Disclaimer: I don't own Fushigi Yuugi.
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Narrators POV
"Say... Tomite-san... What where you and Hikitsu-san talking about this morning? You looked troubled," Uruki asked Tomite late that night. They where sitting on a log on the outskirts of their camp. Uruki had asked Tomite if she could speak to him after dinner. She didn't know that Takiko had asked if she could speak to Tomite in the same way just that morning. She also didn't know that the talk that Takiko and he'd been having had been what had started the entire thing. That that was, in a very indirect way, the reason that she needed to talk to Tomite now. That she probably wouldn't be there if that conversation hadn't taken place. Of course, she suspected most of that.
"Um... Well..." Tomite hesitated as he considered telling her the truth. He knew that he shouldn't lie and tell her that it had been nothing or that she shouldn't worry about it. But earlier Hikitsu had asked him not to tell her about their fears because he didn't want her to worry about something that probably wouldn't happen in her condition. He had said that he was worried that she would be stressed and that her wound would be agitated because of that stress. Everyone knew that her wound wasn't fully healed and still caused her pain sometimes, despite her constantly saying that she was fine. Still... He didn't like lying. And if she found out that he had lied then he knew that she would never forgive him. He didn't like the thought of facing her wrath.
"Well..." Uruki prodded. She didn't see why he wouldn't tell her. "Everyone else knows, don't they?"
"What makes you say that?" He asked.
"You and Takiko where talking privately. Then, directly afterward, you and Hikitsu talked and have looked troubled ever since." She answered bluntly. "I'm the only person who doesn't know, aren't I?"
"Well... You see..."
"Is it about me or something?"
"N-no. Of course not. It's just..." He fell silent once again.
"What? What is it just?"
"Y-you should go ask Hikitsu. He knows more about it than I do." She sighed and looked down, not wanting to show him the disappointment that she knew was in her eyes. She knew that Hikitsu would never tell her anything if he didn't want to and voiced this opinion. Tomite laughed which made her glare and stomp off still determined to find out what everyone else already knew. Little did any of them know, but their worst fears where about to happen...
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Tomite's POV
The next morning I woke up after a restless sleep. I was really tired. I wondered if Uruki had asked Hikitsu her question. When I walked out she and Hikitsu where talking quietly. They looked up quickly as I walked out of the tent and stopped talking. I guess that was the answer to my question. Uruki stood and offered me some sausages, smiling. This made me ever more sure that she had found out what she wanted. After all, she was happy. I sat down, forgetting about the sausage that she was holding out to me. She shrugged and put it back on the plate. A few seconds later I took it off the plate and began to eat. Uruki shared a knowing look with Hikitsu.
"You look tired, Tomite-san. Did you get any sleep last night?" She asked me trying not to laugh and sound concerned.
"Hm... Oh... Maybe a little..." It took me a moment to register what she had said. She looked at me with true concern, and then turned back to Hikitsu and they continued their talk. I was too tired to listen to what they said and they knew it. That was probably why they continued to talk right in front of me. It wasn't long before Takiko came out of the tent that she and Uruki shared.
"Morning everyone," she said as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. Then she looked around and saw everyone eating and, in Uruki and Hikitsu's case, talking around the fire. A blush spread across her beautiful face as she sat, "Oh! Am I the last one up again?"
"You almost weren't. If you had been up a few seconds earlier, you would have beat me," I told her trying to keep the tiredness out of my voice and she laughed as she took some sausages. I loved her laugh. It was so sweet and beautiful. I watched her out of the corner of my eye as she ate her sausages and then took some more. She seemed hungry. I didn't notices Uruki watching me with a very amused look on her face...
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Hikitsu's POV
"They really are perfect for each other," I heard Uruki whisper to me as we watched Tomite blush and stare at Takiko. I turned to look at her. "Don't think I haven't noticed. He cares for her, doesn't he?" I nodded; surprised that she had figured it out. I suppose that it was pretty obvious, but still... I watched her look at the blushing Tomite with an amused look on her face, and felt my own face heat up. Crap. I didn't want to think of Uruki like this. I shook my head at my own silliness and looked at Tomite and Takiko. Tomite looked quite comical.
