So it's been. . .two months or so since the last chapter. I'm sorry! (Don't kill me, please!) I blame school/writers block! I'm almost on summer break so I swear the next chapters will be up much faster then this one us. I'll do my utmost to keep up a semi-regular chapter update schedule while I have the time for it.
I'm working on typing up another story for a different area altogether (Anyone out there heard of Heart no Kuni no Alice? lol) and I might start doing that one along with this one. Hopefully that should eliminate some of that writers block.
Disclaimer! I don't own Fushigi Yuugi or any of it's characters. Izaya is mine so hands off.
Now, without any further adieu, here's the next chapter.~~~~~
They arranged to head for Hokkan within the next week. When Nakago had said that he was going to speak with the Emperor about the expenses for said trip, Izaya had insisted on coming along. Though he'd been suspicious, he allowed her to come.
It had been an uneventful meeting. The Emperor of Kuto had been playing with his usual harem at leisure until Izaya had entered at Nakago's heels. The big man had stiffened on sight of the Seiryu priestess; the general knelt down in front of him. The Seiryu priestess crossed her legs and sat down behind the blonde man, eyes shut and head tilted down at the floor. As the Kuto leader and the military man conversed, Izaya had been silent and completely still. The women at the Emperor's sides eyed the priestess in the same way cats did when their territory was invaded.
It was only near the end of the men's conversation that Izaya did anything. In the midst of a short silence, between when the Emperor and Nakago had finished talking and the general being dismissed from the room, the priestess had raised her head. She opened her eyes, looking at the big man. As the empire's leader flinched, careful not to look at the dark haired girl, a smirk parted Izaya's face. His harem women looked between the man they were serenading with their naked flesh and the young woman, fully dressed, across the room. Carefully tracing her glare over all three of them, the priestess cocked a brow, mouth tilted upward at one corner. She and Nakago were dismissed not long after that; Izaya never said a word.
Outside, the general glanced at the priestess over his shoulder. If he'd been about to say something it had been interrupted by Suboshi's sudden appearance. They both spotted him and stopped, the priestess smiling and waving her arm high over her head.
"Su- bo- shi!" she called to him in greeting, the boy raising his head and blinking.
"Lady Izaya." he bowed as he greeted her and the priestess scowled.
"Neh! Neh! I told you to stop bowing; makes me fucking uncomfortable." the young warrior blinked at her, expression blank. Glancing at Nakago, the general's mouth set in a firm line, Izaya sighed, turning from both of them and grumbling to herself. Both men watched her for a second before Nakago turned to Suboshi.
"Where are you going?" he said. The young warrior's eyes dropped down onto his feet. Shifting from foot to foot, when he raised his head he met the general's blue eyes with a stern face.
"I can't forget about my brother." his voice was as hard as his expression; set like stone. Crossing his arms, the older, taller man regarded his younger counter part with a careful eye.
"You want revenge." he stated, flatly and Suboshi averted his eyes, his hands clenching into fists. As the younger warrior growled and began grinding his teeth, Nakago glanced at Izaya. She blinked, expression blank. Turning back to Suboshi, the general dragged the younger warrior away. They appeared to argue for a short time before Suboshi stormed off. Watching him go, Nakago rubbed his temples and sighed under his breath. He closed the space between himself and Izaya again. As they started walking, the priestess gave a low laugh.
"He's being stubborn about this, isn't he?"
"He's being troublesome." the general scowled when she giggled at his words. "You're very easy going about all of this." She shrugged.
"If he's anything like me, he'll do what he wants no matter what anyone tells him. No sense trying to give eyes to someone who doesn't want to see. Besides, on stuff like this I don't like to turn myself into a hypocrite. Or, rather, I try to avoid it as much as I can."
Nakago tilted his head. "'Hypocrite'?" echoing that word, his arm was patted by the priestess.
"Yeah, but I won't bore you with story. It's dull; not interesting. I'll see you tomorrow morning, Nakago." she walked away, waving over her shoulder and the general watched her go. He followed her with his eyes until she disappeared around the corner of the hallway.~~
It was the day before they were leaving for Hokkan. Suboshi was missing and, as before, Izaya didn't seem the least bit concerned about it. She spent the day packing and discussing what to pack with the palace staff. She avoided the other Seiryu warriors that Nakago had introduced her to; which had been for the better. Her introductions to Soi and Tomo had been even greater disaster then her introduction to Suboshi. Izaya hadn't been drinking when she met Soi and Tomo, which had been the only up side of their meetings.(That it had started with the priestess calling Soi a man and Tomo a woman probably should have been warning enough to Nakago how the conversation would go from there) By the time dinner rolled around, Izaya had assured Nakago that she was well prepared for their departure.
