Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Fushigi Yuugi. Although I would love to. I have no
money so it would be impossible for me to own it.
Summary of last chapter: Tamahome and Nuriko find Miaka out in the woods outside of the town. She is asleep, but alive. They ask her what happened. She only remembers about there being the sound of a pipe and a woman in a tree. Tamahome and Nuriko take her back to the palace unknown to them that they are being watched.
Chapter 3
Hotohori, Tasuki, and Chichiri sat in the palace. It had been almost 2 hours since Nuriko and Tamahome had went out to search for Miaka and they had not heard any news since then. Hotohori paced around the room worried sick about Miaka's safety.
'What if she had been abducted? Maybe she had gotten hurt,' Hotohori thought.
"Your Highness why don't you come take a seat. It won't help bring Miaka back so why don't you try to relax a little," Chichiri stated as he pointed to the chair.
Hotohori stopped pacing and walked over to the chair. He sat down and sighed. There was an unnerving silence in the room for quite some time.
"Geez, why is everyone being so quiet. It's not like she's dead!" Tasuki yelled as he stood up.
Just then the door slowly began to open. The light from outside brightened the room and blinded the three men at first. Slowly the light died down and there stood Tamahome and Nuriko with Miaka in Tamahome's arms. The three men just stood there stunned for a moment before Miaka broke the silence.
"Hey, um. sorry about disappearing early. I didn't mean to scare anyone," Miaka said as Tamahome put her down.
Miaka still felt a little unsteady so she leaned on Tamahome for support and gave off a slight smile. Hotohori and Tasuki basically dashed across the room while Chichiri just stood up and walked.
"Miaka thank goodness you're alright. What happened?" Hotohori asked.
"Ya, like where'd you go? You worried all of us a lot," Tasuki added.
"I'm sorry. I started to sleepwalk and didn't even know where I was going. I didn't even know I sleepwalked," Miaka said as she sweat dropped, "now if you don't mind I could use something to eat. I'm starving!"
Everyone lighted up knowing that if Miaka was worried about food then she must be fine. They all smiled and then led Miaka to get some food. After stuffing herself with about 5 meals Miaka walked out of the dining room content. The others had left earlier; they had business to take care of. Miaka looked down at herself and noticed she was still wearing her night clothes. She walked back to her room and changed into a black skirt and a red tank top. She stretched and yawned. Since she had been in a half trance most the night she hardly got any actual sleep. She opened her door to go outside, but instead met Tamahome's chest. Miaka turned her gaze up to look into his eyes.
"Hi Tamahome. What's up?" Miaka said a slight blush appearing across her face.
Tamahome crouched down to meet her eye level while he put his hands on her shoulders and said, "Miaka are you sure you're ok? You still look a little pale?"
"I'm fine, just a little drowsy that's all. It's probably just the lost of sleep," Miaka said failing to tell him about her stomach hurting and her frequent dizziness.
Tamahome put a hand to her cheek and leaned closer to her. Their lips came together in a light and sweet kiss. Slowly Tamahome pulled away and looked directly into her eyes.
"If anything is wrong come and tell me right away. I'm going to stay in your room tonight just in case the piper woman decides to call on you again tonight. Is that ok with you?" Tamahome asked never leaving her gaze.
"That's fine and I promise if something's wrong I'll tell you. Now if you don't mind I'm going to go for a walk. Do you want to come with me?" Miaka said as she smiled and Tamahome took his hand away from her face.
Tamahome stood completely up and said, "So, where to?"
Miaka smiled and said, "Lets take a walk through the city. Maybe I can even buy something."
Tamahome smiled as Miaka grabbed his arm and dragged him out the palace gates and into the city. They walked around for quite sometime. Miaka stopped at almost every booth to admire something and then continued on to the next booth. Tamahome couldn't help, but smile at her childish actions. Soon they were headed back to the palace. Miaka had suggested they took a shortcut through a deserted alley. Miaka was behind Tamahome by a couple of steps. There was a silence that was soon broke by Miaka's scream. Tamahome whipped around to find that some gangster had Miaka. One of the man's hands was holding her wrists together behind her back and the other was around her neck.
"Well, look what we got here fellows. A pretty young girl walking through the alley. Not a very safe thing to do little girl," the man said as more guys came up from behind him.
