By Raye Johnsen
raye_j@yahoo.com
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Fushigi Yuugi is copyright Watase Yuu, Flower Comics, Studio
Perriot, Viz Communications and Pioneer Entertainment. All rights
remain theirs and no profit is being made from this (Tamahome
would doubtless get it all if there was any anyway).
*****************************************
"I hate this," Emperor Saiheitei of the Konan Empire
complained in an undertone, despite the fact that he and the
person he was speaking to were the only ones in the room. Growing
up in a court leaves one with either no sense of modesty
whatsoever or an exaggerated fear of gossip, and the Emperor had
developed the latter.
"The heavy robes, the bucket hat, the palanquin or the
procession?" asked his companion, equally quietly, but with a
wide grin and a singsong lilt. Both were so infectious that
Saiheitei couldn't help smiling back at his friend.
"Be serious, Nuriko. You know what I mean. But it's all
necessary, so I can't get rid of any of it, so don't bother
suggesting that. And stop calling the Imperial Crown a 'bucket
hat'. It's a majestic symbol of royal authority."
Nuriko shook the purple braid that was the envy of many a
court lady at Hotohori. "It looks like a painted bucket,
Hotohori-sama. Does nothing for you at all."
"I know, but it isn't a fashion that I can change." Hotohori
sighed and shook his head. "I don't know what's wrong with me
today. I usually enjoy the processions - Suzaku knows they're the
closest I get to my people. But all day today I've been really
restless. It's as if someone's just on the edge of earshot and
calling my name."
His friend frowned. "I know what you mean - I've felt like
riding out into the city all day and looking for something. Don't
ask me what, I have no idea. Maybe I'll see it during the
procession." Nuriko glanced at Hotohori's face. "What?"
"Pardon?"
"You've got that 'uh-oh, Nuriko's not going to like this'
expression on again. The last time you looked like that was when
you tried to give me that Lordship of Wherever-it-was. Come on,
Hotohori-sama, you can tell me. What is it?"
Saiheitei looked even guiltier. "The Captain of the Guards
doesn't want you in the procession."
Nuriko grinned. "Oh, that's all right, he always has silly
ideas like..." The words trailed off as Hotohori shook his head.
"You didn't agree with him, did you? Hotohori-saah-maah!"
This last was a wail.
"He's right, you know. It's coming close to the time when
Suzaku no Miko will come, and as the only known Suzaku no
Shishiseishi-"
"You're a Shishiseishi too!" Nuriko interjected. Hotohori
sighed.
"Yes, but I'm not known to be one, and you are. There
are those who would not want the Miko to save Konankoku, so
they'll try to prevent her success."
"And next you'll teach me to read and write! This isn't
telling me why I'm not allowed out, Hotohori-sama!"
"Because it's easier to protect you here!" Hotohori finally
snapped.
Nuriko stared at him, eyes wide. Then shut the jaw with an
audible click. "Protect... me? I don't need protection,
I'm
not-"
"-aware that there have already been four attempts on your
life?" Hotohori interjected sarcastically. "The guards on the
palace gate have been doubled in the past six weeks for a
reason, you know!"
Nuriko stared at him in shock, then whispered, "Why didn't
you tell me?"
Hotohori looked down and shook his head. "How would I have
told you? 'Oh, Nuriko, be careful about the food, the foodtaster
who tested the supper you asked the kitchen to send to your rooms
last night is being treated for poisoning'? or perhaps I should
have said 'Oh, Nuriko, the guard on the wing of the Palace where
your rooms are was a Koutou spy and he almost got to your room to
knife you last night, so sleep lightly'?" He laughed, with
absolutely no humour. "All those systems are in place to protect
the Emperor, it's kind of funny to see them in operation for
someone else." He shook his head. "But I'm glad they're there,
I'm glad they work; if they didn't..." Hotohori lifted his head
and stared straight at his best friend. "Anyway, you stay here
today."
Nuriko stood and walked over to the window. Staring out,
the whisper was still clearly audible. "I can't believe you
didn't tell me."
"I wanted to."
"If you wanted to, you would have."
