The Guardian

Chapter One

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Fushigi Yugi, and I'm not making any money from this fic. I do, however, own the character Hanae

Summary: Instead of dying, Amiboshi is pulled into Miaka's world, in time to stop a young teenager from killing herself. However, dying was supposed to have been Hanae's fate. What does it mean now that she's alive when she wasn't supposed to be? And what does that entail for the 'Universe of the Four Gods'?

Warning(s): Spanking; some depressing issues – such as suicide, depression, self-harm, etc.; possible ooc:ness; possible mistakes in the canon

Author's Note: I am making Amiboshi slightly older in this fic than he is in the manga, because I think it works better. Just to let people know. Also, I'm not trying to belittle the issues I'm dealing with in this story – I think that these are very real problems, and Hanae has to deal with them. Even though Hanae isn't me, she has one of the problems that I currently do… This fic is quite serious in most parts, and shouldn't be taken lightly

The sound of rushing water filled his ears as he stood there, staring at the priestess of Suzaku. Why was she doing this?

"Stop it, Chiriko! Why would you want to hurt anyone when you play such beautiful music on your flute?! You cheered us up! You soothed our hearts! Your flute shouldn't be used to hurt people!"

Miaka's words hit Amiboshi right in his heart. They hurt. He felt his eyes widen, and was powerless to stop the shock from showing on his face. How did she know exactly the right things to say? But then, he shouldn't have been that surprised. In the short time he had known her, Miaka had quickly proven herself to be an incredibly sweet, gentle girl. Even if she did have an unhealthy obsession with food.

In any case, Miaka was mostly the reason why Amiboshi had felt such hesitation in trying to kill her and the others and disrupt the spell to summon the god Suzaku. He couldn't help it – he had begun to care about all of them.

Amiboshi stumbled back a few paces, forgetting, for the moment, where he was. His eyes widened as he felt the wood crumble beneath his foot. But maybe… Just maybe, this was for the best.

Amiboshi didn't even fight as he fell backwards and into the water.

Then, abruptly, there was a flash of blue light… and Amiboshi was somewhere unfamiliar.

Hanae hunched over in the corner of her room, her hands over her ears. Of course, that did absolutely nothing to drown out the sounds coming from downstairs.

Hanae felt the tears trickle down her cheeks. They were fighting again, and, like always, about her. She didn't need this. She'd had a terrible day at school, with the kids continually teasing her. Then, to top it all off, she had come home to find that her mother had forgotten to get her dinner once again.

Hanae had cooked her own dinner without complaining, but her father had been upset about it when he had got in. He had shouted quite a lot at his wife, causing Hanae to lose her appetite. She had tipped her dinner into the bin, and quickly made her way upstairs to her room, which she felt was her only sanctuary.

It certainly hadn't been the first time that Hanae had missed one of her meals… In fact, it was something that she was doing quite frequently now. She was even making herself throw up sometimes after she had eaten.

It didn't matter how much weight Hanae lost. When she stared at herself in the mirror, she only saw a fat, ugly teenager with lanky hair and odd eyes. It wasn't like her parents even noticed most of the time. Oh, sure, sometimes there was a teacher who picked up on it… But Hanae would start eating just enough to make the teacher back off, before reverting back to her old habits.

The fourteen-year-old pressed her face into her pillow, feeling her tears soaking the material. Her shoulders shook with suppressed sobs. I didn't even get a chance to tell them what had happened at school, she thought, biting her lip hard. Yui and Miaka were still missing… But that was no big surprise. Everyone was so worried about them… even the usually spiteful older girls.

I bet no one would care if I went missing, or even died. Hanae knew that it was the truth. After all, who would care about a dumb girl like her? Her parents? Hah, that was a laugh. The only thing that they cared about was finding new things to argue about with each other. And it wasn't like Hanae had any friends at school. In fact, the only ones who had been anything approaching nice to her had been Yui and Miaka… With them, Hanae had felt almost like she could be a normal girl with no problems, just like they were.

Of course, now they were gone…

Hanae slowly let go of her pillow. Her eyes went curiously blank as she carefully rolled her right sleeve up to reveal her biggest secret.

All up Hanae's arm, usually hidden by the sleeves of the clothes she wore, were numerous scars and healing cuts. Hanae frowned to herself, looking closely at her arm. Ah… There it was. A small patch of skin, untouched by any knife marks. Well, that was about to change.

Hanae straightened up, and headed over to her dresser. Opening the top drawer, she felt underneath her clothes, and finally found what she was looking for.

A small knife with a serrated edge, just like the ones found in a kitchen. Well, actually, that was where Hanae had got it from. After all, it was hardly like one little knife would be missed.

Hanae ran her fingers reverently over the black handle, and set the point of the blade against her unmarked skin. Slight pressure on the handle caused the point to go into her skin enough to draw a few drops of blood, which slowly slid down her arm, approaching her fingers.

Hanae just stood there, feeling her unhappiness draining away with her blood. She closed her eyes, revelling in the pain. This gave her full and complete control over her body. It was a sensation of power, of being able to do something, to have something, that no one else could take away.

But, just this once, it wasn't quite enough.

Hanae's eyes fluttered open again, and her eyes went to her wrist. The feeling, the temptation, to end it all was incredibly strong. All it would take were two simple cuts… No one would even miss her.

And she would be free from this despair…

Ignoring the blood from the original cut she had made, Hanae pressed the point of the knife against her wrist, about to make the slash that would mean she was giving up completely on life. That would mean that she was finally allowing despair to overtake her, to win.

Abruptly, there was a flash of blue light that startled Hanae so much that she dropped the precious knife. The light was so intense that the teenager had to cover her eyes to avoid being blinded.

What's going on?!

No longer able to feel the light attempting to sear its way through her eyelids, Hanae slowly dropped her hands from her eyes. Upon taking in the sight before her, she let out a gasp.

There was a boy lying on the floor of her room, apparently unconscious.