Warnings: Okay… In this chapter we have an attempted suicide, use of rude and coarse language (bad Hikaru!), and some violence, some of it comical violence.
Disclaimer: If I was the Suzaku no Miko, one of my wishes would have been to own FY, because I don't, you know?
~A Choice at a Church: To Die or Not~
Vidal meditated at the church all night. Though the appearance of that symbol had startled him, it had disappeared and he had dismissed it as a hallucination from his stressed out brain. The morning came, and he still meditated. He didn't want to live, really. Trying to kill the two people that he cared about most… he hadn't known he had such an uncontrollable feeling inside of him.
He was worried that someday he would lose control again and this time, he would kill someone. He brought out his best friend's knife and contemplated it. Finally he made his decision. He brought the knife up and was ready to cut his wrist. Life didn't seem to care about him right now. Just as he was about to cut, a strong arm grabbed his hand and lifted the knife away.
*******
When he woke up, Tahir had decided to go to church and pray a bit. Normally, he wasn't very religious, but right now he wanted to go someplace where he could relax. He knew a good church nearby that should be empty at this time of day, but on second thought he brought his cell phone and the numbers of the other two Suzaku Seishi. He enjoyed the walk through the mostly quiet morning, and then he arrived at the church.
To his surprise he saw someone in the church. It was a kid he recognized from school, Vidal or something like that. Rumors had told he was about to propose to his girlfriend, but that was about all Tahir knew about him. He sat down in the front row and watched the guy kneel in front of the altar and pray. Suddenly, the guy brought a knife out and moved it towards his wrist. Tahir shot up from his seat and grabbed the guy's arm and then pried the knife out of his hand. "You really probably shouldn't kill yourself. It's a very desperate thing to do."
The guy stared at him blankly, and then tried to grab back the knife. "Let me end this! You wouldn't understand!"
"Look, I just had the most confusing, strange night I've ever had! I'm not in a mood to argue over if you kill yourself or not!" Swiftly, he grabbed part of the blade where it was dull and broke the blade off of the hilt. Man, this super strength is coming in handy. Vidal just stared at him in shock as Tahir handed him back the bladeless dagger.
Vidal had never seen anyone who could do that so easily. "How… how did you do that?"
"It's just me. Heh, you sure are weird, trying to kill yourself in a church. I didn't think people were that religious."
Vidal was hit by a sudden memory that he'd never had before. He was sitting at a table with the strange guy that had just snapped his blade, but this time in Chinese clothing.
"You sure are weird," said the guy, who looked like a girl.
"Well, I can be weird and you can be gay no da." The guy's name was… Nuriko?
"Nuriko?" he asked out of nowhere. His symbol on his knee glowed into life. The guy whom he had called Nuriko stared at him in shock, and then took out a cell phone and dialed it.
"Hello, Hikaru, this is Tahir. Yeah, well you know how you told me to look out for other Suzaku Seishi? Well, I think I found one… He has a symbol on his knee…. Yeah, it looks a bit like a number sign… So, he's Chichiri? And his symbol is "well"? …Okay, but there's a problem. He seems depressed and just tried to kill himself… Yes, I stopped him. Duh. So, should I bring him by? The church isn't that far away from your house… Meet at the beach instead? Sounds good. Just get Kotori into normal clothes, okay? See you there in ten minutes." He turned off his phone.
Vidal stared at him. "What's all this about?"
"My friends will explain, I suppose. By the way, why did you call me Nuriko?"
"I don't know. The name just popped out of my mouth." He saw the guy walking away.
"I'm not surprised." Tahir looked back and called to Vidal, "Hey, are you coming? You might find this rather interesting."
Vidal hesitated, but then he followed the mysterious stranger out of the church.
*******
Tsunami, Hikaru, and Kotori were waiting at the beach when Vidal and Tahir showed up. The formal seemed confused; the latter was serious. They were silent when they reached the girls. Tahir introduced them. "Vidal, this is Tsunami, Hikaru, and Kotori."
Tsunami nodded at Vidal. "Hello, Vidal, or Chichiri. I heard you tried to kill yourself." She looked at his slash on the cheek that had a new-looking scab on it. "You're lucky that Tahir came along, then. You know, one Chichiri had a scar over his eyes that he got killing his fiancé and his best friend." Vidal started in surprise, and Tsunami looked at him to explain why he had looked so startled. He didn't, so she shrugged and continued. "Anyway, that's not important. What is important is what you are now, or what you have been from the time last night when your symbol appeared." Tsunami, Hikaru, and even Tahir helped explain the strange events.
When they finished, Vidal looked at Kotori. "And how do you feel about this? How do you feel about being the one to summon a god, especially if you know you might die?"
Kotori smiled. "Well, I will try my best to live. You see, I know at least one wish to make. Recently, rebels from Kutou have begun invading Konan again." A stubborn look crossed her face. "I will save my empire, no matter what." She sweat-dropped. "There's only one thing I'm worried about."
