~An American Miko~
Chapter Ten
Shock & Anguish
The next day Myst was out for a walk in the gardens when she heard laughter. She laughed to as she watched Yuiren, Gyoukuran, and Shunkei catch up to and tackle Tamahome in the grass. Chuei was sitting on a large rock by the pond laughing as well.
They all looked up when they heard her laugh to and the three youngest jumped up to tackle her too. "Mistyc!"
"Hi Myst!"
"Will you come and play with us?"
She laughed and stood. "Sure if your big brother doesn't mind that is. I. Tamahome? What's wrong?"
Tamahome had turned away from her and his ears were bright red. "Um. you're not properly dressed your Majesty."
Myst looked down at herself and laughed lightly again. "Yes I am silly. These are the clothes I brought with me from my world. They are a bit revealing by this worlds standards, and certainly a lot more comfortable than court garb, especially now that I'm pregnant, but I am covered."
Tamahome slowly turned to look at her. "Your Majesty."
She cut him off with a wave of her hand. "Please, save that formality for Hotohori if you want. I never can get used to it quite. Call me Myst."
"Sure. Myst. looking at my father and siblings, they love it here, and they treat you, Hotohori and Nuriko like friends. Thank you."
Smiled and picked up Yuiren, who hugged her. "You are our friend too Tamahome. I might be Empress, Hotohori might be Emperor, and Nuriko might be a courtesan, but we are just as human as the next. Hotohori has lived a solitary life because his rank. He just wants to be treated as an equal once in a while, not as someone above everyone. He can achieve that goal in the seishi, for in Suzaku he is just one of the warriors. When he is not taking care of his duties as Emperor, as long as I am here, he is just a fellow seishi and he wants to be treated as a friend and not the ruler of a country."
He nodded as she put Yuiren back down to play. "I see. Then I would be honored to call you friend and serve you as Seishi to Miko. And as for Hotohori, I guess it just took a little bit for me to realize that he too is just a man, with the same needs and wants that I have. If it's possible, I would like to call him friend as well."
She smacked him playfully upside the head. "Of course you idiot. And stop treating me so regally!"
He laughed then nodded at the children. "Tell me. Do you know how to play. Tickle Monster?!"
The kids, even Chuei, shrieked and ran as seishi and miko took off after them.
**********
The children were back in their rooms with Tou-san, tired after playing so hard and Myst had invited Tamahome to come eat with her and the other seishi in one of the private, royal rooms. The two were still a little out of breath, but had smiles on their faces as they walked into Hotohori's office. and stopped dead.
Hotohori was sitting at his desk with his eyes closed and his brow furrowed. His hand covered his mouth and he looked about ready to cry. Nuriko was leaning up against the desk beside Hotohori with his back to the door and his arms crossed, and a worried look on his face.
Myst stepped forward. "What's wrong?"
The tow seishi started and Hotohori casually tried to cover the paper in front of him with his hands. "Nothing," he said a little too quickly.
Myst flung out her hand and stamped one foot forward. "Bullshit! You don't wear a look like that on your face without a good goddamned reason, so cut the crap and tell me what's wrong!"
The three seishi were taken aback by this sudden outburst. Taking the chance given, Myst snaked out her hand and snatched the paper from Hotohori's desk. She read it then looked up at Hotohori. "And you couldn't just tell me that you received a threat on my life?"
Nuriko planted his hands on his hips. "You're taking this rather lightly aren't you?"
Myst laughed almost hysterically. "No actually I'm not. In fact. someone had better catch me before I pass out!" As she said this, she swayed, her eyes rolled back into her head, and she fell into Tamahome's waiting arms.
Tamahome lowered her gently to the floor as Hotohori and Nuriko ran around the desk to check on her.
**********
Myst awoke to the sound of familiar voices speaking in hushed tones. She stretched and opened her eyes and the voices stopped speaking. The three seishi were looking at her expectantly. "How long was I out this time?"
Nuriko sat beside her on the bed. "Only about an hour. How do you feel?"
"Fine I guess. So what are we going to do about this?"
The seishi looked at each other. "Well, since we are seishi and you are the miko not to mention empress, first and foremost, we must protect you."
