Disclaimer: This idea for a fanfic came to me while gazing lovingly at my Fushigi Yuugi wallscroll. No, I did not draw it, I bought it. As far as I know I don't have any merchandise, thus, I can safely conclude Fushigi Yuugi remains property of Ms Watase.
Warning: This fic contains a few gay and transgender themes and references. I've thought very carefully about whether I should put this fic on FF.net, and asked advice of a few people. It's not worthy of an NC17 rating, it's just that I don't know how a lot of people would cope with the transsexual stuff in here. People tend to cope with yaoi okay, and even crossdressing, in Nuriko's case, but this is different, I suppose. I guess it shouldn't bother the open-minded, I just thought I'd warn people. Well, it's up to you to whether you read it or not. -_-;;v
Hey, I live! I've survived my exams! It's the summer holidays now! I'm working on my "What about" update (I want to make it a nice big chapter, ending the Tasuki saga) but the idea of this fic has been burning in my head for a few weeks now, so I decided to write it. A distraction from "What about"? Uh, maybe... but I'll write more ASAP.
This fic is basically a few mysteries all rolled into one, and it's up to you, the reader, to guess where the plot is going before the grand finale where everything is revealed. There are a few aims:
1. Guess the protagonist's identity. This shouldn't be too hard, after all, this is the protagonist here! It's also first person narration, making it even easier. But... I don't necessarily keep people in the gender they were in FY.
2. Guess who the reincarnated cast is. This also shouldn't be that hard. Heck, Taka is already given! But their behaviour should give them away, and their names should give clues, if you can understand the meanings. Some will be harder than others though... just bear in mind that all seven Suzaku seishi and all seven Seiryuu seishi are in the cast. And again, I don't keep people in the same gender as they were in FY.
3. Guess what the protagonist is hiding. This is the main mystery. All is well, isn't it? But then why is the protagonist acting so secretively? What is going on? A secret the protagonist hides even from himself. And just to be helpful, you get to see what the protagonist doesn't, a few conversations as Taka tries to work out what is going on himself.
So that's all there is to it. If there's any further little mysteries weaved in here, I'll ask you to guess. To make a guess, just hit that little review button. ^___^ And while you're at it, make a comment on the story, so I can preen and feel motivated enough to complete this mystery quickly!
From The Inside
An irritating knocking woke me up.
Tap tap. Tap tap.
I opened my eyes and the world swam into view. I blinked a few times and it settled around me, forming the shape of my bedroom. My blankets, as usual, were on the floor, thrown there in my sleep. I groaned, shivering a little, then staggered out of bed to answer the noise.
As I had expected, it came from the window. I pulled the blind up to find Arashi's face pressed against it. He saw me and scowled.
"About time, ya idiot! You sleep like a rock, y'know!"
"Can't you use the door like other people?" I greeted him, opening the window. He climbed up, out of the fire escape stair's railing, followed by Taka. I have yet to find out how they avoid falling three floors to the ground, but I suppose that as they do it nearly every day, they must be used to it.
Arashi grunted in reply and made his way to my kitchenette, chugging cold coffee from the pot where it lives.
"Good morning to you too," Taka said, closing the window behind him.
How considerate, I thought sarchastically, and after waking up at this ungodly hour. Why, it's not even... I looked at the clock, two pm yet!
"What great news brings your presence?" I asked sarchastically. "Did we win the lotto?"
"If only," Taka said, throwing his hands up in mock-defeat. He always enters the lotto, and nearly always wins. Yeah, wins back the cost of the ticket, nothing more. Somehow this only encourages him though. Tragic.
"We were bored an' decided to pay a visit," Arashi said, searching through my fridge.
I rolled my eyes. "Oh," I said, unenthusiastically. "Did anyone tell you that you guys really need a hobby?"
"You are our hobby," Arashi grinned.
"That just sounds wrong," I said, grinning. Arashi licked his lips suggestively, raising an eyebrow. I groaned. "No, that's not an invitation."