"What is it?" Hikaru asked curiously.
"Well, the ceremony either has to use both Shinzahos or use the scroll of "The Universe of the Four Gods", right? How do we summon Suzaku in this world?"
Vidal was having a hard time believing in any of this. The strain of so much happening in his life so quickly made him feel helpless and slightly panicked. "This cannot be real!" he cried. "It… it's not possible! I don't believe in this!" He ran away from and back towards the distant church across the sands. When Tahir made as if to go after him, Kotori stopped him by placing a hand lightly on his shoulder.
"Let him go. I'm really confused by being in a new world; perhaps he is confused about all these events." Tahir stopped and sat down on the sand.
"I think you're right. I'm confused too. I mean, I dreamt I met this person named Nuriko, and then I dreamt I was dying on a mountain. I lifted this huge boulder, and then I lost consciousness." Tsunami and Hikaru looked sad. After watching the series so many times, they knew exactly what he was talking about.
"That was when Nuriko died, after fighting and killing the werewolf Ashitare," explained Hikaru. "Me, in my dream I met Tasuki. He told me to look for my tessen, my diamond fan, and then I dreamt of the time Chiriko died."
"I also dreamt of Chiriko and the time he died," Tsunami said with tears in her eyes. "God, he was so brave. It hurt so much." A tear dropped down her face. "Poor Chiriko…"
"Yeah, well… Nuriko was so cute," said Tahir without thinking about what he was saying. Everyone stared at him with a sweat drop as he blushed.
Hikaru said what all three were thinking, but in a more agitating way than the other two could have put it. "You're… gay? And you thought Nuriko was cute?" Then she burst out laughing. "Well, he is carrying on Nuriko's tradition! He wants to screw guys more than girls! Ahahahaha!" She went on laughing until Tahir punched her towards the water. She flew back and landed in the shallows. "Ah! Water! Help! I can't swim!" That was when she realized she was knee deep, and got up embarrassed and blushing deeply.
Tahir was leaning back and looking content. "Not bad for a gay guy, right Hikaru?" he asked sweetly as she wiped salt water and sand from her face. She glared at him as she walked back, and when she didn't look where she was going she stumbled over a rut in the ground. She fell hard, and in front of her face she watched a shiny object appear in a red light.
"My tessen!" she crowed happily, and then gave an evil grin to Tahir. "Dodge this!" She spread the fan wide and swept it towards him. "Rekka Shinen!" A flame shot from the fan to Tahir and engulfed him. "Extra crispy gay guy," she said happily as she looked at Tahir.
"Why you…!" he shot up and chased her around the beach. She bounded away from him, laughing. "Nyah nyah! You're not fast enough!" He chased her until he was exhausted and just sat down on the beach, breathing hard. Tsunami looked at them and began to laugh at both of them.
"Both of you are so comical!" She received a glare from both of them. "Never mind. I'll just read the book again." She opened it to the current page where writing was appearing. "'Three of the Suzaku Warriors relaxed on the beach while the other Seishi went through their own problems. The one known as Lee faced off a gang whom had tried to mug him, and even he was not sure if he could fight off the gang and protect his little sister, who had been with him, at the same time.'" She exchanged startled looks with Kotori.
Then she called out, "Excuse me, but another of the Suzaku Seven is in a rough spot right now. Shall we go to help them out?" Hikaru and Tahir paused in their fight to look curiously at Tsunami and Kotori.
"Someone's in trouble?" asked Tahir, who had his fist a few inches away from Hikaru's head. Tsunami nodded and continued reading on what was currently happening.
"Then we should go help," said Tahir as he pulled his fist away from its ready-to-strike position.
"Where do we need to go, sis?"
"It's happening at the high school – you know, the open air cafeteria. It's right up that street!" She pointed away from the beach, and Hikaru and Tahir ran ahead while Tsunami helped Kotori, who was hobbling along with her crutches as quickly as she could.
Hikaru led the way to the stone high school, and she noticed the metal gate that had been broken into. The school had open hallways, except for the roof over them. She led Tahir through the passages, and they came to a bad scene. A rough-looking gang was holding a little girl hostage, and a man wearing fighting clothes faced them all off. There were more than fifty gangsters in all. That was a lot more than any of them had anticipated.
Lee wasn't attacking right now because he did not want to hurt his little sister. Tahir muttered something to Hikaru, and she nodded. She couldn't use the tessen because of the wood around them, but it was still a sharp, hard weapon.
Tahir made the first move by punching two fighters in the head. They landed, slumped, against the wall. Hikaru jumped over him and caught the next fighter by surprise and knocked him out with her fan. That is when Tsunami and Kotori ran in. Tsunami did not know how to fight, so she and Kotori hung back. Then some of the gang advanced on them.
