Author's Notes: Obligatory Nuriko fic. A little different--set after the death.

Warnings: Angst, mention of death. Very mildly AUish.

Spoilers: Episode 33, though nothing specific.

Obligatory Disclaimer: I own no part of Fushigi Yuugi or any of its characters.

Melody of the Wind


yasashisa ni
yurete'ta nara
shiawase datta hazu demo

toki ga ugoku mune ga sawagu kaze no naka de
dareka ga yobu koe ga kikoeru

If you were touched
by kindness,
you must have been happy, but

Time moves on. My heart pounds. In the wind
I can hear someone's voice calling.

-Nuriko, Kaze no Uta (Melody of the Wind)



He was standing at the edge of infinity, looking over, free-falling and tumbling through midair, a feather on the wind.
And then he landed.
The snow spread around him like angel's wings, encompassing his frozen soul in immortal warmth, though he remained immune to sensation. He breathed deeply. The wind blew hard, but his heart beat stronger.
And then he opened his eyes and spread violet light over the valley, illuminating it with the comforting light of sanguinity. His carnal devastation was complete, but there was no force strong enough to keep him away from the light.
Or the ones who owned his heart.


She collapsed in snow, trembling violently. The world was spinning and there was no stop, no end to the kaleidoscope. Her stomach heaved, but she fought the bile down with every ounce of a determination in her body.
The iniquitous darkness spread itself over her like night, cloaking her soul. It was cold. So cold...where was their fire?
Forcing herself to look again at the fallen, she cursed aloud. How could one's visage remain so peaceful in light of death? Even his cheeks were still held a faint rose tint.
No more. She couldn't handle any more. The world was spinning too fast now.
Wrenching from her lover's grasp, she stumbled through the snow drifts until her body could go no farther, and there she collapsed, weeping, as the snowflakes fluttered down around her.
The innocent dream was over. Now the nightmares began.


A breath of air, and then a faint humming, like a bird perched on the emperor's gardens. A fluid movement of hands, and then lavendar hair spilled from restraint, full and free and flowing once again, dancing wildly to the ryhthm of the wind like lillies in a summer breeze.
Hope, said the wind, Never lose it...
And then he closed his eyes again.


His stare was glazed over with disbelief, his hands quivering where they held been holding living flesh only moments before. No, not again...not another...
He gasped as she ran off, shoving him aside as she fled from the scene, refusing to believe what her eyes told her, unwilling to accept the sacrifice.
Silver eyes narrowed in rage. How dare she let his eternal gift go to waste?
Then he ran after her. Caught up with her. Wasn't hard with the snow. Grabbed her hand and screamed at her, shook her until the cruel truth set in, and her heart shattered before his eyes.
And then he dragged her back and placed her next to him, forcing her to look and understand and cry with him, so that he could be comforted by the knowledge that he whose heart was breaking.


Don't cry, begged the wind, but the voice was lost among the tears, the message a futile search for comfort.
Don't cry, he whispered, Because I'm still here with you.
The wind blew more violently, mussing his hair, splaying the ends so that it appeared as a thick mass of purple waves, roiling like the river's surf. The storm churned inside his heart.
Had he been wrong?


Gazing at his hand as the symbol faded, he caught his breath. How many would die before he had the chance to save at least one? His eyes trailed back to his fallen friend.
They had hardly known each other, had hardly spoken. The words passed between them were usually short and commanding, nothing of the teasing and lovable nature the young man had shared with the others.
But the loss...it stung as deeply as hers had, tearing through to the sensitive core of his soul, burning like wildfire through his body and the symbols that bound them together as one.
He closed his eyes, bowed his head, then placed a hand on the little boy's head reassuringly, just to touch something alive, to know that this nightmares would not last forever...


No. They were always together. Because Suzaku has brought them together to find life in each other, and in one another, they had been reincarnated over again.
Dissension would be a lie. An empty, hollow lie. And existence? It would be meaningless.


He looked at the mound of snow and the world around it for the first time with child's eyes. The loss...disconcerting, confusing, a substantial loss of the inner soul...but the gift, of life, of love, of belief...
The little boy managed a small, tear-streaked smile. All his life he had seen the world through the complicated and overlapping layers of adulthood, but this effort, this event...so moving in its simplicity, so sincere in its lack of convolution...it made his tears taste of both sorrow and gratitude.
Opening his eyes to the heavens, he whispered so softly that only one could hear. "Thank you."