"Didn't intend it to be," Arashi laughed, pleased that he'd successfully baited me, "that's just wishful thinking on your part."
Taka tsk-tsked me. "And you say you're straight," he scolded me.
I wasn't listening, I was staggering over to my coffee pot, just to remember Arashi had already drunk it. I groaned.
"Okay, I get the hint, I'll tag along with whatever you're doing, just give me time to get dressed and fed," I moaned.
"Hey, no need to sound so enthusiastic, man," Arashi said, sarchasically. They stood there, waiting for me to hurry up.
"Oi, get out!" I said, annoyed.
"Ooh, got privacy issues, man?" Arashi asked.
"C'mon, let's just go," Taka said, tugging Arashi's arm, "we'll wait for you outside, 'kay Namida?"
I kicked them out of my one-room apartment, and pulled on a black t-shirt and pair of baggiest jeans I've got. I looked at myself, blearily, in the mirror.
"Hello gorgeous," I muttered unenthusiastically to my sleepy face and brushed all the tangles out of my long hair.
"Man, I need a haircut," I said, for the thousandth time, knowing that I won't get it done in this lifetime. I drank some milk out of the carton and grabbed an apple and my wallet then headed out the door.
They weren't there and I guessed they were in the shop below. I live in an apartment building a few floors above a noisy shop, meaning that I get a cheap rent to make up for all the noise. As well as that, because my building isn't earthquake proof, it's even cheaper. True, if there's any major quake then I'll be crushed by the gazillion stories above me, but since I usually only go home to eat and sleep, I probably wouldn't even notice.
"About time," Taka commented, as I walked down the stairs.
"Yeah, whatever," I muttered, starting to wake up a little more as the bright lights hit me. I looked in my mailbox and picked out the letter. I tore it open and read the contents.
Aniki!
Have you cut your hair yet? Need I ask? Geeze, you're just determined to look like Hikaru forever!
So what're you doing this summer? Get a job, you lazy bum! Don't go nocturnal again this year! I've told Miaka to tell Taka to wake you up early in the afternoon. It'll hopefully be an improvement.
Okay, now for the big news...
Wait for it...
I'm coming back in town! Yay! I've saved enough money to take a holiday back to Tokyo, so expect me to gatecrash one of your parties sometime soon!
Anyway, as you would have guessed, I'm still alive and well enough to put pen to paper to write to you. Now be very nice and write back. Or, if you get this after the 10th, come and visit. The address is on the back of the envelope, I'm staying with Kashu. You remember Kashu right, my boyfriend? Yeah, him. Try not to glare at him, not all of my boyfriends are weirdos, this one is nice and human, as far as I can tell.
So yeah, keep alive, bro, and don't go inhaling any live squids now.
luv your crazy sister,
Atsui
"Uh... what the fuck?" asked Arashi, reading over my shoulder.
I shrugged. "My sister, Atsui. She's a bit weird. Crazy-funny, as long as you don't get on her bad side."
"From the sound of her, remind me not to. She'd probably stalk me. Has she got mad-cow disease or something?" muttered Arashi.
"Nah, she's just on a permanent sugar high, not to mention all sorts of interesting medication. And she wouldn't stalk you, she'd probably do worse," I replied, cheerfully.
"Who the hell is Hikaru?" Arashi asked.
My lips tightened. "That is none of your business." I shoved the letter in my pocket. "So where are we going?"
"Searching for Miaka," Taka replied, with a shrug.
Well, we didn't have anything better to do, so we headed off.
We made our way down the main street, in no great hurry. We must have looked like a bizarre group.
For a start, there was Arashi the grungeboy. He actually went for the grungy look on purpose, carefully monitoring his messiness to give the impact he wanted. He had a few earrings and eyebrow ring, and black hair in an organised, hair-gelled mess.
Taka looked pretty normal, if sleepy.
Then there was me, with my black hair long enough to ponytail, and dressed also pretty normal, but staggering around, still half-asleep. What can I say? I need at least twenty-five hours sleep a day, but with my friends, how do you expect me to get enough? So I look like a zombie. Nah, actually, I look kinda like a pretty boy, to my eternal embarrassment. And Arashi never lets me forget it.
