Fushigi Yuugi: The Next Generation - Part 21

Disclaimer: Yuu Watase created and owns Fushigi Yuugi. I don't own a lot of things, but I do own all the new original characters. Which is a whole lot of people. Don't steal. It took me forever to come up with them.

Author's Note: We now leave Kutou to go to Sailo. The Western country where Byakko rules. As always I am drawing from the TV series, and not necessarily from the OVAs. Which means that there are going to be spoilers from the TV series.

The Byakko group had been traveling for many days. They were bonding and talking. It could be said that they had it the easiest when compared to the other groups. Every town that they had gone to they were welcomed with open arms. They were always given free room and board. There was always extra food and money given to them when they moved on. The group was feeling uncomfortable with all the support that they were getting. However, the villagers insisted that they take what they wanted. Pretty soon they were just taking food, and no alms. During the evening, Kaze would charm the group with a song. Inochi and Sakana were having fun gambling with each other. This really annoyed Amai and Kitsune.

"I got seven again," said Sakana happily. He had learned how to use the dice to play games with Inochi. They gambled with each other's money back and forth.

"My turn," said Inochi. He got a pair of snake eyes, "Aww."

"Will you two stopped that!" said Kitsune in an irritated tone. She took the die into her hand. She threw them down; "I don't understand how you two could play games at an important time like this. Take your duties seriously. For Byakko's sake," swore Kitsune.

"You got a seven," announced Inochi looking at the dice.

"Did I win anything?" asked Kitsune looking at the die.

"Umm."

Sakana and Inochi looked at each other. They shook their heads.

"Sorry. You didn't say you were playing," said Sakana with a smile.

"Argh!" exclaimed Kitsune. She stalked off to get away from them.

"I think it's time we move on," said Amai. It was getting to be dawn.

"We need to get the summoning scrolls or the shinzahou," said Inochi. They had to also get three more seishi.

"All right! Let's move on!" exclaimed Sakana in a happy voice.

They got back on their horse and rode. Sailo was mostly desert. Despite the heat, they tended to move during the day. The nights in Sailo had a tendency to be rather cold. Amai saw something.

"What's that over there?" asked Amai. She was hoping that Sakana, Kaze, or Kitsune knew what it was.

"I don't know," answered Sakana. He was far from his hometown.

"I've never seen it before," in toned Kaze.

"I think it's one of the temples of Byakko," said Kitsune.

"Then, let's go over there," said Inochi.

They all rode down to the temple. It was large and sandy white on the outside. To Amai, it looked like something of an Arabic-Spanish design. The kind one would find in Spain. There was a pair of mahogany doors in front of it. Amai went to open the doors, but they were opened for her. There was a man dressed in a white robe.

"The Oracle has been waiting for you, Byakko no Miko," said the man as he bowed to them.

"Someone's been waiting for me?" inquired Amai. She looked at her seishi. They shrugged their shoulders.

"Please follow me," said the man with a friendly smile.

They followed him into the temple. There was a woman with white hair and violet eyes waiting for them. She was sitting in some sort of shrine.

"Hello Byakko no Miko. My name is Fang Suliang. I am the oracle of this temple. I have been waiting for you for quite sometime," said the young woman. She looked about Kitsune's age.

"How did you know that we were coming? And why are you waiting for us?" asked Amai.

"Because my true name is Tsuki," answered the woman as she glowed her kanji. Her kanji was just below her right eye. Her kanji meant moon.

"You're a seishi," said Amai.

"My name is Inochi," said Inochi as he glowed his kanji.

"Mine's Sakana," he said as he glowed his kanji on top left hand.

"I'm Kaze," she said as she glowed her kanji.

"I am known as Kitsune. And this is our miko, Okano Amai," introduced Kitsune.

"Thanks, Kitsune," said Amai with a shy smile.

Tsuki got up from her seat. She went over to Amai and gave her bow. Amai shook her head; "There's no need for you to that." Almost everyone they had meet kept bowing before them. Especially with Amai.

"I have something for you," said Tsuki. She walked over to a tabernacle, and pulled out two scrolls. "I have the powers of a seer. I can see the future, present, and past. When I was old enough to use my powers, I foresaw where these would be. So, I came here to be an oracle for this temple. I knew that you would come here eventually." She handed the scrolls to Amai.

"This it. These are the scrolls we've been looking for. Thank you for keeping them safe, Tsuki," said Amai.

"One of the scrolls lists the locations of the seishi and their kanji names. That way we can find the other two seishi we need. It doesn't list where to find the shinzahou, but it does list where the finally gathering should take place. The other scroll is the incantation that must be spoken during the summoning. It's going to burned for the ceremony," said Tsuki.

