Chapter Two: Shichi Seishi Tatara

"Oi*! Kasara! Now's not the time to be sleeping! I've got some big news for you!" Tokaki and Suzuno were standing outside of the shop, it was still early, but Suzuno and Tokaki were both anxious to get all the known Seishi together,

"Lau'an, is that you?" Came a groggy voice from inside. Suddenly a man with long brown hair and intense blue eyes opened the door to the store. He looked over his friend and then saw Suzuno.

It was almost as if his breath had been knocked right out of him. He had never in his life ever seen a more beautiful woman. She looked so gentle and sincere. Kasara thought his heart might stop if he ever looked away from him.

"Oi, Kasara," Tokaki began waving his hand in front of his face to get his attention. "Are you awake?"

--

"Byakko no Miko? Are you sure?" Kasara asked, looking back to Suzuno again in shock. This girl? This beautiful girl the Byakko no Miko?

"I found her in the middle of the valley, she said she came from a place called Mororoki Japam."

"Morioka Japan." Came Suzuno's correction.

"Whatever, whatever."

"Which one are you?" Suzuno asked, her eyes gazing intently into Kasara's.

"Which... which what?"

"Tokaki said you were one of the Seishi."

"Oh, right." Kasara stood up. "I am Tatara of the Byakko no Seishi." Tatara said, bowing his head to her, Suzuno found herself blushing once more.

"Show her your powers!" Tokaki said slapping him on the back.

Tatara nodded and then went over to the counter of the store. There, there was a row of bowls with seeds in them. He took one out and held it in his hands. Then it began to grown, vines slowly came out and began to roam about the room.

"You can control plants?"

Tatara nodded once more and let the vines recede back into the seed. He then put it back into the bowl.

"Is that why you own a flower shop?"

"Not just flowers, I mostly sell herbs."

"Wow..." Suzuno breathed out in total awe of him. She couldn't get over how handsome he was, well really she couldn't get over how handsome they both were... and how they were both basically at her command, there to protect her.

"Well, I guess we should go look for the other Seishi?"

"I guess that means you don't know where the others are?" Suzuno asked, hoping that she was wrong.

"Unfortunately no, but I'm sure we'll find them," Tatara answered, with a reassuring smile.

"We Seishi seem to find each other, isn't that right? I found Tatara by coincidence, and I found you, I'm sure I'll find the other five just as easily."

"Well then, let's get ready." Suzuno stood up with a smile. "We have a God to summon.

--

Tyamine Kousa carefully walked through the crowded streets of the Xi-Lang capital. It was good to be able to walk around again. Kousa had been waiting for this day for two years, ever since he was 19, and he wasn't about to waste one second of his freedom.

He walked past a young man who was talking to a friend and quietly and quickly grabbed his money pouch. The man continued to walk on by. Kousa leaned against a wall and inspected the purse.

"Two, four, six... eh not bad," Kousa said, twirling the small pouch on his fingers and then shoving it into his pocket.

Yep, life was good, and it would stay good as long as he didn't run into a certain Captain Hahm*.

--

"Tatara said he'll meet us at the gates, he said he has to get his younger brother to watch the store." Tokaki explained as he waited outside of Suzuno's room in the palace.

"How old is Tatara anyway?" Suzuno asked as she grabbed her bag, she had been wearing it when she had looked into the book and it had travelled with her. Inside were a few of her books, some writing utensils and a small metal mirror a little bigger than her hand. She had decided to take it with her as she searched for the other Seishi because she may want to study, or read, or write.

Also, she was still wearing her school clothes (freshly washed), but she wore a dark-blue cotton cloak overtop of it to look less inconspicuous.

"He's 20."

"20? You're all so young." Suzuno said thoughtfully, feeling a little guilty about pulling these people into this affair.

"Older than you," Tokaki smiled. "Wow, 15 and already a Miko."

"It's not so great," Suzuno replied as they walked through the hall to the horses that were waiting for them there.

"Not so great!?!" Tokaki stared at her with disbelief. "You're grovelled at by people everywhere you go. You're allowed to stay in the palace. The Emperor looks up at you. And," Tokaki smirked. "You get to hang around with me."

"Like I said, not so great," Suzuno said with a small smirk on her face as well.

Tokaki stared at her as she walked over to the stable. "Strange girl..."

--

"After all of this is done, do you think we'd be able to look around the capital?" Suzuno asked as they rode Tokaki's horse towards the gate to meet Tatara.

