kei_fic_2ndchances5

      "Come on, Chichiri, I can't wait to see Kouji again, even if it's just to drop in and say hi!" Tasuki was almost bouncing with excitement. "Wow, Mt. Leikaku sure has #%&$ing changed a lot since the two years that we were gone!" He ran on ahead, eager to get to the bandits' hideout.
       Chichiri smiled affectionately at his younger friend. ~I've never seen him so happy before. He's been awfully depressed over the deaths of the others, and it's nice to see him with a smile for a change.~ He was shaken out of his thoughts by a scream ahead of him. He looked up in time to see Tasuki slip and fall over the edge of a cliff. ~Oh Suzaku, this can't be happening!!~ "Tasuki?!" he ran to the edge and called out frantically, afraid that the worst had happened.
       "Help! Down here!" Tasuki was barely holding on to a tree branch that grew out of the side of the cliff. "I can't hold on any longer!"
       "Tasuki! Hang on! Don't let go!" Chichiri tried to desperately to grab Tasuki��s hand, but it was too far. The tree branch was giving away little by little, ready to tear off completely any moment. Tasuki's eyes were filled with terror, yet he realized through his fear that Chichiri might fall too, trying as hard as he was to reach him. Tasuki came to a decision. His eyes became peaceful, and he whispered, "Chichiri, it's no use, I'll have to go on ahead of you. I'll be waiting for you with the others..." And with that, Tasuki let go.
       "NO! DON'T LEAVE ME! I'M COMING WITH YOU, TASUKI!" Chichiri plunged off the cliff without a second thought. He caught up with Tasuki and the two fell into the endless abyss.

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

       "Um..." Tamahome scratched his head.
       "I can't believe this." Nuriko stated flatly.
       "Not a very safe way to go, was it?" Mitsukake asked.
       "Not very smart, either..." Chiriko muttered.
       "They look so... disheveled..." Hotohori frowned.
       Chichiri and Tasuki lay in a heap, fainted from sheer terror before they'd ever struck the bottom of the cliff.
       "Well, I guess now that you're all here, I can send you into reincarnation." Suzaku rubbed his hands together. "The Seiryuu seishi have already gone ahead."
       "Nani?!" Tamahome burst out, "They're being reincarnated too?!"
       "Don't worry, Seiryuu promised that his seishi won't cause trouble... not much anyway." Suzaku informed his seishi of all the things Seiryuu had told his seishi earlier, with the exception of Chichiri and Tasuki, who were still unconscious. "Well, if one of you meet up with one of them, you can fill them in on what I've said." The seishi were surrounded in a bright red light. The last thing that they heard before they were hurled into darkness was, "May you be reunited with the one you cherish..."

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

       Somewhere in Tokyo, a baby was born. The nurses all breathed with delight over the beauty of this baby, "Look how pretty she is. Look how her violet hair shines in the light..."
       A newborn boy was being examined by a doctor. The little boy kept on reaching up and grabbing the doctor by his coat. The doctor smiled gently at the baby. "You like this huh? Maybe you'll grow up to be a doctor like me."
       Near a Buddhist temple in the outskirts of Tokyo, a monk was walking along an abandoned path when he saw a basket underneath a sakura tree. Curious, he walked over to examine its contents. He was surprised and dismayed to find a baby boy sleeping inside the basket. Inside was a note, saying simply that the boy's name was Li Houjun. "Who could have done such a horrid thing as abandon their own child?" he wondered. Gathering the baby into his arms, he looked down and smiled at the peaceful visage, "I guess it'll be just you and me, Houjun." The baby yawned in reply.
       In a suburban home, a couple cooed at their baby son. "Look honey, look how he clutches that stuffed ogre toy!" "Haha, let's call him obake-chan for short, then."
       Twins were born in a hospital. One, the older brother, had very blond and beautiful downy hair and large blue eyes, while the other twin, a girl, had sandy colored hair and . The first thought that she had when she opened her eyes to the light of the new world was ~That's strange, I don't sense Suboshi.~
       In Kyoto, a beautiful brown-haired boy was born into a very old and wealthy family.
       In Nagasaki, a father turned to the nurse, "What? A boy? Finally! After all those girls! I think I'll call him Genrou..."
       In a remote seaside village, a grey-haired child was born clutching a single clam.
       In Tokyo, a blonde haired girl was born, and in the adjoining hospital room, a small boy peered down at his baby sister. "Hey, Mom, what're you gonna name her?" The mother looked tenderly down at her baby daugheter, "I think I'll name her Miaka." The boy turned excitedly to his best friend and nudged him, "Hear that, Tetsuya?" he said proudly, "my little sister is gonna be named Miaka..."