"Wings of Fate"
Chapter Two: A Purple Haired Maiden
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Friday, October 15, 2004
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Legend
"Talking"
Thinking
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Disclaimer: I do not own Fushigi Yuugi, but I do own Sakura, my character. Let me make something clear right now. This story has no relation to my other story with Sakura called Secrets. This is an AU (Alternate Universe) story, where Sakura is the same person with the past; only she doesn't dwell on it too much like in my other story. I do not own Kai, who belongs to Kalyn, a RP friend of mine. An RP is making up a story online through i/ms on aim when each person writes a paragraph of the story and it continues on. Kalyn and I wrote this story today, and half the credit of this story belongs to her too because it is her writing along with mine.
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Later that day, Kai walked around the palace, looking franticly for the harem...and Nuriko. She'd told Sakura about her little plan before she set out, so Kai's cover wouldn't get blown.
"Ugh...great...I'm lost..." She said out loud, looking annoyed. It was already bad enough that the kimono she wore showed her arms, a little bit of her back where her scars were, but now she was lost.
"Excuse me," a purple haired woman walked up to her. "Are you new here?"
Kai squeaked, and turned to look at the "woman."
"Oh! Yea, afraid so." She laughed lightly, pretending to be new to the palace.
"I'm sorry to trouble you...but would you please show me the way to the harem? I just arrived and as you can guess..." She gestured around. "I have a horrible sense of direction."
The purple haired woman smiled wryly. "You're close to the harem. You're just about standing in front of the door to it."
Kai stared at her blankly.
"I knew that, really. I did." She laughed nervously, looking around.
"Whoo..." She laughed again.
"I'm hopeless...wanna show me around? Although...I can't say I'd help any..." Kai rolled her eyes.
Before the woman opened the doors, she said, "By the way, my name is Kourin."
Kai grinned and nodded. "I'm Kai, nice to meet you." Deciding to go out on a limb she asked, "Have you heard about the Suzaku no miko? There's two so I've heard..."
"Oh ... I've heard from the other harem girls who passed by Saihitei's throne room this morning. They said they heard two, so I suppose there are. Now ... may I show you around to meet everyone else in the harem?"
"Sure! Go ahead! I tend to talk a lot, so...if I start getting on your nerves, just tell me and I'll shut up..." Kai grinned slightly.
'He's so hot!' she thought to herself, chewing on her lower lip.
"Do you have any siblings?" Kai mentally hit herself. That wasn't the smartest thing to say...
Kourin looked down, a little distracted. "I have an older brother, Rokou and a younger sister, Ryuuen. She passed when we were children."
"Oh...sorry...I used to have an older sister...but...she died a while ago..." Kai paused, remembering her older sister, Alexis, who'd been raped and murdered only a year or two ago.
"I also have three half-brothers, and another half-sister...but I've never met her before..."
She bit her lip, thinking about her brothers. Was her dad actually taking care of them still? Better then he had her anyways...Kai glanced absently on a visible scar on her wrist and sighed.
"I'm sorry to hear about your sister too ... but I'm here at this harem because of her. Ryuuen wanted to when she grew up, so I came here to honor her memory," Kourin said sympathetically.
"That's very honorable..." Kai said, running her fingers through her hair.
"I don't think I should meet the other girls however...They might be frightened of me..." She gestured to her eyes,
"Fay eyes.... eyes of a changeling..." She shrugged slightly.
"And my hair..." she tugged on a purple and blue piece of hair.
Kourin shook her head. "Don't worry. They'll like you. And if you don't, ignore them. The types who criticize in this harem are just the worst type of woman to try and marry Saihitei."
Kai laughed brightly.
"Yea...thanks..."
A scholar glanced briefly over at Kai, and then did a double take.
"Kai-sama! What are you doing in the harem!?"
"Oh shit! Busted!" She grabbed Nuriko.
"RUN!" she shouted, taking off, dragging Nuriko behind her. After a while of running, dodging priests and other people, they stopped in the garden. Kai collapsed on a bench, missed, and landed on the ground.
"Ow! Oh man...that was close...stupid scholar person!"
She helped Kai up, and they both were standing at this point.
