Fate copyright 1998 to L'Arc~en~Ciel.
Fushigi Yuugi and all characters are property of Watase Yuu.

CHI:EARTH

The art of war recognizes nine varieties of ground: dispersive ground; facile ground; contentious ground; open ground; ground of intersecting highways; serious ground; difficult ground; hemmed-in ground; and desperate ground.

Sun Tzu, The Art of War

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
Remembering my childhood from so long ago, my small Sunday School class at church and my parents who would always make me go. I never wanted to go. None of my friends went to Sunday School. They called me sissy names, and I hated it.
The room was dark and tubes hooked up to my body were tendrils of wet dragon's breath over my skin. There was no one there. The monitors beeped. I wanted to rip the tubes out of my skin, turn the damn beeping monitors on their sides with horrid crashes, destroy the room that held me prisoner.
But I was a cripple.
Damn the Suzaku.
Damn Seiryuu.
Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
Darkness. It had always been dark. There was no spirit of God, not of any god, for I had always been alone, no matter what they said in Sunday School. No matter what the Emperor of Kutou had ever told me, because even then I had been alone.
And Soi was dead.
In the beginning…
It was raining.


"What's so important, anyway?"
Miaka's nose was pressed to the glass, and I glanced at her. She looked unusually pale.
"Miaka?"
"It's raining."
Her voice was a bare whisper above the howling wind that penetrated into the house even through the thick walls, and the rainwater was rapidly rising to flooding level. Surprisingly, I felt no fear. I suppose for someone who has faced death more times than most people could ever imagine and lived to tell about it, the thought of drowning was not really a concern for me anymore.
"Miaka, there's no way Duke and Hong are going to make it in this. Tell him not to go. Tell him-"
"He's already left. Besides, it's not my place, Taka."
She looked so small and pale and cold. I took her hand. It was like ice.
"You are the miko. You-"
"I'm not the miko."
I blinked. "Miaka?"
"I'm not," she said, shaking her head, violently. Her brown hair, loose from the odango buns in her sleep, shivered around her. "Not anymore. I can't do anything. It's not me, do you understand? It's not me and it's not Yui. Calling the seishi. Not the storm. It's outside us." Her gaze returned to the darkness beyond the window. "Outside there."
"I don't understand."
"It's just going to get worse, Taka. People will die."
I sighed, trying to remain calm. Suddenly the kitchen seemed dim and threatening. "It's a stupid typhoon, Miaka. We get them all the time."
"Can you feel it, Taka?" She wasn't listening to me. "Can you feel the storm?" One hand went to her breast. "It's out there…and in here…it's coming from in here."
For a brief moment, I thought I saw a red halo flicker around her. Just for a moment.
"I'm…I'm so tired," she murmured. Her brown eyes met mine for a moment, and I saw pain there. And then she slumped to the floor.
There was a hollow noise and suddenly I felt the floor shake. Rumbling. The ground quivered for a moment, then fell silent.
"Miaka? Miaka!"
Pounding footsteps as Denis and Andy came running.
"What happened?"
"She…I don't know." I bent down. "She's breathing. I don't know."
We lifted her up and carried her to the bedroom, setting her down between the sheets. She didn't move. It was as if though she were dead.
Can you feel it, Taka? Can you feel the storm?
"Denis, Andy," I said. They looked at me, solemn, worried.
"If there is any way on earth you can get through right now, call Pedro."


The car stalled again, and I reached over, sighing, to turn it off and restart it. The flooding in the streets was intense. If I hadn't promised Yui I would try tonight, I would not be out here.
That was my problem…I promised too much, and I would never break a promise.
There was a feeling in my heart that I couldn't ignore. That someone was going to die.
Lightning streaked the skies, and the wind howled. The car shuddered. A thin trickle of fear crept up my spine and I pushed it aside. There was no time for fear now. I had a mission to accomplish.
I had conquered my fears. I could no longer be afraid.
Hikou! I'll never let go!
My hand came loose from the steering wheel with a sharp jerk, and I blinked. Where had that come from?
The car wouldn't start.
All I wanted…
I'm sorry, Houjun. I can't marry you.

