After Yui fell sick with a terrible fever, her three Seishi undertook to escort her to Mt. Taikyoku. Taiitsukun, the overseer of the Universe of the Four Gods, lives on that mountain, and the Seishi hoped that she would let Yui return to her own world, where she could recover.
However, Taiitsukun sought to test Yui and her Seishi, and so trapped Yui inside one of her mirrors. There, Yui confronts a copy of herself.

Episode Six:

"Who are you?" Yui demanded.

Her replica merely smirked. "I'm your reflection. I'm you, in the mirror."

Another me...? But... Something about this girl unnerved Yui, a vague, careless wickedness about her... "No! You're not me!"

"Go ahead and tell yourself that. It won't make it any less true."

"Yui!" Hotohori shouted somewhere nearby.

"Hotohori!" Yui yelled back, running back to the clear glass wall and pounding on it. "I'm here!"

"He can't hear you," the other Yui mocked. "It's a lucky thing he's so fond of you. Why would I want to go back where you come from and slave all day to be a doctor, when I can sit around here being spoiled and become an Empress? Feel free to enjoy yourself here. You have all the comforts of home. Maybe there's something good on television." She pushed past Yui and stepped through the glass wall.

"No! Stop!" Yui tried to follow and hold her back, but ran into the invisible barrier again. Suddenly, the scenery outside whipped around dizzily as the other Yui slung the mirror over her shoulder on a cord. "Stop it! I'm the Suzaku no Miko! I won't let you use my Seishi like that!"

"Oh, you won't, Suzaku no Miko?" echoed a wizened voice, with an amused laugh. "If you're so powerful, break my spell."

"Who are you? Why are you doing this?" Yui demanded.

"Go on, Yui, break it, if you're truly the Suzaku no Miko."

*

"Yui!" Hotohori called again.

"I'm over here!"

"Yui, thank goodness," Tamahome said as the others came into the small clearing. "I didn't mean..."

The reflection ran past him and fairly jumped into Hotohori's arms.

"Yui...?" Hotohori questioned.

"For a moment, I was afraid I had lost you," she said, resting her head on his chest.

The mirror bumped against him from the momentum of her embrace, and he touched it to stop its swinging. "Where did this come from?"

"Oh, it was just lying around out here; can you imagine?" She held it up to his face, as if to tease the Yui inside it. "Isn't it beautiful? Well, of course it is; it must look like you right now."

Nuriko paused for a moment, trying to find her voice. "Yui, what are you doing? I thought you liked Tamahome."

"Nuriko, please. After the things he's said, Tamahome's lucky I still tolerate him."

"Yui..." Tamahome started.

"But ten minutes ago you were..." Nuriko agreed.

"Oh, I see. You're jealous, aren't you?" Yui said with a laugh, squeezing Hotohori affectionately. "After all, you are a woman under that armor."

Nuriko gasped and froze. She could not have heard that right, she couldn't have!

"What?!" Tamahome questioned. Ah, man, please don't tell me I've been getting beat up by a woman.

Hotohori saw the terror-stricken look on the guard's face. "Nuriko, is this true?"

Looking in her eyes, he could almost see her world shattering as she grappled with the question. Finally, she lowered her eyes. "Yes, sire, it is."

"No way!" Tamahome protested. "You're kidding, right? It's a joke between you and Yui, right?"

Nuriko shook her head, then suddenly burst out laughing. Not a sincere laugh, or even the nervous laugh of when Yui had found out; a laugh of someone who was trying with every fiber of their being not to cry. "Congratulations, Yui. With that one sentence, you have destroyed everything I have ever worked for my whole life. You must feel very powerful right now."

And, with that, she turned and walked off into the forest.

Hotohori took the false Yui's shoulders and pushed her away. "Yui, why did you do that? I could understand if you thought we should know the truth, but did you have to be so cruel?"

"Oh, it doesn't matter. She'll just sulk for a while, then come back. After all, she's my Sei. She has to protect me."

"A person will only go so far for their duty. You can't force her to love you enough to sacrifice for you if it comes to it; you taught me that yourself!"

