-Ten-Faced Paladin
Fushigi Yugi: Dansei Tsure
By Ten-Faced Paladin
Chapter 2: Brain Busters and Heart Breakers
Matthew was walking down the streets. A lot was on his mind. Naturally though. It wasn't everyday that a someone found themselves sucked into a book and rescued from slavers. That was what usually happened in an anime of some sort. Didn't it?
"I think a headache's coming," he grumbled to himself.
He had split off from Yui and Miaka when they realised that they were late for cram school. That and the librarian had chased them out for being where they were. Since he didn't go to cram school, not seeing the point, he decided to head home and begin looking up things on the four gods.
"I know they're called the Saint Beasts," he commented to himself. "But I really don't know much else."
He felt that he had a long night ahead of him.
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Miaka was also facing her own questions and problems, only theses ones were a bit more personal.
Miaka had arrived late for cram school and the teacher really gave her what for. The man was strict and he never seemed to ease up on anyone. Especially her. The pressure didn't even stop when she got home. Her mom had gotten her updated marks and while she was pleased that Miaka was doing better, she was still laying on pressure to do better and get into Jonan.
Currently, Miaka was at her desk, writing into her diary while studying.
"That boy," she mumbled to herself. "He had the character for demon on his forehead."
Her face flushed as he remembered how the boy had rescued her.
"He was pretty tall and kinda good looking," she smiled as she wrote into her diary. "He was such a money grubber though."
Miaka replayed the rescue in her mind, but carefully edited it so that the bot did not ask for monay. Instead, he went and acted more like a prince charming. Not quite the right dosage of reality was put into her little fantasy.
"Uh...Miaka?" a voice cut in.
Miaka was brought out of her romantic fantasy and saw her mom looking at her strangely.
"I brought you a snack," she spoke, seeming confused.
'Urk!" Miaka groaned, ebarrassed about falling into a daydream.
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Matthew sat in his apartment, looking at some books he had collected during his exchange. The landlady was someone who was a contact with his school back in the west so she let him have his pick of the apartments when he came. She just billed the school for the room.
He bit into a rice ball he had whipped up while he turned the page. If anything else, he was a good cook anyway.
"The Saint Beasts," he read. "Four gods who reside in the four corners of the world. North, south, east, and west. Each god has a certain part of the Chinese cirle of elements to control and a part of the year which they influence."
He chomped down on the rice ball and reached for another after swallowing it.
"Suzaku," he continued. "The red pheonix god of the south. He has power over fire and his season of influence is in the summer. Sounds like a hothead to me."
He turned the pages and looked at the next entry.
"Seiryu, blue dragon of the east," he read. "Has power over wood and his season of influence is in the spring. Okay. Interesting. Who's next?"
The next page was revealed as a bit of rice fell onto the paper.
"Genbu," he sighed as he flicked the rice off. "Black turtle of the north. Has power over water and his season is winter."
The last page of the book came as he ran out of food.
"Byakko," he listed. "White tiger of the west. His power is metal and his season is fall. I guess I come from Byakko's territory and I'm invading Seiryu's."
Matthew closed the book and yawned. This was something to go on at least. He could only hope that the four gods in the book were the same as the Saint Beasts where he was. Another question was nagging him. The Chinese circle of elements had five points. Earth, fire, water, wood, and metal. There were only four Saint Beasts so what happened to that fifth element?
Shrugging off the question, Matthew placed the book back on the shelf and headed for bed. Those were questions for another day. He decided that tomorrow he would meet up with Yui and Miaka and decide what to do about that book. There was no way that they could all have the same dream at the exact same time.
There was just no way.
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The final bell rang and school was over for the day. Yui was quickly putting her jacket on while she made her way over to Miaka for a conversation.
"Hey Miaka!" Yui exclaimed excitedly. "Wanna head to the library again? It's just that I can't get that book or the dream out of my head."
"I can't," Miaka sighed dissappointedly. "My cram school has an exam today."
"Really?" Yui sighed. "Okay, I'll see if Matt wants to go with me."
"Why would you want to go with him?" Miaka frowned. "I mean, he's so rude and unfriendly."
"That's not true," Yui defended. "He's just shy and quiet. I heard that he didn't have many friends before he came because everyone was afraid of his size."
"You're just saying that because he tried to protect us from those slavers in our dream," Miaka argued.
"Maybe," Yui shrugged. "He had the same dream with us so how are we sure he wouldn't?"
Miaka's eye started twitching as she sat up and began to but her jacket on. Yui could tell that she didn't want to continue the conversation. Giving up on trying to convince her friend, Yui went off to find the exchange student.
Miaka just sighed and made her way to her cram school. As she walked she could seee so many couples on the streets. All she could do was envy them.
'If Yui even manages to get Matthew to go with her, would that count as a date?' Miaka thought to herself. 'Ooooh! Everyone I know seems to have better luck with love than me!'
She looked over to a couple walking down the sidewalk from across the road. She felt her envy rise at seeing them. When they suddenly turned, she hasped to see none other than her own mother on the mans arm.
