AN: I should give myself word-count minimums, I never get anywhere when I do that.

Nothing More

Chapter Five

She was, essentially, The Worst Person. Therefore, she didn't get sleep, because people who were horrible weren't allowed to sleep. She wasn't sure when she learned this law of the universe, but she knew it was true. Which was why she'd just laid in bed and not slept for ages.

Eventually she gave up the idea of sleep. Her own curiosity won out.

That was a really nice and not-stupid way of explaining why she stood in the middle of the hallway in the Inner Seraglio's dormitory. It sure was great that Nuriko had taken her here a few times, because there was no way in whatever hell Suzaku had that she'd have gotten a guard to take her there tonight with the record she currently had.

And 'one of your rejected concubines is a holy warrior you don't believe in' wouldn't really help her with convincing Hotohori to go on a long trip into the wilderness with no map except the one in her head.

Everything about the palace was elegant.

She'd forgotten how beautiful the palace was. This place - her time here - was so overshadowed by everything else that happened, her memories of everything except certain places were blurry and vague. Even having gone here a few times she'd gotten lost for a bit on her journey to this place.

But...really...

Even in the middle of the night, with a room full of women who pretended they didn't snore in the daylight, with almost everyone in the palace sleeping somewhere and almost no light to see anything except distant lanterns and a crisp moon outside, everything was...so elegant. Decorated to the finest details, and yet not chaotic or overly cluttered. The hints of the red naturally present in the wood and the lacquer and gold were almost visible in the washed out light, and it must have looked magnificent beyond anything she saw back home.

She'd really missed out on so many details last time. For good reason, obviously, but...still. Even if she knew she was living in another world right now, this place...it felt even more like it was another world, like it existed in a bubble of magnificence and beauty so complete that the people and even the floors put her to shame even when she'd grown up.

She shook her head slightly, and peeked into the room. It'd been a while, but she had a pretty good memory when she wanted to. And she'd kind of narrowed it down checking half a dozen other rooms previously. Finally though...she could see the person she was looking for. The delicate features even asleep, without makeup, and in the moonlight...

For a moment or two, they took her breath away.

In the past, when Nuriko had faked being a woman, her relationship with the warrior had been...strained. Even when she tried to appreciate some of the (wo)man's features, they were ruined by the rivalry and her own jealousy. When she'd returned months later, the man had stopped trying as hard to look like a woman, and she'd just seen him as a sort-of man from then on.

He really was beautiful. A different kind of beautiful than Hotohori, but not less beautiful. Maybe even more?

It's been so long that she can't remember the face of Hotohori's eventual wife as well anymore, fuzzed around the edges and gaps filled with guesses and assumptions. This, though...she remembered enough to know this face was like it close enough to be mistaken in passing. The woman who he'd one day find happiness and a family with.

The woman that one day would find out he'd...

She closed her eyes a moment and waved those thoughts away. It'd already happened. She couldn't change it. It was painful and horrible and tragic, but...but there wasn't anything she could do anymore. What could she do? Meddling in things now wouldn't fix anything. This time line...

Well she...this wasn't even real. She couldn't be guilty about it. Once she broke this spell or curse or whatever it was, it'd stop existing, like some kind of nostalgic dream that felt too real but never really existed in the first place. So...he wouldn't die in the future. Because he'd already died. In the real world, in the real version of this world, both he and the one sleeping peacefully in front of her would...were...

She bit her lip and crept into the room, scrubbing at an irritation in her eye, before kneeling cautiously out of range of any super punches.

"Hey...Hey. Nuriko. Wake up! Hey!"

The wo-the man in the bed shifted and groaned. Amazing. When he was pretending, he could even sound feminine when half awake. He really was a wonder. It wouldn't be the same, but...well...maybe it would be a little nice to get to talk to him and be around him for a bit before she left. Right?

It sure was a close call nearly stopping him from screaming the moment he saw her.

So...okay. She didn't fully think this through. She was still struggling with the idea that all of this was familiar and everyone should know her, because she'd known them for a decade. But at least she also wasn't dead from pouncing someone who could knock her clear out of the city from here. With one hand.

Maybe that meant he remembered her somewhere? Deep, deep down beneath the terror and confusion in his eyes right now?

"H...hey, it's okay. I'm not here to hurt you. I'm Miaka. The, uh...The Priestess of Suzaku? I mean, I haven't been announced yet, but I am!" Heh. Okay, even to her that wasn't very convincing.

"Just...please don't scream or kill me or anything, okay? I've got a really good reason to be here, and if you want you can go right back to sleep. I just want to talk. Okay?"

The wide eyed man nodded slowly. And didn't move to kill her. Maybe to keep his identity secret, given how...weird...whatever it was. Whatever was going on. It was just weirder since she'd found him. He was definitely here, and if he definitely existed, then...maybe what happened was that somehow Hotohori (and the palace itself) ended up with wrong information.

Or something. She didn't know. Grasping at straws to find some kind of semblance of sense was all she'd had since she'd woken up in a pile of straw.

She settled back on her heels then and gave a hopeful smile. The man wasn't doing anything for real, so. He must trust her at least a little. If...only because he didn't want to spoil his chances to marry the Emperor. Probably that. Whatever. She knew he was a really good person inside, so that's what mattered.

