Chapter 30 : Experiments

Narrator :

"Well?" Yui asked as she raised an eyebrow at the 'clown' before her.

Tomo cackled softly. "So, you got my message did you?"

Yui grunted. "What do you take me for? A fool?"

Behind Yui, Suboshi clenched his hand into fist as he got into a fighting pose. He wouldn't mind beating the crap out of this misguided clown for Yui.

Tomo frowned at the boy behind Yui. "I wouldn't do that if I were you..."

"Whatever. Just tell me what you know. Suboshi, calm down." Yui ordered. Suboshi lowered his fist although he never stop glaring at Tomo.

Suddenly, the door of Yui's bedroom swung open. Soi stood there, at the doorway. "Well? Not inviting me in, Yui-sama?"

Meanwhile in Konan...

Dinner should have ended about an hour ago but due to the fact that the children were busy playing with their food, dinner time for Mitsukake and Hotohori with the children was definately a long one.

Gyokuran, the second eldest after the death of Chuei was busy trying to feeding her stubborn younger sister Yuiren. Mitsukake was busy making sure that Tama didn't try to steal anyone's food. Hikari was busy bouncing up and down 'Mr Walking Curtain's' lap, stopping every once in a while to poke at her food. Shunkei, had spilled his soup and had pieces of vegetables and rice stuck to his hair. He was trying to eat using his hands instead of chopsticks, only to mess up the whole place.

Hotohori leaned against the back of his chair, looking at the children in exasperation. The scene at the dining room was definately something different than what one could see on the other previous days. The dining room was noisy, in a mess and had a lightening mood to it, something rare ever since the Suzaku seishis were hit with the rows of bad luck.

Hotohori groaned. No matter how cute the children were, no matter how much he loved little kids...

Hikari simply had to STOP using him as a bouncing chair. His thighs were beginning to hurt...

Nakago :

Without bothering to knock, I barged into the room. "What is the meaning of this?!" Despite the demanding tone of my voice, inside, I was feeling slightly less confident. I was in Motoki's room...

Gods...

I must be out of my mind...

Motoki was sitting in a chair, sipping from a wine glass filled with a thick red liquid. It certainly didn't look or smelt like wine.

It was...

I knew the substance too well.

Blood.

The colour was of a darker shade of red, too dark to be animals' blood. It had to be human.

Human blood.

The sadist was drinking human blood.

I shuddered at the thought.

The room was dim, despite the numerous candles lit. Motoki smiled as she leaned forward in her chair. "Meaning of what, dear Nakago? Hhmm?"

I gritted my teeth. No one, NO one was allowed to call me dear, besides Soi when we were in private.

"You send you monsters to kill the family of Suzaku seishi Tamahome." It wasn't a question.

Motoki simply shrugged. "Big deal."

I glared at her but didn't move. "Oh? I suppose you have much more bigger plans then?"

Motoki cackled evilly, her dry hoarse voice making her sound like an ancient witch. "You read my mind, Nakago."

I almost wanted to puke at the thought that she, a sadistic bitch, actually had the same mind as me.

"Suboshi failed anyway..." Motoki sipped from her cup.

"So? You should have consulted me first."

"You think so?" Another sip.

"It was in the agreement."

Motoki licked her blood red lips, wiping off every single drop of blood from her lips and the corners of her mouth.

"Rules are meant to be broken..."

"Say that again and you'll regret not keeping to your side of the agreement."

Turning around, I left the bitch alone in her dark room, slamming the doors on my way out.

Tamahome :

I softly hummed the lullaby I knew too well. Yuiren snuggled in my arms as I cradled her. My other siblings were also asleep, after much persuasion.

Miaka...

A tear rolled down my cheek.

I never wanted this to happen.

Honest.

I was just so tired, so irritated, being pushed away every time I wanted to comfort you. I didn't mean to get mad at you...

I...

I just...

I snapped out of my daydreams when I heard the soft knock on the door. Gently placing Yuiren down on the bed, I swung open the door.

Miaka.

She stood there, her head lowered.

"Tamahome..."

"Miaka."

Silence.

We just stood there, not moving, not speaking a word to each other.

Suddenly, Miaka wrapped her arms around me, burying her face into my clothes, crying. Everything that she tried to explain was muffled.

I responded by wrapping my arms around her small waist, enjoying her warmth once again.

Finally, we pulled away.

Looking into each other's eyes, we both apologized at the same time.

I could feel a faint blush on my cheeks.

"Uh... Why don't you say it first?" We said together.

I could see Miaka now blushing as well.

"Gomen... Taiit-sikun... She said that... I needed to be pure to be a miko... I... Thought that it was best for us not to be together anymore..."

I stood there, gaping at her. That was why she had been avoiding me all this while?!

Miaka burst into another fresh stream of tears. "Gomen! No matter how hard I tried... I kept thinking about you... Oh, Tamahome, how can I ever live without you?! How could I be so - "

I shushed her up by planting a kiss on her soft pink lips.

"Will you accept that answer?" I asked mischievously.

Miaka didn't say anything but wrapped her arms around my neck, pulling me in for another sweet kiss.

Tomo :

"Motoki..."

"Go on." All eyes were focused on me now.

"She has plans for us. Sinister plans. She wants us to be part of her experiments..."

Silence.

"Experiments?" Suboshi said the word out aloud slowly, as if he was new to the word.

I gave a small nod.

"Elaborate." I turned to face Soi.

