Fushigi Yuugi Fan Fiction ❯ Fushigi Yuugi: Daydream's Embrace ❯ Episode 16: Delusion of Fear ( Chapter 16 )

Episode 16
Delusion of Fear
By: Mrs. Tasuki and Nyan Nyan

Christina woke up on the forest floor with a pounding headache. She struggled to sit up, dry leaves and pieces of dirt sticking to her clothes. She assumed that she couldn't have been knocked out for too long, since golden sunlight was still streaming through the leaves of the trees. She looked down at her hands, after becoming annoyed enough with about the stinging pain in her wrists. To investigate its cause, she found her hands were tied with thick pieces of rope at the wrists.

Christina looked around slowly, taking in her surroundings. About a dozen men, including the robust one who had abducted her, were sitting around a small fire a few yards away. Their appearance was unkempt; they were poorly- dressed and had a look about them that suggested terrible hygiene. One of the most particularly dirty-looking bandits walked over to her to see if she was awake. He kicked her, not too gently, and smirked when she cried out in pain.

"Yeah, she's awake!" he yelled over at his companions. Muttering a string of curses, the brute turned and walked back to the fire, resentful of the effort being asked of him. Christina clutched her stomach, trying to catch her breath.

"Finally!" A man with a face like a rat exclaimed. He had dark, beady eyes and an evil-looking grin.

"She woulda been up earlier if ya didn't hit her so hard, you moron," the first ruffian shouted to the large man.

"And if I didn't hit her so hard, she probably woulda called her friend."

"Well, at least we can go now," another man said. Christina looked around again and saw about ten horses tied to various trees. The large man stomped on the fire until it was out and then swathed it with dirt, covering their tracks.

The men untied their horses from the trees. One particular bandit with dirty-blonde hair came towards Christina and tied a long piece of rope to the knot on her wrists. He attached to the rope to the saddle of one of the stallions.

"Keep up 'er you'll be dragged all th' way t' Mt. Kaou," one of the men stated mercilessly as he mounted his horse.

Half of the men followed behind Christina to make sure she didn't escape somehow. The man who rode on the horse she was tied to had jet black hair and eyes that looked like endless black tunnels. She had a feeling that he would not be the type of person who would pity her and ride slowly. The men began riding through the forest. Christina felt a painful jerk on her wrists and started to jog after the horse, making sure not to lag behind.

Luckily, the trees were fairly close together, preventing the horses from going too fast. But there was enough space between the trees for the group of bandits. As they darted through the forest, she attempted to maintain a steady pace, but the bandits began discouraging her. She soon found that if she ran, the man would feel the slack in the rope and speed up, and if she pulled the line too tautly, he would speed up so she would run to keep the cords from cutting into her wrists. After running for about twenty minutes, she had gotten used to the pace and found a happy medium between a jog and sprint.

"How much do ya think we'll get fer her?!" the blond asked.

"Depends on whether she's a virgin or not, you idiot," the rodent-like man answered arrogantly.

"Well, her looks alone will fetch a nice price no matter what," the large man pointed out as the rest murmured in agreement. Christina desperately wished they would change the subject. Listening to discussion of one's prospective selling price while running behind a horse with one's hands tied together was not the most pleasant activity Christina could think of.

Every once in a while, she would stumble over a tree root; right as she teetered between balance and toppling over, the rope would tug her hands up, helping her regain her equilibrium, but her wrists would burn from the friction of the ropes. Her rough, ragged gasps for breath were swallowed by the noise of pounding hooves and dry, swirling leaves. Kicked-up pieces of twigs, earth, and leaves flew through the wind, and, along with the cold air, tore at her face and ears.

The horse sped up and Christina was forced to break into a run. The forest was starting to get darker and Christina could see the sky had changed from powder blue to a collage of purples, reds, and pinks. The sun was fading fast behind the horizon, taking the last of the golden light with it.

Christina's side had been aching for hours now, and her legs felt like they were about to fall off. She cursed the stitch in her side. Even though she was used to getting them when she ran the mile in gym class, she never ran continuously for such a long time, and the pain was unbearable.

*

When it had become so dark that Christina could barely see the horses and bandits ahead of her, she felt her rope become slack. They were stopping.

Christina hoped to Suzaku that they hadn't arrived at Mt. Kaou, wherever that was.

