Lekka Yuugi

"Now what are we gonna do?" Cat moaned.

Priya grinned. "We flush our guide out!" She removed Miaka's gag and Miaka began wailing "Tamahomeeeeee!"

"ARRGGHHHHH!!!"

"Over there!" Nobara pointed up a tree and Priya quickly put the gag back in place.

Yonjuu floated up, grabbed Beefcake by the arm, and pulled him out of the tree. He fell down to the ground with an "Oof!"

"OK, now that we've got our guide back, let's get going." Rence said.

After walking through the forest for awhile they came across a bustling town.

"At last civilization!" Everyone exclaimed, happy to at last be out of that big scary forest.

"Kyaaaa~! He's so cute!" The group heard a girl squeal. In search of bishounen, the group went to investigate and found 2 girls looking at a piece of paper.

"It's Tasuki! Where'd you get that illustration?!" Tasuki no Miko cried out. The 2 girls started as they found themselves surrounded by a bunch of drooling girls.

"I bought it over at a booth down the street." One of the girls pointed and the Seishi and Miko ran off in that direction.

"Hey wait!" Beefcake called out as he chased after them. "Mt. Taikyoku is in the opposite direction!"

"Get your Nakago merchandise here." A blonde girl shouted out as she rapped a large halisen on the booth with a loud THWAP! As she noticed the group of drooling girls headed her way she exclaimed "Ah! Customers! Can I interest you in a Nakago wall scroll? Or perhaps this cute Nakkie-poo doll? All lovingly hand-made by me."

"Uh, well actually, do you have any Tasuki stuff?"

"Sure I do." The girl reached behind the booth and brought out a stack of papers. "But you know, I have a special on the Nakago stuff." She took out an illustration of a young Nakago. "Just look at this picture of Nakago and try to tell me he isn't adorable."

The girl sensed that the other girls had strong minds and could not be easily swayed by her Seishi Mind Trick (tm). However she had discovered that the image of young Nakago often instilled a bit of sympathy for him and she used her powers to reinforce that.

"Kyaaaa~! How cuuuuute! I'll take it!"

"No, I want it!"

"I saw it first!"

"No need to fight. I have plenty of Nakago pictures to go around." The girl assured them.

"This is disgusting!" Beefcake said. "Selling merchandise of that murderous bastard. And the rest of you drooling and 'kyaa'ing over it! You all make me sick"

The merchant girl's eyes narrowed. She sensed that he was not so strong minded as the group of girls. Her Seishi Mind Trick (tm) would work well on him. "And what gives you the right to judge him?" She asked.

"My father was killed by Nakago in the war between Kounan and Kutou!"

The girl was taken aback for a moment but quickly regained her composure. "And I suppose your father didn't kill anyone in that war?"

Now it was Beefcake's turn to be taken aback. The girl sensed the confusion she had placed in his thoughts and knew she had to push it further.

"And was your father persecuted because of his race? Was he made to watch his own mother raped? Was he molested as a child?" The girl said now standing on her soapbox (tm).

Scenes of Nakago's youth were projected in his mind. Beefcake grabbed his head with his hands. "Ah! What kind of sorcery is this?!" he wailed.

"And what about you? Can you tell me that you have never committed a sin?"

His mind took him back to a year ago when, consumed with lust, he had taken a young maiden by force. Her screams echoed in his mind. Overwhelmed by confusion and guilt, Beefcake dropped to his knees defeated.

Miko and Seishi looked back and forth between the 2 in puzzlement. They weren't exactly sure what had just happened but they were impressed.

"Ah! She's a Seishi!" Divon exclaimed as they saw an orange character glow brightly on the right side of the merchant girl's stomach.

"Tasuki Seishi Kanjiru." She smiled at them as she hugged a Nakago doll to her chest.

"We've found the 11th Seishi! 12 more to go and I can summon Tasuki and make my wishes!" Tasuki no Miko said.

Wishes? Kanjiru thought to herself. She could sense a single-minded desire in this girl. Perhaps I can use that to my advantage to bring Nakago back... "Just let me pack my things and we'll go find the rest of the Seishi." She donned a Nakago cloak and began packing her stuff in a bag.

"Got any Tasuki bedsheets back there?" Tasuki no Miko asked hopefully.

"I did but I sold them to Kouji. I've got some Nakago sheets though..."

"WHAT!?" Kristi cried out excitedly grabbing Kanjiru by the collar. "Kouji was here? How long ago?"

"Uh..." Kanjiru sweatdropped. "A couple weeks ago. He bought up all of my Tasuki stuff. He mentioned going back to Mt. Leikaku..."

Kouji... Kristi thought back to her last encounter with Kouji. She knew he wanted her to help Tasuki no Miko find the Tasuki Seishi as soon as possible so they could summon Tasuki but... but... it had been too long since she had last seen him. She had to see him again soon. "I'm going to Mt. Leikaku!" She announced with determination.

Tasuki no Miko nodded her head. "Yes! Let's go to Mt. Leikaku."

The rest of the Seishi agreed it was a good plan.

"But it's completely out of the way from Mt. Taikyoku!" Beefcake groaned.

"We don't care!" Everyone chimed in.

Beefcake grumbled.

As the group neared the Mt. Leikaku bandit stronghold they were stopped by a couple of guards.

"Halt! Who goes there?!"

"Tasuki no Miko and the..."

Elbowing Tasuki no Miko aside, Kristi demanded of the guards. "Where's Kouji!?"

"Uh...he's out looking for the rest of the Tasuki Seishi." One of the guards answered.

"You mean he's not here?"Kristi was crestfallen.

"Your other Seishi are inside though." The other guard said.

"Other Seishi?" Tasuki no Miko rubbed a sore arm.

Inside they found 5 girls drinking with a bunch of bandits.

"It's about time you got here!" One of the girls slurred. "We've been waiting here for you to show up for days!"

The girls then introduced themselves as Kourin, Talya, Liz , Vinta, and Lindsey.

"Wai! Now we've only got 7 more to go!" Tasuki no Miko cried happily.

"OK, since Kristi's darling Kouji isn't here" Beefcake said, "let's get back on track and head for Mt. Taikyoku."

"Yeah... I guess so..."Tasuki no Miko said reluctantly, not really wanting to leave such a sacred place so soon.

"Wait!" Talya said. "It'll take days to walk there." She extended her hands before her and a fiery arch appeared. "My fire gate will take us right to Mt. Taikyoku. Go on through."

The group looked at the flaming portal with hesitation.

"Come on! I can't hold it open all day!"

One by one the group went through the portal. Talya was the last to go through and as she crossed to the other side the portal closed behind her......

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