DISCLAIMER: Praise be to audiogalaxy, who has just about any song I could ever want! However, it does not have Fushigi Yugi. (It has the songs, but not the story. Siiiiigh...)
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Transition chapter. Well, explanation chapter really. Yeah, kiiiiiiinda needed, especially after 5. Things are gonna get weird. Really weird. Yeah, like it wasn't already. ~grins~ I know I'm insane, but I have fun with it.
Minor explanation needed in the case of Naora... When I saw the OVAs, at the end I figured out that Miaka and Taka had a kid (duhhhh) but I couldn't tell what gender it was. So I wrote it as a girl (Naora-chan). By the time I learned it was really a boy I was just a biiiiiiit too firmly attached to her to let go ~grins~ I want Naora as my own kid. She's so adorable.
Warnings for this chapter... Hmmmmm. Way too much explanation, for one thing. Minor language... A few things I had to invent for this story. Too much grinning. I think that's it. ~grins~ It's the calm before the storm kids, next chapter's confusing ~laughs~ And tell me if you see any typos, all right? No time to go through again and fix 'em!
~glomps everyone who reviews, and her SLPRs, who always deserve thanks for everything they do and all the reassurance that no, she does NOT suck~ I wuv yoo! Oh yeah! ~Special Glomp for Lanen~ Happy now? ~_~ You're great, sweetie! (I have a habit of calling people things like "sweetie" or "dear". It's a Drama Thing ~grins happily~)
Reijirou could only stare, getting slowly to his feet, not putting the book down. Nuriko stared back, inspecting rather than astonished, his eyes scanning Reijirou from head to toe and back again. He finally nodded, grinning. "Looks like I turned out all right after all. Come on, wake up."
"But…… but…..." Reijirou couldn't even speak.
"Ahh, we'll come back when you've recovered," he said impishly, then turned to look at Risako. She was gaping at the two of them, her eyes darting back and forth, her mouth opening and closing but no sound coming out. Nuriko just grinned and waved at her cheerfully.
"Nuriko." The tone in Miaka's voice made them all look at her. She was smiling at the seishi, eyes shining with tears, speaking to him as if to a dear sibling.
"Miaka." Nuriko's voice was the same, and as he reached out to her his bracelets began to glow with a strange red light, transforming into his iron arm guards. Their hands clasped, and Nuriko pulled Miaka to him and enveloped her in a hug, which she returned. "It's been too long…"
"Hai." She looked up at him, tears running silently down her cheeks but smiling happily. "But you're here now, that's the important thing."
"Hai… Here now… That's right." Nuriko looked up at Reijirou, serious. "The two of us have to talk, and soon."
Reijirou found his voice again. "About what?"
"All this." Nuriko grinned again. "If I'm correct, right now you're thinking something like 'What the hell is going on, why did it have to be me, and how do I get out of this.' Well? How'd I do?"
Reijirou had to smile ruefully. "Three out of three."
Nuriko gently let go of Miaka and went back over to Reijirou. "See? I am you, you are me, in a way. We have to work together. That's why you know all this, and why I'm here now."
"Work together for what?" Risako asked quietly. She had been watching in wonder. Nuriko's shape was pale, ghostly, almost transparent, but she had seen him and Miaka hug. Reijirou and Nuriko seemed exactly alike. Even their haircuts were the same. It was no stretch of the mind for her to picture them as the same person, but watching Nuriko come out of the book like that had spooked her. Past lives were supposed to stay in the past, in her opinion, but Miaka had said something would happen involving Nuriko…
Nuriko glanced at her. "Who are you?"
"I'm Risako. I'm in school with Reijirou-kun." Her voice quivered a little, but none of the others seemed to notice. Nuriko looked at Miaka.
"Nuriko, she's going to be involved in this, I can tell. She needs to understand what's going on."
Nuriko nodded. "Yes, it's better tha- MIAKA!"
Miaka had just crumpled to the floor.
"Will she be all right?" Reijirou asked Nuriko anxiously.
He nodded, looking at Miaka grimly. He adjusted the compress on her forehead and tucked the blanket more closely about her. "She will. Baka. It takes a lot of energy, strength, and spirit to call one of us out of the book, even with the other 'you' helping. She overreached herself." He took one of her hands, holding it gently. "When she wakes up she's getting a piece of my mind."
Risako giggled. "I bet that'd be fun to see, you definitely gave Tamahome a piece of your mind that time in the cave."
Nuriko grinned. "Ah, you know about that then. Yes, I'd have to say that might have been my best rant ever. And can I say you're both taking this very well."
"Arigato." After Miaka had fainted there had been no time to worry about being squeamish with Nuriko. The three of them had gotten her settled on the couch in breakneck time, working with a startling level of coordination.