"Is there a chance that you know where the shinzahou is?" asked Inochi.

"I've been trying, but I haven't had much luck," said Tsuki.

"Well, there are still two other things to do other than finding the shinzahou. We need all of these things to summon Byakko," interjected Kaze.

"Yeah. We have to find two more seishi. It might be easier to find them first," agreed Kitsune.

"Then, we can find the shinzahou," said Sakana.

"That sounds like a plan. I don't know a lot about the locations around Byakko. Tsuki, you know where to look because you can see it. Kaze and Kitsune, you might know how to get there because you both traveled around the country. Is there a map?" asked Amai. It was amazing how much Amai had changed since the start of this journey. She used to be more submissive, now she was stronger. She was a leader.

"According to the scrolls will find the other two seishi close to each other, Neko and Tsuchi. The cat and earth. Neko can be found in the valley of Camoi. Tsuchi can be found in a forest near there," read Tsuki.

"Then, let's go to Camoi," said Amai. Everyone agreed.

* * *

They rode to the valley of Camoi. It took two days to get there. They were walking along the fields. The horses were walking along side them. Amai and Inochi were sore and decided that they would rather walk for a while.

Inochi felt like they were all being watched. He decided to do something about it. Inochi focused his chi and vines up from the ground. It had trapped someone.

"Inochi, what the Hell are you doing?" asked Sakana.

"There's someone in there," answered Inochi calmly. There was a little girl trapped in the vines.

"Let me out of here! I didn't do anything wrong!" demanded the little girl.

"Why were you following us?" asked Amai.

"I just wanted to see who you were that's all," answered the little girl.

Tsuki looked at the little girl. She could see it clearly. "Show us your kanji, Neko," said Tsuki in gentle voice.

"You know about that?" asked the little girl.

"You mean she's a seishi," said Kaze.

"She looks too young to be a seishi," in toned Kitsune.

"I am, too, a seishi!" screamed the little girl. She glowed her kanji on her left forearm. It was the kanji for cat.

"Inochi, let her go," said Amai. Inochi let her go. The little girl hit the ground with a thud.

"OW!" exclaimed the little girl.

"Inochi, you could have let her down more gently," said Amai. She went over to help the little girl up.

"Sorry. I'm sorry Neko," said Inochi.

"That's all right. I guess I shouldn't have tried to follow all of you," said the little girl.

"Where do you live?" asked Amai. She was worried about a little girl like her out in the fields all by herself.

"Over that hill," said the little girl, "By the way, my name is Shi Mantian. But, you can call me Neko."

They all followed her to a large house. The house was isolated from the village that they had passed by earlier. There was a man waiting for them at the door. Neko ran up to him and hugged him.

"Thank you for bring my daughter back. I am Shi Chang," said the man who bowed to all of them.

"Papa, these are the people you said that we had to wait for," said Neko excitedly.

"You are the Byakko no Miko and the Byakko seishi," said Shi Chang cautiously.

"Yes. We are," answered Amai. All the other seishi glowed their bright white kanji.

"Thank Byakko. You have finally arrived. I am a theological scholar," said Shi Chang.

"You're daughter is a seishi," said Amai.

"Yes. I have known for quite some time. I have trained her as much as I can. But, I don't have any special powers to train her with," said Shi Chang.

"What are your powers?" asked Amai gently. She knew that Neko had no mother, so she didn't ask.

"My father says that I have the power of intelligence. That's it. I was hoping for flying or something," said Neko thoughtfully.

"You should be grateful. Byakko has smiled down upon you, Neko. You also get a cute name. It suits you," said Amai with a smile.

"Please stay with us tonight. There's plenty of room," said Shi Chang.

All of them went inside the house. They talked about the various powers the seishi had. They also talked about the scroll. Shi Chang studied the old scrolls with great interest. Neko told them all about the place that they were at. Everyone admired this very precocious child.

"I think I know where to find the shinzahou," said Neko's father.

"Where?" asked Tsuki.

"Based on the legends of the last groups that were here, the Seiryuu and the Suzaku, they had to go to the old castle. It's about three miles from there. The last two Byakko seishi settled. They died at over a hundred years old. It was only about two decades back. The Seiryuu group took the shinzahou by force from the Suzaku. However, I think the shinzahou moved back to their original locations on their own. That would mean the castle. My daughter knows the way to that town. There is the adopted daughter of the Byakko seishi, Shifan," said Shi Chang.

"Well, what do we have to lose?" asked Amai out loud.

"I think that's the most logical place. It's hard to say. My powers must be effected because I am not the miko," said Tsuki.

"I am. I say we go there," said Amai empathically.

"We'll leave at dawn," agreed Inochi.

