Author's Note:

Well, this is my second serious try at fanfiction (my other FY fanfic here on fanfiction.net, Fushigi Ryuu, being the first). This one is a kind of cross between a "new miko" and a reincarnation fic. It takes place about 400 or so book years after the series, with a new miko and a bunch of reincarnated shichiseishi.

Here we start to meet some of the reincarnated shichiseishi...

Disclaimer:

I don't own Fushigi Yuugi...though sometimes I wish I did. I made the emperor up...and these versions of the shichiseishi are mostly out of my own head, but otherwise I really didn't create the people in this chapter.

Warning:

No warnings for this chapter, but there will be shounen ai (guys who like guys) in the future, as well as Tasuki language.

Atarashii Inochi
prologue: heika's weekly meeting

-present time, a meeting room in Konan imperial palace-

"Heika," chorused the staff as the emperor entered the room. It was time for his weekly meeting with his staff, which included both generals of the army, a few important courtiers, and the head of the ministers. Unfortunately, the head of the ministers and one of the generals couldn't make it that time. There was a young, but quite talented, minister filling in for him, and the other general was sufficient.

The five men (or boy in the case of the young minister, for he was fifteen years old) in the room bowed to the emperor as he made his way to his chair. He nodded to the others as he passed, with a look of surprise for the young minister taking the place of the head minister. All those in the room, not including the emperor of course, were equally bowed, with the exception of the one general present. He was slightly bowed, but not quite as much as the others, and no one seemed to mind this.

"Please, you know how much I hate all the formality," the emperor said, his gravelly voice able to carry well in the silence of the small room, despite the soft tone in which he said it. The middle-aged man settled down into his chair with a sigh, removing the little box-like hat that he had to wear as part of his imperial garb and running his hands wearily through his graying hair(2).

Most of the others in the room knew how the emperor, unlike other emperors before him, hated the formality required of him. He took every chance he could get to just be a man instead of an emperor, even when doing something that was integral to the running of the country. And, to be honest, the staff preferred it that way, except for the head minister, who was an old man and remembered the days when the emperor's father ruled.

The poor minister boy on the other hand, who had never been sent to meet the emperor in a setting that required less than the utmost in formality, was quite shocked by this. The general, noticing the distress in the boy's wide blue eyes, put his hand on his shoulder in a gentle manner. This calmed the young minister, who gave a quick smile in return to the general, who also happened to be his cousin and one of his best friends.

"Now, what do you have to tell me?" the emperor asked, leaning back in his chair comfortably.

"We are not making any progress on finding the crown prince a wife, Heika," the most senior courtier said. "He refuses to consider any of the young women in the harem. It is most distressing."

"Give him some time," the emperor said. "After all, he's still young."

"Heika!" the courtier protested. "He is approaching his thirtieth birthday! It's far past time when he should have married."

"And I'm fine," the emperor said stubbornly. "He's got some time left, so let him enjoy his freedom a little longer."

"Heika…" the courtier said, and the emperor gave him a stern glance, at which point he promptly dropped whatever he was about to say.

"Next?" the emperor asked, and the general shared a pointed look with one of the courtiers. The courtier made a small, panicked motion to the general, who sighed heavily.

"My scouts have reported a Kutou official, accompanied by a military escort, who crossed the border a few days ago," he said. "And a fast horse arrived earlier today with a note from the Kutou emperor, saying that one of the Seiryuu shichiseishi is on his way to our capital. They claim it is purely peaceful, though I fail to see why a Seiryuu shichiseishi would be coming to us."

"Thank you," the emperor said. "Keep an eye on this situation, and I will meet with the shichiseishi when he arrives."

"Hai," the general said.

"Anything else?" the emperor asked.

"Umm, I was told to inform you that there are the beginnings of a famine in the southern regions, Heika," the young minister piped up nervously. "My superior has caught it early though, and he says it shouldn't be a problem."

"Thank you, Ou-kun, wasn't it?" the emperor said.

