Here We Go Again!
Chapter 3eeeee
03/31/03
Whoo, more reviews! Oh, man, I forgot to put on the other two chapters that the Fushigi Yuugi characters don't belong to me. Uh, well, they don't belong to me . . . but Anna does. Yeah, she's mine. Cool. Okay, so read on! Oh, thank you Otaku Pitcher for you suggestions on beta-readers and such! :- D I'm defiantly going to check that out.
***
"Anna! . . . Anna?"
Yui stood next to Miaka and looked into the extra bedroom in Miaka's apartment. "So, who am I supposed to be meeting?" she asked, tucking a piece of her golden hair behind her ear.
"My cousin," mumbled Miaka. "She's visiting from America." She stepped into the room and began searching for Anna.
Yui watched as Miaka looked under a pile of clothing and sighed, "I don't think she's in here." Noticing Miaka hadn't responded, she changed the subject and said a little louder, "I didn't know you had family in America."
"Mmhmm," said Miaka, "my mom's sister lives over there." Miaka opened the closet door and peered in, finding only a heap of clothing on the floor.
Yui peeked over Miaka's shoulder and commented, "Not the neatest person, is she?"
"Eh, she is in her own way," Miaka said, closing the door.
"So why did your cousin come over here and your aunt not?" Yui asked.
"Well, I think my mom and my aunt had a fight or something and since then they haven't spoken a word to each other," Miaka said, giving the room one last look, before exiting. Yui followed right behind her to hear her say, "But my mom said she couldn't blame Anna for her mother's stubbornness, so Anna comes over to visit every few years."
Miaka sighed as they entered the kitchen. "I can't think where's she's gone to. I know Anna doesn't know her way around here very well so she wouldn't just venture off on her own . . ." Miaka looked around the kitchen and dining room, where Anna had always kept her bag of stuff for 'just in case'.
'Those American's are so weird,' Miaka had thought when Anna first showed it to her.
". . . but her bag is gone," continued Miaka.
"Well, wherever she's gone, I'm sure she'll be back soon, right?" Yui said, walking over towards the refrigerator. Opening the door, she poked her head in and said, "I'm starving!"
"Isn't that usually my line?" Miaka asked, laughing. Turning to the dining room table, Miaka's laugh was abruptly cut short. Yui looked up at her friend, who had her back to her. "Miaka, what's wrong?" she asked.
Miaka couldn't say anything, so she merely pointed to the open book on the table. Yui abandoned the refrigerator, leaving the door wide open, and stood close behind Miaka.
"Is that-"
"How could-"
"Where did it come from?"
"I have no idea," Miaka said, staring at a book called The Universe of the Four Gods.
"Well," said Yui, "I think we know where your cousin is."
***
Anna lay in her new, more comfortable bed, in a room that was not used primarily for prisoners of war. Chichiri and Tasuki had had a talk with the Emperor, who requested that Anna be accommodated with the best room available. He also requested to speak with the doctor for placing Anna in the prisoner chambers without receiving his direct permission.
Anna's room was only a door down from Chichiri's, which made her feel slightly better about the whole 'being in a different world' thing. At least she knew there were people here, such as Tasuki and Chichiri, who cared about her well-being.
Though it was near midnight and her room was dark, Anna could faintly make out the furniture in her room: the ornately carved chairs covered in cushions, the closet filled with beautiful gowns (which she probably would not wear, as she hated wearing dresses), and the huge bed she was now lying in. Anna had never slept in such a large bed and wondered if they were made so big to simply take up space in the large rooms.
Her thoughts drifted back to the conversation she'd had with Chichiri and Tasuki, who'd introduced themselves as warriors of Suzaku. Anna said that she'd heard of them, which surprised the two men greatly.
"You know us?" asked Chichiri.
"I mean, I've heard of you from Miaka-"
"You know Miaka?" Tasuki interrupted.
"Well, yeah," Anna said, her eyes moving between Tasuki and Chichiri, "she's my cousin. I was visiting her, and she told me this far-fetched story about her being a priestess and summoning some God . . . I didn't believe her . . . but I guess I do now."
