been since I hadn't really been outside since the incident in Kutou…Stella's effect on me may be the cause…

My active senses took in every detail of my surroundings—the fresh air mixed with various aromas coming from the plant life, the way that the wind made the branches sway and my hair blow lightly across my face, the sky gradient from light blue to a sort of orange where the sun neared its daily completion in the sky, and…the grass…I slowly slid my arms away from my body and my fingers combed through the blades of grass surrounding me. I had felt grass countless times in my life, so much so that I had memorized its texture and every other feature one could possibly acquire from a blade of grass. Even now when I couldn't feel anything physically, I kept thinking that I could…because of my memory. I remembered grass being…well, not necessarily smooth since it had some resistance to it if you were to slide your finger up and down a single blade. The feel was unique, unlike anything else I could really recall. Opening and closing my hand, I watched as the grass bundled in my palm. We learned in school that each one of our senses are connected to our brain in some way…when we touch something, the nerve endings in our skin are activated and gather the information from what we are touching, and then that information is sent to the brain where that particular feeling is registered. I could remember what grass felt like, I could imagine how it would feel as I comb through it. So…was this feeling? Or was it merely a memory?

A small, swift snap pulled me away from my deep thoughts.

I looked up and there was Nuriko leaning in front of me with his hand out in front in post-finger-snap position right in my face. He had a rather annoyed expression.

"Hey, Aki, did you even hear what I said? I know I can't exactly look for sympathy with you right now, but I also can't hear Shokyoku, so you'll have to do."

I turned my head slightly to Shokyoku, silently asking what Nuriko was talking about. The little girl shrugged and said, "He was complaining about Yuki and the human emperor over there. I tried to tune him out, but it didn't work." Oh…that emotional stuff again…

"You know," I told him, "if you didn't spy on them like that, you wouldn't become so upset."

As if this was a complete surprise to him, he leaned back up against the tree and crossed his arms. "I'm not upset! Not really…It's just…" His expression suddenly saddened a bit. "They don't have to do that right there. Do they?" I shifted my position a bit to see exactly what was going on between Hotohori and Miaka. All that I saw going on was them intensely looking each other in the eyes. My eye brow raised again in confusion. I don't really understand any of this. They aren't even doing anything. Whatever it was, it was upsetting Nuriko no matter how much he denied it. So what I didn't get was why he wouldn't just take him away from the stimulus that brought him such discomfort.

Nuriko then suddenly snapped his head up in alarm. Scrambling to move, he launched himself from his spot and knocked me completely down. My ears caught onto the sound of something flying swiftly in the air, and then making an impact in something solid. As I looked over his shoulder, I was surprised to see a spear lodged into the tree that Nuriko was just sitting against. If he hadn't pushed me down, it would have hit the back of my head.

"Aki!" Shokyoku fell down to her knees and started down at me as Nuriko slowly got off of me. "Who—"

A low scream emerged from Miaka and Hotohori's location, soon increasing in volume as some type of danger approached the victim. "Miaka!" Hotohori shouted out in panic.

"Miaka! Your Highness!" Nuriko then jumped to his feet and dashed to assist his friends.

We were under attack…again. And this bunch, from what I could tell, seemed slightly more competent than the wave we had to deal with back at the restaurant.

"Aki! Behind you!" Shokyoku yelled. Without even looking, I jumped ungracefully forward to avoid whatever was trying to strike me. And I heard a swing, followed by a ruffling in the bushes in back of me. Unfortunately, my less than coordinated move left me on the ground flat on my stomach, in a vulnerable position.

There was a low chortle. "Good job avoiding that," I looked backwards to see a couple pair of legs standing behind me, "but good luck thinking that'll work again girly."

"Sekienton," I quietly uttered. Shokyoku took the hint and slammed her palms on the ground, creating a black smoke screen that immediately burst from her casting spot.

"What the—"?

"What's going on?!"

While in the middle of all the confusion, I quickly got up on my feet and exited my cover, knowing not to panic in a situation that hindered your eyesight or any other sense. Once free from the smoke, Shokyoku and I entered the clearing where Miaka and the others supposedly ran towards but there was no one there. This wasn't peace though. No, it was much too quiet.

"So these guys like to ambush people left and right, huh? They're here…definitely…just waiting to pounce like the animals they are." Shokyoku inferred. "No doubt they're with the guys who attacked us earlier." That's a pretty safe accusation. I tried to stand as perfectly still as I could in order to either bait them out or wait for them to make a mistake. I was actually rather surprised. These men, whoever they were, had never even met me before, so as far as they were concerned, I was just a helpless girl in the woods. Logic dictates that I would be an easy target. The mere fact that they were showing caution of any kind proved my theory of this group being more competent than the last.

However, only slightly more competent.

Eventually, the perpetrators got tired of waiting for me to make a move and a group of around ten men, maybe less, appeared from the camouflage of the environment, each of them holding some type of weapon, be it bows and arrows, blunt branches, chains, the works. And all of them having some type of slimy and confident grin as they circled around me like a bunch of vultures beginning to close in on a doomed animal.

Two of them held up my missing comrades, Hotohori, Miaka, and Nuriko, who had all been knocked out cold and chained up by the wrists and ankles.

"We got'chur friends here girlie," One of them taunted, "Why don't you move that sweet little ass of yours over here and join them? It'll be easier if you just come without trying to fight back." They stepped even closer.

Shokyoku sighed and then gave them a dirty look. "Just because you captured those humans doesn't mean that you have any chance of capturing Aki." I didn't say anything in response. My mind was going through the different scenarios of how I could possibly play out this scene. I didn't particularly care about what happened to Miaka and the guys, but I sort of needed at least Miaka alive in order for me to find Tasuki, which meant that I had a wider range to do what I wanted as long as Miaka stayed alive and functional. These men were wasting my time with all this and that couldn't be excused. They had become an obstacle that was intruding on my mission.

"So what's it gonna be?"

"You gonna come quietly or are we gonna have to rough you up a bit?"

"Shokyoku…" She turned her attention to me, waiting to hear my command. "Thrust. Fire at will." At that, she grinned mischievously and spread her arms out wide, apart from each other, and pointed her fingers out like imitation guns. Not a second later, an invisible force shot out from her index fingers and impacted whoever she happened to be pointing at during the time. They were immediately pushed back from their spot, completely knocked from their standing, and fell to the ground, or whatever structure was behind them with a thud. The little girl twirled her body, her dress flying up a bit from the action, as she shot a burst of energy at another two victims, putting them out of commission for a moment.

"What's happening?!" The bandits looked around to the person initiating the attack, but they couldn't see her…which made them sitting ducks.

