Fushigi Yuugi Fan Fiction ❯ Fushigi Yuugi: Daydream's Embrace ❯ Episode 14: Wolf in the Fortress ( Chapter 14 )

Episode 14
Wolf in the Fortress
By: Mrs. Tasuki and Nyan Nyan

Kouji led Christina down a long hallway. She moved her hands around her back, try to position them so the chains didn't cut into her arms, since they were starting to throb. A few bandits followed them, in case she tried to escape. But they kept their distance. The group stopped in front of a door, about two thirds of the way down the corridor.

"Excuse me!" Kouji said.

"Yes, who is it?" he replied to himself. Christina tried to hold in her laughter.

"It's Kouji with one of the captured girls for the boss to see! Ah, well, glad you're here! Come right on in! Thank you!" he finished while dramatically pushing the doors open.

"Oh, Kouji! I've been waiting for you!" a disgustingly large bandit said, finishing off his sake. He was wearing yellow pants, a purple hat with horns on the sides, and what looked like a green cape. He honestly looked like a little kid who was dressing up as a Superhero Viking for Halloween.

"Yo, Pig!" Kouji greeted. Christina curled her lip as Eiken ogled her up and down, like she was a piece of meat. She could have sworn that Eiken was drooling. "Be strong," Kouji whispered to her. Eiken had obviously finished his 'inspection' of her, because he stood up and yelled.

"PERFECT!"

The rest of the bandits started to turn around and walk out the door. "Well, if you'll excuse me," Kouji said while turning and joining them.

"No! Come back! Why don't you stay a little longer?" Christina pleaded. Now that she was actually here, she wanted to be anywhere else. She would have rather been back in Kutou. Eiken started to chortle loudly. His perverted laughter gave Christina the creeps. Christina turned back around and faced him; he ogled her back.

"Alright, Rule Number One. You are not coming near me, you pedophile," she pronounced as he blinked stupidly back at her. "God is he smashed," she thought to herself. He started walking towards her as she backed away, her back sliding against the walls. She wanted to keep as much distance as possible between Eiken and herself.

"Okay," she thought to herself, "got to find a way out of this." She looked over at the bed, where she spotted a large purple pillow lying on the floor. She had memorized all the details of episode fourteen due to watching it so much, which was now becoming quite handy in finding the tessen. "That's it," she smiled, "If I grab the tessen, he won't be able to threaten me with a little dagger."

Then she spotted a red pillow next to the purple one. "Or is it the red pillow? Which one is the freakin tessen under?!"

Because her head was turned, she didn't notice that Eiken had begun to rush towards her. She turned back to him as he pushed her back onto the bed. She struggled to squirm out from under him, but it was very difficult, considering her arms were still chained together behind her back.

"Get off of me!" she screamed angrily.

"C'mon," he said, trying to persuade her, "C'mon, be a good girl..."

*

Kouji had just closed the door and begun to walk down the hallway. He hated having to listen to Eiken. "Get off of me!" Kouji heard a cry coming from his ugly perverted boss's room. He looked back down the hall, disgusted with Eiken.

"Scum!" Kouji muttered angrily. He shook his head remorsefully and continued on his way down the hall.

*

Christina finally got out from under Eiken. She rolled off the bed and landed with a thud on the floor. Standing up, she began slinking towards the door. He stood up and started to follow her with a dreamy twinge in his eye. She tried to think of some way to just delay him.

"Wait a minute, you're obviously wasted," she told him.

"So?" Eiken asked stupidly.

"So...uh...you know what that does to a guy, don'tcha?"

Eiken continued to blink at her foolishly, clearly too drunk to comprehend what she was hinting at. "Yeah...you uh...," she faltered, trying to hide the embarrassment. "Like, you won't be able to perform...so, you might as well just let me go!" she suggested unreservedly.

*

Nuriko, Hotohori, and Katherine were serving even more drinks to the drunken bandits, anxiously waiting for ten minutes to pass. They were hoping that if they got the bandits drunk enough it would be much easier to escape and rescue Christina.

"Never mind dat, I say Eiken's bein' a real idiot," a bandit at a table in the corner of the room told his three friends as they nodded in agreement. They were speaking loud enough to be heard throughout the room, even though the conversation was meant to be whispered. Their lack of volume control was obviously brought on by the sake.

"What's he thinkin', takin' over the gang while Genrou's gone?" the second bandit added.

"No kiddin'!" the third man yelled, "That dumb sack of scum is throwin' his weight around way too much!"

