Disclaimer: The writers of this fanfic don't own Fushigi Yugi. We would
really like to, but neither of us has enough money to buy the series and
add more to it (oh darn!), so we're writing this fanfic. Just as good
though, right?...Too bad it'll never be made into anime . . . Oh well
A/N: This is a joint fanfic between me, and Lana Panther. We will be writing chapters alternatively. Take for example, this chapter is mine, while she wrote the prologue. Well, enjoy!
Ken'aku Gikyoku: The Perilous Play
Chapter 1: The Legend Unfurls
Tick, Tick, Tick . . .
Kanshisha tapped her pencil on her algebra book in sync with the clock in the library. She had been sitting there, staring at the stupid math problem for what seemed like hours, but couldn't have been more than ten seconds.
"If x=3, and y=-2, then the slope of line b, with the y-intercept at four, is ____," she mumbled to herself. She glared at the problem with a disgusted look on her face, then slammed the book shut, and drooped her head down until it rested on the cover. Her mousy brown, shoulder length hair fell down to cover her face, shielding her sky blue eyes from the lights above her.
"I can't take this any more . . . I don't need to study, I need to sleep!...Sleeeep . . . Sleep, what's that? Oh, is that that thing, where you close your eyes, and then your body relaxes and your brain actually functions when you get up afterwards . . . Ah, sleep. Maybe I should get some of that every once-in-a-while . . . Naa . . . Who needs sleep anyway? Not me!" Kanshisha let out a deep sigh and lifted up her head from the cursed math book. She wanted to spit at it, but knew that it wouldn't help any.
She shrugged her shoulders and went to stand up, when she felt a sharp pain on the back of her head. She turned around to see what could've possibly done that, and she was enraged when she saw what it was. "Hogosha . . . that idiot," she mumbled as she gathered up her stuff and headed toward the door. "Why can't he just leave me alone . . . Grrr . . . "
He had to have hit her at least six more times before she made it half way across the library. Desperate to get away from her childish, idiotic arch nemesis (or so she called him), she headed toward a door she spotted a little further toward the back of the library and ducked through the entry right as another spit ball came hurtling at her head.
She sighed yet again as she leant on the back of the door and then slid down to the floor. 'Can't he just go away, or die, or something. I don't care as long as he leaves me alone! That's all I want! Just some peace and quiet . . . and a little sleep would be nice too. These damn exams are going to run me into the ground if I don't watch out.'
Hearing approaching footsteps, she quickly scrambled up and shot to the back of the little side room.
"Hello-o?" said a taunting voice. "Oh Kanshisha, are you in here? Come out, come out, where-ever you are!"
It was Hogosha. Of course, who else would it be? No one else took as much pleasure in torturing her as he did. 'I wish that I could get away,' she thought as she slumped back against a nearby bookcase, trying to hide in the shadow the one in front of it cast. 'I wish there was a way to for me to get away. I don't think I can take this much longer . . . '
Kanshisha almost turned blue with horror when the bookcase shook and one of its contents, right above her head, shook loose and nearly crashed into the floor, hadn't she nearly dived to catch it. She could've sworn that for a split second, it was glowing red, but dismissed that thought as her lack of sleep catching up with her in yet another way, and yet . . . There was something about the book, like it called out to her, like . . . like . . . She opened the book and began to read, nearly broke out in laughter at what the first page said, but then shrugged her shoulders and turned the page. 'What have I got to lose? And I could seriously use the granting of a couple of my wishes to come true . . . Why not?'
Hogosha now knew for sure where she was! That bright burst of light could only come from someone who had accidentally turned on some type of light, emergency maybe, yet it was awfully bright. Bright enough that he had to shield his eyes with his arm when he got within three feet of it, but then it started to fade away, not like someone had turned of a light though, this was much different.
