“Well, against my better judgement…” the child began. Yui and everyone else braced themselves for another speech. “I’ll pick dare.” Chiriko finished.
      “I dare you…” Actually, Yui was so relieved that the kid had stopped talking that she forgot what she was going to dare him. “I dare you….I dare you to…um….to, um….Aha!” she cried, snatching up her English book from somewhere where it had been lying conveniently on the floor. “I dare you to read this. Cover to cover!”
      She thrust the book in the young Seishi’s face, grinning fiercely, nervous sweat standing out on her brow.
      “Eng-lish?” Chiriko looked suspiciously at the title, opening it backwards and flipping through the pages.
      “That’s right,” Yui said with deep satisfaction, knowing it would keep the precocious little brat busy for a few hours at least.
      “If you say so, miko-sama,” Chiriko sighed, hunkering down and starting in on the thick book.
      “Whew,” Yui sighed. “Okay, who hasn’t had a turn?”
      “ME! MEEE!!!” Suboshi jumped up and down, waving his arms. “I haven’t had a tuuuurnnn.”
      “Um…”Yui looked around at the available Seishi, Tamahome, Hotohori, Nuriko, Mitsukake, Chichiri, Nakago (who had dropped out of orbit a while back looking none the worse for wear), Tomo (who had recovered nicely from his second degree burns) and…Suboshi.
      “It’s…it’s…Mitsukake, it’s your turn!”
      “Uh? What did I miss?” asked the tall, dark-haired Seishi.
      “It’s your turn to ask someone ‘truth or dare’,” Miaka explained, helping out Yui.
      “Sure, uh…okay.” Mitsukake looked around the room, trying to think who he’d ask. He knew who had already gone, so he aimed to get the virgins involved. His eyes scanned the room until they landed on Chichiri.
      “CHICHIRI!! Truth or dare?” Mitsukake startled a year’s growth out of the poor monk, who sat peacefully meditating quietly in the corner.
      “Da?” Chichiri came out of his trance, and with a snort asked, “what?”
      “ It’s your turn. Truth or dare?”
      Unlike Chiriko, Chichiri didn’t go into a LONG and boring speech. Instead, he just answered succinctly, “Truth.” Since he trusted Mitsukake…
      An impish smile overtook the face of the normally soft-spoken and reserved Seishi. He knew he shouldn’t do this and that he should treat Chichiri with respect which befitted a monk, but he wanted to ruffle the feathers of his conservative friend.
      “Truth…who, in you humble opinion, excluding the beautiful women, has the sexy-EST body in the room?!”      
“WHAT?!!” Chichiri choked, blushing to the roots of his gravity-defying light blue hair.
      “You heard ol’ friend! Now give it up!!”
      All eyes were glued on Chichiri as he fidgeted nervously. His eyes were downcast. This was WAY too embarrassing for him to answer. “A-anou…anou…da….da…do I REALLY have to answer it, no da?” he whined, pathetically.
      “’Fraid so,” Hotohori said immediately. “Just in the interests of fairness, of course.” Really, the emperor just wanted to know if it was him.
      Using his magic, Chichiri shrank to three feet tall and went SD, and thumbed himself in the chest, “MEEE NO DAAAAA!!!!”
      “HEY!! THAT’S CHEATING!!” Nuriko yelled, also a bit upset that it wasn’t him who was the most sexy man in the room.
      Although Hotohori sat calmly in place, the flying sake cup that beaned Chichiri in the back of the head was suspiciously angled from his direction.
      “HEY!! I wasn’t finished with that yet, damnit!!” Tasuki yelled, pissed off that he was now short one cup of sake…like he needed the extra booze…
      Hotohori just looked wide-eyed and innocent around the room as if searching for the culprit who had thrown the vicious little cup. Immediately after Tasuki yelled, he passed out having had a WEEEE bit too much to drink…
      “Well, that leaves…” Yui eyed Suboshi, who was still energetically jumping up and down, trying to get her to choose him. She shuddered. Though Yui didn’t want to, she turned to Suboshi, “Fine, it’s your turn.” She added under her breath, “hentai!”
      “WOOO-HOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!” Suboshi did an exuberant little dance. His gaze didn’t shift from where it had been almost ALL night. “YUI-SAMA!!! Truth or dare?”