"Just 'cuz he's got a little power!" the first man said.

"And now he's goin' after some young babe with that ugly face of his!" the fourth man exclaimed. Katherine just glared at the bandits, knowing that in a couple minutes they would get their punishment.

"Give that girl five more minutes, an' we'll never be able t' sell 'er as a virgin," the second bandit continued, sipping down even more sake.

"THAT'S IT!" Katherine yelled, fed up with their conversation. Luckily, Nuriko was standing over by their luggage, in the corner, and he quickly picked up Hotohori's sword and tossed it to him.

"When'd ja get t' be men?!" one of the bandits yelled, astonished, as Hotohori drew his sword.

"EXCUSE ME!!!" Katherine screamed as she grabbed the front of the bandit's shirt, indignant at being called a guy.

"I was talkin' about him," the bandit calmly replied, pointing to Hotohori.

"Oh...okay," Katherine replied as she let go of his shirt. After another moment of thought, Katherine decided to unexpectedly punch the bandit in the cheek. "That's for mistaking my man for a girl!" she hollered as she rose above the bandit, who had been knocked out of his chair from the blow. Meanwhile, Nuriko was using the table to push the rest of the bandits up against the wall.

"Okay...now we just need to wait for a bandit to show us where Christina is," Katherine stated as she dusted off her hands.

*

Koji walked back from Eiken's room and to the room where all of his buddies were, expecting his friends sitting at the table drinking and having the girls serve them. When he opened the door he was shocked to find all of his friends under a table with the purple-haired woman sitting on top of it.

"Took ya long enough!" the strangely-dressed girl shouted.

Suddenly Koji felt the cold metal of a sword against his throat. Without turning his head, he glanced to the side to see who the holder of the sword was. To his amazement he found the tall brunette glaring at him. "Where is she!" she shouted in a deep voice. It was then that Koji realized that the brunette was actually a man.

*

"You're going to do what I want you to..." Eiken replied, taking out a sharp dagger from his shirt. He started to walk towards Christina when a large noise echoed throughout the room like the sound of a wrecking ball. The wall shook, and a large crack appeared right in the center of the plaster. After a moment, another boom reverberated through the room, and a large formed hole in the wall. Nuriko stood braced with fists outstretched in the space where the wall should have been, and its destruction was obviously his doing. Eiken was lying on the floor; a particularly large piece of plaster had dislodged and hit him right in the head. Katherine and Hotohori ran into the room.

"Damn! This one's REALLY strong!" Kouji stated in amazement from the hallway while Nuriko flexed his muscles happily. Nuriko stepped inside the room through his newly-formed entrance, with Kouji in tow.

"Ow, ow, ow..." Eiken complained, sitting up and rubbing his head. He stopped speaking abruptly shocked to find the man in the red tunic threatening him with his sword.

"This girl is a Priestess of Suzaku! For the crime of laying even one finger upon her, the punishment is death!" Hotohori yelled angrily, moving the tip of his sword closer to Eiken's nose.

Christina leaned in front of Eiken's face and tried to think of the worst insult she could. She wasn't exactly thrilled with him at the moment, and really wouldn't have minded if Hotohori killed him. Christina felt like she needed a long shower because he'd touched her.

"You know what? I can't even think of anything nasty enough to say," Christina said angrily.

"You mean that YOU don't have some smart-aleck comment?" Katherine asked her friend incredulously; Christina just shook her head angrily. Nuriko raised his eyebrows. He had only known Christina for a short amount of time, but he knew that she really must loathe Eiken if she couldn't even think of something adequately offensive to say to him.

Suddenly, a powerful gust of wind rushed through the room, rustling the bed covers and causing everyone to shield their eyes.

"What's going on?!" Nuriko exclaimed, protecting his face from the wind. Christina was lifted up, dragged away with a force similar to a hurricane's. As the light wind slowed and died away, Nuriko looked around, and couldn't see Christina. Katherine, Hotohori, and Eiken were also glancing frantically around the room, hoping to figure out what had just occured.

"Christina?" Nuriko asked as everyone else continued to look around in confusion.

"Christina!" Hotohori yelled.

Kouji opened his eyes when he no longer felt the intense wind. He looked straight across the room and gasped.

"Ge-Genrou?!" he asked, completely surprised. Everyone snapped their heads around to where Kouji was staring to see a boy, about seventeen or eighteen years old, standing with Christina slung around his shoulders. He looked tanner than the average Konan resident. His eyes were amber colored and he had orange-red hair the color of flames. He was wearing a long black trench coat and big black boots. Two necklaces were draped around his neck and turquoise earrings dangled from his ears.

