*creepy voice* I'm ba-a-a-a-a-ack. *evil smile* Yeah, I'm kind of in a
weird mood today. And it's the morning, who knows if this chapter will
turn out good.
Disclaimer: This annoys me. If I'm writing fanfiction, you KNOW I don't own Fushigi Yuugi. And it's true, I don't.
Oh, and this chapter is dedicated to Kerry, because Nuriko is all hers. And of course, my new "Beta Reader" Caitlin.
------------
It had been about a week since they had found Mitsukake, and they all were heading to the main city. After resting the night before at an inn, the suzaku seishi and their new priestess were up bright and early to continue their journey, all in a fairly good mood. Giving up on trying to get Chichiri to teleport them all, Hikari was quietly looking around at the scenery as they walked.
As the sun rose to be at its highest point in the sky, Chichiri slowed. "We're almost there, but why don't we take a break?" he suggested. They all nodded in agreement, plopping their stuff down. Mitsukake and Chiriko rested their backs against nearby trees and Tasuki flopped down on his stomach. Chichiri wandered off. Hikari sat down, and looked around, bored. Even Tasuki had fallen asleep. Hikari flopped down next to him and poked him.
"Ne, Tasuki. Are you sleeping?" she whispered.
"YES." He rolled over so that his back was facing her.
"Hey, that was mean!" She rested her head against his back and felt him become very tense.
"What are you doing?"
"Resting."
"But. . .ah. . ."
"Oh, get over it." She did a little headbutt into his back and stood up, brushing herself off. Leaving the three sleeping seishi, she wandered off to go find Chichiri. She found him a little ways off by some sort of pond, sitting by the edge. She went and sat next to him.
"Hello," he said, smiling at her.
"Is this why you let us stop?" she asked. Chichiri nodded.
"Usually I'd be fishing, but I don't have my fishing rod with me."
"Do you think there's any fish in here?"
"Dunno," he said, shrugging. He smiled at Hikari. "Miaka-chan once started off a serious conversation by asking that question." Hikari paused.
"Then maybe you can tell me why we immediately started looking for the seishi? Why are we summoning Suzaku?"
"What do you mean?" he asked, looking confused. "Girls appear from the other world because they want to summon Suzaku. Don't you have wishes you want to be granted?"
"Um," she said. "I'm not sure. I didn't mean to come here. I didn't know that's what would happen."
"I think it usually is by accident."
"But. . .Okaasan said that when she went, she kind of had some warning."
"How did you get here then?"
"Well, it was night where I was, and my mother was telling me more about the Shi Jin Ten Chi Sho, this place, like she always has. And then in the next room, my dad started yelling and we saw this really bright red light."
"The light of Suzaku. Go on."
"Um. . .and then I saw this little book where the light was brightest, and I spaced out. The next thing I next, I was in the light, facing my parents and they were kind of fading away."
"So you had no idea what was going on?"
"No," Hikari said, shaking her head.
"Usually Suzaku will call the priestess. . ." Chichiri said, lost in thought.
"Why do you think he called me?"
"I'm not sure. But I do know that our country of Konan is in trouble." He saw Hikari look confused. "It seems peaceful, but. . .it's been falling apart from the inside. Our emperor, Boushin-sama, is a good man, like his father. But six months ago, some strange man no one had heard of before organized this massive riot right in the main square to try and throw Boushin-sama from the throne. Soliders stopped the riot, but that man disappeared, and no one has seen him since. That's not all, but that's the major conflict as of now."
"Wow," Hikari breathed. "It sounds like something right out of a history textbook."
"Eh? What do you mean, no da?"
"Oh, nevermind. You and your "no da"s, though!" Dipping a finger lightly in the water, she flopped onto her stomach, but the spongy ground couldn't hold her. The muddy soil crumbled beneath her and she shrieked and she fell into the water.
Chichiri jumped up from where he was sitting. "Hikari-chan! Are you alright?" He held out his hand to help her out.
Hikari coughed for a minute, wiping the water out of her eyes. She then grabbed the hand being offered and tugged Chichiri into the water after her. He had a look of complete surprise as he toppled in head first, but when he bobbed back up to the surface, they both laughed. "It was getting to serious for me," she said, excusing her sporadic playfulness. "Ne, you know what would really bug Tasuki?"
