Disclaimer: Fushigi Yuugi and all its characters belong to Yuu Watase. However, anything relating to the Tenkyoku story is something I have come up by myself.
Warnings: Violence, foul language, mention of rape, murder and sexual innuendos.
Fushigi Yuugi: Tenkyoku Heiden
She jolted awake. Even in her warm bed, she shivered. The last visages of the dream danced in her mind as she struggled to reorient herself in reality. She caught her breath and the lump in her throat slid down. What had visited her was no dream but rather a vision of things to come. Something was about to happen, something that not even her prophetic knowledge could prevent. It was greater than any other threat that had happened to their world before. "No," she whispered as her fingers tightened around the blankets. "No, I can't let that happen!"
She started to slide out of bed, but faltered. What if it really was a dream? But no, she knew the difference between dreams and actual visions. Trying to act on it though had the potential of creating just as big of a catastrophe. If she did nothing though… It was going to happen whether or not she could try, but by the Gods, she would try her best.
Resolved, she got out of bed and went through the secret passage that connected her room to her cousin's. It was lucky that they were both seishi or they never would have gotten such a convenient place. She could also reach the other seishi from her room, but it was to her cousin that she went first. Once she was in his room, she padded over to his bed where he lay sprawled among his covers.
"Wake up!" she hissed. "Wake up!"
Her cousin stirred in his sleep. She was loathe to disturb him, but this was too important. She shook him. "Kouki! Wake up!"
He snapped awake. She dodged as a stray stone flew by her head. "Ah! What is it? Are we under- oh. Demiya! What are you-" he froze as he saw the expression on her face. "What's wrong?"
Demiya took a seat at the foot of his bed as he rubbed his eyes. Just being in his presence was calming her and giving her a chance to analyze the dream. "I.. I had a vision," she said.
Her cousin was instantly alert. "About what?"
"The five countries at war with each other, and outside forces taking advantage of that to terrorize the people and bully us. It was just flashes, but-"
"Five?" Kouki interrupted. "Nyosei joined the war? How is that possible? They've never bothered anyone except those who set foot on their island."
She gave him a look. He blinked, and his fingers curled around his blanket. "You're not serious."
"I am." she took a deep breath. "Nyosei will play a significant role in whether or not my vision comes to pass. Nyosei and…" her voice trailed off. They didn't know. No one really knew what country Tenkyoku was supposed to protect. The only possible one was Nyosei, the country of women. Women who despised anything male ruled by a god? Impossible. Then there was Tenkyoku. Even more so than the other Gods, Tenkyoku was shrouded in mystery. But if Nyosei was involved in the war, surely Tenkyoku had something to do with it.
"Tenkyoku," Kouki whispered. "So he really does exist. The rumors are true."
They sat in silence together across from each other.Both knew thatTenkyoku was the fifth God, the God of the Center, just as their own God was God of the West. Tenkyoku's element was earth, and he was the Emperor of the Heavens with the other four Gods as his vanguards. By all rights, he should have been Taiitsukun, but no, Taiitsukun was alive and well and did not need to be Summoned. He had been the one who distributed the scrolls with the incantations to Summon the four Beast Gods to begin with. Everyone knew this, not just the seishi.
Demiya closed her eyes, willing the vision to go away. Surely the seishi from the other countries would understand the gravity of the situation. They had to. Traditionally their country had never been the aggressor. They had to realize that she was serious. They couldn't be so self-centered, could they? She had not had the opportunity to meet some of the other seishi from the other countries, but Hokuyu had. He could convince them. Maybe she was putting too much faith in her fellow seishi, but Hokuyu knew things. Hokuyu was the one who traveled the most, kept an eye on the comings and goings of the government. He had to, being a diplomat.
"What should we do about it?" Kouki finally asked. "I mean, if you foresaw it, there's still a chance we can do something, right?"
She bit her lip and looked down. Even though he knew the futility of trying to fight destiny, he was still going to resist it. That itself gave her courage. Surely if he believed so strong, that belief could be turned into something greater. "I'm not sure what to think of it. You'd think after all the Gods were Summoned, we'd finally have peace, right?"