"You. You're back?!" Eiken yelled in shock as Genrou smirked. Katherine looked up at Christina, who looked like she had never been more pleased in her entire life.

"It's been a while, Eiken," the newcomer greeted with a sneer, "So after I come back from my trip, I see you've taken over huh? Must be nice for you to have a bride now, considering how damned ugly your face is!"

"Bride?" Christina asked skeptically. "Ewww, no!"

Genrou glanced up at his hostage.

"I'll take this girl," he declared.

"No you won't!" Hotohori threatened, holding his sword in front of him.

"Hotohori, butt out!" Christina shouted back, happy to have found her dream man. Luckily, it wasn't loud enough for the emperor to hear. Genrou pulled out three bits of paper with large, black calligraphy on them.

"GEN-JUTSU SHUN-TAROU!" he yelled, throwing the cards towards Nuriko, Hotohori, Katherine, and Eiken. As he recited the words, the talisman transformed into three howling wolves, which leapt on top of Eiken, Hotohori, and Nuriko.

"No way!" Nuriko screamed in disbelief.

"Well," Genrou said as he turned around and looked back at everyone in the room, "bye for now." He turned and jumped into the air. "Eiken!" he laughed over his shoulder, "If you want this girl back, then you fight me for the boss' seat!"

Hotohori angrily sliced through the wolf that was growling on top of him. Before his eyes, the wolf turned back into two pieces of paper. Each half of the paper fell to the ground as Hotohori looked on, completely baffled. "Paper...?" he questioned.

Katherine, the only one that wasn't attacked by the illusion, decided to help out Nuriko who was having some difficulty getting the wolf off of him. She took a running start and ran straight into the wolf that was on top of the sei, causing the wolf and herself to fall to the ground. When she opened her eyes she found the angry wolf hovering over her. "Nice doggie..." the priestess said in meek voice, but received an angry growl as response.

"You are an idiot," Nuriko stated, walking up to Katherine and picking up the wolf. Before the wolf could respond Nuriko threw him against one of the wall. Upon contact with the brick the wolf turned back into a simple piece of paper.

"Why you...!" Eiken bellowed angrily as he lifted up a large purple pillow form the floor, revealing a wooden box. "I'll teach him to underestimate me!" He opened the wooden box and pulled out a large iron fan. "Rekka Shinen!" the wanna-be Viking shouted at the top of his lungs. Suddenly, a burst of flames flew out of the tessen.

Nuriko looking took one glance at the inferno and ran outside as fast as he could with Katherine trailing behind him. Once the flames died down Nuriko quickly looked back inside the room to see if Hotohori was unharmed. "Um...Nuriko..." Katherine timidly said, tugging the sei's sleeve to get his attention. Nuriko looked back at the priestess to find her pointing towards the wall that surrounded the hideout. Hotohori was already on the wall about to jump down.

"Wow...you can run away really fast!" Nuriko exclaimed as they ran towards the emperor.

"I wasn't running away! I was chasing after Christina," Hotohori shouted back, defending himself.

Nuriko and Katherine took one look at each other then looked back at Hotohori. "Sure ya were..." the muttered in unison.

"Genrou, you jerk!" Eiken yelled angrily out the window. "What do you mean, fight you for the boss' seat?! As long as I've got this." he bellowed as he slapped the iron fan on the side of the open window. "What do you think you can do to resist me?! Come and get me!"

*

Tamahome was sitting on the windowsill looking out into the night. Even though it had only been two days since he left Konan, it seemed like much longer. He wondered if Kutou was going to keep their promise and stop attacking villages; his family's lives depended on it. His thoughts were abruptly interrupted from Miaka entering the room.

"Hey! I thought I'd bring you some food, since you didn't come down for dinner," she greeted cheerfully. She couldn't comprehend how any one could ever miss dinner. She approached Tamahome carrying a large tray with an array of foods.

Tamahome turned his head to see her approach a table and lay the food on it. She stood there for a second or two looking longingly at the food and then quickly diverted her attention away from it.

"You can eat that if you want to. I'm not hungry," Tamahome told her as he stood up from where he was sitting.

"Really?!" Miaka asked with wide eyes.

Tamahome simply nodded, somewhat shocked by her reaction. It was as though he had given her the world. He then watched in awe as she quickly inhaled the food that lay before her. He started to chuckle at her eating habits; she was kind of cute, in a little-kid way. "Do you always eat like that?" he asked. Miaka responded by vigorously nodding, since her mouth was full with food.