The bandits tied their horses to a tree and lit a large fire. Small embers flew into the air while the fire crackled merrily. The fire was too far away to provide warmth, or comfort, for that matter, for Christina. The man with the black hair came over and untied the long piece of rope from the knot on her wrist. She stared into the depths of his shadowy eyes as he removed the ropes around her wrists. She glanced down at her wrists and saw that the abrasions were wide, red, and raw. She kneaded her wrists with her hands as quickly as she could before they tied her up again.

"Come here," the man with the dark hair instructed. Christina didn't move, but she glared at him as hatefully as she could. He seemed to think it was funny, that she acted so impudent, even though the state of her clothes suggested that she'd been through an earthquake, a hurricane, and a tornado in the same day. "Come here," he said again, holding up a water canteen. He shook it, so she could hear the presence of water. Christina swallowed, her throat so dry that it hurt. She walked over to the man, who held the canteen above her head and tipped it, letting her drink a steady stream of water.

After a few moments, he put the canteen away. She quickly licked her lips, drinking the remaining moisture before it evaporated. She inattentively smoothed the hair out of her face, and then, realizing that she still had a white hair tie on her wrist, began to pull her hair into a high and messy bun.

Christina's hair was just about the only thing she liked about herself. That and her eyes. And that wasn't saying very much, considering how much she complained about her hair. She played around with a few more strands until she realized that the dark-haired man was glaring at her. She glanced up at him and raised her eyebrows, as if asking him what he wanted.

"Sit down," he ordered.

"'Scuse me?" she asked, not understanding what he meant, as she was already seated on the dirt.

"Sit down," he repeated. He pointed to a tree at the edge of the clearing they were staying in. It was a good-sized tree, thick enough for Christina to barely wrap her arms around, but tall enough that she wouldn't think of climbing it.

Christina huffily sat down, her back on the tree. The bandit lifted her arms around the tree trunk and tied her wrists together. Her hands ached as another rope was tied over her rope-burned wrists. After he seemed satisfied with his craftsmanship, he rejoined his comrades by the campfire.

"Well, if there's any wolves out here, they'll go fer her first!" the rodent-like man yelled lightheartedly as his friends guffawed.

After another hour of vulgar stories storytelling, the bandits decided they were tired. They left the dirty-blonde haired man on guard for a couple hours, before switching with someone else.

Christina was exhausted from running all day, but she distrusted the men so much that she willed herself to stay awake. She shivered, the wind blowing right through her small t-shirt and goose bumps creeping over her flesh while she trembled, alone, in the dark. She moved her arms ever so slightly, wincing when the bark scraped across her back and shoulders. She lowered her head so that it rested on her knees, trying to rack her mind for an idea how to get out of this fine mess she had landed herself in. Her brainstorm was suddenly interrupted by a loud rustling sound.

She swiftly looked behind her, wondering what the noise was and where it was coming from. Another twig broke, and she turned her head quickly in the direction of the sound, which the noise had come from only a few feet away. She narrowed her eyes, trying to discern shadow from shadow. A hand clapped over her mouth, silencing her scream as a pair of tawny colored eyes appeared right in front of her.

"Be quiet!" someone hissed, trying to keep their voice down. "It's me, Genrou," the bandit whispered as Christina nodded. "How're you tied up?" he asked quietly, taking his hand slowly off of her lips.

"My wrists are tied together around the tree behind me," she told him, her voice barely above a whisper. He moved his hand from her right shoulder lightly down her right arm, so he could find her wrist in the dark. Christina felt him grab onto her hands and fiddle around the knot, trying to loosen it even the tiniest bit. The ropes slowly started slackening as he expertly pulled and tugged at the bonds.

He carefully pulled the ropes off of her wrists, being cautious not to touch her rope-burned wrists. She rotated her shoulders back from behind her, glad to be free from her bonds. She massaged her shoulders and her wrists. Genrou carefully helped Christina to her feet. Looking behind her, she spotted Nuriko, Hotohori, and Katherine and then absentmindedly dusted the dirt and leaves from the back of her jeans.

She stole a quick glance back at the Mt. Kaou bandits. The blonde one had fallen asleep, still propped up against a tree. Genrou, Christina, Hotohori, Katherine, and Nuriko started to sneak away as quietly as they could. Unfortunately, one of the group accidentally stepped on a stick, not seeing it in the dark. The stick snapped in half, emitting a loud sound. The group froze in their tracks, hoping that the men wouldn't wake.

