Disclaimers: I wonder, can I own their incarnations without owning them? **scratches head**

Warnings: Here is a ternate warning that I shall present in a very ternate manner: One, the ternate journey is no longer ternate, but, by the end of the chapter, perhaps more than ternate. Two, the story itself is no longer ternate, because naturally, this is Chapter Four. Three, outside of this silly Warning, the word ternate is not used once in the entire chapter. If you think you can survive without anything being ternate, then by all means, continue reading. If not, you may choose to keep this story in its ternate form simply by not reading past the third chapter.

Lesson of the Day: Purple Mouse thinks she’s really funny by actually attempting to use the word "ternate" like she joked everyone should do back at the end of Chapter Three. However, she is not funny, but rather, deeply troubled and in need of serious help. ^_^ Anyhoo, thanks for reading! Hope you guys like it!

"And so, the lesson is that, ultimately, good will always triumph over evil, na no da," said the teacher at the front of the run-down building. "The Four Gods are equally powerful, no da…but they are neither good nor evil, no da. When it comes down to it, it’s the men who follow the Gods that can be cruel." He looked around at his ragged students, inwardly noting that their number had been dwindling in the past few days. "Are there any questions, no da?"

Several hands were raised, eager faces shone up at him. Smiling, Chichiri nodded at a little girl with green eyes.

"So if good always wins, does that mean the people here were evil during the war?" she asked shyly.

"No, not at all, no da," the monk told her kindly. "Sometimes it only takes one or two evil men to make hundreds of people suffer, na no da." He scanned the room again, and was about to call on a tall young man with scabs on his face, when he spotted movement from the back of the room.

It was a small boy, thin and pale, dressed in a dirty, torn tunic that might once have been gray. His hand was raised almost delicately, his yellow-gold eyes staring up at Chichiri with an almost profound sadness.

"Euh, Gen’ei?" Chichiri motioned for him to speak, more than slightly astonished to see the child volunteering. He didn’t think he’d ever heard his voice; the priest who ran the shabby orphanage from whence his schoolhouse of ragamuffins came had had similar luck with the lad.

Gen’ei lowered his hand slowly, blinking as though startled to be noticed. When it was carefully folded in his lap, he took a few deep breaths before he asked his question. "What…what if you don’t know you’re evil?"

Somewhere, far away, a cow bell rang, calling to the children that it was time for the noon meal. With a few words, Chichiri dismissed them; but Gen’ei stayed after the others had left, as the monk had somehow known he would.

The boy’s eyes had closed, and he squeezed his hands together. "I’m sorry, I didn’t mean…"

"No, it’s all right, no da," Chichiri assured him gently, moving to the back of the school to sit on the bench beside him. "I’m just not sure if I know what you mean, no da."

"I-I mean," Gen’ei began, his voice shaking a tiny bit, "what if…what if someone thought he was doing the right thing…but then it turned out that he’d been fooled all along? Would he be…would he be evil?"

Overcoming his surprise at the unexpected query, Chichiri reached out and put a hand on the boy’s shoulder. "Gen’ei…I don’t know quite what you’re thinking, no da," he said carefully, "but I would hope that such people would be forgiven, no da."

Gen’ei stiffened, then rose slowly. "I think…you’re wrong, Sensei," he said sadly.

Then, without another word, he turned and stepped out the door, leaving a somewhat disturbed monk behind him.

~*~

The city stood before them in near-shambles, the streets littered with rubble and filth.

"Are you sure your friend lives in Kutou?" Horyuu whispered loudly.

"I’m sure, dammit!!" Tasuki bellowed. Because he would’ve told me if he was going somewhere else; I’m sure of it. But if the entire city was like this, he couldn’t imagine Chichiri living there for two whole years! "Whatever happened to the freakin rebuilding that was supposed to happen here?!"

"I don’t think it worked," frowned the purple-haired boy.

"No shit."

"The emperor must not be very effective," said Kentoku. "It’s been twelve whole years since the war. I bet if Emperor Boushin were the Emperor of Kutou, he would have fixed everything."

"Hn," said Tasuki. "Yeah…for a kid, he’s done a pretty good job of…" Holy crap! Boushin’s his SON!!! "Of, uh, doing stuff," he finished weakly.

Kentoku shot him a look, raising a slim eyebrow.

"Well…c’mon," Tasuki muttered, nudging his horse forward.

"He’s kinda weird, but he’s funny!" Horyuu giggled quietly to his friend. "I like him! Don’t you like him, Ken-chan?"

At the gates, Tasuki attempted to convince the guards that they were just visiting a friend…which was true, after all. The hardened men were nonetheless skeptical at first, but relented when the bandit pointed out the innocent faces of the children. Kentoku just sat there calmly, but Horyuu played the part perfectly, flashing giant, lavender puppy eyes to the guard and rubbing them with his small fist.