"Experiments. We're all like small chess pieces. She's toying with us. Playing with Seiryuu knows who..."

"Uso."

Everyone in the room turned to look at Yui, was sat cross-legged on her bed, her arms folded across her chest.

"Which part of it isn't true to you?"

"All. All of it."

Suboshi reached out and gently placed his hand on her shoulder. "Yui- sama..." He said affectionately, as if trying to comfort her.

Yui shrugged his hand off. "Nakago said that nothing would go wrong. Everything was suppose to be alright. Motoki... Is just a partner who is helping us to achieve our aim... Nakago would never allow her to hurt us."

Yui looked up at me, her eyes clouded, like a lost wanderer.

Soi snorted. "Yui, you're smart enough to think for yourself. You're not that blind are you?" Her voice was cold, almost like Nakago. But her eyes revealed how hurt she was.

I could understand how she felt. Nakago...

We're in love with the same person. No matter how hard we tried to get his attention, to get his love, we were nothing but fellow seishis to him.

It already hurts so much being rejected time and time again but to be betrayed...

The hardest thing about love was being in love...

And love, my love, seems to be nothing but a mere illusion to Nakago.

"When did you hear of such a thing anyway?" Suboshi asked, his expression was serious.

"Overheard a conversation."

"Eavesdropper."

I glared at Soi. "You rather die than, wretched woman?" I spat venomously.

Soi glared back at me, placing a hand on her hip. "You're courting death in the first place by eavesdropping, ahou."

The glaring competition lasted for a few seconds. Yui interuptted. "THAT'S ENOUGH!"

We both turned to look at her, before glaring at each other again.

"If you want to fight, you can take it outside! NOT in my room. GET OUT!!!" Yui raised her voice as she pointed towards the door.

I grunted as Soi slammed the closed doors open. I left the room a few seconds after Soi. Suboshi just stood there in a corner, as if trying to make himself invisible.

"Oyasumi, Yui-sama," I spat as I closed the door gently behind me instead of slamming it like the rowdy Soi. How did she get more of Nakago's attention by being so barbaric?! Whereas I, as graceful and polite as a white swan, barely manage to squeeze a few words out of the heartless shogun?

Yui pulled the door open slightly. "Nakago promised to protect me." Her voice wavered, as if she herself was unsure.

"Whatever," I muttered.

Yui slammed the door loudly behind me.

Motoki :

I laughed, amused at the behaviour of the Seiryuu seishis. An interesting bunch.

"Tomo, Tomo, Tomo..." I cackled.

"Do you think I allow people to eavesdrop so easily? You think I'm stupid? It was on purpose..."

I took a long sip from my wine glass.

I sighed in contentment. The sweet fresh blood of a young servant girl... Sure, she wasn't a virgin but that makes her blood thicker. I licked my lips hungrily. I glanced at my almost empty wine glass.

Tossing it away, I dragged out a limp lifeless body of a young servant girl no older than seventeen from under a nearby table. I breathed in the smell of decomposition of the slowly rotting corpse. Ahh... Nothing smelt better than this...

I was still hungry. I wanted more blood...

Tilting her head slightly to the side, I sank my teeth into her flesh.

Narrator :

Miboshi cursed and swore loudly. His shadow... His monster...

Damn Motoki...

He couldn't sense the presence of the shadow. It hadn't returned ever since he sent it to spy on Motoki.

How could he be so stupid? So stupid...

Miboshi let loose a scream of rage.

His poor precious...

Miboshi breathed heavily, his nostril flaring. His small body wasn't used to screaming so loud and so much.

Snatching an ancient magical scroll off the floor, he began reading it, trying to find more about Motoki.

Author's Note :

I own Hikari, the werewolf, Motoki, the piggy monster, the two lizards, the four hooded guys, Yukiko but never the rest of the cast of Fushigi Yuugi.

Finally, Nakago gets an appearance! So does Tomo!!!

We now know briefly what Motoki plans for our Seiryuu seishi but we don't know what exactly she has in store for them. Hehe...

SPECIAL INSIDE INFO!!!!

Gee, some reviewers sure coughcough shan't mention names coughcough want some inside info since they can't take the torture. The suspense must be killing you guys... All the more, it's much more fun for me!!!

Yeah!!!

Okay, I'll give you one small inside info, the four hooded guys are one of my the few of my most fave characters, the green one especially. He's been around in my head longer than the other three. Hikari and the green hooded guy were inside my head ever since like... How many donkey years ago? Can't remember. I got them down on paper for different stories which are not posted... And never will... It's just that I'm using them for the REAL story which is DP.

What? That information wasn't good enough? blinks innocently I'm sure it was...

Okay, let me explain several confusing stuff here. Firstly, the part about Yui's weird behaviour will be explained later. Next, Hikari changing into a kid is a side effect of the spell being casted on her.

'His spell was completed. He had served his purpose. Sure, there may be side effects of the spell but at least, for now, everyone was safe.'

In chapter 28. I did wrote this down in Chapter 28. Some might have missed out this small but important part.

And if you're confused about some parts, please don't hesitate to ask. Just shoot and I'll answer your question, hopefully. Don't keep quiet. If you do, I'll never know what's going on in your head... gulp As long as it's not something pervertic, I don't mind knowing...

List of Japanese words :

Ahou : Fool. (If I'm not mistaken, this is slightly stronger than baka. It's pronouced as ah-hoe.)