One bandit, upon hearing the breaking stick, quietly stood up and starting walking towards the tree where Christina was tied to moments before. As he got closer, he realized that the captive was no longer there.

"SHE'S GONE!!!" he hollered at the top of his lungs. The bandits quickly woke up and jumped to their feet. The party from Konan ran off into the forest at top speed. The Mt. Kaou thugs quickly mounted their horses and took off after the group. They ran for miles upon miles, too desperate to put distance between the bandits and themselves to even care where they were going.

After a while, they noticed that the scenery around them was steadily changing. The green foliage that covered the trees soon disappeared, leaving the lifeless plants looking like gnarled claws, protruding out of the ground to devour anyone who would dare walk close enough, the branches of the trees stretched out towards the bunch, their jagged twigs threatening to snatch them. All that could be seen beyond the trees was gray surroundings. The dry dirt below them kicked up a fine dust as they walked over it, hiding their feet from sight.

"Looks like a graveyard," Nuriko whispered. The group huddled closer together, as if ready to fend off from an attack by the trees themselves.

"Where's Genrou?" Katherine whispered, looking around at the daunting landscape. Nuriko and Christina shrugged simultaneously.

Suddenly, the sound of hooves shattering twigs could be heard from all around them. About a dozen horses burst through the trees, surrounding the fellowship. The Mt. Kaou bandits leered at the group, surprised at their luck of not only finding their original captive, but three more along with her.

"Now we can quadruple th' profit!" one yelled excitedly. The men circled in on the group, enclosing them so there was no escape.

Then, unexpectedly, the steed that the man with the dirty-blonde man started to whine. The horse sank into the ground, a whirlpool of dirt burying the stallion and its rider into the earth below. The rest of the men backed away from their comrade's grave, wondering what had happened. Another horse screeched, also sinking into the dirt. Everyone looked down to see rotting hands pulling at the horses' legs. The man riding the horse jumped off, scrambling to escape the vortex of soil. He ran off into the woods, not looking back.

"It's cursed!" the man with the dark hair yelled. The bandits looked around, as if daring one another to be the first to try to escape.

"Give us flesh..." a raspy voice moaned as a corpse rose from the ground. It pulled itself out of the dirt, smiling a half-toothless grin. Putrid flesh dripped from the brown-stained bones. The bandits gave one look at the undead creature, and immediately turned their horses around, riding as fast as they could into the gray forest.

An army of skeletons emerged from the ground, all eyeing the two priestesses and seishi hungrily. Most of the zombies had gaping holes where their eyes should have been, but a few had the remnants of decaying tissue dripping from their eye cavities. They pulled their legs from the ground, their joints popping and cracking loudly.

"We won't let you escape..." they warned, their voices sounding as if their throats were filled with pins and needles.

"We will devour your flesh!" a zombie yelled as it jumped at Hotohori. He unsheathed his sword and slashed at the monster, easily slicing it in half. More fiends appeared from the ground, groaning for victuals. Nuriko, who was wielding an old, dead tree trunk were knocked aside the carcasses, but another zombie suddenly seized his food

"Nuriko!" Hotohori yelled, just as he was grabbed around the neck by another undead monster. He slashed at the thing, desperately trying to breath.

Christina turned around to find herself face-to-face with a zombie. "Holy shit," she gasped as it grabbed hold of her neck. She tried to pull its arm away from her throat as it tightened its grip.

Katherine was knocked to the ground. She looked up to see a bunch of skeletons looming above her. "What the freakin' hell?!" she screamed as she scrambled backwards, trying to escape them.

"REKKA SHINEN!" a voice yelled from the shadows. The zombies above Katherine and Nuriko burst into flames, writhing and screeching in pain. The monsters that were suffocating Hotohori and Christina caught on fire and immediately let go of them, and began dancing around in a vain attempt to extinguish themselves. Piercing the cold night, the monsters' screams and the acrid smell of burning flesh filled the air.

Katherine and Christina looked up to see Genrou, standing on top of a small cliff. More zombies pushed their way through the earth, attempting to take their companion's places.