"I - I couldn't bear to. Look how upset you are. If I had
told you then you would've been worse, and I couldn't bear that."
Whirling on an elegantly-shod heel, Nuriko stalked back
across the room, till Nuriko was face to upper chest with
Hotohori. Sometimes it was a real pain being short. "I'm not
upset that it happened, you dolt! I'm FURIOUS that you didn't
trust me!"
Hotohori's expression could be compared with that of a
stunned fish in that instant, his mouth opening and shutting
without sound. When he finally managed to put voice and lips
together, his voice was very small. "I - I never thought that you
would - would feel this way."
An Emperor may not apologise, Nuriko thought, because to
do so is to admit that he is in the wrong. But the apology in
Hotohori's voice was heard, and responded to. "Ah, I don't doubt
that with any other, you'd be right. It's frightening, to think
that there are those I've never met wanting to kill me."
"It's not you, Nuriko," Hotohori replied, "it's what you
represent. Look at me, all the people say they love the Emperor,
but how many know and love me? They love what I represent."
"Ah, the burdens of being Emperor. I knew we'd work YOU
into it somehow!"
"That is unfair!"
"But is it untrue, my friend?"
Hotohori made a face at Nuriko and then laughed. "Even when
there is bad news you lift my spirits. I'm glad you are my
brother-star; I'd hate to think of you as an enemy!"
"I'm glad we are friends, too - amazing, isn't it, that an
Emperor can get along with the child of a tailor."
"Yes." Hotohori swallowed, and said, "You've heard the
latest rumours."
"Which ones? You know a new rumour's born every second
minute here."
"About us - being lovers."
"That old chestnut? I've always dismissed it as wishful
thinking. There's a certain type of person to whom the notion
appeals. Mostly the ladies, which is what amazes me."
"My advisors are using it to try to persuade me to wed."
"Stand firm! Say you'll wed only the princess of Timbucktu!"
"Ha very ha. You won't think this is a joke - they want me
to marry your sister, because of your resemblance to her."
Nuriko stood up dead straight. "WHAT??"
"I'm serious. That's what they said. 'Kourin-san and
Nuriko-sama are nearly identical. Marry the sister and you need
never miss the brother'."
Nuriko stood up and stalked up to the door. "When I get my
hands on those weasels, I'll-"
"You'll stay right here. I'm just telling you what they
said. And I'm asking for advice on how to evade them."
A sudden light gleamed in Nuriko's eyes, but the only answer
vouchsafed was, "Tell them you'll only marry Kourin's sister
Houki."
Hotohori frowned. "I didn't know you had a second sister.
Her name's Houki?"
"I don't have a second sister, and Houki's my
grandmother's name. I'm saying, give them a plausible-sounding
impossibility until you meet the girl of your dreams."
Nuriko then bowed. "And on that note, I shall leave you to
go spend the afternoon with Kourin." A woebegone note entered the
voice as a mischievous light entered the lilac eyes. "If I can't
spend time with my best friend in all the world-"
"Oh, go! Just be here in time to restore my sanity for
dinner!"
"Sanity for dinner - that sounds interesting..."
"GO!"
****************
Nuriko sighed and wandered down the corridor that led to the
Imperial Seraglio.
Not that Hotohori ever does come here. Sometimes I wonder
if the rumours are correct. You would think that a teenager would
get urges and come here to slake them... it's not like the place
has any other purpose, after all.
A small, nondescript door stood at one side of the corridor.
Nuriko took a look around and, seeing nobody, opened the little
door and slipped through. It shut silently behind the slender
form.
A servant, running down the corridor ten seconds later, had
no idea that anyone else had been there.
The quiet corridor that Nuriko stepped into was mildly dusty
- a signal that, yet again, somebody was trying to get away with
slighting Chou Kourin. Nuriko frowned. Harem politics. It wasn't
like there was anything to fight over, as long as Hotohori
avoided the place.
There were two doors, relatively close together and close to
the end of the corridor. Nuriko walked to the further-away one
and again quietly entered. Undoing the blue shirt and loosening
the chest bindings, Nuriko selected a loose yellow tunic - almost
a dress - and pulled it on, padding through the slightly messy
rooms to the small enclosed garden that the two sets of rooms at
the end of the corridor shared.