Hotohori ran a hand through his loose hair as he continued. "One of us will be with you at all times, if not a few guards as well. You are to stay inside until the threat is taken care of."
Myst shook her head. "Ohhhoho, no! We're going to revise that plan of yours a bit. I refuse to live in fear. First off, I will not be made a prisoner in my own home, though I won't go past the palace walls into the city, I refuse to stay inside. Second, I will not be followed around by a mob of guards like some sort of inmate, besides, that's like saying, 'Look! I have a shit load of guards around me! I must be the empress. Kill me!' I will agree to one of you staying with me though and that's final. This discussion is over whatever else you do, feel free."
The seishi all shared looks again and then nodded at the same time. "Okay."
"Yeah."
"That sounds reasonable. I'm going to double security though and I don't want you to go out in the open too much. And that dear wife, is non- negotiable."
Myst nodded and leaned into Hotohori's strong, tight, embrace as he sat on the bed and took her into his loving arms. "Okay. I'm a little hungry. Can we eat now?"
Hotohori nodded, kissed the top of her head and summoned a servant.
**********
It had been a week since the fated letter and life was pretty much back to normal except for those few restrictions and the maintained high security and that at least one seishi was still with her at all times. It was usually Nuriko and she was just fine with that. He was her best friend.
They were out in one of the side courtyards when the attack hit. Myst and Nuriko had been joking around in his room for most of the day and had decided to go for a small walk to stretch and get some fresh air.
Nuriko was in the middle of saying something when his eyes went wide and he suddenly jumped in front of Myst. There was and odd whistling sound and two dull thunks, and Nuriko dropped to his knees. He coughed as Myst knelt beside him and gasped at what she saw.
His face was tight with pain and blood dripped from his lips and around the arrows that were lodged in his chest about where his glyph would be and dangerously close to his heart.
Myst jumped up and shouted frantically, "Nuriko! Nuriko you have to get up! We have to make it inside. Please, you need help now!" She looked in the direction that the arrows had come from. and looked strait into a huge fireball.
Her eyes went wide and she froze him horror. Suddenly just before it hit, Nuriko having broken the shafts of the arrows, surged to his feet and threw his arms around her, turning his back to the blaze and shielding her with his own body.
Everything seemed to happen in slow motion after that. She felt the heat and felt Nuriko's body stiffen and arch against hers. She watched his face contort in pain as he tossed his head back. She heard his piercing, agony- filled scream as it was ripped from his throat and echoed in her ears and through the courtyard above the roar of the fireball. She smelled the burnt skin and silk as she and the broken seishi fell to the ground.
The crystal headdress he had been wearing shattered and his long purple hair fell out behind him as he landed forward on top of his miko and friend. Then there was a silence. A silence that was broken my Myst's mournful scream. "Nurikooo!"
She heard another rushing noise and looked up with tearful, panicked eyes at another fireball. She squeezed her eyes shut, clutching Nuriko close, and waited for it to hit.
When it didn't hit and she heard a male scream, she looked up to see the charred body of her would-be assassin fall out of a tree and the silhouette of a man standing over them, protecting them.
This man turned to look at them. "Are you all right your Majesty no da?"
Myst knew who she was from the 'no da' and the vision that she had had about him and took this time to move out from under her fallen friend. She turned his limp, broken body over to hold him in her arms.
Hotohori, Tamahome, and a squad of guards reached them at this time and as she settled him into her arms, the charred remains if his dress fell away from his upper body, laying to sight the two bloody and splintered arrow shafts still lodged in his obvious male chest.
Hotohori shouted orders to search for anymore possible threats and to bring medical help immediately. He turned back to look at his wife and the fallen seishi and said stupidly, "She's a man."
Myst looked up at her husband with open pain for her friend shining in her overflowing, tearful eyes. "Does that matter Hotohori? I knew who and what he was from the first moment that I saw him. Does it make you think any less or any differently about him?"
Hotohori shook his head and took off the loose robe that was hanging from his shoulders and pressed it around the arrow shafts to try and staunch the bleeding.
Myst legs and the ground were also being soaked with the blood coming from the ruined, raw flesh of Nuriko's back, and for one moment, Myst was glad that he was unconscious, so he wouldn't feel the pain of it. She was worried about the blood she could hear in his throat as his breath fought passed it. It slowly dripped from his pale lips.
