A/N: This is an AU story. I do not own Fushigi Yuugi.

Purple hair wisped back in the wind as a young man made his way through the winter market. It had been unusually cold through out Konan for the last few weeks. It was only in the month of October, yet snow fell almost every other day, keeping a constant glazed look in the city of Eiyou.

As people jostled by in huddled robes, hoping to make a few last buys before dark, the man put his hand to his chest, glad that he had placed his money pouch inside his own robe. His pouch had been stolen more than once during this unusual winter weather, because many people were desperate for money to buy warm food and clothing, as well as new shoes.

He reached up and slapped his cheeks lightly to get the blood flowing as he reached his destination. This drew the attention of a few men leaving the little tavern the man had stopped in front of. He drew the attention not because of hand movements, but because he happened to be a very beautiful person, easily mistaken for a woman. His indigo hair chopped close to his shoulders, but in a way it looked like flowing waves of cloth, which only accentuated the cupids bow shaped lips, and slanted features. He had large, peach colored eyes as well, but the most womanly feature about him was the distinct beauty mark below his left eye. This drew much unneeded attention from men, as well as the women, which he wished it wouldn't.

He sighed and walked into the tavern, attempting to ignore the men as they whistled at him in an awful way. He walked to the counter and tapped the surface impatiently, waiting for the bartender to turn to him after finishing with another person's drink. "One of my usual, Katsuo-san." The very old man behind the counter smiled and nodded, going to prepare the drink that the man always had when he was there, which was quite often.

He was told that the drink was called the Nuriko special, for the Legendary Seishi called Nuriko had been the man who had designed the drink. It was a very powerful mixture, and could only be drunk by those who were very strong because of the impact. He had learned this the first time he had come to the tavern.

Three Years, eight months, and seven days before.

Nuriko, being a very young man at the time, made his first visit to a tavern in Eiyou, the capital Konan. He was only seventeen years of age. He shyly walked to the bar and asked the man for the names of some popular liquor for young people. He chose three names at random and asked the elderly man to put them all together in one glass.

The man looked at him like he was crazy, but when Nuriko placed a rather large sum of gold coins on the table, he sighed and went to work with the drink, taking only moments before he set it on the counter in a large glass. Nuriko picked it up and brought it to his lips, downing it in two gulps.

This was of course a bad idea, and before he had time to grab anything he fell from the bar stool from the impact. His head was pounding, and he was having a bad coughing fit because of the burning feeling in his throat. He stood and stumbled back onto the bar stool, while holding his aching head.

"You're quite a strange person." The old man said as he walked around the edge of the counter and started wiping the counter with a rag near Nuriko.

"Huh?" Nuriko replied half-heartedly as he slumped forward, his forehead in his hands as he leaned against the newly cleaned counter; he looked at the old man out of the corner of his eyes, wondering what the man had meant.

"You're quite a strange young man, is what I meant." The man settled down on the bar stool beside Nuriko and offered him a small cup of herbal tea to soothe the aching in Nuriko's brain. "I've only ever had one patron who has asked for that mixture, and he looked very similar to you."

Nuriko immediately thought of his father, though they didn't look much alike, but then the elderly man went on. "It was about... Oh I'd say twenty-four years ago or such as that. This man called himself Nuriko, of the Suzaku Seishi, and he ordered that same drink. He called it the 'Nuriko Special'. He's dead now. They had a funeral for him the sometime after the current Emperor's father's funeral. He served the Priestess of Suzaku most courageously until he was killed."

Nuriko had sat up by now, and he watched the man with wide eyes as he spoke. The man introduced himself as Katsuo, and then went back to the other side of the counter, before asking Nuriko's name.

"Ryuuen. Ryuuen Chao." He paused and then leaned forward pushing his glass forward. "My other name, however, is Nuriko. My parents named me two names. And now I know my namesake. I thank you Katsuo-san." With that he got up from the stool and left the tavern as the old man behind the counter stared after him with the same wide eyes Nuriko himself had possessed only moments before.

Nuriko thought back on that day as he downed his regular drink and sighed cheerfully. Ever since that day three years before, he had been more confident about his future. Though sometimes while he sat here in this same tavern, drinking the Nuriko Special, he found himself wishing he had a beautiful Priestess to protect from harm, and even fall in love with if Suzaku bid it. And of course, he had the dream every man had at one time in his life. Nuriko wished to be a hero that all children looked up to, and hoped that they too could someday be like.

He also often thought about that man twenty some years ago, who had looked just like him. How could it be that he looked just like his namesake? That almost never happened in real life, you only heard about it in stories. And now like many other times, he thought perhaps he might go see the Lady Houki, the wife to the previous Emperor, and the mother of the current Emperor. It was important that he go to see her soon anyway, to petition for more food supply for the army. He had joined the army last year hoping to serve out at least one part of his dream. He thought of this as he walked back through the market, towards his home, as snowy drifts came with the cold wind.

In Tokyo, Japan.

