Disclaimer: Please see the Prologue of Suzaku's Oracle for a blanket disclaimer.
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Warnings: Rated PG-13 or Fiction T. Language.
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Notes: 7-11-13 If you're taking the time to read this, Thank-you! As you should be aware (I'm assuming you've read the Notes at the start of the prologue) these chapters have been re-uploaded. I've decided not to preserve my original author's notes, choosing instead to use the space to explain decisions I made during the writing of this story that may or may not bug my readers. For example, let me address my spelling. Place names and Character names that are cannon to Fushigi Yugi might have a different spelling here than you may be used to. I've chosen to spell them as I have because that was the most common spelling I encountered when I was new to the FY fan universe. Taiitsukun instead of Taiitsu-kun. Houkan instead of Hokkan (this was pointed out to me by Draconsis in a review). Mt. Leikaku instead of Mt. Reikaku. Getting my hands on the graphic novels was no help. They use the Chinese for a lot of these names, like Hong-nan for Konan and Lai Lai for Nyan Nyan. (Just so you know, Taiistukun is spelled Tai Itsukun in the graphic novel's glossary guide at the front of the book.) ~Sapphire
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Oracles of the Four Gods
"Suzaku's Oracle"
By: Sapphire
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Part One ~ The Red Light
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The gray mists swirled with the wind, intermingling with the newly fallen leaves scattered along the path, causing them to dance at Aneko's feet. A second gust came up, forcing the damp chill of the air right through her long wool jacket. A shiver made it's way up her spine, her skin prickling with goose bumps. She reached a delicate hand up to push her wayward brown hair away from her face, only to reveal the traces of tears that lingered in her big blue eyes. What was to become of her now, she wondered as fresh tears came unbidden, and trailed down her flushed cheeks. What would she do without Danno? Danno had been everything to her...or had he?
"Where did that thought come from?" Aneko suddenly wondered, wiping the dampness from her face. "I love Danno, don't I?"
Of course she loved him, she reasoned. She had, after all, agreed to marry him. He would have been her protector, her provider, the foundation for her future. More importantly, her marriage to Danno Toya would have been the start to the family she'd been longing for. With Danno beside her, she would never be alone again. "Was that why? Was that the reason I agreed to marry him? Because I was using him for my own selfish desires?" she asked herself. "Was I just lying to myself, and to Danno? Didn't I love him?"
"I truly thought I loved him," she said aloud. "I didn't mean to lie. I didn't!" Aneko burst into tears, her newfound guilt adding to her grief. "Why did he have to die? Why?" Aneko dropped to her knees on the soft, damp ground, letting herself release some of her anguish, secure in the solitude provided by the dense woods. When the storm of emotional turmoil ebbed, she picked herself up off the ground and continued along the forest path, wandering haphazardly to nowhere.
Emotionally spent, Aneko let her mind go blank, not wanting to think any more on her troubles or her grief. In this exhausted state, she blindly went forward, not caring which path she followed or where it led. She only felt a need to continue moving forward, for some inexplicable reason, unaware and unconcerned of anything else.
Ahead of her, materializing from the mists, was a tall signpost. Aneko didn't see it until she had nearly run into it. Startled, she looked up at the old wooden sign. GENBU GROTTO it read in large writing.
"What kind of place is this?" Aneko wondered as she looked at the clearing in the direction the sign pointed. She had never been this far into the woods before. She had never seen, nor heard mention of it. What she felt was an eerily strong lure to enter that clearing in the woods.
At the far end of the clearing was a very high, sheer rock wall that stretched up to conjoin with the mountain. The trees grew right up to the wall, except in one large spot. There, the bare rock was blackened as if a fire had been burned at it's base, and a huge section seemed to have been cut away, creating a cave. Bare and desolate, nothing grew in that space. Not even grass grew there. It was just barren rock. In a way it looked as if something had exploded there, like dynamite, leaving behind concave indentations in the uneven ground as if the bedrock had been blown partly away. It was not an inviting place in appearance. Aneko shuddered and turned, starting back along the path she had come from.
Something stopped her in her tracks. There was some force, some mesmerizing attraction, that pulled at her very soul. Aneko slowly turned once again to face the ominous place called Genbu Grotto. It was calling out to her. It beckoned her to come. Aneko was frightened of that place. She wanted to move on, to leave, but something more powerful than her own desires compelled her forward, drawing her into the clearing toward the heart of the grotto itself. Before she realized it, she was treading on the blackened ground. "What is it about this place?" she whispered nervously to herself. "Why can't I leave it?" Her deep blue eyes meticulously scrutinized the entire circumference of the clearing, trying to pierce the mists, searching out anything that might be of harm to her. Her mind and senses were uneasy, the sensation of being compelled growing stronger. There was a presence there, she felt, some imposing entity that she could not name.
