I'm going to do all my updates and so I thought I'd start with this one. I loved the feedback on that last chapter! I know, mostly I'm very paranoid that I'm going to get the love scene wrong and someone will say something about it but I try hard to make them nice. Teresa's even said that I'm not bad at them. Oh well. I'm sure you want to know what Ryuuen's up to.

Just a note: Some of you may have been confused that Houjun can use his kasa and stuff. Well, I figure that he's technically a monk and monks seem to be very powerful all by themselves in anime. Like Miroku from Inuyasha. Also, there are 'ofuda' in this episode which, for those of you who don't know, are charms that monks and miko use. They're spells on paper used for exorcising demons and stuff.

Disclaimer: I don't own Fushigi Yugi.

Warnings: Angst, cool stuff, and CD players…

Somewhere Out There

Chapter Thirteen

When I woke up, I slowly opened my eyes and turned on my side. The sun was drifting through my blinds a little too brightly. I was surprised to see that I was in bed at all. The last thing I was remembered was passing out on the couch thanks to Rokou's efforts. I figured he must have carried me up here. My eyes blurred and focused on my digital clock.

I sat straight up, grabbing the clock. Nine o'clock in the morning! I was late for school! I set it down and was about to get up when my door opened and my mother poked her head inside.

"Are you awake Ryuuen?" She asked in an almost curious voice.

"Yeah, I can't believe I overslept! Did Rokou oversleep too?" I questioned as I pulled my covers off and started to get up. No wonder I fell asleep, I hadn't slept for about two days before.

"Rokou said you were having trouble sleeping at all…" My mother bit her lip. "He said we should just let you sleep today."

"He…did?" I started to sit back down in bed.

"Yes, I thought it was a good idea too. You were looking ill…" My mother explained. "If you're having trouble sleeping, you can always take those pills Ryuuen."

"I know." I flopped back onto my bed. "Thanks mom." I looked up and smiled at her and her own face lit up in a smile. I was starting to feel a little sleepy again. "Can you tell Rokou I said it's okay and thanks?"

"Of course." My mother didn't quite understand the message but seemed to be happy to do something for me. I realized just how little I had interacted with my mom as of late. It was sad really, I hadn't meant to push her away but that's exactly what I had done to my entire family.

I slid out of bed again and went over to her. I stood there, looking at her unsurely for a few moments and she was staring at me as though she had no idea what I was doing. Then I leaned forward and threw my arms around her.

She hugged me tightly and I knew that she loved me no matter what I had done to her. It was the reassurance that made me feel a hundred times better. When I finally broke the hug, I saw that a few tears had rolled down her cheeks.

"Sorry I've been so horrible." I mumbled.

"I understand." My mother cupped my face in her hands. "You loved her with your whole heart…it takes time to mend a heart. Sometimes it feels like it'll never hurt any less and it never really does but you get used to the pain and then you know that it's alright to go on. You have a very strong heart Ryuuen."

"Heh, seems like everyone's saying that now a days." I joked weakly.

"Why don't you go and see if you can sleep some more?" My mother suggested. "When I came in earlier…you seemed like you were having a good dream." I blushed a little. I had seemed to have forgotten the fact that Saihitei had just said he loved me and that we had a weird monk on our hands as well.

My mom left and I tried to go back to sleep. I found my mind so pleased with the fact that I'd be seeing Saihitei again that it was hard to go to sleep. I took two pills and put on my headphones, listening to some classical music. It helps sometimes when I can't sleep.

Soon the drugs and the music worked their magic and my eyes closed once more.

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I appeared a few feet in the air and thus ended up landing rather hard on my back. Why couldn't I just appear on the ground? Was I really asking too much? I saw that it was early morning and that everyone was asleep. Everyone but Kishuku who was a little away from the sleepers.

He was practicing kung fu movements and I watched with some fascination until he noticed me.

"Oh, Kourin." Kishuku greeted me. "I didn't expect you back so soon."

"It's okay." I shrugged. "I hadn't been sleeping well and now I'm sort of over sleeping."

"What's that on your head?" Kishuku pointed at me, looking like I had a flower growing out of the head or something. I reached up and realized I was still wearing my headphones. I remembered that I usually appeared in the clothes that were mine from the other world. Maybe whatever was on me came with me!

"They're called headphones." I explained. Then I noticed the CD player in my hand as well. "This is a CD player."

"CD player?" Kishuku repeated, obviously having no idea what I was talking about.

"Yeah, it plays music." I told him. I took off the headphones and held them out towards him. "Put them on so they're covering your ears."

"Okay." Kishuku put them on the way that they were on my head. I pressed the play button and his entire face lit up with pure amazement. "Kourin! There's music in these! There's musicians in here!"

"Not quite." I laughed at him. I'm sure these things did seem rather extraordinary considering he came from a time that didn't have any sort of electronics.

"It's amazing!" Kishuku exclaimed, looking rather child-like with delight. He took off the headphones and handed them back to me rather reluctantly.

"What are you up to?" I questioned.

"Remember that monk that showed up out of the blue? He hasn't been back but we've been taking shifts as we don't know if he'll show up again or not." Kishuku informed me. "I'm on my shift now. I was just practicing these movements. They help me think."

"Can I try them with you?" I was eager to do something and it'd probably help the next time in a fight. So Kishuku showed me what to do and I did remember stuff from when I had first found out I was a seishi and we had done a little training.

This was different though, it was like tai chi or something, going through different movements. It made me feel very strong and it was a little like dancing as you wanted to look graceful while doing them.

"Whad'ja doing'?" Genrou had woken up and was talking rather sleepily as he approached us. He rubbed his eyes again. "Oh, you're here."

"Hey Genrou." I waved.

