I have returned! I'm back from the hinterlands of Manitoba, and the next chapter is ready for release. I'll be putting them out one every week or so I hope, until I get to Chapter 11, by which time hopefully 12 will by typed and edited and ready to go too, we'll have to see. I appologise for going slow, but I have to take the time to make sure each chapter is properly edited so that it makes sense now that they don't, in fact, have any memory of where they are.
And to Otaku Pitcher: glad to see someone who actually remembers this old story. I'm certainly going to try to finish it, although it will take some time, since according to the outline Iris and I laid out it is 62 chapters long *sighs*. But I'm certainly going to try! Gambatte! And all that
Chapter 2:
Revelations
Catherine went down and let Pithya in. "So what exactly is so weird that's going on with Elwing?" Pithya asked.
"Well, she's not here, her bag's not here, both her drawers are open with stuff strewn all over the bed... "
"And this is strange?" Pithya interrupted.
"Well, but it's messier than usual, and she's dumped all the pens and stuff out of her bag. It looks as though she turned the whole thing upside down then filled it with clothes. And then there's this weird book I found. It must be hers, since none of our other roommates seem to know where it came from." At this, Catherine opened the door.
"Let's see the book first." Pithya suggested.
Catherine took her into the living room. "Here, do you recognize it?" she asked, handing Pithya The Four Gods' Sky and Earth. Pithya, although not as well versed in Fushigi Yuugi as her two friends Elwing and Iris, certainly knew enough about it to recognize the book for what it was.
" 'The seishi greeted one another, then the bandit asked the masked monk what he knew of these girls.' " Pithya read. "Certainly I know what this book is," she assured Catherine, "but it'll take awhile to explain...and you might not believe it even then. It's the only explanation, but I hardly know whether to believe it myself."
"Well Chichiri, looks like it's been rainin' girls again." Tasuki said sardonically.
"No, she just fell in the lake, no da."
"I didn't mean that way, dammit!"
Chichiri just grinned. He turned to Elwing. "So, this is the friend you were looking for, no da?"
"Yes, this is Iris. Iris, this is Chichiri. And who's that you're with?" she asked oh so innocently.
"This is Tasuki." she said, giving Elwing a dirty look, "What was that comment about the lake, anyway?"
"Oh," Elwing's ears turned red and she glanced over at Chichiri, "I, um, landed in a lake, 'nough said, okay?"
"Hey, at least you didn't land in hay, I was sneezing my head off."
"Was that land in the hay, or roll in the hay?" Elwing smirked.
Iris raised her eyebrows innocently. "My, my, what you think of me!"
Tasuki and Chichiri looked askance at their respective charges, then Tasuki asked, "So now what the Hell are we supposed to do about them?"
"Well, I'm taking Elwing here to see Taiitsukun tomorrow, but think it would be prudent for you to go to the palace to consult with the spirits of the other seishi, no da. I will meet you there as soon as I can, no da."
"That's what I'd already kinda planned to do." Tasuki said.
Suddenly, Iris's gaze abstracted and she sat up straight and began to speak. "That which was cold and dead shall be reborn." she said. Just as suddenly, she snapped out of it and noticed them all staring at her. "Did I say something?" she asked, bewildered.
They all just continued to stare at her, gape-mouthed.
"You said, 'That which was cold and dead shall be reborn'. Do you have any idea what that means?" Elwing asked her friend.
Iris looked as confused as the rest of them. "I have no idea, no. Are you sure that's what you heard me say?"
"That's what you said, no da." Chichiri assured her.
"That's weird."
Tasuki was still just sitting there, staring at her. Suddenly he snapped out of it. "Um, girl...Iris...that sounded like somethin' outa... Are you alright?!" he turned to catch her as she fainted. "What's wrong with her, dammit?" he asked Chichiri.
"I think she'll be all right, no da. Look, she's waking up, no da."
Tasuki looked down right into her open eyes.
"Oh, Hello. What am I doing on the floor?"