"Now, I think you two will have some questions."
"Some?" Reijirou asked sarcastically.
Nuriko grinned. "All right, a lot. Want the really long, drawn-out explanation or just a summary?"
"Long," they both responded, taking their seats again and looking at him expectantly.
"Don't say you weren't warned." Reijirou blinked at hearing his oft-used phrase coming from the seishi. Nuriko settled himself on the armrest of the couch, next to Miaka. "Where to start… ah, yes. As you know, I was one of the Suzaku no shichiseishi. I was killed in battle on Mt. Black, trying to find the Genbu shinzaho. I wasn't allowed to be reborn until Tenkou-"
"Who?"
Nuriko shook his head. "It's a long story, Miaka can explain it to you, but it has to do with getting Tamahome's memories for Taka. I wasn't allowed to be reborn until Tenkou was defeated. During that time all four of us spirits traveled with Chichiri, Tasuki, Miaka, and Taka, and helped them gain the memory globes again. Then we were reborn."
Nuriko looked at Reijirou. "I don't know whether you're my first reincarnation or my hundredth, but the fact is we're the same. And that fact is putting your life in danger."
"NANI?!"
"It's true. Miaka and Taka don't realize this, but anyone from our world can be reborn into this world. They simply don't remember anything from it, any past lives, or the miko. Although they are usually in the same general area, as a result of the spirit of the miko calling out to the spirits of the seishi, the miko and the seishi are prevented by the gods from meeting each other here. The seishi live out their lives in this world and die again, as does the miko, and everyone is reborn somewhere.
"But you, Reijirou, met not only the miko, but the only seishi who knows he was a seishi, and on the same day. That means that something's coming. Something will happen to the miko or one of the seishi in which it's best for the past to be revealed. Miaka still has abilities as the miko, and understood that the 'something' was coming. Her saying that you, Risako, will have a part in this is another miko ability, as is calling the spirits of her seishi out of the book." Nuriko glanced at Miaka, brushing a strand of hair out of her face. "She might have been the strongest and most powerful of all the miko. I never met Suzuno, so I can't say for sure, but I believe she is. She and Tamahome were able to meet again and live a loving, happy life. She drew you to her. And she brought me here."
"You really did love her, didn't you?" Risako asked softly.
"Hai, I did." Nuriko smiled wistfully at Miaka. "I don't know whether I loved her as a woman or as a sister, but she was my closest friend and dearest companion. I wanted her to be happy, and so I left her and Tamahome and went to Mt. Black to give them time alone. I don't regret it. She's truly happy now, just what I wanted her to be."
Reijirou and Risako watched with reverence as Nuriko stroked Miaka's cheek, awed at this person who would give up his life for the happiness of the one he loved most. Reijirou could not imagine doing what Nuriko had done, even though they were supposedly the same. Nuriko looked up again. "There's more."
"Go on, please."
"Reijirou, this is about you. You're strong, aren't you?"
An image of Gesshin flattened against the wall of the hallway that morning popped into his head. "Hai."
"That comes from me. Remember, my seishi trait was strength, something that's relatively easy to pass down. You inherited some of my strength. That's one way to recognize a seishi from my world, or a miko for that matter. If someone has read that Shi Jin whatever, they'll recognize certain aspects of the seishi's traits in the reincarnation. Their personalities will even be very similar, as ours are, and they'll look almost exactly the same. You can recognize the other reincarnated seishi in this world this way, most of the time."
"What about the rest of the time?"
"Let me ask another question. When you saw Taka and Miaka for the first time, did you feel anything?"
Reijirou thought back to the day before. It seemed like an eternity ago. "Let's see… A little déjà vu, why?"
Nuriko nodded. "That's the other way. When you first meet someone who's been in the other world with you, you'll know you know them from somewhere. You just don't know where."
"That's a lot of knows and wheres." Reijirou grinned.
"Hai." Nuriko grinned back.
Risako laughed. "This will be interesting."
"Oh, won't it though?" the two of them replied at the same time, then looked at each other and burst out laughing.
"Quiet you clowns, you'll wake Miaka. Nuriko, something's been bothering me."
"Nani?"
"You're a... ghost, aren't you?" Risako asked.
"I think 'spirit' or 'manifestation' are probably better words, but ghost works too."
"Well, whatever you are, how did you and Miaka touch? You're almost see-through. Everything I've read has people passing right through ghosts. And if you're him and he's you, then how can you both be here at the same time and in the same place?" Poor Risako looked extremely confused, pointing at both Reijirou and Nuriko in such a way that her arms were crossed.
