Fushigi Yuugi: The Next Generation - Part 10

Disclaimer: Yuu Watase owns Fushigi Yuugi. I am just the lowly fanfic author who is borrowing.

Author's Note: We are back in Konan. Yeah! The next few parts are about the Suzaku Group. There is something very special about this group that none of the other groups have. You could call it an advantage. There's also the history of Tasuki's family. Do you really expect them to be normal? I thought it would be very interesting to see how Tasuki gets married and how he reacts to the births of his children.

:::Eighteen years Before The New Mikos Arrive in the Book:::

Tasuki was about twenty years old when he decided to get married. Actually, it was more of a fluke than anything else. He was living in the capital city of Konan, Eiyou. Tasuki was staying there for the time being because of the request that Hotohori's spirit had made of him. He was there to watch over the Boushin. Chichiri was with him.

There was a very wealthy merchant living in Eiyou. His name was Rong Roi. He looked to marry off his middle daughter, Ling. Tasuki was given the title of a lord along with Chichiri. Chichiri rejected the title because he was a monk. Tasuki accepted the title after much argument. Rong heard of Tasuki, and he had his sights set on marrying his daughter off to him.

Tasuki had no intentions of marrying anyone. He always claimed that he disliked women, but he had outgrown it. He just didn't want to be tied down, and he liked coming and going as he pleased. Tasuki wanted to go back to the mountains whenever he wanted. But, he also enjoyed his responsibility of watching over Boushin. He was very loyal to the young crown prince of Konan.

Rong Ling didn't want to get married. She had longed to join a convent devoted to the Suzaku in a far away temple. She disliked any of the men her father chose for her. Ling was very well educated for a woman. Had she been a boy she would have inherited her father's business. Ling was very beautiful. She carried herself with a cool confidence that would make most women look conceited. She looked very ethereal. Her hair was long and dark brown. She styled it in a high ponytail. Her eyes were a beautiful shade of green, and her skin was ivory pale. She was about 5'6". Her body was very slim, and when she moved it was as if she was floating. She was about eighteen years old at the time.

Outward appearances were very deceiving. Ling was stubborn and didn't take well to people telling what to do. Even her own father. Her father was getting frantic about marrying her off. Her younger sisters were already married off, and he was thinking that she would die an old maid. Ling didn't care. The last thing she wanted was a man telling her what to do. Especially, a husband.

Rong got even more excited when he found out that Tasuki was a former seishi for the Suzaku no Miko. That he had witnessed the summoning of their god, Suzaku. Now, Rong was a merchant in many fine goods. He sent a message to Tasuki offering a discount on what every goods he wanted. Tasuki decided that he would take the old man up on his offer. Rong made it a point to have his daughter present, or at least be seen during his meeting with Tasuki.

Tasuki didn't see it coming. He didn't know that he would fall in love with Ling the moment he saw her. His jaw had dropped when she entered the room when her father requested that she bring in his books, and write down things in them for him. Ling ignored him, and she had no idea what her father had planned. When she left the room, Rong smiled at Tasuki.

"What do you think of my Ling?" asked Rong.

"She's really something," said Tasuki in awe.

"She's not married. I was hoping to marry her off to someone worthy of her. My other daughters are married. Even her younger sister. However, Ling is my prize," said Rong with paternal pride.

Tasuki looked a little surprise. It seemed odd that Ling wasn't married. 'A beautiful girl like that should be married,' thought Tasuki, 'Maybe, even to me. Wait…what am I thinking? Me? Get married?'

"Well…she isn't bad looking," said Tasuki with a smile on his lips.

"Neither are you, Lord Tasuki," remarked Rong with a smirk on his face. "Do you want to marry my Ling?"

Tasuki looked absolutely shocked by Rong's statement. "Are you insane? I ain't getting married to no one!" shouted Tasuki.

"Now, don't tell me, a young man like you, doesn't want to have a family? My daughter is very beautiful just like her late mother. And if her mother is any indication, she will give you a large family. I have seven children," said Rong happily.

Tasuki is actually speechless. He is absolutely red. Tasuki suddenly realized that the old man had set a trap for him. 'That old geezer tricked me. Not that I should have such a big problem with this. She is something. Any man with a wife like her would be respected. I don't know about that whole family business. But, having a woman in regularly my bed at night would be nice. I think we'd enjoy each other. Wait…what the freaking Hell am I think? I am NOT getting married!' thought Tasuki frantically. He had a panicked look on his face.

"I AM NOT GETTING MARRIED TO YOUR DAUGHTER OR TO ANYONE ELSE!" bellowed Tasuki. And he left. Rong didn't look the slightest bit bothered by Tasuki's reaction. Rong knew that he had Tasuki where he wanted him. He knew that Tasuki wanted Ling because of his reaction when she was in the room. The looks that Tasuki gave her weren't leers, but rather looks of adoration.

