Disclaimer: Yeah, if I owned Fushigi Yuugi do you really think I'd be
sitting at my computer in my tiny apartment, living with my parents,
writing this story? No, I wouldn't because I would probably be rich. I
would also probably be cooking up a nice manga right now. By the way Heika
means emperor and okane means money and Tama is a really popular cat's name
in Japan (or so I hear). It's actually something he says to Nuriko in the
anime so it didn't come totally out of nowhere.
What If? Part 5- A Nice Little Outing
"Tama! Hey, Tama! Wait up!" Nuriko shouted as he hurried to catch up with his fellow seishi. He didn't know what that cold greeting was all about, and he had a feeling her should find out.
"Don't call me Tama. I'm not a cat," Tamahome said grumpily when Nuriko caught up to him.
"Okay, Tama-chan," Nuriko teased, trying to get a grin or at least a slight increase in emotional temperature. At this point Tamahome was -30 degrees Celsius.
"Definitely, don't call me that," Tamahome said, his "temperature" warming to about -10 degrees. Then it dropped to -40 and he sneered. "That's something the priestess would do."
Ouch! He didn't even use her name. I thought they got along? "Apparently you're not too happy with her right now," Nuriko suggested innocently. Tamahome's emotional temperature dropped another ten degrees. Any colder and he might freeze to death, Nuriko thought, considering how to approach this obviously touchy subject. Blunt is probably best. Maybe an outburst will make him aware of his own feelings. "Does this have anything to do with her sleeping in Heika-sama's quarters last night?"
"Why should I care where she sleeps! Let's get something straight, here. I only care about one thing." At this his eyes changed into dollar signs and his expression went dreamy. "O-ka-ne."
Nuriko stopped in surprise and Tamahome walked on, viewing the conversation as done.
"Hey, wait!" Nuriko finally snapped out of it and hurried after Tamahome determined to at least find out where he was going.
* * *
"Okane! What a jerk!" Kourin muttered to herself, balling her hands into fists in agitation. She leaned against the wall wondering what to do about the latest development. "This really IS going to be harder than I thought. To think that some one would choose HIM over Hotohori! He's so kind and caring and handsome and sexy and."
She let her mind wander along those lines for a bit as she made her way to her room. Her boring, little room. Her boring, lonely, claustrophobic, little room. This plan better pan out soon. I can't stand this place much longer.
She suddenly found herself face-to-face with Miaka, and stepped back a little in surprise as she was yanked out of her reverie, by Miaka's piping voice.
"Kourin! What's up!"
"Up.?" Kourin turned her head towards the ceiling in confusion. There didn't appear to be anything up there to get excited about. "Just the roof beams and a beehive."
"Wha- oh. Um, it's just a phrase that foreigners use to ask how someone's doing, or what's going on or stuff like that," Miaka explained, smiling as brightly as ever.
"Strange. I was just going back to my room," Kourin said, although she desperately wanted an excuse to talk to Miaka a little longer. None of the ladies of Hotohori's harem wanted to be friend; they were competing for the emperor's attentions after all. Even if Miaka is presently getting all of that, she thought ironically.
"Oh. Um. could you take me for a tour of the palace? Or the city! I never got to see very much of it before I came here; I'd really love to see more of it. No offense but this palace is BORING." Miaka looked at Kourin hopefully, reminding her of a dog wanting to be walked. She imagined Miaka with floppy ears and a tail wagging crazily as she jumped up and down and superimposed the image upon the girl standing before her. She grinned.
"Members of Heika-sama's entourage aren't really allowed to leave the palace without a male escort and my brother went with Tamahome into the city," Kourin said, already formulating a plane to get around that rule. Miaka's face fell briefly but was brought back up by what Kourin said next. "So we can go as long as no one knows who we are and if we find a male escort as soon as possible, right? We need to go find some cloaks."
* * *
"Remember, you have to act casual. Although, acting arrogant will work, too," Kourin said to Miaka as she bundled her up in the heavy red robe she had "acquired" for Miaka.
