Disclaimer: All characters and anything related to Fushigi Yuugi belongs to Watase Yuu. I am not making any money from this so if anybody should decide to sue me for anything in my pages I'm just a poor student and you may just be wasting your money. And so forth and all that good stuff.
The image of the three girls underneath the tree filled the brass basin. Their laughter echoed through the silent shadows that inhabited the room.
The hand touch the liquid again dispersing the image. "Bring me the girl." A voice called from the shadows. It was a soft, female voice, which demanded to be obeyed and respected. "We must have Suzaku no Miko in our hands before the stars move again." The voice did not raise or increase in volume but the shadows that surrounded the room, stirred to obey while the others stirred only to be away from their mistress' presence. As the shadows dissipated the room became brighter than before, however, it was only bright enough for the inhuman occupants of the room.
"Sumeri-sama." One of the shadows detached itself from the mass and approached the figure behind the basin. The basin which stood before the the shadow was floating on top of a four legged pedestal five feet from the ground. The brass basin was about fifteen inches in diameter and there were inscriptions, indecipherable by human minds, on the edges. The figure behind the basin spoke a few choice words and the fluid in the basin gave birth to an unearthly white fire which did not give off any heat and did nothing to drive away the shadows. However, the fire illuminated the figure standing before the basin. The woman had long white hair and a very fair, almost white complexion. Her beauty appeared to be frozen. Her eyes were cold blue, and her lips were painted with a hue of light blue. She was garbed in the colors of frozen death in winter.
"What is it, Uozumi?" Her voice did not ring of impatience but as of a master talking to a dog. Even in her voice was apparent the coldness and hatred that spilled out from her chilly eyes.
"The girl, my lady, she may pose a problem. Tenkou-sama--"
"Tenkou, was a fool!" Sumeri spat the name out as if a curse. "He had underestimated these humans and intended to destroy them. However, we will use their own powers against them." Sumeri fingered the edge of the basin lovingly. "We will not make the same mistake as that fool did. Suzakuseikun and his own seishi's will help us fulfill what we have long waited for."
"Hai, my lady." Uozumi lowered his eyes in respect to his mistress. Then, as if a chill had pass through, a cold white hand cupped Uozumi's chin gently pulling his face up. He followed the hand until he was gazing into two blue orbs that made Uozumi want to cry out in terror and sigh in ecstasy at the same time.
"You will do your part, of course Uozumi." The words were softly spoken like a lover's silent confession of love. Yet the word's the came from Sumeri's azure lips did not have the same tone as that of a lover. Uozumi could only nod in response. So much did he adore, almost love this woman that he would gladly kill the gods themselves to bring pleasure to her lips. "Good, then go. Bring me Suzaku no miko."
Uozumi reluctantly pulled from his mistress' hands, bowed down and retreated to the shadows to fulfill her commission.
"Soon. Very soon." The edges of Sumeri's lips curved into an icy smile.
"You'll never get away with this." A deep voice cut through Sumeri's quiet celebration. Sumeri turned around and glanced upward towards the source of the voice. About twelve feet from the floor, plastered to the wall was a tall man defying gravity. He was a handsome man in his mid twenties. He had dark brown eyes and the same shade of shade of brown and unruly hair. His arms were raised up to his shoulder level. Nothing visible seemed to be holding him in place.
Sumeri smiled at the man. "Do not worry Dr. Myou your friends will join you soon enough." Juan did not respond. he had never felt so helpless in his life, not even after his wife, Shoka, had lost their first baby. He only closed his eyes and wished for the chill that seemed to have seeped into his bones at the sound of this woman's laughter to go away.
"A-re? What is this?" Ryuuen examined the block of chocolate brown cement that he had bit into.
"It's a brownie. I made it." Happily chirped Miaka.