Later on that evening. Ling's reaction to the news that her father wanted her to marry Tasuki was much worse than Tasuki's reaction.

"I AM NOT MARRYING THAT FANGED MAN!" shouted Ling at the top of her lungs. She was positively angry with her father.

"Next week you will turn eighteen years old. It's time you marry, Ling. I am not going to live forever. Your brothers can't be expected to take care of you when I am dead," said Rong.

Ling looked at her father. She could tell he was serious. "I would rather spend the rest of my life as a virgin rather than get married to anyone!" said Ling in loud voice.

"Lord Tasuki is a new nobleman. He has worked his way up from humble roots, Ling. He is man a lot like myself. He was a seishi for the Suzaku no Miko. A very powerful man. He is the protector to the Crown Prince of our country. He is more than worthy of you, Ling. I am glad that we waited this long for someone worthy of you to come along, Ling," said Rong in profound voice.

"I will not marry that man," said Ling stubbornly folding her arms over her chest.

"You will accept when he asks for your hand," ordered Rong in firm voice. And that was that. Ling couldn't disobey her father, so she had to agree to marry Tasuki if he asked her to marry him.

Tasuki spent the next few weeks thinking about Ling. He had heard things about her. That other than her beauty, she was very intelligent. He also found out that many men approached her father to see if they could marry her. But, when her father allowed them to propose to her, she turned them all down flat. Tasuki even sought Chichiri's advice in the matter.

"She rejects whomever asks her to marry her," said Tasuki.

"Then, why don't you just try? If she says yes, then you are meant to get married. If she says no, then you aren't. She sounds like a worthy wife," said Chichiri

"Or adversary," added Chichiri.

"Don't say that. The last thing I need is a woman who keeps fighting me," said Tasuki.

A week later, Tasuki called upon the Rong House formally, and proposed to Ling. Much to his surprise, she said yes. Rong was very happy with his daughter's engagement. They were married a fortnight after Tasuki proposed. Rong went all out for his daughter's wedding. Tasuki said it was his responsibility to pay for the wedding, but Rong insisted. Since, Ling was the last of his children to marry, the wedding was something that upper elites of Eiyou never forgot.

Tasuki bought a house in Eiyou. It was walking distance to the Imperial Palace, so that he could still do his duties to Boushin. Ling despite herself, fell deeply in love with Tasuki over time. It didn't take long before Ling was expecting their first child. However, about a two months into her pregnancy, she found out about Tasuki's illegal past.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE! I AM MARRIED TO A BANDIT!" shouted Ling.

"I said I am reformed bandit. I don't rob people anymore," corrected Tasuki with a smile on his face.

"You should have told me at the beginning. You didn't have to tell Father, but you should have told me!" Ling shouted lower. She just wanted to wipe that smirk off his face. She growled at him slightly.

'This child is really making her act strange,' thought Tasuki. He was used to having his calm and understanding wife. Ling and Tasuki's personalities complemented each others perfectly. She made him calmer, while he made her for impulsive. She wasn't acting like herself. Ling smacked him upside the head as she exited the room to go lay down. Tasuki was superdeformed, and still wondering what was wrong with her.

"Oh, by the way, I'll get even with you for lying to me," said Ling with an evil grin on her face when she ducked her head back in.

"HAHAHAHAHA! What are you going to do?!" laughed Tasuki.

Seven months later, Ling got even with Tasuki:

One of Tasuki's older sisters, Aidou, was there to help with the birth. Ling made it a point to bear the pain, and not scream out. She didn't want to alarm Tasuki. Tasuki looked very worried about Ling. Chichiri tried his best to keep Tasuki calm, and to keep him out of the room. The labor went on for hours upon hours.

"How long is it suppose to take to give birth, Chichiri?" asked Tasuki worriedly.

"However long it takes, Tasuki. Sit down-da," said Chichiri calmly. Aidou came out of the room for a moment. She asked Chichiri to go inside to help her and the doctor. Aidou gave Tasuki a sharp look when he tried to see what was happening. Tasuki continued to pace.

'Suzaku let Ling be all right. Let the baby be all right,' Tasuki prayed to himself. He was sitting down with his elbows on his knees and his face buried in his hands. There was a sudden cry. Tasuki was so happy that he jump up. He didn't notice that there was more than one crying baby. This worked to Ling's advantage. She would be able to exact her revenge on Tasuki for lying to her perfectly.

Aidou told Tasuki to come into the room. He was too happy to notice a lot of things. He did see that Ling was smiling at him. Aidou told him how to hold his son.

"I know how to hold a baby, Aidou. See?" said Tasuki as he beamed holding his son.

