Chapter 1 : Prologue
Narrator :

"This might be our last hope, to summon and ask for the help of the Oracle," Hotohori declared, his eyes glistening with hope.

"Hai! I'll do every thing in my power to help summon her!" Miaka said. "And to get back Tamahome..."

The remaining Suzaku seishis gathered around the magnificent golden statue of Suzaku, their miko standing in front of the great phoenix. They were about to summon the Suzaku oracle. Legend has it that she has special powers and will help the seishis and their miko in mission of summoning Suzaku, should they be in trouble, deep trouble.

The seishis concentrated all of their ki into the statue of their beloved Suzaku. They watched as it glowed a bright vermillion red and a ball of red ki came out of its mouth. Was this the oracle? The ball of red ki floated gently and landed about a feet before Miaka. Everyone's eyes got as big as saucers when the ball of red ki slowly grew and took form of a young girl no older than fifteen.

She had long blood red hair that caressed her back and fell down to her waist. A few long strands of her fringes framed her pretty face and its gentle features. Her large sparkling emerald green eyes focused on Miaka. Her skin was as white as snow. She had a small shy smile on her face. She had a curvy figure that was barely noticeable underneath her loose clothes. She wore a light green long sleeved cheongsam top that came with a pair of matching long pants. She looked as if she was more suited to fight than to do cooking in the kitchen.

Tasuki couldn't help but to look at the girl. He felt this strange feeling, as if he was attracted to her for some reason which he couldn't figure out. She was... She was...

Uniquely beautiful.

Tasuki blushed madly as he realised that he was staring at her. 'No way.' he tried to convince himself. 'I DON'T have a crush on her, no way!!!'

It was Miaka who first broke the silence that hung in the room.

"Are you the oracle?" Miaka blurted out in surprise.

The smile on the girl's face got bigger. "And I suppose that you are the Suzaku no miko?" The girl kneeled down in front of Miaka. "Oracle of Suzaku here at your service!!!"

"Oh, please rise!" Miaka grinned as she extended out her hand. "I'm Yuuki Miaka!!! You are..." Miaka's voice trailed off as she tried ways and means to figure out a name to suit the lovely young lady before her.

"Just call me Hikari," Giggled the girl when she saw Miaka's confused and blur face.

Hikari:

I looked around. This wasn't my first time to be in a room full of people but I was still nervous. Sure, they look kind enough but still... How can one be so trusting? We were in the meeting room especially meant for the seishis only. They had introduced themselves briefly a few minutes before. There was Nuriko, the wacky cross-dresser. And there was Chichiri, the monk. He had a funny looking mask on all the time. I was curious as to why he needed to wear the mask but I didn't probe the subject any further. I didn't want to come across as a demanding person especially since we just met. However, I'm suspecting that there is more to hiding any physical flaws by wearing that mask.

There was also irritating Tasuki. He kept staring at me all the time and had a foul mouth. From the looks of it, he seemed to be a leader of some sort of bandit group. Mitsukake was so tall that I had to lift my head just to see his face. Oh yes, Hotohori. Gorgeous and graceful but in my opinion, all beautiful men are vain. I bet he spends most of the country's taxes to buy beauty products...

I giggled at the thought.

But come again, he didn't seem to be those mean and greedy emperors... I've heard many stories of the great and young emperor of Konan and all of the stories have nothing but praises for him, be it for looks or character.

Lastly, Amiboshi. That's right. I knew that he was in a disguise. He didn't have the glowing red aura around him unlike the others. His aura was blue. A Seiryuu seishi. He must be a spy of some sort. I purposely had a useless talk with him a few minutes ago. In actually fact, I was trying to locate his symbol. I did found his symbol, confirming that he was a Seiryuu seishi. He didn't seemed that bad though, in fact, he came across to me as a polite and naive boy who wished to have nothing to do with being a seishi or war.

"So Hikari, can you come over to my room after the meeting?" Nuriko asked, trying his best to look and act innocent.

"Doushite?"

Nuriko grabbed my sleeve and whispered into my ear. "Duh! To make you wear a dress of course! It isn't appropriate for girls in the palace to wear pants anyway!" I sweat-dropped.

"Eeww!!! You're not making me wear a dress, Nuriko!" I HATED DRESSES. When you wore one, underneath always felt so airy to me...

"I will!!!" Nuriko said out aloud jokingly as he 'gently' gave me a playful smack at the back of my head.

Amiboshi:

I was sitting beside Mitsukake. Nuriko and Hikari sat across from me, whispering to each other. Just then, Nuriko said something out aloud and smacked Hikari from behind. Ouch...

