Disclaimer: Fushigi Yuugi is not mine. Not making any money off this. Etc.

Warning: M rating warranted for graphic description of violence at the end of this chapter. My sincere apologies to anyone unpleasantly blindsided by the previous lack of warning. I just didn't think. --;; Thanks to KittyLynne for the heads-up!

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Outsider

Ch. 3

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The apartment was very quiet.

The others—Ryuen, Karuko, Keiji, Yui, and Tetsuya—had all gone out for an after-dinner walk to a nearby park. It had been Ryuen's suggestion, but Miaka's idea. That morning she had quietly asked Ryuen to help her make sure she could have time alone with Taka tonight.

Taka sat on the couch, and Miaka lay curled against his side. "I have to tell you everything, Taka," she'd said after everyone left. "There's something you don't know."

And she had told him everything.

Taka had listened in an increasingly tense silence as Miaka described in a hushed but level voice what had happened between her and the gang leader. She faltered, and he heard tears threatening in her voice, when she related her fear in the few moments she thought she'd been wrong.

"But it was Tasuki. He wouldn't say it, but I know it was. He put me on that bench. He made sure I got back safely. I don't think he knew who I was when he took me, but he does now."

Taka's anger was there, simmering, but it was under control. As Miaka described the shrine to Suzaku in the apartment and Tasuki's actions after his memories had been restored, he watched her face. She amazes me, he thought. She's been put through so much, more pain than anyone like her deserves, and all it does is make her stronger.

The thought eased his anger further, and he sat quietly as Miaka's voice finally lapsed into silence.

Tasuki, you idiot… Thanks to the kodoku, his memory of his disastrous first encounter with Tasuki had been completely lost. Even after he'd returned and tried to make things right, he and Tasuki had never seen eye to eye. Tasuki's frequently juvenile sense of humor hadn't helped. There'd been times when he'd happily have drowned the jeering idiot.

"Ha, ha, little ghost, little—Ack! AUUGH! No! I'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'm—No! Tam-aaa! Please, I'll be good, I pro-o-mise!"

Taka smiled faintly at the memory. He drove me up the wall sometimes; that's for sure.

But he was one of us. For an outlaw he had a strong sense of justice—when something just wasn't right, wasn't fair, he couldn't abide it. He was the one questioning, asking why things had to be that way.

And after Nuriko died, and he broke down, I never got quite as irritated with him, because I knew how deeply people could affect him.

Taka heaved in a deep breath and let it out in a sigh, and looked down at Miaka. And now he needs us.

"So what do we do?"

Miaka sighed too, and snuggled in closer against his side. "I don't know, Taka. But we can't just leave him, can we? We fought too hard to get everyone back!"

He nodded, stroking her soft hair lightly. "If he really did just get his memories back, he's probably pretty confused. I got my memories back in chunks, with you and the others there to support me, and that was hard enough."

"We should talk to everybody," Miaka said. "Maybe one of them might have an idea."

Taka straightened up. "They haven't been gone that long. Think we can catch up with them?" Miaka looked quizzically up at him. "Didn't Ryuen say something about stopping by that new ice cream place on the way back…?"

He'd hardly finished the sentence before Miaka was up and dashing for her jacket. "C'mon, slowpoke," she laughed at him, "what're you waiting for?"

---

Yui had brought a Frisbee, and on the way to the park she and Tetsuya had finally convinced Karuko to play. They were out in the field, and Tetsuya kept trying to catch the Frisbee behind his back or with his eyes closed, or with his feet. He usually didn't succeed, but it amused Yui and the children playing nearby. Karuko was smiling, deliberately aiming the Frisbee to try to make Tetsuya miss.

Ryuen grinned from his vantage point on top of a picnic table under the shelter. He sat cross-legged, leaning his elbows on his knees and his chin on his hands, and watched Karuko. That's so much better. He keeps so much of himself locked in. I can respect his wish to keep to himself, but then again, what's the use of being all closed up around his friends?

"Oi, Ryuen."

"Hm?" He looked down. Keiji was sitting on the bench at the same table, ankles crossed, arms folded. He was watching the Frisbee fly.

"Do you think you and Karuko could find the way back to the place where the gang stopped you?"

Ryuen shifted, uncrossing his legs and scooting forward to the edge of the table. "I'm sure Karu could. He knows the area. Why?"

"I'm going to go see him. Alone."

Ryuen blinked. "What? Are you nuts? He's probably got two dozen goons around the place."

Keiji smiled faintly. "I can get in."

"Well, then you aren't going without me! I want to talk to that bonehead myself—"

Keiji was shaking his head. "I can get myself in and out. I don't think I can do that if someone's with me."

