Fushigi Yuugi Fan Fiction ❯ Fushigi Yuugi: Daydream's Embrace ❯ Episode 13: Tempting Fate ( Chapter 13 )

Episode 13
Tempting Fate
By: Nyan Nyan and Mrs. Tasuki

"Where did the swivel chair and pop cans go?" Diana asked, staring at the living room floor where the book was lying open on the beige carpeted floor. Crimson-colored sparkles, bright as embers, filled the air and disappeared as they floated towards the ground.

"It really did work..." Joan said to herself, still astounded. She stared at the one-dollar bill. It was surrounded by little red sparkles. She held the money by its corners, like the precious treasure it was, which it was. A simple one-dollar bill was Joan and Diana's only link of communication from their world to Katherine and Christina in Konan. Joan delicately placed the dollar bill in the front right pocket of her blue jeans, promising herself not to lose it.

They two girls looked at each other; Diana raised her eyebrows, amazed. "Did that seriously just happen?" Diana asked, more to herself than Joan.

"Yes, it did. You saw the exact same thing I did."

"Joan?"

"Yes?"

"This is starting to creep me out," Diana stated. She looked at Joan, trying to find some strange look that would give her away. Diana expected Joan to burst out laughing and point at her: "You fell for it!" Joan would say. Then Christina and Katherine would jump out from behind a couch or a chair and yell, "SURPRISE! WE GOT YOU!"

But Joan did not crack a smile, and neither Christina nor Katherine appeared. Diana was starting to almost believe the whole charade. Joan could never play a joke without smiling or slipping up with a snicker or two, and Christina could never last throughout a whole joke of that magnitude without trying to do something outrageously funny. Diana shifted her gaze from Joan, who was deeply immersed in reading the book, down to the pages, where more words were materializing on the old, thick paper. She moved closer to Joan and began to read over her friend's shoulder.

*

Christina and Katherine were standing on the balcony outside of their rooms. On the side of Katherine's room there was Tamahome's, who was probably asleep, on the other side of Christina's room was Nuriko's.

"Oh my gosh! I just realized something!!!" Katherine exclaimed as she turned to Christina. "Do you think Miaka was... you know... and, like, Nakago saved her?"

"I really hope not, but I don't think so because she didn't have any scars on her wrist or anything. But do you think Nakie-poo is telling her that...you know..."

"Well, then probably not...if she didn't have any cuts on her wrists..." Katherine replied as she turned back around and looked up at the night sky.

"Yeah...I guess..." Christina agreed; even though she wasn't the biggest Miaka fan, she didn't want something that terrible to happen to anyone.

Suddenly the two priestesses' conversation was interrupted by Tamahome's scream, "Who's there!"

"Tamahome's talking to himself..." Katherine commented as she turned around to see Tamahome's single silhouette through the thin papering that covered the door.

"Schitzo," Christina replied as she raised one eyebrow.

"I think we should go check on him," Katherine continued, ignoring Christina's comment, as she walked to Tamahome's door. She knocked on his door and slowly opened it to find Tamahome standing there looking up at the ceiling.

"What's this force I'm sensing?" Tamahome mumbled, trying to figure out where the strange life force was coming from.

"Huh? What's up with you?" Katherine asked, seeing the odd look on Tamahome's face. Christina walked up behind Katherine, also wondering what was wrong. They both walked into the room, closing the door behind them.

A look of realization dawned on both priestesses when they realized he was sensing someone's ki. Just then, the door was slammed open and Hotohori rushed into the room. "Do you sense that evil presence?" he asked Tamahome as he looked up at the ceiling.

"I have a message for the Priestesses of Suzaku," a shadowy voice that seemed to reverberate throughout the whole room announced importantly.

"Who are you?" Tamahome demanded.

