A/N: Hello! Yeah, I should be writing on Empty Pages since I haven't in forever, but this one's been stuck in my head for months now, so I thought I'd write it. I hope you readers like it, but if you don't.. That's okay. As long as you don't flame me!
Disclaimer: I don't own much. Just, maybe the basic storyline and some of the characters. ((nodnod))
Chapter 1: Time is Changing
The Universe of the Four Gods; an enchanted book with a whole other world inside of it. Inside that world, there were four countries - Hokkan, Sairo, Kutou, and Konan. Each of the countries had their own beast god - Genbu, the black tortoise of the north; Byakko, the white tiger of the west; Seiryu, the azure dragon of the east; and Suzaku, the red bird of the south. Each of these beast gods had seven seishi, and one Priestess.
Once each of the Priestesses had finally summoned their god, the book world would disappear and not be heard of again. So, one by one, the Priestesses came and went, saving the countries from what threatened them, and eventually the book disappeared, never to return. Those remaining that knew about the book, continued with their lives, wondering occasionally if they would ever hear of it again. Little did they know, that, seventeen years after the book vanished 'for good', it would show up in their lives for one final time. There was an additional beast god, that was long disregarded; Kouryuu, the golden dragon of the center.
Along with the god of the center, came another legend, that was known to a select few. However, the legend is just as old, maybe other than the others; most of the leaders of Hokkan, Sairo, Kutou, and Konan perceived it as insubstantial, and irrelevant, as it was not about their own beast god, and thus, it was stricken from the records, and eventually almost everyone forgot. Taiitsukun, Nyan-Nyan, and few others still remember it.
The legend tells about a terrible time. All four countries will suffer from an unknown evil, and all will blame it on whoever their thoughts may rest upon; whether it be one of the other countries, or all of them. However, before any of the countries are able to start a war, all four Priestesses will appear, along with another. They will have to find all 28 warriors, and then the warriors and four Priestesses will summon their own beast gods, and then they will lend their energies to the fifth Priestess, and she will summon the beast god of the sun before the world plummets into eternal darkness. But, when the legend comes true... will they be able to complete their task in time?
"Hikari--i!" A girl of approximately 17 years, wearing an outfit that clearly screamed 'punk', hollered as soon as she was off the bus and had spotted one of her good friends, sitting outside of a bookshop with her back up against the wall, bending over a bag and seeming to be going through it. The girl that had called to the other ran towards the other, her bright pink, boy-short hair bouncing with every step, and she could feel her black mini-purse bouncing against her hip as well. Upon reaching her friend, she stopped, and collapsed to her knees, trying to catch her breath.
Sukunami Hikari pulled her head out of her bag long to look up at Nakahara Airi, and cocked an eyebrow in curiosity. She waited in silence a moment, wondering if her friend would catch her breath any time soon, so she could go back to trying to find her wallet. She knew she'd stuck it in there, but it seemed to have vanished on her.
Finally catching her breath, Airi lifted her head and grinned at Hikari, reaching up to run a hand through her hair, making it stick out even worse than it already was. "Ogenki desu ka, Kari-chan? Whatcha doin' off work so early?" she inquired, shifting her legs around so that she was sitting pretzal-style, despite the short pink plaid skirt she was wearing. The dark-teal haired girl sighed in irritation, and looked back into her purse, glaring into it as if it had greatly offended her.
"I'm not doing well at all, Airi-chan. I got fired! And over nothing at all, really," she sighed, and to get her mind off of what had happened earlier, she began to search through her bag once more. Damn, where was that stupid wallet?
"Maaan. I knew that rotten, stinkin', bakayarou boss of your's was going to overreact to some stupid something-or-other!" Airi hissed, and wrapped her arms around her friend in a tight hug of comfort, not really noticing that she was hindering her friend's search for the elusive money pouch. Hikari patted her friend on the shoulder awkwardly, her eyes searching the area a moment, before turning her head back to look at the other girl.
"Uuuh.. Arigatou, Airi-chan, but don't go getting any ideas about going and killing my ex-boss. Onegai shimasu?" Airi pulled back with a pout, and started to protest, but Hikari gave her a pout to challenge her own, so she just settled for pouting as cutely as she could manage at her friend.
Round one, pout war... begin!
