The Good Fight by roku kyu

Disclaimer: The characters from Fushigi Yuugi are the creations and property of Yuu Watase and related enterprises. I do not own them, and do not make any profit from this fiction except for my own enjoyment in spending time with them.

This is an Alternate Universe story, taking place in an undefined place and time as related to canonical FY. But, in reference to the rk universe, it takes place 8 years after OVA 2 and immediately after Chapter 7 of "Casting Stones."

Warning: Excessive melodrama ahead. ^ ~

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Chapter 1. Oppression and Defiance

 

The grey, baleful clouds hovered low in the sky, obscuring the sun and brooding incessantly over the landscape as they had for the past two weeks. Gusts of wind exploded in sudden sharp bursts, violently buffeting the trees and grasses, before dying down into periods of stillness that made the air seem to lie hushed in apprehensive dread. Across this barren panorama flashed two figures mounted on galloping horses, riding in furious recklessness as if all the accursed demons in the seven hells breathed down their necks.

Both were clad in the turban-like head scarves of the mountain bandits, the ends of their scarves flung across their faces so that all that could be seen of their features was only one eye apiece. Shapeless cloaks swirled around them in the winds of their passage, occasionally parting to reveal long swords dangling at their sides. The taller of the two was clad in black, the outlines of his clothes merging with the midnight form of the huge ebony stallion upon which he was mounted. He bent low over the neck of his steed, urging it onward with silent intensity. The horse responded with great long leaps, its breath coming in loud chuffing puffs of wind. The second figure, clad in a buff-colored scarf and cloak, also bent low on the back of his steed, but his smaller white mare could not match the strides of the great black monster that raced before her, and they soon began to drop back.

The man on the white horse tried to signal his companion, but the black stallion had already pulled too far ahead. "Tasuki!!" he shouted as the giant animal continued to race away, the wind snatching the words out of his mouth and hurling them uselessly behind him. Aggravated, he sent a blast of ki towards the disappearing bandit. "Tasuki, damn you, WAIT!!" Startled, the bandit pulled back hard on the reins, and the ebony stallion reared up and squealed in angry protest at the sudden reversal. The smaller pair cantered up to where the the black horse and rider danced in angry impatience.

A furious amber eye met the steady mahogany gaze of the buff-clad rider. "What’s the problem?!" Tasuki snarled through clenched teeth, his words terse and bitter as they had been for the past seven days. The older man tried to send out a soothing wave of ki towards his companion, but found himself blocked by a surprisingly impenetrable shield. The magician decided to abandon the role of compassionate parental figure and instead adopt an attitude of authoritative censure.

"Tasuki, we’re going to slow down and walk the horses awhile, before we kill both Makaze and Hikari!"

The bandit and his horse both tossed their heads in contempt. "Makaze doesn’t need to rest, ‘Chiri! He can keep going until..."

"Until he drops dead beneath you. Listen, Tasuki! You know that Makaze would do anything for you. He’ll keep running until his heart bursts, if you ask it of him!" Chichiri gestured angrily at the sheaves of white foaming sweat that dripped from the horse’s sides in time with his great heaving breaths. The magician continued. "I have no intention of letting you run either of our horses into the ground in your mindless panic. Do you think that we’ll get there faster on foot?! If you can’t think of your stallion’s welfare, at least consider the practical aspects!"

Tasuki bit his lip in guilty irritation. Chichiri’s expression softened at the distress in the younger seishi’s eyes. "If nothing else, you should be frightened of what she’ll do to you if you kill that horse, after all the trouble she went through to get him for you. He’s the only horse that’s ever been able to tolerate you, you know!"

Tasuki shook his head, unable to smile at the monk’s gentle humor. He cast a troubled glance at his fellow seishi. "I can’t help it, ‘Chiri." he muttered angrily. "I feel like we’re running out of time. She’s been gone for seven fucking days already! Who the fuck knows what they’re doing to...!" He stopped and swallowed, unable to finish that thought. "...what’s happening to her..." he finished in a despairing whisper.

His pain and worry was reflected briefly in the monk’s eye, before the older man took control of his emotions. "Listen, Tasuki, we can’t give up hope now, not when we’re finally so close. She hasn’t given up on us - I know she hasn’t!"

Tasuki’s visible eye lit up eagerly. "You know that for a fact, ‘Chiri?! Can you feel her ki yet?!"

Chichiri looked away. "No..." he admitted softly. "There’s still that damned interference blocking me - it buzzes and crackles and won’t let me through." He cast a reassuring look at his companion. "But when I last felt her, I can tell you that she seemed fine - but pissed as hell!"

He finally got a smile out of the fiery seishi. "Yeah..." breathed Tasuki, turning Makaze to pace along beside the white mare. "That’s her, all right. Probably ready to kick some major ass!"

"No doubt, no da!" Chichiri replied cheerfully, hoping to lighten his companion’s spirits. He didn’t mention the moments of doubt and grief that he detected in her ki that first day - moments of weakness that occurred only when she thought of them. He was glad for the concealing face scarf that hid the tightening of his jaw. ‘Oh, you’ll pay...’ he promised their hidden enemy. ‘No matter how long it takes, I’ll see that you pay for this, I promise you!’ He felt the darkness begin to stir in his soul. ‘Not yet...’ he thought as he firmly suppressed it. ‘Wait... be patient... soon.’

Tasuki frowned at him, subconsciously sensing the disturbance in monk’s ki. "Are you certain we’re on the right track?" he queried.

Chichiri sighed. "As certain as I am of anything that’s transpired in the last week. Once the interference started, I lost track of her... but now I’m certain that we’re heading straight towards the source of these energy waves. The crackling and buzzing grows thickest here..."

"And you believe that she’s confined behind this shield."

"She must be. I’ve searched for her everywhere else in three separate worlds. She’s either here, or..." the monk kicked himself mentally for his blunder.

"Or nowhere." finished the younger seishi grimly. He turned a dark and dangerous look towards his companion. "I’ll kill ‘em." he promised softly, the lack of profanity indicating his deadly seriousness.

The monk caught and held his gaze. "It won’t come to that. She’s fine, I know it... She’s not that easy to kill, you know!" he asserted, imitating his companion’s cocky self-assurance.

Tasuki snorted in contempt, but Chichiri could feel some hope seeping back into the younger man’s ki. Tasuki relaxed slightly on Makaze's back, letting go of some of his raging tension and lifting his face into the wind as if he were trying to sniff out her location. Chichiri leaned back into the rocking motion of Hikari's walk, half-closing his eyes and letting his ki wander the land. He subconsciously noted a lessening of the whining buzz of the interference - then bolted upright on his horse.

Tasuki pulled up beside him, startled. "What's up, 'Chiri?!" he asked anxiously.

The magician turned to him and grinned. "It's a good thing we slowed down when we did - we nearly rode right past it!! This is the place - the interference is strongest right here!!"

The magician dismounted quickly, holding up his hands as he paced around the area as if feeling out an invisible barrier. Tasuki followed him anxiously, keeping silent so as to avoid disturbing the monk's intense concentration. Finally Chichiri stopped, head tilted to one side, listening for something inaudible to the younger seishi's ear.

"I think this is it." he whispered. He felt around in his kesa, finally extracting a slim silver wand approximately eight inches in length with a rounded, knob-like head. Tasuki stared at the strange device. "What's that, 'Chiri?" he murmured, equally as quiet as his brother warrior. "It's called a sonic screwdriver," explained Chichiri. "After a few days of searching two worlds for her, I finally realized that there was a third world I hadn't yet checked. At that point, I realized that I needed help from an old friend - so I contacted him with this." Chichiri withdrew a stack of plain white squares from his kesa, showing them briefly to his younger friend before replacing them. "He loaned me this "screwdriver" device and told me to contact him when I approached the area where I thought she might be. I asked him to pick up a few friends to help - anyone who could be spared from the rebel forces…"

The magician held up the device before a particular area in front of them. Tasuki squinted skeptically, seeing no difference from any other area of the landscape - but he sighed and held his tongue for once, knowing that Chichiri and this device were their last best hopes for finding her. Chichiri depressed a button on the side of the silver wand, and the sonic screwdriver sang out a high-pitched tone, just inside the human range of hearing. To Tasuki's shock, the air before them began to shimmer and swirl, finally parting to reveal a large fortress-like compound hidden behind the electronic shield.

"Fuck!" breathed Tasuki in surprise and admiration.

The magician smiled at his companion's higher spirits. "Yes, I think this is it - Come on, Tasuki!! Time for us to retrieve a friend!!"

The two seishi released their horses to roam away from the stronghold, thus concealing the presence of their riders within. Both Makaze and Hikari were well-trained enough to remain within hearing distance of the seishi's whistles while keeping out of sight.

The two warriors wandered cautiously through the huge gates and into the dark, winding corridors, listening carefully for any guards. Every so often, they would run into a dead end, but Chichiri would simply activate the sonic screwdriver, and the stonework would melt away, revealing yet another hidden passage. Tasuki looked around distrustfully. "No guards yet. Fuckin' weird, if ya ask me. What kinda prison doesn't have guards?!"

"An electronic prison…" Chichiri replied briefly, squinting his eye as he tried to pick up on her ki through the decreasing background noise. "They don't need physical guards to restrain the prisoners - the electronics do that for them. The only thing they need actual people for is…" he let his voice trail off, pretending to be distracted. He had almost blundered again - almost mentioning the possibility of torture. The last thing he needed to do was to provoke Tasuki into running headlong through the prison, shouting for their friend. Although he couldn't sense any surveillance as yet, that didn't mean that they were free to proceed without caution…

Suddenly he picked up on a signal through the ether. It was faint, very faint - but blessedly familiar. He felt his heart rate pick up in excitement. "This way!" he whispered, heading straight towards a solid stone wall. Tasuki strode swiftly beside him, his features fixed in a scowl of concentration and his hand on his sword hilt in readiness. The wall dissolved before the pitch of the sonic screwdriver, and suddenly Chichiri was hit with the clear signal of her ki - although it was fainter than he would have liked. He and Tasuki strode rapidly past multiple cells, some empty, some containing a few scraps of material with odd lettering, like A…LU and Amnest… Inter… - the last scraps of prisoners who had been electronically eliminated from this world. "What the Fuck?!!" hissed Tasuki in disbelief. Chichiri strode quicker, his eye fixed grimly ahead. "This must be a central prison for rebels against various states," he explained tersely. "The Baron must be too frightened to keep her on his own land..."