It was dark when the sound of the music came echoing down the halls of the palace. Nakago had been conversing with Soi, ready to send her off on her next task when the sound had reached the two of them. Frowning, they glanced at one another before following the sound to its source. In truth, Nakago knew that it shouldn't have startled him to find out that all the noise was coming from Izaya's room. She'd been prone to bizarre behavior from the start and this was no different in that regard.
Still, when he opened the door his eyes widened; the music was played by a band of five, all varying in age and gender. They were all huddled in one corner of the room, erhu, pipa, dizi, zhongruan; it as was masterful orchestration. The middle of the room had been cleared out. One of the female members of the band had left behind her guzheng and was laughing and spinning with Izaya. As they reached a slower part of the song, the musician caught the priestess by the arm. She began to perform something of a demonstration; arms and legs moving in sweeping motions as Izaya stood back and watched. Clapping with delight, Izaya began to follow the other woman's lead, doing her best to keep up when the steps changed and laughing when she failed. Spinning once, she noticed Nakago and Soi in the door frame and grinned.
"Hello, hello!" she didn't stop moving and constantly glanced over her shoulder at her dance partner.
"What's all this?" Soi was the one to ask, looking between the musicians to her priestess. The song ended then and as she clapped, Izaya patted the woman whom she'd been dancing with on the back, grinning. The musician returned to the rest of her band mates and began setting up for the next piece while their sole audience member wiped the sweat from her brow and turned to her warriors.
"I was bored." she said, waving at the band. "Since Tamahome's gone and Suboshi's still recovering from his little adventure, there's nothing to do around here. We're leaving tomorrow so I can't sit still either." Shrugging, she spun around. "The Emperor sent these guys away earlier, so I asked them to come entertain me." Waving her hands towards the small collection of musicians huddled in the corner, she insisted. " They really do play wonderfully. The Emperor doesn't know what he's missing, am I right?" They clapped and laughed in return, bowing their heads to Izaya before starting up on their next number.
Laughed, Izaya began dancing once again. Spinning around, she eventually grabbed onto Nakago's arm and started to try pulling him into the center of the room.
"Come on! Dance with me!" she exclaimed, giddy. Abruptly, the general drew his arm out of his grasp. Glaring coolly at her, he looked like he'd just been insulted Izaya somehow. Taking no notice, Izaya giggled and lurched for his arms again. Nakago crossed his arms. Izaya stopped moving and her smile dropped to a pout. In return, she glared up at him, mimicking his scowl. Then, she drew her shoulders back, puffed up her chest and pointed an index finger at him. "I order you to dance with me!" A short pause followed this comment; the musicians didn't stop playing but were eyeing the situation with interest. Bending at the waist, Nakago lowered himself until he was at eye level with Izaya, holding her gray eyes with his narrowed blue gaze.
"In your dreams." he scoffed back at her, straightening up. They held eye contact and Nakago sneered, earning an even deeper pout from Izaya. The Seiryu priestess set her jaw and glared the worst she could up at the general of the Emperor's army.
"Fine," she sniffed, snobbish, stepping briskly around him, "Soi can be my amazing dance partner instead." Having grabbed the female warrior by the arm, Izaya yanked Soi out from behind Nakago and into the middle of her open bedroom. Soi stumbled in, looking around, searching for help it would appear, though she got none, not even from Nakago. Holding onto Soi's wrists, Izaya proceeded to jump around in some bizarre way that was no where near the dance that the musician had been trying to teach her before. For awhile Soi struggled in her attempt to try and follow the movements that Izaya did, but started to get the hang of it eventually. She let Izaya start to lead her along and spin her around.
Through it all, Izaya ended up behind Soi, the priestess' hands sliding along Soi's hips as she rested her chin against the warrior's shoulder, waist rocking side to side in time with the music and Soi all at once.
Instantly, Soi jerked free of Izaya, slapping the priestess across the face. A single side step was all it took for Izaya to regain her balance and her hand moved up slowly to cradle her reddening cheek. An indignant frown formed on her lips and she gave Soi a disappointed look rather then angry one. Though the band members didn't stop playing, they did glance at one another, exchanging unnerved looks.
