In Kou, King Kou is yelling at Kourin for not allowing Sugimoto to finish off Youko. King Kou sends Sugimoto off to a house out in a field where he will allow her to live. Back in the forest Youko awakes in a house.. She is greated by what seems to be a giant talking rat.. His name is Rakushun and he tried to get her to eat. He finally gets her to eat some peaches. When he leaves to go get some water, Auzaru appears and tells her not to trust the rat. Rakushun comes back in. Youko asks him if he knows Keiki, but Rakushun doesn't know him. Just then a officer comes to the door and Youko hides. He tells Rakushun how their looking for a man and woman (Asano and Youko) and that theres a reward. He tells them he knows nothing of it. Youko asks him why shes doing this and he says because he wants to help her. Later that night Rakushun tells Youko about the twelve kingdoms and how it was created. That night when Youko is alone in her room, Auzura appears and tells her the rat will betray her.

Youko and Rakushun are shown outside their room talking about how Youko will become queen and save Keiki. Later on Youko looks into her sword and it shows her visions of how the last ruler of Kei failed to be a good queen and how it saddended Keiki.. Youko is afraid she will make the same mistake. Back in the village Heki explains to Sugimoto how he was once like her.. And how she should change her ways and soon. Sugimoto ignores him and runs off only to find King Kou.. He tells her that Youko must still be killed, Sugimoto agrees. Back at the palace Enki explains to Rakushun and Youko how what King Kou is doing is against the wills of the heavens and can't be allowed. Youko goes to town and sees visions in her sword of Sugimoto arguing with Heki. At the palace, King Kou goes to meet King En.. King Kou argues that Youko is a fake queen and King En tells him he knows about how he set up the false queen of Kei and kidnapped Keiki. King Kou denies it and leaves. Back in the town Heki is t

Youko decides to go look for Enho. She's bewildered by what could have injured Kei Kei like that. Shoukei discusses with her group about the bad situation of the area. They bring up the idea of a rebellion. It's clear that Shokou must be stopped. Meanwhile Sekki and his group are in the middle of moving locations of their hideout. Suzu and Shoukei end up being sent to the same inn as representives to exchange money with toki weapons with their respected groups. The master of the inn prevents them from getting personal with eachother. They end up having to stay the night. That night they realize their both after Shokou and how much they've lost along the way. Suzu begins to cry but Shoukei assures her that Queen Kei must be a good person. Back at Shokou's palaca, he is describing to Asano how he is protected from being punished by the heavens for his sins. Asano wants to save the queen of Kei, but Shokou forbids it. Youko butst into Sekki and Koshou's new hide out and proves to them t