"What?" Chichiri asked, still good natured although he was soaking wet. Hikari pushed Chichiri back under the water and screamed at the top of her lungs. Within seconds she heard the footsteps of the other seishi running towards them, shouting.
"Hikari! What's the matter?" They were all yelling. Chiriko bent down and offered a hand like Chichiri before him, and Mitsukake grabbed a long stick to hold out to her. Tasuki, on the other hand, was running with his god-given seishi speed and took a flying leap into the pond, realizing too late that she was grinning madly. Before they knew what had hit them, Hikari grabbed the stick and Chiriko's hand, dragging them both into the pond as well.
Chichiri was above the surface again, grinning at Tasuki, who had just floated up. He was in the center of the pond, flailing his arms and yelling like a madman. "AGH! I CAN'T SWIM, I CAN'T SWIM! HIKARI! AAAAAGH HELP ME DAMN YOU!"
"Oh shut up," she said, laughing. "If you stay where it's shallow, you can stand!"
Mitsukake was looking at Hikari curiously. "What was all that about?"
She shrugged and smiled. "It's not like we're a funeral procession, right?" Mitsukake smiled. Back by the center of the pond, Chiriko had swam over to a still flailing Tasuki and was trying to lead him closer to the shore.
"You really need to learn how to swim, Tasuki-san," Chiriko said. Tasuki let a number of colorful curses fly, and everyone laughed. Hikari had managed to push away any worries or doubts she had had earlier, like she knew jumping into the pond and causing a commotion would do.
--------------
By mid-afternoon, the five of them had given up trying to dry their clothes in a logical manner. Tasuki's tessen had only succeeded in burning the top of Hikari's sock. By the time they reached the city, their goal for that day, they were tromping through the streets, grinning as their shoes made squishing sounds.
The seishi and Hikari had reached the marketplace, and Hikari was going from stand to stand with widened eyes, making sounds of awe at every fan, slipper, and piece of cloth. The seishi were casually strolling, following her from a distance but not worrying too much about her. Finally she came upon a stand selling beautiful glass balls. Leaning forward she poked and prodded then, squealing. "They're SO cool!" Hikari said. "Back home, we'd never be able to find something this nice!"
"I'm glad you think so," said a voice directly behind her. Hikari spun around, caught by surprise. A woman was standing over her with a cheeky smile on her face. "That is my stand, of course."
"Oh!" Hikari said. "They're really really nice! I would buy one from you, but I don't have any money on me. Not from this world, at least."
"This world?" The woman said, curious. "You mean you're from another world?" Hikari nodded. "I remember that girls from the other world dressed oddly, but I would never have imagined that you could see right through their clothes."
"WHAT?" Hikari shrieked. She looked down. Her uniform, although gray colored, was wet and plastered against her chest area, showing more than an outline of her bra. She cringed and cursed herself for wearing a black bra. "You guys! WHY didn't you tell me!?!?!" She yelled at the approaching seishi.
"Ah, um. . ." Chiriko said. "You've been running around this whole time, we couldn't exactly get a closer look, Hikari-san." She turned bright red. "Oh! That's not what I meant! We weren't trying purposely to getacloserlookatleastthatswhatithinkididntmeanforittoturnoutsoawkwardly. . ." he mumbled to himself, blushing.
The woman laughed. "I thought she might be a priestess, but you certainly don't look like a seishi." She looked at Chiriko for an answer, but he was looking off in the distance, completely spaced out. Hikari poked him, and he jumped.
"Oh! I am a seishi. I'm Chiriko."
"NO WAY!" The lady yelled. "You're kidding me! You've gotten so BIG! Oh my Suzaku, I don't believe it! Wow, you're like the same age as the priestess now! Are you two dating? WAIT! WHERE ARE THE OTHERS? Eek, I can't believe this!"
"We're right here," Tasuki interrupted. "Will you stop yer squawkin'? Who the hell are ya?"
"TASUKI!!! I'VE BEEN LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS!" the woman ran forward and squeezed Tasuki in a massive hug. He looked uncomfortable, but also short of breath.
"Ay," he said with some difficulty. "Lemme go, I can't breathe!"
"Ano. . ." Hikari said awkwardly. People nearby were either staring at the screeching purple haired lady or staring at Hikari's clothing dilemma. The woman turned to her.
