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Yui:
"Yui-chan! It is you!" It had been so long since I heard her voice, and the excitement in it as she called my name erased my pain as nothing else could have. She hadn't abandoned me. Nakago was wrong. It had just taken her a long time to find me--that was all. We'd been separated when the blue light had pulled us into the book. Who knew how far away it had dropped her?
Tears streaked her face when she hugged me, but they were insignificant compared to my own. "Miaka...you came for me...."
"As soon as I found out you were here," she whispered fervently. She had run at me so hard she'd dropped her school-bag all over the floor. Silly, clumsy Miaka.
Nakago bent down to reach for something off the floor, and frowned. "This--" He sounded troubled, even through my distraction. "This is the Suzaku no Shijin Tenchi Sho," he said, holding up a scroll that had fallen from Miaka's bag.
"Yui-chan," Miaka whispered to me as the guards began to surround us, "let's run away. Come with me?"
It was such an easy decision to make. "This way!" I answered, and grabbed her hand, and ran.
***************************
Miaka:
Yui pulled me through a doorway and wedged it closed behind us. "Quick! Hide!" she directed, ducking behind a table. "The guards are stupid, they won't look too hard." She grinned at me, and her eyes were sparkling. "I knew you'd come! I missed you."
I hugged her awkwardly, even through there wasn't much room in our hiding-place. "I'm so glad to see you!" I told her. "And there are some people you just have to meet...I would never have made it here without them!"
As if on cue, the door opened and Tamahome crept in. "Miaka?" he whispered. "Are you in here? I got rid of the guys in the hallway; let's get going."
Yui elbowed me. "Is that one of them?" she asked, grinning. "Not bad, Miaka. Not bad at all."
I giggled and crawled out of my hiding-place. "I found Yui!" I told him triumphantly.
And then--oh Gods--I remembered--
That damn scroll. The Shijin Tenchi Sho. I'd taken it to study the Chinese, and then lost it. So much for not being a burden. How could I be that stupid?
"Miaka?" Yui prodded me. "What's wrong?"
I told them. Tamahome looked horrified, but Yui just sighed and grinned.
"Is that all? I'll go get it for you, Miaka. Wait right here. I'll be back." She winked, and ducked out the door.
Tamahome looked after her for a moment and turned back to me. "Are you all right?"
I nodded. "Of course. I thought you were staying outside. Where are Akane and Chichiri?"
"Outside the palace," he said. "We saw you going off with the blonde fellow--he's scary. you know. We wanted to keep an eye on you."
I know I was blushing again. "Thank you for being concerned, Tamahome." My ears were burning, I had to be bright red. "I know I've been an awful nuisance to all of you...."
"Don't be silly," Tamahome said. Had he always been standing that close? "Even Nuriko likes you now, so don't feel like a nuisance."
I stammered, "Oh...."
"Besides," he continued, mystified, "there's something about you...damned if I know what it is, but...." That's when I realised that he was blushing too. "Is this a really bad time to mention that I love you?"
My brain shut down. "You--you do?"
"You mean you really hadn't figured it out?" Tamahome asked incredulously. "All that time we spent--well, I do." He looked at me expectantly.
"I--of course I love you--" At least that part of my brain still worked.
"You do?" he repeated, and I nodded dumbly. "Oh, Miaka...."
Then he kissed me, and nothing else mattered.
***************************
Yui:
Damn Nakago. Damn him! And damn Miaka and that handsome boy of hers, too! But mostly, damn Nakago. How could it be that no matter what my intentions when I was away from him, one look into those deep blue eyes and suddenly everything changed? Everything he said made so much sense until I got away from him. It was dangerous for me, it was dangerous for everybody. But that didn't mean I could stop it.
He'd given me the scroll, just as I knew he would. But he didn't just give it to me. No, he leaned over me and gazed intensely down into my eyes and promised me, "You're making a mistake, Yui-sama. I don't believe that girl cares for you as much as you think she does, and she'll only betray you again."
"She's my best friend," I told him. But my voice sounded weak even to me. I couldn't stand up to him. I wished I was stronger.
He just shrugged and looked disappointed. "If you think about it and find I'm right, Yui-sama, take them to the shrine of Seiryuu. I'll be waiting there for you."
If he hadn't said that, maybe things would have been different. Maybe if Miaka and Tamahome hadn't been professing their undying love for each other at the exact moment I reached the door, I would have gone with them anyway. Maybe if Miaka hadn't chosen those exact words.
"You're the best part about this world....I don't even mind being stuck here because of you."
I was probably oversensitive because of what Nakago had said. I'm sure I was. But sometimes, I think we can all be unreasonable people. That was one of my shining unreasonable moments. Here I was, stuck in a strange world with people who all wanted to use me for something or other, and my best friend was falling in love. I was as much jealous as resentful. How comes things always worked out for her?
So I led her to the shrine. Perhaps I shouldn't have. But I did, and from that point on, there was no turning back.
******************************
Miaka:
"Come in here, Miaka," Yui said. "There's something I want to show you before we go."
I shrugged. "All right."
Tamahome started to follow, but Yui shook her head. "Will you wait out here for us? We'll only be a minute." He looked surprised, but agreed, and Yui led me inside.
The building was huge, ornate--a temple, I thought as soon as I walked in. Fountains were running everywhere, surrounding a huge statue of a sinewy blue dragon with a terrifying expression on his carved face. I tried not to jump.