"It's you! Isn't it you bitch!" One of them came charging at me with a chain sickle, ready to slash. But Shokyoku caught him at the corner of her eye and pointed her finger at him without hesitation, sending him soaring in the air, hitting the two men holding my companions, knocking them to the ground without any trouble at all.

"Now, who else wants some?" Shokyoku politely asked with a sweet voice, keeping her arms outstretched.

The few men that remained on their feet began to shake from what I presumed to be fear, but still they insisted on keeping up their weapons. This attack wasn't meant to kill anyone, as before, it was only a warning to them to not interfere with my plans. However I was beginning to believe that their lower intelligences was keeping them from making the smart decision, seeing as how the ones that were knocked down started to get up and stand their ground for round two.

"We don't know what kind of trick you're pulling here," A man with a rough voice said from behind me, "but we're not fallin' for it, or running away from a woman like you!" I turned my head to the side to face him, seeing him only out of the corner of my eye. "You see these men? They've been through a hella lot more than what you can throw, so give us your best shot!" Any fear that they had before was suddenly wiped away, replaced by a confidence and bad conscience that prompted them to step even closer towards my personal space.

Can't say I never gave them the option to live.

I'll stun them with an Explosion Array and then finish them off with Dragon Slave…at point blank they'll be dead without any resistance. I couldn't help but notice something though…they were still pretty careful to not all come charging in at once. What exactly was keeping them from the kill? Didn't matter, just because they weren't taking their chance didn't mean that I wouldn't.

But that was when someone said something that completely stopped me mid-execution.

"Mt. Reikaku is our turf, and if you think that you'll one-up us here, you have another thing coming!"

The plan completely washed out of my brain after hearing those words. He said…Mt. Reikaku…

Shokyoku blinked back at me with confusion. "Aki? What's wrong?"

I recognized that name…it was where…

Holding up both my hands, palms out in a diplomatic way, I told them, "I surrender." And so each and every one of them, including Shokyoku all gave me a blank look as they dropped their arms limply, not expecting that at all.

"WHAAAAAT?! Aki?!" Shokyoku ran in front of me with an alarmed expression. "Wha-why? We can defeat them! We don't even have to try!" I didn't give her an explanation then and there because our attacks might have overheard me.

The bandits just sat there for a few seconds taking in my surrender, looking at one another with bewildered faces.

"So…uh…do you think she means it? Or is it a trick?"

I looked them square in the eye. "No trick—I give up. You can take me." To show them I meant no harm, I brought my arms down and put them behind my back in a similar fashion to how they tied up the others.

The scruffy one who had his hair in a loose bun and held a long metal chain in his hand approached me cautiously, taking one step at a time, preparing himself for anything else I might throw at them. When he got close enough, I looked me in the eye and I just stared him down without blinking or expression, waiting for him to make the next move. And he just stood there for a few moments, as if he was expecting something out of me. After a while, his face began to scrunch uncomfortably while he broke out in a cold sweat, and if I wasn't mistaken, it looked like he was vibrating a bit as well. But I just stood there, complying to their wishes to capture me without resistance, not knowing what else it was they wanted me to do.

The guy shakily cranked his head to the side and spoke to his pals. "I…I'm not quite sure if I wanna do this…this girl…she's creepy! Her eyes are freaky and she shows no emotion whatsoever! It's like she's staring into your soul!"

One of his companions grunted and crossed his arms. "She's just a woman! Man up! She's probably just playing mind games with you."

The chain-guy gulped and brought his attention back to me. "Y-Yeah…mind games…" Maneuvering behind me as cautiously as he could, he proceeded with his task, and I was only aware of this because after a while, I wasn't able to move my arms out anymore.

Shokyoku just watched the whole thing, switching her eyes from my chains and back at me. "Aki? I don't understand…but…if…if you know what you're doing then…" She mumbled bitterly, "I'll go along with it…" Following his chaining me up, the guy quickly backed off and rejoined his companions in the vulture circle.

"Hey, I think we should knock her out. Ya know, to make sure she doesn't know the location of our hideout."

Someone else agreed. "Yeah, the boss wouldn't like it if she somehow got loose and went squealin' about it." A larger man with a prominent build stepped from their circle with a thick wooden plank in his hands, displaying it in such a way that was traditionally meant to intimidate someone. "I'll take care o' this." Once he was close enough, I found that he towered me by a good feet or two—he was definitely bigger than the average man and I saw that he let his size speak for itself most of the time, thinking that was enough to scare enemies away.

As he raised his arms ready to swing, Shokyoku flew up to his height and spoke softly in his ear. "If any part of that stick touches Aki or even gives her a splinter, I will make sure that you end up in the darkest abyss I can find, with all of your appendages either broken or ripped off, never to see the light of day again as you wither and die like the pathetic little specimen you are." While I was positive that the guy didn't hear or see her, his face suddenly turned white as all the blood rushed away and his whole body shivered uncontrollably. Throwing the plank clear out of the area with a mighty throw, he made no mistake to hide himself behind his comrades, crouched in the fetal position.

"I just couldn't do it…There's just something about that woman…she's freakin' creepy! She's just gotta be cursed or something…I don't even think we should bring her with us…" Then he yelled. "JUST DROP HER IN A DITCH SOMEWHERE!" Then suddenly, one of his friends grabbed him by the collar and slapped him across the face repeatedly.

"Look! We are not gonna let some woman beat us? She is just a woman. So maybe she's got some tricks up her sleeve, so what? Are we, the Mt. Reikaku Bandits just gonna sit here and take crap from this chick?!" At that, they all glanced back at me and they all shuddered simultaneously.

"It does um…kind of look like she's got something a bit…off or evil about her…"

"Who the f$%k cares?! We take her with us just because she's creepy! She is an obstacle that we need to face. Right, men?" They all muttered answers under their breath, none really discernible. The ring leader soon became agitated. "I said, RIGHT MEN?!"

And at the same time, they all shouted, "YEAH!" They all jumped up from their huddle and regained about half of their confidence, grasping onto their weapons for dear life…as if me staring at them had the magical ability to take away their weapons. They all looked over to me with intense expressions, although all sort of half-assed because they were all breaking out in nervous sweats.

"Now how exactly do we go about this?"

---

For a couple hours, I sat in some unknown location with my arms and feet bound together and my eyes blindfolded with some kind of cloth. When we were all still in the forest, the bandits resolved to cover my eyes because apparently, they caused quite a bit of a disturbance, in order to proceed with their task. Shokyoku was opposed to this as well, but somewhere along the way, I had to draw a line for her interference. If I didn't let them do what they want, then they wouldn't have taken me to the place where I'd run into Tasuki. So she just puffed her cheeks and endured, holding herself back from unleashing Hell.

