They reached a small dainty flower shop. The Place was small in size from the outside. But inside, it was so magnificent and beautiful. It was a lot bigger and a lot more spacious than it looked from the outside.
"Sumimasen, Anooo… does a guy named Kairi work here?" Yui asked the person at the cashier.
"Oh yeah he’s out back. Hold on I’ll get him for you."
When the man disappeared in the back room, Tetsuya whispered to the group. "At least the guy exists. I was afraid he took on a fake name or something like that."
"Shh… They’re coming back!"
"Yes?? Oh… Yui-sama. What brings you here?" The boy asked.
"Oh-my-Gawd!" Miaka gasped.
"Huh?" The boy looked at Miaka surprised.
"Uhmm… no- nothing… You just look like someone."
"Oh, yeah, I got that this morning from Yui-sama." He smiled warmly.
Yui introduced the gang to him and they said their polite hellos.
"Subo… I mean Kairi, do you remember how that guy looked like… the one who sent me the flowers?"
"Well he’s as tall as him…" He pointed to Tetsuya. "…But his hair isn’t that dark. It’s a brighter brown color. He had this really strange voice… If I didn’t know better I’d say it was kind of hypnotic. …And his eyes were so cold… He gave me the creeps."
"Sou! Hey, does putting a small purple box along with the flowers standard in your company?" Tetsuya asked.
"Purple box? I don’t think so. Let me go ask my dad. He owns this company so he should know."
He called out to his father. A stout, short man, came out and introduced himself as Mr. Nakamura. Kairi asked him about a small purple box. Mr. Nakamura said that they’ve never put any sort of small box anywhere. He excused himself politely and disappeared to the back room.
"No offense Kairi," Miaka said. "But he doesn’t look a thing like you."
"None taken." Kairi smiled amusedly. "Actually, I’m adopted…"
"Oh…" Miaka said in a sort of apologetic voice.
"It’s OK Miaka-san." He smiled. Then, all of a sudden he lost his brilliant smile. "Why did you guys ask if we put this box thing along with the flowers?"
"Uhm, because, mine had one…. It was weird because I’ve never had anything like that before… I just wanted to know what it did and who it came from." Yui lied.
"Have you opened it?" Kairi asked.
"It doesn’t… open." She said warily.
Kairi thought for a minute. His face was serious in tone, then he looked back up at Yui and said, "The man who sent them to you was the one who picked the flowers. He insisted on picking them. Then when we finished arranging it, he said he wanted to look at it to see if it was perfect for A certain Hongo Yui. He inspected it for awhile. He might’ve put that box in there, I don’t really know because it’s not like I was looking at him the whole time he was here."
"Sokka.." Yui said. She felt tired all of a sudden.
"Kairi-kun, could you do us a big favor?" Tetsuya asked him.
"Sure."
"If and When that guy comes back, can you give us a call?" He handed him his business card with his home phone number on it.
"Sure, no problem."
"Thanks." Tetsuya said.
The group headed out the door. Before they stepped out, Kairi called to them.
"Yui-sama, I don’t trust that guy. If that box did come from him, you should throw it away or destroy it." He said seriously.
Yui nodded. "Arigatou Kairi." She smiled warmly.
Tetsuya looked at Yui while they were walking, he looked back at Kairi who was still staring at Yui. He took Yui by the hand and pulled her closer to him. Kairi saw what Tetsuya had done and couldn’t help feeling a little bit jealous.
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Aku stared blankly into space. He couldn’t believe that the box didn’t work. It wasn’t even able to make Miaka and the others get into a fist fight or anything. Aku couldn’t stand the idea that his plans had failed. And it seems that Miaka and Yui, and the rest might be getting close to his true identity.
"Aww, c’mon Aku!" Arisu whined. "You’re no fun anymore." She was lying down by his side. She hated it when Aku got in his moods where he was just quiet and sulked around saying nothing. Her long hair covered her breasts as she turned her back from him.
"Sumina…" He apologized.
"Yeah, whatever!" She said, a hint of irritation was in her voice.
"Listen," He said as he shook her violently and he held her so that she faced him. "I don’t do well with failure. I can’t afford for this to fail. We should’ve been able to really affect Miaka and the others. But we didn’t get the job done and now our sire…"
"I KNOW!, I know…" Arisu sighed and turned her back on him once again. "I know how it goes… We fail, we suffer. But you didn’t fail Aku… You got them fighting, and you got them exposed enough to the emotion drug in that box so that their emotions are highly unstable. They’re like time bombs now… All of them, except, maybe for Suzaku no Miko. She seems to have Suzaku protecting her. You gotta admire that though after all this time… he still protects her."
"I suppose you’re right, pet." He said absentmindedly.
"About Suzaku no Miko?" She asked him as she turned to face the handsome Aku.
"No, about their emotions being unstable." He grinned at her. His grin was a mixture of evil and amusement. Aku knew that Arisu gets a bit jealous when he mentions Miaka’s name. He gets a kick out of seeing her get jealous once in awhile.