"We'll have to lock them up in a room alone until they confess their feelings for each other someday," Uruki told me. I couldn't help but laugh and nodded to her in agreement.
"Do you think Takiko has feelings for Tomite?" I asked her. This entire conversation was taking place in whispers so that the other two wouldn't over hear.
"Definitely," She replied. "Isn't it obvious?" She added as an after thought and stood up to begin to fold up the tent. Soon we where all done with our breakfast and ready to set off. I watched as Uruki pulled Takiko up behind her and Tomite mounted behind me. Soon we were off.
We rode for hours and ate lunch on our horses that day. We wanted to make as much distance as possible so that we could get to the capital before something awful happened. Everyone was afraid that by the time we got there it would already be too late and the capital would already have been attacked, maybe even destroyed. When it had just started to get dark, we saw the lights of a village in the distance. I looked around at the others and saw that they were all tired and needed rest in a proper bed.
"Lets stop at that village and spend the night there. In the morning we can get some more supplies. Besides, I've been wanting a proper bath that isn't in a stream or lake." Everyone nodded in agreement. It took a few more hours to get to the village. Once there, we began to look for an inn.
"Here's one!" I heard Takiko call. The one that she had spotted was a small wooden one. It looked cheap but nice. A little bit like the one that Uruki's grandfather had owned. We all walked in and I was instantly surrounded by warmth. I hadn't realized how cold it was outside. It was like stepping into an oven. That's a good thing. I walked up to the counter and asked how much it would cost for two rooms. Then I conferred with Uruki and Tomite (Takiko didn't know a thing about Hokkan's currency) and we decided that this would be a good place to spend the night. I walked back up to the counter and said, "Two rooms please."
"I'll need to know your names," the gruff man behind the counter answered. "I am Chen Entato and my companions are Okuda Takiko, Chamka Tan, and Bai-Ling Soo," I told him. I didn't use our seishi names so that we could keep a low profile. If there were Kutou spies in this town it wouldn't do to have it getting out that the Genbu no Miko and three of her Seishi where here. After all, he would only have to kill one of us to keep us from summoning Genbu. If that happened then Hokkan would be doomed.
A few seconds later a young boy led us to our rooms while three others carried up our bags. On the way up the stairs, I noticed Takiko lagging behind. We had already had to go up three flights of stairs, but there were still four more. I mentioned this to Tomite and he immediately bounded down the stairs and picked her up so that he could carry her up the rest of the stairs. She yelped in surprise and pounded on his back so that he would let go, Still... she was laughing. Finally she gave up on him putting her down when Tomite complained that all her pounding was beginning to hurt and let him carry her the rest of the way up. By the time we reached our rooms, she was asleep in his arms. Once he realized this, he turned bright red and told Uruki and I not to get any ideas. Of course, we both already knew the truth. He seemed to forget that he had told me that he was in love with her. He handed Takiko to Uruki and she walked into the room that they where going to share. Then Tomite and I walked into our room. Tomite fell onto his bed as soon as he had changed and I soon did the same.
I awoke a few hours later to the feeling that the room was hotter than was normal. I looked around and saw fire everywhere. I shook Tomite awake and felt the door to the room. It was hot. That meant that if was on fire and that I shouldn't open it. This was bad. We were trapped. And what had happened to Takiko and Uruki. Where they awake? Where they even alive?
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End of chapter 13
Cliffhanger... I'm evil. I love to make you suffer. Maybe it's because we're on chapter 13 (unlucky number). Hee! Hee! Hee! At least we're going to finally see some action. It's about time I made something happen, isn't it.
Hmm... What else... I really need to make the next Seishi come, don't I. It's been, what, five chapters since Uruki came in? Please review. I haven't gotten any reviews in a while. Review! Hydra-Star tries to hypnotize you into reviewing Anyway... More coming soon!
