Mima's Side of the Story
By: Satil

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None of the Fushigi Yuugi characters belong to me, but is rightfully owned by Watase Yuu. Only does the character Mima belong to me. And Mima would resemble me... I rather keep the same storyline. So don't sue me or anything if there's anything in here that you do NOT like. O.o;;;;; And I'd like to recieve reviews! ^_^ But no flames... @.x;;;
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~*Chapter 21*~
Friday, August 2, 2002

"I've finally found you, you piece of shit," the beast cursed at Nuriko. "You've done more damage to me than this wimp has. But as a reward for leading me to the Shinzaho, I'll kill you and devour you, after I have tasted the fresh, sweet, tender flesh of this girl here, and then Suzaku no Miko, and the rest of you."
"Nur...i...ko..." I struggled to say, trying to loosen his grip on my neck.
Nuriko looked at me with sorrow, and then at the beast with anger. "Don't be so cock-sure. You've laid a finger on one of our most precious possessions..." Nuriko's bracelets covered his arms. "...and you deserve to die!"
"I do?" the beast challenged, licking my neck.
I cringed, feeling his rough tongue slide against my neck, leaving his saliva on me. "Nur...i...ko..." I stuttered.
"She's tasty," the beast grinned. "I think I'll devour her, right before your eyes."
'No!' I thought, knowing my life was over.
Nuriko glared at the thing. "You're going to have to kill me first."
The beast threw me aside, my body slamming into a rock, pain going through all over my body. I couldn't get up because when I fell from the rock, I landed in an awkward position, my ankle twisting. Pain shot up and into my leg, sending tears to my eyes. It sucked because I twisted that ankle probably twelve times in my lifetime, and the more it happens to that ankle, the more it hurts.
"Killing you won't be a problem," I heard the beast say.
"Bring it on!" Nuriko shouted.
The beast ran full speed ahead towards Nuriko and pushed him down onto the ground. I tried yelling out Nuriko's name, but I found out that I had a hard time breathing. 'God... I feel so helpless!' I thought. 'Somebody, please... help Nuriko!'
Nuriko tried hard to get the beast off of him, but he wouldn't budge. Then I saw Nuriko trying a punch at him, but the thing saw his move before-hand and jumped off of him and onto a rock above us.
The thing jumped off of the rock and started screaming, heading towards Nuriko and ready to punch him down into the ground. Nuriko dodged fast and out of the way, the wolf's fist going into the snowy ground. The purple-haired seishi went up against the wall, but moved when the wolf was going to punch him. Instead of hitting Nuriko, he punched the solid rock.
But this time, he did succeed. He punched Nuriko right in the face, causing a big bruise to appear. The thing took another hit, hitting Nuriko into the chest, ripping his coat off. He sent Nuriko sliding back all the way into a wall of jaggedy rocks, slamming into them.
"Nuriko!" I managed to say, surprised that I finally got some air into my lungs. I struggled to get up, hoping that I might be able to do something. 'Damn ankle...' I thought. 'I sprained it.'
Nuriko slid down, breathing hard. The symbol that revealed on his chest was glowing bright red.
The beast screamed and charged at Nuriko once more. Nuriko took hold of his coat and covered the beast with it, causing him to slow down. The seishi jumped on to the Seiryuu Seishi, running on him, causing the wolf to fall forward.
But I saw the coat slide off the wolf, and the wolf spotted Nuriko's back to him. In a blink of an eye, the wolf turned around and struck his hand through Nuriko's back, all the way to the front.
At that moment, tears began running down my cheeks. Anger rose inside of me, along with sadness. "NURIKOOOOOOOO!" His name escaped my lips, my scream echoing all around. I sensed Nuriko's chi lowering... becoming very low.
Nuriko was hanging in the air, with an arm inside of him. I watched as his mouth opened, and blood spurted out and onto the soft, white snow.
I fell back down to the ground, pressing myself up against the rock that was behind me. "No..." I said. "No... no..." Everything began to blur, but I could still see what was going on. Nuriko grabbed the face of the creature and flipped backwards, being able to rip himself out of the claw that was inside of him a moment ago. He landed behind the beast, and began to put pressure against the Seiryuu Seishi's head, intending to break his skull.
Obviously, the Seiryuu Seishi couldn't take the pressure, so he was screaming. And Nuriko... he was trying the best he could to break his skull, so he was screaming too. But finally, Nuriko did it. I could hear the crush of the skull, and the beast's lights going out. The thing fell back, landing into the snow. Nuriko was breathing heavily, succeeding at beating the crap out of the wolf.
Nuriko turned to me, and came over. He held out his hand, and I took it, getting up. "Are you all right, kiddo?" Nuriko asked, softly.
