Disclaimer: I don't own FY.
~A Half Empty Glass: Forsaken Memories~
Rayna stood in front of Hikaru and Tsunami's house. A few minutes ago, Hikaru had called her and asked her to come over. She'd had a worried tone to her voice, but she'd also said that it wasn't urgent. It had taken some time for Rayna to get ready to leave and then drive across town, so now she was concerned over what had happened. Today was Saturday, and it had been this time last week that she had met up with the others for the first time.
She heard a door slam behind her. "Hello, Rayna," said a cheerful voice. She turned to see that Tahir had just driven up to the house, too. "Do you have any idea what's up?"
She shook her head. "No, but I think that it is important. Maybe something has come up about the summoning?"
"Nah, I don't think it was that," he replied as he leaned against his blue car. "It's just a feeling I have, but I believe that it has something to do with Tsunami. After all, one of the Seiryuu is her boyfriend."
"If it had to do with Tsunami," Rayna said dryly, "then she wouldn't have called us and told us that it wasn't an emergency."
"That's true," Tahir said. He straightened up and began to walk to the front door. "Let's go in." Rayna followed him into the house.
They found Hikaru sitting with the other seishi in the living room. A few were missing: Tsunami, Kotori, Lee, and Ira. "What's up?" said Tahir.
Hikaru had dark circles under her eyes. "I'm not sure yet. It has something to do with Miboshi, but this is all really strange.
"On Wednesday, Tsunami and I were at school. She'd somehow been able to talk since late Sunday, so there weren't any problems with that. Th' trouble started when her friends Derrick and Erick went back ta school. They'd been sick for th' past few days. I wasn't there when all of this started, but Tsunami told me that this is what happened.
"Turns out that Derrick's Suboshi an' Erick's Amiboshi. Yeah, my sis seems to 'ave really bad luck when it comes ta who she's friend with. Anyway, they weren't th' problem, as they didn't give a rat's ass about who they were. Then Miboshi – Warren – comes back ta school for the firs' time in days, an' then he starts causin' trouble. Derrick began ta threaten Miboshi by sayin' that if he did something to Tsunami, Miboshi would be havin' some Ryuuseisui for breakfast. That's Suboshi's weapon, if ya didn't know, an' I'm sure that if he doesn't 'ave 'em, he'll find 'em just like I found my tessen.
"Then, Miboshi did somethin' strange. Tsunami said that he gave her back her voice, but since she had been talkin' for a few days I dunno what she means. She said that she told off Miboshi about somethin', and then he started grabbin' his head like he had an headache. Whatever. What's important is that then he fainted.
"Th' school nurse checked him out and said that it looked like he had fainted from exhaustion. She an' Tsunami asked me to drive him home after school ended 'cause the school couldn't reach his parents, so I did. Tsunami went along, too, and when we got to his mansion – did I mention that he's filthy rich? – I was just plannin' to drop him off an' leave. But Tsunami wants to play nurse to her boyfriend, so I look around the mansion 'cause I'm so bored. And then I run into two people who I was pretty damn surprised to see.
"There was this five-year-old chibi Nakago female. It sounds like something out of a fangirl's weird imaginings or somethin', but there she was. I also saw the priestess of Seiryuu. Her name's Tsuzu or somethin' like that, and it turns out that she's been a friend of Kotori's for years.
"So for the past few days, Tsunami's been watching Warren and Kotori's been hangin' out with Tsuzu. Lee's over there to make sure that nothing bad happens, and Ira's over there incase something does happen.
"Something is happenin' to Warren, but I'm not sure what it is. Th' last time I saw him, he was floating two feet above his bed and glowin' blue. Only Tsunami could enter the room without getting pushed out again by whatever power is in there, not even Aimee, the chibi Nakago. She's much nicer than Nakago was, and she seems ta think of Miboshi as an older brother or a favorite uncle.
"I don't know what to do, except for gathering us all in one place. I'm really worried that somethin' bad's gonna happen."
Vidal shook his head sadly. "I don't think that there is anything we can do, Hikaru. We'll just have to wait and see what happens. Tsunami's not a little girl; she can take care of herself, especially when she has friends around to help."
Hikaru sighed. "I was afraid that you were gonna say that. I just don't like it is all…"
Tahir looked through the glass sliding doors to the bright day outside. "Instead of worrying, why don't we have a pool party?"
"What? Why now?" asked Hikaru.
"Just think of it: a bright day, hot weather, and you guys have a good pool. Let's relax and take it easy for the day."
Rayna nodded in agreement. "That's a good idea." She smiled at Tahir. "I'll go and get my bathing suit and some snacks," she said as she headed out the door. "Ciao."
Tahir also got up. "If the pool party idea's up, I'd better go get my swimming trunks."
"I thought that you would wear Speedos to impress other guys," Hikaru teased. Casually, Tahir flung a newspaper at her head. She ducked and stuck her tongue out at him as he walked out the door. She turned to Vidal. "Hey, aren't you going to get your swimsuit?"
