Disclaimer: I don’t own Fushigi Yuugi, but sometimes I think I am Nuriko. (That was a joke. No, really. I swear.)

Warnings: Brief and blunt Episode 33 spoiler, but it’s not dwelt upon. ^_^ Shounen sap. ~.~() Funky socks. ~.^

Notes: Kaze-chan, I can’t thank you enough for putting up with my frenzied questions and worries concerning this chapter. ^_^ You da bomb, compatriot. ^_^ And everyone else, goodness, thank you for liking my story!!! ^_^n I hope everyone’s having a great last few days of school, and that y’all have tons of fun over the break! ‘Fellowship of the Ring’ comes out on Wednesday!!! That’s only five days!!!! **dies from excitement**

Fun Note: If you guys wanna see a picture of the Giggle Kiss from Chapter Seven, go to http://oocities.com/purplemouse105/Ahahaha.jpg !!! heehee.

First there’d been that weird semi-prophetic dream I’d had a few nights ago, the one where I’d seen Saihitei before actually meeting him, and I could’ve sworn I remembered him calling me something like Nuriko. Then there was the party the previous night, and Miaka and Taka had been talking about ‘Nuriko.’

And now today.

"You used to love me, Nuriko…Why don’t you love me anymore?" ~Drunken Sloshed Saihitei.

I’d almost forgotten the whole thing due to, ahhhh…circumstances beyond my control. But something weird was going on. Something very weird. Weirder than me falling for a guy I just met, or me falling for anyone, at that.

But it was more than that. I’d known Miaka for years, and she’d never…

She had pulled away slowly after I’d asked her to explain herself, and was staring at me in mortified horror. "Oh, you mean…you didn’t talk about…that," she said meekly.

Saihitei cleared his throat. "Um. No. We did not."

"You meant…other things."

He nodded. "In fact, yes."

"Excuse me??!" I exclaimed, more in the dark than a blindfolded mole in a windowless dungeon at midnight. "I’m sorry; I don’t get what you guys are talking about, and, well…I have a funny feeling it involves me, and I’d kinda like to know, oh… exactly what in the name of all things holy is going on."

Miaka and Saihitei shared a brief look, after which Miaka sighed and turned to the door once more. "See you guys later!" She grabbed Taka, who was just coming in, and dragged him back outside.

"Wh-whaaat?? Where’re we going?!" I heard him demand in surprise.

"Out for milkshakes! Come onnnn…."

Suddenly, I felt very, very small. Such a feeling has a tendency to pop up when one knows one is about to have something presumably important explained, and is rather uncomfortable and frightened at the possibilities. It didn’t help that Saihitei hadn’t said anything yet; I wanted to scream at him to hurry up and explain the whole Nuriko thing before I completely flipped out, but figured it would be neither tactful nor polite nor conducive to our newfound "relationship."

"Ryuuen…" said Saihitei finally, and I snapped to attention. After a moment’s more hesitation, he threw me a tiny smile and offered me his hand. "You’re probably going to want to sit down for this…"

Oh. Great, I thought, as he drew me gently over to the couch and sat us both down. THAT’S something I wanted to hear. That’s something you’d say to me if I had a terminal illness, or my fiancé had been killed in the war, or something. Killed in the war. Jesus. Watched enough old movies recently?

I was sitting pretty rigidly, and I guess he noticed, because he himself relaxed a little and squeezed my hand. "Calm down," he said. "It’s nothing bad. It’s just…it may be a little difficult to understand, at first."

I nodded. "Okaaaaay…"

"I…" he began. "I…I’m going to tell you a story."

"Eheh…is it a pertinent story?" I inquired with a weirded-out grin.

"Extremely. One hundred percent," he said solemnly. I nodded again in a silent request for him to proceed, digging out a tentative smile to show him that I was at least trying to be calm.

And he began to talk.

"Ahh…once upon a time, in a faraway land, there lived a very handsome emperor. But although he had everything he could ever need, and was beloved by all, he was a very lonely man. He was supposed to marry, you see; however, he knew that the hundreds of beautiful maidens from whom he would have to choose would love him only because he was the emperor, and not for who he was inside. This…this made him very sad." He shut his eyes for a moment. "The emperor’s name was Hotohori, by the way."

Hotohori??! "But, that’s what I…" I began, but he raised an elegant hand to get me to shut the heck up.

"Shh," he soothed. "Please; let me tell it, and afterward, if you still have questions…"

"Sorry."

He smiled his thanks, and continued. "There was a legend in the land that a girl would come some day from another world, a girl who would be the priestess that would summon Suzaku, the phoenix god, and protect the kingdom forever. Hotohori had been told this legend when he was a boy, for he had been marked as one of the seven Seishi who would protect the girl when she arrived. From that time on, he dreamed of the day when the Priestess would come; he dreamed she would fall in love with him, would love him as a man, and not as the emperor. But when the Priestess finally arrived, her heart was lost to another: a fellow Seishi, a man named Tamahome."

