Cats know a lot of things.

Tama-neko was no different from the rest of its race. Like a cat, he knew there were things that could be inquired. But it wasnīt a kitten yet, and it knew perfectly that, although all humans are strange, its friend was even more strange. All its human friends were very, very strange. For this reason, when it knew that it must to went to find its close friend Mitsukake, it did not ask who could put that thought in its mind. The cat simply knew it. Also, it knew where the healer would be, and when they had find each other, where it must guide the Suzaku Seishi.

It was very surprised by the return of its best friend. Mitsukake had died three years ago. But he was here again, with his eyes closed, but this time, breathing. What had happened?. Tama-neko didnīt knew, but at same time, it didn't mind. A clever cat never has stupid questions.

But now, he was hungry, very hungry, and the healer didn't wake. Tama- neko licked the face, the ears and the neck of its friend. But Mitsukake was deeply asleep, and the stomach of the cat began to sound. Tama-neko walked on the tall body of the seishi, trying to find a solution. It began to loose patience. Finally, disappointed, it fastened its sharp, small teeth on a finger of Mitsukake, and he stood up with a cry.

The healer gasped. Tama-neko, which had been thrown, and then it had fallen on a pile of leaves, greeted its friend happily.

"Mrreeeeow," it said, rubbing its body against the leg of the healer.

Mitsukake looked around him. He was in a forest. The weather wasn't cold and the trees and herbs were know to him. But he didnīt know where he was.

"How did I get here?," he asked his old friend. He could only remember the severe wounds in his body, his own blood leaving him, and the desire to see Shoka at the end.

"Mrreeeeow," repeated the cat, and began to walk. It stopped, mewed again, and continued to walk.

"Wait," Mitsukake said, but the animal didnīt obey him.

"Tama-neko!" cried the healer, trying to capture it. But his companion left him, and the healer only could follow.

Sometimes, the cat looked at him with his little face turned, but never did it stop. Mitsukake had to follow his cat. It was strange. The cat seemed to know where to go.

********************

Yui woke. Tomo was sitting near her, looking at the horizon. She rose.

"Tomo?"

"Yui-sama, look at it," he said.

Far away, Yui could see a column of smoke .

"In this country there are a lot of nomad towns. I hope they can help< us."

"When will we arrive?"

"I think before dawn."

They ate the last onigiri. She realized that her portion was bigger than Tomoīs, but she didnīt switch, because she knew that Tomo wouldnīt allow it. It seemed stupid, with him taller and strong, and always carring her. Yui looked at him. He seemed tired and had dark circles under his eyes. Perhaps he hadnīt slept.

But he must be exhausted. Last night, he had to walk leaning on her shoulder, and then he insisted on continuing until she flatly refused it. He hadnīt approved but he obeyed her with a frown of anger on his face. Then, they had to sleep on the ground, and she didnīt remember what happened then. Perhaps he walked with her on his back. She only remembered the cold.

/He must have walked then; he certainly did not obey me and rest,/ she thought. /He is not just docile. Gods, he even dared to debate Nakagoīs orders. And he will never respect me like he respected Nakago./

Yui sighed, beginning to think that Tomo knew where he carried her. /I donīt trust him. No. I canīt just trust Tomo./

Tomo walked slowly so she could go by his side. She didnīt know whether she should think of this act like a show of niceness. Neither Yui or Tomo could forget last night. She saved him. She had dared to face up to the devil, since he wasnīt strong enough to fight. If hadnīt been for the miko, they would be dead. Yui knew that Tomo would never forget it.

/Weīll never get far if we donīt find some help,/ he thought, remembering with bitterness his own plain to kill the Suzaku Shichiseishi in the desert of Sairo. Now, that idea seemed a joke against him. In that moment he couldnīt defeat his enemies, and now, he would be lucky if he could save the miko.