"You fainted."
"Mmmmm... It's a comfy floor, and I'm really tired, can I just stay here for a bit?"
"I think we'll go now, no da." Chichiri said, laughing.
As the tapestry faded, Elwing and Chichiri heard Tasuki say "I don't fuckin' think so, I'll take you next door and you can sleep on the floor there, if you like floors so much."
Tasuki picked Iris up and she laid her head wearily on his shoulder. Just then there was a knock on the door.
"Hello! Who is it? It's Genrou's best friend Kouji, come back from his trip. Oh, Hello Kouji, it's good you're back. You're welcome, please come in." The door opened, "Arigatou!" said Kouji as he stepped through... and stared in surprise at the scene before him. "I'm not interruptin' anythin' am I Genrou?" he grinned.
Tasuki blushed brightly, too stunned even to drop Iris for his usual 'reunion dance' with Kouji, "She's fuckin' sick." he explained.
"Oh, is that how it is?"
"I'm just carryin' her to her bed. I want you where I can keep half an eye on you at all times," he told her, "so I'm movin' your stuff to this room." He opened the door to the next room.
"Whatever, I'm just tired." Iris muttered.
Tasuki laid her carefully down on the bed and was just turning around to get her stuff from the other room when she zoned out again. This time, however, the character for "see", Miru, appeared on her forehead over the third eye chakra.
"In the Temple of the Peacock, all will be revealed." she intoned, then fainted again.
Tasuki and Kouji looked at her, their expressions somewhere between aghast and stunned.
"Does she do that often?" Kouji asked Tasuki
"Well, shit, considerin' that's the second time in under ten minutes, I'd hafta say yes." Tasuki confirmed.
"AIYAH!" Kouji exclaimed, "How does she ever get anythin' done?"
"I dunno. Maybe it only happens when she's tired. She was here all through dinner and it never happened then." Tasuki mused.
Kouji looked at the character fading on her brow, then to Tasuki's still-bared forearm. "She a seishi then?"
"Shit! I didn't even think of that! I don't think so. More likely she's some kinda Miko."
Iris moaned and began to wake again. "Oooh, I have such a headache. Did I faint again?" she asked.
"Indeed you did. Why the bloody Hell didn't you tell me you had a character like mine?" Tasuki demanded.
"That's news to me!" Iris said.
"It's right on your forehead, how could you not have noticed it?!"
Iris reached up to her forehead and felt a lingering tingle of energy. "That's never happened before!" she insisted, "Look, I'm as confused by this as you, but can we put off the interrogation until tomorrow? I'm really tired, 'kay?"
Tasuki thought about it for a minute. "Alright," he said finally, "we'll finish this tomorrow mornin'. We'll have lotsa time on the road to talk." He turned around to face her and saw that she was already fast asleep.
"You must be gettin' borin', Gen-chan." Kouji teased him.
"I've never seen anyone fall asleep that fuckin' fast." Tasuki said, stunned. "How the Hell can you be talkin' to someone one minute, and fast asleep the next?"
Kouji grinned. "I wouldn't know. You seem to manage it fairly well, though."
Iris rolled over in her sleep and both of them shut up quickly, fearing they had woken her up, but she just resettled herself, sprawling across as much of the bed as she could cover.
"She sleeps just like you do!" Kouji pointed out gleefully.
"Let's get her fuckin' bag and leave her to it, then." Tasuki suggested.
"You're gonna have to leave again, aren't you?" Kouji asked him, getting serious.
"Looks like it. Damn fuckin' girls droppin' outa the sky with fuckin' missions!" Tasuki complained, "I never get a chance to do anything. Just as I get started, another fuckin' girl drops in!"
Kouji just laughed at him. "Don't try to claim you don't have fun runnin' around on dangerous missions, saving Konan-koku from danger."
"Yeah, well, okay, but that's not the fuckin' point dammit!"