Hikari brushed her long hair out from behind her ear, and pulled her large yellow sunglasses off, before lowering her head and pouting up at her friend with large eyes and a stuck out lower lip. The puppy-dog pout - what was Airi going to counter her with?
Airi rumpled her hair, and brought her legs up to rest her chin on her knees, wrapping her arms around them and leaning forward, her eyebrows tipped downwards at the sides, her eyes enlarging, and a whimper escaping from the back of her throat. The child that got in trouble pout - a definite challenge for the puppy-dog.
The competitors sat there, staring each other down, planning on keeping their pouts on until their faces fell off if they had to. They weren't going to let the other win. After at least five minutes, they were still giving each other their cutest pouts, when a girl with long, wavy blonde hair underneath a dark brown hat and obvious 'fashion sense', walked up beside the two, crossing her arms and looking down at them with a raised eyebrow.
They're having a pouting competition... on the sidewalk. Outside Hikari's work. Before she's supposed to be off. Passed through Kajiwara Juria's head, and it was followed shortly by a sigh, and a sharp whack to the back of each other competitor's heads. Twins yelps of surprise sounded, before twin looks of irritation turned up to the blonde, and she just smiled innocently down at them.
Round one of the pout war results: Hikari - 0. Airi - 0. Juria - 1.
"Juria-chan!" Airi cried after she'd gotten over the irritation of losing the first round of the pout war, and a bright smile spread across her face, before she reached forward, grabbing their friend's hands and attempting to pull her down to the ground to sit next to them. She shook her head, and tried to pull her hands back from Airi, but the pink-haired girl was persistant, and continued to tug.
"Iie! Airi-chan, this is a new skirt, I'll just stand."
"Iiiie, you gotta sit! It'll be a little while until Risa-chan gets here, anyway!"
"So? I don't want to sit!"
"Onegaaaaai?"
"Iie!"
"Hai!"
"Iie!"
"HAI!"
Airi gave one last, hard tug on Juria's wrists, and the younger girl toppled forward with a startled cry, crashing against her assaulter, who in turn fell back against the innocent bystander, and they landed, sprawled out on the pavement, some of the contents of Hikari's purse scattered across the sidewalk. Hikari groaned in aggravation and pain, moving a hand up to grab the back of her head, where she'd hit it against the ground. She really hoped that she hadn't gotten a concussion, because she really didn't need one, considering she'd already gotten fired, and couldn't find her wallet; having a concussion would just be the cherry on top of the whipped cream of her crappy day.
The three of them continued to lay there for a few minutes, before Juria scrambled up off of the other two, kneeling on the concrete next to them, dusting off her miniskirt, then her short, sleeveless turtleneck, and finally the arm warmers that substituted for her shirt's missing sleeves, grumbling all the while about friends who, despite one's wishes, pulls them to the filthy ground anyway. Airi sat up after a moment, crawling off of Hikari, and peered at the blonde with a rather bright grin on her face.
"You know you still love me," she remarked, to which she just got a half-hearted grumble, and a chuckle from the girl still lying on her back. "Oh, here, let me help you up, 'Kari-chan!" she reached out a hand to Hikari, who took it gratefully, and used it to pull herself into an upright position.
"Arigatou, again," she said with a smile at the rather hyper girl, before turning back to her bag so that she could scoop it's contents back into it before anyone snatched them. She'd gotten almost everything back into her back, when she spotted the corner of a familiar small, black purse sticking out of her larger bag. Her eyes widened happily, and she snatched it up, clutching it happily. "Yeeeees, I thought I'd lost you!"
The other two girls watched her for a moment, before they looked to each other, and Juria raised an eyebrow as if to ask 'what the heck?', before Airi answered her look with a raised eyebrow of her own, as well as twisting her mouth to the side, as if to say 'it's Hikari, what do you think?' Juria glanced back at their dark haired friend, before snickering to herself, and asking, "Oh, so she was looking for her yen-purse?"
"Yeah, she was looking for it when I got here. Probably wanted to make sure she didn't lose it when she left work," Airi answered, as if Hikari weren't only about half a foot away from them. The rather money-hungry teenager turned around to glare darkly at her friends, continuing to clutch the pouch to her chest.
"I'm right here, you know."
