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Fushigi Yuugi is copyright Watase Yuu, Flower Comics,
Studio Perriot, Viz Communications and Pioneer Animation. All rights remain
theirs and I'm making absolutely no money on this fic, so please put the
tessen DOWN Tasuki and go rob somebody else. Please?
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The child skipped along the road, happily jumping into the puddles left by the previous night's rain and investigating behind the bushes along the side of the road. Her mother felt exhausted just watching her.
"Houki-chan," she called, "come walk beside me."
"Yes, mama," the child replied obediently, returning to her mother's side. Five minutes later, a butterfly fluttered past, attracting her attention. The six-year-old girl ran ahead, chasing it, forgetting her mother, who decided not to call her again. Five minutes of constant fidgeting had been hard enough to endure, and there was a half an hour of walking yet before they would arrive at the village's market.
By the time they arrived, You Hanako felt as though she had been walking for a day, not less than an hour.
Houki-chan, on the other hand, was bright and chirpy and, her mother decided with a mental sigh, ready to get into everything. In fact, a yell from the tailor's son, outside his father's shop, indicated she was blithely doing just that. Hanako closed her eyes and turned back to the bright copper pot she was inspecting, deliberately ignoring the scene at the tailor's display.
Houki was looking at the cloths the tailor had on his racks.
"You're not allowed to look at them," Sango told her spitefully. "Papa says only people who buy are allowed to look. An' you're just a kid, so you can't buy and can't look."
She ignored him. Sango was just a bully anyway, who said nasty things to try to make you cry. Market day was fun, but Sango really did try to make it awful for her. It made her glad she lived out on the farm.
Hmmm. No, nothing like it. She'd had 'the dream' again last night, the one where she was the tailor's child, and she had two older brothers. She'd been wearing a beautiful dress in that dream, and it would've been really great if she could find it. Then, if she had one part of the dream come true, maybe... just maybe...
Houki hated being an only child. An older brother would be wonderful. Her mother, when she told her she wanted one, agreed that a brother would indeed be a good thing, and didn't tell her why the 'older' part couldn't happen.
With a sigh, she abandoned the tailor's shop and walked back to her mother at the smithy.
Hanako didn't make any outward sign when she felt a smaller hand steal into hers, but she squeezed Houki's hand gently as she turned to pay the smith's wife.
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Hanako smiled as she watched her daughter cheerfully pick over the ribbons the trader had brought to this month's market.
Houki was not an unhappy child, but she was definitely more serious than any six-year-old ought to be. The midwife, when Houki was born, had declared, "She's an old soul, this one," and everything Hanako had seen her do seemed to bear that out.
She seems so happy this morning, Hanako thought, looking at her daughter's cheerful expression. My beautiful phoenix, the world longs for your smile...
But Houki had made her decision, and brought the ribbons she'd decided to buy to her mother, for final approval. Hanako left her musings, marvelling again at her daughter's excellent sartorial taste.
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Later in the afternoon, Hanako and Houki were walking past the village temple, when Hanako suddenly pulled Houki gently to a stop. "Houki-chan," she said quietly, "there's one last errand for me to run. Why don't you go into the temple and begin our prayer to Suzaku-seikun, while I go do this last one?"
Houki shrugged. "Yes, mama," she replied. She liked the temple. The soft, fiery scent of cinnamon and sandalwood incense drifted along the corridors and, while it often made other people sneeze and complain, she loved it. The flicker of the Sacred Fires and the dark velvet shadows they cast were warm and welcoming - even if some silly people got scared of the feathery darkness. Some people also said that they felt as if somebody was watching them when nobody was there and they didn't like it. Houki thought that they were the silliest of all - Suzaku-seikun was always here, and they didn't like knowing He was here? She would have been upset if He wasn't. Normally, she tended to go to one of the prayer-benches that faced one of the lesser Fires, to make her family prayers alone in peace. Today, for some reason, she chose to go into the main prayer room instead, and found a whole crowd there.
