Disclaimer: --;

Warnings: Shounen ai, Tasuki language, melodrama, philosophical nerdiness.

Notes: Hiiiii!! Ahhh, I’m sorry I haven’t posted more frequently! ^^;; Anyway…here’s more Y.A.S., hope you guys like it. ^^;;

Special Note: Mouse-chan is going to work on Sunday, June 2^nd! I don’t know how much I’ll be able to write before then, but hopefully, I’ll get at least another chapter out… I can never be sure about the writing situation, though, so just in case, here’s the 411: starting this Sunday, I’m going to be working at a camp. That means I’ll be gone for a month and a half with little or no computer access. **cries** Which, naturally, means I won’t be posting anything during that time. But you can be sure I’ll be writing during whatever free time I have! And you guys can write to me, if you want! I’ll even write back! If you want to write me a letter and brighten my day, email me and I’ll hook you up with my camp address. ^__^ Anyway, just thought y’all might wanna know. ^_^

We stared at the yellow-haired police sergeant who’d just told us to talk, and collectively realized that we had no idea what in the name of the Four Gods and their respective tails we were going to say. Planning in this instance had been relatively nonexistent, at least in an ensemble kind of way, as I think we had all been too preoccupied with our own thoughts to really formulate anything solid. Personally, I felt that grabbing him by the neck and physically forcing his past into his head seemed like a pretty good idea.

Apparently, though, Myojuan had different, more civilized ideas.

"We’ve met before," he said, still calm. "Do you remember?" It amazed me that he could keep control of himself when confronting someone like this, the man who had caused so much destruction…At first, I admired him for it, but then…I started feeling angry. This was Nakago, after all!! Why were we treating him with any respect at all?? He didn’t deserve this sort of gentleness, not from us, not from the very people he had hurt the most!

Nakago did not move, arms still folded across his broad chest. He gave my friend a measured look before responding. "I’ve known many people over the course of my life, as one might imagine. It’s possible that we’ve met, but no, I don’t remember."

"You’re lying," I said under my breath. "You recognize us." I know I shouldn’t have said anything, but it felt like I would swell up and explode if I didn’t; his icy eyes shifted to me, and I had to force myself not to cringe. Make no mistake, the guy was intimidating.

"I’ve already said as much. You and Mr. Kou were here in October. Your friend, though, I can’t say I’ve encountered. I don’t mean to be rude, but I do have work to do, so if you people could ask me whatever it is you would like to ask me, it would be appreciated."

"That’s not what I meant," I shot back, despite Sai’s anxious tugging on my arm, trying to get me to stop. "You looked at Sai and you recognized him, I know you did; which is only common courtesy, I suppose, since you killed him."

He raised pale, slender eyebrows at me.

"Ryuuen," said Sai in a low voice, in a tone that plainly said, "Step away from the conversation before you hurt yourself."

"I honestly haven’t the slightest idea what you’re talking about," Nakago said, and I hated the fact that he, too, could remain calm through all this, and I could not. "I’m very sorry. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I really think you all ought to…"

Then came the laughter, blunt and mirthless and dangerous, making us all turn to search for its source. I don’t know exactly why, but it sent shivers up my spine when I found that it was coming from my best friend.

When I turned to see him, Gen-chan was shaking his head, eyes closed, still laughing; when we had all fallen silent, he raised his eyes to Nakago’s, and they seemed to glow with hatred.

"Lucky you," he said with false affability. "If what you say is true, you got the fuckin sweet end of the sucker, sucker. Fuckin kill all those people and not even fuckin acknowledge it, no memories to haunt ya, so you claim, you fuckin bastard. You really fuckin lucked out, didn’t you?"

"If you all leave immediately, we’ll forget this ever happened," our enemy stated coolly. "That’s a lot more than you would get with another…"

"Not gonna happen, motherfucker," Gen-chan spat, the fake humor gone. "There are better people than you who remember every little fuckin piece of wrong they ever did, and they’re still suffering for it! Better people than you remember all the fuckin torture you put them through, so don’t you fuckin tell me you don’t remember doin it, cuz there ain’t no justice in the entire fuckin universe if it’s true!"

"Tasuki," growled Myojuan, a gentle rumble that somehow seemed to pierce through the shouting.

"Please," said Sai, his voice still even, one hand wrapped around my arm, "I know we aren’t approaching this well, but please understand, it’s on rather short notice. It’s urgent. We need your help; we need you, Seiryuu no Shichiseishi Nakago."

