Warning: This is a yaoi, minna. If you are under 18 or offended by
M/M relationships then run away NOW!!! Otherwise, by all means proceed.
Disclaimer: In no way shape or form do I own the characters so
don't sue me.
Flute and Willow
A FY fic
By Sakura
Part 2
'So this is
Hokkan,' Nuriko thought to himself as he and the others surveyed the valley
below them. The beauty of the fields surrounded by mountains was breathtaking,
but somehow the violet haired seishi wasn't in the mood to appreciate it. He
shivered and wrapped his arms around himself trying to fight off the cold.
"Guess we
should've packed warmer things, huh?" Tamahome said noticing his friend
and fellow seishi's shivering.
"No shit,
genius," retorted Tasuki. "It's too f@#%ing cold here. Good thing I
came along otherwise you'd be frozen seishi statues." The redhead waved
his new tessen to emphasize his point.
"Who asked
you!? If I remember right, you didn't want to come in the first place, Mr.
I-can't-swim-if-my-life-depended-on-it," Tama shot back.
What ensued was
another of their famous brawls which, Nuriko, of course, had to break up.
"Will you two stop acting like a couple kids!? We have a shinzaho to
find," he said grabbing hold of Tasuki.
"ItaiItaiItaiItaiItai!
Geez, Nuri that hurts!"
"Oops,
sorry," he said releasing the fiery tempered seishi.
"He's right,
no da. We have to hurry if we don't want the Seiryuu seishi to get it, no
da," said Chichiri.
"Right! Come
on guys, let's go!" Miaka yelled as she began running down the hill.
"Miaka!
Matte yo! (Wait!)" Tamahome ran down after her.
Sighing, Nuriko
went after them, followed by the remaining four seishi.
The villagers
were no help at all. Each person had their own theory as to what and where the
shinzaho was. After much heated discussion, the village elder and Chichiri had
both come to the conclusion that it would be best if they tried looking in the
capital since the people were more educated there. Seeing it was much to late
to set out now, the villagers had kindly allowed the seishi to spend the night.
Tama and Tasuki
were given a small room in the hut of the boy Tamahome had saved earlier while
Mitsukake, Chichiri, and Chiriko had a room in another hut. Miaka was lodged
with Nuriko since they had thought he was a girl as usual.
Nuriko rolled
over to his side away from Miaka's snoring and mumbling. He really felt sorry
for her. He knew what it was like to not be able to be with the one you loved.
He knew it all too well. First with his unrequited love with Hotohori and now
with the death of Amiboshi.
The pain of that
day was still fresh in his heart and seeing the death of Tamahome's family only
made it worse because it was his lover's twin brother, Suboshi, who did it.
When he first saw the cloaked figure on the rooftop and heard the flute, he
thought Amiboshi had come back from the dead to exact his revenge on them. But
once he saw the boy's eyes, he knew the figure wasn't his beloved Amiboshi. He
had gentle and sad eyes, not the hurt and angry ones Suboshi had shown them.
Now Nuriko was
more confused than ever. He could not believe that someone as caring and kind
as Amiboshi could have such a cruel brother. He truly pitied Suboshi, but could
never forgive him for what he had done. Remembering Tama's face when he used
the power Taiisu-kun gave him, Nuriko began to weep silently. Nuriko wished
Amiboshi hadn't died. If he hadn't, little Yuiren would be safe at the palace
with her brothers and sisters and Tamahome would not have to go through the
pain he went through after losing Kourin.
Silent tears ran
down the seishi's porcelain skin until sleep took pity on him.
"So this is
Touran," Tama said stopping just beyond the capital gates.
"Yeah we
finally made it here," Tasuki
added as the other horses caught up.
"It's cold
here," Chiriko remarked. For someone who passed the civil service tests at
age 13, he could be a bit dense at times. Suddenly it began to snow.
Miaka looked up
and smiled. "It's snowing!"
"Wow! You
almost never see snow back in Konan. The weather's too nice for snow
there," Nuriko said.
"It's been
so long. Where I come from, sometimes it snows a lot doing the winter
months," Miaka said suddenly feeling homesick.