"Ow! What was that for, Soi?" she groaned, like a child complaining about doing chores. Removing her hand from her cheek, she dabbed a finger at her lip in search of blood. Soi was flushed more red then anyone else in the room and was perhaps too dumbstruck to even say anything in retort to these words.
"Most girls I dance with like that part the best," Izaya went on, then stopped mid sentence and frowned, " though I suppose it helps that they're usually lesbians, neh?" The shock that ran through the room after that was strong enough that nobody noticed the smirk that pulled at Nakago's lips.
"Just what do you think I am, Lady Izaya?!" Soi exclaimed, aghast, shaking her head slowly side to side. The priestess of Seiryu scowled and crossed her arms, gazing at Soi.
"Oh, come on! It's not like you don't have anything that I don't." she sniffed, one of her hands planting itself against her side and slowly moving down the curvature of her hip down to her thigh. A mischievous grin parted Izaya's face yet again as she gazed at Soi the way a hungry cat does a mouse.
Soi didn't have time to react before Izaya leaped at her, holding her from behind. Hands groping Soi's breasts, Izaya leaned, body to body, against the female warrior to speak into her ear with a wicked whisper. "Literally. You've got to have at least twice the amount of baggage that I do. Guys must really like you." Once more, Soi aimed a slap at Izaya, but this time the young priestess jumped back before her warrior's hand could make contact.
Free, Soi scrambled away, hiding herself behind Nakago and peaking out around his broad shoulder. It was so akin to a child peaking out around a parent's leg, that Izaya let her head fall back and laughed.
As her laughter began to calm, her gray eyes fixated on the female warrior that was still hiding. Lifting her arms and letting her hands dangle at shoulder height, Izaya lowered her head, swaying along with the music. A sigh fell out of her mouth as she turned away from her two warriors, her head shaking side to side.
"Awe! If only Suboshi was here!" Sneering over her shoulder, her eyes found Soi yet again. "He, at least, knows how to take a joke. Beggars can't be choosers, I suppose."
"I think you overestimate the boy." A new voice entered into the conversation and turning around, Izaya noticed that Tomo had joined the other two of her celestial warriors by the door of her room. Sighing, Izaya angled her head downward and held out her arms.
"I don't suppose that you'd want to come dance with me, neh, Tomo?" she inquired and saw the magic man's face twist instantly. Her arms dropped at she shook her head. "I didn't think so. Damn you people are boring!" Scowling, she stomped her feet, walking over to her bed and throwing herself across it. She kicked and flailed her arms, a temper tantrum that her warriors ignored completely.
"We'll be leaving for Hokkan tomorrow," Tomo stated, taking several strides into the room, waving an arm in Izaya's direction, "you should be conserving your energy, not wasting it on useless," he stopped mid-sentence to sneer, "dancing." Izaya sat up quickly at that point. Her gray eyes focused on Tomo with such a glare that if it were tangible it would have set the warrior on fire.
After a second Izaya pulled at the bottom of her eye and stuck out her tongue.
"Who the hell asked your opinion on anything, neh, Tomo?!" she got to her feet, crossing the room to stand squarely in front of her warrior. Holding his eyes the entire way over to him, she gave him a sharp shove toward the door. "I'll have you know that I have spent hours on a dance floor and still managed to kick the ass of any guy fool enough to think he could get the best of me, so you can take your self righteous little speech and shove it up your ass."
Placing her hands on her hips, she popped the right out to the side. Taken aback, Tomo took a step away from Izaya, jaw unhinged. After one last shove from the priestess, Tomo had been forced back across the threshold, putting all three of her warrior's outside of her room. Turning her head, she swept a glare over the three warriors standing in her door frame.
"If you are going to dance with me or have anything important to tell me then speak up now." she insisted, straightening her back. When none of them said anything in return, she stomped her foot. "Then shoo! Get out of here and let me dance in peace." Raising her head high, she abruptly slammed the door in the faces of all three of her warrior. For a short time they simply stood there, Tomo and Soi appeared stunned.
"What was that about?" Tomo sniffed to no one in particular. Before either one could say another word, Nakago slipped away, heading for his own room. He could still faintly hear the music.~~
The next morning they were ready to set out. Nakago had originally arranged for Izaya to ride in a carriage along behind them, but when she'd heard about it she had insisted against it. Beyond the obvious fact that it would take longer and be a huge procession just begging to be robbed, she'd said something along the lines of "if we're going to ride cross country, we have to do it the right way." She deemed this "right way" to be simple horse back riding. They had been frustrated with one another they'd argued with one another to such an extent over it. Eventually, Nakago had agreed to go along with it.