He looked at her. He remembered Yui with short hair. Now, she wore it by the shoulders and seemed older. But she had a cranky grimace, as he had seen sometimes. Now, the wind tangled her hair, and it was full of dust. He thought sadly of his own long hair. /It must be a disaster./ He touched his face, to assure that the make up was all right, and then remembered that he didnīt have the make up on. /Perhaps I have a dirty face, like her. Perhaps I seem fragile, like her./

He would never admit that her reaction against the devil had impressed him. But he felt shame, remembering the moment in which he left her, falling down.

/And it wasnīt Tenkou. Iīm so weak. I canīt take care of her. Weak./, he thought. /Poor thing. She found me, not the others. Anyone could take care of her. Not me. Iīm empty. I fault her, and now Iīm not strong enough to protect her./

Yui was so tired. The land was soft, but she felt pain in her feet like she was walking on fire. The damn wind never stopped. Her skin was dry, and her lips cracked. She had forgotten the cocoa lipstick and now, her damn lips burned. Her hair was tangled, and she felt dirty.

She began to feel very irritable, and looked at Tomo. His skin seemed plastic. /He is more beatiful than anyone else I know. Even Nakago hadnīt that skin of porcelain. Why the Hell did he wear that stupid make up?/ Looking at him without the damn paint was worse than with the makeup on. /He seems even less human this way. With the make up, one could think that he had something horrible to hide. But he is beautiful, so he painted his face because... because he wanted to do it, I suppose./ His hair was glossy, as if he had washed up the same morning. He walked like a dancer, gracefully. He didnīt seem to be tired. /At his side, I seem a toad, even thoug he is a man,/ she thought with anger. Yui knew that her feeling was stupid and childish, but she needed to marr this appearance of perfection. She felt like an ugly sister of his. /He is tricking me, like he did once before. He knows where weīre going. Heīs clever, and he would never waste his time with somebody like me without a good reason. Bastard./ Yui stopped and looked at him.

"Tomo. Where are we going?."

He turned with a surprised expression. /Tomo is an actor. He can trick anybody he wants to. Who the Hell is your master now, bastard?./ "I told you. Weīll go to that town and--" But he couldnīt continue, because she slapped his face.

"You donīt cheat me again, you son of a bitch. You did one time, and it was the last, understood?." She know that her words were hard, but now, didnīt mind, and began to attack him. "Iīd like to know why you were there, in the shrine, you and none of the others, who at least were loyal to me."

Tomo stared at her, rubbing his face with a wild look in his eyes. "If you loathe my company, you can go alone," he said, and began to walk.

"Go alone, like I couldnīt think of that," she cried , sarcastic. "First, you take me to nowhere and now you say that I can walk alone, son of a bitch. Who the Hell wants me now?, Who do you want to sell me to? And who is the master which youīve chosen now? Tell me!," she cried, remembering the last time when she was with him, and the fear which she had suffered at his hands.

He stopped and stared her. His eyes shone like a wild animalīs. He came near Yui, his body almost touching the miko. "I never choose a master," he said, and she realized that he was Tomo, and the idea of raping Miaka was his own idea, and he almost killed the Suzaku Seishi. "Tenkou chose me without my permission. He shut me up in the body of a stupid bitch and he forced me to serve him. And he never asked me if I agreed. Iīm sorry, to tell you that it was your dearest Nakago who had the chance, and he chose not come again, I suppose, because battle and death for a patethic parody of miko like you isnīt worthwhile. And I remind you that your dearest Nakago was who called Tenkou, and the death of the Suzaku Shichiseishi and the Seiryuu Shichiseishi, and that includes your loverboy Suboshi, is all his fault. But not only his fault. Itīs you and your dear friend, who came here to bring us death and pain, and donīt forget it."

He began to walk again, but stopped and without looking at her, said, "One more thing. If you dare to touch me again in your life, I swear that Iīll kill you."

Yui began to walk and didnīt look at him.

********************

Meiga was looking around her.

