Lost in Translations

Ryusagi and NekoAkurei

Disclaimer: We don't own Fushigi Yuugi or "The Universe of the Four Gods". If we did, we wouldn't be here. We would be enjoying hot bishie bliss in all its glory! Unfortunately we aren't, and so we wrote this fic. Please enjoy.

Note: You don't have to read this prologue. All it really does is fill you in on all the important stuff that I deemed worthy for you to know. If you've read the manga, or watched the anime, you should be fine. Oh, and this is a combined effort written by yours truly, Ryusagi and NekoAkurei. So you better like it! Important: We don't use any of the characters that you might know that show up in the manga/anime except for Tai Yi Jun. That's right. Tama-baby and the others aren't in here. We've slaved over the character designs, plot, and all that other good stuff for a while now, so please do read it. I'm begging you! And if you are really good to us, and review, we just might add a special bonus feature. But you have to be good...and no! I'm NOT telling you what it is! So there!

Note from Neko: This whole prologue is actually a large generalization, 'cuz it just so happens that we're following the manga, so we're behind everyone who's seen the anime. Which means we don't know how the series ends. We have, however, seen Eikoden and one other one that I can't remember the name of… And Ryu-chan is quite right; we've slaved over character designs for the longest time. You have no idea how long it took me to finish them all; I didn't finish until earlier in March we started planning early over the summer . It was hell, lemme tell you, but I'm glad I did. But I'm still tweaking everyone's appearances, so if they differ from chapter to chapter, just let me know in a review and I'll change it when I get the chance. BUT I'll stop rambling now and let you read. Read, enjoy, and review please! Feedback is always welcome and we'll try to respond with every chapter!

Prologue:

"The Universe of the Four Gods" A book that promises to grant the reader a wish if they succeed in making it to the book's end.

Four such young women made this journey. They each went through hardships, sorrows, happiness, and love.

They were called priestesses, and each was assigned her own God. The Gods included Suzaku, Seiryu, Genbu, and Byakko. Suzaku was the god of the south, Seiryu of the east, Genbu to the north, and finally Byakko, of the west.

Each priestess had her own seven celestial warriors to guard and protect her. Of course the warriors would interact with their priestess and eventually would become close. But there is one catch. They aren't to have any sexual contact with the priestess, for she must be a virgin. The celestial god will not touch a maiden if she has been with a man. But more often than not, this rule doesn't stop a warrior(s) from falling in love with her.

Roughly half a century to a couple of decades ago we had followed the journey of a young woman by the name of Miaka and her friend Yui. Yui had been manipulated by one of her "trusted" warriors and chose to be Miaka's rival rather than her friend.

"Whosoever reads this book all the way through shall be bestowed with a wish," the book read. Indeed it did, and in fact it bestowed three wishes. Together, Miaka and her warriors battled through the odds, losing many loved ones along the way. Yui's journey was no different except she would risk anything to make Miaka feel pain. Finally, Miaka and Yui got through their misjudgement of each other and they learned to love one another as well as themselves.

Sacred items called Shentso-Pao (i have no idea in hell if the spelling is correct on this...) are holy tools used for summoning the gods. When a god beast merges, or couples with a priestess, an object that is on her body will absorb its life force energy. The summoning ceremony can still be performed with these items if any of the warriors are missing or if the scroll of The Universe of the Four Gods that Tai Yi Jun gave to each of the countries has been destroyed or is missing. There is a catch though. The priestess must use all four Shentso-Pao (or all of the ones that exist during that time) that have been created for this to work.

The major reason for a priestess to appear is to save the nation that is in distress. She is to save it from complete and utter destruction. The legend goes that the priestess is to gather all seven celestial warriors that are under that particular god and to use their help to summon the god. After being summoned, the god will bestow her with three wishes. She will use one of the wishes to save that country(it isn't required, but it is what the priestess is "supposedly" there to do). The other two are for her own wants and desires. There is a catch, however…the only wish any of the gods won't accept is the wish for the priestess to stay and live in the book.

If the priestess', or her warriors' will(s) aren't strong enough to contain the god, the god will consume either the priestess, a warrior, all of her warriors, and/or all of them to satisfy it's rage of being summoned by an unworthy woman.

Mediums play a large role as well. They are items that connect the real world and that of the book world. An example would be Miaka and Yui's uniforms. They are identical, and could be used so that the girls could keep in contact even if one was in the book world and the other in the real world. But if one of them takes off their uniform, then contact is lost. This applies to any object.

The God Beast Ceremony requires a few mandatory items. A priestess, her seven celestial warriors, The Universe of the Four Gods scroll, and a carpet woven with the twenty-eight constellations are mandatory unless the priestess has obtained every Shentso-Pao existing, then not all of the items are needed. The ceremony must take place in the shrine dedicated to the god that they are summoning, with an altar in the middle of the carpet.

The priestess must cleanse herself and wear special robes as well as read a certain passage from the scroll. Casting the scroll into the fire should complete the ritual. When the scroll is consumed by the fire, and the warriors are concentrating on their priestess while she is praying, the god will appear. If a Shentso-Pao is used in place of the scroll or any/all of the warriors, the exact procedure isn't necessary.

There resides a mountain in the center of the four countries. This is where the all-knowing Tai Yi Jun lives. Those with evil in their hearts will only see a cold, barren place when they reach her domain. Tai Yi Jun is the one that bestowed each country with a scroll of The Universe of the Four Gods and her age is unknown (although it is given that is is very very very very old).

Each god beast has been summoned, and at least a hundred years have passed since the first priestess summoned her god. The Chinese legend has been fulfilled, as has the Japanese translation. The story should have ended long ago, but are there more translations to the legend….?