Disclaimer: Nope, I still don't own Fushigi Yugi...
Thanks to those who have reviewed! I really appreciated it.
Reviewer Response:
Silver Pain: Actually, I think that those a great ideas, I'd already thought about doing that with Nuriko and I do have an interesting twist for Hotohori.
Sarah Jaye: Thanks for the tip, I'll fix it when I get the chance.
Princess Patti: Don't worry, Tasuki will make his appearence fairly soon.
Thanks to the other reviewrs as well!
Chapter Three: Priest of Suzaku
Miaka looked at him oddly, "What…what are you?" She asked quietly, her voice holding, not fear, but more of a apprehensive curiosity.
A gruff shout of "Detain the young man and the girl," cut Tamahome off before he could respond to Miaka. He looked around him as at least twenty sharp spears were thrust in his direction entrapping Miaka and himself in a tight circle.
Poke…..pause….Poke... Tamahome felt the tiny assaults on his arm three or four times before he realized that he was sleeping. Opening his eyes he sat up but soon regretted his choice when a sharp pain came rushing into his brain. He brought his hand up to his head, cupping his forehead.
"Finally, I thought I was going to have to resort to extreme measures." Tamahome jumped at the sound of voice close by.
He slowly turned to see Miaka with a tiny grin painted on her face. He furrowed his brow, "Uh, what's going on?" He said noticing that his surroundings were nothing that he remembered seeing before.
"Um, we're in the dungeon. We've been down here for about an hour, jeez, that hit to your head must have done some damage." She grinned at her last statement.
"Hit?" Tamahome repeated, evidently clueless.
Miaka sighed, "Remember? We were caught by the guards and they knocked us out and locked us down here." She pointed her arm out, indicating to the walls of the dungeon.
Tamahome rubbed his head, No I don't remember that at all but oh well…. "So….how we gonna get outta here?" He asked walking over to the thick wooden door, made from crossing large planks and nailing them together.
There was a pause, "I dunno." Tamahome could tell she had just shrugged even though he had his back to her.
"The door doesn't seem that strong, maybe we can force out way out." he said backing up to try and ram the door. Sure, he'd done this lots of times back home with the wooden door leading to his brothers room. This one couldn't be that much stronger could it? Hell there wasa lot less to it. It had large 1 foot squares cut out of it, it couldn't be that strong.
"Um, I wouldn't--" Miaka started her warning but didn't get to finish as Tamahome ran at the door and attempted to shoulder it down.
Miaka winced as the boy hit the door and suddenly stopped slumping to the floor. "Ow…." Miaka laughed, "The wood making these doors is as thick as a large tree branch."
"What didn't you tell me that?" he grumbled rubbing his shoulder. Miaka scowled slightly, "I tried to! Don't blame it on me."
Before Tamahome could argue any further a gruff voice sounded from somewhere down the stone hallway. "Shut up you two!" It was obvious it was one of the guards, and from the sound of the echoing footsteps it was also obvious that he was coming down to their cell.
"Now's out chance, we've gotta do something to get out."
Tamahome franticly started thinking of something, anything that would work. Head bent in concentration he tried to think of something.
A tap on the shoulder pulled him from his thoughts seconds later, "Coming? If we stand here all day they'll catch us again."
"Wha-?" Tamahome looked from Miaka, to the open door, to the guard lying unconscious on the floor, then back to Miaka. "How-?"
Miaka smiled, "Feminine charm." she stated simply with a smile.
Tamahome laughed and shook his head, "Don't wanna know."
After a few minutes Tamahome and Miaka emerged from the dingy prison tunnels. Nice to be outta there…
He followed Miaka as she walked down a long hallway decorated with brilliant reds and golds, with decorations ornamenting almost every inch of the walls.
Miaka paused at the large wooded door that was stationed at the end of the hallway. After putting her ear up to the door so slowly pushed it open and slipped inside, Tamahome right behind her.
The they entered into was stunning. The same reds and golds shone from the walls and, if possible, there even more decorations in the room. One particular item caught Tamahome's eyes. He walked over to a large statue or a golden bird. Behind the figure was a large tapestry with what seemed to be the seven constellations. Without turning his head he called to Miaka, "Hey, what's this?"