No doubt, she was in her home. And it was destroyed. The ceiling was ruined and the birds and small animals had taken posession of all the holes. She made a grimace of anger, remembering the morning when she and her daughter had gone. She had put all her things in order, and then she closed the door, and left. She had been very careful to leave the things well, because she really didnīt knew when they would return, and how, and if somebody would return with them, maybe injured. Because they had gone to fight against the Dragon, like the good Byakko seishi who they were.

And now, her crockery, her furniture... all distroyed like dirt. The firewood which had collecting was in putrefaction and covered with moss, wet and useless.

"Damn it," she grumbled. She understood that death was possible, that they could die and never return. But she been ready to return, because maybe they would return hurt, maybe with some friends, and she had to heal all of them. Even she wasnīt really a healer. But that never happened. They died far from home. Meiga remembered the look of Karasuki, his frightened eyes before death. Then the dragons killed her daugther and she went mad, tried to attack the dragons, but she was killed too.

"Mom, Mom!" cried her daughter Xiangling, running towards her. She couldnīt understand why they were there, alive. She looked again at her house, understanding that long time must have passed. She thought that she must go to some town to ask, at least, how much time had passed. But in the towns all people were afraid of them and the people would run rather to see them. She stroked the forehead of her child. The girl had a pureness which even the dragons couldnīt destroy. But she seemed worried.

"Whatīs the matter, sugar?" the mother asked.

"Mom, my friends said that the Gods are crying, the Heaven is collapsing and the dead are awakening from their tombs."

Meiga took a deep breath. Really, a long time must have passed.

"Xian, help me to find some things," she ordered, and entered the house.They could only save two bags, a dented pot and some clothes. There was no food, but it wasnīt a problem. The forest was full of food for those who knew how to find it.

"Mom, weīre going again?."

"Yes."

"Where?"

"To the house of a old woman who knows things."

"She knows as many things as you, Mom?"

"More things than me."

"Oh. Then, that woman really knows a lot of things."

Amefuri and her daugther Kokie began to walk.

********************

/If I was painted, she would never had dared to to talk me that way, and never never never had dared to slap me./ Tomo tried to not begin to cry with anger and shame. He felt his cheek burning like fire and he felt like a waste. He had nothing to hide his face from her, and he knew, even he had the make up, she could see inside him.

Yui walked far away. /Whore. Itīs your fault. You and the damn Suzaku no miko arrived when I was free. When nobody dared to laugh at me. When nobody had dared to touch me without my permision./ He passed his fingers along his cheeks to dry the tears. /You arrived when I was the best. I had the four countries to my feet. To Ryo Chuinīs feet. But now, and it was your fault, he has died. I will never be Ryo Chuin again. I am Tomo, and nobody will ever forget it. And he is dead. He had a life like a dog and he died like a dog. Like a pretty toy, and now, I am Tomo, but without a mask. I am nothing, and Ryo Chuin who only knew pain and fear died without revenge./ He looked at the back of his miko with fury. /I wish you were dead./ He began to run towards her, and when he was near, began to cry. "You never cared about us. Only your bastard Nakago. Even Suboshi, who loved you, you scorned him. You never cared if we had a life before you arrived here.

I had a fucking life and when I was happy, you arrived and I had to serve one god who never took care of me. And this is your fault." She didnīt answer, but he knew that she can listened to him. "Ask Amiboshi if he wanted to be a Seiryuu Seishi! Ask your dear Suboshi if he wanted to lose his brother! Do you really think that Nakago couldnīt make his dreams true? He could have been emperor and taken revenge even if he had never been Seiryuu Seishi!. Ask Soi, who lived as whore and died as whore!" he cried.

/I was free, and I had never seen Nakago, and I would never have fallen in love with him if you had never arrived. I lost my heart and it is your fault. I hate you. I wish you were dead./ He let her go. /I wish you were dead. I wish that town will be a slave merchantīs. I wish you will know how it feels./

********************

Meiga had been a usual girl of her town, not really pretty, but with beautiful green eyes and long shimmering hair. Nobody knew about the mark on her right knee. But her problems began when she went to serve in the house of the landowner.

