So my fan fiction is now officially finished. I guess I just put this up as I feel like it. This is basically my thoughts and all that in regard to this fan fiction, and a bit of my own view in regard to Fushigi Yugi. I just finished cheeking my epilogue and it is pretty late right now, so it will be pretty messy.
Word of warning now: it is very random, very long, and rather pointless most of the time, though it does contain some explanations of how my story ended up the way it is. But basically: read at your own risk of being bored. Don't say I didn't warn you that it is not important!
I managed to obtain Fushigi Yugi from my sister's friend, and when I start to read it I just got really hooked into it that I finished the whole thing in one day. I think the main reason is that I really wanted to read a romance, and Fushigi Yugi just had it. Miaka and Tamahome's romance did really touch me, and I ended up really eager in wanting to find out what was going to happen.
My favourite character is Hotohori the moment he comes out. He truly is one of the most beautiful drawn manga character that I have ever seen (and I have a thing for guys with long hair- even in manga world it seems!). But what really touches me is Hotohori's character. The way he loves Miaka in an unrequited fashion but remains in love with her even though he knows he has no chance. When I read his love declarations to Miaka I was just so touched! It's the cases of taking out the boxes of tissues.
As I said in the very beginning of my fan fiction, judging from the manga I think he never stopped loving Miaka even though he married Houki, because I think while he regard her with affection, he does not love her the way he loves Miaka.
The one thing about Fushigi Yugi that really annoys me is how Hotohori kind of got shoved to the back ground. In the first few books he was so important, and then after book 7 I think he just rarely get to come out since he had to stay in Konan while the other travel. Likewise in the anime's opening, he actually appears with Tamahome when all the seven celestial warriors kind of demonstrates their powers (Nuriko lift up a big rock, Taisuke waves his fan, then Hotohori- drawing his sword- appearing with Tamahome after everyone else appears.)
I was on a web site about Fushigi Yugi the other day and the site creator actually like Hotohori the least (Sob, sob, how cruel is that!) I do disagree with that person's claim of Hotohori not being aware of what is happening, isn't it the opposite? Hotohori is filled with the whole burden of an emperor and all that.
I came up with the idea of doing a fan fiction when I was just randomly thinking about the story, like many Hotohori fans I feel really sad that his love is never returned. However, I really don't like the idea of him being with Miaka cause I felt that the author showed Miaka is meant to be with Tamahome since their first meeting, and I don't think Miaka can be a suitable empress- even an empress in an eastern world. (I always get the impression that Eastern empresses have less duty then western queens. And in ancient China your birth does not matter that much in you being the empress or an concubine.)
So I came up with the idea of having a Hotohori OC paring, despite Hotohori being attracted to Miaka due to her cheerful nature, I actually had an idea of an OC who is rather depressing and sad, perhaps it is also because I felt that so many Fushigi Yugi fan fictions are so light hearted, that I wanted to attempt something serious to a degree. I guess I want to have an OC who will manage to share Hotohori's burden due to understanding.
Somehow I decided to make Yuri (at the start she just got called Yuri because I wanted to give her a flower name, and I thought Yuri sounds the nicest) into Miaka's half sister, because I wanted them to have a connection even though Yuri would be older as she would be the same age as Hotohori. Since Miaka's dad left them I thought I'll let Yuri be her half sister, as they couldn't be that close either. Due to Yuri's background she became a character who was rather melancholic and longed to be loved yet very sceptical about being in love.
I like Miaka quite a bit but I have to say, she can be quite useless sometimes, and the fact that she and Tamahome often just hide what they really want to say kind of frustrate me a bit. So I wanted to Yuri to be a bit more useful, hence she ended up wielding a sword. And I wanted her to be bit less impulsive then Miaka- which is why she is kind of really sombre.
That is my initial ideas for the fan fiction that remained the same in this version, however the rest of my original ideas were very different. Miaka and Yuri were actually closer then they are in this version, so she actually fell into the book with Miaka somehow. Yui was meant to be in the story too as the priestess of Seiryuu.
What happened was that Yuri was separated from Miaka and she worked in a tavern, and met Hotohori there (escaping from the palace for some reason), and this being a fair tale romance () he kind of fell in love with her at first sight, and offered to take her with him. Being Yuri she said that she was unsure, she must have more time.