Once they blindfolded me and tied my ankles together, one of the bigger men, I presumed, picked me up and carried me to their hideout. I actually couldn't feel anything that was going on, so it was like I was stuck in some black abyss just waiting for my fate, but eventually, because of the context of the situation, I deduced, from things such as the topics of their speech, that they had brought us to the prime location. Oh, and it helped that Shokyoku actually told me where we were at. It was some obscure building structure in the middle of a mountain valley about an hour's journey from where we were captured. In fact, if it weren't for her, I wouldn't have even been aware of Miaka and the others being somewhat close to me in the room they had dropped us off in. They were all still alive, just knocked out. And taking hold of this opportunity, not knowing when she'd be able to seize it again, Shokyoku performed her Darkness transference ritual on Miaka once more in order to fuel her own energy. It didn't appear as if the grey-scaled little girl was running low on energy, but I guess she was just being prepared for anything.

I just was so close to Tasuki…so close to getting back whatever it was I lost…all I had to do was wait a bit longer, and then he'd show up.

A little while after dumping us, the bandits retreated to some other room, one in which Shokyoku had no interest, so she didn't pursue. And I just sat there with my mouth shut, not saying anything the entire time unless spoken to, waiting patiently for my opportunity…

Some time went by, and I wasn't completely sure how much time, but I heard some stirring coming from either Miaka, Hotohori, or Nuriko.

A small sound came from one of their mouths. "…anh…" Some, almost faint, movement as clothing ruffled was also recognizable amongst the darkness I was floating in.

"It's Yuki," Shokyoku said from my side. More sounds came from her as she regained consciousness and adjusted to her new environment.

"…huh?..." More movement. "…what?" She moved some more. "Onee-chan? Why…?" Then she paused for some reason. "Nuriko! Hotohori! Come on you guys, wake up!" Her calls brought on bits of movement from two different locations.

"Mi..aka?" Hotohori muttered. "Nuriko, Akimoto?"

"Where are we?" Nuriko asked. "And why the heck is Aki blindfolded when the rest of us aren't?"

"Akimoto, are you alright?"

"I'm fine."

"Miaka?"

She answered positively. "Oh, I'm fine too Hotohori! I'm just relieved! I was almost positive that we'd be killed."

"Speaking of which…" Nuriko addressed me. "I'm a bit surprised that they captured Aki as well…I mean, right now she kind of has an extra pair of eyes to lookout for her. I just would have thought that Shokyoku would do her job better."

"What?! I did my job just fine you girly monkey!" Shokyoku replied angrily. "At least I'm not the useless Suzaku Warrior who couldn't keep his priestess from getting captured! We, as in Aki and I, are here because we want to be, not because we have to!"

"I let them capture me," I told them.

"What?!" They all asked at the same time. It was pretty much the same reaction as my initial surrender earlier.

"Akimoto, you really let them capture you?"

"And you let them take us all away?!" Nuriko scolded. "How in the world did that seem smart? And please tell me that you didn't know about their ambush." Was he suspecting that I had a hand in their attack?

"I did not know that something like that would happen—they took me by surprise as well." Perhaps if I had known that we were on Mt. Reikaku, I would have been more aware of what could have happened. But in this case, everything happened for a reason. "But you're not dead, so relax." Now there was even more movement, and it was coming closer to me. And then unexpectedly, the blindfold around my head slid around to the knotted part, and then it dropped down to my neck. It was Miaka. She had hopped(?) over to where I was even while her ankles and wrists were chained up and used her teeth to take the blindfold from my eyes.

Sitting right in my face was a wide-eyed, smiling Miaka. "There. You should be able to see just like the rest of us Onee-chan."

"Tch…" Shokyoku tossed her head to the side. "We could have gotten that thing off at any time. Don't flatter yourself Yuki." Using her thumb to refer to herself, she stated, "I will always be Aki's favorite so no getting any delusions." We were indeed in a wide room being lit by several lamps closer to the ceiling with somewhat plain Chinese-decorated concrete walls and unimpressive dark green ceramic flooring. There off on the opposite side of the room were all our supplies that the bandits had stolen, one of them being Hotohori's sword, just as Shokyoku said. And a little closer than that was a long wooden table accompanied with chairs all around. Seeing as how it was only us who occupied the room, I couldn't help but wonder where all the bandits went.

"So does anyone know where—" Hotohori winced from what looked like a wound on his arm which happened to be bleeding a bit through his white sleeve.

"Hotohori!" Miaka confirmed my hypothesis about her method of travel when she hopped using her knees to get over to the emperor. "You're hurt! Oh…you got that wound when you saved me…"

And…that was about the time when I tuned the world out again. Somewhere along the way, my mind, when in this emotional state at least, developed a defense mechanism to times when faced with over-emotional situations.

We were getting ever close to finding Tasuki…although I supposed that I'd have to go back to calling him Genrou since he did request, in an intoxicated state, that I not reveal to anyone of his true identity. So if we found him, and Shokyoku's plan worked, then I would get back what I had lost, whatever that thing was. And if that happened, I think I'd choose to keep the ring on my head. My mind was clearer and I could think more rationally, make the wiser decisions…and I wasn't distracted by emotions. I was already allowed emotions to weigh me down all my life and all that did was cloud my sense of judgment, and at times, made me act upon foolish impulsions or fail to act completely. Not to mention that one could achieve far more when not stopping every second to boil in their feelings. Life was about playing it smart, and stupid decisions get people killed.

Being fully completed, I would no longer have a need for Miaka and her warriors. I didn't matter to me who won the war, who lived, or who died. My target was Stella. And once I killed her, I'd…

I'd…

What then? What other purpose did my life have? Would I just wander this world endlessly? I couldn't see any other objective…

But at least I'd be alive.

I blinked and was then returned to the more active world outside of my thoughts. And standing before us were some of bandits, maybe like seven or eight of them, that attacked us and brought us here. They were in the middle of saying something, but I had just recently tuned in.

"You all are lucky that we didn't kill you—consider that a gift of kindness from the Mt. Reikaku Bandits! But that doesn't mean that you'll get away with anything, so no funny moves or you'll regret it."

"Oh yeah and thanks for your various treasures," them referring to the supplies and possessions of ours they stole, "we'll happily accept them as our own and use them as we please." The bandit with light mustard-colored hair reached into one of his pockets and brought out the hand mirror that Taiitsukun gave to Miaka meant to help her track down the remaining Suzaku Warriors. From the corner of my eye, I noticed how Miaka's attention suddenly switched to the small trinket that was rightfully hers. From the look on her face, it appeared as if something mentally struck her. "Now this oughta get us some kind of wealth, right? I mean, even a small fortune is fortune."

"Wait a minute," one of his pals took grabbed the mirror out of his hand. "Maybe I wanna use it—how else can I manage my good looks?"

"If we ever wanna sell that thing, we can't risk you looking into it."

