Sleeping Yui

Disclaimer: The wonderful Yu Watase owns Fushigi Yuugi, not me. I'm just borrowing the characters. Also, I don't own Sleeping Beauty, Disney might, but since it's a very old tale, they probably just own the film version, not the story.

Namida: Well, I have always wondered what would have happened if Tenkou was never in the Universe of the Four Gods. Would Nakago have been nicer? Would the story have been different? Were the Seiryuu shichiseishi destined for other things before his evil influence? So, I came up with this story, after all, why can't Yui find some happiness with a true love?

In another world, four gods met together on a high mountain with a wrinkled old magical lady. One had flame red hair and eyes, and long feathery red wings. He wore red pants and an oddly designed shirt with gold-trimmed red shoulder pads, connected in the middle of his chest to allow silky white fabric to rise from his lower back, wrap around his front, converge at a red juncture with the shoulder pads, and then furl loosely around his neck. A second was blonde with pale skin and robes and large soft, lightly colored eyes. A third had dark hair, a moustache and a beard. This one wore dark green robes. The last, the one who summoned the rest, had blue hair and bushy eyebrows. His ears were scaled on the tips in blue, and he was dressed ready for war.

"Why have you called us, brother?" The red phoenix, Suzaku asked.

Seiryuu turned to the old, bulldog faced lady, temporarily ignoring his brother from the south. "You already know my plans Tai Itsukun, will you help me?"

The old oracle, floating in midair, looked gravely into the god's eyes. "If the others agree to lend their powers, then yes." She said in a deep, haggard, cranky old voice.

Turning back to his brothers, Seiryuu finally answered Suzaku's question, "All of your miko's have come and gone, with the exception of Suzaku's. All three either live, or are dead with the ones they love. Yet, my miko lives without this love because of Tenkou's interference with my seishi. I believe that his influence on Nakago's tribe, and the demon that possessed Miboshi, caused a warp in the story."

Genbu looked at Tai Itsukun's face thoughtfully, Byakko remained silent, and Suzaku snorted. "You can't actually believe that, can you? The two of us have been fighting for so long, it just spilled over down there." He pauses, reconsidering the facts, "Although, none of that was ever meant to happen."

Seeing that Suzaku, his major opposition has wavered, the dragon continues, "I propose the creation of a new book, to be opened only once, and only with my power. Inside will be my seishi and other such souls of Kutou as needed. My miko, Yui, will enter this book and complete it, being able to bring back one soul into her world with her."

Suzaku, showing more emotion among only his brothers and the creator, gasped. "That much power, just because you failed her before?"

"She was my miko as well for a while, and I wish her happiness." Genbu spoke up slowly, still thinking. "However, this story would have to be very simple, so that it can not fail."

"You are absolutely right, Genbu," Tai Itsukun grumbled out slowly, "But I have another plan that will work with less power. On her shelf, Yui has a book that would be perfect; the story is about true love. With our combined powers, we can replace the characters with the un-tampered souls of his shichiseishi, and then draw Yui into the story." The others nod approvingly as she laid out the details of her plan.

After a hard day at high school, the now sixteen-year-old Yui flops down on her bed. She closes her eyes for a moment, waiting for Miaka to call for help on the homework, so that they can just do it all together. Opening her eyes for a moment, she sees a strange glow coming from her bookshelf.

"I know that book isn't here, so why?" She thinks aloud as she gets up and walks to shelves. She sees that the glow is coming from one of her English fairytale books. "Odd, why is Sleeping Beauty glowing?"

She tries to fight the urge to open the book, but fails and soon she finds herself reading a new version of the fairytale, one that is being written as she reads.

"Once upon the time in the country of Kutou, there lived a an enigmatic, slightly cruel, but just emperor. His name was Nakago. One day while hunting for bandits with part of his army, he came across a runaway young woman. Her name was Soi and she was very beautiful. She also killed half of Nakago's men on accident with lightning because she thought they were going to hurt her, but Nakago faced her down and let her live. Eventually, the two fell in love, and after killing all of the men who claimed she was merely a whore from a brothel, Emperor Nakago married her."

Engrossed in this very odd story, and idly hoping not to be sucked in like the last time, Yui continues reading. "Not long after that, Soi gave birth to a beautiful little blonde princess. The Emperor and Empress held a huge party, inviting all of the nobles and all of the magical fairies to pay homage to their future empress. Peasants came from far and wide to share in Emperor Nakago's bounty as the palace chefs sent food out into the streets to help everyone celebrate Princess Yui's birth. However, Empress Soi, who was in charge of the invitations, had decided not to invite one fairy, for he was the evil magical fairy, Tenkou, and nobody liked him because he always ruined good stories and he had once been a turned into a giant evil magical boulder, just to match his intelligence." Somewhere Seiryuu is laughing.

"At the party, all of the fairies were to bless the baby princess. As she sat in her gold cradle, the magical good fairy, and part time thespian, Tomo blessed her. He wore a lot of make-up and feathers in his hair. He said, 'I bless this princess with everlasting beauty that would make even the most beautiful flower jealous.'

