Disclaimer: Watase Yuu = goddess. Fushigi Yuugi = not mine. Fushigi Yuugi = Watase Yuu's. Me = pathetic fan fic writer hopelessly in love with Fushigi Yuugi.

Warnings: Strong language, angst, shonen-ai/yaoi implications, sexual innuendo…and…well…that pretty much covers it.

Notes: Lots of thanks for this chapter. One goes to Kim and Koishii-kun for beta reading this. I love the two of you so much! ::showers them with chocolate bunnies:: Next "thank you" shout-out goes to the fyfanfiction mailing list. A debate about the Seiryuu no shichiseishi, the Suzaku no shichiseishi, Konan, and Kutou was the inspiration for this fic. And a HUGE "thank you" goes to all you reviewers. You guys are just so awesome. ::huggles:: I actually respond to your reviews in the author's notes at the bottom of the chapter. I apologize for how long I take between chapters. But it actually takes a REALLY long time to write them because I have too many ideas at WAY too many different times. ^^

Do not be too startled by the random scene jump… Again, Japanese will be translated.

REVERSAL

Chapter Two:
"The Lady of the Legends"
The Page is Turned, the Legend Begins to Move

"'I strive to do my best.' Who can translate that into Japanese for me?"

Yui frowned, watching her friend at the desk next to her. Miaka was asleep again, that much was apparent. Fortunately, she was not snoring loud enough to attract the attention of the teacher. Yet, anyway. She was surprised Miaka even managed to arrive at school on time what with all the studying that Miaka's mother was insisting she do.

"Anyone? Anyone at all?"

Had Yui not been extraordinarily bored out of her mind, she might have made an effort to quickly reach across the row of emptiness between their desks and given her brown-haired friend a quick whap on the arm to wake her up. At the risk of attracting the attention of their teacher, the blonde haired girl remained where she was, pretending to flip through the Japanese to English dictionary that all the students were equipped with. Other students were attempting, at least, to translate the words the teacher spoke.

After another moment of silence, the teacher sighed and looked up from the English text he held in his hand. "Kurowa-san, can you translate that?"

The student in question quickly glanced up from her text to meet the intense gaze of the teacher. Yui looked from student to teacher, frowning a bit. Such a translation was effortless for Yui herself, but she did not dare raise her hand for fear of getting singled out by the other students later. The student that the teacher had addressed simply shook her head. The teacher sighed again.

"Yuuki-san, what about you?"

At this, Yui's eyes grew as wide as saucers. That meant the teacher would notice that Miaka was asleep. Which, in turn, meant that Miaka would get into trouble with the teacher. Again. That would be the second time this week after Miaka had shown up without a research paper on a particular historical period. Any attempt at waking her up would be noticed by the teacher and then Yui might get in trouble. She glanced nervously at her fellow classmate, head pillowed on her arms on top of the open English textbook.

"Mmm…food," Miaka sleepily whispered.

Yui forced herself not to groan. Miaka! You're going to give yourself away, baka!

"What was that, Yuuki-san?" the teacher asked, eyes narrowing slightly as he moved from his position at the front of the room to slowly walk towards her desk.

"Mmm…rice balls…ice cream float…hamburger…ew, that's gross…no anchovies," Miaka's sleepy voice said again.

Yui covered her eyes with her hand, shaking her head as she did. If she were one of the anime characters in one of the mangas that she was fond of reading, she probably would have a rather large sweatdrop appearing to indicate her frustration right about now. Miaka was drawing far too much attention to herself. The teacher approached the desks, looking at Miaka, a frown on his chiseled facial features.

"Yuuki-san!" he said gruffly, shaking her shoulder in an attempt to wake her up.

"GIVE ME BACK MY FOOD!" Miaka shouted in response. In one swift motion, she stood, grabbing the sides of her desk with both hands. She raised it into the air, legs of the desk facing the ceiling and then swung it at the teacher; all of Miaka's books, papers, and pencils flew everywhere as she did so. Students nearby covered their heads with their hardcover English textbooks to prevent themselves from getting whacked with a renegade pencil or book. Yui found herself doing so, as well. When she dared to peek out from beneath the gibberish of English, she noticed that Miaka missed the teacher, but the teacher had apparently been rather startled and fell backwards, landing on his butt in the aisle between the desks. All the students were now staring at Miaka, Yui included. And then Yui saw Miaka's closed eyes.

I don't believe it. The baka's still asleep…

"Anou…Miaka-chan? Who did you just almost whack with that desk?" Yui asked, mouth and voice forming the words slowly in an attempt to fully wake up her friend.

