Disclaimer: Fushigi Yuugi belongs to Yu Watase and not me. I'm only doing this for fun so please don't sue me.

Chapter 3

Chichiri walked along the streets of Konan. He had given up on looking for Mitsukake and the others half an hour ago when he failed to catch up with the tall seishi. He stopped in front of a stage and watched the men demonstrate their martial arts skills. Five minutes into the performance, Chichiri tensed up when he felt a familiar chi power up. He focused his energy into pin-pointing the chi's location and headed towards its direction. When rounding a corner, the seishi collided with a fast moving object. As Chichiri straightened up, he realized that the 'object' was in fact a girl.

"Chichiri?" asked the girl.

The monk looked at her more closely. "Meiling? I thought I sensed your chi, no da. I was just headed your way, no da. What are you doing here in Konan?"

Meiling waved of his question. Then with a quick glance behind here she grabbed Chichiri's arm and dragged him with her as she hid behind some crates. Meiling peeked at the corner as did the man with her. A few seconds later, they saw squealing pigs run by. Meiling let out a sigh of relief and leaned against the crates.

"Where those pigs chasing you, no da?" Chichiri asked her quizzically.

"Um … yeah they were," came the timid reply.

"Okay Meiling, what did you do this time. And don't bother making something up, because I sensed your chi level go up, no da."

"Oh alright." The girl crossed her arms in defense as she continued. "Some guys were gonna mug me so I defended myself. I warned them though. I told them not to mess with me, but they wouldn't listen! So I decided to teach them a lesson." She went on with her story a little more hesitantly as she lowered her gaze to the ground. "Remember that freezing spell? Well, I was gonna cast it on them then hit them on the head with this plank I saw on the ground. But I guess I mixed up the spells, 'cause the next thing I know was that all five of them turned into a pig."

Meiling waited for Chichiri to reprimand her like the way Taiitsukun always did. When none came she looked up at the seishi and saw him just looking at her. Then to her surprise, Chichiri began to laugh.

"Um … Chichiri?"

"Sorry, I just couldn't help it, no da," he said brokenly. "I suppose they deserved it. Come on, I'll take you back to Taiitsukun before she finds out you're gone, no da."

"Don't worry," said Meiling before he can take off his kasa. "She knows that I'm here in Konan."

The monk slowly dropped his arm and asked, "She knows?" After thinking it through Chichiri drew to a likely conclusion. "She must have wanted to give us additional information about the shinzahos, no da. But why would she send you to deliver the message? She could have just contacted me, no da."

"Oh, it's nothing like that. I'm here so I could go with Miaka, you and the other seishis to Hokkan."

"But why?

"Well, I told Taiitsukun that I needed to learn more about life outside of Mt. Taikuoku, so she let me go. But she made me promise not to reveal who I really am. So, can I ask you not to tell anything to the others?

"Of course, no da. I doubt if many even knows that the controller has a sister. But how are we going to explain to the others who you are and why you're coming with us."

"Leave that to me," Meiling said with a wink. "I've got the perfect cover."

Author's notes: I had to write about Meiling and Chichiri knowing each other. Chichiri did stay with Taiitsukun to train for a few years. But to make it easier on everybody let's just assume that the both times Miaka and her seishis came to Mt. Taikuoku, Taiitsukun had forbidden Meiling to see them so that she won't interfere in anyway.