Fushigi Yuugi - The Next Generation: Part 7

Disclaimer: I don't own Fushigi Yuugi. According the manga volume in from of me it belongs to Yuu Watase. (It's the second volume!)

Author's Note: All the events that take place in this series is concurrent. So, we go back to the beginning of the day. For the time being, we will be in Kutou to catch up with the Seiryuu group. As always, this is drawn from the TV series, and not necessarily from the OVAs. It just makes my job easier. It's hard enough as it is. Hoshi will be called by his seishi name, Ryu. Enjoy!

Miwa had the sensation that she was falling from the sky. When she finally opened her eyes. Hoshi, or at this point Ryu, was on top of her. He was sort of on her breast. He lifted his head up. Miwa looked straight into his eyes. She suddenly realized that he was on top of her. Miwa's eyes widened and she lost the ability to speak.

"What's wrong with you?" asked Ryu as he leaned even closer to her to look at her.

She turned bright red.

"Well, why aren't you saying anything?" asked Ryu. Then, he finally realized the position they were at. 'What it must look like to people?' thought Ryu as he got off her.

Miwa couldn't stand up for some reason, so Ryu sighed and picked her up. He carried her to another part that wasn't so obvious.

"I feel much better now, thank you," said Miwa.

"This is all so strange. It's like I just fell into one of my uncle's books," said Ryu as he looked around.

"I've been thinking. Since, this is a kingdom or an empire, there must been some sort of leader. An emperor. Maybe, we should go see him, and tell him about us," suggested Miwa.

Ryu looked at her. 'Maybe, she has some brains after all,' he thought.

"That's a good idea. I don't have any. Actually, the last emperor of Kutou was very helpful to the Seiryuu Seven," said Ryu. He left out the part about the very corrupted emperor who made Nakago into the evil man that he was.

"We'd better get moving then," said Miwa as she got up. She pulled some of her dark red hair out of her face, and pulled it back into a messy bun. At least, it was out of her face. Her eyes were an amber color. They looked determined. 'That's a good sign,' thought Ryu.

They walked along for hours. They had landed outside the capital city. So, it took them awhile to get to the marketplace. The marketplace seemed like a good place to get information. They asked for directions to the palace.

Ryu was having second doubts about going to the palace. But, he shook it off. The Kutou he was in was a different one than the one described in the book. He looked around and saw very dire conditions. There were people in rags, and the marketplace was still function. Kutou wasn't the same warlike and powerful nation it was once. Ryu realized that it was probably the worse off of the Four Empires.

Miwa and Ryu walked along the streets. Miwa realized that no one noticed that they were wearing what might have been considered strange garments. She grasped that they had bigger problems than obvious foreigners walking among them. Miwa's heart ached when she saw a little girl who was in rags. Her heart began to burn with a passion to help these people.

Ryu noticed the look Miwa had on her face. He was filled with the resolve to get to the palace sooner.

They came to a pair of large open doors. There is a guard nearby.

"We are here to see the Emperor of Kutou," said Miwa. She gave a humble bow, and Ryu followed suit.

"The Emperor is busy. But, he will see you when he has a chance. Please take refuge within the palace," said the guard. Ryu and Miwa looked at the courtyard. There were several tents setup. People were living in this large camp.

They walked quietly along the palace. There were many people. Not just in the courtyard. The entire Imperial Palace was opened up to refugees. Different people of different classes were now living at the palace. Miwa and Ryu wondered what could have happened to cause so many people to lose their homes.

There was an earthquake. This was a strong one. People grabbed on to pillars. Miwa grabbed on to one of the pillars. Ryu shield her body from any debris that came off the ceiling.

"We have to find the Emperor right now!" exclaimed Miwa when the earthquake was over.

Ryu nodded and asked someone where the throne room was. They pointed to a corridor, and Miwa quickly walked ahead of Ryu. He ran a little bit to catch up with her. They came to the throne room and found that empty.

"Where else could the Emperor be?" said Miwa in frustration as she stomped her foot. This was wasting precious time. People were suffering and in pain while they stood here doing nothing. She hated it.

Ryu saw a large shrine in a room adjacent to the throne room. There was a man dressed in fine robes kneeling in front of the large dragon statue.

"O mighty Seiryuu! Please hear my pleas. Come and help our people. I beseech you," prayed the man out loud.

Miwa saw that Ryu was staring at the man. She knew he had to be the Emperor of Kutou.

"Are you the Emperor of Kutou?" asked Miwa respectfully.

The man stood up. He was tall. He had dark brown hair that only came to the nape of his neck. He had elegant blue eyes. His outer robe was a sapphire blue that matched his eyes perfectly.

"I am Emperor Feng Entai of Kutou. What is it you want, young lady?" asked the Emperor. He looked very young. Actually, he was a little older than the Emperor of Konan. He bowed at his guest. He didn't know why he did it, but there was something special about these strangers.

