Chapter 9 is here! (obviously) I should really stop stating the obvious…
Reader's response:
caspercat22: Yeah, they do. Shiny things are amazing. Shiinnnnyyyy. (cough) as you can see, I like shiny things too. In fact, that aspect of their personality was kinda based of my irresistible urge to chase after shiny things.
notquiteagoddess: (puts hands over head in denial: lalalala…) NO! Not dead! (tries to burst into tears but…can't due to severe unemotionalness…yes I know that's not a word) Yeah, I love Nuriko. I have a lot of favourites in Fushigi Yuugi though, and I can never decide which one I like the most. Probably Nuriko, Tasuki, Nakago and Hotohori, if it comes down to it, but I think the twins are amazing too, and Soi's cool…so… I hate Miaka…(gathers mob of angry villagers bent on killing Miaka) Miaka must die! That's my opinion. I have a horrible fate for her in this story. (cackles evilly)
Kyae Sohma: He is. He's so freakin' cool when he's mad; he can be scary too. I mean, all those other times in the series he got mad was only 'cause stupid Miaka ended up hurt (I'm still angry about the battle in Kutou when she basically made him get beaten up 'cause of course, she didn't want a freakin' (I'm trying not to swear…so hard) scratch on stupid Tamahome)…but think about if his brother was in that situation. I think he'd be so fucking (I'm sorry, I couldn't control myself any longer) scary!
O.0 Long responses this time. Oh well. Enjoy!
"I am severely disappointed in you" came the harsh comment from a heavily cloaked man. On his face, in a perfect mould, as though it was made particularly for his face, was a mask of hard metal, which only increased the man's level of intimidation. The man that lay on the ground from being struck violently shuddered at the sound of the voice.
"But…the three have not yet returned yet!" the man insisted, "Although…they might just be running late!"
"It is no use trying to make excuses; I imagine they had died in their attempt"
"Lord Xun –"
"Do not speak my name while you are down there, drenched in failure. You were the ones to give them the orders to go…"
"As you requested…"
"You underestimated the two and overestimated your three" Xun growled, "And that, you damn fool, not only got us neither of the girls, but will have them wary now, and if that were not enough, two of the seishi have been awoken!" he paused, "Although it is quite thankful that they do not have their past memories…or they'd know the true extent of their powers…"
The man shuddered, "My apologies" he said quickly, "But surely one of us could – "
"You think one of you could do it?" Xun sneered, "If the rest of you lords are as incompetent as you…I highly doubt any of you will live past your next birth days"
"Milord! Us Lords are second-in-power only to you and we have the means to accomplish the task"
Xun stared at the man, contemplating, "Very well Liu" he said after a moment's thought.
Liu bowed, "I will get them on it straight away"
Haku stared in disbelief at the sight before him. His four bandits of insanity who usually never had any trouble with opponents were covered with scrapes, bruises and injuries of all shapes and sizes.
Yui was dumbfounded, "What happened to you?"
Haku could only nod dumbly at her question, waiting for the answer.
Kristen looked at Yui with traumatized eyes, "It was horrible Yui!" she said, her voice choked.
"What is it?" Yui asked, wondering what had scared her two charges so much.
Kouji patted each of them on the back reassuringly, all the while trying to get the 'I-just-witnessed-something-I-never-want-to-see-again' look off his face. It was unsuccessful…and Tasuki? He could not contain the contents of his stomach anymore and had ran inside for the nearest bucket, which was always available in the main room due to the drunkenness that occurred often.
"Aniki!" Seiriko yelled suddenly. Haku looked at her oddly for calling either one of the two boys 'brother', but he should have realized that the two girls would have gotten such a friendship with the two boys after this much time. The four of them had been gone longer than Haku had intended; an entire three months. They must have been having fun, he surmised, "Kristen!" Seiriko continued, clutching her head, "I can still see them!"
Kristen rushed over, shaking her friend by the shoulders, "NO! Seiriko! Purge the vile thoughts from your mind! You can do it!"
Seiriko suddenly whimpered, "I can't! It's too…" she interrupted herself when she grabbed a full bottle of sake from the horse's – which she was currently sitting on – saddle and hit herself over the head – hard – with it, knocking herself unconscious, as an attempt to save her from the 'vile thoughts'. She dropped to the ground and Haku raised an eyebrow, "What was so bad?"
"Haku! We saw the most horrible thing ever!" Kouji wailed, very unlike his usual attitude, "It's too horrible…"
"…must…not…think…of…" Kristen muttered to herself, hugging herself as she rocked back and forth. Yui was distinctly reminded of a mental ward.