"Besides, there's no telling what we might run into. We need to stay together if we're gonna make it up this mountain," Tamahome agreed.

"It doesn't matter," the false Yui said with a shrug, "about getting to the mountain. Hotohori, let's turn around and go back. I've changed my mind; I want to be your Empress and stay here with you forever." His face darkened. "What's wrong? Isn't that what you wanted?"

He shoved her back and drew his sword. "You are not Yui. The Yui I love is not that kind of person."

"Now, don't be silly. Of course it's me. Who else would I be?"

"Why don't you tell us?" Tamahome said.

The reflection chuckled, a low, dark sound. "Very well. I am Yui, her shadow. The impulses and desires she keeps hidden deep within herself. Are you surprised?" it asked with a smile. "You never would have guessed this is how she thinks of you deep inside, would you?"

*

Inside the mirror, Yui stopped short where she had been pounding on the glass wall. "My hidden impulses and desires..." she repeated. It was true. Hating Tamahome for all the cruel things he had said to her, letting out Nuriko's secret, choosing Hotohori for his wealth and power... These were all things she had thought herself, things she had thought of doing for one split second before telling herself to think about someone besides Hongou Yui. She sank to her knees in shock and shame. "She really is me..."

*

"Where is our Yui?!" Hotohori demanded. "What have you done with her?"

The reflection held up the mirror it was carrying. "She's right here. And don't worry. You'll be with her soon."

Suddenly, the face of the mirror flashed with a blindingly white light, and bolts like lightning struck out from it, wrapping themselves around Hotohori and Tamahome. The two men screamed as white-hot daggers of energy shot through them, forcing them to their knees. The bolts seemed to tighten and pull, biting like strands of thorns, and although they never moved from the same spot of ground, the Seishi could feel themselves, or some part of themselves, being inescapably dragged toward the mirror. "Looks painful, doesn't it, Yui-in-the-Mirror?" the shadow taunted. "The mirror is draining their energy and making it mine. After all, they're my Seishi. The reason they exist is to give me power. And I want all of it, right now!"

*

"No!" Yui shouted. There had to be some way to stop her, some way to save Hotohori and Tamahome. Maybe, if she could get out, she could confront it, somehow defeat it that way... She frantically looked about the room, searching for some way to break the glass barrier. Maybe the coffee table.

"Hold on!" she shouted, although she knew her Seishi couldn't hear her. She took one leg of the rectangular coffee table and dragged it toward the invisible wall, then with the strength of her entire body, swung it around and let go, letting it fly into the barrier.

There was a tremendous crash of glass, and shards flew in all directions. She didn't see any cracks or broken edges, but... Stepping across the broken glass on the floor, she threw herself against the invisible wall; it was still there. The glass-topped table had shattered, but the wall was completely unharmed.

"I won't accept this!" Yui shouted. "I won't let it happen, I won't!" The worst thing was, that monster was herself, somewhere deep inside... "I will not let myself hurt them!!!" A thought came to her, and her gaze came to rest on one of the larger shards of glass from the table top. She's my reflection. She's me... If something happens to me... She picked it up, staring, trancelike, at the two jagged edges meeting in a fine point. Instantly a thousand doubts flooded her mind. What if she was wrong? What if it didn't work? What if it were all for nothing? What if there were a better way?

But, more importantly, what if it were Hotohori and Tamahome's only chance? Taking a deep breath, she raised the shard and placed the point against her chest. What can happen? It's just in a book... She didn't believe that in any real sense--being "characters in a book" didn't make Hotohori and Tamahome's plight any less urgent--but somehow it seemed easier if she could tell herself this shard of glass wasn't real... She'd have to do it quickly, with as much force as possible. She closed her eyes, said a small prayer, and plunged it as deep as she could.

*

Miaka screamed and jumped up, throwing the book down on the floor. Fire exploded in her chest, and her hand jumped to her heart. Warm liquid met her fingers as she felt her blouse, and she lifted them to her eyes to find them stained with blood. "No!" she screamed. "I don't want to do this anymore! I don't want to read this book anymore! Yui, don't do it! I want you back here, and then we can go out for ice cream, and if one of us falls and scrapes our knee it's just us! Come back!