"Show him the thing!" Kishuku encouraged me, making little shooing motions with his hands towards Genrou. "The VD player or whatever."

"CD player." I corrected as I snickered but tried to cover it up. Genrou was eager to see with this invention did but was a lot louder with his reaction than Kishuku had been.

"THERE'S INSTURMENTS IN THERE!" Genrou roared in shock. "Kourin, how did you fit fucking musicians in there? Are they alive?! Is it magic?!"

"What's going on?" Miaka had woken up now. "Why is Genrou yelling?"

"There's fucking people inside Kourin's BD player!" Genrou told her, taking off the headphones.

"CD player." I corrected again. "Here, let Miaka listen to it." Miaka eagerly took the headphones from Genrou, careful not to touch him while doing so, and than her face changed completely.

"Oh Kourin! There's music!" Miaka clapped her hands together with delight. "It's wonderful!"

"I see I've missed something while I was sleeping." A voice came from behind me and I felt my face heat up. Saihitei was awake.

"Oh yeah…" I mumbled as I turned to look at him. He was smiling at me. "Well see I went to sleep and—"

"Listen! Her PD player has music!" Miaka took off the headphones and handed them to me.

"CD player." My eyebrow twitched as I corrected her mistake. I offered them to him, feeling a little silly and he put them on. His eyes widened in wonder and I found myself very pleased that he liked it.

That is so dorky Ryuuen.

So?

"What an amazing invention…" Saihitei breathed. "Is it like a music box?"

"Um…kind of." I agreed. "It's different though because it has electricity and batteries…" Everyone had a completely blank face. "Anyways, yeah, like a music box."

"You would come from a world of amazing things." Saihitei said softly and I went scarlet.

After the excitement over the CD player, we had breakfast and then packed up camp. It was a nice day outside and so we went along slowly, talking and joking with each other. That was until we passed the stranger on the road.

There was nothing extraordinary about this stranger. He was just walking along slowly, hobbling with a stick as he was old. We had passed travelers before but we just sort of nodded at them. This time was different because Miaka spoke to the stranger.

"Good day." She greeted him politely.

"Not a good day for you if you keep traveling this road in that direction." The old man told us.

"Why?" Saihitei questioned him.

"Didn't you hear?" The old man seemed surprised. "The road leads through more forest and eventually you'll reach a lake. They say a demon lives in that lake that becomes whatever you want to see most and then leads you to your death."

"A demon?" Kishuku looked at the rest of us.

"Yes, you should probably come back the way you came." The man told us.

"If you're coming from that direction…perhaps you met this demon?" Saihitei inquired, raising a curious eyebrow.

"Yeah, yeah, if you came from that direction, how do we know you aren't in league with the demon?" Genrou pointed a finger rather accusingly and Kishuku and I hit our hands to our foreheads at the exact same time.

"Way to have tact Genrou." I rolled my eyes.

"The demon couldn't touch me." The old man reached into his robes and pulled out an ofuda. "A monk I met gave me this."

"A monk?" Miaka spoke and I knew she was thinking of that Houjun person.

"Yes, he's always wandering these parts." The old man nodded. "Very powerful and his ofuda ward away demons."

"Does he look like a fox?" Miaka questioned.

"I suppose…" The old man trailed off looking at Miaka strangely. "Always has a smile on his face."

"That sounds like the monk we met!" I exclaimed.

"It very well could be." Saihitei agreed. "Thank you for your warning sir but we'll take our chances."

"Just be careful." The old man advised us. "Don't be deceived." And with that he went hobbling on. We looked at each other from our horses, hesitating slightly.

"We need to see that monk again." Miaka said determinedly. "Our clue is 'monk' and don't you think it's a coincidence that we ran into one?"

"Miaka's right, we can't turn around." I said as I adjusted the horse's reins. "So let's go." The others agreed with this point and we all went forward.

When we hit the woods, it felt spookier and I began to worry. What if the demon showed up? I figured it would be alright if it showed up with all of us around. If it only turned into what we wanted to see most and we were in a group, it wouldn't know what to turn into.

At one point we decided to stop and stretch a little before going on. We had yet to see the lake that the stranger had told us about but I think our worries were subsiding a little. The woods were less dense here and the sunlight shining through made it seem like every other forest we had been through.

As I stretched my arms above my head, I heard an unmistakable sound.

It was laughter.

I had heard this particular laugh over a thousand times, I knew exactly who it belonged to and my heart began to thump. There was no way…it was impossible but…

Without hesitation I ran after it, ignoring the others who suddenly shouted with surprise and started coming after me. I willed myself to run faster.

Because…that laugh…

It's Kourin's.

Suddenly I had run through a small clearing and came upon a beautiful lake. Playing in the water only so it came up to their ankles was a purple haired girl.

"Kourin!" I yelled in happiness and surprise. The girl turned her head and it was Kourin. It was Kourin! "Kourin!"

"Ryuuen, you found me." Kourin smiled at me, her rose-colored eyes exactly as I had remembered them. "I've been looking all over for you."

"Kourin…" I stumbled forward towards her, the water splashing at my ankles.

"Ryuuen, I've been so lonely without you." Kourin looked down at her hands, the way she would when she confessed something. "I didn't mean to leave you all alone…"

"I know you didn't." My eyes were full of tears. "I know you didn't Kourin. It's alright."

"It's alright now. Everything's going to be alright." Kourin held out her arms to me. I went forward blindly and put my arms around her. I felt very light, as though I was weightless.

I took a deep breath and felt something flooding into me.

The darkness began to close in around me but I didn't notice as I held Kourin in my arms. I finally had her back.

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Dun, dun, DUN!!!! What's going to happen? I can't tell you, you'll have to stay tuned! Please review!