Call and Answer
By Chikara and Kimura

Disclaimer: Blah, blah, blah, we don't own any of these characters, blah blah blah.

Kimura paused her video game and picked up the ringing telephone. “Hello?”

“Hi, it’s me,” Kouri said.

“Hi. What’s up?”

“Actually, I called about Chikara.”

“Ummm, ok. What about her?”

“She’s missing.”

“What?”

“She’s been gone for three days now. Her family has no idea where she is.”

Kimura could hear the rising panic in her friend’s voice. “Are the police involved?”

“I think her parents are calling them today. I’m going out of my mind trying to think where she could have gone. She would’ve told me if she was gonna do something stupid like run away.”

“When did you last see her?”

“She came over my house to work on the site Thursday.”

It was Sunday.

“Do you want me to just come over?” Kimura asked.

“Yes!”

“Okay. I’ll be over in a few minutes.”

“Okay. Bye.”

“Bye.” Kimura hung up the phone and turned off the PlayStation. She went upstairs and told her mom where she’d be going. Then she grabbed her purse and her keys and jumped into her car. Within minutes, she was at her friend’s door.

Her older sister, Yume, answered. “Hi. Kouri’s been a little stressed.”

“So I heard,” Kimura said, coming inside.

“She’s upstairs,” Yume told her.

“Thanks,” Kimura said, climbing the stairs. Kouri was sitting at the computer, staring at the screen. “Whatcha doing?” Kimura asked, sitting down in the chair next to hers.

“Checking my e-mail to see if she left me a message. Again,” Kouri answered a little absently.

“And how many times have you done this today?”

“Too many. I lost count.”

“Oh. You know, that probably won’t help much.”

“I know. But there isn’t anything else I can do.” She sighed, logging off the internet. “I feel so helpless. What if she’s in trouble?”

“Leave that for the police,” Kimura said gently. “You’re just gonna drive yourself crazy by repeatedly checking your e-mail and wracking your brain for possible clues.”

“If I sit here and do nothing, I’ll go crazy anyway!”

Kimura sighed, then saw something on the desk. “Isn’t that Chikara’s folder?”

“Yeah. I looked in it already. There’s no clues or notes or anything in it.” Kouri sighed, then got up and left the room. “I need a tissue. I’ll be right back.”

Kimura sighed, feeling as helpless as Kouri. Out of curiosity, she picked up Chikara’s folder and flipped it open.

She shielded her eyes and a brilliant red light emanated from the pages. “What the hell?!” If possible, the light became brighter and enveloped her.

When Kouri came back into the room, it was completely empty.

~~~

Chikara stood up slowly from sitting on the floor. The man that had come to her room repeatedly for the past two days was now standing there again. Everyday it was the same thing. She would get up, leave with the blue-haired man, and do whatever he or any of his friends told her to do. She knew exactly who they were, but was reluctant to tell them anything.

The man was a bit taller than she was. A lot of people were shorter than her; most of her friends were. But this man had a scar on his face. She remembered someone talking about it, but couldn’t remember where it came from. Noticing the girl’s silence, the man started up a conversation.

“You’re very quiet, is there anything wrong? ... Of course not, I love it here.”

Chikara rolled her eyes as he continued to talk to himself. He rarely ever let her get a word in, so she just let him talk.

As they walked down a dimly lit hallway that chilly morning, Chikara thought about how she got there. It began when she was at her friend Kouri’s house. She came there right after her last final to work on some things, but Kouri wasn’t home yet. Her mother let her in anyway, and she went up to the computer room and sat down. Without making anyone angry at her, she decided to sit patiently and wait for her to come home.

Her folder sat on her lap, calling to her. In that folder she kept many things: pictures of her friends, little stories that she wrote, and pictures of her favorite anime characters. She had nothing better to do, so for the billionth time in a month she opened it up and peered inside at the things she had collected. Something strange began to happen and the room filled up with a red light, and before she knew it she was outside.

Things around her were different and she had no idea where she was. Before she could think about anything to do or where to go, she heard voices and before long, a group of men came and grabbed her. She didn’t know what was going, and didn’t realize where she was until she was finally able to look at her kidnappers. They were two guys, not much older than she was. They were both equally good looking, one with blue hair and a scar, the other with red hair and a loud mouth.

She didn’t resist as they took her through the woods and into the mountains. Finally they brought her into their “hideaway.” Chikara was very surprised when they didn’t try to hurt her. From the setting she couldn’t tell if it was pre-Suzaku no Miko or not. She thought it best not think about it to much, or to say anything that could get her into a lot of trouble.

“You’re not listening to me, are you? ... No, I’m too busy daydreaming.”

Chikara looked up at the pathetic man.

“Sometimes you are really stupid. Do you know that that is getting old?”

The man smiled down at her, keeping his pace and eyes on his task. “What are you talking about?”

Chikara was getting irritated. “Stop talking to yourself! Sure it was cute when I first got here, but it is really bothering me!”

The man shook his head and grabbed her arm. “Come on, you’re going to work outside today.”

“What?” Chikara asked.

“Don’t worry, it isn’t much. Just digging and things like that. Nothing you can’t handle.” he answered back.

He pushed open a door and forced her outside. She stood there looking around, and then turned, noticing the great view of the land from the top of the mountain.

“Wow . . . look at how far you can see things.”

He laughed, having seen the same sight everyday for years. “It’s called Konan.”

Without thinking Chikara spoke. “Yeah, and Hotohori was the emperor.”

“What?”

Chikara put her hand over her mouth. “I didn’t say anything.”

“Enough of this,” he snapped. “Get to work.”

He plopped himself comfortably down on a boulder and started eating an apple. He watched her as she dug in the dirt.

“So what is this for anyway?” she questioned.

“Nothing much. Just want to see you work. Plus, it’s a nice day, and this gave me a reason to come outside.”

Chikara gave the man an evil look, then sat down on the ground refusing to do anymore work unless it had a purpose.

“You’re such a pain in the ass.”

Chikara just smirked at him. “Well, maybe I will get back to work, if you tell me your name.”

He smiled at her. “You tell me yours first.”

Chikara whispered to herself. “Typical.” She leaned back on her elbows. “My name is Chikara.”

The man lowered his head, as if to say hello silently.

"Well, what is yours?”

“Kouji,” he answered, throwing the core of the apple at a hole in a tree. “Now, you said if I told you my name, you would get back to work.”

Chikara stood up. “Fine . . .” She stood and brushed the dirt off, getting back to what she was doing, as Kouji laid back on the boulder and continued to watch her.

~~~

Kimura looked around at her new surroundings. She was in an unfamiliar forest. She looked up at the trees and shivered, wondering where she was and how the hell she got there.

“Hello?” she called out nervously. “Is anyone there?” Her own voice sounded strange to her, strained and high-pitched. Her heart quickened. She was lost and completely alone. “Kouri?” After a moment of hesitation, she called out, “Chikara?”

No one answered her except the wind. She shivered again, wishing she was wearing warmer clothes.

Great. I don’t even know which direction it is to civilization, she thought. She decided to head in one direction and mark her trail. There isn’t much else I can do. She walked on, feeling very lonely.

How the hell did I get here? What was that red light? Suzaku . . . ? She shook her head violently. Don’t be stupid, Kimura. This isn’t one of your fantasies. She pinched herself hard, just to make sure. Not dreaming. Damn. She sighed as her stomach growled.

She looked up at the sky, trying to determine what time it was. Her watch had stopped when she arrived. She nearly screamed out loud when she saw a thin stream of smoke in the sky.

“Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.” And where there’s fire, there’s people! She started running towards the smoke. The thud of her feet masked the sound of someone approaching.

Abruptly she tripped over a rope that was hidden in the grass. Kimura hit the ground with a thump and heard a crash behind her. When she rolled over onto her stomach, she saw a board with sharp spikes on it swinging straight for her head.

Kimura screamed, frozen with fear.

“Get outta the way!” a new voice shouted.

A figure ran in front of her, scooping her into his arms and pulling her to safety. Everything had happened so fast that she had barely seen it all. Scared half to death, her heart still pounding, she looked up at her rescuer.

“You okay?” the stranger asked her.

Kimura fainted, having recognized the face.

~~~

Chikara dropped her working tools on the ground and looked over at Kouji who was still staring at her.

“Am I done now? I can smell something cooking.”

He jumped off the rock and leaned back, stretching his arms in the air.

"Yeah, I think we’re done for now. I’m hungry myself and you can serve me my food.”

Chikara just shook her head at his comment.

Kouji laughed at himself and looked around. “So, where do you want to eat together?” he asked politely.

“Why don’t we eat, and decide when we get it?” she answered quickly.

"Why are you so cranky?” he shot back. He paused and thought for a moment. “You don’t have that thing that only women get do you?”

Chikara waved her hand at him as she started walking towards the smell of food.

He ran to catch up to her.

“So where is your friend?” Chikara had nothing better to do than start a conversation.

Kouji simply shrugged his shoulders as he grabbed her arm forcefully. “Come on, you . . .” He stopped talking when he heard something coming towards him from the woods. He got down on his knees and pulled Chikara down with him.

“What are you doing?!” she screamed at him.

He put his hand over her mouth and pushed her to the ground. “Will you shut up!”

From her position on the ground she could only see things about a foot in front of her and no more than an inch or two high. A pair shoes was soon in front of her. She turned her head up towards the sky, trying to see who was standing in front of her.

Kouji jumped up and looked directly at Tasuki. Noticing that Chikara was still on the ground he bent down and pulled her up to her feet. She crossed her arms over her chest and looked away from the both of them.

“Where did you pick up that one?” Kouji asked Tasuki.

“These fucking women just keep dropping in.”

Chikara turned back quickly and looked into the arms of Tasuki. There she saw her friend Kimura.

“Oh my god! Where, how, but . . . I don’t get it.”

Tasuki looked at Chikara. “You know her?” he asked.

Chikara glanced over at Kouji, silently asking him if it was ok if she spoke. He nodded and she opened her mouth once again.

“She’s one of my friends back home. I don’t know how she could have gotten here though. I was just looking through my notebook and . . . wait a minute.”

Kouji raised his eyebrow. “Notebook? What are you talking about? Maybe I made you work too hard. You need to eat something.” He grabbed her arm and started pulling her in the other direction as Tasuki carried Kimura inside.

Chikara tried to escape, but Kouji was much stronger than she was.

“NO! You can’t do this!” she screamed.

His only response was picking her up and tossing her over his shoulder.

“KOUJI! Let me go!”

“Suddenly you start to complain. You’ve been here for three days, and haven’t once had a problem. Now, I don’t know what’s gotten into you.” He dropped her onto the ground and sat beside her. “What the hell is your problem?”

She glared at him and tried to stand up, but he grabbed the end of her shirt and pulled her back down. “You not going anywhere.”

“I noticed that,” Chikara sarcastically answered.

She turned herself around and kept her back to him.

“It’s because I wouldn’t let you stay with your friend, isn’t it?”

“Oh, you're real quick.”

“Don’t worry, nothing is going to happen to her. Genrou is with her.”

“Somehow that doesn’t help much.”

Kouji put his hand on her shoulder. “Come on, we’ll get something to eat. Then, I’ll let you see her, ok?”

Chikara thought about it for a moment. “Fine.”

She stood up again, and he with her. They walked over to where the men had already attacked the food. Kouji pushed a few men aside and ushered Chikara in to get some food, patiently waiting for her to finish before he made his way into the mess.

~~~

Kouji, as he promised, took Chikara to see Kimura. They left the men, who were now biting into bones, trying to eat everything that was still in sight. He led her into the same door that Tasuki had taken her friend, and they walked down a long corridor.

“You are taking me to see her, aren’t you?” she questioned softly.

“Why would I go back on my word?” He said it so quietly, and sweetly that she stopped in mid-step and looked up at him. He stopped and looked down at her, waiting for her to speak.

“Kouji, I’m sorry. I should have known that you wouldn’t lie.”

He slowly, with his hand, moved a piece of hair that had fallen in front of Chikara’s face.

She could feel her heart racing. What am I doing? What is he doing? She couldn’t talk as she felt the breath escape from her lungs, and no matter how hard she tried, she was unable to breathe any more in.

After a few moments of staring at each other, Chikara quickly looked away. “So what room is she in, do you know?”

Kouji put his hand on Chikara’s shoulder. “Chikara . . .”

It was the first time that he said her name. She could feel her hands shaking, and thought that she was going to drop to the floor anytime. Why am I feeling like this? No, I am going to ignore this.

Kouji continued with his words. “Your friend is in the room next to yours. Or she should be there anyway.”

“Is Genrou there? With her, I mean?”

“He might be. I don’t know, sometimes he talks with his prisoners, sometimes he doesn’t. He treats his captives different than I do.”

Kouji and Chikara stopped in front of a door that was one down from Chikara’s. When he knocked on it, he didn’t wait for anyone from inside to speak before he did.

“Hello, Kouji here! . . . Oh, Kouji! Come on in. . . . Don’t mind if I do.”

For the millionth time since she had been with him she shook her head in disgust.

Kouji opened the door and softly pushed Chikara inside, closing the door behind him. Tasuki was not in the room.

Kimura sat up in her bed quickly. “CHIKARA?!”

“Kimura!” Chikara went to her friend’s side. “Are you okay?”

Kimura was eyeing Kouji nervously. She opened her mouth to say something, but Chikara cut her off.

“Kouji, you aren’t interested in girl talk. Can we please have a minute alone?”

Kouji sighed, muttered something sarcastic about women in general, and left the room, standing guard at the door.

“Chikara, what the hell is going on?! Th-that . . . that was . . .”

“Kouji,” Chikara finished for her stuttering friend. “I’m not exactly sure why we’re here, but we are. And they are real. And I haven’t told them anything.”

Kimura blinked. “Why not?”

“I dunno . . . I think it’s safer this way.”

“So . . . what’s been happening since you arrived?”

“I’ve pretty much been his personal servant.”

“Oh. Great.”

“Tasuki’ll probably do the same to you.”

“This is getting better by the minute.” Kimura shook her head. “I want to tell him everything --”

“Don’t. About the worst thing you could do right now is glomp onto him.”

Kimura sighed, knowing that keeping her feelings bottled up wouldn’t be easy. She didn’t have much practice at it. “I know. I don’t want to scare him. I’ll be good.”

“For now, I figure we do what they want and get them to trust us because they sure as hell don’t now. And don’t freak out when you see Tasuki, okay?”

Kimura nodded.

“By the way, are you okay? I saw him carrying you in.”

Kimura blushed. “I nearly got killed by one of their booby traps. When I saw who had saved me . . . I kinda just . . . blacked out. I’m okay now, though.”

There was a knock on the door.

“Who is it? It’s Kouji, come to collect his slave. Good idea, women should never have too much time to talk to each other. Please, come in. Arigatou.”

“Oh my God,” Kimura muttered. “He really does that.”

Chikara smiled at her and said, “You have no idea how annoying it really is. He does it all day long.” Kouji walked in and grabbed her arm. “Not so hard, you idiot!” she cried as he pulled her out the door, slamming it after them.

Kimura looked around the room nervously. Now what?

A minute later, the door opened again and Tasuki came in silently.

Kimura caught her breath, trying not to stare at him. Her heart quickened instantly. Oh my God, he’s even better-looking in real life! she thought.

“Are you hurt?” he asked roughly.

“No, I’m all right.”

“Hungry? Thirsty?”

She shook her head.

“Good.” In a blur of motion, he yanked the cover back from her and pulled her to her feet.

“Hey!” she started to protest. A glare from his amber eyes silenced her. A little frightened, she let herself be led rather coarsely to another room.

Kimura’s eyes widened in shock at the mess. Sake bottles littered the room, as well as other trash. The bed was unmade and a layer of dust covered everything. Without thinking she blurted out, “What the hell happened in here?! A hurricane?!”

“That’s for me to know, wench, and you to shut up about,” Tasuki snapped, pulling a chair into the doorway, dusting it off, and sitting down. “There’s a broom in the corner. Get started.”

~~~

Chikara forced Kouji’s gripping hand off her arm.

“What do you think you’re doing?!”

She pushed him into the wall. “That was a little abrupt, don’t you think?”

He simply smiled back at her. “Do you think I wanted to be around if Genrou found you two together?” he replied.

Chikara turned her back to him. “It doesn’t matter to me. I wouldn’t have cared.”

“You don’t care about anything do you?”

“What are you talking about? So, now what are you going to make me do? Cut down a few trees, channel a river, build a city?” she asked sarcastically.

“If I knew that you could, sure . . . but I doubt that you could do any of those. So, for now . . . Let’s just keep you by my side.”

“Oh, there’s the biggest thrill of my life.”

He grabbed her hand and practically dragged her down the hall. “You know it.”

“You arrogant son of a --”

She stopped talking when she noticed that he wasn’t listening to her. Instead he looked out the window and down the mountain. Far in the distance there was a stream of black smoke rising into the sky. Chikara stood by Kouji’s side as she looked on. “What happened?” she asked.

“I don’t know. I think I should send someone down there to find out.”

“Is it going to be me?” she questioned, fearing the answer might be yes.

“If I knew that it was safe, I would send you . . . but this could be dangerous, I can’t have you going down there and getting hurt. I need you here.”

Chikara turned her head and looked up at Kouji. “Why do you want me here, so I can clean this whole place, and dig holes, and do nothing work all day?”

“Do you think that is all you do? Nothing but work?”

“Well, why the hell was I digging some random hole then? What was that all about?”

“Oh, that was nothing. I just wanted to watch you dig.”

“Just wanted to watch . . . Never mind. . . I give up.” She stepped back from the window.

He turned around and looked at her. “Do you want to go back to your room?”

“No.”

“Then what is your problem?”

“There is no problem.” She stepped back into the wall, almost afraid of her feelings. She didn’t know what to do. Her favorite was Tamahome, what was she doing thinking these things about Kouji? If she could just keep her focus on what was going on, maybe she could handle things.

He put out his hand to her. “Come on, let’s go do something. I’m sure I can find something for us to do.”

She just looked at his hand, as a million thoughts swarmed in her mind. She should take it, shouldn’t she? AHHH! What was she going to do?

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath . . . grabbing his hand. She felt his close his around hers, and felt the warmth from his.

“Outside, or in?” she asked.

“I was thinking inside. You’ve been out long enough today.”

He took her the other way and led her to a room. It must have been someone’s bedroom. It was clean, but somehow dirty. Maybe it just needed some good scrubbing. The bed was half made, the curtains were closed blocking out the sun. There was a shelf type thing, but it was littered with weapons: knives, daggers, and other assorted goods.

There was a wooden chair and a small wooden table in the corner, with only a sword lying across it. The sword was the only thing in the room that was clean, as the rays of light from the sun made it glow. It was the first thing that attracted her attention when she walked in.

Chikara looked around, and then at Kouji. “Who’s room was this?” she asked him.

“It’s mine,” he told her.

“Yours?” She paused. “What are we going to do in here?”

“Clean . . . there are a couple of buckets of soap water, and some rags over there. I’ll help with this job.”

“What are we cleaning?”

“The floor, the walls . . whatever looks dirty.”

Chikara pulled up her sleeves and picked up a rag and dunked it into the warm sudsy water. “I guess I’ll do the floor,” she told him.

She pushed the rag onto the floor and started scrubbing, watching as the grime slowly disappeared.

Kouji began on the wall next to her.

“How long ago did you last clean your room?” Chikara asked.

“I don’t think I ever did.”

“That explains a lot.”

He laughed. “But now, I will have the cleanest room in the whole place.”

“That’s something to be proud of.”

As Kouji pulled his rag out of the water and up to the wall, a stream of water fell from it, right in Chikara’s lap.

“Kouji!” she laughed out.

He looked down at her lap, and started cracking up.

Chikara put her rag in the bucket, then threw it at Kouji. As he caught it with his left hand, a splash of water flew at him, getting him almost completely soaked.

Kouji squeezed out the rest of the water from his rag over Chikara’s head.

She backed away and stood at the end of his bed. “Now, you’re going to get it.”

“What are you going to do to me?” he challenged her.

She grinned at him, and walked slowly back. She quickly picked up one of the buckets and held it in her arms pointing it at Kouji.

He put his hands on his waist and smiled at her. “Pretty good, but you’re not going to get that far.”

“What are you talking about? You lost, you know it.”

“I don’t know the meaning of the word lose.”

He bent down quickly and picked up the other bucket.

“What are you doing?!” Chikara shrieked.

“I’m going to throw this water at you.”

“Not if I get you first.”

“That won’t happen.” he answered confidently.

And with that he emptied the bucket of water on her. She stood there for a moment dumbfounded. Then decided since she was wet, that he might as well get wet too. She threw her water at him, and he was soaked with her.

“I can’t believe you had the guts,” he told her.

She bent down and picked up her rag, which was still wet. He took it from her hand, and pushed it in her face. She moved her hands in front of her, blinded, trying to grab him and eventually did. She pulled the rag out of her face, and pushed him gently away from her.

She walked around to the other side of the bed. He walked over, and watched her carefully, ready to grab her whenever she moved. She didn’t move, and he walked on top of the bed and grabbed her. She tried to squirm away, but it didn’t work.

He held her in his arms as he fell back onto the bed. They both laughed as she turned and laid on her back, he followed and was now above her. She stopped laughing and looked into his eyes. He stopped and looked down at her.

Chikara knew what was going to happen, and closed her eyes. Soon afterwards feeling his warm lips on hers, and his arms around her tightly. So this was what was happening the past few days. Should I let it continue? I know that I can’t stay here . . . I’m from a different world. Maybe after today, I‘ll just act like it never happened.

Kouji moved his mouth away after tasting hers. He sat up and pulled Chikara with him. She stood from the bed and forced a smile.

“Can I go to my room now? I’m really tired.”

He looked at her and smiled back. “Yeah, we’ve had a busy day.”

As she turned to walk out of the room, Kouji stood and grabbed her arm. He turned her around and kissed her again. Soon after he opened the door for her, and walked her to her room, where he held her hand all the way. It almost seemed that he had to force his hand from hers as he let her in her room, and lock the door behind her.

Chikara walked over to the window and looked out at the town on the other side of the mountain. They were all so beautiful. She smiled, and laughed giddily to herself, putting the tips of her fingers to her mouth, touching where his once was.