She pulled the hood up on Miaka's robe and gazed at her own cloth-swaddled figure in the mirror. Complete with a few extra tunics of her brothers to mask her girlish figure, her hair bound in a loose braid behind her head as her brother kept it, her hood up, she looked like any other messenger at the palace. Any messenger who was quite short and had an affinity for purple clothing. Not bad.
She turned around to survey Miaka. Kourin had found some extra shirts for her as well, to mask her endowment and her hood was nice and large, so no one would accidentally see her face and possibly recognize her.
"Not bad at all. Okay, you carry this." Kourin shoved a scroll into Miaka's hands. It was tied with a fancy ribbon and marked by an impressive- looking but meaningless seal. "All you have to do is stand there and try not to look nervous. I'll do all the talking."
"Hai," Miaka said as she began to sweat under the many heavy layers of clothing. She followed Kourin, who set a brisk and businesslike pace, asking people to step aside as they walked through. She got a lot of dirty looks but nobody challenged them.
"Kourin!" Miaka hissed. "Maybe you shouldn't draw so much attention to us!"
"Don't be ridiculous. Step aside miss! If a real messenger got a real message to deliver to the Suzaku schichiseishi marked 'urgent' he would want everyone to know how important it, and therefore he, was," Kourin explained to Miaka in a low whisper.
She could see that they would soon be approaching the gates. This was the hard part, but if she played her cards right she knew she could get them through. Even so, she could feel her stomach tying itself into knots as she approached the guard post.
Before she knew it a spear was held out before her and the burly guard at the other end of it was saying. "Your business, sirs?"
"We're delivering an urgent message to the Suzaku seishis Tamahome and Nuriko," Kourin said officially, holding her body in such a way as to suggest a salute without her needing to give one. Miaka held out the message but the guard made no move to take it from her as he stood back, letting them pass.
After she was sure they were out of earshot, Miaka leaned toward Kourin. "How are we going to find them? Or Nuriko, at least."
"My brother and I have places we usually visit when he comes into the city to see me. We'll just have to ask around. He causes a scene wherever he goes in this city so it shouldn't be too hard to find him," Kourin said to Miaka. She wasn't really too concerned with finding him, as she strolled along, drinking in the sights, sounds, and smells of the city.
After all, the sooner they found him the sooner they would go back to the palace, even if they did a bit of sightseeing before doing so. She turned toward Miaka to point out an interesting piece of architecture, telling the story of the foreign family that had built it.
What If? Part 5- A Nice Little Outing
"Tama! Hey, Tama! Wait up!" Nuriko shouted as he hurried to catch up with his fellow seishi. He didn't know what that cold greeting was all about, and he had a feeling her should find out.
"Don't call me Tama. I'm not a cat," Tamahome said grumpily when Nuriko caught up to him.
"Okay, Tama-chan," Nuriko teased, trying to get a grin or at least a slight increase in emotional temperature. At this point Tamahome was -30 degrees Celsius.
"Definitely, don't call me that," Tamahome said, his "temperature" warming to about -10 degrees. Then it dropped to -40 and he sneered. "That's something the priestess would do."
Ouch! He didn't even use her name. I thought they got along? "Apparently you're not too happy with her right now," Nuriko suggested innocently. Tamahome's emotional temperature dropped another ten degrees. Any colder and he might freeze to death, Nuriko thought, considering how to approach this obviously touchy subject. Blunt is probably best. Maybe an outburst will make him aware of his own feelings. "Does this have anything to do with her sleeping in Heika-sama's quarters last night?"
"Why should I care where she sleeps! Let's get something straight, here. I only care about one thing." At this his eyes changed into dollar signs and his expression went dreamy. "O-ka-ne."
Nuriko stopped in surprise and Tamahome walked on, viewing the conversation as done.
"Hey, wait!" Nuriko finally snapped out of it and hurried after Tamahome determined to at least find out where he was going.
* * *
"Okane! What a jerk!" Kourin muttered to herself, balling her hands into fists in agitation. She leaned against the wall wondering what to do about the latest development. "This really IS going to be harder than I thought. To think that some one would choose HIM over Hotohori! He's so kind and caring and handsome and sexy and."
She let her mind wander along those lines for a bit as she made her way to her room. Her boring, little room. Her boring, lonely, claustrophobic, little room. This plan better pan out soon. I can't stand this place much longer.