Nakago glared. "You insist on calling me that. If that’s who you’re looking for, then you’re in the wrong place."

"It’s you," Sai rebutted, in that same smooth-but-firm tone. "I know it sounds insane, but please…you have to listen to us. You were the head general of a country called Kutou; you were also a chosen servant of Seiryuu, the Dragon God of the East."

The yellow-haired man shook his head, keeping his eyes straight. "I don’t know what you’re talking about. I repeat, leave now, or I will have you arrested."

"Why did you let Genrou go, then?" I exclaimed, furious at his stubbornness, too wrapped up in that emotion to remember that if it had been anyone else, I would completely understand the skepticism. "Why did you let him go, without any questions at all, if you didn’t remember who he had been? You knew how he started that fire, didn’t you?? You knew it was him…but you let him go! You let him go…"

No. No; this is the man who killed Hotohori-sama. This is the man who tried to rape Miaka, who turned Tama-chan against us and sent Amiboshi to stop the summoning of Suzaku and manipulated Yui-chan and…

I reminded myself of that fact as I watched him, my fists clenched along with my jaw; I felt a dull pain in both palms, but ignored it, kept my eyes glued to him in case he tried anything. I had no idea what he was capable of; I’d never met him face to face, when we were both alive.

He was good-looking, I guess, if you went for that sort of thing. He was tall, only a few inches shorter than Myojuan, with a long, pale face and yellowish hair cut short; his eyes were sky blue and red around the rims, as if he had spent the day reading.

They weren’t evil eyes. They were hard and unwavering, but not evil, and I desperately wanted them to be evil. I wanted to hate him, and I wanted to have a good reason to do so. Most of me knew that I shouldn’t, that I had given Kaen a second chance after learning about their past affiliations. True, it was a new life, like Sai had said back at the house. A new life meant new circumstances, and new circumstances, if one were to follow the logic of John Locke, would mean Nakago was not the same person he’d been in the book.*

But he shared the same soul as that person. And therefore, he had the potential to be as evil as he’d ever been before. He was dangerous, and we needed to watch him carefully.

He still hadn’t said anything in response to the reminder of the whole thing with Genrou, and I took that as a good sign. He knew something was up, all right; for a split second, his eyes had flickered again with memory and uncertainty. But then, infuriatingly, he shook his head again. "There’s no way he could have started that fire from that distance…"

"But you know he did," said Sai. "You might not understand how you know, but you do."

"So stop with the fuckin denial," Gen-chan growled.

"No," said Nakago firmly, as if trying to convince himself that his instincts were wrong. "No. You’re really wearing my patience thin." He moved a hand over his desk, and I realized he was heading toward a smooth, red button…maybe some kind of intercom, maybe an alarm, to alert any other policemen who might be there of our presence. "Either you get the hell out, and take your insane bullshit with you, or…"

What happened next was almost too quick for me to understand. One moment, the sergeant was hovering over the button; the next, there was a curse-like roar, and Genrou had zipped across the room and socked him in the face. Nakago’s head snapped back with the force of it, surprise etched on his face; he couldn’t have seen Gen-chan coming, not with that Seishi Speed of his. Raising his hands to defend himself from another blow, there was a sudden burst of blue…and something like a smooth, round, blue fireball burst forth from the policeman’s palms. It slammed directly into my best friend’s chest, sending him flying across the room and ramming him against the cement wall with a sickening crunch. I was so surprised, I couldn’t even scream when I saw Genrou’s body, crushed and burned and bleeding, slide to the ground.

I started wheezing in panic, tried to race over to his side, but Sai held me back, sturdy as a tree; he shoved me behind him and kept himself facing Nakago. I didn’t look at either of them. All I saw was the blood running from the corner of Genrou’s mouth in a thick, dark line, running down to wash over those silly bead necklaces he always wore, staining them, clotting around them; the awkward angle of his neck, his head hanging limply to one side; the tatters of his shirt over his burned chest…I could smell cloth and skin and blood burning, and my stomach heaved, and I probably would have thrown up if I would have eaten anything. His eyes had slid shut…and then Myojuan’s back was between us, blocking my view; I wanted to grab Sai’s arm and pry myself free, but I couldn’t move. I couldn’t do anything.

I was vaguely aware of footsteps, of strange voices shouting questions, the click of metal. And then Nakago’s voice, which I recognized, saying something firm…and the footsteps paused, then retreated; more voices, fading away…and then Myojuan stepped back, and I broke free of Sai’s hold.