Tasuki looked at him in surprise. "This is the first time I've heard you accuse them out loud. You're certain it's them, 'Chiri?!"

The monk met his gaze. "Dead certain!" he affirmed, stopping before a solid wooden door. He looked through the small window set high in the wood… and drew in a sharp breath. "She's here!" he informed his companion. Tasuki began pulling at the locked handle in frantic impatience. "Well, open the fuckin' door, 'Chiri!!" The magician hesitated for one second, wanting to scout out possible traps - but yielded before the frantic look in Tasuki's eyes and to his own sense of urgency. He activated the sonic screwdriver one more time and heard the lock click. Tasuki leaped forward and shoved at the heavy door. It swung open slowly, revealing a figure crumpled against the far wall. Her arms were suspended above her head in wrist manacles, while her head drooped forward, her long brown hair obscuring her face. She sat loosely cross-legged, her dark green trousers wrinkled and dusty, her black long-sleeved tee in the same condition. Tasuki leaped forward with a sob that was part relief, part anguish. He lifted her head urgently, shaking her to get her to respond. "Gods, Roku, wake up, wake up!!" he pleaded. Her lashes fluttered, revealing bleary brown eyes. She stared at him in disbelief for a moment - then licked her cracked lips, forcing them into a semblance of a cocky grin.

"'Bout damn time you guys got here!" she scolded them gently.

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Tasuki knelt beside his friend, pulling fiercely at her wrist manacles, chanting a steady stream of abuse at her captors the entire time, interlaced with promises of terrible vengeance to be wrought upon them. Roku protested weakly at his futile efforts. "Owwwwwww, owwwwww, watch it there, sweetness! If I had rubber wrists, I woulda got myself outta these days ago!" Tasuki backed off, abashed and apologetic. He looked up at Chichiri, who was trying to assemble the strange white squares into a multidimensional geometric figure. "What the fuck are ya doin' 'Chiri?!" the bandit scolded, "Quit messin' around with your puzzle and get Roku outta these goddam chains!"

The magician shook his head in annoyance. "Be quiet, Tasuki! I have to concentrate to get these tiles together in five - or is it six - dimensions!" He looked up and shot an apologetic glance at Roku. "I'm sorry…" he murmured. "But I can't shake the feeling of urgency here. I am getting the strongest apprehension that this was just a little too easy - and I need to call for backup as soon as possible!"

Roku smiled in understanding. "The Doctor?" she asked. "Hai," replied the monk. "He's already aware of this situation - and he's just waiting for my message that I found you before bringing extra help here to us." "Go to it then!" Roku advocated cheerfully. "We'll keep quiet here and occupy ourselves for the time being while you struggle with the higher dimensions! C'mon, Tasuki - let's have a thumb-wrestling match! No cryin' if I win!"

Tasuki looked up at her wrists - and hissed in shock at the blood caked around the manacles. "Who the fuck - what the fuck??!!" he demanded. Roku flexed her eyebrows at him frantically, trying to get him to tone down his voice as Chichiri worked intently on assembling the multi-dimensional message cube. "I did it to myself, Fang-Boy!" she whispered urgently. "Just got bored with hanging around…" Tasuki scowled at her. "Yeah, like I haven't heard that bullshit story before… I didn't buy it from her then, and I ain't buyin' it from you now!" "Hush!" she urged. Chichiri finally fitted the last tile in place, parts of the cube disappearing into unseen dimensions. Suddenly the entire cube vanished, leaving the monk to sigh in relief.

"Well, that's that." he said in satisfaction. "If I know the Doctor, he'll be here five minutes ago." The monk walked over to Roku, peering at her wrists in concern. Suddenly he looked at the ground just in front of her - and glared at the laptop computer and notebook placed just out of her reach. "Those bastards!" he cursed, sounding startlingly like his younger companion. "They just had to twist the knife, didn't they?!"

Roku looked down in sudden embarrassment. "Eheheheheh…" she giggled nervously.

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Meanwhile, five minutes before, as Chichiri had predicted, a strange wheezing, groaning noise filled the air outside the hidden stronghold. A tall rectangular blue box, bearing the sign "Police Call Box - Call Here for Help" materialized out of distant dimensions, taking on solid form with a resounding clanking boom. The doors folded open, and the figure of a medium-height man dressed in Victorian frock coat and cravat stepped out of the box. His features were handsome and aristocratic, while a thick head of wavy, collar-length chestnut hair softened his appearance. He looked around for a moment before being joined by two young women. The younger of the two, Kris, was small, slight, and half-Asian, her figure slim and fragile-looking, belying her tenacious, sarcastic personality. The older of the two, Chiisai, stood about 2 inches taller than the first girl and had short dark wavy hair and an aggressive attitude. The Doctor smiled at them both. "Where are the other two?" he asked. Chiisai sighed in aggravation. "I think that Miyu is still in the Roman bathroom - we're probably gonna hafta pry her outta there!" Kris nodded in agreement. "Yeah, and we'll probably have to pry Aiki out of the butterfly room, too!" The Doctor sighed. "Well, we must get them moving - my presence is required back in the rebel headquarters. The rest of the seishi have their hands full with that disparate group!"

To the first two girls everlasting surprise, their missing companions made a timely appearance, both smiling mistily at the wonders of the Tardis. The taller woman, Aiki, had brown hair cut in a short, wavy pageboy, while the shorter and older of the two, Miyu, had purple-black hair cut in a stylish shag. The Doctor raised a hand to his forehead in farewell. "Be careful!" he warned them. "And stick together until you encounter Houjun again!" He popped back into the Tardis, and soon the police box vanished, groaning its way back through the dimensions.

The four girls looked at one another, then gazed at the stone walls of the stronghold. "Well here we go - Chichiri's Angels!" chortled Chiisai. Aiki and Miyu held their hands over their eyes in disgust.

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Back in the prison cell, Chichiri aimed the sonic screwdriver at Roku's wrist shackles and pushed the switch. After 3 seconds of the high-pitched ringing, the shackles fell open, and Roku pulled her aching arms down, rubbing them briefly while casting a wistful glance at the laptop and notebook. Chichiri followed the direction of her gaze. "No, I'm sorry, we don't have time for that, Roku. We have to get you out of here now. Once you're free, you'll have all the time in the world to work on your play."

"Yeah, I know." she sighed. "It's just kinda hard to leave those behind - the Baron and company did a pretty good job of getting inside my head and makin' me want those damn things so bad…"

Tasuki scowled, then cleared his throat, looking uncomfortable. "They do anythin' else to ya, Roku? Anythin'…" his voice dropped. "… bad?" he whispered. Roku opened her mouth for a smartass retort, but seeing the miserable look on his face, she relented. "Nah, sweetness, I'm fine - they wanted to get into my head, not my pants." She grinned cheekily, trying to cheer him up. "Not everybody finds me as irresistible as you do, ya know!" she teased in a bantering tone. Chichiri smiled at her high spirits. "I do, no da!" he chimed in.

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Skulking around the stronghold's outer walls, Kris suddenly snapped her head up. She met the furious gaze of Chiisai. "Did you feel that?!" she hissed.

"Damn right I did!" snarled the older girl.

"What are you talking about?" asked Aiki. "Is something happening?"

"Yes!" snapped Kris. "Roku is back in action…"

"She's alive?!" interrupted Miyu excitedly. "Are you sure?!"

"She's alive all right." grumped Chiisai. "And back to her usual tricks, that bitch!"

"Playing with our magician again…" spat Kris. "No doubt in my mind - that wench has a death wish the size of Canada!"

Aiki shook her head in exasperation. "That doesn't matter. What matters is that Chichiri and Tasuki have found her in time! Maybe we should just wait out here for them instead of getting ourselves lost in the Baron's stronghold."

Miyu nodded in agreement. "You're right - maybe it would be best if we scouted around out here instead of going inside."

"But then again… maybe you don't have a choice."

The four women snapped their heads up at the cool, mocking masculine voice that sounded behind them. They turned around slowly - only to encounter the interested gaze of ice-blue eyes. Three of the women tensed in dismay - while the fourth let out a long sigh of pleasure.

"Nakago…" breathed Miyu happily.

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Inside the cell, Chichiri examined a thin metallic collar that sat around Roku's neck. He activated the sonic screwdriver again and again, but the collar refused to budge. The magician sighed. "I have the feeling that we've just run into our first insurmountable barrier…"

Tasuki paced around impatiently. "Well, let's at least try to get her the hell away from here!" he groused. Roku nodded her assent to Chichiri, and the three made their way cautiously into the corridor. They moved swiftly and silently through the corridor, Chichiri pleased at Roku's ability to move past two barriers without the collar causing her any problem. However, just as they reached yet another turn in the corridor, a strange light pulsed before their eyes. They tried to move through it, but Roku cried out in pain and fell to her knees. The collar around her neck glowed a vicious red.

"Fuck!!" cursed Tasuki as they dragged her back from the electronic barrier. "How the fuck are we gonna get her outta here??!!" Chichiri shook his head in frustration. "I don't know, I don't know - they have her trapped here like a rat in a cage!" "Or a dog on an electronic leash." Roku joked weakly, tugging at the collar in vain. Suddenly Chichiri looked up, holding up a hand for silence. "Someone's coming!" he hissed, and the three shrank back into the doorway of an unoccupied cell.

Soon they heard soft footsteps approach. A group of about twenty people dressed as wandering musicians rounded the corner before them. Roku tugged at Tasuki's sleeve. "Musicians!" she whispered excitedly. "In here - they must be part of the Resistance!" Tasuki looked at Chichiri, and they exchanged warning glances. "Look, Roku - don't you think it's a little too coincidental that the very people who are fighting the Baron should show up here at this time? It could be a trap!" the bandit warned.

"They're not exactly the ones who are being oppressed by the Baron and his noble cronies." explained Roku. "It's the dancers - the people who live in this country have been forbidden to dance by feudal law, or even to watch dance performances, let alone choreograph them! Some of the musicians are joining up to protest this action against their fellow artists - but you're right - this doesn't mean that every musician is a member of the Resistance…"

"Why are you even involved in this rebellion?" groused the bandit. "You go off, shootin' your mouth off, gettin' kidnapped into custody, givin' ME a goddam heart-attack tryin' to find out what happened to ya for the past week - and you're not even a fuckin' dancer yourself!!

Roku sighed. "Yeah, I'm not a dancer - actually I'm a musician and as you know, a part-time playwright. But if we don't stick together - dancers, musicians, singers and all artists - it's just a matter of time before all our heads roll under this oppressive government!!"