"If you were meant to spend your whole life here, you wouldn't've been born with that character on your arm." Kouji pointed out
"Interestin' thought, but what'd they have done without me?" Tasuki grinned, back to his sunny self.
After the "meeting", Elwing was deep in thought, trying to figure out what exactly was going on with all these strange places and people which seemed so familiar.
"I can smell dinner, no da." Chichiri pointed out to Elwing, "If we let it cook too long, it might burn, no da."
"Oh, sorry," Elwing blinked and looked at him, "did you say something about dinner? I was a little distracted."
"So I noticed, no da. Come, let's eat, no da." Chichiri stood and extended his hand to her.
She reached up and took his hand and he helped her to her feet... and then had to catch her as she lost her balance and tumbled into him. He noticed, for in her low-cut dress it was perfectly visible, that as she took his hand, the character for "feel", Kanjiru, blazed over her heart chakra.
"Are you alright, no da?" he asked her.
"I don't think so." she said shakily, "Physical contact seems to allow me to experience two points of view."
"Oh, sorry, no da." he immediately let go of her.
"Thanks. I don't know how that happened, but boy did it do a number on my equilibrium!" she stepped carefully over to the bed and sat down.
"I have a character too, no da." Chichiri said.
"What do you mean 'too'? I noticed the character on your knee when we were talking through the tapestry, but I don't have anything like that."
"Yes, you do, no da." Chichiri corrected her, and brought her a hand mirror, "In the centre of your chest, just below the collarbones. If you didn't have a character before, you certainly have one now, no da."
"You're right!" she said, surprised, as she looked in the mirror. She watched it fade away, then stood up. "Well, no need to sit here while dinner burns. I feel much better now, so let's go eat."
Elwing picked up the rest of her damp clothes and carried them out with her. Chichiri ladled out two bowls of stew as Elwing hung her clothes up on the remaining pegs, then they sat down to eat.
"So what exactly happened there, no da?" Chichiri asked her.
"It was very strange. When I took your hand, it was like I was you, but at the same time, I was still myself. I could see myself from your perspective, and I picked up surface thought; mostly surprise," she admitted, unable to meet his gaze.
"Has this ever happened to you before, no da?"
"Never before today," she answered, "but earlier today when you put your arm around my shoulder I felt your concern through your touch. Then, of course, just now, which was, as I've said, much stronger."
"Daaa... Interesting, no da." Chichiri mused, "It's obviously linked somehow with the appearance of your character. Probably it's also got something to do with you arriving here, no da."
"Hey, I just thought of something!" Elwing exclaimed, "Is it possible that being here is strengthening powers I already possessed back home? I always was good at 'reading' people's emotions and helping them work out their problems."
"That could be it, no da. Doubtless you have a purpose here, and this has something to do with it, no da."
Elwing sighed. "A purpose. It sounds so... I don't know... good, but frightening, like I'm a pawn in some game I can't even see."
"It can be frightening at first, no da. The other seishi and I all had our characters from a young age, so we had lots of time to adjust, no da." He took off his mask and reached out and touched her arm, closing his eye first to try to reduce the vertigo and concentrating on his own feelings about the purpose leant to his life through being a seishi.
She had a fleeting thought that he should really take his mask off more often, he was so handsome even with the scar, but her train of thought was interrupted and she groaned as her character blazed to life again, then slumped in her chair as he broke contact.
"I'm sorry to do that to you," he apologized, replacing his mask, "but I could think of no better way of telling you how I felt than to have you see for yourself, no da. Was it less dizzying without vision, no da?"
"A little." she admitted. "It also helped that you were concentrating on conveying a particular piece of information. It still made me a little nauseous, though."
"Sorry about that, no da. Does this mean I can have your stew, no da?" he asked, lightening the tone.
"I don't think so!" she said, and laughingly pulled the bowl toward her, "I'm the one who got dunked in the pond, remember? I need sustenance to keep me from getting sick! So, what is a seishi anyway? You said you and Tasuki were Suzaku no Shichiseishi, but what does that mean?"
