Character Pictures: Tasuki: http://www.geocities.com/faery_of_fun/FY/tasukifan.jpg

Uruki: http://www.animevisions.net/Pictures/Waterfall.jpg

Inami: http://www.animevisions.net/Pictures/sakura17.jpg

Tatara: http://216.194.81.206/anime/fytatara5.jpg

Tasuki and Taiitsukun: http://www.geocities.com/faery_of_fun/FY/tasukitaiitskun.jpg (I just had to add that one ;))

Fushigi Yugi The Mysterious Play

Volume Two

Episode Two: The Priestesses of Suzaku and Seiryuu!

[Opening Song]

There was a sudden splash as someone jumped into the lake. Chiharu, however, did not noticed. All she could see was bubbles all around her in the dark water. She couldn't kick her way back up. Try as she might, she couldn't.

Is this really how it is going to end? she questioned as she sunk deeper and deeper. I never thought I would die this way. I never even got to see the world, I never got to go to Paris with Gigi or anything.

Suddenly, something wrapped itself around her waist. She began to panic until she realized that the that the 'something' was a pair of arms dragging her to the surface.

When the water gave way to air, Chiharu coughed and sputtered as she took in as much air as she could into her burning lungs.

She barely noticed as her mysterious rescuer began to swim toward the shore with her in tow. Once she felt the sandy beach beneath her body, Chiharu looked up.

Standing above her was a woman with long, whitish-blue hair done up in two pig-tails high on her head. Surprisingly, it did not give a childish appearance to her, but a rather elegant one. The woman had piercing blue-green eyes that seemed to take in everything quickly. They did not seem like kind eyes, but rather hard and cold ones, ones that missed nothing. She was clothed in little else but a white shirt, that had turned semi-transparent because of the water.

"Are you alright?" the woman asked, her voice smooth and low, as if she were more annoyed than relieved.

"Yes, thank you," Chiharu said, standing and brushing sand from her outfit. "I can't swim."

"Than why were you in my lake?" the woman questioned, one of her hands going to rest on her hip.

"Well... you see," Chiharu began, blushing. She was unable to finish for, at that moment, she heard a scream. "Hitomi!?" she questioned, head snapping up as she recognized the voice. "She's in trouble!"

Her rescuer cursed under her breath as she picked up a wooden fighting staff that was resting on a nearby tree where she had obviously began to take her clothes off before Chiharu suddenly dropped in. She must have been going to take a swim when I came, she thought to herself even as the woman turned and pointed her staff at her.

"Stay here," she ordered before going on in the direction of the scream.

~*~

The red haired man had stopped the flames shortly after he started them. "That'll teach ya," he said chuckling.

"I wasn't trying to attack you!" Hitomi said as she leaned against a tree, breathing hard. "What where you trying to do, kill me!"

"Na, that wouldn't a killed ya," he waved her off. "I just wanted to scare ya a bit is all."

"Well, it worked!" Hitomi said, pouting.

"Well, it'll teach ya to fall on people, especially me," he said, turning his back on her.

"And who are you?" she questioned, suddenly not wanting him to leave for fear of being alone and lost in this place. Once she found Chiharu, Gigi, and Autumn, they could figure out how they got here, until than, this guy was the only one who knew exactly where here was.

He turned and flashed her a smile, showing his fangs. "They call me Genrou," he said, waving his fan at her.

"I'm Hitomi," she said, bowing toward him slightly.

She suddenly heard a war cry and she looked up in time to see a woman jump from the trees, a wooden fighting staff in her hands, high above her head, looking as if she was going to try to shatter Genrou's skull with it.

Hitomi let out another scream even as Genrou brought his fan up just in time to block it. The force of the woman's blow, however, made him fall to the ground, her falling on top of him.

"Hey, what's the big idea?" Genrou yelled at her angrily.

The woman said not a word as she stood again, quickly, and raised her staff above her head once more. Genrou barely rolled out of the way in time as she brought the staff down, hard. It made a small hole in the ground where it had hit.

"You're type might be able to attack women where you come from, but not in my neck of the woods," she growled, as she brought her staff up again, this time in front of her, as she circled him, waiting to make her next move.

"What are you talking about?" Genrou asked, than he saw Hitomi out of the side of his eye. "Her?" he questioned, pointing.

The woman jumped forward and jabbed her staff hard into his gut.

The breath whooshed out of him and his eyes bulged out.

Hitomi ran and grabbed the woman by the arm. "Stop! Wait! He didn't attack me!" she said, trying to get the staff out of her hands.

It took a moment for the girl's words to straight home on the woman's mind. She rounded on the young girl, though her staff was safely at her side, instead of up in defense.

"Than why did you scream?" she asked angrily.

"Well, you see, he startled me is all," Hitomi said, blushing and backing away under the woman's fierce gaze. She didn't seem like a very friendly person at all.

The woman scowled. "You screamed because you were startled?" her hand came to her head and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "You are no better than that girl who jumped into the lake but can't swim." She said turning to leave.

