The planning was over and servants were running around frantically with last-minute preparations for the summoning ceremony. While Miaka was getting dressed, a scream echoed through the halls, only to be cut off abruptly. Nuriko winked at the rest of the Suzaku Seven, who smiled back at him. All except Tasuki, who hadn't smiled since they left Misara in Hotohori's room.
In Hotohori's room, Misara was dumbfounded and speechless, apart from the scream. When she had first opened her eyes, she found herself looking up at Hotohori. Not only was he in her room, but he was in her bed as well. He was awake as well, and looking at her in surprise, as if he didn't remember that she was there. That's when she screamed, but before she was really into it, he put his hand over her mouth and silenced her.
She pushed his hand away. "What are you doing in my room?" She hissed.
His eyes widened. "This isn't your room...it's mine."
She sat up and looked around. Indeed it was, but she was still confused. "Why am I in your room?" She asked, a little less angry.
"Actually, you came in here in the middle of the night." Hotohori said softly, and when Misara looked at him again, she saw that he was blushing.
"I don't remember that!" She said, more confused than ever.
"I'm not surprised..." he said slowly. "You were only a little child."
Misara stared at him. "I was WHAT?" She asked loudly.
He flinched and replied. "You were only about three years old."
Misara crossed her arms. "Explain."
Hotohori sighed. Opening his mouth, he was about to speak when Misara gasped. She had suddenly remembered everything that had happened the night that Tamahome came back.
"I remember!" She cried. "Tamahome was...and I went to the shrine and-" She stopped when she saw Hotohori's eyes suddenly become very sad.
"Yes." He said bitterly. "You went to the shrine and burned yourself alive before we could stop you. You didn't even tell us that you had to do it, Misara!" He finished angrily. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Why didn't I tell YOU?" She sputtered. "You were too busy with Miaka to pay any attention to me that night...or ever!" She added. "Besides, I knew that if I told any of you, you'd just stop me from doing it."
"Of course I'd have stopped you!" Hotohori cried, looking very upset for usually calm man. "I care about you too much to let you do something as foolish as that!"
"Care about me? You don't care about anyone but Miaka!" Misara spit out. As soon as she said it, she knew it was a mistake. "I'm sorry Hotohori...that wasn't very fair of me." She said softly.
"You're right..." Hotohori said, looking at the floor. "I DIDN'T care about anyone but Miaka. But she loves Tamahome, and I have to accept that now, I guess."
"Look, Hotohori...there's something I wanted to tell you." Misara started hesitantly. "Maybe this isn't the right time, but if I don't say it now..." She looked out the window. "I won't be able to ever say it." She sighed. "For a while now...I've...I mean..." Frustrated, she spit it out almost angrily. "I think I've fallen in love with you!"
Misara peeked at him, but he wouldn't raise his head. She bit her lip, regretting ever saying it, climbed out of his bed and walked over to the door. When he still didn't speak, she silently opened the door and left without a backward glance.
It was finally time to summon Suzaku. The seven warriors gathered in the shrine with Misara while they waited for Miaka. Entering the shrine, Miaka carried with her the scroll that contained the words to summon the beast god. The Celestial Warriors gathered in a circle around the small pyre, while Miaka and Misara climbed the steps and stood across from each other. Misara looked around the circle at all the warriors, her eyes resting on Chiriko as she remembered suddenly.
Oh...sugar. She thought. What am I going to do? He made me promise not to tell anyone!
Chiriko looked up at her suddenly and their eyes met. Misara silently pleaded with her eyes, begging him to speak up, but he just turned away. Misara felt like crying.
Then it's for nothing, her heart whispered, I did all that for nothing. Sacrificing myself...and we won't even summon Suzaku. A tear slid down her cheek before she could stop it.
"Misara?" Miaka asked softly, looking at her curiously.
"Oh...it's nothing." Misara said too quickly. "Let's get started."
Miaka looked unconvinced. "Tell me what's wrong first."
Misara shook her head. "There's nothing wrong."
Miaka crossed her arms in front of her. "No, there's something wrong. I'm tired of you never telling us when you're upset. Tell me!"
"What's the problem?" Nuriko asked from down below. The two girls had forgotten about the warriors being there. Miaka turned to Nuriko.
"Misara won't tell me what's wrong with her." Then she turned back to her friend. "I'm not going to summon Suzaku until you tell me what's going on."
Misara, realizing that they COULDN'T summon Suzaku even if she did tell, burst into unexpected tears. Miaka gasped.
The warriors saw Misara crying, and Tasuki moved to run up the pyre steps. However, Hotohori beat him to it, dashing up the steps and putting his arms around Misara. Tasuki stood at the bottom, frowning.
"Misara, why are you crying like this?" Hotohori asked her, wiping the tears off her face.
She shook her head violently, trying to push him away, but he wouldn't let go of her.
"I'm...not...crying!" She stammered. "I just...got...ashes in my eyes!" She tried to push him away again, and this time he let go reluctantly. She sniffled, wiped at her eyes, and forced a smile. "I think I'm all right now. Let's hurry, okay?"
Hotohori sighed, nodded, and went back down the steps. When he reached the bottom, Tasuki stood in his way. He called up to Misara
"Are you sure you're all right?" He asked worriedly.
Misara looked down at her friend. "Of course!" She said, smiling a real smile this time. Hotohori turned to Tasuki, an emotion in his eyes that Tasuki couldn't read.
Miaka stood next to Misara, hands on her hips, eying her friend with suspicion.
Misara smiled at her. "I'm okay. Promise."
Miaka threw her hands in the air. "Sure, sure." She said sarcastically. She moved back to her place on the other side of the pyre, opened the scroll and began to read.