The question did the trick. Miaka's eyes opened completely to stare at the prone figure on the floor. Her eyes widened upon seeing who it was.

"Sen…sei?" Miaka exclaimed in disbelief.

"Bingo," Yui replied, the barest hint of a smile crossing her face.

If it was at all possible, Miaka's eyes grew even wider. "G—gomen! Gomen nasai!" she hurried to say, slowly putting the desk down with nervous laughter. Yui sighed. It was times like these when Yui truly wondered how she and Miaka were friends. After all, Miaka could be a bit dense when she wanted to be.

The teacher slowly climbed to his feet, fixing Miaka with a hard stare. All the students gulped. This was going to be harsh.

"Yuuki-san! That's it!" the teacher roared. Miaka gulped, shrinking back and tripping over the chair. Both she and the chair clattered to the floor as the teacher continued, oblivious. "If you do not want to learn what I have to teach, you can teach yourself. I want you to complete pages 64-81 in your English book by this time at the end of the week. Your grade in this subject will depend mostly on your completion of that assignment. I will not have you disrupting my class any further. Into the hall!" He pointed in the direction of the sliding doors.

"Hai, sensei," Miaka replied softly, slowly walking out into the hallway.

The teacher moved back towards the front of the room. When he got to his podium, he turned around to fix the entire room with a glare that even Yui shrank away from. "I hope that taught you all a lesson."

The room was silent.

"Well," the teacher stated, mollified, "that settles it. Now…once again. 'I strive to do my best.' Who can translate that?" He glanced around the room, trying to choose a student that he probably felt was at least making the effort to pay attention. Yui kept her head down. "Hongo-san, how about you?"

Yui glanced up upon hearing her name called, quickly running a mental English dictionary in her brain and conjugating the correct verbs to come up with the final answer. And then her eyes widened, realizing she had written it on the top of a notebook page of doodles of the teacher in demon-form, waving a pointer-turned pitchfork.

So much for being the studious one…

__________

Miaka rubbed the back of her head where it had collided with both the chair and the floor, staring at Yui sitting next to her on the train car. "Why does Sugara-sensei have to be so mean, Yui-chan? All that extra English work he gave me to do is going to be a real pain!"

Yui smiled, glancing up from the book she was reading. "Well, its your own fault for falling asleep in class."

"I wouldn't have if mom wasn't so pushy about studying all the time.." Miaka grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest and slumping down in her seat on the train car. This action was accompanied by a trademark Miaka-pout when she didn't get her way.

"Your mother just wants to make sure you go to a good high school, ne?" Yui asked, trying to cheer her friend up. "Besides, you have to keep your grades up if you want to go to Yotsubadai High School with the other girls."

Miaka shook her head. "Nope! I didn't tell you? I'm taking the Jonan Academy exams."

"Jonan?!" Yui exclaimed, looking at her friend in disbelief. "Why didn't you tell me you were studying to take those? Those are so HARD!"

"You're taking them, aren't you?" Miaka asked curiously. "Besides, we promised we'd go to the same high school together, remember? We promised."

Yui laughed. "All right. All right. We promised." Yui paused before she said anything else. Was Miaka only attempting the Jonan exams because Yui was? Or was there an ulterior motive to this new announcement? Either way, the words sprang to her lips unbidden. "Demo…Miaka-chan…are you sure that's what you want?"

"Hai!" Miaka replied, nodding enthusiastically. "I want to be with you!"

Yui smiled, shaking her head at her friend's naiveté for a moment before returning to her book. There was a moment of silence between the two girls.

"Ne…Yui-chan?"

"Hai?"

"Do you think you could help me with the English assignment?" Miaka's voice pleaded. When next she spoke, everything came out in a liquid rush, almost impossible to decipher. "I mean, you're so good at it and all and you'll be able to help me easily and Sugara-sensei won't notice at all! Besides, you're my friend and…"

Yui glanced over at Miaka, who had paused to take a breath, and clamped her hand over Miaka's mouth. "Stop. I'll help you all ready."

"Yay!" Miaka exclaimed, forgetting she was on a train. She jumped up onto her train seat and began to jump up and down, clapping her hands excitedly. "Yay yay yay yay yay yay…WHOA!" At that moment, the train lurched to a stop, causing Miaka to go flying forward onto the floor of the train. Yui shook her head.

Unbelievable…

Yui stood, sticking her book in a pocket of her trench coat and moved towards the opening door of the train. Miaka quickly picked herself up off the floor and raced after her.

"Ne, Yui-chan! Where're we going?"

"National Library," Yui replied, smiling. "We'll need a quiet place to work on your English, after all, right?"