"I am Kinomoto Miwa. I am the new Seiryuu no Miko," announced Miwa. Her eyes were sincere.

The Emperor just looked at her. His blue eyes were challenging her silently. She held her ground. Ryu realized he had to prove that they weren't frauds. He willed his kanji on his forehead to show.

Emperor Feng felt something strange in the air. He looked at Miwa's companion. There was a glowing blue kanji on his head. Dragon.

"You are the Seiryuu no Miko," he said in a whisper. The salvation he had prayed for had arrived. Kutou was falling apart at the seams.

"Yes. We are here to help. We saw everything. Your palace is obviously opened to refugees," said Miwa in a soft sad voice.

"We had to. There are earthquakes. There are trenches that open up in the ground that swallow up innocent people. The volcanoes are active. There are places covered with ash," said Emperor Feng.

Ryu felt something strange inside him. He didn't know the extent of his powers. He was a trained fighter, but there was something more. Ryu built up his chi. He focused on the statue of Seiryuu. There was blue aura that surrounded him, and his kanji was glowing brightly.

The Emperor and Miwa turned when they heard the Seiryuu statue being lifted off its foundation. The Seiryuu statue was made out of alabaster blue marble and weighed around three hundred pounds. Ryu lifted it off its foundation using his mind without moving any of his appendages.

BAM! The statue landed on the other side of the room.

"What?!" said Miwa in shock. Ryu just smiled a very smug looking smile on his face.

The Emperor was impressed by Ryu's power. He didn't break a sweat, and he did it with very little concentration. "Could you move it back to where it was?" asked Emperor Feng.

"Sure," answered Ryu. He moved the statue back to its foundation.

"What can I do to assist you, Seiryuu no Miko?" asked Emperor Feng earnestly.

"We need to assemble all our seishi together. We must summon all the gods together at once in one location. There is something called a Shinzahou from the last Miko, and scrolls for the ceremony. The other Mikos should be at their respective Empires right now," said Miwa.

"You haven't told me why you are here. Yes, you are here to summon Seiryuu, but you left out the reason why. I know it's because our world is crumbling. The same things are happening in the other Empires. Our Empire is crumbling because of the fact that Seiryuu has been sealed. How is it possible that you can summon or have any power at all?" asked Emperor Feng.

"The seal broke on Seiryuu because the world is crumbling," said Ryu.

"You are known as the dragon himself. Perhaps, Seiryuu is showing favor to us this time because he has named one of his own seishi with his name," said Emperor Feng thoughtfully.

"What happened after the Emperor during the last summoning died?" asked Ryu. He was interested to know.


"When the Emperor was killed by General Nakago, my family stepped in, and took over. This is a new dynasty. The Feng dynasty is now the family that rules. The last dynasty ruled for over three hundred years. They had my family exiled for that time in the mountains deep into the country. Far away from the neighboring Empires. My family was against going after the other Empires to expand. The previous dynasty knew that if they tried to kill my family right out there would have been a civil war in Kutou. There was one anyway, but at least we weren't responsible for it. In fact, being in exile protected us. To avoid influencing others we were put far away from the outside world with hopes that we would die out. As you can see it never happened. Perhaps, we have earned our fate because of the last dynasty. But, I don't think my people should pay for it. Many are innocent," said Emperor Feng in a clear articulate voice.

'That's why things aren't the way they were in the book. This is a new dynasty,' thought Ryu.

"I don't think anyone should get hurt," said Miwa.

"I'll will send decrees to all the Empires to look out for all of you. I'll will also send a decree in this Empire that anyone who has a kanji must serve you, Seiryuu no Miko," promised Emperor Feng. This was the only chance that Kutou had. Emperor Feng had faith because in desperate times, such as these, faith can be a power weapon. Even more so than magic.

"Please show us around, your Highness," requested Miwa. She wanted to see more of the palace.

"Very well. Come with me, Seiryuu no Miko. Come, Seiryuu seishi," said the Emperor as he gestured.

They followed the Emperor who gave them a personal tour. They found out that the Emperor was the second one for his dynasty. His father had ruled right before him. The current Emperor Feng began his rule after his father died when he was seventeen. Miwa and Ryu learned that the Emperor of Genbu had been ruling for twenty years. The Emperor of Sairo had been ruling for about eight years.

"How long has the Emperor of the other Empire been ruling?" asked Miwa. Ryu perked up. His sister was the Miko for that Empire.

"He's been ruling from birth practically. His father was a seishi for the pervious Miko. The Empire is guarded by Suzaku. The Empire is called Konan. He is the youngest of all the Emperors. Emperor Boushin is only nineteen years old," informed Emperor Feng.

