Fushigi Yuugi: Death's Enchantment
Episode Four
"A Cry for Help"
Misty Schmitt
7 March 2001

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A/N: I wrote this fic years and years ago. I'm posting it here because I am no longer updating the original site I had dedicated to it. Please be nice when you comment, and remember that I (and my writing style) have changed since 2001.

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So, Nuriko has been set free from my spell…. So far, everything has gone according to plan… Everything except Nakago's actions…. That is of little consequence. Come to me, Priestess. Come.
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Aino's eyes fluttered for a moment. Her lips parted to allow a noiseless sigh escape. Tasuki watched her movement with anticipation, but no, this time was not unlike all the others – she did not regain consciousness.

"T- Tasuki?"

Tasuki turned from his bedside vigil.

"Nuriko! How ya feelin'?"

"Pretty strange. I… I'm sorry for before."

"Hey! Don't worry 'bout it! You can't help it that I am just SOOOO cool… anyone would be attracted to old Genro here! I don't blame ya one bit!"

Nuriko looked a little taken aback at Tasuki's words, but relieved.

"You know, that wasn't me doing the talking… so it seems you can only attract satanic demons… pretty fitting, I'd say!"

"Agh!" Tasuki managed, then the two friends laughed together, momentarily forgetting the problems that were at hand.

Chichiri sat in the center of his room in the palace, meditating.

This is hard. I don't know the answer.. I can't find it without you, Taiitsukun! You can't be dead, you're the creator of the world, you know! I need your help to know where to go from here!

"Chichiri, your faith in me is moving. Yet, the body you know is dead."

"T-Taiitsukun!"

"You got it…."

Chichiri opened his eyes and saw before him…

"Taiitsukun? This is your chi, but wow, you know!"

"Do you like it, Chichiri?"

Taiitsukun was indeed transformed. She had shed the old, ugly façade and now had the appearance of a beautiful young white haired woman…

"I am able to do this because I am no longer a living human. My living body could not handle any more stress… so it died…. I am now a powerful spirit… I have more power now than I did when I was living. It's really very nice, Chichiri… But here I am rambling on.. Go, gather the others that are left. We have a lot to discuss!"

"Right, Taiitsukun."

"Oh, and Chichiri.."

"Yes?"

"Close your mouth."

"Tamahome?"

"Yeah, Miaka?"

"What did Nuriko mean when he asked me to be strong no matter who I faced? You guys know something I don't! Where is Hotohori? Tell me, Tamahome!"

"I….. I…. "

Just then, Chichiri burst through the door.

"Tamahome, Miaka…. Something's happening, you know… come with me to get Tasuki and Nuriko. We have to have a battle plan, you know?"

"What about Yui, Chichiri?"

"We'll get her too, she's part of this now, you know?"

Tamahome, Tasuki, Chichiri, Miaka, Yui, and Nuriko gathered in the throne room of the palace. All were awaiting Chichiri's big announcement.

"What's the deal here, Chichiri?" Tasuki cried.

"Yeah, you said something was going on.." Tamahome added.

"Tamahome, Tasuki.. always hotheaded and impatient… " a voice said.. a voice that sounded like..

"Taiitsukun!" Miaka cried "Where are you?"

"Miaka, I am here."

She materialized before them.

"T…Taiitsukun? You're so.. beautiful.."

Miaka heard a loud thud and turned to see superdeformed Tasuki, Nuriko, and Tamahome on the ground, passed out. SD Chichiri looked up with a grin.

"As I explained to Chichiri, my old body is gone. This is my spirit. But all that is beside the point, we have a serious problem on our hands. I am sure Nuriko has told you about the possessions of Hotohori, Chiriko, and Mitsukake, has she, err, he not?"

"Possessions? What possessions, Taiitsukun?"

"Yes, Nuriko has told us." Tamahome interjected.

"Good, then there will be no surprises. You must go to Mt. Taikyoku; that is where the evil that has infected the people of this world has set up base. This will not be an easy battle, as you will be forced to fight your friends, but they must be saved so that you can overcome this evil which is threatening us."

"But Aino is…." Yui whispered.

