Disclaimer: I don't own Fushigi Yugi or anything mentioned within the manga/anime.

Cajiro: But touch me and Hachi and you die! We belong to Maeko-san!

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A book in an empty room falls open on the floor, waiting for a young girl to find it, and be transported to a world that is more then anything she could have dreamed.

"Hey, Caj'? Ready?" prince Hachiro asked his bodyguard. She smiled up at him from underneath the walkway of the palace.

"Ready to go, Cap'n!" even though she was no longer a pirate, Cajiro could not help talking like one, even within the Imperial Palace at Hong Nan.

Hachiro stood with his back against one of the pillars holding up the ceiling, a book in his right hand. His left hand hung ready to grab at the rope hanging beside him. His dark hair fell into his grey eyes and he brushed it back impatiently, watching the women walking towards him.

The stopped far enough away that he couldn't hear what they said, but he could tell it was about him from the way they giggled and looked at him. He detested them all. None of them could hold an intelligent conversation, or even tell a decent joke. Looking down at Cajiro, he nodded.

From below the walkway there came a banging sound and the floor seemed to jump as the girl crawled underneath it, moving so that every time she took a step the floor moved to the thumps of her back hitting it. The women screamed at the sounds, moving backwards. Then the bumping stopped and stayed in one place. When the girls tried to move away it came from behind them, keeping them in one place. When they were all in the center, Hachiro pulled the string. It was connected to a pulley system, which was connected to a bucket of water hanging above the women's heads.

The banging stopped, and a few moments later Cajiro vaulted over the railing to stand next to Hachi, who was looking properly interested in the noise. Almost simultaneously the bucket of water dropped on the girl's heads, soaking them through. Both prince and bodyguard waited until the last of the harem women had left the area, and then exploded into laughter. While Cajiro stood on the railing to get the ropes down, Hachiro held her steady.

Jumping down she looked at her charge. "You're Da's gonna lecture us about 'proper warrior conduct again, if he finds out about this!"

"Don't worry about it. Father won't be able to pin this one on us! We've been careful! They saw me just standing here, and you came over from the other side," Hachi said confidently.

"Well, I guess so…" Cajiro said. "Well, anyway, lets get to the library and act like nothing happened." She stuffed all the rope in her bag, then led her charge to the center of the place, where they had a large library.

The Emperor of Hong Nan walked quietly into his library, unnoticed by his son and the young bodyguard, Cajiro. He watched, hoping she was telling the boy another pirate story. He loved to listen to her talk about the pirates, though if anyone ever found out his wife would call him childish and try to stop him listening ever again. The woman was like a dragon that way; he couldn't understand why he ever married her.

He was in luck, Caj was telling Hachiro the Emperor's favorite story, the one where she and her crew were fighting bandits that attacked them one night while they were re-supplying in a town.

"Those bandits didn't know what they was gettin into when they challenged me. All they saw was a 'little girl' holding a sword, not much to fight. The bastards wanted my swords and the food I had in my pack, but they got more then they could handle in attackin me! Brother was behind me, and I couldn't leave him unprotected, but those men attacked me. Boy, were they surprised when I pulled out my swords and swung at them!

"Brother sent up a yell, and the rest of the guys came out with knives and things. You remember I told you about Rike and his throwing stars?" Cajiro paused for Hachi to nod. "Well, by the time he got there, I was already fighting the boss. He swung at me with this silly little dagger, and I kicked it out of his hand. One of the other bandits came up behind me an' I kicked him away, just at the same time as Rike threw a star. It hit him in the neck and the guy was dead.

"Well, the boss wasn't about to be ignored by a little girl. He went to hit me, but I ducked and he grabbed my extra sword. That made me angry, and I cut off his other hand on my next attack. The boys were behind us now, killing all the others. I could here Cap'n yelling that it wasn't fair that the youngest member kill the boss and Yire hit him in the head. I found that out later, because I was busy at the moment.

"The boss wasn't as good a fighter as he must'a thought. He tried all the amateur moves I taught you to avoid, and I was able to block each and every one. Even with one hand though, he was enough of a match for me with brute strength. But remember this- no matter how strong your enemy is, skill will make up for any physical weakness, and in many cases, help you get rid of said weakness.

"Well, anyways, I got the bandit with only a few attacks. He didn't stand a chance! Then when we got back to the village, all the people acted like we were heroes or something. It was funny what people would do once you helped 'em out a little. We got all the stuff for our ship for free. They never realized that we had challenged the bandits just for that!"

Both warriors laughed, and the Emperor chuckled quietly behind the shelf he was using to keep out of sight. The only thing that worried him was that these two were celestial warriors, but they didn't act like ones. When would they shape up? Little did he know that they would be thrown into their own adventures very soon.

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Well, this is my first story, and I hope you liked it! Cajiro and Hachi are going to be getting into some interesting situations from here on out. I hope you enjoy their adventures finding the priestess!

--Maeko-san