"He's younger than me!" exclaimed Ryu. He knew that the Emperor Seishuku Saihitei, Hotohori, died before the present Emperor was born, but he was nineteen! 'I forgot about the time axis business being off. Time had slowed down,' thought Ryu mentally kicking himself.

He noticed that Miwa and the Emperor had walked ahead of him, while he was busy being shocked. He ran to catch up with them.

There was a young teenage girl. She was dressed in fine robes. There was child, a little boy, who had cut his arm on pieces of a broken pot. The cut was quite deep, and the boy was in tears. The girl touched his arm. There was bright blue aura that glowed around her, and when she lifted her hand the cut was gone. The boy smiled at her.

"Thank you, Princess Shunrong," said the little boy. He gave her a kiss on her cheek.

"No. Thank you," said Princess Shunrong as she laughed when he blushed and ran away.

"Princess?" asked Ryu.

She turned to see Ryu standing behind her. Her eyes widened when she saw him.

"Yes. Do you have something that needs to be healed?" she asked with some uncertainty at the stranger standing before her.

"No, I am fine. Thank you for asking, your Highness. How did you heal that boy, Princess?" asked Ryu.

"It's just something I do. I've been doing it since I was younger. No one has ever asked me how I do it. I just do," Princess Shunrong answered.

"By any chance do you have a glowing symbol like this?" asked Ryu as he activated his kanji.

She looked at him surprised. Princess Shunrong lifted up part of her shirt. There was a kanji on it. The kanji for jewel. Hoseki.

The Emperor of Kutou and Miwa came back when they realized that they had lost Ryu.

"What's going on here, Shunrong?" asked Emperor Feng.

"Your sister has a kanji. She has the healing ability," answered Ryu.

"What's her kanji?" asked Miwa.

"Hoseki," answered Princess Shunrong.

"Shunrong why didn't you say anything?" asked her elder brother. He was about ten years older than her.

"I didn't think it mattered, Big Brother. I thought that since Seiryuu was already summoned and sealed that it didn't matter. Wait…why does he have a kanji?" asked the Princess.

Her brother smiled and gave her the news, "This is Lady Kinomoto Miwa. She is from the other world. This is Ryu, and he is the first seishi for Seiryuu. You, my dear little sister, are the second seishi."

"How is it possible?" asked Shunrong with disbelief.

"Our world is crumbling all of it. The only way to save it is to summon all the four Gods at once. Since our world is crumbling the seal on Seiryuu has broken. He has given powers to his new seishi to defend their new miko," said Emperor Feng.

"I guess my name is now Hoseki. I like that, " said Shunrong happily.

"I am glad you approve," said Emperor Feng with a look of pride at his girl.


* * *

Emperor Feng did as he promised. He sent messengers to the other three empires. He said that the message to would probably reach Konan first. He also explained that since the old dynasty was killed off by Nakago that Konan was helping Kutou rebuild. However, considering the bad conditions that Kutou was at, Emperor Feng in recent months rejected any more help from Konan. Emperor Feng said it was futile because Kutou would just be swallowed up before they could do any more repairs.

Emperor Feng held a small private dinner with his sister, Ryu, and Miwa. The dining room was being used as another place for refugees. They discussed plans to locate the other seishi. There was no other plan, but to announce it throughout the empire, and hope that the other seishi would do their duties to their homelands.

Afterwards, Emperor Feng assigned rooms for Ryu and Miwa to stay in for the evening. Ryu was given a room of his own. Hoseki requested that Miwa stay with her, so that there would be more room for the refugees. Miwa agreed because she thought that the Princess was a very sweet girl. They had long conversations in the room while braiding each other's hair.

"You have since an unusually hair color. Are there a lot of people who have hair like yours?" asked Hoseki as she braided her dark red hair.

"Well, my mother is American. A foreigner to my father's home country. I take after her, Princess," said Miwa.

"You don't have to call me that. I am your seishi. You should call me, Hoseki, Lady Miwa," said Hoseki.

"I'll make you a deal. You call me just Miwa, and I'll call you Hoseki," spoke Miwa.

"All right," agreed Hoseki with a little giggle.

"You look a lot like your brother. He's much older than you," said Miwa thoughtfully.

"He's ten years older than me. Our parents had just him for so long. They said that they prayed for a second child, and when I finally came they were so happy. As for looking like my brother, I take that as a compliment. My brother is handsome," said Hoseki with a smile.

"I'll say he's handsome," said Miwa with a slight giggle.

"I am sorry to make you unhappy, Miwa, but he's married. He has a daughter and is expecting another child in a little bit," said Hoseki.

"Oh. Darn. Oh, well you can't have everything," giggled Miwa as she stretched her arms.

"I think that Ryu is pretty handsome. He looks so brave and gallant. Some thing out of one of those old myths," said Hoseki dreamily.

"Yes. He really is something. I am so glad that he's my seishi. Actually, all the other first seishi are pretty handsome. But, Ryu's something else," said Miwa with a whistle.

