When Fuuko Mysteriously Plays

Chapter 5
A Mask

The emperor was sitting in his chair in this room when he was having a meeting. They we're talking about what they should do about Kutou.

"AAAaaaaaahhhhhHHH", Fuuko shouted as she was falling down. She fell on top of Hotohori.
"Erm... sorry about that, Hotohori", she said blushing a little. "It's ok, Fuuko. It's good that you're back", he said.
"Hey look it's the Suzaku no Miko", said the men.

"How long has it been since I left?"
"Three months", Hotohori answered.
"THREE MONTHS???" Fuuko's eyes widened.
'Yanagi had been here for three months already', Fuuko thought.
"Fuuko, I have a favor to ask of you. I need you to find all Suzaku Seishi. Kutou, the neighboring country has gathered all its troops", Hotohori explained.
"For a war?"
"Yes, Kutou wants to take over Konan. So now they're invading us. We'd like you to wish upon Suzaku to prevent this from happening".
"Hai, by the way, did you find any girl here with the name of Yanagi? She dresses up like me", Fuuko asked.
"No, I'm sorry"

Fuuko was passing by when Nuriko saw her.
"Fuuko?"
"Nuriko!" Fuuko and Nuriko ran to each other jumping up and down.
"Hey, Nuriko, how have you been?"
"Still as beautiful as ever", they walked away together. "What happened to Tamahome?" Fuuko asked.
"He left a few days ago to go back home to make more money", Nuriko answered.
"Aa".
"I came here because of Yanagi", Fuuko said.
"You mean she didn't go back to your world".
"She did. She was in our world while I was here, but it looks like she came here when I came back there. I promised I'll come back for her", Fuuko answered.
"Hotohori said I should look for the other seishi. We should find Tamahome first".
"Hai, you're right".

"Nuriko, is that how you're going to dress when we go out?" Fuuko asked.
"W-wh-what do you mean by that?" Nuriko turned red. She had looked like Fuuko had just found out a deep dark secret of hers.
"No, I didn't mean to make it sound that you're a man and I want you to dress as one. I mean, that'd be silly. You? A man?" Fuuko giggled at the thought. Nuriko blushed some more looking guilty. "What I meant is that if I was going on a trip like this, I won't wear a dress like that. It would be pretty hard to move around and protect someone", Fuuko continued.
"Well... what do you expect me to wear?" Nuriko asked.

The next day... "I can't believe I'm dressing up like this", Nuriko said as she wore the men's clothes. "Don't worry, it doesn't look so bad on you. Actually, it looks pretty good on you. You still look like a woman. It even enhances your true beauty. You might start a fad here, you know? I might even get myself one of those", Fuuko said.
"You really think so? You think I'm still beautiful, even if I'm wearing men's clothing?"
"Definitely, you don't need a girly dress to look beautiful. You're so beautiful already. And you're still wearing make up. Plus, you have breasts. No one will ever mistake you for a man. I'm sure Hotohori will like you even more if you show him how beautiful you can be even though you're wearing men's clothes", Fuuko said noting Nuriko's chest and she was still wearing make up.
"Really? You think he'll like me?" Her eyes lit up as Fuuko said Hotohori's name.
"Yeah", Fuuko said grinning.
"Thanks a lot Fuuko".

Hotohori came in.
"So, you're going to see Tamahome?" he asked.
"Hai, and Nuriko's coming with me", Fuuko said.
"Nuriko?!" Hotohori noticed her clothes.
"This is just because I won't be able to protect Fuuko if I'm wearing those kinds of clothes, Hotohori-sama. Besides, it'd hard to protect her if people will see two beautiful women together, right, Fuuko?"
"Hai, that's weird though. Other than Domon, you're the only person who said I was beautiful", Fuuko answered.
"Do you like it Hotohori-sama?" Nuriko asked with the 'I'm-so-beautiful-look'. "Fuuko said it looks good on women. She might even get herself one", she added.
"It looks really good on you, Nuriko. You look beautiful but not as beautiful as me of course", he answered.
"Arigatou, Hotohori-sama".
"Fuuko, take 'The Book of the Four Gods' with you. It would help you find the other Seishi"; Hotohori handed 'The Book of the Four Gods' to Fuuko.