She suddenly found herself face-to-face with Miaka, and stepped back a little in surprise as she was yanked out of her reverie, by Miaka's piping voice.
"Kourin! What's up!"
"Up.?" Kourin turned her head towards the ceiling in confusion. There didn't appear to be anything up there to get excited about. "Just the roof beams and a beehive."
"Wha- oh. Um, it's just a phrase that foreigners use to ask how someone's doing, or what's going on or stuff like that," Miaka explained, smiling as brightly as ever.
"Strange. I was just going back to my room," Kourin said, although she desperately wanted an excuse to talk to Miaka a little longer. None of the ladies of Hotohori's harem wanted to be friend; they were competing for the emperor's attentions after all. Even if Miaka is presently getting all of that, she thought ironically.
"Oh. Um. could you take me for a tour of the palace? Or the city! I never got to see very much of it before I came here; I'd really love to see more of it. No offense but this palace is BORING." Miaka looked at Kourin hopefully, reminding her of a dog wanting to be walked. She imagined Miaka with floppy ears and a tail wagging crazily as she jumped up and down and superimposed the image upon the girl standing before her. She grinned.
"Members of Heika-sama's entourage aren't really allowed to leave the palace without a male escort and my brother went with Tamahome into the city," Kourin said, already formulating a plane to get around that rule. Miaka's face fell briefly but was brought back up by what Kourin said next. "So we can go as long as no one knows who we are and if we find a male escort as soon as possible, right? We need to go find some cloaks."
* * *
"Remember, you have to act casual. Although, acting arrogant will work, too," Kourin said to Miaka as she bundled her up in the heavy red robe she had "acquired" for Miaka.
She pulled the hood up on Miaka's robe and gazed at her own cloth-swaddled figure in the mirror. Complete with a few extra tunics of her brothers to mask her girlish figure, her hair bound in a loose braid behind her head as her brother kept it, her hood up, she looked like any other messenger at the palace. Any messenger who was quite short and had an affinity for purple clothing. Not bad.
She turned around to survey Miaka. Kourin had found some extra shirts for her as well, to mask her endowment and her hood was nice and large, so no one would accidentally see her face and possibly recognize her.
"Not bad at all. Okay, you carry this." Kourin shoved a scroll into Miaka's hands. It was tied with a fancy ribbon and marked by an impressive- looking but meaningless seal. "All you have to do is stand there and try not to look nervous. I'll do all the talking."
"Hai," Miaka said as she began to sweat under the many heavy layers of clothing. She followed Kourin, who set a brisk and businesslike pace, asking people to step aside as they walked through. She got a lot of dirty looks but nobody challenged them.
"Kourin!" Miaka hissed. "Maybe you shouldn't draw so much attention to us!"
"Don't be ridiculous. Step aside miss! If a real messenger got a real message to deliver to the Suzaku schichiseishi marked 'urgent' he would want everyone to know how important it, and therefore he, was," Kourin explained to Miaka in a low whisper.
She could see that they would soon be approaching the gates. This was the hard part, but if she played her cards right she knew she could get them through. Even so, she could feel her stomach tying itself into knots as she approached the guard post.
Before she knew it a spear was held out before her and the burly guard at the other end of it was saying. "Your business, sirs?"
"We're delivering an urgent message to the Suzaku seishis Tamahome and Nuriko," Kourin said officially, holding her body in such a way as to suggest a salute without her needing to give one. Miaka held out the message but the guard made no move to take it from her as he stood back, letting them pass.
After she was sure they were out of earshot, Miaka leaned toward Kourin. "How are we going to find them? Or Nuriko, at least."
"My brother and I have places we usually visit when he comes into the city to see me. We'll just have to ask around. He causes a scene wherever he goes in this city so it shouldn't be too hard to find him," Kourin said to Miaka. She wasn't really too concerned with finding him, as she strolled along, drinking in the sights, sounds, and smells of the city.
After all, the sooner they found him the sooner they would go back to the palace, even if they did a bit of sightseeing before doing so. She turned toward Miaka to point out an interesting piece of architecture, telling the story of the foreign family that had built it.