Disclaimer : Again, the ownership of the Fushigi Yuugi characters and plot is not mine. We were blessed with them by Yuu Watase.

Chapter One : Illusions of Doubt

She clenched her teeth tightly together and kept her eyes shut. She had the slightest fear in her heart that once she opened them that her nightmare would be existent, but she opened her eyes none-the-less. Directly in front of her lie the man she had grown fond of within a few weeks, bare chested and fast asleep with a slight snore. She tilted her chin up causing herself a strong temptation with her lips so close to his. Instead, she eased her head back down and his mouth lie only inches from her forehead. She could feel his steady breaths against her skin in sync with the rhythm of the rise and fall of his chest. She brought her body closer to his after wiping the beads of sweat that glided down past her temples, she managed his name roughly.

"Tasuki...?"

No reply. He was obviously still in his deep slumber unaware of her urging desire that needed him awake. After she got out of the bed and slid into her crimson and cream colored robe, she advanced into another room and stared at her surroundings. Miaka lied with her back facing Tamahome, both sound asleep.

"Is anything amiss, Seumari-san?"

Seumari nearly jumped out of her skin when the monk spoke abruptly and placed his hand upon her shoulder.

"No Chichiri, I'm alright. I just..." She sighed, turning to face him then shook her head slightly.

"Come..." he lead her into the den and both seated side by side on the couch.

"Tell me. I sense some tension or weight pressed upon you, no da." He soothed in a comforting tune.

Once again, she sighed, hesitant to elaborate. Chichiri reached out to her in response and placed his hand on her shoulder again.

"It would be so much easier for you to unwind and tell me what's bothering you."

She opened her mouth to speak and spill out her inner emotions that had been riding her nerves for days. She had had a reoccurring dream of herself watching Tasuki and Miaka being slaughtered in her presence. And in some dreams, it got to the point that the same being that took Tasuki and Miaka's life brought the same calamity on her. But before she could utter a single word, there was a voice coming from the doorway. When the twosome looked and noticed the fiery haired and fanged being standing there, they stopped.

"Seumari, you alright?" he asked, his strong country accented voice rang out.

"I'm fine Tasuki, darling. I just had a weird dream, that's all." Seumari had made her way to Tasuki and now stood close under his gaze. She stared up into his amber orbs and melted into his arms. He stared back into her hazel-green depths and placed his thumb and forefinger on her jaw, caressing her clammy skin.

"Well come back to bed then," he almost demanded with a hint of playfulness in his baritone. She nodded in agreement with him and drew into his warm body and embrace and her mind was cleared of all worry. Headed back towards his bedroom with Seumari in tow, Tasuki glanced over his shoulder and gave Chichiri nearly a cold stare. The bandit had his claws dug into his affection and wasnt going to lose it to anyone, whether they wanted her her or not. Not anyone.

The next morning at breakfast, there was a noticeable tension between Tasuki and Chichiri. Two friend that had become close companions were now feeling animosity towards one another. Tasuki took Chichiri's kindness as him trying to pry his way to what he wanted but Chichiri had no intentions of becoming that close to Seumari at all. And Chichiri felt Tasuki's coldness towards him and took it offensively.

"Did you sleep well, Miaka?" Seumari asked with a smile, watching the priestess devour 4 dumplings and numerous bowls of vegetable curry.

She made a sound of confirmations and continued to eat. "Tasuki didn't make it too hard for you to sleep did he?" She laughed.

Seumari giggled too and glanced at Tasuki who was scowling at Miaka, his fangs visible. "For ya information Miaka, she's the wild sleeper!"

"She deserves a whole bed to herself then!" Miaka teased with a smile.

"No!" Tasuki's immediate reply startled everybody at the table including himself. He lowered his tone and glance at Chichiri before directing his attention back to Miaka. "She's just fine sleepin' with me." He wrapped his arm around Seumari's waist and held her closer to himself.

Silence fell upon the table in consideration of what transpired. Seumari sighed and looked up at the ceiling. The upward slant in the outer corner of her eyes made it seems as though she was glaring at no one in particular. She felt as if this would get worse before it got any better. Cast into a gaze, she missed the rest of the breakfast conversations. Finally when finding the Shinzaho was brought up, she was re-involved.

