Too Many Mikos
By: Arysa
Chapter 4: A Startling Summons
-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
Ayn opened her eyes to a blue world. Was this heaven? The blue slowly fell away from her body in a wave and she realized it was hair. She followed the hair to the face of a handsome young man with a striking scar on his left cheek.
Chichiri was looking at Ayn worriedly. He had hit her attacker with his chi using such force that the assassin was instantly killed. He had to call on reserves of power to help Ayn find her way back to her body. "Are you all right?" he asked.
Ayn smiled. She was feeling weak but happy, as Chichiri looked very concerned about her welfare. She couldn't wait to prove to him that she was no Miko. She grinned.
Chichiri smiled. "Let's go to the palace than." He offered his hand to Ayn. Ayn briefly wondered how she was now fully dressed but let it go and took the outstretched hand. Together they went to the palace.
Arysa/Miaka was sitting on her bed confused. Tamahome had just assaulted her and Nuriko had just kissed her. Between the two men she had quite an exciting afternoon. Nuriko was so nice and tasted like sweet tapioca. A messenger who requested her presence in the main audience chamber interrupted her reverie.
The messenger led Arysa/Miaka out of her chamber. In the hallway they met with several guards who fell into step on either side of Arysa.
"Oh shit." said Arysa as she looked worriedly around her, there didn't seem to be any escape route. On the other hand, if she were to escape where would she go? She decided to pretend that the guards were there for her protection rather than protection against her escape.
She reached the hall and was waved inside by the messenger. The guards promptly moved to guard the only exit. There would be no easy escape from the room.
Hotohori was sitting on his throne with Tamahome on his right, Chiriko at his feet and Nuriko on his left. "We wish to know who you are." stated Hotohori.
Nuriko looked askance at Hotohori and tried to speak. Hotohori silenced him with a wave of his hand. Tamahome was visibly upset.
Arysa decided to come clean. "My name is Arysa, I'm not Miaka though I'm currently in Miaka's body."
"I see," said Hotohori, "Tamahome you were correct, a monster has taken over Miaka. It must have happened when we tried to send Miaka home. Tatisukun did warn us that the method was perilous."
"Give me back Miaka!" Tamahome yelled as he raced towards Arysa/Miaka. Without thinking, Arysa stepped aside and knifed him in the throat with her hand. As Tamahome went down, Hotohori approached drawing his holy sword.
"Hotohori, no!" screamed Chiriko as he placed himself between Hotohori and Arysa/Miaka. "If this was indeed a monster why would it not have attacked by now? If you kill this thing called Arysa you'll destroy Miaka. Stop it!"
"You are very wise for someone so young." said Hotohori.
Believing Hotohori had listened to reason; Chiriko removed himself from between the two opponents. As soon as Chiriko moved away, Hotohori rushed Arysa/Miaka with his sword. Arysa automatically stepped aside and thanked God for her martial arts training. Hotohori made another pass at Arysa/Miaka but Nuriko stopped his sword arm in mid swing.
"Stop it!" shouted Nuriko.
Meanwhile, Tamahome had pulled himself up roughly from the floor and grabbed Arysa/Miaka from behind, pinned her arms to her body and began to squeeze hard. "If I need to I will remove you by force." he warned.
"Fine, remove me by force! I just want to go home!" Arysa yelled. "Tatisukun, send me home. Please!" she pleaded. "Suzaku! Let me go!"
A loud shout of "Tamahome!" was heard resounding through the audience chamber. It was Miaka's voice. Believing his treatment of Arysa/Miaka was working, Tamahome squeezed harder. Nuriko tried to make for the struggling pair but Hotohori was keeping him at bay with his sword.
A red light began to glow from Miaka/Arysa's body. Tamahome dropped his arms and Miaka sank to the floor. She looked up at Tamahome with pure love in her eyes. "Tamahome?" she asked.
"Miaka." Tamahome said as he reached down and pulled his true love into his arms.
"But we must see the emperor." said Chichiri to the guard outside the audience chamber. "It concerns Suzaku no Miko."
