Cheree kept running until she'd left the hotel building and was halfway across the nearby beach. Sinking into the sand, she just stared at the waves that came to shore a few feet from where she was. "You have to come back.." She whispered, letting her hands sift through the sand absently. "You have to..." The sand muffled the light footsteps that approached her, and she didn't even realize someone was there until the air moved next to her as someone sat down. She didn't look up, and the silence between the two was nearly deafening with its thickness. Finally, one broke the stillness.

"I'd ask if you were alright... but I know better." Nuriko... of course. Cheree kept her gaze down on the ground, not replying. She didn't have to... the seishi continued regardless. "I remember the pond near the palace... I never went there until after I was relieved of my duties as a consort. The water was soothing to me, I think... just the sound alone had the ability to relax me."

She'd never noticed it before, but as he spoke, the lulling sound of the waves seemed to make its way into her mind. The tears streamed down her cheeks, her body trembling faintly. As she glanced to the side, she saw Nuriko's form illuminated by the sunlight that shone down. He wasn't looking at her... instead he watched the sea. It was almost as if he knew she didn't want to be seen crying, and granted her that by actions alone.

He smiled faintly then, bringing his arms to wrap around his legs. "You know... I don't think I realized back then just how lucky I was to be seishi. I didn't realize how alone I was until the others came into my life. Even when everyone thought me to be Kourin, all I really had was my maids and the other consorts. There weren't many friendships there... just a lot of gossip and backstabbing."

Cheree started to relax faintly, finding herself turning towards Nuriko to listen as he spoke. The tears had slowed, and she was able to stop the shivers that seemed to run through her body continuously.

"After the other seishi were found... we were like a family almost. We watched out for each other... teased each other... and helped each other. We'd even have died for each other..." He paused, glancing towards Cheree. "Or our Miko. It wasn't about each of us any longer, really... it was about all of us. Without each other, we'd all have gone insane, I think." He smiled faintly, moving to place a hand on Cheree's shoulder. "And no matter what... we always came back to the others." He knew she was hurting... there wasn't much he could do about that. All he could do at this point was give her hope and try to lift her spirits a bit.

Cheree nodded, forcing a slight smile as she watched Nuriko. She knew what he was trying to do... and in a way, just having someone else there was helping. "Thank you, Nuriko..." She whispered. "I think I needed that."

Miaka dropped to her knees, grabbing the cloak and pulling it around Chris where he lay. She looked up to see Yui with her arms spread, keeping herself between the two who approached and the one who had fallen.

"Suboshi! What are you doing?!" Yui screamed, her eyes flaring in anger. The only time Suboshi had ever truly attacked was out of rage... most often for his brother. She saw another with him, a young man, probably about the same age as Tamahome had been. She didn't recognize him... it wasn't Amiboshi, that much was certain. The black hair and athletic build were completely unknown to her... until he got close enough to see his eyes. She caught herself gasping, backing up a step out of instinct. "Miboshi!"

"They have my brother!!" Suboshi shrieked, his hand whipping to his side and bringing the Ryuuseisui back to surround him. Yui stared in near amazement, shaking her head. Chris had told them about Amiboshi being in New York... all of the seishi were in California. There's no way any of them could have hurt Amiboshi!

"It's a lie! They can't have him, they're no where near New York!" She had to make him see reason... before he did something even more rash than he already had. She heard Miaka trying to shake Chris awake, yelling for him to look at her. She had to give them time... "Suboshi, LISTEN to me!"

He growled, holding up his arm, where the telltale red scratchings that she knew so well appeared. "No! Jesse told me himself!" The ones there were just starting to fade, but she caught the basic idea. Someone had gotten to Amiboshi... and told Suboshi, through the writings, that it had been the Suzaku. Good gods, could he really be so blind twice?

Miboshi had nearly reached them, his lips moving in what she could only assume was a spell of some kind. Taking a chance, she darted forward, just in time to catch the full impact. As Yui fell to the ground, Suboshi stopped dead, his mouth agape. Why had she... he looked to Miboshi then, who didn't even seem to notice his inadvertant target. Instead, he was moving towards Miaka, who was staring at him wide-eyed as she screamed for Chris to wake up.

The cat-eyed seishi was knocked to his knees then, his vision reeling as he felt something impact the back of his skull. The last thing he saw before the darkness took him was Suboshi running to Yui's side and kneeling beside her.

Chris winced, opening his eye and nearly shutting it once more as the world seemed to move, the fading sunlight too bright. He felt someone helping him to sit and heard Miaka talking to him although he couldn't make out the words.

"She's glad you're alright."

He looked up then to see Yui smiling faintly to him, Suboshi's arms wrapped protectively around her. Yui told him of how he had gotten his Ryuuseisui from Miboshi once the other seishi had found out where he was. It seemed that the old emotions still ruled the boy... seeing Yui attacked was enough to send him into a near frenzy... enough to make him attack one of his own. He glanced towards Miboshi then, still unconscious on the ground. "What about him?"

Suboshi followed Chris's gaze, sighing faintly. "I'll deal with him when he wakes up. You guys should be long gone when that happens..." The tone in his voice let them know that it wasn't a hope... it was a request. Chris glanced to Yui and Miaka then.

"Will you two be alright?"

Yui nodded, as did Miaka. "We'll be leaving as soon as you do. Jaime has to go back to New York today, and I explained to him that the Suzaku couldn't have hurt his brother." Suboshi dropped his gaze to the ground at that, before lifting it towards Chris in apology.

"I'm sorry... I saw the writing from my brother... at least I thought it was." He was silenced as Chris brought up a hand, waving it faintly.

"No harm, no da. I'm just glad that you believe Yui. We met your brother before we left New York. Last I knew, he went home because there was no way he could come with us. None of us have seen him in over a week." He made a mental note to himself to contact Jason as soon as they could and see what had happened to the boy. For now, though, he lifted himself to his feet and almost immediately fell back to the ground.

"That's it..." Yui stated, leaving no room for discussion. "You're coming with Miaka and I. There's no way you're going anywhere in this condition."

"But I..." He stopped then, catching the glares from both girls. "All right, all right, no da. But only until I can make the jump!"

By the time Miboshi awake, he found himself alone in the park, the other three having disappeared. He growled faintly, picking himself up and fading from view. "Another time, then..."

To Chapter 18