Pheonix Ashes

A Fushigi Yuugi universe deathfic written by otaku-no-miko

Length-no longer than maybe 20 chapters, I hope.

Pairings- None so far.

Rating- PG-13, overall; T for this chapter. Tasuki, Kouji, and I all need our mouths washed out with soap.

Disclaimer: Still don't own Fushigi Yuugi; all rights, creative and otherwise, belong to Yuu Watase and her companies.

Author's Notes:

This chapter.

This. Freaking. Chapter.

This was painful for me. Every time I would sit down to write I'd get maybe a quarter to halfway through and go "lolyeahno" and scrap it. It sucked. I finally pushed this out, I hope it was worth the wait (if I still even have any readers…).


::Tokyo::

The drive home was fairly uneventful – Taka only hit two curbs, which for him was a personal best. Miaka didn't even slip her shoes off before running into the living room, where the Universe of the Four Gods was sitting, nondescript and still. She was already scanning the page, brow furrowed with the effort of translation, when Taka slipped in, holding two glasses of water.

"Oh, thank you itoshii. Do you want to read or…?"

Taka shook his head; he had yet to read and as far as he was concerned that was fine. Miaka was already reading by the time he sat, apparently either unbothered or unwilling to argue with his recalcitrance.

"The dragon priestess and the Stars of Suzaku traveled eastward, to the mountain where the Wing constellation awaited their arrival…"


::South of the Bandit Stronghold of Reikaku-zan::

The sun was low and heavy on the horizon and they still had yet to reach the summit of Mt. Reikaku, where Tasuki and his bandits had made their home. Chichiri pulled his horse to a slow shuffling walk, mask furrowed in concentration.

Chosei, who up to this point had been concentrating hard on his saddle's pommel, looked curiously at Chichiri. "What's wrong, Chichiri-sama? Are we close?"

Yui looked back at the two Suzaku seishi, bringing her horse around to face them. "It's getting dark…does it always get dark this early?"

Chichiri shook his head. "No na no da, there's probably a storm coming in. We're still a couple hours or so away from the stronghold..."

Chosei wrinkled his nose. This grand adventure Shouka had imagined for him wasn't as easy as he'd thought it would be. "…so we have to ride in the rain?"

"Is that wise?" Yui asked nervously. She'd been doing better today – her horse didn't seem to hate her as much – but she didn't want to see what would happen when they couldn't see anymore. Chichiri, to his credit, seemed to notice her discomfort, and sent her an apologetic smile before nodding in assent to Chosei's question.

"Hai no da. We should be able to beat the storm if we keep going."

With a whispered phrase and a snap of his wrist, a glowing snake of energy twisted itself around Chichiri's forearm, casting a blueish tint on the ground and their faces. A gentle click and his mount was urged forward, a sudden blast of wind making the enchanted light dance eerily across the trees. Yui bit back a shiver and a groan as her horse fell rather heavily in line – the clodding pace of the trot reminded her muscles just how uncomfortable she really was on horseback.


" 'ey, Kouji!"

The blue-haired bandit looked up, absent-mindedly placing his stone on the crude go board in the middle of the banquet hall table and picking the delicate white stone of his opponent off the board. With a practiced flick he sent the stone spinning at his opponent's forehead, to a great chorus of jeers and shouts from his audience.

"Yeah Genrou? Wassup?"

Genrou smirked widely, one pointed canine glinting in the firelight. "Not much, jus' watchin' you become a girl. Seriously, go?"

"Watch it you. It's a game of ultimate strategy an' skill, somethin' yer rocks-fer-brains can't understand." Kouji shot back with a good-natured grin.

"Yeah, yeah, don' get yer skirts in a twist. You seen Chichiri? He said he'd be here few hours ago."

"Nah." Kouji frowned. "But Tai's on watch an' he said there's a big storm comin' in. If he ain't here soon he's gonna get caught in it."

Genrou's smirk faltered some – storms on the mountain were always bad news, but lately they'd been getting worse. He'd actually had to completely rope off one section of the stronghold as too damaged for living in after the last one. Kouji sighed heavily at the contemplative look on his friend's face – it never boded well for him when Genrou actually looked like he was thinking.

"Alright guys, game's over fer now. Got Official Boss Business ta do."


