Title: Trading Places [5/?]

Disclaimer: I don't own them and the idea for the role reversal came from the debate on the fyfanfictionML. Idea for Miboshi was stolen in part from WingSong2003, who graciously betaed this for me. Fuuka and Yuuma are from the Tamahome Novel.

Notes: AU; role reversal of the Suzaku and Seiryuu no Seishi.

Warnings: Language; bastard Hotohori; Yaoi hints

/ ... / = thoughts

~~~~~~~~~~ = scene change

//...// = flashback

*...* = emphasis

~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~

Forcing his eyes open, Tetsuya wondered for a moment just what had happened the night before. One glance at the other sleeping figures in the room brought the previous day's events rushing back. He sighed when he realized that Keisuke must have fallen asleep while reading, and not too long ago, as he was seated by the window where the first rays of dawn would have been streaming in. /Not that I blame him. I still can't believe I forgot that thing in the first place. But the thing that's really bugging me is ... I can't remember how it ends./ He glanced at the clock and saw that it was just after 8 am. /Damn internal alarm clock./

He stood, allowing his sore muscles to stretch and glanced at Kyoshi. /Looks like it's my turn to read./ The newest addition to their group was curled up in the chair and seemed to be dreaming about something. /Miaka, no doubt./

Tetsuya walked over to Keisuke and carefully removed the book from the other man's hands. Carrying it to the kitchen, he decided he would wait until at least one of them was awake before fooling with breakfast. His curiosity was getting the better of him. He just had to know what was happening to Yui. He flipped back through the pages until he found where they had left off the night before. He felt his blood run cold as he read first of Miaka's depression, then the attempt on Yui's life. "Looks like we're in for another hell of a day."

"The spirits of the Suzaku no Miko seemed to have gotten even lower than they had been the night before. Her Seishi, Chichiri, felt his own heart sink when he noticed the melancholy look on her face when the Priest Yasuo refused to join them. He wasn't sure why, but seeing the way this girl from another world looked at the young Priest, made him feel something he thought had been buried in himself years ago. He was jealous ..."
~~~~~~~~~~

Miaka pulled the cloak tighter around her shoulders and leaned against the person behind her. The Shogun had insisted that she ride with one of the others and she chose the young peasant, Houjun, /No, Chichiri,/ she reminded herself.

She wasn't exactly comfortable with Hotohori's idea of leaving the palace with half of the Royal Army and silently thanked the purple haired man for convincing him that a smaller group would be better at getting results. They had left the palace with just the three Seishi, Miaka and the purple haired man that she had learned was named Ryuuen. She had wanted to bring along the Priest Yasuo, but he insisted he needed to remain in the Palace to prepare for their return.

"Are you alright, Priestess?" Chichiri frowned slightly, feeling the young woman slump against him. Not that he minded it that much, but he had noticed when they were preparing to leave, that she seemed rather tired, as if she hadn't slept much the night before. "Should I call for Mitsukake?"

"No, Chichiri. I'm fine, just ... thinking." Miaka glanced back at the young man and smiled. "I was wondering what the other Seishi would be like."

Chichiri smiled slightly, shrugging. He winced a little as he was suddenly reminded that Mitsukake hadn't been able to completely heal him the night before. The tall healer had offered to take care of the problem that morning, but the other man refused, insisting that he could live with the slight pain. At the moment, he was beginning to question his own actions. "I don't really know. Does the scroll the Emperor gave you not give us some clues?"

Miaka frowned seeing the man behind her wince and planned to speak to Mitsukake about it later. At his question, she shrugged, pulling the red scroll from her cloak. "I'm sure it does. But I can't read this country's language."

"Put that away, Priestess," Ryuuen replied. He smiled slightly at the brown haired girl and motioned to the Shogun. "If he sees you have it out, he'll get upset. That is the one thing that we can not afford to let our enemies know about."

"But why? Don't they have one just like it? Or at least, similar, for when their Priestess comes?" Miaka made sure the scroll was hidden safely in her robes and turned to the violet haired man. "And won't they know that if they have one, we have the same thing?"

Ryuuen nodded. "That is the point, Miko. The scrolls from Taitsukuun hold the only clues to finding the Celestial Warriors. If they are lost, the summoning ceremony can not take place. And our enemies would do anything to keep us from summoning Suzaku."

Chichiri frowned. "How do you know so much about all of this? You're not one of the Suzaku Seven, are you?"

"What he is, is my right hand. And whether he is a Seishi or not, you will treat him with respect." Hotohori had been listening to the whole conversation and frowned deeply at the trio. "But he is right about not letting anyone see the scroll. Keep it well hidden, Miko."

He motioned his horse in front of the others, barely noticing when Ryuuen moved to catch up to him. "When we arrive at the next resting place, I want the Miko with you. Aside from being rather resilient to my guards' beatings, we don't know what 'Lord' Chichiri is capable of."

Ryuuen nodded, sparing another glance back to the young Priestess and her companion. "Perhaps we should ask him to demonstrate his powers. Make sure that he is not a Kutou spy."

