((A/N: As promised, here is my "chart", order being Chinese first, then Japanese, who/what it is, and, if I know, the meaning :

Huan-Lang/Genrou/*if you dunno...* Tasuki's bandit alias/ "Phantasm Wolf"
Knei-Gong/Kouji/Our cheek-scared pal, Tasuki's second in command/ "Young Victor"
Rui-Ni/Eiken/The shtupid hentai dude/ "Imperial Likeness" *snickers*
Tsing-Ka/Tsuka/ Emperor-Chasing bandit/I just made up the name ^^;;
Ligé-San Mountain/Mt. Reikakuzan/the bandits' mountain/ "Strength Tower"

((Important note: "Faggot" is a bundle of sticks, commonly used as a torch. I'm using it in a line where "match" would normally be used, because dere ain't no matches in ancient China!

((Beware of sap! SAP SAP SAP SAP SAP SAP!! Touch of spice, but no one DOES anything. I can't write shtuff like that (I can barely write *this*)

((Finally, notice anything about Tasuki? 'Yeah, he's OOC, y'punk!' *sweatdrop* Not really. What it is is character development. He's changing, as is everyone else in the story. THAT's why it's important to read all of the chapters carefully no da ^.^)

((OK, on with da' fic :))


Tsuki no Hitokoro

~Assassins Of The Moon~

Ptah-Shu awoke from her dreamless sleep in a good mood. Her father's friend and comrade-in-arms as a Byakko Shichiseishi, Uncle Subaru, had come to visit. She got up and began to walk across the huge empty wood-floored room to the sleeping form of her brother, yet didn't go anywhere. But she walked on.

~*~Tasuki no da, I know you're worried about Rasconza... We all are...~*~

Shu finally reached her brother, but he wasn't there. In his place was a simple kasa.

~*~Ya haven't slept in three days, Genrou...~*~

She shrugged and put the kasa on. She walked outside into her family's eating-room and was shocked and horrified at what she saw. It was a man in a great black cloak, with a blood soaked sword, looming over her father. Her mother lay crumpled on the floor, a broken breakfast-plate still in her rigid hand. Her father was backed up against the wall, too shocked to be brave. He began to stammer.

~*~Why, dammit?! Why her?!!!!! What the hell is going ON?!~*~

"Wh-Why?"

"Because," the man said in an eerily familiar voice, ""Because people are just pitiful, Pops. So damn pitiful and wretched it ain't even funny."



~*~Just go away guys...~*~

Shu watched in horror as the man dropped the sword and released two white disks, neatly severing her father's head. The killer walked outside.

~*~Rassy... Come back to me...~*~

'Who's Rassy?' Shu thought as she charged after the man outside. She clenched a fist. 'More importantly, why the hell do I CARE at a time like this?!' She dashed out the door to avenge her family.

"You!! The bastard 'n black!" The man seemed to be chuckling. He removed his hood slowly, and Shu froze for a moment, unable to do anything at all as the tears of total bewilderment fell down her face.

"K-Kara...suki?"

~*~I won't let ANYTHING happen to you... No matter who's trying to do it...~*~

Karasuki was not the Karasuki she knew!! Not HER Karasuki! He was grown now, older than her seventeen-year-old brother!! His silvery hair was so long, his cheeks striped with blue warpaint. And his eyes were so... Evil...

A tiny smirk twitched at his face.

"Die."

~*~Or how...~*~

The Hanonigaishin sped toward her. She didn't move. She couldn't have moved in time at the speed it was going, anyway, and she wasn't sure she wanted to. As long as it all went away...

SHWISH

A black and orange blur flashed before her eyes, its loop about her accented with a gruesome red splash.. The man fell to the earth.

~*~Or at what cost to m'self...~*~

"Oh gods... Tasuki..." Shu had grown. She was Rasconza again. She stared at the body with the gashes across his chest, the man who had taken the blow for her.

She felt it... She felt the symbol on her chest blaze. Her eyes became slits, her canines extended, and white fur began to cover her body. It hurt. It hurt when the rivers of hair erupted from her flesh, letting little crimson drops fleck at her demon face. She snarled and spat and growled as the claws formed, and she lost all remaining control. A low growl formed in her throat.

~*~And I don't hate you fer what ya did... How the hell could I ever hate *you*...? You had no control... Just...~*~

"DIE!!!"