"I am a messenger from the land of Kutou," the voice replied. "We have already advanced on several villages in Konan. This is common knowledge. However, if the one member of the Suzaku Seven known as Tamahome is presented to Kutou, we will advance no further." Everyone in the room looked over to Tamahome, who had a grim look on his face. "I repeat, if the one member of the Suzaku Seven known as Tamahome is presented to Kutou, we will advance no further."

Katherine and Christina looked at each other. "Why would Miaka do this?" Katherine whispered to Christina.

"Probably because she loves him or something..." Christina whispered back, shrugging.

"Great..." Katherine said through her teeth, sighing agitatedly. Chichiri and Nuriko ran into the room and looked around, searching for the evil presence.

"The ceiling," Chichiri said as he lifted his hand in front of his face and bolts of electricity shot towards the ceiling. An assassin appeared on the ceiling. He jumped down to the ground to escape. Hotohori slashed at the agent with his sword, but he dodged Hotohori's blade. Tamahome attempted to kick the assassin, but he also eluded Tamahome's attack. The assassin jumped up and through the room's circular window, scattering pieces of wood. Nuriko ran out the door to follow him.

"Stop! I said STOP!" Nuriko ordered as he broke a large piece of the railing off. He threw the banister towards the agent, who jumped up and over one of the palace's surrounding walls. The railing crashed into the side of the enclosure. "How rude! He broke the wall!" Nuriko pouted. Tamahome jammed his elbow into Nuriko's head.

"YOU broke the wall! He got away," Tamahome said angrily as he and Nuriko walked back inside.

"Hotohori, is it true that villages have been attacked?" Tamahome asked as he approached the emperor.

"Two things..." Katherine started before Hotohori could answer. "Number one: The dude just said that the villages being attacked were common knowledge. So you should know it, unless if you're some kind moron."

"Number two:" Christina continued. "If it's common knowledge then it's the truth. Common knowledge, truth. Truth, common knowledge," she said, finishing Katherine's thought process as the two friends were known to do.

"Would you two just shut up?" Nuriko asked, irritated at the priestesses' sarcasm.

Hotohori sighed. "It happened yesterday. Three villages to the southwest, in the Juso Prefecture, were attacked by soldiers dressed in black, but I heard the casualties were relatively light," he sadly explained. "Reports say they have made no further gains, fortunately. Now it makes sense!" he exclaimed as a look of realization came to face. "Tamahome, you don't need to worry. Even if their military strength is greater, Konan will not submit."

"Your majesty, the enemy presence has left," Chichiri, who was sensing for the aura of more assassins, interrupted.

"We should all rest now," Hotohori advised as he, Nuriko, and Chichiri walked out the door to go back to their rooms, but Katherine and Christina stayed behind with Tamahome.

"The villages that were attacked... they were near my village," Tamahome commented more to himself than to anyone else. He sat down in a wooden chair and rubbed his forehead with his hand, contemplating over everything that just happened.

"It's okay..." Katherine reassured as she cautiously approached the sei. "It's up to you. Go if you want to; stay if you don't."

"We aren't gonna make you do one or the other," Christina continued, but, honestly both Katherine and Christina secretly hoped that he would go, since it would put a halt to the war. They needed all the delays they could get, but it wasn't their decision; it was Tamahome's.

"Thanks," Tamahome replied as he forced a smile.

Christina and Katherine turned around and headed towards the door. Katherine quickly turned back around before they left and said, "Just don't do anything stupid, k?"

*

Tamahome was lying on his bed looking up at the ceiling. He slowly turned his head to the side to look through the thin papering that covered his door. When he was sure that everyone was fast asleep, he stealthily stood up and walked into the hallway.

There were two agents from Kutou waiting for Tamahome right outside the border of the palace. They were both wearing long black cloaks, so only their eyes showed. They both saw a silhouette jump down from the large wall that protected the palace from the outside world. As the silhouette stood up one of the agents spoke, "Are you Tamahome? We have been assigned to wait for you."

"Your horse is ready," the other continued in a raspy voice.