*

Hotohori, Katherine, and Nuriko were now outside of the bandit's hideout, running in the direction the strange red-haired bandit had taken Christina. "You guys, trust me, we don't have to do this!" Katherine shouted to the two seishi as she tried to keep up with them.

"What else are we supposed to do?!" Nuriko shouted back, as he looked behind him to see Katherine still close by. "And, anyways, I thought you two were friends!" He didn't understand why Katherine was so insistent that they don't try to save her best friend.

"We are! That's why I'm telling you this! Don't worry! We don't have to hunt them down," Katherine repeated, wishing that they would just listen to her. She knew that persistence in arguing her point must have sounded strange, but honestly, Katherine was sure Christina didn't even want to be rescued. Actually, chances were, she would be rather angry if they barged in on her and Tasuki.

*

"Ow!" Christina complained as she was thrown onto the cold, hard of floor of a shadowy room. She could barely make out any shapes, the moon lending luminosity.

"Only me and my buddy know about this place," Genrou told her as he slipped off his black trench coat. "No one's gonna come rescue you." His fangs and the necklaces around his neck glinted intensely in the moonlight that shone through the window behind him. "Sorry, I don't have anything against ya, but I gotta make an example of you. If you behave yourself, I won't hurt you."

Christina gaped back, amazed that he had just told her to 'behave herself'. No one told her to 'behave herself'.

He kneeled down onto the floor, where Christina was still sitting, and seized her chin with his hand. He tilted her face up towards his own and found her jade-colored eyes staring determinedly back into his own. She didn't seem to be the least perturbed about being kidnapped at all. He momentarily mused that a girl ought to be at least a little upset at being abducted but dismissed the thought as unimportant. He smirked at her arrogance, his fangs catching the light again.

He guided her mouth towards his and kissed her eagerly. Christina lifted her arms up and gently rested them on his shoulders. After a few moments, their lips parted and he removed his hand from her face. He trailed his fingers down her back and wrapped his arms around her petite waist, roughly pulling her closer towards him. He kissed her again, more emotively. Christina felt his tongue start to slide into her mouth and pushed herself apart from him. She didn't seem it, but she was really shy around guys she liked. She bit her lip and searched her mind for an excuse.

"Hold on Romeo, I gotta check something," she informed him as she started to slip off his white shirt. She thought she spotted a red glow on his arm.

"WHAT THE HECK DO YA THINK YER DOIN'!?" he yelled as he slapped his hand over his arm before she could see anything.

"Well, I gotta see if you have a seishi symbol on your body," she explained innocently.

"HOW THE HECK SHOULD I KNOW!?"

Christina was about to yell something back, but was interrupted by two loud knocks on the door. Genrou quickly removed his hand from his arm and put it over Christina's mouth. They both stared at the door on the other side of the room.

"Hello, who's there?" they heard Kouji's voice say.

"It's Genrou's good buddy, Kouji, who's come to see him."

"Ah, well, glad you're here," he answered to himself.

"Come right in!" he replied.

"Thank you!"

Kouji flung the doors open and waltzed into the room.

"Kouji!?" Genrou wondered. "It's been too long Kouji!"

They ran towards each other, linked their right arms, and merrily spun around in a circle.

"But you just saw me, man! A little while ago! Didn't you notice me? That's really cold, man!"

Christina just stared as they continued to spin around the room, transfixed by their 'bandit dance'.

*

After Kouji and Genrou had calmed their happy reunion, the trio sat down on the floor to discuss what they should do.

"When the old boss died a month ago, Eiken thought it would be a good chance to take over since you weren't around," Kouji explained to Genrou sullenly. "The boss was real worried about you right up 'till he died..."

"The boss, huh?" Genrou muttered glumly under his breath.

"Well then, I guess you guys'll be needing my help," Christina stated haughtily, trying to change the subject. She hated everyone being so sad.

"Huh?!" Genrou and Kouji wondered in disbelief.

"You heard me. I'm not really into politics and that's what this sounds like, but me and that fat tub of lard have a score to settle!" she said, clenching her fists at the thought of Eiken.

"Listen you." Genrou started, ready to put her back in her place.

"Don't worry, no thanks necessary. And you guys can help me out with my 'Tasuki' situation," she interjected quickly.

"That's not what I meant!" he yelled back.

"Good, it's unanimous. Let's go Genrou, Kouji!" Christina shouted, jumping to her feet.