"Yui, come back, please!" she whined, tears running down her cheeks. She leaned against the bookshelf and slid to the floor. "Please come back..."

*

The shadow's wicked laughter was cut off by a short cry of pain. It faltered, lowering the mirror, and its grip on the Seishi loosened enough that they could look up and see a horrid, greenish liquid that could only be this monster's blood pouring down its chest. It growled bestially, its voice and appearance taking on the hideousness of every flaw and unbeautiful thing about Yui blown up and exaggerated until there was nothing else left. "You haven't won yet!"

*

Yui leaned against the glass, her head light and spinning. She could hear the cry of pain, see the mirror falter, see Hotohori and Tamahome begin to move. It's working...!

"You haven't won yet!"

How much more will it take? Did it matter? She had come this far. There was no turning back. Pain shot through her like a ghastly tickle in her chest as she leaned toward the glass barrier and it pushed against the shard of glass. Taking a deep breath to gather her will, she threw her weight against it...

*

As she watched Yui, Taiitsukun gasped, something she had not done in a very long time. "To save her Seishi, she would go that far? I've never seen a girl like this one..."

*

The shadow Yui let out an inhuman shriek as a ghastly fountain of green blood spewed from its chest. The mirror fell from its claws and bounced on the grass. At last it landed face down, smothering the bolts holding Hotohori and Tamahome. Tamahome wavered for just a moment, then leapt towards the beast with a kick. His foot impacted squarely on the wound, and the monster reeled back with a spine-chilling scream. The moment Tamahome was out of the way, Hotohori landed a deep diagonal slash across its body and leapt away.

"Tamahome, Hotohori-sama, move!" The monster and both Seishi whipped around. Nuriko was perched on top of a nearby cliff, balancing a man-sized boulder on one upraised hand as easily as if it were a child's ball.

"Nuriko!" Tamhome shouted. He and Hotohori barely leapt out of the way as Nuriko tossed the boulder. The creature itself didn't even have time to scream before the massive stone impacted with a loud WHAM!!!

Nuriko jumped down to join the other Seishi with surprising ease. "It didn't make sense for Yui to do that to me, so I had to come back and see what was wrong. I am still a Sei, no matter what."

"Thank you," Hotohori said, then suddenly looked around, eyes wide with a horrified realization. "Yui! Where is Yui!?"

There was a faint shimmer in the grass near the fallen boulder, and slowly Yui appeared, laying on the ground, her skin deathly white. The front of her uniform was soaked with blood around a large shard of glass, sunk deep in her chest.

"Yui!" Hotohori shouted, running over to her and kneeling beside her. "Dear Suzaku, what happened!?"

"The monster had a wound in the exact same place," Tamahome realized. He picked up her hand and saw it cut and bleeding. "Could she have... for us...?"

"It's very deep," Nuriko said, kneeling beside Yui to get a better look at the wound. "You two turn your backs, and I'll bandage it. Hopefully I can stop the bleeding..."

The two men swiftly turned around, and Nuriko carefully opened Yui's shirt. "Ooh, it's bad," she murmured. "How could she get it this deep?"

"Yui," Hotohori whispered, "please don't die..."

Nuriko's hands flew, wrapping Yui with bandages. "She didn't hit anything vital," she said after a few minutes, tying them off, "but I can't stop the bleeding. If it keeps up..."

"There's gotta be something we can do!" Tamahome said.

"If we could give her blood..." Nuriko thought aloud. "But we don't have the tools. --Yui! Yui, can you hear me? If you can hear me, open your eyes."

"Yui! Wake up. Please wake up!" Hotohori shouted. He sighed hotly with frustration. "I can't even save a single girl... How useless the power of an emperor is..."

"Yui, I'm sorry," Tamahome shouted. "I'm sorry for all the mean things I said; I didn't mean it. You're really strong, and smart, and we need you! Please, come back to us."

"If it's blood she needs..." Hotohori said at last. He pulled back his sleeve and lay the edge of his sword across the back of his arm. "...Then she can have mine!" He drew the sword across and let the blood fall on the bandages over Yui's heart.

