Promise!

In Order to Do My Duty!

Episode 31

She banged fruitlessly against the locked door, venting her anger and her tears. She had thought Naga was seeing reason only to be betrayed, not to mention having to listen to that god-awful laugh without having a good reprimand at hand.

"I can open the door," said Tatara from behind her. He delicately plucked a bead from his necklace and held it out in front of him. It sprouted into a large mass of vines, which crept under the door. They lifted the locking bar out of the way, and the wood fell to the ground with a loud thump.

Lina turned eyes of awe on the bedraggled man. His powers were as strong as any of her Shichi Seishi, and this demonstration showed it was useful for doing more things than hiding Shinzahou.

"My duty is to protect the Shinzahou. I'm going to go talk to that woman and get the Byakko no Shinzahou back. You go find your Shichi Seishi." Tatara swept off, his black hair trailing behind him, not even glancing back to see Lina's sudden look of concern.

Still, what was a girl to do? Lina looked down the hall and took a random turn.

She could hear the sounds of fighting, but due to the twisting directions of the corridor, it was hard to tell where it was coming from. Still, she was making some progress - the sounds were getting louder.

Lina burst into the large chamber to find herself in the middle of battle. The Shichi Seishi were fighting a large number of strange monsters in a very loud and destructive way. Tasuki and Chichiri alternated blasts between their halisen and staff, while Tamahome was content on blasting them with ki from his palms. Even the normally reserved Mitsukake was throwing his punches, and he wasn't holding back. As for Tokaki, he seemed to be everywhere at once, slicing through the beasts with a circular blade. Only Subaru and Chiriko were abstaining; Chiriko looked very frightened and nervous, while Subaru had a scowl of determination.

She took this in mere seconds; the analytical part of her brain told her that this battle was at a stalemate. For every monster taken down, another took its place, and there seemed no end of them. Past experience had shown her the best way out of a fight like this was very simple: lob a large and entirely too-destructive spell at the enemy and hit the road. And Lina had plenty of destructive spells at her disposal.

"Flare Arrow!" Or at least, she tried to say it. Her mouth opened and closed like a landed fish and did about as much good. She had forgotten Miboshi's little trick again.

"Lina-san!" gasped Chiriko. "Abunai!"

Movement at the corner of her eye signaled the approach of a rather opportunistic monster. She dove neatly out of the way, having had much experience with this sort of situation, and slide to a halt near Subaru.

"Lina-chan!" blinked Tamahome. "Daijobu? Did you get the Shinzahou?"

Lina did the fish act again. It was rather hard for her to get it into her head that her voice wasn't working.

"Lina-san, what's wrong? What happened to your voice?" wondered Chiriko, trembling.

The irate sorceress popped several veins on her forehead. She could just feel a headache forming.

"I see..." said Subaru before anyone else could respond. "Someone's taken your voice, ne?" Power glowed around her fingertips, shining a soft white, as she touched Lina's throat. "I've returned you to your body from yesterday; can you speak now?"

And the first thing Lina was able to say was: "TheNerveOfThatLittleBratOfNakago's! WhenIGetMyHandsOnHim He'sGonnaPaySoDearly He'llWishHeSoldHisSoulToAMazoku!" And that was all in one breath, too.

"Where's the Shinzahou, no da?"

"Naga! Naga has it, who else? Tatara went to try and get it back from her, but first things first."

As her Shichi Seishi paused to look at her, Lina charged up her power, mumbling the Chaos Words, and launched pure destruction from her fingertips.

"Flare Arrow!"

After watching the resulting blast and monster flambé, Lina wiped her hands and reported, "I feel much better now."

They ran down the passage, following the lead of Subaru. "His ki, it's this way!" she explained to them. "It's fluctuating erratically - he may be using his powers too much! If we don't hurry..."

"Don't say that!" Tokaki shouted back at her. "He'll be fine! He was the strongest of us all!"

"But...but..." Subaru was close to tears, "Why is this happening? We've failed our duty to protect the Byakko no Shinzahou, and because of what I did to Tatara, he's weakened, and..."

Tokaki grabbed her arm and yanked her roughly back. "Stop it, Subaru! That's not true!"

Lina and the Suzaku no Shichi Seishi hit the brakes just in time to avoid running into them. Barely.

"When he asked me, I didn't have to comply! I didn't have to make his body stop aging! He was strong enough as it was!"

Lina froze. "But... Subaru-san..." She paused. "Wasn't the reason why you stopped Tatara-san's body from aging was so he could protect the Shinzahou in the first place?"