Her claws were imbedded in Karasuki's neck before she had finished the word. She stared at the dead figure on the horse in front of her. He was Karasuki, just like he'd been when he was seven. His eyes were wide with terror.

And the only weapon he had was a fork.

Rasconza began to cry. There came a soft moan from behind her. The fur reburied itself under her skin as she rushed over to Tasuki.

"R-Rasconza?"

The world vanished. It was a sea of gray, with a phantom wolf and a lone tigress at its center.

"Y-Yeah?"

"Do...me a favor...?" Warm blood began to trickle from his mouth, mingling with her tears that were dropping onto his face.

"ANYTHING!" She cried, much louder than she'd intended to. Tasuki placed a finger over her lips.

~*~Just...~*~

"Just..." He gasped out as he squeezed her hand. "Just c..."

**********************************************************

"...ome back to me."

The first thing Rasconza saw was a hazy orange blur.

"Come on Rasconza... Dammit, why are ya DOIN this to me?!" She felt the futon underneath her wobble as Tasuki's head collapsed onto the bed as he knelt on the floor beside her. His face was buried in the covers, so he didn't notice when she opened her eyes and gazed at her right hand, dwarfed in his. It seemed to symbolize something important for her...
'As strong as I try to be... He's right... I can't keep it up forever...'

"Tasuki," she said aloud, softly. There was a shift of the covers as the bandit sat up and leaned over her, his hands on either side of her shoulders. He gazed down into her eyes intensley.

"Sorry..." Tasuki raised an eyebrow.

"For what?" Rasconza adverted her gaze.

"Fer... Scaring ya like that. I didn't know I could do that either an' I didn't even know I could do that an' shit an' I'll try ta figure it out so please don-"

He grabbed her shoulder tightly and pulled her up close to his face, silencing her with his finger. His eyes burned into hers. It was as if hot lamp oil was being poured onto her wherever he touched her.

"You talk WAY too damn much."

He kissed her, and it was as if someone had just set a faggot to her. He wasn't a gentle kisser, and he didn't try to hold back. He pulled her closer as they collapsed back onto the bed, kissing her fiercely. She could feel his infamous canines with her tongue, and managed to prick herself. All her mind allowed her to do was fall... fall to the sensation of loving him.

'Ai shiteru... Ai shiteru...'

"Konaban wa," came a familiar voice that Rasconza chose to ignore. "Who is it? It's me Kouji, coming to talk to Genrou! About what? Empress Houki says she's had it, and that you've gotta EAT, man! Oh, come in then!!" Kouji flung the doors open. "Ariga-WHOA!!" Kouji stood in the doorway, motionless, SD'd and sweatdropping.

"Kouji," Tasuki said quietly without looking back. "Just hold that thought of yers, and I'll be right with ya..."

"Uhm, yeah," murmured the wide-eyed bandit as he slowly retraced his steps backward toward the open door. "Sure... Thing..."

*slam*

Tasuki's form shook slightly with silent laughter, then became serious as he moved in to kiss Rasconza again. His heart was pounding in his head, but now he didn't mind. This time, he began to kiss the woman's neck, sending a trail of feathery kisses down to her shoulder...

*SMACK!!*

Tasuki stared blankly ahead. He blinked a few times. Stare. Blink blink. Rasconza looked back and forth from her hand to the huge palm-mark that was forming on Genrou's left cheek and back to her hand again.

They burst out laughing at the same time. Rasconza had slapped him like a little girl!


She sighed. "Sorry I... Norm'ly I wouldn't mind but..." She indicated her chest with a slight wave of her hand. "This thing I... I dunno if I have t' be... Well, ya know..." Tasuki nodded sagely as he sat up and made to leave.

"Yah, I know. Well, yew rest up an' I'll-"

*WHUMP!*

Rasconza had pulled him back down by his short ponytail. "Baka, I never said ya had ta LEAVE..." She sighed and ran her fingers through his hair, a silly little thing that was slowly but surely becoming one of her most favorite things to do.... "Just don't try nothin' funny, or y'll find that empty space 'twixt yer ears filled in with a nice pointy object ..." She yawned. Genrou slid out of his "trench-coat" and wrapped an arm around her. The bandit sighed happily. Having her with him was wonderful feeling. He could have stayed like this forever, a total, utter softy, and not give a damn. Just as long as he could feel her chest rise up and down against him with every breath, hear her gentle heartbeat lull him to sleep.

