QoH: *twitch, twitch* technology hates me.... _() my ancient pc ERASED my entire disk..... *grrrr* anyway! yes, all the seshi ARE alive... ^_^() hey, what can i say? hehe aside from the fact that i HATED that certain ones died in the first place, i think its better for the story ^_~
PS: hey, guess what! ^_____^ they finally got another Fushigi Yugi volume in here at the library. yay! lol its weird tho. 1st they did #6, then #4, now… its #2! o_O what they tryin some funky pattern or somethin?? lol ah well, i get some good Nuriko insight out of it, and since im focusing a good bit on him in this particular chap, its perfect timin! ya know what that means lol some one-sided shonen-ai! ^_^() my 1st time writin anything of that sort, so please don't hurt me!
Chapter 5: Point Of No Return
In the large dining hall of the palace, an emergency meeting of the Suzaku Seshi had been called (with some obvious exceptions, of course) to discuss the declining health of their leader. To look around at their somber faces, one might have thought that someone was on their deathbed. It wasn't so far as that, but each warrior knew all to well what it was to lose one's spirit, and it amounted to about the same thing in the end.
Chichiri set his staff against the table and cast his serious, masked gaze over his fellows, "With the ball fast approaching and Heika-sama in no condition to move from his bed, much less attend, we need to come up with something that will motivate him, even if only slightly. The last thing he would want now is for his subjects to worry themselves over him."
"I agree." Chiriko nodded a couple chairs down, leaning forward on his elbows at the table, "In my recent walks through the gardens with him, I have noticed him withdrawing more into himself with each passing moment. If this self-destructive path continues much longer, I'm unsure whether he can ever recover."
"Ya, we know all that!" Tasuki leaped angrily to his feet and slammed his palms on the wood, "But I still don't see anybody comin' up with any brilliant ideas!"
Nuriko scowled and yanked him back down by the tail-end of his tunic, earning himself a dagger glare from the hot-tempered bandit, "You're not helping matters with all that yelling, either," he looked away with a closed, fairly bitter expression on his face, "I'm as eager to find a solution to this as you are, but what good does it do to throw a tantrum? It doesn't change the fact that His Majesty misses Miaka so much that he is literally wasting away."
"That's true, however I think there will be snow in the Underworld before he moves beyond that. He has sworn that he would always love her as no other, and it's clear he intends to stick by that, no matter the cost to himself." Mitsukake commented beside Chiriko, Tama-neko meowing in agreement from his shoulder.
The crossdressing seshi stood abruptly and stalked out the door, dropping an awkward silence over the group for a couple minutes. The healer shook his head and closed his eyes in regret, "I was careless. Somehow, I'd managed to forget for a moment that Nuriko had been chasing after His Highness even before Miaka came to our world."
"No one can avoid such statements forever, especially when they happen to be true." Chiriko reassured his mentor with a slight nod, "It's a painful situation. Regardless of the outcome, one of our friends will have a broken heart."
Chichiri got up from his seat and paced beside the wall, the fingers of his right hand tapping thoughtfully on his chin, "We may not have to do anything at all, but we really should have something in place if what I sense doesn't come true in time."
Tasuki's eye twitched in mounting irritation as he crossed his arms, "Ya better not be tellin' us to wait again, monk."
"Oh, no," he replied with a small smile on his lips, picking up his staff, "I just don't believe it will be necessary." He turned chibi then and bolted out the door before a frustrated former outlaw could wring his neck. Tasuki naturally gave chase, leaving a rather windblown Mitsukake and Chiriko staring after them, large sweatdrops running down the backs of their heads.
The cluster of trees near Hotohori's garden
Birds squawked in alarmed indignation, fleeing their nests as Nuriko shattered the trunk of a tree in his anger. Seeing the various splinters and branches rain down before him somewhat brought the purple-haired warrior to his senses, and he sighed and sat down against an adjacent tree. That was stupid of me. I shouldn't have let my emotions get out of control like that. Being destructive won't solve anything.
He gritted his teeth and glared at his hands, but kept his irritation firmly restrained this time. The problem is, nothing else seems to work, either. This is just a horrible situation I've gotten myself involved in, it's that simple. Miaka will never come back, and His Majesty will continue to pine for her while I, his "strange friend," sit by and wish for things that will never happen! Why does life like to torture perfectly nice people, sometimes? It couldn't happen to some malicious jerk, oh no... Nakago would never find himself in anything remotely close to this. I hate it, hate it, hate it!
He growled under his breath and surged to his feet, storming off in the direction of Hotohori's chambers. "I'll make him see there's more to life than Miaka Yuuki!"