"I wonder how Hotohori is doing." Miaka stated. Seumari silently thanked Miaka and gazed up to Tasuki. There was a hostility in his eyes that she scowled at. She then rose from the table and excused herself from the house that they had been living in for the last few days. It was in a small cottage on the outskirts of Konan and not far from Sairo. She stood outside of the house and sighed and closed her eyes. She ran her fingers through her dark golden brown tresses and bent her knees, causing her body to slide down the wall into a squatting position.

"Yuna..." a voice called out almost in a sing-song tone.

Seumari's eyes popped open and got to her feet. She was startled by being called by her birth name by such a familiar voice.

"Who's there? Kyutara?" She questioned, her nerves on edge.

The male voice chuckled. "I'm surprised you remember my voice. It's been some time, dear sister."

Unable to imagine this situation being real, Seumari quickly spun on her heels and dashed back inside. She hadn't had enough time to see the person who was speaking to her but she knew that it was really her brother. But it didn't add up to her knowledge at all, because from what she thought she knew, her brother Kyutara was dead. Back inside, she looked in the dining room and had seen it was empty and she was puzzled by that. When she looked back towards the door, it was wide open, but she knew for a fact that she had closed it. Her fear level rose and she ran back to the door and closed it and convinced herself maybe she did leave it open and she didn't hear her brothers voice.

"Do you feel guilty? Do you still feel like it was your fault that I died Yuna?"

There was the same voice again. Her legs started to shake under her and she started to answer back but she waited to see what else they had to propose.

"But you've lived with yourself like you had nothing to do with that day." They started to laugh, almost like they were laughing at her and teasing her. Her blood began to boil and she hastily slid the door open and stared at the being standing there, their head down so their bronze colored hair cast a shadow over their eyes. The anger streaming through her veins was replace with a chill as she stared them down, a roar of laughter still emitting from their body. "Come here sister. I'm here now, that's all that matters."

Uncertain of how to reply, Seumari inquired, "... Is it really you Rakou?" She addressed him by his birth name also, starting to consider this as her actual brother.

He stared into her eyes smiling warmly. The expression was familiar and almost spellbinding to her. She was still skeptic of how this could really be her brother, but she progressed towards him. "Rakou... I missed you..." Her eyes started to well up with tears, accepting that her older brother that she thought was taken from her was her again. Whether it was true or not, at the time she didn't care. She was happy that she could see his smiling face again. She reached out for him with his arms also outstretched. She fell into his grasp as she wrapped her limbs around his waist, squeezing his body close to hers. A warm tear fell from her eye as she closed her eyes, but for some reason felt cold. Slowly letting him go to pull away, she felt his arms still tight around her back and her muscles got tight.

"Rak - !"

"Seumari!!" a female voice called out before she heard another shout.

"Rekka Shinen!!"

Seumari quickly pushed herself from the arms of her supposed "brother" and flew to the ground as a huge gust of fire blew past her towards her "brother". She glanced towards where the yells had came from and there stood Miaka and Tasuki who was wielding his tessen. She then fixed her eyes on Tasuki's target who had barely missed the dangerous blow. He glared back at Seumari and charged towards her.

"Seumari!" Miaka ran towards her female companion in hope of helping her but only putting herself in the range of danger also. Before the man who looked almost identical to Seumari could reach the two girls, Tasuki had sprinted to them and removed them from harms way. Tamahome and Chichiri had now emerged from inside of the house and prepared to fight with little awareness of what was going on.

"Who is that??" Miaka asked Seumari as they both watched the three seishi before them fight the being who was now sending harmful blasts of dark miasma towards his opponents.

"My..." She started to tell her that he was her brother but stopped. Her brother couldn't possibly be trying to hurt her or her friends like that. "I don't know."

Just as the last statement came from Seumari's lips, a huge wave of miasma was sent in the two girls direction. They simultaneously shrieked in horror with nobody there that time to defend them.

A/N: The beginning started off somewhat slow, but please bare with me!! It will get better!! Reviews are highly appreciated!