Hitori Ja Nai (You're Not Alone)

by Tenshi Meino

Chichiri's past unfolds from childhood. This fic is about Houjun's (Chichiri's) life before

2. Mugen to Kaibyaku

Hitori Ja Nai (You're Not Alone)
Episode 2: Mugen to Kaibyaku

Darkness embrace the empty void, light footsteps echoed off its invisible walls, hinting the only sign of life. "Hello?" called out a small, quivering voice. "Moshi Moshi?" it called out jokingly. "Hello...Hikou-chan?" it said again, increasing the fear that was heard in its depths. The light footsteps increased its speed, and the sound of strained breath joined the echoes. The voice called out one more, filled with great despair, and the footsteps slowly stopped. A sliver of immaculate white light appeared from the darkness, casting its lumination on the back of the owner of the voice. It was a young boy. He was panting heavily with his arms around himself in an effort to warm himself. The boy sensed an eerie prescene on his back and turned around with a start, and faced the light, revealing his features. It was Houjun. He was shaking all over and his pale face was covered in sweat and despair, but quickly filled with relief as he saw the light.
What is that?' he thought with a flash of hope, 'Is it a way out?' He stepped forward with one of his palms outstretched, and eventually felt it meet with what felt like an erect, flat piece of wood. 'A door!' he thought happily as a sudden rush of life filled him. He pushed opened the door afraid that the light inside would suddenly disappear. 'I was scared for nothing' he scolded himself. He paused, and a single disturbing thought surfaced, 'But how did I get here? The last thing I remembered was sitting in front of a fire with baka Hikou-chan and someone else, and then falling asleep. Did Hikou-chan leave me?!! This almost feels like a dre----' his thoughts cut off as the door was flung open and the light in the room blinded him. He shaded his eyes from the light and put it down once his eyes adjusted to its luminance. The scene that welcomed him made his heart sicken with dread.
A young couple were huddled in a corner of the room as if they were protecting something, and had expressions of shock and anguish on their face. A bloodied corpse was before them, coloring their new white carpet crimson. Maniacal laughter emitted from a another figure in a room. Houjun looked to where the sound came from.
A tall man in a long black trenchcoat held a long sword at his side, blood dripping from its tip to the floor. He had a menacing, and almost insane look in his hazel eyes. The man wasn't ugly, but rather attractive. He had a well built body, and a handsome face, but the look it held would frighten even the smallest being from him. He tossed back his dark green hair away from his eyes and gave a snort.
"Well well well," he began, "What do we have here?" he raised his sword and pointed it at the young man, "Hand her over."
The young man shook violently all over but managed a response, "No...never," he said with great effort.
'Is he after the woman he's holding?' thought Houjun after observing the scene. 'I have to help them.' he thought. He tried to move his limbs, but they weren't doing what he told them, 'What's happening?!'
"No!! You'll never have her!!" screamed the woman whom the young man was holding, proving Houjun's theory wrong.
'Who are they talking about?' Houjun thought desperately.
The man with the sword scoffed and kicked the corpse in front of the young couple, "So, first you just sacrifice your father, and now you'll sacrifice yourselves?" he said bringing the sword closer to them, and teasing them by dragging the tip of it through their hair. He stopped and slammed the sword through the wall right above their heads, "And all just to protect her?...You make me sick." he pulled out the sword violently and in doing so slashed open the shoulder of the young man. The young man jerked away from it and screamed with pain, and the young woman immediately went to his side. When they moved from their first position, Houjun saw what they were protecting. Between them was a young child with a hood who was too shocked at what was happening to either cry or scream.
The next scenes Houjun couldn't remember exactly. The man with the sword killed the young man and woman and approached the child in the corner. He raised the sword over the child head and was about to bring it down when a flash of brilliant white light filled the room and everything disappeared. Everything returned to darkness and Houjun felt a prickling in is arms and legs. Sensation was returning to his limbs. He collapsed onto the invisible floor, exhausted, and he put a hand to his forehead.