"Aniki, I’m TI-urrrrd!!! Will we be there soon?"

That made the senior guard smile slightly—the expression looked strange on his serious, severe face—and jerked his head toward the city. "Why you wanna bring kids in here is beyond me," he said, "but…go on in, if it’s that important."

"Nice job," Tasuki congratulated under his breath as they entered.

Horyuu gave him a huge grin and winked.

"I should have contributed," said Kentoku. "I’m very cute."

Forcing himself (with difficulty) not to roll his eyes, Tasuki peered up and down the unkempt streets before him. Now, if I were a weird monk with blue hair, where would I be?…

"So where does your friend live?" Horyuu wondered. "I hope his house isn’t one of these that fell down."

"Heh heh…he’s right…ahhh…." Right, left, straight? Right, left, straight? "Right down this way!!" He steered his horse to the left, hoping that, somehow, the blind decision was based on some sort of psychic connection he might possibly share with his fellow shichiseishi. An easier, more foolproof method, of course, would be to stand in his stirrups, scream "CHICHIRI!!! WHERE ARE YOU??!!" at the top of his lungs, and wait for the freaking monk to come to him; however, unfortunately, such a tactic did not seem at all practical, and might win them a good deal of negative attention.

All he could do was hope he would be lucky.

~*~

Three hours later, he was really pissed off.

"Maybe he moved," Kentoku suggested.

"Gahhhhhh, no!! He would’ve told me if he’d left Kutou!!" Tasuki insisted. "Ah, dammit, Chichiri!!!!"

"His name’s Chichiri? Is that really his name?" Horyuu was bouncing again. "Or is it just a nickname, like we call you Tasuki, Tasuki?"

"Tasuki!!!!" hissed a voice.

"All right, all right!" Tasuki exclaimed. "Ya don’t have to keep demonstratin, okay??"

"TASUKI, no da!!!" the voice came again.

"Dammit, what did I just…" He paused in mid-rant, mouth hanging open. "Euhh??"

Kentoku cleared his throat, raised a hand, and pointed to the house behind the red-haired bandit. "Someone’s calling you."

Twisting on his horse, Tasuki turned to see a familiar, blue-haired figure standing in the doorway of the small home.

"Ch-Chichiri!"

"Tasuki, what do you think you’re doing, screaming my name in the street when decent people are asleep, no da?" Chichiri whispered frantically.

"Well, gee, I’ve been fine these past two years, how about you??" the bandit said with bitter sarcasm.

The monk rolled his eyes. "All RIGHT, no da…but can you try not to SHOUT, na no da?! Bring your horses around to the back, and come inside…and who’s that with you, no da?"

Tasuki gave him a small smile. "This is Kentoku…" he gestured to the golden-eyed boy, "…and this is Horyuu. I…I thought ya might like to meet ‘em."

Chichiri regarded the two children as if seeing them for the first time. After what seemed like an eternity, he said quietly, "Yes. Of course, no da…go around back and tie up your horses, and come inside…"

~*~

He had left the previous morning, without telling his parents…he would have told his sister, but he was afraid she would have gotten in trouble if she’d known anything. He was on foot, not having wanted to deprive his family of their only horse; already, his feet had begun to ache.

Have to go to Kutou…but why? Chiyu asked himself, more confused than he had ever been in his short life. Why is it so important? Why?

He got no answers, but then again, he didn’t really expect any.

I guess I’ll find out when I get there. I hope my parents don’t worry too much.

Perhaps he should have left a message, just to say he was all right…but then they could have followed him—they’d have overtaken him in no time with the horse and cart—and made him come home. And he couldn’t go back home. Whatever it was that was calling him, it was too important.

He sighed, gritted his teeth against the pain in his feet, and trudged onward into the night.

~*~

Meanwhile, in the palace of Konan, another soul was beckoned…

He couldn’t remember the other time, only that there had been another time… he had been needed, and he had come…had dropped everything and come.

In Kutou.

TBC….

Notes: Ahh, Gen’ei…The plot thickens. ^_^ Bwah hah. I’m having fun with this!! ^_^ A big thank you to everyone who’s been reviewing me!! THANK YOU!!! ^_^ (It would’ve been bigger, but I don’t wanna screw around with the font size cuz it could turn on me. So just imagine it’s really big. Or print out a sheet of paper with THANK YOU!!! written with size 72 font, and pretend it’s from me. I was thinking about hiring an airplane with a big sign behind it, but then I remembered I’m poor. ^_^ But you get the point. I really appreciate it! ^_^ ^_^