~~~

Kimura sank down onto her bed after a long day of cleaning. Immediately, she burst into frustrated tears.

“This isn’t how it’s supposed to be!” she shouted to nobody. “This isn’t FAIR!”

Tasuki had barely said a word to her all day. He had thrown the occasional sarcastic remark her way and was always happy to point out a spot she’d missed.

He never even thanked her for cleaning his room.

“AHO!” she yelled. “Jerk! Son of a bitch! I fucking HATE cleaning!”

She was a prisoner, forced to do whatever he wanted. He didn’t care about her. She was just a servant to him.

“No,” she wept into the pillow. “No, it can’t be this way.” He was supposed to love her, the way she loved him. He was supposed to be kind to her. He was supposed to protect her.

Maybe that’s just not who he is, she thought. Maybe I’ve been wrong all this time.

“No, he can be kind. He just wouldn’t to a servant.” A new wave of sobs washed over her. He doesn’t even care how I got here! He just doesn’t CARE!

“NOOO!” she screamed at the walls. She sat up and looked around the room, breathing hard. I need something to throw, something to break. Seeing nothing else, she removed one of her sandals and threw it across the room.

She didn’t feel any better.

Much to her horror, the door to her room opened.

“What the fuck is going in here?” Tasuki asked indelicately.

Kimura just stared. She knew she must look a mess. She had no idea what to say.

Tasuki’s face softened somewhat and he came into the room, closing the door behind himself. “Are you okay?”

She turned away angrily. “What do you care?” After a minute, she felt him sit next to her on the bed.

“Why are you crying?” he asked with surprising gentleness.

Kimura was struck speechless. He actually cares that I’m upset? She opened her mouth to speak, then shut it again. How can I tell him without letting him know how I really feel?

“Listen, maybe I was a little hard on you today. I didn’t know I’d upset you. You can just take it easy tomorrow, okay?”

“Th-thanks,” she whispered.

He stood and headed for the door. She turned to look at him, wanting to stop him and say something, anything.

He paused before opening the door. “You did good today.” With that, he opened the door and left, locking it behind him.

Kimura laid back down on the bed, fresh tears starting. Only this time, the tears were for a very different reason.

~~~

Kimura was awakened the next morning by a light knock on her door.

“Come in,” she called, wondering who it was. Tasuki hadn’t bothered to knock before.

“Brought you some breakfast,” Tasuki said, entering and again shocking Kimura beyond belief.

What is with this guy? she wondered. One minute, he treats me like the scum of the earth, the next minute it’s like I’m an honored guest.

He set down the tray of food on the small table next to the bed. It smelled delicious.

“You be all right if I leave you alone for a while?” he asked.

Kimura simply nodded, having lost the ability to speak.

“Okay. I’ll see you later then,” he said, heading for the door.

“Wait!” she cried out, remembering not to use his name just in time.

He stopped and turned back to her. “Yeah?”

“What’s your name?”

He smirked and Kimura nearly fell out of bed. “Genrou.”

Shit. It’s gonna be hard to call him that instead of Tasuki.

“And you are?”

“Kimura.”

He nodded, satisfied, and left the room.

~~~

Chikara woke up on the shaggy rug in Kouri’s computer room. She sat up, fear stricken, and looked around.

“No way,” she whispered to herself.

The room was pitch black, and she staggered to the lamp and found the switch. The light came on, and she went over to the small clock in the corner of the room. The hands said that it was only 3:30.

“3:30!” she said a bit too loud.

She turned all of a sudden to find her folder.

“Where is it?” she asked herself.

She tackled the mess of papers on the desk, but it wasn’t there. When she looked on the floor, she found her folder, and picked it up, hugging it to her chest. But when she opened it, there was nothing inside. In a panic, she looked around for her things . . . they were scattered in hundreds of pieces all over the floor.

Chikara could feel the tears form in her eyes. She couldn’t leave now. Not after what was going on between her and Kouji. And what about Kimura? How would she get back?

“NO!” she screamed. “NO! NO!”

She slammed her fists into the floor. Within seconds someone was opening the door to the room. Chikara tensed up, hoping that she wouldn’t get into major trouble.

In walked her friend Kouri. Kouri’s face lit up, and she tackled her friend. “Chikara!”

“Kouri . . . is Kimura here?” Chikara asked, trying to pry Kouri off her.

She just looked at her. “No, she’s been gone for a day now. Do you know where she is?”

Chikara stood up, picking up a few pieces of paper with her, and looking at them.

“Yes, I know where she is,” Chikara said.

Kouri grabbed Chikara’s shoulders. “Tell me . . . was she with you?”

Chikara looked down her papers. They were actually pictures of Kouji and Tamahome.

“And Tasuki . . .” Chikara answered.

Kouri didn’t understand.

“We’re in the story. I live with Kouji, and Kimura just got there.”

“What are you talking about?!” Kouri yelled.

“LISTEN! Fushigi Yuugi . . . Kimura and I are there, in the book world, with Kouji and Tasuki. They don’t know who we are . . . well sorta. That’s were I’ve been the past week. And now Kimura is there too. Right now, as we speak, she is there. I don’t know how I got there, or how I even got back... but she is still there. With the folder in pieces, I don’t know if she ever will . . . and I don’t want to be here.”

There was a knock on the door . . . but the door was open. A familiar voice came out from behind it.

“Chikara . . . time to wake up. Oh, I’m so glad you're here. I’ve been waiting for you, come in. Arigatou,” he said seductively.

She opened her eyes. Kouji was standing above her. She sat up quickly.

“Oh my god!” she screamed.

“You don’t seem happy to see me,” he told her.

Chikara caught her breath. “No, that’s not it. I overslept, and was dreaming,” she explained. She pushed the covers off her, and sat on the edge of the bed, thinking about her dream. She didn’t think that anyone back home cared about whether or not she was gone.

“What was it about?” he asked, sitting down beside her.

“I went back home.”

“So, it was a good dream?”

She shook her head. “No . . . it was more of a nightmare. I didn’t want to be there, I wanted to be here. But there was no way for me to get back.”

Kouji looked at her. “Why? They wouldn’t let you leave?”

She turned to him, knowing that she was saying too much. “No . . . nothing like that.” she said quickly, and stood up. She picked up her shoes and put them on, then brushed her hair quickly.

“Well, what am I going to do today?” she asked him as she walked over to the door, waiting for him to stand up.

He leaned back on the bed and put his hands behind his head. “I was thinking . . . let’s not do anything today,” he said.

“What?” she asked, slowly closing the door to her room. “Why not?”

“I don’t know.” he said propping himself up on his elbow, looking at her. “Do you want to go outside, and sit by the stream? We can have a lunch made, and spend the day there.”

Chikara bit her lower lip, and couldn’t control the smile forming on her face. “Just you and me?” she wondered.

“Who else?” he responded. “There’s a huge tree that we can sit under. I think you’ll like it there.”

“If you think it’s safe for us to be near water together . . . sure.” she told him, half laughing.

He stood up from the bed and grabbed her arm. “Then, come on.”

He opened the door, and they left.

~~~

Kouji and Chikara sat down by the stream, under the tree with a basket full of food . . . just as Kouji had promised. It had been quiet ever since they left her room. She found herself too shy to say anything to him. After what happened the night before, things were different between them and she didn’t know how to act. She picked up a few rocks, and entertained herself by throwing them into the stream, watching the splash that it made.

Soon the silence was too loud for either of them to bear, and Chikara broke it first.

“So, why aren’t I doing any work today?” she asked softly.

He leaned against the tree trunk and glanced over at her. “I thought it would be nice to do something different,” he replied.

“Oh,” she said as she tossed another rock into the water.

The silence crept over them again, and Chikara was slightly irritated with herself. She turned around abruptly, and faced Kouji, and he to her at the same time.

“What’s going on?” they asked in unison.

They both laughed, and Kouji pointed to Chikara. “You first,” he told her.

She looked at him. “So, what is it between us? I mean, after what happened. Should I just let things go, and be your slave again?” she wondered.

“I was thinking about that too . . .” He paused. “And . . . maybe we shouldn’t have anything between us. It could be dangerous for the both of us,” he explained.

Chikara looked away from him, and back at the water, nodding her head. “Okay, I don’t care,” she lied. She kept her back to him, as she picked up a few more rocks and pelted them into the running water.

“Are you okay?” he asked gently.

“Why wouldn’t I be? There is nothing there for me to be not OK about,” she told him. No, I am not going to get upset over this. You knew it would happen. He is not real, anyway. Deep breath . . . good. “I can’t stay here with you right now . . . I’m going to my room,” she said as she got up and walked back alone, tears falling continuously from her eyes.

She picked up a potted flower that was sitting on a small stone table outside the door and threw it. It shattered against the door, and pieces flew at her. She didn‘t realize until she got into her room that she was bleeding. She pushed her bed over to the door and blocked all entrances to her room. She wanted to be alone, to think, to understand, and to cry. She didn’t want anyone to see that she had feelings. She wanted to be tough, and strong. She didn’t want to break.

Looking down at her arm, she noticed that it was the worst cut from the others she had. She pulled the shard from the pot out and slammed it into the wall. It stuck out, for all to see, blood stained from where it rested in her arm.

“Damn,” she whispered to herself, as she laid on her bed. She didn’t even bother bandaging her arm.

She pulled herself up into a ball, and brought her pillow into her face, and shed her tears quietly. She hugged the pillow.

Only a few minutes went by before there was a knock at her door.

“Go away,” she ordered the person behind the door.

When the person knocked again, she realized that it wasn’t Kouji. He would have started talking to himself.

She pushed the bed out of the way, and made herself somewhat presentable.

When she opened the door, she was wrong. It was Kouji. He must’ve known that she wouldn’t open the door for him.

Before she had any time to react, he put his arm around her back and pulled her forward into him, where he then forced her lips onto his. At first she tried to fight him, but after realizing that he was much stronger than she was, she accepted his lips, and even opened her mouth for him to explore it. She put her arms around his neck, and stepped back into her room, where he then closed the door.

She walked backwards, not knowing where Kouji was leading her. She soon figured it out, when he gently pushed her back onto her bed, and laid down beside her, still kissing her.

A knock on the door broke them up, and Kouji sat up pulling Chikara with him. She blinked a few times, still not exactly sure as to what happened a few moments back.

Kouji opened the door and peered at the man standing in the doorway. The man looked terrified, and stepped back.

“Kouji . . . I didn’t know you were in there . . . I’ll just come back later.”

Kouji grabbed the man’s shirt. “You won’t came back, ever,” Kouji ordered him.

“That’s right. I will never come back,” the man said scared.

Kouji grinned and shut the door, walking back to the bed where Chikara was now leaning against the wall. He sat down beside her and looked directly at her.

“I’m sorry. I couldn’t control myself. After I saw you walk away, I knew that what I said was cruel.”

Chikara laughed. “Cruel? What are you talking about? I just wanted to go to my room for a while.”

“Chikara . . . what I said was partially true. Being with you is dangerous for both of us. If someone were to do something to you . . . I’d have no choice but to go after them. If something were to happen to me, then who knows what some of the guys here would do to you.”

Chikara looked at the floor, dreading what she was about to tell him. “Um . . . there’s more,” she added.

Kouji looked at her. “More? What are you talking about?”

She took a deep breath and began to talk. “I’m not from this world,” she told him.

He gave her a weird look. “Huh? Are you from Suzaku no Miko’s then?” he asked.

Chikara shook her head. “I’m from a completely different world. I know everything about the Suzaku Seishi, the Seiryuu Seishi, their Mikos . . .”

Kouji stood up from the bed and walked over to the window. “Prove it!” he demanded.

She stood up on the bed. “What do you want me to tell you?!” she answered back, getting upset.

“Anything . . . prove that you know about us.”

“What, you mean like tell you that Genrou’s name is Tasuki. That Hotohori died on the battlefield during the war with Kutou, which you just so happened to show up at. That Tamahome went back to Miaka’s world because they loved each other so much. Do you want to know more, cause I can write a book.”

He walked over to her, getting on the bed and pinned her against the wall.

"If you know so much about me, how am I feeling right now?” he asked.

Chikara looked up at him, feeling his hands holding her shoulders against the wall. “I don’t know. I don’t know anything after I got here. The series is done . . . there is no more.”

“There is a lot more,” Kouji told her.

"I had to tell you . . . I couldn’t keep it in anymore . . . with all the things that had been going on, I thought you deserved to know.”

“You didn’t answer my question,” he reminded her.

“I already told you that--”

Her words were stopped by Kouji pushing his mouth against hers. He kissed her gently, putting his hands on her face. Slowly he moved his mouth away.

“How do I feel right now?” he asked her again.

Tears started to form in her eyes, and slowly fall down her cheeks. “I don’t know how you feel right now, but I know that I’m falling in love with you,” she admitted, falling to her knees in front of him, ashamed of her weakness.

He knelt down beside her and lifted her chin up so she was looking at him. “You don’t need to cry. I feel the same way. I’ve all ready fallen in love with you,” he explained softly.

He grabbed her arm, but she winced at his touch. He looked at his hand, which was covered in blood, then at her wound.

“What happened?” he asked.

Chikara bit her lower lip. “I threw a flower pot at the wall, and pieces flew back at me,” she told him.

“This looks bad . . . we have to get something on this. Come on, I’ll fix it up for you. We bandits know how to take care of stuff like this.”

He helped her up.

“I wonder why?” she said sarcastically.

He laughed and holding her hand in his, he opened the door and walked out of the room into the hall.

~~~

The next day . . .

Kimura sat scrubbing the floor of the hallway. It was covered in dust and dried mud. Tasuki sat in the shadow, merely regarding her. He seemed uninterested in her. The sarcastic comments had stopped. In fact, all conversation had stopped, outside of the explanation of the task she had to perform. Kimura scrubbed hard at a particular tough spot.

Sure. Make me think that you actually care about me, then put me right back to work. Okay. Give me mixed messages, why don’t you? What am I supposed to think? No, you only think of me as a servant, nothing else.

Then why did you seem so concerned that I was upset?

You were concerned because it would interfere with my work, weren’t you? That’s the only reason. You need someone to do this for you.

All those times I dreamt of what it would be like to meet you and this is what I get. Is this my punishment for dreaming too much? Did I die and go to Hell? My own personal Hell: to be close to you and not have you love me. You’d never deign to talk to a servant. Not the way I want you to. You don’t want to know me. You’re not interested in me. You probably don’t even remember my name right now. Do you? Do you care? Will you ever care?

Of course he’s not interested. Why would he be? Some random girl wandering around lost. He probably thinks I’m a ditz. And an ugly ditz, at that. He sees me completely spazz out the other night, throwing my shoe around. He probably thinks I’m psycho. Yeah, that’s why he was being nice to me. He didn’t want to upset me anymore. He’s probably afraid I’ll spazz again. There’s no way he’ll ever really understand me. Why would he want to? He has no reason to want to know anything about me.

What is there to know, anyway? Who cares? I may as well just be his mindless servant. At least I can stay close to him forever.

“It’s okay,” Tasuki’s voice interrupted her thoughts. “Just let go.”

Kimura didn’t seem to hear him. She had scrubbed the one spot so many times, the wood was starting to wear away.

Tasuki’s voice was gentle. “It’s all right,” he said, placing his hand on hers, trying to take the cloth away from her. “Let go. It’s okay.”

Even though she didn’t seem to hear or understand him, she obeyed.

Tasuki put the cloth aside, looking at her tear-soaked face in concern. “Come on,” he said softly. He gently picked her up, cradling her in his arms. “Shhh,” he whispered as a few more tears slid down her cheeks. “It’s all right.” He carried her back to her room, laying her carefully on the bed and pulling the covers over her.

Kimura didn’t react to any of it. Tasuki put a hand to her forehead, checking for a fever. He felt none. He sighed, trying to figure out what to do. Maybe she just needs more rest, he thought. Kimura curled into a ball on her side.

He leaned over, stroking her brown hair softly. “Shh, it’s all right. Just go to sleep.” He hoped she understood him. She closed her eyes. Tasuki sighed in relief, continuing to stroke her hair until her breathing became deep and even. Only then did he sit back.

Maybe she’ll be all right when she wakes up, he thought. He quietly left the room, locking the door behind him.

~~~

Tasuki returned later that night, bringing a bowl of soup and some bread with him. Kimura was awake, but seemed to be staring at nothing.

“Poor kid,” he muttered, pulling a chair beside the bed. He felt bad for her and wondered if he was the cause of her illness. “If I hurt you, Kimura, I’m sorry.”

She didn’t respond.

Tasuki sighed. “Well, I can’t let ya starve to death.” He gently pulled her into a sitting position, letting her lean against his arm. Slowly, he fed her the soup, blowing on each spoonful so it wouldn’t be too hot. At first she was a little reluctant, but eventually let him feed her the whole bowl. When he was finished, she started to cry again.

“What?” he asked. “What did I do wrong this time?” Sighing and hating himself, he pulled her to his chest, rocking her soothingly. Did I do this? he wondered for the hundredth time. What should I have done differently? Is there something wrong with her? Has she been hurt too many times already? He sighed again. Why do I always fuck everything up?

He held her for a long time, trying to quiet her tears with comforting words. He felt somehow responsible for her state and wanted to help her. Eventually, she drifted back off to sleep.

Tasuki gingerly laid her down on the bed and stayed by her side, watching her. After nearly falling asleep himself, he silently left the room, praying to Suzaku to make the girl well again.

~~~

Chikara woke up lying in Kouji’s bed. He was still sleeping next her. She listened to him breath, and smiled at what the situation looked like. If anyone walked in they would think that she and Kouji had done something interesting the night before. Except for the passionate kisses, nothing had happened at all.

Her arm was bandaged now, thanks to Kouji. He even put something on it to stop the pain.

She knew that Kouji was awake when he put his arm around her waist and pulled her close to him, where he then started to kiss her neck. She could tell that he wasn’t wearing a shirt, and through hers she could feel his tight muscles.

“Kouji, don’t you think that you and I should get up now?” she asked, not really wanting to do anything except be with him.

“Not really,” he answered, reading her mind.

She turned around and faced him, kissing him softly on the lips. “But you know that we are going to have to eventually,” she told him.

He returned the kiss, making it longer. “I know,” he said moaning.

Chikara sat up in the bed, and was followed by Kouji, who pulled her back, making her sit between his legs. She leaned back on his chest and allowed him to hold her in his strong arms. Being in that situation, she was reminded of her friend. She wondered how she and Tasuki were doing.

