Notes: Hi! Wow, who would've thought I'd pick up this story again?? ~.^;; But…well… I said I was gonna continue it, I just never got around to it until now… I might actually finish, too!! There's probably only gonna be one chapter after this one, so…I might actually finish something I write!! **collective gasp from everyone in the world** Granted, I haven't written serious-type stuff for a while, so I'm sorry if the mood of this chapter really clashes with that of the previous installments…. ~.~

Random Note(s) of the Day: Has anyone heard the Nuriko character song from the CD books? (I haven't a clue as to the workings of the CD books, so bear with me…) It's called 'Ren Ren Bojou,' or something like that? It's an okay song, but it's not sung by Sakamoto Chika-sama!! It's some other chick. ~.~ How sad. Anyway, I hope everyone who's living here in the USA has a very happy Thanksgiving this week! Eat like Miaka! And everyone who's adopting a Seishi for the holidays, make sure they have clean sheets and towels. (Nuriko likes purple towels, Kaze-chan. And give him the silk sheets…no, the satin sheets, I think!) (……..Where the heck did the allusion to 'Annie' come from??….Oh yes, that's right: this is the Random Notes section.) Anyhoo, hope this is okay and not too much of an "I liked the way it ended last time, why did she have to go and ruin it by writing more?" ^_^

AFTERLIFE

Chapter Six:

The Return

At first, I wanted to hang on to Hotohori-sama and never let go. I wanted to grab Chiriko and Mitsukake and bind us all together so that we would never be apart; it was still scary, being dead, even though I had accepted it. What would happen now? Would we have to be reborn, before even knowing if we'd won?

No…Taiitsu-kun wouldn't do that. She's an old witch, but she wouldn't have kept you around just to toss you into another body right before the Grand Finale. She must have plans for us…somehow…

Hotohori-sama rubbed my back gently; he really was the kindest person I'd known. "Are you all right? Better?"

"Yes," I managed in a small voice, reluctant to pull away. "I…I, um…"

"It isn't easy," he told me. "It isn't easy at all. But it's real, and we can't change it. It's just…the way it is."

I nodded into his shoulder. My tears had all but stopped.

"It must have been hard for you, being the first," mused Hotohori-sama quietly. "I'm sorry it had to be you."

With a sigh, I smiled, and pulled back slowly, sitting back on my heels. "Who would you have had it be, then?" I asked sadly. "No matter what, one of us would have had to be alone. Might as well have been someone who was used to it."

He gave me a sad look, his eyes filled with pain and…regret.

"Um." I looked at my hands, feeling a quite un-ghostly flush spread across my cheeks. "Thank you, Hotohori-sama….I'm sorry I was such a…"

"Don't," he said, but kindly. "It's not your fault. Come…" Rising to his feet, he pulled me up with him, and we both headed over to where Mitsukake and Chiriko were standing together and talking. Apparently they hadn't wanted to stare during my little breakdown, for which I was grateful, albeit slightly embarrassed.

I hope they won't start treating me like a mental patient now…

But I should have known better than to have worried about that. Mitsukake turned as we approached and gave me a fairly large (large for Mitsukake, anyway) and welcoming smile, and Chiriko looked up at me reassuringly, reaching out again to take my hand.

"Taiitsu-kun says that Chichiri and Tasuki, too, have been transported to Miaka's world," Mitsukake's deep voice rumbled. "I have asked her to show us the events taking place, but she did not respond."

They aren't even mentioning what happened…they're acting like everything's normal, I thought in relief. Well. Maybe they're right. Maybe everything IS normal, for the first time in my life…no, wait; I'm not alive anymore.

"Perhaps she's waiting," Hotohori-sama suggested.

"Perhaps it's a test," said Chiriko pensively.

It's really not so bad being dead, I suppose. I don't really feel so different. If we can all stay together…

"What do you mean? A test?" Hotohori-sama looked the slightest bit frustrated. "Haven't we suffered through enough of her tests already?"

I looked at the giant mirror through which I'd viewed the battle with the Genbu seishi. It was dark.

"A test of our courage and our loyalty," Chiriko went on. "Perhaps if we were meant to see Suzaku no Miko and the others, we would figure out how by ourselves."

Our courage and our loyalty? Haven't we already proven that ten times over? How can she doubt our loyalty, after the sacrifices we've all made for Miaka? But the thought was a dim one, without much vehemence, more like an observation than an actual heated opinion…and I found myself being drawn to the mirror, staring into the glass, seeing my own eyes staring back out at me with melancholy calmness. It didn't take long for the reflections of my three friends to join mine, each one regarding himself curiously.

"Nuriko?" Mitsukake's one word conveyed an entire slew of implied questions.

"Touch it," I whispered, placing my hand on the surface, resting it against its reflection.

The others obeyed me, realization dawning on them, as well…I don't know how I knew it would work, it was just a feeling I had, and maybe they felt it too. The moment all four of our palms were laid upon the mirror, I felt a tingle rush through my body, racing to gather around my heart like adrenaline.