"EXACTLY!" roared Tokaki. "You couldn't have stopped him, anyway! It was his way of fulfilling his duty! We aren't as young as we used to be, not even Tatara, but our duty is, and always will be to help each other. We're all we have!" He pinched her arm. "Now snap out of it! Tatara's very close by. If you'll hold on for just a moment, I'll teleport all of us there."

"...wha?" blinked Lina. Her Shichi Seishi echoed her confusion.

The Byakko no Shichi Seishi whispered something into his wife's ear. She nodded slowly, reluctantly.

Tokaki turned to the others. "Okay everybody. Gather around and concentrate your ki. This might be a bit of a rough ride."

So the Suzaku no Shichi Seishi gathered into a circle with Suzaku no Miko in the center. Lina felt a sudden heat rise in her, as ki from five Shichi Seishi flooded her.

In fact, it reminded her of the Suzaku Summoning Ceremony, where she was able to feel the powers and thoughts of everyone...

A pair of golden eyes opened, blasting her with its cold light. She felt as if she was buffeted by winds, and her vision blurred.

The palace was on fire. The people were fleeing from an army of blue soldiers. Naga, as Seiryuu no Miko, was bathed in a blue light. Nakago and the Seiryuu no Shichi Seishi surrounded her, also surrounded by blue light. Above them glided the lithe curves of Seiryuu himself, the blue water dragon, triumphant in the skies. The most eerie part was that everyone, even Naga and Nakago, were staring at her through those same cold, golden eyes. It was like... Like...

She was falling. Then she was landing. But instead of making friends with the cold and hard ground, she landed on top of something soft and cried, "Itai, na no da!"

"Chichiri...?" Lina blinked. She looked down.

"Do you mind getting off of me?" asked Tamahome, from somewhere in the pile of Suzaku no Shichi Seishi.

"Gomen nasai," said someone from behind them. Lina spun around and saw two young fighters. Both of them were grinning.

"MASTER?!" screamed Tamahome.

"Wha??" screamed the others.

"You've youthened yourselves?" wondered Lina.

"Only for a short time. But this will give us more power."

"Sorry about that," repeated the now-young Tokaki. "Something was interfering with my ki, but I seemed to have pulled that trick off pretty well."

The eyes, thought Lina.

They all felt a surge coming from the doorway to the left. Naturally, they all ran in.

Tatara was battling Miboshi; or rather, Tatara was using his seeds and plants to battle a monster the floating Miboshi was controlling. Naga looked a bit surprised, edging away from the battle with the Shinzahou clutched tightly in her arms. Tatara glanced behind him as they entered, gasping, "Minna..."

The distraction was long enough for the monster to snatch the Byakko no Shichi Seishi and wrap tentacles around his neck.

Everyone froze. (Except for Naga, who snuck out of the room without anyone noticing.)

"Tatara!!" cried the other Byakko no Shichi Seishi.

"Well," grinned the devilish boy. He held up his prayer wheel, smiling. "So, what will you do now, Suzaku no Miko, now that we have both Shinzahou? What will you do when Seiryuu is summoned?"

Lina noticed a small seed that was lying on the ground under Miboshi, and noticed it was twitching slightly. Well, she thought. Two can play at the distraction game. She adopted a thinking pose, tapping a finger on her chin, then glancing at Miboshi, "Well, then, I'm not sure since I don't know what Naga's going to wish for, so that makes it hard to plan, ne?"

The boy's eyes narrowed in anger. "Don't play petty with me, Suzaku no Miko! I have one of your friends hostage here, you know."

"Well, DUH! I'm not as stupid as Naga-chan, now! Her brains are in her breasts, the only thing they do is bounce all day long without a single thought running through them. I should know; I've traveled with her entirely too long. I think her brains died when she perfected that laughed; leaked out of her ears, which explains why she never listens to me - her ears are empty."

A thick vine burst from the seed and wrapped itself around Miboshi, yanking the prayer wheel out of his hand. The monster instantly fell down as Miboshi lost his control over it.

"Impossible..." he managed to choke out before the vine cut off his air.

Both Miboshi and Tatara fell in the same instant.

"Tatara! Tatara!!" Tokaki and Subaru were at his side in an instant, Mitsukake mere seconds behind.

"I can heal you," started Mitsukake, his outstretched palm glowing green.

Tatara closed it gently, smiling. "Save your powers," he said. "You may need it later. I'm over ninety years old; it's time I got some real rest."