As she moved in ever tightening circles, Aneko failed to notice the beginnings of a red glow at the very center of the grotto. Closer and closer she drew until both of her feet rested upon the center ground of the clearing. Suddenly, from beneath her, a red light shot from the ground engulfing her in it's warm glow.
"What's happening!?" she exclaimed as she felt herself pulled into the very center of the light itself.
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The Ancient One watched her mirror as the last traces of burning power faded from the latest surge. So it had come to pass. All four had come. Now to gather them all together so their destinies could be satisfied once again, and the world would be assured continuance. She sighed. She was old, and was beginning to feel her age.
"But that's to be expected," she thought. "I can't live forever, I'm not immortal." She contemplated what that meant to her. She had yet to complete the most important work of her life. It would not be easy, but she was wise, and had spent her life working to prepare herself for this task. Without a doubt, she knew she was ready. As she turned from the mirror, she felt an unexpected upheaval in the balance of the world.
"Something evil, something dangerous," she said aloud, reading the undercurrent of power in that imbalance. "Mirror, show me this disturbance." The mirror began to shimmer as an image came to it's reflective glass...
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Chichiri stumbled to a stop in the middle of the road, awash in a sudden and strong surge of power. He had felt something akin to this three time before. Never had it been this intense, or so near. Those first three instances had been like ripples on a pond. This one was more like a tsunami, powerful enough to make him stumble and nearly fall in the physical world. His seishi senses were still reeling.
The source was near, Chichiri knew. Very near. As a tsunami leaves a path of destruction, this surge of power had left traces behind. All Chichiri had to do was follow it, and follow it he would. He'd been wondering about those disturbances since his senses had picked up on the first one. This was his chance to find out their cause. Steadying himself, Chichiri set out once again along the road.
He'd taken a mere two steps when a shock rocked through and upset the very balance of the world. This wasn't just a blow to his senses, it was a physical blow as well. This time Chichiri did fall- the gravel on the road bounced as the earth shook for real.
"An earthquake, no da!" Chichiri couldn't help but exclaim. The trembling of the ground stopped after a few seconds. Chichiri braced himself for an aftershock, but there wasn't one. He breathed a sigh of relief. His relief was short-lived.
Without much effort, Chichiri could still feel that unbalance in the fabric of this world. Something was terribly wrong. He wanted to go to Mt. Daikyoku, to see Taiitsukun. Perhaps she could shed some light on things. Except, if he left now, he'd never find whatever had been causing the ripples and waves of power that had come before the earthquake.
Chichiri's character lit up, and he knew what he had to do. First he would find the source of the power surge. Then, depending on what he found, he would go to Taiitsukun.
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Sometimes, Tasuki thought, he and Kouji were geniuses. They'd been trying for months to find ways to weed out the men who didn't belong on Mt. Leikaku anymore. Oh, they'd gotten rid of the obvious players in that mutiny a couple of months back, but Tasuki was certain there were others that had managed to avoid suspicion. This little venture into Konan's plains, grueling travel for days with no obvious reason and no explanation to the men, had already caused three men to defect, and they hadn't even asked for their final pay! That was fine by Tasuki. They probably didn't deserve it if they snuck off in the middle of the night like that. Maybe another test or two would weed out the rest of-
"Genrou! You all right?" Kouji reached over and grabbed Tasuki's sleeve, yanking him back upright. Tasuki was glad, because something had just sent his senses reeling, and he'd nearly toppled off his horse. Wouldn't that look swell in front of the men! This had been happening lately, these weird jolts he sensed thorough the part of him that made him a Suzaku Warrior. This one had been exceptionally strong. And even though this was the third or forth time he'd experienced these weird jolts, he still didn't know what they meant. He had enough problems without this, damn it!
"Yeah, fine," Tasuki grumbled, struggling to get his equilibrium back. What the hell was that?! "My leg fell asleep," Tasuki gave the lame excuse. "Let's take a break!" Luckily, they'd been on the move for a few hours and were due for a rest soon. Tasuki slid down from the saddle, taking his water flask with him. He crossed to the shade at the side of the road taking a few big swallows while Noboru, one of the few men on this trip he was sure of, took his horse and Kouji's.