"Hai!" Miaka agreed, latching onto Yui's arm. "I'm so glad you're my friend, Yui-chan!" Unfortunately, this action prompted several stares from the rest of the people in the train compartment. If people had not been staring before, they most certainly were now. Yui felt herself blush as she tried to pry herself away from Miaka.

"Will you stop it, baka? People are staring!" Yui exclaimed.

"Ooops!" Miaka giggled, releasing Yui's arm. "Gomen, Yui-chan!"

Yui sighed and exited the train car, Miaka following excitedly after her.

"Ne, Yui-chan! Do you think we could stop off and get something to eat first?" Miaka asked, all but bouncing after Yui. "I'm really hungry!"

Yui hid a smile behind her hand. "Sure. Don't see why not."

"YAY!"

__________

"Yui-chan? What's a California?" Miaka asked, glancing up at the blonde girl across the table from her. Yui had a notebook open and was furiously scribbling notes from an open library book at her right.

"Huh?" Yui wondered, glancing up from her writing.

"What's a California," Miaka repeated, looking as serious as ever.

Yui blinked, mentally praying she had heard the girl wrong. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. She had to calm herself down if she was actually dealing with this question. Unfortunately…she didn't do a very good job.

"What do you mean, 'What's a California?'" Yui demanded, eyes snapping open. "It's a state in the United States!"

Miaka gave her a blank look. "What's a state?"

Yui sighed. "I could have sworn you actually paid attention in geography."

Miaka shook her head, eyes closed as she did so. Yui sighed again, opening her mouth to speak and explain what a state was to her friend.

"A state is----" Yui started. She was cut off by a very loud roaring noise. She froze, staring at a space to Miaka's right. The spot that should have been a stack of books suddenly wasn't. Instead of seeing metal bookshelves, what she saw was apparently once a city. Most of the buildings had been burned to the ground, newly formed clouds of smoke curling up from the ashes of the fallen city. Hovering above the ashes was…something…blue. Whatever it was appeared to be surrounded in sky blue light. Yui squinted, trying to get a clearer look at what it was and failing miserably. Suddenly, a pale hand passed in front of her eyes, waving frantically back and forth.

"Ne, Yui-chan? Daijoubu?" Miaka's voice asked, yanking Yui out of her reverie. Yui blinked and looked again. The bookshelves were back in their proper place now. No fallen city. No blue light. Nothing. "What were you looking at?"

"I…" Yui started, looking at her friend and seeing nothing but confusion written all over her face. "Nothing. I just…for a minute I thought I saw…" She sighed. How was she supposed to explain what she had just seen? "Never mind."

"You sure?" Miaka asked, eyes flashing in concern.

"Hai," Yui replied, forcing a smile. "I'm fine. Really."

Miaka smiled in response. She opened her mouth, apparently about to say something. Both girls froze, however, upon hearing something that sounded like a clicking noise and the creaking of old hinges. They looked at each other, then Miaka slowly turned in her seat to look through the bookshelves. The area directly to Miaka's right led to a door…that was slowly swinging open of its own accord. The two girls looked at each other, eyes wide. Without another word, Yui got up from her seat and made her way down the shelves to the opening door. A scraping of wood on the floor told Yui that Miaka was doing the same.

"Yui-chan!" her voice hissed. "What are you doing?"

"Seeing where that door goes, of course," Yui replied, not changing her pace or direction at all.

"But…but Yui-chan! That sign says its 'Employees Only'! We're not supposed to go back here!" Miaka protested. Yui stopped, turning slowly to look at her friend. Was this really coming out of Miaka's mouth?

"This is coming from the girl that constantly falls asleep in class?" Yui asked, watching her for a reaction. Failing to get one, she plunged ahead in her persuasion. "Come on, Miaka. Its just a room." To prove her point, Yui turned around and read the sign over the door. "'Important Documents Reference Room.' See? Aren't you in the least bit curious as to what all these 'important documents' are?"

Miaka frowned in a moment of intense debate. Without warning, Miaka dove past Yui and into the darkened room, fumbling for a light switch. Yui followed her, looking this way and that before she entered the room. Lights flickered on in the room as Yui closed the door. Once the lights hit the room, Yui's eyes widened. The room was filled with rows and rows of old books. Some of which Yui recognized as very antique books.

"Whoa…Miaka! Look at all these things!" Yui exclaimed, going over to a shelf and inspecting the spine of one of the ancient volumes. She pulled the book off the shelf, hunting for a copyright date alongside the title page. "This one was printed in 1961. That's pretty old…"

Miaka had joined her friend at the shelf, diligently reading the spines of the old books as Yui put hers back. "I've never heard of half of these."