At this, he laughed. "Don't forget, Gods or not, they protect humans. We create our own troubles. Just because the countries are blessed doesn't mean that there will always be peace. Otherwise, we wouldn't be human. We'd be..."
She glared at him. "Don't talk like that."
He reached over and wrapped his arms around her trembling figure, pulling her close. His warmth reassured her, and she slowly stopped shaking. When she was ready to speak, she raised her head. "Kouki," she whispered. "If what I saw comes to pass, it will be far worse than anything that the countries have encountered. But… what it calls for, it could come down to seishi fighting seishi." She buried her face in his chest. "What do we do?"
He had stiffened at her words, and there was a coldness in her breast that even he could not reduce. Her cousin was brave, but even he balked at the idea of going against his fellow seishi. It was something that had only happened during Seiryuu and Suzaku's time, over a hundred years ago. His head dropped onto her shoulder, and he laughed. "We... we are never reincarnated into peace, are we? But then again, that's what our role is. Harbingers of doom."
"Kouki-"
He cut her off. "I won't let that happen. I promise. What do we need to do?"
"We," she buried her face into his shoulder, not wanting to say it. "We may end up interfering with..." her eyes slid up to meet his as she still hesitated to tell him, but he looked away, knowing the answer and hating it.
"Do we have a choice?" he asked. "If it comes down to the four countries, which one is more important?"
"The others won't approve."
"Shiran will, and he'll be able to convince Hokuyu. The others will be easier. What else?"
"Unify the countries," she said, her voice barely audible. "Unify them, or we don't stand a chance against what is to come."
Episode One: In Rain They Come
His life was about to change but he had no idea and he just didn't care, not to mention it was always changing on him anyway, usually in negative ways. He needed to get out of the storm, that was the most important thing. He rode his bike against the rain, fighting to see through the fog on his glasses. The day had started off sunny with just a bite of the passing winter in the air, but sometime while he had been working at the grocery store, clouds had rolled over grey skies and released a heavy shower over Tokyo. People started rushing, eager to return home. That was exactly what he wanted to do, too.
But then there was his sister.
Leaving his sister to walk home alone in the rain would be irresponsible, so here he was.
He rode quickly, so fast that he almost skidded a few times. Luckily, he was experienced. After the third time though, he forced himself to slow down. It wasn't worth risking his life just to show up on time. If his sister got out before he got there, well, he was biking down her regular route. He would see her one way or another. Neither of them had expected the weather to take such a sudden turn, especially in March, so they weren't dressed for that weather. At least for himself he was able to borrow a yellow rain poncho from the grocery store. His sister? No such luck. Good thing then that he'd been able to grab an umbrella for her.
He slid off his bike and came to a stop at a traffic light that had just turned red. As he waited for the light to turn green, someone called his name. He looked around and spotted his sister on the other side of the street. Someone he couldn't quite make out because of the crowd around them stood with her holding an umbrella over her head. Whoever it was though was having an animated conversation with her. A friend? Maybe he hadn't needed to come all the way here then, especially when he had taken early leave from his shift, which meant he was losing out on much-needed pay. He really needed to get the two of them cellphones, but at the moment they only had enough money to maintain a land-line When the light was green, the two of them made their way over to him, threading around the other pedestrians. Nazo had been riding in the bike lane, but he pulled over to the trashbin on the sidewalk, where fewer people walked by.
As the two of them came closer, Nazo stiffened. He recognized the boy with Nari as Otoya Yuta, the younger brother of an old classmate of his. The familiar guilt that always came with any thoughts about Kari washed over him. "Hello, Otoya," he said with all the respect expected from one speaking to another junior to him. "Thank you for walking with my sister."
"Yes, thank you so much, Otoya," she added with a shy smile.
Otoya said nothing, only looked past him. He seemed to find the people walking past them awfully interesting. "Wasn't a bother," he said finally, directing his attention to Nari. "Couldn't let you walk out in the pouring rain alone, unlike some people."
Nazo bristled, but he held his tongue. He handed the umbrella he had brought with him from the grocery store to his sister and she opened it, holding it over both their heads. Otoya nodded to her and disappeared into the crowd. As soon as he was gone, Nazo slipped out of his poncho and handed it over to Nari. "Here. You must be freezing. Take this," he said as he zipped the jacket up for her and brushed what water he could off.