"Yes, what happened to Aino is unfortunate. She must, however, be awakened. Only the power of the Shi no Miko can defeat this evil. You must gather the Suzaku Sichiseishi again, they are needed to help Aino summon Seishi, along with the powers of both Yui and Miaka. Until the celestial warriors are gathered, she must be taken care of well. She is fragile… anyone would be after what happened to her. Until then, I shall be watching over you." With her last words, Taiitsukun vanished.

"Tamahome!" Miaka said angrily.

"Uh….. zzzzzzzz" Tamahome feigned sleep.. he knew he was in trouble. Miaka hit Tama on the back of his head..

"Quit foolin' around and take it like a man! Why didn't you tell me about this!"

"I.. I wanted to keep you from the truth. I thought it might hurt too badly for you.. I thought there was something we could do without you having to know…"

"You can be such a jerk sometimes, Tama…"

But Miaka was cut off mid-sentence.

"What happened to her, Taiitsukun? What happened to Aino? TELL ME!" Tasuki screamed.

"Tasuki" Chichiri grabbed his flame haired friend "She's gone now.. and whatever happened, I'm sure we'll know when the time is right, you know. You gotta be patient."

"Patience was never my strong point." Tasuki walked out of the room.

"Wow, Miaka, I think Tasuki really cares about Aino." Yui commented.

"That's obvious Yui…" Miaka returned, remembering the scene not too long ago. Tasuki holding Aino with all his might, surrounded in his own flaming life force, crying like a hurt child. A tear came to Miaka's eye.

"Why? Why do I have these feelings for you?" Tasuki asked a sleeping Aino. He looked down at her and smiled in spite of himself. "I wish you would open your eyes and smile back."

He sat in a chair next to his bed and stroked Aino's hair. He brought his face closer to hers, the cuts that were there a mere memory by now, and kissed her forehead gently.

"I wish I didn't feel like this about you, cause now I wanna take all this pain away from you, and I know I can't do it, and that hurts me… why does everything have to be so complicated?"

Tasuki fell asleep holding the lady Aino's hand in his, tears drying on his cheeks.

Aino's spirit slowly rose to consciousness. Her heart raced for a moment… Mom? Hisako-chan? Where are you all? I miss you all so much, and I ache all over to be with you. What's happened….? Her deep blue eyes snapped open abruptly as she remembered where she was, the impossibilities and heartache of the past few days. And then she remembered him and what he had done to her. Silent tears began to run freely down her ivory-pale face. Why me? Why am I singled out for misery in this world? And why am I so lonely? Aino rose slowly from bed, her body a melee of pain. She looked about her at the new room she found herself in. It was not the room she had been in before. It was then that she realized herself to be totally and utterly alone in this huge, dark room. She was suddenly very, very frightened.

I have to find somebody! They can't have left me here all alone! I don't want to be alone! I'm so scared; won't somebody help me? Please!

Aino stood on unsteady legs, her body bare. She looked about her frantically, tears streaming down her face. Her terrified eyes began searching the room for any sign of life. The hysterical priestess ran from the room, despite her extreme pain and bare skin. She fumbled down the wide hall, her vision becoming blurry with tears, her head swimming with exhaustion and fear, still continuing her harried search for someone, anyone…. Trying to keep the dark loneliness from consuming her. She stumbled around the corner at the end of the long corridor and collapsed, her body simply could not take any more hysterics in its weakened state. Aino became a sobbing heap on the palace floors.

"WHY!" she wailed, in a chillingly desolate voice.

At that moment Tasuki found her.

"Aino-sama!" he said with not a little surprise, "Aino, you're awake!"

Aino turned her dark, blue eyes on Tasuki and let a sound of joy and sorrow escape her lips as she rose warily to her feet and collapsed into Tasuki's arms.

"I… I was so scared that…. I was alone here. I was scared." Aino sobbed into Tasuki's breast.

"No… I would never leave you alone. You are too… special to ever be neglected."

Aino smiled briefly before Tasuki lifted her up and brought her back into his room, so that she could rest and refresh herself. As Aino bathed in the adjoining room, Tasuki explained to her everything that had happened while she had been unconscious.