Tamahome remained silent but if you looked, you could tell that he still felt the same about Nuriko as he ad before. Nothing had changed for any of them in that aspect except for the knowledge.
Hotohori looked over at the strange man who now knelt beside them. "Who are you and how did you turn the blaze back on that man?"
"It was a simple deflection spell no da. My name is."
"Chichiri." They turned to look at Myst who was still looking down at Nuriko's blood-smeared ashen face. She had an even and almost emotionless voice. "Your seishi name is Chichiri, and your real name is Houjun, but please." she looked up at him finally. "Now is not the time to be smiling. Take off your mask." She looked back down.
It was clearly not a request and he reached up and removed the smiling mask revealing the one good eye that stared at her in awe. You could almost read the thought in his expression. 'How much does she know?"
Hotohori and Tamahome's eyes widened for a moment when they saw the man's real face, but they said nothing.
The doctor finally ran up and dropped to his knees to check the fallen warrior. He stared for a moment, obviously a little more than shocked to see that he was a man, until Myst punched him in the leg. "Well?! What in the fucking name of hell are you waiting for?! The four gods to throw a party and invite you?! He's dying, come on!"
The doctor nodded an began frantically assessing the injuries. He looked up after not too long. "We need him inside now! I can do nothing for him out here if you wish him to keep his dignity and guard against infection."
They nodded and Tamahome bent to pick up the slight seishi, cringing as his arm and hand came in contact with massive damage that had been done by the fire. They took him to the royal halls instead of his own room and put him in the bedroom that connected to their own. Tamahome gently laid him on his right side, not knowing any other way to lay him without hurting him more.
The doctor barked orders at one of the servants to run and bring his the things he needed from his office, which was thankfully close to the royal halls. He pressed soaking cold cloths to Nuriko's back, neck, and shoulders, and turned him onto his back to lay on them, speaking as he did so. "His body weight will help slow the bleeding on his back and the coldness with help with the obvious, but he's going into shock and I can't help that. Now is the time to pray."
The servant came back with the bag of tools, then left. The doctor took out a form of scalpel and began working on removing the arrows and repairing the damage. "The arrows are deep and where they hit is a major problem. I can't do much for him. To give my honest estimate, there's maybe a fifteen percent chance that he'll make it. The damage is just too much. Tamahome, please assist me. I'll tell you what to do."
Tamahome nodded and stepped closer. Myst sat, still covered in Nuriko's blood in Hotohori's lap, sobbing quietly in his arms, he fists clenched against his chest.
Hotohori's head was bowed against hers and he fought to keep back his own tears. Chichiri knelt down beside them and spoke softly. He put his hand on Myst's shaking arm. "Don't cry Empress no da. I may be able to help some if you will allow me no da."
Myst lifted her head and looked at him, still crying. "Anything! If it is within my power to give it, you shall have it."
The monk nodded and looked up at Hotohori's pale face. "And you your Majesty?" Hotohori nodded and Chichiri smiled slightly. "Good. What I need if a bit of your chi, your life energy. Not much. Just enough to keep him alive for now. Since Tamahome is assisting the doctor and the miko is with child, this will some mostly for you and me your Majesty. It might make you a little dizzy at first and give you a headache. You'll feel a slight pull, but don't fight it. When Tamahome is done, I'll see about connecting him as well if he agrees."
Hotohori nodded. "Do it now."
Chichiri nodded back and settled himself into a lotus position on the floor. Hotohori gasped as it started, and leaned his head back against the wall, shutting his eyes as the world tilted and twisted around him.
Myst felt only the slight pull on her and nodded to herself. She wrapped one arm tighter around her husband and with the other, reached up and pulled her headdress off and then pulled the pin on her husband's. She ran her fingers through his silky hair as it fell over his shoulders. She leaned her head against his shoulder, burying her face in his neck and fell asleep with her fingers still in his hair and his arms tightly around her.
**********
A.N.: Yeah, yeah I know this chapter was really angsty, but the next ones gonna be cute so just wait and read on ne?! Beside. I like a little bit of angst, deathfics aren't my thing at all, but I have been know to write one for diversity sake, so you never quite know what I'm gonna do no da. Once again, ENJOY!!!!!