She moved out of Kouji’s arms, and walked over to a small mirror on the wall. There she picked up a brush and began brushing her hair.

Kouji stood up and walked over to his clothes, randomly throwing them onto his bed. When he was done making his mess, he walked over to Chikara who was now tying her hair back in a pony-tail. She turned around to him, when she saw that he was standing there from the reflection in the mirror.

When she turned he handed her some clothes.

“Here, put these on,” he told her. “You can’t go around forever in what you’ve been wearing.”

She looked down at her blue jeans and Beatles t-shirt. “Yeah, I suppose your right.”

He opened the door to his closet, and told her that she could change behind that. As she changed into the “modern” clothes he gave her, he also changed.

When she was finished, she walked out, making a face. He had given her a dress. It fit snugly around her hips, showing every curve. It fell loosely to the floor, and was a dark blue color.

“This is cute,” she told him.

He smiled. “I think you look good,” he said, putting his arms around her waist.

“Of course you do,” she answered back sarcastically.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said coolly. “The only person you have to impress, is me. And I think you look great.” He leaned down and kissed her.

“But how am I suppose to do any work in this?” she asked.

He looked down at her. “I guess, you just won’t have to do any,” he told her. “Not that I mind. There are other things that you can do.”

She shook her head.

“Come on,” he laughed. “Let’s get something to eat.”

“Okay,” she answered, and they walked out of the room.

~~~

Tasuki met up with Kouji and Chikara in the hallway.

“You okay Genrou?” Kouji asked his friend, seeing his distraught face.

“There’s somethin’ wrong with Kimura,” he answered.

“What?!” Chikara cried. “What’d you do to her?!”

“Chikara,” Kouji warned.

Tasuki ran a hand through his fiery hair. “I didn’t mean to do anything! I was a little mean to her the first day because I was mad about something else. After that, I tried to be nice to her! I really did! She just freaked out!”

Chikara sighed. “Let me see her.”

Tasuki nodded and led both of them to Kimura’s room. The two men let Chikara go in alone.

“What happened?” Kouji asked.

“She was cleaning the hallway floor when I noticed that she was crying and doing the same spot over and over again. I tried to talk to her, but she didn’t seem to hear me. She’s been out of it ever since.”

Kouji shrugged. “Women. They’re always emotional.”

Tasuki sighed. “I feel like this is my fault. I mean, I didn’t want anything to happen to her.”

Kouji half-smiled. “You got a little attached to her, didn’t ya?”

His friend glared back. “No I didn’t.”

“Whatever you say.”

Tasuki sighed. “I just feel responsible, that’s all.”

Kouji put a hand on his friend’s shoulder and started to say something when Chikara came out of the room.

“How is she?” Tasuki asked.

“Still out of it,” Chikara answered. “She’s talking now. It doesn’t make much sense. She’s just babbling about you.”

“Me? Why me?”

Chikara looked angry. “Because she likes you, you moron!”

Tasuki blinked.

Chikara looked at Kouji. “Did you tell him what I told you?”

Kouji shook his head. Chikara explained that she and Kimura were not from Kouji and Tasuki’s world.

“So . . . she sort of fell in love you. And now she’s here and you barely paid attention to her. That in addition to the trauma of being in a new world probably just freaked her out.”

“So it was my fault,” Tasuki stated.

“Yeah, pretty much,” Chikara shot back, clearly annoyed at him.

“Chikara!” Kouji scolded.

“Sorry,” Chikara muttered, not meaning it at all.

Tasuki gave them a weird look. “Is there something going on between you two?” he asked suspiciously.

Chikara froze. She didn’t know what to do. What did Kouji want Tasuki to believe? She walked back into the wall slowly, looking outside through the small window.

Kouji watched her for a moment, then turned back to his friend. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he finally said.

Tasuki thought about what had been happening the past few days. “No, there is something going on. No one has seen you two in a while,” he pointed out.

Chikara began humming to herself as she watched the birds fly over the building.

Kouji turned to her, wondering what the hell she was doing.

Tasuki smiled. “Did you two do something fun last night?” he asked.

Kouji and Chikara turned to him.

“NO!” they screamed.

Chikara looked at Kouji, then quickly turned back to the window, whistling.

Kouji put his head down, then looked at Tasuki through his hair. “If you tell anyone . . . I swear I’ll have to kill you,” he admitted.

Tasuki smiled. “That’s great! Now, you can help me with my problem with Kimura. Tell me, what do I do?” he asked eager to learn.

Chikara looked down the mountain, and found out why so many birds were flying their way. She made a noise, the one that people make when they figure something out.

Kouji grabbed her hand and turned her around. “Chikara . . . will you stop it?” he asked annoyed.

Chikara looked at Tasuki, having heard everything.

"Talk to her,” she said.

Tasuki looked at her. “What?” he asked, not sure of what she said.

“Talk to her,” she repeated. “Start a conversation.”

“Talk to her? Is that what you did, Kouji?” Tasuki asked.

“I don’t remember.” Kouji answered.

Chikara rolled her eyes. “Trust me,” she said.

“I can do that . . . talk.” Tasuki announced, opening the door to Kimura’s room and walking in.

Kouji turned to Chikara. “What the hell were you doing?” he asked, a bit angry.

"Kouji . . . you have to look outside. That fire, the one we saw the other day.” She pointed out the window. “Look at it now.”

He looked outside, and she could see the panic rise in his face.

“SHIT!” he screamed. “Where are the look-outs?” He turned from Chikara and took a few steps, then turned back. “Fuck . . .”

She looked around, not sure of what was going on.

He grabbed her arm and dragged her to her room.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

He opened the door, and gently pushed her in, kissing her quickly. “Stay in here,” he told her, shutting the door and locking it.

Chikara banged on it. “KOUJI! What is happening? Where are you going?” she screamed at him.

He ran down the hall, leaving her locked in her room.

She walked over to the window and looked down at the fire. All the villages up to the mountain had been burned to the ground. There was still one more at the base preserved. There were men heading towards the building. She could see them through the forest.

She started to get worried. What was going to happen? She sat down on the window sill and watched. Being locked in her room, that was all she could do.

~~~

“Genrou!” Kouji cried, bursting into Tasuki’s room. “We’ve gotta problem! Look out the window!”

Tasuki, who had just sat down to talk to Kimura, stood and went to the window. “FUCK! Get the men together! We’ve gotta go help those people and see if we can find out who did this!”

Kouji nodded and ran out the door.

Tasuki looked back at Kimura, who seemed frightened at the sudden shouting. He stopped, taking her hand briefly.

“It’s okay,” he told her. “I’ll be back as soon as I can. You’ll be safer here.” After a moment’s hesitation, he lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed it gently.

He bolted out the door after Kouji, locking the door securely.

~~~

Tasuki and Kouji came back to headquarters very late that night. Both of them were exhausted and covered in sweat and dirt.

“I’m gonna fuckin’ kill the bastards that did that,” Kouji muttered, dragging himself down the hallway to Chikara’s room.

“That makes two of us,” Tasuki agreed. “At least we managed to save some lives.” He stopped in front of Kimura’s door. “You think she’s asleep?”

Kouji shrugged. “I know Chikara won’t be. You could always check on her anyway. It sounds like she needs it.”

Tasuki nodded. “I guess you’re right.”

Kouji turned to go into Chikara’s room, then stopped. “You okay?”

“I’m the one that fucked this up in the first place. I’m no good with women. I’m worried I’ll only screw it up more.” He turned to Kouji, his eyes hopeful. “You’re good with Chikara! Maybe you could talk to her --”

“It’s you she cares for, Genrou, not me. She needs to hear your voice.”

Tasuki turned away, disappointed.

“Look, you can’t possibly make things any worse. And it wasn’t entirely your fault they got that way in the first place. You didn’t know the girl liked you.” Kouji paused, looking at his friend carefully. “Do you like her?”

Tasuki turned red. “How the fuck should I know?! I’ve hardly talked to her! I just met her the other day! What’m I supposed to think?!”

Kouji sighed. “Sorry I asked.”

“Gomen, Kouji,” Tasuki said softly. “I didn’t mean to take it out on you. I just . . . don’t know what to do.”

Kouji looked at him, his sapphire eyes shining in the dark. “What’s your heart telling you to do?”

Tasuki appeared to think for a minute. “I don’t know why, but it’s telling me to take care of this girl.”

“Then do it.” He knocked his friend playfully on the side of the head. “Your head may have a few cobwebs, but your heart knows what it’s doing.”

Tasuki slapped his hand away. “Thanks a lot.”

Kouji grinned, knocking on Chikara’s door.

“Kouji?!” came the anxious voice from the other side.

“Ano, Chikara-san, sorry I’m late. Can I still come in or will you make me sleep outside? Oh no, of course you can come in. You’re far too handsome to turn away.”

“Kouji, knock it off. I’ve been worried about you!”

“Arigatou,” Kouji concluded, unlocking the door and going inside.

Tasuki felt an unwilling smile spread across his face as the door closed. He quietly unlocked Kimura’s door and went inside. He was guided only by the moonlight coming from the window. He managed to make it over to her bed without tripping over anything. Much to his surprise, Kimura was still awake.

“What’re you still doing up?” he asked affectionately, sitting in the chair beside her bed. Naturally, she didn’t or couldn’t reply. “You don’t have to worry about anything,” he told her. “We got all the fires stopped. We didn’t figure out who started them, but it’s safe for now.” He again took her hand, holding it in both of his. “It’s okay. I’m not gonna let anything happen to you. I won’t make you do chores again either, just please snap out of this.” He lowered his head, unable to meet her eyes, even though she didn’t seem to focus on him. “I’m sorry for any wrong I’ve caused you. Just please . . . don’t stay like this forever. I’d never forgive myself. Shit, I don’t even know if I’ll forgive myself for how much I’ve screwed up already.” He sighed, leaning forward and resting his head on the edge of the bed. He closed his eyes, his exhaustion beginning to get the best of him. “Just go to sleep for now,” he told her softly. “You need to rest . . .”

A few minutes after Tasuki had fallen asleep, Kimura closed her eyes and followed in suit.

~~~

Chikara practically tackled Kouji as he shut the door behind him. “Kouji!” she screamed.

He stopped and looked at her, watching as she ran into him. He opened his arms, and as soon as she was on his chest, he wrapped his arms around her.

“I didn’t know I was gone that long,” he said simply.

“No . . .” she told him. “That’s not why I am so upset.”

She pressed her face closer to his body. “You lock me in my room, with only a window to look out of. I saw the fires, and all the men and fighting. I didn’t know if you were out there, if you were okay . . .”

“Chikara . . .” he said smoothly.

She looked up into his eyes, waiting for him to speak.

“Don’t talk,” he told her.

She was confused. “What?” she asked.

“Not another word.”

She didn’t speak, but the look on her face showed him that she had no idea what he was talking about.

He leaned down and kissed her, pushing on her back, forcing her on him. She pulled away.

“Kouji . . . what . . .”

Her words were cut off when he almost violently pushed her mouth onto his, turning his head, opening his mouth, and tasting every bit of hers that he could take. It seemed that he couldn’t enough of her. She had a hard time keeping up with him, he was so forceful. It was good though, there was no question about that. She was adoring the way he was kissing her with such enthusiasm.

After a few minutes, he finally pushed back and took a deep breath, falling back onto her bed. She quickly went to his side.

“You look so tired, and dirty,” she told him obviously.

He looked at her, his eye lids drooping with sleep. “You think that I don’t know? My body feels like it’s gonna collapse.”

She ran her hand through his hair. “Well, maybe you should take a hot bath,” she suggested happily.

He smiled. “Are you gonna join me?” he asked.

Chikara smiled back. “If you want me to,” she answered.

Kouji laughed. “Chikara, naturally I want you to . . . Why do you want to?” he asked curiously.

“Because I know that you’ll be to tired to do anything afterwards,” she replied.

He shook his head and laughed, pulling himself from her bed. “Well, then, come on. Before I'm too tired to remember this.”

~~~

The next morning . . .

There was a knock on the door the next morning. Chikara slightly moaned in her sleep, and turned over, bumping into someone. She opened one eye and looked out. It was Kouji. She was so tired, she just wanted to sleep. She closed her eyes, and covered herself, and Kouji with the blanket.

The knocking got louder. Chikara put her pillow over head, refusing to wake up. She was cold, and snuggled closer to Kouji’s naked body. Only after hearing the knock for a third time, did she realize that she was also undressed.

From outside the door, she could hear someone yelling. She took the pillow of her head to listen.

“Kouji . . . Are you in there? I’ve searched everywhere, and this is the last place I can think of to find you,” Tasuki screamed into the door.

Kouji turned over onto his back, and looked up at the ceiling. “What does he want?” Kouji asked.

“You,” Chikara told him.

“What for?”

“I don’t know . . .” she said as she closed her eyes again, too tired to think about it.

“What do you want?!” Kouji screamed back at the door.

There was a fiddling with the door, and soon Tasuki walked into the room. He stopped and looked at the sight on the bed.

“What the hell . . .” Tasuki said to himself.

Kouji, still half asleep, turned his head over. “Genrou... what do you want?” he asked, tired.

Tasuki walked over to the end of the bed as Kouji put his arm around Chikara’s shoulders.

“You had me worried. I looked everywhere for you. With all the shit that happened yesterday, I thought something had happened to you,” Tasuki explained.

Kouji closed his eyes, and turned over, putting his other arm around Chikara.

“I was with you last night, just before I came in here.” Kouji told him.

Tasuki put his hand to his head. “Yeah, I know . . . it’s just that . . . I don’t know. I thought you would be in your room. I haven’t been myself lately . . . What the fuck am I talking about? Never mind, forget I ever came in here.”

With that, Tasuki walked back out, locking the door.

“Kouji . . . we didn’t do anything last night, did we?” Chikara asked, nervous.

Kouji laughed silently, pulling her close. “No . . . After we took the bath, we came back here, and went right to sleep,” he explained.

“Good,” she said.

“Good?” Kouji asked. “Why is that good?”

“That’s not what I meant,” Chikara told him.

He leaned his head on hers. “I know what you meant.”

Chikara looked out her window and cursed the sun for rising. She knew that she wouldn’t be able to fall back to sleep. She slid out of the bed, and put her clothes on. As she walked back towards the bed, Kouji grabbed her and pulled her down.

“Kouji . . . what are you doing?” she questioned playfully.

“Nothing,” he answered grinning and kissing her. He tossed the blanket over her, and held her close to him. “I don’t want to get up yet.”

Chikara closed her eyes, almost feeling like crying. She had never felt this way for anyone.

“I love you,” she blurted out, burying her face in her pillow. She felt Kouji’s hand move a piece of her hair behind her ear, then his warm breath on her neck as he whispered to her.

“I love you too.”

He sat up, and she sat up with him. The blanket fell from his chest, and laid in a pile on his lap. She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him.

“Does this mean we’re getting up now?” he asked.

Chikara laughed, and watched as he rose from the bed and put his clothes on. He turned to her, now lying on her back on the bed. He crawled onto it, and peered down at her.

“So . . . what do you want to do today?” he asked.

“It doesn’t matter,” she said.

He grabbed her hand and pulled her up. “Come on . . . we haven’t eaten anything in a while, and I’m starving.”

~~~

Tasuki went back to Kimura’s room. She was still sleeping soundly. Tasuki paced restlessly. He had no idea how to deal with this problem. He looked over at her as she started to wake up.

“Kimura?” he asked.

Kimura blinked and her eyes focused on him for the first time in two days. “T-Tasuki?”

That caught Tasuki off-guard. He had forgotten that she knew everything about him. “H-Hai, it’s me. Are you all right? How do you feel?”

Kimura yawned. “Still a little tired.”

“What do you remember?”

Her eyes seemed momentarily distant. “Everything. It was like I was watching myself from the outside. It was so weird.” She shivered, despite the warm room temperature. She looked at him, suddenly realizing she’d called him by the wrong name. “What did Chikara tell you?”

“Everything,” he answered simply.

Kimura paled a little. “Everything?” she squeaked.

Tasuki nodded.

“Shit,” she muttered.

“She had already told Kouji.”

Kimura didn’t reply, not meeting his eyes.

Tasuki took a deep breath and gently made her look at him. “Kimura, listen. I’m very flattered by your feelings. And I won’t lie and say there could never be anything between us. There could be, but I need some time. I don’t really know you yet, that’s all.”

Kimura was speechless. “But . . . you --”

“I was worried about you. I felt like everything was my fault.”

She shook her head. “It wasn’t --”

“I know. But I felt responsible. I felt like I needed to take care of you . . . I still feel that way.”

Kimura was again at a loss of words.

“So,” he said, taking her hand. “Why don’t we just wait and see what happens?”

Kimura nodded, unable to do anything else.

~~~

The following evening . . .

“I have something for you,” Tasuki said as he led Kimura into his room.

“Really?” she asked, curious.

He nodded. “It’s in the closet. You can change in there.”

She gave him a strange look. “Umm . . . okay.”

As Kimura disappeared into the room, a servant came in, setting down dinner on the table for two.

“Tasuki, it’s beautiful!” Kimura squealed. “Where did you get it?”

“I have my ways,” he answered as the servant left the room. “Does it fit?”

“It’s perfect,” she replied, emerging. She was wearing a long light purple dress. The sleeves were long and loose, the whole dress seemed to float around her.

Tasuki looked her over. “You look beautiful,” he told her.

She blushed a deep red. “Arigatou.”

He motioned for her to sit across from him at the table.

As she sat she looked at the candlelit dinner set before them. “So, have Kouji and Chikara been giving you hints on how to be romantic?”

Tasuki turned the color of his hair. “Um . . .”

Kimura laughed. “It’s okay. They must be good teachers.”

Tasuki looked relieved. “I just thought it would be nice to have dinner alone for a change.”

She smiled evilly. “So, why the dress?”

“It was a present. I thought you’d like it.”

“I love it.” She smiled and reached for his hand. “Don’t be so nervous, I’m just teasing you.”

He smiled back. “Good.”

They started eating and talking. Their conversation lasted long past the end of the meal, going on for hours.

~~~

“So, where are you guys taking us?” Kimura asked as Tasuki and Kouji led her and Chikara out into the woods. The two couples were holding hands.

Kouji smirked. “You’ll see,” he said mysteriously.

“Typical,” Chikara muttered, rolling her eyes.

Kouji glanced at her, grinned, and continued walking. A few minutes later, they came to a cave.

Kimura looked at it. “This is your big surprise?”

“This is a cave,” Chikara said, pointing out the obvious.

Tasuki grinned. “Just wait ‘til you go inside.”

Kimura looked at Chikara.

Chikara shrugged. “I don’t get it.”

Kimura sighed and went inside the cave. Tasuki pulled out his tessen and used his chi to make it glow, lighting up the small cave. There was a blanket spread out on the ground, with food set out on it. A small waterfall trickled down the back of the cave, running out through a small crack in the wall.

“It . . . it’s beautiful,” Kimura breathed.

“Bandits . . . being romantic? I never thought it was possible . . .” Chikara said.

“His idea mainly,” Tasuki said, motioning to Kouji. He knelt down and lit a small pile of wood.

Chikara turned to Kouji smiling. “You thought of this?” she asked sweetly.

He smiled back, kissing her lightly. “You deserve it.”

Tasuki sat down, motioning for Kimura to sit beside him. Getting down, opposite Tasuki, Kouji grabbed Chikara’s hand and forced her onto his lap. She laughed, but then cleared her throat and looked over at her friend.

Kimura looked up at Tasuki, grinning sweetly. “Tasuki-chan, I think they’re trying to get ahead of us.”

Tasuki smirked. “Oh well. We’ll just have to start catching up,” he replied, pulling her to him and kissing her deeply.

Kouji nodded his head. “OK . . . if that’s the way you want it.” He put his arm around her back and pushed her to the ground. With his other hand on her face, his thumb caressing her cheek, he lowered his lips onto hers and kissed her passionately, both with open mouths.

Tasuki and Kimura pulled apart and looked at Chikara and Kouji.

“Well, I guess that leaves all this for us,” Tasuki said as he and Kimura dove into the food.

Through the kiss, Chikara started laughing, forcing her lips apart from her lover’s.

“Hey!” Kouji cried, getting off Chikara.

