Spoilers for the entire series, especially Episode 48. I give this story a PG-13 rating for language and pretty extreme violence. Hey, it's a war scene, after all.

Comments are welcome at shunu_no_miko@yahoo.com

It is a terrible thing, to be Emperor of a great land, and yet to be powerless when you are most needed by your people.

The screams of the wounded, dying soldiers echoes in my ears as I watch the battle from the outskirts of it. From afar, this battlefield must appear like a fountain of red, for blood regularly sprays into the air, along with other random body parts. I watch helplessly as a man is beheaded, the attacker striking with such force that the head flies through the air. It lands upon a spearpoint, drenching the man holding the spear in unspeakable gore.

I turn my face aside, but cannot escape the hellish images.

A soldier of Konan screams his last as a spear takes him through the chest, punching all the way through his body, splattering blood and viscera on the ground behind him. The Kutou soldiers who speared him do not seem to think that blow enough to kill, even though the victim's eyes are already glazing, and Death on his pale horse canters to his side, unseen by all, but felt instinctively in the gut. A chill of dread on silent hoofbeats sweeps through my heart as a hail of arrows thud into the already dead body, sticking out at odd angles. A barely audible crunch reaches me as an arrowhead buries itself in one of the soldier's staring, shocked eyes, crushing bone. Red blood flows from the many wounds. Red as Suzaku.

If Seiryuu, god of blue sadness, is the god of war... then Suzaku, must be god of red suffering. For my own chest hurts as I watch crimson blood flow, as if I had been the one impaled. Yet the Kutou soldiers are not the only brutal ones.

I continue watching, unable to turn away, unable to do anything else. Being what I am prevents me from fighting, but... those are my people dying out there. By watching these horrors, I punish myself for many sins I believe I've committed, that even now gnaw at the back of my mind.

A soldier of Kutou is being hacked to pieces, right before my eyes. Angry light glints in the eyes of the two Konan soldiers as they slash off his limbs, one by one. However, the heart of the Kutou soldier still pumps, spurting blood out of severed veins onto the roiled, defiled ground. A gleam of light catches my eye, and I turn my eyes towards the source- a silvery locket around the neck of one of the Konan soldiers, containing a crudely sketched picture of a young woman, most likely a relation, or his wife.

So this attacker fights to protect a woman he loves.

But...

I catch a sight of the victim's right hand, just before it is severed. A golden wedding band shines upon it. ...so does the victim.

I quickly turn my eyes back to the soldier's head, which the Konan fighters have saved for last. Seeking to catch a glimpse of the face before the head can be severed, and perhaps lost in the brush as it rolls away.

He's a young man. Most likely a newlywed, whose wife yet waits for him on the now nullified promises of his returning to her.

Once the Konan soldiers are sure their victim is dead, the one without the locket searches out the right hand of the Kutou soldier. He strips it of its wedding band, and slips it furtively into his armor.

I try to contain my rising gorge as I realize that he will probably sell that band for money after the war. If he does not suffer the same fate he brought down upon that dismembered soldier.

The terrible, high scream of a dying horse reaches me, soon overwhelmed by the cries of a thousand other dying souls, slowly tearing away at my sanity.

And beyond this waste of blood and dead, the instigator of it all.

The one who began this unspeakable nightmare. The one responsible for this mass death.The one who sends newly married men into battle, to be brutally killed.

The one who has come between Miaka and Tamahome's happiness so many times.

Nakago.

My grip on my sword tightens as I watch Nakago on his horse, watching his countrymen die, completely unconcerned.

I must face him. For the sake of those I love.

I spur my horse onward, all the warnings of my advisors drifting away behind me.

Daijoubu... Miaka. I'll end it all right here. For you... my everything.

Nakago turns towards me as I approach. The momentary look of surprise on his face is evanescent- it flees his face after enduring only a moment on the pale, finely chiseled countenance.

I see he still has Seiryuu shichiseishi Soi on his horse before him. I suppose he misses her nightly charge of chi-raising Bochuu magic.

I slow my horse to a stop, and stand, staring at him. My hand rests lightly on my sword.

"You're the shogun of the Kutou army...no, Seiryuu shichiseishi, Nakago."

I spit the name.

Nakago smirks darkly, and the urge to drive my sword through that smile, spear that vile mind, rises hot within me.

"Indeed." His voice comes, dark, deep, and above all, calm, but with threatening undercurrents. "And you are the fourth emperor of Konan, Seishuku Saihitei."

How dare he soil my pure, beautiful name by speaking it with his defiled lips.

"But no," he continues. "I should address you as Hotohori... a Suzaku shichiseishi."

This is a stupid exchange.

We already know each other, and we already know just what I'd like to do to him...to revenge everyone.

I still remember the stab of pain that took me when Nuriko died. The look of peace on Chiriko's small, fragile face when they carried his mangled, bloody body back to the palace. The feeling of deep resolve I felt from the healer when Mitsukake gave his life, most likely for the wounded and dying he could not save in any other way.

Rage fuels me.

The ghost of a smile flits across his face, vanishing as soon as he draws breath to speak again.

"I'm impressed that the monarch of a country would come out here on his own."