As Nuriko had expected, Kourin was in the garden, tending to
the profusion of flowers that both the Chou twins loved.
"Hello, Kourin," Nuriko called to her.
"Hello, Houki," Kourin replied. "How was your day?"
"I am grounded. Confined to the palace for the duration. But
I'm under orders to report for dinner. Sanity is on the menu."
"Ooh, yummy. And how was our ever-so-delectable Heika-sama?"
Nuriko widened her eyes in mock shock at her sister.
"Kourin! If Mother heard you talking like that-"
"-she'd commend me for remembering the respectful
honorific."
"Well, yes, maybe, but-"
"I've seen him too, you know," Kourin continued
thoughtfully. "Certainly beautiful, with those chocolate eyes and
seal-brown hair. You'll make a lovely couple."
Houki closed her eyes. "Don't matchmake, please," she
sighed. "He's my friend. He thinks I'm a boy. And I like
it
that way."
"Really?" Kourin asked, walking over to water a rosebush.
Houki wandered over to the small stone fountain set in the middle
of the garden, perching on the foot-high wall rimming the pond
the water trickled into.
"Yes. Really. Besides, his advisors are suggesting you for
his Empress, and I'd never steal my sister's husband."
There was a clatter behind her and Houki grinned. She
thought that would get a reaction. Turning, she saw Kourin had
dropped the watering can and was staring at her in shock.
"Me? They're crazy!"
"Yes, he's about as fond of the idea as you are."
"Tell me you scotched it. Please," Kourin begged, her lilac
eyes wide in entreaty.
"Don't worry. I told him to tell them he was courting your
sister Houki."
Kourin blinked at her twin. "My sister Houki? But you're-"
she stopped, then smiled slowly. A smile to match the one that
Houki herself wore spread across her face. "Oh."
"There's only one problem I can think of," Houki said
softly, batting at a waterlily.
"If I'm not betrothed to Heika-sama, we can handle it."
"What are you going to tell all the officials who will come
around to meet Nuriko's younger sister Houki?"
Kourin opened her mouth, closed it as a thoughtful
expression crossed her face, and then suddenly scowled and hefted
her watering can.
Houki got inside and slammed her door shut just in time to
miss a faceful of water.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%
After ten minutes of argument through a closed door (of which,
suffice it to say that without the door, Houki would have been
very wet), Kourin calmed down enough for Houki to venture out,
and the two spent a pleasant hour plotting strategies upon the
hapless Court offiicials. (Kourin didn't like them much either.)
"It's unfair!" Kourin still said, an hour later. "Why me?"
"Because you're the girl," was her younger twin's less-
than-sympathetic response.
Kourin's eyes raked Houki from hairline to toetips. "Strip
to your underwear and repeat that statement," she replied acidly.
"Point," conceded her sister. "But you're the one they
know as the girl."
"I hate our parents. Why can't Father simply acknowledge
Rokou? Mother could've adopted him and there would have been so
much less trouble."
"And admit he'd sired his son on the local lady of
negotiable virtue? When his own wife managed to produce twins a
year later? Father's pride is so touchy and he'd never believe
that the gossip would die out. We're just lucky he's prepared to
accept Elder Brother as his apprentice, so I don't have to
'marry' and 'inherit the business'."
Kourin burst out laughing. "Oh, your face when you say
that!"
After a moment, Houki joined her. "Let's just say that
running a cloth-shop isn't my life's ambition! How Elder
Brother can be so happy doing it is something I'll never
understand!"
"That he is is something that Father finds very
satisfying," replied Kourin.
"True." Houki stood and stretched. As she began to walk
across the lawn, her stride changed and lengthened, while her
shoulders stirred into a sharper angle. Kourin watched as her
sister slipped from her 'Houki' persona into 'Nuriko'.
