Shiro Den Gaiden One

by kiriel

The first gaiden for the series, Fushigi Yuugi: The Next Generation. As some of my readers requested. This is the 1st of four, and it's about the Suzaku group. A civil war is about to break out in Konan. Only one of the Suzaku seishi can stop it, but

3. A Thief at the Palace

Shiro Den: Gaiden One

Chapter Two: A Thief at the Palace

Disclaimer: I don't own Fushigi Yuugi.  You should know that by now.  You'll know the things I own when you see it.  My most expensive possessions are my text books and my computer.  Go ahead and try me.  I have no money. 

Author's Note: What I love about doing the gaidens is that they're easier to write than the series.  I can keep my focus on one group at a time and devote time to the characters.  I have to warn people that I've been watching too many Kenshin episodes lately, but I made up Shiro before I ever saw the Kenshin episodes.  Of course, for anyone who's read enough of my works, you sort of pick up on the fact that I've seen far too much anime.  Also, I've had a chance to see Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.  You find your inspiration where you can get it.  I know that for many of you, you're one of your favorite characters is Hono'o or Kou Lei.  I've decided to dive more into the past for this work.  So look forward to more weird flashbacks.

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            Hono'o was going off the palace in Eiyou.  Since the summoning of Suzaku, she had been tried like an official.  Her father was still an advisor to the Emperor.  Emperor Boushin, or Odayaka, was out of town with Chichiri to visit Hakko in the Juso prefecture to visit the temple there.  Hono'o and Shitsu were the only seishi other than Tasuki who were at the palace.  Hono'o was now seventeen years old.  Many things had happened in the last two years.  Her triplet brothers were now nineteen.  Wangshi was now a court official who was stationed at another city in Konan.  Lingsu had gotten married and was actually living closer to their paternal relatives at the base of Mt. Leikaku.  Tiaowo after much argument with their parents was now working for their maternal grandfather, Rong. 

            At the age of seventeen, Hono'o was at the age to marry.  However, she had no desire to marry anyone.  Tasuki wasn't about to let his only daughter get married unless she wanted to.  Even then, Tasuki wasn't going to be happy.  Hono'o's mother, Ling, agreed with Tasuki that their daughter shouldn't be forced to marry anyone.  Ling was forced to marry Tasuki.  Ling fell in love with him over time, but still it didn't seem fair to inflict that kind of thing on their daughter.  What would happen if Hono'o didn't fall in love with the person she was arranged with?  Her parents wanted her to be happy.     

None of the Suzaku seishi had seen Shiro in the past two years.  Shiro's room was empty and clean when it was discover that he had disappeared.  Kouji was both furious and hurt by his son's sudden departure.  Shiro didn't even come home for an over due visit.  Nobody knew if he was dead or alive, but from the other world Mariko assured everyone that Shiro was alive.  He was nowhere to be found.  It was as if he had disappeared into thin air.   Hono'o wasn't too surprised when Shiro had gone; she expected it from him.

The Deity Sword was kept in the palace armory with a spell to kept it safe.  Odayaka used his magic to make the spell.  He never took it with him unless he had to.  So, he didn't take the sword with him.

Hono'o was working late in the palace with Shitsu.  "Shitsu, I'm going home," said Hono'o.  She was getting ready to walk off the palace grounds, but she heard a noise nearby.  It was faint and barely audible.  Hono'o didn't know what was going on, so she decided to check it out.  She ran to where the noise was coming from.  It was coming from the armory.  The Deity sword was there.   Hono'o came to the armory to find black clad thief inside.  The thief was the same height as her.  Hono'o got into a battle stance, so did the thief.  "What do want?" demanded Hono'o.  The thief said nothing.  He jump passed Hono'o and ran for the entrance of the armory.  Hono'o had to make sure that the sword was secured first, so she created a ring of fire on the floor surrounding the sword.  When Hono'o was quick, and also put a fire wall at the entrance.  She took off after the thief.