I don't want your compliments. I want your blood.

But he is careful, not letting any openings for attack leak through. He is shrewd, not underestimating me.

For a moment, we stand. The watery sunset drips veils of light over his silver-blue armor, and gold serpents woven of dying sunrays slither over his hair, accentuating its color.

"To think..." he begins again, "going through the trouble of throwing your life away... if you had just remain in your palace, you could have avoided any mishaps."

Damn, you talk a lot, don't you, you bastard?

I keep silent. There is no reason I should give him the satisfaction of retorting, letting him hear my rich voice, the most beautiful in the kingdom. Let him talk. He may let something slip.

Nakago sniffs slightly, and tightens the reins against his horse's mouth.

I pity the horse, having to carry such a despicable burden.

"Our army will now withdraw."

Good, that means no more dea-

I do a massive doubletake as the full meaning of the words hits me like a thunderbolt.

After all I've seen... after all that death and destruction... all those people who will be maimed for life...those people who will never return to their families... this bastard's going to simply withdraw, after killing off so many? As if he was merely playing with the lives of thousands, destroying them for no purpose I could see... was this all some sort of sport for him? If he was going to fight and kill us, at least there had to be a reason! But what is this reason?

Finally, I speak.

"What?!"

Nakago does not hesitate to explain.

Bastard. "All of Kutou's military, both at sea and land, are concentrated here. It's too easy to crush Konan."

I do not know if he heard the slight snarl that escapes my throat.

Nakago cocks his head slightly to one side. "After losing the power of Suzaku... how do you think you will be able to make a stand with your army?"

I suppose that he did hear my defiant growl.

"But my goal right now... is no longer the conquest of Konan." And as he speaks, a faint glint of avenging madness begins to spark in his cold blue eyes. "To unite this world, my goal was to conquer the four lands... Hokkan... Sairo... Kutou... Konan. But..." and now, animalistic lust pulls at the edges of his eyes, "I have discovered a separate world which I should conquer instead...

"And since the idiot emperor and my interests no longer share common ground... it is appropriate to apply the punishment immediately."

Is that a spark of faint pain I see deep within his eyes, locked deep in blue ice? I hope it is some constant plaguing agony that haunts him. He deserves no less- in fact, he deserves more.

"Punishment?"

I wonder what the Emperor of Kutou could have done. Besides adultery. Countless nights of lewd pleasure with his harem.

He suddenly tosses his golden locks out of his eyes, and asks, reasonably, as his eyes glaze slightly, lost in veiled dreams of shadow, "What would happen... if I, the Shogun, order the hundreds of thousands of soldiers here... to launch an attack on Kutou? Right now, in the capital, only a few thousand inexperienced, ordinary soldiers protect the Emperor. A nation which does not consider its citizens... will fall apart and deteriorate." He shrugs nonchalantly. "It'll deteriorate soon enough. With my help. And yours, gallant Emperor."

So that's it.

The blood erupts into fire within my veins.

"This war..." I manage to grate out, "was merely to deceive the Emperor of Kutou?!" My voice drops suddenly, and all I can manage is a furious hiss. "Just for that... how many tens of thousands of people died because of this?!" By the time I finish, my voice is a roar.

My mind flashes back to the deaths I witnessed earlier. Those people... died like that... because Nakago wanted to fool the Emperor of Kutou?

Nakago shrugs again as he watches a Konan soldier in the battle scream again and again in pure agony, a broken soul impaled high on a spear, dripping blood on his killer.

"However temporary it may be, he'll be happy knowing that the enemy has crumbled," he remarks offhandedly.

His level, calm tone of voice is driving me mad. But there is one last thing I have to know... before...

"I'll ask one more thing!" I thunder, gripping the reins of my horse in one hand, my sword hilt in the other. "Just what is this other world you intend to conquer?!"

It couldn't be...

Nakago smiles, a shiveringly frightening crack in the ice. His blue eyes bore like drills into my soul, as his golden hair floats in the wind, flaring into golden flame as it is touched by the sunlight. He speaks again, his dark voice weighted with taunting blades that cut deep into my heart.

"I'll say 'hello' to your Miko for you."

My world shatters.

Miaka... Tamahome...

"No..."

I must...

"No more..."

strike...

"I WON'T ALLOW YOU TO INTERFERE WITH THOSE TWO ANY FURTHER!"

I will strike!

Nakago smirks again.

"Fool."

My horse rears at my battle cry. I spur it onward, faster, faster. I'm like an eagle, carried on the wind of vengeance.

Images of Miaka's smiling face flash before me, driving me on.

Perhaps I am a fool, as he says. But then again, I was always a fool when it came to Miaka.

I whip my sword from its sheath,flick the point to point directly at Nakago's heart.

He says nothing, does nothing as I come on. Except sit there, smirking openly at my brashness.

Suzaku... my prayer whips skyward... give me power!

Nakago suddenly lets loose a wave of lethal chi, directly at me, and I realize belatedly that he has been building up this charge, while we were talking, while I was charging to attack.

I feel the searing pressure against my body, ripping away my armor, hear my horse scream in pain, but continue onward. Nakago's just two swordlengths away...