"Let her go," Tamahome said trying to hold his temper.
"Well, you seem to be quite worried about this girl. Is she that important to you?" the man asked looking closely at Tamahome, "How about we make you a deal? You give us $300 and we'll let the girl go. Otherwise her pretty little throat is going to be slight."
As the guy said this, another put a knife up to Miaka's throat. Miaka closed her eyes and gave a slight intake of breath. Tamahome looked closely at Miaka as she reopened her eyes and then turned back to the guy.
"Fine, just give me her first and I'll pay you the $300," Tamahome stated and then gave a look to Miaka not to say anything.
"No, how about you give us the money and then we'll let her go," the man said smugly.
Tamahome glared at the guy as he advanced closer to him. When he was close enough he surprised the guy by punching him in the face. Miaka took this chance and spun around in her capture's hands and kicked him right in between his legs. The guy doubled over in pain, releasing Miaka from his grip. The other guys from the group noticed their situation and advanced on Miaka in attack position. Tamahome noticed this, the character on his forehead glowed bright as he dashed forward to protect Miaka. After a couple of punches and kicks all the men lay on the ground passed out. The character on Tamahome's forehead faded away and he turned to face Miaka. After making sure she was ok he pulled into a tight embrace.
"I'm glad you're," was all he said as he held her closer.
Miaka at this point was at a loss for words. She blushed slightly at his nearness. He pulled away from her and looked into her eyes as he smiled.
"Come on we should get back to the palace. It's already starting to get dark and they'll be serving dinner soon," Tamahome said calmly.
At the sound of dinner Miaka grabbed Tamahome's hand and dashed off towards the palace. They arrived at the palace just in time for dinner. After dinner almost everyone went to bed because it had been a long day. Miaka went into her room and changed into her night clothes. A few minutes later there was a knock at her door. She opened the door and there stood Tamahome. Miaka let him in and then shut the door behind him.
"Miaka have you remembered anything else from last night? Like what the question was?" Tamahome asked as he sat down on the chair in her room.
Miaka sat down on her bed and started to think. Then she remembered something.
"She asked if I liked my life. I told I did and then she said good that makes things much more interesting. I wonder what she meant," Miaka said as she sighed and fell back onto her bed.
"Do you remember her doing anything else?
"Right before I fell asleep again I remember her playing another tune on her pipe. It was different form the one that she did to call me out there. It was strange in a way, but I can't place why," Miaka said as she continued to stare at the ceiling, "Well, I'm going to go to bed."
Miaka pulled the covers up and over her. Tamahome pulled the chair over to her bedside, but before he sat down he gave her a quick kiss on the forehead.
"Don't worry. I'll watch over you tonight. Just get some rest."
"Arigato Tamahome," Miaka said as she closed her eyes and fell asleep.
All went well for quite a while, but at two the next morning something happened. Miaka sat up in her bed, her eyes opened, but she looked like she was in a trance again. Tamahome opened his eyes. He had closed them so that they could rest a little. He watched as Miaka got out of her bed and walked over to the door. He tried to see if there was any sound of music. He was surprised to find that he heard a faint melody. He got up quickly and followed Miaka as she exited her room. Tamahome continued to follow her as she walked out into the middle of the palace courtyard. There she stopped and turned her gaze to the tree ahead of her. Tamahome followed her gaze and was surprised to see a young woman sitting there with a pipe, which looked like a flute, to her lips. Slowly the melody came to an end and the woman pulled the flute away from her lips. As she did she smiled and jumped down from the tree and stepped into the light. She was a young woman with fair skin. Her black hair was tied up in a ponytail somewhat high on her head with two strands, one on each side of her head, hanging down framing her face. She wore a brown canvas type outfit that showed off a lot of her skin (looks like Alcyone's outfit in the first season of Magic Knight Rayearth).
"Well, Miss Priestess it appears you decided to come to my call again. My goddess don't you look tired, why don't we bring you out of your trance so you can hear what I have to say," with that the woman put the flute back to her lips and began playing a short tune.
Miaka's eyes slowly came into focus and she realized where she was. Her sight came to rest on the woman in front of her.
"Who are you? Why do you keep calling me out here in the middle of the night?" Miaka asked.
