Just A Faded Memory
About this fanfic: It takes place about a day after Miaka and Taka get back from the world of the Shijintensho, which is about two months for the seishi, or what's left of them. So only a day has gone past since they were sent back to their world after the end of the OVA Second Series. Also, this entire fic is based off the anime. Not the manga.
Comments? E-mail is celeste_827@yahoo.com.
BTW, I spell "chi"- "ki", so as to avoid any confusion.
-Shun'u no Miko
___________________________________________________________________________
"Miaka! Get up, Suzaku no Miko. You're crushing my legs."
"Mmmmmmm...... oh! Gomen ne, Taka."
Miaka Yuuki quickly leaped out of bed and off her fiancee's legs. Taka Sukunami followed suit, stretching laboriously. "Can't believe that just yesterday... all that happened," he sighed. Miaka looked at him affectionately. "It did. Come on, let's go. Everyone else is probably awake. It's almost ten." Taka finished stretching and got his clothes.
Fifteen minutes later the couple were downstairs. They were greeted by Tetsuya and Yui, who had spent the night in the Yuuki household. "Good morning, you two. Have a niiiiiice sleep? Itai!" Tetsuya rubbed his head ruefully. "What was THAT for, Yui?" "Stop being a hentai and go help Keisuke in the kitchen!" Yui turned and cast an apologetic smile at Taka and Miaka. "Come on, breakfast's almost ready." She gave Miaka a wink. "Hey, Miaka, let Taka have a head start, he deserves to get at least a taste of the food before you shovel it all down!" Miaka pouted at Yui in mock hurt, and Taka laughed as he went into the kitchen.
Breakfast was a modest affair- pancakes. However, with Miaka at table, it didn't last very long, and the five friends retired into the living room afterwards.
Keisuke was the first to notice the strange red glow.
Miaka's oniichan started to his feet, staring at the scroll, which was pulsing with a brilliant red light, and all five hesitantly stepped closer. Suddenly the red light split neatly in two, and a blue light shone forth as well.
Yui almost stepped back. "Seiryuu?"
And suddenly an image of the two gods appeared to them.
"Your aid is needed, mikos," Seiryuu said. Suzaku continued. "An evil force prevents the reincarnation of your seishi, and threatens both worlds. We regret that it had to happen so soon after your last journey to our world. But it must be done."
Miaka and Yui spoke at once. "What should we do?"
The dragon-god held up a hand. "Taiitsu-kun craves an audience with you. We will take you to Mt. Taikyoku, and she will speak to you, Suzaku and Seiryuu no Mikos."
There was a flash of red and blue light, intertwined together, bursting from the windows and shining forth from the house. Then all was quiet. The light subsided.
A single red scroll lay, open, on the mantle.
***
"Miaka..."
Miaka stirred slightly. Her eyes opened to the familiar sight of Yui. "Yui-chan.... where are we?" Yui looked around. "I don't know..." Miaka suddenly sat up. "This is Mt. Taikyoku! I remember! You never came here before, so you don't know, Yui...." Miaka trailed off as she looked around. There was Taka, thank the gods, but...
"NANI??? What are Oniichan and Tetsuya doing here?"
Yui looked amused. "The scroll must have made a tiny mistake. It never was as precise as the original Shijintensho."
Taka, Tetsuya, and Keisuke all sat up groggily. Taka looked up. "Mt. Taikyoku...." he breathed. Tetsuya and Keisuke looked about them in confusion, then it suddenly dawned on them...
"We finally got into the book!!!!!"
The two friends finally quieted down. "But... it's just a mountain...."
Miaka looked distressed. "Don't you see it? It's...."
She trailed off, remembering Taiitsu-kun's words. "Only mikos and seishi can see Mt. Taikyoku as it truly is... and to those who are not mikos or seishi, and to the evil of heart... it is just a mountain."
"We can change that, Suzaku no Miko."
Tetsuya's terrified scream echoed from the rocks. "SUNAKAKE BABAA!!!!!!!!"
Taiitsu-kun looked extremely peeved at Tetsuya's greeting. Keisuke was freaking out as well.
Yui burst out laughing. "Calm down, Tetsuya, Keisuke. It's just Taiitsu-kun, The Creator."
Taiitsu-kun folding her hands into her sleeves. "Hmph. Even though you gave me that sort of greeting, as the readers of the Shijintensho and the relatives of the mikos, I suppose I could let you see Mt. Taikyoku."
