Disclaimers: I OWN EVERYTHING!!!! AHHH HAH HAH!!!!! THE WORLD BELONGS TO MEEEEE!!!!! **is dragged off by solemn men in white coats**

Warnings: This is a reincarnation fic, soooooo…if you don’t know who dies, you might not wanna read it. ^_^

Notes: Many of you know this from experience, but I would just like to reiterate that it’s hard to write realistic kids. ~.^;;

Pointless Personal Note: Last night, I dyed my hair purple. Gahhhhh!!!! ~.^;; The weird thing is, I didn’t even realize the Nuriko connection until my friend—who dyed her own hair red at the same time—started dancing around going, "Just call me Tasuki! REKKA SHINEN!!!!!!!!" …and I said, "Dear Lord, I’ve just subconsciously tried to make myself look like Nuriko…" But honestly, my first choice was blue, but they only had navy and I wanted a nicer blue, so I went with purple instead…I didn’t do it on purpose!!! I’m not that obsessed!!!! I swear!! ~.^;; …anyhoo, on with the story…

"Mr. Wolf Fang Man?"

Tasuki winced, glared, and refused to answer.

"Hey…Mr. Wolf Fang…"

But he couldn’t keep quiet for long. "For the LAST TIME, kid, it’s GENROU!!!!"

Horyuu blinked, then smiled sweetly. "Um, sorry…"

"Whadda ya want?" the bandit muttered.

"Where are we going?"

"We’re going to visit a friend of mine."

"How come? And where does he live?"

The truth was, Tasuki didn’t exactly know where Chichiri was at the moment. The last time he’d seen his old companion had been three years ago: Chichiri had stopped at Mt. Reikaku on his way to Kutou, where he had been planning to work at reconstructing the long-since-defeated nation. So, the three of them—himself, Horyuu, and Kentoku—had been heading east, toward the Konan-Kutou border, for a little over an hour. If nothing else, it was a start.

"He lives in Kutou." Kids need simple answers.

The violet-haired boy, who was perched atop a tall, brown gelding behind his friend, frowned a little. "Hmm, my father said that evil people live in Kutou."

Your father also made you dress up like your dead sister, Tasuki thought bitterly. When Kouji had told him what he’d heard regarding Horyuu’s family, he had almost been physically sick; if the people hadn’t already been dead, he would have jumped at the chance to kill them himself.

"That’s not true," said Kentoku, turning his head the slightest bit so that the smaller boy could hear him. "Just because the Emperor of Kutou was evil, it doesn’t mean everybody there was. And besides, he’s dead now. They have a new emperor."

"Well, is he good, or is he evil like the old one?"

"I don’t know, but it wouldn’t change the people not being all evil."

Horyuu giggled, squeezing his friend around the middle. "Ken-chan, you’re so smart!!"

"Yes," Kentoku agreed. "My teacher always said so."

Tasuki coughed to hide his smile. Even if they don’t remember who they were, they certainly haven’t changed…

"Mr. Wolf Fang Man, are you crying?"

"No!!!" Tasuki exclaimed in horror, shooting the boy a furious look. "I’m a freakin bandit, kid!!! I don’t cry!! And it’s Genrou, dammit!!! GENROU!!"

The small nose crinkled. "It feels funny calling you that."

"Well then, ya better get used to it; it’s my name."

"But it’s weird," Horyuu said apologetically. "It doesn’t fit you, Tasuki…"

~*~

The next thing he knew, he was lying on his back in the grass, staring up at the swirling sky. A silhouetted, shaggy-haired head pushed itself timidly into his field of vision.

"Are you awake?" it whispered.

He blinked rapidly. "Wh…what happened?"

"You fell off your horse," Horyuu explained quietly. "I guess you fainted. Did you have breakfast? Sometimes people faint because they don’t eat enough; that’s what Ken-chan says, and he’s…"

"Yeah, yeah, I know," mumbled Tasuki. "He’s smart. You…" He groaned as he sat up, holding his head. "You…you called me ‘Tasuki.’ No one calls me that. How did…." He stopped himself. How did he know?? Because he KNEW Tasuki…he KNOWS me……Does he remember? DOES he??!

Horyuu shrugged, suddenly uncomfortable. "I dunno. You know, there was a Shichiseishi called Tasuki? He had red hair. My father saw him once, during the war with Kutou. He said Tasuki was a guy with fangs and red hair. So you kind of look like him, I guess…"

"He won’t do it again," Kentoku said quickly. "Genrou. He won’t do it again. He didn’t mean to make you angry."

