The story...of Fushigi Yuugi
<Part 3>

Later that night, Nuriko confides to Tamahome that he has fallen in love with Miaka in a totally heterosexual way, having given up the gay cross-dressing life for good. However, being the totally considerate sweetheart that he is, he promises not to interfere with Miaka and Tamahome's love. As long as Miaka's happy, he'll be happy for her.

The next day, Nuriko volunteers to go and get the shinzaho, located at the top of Mount Black, while Miaka and Tamahome locate and inform the others. But once there, Nuriko encounters Ashitare once again. Having been beaten by Nakago for failing to kill Miaka once, and ticked off at Nuriko for hurting him, Ashitare does some serious damage to Nuriko, causing fatal wounds. Before he goes down, though, Nuriko manages to take out Ashitare as well. The other Suzaku seishi and Miaka are forced to say goodbye to Nuriko and they bury him a the top of Mount Black.

After having a moment to grieve, Miaka and the remaining seishi enter Mount Black to get the shinzaho. There they encounter two long-dead Genbu seishi, who have remained in spirit form for the sole purpose of guarding the shinzaho from unworthy people. After testing Miaka, the Genbu seishi realize that Miaka is worth her salt and give her the shinzaho. No sooner have the seishi rejoiced at finally being able to call Suzaku, do they find out that they have to get the OTHER shinzaho, left by Byakko no Miko in Sailo country to the west. Much to their dismay.

The Genbu shinzaho is literally snatched out of Miaka's hands by none other than Ashitare, who, although his human half was killed by Nuriko, remains alive in his wolf form. A distraught Miaka is approached by Taiitsu-kun, who tells her that she does not in fact have to remain a virgin in order to call Suzaku, and that in order to retrieve the shinzaho from Nakao she will have to seduce him and take it when he is weakened. Miaka leaves to do this quietly, not informing the others of her whereabouts. In the Seiryuu camp, we find that the vision Miaka saw of Taiitsu-kun was only an illusion, spun by magician and Seiryuu seishi, Tomo.

When Miaka arrives to attempt to seduce Nakago, she finds him waiting for her. He reveals to her that Yui wasn't raped by those thugs when she first arrived, but that he let her believe it to turn her against Miaka. Miaka then spurns his advances and Nakago knocks her out, intending to rape her (and thus render her unable to ever call Suzaku).

Tamahome leaves the other seishi, promising to meet them in Sailo. He goes to the Seiryuu camp to find Miaka, sensing that she might be there (but not knowing what she intended to do). Tamahome figures out what Nakago has done to Miaka, and, furious, he sends a chi blast that actually manages to injure the Kutou shogun. After this, he tells Miaka that whatever happened doesn't matter to him, and that he still wants to be with her. Miaka breaks up with him anyway, because she feels unworthy and soiled. She then runs off, leaving him very confused.

Chichiri, Tasuki, Chiriko, and Mitsukake arrive in Sailo country. Or do they? It turns out that Tomo has spun an elaborate illusion, tricking the seishi into believing that they are in Sailo...when in fact they are in the middle of the desert. While they think they are safe in an inn, eating, drinking (in Tasuki's case, drinking a LOT), and generally being merry, they are just running down on energy without even being aware. At night, when the temperature drops drastically, they will surely die.

Meanwhile, off in the middle of nowhere, Miaka is nearly killed by a wild animal, but she's saved by a boy named Kaika, who looks astonishingly like Amiboshi! He was taken in by a kind couple after nearly drowning in the river, and has apparently forgotten about his past after drinking a forgetfulness potion his 'parents' gave him. Kaika begins to fall for Miaka and begs her to drink the forgetfulness potion so that she can stay with him. She considers...but declines.

Nakago realizes that Amiboshi is still alive and sends his troops to Kaika's village to trash it and find him. Kaika's surrogate parents are injured but not seriously so. He dispatches easily of the soldiers Nakago sent. Then, realizing that Miaka and Tamahome belong together, he tells Miaka to stay put while he goes to find Tamahome. Miaka takes this to mean, "Run away from here and put yourself into danger!" So off she goes, in the other direction.

Back on the evil side... Tomo finds out that Nakago failed to rape Miaka; he was repelled by a red barrier around her body as soon as she lost consciousness. Intending to do some damage of his own to the Suzaku crew, Tomo creates the illusion of making Soi look like Miaka. Soi then approaches Tamahome (who is relieved to be united with Miaka again) with the intention of seducing him and weakening his chi, then killing him. Tamahome, ever the gentleman, refuses her, saying that there's still a chance that she (Miaka) is still a virgin.

At this, Tomo ends the illusion and attacks Tamahome. Miaka runs into Soi, who tells her what's going on, and she arrives just in time to see Tamahome fall off a cliff, speared in the chest by Tomo.
Tomo then sends Miaka into an illusion, making her believe she's back home. She forgets about the events of the Universe of the Four Gods; Yui and all her friends are there and acting normally, and (bonus of bonuses!) she's getting good grades for once! Tomo puts a clone (alter-ego) of himself into the illusion, as a fellow classmate of Miaka's, and he asks Miaka out. His intent, of course, is to seduce her and have her willingly lose her virginity to him so that she cannot call Suzaku.

Kaika/Amiboshi, who is witnessing all of this and is unable to reach Miaka through the illusion, begins to play his flute and manages to break through the magic a little. Miaka realizes what's going on and destroys Tomo's illusion before he has a chance to "do the deed." So a ticked off Tomo attacks Amiboshi...which is a bad move, because as soon as he senses his brother's trouble, Suboshi arrives and kills Tomo on the spot.

Amiboshi desperately wants to work on the side of good and put this life of war behind him with his brother. He begs Suboshi to drink the forgetfulness broth and come to live with him and his new family. But Suboshi (the poor sap) is hopelessly in love with Yui and feels he can't leave her, so he gives the potion to Amiboshi instead, causing him to forget everything. Suboshi then turns on Miaka, furious at what Yui has told him is all her fault. He threatens to "mess her up" the same way Yui was.

When all seems hopeless, Miaka is rescued by Tamahome. Yes, Tamahome. Seems he did not die from his injuries, but was nursed back to health by an elderly couple, Tokaki and Subaru, former Byakko seishi. Tokaki used to tutor Tamahome when he was a child, and trained him a little in the martial arts. Also, we find that with Tomo's death, the illusion that trapped the other seishi was broken and they are all fine and dandy. Anyhow, Suboshi runs off, taking Amiboshi with him, and returns his brother to his adoptive parents.

Tokaki and Subaru take everyone back to their place to recouperate. Tokaki takes Tamahome aside and tells him that after Miaka calls Suzaku she will have to return to her world *without him*, so he'd better end this relationship while he still can (he knows this from experience; a fellow seishi had the misfortune of falling in love with his miko and this is what happened). So Tamahome breaks up with Miaka, without telling her why.

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