"What do you mean?" Kourin stared at her suspiciously. "Is there something you're not telling me?" She placed her hands on her hips and pursed her lips.
Kai sweat dropped and grinned.
"Damn! You're gonna be a good mom with that stupid pose!" Kai mentally rolled her eyes at that. Mom, right.
"I'm the first Suzaku no miko.... sorry about deceiving you and all but...yea... I wanted to get to know some people and not have them falling over themselves to bow... I find that stupid... very stupid..."
"You're the Suzaku no miko?" Kourin arched a delicate brow and folded her arms across her chest. "Then we're rivals that means." She gave Kai a determined look. "I won't let you have Saihitei."
Kai sweat dropped. "Don't worry, I don't want to marry Hotohori-sama! I have...someone else in mind..." She looked away, a sort of dreamy look on her face.
"I wanna be friends Kourin...not enemies! So...I won't take Hotohori-sama from you."
"Hmph," Kourin snorted. "You might not want him, but he still wants you."
"Oh man...that's right. He wants to marry the Suzaku no miko right? This puts me in a bind..." Kai bit her lip and looked at Kourin.
"You're one of the Suzaku seven right? Nuriko. The mark is on your collar bone." She placed a hand on her own collarbone, as if to show Kourin where it was.
"And don't try to tell me you're not." Kai winked. "I know all."
Kourin sighed heavily. "Fine. I am Nuriko. But don't think we're friends or anything yet." She glanced around. "And I suppose I'll have to meet the other miko too?"
"Yea...but...I don't know where she is right now...you know...Hotohori will probably be overjoyed to meet the new member to our little...er... group...thingie..." The thought of Nuriko hating her was very painful thought indeed. But hopefully things would work out...right? Kai frowned slightly. And what of Chichiri? She'd just have those how things were.
"Well ... there's nothing else I would speak to you about," Kourin said, then added sarcastically, "Your royal highness."
"I'll be off now..." She started to turn and walk in a different direction.
"Nuriko! Please don't call me that! The next person I hear that from I'm seriously going to kill! That title annoys the hell outta me! I'm not royalty at all, I'm the miko to a giant chicken for God's sake!"
Kourin stared at her oddly. "Then what would I call you?"
"Kai. It is my name after all."
"Kai ... what a strange name," 'Nuriko' trailed off. She focused her eyes on Kai. "Since you already know I'm a seishi, shouldn't I go see Saihitei?"
"Oh! Right!" Kai sweat dropped lightly and began walking back into the palace. "We just have to find him first..."
"No need to worry," she reassured. "There's a short cut through the gardens. I take it all the time just to get to a side entrance of the palace."
"Cool, thanks." Kai grinned.
"Lead the way Nuriko-chan!"
I wonder if I should tell him I know he's a guy....
Nuriko led the way firsthand, and for those few minutes there was an awkward silence going on between both of them. As they came closer to the palace side entrance, there was someone sitting on one of the benches out in the garden. It was Sakura, who hadn't noticed them approaching yet.
Kai placed a hand on Nuriko's shoulders, and told 'her' to stop. She placed a finger to her lips.
"Shh!" She tiptoed forward until she was right behind Sakura and...
"BOO!"
Sakura, who was so in tune with her own thoughts was naturally startled and flinched. "Oh, Kai, it's only-" She cut off her sentence when she noticed who was standing next to her friend.
"Uh..." she thought fast of what to say the familiar purple haired seishi. "Konnichiwa, Lady Kourin," Sakura said formally. She was from Tokyo, Japan, was where she lived now. She studied English before, so it was her second language. Sakura was trying hard to conceal her blushed face, which she somehow managed to do so.
Nuriko nodded, looking surprised. 'She' turned to Kai. "This is the other miko?"
"Yep. That's Sakura. Sakura, this is Nuriko." Kai was originally from New York, but moved to Tokyo at the age of 12, a year before she was raped. Japanese was her second language.
"I've met both of you so far," Nuriko said. "Now we need to find Saihitei."
Kai nodded. "Yep! On to find Hotohori... Where ever he may be...we could try the Throne Room...or his study...We just gotta find 'em..."