"Yui, don't die!," Tamahome called, picking up the glass shard Yui had used and slashing it across his palm, then letting his blood fall on Yui as well.

*

Yui slowly opened her eyes. It was warm, and although there was no light, it wasn't dark, either. Where am I? she wondered. "Am I dead?"

She looked around; everywhere about her, stars hung like tiny diamonds. She was floating gently. "I guess I am," she said softly, looking up. Just a little way in front of her was a field of flowers, glowing softly in the night. It looked so quiet and peaceful there; she could fairly feel the cool breezes... Maybe if I go there, I can be at peace. I won't be bothering anyone...

"Yui!"

"Miaka?" Yui questioned as the echo of her friend's voice hung in the air. "Miaka, is that you?"

"Yui, you're hurt, aren't you?"

"I guess so..." It seemed strange to put it that way. She wasn't in any pain...

"So am I! I'm feeling it too! Please, Yui, please don't die!"

"Miaka, I... I don't know," she said, looking at that field of flowers. Maybe it would be better... So much had happened because of her. No matter how she tried to deny it, that monster had been a part of her, too... Tamahome and Hotohori had nearly died because of her, Nuriko's life was shattered because of her... She smiled in sad amusement at the thought of what better grades her classmates might have if she hadn't set the curve on all those tests...

"Yui, please, I don't want you to die! You're my best friend! We're going to go to high school together, right? Remember our bet, on who would get a cute boyfriend first? It looks like you won, so you have to come back and gloat. Don't you know how important you are?"

"How important I am...?" It sounded strange. Had she ever heard quite those words before...?

"Of course, silly!" Miaka cried. "You're important to me, and your mom, and your brother and sister, even the people in this book! Even in a book, they're calling for you!" Of course, for a bookworm like Yui, that's good company...

"Calling for me...?"

"Yes! Just listen!"

"Yui!" Hotohori's voice echoed, followed almost immediately by Nuriko and Tamahome's. "Yui, come back to us. Please, don't die! Open your eyes, just for a moment. Please, Yui, PLEASE!!!"

Yui took a step, or something like a step, toward their voices. "Even after what you went through..." It was as if their voices were a ray of light, and if she stood in the light she could not only hear the words, but almost see the feelings behind them. A flood of memories came back to her: Tamahome carrying her on his back through the gardens, Nuriko making the walking stick just for her, Hotohori's gentle embrace... She looked back over her shoulder at the field of flowers. Still and peaceful, yes... But is that really to be happy? A world with no one to walk through the garden with, no one to share a smile with, no one to hold...

No... "I want to go back. I want to go back!"

*

"The bleeding's stopping," Nuriko said softly, as though saying the words louder would cause it to start again.

"Oh, thank heaven!" Hotohori breathed. Yui slowly opened her eyes and looked around. "Yui..." he said, smiling down at her and stroking her hair. His eyes sparkled worriedly.

"How do you feel?" Tamahome asked, taking her hand.

"Terrible," Yui groaned. "But not as bad as I did a few moments ago."

"Don't you dare scare us like that again," Nuriko scolded, smiling with relief. "We were worried about you!"

"I'm sorry," Yui said. "I'm sorry for everything you went through because of me."

"Don't apologize," Hotohori said, kissing her on the forehead. "To have you back is more than enough."

"Well done, Suzaku no Miko," came the same wizened voice that had challenged Yui before. She gasped as the world around her and the three Seishi faded away, replaced by glimmering buildings and floating bubbles. "I never expected you to go so far for each other."

The four looked up at the voice and saw a bizarre silhouette floating above a staircase that winded its way up the mountain.

"Who are you?" Tamahome demanded, jumping up.

The figure floated down into the light and was revealed as a small, gray-haired collection of wrinkles, wearing elaborate robes and hair ornaments which would have suited an empress, but had seemingly found this creature by mistake. The trailing tails of several sashes hung in swirls around it, defying all laws of gravity and aesthetics. It chuckled dryly. "I am Taiitsukun, the overseer of this world whom you sought out."

"That is Taiitsukun...!?" Hotohori said under his breath.