But that didn't matter, he knew he could get her in trouble big time if he could prove that she was in the restricted part of the library, the sign she had obviously ignored when she fell upon the room by sheer luck minutes before. If he could prove himself innocent, and her guilty, then that would top seeing her cringe from the spit balls. She was the most fun person to torture he had yet to find, and he would keep it up until she was driven away like all the others. Besides, he was helping the school get a better name. Rejects like the people he was getting rid of didn't deserve to be there, anyway. He was just helping out the school. That was all. It just ihappened/i to be one of his favorite pastimes, is all.
Although, when he turned the corner, all he saw was a book lying on the floor, a thin rim of red light encompassing its edges. Then the light faded, and a blue, brighter light took its place. Drawn by his curiosity alone, he picked up the book and skimmed the first page, but regretted that action, for as soon as he turned the next, the blue light engulfed him, and his senses were lost as he was thrown into a tunnel of bright blue light.
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Kanshisha opened her eyes to a world of shadows and light playing in the breeze above her. The leaves danced merrily in the treetops as the wind blew through them, creating a slight rustle. Kanshisha sat straight up, shock absorbing her every feature. Her muscles were as tense as a drawn bowstring as she turned her head to get a good look in every direction.
"Okay," she began, talking to herself, now rubbing the spot between her eyes. "I iknow/i I was in the library, what, 30 seconds ago? And now . . . I'm in the middle of a forest . . . There's no buildings in sight anywhere . . . And I have a test in Algebra tomorrow . . . Wait, does that really matter that much right now?...Hmm," she said, as she took in her surroundings a bit more. "Maybe I'm . . . dreaming?" She took a chunk of her skin and twisted as hard as she could. When it turned purple and began to throb with pain . . . "Or maybe not . . . Besides . . . " she said with a yawn. "I wouldn't still be tired if this was a dream . . . Now that that's settled . . . Where am I?....And what do I do now?..."
"Well, that's simple," said a male voice slightly behind her and to the right. "You come with me."
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Hogosha woke up with a throbbing headache in the middle of a small clearing that was bordered by almost every edge by forest, except in one corner, where he spotted a small cottage and a well, with a horse in a quite shabby barn right next to it.
Hogosha blinked as soon as he realized that he wasn't in the library anymore, then a wide grin spread across his lips. "Ha ha ha. Very funny guys. You can come out now. Come on Aoiten, Aokusa. I know you're there." The only response he got was the wind whistling through the leaves. "Guys? Come on, this is soo not funny!" No response yet again.
Hogosha climbed to his feet and turned in a circle, taking the full perimeter of the place, trying to catch any shifting shadows. There weren't any, other than a rabbit and a squirrel. This place seemed totally devoid of human life, until a young man appeared out of the cottage.
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This would be the second time today that Kanshisha turned blue, but this time she froze as well. She knew what happened to young girls who were found alone, and right now, that's exactly what she was. Alone.
She cringed when she felt a warm hand rest on her right shoulder. He could feel her muscles tensing under the weight of his hand, so he quickly lifted it back up. He looked down at her with sympathetic deep blue eyes, wondering why she would cringe under such a friendly gesture. He let out a sigh and shrugged his shoulders as he knelt down beside her.
"Hey! There's no need for you to fear me. I'm not going to hurt you or anything. My name's . . . " But he could tell she wasn't listening, and she was shaking now. One look into her eyes showed him that she was definitely not in this world. Knowing it was useless trying to talk to her, he slid his arms underneath her, and proceeded to carry her back to the hideout.
Then, what he thought was impossible, happened. She tensed up even more, and instead of seeming to be shivering from the cold (even thought it was about 80 degrees outside) as she was before, she was shaking so hard that it seemed like she was having convulsions.
He ran with her back to the hidden cave of the forest and rapped on the tree trunk three times before heading inside. He looked inside the dimly lit cavern and within a few moments realized he was the only one there. "Figures they'd all leave when I finally found her," he mumbled to himself. "Oh well."
He set her down on his bed near back of the cave, and then walked over toward a large drum near the opposite wall. After picking a random bowl off a nearby shelf, he pulled the lid off the container and dunked it inside the barrel.