Ryuen frowned at him. He considered pouting, but that really only worked on Karuko and Miaka. "We can ask Karuko later. But what if they do catch you?"

"They won't."

"What makes you so sure?"

Keiji gave him a look—Drop it—but Ryuen plugged on stubbornly. "C'mon, Keiji. You're our friend. We need to know if we're going to have to come and get you out of there, or call in the cavalry."

"You won't, Ryuen. I promise. Will you do it, or not?" Keiji was looking out at the playground again.

Ryuen sighed. "I guess. Yes."

"Good." Keiji got up and stretched. "I'm going to take a walk around."

"Okay." Ryuen moved back and returned to his cross-legged position on the table, but Keiji didn't walk away immediately. He gazed out across the park, hands in his pockets.

"He owes me an explanation," Keiji whispered at last.

Ryuen blinked and looked at him. "What?"

Keiji inhaled deeply, as if waking up. He sighed and glanced sidelong at Ryuen. "Please don't tell Miaka about it. I don't want to get her hopes up." Then he strode off toward the walking paths, leaving Ryuen staring after him.

"Ryu-u-en!"

He blinked again and looked around. He saw Miaka running up, with Taka following behind. "Hey!" Ryuen scooted forward again, planted his feet on the bench and hopped off onto the ground. As he'd predicted, she tripped over the concrete step. He laughed, caught her, and sat her down on the bench. "Be careful, would you?"

Taka stepped into the shelter and sat down beside Miaka. "Oh well… she wouldn't be our Miaka if she didn't faceplant twice a day."

"Hey!"

Taka grinned, blocked a playful swipe from Miaka, and slung his arm around her shoulders. Miaka leaned into him agreeably.

Ryuen looked at the two of them and smiled in relief. Well, that's a good sign. "So I guess you guys got everything worked out, hmm?"

"More or less," Taka said, squeezing Miaka's arm. He looked up at Ryuen. "So…what are we going to do about Tasuki?"

Ryuen pursed his lips.

"Please don't tell Miaka…"

"I don't know," he said honestly enough. "I mean, we don't even know if he wants to come back to us."

Miaka gave a harsh sigh and sat up straight. "He has to! He brought me back. If he'd really…turned bad…he wouldn't have done that! He'd have just…" She gulped and shook her head. "We have to get him out of there."

Ryuen sat down on the bench on the other side of Miaka. "We'll see what we can do, okay? Getting past that gang won't be easy, Miaka—and yes," he added before her mouth could even open, "we beat them before, but there were three of them and three of us. At their lair it'd be—what, maybe six or seven to one? You remember when we fought his bandits on Mount Reikaku back home. If you hadn't accidentally summoned Tamahome, we might've really been in trouble."

"Accidentally what?" Taka exclaimed.

Miaka blinked at him. "You mean I never told you about that?"

"Well…maybe you told Tamahome, but you didn't tell me since we got back together. Unless it's one of those memories I lost with that second dose of kodoku…"

As Miaka began to tell the story, Ryuen looked back out at the playground. Yui had spotted Miaka and was headed back to the shelter with Tetsuya and Karuko close behind.

Tetsuya was rubbing his nose as they walked up; his glasses had been knocked off his face. "Did you have to aim quite that well?" he complained, not really serious.

Karuko was still smiling. "I'm sorry, but you said to throw it right to you…"

Yui dropped onto the bench next to Ryuen and listened to Miaka. Ryuen looked around for Keiji, but he hadn't come back in sight yet. What does he mean, Tasuki owes him an explanation? he wondered.

Taka was groaning. "You changed Tasuki's talismans so that they summoned illusions of food instead of wolves?"

"Oh, Miaka," Yui chuckled, shaking her head.

Miaka grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, it was stupid, I know. But I'd written Tamahome's name on the last one… and then there he was." She turned a misty-eyed look on Taka. "So you managed to save me even when you weren't really there."

Taka smiled at her.

"So—who wants ice cream!" Miaka leaped up exuberantly. Ryuen dodged in time to avoid her elbow. Taka didn't.

"Ow!"

"Oh…sorry, Taka!"

Yui laughed and handed Taka her handkerchief for his nose; Miaka patted his arm remorsefully. "Some things never change."

Ryuen stood up. "We're just waiting for—there he is." He saw Keiji emerge from the trees and head back down the walking path toward the shelter. Keiji had his hands casually in his pockets; his shoulders were back and his face open, and he looked relaxed and confident. He rejoined the group, commiserated over Taka's bleeding nose, and teased the embarrassed Miaka. Ryuen watched him closely.