“Oh, hungry, Kouji? You looked like you were heading straight for dessert,” Kimura said.

“You’re just jealous,” Chikara sneered.

Kimura shrugged.

Kouji and Chikara started eating.

“So, you didn’t let Tasuki cook, right?” Kimura asked.

Tasuki glared at her, poking her in the ribs.

Kimura yelped. “Don’t do that!”

Tasuki stuck his tongue out at her. “Don’t insult me.”

“You guys aren’t drinking, are you?” Chikara asked.

Kouji grinned evilly. “Not much.”

“What do you mean, by ‘not much’?” Chikara questioned.

Tasuki held up his cup. “Just one cupful. You girls want any?”

“No!” Kimura answered, louder than she meant to.

Chikara looked at her friend. “What are you talking about? We watched them drink this stuff all the time . . . Don’t you want to know what it tastes like?”

Kimura made a face. “Not really. All alcohol tastes like shit.”

Tasuki gasped. “Whaddya mean?! You mean you never drink?!”

Kimura shook her head.

Kouji offered his cup to Chikara. “Do you want some?” he asked.

Chikara bit her lower lip. “I don’t know...” She paused. “What does it taste like?”

Kouji shrugged. “It’s kinda hard to describe. Just try it.”

“You really want me try this, don’t you?”

“He wants to get you drunk to make tonight easier,” Tasuki said.

“He doesn’t have to get me drunk for that,” Chikara shot back.

Kouji raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

Chikara started laughing, and took the cup from Kouji’s hand. Looking into it, she noticed that it was a golden color. “This looks more like beer,” she told him.

“Beer?” Kouji wondered.

“Never mind.” She put the cup up to her lips and before she could drink, Kouji started talking to her again.

“You have to drink the whole cup,” he added.

“The whole cup?” she asked, repeating him.

He nodded, and she looked at it again. “Fine . . . I’ll do it.”

“Chikara!” Kimura cried. “You’ve never had alcohol before! You’ll make yourself sick or something.”

“Kimura, we’re not in our world anymore. Things are different here,” she explained.

Kimura shook her head.

Chikara tilted the cup back and drank what was in it.

Kouji clapped his hands, and Tasuki cheered.

She started coughing, mainly because she had drank it so fast. Kouji put his hand on her back. “Are you OK?” he asked sincerely.

She nodded her head. “Yah, I’ll be fine,” she told him. “It doesn’t taste all that bad, though.” She blinked a few times. “But I don’t think I am going to have anymore.”

Kouji put his arm around her shoulder. “You don’t have to have any more. You’ve all ready proven yourself . . . unlike someone I know.” he said looking at Kimura.

Kimura laughed. “Like I would care about proving myself to some drunk bandits.”

“Hey!” Tasuki protested. “We’re not drunk!”

“Yet,” she replied.

“And we’re not going to be,” Tasuki went on. “We’re only having a little.”

Kimura shrugged. “I’m not stopping you, so don’t force me.” She lowered her voice, talking only to Tasuki. “I’m serious. Don’t joke about it with me, okay?”

“I wasn’t, he was,” he answered, leaning his forehead against hers. “If it’s something you take that seriously, then I’ll respect it.”

“So, are we ready for dessert?” Kouji asked, breaking the heavy atmosphere.

Tasuki grinned. “Yeah, we have a really big surprise for that! Something very special we acquired.”

Kimura and Chikara looked at each other nervously.

Tasuki reached into the basket and brought out what looked to be a small cupcake.

“Ta da!” he said proudly.

“It’s not everyday we’re so lucky to get chocolate. We wanted to share it with you two,” Kouji said.

“Dad is great!” Chikara spontaneously broke into song.

“Give us the chocolate cake!” Kimura finished.

Tasuki and Kouji sweatdropped.

Kouji started meticulously cutting the small cake into four pieces.

“It’s . . . a cupcake,” Chikara stated.

“Do you guys often get chocolate?” Tasuki asked.

“Um . . . it’s kind of easy to get in our world,” Kimura answered.

“Oh,” he said, disappointed.

“But we haven’t had any since we got here,” she added quickly.

“Yeah, I’m practically going into chocolate withdrawal!” Chikara cried, her mouth watering at the small piece that Kouji gave her. Chikara looked down at her piece and grinned wildly. “Chocolate . . . good.”

Kouji looked at her nervously.

She poked her finger into the cake, making a hole straight through to her hand.

Kimura and Tasuki turned their attention to Chikara.

At that time, she was now pulling out small chunks and making designs on her arm.

“Erm . . . Ano, Chikara . . . Kouji, I think you gave her too much sake,” Kimura said worriedly.

“Kouji, take that stuff away from her before she hurts herself,” Tasuki told his friend.

Chikara lifted her head to Tasuki. “Huh? What?” She looked down at her picture. “LOOK! Paul McCartney!” she exclaimed.

Kouji reached over and tired to take away the food. Chikara pulled back, covering it with her hand. “No . . . MINE! You gave it to me,” she reminded him.

“Chikara,” Kouji said gently. “Why don’t you just eat it then?”

“Eat it? I can’t eat Paul McCartney!” she screamed.

“Who the fuck is Paul McCartney?” Tasuki asked indelicately.

“Don’t ask,” Kimura said quickly.

“Chikara, it’s not a person. It’s just food.” Kouji was talking to her as if she were five years old.

She looked at him, her eyes wide. “But . . . it looks like him . . .”

“Okay, that’s it,” Kouji said decisively.

Kimura and Tasuki looked on as he scooped Chikara into his arms and carried her to the small waterfall, placing her right under its flow.

“IT’S COLD!” she screamed, water filling her mouth.

Despite her struggling, Kouji held her under the fall.

“Umm . . . Tasuki, maybe we should leave them alone for a little bit,” Kimura said quietly.

“Sounds like a good idea,” he replied. The two of them made a tactful exit from the cave.

He slowly moved her out of the water’s path, and sat her back down on the blanket. She wiped the water from her face, and then looked at the man that had done it to her.

“Are you better now?” Kouji asked.

Chikara turned away from him.

He knew that she was ignoring him, and walked around to be in front of her. So that she wouldn’t be able to move away again, he grabbed her wrists and held them tightly.

“Kouji . . . what are you doing? Just leave me alone,” she said avoiding his eyes.

“I’m not gonna leave you alone. I care about you too much,” he explained. “This is all my fault, I shouldn’t have made you drink that much.”

“I shouldn’t have listened,” she added.

“OK, so we’re both at fault,” he told her. “Are you OK now?”

She nodded. “I think I am.”

“Good,” he announced, leaning forward and kissing her warm sweet mouth. “C’mon, let’s go back to the others.” He pulled her to her feet and the two left the cave.

The sun had dipped below the horizon at least thirty minutes earlier. The stars were shining brightly from the indigo sky.

Tasuki and Kimura were lying on the ground, kissing each other deeply.

Chikara coughed rather loudly when she saw the scene.

Tasuki and Kimura pulled apart and sat up, a little embarrassed.

“The sky is really clear tonight,” Tasuki said, trying to start a normal conversation.

“Oh yeah right,” Kouji said, sitting beside them. “I’m sure you noticed the view.”

Tasuki whacked his friend on the arm.

Kouji laughed, and put his arm around Tasuki’s shoulders, leaning close to him. “Oh, Kimura, the stars are so beautiful . . .” Kouji put his other arm around Tasuki and forced him to the ground. He put his hand over Tasuki’s mouth, and started passionately kissing it, making moaning noises.

Tasuki tried to push Kouji off of him.

Chikara and Kimura were rolling on the ground, convulsed with laughter.

Tasuki eventually succeeded in throwing Kouji off of him. “You HENTAI!” He pounced on top of him and started punching him in the stomach.

Kouji was laughing too hard to fight back.

Kimura looked at Chikara. “I think it’s time we broke up this little lover’s quarrel.”

“I don’t know, I think it’s kinda cute,” she told her friend.

Kimura stood up, walked over to Tasuki and started tickling him.

Tasuki started laughing and rolled off of Kouji, pulling Kimura on top of him and tickling her back.

Kouji was still on the ground, laughing his ass off.

Chikara, laughing as hard as he was, crawled over to him, and laid back on his chest, looking into the dark sky, trying to find constellations that she knew.

Kimura and Tasuki stopped their tickle fight. She leaned against him, his arm around her shoulders. “Oh, look!” she cried, still giggling. “Orion is shining!”

Chikara looked over at her friend, smiling. “You couldn’t resist, could you?”

After a minute, all of the giggling died down and the two couples gazed up at the stars in companionable silence.

“So, how long are you two going to be in this world?” Kouji asked quietly.

Chikara turned her head up at him. “I want to be here forever.”

“I don’t want to leave either,” Kimura said softly. “But we have no idea how we got here. We could suddenly be transported back and have absolutely no say about it.”

Tasuki tightened his arm around her shoulders. “I don’t want you to leave,” he murmured, nuzzling her hair.

“I’m worried about Kouri, though,” Kimura went on. “She must be going out of her mind.”

“Oh, damn. I completely forgot about her. I was just sitting there in her computer room, and then I was here.”

“She called me up because she was worried about you. I went over her house. When I was in the computer room, I picked up your folder. The next thing I knew, I was here.”

“The folder . . .” Chikara said quietly to herself. “That must be the link,” she realized.

“But how? And why?” Kimura asked.

Chikara shrugged.

“I guess we’re at the mercy of destiny,” Kimura concluded.

“Let’s hope it’s Suzaku that’s controlling this. He’s the god of love,” Tasuki said.

“Look at what he did for Taka and Miaka,” Chikara said.

“That’s true,” Tasuki agreed. He grinned. “So, Kouji, what was it about Chikara that first got your attention?”

“Well, it could’ve been the fact that she showed up out of nowhere,” Kouji answered.

“That’s a very pathetic answer,” Chikara told him.

“Don’t avoid the question, Kouji-chan,” Kimura teased.

Kouji sighed, knowing he was cornered. “I guess . . . I liked the way she was really independent, even though she did everything I asked. She did it without being submissive or weak. I admired that.” Kouji looked over at the redhead. “So, what about you, Genrou?”

“Damned if I know. One minute, she falls into my arms outta nowhere and the next minute . . . I can’t get rid of her.”

“Hey!” Kimura cried.

He smiled at her sweetly. “I didn’t say it wasn’t a good change. Well, now that we told you girls that, you owe us a little explanation.”

Kimura sighed, knowing her answer was long, complicated, and painful. “Chikara, you go first.”

“Thanks . . . Um, I don’t know. He looked good wet,” she said quickly.

“Chikara . . . now you’re trying to avoid the question,” Kouji told her.

“Well... It wasn’t anything ABOUT him that made me fall in love with him. We were always together, and over the days I grew attached without knowing it. Then, we were just cleaning, and I knew. It was strange, but it was like something out of a romance novel. I fell in love with him, and that is all that matters.”

They all looked at Kimura.

Kimura sighed. “My reason is a little different from the others because I fell in love with you before I met you . . . I know that doesn’t sound possible, but it happened. I guess I just slowly started noticing he was kinda good-looking. But then . . .” Kimura gulped, looking at Tasuki nervously. “Then . . . when Chiriko died, something happened.” Kimura felt Tasuki tense slightly. “When he screamed Chiriko’s name . . . I don’t know how to explain this, but I felt it. I felt it like I had lost something, like something was tearing me up on the inside. I cried. I was confused and frightened. From then on, whatever Tasuki felt usually affected me in some way. That was when I paid more attention to him. I took a break from watching him over the summer. When I started again, I was in love. You try and figure that one out.”

There was another minute of silence.

Chikara spontaneously changed the subject. “So, how come you made me do all that work when you liked me?”

Kouji didn’t answer, but blushed a little.

Kimura looked at his face, then laughed. “Oh, I get it. Kouji-chan has a thing for watching women work. Hard.”

Chikara looked at Kimura. “And you’re suppose to be my friend,” she said indignantly.

“What about you?” Kouji said, looking down at her. “Anything ‘special’ that you like?”

Kimura snickered. “Chikara-chan isn’t experienced enough yet to know her likes and dislikes.”

“Okay Little Miss Experienced, what about you?” Kouji asked.

Kimura turned bright red.

Tasuki looked very interested. He nudged her. “What is it?”

“No, it’s too embarrassing,” she mumbled.

“C’mon,” Chikara said. “You embarrassed the hell out of Kouji. It’s only fair.”

After a minute, Kimura whispered something in Tasuki’s ear. Tasuki looked a bit surprised.

“Please don’t laugh,” Kimura begged.

“I won’t,” he told her. “I’ve just never known anyone like that before.” He looked thoughtful for a minute. Then he abruptly stood and swung Kimura over his shoulder, heading back towards the bandit hideout.

“I didn’t mean NOW, you IDIOT!” Kimura screamed.

“Too bad,” he replied. “I did.”

Chikara and Kouji sweatdropped.

Kouji started to think for himself. “We can save that for later,” he told her.

Chikara turned her head and looked at him. “I don’t want to save it for later,” she explained.

He looked back at her, then turned onto his side. “You really want to do this?” he asked softly.

She nodded.

He then moved over her, and slid the strap from her dress off her shoulder. Slowly he began kissing her bare skin. She unbuttoned the buttons from the top of dress, exposing her chest. Kouji slowly moved his mouth further down, kissing her breasts extremely gently. While he continued kissing her, she pushed his shirt back from his chest and off his shoulders.

“I love you,” he uttered through his sensual touches.

Chikara felt the warm breeze blow over her, and it made Kouij’s blue hair fly. That site alone made her realize how much she wanted him. “I love you too,” she answered.

He grabbed the dress at her waist and forced it off her, leaving her completely naked. He moved his mouth to her navel. She took a deep breath, having never been that far with a man before.

“You’re sure you really wanna to do this, before I go any further?”

Chikara smiled. “I want you.”

She reached for his belt and pulled it off, tossing it to the side. He removed his pants himself, and they were know both naked in the moonlight. He moved his kisses back up towards her mouth, where he forced in his tongue. She allowed him to kiss her passionately, his hands moving down to her upper thigh. With that, he moved his hand behind her, and pulled her leg up behind him. She was now open to anything he was going to do to her. Soon she felt him inside her, moving further and further into her warm body. She felt complete, she felt whole.

The wind blew, the stars shined, the water trickled, and they made love.

~~~

“Tasuki,” Kimura said softly as Tasuki nudged her dress off of her. “I . . . I don’t think I want to go all the way right now.”

He looked up at her for a minute, checking that she was serious and accepted the request. He leaned over to the bedside table and picked up a small coil of rope with his teeth.

“This what you want?” he asked, dropping it onto her chest.

She nodded. “Please.”

He gently took her hands in his and looped the rope around her wrists. “Tell me if it gets too tight.” He then took her bound wrists and tied off the rope around the headboard.

Kimura pulled experimentally against the ropes and smiled. “I haven’t done this in a long time.”

“Well, you’re ahead of me,” he said, picking up another piece of rope and tying her ankles together. “How’s that?”

“Good,” she replied, moaning a little.

“So, now what?” he asked, leaning over her.

She smiled. “Now that decision is yours. I’m kind of helpless.”

He grinned. “I like this.” He bent down, running his tongue lightly between her breasts.

Kimura giggled.

“What?” he asked. “That tickled?”

“No, but your hair did,” she answered, biting her lip. “Sorry. I’ll be quiet.”

“You better be. Otherwise, I’ll have to gag ya.”

Kimura quickly shut her mouth.

Tasuki put his arms around her waist, pulling her stomach up to meet his mouth, forcing her to arch her back a little. Again, Kimura’s response was a soft moan.

“You like that?” he asked between kisses.

“Uh huh,” she answered softly.

After a minute, he stopped and slowly moved his head up her body, covering her with soft kisses. He reached her neck, leaning over near her ear.

“I’m not gonna let you go, you know,” he whispered huskily. “You’re mine, no matter what.”

“I wouldn’t want to be anything else,” she whispered back.

~~~

The four sat down to breakfast together the next morning, with a kind of glow around them. Kimura was seated in Tasuki’s lap and alternated between feeding herself and letting him feed her.

Chikara and Kouji were sitting on the other side, not knowing that anyone else was in the room. They both had their arms entangled around each other. The food that was on their plates, remained food on plates.

“You guys should probably eat something,” Tasuki commented.

“Huh?” Kouji replied, not even looking at him.

“Forget it,” Kimura told Tasuki. “They’re far gone.”

A messenger ran up to their table. “The fires have started again!” he cried. “And this time they’re really close! They could reach us within a half hour!”

Tasuki carefully slid Kimura off his lap before jumping to his feet. “Get the men together, gather as much water as you can. We’ve gotta stop it.” He turned to his starry-eyed friend and hit him over the head. “Wake up, aho! There’s an emergency!”

Kouji turned his head to Tasuki. “What do you want?” he asked.

Tasuki grabbed Kouji’s collar and yanked him to his feet. “I want you to fucking help me stop this place from burning down! Let’s go!”

“What should we do?” Kimura asked. “Can we help?”

“It’s too dangerous,” Tasuki answered, much to Chikara’s annoyance. “You two just stay out of the way and out of trouble.”

Tasuki ran over to the door, and turned expecting to find his friend. Kouji however, was not behind him.

Kouji put his arms around Chikara’s waist. “Stay here. I know you... You’ll want to save the world. Promise me.. You’re gonna stay,” he pleaded.

Chikara leaned her head on his chest. “Kouji....”

He got annoyed with her and grabbed her upper arms. “Chikara... damn it. Promise me.”

“I promise,” she whispered.

He walked backwards toward the door, looking at her. As he turned towards Tasuki, Chikara ran up to him, and kissed him. “I love you,” she told him.

He looked down at her. “I know,” was his reply.

He turned around once again, and he and Tasuki both walked out of the room.

Chikara fell to the floor in tears.

Kimura knelt beside her, putting an arm around her. “It’s okay. They’ll be all right. They know what they’re doing.” As the bandits ran past them and out the door, Kimura couldn’t shake the feeling that Chikara’s fears were not ungrounded and that something might happen. “C’mon, let’s get out of their way. Maybe it would be better if you spent a little time alone?”

Chikara didn’t bother looking up from the tear stained floor. “Maybe you’re right.”

“You should at least go to your room or something,” Kimura told her gently. “You’ll just get trampled here.”

Chikara pulled herself from the floor. “Good point,” she said. “I think I’d rather go to Kouji’s room though.”

Kimura nodded. “Okay. I’ll be in my room, if you need me.” The two girls went their separate ways.

~~~

Tasuki and Kouji raced out to meet the fire, bringing as much water as they could and trying to smother the shorter flames. They both looked back nervously at the bandits’ hideout, knowing they had to protect the girls.

Suddenly, figures came running out of the fire and started attacking the bandits.

“What the fuck?!” Tasuki cried, drawing his sword and engaging two men at once. He could hardly see anything in the crowd of people, raging flames, and thick smoke. He lost sight of Kouji completely.

We’re never gonna get the fire stopped if we have to keep fighting these guys, he thought. He fought back as many as he could, seeing his fellow bandits around him doing the same.

“We have to get the fire stopped!” he shouted above all the noise. “Before it reaches Reikaku!”

“Dirt will probably work just as well to stop the fire,” one of the other bandits suggested.

Tasuki nodded. “Good idea.” He looked around for Kouji as some of the enemy began to retreat. “Kouji?” His friend was no where to be seen. “Kouji?!” Tasuki started to panic. “KOUJI!”

~~~

A few members of the enemy snuck into the hideout, looking for anything they could grab. After going through a few rooms and grabbing various stolen treasures, one of them opened Kimura’s door.

Kimura looked up, confused. “Who are you?”

The man didn’t answer her question. He leapt forward and grabbed her, swinging her over his shoulder.

“Hey! Lemme go! Put me DOWN! Chikara! Somebody, HELP! TASUKI!” she screamed, trying to get free.

“Great,” one of the men said. “Now the whole country knows we’re here. Let’s get the hell out of here.”

“NO! Lemme GO!”