A few minutes
later, the seishi had gotten stables for their horses and were now sitting at a
table in a not so reputable pub. Chichiri was explaining they should split up
since the capital was so big and began assigning groups. Nuriko however, hadn't
been paying attention.
The violet haired
seishi kept thinking about how Miaka had decided to stay in their world once
Suzaku had been summoned. He was beginning to envy the girl again. He had
stopped being jealous of Miaka once she made it clear that she loved only
Tamahome, but now he couldn't help himself. It didn't seem fair that she still
had her lover while Amiboshi had been cruelly ripped away from him. He began to
wish more than ever for the whole thing to be over with. The sooner Tama and
Miaka moved on with their lives, the sooner he could go on with his.
"But what
about Nuriko?" Miaka asked, her mouth full of food.
"Huh?"
He looked up. Quickly remembering that the blue haired monk had said something
about splitting up, he said, "I think I should go with Tamahome and Miaka.
As a servant of Hotohori-sama, I have to protect you since he's not here."
Just then, a
rather drunk and not too clean man came up to the violet haired man. "Hey
baby! You sure are a pretty one. How 'bout sharing a lil drinky-poo with
me?" The man had the nerve to put his grimy hand on his nice clean face.
Enraged, Nuriko promptly gave the ruffian his answer, causing the man to wind
up on the floor on the other side of the pub.
A sandy haired
boy looked up from his meal and stared at the violet haired figure who was
dusting herself off and going back to her friends. He was amazed at how strong
the woman was. Back in Sairou all the girls he knew might have been a bit
forward, but they were nowhere near as strong as this one.
Looking at her,
Kaika thought to himself, 'She's beautiful!' No wonder most of the men in the
place were staring at her. She had creamy porcelain skin framed by violet hair,
which she kept in a neat braid over her shoulder and large expressive gold
eyes.
He was about to
go back to his meal, when he suddenly got a flash of him and the foreign woman
together. 'What the!?' Could she be someone from his past? When his parents
pulled him from the river, he couldn't even remember his own name. Did seeing
this woman cause him to remember something. 'There's something familiar about
her, but I don't know what it is. I keep getting the feeling it's important.'
Shrugging it off
for now, Kaika returned to his meal and gave no more though to the violet
haired woman.
"Sorry
mister, but I'm not that kind of girl," he said sitting back down.
"Hey
baby!" Tasuki mimicked. "It might not be such a good idea if you went
with Miaka. There's a lot o' assholes here no telling what a couple o' cute
girls'll do to 'em."
Another drunk
decided to come on to Nuriko, but the seishi just ignored him. "Yeah, yeah
I got it. The problem is I look like a girl," he said rather annoyed.
Usually he would
enjoy the attention his beauty was attracting, but Tasuki was right. Hokkan did
seem to have a lot of lowlifes running around its bars. 'Should have done this
a long time ago,' he thought and swiftly took out a dagger from his traveling
purse and cut the braid off his head.
The others just
gasped and stared, too shocked to say anything. Finally Tamahome recovered
enough to say, "What a waste."
"You sure
about this Nuriko? You're giving up looking like a girl?" Miaka asked, not
knowing what to think.
"Daijoubu.
What's done is done. Besides I don't feel much like being a cross dresser
anymore," he said smiling, or at least that's what he hoped he was doing.
"Besides, I can't have all this hair flying around if I have to fight the
Seiryuu seishi."
Suddenly they all
became serious again and went back to discussing how they were to contact each
other if they found anything. Chichiri couldn't use his magic since Nakago and
the others would be able to sense it, however, Chiriko came up with the idea of
using some fireworks he had purchased earlier as signals. They agreed on
Chiriko's idea, then each group took one and left their separate ways.
Kaika, at hearing
a group of gasps, looked up and saw the woman he'd been watching earlier had
cut off her braid. Now he too was shocked. 'Why'd she do that for!? She was
perfect the way she was.' Then realization sunk in. 'Could she... be a man?' Intrigued,
he decided to follow the violet haired figure and its friends when they left.
On a the wall
surrounding Touran, a hulking figure, more animal than man stood sniffing the
air as it continued to snow. "I can smell you Suzaku no Miko," he
said and let out a wolf-like howl.