~Celesta Hellewise Harman
The next day Myst was out for a walk in the gardens when she heard laughter. She laughed to as she watched Yuiren, Gyoukuran, and Shunkei catch up to and tackle Tamahome in the grass. Chuei was sitting on a large rock by the pond laughing as well.
They all looked up when they heard her laugh to and the three youngest jumped up to tackle her too. "Mistyc!"
"Hi Myst!"
"Will you come and play with us?"
She laughed and stood. "Sure if your big brother doesn't mind that is. I. Tamahome? What's wrong?"
Tamahome had turned away from her and his ears were bright red. "Um. you're not properly dressed your Majesty."
Myst looked down at herself and laughed lightly again. "Yes I am silly. These are the clothes I brought with me from my world. They are a bit revealing by this worlds standards, and certainly a lot more comfortable than court garb, especially now that I'm pregnant, but I am covered."
Tamahome slowly turned to look at her. "Your Majesty."
She cut him off with a wave of her hand. "Please, save that formality for Hotohori if you want. I never can get used to it quite. Call me Myst."
"Sure. Myst. looking at my father and siblings, they love it here, and they treat you, Hotohori and Nuriko like friends. Thank you."
Smiled and picked up Yuiren, who hugged her. "You are our friend too Tamahome. I might be Empress, Hotohori might be Emperor, and Nuriko might be a courtesan, but we are just as human as the next. Hotohori has lived a solitary life because his rank. He just wants to be treated as an equal once in a while, not as someone above everyone. He can achieve that goal in the seishi, for in Suzaku he is just one of the warriors. When he is not taking care of his duties as Emperor, as long as I am here, he is just a fellow seishi and he wants to be treated as a friend and not the ruler of a country."
He nodded as she put Yuiren back down to play. "I see. Then I would be honored to call you friend and serve you as Seishi to Miko. And as for Hotohori, I guess it just took a little bit for me to realize that he too is just a man, with the same needs and wants that I have. If it's possible, I would like to call him friend as well."
She smacked him playfully upside the head. "Of course you idiot. And stop treating me so regally!"
He laughed then nodded at the children. "Tell me. Do you know how to play. Tickle Monster?!"
The kids, even Chuei, shrieked and ran as seishi and miko took off after them.
**********
The children were back in their rooms with Tou-san, tired after playing so hard and Myst had invited Tamahome to come eat with her and the other seishi in one of the private, royal rooms. The two were still a little out of breath, but had smiles on their faces as they walked into Hotohori's office. and stopped dead.
Hotohori was sitting at his desk with his eyes closed and his brow furrowed. His hand covered his mouth and he looked about ready to cry. Nuriko was leaning up against the desk beside Hotohori with his back to the door and his arms crossed, and a worried look on his face.
Myst stepped forward. "What's wrong?"
The tow seishi started and Hotohori casually tried to cover the paper in front of him with his hands. "Nothing," he said a little too quickly.
Myst flung out her hand and stamped one foot forward. "Bullshit! You don't wear a look like that on your face without a good goddamned reason, so cut the crap and tell me what's wrong!"
The three seishi were taken aback by this sudden outburst. Taking the chance given, Myst snaked out her hand and snatched the paper from Hotohori's desk. She read it then looked up at Hotohori. "And you couldn't just tell me that you received a threat on my life?"
Nuriko planted his hands on his hips. "You're taking this rather lightly aren't you?"
Myst laughed almost hysterically. "No actually I'm not. In fact. someone had better catch me before I pass out!" As she said this, she swayed, her eyes rolled back into her head, and she fell into Tamahome's waiting arms.
Tamahome lowered her gently to the floor as Hotohori and Nuriko ran around the desk to check on her.
**********
Myst awoke to the sound of familiar voices speaking in hushed tones. She stretched and opened her eyes and the voices stopped speaking. The three seishi were looking at her expectantly. "How long was I out this time?"
Nuriko sat beside her on the bed. "Only about an hour. How do you feel?"
"Fine I guess. So what are we going to do about this?"
The seishi looked at each other. "Well, since we are seishi and you are the miko not to mention empress, first and foremost, we must protect you."
Hotohori ran a hand through his loose hair as he continued. "One of us will be with you at all times, if not a few guards as well. You are to stay inside until the threat is taken care of."