Nari pulled the poncho around herself and smiled. "Thank you," she said.
He shrugged. Nari glanced at him. "He didn't mean it that way by the way," Nari said as they started down the sidewalk. "I was walking back, and there were a bunch of people walking past me. He was the only one who stopped and offered to walk me home."
No, Nazo thought privately. He did mean it that way. Nari didn't know, but Otoya had reason to hate him. The younger man probably saw him as unreliable and selfish. Nazo didn't blame him. After he had dropped out of school, he had deliberately cut off contact with all his friends, even Kari, Otoya's older sister. He had done it out of necessity because it would have hurt even more when his friends started college, a path he should have taken, but to Otoya, it didn't matter. All that mattered was that Nazo had broken Kari's heart. In retrospect, Nazo agreed with him, because Kari was the kind of person who would have stood by him, even if she had her own life to take care of. By not giving her that chance, he had severed any chance of anything further than friendship developing, a dream he had once coveted.
He started pushing his bike. "How was your day?" he asked.
He heard a sigh from Nari, which he knew was because he had changed the subject. It wasn't fair to keep things like her, but Otoya was a senior of hers. He didn't want to prejudice her against him. Besides, that had been nice of him to do that for her.
"We reviewed in a lot of my classes since exams are coming up, but other than that, not really anything," Nari replied. "I also went to the library during lunch to catch up some reading."
Nazo nudged her with his elbow. "Going to ace all those exams, aren't you? Taking after me?"
"Of course!"
He hid a smile. His sister was doing better these days, much better than the first year the two of them had ended up on their own. More than anything else, she had to finish her education. High school wasn't compulsory, but she had to attend high school if she wanted to go to college. He wasn't giving her a choice about it. His sister was only a minor and if he proved unable to support her, the two of them would be separated. He shoved it deep into the back of his mind where it continued to fester. As always when he was feeling down, he was in the mood for something hot to drink.
"By the way," he said. "Want to hit a cafe today?"
Nari glanced at him. "We have the money for it?"
"Let's not worry about that now?"
She smiled faintly, and Nazo shifted the umbrella so it was more than halfway over his sister's head. He draped an arm around her shoulders and she looked up at him gratefully. The two of them reached an unspoken agreement and they began hurrying along as fast as they could go while pushing his bike. Due to the vast amount of pedestrians and umbrellas however, they weren't able to go as quickly as they liked and it took them ten minutes to get away from downtown Tokyo to a calmer area. Soon they reached an alcove and stopped to rest.
"Which one should we go to?" she asked.
"Where do you want to go?" Nazo asked. "I'm good wherever you want."
"Caffe Veloce, I guess," she replied. "Want to grab something to eat there, too? The food isn't bad."
He mulled over that for a moment. They were tight on money this month as usual, but he supposed since they were splurging with the drinks, they might as well go all the way. He thought of the box filled with money that he'd saved up for emergencies. There wasn't much left. Was he being fiscally irresponsible by making this decision?
Nari stopped walking and grabbed his arm, yanking him so that they faced each other. "You're worrying too much again, aren't you? We don't have to. We can just go home."
"No," he hastily responded. "We'll be fine for this month."
Nari said nothing as she studied him for a moment, but he could tell that hadn't satisfied her. He knew he was being overprotective, but he was scared. He didn't want to lose her either. With their parents' savings only able to support them for another year or so, he wasn't sure what he could do to prove that he could take care of her by himself. Hope to get promoted? Get another job? He was already working two. Ask her to get a job herself? At a time most crucial to her? He couldn't do that.
Nari nudged him, and he realized that she had let him go. Quickly he apologized and began walking again. She went alongside him. "Let me take the umbrella," she said. "You have enough work, what with the bike and all."
True. They'd probably be able to move faster if Nari were holding the umbrella. He handed it over to her, and the two of them crossed the street. Caffe Veloce was right on the corner. The cafe had an American feel to it, even from the outside. The lettering of the sign was in bold English, white on red. It wasn't one they frequented, but the prices were cheap and the selection decent. As his hand touched the doorknob, it shocked him, causing him to lose his grip. He lurched forward, banging his head against the door. His hand snagged onto the edge of the wall and he managed to catch himself and swing in time to see the yellow dragon rushing at him. He had just thrown up his arms when the beast flowed to a stop before him.
