Disclaimers: I don't own Fushigi Yuugi.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Narrator's POV
Takiko woke up from her peaceful slumber and sat up in bed with a jolt. 'What was that?' She wondered. She had felt something. Something big. Something important. She just wished that she knew what it was. She looked around at her seishi. Tomite and Iname, who had gone to sleep soon after Takiko, were also sitting up in bed, looking confused. Hikitsu and Hatsui where sitting close to the fire, looking alert as well.
"W-what..." Hatsui started nervously.
"Was that?" Iname finished his sentence for him, just as nervous.
"I don't know..." Tomite replied slowly and Takiko shook her head to show that she also didn't know what was going on. They all looked at Hikitsu, hoping that he knew. Hikitsu was silent, lost in thought. 'It couldn't be...' he thought.
"We all felt it, so it must have been something important. Could it have been some kind of... of warning?" Takiko asked, "Hikitsu, do you know something?"
"W-well... Maybe..... No, that can't be it. But... Then what could it have been?" Hikitsu wondered aloud, his voice barely a whisper.
"What? What might it have been?" Takiko prodded gently. She wanted answers, but she didn't want to force things on him. Hikitsu was a private person and rarely told anyone what he thought. He may not want to tell them for a personal reason. He had so many secrets. It could be anything. She didn't want to pry into his business. Still, all five of them had felt it, whatever it was. So it seemed like it was their business, too. It seemed a little unfair that he knew and they didn't.
"I-I don't know what it could have been, Takiko-san. I thought that maybe... But no."
"What did you think?" This time it was Tomite that asked.
"It doesn't matter, Tomite-san. I was incorrect. It can't be that. If it were... no. It isn't. It doesn't matter," Hikitsu said it in such a way that no one asked him anything more. He said it like he was trying to convince himself, as well as them. For that moment, he had let down his mask and showed his emotions. He had showed what he really felt. Soon, his face was blank again. But at that moment, when he was thinking of what it could have been, he had put his guard down. He didn't want to believe that what they had all felt could possibly be what he thought that it may be. 'No. Uruki's fine. The feeling was something else. Uruki wouldn't let anything happen to her. She's fine. She has to be fine. She just has to,' he thought desperately. 'Namame's with her. He won't let anything happen to her. She's fine. She's one of the Genbu Seishi! She has to be fine...Oh, Genbu, Please let her be okay!' And so, he climbed into his sleeping bag and, eventually, fell into a restless sleep.
None of the seishi, or Takiko, noticed the figure in the shadows. Of course they didn't. They would not have been able to see it if they had known exactly where it was. The figure smiled to it's self, showing its pearly white teeth. "So... You are the Genbu Seishi. I've been waiting for you," It said in a low, scratchy voice. It chuckled to itself, then melted into the shadows once more to watch the four seishi and their precious miko sleep...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Iname's POV
I woke up before the others the next morning. I don't know why. I never wake up first. I'm usually one of the people who sleeps latest. To my relief, I saw that the blizzard had finally stopped. I quietly began to roll up my sleeping bag, careful not to wake the others. Then I began to groom my horse. He really needed it. His main and tail were a mess as was his coat because of the storm the day before. I heard something and I looked around, but it was only Hikitsu getting up.
"Good morning Hikitsu-san," I said. He looked at me and nodded his good morning. Good Seiryu, didn't that man ever smile? Hikitsu began to poke at the fire, which had been reduced to a few embers during the night, trying to get it going again. Finally, he did, and the cave began to warm up. But I barely noticed as I continued to groom my horse. I was lost in my own thoughts. I was thinking of Kutou, my home land. Of the one person who had ever really cared about me, despite the fact that I was one of the despised Genbu Seishi. Despite the face that I was an outcast in my own family. He, too, had joined the army, but not for the same reasons I had. Hokkan solders had killed his father, at least that was what he was told. We had never gotten any proof. I wouldn't be surprised if they hadn't, but I knew that that was unlikely. Kutou and Hokkan were at war. In war, people get killed. It is that way all over the world. How else could his father have died? How else could so many people have died? He wanted revenge, although he hated to kill. He hated the people of Hokkan. They had stripped his entire family from him, for his mother had died giving birth to him and he was an only child. And for that reason, I was betraying him. I was betraying the first and, up until recently, only person who had ever cared about what happened to me. I was betraying my only friend
I stopped running the brush threw the mare's coat and sighed, miserably. "Is something wrong, Iname-san?" A voice asked. It was Takiko. She was sitting by the fire, but now she got up and came over to me. I hadn't even noticed her wake up. Tomite was also up, but Hatsui was still asleep. I absently wondered how long I had been lost in my thoughts.