They hadn't been able to beat the storm, in spite of Chichiri's prediction, and the dense tree-line only served to deepen the darkness that had quickly overcome the three travelers. Yui squinted against the dark light, looking for the small slash of cerulean light that meant Chichiri was still in front of her. The rain and wind only complicated matters, making sight nearly impossible.

"Chichiri!"

There. A glint of blue, far enough ahead that she had almost missed it. She urged her unhappy mount forward, inwardly sighing in relief. If she'd gotten lost they would have never been able to reach Reikaku-zan tonight!

A crack of lightning split the sky, a spattering of light blinding the blonde momentarily and illuminating the monk not fifteen paces away. She rode on, close enough that her legs brushed against Chichiri's mount before stopping.

"This storm is awful, Chichiri, I can't even see!"

The mage somehow still managed to sound completely calm, even as another roll of thunder covered most of his words.

"…there na no da. It's not far!"

Indeed, when another slanting shot of lightning darted across the forest, Yui could see the stone gates of Reikaku's stronghold looming ahead, dark and ominous. They both pushed on, Chichiri holding Yui's horse steady next to his, until they could see two figures become illuminated in the blue glow of Chichiri's flickering ki. Yui could make out the hurried end of words cried into the wind and a bright gout of flame emerged where one of the shadowed figures had been.

"Oi! Chiri!"


"Chichiri-sama! Yui-sama!"

Chosei shuddered against the cold, turning his mount away from the slice of the rain and searching the darkness desperately for some sign, any sign that he wasn't as hopelessly lost as he felt.

Just like the last three times he had searched, he found nothing.

The teenager knew he shouldn't be panicking, knew that he needed to just stop and think, but all he could think about was how cold he was and how wonderful it would be to watch this storm from the safety of the inn with Shouka and a warm cup of tea…

Another burst of lightning, and this time Chosei caught something he had missed previously – what appeared to be a small area of cover untouched by the storm. Father had always said to just find cover and stay put if you got lost, that cave would be perfect!

Chosei dismounted, and his unhappy horse blew a gust of hot breath against his neck as he pulled the animal forward, fumbling towards the scant area of shelter. His hands touched tree bark, blessedly dry, before coming in contact with cool stone. The tree must have been next to a natural den, his luck was turning around!

Still shivering fiercely, Chosei wasted no time in tying his mount off with trembling fingers at the den's entrance and crawling in a little further (not too much further – if an animal had made this den it's home the last thing he wanted to do was frighten it). He stripped his wet shirt off, wringing the water out of the garment. As he set it down so that the fabric could attempt to dry, his hand brushed against something warm and…furry?

A shot of lightning, followed by the sharp crack of thunder, covered Chosei's terrified scream.


Yui had never met Suzaku no Tasuki – the last time she had seen him in person, he'd been screaming a spell at the demon god Tenkou to aid in his destruction. She'd read of his part in helping restore Taka's memory – cheered when he helped destroy the demons Ren had set on her friends, seethed when he attempted to make Miaka his…

Yes, she thought with a bitter downturn of her lips, that part she had not been impressed by.

Other than a hint of wrinkles around his laughing eyes, there was no sign that the man before her was in his late 30's. Right now, laughing with Chichiri over something inconsequential, he looked like a carefree teenager; if it weren't for the fact that they were in an ancient Chinese bandit camp, Yui would almost expect him to be holding a chu-hai and inviting her to a club.

Instead of breaking off the seishi reunion, she turned to Kouji, who'd been tending to their horses while she and Chichiri got dry.

"Kouji-san, right?"

He snorted. "Look, I know I'm older'n you, girl, but I definitely ain't no –san yet. Jus' Kouji's fine."

Yui smiled slightly. "Okay, okay. Kouji. Have your men had any luck finding Chosei?"

The blue-haired bandit frowned then. His men hadn't checked back in recently; when Chichiri and Yui had shown up the first thing they asked about was the teenager they'd been travelling with, the reincarnation of Mitsukake. Tasuki had told him to send two or three men out on a search party – if anyone knew these woods it was the Reikaku bandits.

He motioned for Yui to follow him, the pair silent save for the rainwater sloshing in Yui's wet boots as they headed back to the main entrance. Kouji flagged down one of the guards on duty, a boy who couldn't have been older than 15.

"Tai, th' search party back yet?"