"There are four animal Gods, and each is worshipped by a different country and controls a different direction, no da." Chichiri began, "Suzaku is the Red Peacock of the South, and his powers centre around fire and love, no da. Each animal God is assigned a quadrant of the sky, and the seven constellations in that quadrant are the seven seishi assigned to protect that God's Miko, no da." he continued in this bent for awhile, then switched to his own comrades. "The Suzaku no Shichiseishi are me (Chichiri), Tamahome, Nuriko, Hotohori, Chiriko, Tasuki, and Mitsukake, no da. Our Miko has already come, and in our quest to call Suzaku, all but Tasuki and myself died, no da."
He looked so sad that Elwing reached out without thinking to touch his arm in comfort. She was immediately bombarded with feelings of sadness, not only over the deaths of his former comrades, but also the earlier deaths of his fiancée and best friend. It seemed to her almost like something out of a romance novel or an anime but to be confronted with it in so immediate a manner was an entirely different matter. She quickly took her hand away, but the damage was already done.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she wailed, "I didn't mean to intrude, honest! I wasn't thinking! This power is so new to me I forgot! I only meant to comfort you a little, I didn't mean to pry, honest!" she began to cry almost without realizing it.
Chichiri sighed. "It's okay, I've lived with it for nine years now, and it's not exactly a big secret, no da."
This reassured her a little, and she wiped the tears away from her eyes. "Still, it was unfair of me to invade your privacy like that. I feel really bad about it." Elwing apologized with a sniffle, "I need to learn better control over this power. I don't want to go through the rest of my life unable to touch anyone!"
"Maybe I can teach you the control you need, no da." Chichiri offered, "It will likely take awhile, though, so until then, try to remember not to touch anyone, no da."
"Lucky I'm not usually very 'touchy-feely' anyway." Elwing sighed, and dipped her spoon into her bowl and brought it to her mouth, only to realize that it was empty as she got it there. "Oh, I guess since I'm finished eating I ought to go to bed now." she looked down at her bowl, "But first, as repayment for the meal, please allow me to do the dishes." Elwing picked up her empty bowl and Chichiri's and carried them over to the basin, then put a pannikin of water over the fire to boil.
"It's very kind of you, no da. If you're tired I'll do them, though. After all, I've lived on my own before, and certainly do know how, no da."
Chichiri offered in return.
"Nonsense. I'm not that tired, really, but you can dry if you want."
Once the water was hot, he took the steaming pannikin off its hook and carried it over to her, then picked up a towel.
"Why don't I tell you about the other seishi, no da."
"Okay!" she smiled
"Let's start with Tamahome, no da." with a poof Chichiri disguised himself as Tamahome, "He loved only two things in life... money, and Suzaku no Miko, Miaka. He has the character for 'Ogre' on his forehead, and his special talent as a seishi was an innate skill for martial arts. He was Suzaku no Miko's main protector, no da.
"Now, on to Hotohori, no da." another poof and he looked like Hotohori, bucket hat, duck shoes and all, "Hotohori was the Emperor of Konan-koku. He was a little vain, and he thought he was the most beautiful person anywhere, but he was devoted to his people and was a great Emperor, no da. His character, 'Star' was on the left side of his neck, and his talent was with the blade, no da."
Poofing again, he was now Nuriko, "Then there's Nuriko, who looked like a girl, but really, he was a young man who was playing the part of an Imperial Lady of the Inner Court, and was in love with Hotohori, no da. He was very strong, it was his talent as a seishi, but he was also a great friend, and kind to everyone. His character of 'Willow' was on the left side of his chest, no da."
He poofed back to himself, "I'm a wanderer, or I was. These days I have to be able to keep in contact with Tasuki and the Empress Regent, since Hotohori died before his son was born and I serve as one of her advisers; so I keep this cottage up, and usually report in here about once a month if nothing comes up sooner, no da. My seishi talent is ki blasts and kekkai, and I've also had training in spells and other kinds of ki manipulation under Taiitsukun, the ruler of this world. You've already seen 'Well' on my right knee, so you know my character... "
"But not my own." Elwing interrupted shyly, "I can't read your Kanji, so I don't know what it says."
