Disclaimer: I don't own FY.
~Goodbye and Good Luck: Separation~
Sighing, Tsunami packed the last of the things she thought she would definitely need on the trip into the Universe of the Four Gods. Her backpack was still light enough for her to carry without trouble, but it did contain some necessities, including a first aid kit, bottles of water, and energy bars. She tested its weight and was satisfied with the result. I've carried worse for school.
On the other hand, her sister was not happy with the situation. "Why are we listening to a Nyan-Nyan?" she yelled at Tsunami as she stuffed a set of clothing into the suitcase. "It just shows up and demands that we get ready to go into another world in five freaking hours! I don't really give a damn!"
Kotori peeked in from the hallway. "I do, Hikaru. I miss my mother and my brother…" she trailed off. Her eyes were wide and moist.
"Just make me feel worse about this," Hikaru said sarcastically. "I know, I know. That's why I'm agreeing to this." She took another look at the priestess and rolled her eyes. "Kotori, don't try to imitate Tsunami's puppy-dog face. It really doesn't look right on you." Kotori's face broke into a grin and she gave an energetic nod. As happy as she usually was, she bounced off, probably to raid the kitchen. Some things just don't change from one life to the next, Hikaru thought gruffly as she continued to pack.
She put her tessen in last, and then zipped up the backpack. "Not to bad," she said to herself as she put it on, "but I feel like I'm forgetting something…" She trailed off when she saw her calendar and noticed that the next day was circled in red. "Shit! It's Cody's birthday tomorrow! Shit, shit, shit, shit! I said I'd hang out with him today because I can't tomorrow!"
"Then go hang out with him!" Tsunami called from her room. "If you ever need a best friend to relax around, I'd say that today was it."
"Yeah, but-" she tried to protest.
"But what?"
"What if something happens and-"
"Relax, Hikaru! Go have fun," the younger sister ordered. "Who knows how long it will be before we're back?"
"I guess I could…" she wavered. Her mind made up, she grinned. "Yeah, why not? I'll be back in an hour." Hikaru dropped her backpack and walked out. Soon, Tsunami and Kotori heard the sound of a car starting and driving away.
Tsunami picked up a family photo on her dresser. "She tries to act laid back, but she worries too much," she told Kotori as she examined the picture. "She's been like that for as long as I can remember."
Kotori looked at Tsunami with curiosity in her eyes. "She doesn't look like the rest of your family," she noted, "but neither does Kara."
With a sigh, Tsunami sat down on the bed. "I know. Kara and Hikaru were both adopted just a few years apart. You see, my mom had a problem with getting pregnant, so my parents decided to adopt. They both found out they were adopted last year. Hikaru took it in stride and still regards us as her real family, but Kara… She never acted the same around the family again."
"If you're mother couldn't get pregnant, how were you born?"
Tsunami shrugged. "Don't ask me to go into the science of it. Maybe they finally got lucky. All I know is that I came along – unexpectedly – just a few months after Hikaru was adopted." Her eyes rested on the picture where her family stood together happily. "Our family was better when Kara was still a part of it."
The priestess put a comforting hand on Tsunami's shoulder. "I'm sure that your family will be just as happy again some day."
She nodded, but her eyes were still sad. "If only I had known this a couple of weeks ago, I'm sure that everything would be better now."
A glimmer of an idea lit Kotori's eyes, but she didn't say anything else.
********
Cleo dispassionately observed the tow truck lift up her blackened vehicle. Warren and Ryan were standing by her side. "I suppose that I should thank you for this," she said dryly, "but I won't."
"It's your choice," Warren replied neutrally. "I just thought you might appreciate having your car fixed." He had paid for the tow truck to come and take the crisped car to a mechanic's shop. "We're going to have to go in a few hours anyway."
"And that," she replied belligerently, "is the problem! I don't want problems from another life that I can hardly remember in this life!"
His eyes darkened. "You may barely remember, Soi, but I remember it all – clearly." His voice held a chill tone to it that made her feel cold. "Life has been kind to you in this life."
Tomo's reincarnation was unusually observant. "You really are Miboshi, aren't you?" Ryan asked.
Miboshi nodded. "Yes, I am. Warren and I share this body because our minds were too different to merge."
"But Aimee-"
"Is certainly not Nakago, the person," interjected Cleo. "I just know that she's not like him." A solemn nod was Miboshi's reply. "Do you think that she'll ever be like Nakago?"