"She doesn't understand that she's a hostage, does she?" Kouji asked Genrou skeptically.

"I think you're right," Genrou agreed.

*

"You got that? Genrou's definitely gonna try hitting us in the middle of the night! Don't let your guard down!" Eiken yelled as the bandits before him cheered in response.

From the bushes outside the bandits' hideout, three pairs of eyes stared disgustingly at Eiken. "They're all doing what Eiken says," Genrou spat. "Pathetic."

Kouji, Genrou, and Christina were hiding in the bushes outside of the hideout, trying to figure out the best way to break in.

"They do what he says because we can't stand up to his little keepsake from the old boss." Kouji explained.

"I really should have stolen that." Christina mumbled to herself. "Damn my short-term memory!" she angrily said, still furious that she hadn't remember which pillow the tessen had been stashed under.

"We have to get it back from him," Genrou said as he pulled out about a dozen slips of thick paper, which had large black handwriting scrawled all over them.

"Lemme see!" Christina excitedly shrieked, grabbing a few talismans.

"It's an illusion spell!" Genrou explained. "They're talismans I got from a sorcerer while I was traveling...you write what you want on them and it'll appear as a phantom."

Christina dug around in her pockets until she found a ball-point pen. She smiled deviously as she thought about all the stuff she could write on the cards.

"Ashton Kutcher. or maybe Orlando Bloom!" she thought happily. Then she considered the situation they were in and wondered whether she should write down a bazooka or a shotgun. Or maybe an elephant rifle. Too bad she didn't know how to shoot a gun. But playing video games all the time must pay off somehow. She thought that somehow there must be a perfect way to defeat Eikenn without resorting to writing 'Tamahome' on one of the cards. "OH!" she thought as she figured out what to write down. She quickly scribbled her idea on one of the cards she had 'borrowed', smiling to herself in self- satisfaction.

"Let's sneak in from the other side," Kouji whispered to Genrou and Christina.

Kouji and Genrou started to creep away, and Genrou noticed Christina still sitting behind him, obviously still amused by his talismans.

"What are you doing? Gimme those talismans back!" he whispered loudly as he bopped her on the head. The pair started to sneak behind Kouji.

Suddenly, a sword swung out of the darkness and stopped right under Genrou's chin. He jumped back, baring his fangs in surprise.

"I've found you! How dare you lay your hands on Christina?!" Hotohori hissed angrily. Christina peered over Genrou's shoulder and saw Nuriko strangling Kouji.

"Hey Hotohori, Nuriko! Are ya doin' okay?" Christina asked.

Nuriko let go his grip of Kouji's collar and looked over at Christina, thoroughly confused. "Isn't that supposed to be our line?" he asked.

Katherine popped up next to Christina and hugged her friend.

"Hey!"

"Hey Katherine!"

"So what happened?" Katherine asked her friend, glancing over at Genrou for a second.

"So much to tell, so little time," Christina replied as she and Katherine started to walk off, chitchatting happily.

Nuriko grabbed Katherine and pulled her back into the bushes while Kouji similarity seized Christina.

"We're still trying not to get caught!" Kouji warned Christina.

*

After a few minutes of creeping around and slipping through open windows, the group was all inside the Mt. Leikaku hideout once again. Nuriko and Hotohori still didn't trust the two bandits, but they listened as Christina and Katherine explained the situation.

"I think I understand now. Do you two really want to help them?" Hotohori asked the priestesses.

"And just how do you know all of this already, Katherine?" Nuriko asked suspiciously.

Katherine and Christina just stuttered while Nuriko, Hotohori, Genrou, and Kouji looked at them skeptically.

"Umm...Uh..." Katherine muttered.

"It's a girl thing," Christina explained.

"Yeah, girls are just special like that," Katherine agreed while Genrou rolled his eyes.

"Women!" he muttered.

"What have you got against women?" Christina asked, starting to slightly raise her voice.

"Are you gay or something?" Katherine added heatedly.

"HEY!!!" Nuriko and Christina protested loudly.

"There they are!" a voice from down the hall yelled. Half-dozen bandits began running towards the group.

"Aww, hell!" Kouji yelled angrily.

"Leave them to me!" Genrou yelled, standing in front of Christina and Katherine. He lifted his talisman up and yelled, "Come forth, wolves!!" Ten huge, snarling wolves appeared and started attacking the bandits.

"Look out!" Hotohori yelled before an immense wall of flames appeared, incinerating all of Genrou's wolves.

