Japan - Yotsubodai High School

[RikuHeartless]

Taka looked over his wife's shoulder to see what was happening. "This is so weird, I always thought there was one priestess and one set of warriors. Even when I was reincarnated, I was still Tamahome... now there is a different man called that. The same with all our friends. And this fellow," he pointed to Suboshi, "It's strange to see that name with other words like 'honorable.'" He shook his head, "There must be something major going on for the book to call in 5 girls. I wonder if we can get them a message to try and contact Taiitsukun."  

[Jet Valentine]

Ryuichi nearly choked on his coffee as Miaka spoke about the fight. "A... Fight?! This isn't good... Tatsuko is scared of blood. She's probably hiding in a corner somewhere!" He felt like his heart was going to shatter. Anytime she saw blood, he was the one that had to snap her out of it. Shaking his head again, Ryuichi looked at the small note on the can. He really hoped she was alright.

"How much differently, do you know?" He needed to know how many times he was going to have to cover for them. "I don't think they have them. I know I do, but the others are all younger than I am."  

[RyldsGirl]

Miaka looked up from the book, "I don't think you have to worry too much about her. She seems a strong young woman." She traced her finger along the page, "Suboshi, knowing his Priestess was in danger, he held her close and pulled her from the bed she was laying in. A hail of arrows came from the window outside, just as the warrior covered his priestess with his own body. Suboshi was wounded when an arrow pierced his shoulder, and the Priestess was sad her protector had been hurt. But Suboshi was glad she was safe. Then the arrows stopped and a strange man came in, erecting a wall between the arrows and the Priestess. He wanted to fight with Suboshi, and taunted him. The Lady was afraid for her favored warrior, and her heart ached to think he would be injured again. He told her to go to Amiboshi, that he would protect her while Suboshi dealt with the man. The Priestess kissed her Warrior's cheek, wishing for him to stay safe, then she ran from the room."

Miaka looked up after she read that passage, "See? Sure it's scary and lots of horrible things can happen, but the warriors always protect their Miko. Four of my seven warriors died while I was Priestess, Nuriko, Hotohori, Chiriko and Mitsukake. They all died protecting their country. So don't worry for your sister, there is a reason fate chose her to be the Priestess of Seiryuu. She needs this, and she will surprise you with her strength." She smiled softly at him, knowing she spoke from experiance.  

[RikuHeartless]

"Miaka," Taka said with a soft voice, "I don't know if that's really helping." He looked to the boy, figuring this was probably how Keisuke had felt the whole time Miaka was in the book. He remembered when they were on their way to Hokkan and he's begged her to come back, and she was so determined to help her friends, she had Tasuki burn the only link out of the book. He addressed Ryuichi, "You should try to contact your sister through your charms." He motioned to the phone, "Right now she's probably scared, I'm sure some words from her brother would help her. We aren't actually sure there is a constant flow of time in the book, it seems to read like a story, so time flows differently at certain times. When Miaka first came, she was with us maybe a month, then we sent her home. She was gone for months there, when here it was only a day at the most. That first month there was only two hours in her world. Time doesn't seem to be steady in the book."  

[Jet Valentine]

Glancing over at Taka, it was fairly obvious that hearing about his sister in trouble and the person protecting her being hurt was putting Ryuichi on edge. Considering it had only really been the two of them for most of their lives, knowing that his sister was getting shot at by arrows wasn't the best of news for him. His knuckles were turning white from clentching the can of coffee so tightly. It was starting to get crushed a little from the pressure. He couldn't do much but worry.

"It is easy to say not to worry... but she's the only real family I have. I'm supposed to protect her. I'm supposed to take care of her. And now... she's in a book and I can't," he said, through clentched teeth as he looked down. He was getting stressed out. While other people might not be as attached to their siblings as he was, there was a reason. Their mother had died when Tatsuko was born. After that, their father never really payed much attention to them. They had nannies and tutors, but never a father. The two learned to rely on each other, which normally meant her relying on him. And now... she was in a book where he couldn't reach her. Except... he thought, looking at the cellphone.

