TA: You know who I own. You know who I don't own. So no sue.
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Chapter 2 – Discovering Yourself
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Time passed, two years passed. Nikyia lived in the palace comfortably. She and the young emperor Hotohori became fast friends. Nikyia grew into her looks finally. At 18 she was the talk of the young men at the palace. She was still tall, but she grew out of being all leg. She was thin and shapely, her long red hair reaching down to the middle of her back, her red eyes still the same as they had been. She still had the three memory items from the day when her family was killed: Genrou's necklace, which she kept safely in a velvet box Hotohori had given her as a gift, Papa's knife, which everyone feared due to the fact that is could cut anything easier than a sword, and the dark scar along her cheek, which gave her a dangerous look. However, the scar didn't make her any less beautiful and even made her stand out from the crowd even more than she had before. Another girl came to the palace, a 15 year old girl named Miaka. She was from another world as well, the same place Nikyia had come from. She was glad to exchange stories about the technology with Nikyia. To Nikyia's happiness, Miaka was given the title "Priestess of Suzaku." Another friend of Nikyia's in the palace was one of the women in Hotohori's harem, Nuriko. The funny thing was, Nuriko was really a guy, and only Nikyia knew this. She was the only one Nuriko could tell that to. Everyone else would have to find out on their own. Then the day came that Miaka was to set out to find the other constellations of Suzaku. Three had already been found: Tamahome, a friend of Miaka's, Hotohori, and Nuriko.
"I'm going with you," Nikyia said stubbornly.
"Nikyia, it's going to be dangerous! You might get hurt!"
"Hotohori, I've traveled around Konan. I've seen my family murdered and killed the man who did it. I believe that a simple journey will not be too much for me."
Hotohori sighed. There was no arguing with Nikyia after she had made up her mind. He wondered how the simple loss of her family could make one so stoic, silent, stubborn and serious. They set out the next day, and it was uneventful. However, the day after would be another story. It was foggy and Miaka was hungry again. Miaka was always hungry. As they were walking, Miaka disappeared in the fog. Nikyia was able to see a dim outline of her and chased her. Tamahome, Hotohori and Nuriko were left behind as they lost sight of her too. As Nikyia caught up with Miaka, they both noticed a table of food.
"What in Suzaku's name is that doing out here?"
"Food!"
Miaka ran at the table. Nikyia grabbed her by the shirt.
"Miaka! Don't…."
Miaka dragged her to the table, but right before she reached it, the two were sucked into a mirror.
"Miaka, you idiot…" Nikyia moaned. As she looked up to see where they were she gasped and paled. Exact replicas of her and Miaka were standing there in front of the table of food.
"Hello Nikyia," Nikyia's double said, a hint of laughter in her voice. "Glad that you finally got here. We've been waiting for you." As the double smiled, her scar stretched along the curve of her cheek. Nikyia's hand slowly went up to her own scar. The painful memories came back to her, of holding Genrou in her arms as he died, of the promise she made without intention of fulfilling it, of having no one to comfort her when she needed it most. I didn't hurt anymore, but the memories stung.
"Does it hurt, Nikyia? I hope it does."
"Who are you?" Nikyia asked softly.
"Who am I? You mean you don't remember me?" the double laughed. "I'm you, only with the personality you had before you were orphaned…again. And perhaps a bit crueler. Now if you'll excuse us…" the doubles of both girls pushed past their respective people. "We've got some…fishing to do."
The doubles stepped through the mirror behind Miaka and Nikyia. Nikyia jumped up and hit the mirror/window. It was solid. She couldn't go through it like the doubles just had.
"I like Hotohori, Miaka. And I don't want to go home. I want to stay here and be empress. And Tamahome can take a hike," Miaka's double said, putting on makeup.
"And me, I love to laugh and play and act like a child. And…I think I'll have some fun with Nuriko." The double giggled. "Bye girls. Have fun."
The clones began walking towards where the others were, the mirror hanging on "Miaka's" shoulder.
