Disclaimer: I don't own Fushigi Yuugi.

Chapter 9: Words

Narrator

Hikitsu laid Bai-Ling down gently in the med-tent. She was still glowing with a strong green light, but it was slowly fading.

"Which one is she?" asked Tomite. The older seishi pulled her hair back from her ear, then pushed her head so he could see behind it. The symbol Nu glowed there.

"Woman," Takiko read. She looked at Tomite curiously.

"Then she's Uruki," he said. Hikitsu let go of her hair, letting it fall back into place.

"Has anything like this ever happened to her before," Takiko asked the doctor. He shook his head.

"She's always been an active girl, but the worst she's ever had are scrapes and bruises. She's never glowed." Tomite shook his head sadly.

"So she probably doesn't even know she's a seishi," he said. "That would explain why she passed out. She doesn't know how to control her power yet."

"What is her power?" asked Takiko. He shrugged.

"Dunno. I didn't see anything obvious, but it could be anything. She was doing something."

The girl slept until early the next morning. The seishi and miko stayed in the med-tent that night. The tribe's people gathered outside the tent, each trying to catch a glimpse of the "demon" that inhabited poor Bai-Ling, until the doctor yelled at them.

By the time she awoke Takiko, Tomite, and the doctor were all asleep. She sat up. Her entire body ached, but she could bear it. What had happened to her? Her vision was back to normal. She could no longer see inside people's bodies. The sense of power that came with the vision was gone too. Now she just felt drained.

She quietly got up and slipped out of the tent. It wasn't yet dawn; the sky was just beginning to lighten. Hikitsu was leaning against a tree. His eye was closed, but when she exited the tent it opened. She stared into it. His face showed nothing of what he thought.

"You're the one who made the ice snake," she said quietly. A curt nod was her only answer. "How did you do it?"

"I'm Hikitsu." It took her a second to realize what he meant.

"Of the Genbu Seishi? You must be kidding. That's just an old myth." He said nothing, only continued to look at her. She felt small. Hikitsu was nothing if not intimidating.

"You're serious. But where's your symbol?" He reached a hand up and tapped his eye patch. Uruki frowned.

"So that's why you wear it."

"Yes."

"You're not a very big talker, are you?"

"No." She sighed. The longest sentence the man had uttered in her presence thus far had been two words.

"What happened yesterday?" she asked softly. "I saw every vital point in every person. Their heart, kidneys, lungs. Everything. How is that possible?" There was silence. After a minute Uruki scowled at the seishi.

"Fine. Don't answer me. It's not like I care what —"

"You awoke your seishi power," Hikitsu interrupted her.

"My what?"

"Your symbol is behind your left ear." Her hand flew to the spot he mentioned.

"You must be crazy. Are you saying that I'm a Genbu Seishi?"

"Uruki, to be precise," said a voice from behind her. Bai-Ling spun around. It was the girl from the day before.

"I'm Takiko," she said. "I know this is a lot to process, but we believe you're Uruki. I saw the symbol myself."

"You're crazy. You're both crazy!"

"Yup." Now it was the boy, standing behind Takiko. "But that doesn't mean they're not right. I'm Tomite, by the way."

She stared at them. Her eyes were wide, like a dear caught in the headlights of a car.

"Uruki," Takiko said softly.

"Don't call me that," replied Bai-Ling. Her voice was low and calm. "I'm not Uruki. I'm Bai-Ling."

"I'm Chamka," said Tomite. "But I am also Tomite. You don't need to leave Bai-Ling behind."

"Shut up. You don't know anything about this." There was silence.

"You're right," Takiko said suddenly. "They don't know anything about this. Tomite and Hikitsu have known they were seishi since they were children. They've been preparing for their entire lives. You and I… We're just being pushed into this. No one bothered to ask if it was what we wanted." Bai-Ling stared at her.

"Which one are you?" she asked quietly.

"I'm the Genbu no Miko."

"But you're younger than I am."