"We know!" Both light-haired girls answered cheerfully, and swiftly ducked out of the way as a heavy bag was swung at both of their heads. The two both started laughing as soon as the bag's weight swung back to Hikari and made her fall to the side, nearly dropping the mini-purse back onto the sidewalk.
"You know.. You three are lucky that this sidewalk isn't very busy this time of the day." Yet another female voice sounded from a few feet over, and the three looked up and over to see a girl with long reddish-brown hair in a high side-ponytail, and a very freckled face walking towards them, holding the hand of an incredibly cute 7-year-old boy with dark hair and an equally freckled face. Airi grinned as she saw the last of their group, Ienari Risami, and she scrambled to her feet, quickly checking her black stockings for snags and runs, before looking back up at the oldest member of their group.
"Risa-chan, you're here! Yay! Now we can scavenge around Hikari's shop for good books! ... Oh, waaaait, I just realized... our plan has been foiled!" the pinkette mewled, reaching up and burying both of her hands in her short hair, before twisting on her heel to face the two that were still on the ground. "'Kari-chan, your boss is a big meanie-mean-pants. Now we can't go in, 'cause he'll be all pissy 'cause he fired you - for no reason, too! Aaaaagh, what'll we do nooooow?"
"Well, y'know, there's always the library. We don't need to buy the books, after all," Juria suggested with a shrug, and looked between the teal-haired girl and the auburn haired girl, to see their opinions on the matter. Really, going to the library made more sense, because otherwise they would probably end up wandering around aimlessly, trying to find another bookstore, and would end up either at the library anyway, or back at the shop they shouldn't go in now.
"Hikari got fired?" Risami asked in surprise, her eyebrows shooting upwards. Hikari looked up at her, and nodded rather glumly, before looking back down into her purse for a moment, and then up at Juria.
"Okay, that sounds good, Juria-chan! I don't have enough money to buy anything anyway, since that.." she paused here and glanced back at Risami's little brother, who was watching her with large, curious blue eyes. She grinned at him and chuckled nervously, before slowly turning to look back at Juria, deciding not to say what she'd originally planned on saying. "Good-for-nothing boss of mine didn't give me my last paycheck."
Airi scowled angrily, and placed her hands on her hips, looking up at the door of the bookstore that they were just outside of. Oh, how she wished she could go in there and give him a piece of her mind, but she knew she couldn't. So, instead, she just blew a raspberry at the place, before turning to look back at her friends. "The library it is! Don't even need to see if you agree, Risa-chan. You're always at the library!" she giggled, turning fully to Risami, and knelt down so that she was eye-level with the black haired boy. "Hey, Emori-chan, want a piggy-back ride to the library?"
"Hai!" Emori chirped happily, and pulled his hand out of his older sister's, so he could run around to behind Airi and hop on her back, wrapping his arms tightly around her neck. "Let's go!" he exclaimed, and laughed brightly when the purple-eyed girl grabbed his legs and got to her feet, turning sharply just for his enjoyment. "Wai!"
Risami found it cute how much her younger brother liked her friends. Before she'd left, he had insisted on coming with them, and it hadn't taken her long to give in, because she knew that her friends didn't mind a bit when she brought him along. He was "the most adorable kid I have ever seen" according to them. She smiled as she thought about this, watching as Hikari and Juria got to their feet and dusted themselves off. "Well, let's go, then."
With that, the five headed off towards the library.
Upon walking into the incredibly large library, and stopping in the foyer, Juria turned to face her companions. "I'm going to be looking in the non-fiction section; I still need to do that essay in History. Where will you guys be?" she asked, looking from one to the other, to the other. She thought that she already knew where they'd all be, but she just had to make sure.
"I'm probably either going to be in the kids' section, or in the little snack alcove; Emori-chan's been complainin' about an empty stomach, and I'm just too nice to make him continue starving! Ja ne!" Airi chirped, before skipping off down the hall towards the snack alcove, humming the chocobo theme from the Final Fantasy games.
Juria watched her go with a nod, before turning back to the others, peering over her sunglasses at them, to actually see them as she waited for answers.
"I'm going to be in the young adult fiction, most likely. I might be at one of the computers... who knows." Hikari said with a shrug, waving at her friends, before walking around them and heading off towards the young adult fiction. Like with Airi, Juria watched her go, before turning to look back at Risami, with a smile.