"It's no surprise, it says 'Feeling', no da." he told her.
"After me, the next seishi to be found was Tasuki. You've already met him, so you know what he looks like, no da. His 'Wing' is on his right forearm, and his seishi talent is speed. He also carries an iron fan, his tessen, which can throw flames with an incantation from him. He's a bandit, so he swears a lot, but he's really the most emotional of us all, and an honest and trustworthy man, if a bit immature, no da.
"Following Tasuki is Mitsukake, no da." this time, he did poof again into the form of Mitsukake, "He was a doctor with a painful past, and his talent was healing. He has 'Sadness' on the palm of his left hand, and because of his pain, he was always rather quiet, although he had a wicked sense of humour and a very dry wit, and whenever he did say something, you knew for sure it was worth saying, no da."
Tama-neko chose this particular moment to wander in, and Elwing grinned and grabbed the dishcloth from Chichiri just long enough to dry her hands, then knelt down and extended one hand lightly out palm down with fingers held loosely. "Hey, there, pretty one!" she crooned, and clicked her tongue at him. Tama wavered for a second between her and Chichiri (who still looked like Mitsukake) and she made a strangely melodious mewling sound which closely resembled a litter of young kittens calling for their mother. It was a sound no ordinary cat could ignore, and Tama was no exception. He strolled nonchalantly over to her and sniffed her outstretched fingers. Accepting her, he nuzzled her palm to mark her and she scratched his ears. She kept herself still as he wound himself around her body, moving only the one arm to stroke him as he passed in front of her. Finally, she scooped him up into her arms and thence onto her shoulder and turned back to the now finished washing-up. "Yours, I assume?" she asked.
"He was Mitsukake's, no da. After Mitz died, Tama-neko here seemed to adopt me, so I guess he's mine now, no da."
He poofed into the form of Chiriko, "The last of the seishi to be found was Chiriko. He was a child genius, and had already passed the first Civil Service Exam when he came to us at thirteen, granting him the title of 'Budding Genius', no da. His talent was intellect, and he had the sign of 'Stretching' on his right foot. He was small for his age, and always felt rather bad about it, but even though he was still young and not yet fully trained so his symbol sometimes disappeared, and with it his power, he was an extremely brave boy, no da."
Finally he poofed back to himself. "Let me take care of that water, no da." he offered, "You should get to bed, we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow, no da."
Elwing yawned, "You're probably right." she agreed, "This has been a long day, and nothing like I expected it to be. Good night." she waved over her shoulder as she glided back to the spare room she had been given for the night.
"Good night, na no da." Chichiri answered.
" 'The Monk watched the woman disappear around the corner to bed, with sad thoughts of companions dead and gone...' " Pithya read. "If there's any kind of destiny, that's probably Elwing with Chichiri." Pithya explained to Catherine, "The description certainly sounds like her, and Chichiri is her favourite character. As for the other girl, I'm not sure, but I suspect it's probably Iris. After all, she introduced Elwing to Fushigi Yuugi, so who else would Elwing call when she found this book?"
Catherine interrupted her. "I still don't understand how you can think they're inside a book." she complained, "And what is this Fushigi Yuugi you keep mentioning?"
Pithya thought for a minute. "A picture's worth a thousand words." she said, and went into Elwing's room, "Do you know where she keeps her videotapes?" she called out to Catherine.
"In her closet." Catherine called back.
A minute or so later, Pithya came out carrying Elwing's collection of Fushigi Yuugi. "I've only seen the first three episodes, myself, but they told me about some of it, and even just that much is enough to realize what's happened here." she explained to Catherine as she slipped the first tape into the VCR, "This is the best way I can think of to explain it to you."
And so began Catherine's introduction to the mysterious play of The Universe of the Four Gods.