"Genrou-" Kouji began, walking toward Tasuki. He didn't get any farther. The ground beneath their feet began to shake.
"Earthquake!" Noboru shouted, dropping the reins and scrambling away from the horses. Most of their animals bolted. In those few short seconds, the ground began to roll. "Oh, shit," Noboru said. Tasuki couldn't agree with him more as the ground began to heave. The trees beside the road began to sway. Several came crashing down. Terrified horses screamed as the earthquake went on. And on. And on. Eventually the ground stilled.
"Well, damn," Tasuki said, looking around, slowly getting to his unsteadily to his feet. Everyone, to a man, was getting up, more or less whole. Some were favoring an ankle or an arm, but otherwise appeared fine.
"Bunch a lucky bastards," Kouji agreed with a nod. Tasuki took a moment to collect his wits. His gut, and his senses, were telling him that hadn't been any ordinary earthquake, but his men were looking to him. He was the boss, and he had to focus on leading.
"The 'quake probably hit the stronghold," Tasuki told them. "We gotta get back." There were nods of agreement. "We'll go up through Shinkouyama. Might need help there. First, though, we go after those horses. Any not found in a hour get left behind." Several uninjured men, including Noboru, nodded. They set off after the runaway horses. "Anyone with injuries, get yerselves patched up while we wait."
"Shinkouyama, huh?" Kouji asked quietly with a knowing look.
"You tryin' ta tell me you're not worried?" Tasuki countered defensively.
"You have a point," Kouji said. That was the end of that.
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"How much more of this can I take?" Houki asked herself without betraying a single outward hint as to her inner thoughts. She groaned inwardly as the high ranking men around her shouted at one another, arguing over how best to spend the last of the tax money that had not yet been allotted to a cause. "I wish something more exciting would happen once in a while," she thought wistfully. The merest glimmer of a moment after that thought had occurred to her, she felt a tremble beneath her. Her big violet eyes grew wide, with surprise. "Be careful what you wish for," she thought fleetingly.
Within seconds the entire council table was rattling, and those gathered around it were bouncing around in their chairs. Before the shaking could grow more intense, her personal bodyguard appeared at her side, pulling her from her chair.
"Your Highness!" he shouted over the rumble of the shaking earth. "Come with me! Quickly!" She could see the very walls of the room ballooning out and then bending back inward as if the room were a breathing lung. The instability of the structure frightened her, and the heaves of the earth beneath them were becoming more violent. She rose from her chair and followed after her guard, stumbling over the hems of her own skirts as they were bounced along the floor. The councilors rose and started after them, all intent on leaving the uncertain strength of the walls and roof above them. As the Empress and her bodyguard neared the door she felt finely grained debris falling onto her head. She glanced up through squinting eyes to see the ceiling begin to crack above her.
"Your Highness!" the bodyguard shouted, grabbing hold of her and throwing the both of them out the door. The roof above shuddered as it began to collapse in on the council chamber below. The guard managed to pull her to the relative safety of a courtyard before the roof collapsed with a thunderous roar. Then, slowly, the earth beneath them came to rest.
"Was that-" the woman began breathlessly.
"Yes, Empress-Regent," the bodyguard confirmed, "an earthquake." "But those never happen here!" the Empress was aghast. Suddenly she felt ill. "My son!" she exclaimed, "Captain Hikaru, I must find my son!"
"Of course, Highness," the man agreed, helping her off the ground. Then they hurried through the palace complex, in search of the young prince. As they went from pavilion to pavilion, the Empress became more distraught at her son's absence. "Shall we try the park?" Captain Hikaru suggested when the young prince was not in the royal apartments or anywhere near them. The Empress nodded, and raced off in that direction.
"Mama!" the high-pitched shout echoed off the walls of the main pavilion. The Empress spun around to see her three-year-old son racing toward her.
"Boushin!" she was overjoyed to see him unharmed. Scooping him up off the ground, she hugged him close. "Boushin, I'm so glad you're safe." The little boy slipped his two little arms around her neck and held on tight, hugging her back. "It's all right now, everything is all right." The Empress only hoped her words were true.
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To be continued…
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End Note: Still with me? Thank-you! Originally, this chapter focused on my own original character with a scene for Taiitsukun and a scene for Houki at the end. Here is a prime example of listening to my readers: I needed to bring Chichiri and Tasuki into the story sooner than chapter three. So I did! This story is better for it. Thank-you! ~Sapphire
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