The men ran out of the building.

~~~

Tasuki burst into Kouji’s room. “Chikara, wake up!”

Chikara turned over and looked at Tasuki. “What are you doing here? Where’s Kouji?” she asked, worried.

“They’re gone. Both he and Kimura are gone! Haven’t you seen either of them?”

Chikara sat up. “What do you mean they’re gone?!”

“These random guys attacked us while we were fighting the fire. They must have taken them. Some stuff from the hideout is missing. They must have grabbed Kouji in the thick of the fight and then came here, getting Kimura in the process.”

She stood up on the bed. “GENROU! What the hell are you screaming about? They’re gone... they can’t be gone. I saw them both this morning. Gone? Gone where?”

“How the fuck should I know?! I don’t know where they took them!”

“You are of no help. MEN!” she yelled jumping off the bed.

“Oh yeah, like women are good for anything!”

She glared at him. “You couldn’t live without us if you tried.”

“Look. Fighting isn’t going to get us anywhere. We’ve got to find them. You’re coming with me because if anything happened to you, Kouji would kill me.”

“Kouji made me promise that I wouldn’t leave.. and I don’t plan on it.”

“Look, I’m going to go look for them and I can’t leave you here by yourself. If Kimura can be taken that easily, so can you. I’m not about to let that happen.” He grabbed her arm and started pulling her out the door.

She pushed her nails into his hand. “You arrogant son of a bitch!”

“Ow!” Tasuki let go of her. “Listen. I know Kouji made you promise to stay here. But that was before any of this happened. When he told you that, the safest place for you to be was here. But now it probably isn’t safe anymore. Those guys know where we are. Kouji would want you to be safe and right now, the safest place for you to be is with me.”

She stood there dumbfounded. “All right,” was her only reply.

Tasuki went out the door and this time Chikara followed him.

~~~

Kimura was dragged to a room and forced inside.

“Kouji!” she cried, seeing him tied up on the floor.

“Kimura! How did you get here?” he asked.

Before she could answer, her captors shoved her to the floor and tied her back to back with Kouji, then tied her ankles. They then stormed out of the room, locking the door securely.

“Um . . . this is not good,” Kimura said.

“Are you okay?” he asked her.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“How did you get caught?”

“Those guys must have snuck into the hideout. They just grabbed me.”

“Did they get Chikara? Or Genrou?”

“I don’t think so. I think they caught a few other bandits. I was the last one they brought in.”

Kouji sighed in relief. “Don’t worry, then. They’ll come for us.”

“But they don’t know where we are!”

“Um . . . you have a point.”

“Great. I love an optimist.”

“We’ll have to try and get out of here ourselves then.”

“Great plan, Kouji,” she said, rolling her eyes.

He pulled against the ropes at his wrists.

“Ow! Stop that! That hurts!”

“Sorry,” he mumbled. “Damn it, if only I had a knife or my sword.”

“What happened? You lost them?”

“They took all my weapons off me before they locked me in here.”

“Great.”

Kouji again squirmed against the ropes for a minute, then sighed. “These things are too tight. I don’t think we’re goin’ anywhere for a while.”

“Do you have any good news?”

“Not really.”

“So, what were you and Chikara up to last night?”

“I think you can probably guess. On the other hand, you and Tasuki sounded as if you might have participated in slightly more colorful activities.”

Kimura looked down at the ropes. “You have no idea.”

~~~

Tasuki stood outside the door waiting for Chikara to come out. He turned and banged on the door.

“Come on . . . Why do you women take so long to get ready?” he yelled.

“To piss you men off!” she screamed back.

The door opened and she walked into the doorway. Tasuki put his hand on his hips and looked her over. She was wearing boys clothing, her hair tied back into a long straight braid, like everyone else.

“Great . . . you look like a guy. Now, can we get going?” Tasuki urged.

She rolled her eyes. “Sure, we can get going now.”

As they walked out into the hall Tasuki turned one way, as Chikara turned another.

“Where are you going?” Tasuki asked.

“Out,” she told him.

“Then why are you going that way?” he replied.

“Cause that’s the way out,” she pointed out.

He looked down the torn up hallway. “Chikara, how the fuck would you know which way was out? You’ve been here for seven fucking days! I’ve been here for years.”

Chikara glared at him. “If you remember, that is where Kimura and my rooms were . . . those men destoyed it. There is no way out that way anymore.”

Tasuki opened his mouth to talk, but once thinking about it, he realized that she was right. “Fine, we’ll go your way,” he gave in.

Chikara didn’t move though. “Do we need weapons or anything?” she asked.

“What do you need a weapon for? I can protect you,” he told her.

Chikara rolled her eyes. “Yeah, and if we come to a lake, you’ll be useless,” she accused.

“What the hell are you going on about?”

“NEVER MIND!” she screamed, turning back into Kouji’s room and grabbing his sword from the wooden table.

Tasuki looked down at her, then at the sword.. “I bet you don’t even know how to put that on,” he challenged.

She looked up at him, then pulled the sword around her waist and tied it into place. It rested securely in its holder.

Taskuki gaped at her. “I don’t believe it . . .”

She grabbed his arm. “Come on . . . we don’t have time to waste arguing like this.”

“Who’s arguing?”

Tasuki grabbed his bag and tossed it over his shoulder as he and Chikara made their way out.

~~~

Kimura moaned, her stomach rumbling. “You think they’re ever going to feed us?”

“I don’t know,” Kouji replied, feeling his own stomach growl.

She sighed. “There’s no way they’ll find us.”

Kouji reached for her hand and squeezed it. “Don’t give up on me yet, kid.”

The door swung open. Guards came in and untied Kouji from Kimura, forcing him out of the room. Kimura tried to call to him, but they slammed the door, leaving her alone.

Kouji was brought into another room and tied to a chair in the middle of a room. The guards stood back until another man, possibly the leader, entered the room.

“Who the fuck are you and what the hell do you want from us?” Kouji demanded.

The man motioned to a guard. Kouji received a fist in his face.

“I’ll ask the questions,” the man said roughly. “But first, I have something I think you’ll be interested in.” He produced a scrap of cloth.

Kouji recognized it instantly. It was a piece of Chikara’s dress.

“Where is she?” he growled.

The man speaking punched Kouji himself this time.

Kouji barely winced. “Where is she?”

“I told you I would ask the questions.”

“Fuck you. Where is she?”

The man punched him harder. Blood trickled down Kouji’s chin. “She’s dead. We couldn’t afford to take too many prisoners.”

Kouji’s face drained of all color. “No,” he whispered. He could still imagine her in his arms, her smell, her taste, her eyes . . . “NOOOO!”

The leader jumped back as Kouji broke the rope binding his wrists and reached for his throat. “Hold him BACK!” he shrieked.

Four men tackled Kouji, just barely getting him back under control.

“BASTARD!” Kouji screamed. “You couldn’t have! You DIDN’T!”

“Why wouldn’t I?” the leader asked calmly. “We take what we want. You Reikaku Bandits think you’re the best. Well, you’ve got competition now.”

“GIVE HER BACK!” Kouji struggled violently against the men holding him. “You’ll pay for this!”

“Will I?”

At that, Kouji nearly succeeded in getting free.

“Men,” the leader went on. “I don’t think he’s in any kind of shape to hear the offer I have for him. Teach him a lesson first. We’ll talk later.” The leader sauntered out of the room, as Kouji hit the floor.

~~~

“KOUJI!” Kimura screamed as the guards dropped his unconscious form into the room. After tying him up, they dragged her out. She screamed to her friend, but he didn’t stir.

The guards forced her into another room and tied her face down to a table.

Kimura lay there, shivering. They’re gonna kill me, she thought. Tasuki! Tasuki, please get me out of here!

“What’s your name, girl?” a voice asked her.

“K-Kimura,” she answered. She couldn’t look up at the owner of the voice.

“Kimura, I don’t want to hurt you. But you will tell me what I want to know. If you do, discipline won’t be necessary. Now, you are a servant of the Mt. Reikaku bandits, correct?”

“Sort of.”

“I need to know secrets of their hideout to plan an attack. You will give me any informationg you have.”

“I don’t have any!”

“Surely you must know something from wandering around the halls.”

“No! I don’t! I haven’t been there long enough! I don’t know anything!”

“And you’ve never overheard any useful conversations between the leaders?”

“No!”

A pause.

“Well, that’s too bad for you, then, Kimura.”

“No, please . . .”

~~~

Once outside, Chikara looked around. “Where do we go from here? We don’t even know where they are,” she pointed out.

Tasuki turned. “Why don’t we try the only village that isn’t burned to the ground,” he said smartly.

She thought about it for a moment. “Okay, so maybe your right on this one. But what if they’re not there?” she asked.

“Then we look somewhere else,” he told her.

They started heading towards the small village at the bottom of the mountain.

Chikara was a step and a half behind Tasuki. He was very surprised that she could keep up with him.

It started to get dark, and they walked as far as they could until they couldn’t see anything in front of them anymore.

Tasuki randomly stopped, causing Chikara to almost crash into him. “We’re stopping here for the night,” he explained, dropping his bag onto the ground. “Get some wood so we can make a fire and see what we’re doin’.”

She shook her head. “Wait a minute... How can I get wood, if we need a fire to see what we’re doing?”

“You have hands . . . feel around,” he suggested.

“Feel around . . . great. And when I walk into a tree, I’ll let you know.”

“Fine,” he said not paying attention. He was setting up camp. She turned and hit her head on a tree. “OW!” she yelled.

“SHUT UP!” Tasuki screamed back.

“OW!” she whispered. She got down on her knees and started feeling around, trying to find branches and such. She was pricked a few times by some other bushes, but since she couldn’t see them and she didn’t know what they were.

After a few minutes she had an armful of wood. She stood up ready to go back, but she looked around into the darkness, and didn’t know which way to head towards.

“Genrou?” There was no answer. Maybe she was too far away for him to hear her. Chikara took a deep breath, knowing that she was lost. “Genrou?!” she said a bit louder. Once again, there was no answer. “Tasuki! Where the hell are you?!” she screamed.

There was no sound of crackling leaves, and broken sticks, but someone walked up behind her and put their hands on her shoulders. She kept herself from screaming, but couldn’t keep herself from almost jumping three feet. A hand was placed over her mouth, and then she heard a voice in her ear. “I thought I told you to shut up?” the voice said.

“Genrou . . .” she managed to say through muffled sounds.

He moved his hand from her mouth.

“You prick,” Chikara voiced as soon as it was removed.

“What the fuck is a prick?” he asked.

“YOU!” she told him.

“You’re a pain in the ass.” He grabbed her arm, and led her back to the camp.

She dropped the pile of sticks on the ground, and sat down next to her bag. She could hear Tasuki rummaging through his things, not sure of what it was because he still hadn’t started a fire.

“Genrou . . . Will you Lekka Shien, of Rekka Shinen... or whatever the hell you say, the damn wood already?” she asked annoyed.

“I would if I knew where the fuck you dropped it,” he answered back.

“How about where you made that little hole surrounded by rocks?”

“I thought you couldn’t see anything?” he told her.

“I almost tripped over the thing . . . that’s how I knew it was there,” she explained.

She couldn’t hear anything from him anymore, and wondered if he was even there. But she soon learned that he was when she heard him say those wonderful words that make fire. Finally, she could see things around her. The blanket that she took from the hideout was the one on Kouji’s bed. She pulled it out and laid it on the ground, sitting down when she was finished.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the fire, Tasuki was pulling out food. She looked at it, and made a face, deciding that she wasn’t going to eat anything. Her mind was on only one thing: Kouji.

“Aren’t you going to eat anything?” Tasuki asked as she laid back and looked up at the stars.

“No, I’m not hungry,” she told him without any sarcasm in her voice.

“Not hungry?” he asked. “I bet you haven’t eaten a damn thing all day,” he told her.

“So what?” she replied. She turned around from the fire and faced the dark woods. She put her arms around her lower stomach and started to cry quietly, hating herself. I love Kouji so much. He was inside of me. I felt him moving inside me . . . and now he’s gone the day after. Things weren’t suppose to be like this.

Chikara felt like throwing up. Her head ached, her heart pounded and she felt really hot. She wasn’t ill, but she knew what the problem was. She was love sick. She could hear Tasuki preparing food over the fire. Thinking about the whole situation, she started to get angry with herself. Wiping the tears off her face, she could once again hear Tasuki. He was pulling out tin plates.

As she laid there, Tasuki walked over to her and forced her up into a sitting position. “What are you doing?!” she screamed.

“Making you eat,” he told her.

“But I told you that I didn’t want anything to eat,” she said, trying to squirm away.

“Kouji would kick my ass if he knew that I let you starve,” he explained holding her in place.

“Then don’t tell him.”

“He’d find out anyway!”

Chikara looked at Tasuki as he moved a plate in front of her face.

“You’re gonna eat this, and you’re gonna like it.”

She looked away from the food.

“Listen to me. Stop fucking pissin me off!” He grabbed her chin and forced in a piece of bread. “Do you think you can handle the rest?” he asked.

She nodded and he put the plate in her hands. He walked back over to the other side where his things were and sat down putting his plate on his lap.

He watched her as she ate small portions of her food. “How long have you and Kimura been friends?” he wondered, trying to make up a conversation.

She looked up at him. “About six months.”

“Six months?”

“Yah, I haven’t really known her for a long time.”

Chikara finshed what was on her plate and laid back down on the blanket.

Tasuki had finished way before she did, and had fallen alseep shortly afterwards. She wanted to fall alseep and get some rest, but no matter how hard she tried, or what position she was in she wasn’t able to close her eyes long enough to fall asleep.

It seemed like she laid there for hours, just staring up looking at the tops of the trees, and the blackness in the sky. There were a few animals that she heard, but was unable to see, all except the bats. Remembering what happened to Miaka and them with the bats, she was a little nervous. The feeling flew over her as quickly as the bats did however.

~~~

Chikara was finally starting to go to sleep, and getting comfortable on the ground when she felt someone shaking her back into life. She opened her eyes and found that the sun was up, and so was Tasuki.

After he saw that she was awake he began to pack his things up.

Chikara pushed herself from the ground, her back aching. Sleeping on the ground was something that she wasn’t use to doing.

Without caring, she shoved everything into her own bag. Tasuki watched her for a second with a raised eyebrow. “Something bothering you?” he asked as he finshed packing.

“No,” she answered, trying to stuff the blanket into the all ready full bag.

He watched her, pushing it in, knowing that it wasn’t going in any further. She slammed her fist into the pile of blanket, harder and harder.

Tasuki stood up, and continued watching her as she threw the bag on the ground.

“Forget it,” she said.

He shook his head and picked up her bag, repacking it for her. “You don’t go camping often, do you?” he questioned.

“How could you tell?” He handed it back to her and she stood up and tossed it over her shoulder.

“Thanks,” she said.

~~~

Kouji awoke as the door to the room opened and someone was carefully laid on the floor.

“Kimura?” he asked groggily.

She didn’t reply nor stir as she was again tied up.

Kouji shook his head until his vision came back into focus. “Fuck!” He looked up at the guards. “What the fuck did you do to her?!” His question went unanswered as he was again freed and led back to the room where he was questioned earlier. As before, he was placed in a chair and bound to it.

The Leader entered.

“What the fuck did you hurt Kimura for?!” Kouji demanded. “She’s got nothing to do with this! She doesn’t know anything!”

The Leader punched him. “I told you I ask the questions. And you’re right, Kimura doesn’t know anything. There’s no way she could have withstood that kind of torture if she was hiding something.”

“You bastard --”

He was cut off by the Leader’s fist in his stomach.

“Now, you will listen to me,” the Leader said as Kouji tried to concentrate through the pain. “I want to know secrets to your hideout so I can attack it.”

“Fuck you,” Kouji managed through the pain. “I’ll die before I’ll tell you that.”

“I already killed your love. What do you think will happen if I kill Genrou’s?”

Kouji’s head snapped up. “You wouldn’t!”

“I will if you don’t tell me.”

Genrou would never forgive me if I let her get killed, he thought. But he’s as good as dead anyway if I tell this asshole what I know.

~~~

Once again, they started hiking down the mountain. At one point, having never travelled that part of the mountain before, they came upon a steep slope of dirt and rock, heading down towards a small pond. Chikara and Tasuki walked carefully on the narrow edge. Tasuki knocked over a rock, and they watched as it slowly fell down and hit the pond. As Chikara stepped onto the same spot, the rocks and dirt gave way and she fell down, rolling into boulders, and trees. Finally, she landed in the pond.

Sitting up in the water, she checked herself over. There were a few random scratches, but other than that she was fine.

Tasuki came down, slowly. He stood on the bank of the pond and helped her stand up. It was then that Chikara found out that her leg was broken. As she put her weight on it, it collapsed and she fell back down to the ground. The pain caused by it was extreme.

Tasuki knelt down beside her. “What’s the matter?” he asked.

“I think my leg is broken,” she said, putting her hand on it.

“Your leg is broken?” He felt the bone in her leg, and once he touched the part that was fractured, she screamed out in pain. “Yup, it’s broken.”

She looked at him. “Well, now what am I going to do? I’m going to slow us down,” she told him.

Tasuki picked her up out of the water and put her down on the green grass that was a few yards away from the steep slope. He got down beside her leg, and held it in his hands. She looked up at him. “What are you doing?” she asked.

“I’m going to realign the bone,” he explained.

“What?!” she screamed.

Tasuki handed her her a small fat stick. “Here, put this in your mouth,” he told her. “This is gonna hurt.”

She put the stick in her mouth, and Tasuki grabbed her leg and moved the bone back into its right place.

With the stick in her mouth, Chikara found herself unable to scream when the pain shot up. With that, Tasuki tore off a few pieces of fabric from various other clothes, and picked up a couple of striaght hard wood sticks. Together they all made a brace on her leg, to keep it in one position.

Chikara started to feel like MacGuyver when she thought of a way to make crutches. She grabbed a few branches from the forest floor, then a couple pieces of cloth. After finding a tree that released sap, she collected it and placed it on the cloth then put it around the branches, making it look like what she wanted. She knew that it wouldn’t stay together without heating it, so she had Tasuki burn the fabric and sap, making it permantly glued together. When she tried it out it worked fine. Now they were able to move without her slowing them down, and she did keep up with Tasuki as he started heading in the direction that they knew so well.

“You’re not walking slower because of me?” she asked.

“No way!” he told her, looking back a few times amazed at what she created.

“Are you lying?”

“Why would I fucking lie?” he answered.

“I don’t know.”

After stopping only once to eat, they realized that they would reach the village within an hour or two. It would be dark by then, but that could work to their advantage.

As they continued on their way, they noticed that something was wrong. They smelt smoke, but didn’t know where it was coming from. Tasuki turned and looked up, but there was no smoke from where they had originally came. There was only one other place it had to be, and it was the village that they were now heading towards.

“Genrou . . .” Chikara called to him, as he was getting further ahead of her.

He turned and looked back. “What’s the matter?” he asked, wanting to keep moving.

“I can’t keep up with you anymore,” she told him.

He walked back over to her. “Come on. We don’t have any more time to waste.”

“I just need to rest for a minute,” she explained.

“Okay, we’ve walked for hours. I’m tired too, but we have to be quick.”

She nodded as she sat down on a nearby boulder. She looked up into the purple and pink sky and saw a cloud of black smoke.

“The whole place must be burned to the ground by now,” she said softly.

“If it’s not, it will be by the time we get there,” he concluded, sitting down and leaning against a tree.

Chikara stood up and staggered over to Tasuki without her crutches. “Genrou . . . what are you talking about?” she asked.

He looked up at her. “I’m saying, what’s the point. By the time we get they’re gonna be dead.”

Chikara hit him upside the head with everything she had.

He put his hand on his head. “What the fuck was that for!?” he wanted to know.

Chikara glared down at him. “I am not giving up! Damn you for even thinking about it.”

“Chikara . . . there is nothing we can do now.”

“TASUKI! You are really pissing me off.”

“What the hell are you freaking out about?! You’ve only known Kouji for about a week, and Kimura for 6 months. You’re not gonna lose anything.”

Chikara reached down, and with strength she never knew she had, grabbed his collar and lifted Tasuki onto his feet.

“You son a bitch! How dare you talk to me that way?! Kimura and I have been through a lot together . . .” She pushed Tasuki’s shoulders into the tree. “I gave Kouji my virginity. If you think that I am going sit here, while he might be dying . . . you’ve got another think coming.”

Tasuki looked up at the black smoke. “I can run fast. You have a will for things. We can do this, can’t we?”

Chikara smiled. “Yes, I know we can.”

“That what are doing here?”

“That’s why I was saying!”

They took off for the burning village with a new passion.