"Neither have I," Yui agreed, returning to her shelf.

A thud resounded easily in the small room. Determining that it had come behind her, Yui glanced over at Miaka to see if she had heard it. Miaka did not seem to, reading the names of the books she found aloud and occasionally fumbling over the odd sounds of words long forgotten. Yui sighed, turning around. On the floor, practically by her feet, was a book with a red cover and white paper binding. She bent down to pick up the book, studying it. The title and author had been embossed on the book's front cover.

"The Universe of the Four Gods," Yui whispered, reading what was written on the cover. That was the important thing, she realized. Perhaps that was why the title looked like it was bold… "Ne! Miaka!"

Miaka stopped her reading and hurried over to Yui, eyes widening upon seeing the book in Yui's hands. "Yui-chan? What is that?"

"The Universe of the Four Gods," Yui replied, opening the book. She sat on the floor, setting the book in front of her. Miaka joined her on the floor, positioning the book so they could both read it.

"The Universe of the Four Gods?" Miaka echoed curiously. "What's that?"

Yui nodded. "It looks like its some ancient Chinese novel." Attempting to recall her knowledge of the Chinese language, Yui began to translate, "Thus the girl of the legend opened the door to another world.'"

"Wow!" Miaka exclaimed, looking at Yui. "You can read Chinese!" As Yui continued to work at the translation, Miaka's voice interrupted her. "Ne! Yui-chan! Look at this picture!"

Yui glanced over. Miaka's finger was pressed onto one of the ancient pages over an ink drawing. Sure now that Miaka held Yui's attention, Miaka removed her hands from the picture. Yui's eyes widened. On the page, was an image of a ruined city. Light trails of ink had been made to indicate smoke trails that curled up to the sky. And over the city…

"I…I don't believe this…" Yui whispered. She recognized it. "I…I saw this before!"

"What's this flying lizard?" Miaka asked, pointing to the thing that was hovering over the city. Yui picked up the book to study the image.

"That's not a lizard," Yui scolded, still slightly startled. "That looks like a dragon."

Miaka took the book from Yui and looked at it. "Dragon or not, I still say it's a lizard." Miaka set the book back onto the floor so Yui could continue to read. Yui forced herself to ignore the image of the ruined city on the next page as she continued to read.

"'This is a story of the young lady who gathered the seven seishi of Seiryuu,'" Yui started.

"What's a Seiryuu?" Miaka interrupted.

"The dragon, I guess," Yui replied. She found her place again and continued to read. "'She obtained omnipotent power and made every wish come true. The story itself is an incantation. Whomsoever finishes reading it shall receive this power. As soon as the page is turned, the story will become the truth and begin.'"

"So, wait a second. You finish reading the book and you get wishes?" Miaka demanded.

"I guess so," Yui replied.

Miaka eyes narrowed, skeptical of what the book said. "That's ridiculous. You get whatever you want just from reading a book?"

Yui nodded. "I guess so. Pretty silly, huh?"

"Tell me about it," Miaka agreed. She scoffed a bit as she looked at the book. "Wishes. Yeah right. And I'm the pope in Rome."

The two girls stared at the last bit of kanji on the book in silence for a minute. Part of Yui desperately wanted the legend told of in the book to be true. If it was, then maybe Yui would be able to save the ruined city. Why did it bother her so much? The part of her that wanted to save the city felt as though she had failed the people there, and she was not sure why.

"Still…" Miaka said, breaking the silence, "wouldn't it be cool if you actually got wishes?"

Yui nodded in agreement, attempting to take her mind off of the feeling of sorrow. "Even if the bit about the wishes isn't true, the story might be fun to read. Think we should?"

"Hai haaaaaaaiiiiiii!" Miaka replied enthusiastically.

Yui smiled at her friend, reaching her hand out slowly to secure the edge of the page in her hand. She took a deep breath, slowly turning the page. The moment her hand released the page, the book began to glow with an unearthly blue light, growing brighter and brighter, enveloping the room. Yui heard Miaka scream as Yui shielded her eyes with her arm in a vain attempt to block out the brightness of the blue light. The blue slowly turned into a bright white…and then suddenly it was no longer there.

Yui lowered her arm from her eyes. A quick glance to her right showed Miaka with her hands over her eyes, cowering a bit. Yui sighed and looked around. They were standing in the middle of some sort of garden, tall trees and exotic flowers painting the area around them in lush greens, purples, blues, yellows, and reds. There was a sound of rushing water behind her somewhere, most likely a fountain, and the enthusiastic, angry, chirping of birds, telling the human invaders to leave their home so they could feed in peace. Over the trees, she could make out the top of a building, but she was not entirely sure what it was. Yui could not recall ever feeling more out of place in any particular environment before. However, she wouldn't let that show now of all times.