All the servants had lived trying to avoid the landownerīs sons. She tried too, but one day, the two sons found her alone, and took her, like all the maidens of the house. Meiga returned to her fatherīs house and nobody talked about it. She was only one of the townīs girls, and nobody cared. But three months later, her waist began to get bigger, and the people began to talk. Meiga had her baby one winterīs night. Some women helped her. Her mother, her older sister were there. Also there were two servants of the landowner. They had come to take the baby, if it was a male. Meiga looked at them, angry, and the mark on her knee began to shine. But the baby was female. The servants went to inform their master, and Meigaīs father took the baby. There was too many women in the family.

"Father, father, donīt kill her. I will work and I will pay for her food," she begged. But her father went while the women held her down. "She was born dead," they said, but the baby began to cry strongly. Meiga rose and the shine of her knee extended along all her body. She looked like a phantom.

"Father. Give me my baby," she cried, with crazed eyes. The women held her waist, her hair, her legs, and pulled her down to the floor. "Sheīs going mad," they cried, but Meiga rose and looked at them. "I wish you were dogs, dogs, dogs, you coward women!!!!!!" Then she begged her father one more time. "Father, Father give me my baby, I... promise I will go and you never will have to pay for her food..." But her father had shut up and his face was pale. Looking behind her then, he left the baby and Meiga had to catch her before she landed on the floor. She saw her father escaping and then, she heard a moan and wheeled.

Five dogs were in the room, moaning in horror. The clothes of the women were scattered all around the floor, but some dogs had the internal apparel in their bodies.

She was terrified. But there was her baby, crying, alive, and the mark of the Tiger was on her left knee.

********************

Yui ran and ran, but she couldn't forget the words of Tomo. /It was my fault. I could have prevented it./ She could see the smoke column near. She turned her head. Tomo was sat on the ground, his head bowed. He seemed to be crying. /Even he, who is evil. Even he got hurt./ She could almost see the blue eyes of Suboshi. /He loved me. Even Tomo could see it. Everybody except me could see it./ She thought that Tomo was right, at least in something. She had never cared for her seishi. But now was too late. / I chose to return here alone. I could have come with Miaka and Taka. But I chose not to. This is the fault of all of us Seiryuu. We always choose do things alone.

The nomad town was in a circle. The wagons were almost houses. Some of them even had second floors. Yui approached them, didn't mind if those people were friendly. She saw a hole between two wagons and went into the town.

There was nobody in that place. The fire in the middle of the town was almost extinguished. The town was small. Yui could count only ten wagons.

"Hello?..." she said, but nobody answered. She began to think that something was wrong. She thought about returning to Tomo. Her anger had almost disappeared. /At least he saved me. And I donīt think that he can make even one illusion. He is not my friend, but he is my seishi, and now I only have him./

She knocked the door of a wagon. But nobody opened the door.

/Where are the people?/

The place seemed dead. There were no people or animals. She began to be afraid, and truly wished that Tomo was there. She knocked on all the doors, but nobody answered. She feel a strange smell, like something dead or meat in rotting. Then, she saw a hole between two wagons in fron of her. It was bigger than the other where Yui had entered. She neared and then saw a hand on the ground.

"Oh, gods," she said, and ran towards the hand. She thought that maybe there was a unconscious person. She approached to help. But when she came near, Yui could see that the hand was cut. Then she feel that the smell was really strong, saw in front of her, and began to cry.

********************

"Mom, thereīs a man near us," Xiangling said.

"Come, sugar. We can hide behind those trees," her mother answered.

"But Mom, perhaps that man can see us. My friends say that he was dead."

"Dead?" Meiga whispered. "Then you hide, honey. I will fight against him."