Walking by, I checked myself out in the shop window, checking to see if I was walking properly. I used to have back and posture problems (still do, actually) and when I forget myself, I tend to walk weirdly, wriggling my butt. While I was at it, I checked myself out in the mirror and smiled. Yeah, I look okay. Surprising, considering how little sleep I have. It must be the coffee. Either that or the milk. I don't remember ever changing that milk but somehow it's always full. Weird. Eh, whatever.
"Checking yourself out again?" Arashi asked, sounding bored. "How vain are you?"
Taka yawned for the zillionth time and I peered at him.
"Why're ya so sleepy?" Arashi asked, beating me to it.
"Forgot about my job? I've got an early shift," Taka replied. "I'll have to stop it after uni starts up again next year."
"So? Ya've still got all night to sleep, unlike lazy-bones here, who needs constant sleep," Arashi said, gesturing to me.
"I need my beauty-sleep," I murmured.
"Yeah, I'll say," quipped Taka.
I gave him the finger. "Well, isn't it pretty clear why Taka here is tired? Just cos he goes to bed early, doesn't mean that he and Miaka go to sleep."
Taka scowled. "Shuddup, Namida!"
"Oh, so you do go to sleep?" Arashi teased. "Damn, no wonder you're suffering. You need some good ol' s.e.x man, before you wank yourself to death."
"Shuddup, I said! Don't talk about Miaka that way!" Taka snapped.
"We're jus' kidding, man," I said, soothingly, "we're just jealous. Miaka's cool."
"Hey, watch it Taka, I've seen Namida making eyes at your girlfriend before!" Arashi laughed. "Well, he may be jealous, but I sure as hell isn't. Women, who needs 'em? You get onto them, you get on top of them then you get over them, that's all there is to it. All they do is whine."
That's Arashi, the great dating optimist. He isn't too fussy about where he gets sex from, men, women, whatever, but he's a committmentaphobe. The longer relationships he's ever been in are all with men as macho as he is. He's kinda scary at times.
Taka gave me a warning look and I raised my hands defensiively.
"Hey, I ain't touching her with you around," I said, then added, with a grin, "but if you go away for the weekend, that's another matter!"
"Ooh, lock up Miaka, Taka!" Arashi snorted, not taking me seriously, as I intended.
"Huh? Why?" asked Miaka, who had materialised behind us.
Taka looked at us defiantly and scooped her up in a hug and kiss.
It went on for a few minutes. I looked on enviously and Arashi, rolling his eyes, sighed loudly. They got the message and broke apart, grinning sheepishly.
"Man, couples are so boring. All they do is make squelchy noises and dribble in public," Arashi muttered.
"Hi Arashi!" Miaka squealed and gave him a hug. She then also gave me a hug for good measure. She sure is a huggy person. She also is absolutely tiny.
"Geeze Taka, aren't you scared of breaking her or something?" Arashi said, echoing my thoughts and inspecting Miaka critically.
"Hey!" Miaka squeaked. "I'm tougher than I look!"
I raised an eyebrow. "You'd have to be, dahlin', because you look as if you're about to break any second."
"Aaaah, Namida, you're horrible!" Miaka said, slapping me.
"Yeah, I know," I grinned, scooping her up and swinging her around for good measure. I deposited her on the ground again and she staggered around dizzily, before collapsing into Arashi.
"Hey Taka, I think Namida broke your girlfriend!" Arashi called. Taka laughed and picked Miaka up, kissing her forehead. She squirmed in his arms and broke free from his grasp and stood up again.
"Hey, let's go do something! Can we watch a movie Taka? Can we get lunch? Canwecanwecanwecanwe?" she pleaded, giving a little sad face. Her stomach growled, reinforcing her message. How could Taka resist? He sighed and we walked into a nearby pub.
"But a movie is out of the question," he warned, "we don't have enough money to waste."
