Houjun/Holly's POV
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEE The alarm was shut off with a smack of a small delicate hand that was really the only visible part of the person lying in the double bed. A soft, feminine groan sounded and the lump began to rise, the blankets sliding off of a small framed woman, sky blue hair sticking up madly around her head and face. Hands rubbing sleepy eyes, she swung her feet off the bed and rose, stretching and then she stopped, mid stretch and blinked. Mahogany eyes opened and focused on a small figure in the middle of her floor.
Rich brown eyes raised to meet her mahogany ones and an impish grin lit the small face of the little person playing with his cars on her floor. She smiled slightly, finished her stretch and then approached the child, kneeling beside him. "What are you doing in here, Hikou?"
The little boy smiled slightly at his older sister and rose from his crouch, slightly darker blue hair then his sister's hanging in his eyes. "Your floor is more even then mine to play cars."
The girl shook her head at her baby brother's antics and rose, holding a hand out to the small child, who was 4 years of age. "Come on, monkey. Let's get you dressed."
The boy gathered his two cars in one hand and then grabbed his sister's hand and let her lead him back to his toy strewn room. She stopped and stared at the destruction. "Hikou, how long have you been up, no da?"
The younger boy heard that disaproval in her voice and looked at his feet, ashamed. "I don't know. I wasn't tired and wanted to play." She shook her head, trying to not let him see her smile and gestured for him to enter his room, her following in his path and approaching the dresser, removing clothes for him to wear. "Ok, get dressed and meet me downstairs for breakfast. However, when you get home this afternoon, you are cleaning this room, ok, no da?"
The little boy nodded and she shut the door behind her as he approached the bed, where his clothes were laid out. She then went directly across the hall and knocked on the door that was there. "Kouran, up and at em." She opened the door and poked her head in, smiling at the bundle on the bed. The two sisters slept the same way, covered head to toe in blankets. She walked through her sister's spotless room, as yesterday had been "clean your room day" for the two younger children. She pulled the lower edge of the blanket and ran one short nail up over the sole of her sister's foot, eliciting a cry of surprise from the sleeping form.
The girl sat up, tucking her feet back into her covers and golden eyes glared slightly at her older sibling. Light purplish/blue hair fell around her shoulders in messy waves and the older girl smiled slightly. "Up and at 'em. Come on."
Kouran grumbled slightly "You are talking like Kouji." However the growing smile on her face took any harshness from her words as her sister feigned outrage. "How dare you say I talk like Kouji, no da."
A passing voice in the hall reached both girls, making them turn their heads as the oldest sibling walked past. "Yeah, but I don' say no da with every other sentence."
The two girls laughed slightly and the oldest rose and moved towards the door. "Hurry and get dressed, I have to take you to school today cause Kouji has to get to the university earlier then usual, no da."
She closed the door behind her and smiled at her oldest brother as they stood in the hall. He raised an eyebrow at her wild hair and grinned slightly. "Ya should hurry to if yer goin' to be decent for school today. Tame yer mane, girl." She glared at him and made a grab for him, him dancing out of the way. "Now now, such temper."
She blinked and straightened, face going serious and he turned, smiling slightly at her. "I was jokin', Jun. Come on." She nodded. "Sorry, no da."
He just gave a nod at her apology and spoke as he headed down the stairs. "I take it cereal is on the menu today?" "Hai, no da."
His voice drifted back up the stairs. "I'll get it out and set up for the rugrats. Go get dressed." She smiled to herself as she entered the room and paused, staring at the room she had. She had the master suite, what had been her parents room, before their accident. Before she had been staying with Kouran, but Kouji had requested that she take their parents room, as she did most of the house work and kept things going. He said it was the least he could do. However, they did replace their parents bed with a new one. She just didn't feel comfortable sleeping there at all.
She quickly gathered her uniform for school and went into her own private bath and took a very quick, 2 minute shower, letting the water wake her up as well as tame her hair.
She got out, dressed quickly and towel dryed her hair, running a brush through it before leaving her room completely.
Holly was this girls name. Well, not technically. Her real name was Houjun. Her parents had decided that they would name their second child this, whether boy or girl, but after a year of teasing in the second grade, she had adopted the nickname of Holly and only her older brother now called her Jun.
She fairly skipped down the stairs and entered the spacious kitchen, noting with satisfaction that both Kouran and Hikou were dressed for the day, although Hikou was wearing a different shirt then what she had set out for him, something she didn't mind. He was properly dressed after all. Approaching the island, Kouji turned from the sink and handed her a steaming cup of tea, holding a cup of coffee for himself. She smiled gratefully at him and inhaled the scent before taking a sip.