She nodded, and Tetsuya and Keisuke looked around. "Now I see it." they affirmed.
"I don't know why you're here," Taiitsu-kun admitted. "It could have been that you were too close to the scroll and the scroll made a mistake, but still, you two might come in useful in protecting the mikos. Now that you've come to this world, your individual ki is heightened."
Taka spoke up. "Now, why ARE we here? Suzaku and Seiryuu didn't really explain..."
"Because we're still like this, Taka," came a voice from behind them.
"Nuriko!!!!" Miaka cried. "I thought you were going to be reborn!"
"Me too," Nuriko sniffed. "It's been two months already."
"Taiitsu-kun said that a new evil blocks our reincarnation," Hotohori added.
Miaka couldn't restrain herself. "Hotohori! Mitsukake! Chiriko!"
Taka, Yui, Keisuke, and Tetsuya chorused, "They're all here!!!"
Keisuke and Tetsuya sighed. "We finally got to meet you!"
Chiriko stared. "But who are you, exactly? I know Seiryuu no Miko, but the two young men are strangers."
Miaka smiled. "This is Keisuke, my oniichan, and this is Tetsuya, Yui's boyfriend. They were both reading the book."
Yui nodded. "But this still doesn't solve our problem. The seishi aren't being reincarnated. An evil force... I don't get it."
Taiitsu-kun shook her head. "All will be revealed in due time. But now. You must find Tasuki and Chichiri. You'll need their powers. After you find them, return here for your instructions. Taka, now that you are back in this world, your powers will reawake, though perhaps not as strong as when you faced Tenkou. Use them to locate the two seishi by their ki."
Nuriko, Hotohori, Chiriko, and Mitsukake looked pissed. "We're coming too. The Nyan-nyans will lend us their bodies. You might need us too," Mitsukake pointed out.
Nyan-nyans popped up everywhere. "Hai, we will, we will," they chorused as they became little pink bubbles that settled into the seishi to make them solid.
Miaka turned. "Let's go find Chichiri first. He'll be harder to find than Tasuki."
***
"I still don't see why Taiitsu-kun couldn't lend us horses." Keisuke groaned.
"We've been walking for about two days...." Tetsuya mumbled.
Yui stepped out briskly. "Can't take it?"
The two perked up, determined to preserve their pride. "Sure we can!"
The nine had been trekking southward from Mt.Taikyoku for a while now, following the faint ki trails that Taka was picking up. The surrounding woodlands were almost completely silent, except for the occassional call of a bird. Miaka looked around uneasily. "It's almost too quiet for my liking, minna-san...."
Suddenly Taka's head jerked up. "That ki..."
With a roar, a huge monster bounded onto the path before them, cutting Taka off abruptly. Tetsuya was terrified, but moved in front of Yui determinedly. "Miaka..." Keisuke whispered as he grabbed her arm.
The seishi immediately fanned out to surround the mikos and their otherworldly relatives as the monster advanced. Hotohori drew his sword. "Where could.... this monster is too powerful to be anything from the wild!" He infused his ki into the sword, then leapt at the creature, slashing at it. A long, shallow cut appeared along its side, but nothing else happened. "It doesn't bleed?" Hotohori managed to gasp before he was thrown back by a hefty claw. Chiriko and Mitsukake immediately helped him up as Hotohori said, "My Deity Sword barely even fazed it!"
Nuriko flung a large boulder at it, which it barely managed to dodge. Taka fired off a ki blast, but he had been slightly weakened since the memory orbs had not completely infused and settled. Plus, Taka's aim was off by a few feet. Still, a large burn appeared on the monster's left side, and it roared in anger, advancing upon the group. Taka's head snapped up again, as did the other seishi's. "That.... ki!"
A voice could be heard from the underbrush, mumbling an incantation that Taka had heard only once before. Followed by a sharp, single syllable.
"KAN!!!"
A massive wave of red ki slammed into the monster, knocking it back ten feet. Severely weakened by the blast, it hesitated just a split second.
Too late.
The massive boulder that Nuriko had hurled at it landed with a sickening crunch, splattering dark black blood in a five-foot radius around it. A single bloody claw was all that remained visible.
Miaka and Yui turned away slightly.
Miaka barely had time to feel sick, however. A cheerful blue-haired SD face popped up in her vision. "Daaaaaaaaaa!"
"CHICHIRI!!!!!!!!!!" nine voices chorused. Miaka immediately latched onto him happily.