"Tatara, you can't die! You can't!"

He turned to Subaru, haltingly wiping a tear from her cheek. "Subaru-san, Tokaki-san... arigatou. I'll never forget our friendship."

"Tatara?" wondered Lina, stepping up softly. When she was met by silence, she said, "No way... that can't be..."

"I'm sorry, Lina-san," said Mitsukake gently. "We can't win every battle."

Everyone was silent, paying last respects to Tatara.

Everyone except for Miboshi, who glanced up at the others, unnoticed. His life was fading rapidly and his vision was blurring, but he had learned the ins and outs of transferring his ki to another body. He noticed Chiriko, who was hugging himself tightly, tears creeping out of his eyes. Perfect. He was young, and he was vulnerable, especially now. With his last dregs of strength, Miboshi sent his ki racing at Chiriko.

Chiriko stumbled backwards and fell over.

"Chiriko-chan, are you okay?" wondered Tasuki.

"Better than okay," he grinned back evilly. He picked up the prayer wheel and spun it, levitating in the air. The monster instantly sprang to life again, grabbing Lina before anyone could react.

"LetGoOfMeYouStupid$&@#^&@%$#!!" she screeched angrily.

"You insult me, Suzaku no Miko. And you insult Seiryuu no Miko. I can't let you do something like that, now, can I? After all, it wouldn't be fulfilling my duty if I did."

"That's Miboshi!" Chichiri gasped, on the defense. "Somehow he's taken over Chiriko-chan's body!"

"Why you little..." growled Tasuki through gritted teeth. "Taking advantage of a kid like that!"

"You won't attack me though, will you? Because you're all hoping you can still rescue Chiriko. Isn't this amusing, Suzaku no Miko?"

Lina was about to reply that it wasn't (although her language would have been considerably more colorful and descriptive) when the monster wrapped an arm around her throat.

"Lina-chan!!" gasped the Shichi Seishi.

"Let her go," said Tamahome coldly, his ki crackling in red sparks around him. "Let her go, Miboshi."

"I would, but I can't. She must pay for all the crimes she's committed against me, and Nakago-sama, and Naga-sama, and the rest of Kutoukoku."

Chiriko! I know you hate fighting, but I can't believe you'd let this midget take you over so easily! Lina gritted her teeth, struggling in the monster's hold, but to no avail. You have to fight, Chiriko! You're a Suzaku no Shichi Seishi! I believe in you, you can't take this lying down... Chiriko!!

Chiriko-Miboshi paused suddenly.

Chiriko, please! Don't fight for me... fight for yourself!

Chiriko-Miboshi smiled again, but it didn't seem at all evil this time. "Tasuki-san, didn't I promise I'd help you all in any way possible?"

"Huh?" asked Tasuki. "You're saying..."

The boy held the prayer wheel in both hands. "I'm a Suzaku no Shichi Seishi, and my duty is to protect Suzaku no Miko, no matter what happens. This is the only way..."

"You can't..." started Tasuki in disbelief.

Chiriko, for it was truly him, turned the prayer wheel inward and stabbed himself.

"CHIRIKO!" yelled Tasuki.

The monster dissolved into nothingness. Lina landed painfully, rubbing her throat.

Chiriko fell, still clutching Miboshi's prayer wheel.

"Mitsukake, hurry up!" screamed the fanged bandit.

"No, don't..." He looked up at them with tears in his eyes. "Everyone, I'm sorry. But I made a promise, and I will fulfill it. No, don't help me, Mitsukake. If you do, you'll heal Miboshi. I can feel him inside me... I can fight him for now, but if you heal me... I don't know how long I can keep him down..."

"Who cares about that stupid promise?" growled Tasuki, tears pooling. "I don't care, just live! Don't be like Nuriko! Don't die!"

"I'm sorry, Tasuki... minna... promise me you won't forget me?"

"I promise," said Lina reverently. "We all do. Chiriko, you are a Suzaku no Shichi Seishi. As Suzaku no Miko... I don't think I'll ever think of a way to repay you..."

"Just don't forget me," he smiled.

His small body went limp.

"We won't," Lina said. "We'll summon Suzaku and we'll make everything right again." When she looked into the faces of her remaining Shichi Seishi, they nodded their agreement.

The sorceress took a deep breath, stood up, and said, "Let's go get both Shinzahou - for Nuriko, Chiriko, Tatara... for everyone."

Continue: Episode 32: Anger! The Tale of the One Left Behind!