In the mirror, we melted away…and were replaced with Miaka. Chichiri. Tasuki. And Nakago.

"You cannot help them," Taiitsu-kun's voice rang from over our heads.

We looked up at her as one, our expressions fixed.

"Why not?" I demanded. "We figured out how to turn on your toy. Does that prove enough for you? You can send us there. I know you can."

"You will be useless," she chided. "What good is a spirit against a solid enemy?"

"Taiitsu-kun-sama," Chiriko piped up, "There is a way for us to go back and still have our bodies."

"I know that; I'm the Creator of the Universe, you think I don't know how it works?" she snapped. "But I'm afraid it isn't possible. I cannot risk the souls of the Shichiseishi."

"What's he talking about?" I asked, folding my arms across my chest in a symbol of defiance. "If there's a way, let us take it! They can't fight Nakago and Seiryuu by themselves!"

"You have illuminated the mirror of your own accords, so that you might see the story as it plays itself out," she said sternly. "Do not ask for more."

"If we inhabit another body, we could use it as if it were our own," Chiriko explained.

"I do not understand why you would keep us from such a thing," said Hotohori-sama with a frown.

Taiitsu-kun glared at him. "The problem is, that as long as you have a body, you can be struck down and killed," she said firmly. "While the living body itself would simply die and become a spirit, as you have done, your own spirits—having already died—would cease to exist. The Second Death. And naturally, if such a thing were to occur, you could not be reborn, and the souls of the Suzaku no Shichiseishi would be lost forever. Suzaku would never be able to be summoned again."

"So you're willing to let Nakago become a god, and destroy both our world and Miaka's because of the small chance that one of us might die again?" I exclaimed. "No offense, but I think that the total destruction of two entire worlds slightly outranks the possibility that Suzaku might be trapped in limbo."

"And it does not frighten you to think that your soul would fade to nothing?" she replied.

I frowned at her. Yes, it frightened me. The idea of that happening frightened me more than anything had frightened me before. Death was one thing, but to cease to exist altogether…

"That does not matter," Hotohori-sama said. "It is our duty as Seishi to protect the Miko, and help her in any way we can…even death does not put an end to that duty."

Setting my jaw firmly, my gaze unwavering, I nodded my support of his statement. You don't think anything bad can happen, do you? But you didn't think you'd die in the first place…You never thought it would happen…

This is different, though. This goes beyond me living or dying…again. It's MIAKA out there. HER life in danger.

She was my Miko. But…she was the first friend I'd really had, as me, and not as Kourin-Ryuuen. Hotohori-sama was my oldest friend, the one I knew the best…Miaka was the one who knew me the best. I owed her so much more than simply duty as a Seishi. I owed her…I owed her my entire life. What would have happened if she hadn't discovered my secret that night by the pond, so long ago? Would I have continued to pretend? Would anyone else have figured it out?

The thought made me shudder. To have continued living that lie…from my present position, it was an awful possibility. To have gone on as Kourin until even the small part of Ryuuen that had remained was smothered…

Okay, now…focus? Can you focus a moment, here? This is not Reflection Time; this is Make Taiitsu-kun See Reason Time.

But even that option was shoved away when, upon another brief glance in the mirror, I saw a strange, other-worldly structure shatter under Nakago's power, and plummet straight down toward…

NO!!!

Without stopping to think, I grabbed the closest Nyan-Nyan—those things were always hanging around—and reached out with my soul.

**May I…?** I wasn't sure how to ask such a thing!! 'May I possess you??' I struggled to think of something to say, trying to keep my mind off of the danger to Miaka at least long enough to think straight…

My panic was assuaged when the childish figure closed her eyes and smiled, pulling me into her without a second thought. It was strange…myself but not myself…with her thoughts in the corner of my mind…

**Go through the mirror…**

Ridiculous as this seemed, I didn't question the thought when it appeared. Miaka was in danger…I raced toward the mirror and flung myself at it, hoping that the Nyan-Nyan actually knew what the heck she was talking about…

…A brief pain…then…floating, a bit of dizziness…solid ground beneath my feet, and then…

**Look out! It's coming!!**

I opened my eyes and raised my arms, the bracelets expanding and enveloping my hands…Just in time. No sooner had I lifted them up than I was hit with a falling boulder…caught it easily…Yes!! One-handed!! Nuriko-sama is back and kicking!! Gods, but I sound like Tasuki-chan…

"N-Nuriko!!!"

Miaka.

**You saved her.**

I saved her…

Smiling down at her, I almost laughed at the astounded expression in her large green eyes…and I almost cried, too, because I was with her again…

**The others are coming!!** the Nyan-Nyan informed me joyfully. **The others are coming down, too!!**

"I was worried," I explained to Miaka, shrugging as well as I could with a huge piece of rock balanced on one of my hands. You saved her. "So I had to come down and help you out…"

TBC…

Only one chapter to go!! Oh, by the way: **….** is indicative of Nuri-chan and the Nyan-Nyan talking to each other… I dunno if that was self-evident or not. ^_^