If he'd realized what she was going to do the morning of their departure, however, he might have tried to keep the argument going until she broke. They headed out of the palace just as the sun was beginning to peak over the horizon. Izaya had, by some miracle gotten up early enough to go to the market. She came back as Nakago and the rest were packing their saddles, two large jugs of baijiu held fast in each hand.
"Good morning!" she called, raising one jug over her head and swinging it back and forth. The general crossed his arms as she closed the space between them, but if she noticed his cocked brow and dissatisfied expression it didn't show on her face.
Instead, she set down both jugs. Izaya clapped her hands together, gray eyes sparkling. Her mouth had spread into a wide smile as she rubbed her hands together, a little squeak falling out of her body. Nakago frowned, watching her as she took a few, tentative steps toward one of the horses. He moved to mount his horse, Tomo and Suboshi both following his example and sending curious glances at Izaya. Tomo sniffed as he watched Izaya stop and stand several meters away from her horse, leaning side to side and looking at the creature with an intense gaze.
"Don't be too excited, Lady Izaya," he scoffed, sighing and shaking his head at he mounted the dark stallion set for him, "you might give someone the impression that you've never actually seen a horse." The comment, meant as a joke, went unnoticed by Izaya. She continued to inspect the creature that stood before her. The horse's tail twitched lazily and it's ears turned backward then forward again, grazing sluggishly on the few grasses it could find in the dirt beside the palace pathway.
"Good, they should get that impression," she stated, easily, taking a step to the side in order to peer into the face of the tall creature, "considering I haven't seen a horse before." Her words, said with all the easy nature as one talking about the sky being blue or how the weather was nice today, took a second to sink into the heads of her companions. The three of them froze, their heads swinging to stare at her. Izaya didn't notice once more, gazing intently at the big brown eye of the chestnut spotted mare that was meant for her. Tentatively, she reached out a hand, placing it gently against the long nose and stroking it gently.
"You've never seen a horse before?" Suboshi asked for confirmation, which Izaya gave without looking away from the animal. "Not even once?" She shook her head, taking a step further by stretching out and petting the horse on the neck, smiling fondly when it whined gently in return.
"Not before I came here." she answered, taking a quick glance over at him. "I'm a city girl; they only really have horses in the country where I'm from. Sadly, I'm not well traveled either." pausing, after a second she quickly added. "I've seen pictures of them before; all over the place." Gazing intently up at the animal, she finished softly. "Once I came to this world they're kind of all over the place, but I've never been this close before. So big!" she sighed, dazzled by this creature. The warriors glanced at one another at that point, exchanging gazes until Suboshi finally spoke up.
"What do we do now?" he inquired. These words grabbed Izaya's attention and she looked at her warriors, hand stroking the nose of the horse.
"What's the problem?" she insisted and the three men turned onto her. There was a short pause; Nakago was glaring at Izaya. Tomo was the one to break the silence, a sigh falling out of his mouth as he shook his head, the contorting of his face creating cracks in the make up that he had put on his face not too long ago.
"We organized our travel on the assumption that you already knew how to ride, Lady Izaya." he stated, tone somewhere between disgusted and dismal. "Soi has already been sent out on her next job with this plan in mind. If you don't know how to ride, the entire time table for this trip is ruined." Blinking, Izaya gave him a blank look.
"Well can't I just ride with one of you?" she inquired, nonchalant. Tomo's face contorted further, creaking more cracks in his make up mask.
"After what happened with Soi, I shiver at the thought of riding with you." he responded, Izaya instantly scolding and crossing her arms.
"Awe, come on! It was a joke!" she insisted, placing a hand on her hip and turning from him and muttering. "At least Soi was cute. You're so ugly I wouldn't dare do something like that to the likes of you." Stiffening like a board, Tomo and Izaya met eyes, each glaring at one another. A smirk formed on Izaya's lips after a few seconds and she broke their staring contest with a spin.
"Neh, neh, Nakago, I can ride with you, can't I? There wouldn't be a problem then, right?" For the moment, Nakago was silent, neither denying or accepting this request to ride with him for the time being.
Keeping his bright blue eyes hidden behind his eyelids, he said. "Even if you do ride with one of us, we will still be slower then if we had all ridden separately " Once again, Izaya gave a blank look at him, shrugging her shoulders.