"You're mean, Taka!" she muttered, but it was lost in her intake of food. I watched in fascination. Her eating habits never cease to amaze me.
I ate my brunch neatly, wiping my mouth with a napkin neatly as I finished. For pub food, it wasn't bad.
I found Arashi staring at me.
"What?" I asked.
"You use a napkin when you've got a perfectly good sleeve?" he asked, jokingly.
"Hey, I'm not that much of a grot," I replied.
"You eat so daintily!" Taka said, incredulously.
"You even chew each mouthful thirty-six times exactly!" Miaka chipped in. "I counted!"
"Blame Mum and Atsui..." I muttered, "they put a fear of god in me at meal-times. I'm fully housetrained."
"That's just freaky," Arashi muttered. I rolled my eyes.
"Yes, I'm a house-broken male. So sue me."
"Good idea. I'll need to, to pay for Miaka's lunch-bill," Taka muttered.
"Eheheheh," Miaka giggled, sheepishly, as he stood up to settle his bill. I slid my money onto the counter and paid up my own bill, then got up. "Where're you going?" Miaka asked, getting up to follow me.
"You want to follow me to the men's room?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. She giggled and sat back down.
Arashi clunked his empty beer can on the counter. He burped and stood up. "I'll follow ya. Beer, it jus' comes in one end, out the other."
"Eewwww!" Miaka cried. "Bad images!" She screwed up her face and moaned. "Ew, ew, ew, ew, ew!"
"You're drinking this early?" I asked, incredulously.
"Hey, it's all good," Arashi said, cheerfully. "I drink any time."
Taka rolled his eyes from the counter, as Arashi and I headed off together.
Arashi headed straight for the urinal while I stopped. Damn. The cubicles didn't have doors.
"Hey, whassup? Pee-shy?" Arashi asked.
"Yeah, that's it," I said, coolly. I turned my back on him and lifted the toilet-seat up. I could hear Arashi humming slightly and grinned. Alcohol tends to make him musical.
I put the seat down again, wondering why I was bothering, and went to wash my hands.
"Oh, someone's being hygenic?" Arashi asked.
I shuddered. "I didn't want to know that. I really didn't. I am not ever going to shake hands with you again."
"Like you ever shake hands with me," Arashi grumbled, grudgingly rinsing his hands as if the water would bite him.
I peered at my reflection on the way out, for a second not realising it. "Man, I need a haircut," I muttered, shaking my head.
"Nah, a bit longer and you could get Miaka to plait it," Arashi suggested, dryly.
I shuddered. "My sister always used to try."
"Oh, poor diddums," Arashi said, with mock-sympathy. "Why didn't you tell her to piss off?"
"You read the letter. It was an uphill battle. She's stubborn. I didn't actually mind at the time, oddly enough."
"You sure you're straight?" Arashi peered at me.
"Yeah," I grumbled.
"Then why were you checking out the guys at the urinals?"
"I am NOT gay," I said, flatly. "And I think you were mistaking my actions for yours. Beer does that to you."
"Hey, ya never know, I could be fucking them later tonight," Arashi said, cheerfully.
I shook my head. "Worrying. That's just foul."
"What's foul?" Miaka asked, as we walked up to her.
"You don't want to know. It'd corrupt your young, innocent mind," I said, with affection.
"Hey! Taka already corrupted it! Tell me! Pleeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaase?" she pleaded.
"Get Arashi to. I'd better go," I said, waving farewell to the others. I got a few half-hearted waves in reply and headed for the door.
I opened my apartment door, hands laiden with food. My fridge had been looking hungry lately, and I had decided to finally feed it. What I didn't expect though, was an excited Atsui to greet me as I opened the door, giving me a heartattack.
"ANIKI!!" she cried, glomping me from a distance.
"Oof!" I groaned, as all the air was tackled out of me. Everything I was holding flew in various directions. Nothing breakable, luckily.
Atsui looked down at me from above, frowning.
"You look different, aniki," she observed, pulling at my long fridge. "But you've still got the same hair," she said, brightening up.