Fuuko and Nuriko went out and started on their trip.
"He likes me, he thinks I'm beautiful, he really likes me", Nuriko said with dreamy eyes as they were riding the horse to go to the village Tamahome is protecting.
"Will you shut up"; Fuuko was tired of Nuriko. Nuriko has been repeating that Hotohori thinks she's beautiful and that he likes her ever since they went out. "You've saying that for more than three hours already. If you keep that up, I'm gonna strangle you soon", Fuuko said, irritated.
"But he likes me, Fuuko. Hotohori-sama likes me", Nuriko said.
"I'm warning you. If you say that one more time, you're really gonna get it", Fuuko replied.
"HE LIKES ME!!!!!" Nuriko shouted.
"That's it", Fuuko strangles Nuriko with her hands.

"It's getting dark", Fuuko said.
"Yeah".
The horse stops and Fuuko falls down.
"Fuuko, are you ok?" she asked

A man came holiding a big-stick-with-a-blade-on-top-thingy like what the death guy is holding.
"Identify yourself", he said. More men came holding torches came.
"Fuuko?"
"Tamahome?"

"Tamahome, who are these people?" one of the men asked.
"This is Fuuko, Suzaku no Miko and this is Suzaku Seishi, Nuriko. I'm sure you've heard about Kutou so I'm working as a bodyguard to this village. As long as I'm here, this village is safe", he answered.

All the men's torches went out.
"Hey, what's going on?" one of the men said.
"Make fire again", said another one.

There were hands that grabbed Fuuko from the darkness. "What the-", The hand closed Fuuko's mouth.
"Fuuko!" Tamahome ran after her.

"Fuuko!" Nuriko called. She turned around and saw light from behind her.

A man came out of the hat and Fuuko hit him on his face with her elbow and was able to pull away from him. She landed on the ground and got ready to fight.
"Itai no da!" a man with light blue hair said. He was wearing a mask with a smiling face on it.
"Who are you? What do you want?"
"You can hit me all you want, Suzaku no Miko no da, I was just going to tell you that you should be careful because Kutou is hunting you down na no da. I gotta go now, bye no da"; he put on the hat and went inside.

"He disappeared in this hat", Fuuko picked it up.
"Fuuko!" Tamahome ran to her.
"What happened? What was that all about?"
"Don't worry Tamahome. I don't think he's an enemy. He was just warning me that some men from Kutou were hunting me down. Then he disappeared in this hat"; she showed it to Tamahome.
"Who?"
"That foxy guy, who grabbed me. Where's Nuriko?"
"I think I left her there with the others", Tamahome and Fuuko both ran back to where they left Nuriko when they heard her scream.

Nuriko was on the tree with many arrows sticking very close to her body.
"Nuriko, what happened here?" Tamahome asked.
"After you left there were guys who shot arrows to the direction where Fuuko had been standing"

(Flashback when Nuriko turned around and saw light. There were men shooting arrows at all of them)

Back to Nuriko... The men with Tamahome were dead and had been shot with arrows.

Later... Fuuko, Nuriko and Tamahome were eating. Some men came in. One of them said that there were some troublemakers somewhere around their village.
"That means more money for me", Tamahome said. They all glared at him. "I mean, that's very bad".

"Tama-chan doesn't care about anything else other than money", Nuriko said.
"That's not true. Tamahome is a very nice man. He wholeheartedly protects our village", the old man said.
"Wholeheartedly? If someone wholeheartedly protects your village, it means they're protecting it without asking for anything in return".
"Of course, we want to repay him as appreciation for what he did".
"You just don't get it do you?"
"Nuriko, never mind, don't argue with the old man", Fuuko said.

