"Um... Hikaru-chan?" Makoto asked.

"Yeah?"

"Where are we going with this?"

"Uhh..."

"I think we should leave it up to Sakura."

"I'm not sure that's a good idea."

"Huh? Why?"

"Do YOU really want to hear constantly about Nuriko?"

"Point. All right then. I'll do it."

While Makoto assumed control of the keyboard, Fiboshi skipped along the road beside his beloved Yui, who was staring straight ahead, determined not to let the tailed weirdo frighten her.

"So, Yui-sama..." he started cheerfully.

She made the mistake of glancing at him.

He handed her a muffin.

She looked frightened. "What's this for?"

"I don't know!" Fiboshi said gleefully.

"Um... Hikaru-chan?"

"Yes?"

"This still isn't going anywhere. I'm going to have to take drastic measures."

"NANI?!?!"

Suddenly, the muffin seishi, the sidekick, the accountant, the red-head, the warrior miko, the bumbling idiot, the ill-clad pyromaniac, and the purple-haired- um... well... ex-cross-dresser, all appeared in front of Nakago's palace.

"Where are we?" Fiboshi asked, twitching his tail.

Miaka giggled annoyingly in a very high-pitched voice. "I don't know."

Tamahome was beating himself on the head- not with Tasuki's fan, because Fang Boy wouldn't give it to him- but with Tasuki himself.

"Tama, you %&$&$#!!" Tasuki screamed. "PUT ME DOWN!!!"

"TAMAHOMETAMAHOME!" squeaked Miaka.

"She really is annoying," announced Fiboshi.

In the dungeon, Makoto grinned impishly. Suboshi was terrified- that's hard! Why on earth had HE been chained next to her? He looked helplessly at his brother. "Aniki..." But there was no help there. Amiboshi was still bewildered at what had happened in chapter thirteen.

Suddenly, Tamahome disappeared.

"Huh?" asked the crowd in front of Nakago's palace.

Makoto shrugged. "I'll kill him later. Just get going. He's happy where he is right now."

"Tamahome?" asked Miaka, who had once again missed the explanation.

"Just go rescue us already!" yelled Makoto.

Sakura made a face. "I think Nuri-chan should rescue me."

"I think I should rescue Yui-sama!" Fiboshi joyfully proclaimed.

Hikaru said nothing, but looked at Makoto so fiercely, then to Keisuke so gently, that Makoto knew exactly what she wanted, even if she was too shy to say anything.

Makoto sighed.

"I want my Legos," added Suboshi, sniffling.

"Too late for that," said a deep voice from the cell door.

"OONNNNNIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICHAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNN!!!" shouted Makoto and tried to run and give him a hug, but discovered again that she was chained to the wall.

Nakago grimaced as he heard the castle walls rumble again.

Makoto pouted.

Nakago sighed. "Kiri, what am I going to do with you?"

"It's Makoto," she corrected.

"I can't exactly kill you," he continued, ignoring her like all big brothers are supposed to. "The rest of them are... expendable."

Makoto gave him the dirtiest look she could summon. "Oniichan, if you dare..."

He laughed. Everyone except Makoto stared at him. He could laugh?

"Yes, he can," she affirmed, glaring at them now.

"All right, Kiri," he said. "I'll let you and the Seiryuu seishi go free. Is that fair?"

"Well..."

"Makoto," Hikaru said, her voice implying all sorts of terrible things that she would do to her once she got her hands on her.

"I think there's a better solution," Makoto amended hastily.

"Which is?"

"You could let all Seiryuu seishi, authors, moon princesses, and kings of thieves go..."

He smirked. (So THAT'S where she gets it. It runs in their family!) "No."

"Oniichan... please?"

"Sorry. For the sake of the plot. Remember? Miaka-" Here he shuddered. "-has to vanquish me. Because I'm the bad guy."

"You're not bad," Makoto said, her voice filled with emotion.

He was silent, gazing at her.

"You had a bad childhood! If Miaka were dead..." Her voice trailed off as she remembered the spoilers that she wouldn't tell so she wouldn't ruin the surprise for everyone.

