Disclaimer- *ahem* The child does not own FY. The child does own cool
things like Kiboku, his MANY MANY alternate identities, most of his family,
yada yada yada.
AN- Somebody reviewed!! I'm SO happy!! My brain goes on sick leave whenever I start writing, so I don't assume any responsibility for this chapter or the demented turn of events we experience. Oh, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHICHIRI- CHAN!!!!! *glomp*
"I want to go!" Kiboku insisted. "Iie, I HAVE to go. I can feel… there is something over in Kutou that I need to know, I just can't quite put my finger on it. Dozo? I must!"
"Oh Suzaku…" Chichiri moaned. "If it has to be that way… I'm just not sure that you're up to it no da! Tasuki, Miaka, and I can- Oh WHATEVER. Nobody can stop you no da."
"Darn straight you are."
****
"Yes…" Kiboku breathed. "What I want is in the palace… It's calling me." Right about then, realization struck him like a truckload of bricks and he snapped up. "Oh great Suzaku in heaven and all the other gods besides. That could only mean that someone's found me after all these years…"
"Kiboku? What is it no da?" Chichiri whispered concernedly. "You look pale."
"I… I…" he murmured brokenly. "I should have realized… Nobody could hide from HIM…" He pulled himself together abruptly. "I can lead you to Tamahome's room. He's with what I'm looking for, which CANNOT be a coincidence." He lapsed into thought.
"And what is it you're looking for no da?" Chichiri asked, not sure he was going to like the answer.
"If I'm lucky, it's another crystal." He held up a little red sphere that hung on a thin gold chain, strangely out of place on him. "And if I'm unlucky, well, it's an assassination attempt or something of the like. Certainly the being behind this is extremely powerful."
Miaka gulped. "I really really really really do not like the way this trip is going."
"C'mon!" Tasuki urged. "Are we going to do this or not?" He held his tessan in a menacing position.
"Oh we're going. The question is are we going to come back."
****
The quartet crept through the halls undetected by the guards, thanks to Chichiri and Kiboku's combined efforts. They paused before the shrine of Seiryu as Kiboku set a seemingly harmless scroll onto the ground.
"It's set to blow up any Seiryu sei that might come by," he explained. "They don't really need to drop in on up while we're in Tamahome's room."
They made it to where Tamahome was rather quickly, given that they had to huddle under one shield. Kiboku peeked in first, then motioned the others in. Tamahome was sleeping on a bed in the corner.
"Tama-" Miaka started to say, but Kiboku muffled the sound with his hand. His eyes warned of danger as he scanned the room, reaching out with his ki to touch each corner. He paused as the invisible feelers hit a flower. The bloom was strangely familiar, yet not. He walked over and tapped it cautiously, watching in horror as the petals fell…
Chichiri, Tasuki and Miaka stared as a feeling of dread enveloped them, foreboding that they could not shake off. Chichiri leapt up suddenly, sensing an unfriendly prescence.
"Show yourself!" he demanded, already preparing a spell to protect his miko and fellow warrior.
"My, perceptive, aren't we" A woman's voice, taunting.
"Come out!' Tasuki ordered, the two seishi now ready to fight to the death for their priestess. (Me, of course! ^_~) "I'm warnin' you!"
"No."
"Kiboku-san?"
"No," Kiboku repeated. "This has naught to do with you. It's just between me and her… not even that. Hibari, how dare you show your face here? To think that I once called you my sister!"
"Sister?" Miaka whispered, shocked.
"To think I once called you human!" Hibari spat. "You, who murdered me without a second thought! I can't believe I ever trusted you with my life. But now I am greater than you. My master has rewarded me… This time, I will finish you off." She laughed, and suddenly Kiboku felt his dream coming back. What had he done with the flower? "But I won't make it quick," Hibari went on. "No, you will feel pain, my little imouto."
"IMOUTO?" Tasuki hissed. "But… imouto…younger sister…"
"You have her, don't you?" Kiboku accused. "You took Suisen! What did you do to her? How long did you torture her? She would not have told you willingly, that I trained secretly in magic, that I was perfecting a spell to change my appearance to hide as a male priest the day I left! What did you DO?"
"Wait a second… So Kiboku's actually female no da?" Chichiri blinked a couple of times.
"Well, you can't really say I'm Kiboku," (s)he confessed. "Kiboku is a person, certainly, registered and all, with his own passport, but I… I am not truly him." A snap of the fingers, and the group was gaping at a young woman with long black hair tied back in a ponytail with Kiboku's huge eyes. The crystal dangled from her neck. "I forged that identity long ago to protect my family from what my enemies could do to me. My name is Saigo Atsuna. Hibari is my older sister by five years. I … killed her. She was possessed by a demon of great power, and I could not allow that demon to go free. And so I made the decision… I was only ten years old, but from then on I was wanted dead by the one who had sent the demon. Only Suisen knew. She would protect me, and even pose as me with help from the magic I learned from a priest. When my sister was to leave for Hotohori-SAMA's harem, I knew that I was in grave danger, and so I fled."
"That's quite enough!" Hibari snapped. "My Master wishes to meet you, and he doesn't like to be kept waiting by the likes of you." With that last remark, she waved her hand.
The floor opened suddenly, and once again Atsuna was falling, falling, but this time it was real…
Well, that was an interesting revelation. It wasn't supposed to be that way, and I was going to keep Kiboku (honest!) but then I remembered that my original characters are always female and there's no need to end the tradition now, right? *sweatdrop* More questions!! Where is she falling? What's going to happen to all this? What is Hibari going to do to this girl that as stated earlier is not mortal, not that she's immortal? And what DOES that mean? Lastly, what is UP with this fic already? No review, no fic. Simple as that.