I jerked my head and gasped the slightest bit. What was THAT??? What WAS that????!!!!!! …But just as soon as it had appeared, whatever it was had gone, leaving me shivering slightly. This is…this is…strange…

"Now, despite all this, there was one person who loved Hotohori more than anything else in the world…" Saihitei, luckily, hadn’t caught my sudden spasm, since he seemed to be rather wrapped up in his story, and he’d closed his eyes again. "This person, too, was a Warrior of Suzaku, and had lived in the palace for more than a year by the time the Priestess came. He was the most beautiful young man that the Emperor had ever seen—apart from himself, that is—and possessed both a selfless heart and a vibrant spirit. This…this was Nuriko."

Nuriko. Wait…wait…is he…crying? But Hotohori-sama never cr…

"At first," Saihitei went on, sounding the slightest bit…well…teary, "the Emperor tried to ignore the young man who loved him so desperately. It was cruel of him, but he believed it to be necessary. Even if love between two men had been more acceptable, he was still the emperor, and that meant…that meant that perhaps his most important duty to his kingdom was to produce an heir, to keep the country free of civil war. But the more he considered the women in his harem, the more they saddened him. And it was not until the Priestess and the rest of her Seishi were forced to cross the sea on a mission—leaving Hotohori at the palace, for he was needed to guard his kingdom—that he finally began to realize…that he cared very deeply for poor Nuriko, who had always shown him such kindness and devotion."

"He made up his mind that, when his friends returned, he would tell Nuriko how…how he felt. Even though, for the sake of the kingdom, they could not be together, he felt he owed it to the young man…owed it to himself…" He swallowed hard, and skipped ahead. "But he never got the chance, because…Nuriko…never returned from the quest. He was killed. And just like that…it was over."

I won’t let you hurt any of my friends… If I die, I’ll never see him again… If I die…

"Ryuuen…"

I was frozen, except for my jaw, which had begun to tremble. He stared me straight in the eye, and became a blurry mess through the mirror of my tears.

…Hotohori-sama?

"It’s me," I whispered, and they spilled over.

He regarded me in amazement, and fumbled a bit before trying to speak. "Y-you…"

"It’s me," I repeated, "isn’t it? It’s me. I was…and you were…" But confound it, I couldn’t continue, because it’s hard to talk and cry at the same time. I couldn’t explain it, but somehow, my heart remembered, while my mind did not… That’s why you weren’t scared of him when you saw him for the first time. That’s why you keep dreaming about him. You knew him. In a past life, you LOVED him. And he…and he…

When I was little, I was convinced that everything I read about in books was real. Maybe not in my world, but somewhere, it was real. People used to laugh at me and tease me about it, so I started believing them when they said I was just living in a fantasy world that didn’t exist. And now…

And now…

He reached out to touch me, but I raised a shaking hand and warded him away gently. "It’s…it’s not fair," I wept, sounding to my own ears like a little kid. "It’s not fair that they told me things like this weren’t real."

A tear slipped down his own face, and he slid forward and wrapped his arms around me, squeezing me tightly. I hugged him back, sobbing quietly, and buried my head in the crook of his neck.

"I finally found you again," he choked out. "I finally found you…and I won’t let you go. I won’t ever let you go."

Wondering if he were still suffering from the after-effects of his beer, I laughed through my tears, because he sounded almost exactly like the girl from ‘Titanic.’ "You might have to, eventually," I managed between sobs. "It’d be hard to ski like this."

We must have been an awful sight, half laughing, half crying, rocking slowly back and forth on the crappy pea-green sofa in Taka’s apartment. I should have been overwhelmed; I should have thought he was completely nuts. We had a tragic almost-love in a past life? Sure, Monsieur le Maniac. But it made sense…somehow, it just made sense. Hell, maybe I was crazy, too. Maybe we’d both wind up in a padded white day-care center some day.

~*~

"How much do you remember?" Saihitei asked me. We had put a damper on our emotional overload some time ago, and had resigned ourselves to that mysterious past-time that had seemed completely inane to me just hours before: snuggling. (Jeez, nothing gross!!! He just had his arm around me, that’s all!!)

"Mm…not a lot, I guess," I said, rubbing my eye with my fist. "It’s mostly just a feeling, really…just a familiar feeling."

He brought his hand up and started playing with my hair. "No memories at all?"

"Flashes. Little things. And…dreams." I was so warm, and crying so much had tired me out… Plus, I had the world’s nicest pillow sitting with his arms around my shoulders. I was going to fall asleep very soon, and knew it.

"I remember everything that happened," said Saihitei quietly. "I have all my life."

"Hmm…wonder how come," I sighed, my eyes slipping closed.

"I don’t know," he admitted. "I can’t help but think it was so I could find you again."

"Hmm," I said again. "N’way. M’not that ‘mportan."

He fell silent, and I listened to his heart beat, felt his chest rise and fall gently… I’ve become a stereotype, dammit to hell…a stereotype that’s…falling asleep…

And the last thing I heard before doing so was Saihitei’s whisper above my ear: "You’re more important than you think."