~~~

They reached the village within in a few minutes. He looked over at Chikara, as they were both standing about twenty feet away from the burning gate of the village.

Chikara looked at the only entrance into the village. There was no way in, everything was on fire. Chikara heard running water nearby, and turned around to see a small river.

"Tasuki . . . give me your blanket," she told him.

He gave her a look. "What for?"

"Okay, look. There is no way to get into the village right? Cause of all the fire. If you give me your blanket, we can dip it in the river and get it soaked with water. We come back here, hold it up in front of us, and walk through the opening right there without getting burnt."

"That's a good idea," he said.

So, they did it. Chikara held one corner and Tasuki held the other. Her leg prevented them from walking really fast, but they made it to the center without catching on fire. Unfortunately, once they were there they realized that they were not alone.

The sun had gone down, and the only light now was the flickering yellows, oranges, and reds from the fire.

Three men ran at them out of nowhere. Two were on Tasuki, while one headed for Chikara. She was still in her boys clothes, and the man must have thought that she was one. She pulled out Kouji's sword and held it up at the man, thanking God that she had fencing lessons.

The man charged at her, his thick sword glowing red. As he rose it above his head, Chikara stepped back and blocked the blow with her own. When she stepped back, she stumbled cause of her leg, and when the man swung again, the blade came in contact with her face. She had a cut from a centimeter above her left eyebrow, through it, across the very edge of her eye to her cheek bone. She could see just fine, and stood up, recomposing herself.

As he stood there, praising himself for getting a hit, Chikara took the opportunity to get one herself, slashing his arm drawing blood. The man was angered with her, and came after her. She blocked again, pushing him away. It did not stop the man however, and he came back at her. She saw the sword in front of her, and moved out of the way, but it slashed open her vest. The man stood there staring at her chest through her shirt. His mouth dropped open. "You're a woman!" he screamed.

Chikara reached back and let her hair fall out. The man seemed pissed that he was having such a fair fight with a girl. He reached out for her and grabbed her, turned her around, and cut her hair off at the shoulders. Taking a chance, she moved out of his arms and stabbed the man through his shoulder, turning the blade causing more pain. The man dropped his sword with his right hand, and when he went to pick it up with his left Chikara stepped on it. He looked up at her, then ran away into the fire.

She turned around to see Tasuki blow the last man away with his Tessen. He walked over to her, and handed her crutches to her.

"You look like hell," he told her. "Your eye! Holy shit! Can you see?"

She nodded. "I can see fine."

"And your hair," he pointed out.

"Don't worry about it. We came here to do something, now let's do it."

She leaned on her crutches, and looked around. "So, where do you think they are?" she asked, not having a clue herself.

"I don't know," Tasuki answered.

In front of them in a two story building, men started running out of the burning inferno. She recognized one of the men from before. He was the man that had been to her room and Kouji told him to never come back. She didn't understand what it was all about, but she figured that the man, whoever he was, was not as good as he made himself out to be.

"They are in there!" Chikara yelled through the noise of the fire.

"Are you sure?" Tasuki asked back.

"I know they are."

Tasuki nodded his head. "Okay. Let's go!"

They went over to building, feeling it's heat grow more intense as they got closer. "We can't get in that way." Tasuki told her as the door frame fell in the way.

"Lets go around to the back, through the gardens," she suggested.

"That sounds like a plan."

They walked around, and found an open window and a room that was not in flames. He helped her in, then climbed in himself. Once inside they were greeted by a man trying to get out. Tasuki grabbed his arm.

"Hey!"

The man seemed scared to death.

"Where do you keep your prisoners?" Tasuki asked him loudly, showing his fangs.

Chikara wondered if the man knew what he was talking about.

"Prisoners? We keep them.... up.. upstairs," the man stuttered.

"Where upstairs?!" Tasuki demanded to know.

"All the way down this hall, that way. It's the last room in the hall."

Tasuki let the man go, and he jumped out through the window, thinking that the people still in there were crazy.

Tasuki and Chikara walked out into the hall and saw the stairs immediately. They went up them, and looked down the hall that the man said. The hall at the end was entirely engulfed.

"Son of a bitch!" Chikara screamed, throwing one of her crutches in the opposite direction, also on flames. She looked down, and the stairs were now on fire. They were trapped. Tasuki pulled out the blanket, and held it in front of them as they walked down the hall, stepping over holes that were all ready burned through in the floor.

There were two doors at the end of the hall. Tasuki looked at Chikara.

"I'll go in this one, you go in that one," he told her.

"Okay," she said, coughing on the smoke. "Wait!" she screamed. She pulled out her sword and cut out two pieces from the wet blanket. She handed one piece to Tasuki. "Wrap it around, and make sure it covers your nose and mouth. It helps a little."

He did as she said to do, and they both opened the door. The sound from Tasuki alone made her realize that they were in the other room, and she turned to the other door. In front of her now was a wall of fire. Tasuki had the blanket. There was no way she could get through it without getting caught on fire. All around her it was eating it's way to her. Either way, she was going to be burned alive. The air was gone, and she was standing on the only piece of wood that wasn't on fire. Her eyes were burning from the smoke, and she couldn't breath.

Just as she thought she was going to die, Tasuki came out and grabbed her pulling her into the room. Once there she saw Kouji and Kimura on the floor. The whole room was in flames. Her stomach dropped when she saw what they had done to Kouji. She crawled over to him.

Tasuki had picked Kimura up, and wrapped her in the blanket, then jumped out through the window. Chikara sat there with Kouji's head in her lap in horror. There was no way she could pick Kouji up, and carry him over to the window with her leg the way it was. And even if she could, she knew that there was only enough space through the window for one. She would sacrifice herself for Kouji, and get burned.

She pulled on Kouji's shirt, dragging him on the floor over to the window. Once there she stood up, and pulled him with her. The heat was making her tired, and she could no longer see anything with the blood dripping into her eye. She picked him up, and looking outside, carefully dropped him into the pool that was awaiting below. As she did this, she could feel the fire on her clothes, burning her arm to it's flesh. She waited, through the pain, for Tasuki to pull Kouji out of the way so she could jump as well. Once he was moved, she jumped, and the water put out the fire that had started on her.

She laid there, dazed. She slowly moved the rag from her mouth, and breathed in air. It wasn't good, but at least she could breath. She knew that she had to fend for herself, now that Tasuki was with Kimura.

Tasuki hovered over Kimura's body. She wasn't breathing. He calmed himself from the panic that was rising inside him. He opened her mouth, pinched her nose shut, and put his mouth over hers. He took a deep breath and blew air into her lungs. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched as her chest rose. When she didn't a breath on her own, he tried again. He moved back and watched her. He felt his panic rising. He stroked her face. "Come on Kimura . . . you can't do this to me, not now. We've come all this way." He breathed into her again, but she still did not respond. "You can't be beaten like this! You can't! Fight it, damn it! Fight it!" Tasuki choked back a sob. "Don't leave me." He breathed into her once more.

Kimura coughed lightly, but did not open her eyes.

"Thank Suzaku," Tasuki murmured, cradling her to his chest and hiding his tears in her hair.

Chikara forced herself up from the water, and walked over to Kouji, who was still unconscious. Her arm ached, her back was burned, and her broken leg was throbbing. The blood that had oozed into her eye and down the side of her face, was now dry. Slowly and painfully she knelt down beside the man she loved. He looked beat up, and drained of all life. After seeing his chest rise with air and knowing that he was still alive, she took a deep breath and relaxed a little. Her fingers traveled along his scar, gently so as not to give him more pain than he all ready felt. It had been so long since she had seen him.

Chikara looked up at the window that she had jumped out of. There was no more window. The whole building was on fire and crumpling to the ground. Were things going to get better as the tracked back? Would she make it in the condition she was in? Where were the helicopters when you needed them? She knew the answer. They were either 700 years in the future or in a different dimension.

"Chikara . . . " Tasuki called to her softly.

She turned to him. "What?" she answered back.

"We have to get going," he told her.

Chikara thought about what was going on and what condition they were all in. "Genrou . . . I can't walk. Kouji's . . . well, look at him. And Kimura's out. How the hell are we going to get out of here?" she asked worried, as pieces of burning wood were being blown their way from the wind.

Tasuki thought about it and looked around. "I have an idea," he said as he gently laid Kimura down on the ground. Chikara didn't know what he had in mind until he walked over with a horse and four wheeled cart. Chikara smiled, and shook her head. "You can't be as smart as you're appearing," Chikara said.

Tasuki and Chikara lifted Kouji from the ground, and laid him in comfortably. Chikara took off her vest, and made a small pillow from it, putting it under Kouji's head.

Tasuki put his hands under Kimura and picked her up. Gently, he placed her next to Kouji. Chikara looked at them, then turned to Tasuki. "What do you think happened to them?" she asked innocently.

"I don't know," he told her. "But I think that we're gonna to find out sooner or later." Tasuki grabbed Chikara's waist, and lifted her onto the cart. "I'm gonna leave them to you. Take care of them until we stop."

Chikara saluted him. "Aye, Aye sir. You can count on me."

Tasuki climbed on top of the seat, and grabbed the reins. With the sound of leather, the horse was moving. The cart jerked, and they were on their way.

Chikara looked down at Kouji. She wanted him to be awake. She wanted him to put his arms around her, and hold her tight. She wanted to hear his voice.

Tasuki looked back at them. "How're they doing?" he asked.

"Same as before," she replied.

"Well, with a horse, we're gonna get there quicker. We'll stop once get a good distance from here."

"Sounds good to me . . . as long as we stop near some water, so I can clean up."

"No problem."

He turned back towards the horses and started mumbling to himself. Chikara was listening to his words.

"If I find out who did this . . . I'll kill them myself. Fucking son of a . . . Those mother fucking ass--"

She was wondering why he was censoring himself. Chikara wanted to lean back, but her arm was burnt so bad that the clothes around it had melted into the wound. Where she had broken her leg, it was all black and blue. Every time she moved it an inch, the pain that shot up was unbearable.

There was no light from the night. The crescent moon offered no additional help to the darkness. At that moment, the only thing that Chikara wanted to do was bathe in a tub full of hot water. But when Tasuki stopped a few yards into the woods from a small cold river, she gratefully accepted.

Once there she took out the extra clothes that she had brought with her. She tossed it over onto a low branch from the nearest tree to the water. Carefully she removed all her clothes, tossing them into the water, watching them flow with the water downstream. The hardest article of clothing to take off was her shirt. Because, when she pulled it off, pieces of skin came with it. She had pulled it off quickly however, knowing what would happen.

She walked over to the water and waded around up to her knees, until getting use to it. She then walked out further, and using the soap that Tasuki had given her, she began to scrub herself. Nothing was better than leaning back into the cold water having it wash over her face, and soak her hair. The water dripped down her face, down her neck then took different paths back to the river. Some little water streams went down her arms, others her back, and some her chest.

Her back had been burned, but not as bad as her arm. The fire had only burned the first layer, if that. So when she took her cold river bath, most of the dead skin fell off to new ones.

~~~

Kouji woke up still lying in the cart. Tasuki found it pointless to move them, if they were just going to put them back. Kouji's eyes didn't want to open however. There was no reason for him to live. The dark night was no different than when he opened his eyes, and he wondered if they actually were. It wasn't until he saw the dying red light from a fire that he was positive. He sat up, feeling his muscles contract. What he really needed was a massage.

After sitting up, he looked down and noticed that beside him was Kimura. She was always with him. But where was he? What was that small fire? Why was he lying in a cart? How did he get there?

He jumped off the edge, straightening himself out. He looked around, wondering if there was anyone there. "Hello . . ." he called out quietly. There was no answer. Going to the small fire, he found some items that looked familiar to him. His sword was there. There was no explanation that he could think of for why it would be lying there on the ground. Thinking that the same people that had grabbed him in the woods, were the same that saved his life, he stood up and looked more carefully around. If he had an opportunity to escape that was exactly what he was going to do.

From in the woods he heard someone walking towards him. The sound of the breaking branches and crunching leaves was unmistakable. He picked up his sword to his advantage, and held it out ready to strike. The anger inside him was rising. Those bastards were going to die, if he had to kill every single one of them with his bare hands.

But the person that walked out from the woods was not the person he was expecting. Chikara walked out, her hair soaked, but much shorter than it use to be. She was wearing a white shirt, wet too because she had no towel with her. With that, she had on a long black skirt. She continued her slow awkward walk towards the camp, not paying attention to where she was going because she was too busy wrapping her arm up. It was too disgusting to look at.

Kouji dropped the sword at the sight of her. His heart was racing. She couldn't be alive. He had to be staring at a ghost. The sword landed with a loud clank on a rock, and the noise made Chikara jump. Her head shot up, but she was surprised to see Kouji standing there. They stood there, staring at each other. Kouji rubbed his eyes, hoping that when he opened them again the apparition would be gone. She wasn't.

"Kouji?" Chikara called to him.

He remained still, not sure of what to do.

She staggered over to him, looking up into his eyes. Something was different about him. All of a sudden, he wrapped his arms around her, and pulled her close. Even though he was hurting her, she refused to let him know.

"Chikara, Chikara... Chikara," he muttered as he buried his head in her hair, his strong arms firmly around her body.

She was worried about him, especially with the way that he was holding her so forcefully. He pulled back, and stared at her. "I don't believe it," he whispered. He put his hands on her face, touching her making sure that she was real. His hands moved into her hair, feeling the softness. It was all the same. He moved his hand under her chin, where he lifted her face to meet his. He kissed her, hard. Forcing his body and mouth onto hers. She tasted the same. She felt the same.

He moved away from her mouth, only then noticing the wound on her face. He moved his finger over it lightly. "Who did this to you?" he asked sincerely.

"They did," she answered.

He looked her over, finding that something was also wrong with her leg. "Your leg . . . did they do that too?"

Chikara shook her head. "Don't lie for them!" he screamed as he grabbed her arm, making her scream out in pain. It felt like her arm was burning all over again. She collapsed to the ground, the pain being too much for her to take standing up. He was quickly at her side, his arms around her gently. "I'm sorry . . . I didn't notice."

She looked up at him. "It's okay . . ." she said, the ache slowly dying. "No, they didn't do that to my leg. I did. I fell down the edge of a steep hill."

He sat down beside her, pulling her leg up onto his lap. He moved the skirt up, and began to feel her leg. "Genrou, did he fix this for you?"

She nodded.

"And your arm? How did that happen?" he wanted to know, massaging her leg softly.

"I got that saving you from the fire," she explained putting her head down. "It was either you or me, and I couldn't bear for you to feel anymore pain."

He reached over and put his hand on her face. "And what about the pain that you were feeling?"

She leaned in towards his touch. "I could bare that, but if you had died, I would have died with you."

Kouji was silent for a moment. He was thinking about the agony that he had felt after they told him that she was dead. Then the torture afterwards of them telling him the details; how they forced her clothes off, touching her, raping her, her screaming out his name . . . that was the worst part of all, and finally them killing her. They told him everything, from the way she looked, her terrified state, to the way her body felt. He had it all memorized, her body and what they said. But she was still alive.

He woke up from his flashback when she grabbed his hand, and entwined her fingers in his.

"Are you all right?" he wondered.

"I am now," she said.

"That's not what I meant," he told her, pulling her into his arms. He looked down at her hair. "Your hair? It's shorter," he perceived. "Why did you cut your beautiful hair?" he asked.

"I didn't . . . They did." she informed him.

"They did?!" he exclaimed. "Why would they do that?" He thought about what he asked. "Never mind . . . don't answer that." He didn't want her to relive what happened.

"Why? I can answer it. I was fighting with one of them. After he sliced through my eye, I stabbed him back. He got mad, and came after me, cutting my vest apart. He stared at my chest, then grabbed me, and cut my hair. That's when I took the chance and got away from him. He ran off, and I met up with Genrou."

Kouji was thinking. "Vest?" he asked. "When were you wearing a vest? I thought you were wearing your dress," he thought out loud.

"My dress? Kouji, I left that outside. It was after we had sex. You carried me back in. We were both naked. Neither one of us had our clothes with us," she reminded him.

Kouji was silent again. "They were watching us," he said.

Chikara looked at him. "What? Who was watching? Doing what?"

He moved his arm around her waist. "Those bastards were watching us make love. They saw the whole thing. It was their plan to get one of us. We left it wide open for them to do something."

Chikara had no idea was he was going on about. She put her hand on his chest. "Kouji! What are you talking about?" she questioned.

"They told me you were dead," he said quickly.

She thought about what he must have gone through. "Kouji . . . I --"

"They had a piece of your dress," he cut her off. "I believed them." His eyes looked away from her.

Chikara moved to be in front of him, where she then sat on his lap and wrapped her legs around his waist, her arms loosely around his neck so she was looking at him. "I would have believed them, too. They didn't touch me . . . just one of their swords. But I fought him off. So whatever they told you, forget it. None of it was true." She leaned in close to him, and kissed him lightly, then moving her head to his shoulder, resting her unmarked cheek on his warm body. She felt his arms move to her waist, where he held her tight, pushing her closer to him. His head tilted down atop hers. "I love you too," he finally said a few days late.

Chikara laughed, her eyes filling with tears.

"When they were telling me what they did to you, I felt so bad I didn't say that when I left you. I thought I would never see you again, to tell you that. I thought you had died, screaming my name . . . and I didn't tell you how I felt. I'm sorry."

The tears were streaming down her face, burning the cut on her cheek.

"Are you crying?" he asked.

She sniffled. "No . . . I'm just happy."

He pulled her out in front of him so he could see her. "You are crying," he uttered as his lips were on hers.

"It's liquid smiles," she managed to say before he kissed her again. She closed her eyes, and felt his mouth press against hers, his tongue slipping into her mouth, moving slowly savoring her taste.

Tasuki watched them from the shadows of the trees. He had been there for quite a while, his arms crossed, his shoulder resting on the rough bark of a tree. He looked over at the cart, at Kimura who was still lying there. What did they do to her? Did he really want to find out?

~~~

The next day, the four started out again. There wasn't much food to share between the three of them that were awake. Kouji and Chikara still weren't in any condition to go trekking through the woods back to Reikaku. They rode in back with Kimura while Tasuki drove. They arrived back at Reikaku just before lunch.

Kouji helped Chikara down from the cart as the bandits came running up to meet their leaders.

"We've got injured here," Tasuki called out. "Attend to them first."

Chikara and Kouji were ushered inside. Another bandit reached for Kimura, but Tasuki stopped him, taking her inside himself. He ordered a bath to be drawn in her room. He looked down at her bruised face, praying that she would wake up soon. He carried her to her room and set her down gently on the bed. Servants were already filling the bath with steaming water. Tasuki waited patiently until they were done.

When the last servant had left, he bent down and slowly removed Kimura's clothes. Doesn't look too bad, he thought, seeing the various bruises. I'm still gonna kill the bastards. However, when he glanced at her back, he saw that it was covered in red slashes.

"FUCK!" Tasuki screamed, trying to will the wounds away, unable to accept what his eyes were telling him. The wounds had already begun to heal a bit. Tasuki could only imagine how painful they must have been. Fucking FUCKING bastards! What did they do this for?! The rational part of his brain forced him to calm down. Since they've already started healing, she should be okay in the water. I'll put some salve on them afterwards. Forcing down the lump in his throat, he picked her limp form up and slowly lowered her into the water.

Kimura stirred, moaning. "Tasuki?"

"I'm here," he said immediately, carefully lowering her the rest of the way.

"Whaa . . . where am I?" She opened her eyes slowly, focusing on him.

"You're safe. You're back at Reikaku," he said soothingly, pushing the hair out of her face. He again swallowed his tears. "How do you feel?"

She leaned against him, seemingly exhausted. "It hurts . . . I'm tired."

He wrapped his arms around her carefully. "Shh, I know, baby. It's all right. I'll take care of you." He held her for a minute, then gently let her go and removed his own shirt. He lightly kissed her forehead. "C'mon, this'll help you feel better." He took a cloth from the side of the tub and dipped it in the water.

"Where's Kouji?" she asked, as he started to bathe her.

"He's fine. He and Chikara are being taken care of."

"Chikara . . . was she injured?"

"Yeah. She broke her leg. Then we got in a fight with some guards and then had to pull you and Kouji out of a burning building."

Kimura shivered despite the warm water. "I missed a lot."