She placed the tea down and quickly set to making lunches for the two younger siblings. Peanut butter and jelly for Hikou and ham and cheese for Kouran. Both children tried to weedle cookies for a snack, but she slipped them dried fruit instead and carrot slices. However, since they didn't complain she did drop one piece of snack size chocolate into their bags when they weren't looking, although they probably knew she did it.
She quickly wrote their names on their bags and set them at the end of the counter before making herself some toast for breakfast.
By now the others had finished breakfast and Kouji told them to go upstairs and brush their teeth, hollering up the stairs after them to not fight at the bathroom mirror. He turned back to see his sister bite into her breaded toast, eyes on the newspaper in front of her and frowned slightly, studying her profile.
He barely could remember the bratty child that had resisted their mother at every turn from just a few years ago. Since their parents had died in the accident, she had really stepped up to the plate and although he was the eldest, and his age being the only reason the children were still living together, she was the one that kept the household running. She made sure the children were fed and dressed, laundry done, their homework finished as well. The children were also well behaved for their age, sharing a close relationship with their siblings that was pretty unusual in most families.
He realized that Holly was now looking at him. "What, no da?" He shook his head with a smile, still amazed at how she had grown up so much, not physically, but emotionally and mentally. How she managed her perfect grade point average too, he didn't know. She was top in her class and graduating from high school in two months. She had already passed the entrance exam for Tokyo U, high score again. He never understood her.
He also didn't realize he was still staring at her. She got self conscience again and put her hand over her left eye. The eye itself had been saved, although her vision out of it was limited, but a scar ran from her eyelash to the side of her nose. He also had a scar on the side of his face, both from the same accident that had stolen their parent's life. The two younger children had been home with sitters at the time. Hikou had been 2 at the time, Kouran 6. Holly herself had only been 15. He had just turned 19 a month before the incident and was legally old enough to care for his siblings. Now he was 21, Jun was turning 18 in a few months and the kids were now 8 and 4. How time flew.
"Nothing is on yer face. Stop bein' so self conscience about yer scar, Jun. It gives ya character."
She made a face at him, picking up her tea and finishing it down in a couple of gulps. "Yeah, but the guys at school don't want character, they want perfection." She sighed and moved towards the foyer, grabbing the lunches she had packed on her way, to put them in the backpacks. He followed her. "Do ya get picked on alot?"
She shook her head. "Not really, just no guy will like me with this scar is all, no da." She turned back and gave him a bright smile. "Besides, why do I need guys when I have school and you three, that's enough for me to handle, no da."
She returned to the kitchen, gathering dishes from the table as she went and put them in the dishwasher after rinsing them. She quickly straightened up and then smiled as little feet hit the stairs. "Get their shoes on for them, I need to go fix my hair."
Kouji nodded, for once not teasing her about her hair and grabbed the little firecracker that was Hikou as he bolted past them. "Slow down man, where do ya think yer goin?"
Holly laughed as she walked up the stairs, nodding in approval at Kouran as she left her room, properly groomed. "YOur bags are all packed, make sure you have your homework, ok?" Kouran made a slight face, grumbling how Holly said that every morning, but moved downstairs to do as she was asked.
Holly returned to her bathroom and started to pull her tresses back into a pony tail, now that it was dry enough. However, as usual, her bangs attempted to defy gravity and stood straight up. Too annoyed and rushed to mess with them this morning, she let them do as they pleased and she quickly grabbed her books, making sure all her homework was in her bag before leaving her room and going downstairs where her older brother was loading the kids' into the family vehicle, which she would use today to take them to school. Normally this was Kouji's job, but he had a group project due in two weeks and he was meeting the others in his group to work on it early this morning before classes.
Holly climbed into the driver's seat while Kouji took the passenger seat. "How are you getting home tonight?" She backed out after making sure all were buckled and he replied. "I'll have Ryuuen bring me home."
She nodded and headed towards the University first, to drop her brother off. "I take it you won't be home for dinner then?" She caught his head shaking no out of the corner of her eye as he replied. "We are meetin' again this evening to work also, as this is a bad weekend for some of us. We need all the extra time we can get." She gave a nod and Hikou started to babble away to Kouji from the back seat as she drove. A small smile crossed her lips and she listened to her siblings talk around her till they dropped off Kouji.
The younger children were quickly dropped off at school and Holly drove to her high school, one of the top in the city and parked in the student parking. As she didn't have a final period this year, she was able to leave school about an hour early, allowing her to arrive home about 10 minutes before the younger children arrived with their rides. Other mothers helped get the two younger children home for them, something they were grateful for. Kouji and Holly always insisted on giving the other mother's gas money every few weeks for going out of their way. The other mothers' learned over time to not argue about this, just accept it graciously and be on their way.
