Diana-sama
"A Monk's Clothes"
Disclaimer: I do not own Fushigi Yuugi, nor am I using it for profit.
Chapter Summary: A girl from our world falls into the Fushigi Yuugi world and is found by Chichiri in a town at the borders of Konan. As they both believe she is the priestess, he agrees to take her to the capital of Konan and the palace. Chichiri/OC fic. There is also a bit of Hotohori/OC laterand original pairings from the manga.
Chapter 1. To Spot a Traveler
Elyrean Johnson, also known as El, frowned dramatically at her pinned-up hair. The dark brown locks were swept up into a swirling bun and held by an ornamental Chinese hair piece, given to her by her classy Chinese friend Chara, while two long, thin pieces of hair were kept out of the bun stylishly, curled at the ends. El's stormy gray eyes were narrowed as they took in the sight of her pretty sea-blue dress with baby blue flowers printed on it decoratively. Sapphire eardrops hung on her earlobes by short silver strings, matching the silver necklace that wound closely around her pale neck, a tiny sapphire gem clinging to the precious thread. Shimmering light blue eye shadow and delicate pink lip gloss were the only makeup items on the sixteen-year-old's small face. Standing at 5'2" because of her silver two-inch high heels, El decided with a sigh that she looked alright enough for a damn wedding.
"You look fine, El," came a growlingly annoyed voice from her nearby cell phone. She hesitantly tore her gaze away from the full-length mirror, once belonging to her mother, to look at the palm-sized silver machine. A tiny string looped around the antenna to attach a cute blue fuzz the size of a thumbprint to the phone. As it was a camera phone, her friend Chara could view El's looks just as if they were in the same room. "Stop fussing."
"Do you think I need more jewelry?" El groaned slightly. "I can never tell how much you're supposed to wear to which occasion… damn it, I'll go as a man and just wear a friggin' tux." Her friends frequently told her how pretty she was, especially with her slender form and oddly-colored eyes, but she always insisted right back that she was "painfully plain".
Chara screeched from the phone. "Don't you dare!"
El rolled her eyes. "I was kidding, Chara. Dad would stab me, right there on the spot, if I showed up in a tux. Not to mention the fact that I don't own one, and dresses aren't really all that bad… nice breeze, anyway."
Chara laughed loudly over the speaker-phone. "Good child. Now, get your skinny ass to the wedding. I'll call ya tonight, ok?"
"When would that be my time?" El looked confused. She hated time zones etcetera. Why couldn't everyone just be at the same time as everyone else? It would be simpler…
Chara laughed. "I meant your time. It'll probably be in about eight hours or so. 'K?"
"OK. See ya."
"Ja."
The two girls hung up their cell phones and El shook her head at Chara. Just about the only Japanese she knew was "konnichiwa", "gomen", "ramen", and "ja matta", and yet she was overly proud of her limited vocabulary. El had been raised knowing the language, as her parents were once anime fanatics, and though they had grown over the fanaticism, still loved all things Japanese. Her mother even had an odd freelance translation job.
She grabbed her white purse- she didn't own a blue one- and walked out of the bedroom, shoving the cell phone distractedly in with her other silly items. El usually carried around ridiculous amounts of small handy items, earning her the nick-name "Rite Aid" with some of her classmates.
Abruptly, she smacked into the wall, after looking up from zipping her purse shut. "OW!" she growled in a half-shout. She looked up to glare at the offending wall, feeling incredibly embarrassed and stupid, but felt confused when she saw that it was not the polite green wallpaper of the hallway outside or even the lavender of her own room, but a dingy, faded brown with cracks running through the color.
Furrowing her eyebrows, her stormy gaze turned upward and spotted the dull red shingles, patterned in a way that reminded her of the ancient Chinese homes in Chara's many vacation pictures. The house was also only one story high, she realized, after noticing that she was no longer in her home but outside on dusty ground. She glanced right and left, spotting more small poor-looking houses, but no people.
'Where am I?' was her first, very obvious thought. Her second one was just as obvious: 'And how the frick did I get here?'
"Dooo-chaaaaan!" came a mother's voice, calling, as a woman in ragged clothes came running through the deserted street. She was darkly tanned and had the unmistakable look of Chinese, and her clothes were a hitched-up and informal version of working dresses that ancient Chinese working women used to wear.
El blinked slowly. 'I'm in a World History book?'
"Oh! Who-who are you?" asked the woman in clear Japanese, despite El's belief that she was Chinese, noticing El sprawled on the ground.
The befuddled sixteen-year-old stood and brushed herself off, deciding against a bow or curtsy because she couldn't be sure she was in ancient China. She replied in Japanese: "Um, my name's El. Where am I, please?"
"You are in Konan, foreign traveler," smiled the woman. "Do you come from Kutou? Your clothes look like those of an ambassador's wife or something like it."