"Who cares about me, Nuriko? What about you!" I shouted at him. He heard me, but didn't care. He looked over at the boulder.
"I think I should move that, shouldn't I?" Nuriko headed towards the big rock. I watched him move slowly, blood dropping onto the snow, and glisten. He placed his arms around the boulder. He began trying to pick it up, out of the way of the entrance. His bracelets began glowing red, very brightly. He began to scream, trying to get it to move. And soon, he had the strength to lift it. It was the last thing he had to do...
I saw as he just dropped the boulder a couple feet to his left, as if it were just some useless beach ball. Nuriko stared up at the sky, as if staring right into the clouds of heaven.
"Nuriko..." I whispered, then shouted, "NURIKO!" I started to run towards him, but I fell. I struggled to get back up on my feet, and then I tried walking to him as fast as I could, limping. Nuriko fell down on his knees, but I fell too, catching him in my arms.
I shook his limp body. "Nuriko... Nuriko..." Tears were running down my cheeks uncontrollably. Pain and anger and sorrow were inside of me, building up as each tear formed in my eye and ran down my brown, rosy cheeks. I heard Tamahome and Miaka scream out his name, but I didn't pay attention. My attention was towards Nuriko. "Oh, God, Nuriko..." I cried. "Please... please don't die on me... Oh, God!! No!" Nuriko looked up at me with such sad eyes. A thin trace of life were the only things left in them.
"What's the... matter?" He put a hand up to my face, cupping my cheek. "I'm... here..."
"Don't talk, Nuriko. Oh, please..." I sobbed.
Tamahome and Miaka came up to me.
"What...happened?" Miaka asked me, staring at Nuriko.
I didn't answer her. I was too choked up to answer.
"Tamahome... build a fire," Miaka said. "Hurry!"
"O...kay," Tamahome started working on the next to us.
"Use it as a signal to get the other's attention," Miaka said.
I smelled the smoke, knowing Tamahome got it started.
"What'll we do?" Miaka asked. "The bleeding won't stop. He was too much to take on alone."
"Mima, can't you go get Mitsukake?" Tamahome asked.
I let go of Nuriko, putting him in the hands of Miaka. I didn't want to answer Tamahome. I didn't want to speak at all.
"Mima!" Tamahome yelled. "Can't you get MITSUKAKE?!" He was becoming frustrated.
Again, I didn't answer him.
But to my surprise, he slapped me across the face, really hard. It hurt more than my ankle did. The hit sent me down onto the ground, and I cried even more.
But he kept on yelling at me. "Did you hear me? DID YOU!?"
"Tamahome, stop it!" Miaka scolded. "Mima was watching Nuriko fight him! Don't you know? She was the last person to see him alive! Can't you understand she's in such complete shock?!"
I got up, and did what Tamahome expected me to do: become a bird and fly, to find the others and help heal Nuriko. It felt nice to just fly away, it felt like I was just flying away from all my problems. Flying away from the fact that Nuriko was... that Nuriko was...
I found Mitsukake and Tasuki, along with Chichiri and Chiriko. I flew down and perched on a branch that was close to them, and sung a sad song.
"Nani?" Chiriko asked, looking at me.
"It's Mima," Chichiri said. "Come on, let's follow her." I flew off the branch and led them to Nuriko, stopping once and awhile to make sure they were behind me all the way. But when I landed on the snow and changed back, we were too late. Way too late. I fell when I felt something inside of me die.
"Mima!" Tasuki caught me, and brought me back up. I cried, burying my face into his chest.
He placed a hand on me, and then said, "Tama... what's going...? Tamahome, what's going on!" His voice was shaking, and sounded deep and low. It was even hoarse.
Tasuki let go of me, and I fell down on my knees.
"Nuriko's... what happened?!" he shouted.
Tamahome came up to Tasuki, and I heard him whisper, "Nuriko's... dead..."
"That's... ridiculous," Tasuki muttered, but then he went berserk and tried running towards Nuriko, but Tamahome held him back. "THAT'S BULLSHIT! HE'S NOT... he's not... NURIKO! OPEN YOUR GODDAMNED EYES! YOU'RE NOT DEAD! SHUDDUP, TAMAHOME! Nuriko is not, God-fucking-damned dead!!!" But then Tasuki's shouting lowered, and so he went up to Mitsukake and put an arm on him. "Use your ability to bring this idiot back to life... can't you do that?" Then he laughed, an insane one. "You can't fake ME out. Tama's just easy to pull one over on." I closed my eyes, more tears coming down. I drowned out Tasuki's useless yelling and shouting, but then Tasuki began yelling at me. "MIMA! It's all your fault!"
I looked up at him, helpless. And then I thought, 'Maybe it is... maybe it is my fault that...'