"Then send Tomo ahead to meet Soi at the designated time and place." she stated, bland, Tomo jolting to attention when he heard his name. "So long as someone's there to meet her there's no problem. We're not all required to meet up with her. In fact, we don't all really need to be in Hokkan before those bird brains either." Tomo and Suboshi both had faces that showed a lack there of understanding.
Izaya raised her index finger. "If we split into two groups, one can act as a scouting team and go on ahead to Hokkan to find information on the Shinzaho. Then, the second group can act as a reinforcement team. That way we're at full force when it comes time to get the Shinzaho." Suboshi's eyes widened and a sparkle entered his eyes; impressed for some reason. Nakago rolled his eyes. "If we have two groups, I can stay with the back group and learn how to ride so that this doesn't remain a problem we have to deal with later on and we can still keep up with those feather heads."
"And you're sending me ahead, because. . .?" Tomo prompted and Izaya spun, pointing at him.
"I'm sending you ahead because we can't send a kid like Suboshi ahead for something so important like scouting." she answered. Suboshi couldn't have looked more heart broken by these words if Izaya had yanked it from his chest and beat it with a hammer right in front of him. Raising his brows, Tomo waited for Izaya to go on. "He's the youngest person here; he's more likely to make mistakes that someone like you or Nakago wouldn't, Tomo." Nakago arms crossed, raised a brow.
"That, however, is a double edged sword. If Suboshi isn't scouting then he's staying back with me. As the Priestess of Seiryu, though, that turns me into a target, which is why Nakago is going to stay behind." Turning, she made her way over to the general, walking a step behind him before placing his shoulder on his armor. "He's stronger then you, Tomo, so he would be able to make up for Suboshi's short comings in my protection better then you could. Thus," she waved her hand at Tomo and smiling, widely, "making you the one to go meet with Soi ahead of us."
That this had actually managed to convince Tomo was something of a miracle in and of itself. Leaving as a group, Izaya settled happily on the saddle in front of Nakago, the group setting out together. When it came time for the first break however, Tomo took his leave, heading out at a gallop ahead of them, leaving Suboshi, Nakago and Izaya. They rode for as long as they could, setting up a camp as the sun was setting. As they settled down to eat, Suboshi, having seemed depressed for the majority of the day, finally said what was on his mind.
"I can't believe you said all that!" he insisted to Izaya while eating his rice. Izaya threw her head back and laughed, so much so that she seemed almost hysterical. A flush colored Suboshi's face and he scowled. "It's not funny!" Holding her sides, Izaya attempted to calm herself down, reaching out and slapping the youngest Seiryu warrior on the back and shaking her head.
"Really had Tomo thinking you were useless, didn't I?" she said with a wolfish grin. The comment was met with anger until Izaya's intent gaze finally seemed to clue Suboshi in.
"Wait, Tomo? Just Tomo?" he inquired and the smile that had been on Izaya's face the entire time that she'd been gazing at Suboshi widened as she slowly nodded her head once at him. "Then, you don't really think I'm-?"
"If you were useless, I would've told you to stay home." Izaya responded, matter-of-fact. "I was just trying to get Tomo to leave. He's annoying and wouldn't have let me have any fun along the way." Smiling as she eats a bit of rice from her bowl, she glanced from Suboshi to Nakago and back again. "With you two I'll be able to enjoy myself completely; without a worry-" Nakago gave a snort. Giving a nervous laugh, Izaya amended. "Aside from finding the Shinzaho and summoning Seiryu of course."~~~
There we are! I finally got Izaya out of the palace! YAAYAYAYAYAYYAYAAY! Now she might actually do more then just sleep, read, and eat all day. XD Oh, I rattled off the name of a few Chinese instruments.
Erhu is a two stringed instrument that's played kind of like a cello (except it's much smaller; it can be played from your lap and is very light weight).
Pipa is a four stringed instrument; sometimes called the Chinese lute. Frets range from 12-26.
Dizi are basically flutes and are typically made out of bamboo
Zhongruan is played like a guitar; it has 24 frets and 4 strings and it played with a pick or fingers.
Finally, Guzheng is a zither that can have over 23 strings. It has removable bridges; similar to the Japanese koto.
That's the Chinese lesson of the day! There will be more to come soon and I promise it won't be in two months again! I promise! T-T In the mean time, read and review please!