"Damn, where is he?" asked Hono'o out loud.  She spotted the thief scaling the wall and heading for the roof.  Hono'o formed a fireball that was launched towards the roof, but the thief was too fast.  "DAMN!  SOUND THE ALARM!  GO TO THE ARMORY!" she shouted hoping that the guards would go into action.  The guards scrambled to follow her orders.  Hono'o decided to continue her pursuit of the thief.  She ran to the fence so that she could jump to the roof. 

"YOU'RE NOT GETTING AWAY FROM ME!  SUZAKU'S FIRE BURN!" Hono'o shouted as a fire arrow came to stop the thief.  The thief flipped off the roof.  He had stopped midair almost defying gravity.  Hono'o's eyes widened as she ran to a lower roof so that she could land softly.  Recently Hono'o had learned that she was able to float in midair with enough concentration, but she didn't have the time to do that.  She had to get down before the thief get away.  If she had tried to float down, she would have probably fallen. 

Hono'o decided to do use her powers to surround the thief.  She realized that the outer buildings of the palace would have surely burn down.  The thief didn't look the slightest bit fazed by Hono'o's attack.  Hono'o decided to see if she could burn the only possible exit the thief could take.  'He's either got to head for the rooftops again, or go where I am," thought Hono'o.  She had to catch the thief and find out why someone would want to steal the Deity Sword. 

The thief ran for the rooftop and started towards where Hono'o was at an incredible speed.  Hono'o jumped up the roof to meet the thief halfway.  Hono'o got back into a battle stance and the thief got into one as well.  There was no where for him to go.  Hono'o launched an attack, but she was blocked by the thief.  The thief was faster than her.  He came down hard on her back with a pressure point, and Hono'o came down to her knees.  She began to surround her body with heat, but on the roof it wasn't a very good idea because it would burn through.  The thief noticed and moved down to the building on the side next to the wall that surrounded the palace and took off running once he scaled the wall.  Hono'o realized too late that she was burning a hole on the roof that she was on.  She fell through the rooftop into one of the royal stables.  All the horses were looking at Hono'o strangely.

"DAMN!" screamed Hono'o at the top of her lungs startling the horses.  

*           *           *

The next morning Hono'o and Shitsu were back at the palace surveying the damage that had been done the night before.  They were waiting for Chichiri and Odayaka to come back from to their pilgrimage to Juso.  They were outside in the courtyard where the thief had gone through.  Tasuki was with them.  He whistled lowly as he looked around.

"You know, Hono'o, you're dangerous.  Look what you did to the palace.  I don't think those horses are going to recover from how you scared them," said Shitsu shaking her head. 

"It's not my fault!" exclaimed Hono'o defensively.

"Hono'o," said Tasuki as he gestured at the damage done around them.

"Well…maybe, some of this is my fault, but it only happened because someone tried to steal Odayaka's sword.  And I kept that safe, Papa," said Hono'o.  Tasuki and Shitsu were sweatdropped.  They both sighed.

"What happened here?" asked a calm voice from behind.

"Oh, nothing, Odayaka," said Hono'o who was now superdeformed and sweatdropped as she looked away from Chichiri and Odayaka.

"Nothing, no da?" said Chichiri who was now sweatdropped.

"Hmm.  The guard at the front did say something about the Deity Sword almost getting stolen.  Maybe, the thief did this," said Odayaka.  Tasuki and Shitsu tried not to laugh.  Hono'o was trying to escape Odayaka's notice.  "But then again, judging by the burn marks…it had to be Hono'o," he concluded.  Hono'o froze where she was and fell over superdeformed twitching.

"Well, that explains it.  What happened, no da?" asked Chichiri. 

"A thief came into the armory.  It was like the guy knew where the sword was.  I had to stop him from taking it," said Hono'o.

"The sword can only be used by its owner," said Odayaka. 