"That's good. Now, shift him over to the one of your arms. Here's your other son," said Aidou as she placed him into his father's other arm. Tasuki's mouth was agape in surprised.

"Twins?! That's great! I can handle this!" said Tasuki happily. He was proudly holding his boys.

"Twins, you say? Actually…that blue haired man is holding the your other son," said Aidou pointing at Chichiri who had finally turned around.

"There's three of them?" squeaked Tasuki as he passed out from shock.

"I guess, I shouldn't have handed him the babies," said Aidou as she picked up her newborn nephews. They were just fine because Tasuki was holding them firmly before he passed out on the floor flat on his back. Ling burst out laughing. She didn't know how she was able to hold it in for so long. Chichiri handed her the baby that he was holding, and he too was laughing. Aidou just shook her head at her baby brother. They just left him on the floor while they were laughing.

The boys were all identical. It was hard at the start to tell them apart. They were named in this order starting from the oldest: Wangshi, Lingsu, and Tiaowo. All of the boys had their own personalities. So, it didn't take long to be able to distinguish them. When they were about two years old, Lei was born.

Tasuki made it a point to keep his wife happy throughout her pregnancy with Lei. Lei's birth only took about four hours in comparison to her brothers' seventeen hours. Tasuki was bracing himself for another surprise from Ling.

Tasuki came into the sunlit room. He walked over to his wife. This time it was just the two of them. Aidou and their other sister, Pa'liu, were trying to keep a handle on the hyperactive two year olds. Tasuki looked at his wife. Ling was exhausted, but Tasuki thought that she looked very beautiful.

"Do you want to hold your new daughter, Papa?" asked Ling softly.

"Yes," said Tasuki. He took his tiny daughter into his arms. He supported her head. Tasuki noticed that she had his hair color. What little hair she had. She squirmed a little bit, and Tasuki kissed her on her little semi baldhead.

"Isn't she beautiful?" asked Ling in a tired voice, but she didn't want to go to sleep.

"Are you sure this is it?" asked Tasuki suspiciously lifting an eyebrow. He thought that Ling was trying trick in him into a false sense of security.

He lifted the blankets near her legs. She hit upside his head for lifting the blankets.

"JUST CHECKING!" said Tasuki with a smile on his face. He refocused on his attention to his daughter.

"Aw. She is so very beautiful," said Tasuki proudly.

:::Present Time:::

Kou Lei was fifteen years old. She had long red hair that was like her father's color. She had also inherited his eyes. Lei also had a lot of her mother in her. She was 5'7". She was very elegant in her movements, and was slim like her mother.

The trait that ran through the Kuo family was stubbornness. Lei was just as stubborn as any other member of her family. Unlike, her father and her brothers, she didn't curse a blue streak. She only did if she was angry.

Her brothers looked very much like their mother in the way of looks. They all had dark brown hair and green eyes. They were as tall as their father. They did inherit Tasuki's fangs, but Lei didn't.

Wangshi, the oldest of the triplets, studied constantly. He had dreams of getting a position in the government of Konan. With Tasuki's influence it was very possible. He reminded Tasuki of Chiriko.

Lingsu, the middle triplet, was very athletic. He loved to run and fence. Therefore, he was Emperor Boushin's regular fencing partner.

Tiaowo, the youngest triplet, was…very much like his father. He got himself in constant trouble. Tasuki and Ling had their hands full with him more than any of the other children. Tiaowo was brash and lacked focused. His parents were very worried about him.

Lei was the baby of the family. Tasuki adored his daughter. Ling knew that Tasuki was wrapped around their daughter's little finger. He remembered what it was like to be outnumbered by members of the opposite sex. Tasuki made it a point that the boys should never pick on their little sister. But, when Tasuki wasn't around they acted like jerks to their little sister.

Lei would take daily walks away from the house as soon as she was done with her daily lessons to get away from her older brothers. She walked towards one of the less populated areas of the city. There was a field that Lei loved to just sit in. When she was about ten years old, Lei had meet an elderly lady who trained in Wei Li Do. A form of women's self defense. Of course, while she was training she would get bumps and bruises on her body, but she never complained about them, and kept them hidden. No one in her family, even her father, suspected that she knew how to defend herself in a fight. She never used her skills in front of her family. Not even when her brothers were picking on her.

It was late in the afternoon when Lei came home from her walk. She was dressed very nicely like she always was. Her hair was clipped in the back with a hair ornament. Wangshi looked up at her when she came in.

"Where have you been, Lei?" asked Wangshi barely looking up from the scrolls he was
reading.

"Out for my daily walk," answered Lei. She hated answering to her brothers. As much as they made fun of her, they were a bunch of overprotective freaks, like their father.

"You always go off for hours, Lei. Are you meeting a secret lover we should pulverize?" asked Tiaowo teasingly.