"Now that I think about it, you do look EXACTLY like Miaka. OH! You ARE Miaka! MIAKA!!"
"I'm NOT Miaka," Hikari grumbled.
"She's Miaka and Tamahome's daughter," Chichiri added.
"Woooooow, they had a kid, did they? Only one, or are there more?"
"Only one!" Hikari said, embarrassed for some reason. "But, um, if we're going to scream more, could we move to a place where people won't stare? My clothes are embarrassing me now."
"Well of course," the woman said. "Follow me, you'll be happy you found me."
The followed the woman, weaving through the marketplace. Hikari suddenly snapped out of the whirlwind of confusion the woman had created. "Wait, you ARE you?"
"I'm Nuriko, of course."
"I KNEW IT!" Tasuki yelled. "I knew it all along! Of course you were Nuriko!"
"Then why have you been giving Nuriko suspicious glares the entire time?" Chichiri asked. Tasuki said nothing, only muttering under his breath.
Nuriko laughed. "Well, welcome to my home." They were walking towards a small house, where there was a man standing at the doorway, looking surprised. "That is my husband. Dear, we have guests!" She said, calling out to the man.
"You're married?" Mitsukake asked, the first thing he had said in a while. Nuriko nodded, smiling.
"Wait, you're a WOMAN?" Tasuki yelled, surprised. Nuriko nodded again, grinning.
"But more importantly, Nuriko," Chichiri said. "Do you have any idea where Hotohori is?"
"Of course I do," Nuriko said matter-of-factly. "I'm married to him."
----------------------
YES! This has been my master plan since the beginning, all you readers. To the people who left comments asking that Nuriko be happy. . . I felt the EXACT same way. And there you have it. We have all the seishi now. . .Except Tamahome. What are we going to do about Tamahome? *shakes head and clucks* Well, I didn't need to ask you, because I know EXACTLY how we're going to get Tamahome. It's the last day of my vacation today, so. . .it's back to work and most likely the "I'm going to write a chapter a week but I forgot so we'll make it 10 days to a fortnight" deal. Although I do have about a month's worth of chapters done in this week alone. Talk to you guys sooooooon! Lol I practically cackled writing that last line of dialogue. Yeah, I'm done.
Disclaimer: This annoys me. If I'm writing fanfiction, you KNOW I don't own Fushigi Yuugi. And it's true, I don't.
Oh, and this chapter is dedicated to Kerry, because Nuriko is all hers. And of course, my new "Beta Reader" Caitlin.
------------
It had been about a week since they had found Mitsukake, and they all were heading to the main city. After resting the night before at an inn, the suzaku seishi and their new priestess were up bright and early to continue their journey, all in a fairly good mood. Giving up on trying to get Chichiri to teleport them all, Hikari was quietly looking around at the scenery as they walked.
As the sun rose to be at its highest point in the sky, Chichiri slowed. "We're almost there, but why don't we take a break?" he suggested. They all nodded in agreement, plopping their stuff down. Mitsukake and Chiriko rested their backs against nearby trees and Tasuki flopped down on his stomach. Chichiri wandered off. Hikari sat down, and looked around, bored. Even Tasuki had fallen asleep. Hikari flopped down next to him and poked him.
"Ne, Tasuki. Are you sleeping?" she whispered.
"YES." He rolled over so that his back was facing her.
"Hey, that was mean!" She rested her head against his back and felt him become very tense.
"What are you doing?"
"Resting."
"But. . .ah. . ."
"Oh, get over it." She did a little headbutt into his back and stood up, brushing herself off. Leaving the three sleeping seishi, she wandered off to go find Chichiri. She found him a little ways off by some sort of pond, sitting by the edge. She went and sat next to him.
"Hello," he said, smiling at her.
"Is this why you let us stop?" she asked. Chichiri nodded.
"Usually I'd be fishing, but I don't have my fishing rod with me."
"Do you think there's any fish in here?"
"Dunno," he said, shrugging. He smiled at Hikari. "Miaka-chan once started off a serious conversation by asking that question." Hikari paused.
"Then maybe you can tell me why we immediately started looking for the seishi? Why are we summoning Suzaku?"
"What do you mean?" he asked, looking confused. "Girls appear from the other world because they want to summon Suzaku. Don't you have wishes you want to be granted?"