"I suppose so, but there's not much to see around here." Tokaki answered, shrugging.

"Not much to see? I've never seen anything like this. I still can't believe my eyes and this is the third day I've been in this world."

"It's still hard for me to believe that you're finally here. Tatara would go on and on about the Byakko no Miko and how important we were to her. In all honesty, I never thought you'd come, but I always hoped you would."

"How did you meet Tatara?"

"I met him when I moved here and first became a soldier. I was wandering the streets when I see Tatara fighting off some weasel of a pick pocket. I saved Tatara, threw the pick pocket in jail. In the process of fighting the pick pocket, Tatara saw my character, and he told me about how he had one and well... Now I'm just getting to be a bore."

Suzuno smiled. "No, I like stories."

"Tell me about yourself. Tell me about your world."

"There's so much, I don't know where to begin."

"From the beginning."

"Well, I live in Morioka Japan with my father. I don't have any siblings, because my mother died giving birth to me..." Suzuno paused. "My father never remarried."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Tokaki whispered, his voice sounded from some deep hurt inside of him.

"We live in a nice house, and are doing ok even though the economy is failing-"

"What do you mean?"

"Hm," Suzuno thought for a little, trying to think what to say. "Well after the war, a lot of country's economies suffered. There are a lot of people now with no food or homes... It's terrible."

"War is terrible... and I wish ours would end."

"What are you fighting over anyway?"

"Religion, of course. Down here in the South, we believe that the Miko will come and save us... and in the North, they don't."

"We won't have to go to the North, will we?"

"... I don't know yet."

"Hey! My money!"

Tokaki stopped the horse and looked over to see a man at a store trying to buy some food, searching frantically through his pockets.

"I've been robbed!"

"A pick pocket?" Suzuno asked, and double checked that their bags were still strapped onto the horse.

"Yes..." Tokaki answered, eyes gazing over the crowd, searching. "There!"

"What!?!" Suzuno asked and grabbed onto the horse as Tokaki kicked it and started into the crowd of people. "What are we doing!?!"

"I won't let him get away!"

Confused and befuddled, Suzuno looked through the parting crowd and saw a man running away from them. She couldn't see his face, but he wore a long beige coat and had long dirty blonde hair done in a lose ponytail.

"Tyamine! Stop right there you thief!"

"Tokaki!" Suzuno yelled, frightened. Who was this man? Why was Tokaki suddenly losing his head?

Tokaki brought the horse up beside the man and then jumped off, tackling him to the ground. He didn't wait a second, he just started punching him.

"I thought you learned your lesson, you filthy bandit!"

Kousa got over his initial shock and punched Tokaki in the face, throwing the man off of him. Kousa then got onto his feet and wiped the freshly drawn blood off his face.

"Shit Hahm! I didn' do nothin'!"

Tokaki jumped back up and rammed into Kousa, pushing him against the horse where Suzuno watched on.

The horse reared and Suzuno felt herself fall off the horse in what seemed to be slow motion.

Suddenly she was on the ground, everything seemed quiet, and then she heard a voice.

"Oi lady, you ok?" It was the thief. Now she got a good look at his face and was stunned. He was very handsome, though in great need of a bath, with dark green eyes. He looked young, and yet his eyes looked very old and very worn.

He held out a hand and Suzuno took it, trusting his face almost instantly. She was on her feet when she saw Tokaki come at them.

"Get away from her you bastard!"

He shoved hard against Kousa, and Kousa rolled with it, spinning around Suzuno and taking a knife out.

"Don' move Hahm! I'll slit your whore's throat!" He yelled, practically spitting in Tokaki's face.

Suzuno felt the cold blade against her neck, but he didn't press hard. His hand was slightly trembling.

"He's scared," was all Suzuno could think. "He doesn't know what to do."

Tokaki took a step forward.

Kousa took a step back, dragging Suzuno with him, his arm tightly around her waist. "I'm serious!"

"Don't hurt her Tyamine, or I swear ever limb on your body will regret it."

"Maybe," Kousa replied with a confident grin. "Maybe not."

Then Kousa lightly jumped onto Tokaki's horse with Suzuno and began to ride away.

"Ah shit!" Kousa cursed as he raced the horse through the crowd, one hand on the reins, and the other wrapped around Suzuno.

"TOKAKI!!!" Suzuno yelled, looking back as Tokaki ran after them, teleporting after them even, but he could only go a few feet at a time. He was soon lost in the crowd as the horse sped up.