Chichiri nodded as he popped out of SD mode and out of Miaka's tight embrace, none the worse for wear after having just blasted a fifteen-foot monster about ten feet through the air. "It's me, no da. I sensed your ki na no da. Why haven't you all been reborn yet, no da?"
Miaka patiently explained the whole story to Chichiri, who nodded. "I see." He had gotten into one of those serious modes again. Yui scratched her head ruefully. "And we thought you'd be the easier of the two seishi to find." Chichiri nodded. "So you haven't found Tasuki yet no da? I knew someone's Lekka Shinen was missing no da. And we might as well check Mt. Leikaku, since it's not too far away from here no da. A couple li to the west, na no da."
***
Keisuke and Tetsuya were fascinated with Chichiri's kasa and kesa.
"Why can't you just transport us to Mt. Leikaku with your kesa, Chichiri?"
"Too many people, na no da."
Hotohori smiled affectionately as he watched Miaka walking with Taka. It's nice to see them so happy. Above all I wanted Miaka's happiness... and now....
Hotohori was drawn out of his thoughts by Nuriko's gleeful, "There it is! Ahhhhh, can't wait to see that fang-faced, potty-mouthed bandit again. It's been so long since I've given him a good punch."
Mitsukake, Hotohori, and Chiriko facevaulted.
The party of ten began the ascent up Mt. Leikaku, oblivious to the eyes that watched them from the undergrowth.
***
The bandit leader looked thoughtfully at the runner. "Strangers on the mountain, ya say?"
The runner nodded.
The leader smirked. "I'll be sure ta give them a warm Mt. Leikaku welcome."
***
The ten assorted otherworlders, mikos, and seishi had gotten nearly halfway up the mountain when Chichiri suddenly paused. "Someone's there, no da!"
Laughter followed his statement as the bandit leader, accompanied by ten others, slunk out of the woods around them. "You're pretty good, kitsune-san," their leader smirked.
Miaka stared at their leader in recognition. The hair, the eyes, the smirk, there was no mistaking...
"Kouji!" she cried.
Kouji started as she called his name. "How.....?" he demanded.
Miaka detached herself from Keisuke and Taka and stepped forward boldly. "I'm Suzaku no Miko."
Recognition dawned in Kouji's eyes. "Oh yeah... I remember now. What are you doing way out here...?"
Miaka's face fell as a sense of foreboding came over her. "Where's Tasuki? Is he here?"
Kouji thought a moment. "Oh. You mean Genrou? No, he came back about two months ago after that battle, but he left about a month after, said he had some duty or something other.... duty to visit something. He wasn't very clear. He said something about 'hell' though." Kouji looked pensive. "He might have been talking about his home."
Miaka stared. "His home?" Kouji nodded. "It's in Kou-shuu, Taito-shi... why am I telling you this? It's right at the base of Mt. Leikaku. I know the town."
Nuriko looked uncomfortable. In truth, the violet haired seishi was imagining a household full of red-haired, noisy people.
Kouji offered to give them directions.
***
They could hear the racket from half a mile off.
Keisuke cringed. Tetsuya's sunglasses slipped down his face. Yui's grip on Tetsuya's hand tightened. Miaka and Taka sported huge sweatdrops. Nuriko and Hotohori had graduated into sweatraining, and Mitsukake was making a vow to protect Chiriko at all costs.
As they drew closer, they could make out a familiar, lithe, red-headed figure out in the front yard who was being pelted with logs.
"AIDOU!!!!!! QUIT IT, YA ^*(%)*& WOMAN!!!" Tasuki's endearing Kansai snarl rang out.
"I thought I told ya to weed that garden properly Shun'u, you lazy, good-for-nothin'....." came an equally irritated, female voice. The Kansai accent was there, but slightly less than Tasuki's.
"I come back home ta visit ya all and this is the welcome I get???" Tasuki moaned.
Miaka flew down the slope. "TASUKI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
The remaining nine people left standing on the slope sweatdropped collectively as the fiery-haired fang-boy nearly keeled over in shock. Spotting Miaka, he started and tried to escape.
Too late.
Miaka had already glomped onto Tasuki happily, staring the ten inches up into Tasuki's startled face. "Tasuki! It's me!"
Tasuki bared both fangs in a friendly smile of greeting. "So it is. Barely two months and you've already got back." Suddenly Tasuki stiffened, then threw both himself and Miaka to the ground as another log whistled overhead. "Kou Shun'u!!! What did I tell..... SHUN'U!!! What EXACTLY are you doing lying on the ground there with a strange girl!!! Get up before I tell Father!"