Ryuuen cleared his throat and tried a smile. "Ah. That's what I thought they were." He put his hand, the one holding the brownie, to his mouth and looked away from Miaka. Then he promptly relieved the particles of brown rock from his mouth. He looked up only to find Yui watching and giggling at him. Ryuuen became wide eyed and glanced at Miaka's direction, relieved to find her busy with Taka.
"Miaka's been experimenting." Yui commented.
"That bad, huh?" Ryuuen replied and winked at Yui, who giggled again.
"Aaaahhhhhh." Ryuuen quickly stood up as he heard his sister's scream. Taka, Miaka and Yui did the same and abandoned their picnic to run in the direction of the scream.
Kourin and Saihitei were surrounded. Most of the creatures that surrounded them stood on two legs and appeared to be human enough. But the rest who stood on three legs or more looked like wild animals. They had razor sharp claws and, mouths filled with rows of sharp yellow teeth. Others had spikes or puss coming out from their skin. The misshapen creatures growled and gnashed at Kourin and Saihitei but kept their distance from them. They looked like they were waiting for something. Saihitei had found a branch and was fending off some of the stray claws with it.
Then one of the creatures detached itself from the circle and launched itself at Saihitei with claws bared to shred his throat. Saihitei lowered his stance to allow some leverage for him to throw the creature off, even though he knew it was hopeless for him to overpower the beast. However, a blast from somewhere threw the beast off course and it's lifeless body landed at Saihitei's feet. They looked at the direction of the blast wishing to thank their savior.
"They are not to be harmed. They must be brought back alive. Anyone who so much as scratches any of them risks a more painful death than this fool did." A handsome man with long dark hair approached the corpse and kicked it for emphasis. Then he looked at the couple standing before him. Saihitei looked into the man's dark black eyes and knew that this man was no friend. Everything about him was dark, which only added to Saihitei's unease and discomfort. He brandished the useless branch in between him and the handsome creature and tried to back away. Kourin was clutching at Saihitei's shoulder and her nails dug deep into his shirt and skin almost breaking it. He knew that she was really terrified.
"Come." The creature offered a hand to the two. "Do not make this harder on yourselves." His voice had a melodic and almost seductive tune to it. Even Kourin seemed mesmerized by the man's words, forgetting her fright and was about to put her hand on his.
"KOURIN!" The distressed sound of her brother's voice broke Kourin out of the trance. She quickly put her hand away and looked for her brother who was coming down the hill along with Miaka, Yui and Taka. Doukun, Keisuke and Tetsuya, who had thought to pursue a lively discussion on Chinese history elsewhere had also come running down at the sound of Kourin's scream.
"Huh." Miaka stopped at the sight of the youkai. There were about fifteen of them. Miaka had never seen that many. She could only wish that the seishi's were really themselves and then they would be really able to fight away the monsters.
Seeing his sister set up by demons Ryuuen wasted no time and plunged right in to help her. Taka seeing that Ryuuen would never be able to get through on his own decided to join him.
"Ryuuen." Miaka tried to call him back.
"Ryuuen."
Ryuuen did not even think of his own safety. He worried for his sister. He had to get to her. "Onii-sama!" He could hear her calling out to him and his heart broke at how fearful and helpless she sounded. He had promised himself that he would never let Kourin down again, never let her feel helpless and alone. He had to get to her.
Taka followed Ryuuen towards the heart of the demon's circle. He was amazed at how Ryuuen was able to defeat and overpower most of the demons without them touching him. He cut a path through the youkai to his sister, sending blows and kicks anywhere they would meet opposition. Taka managed to hold his own, giving blows to the other demons that Ryuuen hadn't incapacitated. Taka would have laughed as Ryuuen once again reminded him of his merry fellow seishi.
Doukun and the others joined Miaka and Yui. Keisuke stood protectively in front of his sister hoping that the demons would not notice any of them. Tetsuya held Yui in his arms trying to draw her away from the fray.
"What happened?" Doukun glanced dumbfounded at the mythic creatures before him.