"I'm comin' in! Get down on th' ground!" Genrou bellowed. Katherine, Christina, Hotohori, and Nuriko quickly obey and jumped to the ground. "REKKA SHINEN!!!" he yelled again. The remaining zombies were ignited from the flames. They groaned, unsuccessfully trying to smother the mass of flames that covered their gray flesh. The monsters fell to the ground as piles of ash. Smoke floated above the dirt, all that remained of the zombies. Genrou put his tessen into the scabbard on his back.

"To tell ya the truth, I wasn't gonna come..." he confessed, "but I figured ya couldn't do this alone. Looks like I was right t' come n' check on you."

"Genrou..." Nuriko mumbled questioningly.

"We talked it over and made Kouji th' new boss. We figure our old boss would forgive us," Genrou informed them.

"Why?" Nuriko inquired.

Genrou walked over to where Christina and Katherine were sitting and knelt down in front of them. "You idiots. Haven't you figured it out yet?" he smirked. "Genrou's my nickname," he said, lifting up his right arm and tugging his sleeve down far enough to show the glowing red character 'wing' on his forearm. "I'm Tasuki. Sorry for trickin' you."

"What...?" Nuriko asked, his jaw slack. He stood up angrily. "Why didn't you tell us that sooner, you moron?!"

The two priestesses just glanced at each other and shrugged, knowing that this would happen. They silently, agreed that Nuriko was scolding the poor bandit enough for the time being.

"Honestly!" Hotohori agreed. "After all the trouble we've been through!"

"Didn't have a choice," Tasuki shrugged, "I had to be th' boss. Our old boss and all the guys wanted me to. Could I have ignored them? But then Kouji and all the guys told me t' get goin'," he explained. Nuriko scowled, still furious that Tasuki had waited so long to reveal his identity

*

The two priestesses and the three seishi rode their horses for about mile until they saw a village in the distance. Approaching the city, they noticed there was an unusual gothic aura coming from it. They crossed the city walls and noticed a few sparse white clouds in the gray sky and several black birds flying away from the deserted town, as if it was too gloomy for even them. The buildings were old and needed much repairing; the dirt roads were hard and cracked. It was still relatively early in the morning, and the seishi wondered if the people of the town had not awakened yet.

"I never would have thought..." Hotohori muttered, disappointed in himself because he had allowed a city in his country go to such ruin in his country.

Looking for some sign of life, Nuriko asked, "Does ANYONE live here?"

"Hey, ya feelin' okay?" Tasuki randomly asked Katherine, noticing that she was becoming slightly pale.

"Yeah, I'm fine...just tired," Katherine replied while yawning.

"Maybe we should all get some rest," Hotohori advised, knowing that it had been a long night for everyone.

Stretching her arms, Christina responded, "Sounds good to me."

Right then they noticed a building that had an old wooden sign hanging off of it that was printed with large, black Chinese characters. "That's a coincidence," Nuriko mumbled when he looked up at the sign that proclaimed 'INN'. The band tied their horses to a nearby post.

They walked into the deserted hotel and up to the counter and stood there for a couple seconds, waiting for someone to wait on them. "Um...excuse me," Katherine politely yelled towards the swinging doors, hoping that someone in the back room would hear her.

A middle-aged man barged through the swinging doors and approached the counter. His black hair was greasy and his chin had a few whiskers on it. "May I help you?" he asked, forcing politeness into his voice.

"Yes, may we have five rooms?" Nuriko answered with a sneer, irritable from the man's rudeness.

Not believing that these newcomers had enough money, the man warned, "That's gonna cost ya."

"Is there any way it could be cheaper?" Katherine asked, not wanting to spend all the money they brought in one day.

"We have one large room with six beds," the owner suggested.

Before any one else could answer, Katherine exclaimed, "We'll take it!"
*

They entered their room to find six beds, an old, rickety table complete with a set of aged chairs, and a lone window on the east side of the room. Faded sunlight streamed through the window, illuminating the dust that floated through the air. Christina looked down at the dust that had been brushed across the floor from merely opening the door. The group walked into the room, their footsteps quieted by the thick layer of filth on the floor.

Before Katherine went to bed, she wanted to tell everyone about the disease, so then they would be on guard for any symptoms. The only problem was she didn't want them to ask how she knew about it. She stood there for a second, contemplating over how she could proceed with this plan. Finally, she decided she would pretend that it was common knowledge and only an idiot wouldn't know about it. "Hey you guys," she said groggily, "I've been hearing rumors that this place has this disease-ish type thing."