Kanshisha shook her head to knock the horrible images out. When her eyes refocused, the first thing she saw was the gleam of a dagger's blade. She stared at it, contemplating for a few moments before she reached out and grabbed it. He didn't notice as she sat up and held the blade up to the light before slicing it deep into her right wrist.
While there was still feeling in her right hand, she switched the blade into it, and sliced open her left wrist. Her eyes blurred and then the already dimly lit room faded to black as she slumped down onto the straw- filled mattress.
The boy heard the common three tap knock code on the tree before Komyosa pushed back the vines and burst into the room.
"I've been out all morning and I still haven't found her. I've circled the perimeter of the forest nearly twice and finally circled in back to here. Ano Kotae, did you have any-Hey . . . Kotae, why in Suzaku's name did you decide to dye your mattress red?"
"Huh?" her twin asked in surprise as he quickly turned around. "What do you mean?...," he asked as he shifted his gaze toward his bed. "Oh, shimatta!" he yelled in a whisper as he ran toward the back of the cave. A gleaming patch of silver and crimson caught his eye. He swooped down to pick up the object once he arrived by her side.
His twin was next to him before he could blink his eyes. "Kotae, is that what I think it is?"
Ano Kotae stared at the blade, watching the blood drip down and splatter onto his shoes. "Shimatta! I knew I should've slid it back into its sheath when I had finished polishing it."
Suddenly Kotae was feeling a throbbing pain in the back of his head. "Bakayaro! Do you have iany/i common sense!" He just kind of stared at her for a moment, and then it dawned on him.
"Shimatta!" he said again as he knelt beside the unconscious girl. He ripped apart his shirt, trying desperately to staunch the blood flow by binding them shut with the knotted cloth. It was no good. Within moments the fabric was soaking and scarlet.
Fuyu, noticing two of her friends bent over in the back of the room doing Suzaku knows what, quickly went over to investigate. Upon seeing the ashen faced girl, she quickly froze the wounds shut, since the bandages were obviously not working on their own.
Kotae nearly collapsed onto the ground when the ordeal was over. His hands were trembling as he ran them through his hair. "I-I can't believe I never thought of that . . . I . . . I'm so . . . "
"Oblivious?" said Komyosa.
"No," said Fuyu. "It's not his fault. You know he's only smart. He doesn't have an ounce of common sense. That's why he has you." She smiled at Komyosa, but she could only manage a weak grin, while Ano Kotae looked like he was going to break down.
A strained moan from behind him startled him into calmer thoughts, and he was quickly at her side, desperately trying to find something he could do to right his wrong. He had no idea that she would've thought he would . . . that he would . . . But he would never! He had to get over that now, though. Now he had to try to save her and pray to Suzaku that her wounds weren't fatal.
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"Well, well, well. And who do we have here? Another spy from Konan caught on the border. Tsk, tsk, tsk. You people are so stupid. Haven't you heard of sleeping only when camouflaged? Hmpf. Oh well, you'll pay for that mistake now."
Hogosha stood up, looked at the man, and blinked. "Um . . . I don't know what you're talking about, but we're in Tokyo, Japan . . . and this is isupposed/i to be the National Library . . . I've never heard of this "Konan" place, but its obviously not here, because all 'here' is, is trees."
The young man looked a little taken back. 'This boy has no idea where he is . . . iAndi speaks of places I myself have never heard of. Could he be . . . No. There's no way. We are looking for the Seiryu no Miko, and he's obviously not female . . . And yet why would he have such a befuddled look on his face if he did know where he was?'
Hogosha couldn't help but stare at him. What was with this guy's clothing? It looked like it was from . . . ancient China? He rubbed his eyes. 'Okay, now I iknow/i I've totally lost it . . . '
He had long black hair tied back in a strip of blue cloth, black shoes with lacing halfway up his shins, and the other attire one would normally find on someone from about half a century ago. Not to mention these really deep green eyes. It was a startling combo, what with the hair, and that combined with the way he was dressed . . . Hogosha couldn't help but stare.
After appearing deep in thought for a few minutes, the green-eyed man sighed, and decided to accept the fact, at least for now, that this iboy/i was the Seiryu no Miko, or, rather, the Seiryu no Saishi.