'What was that?' he thought, 'I...I couldn't help. I couldn't do anything!' he began to shake and his eyes became watery.
"I want to go home!!!!!!" he screamed. He buried his face in his hands, and when he lifted his face from them he saw something red leaking from the walls of the black abyss. His heart jumped to his throat when he saw what it was. "Blood," he whispered almost inaudibly.
It leaked from the dark walls, and slowly, like water, glided over the black floor and completely surrounded him. The blood swirled around him in a circle, and slowly closed in.
"Make it stop....." Houjun said coarsely, "Make it stop. MAKE IT STOP!!!" he yelled in final despair.
A pillar of red light came out of nowhere and protected him. It was a comforting light, Houjun could feel it. It was also different from anything Houjun ever felt before, and filled him with strong power.
'It's like as if its always been with me,' he thought, slowly relaxing. But, the strange red light did not help him for long. He saw that the blood outside of the pillar of light begin to rise into what appeared like a living being. It looked like a tornado of red water and approached Houjun, and he felt the barrier of red light diminishing.
'No! Don't go away,' Houjun thought, 'I have to keep it working!' Houjun balled his hands up and fists and shut his eyes, concentrating deeply.
'Keep working! Please!' he thought. He cracked open one eye, and only found disappointment. The red light had grew weaker and became a light pink color. And the tornado of blood drew closer.
"No! I won't give up!" he said aloud. He closed his eyes again and concentrated harder. 'Please. If there is anybody out there. Please....Help me.' Houjun felt something fill him, and he snapped open his eyes. The red light had just dwindled away, and was suddenly replaced with a pillar of blinding white light. The pillar of white light grew wider and combined with the blood, turning it into the light itself. The light controlled and dominated everything around it, and filled Houjun with peace.
But, Houjun felt that there was still something wrong. In the now infinite white space, he saw something coming at him. It had a foreboding about it, and was also very small. It stopped right in front of Houjun, looked up with its dark, beady eyes, and leaped up at him.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Houjun woke from the dream with a start, panting heavily, with cold sweat on his brow. He stared up at the star filled sky and blinked. He sat up startled and looked around him.
'Oh, that's right. Hikou-chan and I are stuck in the woods' he thought relieved. 'A...dream? What was it about?' Houjun shook his head and tried to clear his thoughts, 'Umm...all I remember was light? Yea, light....and...blood?' he shook his head again.
"Forget it!" he cried aloud, "I can't remember anything!" Houjun leaned his chin in his hands and looked around. The fire had reduced to embers, and his two other companions were fast asleep. Houjun looked down at his right knee and saw something red.
'Am I bleeding?' he thought. Houjun carefully rolled up his pants, but he found nothing there, 'That's weird. I must have been seeing things.'
Houjun resumed his watch of the surroundings. Hikou seemed to be sleeping soundly and had a contented smile on his face. He gave a loud snore all of a sudden and turned on his other side, still asleep. Houjun laughed at this and then turned his gaze to the other boy.
The other boy looked completely different from Hikou. He was pale and shaking all over, and mumbling in his sleep. The lack of clothes on his upper body seemed to make matters worse. Houjun walked over to the injured boy and sat next to him. He put a hand to the boy's forehead.
'Ack, its burning. He has a really bad fever,' Houjun thought. He quickly pulled his hand away and stared at the injured boy, who was still mumbling incoherently. Houjun took a stray stick next to the diminishing fire and stirred it with it, hoping to revive the flames. He sighed when the embers just further dimmed. He got up and collected new piles of wood and managed to set ablaze a fire once more. Houjun smiled and took a look at the injured boy.
"Still shaking," Houjun said softly. After a long pause, Houjun removed his own shirt and ripped of a piece of cloth. He took the piece of cloth and brought it to the nearby river. He then drenched it in water, wrung it dry, folded it into a neat rectangle and returned to the fire. Houjun placed the cool cloth on the injured boy's burning forehead and slipped his own shirt onto him.
'Now I'm cold,' he thought shaking. He stole another glance at the injured boy and saw that his small act of nursing had just barely helped him. Houjun sighed and hesitated slightly. Then he brought the boy into his own arms in a tight hug, hoping that his body heat would help in some way. Houjun buried his face in the other boy's soft lavender hair and breathed deeply.