Though truly there is little difference between the two,
thought Kourin. It's in the priorities. Houki is my sister, and
no matter how dear anyone else is to her, I come first. Nuriko
belongs to Suzaku, and her loyalties are to Suzakuseikun,
His
Miko and her fellow Shishiseishi, and I run a poor fourth. Ten
minutes ago, if I said I hated Heika-sama, she'd have said, "All
right, why?" Now she'd attack me, because he's her star-brother
and more important to her than me.
Kourin looked down and blinked away tears. It hurts. I've
lost my sister and she's still in front of me. And I can't even
complain because she still cares, she's still my sister - I'm
just not as important to her anymore. He's the important
one
now. Even when she's Houki.
Nuriko, oblivious to her sister's musings, opened her door.
"I'm going to go for a good brisk walk," she announced. "Join
me?"
Kourin shook her head. "No, thanks. I'm not - not in the
mood."
"If you're sure...?"
"I'm sure. Have fun."
Nuriko shrugged and shut the door behind her. Kourin waited
a few moments, then hurled her watering pot at the far wall of
the garden. It struck the stone and shattered into a thousand
pottery shards.
She sighed and walked over to the stone storage chest,
cunningly disguised as a garden seat, and took out another
watering pot. Another one, she thought absently, and began to
water the rest of the garden.
She'd taken to breaking pots recently, and it did relieve
the frustration somewhat. But still, it was probably a good thing
she'd never been alone with the Emperor whenever she'd seen Houki
become Nuriko.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Nuriko wandered around the Palace, feet leading a mind that was
not exactly focused on a destination.
Something's wrong with Kourin, she thought absently. I'm
so restless today, but Kourin was really weird. Members of the
harem aren't allowed to leave their quarters - they have to be
taken out. For her to refuse to go - normally she leaps at even
a
tiny breath of freedom. Something's got to be wrong...
"STOP THERE!!"
A boy ran across the courtyard. Dressed in a dark blue
surcoat that had, to put it kindly, seen better days, he was
sprinting off down a corridor, a symbol glowing on his forehead,
pursued by a slew of the Palace Guard.
A symbol...?
Nuriko put her hand to her collarbone, where she could feel
her own Seishi symbol throbbing gently, heating her hand through
the fabric of her shirts. The only time it had felt this way
before was when she had first met Hotohori-sama.
She smiled and began to sprint after the guards and her new
fellow Seishi. Now she knew what had made her so restless all
day. But if she wanted to end this chase her way, she'd better
get ahead of the group. Seeing the boy begin to run down one of
the looping corridors of the Palace, Nuriko grinned tiredly. That
particular corridor had no exits until it joined one of the
courtyards beside Hotohori-sama's royal reception hall, and she
knew a shortcut. She turned and ran down a different, much
shorter hall.
Nuriko came running out the end of the corridor, into the
courtyard she was aiming for. Yes! She'd beaten them! She turned
to see one of the strangest sights she'd ever thought to see:
Hotohori-sama... in a dress?!
He was speaking softly to a girl, who was wearing the oddest
garments. Looking at her, Nuriko was suddenly struck with a wave
of heat, and the quiet throb she was used to feeling from her
symbol whenever she was in Hotohori-sama's presence suddenly
became an overwhelming pulsing against her chest. Glancing down,
she could see her symbol literally blazing. There was only one
reason - she must be in the presence of Suzaku No Miko. No wonder
the strange girl's clothes were so odd!
"Bright Suzaku," she breathed. "No wonder there's another
Seishi in the Palace - he must be her personal Seishi."
The chase burst into the courtyard just then, the new Seishi
in the lead. "HOLD IT, YOU!!" the leader of the guard bellowed.
"YOU'RE UNDER ARREST-"
"No!" Nuriko ran over to the group. Introducing herself to
Suzaku No Miko would have to wait. "You can't arrest this man!"
"But, Nuriko-sama-" the guard began to protest.
"This man is one of the Suzaku No Shishiseishi! I demand you
release him to my custody immediately!"
The guard frowned. "But, Nuriko-sama! He had an accomplice
who tried to steal from the Emperor's carriage and then turned
into a horrible monster to escape from prison!"
He must mean Suzaku No Miko, but a monster? He must be
exaggerating.
"Do I have to mention this to the Emperor?" Nuriko demanded
imperiously.