Nakago frowned. "Maybe you're right..."

"So you'll let us all go?"

"No."

"NANI?!?!" screamed Suboshi frantically, who wasn't in the mood to be killed.

Makoto pouted again. "That's not nice."

"Sorry. As the legal villain of this parody, I have to threaten to kill you all, then reveal my heinous plan right before I'm vanquished when it seems I can't possibly lose."

"Oh, yeah..." all the characters said slowly.

Hikaru snatched the keyboard from Makoto. If she let Makoto keep it, Nakago's evil plans would involve locking Makoto and Amiboshi together and forgetting about everyone else.

Makoto crossed her arms and pouted. "So?"

Nakago flung his blond hair out of his face, revealing that he actually did have two eyes. "I have kidnapped Hotohori's...daughter to lure Miaka: Warrior Miko here." He shuddered at the thought of Miaka being in his fortress. "Once she is here, I will capture her and kill her! Then I'll take the rest of her mismatched band of followers and kill-"

"ONIICHAN!" Makoto warned.

Nakago coughed. "And lock them up until I find out what to do with them?"

Makoto STILL didn't look satisfied.

"I'll lock them up UNTIL they promise to become my slaves forever!"

One more try.

"Except for Makoto..."

Another evil Death Glare (TM) from Makoto.

"And the twins?"

"Hey!" Hikaru protested.

Nakago smirked (smirk count - 45) "How's that, Kiri...uh Makoto?"

Makoto looked at Hikaru, who gave her a Super Death Glare. Being a co-author, it didn't affect her. Makoto shrugged. "Sure, that'll work!"

Hikaru caught Makoto's eyes and mouthed the words YOU’RE DEAD.

Makoto smirked (that's 46!).

Hikaru sighed, oh well, there were worse things than what was happening. She honestly couldn't recall anything at that particular moment, but there must be something. She looked to Chichiri. No help there. The monk was sobbing.

"I'll never get back to my Moon Kingdom no da! I'll never be able to reclaim my princess-hood no da! Sniffle, sniffle, sob no da!!!!!" Chichiri whimpered to himself.

Nakago looked sideways at Chichiri. "We'll have to get you therapy."

"Grrrrrr no da."

Hikaru looked to Keisuke. The King of Thieves looked beyond nervous. Hikaru didn't blame him. Well at least they'd be together... sigh... She hesitantly stopped that train of thought. It wasn't going to get her out of this mess.

"It looks like it's up to Miaka..." Hikaru trailed off.

Nakago threw back his head and laughed.

"I'm still not used to him doing that..." Suboshi said, shrinking away.

"Ehhhhhh no da," Chichiri stammered.

Amiboshi sat there and talked to himself. "I didn't really say that did I? I don't quite remember. Why'd everyone look so shocked? What happened?"

Makoto rolled her eyes and then burst out. "WHY IS THAT SO HARD TO BELIEVE?"

Nakago continued laughing, although it had long since become maniacal.

"My pizza! The delivery guy should be here any minute!" Miaka chirped.

Yui shook her head. Miaka was getting worse.

Suddenly a car pulled out of the woods. It flashed its lights and blew its horn. A young man with a blue hat on stepped out of the car carrying three pizza boxes.

"I got twelve extra cheese and meatballs (significance?) for a Warrior Miko," the youth said, looking at the crowd in front of him.

Miaka jumped up and down and skipped over to him. "Those are for me!"

The pizza guy backed away. "Yeah, okay, back off, sister."

Miaka looked perplexed. "I don't get it. You are a guy, aren't you?" Not waiting for him to answer, she started feeling his chest.

"HEY! WHAT THE @$%^$ are you doing?" the pizza guy screamed, jumping backwards and dropping the pizza.

Miaka pouted. "I don't get it. If you're a guy, you should be falling madly in love with me and promising to protect me forever."

That did it. The delivery man began running and screaming. Before he got very far though, a blue beam came out of the castle and disintegrated him. A deep voice rumbled from inside the fortress. "Can we please get on with it?"