"Of course I’m right, love." She smiled. "I’m always right."
"Hmm… Miaka does have a way of drawing men to protect her though, whether it be man, beast, or God…." He smiled again. He couldn’t help but try to push her buttons.
Arisu rolled her eyes. "Right."
Aku sensed Arisu’s jealousy growing and was amused. "You’re cute when you’re jealous you know?" He grinned and kissed Arisu tenderly and brushed her hair with his fingers. He picked her up and set her on top of him. He kissed her again and she giggled.
"I don’t get jealous" She laughed.
"Sure you don’t." He said sarcastically. He started to kiss her again when a thought popped in his mind. "There’s one more problem, pet." He said when he stopped caressing her with kisses.
"What’s that?"
"Yui’s boyfriend, Tetsuya…."
"Must you always speak of business?" she grumbled.
Aku grinned and bit her lightly on the shoulder. "Yeah, well you know how I am."
"Don’t worry love." She smiled. "Your little princess has it all taken care of." She dug her nails deep into his chest and smiled. "I have him eating out of my hand."
He nodded. "I bet you do."
"Don’t worry hun, I won’t disappoint you."
"You never do…" He smiled softly. Then he leaned closer to her and whispered, "Aishiteru."
"I know. Love." She smiled.
The two made love and didn’t speak of their evil plans for the remainder of the night. But these plans were still lingering in the back of both their minds. Arisu couldn’t help but think what will become of the two of them when this is all set into action. Ever since Aku met Miaka in the restaurant, he’s been mentioning Miaka’s name to her relentlessly. She has tried not to be jealous of Miaka but she couldn’t help it because Arisu had never loved anyone as much as she loved Aku. He meant everything to her and she would do everything she can to keep him pleased. But she feared that Miaka might come between Aku and her. She have read about Suzaku no Miko, the Miko who had just about every guy like her or fall for her and she didn’t even know it. "Well Miaka," she thought to herself. "If you ever get between Aku and I, I guess I’ll just have to kill you." A slow, evil, grin spread across her face as she thought of how she would kill Suzaku no Miko.
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"…….Hey you guys, why don’t you just hang around our place first before you go home?" Keisuke suggested when the group finished eating at the restaurant.
"Yeah, unless you guys want to get busy right away…" Miaka giggled.
Yui hit her over the head. "Shuttup!" She said trying to hide her embarrassment.
"Actually, I think its a good idea for us to come by you guy’s place first. Lets see if we can communicate with Taka and the others."
Everybody agreed that it would be a good idea and all went to The Yuuki residence.
When they got back to the place, the book was glowing red. Miaka walked toward it and read in a hypnotic voice.
"The Seishi of Suzaku no Miko and Byakko no Miko were getting ready to take the passage to the world of the Miko. They were all in the center of Taiitsu-kun’s enormous palace. They concentrated their Chi on the scroll and on the vision of Suzaku no Miko and her world. Now it was up to Suzaku no Miko and Seiryuu no Miko to help them complete the passage…"
Miaka placed the book on her lap and nodded to Yui as a signal. Yui sat down opposite of Miaka and the two girls began to concentrate.
Taiitsu-kun spoke to the concentrating Seishi while Nyan-nyan and Subaru watched from the doorway.
"Listen, you guys, Concentrate on Miaka, the vision of her world and see yourselves where she is…"
"OK OK!! Just shuttup first, you’re distracting me!!" Tasuki whined.
Taiitsu-kun hit him over the head with a stick.
"Everyone concentrate!" Taka ordered. The group mumbled their apologies and continued.
Just when the group was about to phase out, a sort of static disturbance interrupted them.
"ARGGGHHH!!!" The whole group screamed. The static sent bolts of electricity through their bodies.
"Tokaki-san!! Concentrate, if you keep jolting like that, you’ll blow us all to a different dimension no DA!" Chichiri chided him.
"I, I can’t…. I can’t leave Subaru here…"
Subaru walked towards him and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I have to stay here. In order for me to maintain your young appearance… as well as mine, I have to stay right here. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine…. Just promise you’ll come back to me in one piece OK?"
"Yakisoku da…" He smiled and pulled her towards him to give her a kiss.
"OK, enough!!" Taiitsu-kun hollered! Subaru and Tokaki almost had a heart attack.
"Take it easy Taiitsu-kun, they’re not as young as they look!!" Chiriko piped in.
"You guys have to go now! You’re wasting too much time and by the time you get there it might be too late!" Taiitsu-kun said.
Everyone nodded and agreed. Together they all concentrated. The Seishi in Taiitsu-kun’s palace, Miaka and Yui in the Yuuki residence. In a few seconds, The Seishi were teleported out of Taiitsu-kun’s place. The only thing that remained was the scroll and a bewildered looking Subaru wishing for the group’s safety.
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