"Yeah! It might end up cracking the glass—then no one will want it anymore!" They all laughed amongst themselves.

"Hmph! Bunch of morons they are," Shokyoku noted. "If that flame-headed monkey is one of these guys then it makes complete sense." She turned her head towards me. "If by some chance he's not here, then we're going to need that mirror back. Want me to release you so that you can get it?"

I shook my head and spoke to her softly. "No, not yet. For now, we wait a bit more." She frowned at this, but nodded in obedience.

Taking an opportunity by using their being distracted by themselves, Miaka called in Nuriko, Hotohori and I for a huddle. "Hey you guys, I just remembered something. When we were on our way towards the place where we were first ambushed, the mirror flashed and showed the symbol for mountain, which means that the fifth warrior must be one of these guys! But the only way for me to find out is if I can check for the sign on their bodies."

"Well, that does make sense," Nuriko agreed and then sighed hopelessly, "but chained up like this, we're all kind of useless…"

Shokyoku. The little girl blinked once in surprise and then faced me. So I was correct. You are still connected to me…

She smiled widely. "Of course I am~! I'm part of you after all. Now then…" She snuggled in closer to me. "What is it that you need?" As curious as the floating flowers surrounding Miaka and Nuriko earlier that day, floating hearts encircled Shokyoku as she spoke to me.

I'm going to need you to release Miaka so that she can look for Tasuki.

"But why? You already know who he is and what he looks like. As far as I'm concerned, this whole thing is just a waste of time and energy. We can get the job done a lot quicker if I just let you go and you and I find him ourselves."

As priestess, it's Miaka's job to discover her warriors on her own—Taiitsukun said that I can't interfere with that aspect of Miaka's journey.

She gave me a strained smile. "Aki…you really have to stop taking orders from people like that and taking them literally…Especially people like that old hag."

Logic also dictates that if we don't need to go through the trouble of wasting our energy on violence, then we shouldn't, not if he'll easily present himself to us. And it's not like these humans pose an actual threat to me… Besides, I watched Miaka as she discussed the situation with Nuriko and Hotohori. I'm curious as to what the Priestess of Suzaku can do using her own intellect and reasoning.

Shokyoku rolled her eyes. "Alright Aki, if you say so."

Now use this spell using as little energy as possible.

"Haien." Pointing her finger down towards Miaka's chain, a small, dark purple oblong shape of energy shot out and impacted one of the links.

Sensing that something felt different, Miaka stopped herself mid-sentence and blinked, turning her head a bit to see if anything happened.

Hotohori looked at her peculiarly. "Is something wrong?"

"I don't know…it kind of seems like..." Without much resistance, she brought her free hands out in front of her. "I'm free!" She lowered her voice. "Well, my hands are anyway."

Nuriko inspected the chain that fell from her. "One of the links was missing? How didn't you notice that before?" All she did was reply with a wide, goofy smile. "Oh wait…never mind…I already know the answer." It occurred to me that I could have informed Hotohori and Nuriko about this plan, but then they probably would have ordered I release them as well. For the sake of us not leaving this place, I had to ensure that they were still at the mercy of the bandits. Miaka being loose wouldn't affect anything, certainly not with only her hands freed. If anything, she'd need her warriors to come save her after some point. The longer we were there, the better.

Miaka wasted no more time. She hopped up from her spot and launched herself at the bandits without giving it much more thought.

"What the?!" One of them shouted. Using both her hands and teeth, she proceeded to rip and tear at their clothing randomly until she saw skin, hoping to catch a glimpse of a sign that she'd never find amongst those men.

"One of you is the fifth Suzaku Warrior, and I'm gonna find you!" She cried out as she made her way through them. They tried to wiggle her off of them, but she was determined enough to stick to them like a leech until she got results.

Nuriko gave the situation and exasperated expression. "She certainly is headstrong, I'll give that to her."

Hotohori gawked upon the scene with concern. "Shouldn't we do something?"

"Get this crazy chick away from us!" The bandit with the mustard-colored hair shook his arm feverishly, sharing the bug-eyed shock as the rest of his crew, trying to get off the girl who was biting at it and ripping his sleeve.

All of a sudden, another man walked into the room, saw the scene that was unfolding and swiftly walked up to Miaka and, without hesitating, punched her across the back of her head. She let go to voice her pain and grab at the bump that was mostly likely there, but the guy took both of her hands and folded them in back of her in such a way that they were no longer useful to her.

"Kouji!" One of the men uttered..

"What the heck's goin' on here? I tell you guys that you can come hassle the prisoners a little and I come out ta see that you all can't even handle a little girl." Miaka shot him a sour look. This guy, Kouji as he was called, was quite a few inches taller than me, had sort of messy blue hair that was styled similar to Tasuki's, except with a gold headband he wore across his forehead and around his skull that contributed with the difference, and had comparatively darker skin—he was like the color of powdered chocolate used for chocolate milk or hot chocolate. On the left side of his face was a scar that extended from about the corner of his mouth to a little under his eye. He wore a loose white shirt that showed part of his chest tied with a dark violet belt and he wore red shoulder guards and forearm braces along with dark, olive green pants and goldenrod boots that almost reached his knees.

His appearance alone already made him stand out amongst his cohorts. Could he be one of the people in charge?

"Hey come on, let me go!" Miaka commanded as she wriggled in his hold but to no avail.

He ignored her while addressing his men. "And who tied this one up in broken chains?" The group of men all singled out one of the scruffier guys with short, spikey black hair. As soon as their eyes fell on him, he shrank from the pressure.

"I coulda sworn that those chains were good when I tied her up!"

"Yeah…" Kouji tossed a glance over to us before bringing his attention back down to Miaka. "Well, the boss said that he wanted ta see one of the prisoners, and since this one is bein' so ancy, I guess that she's itchin' ta go first." The boss? Didn't Tasuki say something before about him being the boss after his boss died? Did that mean that the guy that Kouji was going to bring Miaka to was the one who we set out to find a cute for? Or was it Tasuki himself?

"Miaka…" Hotohori gritted his teeth as he saw her in the stranger's grasp. Then he yelled out and demanded, "Take me instea—"

"Hotohori," I interrupted. "Don't. If Miaka wants to find the fifth warrior, then she's going to have to take this as far as she's willing to go."

"But…"

"She's right Your Highness," Nuriko added, "If Miaka goes then we can stay here and give her the time she needs to do her job. And if she needs us, we won't be too far—"

"Hey!" Kouji noticed us whispering amongst each other. "What're you all yappin' on about over there?" Refraining from releasing Miaka's arms, he made his way over to us, inspecting to see exactly what his men had picked up. And that was when he took quick notice of me and stayed fixated on my person for a few seconds, seemingly rattling his brain over something. "There's…somethin' about you…"

Nuriko grinned. "Hey Aki~ Looks like you picked up an admirer!"