The guard didn't so much nod as shake, apparently so unnerved at speaking with the co-leader of the famed Reikaku bandits twice in the same day. "T-they're in the main room, Kouji-sama. It was raining too hard…"

Kouji swore. "Buncha pussies! Th' Reikaku bandits aren't scared of a fuckin' rainstorm! Where're their horses at, kid?"

A trembling finger pointed towards the stables, a separate building barely visible through the downpour, and with a huff Kouji turned to Yui, pulling his collar up to protect his neck from the rain.

"Sorry 'bout that exchange, Yui. Can ya go get monk-boy and Genrou? We're gonna hafta mount our own li'l search party."

Yui was already halfway down the hall before he could finish. Inwardly she seethed. Chosei was barely 13, but these full-grown men were too scared to get a little wet to find him!

Chichiri and Tasuki had just been pouring some tea – Tasuki's well-spiked with sake – when Yui re-appeared, tossing the blanket she'd been using to warm herself near the fire to dry and grabbing a bandit's cape. The two shared a look before Chichiri got up, shakujou jangling softly with each footfall.

"Yui-san, where are you going no da? You're still not dry."

"Neither is Chosei." She snapped, before noticing who had spoken and flushing. "Sorry Chichiri. The other bandits couldn't find Chosei, so Kouji and I are heading out to look for him."

Chichiri nodded – Yui's outburst was understandable, he was worried about Chosei too. He had an unfair advantage over her though; through the tenuous connection all seishi shared, he was aware of his seishi brothers in a way she wasn't. If Chosei were hurt, he would –

Fear, sharp and biting, crackled through his mind, a flash of verdant green nearly blinding him. That hadn't been his emotion, it had to have been Chosei's. The mage's movements picked up pace considerably, good eye narrowing.

"Stay here with Kouji and Tasuki, Yui-san."

Yui frowned. "But, Kouji's already getting the horses…"

"I can find Chosei faster alone. He's not far."

Tasuki, picking up on the considerable drop in pitch and formality, motioned Yui back to the table with him. He long ago had gotten over being miffed by Chichiri's insistence on doing things solo; it was just one of the mage's quirks.

"Come on Seiryuu no miko. 'Chiri here knows these woods 's good as any bandit, he'll be fine."

With a whirling toss of his kasa and a soft flurry of incantation, Chichiri disappeared, the wide-brimmed straw hat landing gently on the ground before glowing and disappearing to join its master.


When Chichiri re-appeared, it took his eye a moment to adjust. Once his vision was back, he murmured the incantation for his "mage-light" (as Tasuki had dubbed it one drunken night). The world was illuminated once again with an eerie blue glow, and he fixed his eye to the left, where he could sense Chosei's ki.

He could see two wolves then, snarling and snapping at the entrance of what looked like their den. A small figure wielding a branch was warding them off, shouting at the animals every time they snapped at his outstretched fingers.


"Back! Get back!" Chosei yelled, another swing of the oversized tree branch nearly toppling the teen over. The wolves snarled at him and his weapon, one of them catching the wood in its strong jaws and snapping, the wood splintering under the pressure.

The other wolf used the momentary offset to launch itself at Chosei's jugular, eyes glinting as another spark of lightning streaked across the sky…

"Busoukaijo!"

A bright yellow flash knocked the yelping wolf into the cave wall. The other wolf released the tree branch to turn and snarl at the source of the light before slinking away slowly. Chosei's eyes re-adjusted, focusing on the figure advancing towards him…


He'd been in time. Chichiri's heart had frozen when one of the wolves jumped at Chosei, his mind racing furiously to find one spell, one incantation, anything to get that wolf away from the teenager. He almost didn't even realize he had cast the spell until it burst forth from the head of his shakujou, striking the wolf neatly before its fangs could bear down on the boy's neck.

The other wolf left before he could whirl and hit it with a burst of magic, leaving just a trembling teenager, looking very much like he wanted nothing more than to cry but having too much pride to be seen.

Chichiri rushed to the teen's side, catching his arm as Chosei swayed slightly, the boy's face ashen. "Maa, maa, the wolves are gone no da. You're okay now."

Chosei leaned against Chichiri gratefully, shuddering against the older man's shoulder. He was freezing. "I-I think they were more interested in him than me."

Chichiri's mask wrinkled, the false face blank as he looked past the teenager's shoulder into the shadowed confines of the cave. All he could see was the teenager's white shirt, tossed off on the ground and covered in mud.

