Sister to Miko
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Category: Fushigi Yuugi Fanfic OC
Warnings: None
Author's Note: This fic begins in Kounan before the Suzaku no Miko is discovered. You'll find that not everything is as predictable as you'd think... Also, I'm changing some details about the story, so just play along.
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Chapter One: Kounan Palace
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*Kiku*
"Out, out, out!" The crude, fat man ushered us out of the carriage brusquely.
We were a group of girls who had been stolen from our homes. Well, for most of us, anyway.
You see, our emperor in China was eighteen, the age to get married, but hadn't chosen a wife yet. Every other person who wanted to get rich quick was transporting large amounts of girls to the capital to try and attract him, hoping to blackmail the new empress, though all their efforts were in vain. In this way, our emperor unknowingly created torture for us (though he was a good emperor).
I looked at the bunch of us. We lived about half an hour's horse ride away from the capital, and most of us had been from fairly well-to-do families, but now the girls who surrounded me were pale and sickly from days of waiting in the nauseating cart, moaning and whining. How the men (who had captured us) expected us to even make it as trial concubines was a mystery to me.
Yeah, I knew a lot of what was going on in the palace. Not everyone did, though...
We looked up at the palace. The girls around me livened up, oohing and aahing. My expression was bored but I was a little relieved, knowing that soon, I would be out of there...
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"Clean, fresh water!" Harushi, the skinny girl next to me, splashed around in the tub, like the rest of us, disbelieving of what surrounded us.
The bony old woman who was supposed to inspect the concubines-to-be, thought that the three of us had the potential to be the emperor's future wife. She paid the greedy cart-driver and let us wash and dress up.
I used to be a little ashamed of my body, as I had slight muscles and a light tan from exercise. Now, after practically starving for three days, I had a slimmer figure. The other girls who had once had slim figures were now skin and bones. Moral of the story: you may get more than what you wish for.
"Okay," said Madam Niyodo once we were sitting around her in brand new undergarments, "this is the palace, not your local fishmarket. There are rules and proprieties to be observed. You have to do up your hair. There will be maids around, and if you need help, just call one over. Remember this golden rule about your hair: never leave your hair down or plain without any accessories until you retire to bed. NEVER. This applies to all females."
"Hai."
"Now I'll show you around the only three areas you can go to, then you can explore a little until bedtime. Half past six, every night. If you are not in the concubine chamber by then, it's off with your heads!"
"Hai."
She led us around the three blocks we could roam freely: East, West and Middle; all squares of rooms with a garden in the centre. We could not harm the insects, plants or fish and had to leave everything in the same condition as it had been before we touched it.
Then she showed us to the concubine chambers in the middle block and introduced us to the other five concubines in the hallway.
Aki was quiet. Hiromi was the fairest of us all, from what I could tell, and was most likely to seduce the emperor. Fumiko seemed cheerful and outgoing, sort of like Haru. Suguru looked a little grumpy, but Fumiko told me it was because she had been having a cold. Lastly was Moriya, the eldest at eighteen and slightly bossy. I realised that I was the youngest of the eight (I was fourteen though I looked about sixteen), but probably the most mature.
Madam Niyodo left us with a "behave yourselves" and all of them secretly grinned (except Suguru).
"Did she show you the emperor's chamber? In the North Court?" Fumiko pried.
"No," Yanagida answered truthfully.
"Hiromi almost saw in once!" Fumiko piped happily.
"Almost lost her head too," Moriya berated. I secretly agreed.
"Does anyone know what the emperor looks like?" I asked.
"No..." she said, almost mournfully.
"I heard he's really handsome," Hiromi said, looking in her mirror and tossing her hair.
"Apparently, he's got some guests in the North Court," Aki informed us shyly.
"We're not allowed to go into any of the rooms, though," Fumiko added.
"So we can only see the gardens?" Harushi's shoulders sagged.
"Yeah... they're going to keep us here until nine concubines are gathered," Fumiko said sympathetically.
"I'll go look around the gardens," I said, leaving the rest to gossip. "I still have fifteen minutes..."
I sat on a rock in the West Court and looked at myself in the pond. My hair was in an elaborate structure fastened by a million pins, I was made up heavily (actually, I was supposed to have been, but I wiped a great deal of it off) and wearing an intricately embroidered dress. This was nice, like for a second, but I really wanted to get home. I just had to find the North Court, but I had to find the right time too...
Just then, a bee darted around in front of my nose. With a sharp gasp, I lost my balance and wobbled around with that awful dread in my stomach; the one that tells you you're going to fall. This was going to be a great first day in the pond...
Suddenly, a hand caught mine and pulled. I came face to face with a beautiful lady who looked about five years my senior. So Moriya wasn't the oldest after all...
"Thank you Miss... you're strong!" I thanked her after half a minute of hyperventilation. Before she could reply, I noticed her loose green hair and added, "I don't know if Madam Niyodo told you, but you had better get your hair up quickly or you might get into trouble. Here!" I took a couple of pins out of my hair and passed it to her.
She smiled as she took them, though it seemed more like a smile of amusement than one of gratitude. "I'll be fine, thanks," she said.
She was asking for trouble! "Please," I almost begged. "I know you're a kind person, arigatou again for saving me. I don't want to see you get into trouble. Do you want me to help you?"
"No, no," she jerked her head away, "I won't be in trouble, but thank you for being so -"
Her voice was cut off halfway with a loud "dong, dong, dong", like the sound of the bells in the monastery. I realised it probably was bedtime.
"I have to go, and you'd better get going too," I left her a last reminder before gathering up my skirts and rushing off.