"Like I said, you'll find out!" Hikaru said in a bored tone.

Yui walked to the far left of the group; Suboshi was to the right. Occasionally... okay, quite often, she would look over at him to make sure he wasn't coming any closer. Tetsuya walked close beside her.

Tasuki was walking, or trying to walk, a little bit behind the group.

"Tasuki!" Miaka chirped as she skipped along next to Tamahome. "How come you're going so slow?"

Tasuki sniffled. "My pants are too tight! I can barely walk!"

Hikaru turned around and looked at Makoto, who was deliriously happy, gazing at Amiboshi. No help there. Oh well, if you had to do something...

"Don't you like the clothes we picked for you?" she asked, innocently.

"No!" he growled.

"Awwwwwwwwww," she said, feigning sadness. "Well, I guess I could change it..."

"Yessssssssssssssss!" Tasuki hissed.

Hikaru snapped, and once again there was a flash of light.

Tasuki was no longer wearing the leather pants or fur tunic. He was wearing a brown school uniform, like Miaka’s usual, and his orange hair was done up in buns on the side of his head.

"Better?" Hikaru asked sweetly.

"I #$%@ look like $#*^ Miaka! Change me back! Please! I won’t complain any more! I promise!" Tasuki said, dropping to his knees.

Hikaru sighed and snapped once again. Tasuki became dressed in his previous clothing, a fur tunic and tight pants.

"Oh, thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Tasuki cried.

The small group resumed its walk with Tasuki waddling a little behind.

All of a sudden, a sword came flying through the air. It sliced through Tamahome's neck, and his head fell off. He died.

"Makoto!" Hikaru's eyes blazed. "Stop doing that!"

Makoto giggled. "Why?"

Hikaru growled.

Miaka was once again wailing. "TAMAHOMETAMAHOME! You don't have a head!"

Hikaru looked around. She couldn’t see Tamahome's head. It must have rolled into the bushes. Better find it before she brought him back to life.

"Okay, guys! Spread out and search for the head. Miaka and Tasuki can stay with the...uh... rest of him."

Suboshi looked on the scene with a morbid interest. This journey could be more fun than he thought. Makoto was violent. Hikaru was cruel. He could definitely get along with those two. Miaka was annoying, but what else was new? Oh well. He might as well go look for the head.

Tetsuya was getting sick again in the bushes.

"What's wrong, Tetsuya?" Yui asked, bending over him.

"Bloooooood! I can't take blood!" he grimaced and then was sick again.

"So how come you can't just snap and make it appear?" Suboshi asked Hikaru.

"I... uh... well, that is, it'll interfere with the plot, sort of..." she responded.

Suboshi gaped. "A... plot? You mean there is one?"

Hikaru glared and he moved quickly to find the head.

"Here, head! Good head. Where are you?" Hikaru called in a sing-song voice.

"Where the heck is it?" Makoto asked, annoyed. "He's even trouble when he's dead."

Amiboshi laughed. He resumed looking. "How far can a head possibly roll?" he muttered to himself.

"Are you looking for this no da?" a voice from the stillness asked and a hand, holding Tamahome`s head by his ponytail, appeared in front of Amiboshi and Makoto.

Makoto clutched Amiboshi and buried her face in his shoulder.

The owner of the hand stepped completely out of the bushes.

"Chichiri!" Makoto and Amiboshi chorused in unison.

"Ta-da, no da!" the monk answered.

"Hey, we found it!" Makoto yelled.

"Found what?" Miaka asked, bewildered.

"The moon princess! What do you think we found!?" Makoto demanded.

"Really, I've always known I was royalty, no da." Chichiri blushed.

They all gathered around Tamahome's headless body. Hikaru placed his head near his shoulders and snapped. Tamahome's head re-attached. He sat upright and sighed.

"That was nifty. My neck feels weird, and my head feels a little bit numb..." he trailed off.

Makoto seriously considered twitching, but decided it wasn't worth it. Hikaru stared at him, amazed at the incredible stupidity of the present company.

Makoto aimed a wicked glare at her.

Except Makoto.

Her glare grew fiercer, if possible.

And Amiboshi.

Makoto, satisfied, turned away.

Hikaru cleared her throat. "Anyway, now that we're all, um... together, can we get going, again?"

VERY pointedly, she looked at Makoto, who pretended to be VERY interested in a certain rock near her feet.

And they were off.

Again.

How nice. Chichiri. But where's the plot? Hmmm....

"Well... I'm not quite sure where it is so we should probably go look for it," Hikaru said, glancing back over her shoulder as she walked.

"What about Miaka? She must have some idea what is supposed to be going on," Makoto replied, watching the dumpling-headed girl lean on Tamahome and coo at him. "Hmmm... perhaps not." Suddenly an idea struck her.

Hikaru saw her friend's eyes light up. "What is it?" she asked dubiously.

Makoto was very tempted to cackle evilly, but did not. Now even Amiboshi was giving her odd looks. "I'm not sure I should..."

Hikaru glared. "Oh, I'd tell if I were you." She gestured towards Amiboshi.

"You're mean!" Makoto yelled, getting stares from everyone except Miaka and Tamahome. "But fine. I like it."

She stopped walking, sighed, and snapped her fingers.

