I don't own any of the Fushigi Yuugi characters. I just own Kiyomi and Michiko. This is my third Fushigi Yuugi story and if there are spellings mistakes please forgive me. This story is about Hotohori and I started writing about him because I notice Hotohori's character is always forgotten. Anyway I hope you enjoy my simple and short story.

Summary: A simple girl comes along and Hotohori falls for her instead of Miaka. But this girl is nothing but simple and has a great mission. Will she succeed or fail?

Last scene: Hotohori lost Michiko in the rush of the crowd and after searching everywhere he couldn't find her.

Searching everywhere he couldn't find her. He wanted to ran back to the palace and bring the guards to help him search but by the time he came back with reinforcement Michiko may be far gone. So he tried to calm down and think carefully of what to do next. Trusting his instinct, he concentrated hard on Michiko's presence and although he didn't have enough power to sense her exact location, he could hear his gut feeling pointing him to her location. "This sixth sense of her could be caused by me giving some of my life force to her", thought Hotohori.

When he arrived at Michiko's location, she was being cornered by five men. Hotohori was enraged and a red aura glowed around him. He fought the five men easily and once they were all defeated, the sight he saw made his heart break into a million pieces. There against the wall was Michiko terrified with tears still running down her cheeks. Her hair was messy and her dress slightly undone. She just stared into empty space.

Hotohori slowly approached her so that she would not go into further shock and when he touched her shaking hands, it was icy cold. Seeing Hotohori in front of her, Michiko rushed into his arms and cried "I was so scared Hotohori ... I thought I would never see you again ... Those men ... why am I always the victim ... First the Kutou emperor and then you and now this ..." At the sound of the word Kutou, Hotohori froze but he didn't acted out his emotion afraid that it might scare Michiko away from his embrace.

He simply calms her down with comforting words and cradled a terrified Michiko out into the streets. Then he carried Michiko all the way back to the place so that he won't lose her again. Close to the warmth of man so protective of her, Michiko dozed off with the cheeks still wet with tears but her body was no longer shaking.

Once he reached the palace, Hotohori proceeded to Michiko's room still carrying her. Entering her room, Hotohori laid her down softly on the bed. He cleaned her tear-stained cheeks and stayed with her while she slept. When he was sure that she had dozed off, he got up to leave and then she said with her eyes close, "Don't leave. Please stay with me tonight. I feel safe and protected in your presence." Hotohori agreed and as Michiko lay asleep Hotohori softly traced her face features. That sensation made Michiko snuggle close to Hotohori. He blushed at her response and soon the tired emperor fell asleep next to Michiko.

The next morning Michiko woke up with Hotohori next to her but she was not surprised. In fact she liked it and just as she moved a strand of hair from his face, his eyes opened and shined at her. Michiko blushed crimson and so did Hotohori. As Hotohori got up and stretched, Michiko said "Do you want to know what happen to me at Kutou? I mentioned it yesterday and even though you didn't flinch I realized I should explain to you." Hotohori was silent. He wanted badly to know how she was mistreated until it tormented her insides.

But at the same time he didn't want her to remember the terrifying ordeal and risk upsetting her again. Hotohori turned around, deciding on the latter and about to stop her from speaking more when she put a finger on his lips. Shaking her head, Michiko said "I know you are about to tell me to forget about it but I can't let you do that because if I am going to be in a relationship with you, I have to tell you about my dark past."

Michiko then told everything that happened in Kutou, to Hotohori including the fact that the King almost raped her. Hearing that Hotohori flew into rage, promising to seek revenge for Michiko. However before Hotohori released his anger further, Michiko hugged him from behind and said, "You don't need to seek revenge for me. I don't want you to get hurt. You have done enough for me. Just staying by my side and protecting me always is good enough for me."

Those words sort of calmed Hotohori down because the next thing he did was turning around and embracing Michiko in his arms tightly saying "I will always protect you and I will never leave your side." Michiko was touched by his declaration and looked up giving Hotohori a soft kiss on his lips. Hotohori was a little stunned at the show of affection and in return he smiled, cupped her face in his hands and returned the kiss.

Michiko then snuggled in Hotohori's arms and they enjoy each other's coziness until it was almost afternoon. It was during this time that Hotohori made the biggest decision of his life.

Soon Hotohori needed to go for his daily meeting and they got out of bed. Hotohori was about to leave to get prepared when this time however he requested that Michiko joined him. She childishly nodded her agreement, eager to be with her loved one but puzzled as to why Hotohori would ask her to join him in this meeting compared to all the others.

"Maybe he is going to discuss something about summoning Suzaku and wants me to be aware of it as well" thought Michiko to herself as maids ushered her to be properly dressed for an audience of the emperor together with his ministers and advisers.

In the meeting, they decided to summon Suzaku soon now that the country affairs are running smoothly. Hotohori agreed and when the meeting ended Hotohori requested everyone to stay for a while for he has one last announcement to make. He got up from his throne and walk towards Michiko.

He knelt down on one knee in front of her and spoke the words, "Michiko, you are the light and love of my life, heart and soul. Whenever I am lost you guide me to the right path and you have always been there for me. I am willing to do anything for you. When you were gone for that three moments I felt life drain out of me and I don't want to feel that again. I love you very much. Will you marry me and be my empress?"