Miaka walked over to him. "Oh, that's Suzaku." Miaka continued to explain after the confused look on Tamahome's face didn't disappear. "There are four Gods, Byakko, Genbu, Seiryu, and Suzaku. Like I said, this is Suzaku, who is the God of our country. The other countries worship one of the other Gods."
Tamahome planned on listening intently to what Miaka had to say, but thanks to his short attention span, a large pile of golden coins down the hall caught his eye. Without thinking he walked down the hall and into the room which held not only cold coins, but also gems and many other valuables. Tamahome had to resist the urge to drool as his eyes canvassed the room.
Meanwhile, Miaka was still talking completely oblivious to the fact that Tamahome had skipped off. Three minutes later, upon finishing her little speech she turned to address Tamahome. "Yeah, so anyways, we should be leaving before we get cau--uh, Tamahome?" Oh, God this isn't good. Frantically she began running around trying to find the boy.
Emerging from the room, with a couple coins weighing his pockets down quite nicely, Tamahome looked around and realized that he had no idea where the hell he was. In his excitement to go look at the money he hadn't bothered to look and see where he had gone. Oh no, oh no, whaddle I do? OK, I gotta get outta here.
Luckily for him, he was able to find an exit only a few feet away. So making a mad dash for it he ran outside and tried to figure out what to do next. I need to get out of here, but I can't just leave Miaka.
While he argued with himself, he didn't notice the figure that was sitting only a few feet away on the railing of the porch.
"You must be one of the prisoners they took in earlier." Tamahome spun quickly to find himself looking at an incredibly beautiful girl.
"Uh, um, I…Nope, you got the wrong guy, sorry. I'll just be on my way." He made to quickly hurry off but the girl protested strongly. "No. It's alright, I won't tell the guards. Why don't I show you around? Maybe you can find whoever you're looking for, then you can go home in peace without the guards following you." She smiled politely.
Tamahome laughed lightly, "Yeah, uh, well the thing is, I don't think I can go back to my world so um, yeah." He didn't really know what to say, this whole situation was so strange.
The girl smiled, "So the rumors are true then. You did come from another world?"
"Yep…." Once again, what did you say to that.
"Well, I'm Hotohori by the way."
Tamahome smiled, "I'm Tamahome." His smile vanished as the sound of shouts and heavy footsteps began to come close. He didn't need anyone to point out that it was the guards.
He watched as Miaka came around the corner with six or seven guards surrounding her, "Where's that boy?" The asked her fiercely. "Hmm, well damn, seems he's gotten away." She responded lightly not at all deterred by the surly manner of the guards.
Miaka winced as she received a swift blow to the face, "Your rudeness is not appealing. We know you know where the boy is. Tell us now."
"Miaka!" He called out, stepping into the open for the guards to see. He wasn't sure why but when the guard hit her he felt compelled to say something.
The guards made to advance on him but stopped dead in their tracks with beyond surprised looks on their faces after only a few steps.
Tamahome tilted his head to the side, Why are they stopping? "Emperor!" they shouted, immediately backing down. Tamahome turned to look at the girl he had been standing with. Now, instead of a long kimono type cloth, she wore a mans outfit. "Um?" Was pretty much all Tamahome could say, who wouldn't be confused in that situation?
"Haha, good one." Tamahome laughed a bit nervously, "But isn't the emperor a guy? Cause uh, you're a girl…."
Awkward Silence
Miaka, who had managed to end up standing next to Tamahome leaned over and whispered in his ear, "That's a guy."
"I am sorry about the mix up. I can understand how that situation could have been confusing."
"You have no idea…" Tamahome mumbled to himself.
"So…we can leave then?" He asked.
"Yes. But before you depart we must ask of you a favor. Priest of Suzaku."
Tamahome remained in his sitting position. They couldn't possibly mean him could they?
"I believe you have heard the legend of Suzaku, am I correct?"
Tamahome nodded dumbly.
"Um, yeah I think you have the wrong guy, sorry it didn't work out…." He made to get up and leave but a hand on his wrist suggested otherwise. He looked down to see Miaka's hand wrapped around his wrist. "Wait." she said quietly, almost a whisper.