"Hey," he whispered softly into her hair. "When this shit's all done with, I gotta' ask ya somethin, okay?"

Rasconza murmured something softly and snuggled her head into his chest. Soon she was asleep in his arms, dreaming happily about nothing at all.

*************************************************

"So yer sayin' ya have no damn clue what's going on?"

The Empress Houki shook her head no. Everybody was awake now and gathered in the meeting hall of the Konan Palace, trying to figure out what the hell was happening with Rasconza.

"As far as I know, there are only for gods, and twenty-eight seishi," Houki explained to Tasuki patiently. "You of all people should know that."

Rasconza rolled her hazel eyes. "Yeah, yeah, we know that 'n shit. So explain what happened ta me last night, mm?"

Silence.

"Don't this place 'ave a library or somethin?" Inquired the newly-recovered Kouji. "I mean, if they have ANY stuff on other seishi's, wouldn't it be HERE?!" Houki's eyes lit up.

"We do in fact!! It's the Doukan Library dowstairs!!"

"Fittin' name," Tasuki huffed. Chichiri began to chuckle softly at the memory....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Tasuki, PLEASE?" Chiriko asked while tugging on the menacing bandit's sleave. "The library's INCREDIBLE!!" Tasuki sweatdropped.

"Chichiri," he hissed out of the corner of his mouth, "can you HELP me here?" Chichiri was, as always, grinning.

"Why do you need help no da? It'd be fun to go into the library and read about all sorts of things!"

Tasuki's screams rang through the night as the little boy dragged him through the palace hallways, down to the library. "BUT I _CAN'T_ REAAAAAAAD!!!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So here Tasuki was, sitting in little Chiriko's favorite library again with Kouji and Rasconza, who he'd permitted (ok, so he hadn't exactly; She'd said she was coming or else but...) to come with them.
They'd decided Chichiri should talk to the guards instead of them because, well, quite frankly, who's gonna' trust a bandit? The only other person in their quartet who could read was Rasconza, who should have been resting in Tasuki's not-so-humble opinion, but as she could read, she had to go with "the guys". Then again, these days she was prettty much considered one of "the guys" herself by 99.9 percent of the Mt. Reikakuzan bandits: The Official Guys consisted of Kouji, Genrou, and Rasconza. Mess with one and the other two will come to beat your ass into shape.

Unfortunately for Rasconza, Guys A and B seemed to think that reading required a tremendous amount of strength and energy, so they had the blade-throwing bandit lady sit on a pile of crates while they searched scroll after scroll.

"Grrr, damn stupid piece of paper!"

*KICK!*

*snatch!*

Rasconza caught a parchment Kouji had kicked across the room in frustration. She sighed and unrolled it.

"Tax documents from final year of Emperor Sahishta's reign to first year of Emperor Boushin," she read aloud quietly to herself. "That would have been... Three years ago? No, two. 'Cause that's-"

"RASCONZA!!!"

OO;

"Genrou, I can hear ya from right _here_!" She wheezed out. It was amazing how the guy could make your heart pound one minute, then be a total moron the next. He glared at her.

"I toldja' t'REST, dammit! No readin: Me 'n' Kouji'll figure it out." He gave her a fanged grin before turning back to his "brother".

"OK, let's give these papers all we got!!" Rasconza buried her head in her hands as she prepared for the worst. She began praying that a certain other guy would show up soon...

"DA!"

She sighed in relief; Her prayers had been answered. Chichiri walked through the library over to Kouji and Tasuki, the latter seemingly ready to torch the entire library.

"Oi, Chichiri, what didja find out?" Chichiri ignored Kouji as he scanned the shelves of scrolls. "I think I've found out plenty about..." He seemed to have spotted what he was looking for. He snatched it off the shelf and unrolled it. He stared at it for a moment before nodding to himself.

"...Tei."

?

"'Tei'?" The bandits echoed. Chichiri nodded and spread the scroll out on a table.

"I take it you all recognize this no da?" Chichiri asked the group. Even Kouji nodded vigorously.

"Yeah, sure," he said. "'s the Star Chart. 'S got all twenny-eight constellations on it. What about it?" Chichiri shook his head.