'Smells nice,' Houjun thought, 'like...one of those fragrances kaa-san wears.' Houjun began to drift into sleep once again, when a sharp ruffling noise from the woods around him sharply brought him to his senses.
'What's that?' he thought alertly. "Hikou-chan, wake up!" he whispered loudly to the sleeping figure a few feet next to him. Houjun scooted closer to Hikou, while holding the injured boy in his arms. The noise sounded again, and he nudged Hikou slightly.
"Mmm--hhh mama. One..sec...more." Hikou mumbled.
"Hikou-chan! Wake up!" Houjun whispered to him again.
Hikou cracked open one eye and looked up at Houjun. "Oh hi Houjun-chan." he said, and drifted off to sleep again. Houjun sighed, and listened closely as the sound resumed. The rustling of leaves was joined by the whispering of several voices.
'What are they saying?' he thought, 'It sounds...like a chant or something.' Houjun shivered, but this time in fear. He didn't like how the voices sounded and he also didn't like how the rustling of the leaves increased. Houjun tightened his hold on the injured boy and tried to wake Hikou again, but unsuccessfully.
'They're getting closer. The voices,' he observed. He shut his eyes tight, and continued in his thought. 'I can feel them. It's like they're just right here.' Houjun's heart momentarily stopped when he felt a cold presence behind him.
"Hikou-kun!!!" Houjun heard a new voice call, and he felt the eerie presence disappear. "Houjun!!!" the voice called out again. The chanting whispers slowly disappeared and footsteps were heard.
"Hikou-kun!! Houjun-kun!!! Where are you??!!" More shouts calling their names were heard.
'Nii-chan???' Houjun thought in great relief. He cracked opened his eyes and saw a torch in the distance.
"Nii-chan!!! Over here!!" called out Houjun in a booming voice. Houjun nudged Hikou, "Hikou-chan! They've found us!" Hikou sat up startled and rubbed his eyes.
"Houjun is that you?" a voice called back.
"YEA!!"
"Where are you?"
"You see that smoke?"
"HAI!"
"That's where we are! We made a fire!" Hikou finished.
"Oh, Hikou-kun?! Yokatta, you're there too!" responded the voice. It drew closer, and several more torch lights appeared. Houjun looked intently at where the lights were coming from and a figure stepped out in front of them.
'It's him!' Houjun thought. His eyes opened in fear. Before him, was a man holding a sword with green hair that reached his shoulders. He smiled and called out Houjun's name. Houjun blinked his eyes, and his vision adjusted to who was really there. It was a young man, probably around seventeen, with aquamarine hair. He held a torch and grinned at Houjun.
"NII-CHAN!!" Houjun put the injured boy on the grass, jumped up at the young man, and hugged him tightly. Other men from the village stepped out in front of them.
"Heh, well konban wa Houjun," the young man said as he chuckled heartily.
Hikou scrambled to his feet and greeted the man. "Toshiya-nii! You found us!!" He had a huge grin on his face and he walked forward, but tripped over the injured boy and got up quickly again. "Now we can get out of this baka place!"
"Hikou-kun, clumsy as usual I see," Toshiya said, smiling greatly. Then he turned with a serious face to Houjun. "We? What do you mean 'WE'?"
"Ah, demo nani? I thought--" Hikou began in confusion.
Toshiya continued his hard gaze at Houjun and continued. "I'm sorry Houjun, but we will only be taking Hikou back." Houjun stared at his brother in shock and Hikou's jaw dropped to the ground.
"What do you mean you're only taking me back? We have a hurt person here too, you know!" Hikou said defiantly. Houjun gave him a glare, "and we have to being Houjun-chan too!" Hikou added quickly.
Toshiya shook his head sadly. "I'm sorry. Only Hikou-kun and the injured boy." Hikou stopped his protests at Toshiya's cold stare and Houjun remained silent.
"I don't know why your doing this," Houjun finally said, "but...if I have to. I will." Houjun hung his head and stared at the ground. A moment of uncomfortable silence descended on them.
"BWAHAHAHAH!!!!"
Toshiya had burst out laughing and was holding his side, the few villagers that were with him joined in.
"Hey! What's so funny?" Hikou asked angrily.
Toshiya clasped a hand onto Houjun's shoulder. "Hehehe, you crack me up Houjun. I was just joking. For a kid your age, you're way too serious." A vein was seen popping up on Houjun's forehead. Houjun and Hikou bashed Toshiya on the head, and both walked away laughing and dusting off their hands in content.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