"Wait…" breathed Chichiri, frowning, "Something's not right here…"

They stood in the shadows, listening to the band of musicians as they approached. Suddenly some of the people began to pirouette and twirl, laughing happily at their choreography. Snatches of conversation drifted back to the hidden escapees.

"We really turned in a performance that time!" "Yeah, that stupid Baron, thinking he could get rid of us - all we needed to do was disguise ourselves as musicians, and his idiot laws can't touch us!!" "Did you see the looks on the audience's faces when we started to dance? They were, like, totally shocked!" "Those idiots can never stop us from dancing in this country - not without exiling the musicians, too!!"

Roku ground her teeth in rage. "Those assholes!" she hissed. "What the hell do they think they're doing, disguising themselves as musicians, then dancing in public??!! Don't they understand what shit they're gonna bring down on the heads of the real musicians??!!"

Before either of the seishi could stop her, she jumped out in front of the small band of false musicians. "Who the fuck do you think you are?!" she raged at them. "And what the fuck do you think you're doing??!!"

Some of the dancer/musicians fell back startled, but then Chichiri and Tasuki stepped out of the shadows, and recognizing the famous seishi, they realized that they were not confronting one of the Baron's agents.

One young man stepped forward proudly. "We are the Resistance. We defy the Powers That Be! They thought they could stop us from dancing - yet we still dance, even under their noses! They will soon find that they cannot suppress the right to dance!"

Roku snarled in contempt, her hands fisting in rage. "You idiots!" she sneered. "What gives you the right to call yourselves the Resistance?! You’re not the Resistance! The Resistance is the people out there who are massing together, forming protests and putting their asses on the line, making sacrifices for what they believe in! You’re the chickenshit-hiding-out -pretending-to-be-what-you’re-not-and-so-eendangering-other-artists-nonconfrontational-self-rationalizing-wimp asses! You’re not doing a damn thing to harm the Powers-That-Be - you’re just promoting your own self-interest!"

A young woman clutching a guitar looked carefully at Roku. "Wait..." she said, reading Roku's energy signature. "I know who you are. You're Roku - the one who wrote that play last week that indicted us all!" She sneered as she took in the electronic collar around Roku's neck. "So this is why you disappeared so suddenly! We thought that you had lost your nerve and slunk away into hiding - but it seems that the Baron managed to get hold of you first!!" Her lip curled. "So are you enjoying the treatment he planned for us dancers?!"

Roku glared back at the young woman. "Yeah, I'm the playwright you're talkin' about. But just stop a moment and consider why the Baron locked me away. It's because I was trying to get the word out about the injustice of his decree against dancing - and I was trying to get people to join together to rise up against that ruling!!"

A young male dancer snorted in contempt. "It seemed to me that you were calling for people to rise up against us, too!! You had some pretty damning things to say about dancers!"

Roku lost her temper again. "I've got nothin' against dancers - real, unashamed dancers. What I got a problem with is you cheap-shit chicken asses who pretend to be musicians while continuing on your selfish ways. You don't give one flying fuck about your fellow artists - you're perfectly willing to use them as shields between you and the Baron. This is a filthy trick to play on musicians - many of whom are the very people who are fighting alongside the true rebel dancers to get your rights reinstated!" She snarled in disgust. "This bullshit act of your makes me want to spit!!"

Tasuki put his hand up over his eyes. "Way to go, Roku." he breathed. "Real diplomatic. Couldja try ta get a few more people out for your blood while you’re at it?!"

Roku glared at him. "I don’t fucking care. They’re hypocrites - and I’ll shout it from the rooftops till I lose my voice!"

A young man stepped forward angrily. "And you will lose your voice, very soon, you superior bitch! What right do you have to judge us? Look at you now - stripped of your rights and thrown into prison. How do you like going through what we faced?!"

Roku glared at him. "I don’t like it, asshole. That’s the whole point! I foresaw this situation happening - that’s why I started protesting in the first place! I’m on the verge of losing everything - everything that I’ve created and everything that my name stands for. They want to take away my very identity and kill the person people know as Roku. And on what basis did they take this precipitate action? On a simple anonymous complaint, that’s what! Did they even take a careful look at my play to see if it fulfilled the criteria as a dramatic presentation? Hell, no - they can’t be bothered to take the time!"

She broke away from Chichiri’s restraining arm and strode up to the angry group of dancers. "I have every right to shout warnings in your face, because now I have the actual experience of what will happen if you continue on this stupid, destructive course! Before I was imprisoned, I was speaking from conjecture, but now I KNOW!! Do you think that there’s a tribunal or group of judges that cares about the judgment that this government passes? Hell, no! Do you think that you’ll get a chance to protest this decision or stand up and defend your case? You’re fucking NUTS!! These aren’t fellow artists you’re dealing with - I don’t know if they used to be, but I’ll tell you what they are now - a bunch of money-grubbing pencil-pushers who don’t give a damn about anything except their bottom line. They’ll just exile every one of you that gets a complaint placed against him, count the number of complaints, and then decide to exile ALL of the musicians just to save themselves time and trouble!"

A young woman stepped forward and confronted Roku. "If you hate them so much, why don’t you just exile yourself? Why don’t you just leave, like you advise us to do?"

Roku closed her eyes. "It may come to that... if they don’t execute me first…" She swallowed, finally achieving a softer tone. "But I don’t want to leave, because no matter how badly they’re warping this country, it’s still the place where I was born as an artist, and it’s still the place where the people I love live." She opened her eyes and turned a sad, loving gaze on her seishi friends.

Roku looked back at the young woman. "Don't you see? I don’t want anybody else to go through what I - and you dancers - have gone through. I don’t want the musicians to have to pack their bags and leave everyone they love behind. Yes, I know that that’s probably the ultimate goal of the Powers That Be - to get rid of the musicians, the gay lovers, the people like me with big mouths, and everything else they don’t agree with. But it’s going to take them awhile to get enough power to do that - unless you people go and hand that power to them by justifying their supposedly moral complaints!"

She struggled to lower her voice and assumed a reasoning tone again. "And yes, eventually the Baron and his cronies will realize their stupidity, when they finally make a mockery of this supposedly "free and artistic" country, and end up destroying their own land - and therefore their own interests - completely. But the end result will still be that this land that we love will be destroyed. Yes, we’ll be able to point fingers and blame the idiots who were responsible, but it’s not going to undo the irreparable harm that’s been done - and we’ll ALL end up homeless! Look, that’s why I went out on a limb to try and organize a protest - to stop them now, before things go any farther. And I urged you dancers not to take action that will speed this destruction of our land. I’ll also tell you something else - people are by nature lazy and apathetic and won’t get off their dead asses to protest anything on moral grounds. You probably have a ton of dance fans out there - people who come to this country specifically to watch you dance. Why should they do anything to join our cause, if you keep giving them what they want, except under disguise as musicians? The only way you’re going to get your dance fans to organize a political complaint is if they know they won’t get their dance any other way!!"

Another young dancer looked up, his features dark with resentment. "What if we don’t want to be the sacrificial lambs in this battle, the people forced into exile as symbols of oppression? What if all we want is to be left to dance in peace? We don’t have to let you use us as political martyrs!"

Roku took a deep breath, but Chichiri stepped in, turning a long quiet look on the boy. "No, you’re right - you don’t have to be an activist at all, no da. You can just sit back and let the rest of us fight the good fight for you. But let me tell you something I've learned through my years about fighting the good fight - it doesn’t guarantee us victory. In fact, the fewer people we have fighting, the more likely we are to lose. Higher moral ground doesn’t guarantee us victory at all."

Roku placed a hand on his arm gratefully, then turned and looked at Tasuki. "I have to tell you people this, though... as unwilling as you are to make the effort necessary to fight this maybe hopeless battle - it makes me wonder how we ever encountered each other in this particular region of the ethernet world in the first place. How can you sustain any interest in the Suzaku shichiseishi - and yet flee from a sacrifice that isn’t even a tenth as large as the ones they made for the sake of Konan?"

A woman of mature years flushed in anger. "Don’t be stupid - that’s not real! It didn’t happen in our world!!"

Tasuki leaped forward in anger, but Chichiri blocked him and held him back. Roku went back and stood between the two seishi. "Well, I guess that’s the difference between you and me," she said softly. "To me, the Suzaku shichiseishi - and their moral values - are every bit aas real as I am."

There was a low murmuring of amusement from some of the dancers, snickered comments of "delusional," "needs help," and "fantasy life." But suddenly a young woman of college age stepped forward. "You're right." she said in a low intense voice. "They're real to me, too!" She looked down in embarrassment. "I guess I just panicked when I thought I'd lose everything I'd worked so hard to achieve. I guess I forgot for a little while what the bigger picture was." Chichiri smiled at the guilty expression on the girl's face. "Don't be ashamed." he said softly. "Any one of us can make a mistake - it takes courage to admit it, and strength to go back and fix it. Arigato, na no da." She raised her eyes to his compassionate face and smiled tremulously.

More dancers stepped forward, some removing their musician's uniforms, others trying tentative notes on the unfamiliar musical instruments. One young man in his twenties hung back. "I'm sorry," he muttered. "But I don't have time for this. I just got a new job, and I'm getting married in 6 months - I don't have time to join your cause." Tasuki curled a lip in contempt. "We ain't expectin' everyone to join in the fightin'. But are ya gonna help us or harm us? Are ya gonna keep dancin' while actin' like you're a musician?!" The young man looked down. "You don't understand - I need to do this. I need to express myself, or else the tensions of everyday life will make me explode!" "Oh!!" said Tasuki with fake understanding. "I get it - you don't have time to help with the least little thing here - but you still have time to make up new dance steps!"

The young man looked away from the anger on the redhead's face. "Look," he said. "I have to look after myself. It's a harsh world out here, and everybody has a "Me First" attitude - I'm no different from anybody else. If anything, I'm grateful that you guys are fighting for us, and I'll be thinking about you…" The hot-tempered bandit lost it. "Why don’t you just get out?" he snarled. "If you’re not going to help, then why don’t you just leave?!" The young man flinched back from his anger, while Chichiri placed a placating hand on Tasuki's arm. The monk looked at the young man. "Thank you for your good wishes," he said. "But Tasuki's right - you should leave. This place is far too dangerous for you now."

Suddenly the magician looked up sharply. "Someone’s coming." he warned, his voice low and urgent. The disguised dancers milled around in chaos, some breaking and running, while some of the converts stood resolute but confused, unsure of how to put up the best fight. Roku met Chichiri's eye, then turned to all of the musicians. "Get out of here!" she hissed. "Run now, before they know that you're here!"