      “Truth,” Yui said immediately, knowing all too well just what a dare might entail.
      “Oh,” the young Seishi said, a little crestfallen. “I was hoping you would choose dare, but…oh well.” He grinned like a moron and pointed almost accusingly at his miko. “Admit it!” he cried. “You love me! You chose truth, so you can’t deny it! Confess to me your undying love!” he chuckled evilly, his chi rising in a blue aura of mania around him.
      “I don’t love you,” Yui said unemotionally. “You’re a dorky little boy.”
      “Wha-what?” Suboshi said in utter disbelieve.
      “I said you’re a loser. You have no experience whatsoever. Not like Tetsuya…or Tamahome…hell, even Tomo.”
      (Tomo: Ore? How did I suddenly become part of this conversation. I do however feel better knowing that Seiryuu No Miko-sama thinks more of me than that yo-yo boy!)
      Suboshi gasped, his eyes wide and trembling with shimmery anime-type tears. “YOU’RE IN DENIAL!!!! I DON’T BELIEVE YOUUUUUUU!!!!!!” He exclaimed.
      Yui just sighed and muttered. “I’M in denial? Geez!”
      By this time, Suboshi lay collapsed in a sobbing bundle of nerves.
      “MY TURN!!” Nuriko proclaimed, not hesitating or waiting for Yui’s prompting. Nuriko’s eyes immediately settled on Hotohori. “HOTOHORI-SAMA!! Truth or dare?!”
      “Truth,” Hotohori replied without hesitation.
      “Do… do you think I’m attractive?” Nuriko said in his cutest voice, putting on finger adorably to his lips.
      Hotohori wasted no time. “Certainly, Nuriko. You’re very beautiful.” Nuriko blushed. “BUT, my proportions are much better. My eyes are more luminous and beautiful, my hair is softer and silkier. My mouth is more sexy and my voice is far more seductive!”
      “Che! I’m hurt!” Sobbed Nuriko. He always thought of Hotohori-sama as the beauty of Nature, but nonetheless Nuriko was equal in the same attributes.
      “That does it no da! It’s my turn!” Chichiri declared, fed up with waiting. He still felt a wee bit embarrassed by the question that his trusted friend had asked, although Chichiri had found a way out of it…the Chichiri way!
      He scanned the room. He wanted to get Mitsukake back, but that was WAAAAAY to predictable, so he decided to go for another victim. Seeing poor Suboshi lying on the floor, still much like earlier, Chichiri felt sorry for the kid, even though Suboshi was one of Seiryuu’s. Chichiri smiled deviously.
      “SUBOSHI!” The monk called, startling the younger Seishi.
      “Y-yes, Chichiri-san?” asked Suboshi, still nervous, but not sobbing like a girl…for the moment.
      “Truth or dare no da?!”
Suboshi’s eyes lit up like two fire-flies in the night-time. “DARE!!”
      “Oh no!!” Yui exclaimed, noting the sly glint in the monk’s eye.
      Chichiri motioned for Suboshi to come over. The kid hesitated, but did anyway.
      Chichiri whispered, “I noticed that you seemed VERY crestfallen and dejected due to Yui’s rejection of you…so no da, I’ve taken pity on you and I’m giving you a dare that you want. I’m not letting you tell me what you want no da. Now move closer to her, but not so close that it’s obvious no da.”
      “Of course!!” Suboshi replied, in a Miaka-type optimist tone.
      Once Suboshi had moved away, Chichiri then gave the dare, “I dare you to take Yui and give her the kind of kiss you long to take from her!!”
      “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!” Yui screamed, horrified what this...this monk had dared Suboshi to do. And what was worse was it was what Suboshi wanted in the first place.
      Suboshi, while Yui had screamed in horror had done another dumb exuberant little dance...this time it was more of a victory dance. Yui then wondered why Chichiri and Suboshi had been talking. She shrugged it since Chichiri had done most of the talking. Still, she shuddered at the thought of having to kiss this…this dorky…thing…she wondered if it was human…. Under her breath she muttered, “fine, I’ll get this horror over with!” Yui smiled, evilly, she had an idea…she would do to Suboshi what Miaka had done to Tamahome.