"What's wrong with you?" she asked as he covered his mouth and turned his head aside.

"I do not wish to look on your ugliness," he said quietly.

POW!

The next Yui or Tamahome knew, Hotohori was face-down on the ground with a large goose-egg forming on the back of his head and Nuriko in a defensive stance over him.

"He'll be fine," Taiitsukun said irritably, brushing off her hands. "He just had to learn his lesson."

"Ah, Nuriko's teaching technique," Tamahome muttered.

BOP!

"Ow! Nuriko!"

"Slow learner," Nuriko growled back, helping Hotohori to his feet.

Taiitsukun sighed and shook her head. "Seeing the way you behave, I was shocked that you made it here, but in a moment of need, you came together as a cohesive group. I welcome you to my mountain."

Suddenly a square of ground beneath Yui and the three Seishi began to glow golden. "Stay right where you are," Taiitsukun said, one moment before the glowing square shot upward with them.

"Can we go back?" Nuriko asked, falling to her knees and gripping the square as best she could. "I think I left my stomach down there."

"If you do it enough times, it starts to be fun," Yui said off-handedly, watching the clouds come toward her as she lay on her back.

"Come again?" Tamahome queried, getting down on all fours for stability.

"Whenever a carnival was in town, Miaka used to drag me along on all the rides."

"Her fever must be coming back," Nuriko said, feeling her forehead.

"The world she comes from sounds more bizarre all the time," Hotohori said. "But I know she misses it..."

Suddenly, the square of light came to a jarring stop in a courtyard atop the mountain and vanished into the ground. With Nuriko and Tamahome's careful help, Yui sat up. All around her, set into the mountain itself, were golden buildings whose tiled roofs looked as though they were cut from pure jade, and huge pink bubbles floated in the air around them. It was like something from a magical fairy tale; her breath escaped her with sigh of awe.

"Only a select few can experience this mountain," Taiitsukun explained, floating just ahead of them. "If a wicked heart came upon it, they would see only dirt and rock."

Yui faltered and leaned against Nuriko for support.

"It's getting bad again," Nuriko warned, feeling Yui's cheek. "She's burning up, and she's lost so much blood..."

Hotohori took Yui's hand. "Taiitsukun, is there anything you can do for her?"

Taiitsukun sighed. "I had hoped I wouldn't have to do it, but yes. Nyan Nyan!"

Several of the large pink bubbles floated into the courtyard and popped, spilling small mint-green-haired girls in pink jumpers and pants to the ground. They dashed toward Yui and the Seishi, shouting "Heal, heal! Fix, fix!" in sugar-sweet tones that sent chills up their spines.

"Hey, stop it!" Yui protested as one tried to remove her blouse. She quickly slapped aside one that was tugging on her skirt.

"We'll fix your clothes!" one of them insisted.

Yui blushed fiercely. "Don't do it in front of everyone!" she cried. Suddenly, she was bounced up and carried on the hands of several of these "Nyan Nyan"s into the main pagoda.

Meanwhile, Hotohori brushed aside the girls tugging at his sleeve and pulled it back, allowing them to heal his wound while preserving his own modesty. He could feel innumerable small, childlike hands patting his arm, but they didn't sting against the open wound. Although the touch wasn't exactly soothing, the pain gradually lessened. At last they let go, and he looked down to find his arm perfectly healed, without even a scar.

"Heal, heal!" more of them shouted, bouncing around Tamahome, shaking his injured hand over and over.

"I'll fix Taiitsukun's face," one of them shouted excitedly, waving her fingers at Taiitsukun.

BAM!

"Ooh, nice distance," Nuriko muttered as the offending Nyan Nyan went flying out of the courtyard. Taiitsukun casually brushed off her hands again.

"Bend down, bend down!" one called to Hotohori. "I'll fix your face!"

"WHAT!?!?!?!?!" Hotohori roared.

When the din of destruction had ceased, Nuriko ventured over to him and tapped his shoulder diffidently. "Um, Hotohori-sama, I think they were talking about that little cut on your chin," she said, pointing to where he had nicked himself shaving that morning.