The morning passed swiftly for Holly. A few tests, mostly note taking. Finally it was lunch time and Holly suddenly felt suffocated in the building and took her bought lunch outside and settled under a tree to eat in peace. She quickly ate and then closed her eyes, allowing her body to relax slightly. The pop quiz had thrown her off in that last class and she was more tense then she wanted to be. Slipping into herself, she focused on her breathing and completely relaxed. That is when it happened.
Her minds eye pictured a small temple on top of some very strange looking mountains. Holly was standing at the door, gazing at it in wonder, wondering what she was doing here when a pink bubble floated down beside her. A small, happy girl with pink hair burst forth, giggling and greating Holly. "Welcome Back, Chichiri-san."
Holly blinked at the seeming child. "I'm sorry, but I think you have the wrong person, no da. I am not this Chichiri you speak of."
The doors before her opened as a gravely voice spoke "Oh, but you have just forgotten who you were. Time to awaken you, I think."
Holly looked up into the ugliest visage she had ever seen and lept at least a good foot into the air, screaming slightly. The old woman popped her on the head. "Oh stop. I at least thought I could count on you to not scream at my appearance."
Holly stared at the woman and blinked. "I know you." She concentrated slightly, thinking as the old woman looked at her expectantly. "Taiitsukun."
The creator gave of snort of approval as the Nyan-Nyan chirped and bounced for joy that Chichiri had remembered who the creator was. "Yay, you remember." She froze and shrunk back as Taitsukun glared at her and disappeared back into her bubble.
Taiitsukun nodded and glanced at the sky before looking to Holly. "No time to really explain much right now, but I will give you two of Chichiri's memory jewels right now, come to me later in meditation and I will return the rest to you."
Holly blinked. "Chichiri's memory jewels, no da?"
Taiitsukun nodded "Hai, you are the reincarnation of the Celestial Warrior of Suzaku, Chichiri. You and your fellow warriors earned the rights to your powers and memories by your actions in your past lives, but this first time will be the most difficult. You are key in getting everyone their memories back."
She handed two memory jewels to Holly, who accepted them into her body. As memories assaulted her a faint distant chiming was heard and Holly returned to herself, memories of who she was and her magic coming to her.
Holding a hand to her head she groaned slightly. The returning of her memories not the most coherent thing she had ever experienced. However she rose slowly, tray in hand, which she threw into the nearest bin and almost made it back inside when her powers returned. A slight cry of pain and she pitched forward, curling into a ball after hitting the ground, a red glow coming from her right knee as she cried out in pain.
Students gathered around her, as did teachers and her history teacher was leaning over her, worry on his face when she uncurled. The power was now there, settled as if it had been there all along. Disorientated, she rose unsteadily, students hushed and the teachers helping her. She wasn't all that aware when they led her into the nurses station and she laid down, almost immediately falling asleep.
She awoke some 45 minutes later, groggy and confused but then sat straight up as memories of who she was returned. She blinked and stared at her hands, speaking quietly into the empty room. "I'm a woman, no da."
Hearing the low murmur of voice, the nurse came in and saw that Holly was awake. "Well, are you feeling better?"
Holly gave a nod. "My head hurts though and I'm tired now, no da."
The nurse just smiled at this and nodded. "Your brother should be here momentarily to take you home." Holly gave a nod and settled back into the cot. Five minutes later, Kouji enterred the room and walked straight to his sister. "Are ya ok?"
She blinked at him and nodded, rising when she realized who he was. This was Genrou's friend, Kouji. Kouji was her brother. She smiled slightly and he led her from the nurses' office, signing her out of school and after she gathered her assignments, they went to the car and he drove her home.
She was silent as they drove and then turned to him. "How did you get here?"
He blinked and looked at her. "Ryuuen brought me over." She gave a nod although his next words made her frown. "I'm cancellin' my group meetin' tonight to be home for ya."
She looked at him. "I won't let you cancel your project work just for me, no da." He glanced to her from the side of his eye "But ya had some type of fit Jun, I think I should be home tonight."
She shook her head and looked out the window before the thought hit her. "Invite them over then, no da." He blinked "What?"
She nodded "If you feel you must be home for me tonight, invite them over." By this point they were pulling into the drive and she was climbing out. He also got out, although left the car running. "I will invite them, but even if they say no, I'll be home with ya tonight."
She turned to him and sighed but nodded anyways. "Fine. I'm going to go lay down for awhile before the kids' get home, no da."
He nodded "Do that, I'll see ya tonight. And no cookin', we'll order out." She gave a quick smile and let herself in as he drove away.
Finally alone she pressed a hand to her head. "Oh Suzaku. That was a mess. I think my memories are finally evening out though." She smiled slightly and went to her room, relaxing on her bed, slipping into meditation once more. She smiled as she arrived back on Mount Taikyoku, Taiitsukun waiting for her. "That was fast."