"… And then, you saved me from evil Nuriko… but you didn't have to cause I coulda kicked HER ass!… but then Chichiri said that you didn't save me from Nuriko cause he was with you all the time… but I KNOW what I saw, you know? Anyways… I came back with Nuriko and he told us that the others were all possessed.."

"Everyone? Yui and Miaka?"

"No.. just all the dead folk.. only now they're not dead, they're real.. inside their own bodies along with some demon thing controlled by the bad guy… And then Taiitsukun came and told us that we all had to go fight Hotohori and the others so that you can summon Seishi to kick the bad guy's ass…. But Chichiri wouldn't let me go.. he said I had to stay here and make sure you'd be ok… so everyone else left… except me, of course.. and now here we are!"

"So they all went to fight him? They will assuredly die, we have to go to them, or else.."

"You? Go fight? You can barely stand! I'm not gonna sit by and watch you get killed cause you're too damn weak!"

"Even if I am weak… even if he did defeat me before… I!"

"Whaddya mean 'even if he did defeat me one time before'? You've met up with this guy?"

"I.. it's nothing, Tasuki. Don't worry about it."

"No. I want to know! Tell me!"

"I can't! I just can't."

"I say you can!"

And with that, Tasuki stomped into the bathing room to demand an answer from the ever stubborn Aino. Of course, Aino was rather naked, and she did not enjoy this intrusion of privacy one bit.

"There you go again! They would leave me with the nasty pervert… You just better keep your hands off me, or so help me, I'll kick your peeping – Tom ass into the 21st century! And just then, when I was in the hallway! You were feeling me up, weren't you! Trying to cop a feel on an innocent vulnerable girl! You're pretty disgusting, aren't you!"

"Hey, miss high and mighty! You were the one running around the palace naked.. and if my memory serves me right, I believe you were the one to absolutely throw herself at me. I can't believe it! I stay behind to make sure Miss PMS here is ok, and this is how I'm treated.. that's IT! I'm through with women forever!"

"Hey there, flame boy… Are you quitting women? Or could it be that women quit you a long time ago?"

"You… brassy…. little… snobby-ass…. smart mouthed.."

"Yes?"

"Bitch! Damn.. that felt good!"

"Well, maybe so… but at least I'm not a pervert.. now if you don't mind.. would you Puh-lease get out of here so I can finish my bath.. oh.. and you know where to leave the tip!"

Tasuki turned abruptly and wordlessly left, leaving a silver object on the table beside his door.

Being angry at her… that is at least a more familiar feeling. Maybe I just felt like I cared for her because she was so hurt. Maybe…. Yeah, that's probably it. I was probably just worried about her… and I am probably just… lying to myself, damnit. There is just something about her….!

Tasuki walked along the corridor that Aino had so frantically traversed only hours before, lost in the thought of what was happening to him and all the new feelings that had invaded his heart when..

"HELP US! TASUKI… WE'RE IN TROUBLE, YOU KNOW!"

Then…. Nothing. Nothing at all. Where there had been a powerful chi was completely blank. Tasuki's head was spinning and his entire body ached.. just like all those other times when the chis of the other seven were extinguished… That.. that was Chichiri's chi… They're in trouble?

"Damnit, Chichiri.. Where are you? What's happened to you?" Tasuki frantically called into the evening air.

There was no reply.

"Tasuki?"

Tasuki turned to see Aino, a long robe draped about her, her long hair glistening wet in the twilight. "Tasuki, I felt it, too. We must go to them. Now, I am the only one that can help."

"Y.. yeah. I guess we have to go find out what's going on. I have a bad feeling about this. We'll set out tomorrow."

"Alright.. but first, is there any way I can get some clothes that are less… conspicuous? Maybe a little easier to travel in?"

"Yeah yeah.. I'll grab some money from the royal treasury.. His highness won't mind it once he returns…We'll go to town in the morning…. "

"Fine. Good night, Tasuki…" Aino turned back into the room, closing the door behind her, her eyes glowing a soft purple in the darkness. I must go to Him. One of us must be destroyed. I will not be for him what he wishes me to be!