The next few days passed without incident, but the tension in the palace managed to increase exponentially. Kou and Tasuki could not be found in the same room at the same time, and when they were (usually for meals only), it was with an uncomfortable, awkward silence.

"This is getting absurd," Nuriko said, earning an agreeable nod from each of the others. Chichiri, Hotohori, Chiriko and Mitsukake had met up with the effeminate warrior upon his private request. "And it's got to stop."

"But how, is the question," said the monk contemplatively. "They're both so stubborn, na no da…"

"And just talking to them separately does not seem to be working," Hotohori chimed in, rubbing his chin in concentration.

Mitsukake smirked. "We could beat them both over the head until it knocks some sense into them." The others couldn't help smiling along at that.

"If we could just get the two of them together, we might be able to get them to sort this out," Nuriko murmured; trying to formulate a full plan that wouldn't end in certain failure was harder than it sounded.

"If we could get them to speak," grumbled Mitsukake.

"Speak?" Chichiri asked with a little laugh. "Just getting them to look at each other would be a miracle at this point, no da."

"Without glaring," Hotohori amended.

"Come on, guys," Nuriko pleaded. "We're the Suzaku Shichiseishi. How bad is it going to look for us if, after all we've faced and overcome, after helping restore peace to the entire world, after coming back from the dead, we can't get two headstrong kids to get along?"

Silence settled as everyone in the room actually pondered the point. It was Nuriko who broke the quiet, as usual.

"Chiriko, you haven't said a word. You're supposed to be the prodigy here, what do you think?"

"I'm not sure," the young warrior started slowly. "There are merits and flaws to every plan I can conceive, and none of them have a definite positive outcome. Too much is reliant upon the idea the both Kou and Tasuki will comply, and that's unsafe to assume. I mean, it's not like we can just lock them in a room together until they agree to cooperate…"

The four other faces lit up all at once.

"Chiriko," Nuriko said with a wide grin, "you are a genius. I'll handle Kou. Chichiri, do you think you can get Tasuki?"

"Da!"

Chiriko looked around, taken aback a little by the mischievous expressions on his friends' faces. "You're not serious, are you?!" he asked, but Nuriko and Chichiri were already out the door.

Kou had been easy enough to find. As luck would have it, the redhead was wandering through the hallways after a quick trip to the kitchen. Nuriko had easily swept the girl up in conversation and led her along after telling her Hotohori wanted to speak with her. It seemed wrong to lie, but Nuriko could think of nothing else that would get her to the room he and the others had set up without rousing suspicion.

After guiding Kou to the room in question, the effeminate warrior smiled sweetly and excused himself with the offer to see what was keeping Hotohori. Outside, with the door firmly shut, Nuriko had to bite down on a knuckle to keep from laughing. All that was left to do now was wait for his co-conspirator to arrive.

Tasuki proved slightly more difficult to track down. After checking out the bandit's favorite palace haunts, Chichiri found him lounging on a low branch on one of the trees in the central courtyard.

"Whaddya want?" Tasuki growled as the monk approached.

"Kou sent me no da," the other lied quickly. "She wants to talk to you and apologize, but couldn't find you. So I came looking na no da."

Tasuki sat up from his reclined position, surprise etched across his features. "Really?! About damn time." He hopped down and gave Chichiri an obliging nod. "Lead the way."

Beneath the mask, Chichiri smiled wider than the illusion ever could.

The barely audible sound of approaching footsteps echoed down the corridor, making Nuriko jittery as they reached his ears. It was game time. He put up the most casual expression he could manage in his excitement, leaned idly against the wall, and pretended to be very interested in his fingernails. As Tasuki and Chichiri came into sight out of the corner of his eye, Nuriko turned his head toward them nonchalantly.

"Hey," he called out easily with a wave.

"What are you doing here?" Tasuki asked, his voice laced with mild skepticism. Nuriko balked for a split second, kicking himself mentally for not having spent his time coming up with an excuse.

"Just making sure she doesn't run away again." The words had come naturally, and Nuriko smiled at just how true his answer had been.

Tasuki made a face at his violet-haired friend. "That's not funny."

"We should get on with it, don't you think no da?" Chichiri's smile nearly faltered; this was no time for sarcastic remarks and other assorted monkeyschnicks. They had to get Tasuki into the room, and they had to do it fast.

Nuriko nodded, flashing the monk an apologetic smile before opening the door.

Kou was seated inside on a bench lined with overstuffed throw pillows, and looked up at hearing the door open. The pleasant smile that had been on her face instantly vanished at the sight of the orange-haired warrior standing there.

"What's he doing here?" she asked contemptuously. Tasuki's features fell as well at those words.