Risa seemed to think for a moment, before shrugging slightly, "I'm likely to be with Airi-chan; she does have my baby brother, after all."
Juria laughed quietly and nodded her head, patting her friend lightly on the shoulder. "That's what I thought. Don't let their hyperactivity kill you, alright?" she advised, and Risami chuckled, nodding. They both knew that Emori was the most energetic of all Risa's siblings, they'd been best friends with Airi so long that they knew that when she was around kids, she was even more vivacious than she usually was.
"I'll try to stay alive. No guarantees, Juri-chan," Risami replied quite simply, giving her friend a quick hug, before turning and heading off after Airi and her little brother. Juria turned in the opposite direction, and slipped her sunglasses off as she walked, dropping them carefully into her purse.
Airi plucked enough yen for a bag of chips from her mini-purse, and stuffed it into the machine, pressing the buttons that indicated which snack she wanted. Emori bounced on the balls of his feet as he waited for the machine to pushed the bag forward, then drop it into the slot, and as soon as it had, he pushed the flap up and reached in, snatching it from inside. "Yay, thank you Airi-san!" he said to her, before scampering off to the bench and sitting down on it, so he could munch happily away on the chips.
Risami walked up at that point, and watched her brother sit down on the bench, before looking to her pink haired friend with a chuckle. "You're going to spoil my brother, I hope you know," she stated quite simply, placing her hands on her hips and giving her friend a faux-stern look.
Airi blinked at Risa, then smiled innocently, and linked her hands behind her back, rocking forward and backward on her feet. "Weeeeell, I don't have any younger siblings of my own... just my stupid, annoying big brother Itaru. And he doesn't spoil me... so one of us has to spoil someone's younger sibling!" she explained, with a bright grin, hoping that her friend bought it.
Shaking her head at her friend's excuse for spoiling her brother, Risa walked over to her brother and sat down next to him, keeping her eyes on her friend. "Yeah, yeah. But between you, Hikari, Juria, my parents, Mitsuaki, Trisha, Uiko, Josie, and I, he's becoming the most spoiled child I know! Still not spoiled rotten, he's much too sweet-spirited for that..." she laughed, leaning over and engulfing her little brother in a hug, much to his annoyance.
"Onee-chan! Leggo!" Emori whimpered, finding it harder to grab chips from the bag when he was beginning hugged tightly by his second oldest sister. Risa just laughed at how cute he was, ruffled his hair, and then pulled back, snatching a chip as she sat up. "Hey, that was mine.."
"You have a whole bag, silly. One chip isn't going to matter," Airi chirped, as she trotted over, and sat down next to the black haired boy, also snatching a chip from his bag, and popping it into her mouth. As soon as she'd chewed it up and swallowed, she stated, "Two, however, is a big deal. So... I guess I'll have to give you a candy bar to make up for it." She sighed dramatically, and pulled a mini candy bar from her pocket, placing it in his eagerly awaiting hand. She grinned at him, and glanced up, to see Risami giving her a blank look. "... What?"
"He does need to have enough room to eat dinner tonight, y'know, Airi-chan," Risa scolded her, reaching across above her brother's head and whacking her friend on the shoulder. Airi was just about to retaliate, when a couple of library workers carrying a moderately large bin of old books between them walked by, bumping into one of the walls, and causing a few of the books to fall out the side. The older looking male snapped at the young female, who just cowered a bit and muttered a quick 'gomen nasai, Erizawa-san', before helping him carry the bin the rest of the way out of the alcove and towards the exit.
Airi and Risami watched after them for a few minutes, before the pink haired girl turned to look back at her friend, blinking in confusion. "I... guess they're getting rid of the old, worn books?" she ventured a guess, and Risa nodded in agreement, before looking down at the book that they'd dropped. "Hey, Airi-chan, wanna see what they accidently left here for us?" she suggested with a sly grin, before slipping to the floor, and grabbing the four that she could find, before crawling back into her seat, handing two of them to the younger girl.