The bandit immediately retaliated. "Shut it! It's not that type o' thing." His face looked puzzled as he wondered and wondered what he was getting at. "I coulda sworn that…did I see her somewhere? No.." He took another gape into my eyes and then, without warning, his went wide as he backed off a bit. "Oh, shit!"

"What's up Kouji?" One of the other bandits asked him.

"Th-That girl…the one with the red eyes…"

"Oh yeah…her. We kind of didn't wanna bring her along 'cause she's kind of creepy. But we thought it was smarter to bring her along rather than let her go…"

"You morons!" He yelled, causing the other bandits to jump from shock. "Don't'cha know who she is?" No response came from them as they all turned to themselves for an answer. Kouji sighed. "A little while ago some of what remained of the Mt. Kaou bandits came crawlin' up our mountain lookin' like they'd been in some fierce battle er somethin'. I cut 'em off before they got any closer. And just as I was ready to teach 'em what happens ta rival bandits that cross our turf, they totally freaked out over some red-eyed sorceress who had some crazy temper when pissed off. She apparently warned them ta not bother any more folks er else she'd find 'em and bash their skulls in. And they were told ta tell other bandits the same warning." He gave me a quirky look. "She was supposed ta be scarier than any demon…" At that moment, everyone (except Shokyoku who wasn't shocked at al) in the room gradually turned their heads towards me, each of them staring real hard as if trying to see something that was invisible.

One of the bandits asked with a shaky voice, "Have you ever seen someone with red eyes before?"

"No…she's the first…"

"Then it's gotta be her!"

"To make members of the former Mt. Kaou bandits that freaked out…" And then there was a very obvious muteness that echoed throughout the entire room as the bandits, along with Miaka and her warriors, visually dissected me.

Finally, one of the pion bandits broke the silence. "I dunno Kouji…she seems rather calm to me…a bit too calm for my tastes, but still calm…"

"Look, it has ta be her!" Kouji insisted. "No one else has eyes like that. Calm or not, she doesn't belong here. I get a bad feelin' from her…" That was pretty much the story of my life ever since I was old enough to recognize that the curse on me had a negative effect on people. How ironic was it that now that the Dark Ring was, for the most part, gone and there were still people fearing me just from rumors and first impressions alone? I guess this side-effect of my existence was one that was unavoidable just for being who I was.

"Onee-chan?" Miaka asked meekly with a nervous smile. "Just what were you doing while I was at home?"

"Aki must have had some time when she was away those three months to leave this kind of impression on people." Nuriko almost sounded fascinated.

"Hey, I actually think it's kind of cool!" Miaka said, resolving whatever conflicted feelings she was having at the time. "However way she did it, my big sis kicked bandit butt!"

Kouji tugged at her. "You be quiet." Tossing his head over to his buddies, he told them, "do what'cha want with the rest of them while I take this one to the boss. And keep an eye on that red-eyed one." Walking towards the door, he dragged Miaka away without resistance, which signaled Hotohori to try and make a move despite what Nuriko and I told him.

Miaka saw his movement and smiled at him before she couldn't be seen anymore. "Don't worry about me—I'll be back before you know it! Just sit tight!" And then, through the open doorway and down a hallway, she was gone.

"Now that they're out of the way…" A few of the men came over to our side of the room and dropped themselves on the sides and between Nuriko and Hotohori. "We can enjoy the company of you beautiful ladies! If you play your cards right and cooperate~" The two Suzaku Warriors exchanged confused glances mixed with a nauseated expression. They think these two are women? Nuriko I could understand since he used to be a very convincing cross-dresser…but Hotohori? Somehow Miaka made that mistake as well when they first met. I personally didn't see it.

"Ha! You think those two are beautiful?" Shokyoku scoffed. "The only good-looking ones in this room are yours truly," she said with a hair flip, "and of course Aki, who's beauty is enough to shine through any form of darkness!" She gave them a harsh look. "Just comes to show how monkeys have bad taste."

The bandit's cuddled and rubbed their faces against Nuriko and Hotohori's, much to the warriors' displeasure. Hotohori tried to shove one of them away and correct the error when Nuriko reminded him how it was their job to cover Miaka during this operation, so they had no choice but to play along and be helpless servant woman.

"The hell? Me serve these men? That's absurd." Hotohori whispered in distaste as the men proceeded to unchain them in full confidence that these "ladies" were of no harm to them.

"Yes Your Highness. I know it's ridiculous and I share your sentiments, but just do it for Miaka! Plus, you have to be kind of flattered, right? I mean, we're obviously so good-looking that they think of us as women!" The emperor gave one more look of disdain before entering his role as a woman. Perking up, he was guided over to the long table topped mostly with bottles of alcohol and empty cups, where he sat in between a few of his admirers and "happily" served them their drinks.

Nuriko was just about to leap over and join in when he noticed a stray bandit boldly approaching me. He squatted down to my sitting height and grabbed his chin, scanning my body from top to bottom. He slapped on a slimy smile. "Ya know, this one ain't all that bad lookin'" His eyes stopped at my chest. "And it looks like she's got a pretty nice rack…too bad she's a freak otherwise I might take her as my own for the night."

"What?!" Shokyoku lifted a hand that started to collect cracking black energy and slowly reached out for the man's neck, her different eyes glowing more than usual from the rage that seemed to be coursing through her. But unlike the other times when I had to tell her to stop, she grabbed the hand that was threatening the unsuspecting man and tried to pull it away, showing that she did have at least some self-control. "I wanna kill him Aki…I wanna kill him so bad…" She lowered her head as she seethed in anger. "No one speaks of my Aki that way…" Resisting ever more, she used a considerable amount of strength to put the lethal arm down and suppress her energy before it was detected by this guy.

Nuriko put on a fake pleasant smile and wrapped an arm around the guy's neck in an endearing way. "Hey handsome," He winked, "How about I pour you a cup of sake, hm?" But to his surprise, the bandit shooed him away with his hand.

"Maybe after this…" The bandit reached out for me, and, on an impulse, Nuriko snatched his wrist without warning, still maintaining that smile. The bandit looked at him with alarm. "What the hell?!"

"What'cha doin?" The purple-haired Suzaku Warrior asked sweetly in contrary to his action.

The bandit gave him a warning glare. "What's it to ya?!"

Nuriko's pink eyes blazed. "Just curious~"

Shoving him away, only able to because Nuriko didn't want to give away his Suzaku-given ability, the guy said, "Not that I have to tell a wench like you anything, but since I can't have your red-eyed friend, I'll just take that shiny ring of hers on her head. I should get a nice amount for that…"

Holding his cheek in his hand in that familiar fashion of his, Nuriko closed his eye as he tsked the man. "I dunno, I wouldn't do that if I were you."