* * *

The next morning, Shi Chang and his daughter shared a heartfelt goodbye. Neko was only eleven-years-old. She would miss her father during the trip away from home.

"Goodbye, Papa. I'll miss you, Papa," said Neko in her father's embrace.

"Goodbye, Mantian. My little cat," said Shi Chang.

"Don't worry. We'll keep her safe," said Amai with a smile.

Her father smiled at the other seishi and Amai. He put his daughter on a small mare just for her. He kissed her on her cheek. Neko gave her father one last hug around his neck.

"Be a good girl," said Shi Chang. They rode off. He stayed outside until they were gone from his sight.

They rode through the woods. Tsuki could feel something in the air around them. There was something. The horses looked like they were getting spooked. "I have a bad feeling about this," said Tsuki out loud.

"What?" asked Amai. She was riding up front with Neko. She was showing them the way to Shifan's. Inochi was staying close to them in the front. Kitsune had her hand on her tendo sword ready to draw. Sakana was listening to anything around him.

"Oh, great! Now, you've gotten everyone paranoid now, Tsuki," said Inochi.

"I'm serious. There's something in here!" insisted Tsuki.

"Actually…there is a rumor," said Neko quietly.

"What kind of rumor?" asked Kaze.

"That there's a man who does magic that lives in the woods as a hermit. They say that he does possession magic. He can manipulate people using his chi. Do you think he could be a seishi?" asked Neko thoughtfully.

"He could be. Let me see," said Tsuki. She focused her chi. Before she could do something. There was a puff of smoke and all was dark. Neko looked at Amai in panic. The other seishi prepared themselves and wanted to protected their miko.

Kitsune drew out her tendo sword. Sakana was ready to create doubles so that it would look like there was more of them. Inochi was in front of Amai and Neko. He had a white aura around him. Tsuki focused trying to find which direction the disturbance was coming from.

"OVER THERE!" shouted Tsuki pointing to her right. Inochi grew a wall in front of that spot using the tree branches. Sakana drew out his sword to prepare to fight. Kitsune got in front of Amai.

"We can move out of here. I think that wall will hold," said Inochi. He just wanted to get out of there. They all would be safer when they got out of there.

"Is that you Tsuchi?" asked Tsuki. There was a lot of strong powers in the air. She could feel his chi around them.

A short, well-built man emerged from the mists. He was wearing a cloak and priest's hat. He had short dark red hair and green colored eyes. He looked at them closely. The other seishi had their kanji glowing. They all looked poised to attack the man at any moment.

"Put down your weapons. If he wanted to hurt us, then he would have done it already," Amai.

"I am Tsuchi. My real name is Kong Leiken," said the man.

"You are our last seishi to be located," said Amai with a sweet smile on her face.

"Byakko no Miko. I have been looking for others like me," said the Tsuchi. He smiled at them.

"OH! I almost had a heart attack. You shouldn't go around scaring people like that," said Inochi.

"Yeah!" agreed Sakana, "We could have hurt you!"

"My name is Kaze. The two rude ones are Inochi and Sakana. The one who's putting away her tendo sword is Kitsune. The woman with the kanji is under her eye is Tsuki. Neko is our youngest seishi. And I am proud to introduce our miko, Okano Amai," said Kaze in a friendly tone.

"Rude? What do you mean RUDE?!" demanded Sakana.

"That's right. You're rude," said Kaze with her arms folded over her chest.

"What are you powers? Neko said something about the rumors of possession magic," said Inochi. They were all ignoring the argument that Sakana and Kaze were having.

"It's a magic that can take possession of people's bodies. I can make people dance or hurt others. But, that would be below my craft," said Tsuchi with a smile.

"You can make people dance?" said Neko with a smile.

"Neko, we shouldn't do things like that," said Amai.

"Aw," said Neko, "I never get to see something fun."

"Where are we off to?" asked Tsuchi.

"We're going to the old castle that's three miles from here," said Tsuki.

"Let's get moving," said Amai.

They rode off to the city near the castle to see the woman named, Shifan.

* * *

They came to an old house. It was large. There was a young man at the front.

"We are looking for Shifan," said Amai confidently.

"She's my mother. I'll go get her for you," said the young man. He didn't know why he respected these strangers, but he did. He ran into the house. He came back with a beautiful elegant woman.

"Who are you?" she asked in tender tone.

"I am the new Byakko no Miko," said Amai. Her seishi glowed their kanji. It had become standard whenever they ran into each other. It made things easier on them. Shifan gasped. It had been so long since she had heard of anyone like them. The entire country of Sailo welcomed their new miko and seishi. She didn't think that they would grace her with their appearance.