Tasuki got up warily. "Oi, Aidou, it's just Miaka." he said, addressing the log-girl. The one called Aidou stared warily at Miaka. Tasuki rolled his eyes. "Oneechan no baka! Suzaku no Miko!"
Immediately Aidou was all smiles. "Such an honor, Suzaku no Miko..." She was cut off by Tasuki's shouted greeting. "Oi, minna, stop loitering around on the hilltop and get your asses down here! Especially you, Taka! I have two *(&^&* months of ass-kicking stocked up for ya."
Taka moaned. "Can't wait."
Author's Note: This entire chapter is based off the anime, not the manga, so technically this WOULD be the first time we've met Tasuki's family. The seishi and Miaka never met Tasuki's family in the anime, but did in the manga. I'm going with the anime.
***
Miaka looked around Tasuki's home. "Ah! It's so.... kawaii...?"
Tasuki grinned. "Isn't anything special. But it's home. The same home I ran away from ta get away from those demons in sister disguises."
Nuriko grinned. "I don't see anything wrong with them, Tasuki. It's all in your twisted little mind."
Chichiri was being eyed by at least two of the sisters. The rest had their sights on either Hotohori or Nuriko, and one ah-ed over Chiriko's cuteness while Mitsukake watched warily.
"Oi, Jiang, Li'an, Pa'liu, Mai, Aidou, they're dead, for Suzaku's sake."
That kept the sisters off the seishi for the rest of the night.
Mrs. Kou bustled up. "So you're the ones who've been taking care of this useless aho, ne?"
Tasuki growled. "Ma......." Mrs. Kou brandished a ladle threateningly at her son. "It's true, Shun'u, ever since ya got home you've been either burning the food or lying around doing nothing! Even if you are a Suzaku shichiseishi..."
Nuriko smirked. "Shun'u?"
Hotohori was still preening in front of the mirror, much to Mr. Kou's dismay.
Tasuki glared at Nuriko. "Kou Shun'u, it's my birthname, ya got a problem with that, gay-boy?"
WHAP!
"Aidou!!!!!!!!!!!! How many times have I told ya not to chuck your logs in the house!" Tasuki's mother scolded. She rounded on Tasuki. "Shun'u, we need more firewood, now that this aho's gone and chucked it all at your sorry head. Go get some."
Tasuki groaned as he rose to comply.
Mrs. Kou smiled nervously. "You're welcome to stay the night. Suzaku no Miko told me that you need Shun'u back for something." Tasuki's mother gestured airily, ladle still in hand. "Oh, you can take him, not like he's much use to us anyway, the ingrate."
Nobody dared argue.
Mitsukake now understood why Mr. Kou had a cowed look on his face most of the time.
***
The next morning, Miaka rose early, and nudged her ten companions awake, who were lying around on the living room floor.
".....I think I've gone deaf." Yui moaned.
Taka sat up. "What a scary household." Nuriko massaged his ears. "I think I know why Tasuki-kun ran away." Hotohori got up in a quest for a hairbrush, and Chiriko and Mitsukake stirred. Chichiri popped out of his kasa. Miaka blinked at him. "Oh, that's right, you disappeared after dinner. Where were you, Chichiri?" The mage winced. "Hiding in my kasa from Tasuki's crazy sisters no da."
Keisuke and Tetsuya discovered for the first time what it was like to sleep within a five-foot radius of Tasuki. The seishi wasn't heavy, but Keisuke and Tetsuya had had one hell of a night.
Tasuki sat up, much to their relief, and noted Keisuke and Tetsuya. "I don't think I've met ya before. You already know me, I guess." The two nodded. "I'm Keisuke. Miaka's oniichan, and this is my friend Tetsuya." Tasuki nodded.
Miaka got everyone's attention.
"Minna-san, we have to get going, back to Mt. Taikyoku."
***
"HORSES!!!!!" Keisuke crowed. "We don't have to walk anymore..."
The reason for Keisuke's happiness was of course, the addition of horses to their group. There had been horse stables in the town near Tasuki's home, and they'd rented about ten horses for fairly cheap. Tasuki's sisters had practically bought the horses for them, seemingly to get rid of Tasuki.
Nuriko smirked at Keisuke. "Someone's happy...."