"Okay. I'm not sure what to believe right now, but at least I can give you my name. I'm Dokan. My Seishi name is Miboshi."
"Your . . . what?..." 'Wait, did I miss something?...'
Dokan just shook his head. 'Okay, he's idefinately/i not from around here. Every person in this entire country knows what a Seishi is and what it means. this kid is clueless.' His appearance didn't match much either, now that he thought about it. Dark brown, short hair, that just touched the tips of his ears, and hazel, almost muddy, eyes. His blue pants made of an unrecognizable fabric, along with a white shirt with some type of foreign red writing didn't help much either.
Hogosha just stared at him with a confused look on his face, shrugged his shoulders, and then turned around and began to walk away, heading toward the forest.
"Wait!" called out Dokan. "Where are you going?"
"I don't know, into the forest I guess. I have to go find Aoiten and Aokusa and kill them for playing this prank on me, or wake up, whichever it is."
Dokan looked at him with a dumbfounded expression on his face. Then shook it off and tried talking some sense into the kid that was supposed to be their savior. Right now, he looked more like an idiot.
"Don't go in there!" he cried out, and began to run toward the boy.
Hogosha turned around and shot him an icy stare, causing Dokan to fall back a step. "Why not?"
"It's not safe, is all. Why don't you come back with me and-"
"No thanks. I'll see you around, whoever you are. Ja ne." And with that he gave a short wave and walked into the forest.
A scream that was soon let out from the startled Hogosha told Dokan that he had found out what the term "not safe" truly meant.
"What kind of forest iis/i this?? T-Tigers?!...No way!...Wait, . . . If I'm dreaming then this shouldn't be too hard, right?" A loud "thump," followed by, "Or maybe not," told Dokan that the Saishi was not doing to well.
The wait of the pounced tiger resting on his rib cage was quickly squeezing the air out of his lungs, not to mention the razor-sharp claws that were being dug into his chest. Small stains of blood spread out from the rips torn by the claws as air became a precious commodity.
"Baka," Dokan whispered to himself as he approached the giant, striped cat. He closed his eyes and concentrated.
An image of himself, kicking the tiger in the gut, flashed into his head for a moment, so that's exactly what he did. With the little bit of quickly draining strength he had left, he kicked the tiger as hard as he could, right below the diaphragm, causing it to be startled for a moment. Just enough time for Hogosha to slip out from under its claws with a little help from Dokan, and be in the cottage with the door barred shut just as the tiger slammed into it.
Hogosha slid down the back of the door and landed on the dirt floor, his chest heaving to catch up with the loss of air.
"May name's Hogosha," he managed to get out in between gasps. "And would you mind telling me what's going on . . . Starting at the beginning?"
Dokan smiled. "With pleasure, Seiryu no Miko, with pleasure . . . "
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Fuyu stared down at the young girl. "If I don't melt the ice soon, she'll loose the tips of her fingers," she noticed from the way Kanshisha's nails had turned a milky white.
"Well, then what are we supposed to do?" asked Komyosa. "We can't let her die. That's a luxury we can't afford." Ano Kotae stared at her and grimace.
"Wha-at? I was just kidding!"
Kotae shook his head and then walked toward the passage way at the back of her cave. "There's got to be someone down there who can help her. Someone has got to have been a doctor, or an apprentice to one, al least at some point."
"We've got nothing else to try," said Fuyu.
"And everything to loose," said Komyosa.
"I'm going," said Ano Kotae. Komyosa moved to follow him, but he turned around and stopped her. "No, you have to stay here with Fuyu and guard the entrance.
"But.."
"No. Stay here. I can fix my own mistakes."
Komyosa watched with a worried look on her face as her brother descended into the caverns below them, and prayed to Suzaku that his Miko would make it, for if she didn't, then true dark times would fall onto Konan once again."
