((Kon'nichi wa, minna! Hope y'all aren't too terribly mad at me... I know it's been awhile. Eheh... Okay, so 'awhile' is an understatement. It's been a long time since I updated this fic! Almost five months! Holy Unicorns, Batman!
Well, here's another chapter for your reading pleasure. Hopefully I'll be able to update this puppy at least once a month. If homework allows. I hate school.
Disclaimer(s): I do not own FY. I do, however, own volumes 6-9, the Seiryuu Box, and several fanarts that are best not mentioned. I own Rei, Hikari, Motoki, and the Legend of the Dark Wars. So nyah!
Warning(s): Hmm... Suzie and Seiryuu fighting with each other... a little monk abuse... and I think that's it.))
Chapter 10: Found
Rei leaned against a tree, chest heaving. She looked back the way she had come to see if the slavers were giving chase, trying to regain her breath. A relieved sigh escaped her lips when she saw no one. Those beasts, whatever they were and wherever they had come from, must have kept them occupied.
She reached into her back pocket for the mirror, wondering if the slavers had considered it important enough to steal. Her fingers touched the cool metal and she drew the small object out of her pocket. Apparently her captors had thought it was unimportant.
The surface glowed, casting a pale light on her face and the trees surrounding her. A character faded into clarity inside the mirror, as if it was floating up from the depths of a white sea.
It pulsed faintly, a slow lightening and darkening of the lines. Rei watched it raptly. How was she supposed to tell which direction to go in?
She sat down, sitting cross-legged on the cold ground while she thought about what to do next. The question nagged at her, begging to be answered. Her mind ran itself around in circles.
"Why couldn't that old bat give me instructions for this damn thing?" Rei groaned, leaning her head back against the tree.
Then it hit her. If this mirror was supposed to act as a sort of compass, then wouldn't the kanji shine brighter if she faced the right direction? A smile lit her face for a few seconds. Then it faded into a yawn. Lord, she was tired.
'Maybe I should get some sleep...'
A small rational part of her mind warned her that sleeping out in the woods was dangerous, but she told it to shut up.
.:0:.
Chichiri looked around with a mixture of awe and horror. The caravan seemed to have been blasted to smithereens by some unexplained force. He could sense Rei's ki, but it was almost completely covered up by a blinding white life force.
What surprised him the most was that there was only one body. After a blast like that, how could anyone have survived?
He began to pick his way carefully through the debris, avoiding the sharp splinters that stuck up out of the ground. His foot hit something that clanked.
The monk bent down, picking up a length of chain whose ends were melted like wax. Chains? In a caravan? His expression hardened. Slavers. Then, if these were slave carts, where were the slaves?
He glanced down at the chain again. Melted through. Hm.
Chichiri dropped the chain and began walking again. He paused by the dead slaver, an eyebrow raising at the lack of injury. The youth was, nevertheless, clearly dead. Out of habit, the monk offered a small prayer to whatever deity may have claimed this man's soul.
Something in the dirt caught his eye. He knelt down, examining the animal tracks. They were... Unusual. Padded, like a tigers, but with six toes.
'What kind of creature could have created these?' he wondered, standing to follow the tracks. About twenty feet away they disappeared without a trace. "...hm. Summoned? By who?" he wondered aloud.
Chichiri shrugged. There were more important things to worry about right now.
He sent out a tentative feeler for Rei's ki. She was close. Very close.
A muttered spell and the road was empty once more.
.:0:.
The tree was a good tree, one that had never dropped a branch on an unwary traveler or thought of strangling another plant with its roots. It was a very gentle tree.
Never in its wildest tree dreams had it expected to have a human suddenly pop out of nowhere on one of its branches.
Chichiri knelt on the branch, looking down at the sleeping form below. Well, she seemed to be alright, though what had possessed her to sleep out in the open was beyond him. He smiled wryly and made himself comfortable on the branch. There was nothing for it but to sit and guard Rei until she woke up.
.:0:.
Blue eyes fluttered open, glaring up at the sun through long lashes. Rei yawned and sat up, stretching.
She glanced at the sun again. It was setting. "Shikuso!" she hissed, jumping to her feet.
Up in the tree Chichiri flinched out of meditation at the sudden curse. He peered down through the leaves at her.
Rei had pulled out the mirror again and was now jogging in widening concentric circles, staring at the object in her hand. The symbol flared into brightness and she stopped, punching the air enthusiastically. "Hah! Take that, Tai Yi-Jun!" she crowed.
The monk nearly fell from his perch at that. He sweatdropped. 'She's so strange no da...' He snapped back to seriousness as she left the clearing, sighing and teleporting after her.
.:0:.
A cold smirk twisted the otherwise beautiful features of the woman. Long black hair swept her ankles as she walked along a dimly lit corridor in her fortress. Cold black eyes that were like holes into deep space watched a blood red mirror that floated just in front of her.
"So, mother has sent her little lap dog to watch the Maiden, hm?" she murmured.