"I may as well tell you since you will not need to remember it long. My name is Kina. You will find out soon enough why I asked you that question about you're life, but for now why don't you ask you're friend to join us," the woman said and she looked over at the tree that Tamahome was hiding behind, "Come on out. I know you're there."
Tamahome stepped out from behind the tree.
"That's good. Now I'm afraid I must you leave you now, but Miaka, you and I will meet again soon. I leave you a parting gift to remember me by," she said and pulled her flute back to her lips.
The melody she played this time though was an eerie type of tune. She slowly backed away as she played the tune. In the background you could hear the sound of drums as the tune progressed. Miaka felt herself become dizziness and her stomach began to feel like someone was trying to cut her in half. She let out a small scream and fell to her knees clutching her stomach.
"Miaka!" Tamahome yelled as he ran to her side, "What's wrong? Hey, Kina what did you do to her?"
"Don't worry yourself about it. She'll join me soon. In order to complete this spell I must give my life so I will see her soon in the depths of Hades!" Kina laughed as her body dissolved away.
"Ahhhhhhhh!"
Tamahome quickly turned his attention back to Miaka. Her face was very pale and she was sweating a lot. He touched her arm and pulled back quickly when he felt how hot she was. He quickly scooped her up into his arms and raced back to her room. He threw the door open and ran over to her bed. He laid her down upon it and pulled the covers over her. He found a washcloth and got it wet. After ringing it out he folded it and placed it upon Miaka's forehead. He turned to face the doorway when he heard the door open. There stood Nuriko.
"Hey, Tamahome what's going on?" Nuriko asked yawning in the process.
"I don't have time to explain. Miaka has become fatally ill. Go wake up Chichiri, Hotohori, and Tasuki now!" Tamahome yelled.
Nuriko looked at him surprised and quickly turned his gaze toward Miaka's bed. He gasped as he saw her laying there breathing hard. With a nod he was off to wake the rest of the Suzaku Seven. Tamahome turned back to Miaka. He took Miaka's cold, pale hand in his own.
"Oh, Miaka why did this have to happen to you."
*~*~* Authors Notes: Finally a decent size chapter. I hope everyone liked it. It took me forever to write. Anyway, please read and review. The next chapter will hopefully be out shortly.
Summary of last chapter: Tamahome and Nuriko find Miaka out in the woods outside of the town. She is asleep, but alive. They ask her what happened. She only remembers about there being the sound of a pipe and a woman in a tree. Tamahome and Nuriko take her back to the palace unknown to them that they are being watched.
Chapter 3
Hotohori, Tasuki, and Chichiri sat in the palace. It had been almost 2 hours since Nuriko and Tamahome had went out to search for Miaka and they had not heard any news since then. Hotohori paced around the room worried sick about Miaka's safety.
'What if she had been abducted? Maybe she had gotten hurt,' Hotohori thought.
"Your Highness why don't you come take a seat. It won't help bring Miaka back so why don't you try to relax a little," Chichiri stated as he pointed to the chair.
Hotohori stopped pacing and walked over to the chair. He sat down and sighed. There was an unnerving silence in the room for quite some time.
"Geez, why is everyone being so quiet. It's not like she's dead!" Tasuki yelled as he stood up.
Just then the door slowly began to open. The light from outside brightened the room and blinded the three men at first. Slowly the light died down and there stood Tamahome and Nuriko with Miaka in Tamahome's arms. The three men just stood there stunned for a moment before Miaka broke the silence.
"Hey, um. sorry about disappearing early. I didn't mean to scare anyone," Miaka said as Tamahome put her down.
Miaka still felt a little unsteady so she leaned on Tamahome for support and gave off a slight smile. Hotohori and Tasuki basically dashed across the room while Chichiri just stood up and walked.
"Miaka thank goodness you're alright. What happened?" Hotohori asked.
"Ya, like where'd you go? You worried all of us a lot," Tasuki added.
"I'm sorry. I started to sleepwalk and didn't even know where I was going. I didn't even know I sleepwalked," Miaka said as she sweat dropped, "now if you don't mind I could use something to eat. I'm starving!"
