Disclaimer: No owny no owny no owny

Warnings: Ummm…not much

Notes: AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! Poor neglected story!! **hugs it** Ehehe, seems I really got wrapped up in the sappy stuff going on over at YAS. ^^;; But…I’m really gonna make an effort to finish this! And I’m sorry I haven’t been able to write anything for a while. L It’s the end of the year, and I’ve got papers comin out the wazoo. Lovely, ne? --;; But hopefully, if all goes my way, I should be able to work on this stuff more than I have been in the past week or so…well, anyway. Thanks for reading, everyone!! ^___^

When he came to, he had a headache the size of Mt. Reikaku itself.

Tasuki squinted up at the sky from where he lay, his back against a cool wall of stone. He tried to bring a hand to his head to somehow quell the dull throbbing, but found that he couldn’t move his arms. With growing despair, he realized that, most likely, he had been captured by the Kutou, and that the weights on his arms were probably shackles.

Surprise was short-lived when he actually glanced down to see he was not immobilized by irons, but by children.

Horyuu and Gen’ei had surrounded him on both sides; they had pushed themselves under his arms and were now clinging to him like moss, heads resting on his chest. Wondering briefly and incredulously how the hell he’d become a goddamn father figure in such a short period of time, he glanced to his right to see Kentoku and that cocky messenger kid sitting beside him. And in front of him, and surrounding him…his bandits.

They were battered and bruised, some bleeding from their wounds; their clothing was torn, their faces weary. Kouji was kneeling across the narrow street from him, the back of his white shirt stained with red; apparently, though, his best friend was not terribly injured, as he looked like he was trying to help out some of the others.

They were in bad shape, captured and injured. But they were alive.

He didn’t know why. He could see several missing faces in his mind, and it seemed obvious to him that there had to have been some who had been killed. But Rishun’s psychotic reasons were his own, and who was he to argue about being left alive?

Trying to ignore the pounding in his temples, he looked past the men to see their surroundings. It was a small village, one that the Redeemers had apparently raided. Tasuki could see that it was surrounded by a high stone wall, though the town hardly seemed big enough to merit such protection; he could see from one side to the other without even moving. Then again, he remembered, there was a local bandit tribe to worry about. Not that the wall had done much good against an army.

And over the wall, he could see the standard of Kutou.

We’re in a freakin prison. They’ve got us cooped up like a buncha freakin chickens in a henhouse.

He let out a deep sigh; the sudden movement was enough to stir Horyuu and Gen’ei, who both gave tiny whimpers before lifting their heads to blink up at him sleepily.

"Tasuki-san?" Horyuu said in a shaky voice, curling his fist into the flame-haired bandit’s shirt. "Are you…awake now?"

"Yeah, yeah, kid…I’m awake. Everything’s gonna be fine, okay?" He threw each of his armfuls a reassuring grin, and Horyuu hugged him at once, burying his face again in Tasuki’s chest. Gen’ei, though, just stared at him with anxious yellow eyes, as if he didn’t quite believe the man.

"Did I tell you little idiots to keep yourselves hidden?" he tried to growl, but it didn’t come out nearly as fiercely as he’d intended. After all, there was nothing to be done about it now, and the absolute last thing he needed was to make the damn kids start crying, or something. "Are you okay? Are you hurt at all?" Do you have a freakin boo-boo?? Should I kiss it and make it better?! Dammit. I am not their mother.

"They’re fine," said Kouji’s voice from nearby, and Tasuki lifted his eyes to look up at his friend. "I looked ‘em over already. Little scared, maybe, but otherwise fine."

"I don’t get scared," announced Messenger Boy nonchalantly.

"Yeah, kid; and we all know to trust you," Tasuki snapped. " ‘They’re gonna attack tomorrow’, he says. A whole freakin day until freakin Kutou attacks. Uh huh. We see how that worked out."

"Ahh, gimme a break," the boy insisted, jutting his jaw out. "Can’t blame me if they changed their goddamn minds!"

Kouji cut him off before he could retort. "Genrou. Still have your tessen?"

Suddenly horrified, Tasuki reached up to feel behind his back, found nothing, and began to let out an impressive stream of curses that made Horyuu blink up at him with wide eyes and mouth. Kentoku and the annoying palace kid were equally astounded, and even Gen’ei’s eyebrows lifted a bit.

With a slight wince, Kouji knelt and rested his hand on his friend’s shoulder. "Look; they took all our weapons. I thought they might’ve taken the tessen, but I had to make sure…"

"Why the hell’d they take the bloody thing??!" Tasuki exclaimed. "It’s…a freakin…fan!!! How the hell’d they know it was magic??"

"Um, gee," Kouji said dryly. "Maybe it has somethin to do with the fact that you were usin it to shoot monster flames at the Kutou army."

"Dammit!"