"No. Nothings wrong. I was just... thinking." I lied. 'I've only betrayed everyone and everything I've ever known. I've only betrayed the only person that ever really cared,' I added silently. I wasn't about to tell any of them anything about that. Takiko looked concerned.
"Iname," She began in a low voice so that none of the others could hear. "You can tell me. I won't tell any of the others. It helps to have someone to talk to. Normally, I would tell you to talk to Namame, because he's a good listener. But Namame's not here, and you need to talk to someone."
"What do you know! You would never understand how I feel!" I burst out, trying to also keep my voice low so that the others wouldn't hear. But it was hard. Everything I did in this country was just one more betrayal. I hated people who betrayed others, but here I was betraying everything. Takiko looked hurt and I instantly regretted my outburst.
"Iname... If you'd just tell me what's going on, then maybe I will understand. And, I think that you don't really realize it, but I'm the person who's in the most similar position to you. I'm also in a place that's unfamiliar to me. I'm also away from everything that I've ever known. The only real difference is that you are from the same world as you're in now and that I don't feel that I've betrayed anything in any way! I know that you must feel like you're betraying your god, Seiryu, and your country, and everything that you've ever known. So don't try to tell me that you're fine. Nobody could be fine after going through what you're going through," she told me, still being calm and gentle. I realized that she was right the instant that the words were out of her mouth and felt even worse than I already had, if that's even possible. But still, a thought nagged at the corners of my mind. 'Does that include you, Takiko-san? Are you all right after going through everything that you've been through?' I would have to ask her later. But then, I shoved the thought out of my mind and let my thoughts return to that moment, struggling to find a way to tell her that I was sorry for my outburst.
"I-I'm sorry... It's just...." No. That sounded wrong. I hated apologizing. But still, Takiko didn't know everything about how I felt. She didn't know about my biggest betrayal, and no matter how much I wanted to lie and tell her that I was okay, I knew that I wasn't. Also, I'm an awful liar. If I tried, she would catch me for sure.
Takiko saw the confused look on my face smiled at me. "It's okay. You don't have to tell me if you really don't want to. I understand." I had to stop a sigh of relief and made a mental note to thank her later when I understood my own feelings.
"Takiko-san, Iname-san, breakfast is ready," Hikitsu said. "Tomite-san, would you go wake Hatsui up. We'll be leaving as soon as we're done eating and everyone is ready to go. It would be a shame for him to miss breakfast because he slept in and couldn't get packed and eat in time." Takiko laughed as Tomite groaned and got up to wake Hatsui up. Soon, we were all around the fire eating.
I watched the others. Takiko and Tomite talked and laughed with each other. Hikitsu was silent, like me, lost in thought. Hatsui was still grumbling, after not having enough sleep. Or at least not having enough sleep in his opinion. The rest of us felt like he'd had plenty. The atmosphere in the cave was comfortable, and even I felt relaxed. I didn't know that everything was about to change. That my worst nightmare was about to cone true.
A shadow blocked the entrance to the cave. We all looked, and at the caves mouth, was the silhouette of a man. I knew who was there, even before I saw his face. And I was afraid. Afraid of what I knew was about to come...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
~End of Chapter 21~
Two words. Writers block. It took me forever to think of what was about to happen in this chapter. I hope that you don't think that I went into the betrayal thing to much. Come to think of it, in the last chapter, I went into the weak thing with Namame to much, didn't I? Oh well. I guess that's just how I write. You'll just have to live with it. ^^ More coming soon. Please review!