Christina, picking up on what Katherine was saying, quickly agreed, "Yeah, I've been hearing the same thing. It starts with a fever, and then you go blind...You've most likely heard it too, since it's been talked about everywhere."

"And then your legs go numb, and you can't walk," Katherine finished, "You've prolly heard this before, but we just wanna make sure."

"Yeah, so make sure you take your Flintstones® Vitamins and everything," Christina warned as she placed her backpack in a corner of the room, along with everyone else's belongings. Even though the beds' dingy white sheets were less than inviting, everyone was thankful to be able to get some sleep.

*

Hotohori felt the sunlight stroke his face. As he slowly awoke, he started to feel the uncomfortable mattress beneath him. He closed his eyes harder, hoping to ignore the sun, begging for a few more minutes of sleep. He opened his eyes slightly as he raised his hand to block out the sun, rising through the window. "Damn sun," he heard Christina mumble. He looked over at the bed next to him to see her flip over, burying her face into her pillow. "We should get up. It's probably around eleven," Hotohori stated. It was evident to both of them that the sun was high and bright.

Christina let out a long sigh and mumbled some words that were inaudible to the emperor. Hotohori sat up in the bed and looked across the room to see the small table with two chairs and beyond it, Tasuki, Nuriko, and Katherine still sound asleep, out of the reach of the sun. He stood up and walked across the room to wake up Katherine. Behind him he heard Christina finally stand up and yawn. Hotohori quietly approached the bed and knelt down by the side of it. He gazed into the resting priestess's face for a moment, noticing that she was slightly pale from lack of sleep. He brushed a strand of hair out of her face, starting to rethink waking her up.

"C'mon lover boy," Christina urged, watching him stare tenderly at her friend's face. She walked over to Tasuki's bed, grumbling to herself about how difficult it will be to wake him up.

"Katherine," the emperor whispered softly. "It's time to wake up." The priestess grumbled and rolled over. Hotohori gently placed his hand on her shoulder and slightly nudged her, not wanting to disturb her too much.

Katherine let out a moan of protest before saying, "Okay...I'm awake." She flopped back over on the other side and opened her eyes. "Hey," she whispered to the shadow that was in front of her, assuming it was Hotohori.

"Hi," Hotohori whispered back, standing up and holding out his hand for her to grab. He saw Katherine's eyes trying to focus and assumed that the bright sun caused her momentary blindness. She felt her way around and walked towards the center of the small room. Hotohori walked over to Nuriko, who was still peacefully resting in his bed.

Katherine desperately tried to make out what was in front of her. She heard Christina yelling at Tasuki to wake up behind her, and slightly laughed at how similar the two were. All of the sudden she found herself sprawled on the hard floor.

"Katherine, what happened?" Hotohori worriedly asked, hearing the 'thud' behind him.

"Princess Grace tripped over a chair," Christina sarcastically replied.

"Ow..." Katherine mumbled as she rubbed her head. "Man! How long did we sleep?! It's like pitch black in here!"

Hotohori and Christina's eyes widened as they turned their head to each other to see if the other one came to the same conclusion. They both looked back at the ill priestess, who was desperately rubbing her eyes. "You've gotta be shitting me," Christina stated.

"What did you say?" Nuriko scolded, still in his bed, as he groggily turned to on his side. He was tired of hearing Christina swear so much.

"What did you think I said? 'Cuz whatever you think, I probably said it," Christina sarcastically replied.

"Shut up," Nuriko said as he flipped over and buried his head in his pillow.

Hotohori walked over to Katherine and helped her up. She brushed the front of her pants, hoping they hadn't gotten too dirty from the grubby floor. She felt Hotohori's warm hand against her forehead. "What are you doing?" she asked curiously, looking up at him.

"You have a slight fever," Hotohori mumbled as he removed his hand from her forehead.

Katherine then felt a second shadow punch her right arm. She took a step back to catch her balance. "You idiot! How could you get sick? Start taking your freakin' vitamin C!!!" Christina scolded.

"Hey! It's kinda hard to get enough vitamin C. This isn't exactly the land of oranges! And, anyways, I didn't mean to get sick!" Katherine shouted back, defending herself.

"Well, it's a huge inconvenience that you did!" Christina shouted back.