"Uh…let's get you inside, shall we?" Yui suggested. Kristen nodded numbly and the horse that Seiriko had collapsed her, to Haku's utter surprise, walked into the base and led the girl's unconscious body back to the room that the three female bandits shared.
"Need…some kind of…amnesia" Tasuki muttered as he came back, still clutching a now newly empty and clean bucket just in case such thought came up again.
Yui and Haku exchanged looks of confusion, but alas, the young ones went off to bed, following Seiriko's example of using the bliss sanctuary of unconsciousness to forget what they had just seen. Unfortunately, sleep could only last so long…
However, to the two adults' surprise, the four of them managed to sleep for a long time, which made them wonder if they had slept at all during the trip back here, which could sometimes taken as long as a week or more– on horseback, due to the mountain's unpredictable conditions.
Two days after the group arrived, there was a knock on the bandit base door and the guards were found unconscious by the next round of guards, causing a base-wide search to be ordered. However, no possible perpetrator was found, and nobody dared enter the insane bandits' room. In fact, even Yui refused to anymore; Haku had even gone as far as to move his belongings into a secret room and give Kouji and Genrou his room so that Yui could move into one of their rooms to help keep everyone sane around here.
"I'm afraid there's only one solution then…" Haku said morosely.
"Yeh…I know…" one of the bandits said sadly. He had imagined once about living a healthy long life, get rich off bandit loot and to go back to his wife and child healthy and…well, in one piece, but it seemed that was not to be. He sighed, "I am resigned to my fate"
The bandits that Haku had recruited to joining him in this deadly mission all nodded in the same resigned fashion.
"Then you know…you will be doing a great deed to mankind; a true show of bravery…and…" Haku sighed, "Now, we must journey into..." he could not bring himself to say the words.
One of the bandits nodded, "It's okay Boss; we get it..."
Haku sighed and with him leading one group and Yui leading the other, each group entered either Seiriko and Kristen's, or Kouji and Tasuki's room, with much trepidation in their steps.
In Kristen's and Seiriko's room, they found a bunch of weapons and a few drawings on some very white and straight paper, that was unlike the scrolls and scraps of parchment normally used. Then there were other things such as a weird device that was currently blasting out strange noise and words and a pad of papers connected by wire spirals that they saw contained foreign writing, which somehow, began to translate itself in front of their eyes; magic, they presumed: Plans to Break Out of the Asylum by Seiriko (and Kristen who draws the plans). There was also another set of papers, labelled: How to Get Genrou – here, there had been an arrow leading up with the word, Tasuki written above it – to Shut Up.
"So…this is what they do with their spare time…?" one bandit asked, "Figuring out ways to get Genrou to shut up?"
Yui who was leading this particular group, looked thoughtful. So they had figured out that Genrou was Tasuki. Good; less work on her part.
"Hey, I found something" Haku said, whispering as he walked into the room, "I found our intruder"
Yui and the rest of the bandits quickly left the girls' room and into Genrou's and Kouji's room, where they found a boy no less than thirteen years of age, sitting on Tasuki's stomach, poking at the fanged man – well, he could still be considered a boy if talking to Kristen or Seiriko since he was still seventeen – and grinning at the threatening glare he got.
"Get off me!" Genrou shouted, causing Kouji to stir lightly.
"Let me think on that…nope!"
"You've been hanging around Kristen and Seiriko too much Doukun"
Yui gasped suddenly, realizing why this boy looked familiar. Flashbacks of a temple and the death of a boy who looked exactly like this one ran through her head and she could not help but choke out, "C-Chiriko?"
The boy turned to her, startled, "Oh; you must be Yui" he said, "And you are correct; I am Chiriko"
Haku was confused. That was the name of one of the warriors of legend but…that could not be, right? The gods were dead…and they had…Enma now…but yet, Haku could not shake off the feeling that this really was Chiriko…
"How'd you get in here, past our guards?" one of the bandits asked.
"It was simple, really. You really should teach them more words; a few random big words thrown out there got them confused, giving me time to use the knowledge that these four taught me in the past three months and knock them out" he replied calmly.
"Sorry Boss…" Genrou said sheepishly, "This is my brother; Kristen's been corrupting him with devilish plans"
"And Seiriko's been trying to turn him to think with insanity rather than logic" Kouji added, feeling that this was a good time to announce that he was awake.
"When do they not?" Haku said with grim amusement, "Well, now that you two are awake, perhaps you can help us wake the other two up"
"They're already awake" all three chorused at once. As if on cue, there was an enraged shout from the next room, "NO NO NO SEIRIKO! TO BREAK OUT OF AN ASYLUM, WE MUST THINK LOGICALLY INSTEAD OF THE WAY WE USUALLY DO BECAUSE THEY'D ASSUME THAT WE'D THINK INSANELY!"