The first young woman stared at her. "But what about you?!" Roku tugged at her electronic collar. "I can't go anywhere - and it's me they're coming for, anyway!" She shoved at the girl and a few others. "There's no point in staying - you'll only get cut off like me! Get out there and start working from the outside - that's where you'll do the most good! Listen, you know my name, so you know where my home is - go there and you'll find some electronic arrows. It's a start, anyway." The dancers stared at her and the seishi for a moment, then looked out into the distance, realizing their danger in lingering. A tall young man looked at his companions. "Let’s go." he said tersely, and they melted back into the shadows.

Chichiri signaled Tasuki and Roku to run back to the cell, to cover the tracks of the innocent dancers. He quickly pulled the door shut after them, locking it with the sonic screwdriver. The three friends stood tense, listening for the sound of hostile approach. In a very short while, they began to hear rhythmic marching in the distance.

Chichiri looked up, his eye narrowing in concentration. "Get ready..." he breathed.

 

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Author's Note: (9-25-02) GET OUT OF JAIL - GET OUT OF JAIL FREE - DO NOT PASS GO, DO NOT COLLECT $200!!

Well, I’m baaaaaaccccckkk! And as vociferous as ever, as you can see. And congratulations to you, for making it through a surfeit of melodrama!

Sorry to leave you with a cliffhanger - seems to be a bad habit with me lately!! We have only one more chapter to go in this odd little fic - and that will be posted when I get back from conference, second week in October. (More on that later)

So what's the point of this odd little fic? Why, it's a reward to all of you, my faithful friends - it's a sneak preview of a story that is now entitled "Hidden Paths on a Cloud-Cast Night." Yes, the "White Stones" sequel finally has a name! What elements of this fic will you see in that particular story? Look and see!

Makaze (translation "Devil Wind") - Tasuki's kick-ass black stallion. He will play a much larger role in "Hidden Paths" - no, he doesn't talk or anything (I'm not doing Disney here!), but he's one helluva horse, as you'll see! After all, he has to be strong enough to survive Tasuki - and if you remember from the TV series and from OVA 2, Tasuki's horses almost always ended up dead!

Veiled and turbaned men (verrrrrrryyy sexy!!)

Transdimensional message cubes ^ ~

Big Evil that crosses dimensions and worlds

 

What won't you see in "Hidden Paths"? The cast of "Casting Stones," that’s what! Especially not the Director! (Readers sigh in relief tinged with skepticism) I swear it, really I do!! Scout's Honor!!

Well, I'm off to San Diego for a big conference on yucky infectious diseases, followed by a family vacation through EVERY FREAKIN' amusement park in Southern California!! Gahhhhhhh!!! Don't get me wrong - I love roller coasters (ya think??!!) but I suspect that this will be a bit too much even for me. Not for my Tasuki, though - he and the Sequel can't get enough of them. So hopefully I will return intact, with all body parts in their proper orientation, by the second week in October. See y'all then!!

Ja ne!!

Roku-chan

 

 

Disclaimer: The characters from Fushigi Yuugi are the creations and property of Yuu Watase and related enterprises. I do not own them and do not make any profit from this fiction except for my own enjoyment in spending time with them.

Definitions:

auto-da-fe: the huge pyres upon which the invading Spaniards burned thousands of native Americans, primarily the Aztecs in Mexico, for the purpose of eliminating their "pagan" beliefs and establishing Christianity in the New World.

Kisama!: Japanese - extremely rude form of personal address, meaning "You son of a bitch!"

Baka onna: Stupid woman

 

 

Chapter 2. Last Words

 

The tramp of booted feet approached the cell, the rhythmic pulse of the beat echoing in her head, feeding her rising tension. Roku turned to her companions impulsively. "Maybe you guys should get out, before they know you're here. Maybe you should hide, then come back for me later." "Fuck that!!" snarled Tasuki. "I wanna see those fuckers face-to-face!!" Chichiri nodded at Roku. "We're not in any tangible danger here, as far as I can tell, Roku. You see, our existence is not dependent on this world of the ethernet, as yours is." "True…" muttered Roku. "But I have a bad feeling about this, for some reason." "Too late!" hissed Chichiri, as the booted footsteps stopped outside the cell door.

The keys jangled in the lock, and the handle began to turn. Tasuki and Chichiri took up positions flanking Roku, pulling off their head scarves and flinging back their cloaks to place their hands on their sword hilts. The door swung open slowly, creaking eerily on its hinges. Roku realized that she was holding her breath. Suddenly, four females were thrust roughly into the cell, making Roku release her breath in a surprised burst. "Kris, Chiisai!" she cried out. "And Miyu and Aiki - what are you doing here?!!"

"Visiting you, what else?" intoned the same cool voice as before.

Tasuki bristled with rage. "Nakago, you bastard!!" he snarled. "What the fuck are you doin' here?!"

Nakago turned an amused glance towards the infuriated seishi. "Why, I might ask you the same thing - if I didn't already know the answer. You minions of Suzaku are always so painfully obvious…"

Tasuki started forward angrily, but Roku held him back. "It's alright, Tasuki." she soothed. "He's been here all week." She turned a cold glance on the Shogun of Kutou. "It seems that our dear friend here has been hired by the Baron to provide some military muscle for the enforcement of his new policies."

Meanwhile, the four women were clustering around Roku excitedly. Her younger sister Chiisai affected a nonchalant attitude. "Long time, no see, wench," she remarked casually. "Been keepin' busy?"

Roku grinned at her cheekily. "Yeah - the boys here have been providing me with beaucoup amusement!"

Chiisai suddenly snarled at her sister, Kris coming up beside her with fists clenched. "Hands off the Sorcerer, wench, if you wanna live to see another birthday!!"

Roku laughed in pure amusement, her first unrestrained laugh in a week, while Chichiri sighedwearily.

Nakago shook his head. "The rabidity of that fan base never ceases to astound me," he remarked. "I can't see the attraction myself…" Chichiri sent him an equally mocking glance. "You can't imagine how relieved I am to hear that, oh mighty shogun. I have no desire to add you to my list of admirers!" Nakago sent an appreciative glance at the mage. "Perhaps I've underestimated you yet again, Sorcerer of Suzaku. You appear a worthy opponent for me… however, not nearly as … amusing… as Tamahome."

Chiisai shuddered and whispered to Miyu. "Thank God Tama is safe back in our world, working with Miaka to organize protests and petitions!"

"Delightful as it is to engage in intellectual... intercourse with all of you," Nakago continued in his deadpan voice, "I must inform you that there are others who wish to speak with you. They should be arriving just about... now."

No sooner had the words left his mouth than the door began to creak open again. Nakago’s men moved away from the door to take up strategic positions throughout the cell, carefully covering the captives and paying special mind to the Suzaku seishi. The door swung open to reveal men and women dressed in the elaborate silk clothing of the nobility. They were accompanied by several of their own feudal guardsmen.

"Oh, good." muttered Roku sarcastically in a phony upper-class accent as the cell became even more crowded. "This party is just an awful crush - means that it’s a success, right?"

A medium height, weak-chinned man stepped forward. He looked around at the seishi and the rebel girls, then focused on the original captive.

"So!" he snapped, trying to sound cold and authoritative. "Once again, you have tried to flout the laws of this land - a land to which I so graciously granted you access. Your actions in defying the government of this country have earned you our strictest punishment - silencing, execution, and the erasure of your name and identity from this land forever!"

Roku turned a contemptuous look upon him. "And the horse you rode in on, Baron." she taunted in reply.

The Baron flushed in anger. "You dare to defy me still! You ungrateful wrtech! Haven’t I given you and all your fellow artists the perfect land in which to flourish? I and my fellow nobles slaved to make this land for you - a place in which you artists could meet, create, and communicate with one another, letting your ideas flow freely. And this is the thanks we receive - open rebellion!!"

Aiki spoke up with her usual diplomacy. "We do appreciate what you have created here, Baron. We’re merely trying to let our voices be heard against this startling change in policy - the exile of the dancers!"

The Baron looked away, suddenly shift-eyed. "This is the land I and my fellow nobles created. We have the right to exclude whomever we choose. In any case, those dancers were a morally suspect group to begin with. We are a freer, purer society without them!"

"Spoken like a true autocrat." sneered Roku. "If you felt dancers were such a corrupt group, why did you ever invite them here in the first place? You promised them, and all of us, a home in which their imaginations could run free and unrestricted. What happened to suddenly make you change your mind?!"

"I owe you no explanations!" sputtered the Baron... but his eyes shifted to a dark figure standing concealed in the shadows.

Roku followed his gaze. "So there you are." she spoke softly. "Are you ready to come out of the shadows yet?"

The figure moved forward only slightly - but confidence and arrogance were apparent in even his slightest motion. His features were still obscured by the shadows, but the rebels could see that he wore a sober black suit reminiscent of those worn by preachers or missionaries.

He began to speak in a self-righteous, whining tone. "I represent the parents of the poor innocent children who were exposed so shockingly to the adult nature of the dances performed in this country! While passing briefly through this land, these afflicted innocents were terribly traumatized by witnessing such overt sexuality displayed by the shameless dancers! Such activities cannot be permitted in a land that is open to public access!"

"Open to public access, huh?" Kris retorted, incensed. "All dance performances were confined to the Opera House, did you know? The exact location of the Opera House was not even displayed on the initial map of this land! And once there, any person who wished to see a dance performance had to assert that he or she was of the proper age before being allowed admittance! How can you say that children were accidentally exposed to adult material??!!"

"Nevertheless, these parents are quite right in their concern about the rampant immorality in this land and its accessibility to sensitive youths!" The shadowed figure drew himself up. "We have a duty to promote family values and discourage such sinful displays!"

Roku surged forward, trying to get a clear look at the man. "I don’t believe you for a moment!" she spat at the dark-suited figure. "You don’t represent concerned parents worried about the effects of dance performances on their underage children!! No concerned parent would allow their child to wander unsupervised through a foreign country in the first place!! At best, you represent neglectful losers eager to pin their own parental failings on an innocent third party..." her eyes narrowed in suspicion, "but I don’t really believe that, either. I think that you’re very aware of the freedoms once enjoyed by the citizens of this country and the precautions the Baron took to prevent children from seeing inappropriate artistic material... and that you came here deliberately to try and put a stop to the freedom of expression in this land!!"