Chichiri continued to stair at her and Tasuki moved back a step so he could lean his weight against the wall behind him. Anna sighed, exasperated, and said, "Look, why am I here? All I know was there was a book and a green light and suddenly I was falling through water . . ."
Neither man said anything. "Well?" Anna cried, shoving herself out of the chair she'd been sitting in. "Aren't you going to do anything?"
Tasuki looked at Chichiri as Chichiri's brows met. "I'm sorry, no da, but I'm not sure that there's too much I can do for you."
Anna slowly sank back down into the wooden chair and folded her arms across her chest, hugging herself. "Then it's hopeless," she mumbled.
"No, wait, that's not what he said," Tasuki said, pushing himself away from the wall. Walking over to Chichiri, who was standing near the bedside table, he murmured, "Look, Tamahome and Hotohori were able to get Miaka back when she became real sick, right? She can be sent back too, can't she?"
Anna watched as the bandit and monk conversed quietly. "Yes, no da, but it was only possible because the connection between Miaka's world and ours remained open and we don't know if it is in this case." Tasuki sighed and glanced over at Anna, who quickly averted her eyes to the ground.
"But I suppose it's worth a try, no da," Chichiri said after a long pause.
Anna looked up again as Tasuki moved away from Chichiri and resumed his position against the wall. "Well?" Anna asked. "Still hopeless?"
Chichiri looked at her and smiled, then presented her with the solution. "It worked once before," Chichiri said, "it could possibly work again."
Anna nodded. Possibly was better than nothing. "Thank you," Anna said.
Anna's thoughts came back to the present as she realized she'd been staring at the light blue canopy above her bed. Her eyes began to close as sleep started to take over her brain.
Suddenly a thought jerked her wide awake. 'Damn,' she thought, 'I forgot to apologize to Chichiri for his bruised head.' Anna had managed to catch a glimpse of the damage she'd caused on the back of Chichiri's head, and even though she'd attacked him, he'd treated her with such respect . . .
"I can apologize tomorrow, first thing," Anna muttered, not wanting to get out of bed and do what she would probably do anyway.
'No, you'll talk to him now,' said a little voice in the back of her head.
"Suppose he's asleep?" Anna asked.
'You won't know unless you go check . . .'
"Damn."
Anna threw back her covers and jumped out of the ridiculously large bed. Padding across the dark floor, Anna reached her hands out and felt for her jacket, which was lying across the back of one of her chairs. The jacket had dried from her dip in the pond and Anna had shoved it in her bag until she'd received her room. Anna put it on over her tank top that she'd worn under her white sleeveless shirt.
Walking to the door, Anna decided she didn't need her shoes to walk one door down from where she was. Stepping outside, she breathed in the fresh night air, preferring it to the perfumed fragrance floating around in her room. She walked a few yards down the walkway, stopping outside Chichiri's door. Looking down, she could see light shining through the crack between the door and the ground. Anna sighed and turned around. She hated apologies, though she knew Chichiri deserved one.
Anna walked to the railing of the walkway and looked up into the night sky. The clouds were gone and the full moon was just beginning to make it's descent towards the horizon. Anna looked at the watch she wore around her wrist and was surprised to see the hands frozen at 3:36 pm, around the time when she found the book on Miaka's table. Grumbling, Anna took off the watch and shoved it in her coat pocket.
Suddenly, a soft light flooded over Anna as the door behind her opened. Anna spun around and found Chichiri standing in his doorway, staring at her with a surprised look. "Anna?" Chichiri asked "What are you doing up so late, no da?"
"Uh," Anna began, "I, uh . . ."
"Would you like to come in and talk?" Chichiri asked, his smile ever- present as he stepped aside from the doorway. Anna stared at him for a moment before accepting the offer and walking into his room. Chichiri closed the door behind them and extended his hand to a chair across from his bed, which Anna took a seat in. Anna brought her legs up and she sat cross-legged in the comfortable chair as Chichiri continued with his preparations for bed.
"So, uh, Chichiri," Anna began, "what keeps you up so late?"
"I was meditating, no da," Chichiri said, smiling as he took off his kesa and folded it neatly on his bed. "What you said earlier caught my attention as being a little . . . off, no da."