"Hai, Heika," the young minister said quietly, surprised that the emperor remembered his name. "Ou Doukun(3)."

The rest of the meeting was short, sweet, and quite to business. The emperor hated spending more time than necessary on formal imperial business. He preferred to sneak out of the palace every now and then and find out how his land was doing in person to sitting around, listening to ministers, generals, and courtiers talk about things, even if they were quite important to the running of Konan.

Afterward, the emperor shooed the five members of staff out of his room and shut the door behind them. He wasn't trying to be rude; he just wanted to be alone to think. Despite his loose attitude toward running the empire, he really was a good emperor, and he liked to spend some time after his weekly meeting with his staff to think about what he'd learned.

The courtiers all had things to be tending to, especially the most senior one, who still thought he needed to find a wife for the crown prince. So all three of them hurried away, leaving young Ou Doukun, and the general, who was not too much older than his young cousin. Neither of them had anything pressing to tend to at the moment.

"Is he always like that?" Doukun asked. "I've only seen him in court, and he's always so…regal there."

"Almost always," the general replied. "Father claims he can't run the empire if he always has to act like he does at court."

"It's funny," Doukun said, with a slight laugh. "You'd think I'd know my own uncle better than this."

"I'm lucky to know him as well as I do," the general replied. "And I only know him this well because I'm a general. Otherwise I'd be like my sisters and know less about him than you do."

"I don't think I envy you being a prince, Sai," Doukun said. "I'm not sure if I could handle being any more noble than I already am."

Saihitei(4), second general of the Konan army, and youngest prince at seventeen years old, laughed. He glanced at his slightly shorter(5), and much more scholarly, younger cousin and nodded. "I think you're right Dou," he said, ruffling his "younger brother's" red hair(6) familiarly. "And believe me, I'm glad I'm not my aniki."

Everyone knew that Prince Saihitei did not want the throne. Everyone knew how much he thanked Suzaku-sama that he was the youngest royal child and not the eldest. He preferred his spot as the top swordsman in Konan and second general of the army (his second oldest brother having the title of first general) to anything involving running the country. After all, his skills with a sword were near legendary, and he knew it.

Just then, a young, though not as young as Saihitei, officer from the army came running up to the two, out of breath from searching the palace for the young general. He bowed to the prince, and to the young minister, who was well known as one of the emperor's many nephews and good friend to Saihitei. Then he turned to Saihitei.

"Excuse me, shogun," the young officer said. "But I was told to find you. There's a problem in the city."

Saihitei knew that it probably wasn't as bad as whoever had sent for him thought it was. It was probably just a minor incident, not anything that would require his presence. But if he didn't go then the officer in charge who had sent for him, whoever that was, would probably not be prompted to act, and whatever it was could build until it truly was something that would require his attention. So, he bid farewell to Doukun and followed the young officer to deal with the problem.

notes

2. *winces as she gets the bad image of an old Hotohori...* I didn't make Hotohori old, honest!! He's just not the emperor dammit!

3. Sooooooo, how many people remembered Chiriko's real name?? Hmm?? It's always the one I forget: Chiriko and Mitsukake. Oh yeah, in case you haven't noticed yet...this young minister of mine is Chiriko, even if he doesn't know it yet.

4. And another Suzaku shichiseishi who doesn't know what he is yet... See, I TOLD you I wasn't making Hotohori old!! Instead he's NEVER going to be the emperor, and he's not quite as beautiful...poor Hori-chan...

5. Yes, Chiriko actually got old enough to finish puberty this time!! And because he didn't get to last time, he gets to be one of the taller seishi this time around! (Hotohori being the tallest.)

6. This is real red we're talking about, like the same color as Suzaku's hair. And, just as a note, I've changed the appearances of some of the seishi a bit...like Chiriko's height and hair, and Hotohori's beauty. If you don't like it, remember, these are different lives for them, they don't have to be the exact same.