"How do you do that?" Haku asked, incredulously.
"Well" Yui began to answer, "Genrou's Tasuki, Doukun's Chiriko, those two girls were chosen by the Four Gods, and I assume Kouji has something to do with gods or he wouldn't be here again, like Tasuki and Chiriko. So basically, they all have a connection with the Gods and somehow, forged a connection between themselves…"
"What kind of connection?" Haku asked suspiciously, "And how do you know all this?"
"Well, it's like the connection that twins have. They can't really read the other's mind, but they can kinda sense the others' feelings, thoughts, presence that type of thing, and I know because I used to be the Priestess of Seiryuu. I've been thinking a lot on this since they've been gone, and since Taiitsu-kun hasn't popped up to tell me I'm an idiot like she did the first time I tried figuring this out, I'm assuming I'm right"
Haku looked at her, the shock settled in finally, "You mean…Genrou, that kid there – Douko or whatever his name is – and possibly Kouji, are seishi, and the gods aren't really dead!"
"Nope" Yui grinned.
There were more shouts now, "GENROU! STOP MESSING WITH THE BLUEPRINTS! WE MIGHT NEED THOSE LATER ON!"
"BUT THERE'S NOT ENOUGH FIRE!"
"THE ASYLUM ISN'T GOING TO BE ON FIRE 24/7!"
"It's not?"
"NO!"
"WHY THE HELL NOT!"
"Because then we'd all be DEAD!"
"WILL NOT!"
"WILL TOO!"
"WILL NOT!"
"WILL TOO!"
"BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP!" that voice was definitely the kid's voice, and to Haku's surprise, he had a very stern and authoritative voice…kind of like…Haku paled, remembering the tone of voice the tutor his father had hired had used.
Chiriko continued, "And Kouji, stop drawing on the floor and Seiriko – "
"Yesssssss?" there it was. The voice chalk full of innocence, and there were surely puppy dog eyes.
"Get back onto the ground immediately!" he said, "Just because you and Kristen figured out some of your powers doesn't mean you can go around climbing walls using your stupid ice"
"It's not just ice…it's fire…that's cold!" Seiriko insisted, obviously in denial and wanting fire for herself, "…and…fine! It's ice!"
"Oh yeah…I forgot! FIRE!" Kristen suddenly shouted and Yui began to worry about the state of the room.
"WHAT THE HELL! STOP DOING THAT!" Genrou shouted just as the two adults (the bandits had long run away) walked in, to see that Tasuki had just barely dodged a blast of fire, and judging from the way Kristen's fire looked, it was incredibly, unfathomably blazing-inferno hot.
"I don't understand you –" Chiriko suddenly wailed, floating up himself to her eye level, "Taiitsu-kun gives us the power of being able to defy gravity just by thinking about it (although it was probably so Shun'u would stop trying to fly) and what do you do? You use ice to climb walls instead of just using your hands!"
"But it's not really climbing" Seiriko pointed out.
Haku coughed suddenly and the five looked up and grinned sheepishly at the bandit leader, "Hey Haku"
"Have a good rest?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
"…yep…"
"Now, care to tell us what happened to make you knock yourselves out for two days?" Yui asked.
"Well…"
"It started normally…"
"We were going back here with the promise from Doukun here that he'd come after us after he took his final exam"
"So we journeyed…peacefully…well, kinda peacefully…"
"We were talking about how you guys probably died from lack of sanity…"
"…when we saw this huge disgusting thing in the distance and it was headed straight for us!" Genrou wailed.
"And it was so huge and round that we couldn't escape it and as it came toward us, we were run over by its immense fat"
"We were so traumatized"
"Thankfully it kept rolling on…"
"We went to the river to try to clean the wounds left by it trampling us with its rolling…it really hurt y'know…"
"But we still had bruises"
"And that's when it came back…yelling for us…"
"We tried running but just as we were about to be trampled again…"
"Taiitsu-kun came and gave us the powers to defy gravity and all that…aka…fly" Tasuki said with a maniacal gleam in his eye once the word 'fly' was mentioned.
"And we escaped it with that…"
"And flew here…"
Yui stared and then shuddered in revulsion, "Was it Miaka?"
Instantly, four sets of weapons, on in each hand was turned on her; and a total of twenty daggers whizzed by her ear. She gave an eep at the murderous expression – and at the weapons pointed at her.
"Don't" Seiriko hissed.
"Say" Kristen glared her deadliest death glare.
"Its" Tasuki growled.
"Name" Kouji said through gritted teeth.
"Where was Taka then?" Yui wondered.
