Yay! New story. During a bandit raid, Chichiri is captured by the Reikaku Bandits and taken to their King, Tasuki. If you don't think the title's great, please suggest a new one, I'm so bad at naming. Hope you guys enjoy it. About all the names, I just searched for a list of famous Chinese people and made up names based on that. The places are cannon in the Fushigi Yuugi fandom though. Disclaimer time: Ahem, this is not mine. I am not making any money.

~NsDb~

What the Heart Cannot Carry chapter 1:

Chichiri was a wandering monk. He'd left his village at the age of eighteen, not sure what to do with his life. At the very least, he wanted to see the world. Months after his departure, he stayed at a monastery that was happy to provide him with food and shelter for as long as he wanted to stay. He had only intended to stay a week at most, but one day he was sweeping along the halls as the monks sat for morning prayer in the temple.

As a naturally curious person, Chichiri couldn't stop himself from peaking inside and listening. He closed his eyes and followed along in the meditation and felt a calmness wash over him that he'd never known before. A belonging. The very next day, he pledged himself to the monastery and trained as a monk for 4 years. Then left, and has been traveling ever since.

"But don't you wish that maybe you'd have settled down?"

"Not really," Chichiri told his current traveling companion, a very wise middle aged man who was happier to listen to another's stories than he was to tell his own. "It felt right at the time, no da, and I haven't regretted it."

Of course, he hadn't told his friend, Leung Man, the whole story. He'd left out the more painful parts, with good reason, for as nice as he was, he was still a stranger. And Chichiri would only be traveling with him for a short time.

A few days ago while on his way to Eiyou, he had come across a small caravan of about fifteen men. They were fisherman who had traveled from Jouzen in the south to Souen in the north to find fish in the Shoryuu river in order to make some extra money before the winter.

Upon seeing that Chichiri was traveling alone, they had offered to let him travel with them until the reached Eiyou, where they could rest and sell their fish before heading back home to their village. Protection in numbers and all that.

Truly, Chichiri hadn't needed the protection at all, but they wouldn't take no for an answer, and there was no harm in it after all. They were only a few days outside of Eiyou, two if they traveled into the night.

In his musings, he hadn't noticed that the men in front of him had stopped and he bumped into them, the impact forcing him to take a step back.

"So sorry no da," he apologized, rubbing his head sheepishly. Turning to his most recent companion, he asked, "Why have we stopped?"

Leung Man tensed and seemed determined to stand perfectly still. "Bandits." he whispered.

Sure enough, out of the distance, approached a group of about thirty men, who had all the familiar markings of bandits. They grinned smugly, anticipating the treasures they would soon have. They had stopped in front of the caravan, their numbers enveloping the fishermen and herding them into a circle. At the head of their group, their leader, a tall man with dark skin and blue hair remained overlooking their prey.

They were surrounded now. The bandits were clearly ready to loot them but didn't make a move, they were waiting for something. For what, Chichiri didn't know. He had run into bandits on his travels before, but never as many as this, and never quite so organized.

"We are the Bandits of the Reikaku Mountain!" the leader spoke up suddenly. "If you haven't guessed by now we are going to be stealing from you."

The other bandits laughed at this, some even letting out a yell of excitement.

He continued, "You are surrounded and there is no hope of escape. If you cooperate with us, no one will get hurt. Hand anything valuable you have to one of my men and when we are done here, you may go along on your way."

At this, the bandits finally jumped into action. They happily took anything the fishermen reluctantly held out to give. They snatched coins and clothing and all of the fish the fishermen had caught at the Shoryuu river. But what could they do, they were severely outnumbered.

Normally, Chichiri would simply fight off the bandits, but thirty was too much to take on and while the bandits seemed to have to interest in harming anyone, who knew what they would do if the fishermen chose to fight back.

To his right he could here Leung Man whisper to someone next to him but he couldn't make out the words. The conversation grew more agitated and he could only catch small pieces of the exchange.

"If we...no one...hurt."

"...cowards...hard work, Man."

"...Think of..."

"..."

"Chenglei, no!"

All of a sudden a fight erupted, Chenglei had punched the bandit in front of him who had reached out to take the necklace the young man had been wearing. It was a wedding gift from his wife, Chichiri remembered him saying one night as they sat by the fire, they had been married for three years now.

It lit a spark in the rest of the fishermen who had started to fight the bandits, with little success. From where he was Chichiri could see blood and hear the pained gasps of the wounded. He jabbed the end of his staff into the solar plexus of a man who had swung at him and whipped around, catching another bandit in the face.

They fell to the ground and Chichiri searched for a way out of the chaos, he could at least save a few of the fishermen. His eyes swept the road, taking in the blood and fallen bodies of bandits of fish mongers alike. There. Just outside of his peripheral vision, lay Leung Man.

Chichiri ran to reach him, taking out three bandits in his way and knelt at his side in the dirt. There was so much blood, and the monk's hands trembled as his searched for the wound. Leung Man's eyes were glazed over, not yet dead, and his head rolled towards Chichiri.

His hand grasped at Chichiri's forearm tightly, halting his search. He coughed, blood trickling down his chin. "Chiri," he grunted, "run."

Chichiri shook off his hand and continued his frantic something. "Shhh, I won't let you die. We'll go together."

Suzaku, there was so much blood. Staining his hands, his shirt, he felt bile rise in his throat and pushed it down. There was no time for that now; he needed to focus, Leung Man's life hung in the balance. Where was the wound!?

"Run." he gasped as the light in his eyes faded. He gave one last shuddering breath and fell limp. Leung Man was dead. Chichiri started to shake and felt tears running down his cheeks. Not again. Not again. Not again. Not again.

Suddenly, pain lit up his vision and he slumped to the ground.

Darkness was coming fast. All he could see was Leung Mana's body in front of him and heard the muted sound of shuffling feet around him as he slipped away.

Okay what did you think? This is going to be a multi-chaptered story. I'll be back to update this soon.

~NsDb~