A smirk crossed Hotohori's face as he turned to his younger companion. He said nothing as they continued to ride, but couldn't help noticing the small smile on Ryuuen's face.

Mitsukake reached over and placed a hand on the Priestess' forehead. "Lord Hotohori, we should find a place to rest soon. I fear that the Priestess may be ill," he replied. He relaxed a little at the other man's nod of agreement. "Chichiri, keep a close eye on her. I can't really treat her until I know more about what's wrong."

"Personally, I think she's more lonely than anything," Chichiri replied. After a moment, he smiled, realizing that Miaka seemed to have fallen asleep. "She really misses her own world. I just wish there was some way to make her feel more at home here. Do you really think she's sick?"

Mitsukake nodded. "Homesick, definitely. But I think there's more to it than that. It will at least give her a chance to rest before we get too close to the mountains. I know she's the Miko, but we can't afford to be dragging her around when facing bandits."

~~~~~~~~~~

"Chichiri tightened his grip on the young Priestess as soon as the reality of what the other man was saying sunk in. He hoped that they would reach a resting place soon.

In the next village, they secured rooms for the night, Mitsukake insisting that he stay with the Miko. The Shogun Hotohori, still not trusting the two peasants, instructed Ryuuen to stay with the Miko as well, while he and Chichiri shared a room. The Shogun was determined to find out more about this strange man and why none of them, except Mitsukake, had seen his symbol ..."

Tetsuya sighed. "Man, this Hotohori guy is acting like a real jerk. Definitely not how he was before," he replied. He stretched and pushed the book over to Kyoshi, who had joined him shortly after he had started reading of Miaka again. "You know, I'm starting to wonder what Keisuke meant about the book leaving out details. It's telling us everything we want to know, right?"

Kyoshi shrugged. "I doubt it. It's like most stories. We only see what we need to know when we need to know it. It all depends on your view of the story. Take Hotohori for example. Didn't Keisuke say that last time he was so in love with the Miko that he was practically falling all over himself to help her? And now, he seems far more interested in his little violet-haired companion than Miaka."

"I'll bet Nuriko's loving that. Last time he was infatuated with the Emperor, but Hotohori would barely look at him." A small smile crossed Tetsuya's face, only to disappear just as quickly. "Although, Nuriko doesn't seem to be the same guy he was before, either. He's not cross-dressing, hasn't declared his love for Hotohori, and no mention of the name Kourin. I'm starting to wonder ... is this Ryuuen really Nuriko?"

"Well, who would he be? Wasn't Ryuuen Nuriko's real name?" Kyoshi glanced down at the book, sighing. "Maybe we should wait until after Keisuke wakes up before going on. I'm worried about what this Mitsukake said about the mountains. And if something happened to Miaka ..."

Tetsuya nodded. "I feel the same way about Yui. I'm just glad she slept through that attack. She went through enough the first time around, she doesn't need to know there are people trying to kill her this time."

~~~~~~~~~~

Kotoku, also known as the Seiryuu no Seishi Amiboshi, while looking identical to his brother, is a complete opposite of him in personality. In fact, he is so far removed from his brother's way of thinking, that it was he that approached the Konan Shogun to place a spy in the Kutou court. It was this spy that had attempted to kill Lady Yui, an attempt his brother foiled. And it was this same spy that now lay at his feet, face red from where he had struck her.

"You damn fool. I thought you said it would be easy. That no one would know."

The girl glared up at him. "It would have been had you kept that fool brother of yours on a tighter leash. We both know he's oversensitive to things like that. What happened to the drugs you were going to put in his food?" She got back to her feet, silently daring the young man to try and strike her again. It would be easy enough to hide the bruise, since no one was allowed into the Harem except for the Emperor, but if he tried anything again, she was sure his brother would sense it and come running to help.

Amiboshi sighed. "He didn't eat dinner. Said he was too excited now that the Miko had arrived." He took a small towel from the stand and soaked it in water, handing it to the girl. "You're going to get blood on your dress."

"So nice of you to think of that BEFORE you hit me." She took the cloth, dabbing at her mouth. She winced slightly at the pain, watching the other closely. "And what is with you anyway? You seem to be on edge. A lot more than ususal."

"Things are moving too fast. Lord Nakago accepted her almost without question. I just thought he would, I don't know ... demand proof."

The girl raised an eyebrow. "Proof? Like what? A letter from Taitsukuun? Really, Ko, you're not making sense anymore."

"As if you are? I think you're getting far too friendly with the rest of the harem. What happened to the vicious killer that came here six months ago? Did she get lost in all of those ridiculous robes?" Amiboshi sighed and began rubbing his temples. "Sorry. I ... you've got to be more careful. If Shun had been there even a few seconds earlier, I have no doubt that you would be dead now."

"And that would work in favor of your Emperor, wouldn't it? With one of the Suzaku out of the way, his frantic search for Seiryuu's chosen could be slowed. Perhaps I should begin to wonder if that was your true motive for wanting a spy here?"

Amiboshi glared at the girl and began fingering the flute tucked into his belt. "If I had wanted you dead, I could have killed you at any time. And if I had wanted you found out, you would have been. You seem to forget who you are talking to."