"We have some information, no da.  We have to talk in private, no da," said Chichiri.  Tasuki gave him a strange look because Chichiri sounded serious.

All of them walked into Emperor Odayaka's study.  Odayaka placed a shielding spell to make sure that no one could hear what they were saying.

"Now, that everything's ready.  I'll start.  We came back sooner because of something we heard.  There are rumors that there is an army building up on the border near Kutou," said Odayaka.

"What?!  We've got an alliance with Kutou!" exclaimed Tasuki.

"It's not Kutou," said Chichiri as he stripped off his mask.

"The rumors are not confirmed.  We must sent people to check it out," said Odayaka.

"What concerns me is the thief who was at the palace?  Could this rumor have something to do with it?" asked Shitsu.

"I don't know, but we can't take that chance," said Odayaka.

"I was just thinking about something," said Hono'o softly.  Tasuki looked at his daughter with a raised eyebrow.

"What?" asked Odayaka.

"The thief.  He had some strange moves.  He had stopped midair and then landed on the ground.  He used his fingers to press points in my spine.  He was almost too fast to see in the dark," said Hono'o replaying last night's events in her mind.  Her eyes were closed.

"Wait…that sounds like…" started Shitsu.

"Shiro," said Odayaka, Tasuki, and Chichiri in sync. 

"Why would he want to steal the Deity Sword?  Besides, he's a fighter not a thief," said Hono'o.  Tasuki had a smirk on his face during her last comment. 

"Shiro couldn't use the sword either," said Odayaka.

"What if the thief was working for someone who wanted to disable you?  Taking the sword would do that," said Shitsu.  Being a weapons maker she knew about that sort of thing.  Odayaka shook his head.

"No.  I don't really need it.  I use it as last resort when my magic can't be used," said Odayaka.

"We should find Shiro, no da," advised Chichiri. 

"He might know who the person was who fought with Hono'o the night before," agreed Tasuki.

"Fine.  We should leave right away," agreed Odayaka.

"I don't think you should go, Odayaka.  It would look suspicious since you just came back from a trip, no da.  Besides, you're getting married in month, no da.  There's a lot of planning to be done, no da.  You shouldn't leave in case the rumors are true, no da," said Chichiri wisely.  Odayaka frowned slightly.  He looked at Tasuki for a possible disagreement between the two, but it was a no.  Tasuki was shaking his head. 

"Should we tell, Mariko?" asked Hono'o.

"I think that she'll already know," said Odayaka with a smile on his face.  Mariko and Odayaka were suppose to be married in about a month, but Mariko had been going to school in Tokyo during that time.  They had to wait until she was able to be free for the summer for the wedding.  Odayaka didn't mind because they had been together for two years.  She was going to be the Empress of Konan.  The counsel hoped that she would have luck controlling the Emperor.  Mariko was more than the love of Odayaka's life, but she was also his partner in crime. 

"Then we should go off and find Shiro, right Hono'o?" said Shitsu.

"Yes!" answered Hono'o.  She was ready to leave home again for some adventure. 

"You sound too eager to get away from your mother and me," said Tasuki with a hurt look on his face. 

"No, no, no…that's not it, Papa.  I love you very much, but I'm bored," said Hono'o with a sweatdropped.  Tasuki looked at her funny.  

"You be careful, Lei," said Tasuki using her given name to make a point with her.  Chichiri, Odayaka, and Shitsu were sweatdropped.

"We'll make preparations," said Odayaka. 

Tasuki, Chichiri, and Shitsu left to go and take care of those.  Hono'o was going to go with them, but Odayaka stopped. Her.

"Be careful, Lei," said Odayaka with a calm smile on his face.

"I will be," assured Hono'o.  'This is really starting to be a pain.  I'm seventeen for Suzaku's sake.  I can take care of myself.  It's just 'cause I'm the youngest,' she thought.