"What the heck is going on, Miaka? Who's playing this trick on us?"
"I…I don't know…"
"I am!"
The voice echoed around the black room of the mirror.
"Who's there?!" Nikyia demanded. No one showed.
"I've trapped you because I wanted to give the two of you a test. Miaka, if you are really the priestess of Suzaku, then get yourself out of there. The same for you, Suzaku's daughter…"
Nikyia paled again.
"S…Suzaku's daughter? What…?"
There was no reply. Nikyia stood there, pale and shaking a bit, staring straight ahead in shock. Miaka stared at her.
"You're Suzaku's daughter?" Miaka asked quietly.
"Then…it's true…what Hotohori said….the legend of the four children…" Nikyia suddenly felt weak and fell to her knees. "But…I can't be…how…?"
The doubles arrived at the area where Tamahome, Hotohori, and Nuriko waited for them. "Miaka" was the first to move.
"Darling!" she said, throwing her arms around Hotohori. Nuriko's face went pale, then red with anger.
"Hey, get your hands off him!" Nuriko said in his feminine voice. "Miaka" turned to him.
"Oh, relax Nuriko. Besides, you are a guy."
Silence. Nuriko went red.
"Luckily Nuriko's a guy," the clone of Nikyia said, wrapping her arms around him.
"What the hell are you doing you idiot?! If you expect to fool anyone you idiot you can't do stuff like that!"
"Tamahome! That's not me! Can't you see?!"
Nuriko pushed "Nikyia" off and ran away. "Nikyia" stood up.
"Hey, you can't treat Suzaku's daughter like that…" she muttered, loud enough for everyone to hear. Nikyia's fist clenched.
"I'm going to kill her…I'm going to kill her…."
Miaka was eating her heart out at the table.
"Miaka! This isn't a time for eating! Look what's happening!"
Miaka's clone was using the mirror to suck out the energy from Tamahome and Hotohori. They had discovered that Miaka and Nikyia were not who they appeared to be.
"I am Miaka, only the part of her you never see."
"And I am Nikyia as she was, only evil."
Miaka stood silent. As Nikyia watched them, fist clenched, Miaka broke a plate.
"If that's what must be done to save them…"
"Miaka?"
Before Nikyia could stop her, Miaka stabbed herself with a sharp piece of the plate. Blood began to stain her clothes.
"Miaka!"
The Miaka clone shrieked as green blood shot out of the same area Miaka had stabbed herself. Miaka stabbed it deeper. The clone shrieked louder and turned into her true form, an ugly monster. The monster attacked, but was finally killed when Nuriko tossed a giant boulder onto it. The mirror bounced and landed by the clone Nikyia.
"It's my turn now. Let's play."
"Nikyia" picked up the mirror and began to do the same thing, draining their energy again.
"What am I supposed to do…" Nikyia picked up Papa's knife. "Am I strong enough to do the same thing for them that she did…" Nikyia looked up a bit. There, standing in front of her, was Genrou.
"G…Genrou...?" she reached out to touch him. He smiled at her and stepped back a bit. "Genrou!" Nikyia took another step and grabbed his hand. As she did, he disappeared. Her hand closed around air.
"Genrou…no….No!" in a rage of memories and hatred, Nikyia threw the knife at the mirror. It didn't break the mirror, but stuck. The mirror shimmered, like water. Then it exploded. Pieces of glass bit her skin. She screamed. The glass stung and blood dripped everywhere, from her arms, legs, and face. A small piece of glass had cut across the scar on her cheek, making a sword, or a tilted cross. When she opened her eyes, which she had shielded with her hand, she was outside the mirror, and the double was bleeding the same green blood Miaka's had. Miaka lay on the ground, the plate still embedded in her flesh. As she sat there, looking around, the knife fell to the ground in front of her, dabbled in green blood. Nikyia knew what to do as she stood to face the double.
"Miaka's clone is gone, and it's your turn to follow."