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A/N: Well, what's you think? Please, R&R!! I don't know when the next chapter is coming out, because I don't know who's writing it! I hope you enjoyed this chapter though. And don't worry, there'll be plenty more to come. I have a funny feeling this fanfic is going to get pretty long.
A/N: This is a joint fanfic between me, and Lana Panther. We will be writing chapters alternatively. Take for example, this chapter is mine, while she wrote the prologue. Well, enjoy!
Ken'aku Gikyoku: The Perilous Play
Chapter 1: The Legend Unfurls
Tick, Tick, Tick . . .
Kanshisha tapped her pencil on her algebra book in sync with the clock in the library. She had been sitting there, staring at the stupid math problem for what seemed like hours, but couldn't have been more than ten seconds.
"If x=3, and y=-2, then the slope of line b, with the y-intercept at four, is ____," she mumbled to herself. She glared at the problem with a disgusted look on her face, then slammed the book shut, and drooped her head down until it rested on the cover. Her mousy brown, shoulder length hair fell down to cover her face, shielding her sky blue eyes from the lights above her.
"I can't take this any more . . . I don't need to study, I need to sleep!...Sleeeep . . . Sleep, what's that? Oh, is that that thing, where you close your eyes, and then your body relaxes and your brain actually functions when you get up afterwards . . . Ah, sleep. Maybe I should get some of that every once-in-a-while . . . Naa . . . Who needs sleep anyway? Not me!" Kanshisha let out a deep sigh and lifted up her head from the cursed math book. She wanted to spit at it, but knew that it wouldn't help any.
She shrugged her shoulders and went to stand up, when she felt a sharp pain on the back of her head. She turned around to see what could've possibly done that, and she was enraged when she saw what it was. "Hogosha . . . that idiot," she mumbled as she gathered up her stuff and headed toward the door. "Why can't he just leave me alone . . . Grrr . . . "
He had to have hit her at least six more times before she made it half way across the library. Desperate to get away from her childish, idiotic arch nemesis (or so she called him), she headed toward a door she spotted a little further toward the back of the library and ducked through the entry right as another spit ball came hurtling at her head.
She sighed yet again as she leant on the back of the door and then slid down to the floor. 'Can't he just go away, or die, or something. I don't care as long as he leaves me alone! That's all I want! Just some peace and quiet . . . and a little sleep would be nice too. These damn exams are going to run me into the ground if I don't watch out.'
Hearing approaching footsteps, she quickly scrambled up and shot to the back of the little side room.
"Hello-o?" said a taunting voice. "Oh Kanshisha, are you in here? Come out, come out, where-ever you are!"
It was Hogosha. Of course, who else would it be? No one else took as much pleasure in torturing her as he did. 'I wish that I could get away,' she thought as she slumped back against a nearby bookcase, trying to hide in the shadow the one in front of it cast. 'I wish there was a way to for me to get away. I don't think I can take this much longer . . . '
Kanshisha almost turned blue with horror when the bookcase shook and one of its contents, right above her head, shook loose and nearly crashed into the floor, hadn't she nearly dived to catch it. She could've sworn that for a split second, it was glowing red, but dismissed that thought as her lack of sleep catching up with her in yet another way, and yet . . . There was something about the book, like it called out to her, like . . . like . . . She opened the book and began to read, nearly broke out in laughter at what the first page said, but then shrugged her shoulders and turned the page. 'What have I got to lose? And I could seriously use the granting of a couple of my wishes to come true . . . Why not?'
Hogosha now knew for sure where she was! That bright burst of light could only come from someone who had accidentally turned on some type of light, emergency maybe, yet it was awfully bright. Bright enough that he had to shield his eyes with his arm when he got within three feet of it, but then it started to fade away, not like someone had turned of a light though, this was much different.
But that didn't matter, he knew he could get her in trouble big time if he could prove that she was in the restricted part of the library, the sign she had obviously ignored when she fell upon the room by sheer luck minutes before. If he could prove himself innocent, and her guilty, then that would top seeing her cringe from the spit balls. She was the most fun person to torture he had yet to find, and he would keep it up until she was driven away like all the others. Besides, he was helping the school get a better name. Rejects like the people he was getting rid of didn't deserve to be there, anyway. He was just helping out the school. That was all. It just ihappened/i to be one of his favorite pastimes, is all.