Snatching the two books from Risa, Airi set one of them in her lap, and held the other one up so that she could read the cover. "The... Universe of the.. Four Gods? What a weird name." she snorted, and wiped away the dust on the cover, before flipping it open, scanning the first page. "This is the story of a girl who made her dreams come true after she came to possess the seven stars of Suzaku, and many powers were bestowed upon her. The story itself is a spell. The one who reads it through will be given the powers and granted a wish like the girl in the story. Because the story begins and becomes real the moment the first page is turned..." she read aloud, noticing that was all it said on the first page. She raised an eyebrow, glancing up at Risa, then back down at the book. "Neat. Wonder if I'll be granted a wish? That'd be awesome."
With that, she turned the first page, and... scowled. "Damn, shoulda known that nothing would happen. Mean book!" she blew a raspberry at the second page of the book, and then decided she'd read it despite the fact that she was mad at it for tricking her. She had gotten almost halfway down the first page, when she noticed something, and frowned. "Hey, Risa-chan. Isn't Miaka's Mom named Miaka? And... and her maiden name Yuuki?"
"Yeah. Why?" Risa looked up from the dusty old book that she'd grabbed, that she couldn't read the title but what she'd been reading had been very interesting. It seemed that it was about the Chinese legend about the Eight Immortals (or Ba Xian).
"The main girl in this book, the Universe of the Four Gods, is named Yuuki Miaka. And... it says that her best friend's name is... Hongo Yui. Isn't that Juria's Mom's name?" Airi inquired, looking up at her best friend with wide eyes. The half-American girl blinked at Airi, and nodded her head slowly, before reaching across her brother again, snatching the book from the other girl's grasp, and peering into it.
"Wow. That is what it says. But, maybe it's a self-insertion story that Sukunami-san, or Kajiwara-san, or both wrote, or something?" she guessed, flipping through the pages to the back. For some reason, even though she was just skimming over the pages, she seemed to absorb it all, and by the time she reached the back, she knew the whole story. "... That's where it ends?" she stared in shock at the last sentence, turning the page, to see that there was nothing left but two empty pages.
Airi stared at Risami with a raised eyebrow, before reaching across her and snatching the book back. "You couldn't have read it that fast, Risa-chan. Now, I know you're a bookworm and can read pretty fast, but not even you can read that fast." she stated, looking down at the book, and opening it to the page she'd been on. She decided to scan through it as well, and as she did, to her great shock, she suddenly just... knew the story. She turned to the last page, and also stared at the last sentence. "W-whoa..."
"See!? It did that to me, too! That is one freaky book... and is it just me, or in those last few chapters, did it mention Hikari's aunt Mayo going into the book, and Hikari being the shinzaho?" Risami asked, and Airi nodded vigorously, her eyes as wide as they could go. They were both beginning to think that this wasn't just some silly book that their friends' moms had written as a fantasy twist to how they'd found the loves of their life.
"We need to show this to Hikari and Juria as soon as possible!" Airi stressed, closing the book back up and sticking it under her arm, quickly reading the cover of the book on her lap, before setting it down on the seat beside her, and standing up, looking down at Risami and Emori, who was very confused at how his female companions were acting.
Risami nodded her head in agreement, and set the book she had been looking at beside her, quickly glancing at the title of the other one she held. But, upon reading it, she froze, her eyes going as wide as they possibly could without falling out. "A.. A.. Ai... Airi... um.." she stuttered, reaching out and grabbing one of the many belts around Airi's waist, pulling her over so she was standing next to her. "Look at the name of this book, then the last sentence in the other one."
Airi blinked, and leaned over, so that she could read the title of the book that Risami held. Her eyes widened slightly, and she took the book out from under her arm, and opened it to the last page, rereading the last sentence. "Holy..."
"I don't know about you, but I am not opening this book without seeing what Hikari and Juria think," Risami declared, standing up, and grabbing Emori's arm, forcing him to stand up with her. "Come on, you two, lets go find our other friends, as fast as possible." With that, she quickly picked her little brother up with one arm (he wasn't very heavy), and headed off, to go see if they could find Hikari and Juria.
Written upon the back page of the Universe of the Four Gods was written, Their story was finished, but yet another story was destined to be written, and this time, it would be The Universe' Final Tale, and the last five words matched the title of the book that Risami held perfectly.
"I'll take my chances, racing time
Re-writing the book
For all to see
On my own, I can ride the winds of change
To heal a broken time, a broken world.."
First line from the song, 'Time is Changing' by Jenny Rom