"Yes. Believe me, this wasn't in my plans." There was silence once again.

"Where is my grandfather?" Bai-Ling asked. "Is he okay?"

"He's fine," Takiko assured her. "Come on." She led the older girl back into the tent and to her grandfather's side. The old man hadn't woken up yet, but the doctor had assured them that he would be fine. Bai-Ling knelt by him and took his hand.

"I'll leave you two alone," Takiko said and left. Bai-Ling didn't even acknowledge her leaving. All her beliefs had been challenged in a few short hours. They said she was one of the seishi she didn't even believe in. The part she hated was that she almost believed them. She had felt the power coursing through her. She had seen though people's skin. Other explanations were far less pleasant than the one she had been offered.

"Bai-Ling," her grandfather said softly. She smiled at him.

"You're awake," she said.

"So it would appear."

"How do you feel?"

"Horrible."

"That was a silly question, I suppose," she said smiling.

"What's wrong, Bai-Ling?"

"Am I that obvious?"

"Yes." She hesitated, then told him about what had happened the day before.

"They say I'm the Genbu Seishi Uruki," she said. Her grandfather said nothing for a few minutes. What was he thinking? She wished he'd just say something, anything, and put her out of her misery. "Grandfather? Say something."

"I'm sorry, Bai-Ling. It's a lot to process."

"I know. I don't know what to do."

Hikitsu

I am not good with words. They have never been something that comes easily for me, even more so in recent years. But I had realized very quickly that it was not Uruki we needed to convince to come with us. It was her grandfather. She would listen to the old man, not to us. Uruki was left alone with him that day, but that night I slipped into the tent. Uruki lay asleep. She hadn't left his side. The old man, though, was awake and alert.

"You must be Hikitsu," he said.

"Yes."

"And you think Bai-Ling is Uruki."

"Yes."

"And you want to take her with you."

"Yes." He looked over at the sleeping form of his granddaughter.

"She should be thrilled, of course," he said. "She's been dreaming of adventure since she was a little girl. I keep telling her it's not a woman's place, but she never listens."

"She wants more," I said quietly.

"Yes. She doesn't want to marry and have children. She wants to travel a different path. I suppose this is her chance." I hesitated for a fraction of a second. Surely he wouldn't give up his only granddaughter without more of a fight.

"You've already made your choice."

"She was never cut out for the life I can give her. If she is truly Uruki, she deserves to have her adventures." I looked at the old man for a long time, and he at me. Something of an understanding passed between us.

"I'll take care of her," I told him. It wasn't assurance. It was his price. She would come with us, but she had to remain safe. That was what he asked. He didn't need to speak the words for me to know.

"I hoped you'd say that."

It was difficult to convince Zenith to accept another rider. My horse is finicky. She doesn't like anyone but me. But Uruki didn't have a horse so she had to ride with someone. Takiko was still the most comfortable with Tomite, so that left Uruki with me.

Once Zenith had been convinced not to kill her Uruki mounted up easily behind me. Her grandfather reached up and took her hand.

"Take care of yourself," he said.

"I love you too," she replied, planting a kiss on his forehead. He smiled, tears in his eyes.

"You really are just like your mother."

"No I'm not. Because I'm going to come back." He nodded and let go of her hand, stepping back.

"Go now. May Genbu's blessing be with you." Bluma and Zenith were spurred into trots and we left the Ka tribe behind. Our destination was to the south. Tomite had heard a rumor about a man who could read people's minds. We were going to check it out.

That night I took Uruki away from the others into the forest. She had to learn to control her power; that much was clear. She couldn't go on passing out every time she used them.

"What is this about, Hikitsu?" she asked, her arms crossed.

"You must control your power."

"What's to control? I see people's vital organs."

"Use it."

"What?" I didn't bother to elaborate. She scowled, then pouted. Finally she closed her eyes.

Uruki grew frustrated quickly and I fear that I was not a patient tutor. When she went stomping off into the woods I didn't follow her. Instead I leaned against a tree, my eyes closed. I breathed deeply, feeling the frustration within me, acknowledging it, and letting it go. Control was the key. It was my sanity that I clung to. Control.

