Disclaimers: I don't own Fushigi Yuugi.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Narrator's POV
After Uruki and Hikitsu told each other how they felt, Uruki practically lived at Mt. Black. She often left for periods of time to go visit the other seishi or the capital where the emperor was. The other seishi also visited quite often, especially Umiyame. She always came for, as she said, one reason. To tease Tomite. Thus, he always said that he dreaded her visits, but everyone knew that he had just as much fun and thoughts that he jokes where just as funny as everyone else. Still, Umiyame was old, even though she didn't act it. One day, all seven of the seishi felt her life force fade from existence.
Umiyame had died in her sleep. Later, when her spirit visited Mt. Taikyoku, she decided to go to heaven, for she desired to be with her sister again after a long wait and finally make amends. Also, she wanted to see if this man that her sister had fallen in love with was as bad as she had once judged him to be. She stayed only for a week, and by the time that she left, Taiitsukun and Nyan-Nyan were glad that she had.
It was Iname who was the next to die. He went to Kutou, his home, to try to make amends with his family. Even though they were usually horrible to me, we had our good times, he said when the seishi asked him not to go, fearing for his safety. In the end, his own family killed him for betray them and his country. They did not even give him a proper burial service. Namame, guessing what had happened, brought his body back to Hokkan. One his grave stone (a very big memorial, like Umiyame's), they wrote about his life, his death, and his adventures as one of the Genbu Seishi. He left his family for a cause, and came back only after he had righted wrongs and fought for his life many times. However, he was killed by those that he hoped to make peace with None of the seishi ever found out which family member killed him, but it was suspected that it was his father. Iname had once mentioned that his father seemed to hate him the most.
Iname also wished to go to heaven when he got to Mt. Taikyoku. He wanted to see Yind and Kuro again. Besides, he had missed Umiyame, even if she could be quite annoying (Hey! You should respect your elders more!).
Now, they Genbu Seishi had lost two (not counting Tomite and Hikitsu) of their number as well as their miko forever. Three of the seven still lived, but five still walked the surface of their world. All were racked with grief.
I can't believe that there dead. It. It just doesn't seem real... Tomite told Uruki and Hikitsu one day, about six months after Iname's death. Uruki just laughed.
Well, you're dead, aren't you? But she looked a bit sad at the mention of them. It was hard for any of them to think of the two, but they all did. They had to. Iname and Umiyame had been their comrades through many trials. Through thick and thin. Through everything. It would have been an insult to their memories not to think of them.
It was three years later when Hatsui left them and went to join Umiyame and Iname. Just recently, he had decided to travel a bit. A plague swept through the tribe that he was staying with while stuck in the mountains because of the snow. He tried to get out before he became sick, but the snow was to deep. It was a month before Namame, who once again went to retrieve the body, was able to get through. There were no survivors.
When he reached Mt. Taikyoku he, too, chose to go to heaven. He figured that because many of his seishi had gone there the others would too. Also, he wished to see Umiyame and Iname again.
The others always said that the was that he had died was ironic. He had been the healer of the group and had died of an illness. Of course, he had never been able to heal illnesses, just physical injuries, but it still seemed ironic that he of all people would die of something other that old age.
Now there were only two living seishi; Namame and Uruki. Uruki still lived on Mt. Black, but Namame was staying with his parents. One or two years after Hatsui's death, when he was 21, he married a girl called Shimaro. Together they had four children. Their first was never named, for the small died directly after his birth. After that, Shimaro bore twin girls. They called them Takiko, named for the Genbu no Miko, and Yumi. Two years after Takiko and Yumi were born, his wife bore a son that they called Dugureng (Iname's real name) in honor on Iname. They named him after Iname because they said that Iname's sacrifice for Hokkan, even though he was from Kutou, was admirable. Of course, they thought that same of the other seishi's sacrifices, but that Iname had given up his home and family for them had always touched Namame, as had the way that he was killed by his family's hand when he went back to Kutou to make peace with them. When Namame was around thirty, his parents died, leaving him heart broken. After that, he had many uneventful years which he spent with his family. He also brought them up to Mt. Black sometimes to visit Tomite, Hikitsu and Uruki. During that time, his son and daughters married and he and Shimaro got grandchildren. His grandchildren always loved to hear his stories about his time as one of the Genbu Seishi, as had his children when they were small. When Namame was almost sixty, his village was attacked by bandits. He died making sure that his wife, children and grandchildren got away as well as several other villagers. He single-handedly saved thirty two lives, but lost his own in the progress.