Tamahome mounted the horse and rode off into the night with the two agents. He turned to look over his shoulder to see the palace slowly disappearing in the distance. "Goodbye..." he thought, not knowing whether or not it would be the last time he ever saw his priestesses...his friends.

*

Nuriko burst through Christina's door to find that Christina was still soundly sleeping in her bed. "Christina, have you seen Tamahome?!" he hollered, hoping that she would answer, but the only reply he got was a soft grumbling noise. "Christina?" the sei asked as he approached the sleeping priestess. He realized that it would take an hour to wake her up, and he just didn't have that kind of time.

Nuriko decided he would probably have better luck with Katherine. Even though her response wouldn't be a happy one, at least he would get some kind of answer. He cautiously opened up her door and quietly entered the room.

"Katherine, have you seen Tamahome?" he asked.

"Nuriko," Katherine growled, "do you know what time it is?" She glanced over at the clock on her nightstand. "It's 7 o'clock! Why are you waking me up this early?!" she shouted as she focused her blurry eyes on the bright red numbers glowing from her battery-operated clock.

"Tamahome's missing!" he exclaimed, now slightly agitated.

"He's not missing; he's in Kutou. Any idiot could have told you that!" she shouted back as she put her pillow over her head. Katherine always needed a couple minutes to wake up or else she was extremely grumpy.

"Aren't you the least bit worried about him?" he asked, somewhat shocked at the priestess's unconcered reaction.

"No, Miaka will take good care of him," she replied, hoping that Nuriko would just leave and let her sleep.

"Miaka?" he questioned back, wondering who this Miaka was.

"The Priestess of Seiryuu, trust me, she wouldn't hurt a fly."

Nuriko was alarmed that Katherine was placing so much trust in her enemy. "But what if he never comes back?" he asked, still slightly concerned.

"He'll come back after we find the other Suzaku dudes. Any more questions, or are you actually gonna let me sleep?"

"Just one. How do you know all of this?" he questioned, realizing that Katherine knew a huge amount of information, especially considering the fact that she was still half asleep.

"I just do! Now get out!" Katherine hollered as she threw her pillow at Nuriko, who made a hasty retreat, deciding his well-being was more important than his curiosity.

*

Christina and Katherine walked drowsily down the hallway. They were still wearing their pajamas and bathrobes, even though it was eleven o'clock. "Ready for breakfast?" Katherine asked as she rubbed her eyes.

"Yeah" Christina replied groggily. Katherine was wearing a light blue robe with white clouds scattered all over it. Christina was wearing a pink robe with little lips and 'kiss me' randomly written all over it. They passed by Nuriko, who was walking in the opposite direction.

"Hey, those are really nice kimonos, you two," Nuriko stated, while pointing to the bath robes. He turned around and started to walk backwards, so then he could see the girls better.

"Thanks," the priestesses replied in unison as they turned around to face him, slightly confused by Nuriko's comment.

"No, seriously, those things must have cost you a fortune, with those intricate designs and all." Then the sei turned back around and continued to walk down the hallway.

Katherine and Christina just stopped and stared at each other for a second, trying to figure out what Nuriko was talking about. "Do you think he meant our robes?" Katherine asked.

"That must have been it!" she exclaimed. "I mean, what else could it have been?"

"So does this mean we can now go out in public in our PJs and not get yelled at?" Katherine questioned with a sly smile.

"Oh yeah." Christina replied as she slowly nodded.

"High five!" they shouted in unison.

*

Hotohori was in his office, contemplating what to do about Tamahome, when he heard a loud knock at the door. "Come in," he said, not even bothering to determine who it was.

Christina and Katherine bolted in and handed Hotohori a piece of paper. They had nervous looks on their faces as if they had just seen a ghost. "I found this note in my room. It's a note from Tamahome," Katherine explained, ramming all her words together, as she pointed to the paper in Hotohori's hands.