Tsunami knew she had to protect Kotori, so she grabber one of Kotori's crutches and used it to fend off some of the gang. She really did not know how to fight well, but she realized that wooden crutches could still cause quite a bit of pain as she whacked one of the gang members on the head with it. Yet they were being backed into a corner, and some were pulling weapons out. A rusted metal pipe broke Tsunami's crutch in two.
Tsunami looked desperately around. Hikaru was busy fighting, and Tahir was protecting the little girl, whom he had rescued. Lee was fighting the gang members to get towards his sister. It seemed like she was on her own.
Hikaru was fighting off some of them when she noticed that her sister was in trouble, and she began to fight t get towards there as quickly as she could. When she noticed another group of gangsters were circling around to get towards Kotori, her protectiveness of people she cared about flared and made the symbol on her left arm burn into life again. She began to run and dodge blows more quickly than she thought she possibly could.
When a guy pulled a knife out and rushed towards Tsunami with it, he suddenly found himself unconscious by a swift blow to the head by Hikaru's metal fan. Then she grabbed half of the broken crutch and rushed towards the gangsters surrounding Kotori. She knocked out one after another, but for some reason they kept on getting back up and fighting on as soon as they regained consciousness.
From the other side of the cafeteria, Tahir vented his frustration as he fought side-by-side with Lee. "I don't get it! What's wrong with these people?"
"I don' know!" Hikaru shouted back. "I mean, it's like they're zombies or somethin'! They just won't give up! And they're not talkin', either. It's fuckin' creepy!"
Tsunami began to think as she fought off gangsters with the half of a crutch she had left in her possession. This reminded her of something, but she wasn't sure what. She knew she almost had the answer, almost… She looked into the eyes of a girl gangster she was fighting, and she noted that the eyes did look dead and lifeless, just as Hikaru had mentioned. When saw Hikaru's tessen, it reminded her of the time in the show where Tasuki had used it to burn zombies to a crisp. The zombies…
Now I remember! These people… they have the same eyes as the possessed villagers in the show!
Tsunami shouted to Tahir and Hikaru, "I think they have been possessed by a demon!" Then she knocked out the girl she was fighting.
Hikaru, Tahir, and Lee all paused for a moment in surprise before they continued fighting. "Yo! What do ya mean by dat?" Hikaru shouted as she ducked under the swing of a metal chain.
Tsunami cracked her crutch against the cranium of another enemy. "I thought about the episode of Fushigi Yuugi where the villagers had been possessed by that sickness demon! It seems to be the same in this case."
The fight continued until even Lee was breathing hard. His symbol was dimming as he used all of his strength to fight. But the gangsters kept on coming, and Tsunami had the suspicion that more people were being possessed and pulled into the fight when some people didn't regain consciousness, but people kept on coming. The exits had been blocked off by large groups of people long ago, but occasionally a person would leave the group in the doorway and join the fight.
Tired, Tsunami did not notice the metal pipe coming for her until it was too late. It smashed into her stomach, and she flew back into Kotori, knocking them both down. Hikaru had been pulled away from them by the flow of the fight, and now more possessed people blocked Hikaru from coming to the rescue as others held down Kotori and Tsunami.
Two people were let through a nearby doorway, each one of them carrying a gun. One pointed the gun towards Tsunami's head, and the other was pointed towards Kotori. Tsunami did not close her eyes. She was determined not to cringe away from her death.
~TBC~
Author's Note: A cliffhanger! Cool! I'm evil when I'm chibi, and I'm chibi a lot because I'm Chibigreenwizardmon! AHAHAHAHAHA! *sweat drops as she realizes what she just sounded like* Ahem. I knew I shouldn't of drank all that soda…
Okay, I know I make Tahir seem only homosexual, but don't worry. He's still gonna fall in love with a girl; that's why this isn't a shounen ai fic. BUT… I decided to ask the readers' opinions on this one. Which would you like: Tahir + Rayna (Hotohori) or Tahir + Hikaru? Tell me in a review, please.
And another note… chapters will be coming out more slowly because I'm revising this. I think that my main pairing's romance is too rushed, so I'm changing the plot a bit and changing what happens by a huge amount! Eh, this is a bit of a pain, but it's fun, too. And thanks to a comment by CLAMPraven about Tahir's feelings towards Kotori (Nuriko's feelings for Miaka), I have the greatest idea for a plot twist.
And I know Vidal is a bit OOC right now (for Chichiri). Heck, they're all OOC. I mean, some of them aren't even the same gender. But, it is because of changes (like the latter) that they are OOC. I mean, Vidal's depressed, but that's a bit understandable because his fiancée just cheated on him with his best friend and… Well, if I was him, I'd be depressed, too. Don't worry! He won't be depressed for too much longer, you know.
And maybe I will go for a Hikaru + Vidal pairing instead of a Tsunami + Vidal, which is what I was planning. Who knows? By the way, your opinion counts, so reviews are appreciated. And if I made any grammatical errors in this, I would like to know. I didn't have this beta read.