"I guess, you know, but is it really the time to be having fun?"
She threw the newspaper at his head and grinned as he caught it. "Of course not, Chiri, but if we don't 'ave fun now, when are we gonna get a chance?"
"I guess you're right. We might as well enjoy life while we can…"
*******
"Tsuzu, I don't want to have to fight with you," Kotori told her friend as they sat around the dining table. Everyone except Tsunami had come down for a discussion.
The Seiryuu no Miko smiled sympathetically. "I don't think that we have to fight if we don't want to. Seiryuu and Suzaku have traditionally been enemies, but we could end that."
"I hope so," Kotori sighed.
"If Miboshi keeps on attacking us, we'll have to keep on fighting back," Lee reminded them as he sipped at lemonade, "even if we don't want to."
Aimee smiled. "We can be friends, right?"
She reminded him of Rei. "Yeah… I guess that you're right."
"I hope that everyone else feels the same way," said Tsuzu. "I think that Miboshi will never stop trying to defeat you, unless Warren can somehow change his mind."
"Perhaps Miboshi will change his own mind," Ira said into the pause that followed.
"I hope you're right…"
*******
Warren was lost in the memories of Miboshi. He felt that time was paused for him, or at least for his body, as his counterpart remembered things that he hadn't for at least a lifetime.
"You two are soul mates," said the old wise woman.
The memory changed. The sword pierced through the air and Hane's heart… A slime-covered, scaly tentacle rose out of the water. The Kutou soldier turned around and saw it too late as it wrapped around him and crushed him.
Another flash. "Tenkou-sama wishes to see you, Miboshi-san." …No one here calls me by my real name.
Flash. "I have no wish to harm anyone."
His past… both of their past, in another life, unfolded before them. And Warren learned more about Miboshi than he had even known.
Distantly, he could sense Tsunami standing watch over his frozen body. Just wait a bit longer, Tsunami, Warren thought. I won't leave you alone.
*******
Tsunami looked worriedly on at the body of Warren. It looked as if time had stopped within the glowing blue bubble that surrounded his body. Somehow he looked like he was without hope.
He was always slightly pessimistic… I'm so worried about him. {Chiriko, do you have any idea what's happening to him?}
[No. No, I don't. I wish I did. It's like something I said made him remember a long forgotten memory]
"We told him," Tsunami said aloud, "or you told him, 'You are a demon.' Did that have something to do with it?"
[Maybe… I have told him that once before. It was when he had possessed me. As I… ended the fight, I told him that he was a demon using the same words that I did back at the school. 'You are a demon. You do not control them; you are one of them.' Maybe he couldn't remember any of that, but before Miboshi died…]
"What happened?"
Chiriko paused uncertainly. [The memories are blurry, but… I believe that he apologized to me, and then thanked me for killing him…]
Her eyes noticed blue lightning sparking around Warren's body. "If that's true, Chiriko, then something is more wrong with Miboshi then we know."
The air crackled as the lightning flashed across the sapphire orb.
~TBC~
Chibigreen's Ending Rant: Whew, that's done. So, next chapter, you'll have a pool party with some of the seishi. Can you say Vidal/Hikaru and Rayna/Tahir romance? You can? Goooood…
A big thanks to all readers of this fic who then went and read Death's Angel. I was surprised that anyone would read a story about Miboshi (even if it is a side story to this story). Heck, I was surprised that I even started to write it. I think that I was feeling sorry for Miboshi at the time… &%@$! Why did I make Warren nice? Why?! I hate Miboshi! *mumbling* Sucky person who went and got Chiriko killed…
Oh, and I decided to start replying to reviews. Heck, why not? These are for reviews after 08/21/02.
Astral Mikos – Thanks for reviewing. ^___^ Don't worry, I plan to continue writing this.
Flying heart – Thanks for putting this on your Favorite Stories list. *gets an ego boost* I'm also glad that some people actually do like the Miboshi side story. ^___^
CLAMPraven – You're right, Irasa would sound good as a name for Soi's reincarnation… But, since I'll feel like I'm purposely copying, I'm not going to use it. It would confuse all the readers of 'Juri' – from girl to oracle anyhow.
SilvaraWilde – Thanks for the compliment. ^___^ Before I wrote this, I didn't think I could write humorous stories. Most came out dark and depressing, like my Miboshi side story.
Sansele – "Finally uploaded,' you say? Yep, I do tend to procrastinate on my stories, but this is the hardest story for me to write. And I'm glad that you like the Tas/Chiri pairing that I'm writing. ^___^
Melonydevil – Derrick is Suboshi, Erick is Amiboshi. And dragon muses are cute, but uncontrollable. One day they just pop up in your head and say (or growl, chirp, whistle, etc.), "Hello! I'm your muse now! (And you can't get rid of me! Bwahaha.)" ^___^
Ryuen – Oops, ah, I got the authors mixed up! *bangs head against the wall* Anyway, I fixed it. ^___^ I do like Even Geniuses Get the Blues, Risen, Breathing, and a whole slew of your other fics.
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