"Are you tellin' me what to do?!"

"Oh, never! Just giving you some friendly advice." He narrowly opened one of his eyes and looked at the bandit coolly. "If you can, recall your worst nightmare or even the worst kind of pain or anger or sadness you have ever experienced in your life…" The odd topic shift caused the man to take partial interest to what Nuriko was saying. "Well, times that by about a thousand, and you'll only have an idea of the kind of torture you'll put yourself through if you take that ring from her head." Hearing the serious and somewhat daunting tone of Nuriko's voice instantaneously made the man retreat his arm from my personal space. "It's there for a reason." I was actually rather astonished that he was so aware of a huge part of my curse's effects. Then again, as I recall, both him and Tamahome were both victims of it back when we had all first met. Nuriko had said some derogatory statements that upset me considerably, allowing me to subconsciously give Shokyoku the okay to release my Darkness onto him as well as Tamahome who happened to be standing nearby. Seemed as if my curse left a lasting impression on the Suzaku Warriors psyche. Which raised the question of whether he was at that moment trying to protect me from the bandit, or protect the bandit from me…

The man gulped in horror, and yet continued to gape at the ring with skepticism. "You're bluffing…"

From out of nowhere, Nuriko took out a folded fan and extended it, raising it up to his face and covering the lower half so that only his pink eyes were displayed. "If you're so sure, then by all means, take the ring from her head!" His mischievous eyes smiled. "It would just be a shame to see a handsome man like you shrivel away in despair and cringe on the floor thinking that all of that could have been avoided." He snapped the fan back into its compact state and stuck back on that charming smile. "Of course, I am just a lowly servant woman, so what would I know? And so I cannot help but ask again, would you like a drink?"

Without giving it another thought, the man jumped up and didn't even give me a second glance, accompanying Nuriko to the table with the rest of his chums. But before Nuriko could get there, he sent a look back at me and said, "I know you can't exactly do anything as you are now, but once you're back to normal, you owe me one." Then he went to join Hotohori in (faux) entertaining the bandits.

Shokyoku watched him and Hotohori as they initiated their part of the plan. Her expression was for the most part indiscernible, but leaned a bit on the troubled side. She had completely calmed down from her wave of anger as her fascination lay with the two Suzaku Warriors before us. But then she just shook her head and muttered, "I guess once every blue moon, even dumb monkeys aren't completely useless." I…think that was the first almost compliment she ever gave a human…at least the only one I ever heard her admit out loud. What exactly had those two done to make her momentarily take a shift in character?

I didn't linger on that inquiry too long…it had nothing to do with me.

From that point on, none of the bandits wanted anything to do with me. They just focused all their attention on Nuriko and Hotohori as they foolishly allowed themselves to get drunk as two complete strangers served them for the next quarter of an hour or so. Every now and then one of them would toss me a glance, but it was quickly repealed as fear washed back up into their system at the very thought of what I might be able to do to them if they took a chance. They thought that I was just tucked up against a wall bound by my legs and arms, away from them at a safe distance to where I couldn't cause them any harm. Little did they know that I had Shokyoku break my chains as well, just in case I was put into any danger of some kind, or if I had to make a swift move and catch them off guard.

Figuring that it would be okay to tear away from their drunkard admirers, Hotohori and Nuriko inconspicuously made their way over to me while still casually carrying the bottles of alcohol they had to pour.

"Your Highness, why did it appear as if you were enjoying yourself a bit too much?" Nuriko asked him.

The emperor gave a blasé answer. "I was merely playing along and fulfilling my role to the best of my abilities. I'd say that I'm doing an excellent job at that."

Nuriko giggled. "Oh please Emperor, you only like being complimented and playing pretend, right?"

Hotohori ignored Nuriko's statement and looked down at me. "Akimoto, that man Kouji said something about you beating up some bandits a while ago. And by the way he put it, you did some permanent damage."

"Yes, that happened. They captured me similarly to how I'm captured now. Except that time they drugged me and made me wear demeaning clothing." My voice turned dark for the next part and yet remained rather monotone. "And for their sins I forced them to repent."

Both Nuriko and Hotohori shivered. Nuriko commented, "If I know the regular Aki, then I don't doubt that story at all. And…" He gave me a sideways glance while sweat-dropping. "It's also kind of creepy how you said something like that so calmly…"

The emperor chuckled nervously as well. "I wonder if that is cause for alarm…" He looked over to the doorway that Miaka was dragged out of as she was taken to see the boss, whoever that was. "I pray that Miaka is alright, we haven't heard from her in a while…"

"Hey beautiful!" One of the men called out from the table as he held up a small cup. "More drinks over here! All around!"

Nuriko dropped his head and sighed as he turned around to comply. "Whatever she's doing, she better speed it up 'cause if my shift doesn't end soon, one of those guys will be replacing this bottle with his spine." Hotohori soon followed after taking another longing stare at the open doorway.

It was rather peculiar…If Miaka had discovered Tasuki wherever she was at, then something would have happen by now that indicated she had succeeded. At the very least, she would have come back and announced it or come back for backup.

Something was wrong.

I was getting prepared to search the structure myself when I overheard part of a conversation that was being made at the table by the bandits.

"Eiken is just an arrogant ass…"

"You got that right. He's only playing boss and orderin' us around 'cause Genrou hasn't come back yet…"

"Genrou hasn't come back yet…"

Shokyoku shot up from her spot in a fury. "We've been waiting around, sitting on our asses, and watching this pathetic display of human interaction and that flame-headed monkey isn't even here?!" She snapped her head towards me. "Aki!" She whined. I nodded.

There was no longer any reason for us to stay there.

Standing up, I allowed my chains to fall on the ground, hearing as the made a somewhat loud clang. The bandits didn't seem to pay my movements any attention though, seeing as how they were letting the alcohol distort their senses.

I called out, "Nuriko, Hotohori!" They turned to me. "We're finding Miaka and then leaving. This place doesn't have what we're looking for…"

"Akimoto, what—" One of the bandits closest to the emperor grabbed his wrist as he tried to make a move towards me.

"Oh c'mon baby, don't leave. Things are just getting good!"

"Yeah," Another clung to Nuriko's robes. "You all are just gonna stay right here. And there's no way that we're letting you get to your friend." Nuriko and Hotohori's eye twitched. "You see, she's with the boss, and the boss doesn't like being disturbed. Let's just say that if your friend was a virgin before, you can count on that not being the case anymore—"

Hotohori growled. "Nuriko!"