I was gasping for breath. What was this? What were these images suddenly flickering before my eyes? It wasn't me. They weren't mine. Someone else's…someone's mistake.
Hikou! Grasp my hand! I won't let you go!
A flood, and sakura blossoms, a young girl and broken love, broken trust, broken life.
Scars.
The water rushed under the tires and I could feel the car loosing traction on the road. I heard a rumble, and the road shook.
Earthquake!
A creak as something came loose. And I was borne away on the tide of the flood.
Houjun!
Why hadn't I known this before? Why? Why couldn't I remember?
I covered my eyes and in the darkness of the night, I screamed.


I felt like someone had hit me in the chest with a hammer and found my heart.
Across the room, Andy made a noise, and Taka came running out of the bedroom.
"You felt that, Denis?"
I nodded. A pounding of feet as Joe came down the stairway, followed closely by Steven…Suboshi.
"What happened?" he demanded.
I closed my eyes.
No.
"I think Hong's in trouble."


Jeff sat quietly, not looking at me, and I couldn't help but feel I had made a great mistake. By not telling him sooner about Steven…by hiding the truth from him.
I had never realized how close Amiboshi and Suboshi actually were. Guessed, but never realized.
I was a bad miko.
Hesitatantly, I touched his shoulder.
"…Jeff?"
"Why didn't you tell me sooner?"
There was no excuse. None. I'm so sorry, Amiboshi…so sorry…
"I was afraid."
Blue-gray eyes met mine, and instead of betrayal and condemnation, I saw only regret.
"I understand," he said, one hand grasping mine.
"I asked him to come to Tokyo…I don't know if he actually could make the flight today or not. It was a close time and it was probably already booked…"
"Don't worry about it." He looked sad. "I'm sure I will see him…sometime…"
"I'm sorry."
To my surprise, he smiled. "Yui. Don't apologize so much. It doesn't change things."
I had to smile back at that. "I know," I said. "I know all too well. Just…you deserve better. Than me. For a miko."
He reached out to grasp my other hand. "Listen to me, Yui. You spend too much time putting yourself down." One hand reached out to his bag at the end of the sofa; the other was still entwined with my fingers. "We're all in this together, right? One miko and shichi seishi. Seven."
I tried to smile. It was hard.
"We might not have been the best seishi in the world, but it's different now. We will try. I promise you that."
I closed my eyes, then opened them, looking down the hall towards a closed door, where the monitors were beeping softly and where someone lay silent and still inside a dark room.
Jeff noticed my look and his hand moved inside the bag to pull out an instrument case. I blinked.
"You brought your flute?"
"I had just come from practice when Steph-Stephan-" he choked on the name, "wanted to go to dinner. I wasn't feeling well. It was the Suzaku seishi, of course, but I didn't know that at the time. He was going to take me downtown before the wind and rain got too bad and we were going to see Tokyo. Except…well…" he trailed off.
"That didn't quite happen," I said softly. "That's ok."
His hand paused on the flute case. "You think I could maybe go play for him? Would that help? I don't know if I still have my powers…but music helps heal. So they say."
His other hand left mine to unzip the flute case and pull out the shining silver instrument. I saw him pause a moment over the headjoint. Light glimmered on it.
"It's decorated?"
He nodded. "Most flute players have engravings of some sort on their instruments."
"Can I see?" I wondered.
He handed me the head carefully, and I ran my hand over the engravings. Japanese characters. Ko. Kaku.
High spirits.
The horn.

"You…"
"I've never stopped looking for my brother," he said. "Never."
We sat in silence for a long while, just lost in the past.
Yui-sama…
"I'm going to go play," Jeff said quietly. "You can come if you want."
I considered, then shook my head. "It's between you and him…"
He smiled again. "I suppose so. I hope I can help."
"Heal him, Amiboshi. For me."