"Hai, it *does* have all twenty-eight constellations on it no da..." Even through his mask, the trio could tell the Suzaku Schichiseishi was staring at them intently. "But is that *all* it has...?" Kouji and Rasconza stared at him for a moment, but Tasuki's finger flew directly to the center of the chart.
"That right there," he shouted. "That's the symbol that appeared on Rassy's chest!!" Chichiri nodded. "That would be the star Taishi no da," he stated calmly. "One of the six constellations of Tenkyokuu..."

Rasconza's eyes widened as she stared at the symbol that had reappeared on her chest shining through her tunic. "Whaa...?"

*SLAM!*

"What the HELL is goin' on, Chichiri?!" Tasuki exclaimed as he slammed his fist onto the table. "Who's Tenkyokuu!? 'Sounds awful like Taikyoku t' me!! An' what the hell's happening t' Ra-" Chichiri actually bonked him on the head with his staff.

"If you would BE QUIET, I could TELL you na no da...!" Tasuki fell silent and shuffled off to a corner, where he leaned against a wall and moped. Chichiri cleared his throat and began.

"I'm going to need you all to listen quietly no da," he said as he removed his mask. He sometimes thought that it was pretty interesting that just by doing that, everyone's attention spans would lengthen by a mile. "This is a fairly long and complicated story. It's considered mostly a legend, mostly fiction, but then again, so were the tales of Genbu, Byakko, Suzaku, and Seiryu no da."

The three bandits nodded dumbly.

"We know that there are four gods: Genbu, The Green Tortoise God of Earth, who rules the north and the Kigdom of Hokkan; Suzaku, The Red Phoenix God of Fire, who rules the south and the Kingdom of Konan; Seiryu, The Blue Dragon God of Water, who rules the east and the Kingdom of Kutou; and Byakko, The White Tiger God of Metal, who rules the west and the Kingdom Of Sairou.

"The six constellations in the center area, Tenkyokuu, have always been explained as just that; Constellations. Though they would never become seishi, people have legends that they each represented some sort of spirit, which would gaurd the center area, which we came to attribute to Mt. Taikyoku, Home Of The Oracle.

"But I've traveled to many places, and they say that in ancient times, they worshiped a fifth god, Tenkyokuu. Tenkyokuu has been depicted as many beasts: A bull, a wolf, and even a griffin. Likewise, its 'color' has been purple, black, yellow, gold... But its element has always been the Void."

"What's a void?" Kouji piped up. Rasconza bopped him soundly on the head.

"Void is nothingness," continued Chichiri. "It's a bit hard to understand... It's beyond nothing... On that table, there seems to be nothing no da. But it is not Void; There is air still. If we were to suck out the air somehow, so there was NOTHING at all there.... It would be Void.

"I've never heard of a tale of the Summoning of Tenkyokuu, if that's what you're thinking no da. I've hardly heard anything of their seishi, either, but I've heard bits and pieces of them..."

Chichiri found himself interrupted by Tasuki. "I sure as hell think they're gonna try t'summon this 'god'."

Rasconza rasied an eyebrow as Tasuki continued. "Well, THINK about it! They're goin' after alla' these people!! 'Blood of the Gods', right?! So these Rokuseishi guys 'ave gotta' all be related to Seishi, right?! So anyone with seishi family 'ave gotta' be frikkin CAREFUL! We've gotta' find their relatives an-"

Tasuki's heart stopped.

"Oh my god... My sisters!"


((A/N: Arg NEVER make me write those romance scenes again! No daaaa!!

(( Ba-bum-DUUM!! Ladies and gentlemen, I give you... THE ACTUAL PLOT!!! Oo; Hai, hai, we've got romance, but this is another major reason I split this fic up into two parts.

((If you were wondering, yes, there *is* a fifth section of the Star Chart (and yeah, there is a star chart, too), and all of the Seishi names are accurate. I'd like to thank Tomo no Miko and the Suzaku Worshippers, whose sites helped me a LOT in the research on the fifth "god". Their sites can be found here, respectively:

http://www.sempai.org/~felicia/fushigi.html (this site has the starchart. Check it ooooooooooout)

http://www.onewingedangel.com/suzaku (this has often been called "the mother of all Fushigi Yuugi pages". I must say, it is incredible)

((So, heeeeere we go; No more six chapters centered in Mt. Riekakuzan, no more scenes in which the villain just pops in to say "hi" -It's now a no-holds-bared, spar-filled, around-the-shijintenshisho action/adventure frenzy!!

((Oh, wait a sec. *I* have to write this?? Oo; Daaaaaaaaaaaa....)