Recognizing the names, El gawked. 'Konan! Kutou! Those are from Fushigi Yuugi- I'm in an ANIME?' "Er…"
"I'm very sorry, my lady, but I must be going. My beautiful daughter got lost in the marketplace crowd, and I must find her soon should some bad luck fall upon her…"
"Um! Here, I'll help you, if I can," El blurted out quickly. 'I need to figure out what time period of the story I'm in, if I really am in the anime. Perhaps someone from the series will come and find me here… or I need to get a ride to the palace… or something. Who knows.'
The woman smiled widely. "That would be very gracious of you, my lady! She goes by the name of Do-chan."
"Alright. Let's search."
Almost an hour later- El felt like it was only seconds, really- they found the little raven-haired girl sitting in a small baker's stand, chewing on doughy food. The mother gleefully hugged her precious child, and thanked El for helping find her before leaving.
'Well, that got me nowhere,' thought the girl miserably, holding her long-since discarded heels in one hand. 'I wonder what mom would do…?'
Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted as she heard a very familiar, "That one, no da," from the crowd. She spun around wildly, looking for the owner's voice, and spotted the blue-haired monk by the baker's stand. He was wearing exactly what the anime had described, and in one hand was that familiar jingling staff.
She rushed to him. 'What do I do? Say something?' "Um!" she managed.
He looked to her, his smiling mask on, and noticed her foreign and bedraggled appearance. "Can I help you, no da?"
"Um," she repeated, unknowing. "Chichiri?"
There was a pause in his manner, though his smooth mask hid from her any expression to hint at what he thought of her calling his celestial name. He quickly paid the waiting baker before turning to address the otherworldly girl. "How do you know that name, no da?"
She hesitated. "I… I'm El. I mean, that's what everyone calls me anyways… Um… I'm-I'm not from this world."
Again his mask his from her any expression but chibi surprise. "You are? That's very strange, no da, but how do you know my name, no da?"
"My world has heard of yours… we have a story, as you have a legend, about the Priestess of Suzaku." She thought hard about what else to say. "I don't know how to describe it in terms that someone from this world might understand… you see, our stories are told through machines which allow you to view some of the story, as if you were there. So, when I saw you, the warrior Chichiri, I recognized you, and… well…"
"I see, no da," he said simply. El sighed. 'What does that mean?' "So, you believe you are the Priestess of Suzaku then, no da?"
"Well, I am a girl from another world," El shrugged. "So I can only presume that that's why I'm here. Though, in our story of the Priestess of Suzaku, there is a 'gateway' between the two worlds, and I came here by accident…" She sweatdropped. "I ran into a wall and fell down, and when I looked up I was here."
Chichiri also sweatdropped. "I… see, no da…" He looked thoughtful for a minute. "All right then, no da, you can come with me to the capital. I was going there anyways, because I sensed a presence… your ki is very remarkable, however, and it would make sense that you are from another world, no da."
"Thank you," she told him gratefully. "Who knows what would've happened to me if I hadn't run into you."
Chichiri nodded and started walking, El following him. "I already have a room at the inn here, no da…"
The night was uneventful, except for the uncomfortable awkwardness that El felt around the warrior, as they were still strangers suddenly traveling together. Sure, she knew him from an anime, but that didn't mean she was buddy-buddy with him all of a sudden. And he didn't know anything about her! Both were polite for the entire night, El's embarrassment only showing in the occasional averted glances and small blushes, and Chichiri's mask hiding whatever feelings he might have held.
When it was time for bed- Chichiri has requested a second cot to be placed in the room when El had worriedly told him not to spend extra money on her or anything like that as she didn't want to be a "bother"- El restlessly got into bed, dressed in cheap clothes similar to what the villagers here wore. She'd ventured out for those on her own, finding the woman she'd helped earlier and hesitantly asking for a hand-me-down pair of clothes and boots. The overly generous woman had gladly given them to her, ignoring El's embarrassment at having to take something from others for free.
'I hate being a freeloader,' the girl thought unhappily. She spent a long time tossing and turning, unable to sleep with the guilt of being dependent on strangers keeping her awake and nauseous, before falling asleep. Her dreams were as strange as usual: when she awoke, the last thing she remembered was being told to describe a painting for art class and not finishing it because of Chichiri's gentle shake.
"Wake up, no da," said the man politely. "We're leaving now, no da."
El nodded and sat up, running fingers through her dark brown hair anxiously. She felt like she was supposed to finish describing the painting. 'Um, the gold and violet streaks outlining the painting represent the majesty of… of… damn, now I can't remember the painting! What was I describing?' She shook her head a few times and rubbed the sleep from her eyes, getting up completely and yawning.
Soon enough, the two were off, headed for the capital.
A/N: I had that dream. ; So! Congrats, a new friggin fic. I think I'm going to get off FFN and stop bothering people with my writing. I never finish anything. uu; What do you think of El? And what will happen in the next chapter? ;) Ohohoho.