Later on Yuri was found by Miaka and she ended up in the palace. Hotohori made her his personal servant, an excuse for him to be with her. And I was actually going to write the bit in volume one when Hotohori first offered to make Miaka his empress with Yuri in it.
And when they met Tai Yi-Jun Yuri actually helped Miaka to go back by giving up her own right to go back. In this version she really just fell into the book by pure accident, and she had no special purpose in the book.
I suppose I really just wanted to write all the romantic scenes with Hotohori with my OC, to make it no longer an unrequited love. So some of the other scenes I had planed to do were: the mirror image- where the mirror image insulted Yuri, and Hotohori ended up comforting her; a farewell between Yuri and Hotohori when Yuri chose to accompany Miaka and Nuriko to find the rest; the kiss from Hotohori just before they got caught by bandits; the fever bit where Hotohori had to kill her for Shoka to revive her; and the drowning scene where she was the one drowning instead of Miaka.
This version was more cheerful as well, they actually found Chiriko straight away and they just summoned Suzaku straight away and everything ended happily with everyone living. Yuri stayed in Konan as Hotohori's empress. Although with this version I had the idea of writing about the bits in volume 13-18 as well. I had the idea that what happened was that a civil war broke out in Konan, so Hotohori had to go out, in his absence Yuri felt sick (like the really Houki). Eventually Taka and Miaka came and they discovered that one of the stones was in Yuri, and also one of the person working for the 'evil guy' –sorry I only have his Chinese name- was actually one of Hotohori's brothers.
Obviously my ideas for Hidden secrets changed- I only come up with the title after I typed the prologue. One night I couldn't sleep so I was thinking about whether I should actually start doing a bit of fan fiction writing when I suddenly came up with a new set of ideas for Yuri. I guess I kind of reversed things. She went to the book herself and met Hotohori and became his empress, and initially she actually gave birth to twins soon after her marriage- a girl and a boy.
In the second version of ideas I decided to let her have the last name of Houki, as she is going to be with Hotohori obviously I can't have Houki coming out. But Houki is such a pretty name so I really wanted to use that, that then become her title which is really good- it's certainly elaborate enough.
But what happened was that Yui arrived with Miaka, and Yuri actually saw Yui and she recognized Yui from that world, and she started to feel guilty even before she saw Miaka due to the fact that she hid about her identity. Then she saw Miaka, which caused her to leave the palace. She wanted to find the rest celestial warriors as a way of redemption but she was not the priestess of Seiryuu, she only went to Kutou in her old cloths and hoped that she would be taken to be the priestess as she was just really desperate to save Konan. She ended up calling Seiryuu not because she was destined to, but because she just did.
Initially I was going to put Yui as I thought since Yui won't be the priestess of Seiryuu, why not have her in the story? But then I couldn't be stuffed due to the fact that the story is pretty much focused on Hotohori and Yuri.
I also had two possible ends for this new version. One was that Yuri stayed in Konan, but in a coma, until Miaka and Taka returned- where they found a stone in her and therefore woke her up. Or to let everyone be reborn. Although everyone but Miaka and Yui no longer remember what had happened as they were reborn or resurrected.
I was going to write a bit about volume 13-18's event too, as well as more of their life in the present. Because of this I was actually going to make Nuriko into a girl, as it would be much more easier to write about him/her that way.
When I started to type the prologue up everything kind of changed again, the biggest change is that I decided to make Yuri into the priestess of Seiryuu, this kind of became her destiny all along. I also made their story more tragic- the whole thing about her being barren and all that. Somehow I didn't end up having Yui in this story other then to read the book. Then there was many things in this fan fiction that just came as I type, completely unplanned. eg. The whole mark on her head, and deciding that the celestial warriors will regain their memories etc etc. but otherwise most stuff remained the same as the ideas I had for the second version.
Originally I never thought I would finish Hidden Secrets this fast but because of the reviews that I got I just feel so encouraged. I spent ages in front of my computer, typing it up and reworking on it. Thanks to everyone who read the story, especially those who reviewed it.
Ok…I have blabbered on for three A4 pages. If you are still reading this thank you very much, you are truly an amazing person, and I am very grateful that you are actually willing to read this.