"The Emperor? No, of course-"
"Then go!"
The Palace Guard left, muttering.
Nuriko turned then, to the other. "Well, now, just look at
you. Cleaning you up's not gonna be quick. You'll have to get a
bath, and I'll have to find something decent for you to wear -
black and red, I think, yes, and then-"
Tamahome stared at Nuriko. This guy is crazy. "Uh- thanks
for rescuing me, but I've got a friend who's wandering around
that I've got to find, so I'll just go now, thank you," he
muttered.
"Suzaku No Miko's over there with Hotohori-sama. She is
who you're looking for, ne?" the strange young man said, waving
his hand vaguely over his shoulder. "Ne, Hotohori-sama?"
"I wondered if you'd noticed us," came a deep, rich voice.
"I should have known that you'd spot us, Nuriko. You always do
seem to be the first with the news. That was masterful handling
of the guard back there. Maybe I should hand over the reins to
you?"
Nuriko grinned and stepped back, revealing Miaka and what
appeared to be a glorious young woman, dressed in white, to a
relieved Tamahome. "Oh no, Hotohori-sama, I'm just fine."
The young woman nodded at Tamahome. "So now we are three,"
she said with satisfaction. "And Suzaku No Miko is with us at
last."
Miaka had stood by, a little dazed, as everything happened
around her. Things had just got so crazy! First she'd been
rescued from bad guys by Tamahome, then they'd been arrested,
then they'd escaped, then Tamahome had found that shrine and gone
all mystic, so she'd snuck off to get something to eat, and
things had been kind of calm when she found the courtyard and
began to talk with Hotohori, but then the guards had burst in and
this strange guy had saved Tamahome. Then the strange guy had
started to talk about Suzaku No Miko too, but there wasn't even a
shrine around to explain why he'd started being all mystic too.
And now Hotohori was doing it too! It was all enough to befuddle
even Yui-chan, and Miaka was no Yui-chan!
"Suzaku No Miko? What are you all talking about?" she
demanded.
"Suzaku No Miko is the girl from another world who will come
to protect Kounan. She will call Suzakuseikun, who will grant her
wishes." Nuriko said, in a but-everyone-knows-this type voice.
"She will gather the seven warriors of Suzaku who will defend and
protect her."
Miaka stared. "So you're...?"
Hotohori cleared her throat. "He is Nuriko, one of the
Suzaku no Shishiseishi. So am I, and so is-" She glanced over at
Tamahome. "I'm sorry, I don't believe we've been introduced."
Nuriko cast a long-suffering look up at the heavens. "Now
you remember your Court manners?" he demanded.
Hotohori cast a quelling look at Nuriko, who met it
square-on and didn't look particularly quelled. "I shall speak to
you later," she muttered.
"I'm Tamahome," Tamahome hurriedly introduced himself.
"Heika-sama!"
An older man stood at the door of the hall adjoining the
courtyard. "I'm sorry to disturb you, heika-sama," he apologised,
"but afternoon Court is about to begin."
Hotohori sighed. "Duty calls."
"Not to mention the bucket hat," Nuriko grinned. It was
obviously a private joke between the two, because both grinned,
pulled an identical face and then sighed theatrically. Hotohori
stood, pulling away her dress, revealing very masculine attire.
He wiped his face and the loss of the cosmetics revealed the
masculine features that declared, very distinctly, Hotohori's
true gender.
"Nuriko," Hotohori said, picking up what looked like an
embroidered brocade bucket, "I leave Suzaku No Miko and Tamahome
to you. Be nice." And with that, he vanished into the darkness of
the throne room.
Nuriko grinned. "All right. It's time to get you two -
something to eat!" He chuckled as the two facefaulted. "And then
I get to organise your quarters here at the Palace and stomp all
over bureaucrats. Don't look so apprehensive! I don't bite.
Often."
**************************
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
You, observant reader, have undoubtedly noticed that, at various
points, various characters are referred to in the narration by
the incorrect gender. This is deliberate; as the narration
reflects each character's viewpoint, it will also reflect those
character's impressions, which are sometimes incorrect.