"With pleasure Your Highness!" Without using much effort, Nuriko broke free of his leech and lifted up the table from its side, using the flat part scoop the bandits all into the same area and herd (squish) them straight into the wall in back of them before they even had a chance to react. And by using his strength, the Suzaku Warrior was able to keep them there just by leaning against the table, not allowing any of them to escape.

"Wait a second..." One of them finally figured it out. "You two are men?!"

Hotohori fetched his sword from where the supplies were stacked. He unsheathed it and said, "Took you long enough to figure it out."

The bandit looked over at me. "I know that that one over there is a woman."

"Very good, but that doesn't make you all any less in trouble."

Striding over to them, I crouched down right as I reached the incapacitated bandits. Recognizing one of them, I reached out for him, past him, and into his pocket and retrieved Miaka's magic hand-mirror.

Somehow sensing that something was wrong, more bandits came charging into the room at full speed, not caring who it was, but that the prisoners had to be dealt with for messing with the status quo.

Standing before them, I casted, "Disfang." Shokyoku stepped over my shadow and then she sank into the ground, her whole body disappearing in the depths of my shadowed-likeness. On the floor, its shape went through a metamorphosis and growing larger, transforming into the silhouette of a dragon. The dragon wasted no time to ram into the shadows of the men threatening us, and the moment the shadow dragon impacted their shadows, the same thing happened to the physical being casting the shadows. So the bandits were being knocked down like bowling pins by a force they couldn't completely understand—up against walls, into each other, they were barely able to make it past the door before the dragon knocked them out cold left and right.

This…was the efficient way of getting things done.

---

Footsteps could be heard coming down the hallway. Hotohori hid himself up against the wall next to the door frame, so that whoever was coming wouldn't be able to see him there until they walked in. It didn't take long for Shokyoku and me to deal with the reinforcements. After they stopped being a problem, Shokyoku regained her more or less normal grey-scale form by popping up from my shadow and ending the spell. The unconscious people were then taken over to Nuriko to add to his table collection, where he contently continued to keep the bandits subdued between the wall and the table.

When the person, Kouji, stepped in, he took one look at his defeated comrades, along with Nuriko's sitting on the table that was squishing them, and said, "What the hell happened here?" Hotohori lifted the sharpness of his blade up to the bandit's neck, silencing him from saying anything further.

"I will only ask this once: Where. Is. Miaka?"

I approached him. "Try not to take this personally and cooperate—we just need the priestess if we ever plan on getting anything done."

His eyes blinked wide with surprise. "What? Priestess?"

Hotohori gave me a look. "Akimoto, I don't think we should be going around relaying the information about Miaka's identity to just anyone." He made the sharpest part of the sword rest up against Kouji's neck. "Especially not a group of filthy bandits such as them."

I didn't agree to that. "No, he needs to hear this." Locking my eyes straight onto his, I said, "The fifth Suzaku Warrior is here somewhere, and if not, then I suspect that you most likely know where."

"Aki!" Nuriko chastised, finally joining us after getting tired of babysitting his victims. "That's not important right now! We make sure that Miaka's alright, and then we worry about the next warrior." That may have been most important on their agenda, but I was more concerned about finding Tasuki. If this guy could reveal his location, then I wouldn't even need Miaka and the others anymore.

---

"Alright, hey! Take it easy! I said I'd take you to 'er." Hotohori stood directly behind Kouji, who had his arms up in surrender, with his imperial sword pointed directly at the bandit's back as we walked down a passageway towards wherever Miaka was at. To be honest, it didn't take that much threatening or convincing on our part to get him to heed our demand to take us to the priestess. In fact, he seemed pretty okay with it—so much so that I was questioning if he even agreed with the whole action of taking her to his boss in the first place. If that was the case, then I could tell that Kouji's loyalties did not lie with whoever this boss was. Also, I remembered overhearing some of those bandits before we went up against them. They didn't like this boss either.

Why do what the guy said then?

"For all we know, this monkey could be leading us into a trap," Said Shokyoku, annoyed.

"No, I don't think so this time…" I told her. And I didn't. If this guy was really so much against his boss, then logic said he wouldn't pull something like that.

The five of us stopped in front of closed double doors made of what looked like some type of strong metal.

Kouji announced, "The door is locked from the inside, I dunno how you plan on getting' in."

Shokyoku, phase through the wall and make sure that their boss no longer holds the ability to move.

"Happily~!" She sang and leaped through the wall without trouble.

"Well then," Nuriko cracked his knuckles, and wound his arm back. "We'll just have to make our own door!" In a fierce swing, Nuriko punched the wall with mighty impact, creating a crater and many branching cracks. "One more oughta do it!" In the swiftness of one more swing, the wall came crashing down, forcing us to brace ourselves for any debris that may fall on us. In the ruins was left a huge hole that was big enough for anyone to fit through. On the other side we were introduced to a chamber far nicer in quality than the room we were held in before. There was a chandelier for light and actual curtains used in the effort to make the place more presentable. We had to keep the sight-seeing short, however when, in the middle of the room was a group of bunched up pillows where Miaka was laying in shock, watching a stubby, pig-like man sporting a helmet with horns on the top practically glued to the floor and glowing with a familiar red energy. Shokyoku stood off to the side with her arm stretched out as she shone the same color due to casting the Geki spell.

Miaka looked over at us and smiled. "Nuriko, Hotohori, Onee-chan!" Her uniform was all messy and her vest and shirt had been unbuttoned, revealing her cleavage. My guess was that that pig-guy—aka, the "boss"—was trying to rape Miaka and Shokyoku had gotten there just in time. If those bandits back there weren't so spot-on with this boss' character, they wouldn't have angered Hotohori and Nuriko enough to agree with me about rebelling. And in that case, we would have been too late.

She and Hotohori both ran towards each other and he wrapped her in his arms. "Miaka…I'm so glad your safe…" My brain was about to tune out again due to the flow of emotion, but fortunately, it focused in on Nuriko tackling the pig-boss on the ground, pinning him in some awkward position that looked painful for the guy. Taking the hint, Shokyoku released the spell and lowered her arms, causing the guy to stop glowing.

"What the hell is going on?! Who are you people?! AHH!" He screamed out as Nuriko pulled on his appendages in opposite directions of which they were meant to bend.

"How repulsive…" Shokyoku used her long, ruffled sleeve to cover her nose and lower part of her face. "This kind of human just disgusts me in every way. Not only is his personality worth damning, but the way he looks…ugh!" She turned away from him. "My eyes should never have to see something that ugly. But of course I do it for Aki…"

Hotohori then pointed his sword down at the guy, who of which began to panic at the emperor's threat.

"AHHH Please don't kill me!"

Scowling at him, Hotohori said, "For bringing harm to Miaka, you deserve to die."

"I agree with the royal monkey," Shokyoku replied with her back turned to the bandit leader. "But not so much with the 'harming Yuki' part, but more with the dying."