Nuriko held up his arm, displaying his arm guards, which had not changed back into the bracelets. "I can touch real people and things because of these. When we were searching for the memory globes, I found that while my bracelets were in this shape I couldn't pass through things or people, and vice versa." He grinned. "I walked into a wall once before I knew. But it proved to be a very useful trait of these things. I had to restrain Taka while we tried to cure him of the parasite in his blood. I could carry my aniki Rokou, Tasuki, and Miaka all at the same time. I could even pound Tasuki into the wall." He brought his other hand up in front of his face, looking at his palms. "But I can't feel even when they're like this. To do that I have to possess someone. I was very grateful to the nyan-nyans for letting me use their bodies time and time again.
"And as for why we can both be here, I'm not exactly sure. We have the same soul. But I think our different upbringings in completely different ages and settings has put enough of a gap between us, as long as I stay in this form."
"That makes more sense than it doesn't, I guess," Risako said with a thoughtful expression on her face.
"Nuriko, will everyone be able to see you? It'll be kind of weird if all of a sudden there's this ghost image of me walking around wearing old Chinese clothes." This had been bothering Reijirou for awhile.
Nuriko grinned and stood up. "Watch."
He vanished.
"YI!" Reijirou and Risako both jumped out of their chairs.
Nuriko reappeared, laughing. "Don't worry! The only people who can see me are people who I want to see me. Someone could walk in that door at this very second-"
The door opened.
Reijirou and Risako burst out laughing at the shocked look on Nuriko's face, collapsing back in their chairs and holding their sides. "All right, what's so funny in here?" came Taka's voice. He walked in and shut the door, placing his briefcase next to the it. "Hello Daishi, Enomoto."
"Hello Taka," they managed to get out as they tried to calm themselves. After a few seconds they got their breath back, and Reijirou noted a mischievous, impish grin on Nuriko's face, exactly like the one he himself used a lot.
"It's just something Nuriko said," Risako said, answering Taka's question as Nuriko casually sauntered across the room and behind Taka.
"Nuriko?! Where?!" He spun around, looking in all directions for another head of violet hair, even behind him. It was pretty clear he saw nothing. Reijirou was suppressing laughter again. "Where?! Where's Nuriko?!"
"Taaaaaaaaka-chan!" Nuriko flicked the back of Taka's head on "chan".
Taka ended up flat on his face on the carpet. "There's Nuriko," he remarked woozily.
Nuriko knelt next to Taka, grinning. "I think I need to watch that from now on. Wouldn't do to scramble poor Taka's brains, now would it?" Reijirou and Risako were howling with laughter and coming close to falling out of their chairs.
"So that's what happened." Taka regarded Miaka with the same grim expression Nuriko had used earlier. He sighed heavily. "She never learned moderation."
"Especially not where you or food was concerned," Nuriko piped up, grinning impishly again.
"If it'd do any good I'd flatten you," Taka grumbled.
"But it won't, so why bother?" Nuriko grinned. "And you wouldn't want to flatten your 'aniki', now would you?"
"Remember, I DID flatten you. Multiple times."
"Oh yeah."
Reijirou and Risako were hiding laughter again. Things definitely weren't dull.
Taka picked up his sleeping wife, blanket and all. "I'm going to put her to bed. She needs rest." He walked down the hall, careful not to jostle Miaka, and went into the same room Miaka had found the books in. Reijirou supposed it must be their bedroom.
But at the current moment the three of them were alone, and he needed to ask a question he couldn't let Miaka or Taka hear. "Nuriko, you said others from the b- other world could be reborn here?"
"Not could be. Were." Nuriko shrugged. "Otherwise this wouldn't be happening. The threat is something from there."
Reijirou shuddered. He didn't want to think of that. "Were other members of the Suzaku no shichiseishi reborn?"
"I think so, I can't see any reason why they wouldn't be."
"Don't mention this to Taka or Miaka, but... would Tasuki have been?"
Both Nuriko and Risako looked sharply at him, Nuriko's look suspicious, Risako's shock gradually being replaced by comprehension.
"Why do you ask that?" Nuriko was wary.
"Because I know someone… Looks like him, cusses like him, has an affinity with fire."
"Reijirou-kun, do you mean…" Risako ventured.
Reijirou nodded. "Yeah. Gesshin."
Nuriko's look melted from suspicion to deliberation. "Possibly… No, almost definitely. Miaka was my greatest friend, and Tamahome my little brother, but Tasuki was like my playmate. We fought all the time yet had fun. It's quite possible. If Taka and Miaka are any sort of example, strong relationships from that world might've been passed down as well."
Reijirou grinned ruefully. "This morning I bashed him into a wall. I'd say there's the same sort of thing with us as with you two."
"If you do that with any frequency, then I'd say definitely." Nuriko grinned yet again. He seemed to like doing that. "Gods, that was fun. He'd say some of the stupidest stuff. He never really seemed to get why that was always happening. Poor boy could be dense as a plank when he wanted to be."