"Hey! At least I didn't get kidnapped...again! How many times have you gotten kidnapped? Four?" Katherine replied. She then came to the realization that her friend was slightly like Princess Peach from Mario Brothers. "You're a damsel! You're a damsel! You're a da- Ow!" she chanted as she danced around in circles but suddenly came to a half by accidentally running into Tasuki's bed, causing her to fall on top of the sleeping sei.

"What the fuck?!" Tasuki groggily replied, waking up from the extra hundred pounds suddenly falling on his legs. "What the hell are you doing here?!" he asked, shocked to find the priestess lying across his legs.

"Sorry, my bad," Katherine apologized, standing back up. Christina buried her face in her hand, not believing her friend's stupidity.

*

Katherine and Christina were sitting on Katherine's bed while everyone else was downstairs eating breakfast. Katherine was at the head of the bed lying down with her head resting on her pillow while Christina was sitting Indian- style at the bottom. "So can you see anything?" Christina asked curiously.

"Only shadows," Katherine responded simply, shrugging her shoulders.

"So what are you gonna do about you and Mitsukake?" Christina asked, changing the subject, fidgeting with her hands.

Katherine let out an exasperated sigh, not believing it took her friend so long to acquire some responsibility. "We wouldn't have to have the conversation if we had talked about Mits back at the bandit's place while I was healthy," she replied with a sneer, putting special emphasis on the word 'healthy'.

"Well, sor-ry! How the hell was I supposed to tell that you were gonna get sick?!" Christina said, not knowing what had made Katherine so cynical. Katherine responded with a simple roll of her eyes. She didn't feel like responding to Christina's pointless comments today, since she was feeling worse by the hour. "Anyways, what about Shoka and stuff?" Christina continued, not knowing what to do next.

"Well, we need to at least meet Shoka before we find Mits," Katherine reasoned, knowing that the storyline could fall into chaos if they tried to alter it too much at this point.

"Sounds good to me," Christina agreed, standing up from the bed. "I'm getting hungry. I'm gonna go down for some chow," she continued while holding her stomach.

There was suddenly a soft knock at the door. "Come in!" Katherine called. The door slowly opened to reveal Hotohori carrying a small tray with a plate of food.

"Hello. How are you feeling?" Hotohori asked tenderly, walking up to her bed and placing the food on a small nightstand.

"Oh, by the way, that was Hotohori that just entered," Christina explained to her friend, suddenly remembering that she was blind. "He's carrying a tray of food, and he's prolly gonna feed it to you. I'm now gonna leave you two alone...I'm walking towards the door," she said condescendingly. Katherine held her face in her hand, not believing her friend was treating her like a child. "I'm now opening the door...I'm now leaving..." she continued as she stepped out into the hallway.

"I may be blind, but I'm not a moron!!!" Katherine shouted just before Christina closed the door.

"Well, fine then! I hate you!" Christina yelled, slamming the door.

"I hate you too!" Katherine hollered at the closed door.

"Is everything okay between you and Christina?" Hotohori asked while pulling up a chair by Katherine's bed, concerned about their friendship.

"Yeah, don't worry about we say that to each other all the time. It's kinda like a joke between us," Katherine explained, sitting up and resting her back on the headboard.

Suddenly the door opened again and Christina poked her head in. "I'm leaving you for good!"

"Good! I don't need you!" Katherine shouted back just before the door closed once again.

Then the door opened once again. "You don't know what you're missing!" Christina yelled as fake tears formed in her eyes.

"I know it ain't good!" Katherine screamed.

Christina took a deep shivering breath and bit her bottom lip, as if she was about to cry. "You're right it's not good...it's GREAT!" she hollered back and slammed the door once again.

Katherine rolled her eyes, realizing she would have to be the one to end the pretend fight, since her friend wasn't going to shut up. She looked over at Hotohori's shadow. "Anyways..." she said cheerfully, knowing that her conversation with Christina might have disturbed him.

Hotohori glanced over at Katherine, then at the door, wondering what just happened. He decided to turn his focus back to the tray of food he brought up. "I thought you may be hungry, so I brought up a tray of food for you," he explained as he put the tray of food on her lap. He watched her eyes trying to focus on what was on the tray and bit his bottom lip, not knowing how to help.