She plunged the ivory handled knife into the clones heart. Almost immediately, it died. Since they were outside of the shattered mirror, Nikyia was not affected by the clone. The clone slowly disappeared from the grass and it seemed as if almost nothing had happened. The only changes were Miaka, nearly dead on the grass, and Nikyia, bleeding from the glass. Some bits were still stuck in her skin. However, she showed no sign of pain.
"She needs blood," Nuriko said, bandaging Miaka and watching the blood soak through them. "She'll die if she doesn't get any."
"If blood is what she needs then I'll give her blood."
"And I too."
Hotohori and Tamahome stood over Miaka.
"And I."
Nikyia joined their group.
"If anyone should give her blood, it should be me. I've already got enough open wounds. You both should not take any scars when there is no need for them. Scars are nothing but bad memories."
"I will take a scar if it's for Miaka," Tamahome said, picking up the piece of plate.
"Nikyia," Nuriko said. "If what that double said about you is true…if you are the daughter of Suzaku, your blood just won't work. Blood of a divine being in a mortal can kill them."
"Nuriko…"
"Nikyia, I can't let you. You aren't going to get the upper hand in this argument."
Nikyia was silent.
"Alright then. If that's how it must be."
With a lot of pleading and bleeding, Miaka was finally brought around. As she awoke, the group faded away from the meadow and reappeared on a mountain.
"What the heck?!" Nikyia exclaimed. "What…What is this?!"
"Is this…Mount Taikyoku?" Hotohori asked aloud.
"Taikyoku? The legendary home of the creator of the world?"
"That's about it."
"This is Mount Taikyoku. I keep my palace here," a voice said. It was the same voice from inside the mirror. A shadowy figure appeared in front of them. The shadow dissolved in the light of the sun to reveal…quite an ugly, old, and short woman. Hotohori quickly turned away.
"Hotohori? What's wrong?" Nuriko asked.
"I…can't bear to look at anything that ugly…" he muttered. The old hag pulled out a mallet from somewhere and smacked the emperor with it.
"Is that how you treat a goddess?"
"Excuse me…ma'am…but are you…Tai…Taiitsukun, goddess of creation?" Nikyia asked timidly. The old hag nodded.
"Yes, that's me. Forgive me for my little test earlier, but it was necessary for me to determine whether the two of you girls were who you claimed to be."
"I didn't CLAIM to be anything!" Nikyia protested.
"But don't you remember, what was it you told Hotohori two years ago?"
"I…I didn't say I was or wasn't. I merely said it was possible."
"Close enough."
"So that was just a TEST?! Miaka nearly killed herself for a test?!" Tamahome shouted at Taiitsukun. Taiitsukun hung her head.
"I didn't expect her to go so far as to kill herself. All she needed to do was what Nikyia did, shatter the glass. Now, enough chatter, you four need healing."
As Taiitsukun said this, Nikyia suddenly realized…glass under skin hurt.
"Ow…"
"Follow me."
A carpet materialized under them and quickly pulled them up towards the sky. In the air, they had a perfect view of the entire mountain. Nikyia forgot her pain again with the breathtaking sight. Taiitsukun floated in front of them, still chattering on about the mountain and other various things until finally, they landed. They were in a large room with colorful bubbles floating around it. Taiitsukun took a seat in a throne at the front of the room.
"Now, let's see what we can do about your wounds."
She snapped. As she did, the some of the bubbles burst and out popped tiny girls, cute as a button and cheerful.
"Nyan-Nyan, you know what to do."
The girls, Nyan-Nyans, apparently, went two to a person, except for Nikyia. Only one came to her.
"I can heal you! Heal, heal!"
Each of the Nyan-Nyan said something along these lines. Nikyia's Nyan-Nyan looked up at her as she knelt down to look at the small girl.
"I can heal those…" said Nyan-Nyan, pointing to her cuts from the glass. "But there's something about you I can't heal. How'd you get those anyway, huh? Huh?"
The girl, with all her innocence, her way of talking, right down to the "Huh"s, was a feminine form of Genrou. A tear came to Nikyia's eye as she realized this.