It was a sleek creature, more like the Eastern dragons of myth than the Western ones that had gotten popular recently. There were no wings, only what seemed to be an endless length of waves. Its scales shimmered in a light that shone from its serpentine body. He didn't think he could back away any more than he already had, but somehow he did it.
"Nazo?"
The beast regarded him with thoughtful amber eyes. Nazo realized with a shock that the space where there would have normally been two horns rising from its head was empty. That was when he glanced down and noticed why it had no need for horns. Ten very sharp claws rested around his torso. Ten. Not the usual six or eight. He tried to edge away again, to warn Nari, but no sound came out. That was when the dragon leaned forward and touched foreheads with him.
A soothing calm spread through him, warming him down to his toes. Worry? When had he been worried about this gigantic creature eating him? It was only an illusion. Had to be. Dragons weren't real. Yet the dragon before him was just so... beautiful.
Soon, the creature said.
"Nazo!" Nari's concerned voice broke through.
Nazo jolted awake. He found himself leaning with his back against the wall in an attempt to catch his breath. There was no sign of the dragon except for the warmth that was ebbed away. Wait. Dragon? How the hell-
He glanced around. "Did you see-"
Nari stared at him, confused. Her face, normally pale, had even less color than usual. "You haven't been working too much, have you?"
Nazo shook his head. "Not any more than the usual."
Nari stared at him again but didn't question his statement. He smiled to reassure her. "Just wanting that hot drink, I guess."
He could tell what he'd said didn't appease her but she wasn't going to delve any deeper. It wasn't her style. Nazo pushed himself off the wall, noting that whatever had caused the heavy rainstorm earlier was now gently clearing it away. Did it have anything to do with the dragon he'd just seen? Because he had to have seen it, but why hadn't Nari commented on it? His head pounded and his hand went to the side that hurt the most. He squeezed his eyes shut. Inside, a few curious patrons were turning heads to observe him. He averted his face to avoid their scrutiny. "Come on," he said a bit gruffer than he liked. He adjusted his glasses, which had slipped down his nose, locked his bike, and opened the door, this time without incident.
As they entered, a bell tinkled, announcing their entrance. A rush of warm air hit them instantly, completely different from the chilliness outside. The last pieces of the vision slipped from his grasp, settling into the back of his mind. To his relief, any patrons who had seen what had happened outside were no longer paying attention. Looking around, he saw they weren't the only people to have taken shelter in the coffee shop; over ten couples sat at individual booths and tables as they chatted happily together. Several of them had their hands surrounded around steaming cups of coffee. Some of them also had sandwiches. Nazo could certainly see why; he would have enjoyed the rising heat, too, along with the delicious smells.
No one paid attention to them as Nazo led his sister to an empty booth at the back of the bar away from all the windows. A bookshelf stood to their far right, and several fake plants shielded them on the left. Other than that, there wasn't much decoration. "Take a seat, Nari. We'll stay here until our clothes dry off," he said and led her to the opposite side of the table. They removed their outer layers and folded them carefully. Nazo started to leave, but noticed she was still shivering. As he still had two sweaters on underneath, he unraveled the scarf around his neck and gently laid it around her shoulders. "Wrap this around yourself. I'll be right back."
There was no line at the counter, so Nazo stepped up to the first cashier. He flinched when he saw who it was: Kari, Otoya's older sister who had once been a good friend of his. There might have even been more if- no. He wouldn't let himself think about that again. He bit his lip. Best to discourage her now instead of disappointing her later. That was how he felt, but looking at her made that decision a hard one.
Instead of letting her hair down as she used to, the girl had pulled her sleek black hair into a bun. It was the first time seeing someone from his past since he'd dropped out, and it felt good, surprising since he had avoided everyone like the plague when the events had unfolded the way they had in the beginning.
Or at least it felt good until he realized he had to actually talk. Then he looked down at the counter.
Silence.