Eyes the color of freshly cut grass glistened and sparkled happily in the early afternoon light. There was a book sale at the Tokyo National Public Library, everything they were selling was a guaranteed good buy. The woman who walked into the library out of the light was almost gleaming she seemed so bright to the others around her.

Shawana shook back a long wave a dark red hair, which fell to just below her waist, and immediately started plowing through all of the wonderfully dusty and old books. She had always been one for reading. A true lover of literature some had called her before in America.

As she worked up a stack of books to buy with her monthly allowance(for she didn't control her own money; her best friend/roommate controlled the money comings and goings in their home, to make sure neither of them blew their money on useless stuff) she seemed called to the oldest and dustiest books, which were piled on the end of the table. She picked up a few more books, and then a gleam caught her eye.

There was a title on it in Chinese, which she had a little bit of trouble making out, but eventually read the title successfully(thank goodness for that, because she'd just finished three different college classes for Ancient Chinese and Japanese). "'The Universe of the Four Gods'" She murmured to herself, turning it over, wondering what had made it catch her eye. Nothing on it was gleaming, and that was for sure. It seemed to be one of the oldest books there from what she could tell. She quickly added it to her large pile of books and then hauled the pile to the counter at which an elderly lady stood with another person buying books.

"I'd like to buy these, ma'am." She said as the previous client left with a couple of newer looking books, and the elderly lady had to blink a few times at the large amount of books. She immediately pulled out a box from under the table and placed the books inside.

"That'll be 9,000 yen please." The woman said almost reluctantly, but Shawana quickly pulled her wallet from her large purse, and drew a few bills from it, setting them down in front of the woman, before she picked up the box and turned to walk towards the doors. "Have a good day miss!" The woman called after, just so that Shawana caught it as she left the building

"These people are crazy. They're actually selling these lovely works for such a cheap price." Shawana shook her head as she climbed into the car she shared with her roommate, and put the key in the ignition, driving through the afternoon traffic back to her apartment.

There was a dull thud as she dropped the box of books on the kitchen counter of the apartment, and a clang as she deposited the car keys into a small platter beside the phone. There were so many new books to read, she just reached into the box and picked one up at random.

She went and sat on the sofa in the living room, set 'The Universe of the Four Gods' on her laps before she opened it. The pages were like antiques themselves, almost tearing at a particularly harsh movement of them. She started reading the rows and rows of Ancient Chinese characters that made up the first page of the book. Slowly but surely she made it through the first page, and turned to the next just as she heard the front door opening. "Welcome ba—"

All of the sudden her voice was gone, red light engulfed her in a mere second, and she felt a distinct falling motion. The light seemed to be getting darker. Nope. It was just herself that was reacting to panic. The last thing Shawana saw before she blacked out was the light clearing and the top of someone's head before she blacked out completely.

Back in Konan.

Nuriko had just emerged from the marketplace and was making his way towards the palace, though he still had a while to walk. He reached up and brushed some snow from his hair as he walked on down the almost deserted-because it was already past six in the evening, and the light of the day was fading- road. He almost didn't notice the bright red light flashing through the air for a second, because his hand was passing in front of his eyes as he brought it down.

As the last bit of the light faded, he barely had time to react before he heard the whooshing sound of something falling. He looked up just in time to throw his arms out and brace himself as a woman fell on top of him, knocking them both to the snow covered pavement.

"Oi! What the heck!" Nuriko groaned and spluttered after the breath came back into his lungs, moving the woman's elbow from his gut, where it had knocked the air out of him. "What's you do that f-—" He stopped in mid sentence, realizing that she was out cold, and wearing very open clothing. She was going to freeze to death if she didn't wake up. "Sheesh, this is just my luck." He murmured as he kneeled beside her, and snuck his arms beneath her, lifting her easily from the ground.

He stood back up, pulling the woman close to his body so she would keep a bit warmer, and turned back the way he had been walking from. He'd have to put off his trip to see the former Empress until tomorrow. "I guess I'd best get you somewhere warm.." He muttered to the lifeless woman, just now realizing the red hair spilling across his arms in a wave. She was a fairly attractive woman, though he'd seen many people much more beautiful than her, and she most definitely did not have the nicest figure. Much curvier than the women around Konan these days, and she probably weighed at least five kilograms more than most of the women those days… He drew his attention back to the road as he jogged with her in his arms toward thenice little place he had been staying in these last few days.

The elderly couple who ran the Inn hardly looked up from their chores as Nuriko walked in and up the stairs, entering his room quickly and closing the door with his foot as he rushed to place the woman on his bed. Turning quickly, the fact that he had let the fire burn out this morning rushed into his head. "Damn." He knelt in front of where the fire had been that morning, and placed a new log inside, before lighting it and turning back to the woman.

The blanket draped across the end of the bed was fairly thick, it would help with warmth, so he grabbed it and laid it across her, before pulling her awkward shoes off. He'd never seen shoes like that.. They seemed like leather, but they were green, and stretched up to her mid-calve with ties up both sides. Hmm.. That was odd.