I'm going to have to try and corner him later. There's something he isn't telling me.

---

After the stop for ice cream, the group dispersed. Taka, Miaka and Keisuke headed back to Keisuke and Miaka's apartment; Taka would go home from there. Yui and Tetsuya headed for Tetsuya's place, which left Karuko, Ryuen, and Keiji. From the ice cream shop they turned off toward Rock and Java, a coffee shop down the next street. Ryuen was a regular there; he waved cheerfully at the waitress as they came in, and she winked and blew him a kiss.

Keiji gave Ryuen a knowing grin. "Friend of yours?"

"I help her with her geography homework," Ryuen said innocently as they sat down at his favorite corner table. "I'll go get drinks—what's everybody want?"

He collected their orders—Karuko took a few minutes to make up his mind—and headed up to the counter.

"Hi, Ryuen!" Natsuko chirped as he came up. "So you finally brought those friends of yours, huh? They're cute."

"Down, girl," Ryuen chuckled, and gave her his order. "Karu's available but not really looking. Keiji, I dunno. You'll have to ask him."

"I like the broody brunette. Which one's he?"

"That's Karu."

"Aw, damn. Too bad." She snapped her fingers. Ryuen laughed and took his change and receipt from her. "There you go. Hang on a minute."

She stepped away, and Ryuen looked over his shoulder. Karuko was leaning forward, speaking to Keiji, his hands folded on the table. Keiji sat forward and replied. Ryuen had never had any talent for reading lips, so he couldn't tell what they were saying.

"Okay, here you are." Ryuen turned back as Natsuko put the cups on the counter on a tray. "Well, I'll come by on my break and say hi, how's that?"

Ryuen smiled and picked up the tray. "Great, Nats. Bring us free goodies and we might even let you sit with us!"

"Ha! You wish!"

Ryuen chuckled and went back to the table. Keiji and Karuko had fallen silent. Ryuen put down the tray, took his drink and flopped into his chair. He looked at Karuko. "So did he break it to you gently that he wants to walk into that gang's hideout all by himself?"

Karuko glanced at Keiji. "I still want to know how you expect to get in there, and out, without being stopped. For that matter, how are you going to find your way to the right building?"

Keiji leaned back in his chair. "…All right," he said at last. "If you're going to help me in this, I guess you need to know a little more, if only because you'll be putting yourselves in danger too. I can pick up Tasuki's trail once I get to somewhere he's been recently. I'll be able to sense where he's gone."

"Oh, so you did hang on to some of your powers from home!" Ryuen grinned widely. "All right!"

"Well, they don't really work the same way, y'know," Keiji muttered. "But I can keep the guards from paying attention to me. They'll think I'm someone they know."

"Oooo! Jedi mind trick!"

Keiji smiled wryly. "Something like that."

"What if Tasuki raises the alarm, though?"

"I don't think he will. But if he does, I can still get out, and I'll get back to you."

"You'd better be right," Ryuen grumbled. "I don't want to have to come collect you in pieces."

Keiji sipped his drink, and Ryuen remembered that he hadn't touched his own coffee yet. He looked at Keiji again after he put his cup down. "So…what are you going to say to him? You said something about him owing you an explanation."

Karuko had also been leaning back, apparently absorbed in thought, but he looked up and sat forward again, turning his attention to Keiji.

Keiji looked away. "I'm sorry I said that. I'm…not ready to talk about it. I'm not sure what I'm going to say to him. I'll know when the time comes. But Miaka's right—someone's got to make sure he knows we want him back. What he does after that is going to be up to him."

That left the conversation floundering in a glum silence, and Ryuen couldn't think of anything lighthearted to say to break it, so he finished his coffee, thinking.

"I'd like to do it two days from now," Keiji finally said, "and I'd like to do it during the day, in the late morning, because he might be more likely to be there. Are you still going to help me? Last chance to back out." Keiji crumpled his cup in one hand.

"I still wish you'd let me go with you, but I'll do it," Ryuen sighed.

Karuko merely nodded.

"How about I pick you both up at ten o'clock at Karuko's place?" Ryuen stretched.

"That's fine." They got up and headed for the door.

"Aw, are you leaving already?" Natsuko pouted from the counter. "C'mon, we don't get enough cute guys in here as it is!"

Karuko smiled over his shoulder; Ryuen laughed. "Another time, Nats. We'll be back, I promise."

Outside, Karuko headed off toward the subway station with a wave. Keiji started in the same direction, but Ryuen stopped him with a hand on his arm. "Hey. Listen, are you sure you can't tell me a little bit more? I dunno if you didn't want to talk about it in front of Karu or what, but you meant something when you said you wanted an explanation out of Tasuki."