"Yeah," he answered simply. He tried to be as gentle as he could while he cleansed her back, but she still winced a little.

"Who were they?" Kimura asked suddenly.

"The guys that captured you? I'm not sure . . . I think they're competition. That's why they burned that village down. They probably raided it first, then burned it so we couldn't get to it."

"They were asking me for information about how to get into this place. I didn't know anything, but even if I had, I wouldn't have told them."

He hugged her. "Don't say that. You don't have to protect us."

"I wouldn't have betrayed you. But I don't see why they needed it anyway. They managed to get in here once already."

"But only a few of them. I think they were looking for a way to plan a large scale attack. They probably tried to force Kouji to talk, too. What I don't understand is why they burned the village they were staying in. It just doesn't make any sense. There were only me and Chikara threatening them."

"Maybe they had already drained it of its supplies and decided they couldn't get anything out of me or Kouji."

Tasuki nodded. "Probably."

"Tasuki, what do we do if they come back?"

He tilted her chin up and kissed her gently on the mouth. "I won't let them hurt you, I promise."

After washing her hair, Tasuki carefully lifted her out of the bath and wrapped her in a towel, holding her in his lap.

"What did they do to you?" he asked softly.

"Isn't it obvious enough?"

"They didn't . . . touch you?"

"One of them started to, but the Leader stopped him."

Tasuki breathed a sigh of relief as he kissed the top of her head. "Thank God. I'm still gonna find that sonuva bitch and kill him for hurting you."

"Tasuki, I don't want to talk about it," she whispered, resting her head on his shoulder.

"Gomen ne," he murmured, caressing her hair. "I'll shut up."

Kimura almost laughed. "You don't have to stop talking altogether, just don't talk about that."

Tasuki shrugged. "Talking's overrated," he said, planting his mouth firmly on hers.

"Mm hm."

Chikara sighed as she leaned against the wall. The other men had forced Kouji away from her and she was now standing alone. All this, she thought, to get him back, and he is still gone. She had no idea where he was or what was happening to him. Another sigh escaped from her lungs as she moved away from the wall and stepped into the warm water of her bath. Suddenly, a million questions were running around her mind. If by impulse, she sunk lower into the water until her whole body was submerged. It added strain to her chest but she found the torture enjoyable. Unable to kill herself, she pulled her head up to the surface and took in the cool air.

Even though Tasuki had told the other bandits to help Chikara and Kouji, it never turned out that way. Chikara was simply brought to a room with a tub and table that had assorted goods on it. She didn't know what any of the things were, and didn't bother testing them. Kimura, she thought was probably being pampered by Genrou, mainly since he was the only one that did not get hurt. Funny how that one worked out. The word "Typical," escaped from her mouth.

A knock on the door forced her wondering thoughts from her mind. "Who is it?" she called out.

There was no answer but the door was opening. She sat up and brought her legs to chest to cover her nakedness. A man that she had never seen before poked his head through the small opening between the door and the frame.

"Are you Chikara?" the man asked.

"Yes, but who are you?" she wondered.

"No one of importance. I was sent here to tell you that Kimura is awake and fine."

Chikara looked away from the man. Somehow, she had all ready knew that. "Thank you."

The man nodded and closed the door behind him.

The warm bath had relaxed her muscles, and she found it very hard to pull herself out of the water with one arm and one leg. One splash indicated her failure, but she learned from her mistake and after another try she managed to succeed. After drying herself with a towel she slipped on a long cream colored silk robe. After being here so long, Chikara had thought that she was at a type of summer camp. But people didn't have sword fights to the death at a summer camp, she thought. People didn't die for no reason at all. Why couldn't she help these people?

Walking across the hall, Chikara was finally in her room again. There was the familiar scent of trees and flowers as she laid down on her bed. It sank a little as she leaned back and creaked when she tossed herself back onto the pillow. She rested her head down on her good arm behind her. Was this place real? Did the people here really exist? What was the point in trying to save a race of people that had no direct cause to the world that you were from? But her emotions and feelings were real. The people she talked to here were real, and certainly what she had experienced with Kouji was real. He was turning soft because of her. She didn't want that. She wanted him to have the urge to still go out there and rob people and steal their things like he had done before she came. She wanted him and Genrou to be together forever and live out their friendship. Maybe she wasn't suppose to interfere with what was going on. It was possible that Kouji didn't need her.

Chikara turned her head over and looked at her burnt arm. What was going to happen to that, she thought. Would it heal like it's suppose to? She pulled the robe up from her leg and glanced at the bruise that was just above from where her leg was in two pieces. There was a slight throb coming from her leg, but she ignored the pain.

As she was drifting off into sleep there was a faint knock on her door, followed by a familiar sounding voice. "Chikara, it's Kouji. Can I come in?" he asked.

Where was the usual talking to himself bit? He was changing. No, she thought to herself. He had to be his old self again.

"Can I come in?" he asked again. "Sure, you can. The door is unlocked. Arigatou!"

Chikara's face formed a smile. He did it again. Her eyes were closed but she did hear the sound of the door opening and closing, and finally someone sitting beside her on the bed. His hand rested on her knee as he asked. "Are you asleep yet?"

"No," she whispered. "Not yet."

"Do you mind if I'm in here with you?" he said to her as he ran his hand gently along the bruise on her leg.

"Kouji?" She sat up and looked at him. He was wearing no shirt and her mouth dropped open at the sight of his wounds. "Oh my god," she breathed. "Why did they do that to you?"

"Beats the hell out of me."

Chikara scooted herself closer to him, tangling her robe around her waist. "I'm sorry," she told him, rubbing his arm.

"Sorry for what?"

"Sorry for everything that I've done. You and Genrou were so close and now look at you two. You spend so much time with me and Kimura you hardly notice that each other is alive. I'm sorry for not getting there sooner and saving you from this torment. I just wish that Tasuki had come with me to save you and Kimura. Not just her."

"Did you come to save Kimura?" he asked.

Chikara lowered her head to the floor. "That is my point. Each one of us was so taken over by our lover, that we forgot who our friends were."

Kouji shook his head. "Genrou and I have been separated before. I don't think that he has truly taken his place here since he has gotten back from being a Suzaku Seishi. If you think that you broke up our friendship, that is not true. Time and lack of time drew us apart."

Chikara plopped backwards down on the bed. "I would never have thought of that," she admitted.

"I know," he said matter-of-factly.

She turned her head towards the window. Slowly, her eyes were drooping shut and she almost forgot that Kouji was in the room.

"Chikara?" he called to her as he leaned over onto his side beside her.

"Yah?"

"Thank you," he said, stroking her hair.

Chikara opened her eyes and looked at him. "What was that for?"

"For saving me. You risked your life to help me," he explained.

"I couldn't just let you die.

Kouji laid down on his back and stared at the ceiling.

"What's wrong?" Chikara asked, putting her hand on his face and slowly turning his head to look at her.

"Nothing really. I just can't get the thought out of my head. I had believed that you were really dead."

"Would a dead person be able to do this?" she asked, leaning over him where she gently pressed her lips against his.

Kouji put his hand on the back of her head and forced her mouth harder onto his. His moved his arms to around her and turned her over onto her back.

"Kouji -" Chikara started, breaking the kiss.

"Shhh," he soothed placing his finger over her mouth.

Chikara was staring at his gorgeous figure hovering above her. She watched as he untied the robe and slowly moved it apart from her body. Nervous, Chikara sat up and kissed him, sliding her tongue into his mouth. She was afraid to touch him. He had so many bruises and she didn't want to hurt him. After a moment, she moved away from his mouth.

"What's wrong?" he asked her.

"I don't want to hurt you," she whispered.

Kouji looked himself over and grinned at her. "I look pretty beat up, don't I?"

She nodded, her eyes filling up with tears.

"Chikara, it's okay," he told her, trying to calm her down. "It doesn't hurt." He poked himself in the ribs to prove his point.

Still a tear fell from her eye. He pulled her close to him and wrapped his arms around her back.

"It's okay," he told her. "I'm fine." He held her out in front of him and wiped the tears away with his thumb.

"I'm scared," she admitted.

"About what?"

"I'm afraid that they'll come back."

Kouji shook his head. "I won't let them touch you, I promise."

"That's not it. I don't care what they do to me. What if they're angry that you escaped. They could come back and try to kill you."

"No," he told her. "I doubt they even know we're gone."

"One of them saw Genrou and I going in. Kouji, I don't want to be here anymore."

"In this world, or at this place?"

"This place. I'm afraid that they'll come in here in the middle of the night and take you again."

"That won't happen," he assured her.

"Why not?"

"Because, I'll kill them."

Chikara noticed the hatred in his eyes. He was serious.

His hands moved to her shoulders were he slipped the robe from her body. It fell around her and he tossed it to the floor.

"What are you doing?" Chikara asked him.

"I want you," he told her, gently easing her back onto the bed.

"Tonight?"

He pulled his pants off and shook his head. "Now."

There was no time to think before Kouji pushed his mouth on to hers. She really didn't want to do this, but she was afraid to tell him. He grabbed her hands and held them firmly on the bed over her pillow. Terrified knots filled her stomach. Suddenly, Kouji plunged himself into her. As he made love to her, she cried on the inside. Eventually, she let herself go. Kouji loved her and he wouldn't do anything to her that made her feel uncomfortable. He was showing her how much he cared for her. She smiled and put her hands in his hair, finally able to take delight with him inside her. When they were finished, Kouji protectively held her in his arms, swearing that he would never let anything happen to her because of him again.

~~~

Two days later . . .

Kouji and Tasuki sat in the Leaders’ Room together, looking over a map.

“There,” Tasuki said, pointing. “That’s where the spy spotted them. Their whole group is camped in one place.”

Kouji looked at his friend and saw the same desperate look of revenge that he felt boiling within himself. “What do you want to do?” Kouji asked unnecessarily.

“Kill them all,” Tasuki growled.

Kouji put a hand on Tasuki’s arm. “Genrou, we’ve got to think this through. We can’t let emotion get the best of us.”

Tasuki looked up at him, broken from the rage. The two friends stared at each other for a long moment. Tasuki, looked away, breaking into a sad smile.

“What?” Kouji queried.

“It’s . . . it’s just been so long since we’ve done this . . . too long.”

Kouji sighed, remember Chikara’s words to him earlier. “I know what you mean,” he said, sinking into a chair.

Tasuki slammed his fist against the table. “Damn women. They always screw everything up.”

“I don’t think it was entirely their fault.”

“I know that. I just . . .” He turned back to Kouji, his eyes frantic. “I just want things to be the way they were!” He put his hands on Kouji’s shoulders. “We can do that, right? Everything’ll go back to the way it was! We’ll fight like we used to! We’ll get drunk like we used to! Right? Right?!”

Kouji stared at his friend. He reached out, putting a hand into the red hair. “Gen-chan, I’m sorry . . .”

Tasuki violently pulled away, not facing him.

Kouji sighed heavily. “Genrou, you knew this would happen. Things can’t go back to the way they were. You’ve changed, I’ve changed, and now we’ve got the girls to think about. It just wouldn’t work. Gomen, demo . . . those days are gone.” Slowly, he came up behind Tasuki, hugging him tightly. “That doesn’t mean we’re not still friends. I’ll always be your Aniki, remember?”

After a minute, Tasuki turned around and hugged him back.

It was a long time before either of them spoke.

“So, what happens now?” Tasuki asked hoarsely.

Kouji slowly pulled away. “Let’s take care of those fire-setting bastards first. Then we’ll figure that out.”

Tasuki nodded.

Kouji sighed. “Damn, Chikara’s probably gonna wanna help.”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“She could get killed!” Kouji cried. “She’s been hurt enough already. I don’t want her anywhere near this fight.”

“She is a good fighter --” A glare from Kouji silenced him. “Okay, okay. But if she tries to go, Kimura’s gonna go with her.”

“We’ll have to figure out some way to keep them here.”

~~~

Chikara looked up when she heard the door opening. Geez, she wondered when had she become so dependant on such a simple thing? In walked Kouji. There was no point in him knocking anymore, her room was like his own.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, noticing his shoulders sagging.

“Nothing,” he blew off, grabbing her hand and easing her to her feet from the edge of the bed.

Chikara was immediately aware of the burning in his eyes. “Kouji,” she whispered. “I wish you’d tell me what was going on in that mind of yours.”

There was a soft growl from his throat. Something was bothering him, but Chikara had no idea what it was. Had he found out something about the men who had started the fires? Were there more fires that Chikara didn’t know about? If there was, what could she do about it?

“Come with me,” he started. “It’s time to eat.”

His coolness gave her a shudder. “Yah, I can almost walk,” she said sarcastically.

“You shouldn’t have come after me!” he yelled. “None of this shit would have happened.”

“I couldn’t just sit here and think about what they could be doing to you and not do anything myself. What kind of person would that make me?!” she asked accusingly.

Kouji threw his hands at the floor. “That’s the whole fricken’ point! You are always trying to meddle into things. Why can’t you just stay where you belong?”

Chikara glared at him. “And where exactly would that be, Kouji? Because if you really think that, I can always go back to my world, where I belong.”

Her words cut him. Chikara hobbled to the window and stared out to the burned down city. Suddenly, she thought she knew why she had been brought there. She didn’t know for sure, but maybe part of it was for her own good. Maybe she was brought here to learn something that she could not have possibly attained in her own world. Certainly, if she were to ever go back she would be a completely different person. There would be no more watching anime, that was number one. There would be no men either. After Kouji, who else was there?

Warm hands were placed on her shoulder and she brushed them away, wanting nothing more than for Kouji to leave her alone.

“Chikara,” he whispered. “Look at me.”

“No,” she answered.

He put his hand on her face and forced her head towards him. “I didn’t mean that I wanted you to go back.”

“What are you doing here?” Chikara asked him so randomly that he had to think about it.

“What do you mean what I am doing here?” He was utterly confused.

“I mean, you should be with Genrou. Why would you let someone, not from this world, destroy you guys’ friendship?”

“Chikara, I’m --”

“No!” she cut him off. “I don’t want to hear anything that involves me.”

Kouji sat on the floor, his back to the wall. “If Genrou and I were still good friends, don’t you think that we would make our servants wait on the both of us? If we were still good friends, how could we let women interfere?”

Chikara looked down at him as he stared at the door on the other side of the room. What he had said made perfect sense, and she wondered how that happened. Was he thinking about the same things that she was? Maybe things can get better, she thought. Nothing is ever written in stone.

She rubbed the back of her hand on his cheek. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I’m scared.”

“I all ready told you that nothing was going to happen to me, or you,” he said, trying to soothe her.

“But that’s not it. I’m afraid that they’ll come in the middle of the night and burn down the place while we are sleeping. That they’ll shoot arrows through the window as I look out it now, and it could hit either one of us. They might do something to Kimura or to Genrou. And I wonder if it’s my fault; I wonder if I had never come here and brought all this on Kimura and Genrou and you how different this whole thing would have turned out.”

Kouji stood and put a hand through his hair. “Why do you care so much about other people? I mean, here you are with a broken leg, a nasty burn on your arm, a new scar on your face, not to mention countless other things, and you are more concerned with the people around you and making them happy. I don’t understand.”

He leaned down and picked her up. “What are you doing?” she asked him as he walked over to the door.

“I already told you, we are going to eat.”

“But why are you carrying me?”

“Because you can barly walk, and I’m hungry.”

~~~

It wasn’t until after Chikara, Kouji, Kimura and Genrou ate in silence that Chikara noticed that something was not right. All through the meal Kouji would look at Tasuki and then take a bite from his food. Kouji had kept a strong arm around her the entire time. Suddenly, as if on cue, he stood and dragged Chikara out of the room.

Kimura blinked. “That was kind of sudden.”

Tasuki shrugged, motioning for a servant to clear the dishes. “I think he had something important to talk to her about.”

“Got anything you feel like mentioning to me?” she asked as they walked down the hallway. His silence at dinner had annoyed her a little.

Tasuki sighed. “Kimura, please believe me when I say that if I’m not telling you something, it’s for your own good.”

Kimura stopped as they arrived outside her room. “Why can’t I decide what’s best for me?”

Tasuki looked at the floor. “You’ll just have to trust me.”

She reached for his hand. “I do trust you. I just want to know what’s going on.”

He took her hand and fiercely pulled her against him, kissing her roughly.

Kimura broke off the kiss. “Don’t use that as an excuse not to talk to me.”

Tasuki pulled away, looking hurt. “This isn’t easy for me, okay? You think I like keeping things from you?”

“Then don’t. Tell me what’s going on.”

“I can’t,” he said, taking her into his arms gently this time. “I love you . . . I-I don’t even know if I’ve told you that yet, but I do. I’ve never felt this way about anyone, not even Miaka. Of course, I’m not even entirely sure of what love is. I mean, there isn’t exactly a set definition and --”

“Tasuki?”

“Hm?”

“You’re babbling.”

Tasuki blushed, still holding her. “Yeah, I do stupid stuff like that when I get nervous.”

“Why are you nervous?”

Tasuki’s blush darkened. “Because I’ve never told a girl I loved her before . . .”

Kimura kissed him softly on the mouth. “I love you, too.”

Tasuki stared at her, silently telling himself that her safety was worth the price of keeping the truth from her. He studied her, trying to memorize every detail, in case anything should happen. He was broken from his reverie by her hand on his cheek.

“Tasuki, what’s wrong?”

Tasuki was shocked to realize that a single tear had slid down his face, without him noticing. “It’s -- it’s nothing, I --”

“Tell me what’s going on.”

He kissed her quickly. “I’ll tell you later, I promise. I just can’t right now.” He held her tightly to him, drinking her in.

“Tasuki, you’re scaring me,” Kimura whispered.

“It’s okay,” he whispered back. “You’ll be safe, I promise.”

~~~

Kouji had taken her to his room and they were standing in the middle of the room. Chikara gripped Kouji’s hand in hers. There was something bothering him and she wanted to know about it badly. It seemed that his torment was killing her.

“Chikara, you love me right?” he asked, seeming unsure.

“Of course I love you,” Chikara answered without hesitation.

Kouji closed his eyes, as if something inside him was tearing at him. Chikara could feel his stress in the pressure of his hands over hers. He leaned down and kissed her softly. “You know that I love you?”

“Kouji, what’s bothering you?”

“Chikara, I need to know.”

“Yes, I know.”

“And you know that I would never do anything to hurt you?”

“Yes.”

Kouji put his mouth over hers and kissed her again, until he forced himself away.

“Kouji?”

“I’ll be right back,” he lied, heading towards the door.

Chikara nodded and laid down on his bed.

Kouji turned from the open door and looked at her. This was the only way that he could protect her.

A few moments later, Kimura walked into the room. As soon as she realized that Chikara was there she turned to a closed door. Chikara looked up at the same time only to hear the sound of a locking door.

“Kimura?” Chikara said sitting up quickly. “What are they doing?”

Kimura started to pound on the door. “Tasuki?!”

Chikara put her hands over her face. “Oh! I am so stupid,” she whispered.

“What is going on here?” Kmura asked.

Chikara started laughing.

“Chikara, this isn’t funny!” Kimura screamed.

“Sorry, but it is to me.”

As Chikara continued to take delight in the situation, Kimura tried the door once again. “It’s locked,” she whispered.

“I could have told you that one,” Chikara sneered.

Kimura kicked the door before finally giving up and slumping to the floor. “Why in hell are they doing this?”

Chikara looked at her friend. “I think I know why.”

“Do you mind telling me?”

Chikara looked over at the table in Kouji’s room. “I think that their going out there to fight those men,” Chikara told her.

“How do you know that?” Kimura asked.

“Well, Kouji’s sword is gone. And before he left he made me promise that I understood he would never do anything to hurt me.”

“Yeah, but why would they lock us up in here?” Kimura asked, then suddenly realizing herself. “It’s because of you,” she accused.

Chikara tossed her legs over the side. “Don’t blame all this on me.”

“It’s true. They locked us up in here because you would want to go with them.”

“Oh, and like you wouldn’t go either?”

Kimura looked at the floor. There was a moment of silence before she spoke again. “So what are we going to do about it?”

Chikara grinned. “I have an idea.”

Kimura was confused. “What are you talking about?”

“Why don’t we break out of here and help them? I know from fighting those men that the bandits here are going to need all the help that they can get. And what’s a couple of girls?”

Kimura smiled. “That’s great, but how are we going to get out of here?”