He looked at her for a long moment. "Oh."

"Don't worry, they'll get back up. They always do," Taiitsukun said with a heavy sigh. She softly muttered "If only my apprentice were here to put them back..."

"Apprentice?" Tamahome questioned.

"Everything in its own time," Taiitsukun snapped.

The Nyan Nyans who had rushed into the pagoda with Yui came charging back out. "All fixed, all fixed!" they chanted.

"Come on inside," Taiitsukun said, turning and floating into the pagoda. "The Suzaku no Miko is waiting for you."

*

Miaka's heart still hadn't stopped pounding since Yui's near death, not even when the blood vanished from her blouse. Her hands were still shaking around the book. "‘The Nyan Nyans healed the Suzaku no Miko of her wounds and her illness, and repaired her clothing. She and her Seishi then asked Taiitsukun if she knew of a way to let the Suzaku no Miko return to her own world.'"

"Yes!" Miaka exulted. "I want Yui back! Please say yes, please say yes, please say yes..."

*

"Yes, there is a way," Taiitsukun said.

*

"Whoo-hoo!" Miaka cheered.

*

"But you will have to wait," Taiitsukun told Yui. "At first, you could have gone back merely by the force of your will, but you've become attached to this world, so now it will be harder. You've lost so much blood, the journey would be fatal in your condition."

*

"D'oh!" Miaka whined, falling over.

*

"If it's blood that you need, you may use mine," Hotohori offered.

"Mine too," Tamahome agreed.

"And mine," Nuriko agreed.

"I only need two," Taiitsukun said. "Choose amongst yourselves which it will be."

The three Seishi looked at each other for a moment.

"Um, I think I'll defer to the stronger emotions," Nuriko said, stepping back with a slight bow. Hotohori blushed ever-so-slightly.

"Thank you," Yui said, smiling.

"Don't rush into this blindly," Taiitsukun cut in. "This will be very difficult for the two of you. Your strength will be halved until you have time to heal."

"We are Yui's Seishi. If our powers aren't used to help her, what are they for?" Hotohori said. Tamahome nodded in agreement.

"I wouldn't ask you two to do that for me," Yui said. "I'm over my fever now, and that's what we were most worried about. If you need me as the Suzaku no Miko, I can stay here."

"Yui, I think I can speak for Tamahome--" Hotohori started.

"Why not, you have been so far," Nuriko whispered under her breath.

"Nuriko!" Tamahome snarled.

"My apologies, Sire. I didn't mean to interrupt."

"As I was saying," Hotohori tried again, "I think I can speak for Tamahome in saying that you don't have to ask for this, we're offering. If you want to return to your world and be with the people you love, we will help you. If you want to go back to Konan and find the other Sei of Suzaku, then we'll help you in that, too."

Tamahome nodded. "We're behind you, whatever you decide."

Yui sat for some time, thinking.

"Decide what you want, Suzaku no Miko," Taiitsukun said sternly. "If your will is not resolved, then any sacrifice by your Seishi will come to nothing."

"I'll go back," Yui said finally. "I'm sorry, I know you need me, but I think Miaka is feeling the things that happen to me, and I can't put her through that. I also can't just abandon my family and leave them wondering what happened to me. If I can explain this to them, and find a way to do this without hurting my friend, then I promise I'll come back."

"Very well," Taiitsukun said. "Tamahome, Hotohori, prepare yourselves. This will be painful for you, but you must endure it."

Taiitsukun raised two fingers in front of her face, and suddenly spheres of light emcompassed Yui, Hotohori, and Tamahome and lifted them from the floor. "Concentrate, all of you."

Yui did her best to concentrate on Hotohori and Tamahome as the spheres of light brought forth the necessary blood as points of red light, like the light she had once seen falling from Suzaku's tail. It was drawn out from Tamahome's hand and Hotohori's arm--the places where they had cut themselves earlier for her--into the edge of the spheres surrounding them. Guilt pricked her as she saw the pained looks on their faces, but she concentrated. If they were going to go through this, she could at least make it worth their sacrifice... The light encircling them touched and merged with that around her, and the energy flowed across and into her.