"After Tomo came another fairy. The magical good fairy Amiboshi looked like a teenager with brown hair and he was playing a flute. He paused in his flute playing to say, 'I bless this princess with amazing musical abilities and a lovely singing voice.' Then he played a wonderful happy little song for the baby and walked back into the crowd.

"After the flute playing fairy came yet another fairy who looked like a baby himself. He was the magical good fairy Miboshi, and reading from a scroll he said, 'I bless this princess with knowledge, wisdom, and a really high IQ.'

"After Miboshi came the last fairy. Magical good fairy Ashitare was a half wolf fairy, and as he was thinking for a gift to give her and only coming up with beautiful hair and never having to shave or pluck anything, he started to speak, 'I bless this princess with....'

"Suddenly, a dark shadow appeared, hurling the magical good fairy Ashitare into a wall before coalescing into the evil magical fairy Tenkou. 'Why was I not invited?' He roared.

"Acting coolly and confidently, Nakago threatened the evil fairy, 'We don't want you here because you are evil, and your feet smell, so get out before I find a miko to summon the gods and kill you!'

" 'Now that's not nice, I just want to bless your child.' Unable to stop him, everyone was forced to watch as Tenkou walked up to the princess and began his 'blessing'. 'I bless this princess with death! On the eve of her sixteenth birthday, she shall prick her finger on the thorn of a blue rose and DIE!' Laughing evilly, Tenkou disappeared.

"The people scream in horror at the thought of their princess dying so young, but Nakago, Soi, Tomo, and Miboshi have an idea; Amiboshi has left already. Tomo woke up the unconscious Ashitare and filled him in. Then Miboshi told him exactly what to say. The magical good fairy Ashitare walked once again up to the princess and began, 'I bless this princess with sleep! Instead of dying when she pricks her finger, she will fall asleep and won't wake up until somebody gives her the kiss of true love.'

"Not quite trusting Ashitare's blessing, the Emperor sent out his army to destroy all the blue rosebushes in the world, which was hard because they couldn't find any. To be on the safe side, the three magical good fairies, Tomo, Miboshi, and Ashitare hide the princess far away in the woods on the border of Kutou, and they raise her as their own until she is free of the curse and can be sent back to her real parents. Sixteen years pass quickly."

"This has got to be the oddest thing I've ever read." Yui says, turning the page. As the book glows a brighter blue, the light crawls up her arms, "Oh no! The princess is my age! EEEEK!" She screams as the book sucks her into the story.

Yui wakes up gradually and finds herself in a nice and comfy bed with an old, though clean blanket covering her. She looks around the room, noting that the furnishings and walls are made of wood. Looking outside through the window, the blonde girl can see a forest of trees.

A deep, rumbling voice calls to her from beyond the door, "Yui-chan, breakfast."

'That could not have just been Ashitare.' Yui thinks, getting up and opening the door. Outside she finds a very hairy fairy, which has just finished moping the floor.

"That's a very odd outfit Yui-chan, did you get it from that peddler last week?" Ashitare sits on the ground thinking as he looks at her.

She looks down at her school uniform and blushes slightly, "Um, I think so." She lies, still wondering what happened. She starts to walk towards what she hopes is the kitchen when Ashitare stops her with a clawed hand.

"Yui? Is something wrong? The dining room is down the stairs, in the other direction."

Yui turns around and Ashitare helps her down to breakfast.

Meanwhile, in the real world, Miaka has tried called Yui, only to get the answering machine three times. So, the chipper glutton decides to take a walk over to her best friend's house. She finds the door unlocked, enters, and finds her friend's schoolbooks and things on her bed, and on the floor is an open book glowing blue.

"Oh no! Yui-chan." Miaka starts reading the book, and hopes that her friend is all right.

In the book, Yui decides to find out just where she is, and her fairy god family seems to want her to leave.

"Here Yui-chan, why don't you go out and pick some flowers?" Miboshi hands her a basket to put flowers in.

"Why? It isn't my birthday or something, is it?" She asks warily, remembering the story a little.

All three fairies stiffen. "Well, actually it is, and we want you out of the house so we can make a cake and wrap your presents and all." Tomo admits.

"Go, it's safe out there Yui-chan, you always go out to pick flowers." Ashitare gently pushes her out the door. Then he not so gently slams the door behind her, locking it.

Yui shrugs and starts out on her hike. The fairies quickly search for their wands and start making a cake. Tomo pulls out a dress that was given to Yui when she was born and starts making alterations for her current size.

"Wow, she's in a fairy tale!" Miaka makes herself some popcorn and starts reading more.

Yui finds herself in a meadow full of flowers and a stream. She starts singing for no apparent reason, but then she stops, "I never sang this good before."

She hears a flute playing behind her and turns around to see a handsome stranger. He has brown hair and looks exactly like the magical good fairy Amiboshi, only without the wings.

"Oh, I'm sorry miss, I didn't mean to frighten you." The boy smiles at her, and she has already recognized him.

".... Suboshi...."

He looks at her, startled, "So you do recognize me, but that's PRINCE Suboshi."

She can't keep it in any longer and bursts out in laughter. "This is, really, ha ha!"