"As if this whole situation isn't already 'off'," Anna mumbled. Chichiri smiled and carried his kesa to his bedside table. A golden staff stood next to it, propped up against the wall.
Turning back to her, Chichiri continued. "You mentioned a green light surrounding you before the book summoned you here, correct?" Anna nodded. "See, no da, that's what is confusing. When Miaka came here, the light associated with her traveling back and forth between the two worlds was always red, like the God she summoned, Suzaku."
Anna stared at him. Seeing she wasn't following him, Chichiri said, "This means that you came here not for the summoning of our God, but for that of another. The question is, what God? There are only four and all of those have been called forth, no da."
"So . . . why am I here?" Anna asked, her confusion evident in her voice.
"I am not yet sure about that, no da," Chichiri said, walking to the bed post nearest her and leaning against it. He watched her bow her head slightly, and could tell she was thinking. Her brown hair fell from behind her ears and veiled her face. Her thin gray jacket was baggy around her small frame and Chichiri noticed her shirt was different. More of her flat stomach showed above her black pants.
Chichiri mentally slapped himself for staring at her and cleared his throat. Anna looked up at him as he said, "Well, I think it's time we went to bed now, no da." Anna nodded and stood up from the chair. Chichiri walked to the door and opened it for her. Anna stepped outside, but turned around and placed a hand on the door, making sure he didn't close it.
"Look, about earlier today," Anna said, her eyes staring intently at her socks, "I' m sorry. If I'd known who you were, what a kind person you are . . . I didn't want to hurt you."
Chichiri smiled and placed a hand on her shoulder, taking Anna's attention off her socks and focusing it on him. "I know you didn't."
"Please don't be angry with me," Anna said, knowing the plea sounded childish, but not able to find anything else to say.
"I never was, no da," Chichiri said. Anna smiled and placed her hand atop the one on her shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze, causing Chichiri's cheeks to turn a light red under his mask. Then she turned and headed back to her room. Chichiri watched her enter and close her door behind her. Sighing, he stepped back into his room and closed the door.
***
Whoo, another chapter done. Hmm, Anna sure is making a lot of people blush, isn't she? Heh, okay, well, review please!
Whoo, more reviews! Oh, man, I forgot to put on the other two chapters that the Fushigi Yuugi characters don't belong to me. Uh, well, they don't belong to me . . . but Anna does. Yeah, she's mine. Cool. Okay, so read on! Oh, thank you Otaku Pitcher for you suggestions on beta-readers and such! :- D I'm defiantly going to check that out.
***
"Anna! . . . Anna?"
Yui stood next to Miaka and looked into the extra bedroom in Miaka's apartment. "So, who am I supposed to be meeting?" she asked, tucking a piece of her golden hair behind her ear.
"My cousin," mumbled Miaka. "She's visiting from America." She stepped into the room and began searching for Anna.
Yui watched as Miaka looked under a pile of clothing and sighed, "I don't think she's in here." Noticing Miaka hadn't responded, she changed the subject and said a little louder, "I didn't know you had family in America."
"Mmhmm," said Miaka, "my mom's sister lives over there." Miaka opened the closet door and peered in, finding only a heap of clothing on the floor.
Yui peeked over Miaka's shoulder and commented, "Not the neatest person, is she?"
"Eh, she is in her own way," Miaka said, closing the door.
"So why did your cousin come over here and your aunt not?" Yui asked.
"Well, I think my mom and my aunt had a fight or something and since then they haven't spoken a word to each other," Miaka said, giving the room one last look, before exiting. Yui followed right behind her to hear her say, "But my mom said she couldn't blame Anna for her mother's stubbornness, so Anna comes over to visit every few years."
Miaka sighed as they entered the kitchen. "I can't think where's she's gone to. I know Anna doesn't know her way around here very well so she wouldn't just venture off on her own . . ." Miaka looked around the kitchen and dining room, where Anna had always kept her bag of stuff for 'just in case'.
'Those American's are so weird,' Miaka had thought when Anna first showed it to her.
". . . but her bag is gone," continued Miaka.
"Well, wherever she's gone, I'm sure she'll be back soon, right?" Yui said, walking over towards the refrigerator. Opening the door, she poked her head in and said, "I'm starving!"