A small creature popped up at her side. It was frail and thin, skin covered with iridescent black and red scales. Its hands were too large for its body, with long, thin fingers that ended with sharp points. Stranger still was its face, which was occupied mainly by two large green eyes. The creature's mouth was a thin line, and it had two slits for a nose. It was as if the skin had been pulled tight around its face. Long, bat-like ears swivelled nervously.
"Milady," the demon asked, voice no more than a high pitched hiss.
"What is it, Pip?" she snapped.
"Milady, Hikari has begun to gather the Guardians. What should we do?"
She seemed to think on this for a moment. Then a slow, terrifying smile slid onto her features. "Let him gather his little 'Guardians'. It does not matter. The darkness is gathering, and soon we shall be able to unleash our true power!"
Pip danced eagerly from foot to foot, tiny mouth widening into a happy grin that bared needle sharp fangs. "Yes, Milady, yes!"
"Go and tell the others, Pip. Tell them to make themselves ready."
The small creature bowed respectfully. "As Milady wishes," Pip hissed, fading into the shadows.
After he had gone the tall woman began to walk again. She came to a pair of double doors and waved a hand at them. They slid open silently.
Motoki smiled.
.:0:.
"Milady says... She says..." Pip squealed as he was lifted off the ground by one of the larger demons. They were all bigger than him.
"Milady says what?" it growled, breathing directly in the small creature's face.
Pip coughed as the stench of rotten meat threatened to suffocate him. "Milady says to get ready!" he cried, struggling out of the larger demon's grasp.
"Here that, Ugrath? She wants us to get ready!" another demon crowed.
Ugrath, the one who had been picking on Motoki's messenger laughed thickly. "Hurhurhur." His face twisted into a look of hatred as he back-handed Pip, sending him rocketing into the far wall. "Tell yer 'Lady' that we been ready fer two hunnert years!"
With a chorus of guffaws the demons dispersed, going back to jostling each other and practicing with their various weapons.
Ignored, Pip dragged himself back to his feet, holding his ribcage delicately. "Stupid demons. Milady will punish you, that she will. Pip will not suffer much longer! Pip will be strong!" he muttered to himself as he shuffled back to the gateway out of the demon dimensions. "Pip will be strongest of all, you will see!"
.:0:.
Rei smiled. She was getting close. The mirror was now glowing so brightly that she had to wrap a piece of cloth around it. It was warm, too.
Soon she'd meet Hikari, and then... And then she'd have to decide what she wanted to do.
Even though in her heart she knew what she was going to decide.
She broke through the trees into another clearing, and there it was. Hikari's Temple. It was a beautiful white structure with silver ornamentation climbing every column. Unicorns, good luck dragons, and... Those beasts! The ones that had saved her from the slavers! They were etched in a mural on the doors.
"So, that was Hikari's power," she murmured to herself.
Rei walked up to the doors, expecting to have to push them open herself. As soon as she reached out to touch them, however, they swung inwards. If it hadn't been for the sweet incense and the sound of chimes that came from the dark interior she would have been frightened..
As it was, the woman walked into the building without hesitation.
The doors shut behind her, and soft light began to glow in crystal orbs set into the walls.
"Kirei..." she breathed.
They are, aren't they? A voice purred in her mind.
She jumped. "Wh-who's there!"
There was a soft chuckle. Do not be afraid, Rei Kishi. I have no intention of harming you, the voice assured. A figure stepped out of the shadows. He was as beautiful as his voice, violet eyes gentle. His long white hair was pulled back in a ponytail that ended just below his knees, two locks of the silken tresses allowed to fall over his shoulders in the front. He was tall, yet almost frail in appearance.
I am the one whom you seek. I would speak with you. Come.
Rei followed him into a room with a long table. Already there were others seated there. A woman with magenta hair, a big man with kind grey eyes, another man with long grey-brown hair and a patch over one eye, who was talking animatedly with a younger man at his side who had unruly black hair. There was a kind looking man at the other end of the table, sitting alone and watching a plant grow from a seed in his palm.
They all turned to look at her as she and Hikari entered. She was surprised when they all smiled.
"Eh... Hello?"
Hikari chuckled pleasantly. The time for introductions is not yet at hand, he said, two of our number have not yet arrived.
A tall man with red hair and eyes that matched looked up from where he was leaning in a corner. "Do not blame my seishi for their lateness, brother. You have not yet called them."
"Well, at least my seishi are here on time," another man with blue hair and slanted eyebrows grumbled.
"Urusai, scaley."
"Wanna say that again, bird brain!"
Rei looked between the two, eyes wide. She tugged on Hikari's sleeve. "Eh... those two wouldn't happen to be...?"
He smiled down at her. Gods? Yes, they are. The red-haired one is my brother Suzaku, the god of love. The other is also my brother, Seiryuu, who is the god of intelligence. Oh, and war.
"Sou ka."
Now, let me see... where did I leave those summoning crystals? Hikari muttered, apparently to himself, patting the folds of his robe. Aha!