"Our orders are no one is allowed to pass till the emperor appears" the guard said menacingly. "Now leave!"
Chichiri waved his arm and smoke filled the hall. He shook his staff and a statue of the emperor across from the chamber door smiled and walked towards the guards. The guards immediately bowed. Chichiri grabbed Ayn and the two hurried into the chamber past the bent over men.
Chichiri and Ayn entered the room and saw a young girl being squeezed by a dark haired man with a picture of an ogre on his forehead. The emperor and another man were fighting sword versus fist, while a plainly terrified young boy looked on worriedly.
Suddenly the room was filled with red light and the girl being attacked fell to the floor. As the red light hit Chichiri, his sign glowed an answer to the summons. In the midst of the light Chichiri saw a second girl materialize on the throne. The second girl was wearing a short black shrift and her hair seemed to sparkle. Chichiri wandered what kind of magic the new girl possessed.
"Arysa!" Ayn screamed as she rushed towards the second girl. "What are you doing here?" Ayn shook Arysa. "Wake up!" she said, "This isn't funny."
Nuriko and Hotohori had abandoned their fight when the red light appeared. Nuriko moved towards the throne. "Arysa," he said, "please wake up."
At the kind look in Nuriko's eyes Ayn backed away from Arysa and ended up falling over Chiriko who was sitting at the base of the throne.
Miaka giggled. Usually she was the biggest klutz in the world. Miaka was so happy to be back in Tamahome's arms. He didn't seem like he would ever let go and Miaka didn't want him to anyway. But, the girl on the throne looked awfully familiar. Where had she seen her before?
"Oh!" said Miaka with recognition in her voice. "It's the girl from the mirror!"
"The mirror?" Hotohori said. He drew his sword. Their last encounter with a demon from a mirror nearly cost Miaka's life.
Chiriko moved away from the throne to stand beside Chichiri. Nuriko placed himself between Arysa and Hotohori.
"Nuriko!" Miaka said as she finally moved away from Tamahome and bounded towards her friend. "What happened? Why are you fighting Hotohori, I thought you loved him."
"Well ... Hotohori is beautiful." said Nuriko as he winked broadly. "But, I never actually loved him. In fact, I think I may not be ... never mind." he said as he shook his head.
"Hotohori, what's happening?" Miaka asked as she looked around the room. The remaining traces of red light briefly lit upon the sign of Suzaku on her forehead and she could see the same light illuminating the characters of Chichiri and Chiriko on the remaining men. "You found two more Seishi!" exclaimed Miaka. She left Hotohori and moved to her two new Seishi. "Welcome, " she said, "My name is Miaka but other's call me Suzaku no Miko."
"I am pleased to meet you." said Chiriko as he bowed politely.
"Myself as well, Suzaku no Miko. We have much to discuss, No-Dah!" Chichiri said cheerfully as he looked between Ayn, Arysa and Miaka.
"I'm taking Arysa to my chambers." stated Nuriko. He picked up the unconscious girl and left the room.
"I'm coming too!" cried Ayn as she followed Nuriko from the room.
Miaka called for food, Tamahome laughed with relief and Tamahome, Miaka, Hotohori, Chiriko and Chichiri settled in for a long talk.
Nuriko removed a bright yellow backpack from Arysa as he carefully laid her on his bed. Her arm fell off the side and as Ayn took it and placed it back on the bed Nuriko noticed the two had the same dragon shaped ring.
"Are you two friends?" Nuriko asked. Nuriko looked from one maiden to the other and decided the next world must be small indeed if everyone knew each other.
"Yes, we're good friends." Ayn said. "What I don't understand is what she's doing here!"
"Arysa was called to gather the Seishi for Miaka. Apparently when Arysa arrived, she was accompanied by two Mikos rather than one and this changed the order of our world and the location of the remaining Seishi." explained Nuriko.
"Well the two Mikos must be me and Yui." reasoned Ayn.
"Yui, who's Yui?" asked Nuriko
"Yui is Miaka's friend. Oh!" exclaimed Ayn. "That must be why I found the book in the library when I did. Arysa was called, and I was affected."