The next thing I remembered was hands on my chest pumping and a mouth over mine breathing in air. I choked, coughing. The hands and mouth went away.
"Can you hear me?" English.
I blinked, trying to focus. It was dark. And wet. I could hear rushing water somewhere nearby.
"Hello? Can you hear me? Chichiri? That is your name right…Chichiri?"
I was fully awake.
"Who.." It came out in a raspy whisper. I coughed again. "Who are you? Where am I?"
A figure materialized in the darkness. I could only make out the silhouette in the dim light, a bulky shape wearing some sort of raincoat and hat, short and stocky.
"I was on the other highway and I saw your car swept over…I pulled it to higher ground and got you out. You were on the way to drowning in there. It was all full of water. You feel all right?"
I nodded, then frowned. Even in my fuzzy state of consciousness, something didn't feel right.
"Wait. You pulled my car to shore?"
He nodded.
"How…how do you know my name? Who are you?"
A hand came down on my shoulder. "Relax. There is no need to be afraid."
"Who are you?"
I didn't have my powers, but I could still defend myself well. I had enough chi and just enough knowledge of how to manipulate still to get by, and…
To my surprise, he laughed.
"Well, I let the cat out of the bag, didn't I?'
A click and sputter as a cigarette lighter flickered on, and I saw his face in the darkness, a mass of bright places and shadow. "Sorry. Don't know how better to introduce myself. I'm Captain Phillip Cartwright, United States Air Force, stationed at Yokota Air Base just outside Tokyo. I think.-" he paused. "I wouldn't be telling you this if I didn't think you would not know me on sight."
I narrowed my eyes. United States Air Force? "What do you mean?"
He sighed. "What I mean is that I was once a Seiryuu shichi seishi, just like you were a Suzaku shichi seishi. That's the only reason I recognized you."
If he expected me to give him a violent and nervous reaction to his statement, he did not receive one. I blinked.
"Oh," I said.
His lip twisted. "Ironic, isn't it? I think it must be fate. How I saw you on the road. How I managed to pull your car over."
"That's what I suspected," I said quietly. "No ordinary person would have been able to do that."
"No."
"So…" I hesitated. "Who were you? Before."
"You're going to hate me."
"I'll judge when I know you better in this life."
He laughed. "Point. Miboshi. I was Miboshi."
I remembered Chiriko dying with the voice of the demon coming from his mouth and the light of the demon in his bloody eyes.
"Then again," he said, "you're thinking twice about judging me now, aren't you now?"
It was the hardest thing in the world to shake my head.
"No."
"Yes you are." He got to his feet. "Don't deny it."
"So what if I am?" I shot back, trying to push back the roiling flood of emotions that threatened to spill over. Hikou. Chiriko. Miboshi. Calm…I would remain calm. I was always calm.
"I know you don't like me," he said. "I know I hurt you. We all did. I just want you to know that I didn't save your life for a favor. Chichiri."
"Why didn't you just let me die?" I said, through gritted teeth. "It would have cost you nothing."
"I know."
"Why?"
He was silent for a moment. "I'm tired of my life costing me nothing. It's one thing I've learned in this life over the last. To live, it has to cost something. You ever heard that saying 'You've got to dance like no one's watching, and love like it's never going to hurt'?"
I shook my head. He chuckled. "It must be an American thing. Basically, 'life may be great or life may just plain suck. But live it as best as you can.' "
"I suppose so."
He was silent again, staring out at the rain. For the first time I noticed we were on higher ground, in the shadow of some buildings.
The earth rumbled under our feet again, a little harder than before.
The man leaning against the wall was not Miboshi. Miboshi was a demon, a spirit who had killed Chiriko. Who deserved to die. This man did not deserve to die.
I didn't understand.
The voices of the past echoed in my ears.
I'll return to the water, Houjun. I'm sorry.
There was something I had to do. Something very important….
Chiriko.
"Chiriko," I said out loud. "Duke. Shit."
Miboshi - Phillip - turned to look at me. "What?"
He was Miboshi, I reminded myself. Miboshi. He killed Chiriko. I had never quite forgiven him for it, if forgive was even the word. How did one forgive a demon?
He killed Chiriko once.
"Do you have a car?"


