Hey you guys! It took a while to get this chapter up, but I have a good excuse! I wrote the chapter and my teacher deleted the file…so me and jitterbug had to rewrite again….oh well. I do admit the first time we wrote it came out better than this but what else can I do? I hope you enjoy nevertheless.
Taka looked down at the book he had been clenching. The Universe of the Four Gods. The book that had brought Miaka and him together at a very costly price. Should he spill it out and tell Tamahome the truth? Taka seemed to be fighting a conflict in his head, and Miaka, looking at his troubled face, responded to Tamahome's question.
"We picked it up after we went to check if you were in your dad's study. Suprisingly we found that cute girl Rukia. Who knows what she was doing there though. I think she has the hots for you-"
"MOM!" cried out Tamahome outraged beet-red face. He took one last look at his parents, sighed, and turned around to his room. "I'll be asleep if anyone needs me."
Miaka smiled as Taka left the room and turned her attention to Taka. "Are you okay honey?" she asked taking his hand and gently squeezing it.
"I'm fine."
"You don't look okay. What's wrong?"
"Nothing," responded Taka vacantly and releasing Miaka's grasp; heading downstairs.
Miaka sighed and followed him into the living room. He was seated on the sofa with his head held up by his hands. The book was on his lap and looked up harmlessly at Taka. Miaka sat down next to Taka and swiftly grabbed the book. Taka turned his head and looked at his wife with a confused expression. Miaka opened the book and read, "Herein contains the story of a young lady and her quest to gather the seven constellations of Suzaku together. And if you the esteemed reader, should read to the story's end, the spell within this book shall bestow upon you the powers of the heroine, and grant you your wish. For indeed the moment the page is turned, the story will become reality." Miaka looked at Taka and went back to the book, turning the page. She could sense her husband's nervousness and he inhaled and waited for Miaka to continue reading. "Despite the shaking in her knees, the young lady lunges at the slavers. At that very moment, a gallant young man who bore the character for demon on his forehead saved the two young ladies… Pht. Gallant… Yeah right. He asked us for money afterwards…" Taka exhaled with a laughter and leaned over to hug Miaka.
"I'm sorry for making you worry. We've just fought so hard for what we have. I thought Tamahome had entered the book. I would've died if he did-" Taka seized his talk and turned his head around the room. A squeak. He had heard a squeaking sound coming from this very room.
"What's wrong Taka?"
"I don't know. I heard a squeak-"
At that very moment the door opened and in comes a very frustrated-looking Yui and happy Tetsuya.
"Hey guys. The party ended pretty quickly but we finished taking everyone home," said Yui sitting next to Miaka.
"Miaka! Your brother is pretty hard-headed, but I won the swim suit model disagreement," Tetsuya looked at Taka and Miaka's direction. "What were you guys doing?" he asked with a grin and arched eyebrows.
"Reminiscing."
Tamahome was feeling a little feverish from all that he had just heard. Thank God Tetsuya and Yui came when they did! Tamahome looked down at the necklace his father had given him.
The rubies glinted in the dark and he couldn't help but feel enchanted by them. Tamahome didn't know how long he had been laying there in his bed. Yui and Tetsuya had already left because he had heard their car leaving. Finally he tore his eyes away from his father's gift and put his pajamas on. He crept slowly towards the door and opened it gently. Tamahome peered into the hall and saw that it was dark and empty; his parent's room was closed off.
It was decided. He was going to find out what that book was and what the hell The Universe of the Four Gods was. Was it a strip club? Why hadn't his parents ever mentioned it? What did they mean 'he didn't go inside it?' He tip toed to the office and turned the light on hoping his dad at least the book back. He looked through all the book shelves and shuffled through his dad's stuff. Damn, not here. Tamahome turned the lights back off and went towards his parent's bedroom. He twisted the door knob slowly and pushed the door open. Soft snores echoed through the room and Tamahome and headed towards the bed. He went towards the nightstand and saw the old tattered book. 'Yes!' He reached for the book and as his hand barely touched it he was engulfed in the bright light once again.