Holly gives a small smile. "I passed out when I regained my powers, no da." Taiitsukun frowned at her former student but said nothing. "Well, let me give you the other memory gems and then we will talk."
The two settled comfortably within the great room of the temple and one by one, Holly regained Chichiri's memories. When the massive swirl of information stopped and settled, she glanced down at herself, almost surprised to see a school girl uniform and not her travelling clothes. Taiitsukun seemed to read her mind. "I do believe that it will take some adjusting to having memories of being a man and the body of a woman. You will adjust."
Chichiri nodded. Taiitsukun held out a small bag, Chichiri accepted it and opened it up, curious. Inside were multicolored memory gems. "Those are the memory gems of the others, minus Tamahome and Miaka."
Chichiri nodded and closed the bag. She already knew, somehow, which gem belonged to whom. "Why awaken us now, Taiitsukun?"
The creator smiled. "Because you are all about to be reunited. In fact the others are together, only you are missing. Even Tamahome is connected to one or two of the others in some way. And since he has his memory back, as soon as the others have their memories, you will be in contact with Tamahome and Miaka again.
Chichiri gave a nod and clutched the bag tighter to her chest. Taiitsukun stood. "You should go back, but before you do, I have something for you."
She held out her hands and there, materializing, was Chichiri's items. She took the staff first, then the kesa and kasa. She smiled slightly and bowed to her old teacher, who shooed her off with an affectionate gesture. "Go, I'll see you again in your meditation."
Chichiri nodded and slowly came to in her room. Mind reeling, she wondered for just a brief moment if it was real. A weight in her lap caused her look down and she ran a hand lovingly over the familiar fabric of her kesa before standing. A weight around her neck caused her to raise one hand, prayer beads hung there. She smiled slightly and tucked them into her shirt before glancing at the clock.
The children would be here shortly, time to put away her items and get a move on. Suzaku warrior or no, those two wanted their snacks as soon as they came in the door. She settled her staff in one corner, the soft jingling of the chimes calming her. The kesa went over the end of her bed and the Kasa hung from a hook on the wall. The bag of memory gems went onto a high shelf, safe from small hands. With one last look, she left her room.
It was going on five when Kouji came home, 5 other people in tow after him. Hikou was delighted at these new people and promptly jumped into his brother's arms, chatting away a mile a minute. The other students, not use to this side of Kouji all watched in amazement when the seemingly rough person they knew from in school spoke with true kindness and love to the small hyper boy.
A female voice drifted from somewhere out of sight. "Hikou, that room better be clean, no da." Kouji looked at his younger brother, eyebrows raises and the boy pouted, but climbed back up the stairs, causing Kouji to laugh once he was out of sight.
He had just shown his group into the den, where they could work when Kouran came in. "Kouji, why are you home?"
He glanced to his friends and then his youngest sister. "Holly had an accident at school today and had to come home. I'm here to make sure you guys don't give her any trouble." Kouran frowned slighty. "What type of accident?"
Kouji shrugged, his friends all listening. They knew almost nothing about Kouji's home life, he never had invited them over before or really talked about it. Now he was completely different around his siblings. "She collapsed in pain and passed out. She seemed fine when I picked her up and I'm sure she is fine." He was quick to reassure Kouran, when he saw her stricken face. "Don't worry, things will be alright. Now, are ya hungry?" At her nod he smiled to his friends. "Well, let's order pizza. Kouran, go find out what Hikou wants on his pizza."
The young girl darted from the room and Kouji stood. "Let me go talk to Holly. Ya'll discuss what you want to eat and we will order when I get back. Then we can start."
After murmur's of agreement, Kouji left and found Holly folding laundry in the laundry room. She glanced up at him with a smile. "Hi."
"Hi."
"Ya feelin' any better?"
She gave a nod as she folded the last of the laundry and started to put it in the basket. "Much better, no da. I rested when I got home and got my homework finished too while Kouran did hers. What are we doing for dinner, no da?"
"Pizza, that good for ya?"
She gave a nod and followed him back into the main house, carrying the basket. "Let me go put these away and check on the kids and I'll come back with what we want. You should start on your project, no da."
He nodded and moved towards the den, where Holly could hear low voices. "I'll be back in a minute."
She had just started up the stairs when Kouji's voice stopped her. "Holly?"
"Hai, no da?"
"Kouran knows about today, you might want to talk to her." Holly frowned at him, a bit upset that he had worried their sibling but agreed to talk to her. She moved up the stairs, never seeing the redhead move towards the hallway, talking to Kouji, but his eyes following her up the stairs. Kouji saw it though.
(A/N I forgot the right word for his staff, sorry.)