Miboshi smirked. "Since you're as straight as they come, I doubt that it matters to you. But, one day… She might be like Nakago could have been, without any of the cruelty that resulted from his treatment by Kutou."
A moment of thoughtful silence pervaded them. That little girl's way more annoying than Nakago ever was, he told himself. He had a great deal of memories from his past life. Too bad – I always felt close to Nakago…
Their introspection was broken by the bumper of Cleo's car falling off as the tow truck began to pull away. "I, uh, guess I overdid the lightening," Cleo said with a nervous giggle.
Warren and Ryan rolled their eyes. Both of them thought, She always overdid everything.
********
"Peter? Where are you going?" came the voice of his mother. Ashitare's reincarnation froze at the doorway.
"Um, I have to help some friends out, Mother," he said uneasily.
"But, Peter, I was going to make your favorite dessert!"
"I'll try to be back by dinner," he promised as he hurriedly shut the door. His mother scared him much more than his nightmares of Ashitare did. Mothers will be mothers, and monsters will be monsters, but I don't know which is worse! He made his way to his car with his backpack in hand. He had been told that it'd be a good idea to pack for a few days. I don't really want to upset my mother, but I need to help out those people.
********
I never wanted my life to be this interesting, Vidal thought as he prepared to leave his condo. I was happy living with my best friend and Kara… but then it all changed. Drastically. He remembered how he had been about to commit suicide that time when Tahir had stopped him. It's still so strange, you know? I'm not even sure of my own feelings anymore.
"Vidal! Wait!" he heard Kara call from inside. Unsure of what to do, he hesitated as she came towards him. "Vidal, I just want to say that I'm really, really sorry for betraying your trust like that. I know I hurt you… but somehow it feels more right to be with Henry than to be with you."
"I guess you're right, you know," he said as he looked down at his feet. He didn't meet her eyes. "Is that all you wanted to say?"
She shook her head and gave an annoyed sigh. "Look, Vidal, I know you can be thickheaded about emotions sometimes-" Huh? He thought. "-but I wanted to say that if you don't realize that you and Hikaru are getting along pretty well, you're more dense than I thought."
He was speechless. "W-W-What?! Me and Hikaru – don't be ridiculous! She's, um, too young for me!'
"Just keep on telling yourself that, and you might actually believe it. Good luck – both for your relationship, and your trip," Kara said with a smile before she closed the door on him.
He shook his head at the strangeness of it all. I don't feel that way for Hikaru at all… do I? The train of thought disturbed him.
********
"So, what's the problem, Hikaru?" her best friend, Cody, asked as they sat down on the couch. "You look worried."
She sipped at the soda he had given her. "Ya see, I can't hang out long with ya today. I know that I said I could, but somethin' has come up."
He looked thoughtful. "Like what? You can tell me, right?"
She grinned and gave him a playful punch in the shoulder. "Sure, though you wouldn't believe me! It has to do with Fushigi Yuugi."
He blinked. "You can't hang out with me because of an anime?" Something was wrong with that.
"No, no! It's not the anime. It's that I'm…well…" She pulled up her sleeve on her left arm. Her symbol was dimly glowing. "I'm Tasuki, and I have to go into the Universe of the Four Gods to summon Suzaku."
He fell out of his seat with a crash. He looked bewildered as he sat on the floor. "You're… you're… damn!"
"No shit," she said, understanding what he meant completely. "It's fuckin' weird, but I've known for the past couple of weeks."
"Does Tsunami… your family…"
With a smile, she said, "My parents are out on a cruise with Tsunami's boyfriend's parents, remember? And Tsunami's Chiriko."
He gaped. "She…is…he…I mean…This is crazy!"
She agreed with a nod. "That's right. And Tsunami's boyfriend is Miboshi, and there are a lot of other people I've met up with that are seishi. The warriors an' the priestesses have gathered, Suzaku and Seiryuu."
They talked for a while longer. Being around Cody did help Hikaru to relax, just like Tsunami had thought it would. When Hikaru left an hour later, Cody cleaned up the living room, pausing only to look in the mirror.
"Hey, Cody," he said to himself, "do you know what you forgot to say? You were going to say, 'Knock, knock. Who's there? It's Cody! Cody who? It's Cody, here to ask Hikaru out on a date.' Cody, you're an idiot. Hikaru's your best friend, and you wouldn't make a good boyfriend for her, would you? She sounds like she really likes that Vidal guy. No, Cody, I definitely did the right thing by not asking her out." He sat down with a sigh. When he drifted off to sleep, his dreams were filled with images of bandits in the mountains.