"Um," she said. "I'm not sure. I didn't mean to come here. I didn't know that's what would happen."
"I think it usually is by accident."
"But. . .Okaasan said that when she went, she kind of had some warning."
"How did you get here then?"
"Well, it was night where I was, and my mother was telling me more about the Shi Jin Ten Chi Sho, this place, like she always has. And then in the next room, my dad started yelling and we saw this really bright red light."
"The light of Suzaku. Go on."
"Um. . .and then I saw this little book where the light was brightest, and I spaced out. The next thing I next, I was in the light, facing my parents and they were kind of fading away."
"So you had no idea what was going on?"
"No," Hikari said, shaking her head.
"Usually Suzaku will call the priestess. . ." Chichiri said, lost in thought.
"Why do you think he called me?"
"I'm not sure. But I do know that our country of Konan is in trouble." He saw Hikari look confused. "It seems peaceful, but. . .it's been falling apart from the inside. Our emperor, Boushin-sama, is a good man, like his father. But six months ago, some strange man no one had heard of before organized this massive riot right in the main square to try and throw Boushin-sama from the throne. Soliders stopped the riot, but that man disappeared, and no one has seen him since. That's not all, but that's the major conflict as of now."
"Wow," Hikari breathed. "It sounds like something right out of a history textbook."
"Eh? What do you mean, no da?"
"Oh, nevermind. You and your "no da"s, though!" Dipping a finger lightly in the water, she flopped onto her stomach, but the spongy ground couldn't hold her. The muddy soil crumbled beneath her and she shrieked and she fell into the water.
Chichiri jumped up from where he was sitting. "Hikari-chan! Are you alright?" He held out his hand to help her out.
Hikari coughed for a minute, wiping the water out of her eyes. She then grabbed the hand being offered and tugged Chichiri into the water after her. He had a look of complete surprise as he toppled in head first, but when he bobbed back up to the surface, they both laughed. "It was getting to serious for me," she said, excusing her sporadic playfulness. "Ne, you know what would really bug Tasuki?"
"What?" Chichiri asked, still good natured although he was soaking wet. Hikari pushed Chichiri back under the water and screamed at the top of her lungs. Within seconds she heard the footsteps of the other seishi running towards them, shouting.
"Hikari! What's the matter?" They were all yelling. Chiriko bent down and offered a hand like Chichiri before him, and Mitsukake grabbed a long stick to hold out to her. Tasuki, on the other hand, was running with his god-given seishi speed and took a flying leap into the pond, realizing too late that she was grinning madly. Before they knew what had hit them, Hikari grabbed the stick and Chiriko's hand, dragging them both into the pond as well.
Chichiri was above the surface again, grinning at Tasuki, who had just floated up. He was in the center of the pond, flailing his arms and yelling like a madman. "AGH! I CAN'T SWIM, I CAN'T SWIM! HIKARI! AAAAAGH HELP ME DAMN YOU!"
"Oh shut up," she said, laughing. "If you stay where it's shallow, you can stand!"
Mitsukake was looking at Hikari curiously. "What was all that about?"
She shrugged and smiled. "It's not like we're a funeral procession, right?" Mitsukake smiled. Back by the center of the pond, Chiriko had swam over to a still flailing Tasuki and was trying to lead him closer to the shore.
"You really need to learn how to swim, Tasuki-san," Chiriko said. Tasuki let a number of colorful curses fly, and everyone laughed. Hikari had managed to push away any worries or doubts she had had earlier, like she knew jumping into the pond and causing a commotion would do.
--------------
By mid-afternoon, the five of them had given up trying to dry their clothes in a logical manner. Tasuki's tessen had only succeeded in burning the top of Hikari's sock. By the time they reached the city, their goal for that day, they were tromping through the streets, grinning as their shoes made squishing sounds.
The seishi and Hikari had reached the marketplace, and Hikari was going from stand to stand with widened eyes, making sounds of awe at every fan, slipper, and piece of cloth. The seishi were casually strolling, following her from a distance but not worrying too much about her. Finally she came upon a stand selling beautiful glass balls. Leaning forward she poked and prodded then, squealing. "They're SO cool!" Hikari said. "Back home, we'd never be able to find something this nice!"