With a small groan, the shirt moved.


From somewhere in the stronghold, there was a yell. Then a loud thud, and silence.

Yui jumped. "What was that? Is everything ok? Should we-"

Tasuki scoffed at the blonde's concerns, waving a hand dismissively. " 's nothing, Seiryuu no miko. We're bandits; we drink, we steal things, an' we fight."

Yui glanced at Tasuki incredulously before looking away with a sniff. Figures he wouldn't care about his men fighting. The conceited little…

Her venomous train of thought was derailed when another bandit yelled from somewhere else in the stronghold. Jeez, did these guys ever sleep?

The yelling got louder, and Yui looked to the bandit leader once more, this time unable to keep the bark from her voice.

"Everything ok now?"

Tasuki looked taken aback by her tone for a moment before rolling his eyes and standing, tessen clinking against his hip. Who did this woman think she was, ordering him around in his own stronghold?

Before he could reach the hallway to the stronghold's entrance, Chichiri burst through the door, his bangs sticking wetly to the mask. Chosei crowded in the doorway behind him, the teenager nearly swallowed in a blanket.

"Chichiri! Chosei!" Yui was out of her seat in a heartbeat, frowning as she placed a hand to the teenager's forehead. "Chosei, you're burning up! And you're covered in scratches!"

Chosei shook his head hard, water droplets flying from his hair and eyelashes. "No, I'm okay Yui-san. He's not though."

Yui frowned before looking where Chosei had gestured. Chichiri had gently set down the bundle that had been contained within his kasa, murmuring something to a gnarled old bandit beside him. The bundle fell open to reveal a child who couldn't have been older than six, absolutely covered in scratches and cuts that were already starting to ooze angry green pus. The boy's entire torso was a mass of bruises and one of his arms looked broken.

Where had they found this kid?!

The child moaned in pain as the bandit's physician jostled him, eyes snapping open with a low, weak snarl. He cast wild eyes all around the room before landing on Yui's face.

The young woman gasped, something inside her heart seeming to click in place. She'd never really understood what Miaka had meant by sensing ki and knowing her seishi before she'd met them but something felt so familiar about the small child…

Inside the bag she'd left at the table, the mirror began to glow a soft cerulean, the character "bi" emblazoned across it's front.


Author's Notes (May 19, 2013)
So this chapter took me a while. A long while. I had to re-discover my muse, then my muse had to re-discover her muse, then her muse had to learn how to write again.

Japanese stuff!

I took a potshot at Japanese drivers (to my Western sensibilities, they were horrible drivers…), and the fact that Miaka didn't take her shoes off is a nod to how anxious she was – while I would sometimes forget to remove my shoes when entering a friend's house or a restaurant and it was accepted due to my being American, a Japanese person never would forget that social nicety.

I mentioned a drink called chu-hai. You can either get this stuff at a bar or in convenience stores, where they sell for about 500 yen (~6 dollars) depending on flavor (common flavors include citrus and grape). They're fairly strong alcoholic drinks – citrus drinks are roughly 12-15% alcohol and the "girly" fruity drinks are roughly 5-8%. For comparison, an average beer is generally 6 or 7% alcohol. They haven't hit it big in America yet, but if you're of age and interested you can probably find them in Japanese restaurants or Asian markets.

Sake is already established as a favorite drink of Tasuki's – sake is fermented rice wine and the stuff packs a punch!

Magelight is a spell in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. When cast, it shoots a ball of light at a surface you're pointed at and the light stays there for 60 seconds. Not that I've ever used it while sneaking through caves and using my bow as a weapon of mass destruction… ;)

Busoukaijo translates to "disarm".

"Maa, maa" is something like "its okay" or "hush, hush". Just a nonsense comfort phrase.

Alright, so fair warning: chapter 6 is a break from the norm where this story is concerned. It's titled "Interlude 1" and will be set and structured a little differently than the usual in this story. Just keep in mind the beginning of chapter 1 and that this story has some "Inception"-styled elements and you'll be fine :)

Thank you for staying with me on this crazy journey and see you next chapter! Who is the little boy they found? (If you've read the original draft of this you already know, and I can't wait to actually introduce him :) )

Also: what is up with this site's new hatred of line breaks? If I hadn't reviewed this before posting I would have ended up with a very confusing chapter!

-otaku