"I think he wandered into our village" Chiriko pondered, "He saw me and tried to hug me or whatever people like him do and Aidou attacked him with a log, Kiang dressed him up in dresses, Pa'Liu fed some of her stew to him and Li'an threw him into the lake"
Yui whistled appreciatively, "Nice…"
"And then they sacrificed him" Chiriko added.
Yui's eyes bulged, "What?"
"Oh yes, as an offering of peace to those horrid demons that live near us, they gave him to them and they could keep him as long as they want if they promised to never attack our town"
Seiriko and Kristen grinned, exchanging looks, "That wouldn't happen to be your idea, would it?" Kouji asked.
Chiriko blushed, looking down at his feet.
"Well, we have to leave soon" Tasuki said to Haku at dinner that night, "We have to look for the seishi; somebody's already onto us being alive and we have to hurry"
"Alright" Haku said after a moment's thought, "You can come back here should you need to…" he said, knowing despite what he said, how much he would miss these four, especially Kouji and Genrou since he knew them longest.
"We will"
"Yui, you should stay here; I don't think you're up for walking and travelling that much" Seiriko said wisely.
"And you are?" Yui asked, insulted.
"We can float, aka, fly, and we've been travelling up and down the mountain for our journey there and back" Kristen pointed out, "Also, it'd be strange to have a group of teenagers and then a middle-aged woman with us when most women your age around here stay at home"
Yui frowned, "And what about you?"
A brief look was exchanged.
"We already act like siblings; we can just say our parents died so we're travelling across the country to live with our aunt or something" Kouji shrugged, "It's not uncommon around here these days…especially after that civil war and the sickness that came with the war"
"Alright" Yui finally conceded, although she was not very happy about it. She handed a black satin pouch with blue, green, silver and red trimmings to Kouji, "Take this"
Kouji took it, "What is it?"
"Something Taiitsu-kun gave me. She must have expected this because she told me to give it to you. It holds the special weapons that the past seishi have used. Tasuki's should be in there and for those that had no weapons, she added some in, just for them" she added, remembering that Mitsukake and Chiriko had no way to defend themselves last time.
Tasuki took it from Kouji's hands and dug into the bag. He reached around into the seemingly bottomless pouch and when he finally got something, he took it out, revealing a shiny, diamond fan. He stared at it incredulously, "Tessen…" he said, the word just coming instinctively out of his mouth. Almost as if guided by something, he waved the tessen and said two words, "Rekka Shinen!"
A wave of fire burst out from the fan and a few bandits got mildly singed. Kristen stared at the bandit, "Fire…out of a fan!" she gaped, then grinned, "Fire!"
Chiriko got the pouch next. He reached in and took as long as Tasuki had done to find his weapon. He finally came out with a rapier, perfect for his smaller than average size.
"Whoa…" Chiriko breathed, gazing at the weapon, which was glowing with red light, "I don't think the past Chiriko had this…" he said, "I don't even vaguely recognize it…or maybe he did and – " he looked frustrated at the lack of memories of his past life.
"It's alright; you'll find out" Yui turned a sharp gaze at the two girls, "NO, you don't get anymore weapons….oh wait…or maybe you do…" she shrugged, handing them a bag also, "Taiitsu-kun said that the items in here will help you"
Incredulous, the girls reached in at the same time (since both of them had been battling over who got it first) and first, pulled two almost identical necklaces, a pure white crystal in the shape of a sharpened cylinder.
"Geez…" Seiriko muttered, "I'll start feeling invincible soon; because surely, I can defeat everyone with necklaces" she eyed her critically at an arm's length. She paused, "Are you sure Taiitsu-kun won't make it explode while I'm wearing it?"
"She left no other explanation except that these will help you" Yui shrugged as the bag disappeared into thin air.
"Oh…goody" Kristen grimaced, "We can surely defeat everyone with two crystals"
Yui grinned, "Well, we all know Taiitsu-kun always knows what she's talking about…"
"Anything else, Oracle of Taiitsu-kun?" Seiriko asked sarcastically.
"Actually…yeah; she said to warn you that demons and creatures that haven't been seen since the time Tenkou arrived have appeared. They're not all that strong, but they are still hard to beat" Yui warned, "So be careful"
"Sometimes I wonder if I'm talking to my mother here…" she trailed off suddenly. Then she yawned suddenly, "Well, I suppose we should get to sleep if we plan to set off in the morning"
Haku nodded, having been silent during this entire talk, "Like I said, you're welcome back here…" he paused, "Just not too often, alright?"
"Right, Boss; next time you see us, we'll bring a whole group of seishi-turned-into-outlaws to see you!" Kristen grinned.
Haku groaned, "Are you sure those Gods are sane?" he asked Yui, who shrugged, "Seiryuu looked sane to me…"
All five of them grinned, "We'll have to fix that won't we?"
(hums circus music)