***
Somewhere far away, someone was watching them through a violet mirror.
"Kiome."
The voice was the voice of a woman, infused with evil, drenched with power, a mistress summoning her servant. The servant Kiome stepped forth from the shadow to kneel before her mistress.
"Hai, Mirado-sama?"
"Send the assassins. If they fail, then send the demons. We can't let a few otherworlders, seishi, and their mikos defeat me. Can we?"
Kiome lowered her head in an abject bow. Her forehead brushed the ground. "No, my lady, that cannot be allowed. They will be sent."
Kiome left hurriedly. A few minutes afterwards, Mirado let her sable-haired head droop forward. I'll succeed where you failed, though I be just a faded memory, both here and there. Just watch me from oblivion, Ten-
She cut off her thought abruptly, to continue in her watch of the eleven.
***
Chichiri was feeling very uneasy. He was almost constantly sensing it now, a flicker of ki here, that would disappear and resurface there. He looked at Miaka worriedly. "Miaka.... someone's about. I keep sensing someone's ki, but it keep flickering around..."
Suddenly, five arrows flashed out of nowhere, aimed at Yui.
Yui cried out, as the horses reared, and Miaka screamed, "Yuiiiiii!!!!!!"
Something flashed through the air in front of Yui.
Blood flew through the air as the sickening sound of metal thudding into flesh ensued, and Tetsuya slowly slid off his horse, two arrows sticking out of his arm, the remaining three lining his side.
Chichiri immediately erected a powerful ki barrier around the mikos, the otherworlders, Chiriko, and Mitsukake. Hotohori, Taka, Tasuki, and Nuriko readied themselves for a battle.
The shining Deity's Sword was laid bare to the sun, and two pairs of fists rose in threat. A tessen was flicked open with a sound like a sword being drawn. The assassins still did not show themselves. Tasuki roared a challenge to the woodlands. "Show yourselves and fight, you &*^%&*(% cowards!"
Ten arrows hissed out of nowhere at the four, and Tasuki laughed wildly as he cried, "LEKKA.... SHINEN!!!!!!!!!!"
The shafts were immediately incinerated in the heat. The flames extended threateningly into the sky, screeching with a sound not unlike a wild mountain lion. The arrowheads fell to the ground, and the other three glanced at them. They were melted, twisted little pieces of metal, without shafts and without any more killing power. Tasuki grinned.
Suddenly Chichiri's head snapped up. He had pinpointed an assassin's exact location, and snapped off a blast of ki in that direction. He was rewarded with a cry and a thud. The other three caught on, and Chichiri immediately began informing them of the assassin's positions. Hotohori was immediately in the thick of it, slashing through clothing, skin, and bone alike. Taka alternated between barely remembered martial arts and blasts of ki. Nuriko hurled everything that came to hand with a skillful ease, and Tasuki, still smirking with the joys of battle, flamed indiscriminately, yet being careful to avoid setting a forest fire.
Meanwhile, Yui and Miaka were leaning desperately over Tetsuya. Yui resisted the urge to hit him as she sobbed, "Baka.... baka.... Tetsuya no baka!" Tetsuya grinned faintly through the pain. "Couldn't let you get impaled, could I?" He coughed suddenly, and Keisuke grabbed Mitsukake's arm.
The healer shook his head. "Someone must remove the arrows..." Keisuke stepped forward. "I'll do it. Chiriko, stay with Miaka and Yui. Chiriko turned to the two. "I don't think you two would want to watch..."
Tetsuya cried out as Keisuke methodically tore out each arrow, each one bringing with it gouts of blood, the pain clear on both Keisuke and Tetsuya's faces. Mitsukake immediately began his healing as soon as the last arrow was out, and Tetsuya was soon restored, not a single scratch evident on him, with the only sign that he had been injured being the dark bloodstains on the ground. Tetsuya sighed. "What WOULD we do without you, Mitsukake...." The healer shrugged. "I knew you guys would need me eventually... always charging straight into danger..." Yui released her relief with a massive sigh and a huge hug for Tetsuya.
Hotohori, Chichiri, Tasuki, Taka, and Nuriko came walking back. Hotohori and Tasuki were wiping blade and tessen on the grass, and all were splattered with blood. They immediately asked about Tetsuya. Miaka beamed. "He's alright, thanks to Mitsukake!" she burbled.
Author's Note: Heh, now you know why Tetsuya and Keisuke are in this fic.... to take arrows for Yui and Miaka!