What on earth...? Houki couldn't see what was going on at the main fire. In the middle of the crowd, she spotted one of the neighbouring farmers. She wiggled and squeezed her way into the crowd until she was standing next to him, then she gently tugged at his sleeve till he noticed her. "Chang-san? Can you tell me what's going on, please?" she asked politely.
"Certainly, Houki-chan," Chang-san replied. "There's a boy priest visiting here. Apparently he's a visionary, and he's been here, in a trance, all day."
Houki bit her lip. All day? He hadn't even gotten to have one of the new season's sweets? "Um, excuse me please, Chang-san - but what's a 'visionary'?"
"Oh! A 'visionary' is somebody who sees the future."
"Oh. Thank-you, Chang-san."
Houki wormed and wriggled her way in, to the edge of the crowd. She wanted to get a look at this boy who could see the future.
He was unprepossessing, to say the least. He looked to be about fourteen, with all the gangliness and spindlyness that the age implies. His hair was that red-brown colour that can't really be called 'auburn' but is often, quite truthfully, called 'ugly', while the freckles were bravely doing battle with the forces of acne for possession of his face. In ten years he might be ruggedly handsome but right now he only had a pair of beautiful sapphire eyes to his credit.
No sooner had Houki found herself at the edge of the crowd, than the boy lifted his head to gaze deep into the flame and began to speak.
"The beautiful phoenix that will safeguard our future will come to Eiyou. Unsure of her future, she will spread her wings over the one who most needs her protection. In doing that, she will guard our land, bringing honour to us all. She will give all for love, but her heart will not be returned till Death does bar the way. She will save us and ask no recompense."
Silence echoed through the room. The fire hissed and spat over its logs.
"A beautiful phoenix that will safeguard our future? It must be another prophecy about Suzaku No Miko," a voice came from the back of the crowd.
"Yes! Better write it down and send it to the Imperial Library," another person replied.
"Who's got paper? Now, he said, 'A beautiful phoenix that will guard our future...'"
"No, he said 'The beautiful phoenix that will ensure our future'..."
"You're both wrong! He said, 'The beautiful phoenix that will safeguard the future'..."
Houki wriggled her way out of the crowd again. It wasn't interesting anymore.
She met her mother on the steps of the temple. Her mother was holding some of those herb packets the healer made up. Why she hadn't wanted Houki there while she talked to the healer, Houki couldn't guess. The healer was one of the nicest people in the village.
"Hello, Houki-chan," Hanako said cheerfully. "Anything happen?"
"Oh, a boy who gets visions saw that Suzako no Miko will save us from disaster. Everybody in there's busy writing it down."
Hanako smiled. "Well, she will, you know."
Houki looked at her mother calmly, and Hanako was struck anew by her daughter's deep gaze, reinforced by her calm tone. "I know."
Yes, thought Hanako sadly, I'm quite sure you do. She forced a smile to her face. "Well, now we're all done for the day, let's go home, Houki-chan!"
The child of prophecy smiled and took her mother's hand.
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Author's notes:
1. I named Houki's mother 'Hanako' because I don't know her real name (I couldn't find it anywhere!). 'Hanako' means 'little flower'. It's quite a common girl's name, and I think it rather nice.
2. I happen to agree with the people who say that they think Houki is Nuriko's little sister Kourin, reborn. So that's what she was dreaming about (if anybody was desperately curious).
3. (This one's rather convoluted, but if you've read any of my other work, you'll already know I don't think in straight lines. So I'll try to explain as clearly as I can, and pray you forgive me.) Most prophecies I've read are very obscure. They can, quite easily, fit almost any event. The best known prophecies have many different interpretations. Also, many times, a prophecy can be interpreted as being related to another prophecy before the event it refers to occurs, with the truth only being revealed in hindsight.
Given Houki's significance to the Suzaku no Shishiseishi
(Suzaku no Shishiseishi Hotohori in particular) and the actions she undertakes
(detailed in the mininovel Suzaku Hi Den), I can't believe that her presence
wasn't significant enough to be noted. But I can believe, especially
if the prophecy was obscure enough, that it got lumped in with all the
prophecies about Suzaku no Miko (especially as none of the prophecies are
ever detailed; we're just told there are prophecies, plural).