Disclaimer: I don't own Fushigi Yuugi.
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Narrator's POV
"Well well well. Look at what we have here...The Genbu no Miko and two of her seishi. That's strange. I thought that there were three seishi... Oh well." He shrugged as Takiko, Tomite, and Uruki looked out of the tent that they had been fighting in.
"Who the hell are you?" Shouted a still mad Uruki. "And what have you done with Hikitsu?! If you've hurt him..." She let the threat hang.
"Hm... Who's Hikitsu? A friend of yours?,"
A tall man with greasy black hair that flowed easily down to his waist became visible outside the tent. He would've probably been extremely handsome, save for the evil smirk he wore. Oh yeah, another thing; he was floating a couple feet above them, feet folded Buddist-style under him. And...it almost looked like a third eye, still ghostly and hard to see, was stuck in the middle of his forehead.
"I am Miboshi of the Seiryu Seven. I have been ordered to kill all of you!"
"You'll find us a lot harder to kill than you seem to expect!" Tomite challenged him as his symbol began to glow filling the area with a bright green light. Uruki felt her symbol begin to do the same and saw it appear on her bare shoulder. Miboshi just smiled...
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Hikitsu's POV
When I woke up, I wasn't in the tent. The place looked familiar... Hmm...
"Hikitsu!! You're back!!" I knew that voice. It was Nyan-Nyan! That meant that I was on Mt. Taikyoku!
"N-Nyan-Nyan. Why am I here?" I asked her. She hadn't changed a bit. At that moment, there was five of her surrounding me.
"Taiitsukun brought you here so that she could test the other seishi and the miko!" She said.
"Test?"
"Yes! She's sending them up against the Seiryu Seishi, Miboshi!"
"What!? But that's dangerous! They could be killed!"
"Exactly!" She really wasn't getting it.
"Nyan-Nyan, I have to see Taiitsukun. Where is she?"
"Hm... I think... Come on! I'll take you to her!" She said.
"Thank you," I answered gratefully. She led me threw the maze of hallways until we reached the room that had the mirror in with Taiitsukun usually watched over the world with. Inside, I saw her looking into the mirror.
"Taiitsukun! Why am I here?!" I asked her. She turned from the mirror.
"So that I can test your friends. You have already proved yourself many times, so I can't have you helping them. That wouldn't show that they are worthy," she replied.
"Send me back there at once!" I almost yelled.
"No."
"They could be killed!" Now I was yelling. I didn't care if she was more powerful than me. If those three were killed, then I wouldn't be able to live with myself. I would blame myself till the day I died. It would be like it was with Sora. These were the only people that I had let get close to me since her death. Even though I didn't really know Uruki yet, It would still be awful if she died. She had someone to go back to after this whole thing was done. She had someone who cared. If she died, then who would tell her grandfather? Before we had left, he had asked me to make sure that she survived. I had promised him I would. If I let her die now, I would be breaking that promise. The other two were my only real friends. Tomite and I had become very close after the night that we had found Sora's grave. Takiko was almost like a little sister to me. I was the person that she went to when she needed to talk about her feelings. Usually it was something about Tomite. I couldn't lose any of them. I just couldn't. I had to persuade Taiitsukun to let me help them.
"Please Taiitsukun. They need me."
"No. That's final. But... I suppose... It wouldn't do any harm for you to watch them fight," I sighed. It wasn't what I wanted, but I knew that Taiitsukun wouldn't go back on her decision if she said that it was final. If I argued now, she may not even let me watch them. I obediently sat by the mirror. It showed Tomite getting up and since I wasn't there. He walked out of our tent and looked around for a while. Then, he walked into the girls tent. There, the girls yelled at him a bunch and hit him several times. That is, until Miboshi came along. Soon the fight had begun. I watched helplessly as Miboshi took out a spindle of some type and began to spin it. He muttered a spell and a demon began to come out of the ground. I heard Takiko gasp. Tomite pulled her behind him, protectively, grasping his bow that he had brought out from our tent before he had gone into the girls. Uruki grabbed a sword that was laying on her pack.