Although, when he turned the corner, all he saw was a book lying on the floor, a thin rim of red light encompassing its edges. Then the light faded, and a blue, brighter light took its place. Drawn by his curiosity alone, he picked up the book and skimmed the first page, but regretted that action, for as soon as he turned the next, the blue light engulfed him, and his senses were lost as he was thrown into a tunnel of bright blue light.
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Kanshisha opened her eyes to a world of shadows and light playing in the breeze above her. The leaves danced merrily in the treetops as the wind blew through them, creating a slight rustle. Kanshisha sat straight up, shock absorbing her every feature. Her muscles were as tense as a drawn bowstring as she turned her head to get a good look in every direction.
"Okay," she began, talking to herself, now rubbing the spot between her eyes. "I iknow/i I was in the library, what, 30 seconds ago? And now . . . I'm in the middle of a forest . . . There's no buildings in sight anywhere . . . And I have a test in Algebra tomorrow . . . Wait, does that really matter that much right now?...Hmm," she said, as she took in her surroundings a bit more. "Maybe I'm . . . dreaming?" She took a chunk of her skin and twisted as hard as she could. When it turned purple and began to throb with pain . . . "Or maybe not . . . Besides . . . " she said with a yawn. "I wouldn't still be tired if this was a dream . . . Now that that's settled . . . Where am I?....And what do I do now?..."
"Well, that's simple," said a male voice slightly behind her and to the right. "You come with me."
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Hogosha woke up with a throbbing headache in the middle of a small clearing that was bordered by almost every edge by forest, except in one corner, where he spotted a small cottage and a well, with a horse in a quite shabby barn right next to it.
Hogosha blinked as soon as he realized that he wasn't in the library anymore, then a wide grin spread across his lips. "Ha ha ha. Very funny guys. You can come out now. Come on Aoiten, Aokusa. I know you're there." The only response he got was the wind whistling through the leaves. "Guys? Come on, this is soo not funny!" No response yet again.
Hogosha climbed to his feet and turned in a circle, taking the full perimeter of the place, trying to catch any shifting shadows. There weren't any, other than a rabbit and a squirrel. This place seemed totally devoid of human life, until a young man appeared out of the cottage.
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This would be the second time today that Kanshisha turned blue, but this time she froze as well. She knew what happened to young girls who were found alone, and right now, that's exactly what she was. Alone.
She cringed when she felt a warm hand rest on her right shoulder. He could feel her muscles tensing under the weight of his hand, so he quickly lifted it back up. He looked down at her with sympathetic deep blue eyes, wondering why she would cringe under such a friendly gesture. He let out a sigh and shrugged his shoulders as he knelt down beside her.
"Hey! There's no need for you to fear me. I'm not going to hurt you or anything. My name's . . . " But he could tell she wasn't listening, and she was shaking now. One look into her eyes showed him that she was definitely not in this world. Knowing it was useless trying to talk to her, he slid his arms underneath her, and proceeded to carry her back to the hideout.
Then, what he thought was impossible, happened. She tensed up even more, and instead of seeming to be shivering from the cold (even thought it was about 80 degrees outside) as she was before, she was shaking so hard that it seemed like she was having convulsions.
He ran with her back to the hidden cave of the forest and rapped on the tree trunk three times before heading inside. He looked inside the dimly lit cavern and within a few moments realized he was the only one there. "Figures they'd all leave when I finally found her," he mumbled to himself. "Oh well."
He set her down on his bed near back of the cave, and then walked over toward a large drum near the opposite wall. After picking a random bowl off a nearby shelf, he pulled the lid off the container and dunked it inside the barrel.
Kanshisha shook her head to knock the horrible images out. When her eyes refocused, the first thing she saw was the gleam of a dagger's blade. She stared at it, contemplating for a few moments before she reached out and grabbed it. He didn't notice as she sat up and held the blade up to the light before slicing it deep into her right wrist.