Miaka sniffled. "But what about my pizza?"

Inside his castle, Nakago smiled and gestured with one hand. The pizzas disappeared.

"TAMAHOMETAMAHOME!!! YOU DON'T HAVE A HEAD!!!!! No wait... I mean... Hey those were mine! Give them back or I'll punish you!!" Miaka pointed her finger over her elbow.

"Come and try it, Warrior Miko!!" Nakago dared her.

"Fine, I will!" Miaka shouted back. "Who's with me?"

She turned around to find everybody gone. "HEY, NOT FAIR!'

Fine... everyone reappeared.

"I'm with you, Miaka!" Yui said, holding her staff ready for battle.

"Awwww ^&*%!!!! Do I have a choice?" Tasuki said, waddling up to Miaka.

"It's my money. I'm in," Tetsuya grumbled.

"Ohhhhh, Nuri-chan!" Sakura said, dreamily.

"Huh?"

"Nurikooooo- I mean, yeah, I'm in."

Nuriko looked sideways at the red head. "I... uh... I... uh..."

"You'll come with me, right, Nuri-chan?" Sakura asked sweetly.

"Of course. I'm in!" Nuriko said, smiling hesitantly.

"I'M WITH YUI-SAMA!!!!" Fiboshi yipped gleefully.

"You can't imagine my joy," Yui said flatly.

"Hey! That's not nice! If I had a keyboard..." he trailed off.

Yui's eyes grew wide. If he had a keyboard, she'd be in trouble.

Fiboshi was grinning from ear to ear. "Makoto and Hikaru said I could borrow the keyboard!"

Yui shrank back. From a distant place, you could hear the wild flurry of keystrokes. Suddenly Tetsuya disappeared.

"Tetsuya!!!!" Yui shrieked, almost like Miaka.

"He's gone! Now you just got me!" Fiboshi said smiling. "Hey, look, Yui-sama! your name's on the keyboard! Right there top row!!"

Yui looked at him incredulously.

"It is!" he said defensively. "Watch!"

Insanity followed after. YUI YUI YUI YUI YUI YUI YUI YUI YUI YUI YUI YUI YUI YUI YUI YUI YUI YUI YUI YUI YUI YUI YUI YUI YUI YUI YUI YUI YUI YUI YUI YUI YUI YUI YUI YUI YUI YUI YUI YUI YUI YUI YUI YUI YUI YUI YUI YUI YUI YUI YUI YUI YUI YUI YUI YUI YUI YUI YUI YUI YIU YIU UIY IYU UUI IIY YYI.

"Awwww, burnt muffins! I messed up."

"The PLOT please!!!!!" Nakago thundered. In that distant world of computers, the keyboard that controlled this particular story switched hands.

"Hey!" Sakura wanted to know. "Nakago-san, whatever did happen to those pizzas?"

Nakago laughed.

The entire group out side was dumbfounded. He could LAUGH????

Makoto growled. "Of course he can laugh!"

"Well, where DID the pizza go?" Tetsuya, who had appeared (and unharmed and unfazed, I might add!) again when Hikaru had resumed control of the keyboard, asked.

From inside the stronghold's deepest dungeon you could hear. "Mmmmmm, thanks, Oniichan!"

"Arigatou no da!" Chichiri chimed.

"Almost as good as Legos!"

"Thank you, Nakago-sama," Hikaru's voice could be heard.

"Yeah, thanks. For a bad guy, you're okay," Keisuke's voice echoed.

"Did I actually say that?" Amiboshi asked, still bewildered.

Makoto gave the world in general, a Death Glare (TM).

Hikaru laughed and smiled at Keisuke, who smiled back (hey, she had the keyboard!), and took her hand.

Suboshi laughed and gave his older brother a meaningful glare. "Aniki, you said it."

Amiboshi tried to clear his head by shaking it. No such luck. Oh, well. He decided that if he had said it, he had said it. He smiled at Makoto.

Quite satisfied with things now, Makoto dropped the Death Glare (TM) and smiled back at Amiboshi, who was still chained across from her.

