Disclaimer: I don't own Fushigi Yugi or Sailor Moon
Ch15
As Nuriko fell down from the fatal wound the Seiryuu seishi had given him, everybody on his team and his best friend could feel a pain shot through their hearts. While the Suzaku seishis wondered what the pain could've meant, Usagi knew for sure that her best friend since the day she entered the palace had passed away. Usagi had already boarded onto a carriage when she cried silently into her hands as her children and guards tried to comfort her. Katsuya, Katsura, and Sakura all stared at their mother with worried looks; they all knew that she was upset, but the reason why was unclear. The four guardians all looked upset as well, but more of a frustrated-upset rather than a hysterical one.
"Perhaps, it's not wise for us to stay here, Usagi-hime," Setsuna said, "With all these battles these seishis will fight, there's a chance you'll lose your baby."
Usagi shook her head in a silent reply and just leaned forward, clutching her stomach. Haruka immediately grew worried for not just the baby, but also for the young princess she adored like a little sister. Haruka wasn't the only one worried, Michiru and Hotaru began to fuss about Usagi's decision to stay while Setsuna just sat back, standing behind her princess's decision, but at the same time glancing worriedly at Usagi as well. They weren't the only ones who were getting worried. The other four guardians were as well. While traveling with the group, only to get separated from Miaka and Tamahome, who, to the gods-created warriors, were acting overly dramatic to the course of events, and only for the other seishis to get trapped so easily in a hallucination. Not even bothering to help out, the four were just more worried about Usagi's decision to stay in the mortal plane.
Sensing that their warriors were getting concerned for their wife, the four gods tried to come up with a plan. They couldn't very well take her away and bring her back, but they didn't want her life to be endangered just because of her selfless wish of wanting to stay by her brother's side during the war. It was then, when one of them came up with a plan.
Genbu shook his head. "If only my seishis were still alive, then perhaps she would've stayed with them, but, alas, all that's left of them were just the spirits of only two of them."
"Well, she can stay with my seishis," Byakko said, "I'm pretty sure that she'll be safer with them since they're situated in one area while the others would most likely be traveling more and trying to kill each other off." Suzaku, Seiryuu, and Genbu stared at each other and thought about it. It did seem rational. Usagi would be able to stay and help in any way possible and she would be safe from the little guerilla battles between the seishis from Konan and Kotou.
"All right, you better go and tell Setsuna first so she could relay the information to Nakago," Genbu said.
Seiryuu nodded his head. "But make sure that you tell her to not mention that they're going to your seishis," he said, "Despite him being my seishi and all, I don't trust the way Nakago's mind thinks."
"You and me both, aniki(1)," Suzaku said, shaking his head, "The last thing I want is for him to manipulate Usagi into helping him with the summoning. And knowing how biased our people can get, chances are that the first wish would be to seal either you or me away."
"I'm pretty sure that your miko wouldn't wish for that, but my miko, on the other hand, had been manipulated so much that that might be her first wish," the dragon god said.
"True," his other brothers said in unison, nodding their heads in agreement.
Byakko shook his head and sighed, muttering, "I better go and give the news to Setsuna and Minako." He left for his bedroom so he could talk to his senshis(2) privately.
Suzaku, Seiryuu, and Genbu stared at each other after the tiger god left. Getting more and more worried, they decided to watch what is happening to their precious wife, children, and warriors. The three of them held out their palms facing the center of the circle they formed and a large glowing globe appeared, levitating in the air. It flash once to show that the four guardians with Suzaku seishis were just loitering about while playing card games with a bunch of coins in the middle as the seishis were in their hallucinations that they were in their destinations. The gods sighed at the indifferent attitudes their self created warriors were revealing, but knew that it was expected since they hate the seishis on both sides. The gods concentrated once more and the scenery changed to where their wife was still traveling with her other guardians and children, but appeared to be a bit happier than before; she was apparently singing softly to the children who were slowly nodding off while the four female warriors were watching on with smiles.
Byakko came back into the room and noticed that his three brothers didn't see him. He crept up to them silently and glanced over their shoulders to see what was so interesting that it caught their attentions. Then he realized that they were just staring lovingly at the sight of Usagi and shook his head. Byakko turned around and started back in the direction of his room, but stopped and turned back around. Taking in a deep breath, he released a great loud roar, like his animal counterpart, and watched in amusement as Suzaku, Seiryuu, and Genbu all jumped in surprise and fell to the floor, losing their divine images for once in a long long time. He ignored their glares and just laughed as he walked back to the still levitating globe. "I told my warriors the news and they told me that Minako's group will stay with Suzaku's group while Setsuna's group will immediately head off to their destination," he said. He listened to the other three grumbled, as they stood back up on their feet and tried to regain the godly posture yet again, and laughed once more.