"You have a wish, do you not? You came to our land with a wish you desired to be granted." Tamahome gazed back at Hotohori.
I could have anything I wanted…A hot girlfriend, all the money in the world! Tamahome practically started drooling at that thought, And…and I could also get into Jonan…well in that case, hell yeah, I'll do it!
"Ok, I'm in." He curled his hand into a fist and pumped his arm in a dramatic show of victory.
"Everyone. Our Priest of Suzaku will now obtain his power."
As Tamahome turned to look behind him he noticed that everyone was now kneeling before him; even Miaka.
Wow, look at them. They're treating me like I'm royalty or something…
"Ok well, this has been a blast but I have to get home now, cya!" Tamahome gave a leisurely flick of the hand in a small wave as he turned to leave.
"Hold on, you just said…"
Tamahome turned back to Hotohori. "Yes, I know what I said, but first I gotta get home. I have school. And I guess I should say something to mom." He added the last bit a little more quietly.
Hey, what's this book doing on the floor here? It looks like someone's been in here, the lock's broken…
The voices, they're coming from outside the book! "No! Wait, don't close the book!" Tamahome yelled out, earning a few interesting and concerned looks from those in the room.
"Shit! I won't be able to get back. Stop!"
Slam. Alright, let's go now, we should probably close the place up.
Tamahome stood stock still. Oh God. What'll I do now? My only exit from here was that book. Now it's closed I'll never get back…
Tamahome sat on the soft bed of the room he was given. In his hand was a picture of Yui, himself and a couple other friends. God, I really may never see home again…I'll never see my friends, I'll never see the movie theatre, or the arcade, I'll never see modern money! And I'll have done all work, all that studying for nothing. I wonder how long it's been, I mean how many hours, days have I been here?
A quick knock on the head brought Tamahome out of his thoughts. "You look pretty concentrated, what'cha thinking about?"
He turned to see Miaka sitting on the edge of his bead next to him.
"Hey, what are you doing in my room?"
She ignored his question, "C'mon be happy. I'm here to better your mood."
Tamahome shrugged it off, "I'm fine."
He was about to protest further when he felt two arms encircle him in a tight hug.
Miaka released him and looked up at him, "You looked like you needed a hug. Besides if something's bothering you, don't hold back. Let it all out."
After a few moments Miaka spoke up again, "So I was thinking. You wanted to go home right? Well, if you summon Suzaku you can use a wish to get home."
Tamahome followed Miaka to Hotohori. They found him a few minutes later walking down one of the elaborate hallways. "Tamahome, Miaka, I hope you're stay had been alright so far."
They both nodded, "Um, I was wondering…How could I get Suzaku's powers?"
The emperor smiled, "I was just looking into that in The Universe of the Four Gods. It's a book of prophesies handed down to us from Tai Yi-Jun."
Whoa, Universe of the Four Gods….that's the book I was reading, that's this book.
"According to the book there are seven celestial warriors to accompany you. I, Hotohori, and one of them as is Miaka. I am Hydra and Miaka is Cancer. That leaves five more celestial warriors that, along with us two, are meant to protect the Priest so that he may summon Suzaku and obtain the powers. Right now, you task is to find the five remaining constellations. There are a total of twenty-eight constellations divided between the four directions of North, South, East and West. Suzaku is the divine God of the South. Our eight constellations are Hotohori, Miaka, Tasuki, Nuriko, Chiriko, Mitsukake, and Chichiri."
Tamahome paused before turning to Miaka, "So…you knew all about this?"
She slowly shook her head, "No. I knew I was named after a constellation but I didn't know that I was meant to protect you."
I have to find these constellations quick or I won't make it back in time to pass high school!
"Ok well how do I find the others then!" he asked anxiously.
"There are clues written here. The third constellation will be identified by the characters Gong and Wu; the first meaning palace and the second fierce strength."
"Ok…well then let's go find them. We should round up all the men in the palace and find the strongest one!" Tamahome ran off excitedly dragging Miaka behind him, with Hotohori following behind.
A/N:
Ok, first of all, I do plan on making changes in this stories like I had said before, but right now it's a little dificult since only three of the characters have been introduced. So once most of the warriors are in the picture then things will start to change. But there are also acouple main events from the original story that I'm going to keep in mine.