He was just about to turn away and tell Nari that they needed to go to another cafe when Kari spoke first. "Naz-, I'm sorry. Shimajima! I haven't seen you for ages! How.. how have you been? And what would you like to order?"
"All right," he said coolly. "It's not easy, but Nari and I are hanging on."
"Oh, I'm sorry," she said, then paused. "You're... really all right with not going to college though? You would have done really well, I think."
"Eh. Nothing I can do about it now. Anyway, Nari needs me."
He was remembering why he didn't like seeing anyone again. It was bad enough that he had dropped out, but the way he had treated his friends after that had only made matters worse. Now he had the strangest urge to just get out of there, but he didn't, couldn't make himself move. Nazo could only pray that she wouldn't think to dig any further and just concentrate on being a cashier. Unfair of him, since they had been extremely close friends during high school, even founding the mythology club together, but he couldn't help it. He wasn't ashamed of what he had done either, but he hated people gossiping, and he was positive that as soon as she got off work today, she would call up all his old friends and exclaim about how she had run into him today. Then one by one, they'd all try to contact him, and he'd have to come up with a multitude of excuses to break off any engagements or meetings they might want to make. If there was one thing he hated, it was pity. He didn't want other people to think he couldn't support his sister. What kind of brother would he be if he couldn't help the one person who needed him most?
He drummed his fingers on the counter. He didn't want to meet her eyes in case she tried to make small talk. Worse, he didn't want to see that sympathetic look that had to be on her face. The safest place then was at the cash register. Or the menu. Anywhere but near her. "Could I have a cappuccino?" he finally asked.
"That'd be 120 yen please," Kari said and punched in his order. "Ken, one cappuccino order!" she called out to her co-workers behind her. "Make sure it's nice and toasty!"
"In five minutes!" Ken shouted back.
She hummed a little to herself as Nazo pulled out his wallet and counted the money out. To his relief, he saw that she didn't seem too miffed by his behavior, at least outwardly. That made things easier for him. "Here you go," he said when he had the correct sum. "150. Keep the change since it's stormy today."
"Thank you," Kari said, and a genuine smile crept across her face. "You're still as nice as you were in high school. Glad to see that. I was afraid-"
Nazo shrugged, cutting her off. "Don't know if that's a good thing or not. That means I'm easy to take advantage of, right?"
Kari laughed. "But still cynical, hm? Anyway, your number is 72. Feel free to check out any of the books or magazines in the corner while you're waiting for your order. Our manager ordered a ton of mythology and occult books from the library. You know, that annual book sale they have to get rid of unpopular books. They've just been rotting over there, and some of them seem like they might be your thing."
Nazo nodded, acknowledging what she had said but paying no real attention to it. He backed away from the counter and returned to their booth. Quickly he scanned the room and was relieved to see no one else he recognized. The chances of seeing someone else was pretty small, but he doubted he would be able to take another surprise encounter. With a sigh, he took a seat and looked over to see what his sister was doing.
Nari had taken some books from the shelf next to them and was flipping through the pages. How she was going to get through them in the hour or so that they'd be spending here he didn't know, but all right, fine with him. Maybe she was just going to flip through them and if she saw any she liked, look for them at the school library so she could check them out there. He smiled to himself. It was just like her to do that. She always preferred books to magazines, which the cafe also had plenty of.
"Check these books out," Nari said softly. "Some of them are really old. I wonder how this cafe got a hold of them."
"Hocked them?" he suggested and laid his head on the table. He was suddenly tired and considered finding an excuse so they could leave early. He decided against that though, since it looked like his sister was having fun. "If they're that rare, they probably got them through the black market or something. Cashier mentioned something about her manager getting them from some library book sale. Who knows, maybe some idiot stuck in a few books he couldn't sell off on E-bay."
"Nazo!" Nari scolded. "Why are you always so sarcastic?"
Nazo shrugged. "Only because you're so impractical and need to get your head down from the clouds."
Nari shot him a dirty look and ignored his comment, which he conceded to be a victory on his part. "Some of these even have legends written in them. See? Remember this one? It's the story of how the Star Festival came to be."