It was three weeks since Hikou and Houjun's rescue in the woods and everything in Shoryuu had practically returned to normal. Houjun's father, who was the leader of the village, was a bit mad at first, but within a week and half's time, he was off buying presents for Houjun again. This included a new rubber ball. Hikou's parents, like Houjun's mom, were happy to have them back.
"Lemme see! Lemme see!" Hikou insisted. He extended a hand out towards Houjun who was holding the beautifully designed ball in his hands, but Houjun just turned around and Hikou fell flat on the ground.
"Say please, please," Houjun said smirking.
Hikou jumped to his feet and ignored Houjun's request. "Gimme, gimme, gimme!" He lunged at Houjun and they rolled to the ground in laughter traveling down the street in this matter with passer-byers staring at them and smirking. The ball rolled out of Houjun's hand unnoticed and stopped at the feet of a young woman.
"A-ano," she called out softly picking up the ball. "I...think this is yours." She sweatdropped as the boys continued their mock fight without hearing her.
"It's no use," said Toshiya approaching the scene. He walked next to her and continued. "If the whole world exploded and they were the only ones left, they wouldn't even notice then." The young woman looked up Toshiya inquiringly.
Toshiya smiled gently at her and explained. "The one with the light blue hair and weird bangs is my brother. And the one with the dark blue hair is his best friend."
"Are they always like this?" she asked him.
"Yup, always." Toshiya answered. He extended a hand to her and grinned. "But... there is one thing that WILL stop them." The young woman looked at him confused.
"Here, give me the ball," he said. She handed it over to Toshiya and he gave out a whistle. Houjun and Hikou stopped their fighting, their hands around each others necks.
"Look what I've got," Toshiya said, indicating to the ball.
"Shimatta! He's got the ball!" Hikou yelled.
"Nooo!! Now we'll never get it back!" Houjun moaned. The two boys ran up to Toshiya and tried to grab the ball from him, but he held the ball way out of their reach teasingly. The young woman giggled and Toshiya froze in embarrassment. She giggled harder and after looking at her after a short pause, Toshiya began to laugh too. Hikou and Houjun stopped their pursuit and looked at them strangely. The young woman put a hand to her mouth to stifle her laughter, but Toshiya seized her hand gently and they stared into each others eyes. The young woman blushed and look down.
"Ano....Atashi wa Kibou," she managed to say.
Toshiya lifted up her face carefully and looked intently into eyes. "Kibou," he whispered softly, "that's a beautiful name." Kibou just blushed deeper and looked down again.
"A-a-ano, and you are?" she stammered. Houjun and Hikou looked at what was happening before them and the situation clicked.
"Ewwwww..." they said in unison. Toshiya who had completely forgotten about his little brother and his friend, turned to them with an eyebrow raised and a slight pink color on his cheeks.
"Hey, don't you have to be somewhere?" Toshiya asked them, tossing the ball to Hikou.
"Um, actually no," answered Hikou grinning, both at Toshiya's embarrassment and at obtaining the ball.
"Hai, I agree with Hikou-chan for once," Houjun said, "I think we'd rather just stay here and watch." The boys laughed evilly and Kibou and Toshiya sweatdropped.
An idea snapped into Toshiya's head and he gave it to them. "Don't you have to go check on that kid you guys saved from the woods a while back? I think he's over at Nashiro-san's place."
"Sasu-baba's place?!" the boys asked shocked, with eyes wide opened. Toshiya rolled his eyes.
"You kids making up weird stories about our town's doctor again?" asked Toshiya.
"Eh he he he," laughed Houjun nervously. "Iie, iie! What is he talking about Hikou-chan?"
"Uh, no idea Houjun-chan. Come on, come one. Iku so!" Hikou agreed. They crept away laughing nervously and stopping at intervals, looking back at Toshiya and Kibou.