********
Tahir was the first to arrive at Warren's house. Aimee was sitting by herself in the living room and quietly holding the pink ball that was Nyo. "Hello," she greeted him quietly. "Warren's driving Cleo and Ryan home so that they can pack, so I'm the only one here. Tsuzu is here, too, but she's upstairs."
He nodded and sat down. For a few moments, there was silence, but then Aimee spoke again.
"I've seen you before. It was on the beach. I was hiding under the big steps that cross the sandy hills because my dad had met up with his bad friends. That's when I saw Kotori appear, but I didn't do anything to help her." She stared down at the ball in her hands. "I was afraid of my dad. He and his friends chased her, and they might've done something…bad to her, but then you and your friends showed up. I was glad that you stopped them."
"Your dad…?" The poor kid, to have a father like that, he thought.
She nodded. Her eyes again looked years older than she was. "I ran home while he was still knocked out. When he got home, he was really mad because he was stopped, so he drank a lot. Then, he started to beat me. My mom didn't do anything; she hates me, so she never does anything. But…I was getting really mad at my dad for hitting me. Some type of power came out of me, and the next thing I knew, Miboshi had me, and I wasn't in the house anymore." She sounded perplexed as she said, "I'm not sure what happened, but Miboshi- he wasn't always a nice person. I don't want to know." She wasn't crying, but she did look upset.
He felt sorry for the young girl. "Why are you telling me all of this?"
"I was watching when my dad beat up you and your brother. I thought it'd be good if you knew that he's probably been punished for everything he did that was bad."
Tahir thought of what he had heard of Miboshi before he had…changed. "Yeah, kid, you're probably right. It does make me feel better…a bit. Revenge can be a bad thing, too."
"I know," she said softly. For a moment, her eyes were as cold and emotionless as those of the man that only she could see. "I know."
********
As soon as everyone had gathered, Nyo popped back into her usual form of a little girl. "All right! Everyone's here, and I have the books!" She held up the two copies of the Four Gods Heaven Earth Book. "Time to go!"
Pink light spread from her and radiated onto the Seiryuu and Suzaku. The light that touched the Seiryuu turned blue and the light that touched the Suzaku turned red. The light split between Tsunami and Warren, and they felt themselves being tugged away from each other.
"Remember: Meet at Taiitsukun's mountain!" was the last thing the Nyan-Nyan said before they all were pulled into their separate books. The glow grew intense for a moment before finally dimming. When the glow had gone, only the furniture was left in the room. Even the books were gone.
~TBC~
Chibigreen's Ending Rant: This almost came out later than usual… Why? Chibigreen has discovered Weiß Kreuz (Weiss Kreuz/Knight Hunters), which is the German title (means White Cross) for a very good anime! Many bishounen, many possible yaoi pairings, many written possible yaoi pairings. Need to buy… Gah! *continues to rant*
Rime: Silly Chibigreen. Too bad that she hasn't watched all of Knight Hunters. It has some nice angst that I'd be happy to help her elaborate on… Heheheh. While she's busy talking, I'll answer the reviews.
Rime: ember-fang – Thank you for adding this to your favorites list. It's nice to know that some people do appreciate the story.
Rime: CLAMPraven – The Nyan-Nyan sighting really was not my idea. Nyo decided to stick herself in, which is completely unfair to us other muses-
Crystal: {For once, I agree with the albino angster.}
Rime: -but there was nothing I could do about it. Soi and Tomo are good characters. They're such easy targets for angst… But that will get more apparent later in the story.
Rime: LanaPanther – Thank you for encouraging Chibigreen with your nice comments. She'd appreciate it, really – if she could hear anything right now.
Chibigreen: *still ranting about Weiss Kreuz and its addictiveness*
Rime: shareefa – Chibigreen had planned for a while to give Kouji a part in this. She played around with an idea of pairing up Hikaru with him, but she eventually decided against it… Thank Seiryuu.
Rime: Chibigreen's still out of it. *evil grin* While she's not looking, I'm going to mess around with her story ideas. See you next chapter, which will be Seiryuu-centric! Hmm… Weiss Kreuz and Fushigi Yuugi… this idea will plague Chibigreen for months! *types rapidly on the computer* BWAHAHAHA!
If you want to be notified when this story is updated, leave your e-mail accessible in or through your review and I'll e-mail you when I update.