****
Yui laughed, sitting back to watch her friends argue good-naturedly over what toppings to have on the pizza they were trying to order. She put the phone to her ear and sheepishly explained to the extraordinarily paitent order-taker, "I'm sorry. It'll be just a second. One of my friends suggested mushrooms and anchovies and won't let go of it, despite the vehement refusals from the others."
"That's all right. It happens a lot," the young woman replied, amusement in her voice, "You get used to it after a while. It sounds like you've got a full-blown melee going over there."
Indeed, at that very moment Miaka was being given a good-sized noogie by Keisuke for mentioning the "mushrooms and anchovies" idea, as he was in favor of sausage and pepperoni. Miaka was fighting back pretty well, giving him a few punches to his kidneys as Taka tried to pull her out of her brother's grasp. Tetsuya was doing his part in yanking back on his best friend's torso, but the siblings seemed to be locked together in their efforts to pound at each other.
"OK, everyone!" Yui yelled at the top of her voice, putting a hand over the mouthpiece as she laid it in her lap, "Calm down, or I'm hanging this up!" All four of her friends halted where they were and turned their heads to stare at her, now so quiet, she wouldn't have been surprised to hear a cricket chirp. As they were all tangled together, this made for quite a comical scene. She grinned and asked calmly, "Now, with no arguing, could we tell them what we want before you're frozen like that for eternity?"
An hour later
Miaka smiled and polished off her sixth slice of sausage and mushroom pizza (with double extra cheese) as she listened to the excited chatter about the upcoming wedding. Even her mother had joined in when she came home from work. That was one thing that had surprised the teenager; she'd never thought that her mom would be so gung-ho over the idea of her little girl getting married, and to a guy she'd just "met," but there it was. Of course, with Taka being the way he is, I guess I shouldn't be so shocked. His talk of planning for our future and everything goes along perfectly with her hope that I'd push myself to graduate with honors. And she's right in thinking so; I'd do anything for him. A slight frown crossed her features as she glanced out the window at the starlit sky, curling up next to her fiance who put his arm comfortably around her with a grin and continued talking. Everything's perfect, so why do I keep getting the feeling that something is terribly wrong? Why is it I only see images so fuzzy it's like they were shot at night and underwater with a faulty camera? The one clue I have doesn't even make any sense! "Painful gold." What could it mean? What the heck is so painful about gold? Gah, I hate riddles...
"Hey, wake up, dingbat!" Keisuke called to her, shaping his hands around his mouth in a makeshift bullhorn as though he was trying to shout across a canyon.
"Huh?" she jerked slightly and looked in irritation at her brother, burrowing into Taka's side, "That wasn't nice, you know..."
The tall brunette hugged her and stood, kissing his betrothed lightly on the forehead, "I guess that's my cue to leave, Miaka. It looks like you could use some sleep. I'll call you tomorrow, all right?"
She pouted a little, scowling up at him before relenting under his disarming smile, "Oh, all right, as long as you promise to bring that surprise you were talking about with you when you come back."
Taka grinned over his shoulder and winked as he walked out the door, "You got it."
"Have a good night. Call me if you figure out anything new, OK?" Yui smiled conspiratorially and hugged her friend, then walked over to drag Tetsuya away by the ear before he could fire another round of questions at his classmate about their upcoming test, "Come on, already! 'Calculus Twenty Questions' can wait until daylight."
Miaka laughed as the blonde yanked him out into the hall and sighed, standing to stretch her hands up to the ceiling. Keisuke smiled up at his little sister and set his cup down, "Taka's right; you should get some rest. You've only been back from the book world for a few days, you know."
"Yeah. Oyasumi, Keisuke," she smiled wearily and hugged him on her way to her room. That's right. Only last week, I was in the "Universe of the Four Gods." It feels like another lifetime. I hope everybody's doing all right there. Hotohori, Chiriko, Nuriko, Mitsukake and Chichiri... I miss you guys so much. And Hotohori... I hope you find happiness someday. I'm sorry it couldn't be with me. If things were different.... well, just know that I'll never forget you.
QoH: *face plants* dah.... Miaka can be really dense sometimes, ne? the answer shes been wantin is right in front of her face, and does she see it? nope ^_^() shell be figurin out whats what soon, tho hehe *looks around innocently* this and the next chapter are turnin points of the story, so things are gonna "heat up" around here. oh, and while im thinkin on it, any guesses as to what Nuri-chan's up to? heehee ^_~ Hoto's in for a shocker.... :D
PS: please review…. i just went through snow that hasnt stopped since it started early yesterday morning to get to the library and find out my account wouldn't let me on for nearly an hour (and i can only use these for an hour! o_O time limits…) anyway, enough of that ^_^() hope you liked this chapter! Next should be up quite soon hehe im on a roll!