He drew out two small crystals, one the color of fire, the other of water. Shun'u Kou, Houjun Ri, I summon thee to my side.
At first it seemed as if nothing would happen, then...
Chichiri ran in from outside just in time to break the fall of Tasuki, who appeared to have dropped out of the ceiling.
"Itai na no da!"
"Kuso!"
Hikari rubbed his temples. If you two are quite finished...
The two seishi jumped to their feet.
"Gomen ne, Hikari-sama na no da!" the monk exclaimed, taking a seat next to the smiling man with grey eyes. "Long time no see, Mitsukake."
"Indeed," the big man rumbled.
Tasuki, on the other hand, was nowhere near as calm. He had rounded on the magenta haired woman as soon as he had become vertical. He was now cussing up a storm at her and accusing her of Gods-knew-what.
She looked nonplused and took the abuse in stride.
Suzaku stalked over and grabbed his seishi by the collar, plunking him down in a seat next to the monk. "My child, if you do not stop this at once I shall be forced to have you reincarnated as a slug. Please, calm down!"
Rei hid a snicker behind her hand. Suzaku was acting just like a disgruntled parent. 'I wonder how he would ground someone...?' she mused.
The magenta-haired woman rolled her eyes. "Can we just get on with this?" she snapped.
Yes, you are right, Soi. Rei, may I introduce you to your Guardians. You have already met Chichiri and Tasuki, who are both members of Suzaku's celestial warriors. Each god of each country has given you one or more of their seishi to help you in this fight.
Rei blinked. "...okay... Erm... Can I know their names?"
Hikari laughed. Goodness, how silly of me! On Chichiri's left is Mitsukake, Suzaku's healer. To his left is Hikitsu, The man with the eyepatch nodded to her, And Tomite.
"Yo," the youth next to Hikitsu said.
They are both of Genbu's warriors. Now, to Tomite's left is Soi, who is a lightning controller from Seiryuu. And the loner at the end of the table is Tatara. He isn't very happy to be here.
Suzaku snorted. "I can see why. You did drag him out of the afterlife, where he was with the love of his life, to be here."
It is a noble cause, brother.
"Hmph. Love is a noble cause, too."
The blue-haired god grinned and gave his younger brother a noogie. "Aw, c'mon, lighten up, Suzie!"
"Grrrrr..."
Ahem. Now that the introductions are over...
Rei looked up at him. "Yes?"
What will you do?
She frowned, biting her lip. She looked down at her hands. "I think... I'll help."
There were a couple of cheers and smiles all around the table. Even Tatara managed to turn his mouth up at the corners.
Hikari grinned at her. Now that this is settled, you might as well know what type of powers you have.
"Powers...?" Rei asked incredulously.
"Of course," Suzaku said. "We can't just send you out there to fight without anything."
"Oh."
If I may? Hikari asked, motioning to Rei's hand.
She looked at him in confusion for a moment before understanding the gesture. She held her hand up to him.
The god took it and brushed his lips against the back. There was a brief flicker of white light, and then he let her hand go.
Rei looked at the back in wonder. There was the kanji for "hikari" emblazoned in the flesh.
Now you will be able to control your powers.
"Er... what powers?"
He laughed again. You can shoot energy blasts from your palm, summon the "Chijitsu" beasts, and bring back to life that which is dead. Although I warn you, do not use the resurrection power lightly. For every life you return you lose a little of your own.
"Meaning...?"
If you bring back two people, that will be ten years off your life.
Rei paled. "So you mean that for every person I resurrect, I lose five years?" she asked.
Yes.
Chichiri had paled as well. 'Five years?' he thought.
Hikari smiled. Do not worry, I have the feeling that you won't have to use the power often, if at all, he said reassuringly. His smile faded. I am afraid that it is time for you to go, Rei Kishi. You must begin your journey to unite the peoples of this world.
Rei nodded numbly.
There was a flash of lavender light, and she was no longer standing in the Temple.
There was arid desert all around. She whirled around. Her "Guardians", as Hikari had called them, were all looking around with the same dazed look on their faces as she wore. Behind them lay a large city.
She walked up to her blue-haired friend. "Chichiri, where are we?"
"Sairo," he breathed.
((Weeeeell? Whaddaya think? It's a lot longer than usual, ne? I just hope I haven't lost my touch for writing Rei... (the character, not the story). Oh, and hey, come and join the C2 I'm a member of! It's called Houjun's Kesa Keepers!
And now it's time to answer... ehehe... fanmail!
Rhapsody: Daughter of the Sky: Glad you like it! Eh... I'm so sick of our art projects... drawing hands in abstract... so dull... -falls asleep-
Phearel: Thank you! Well, here's another chapter, as requested. And hopefully it will be updated more often from now on!
Bronze Dagger: Sorry it took me so long! Glad you enjoy it!
Opaaru Tsuki: Eheheh! Thanks! Narg... it took so long to get out of my writers block!
Wolfdog-21: Glad you liked chapter 9! Anou... they aren't exactly tigers, either... But they are cute!
Well, that's it minna! Review please!))