Michiko was shocked that Hotohori would propose to her in front of the entire palace officials. She was touched by his words and so wanted to say yes but her throat was dry and her voice couldn't reach her. She loves him too but she is shy to accept his proposal in front of so many people.

With a whisper, she asked Hotohori to rise first and not make a scene. "I will not rise until you say yes and I don't find myself making a scene for I want to prove to you that I am willing to go through anything even though I am an emperor. If you wished for it I can request for your hand in marriage in front of the whole country," said Hotohori.

Before Hotohori could take further action, Michiko nodded and gestured Hotohori to rise. He was ecstatic that he hugged Michiko and twirls her around and around. Everyone was so happy to see the couple rejoicing especially the advisers. One of them even said it's about time.

However since summoning Suzaku was more important, preparations were made for that before the marriage. When the time came, all the warriors proceeded to the Suzaku shrine to summon Suzaku and Michiko was there too. But the summoning failed as the Chiriko warrior was a false one. When the real Chiriko came to save them, they decided to give it one more try but it too didn't work because Taiitsukun appeared and told them that the scroll has been burned and the ceremony can't be complete without the scroll. Taiitsukun then stated another way to summon Suzaku through the use of shinzaho. With that new plan, the warriors were once again spirited to summon their God Suzaku.

The party will be leaving on a ship and heading towards Hokkan. Hotohori would not be joining them because he has a wedding to get ready for. Before they left they gave all their best wishes to Hotohori and Michiko. After the ship left dock, Hotohori and Michiko stayed at the dock to wave farewells and best wishes to the Suzaku group and when the ship was gone from the horizon they went back to the palace to plan for their wedding. Five days after the Suzaku warriors left for Hokkan, the preparations were completed.

For three days, it was customary that the bride and groom to not be allowed to see each other. Since Hotohori was the emperor and needed to move around the palace quite a bit, Michiko was confined to her room where the maids presented Michiko with scrolls on how to serve the emperor as a woman and empress. It was like a crash course and she tried her best to memorize all the rituals.

Hotohori on the other hand was kept busy with the wedding plans from dusk till dawn so that he didn't have time to think about Michiko. By the time night came he was exhausted but he himself knew that Michiko was always on his mind no matter how busy he was and he dozed off dreaming of her.

On the last day Michiko was taken to purify her body in the palace hot spring. After the purification, Michiko then soaks herself in a warm milk bath while the maids conditioned her silver hair to have it silky and shiny.

When she was ready Michiko wore a red strapless gown with the top half lining her bust while her bodice fitting skirt flowed from her bust all the way down to the floor creating a red trail. A red translucent material covered her arm and chest while a gold silk cloth hangs loosely around her back and drapes at her arm.

Meanwhile Hotohori wore a special imperial royal robes and crown reserved only for his wedding. It had some engravings of the phoenix bird because Hotohori was also one of the Suzaku seven.

She walked in slowly into the hall like an angel and Hotohori was awestruck at the beautiful angelic goddess approaching him. "I can't believe that goddess is my bride to be ..." thought Hotohori smiling widely. Michiko was glowing radiantly and when she saw her husband-to-be dressed in his imperial royal robe, she thought to herself, "I can't believe I have finally found my destined one and I am getting married to him and then becoming his empress."

When she reached the altar, Hotohori offered a red silk cloth to Michiko and she held it in between her hands. The red silk cloth symbolizes their union. After they finished bowing to the Gods, the people and each other, the palace holy man anointed their forehead with gold and announced them as husband and wife and introduced to the palace and people the emperor and empress of Konan. Michiko was then about to be taken to Hotohori's chambers when he objected doing so. He said Michiko will accompany me in greeting the guests because she's my empress now and has the right to share my pride with me. Michiko was happy with that declaration.

Soon night came and the newlywed couple went to his chamber to begin their first night as husband and wife. Hotohori helped Michiko remove her hair accessories and they both changed into royal sleeping robes. As they sat down by the bed, Michiko felt shy thinking of what they had to do next which was to consummate the marriage. Her mind was flooded with images she memorized during her three days of confinement.

She knew she had to begin the first step but she was shy. When she was about to undress herself Hotohori pushed her down onto the bed and started covering her neck with soft kisses. "I … I thought we were supposed to follow the customs in consummating the marriage, which begin with me undressing myself and then undressing you … mmph," asked a puzzled Michiko just as Hotohori pressed his lips onto her.

After a while Hotohori stopped kissing and looked into her hazel eyes, saying "Those are just customs passed down from generations and back then marriages weren't based on love so the wives needed guidance on how to serve their husband. But we don't need to follow them now because we love each other so much all this seem natural to us. If you don't tell anyone about this and I definitely won't tell who would know."

Michiko giggled at Hotohori's words. Hotohori then proceeded to covering her body with his and started kissing her soft lips again. Then Hotohori deepened the kiss with his tongue and Michiko responded as well. Although she had done this before, she wasn't aware and in control of herself at that time but this time it was full of passion and pleasurable as he felt her soft insides and she felt his.

They both lip locked until they were breathless. Hotohori then undressed her while Michiko just surrendered herself to her husband after she removed his shirt and pants. That night they made love and worshiped each other's bodies and even though they had already made love before, they were now doing it without any help and out of love, which made it all the more meaningful.

In no time at all Michiko was announced pregnant with twins. Hotohori was happy to become a father and his advisers were relieved and more than happy for heirs are in due course.