Let the Book be Opened Once More!
Disclaimer: Uhhh….this one's confusing. The original characters and basic idea of the world and stuff belongs to Yuu Watase, but I kinda made up the characters in a funky way. So let's leave it at that. *Sweatdrop* oh, but new characters are mine.
Notes: A few things. There may be some spoilers for the whole series, for one. And also, as it'll be explained later, this is 100 years later, book time. (Question: Why do the new seishi have the original ones' names? Answer: Because the seishi are named after the constellations, and for consistency they would all be named the same) Things get REALLY weird in this fic…and the Suzaku seishi are the bad guys. ^_^ The real world pieces of this fic are set in America, in a town very much like YOURS… *creepy music* But seriously, there's no specific time lapse in the real world because I hate math and don't wanna give myself a headache.
By the way, I'm still working on Everlasting Story and I'm about a third of the way done with chapter 13. ^_^ Go read it if you haven't… (shameless plug, but hey…whatever works. ^_^)
ANY QUESTIONS??? No? OK!! Well then…
LET THE BOOK BE OPENED!! (read: let's start the story)
Chapter 1
The final bell rang for the day, and students flooded into the hallway. One in particular remained near the door of her classroom. This was Laurel Peters, age 16, sophomore. She was small and, as her friends playfully described her, bony. She had long, deep brown hair that she often braided loosely and hung over her shoulder. Her eyes were light mahogany, and were shielded by delicate gold-rimmed glasses.
Another girl, one more noticeable, walked towards Laurel. Her best friend since forever, Maggie (or Mags) Anderson. More noticeable because of her somewhat revealing clothes, particularly, that only just met the dress code. Maggie was the daring sort, with short-cropped blonde hair and bright blue eyes.
Laurel slung her bookbag over her shoulder and began walking. Maggie held her own books in her hands; her excuse for not having a bookbag was that it 'never matched her clothes.'
It was odd that they were such good friends, being extreme opposites. Laurel, a studious worker, was still lucky if she got a 'C' on a quiz that she studied for two nights on. On the other hand, Maggie seemed to glide by effortlessly, earning good report cards and an honor roll certificate for each quarter.
One thing, however, brought them together: their favorite anime series. It had been dubbed 'Mysterious Play', but both preferred the actual name, 'Fushigi Yuugi.' It was their absolute favorite show of all time. In fact, Laurel kept her hair braided in honor of her favorite character, Nuriko. Maggie favored Tasuki's blunt honesty and fiery temperament, but also honored the Seiryuu twins, Suboshi and Amiboshi, for being so devoted to each other…even if Suboshi killed four children because of it. Both of them seemed to be completely in love with Tamahome and Hotohori.
"We have to stop by the library," Laurel reminded Maggie.
"Can't we just go to my house and watch the OAVs? Please? I don't want to start this report today," Maggie whined.
"Mags, we can't wait till the last minute to get this report done," Laurel said, detesting Maggie's casual attitude towards their project. "We don't even know what we're going to write about!"
"Oh! Idea!" Maggie suddenly shouted. "Why don't we write about ancient China? It's perfect! We're both interested, and it won't be too boring!"
"I don't know, Mags," Laurel muttered. "I don't think it'll be quite as interesting as in the Four Gods book."
"But still…aw, c'mon Laurel! It could be so much fun to study…besides, the paper's only gotta be four pages! I'm sure we'll have enough material. And you never know…we could actually find a copy of the book." There was an almost frightening, mischievous glint in her eyes as she spoke. Laurel sighed in defeat as they headed to the library, Maggie's reluctance to work long forgotten, and the Universe of the Four Gods in their heads.
~*~
"You check the book search. I'm going to the nonfiction section," Laurel instructed. Maggie sat down at one of the library's up-to-date computers (A/N: a very far cry from MY library…I'd doubt if they had anything recent T_T) and typed in a search for 'ancient China'. The list of matches was extremely lengthy, so she followed Laurel to the nonfiction bookshelves.
"What did you find?" Laurel asked quietly, browsing the shelves of the history section.
"The list was too long…we'd never get through all of that," Maggie muttered from the other side of the shelf. She walked slowly, running her hand along the bindings of the various books.
"There's tons of stuff here!" Laurel had already pulled three thick, heavy books from their shelf, and two smaller ones. She had another in her hand, reading the summary of its contents. "We could get this report done in no time!"
"And then we can go watch Fushigi Yuugi?" Maggie pleaded.
"Of course."
"Great!" Suddenly, Maggie started to look with interest at what her hand was sliding over. Before long she had pulled out three informative books by well-known historians, and was looking at a fourth. She wrinkled her nose and put it back, then continued her search.
Suddenly, her hand brushed against an older volume and she stared at it with a look of horror.
"Mags? Something wrong?" Laurel set her books down, pushed her glasses up on her nose as they had slid down, and went to see what Maggie had found.
"L-Laurel…look," Maggie whispered, pointing at a book on the shelf. Laurel moved to a position where she could read the title.
"What is it? The…oh my god." She stepped back in sheer awe. "It's here. It's here!!" People looked up from their reading at the girl who was shouting hysterically in the library. The librarian at the desk a few yards away gave her a disapproving look. Laurel blushed and looked back at the shelf.
Maggie had pulled the book from the shelf and was looking at it carefully. She examined the white binding along the spine and brushed her fingers over the red leather-like cover. It was printed in English, with large black letters.
"The Universe of the Four Gods," Maggie whispered. "English translation. No author…no publisher…no copyright date. This has to be a joke." She laughed. In most of the fan fiction she read, anyone finding the book would be eager to believe it, and she assumed that she would be too. Of course, she never considered the fact that she might actually find a copy.