"Isn't that usually my line?" Miaka asked, laughing. Turning to the dining room table, Miaka's laugh was abruptly cut short. Yui looked up at her friend, who had her back to her. "Miaka, what's wrong?" she asked.
Miaka couldn't say anything, so she merely pointed to the open book on the table. Yui abandoned the refrigerator, leaving the door wide open, and stood close behind Miaka.
"Is that-"
"How could-"
"Where did it come from?"
"I have no idea," Miaka said, staring at a book called The Universe of the Four Gods.
"Well," said Yui, "I think we know where your cousin is."
***
Anna lay in her new, more comfortable bed, in a room that was not used primarily for prisoners of war. Chichiri and Tasuki had had a talk with the Emperor, who requested that Anna be accommodated with the best room available. He also requested to speak with the doctor for placing Anna in the prisoner chambers without receiving his direct permission.
Anna's room was only a door down from Chichiri's, which made her feel slightly better about the whole 'being in a different world' thing. At least she knew there were people here, such as Tasuki and Chichiri, who cared about her well-being.
Though it was near midnight and her room was dark, Anna could faintly make out the furniture in her room: the ornately carved chairs covered in cushions, the closet filled with beautiful gowns (which she probably would not wear, as she hated wearing dresses), and the huge bed she was now lying in. Anna had never slept in such a large bed and wondered if they were made so big to simply take up space in the large rooms.
Her thoughts drifted back to the conversation she'd had with Chichiri and Tasuki, who'd introduced themselves as warriors of Suzaku. Anna said that she'd heard of them, which surprised the two men greatly.
"You know us?" asked Chichiri.
"I mean, I've heard of you from Miaka-"
"You know Miaka?" Tasuki interrupted.
"Well, yeah," Anna said, her eyes moving between Tasuki and Chichiri, "she's my cousin. I was visiting her, and she told me this far-fetched story about her being a priestess and summoning some God . . . I didn't believe her . . . but I guess I do now."
Chichiri continued to stair at her and Tasuki moved back a step so he could lean his weight against the wall behind him. Anna sighed, exasperated, and said, "Look, why am I here? All I know was there was a book and a green light and suddenly I was falling through water . . ."
Neither man said anything. "Well?" Anna cried, shoving herself out of the chair she'd been sitting in. "Aren't you going to do anything?"
Tasuki looked at Chichiri as Chichiri's brows met. "I'm sorry, no da, but I'm not sure that there's too much I can do for you."
Anna slowly sank back down into the wooden chair and folded her arms across her chest, hugging herself. "Then it's hopeless," she mumbled.
"No, wait, that's not what he said," Tasuki said, pushing himself away from the wall. Walking over to Chichiri, who was standing near the bedside table, he murmured, "Look, Tamahome and Hotohori were able to get Miaka back when she became real sick, right? She can be sent back too, can't she?"
Anna watched as the bandit and monk conversed quietly. "Yes, no da, but it was only possible because the connection between Miaka's world and ours remained open and we don't know if it is in this case." Tasuki sighed and glanced over at Anna, who quickly averted her eyes to the ground.
"But I suppose it's worth a try, no da," Chichiri said after a long pause.
Anna looked up again as Tasuki moved away from Chichiri and resumed his position against the wall. "Well?" Anna asked. "Still hopeless?"
Chichiri looked at her and smiled, then presented her with the solution. "It worked once before," Chichiri said, "it could possibly work again."
Anna nodded. Possibly was better than nothing. "Thank you," Anna said.
Anna's thoughts came back to the present as she realized she'd been staring at the light blue canopy above her bed. Her eyes began to close as sleep started to take over her brain.
Suddenly a thought jerked her wide awake. 'Damn,' she thought, 'I forgot to apologize to Chichiri for his bruised head.' Anna had managed to catch a glimpse of the damage she'd caused on the back of Chichiri's head, and even though she'd attacked him, he'd treated her with such respect . . .
"I can apologize tomorrow, first thing," Anna muttered, not wanting to get out of bed and do what she would probably do anyway.
'No, you'll talk to him now,' said a little voice in the back of her head.
"Suppose he's asleep?" Anna asked.
