THESE NOTES HAVE MAJOR SPOILERS FOR BUTTERFLY'S SLEEP. IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT YOU READ THE FANFICTION BEFORE READING THE NOTES FOR THE SAKE OF CLARITY AS WELL AS PLOT.
As far as long fanfics go, this is my longest one to date. It was inspired by a family vacation to California (Sequoia and Yosemite National Parks), where my internet and fanfiction-starved mind went wild and started imagining all kinds of scenarios. What if the Seiryuu seishi were reborn? What would Yui think? What would the Suzaku seishi think?
If you asked, I'd probably say that this is what I'd consider "amibitious and epic," for me. I'm mostly a one-shot writer, and having just finished The Crossroads, I didn't think I'd have the energy and time to start another, longer series. But once again ambition won out and I started writing anyway.
Butterfly was harder for me to write than most of my other fics because it deals with Fushigi Yuugi characters in a modern setting. As a fantasy writer, I had difficulties with the modern culture (though I LIVE in modern culture...how weird is that?) and just the overall "different" setting and plot. As I wrote, I kept thinking, "Man, this is so weird, that Nakago would be doing this in modern society," or "I can't imagine Miboshi living in the modern world." But I persisted, because well, I had to finish somehow, right? I must say that this fic forced me to pull out all the stops as far as travel experiences and history classes were concerned. Writing a world travel fic is harder than it looks!
What follows is a chapter by chapter analysis of Butterfly's Sleep. This is your last chance to turn back if you haven't read the fic yet. Spoilers start below.
I. Birth: I've never been a big Yui/Tetsuya fan, and I had the evil idea to illustrate right from the start that their relationship wasn't working out very well. I hope my description of Tokyo airport was correct, but I've never been there so I might have made some mistakes. Andy Wong is the name of Hotohori's reincarnation, and Pedro is the name of Mitsukake's reincarnation (both coming from the FY Sequential Stories). The reason Yui's plane was stalled (the broken temperature sensor) actually happened to me coming back from San Fransisco. Forty minutes into the flight back to Houston, the pilot announced that we had to turn around and we ended sitting at the gate for another 3 hours or so. Horrible -_-
II. Awakening: I don't know much about travel exchange programs, but it seems logical that Yui would have a host family to take her in. I don't know how the gardening thing got in there, but it's nice that Yui has a new hobby, don't you think? ^_^
III. Strength: The first "seishi" installment of the story, and the one I've gotten the most flak for. "Why did you kill Soi? Why can't she end up with Nakago?" Well, first of all, I wanted something different when I wrote this reincarnation fic, and having Soi die without Nakago is certainly different. The other reason is that I wanted Soi to be the first seishi Yui saw, and having her die would help her be the one that sticks in Yui's mind the most and have her take the reincarnated seishi seriously. (Not that she wouldn't have, but it seems of more import since I did it this way...at least to me.) The title of the chapter comes from Soi's strength. I do believe that she was a very strong woman and a strong character (as you know, if you've read my other Soi fics). I wanted Yui to learn the most important lesson from her, which is the lesson about everyone getting a second chance. After all, this is what the fic is about!
IV. Growth: This chapter took me almost three days to write, partly due to the fact that I got partial writer's block during this time and also partly due to the fact that I was stuck in a chat with the FY fanfiction ML for 6 hours discussing the merits of Nakago (or something...don't ask). Claude Debussy's Syrinx is one of the world's more famous solo flute pieces and is the song that Amiboshi plays whenever he is trying to kill someone ("This music will destroy your soul!") ^^; Amiboshi's reincarnation's name, Jeff Cotorro, is named such because (as my friend pointed out) most famous flute players have names starting with "J," and "Cotorro" sounds like "Koutoku," which is Amiboshi's given name.
V. Weakness: This is where the weird stuff begins. Yui and Tetsuya's fight I think is more funny than anything, but then again I don't like Tetsuya. I wanted something different for Nakago, and I suddenly came up with the idea of him saving her from a car wreck. What better way to show his progression as a character and a man than him saving Yui? I've always had a fascination with French people and French things, and though my year of French in school doesn't do me much credit, I made Nakago French because the leader of the Seiryuu seishi should have the best. As I told Laurelgand after I wrote this, this chapter kind of made me wish I hadn't killed Soi, but I still think Soi's death was necessary to the plot. "BeauSeigneur" means literally "Good Gentleman" or something. If I had a choice, I would have just translated "Nakago" into French to use for his last name, but that had already been done by Jill James in Mercy's Gift ("Maisoncoeur" is French for "Heart's Lodging").
VI. Emptiness: This was a "filler" chapter, letting Yui have a little room to think. This chapter was when I realized that I had five chapters left but only four seishi, and that meant I could fill up one of those chapters with bits and pieces of nothing. I think this is the chapter in which Yui starts thinking of Suboshi as more than a teenage crush.
VII. Suspension: Yui's trip to Europe begins. This is where I begin pulling out everything I've ever learned in history and private research and historical fiction and eyewitness accounts and anything else that relates to traveling. I've never been to Europe and even though I want to go SO badly, it's going to have to wait a few years. So I apologize to anyone British, Italian, or Greek in advance if I made any glaring mistakes in these next three parts of the story. This chapter was also strange in that I couldn't really think of how to write Miboshi's reincarnation. For one, we never really see him in the series, and two, Yui probably never even knew him. But *shrugs* I did the best I could. If I wanted to reincarnate Seiryuu seishi, I had to reincarnate ALL of them.