While there was still feeling in her right hand, she switched the blade into it, and sliced open her left wrist. Her eyes blurred and then the already dimly lit room faded to black as she slumped down onto the straw- filled mattress.
The boy heard the common three tap knock code on the tree before Komyosa pushed back the vines and burst into the room.
"I've been out all morning and I still haven't found her. I've circled the perimeter of the forest nearly twice and finally circled in back to here. Ano Kotae, did you have any-Hey . . . Kotae, why in Suzaku's name did you decide to dye your mattress red?"
"Huh?" her twin asked in surprise as he quickly turned around. "What do you mean?...," he asked as he shifted his gaze toward his bed. "Oh, shimatta!" he yelled in a whisper as he ran toward the back of the cave. A gleaming patch of silver and crimson caught his eye. He swooped down to pick up the object once he arrived by her side.
His twin was next to him before he could blink his eyes. "Kotae, is that what I think it is?"
Ano Kotae stared at the blade, watching the blood drip down and splatter onto his shoes. "Shimatta! I knew I should've slid it back into its sheath when I had finished polishing it."
Suddenly Kotae was feeling a throbbing pain in the back of his head. "Bakayaro! Do you have iany/i common sense!" He just kind of stared at her for a moment, and then it dawned on him.
"Shimatta!" he said again as he knelt beside the unconscious girl. He ripped apart his shirt, trying desperately to staunch the blood flow by binding them shut with the knotted cloth. It was no good. Within moments the fabric was soaking and scarlet.
Fuyu, noticing two of her friends bent over in the back of the room doing Suzaku knows what, quickly went over to investigate. Upon seeing the ashen faced girl, she quickly froze the wounds shut, since the bandages were obviously not working on their own.
Kotae nearly collapsed onto the ground when the ordeal was over. His hands were trembling as he ran them through his hair. "I-I can't believe I never thought of that . . . I . . . I'm so . . . "
"Oblivious?" said Komyosa.
"No," said Fuyu. "It's not his fault. You know he's only smart. He doesn't have an ounce of common sense. That's why he has you." She smiled at Komyosa, but she could only manage a weak grin, while Ano Kotae looked like he was going to break down.
A strained moan from behind him startled him into calmer thoughts, and he was quickly at her side, desperately trying to find something he could do to right his wrong. He had no idea that she would've thought he would . . . that he would . . . But he would never! He had to get over that now, though. Now he had to try to save her and pray to Suzaku that her wounds weren't fatal.
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"Well, well, well. And who do we have here? Another spy from Konan caught on the border. Tsk, tsk, tsk. You people are so stupid. Haven't you heard of sleeping only when camouflaged? Hmpf. Oh well, you'll pay for that mistake now."
Hogosha stood up, looked at the man, and blinked. "Um . . . I don't know what you're talking about, but we're in Tokyo, Japan . . . and this is isupposed/i to be the National Library . . . I've never heard of this "Konan" place, but its obviously not here, because all 'here' is, is trees."
The young man looked a little taken back. 'This boy has no idea where he is . . . iAndi speaks of places I myself have never heard of. Could he be . . . No. There's no way. We are looking for the Seiryu no Miko, and he's obviously not female . . . And yet why would he have such a befuddled look on his face if he did know where he was?'
Hogosha couldn't help but stare at him. What was with this guy's clothing? It looked like it was from . . . ancient China? He rubbed his eyes. 'Okay, now I iknow/i I've totally lost it . . . '
He had long black hair tied back in a strip of blue cloth, black shoes with lacing halfway up his shins, and the other attire one would normally find on someone from about half a century ago. Not to mention these really deep green eyes. It was a startling combo, what with the hair, and that combined with the way he was dressed . . . Hogosha couldn't help but stare.
After appearing deep in thought for a few minutes, the green-eyed man sighed, and decided to accept the fact, at least for now, that this iboy/i was the Seiryu no Miko, or, rather, the Seiryu no Saishi.