"Far’s I can tell, they’ve got the place pretty well guarded," the dark-haired bandit sighed. "We’ll have a tough time makin it past those guys."

"But, we’re seishi, right?" Horyuu said in a small voice.

"Shh," said Kentoku from his side. "They’re discussing important things."

"Here, here…" Slowly, Tasuki lifted his arms from around Horyuu and Gen’ei, and made a move to stand. "You four kiddos stick together here, okay? I gotta go talk to your Uncle Kouji for a sec…"

The Uncle Kouji thing brought a huge grin to Horyuu’s face, taking away the fear of being abandoned, as Tasuki had hoped. Annoying Palace Kid looked slightly skeptical at the newfound relationship.

"Uncle?" Kouji said after the two of them had set themselves a bit apart from the rest of the bandits.

"Humor me," Tasuki muttered, running a hand through his hair and still trying his best to ignore his headache. Folding his arms across his chest, he turned solemn eyes back to his men. "How many dead, Kouji? How many missing?"

His friend’s mouth tightened, a small line forming at his brow. "There are about half of us here, as far’s I can tell. I saw some go down back there: Garushuko, Bouru…to name just a few. But I’m sure there must’ve been some who got away. We’re not the most well-known outlaws in Konan for nothin."

"Well," Tasuki sighed, "that’s somethin, at least…if they’ve got sense, they’ll try to make it to Konan and join up with Chiri…Man, were ya serious about our chances of escape lookin so dim?"

"They’ve got all our weapons," Kouji repeated. "They’ve got us surrounded. We’re at half strength when we were outnumbered to begin with; they’ve only left a few to keep us contained here, but…it’ll be damn hard to succeed in escaping when we’ve got kids to look out for. If it was just us, it’d be different…but we’ve got kids, and even if a few of us could succeed in escaping…Genrou. You weren’t conscious to hear, but the conditions of our capture were stated fairly clearly."

Tasuki cocked an eyebrow. "Conditions?"

"For every one who escapes, five who remain will be killed," his friend said grimly. "So it’s all of us, or none of us."

"Shit. He would do somethin like that! Bastard…"

Kouji nodded, then shook his head, letting out a shallow breath. "Best thing to do, though I hate to say it, is to wait until we’re relieved. Chichiri will already have gotten to Eiyo. They’ll come soon."

"I hate this," Tasuki growled, clenching his fist. "I hate this. Freakin hate it."

"Call me crazy," said Kouji, "but I have a feeling everyone here agrees."

~*~

The High Shaman was surprisingly young, standing before the throne clean-shaven and sturdy. He carried himself with a humble sort of dignity, but Shi could see that there was power behind his blue-green eyes. Power and defiance.

He was so glad.

The man was confused when Shi ordered the Kutou Guard to lead him to the council room and leave him there. In turn, the guards themselves were confused when he instructed them to leave him alone with the Shaman, and appeared unwilling to go.

"Orders of Emperor Rishun," Shi explained dully, flexing his shoulders again, trying to make it sound as if he was reciting something told to him by the evil man. "I am…to take this man and…sit with him alone. No one is to contest me."

While the men still looked dubious, they did not protest, and Shi praised his status as a Fearsome Seishi along with Rishun’s intimidating rule.

He slid into the small council room with a sigh, turning relieved eyes to the rigid High Shaman standing at the foot of the table. When the door was firmly shut and locked, he risked a tentative smile at his guest, and motioned for him to approach. The man betrayed slight puzzlement, but approached smoothly, his head held high.

The hint of defiance he had shown in the anteroom meant that Shi could trust him. This man was not tuned to Rishun’s ideas of slaughter and redemption. And so, towering a head and a half above the High Shaman of Kutou, Shi bent his head forward and whispered, "Please…if you want to stop Rishun’s dynasty before it even begins, please listen to what I am about to say."

The sudden change from lout to eloquence made the visitor’s clear eyes widen the slightest bit, and Seiryuu no Seishi Ashitare crossed all the fingers he had, hoping that destiny would take pity on him, and let the man believe...

Notes: Ahhhh, FoD! It’s back! ^^;; Hopefully it will progress decently from now until the end… ehehehe. ^^; Hope you guys liked it! And if you catch any plot holes, let me know. ^_^

And I could not resist aaaaaa….

Mouki: I don’t get scared.

Tasuki: Yeah, kid; and we all know to trust you. ‘They’re gonna attack tomorrow’, he says. A whole freakin day until freakin Kutou attacks. Uh huh. We see how that worked out.

Mouki: Ahh, gimme a break!

Kentoku: **slides in** Gimme a break!!

Horyuu: Break me off a piece of that Kit Kat bar!!

Tasuki & Kouji: Gimme a break!

Bandits: **hop up and start dancing** Gimme a break!!

All: Break me off a piece of that Kit Kat bar!!! **pose**