"You can lower your hands now, Miaka. The light's gone," Yui announced.

Miaka lowered her hands from her eyes and looked around. After a minute of examining the scenery, her eyes widened in delight and she clasped her hands in front of her. "Wow! Look at this place, Yui-chan! Its so pretty!"

Yui nodded absently, not entirely focused on Miaka's antics. Her friend was now skipping around the pavilion, sniffing at all the exotic flowers and commenting on how pretty they were. Had the situation been different, Yui might have joined her. It was a bit unsettling, however, to just be thrust out of an familiar environment and into an unfamiliar one such as this.

Where are we? Yui wondered, taking in the surroundings again. And, wherever we are…can we get back to the National Library?

A rustling of bushes behind her startled her enough to allow a small yelp escape her lips. She spun, facing the bushes, and jumping backwards, uncertain. Miaka stopped in her rambling and turned to look at Yui. She darted across the pavilion to her friend, hiding behind her, hands barely visible over Yui's left shoulder. Yui glanced over her shoulder at Miaka, frowning a bit as she returned her gaze to the bushes.

"He…hello?" Yui asked, voice stumbling over the familiar word. Mentally, she cursed herself for showing any sign of fear. She was as scared as Miaka and had been fighting to keep that fact hidden. Now, her own voice had betrayed her.

No response met her question. Yui frowned…and then her eyes widened as a figure emerged from the foliage. It was a man with blond hair, covered in robes of white and blue. His head was lowered towards the ground, making it impossible to discern his eye color. Clasped in front of him between his very feminine looking hands were multiple blooms of flowers, most of which Yui recognized from around the garden pavilion. From what Yui could see of his eyes, they widened slightly upon seeing her shoes. Slowly, very slowly, he raised his head and eyes to look at her. Yui was expecting a cold hard stare from him. Instead, what she was receiving was sadness conveyed in those blue eyes mixed with surprise.

"Wha…what are you doing here?" he asked, voice barely above a whisper.

Miaka peeked around Yui's shoulder. Seeing the man there with the flowers softened the situation enough for Miaka to emerge from her hiding place.

"Konnichiwa!" Miaka exclaimed with a smile, taking a step closer to him. Yui was frozen to the spot, watching him watch Miaka. "Those are really pretty flowers. Who are they for? Your girlfriend? Do you think I could see----" She reached a hand towards the flowers…her hand coming dangerously close to his. Without warning, he jerked away, lifting the bouquet out of her reach and pulling to the side.

"Please…" he begged. "Please, do not…" He was trembling now. The action confused Yui. A man that looked like him trembling in----what was that emotion? Fear? Confusion?----because of a girl half his age? It made no sense. "Do not do that."

"Do what?" Miaka asked, oblivious. "I just wanted to see the flowers…" She glanced back at Yui. "What's wrong with wanting to see the flowers?"

Yui ignored her, taking a step closer to the man. Something about him drew her towards him, but she was not quite sure what. Perhaps it was the way he was looking at the two of them with almost childlike fear. Or perhaps it was the look in his eyes that Yui recognized all to well. It was a look that cried out for release, to be saved from whatever hell he was trapped in. Part of her wanted to assure him that everything was all right, to hug him. Maternal instincts, she realized.

"Its all right," Yui heard herself say as she took another step closer to him. This time, he did not pull away, merely turned his frightened eyes to her. "We don't want to hurt you. We got…lost…showed up here by accident. We just want to know how to get out of here. Can you help us?" Instead of a verbal response, he just shook his head, averting his eyes. "Why not?"

Hesitantly, he licked his dry lips before giving a response. "I'm…not permitted. I'm bound to the palace and the gardens. That is as far as I can go."

"Can you at least tell us which way to go?" Yui asked, trying not to sound exasperated.

"Its punishable by death…" he responded. "I cannot."

"What the hell is with this place?!" Yui exclaimed in annoyance, voicing her opinion to both the man and Miaka. Her raised voice caused the look of fear on his face to grow even more and he made various motions to keep her quiet, motions Yui ignored. Miaka just nodded in agreement. "We just want to go home! Is that so wrong?! Why can't you just tell us----"

"Nakago!" a new male voice shouted, cutting Yui off.

The man in front of them flinched, hearing the name or word shouted loudly. Miaka blinked, looking over at Yui.

