I know a lot of you have been wanting Hotohori to get with the program and see that he really loves Misara. Well, here you are. this is the "turning chapter"!! (Twilight Zone music plays in background) Yes folks, this chapter will set the stage for the rest of the series! Excited? You should be! Keep reading and discover the fate of these poor puppets...oh, by the way, this chapter breaks my damn romantic heart...
Misara kept on running, not knowing or really caring where she ended up. Oblivious to Hotohori behind her, she ran as fast as she could, eventually losing him. Minutes later, she found herself in the shrine of Suzaku. The statue gloomed over her as she lay sobbing on the floor in front of it.
She lay there for a minute, cursing herself for being so cruel to Tasuki and for not rescuing Taylor earlier.
This is all my fault, she thought desperately. If I hadn't agreed to this stupid goddess job, Taylor would be okay and I wouldn't feel so bad about hurting Tasuki's feelings.
She sat up and rubbed the tears out of her eyes. Not that it matters, she thought bitterly. He's just some guy in a stupid world that can't take care of itself and has to get poor, unsuspecting girls to fix its problems. He doesn't know the first thing about me and he's so...
She shook her head angrily. It's not like it matters, she repeated. Its not like I like him or anything! Hotohori's so much better than him! Hotohori is kind and wonderful-and I bet he wouldn't have held me back...
Slamming her fist on the steps leading up to the statue, Misara sighed irritably. Hotohori doesn't love me...so why do I care about him so much? Stupid...stupid...stupid me...It doesn't matter who I love...I still hurt Tasuki's feelings and I still lost Taylor to that horrible man. I can't do anything right...
"I can't do anything right..." She said out loud. Suddenly, she was embraced from behind and she turned her head to see who it was.
"I'm sorry, Misara." Hotohori's voice whispered in her ear.
"Why?" She sniffed, quickly wiping her eyes again.
"When you told me this morning that you were in love with me...I...didn't say anything. It was stupid of me, I know." He finished quickly, then sighed. "I just wanted to ask you to forgive me for being so inconsiderate of your feelings."
"That's alright..." Misara said softly. "I know how you feel about me, and it was wrong to tell you I loved you like that...I'm the one who should apologize." She turned to face him.
"I know...I haven't done a very good job at protecting any of you...and I'm sorry for accepting this job and not doing-" Hotohori suddenly embraced her again, and she stopped in surprise.
"Please don't talk about that right now. So many horrible things have happened to you today, and its no wonder you feel so bad. But I want you to just forget about everything now." He didn't speak for a moment, and she was suddenly too peaceful to talk. Then he continued. "You said that you know how I feel about you, and that it was wrong of you to tell me that you loved me...maybe that's true, but...it really made me see how foolish I was. I thought I was in love with Miaka all this time, but I found that I was only stubbornly holding on to something I couldn't have...and that you're the one I love."
Misara suddenly became very still, too shocked to even breathe. Hotohori, noticing how tense she suddenly became, looked down.
"Misara?" He asked quietly, suddenly afraid that he had said the wrong thing.
She suddenly let out the breath she was holding in and looked up at him.
"I'm sorry..." she said softly. "Its just...hard to believe..."
Hotohori let out the breath that HE had been holding in and smiled. Misara hesitantly smiled back, then laughed and threw her arms around his neck.
It was dinnertime, and neither Misara nor Hotohori were anywhere to be found. The remaining warriors sat at the table, confused and a little worried. Suddenly, Miaka waltzed in.
"Hi everybody!" She said happily. When no one answered, she noticed all the glum faces. "What's wrong with all you of you?"
Chichiri pointed to the empty chairs. "We can't find Misara or His Highness anywhere. It's not like Misara to miss a meal, no da."
"Kind of like Miaka..." Nuriko mused.
Miaka groaned. "I saw those two walking in the garden just before I came in. I didn't really want to interrupt them, so I decided to just come to dinner without telling them it was time to eat. That means more for me!" She plopped herself down into a chair.
"Besides," she continued, "they're so in love I don't think they could eat right now."
"WHAT??!?" Nuriko screeched.
Miaka looked up from her salad. "What's gotten into you?"
Nuriko was fuming. "How do you know that Hotohori's in love with her?"