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Uruki's POV
I watched the demon carefully, my sword ready. It lunged. But not at me. He lunged at Takiko and Tomite. Tomite yelled in surprise and fumbled for an arrow. I quickly pushed him and our miko out of the way. I managed to avoid getting slashed to ribbons, but I did get a long gash in my arm. I cursed and rolled aside. Tomite finally got an arrow to his bow, and aimed for the demons eye. The demon was big, but he was also slow. The arrow hit it in the demon and green blood began to gush slowly from his left eye. It roared in pain and fury and began to run towards Tomite and Takiko. Tomite ducked, pulling the miko down with him, and the demon missed them, swiping the tree behind them. The served tree began to fall down on top of them. Tomite pushed Takiko out of the way just in time and began to scramble out behind her, but it was to late. The tree fell, crushing the bottom half of his body. There was an awful crack and he screamed in pain.
"Tomite!" Cried Takiko as she rushed to his side. "Are you okay?" Nether saw the demon coming up behind them. My sword raised high, I ran towards them. I jumped and heard the sound of sword going threw flesh, bone, and muscle as I cut it's arm off. It roared again and aimed a swipe at me. I swerved in mid air and landed in a crouch between the demon and my comrades, narrowly avoiding the flying claw. The arm fell beside me, splattering blood everywhere. The demon stared at it, then at me, its remaining eye narrowing. I stood, wincing as I put pressure on my leg. I looked down at it and saw a long gash running from my thigh to my ankle. It would need to be treated. Soon. The cut on my arm wasn't getting any better, either. I would have to end this fight very soon if I didn't want to pass out from loss of blood. The demon swung at me again with it's remaining arm. I jumped up onto it's arm and ran up it until I reached it's shoulder. The demon looked around, confused. I raised my sword and buried it into it's head. The demon stumbled and began to fall, me still on it's shoulder. As it fell I jumped off. Unfortunately, the landing was to much for my bad leg. I felt it buckle under me and I fell to my knees, used up. For a moment, things seemed to stop focusing. Then all I saw was darkness.
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Taiisukun's POV
My former student and I watched as the young girl fought the demon. I had to admit, she was very good. I sighed, knowing that they had passed the test. But now they were at Miboshi's mercy. The only way that they could live was if I transported them all here at once. Hikitsu watched me with his single eye. I knew that he would never forgive me if I just left them to die. I sighed again and began to mutter the spell. There was a loud crack and the three of them appeared in the room. Hikitsu rushed over to them in relief and hugged the smaller girl.
"Takiko! Are you okay?" He asked the Miko.
"Yes. I'm fine. But Tomite... And Uruki..." She looked around her. "Hikitsu? Where are we? And why are you here? Why weren't you at camp with the rest of us? We were worried. What's going on, Hikitsu? And how did we get here?" Hikitsu looked a little flustered. Like he didn't know how to explain it all.
"Don't worry. Everything will be explained. But first, we need to get these two looked after," He replied as he picked Uruki off of the floor. Tomite was already in Takiko's arms. I quickly called Nyan-Nyan and told her to heal the two. She promptly multiplied, scaring the girl... What was her name? Oh yes... Takiko out of her wits, and began to work. I sighed yet again. It would be very hard to explain things to the Miko and her Seishi. I would just have to do my best.
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Takiko's POV
I silently sat in the chair beside Tomite's bed, my hands clasped in my lap, trying to sort out the last few days. Uruki had awaken yesterday, but Tomite was still out. He had suffered some broken bones and a concussion. I looked at his still face. He looked so young when he was asleep. I quietly brushed a bit of hair out of his face. His eyes slowly began to open and I smiled. He was finally waking up.
"M-mother?" He asked as his eyes slowly began to focus. I felt inner guilt rise up in my chest. He had mistaken me for his mother.
"No, Tomite. It's me. Takiko How do you feel?" I asked him. He groaned as he tried to sit up. I quickly pushed him back down before he hurt himself again. He would probably be bedridden for a couple more days, just like Uruki.
"Damn," he muttered under his breath. "I have an awful headache."
"Not a surprise. You had a concussion. And you shouldn't use language like that. It's rude," said a voice from the doorway. I looked up and saw Hikitsu standing there. "Sorry if I'm interrupting anything... But we have a problem... And it's serious..."
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End of chapter 10
Sorry it took me so long to update. I was in Spain for two weeks so I couldn't write. sniff Anyway... I worked hard on this chapter, so I hope you liked it. It was really hard to think up a test for Taiitsukun to use. The one that I thought of wasn't all that great, but I hope you liked it anyway. Please review. More coming soon.