Out from the sky came a rather large house. It landed-

On top of the Warrior Miko.

"Hey, wait!" Hikaru protested. "That's my joke!"

"Sorry. It had to do." Makoto walked over to the house and reached over. She took Miaka's wrist and felt no pulse. "Okay, let's go!"

"Moron! She's the title character! If you're going to kill someone, kill Tamahome!" Hikaru snarled.

"Yeah!" Tamahome agreed, jumping up and down and clapping his hands. "That's fun!"

Makoto pouted. "How about both?"

Hikaru decided to ignore her. She snapped and the house disappeared. Miaka immediately got up.

"Wow, Tamahome was right! That does feel funny!" she exclaimed cheerfully.

Hikaru contemplated making Yui smack her, but decided against it. She walked over to the Warrior Miko and smacked her herself.

Makoto suddenly had the most wicked impulse. You know, absolute power and corruption and all that.

She snapped- and everything disappeared.

Except her and Amiboshi.

"You can't do that!" Hikaru's voice yelled from somewhere off at the side.

Amiboshi disappeared too.

"Now, bring us all back," Hikaru said, menacingly.

Makoto seriously contemplated curling up on the floor and crying. "Bring him back! Now! Now! NOWNOWNOWNOWNOW-"

"You're starting to sound like Miaka," Hikaru's voice came.

"Fine," Makoto pouted. She snapped and the original scene came back, complete with all the characters- alive.

"Better. Now, let's get on with it, okay?"

Everyone nodded, except Makoto, who was still pouting.

"I suppose we need to find Hotohori now," Makoto muttered.

"Huh? Why?" Tasuki wanted to know.

"He's the reason we're here," Hikaru answered. "We're to rescue his young daughter from a bunch of evil kidnappers."

"He doesn't have a daughter," Yui said, confused, and leaning on Tetsuya for support. They were all lunatics!

"He does now." Hikaru smiled evilly.

Makoto did too. "Sort of."

Everyone looked completely bewildered.

"Oh, never mind. You'll see."

Plot? Why? Well, fine then. It's coming. Next. Yeah, I promise.

"OOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHH, no da!" Chichiri exclaimed.

"Let's just get this over with," growled Makoto, who was still in a bad mood because Hikaru wouldn't let her kill everyone except Amiboshi.

Hikaru nodded. "We should find Hotohori-sama."

"Looks too %&$&* rich and snobbish, if you #@^#*%& ask me."

"Thank you, Tasuki," said a voice from behind one of the marble columns.

"H-h-h-Hotohori-sama," the ex-bandit stammered.

"WAI WAI WAI WAI! We found him. Where's the food? I'm starving!" the Warrior Miko said, shoving Tamahome out of her way.

"Maybe she'll get lost and never find her way back..." Makoto said hopefully.

"Be nice," Hikaru said, smacking her.

"Hmph."

"Anyway," Hikaru said to the rest of them. "Introductions. I'm Hikaru-"

The ruler looked at her, astonished. "You're sparkling? I sparkle, too!"

She slapped her forehead. "My NAME is Hikaru. Now then. That's Makoto-"

"Amiboshi's mine," the other girl said.

And turned bright red as she remembered that he was standing right next to her.

"Yeah... okay. This's Tetsuya in tights-"

Tetsuya glared. Yui laughed.

"And this's Keisuke, also in tights-"

"Tetsuya's my accountant!" Keisuke announced proudly.

"How did that come about anyway?" Yui wanted to know.

All eyes turned to Hikaru.

"Well, we wanted to include him, and we couldn't think of anything else..."

"I thought of the accountant part," Makoto proclaimed proudly. "You know- accountant, money, Tetsuya's loaded. Get it?"

There were several confused nods from the group.

"ANYWAY... Hotohori-sama," Hikaru asked, turning towards him, "have you seen the plot lately?"

"No, baka!" Makoto said. "We FOUND it! Remember? We're going to look for his poor kidnapped daughter."

Hotohori blinked. "Huh? I don't have a daughter... at least that I know of."

Makoto gave him a dirty look. "Just nod."

"Smile and nod," Hikaru corrected.

"And finance us," chipped in Tetsuya.

"FEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED USSSSSS!" Miaka shrieked.

"KIIILLLLLLL MEEEEEEEE!" Tamahome cried.

"Help us all," Yui said, inching away.

Makoto could see that Hotohori was about to crack.

She went up and whispered in his ear. "Please."

"NO! NO MORE! I CAN'T TAKE IT!" The monarch fled into the palace.

"Idiot!" Hikaru exclaimed. "Now we have no one to finance us."

All eyes turned to Tetsuya. He paled visibly. "Can't we go find Hotohori- sama?"

"Nope," Makoto said cheerfully. "Takes too long."

"Come on, Tetsuya, loan a friend some cash," Keisuke cajoled.

"You still haven't paid me back from last time!"

Keisuke shrugged. "It's for a good cause..."

"Yeah," Suboshi, who had been remarkably quiet up until this point, added. "Maybe there will be a reward."

Tamahome started drooling.

Yui hit him.

Miaka looked around. "We should go find Hotohori's poor kidnapped daughter."

"Hai," agreed Amiboshi.

For the millionth time at least, the small group began walking. Soon, they left the palace and the town behind them.