"Can you please read it out loud?" Christina asked, since it was in Chinese and they both didn't know one word of Ancient Chinese. The two priestesses looked at each other fearfully. They crossed their fingers, hoping that it didn't say 'wo ai ni' at the end of it, as Hotohori began to read.

"I've left for Kutou. Once you find the four other celestial warriors, I'll return," he read.

"Is that all?" Christina asked anxiously.

"Yes," he replied as he flipped the note over to see if there was anything on the back.

"You swear?" Katherine asked seriously, remembering that Hotohori hadn't told Miaka that the note said 'I love you' at the bottom until later, and, since Katherine found it in her room, if it said expressed devotion for anyone it would probably be her.

"Yes, I swear," Hotohori replied as he looked at them skeptically, not knowing what was going in the priestesses' minds.

"Thank God!" they both exclaimed, sounding relieved.

*

"You four will begin your search for the other three constellations?" Hotohori asked uneasily as he looked down at Chichiri, Katherine, Christina, and Nuriko from his throne.

"Yeppers," Katherine simply replied.

"Yepperoni," Christina agreed.

"Oh! Now I want pizza!" Katherine teased at Christina, "That sounds just like pepperoni. You know, moo goo gai pan gets old after a while."

"I know..." she replied while clutching her stomach. "I could go for Mickey D's right now."

"Hotohori, are you sure you can't come?" Katherine asked, suddenly switching the subject back to the search for the other seishi.

"I'm terribly sorry, but my duties forbid me to do so. But, please, take care of yourselves," he replied regretfully.

"But can't someone take your place?" Katherine asked as she quickly turned her head to the left and looked at Chichiri.

"Yeah...like a twin?" Christina asked as she looked at Chichiri too, who was standing to her right.

"I-I think I may have an idea," Chichiri said, getting slightly flustered bye the two priestesses glaring at him. He raised his two fingers in front of his face and closed his eyes. Suddenly there was a cloud of smoke and where Chichiri was once standing now stood another Hotohori.

"Wow! Now there's two Hotohoris! One. Two. One. Two," Katherine gushed as she counted the Hotohoris.

"STOP IT!" Christina yelled at her friend, "Every! Single! Time!!!" she continued to yell at the sky.

Ignoring Christina, Chichiri continued, "I could take your place as emperor. The country's in no danger for now, so I can fill in for a while, no da," Chichiri explained as Katherine continued to admire the two emperors and Christina was trying to get her friend to be quiet.

"Chichiri..." Hotohori started, sounding extremely grateful. "I'm much more beautiful than that," he continued as his smile turned into a frown. He would have gone into detail about how his eyes were more sharply defined, his nose was more shapely, and how he was much sexier, but Katherine was too busy glomping him.

"You're not supposed to glomp the emperor! It's against the law or something!" Christina yelled at her friend as she stared at the priestess and emperor in disbelief.

*

"As he came into the window, it was the sound of a crescendo. He came into her apartment," Christina sang as they walked through the forest, trying to find the fourth seishi. She loved Michael Jackson in the eighties, back when he was actually black.

Katherine and the two seishi just ignored Christina and her randomness. "So, Katherine," Nuriko started, trying to get his focus off Christina and her singing. "What does the scroll say?"

"Oh yeah!" Katherine exclaimed as she searched through her mini book bag to find the scroll Hotohori had given her earlier. She was so busy thinking about how to meet Tasuki without putting the group into danger that she had completely forgotten she still had the scroll. "I wouldn't know, it's in Chinese," she said as she handed the scroll over to Nuriko.

"So, Annie are you ok? Are you ok Annie? You've been hit by... You've been hit by...A smooth criminal," Christina continued to sing, completely unfazed by Nuriko and Katherine's conversation while Hotohori just watched the scenery slowly go by as they continued to walk through the forest. Then Christina started to hum the instrumental part of the song, without missing a beat.