"I know that you and Shitsu plan on going your separate ways when you get outside of Eiyou.  Don't lie to me, I've known you since you were born," said Odayaka with his arms crossed over his chest.  He was like another older brother to Hono'o.  She let out a sigh and nodded. 

            "Yes.  But, Odayaka, we can cover more ground if we separate," said Hono'o.

            "I'm not disapproving.  But, I think your father assumes that you'll be sticking together," said Odayaka. 

            "Oh…I haven't thought about that," said Hono'o quietly.  Of course, Tasuki would assume that she would stick with Shitsu.

            "I'll cover for you while you're gone.  But, the three of us will keep contact," said Odayaka.

            "Thanks, Odayaka.  Mariko is so fortunate for having someone as understanding as you," said Hono'o as she gave him a hug.

            "Yeah, yeah.  Let's get going," said Odayaka with a smile.  They walked together to one of the dining rooms to have a meal where they were planning the trip that they were going to take to find Shiro.

*           *           *

            "I get so worried whenever you go away like this, Lei," said Ling as she looked at her daughter with concern from the other across the family table at the Kou House.  Tiaowo was sitting next to his younger sister.  It's been quiet in the Kou's house since his fellow brothers left.  He considered his duty to tease his sister in for the two absent brothers. 

            "I'll be fine, Mother," assured Hono'o.

            "Yeah.  Who would attack a fire bug like her anyway?" said Tiaowo.

            "I am not a fire bug," snapped Hono'o.

            "I heard what happened at the palace last night," said Tiaowo with a smirk on his face.  Hono'o sweatdropped. 

            "Now, you two don't fight.  Please," said Ling immediately. 

            "Hono'o, where are you going to first?  There is a lot of ground to cover.  Shiro could be anywhere," said Tasuki.

            "I thought that Mt. Leikaku might be the best place to start.  I want to see if Shiro has written Uncle Kouji and Aunt Shumi in a while," said Hono'o.  She didn't say what the real plan was.  It was hard enough to keep her father in Eiyou with Odayaka and Chichiri.  Odayaka managed to convince Tasuki to remain in Eiyou.  Shitsu and Hono'o had agreed to go off into two different directions.  Shitsu would go to Shiro's trail in the west in Sailo.  That was where Shiro had started his travels.  Perhaps that where he went.  Hono'o would go to Mt. Leikaku, Shiro's birth place, and ask his parents questions about his whereabouts.  Later on, Hono'o would travel eastward towards Kutou to investigate the rumors about the gathering army, but she didn't want her father to know that for sure.  After the second coming of Suzaku, Tasuki had been paying more attention to his daughter.  He was watching her like a hawk. 

            "I don't know.  Kouji says that he hasn't heard from him in awhile.  Mariko says that he's still alive, but his life force must be weak or hidden," said Tasuki.

            "God, we've been to Mt. Leikaku more in the last year, then he's been in the last four years," said Tiaowo.  He had seen Shiro in action.  He liked the different fighting styles that Shiro had used, but there was something about him that Tiaowo was awry of.

            "We don't even know if he would know anything for sure," said Ling thoughtfully. 

            "What do you mean, Mother?" asked Hono'o.

            "You say that he's knowledgeable in several fighting styles.  How do we know if this is one of his fighting styles?" asked Ling.

            "A fight style can vary, but it's unique for each user," said Tasuki.

            "I know that we can't be certain that it's Shiro, but that's the only lead we've got," said Hono'o. 

            "If I were you I would avoid Grandma and Grandpa's because Grandma and all our aunts are still trying to marry you off," advised Tiaowo.  Hono'o glared at him for being right.  She knew that he was right. 

            "Hey!  What's this about you avoiding my family?!" cried Tasuki.  Only he may avoid, the rest of his family couldn't.