"OII! GET YOUR BUTS MOVING!" screamed out Toshiya. Kibou giggled as Hikou and Houjun dissapeared out of sight.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"This is it Hikou-chan!" Houjun said rasing his fists. "We'll be one of the first boys to enter Sasu-baba's place!" Hikou nodded his head eagerly in agreement.
"And now she can't kick us out for being there!" added Hikou.
"Yea!! Then we could tell all the guys that we went there all by ourselves!" Houjun said happily. Hikou began to smile to, but stopped in his tracks.
"Demo...What if the story about her torturing that guy by pricking tiny needles all over his body is really true?" Hikou asked.
"Don't worry about that!" assured Houjun, "There is no way that can be true.....If it was, the grown ups would have told us about it...ne? I mean, my tou-san knows her."
Hikou wasn't paying attention to Houjun at that moment. He was looking greedily at Houjun's ball in his hands. Houjun saw this and tapped him with a finger lightly on the head.
"That belongs to me," Houjun said outstretching his hand. A glint passed over Hikou's eyes and he ran away with it laughing with Houjun trailing behind him. The boys kept running and running until Hikou crashed into a sign in the street that read: "Medicine & Treatment". Houjun helped Hikou up and looked up at the sign.
"Looks like we're here," Houjun told Hikou. The boys both gulped, looked at each other and nodded. Houjun slid open the wooden door and the boys peeked into the shop. The light inside was dingy, and the only source was from a single window with its blinds down. The room was covered with shelves of pots filled, supposedly, with medicine. The boys slowly entered the shop.
"Sumimasen?" called out Houjun.
"Sumimasen?" repeated Hikou, "Well, guess no one's here! Let's leave!" Hikou said making a move for the door. Houjun grabbed onto Hikou's clothes.
"Matte," Houjun said. Houjun took a closer look around the room and took a few steps forward, dragging Hikou. "Ah, there's a door there, see." Houjun pointed at a door next to the counter. "Come on, let's go." Houjun dragged Hikou to the door, opened it and slammed it shut immediately.
"Eh? Nani nani?" asked Hikou, seeing Houjun's panicked look.
"There---pins--person," Houjun said through broken breaths.
"Really? Lemme see," said Hikou. Houjun tried to stop Hikou, but Hikou managed to get passed him and he opened the door widely. He saw a person on the floor, with several needles sticking out of his back. An old woman was hovering over him and added more needles in several different places. She noticed the boys and looked up at them abruptly.
"Oh, hello," she said merrily, poking more pins into the person's flesh, "Yes, do you need something?"
"Ah, ah, ah," Hikou began.
"Houjun," said Houjun pointing to himself, too shocked to do anything else, "Hikou." Houjun added pointed at Hikou, who was still saying 'ah' over and over again.
"Oh! So you're the two kids who saved that other kid?" she asked them, and then continued without an answer, "You did a relatively good job taking care of her. I'll go call her right now."
Hikou snapped out of his trance. "Wait, a HER?"
"Her? We didn't save any girl, it was a guy," Houjun pointed out. Sasu-baba laughed hard at this and grinned at them. The boys winced at what they saw---two black teeth in her upper jaw, and four crooked yellow teeth in the bottom jaw.
"Well, at her age. I guess you wouldn't really be able to tell," she said before heading to another room in the back. Houjun and Hikou just stared at each other in confusion.
"It must Sasu-baba that made a mistake," Houjun said shrugging.
After a short amount of time, Sasu-baba came out again smiling and showing her "teeth". Someone stepped out from behind Sasu-baba. It was clearly a young girl (you could tell by her clothes), a few years younger than Houjun and Hikou, with lavender hair tied up in a single elegant bun at the back of her head, and with large bluish-green eyes. She stepped forward to Hikou and Houjun and bowed to them with energy.
"Atashi wa Kouran," she said after raising herself to proper posture. She smiled at them and added, "Hajimemashite."