After a few seconds Katherine looked away, ashamed of herself. She knew that the meal most likely involved chopsticks, which she couldn't even use when she wasn't blind. "Um...I'm not very hungry," she mumbled, pushing the tray away from her.

Hotohori knew Katherine wouldn't like someone feeding her, being the independent person she was, but she had to eat anyways. He took the chopsticks in his right hand and picked up a couple of the noodles up. "Do you mind?" he politely asked.

"O...kay..." she answered nervously. She opened her mouth and tasted the noodles on her tongue. As the wooden chopsticks slipped from her lips, she let out a soft chuckle. She covered her mouth as she continued to laugh. "Sorry, this is just kinda weird..." she explained.

"I guess you have a point," Hotohori agreed, slightly laughing.

"Here, I have a better idea," Katherine said. She delicately picked up a couple noodles with her fingers and tilted her head back as she dropped them in her mouth. She wished she could see Hotohori's reaction to her discourteous way of eating. She could only imagine his golden eyes widening in shock, but, instead, she heard him softly laughing. "Why don't you join me?" she asked.

His laughter quickly came to a halt. "Okay..." he answered uneasily. He looked at the plate of food for a second, as if he was about to commit a crime.

"C'mon, no one's watching," she encouraged. She watched the shadow of his hand move slowly towards the plate and pick up a noodle. She anxiously bit her lip, knowing that if he did this it would be defying all the chivalrous rules he had learned since he was a child; yet, at the same time, it would show that he was more than just an emperor.

He dropped the noodle in his mouth as a smile grew on Katherine's face.

*

Nuriko was walking down the hallway, approaching his room. He was sent upstairs to tell Hotohori and Katherine that they were going to find the person who could supposedly bring the people back to life, hoping that he could cure Katherine too. He pushed the plain wooden door open. His thoughts suddenly came to a standstill when he found the emperor eating noodles with his fingers. Katherine and Hotohori both, obviously, had not noticed him, since they continued to eat like barbarians. Nuriko leaned on the door frame, watching them for a second or two more and then decided he'd seen enough of their rude behavior. "What are you two doing!?" Nuriko asked incredulously.

Katherine and Hotohori immediately stopped eating and turned to look at Nuriko with guilty looks on their faces. Hotohori swallowed the piece of food he was chewing and stood up. "Nuriko," he greeted with a simple bow of the head, trying to use excessive courtesy to make up for what the sei had just seen.

"I just wanted to tell you two that we will be setting out to find that person we heard about, maybe he could do something for Katherine. We will meet you downstairs when you are ready to leave," Nuriko explained. He turned around and walked out the door.

"Are you going to be okay while we find the doctor?" Hotohori asked Katherine while removing the tray of food from her lap.

"I hope you don't mean that I'm not going with you?" Katherine answered as she swung her legs to the side of the bed.

"Katherine..." he advised in an authoritative voice, knowing that she should get her rest.

"Aww...c'mon, I'll be just fine," she replied as she stood up and stretched. Hotohori knew that once Katherine made up her mind about something, it would be extremely difficult to get her to change it, so he gave in.

*

"Okay, those two are coming home right now!" Joan decided. She didn't want Katherine or Christina in Konan any longer. Joan knew Katherine had now truly fallen in love with Hotohori, that it wasn't just a fangirl crush anymore, but she knew that they needed to come home. It would be for the best. Whether the Suzaku Seven were cartoons in an anime or characters in a book, they were still two-dimensional, and not real. "I know Katherine and I fight a lot, but she's still my sister!" she yelled, almost as if trying to explain everything to Diana.

Joan knew that it would rip Katherine and Christina apart, being torn from the fantasy world they so longed for, but she knew that the longer they stayed, the harder it would be to leave. Joan wanted Katherine out of Konan as soon as possible, and she knew Diana was thinking along the same lines.

"I understand what you mean," Diana agreed, trying to calm Joan down, "but this is something she won't give up. We know - she knows - it's insanely dangerous, but you know as well as I do that that doesn't matter to her anymore. She's got to see this through, now."

"She'd never choose to leave Hotohori," Joan reasoned. She stood up and jammed her right hand into the pocket of her jeans, looking for her connection to Christina and Katherine. Once she had fished the money out of her pocket, she sat back down and held it in front of her face.

"Katherine?" she called into the green paper. "Christina?"