"I think I saw him in the prayer room just before..." Sakura said. "I'm not sure where it is, but it has a huge golden statue of Suzaku there."
"Did you know that 'Suzaku' means Crimson Sparrow? And all this time I've been calling him a Giant Chicken..." Kai said randomly as she walked off in some random direction.
"Hey, you think if we get to the temple thingie fast enough we could hear what he was talking about?"
Nuriko and Sakura followed along with Kai, but soon there were only two people walking together absent-mindedly. Sakura looked behind her, and saw that Nuriko wasn't with her. A red question mark popped up at the side of her head.
"Hey, Kai," Sakura called out as she hurried to catch up with her. "I think we're lost or something ... especially since Nuriko is no where with us."
Kai stopped and looked aorund.
"Eh? Hey! Nuriko!" Kai called, looking around.
"Well...things couldn't get any worse then this..." She said as she stared back. "Let's juts get inside or something..."
"Are you sure about that?" Sakura sounded worried. "We might end up in a room we're not allowed in."
Before anyone could say anything, the door the girls were standing near suddenly tipped open a little so you could see only a crack of what was going on inside the room.
Sakura peered in, and looked astonished. "I think this is Hotohori's room ... with Nuriko in it; looks like they're discussing something. I wonder how Nuriko got here before us?"
Sakura kept quiet and did as Kai did.
"Hai, Hotohori-sama, I am the Suzaku seishi Nuriko."
"Hm ... I never expected to find one so fast," he considered thoughtfully. "But we have much work to do to find the others." He paused to think for a minute. "Have you met the Suzaku no mikos yet?"
"I have," 'she' answered. "Unfortunately, I lost them on the way here."
"Lost them?" Hotohori asked quizzically.
"I took the right turn to get here, and well ... they must've gotten lost somewhere along the way," Nuriko sweat dropped as she explained.
--Flashback--
Nuriko silently followed Kai, along side with Sakura, the other miko. 'She' stopped at a left path, and wondered if she should take it. 'She' hadn't noticed Kai and Sakura had already taken the right path and left 'her' behind. .
"Well, what do you think?" Nuriko asked out loud, but there was no answer.
"Hey, what are-" 'she' turned around and saw no one.
"Ugh, now I've lost them," 'she' huffed. "Oh well, might as well try this path since I'm already lost in this palace."
--End of Flashbackâ
Kai decided this would be a good moment to interfere. She knocked on the door and entered.
"Hey Hotohori, have you seen-oh! Nuriko! Hey." She grinned.
"We found you, and Hotohori, lucky us..." She looked to Hotohori.
"I see you've already met Nuriko-chan!"
Sakura came in from behind Kai, a bit nervous if they were interrupting anything important.
"Kai, Sakura," Hotohori said, nodding. "It's good to see you again."
Kai grinned.
"Yea, nice to see you again too." She nodded.
"Were we interrupting anything important? Cause if so, we can to bed now...I'm tired anyways..." She paused. "Where's my room?"
"Didn't the maids show us where our rooms before when we first met Hotohori?" Sakura asked Kai. "Should I ... show you to it?"
"I forget things almost instantly." Kai replied, looking annoyed.
"But if you can get us there with out getting lost, then sure. Lead the way." She looked behind her shoulder at Hotohori and Nuriko.
"Night you two! Sweet dreams!"
"Erm ... I didn't mean it like that." Sakura said apologetically. "At least, I think I know the way..." she said nervously.
"I'll ... see you two later?" Sakura said to Hotohori and Nuriko, and turned on her heel on the way out.
Kai rolled her eyes and chuckled.
"See ya..." Her eyes lingered on Nuriko for a moment or two longer then they should've before she snapped to reality.
"Night!" She turned and hurried out the door after Sakura.
"Do you think I should tell him I know he's a guy?" She asked her as they walked along.
"Well, we're going to have to let him know who know he's a cross dresser sooner or later," Sakura said. "Or do you want to end up revealing Nuriko as a man like Miaka did?"
"...Miaka hugged him naked in a hot spring..." Kai went silent for moment, a silly little grin spreading on her face.
"Nuriko...naked..." She giggled.
"Nah, I'll tell him tomorrow or...something...can we go to bed now?"