Everyone lighted up knowing that if Miaka was worried about food then she must be fine. They all smiled and then led Miaka to get some food. After stuffing herself with about 5 meals Miaka walked out of the dining room content. The others had left earlier; they had business to take care of. Miaka looked down at herself and noticed she was still wearing her night clothes. She walked back to her room and changed into a black skirt and a red tank top. She stretched and yawned. Since she had been in a half trance most the night she hardly got any actual sleep. She opened her door to go outside, but instead met Tamahome's chest. Miaka turned her gaze up to look into his eyes.
"Hi Tamahome. What's up?" Miaka said a slight blush appearing across her face.
Tamahome crouched down to meet her eye level while he put his hands on her shoulders and said, "Miaka are you sure you're ok? You still look a little pale?"
"I'm fine, just a little drowsy that's all. It's probably just the lost of sleep," Miaka said failing to tell him about her stomach hurting and her frequent dizziness.
Tamahome put a hand to her cheek and leaned closer to her. Their lips came together in a light and sweet kiss. Slowly Tamahome pulled away and looked directly into her eyes.
"If anything is wrong come and tell me right away. I'm going to stay in your room tonight just in case the piper woman decides to call on you again tonight. Is that ok with you?" Tamahome asked never leaving her gaze.
"That's fine and I promise if something's wrong I'll tell you. Now if you don't mind I'm going to go for a walk. Do you want to come with me?" Miaka said as she smiled and Tamahome took his hand away from her face.
Tamahome stood completely up and said, "So, where to?"
Miaka smiled and said, "Lets take a walk through the city. Maybe I can even buy something."
Tamahome smiled as Miaka grabbed his arm and dragged him out the palace gates and into the city. They walked around for quite sometime. Miaka stopped at almost every booth to admire something and then continued on to the next booth. Tamahome couldn't help, but smile at her childish actions. Soon they were headed back to the palace. Miaka had suggested they took a shortcut through a deserted alley. Miaka was behind Tamahome by a couple of steps. There was a silence that was soon broke by Miaka's scream. Tamahome whipped around to find that some gangster had Miaka. One of the man's hands was holding her wrists together behind her back and the other was around her neck.
"Well, look what we got here fellows. A pretty young girl walking through the alley. Not a very safe thing to do little girl," the man said as more guys came up from behind him.
"Let her go," Tamahome said trying to hold his temper.
"Well, you seem to be quite worried about this girl. Is she that important to you?" the man asked looking closely at Tamahome, "How about we make you a deal? You give us $300 and we'll let the girl go. Otherwise her pretty little throat is going to be slight."
As the guy said this, another put a knife up to Miaka's throat. Miaka closed her eyes and gave a slight intake of breath. Tamahome looked closely at Miaka as she reopened her eyes and then turned back to the guy.
"Fine, just give me her first and I'll pay you the $300," Tamahome stated and then gave a look to Miaka not to say anything.
"No, how about you give us the money and then we'll let her go," the man said smugly.
Tamahome glared at the guy as he advanced closer to him. When he was close enough he surprised the guy by punching him in the face. Miaka took this chance and spun around in her capture's hands and kicked him right in between his legs. The guy doubled over in pain, releasing Miaka from his grip. The other guys from the group noticed their situation and advanced on Miaka in attack position. Tamahome noticed this, the character on his forehead glowed bright as he dashed forward to protect Miaka. After a couple of punches and kicks all the men lay on the ground passed out. The character on Tamahome's forehead faded away and he turned to face Miaka. After making sure she was ok he pulled into a tight embrace.
"I'm glad you're," was all he said as he held her closer.
Miaka at this point was at a loss for words. She blushed slightly at his nearness. He pulled away from her and looked into her eyes as he smiled.
"Come on we should get back to the palace. It's already starting to get dark and they'll be serving dinner soon," Tamahome said calmly.
At the sound of dinner Miaka grabbed Tamahome's hand and dashed off towards the palace. They arrived at the palace just in time for dinner. After dinner almost everyone went to bed because it had been a long day. Miaka went into her room and changed into her night clothes. A few minutes later there was a knock at her door. She opened the door and there stood Tamahome. Miaka let him in and then shut the door behind him.
"Miaka have you remembered anything else from last night? Like what the question was?" Tamahome asked as he sat down on the chair in her room.
Miaka sat down on her bed and started to think. Then she remembered something.
"She asked if I liked my life. I told I did and then she said good that makes things much more interesting. I wonder what she meant," Miaka said as she sighed and fell back onto her bed.