"Mmnn." He looked at the woman and noticed that she seemed to be waking. She turned her head, grimacing, and reached up underneath the blanket to bring her(larger than most women's) hand to her forehead, splaying her long fingers across her face. She turned her head again, this time to the other side and her eyes fluttered open partially, looking around the room uncertainly. Her gaze wandered along the wall, past the fireplace, past Nuriko, to the end of the bed, then stopped, widened, and turned back to Nuriko.

He knew what was about to happen just as she let out a shriek and practically jumped up into sitting position. "Who're you!?" She clutched the blanket up close to her, and then realized she was on a bed and threw the blanket at Nuriko and scrambled off the bed, running unsteadily to the door, before turning on him and scowling. "What do you want with me?"

Nuriko hastily folded the blanket, trying to look as meek as possible, so he didn't make her any more freaked out. Besides, she was speaking in an odd language.. He had no idea what she was saying. "My name is Ryuuen," He started slowly, just in case she couldn't comprehend it. She nodded so he would go on, but let her hand stay on the door handle. "but you may call me Nuriko. Who are you, and where are you from? Can you understand me?" He nodded to her slowly and picked up her shoes, setting them a bit closer to her.

"Yes I can understand you." She spoke the language he was speaking almost as well as the one she had spoken in before, just a bit slower, as if unsure if she could trust him. "My name is Shawana, and the last time I checked I was living in Tokyo, Japan.." She grabbed her shoes quickly and pulled them on one handed, still holding onto the door handle.

Shawana.. That was a fairly nice name, though it was a foreign one, he could tell. Maybe she was from one of the other provinces…" Toh-ke-yo…" He murmured, unsure of the name. He'd never heard of such a place. "I've never heard of Toh-ke-yo.. We're in Eiyou, Konan currently." He looked at her closely as she finished pulling on her shoes and stood straight once again, shaking her hair back so it was behind her shoulder.

Shawana just stared at him, into his eyes for several moments, and he stayed silent. All of the sudden, a few moments later, she turned her head to the door and her eyes narrowed. "Serap! This isn't funny. If you want me to go on a date, at least make it a realistic one!"

Nuriko had no idea who or what she was talking to, but Shawana had let go of the door handle and started looking around, walking slowly toward Nuriko. "My best friend hired you to go on a date with me right? Serap?" She looked at him with innocent eyes, which he had just realized were a brilliant green color.

"Wha..?" He blinked at her then looked around. "Who? I have no idea what you're talking about.. Maybe we should go to a doctor?" He fiddled with the tie of his outside robe and tightened it as he slowly went around Shawana and walked to the door.

Shawana must have realized he was being honest, because all of the sudden she had an annoyed-confused look about her, and she reached to pull her-..could you call that a shirt?- down over her hips. The meager piece of clothing obviously wasn't much more than under clothing, it only had two thin straps at the top of the bodice.

"I want to know where I am and how I can get back, now. And what the heck is going on as well." She looked at him silently and crossed her arms, probably trying to be courageous.

"Well," Nuriko started, looking around and walking to his sack of clothing, where he had an extra robe and sash, which he scooped up. "First of all, I was walking down the road, minding my own business, and suddenly a woman with red hair fell on top of me from the midst of a red light. Now if you insist I can take you to someone who could possibly know where Tokyo is, and how you can get there, but first I suggest you put these on and get some rest, it's winter here, you know."

He handed the clothing to her and then turned to the fire pulling his outside robe off, and leaving him in just his at home robe and favorite blue trousers. "Where does he live?" He turned to Shawana and smiled slightly, seeing her in his own robe, with the sash tied in a bow at her side

"She lives in the Palace. It's not far from here. I can take you tomorrow morning." He nodded in the direction of the palace, then motioned for her to take the bed, as he pulled an extra futon from the small cupboard in the corner of the inn room.

She first looked uncertain about sleeping in the bed, then a bit embarrassed about taking it from him. He could tell by the red that appeared in her cheeks and the way she looked at the futon he was laying out. "The Palace?"

Nuriko nodded and laid out on the futon, crossing his arms beneath his head and turning his eyes to her as she climbed into the bed slowly, curling up into a ball on her side. "Yes, the Palace. She happens to be Emperor Boushin's mother. The widow of Emperor Hotohori. May I ask you something?"

Shawana looked over at him, and nodded slowly, but surely. "What age are you? I'm only twenty, myself." Nuriko had been wondering for a while now, so he though he should ask.

Her gaze was drawn to his, and she stayed silent for a moment. "I'm going to be twenty in March."

So she was almost as old as him. That made the fact that she was staying in his room a bit easier. If she was a minor, then he could be arrested if word got out, or kicked out of the army.

"Goodnight." Nuriko murmured to her after a long silence, though he soon realized she was already asleep. Probably tired out from that falling earlier and being freaked out just now.:"

A/N: Thanks for reading the new and improved first chapter! Hopefully the rest will be updated soon!