Roku moved towards the enigmatic figure, her fists clenched. The guards lowered their spears before her, blocking her path. She leaned over the crossed wooden shafts, straining yet again for a clearer view of the black-suited stranger. "Who are you, really?!" she demanded. "You’re obviously someone who gets off on trying to control others - someone who hides behind a shield of morality while trying to impose your fascist views on the world!! Are you a member of the Radical Right? - the people who try to promote their "one true religion," whatever it might be, by pretending to embrace family values, all the while longing for the good old days of the auto-da-fe?!" She lowered her voice to whisper to herself. "If so, then you’re probably too smart to reveal yourself to me." Roku raised her voice again. "You may refuse to show who you really are - and God knows that that fool of a Baron is perfectly willing to let you hide behind him!! - " she glared at the weak-chinned noble, "but I can tell one thing about you for certain - you’re not what you pretend to be. You’re no concerned taxpayer, nor even a real visitor to this land - you’re nothing but a goddamned invader - a liar and a cheat!!"

Chichiri moved up next to the rebel leader, who was trembling with rage. "She’s right - you are not what you appear to be." His voice was cold, commanding. "Show yourself, if you have the courage. If you have nothing to hide, then let us see your true face!!"

The figure in the shadows raised a hand to its face... then began to shake with laughter, cold and mocking. Tasuki’s head snapped up as he recognized the bitterly familiar tones. "You bastard!!" he cursed. "What will it take to keep you dead?!!"

The figure stepped out of the shadows, his long silvery-grey hair tumbling down his back, his snakelike eyes gleaming with cruel amusement. "More than any of your pathetic powers, Suzaku no Seishi..." he mockingly replied to Tasuki’s challenge.

Roku hung her head in shame. "Sorry..." she mumbled. "Best I could come up with on short notice..." No one paid her any heed.

"Tenkou!!" gasped the rebel girls. "You’re dead!!" cried Chiisai. "The Four Gods destroyed you - I saw it with my own eyes!!"

The snakelike gaze turned upon the small woman. "Ah, but I have been reborn... and am acting as legal counsel for various vested interests here." he gloated triumphantly.

Kris turned impulsively to the Baron. "You see? Roku was right!! He’s no concerned parent - he’s nothing but a power-mad demi-god!! You don’t have to listen to him, Baron! You can bring back the dancers - these complaints against them are nothing but fakes!!"

The Baron turned his face away. "It makes no difference..." he mumbled. "He still represents certain vested interests in this country... and they have threatened to withdraw their funding if I don’t follow their instructions..."

Aiki spoke up, incensed beyond her normal control. "Oh, do you mean some of those moral contributors who put up annoying billboards all over this land?! - some of which advertise phony cures for things such as erectile dysfunction??!! Billboards which sit in plain sight of any casual visitor to this land - man, woman, or child?!"

The Baron refused to meet her challenging gaze. "He who pays... says..." he muttered.

Roku slammed her body against the crossed spears deliberately, making them clatter loudly. "So that’s how it really is, isn’t it?!" she accused. "Just as I said - you’ll sell us all out for the sake of the almighty dollar!"

The Baron finally lost his temper. "Shut up, you stupid woman!! Don’t you understand what I’m trying to do?! I’m trying to save the rest of you here in this country - the musicians, the playwrights, all of the other artists! If I was forced to exile the dancers to keep this country solvent, then that was a sacrifice that I was willing to make for the sake of all of the rest of you!!! I am sick of the abuse I’ve been receiving from you ungrateful rebels!! What more do you expect from me??!!"

Roku met his gaze unflinchingly. "I expected you to stand up for all of us here, dancers, musicians, whoever. We’ve been good citizens, many of us paying more taxes than necessary to keep this place running, trying to be patient when the infrastructure kept breaking down in the name of improved services. If you expected loyalty from us, we expected no less from you, Baron. Yet you turned against a good portion of your citizenry as soon as duress was applied - and now you whimper in disbelief when we rise up in anger. You are the disloyal one, Baron - if you had had the courage to stand by us, we all could have stood together against any outside threat. But now we have been weakened by becoming a house divided - and if you believe for one moment that Tenkou and his clients will be satisfied with the banishment of only the dancers - then you’re an even bigger fool than I thought!!"

The Baron flushed at her words, his shame feeding his anger. "I have had enough of your annoying rants! You understand nothing about what it takes to run this country - you refuse to listen to anything other than your own unrealistic ideals!! The fact remains that you have violated the laws against public speeches - and you have brought the consequences down upon your own head!!"

Roku glared back defiantly, Tasuki and Chichiri moving once again to stand beside her. Suddenly, Tenkou stepped forward, a cruel smile playing about his thin lips.

"I have a better idea, Baron. Why make her a martyr to her fanatical cause? Why not let all combatants withdraw peacefully from the lists?" He turned his snakelike gaze on Roku. "I have an offer for you, Rebel Leader. Recant your views and withdraw now... and we will allow you and your friends to leave in peace - provided, that is, that I have your word of honor that you will no longer incite rebellion against the Baron."

"Interesting offer..." Roku sneered. "Give me a moment to think it over - oh, the moment’s up! No thanks, asshole!!"

The snakelike eyes glittered in anger for an instant before narrowing again in appreciative amusement. "Perhaps I can sweeten the deal for you. We have no real need for a public recantation on your part - you really only need disappear. After all, you’ve already said your piece and been imprisoned for airing your views - who could ask for more from any rebel? All you need to do now is focus on your own plays and projects and let this matter drop - and in return, we will not seek any further judgment against you. A fair deal, wouldn’t you agree, Roku-sama?" The honorary was thick with sarcasm.

Tasuki turned his face towards Roku in hope, but the woman looked past him, glaring into Tenkou’s eyes. "Let me spell it out for you, Tenkou... B-I-T-E...M-E. Can I make it any clearer to you?!"

Tenkou sneered back at her. "Do not be so hasty, foolish woman. Let me remind you of all that is at stake here..." He withdrew his hands from his coat and held them out towards her, palms up. The first objects that caught her eye were eight moonstones placed in the pattern of an arrow, their smooth surfaces reflecting the dim torchlight in the cell. Tasuki drew in his breath sharply, but Roku’s attention was already on the other objects in Tenkou’s grasp. A miniature replica of the tessen lay on its side, next to a tiny glass snowglobe depicting an ornate bridge set in a Japanese garden. Next to the globe stood a miniature puppet stage, curtains drawn... and finally, the frail, silvery fluff of a dandelion gone to seed. The girls gasped and choked at the sight of the objects... but Roku stood silently, biting her lip and blinking back tears.

Tenkou smiled in satisfaction at her reaction. He drew near to her guards, holding the objects just out of her reach. His voice purred in seductive persuasiveness. "Your battle is over, the cause already lost..." he murmured in mock sympathy. "Why sacrifice these precious things for no apparent reason? Go ahead, take them... no one will try to stop you. They’re yours, after all - you have the right to take what’s yours and depart this prison. No one will ever blame you for cutting your losses now..."

Roku stepped back, raking her fingers through her hair, grimacing in pain... then stepped forward, towards the objects in Tenkou’s hand. She reached out a tentative hand, as Tasuki held his breath in hope... then snatched her hand back, biting her lip fiercely. "I can’t..." she muttered. "I won’t!" She lifted her face to meet Tenkou's gaze, her eyes brimming with tears of rage. "Kisama!" she cursed. "I won’t allow you to use my creations as hostages, you bastard!! My final answer is... Go pound salt, asshole!!"

Tenkou hissed in rage... but then caught sight of Tasuki, tearing at his own hair in frustration. His eyes took on a calculating light.

"Perhaps you need a little more time to think over your answer, Madam Rebel. Perhaps your friends can talk some sense into you - one can only hope that someone in your intimate circle can see that voluntary silence is ever so much more preferable than the forced silence... of the grave."

With that threat, he grasped the delicate representations of Roku's work and shoved them roughly back into his coat. Roku forced herself not to flinch. Tenkou then looked over at the Baron and signaled the nobles and their guardsmen towards the door. "We will grant you a brief period of privacy with your friends to discuss our generous offer - or to make your final farewells, whichever you choose. We shall be back shortly, to set you free... one way or another." Smirking cruelly, the demon-god looked over at Nakago, gesturing to him to leave the cell with his mercenaries. Nakago turned to leave but was brought up short by a voice barking his name. He looked up into Chichiri’s grim eye.

"Nakago!" Chichiri repeated. "Tell me your part in this! Are you truly a follower of Tenkou once again?"

The demon-god smiled at Chichiri’s naive question... but the shogun answered in a cool, bored voice. "I follow no one." he intoned. "Nothing but my own whims..."

"So why are you here?" demanded the Suzaku magician.

The tall blond smirked at the angry monk. "Why, I just enjoy whipping people, that’s all. And I must tell you..." he continued, stroking the leather coil at his hip. "I will enjoy punishing this particular woman most of all..." Tasuki surged forward in rage and was thrown back by Nakago’s guards. Roku rushed to his side to make sure that he was all right - but not before shooting a particularly emphatic and rude gesture in Nakago’s direction. The shogun smirked in triumph, then accompanied Tenkou out of the cell, the last of his mercenaries backing out carefully behind him.

 

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The rebel girls rushed up to Roku as she pulled Tasuki to his feet.

"Roku, you're not serious about going through with this!! Roku, you have to take the offer - you've done enough!! Roku, think about the destruction of all of your work!!" Their words tumbled on top of one another, forming a confusing cacophony of pleas and demands.

The rebel leader held her hands up to her head. "Enough already!!" she snarled. The room suddenly quieted, Tasuki staring intently into her face. Roku met his gaze… then turned and faced Chichiri. "I have to go through with this." she murmured softly to the magician, her words a gentle plea for understanding. "If I back out now, then everything I've fought for up until this point will have no meaning at all." She turned her gaze on Tasuki again. "You understand that, don't you?"

The red-haired seishi turned his back on her in anger, but Chichiri met her gaze sadly and nodded. The girls surged forward. "What about us?!" demanded Kris. "Don't you care what we think?!"

Roku smiled at them. "All of you know me in our 'real' world." she reminded them. "You're not going to lose me to an electronic execution - only they will…" she nodded at her seishi friends. "They and the other friends I've made in this ethernet land. That's why I need to make sure they understand…"

"Well, I don't!!!" snarled Tasuki, turning to face her, his features creased in rage. "You've said some stupid things before - but this is the most fuckin' idiotic bullshit statement I've ever heard from you!! You have no goddam idea of what you're doin’ - and I ain't goin' along with this shit, you hear me??!!"