"That is so not fair!" Makoto said remembering that detail.

Hikaru shrugged. "Oh well, live with it."

This earned her another Death Glare (TM).

Makoto held the glare only a moment longer, until they both collapsed into a fit of laughter, which was highly contagious.

Soon, Keisuke, Amiboshi, Suboshi and Chichiri were joining them. Then Fiboshi and Sakura began. Miaka started in on her high pitched giggle. Nuriko and Tetsuya followed suit. Tasuki swore once and joined in. Yui shook her head. "I'm scared," she said and then broke down as well. Last, but Seiryuu knows, not least, Nakago joined in. So the chapter ended with a pointless laughing fit, that lasted longer than was good for humanity in general.

Sakura looked around. Everyone was still standing around the impregnable fortress.

Fiboshi was throwing pieces of muffins at Tetsuya's back. Yui was glaring at the Muffin Seishi.

"Hey!" Fiboshi said, ceasing his barrage of muffins. "I still haven't found Muffin no Miko!"

Miaka looked up. "Well, Yui and I have already been Mikos. Nuriko is a seishi. Tetsuya's a guy. What about Sakura?"

Sakura swallowed frightened. "I, uh...."

"YEAH! THAT'D BE SPIFFY! YOU CAN BE THE MIKO!" the spazzed-out youth shouted.

Sakura hid behind Nuriko. "Save me, Nuri-chan!"

Nuriko, equally frightened, nodded. "Uhhh, okay. Go away, Fiboshi. We need to find the others and the Hotohori-sama's- sigh... oops, sorry, old habits...- kidnapped daughter."

Fiboshi shrugged. "Okay, but when it's done, will you be the Miko, Sakura?"

Sakura peeked out from behind Nuriko. "Ummm, maybe?"

"SPPPIIIIFFFFFFFFFYYYYYY!" he shrieked.

Yui cleared her throat. "Can we go?"

"Yeah," Tetsuya agreed, "we're burning money here, guys!"

"Then let's go!" Miaka said, trotting in through the front door.

"What the #^$$&%^ am I getting myself into?" Tasuki said. "Not to mention my #$%^ pants are too tight."

The small band of good guys marched into the bad guy's hideout.

Everything was quiet and dark. Suddenly, Tamahome blew up.

"Ano... excuse me, but ummm, he's not here," Yui interrupted hesitantly.

Makoto smirked.

Hikaru snapped and Makoto found herself unable to smirk.

"Hey!" Makoto yelled and furiously snapped her fingers.

Keisuke laughed and Makoto aimed a deadly glare at him. Then she changed her tactics.

"ONIICHAAAAANNNN!!!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.

He appeared from thin air. "Kiri, now what do you want?"

She was pouting. "I don't want to be chained up anymore."

He sighed. "Fine." He glanced once at her chains and they released.

She sat down on the ground and rubbed her wrists. "Thanks, Oniichan."

"Um... Nakago-san?" Suboshi ventured cautiously. Nakago had been rather weird in this parody. He was afraid to cross him.

"What?" asked Nakago.

"What about the rest of us?"

He glanced at his sister. "Well? It's up to you."

"Really?" she asked gleefully.

She glanced evilly around the room. "Well... you can unchain the twins... and the moon princess, I guess..."

She turned to Hikaru, who had just picked her head up off of Keisuke's shoulder. "Makoto..." she trailed off warningly.

"And that's all," Makoto finished cheerfully.

Nakago did not even bother to look around at the chains as they dropped off the before-named individuals.

Makoto ran up to him, but stopped short of the bars. She kissed his cheek, but had to stretch WAAAYYY up to reach it. "Thanks, Oniichan. After the parody, do you want to do with me and Amiboshi and go out for pizza?"

"Pizza?" asked Amiboshi cautiously.

"You can bring Soi..." Makoto offered. "We'll buy her a salad. Okay?"

Nakago smiled and nodded, but not condescendingly, and patted her on the head. "See you then."

He disappeared again.

Makoto returned back to her spot on the ground, sitting and leaning back against the wall.