"MIMA! IT'S YOUR FAULT THAT NURIKO DIED! You're useless! I don't even know why we considered you as one of us!" Tasuki accused. "YOU... YOU... YOU COULD HAVE COME FIND US FASTER! And if you have... NURIKO WOULDN'T HAVE DIED! Mitsukake could have healed him, and Nuriko would STILL be breathing right now!"
Tasuki, the one I thought I had feelings for, made me realize the obvious. It's my fault... why wasn't my first reaction was to find them? I was stupid.
I was pushed, and I fell completely over. I looked up, and saw Tasuki. His eyes were full of angst, and hate. "So you're going to cry some more, eh? Eh?" He cackled. "You're stupid, Mima. You're useless! You killed off a friend, and you're being a crybaby! Get up, Mima! Get up!"
I began crying even more, his accusations hurting more than all the pain I've had felt in my entire life put together.
"Oh, there you go... crying again! I hate you!!! WHY CAN'T YOU BE LIKE THE REST OF US? HUH? WHY! YOU'RE SUCH A-" Tasuki was cut off by Miaka's yelling.
"Nuriko's not dead... He is NOT dead! He WON'T DIE!" Miaka shouted, angry. "And even if he is... IT'S NOT RIGHT FOR YOU TO BLAME MIMA, TASUKI! Why should you?! Huh?! She was as shocked just as I am when we saw Nuriko! Tasuki, don't be blaming her!" Miaka got up, and started running away from us. Running from all the problems.
Tasuki looked down at me, "Mima... I... I..." He knelt down and put his hand on me, but slapped it away.
"DON'T TOUCH ME!" I yelled. "You said you hated me, didn't you? DIDN'T YOU?! So why are you trying to..."
He cut me off. "I didn't mean any of it, Mima... I really didn't."
I faced him, and then leaped into his arms. "Tasuki... Tasuki... I'm so.... so.... gomenasai..."
"I'm sorry, too," he whispered in my ear. "I really didn't mean to make you feel like that... I'm just so angry and upset, that's all." I got up, wiping my tears away.
"We should pay our respects, no da," Chichiri put a hand on my shoulder.
"Okay," I said.
I watched as Mitsukake made it like Nuriko's wounds weren't even there. "Tamahome," Mitsukake said, "get Miaka."
"It looks like..." Chiriko began. "Like... he's sleeping."
In a few minutes, we saw Tamahome dragging Miaka to pay her respects to Nuriko.
"Let go of me, Tamahome!" Miaka screamed. "You're HURTING me!" Tamahome threw her onto the ground, her eyes still closed.
"Look at Nuriko, Miaka," Tamahome told her, calmly.
"No," Miaka said, stubbornly.
"Look," Tamahome insisted, one more time. "YOU WANT TO WASTE NURIKO'S DEATH?!"
I jumped at Tamahome's loud shouting.
"WHAT DID NURIKO DEVOTE HIS LIFE FOR?!" Tamahome continued on yelling at Miaka. "IT WAS YOU, WASN'T IT?! YOU UNDERSTOOD HOW HE FELT BETTER THAN ANYONE!"
Mitsukake laid a hand on Tamahome's shoulder, a sign to calm himself the hell down. Then he walked over to Miaka. "Miaka, Nuriko is beautiful again. Please, look at him. It's sad, we'll miss him. But, no one says you have to recover right now. No one can say how long it'll take. We all feel the same. It even breaks my heart that I couldn't do anything!" Mitsukake took a breath. "I'd like to give you the time you need. A long, long time to recover. But we don't have that option. Force yourself through it... being sad is okay for now. I know you want Nuriko to be in peace. Everyone needs to be who they are. Everyone's born with something only he can do." I went over to Tasuki and sat next to him, crying again. I buried my face into his chest, his arm around me. We all listened to what Mitsukake had to say. "Nuriko lived as a Suzaku Seishi until his last moment."
"He looks happy, no da," Chichiri said, sadly, looking down at Nuriko. "We have to pay our last respects, Miaka, no da."
"Yes," Miaka finally agreed.
Tamahome handed Miaka over the bracelets Nuriko had. "You keep his bracelets. I'm sure Nuriko wanted you to keep them."
Tasuki and I got up. Tasuki walked over to Nuriko, picked up a pouch that was on the ground. "This is his hair. Why not bury it with him? Was he a man or a woman? I could never quite figure it out. He's too cool." Mitsukake and Chichiri covered Nuriko with the snow.
"No," Miaka said, "his life wasn't about being a man or a woman. Nuriko was... Nuriko."
"Farewell, my friend," I mumbled, as everybody else faced the entrance to getting the Shinzaho. "Farewell."