'You won't know unless you go check . . .'
"Damn."
Anna threw back her covers and jumped out of the ridiculously large bed. Padding across the dark floor, Anna reached her hands out and felt for her jacket, which was lying across the back of one of her chairs. The jacket had dried from her dip in the pond and Anna had shoved it in her bag until she'd received her room. Anna put it on over her tank top that she'd worn under her white sleeveless shirt.
Walking to the door, Anna decided she didn't need her shoes to walk one door down from where she was. Stepping outside, she breathed in the fresh night air, preferring it to the perfumed fragrance floating around in her room. She walked a few yards down the walkway, stopping outside Chichiri's door. Looking down, she could see light shining through the crack between the door and the ground. Anna sighed and turned around. She hated apologies, though she knew Chichiri deserved one.
Anna walked to the railing of the walkway and looked up into the night sky. The clouds were gone and the full moon was just beginning to make it's descent towards the horizon. Anna looked at the watch she wore around her wrist and was surprised to see the hands frozen at 3:36 pm, around the time when she found the book on Miaka's table. Grumbling, Anna took off the watch and shoved it in her coat pocket.
Suddenly, a soft light flooded over Anna as the door behind her opened. Anna spun around and found Chichiri standing in his doorway, staring at her with a surprised look. "Anna?" Chichiri asked "What are you doing up so late, no da?"
"Uh," Anna began, "I, uh . . ."
"Would you like to come in and talk?" Chichiri asked, his smile ever- present as he stepped aside from the doorway. Anna stared at him for a moment before accepting the offer and walking into his room. Chichiri closed the door behind them and extended his hand to a chair across from his bed, which Anna took a seat in. Anna brought her legs up and she sat cross-legged in the comfortable chair as Chichiri continued with his preparations for bed.
"So, uh, Chichiri," Anna began, "what keeps you up so late?"
"I was meditating, no da," Chichiri said, smiling as he took off his kesa and folded it neatly on his bed. "What you said earlier caught my attention as being a little . . . off, no da."
"As if this whole situation isn't already 'off'," Anna mumbled. Chichiri smiled and carried his kesa to his bedside table. A golden staff stood next to it, propped up against the wall.
Turning back to her, Chichiri continued. "You mentioned a green light surrounding you before the book summoned you here, correct?" Anna nodded. "See, no da, that's what is confusing. When Miaka came here, the light associated with her traveling back and forth between the two worlds was always red, like the God she summoned, Suzaku."
Anna stared at him. Seeing she wasn't following him, Chichiri said, "This means that you came here not for the summoning of our God, but for that of another. The question is, what God? There are only four and all of those have been called forth, no da."
"So . . . why am I here?" Anna asked, her confusion evident in her voice.
"I am not yet sure about that, no da," Chichiri said, walking to the bed post nearest her and leaning against it. He watched her bow her head slightly, and could tell she was thinking. Her brown hair fell from behind her ears and veiled her face. Her thin gray jacket was baggy around her small frame and Chichiri noticed her shirt was different. More of her flat stomach showed above her black pants.
Chichiri mentally slapped himself for staring at her and cleared his throat. Anna looked up at him as he said, "Well, I think it's time we went to bed now, no da." Anna nodded and stood up from the chair. Chichiri walked to the door and opened it for her. Anna stepped outside, but turned around and placed a hand on the door, making sure he didn't close it.
"Look, about earlier today," Anna said, her eyes staring intently at her socks, "I' m sorry. If I'd known who you were, what a kind person you are . . . I didn't want to hurt you."
Chichiri smiled and placed a hand on her shoulder, taking Anna's attention off her socks and focusing it on him. "I know you didn't."
"Please don't be angry with me," Anna said, knowing the plea sounded childish, but not able to find anything else to say.
"I never was, no da," Chichiri said. Anna smiled and placed her hand atop the one on her shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze, causing Chichiri's cheeks to turn a light red under his mask. Then she turned and headed back to her room. Chichiri watched her enter and close her door behind her. Sighing, he stepped back into his room and closed the door.
***
Whoo, another chapter done. Hmm, Anna sure is making a lot of people blush, isn't she? Heh, okay, well, review please!