      Yui and Suboshi moved in closer together. Suboshi took Yui in his arms. Just this was enough to set his hormones sky-rocketing. Yui on the other hand, was trying to convince herself it was Tamahome and not Suboshi, but her common sense wouldn’t let her use her imagination. Their lips locked. Yui gave up and gave in…. However, Suboshi turned out to be a better kisser than she thought, but she still went with her plan.
      This time, after twenty minutes the group grew restless and bored. Tasuki having recovered from passing out from drinking *ahem* too much…sake, was once again firing it back like it was water, waiting to take his turn. Nakago sat with Soi on his lap, Soi playing with his hair. Amiboshi, having managed to find another flute (note, he still didn’t find his other one, but this one will do), was playing music to amuse himself once again.
      Nuriko groaned in frustration, he couldn’t believe Amiboshi got another flute.
      Hotohori sat combing his hair.
      “I really think those two should get a room,” Tomo commented.
      “That’s it, I’m taking my f***ing turn! OBAKE-CHAN!! Truth or dare?” Tasuki challenged his hot-tempered fellow Seishi.
      Tamahome growled, his character of ogre glowing brightly. “Dare!”
      Tasuki smiled, an impish child-like grin. “I dare you…you and Tomo to share the same kind of kiss you and Miaka shared!! BWAHAHAHAHAAA!!!”
      “WHA-WHAAAATT!!??!!??”
      “You heard me obake-chan, you and the cackling gay freak have to kiss, and not a cheap one, make it good!”
      A low, spine tingling cackle was heard. “Finally, I get something that is for me!!”
      Tamahome was on the floor, holding his legs, his head buried in his hands, sobbing for Miaka to save him from the wrath of a manic and *ahem* ‘red-nosed’ Tasuki. “MIAA-KAAAA!!!!” Tamahome wailed, wishing this nightmare would end.
      “Oh, Tama-chan, don’t deny your feelings for me any longer!” Tomo wrapped his long, girlie arms around Tamahome, who hated it.
      Under his breath, Tamahome muttered, “Why do I get stuck kissing either Miaka (who he loves sooo much…) or kissing gay freaks?”
      Tamahome stood up, knocking Tomo off him. “Fine. “Lets get this damn *shudder* kiss over with,” Tamahome almost nearly mumbled.
      Tomo draped his arms around Tamahome’s neck.
      “Finally…” Tomo cooed. Tamahome shuddered yet again. This was getting weird…he knew he had to take his turn next and get revenge against Tasuki for this!
      Tomo placed a slender hand behind Tamahome’s head, and pulled Tamahome’s face to his. The kiss lasted about fifteen seconds before Tamahome pushed Tomo away, who conveniently landed on the lap of Nakago. Tomo looked up at Nakago with puppy-anime-type glittery sort of eyes.
      “Get this…this…this thing off me Soi,” Nakago told Soi, in his unmoved and level voice.
Soi smiled gleefully, snapped her fingers and yet another bolt of lightening, coming out of nowhere hit Tomo. “Damn…*grumble…* you…*mutter…curse* you …electromagnetic…*beep…mumble* courtesan…” Tomo then passed out, yet again…(I like this!) Tomo’s limp body lay in a pile like so much discarded trash.
      “TASUKI!! Truth or dare?” Tamahome pointed a finger at Tasuki, which if it was any closer would be up the nostrils of the fiery-tempered bandit.
      “@#!$%&* DARE!!!”
      “I dare you to…to break all you cups of sake!!!” Tamahome exclaimed, laughing maniacally.
      “NNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!” Tasuki snivelled. “ANYTHING BUT THAAAT!!!”
      “Anything, eh?” Tamahome’s eyes twinkled mischievously.
      Tasuki saw the look in Tamahome’s eye and didn’t think twice…he knew that if he didn’t take this dare, the next would be even worse!
      Looking away, covering his eyes, Tasuki knocked each sake cup of the table. This took a good five minutes because when the cup had appeared about…oh let’s say fifty or so appeared.
      “How much longer no da?” Chichiri muttered. He was fed up with waiting for someone else to go. He then eyed Yui and Suboshi, who were still standing, kissing, and really going at it.
      “How much air is actually getting in there na no da?”
      “Beats me,” Amiboshi said, looking up from the other flute, which was now his flute, since he never did recover his miscellaneous flute which had been hurled out the unobstructed window.
      “But I could do better than that on any given day, since I am the older one.”