"What do you mean? I thought-" Realization dawned on the bandit. He wheeled around to face the two warriors behind him. "What the hell is going on here?"

Instead of an answer, Nuriko shoved Tasuki into the room and slammed the door shut.

"Nuriko!" Tasuki yelled as he grabbed for the knob. It was locked. He pounded on the door and let out a string of obscenities that made Kou blush slightly behind him.

"I'm sorry," Nuriko called from the other side, "but this is for your own good."

"We'll let you go when you two have worked things out, no da."

"And don't bother trying to escape. I've blocked off any exit you can think of."

Tasuki shouted a final expletive, kicking the door for good measure. He ran a frustrated hand through his hair and reluctantly turned to face the red-haired girl, who seemed just as flabbergasted as he was. "Nice going," he growled.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kou snapped. Her features had gone instantly from scandalized to angry.

"This is all your fault!"

"My fault?! This all started when you broke into my room and practically dragged me off like some caveman."

"No, this all started when I saved your ass after you ditched me and you decided to get pissy with me about it."

Kou gritted her teeth. "Look, we've had this fight already, and now your inability to apologize has gotten us locked up."

"My-" Tasuki faltered indignantly. "Why should I apologize?! I didn't do a damn thing to feel sorry for!"

"Then we have nothing to talk about." With that said, Kou jerked her head away, turning on the bench so her back was facing the fuming bandit.

"You are such a pain in the ass!" Kou didn't give the slightest indication or a response. "Arg!"

In the hallway, Chichiri and Nuriko exchanged glances. "This is going well, no da."

A few hours later, lunch was delivered to the makeshift holding cell, pushed through the space under the door. Not a single word had been exchanged between the two occupants of the room. However, the tension seemed to be alleviated ever so slightly in absence of pressing hunger. Kou was still comfortably splayed on the cushioned bench, and Tasuki had seated himself on a chair on the opposite side of the room. Picking at the last of his rice, he cast a furtive glance at the redhead.

She had a coldly aloof atmosphere around her that almost bordered on regally snobby, like a queen trapped with the filthiest of her servants. Or, at least, that's how Tasuki saw it. And with that thought, he couldn't help but wonder if Kou saw it the same way.

Finally, the flame-haired warrior broke the silence. "We're never gonna get out of here at this rate."

"Hn," Kou replied noncommittally, still studying her bowl.

Tasuki took a slow, deep, irritated breath. "You could at least pretend like it bothers you."

"Whatever."

"Why are you acting like this?"

"Like what?" Kou's voice had a glib edge to it that rattled the last of Tasuki's nerves.

"Like you're some scandalized victim! Like you're totally helpless and without any blame for whatever happens to you!" That got her attention. Hazel eyes smoldered with indignity as they snapped, narrowed, to Tasuki. Kou opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off as Tasuki quickly continued. "You're so set on getting an apology? Fine. What I did was wrong. I shouldn't have forced you out, even if it was with good intentions. But you could'a gotten yourself killed in the alleyway, and that was your decision. Why can't ya just take responsibility for that?"

Kou's eyes continued to burn, but the fire was lit by a different emotion now. "Did it ever occur to you that I realize I messed up? Since we're being honest and all, yes, I have to own up to that. I made a stupid choice, and I'm really humiliated by it, and I hoped to avoid this whole situation until things blew over, but you couldn't let that happen, could you? You had to press from an answer just for your own smug satisfaction. Well there it is. Are you happy now?"

"Why couldn't you have just said all this before he got locked up?"

"I was embarrassed, all right? God forbid the stupid teenager offspring of the almighty Priestess of Suzaku be fallible or let pride get the better of her."

"Are you kidding me?! I can't count the number of times Miaka ran off on her own for some stupid reason or another. She was as impulsive as they come. If anything, I understand where you get that part of yourself."

Tasuki's words seemed to have taken Kou by surprise; whatever response she had been expecting, that wasn't it. Her eyes dropped from the bandit's face where she had stared for a moment in fleeting disbelief.

"If you understand it, why couldn't you let it go?"

"Because it still frustrated the hell out of me." A lopsided grin spread across Tasuki's face, features tired, weary, but a little amused.

Kou took in the expression and words thoughtfully, mulling over them before she spoke again. "Why do we keep ending up here? Fighting, then making up, then fighting again…"

"Pro'lly 'cause you're as stubborn as your grandma, but nowhere near as bubble-headed and optimistically forgiving."

"For your sake, I'll take that as a compliment." Kou smiled when Tasuki chuckled at her comment, eyeing him curiously as he rose from his chair. He swished across the room and stopped at the bench-side, extending his arm.

"Truce?"