The folds of his clothing fluttered in the wind, surrounding him in a billowing wave of cloth. He wondered what his reflection would show. Of him as a man, standing tall and strong as the mountains rose as a physical manifestation of the obstacles and enemies that had held him down in life.
With an idle flick of the wrists, he crumbled those peaks.
Tilting his head back, he inhaled the cool winter air, reveling in the free and untrammeled beauty of it all.
Oh, to finally view the world without all those adornments and layers to hide himself behind. Without walls or fortifications to scale in order to reach the soul, the living fire that truly was the weeping willow...


They dragged him into the hotel kicking and screaming, his red hair tousled, his amber eyes swollen and red, his voice hoarse with crying. He did not want to return here, to this place of temporary serenity. His heart, his soul was not held here, restricted by man-made walls constructed by human hands.
They were on that mountain, buried beneath six feet of snow beside his best friend's frozen remains.
Wrenching free of his brother's grasp, he ran from them, isolating himself as he slammed the door to his room shut. There he proceeded to kick and punch the wall until the woodwork splintered beneath his fists, until his fingers were cut and covered in blood. And with a strangled sob, he fell to his knees, leeting out a hauntingly wolfish cry of pain and anguish before collapsing into a tiny ball and weeping.


He touched his forehead, forcing his guilt into an empty part of his mind. He had not meant, in any circumstance, to hurt them so deeply, but nor could he turn a blind eye to Suzaku's fate.
Destiny...
He lifted his hands, spreading his fingers until they reached across distance and land as a roaring wind, reached to a lonely room where a good friend wept quietly.
There he focused his energy, and brushed his spirit against the other's. Do not be afraid...


Setting his staff against a rock, he quietly fell to his knees, spreading them into a familiar position as he gently folded his hands together.
Night had fallen, and the moon was out, full and round and tinged with scarlet. Like blood.
His hands trembled as a wolf's cry cut through the stillness of night, echoing throughout throughout the mountain range. Deep within him, rage rose, red hot and passionate, just like a time so long ago when a river a had made the first cut through in his soul.
Now the viscious wolf dug his claws in, tearing him to pieces.
Abruptly, he shook his head of such thoughts. The time for revenge would come later. Clasping his hands together, he shut his eyes.
There was another to pray for tonight.
The wind blew around him, chilling him to the core. Beneath his body, the snow remained frozen and unyielding.
In the middle of the night, surrounded by the darkness and cold, a solitary tear slid down his cheek, unseen by everyone but him.
And once it was fallen, it was gone.


He sighed, something which was like the soft breeze on a spring day. There was much to regret in completion; acceptance of Fate did not bestow one all answers.
But...if all went as the Fates desired...
Then there was nothing to fear of regret if they believed...


He couldn't sleep that night, plagued by visions of blood and cold and death. Couldn't sleep, filled with the knowledge that he would never see a smile reflected in violet eyes again.
What had he wanted, all those times they touched? It made his mind swirl in endless patterns of possiblities.
Like the endless patterns of fate.
He buried his face in tear-soaked pillow, feeling the feather-light strands of his hair fall over hazel eyes. He would cry, but there were no more tears left. With a sigh, he rolled to his side, gazing out the window, towards the sky, where Suzaku's constellations burned brightly.
And one in particular, which seemed to burn even brighter than usual.
A breeze blew through his open window, curling around his form and engulfing it, playing with the thickness of hair and trailing light fingers across his skin.
In the darkness of the night, he whispered a name softly.
Closing his eyes, he slowly fell asleep, the scent of lavendar surrounding him.


The sun came as a glorious beacon in the vast darkness of the day to follow, and he, a brilliant light all his own, greeted it with smiling eyes.
Let there be light where there is emptiness, the wind whispered.
And there was.
With a flurry of a robes and violet hair, he lifted his arms to the sky, embracing destiny with all the passion and sincerity of his soul.
And the sun that cascaded over the valley...
And the love and the devotion that filled them...
The wind and the snow that whispered his name...
They were all bound together.
In the middle of Hokkan, surrounded by the cold of winter, the boundaries of rising peaks, and the fear of human hearts, a light shined down on the world.
And in the light, there was a promise, which was echoed by the wind, to be carried throughout the eves of valleys and plunged deep into the hearts of all.
Never give up hope...Because hope is what binds us...
Forever.
He smiled into the sun.
And in his smile, there came the dawning.

Final Notes From the Author:

I figured I would have to write an obligatory episode 33 fic sometime...even if I haven't seen the episode yet. When I wrote this, I was thinking more along the lines of Nuriko accepting fate, more than having to give it up. More than just being torn away from life, but finding a more fulfilling place in the afterlife. Aw well, we all interpret differently. I hope you found mine believable.
Oh, and this story was inspired by this picture: http://www.geocities.com/nurikonuriko/flower.jpg
Thank you for reading, have a nice day!

-Chaotic Serenity