"Aaow!" Katherine exclaimed the exact same way Michael Jackson did in the song. She wasn't a huge fan of eighties music, like her friend was, but she did know some random songs, mostly because Christina made her listen to them whenever she went over to Christina's house. Then Katherine turned around and started to moonwalk, just how Christina had taught her. It was difficult to do it on the rocky forest floor, but she still did it decently enough. Suddenly she tripped over a string that was tied in between two trees, causing her fall backwards on her butt.

"Watch out!" Hotohori yelled, rushing over towards the clueless priestess. Katherine whipped her head around to find a large slab of wood with metal stakes jutting out of it hurling towards her. She scrambled to her feet but couldn't get up fast enough. All of the sudden, she felt something force her to the ground. A sharp pang shot through her head as she slammed upon the forest floor. She tried to open her eyes, but soon darkness surrounded her.

"Hotohori! Katherine!" Nuriko shouted as he ran to the unconscious emperor and priestess. He saw blood stain Hotohori's sleeve and spots of blood on the rock where Katherine had hit her head.

"Nuriko! St-" Christina starting to call after him, remembering that a log would hit him soon, knocking him out, but she was cut short by a bandit hitting her over the head with a club.

As Nuriko approached Hotohori and Katherine he heard Christina screaming after him, but he just ignored her. Out of no where, a log came into the back of his knees, causing him to fall to the ground.

*

Nuriko was the first of the four to wake up. He looked around to see a large room with a single wooden table standing off to the side. He heard a soft grumbling noise beside him.

"Ow...my head..." Katherine moaned as she steadily rolled over on her back. She slowly opened her eyes, trying to focus on the off-white ceiling above her. She started to move her hands towards her face, hoping to rub her eyes, but something restrained her \from doing so. Katherine felt cold metal dig into her wrists as she struggled to move her hands. "What the hell?" she muttered as she fumbled around with the chains. She turned to the left to see Nuriko watching over her.

"We were like this when I woke up," Nuriko explained. He had now managed to sit up, even though his ankles were bound too.

"What happened?" Katherine asked, closing her eyes and releasing long sigh. Her horrible headache made it impossible for her to think clearly.

"The bandits ambushed us," he replied sadly, losing his faith in the hopeless mission. Katherine opened her eyes and turned her head away from Nuriko, wishing her surroundings would vanish in thin air. It was then she noticed Hotohori laying unconscious about five yards away from her.

"Hotohori!" she exclaimed as she saw blood seeping from his arm and unto the flooring. She tried to rush towards him but was soon stopped by her chains, causing her to fall flat on her face. As she struggled to sit back up, she felt a drop of blood trickle down her cheek from her left temple. She didn't even bother to try to wipe it away, knowing that it would be pointless.

The first thing Hotohori felt was, surprisingly, not the pain in his arm, but the cold, hard flooring against the side of his face. He realized the throbbing from his wound gradually as he broke out of unconsciousness; he started to hear distant voices that steadily became louder. "The bandits ambushed us," he heard a voice he assumed to be Nuriko's. As he slowly opened his eyes, he heard Katherine call his name, and he swiftly sat up.

"Thank God!" Katherine shouted, sounding relieved, as she saw Hotohori open his eyes and sit up. She again tried to scramble towards him, to see if he was okay, causing her to fall, once again. "You know...you'd think I'd learn," she joked as she looked up at Hotohori, not believing she had just done something so stupid.

Hotohori noticed the blood slowly trickling down her cheek. "Katherine, what happened?!" he asked, worried that she might have a concussion.

"What?...Oh, this!" Katherine replied while gesturing, to the best of her ability, to the wound. "This is nothing, don't worry. But it is giving me a horrible headache," she continued, while slightly laughing. She suddenly became serious again. "Anyways, talking about wounds, what about you?! That looks horrible!" she exclaimed as she looked at Hotohori's arm. Meanwhile, Nuriko tried to get over to Christina, who was still unconscious.