I make a massive lunge, thrust my sword.

Die, kisama.

I am rewarded with the look of shocked pain on Nakago's face as my sword plunges into his shoulder. He certainly hadn't expected me to get as far as to injure him.

K'so... missed his heart... is all I can think, as Nakago pulls away, trailing a scarlet ribbon of blood, and suddenly whirls his horse about and gallops off.

No wonder... I can feel Tasuki and Chichiri's chi approaching.

"Mi...aka... Miaka..."

I feel like weeping, as I slip off the body of what was once my horse.

I've failed them...

Merciful darkness fills my being.

***

I'm awakened by a familiar voice.

"Hotohori!"

Miaka's voice. Broken.

"Miaka....? Miaka's voice... from the sky?"

I open my eyes, immediately regretting it, but keep them open, entertaining a hope that I'll see Miaka by me.

No... no Miaka... Tasuki... Chichiri.

"Hotohori! Tasuki! Chichiri! Can you hear me?? It's me!"

She sounds so close to weeping... I want nothing more than to take her in my arms... hug her, stroke her hair, reassure her.

I can see that that is also what Tasuki and Chichiri would like to do now.

"It's for real!" I hear Tasuki exclaim.

"Miaka, what are you doing? Where are you?"

"I'm sorry..." and I can hear that Miaka is really crying now, for she sobs out her words. "I'm sorry... I can't come back anymore! I can't..."

The rest of her sentence dissolves in tears.

"Miaka..." I murmur, hoping she'll be able to hear me. "Kutou's army withdrew... Konan's all right now... but..." I steel myself, swallowing.

It hurts.

"Just... one regrettable thing...I... I couldn't defeat him... couldn't even slow him down..."

Even Tasuki notices the bitter note in my words.

Miaka's voice seems to be floating away, even as she speaks.

No... no... don't leave... me here...

"Him? Who's 'him'?"

No time to answer questions... I have to get out everything I have to say... and then, maybe I can die in peace. "Please... tell Tamahome... he's probably the only one who can stop him... kill him..."

My words are cut off in a fit of coughing. I notice that I'm coughing up blood.

Chichiri also notices. "Hotohori-sama, don't talk!" His no das are missing, as is his mask, and his voice has slipped down into a worried tenor. Deeper than I've ever heard it go.

Strange.

"Hotohori, don't! Don't you dare die!" The ferocity of her tone surprises me a moment, and I blink blankly.

"What... what'll happen to Houki?" Her voice is once again afraid, in need of reassurance. But in the shock of remembering Houki, I cannot give it.

Houki.... oh Suzaku... what indeed of her, and my son?

"Houki... is waiting for me... and my child..." I steel my voice for Miaka's benefit. "My child... until I see his face, I won't die!"

I wonder if I was convincing enough when I said that.

"Hotohori... that's right... you'll probably have a good-looking son someday... that's why..."

I don't mean to interrupt her. But time runs out. "Miaka... let's all meet again... someday. We'll surpass the boundaries of time... and worlds... and meet again. I... was very happy...to have met all of you!"

My voice cracks, dips to a whisper as my soul flees my body. "To have met you, Miaka.

"Be happy... Mi...aka."

A young voice... that of a young prince, discovering the symbol on his throat for the first time. "Suzaku no Miko... who's that?"

"It's an ancient legend..." comes a sage voice, "that a symbol will appear on the neck of the crown prince. It signifies that he is a protector of the Suzaku no Miko, who comes from another world..."

"The Suzaku no Miko will appear...a girl from another world..." Saihitei mused. "That girl may ease my loneliness...and... she may love me for myself, not just as Emperor...

"Surely... she will... This girl...named..." Hotohori breathed, gazing up at the stars that made up the Suzaku quadrant of the sky...

...as he drew out an old and slightly battered picture, and with his last vestige of strength, lovingly stroked the image of a young woman with brown hair, drawn up in two buns.

"Miaka."

***

Miaka, hunched over the book, felt a familiar presence leave her side.

"No... Hotohori... you liar.... you said you wouldn't die!"

She put her head down, to weep...but before she could, she saw a streak cross the sky, outside the window...a falling star, shining in broad daylight, in defiance of all the laws of nature.

Hotohori... You've crossed the stars to see me... this one last time.

And she reached out, as if to catch the falling star.

Epilogue
 

Nakago would not be stopped.

Tamahome was supposedly dead and Miaka was down to only two living seishi. The only good thing that had occurred was the return of Nuriko.

Which could not help her now.

Miaka could do nothing as Nakago raised two cars with his power, and hurled them directly at her and her seishi.

They never struck.

Miaka cautiously opened her eyes, and gasped.

A glowing red barrier had disentegrated the cars. But even more remarkable then the barrier, was its source.

An achingly familiar figure stood before her, his back to her, his sword held in battle position. Deep, dark brown hair wafted in the wind, touched softly with fragments of the red light emanating from his crimson battle chi.

Slowly, he turned. Familiar deep eyes smiled as they caught her gaze.

Hotohori smiled at Miaka, who had both hands to her mouth, biting back tears.