Tamahome beat up some men, piled them up and put his foot on top of them.
"There, I beat up thirty men so I get thirty whatchamacallits (Sorry, I forgot what it's supposed to be)".

The next morning... Fuuko woke up early and dressed up in her school uniform. She heard something from outside. She looked out the window and saw Tamahome getting ready to ride the horse.
"Tamahome!" she called.
"Fuuko? Eh... hi!" he said.
"Where are you going?"
"I'm uh... I'm going to um... see my family", Tamahome scratched his head.
"You're just gonna leave us here?"
"Don't worry, I'll be back later".
"But what am I supposed to do here?"
"Just stay put until I come back".
"What? No way, I'm coming with you".
"You're coming with me? But um..."
"I'm all ready to go anyway. Besides, you don't have to feed me or anything".
"It's not... I mean uh... Oh fine, let's go", Tamahome sighed in defeat. "Since you're coming with me anyway, I guess we should take Nuriko with us too", he added.
"Ok, I'll go wake her up".

Fuuko went to Nuriko and shook her. She didn't wake up. Fuuko went out and got a big pale of water. She threw the water at Nuriko. As expected Nuriko woke up and shouted.

Later, on their way to Tamahome's house.
"What was the big idea throwing water at me?" Nuriko asked.
"You won't wake up".
"We're here", Tamahome said.

They all got off the horse.
"Chuei, Shunkei, Gyokuran, Yuiren!" Tamahome called.
"Neechan!" there were five kids outside the house that greeted Tamahome.
They came in the house.
"Dad, how are you? Look, I earned some more money for us", Tamahome said to a man lying on the bed.
"Tamahome, you don't have to go through all this just to get us money. Chuei is already farming".
"Really? That's good Chuei".
"But I'm not a good farmer. I can't get the plants to grow", Chuei said.
"That's ok. I'm earning for us".
"Tamahome, you don't have to. You should think of yourself and your own interests. You should marry someone already", his dad said.

"Wow, I've never seen this side of Tamahome before", Nuriko whispered to Fuuko.
"So this is why he wants to earn money so badly", Fuuko whispered back.

"By the way, Dad, I'd like you to meet Fuuko. She's the Suzaku no Miko. And this is Nuriko. She's also Suzaku Seishi".
"Hi!" Fuuko and Nuriko said together.

"Well, I gotta go now", Tamahome said.
"Please, neechan, don't go", Yuiren held onto his legs. She was red.
"Yuiren!"
"What's going on?" Fuuko asked. She held Yuiren's head. "She has fever", she said. She tried to recall what her mom did when Ganko got sick.

Later...
"She's fine now", Fuuko said. "We need water though. Who wants to go get some?" no reaction.
"I'll go get it"; Chuei said a little later with a really sad face.
"Never mind, I'll go get it", Fuuko sighed after seeing Chuei's expression.

Fuuko got some water then put it beside her. She was wearing the hat from the foxy guy last night. 'The Book of the Four Gods' fell out of her jacket.
"The Book of the Four Gods, this is supposed to give me some clues about the Seishis", she opened it and read it. "A monk, a mask. A MASK???" she remembered the man from last night who was wearing a mask. The truth is, it's not really that obvious that he's wearing a mask. But Fuuko, being as observant as she is, realized he was wearing a mask. She was very close to him and all.
"Maybe he's the next Seishi"; Fuuko closed the book when she sensed someone behind her.

"Who's there?" she said as she stood up and turned around.
"You're Suzaku no Miko, aren't you?" A man with the same weapon as Tamahome's weapon last night came out of the bushes.
"And you're an assassin from Kutou, aren't you?"
"Yes", he positioned his weapon to attack her. He swung his weapon at where she was standing.

"The assassin from Kutou was behind the Suzaku no Miko", Tokiya read.
"Assassin??? An assassin's going to kill Fuuko???" Domon said.
"Don't worry Domon, if you forgot, we won the Ura Butou Satsujin together. I'm sure Fuuko can take care of one assassin", Recca said.