He sweatdrops, "I'm sorry Yui, but I was told to keep up this charade. The others don't remember anything, and there are a lot of things that I don't remember, except you."

She takes a step back seeing a huge pair of hearts in his eyes. "Oh, I'm sorry," he bows before her, "I put too much emotion into that, it's just, I haven't seen you since I died and all." He explains to her that they are to finish out the story, and then she can go home.

"Oh, well, so you're supposed to kiss me then?"

Suboshi blushes, "Yeah, I guess. For some reason Seiryuu-sama decided to make me the hero of this story."

Giggling, Yui turns and starts picking flowers. "If you want, you can help me pick flowers, and then I can go back to the others."

He starts helping her, picking only the most beautiful flowers, one at a time, and handing them to her. "So, are Tomo, Miboshi, and Ashitare really weird?"

"Very. Although Tomo isn't that much different, except I haven't heard him laugh."

They finish quickly and Suboshi walks her most of the way back to the cottage. Before letting her leave, he steals a quick peck on her cheek. She blushes as he walks away, then she returns to the cottage.

Miaka reads, "The next few hours happened in a rush for Yui. She blew out the sixteen candles on her birthday cake, and was then told that she was the missing princess of Kutou. Given a beautiful gown and a dark cloak, the magical good fairies led her to the palace on horseback."

As Yui's party approaches the castle, Suboshi finds himself standing outside the cottage. Realizing that Yui had left already, he decided to take a peak in, just to see how well the three guys could keep house. He finds a complete mess and thirty bandits, lying in wait for him. "Aw sh...." He can't finish because all the bandits attack him.

In seconds, all of the bandits are lying dead on the floor and the table as Suboshi twirls his ryuseisui around his finger laughing. "That Tenkou guy's a real moron, if we had fought him instead of the Suzaku shichiseishi, we would have so kicked his butt." He runs after Yui's party, heading for the palace of Kutou.

Princess Yui and her entourage finally reach the palace, only to find it disturbingly quiet. 'Where is everyone?' Yui thought as they led her up to a room in the castle tower. Tomo and Ashitare leave, but before Miboshi leaves, he pauses.

"Just stay here, and don't touch anything! We can't let anybody see you until dawn, it's only five hours away, take a nap or something." The powerful baby advises before exiting.

Yui sits on the bed, thinking that it must be close to midnight now. Yui removes her shoes so that she can lie down, but she spies something glowing on the windowsill beside the bed.

"Is that a rose?" She stands up and walks over to the windowsill. She finds a blue rose, just waiting there. Remembering the curse from the story, she resists the urge to pick up the beautiful flower. However, the flower sails into the air aimed for her hand, a thorn pricks her finger and she falls into a deep sleep.

"Oh no! YUI-CHAN!" Miaka cries, shaking the book as though her friend would fall out and spilling her soda on the ground.

Yui finds herself in a place where nothing seems to exist, except her mind, and this cool blue light that's coming closer to her. The light coalesces into the blue dragon form of Seiryuu, which wraps itself around her 'self'. Seiryuu explains why she was brought in here and then she falls asleep in this world too.

Elsewhere, the three fairies, realizing that they screwed up in leaving Yui alone, are working. As Miboshi and Ashitare go around casting sleeping spells on everyone, Tomo places Yui's body into the bed. Then they sit on the roof of the highest tower waiting for somebody to come and kiss Yui.

Eventually, Suboshi comes along, his twin brother flying by his side. "So, Tenkou sent a party of bandits after the princess, and you killed them all?"

"Yes, Aniki, but she wasn't there."

"Well, you can always try something else to impress her. Oh, here's the castle." Amiboshi stops with a smile. "Good luck, little brother, I'll just leave you here to go flirt or whatever. Don't have too much fun kissing Yui-sama." He waves as he walks away.

And THEN Tenkou shows up. He creates a barrier of his evil magic, blocking Suboshi's advances. Suboshi glares at him. "You've hurt Yui-sama, haven't you?"

The evil magical fairy Tenkou laughs, "Yes, and as long as I kill you, she will NEVER wake up!" Suboshi glares at him. Glowing blue, Tenkou begins to attack, and fails because Seiryuu's energy prevents him from doing anything. Suboshi attacks him with his ryuseisui, and once he's dead, the barrier fails.

A few minutes later and Suboshi is standing next to Yui's bed. He sees her holding a blue rose, but thinks she is much more beautiful than any flower could be. Wiping a stray hair from her face, he leans over and gently places his lips on hers.

Waking up, Yui subconsciously wraps her arms around Suboshi's shoulders and they both close their eyes as he deepens the kiss happily.

Miaka finishes the story, "And after the kiss, everyone in the palace woke up, but Princess Yui and Prince Suboshi were nowhere to be found. All that remained was the blue rose laying on the bed and a note saying, 'And they lived happily ever after. The end.' But then, where did they go?"

She hears a thump behind her, and sees Suboshi on top of Yui, still kissing. Tactfully for once, Miaka closes the book and replaces it on the shelf. Then she quietly sneaks out of the room, leaving her popcorn bowl and spilled soda.

Suboshi and Yui lived happily ever after, just like Taka and Miaka, only without the crazy Miaka wannabe.

The End