I don't own Fushigi Yuugi. Leave it at that.

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Of The Sky

Chapter one
Dreams to Die For

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The woman stood there, cooing at her month old daughter.

Tasuki materialized from the shadows, slipping behind her and snaking his arms around her waist.

"She's so beautiful..." He murmered against his lovers ear, his voice a deep rumble.

A strange feeling hung heavy in the air, an aura of foreboding and foreshadowing, but the only one who seemed to notice was the baby. For her parents, everything was right in the world as they pressed against eachother.

The bandit gently tilted his wife's head up and claimed her lips, and she noted a slight sense of urgency.

"What's the matter?" She asked hazily after they broke apart.

"It's nothin'...There's just a big ol' war at the top of the mountain, an' I'm supposed to go fight. Do ya think ya can handle her alone for tonight?"

The word 'alone' struck a blow to Tasuki's sub-conscience. Don't go! It seemed to cry. Don't leave her! But, as it was only his sub-conscience, he paid no heed to it's warning.

Slowly, fog surrounded everything, and the scene shifted.

Metal on metal, flesh on flesh. The sounds of a raging battle spread over the entire mountain; getting nearer and nearer to the village at the base by the second.

It was much, much harder than the egotistic Tasuki had thought, and though the bandits of Reikaku did outnumber the Kaou bandits in fighters, they also outnumbered them in casualties. But he knew he had to fight as hard as he could, to the death if needed, because his wife and his baby would be first in line if the war did reach the village.

This gave him another burst of strengh, and he drove his sword straight through his foe's neck. He turned around, slashed another opponent's stomach through, turned again, hit one in the spot where it hurts most. There was no way he was going to let them kill her. No way.

Adrenalin pumped through his worn body, and he went into a fit of rage, swinging and punching and kicking in every which way, mark blazing on his skin. He didn't notice he'd reached the base of Reikaku until he heard a shrill scream.

"Genrou!"

He spun around, searching the landscape for his wife. A club connected with the left side of his body, and immediatly he knew that at least two ribs had just broken. He fell to his knees, clutching his side, and threw his sword into yet another enemy.

"Naomi!" He screamed, struggling to stand up. "Where are ya? NAOMI!"

Tasuki got back on his feet and pulled out his tessen. He looked around frantically, finally spotting his wife not too far away...

...Falling to the ground.

He was frozen in place. "No...NO! NAOMI!" He forced himself to move forward, move towards his fallen love. Slowly, so painfully slowly, he moved, head spinning and not being able to think straight, his eyes wide open the whole time. He finally reached Naomi's side.

"N-Nao...mi...Wake up! Get up! Now!" He fell on top of her and shook her. "Get up! I'm orderin' ya, as your husband! Get up, Goddammit!" He punched a fist into the ground. "C'mon! Punch me in the face for orderin' ya around! Like always! Don't do this to me, dammit! Don't do this to Soran...o..." Tasuki's watery eyes began to blaze as bright as his symbol at the sound of a baby crying.

His pain forgotten, he turned slowly to face the source of the noise. Before him stood a tall figure, a smirk on his lips, dark hair falling over even darker eyes. In his arms...

In his arms...

Sorano!

The flame haired seishi grit his teeth and held his tessen in front of him.

"Give her to me now," He growled.

"And if I don't...?"

"...I'll kick your ass." His words were slow; he was obviously trying to hide the strain.

"Oh really? I'd like to see you try," The man's grin transformed into a snarl.

Tasuki was motionless for half a second, then lunged for the man holding his daughter. With a whip of his hand, the dark haired man sent a burst of wind into Tasuki's stomach, knocking him back.

The bandit strained to stand back up. Suzaku, give me strength! The whole landscape drowned in the red light that Tasuki's mark gave off, and he charged towards his foe at impossible speed.

However...

He wasn't fast enough. The man lifted his hand and...was gone.

Tasuki's eyes widened as he hit the ground.

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Well. Wasn't that a nice little angsty chapter?

Hmm. I couldn't think of a fitting title for this story, so I just used the meaning of Tasuki's kid's name.

And...I looked for forever to find a name that would fit Tasuki's kid. :)

And I figured, hey, Tasuki's symbol means wing! Whoo! So I searched for japanese names and meanings and then found one that meant something that had to do with wings/birds/air/etc. Plus I like the name Sorano...It was my ex boyfriend's last name. ;)

But lol, yeah, Sorano means "of the sky" or something along those lines. Tee hee hee! lol. I've been listening to PARAMORE the whole time typing this. THEY FURGIN ROCK!!! Whee!!! And then I started listening to Pink's new "I'm not dead" CD. It's really really good, but nowhere near as good as M!ssundaztood...And Riot! by Paramore is not as good as their All We Know Is Falling CD, but Riot! is still really good. XD Sorry to go off on a tandrum.

(note: I do really like the song Dear Mr. President, but I hate the 4 Non Blondes Version, the remake that Pink did on her new CD is much, much better.)

And...hmm...whattas I gonna say? Iono...hmm...ah well.

Oh yeah...lol. I think this is the absolute first thing I have ever written that had no sarcasm or any kind of subtle or non-subtle humour in it. Whoah! Somebody give me a cookie, pleesh.

And...(yeah, I know, "When the fuck is she gonna shut up?!", right? XD) At the top, the title of this chapter "dreams to die for", at first the "to die for" had the strike out thingy on it, but that doesn't show up on FF. How gay.

Anyway, please review, and stay tuned!