"I'm glad you think so," said a voice directly behind her. Hikari spun around, caught by surprise. A woman was standing over her with a cheeky smile on her face. "That is my stand, of course."
"Oh!" Hikari said. "They're really really nice! I would buy one from you, but I don't have any money on me. Not from this world, at least."
"This world?" The woman said, curious. "You mean you're from another world?" Hikari nodded. "I remember that girls from the other world dressed oddly, but I would never have imagined that you could see right through their clothes."
"WHAT?" Hikari shrieked. She looked down. Her uniform, although gray colored, was wet and plastered against her chest area, showing more than an outline of her bra. She cringed and cursed herself for wearing a black bra. "You guys! WHY didn't you tell me!?!?!" She yelled at the approaching seishi.
"Ah, um. . ." Chiriko said. "You've been running around this whole time, we couldn't exactly get a closer look, Hikari-san." She turned bright red. "Oh! That's not what I meant! We weren't trying purposely to getacloserlookatleastthatswhatithinkididntmeanforittoturnoutsoawkwardly. . ." he mumbled to himself, blushing.
The woman laughed. "I thought she might be a priestess, but you certainly don't look like a seishi." She looked at Chiriko for an answer, but he was looking off in the distance, completely spaced out. Hikari poked him, and he jumped.
"Oh! I am a seishi. I'm Chiriko."
"NO WAY!" The lady yelled. "You're kidding me! You've gotten so BIG! Oh my Suzaku, I don't believe it! Wow, you're like the same age as the priestess now! Are you two dating? WAIT! WHERE ARE THE OTHERS? Eek, I can't believe this!"
"We're right here," Tasuki interrupted. "Will you stop yer squawkin'? Who the hell are ya?"
"TASUKI!!! I'VE BEEN LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS!" the woman ran forward and squeezed Tasuki in a massive hug. He looked uncomfortable, but also short of breath.
"Ay," he said with some difficulty. "Lemme go, I can't breathe!"
"Ano. . ." Hikari said awkwardly. People nearby were either staring at the screeching purple haired lady or staring at Hikari's clothing dilemma. The woman turned to her.
"Now that I think about it, you do look EXACTLY like Miaka. OH! You ARE Miaka! MIAKA!!"
"I'm NOT Miaka," Hikari grumbled.
"She's Miaka and Tamahome's daughter," Chichiri added.
"Woooooow, they had a kid, did they? Only one, or are there more?"
"Only one!" Hikari said, embarrassed for some reason. "But, um, if we're going to scream more, could we move to a place where people won't stare? My clothes are embarrassing me now."
"Well of course," the woman said. "Follow me, you'll be happy you found me."
The followed the woman, weaving through the marketplace. Hikari suddenly snapped out of the whirlwind of confusion the woman had created. "Wait, you ARE you?"
"I'm Nuriko, of course."
"I KNEW IT!" Tasuki yelled. "I knew it all along! Of course you were Nuriko!"
"Then why have you been giving Nuriko suspicious glares the entire time?" Chichiri asked. Tasuki said nothing, only muttering under his breath.
Nuriko laughed. "Well, welcome to my home." They were walking towards a small house, where there was a man standing at the doorway, looking surprised. "That is my husband. Dear, we have guests!" She said, calling out to the man.
"You're married?" Mitsukake asked, the first thing he had said in a while. Nuriko nodded, smiling.
"Wait, you're a WOMAN?" Tasuki yelled, surprised. Nuriko nodded again, grinning.
"But more importantly, Nuriko," Chichiri said. "Do you have any idea where Hotohori is?"
"Of course I do," Nuriko said matter-of-factly. "I'm married to him."
----------------------
YES! This has been my master plan since the beginning, all you readers. To the people who left comments asking that Nuriko be happy. . . I felt the EXACT same way. And there you have it. We have all the seishi now. . .Except Tamahome. What are we going to do about Tamahome? *shakes head and clucks* Well, I didn't need to ask you, because I know EXACTLY how we're going to get Tamahome. It's the last day of my vacation today, so. . .it's back to work and most likely the "I'm going to write a chapter a week but I forgot so we'll make it 10 days to a fortnight" deal. Although I do have about a month's worth of chapters done in this week alone. Talk to you guys sooooooon! Lol I practically cackled writing that last line of dialogue. Yeah, I'm done.