Roku's eyes were suddenly filled with pain at his pain. She reached out to take his arm, but he pulled away from her angrily, turning his back on her once again. Looking back at the rest of her friends, she whispered, "Could you... leave us alone for a few minutes?" They sighed in frustration, but nodded and left the cell; Kris, Miyu, Aiki and Chiisai remaining near the door, while Chichiri wandered down the corridor to watch for the return of Tenkou, the Baron, and his cohorts.

Roku walked around Tasuki until she stood in front of him, but he still refused to meet her gaze, glaring furiously at the ground. She decided to forego touching him, knowing that he would just pull away again. "Tasuki..." she murmured gently. "You have every right to be angry with me... maybe even hate me a little right now..."

"Damn right, I hate you!" he snarled at the floor. "You’re a loud-mouthed, bossy, bitchy, over-round, under-tall, insanely stubborn, recklessly confrontational, opinionated, moralistic pain-in-the-ass!!" He lifted his face at last and fixed her with a furious, tear-filled gaze. "And I don’t know how I’m gonna go on without you!!" His voice broke on a sob.

His tears finally broke down her own dam of self-control, and she flung herself into his arms, letting her tears fall freely. "No, don’t do this!" she begged, sobbing. "You’re the one person who can take away my resolve - so you can’t do this to me, Tasuki! You have to stand by me, otherwise I won’t have the strength to go through with it!"

He pushed her back so that he could stare into her face. "What if I don’t wanna stand by you on this?!! It’s not fair!! It’s not even your own fuckin’ fight right now!! Why not leave it to the people whose asses really are on the line?!! Why does it hafta be you who sticks your neck out?!! Why can’t you just recant and then go off and plan to fight some other time?!"

Roku met his desperate gaze. "Did you do that? Did you and Chichiri and Mitsukake and Hotohori run away and hide when Suzaku was sealed away, and Kutou was attacking Konan? Did you leave the people of Konan to their own fates while you hid out in the mountains and made plans to strike back some other time?"

Tasuki pushed away from her and raked his hands through his hair in frustration as he paced around the cell. "That was different! We were warriors, goddammit - celestial warriors! It was our job to fight!! Your job is to create worlds - not destroy yourself in a hopeless cause!!"

Her voice was very quiet. "Maybe I want to be a warrior, too. Maybe I think that if I run away, I’ll be as big a hypocrite as those dancers I was berating just before. I know in my heart that if I chicken out now, then I don’t deserve to call myself your friend. Maybe I want to be worthy of you and Chichiri and all the rest of the Suzaku family..." Her voice dropped even lower. "Do you think that I’m not scared? Do you think that I’m not shaking here, afraid of losing everything I’ve worked so hard to gain? Have you any idea of how tempting it is to accept that carrot they’ve held out to me? Yes, I’ve tried to get the message out, yes, I’ve been imprisoned and punished, so no one could say that I didn’t fight the good fight if I just shut up now and went away... no one except me, that is. I would always know that I could have done more... and in the end, the person whose opinion of my character matters the most - is me."

Tasuki stopped and closed his eyes, letting tears escape him. "You promised me..." he said softly, brokenly. "You promised me that I’d never hafta find out how to make it without you..."

Roku started to cry again, softly. "I know... I know I did, my sweet boy, and I’m sorry that things turned out like this. I never meant to leave you - I never expected things to go this wrong. But there is one promise I’ll make to you right now - a promise that I swear to keep, no matter what - and that is that I will always come back to you. I may not be who I am now, but you’ll know me when we meet up again."

"But what about everything we’ve gone through together up until now? What’s gonna happen to that bridge you and Chichiri were building? What’s gonna happen to us and our play?!"

She put her hand up over her eyes and grimaced in pain. "I don’t know, I don’t know... I don’t know how I’m gonna save those two projects if I’m executed here today. All I know is that I can’t let the Tenkou and the Baron use them against me as hostages..."

Tasuki shook his head, his mouth turning down in bitterness. "So you’re gonna let 'em kill you. You’re gonna let 'em cut out your tongue and take away your identity and exile your remains outside of this country, so that no one will ever hear from Roku again. And somehow you think that this will be a victory for you. I just don’t get how you can think that!!"

She took his face in her hands. "Because in the end, I’ll still have my soul. The Baron and his fellow nobles may have sold theirs to the highest bidder - but I’ll still have mine intact. And in a much, much bigger world than this one - that’s what will count in the end." Roku looked up as she heard footsteps approaching... then sighed in relief as they continued on their way past her cell. She took her courage in both hands and looked up into the beautiful amber eyes of the man who meant so much to her. "I don’t have much time left, Tasuki..." she whispered. "But I don’t want to go without doing one thing first. Could you hold me one last time?"

For a moment, he was confused... but then he looked down into her face tilted up to his, her eyes soft with love and grief and regret, and he finally understood. He placed his arms around her gently, holding her as if she were a fragile creature, a crystal dream... instead of the solid sturdy woman who had stood beside him for so long as his friend. He lifted his hands through her hair, letting the long cascading strands flow softly between his fingers like streaming silk, then cupped her face in his hands. He brought his face down to hers, watching her eyes drift half-closed as he gently bumped his sharp nose against her snub one. They remained like that, gently rubbing noses, so close that they breathed each other’s breath. He knew that they had very little time, but he didn’t wanted to rush this, wanting to savor every last second of their first and last time together in this way.

Finally he began to whisper, the movement of his lips causing them to brush against hers. "Baka onna..." he breathed, cursing her stubbornness, his soft, gentle tones turning the insult into a caress. "Baka onna, baka onna..." "Hai..." she replied breathlessly, her heart pounding as she felt the satin softness of his lips against hers. She twined her own fingers through the thick fiery silk of his hair, the brilliant hair that had caught her attention and her heart from the first time she saw him. "Hai..." she agreed, yielding to him, not fighting him, not fighting him ever again.

"Baka onna..." he murmured against her lips one last time - then caught her lips with his and took possession of her. Tentatively, they tasted one another, gently touching tongues until he finally took control, entering her and pushing her back hungrily. She felt her bones melt away, and she knew that she would have fallen had his arms not slipped around her again, holding her firmly against his body. Desire, sweet and searing at the same time, swept through her like a wildfire, burning down all her walls and defenses. She let drop all her shields, her smart sassiness and facade of unfaltering self-control, and offered herself to him openly - her real self, the unveiled, vulnerable center of her being.

He sensed it immediately, recognizing her surrender the moment it happened - and almost broke their kiss in shock. Her unexpected capitulation sparked the low-level desire that had always hummed unacknowledged between them, fanning it into a raging conflagration of passion. He never expected this of her!! If he ever briefly imagined what it would be like to be with her like this, he pictured her wrestling for control as she did in her everyday life. He never expected her to be like this in his arms - soft, soft, so soft and yielding, openly giving him everything that she was, holding nothing back. Her willingness to bare her soul to him made him shudder with emotion, made him pull her closer into himself, his body coming alive against her. Her heart raced at the realization of his intense desire, and she moaned her answering passion into his mouth, trying to give yet more of herself to him. The more she surrendered, the fiercer grew his need to conquer her utterly. He became yet more aggressive, stroking her tongue with his and grinding his body against her. She responded with equal passion, sliding one hand from his hair to the curve of his lower spine, encouraging him with tender but urgent caresses.

They felt the world drop away from them, drifting away to make room for a place outside of space and time in which they met and melded together, mind and body and soul. They felt their tears mingling and didn’t know whether their desire was driven by grief - or their grief intensified by desire. They only knew that the ultimate source of their passion was the love that flowed between them - a special kind of love that could only spring up between long-time friends… a love would live on long after this world died.

Meanwhile, back in the ethernet world outside the door, Kris rose up on her toes to peek into the room - then fell back in shock. "Oh, dear Suzaku!!!" she gasped, her face flushing red in embarrassment. The other three girls pushed her out of the way, crowding around the window to see what had startled her so badly. The entwined couple in the cell continued in their passionate embrace, oblivious to their stunned audience.

Chiisai turned to her companions, grinning. "Look who’s being a baaaad girl!" she chortled gleefully.

Miyu slid down the wall, her normally pale skin turning even whiter. "What is she thinking??!!" she sputtered. "She’s an adult - she has responsibilities, people who look up to her!! How can she even think of doing something like that?! Doesn’t she understand the words ‘Positive Role Model’?!!"

Aiki took another look into the cell. "She doesn’t appear to understand the words ‘Shameless Hussy,’ either." she remarked dryly.

Chiisai stood up for her sister for once. "Aw, hell, let ‘er have her fun - this is better than last words, any day!"

 

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Shortly thereafter, Chichiri approached the girls, a grim look on his face. "They're coming back… it's time." he growled. Chiisai began pounding on the door to Roku's cell. "Oh, gee!" she yelled loudly. "Incoming assholes… everybody o-kayyyyy in there??!!" Chichiri frowned at her strange behavior, then shrugged, writing it off as stress over her sister's impending execution.

Inside the cell, Tasuki and Roku broke apart, breathing heavily. They leaned their foreheads together, holding onto their last moment together as friends. Tasuki began rolling his head back and forth in grief and denial. "Won't you…?" he began to plead.

"No." answered Roku softly. "I love you, sweet boy, remember that."

"You're always saying that… but if you truly love me, then won't you even consider…?"

"No." she interrupted firmly. "I love you, but there's no turning back. We've been over this already, Gen-chan - now I need you to be strong for me. The only way they can hurt me now is if they hurt you - so promise me that you won't fight this. Do this for me, please… and hold onto this thought - I'll always come back to you. That's a firm promise - and you know I'm a woman of my word!"

"Yes, you are, damn you!" he cursed, bowing his head in defeat.

"Atta boy, sweetness!" said Roku, pleased, lifting his chin. "If you can still curse me, then you're gonna be all right. Everything's gonna be all right in the end - just trust your old buddy Roku, 'kay?"

Stricken amber eyes met warm brown eyes brimming with affection. He didn't know how she did it, but she had just moved them back into their old, comfortable relationship with seamless ease. He hugged her once more, placing his chin on top of her head and drawing strength from her confidence for the last time.

The door opened, and Chichiri and the girls slipped inside. Chichiri met Roku's gaze. "Ready?" he asked. She nodded firmly, pulling back from Tasuki and forcing a smile.

Tenkou, the Baron and his guard, Nakago and his mercenaries soon crowded into the cell, the mercenaries taking up their former positions covering the seishi and rebel girls. Nakago signaled his men to cover Tasuki and Chichiri with at least three men apiece.