Yui and Miaka did not respond. They only stared at the confrontation in front of them. Miaka prayed that Taka would be all right. She had wanted to go in with him and help but she knew that she would only get in the way and had maturely decided to stay put. She wished that the Suzaku seishi where here and that Taka and the other's will come out all right. As time pass and the fight progressed, the dust and some plants were flying everywhere making everything harder to see. Miaka could only imagine what was happening and prayed that this was all just a bad dream. She kept mumbling that to herself as if an incantation to drive the demons away.
Without warning a loud explosion stirred the battlefield one last time and everything was quiet. The dust settled everywhere making the group cough, but finally Miaka could see the field. The trees and plants that inhabited the area were leveled or broken to bits. However the bodies of about thirteen youkai filled the scene and she could see that Taka, Kourin and Saihitei were all right. Unfortunately the man in black had them. Kourin and Saihitei were floating five feet above the air behind the man in what appeared to be a black bubble. Taka was unconscious in the man's arms. He looked in their direction and approached, followed by the two sets of black bubble which floated on each side and the two remaining demons.
"Suzaku no miko. If you care enough for your friends then you will bring the Suzaku and Seiryuu Shinzaho to me or..." the man lifted Taka's chin up to one side and brought a black fingernail to break through Taka's skin drawing blood. Miaka whimpered as she saw Taka's blood. Then she looked at the man and was surprised at what she saw in his dark eyes. They were sad, resigned eyes that did not seem to match with the coldness and viciousness that his voice and actions had radiated.
"Why are you doing this?" Doukun boldly confronted the dark man.
The man's eyes were suddenly replaced with icy unfeeling eyes as he regarded the fair haired human. "You are Suzaku seishi. Then, you will help your miko acquire the Shinazaho." He tossed Taka's unconcious body to the other two youkai. Miaka gasped as she heard Taka grunt.
"STOP IT! STOP IT! GIVE THEM BACK!" Miaka was on the edge of tears. Miaka collapsed as her unsteady knees gave way. "I just had them...," she mumbled, "...I just got them back. You can't take them from me." She pleaded with the man.
The black haired youkai looked at the trembling girl in front of him. For a moment, his eyes were filled with sympathy for the distressed girl. Yui thought that Miaka might have gotten through to him. "You will bring the Shinzaho to the lake at Tokyo Park before the sun sets tomorrow. If you are prompt then your friends will not be harmed." With that he turned around and dissappeared along with the two youkai and their three prisoners.
"Miaka." Yui tried to comfort her distraught friend. "Ssshhh....," she rocked her back and forth trying to calm her down, "it's okay Miaka everything will be fine."
"BAKAYARO!!" The group looked into the direction of the enraged voice. One of the bodies of the dead youkai rose from the ground and was jumped up into the air. A ragged figure staggered out from underneath the pile that the dead youkai was thrown from.
Miaka and Yui gasped as they stared at the bloody and bruised body before their eyes. Miaka tore herself away from her friend's arms and ran to the purple haired man. "Nuriko!" She put her arms around him and buried her face into his chest. She had always felt sheltered and protected by her purple haired seishi. She always found comfort in his arms when she couldn't find them in Tamahome's. Nuriko had always been there for her. She wanted him to make everything go away.
It took a while for Ryuuen to register that there was a sobbing girl in front of him. He was paralyzed with the thought of having failed his sister yet again. He put his arms around the girl trying to find comfort in the warm body that he held. He squeezed Miaka closer, burying his face into her hair. "It's okay, Miaka," his voice was oddly calm and unfeeling. "Everything will be fine."
Author's Notes: I had to use more names than I had at first planned on. So some of these names might be the last or first name. I don't know. I just kind of copied them down from some Japanese show I was watching on the international channel. I think the names are really cool. ^_^. And can anyone notice that I have no clue at all at what I'm doing when they're fighting. I would explain it in detail but then I wouldn't know how.
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