I don't know what happened while she was away, but twenty minutes later Uruki returned. I looked at her. She didn't return my gaze, preferring to look at her feel.

"I learned to ride when I was six," she said suddenly. "Everyone does, but no one really expects girls to be any good at it. When I became better than most of the boys they told me I couldn't do it anymore. I did it anyway. I learned to use the sword by watching them teach the boys. I did it all on my own. No one would help a girl learn to use a weapon." She looked straight into my eyes, her gaze determined. Green met silver and held. "I will learn this. If I am to be Uruki then I have to be able to use my power. So give me a second chance, okay?" I held her gaze for another few seconds before giving her a curt nod.

"Then close your eyes," I said.

"Thank you, um... what's your name?"

"It's Entato."

"Entato?"

"Yeah. And what's yours?"

"Huh?"

"What's your name?"

"Oh, sorry. My name is Sora."

"Look at me, Entato." I could tell by the tone of her voice that she was scowling. "I said, look at me."

I knew what she wanted; she wanted me to take it off. Didn't she realize how hard that would be for me? The eye patch was like a shield, protecting me from what was really there. Protecting me from the monster in that eye.

Sora reached up, putting her hands on my cheeks, and brought my head around until I was looking into her searching eyes. Slowly, as if she were afraid I would pull away, she reached for the eye patch. I felt her hands close around the ties that held it in place and begin to pull them off.

Why could I say? Nothing. It was as if her eyes had captured me, stealing my voice and sealing my lips as she took away my shield.

The eye patch fell to the ground and she gazed upon the full extent of my face for the first time. I waited. Waited for the cry of disgust that came every time someone saw my eye.

That cry never came. Instead, her hand went back to my face, her fingers lightly tracing my brow, my temple, and the skin below my mutated eye.

"Look out!" A force slammed into me, pushing me out of the way, knocking me to the ground. I looked up to see Sora standing where I had been just a moment before, the arrow embedded in her bosom.

"No," I heard myself whisper. This couldn't be happening, it couldn't! Suddenly the battle seemed far away. All that mattered was Sora. I felt as if I was moving in slow motion as I reached out and caught her body.

"Sora..." My voice sounded broken, even to me. "Why?"

I sat up. Sweat was rolling down my face. It was only a dream. It was only a memory. That day was over. The night pressed about me.

"Hikitsu?" I had woken Tomite. He sat up, rubbing his eyes. "Are you okay?"

"Fine."

"You sure? I mean, if you wanna talk…"

"Go to sleep." I could feel the hesitance in his chi.

"Well, okay. If you say so." I didn't bother to respond. Instead I stood and left the tent. Cold assaulted me, but that was what I wanted. I needed to clear my head. It had been months since I'd had that dream. Once upon a time I'd had it, or variations of it, nearly every night. It was my own private nightmare. Only my nightmare was true.

I looked up at the stars. Some people said that stars were really spirits in heaven watching over us. I'd never believed it. If heaven was so wonderful why would spirits be wasting their time with us? Other people said that the dead are never truly gone. They live inside their loved ones. I didn't buy that either. I couldn't hold her anymore or talk to her or see her. Sora was gone. I knew that I didn't believe a lot of things about the dead, but I wasn't sure what I did believe. I supposed that if you were good you'd go to heaven, but what was there I didn't know. I'd have to wait to find out. Because I'd made a promise to her. I'd promised that I wouldn't let her death kill me. It merely broke my heart.

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AN: I note about the dream. It is not one continuous scene. Instead it is three scenes stitched together. Dreams are like that, or at least mine are. You hop from one place to another with no real transition. So it makes sense. The scenes are from my spin off fanfic Broken, edited a bit so that they make sense in first person. I'm not sure yet how much I'll have Hikitsu tell about Sora in this story yet, so if you wanna know the whole story you can go read that.