*OWARI* Episode 2: Mugen to Kaibyaku


Language Notes:
*Mugen to Kaibyaku means Dreams and Beginnings
*Moshi Moshi means Hello
*Yokatta means Thank God
*Konban Wa means Good Evening
*Baka means Idiot, stupid, etc.
*Kaa-san mean Mom
*Nii-chan means Older Brother
*Toshiya-nii means Brother Toshiya
*Atashi wa Kibou means I am Kibou
-The name Kibou means Hope
*Sasu-baba means Pricking Old Lady
*Iie means No
*Shimatta is a light cuss word that can sometimes be traslated as Oh, no! but can also be traslated as Shit
*Iku so! means Let's Go!
*Demo means But
*Ne? means Right?
*Matte means Wait
*Nani means What
*Sumimasen means Excuse Me
*Hajimashite means Nice To Meet You
*Atashi wa Kouran means I'm Kouran.
*Owari means The End

Kanji Notes: (if you don't know what kanji is, just ignore this ^_^)
The word Mugen in the episode title is made of the kanji: yume and maboroshi, which is roughly translated as dream and vision. So the title can be translated as Dreams, instead
of the word Mugen meaning Infinite that is written with a different set of kanji.

Disclaimer:
Fushigi Yuugi and the characters Houjun, Hikou, and Kouran do not belong to me!! They belong to the almighty Watase Yuu-sama, Flower Comics, Shogakukan, Badau, TV Tokyo, Movic, Studio Pierrot, and other great people whom I have no idea exist. The U.S. rights are owned by Viz Communications and Pioneer.
The story itself is mine. So please do not take it without my permission first. If you would like to post this fic on your webpage or something, please e-mail me at OChichiriNoMikoO@aol.com. Arigatou gozaimashta!!

Author's Notes:
'Allo there!! ^_^ I hope ur enjoying my fic. ::crosses fingers:: hehe, well newayz some of you might wonder why I made Kouran's hair lavender. Well, here's my story. There's actually two.
Here's the long one: I had no idea what the color of her hair was so I rewatched the OAVs and TV series and flipped through the manga. In the manga, I had to idea what the color of her hair was. In the TV series her hair was brown, and in the OAVs there were flashbacks that her hair was brown too, but the thing is, whenever it showed a flashback another chracter was in the scene too. The character was either Chichiri/Houjun or Hikou, but they didn't have their proper hair color, but had brown instead. It happened that the whole scene was just in brown and yellow (think black and white), so I didn't think the proper hair color was there. Then, in another flashback thingy in the OAVs, it showed Hikou, Chichiri/Houjun in their proper hair color. Kouran was in that scene too, and her hair was lavender, so I stuck with lavender.
Here's the short story: Why did I stick to lavender? Simply put, lavender is my favorite color, hehe ^_^
Oh yea, I would also like to mention that I probably am going to finish "Hitori Ja Nai" before I post it up on the internet. I think it's more convinient and enjoyable if you can read it all at the same time. It can also help me review the whole series after I finish writing it, and change things around if neccesssary. If you think otherwise, please tell me and I'll see what I can do. If you have questions, comments, or criticism. Please e-mail me at OChichiriNoMikoO@aol.com. I would really love to hear from you! ^_~