His hands started to twitch, punching in the numbers for Tatsuko's cell phone. He hoped she had remembered to grab it when she ran out of the room. Ryuichi knew she had it with her. He had read that much. "Five, seven, six, eight, two, eight, eight..." Once it was punched in, he closed his eyes, hoping and praying that it would work. Hitting the send button, he brought the phone to his ear, waiting.

It took a few rings, but after a moment, his sister picked up the phone. Ryuichi's eyes widened as she spoke. "Hello?"
"Tatsuko! I can't believe this worked! You have to come home! There are people trying to kill you in that book!"
"No."
"What do you mean no! Sis... you're in danger. You could get killed!"
"I know. But, I want to help Jin and everyone else. I can't just leave them like this!"
"But...!"
"I'll be fine. Don't worry, ok? Just keep an eye on me from out there. If things get really bad, I'll see about comig home, but until then... I'm staying. I still have to find the others. Shinsei, Ayame, Noriko, Midori and Toshiro are in here too."
"I know that. I think I know where they are but..."
"Oh! I have something I want to send you!" With that, a picture appeared on the screen of his cellphone, a distance shot of the shrine to Yui Hongo, the first Priestess of Seiryuu. "Show that to Mrs. Kajiwara, ok?"
"But...!"
"I'll be fine. With you looking out for me, along with everyone else, I'll be ok. I promise. Just figure out what is up with the book and see if you can get ahold of the others. Oh... and see if you can send along my other books. I really need to do some studying. I love you, Onii chan. Bye!"
Before he could answer back, Tatsuko had already hung up. "I love you too, sis." He didn't look much better than he had a few moments ago.  

[RikuHeartless]

Taka looked over to Miaka, then back to Ryuichi, "I understand the need to watch after little brothers and sisters... I really do. Her fate is now intertwined with the book, it's possible it always has been..." Tamahome's old memories flooded into his mind, his family, their deaths, and his oath to protect Miaka and always stay with her. Even in a new body, the bond between warrior and priestess, and the bond between lovers had brought them together. "You trust your sister right? She seems to have a good heart, an a strong mind." He looked over to Miaka, then back to him. "Those kinds of girls have nothing to fear from that book."  

[RyldsGirl]

"He's right you know, let's just concentrate on how to help her and her friends from out here. I still think they need to see if they can contact Taiitsu-kun." She looked down and started reading again. She blinked and smiled a bit. "Hey Taka, listen to this..." She put her finger at one place in the book, to keep and eye on Tatsuko, then read out a bit about the Priestess of Suzaku. "The priestess, being watched over by Tamahome, looked up to see new people come in. One was Chiriko, who seemed playful, and the other was a beautiful man that was the Prince of Suzaku and the future Emperor. He was so beautiful in fact, many of the Mount Reikaku bandits believed him to be a woman." Miaka giggled, "I'll bet he's a decendent of Hotohori... because the bandits thought the same thing when they saw him. Actually they thought we were a group of three girls, Hotohori, me and Nuriko." She looked over to Ryuichi, "It seems the draw of the warriors to the priestess is stronger then ever, before long they will have them gathered..."  

[Jet Valentine]

"Of course I trust her... it's just everyone else that I don't," Ryuichi said, sighing. He knew it sounded fatherly, but in a sense, he was more like a father to his little sister than their own father was. His eyebrow raised slightly, when Taka mentioned the book and fear. He just wanted her home, because she didn't belong there. She belonged here, in this world, not in some strange story book. But, it seemed the coach wasn't telling him something. "What do you mean she would have 'nothing to fear?' Is there something you're not telling me about that book?" He had to know. If his sister and her friends were going to be in some weird book, he wanted to know what was going to happen to them.

Ryuichi was getting... apprehensive. These people, who said they understood, didn't seem to understand anything. They didn't know how he felt. They just kept talking about how everything would be fine, and that the girls needed to do it. The only thing Tatsuko needs to do is come home. That's the same with the others too. They don't need to cater to the whims of some crazy people they have never met before. Needless to say, Ryuichi had half a mind to grab the book and run. Atleast then, he could try to find someone who would actually give him some good ideas rather than some load of nonsense about how it was for the best that they were in there. "And who is this Taiitsu-kun you two keep talking about?"  