Miaka laughed. "Oh, he told me this afternoon. He said he realized who he truly loved and it was Misara! Oh, and I know she's in love with him. Has been since she met him." She said matter-of-factly.
Nuriko stood and threw his plate at the wall, while Tasuki sat silently and stared at his food.
That night, as Misara was getting ready for bed, her door slamming open interrupted her humming and dancing. She spun around in surprise and saw Tasuki standing in the doorway, looking very, very angry.
"What do you think you are doing?" He said furiously.
Confused, Misara held up her pajamas. "Getting ready to go to bed...?" She said.
He slammed the door behind him. "That is NOT what I meant."
Misara's eyes grew wider. "Well, what do you mean?"
"What is this about you and...Hotohori?" He spit the word out.
"Well...he's in love with me...and I'm in love with him..." Misara said, still confused.
"No you're not!" Tasuki yelled.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Misara said, angry now.
"You may think you are, but you're not." He said.
"I KNOW I am, Tasuki." Misara put her hands on her hips. "Why do you care?"
"BECAUSE-" he stopped, looked around quickly, then continued. "Because I just do!" He whispered angrily.
"Well, I don't see why you think you have anything to do with it! I've made up my mind, and this is what I want." Misara hissed.
"You're not going to be happy with him!"
"How do you know?"
Tasuki grabbed her shoulders. "What's going to happen when you have to go back to your own world, huh? You're just going to have to leave him behind, you know. You're better off not getting involved with him!"
"I'm going to use the wish I get to stay here with him! Why are you so against me being happy?" Misara cried.
"Its not going to work that way, and you know it! You'd leave behind everything in your world just to stay here with some guy who you think you love?"
"I know I love him!"
"Misara, listen-"
"No, you listen!" She shouted. "I'm tired of you, of all of you, telling me what's good for me and what's not! Just leave me alone!" She tore out of his grasp and ran out the door.
Tasuki chased her through the hallways, waking up the rest of the Suzaku warriors and Miaka, who all followed the two of them to the shrine of Suzaku. Misara ran up the steps and threw open the doors. Suddenly, she turned to face all of them and they stopped on the steps in front of her.
"Just leave me alone!" She cried again. "I don't want to be your stupid goddess anymore! I just want to be happy-why don't' you understand that?" She shrieked, then turned and ran to the statue, where she found her ring on the floor. She picked it up quickly, then spun around once more. The warriors of Suzaku and their priestess stood in the doorway, Hotohori and Tasuki in front of them all. The two ran toward her, but all she saw was Tasuki, and she backed up angrily.
"Stop!" She screeched. They stopped in their tracks, but Tasuki started moving forward again.
"Don't do it, Misara...please!" He said quickly.
"Stop telling me what to do and where to go and who to love!" She shouted at him, oblivious to Hotohori, who thought she was yelling at him.
She put her ring back on her finger, and its coldness ran through her.
"I want to go home!" She cried. "I don't want to stay here any longer!"
A red light surrounded her, but instead of its usual warmth, it was cold and harsh. She didn't care. As she took one last look at her warriors, she noticed for the first time Hotohori, and her confused mind suddenly realized her mistake.
"Hotohori!" She screamed, running at him and trying to escape the red light that was swallowing her. He started to run toward her, his face full of fear.
If I can get to him, I'll be alright...If I can be with him, nothing will hurt me any more...
Just before she fell into his open arms, the light swallowed her and she disappeared.
Do not despair! This is not the end! I promise, there's more to come! (please don't throw things at me!) I'm working hard on the next chapter, since my desire to write this has returned to me! If you haven't noticed, I've been kind of slacking off...But today I got the best idea for the story and it'll cut this story down by at least 5 chapters, since I am the worst at summarizing. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed chapter 20...(20? Jeez, that's a lot) and if you're not too mad at me, you can read my newest fan fic, Devotion! Yeah, I know the title stinks, but I couldn't think of anything else. It's about Hotohori! Yay! Let me know if you like it or if you hate me for being so cruel to my Fushigi puppets...Oh yeah, and since chapter 18 was the "scary summoning chapter, I figured that was an important one, and it finished the story to that point at exactly 60 pages (at least in my word program with my font) but I thought that was really funny! Uh…nevermind…sorry…