"What's a Nakago?" Miaka asked, scratching her head. "This place has too many unfamiliar words in it."

Yui sighed. Sometimes Miaka was just too much. The man in front of them glanced nervously in the direction he had come, taking a few deep breaths to calm himself. He turned to the two girls, concern reflected in his blue eyes. With a free hand, he  brushed a renegade strand of blond hair behind his shoulder as he spoke to them.

"Go. Get out of here," he ordered, his voice soft. "I don't care how…just go…go before the shogun finds you."

"Shogun?" Yui and Miaka asked as one.

Come to think of it, Yui thought to herself as she and Miaka stared at the man before them in confusion, he did mention something about him being confined to the palace…where are we for palaces and shoguns to still exist?

Before either of the girls could make a move to leave, another man emerged from the bushes that the blond had arrived through mere seconds before. He was a bit taller than then blond man, perhaps by no more than a few centimeters. His clothes, or what the girls could see of them through the armor and cloak he had wrapped around his shoulders, appeared simple. His hair was blue, eyes a color of purple-gray that came just before a storm. His eyes were not soft or fearful as the first man's had been; they were cold and hard, staring at the girls imperiously. Miaka clung to Yui's jacket sleeve, but both girls could not deny that they were both attracted to and repulsed by the man at the same time.

This had to the be shogun the blond had mentioned.

He completely ignored the girls at first, turning his attention to the blond. The blue eyes did not meet the grayish ones; instead, they stared at the ground in front of him.

"Nakago. Heika-sama would not approve of you wandering off like that," the shogun snapped, glaring at him. "How dare you disappear without telling me."

"Gomen nasai," the blond, presumably Nakago, responded, voice barely above a whisper. "I thought I heard something. I would have told you, but you were engaged in conversation with----"

Yui barely had time to blink before she saw the back of an armored hand raise and swing towards Nakago's exposed cheek. Armor, skin, and bone connected, a loud smacking noise raising into the morning air. The two girls could only stand helplessly by as Nakago's posture faltered, reflexively covering the spot that the shogun's armor had made contact with along the side of his mouth. After a moment, he withdrew his hand to reveal droplets of red glistening on his pale palm. Yui thought she had seen anger and hatred in his eyes for a moment before it dissolved into the submissive look of before.

"Did I say you could talk back to me?" the shogun demanded of Nakago, glaring at him. Nakago offered no verbal response, just stared at the ground by the shogun's feet. "Answer me!" he ordered, raising his hand again.

Nakago's free hand lowered to his side, clenching it in a barely visible fist. Yui's eyes widened slightly. He might be acting submissive, but he hated this man. He really and truly hated him.

"No," Nakago replied, closing his eyes, mentally preparing himself for another blow of the hand. "No, you didn't."

The answer seemed to satisfy the shogun. He lowered his hand and turned, only to spot Miaka and Yui standing in the pavilion with him. The shogun's eyes narrowed, staring at them, Nakago apparently forgotten for the time being. He took a step towards the girls. Miaka backed up, dragging Yui with her as her hands were still firmly latched around Yui's coat sleeve.

"Who are you? How did you get in here?" he demanded, never letting up on the glare.

"We…we just…" Yui tried to say. Miaka, however, beat her to it.

"There was this really bright blue light and…and then the library was gone and we were here!" Miaka exclaimed, looking at the shogun in fear. "We didn't know we were trespassing or anything! Honest we didn't!"

His eyes narrowed even more, glancing from the girls to Nakago. Nakago's eyes were wide hearing this new information, but feeling the shogun's eyes on him caused him to avert his eyes and look down at the ground again.

"Blue light, huh?" the shogun asked, eyeing the two girls skeptically. "I don't take kindly to demons and liars walking through the imperial palace's gardens."

"We're not demons! Honest!" Miaka protested, voice raising an octave in pitch as her fear rose.

"We're telling the truth!" Yui chimed in, backing into Miaka. "Honestly we are!"

"Tamahome-dono," Nakago's voice piped up. The shogun slowly turned to look at him, eyes wide in disbelief. "Please…leave them be. They're just girls. How could they cause any harm?" He took a step forward, holding his bouquet of flowers in front of him as a sort of shield. Almost absently, he took a ribbon from a pocket of his robes and began to tie the flowers together neatly. "Heika-sama did request these flowers as quickly as possible, did he not?"

"Odd…I don't recall giving you permission to speak," the shogun---Tamahome, Yui supposed---snarled, glaring at Nakago. He advanced on Nakago, eying him. "You're out of line. I don't like it when property is out of line."