Chikara shook her head. “Some people just don’t understand.”

“Undersand what?”

Chikara stood up and pulled something out from her pocket. “The importance of a key!” In her hand was the key to Kouji’s room.

“How? . . . Where? . . . When?” Kimura stuttered.

Chikara hopped to the door. “It doesn’t matter how I got it, just be glad that I had it.”

As Chikara unlocked the door Kimura asked, “What about your leg?”

“I’ll be the bait,” Chikara joked.

Kimura was not laughing. “I don’t think that’s funny.”

Chikara grabbed Kimura’s wrist and dragged her out of the room. “I do!”

“You might not think that when we get there,” Kimura told her. Chikara grabbed her sword and handed Kimura a dagger.

Familiar sounding voices were coming around the corner and Kimura pulled Chikara into another room. From inside they could tell that it was Kouji and Tasuki.

“I hated having to lie!” Kouji hollored.

“Don’t take it out on me, wait until we see those bastards,” Tasuki urged.

As their voices were getting softer as they walked passsed the door and down the hall, Chikara turned to Kimura.

“I think that we should follow them,” she suggested. “That way we won’t get lost.”

Kimura nodded and opened the door slowly. “That’s a good idea. But for now, we have to get out of here without anyone seeing us.”

“Who’s left in here to see us?” Chikara said, noticing how quiet the place was. Kimura noticed too and quietly they walked out into the sunshine.

~~~

Kimura and Chikara followed the bandits as closely as they could. However, Chikara’s injuries slowed them down considerably. They ended up quite far behind, but were able to follow the trail the mass of bandits had left.

They reached the crest of the final hill and looked down on the blazing battlefield. Both girls stood staring at the horror before them.

I think I’m gonna be sick, Kimura thought.

Chikara looked at Kimura. “We’ve gotta go help them! Let’s go!”

Kimura stopped her. “Wait. I feel strange . . .”

Chikara froze. “Kouji . . . Genrou . . . they’re in trouble!”

Kimura nodded. “We have to find them first!”

“C’mon!” Chikara cried, struggling down the hill. Kimura followed her.

When they reached the bottom, they looked around frantically.

“There’s Tasuki!” Kimura cried, pointing to the left.

“Kouji’s over there,” Chikara said, motioning to the right.

Tasuki was using the tessen mercilessly against the enemy, sparing no one that came into his path. The girls saw an enemy with throwing daggers climbing a tree.

“Oh God, he’s gonna kill Tasuki!” Kimura cried.

“We’ll Kouji’s doing no better!” Chikara shouted. “Look!”

Kouji was battling two enemies at once. He was obviously injured and they were driving him closer and closer to the edge of the blazing forest.

The two girls looked at each other, then ran in opposite directions.

Kimura raced to the tree, clenched her dagger between her teeth and followed the man up the tree. She tried to be as quiet as she could. The man was taking out one of his daggers and getting ready to aim at Tasuki. Kimura kept climbing and reached the branch the man was perched on. The assassin pulled his arm back, ready to throw.

“Tasuki, LOOK OUT!” Kimura cried, plunging her dagger into the man’s arm. The man cried out in pain and fell off the branch.

Tasuki turned and saw the man fall, then Kimura in the tree. “Kimura!”

The stabbed man lay stilll; the fall had broken his neck. The tree Kimura was in started to be consumed by the nearby fires. The branch she was on weakened.

Kimura screamed, nearing falling off. “TASUKI!”

Tasuki, using his seishi power, sprinted to the tree. He reached out and caught her just before she hit the ground.

“Are you all right?!” he asked.

“I’m fine,” she said, panting.

“How the hell did you get here?!”

Kimura smiled. “Women have their ways. And I just saved your life, so be grateful.”

Tasuki sighed, his heart still pounding. “That fall coulda killed you, baka.”

“I know,” she said as he set her on her feet. She looked around suddenly. “Where’s Chikara?”

~~~

Chikara had managed so sneak around the men with clashing swords and heavy fists. If only her damn leg wasn’t broken. Kouji was just being hit over the head with the end of metal object when Chikara was finally near him. Quickly, she ushered herself to where the guesome struggle was taking place. As the man who has taken Kouji down raised his hand to give him one last fatal blow, Chikara stepped in the way and kneed the man in the groin. If there was one thing she learned being a girl, take advantage of your situation whenever you are given the chance.

The only problem was, her leg could not handle the extra weight and she fell to the ground. The man had doubled over and was on his knees in pain. Chikara clenched her fists and hit the man in the face. The noise of people dying and the crackling from the fire kept her still. Kouji was lying behind her but the fire was getting closer. She had not said anything, but after she was almost burned alive she had attained a certain fear of fire.

Suddenly her arms were being pulled and she was on her feet. “What in hell are you doing here?” she heard Kouji hiss at her from behind.

“Helping you,” she screamed over the sound of trees falling and people fighting.

Kouji turned her around so she was facing him. “And how much did you think that you could help with a broken leg?”

Chikara broke away from his hold as a gathering of men were coming there way. “Let’s find out!” she challenged, pulling the sword out of the man’s hand that she had just knocked out.

Kouji shook his head and took a stance beside her. “We’ll talk about this later,” he scolded, striking his opponent.

“No we won’t!” she told him, stepping to the side and stabbing a man in the chest.

Kouji turned and sliced a man that was coming at her. “What do you mean by that?!”

Chikara rolled her eyes. “Kouji, duck.”

Kouji dropped his head and Chikara stabbed another man. “You know, you’re not that bad,” Kouji told her, leaving some distance between them allowing them to fight with more room.

“Told you,” she teased.

She was fighting well until someone yelled, “She’s a fucking girl! Get her!”

Chikara stepped back from the men that were gathering in front of her. Somewhere behind them, she thought, was Kouji.

“I know who you are,” a man whispered from behind her as he grabbed her arms and pulled them around her back.

From the mass of men came Kouji in the same position. “Shit!” Kouji yelled, seeing Chikara. Then he noticed the man that was holding her and immeditaly tensed with anger. His recognation of the man was immediate. “You son of a bitch!”

The man smiled and pulled Chikara back. “What’s the matter Kouji? Is there something that you want?”

Kouji pulled against the men that were holding him back. “Let her go! What you want is with me!”

The man shook his head slowly. “No, why would I do that? What I am doing to you now, tortures more than anything else I could.”

He pulled Chikara’s hair and tilted her head back. She cried out in pain, but her mouth was covered with the mouth of her captor.

Kouji fought harder against the men, his muscles tightening. “I’ll kill you!” he screamed.

Chikara thought that she was going to be sick. The man was holding her too tight and she could barly squirm in the slightest way. Other men came and held her, and the man that was kissing her gripped her jaw and forced her mouth open. She was doing anything she could to keep from having the man touch her. All her efforts failed. Without warning the man was unbuttoning the top of her shirt and her whines and struggles showed her disapproval. God, was this man going to rape her infront of all these other men, with Kouji watching? “Kou-u-ji!” she somehow managed to get out.

The sound of his name coming from Chikara’s terrified voice caused all the energy in Kouji’s body to gather and he broke away from the men, tackling the man that was touching her, knocking them both to the ground. The other men tried to pry him off, but Kouji was slamming his fist onto the man’s body, wanting nothing more than to kill him.

Chikara cowered over to a tree and covered her almost open shirt with her arms. Think, she told herself, think. What are you going to do now? Almost in a haze, Genrou was there, fighting the other men. Chikara blinked. She had to be dreaming. Her hand wondered to her head where she checked to see if she had hit it. All at once, dirty, sweaty, and bloddy bandits surrounded Kouji, and he was protected. Something was going on. It was just Kouji and the other man. They were going to have one last battle, this was going to prove who was going to win overall.

Kimura went to Chikara’s side.

“What’s going to happen?” Chikara asked her.

“I think it’s a battle to the death.”

Chikara took a deep breath and leaned against her friend for support. “I think I’m going to be sick.”

“Tasuki’s his second.” Kimura grabbed Chikara’s hand.

“I just want this to be over.”

There was a loud roar from the crowd. Chikara looked away and Kimura stood up. “Something’s not right here,” she whispered to herself.

Kimura walked towards the mass of men. Even though Tasuki was standing there watching the fight carefully, the men that were surrouning them did not look familiar, but almost fake. Kimura admitted to herself that she had no idea who half the bandits were, but did know that they had a similar appearance. These men looked much different than the men that she was used to seeing.

“Tasuki!” she screamed. “Get out of there! They’re not bandits!”

Tasuki looked at her, then looked around. Her message had been heard well, too well. Now the others were circling around him. “Kimura! Kouji! GET DOWN!” he screamed, pulling his Tessen over his head.

Chikara buried her head in her lap and felt the rush of heat pass over her. When she looked up again, Kimura and Kouji were staggering to their feet. Everyone else was a pile of ash. A ‘yahoo’ came from the woods and the real bandits came running out cheering.

Chikara breathed a sigh of relief and laid back on the ground, exhausted. Kouji collapsed beside her and pulled her into his tired arms. “Chikara, I locked you in the room so you wouldn’t follow me.”

“I know, I’m sorry,” she whispered.

Tasuki’s fire had put out the other one, and now the only thing that remained were charred trees and smoke. He turned to Kimura and hugged her tightly.

“Don’t ever follow me into something like this again,” he told her, still breathing hard.

“You needed our help . . .”

“You could’ve been killed,” he said, kissing her hair. “A fight’s no place for you.”

She sighed. “I’ll argue more about this when we’re not so tired.” As she pulled away from him, she saw a dark red stain on his shirt. “Tasuki, you’re hurt!”

He winced, holding his side. “Yeah, I know. Woulda made it untouched if it hadn’t been for that.”

She put his arm around her shoulders, lending him support.

Kouji stood up and pulled Chikara with him. “I told you we were going to talk about this later,” he reminded her.

Chikara sighed. “What for? I didn’t do anything!” she whined.

Kouji grabbed her wrist and pulled her along. “You didn’t do anything? That’s almost funny.” He took a few steps in silence before speaking again.“So how did you get out of the room anyway?” he asked, slowing down, allowing her to catch up.

“I had the key,” she said quickly.

“And did you drag Kimura into this?”

“Well, sorta. No,” she murmered, not sure herself.

“And there I was worring about locking you up in a room, that you had the key to.”

Chikara rolled her eyes. “Is this lecture time?” she asked. “I’m too tired to bicker.”

Kouji was silent as he pictured the man holding her from him, touching her sweet lips and causing her pain. He wanted nothing more than to kill that man, and he had succeeded. He glanced at Chikara and smiled. At least she’s here, he thought. Chikara took a deep breath and sighed. She put her arm in Kouji's and leaned her head on him. Finally, things were over and they could relax.

~~~

The next day, the four were lounging around outside. Suddenly, a bright red light surrounded them.

No, Chikara thought, grabbing Kouji’s arm. I can’t leave now!

Taitsuu-kun appeared before them.

“AHH! Old bag!” Tasuki cried. Kimura whacked him.

“Kimura, Chikara. You brought into this world through the power of Suzaku to help Tasuki and Kouji. You have saved their lives and kept them from losing each other. With your help, they defeated the enemy that was terrorizing Konan country. You have fulfilled your obligations.”

“Cool,” Kimura said.

“That’s why they were brought here? To help us?” Tasuki asked.

“Yes. Interesting to be saved by women, isn’t it?” Taitsuu-kun said.

Tasuki growled. Kimura giggled.

“Can we stay here?” Chikara asked.

“That is your choice. You can either stay here or go home,” Taitsuu-kun stated.

Tasuki turned to Kimura anxiously. “You’ll stay . . . won’t you?”

Kimura squirmed. “Tasuki, I love you, but . . . I miss my world.” She brushed away a few tears that had slid down her face. “I don’t want to leave you . . .”

“Then I’ll come with you,” Tasuki said.

“What?!” Kouji cried.

“I can do that, can’t I?” Tasuki asked Taitsuu-kun, almost desperately.

“Yes,” she answered.

“Tasuki, are you sure?” Kimura asked.

“I want to stay with you,” he said, kissing her.

“Chikara, what do you want to do?” Taitsuu-kun asked.

Chikara stood there for a moment and looked at Kouji. “Well. . . we . . .” She paused, thinking about what she was going to say. “I mean, I. I have a little problem.”

Kouji stood there and just stared at Chikara, hanging off her every word.

“I would want to stay here with Kouji. . . but now that I know about something, I can’t stay here. I don’t want to raise my child in this world.”

The room went quiet.

“Wh-what are you talking about?” Kimura asked her in shock.

Chikara bit her lower lip and turned from the group. “I know why I have been sick lately.” Her head lowered to the floor, almost in shame. “I’m pregnant.” With that out of the way, she turned to Kouji. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want it to happen this way. I can understand if you don’t want any respsonsibilties. I’ll go back to my world and raise it on my own. I don’t know where’ll I stay though, seeing as I NEVER want to tell my parents about all this.” Oh, God! What have I done? I should never have told them. Please, earth, open up and swallow me. . .

Chikara put her head in her hands and fell to her knees in tears. “I never thought it would hurt this much.” Drowning, she could not hear what the other’s around her were saying. She could not feel someone lifting her from the floor and onto her feet. The only thing that mattered was that she disappear, and get as far away as possible.

“Chikara!” Kouji shouted at her with his hands on her shoulders. “Chikara, listen to me!”

She blinked a few times and managed somewhat of a smile. “Hi,” she whispered.

Kouji shook his head. “Chikara. . . let me go with you. Please?”

“You want to go with me?”

He nodded. “Of course. I can’t let you go alone now. Not if you’re carrying my child.”

With a groan in frustration, Chikara turned from him and ran her hand through her hair. “I don’t want you to come with me just because you feel you have to out of obligation. In my world, woman have children without men all the time. What is one more?” She turned and faced him. “I want you to be happy. And if staying here makes you happy, then stay here.”

Before she knew what was happening, Chikara was forced into Kouji’s embrace, not caring about the others watching him. “You don’t understand. I need to go with you. Being with you will make me happy.”

A sound, something like gagging, came from Taitsuu-kun. “So, do you all want to go to the other world?” She sounded disgusted.

The four others in the room looked at each other and then back at her. “Yes,” they announced in unison.

“Very well,” she said with a sigh. A familiar brilliant red light surrounded them. Tasuki held onto Kimura tightly; Kouji was still holding onto Chikara.

~~~

Kouri nearly fainted from shock when she opened the door to her computer room and four people lying in it.

“KIMURA! CHIKARA!” she screamed, bending down and embracing her friends. “Where the hell have you been?!”

“Well, if we could breathe, we would tell you,” Chikara managed.

“Oh. Right,” Kouri said, letting them go. She gasped as she realized her friends were not alone. “This can’t be . . .”

Kimura stood up with Tasuki, smiling. “Tasuki, this is my friend Kouri.”

Kouri sputtered.

“I guess we have a lot of explaining to do,” Chikara began.

“Yes. Yes you do.”

~~~

Tasuki opened the door to his apartment. “I’m home!” he called. “Ack!” He nearly tripped over a small kitten that was climbing over his shoes. He sighed and picked up the cat. “Chiriko! How many times are have I asked you to not attack me in the hallway?”

The kitten mewed.

Tasuki sighed. “You’re too damn cute to stay mad at.” He kissed the top of the kitten’s head and set it down.

Kimura poked her head out from the kitchen. “Dinner’s almost ready.”

Tasuki nodded and hung up his jacket. He then crept into the kitchen, putting his arms around his wife’s waist and holding her close. “How was your day?”

“It was okay,” she answered, leaning back against him. She titled her head back and kissed him deeply. “Did you have fun keeping the campus safe?” she teased when they broke apart.

He smiled. “I like working where my job is to keep you safe all day. How were your classes?”

She shrugged. “They were okay. It was kind of a slow day.”

“Aw, ya missed me?”

“You know I did.”

He kissed her again.

She grew serious for a moment. “So, do you think it was worth giving up your world for this?”

He looked down at her. “You are my world.”

“You really mean that --”

He kissed her deeply in affirmation.

Chiriko meowed to be fed and pawed at Kimura’s feet.

It would be a while before he got a response.

~~~

Chikara sat down in the rocking chair staring out the window. Since she had come here she loved the view more than anything. Her hand was resting on her swollen stomach, weighed in her eighth month of pregnancy. This was not something that she had planned on, being pregnant the moment that she turned eighteen. Still, the thought of the baby always made her smile.

“What are you doing?” a familiar voice asked from behind her. “Everytime I come looking for you, you’re staring out that window.”

“It’s so beautiful,” she whispered, wincing as the baby kicked her.

Kouji put his arms around her from behind, resting his hand on top hers. “The only beautiful thing I see is you,” he told her, resting his head on her shoulder.

“How can you say that when I look like a balloon!”

Kouji chuckled to himself. “I don’t know what a balloon is, but I’m guessing that you think you’re fat?”

“Of course! Look at me.”

“I don’t think you look fat. Of course, I’m your husband, the father of that baby you’re carrying, so I guess my opinion doesn’t count.”

Chikara smiled. “I love you.”

“I know you do,” he laughed to himself. “Otherwise you wouldn’t have married me.”

She sighed. “It was hard enough trying to expain why you didn’t have a social sucurity number, never mind trying to find a place that would have us legally wed.”

“Ah, but working with Genrou on that was fun,” Kouji told her, then pulled his hand away. “Jeez! That little guy is stong. I feel for you.”

Chikara rolled her eyes. “First of all, this little guy is a girl and second, she keeps me up all night.”

“There will be no more of that once you have the little one,” he added, stroking her hair. “Being the father, I have to enforce discipline.”

“I hope you are going to stay home more often. I might have this baby anytime. And I don’t want to do it alone.”

Kouji waved toward the wall. “Kimura and Tasuki live right next door.”

“But they aren’t the ones that got me in this condition.”

“And I’m damned glad about that,” he added with a grin.

Chikara somehow managed to get out of the rocking chair, where she then headed for the door.

“Where are you going?” Kouji asked, standing dircetly beside her.

“Did you forget?” From the look on his face, she could tell that he had. “Kimura invited us over for dinner.”

“Oh!” Kouji put his hand on his head. “All this baby stuff has ruined my mind.”

Taking his hand, she added. “And it will only get more interesting from here.”

~~~

“Kouji!”

“Gen-chan!”

The two did their “happy dance” in the door of Kimura and Tasuki’s apartment.

“Um, pregnant person back here,” Chikara reminded them.

Kouji immediately stopped, shoved Tasuki out of the way, and ushered his wife carefully into the apartment. He eased her into a chair.

Chikara waved him off. “Geez, Kouji. I won’t break.”

Tasuki closed the door behind them.

“How are you?” Kimura asked, stirring something in a pot.

“I’m okay,” Chikara answered. “She’s been a little more active lately, but it won’t be long now. I just hope everything goes all right . . .”

Tasuki ruffled Kouji’s hair. “Any kid of Kouji’s will come out just fine. A little cocky and full of himself, but okay.”

Kouji playing punched Tasuki in the arm.

Chikara rolled her eyes. “They’re never going to get used to the idea of having a girl, are they?” she asked Kimura.

“Well, I hope they get a clue when she’s missing the stem on the apple,” Kimura murmured to her friend.

Chikara laughed.

Tasuki and Kouji glared at them.

“Genrou, I think they’re making fun of us,” Kouji said.

“They better not be,” Tasuki said, walking up and tickling Kimura a little.

“ACK! Stop that! Do you want any dinner or not?!” she cried.

He stopped. “Fine, fine.” He kissed her instead.

Kouji smiled and leaned down to kiss his wife.

After a minute, the cat jumped up on the table for attention.

“Chiriko!” Kimura cired, breaking off her kiss with Tasuki. She scooped up the kitten, setting him on the floor.

“So, is dinner ready?” Kouji asked.

“Yup,” Kimura answered.

“I’ll help you serve it,” Tasuki offered.

A few minutes later, the four friends sat down together.

“You know, when we first met you girls, I never we’d thought we’d end up married in another world,” Tasuki said, smiling.

“On the other hand, this is what I dreamed of all along,” Kimura answered.

“Well, I’m happy here,” Kouji said, taking Chikara’s hand. “What about you, love?”

Chikara looked around the table, then touched her stomach softly. “I don’t think things could’ve turned out better if we’d planned it ourselves.”

THE END!

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