When he reached Mt. Taikyoku, Namame decided to go to heaven, just like the ones before him.
Namame, like the others, was given a monument describing his life, his time as one of the Genbu Seishi, and his death. Uruki was the only seishi able to attend his funeral.
After Namame's death, Uruki no longer left Mt. Black except to get what she absolutely needed, such as food. She lived to be very old and died in her sleep. In her last moments, she told Hikitsu how much she loved him and how they would all see each other again. When she got to Mt. Taikyoku, she too wished to go to heaven. The last of the seishi had passed on. Now, they were all dead. All Tomite and Hikitsu could do was wait. They waited.... And waited... And waited.... They waited for three hundred years for the miko who would need the shinzaho. Sometimes, thieves would come seeking the shinzaho, but none left alive. Once every hundred years, Taiitsukun would stop by to check on them. Nyan-Nyan came too. Each time was a memorable occasion. However, other than that, the two of them had nothing to do. Over time, thieves came less and less frequent and the days seemed to stretch into months. Neather knew how long it would take for a miko to come. But one day, the doors opened and in came a young, ditsy girl claming to be the Suzaku no miko with six of her seishi.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tomite's POV
If I could live forever, I would be a blessed woman indead.
I once heard an old woman in my village say that. At the time, I had agreed with her. Now, I would do just about anything to die.
Do any of you realize what a curse it is to live for hunderads of years? You watch everyone that you know and love die. You walk like a ghost throughout this world, afraid to get close to everyone for fear of looseing them. That is, if I could I'm sure that's how it would feel. In my case, I sit in my cave, alone except for one. Edventually, it got so that Hikitsu and I only had one thing to talk about. Our time as members of the Genbu Seishi. But in many ways, that was painful to talk about. It reminded us of Takiko and the others. That we were the only ones left. Isn't that strange? We were the firest to die, but the last to leave this world.
I wondered if the others had decided to stay at Mt. Taikyoku. I wondered if they were happy, wherever they were. I wondered many things, and when I had run out of things to wonder about, I just sort of wondered.
After Uruki confessed her feeling to Hikitsu, he slowly became to become more open. That was all Uruki's doing. She thawed the ice around his heart that had grown there since Sora had died. After she died, that ice came back. For days, he wouldn't say anything. He would just sit in the courner. At first, I wondered what was going through his head, but then I realized... I knew. He was going through the same thing that I had gone through when I had felt Takiko die within me. I knew that it wasn't quite the same. Eaither way, I neve would have seen her again. But still, it hurt so much. I had never wanted her to die. That was the last thing that I had wanted. I had wanted her to live; to be happy. Even if that meant her falling in love with another man.
But anyway, Hikitsu and I waited for a miko for three hunderd years until one day... she came. The two of us heard somethng outside the cave. We had been talking about our time as Genbu Seishi when there was a huge rowr. It sounded half human, half wolf. There was sounds of fighting. The two of us stood up.
What do you think it is? I asked. Hikitsu just shrugged. The fighting sounds went of for a few more minutes, then everything was quiet. But not for long. There were more sounds, different from the last ones. Sounds of moving something. Then another huge bang, like something was dropped. Once again, there was sclience. We did not hear the young miko find her fallen seishi. We did not hear the seishi see their comrad, lost to them forever, as we had seen so many of out own lost. We heard nothing.
Until the door opened...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
~End of Chapter 49~
Origionaly, this was going to be the last chapter, but it got to long and I want to show the fight beetween the Genbu and Suzaku Seishi. I suppose that I could end the fic now, but one more chapter can't hurt anyone. So, more coming soon! Please review!