Nakago had apparently not anticipated this action, judging from his wide eyes. He stumbled backwards, tripping over a loose stone and falling unceremoniously backwards to the ground. He managed to catch himself on his hands in time to prevent his head from hitting the ground. The small group of flowers had fallen from his hand and landed safely by his side; not a single petal had fallen from any blossoms within. Yui had no time to be impressed, however. Tamahome took his time about crouching by Nakago, pinning his hands and jerking him into a sitting position. The look in Tamahome's eyes was hungry…some sort of animalistic desire Yui had seen in a program on television once. Miaka gasped, seeing the look.

"Leave him alone!" Yui shouted. It was all well and good to shout at him, but she physically could do nothing.

Miaka, on the other hand, dove forward, grabbing Tamahome's arms. "Leggo!" she shouted, trying to pry his hands off of Nakago's.

Tamahome broke away from Nakago, twisting his upper body to push Miaka to the stones behind her. She gasped in pain as he pinned her hands by her head, then adjusted himself so he was lying on top of her. Miaka could feel his warm breath against her face. She closed her eyes, turning her head to the side, not wanting to look at him. She felt her eyes open as Tamahome brought both hands above her head, holding them there with one of his hands and moving his newly free hand towards her vest directly above her breasts. He cupped one of the clothed breasts in his free hand, stroking it slowly.

"Let her GO!" Yui shouted. She ran forward, pouncing upon Tamahome's back, hands latching firmly onto his shoulders. Angrily, she pulled back, trying to force him off. Tamahome didn't even bother to look back at her. He took his hand off of Miaka's breast, grabbed one of Yui's arms, and calmly flung her off. She went flying, skidding across the ground, hearing the slow but undeniable ripping of cloth.

"Yui-chan!" Miaka screamed, trying to kick Tamahome and failing miserably. "Help me!"

Yui pushed herself to her feet again, determined to try again. A flash of blue distracted her. She glanced over at Nakago, who had gotten to his feet. His hands were clenched into fists, taut with anger, eyebrows slanting downwards towards his nose over his closed eyes. On his forehead was the Chinese character for the word "heart", glowing a bright blue. Nakago was looking more enraged by the minute. His eyes snapped open; Yui could have sworn there was a fleeting blue aura around him.

"Bastard," Nakago forced out of his mouth, raising one hand, aiming it at Tamahome. There was a bright flash of blue light from his palm, a circular bubble of energy that released from his palm and slamming into Tamahome. As the shogun went flying, Nakago lowered his hand, looking right at Tamahome who had slammed right into a tree. "How dare you touch a woman like that." He turned to Miaka, looking considerably calmer than he had been when they first met him. "Are you all right?"

"H…hai!" Miaka exclaimed, scrambling to her feet.

Yui's eyes widened. She had never seen anything like that before. Tamahome pried himself off of the tree and stormed over to the two of them, shouting for…something, Yui wasn't entirely sure what. Nakago moved protectively between Yui and Miaka. All Yui saw was flashes of spear points mixing into a brighter light…

__________

Miaka blinked, waiting for the spots to clear from her eyes. Once they did, she turned to look at the spot where Yui had been only moments before.

"Ne, Yui-chan, that was a wild dream, wasn't it?" she asked. And then she stopped.

She was back in the Important Documents Reference Room, the book still open on the floor where they had left it. And yet there was no sign of Yui. Confused, Miaka began to look between the book stacks, hunting for her friend. Not finding her, Miaka returned to the book, bending down to pick it up, close it, and stuff it into the first available spot on the shelf she could find. Then she focused on the text.

Frightened, but filled with concern for her friend, the young lady lunged at the shogun of Konan. He effortlessly threw her off. The young man they had met earlier raised his hand, emitting a burst of blue light from his hands. It was revealed that he had the character for "heart" written in blue on his forehead…

"Kokoro?" Miaka asked, looking at the book. "What the…why is everything from my dream written here?"

She glanced at the picture on the side. A girl stood there, her hair short, with a very familiar looking man beside her. Miaka frowned, looking at the picture more closely.

"Yui-chan? Are you here? Inside the book?" Miaka wondered. She walked to the back of the room and sat up against the wall, propping the book on her knees to read it.

The shogun shouted for his soldiers to come and arrest the young lady. The emperor of Konan would decide what to do with her.

"Oh…Yui-chan…"

__________

Yui had no idea what to think as the light died down to reveal spear tips that glistened in the light. While the light had brightened, Nakago had taken a step away from her to reclaim his bouquet before rejoining her once again. Tamahome was glaring at them from behind his protective row of soldiers.