Deeper in the
city, Miaka looked up listening for something. "What was that? What makes
a sound like that?"
Looking about as
well, Tama nervously asked himself, "A wild dog?"
Miaka was being
to get scared as the uneasy feeling the sound had given her increased. Before
Tamahome could reassure his lover it was nothing, Nuriko called over to them.
"Hey! Look
at this old monument!"
Forgetting her
fear, Miaka curiously approached a stone slab protected from the snow by the
gazebo it was in. "What is it?"
Nuriko went to
explain that the monument had a carving of Hokkan's god Genbu was at the top.
Thinking it may be a clue, Tamahome came up closer to it, only to find he
couldn't read it. A passing old woman explained that the language on the slab
could only be read by scholars since it was over two hundred years old.
They were about
to give up, when a young man approached them saying he knew someone who could
read the monument. Nuriko could tell he was no good just by looking at him. His
hair was uncombed and wrapped up in a scarf, and he had an air that said sleaze
hanging all about him.
Miaka was about
to go with him, but the old woman stopped her explaining that even though the
man's father was a scholar, but he had fallen on hard times and his son had a
nasty reputation.
Tama, however,
wasn't one to give up. He volunteered to go with the man, much against their
better judgment, and reassured Miaka and Nuriko he'd be fine. Once that was
cleared the midnight blue haired seishi disappeared around the corner.
The two were now
sitting on the steps of the moment waiting for Tamhome to come back.
"Tamahome's sure taking a long time," Miaka said, getting worried.
"Oh I'm sure
he'll be back any moment now," Nuriko said leaning against the slab.
"Can I ask
you something? Don't you regret cutting your hair?"
Nuriko thought
for a moment. Sure he regretted it, he adored his hair, but he felt it was time
to move on in spite the fact he still couldn't get over his lover's death.
"Not really. I used to think all this long hair would help me forget
Kourin's death, but now, I'm not so sure."
"Well away,
I think you look rather cool like that," said Miaka turning to the violet
haired man.
"Oh, come
on! Haven't you noticed how attractive I am!?" he shot back, jokingly.
"You're
might fast to take a compliment, aren't you?" Miaka retorted.
"What are
you trying to say?" He tried to sound hurt, but couldn't. Miaka was so
much like Kourin that he couldn't help be at ease with her. Suddenly the two
began laughing.
Kaika stood at
his stall not too far from the violet haired man and girl at the monument.
After following them, he decided that the longhaired woman had indeed been a
longhaired MAN. He had followed them on the pretense of trading with them until
he came to the city square. Deciding that the strangers were not here for
produce, he set up his tiny stall and waited for customers to notice his wares.
Staring at the
travelers, he kept thinking to himself, 'There's definitely something familiar
about these people. Maybe they're friends of mine.'
Suddenly Miaka
felt something run up and down her spine and let out a gasp. "What is it
Miaka? You cold?" asked Nuriko sensing something was up.
"No. I just
felt a chill go up my spine."
"A
chill?" He definitely didn't like the sound of that.
"I'm really
worried about Tamahome. I'm going to look for him!" With that the girl
shot up and started off in the direction her lover had taken.
"Matte!
Miaka!" Nuriko called out to her, but it was too late. Once Miaka Yuuki
got an idea into her head there was no turning back.
Noticing the
concern on the strange man's face, Kaika looked to see the girl run off toward
where the other man had gone. Suddenly he felt icy fingers run up and down his
spine and he looked up at the roof of the monument.
Standing on it
was the most horrifying sight he'd even seen.
A huge animal
like man stood ready to leap upon the unsuspecting girl. He had yellow eyes and
a scar ran above and below the left one in a jagged line. He had rough gray
hair all over his head and arms. His hands were like claws and he was licking
his lips in a very wolf like manner. "I have found you Suzaku no
Miko."
"Oujo-san!
Look out!" Kaika called to the girl, praying she'd hear him in time. The
girl turned toward the sound.
"Suzaku no
Miko!" Looking up the girl saw what he had been trying to warn her about.
She stood there frozen like a rabbit that had been cornered by some predator.
"You must die!" The animal man leapt off the gazebo.
"Miaka!!!"
shouted the violet haired man as he ran toward her.