Eiken stood before them, holding the tessen, with an army of bandits behind him. "So, Genrou, you've come! Can't make any more wolves appear, huh?" Eiken laughed.

Nuriko looked over at Hotohori, as if asking permission. Hotohori shook his head.

"No, Nuriko. We can't fight! Tasuki might be among them!"

"Dammit! These guys won't help us fight?!" Genrou asked irritably. Everyone except Christina was glaring at Eiken and the thugs behind him.

Christina was staring, her mouth ajar, at what was behind the mass of brigands. She turned her head back at Genrou, who was still standing beside her, and then back at the spectacle she was so interested in. Tasuki was sneaking around behind the bandits. She continued to gawk at Tasuki, or at least the phantom of him. It did make sense that he was there, since she had written 'Tasuki' on the card. And Genrou had said that a phantom of whatever she wrote down would appear. She quickly realized how ideally perfect her idea was.

Without warning, she charged at Eiken. He obviously wasn't expecting Christina to run at him and tried to wrestle the tessen from his grasp, so he wasn't exactly on his guard. She grabbed and pulled as hard as she could. Christina had a little brother and sister, so she was practically a pro at fighting over objects. They were both putting up a magnificent fight. Christina stole a glance over Eiken's shoulder and saw 'Tasuki' was stealthily knocking out bandits as he made his way, undetected, towards Eiken.

Everyone else was frozen unexpectedly by this strange turn in events. All they could do was watch as the small girl and Eiken struggled for control of the tessen.

"What is she DOING!?" Katherine thought. "Don't tell me she wrote 'Tamahome' on one of his talisman!"

Eiken saw the girl looking behind him for a moment and saw his chance. He gave her arm a peculiar twist and locked his arm around her slender neck. With his free hand, he searched through his clothes until he found his dagger, which he brought up to her neck.Christina felt the cold steel of a razor-sharp blade pressing into her neck. It was so close to her skin that she was afraid to even swallow, or breathe for that matter.

"Genrou!" Eiken called delightedly. "What're ya gonna do?! You make one move and I'll kill her!"

Genrou furiously narrowed his eyes into slits angrily while Kouji's gaze hardened. "Just how low will you sink?!" Genrou asked furiously.

Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, a wind blew through the hallway, and moments later, Eiken was no longer holding a dagger. While Eiken glanced confusedly around the room, Christina took her chance and ran back to her friends.

The group barely noticed; they were too busy gaping at the boy standing a few feet away, smirking familiarly. Genrou looked at his mirror image in disbelief, as did Kouji and everyone else in the room, with the exception of Christina.

"Let's count the Genrous!" she whispered in Katherine's ear mockingly, remembering all the times Katherine said the exact same thing. "One, two! One, two! What could be better than two Genrous? Unless it's three Genrous! Or four Genrous! Or a bazillion Genrous!"

Katherine was too shocked to hit her sardonic friend. The apparition of Genrou then proceeded to beat up the bandits. He kicked Eiken in the gut, causing the thug to drop the tessen and fall to the floor, trying to find his breath. The iron fan slid across the tile floor and stopped a few feet away from Eiken.

Genrou, the real Genrou, bent down and picked the tessen off the ground.

"The fan..." Eiken gasped breathlessly.

"You're just a LITTLE too late." Genrou said, slowly forming his trademark smirk "I took it back."

"You're finished, Eiken," Kouji stated simply as the phantasm of Genrou vanished into thin air.

To be continued...

AN2: If you guys haven't noticed...THERE ARE SPOILERS IN THIS FIC. Sorry for not pointing this out earlier. We will try to try to tell you when major spoilers appear (aka...deaths), but other than that it's kinda hard to pinpoint every single spoiler, considering the fic has so many. Sorry for any inconvenience.

~Nyan Nyan and Mrs. Tasuki~

FUSHIGI AKUGI

Katherine popped up next to Christina and hugged her friend.

"Hey!"

"Hey Katherine!"

"So what happened?" Katherine asked her friend, glancing over at Genrou for a second.

"Well..." Christina started, trying to sound innocent as she focused her gaze on the ground.

"You destroyed the ceremony, didn't you?" Katherine stated, glaring at her friend, referring to the fact that the priestess had to be pure. Christina just bit her bottom lip. "How could you?!"

"We got caught up in the moment! But...we still have you don't we?" Christina asked meekly, trying to get the focus off of her.

"Ummmm..."

"Katherine! You naughty girl!" Christina shouted

"It was part of his birthday present!" she shouted back defensively.