Misara looked over at Chiriko once more.
Oh Chiriko...no, it's not Chiriko. It's Amiboshi...you know you don't want to do this! Why, why do you have to do what Nakago says?
Chiriko, or rather, Amiboshi, refused to look up at her. Suddenly, Miaka finished her speech and threw the scroll into the fire.
Misara couldn't take it any longer. "NO!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, trying to get the scroll out before it burned. Her head spun wildly as the sleeve of her dress caught on fire. She toppled over backward, falling off the pyre.
Why can't I think straight? Her mind screamed as she fell through the air. Is this what happens when I disobey a celestial warrior?
She was caught just before she hit the floor and the fire on her sleeve was put out quickly. Still disoriented, she didn't look to see who had caught her, and instead tried to stand and run back up the pyre steps. Strong hands caught her from behind and held her back, but barely.
Miaka stood at the top of the pyre. "What's wrong with her?" She screamed. Suddenly, she turned back to the fire. Her breath caught in her throat. "Suzaku...why hasn't he come yet?"
The warriors looked up in surprise. "What do you mean, why hasn't he come?" Nuriko shrieked. "You mean he's not here?"
Hotohori, trying to hold Misara down, didn't take his eyes off her but yelled up to Miaka, "We did everything that the scroll said to do!"
"No you didn't!" Misara screamed. "You didn't! You didn't!" She thrashed around on the floor, while Hotohori and Tasuki did everything they could to keep her down.
"What do you mean, Misara?" Tamahome yelled, bending down next to her and helping the other two hold her down.
Suddenly, Misara stopped moving and lay very still, Tamahome's symbol appearing on her forehead. It lingered for a few moments, then Hotohori's flashed, followed by Nuriko's, Chichiri's, Tasuki's and Mitsukake's. They flashed brightly for a few more seconds, then all died at once, and Misara closed her eyes in exhaustion.
Tamahome looked up. "Where was Chiriko's-" he trailed off as they all stood, staring at Chiriko.
The usually kind and quiet Chiriko narrowed his eyes and raised his flute to his lips. The sound that poured out was not pleasant like the things he usually played. In fact, it hurt to listen to. The warriors of Suzaku covered their ears but they could still hear it.
Nuriko's head was swimming, but he managed to speak for a moment. "What are you doing, Chiriko?" He howled.
Chiriko stopped playing long enough to answer. When he stopped, the Suzaku warriors collapsed in relief on the floor. "I am NOT Chiriko." He said angrily. "I am Amiboshi, of the Seiryu Seven, and I am here to kill you." He raised the flute again.
"But you had a symbol!" Hotohori said frantically.
"That was only a tattoo, so I could trick you into thinking I was one of you." He pulled back the collar of his shirt, revealing a blue symbol on his shoulder.
"But...Misara..." Tamahome stammered. "She was supposed to-"
Amiboshi cut him off. "I threatened to kill her if she told anyone, which is probably why she was crying earlier. Apparently, since she's the Goddess of the Sky, she has to obey the warriors she's supposed to protect."
"But you're not a warrior of Suzaku!" Miaka cried. "She didn't have to listen to you! She's only supposed to protect the warriors of Suzaku!"
Amiboshi smiled. "Not anymore." He raised the flute up again. "Goodbye." He started to play again, and the Suzaku warriors screamed in pain.
Suddenly, another sound was heard faintly. Amiboshi stopped playing in surprise. Before he could react, Tamahome was up and running at him. Amiboshi jumped out of the way just in time and ran out the door, followed closely by Tamahome and Tasuki. Miaka ran down the pyre steps to Chichiri.
"Follow them Chichiri!" She cried.
The two of them disappeared, leaving Hotohori, Mitsukake and Nuriko behind with Misara. Suddenly, she opened her eyes and moved to sit up. Hotohori, still holding on to her, looked down in surprise, then helped her to her feet. Leaning on Hotohori, she began to cry.
She was still crying a few minutes later when Miaka, Tamahome, Tasuki and Chichiri came back...without Amiboshi. Miaka held his flute in her hands.
Misara looked at the flute, then lifted her head and looked at Miaka. Miaka shook her head sadly and Misara turned away and closed her eyes again.
Suddenly the door to the shrine opened again and a small figure came in. In his hand was a leaf. He lifted it to his lips and out came the sound that had distracted Amiboshi.
"Who are you?" Nuriko asked.
The young boy lifted his foot and showed them the shining red symbol that flashed there. Everyone gasped, and Misara lifted her head from Hotohori's shoulder and looked at the boy.
"Who are you?" Misara softly asked again, and this time he answered.
"I am Chiriko, one of the Suzaku Seven."
Well, that's finally over with. I feel kind of bad for "killing" Ami off like that, but like I said in the beginning...this follows the basic storyline of Fushigi Yuugi. Unfortunately. Since I've been doing that all along, I don't know what to do about Hotohori. The poor man. I haven't even started on the next chapter yet. Eeek! Apparently, I seem to leave you guys at cliffhangers and you probably don't appreciate that. This wasn't much of a cliffhanger, but if I keep this up, this story's going to go on for a loooooong time. At least until I finish the series, right? And I've already got ideas for doing the OVAs. (And the crowd says "End the stupid story already!") I think I shall never end this story, since this is how I spend my free time, writing and daydreaming about Misara's next adventure. And I don't have any really good ideas for another fanfic. But I'm working on it. BTW-I want to give a BIG THANK YOU for all those who actually kept reading this lame story. So...THANK YOU LOTS AND LOTS! You're all very good for my self-esteem, you know.