*

The two priestesses and three seishi walked out of the lifeless forest and into the deserted city. Hotohori took Katherine's hand to help guide her throughout the city. "Doesn't anyone live here?" Tasuki sarcastically asked as they looked around for some sign of human life. They walked down one of the dirt roads and saw three black crows fly off into the distance.

"This is just like a slasher movie," Christina commented, looking around the city, half- expecting to find an axe-murderer jumping out of some random corner. Behind them a wooden cart pulled by a couple peasants turned a sharp corner, causing Christina to quickly turn her head to see what was making such a loud noise.

"Get out of the way!" one of the peasants yelled, racing past the stunned seishi. The group saw a young man on top of the cart, motionless and pale.

"We need to follow that cart!" Christina shouted, and began chasing it, knowing that it would lead them to Shoka. The seishi looked at each other for a second or two, wondering why they needed to pursue a pushcart.

"Come on you guys!" Katherine shouted as she started to run, following Christina's shadow.

"Katherine! You shouldn't be running!" Hotohori called, sprinting after her. Nuriko and Tasuki had no choice but to follow as they jogged down the street.

Christina finally reached the cart's destination, a run-down building, and approached it cautiously. She cautiously walked inside to find the dead man they had seen on the cart now in a bed. Hovering over him was a woman, who looked like she was in her late teens. She had long, dirty-blonde hair and was wearing a blue dress and a pink shawl. She heard Katherine, who was gasping for air, stop behind her, soon followed by Hotohori.

"Are you okay?" Hotohori tenderly asked Katherine, rubbing her back, hoping it would give her some relief. She nodded her head in response as she caught her breath. Christina and the couple took a couple steps inside, followed by Nuriko and Tasuki.

Christina pulled Katherine over to the side, murmuring so no one else would hear. "I think we found Shoka," she whispered as she pointed to the woman in the blue dress.

Katherine's eyes focused on the long shadow of her friend's arm. She followed it to the large silhouette that she assumed to be a woman's. "Okay," she quietly confirmed.

Tasuki watched in awe as the young woman bent down and kissed the dead man on the lips. As she backed away, Tasuki saw the once dead man move slightly and open his eyes. "What the hell?" he muttered in disbelief.

"What could have..." Hotohori mumbled watching the same spectacle as Tasuki. He looked over at one of the people who had been pulling the cart in question.

"It's been terrible this past month. A mysterious plague has spread throughout the community," an elderly man with a white beard started to explain. "It starts with a fever, then partial paralysis, and some even go blind. Some say it's a curse brought on by a demon, so medicine is useless against it. Our Miss Shoka cannot cure it either, but she can revive the dead and fully restore them to health. It would be better to die and be revived, than to writhe in pain from the disease."

"So there is nothing we can do about Katherine..." Nuriko mumbled under his breath.

"Isn't there any other doctor in this town?" Hotohori desperately asked the elderly man.

"I am terribly sorry, but all the doctors left awhile ago. All of those who remain here would leave, but we do not have enough money. However, there is a hermit that lives outside of the city borders; some believe that he may have some experience in medicine."

The three seishi and the two priestesses walked outside to discuss their current situation. "I think we should go find this hermit," Katherine said, knowing that the hermit was Mitsukake, the sixth constellation of Suzaku.

"Works for me," Christina replied while shrugging.

"Then it is settled," Hotohori agreed, taking Katherine's hand, guiding her down the street.

"Don't we get a say in anything?" Tasuki whispered to Nuriko as they trailed behind the three leaders.

"Do you have any better ideas?" Nuriko sarcastically replied, turning to the bandit.

"Well...no...but-" he started, but was cut off by Nuriko.

"Then don't complain," Nuriko advised. Tasuki just looked at the sei for a second, dumbfounded, and then looked down at his feet, grumbling to himself.

Katherine was leaning on Hotohori's arm, contemplating their options concerning Mitsukake. She suddenly felt a numbing pain in her legs, and abruptly stopped walking. Hotohori turned to her and gently grasped her shoulders. She looked down, becoming slightly dizzy "Katherine, can you hear me?!" Hotohori worriedly asked, seeing the dazed look on her face.

"Katherine, what's wrong?" Christina wondered, turning to her friend. Katherine just stood silent for a moment before collapsing into Hotohori's arms.

To Be Continued...