VIII. Emergence: This marks the start of my three-chapter writing spree, due to the insistent, harsh, and very unfair demands of the FY fanfiction ML. ^^;; (Jill and Frost, especially!) The first part with them in Scotland was inspiried by Sara Tench wanting them to visit Scotland. I had an idea for some Celtic stuff already, but the Scotland bit forced me to dig out all my knowledge of Celtic customs. (I used to be a huge fan of all things Celtic). The legend of Oisin is a real one and can be found in the Irish Oisinian Cycle. Again, like the last chapter, Ashitare was just...weird. I hope making him an Italian construction worker wasn't too off the wall. Hey, he has to have SOMETHING to do as a profession! (and no, Exar, I didn't want to do "Ashitare in the circus" ^!^)
IX. Rebirth: I saved Tomo second to last because I didn't think Ashitare would be a nice way to end a trip to Europe, as much as I like Ashitare (not kidding!) At first I was going to put Tomo in China, but realized that wouldn't work, since I had put Yui only going to Europe. So I made him a Greek actor. It was a nice chance for me to dig up all that knowledge on Greek drama, and a nice refresher course on Sophocles' Medea ^^;. Dolphins are really considered luck-bringers in Greece, since they are reported to rescue drowned sailors and the like (I think Apollo was also patron god of the dolphin, or something. Correct me if I'm wrong.)
X. Flight: The final chapter is the shortest, but I think the most important. Yui's found all the seishi but Suboshi, and she finally admits it to Tetsuya, not knowing that Steven is Suboshi's reincarnation. And, as Dreamwalker said to me in an email, "And not to mention a very good allusion to their [Yui and Suboshi's] whole relationship. He has always been right in front of her and she didn't even realize it." That was kind of what I was aiming for. (Yes, I am a Yui/Suboshi fan ^_^) It all comes together in the end, with Yui and Suboshi together and Seiryuu in the distance, the "flash of white and silver and blue."
I wrote this fic under a variety of influences, most of them musical. You have (I hope) noticed that every break in the story is filled by some lyrics to a song. These "fillers" follow the pattern of Yui's journey:
I. Yui in Japan: Japanese lyrics, beginning with "Itooshi Hito no Tame ni," the FY opening theme
II. Yui in America: English lyrics
III. Yui in America: English lyrics with Soi's image song at the end
IV. Amiboshi's heritage: Irish/Spanish lyrics, with Amiboshi's image song at the end
V. Nakago's heritage: French lyrics with Nakago's image song at the end
VI. Yui reflecting: English/Japanese lyrics
VII. Yui in England: English lyrics by British artists
VIII. Yui in Scotland and then Italy: Scottish lyrics, Italian lyrics, and Latin lyrics
IX. Yui in Greece: Greek/Japanese lyrics, along with part of a translation of Sophocles' "Antigone"
X. Yui in America: Japanese/English lyrics, ending with "Tokimeki no Doukasen," FY ending theme
All Japanese (except for Weiss Kreuz) and Spanish lyrics were translated by me. French translation of "Papillon" was done by Laurelgand. Greek transliteration of "Ki an Yelao" done by me. Everything else was done by various other people who are not credited probably because I could not find out who they were. (Random Greek translations lying around the net are not credited, trust me).
I named the fic after the L'Arc en Ciel song of the same name. They are my favorite band, and the lyrics struck me as rather applicable to Yui's journey. You can find them on the main butterfly page.
The music I listened to while writing this also had an influence on the way the story progressed. Here are some of the songs that really inspired me, one way or the other:
Fushigi Yuugi: "Aoi Arashi" (Yui), "Nocturne" (Amiboshi), "Blue Eyes..Blue" (Nakago-believe it or not)
Heavy Gauge, Glay album
Ark, L'Arc en Ciel album
Britney Spears: "Lucky" (I'm not a Britney Spears fan, I just like the song)
Nine Days: "Bitter"
Koyasu Takehito: "Tiny Little Song"
Weiss Kreuz: "Kiss me Kiss me Kill me" (Farfarello...I know, isn't it scary?)
Eden, Sarah Brightman album
Hamasaki Ayumi: "Ever Free" and "Seasons"
Loreena McKennitt: "Greensleeves" (original version)
And finally, here are all the people I wish to thank on this endeavor, which, (for me) was quite an undertaking:
Everyone on the Fushigi Yuugi Fanfiction Mailing List
Exar for putting up with me while I wrote instead of talked and giving me information on profession flutists in New York
Laurelgand for the lyrics to Celine Dion's Papillon, Loreena McKennitt's "Greensleeves," and moral support
Night~Mare for making me laugh while I was stuck on plot ideas
Dreamwalker for her support of Yui Hongou and the knowledge that even if no one else liked it, I'd at least have *one* fan (kidding! kidding! ^^;)
Jay Kama (http://members.xoom.com/FujimiyaAya), for letting me use his Weiss Kreuz song translations
And anyone else who helped, but I forgot.
This was the weirdest fic (at least that's how it seemed to me) that I've ever written, and I've already had some clamors for a sequel ^^;. We'll see...
Until next time, ja ne!
Seiryuu no Miko and the Seiryuu no seishi like comments at lordofmerentha@yahoo.com.
NOTE: This fic was originally posted on The Four Gods Sky and Earth, my Fushigi Yuugi fanfiction archive and the sequel, Fate, has been written and completed. I will try to post this on Fanfiction.net as soon as possible. ^^ Thanks for reading!