"Chiharu!" Hitomi questioned, eyes going wide. "That has to be Chiharu. Where is she?"

"Well, I left her by the lake, lets just hope she's still there, shall we. Someone dumb enough to jump into a lake without knowing how to swim would most likely be dumb enough to go wandering off in the forest," the woman said, rolling her eyes and walking in the direction she had come in.

Genrou had caught his breath and glared. "Ya know, an 'I'm so sorry, Genrou, for attacking you for no reason' would be nice!!" he called after the woman as Hitomi followed. He growled and followed the two of them, muttering things about girls, especially barely clothed girls who attacked first and asked questions later.

"Chiharu!" Hitomi yelled and ran to hug her blue-haired friend. "Oh, I'm so glad you're okay. Have you seen the others?"

"No," Chiharu shook her head, even as she returned her friend's hug. "I fell into the lake and than she saved me." She indicated the older woman, who, on second glace, seemed to be around seventeen years old, two years older than Hitomi and herself. Chiharu shivered slightly. The water had been very cold and so was the Spring air blowing about.

"Honestly, what sort of person can't swim," the woman said, rolling her eyes. It was something she obviously couldn't fathom.

"Hey, not everyone can swim," Genrou said, still pretty angry.

"I've never met someone who couldn't," the woman retorted. She then added to Chiharu, "Come on, I guess you'll have to be dried off and put into some warm clothes before you catch your death."

The woman, while speaking, quickly donned a blue skirt with a silver design embroidered in the hem, reminding Chiharu of waves in a sea. She also slipped into a black vest.

The woman started up a rather steep hill without turning back to see if they followed. "Come on, I haven't got all day. I have things to tend to," she called over her shoulder. After a beat, she asked, "What are all of your names?"

"I am Tamashiino Hitomi," the brown haired, green eyed girl said, hurrying along after the woman.

"My name is Seijitsu Chiharu," the blue haired, purple eyed girl replied, just a little bit behind Hitomi.

"I'm called Genrou," the red haired, golden eyed man replied grudgingly.

"I know who you are," the woman said, some bitterness seeping into her voice. "I must say I was a bit surprised to find one of the bandits on this side of the mountain, I thought we had a deal. I leave you alone, you leave me alone."

At first, Genrou would terribly confused and than it hit him. "You're the old witch?"

"In the flesh," she smiled, amused, but they couldn't see it because her back was to them.

"You're a witch?" Hitomi questioned.

"Sort of," she replied with a shrug.

"Wow, what can you do?" Hitomi questioned, now by her side.

"I make it rain, mainly," was all she said. It was a simple task for her, though it drained her of a lot of her energy. She really didn't find it impressive. She couldn't make it thunder or lightening, just rain.

Hitomi, on the other hand, thought that it was the coolest thing in the world. "Can you make it rain now?" she asked excitedly.

"No real need," was all the older woman said as they reached the top of the hill.

Hitomi pouted a bit, than it occurred to her. The woman knew her name, but she had no idea what the woman's name was.

"Umm... what do we call you?" she questioned.

The woman, however, either didn't hear the question, or she chose to ignore it. Instead, she brought her staff up in defense.

Hitomi was confused. She looked up to see a lovely little cottage ahead. "Oh, is that where you live?" she asked, smiling. Than they heard a load crash of pottery.

At that, the woman took off at a run, holding her staff in front of her, prepared to fight the unknown enemy. She ran toward the cottage.

"Ready or not, here I come!" she called to the invader.

A shadow quickly shot from behind the house to the side, heading toward the village.

The woman smiled, brought her hand to her lips and blew out an earsplitting whistle.

Out of the blue, it seemed, a golden dog jumped from behind one of the trees, teeth bared to attack the name.

She slowed her pace, smiling. As she neared, seeing the terror on the boy, who seemed to her to be maybe sixteen years old, she chuckled.

She reached up and took the necklace he held in his hands easily. "Now," she said, her voice sounding sweet though her eyes were cruel. "Did you really think you could just come here and take what you please? And I bet you weren't even going to stay and have
a nice little chat with me. Tsk-tsk, bad manners. You know, I really deplore bad manners, don't you Sei-chan?" She turned to the dog, who growled in response. She laughed. "She doesn't like them either."

All of a sudden, her smile vanished and she brought her staff to the boys throat. "Listen, this is your first offence, so consider yourself lucky. I would say you were either too stupid." She sniffed the air. "or too drunk to know better. Next time, however, you won't like what I do. Let's just put it this way," A nasty smile came to her lips. "You won't ever have to worry about a little child coming up and calling you 'Daddy'. Catch my drift?"

The boy gulped, which wasn't easy with the staff so tight against his neck, and nodded, too afraid to speak.

"If I catch you here a third time, the things I would do to you would be unspeakable." She jerked her staff away from him and looked down. She smiled. "If you had to use the restroom, you needed but to ask." she replied as she saw the growing wet stain on the boy's pants.