Gen-chan was still on the ground, and I fell roughly to my knees beside him; his forehead was creased, but the blood was gone…the burns were gone, even his clothes were clean…well, as clean as they ever were, anyway.

"Fuck," he groaned, wincing as he rubbed the side of his neck, and I put my arms around him shakily, unable to do much else. Patting my head clumsily, he let out a sigh. "Fuck, Ryuuen…I’m okay. Don’t fuckin start cryin again, okay? I’m okay."

I nodded, making myself swallow the fear that had surrounded my heart—which was beating about ten times faster than normal—and turning to look at Sai and Nakago.

The former shogun of Kutou had one hand to his forehead, and was studying the other in confused trepidation. Even as I watched, I saw the hand tremble, and he slowly closed it into a fist; when he removed the hand from his brow, letting his arm fall to his side, there was a gentle blue glow coming from his forehead, exactly the place where Tamahome had his symbol. He remained staring at his fist for a long while before raising his eyes. They were horrified.

"I…" he said hoarsely. "I didn’t…"

"He’s fine," Sai said gently, referring to Gen-chan, of course. "It was a reflex. That’s all. Not your fault."

Nakago took a breath, and I could see him trying to process everything, his eyebrows lowering into a worried frown. The hand returned to his forehead, resting there as if he had a headache. "I’m sorry, I don’t know how I…"

"Fuck, man," Gen-chan muttered. "You’re fuckin shakin…ya look like shit. You okay?" It took me longer than it should’ve to realize he was talking to me, and when I finally did, I gave a quick nod; Sai had taken a step toward Nakago, who still looked confused, and set a hand on his shoulder.

"Come with us," he said. "You can’t pretend it didn’t happen; we can explain things, maybe fill in some memories for you…all right?"

"I can’t," was his automatic reply. He sounded distant, detached…like he wasn’t really there. "I can’t just leave. I have to stay here, it’s my job."

Sai looked at him for a moment, then nodded. Stepping over to the desk, he took one of the black and gold pens from a coffee cup full of them, tore off a yellow post-it note from a nearby stack, and scrawled something on it. He handed it to Nakago, who accepted it rather dazedly.

"Whenever you’re done with work, please come see us. Something very important has transpired, and we need you…what’s your name, sir?"

The man tore his eyes from the paper, fixing Sai with a slightly hesitant, sheepish smile. "Ayuru," he said, dream-like. "Ayuru Gi."

I fell asleep in the car on the way home. Myojuan had been exhausted from the healing, and had needed the support of his own patient while walking back to the car; so, Sai had insisted on driving home. I’d needed a fair amount of help myself; I was tired and getting over being terrified for Gen-chan’s life and confused about whether I should open my mind to Nakago or not, and my stomach felt like it was eating itself. I didn’t want anyone to help me, but Sai, of course, didn’t listen.

I awoke maybe two minutes away from the house to find that, although I had been all the way over on the left-hand side of the back seat, I had somehow scooted to the middle and was now cuddling up to Gen-chan. How the hell had that happened??!?! I didn’t remember moving at all!! Maybe it was some sort of magnet thing in me. Always gotta find someone to cuddle. Gahh, I’m such a freak.

Gen-chan, for his part, had adopted a "grin-and-bear-it" policy. Okay, so he wasn’t exactly grinning; it was more like a grimace.

I weighed the situation in my mind. If I let him know I was awake, he’d be pretty embarrassed, I thought. I don’t know what the difference would be, but for some reason, he’d get all gruff and pretend he was just about to shove me across the car, or something. If I pretended I was still asleep, then he’d think I didn’t know about the somnambulistic hugging that had been going on, and he’d take me in and everything would be fine. BUT. If he took me in, he’d have to carry me! And that would be weird…well, naturally, I wouldn’t mind it if I were asleep, but I wouldn’t know better.

Therefore.

The thing to do, I decided, was to get Sai to carry me. That way, I could "wake up" immediately, and no one would be embarrassed: me because I could wake up before the actual carrying took place, Sai because he was my boyfriend, and Genrou because he will have thought I was asleep and didn’t know about the glomping.

But how the heck was I going to make sure that Sai tried to pick me up?!

Maybe Gen-chan would call for Sai automatically! That would work nicely, I thought.