"He'll kill me! He'll kill me!" Kousa began to yell at himself.

"So then let me go!" Suzuno yelled, the grave reality of the situation sinking in completely. What if this guy was from the North, maybe that's why Tokaki had been so hard on him... He might kill her... he might do a number of things to her.

Suzuno attempted to struggle, but he was just too strong.

"The gates!"

"The gates!?!" Suzuno looked forward. Where was he? "TATARA!!!"

"Suzuno?" Tatara said quietly, hearing the yell. He was leaning against the city wall, holding onto the reins of his horse. Where had that come from?

Then he saw it, the horse stampeding towards them, he saw Suzuno... and, a man who looked terribly familiar. Then it hit him, it was the thief he had fought when Tokaki had first found him. The man he had put in jail. A man out for revenge.

"TATARA!!!" Suzuno yelled again, just as the horse sped past him.

Tatara quickly jumped on his horse and with a kick was after them. He looked back into the city for a second, but with no sign of Tokaki quickly put all his attention into following the horse.

There was only one place they could go from the city walls. To the North, and West, the meadow, but to the East and South, there was a forest. It wasn't a very dense forest, so Tatara was sure he could catch up to them, and of course, he was sure the trees would be able to aid him.

Suzuno could do nothing out hold on tight and pray to this Byakko that Tatara caught up to them. Once in the forest Kousa began to go in different directions, following no pattern, and Suzuno quickly realised that he was doing it so that they would lose Tatara. Her heart began to sink. This wasn't right. This wasn't supposed to be happening.

Tatara reached out to all the trees with his power. They had to be able to help him. Slowly the trees began to respond, the branches began to leech out, searching for the thief.

Kousa reacted as calmly as he could.

"HOLY SHIT!!!" He dodged as a branch came down and almost took his head off. The horse began to shout and Kousa knew it would probably rear again.

The trees were coming alive all around them. They were reaching out, grabbing at him, cutting him and the horse, maybe even Suzuno. He couldn't keep this up for long.

Then he saw it, his chance to escape. A pile of leaves.

Kousa slowed the horse down just a little and then made a sharp right, where he quickly sped up again. He turned around and felt a branch hit him on the side of his head, causing him to become dizzy. But still he kept looking behind him.

Suddenly Tatara came around the bend, and just like Kousa had expected, the horse lost its footing on the leaves and slip into a tree. The figures lay motionless.

With a smile, Kousa kicked the horse again at the two rode off into the woods.

*Terms:

Oi: Hey (I just like using this one...)

Captain Hahm: The Japanese version would be Hahm no Tou

(About Suzuno's story, I'm not sure if it's accurate, I was writing from memory. I also added what I don't think was ever explained. If anybody knows what decade all of this happened - our time - please tell me. I made in the 1920s - specifically 1924 - but I may very well be wrong, I'm just going on the hunch that Genbu went in the book in 1924, and this probably happens close to that so... If it is wrong, tell me, I'll change it. Anyway, I was gonna go on with this chapter, but I thought it might be nice to leave it on a cliffhanger. Also, this way the chapters will be shorter, though there might be more of them. Oh well! Now, let me talk about Kousa Tyamine, who is absolutely on hundred percent mine. He's not really based of anyone, though he sometimes reminds me of Tasuki, Gambit, the Count of Monte Cristo and a little bit of me thrown in. Does that make sense? Who knows. I really like him, especially since he's the first actual character in this who is MINE!!! I love saying that. One thing that was really fun about him was making up what he looks like. I was gonna give him black hair and brown eyes like a normal Chinese man would, when of course I realised that no other Chinese man in Fushigi Yuugi looks normal, so why should he? *Evil laughter inserted here* I think I'm gonna bug my friend to draw a picture of him, that way you guys can all see how hot I've envisioned him. By the by, I'll be putting up one chapter every week - Friday. If I miss a week, it just means you get two the next. Ok, lots of reviews! Love, you, goodbye)

Reviews:

Queen of Cups: Sorry! No BIAM BIAM in this chapter, but there will be BIAM BIAM later on! *Wink*

Golden Kitsune: Thanks Ravi, as usual your reviews helped tons. I changed a lot and think that the first few chapters are much better because of it.

Patricia: Hey girl! How's Newfoundland?

Krista: Thanks Krista, I know how much of a task writing that was for you... *Sweatdrop*