Myst shook her head. "Ohhhoho, no! We're going to revise that plan of yours a bit. I refuse to live in fear. First off, I will not be made a prisoner in my own home, though I won't go past the palace walls into the city, I refuse to stay inside. Second, I will not be followed around by a mob of guards like some sort of inmate, besides, that's like saying, 'Look! I have a shit load of guards around me! I must be the empress. Kill me!' I will agree to one of you staying with me though and that's final. This discussion is over whatever else you do, feel free."
The seishi all shared looks again and then nodded at the same time. "Okay."
"Yeah."
"That sounds reasonable. I'm going to double security though and I don't want you to go out in the open too much. And that dear wife, is non- negotiable."
Myst nodded and leaned into Hotohori's strong, tight, embrace as he sat on the bed and took her into his loving arms. "Okay. I'm a little hungry. Can we eat now?"
Hotohori nodded, kissed the top of her head and summoned a servant.
**********
It had been a week since the fated letter and life was pretty much back to normal except for those few restrictions and the maintained high security and that at least one seishi was still with her at all times. It was usually Nuriko and she was just fine with that. He was her best friend.
They were out in one of the side courtyards when the attack hit. Myst and Nuriko had been joking around in his room for most of the day and had decided to go for a small walk to stretch and get some fresh air.
Nuriko was in the middle of saying something when his eyes went wide and he suddenly jumped in front of Myst. There was and odd whistling sound and two dull thunks, and Nuriko dropped to his knees. He coughed as Myst knelt beside him and gasped at what she saw.
His face was tight with pain and blood dripped from his lips and around the arrows that were lodged in his chest about where his glyph would be and dangerously close to his heart.
Myst jumped up and shouted frantically, "Nuriko! Nuriko you have to get up! We have to make it inside. Please, you need help now!" She looked in the direction that the arrows had come from. and looked strait into a huge fireball.
Her eyes went wide and she froze him horror. Suddenly just before it hit, Nuriko having broken the shafts of the arrows, surged to his feet and threw his arms around her, turning his back to the blaze and shielding her with his own body.
Everything seemed to happen in slow motion after that. She felt the heat and felt Nuriko's body stiffen and arch against hers. She watched his face contort in pain as he tossed his head back. She heard his piercing, agony- filled scream as it was ripped from his throat and echoed in her ears and through the courtyard above the roar of the fireball. She smelled the burnt skin and silk as she and the broken seishi fell to the ground.
The crystal headdress he had been wearing shattered and his long purple hair fell out behind him as he landed forward on top of his miko and friend. Then there was a silence. A silence that was broken my Myst's mournful scream. "Nurikooo!"
She heard another rushing noise and looked up with tearful, panicked eyes at another fireball. She squeezed her eyes shut, clutching Nuriko close, and waited for it to hit.
When it didn't hit and she heard a male scream, she looked up to see the charred body of her would-be assassin fall out of a tree and the silhouette of a man standing over them, protecting them.
This man turned to look at them. "Are you all right your Majesty no da?"
Myst knew who she was from the 'no da' and the vision that she had had about him and took this time to move out from under her fallen friend. She turned his limp, broken body over to hold him in her arms.
Hotohori, Tamahome, and a squad of guards reached them at this time and as she settled him into her arms, the charred remains if his dress fell away from his upper body, laying to sight the two bloody and splintered arrow shafts still lodged in his obvious male chest.
Hotohori shouted orders to search for anymore possible threats and to bring medical help immediately. He turned back to look at his wife and the fallen seishi and said stupidly, "She's a man."
Myst looked up at her husband with open pain for her friend shining in her overflowing, tearful eyes. "Does that matter Hotohori? I knew who and what he was from the first moment that I saw him. Does it make you think any less or any differently about him?"
Hotohori shook his head and took off the loose robe that was hanging from his shoulders and pressed it around the arrow shafts to try and staunch the bleeding.
Myst legs and the ground were also being soaked with the blood coming from the ruined, raw flesh of Nuriko's back, and for one moment, Myst was glad that he was unconscious, so he wouldn't feel the pain of it. She was worried about the blood she could hear in his throat as his breath fought passed it. It slowly dripped from his pale lips.