"Okay...I know this is going to sound crazy, but...uh. You're Nuriko. I know this because...um. Like I said. Priestess!" It really would be a lot easier to just explain she came from the future, but she was on pretty thin ice of believability as it was. Even if she'd proven she was the Priestess, she didn't fancy the idea of then deciding she'd totally lost it and just...locking her up in the palace until they summoned Suzaku or something. And even when Hotohori was normal, she wouldn't have put that past him if he thought it'd protect her.

"What...?" The wo...the man, wow, she really had forgotten how feminine he was when he wanted to be, squinted at her in what was probably totally justifiable bewilderment.

She rubbed at her cheek. "You...ah...do you have any symbols that glow on your body when you do weird things? Like fight or...say...lift big boulders?" She gestured at her own chest. "It'd be about here. It's 'Willow'. You know what I'm talking about, right?"

His expression turned from confusion to annoyance, and he shook his head. "No, I don't. I must sleep, please, if this is all you want-"

Ugh, how in the world was she going to do this?! Forcing him to express his abilities was one way, but...considering about how well that plan went last time around, there was no way she could risk it when Tamahome was...

When Taka was...somewhere. Back where she belonged, and his past self was anywhere. Not here, at least. She kept bumbling around, but she needed to be more careful. This time, however long it took to get back to Tai Yi Jin and go home, she didn't have him there looking over her shoulder, giving her blankets, saving her life every time she did something stupid...

She spoke up before she could think anymore, right over Nuriko's words. "I know your secret!"

"...What?"

Okay. Probably not her best plan. But...dammit, she just wanted...to break through with someone. If she could prove herself to Nuriko, then at least she'd have him. He'd be less weird, he'd support her decisions, and she could feel less like she was just manipulating everyone she should have been caring about.

"Your secret. I don't just mean the power, I mean..." She edged a little closer, speaking quietly and quickly. She couldn't just say 'I know about the junk in your robes' if she wanted to not get kicked out, so... "About your sister. About Kang-Lin. I...it's complicated, but I know. What happened, how you...wanted to become her to keep her with you? When...when you were ten, she died in an accident and you couldn't let go. You chose to become her, pretend to be a woman so that you wouldn't ever lose her, because you'd be her. I know that. There's only one way I could know that and it's if you told me, right?! Because you're not her, you're...you're actually-" Uh. What was it?! She'd asked once but... "L...Liu...um...uh...not Kang-Lin. That was your sister, right?"

He stared at her for a long moment, eyes wide, incredulous, perhaps even shining a bit in tears from the...unfortunate memories she'd just dug up. Those were all pretty reasonable responses. Knowing Nuriko, actually, she was surprised the response wasn't even more pronou-

She didn't lose her head, but the slap to her face really stung.

"Wah?!"

"What kind of...what sort of terrible person are you?!" Ah. Well. She probably deserved that. Even if it was necessary, it was pretty harsh to do as an introduction. "I...I don't understand why you'd break into my room and make up terrible lies. Especially about...about my brother." He sniffled, tears forming in his eyes, and the hand that struck her so quickly cupped over her mouth. "Telling such lies...lies that would...would have been..."

"Hu...huh...?" She rubbed at her cheek and frowned over at the maybe-warrior. What...was he even saying? Didn't she get it all right? Why would he keep lying when she obviously knew the truth? "But you...I-I'm sure. You don't have to lie to me, I promise I won't tell anyone else, but I need you to believe-!"

The feminine man turned an icy gaze to her, settling his hand back to the bed. "If you...truly think that's how it was, you're wrong. My brother...Liu-Chuan...in my village there was a flood. Many of the people there died. At the time I was still very young. My brother and I were very close, and he would always look after me. When the flood happened, I was unable to climb to safety with the others in my family, because I..." He? She? Shook their head suddenly. "My brother turned back for me and lifted me to the roof, pulled me out of the flood waters before I drowned. Because of that..." Her eyes dropped then, voice quiet. "Liu-Chuan died when I was seven. Whatever story you've somehow come across, it's a horrible...unfair rumor. Please don't ever repeat it again. The idea that he could be alive instead is...much too painful. If you really are the Priestess of Suzaku then, instead..."

The woman suddenly reached out and seized her wrist, eyes shining in desperation. "If you're really, somehow, the Priestess of Suzaku like you claim to be, with one of your wishes, please! Wish that what you said were really true. Let me change places with Liu-Chuan after all, and let him live instead. I wouldn't ask anything more than that."

This...

The woman in front of her...

She really could be Nuriko's twin.

The woman who stared at her with all the hope and desperation and vulnerability that she knew. The same feelings she'd felt, when she'd wanted Mitsukake to save Nuriko. The same thing she'd felt when she'd seen her friend swallowed up by Seiryuu saving her and she desperately needed Suzaku to bring back her friend no matter what, even if it devoured her in the process.

The woman who put her hope in her.

The woman she was just about to betray as well.

She couldn't take staring at the woman a moment longer. Rather than looking or answering or giving any false promises...she simply ran away.

I'm so, so sorry.

Nuriko...

Why? Why in the world was this happening?!

AN: It occurred far too late that Kang-Lin could have tried to copy Nuriko/Liu-Chuan instead, but I decided ultimately it wouldn't have worked for the pacing of the story anyway. I had enough trouble getting this out without remaking the story and shoehorning her in as something else.