Hazel orbs studied the proffered hand for a few seconds. Slowly, Kou reached out and gingerly took it. "Truce… So, what happens now?"

"Now," Tasuki began thoughtfully as he leaned against the table in the center of the room, "we wait for someone to come open the damn door. After that, it's up to you. I meant what I said back at the old hag's place- if you wanna go home, I'll help you if I can."

Kou faltered a little and gratitude tugged her lips upward. "That means a lot to me. I'm serious!" she added at Tasuki's cynical look. "It's not going to be easy, so I'll appreciate any help I can get. And no, that wasn't an insult."

"Is there even a way without going through that old fossil?"

"There has to be. I know the book that brought me and the priestesses here only acts as a one-way portal… Wait!" Kou perked up. "Didn't Taiitsukun say there's someone else here like me? Half in this world, half in the other?"

"Uh…"

"Whoever it is must have gotten here another way, since the only copy of the Shi Jin Tenshi Sho has been in my family for the last three generations. But without the book to act as a doorway, how could someone travel between worlds?" Kou rose to her feet and began pacing contemplatively. "The only other way I remember from grandma's story was through a wish, but that could only be done by a priestess, and all the priestesses have come and gone…"

"Hey, who says this other person has to be a girl?" Tasuki interjected. Kou stopped pacing and looked up.

"No one… But there's never been a boy brought to this world."

"There ain't never been a person taken out of this world, either, before Tama- er, Taka."

Kou paused. "That's a good point." Absently, she tapped a finger against her lips as she thought. After a few minutes, she sighed. "I just don't know. I'm half tempted to go find this person and ask."

"That is an option, y'know," Tasuki said slowly, cautiously. "I mean, if this person is here in Konan and starts trouble like the old hag said he would, we're gonna hafta go after him anyway."

"Tasuki…"

"I'm just sayin'. Kill two birds with one stone."

There was an uncomfortable moment before Kou spoke again. "I don't want to fight… I'm… afraid that I'll be one of those birds."

The bandit opened his mouth to retort, but stopped. The foremost thought in his head was how Miaka had never been afraid to meet a challenge, no matter how dangerous, head-on. But then again, Miaka had never seemed entirely cognizant of her own mortality. It was like she thought herself indestructible, and somehow manifested that idea into reality through sheer force of will. Kou, on the other hand… she had suffered witness to the death of her entire family, and then been told, in the actions of her aunt and uncle, that her own life was worthless. It was no wonder that she had a fear of dying.

Kou lifted startled hazel eyes to Tasuki's at the unexpected pressure of his hand weighing down on her shoulder. "We're not gonna let that happen, a'right?"

"…All right," she murmured back. The hand gave a gentle squeeze.

"'Course, it won't be easy with such a stubborn brat to look after."

Kou's eyes glinted playfully. "No, but I suppose I'll find a way to manage you."

"Snot."

"Ass."

For the first time in weeks, perhaps longer, Kou and Tasuki shared a comfortable silence. It was in this quiet that they heard the muffled sounds of approaching feet and hushed voices.

"It's awfully quiet in there no da."

"You don't think they might have really gotten into it and killed each other or something, do you?"

"No, I still sense them both no da. It's more likely they just beat each other unconscious. Unless they're just trying to trick us into opening the door, na no da."

"At least that would mean they were working together."

"Just open the door!" the two redheads called out in unison. There was a jingling of keys, the click of a lock, and the heavy wooden door swung in. As soon as the older seishi came into view, a wave of fire washed over them. Kou gaped at the singed, smoking forms before looking up at Tasuki, who had his tessen in hand and a satisfied grin on his face. Without a word, the bandit took Kou by the hand and led her out of the room.

Nuriko coughed. Chichiri sneezed, a layer of ash exploding around him.

"That was interesting, no da."

"How so? Tasuki does that all the time."

"I didn't mean the fire, no da."

Nuriko brushed the cinders from himself and quirked an eyebrow. "What, then?"

Chichiri had removed his mask to wipe the singe marks away. He looked up to his friend, the one good eye gleaming softly to match the smile on his lips.

"They were holding hands."

tbc…

Author's Note: I'M NOT DEAD!!! And the story isn't dying out, either. Life, as usual, is tumultuous at best, which makes it difficult to update. I am sorry for the outrageous delay, especially since I've written a few chapters ahead of what's posted here. I've recently suffered a nasty few-week bout of writer's block, though, so I suppose it evens out in the end. I will try diligently to get those chapters I have written posted as soon as I can, and hope to get ahead some more in the chapter I am currently working on.

To those few who actually read this, thank you for your patience. I do hope I make it worth your time.

-Pengu