This time Tamahome didn't land in a field of trees, but a stand full of vegetables. He crashed in to the stand, completely knocking all of them down, and fell to the ground groaning. He opened his eyes and saw every eye turned to him at the market. His face turned a bright red as he quickly looked down to see what had softened his fall. 'Cabbages?' he thought picking on up.
"Hey! You've completely destroyed my produce! I'll turn you in to the soldiers," exclaimed a man, apparently the owner of the stand. "Come with me!" he said aggressively picking up Tamahome from he ground.
"Stop it that hurts!" he complained.
"You're not from around here, you are from ?" asked the man closing in on Tamahome's face and getting angrier by the second.
Tamahome looked down on his green-stained pajamas. It just added more redness to his face. People around him had started to whisper and seemed amused by the spectacle.
"No… I'm from To-"
"Hey just what do you think you are doing with that boy!" a voice called out from behind him.
The man and Tamahome turned to look who called them out. It was a girl who looked no older than fifteen, standing on the top of the remains of the man's destroyed stand, her hands on her hips. She had light brown hair that fell down to her waist in a ponytail and had hazel eyes with little specs of green. Everyone stood in awe but before they could say anything, she jumped from the stand, grabbed Tamahome's hand, and both fled.
"Hey! Officer! Officer! That boy is a thief!" exclaimed the man in the distance. The strange girl kept on pulling Tamahome, making him run faster. They had finally made it out of the market. Tamahome pulled his hand roughly away and stopped. The mysterious girl skidded to a stop and gave him an incredulous look.
"Why are you stopping?"
"What do you mean why am I stopping? You just grabbed me and took off running!"
"Yes, well someone needed to save you! So I thought this was a good way to make money."
"Money!? You did that for money? What kind of person are you? Saving people and then asking for money?"
The girl folded her arms across her chest, "A person who needs to make a living. You admit it then?" the girl started walking back on along the street.
Tamahome ran to catch up to her, "Admit what?"
"That you needed saving…" The girl walked up to a small hut and motioned him inside.
"I didn't admit that! And I did not need saving! I could have handled that all by myself, thank you!" Tamahome entered the hut where he saw a small fire pit, some pots and, a bed.
"Yeah right! That guy was already taking you to get arrested!" She spun around and looked straight at his face, "That cabbage in your hand would do great as payment!"
Tamahome looked at his hands and sure enough he was holding a cabbage in his right hand. He blushed scarlet and handed her the vegetable, "Uh… so what's your name?"
"Ling. My name is Ling."
"Ling? That sounds like a guy's name…"
Ling glared at Tamahome, "Oh, yeah? What's your name 'Mr. Perfect?'"
"Tamahome."
"Tamahome? That sounds familiar… So what do you want to eat… Tamahome?"
Tamahome gave her suspicious glance, "What's the catch?"
"Catch? There is no catch…" Ling smirked evilly.
"Liar."
"I'm not lying! Damn it!" She threw her hands up into the air. "Gosh no one can be nice there days, I swear!"
"That can't be cause-" Tamahome felt light surrounded him once more, 'Uh oh,' he thought.
"It's weird, I just met you, but I can easily talk to you-" Ling turned to face Tamahome with two bowls of cabbage soup, but he was no longer there.
Tamahome hit the floor with a loud thump. He looked nervously around the room. His parent's room. He picked himself off the floor and hesitantly touched the book by the nightstand. No light. He grabbed the book and glanced apprehensively as his father shifted in his sleep. Tamahome was afraid of waking his parents up. What would they think of him being there? he quickly walked out of the room and into his own room.
He took of his dirty pajamas and stood there in his boxers, pondering what to put on. He grabbed some jeans from the floor and stayed shirtless as he laid on his bed with the book on his lap.
"The Universe of the Four Gods," he breathed. He opened the cover and on the first page his eyes immediately fell on a bird, "Suzaku," he whispered holding his own necklace. He looked at the three other pictures: Byakko, Seiryu, and Genbu. 'How strange,' he thought as he turned the page.