'MOM!' Miaka shrieked internally. 'Isn't she supposed to be at work!'
Miaka was shellshocked by seeing that. Her own mother who pressed her and her brother about getting the best eduacation was seemigly skipping work to be with some man. It just didn't make sense. Her mom never even left a hint that she was seeing someone.
Cram school went by in a daze. She barely listened and almosst missed the dismissal. The walk home was in an equaal daze. When she finally did go home, she opened the door to see her mother staring at her angrily.
"Huh?" Miaka commented.
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Matthew was heading towards Miaka's house while carrying a backpack full of supplies. He had decided that he was going to go back into the book that had drawn hm and the two young women inside it's pages. He had decided to ask Miaka first because she lived closer. When he thought about it, he had never been to her house before. He only knew where she lived because Yui had given him both her and Miaka's phone numbers in case he needed someone to talk to when he first arrived. He had just used the phone book to find their adresses.
He came to the front door sof the apartment complex when a gray and black blur ran into him, knocking both of them to the ground. Matthew shook his head to get the stars out of his head and saw that Miaka was leaning against him, crying.
"Miaka?" Matthew asked, slightly shocked.
Miaka looked up at Matthew for a moment. She then let out another sob and she quickly began running. Matthew hefted himself up and began pursuing her.
"Miaka! Wait!" he called after her.
The girl either didn't hear him or just ignored him. She just kept running. Matthew could easily keep up becuase of his height and obvious track abilities because of it. He was stilll trailing behind Miaka because of the weight from his backpack.
After what seemed like forever, Miaka seemed to have had enough running and stopped to take a breather. Matthew finally caught up with her. He noticed that they were in front of the library. He walked over to her and gently placed his hand on her shoulder.
"Miaka?" he asked again.
She turned around and faced mtthew. Her eyes were puffy from crying, but she still seemed pretty sad.
"I'm okay," she whispered quietly. "I just don't want to be home right now."
Matthew nodded. He had no idea what had happened, but far be it from him to pry into other's affairs. He just smiled gently to her.
"Okay," he nodded. "I was going to ask you if you wanted to head back into that book again."
"Huh?" Miaka asked. "Wasn't that all just a dream?"
"If it was, it was a very realistic one," Matthew replied.
Miaka thought about the offer. She really didn't have many places to go and having he rmother worry for a while would do her some good. She also pondered that because it might mean that she might be able to see the boy with the mark on his head again.
"Might as well see," Miaka shrugged.
Matthew broke into another smile, "Works for me."
The boy had forgotten all about Yui for the moment. Miaka needed some comforting right now and that took priority.
The two of them entered the library and headed straight for the restricted part. After making sure that they wouldn't get caught, they snuck in quietly and shut the door. Matthew looked over to the floor and saw that the book was right where they left it. They both took up the book and leaned agaisnt the wall. Miaka looked over the intro to the story with a wistful look in her eye.
"So if you read this to the end you get a wish?" she asked sarcastically.
"It wouldn't be outside Suzaku's power," Matthew commented. "I read up on him. He's the real deal."
Miaka shook her head and looked back to the book. Her eyes suddenly widened when she saw the next passage. Matthew saw her amazed look and followed her gaze. His jaw dropped open with what he saw.
Despite the fear that the young man and young woman felt, they both leaped at their attackers to save their friend. Alas, the slavers had proven to be too strong to overcome by themselves. At that very moment, a gallant young man who bore the character for demon on his forehead appeared and save the three friends.
"How?" Miaka sputtered. "How can what we dreamed be in this story?"
"I knew it," Matthew whispered. "There was no way that we could all have the same dream."
Miaka quickly flipped to the next page, but instead of seeing more words, both her and Matthew were engulfed in light.
"What the-?" Matthew gasped.
"M-mom!" Miaka cried.
They were both swallowed by the light and when it dimmed, they were gone. The book fell silently to the floor.
The rest of the library didn't even seem to notice. The librarian had soundly given notice that the library was closing and that it was time for everyone to leave. No one had noticed that the book which swallowed the two teenagers was lying open on the floor. No one even noticed that the boy who came in with the large backpack and the girl with the uniform who accompanied him did not come out. In fact, it was almost as if they had never been there at all.
Inside the restricted section, everything was quiet. The book was lying open on the floor again. It was resting with the pages open on the ones which brought Miaka and Matthew into the world which rested within it's pages. one those pages, new words had been written. It was a short sentance, but one that reflected the great impact which hhad been made on them.
And thus, the young lady of legends and the young man of myths opened the door to another world, and likewise began our tale.
To Be Continued.
A/N: And chapter two is finished. I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as you did the first one. I can only hope it keeps you as interested in my stories as the first one did. For those who are ocncerned, Miaka is still going to be the priesstess of Suzaku. I can hear fans sighing in relief. I haven't given much thoughts to pairings, if any, but I think Tamahome is going to steal Miaka's heart. Matthew might find someone else. I'm not sure. Got any questions or comments? Just put 'em in the review. Remember though, I will not respond to flames.