Keiji closed his eyes with a grimace of pain and turned his face away. Ryuen, surprised, dropped his hand from Keiji's arm. What could've happened to make him react like that? Did I say something wrong? "Chichiri, what's the matter? What did Tasuki do?" he said in a low voice.

Keiji drew in a long, shaky breath and let it out, and with something like shock Ryuen realized he was trying to fight tears. He fell silent, uncertain what to do. This really isn't like him… what's going on?

A few moments passed before Keiji finally spoke. "He can tell you himself when he comes back," he said quietly, his voice composed again. He looked over his shoulder at Ryuen. "Ten o'clock," he said, and walked off, putting his hands in his pockets.

---

Taiten had a bad feeling.

He didn't have them often. He was a confident man. But he was also a perceptive man, and noticing the case of bottles in his boss's apartment didn't really require that much perception. Detecting the faint slur and the sly, dangerous drawl in his boss's speech took a little more attention. Taiten started to choose his words carefully. At a certain point of saturation, his boss's temper would be on a hair trigger. Trying not to set it off took concentration.

As he reached the end of his report, however, he grew more confident. The boss had listened with bare grunts of acknowledgement; maybe he was further gone than Taiten had guessed.

"The police picked up that girl from the other night. Shotaro said they took her to the hospital, and nobody's come around here looking." He smirked. "Kind of a risk picking up a girl from a nicer area like that, but apparently it was worth it. Hope you got your dime's worth out of her—"

There was hardly a blur of motion. In the next instant Taiten stood motionless, mouth still open, the boss's favorite knife pressed against his throat. The etched flame pattern near the hilt reflected fractured light up onto his face.

Taiten remained composed and still, but his mind raced as he tried to figure out where he'd overlooked a danger signal. Okay… he must not have been as drunk as I thought.

His boss had that smile on his face, and Taiten fixed his eyes straight ahead. One blink could tip things in the wrong direction right now. I'd give my right arm to know how he manages to move that fast after four or five drinks' worth…

After a long, long moment, his boss flicked the knife away and released him. The steel left a cold feeling against his skin and a small red mark that he noticed later. The gang leader sheathed the knife with a deft twist and dropped back onto the end of the couch, picking up his bottle again as if nothing had happened. "That all?"

"Yes."

The boss waved his hand dismissively, and Taiten turned and walked out.

At the bottom of the stairs, he turned and glanced up at the door above, which stayed firmly shut.

The boss had hardly been out of his apartment in three days. He hadn't come down to look for a girl or even just to look things over, like he usually did a few times a day. "You can handle it, can't you?" the boss had asked rhetorically yesterday, smirking, and shut the apartment door in Taiten's face.

Something's gone wrong.

Taiten couldn't begin to guess what, but he couldn't explain his boss's actions any other way.

The worst thing about it, he reflected as he went on down the hall, was that he couldn't do anything about it. At least, not yet. He could only wait, and hold things together, and if his boss came out of this funk, fine.

If not…

Then be ready to step in… and take over, if I have to.

---

Keiji sat quietly. The rest of his apartment was normal, indistinguishable from any other bachelor's apartment. This corner of his bedroom, however, was blocked off by a heavy curtain, which gave him extra privacy and some insulation from ordinary sounds. On a small, low shelf on the wall he'd placed the phoenix carved of orange-red jade, as close to a representation of Suzaku as he'd managed to find.

He breathed deeply, trying to clear his mind and diminish the tension in his shoulders and neck. The incense helped a little, but every time he began to sink down to the proper depth of calm, the thought of the coming confrontation jerked him out of it and set his heart thudding fiercely again. Ever since he'd spoken to Ryuen at the park, one memory he'd kept buried for years had been trying to surface again, teasing the back of his mind, breaking up his composure. It wouldn't be denied.

You're upset and angry, and it's not any wonder, he told himself. But you can't face him and be upset. You absolutely cannot. You have to be level, because you can't rely on him to be. You have to be open to what he's feeling—you can't let your own feelings smother it.

He's in trouble. He needs help. Keep that in mind.

But his mind continued to twitch out of the calm path, and finally he gave up. It just wasn't working. I guess I won't be able to do this until I let it out. He closed his eyes resignedly, letting himself sink into a trance that enhanced recall, and let the memory come.

---

The sorcerer had managed to open some hell-gate in the mountains of Kounan, and was letting demons in. First they had flooded the mountain passes—no travelers could get through alive. Then they were pouring down out of the mountains, attacking travelers and caravans, then villages. They couldn't be allowed to continue.