      Everyone but Yui, Suboshi, Tasuki (who was in a fetal position on the floor, blubbering for his ‘late’ sake cups…) and Tomo (who was still in convulsions on the floor from the recent electric shock) face-vaulted.
      “If you fools aren’t going to take a turn, then I will,” Nakago mentioned since he wanted his way. That was to have fun at someone else’s expense, which is what he did best. Since Soi was his beloved he didn’t want to embarrass her, she wasn’t his first choice. Suboshi and Yui were STILL kissing…(make that about thirty minutes or so, give or take a couple of minutes), so Yui, only because she had already gone, was out of the question. Tomo lay on the floor, convulsing, and Tamahome had already gone. Amiboshi as well. The only ones who hadn’t been asked ‘truth or dare’ yet included Miaka, Mitsukake, Nuriko and Soi were his choices.
      Soi he had already eliminated. Nakago smiled his I’m-a-sadistic-manipulative-bastard-and-I-love-it type evil smile. His eyes settled on Miaka. “MIAKA!!”
      “Ore?”
      “Truth or dare?”
      “Uh…um…truth.” Miaka didn’t want to risk taking on a dare from Nakago, so her best bet was truth.
      “Who in this room, do you love sooooooooo much, that you’d die for them?” Nakago wiggled his eye-brows at her.
      Miaka shifted uneasily next to Tamahome. All eyes of all the people were on her, except Tasuki (still a sobbing bundle of nerves), Tomo (not having finished his convulsing) Suboshi and Yui (still kissing. It was a deep and passionate one by now. Both look rather, *ahem* dishevelled).
      “Chiriko!!” Miaka exclaimed, running over to the younger Seishi, (who was engrossed in the book, nonetheless was almost finished) and threw her arms around his neck and kissed Chiriko on the cheek. (Gee not the lips?!)
      “Ore?! Nani? Oh, Miaka-san!” Chiriko was stunned to find his miko clinging to him like he was her life preserver. “What do you need?”
      “I want to confess my undeniable love for you!!”
      “NANI??!!”
      “HIM?!!!” Nuriko, Hotohori, Tamahome, Amiboshi, Nakago, Mitsukake, Chichiri, Tomo (who had had stopped convulsing and recovered from his third degree burns) and Tasuki (who was no longer sobbing like a girl and morning for his sake cups), cried in utter disbelief.
      Chiriko loved this, even though he was clueless to what had happened before hand.
      “I shouldn’t have to go last, since I AM the emperor of Konan,” Hotohori arrogantly pointed out. His gaze turned to and settled on Mitsukake.
      “MITSUKAKE!! Truth or dare?”
      “Dare,” the normally reserved and conservative doctor answered laconically.
      “I, Suzaku Sichiseishi Hotohori, Emperor of Konan-koku, the most beautiful and sexy man in this room hereby dare you Suzaku Sichiseishi, Mitsukake to perform the following dare: you must dance and do the right dances moves to Brittany Spear’s ‘Hit Me Baby One More Time’.”
      Mitsukake’s eyes bulged and his jaw dropped. He sweat-dropped. “Ore? Nani?!!”
      “You heard me, now dance! Or you could always sing ‘Blue Eyes…Blue’, the Nakago way!!”
      (Nakago: I’m a much better singer than Ishii Kouji!! ( **NOTE: Ishii Kouji is Mitsukake’s seiyuu**)
      Mitsukake felt like sobbing, but he gave in and nodded for Miaka to start the music. (No, I don’t care if there was no such thing as a CD player in Ancient China minna!)
      Miaka hit the play button, and Mitsukake began to dance to it, and very badly I might add. Just to get in the mood, he also began to sing along with the vocals.
]       “MY ears!!” cried Soi, covering them to block out the horribly off-tune song. “He sounds ten times worse than Nakago when he sings Blue Eyes…Blue!!”
      “Actually, quite frankly, he sounds MUCH better than Tasuki singing…that’s after he’s had too much sake, no da,” Chichiri observed.
      “Ne, Chichiri! @#$%!*#@!$%* I heard that! I sound ^#@$!%$**better than Nakago and Mitsukake on any given damn day of the week!!” Tasuki bellowed, the profanity dripping off his tongue, and drinking another cup of sake. (Hey wait, I thought he was out of sake? Oh hell…)
      Mitsukake had finally finished singing, sparing the ears of the group. Everyone, minus once again Suboshi and Yui (damn, how long are the going to kiss?!), breathed a sigh of relief because the horror was over.