As the boy ran off, the woman shook her head. "They'll never learn," she said as she brought her staff back on her shoulder as one might do a club. She looked down at the golden-retriever at her side. "Thank you Sei-chan. I'm sorry for disturbing your sleep. Why don't you go lay back down?"

"Now, let's get you come change of clothes," she said, following the dog inside the cottage.

"Do you have anything to eat?" Hitomi questioned, following them.

"Hitomi!" Chiharu said, shocked. Though, after a moment's thought, she didn't know why she was so shocked. It was so typically Hitomi.

"Uruki!" snapped a rather elderly voice. "Where have you been?"

The woman, who was obviously this Uruki person, jumped and fell over, sweat dropping.

She stood up again, SD form, clutching the old, floating woman's shirt in her fist. "Taiitsukun! Do you have to sneak up on me like that!?!"

Chiharu and Hitomi had come in during all of this and witnessed the old woman take out a wooden fan, which reminded Hitomi of Genrou's, and hit Uruki on the head with it, causes a very large lump to appear on her head as she slide to the floor once more.

Genrou stepped in. His eyes bulged and he let out a high pitched squeal as he saw Taiitsukun. "It's... so... ugly!"

"Ugly, am I?" the old woman questioned. She clapped her hands and a bolt of lightening came threw the window and struck Genrou, sending him to the floor just as Uruki stood up.

She looked down at the twitching Genrou. "At least it wasn't me this time," she chuckled.

After a moment, Genrou rose, glaring at her. Than it struck him. "Uruki? Isn't that one of the warriors of the gods?"

An amused smile played across her lips. "Very good. Ten points for the male!"

Genrou's eyes narrowed and he took out his fan, waving it dangerously at her. "Don't make me use this."

Suddenly, the wooden fan came down on both of their heads. "You two behave!" Taiitsukun ordered. "You are both on the same side!"

"Excuse me?" Uruki said, turning around, jaw dropping. "No way," she added after a moment. "No way is he one of the Genbu Seven!"

"That's true, he's not," Taiitsukun nodded. Before Uruki could relax, however, she added. "He is one of the Suzaku Seven."

All color drained from Uruki's face and she fell over. Just as quickly, she was up again. "But, he's name is Genrou. Nothing to do with the warriors."

"Well, neither does your name Mi-"

"Don't!" Uruki cute the old woman off. She didn't like the fact that Taiitsukun knew her real name. It annoyed her. She didn't like it.

Taiitsukun smiled, well, one might guess it could be a smile. No one could really be sure. "Well, he has a name, or rather names, that have nothing to do with his sign." the woman floated over to the red haired man. "Why don't you show them?"

Genrou scowled at the old woman, but he didn't want to be hit again. He lifted the sleeve of his right arm. He held it up. There, glowing in red, was the sign of 'wings'. "I'm also known as Tasuki," he informed the others.

Taiitsukun floated back over to Uruki. "Your turn," the old woman said to the younger one.

"But Taiitsukun, its-"


"Show them," she demanded.

Uruki sighed. "Fine," she snapped. She unbuttoned her vest and slipped out of it. She then, careful not to expose anything indecent, undid her shirt and showed her right shoulder blade. There, glowing in dark green was the sign of the 'maiden'. "I'm of the Genbu Seven," she informed them all.

Taiitsukun floated over to the two fifteen year olds who just stared at the others in shock. "Your turn," the old woman said.

"But, we're not warriors," Chiharu tried to explain.

"I never said you were," the sorceress said simply.

Suddenly, Hitomi was surrounded by a red light and the mark of Suzaku appeared on her forehead. Chiharu was engulfed in a blue light and the mark of Seiryuu appeared on her forehead.

"You mean they're..." Tasuki began.

"The priestesses?" Uruki finished.

"That's right. The priestess of Seiryuu," Taiitsukun indicated Chiharu. "And the priestess of Suzaku." she than indicated Hitomi. She looked at Tasuki. "This is the girl you were born to protect." she informed him.

Uruki sat on one of her chairs. "Well, there is no priestess of Genbu, here, so this has nothing to do with me," she said, crossing her legs under her.

Lightening came out of the blue and struck her. "Aw," she moaned as she fell over. You would think she would be use to it by now.

"Yours is out there somewhere and those two will help you find her," Taiitsukun snapped. "Now get moving!"

"It's dark out!" Uruki screamed at the old woman as she stood once more.

"Fine, you'll leave in the morning," with that, Taiitsukun vanished.

Hitomi and Chiharu shared a look. "What just happened here?"

Uruki scowled, taking her seat once more. "Okay, to put this short and sweet, you two are priestess of the four beast gods, that means you get to call them fourth as soon as you find all of your warriors, you both have seven. After that, you will get three wishes apiece. What I want to know, is why we need you now, much less why both of you are here, plus mine is out there somewhere."

"Well, actually, there are four of use here," Chiharu informed her, pushing her glasses on her nose.

"All four, this has got to be serious," Uruki said, she was getting a headache already.

[Ending Song]