Power, like light and fire and elecricity all at once, streamed through her, burning new life into every cell of her body, every sensation. The Seishi have power from the god to protect me... Is this what it feels like? They're willing to give this up for me...? Her courage swelled. With support like this, how could she fail?

At last, they were lowered back to the floor, and the light around them dissipated. "Are you two all right?" Yui asked.

"Just fine," Tamahome said, as cheerily as he could manage.

"We'll be fine," Hotohori assured her.

"Thank you!"

"Now, you should all rest," Taiitsukun said. "Then, we will send Yui back to her own world."

*

Yui knocked softly on the door to the room where Nuriko was resting. "Nuriko, can I talk to you?"

"Of course, come on in," Nuriko called. Yui opened the door as Nuriko sat up in bed. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she said. "It's just that, I'll be going back to my world soon, and I don't know when I'll see you again after that. I wanted a chance to talk with you a bit while I could."

"Of course. Go on, have a seat," Nuriko said, gesturing.

"Thank you," Yui said, sitting down. "Nuriko, I'm really sorry about what happened, about your secret..."

Nuriko sighed. "I suppose it was bound to come out sooner or later. Don't worry about it."

"I feel guilty about everything that happened, with that... monster back there. I actually thought all the things she did, deep inside. I can't say that isn't a part of me..."

"Everyone has something like that inside them." Nuriko chuckled reassuringly. "It's lucky it wasn't me, or my ‘demon inside' might have snapped Tamahome's neck. Suzaku knows it's been tempting a time or two."

Yui smiled. "Thank you for understanding. The way you've acted since that, I couldn't think that you held it against me, but... I just wanted to hear it."

"I don't hold it against you. You don't have to worry about that," Nuriko said with a warm smile.

"Do you think you'll be all right, when you get back?"

"I don't know Hotohori-sama very well, but he's always struck me as a good and kind man. I don't think he'll reveal it. As long as we can keep Tamahome's mouth shut..." Nuriko paused. "Well, I've always found that things tend to work out, one way or another. Don't worry."

"I'm glad. I don't want you to be in trouble." Yui got up and sat on the bed beside Nuriko. "I'll miss you," she said, hugging her.

Nuriko smiled and hugged her back. "I'll miss you too, Yui. Please hurry back, if you can."

"I'll try. I promise."

*

"I'm sorry I woke you," Yui said.

"Ah, no problem," Tamahome yawned, dropping to a seat on the edge of the bed and offering her a seat beside him. "So, is there something you need?"

"I just wanted to talk, since this is my last chance before I leave, and I don't know when I might come back."

"Oh. Well, Yui, you... uh... you know I didn't mean it, about you being a scrawny little kid and all," he said.

"I didn't think you did. Back there in town, I... I'm sorry if I put you in an awkward situation."

"It's okay. I really didn't mean to upset you, it's just that... no one has ever said anything like that to me before. I didn't know how to react."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I'd never said anything like that to anyone before, so I wasn't entirely sure what I was doing, either," Yui admitted. "I've never known anyone who stood up for me the way you do. You're probably the first person who ever made me feel like I was really someone important."

"Yui, you are," he insisted. "I know I'm not all noble and refined and good with words like Hotohori-sama is. I may not be as good at saying so, because I'm just... who I am, but you are very important to me."

"See?" she smiled. "I guess your kindness just dazzled me." There was a long pause. She really should tell him that she didn't mean it, that she didn't really have those kinds of feelings for him, that it was just a mistake, but there was no sense in saying a thing like that, right before leaving. "Let's not worry about what happened back there, and make a fresh start of it."

"Little late for that, isn't it? You said yourself, you're leaving, and you don't know when you'll come back."

"Well..." she said. "I am coming back, so I guess we'll know right where we stand when I do, eh?"

"I suppose that works out pretty handy," he said. Then, he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly. "I'll still be your big brother, though. No charge."

"I'll look forward to being your little sister again," she said, returning the embrace.

*

"Oh, geez, another one?" Miaka said. Yui had just been chatting with her Seishi for pages now. "Come on! Hurry up and get back! I want to be done with this stupid book!" Why does she have to do this boring stuff...?