"Christina..." a voice called out of the darkness. Christina slowly opened her eyes and looked around. She was tied up on a floor. Nuriko, Hotohori, and Katherine were also bound with thick chains. Their packs and weapons were piled in a corner of the room, by the door. The floor was an off-white color that suggested that it hadn't been cleaned in a while; Christina decided wanted to get off the floor as soon as possible.

"This is nice," Christina said sarcastically. She began to think of the best way she could free herself. Her arms were tied behind her back, and her legs were tied together at the ankles. So she folded her legs to the right of her body and twisted around until both arms could reach the chains. It was difficult to try to untie herself, since she couldn't even see the shackles.

"What are you doing?" Nuriko asked curiously. From where he was sitting, all he could see was Christina bending around in an odd position.

"Untying myself," Christina answered shortly. Her left arm was starting to ache, as she was holding it to the right side and felt like she was going to pull out of its socket. Katherine moved her legs to the right and followed suit.

"When we get our legs untied, we can help each other stand up and untie our wrists," Katherine said. Her restraints were tied tighter than Christina's, so she wasn't making much progress in removing them.

Christina struggled to pull the chains off of her legs; they scraped against her ankles as she desperately pulled and tugged them. She slowly wrenched her left leg out of the knot. Her leg was slightly bloody, but free. Then she quickly pulled her other leg out. "Got it!" Christina announced happily as she kicked the chains across the room. Katherine, encouraged by Christina freeing herself, worked harder to undo her own bonds. Christina looked down at the line of blood appearing on her cuts, praying she wouldn't get gangrene. The blood started to seep onto her white linen pants, which were now about the same color as the dirty floor.

"MY PANTS!!" she exclaimed angrily as the line of blood soaked into the white cloth, "I JUST BOUGHT THESE, GODDAMMIT!!" The big door swung open and a group of bandits sauntered into the room.

"Well, yer all awake now..." the man in the front of the group said.

"Who are you?" Nuriko asked.

"What? You ain't figgered it out yet!?" he asked, obviously surprised at how oblivious his prisoners were. "Well, I guess I can fill ya in. We're th' bandits of Mount Leikaku!"

"We took everythin' ya got as yer toll," another bandit interjected.

Katherine and Christina looked at each other, knowing what had happened in the series. One of them had to try to beat up some of the bandits for the story to proceed. Christina grinned menacingly, accepting the task she started to stand up.

"Ah'm the boss, so if you'll just do what I say-" the first bandit started to say, but he was interrupted by Christina kicking him between the legs. He fell to the floor in pain.

"How 'bout you just listen to what I say!?" Christina yelled as she kicked her leg up into another man's face, breaking his nose. He quickly knelt, moaning and holding his nose as blood started to drop onto the floor. Christina wished her arms weren't behind her, so she could bash some of the men in the face with the iron chains that decorated her wrists.

"Remember to S.I.N.G," Katherine called, referring to Miss Congeniality. "Solar Plexus, Instep, Nose, and Groin; the four sensitive spots on a man's body," Christina heard her friend chant and stomped on the first foot she saw. Then she kicked the bandit's stomach. Her kickboxing lessons had paid off, not to mention being friends with more boys than girls back home. Christina had always been somewhat of a tomboy, though she didn't look it, and could inflict some serious pain when she wanted to.

"SHE'S CRAZY!!" another bandit yelled as she stomped on his foot and then leveled him with a kick to the stomach. Hotohori, Katherine, and Nuriko watched, bemused, Christina proceed to beat up the rest of the men amusingly. Christina was just about to kick one of the remaining bandits in the face when someone grabbed her hands from behind her.

"Who's th' li'l pest!?" the man asked. He was a handsome guy, with blue hair and a long scar down the side of his face.

"Kouji!" one of the bandits said happily from the floor.

"The boss wanted one o' them," he explained. Then he turned to Christina. "You're pretty fiery; guess it'll be you then!'

Christina aimed a face of disgust towards Katherine. Katherine knew exactly why: Christina was about to pay a visit to the boss.