[RikuHeartless]

He's going to have to come to the conclusions by himself I guess. "Alright, you want your sister home? We told you how to contact her, but there isn't anyway for you to force her home." He glanced at Miaka, then back to him. "If the Priestess is of impure heart, or is weak willed, then when the Beast God is summoned, she will be taken as a sacrifice. If the girl is good and strong, then she won't be taken. Out of all the Priestesses in that book, only one had died, and what killed her was not the Beast God, but her own father. You can use that information if you want to try to get them to come home." He rubbed his head, "I want to help you Ryuichi, but you have to be practical about this. The magic of that book is strong, even if you could get them all out of the book, they probably will try to go right back in. But we'll do whatever you want to help you get them out. Taiitsu-kun is the creator of that Universe, the controller of it all. She was able to help us a few times, and help Miaka home at one point. Taiitsu-kun would know what's wrong with the world, so that it can be fixed. That might be the fastest way to get them out. Girls go to that world that aren't happy with this one, something here hurts so they run away to become the main heroine in a fantastic story. I think it will be easier for you to help them get done with the story faster rather then try to pull them out. But... we will help you do whatever you feel is best."  

[RyldsGirl]

Miaka nodded, "Taka is right, we will do whatever we can to help you. But we really should get a hold of Keisuke, and Yui too. Maybe all together we can really do some good to help. If worse comes to worse, maybe you can try to go back in Taka. I can't go in, but you were Tamahome, the book's never rejected you before."  

[Jet Valentine]

A... sacrifice... Ryuichi felt like his heart was caught in a vice. The idea... even the remote possibility that his sister could end up like that made his blood turn to ice. He felt helpless, which was the one thing he hated feeling. To say the least, Ryuichi had a tendency to want to be in control of everything. He liked being able to keep track of everything. But now, he had to be in the sidelines, while his sister was somewhere he couldn't go. "Is that all we can do? There has to be something more."

He was trying to be practical, but it was hard. All he knew is that he was going to have to start lying to several people so that the girls could stay in the book, even though they should be back here. He kept wondering what it was that made Tatsuko go into the book. He gently took the book from Miaka, and began to read. He had to know what was going on with Tatsuko. It took him only a few moments to get to the point where Tatsuko was talking to Jin's father to realize why she went in. Dad... she went in because of Dad...  

[RikuHeartless]

Taka shook his head, "I don't think there is anything else we can do, but we will keep trying, ok? You have your cell phone that is connected to all the girls. We can get them information, right? We'll use our knowledge to help every way we can, we'll make sure they all come back in one piece."  

[RyldsGirl]

"Yes, we'll help any way we can!" Miaka started trying to think of something. "You know, Keisuke could help, considering he was in your shoes, and Yui-chan is way smarter then I am... we should see if they are still on campus you know? We need to get the think tank together... she Yui was the Priestess of Seiryuu, like your sister is now."  

[VampireVictoria]

Yui cleaned up her papers on the desk in her classroom, sticking them all in her briefcase. Still a lovely woman, even though she was almost fifty, her blonde hair was pulled back in a bun. Grey hadn't come to her hair yet, but she wouldn't admit she dyed her hair.

She was going to be late in starting dinner, so she and Tetsuya would be having take out tonight. She walked down the hallway, toward the parking lot and she passed Taka's office. She decided to stop and say hello, but something strange was going on. She stepped in the office, "Hey Taka, what are you still doing here, and Miaka? You're here too..." she cut herself off when her eyes fell over the Universe of the Four Gods and the boy would was reading from it. "Oh no... not again..."  

[RyldsGirl]

"Yui!" Miaka squealed and hopped up, hugging her tightly around the neck. "It's been 3 weeks since I saw you last, I missed you!" She grinned then blinked, "Oh yeah, Ryuichi, this is the Priestess of Seiryuu. Or, she's the first priestess." Miaka let Yui go and looked over to her, "It's started again, with five new girls and new warriors too. There is a new country under Pangu. It's all started over again."