Reijirou laughed and nodded. "Exactly."
Nuriko rubbed his hands together, that mischievous grin back on his face. "I'd like to meet this Gesshin of yours. It should be interesting."
"All right, but I have bashing rights on him. You can bash Tasuki if it turns out to be him."
"Done." They grinned at each other. Really, Reijirou thought, once you get over the shock, it's pretty fun meeting someone who's almost the same as you.
The door opened again. Reijirou turned to see Naora skip in, holding a large jar with a beautiful blue butterfly in it. "Mama! Papa! Look what Uncle Keisuke got for me! And we had hot dogs! Reijirou-san!" Naora ran to him again and hugged him around the knees. "You're still here!" She ran over to Risako and hugged her, too. "And you, nice lady! What's your name, nice lady?"
Risako smiled down at the little girl. "Risako."
Naora grinned. "Risako-san! Reijirou-san and Risako-san are still here Uncle Keisuke!"
"I know, I know." Keisuke walked in, his jacket slung over his shoulder, shutting the door and locking it. "Hello you two. Where're Taka and Miaka?"
It was fairly obvious that neither of them could see Nuriko, who was staring at Naora. "Miaka isn't feeling well, so Taka's putting her in bed." Risako deliberately avoided details, not wanting to worry Naora. "She tried to do too much today and got tired."
Keisuke nodded, a flash of understanding in his eyes. "Hai, she always overreaches herself. Come on, Naora-chan, go get on your pajamas."
"Hai!" She ran down the hall, obviously not worried, carrying the butterfly jar like a precious treasure and disappearing into the room next to Miaka and Taka's.
"She's adorable," Nuriko said softly, watching the door to Naora's room, hands clasped in front of his face. "So kawaii."
Keisuke looked in the direction the voice had come from, grinning knowingly. "So there you are."
Reijirou blinked. "You can see him now?"
Keisuke nodded. "I couldn't when I first came in, but now I can." He turned to Nuriko. "Hello there, I'm Yuki Keisuke." He extended a hand in the seishi's direction.
Nuriko took it and shook. "I thought so. Sorry we haven't gotten the chance to meet before."
"Keisuke, why weren't you startled when Nuriko suddenly appeared?" Risako was baffled.
Keisuke shrugged and put his hands in his pockets. "Miaka told what she was going to try today. I told her she shouldn't, cause she still hasn't fully recovered from yesterday yet."
Nuriko grinned. "She never listened to you before, why should she start now?"
Keisuke grinned back. "Exactly. So when I heard she'd done too much and felt bad – which I assume meaning she collapsed-" the others nodded "-it wasn't hard to put two and two together. Welcome, Nuriko-kun."
"Keisuke?" Taka stepped back into the room. "It is you. Where's Naora-chan?"
"She's changing for bed. She wants to tell you all about her day at the park."
"Hai, with the uncle who spoils her rotten."
Keisuke grinned again, guiltily. "She's my only niece, what else am I supposed to do?"
"Um, excuse me," Nuriko called, waving his arms. "Question over here."
"Nani, Nuriko-kun?" Keisuke asked.
Taka looked at him in surprise.
Nuriko sighed in exasperation. "Yes, he can see me. Taka, is Miaka better?"
He nodded. "She will be. She woke up while I was putting her in bed. We talked a little. She said she wanted to call you today so you and Reijirou could have, and I quote, 'as much time as I can possibly give them.'"
Reijirou sighed. "Time for what, though?"
Taka glanced at him. "Time to get used to working together, I suppose. And time to find out exactly what is going on."
Risako cleared her throat. "Umm, excuse me, not to be rude or anything, but where do I fit in here?"
The others looked at her silently for a second. Nuriko and Taka glanced at each other and nodded. "We're not exactly sure," began Taka, "not even Miaka is, but you will be a driving force in it."
"Me? A driving force?"
"Hai. One of your decisions could change everything that happens." Nuriko said, gently but firmly.
Risako could only stare at him in surprise.
"But that's for another day," Keisuke said, breaking the tension in the room. "Nuriko-kun, what are you going to do in the meantime?"
Nuriko grinned impishly again. Reijirou was beginning to understand the dread he saw on his family's faces whenever he did that himself. "I'm going to see how the new me lives."
AUTHOR'S NOTES II: Hee hee hee hee hee... stay tuned! Sorry about the extended explanation and intense cheesiness and if Nuriko was out of character (which he probably was)! Ja mata!
"'This is your pilot speaking. Welcome to flight, uh, one :pause: from Here to There. We're going to be flying at a height of ten feet :pause: going up to twelve and a half feet :pause: if we see anything big. Your copilot today :short pause: is a thermos of coffee'." - Eddie Izzard (again)