"Well, yeah," I said, a little embarrassed. I pushed her off me and closed the door before the neighbours stared.
"You sound different too," Atsui said, shyly, "your voice is deeper. I wouldn't have recognised you on the phone. Is that why you only wrote letters?"
I nodded. "Partially. I'm also as useless as a tit on a rooster on the phone."
"Typical male," she said, sadly. She helped me pick up the various stuff I'd dropped and loaded them into my fridge. I stood up to find her look at me. "You really do look different..." she sighed, "it's been too damn long."
I ruffled her hair, affectionately. "Hey, I'm still the same on the inside. Same old me, you know that. Same old me."
There was silence. "I guess so," she said, finally.
"You don't seem to believe yourself," I observed.
She sighed. "Are you sure you're okay?" she asked.
I nodded. "I'm sure. I really am. The nightmare is over at last. It's a new start."
"You can't run away forever," Atsui pointed out.
"I don't have to. I just need a little time to get my thoughts together, so I can face them," I said, meaning it.
She nodded, then changed the subject. "Aniki. Your. Apartment. Is. Incredibly. Neat. How in the...?!"
"Cleanliness of the surroundings is key to a peaceful soul," I quoted.
"Who said that?" Atsui asked, impressed.
"Me, just now. I like it this way, I know where everything is that way," I said.
"Aniki, you do realise that you're inhumanly tidy? Maybe you haven't changed that much..." Atsui mused.
I grinned. "Damn straight."
"Man, Namida is weird!" Arashi mused, over a beer.
The nightclub was noisy, but Taka and Daichi had no trouble hearing, as Arashi was yelling, more than a little drunk.
"Why, whassup?" Daichi asked, sipping his own beer.
"He's jus' so damn shy," Arashi slurred. "I mean, he's pee-shy for cryin' out loud!"
"So? Some people are just shy," Taka said, "what's your point?"
"I dunno, there's just somethin' off about him. He's borderin' on paranoid. I mean, haven't you noticed anything?" Arashi asked the world in general.
"There's bound to be a reason," Taka said, reasonably, but he wasn't really paying attention, as he looked around, watching to see if Miaka had arrived yet. He spotted her and headed off.
"So whaddya think is up then?" asked Daichi, skeptically.
"Well, he acts all interested in Miaka. Think they're cheating on Taka? But then again, he's constantly checkin' out other guys, so mebbe he's bi. But I don' get it, there's more'n that, for sure. Something's suss, I just don' get what. He seems so damn normal, but then he froze up when I mentioned this Hikaru-chick."
"Whozzat?"
"I dunno. Name I read off a postcard from his sister."
"What did you say? Hikaru was it?" Hana asked, dancing up. She'd been passing by and had caught the end of their conversation.
"Yeah. Ex-girlfriend?" Arashi asked.
"Hardly," Hana giggled. She then turned serious again, and stopped dancing. "It's really sad, really."
"Why? Who is she?" Arashi asked.
"Namida's sister. I went to school with her but never really knew her well. She was really pretty, really popular. But then she stopped coming. She got really sick. I haven't seen her in ages now, that was at least five years ago. I see Atsui - that's Namida's other sister - sometimes, that's how I met Namida, through her, but they clam up whenever I ask about Hikaru."
There was stunned silence over this revelation.
"Oh," was Arashi's stunned comments. There was silence, as they chewed over this scrap of information, before Arashi grabbed Hana's hand and they moved onto the dancefloor, banishing all thoughts of Namida from their head.
Daichi watched them, a smile on his face, knowing that Arashi would be sick of her within an hour and be back. Just the way he liked it.
Skipsida's Ramblings:
Well, any ideas? This chapter is just an introduction of sorts, a kind of "getting to know you". The storyline has barely moved. Can you guess who the characters are? *laughs* Apart from Taka? And Miaka? And even this early on, can you guess what's up with Namida? What is he hiding? What's up with his sister? Is there any point to this story?
Song for this chapter: Steal My Sunshine, by LEN. You've gotta love that song. Very Namida-in-the-morning!