~*~

~*~

Another flash, and my eyes fluttered open.

There, kneeling by the side of the couch, was Miaka, wearing the biggest, stupidest grin I’d ever seen a person wear before. In her hands, a camera.

"Hi!" she whispered, putting a finger to her mouth, still smiling.

I glanced up to see Saihitei’s head tilted back, his eyes closed, his mouth just slightly open. Turning back to Miaka, I frowned at the thing she held. "What’re you doing?"

"You guys are so cuuuuuuute!!!" she gushed, managing to both whisper and squeak at the same time. "Falling asleep together like that…come on, it would’ve been a crime not to preserve the moment!"

"Seventeen times," added Taka from behind the couch.

"Miaka," I said sternly, "give me the camera."

Her eyes widened. "Excuse me, MISTER Chou. I believe this camera belongs to me."

"I look awful," I moaned. "I’m tired and I have bags and I’ll buy you more film, okay? You know I hate people taking my picture."

With a slightly evil grin, she scooted back a few feet and dangled the camera in front of her. "Come and get it, and I’ll throw out the film."

Rolling my eyes, I made a move to get up, but stopped suddenly.

"Oh? What on earth is the matter?" she said in mock-surprise, touching her bottom lip with her finger like Shirley Temple, or something.

"I… Just give it to me, will you? Please?"

"Why can’t you just come over here and get it?" she inquired innocently.

I sighed, and mumbled the reason.

"Pardon?" Miaka cupped an ear with her hand.

"If I move, I’ll wake him up," I repeated, only slightly louder than before, and wondered if people could cause permanent damage to their blood flow by blushing too often.

"Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!" she exclaimed in glee, though I understood perfectly well that she’d known I wouldn’t move. To make matters worse, Taka even joined in her cooing, and I could do nothing but glower at them, immobile.

"You guys suck," I muttered petulantly.

"I’ll wake him up," said Taka, as his dumb girlfriend retreated to the bedroom to hide the stupid camera. Before I could comment one way or the other, he’d positioned himself behind Saihitei, and began tapping him on the forehead with his index finger. "Helloooooo!! Ego Trip!! Wake up; too much sleep can cause embarrassing blemishes!!"

Saihitei’s hand flew up in a flash and caught Taka’s hand in mid-tap; then, he opened his eyes slowly.

"Hi there," Taka greeted with a smirk. "I never took you for a ‘Sleep-On-The-Couch’ kinda guy."

"You’d be surprised," Saihitei replied good-naturedly, releasing his captive and straightening up on the couch. He gave me a smile that started that annoying gooey feeling in my chest going again.

"So…what did you guys talk about?" said Miaka carefully as she returned. "Anything…important?"

Saihitei nodded. "He knows. He hardly remembers anything, but he knows."

"You’re not in denial, or anything?" she said, sounding surprised. "That’s great!"

"How did you know who I was?" I pressed. "How did you know, when I didn’t even know?"

She raised her eyebrows at Saihitei. "You didn’t tell him that??"

"I told him about Suzaku no Miko!" he said defensively. "I just didn’t mention that you’re her."

"YOU’RE the Priestess??!!!" I cried, the pitch of my voice even higher than normal. "The one he was in love with??!! With all the…the warrior guys to protect her??" This was Miaka!! The girl I’d known for years!! How could she not have told me all this before?!

"Not only the Miko," said Saihitei, amused, and gestured to Taka. "Another ‘warrior guy,’ as well."

Taka waved to me. "Sorry you don’t remember everything; Saihitei was born with the memories, and I was, too, at first…but that’s a long story…"

"Tama-chan," I said in a small voice.

He grinned. "If you did have all your memories, you’d remember how many times I told you not to call me that."

"Oh!…Sorry…"

"Don’t mind it now," he shrugged. "It’s good to hear you say it again."

"It’s so great that you’re not freaking out right now!" Miaka exclaimed. "We were so afraid you would!! I mean, lots of people would!! I hope the others take it as well as you!"

They will if they’re wearing socks with turkeys on them, I thought dryly, then was struck with a thought. "That’s right! There were seven Seishi…and there are three of us here! That means we have four more to find! Do you have any idea where they are?!"

There was a slightly long pause, during which I tried (and failed) to think of possible reasons why everyone was staring at me like I’d just announced that the capital of England was Buenos Aires.

Miaka raised her eyebrows at me, then turned a blank gaze to Saihitei. "You didn’t tell him that, either??!!"

TBC…

Notes: Ehehehehehe… ~.~() sorry for the whole Hotohori Speech Thing, but I was trying to keep it from Ryuuen’s perspective (i.e., he hasn’t heard any of it before, so it’s all new to him). Hope you guys liked it. ^_^

Kaze-chan: What’s UP with all Ryuuen’s socks??? ~.^

Mouse-chan: It’s CUTE!! ><;;

^_^