Back to Fuuko...
She was gone.
"Too slow", she hit him from behind. He fell, unconscious.

She looked up and saw arrows coming her way.
"Fuujin!" she shouted and positioned her Fuujin. The central stone lit up. It gathered up wind and broke the arrows.
"Wow, it's more powerful than before!"

The hat fell off and the same foxy guy came out of it.
"You again? Who are you anyway?"
"I'm Chichiri no da", he said.

While they were walking back to Tamahome's house...
"You must be careful or else people will be sacrificing their lives for you", he said.
"Sacrificing lives for me? What do you mean sacrificing lives?" Chichiri was gone.

She heard screams from Tamahome's house. She opened the door and saw everyone tied in a string by some more assassins from Kutou.
"Don't move, Suzaku no Miko", said the assassin.
"Fuuko! Don't come closer. He'll tie you up too", Tamahome shouted. Fuuko stood there, clenching her fist, not knowing what to do. She took one step closer then Chichiri appeared in front of her. He used his power to set all of them free. Then he used his um... stick by spinning it around to beat up the assassin. Then they all saw a red kanji symbol light up in his right knee.
"You're a Seishi!" Fuuko said.

Nuriko held the assassin.
"Who sent you?"
"Watch out!!!" Tamahome shouted. Some arrows from above hit the man Nuriko was holding at the back. Nuriko had an arrow sticking in her sleeve.
"That was great, how you sensed those arrows before it hit them na no da", Chichiri said.
"It's nothing, really", Tamahome replied.
"Hey, don't you even care what happened to me here?"

"You may have your Suzaku no Miko now, but when we find Seiryuu no Miko, we will get you", the bloody assassin said.

Later... Fuuko, Nuriko, Tamahome and Chichiri were sitting on the table.
"Um... Chichiri, I think you're mask is broken", Fuuko pointed to the ripped mask.
"Oh, that's ok, I always wear a spare for such cases no da", he peeled off his mask to reveal another mask underneath.
"I see, why do wear that thing anyway?"
"It's a long story na no da"
"That's ok, you can tell me next time. Anyway, What's that guy saying about Seiryuu no Miko? Does that mean they have the same legend about the Miko in Kutou?" Fuuko asked.
"Hai no da, when they heard that Konan has already found their Suzaku no Miko. They started to look for their Seiryuu no Miko too no da", Chichiri explained.
"So just like Fuuko, the Seiryuu no Miko will also summon Seiryuu and has the same power to make three wishes come true?" Tamahome asked.
"Yes, I found out from my travelling that they have the same legend".
"It's not that easy for them to find one. People from my world can't simply get to this world. I only got here accidentally. Oh wait!"
"What?"
"Yanagi-chan, she came to this world, remember? What if... What if Kutou finds her and made her Seiryuu no Miko?"
"They said they haven't found the Seiryuu no Miko yet".
"That's right. So we have to find her before they do. Oh no, come to think about it, when I asked her where she was, she said she was in Kutou. That means they could find her sooner or maybe they already did but she won't do it cause she knows I'm already Suzaku no Miko. Yanagi-chan's a bright girl, she'll know we'll be enemies if she became Seiryuu no Miko".
"You're right, but we better get your friend. They mustn't find a Miko", Tamahome said as he stood up.
"Let's go then", Nuriko also stood up.

They all went out headed to Kutou. Chichiri said he'd meet them there. They all ride their horses.

Author's Notes: Yes finally done with chapter 5! Best chapter I've written so far. And is actually less confusing than the others. Thanks to AXN for bringing back Fuushigi Yuugi. Otherwise, I would've gotten a lot of stuff wrong. Ok, I know there is one thing that's confusing. I know you're all wondering about Nuriko. He's still a man here. They just didn't find out yet. I'll reveal it soon. And the thing about his make up. He wore make up so they won't be suspicious. And he wore pads for his breasts cause they might notice he's flat chested. I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed. I'm really, really appreciate it. Anyway, I hope you liked it. Please review!!!