My comment was meant to respond to Shokyoku and Hotohori. "Since he's the boss, wouldn't it be likely for him to know who the next warrior is?"

"That's right!" Miaka popped in. "He told me that he knew!"

"But there are most likely others who know where the flame-headed monkey is at, I don't see why we don't just kill this guy and ask another." The little girl motioned over to Kouji. "I'd bet that he knows. So what's so wrong about ridding the world of scum like that pig-face down there?" Even though she was keeping her composure pretty well, I could tell that she was restraining herself quite a bit to prevent herself from killing this guy from how insistent she was on Hotohori ending it. She really just wanted the man dead no matter who dealt the final blow. And he was pretty defenseless. All he could do was struggle to no avail as Nuriko came pretty close to ripping him up limb to limb. The leader should have been fortunate that Nuriko had completely control over his strength. Otherwise…

I looked back at Kouji. "Hey, you." He blinked at me to signal that I had gotten his attention. "How much would it take for him to do exactly as we say?"

He shrugged. "I doubt it would take much effort. Eiken is kind of a wimp without his special weapon doin' all the work for him." …Weapon?

Nuriko grinned. "That's all I really needed to hear." He gazed up at us expecting permission. "Is everyone okay with me torturing him until he talks?"

Miaka said, "Yup."

Hotohori, "Go right ahead."

Shokyoku, "Make him cry."

Kouji, "Go crazy."

Me, "Why not?"

Nuriko, "Alright then!" Putting enough of his energy into it, Nuriko stretched and bent the man's body out in what I could only imagine as dreadfully uncomfortable ways since he just proceeded to cry out in pain.

Until he cried, "Alright! Alright! I'll tell you! The next warrior's name…is Tasuki! It's TASUKI!" Nuriko then stopped applying so much pressure and gave the leader a bit of a breather.

A wide smile ran across Miaka's lips. "Tasuki…"

Shokyoku groaned in frustration. "This is old news to us…Aki, tell the girly monkey to torture him some more. We want location!" As if he was psychic, Nuriko began pulling at the pig-man's limbs again per Shokyoku's request, going through the same protocol as last time where he only gets a break if he reveals anything useful.

But before we had a chance to get any more information out of him, I was suddenly stricken with an odd case of light-headedness. The room rapidly spun around me as I stood my ground and thus, I was unable to keep my balance any longer. My knees gave in and I fell down, catching myself with my arms hitting the ground before my whole body was subject to the fall.

What was that?

Hotohori gave me a face of concern. "Akimoto!"

"Onee-chan? What's wro—" And if things couldn't get any more baffling, a bizarre gust of wind suddenly zipped past us without any warning. It wasn't my Wind, it couldn't have possibly been. But was that even a gust of Wind at all? It seemed familiar somehow…As quickly as it happened, it had already ceased.

Something about the room was…different…

"Oh no, Miaka!" Looking around from my spot on the ground, I tried to locate the priestess, but she couldn't be found. How is it possible that she was taken from my sight?

"Miaka! Where is she?"

"Aki! At the window!" Shokyoku shouted out.

"Huh?" As I turned my head around, everyone else got the cue to do so as well. And there, standing on the bigger than human-sized window-sill was a man with flaming orange hair, tanned skin, and intense amber eyes. He wore a familiar long black coat tied with a brown belt and wearing a gold and bronze sash over a white long-sleeved shirt, and light grey-ish pants that were tucked into long, flat black boots. Hung over his shoulder was Miaka, who probably didn't even know how she got there in the first place, but was quickly realizing the situation and starting to struggle.

His expression was arrogant as he scanned the population of the room. The moment his dark golden eyes hit mine, he paused, but only for a second before he continued on with his plot.

He was the one I was looking for. So he did come after all…

Tasuki…

Everyone gawked at the "unknown" intruder who had abducted the Priestess of Suzaku. The silence wasn't broken until Eiken cried out, "So you finally showed your face around here Genrou!"

"Eiken, long time no see. I've noticed how ya moved right in an' took what is rightfully mine."

The pig-man called out in defense, "Hey, you left here, remember?! When you ran off, I thought it appropriate that I took what I deserved—everything that the previous boss left behind! So don't come cryin' just because things didn't go your way, boy!"

Tasuki's smirk widened, displaying one of his fangs. "No Eiken, you haven't gotten what you deserved yet—that's for damn sure. And you have it comin' to ya. But for now," He made sure that Miaka was securely on his shoulder. "I'm gonna take yer bride hostage!"

"Bride?"

"Miaka, you married that guy?"

She did her best to shift in such a way that she would see her head. "No! We didn't get married!"

"Aww, and they would have made such a cute couple," Shokyoku said off to the side, then cleared her throat. "Okay, even I know that that was in bad taste. No one deserves a repulsive freak like that." Then she turned her attention back on the closet Suzaku Warrior. "So what exactly is the game he's playing? I mean, he did see you, right?"

"I don't know…" Yeah, he saw me, I knew that part, but I didn't quite get the context of the whole situation and what he was talking to that Eiken guy about. However, if I pieced together bits of their conversation with what he's told me in the past…then…

"You're not going anywhere with Miaka!" Hotohori and Nuriko's body movements and motive signified that they were about to execute some sort of attack.

But Tasuki predicted this. He held up a few paper talismans, threw them towards us and shouted, "Genjutsu Shinzarou!" And at that instant, a pack of pitch-black wolves manifested from where he threw the pieces of paper and began attacking us, completely throwing us off from retrieving Miaka from him.

He had never performed a technique such as that one before. But my surprise was not enough to prevent me from retaliating. I casted, "Reis!" From Shokyoku's palm shot out a purplish-black soft-ball sized ball of gravitational energy towards one of the wolves that was coming right at me, and it was utterly destroyed on impact, causing it to revert back to a simple piece of paper. A fleeting thought in my mind said that that was a bit too simple, but I overlooked it as I rushed towards the window sill while the others were dealing with their wolves. But I was too late—he had already leaped off into the night. If I had just taken in account his speed, that speed of his that Suzaku gave him, then perhaps I could have prevented this chase from ensuing any longer than it was.

Their voiced carried on the Wind into my ear. Miaka cried out, "Hotohori! Nuriko! Aki-nee-chan!"

And then Tasuki's voice echoed, "If you want this girl back Eiken, you'll have ta come get 'er. And then you and I can finally settle who gets ta be the boss in a one-on-on brawl!"

"Great, now we're going to have to chase after him some more!" Shokyoku complained from beside me.

My eyes looked far into the distance and were able to see nothing while the world was covered by night. "But this time, it's different. We've seen him—we know he's here…"

It's only a matter of time…

Tasuki, I will find you, and then… I'll get back what I have lost!

---

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!