This one certainly caught his attention, and Nazo glanced over. He remembered the legend of the Cowherd and Weaver Girl. She had been from the heavens, he from the earth. Their love had been a star-crossed one, and although they had shared a few happy moments together, they had ultimately been forced to separate by the Emperor of the Heavens. Now it was only the pity of the magpies that enabled the pitiful couple to meet once a year, on the seventh day of the seventh month. His grandmother had told it to him many a stormy night, and the story had been imprinted in his sharp mind. It was one of his favorites, and sometimes he liked to wonder if he would be as strong as the Cowherd if he were to be separated from his own girlfriend, regardless of the fact that he didn't have one and probably wouldn't find one for quite some time.
Details, it was all details.
The truth was, although he acted so mocking of the old stories, Nazo loved them. They had occupied his mind many a rainy day, just as they had started to today. The virtues of the characters were almost inhuman, written like a story, and since they were, he had his serious doubts that anyone could be like them.
Still.. if he could ever be that strong..
"Remember that story about the four Gods of China?" Nari asked, interrupting his thoughts. She lifted a slim red book off her lap. When Nazo saw the book, he felt a twinge of recognition in his heart even though he had never seen it before. He pushed it down.
"I found something talking about it here," Nari continued. "Do you want to read it?"
"Four Gods, blah.." he said. "Sure, why not? Will give me something to do to pass the time anyway." He took the book from his sister and flipped to the first page. His heart suddenly began to pound loudly, and his breath quickened. The page was charred and difficult to read, and parts of it had already started to crumble in the heated room. Everything was handwritten, odd in an age when the printer had already been invented for centuries. Nazo wiped his glasses off, then put them back on. "Universe of the Four Gods," he read aloud. "Translator: Okuda Einosuke.
"Okuda Einosuke," he noted softly to himself. Intriguing that something like this show up in a modern coffee place. The writer had been famous during the Taisho era if he remembered correctly. Nazo was familiar with his work if only because he had translated and published many folklore tales. He flipped to what would have been the title page and scanned through it quickly.
"Sounds pretty good," Nari said as she leaned over her brother's shoulder. "Read what's under that, will you?"
"This is the story of a girl who gathered the Seven Seishi of Tenkyoku, and acquired the power to make every wish come true," Nazo continued, the sense of foreboding strengthening. "The story itself is an incantation. Whoever finishes the book shall receive this great power. As soon as the page is turned, the story will become the truth and begin." A roaring sound filled his ears and adrenaline coursed through his body. He slammed the book shut, suddenly irritated. "What kind of BS is this? Why does it have to be a girl? Is it some kind of 'choose-your-own-adventure' story?"
"You don't have to read it," Nari said as she shrugged. "Go grab something else from the bookshelf. Or read about Orihime or some other random legend. Love to see you fanboy over her. And I know for a fact that you used to pretend you were Hikoboshi, longing for his Orihime."
Nazo waved her off. "Liar. You're just dreaming that up. I can't be Hikoboshi without an Orihime."
Nari grinned. "Keep telling yourself that, my dear closet romantic brother."
Nazo snorted. "Hey, you have your fangirl moments, too, which by the way, are far worse than mine. Don't even get started on me."
"Number 72!" Kari called from the counter.
Nazo stood up and pushed his chair in, glad for the excuse to get away from the book. "I'm going to grab your cappuccino. Be right back."
Nari nodded. "Got it," she said with a grin. She reached for the book again and flipped it open.
A flash of yellow light wrapped around him like a blanket. He froze. Glancing down, he saw that his hand was fading away. "What-" he shouted as he abruptly turned around. His sister was disappearing before his eyes. "Nari!" To his shock, he realized that his voice, too, was losing its strength in the light. "Nari!"
His sister screamed his name soundlessly, her face contorted.
They reached for each other, but before their vanishing fingers could reach, the light swallowed them up and the book snapped shut.
x
"Number 72!" Kari called again. When no one showed up, Kari frowned and picked up the cappuccino and walked towards the direction Nazo had gone. He was nowhere in sight. She pursed her lips curiously and set the cappuccino on the table. "Where did he go.." she asked thoughtfully. Had the meeting been so unpleasant and awkward that he had had to leave as quickly as possible? Then she caught sight of a red knit scarf lying there draped on a chair and smiled to herself. It had to be her friend's, although she didn't know why he had left it there. Could he have gone to the restroom? There was a book next to the scarf, still open. Kari leaned down to see what it was.