"A translation of a translation," Laurel muttered, smiling a bit. Of course it had to be a joke…what else could it be? But… "What if it's real?"
Maggie frowned as she stared at the label on the side, marking it as a legitimate book that could be checked out.
"We should get it," she muttered.
"Mags…" Laurel trailed off.
"It could be real," Maggie pointed out. "And even if it isn't, it might make for good research material." They gathered their books and went to the checkout desk. Laurel and Maggie both grabbed their library cards and handed them to the woman at the desk. In a matter of minutes they were on their way to Maggie's house…more specifically, her grandmother's.
"Gramma! I'm home! Laurel and I have to start a report so, uh, could you please try not to disturb us?"
"Oh, Margaret! You're back from school a bit late, I suppose you stopped somewhere on the way?" Her aging grandmother, who looked like she could pass for a mother, walked into the room as Maggie shut the door behind her.
"Gramma, it's Maggie, not Margaret. I've told you enough…Maggie's what's written on my birth certificate."
"But Margaret is a name much more suited to a young lady," her grandmother objected. Maggie rolled her eyed.
"That's exactly why I hate it."
"Oh, my! Did you stop by the library?"
"Yeah. I told you, we've got a report to do."
"That's right…I must be losing my memory in my old age." Her grandmother winked. Maggie smiled.
"Well if anything, at least you haven't lost your looks." It was true. Her brown hair was only streaked lightly with gray. Hardly a wrinkle mussed her face, and she still stood taller than Maggie.
"Why thank you, erm…Maggie." Her grandmother sent her a warm smile.
"You're very welcome. Now, we have work to do, so…" First, though, Maggie set her books down and moved into the kitchen. After getting a large bag of potato chips and two cans of soda, she and Laurel carefully toted their research material upstairs.
Maggie's room was like another world compared to the soft blues and whites that covered the walls of the rest of the house. The walls were a brilliant shade of red-violet. There was a teal-purple-green-like wallpaper border cutting the wall in half, and it matched her bedspread. Most of the furniture matched, with the same maple wood used. On her desk she kept dozens of printed fan fictions, mangas, and a computer. On the other side, near her bed, was a rather large television/VCR with a shelf that held all sixteen volumes of Fushigi Yuugi, as well as the OAVs.
Most of the posters on her walls and ceiling were devoted to Fushigi Yuugi. There was also one for Magic Knight Rayearth, Evangelion, and a small, but interesting, Card Captor Sakura printout from Laurel's color printer.
"You seem to have more posters and wallscrolls every time I visit," Laurel joked, grinning.
"Nah, I just never like where I put them." Laurel's eyes moved towards the bed.
"I see you still have your Tasuki shrine in the same place."
"Hell yeah, he's always the first thing I see when I wake up," Maggie agreed. Her 'shrine' was a large collection of the best Tasuki pictures she could find- colored, clothed, and otherwise. There was also a small section by her desk devoted to the Seiryuu twins.
"You're obsessed," Laurel muttered, dropping her books on the floor. Maggie copied her motion, and the odd Four Gods book slid from the top of the pile and landed near her Fushigi Yuugi video collection.
"Whaddya say we put on a little background noise?" Maggie suggested, picking up the remote for her TV. She clicked it on and pushed play for the VCR. Immediately a Fushigi Yuugi tape was put into motion.
Laurel decided to go boot up Maggie's computer, and noticed that the wallpaper for her desktop was (of course) Tasuki. She rolled her eyes. "Maggie's worse than I am…" Of course, she couldn't really judge that. After all, she had her own shrine to Nuriko and an anti-Ashitare-and-Nakago wall.
"Laurel, let's hit the books!" Maggie called. Laurel turned around and noticed that Maggie didn't have actual reference material in her hand. Instead it was that Four Gods book.
"Mags…" Laurel trailed off. Did she really believe that the book was real?
"It couldn't hurt," Maggie said with a half-smile. She looked so hopeful…like a child, hoping that they got what they wanted for Christmas. It almost hurt Laurel to see that hope in her best friend's eyes…she had wanted to escape reality for so long, and now, here was a ghost of a chance.
Laurel had to admit that she hoped it was real, too. Who wouldn't? To be swept into such a magical adventure…her heartbeat quickened at the thought. She went to join her friend.
"It's in English," Maggie pointed out.
"Umm…duh," Laurel said flatly. Maggie flipped the cover over and looked at the first page. It was blank, except for the first line. She began to read,
"This is the story of a girl who traveled to another world and gained the power to summon a beast god who would grant her wishes… I guess this was the closest translation they could come up with." She frowned…nothing more appeared on the page. Both she and Laurel waited for a few minutes, and still nothing happened.
"Uhhh…" Laurel muttered. "Isn't there supposed to be a bright red light or something?"
"I guess it was fake after all," Maggie said with a sigh. A hope…shattered into a thousand pieces, like a mirror…water mirror…mizu kagami…Chichiri. Maggie smacked herself on the forehead. There was always a way to relate everything to Fushigi Yuugi. She stood up. "I'm goin' to the bathroom. Be back in a minute."
"'Kay," Laurel muttered, still staring at the empty book. There was something weird about all of this…who would pull such an elaborate prank?
She suddenly felt hot, and then a bright light shined all around her. She looked around for the source…it was the book.
"It's…it's real, after all," she thought, shielding her eyes from the blindingly bright glow. Soon, she had the sensation of falling…and she knew no more.