"What is this place?" I asked Yui.
"The Shrine of Seiryuu," she answered calmly. And then she turned to look at me--and her face changed. Her eyes went cold and hard, her lips tight. "Which means your friend outside can't reach you here. There's a barrier."
I was still surprised, confused. "What--?"
Then he appeared behind her, and I began to understand. His eyes were colder than hers, and he started to raise one hand.
"Do you know what I went through, while you were out making new friends and falling in love?" Yui demanded. "Do you have any idea how awful it's been for me here?"
"Yui--I don't understand--" I stammered through my disbelief, trying to make sense of it all.
"Of course you don't! You always have someone to look out for you! And when you finally got around to it, you thought you might look in on little ol' me! Well you're too damn late!" she screamed, her voice shriller with each syllable, her eyes overflowing with tears.
A symbol blazed to life on the man's forehead, and blue energy crackled and spit from his hand toward me.
*******************************
Chichiri:
Tamahome was pelting toward us like the whole army was after him. Without Miaka. That could only mean trouble.
"Akane! Chichiri-san! I think something's wrong!" he panted breathlessly as he skidded to a stop. "That other girl...took Miaka to the Seiryuu shrine, and I can't open the door!"
That did sound like bad news. "Show me," I directed, and he turned and set off just as quickly as if he hadn't run all the way to us. Heedless of whether we were attracting attention, Akane and I ran after him.
I could feel the Seiryuu Seishi's chi as soon as the building came into sight--maybe even before. It blazed out of the shrine, almost visible, setting my nerves on fire as surely as the barrier he had set around it.
"What can they want with Miaka no da?" I wondered out loud, as Tamahome threw himself against the invisible barrier that crossed the door.
"Who cares? Can't you get in there and save her?" he demanded, rubbing his bruised shoulder.
"I'll certainly try no da!" I assured him, raising my hand to my face and summoning all the energy I could. I didn't have to break the barrier...just sneak past it. Avoid it. Ah, there!
I was through. Water was everywhere, cascading from the walls that framed a blue stone dragon. I didn't even have time to look around for Miaka before she slammed into me, her body thrown across the room by the force of the Seishi's blast.
"That was close no da!" I told her, setting her down gently. "If you'd hit the wall at that speed instead of me, you'd probably be dead now no da!"
"A Suzaku no Seishi who can bypass my barrier," the blonde man said, respect tingeing his voice. "Impressive. But--" He didn't finish his sentence, just blasted another chi-bolt toward me. I barely had time to raise my hands and counter it.
"We'll see about--" I couldn't finish my sentence either. Talking while fighting is distracting, and I needed all my concentration on what I was doing. I let loose a blast of energy that shattered one of the temple walls, and sent stone and mortar collapsing in a heap. More importantly, it weakened the barrier. "Tamahome-kun! Akane!"
They heard me. I could see them pressing against the barrier. Tamahome pushed into it, it crackled and sizzled and all his hair stood on end, but Akane couldn't break it--there was a minute clash of red and blue light, and then it died, with her pressing futilely against the door.
The Seiryuu Seishi blasted toward me again. I raised my hands to counter his attack. Tamahome-kun...hurry....I don't know how much longer I can do this no da.... Miaka was whimpering at my feet, pieces of the temple were falling around my head.
I raised my hands once more, summoned all the energy I possessed.
*********************************
Akane:
I couldn't make it through the blasted barrier! Chichiri just teleported past it, and Tamahome was gradually pushing through. I tried, and it hurt. It was like a thousand needles poking into me at once, or like being dropped into a fire. Even if I could get through it, I didn't think I could endure that much pain for that long. I could just see what was going on inside, through the electric-blue haze of the barrier.
Chichiri had caught Miaka just in time, and was in a spell-battle with the blonde Seiryuu shogun. A blast of blue energy knocked him backward, and something fluttered to the ground near his feet. He lifted his head--and his face had changed.
He was missing one eye, and the scar that closed it ran down his face from forehead to cheek. He features were sculpted, serious, not the laughing mask we were used to seeing him in. Because mask it was. That was what had been knocked away.
That explained one of the book's riddles, at least.
"Miaka!" Tamahome was halfway through the barrier, and it was crumbling around him. Energy sizzled around him, leaping at him in miniature blue sparks, ripping at his clothes, biting at his skin, but he kept going, the ogre-symbol ablaze on his forehead. The fight inside actually stopped as the blonde Seishi stared in disbelief.
And then he was through, launching himself toward the enemy, knocking him backward several paces til he stumbled, clutching his stomach. "But that--"
Chichiri was already handing Miaka to Tamahome, along with his hat. "Get inside! It'll take you to safety! Now! Go!"
Everything happened so fast. Tamahome stared blankly at Chichiri for a second and then thrust Miaka toward the hat. When she started to disappear inside, realisation dawned in his eyes and he followed her. "But--"
Chichiri held off yet another blast by the Seiryuu, and screamed at him. "GO!"
He did. Chichiri grabbed the hat and raised his hand to his face. Suddenly he was beside me again.
"Akane--get into the hat no da!" he commanded, pushing it at me. I didn't argue, didn't worry about the physics of the thing, just jumped through, and left the Kutou Empire behind.
On to chapter 12
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