            "Hee..hee…they're trying to marry me off, Papa," said Hono'o.  The Kou family near Mt. Leikaku wanted her to be married off to someone who was closer to the rest of the family and away from Eiyou.  They had managed to get Lingsu, and were trying for the rest of the children.

            "Good point.  There's no way they're going to marry off my baby," said Tasuki firmly.  Hono'o smiled weakly while her mother and brother were sweatdropped.

*           *           *

            "Take care and if anything happens tell me.  And I mean anything," said Tasuki to Hono'o.  It wasn't that he didn't trust her, but the last time she went off like this she came back ill and wouldn't tell him why.  Hono'o smiled at her father.  Shitsu had no family and was waiting for her anywhere.  Her family were her fellow seishi. 

            "I will Papa.  Now, let me go," said Hono'o referring to the fact that Tasuki was gripping her up arm gently.  Tasuki let her go reluctantly. 

            "We have to cover a lot of ground before dark," said Shitsu.  It was still early in the morning, but there was a lot to do.  Chichiri nodded.  They were waiting for Odayaka who had finally arrived.

            "Sorry, I'm late," said Odayaka, but there really was no need for him to apologize.  He was emperor he could do whatever he wanted. 

            "That's alright," said Hono'o. 

            "Too bad, you can't come with us, Odayaka," said Shitsu.

            Hono'o hugged her family one last time.  Odayaka and Chichiri both gave Shitsu a hug.  It was now really time to go.  Hono'o got on her horse on her own.  Shitsu also mounted her horse.  They took off, and everyone stayed in the courtyard until Hono'o and Shitsu could no long be seen.

            They rode hard until they got to the outside of Eiyou, specifically until they got to where the road divided.  This is where they were going to separate.

            "I'll go to Sailo," said Shitsu as she turned her horse to go the west.

            "I'll be going to Mt. Leikaku.  Shitsu, be careful," said Hono'o.

            "That's the first in a long time that anyone has said anything to me like that.  Thank you, Hono'o.  Take care as well," Shitsu with a smile on her face as she rode off.

            Hono'o took a deep breath as she steered her horse in the direction of Mt. Leikaku and took off alone.

~*ClareBear's Omake*~

Nuriko: Just so you guys know.  ClareBear doesn't like the new html tagging system implemented at http://www.fanfiction.net/.  But, she's learning how to deal with it. 

Tamahome: That was pretty funny with the horses at the stable.

Nuriko: Yes…too bad I missed that thing in the desert with Tasuki and his horse.  But, I was definitely there in spirit.

Chiriko (giggling) : Yes, it so funny.  The horse kicked him, and then punched him with an upper cut.

Tamahome: I missed that?

Chiriko: Yes, you were looking for Miaka while we were supposed to go on ahead to Sailo.

Mitsukake: I thought it was a bad idea on Tasuki's part to take the carrot away from the horse in the first place.  He had to beg the horse to let him ride him. 

Tamahome: Aww.  I missed all the fun.

Miaka: But, you were looking for me!

Tamahome: Hee…hee…that's right.  No hard feelings, but I would have liked to see Tasuki's horse beat him up.

Nuriko: It's one of ClareBear's favorite scenes in Fushigi Yuugi. 

Hotohori: Imagine if Hono'o had burned down the palace.

Chiriko: Odayaka took it pretty well considering the damage. 

Miaka: Next omake…ClareBear's ranking for her favorite seishi revealed!

Nuriko: I know I'm her favorite.

Hotohori: I don't think that's possible.  I think that I'm her favorite because I'm beautiful and smart.  And she likes my son as one of her favorite new seishi.  I gave him his looks and brains.

Tamahome: I'm sure that Houki would love to know that she had nothing to do with your son.  After all, she's just his mother.

Hotohori: No, she gets credit, of course.  I love her very much. 

Miaka: Anyway, until next time.  Bye, bye.

The seishi are in the background fighting over who's better.  Miaka is shaking her head at their pettiness and their out of characterness (that's not a word and I know it).