Hikaru looked like she would have strangled her had she been in reach. "Makoto... do you realize what I am going to have to do to you now?"

Makoto shrugged. "You're next to him. He doesn't mind you at all. I wouldn't complain."

Suboshi stared. Was... was Makoto feeling... sad? She wasn't being violent at all. What was wrong?

He frowned at his brother until he noticed. 'Go talk to her,' he mouthed silently.

Amiboshi looked surprised.

Suboshi gave him a death look. It seemed the authors were rubbing off on him. But it worked.

Amiboshi- VERY cautiously- sat down beside Makoto. "Hi."

She pulled her knees up to her chest. "Hi." Without even looking at him!

He stalled. Why was he this nervous around this particular girl? She WAS violent... but he hadn't been nervous around Miaka, and she was much worse. What was it?

"I'm going to switch to the other group, okay, Hikaru-chan?" she asked in a low voice.

Hikaru nodded, confused. What was wrong with Makoto?

Makoto didn't bother snapping, but the scenery changed.

"HEY!! IT'S OUR TURN!!" Fiboshi giggled and started skipping around Yui.

"Uh... yeah..." agreed Sakura. "Now what?"

Fiboshi stopped skipping. "Uh... I think it's cameo time!"

"Huh?" asked everyone together.

He grinned. "Watch!"

Suddenly, a short girl with longish black hair appeared out of nowhere. "Huh? What am I doing here?"

Fiboshi tossed her a muffin and she caught it.

"Fiboshi-chan?" she asked, biting into the muffin.

"HI, KIMURA-CHAANNN!!" he yelled.

"Um, hi. What am I doing here?"

"It's a cameo," he explained. "Tell us a little about yourself. THAT'D BE SPIFFY!!!"

"RIGHT!" she said and threw up her fist.

Makoto, Hikaru, and Kimura started cracking up.

When she had finally calmed down noticed that everyone was looking at her strangely, she stopped laughing. "Sorry. Long story."

Fiboshi just stared.

"Is his brain gone again?" Yui asked.

"Yui-sama..." he breathed.

"What about me?" asked Kimura.

"Well, talk already!" the blue-tailed spaz replied loudly.

"Uh... okay. Well, I go to school with Kiri- uh, Makoto- and Hikaru and Sakura and Fiboshi-"

"YUP!!" Fiboshi exclaimed happily.

"Yeah. Uh... I'm madly in love with Tamahome and Tasuki, and the others aren't bad at all..."

Miaka actually glared. Something had registered.

Another short, black-haired person fell out of the sky. "Tasuki's mine!"

"Azaria?" everyone asked.

"Bye!" she yelled, running off. "I gotta go marry Tasuki!" She disappeared.

She reappeared. "Oh, wait. He's right here." She grabbed him and dragged him off.

"I HATE WOMEN!!" he yelled, but to no avail.

"Um... Fiboshi?" Kimura asked tentatively.

"Yes?" he answered, almost sanely.

"Can I go now?"

"Uh... I guess so..."

"Oh, good." She was visibly relieved. She disappeared.

"I didn't like her," Miaka announced.

"Don't worry," Fiboshi consoled her. "She's too smart for Tamahome anyway."

Miaka's eyes lit up. "Really?"

"YUP!!" Fiboshi yelled again.

"What did that have to do with anything?" Yui asked Tetsuya.

"I really don't know."

Sakura waved her arms. "Let's go back to the plot now. But I feel... I feel..."

Everyone looked at her. "What's wrong, Sakura-chan?" asked Fiboshi.

She fainted. Nuriko caught her.

"I'm not carrying her," Fiboshi announced.

Tetsuya paled. He couldn't handle carrying Sakura and fending off Fiboshi.

"I'll do it," Nuriko volunteered. "She's pretty thin, so she'll be light."

He picked her up and cradled her in his arms. "Yup, she's light."

Sakura smiled evilly to herself. What a good plan.

All together, Yui, Tetsuya, Sakura in Nuriko's arms, Miaka, and Fiboshi trooped into Nakago's castle.