"Ahh ... " said Nuriko. While he didn't quite understand what Ayn meant by book in the library, he did understand that they knew each other. That meant he could finally ask his question. "Then, might you know someone named Terry?"
Just then Arysa woke up and saw Ayn by her bedside. "Ayn," she said, "I've just had the weirdest fucking dream."
Nuriko laughed. Arysa looked up and saw Nuriko's concerned face and realized that this dream was real. She took quick stock of herself and found her body was definitely her body again. She bounded out of bed and proceeded to give herself a thorough checkout. She ran her hands from the bottom of her feet up her legs to the bottom of her black mini. As she bent over to give herself her examination her breasts almost tumbled out of her dress. She stood up and smoothed down the edges of the dress and gently traced the outline of her breasts down to her hips. Nuriko's eyes bulged as Arysa made damn sure everything, everything, was exactly where it was supposed to be.
Ayn laughed and said "Arysa, stop teasing him." Ayn was well versed in how much Arysa liked to show off, but since Arysa was generally amusing she usually just let her have her way.
Nuriko blushed and looked away. "I see that you're better Arysa, I'll let you two get re-acquainted." said Nuriko as he left the room closing the door softly behind him.
The two women from the other world caught up on each other's activities during their time apart. Arysa told Ayn about her feelings for Nuriko, her experiences with Tamahome and asked her to keep the fact that she had a boyfriend secret. Ayn told Arysa that she was madly in love with Chichiri and she had to find a way to convince him that she was not a virgin. A messenger interrupted their conversation to invite them to dinner.
Arysa was so happy to have a meal where she didn't have to waste her energy trying to eat like Miaka. She relaxed and enjoyed Chinese cuisine finer than she'd ever be able to afford!
The conversation around the table centered on the entrance of the four maidens from the other world; Miaka, Yui, Arysa and Ayn. When Miaka heard that Yui had arrived she was thrilled, but when no one could tell her where she arrived she was heart broken. Chichiri and Chiriko briefly theorized about what the long-term effect of these visitors on their world might be, while Tamahome and Miaka spent the evening staring into each other's eyes. Miaka seemed almost too distracted to eat. Nuriko was oddly silent. Hotohori presided over the entire strange affair like the true emperor he was.
Smoke filled the room and a huge face of an ugly old woman appeared out of nowhere. The men fell over their chairs while the women cheerfully made her welcome.
"Well now, you have five of your seven Seishi Miaka. Good job, Arysa" Taitsukun said approvingly. "But your presence," she waved at Ayn and Arysa "is now disrupting the balance. When you wake up tomorrow you will discover yourselves back in your world."
"What about me and Yui-chan?" burst Miaka. Tamahome quickly put his arm around Miaka as if by sheer will power he could prevent them from ever parting.
"You two will remain." answered Taitsukun. "Yui is now Seriyuu no Miko."
"Seriyuu?" questioned Miaka. "Why isn't she here?" she continued.
"Seriyuu is the guardian of Kutou." answered Hotohori. "Our enemy."
"Yui would never choose to be my enemy." stated Miaka. Miaka mentally made plans to sneak off at first light to Kutou and speak to Yui herself. After all, Yui must now how much she longed to see her. If she took the other Seishi it would look too menacing, and someone might get hurt. She smiled placidly at Tamahome and finished eating.
"At first light?" repeated a dismayed Nuriko.
"Yes." said Taitsukun. "As soon as they leave balance will be restored and Miaka and her Seishi can find the remaining two constellations, then call Suzaku." Taitsukun waved her hands repeatedly and faded out of existence.
Ayn and Arysa were visibly upset by the thought of leaving so soon though they did both know they had no real roles inside the Universe of the Four Gods. Nuriko and Chichiri were fairly stunned. Hotohori, Chiriko, Tamahome and Miaka thanked the two maidens for their help in brining together the Seishi and the party broke up for the night.
By mutual assent Nuriko and Arysa headed to Nuriko's chamber and Chichiri led Ayn to the chamber assigned to him as one of the guardians earlier that day.
To be continued ...