"Universe of the Four Gods?" she asked herself as she examined the tattered old tome. "What is that?"
She recognized the author's name however. Okuda Einosuke graced many of the books in her own home. Useful whenever their club needed something new to look at. Odd to see something of his here. She had never seen this book before and from the looks of it was merely a manuscript. How had the manager acquired this? From the book sale? Or had Nazo brought it himself? She didn't see the customary tag that indicated it belonged to the cafe. She closed the book. It was all very curious. Something compelled her to hold onto it and she carried it with her to the counter along with the cappuccino. Ken gave her an odd look.
"The guy who ordered the drink left?" Ken asked her.
Kari nodded. "Yeah, he's nowhere in sight. Seems he left his scarf and book, too. I'll have to get it back to him next time I see him."
Ken raised an eyebrow. "You know him?"
"Yeah," she replied as she placed the book into her bag.
He turned away. "Didn't seem that happy to see you."
"Long story," was her response, thus closing the conversation. Kari rubbed the scarf between her fingers. She started to put it in her bag, but hesitated. The chance encounter today with her old friend was cheering, even though he barely talked to her. Nazo had changed, but the core of him remained the same. He had had to grow up very quickly after his parents had died in their first year of college. No matter how Kari and her friends had tried to reach out to him, he had always turned away. At home, Yuta's scathing remarks about her friend stung her, but it was a relief to even hear about Nazo, a secret she guarded closely lest her brother's rants worsen. Her stomach flipped. Even now, Nazo was unreachable.
She tucked the scarf into the bag after the book. Maybe after work, she could call Nazo and let him know he'd forgotten his stuff. It'd be an excuse to talk to him again and maybe that could lead to the renewal of their friendship.
Yeah, that would work splendidly. A book and a scarf to fix a fragmented relationship. Funny to think of them as key to what she wanted most. Still, she could hope. One never said she couldn't.
Next episode: The Dangers of a Y Chromosome - Landing in Nyosei definitely isn't too lucky for poor Nazo...
A/N: Hi! Thanks for checking this out. I realize the date on this is quite old, but it's because I put the story on hiatus for a while and finally picked it up again. Trying to update at least semi-regularly now. ^^ If the story seems familiar to anyone, it is because this is sort of a combination of a trilogy I had planned for Fushigi Yuugi years ago. First version was The Seven Constellations of Taiitsukun, which became Misted Flame and Flight Unearthed, which you can find in my profile. There was also Tenkou's story and Nazunu/Nazuno (my original gods for Nyosei)'s story. Scrapped the third one for the most part, although I did keep a few of the characters. The other two stories were never posted here, only on my Geocities website, which is now down. I have done a huge revamp for this story based on my most recent version of MFaFU, but there are still remnants of the story in this one. This story will obviously focus more on the Tenkyoku seishi however. I did more research recently and found out that the animal that represents Tenkyoku has sometimes been attributed to Kouryuu, aka the Yellow Dragon. Huanlong in Chinese. So. ^^' I'm working to incorporate that into the story now. If you see another animal though, it'll be because of the country.
One thing I want to note is that I will not be using honorifics in the story. I do not understand them well enough, and I'm worried about messing them up, so I will just use the most basic Japanese rules. Last name, First name. Calling people by their last names (ex. Otoya Yuta, Nazo calls him Otoya). He would also normally use Otoya instead of Kari, but I figured it'd be easier to distinguish between the two if he used Kari. That and since the two of them used to be good friends...
-About the cowherder and weavergirl... I realize that there is actually a much darker version of the story, but since the one I mentioned is the one I actually grew up with and I also just found out about that version recently, I decided to stick with my interpretation.
-Regular dragons in Chinese mythology tend to have three or four. Only imperial dragons have five, hence Nazo's surprise.
-I feel like I should mention this, but there will be spoilers for Genbu Kaiden. I originally wasn't going to, but the way the story ended was just so.. perfect. I really want to address it here! I can't promise that I'll be able to portray the characters well, but I am definitely going to do my best.
I hope you enjoy the story, because it is quite a lot of fun for me to write!