Disclaimer: I do not, go one last time, own Yuu Watase's characters from Fushigi Yuugi. I own Reiko, Ryo and the rest though. yeah.

Author's Note: Added in a bit of stuff. Hope it makes this chapter better. Yep. Happy Reading.

Chapter Ten: Fragments of his Childhood.

Ryo's solitary shadow stood beneath the tree. The water sparkled under the moonlight. His arms crossed, Ryo watched the stars. He was thinking about Reiko, and this Tasuki.

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The young girl, only five, sat hunched over a small bundle, continuously rubbing her already red eyes. The rug was stained with her tears. Her dark hair fell loosely over her porcelain face.

"Why are you crying Reiko?" The grey-eyed boy, twice as old as she was, put his arm around her shoulders. His hair just as dark as hers.

"R-ryo," she refused to look at him.

"I broke father's gift.. the one I bought for his birthday.. It's in pieces cousin... and the woman said it was the last one.."

Ryo looked at the bundle on the ground. The object was wrapped in layers of silk. Layer by layer, he uncovered the object. But what he found was far from pieces. It was a perfectly carved jade figurine of a turtle. Ryo lifted it to her face.

"Look cousin, it isn't in pieces. Why did you say that?"

"I saw it Ryo. I did." Her sobbing grew louder. "I was about to walk into Father's room to give it to him, but my foot got caught under the rug and I dropped it. It broke Ryo, it broke.."

"Reiko, it isn't broken," the boy tried to tell her.

"But i'm gonna break it Ryo! I will.. I don't want to break it Ryo.."

"Reiko, you won't." The grey eyed boy helped the girl stand up as he held the gift. "I'll go with you to give it to Uncle."

The two children walked hand in hand to the room. The boy handed the jade figurine to the girl as they entered the room. The man in the room greeted them and smiled warmly. The girl watched her every step, with the gift tightly in her hand. As she passed over the rug, she halted for a moment as her eyes went blank, then she blinked and she beamed, sure that she can't break the gift anymore. She ran towards her father. She stepped on her dress. The boy ran to her. He held her before she fell right down on the ground, and at the same moment, he reached out for the jade piece. It landed safely onto his palm. The boy put on a troubled face. How did the girl know she would fall? The girl smiled at him, her brown eyes bright.

"I knew you'd save it," the girl hugged the boy. "I knew you would, I saw it just before i ran to father. Then I knew everything would be alright." The boy understood then. The girl will always need him, and he would always be there for the girl.

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Ryo hung his head. "It's different now." Reiko had always cried over many of her visions. Ryo knew she hated them. Before all that had happened, before this Tasuki, Reiko would have given up anything to get rid of her visions. Now, she'd do anything to increase her ability. "I can try to See. I'll do everything I can. Then you wouldn't have to waltz to Hokkan, and you wouldn't need to rot your ass off at Mount Leikaku. You could stay here with me and help me See." Reiko's voice echoed in his mind. Even her voice, what used to be a young girl's voice, sheltered and inexperienced, unknowing and very much child-like, had now seemed to be a young woman's matured voice, strong and determined, no longer the same voice he used to hear before all this. Before Tasuki entered her life. "How can I help you?" he asks. "I don't know. We can try everything there is. We've got to. I don't want you to go to Hokkan and get hurt, so I can learn to See. It's safer." The unfamiliar voice replies. What is this voice?

Ryo was unable to answer his own question.

Suddenly, a terrible dread came over him.

"Reiko," he turned and ran back.

Tasuki walked about in the palace grounds.

What did he mean? Tasuki thought. Saying that Reiko didn't need him anymore? Didn't he see the joy, the relief in her eyes? He brought that back to her. Of course she needed him.

Tasuki couldn't think things through properly. A feeling of dread filled him and the first thing that came to his mind was Reiko. He ran as quickly as he could back to her room.

Ok.. just added a teensy bit of something. Hope it's alright. I'm still not continuing after this though. I am still greatly upset that I haven't gotten any reviews for this. WAHHHHH! hahahaha. i'm psycho, someone save me. ahh well. Guess i'll only continue when I get more reviews.