"I just overheard something about a girl wearing funny clothes nearby!" said one of two villagers gossiping while eating.
"I heard this rumor that she was looking for some boy with a demon on his forehead."
"Is that true??"
The gallant young man from before appeared before the two gossiping villagers with a chopsticks in his mouth, "Is she a girl in a short skirt with her hair done in buns, or did she have short hair?"
"How would I know? Who're you anyway??"
"Oh! I'm sorry. If you'll take one of these. My card." The man handed the villagers both a card.
… blah, blah, blah, blah…
The girl wrapped her arms around the young man and cried, "I was so scared!! So scared!"
… yada, yada, yada…
"If you could fetch a couple of gems from the Emperor's crown, I'd be rolling in money. But since that's impossible, I'll just be moseying along…" the young man waved good bye and started walking away as the girl rushed past him.
"I'll be back with them gems!"
…
Tamahome sighed. He thought this was going to be more interesting. He started flipping through the book until the middle of the book when he saw something. Ling.
"Ling. My name is Ling." The girl answered.
"Ling? That sound like a guy's name…"
….
This was exactly what he said and did in that place! What the hell was going on? He was surrounded by light one last time, 'Not again. I'm really getting tired of all this light.'
"Tamahome!"
Miaka closed the restroom door and started making her way back to her room. She stopped when she was in front of Tamahome's door.
'Hmm… I wonder if he's asleep. He sure did sleep early today.'
Miaka opened the door and saw a bright light engulf her son.
"Tamahome!"
She rushed toward the bed and saw The Universe of the Four Gods laying innocently on the bed.
"You- You- You damn book!" was all she could say. She picked up the book and started to read from where it last left off.
Tamahome could feel himself falling, the wind going through his hair. Then finally he hit the earth on all fours. His knees and palm of his hands throbbing with pain. He opened his eyes, and there, staring up at him with gorgeous eyes barely waking up from her mid-day nap, was Ling. Tamahome gulped nervously. This wasn't exactly the best position to be in. Literally. Ling looked down at his shirtless body and back up to his face turning as red as a tomato. Then she punched him in the face without a second thought and quickly got up with a fighter's pose. Tamahome recoiled in pain and was lying on the floor grabbing his nose.
"I do many jobs but this isn't part of my services!" shrieked Ling getting even redder.
"I ust ell! It asn't my ault!" (I just fell! It wasn't my fault!) said Tamahome with tears in his eyes.
"You fell?" asked Ling suspiciously. "Where'd you fall from-" She stopped talking immediately as her eyes traced the necklace around Tamahome's neck. Her eyes widened and her mind suddenly thought back to the picture that her uncle always kept on him. "Hurry, come with me," she demanded excitedly grabbing Tamahome's arm and lifting him up.
"No way! I'm not going anywhere with you!" cried Tamahome indignantly as Ling tugged at him.
Ling gave him a very dirty look. "You might not know about any of this but countries have been looking for you, and just because you possess that necklace around your neck," she said pointing at his chest. Tamahome looked down and stared back up with a very confused expression.
"Huh? Where am I anyway?"
"You're in the outskirts of Konan. Out in the country. Please. Just come with me. It's not safe for you to be out here by yourself. My uncle will know what to do with you…"
"Your uncle?"
"Yes. I'll escort you there myself, free of charge, to my uncle Tasuki."
Hey! It took a long ass time to post it up but it's finally up so quit complaining. If I don't get any reviews then this story will stop on the next chapter. I'll just write that Ling and Tamahome were on their way to Tasuki's house and a couple of wolves came out and ate them. Yup. SO U BETTER REVIEW. See you next chapter.
No she won't… I won't let her… but really… she's right…we would really appreciate more reviews…
I swear…I'll kill Ling and Tamahome…they will mysteriously trip, fall, and break their necks. And that will be the end of that.
Shut up. Thanks again for reading! See you next time!