"Okay. I'm not sure what to believe right now, but at least I can give you my name. I'm Dokan. My Seishi name is Miboshi."
"Your . . . what?..." 'Wait, did I miss something?...'
Dokan just shook his head. 'Okay, he's idefinately/i not from around here. Every person in this entire country knows what a Seishi is and what it means. this kid is clueless.' His appearance didn't match much either, now that he thought about it. Dark brown, short hair, that just touched the tips of his ears, and hazel, almost muddy, eyes. His blue pants made of an unrecognizable fabric, along with a white shirt with some type of foreign red writing didn't help much either.
Hogosha just stared at him with a confused look on his face, shrugged his shoulders, and then turned around and began to walk away, heading toward the forest.
"Wait!" called out Dokan. "Where are you going?"
"I don't know, into the forest I guess. I have to go find Aoiten and Aokusa and kill them for playing this prank on me, or wake up, whichever it is."
Dokan looked at him with a dumbfounded expression on his face. Then shook it off and tried talking some sense into the kid that was supposed to be their savior. Right now, he looked more like an idiot.
"Don't go in there!" he cried out, and began to run toward the boy.
Hogosha turned around and shot him an icy stare, causing Dokan to fall back a step. "Why not?"
"It's not safe, is all. Why don't you come back with me and-"
"No thanks. I'll see you around, whoever you are. Ja ne." And with that he gave a short wave and walked into the forest.
A scream that was soon let out from the startled Hogosha told Dokan that he had found out what the term "not safe" truly meant.
"What kind of forest iis/i this?? T-Tigers?!...No way!...Wait, . . . If I'm dreaming then this shouldn't be too hard, right?" A loud "thump," followed by, "Or maybe not," told Dokan that the Saishi was not doing to well.
The wait of the pounced tiger resting on his rib cage was quickly squeezing the air out of his lungs, not to mention the razor-sharp claws that were being dug into his chest. Small stains of blood spread out from the rips torn by the claws as air became a precious commodity.
"Baka," Dokan whispered to himself as he approached the giant, striped cat. He closed his eyes and concentrated.
An image of himself, kicking the tiger in the gut, flashed into his head for a moment, so that's exactly what he did. With the little bit of quickly draining strength he had left, he kicked the tiger as hard as he could, right below the diaphragm, causing it to be startled for a moment. Just enough time for Hogosha to slip out from under its claws with a little help from Dokan, and be in the cottage with the door barred shut just as the tiger slammed into it.
Hogosha slid down the back of the door and landed on the dirt floor, his chest heaving to catch up with the loss of air.
"May name's Hogosha," he managed to get out in between gasps. "And would you mind telling me what's going on . . . Starting at the beginning?"
Dokan smiled. "With pleasure, Seiryu no Miko, with pleasure . . . "
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Fuyu stared down at the young girl. "If I don't melt the ice soon, she'll loose the tips of her fingers," she noticed from the way Kanshisha's nails had turned a milky white.
"Well, then what are we supposed to do?" asked Komyosa. "We can't let her die. That's a luxury we can't afford." Ano Kotae stared at her and grimace.
"Wha-at? I was just kidding!"
Kotae shook his head and then walked toward the passage way at the back of her cave. "There's got to be someone down there who can help her. Someone has got to have been a doctor, or an apprentice to one, al least at some point."
"We've got nothing else to try," said Fuyu.
"And everything to loose," said Komyosa.
"I'm going," said Ano Kotae. Komyosa moved to follow him, but he turned around and stopped her. "No, you have to stay here with Fuyu and guard the entrance.
"But.."
"No. Stay here. I can fix my own mistakes."
Komyosa watched with a worried look on her face as her brother descended into the caverns below them, and prayed to Suzaku that his Miko would make it, for if she didn't, then true dark times would fall onto Konan once again."
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A/N: Well, what's you think? Please, R&R!! I don't know when the next chapter is coming out, because I don't know who's writing it! I hope you enjoyed this chapter though. And don't worry, there'll be plenty more to come. I have a funny feeling this fanfic is going to get pretty long.