However, when we pulled into the garage, Genrou—grumbling a little—looped his arm around me and went through the Just-About-To-Pick-Me-Up motions. Not knowing how else to avoid it, I decided to take drastic action.

My eyes still shut, hoping he’d believe I was still asleep, I squirmed away. "Saiiiii…" I said in a faux-sleepy voice, hoping my friend would take the hint.

Aww, you’re so freakin cute, I said to myself wryly, unamused by my own tactics. But hey, ends vs. means here, thank you, Mr. Machiavelli.

However, the bricks in Gen-chan’s head were apparently more plentiful than usual, because he only let out a small curse and tried again. Mildly irritated, I reached out a "sleepy" arm and swatted him this time, and made my "Saaaiii!" a little whinier.

"Gahhh!" he said grumpily as I whacked him in the face, and dove back in for a third attempt. More than a bit put out at this—I mean, get a clue, Gen-chan!! What did I have to do, send him a memo??—I really let him have it this time, lashing out with my foot and colliding neatly with his stomach, sending him crashing into something… probably the wall of the garage.

Oops.

"Genrou? What are you doing?" Sai asked, incredulity in his voice.

Ranting something about binding me hand and foot, I heard Genrou’s (loud) footsteps stomp over to the door. I winced a little at the accident, but managed to appear like I was just waking up as I felt Sai approach my door.

"Hi," he said quietly as I sat up.

"Hi," I replied, yawning. It wasn’t a fake yawn, either. Less than three hours of sleep, no food, and emotional trauma did not a lively Ryuu-chan make.

"Pizza sound good to you?"

Pizza…mmmmmm…melted cheese, tomato sauce, grease and salt and ohhhhhh, yummmm… My stomach growled, twisting up until it really started to hurt; I wrapped an arm around myself and smiled sheepishly at the noise it made. "Breadsticks, buffalo wings, and chocolate cake into the bargain?" I suggested, only half kidding.

He chuckled, offering me his hand. "Are you intending to challenge Miaka to an eating contest?"

"I feel like I could kick her butt at the moment," I admitted, letting him pull me up easily. He laughed again, his arm around my shoulder as we headed toward the door.

"Sai?" I said quietly as he reached for the doorknob.

"Hm?"

"Do you think N… Do you think Ayuru will really come?" I wondered what would happen if he didn’t, if he was too scared, or something. Not having his power on our side was one thing, but what if Miboshi tried to get him, too, and succeeded? I still wasn’t sure what to make of the guy, still trying to reconcile his past and present in my mind…but I did know that we needed him.

Sai held the door open for me, ushering me into the warmth of the house. "I hope he comes," he sighed. "I hope he does. But there’s no way of knowing, really, is there? We’ll just have to cross our fingers…"

*Philosophical Lesson of the Day: John Locke (1632-1704) was an English philosopher who denied the insinuation that humans were born with certain innate ideas; he argued that the mind at birth was like a blank slate, and experience determined what ideas we had, etc. This also applies to the question of whether men are born good or evil; according to Locke, the answer is neither: such a thing is determined by the experiences they have throughout their lives. (Pretty logical, ne?) SO, therefore, since Nakago Incarnate did not (presumably) deal with the same abuse/trauma/etc. as his former life, he wouldn’t share the same personality as Nakago The First.

Rousseau: No, no, no! It’s a lie! Human beings are born good! It is the eeeeeeevil of the world that corrupts them!

Mouse-chan: **pats him on the back** Okay, okay, Jean-Jacques. I know. And to an extent, I agree with you.

Rousseau: But you appear to have sided with the unaffiliated Englishman over there. **sniff** I feel so betrayed.

Mouse-chan: Look; let’s just go to a café and argue about the education system, okay?

Rousseau: **sniff** Very well…but I’d really rather go to your place to watch some anime.

Mouse-chan: Ehhh…really?

Rousseau: Indeed. I’m a great fan of Gundam Wing. **brings out his Gundam Deathscythe Hell Custom action figure and flies it around the room** Wahahahaha!!

Mouse-chan: ~.^;;;;;;;;;

Voltaire: **raises hand** Ooh! Ooh! I like Zechs Merquise!

Diderot: Boo! Royalist scum!! Long Live Quatre!

Voltaire: It’s just a show, Denis. It doesn’t mean I have changed my views on life.

Diderot: Ah, go satirize something.

Nuriko: **coming in with a tray of cookies** Maaa, maaaa…everyone calm down! There will be no discussion of revolutionary ideals until Gundam Wing is over!