AN- Somebody reviewed!! I'm SO happy!! My brain goes on sick leave whenever I start writing, so I don't assume any responsibility for this chapter or the demented turn of events we experience. Oh, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHICHIRI- CHAN!!!!! *glomp*
"I want to go!" Kiboku insisted. "Iie, I HAVE to go. I can feel… there is something over in Kutou that I need to know, I just can't quite put my finger on it. Dozo? I must!"
"Oh Suzaku…" Chichiri moaned. "If it has to be that way… I'm just not sure that you're up to it no da! Tasuki, Miaka, and I can- Oh WHATEVER. Nobody can stop you no da."
"Darn straight you are."
****
"Yes…" Kiboku breathed. "What I want is in the palace… It's calling me." Right about then, realization struck him like a truckload of bricks and he snapped up. "Oh great Suzaku in heaven and all the other gods besides. That could only mean that someone's found me after all these years…"
"Kiboku? What is it no da?" Chichiri whispered concernedly. "You look pale."
"I… I…" he murmured brokenly. "I should have realized… Nobody could hide from HIM…" He pulled himself together abruptly. "I can lead you to Tamahome's room. He's with what I'm looking for, which CANNOT be a coincidence." He lapsed into thought.
"And what is it you're looking for no da?" Chichiri asked, not sure he was going to like the answer.
"If I'm lucky, it's another crystal." He held up a little red sphere that hung on a thin gold chain, strangely out of place on him. "And if I'm unlucky, well, it's an assassination attempt or something of the like. Certainly the being behind this is extremely powerful."
Miaka gulped. "I really really really really do not like the way this trip is going."
"C'mon!" Tasuki urged. "Are we going to do this or not?" He held his tessan in a menacing position.
"Oh we're going. The question is are we going to come back."
****
The quartet crept through the halls undetected by the guards, thanks to Chichiri and Kiboku's combined efforts. They paused before the shrine of Seiryu as Kiboku set a seemingly harmless scroll onto the ground.
"It's set to blow up any Seiryu sei that might come by," he explained. "They don't really need to drop in on up while we're in Tamahome's room."
They made it to where Tamahome was rather quickly, given that they had to huddle under one shield. Kiboku peeked in first, then motioned the others in. Tamahome was sleeping on a bed in the corner.
"Tama-" Miaka started to say, but Kiboku muffled the sound with his hand. His eyes warned of danger as he scanned the room, reaching out with his ki to touch each corner. He paused as the invisible feelers hit a flower. The bloom was strangely familiar, yet not. He walked over and tapped it cautiously, watching in horror as the petals fell…
Chichiri, Tasuki and Miaka stared as a feeling of dread enveloped them, foreboding that they could not shake off. Chichiri leapt up suddenly, sensing an unfriendly prescence.
"Show yourself!" he demanded, already preparing a spell to protect his miko and fellow warrior.
"My, perceptive, aren't we" A woman's voice, taunting.
"Come out!' Tasuki ordered, the two seishi now ready to fight to the death for their priestess. (Me, of course! ^_~) "I'm warnin' you!"
"No."
"Kiboku-san?"
"No," Kiboku repeated. "This has naught to do with you. It's just between me and her… not even that. Hibari, how dare you show your face here? To think that I once called you my sister!"
"Sister?" Miaka whispered, shocked.
"To think I once called you human!" Hibari spat. "You, who murdered me without a second thought! I can't believe I ever trusted you with my life. But now I am greater than you. My master has rewarded me… This time, I will finish you off." She laughed, and suddenly Kiboku felt his dream coming back. What had he done with the flower? "But I won't make it quick," Hibari went on. "No, you will feel pain, my little imouto."
"IMOUTO?" Tasuki hissed. "But… imouto…younger sister…"
"You have her, don't you?" Kiboku accused. "You took Suisen! What did you do to her? How long did you torture her? She would not have told you willingly, that I trained secretly in magic, that I was perfecting a spell to change my appearance to hide as a male priest the day I left! What did you DO?"
"Wait a second… So Kiboku's actually female no da?" Chichiri blinked a couple of times.
"Well, you can't really say I'm Kiboku," (s)he confessed. "Kiboku is a person, certainly, registered and all, with his own passport, but I… I am not truly him." A snap of the fingers, and the group was gaping at a young woman with long black hair tied back in a ponytail with Kiboku's huge eyes. The crystal dangled from her neck. "I forged that identity long ago to protect my family from what my enemies could do to me. My name is Saigo Atsuna. Hibari is my older sister by five years. I … killed her. She was possessed by a demon of great power, and I could not allow that demon to go free. And so I made the decision… I was only ten years old, but from then on I was wanted dead by the one who had sent the demon. Only Suisen knew. She would protect me, and even pose as me with help from the magic I learned from a priest. When my sister was to leave for Hotohori-SAMA's harem, I knew that I was in grave danger, and so I fled."
"That's quite enough!" Hibari snapped. "My Master wishes to meet you, and he doesn't like to be kept waiting by the likes of you." With that last remark, she waved her hand.
The floor opened suddenly, and once again Atsuna was falling, falling, but this time it was real…
Well, that was an interesting revelation. It wasn't supposed to be that way, and I was going to keep Kiboku (honest!) but then I remembered that my original characters are always female and there's no need to end the tradition now, right? *sweatdrop* More questions!! Where is she falling? What's going to happen to all this? What is Hibari going to do to this girl that as stated earlier is not mortal, not that she's immortal? And what DOES that mean? Lastly, what is UP with this fic already? No review, no fic. Simple as that.