Tasuki happened to be visiting the capitol at the time, and they'd set off together for the mountains, using Chichiri's cloak to cover large stretches of distance—they couldn't afford to waste time getting there. Within a few days of the mountains they'd passed village after village that had been burned out. No one who had been in the demons' path was left alive, and the demons were growing bolder and more cruel, torturing their victims before killing them. Tasuki had grown more and more silent as they'd gone on.

"This motherfucker is mine, Chiri," Tasuki had whispered late one night. It was the day they'd discovered the dead family. They'd found the bodies at a farmhouse between towns. Men, women, grandparents and children…three generations, eleven people in all. Skin flayed off while they were still alive, then left strung up like grotesque puppets on the side of the house. Tasuki had refused to listen, even when Chichiri had reminded him that more people could be suffering even as they delayed.

They had buried all eleven. Tasuki had sat by the graves for some time, and he hadn't slept that night.

"He's mine. Once he comes face to face with me, he'll never touch anyone else again. I swear it by Suzaku."

They'd reached the place two days later. The battle had been grotesque. They'd fought their way through a flood of demons, aided by Suzaku and Taiitsukun but still grossly outnumbered. Chichiri was using his magic to suppress the connection between the demons and the sorcerer. It weakened the demons considerably, but it was a terrible drain on his strength and left him unable to do anything physically complicated. Tasuki's sword and tessen had been doing most of the work.

That night, battered but triumphant, they'd finally reached the cave in the mountains where the rift had been opened. The sorcerer was there, barely recognizable. The demon that had possessed him to let its comrades flood the land had nearly drained him dry, and it was hungry for a new host.

"Suzaku warriors," it had hissed eagerly, its six narrow eyes glowing a sickly greenish yellow; there wasn't much left of its human form. "Yes, come to me…"

"Right here, you son of a bitch!"

Tasuki had flung a firebolt from his tessen, but the demon was magically protected from fire. The flames flowed harmlessly around it, and it laughed at them.

"Wait! Tasuki!" Chichiri was weakening rapidly so close to the gate, but he thought he had enough strength left to close it. That would cut off the demons altogether, including the one controlling the sorcerer—if Tasuki could just distract the thing long enough—

"No more waiting," Tasuki had hissed, an awful, raging joy in his eyes, and his tessen had clattered to the stone floor of the cave. He had raised his sword and charged the thing.

"TASUKI!" Chichiri's scream fell on deaf ears.

The monster pulled its arm back and drove its elongated, barbed claws into Tasuki's chest with a spray of blood, stopping his rush. It slammed him against the wall of the cave, pinning him there. Tasuki's eyes were so wide Chichiri could see the whites from where he stood ten meters away…and then, incredibly, Chichiri heard a thick, choked chuckle.

Tasuki's sword had found its mark. Its curved tip protruded from the monster's back. The swirling blue-black vortex at the back of the cave suddenly flared. It collapsed with a violent rush of wind and blinding, crackling bluish energy, and Chichiri was knocked to the ground. A long, high, keening wail came from the dying demon.

When the storm subsided, he managed to struggle to his knees and make a light with his staff. The sorcerer's body had reverted to human form and lay in a crumpled heap.

Tasuki lay against the cave wall. His shirt and light armor were shredded and soaked crimson.

Chichiri hadn't been able to stand. He'd crawled to Tasuki's side.

Tasuki had still been alive. He'd stared up at Chichiri's face, his face white, mouth working slightly, breathing in short bubbling gasps. Chichiri had picked up his limp hand and clasped it tightly, and felt a faint, faint squeeze back. Then Tasuki had tried to smile, lips twitching slightly, and closed his eyes…and Chichiri felt that fiery life force begin to flicker and fade away.

---

Keiji sat with his hands pressed to his eyes, sobbing as he emerged from trance.

He didn't have to die then! If he'd just waited…just another few moments—

Damn him, why couldn't he listen?

He knew why. He'd traveled and fought with Tasuki for too long not to know. But that hadn't made the loss hurt any less.

After a long time, Keiji got up, brushed tears from his cheeks, and slipped out of the little curtained enclosure. He went into the bathroom to wash his face; he sighed at his red-eyed reflection. But after the catharsis of tears, he felt calmer and clearer. He patted his face dry on the towel and emerged from the bathroom. Back in his tiny meditation chamber, he lit a fresh stick of incense and resettled himself on the woven rug, ready to try again.

Well… I've watched two best friends die. Let's see if preventing a third death pays for all.

---

End Chapter 3

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A/N:

The coffee shop, Rock and Java, is named after a favorite student hangout in the town where I went to college.