"Are all the men in your world as beautiful as Ryu and the other seishi that you are talking about?" asked Hoseki with a deep blush on her face.

"There are quite a few beautiful men out in my world. But, your world has a lot of handsome men. Maybe, you just haven't seen them," answered Miwa.

"I wish I could go to your world. I would love to see it. As a seishi, I will be able to do what I've always wanted: see the empire. Maybe, even the others," said Hoseki with sigh.

"Are you telling me that you've never been outside this palace?" asked Miwa with disbelief.

"No. Last month, I went to a marriage meeting to meet with the Emperor of Konan. Come to think of it, he is handsome himself," said Hoseki thoughtfully.

"How does he look like?" asked Miwa out of curiosity.

"He has long hair. Longer than my brother's. It's sort of purplish. His eyes are like gold. He looks so beautiful. He's tall. He has a wonderful voice," said Hoseki with a sigh.

"What happened? You said that you meet him for a marriage meeting. Are you two engaged?" asked Miwa.

"No. I wouldn't marry him if he were the last Emperor in the world! Do you know what he did to me? Well, let me tell you. He is a mage. He was trained by one of the past Suzaku Seven. He does all sorts of illusions. The trick he pulled on me was horrible!" exclaimed Hoseki angrily.

"What did he do exactly?" asked Miwa surprised at the reaction that Hoseki gave.

"He did something. I just know it. I was about to go out to the dinner the night of the marriage meeting. When I opened the door to my guest chambers to go out, it led to another room. I tried again to open the door after I closed it, then it was different room! It was some sort of illusionary spell. I just know it. I never made it to the dinner, and everyone assumed that I wasn't interested. That I was too immature for marriage. Boushin just sat on his throne, but I could tell he did something!" exclaimed Hoseki.

Miwa thought about it. He sounded like a trickster. Suddenly, for some strange reason, Boushin reminded her of Mariko. She sort of shuddered. She didn't think there would be another person like Mariko. Not in this world, or any other for that matter.

* * *

Ryu was restless. He didn't like to waste any time. He was worried about his sister and Sei. Ryu was also concerned about where to find the other seishi. 'It can't be that easy. Nakago spent time looking for his seishi. All he needed what Aunt Yui. Mother had a harder time. Come to think of it, this is probably what it was like for her. Well, I should look at the bright side. At least, we found one of our seishi right here in the palace. I wonder where all the others are?' thought Ryu.

He decided to take a walk around the palace. He needed to clear his head and think. Ryu looked at the dismal conditions around the palace. He could only imagine how the rest of the empire looked like.

"Look. I am only going to ask you once. Who was it that stole that trunk of treasure out of the Emperor's vault?" asked a guard. He was wearing a high ranking uniform. He paced around the room. There were three men who stood there. Ryu thought that one of them would say something, but they didn't.

"One of you stole out the Emperor's vault. It's disgraceful. Where is your sense of honor and dignity? The Emperor opened his personal home to all of you, and one of you has the gall to steal from him," said the guard.

The guard walked up to all of them and waved his arm over them. He focused on the man in the middle.

"Tell me where you put the chest and I won't bring you to the Emperor himself," said the guard. He waved his arm over the man.

"The chest is in my tent in the courtyard in the front. It is underneath one of the blankets in the bed," said the man in a trance like state.

"Thank you for telling me," said the guard. He gestured to have the man taken away. But, there was still a look of kindness on the guard's face.

Ryu felt something coming from the guard. Ryu cleared his throat to make his presence known. The guard turned around and realized that Ryu was a seishi, so he kneeled in front of Ryu.

"That's all right. I was wondering how you got the man to tell the truth about the chest?" asked Ryu. He was little embarrassed by all the attention that he was receiving. He didn't like this whole bowing and kneeling business.

"It is an ability that I have had since I was a child, Seiryuu seishi," said the guard as he stood up.

"What is your name? I am known as Ryu," introduced Ryu.

"My name is Fang Jiexian. I am also known as Iwa," said Jiexian as he opened his shirt to show where his kanji was. It was the character for stone. It was glowing brightly.

"I knew it. I guess we have some luck on our side. It's nice to meet you, Iwa," said Ryu with a bow.

~*ClareBear's Omake*~

Tamahome (with large eyes and tears): My son. My son. My son a Seiryuu. How can things get any worse?!

Nuriko: ClareBear said for you to stop whining about it. At least, he's doing a great job so far.

Hotohori: Did you hear all the awful things that the Princess said about my son?

Chiriko: But, it's all true, Lord Hotohori! He did all those things.

Miaka: Miwa is comparing him to my daughter.

Tamahome: My daughter a Miko! (happy, bubble background)

Nuriko: She's also the head bookie at her school.

Tamahome groans.