"Do you remember her doing anything else?
"Right before I fell asleep again I remember her playing another tune on her pipe. It was different form the one that she did to call me out there. It was strange in a way, but I can't place why," Miaka said as she continued to stare at the ceiling, "Well, I'm going to go to bed."
Miaka pulled the covers up and over her. Tamahome pulled the chair over to her bedside, but before he sat down he gave her a quick kiss on the forehead.
"Don't worry. I'll watch over you tonight. Just get some rest."
"Arigato Tamahome," Miaka said as she closed her eyes and fell asleep.
All went well for quite a while, but at two the next morning something happened. Miaka sat up in her bed, her eyes opened, but she looked like she was in a trance again. Tamahome opened his eyes. He had closed them so that they could rest a little. He watched as Miaka got out of her bed and walked over to the door. He tried to see if there was any sound of music. He was surprised to find that he heard a faint melody. He got up quickly and followed Miaka as she exited her room. Tamahome continued to follow her as she walked out into the middle of the palace courtyard. There she stopped and turned her gaze to the tree ahead of her. Tamahome followed her gaze and was surprised to see a young woman sitting there with a pipe, which looked like a flute, to her lips. Slowly the melody came to an end and the woman pulled the flute away from her lips. As she did she smiled and jumped down from the tree and stepped into the light. She was a young woman with fair skin. Her black hair was tied up in a ponytail somewhat high on her head with two strands, one on each side of her head, hanging down framing her face. She wore a brown canvas type outfit that showed off a lot of her skin (looks like Alcyone's outfit in the first season of Magic Knight Rayearth).
"Well, Miss Priestess it appears you decided to come to my call again. My goddess don't you look tired, why don't we bring you out of your trance so you can hear what I have to say," with that the woman put the flute back to her lips and began playing a short tune.
Miaka's eyes slowly came into focus and she realized where she was. Her sight came to rest on the woman in front of her.
"Who are you? Why do you keep calling me out here in the middle of the night?" Miaka asked.
"I may as well tell you since you will not need to remember it long. My name is Kina. You will find out soon enough why I asked you that question about you're life, but for now why don't you ask you're friend to join us," the woman said and she looked over at the tree that Tamahome was hiding behind, "Come on out. I know you're there."
Tamahome stepped out from behind the tree.
"That's good. Now I'm afraid I must you leave you now, but Miaka, you and I will meet again soon. I leave you a parting gift to remember me by," she said and pulled her flute back to her lips.
The melody she played this time though was an eerie type of tune. She slowly backed away as she played the tune. In the background you could hear the sound of drums as the tune progressed. Miaka felt herself become dizziness and her stomach began to feel like someone was trying to cut her in half. She let out a small scream and fell to her knees clutching her stomach.
"Miaka!" Tamahome yelled as he ran to her side, "What's wrong? Hey, Kina what did you do to her?"
"Don't worry yourself about it. She'll join me soon. In order to complete this spell I must give my life so I will see her soon in the depths of Hades!" Kina laughed as her body dissolved away.
"Ahhhhhhhh!"
Tamahome quickly turned his attention back to Miaka. Her face was very pale and she was sweating a lot. He touched her arm and pulled back quickly when he felt how hot she was. He quickly scooped her up into his arms and raced back to her room. He threw the door open and ran over to her bed. He laid her down upon it and pulled the covers over her. He found a washcloth and got it wet. After ringing it out he folded it and placed it upon Miaka's forehead. He turned to face the doorway when he heard the door open. There stood Nuriko.
"Hey, Tamahome what's going on?" Nuriko asked yawning in the process.
"I don't have time to explain. Miaka has become fatally ill. Go wake up Chichiri, Hotohori, and Tasuki now!" Tamahome yelled.
Nuriko looked at him surprised and quickly turned his gaze toward Miaka's bed. He gasped as he saw her laying there breathing hard. With a nod he was off to wake the rest of the Suzaku Seven. Tamahome turned back to Miaka. He took Miaka's cold, pale hand in his own.
"Oh, Miaka why did this have to happen to you."
*~*~* Authors Notes: Finally a decent size chapter. I hope everyone liked it. It took me forever to write. Anyway, please read and review. The next chapter will hopefully be out shortly.