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Setsuna glanced over to her princess. "Usagi-hime, Byakko-sama has just informed me that the traveling may be to dangerous for you and the children, so he wants us to go the city where the last remaining Byakko seishis are residing (AN: I don't remember the exact name of the city, so bear with me) and we will meet with the Suzaku seishis there," she said.
"That does seem like a reasonable plan," Michiru said, "You're still able to stay while you're safe from the crossfire, Usagi-hime."
"I still say we can just go back home and let these pathetic humans kill each other off," Haruka muttered, earning an elbow jabbed into her side from her lover.
Usagi rolled her eyes at Haruka's comment and glanced over at Hotaru. The young child just shrugged her shoulders. "I don't care where we go as long as it's away from these people," she said, "I dislike Seiryuu-sama's seishis more than anybody."
Haruka nodded her head in agreement, though in her terms, she would've used a long string of curses in front of the dragon god's name to describe the seishis, but due to Hotaru and the three toddlers, she opted not to say the list in her mind. She glanced over at the group in front of them and shouted to get their attention. Everybody stopped to stare at the tomboy as she yelled, "You guys go on without us. Byakko-sama had given us a free ride to where we're heading. Oh, and most likely we won't meet up with you and stay with the Byakko seishis. See ya!" Michiru and Setsuna slapped themselves on their foreheads and sighed at Haruka's enthusiasm of leaving the seishis behind.
The seishis from Kotou just stared in silence when the carriage flickered out of their sight, wondering what in the world had just happened. After staring at the empty place for ten minutes with no other sounds rather than the crickets humming, they then just realized that the gods sent guests had just taken the easy way of traveling and shouted in annoyance.
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Minako, Rei, Ami, and Makoto were in the middle of a game when Minako received a message from Byakko. She huffed and pouted when she finished replaying the message in her mind. "That is so unfair!" she whined, slamming her hand on the desk Makoto had created, showing everyone her cards.
"What is?" Makoto asked, studying the cards in Minako's hands and trying to figure out how to make it work to her advantage.
"Byakko-sama is sending Usagi-chan and the others straight to the Byakko seishis while we're stuck here, taking the long way there," Minako complained.
"I want nothing more than to just ditch these losers and go after them myself," Rei said, also cheating with Makoto.
Ami, being the only one ignoring Minako's cards, knew right away that no matter how many times she'll be telling them that if was their job to watch over the Suzaku seishis and they can't abandon it, they would always complain about it. "For the last time, we're not allowed to do that," she said, "We have to stay here with these guys and besides, we'll see Usagi-chan soon."
"Awwww, but Ami-chan," Minako whined, "But it's so boring here with these losers. I mean, look at them," pointing to the still hallucinating seishis, "They're stupid enough to get themselves caught while we saw right through it."
"Mina-chan, will you please stop complaining and make your move?" Rei yelled, when she had came up with a plan to win.
Makoto nodded her head. "Yeah, I mean, think of this as a vacation from babysitting," she said. She watched as Minako place down a card and jumped, screaming, "YES, I WIN!" The tall brunette grabbed the coins and pushed them into a bag.
Ami sighed and shook her head. "We really shouldn't be doing this," she said, "We were told to watch over the seishis."
"Which we are doing, Ami-chan," Rei said, dealing the cards out, "Our masters didn't say anything about helping them out, only babysitting them." Her statement only caused Ami to sigh once more and then complying to continue the game.
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"How are they doing?" Suzaku asked Byakko.
"They who?" Byakko asked, "Our wife and kids, the senshis, or the seishis?"
"Everyone," the phoenix replied.
"Seiryuu's seishis are on their way to collect the second relic while your seishis are still under the hallucination that they've reached their destinations. The four senshis with your seishis are gambling while the others are still watching over Usagi and the kids," the tiger replied to Suzaku's first question.
"Did they arrive at their location yet?" Seriyuu asked.
Byakko gave his brothers an 'are-you-kidding-me' look. "Yes, they arrived already. They arrived the minute I sent them there," he said, "Do you really have little faith in my powers?"
"No, but this is our wife and kids, we're talking about," Genbu said, "It's natural for us to want to make sure that they're safe."
"Don't worry, I'm sure that Byakko's seishis will take extra care of them," Seiryuu said.
"Yeah, but I'm just worried that this specific seishi may try to hit on Usagi," Suzaku said, causing the others to sigh when they figured out who he was talking about and not noticing when an elderly seishi of Byakko sneezed the minute they talked about him.
TBC
(1)There is no real order of the age of the gods, so I made the age based on the order in which they were summoned, Genbu, and followed by Byakko, Seiryuu, and Suzaku.
(2) When I talk about the senshis, I'm talking about the warriors protecting Usagi. The seishis are the ones protecting a miko.