The Baron stepped up to Roku, determined to act the part of the controller of these events. "So!" he enquired coldly, as he had before. "Do you have an answer to our generous offer?"

Roku gazed up at the ceiling, appearing to ponder the question. "Let's see…" she mused. "I'm beginning to run out of colorful colloquialisms to express my point of view. I've already used up "Bite me" and "Pound salt up your ass"… what shall I say now to avoid redundancy? How about variations on a theme - like "Stuff it", "Shove it"… sideways, by the way…" Eat shit and die"…" She sighed in affected indecision. "I dunno - pick the one you like best, it's all the same to me…"

The Baron glared at her unceasing insolence. "It is all the same to you - since the end result will be your death!!"

Roku yawned widely at his threat. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're getting way redundant yourself, ya know."

Tenkou stepped forward, his eyes beginning to gleam at the thought of the torture awaiting her. "So, Rebel Leader, do you have any last requests?"

Roku opened her mouth to suggest some anatomical impossibilities for him to perform - but suddenly her eyes gleamed as a thought occurred to her. She attempted to make her voice trembly and hesitant. "Do you suppose Chichiri and I could have a few last moments alone together?" she asked hopefully.

"All right, I think we've put off this execution long enough!!" Everyone stared in shock at the condemned woman's sister. Chiisai scuffed at the floor in sudden embarrassment. "I just meant - dragging this out is a sort of torture to my dear, suffering sister…"

"No, actually I'm fine with the suspense…" protested Roku.

"No, I think Chiisai is right. Putting this off isn't going to help anything!!" The faces now stared at Kris, the condemned woman's rebel friend. She began to stutter. "I mean, either commute the sentence… or… or…"

"Save it, Kris!" growled Roku. "Some friends you guys turned out to be!"

Chiisai and Kris flushed defensively. "Well, it's not as if we won't still see you in the real world!" complained Kris. "Yeah - and it's your own fault for trying to play with our magician!!" barked Chiisai.

Roku batted her eyes innocently, while Nakago rolled his, and Chichiri held a hand up to his forehead in exasperation.

The Baron signaled to the executioner to step forward. Unlike the brawny cliched type of hulking brute, the Baron's executioner was somewhat slight and clinical in appearance - rather like a dentist. Reminded of root canals, Roku couldn't repress a shudder of dread. The executioner pulled her forward away from her friends, tying her hands behind her back. He then signaled to a guard, who brought forth a tray upon which rested a bundle wrapped in cloth. The bundle was held together with blackened tape. "Oh, sterile techniques!" muttered Roku. "Thank Suzaku for small favors." The executioner took the tray, unwrapping various instruments of torture from the cloth until he finally held a strange clamp-like device. "Looks like a speculum…" mumbled Miyu in an undertone, and all of the women shuddered. "Speculum?" asked Tasuki, frowning. "Believe me, Fang-Boy - you're happier not knowing." advised Chiisai.

The executioner stepped towards Roku, tongue extractor held up, when suddenly Tenkou spoke. "Wait!" Everyone stared at him in surprise. A slow, cruel smile spread across his features. "I'd prefer to do this one myself, if you don't mind." he purred, moving up to Roku and grasping her chin in his hand. "Oh, so you're actually going to come out of the shadows and bloody your own hands for once." sneered Chichiri. "Why not?" asked Tenkou in an amused voice. "One takes one's amusements where one may - and this particular case will afford me great personal satisfaction!" Roku glared and tried to spit at him - but he just squeezed her jaw until her mouth dropped open involuntarily. She refused to flinch or struggle, tilting her chin up and keeping her stance erect. Tenkou leered at her pointless defiance and lifted one clawed hand towards her mouth.

Tasuki turned his face away, his eyes filled with tears of rage, his fangs biting into his lip until he drew blood. The girls covered their eyes and sobbed, but Chichiri stood firm, meeting Roku's gaze and giving her a slight nod. Tenkou brought his hand back, intending to strike swiftly like a snake - when suddenly a whip whistled through the air, wrapping around his wrist, then pulling tight to drag him back. He released Roku involuntarily, and she gasped and choked for breath.

Tenkou hissed in rage and turned to face his attacker - only to encounter ice-blue eyes alight with mockery. Nakago moved forward from the shadows, rapidly furling his whip and pulling Tenkou to his knees. "I think we've seen quite enough for today." he intoned in a cool, bored voice. "You dare!!!" hissed his former master. "You dare defy me, your god?!!" Nakago wrapped his whip around Tenkou's other hand, binding his hands together, then laced the whip around Tenkou's neck. Satisfied with his handiwork, he pulled lightly, bringing the leather line taut. "It seems you didn't hear me the first time." he informed the enraged demon-god in a detached voice. "I follow no one - certainly not a pathetic pretender like you."

Nakago handed the handle of the whip to one of his men, then strode over to Roku and unbound her hands. He signaled to the guards and they stepped aside, releasing Chichiri, Tasuki and the girls. The girls jumped Roku, some sobbing, some slapping at her in relieved anger, while Tasuki stood off to the side, a confused, lost look on his face. Chichiri gazed keenly at some of the Baron's personal guard. "Ah, Kutou soldiers." he murmured. "I thought I recognized some of you." The Baron and other nobles backed away fearfully, not knowing if they were to be attacked next. One guardsman, loyal to the Baron, leaped forward to attack Nakago - but the shogun just turned a cold look on him and blasted him through the wall with a blue surge of ki from the "kokoro" symbol on his forehead. "Idiot." he said flatly. The rest of the Baron's own guard turned and ran from the prison in panic, leaving only the Kutou soldiers in possession of the facility.

"So explain this, Nakago!" snarled Tenkou. "Don't tell me that you've been seduced by that bitch - or her ridiculous ideas of the rights of the people!" Roku shuddered at the thought, while Nakago rolled his eyes. Miyu's eyes, however, suddenly misted over as she fantasized about the gorgeous blond stud standing before her. The gorgeous blond stud in question smirked briefly at Tenkou's confusion. "Hardly," he intoned coolly. "As I told you before, I believe in nothing - except what pleases me at the moment. Yet let me assure you…" he frowned, glancing at the sturdy, short figure of the woman in question, "the thought of 'getting it on' with that human equivalent of an irascible hamster never crossed my mind - not even for one moment. I, you see," he cast a mocking glance at Tasuki and Chichiri, "have higher standards in female pulchritude than those of the minions of Suzaku."

Tasuki took the bait and started forward, clenching his fists - but was interrupted by a peeved female voice. "Hey!!" protested Roku. "I'm not always irascible!!"

"What are you trying to do, talk him into finding you attractive?" muttered Aiki to her friend.

"Ulpp!!" choked Roku, then shut up for once.

Tenkou snarled at his former disciple while pulling at his bonds. "Enlighten me, then, as to the reason for your betrayal!" "I think not." replied the shogun, casting a side glance at Tenkou. He walked up to Roku and placed a hand on her head, tilting her face to one side. "Now hold still…" he instructed, "Unless you want to lose your head after all…" Tasuki moved forward again, snarling, but Chichiri held him back. "Just wait," he murmured to his younger colleague in a reassuring tone.

Nakago narrowed his eyes in concentration, then focused his ki force in a narrow beam on the collar around Roku's neck. She closed her eyes and addressed a brief prayer to whatever gods were listening, feeling the collar begin to heat under the force of the powerful ki. Just when she thought her skin would begin to blister, the collar burst open with a sharp ringing sound and fell at her feet. Nakago stooped swiftly and retrieved the collar, then strode over and fastened it around Tenkou's neck. He pushed the former god to the wall, unwinding his whip from around Tenkou's wrists only to replace it with the shackles that had formerly bound Roku. Satisfied with his handiwork, he turned and fixed the Baron and his nobles with a mocking glance. "Forgive me," he addressed the cowering nobles. "But I must confine you to this cell for the present." Roku, the Suzakyu seishi, rebel girls, and Kutou mercenaries quickly exited her cell to make room for its new tenants.

Nakago pulled the door shut, then smirked in at the enraged demon god and his lackeys. He addressed the Baron in his usual cool tones. "Although I do not expect you to compensate me for the expenses of this day's work, I will expect remuneration for the previous week's services. I will be sending you a bill shortly - see to it that it is paid in a timely manner." His words held a thinly disguised threat. The Baron gulped in fear and nodded.

Tenkou rattled his shackles in rage. "How long do you think you can hold me here?! My powers will return, and then you will pay for your betrayal, Nakago!! Soon you will confess your motives as you scream for mercy at my hands!!"

Nakago smirked once again. "The answer to your first question is, long enough for us to get away. However, as for your second question - I leave my motives for you to ponder and thus amuse yourself in the long hours ahead." He sighed in affected weariness. "Now it is time for us to leave - your pointless rants grow tiresome."

The shogun whirled and strode out of the prison, followed by a ragtag group of rebels, seishi, and mercenaries, leaving the enraged howls of the demon-god to echo uselessly off the thick stone walls.

 

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The oddly assorted group of characters continued on their way out of the stronghold, Chichiri turning back briefly to reinstate the electronic barrier with the sonic screwdriver. Tasuki stumbled along, the intense emotions of recent events combined with violent reversals leaving him in a confused trance state. Chichiri gazed at him briefly in concern, then whistled into the distance. Makaze and Hikari came galloping up from their grazing place in the meadow, their reins flapping against their necks. Makaze came up to Tasuki and nuzzled him, but the fire seishi merely picked up his lead rein while patting him absently. The horses walked docilely beside their two masters, patient with the unaccustomed meandering pace.

Unlike Tasuki, however, the girls soon recovered from their shock and began whispering back and forth while keeping an eye on the erect figure of the blond shogun as he strode at the head of the group.

"Why do you suppose he came through for us?!" whispered Kris incredulously. "He never gave a damn about the fate of the world in general, not even that first time with Tenkou!"

"Yeah…" breathed Chiisai. "That time, he just declined to get involved. What made him get up off his ass this time??!"

Miyu sighed dreamily. "It's because he's really a good person on the inside. Somebody that beautiful can't be all bad…"

The rest of the girls snorted in contempt. Aiki looked over at Roku, wondering about her unaccustomed silence, and caught the woman with a smug smile playing about her lips.

"All right!!" Aiki snarled at her friend. "'Fess up! What have you got to do with Nakago's double-cross - and how long have you known about this?!"

