Welcome to Gaia! ::

::Outwardly, Nakago was refuting Byakko, despising Byakko, contesting Byakko...But inside...even the mighty shogun, was fleeing. Of all the power and unexpected events...the Shrine of Seiryuu would be a sanctuary. Nakgo doubted than any of the other dieties would make their prescence known directly in one of the other temples. And thus he had swept past, having exhausted his won abilities in contesting, fleeing to the temple, while still holding his proud guise. Having Tomo lead Byakko would accomplish two things, First, not leaving the task to Nakago, as he would not have held up to do so, especially how the diety had "attacked" him, and second, it would pull Tomo away from the shrine, and he would be less likely to see him in uch a state. Even though he knew Tomo knew more than anoy of the others...more than any other living being perhaps, it was still an issue of pride.::

::The shrine doors remained open until Byakko's last words to him had been spoken, and then with a thundering sound, they closed, and as they did, Nakago faltered and fell to his knees in front of the great statue to Seiryuu. A few of the words stayed with him...::

'But to abuse your miko is another, she is weak already and without love and care she may not live to complete all three of her wishes.'

::This was something that he could not refute, outside of his own emotional struggle. Kutou needed her for it's salvation...and so too did he need her...without her...all this was for nothing...and this weighed heavily on his proud shoulders::

::A dark shroud seemed to envelope him as his mind, body, emotions, and very soul fought within::

::Tomo nodded in reply to Byakko's thanks. His mind wandered from Tatara to Byakko himself, and that strange smile he wore. He contemplated what kind of thoughts were masked by such a smile, but he too quickly reached the exit. Tomo lead the way down the stairs, and bowed so as to indicate that this was as far as he would go.::

::Tomo said nothing as he returned to the palace, Byakko's final words to him playing over and over again in his mind.::

Do be careful... of what?

::In his heart, Tomo already had an answer. Be careful of your own ego, your own ambitions. Be careful of Nakago, he will extort everything you are for his own purposes. Tomo frowned slightly; he already knew all this. He knew exactly what Nakago wanted out of him, and he was willing to give it all up for him. In the end, Tomo was so starved for someone to understand him, he would do anything to stay beside the one person who did. It was true, he knew all of Nakago's secrets, and Nakago knew little of Tomo's history. Even still, the connection was there. Both seishi had faced the dirty streets of Kutou, lived amongst the corruption and despair. They both had struggled, each in their own ways, to overcome that which threatened to overwhelm their own forsaken souls. And there they were, two completely different people, who were very much the same. That was not something Tomo could so easily give up. But then his mind went to Tatara. That young man and his god had stirred up so many doubts in him, Tomo began to wonder; was it possible there was someone else in this cursed world who could understand him? Could that Byakko seishi share his pain? The possibility was not something Tomo cared to aknowledge, but he could not deny that his curiosity was aroused. The lad was an enigma to him, and Tomo hated being ignorant of anything so aesthetically pleasing. He wanted to find out more about the young man... but that was impossible. He had duties, to Seiryuu, to the Miko, to the Shogun...::

::Tomo sighed and pushed the conflicting thoughts out of his mind. When he glanced around, he noticed that his feet had taken him back to the shrine. A nervous looking servant was there, holding his decorative headpiece. Tomo took the crown, dismissed the frightened fellow, and carefully placed the adornment on his head, shifting his long ponytail. He sunk back into the comfort of the shadows, patiently waiting, as always, for Nakago's orders.::

::Nakago remain motionless, knwoing it would not be long before Tomo returned, he needed to be in control of himself when that happened. The Byakko's all gone...Avatar and Seishi, the power of Nakago surged out and back into place, protecting Kutou Palace, Looming ominously at the great seals of the City, and in greater force concerning Lady Yui. Not in an effort to overwhelm her, but precautionary, and perhaps to give her strenght...The more she "felt" of him with her, or around her, the better. This was good...for it allowed him to focus his mind elsewhere than where Byakko had lead him, back to his duties...and that which was at hand. He caught hint of Tomo on his return trip and took in a deep breath, but the dark shroud had still not adequetly abated::

Nakago did not realize it at first, but the dark shroud plauging his soul was matched by a physical manifestation of darkness. Swirling around his form it began, then sloly, it began to take form, visually, if not truly physically. It formed the shape of an AEthereal hand...Pale skin and long claw like sharp black nails...the hand had fully visibly materialzed by Tomo's return, and he would no doubt see it...and it could be seen...running along Nakago's back, Until only a finger seemed to be tracing down his spine.through his armor..through his back, into his very being. Then it began to draw back and shrink in size...shedding its Aethereal nature and solidifying. The hand then drwe back more, reducing to the size of a normal hand, and then "growing seemingly from darkness, an arm to match it...long, sleek, pale until the shroud of a long cloak began to form. The arm then seemed to "attach itself to the darkness, from whence stepped an ominous figure who cared not what sacred ground he stood upon, so long as he had the power to do so..and he did. A figure garbed in black and purples, an ornate crest upon his head, from which flowed LONG silver hair flowing with his cloak, and peircing eyes...::

::The figure stepped oout of the shadows and then rested his hand, physically upon Nakago's shoulder as Naakgo had begun to rise with Tomo's return::

::Nakago froze midrise, and the shroud threatening his very soul darkened and thickened::

"Tenkou..."

((Hmm..Seems the fellow Suzakus have died...))

::Tomo raised an eyebrow. Tenkou? Here? Things had become maddeningly complicated, and this was the icing on the proverbial cake. Tomo shifted his weight slightly, and silently contemplated just what this could mean for the Seiryuu.::

[***The Secret of the Earring - Part One***]



The earring was more than met the eye, and provided exactly as Tenkou had said for a brief flash of white light appeared down thhe corridor, a few metres away from the temple itself. Somebody had teleported in and hadn't bothered to mask their trail - they had either forgotten or considered it unnecessary but whatever it was, it was there.

Truth be told, it was Tokaki and as he dusted himself down he took a few moments to glance around just to make sure he had gotten to the right place. Upon seeing the chains coiled around the pillar; he knew he had, and calmly approached them, having careful consideration to make sure his body language held no threat. He had to find that earring, something in Tatara's eyes had shown that it was a little like a matter of life and death...

"Come on..." He whispered, more of a mumble under his breath, turning his gaze to the ground as he concentrated on the task at hand. Quite frankly if anyone decided to interrupt him now he wouldn't be in the mood to talk, he would be more inclined to ignore them - his search was more important and he should have been able to see the earring a mile off, after all he was young and his eyes were good. The sun was also high in the sky so it should have caused the earring to glisten...

...But it seemed it was nowhere to be found, could it have slipped down a crack, or could it have been moved? The very thought of this made his blood run cold, if that was the case then how in the name of Byakko was he meant to get it back peacefully (provided it hadn't been pawned or destroyed...if it was destroyed then there would be problems).

"Oi..." Tokaki sighed heavily as he brushed a hand through the short and rather messy locks of silver hair, his limbs were tired and he was somewhat disorientated from the travelling - hot and cold temperature changes were easy to deal with gradually, but not suddenly and he'd borught no travel robes. "I should've known this would happen."

He grunted at this and calmed his thoughts as he closed his eyes for a few moments before reopening them, focus, focus...it couldn't have gone far and what would he say it was for if somebody else had it? How would he persuade them to return it...?

Somehow, he thought he already knew.


|ooc: If you find it would be easier to start playing some of the Suzaku seven then I would say go for it, they have been very quiet as of late|