The other boy’s lavender eyes widened in alarm, as if he hadn’t considered the possibility. He shot a nervous look at his friend, then went back to regarding the red-haired bandit warily.

"No…no," Tasuki said. "It’s all right." After all we’ve done for them, they still don’t trust me?! "Actually, I….I think…I’d like it if you’d call me Tasuki."

Horyuu’s eyes grew even larger. "Really?…You sure you don’t mind?"

"Hey. Anything’s better than bein called ‘Mr. Wolf Fang Man,’" he growled. "I mean, how’d you like it if I started callin ya ‘Little Mole Boy,’ or somethin?!"

"Tasuki!" The child was practically bouncing with excitement. "Can we pretend you’re the real Tasuki??? We can pretend we’re Suzaku no Shichiseishi going to Kutou to fight!! Ken-chan and I do it all the time, but now we’ve got you and we’re really going to Kutou!"

Tasuki looked over at Kentoku, slightly overwhelmed. "You two… pretend you’re Shichiseishi?"

Kentoku looked slightly embarrassed, but Horyuu nodded vehemently, grinning.

He cleared his throat, feeling distressingly maudlin. "Ah…so……who do you pretend to be?" As if I didn’t already know the answer…just need to hear them say it…

But the response was…rather different than he’d expected. "Ken-chan’s Tamahome, and I’m Mitsukake! He’s so cool!" Horyuu raised his hand up dramatically and struck a heroic pose. "GREAT HEALING POWERRRRR!!!!!!"

Tasuki blinked. "M-Mitsukake?…"

"He could heal anything!! He just held up his hand and did it! I wish I had his power, then I could save people who were sick or hurt in a war or hit by c-carts and, and he had a cat, too, and I like cats."

The golden-eyed boy shot Tasuki a sympathetic look. "Um, he…really gets into it," he mumbled.

To someone who had known who the two children really had been, it was bizarre, to say the least, to hear that they had pretended to be other members of the group. But the more Tasuki thought about it, the more it made sense. Nuriko probably would have loved to have had Mitsukake’s powers instead of his own; that way, he could have healed his sister, and saved himself a lot of trauma and guilt…Hotohori, likewise, would have enjoyed being the one who, in the end, wound up with the woman he loved.

As they headed out once more, he came to the tentative conclusion that Horyuu and Kentoku didn’t really remember their past lives, but that they thought, acted, and felt the same as the men they had once been….that’s what the soul was, after all, wasn’t it? The way you felt…the way you lived.

Chichiri, he thought, should I tell them? Should I help them remember? Do you know the answer any better than I do? I hope so…I hope so.

~*~

The huge boy stood before Kouji, eyes wise and solemn.

"You know why I want you, and not someone else?" the blue-haired bandit asked.

With a nod, the boy replied, "Because I’m big, and strong…and Rishun doesn’t know me."

"Shi," Kouji said seriously, "I won’t lie to you; this could be dangerous. Rishun isn’t what one would call a particularly nice guy. But you have the look of the type he’s recruiting, and you have the intelligence we need to be able to find out what he’s up to without him getting wind of it. You can refuse, and no one’ll think the worse of you, least of all me."

"I’ll do it." Shi gave a slight nod. "Of course, I’ll do it; my debt will be paid."

~*~

With a jolt, Chiyu sat up in bed, a feeling of urgency tugging at his heart. He looked quickly over at his sister in the bed across from him; she still slept soundly, peaceful, angelic.

There’s somewhere I need to go, he thought in confusion. There’s somewhere I need to be.

And then, in a sudden flash, the answer came.

~*~

Looking down upon the sleeping town of Manpei, Rishun laughed quietly to himself. They won’t have any idea, he mused, they’ll be so surprised, they won’t know what hit them…we’ll take them. We’ll take them all..

The laughing mouth twisted into a sneer, and with a single, silent, sharp movement, he motioned for his men to move in.

TBC…

Who is Chiyu????? Who is Shi???? What the heck do they have to do with anything????? …I’m just trying to make the plot thicken and the Respected Readers curious…did it work? ^_^

Final Question: What the heck does ‘Ternate’ mean, anyway???!!! ….Well, I’ll tell ya!! It means "Three-fold" or "Tripartite…" but I didn’t want to call Chapter Three "Three-fold Journey," and "Tripartite" would sound…I dunno…too Roman, or something. SO, thanks to my special friend the Mircrosoft Word Thesaurus, I have learned a useful new word!! Expand your vocabulary: try to use ‘Ternate’ in normal conversation at least five times today. ~.^;; or maybe not. ^_^ j/k. Thanks for reading!