When Nuriko hit Hikari, there was a loud popping sound and to everyone's surprise, a little girl now sat in Hikari's place.

"Hikari?" Nuriko asked, feeling a little scared.

"Konnichiwaa minna! I'm Hikari! Nice to meet you!" The little girl shrieked in a high pitched voice.

The girl wore exactly the same clothing as Hikari. In fact, she looked exactly like Hikari. Wait a minute! She was Hikari!

"Hikari, what the fucking hell happened to you?" Tasuki asked rudely. But, Hikari was totally focused on the purple haired sitting beside her. Curiousity and mischievousness filled her eyes.

"What? Why are you staring at me like that?" Nuriko demanded.

"I like to stare..." Came the short reply as Hikari stared intensely at Nuriko.

Nuriko stiffened. "Okay, stop staring now... You're beginning to scare me..."

Those big green eyes grew bigger and rounder.

Nuriko let out a nervous laugh. "Stop staring..."

Hikari stubbornly refused to do as she was told.

I glanced around the room. Everyone seemed to have gotten over the major shocking transformation and now were trying to stifle a giggle.

"Maa, maa... Nuriko, she's just a little kawaii kid..." I assured Nuriko as I leaned forward to take Hikari in my arms. Hikari jumped off her chair but still continued staring at Nuriko. Miaka, who was sitting nearby smiled as she slowly approached Hikari from behind, saying, "Now, now Hikari... It's not nice to stare at your elders..."

"I'M NOT OLD!!!" Nuriko lunged forward at Hikari, tired and sick of her nonsense.

"Why you..." he growled. He frantically tried to reach the girl who had burst out laughing playfully. Hikari merely stuck her tongue out and ran away. Hikari turned her head to see her chaser, in the process, bumping into the grand Hotohori who was entering the room.

Hotohori:

I looked at the little five year old who had just bumped into me.

She looked up at me excitedly and said cheerfully, "Aha! A walking curtain!"

I was amused by the innocence of the girl.

"And what exactly is a walking curtain?" I asked, as I bent down to see her at eye level.

She grabbed my thick robes and showed them to me. "Curtains, see?"

I shook my head and chuckled.

"Eh, Hotohori-sama! Oh no! It wasn't my fault! Honest!" I looked up.

"And Nuriko, what is your part in bringing a little charming one here?" I asked. Sometimes, Nuriko got into hot soup because of his nosiness...

"Hhmm.. I see. Nuriko, I hold nothing against you but you must realise how childish your behaviour is. It is true, girls in the palace are suppose to wear dresses but may I remind you that Hikari is a guest at the palace. We must treat her with respect, not only respecting her wishes to wear pants as a guest but as an Oracle as well," I cleared my throat.

Nuriko gave a small nod. "Gomen ne..." he said apologetically as he scratched the back of his head nervously.

"It's okay... Now, do you have any idea how to change her back?" I looked at Chichiri.

"Hotohori, it seems that she only changes into a child when she is bumped into or if someone hits her, physically on the head da. I suppose hitting her on the head again would change her back no da," Chichiri answered.

I looked at Nuriko, then at Hikari who was sitting on my lap and back to Nuriko again. "Well?" Nuriko simply looked down at the floor.

"No, no, no. Pat head three times!" Hikari insisted when she realised that Nuriko was suppose to hit her on the head again.

I gently lifted her off my lap and set her down on the floor. I patted her head three times. There was a loud popping sound as Hikari changed back to her usual self.

"Eh? What happened?" She looked at me, the smile still glued to her face with only one exception. She looked slightly confused now. She looked at me. "Oh, the meeting begin already! Gomen!" She rushed back to her seat.

Author's note:

Look! That shop is selling Fushigi Yuugi! Fifty percent off! Squeals Nope, my mistake. Sigh...

Hi there people! Sorry for updating late! I know this first chapter is short, lame even, to certain people but I'll try not to make the other chapters like this one! Remember! Review!

Additional notes : And yeah, I've changed some stuff about chapter one and added in some more stuff as well. Don't worry, the story plot won't have that major changes, I'll just be adding in some more new stuff and removing some lame ones. Reason why I'm doing this is because, after reading my own fic online, I realised that I had a lot more rooms for improvement. So, I used this opportunity to improve the story for the benefit of you readers.

List of Japanese words :

Ki – Inner energy

Konichiwaa minna – Good afternoon everyone

Gomen ne – Sorry (Informal)

Kawaii – Cute

Maa maa – There, there... (I know it's somewhere along these lines)