The girl shrugged. "A mere boy, that is all. Destined to become something great, he instead has betrayed his country, his Miko and worse yet, his own twin." She turned to leave the young man's room and missed the flash of the knife as it was withdrawn from it's hiding place behind the flute. His movements were so quick that she didn't even have the chance to scream before she died.

Amiboshi stood over the body of the girl, trembling. /Damn you, Chiriko./ Knowing that it wouldn't be long before someone found them, he debated hiding the body, but the voices in the hallway made sure that he could not leave the room with her. /Lord Tomo wasted no time with the guards./

Realizing that he could kill two birds with two stones, revealing the Konan spy and win the trust of the other Seishi, he came up with a plan to cover her death. He arranged her body close to the window, cleaning up all traces that she had been in the room for several minutes. Once he was satisfied, he then plunged the knife into his chest.

Stumbling slightly from the pain, he pulled the knife from his chest and slid down the wall to the floor. /Shunkaku .../ He heard the metal blade clatter against the stone floor as the world faded to black around him.

~~~~~~~~~~

The guards had stationed themselves outside of the Seiryuu no Miko's room and were just settling into their reassigned duties, when a scream from inside the room startled them into motion. They flung open the doors, just as Shunkaku, also known as Suboshi, came running past them, a half-conscious Yui two steps behind. Seeing the determined look on the young man's face, the two guards followed along silently.

Suboshi pushed open the door of his brother's room and all the color drained from his face. Yui stopped behind him, placing a hesitant hand on his shoulder. "Shunkaku? What's wrong?" She looked past him and screamed when she saw the older twin, unconscious, blood seeping from a wound in his chest.

One guard pushed past her, checking the young lord's pulse. "He's alive. But he won't be for long if we don't find the healer." He then checked the girl, shaking his head. "She's dead."

Suboshi nearly fell over his own feet as he backed out of the room. "I ... I'll go." He ran as fast as he could, nearly knocking over a rather annoyed looking Soi.

"Shun, what happened now?" When she didn't get a response, she grumbled and walked back in the direction he came from. /Damn children./ She looked up to see Yui visibly shaken by what she was happening inside a room she vaguely identified as belonging to one of the twins. "What's going on?"

"Kotoku ..." Yui ran to the older woman and buried her face in Soi's shoulder. "Kotoku's hurt. And he ... killed someone."

Soi cursed and pulled the blonde away from the door. It was only a few moments before the entire palace seemed to have awakened again. /I guess we can give up on sleep this night./

~~~~~~~~~~

"What are you saying Tomo? That we shouldn't believe one of Seiryuu's own?"

Tomo shook his head. "I know the boy better than even his father, Heika. I would trust him with my life. But ... the girl was stabbed in the back. It is not easily explained."

Nakago sighed. The young boy had barely survived the attack and now Tomo, who had always treated the twins as though they were his brothers, was questioning his actions. "Kotoku said that she turned away after attacking him. She must have thought her attack did more damage than it really did."

"That's another thing. Why would a woman from your Harem attack a trained guard? Let alone one that was a Seishi? It doesn't make sense." Tomo frowned as he clutched the phoenix knife that he now carried in his belt. "Unless ..."

"Unless she was the one that attacked me," Yui replied quietly. It was only after the death of the harem girl that Yui had learned of the attempt on her life and the true identity of the twins. She had been shaken to the point that she insisted on at least one Seishi being by her side at all times. A request the Emperor seemed all too eager to fulfill. "If that's true, then ... of course she would go after a Seishi after failing to ... kill me. If we lose even one of you, we can not summon Seiryuu. I believe him. I've seen similar things happen in my own world. Most of them were in movies, of course, but they can happen."

Tomo looked confused. "What are movies, Priestess?"

Yui smiled slightly. "They're similar to your illusions, in a way. They've moving pictures that my people turn to for enjoyment. Anyway, the point is, we should be grateful that Koto... Amiboshi wasn't killed. And we need to increase our searches for the last two Seishi. I know we're close to finding them."

Nakago nodded, smiling at the Priestess. "If Lady Yui believes him, then so do I. Tomo, I want you and Soi to go look for Miboshi. Suboshi and I will stay here with Yui and see if we can decipher the rest of the clues about Ashitare."

"Yes, Heika." Tomo bowed to both of them before turning to leave the Throne Room. Everyone else had been so overwhelmed to learn that Amiboshi would recover that they hadn't really paid attention to the fact that the wound was in one of the few spots that would not be immediately fatal. /Then again, they aren't trained killers. The Emperor has never even used his powers./

He had wondered, after seeing the boy's wound, if the girl had been completely inept, why had she been sent. Surely Konan had better trained killers than that. Then, when he had seen the girl's wound, a clean, precise blow he had shown the boys how to do years before, he began to wonder. Had she really attacked him? Or was his wound self-inflicted?

/Ridiculous, I didn't train them to be cold-blooded killers./ Tomo stopped cold outside the Throne Room. /Yes, I did./ He frowned and started running toward the healers, where the body of the girl was being kept until it could be taken out and buried. /Her face. Something wasn't right about her face. I have to see her body again./



Home