"Just…do what you can…" Nikyia said, smiling at the girl as the tear escaped her eye. The girl looked at the tear.
"That's what I can't heal…"
Nikyia, strong, brave, solemn Nikyia, finally broke down into tears, hugging the girl. Everyone in the room…everyone except Taiitsukun, stopped what they were doing and stared. Nikyia didn't notice. Her mind and eyes were empty of everything except Genrou. Somehow, some way, right there, she cried herself to sleep.
Hours later, when she woke up, the palace seemed empty. It took Nikyia a few minutes to remember where she was. A stinging pain brought her back to everything that had happened. She looked at her arm, where a piece of the glass had stuck. The glass, and the scar that was certainly to be there, were both gone. Every place, the glass and scar were gone. Instinctively, her hand reached up to her face. However, unlike what she had expected, she felt the scars, from the knife and the glass, still there. A Nyan-Nyan knocked on the door and came in with a tray full of food.
"We healed you. But Taiitsukun wouldn't let us heal those," she said, setting the tray down and pointing to Nikyia's face. "She just let us take the shiny things out."
"Where are Tamahome and the others?" Nikyia asked, curiously. "How are they?"
"They're healed and home. Miaka went home to where she came from. Taiitsukun wants you here though, so she didn't send you home. When you're done eating, Taiitsukun wants to see you."
Nikyia carefully took the tray and muttered a thanks. She was so confused. Miaka went home, back to her own world? Why had Taiitsukun insisted on keeping her there, but sending everyone else back? Why had she left the scars on her cheek? So many questions and no answers. Quickly, Nikyia ate, then began to head for the room that Taiitsukun had been in. After thirty minutes of wandering around, she finally found a Nyan-Nyan to show her the way.
"So you're finally awake, eh?" Taiitsukun asked when she entered the room. "You slept for a long time, about three days it's been."
"Taiitsukun, why…"
Taiitsukun held up her hand to silence Nikyia. She walked over to her.
"Kneel down, you. I'm not as tall as you are."
Quite true, the goddess was very short. Nikyia knelt down as Taiitsukun commanded.
"I kept you here for a reason. You're the daughter of a god, you know. Suzaku's daughter. You've got powers that can go awry when released. And with your temper, you'd probably burn down a city or something."
"Taitsukun, how do you know…how is it possible that I…?"
"I know because I saw it on you a while ago, after your family was killed, when you fought that man. Look."
Taiitsukun held up a mirror. In the mirror, Nikyia saw herself stop at the door, heard Genrou cry out for help, heard the crack. She saw her face contort with anger. As that happened, for a few seconds, a red symbol flickered on her forehead before disappearing. Then the mirror went white.
"Every time you're angered, you become stronger with your father's power, the godlike power. That's how you were able to destroy my glass mirror, and defeat anyone who angers you enough. Didn't it surprise you that you were able to wrench that knife out of the assassin's hand and stab it into him in less than 15 seconds? Or that you threw it with such force that it broke my mirror only after you saw your brother's ghost and he disappeared…"
"Genrou…you…you made Genrou appear like that? Just a vision?"
Taiitsukun froze for a second.
"No…no, Nikyia. What you saw was the real thing. Your brother knew after death everything about you. He knew that you needed to be angry enough to break the mirror, and he didn't want you to kill yourself. I get the feeling that you've been blessed with a guardian angel of sorts, Nikyia. A guardian angel."
Nikyia froze again, her eyes wide in fright. That vision, it was really Genrou, saving her life?
"Genrou…"
"No, no, not again you. We've got work to do. No time for tears. You aren't going home until you've learned everything you need to about yourself. Look at your fist."
Nikyia did. As Taiitsukun had explained everything about Genrou's ghost, Nikyia's hand had curled up into a ball. She paled as she realized that her fist was flaming with fire, but she didn't feel any heat.
"That's only the beginning of what you can do Nikyia. You've got much more to learn, so we best get started now."