"One of you escort the slave," Tamahome ordered, speaking the word "slave" as if it was the dirtiest word in his vocabulary, "to heika-sama. He is expecting his new toy. I have the prisoner to attend to."

One of the soldiers moved forwards to place a hand on Nakago's arm and roughly began to pull him away. Nakago cast a glance over his shoulder at Yui before he was jerked onwards towards the palace grounds. Tamahome left his protective ring of soldiers to advance upon Yui. She gasped and backed up, but soon found she had nowhere to back up to as the soldiers had begun to swing in behind her. Tamahome took her chin in his hand and tilted her face upwards. Too scared to fight back, she stared into his cold eyes, nervous and intrigued at the same time.

"Now…as for you," Tamahome began, looking at her. "You're quite exotic looking. I'm sure heika-sama would enjoy a new collection piece. I would consider it an honor to escort you…personally."

Yui stared at him defiantly, not having much else to do. It would seem that she would get the opportunity to see the emperor that Nakago had been sent to much sooner than she had thought. Of course, judging from the hungry look that was still in Tamahome's eyes, she was now not so sure that this was a good thing.

…TBC…

Notes: I apologize for how long this took…I didn't mean for this chapter to take this long! Honest! Okay…random Japanese first.

-san just means "Miss" or "Mister", depending on who it is being said to. Baka is one of my favorites. It means "idiot". Anou is a verbal pause, much like our "um…" and "uh…" -chan is typically only used in reference to females. This is only used when speaking a girl your own age. Sensei means teacher. Demo means "but". Hai, again, means yes. Ne means "hey", I believe. Gomen and/or gomen nasai means "I'm sorry". I've also seen this as "I'm very sorry." Daijoubu means "all right." I use it here to mean "are you all right?" or "are you okay?". Konnichiwa means "hello". A shogun again is a general. Kokoro means heart. –dono is a term of respect typically in use with the military (see –sama for further explanation). And –sama is a term of respect (think "Master" or "my lord").

Next up? Author's comments on reviews thus far. Note: I won't do this every chapter, but I wanted to say a few things…

A lot of people seemed to want the next chapter… Well…I'm so sorry this too so long…I didn't mean for it to!

Kim C.:  No Nuriko in here. He'll show up next chapter, I promise. I'm still not sure how I'm changing him personality-wise. Everyone else is so easy to change with their personality except for HIM! ::dies::

Koishii-kun: Leggo of my tail! You have been the first to give me hugs on this chapter. I haven't forgotten your challenge, silly. I'm just…not very good with drawing the cast… And I'm quite glad you think my writing is "awesome." Twists and angst will basically make up the majority of this fic. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Queen of Darkness and Mustard (a.k.a. Kat): Why is it the first three people who reviewed this fic have "K" names?? Yes, I know its you. And I won't forget to continue it. Next chapter is here! Wheee!

Athena: First of all, I want to say something to you. I have read a lot of your fics and I'm in love with your writing style. My personal favorite, at the moment, is "Star of Destiny." When are you going to write more??? Now on to your actual review. There WILL be angst-romance of yaoi. ^^ I just haven't gotten to it yet. I started off with "Nakago-torture" because I had to introduce the idea that everything has been completely changed around. Kaen/Soi will…complicate matters, but she WILL NOT destroy my plans. ^^ I will try my best to keep the Hotohori/Nakago thing going. I'm starting to like it. ^^

faerie_X: Well, you got your wish about the mikos. I've left their original personalities pretty much intact. Evil Hotohori amused you, huh? ::blinks:: I'm not sure HOW he managed that one… Nakago is so much fun to write as I have him now. ^^ And I guess we just have to wait and see about Nakago getting out of his "predicament"… he most certainly hasn't, yet.

fallen: I apologize for the confusion. Hope the scene jump at the beginning didn't confuse you too much. ::wince:: At least it eventually made sense, ne? I was quite scared a lot of people wouldn't find it making sense.

Hotaru: ::hug:: I'm sorry about there not being any more chapters at the time you made your review, hun. But here's the second chapter! Does that help to slightly appease you? ::hopes it does:: Anyhow…again, I will try my best to keep it Hotohori/Nakago. Soi is NOT going to screw up my plans. (You hear me, Soi? Don't screw anything up.)

Now that we've gotten this far… The next chapter should take…just about as long to come out as this one did. ::sweatdrop:: Sorry…

"Please leave a contribution in the little box." (in other words…review please!) If anyone can guess where that line is from, I'll give you a chocolate bunny! In this case, the chocolate bunny could either mean a cyber chocolate bunny or, in my warped mind, a segment from the next chapter for you to munch on. You can take your pick.