The rebel laughed. "Well, let's just say that Nakkie-poo and I got to know each other a little better in that week that I was imprisoned. We really didn't have anything to do in between threats of whippings, so I just chattered on about my plans for the sequel to my hit play. He seemed pretty intrigued by the plotline - it's going to be a big action-adventure,, you know - much more exciting than its predecessor!"

"So you expect us to believe that he rescued you just because he wants to know what happens in the sequel?!" Miyu frowned in disbelief.

Roku smiled to herself again. "Nooooooo… not exactly. You see, I kinda hinted that there might be a really exciting part in that play for a certain blond babe - a role of a lifetime, so to speak! Of course, if I died, then all my plans would come to nothing, wouldn't they?"

"You wench!!" hissed Kris. "Do you mean that you bribed him with a starring role in the sequel?!!"

"Bribe is such a harsh word. Why don't we just say that I presented him with… possibilities." Roku smirked in triumph at her incensed friends.

The girls remained dissatisfied with Roku's brief explanation of the startling turn of events. Chiisai shook her head as they left the stronghold behind them. "But I don't understand - if you and Nakago planned his betrayal ahead of time, why the big, tearful, passionate good-bye to Tasuki?"

Roku smiled at the memory. "Well, I couldn't be certain that Nakago was going to come through for me, no matter how tempting my offer might be. If he decided to do a triple-cross instead of a double-cross, I wouldn't be standing here talking to you right now. I felt it was best to cover all possible outcomes - and that meant leaving me with a very nice last memory, just in case!!" She flashed the girls a cheeky, unrepentant grin. "Besides, when am I ever again gonna get the chance to play the melodramatic tragic heroine and lock lips with my favorite guy?!!"

"Knowing you, it'll be next week!" groused Kris.

"No, I'm serious!" proclaimed the former tragic heroine. "No more of this for me! I've said my piece, did my time in prison, then came out to rouse the rabble and enlist them in our cause - from now on, I'm working behind the scenes, unacknowledged in the shadows like Ryu and Mou and all the rest of the freedom fighters. Besides, all this M-S activity on my part has gone on almost to the point of nausea!"

"What do you mean, almost?" grumbled Aiki. Her friend shot her a wounded look but became distracted by the sound that began to reverberate around them.

Everyone looked up as a sudden wheezing, groaning noise filled the air, ending in a harsh clanking boom as the blue police box took shape once again. Even Nakago raised one perfect eyebrow in mild astonishment. Shortly thereafter, the hyper, velvet-coated figure of the Doctor emerged from the Tardis, rubbing his hands together excitedly.

"Hullo, hullo!" he called out happily to the rebel group. "Everything is right on course with the rebel forces lined up at the border. However, it looks as if you've already effected the rescue!" He beamed at Roku, then clapped a hand on Chichiri's shoulder. "Excellent work, Houjun!" he congratulated his former protégé.

Chichiri smiled shyly back at his mentor. "Actually, Doctor, I did very little on this occasion. This time, we need to thank Nakago, Shogun of the Imperial Kutou army."

The Doctor turned a swift, keen glance on the blond general. Although Nakago towered over the Doctor by several inches, he seemed to fidget in nervousness at the ancient, timeless stare that was now directed at him. The Doctor suddenly grinned, releasing the shogun from his paralyzing gaze. "Well done, Ayuru." he congratulated. "There may be hope for you yet." Nakago stared back at the Doctor in shock. "Do I know you?" he stammered, his cool self-possession deserting him under the weight of that eternal gaze. The Doctor frowned in concentration, ticking off mental points on his fingers. Finally his brow cleared, and he turned his mystical gaze on Nakago again. "No, not yet…" he replied mysteriously. "But you will…"

The Doctor switched moods with his customary abruptness, practically vibrating with excitement as he waved them towards the Tardis. "Must hurry!" he called out. "Everyone inside! No time to lose - we have to stop the rebel attack and redirect their efforts into something less suicidal!" The group shuffled towards the apparently small box in confusion, Tasuki still in his non-reactive trance state, staring at the ground.

The Doctor peered at the seishi’s bright red hair, then turned to Chichiri with a puzzled frown. "Can that be little Shun'u?" he asked in disbelief. Chichiri nodded, beginning to laugh. "But he's so quiet!!" burst out the Doctor. "What's wrong with him?! He isn't ill, is he?" Chichiri drew the Doctor aside. "He's had a few too many shocks in the last hour," he informed his mentor. "Some of which came directly from her," pointing at Roku. Roku looked away quickly, whistling innocently at the sky. The Doctor sent a reproachful glance in her direction before looking at Tasuki again in concern. "Well, we'll just see what we can do for him in the meantime. Perhaps some time in the butterfly room might set him straight…"

Chichiri raised his own eyebrows. "Well, Doctor, that sounds like a good idea, but you need to understand - Shun'u has never been in the Tardis before, and he's already had successive shocks to his sense of reality…"

"Not to worry!" the Doctor interrupted cheerfully. "Just leave it to the Doctor to effect a cure for what ails my little friend!" Chichiri frowned in concern but gave up the battle, merely crossing his fingers that all would turn out all right in the end.

The girls smiled eagerly in anticipation of another ride in the Tardis, pushing through the door eagerly, but Nakago hung back at the entrance to the phone box. The Doctor smiled at him encouragingly. "Go right inside, Ayuru - trust me, this is an experience you won't want to miss!" The shogun waved at his men to retrieve their horses and find their way home, then shrugged and entered the police box. Roku leaned forward eagerly and was pleased to hear a sudden loud gasp echo in the interior, torn from the throat of the normally cool and collected Seiryuu seishi. Tasuki looked up, suddenly waking from his trance. "Wait one goddam minute here!" he growled. "I ain't fuckin' goin’ where that asshole is, to be pressed up against him in this fuckin' wood crate!!" The Doctor frowned. "I see that your language skills haven't improved any over the years, Shun'u." he rebuked softly. Tasuki looked up at the Doctor, finally taking a good look at the man. "Hey!!" he burst out. "I remember you from somewhere!!" "Yes, yes, yes…" replied the Doctor impatiently, pushing Tasuki into the Tardis. "We can catch up with one another later, once we're all situated…"

Chichiri followed quickly after Tasuki, leading the horses after him, hoping to ease the younger seishi's transition into the multi-dimensional vehicle - but he was a little too late. Roku grinned as she heard a scream echo around the control room. "Ohhhhh, FUCK!!!" yelled Tasuki. "It's bigger on the INSIDE!!!" The Doctor exchanged mischievous smiles with Roku as they stepped through the door. "Perhaps Shun'u will get back to normal now…" he murmured reassuringly to the former rebel leader. "Be careful what you wish for…" Roku warned him. "Normal for Tasuki is quite a handful - I don't know if you remember that…"

The door to the Tardis hung open for a few moments longer, the Doctor's cheerful tones echoing from the interior of his space-time vehicle. "Yes, Shun'u, glad to see that you're feeling a little better…" Suddenly his voice vibrated with alarm. "No, Shun'u, don't touch that lever… No, don't pull it!!! Oh, bollocks!!" he cursed, aggravated out of character. The door began to close and the wheezing, groaning noise filled the air once again. One last voice was heard before the Tardis faded out into another dimension.

"Shit!!!" screamed Roku. "Where are we off to NOW??!!"

 

Fin

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Credits: The character of the Doctor and the inventions of his Tardis and sonic screwdriver are the property of the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation).

 

Author's note: (10-7-02) Well, I’m baaaaaaccccckkk from a very exciting but unfortunately exhausting Western odyssey! I have been jostled through more flight simulators than you can shake a stick at, catapulted through space on Space Mountain, plunged through the caverns of Asia and South America on the Indiana Jones Adventure, soaked through to my unmentionables on a river raft ride (a fate somehow mysteriously escaped by both my Tasuki and T2, the Sequel, who happened to talk me onto that ride in the first place!!), NOT to mention being shot forward by a jet engine on a particular roller coaster in California Adventure that my Tasuki had talked me onto - yes, he did it to me again!! You would think that after so many years together, I would have caught onto his evil sense of fun - but I continually fall for those innocent eyes widening as he assures me, "Just try it, Roku - it’s not bad!" The good news - I am home again, more or less in one piece. The bad news - my brain has been shaken to bits - thus, the surfeit of melodrama in this chapter! Yessssssss, that’s right - blame it on the roller coasters! Not because I am intrinsically a melodramatic person, right, Aikido-chan? (Aikido-chan sighs and shakes her head.)

Well, this chapter holds yet one more element that you will see in "Hidden Paths" (the White Stones sequel), which isssssss....

Nakago, of course! I'm a woman of my word, as you should know! Of course, what I didn't tell him was that he would be a little bit… different… in that story… (hee, hee) ^ ~

Another thing that you may have noticed at the end of this fic is a certain blatant giveaway of events to occur in upcoming chapters of "Bridge Over the Abyss!" Yes, the Doctor will soon make the acquaintance of "noisy little Shun'u" - but I've got to post the chapters that precede that auspicious event! Happily, Chapter 5 of "Bridge" is nearly finished - look for it later this week, Bridge fans!!

Soooooooooo... is this the end of the road for TGF? Wellllllll, yes, technically it is - all has been said that needed to be said. Let’s change to a more serious tone here. I hope that you all enjoyed this allegorical little tale, but more importantly, I hope that you’ll take some lessons from the rebels and seishi. Today, in this country, with war in the air, there is a great deal of fear, hate and racism flying about. When someone loses their rights in the name of morality or safety or any other "hot button" words - your own rights are the next in line to go. If you see injustice or hear racist or unfair remarks directed at innocent parties - your silence and inactivity support those who commit these acts of ignorance. You don’t have to devote your life to rebel activities or allow yourself to be imprisoned in the name of justice - all you need do is take a few moments to sign a petition or write a letter or just speak up and say "That’s not right!" That’s all it takes to fight the good fight. Think about it.

Changing gears one last time, back to giddiness - this was rather an intriguing place to end, ne? Kinda makes me want to see what happens and where the crew ended up. Maybe I’ve spent a little too much time on the "Star Tours" flight simulator, but I find that something tickles me about the thought of the rebel girls with Chichiri, Tasuki, Nakago, aaaaannnnnd the Doctor, all caught up in an outer space adventure!! I can just see it, can’t you? - Roku as a rebel fighter pilot with Tasuki as gunner - whoo! Not to mention that Miyu is in real life a particularly fierce gunner, especially in the video game arena... No!! No, I will not do this!! I have too much on my plate already - I WILL resist becoming a fanfiction slut!! (winks at Ryuen)

Ja ne!!

Roku-chan, the Amazing Irascible Hamster!!