"NO!" shouted Lei. 'Damn them!' thought Lei.

"Why don't you tell us what you do?" asked Lingsu who was sharpening his sword in the corner of the room.

"You know if you are, we'll have to tell Father about it," said Wangshi who was now looking up from his scrolls.

"I am not. I just go out for a walk to the field," said Lei defensively.

Tiaowo walked up to her to look at her more closely. He was walking around his sister to look at her at all angles. Lei was careful not to pull up any of her clothing, otherwise they would figure something out. She reached out to smack him, but Tiaowo grabbed the hair ornament out of her hair. He tossed it to Lingsu who threw it into an open closet.

"You guys are awful!" said Lei in an angry voice as she went inside the closet to retrieve her hair ornament. Lingsu pushed her inside the closet. He closed the door and stood in front of it. Lei couldn't get the door open because of Lingsu's weight. Wangshi got up and took a chair. Lingsu was careful to move out of the way, and still keep the door closed. He and Tiaowo stood there holding the door closed while Lei pounded on it. Wangshi put the chair in front of the closet's knob.

All three of them sat back down casually. They ignored all the pounding that Lei was doing.

"So, how are your studies going, Wangshi?" asked Lingsu as he went back to sharpening his sword.

"Great. How's the Emperor, Lingsu?" asked Wangshi.

"He's great. What have you been up to, Tiaowo?" asked Lingsu looking at Tiaowo.

"Nothing worth talking about, Lingsu," said Tiaowo. Lei's pounding got louder.

"Do you guys hear anything?" asked Wangshi as he ignored the pounding.

"Nothing," answered Tiaowo.

"Nope!" answered Lingsu.

They kept on talking. Lei just gave up, and sat down at the corner of the closet. There was no point they weren't going to let her out of the closet. She just had to wait for their father to come home or hope that their mother would come. Their mother was busy with running the household, and Ling had assumed that the children had outgrown such behavior.

Lei didn't realize how long she was inside the closet. Tasuki had come home and greeted everyone. She heard the sound of rushing footsteps out of the room. Tasuki had walked in to find a very empty room.

"Is anyone in here?" asked Tasuki who was slightly bewildered. He could have sworn that he heard people in there.

Lei started to pound on the door again. Tasuki heard it and walked over to the door. He observed that there was a chair in front of the closet. When he opened it, Lei fell into his arms. Tasuki caught his daughter, and careful set her back on her feet.

"What happened, Lei?" asked Tasuki with concerned eyes.

"Nothing," answered Lei. She knew that her father knew that it was her brothers who locked her in the closet.

"BOYS GET YOUR ASSES DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW!" shouted Tasuki in a very angry voice.

"It's all right, Papa. I wasn't in there for very long," said Lei.

"How long were you in there?" asked Tasuki.

"Well, the sun was still out," answered Lei as she realized that the sun had already set. She had been in the closet for over two hours. Lei could also see that her father was close to exploding. Ling walked into the room.

"What are you yelling about, my love?" asked Ling calmly. She kissed her husband on the cheek. Tasuki was still mad, but it was always nice to receive a kiss from his wife.

"The boys locked Lei in the close for over an hour. I have to find them. Do you know where they went?!" asked Tasuki.

"I see. Whenever they do something wrong, they are smart enough not to stick around. Don't worry. They'll come back when they're hungry. You can get them when they come back. Lei get cleaned up for dinner," said Ling calmly.

"Yes, Mother," said Lei as she went upstairs. Her parents continued talking. She went up to her room to change clothes for dinner.

Her room was large. Actually, all the children had rooms of their own. The Kou House was very large. She stripped out her outer robes and looked at the some of the injuries on her torso. Lei wasn't really delicate. It was her skin that was. The bruises from her training never hurt. It just looked that way. Lei rubbed some ointment over them.

Lei felt some odd sensation on her neck. It felt like iron was branding her skin. The spot was close to her right ear. Lei grabbed that spot. She waited until the pain passed. Lei made it a point not to yell out in pain. Her father would have come rushing in.

The burning sensation that Lei felt was a kanji on her neck glowing.

It was bright red.


~*ClareBear's Omake*~

Tamahome (black lines of despair around him): I don't believe this! Even Tasuki's daughter is on the right side! Hotohori's son is a Suzaku seishi, too! It's not fair! My son's a Seiryuu!!!

Miaka: I wonder what her powers are.

Hotohori: She is trained on how to defend herself.

Nuriko: The training she received is hardly what a seishi would use. There has to be more than that.

Tamahome: I just had a very scary thought.

Miaka: What?

Tamahome: She is a lot like her father. What if her powers have something do with fire?

Nuriko: Suzaku helps us all.

They are all superdeformed in a praying circle.