      “Okay, it’s my turn,” Soi purred, cuddling up closer to Nakago. Well actually, if she got any closer they’d be one person, but she still tried. “NAKAGO-SAMA!! Truth or dare, my sweet, manipulative, sexy shogun.”
      “Wait! Nakago’s already gone!” protested Yui. (Hey, when did her and the yo-yo boy stop kissing?) “And Soi has also as well.”
      “I think I’m going to be sick!” Amiboshi groaned. “First Miaka and Tamahome, then Yui and Suboshi, now Soi and Nakago? This sucks! There’re no girls left for the picking!”
“Oh stop whining,” Tomo grumbled, the cooed, “at least you still have me!”
Amiboshi began sobbing.
      “What did I say?” Tomo asked with wide-eyed innocence.
      “Sorry, but I’m straight, Tomo, you damn homo!” Amiboshi pushed Tomo away who once again conveniently landed in the lap, surprise, surprise, NAKAGO!
      “I give up!” Nakago muttered.
      “I’ll take care of this painted gay freak,” Soi volunteered.
      “Not again!” Tomo protested, as yet another bolt of lightening hit him. “Damn you…you *curse*…*mutter*…arrogant self-centred…paramour…*mutter…grumble.” And with that, once again Tomo passed out. And once again having an epileptic type fit.
      “Miko-sama, I’ve finished the English book.” Then addressing Yui in English, (by the way, the characters were speaking in Japanese to each other, though the story was written in English…forget it!) “Nice challenge. Shall we converse in English?” Chiriko asked Yui.
      Yui couldn’t believe it, the brat had read the whole bloody book and had learnt it! Under her breath she muttered, “I’ve created a monster!”
      Miaka was still attached to Chiriko like a leech. And surprisingly, Chiriko loved the attention, more so then he would have ever in his wildest dreams have ever imagined. “And now, I’m that last one left, so I’ll take my turn. Soi, truth or dare?”
      Soi looked surprised, she hadn’t expected to be asked by the child prodigy. “Okay, truth.”
      “If you had the power, supreme power to do anything you wanted in the world, and you knew how to use it properly. Now mind you, this means, answering using what’s in your heart and not your head, because it is what you desire. What would you do with it?”
      “That’s a deep question!” Soi raised her eyebrows in surprise. She paused to think for a minute. She had expected the child to ask a challenge question or an inauspicious one that would leave her open to putting her heart on the line.
      “I would, I would…would declare world peace and make love run the world! I would also eliminate all Tomos!”
      (Tomo: Hey! That’s not fair! *When did he wake up? Okay he recovered yet again from the electric shock, courtesy of Soi, the electric youth. Or did he? Because following his comment, he immediately was back to being comatose, yet again.*)
      “Okay, that’s everyone?” Yui double-checked. “Okay let’s call it a night…ore?” She felt a gentle tap on her should. She turned to see Suboshi standing behind her. Surprisingly, unlike Tamahome, Suboshi hadn’t passed out from lack of oxygen to the brain. Actually, he wanted more. He whispered to Yui, “Ne, Yui-sama, I dare you to do to me what Miaka did to Tamahome, if you can!”
      She turned to face him, “You’re on!! Let’s go in a room though!” Suboshi’s eyes lit up like fire-works on Canada day, and replied, “Lead on Yui-sama!” and with that, those two left the room.
      “Minna! That’s all, you can leave if you want!” Miaka yelled, still too hyper from her kiss with Tamahome.
      After everyone had cleared out, there were only a few who remained. Tomo lay on the floor, sprawled out. Tasuki on top, unconscious from having *ahem* too much uh…swill. He snored loudly, his mouth wide open, his little fangs showing. Tamahome was in a nearby corner, in a ball, holding his knees close to himself and sobbing. Chiriko basked in the attention Miaka showered upon him.
      Whatever happened to Amiboshi’s poor misfortuned flute? When the dawn rose, and the first rays of the sun cracked over the horizon, one hit a shiny tin object. It lay in the short grass in the palace court yard of Konan-koku.