********************

/Poor girl. I am terrible. I have as much blame as Nakago. He at least took revenge on the Emperor, who hurt him. But I attacked people who never had brought me pain. I am worse than him. And this poor thing is right to not trust me./ Tomo whispered, "She is not my friend. But she is my miko and I must protect her. She only has me now, even she hates me." Tomo rose and began to walk towards the town. Then, he heard a scream.

********************

Tama-neko mewed, worried. "Whatīs wrong?," Mitsukake asked.

He felt a stroke on his back and face. Some long spiderwebs were floating in the air. Mitsukake removed it and took the cat in his hands. The animal was rigid.

In front of them, the spiderwebs were bigger and longer. But Mitsukake continued walking. Then, he saw a woman. She had green eyes and long golden brown hair. She was looking at him defiantly. Mitsukake realized that she had a seishi chi.

"Whatīs the matter?" he asked.

Meiga half-closed her eyes. But she was worried. That man seemed gentle, but under that peaceful appearance, she knew that the man had a terrible strength. /He broke my spiderwebs effortlessly!. He is a seishi, but, whose?/ she thought.

"Who are you?" she asked.

Mitsukake spoke softly. A fight was the last thing that he wanted. "Suzaku Seishi Mitsukake," answered. "And you?."

"Byakko Seishi Amefuri," said the woman.

Tama-neko growled and the healer wheeled. A little girl looked at him, smiling. She had eyes like the women, but her hair was black. "I donīt wanna fight, Suzaku. You are alone and we are two. Sheīs my daughter and Byakko Seishi Kokie." The woman began to walk and the child went with her.

"Wait, I donīt want to fight either..." Mitsukake said. "Iīm not a fighter... Iīm a healer."

The two Byakko Seishi looked each other.

"A healer... and where do you go, Phoenixīs healer?" Meiga asked.

Mitsukake blushed. "I donīt know. I... I follow my cat."

The child began to laugh and the mother smiled.

"Iīm think he canīt be an evil person because he is friend of a cat, Mom," Xiangling said.

"I understand." Meiga wasnīt scared of that man. The Phoenix country was peaceful and surely the sons of the God of Love couldnīt be dangerous people. That man was powerful, but she didnīt feel a evil chi.

"All right, Mitsukake-Walking-With-Cats. We go to Taikyoku Mountain. You can come with us if you want to."

*******************

He heard the scream of Yui and ran with all his strength towards the town. Then he saw Yui running and crying. She came near him and stopped, hesitant to embrace him. Tomo took her and whispered soft words. She was shaking like a dying bird and couldnīt speak.

"Yui-sama, whatīs wrong?"

She didnīt answered, but pointed to the town. Tomo took her hand and began to walk. Yui was holding his waist and walked back with him. They entered the town crossing the hole which Yui had seen. He realized the smell was terrible. Maybe she didnīt notice because she was crying when she arrived, but there was a terrible smell of death.

"What the Hell?..."

She pointed to the hand on the ground

"Dead?," he said, softly.

But Yui denied and murmured "Keep going."

They advanced, and then Tomo saw the thing which that made Yui cry. A large pile of human bodies. The arms, legs and the rest of parts were severed and covered with blood. The fingers of hands and legs were cut and put in a circle around the pile. They had to be the bodies of the nomads. Tomo could see that the members were put carefully in order. The legs under all, the torsos on the legs, then the arms and on all of it, the heads. On the heads, Tomo could read words in a wood poster "Tribute to the Master Kuun."

Continue on Chapter Three: The Emperor of Nowhere
Wrote by Tipan Kalima.
Beta-reader and Proof-reader, Aeanagwen.
Iī, missing my Pre-reader Dreamwalker.
Thank you to:
Laurelgand for Mitsukake information
http://www.mitsukake.com
Felicia, Tomo no Miko, for the map of the four countries where I am always look to no wrong the locations.
http://www.sempai.org/~felicia
Lynn Utsukushii for some information
http://www.geocities.com/ryochuin