"Hey, wait!" Yui interrupted. "Didn't we already march in here?"

"Yeah..." said Fiboshi. "We did."

"Oh, well," said Tetsuya. "Blame the authors."

"Well, who's at the keyboard now?" Fiboshi asked.

"It's me," Makoto replied. Everyone in the dungeon looked surprised. "Hikaru-chan had it at first for this chapter, then she let me have the power. I didn't abuse it this time."

"Oh." Fiboshi looked confused. "Well, let's get on to the next chapter, then!"

"All right," Makoto agreed, so-

Woo-hoo. What a thrill. But this is so sad for me...

It was dark inside Nakago's lair, but Yui really hadn't expected anything different.

Fiboshi lit a muffin so they could see their way.

Nuriko looked at this curiously. "I didn't know muffins could be used as torches."

"I'm spiffy," whispered Fiboshi.

Tetsuya's sunglasses weren't helping him, but he refused to remove them. He kept yanking up his tights.

"What do we do now?" Miaka asked loudly.

Yui elbow-stomped her. "Shhh, baka!"

"Oh," Miaka said in a terrible stage whisper.

"I wonder where the other are..." Nuriko said, trailing off.

Sakura snuggled in his arms and felt very happy and safe.

Meanwhile, in the dungeon, all was not well.

Makoto had her head buried in her knees. Chichiri was on one side of her and Amiboshi was on the other. Chichiri was trying to cheer her up.

"I'll go out for pizza with you no da," the monk/moon princess said.

She sniffled and said nothing.

Suboshi was pacing. This was so boring!

Hikaru was actually worried about Makoto. She glanced up at Keisuke and saw him looking down at her.

'What's wrong with her?' he mouthed to Hikaru.

Hikaru shook her head. "Mako-chan?"

There was no response.

"Kiri?"

"What?" she asked irritably, peeking her head up a bit.

"What's the matter?"

"Nothing," she replied, and buried her head again.

Hikaru pondered. Makoto very rarely had bad moods, and if she did, they usually lasted about twenty seconds. This had lasted for over a chapter. There was something seriously wrong.

"Mako-chan, I'm worried about you."

Again, there was no response.

Suboshi stopped pacing and again glared at his brother.

Amiboshi felt helpless. What was he supposed to do? Suboshi had always been better around girls.

Keisuke smiled at him and gave him a thumbs-up.

The flute player took a deep breath.

The scene changed.

Sakura felt very happy. This was a good parody.

In front of the hardy band of good guys, two people appeared, dressed all in black.

Soi and Tomo.

"Welcome," Soi said politely. "I'm sorry we have to do this, but-"

"HEY!!!" yelled Fiboshi and rushed over to Tomo.

The be-feathered... man... looked scared.

"Can you do something for me?" asked the youth excitedly.

Now Tomo just looked confused.

"Say 'Aono-kun' to Sakura. Please?"

Tomo raised an eyebrow.

"C'mon, you're the bad guy. Just say it and she'll be so scared..."

Tomo shrugged. What the heck.

He walked over to Nuriko and Sakura. "Hey, what are you doing?" asked Nuriko.

Tomo smiled. "Aono-kun," he said in Sakura's ear.

She shrieked at the top of her lungs, her eyes jerking open. She buried her face in Nuriko's chest and started crying.

"That wasn't very nice," Nuriko told Fiboshi.

Fiboshi jumped up and down and grinned, then threw a muffin at Tomo.

Tomo took a bite. "These are really good."

Sakura screamed again.

"She doesn't like his voice," Fiboshi explained. "It's the one thing that still scares her."

Everyone in the group nodded.

"I'm sorry," Soi interrupted, "but we'll have to-"

"Stop!" thundered Nakago as he once more appeared from nowhere.

About half of the group looked alarmed.

The rest were too stupid to notice he was there.

The scene changed again.

Amiboshi reached out his arm and-

"HEY!" screamed a voice. "WAIT!!!"

"What is it now, Fiboshi?" asked Hikaru.