She turned the page and looked at the illustration. This one didn't look quite so boring...

*

"Yui," Hotohori greeted. "Please, come in." He ushered her into the room and offered her a chair, then sat down on the bed.

"Um... is it all right if I sit next to you?"

"Of course."

Yui sat down on the bed beside him. "I want you to know I'm sorry," she said. "That evening when you said you loved me... You just took me by surprise. I'm sorry if I hurt you with what I said..."

"You don't have to apologize to me. What you said was true. I should have known better than to behave as I did. I apologize."

Yui shook her head. "After what you told me coming here, I think I understand a bit more. I... You shouldn't have to be alone..."

"Don't worry about me," he said. "Even if you didn't fall in love with me, as I always dreamed, you appreciated me as a person, not just the emperor, and treated me as an equal. You taught me much, even if part of it was a hard lesson. I'm glad to have met you, and look forward to seeing you again."

"But..." Yui stopped. She wanted to tell him how she felt, but what if she was just being fickle? What if her love for him was no less transient than her preference for Tamahome? She couldn't just tease him that way, not when he had waited so long. But at the same time, she had to admit, when she left, it could be a long time before she saw him again, if she ever made it back. If she never had another chance to tell him, he deserved to know that the girl he had waited all his life for really did love him. But then, what if she didn't make it back after saying that? She didn't want to leave him waiting all his life for her if she couldn't return...

He touched her shoulder. "Yui, is something wrong?"

She looked up from her tangled thoughts. He was looking at her, with concern in his steady golden-brown eyes. His silky, chocolate-brown hair was falling across his face, just partially obscuring his eyes in a manner all the more beautiful for all the patience it must require to leave it alone. Just like that first time she met him in the palace gardens...

Yui couldn't keep silent anymore, despite every gnawing complication. She slipped her arms around him, under his arms, and held him tightly, resting her face on his shoulder as the tears came to her eyes. "Yui, are you all right?" he asked softly, holding her.

"I do love you."

"Yui...!"

"I'm sorry," she sobbed. "This might be cruel of me, to tell you this right before I leave, when I don't know when I'll come back, if I can come back at all, and I've never really loved anyone before, so I don't really understand what I'm feeling and I don't know how long it will last, but right now, I love you, and I want you to know it, even if it's just right now." She sniffled, and didn't lift her face, even when he hugged her tightly and rested his cheek on her head. It had all come out in a jumble; to think of her, the class brain, saying something so confused, that must have sounded so stupid... "I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize. Not for this, of all things," he said, his voice stretched thin with emotion. It was almost the same as that first day in the garden, when he first found out that she came from another world--when he first knew, she now realized, that she was the Suzaku no Miko he had waited so long for. Then he had seemed ready to burst into giggles; now he seemed ready to burst into tears of joy. Gently he took her chin and lifted her face to his. "I love you, Yui." He leaned a little closer, then stopped. "May I?"

It took Yui a moment to realize what he meant. "You know," she said, "I just realized, this will be my First Kiss."

"Mine, as well," he said. "I would be honored."

Somehow what he had said hadn't quite struck home in Yui's mind until that moment, knowing that it would be his first kiss, too. "I would never love anyone else," he said. "I'm only interested in you, to be close to you and know everything about you." "So would I," she told him, and closed her eyes...

*

Man, there goes that bet about getting a cute boyfriend for sure! Miaka thought. But it'll be nice to have Yui back, even if she will rub my face in it.. She looked at the last passage on that page. "‘In her mirror, Taiitsukun saw the Suzaku no Miko and the Emperor's first kiss, and she was displeased. But the thought that the Miko returning to her own world would soon separate them moved her to hold her peace.'" Geez, what's her problem?

She turned the page. "‘After the Seishi had rested, Taiitsukun brought them all together to open the path to the Suzaku no Miko's world.' YES!"

To Be Continued...

*

PREVIEW

With the help of her Seishi and her memories of the world where she was born, Yui returns from the Universe of the Four Gods. As she tries to return to her original path in that world, however, all roads seem to point back into the book.

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