"Byeness!" Christina called to her friends as Kouji led her out of the room. "See you in ten!" she yelled as Kouji dragged her out the door and down the hall. Katherine made sure to remember that they would need to rush to Christina's 'rescue' in ten minutes.

A bandit wearing a green shirt knelt down by Hotohori and hugged him from behind. "Hey, baby. You look real fine. Why don't you be a nice gal and pour us some drinks," the drunken blond-haired bandit slurred in Hotohori's ear.

"B-baby?" Hotohori stuttered in disbelief, looking at the arms that were lightly lying on his shoulders.

Katherine raised an eyebrow and looked at the emperor and the bandit for a second or two. She started to hold her breath with all her might, but her emotions that were building up inside were stronger, "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!" she loudly laughed as she fell on her side. She abruptly stopped and looked up at the two of them again, as if to make sure that this was actually happening. The bandit gave her a look of shock, not knowing what was so funny, as Hotohori just glared; then the priestess started laughing all over again.

"It looks like they think all of us are women," Nuriko whispered in Hotohori's ear, ignoring Katherine's loud laughter.

"We'll take your chains off," a different bandit said. All four of them surrounded the prisoners and quickly took off their bonds.

"We gotta do what Christina said and wait a while," Nuriko continued to whisper in his ear.

"You mean I have to behave like a common serving girl?!" Hotohori hissed back in a loud whisper, a look of astonishment and disgust on his face.

"C'mon! Who knows? It might be fun," Katherine optimistically encouraged, now done laughing. Hotohori slightly blushed in response, ashamed that he would have to act like a girl in front of Katherine.

"Hurry up, over here!" one of the bandits called. They were now sitting at a wooden table with green chairs waiting anxiously for their servant girls to wait on them.

Hotohori turned around, out of everyone's sight. A couple seconds later he did a simple hair fling, suddenly filled with sparkles and looked at Katherine and Nuriko. Both of their jaws slightly dropped as they looked at the beautiful emperor in complete awe. "Shall we go?" Hotohori questioned, slightly amused by their reaction.

Katherine's and Nuriko's eyes followed him in amazement as he walked over to the table and started to serve drinks. "Only he can be THAT hott, even while he's pretending to be a girl," Katherine muttered to Nuriko.

"Oh yeah..." Nuriko mumbled back, slowly nodding his head as a large smile grew on his face.

Katherine quickly turned her head, snapping out of her daydream, and glared at the purple-haired sei, who was still staring intently at Hotohori. "He's mine. You know that, right? Yeah. He's mine," she informed him seriously, barely leaving spaces in between her words.

*

Tamahome was sitting on the floor in a large room with the two agents watching over him. Everything around him was decorated lavishly with blue. Suddenly the blond-haired general walked towards him. "Welcome, Tamahome," Nakago said with a sneer.

"It's YOU, you bastard," Tamahome greeted him with complete disgust.

Nakago ignored his 'welcoming'. "I am Nakago, a celestial warrior like yourself, however I serve Seiryuu," he informed his captive

"Seiryuu?! So this was your idea! What are you going to do to me, now that you brought me here?" Tamahome questioned, not knowing what was going to happen to him.

"I want you to comfort Lady Miaka," Nakago answered as he knelt down to look at Tamahome in the eye. He then grabbed his chin causing Tamahome to look straight at him. "Anyways, I like you. You are the first person to land a hit on me."

"Oh, so then you must not be that good after all," Tamahome replied with disdain. Nakago countered the comment by slapping Tamahome across the face, just in time for Miaka to see from the doorway of the room.

"Nakago! What are you doing?!" she exclaimed as she rushed over to Tamahome. She knelt down beside him and took out a handkerchief to wipe away the little drizzle of blood running down his chin.

"That? I didn't even feel it," Tamahome boasted.

"Nakago, could you please leave?" Miaka asked as she turned to face the blond-haired general.

"Very well, Lady Miaka," Nakago obediently answered as he walked out of the room, leaving the two alone.

To Be Continued...