"Is this gonna be mushy?" he asked, frowning at the prospect.

"I don't know," Hikaru replied. "I'm not typing. Makoto is."

"Oh. HEY, KIRI-CHAN!!"

No response.

"YO, MAKOTO!!"

Again no response.

"Hmph," said Fiboshi. "Yui-sama..."

"Sure," agreed Hikaru.

Where were we? Oh, yes. Amiboshi reached out his arm and placed it gently around Makoto's shoulders. He felt her stiffen.

"Everyone is worried," he told her softly. "What's wrong?"

She didn't or couldn't reply.

"Please, Kiri," he said. "We want to help."

He felt her take a shuddering breath.

"Why is it," she started, and her voice was rough, "that both Hikaru and Sakura can succeed with their loves, but I can't even manage to be chained next to you?"

Hikaru frowned. That was true. She thought that Keisuke was beginning to enjoy her company, and Nuriko certainly didn't mind Sakura. Why hadn't the same happened to Makoto?

"I know I'm violent," she said quietly, her voice sounding like it was about to break. "I know I'm hyper sometimes, I forget things, I'm messy, and I'm bad at trigonometry. But..." She broke off and hid her face again.

"This is getting too serious for a parody," Keisuke whispered to Hikaru.

She shrugged. "But she's right, you know. I could do this-" She reached up and kissed his cheek. He looked surprised but not displeased. "-and you don't mind. But Makoto and Amiboshi haven't... I don't know."

Keisuke pondered for a moment. "You're right, of course."

Hikaru didn't want to be right.

Suboshi sat on the ground in front of Makoto. "Mako-chan, I think that people can only have one true love."

She looked up at him, her face tear-stained. "And what happens when he doesn't love you back?"

Amiboshi froze. She... loved him?

Suboshi glared at him (again). "You didn't notice, baka?"

Makoto shrugged off his arm and made herself as small as she could. Why had she said that? Either now she would be accepted by him or ridiculed. The latter she could not take.

Chichiri gave her a hug. "You're cool no da, Mako-chan."

She started crying.

As she did, she raised her hand toward Hikaru and Keisuke and their chains fell off.

"Why didn't you do that before?" Chichiri asked.

"I didn't know which pattern he had used to lock it," she replied through her tears.

Amiboshi pulled away. She... loved him? He sat there a moment figuring it out. No one had ever loved him before. He had had a little crush on Miaka a while back, but that had died quickly. Other than that, no one had ever loved him and he had never loved anyone. Not like that. Was it possible?

She glanced over to him, her cheeks pink. "Is it going to take you three chapters to accept that just like when you said 'ai shiteru'?" she asked him, and there was almost a trace of bitterness in her voice.

He gazed at her, a frown on his face- she almost lost control completely as she noted how cute he looked like that.

The scene changed back.

"I'M GETTING SICK OF THIS!!!" Fiboshi screeched. "EITHER CHANGE THE CHAPTER OR STICK WITH ONE SCENE!!!!"

Oh. Okay. Sorry.

Nakago advanced on the party, now missing two of its members- Tasuki and Tamahome, with Sakura incapacitated by Tomo, Miaka too stupid to notice that anything was wrong, and Fiboshi too content to throw muffins and drool over Yui.

Yui looked up at Tetsuya. "I think we are in trouble."

Suddenly Tasuki appeared, looking quite rumpled.

"Hi," he said dazedly.

No one said a word.

Except Fiboshi.

"What's wrong with YOU?" the boy asked.

Tasuki grinned, showing his cute little fangs. "I don't hate women anymore, I think..." he said, trailing off.

Fiboshi frowned. "Huh? I don't get it..."

"Good," Yui said quickly. "Don't worry about it."

Nakago was tapping his foot impatiently. "Are you quite through?"

"Oh!" Fiboshi said. "Yeah. Sorry."

"Well, as I was saying-"

"I think it's time for the next chapter, Mako-chan," Fiboshi interrupted.

Okay.

Sniffle... I'm still sad... but wait until next chapter... [insert evil smirk here]