'Yes. I am Shifan. I have meet two of the Byakko seishi. They took me in when my father died. I also meet the last Suzaku group and their miko. It was so long ago. What brings you to my home?" asked Shifan as she bowed before Amai.

"We were following the clues looking for the shinzahou. We have all of our seishi and the summoning scrolls. We need to know for sure where the old castle is. The castle that held the last Byakko no Miko's shinzahou," said Amai, "Also, please stand up. I really don't need people bowing to me."

"The Byakko no Miko's shinzahou is a mirror that she used during the summoning of Byakko. It should still be at the castle. It shouldn't be too hard for you to get the shinzahou. Go down the road in front of you. Turn left at an a large, old willow. The castle should be right in front of you," reassured Shifan.

"We will go there," said Amai. All of her seishi nodded in agreement.

"Come back here when you are done. I would like it if you would spend the night here," invited Shifan.

"Thank you very much," said Amai with a smile.

"They're going there. You should take the short cut there," said Shifan when they were gone from earshot.

"Yes. I'll meet them there," said a man from behind her.

Amai and her seishi came to an old castle. Tsuchi was looking around it.

"There used to be illusionary monsters here. I can feel it in the air," said Tsuchi.

"We should go this way," said Tsuki.

They walked until they got to a shrine that had the mirror on a pedestal. It was a beautiful mirror. Amai could feel the power around it. She smiled and stepped up to it. Her seishi smiled.

"STOP!" ordered a man with flaming red hair.

"Who are you?" asked Amai.

"I am Tasuki. I am the one of the past Suzaku seishi. The Byakko seishi are resting in the world of the dead. Therefore, it is my duty to test your worthiness, Byakko no Miko," said Tasuki.

"Tasuki. He's Tasuki. He's one of the past seishi from Konan," said Sakana. He had grown up with all the legends of the different seishi from the different empires. It was like meeting one of his heroes.

"What's the test?" asked Amai.

"The test is only for you, Byakko no Miko. Your seishi may not participate. To make sure of that. I'll be putting this up," said Tasuki. There was an invincible wall in between Amai and her seishi. Chichiri had lent Tasuki the talisman to do this test. Tsuchi was wondering if he could break it down, but Amai stopped him.

"It's all right. I can do this on my own. I'm ready. What's the test?" asked Amai.

"The test is fire. If you can survive the fire, then you receive the shinzahou," said Tasuki simply.

Amai swallowed and nodded. Tasuki gave her a reassuring smile. He took out some Taoist paper. There was something written on it.

"FIRE APPEAR!" shouted Tasuki. Fire appeared all around Amai. She looked horrified.

"What kind of test is this?!" shouted Inochi in panicked voice.

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" demanded Sakana.

"STOP IT! YOU'LL KILL HER!" screamed Kaze.

"DON'T DO IT!" shouted Tsuki.

"YOU CAN'T POSSIBLY BE SERIOUS?!" yelled Tsuchi.

"AMAI!" screamed Neko.

"If you can figure out the answer to this test, then you get the shinzahou," said Tasuki as he ignored the seishi's pleads.

Amai stood there in the fire. It didn't feel hot. That was the strange thing. But, it was still burning the ground around her. The fire wasn't even hurting her.

"It's all right. The fire's won't hurt me if I believe that it won't," said Amai quietly with a smile.

"Fire disappear. Congratulations. You have passed the test. The shinzahou is yours, Byakko no Miko," said Tasuki with a smile. She had figured out the trick.

The fire was gone, and Amai walked up the three small steps to the shinzahou. She picked up the beautiful mirror, and gazed at her reflection. There was a white aura all around it.

"We're done. All we need to do now is gather and summon Byakko," said Amai in a quiet voice.

~*ClareBear's Omake*~

They are a little out of character. Do you really care?

Chiriko: Pay up everyone. I told you that the Byakko group would be done first.

Miaka: I don't believe it. I thought that Suzaku would finish first.

Hotohori: I thought that they would, too.

Tamahome: That's what I get for voting for the Seiryuu group. Even though Hoshi is on it.

Mitsukake: I thought that they would be done first, too. They are always the most prepared out of the groups.

Nuriko: I thought that the Genbu group would be done. That was the first group that originally assembled first. I guess I was wrong. How did you know that the Byakko group would be done first, Chiriko?

Chiriko: Because I'm the smartest one here. I based my prediction on the past four mikos. The Genbu no Miko was devoured. The Seiryuu no Miko was almost devoured, and they were a bunch of freaks. Our group was sorely unprepared.

Miaka: HEY!

Chiriko: The Byakko group didn't have many problems compared to the other groups. Therefore, I knew that they would assemble first. NOW PAY ME!