It had been more than forty five minutes, and I didn't think Hong was coming.
The rain was coming down harder than ever, and the earth had trembled more than once, each time a little harder than the time before it. I could feel the building quivering, and I huddled into myself in the lobby of the Foreign Language building, wondering if I could even see Hong's car in this rain. Why had I allowed myself to say yes to him on the phone?
I'm coming to get you, he said. It's urgent. Very urgent.
What's happened?
I said.
I'll tell you when I see you. I'm coming.
That was all.
I hated it when Hong did that. When all of them did that. My whole life I had been treated like an innocent child, though in intelligence I probably surpassed the best of them. I had always been the youngest, the most vulnerable, and it didn't seem to matter when I tried to prove that I was just as competent as the rest.
I didn't know why I even tried anymore.
Maybe Hong had gotten lost in the darkness. The power had gone out, and the lobby lights were functioning on rapidly depleting emergency power. Maybe the earth tremors were harder where he had been and something had happened.
No. I would have felt it.
Headlights. I pressed my nose to the glass, looking out. That wasn't Hong's car. It was a silverish, boxy looking rental car. I frowned. There were few rental cars here in Tokyo. A lost tourist in the midst of a typhoon?
A figure darted out of the car and ran towards the door. I moved instinctively to open the door, to get whoever it was out of the rain, if that was even possible. Not a success. The black, hooded raincoat stood on the clean tile floor, dripping muddy water and twigs.
"Eh…" I wasn't sure what language to speak, finally deciding on Japanese. But before I could say anything, the man threw his hood back to shake the water out of his jacket, and I blinked. It was the man I had met on the subway a few days ago…Nikolas?
"Nikolas?" I said.
He frowned at me, and then his face cleared. Yes, it was definitely him. "Oh it's you! Duke…Prio?"
I nodded. "What are you doing here?"
He looked very familiar, for some reason, but I couldn't quite place him in my memory. Besides the scene on the subway, I had a faint feeling I had seen him before. But that was ridiculous. He was a Greek actor and I was an American professor in Japan. There was no reason we should even have met before.
Nikolas looked faintly sheepish. "Actually, my friend Marco and I were on the way to the Tokyo hospital and we seem to have gotten lost. We saw a lighted building…"
"I see." The hospital? It must be an emergency, to be going there in this weather. "You're going the wrong way."
"Ah. That would be why we can't find it."
"Could I…" I hesitated. Hong might be here any minute…
I needed a ride home anyway, and I didn't think Hong was going to make it. He had probably turned back. The roads were too flooded and the wind was coming down too hard. It faintly crossed my mind that going with Nikolas in a car would not be such a good idea. But I was logical, right? I could make my own decisions.
"Could I have a ride home?"
Nikolas frowned. "We might be a while at the hospital…"
"It doesn't matter. I can wait."
"Come on, then."
We headed into the oncoming storm.


The car slowed to a low crawl as I attempted to head it into the wind. The machine was fighting me at every turn, refusing to listen to my commands. I didn't blame it. If I were a car, I wouldn't want to be driving in this weather, either.
For some reason, the thought that we might drown and be lost in the floods didn't bother me much.
Beside me sat Hong, the man who I once knew as Suzaku shichi seishi Chichiri, his expression set, intense. I knew how much effort it had taken him to ask me to do this favor for him, after me saving his life. It was a stoop below him, to ask this of an enemy.
Former enemy, at least. I still wasn't sure if it really mattered.
Of course, I was now trying to rescue the very person I had killed so long ago. Maybe that mattered for something.
The car choked, and I hit the ignition impatiently. It started up again with a cough. It couldn't keep up much longer. My car was old. Raindrops and wind hit the windshield with the intensity of hail.
"Phillip, you can turn back if you want."
"Naw. It's ok."
"I-"
"I said it was ok," I muttered through gritted teeth. One of the wipers shivered, then snapped. I saw it briefly fly away in the glow of the headlights before disappearing into the water. "We'll make it."
Funny. Hong didn't seem afraid either.
I turned the steering wheel slowly to the left. Too late I saw the oncoming headlights. Too late the silvery shape of another car appeared out of the blackness.
"Look out!"
There was a sickening crunch and my hands let go of the steering wheel, and I was hurtling through the air, cold rain pouring down my back and something warm trickling down my face.
A flash of blue light and then all was blessed darkness.