Tamahome remained silent but if you looked, you could tell that he still felt the same about Nuriko as he ad before. Nothing had changed for any of them in that aspect except for the knowledge.
Hotohori looked over at the strange man who now knelt beside them. "Who are you and how did you turn the blaze back on that man?"
"It was a simple deflection spell no da. My name is."
"Chichiri." They turned to look at Myst who was still looking down at Nuriko's blood-smeared ashen face. She had an even and almost emotionless voice. "Your seishi name is Chichiri, and your real name is Houjun, but please." she looked up at him finally. "Now is not the time to be smiling. Take off your mask." She looked back down.
It was clearly not a request and he reached up and removed the smiling mask revealing the one good eye that stared at her in awe. You could almost read the thought in his expression. 'How much does she know?"
Hotohori and Tamahome's eyes widened for a moment when they saw the man's real face, but they said nothing.
The doctor finally ran up and dropped to his knees to check the fallen warrior. He stared for a moment, obviously a little more than shocked to see that he was a man, until Myst punched him in the leg. "Well?! What in the fucking name of hell are you waiting for?! The four gods to throw a party and invite you?! He's dying, come on!"
The doctor nodded an began frantically assessing the injuries. He looked up after not too long. "We need him inside now! I can do nothing for him out here if you wish him to keep his dignity and guard against infection."
They nodded and Tamahome bent to pick up the slight seishi, cringing as his arm and hand came in contact with massive damage that had been done by the fire. They took him to the royal halls instead of his own room and put him in the bedroom that connected to their own. Tamahome gently laid him on his right side, not knowing any other way to lay him without hurting him more.
The doctor barked orders at one of the servants to run and bring his the things he needed from his office, which was thankfully close to the royal halls. He pressed soaking cold cloths to Nuriko's back, neck, and shoulders, and turned him onto his back to lay on them, speaking as he did so. "His body weight will help slow the bleeding on his back and the coldness with help with the obvious, but he's going into shock and I can't help that. Now is the time to pray."
The servant came back with the bag of tools, then left. The doctor took out a form of scalpel and began working on removing the arrows and repairing the damage. "The arrows are deep and where they hit is a major problem. I can't do much for him. To give my honest estimate, there's maybe a fifteen percent chance that he'll make it. The damage is just too much. Tamahome, please assist me. I'll tell you what to do."
Tamahome nodded and stepped closer. Myst sat, still covered in Nuriko's blood in Hotohori's lap, sobbing quietly in his arms, he fists clenched against his chest.
Hotohori's head was bowed against hers and he fought to keep back his own tears. Chichiri knelt down beside them and spoke softly. He put his hand on Myst's shaking arm. "Don't cry Empress no da. I may be able to help some if you will allow me no da."
Myst lifted her head and looked at him, still crying. "Anything! If it is within my power to give it, you shall have it."
The monk nodded and looked up at Hotohori's pale face. "And you your Majesty?" Hotohori nodded and Chichiri smiled slightly. "Good. What I need if a bit of your chi, your life energy. Not much. Just enough to keep him alive for now. Since Tamahome is assisting the doctor and the miko is with child, this will some mostly for you and me your Majesty. It might make you a little dizzy at first and give you a headache. You'll feel a slight pull, but don't fight it. When Tamahome is done, I'll see about connecting him as well if he agrees."
Hotohori nodded. "Do it now."
Chichiri nodded back and settled himself into a lotus position on the floor. Hotohori gasped as it started, and leaned his head back against the wall, shutting his eyes as the world tilted and twisted around him.
Myst felt only the slight pull on her and nodded to herself. She wrapped one arm tighter around her husband and with the other, reached up and pulled her headdress off and then pulled the pin on her husband's. She ran her fingers through his silky hair as it fell over his shoulders. She leaned her head against his shoulder, burying her face in his neck and fell asleep with her fingers still in his hair and his arms tightly around her.
**********
A.N.: Yeah, yeah I know this chapter was really angsty, but the next ones gonna be cute so just wait and read on ne?! Beside. I like a little bit of angst, deathfics aren't my thing at all, but I have been know to write one for diversity sake, so you never quite know what I'm gonna do no da. Once again, ENJOY!!!!!
~Celesta Hellewise Harman