Okay, I am very annoyed, as all of you must be. My internet connection is doing screwy things, so I couldn't post this chapter last night. Furthermore, speaking of chapters, they're going to start becoming smaller, and thus, more frequent. I'm graduating from college in April, and I have a lot of things taking up my time. I no longer have the time to keep writing my nice size chapters. Also, to anyone who has checked out my website, I hope to work on that soon, as well. I am finally on the last chapter that my father has sent me from his computer, which is where I started this story, and the files that he sent me are screwy. I'm in the process of decoding them.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fushigi Yuugi, or ANY of the characters in my story. All I own is some nice, shiny pennies.

Through Rain or Snow, part one

I wake up the next morning, with a crick in my neck. I realize that trapped between the two women, I had little to no chance of moving in my sleep. I also find that I have woken before my traveling companions. Trying to get up, I notice that it is not yet sunrise. Walking to the door, I look back at the Miko and my Onee. Sheltered in my shield, they should remain safe until I have returned.

The first task is to dispel of my nightly water. Feeling relieved, I take off the new cloak of mine and stretch my wings. They itch. The feathers that Nakago-san pulled out are starting to grow back. Preening a bit, so that they don't bother me for the rest of the day, I walk back to the barn and start to cook a small portion of our rations. Though Miaka-san has a large appetite, and I understand that this is the ultimate understatement of the year, she must learn to tone down the amount of food she consumes in order for this amount to last us till we regroup with the others.

With the skill and success that shows from all of my studies, I burn the rice.

This, I believe is what awoke Opii and Miaka-san.

After Opii took over the role as cook, insisting that she plans to actually eat on our trip, we eat and bid a goodbye to the farmers who shared their barn with us. At this point I bless all the Gods, for my sense of smell was a definite down point at this occurrence.

Still, we ride in silence for a good five hours, all of us with important issues upon our minds.

Me: What path should we take? We have lost time and we need to regroup with the other as soon as possible.

Kouran: I hate to be leaving home. When I moved here, I thought that this would be the place that I grew old and died.

Miaka-san: I'm so hungry!!!!!!!! There's no way I can sneak food past these two. I wonder is Chiriko can teach me what plants are editable.

We stop, after the five hours, for a light lunch. Miaka-san looks dismally at her ration, but with a martyred sigh, quickly eats the food offered to her.

"Ne, Otouto…are you sure she won't choke, with her eating that fast?"

"I'm sure. I'm under the impression that her body must have more than one stomach, thus she must have more than the two pathways in her throat."

"O~kay…"

After I am done eating, I go over my plans for our regrouping, asking my Onee for any piece of information she may have of the landscape.

"There's an old road, that only local village peasants use, that is no longer marked on any maps. It will get us back on the road that your friends are riding on. Providing there pace isn't too fast, we may end up on the road before them."

"Ne, Kouran, why don't anyone but the peasants use the road anymore?"

"Well, the problem with this road, is that upon certain times of the year, freak snow storms would occur, trapping people. Eventually, the people who were trapped would die. So, the scholars learned to time the season that the snowstorms would occur, because they did not want to give up this road. It was the fastest way to Sairou from the capitol in its hay day. However, about forty years ago, the weather pattern shifted violently around here. Being at war with Kutou and having to adjust the planting time for crops while dealing with wide spread famine grew to be too much for the old dynasty. Thus, the emperor was dispelled, replaced with our current emperor's father. We are now under the Geng-Buan dynasty. However, with the creation of the new dynasty, they still had to face Kutou. By the time all of the problems were solved, this road was in such disarray, that the government didn't even try to get it back. The peasants, still needing the use of the road for trade purposes, learned to time the seasons for the roads use. I should warn you, if we take that path, that we are at the tail end of the snow season. We could very easily get trapped."

"Hm. Are there any other options that the two of you can come up with? You might think of something that I have not looked into."

"Chiriko, I learned in my math class, that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line."

"Okay, I'll agree with that."

"What if we were just to go straight in the direction that it would take to get back to the right road and when we get to a mountain or something else that is unavoidable, you could use your powers and teleport us or maybe even fly us across."

"While those are good ideas, I do have a few problems with those plans of action, Miaka-san. The first problem is that I don't dare use too much of my powers because I'm trying to avoid any conflict with Nakago-san until the Shinzahou and you are back with the safety of the group. Nakago-san will be on the look out for any spikes of my ki in order to retrieve the sacred object. That, and probably to settle the score with me. No doubt, with the last time that he and I met, it wounded his pride to have someone as young as me, no matter that I am part God, defeat him in a physical battle. By looking at me, it is not something one would expect me to do yet."

"I don't know about that, Otouto. You seem to be gaining more muscle."

"I attribute that to the traveling that I have done recently. Otherwise, I doubt that I would have gained as much until I turned seventeen. As for flying, that idea is okay for a mountain or two, but before I wasn't even use to flying while holding objects. Though I do seem to be gaining more practice than usual, I know that I would not be able to keep that up for very long. Now, we throw in the horses and supplies. There is no way that I can fly everything we need to take with us across even a single mountain. However, as I stated before, those were good plans. I believe that we should take the road that Opii suggested and save your plans, Miaka-san, for emergencies.

With a final resolution to our first problem, we set out towards the aforementioned road.

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Well, there we go, the first part of Through Rain or Snow. I will have the next part up by Friday, 7th.

Ja ne!

Tsukiyo