Fushigi Yuugi Fan Fiction ❯ Dreams Alter Reality ❯ Walking the Dream's Path ( Chapter 6 )

I know it's been awhile, but for whoever is still reading this, I won't give up my FY story. These mean a great deal to me and if you've been keeping up, I put a good deal of thought into them.

A wondrous dedication to the talented and kind Miss KittyLynne for her support and kind comments. I hope to develop further as a writer with this fanfiction practice.

Iluvmistsukake, Ledefey and others, hope you enjoy.

 

All members of Maison Ikkoku belong to Takahashi Rumiko.

 

Disclaimer: Penpaninu does not claim to own Fushigi Yuugi in any of its incarnations. Does claim to see the Mysterious Play in life however.

 

“Dreams Alter Reality” chapter six

Walking the Dream's Path

 

“Wahoo, pour the drinks! Let's hear it for us!” a loud obnoxious voice cried out. Tetsuo opened his eyes and grimaced at the sunlight pouring into his room window. Loud raucous laughter came from downstairs and hurt his ears. Tetsuo had never been a morning person, but at least his family wasn't riotous with the noise. He knew he would have to deal with whatever neighbors could do, but Tetsuo sure found it annoying.

“Now, Mrs. Ichinose, you know you can't have that entire bottle! Share a glass already,” a smooth voice called downstairs. Tetsuo rubbed his palms against his eyes and sat up. He was due in for registration that afternoon, but it wasn't even eight am! Tetsuo gave up sleep as a lost cause when footsteps pounded up the stairs to the second floor.

“Hey, college flunkout! Open up, we're having a housewarming party for you!” the feminine voice cackled before his door was unceremoniously thrown open. Tetsuo cursed and hopped out of his blankets, in all of his half-dressed glory. A round short woman with short-cropped hair leered at him, brandishing a tall bottle of sake in one chubby hand. The tall oily man in a yukata leered around her, his eyes already slitting from inebriation.

“I ain't a flunkout, what you talking about!” Tetsuo snapped. He reached around for something to get dressed into. The woman paraded inside and pulled out a pair of fans. She danced around the young slim man who desperately tried to ignore her.

“Oh ho, every man who owns this room has to be a flunkout! Take our Godai for example!” the woman exclaimed.

“Now, Mrs. Ichinose, that isn't exactly fair,” Yotsuya said gamely. He rescued the bottle of sake and chugged directly from it. Mrs. Ichinose, thus called, came to a halt and made a pose with her fans.

“He has to be! He's the same age as Godai when he came here! And he's trying to get into college, ain't he?” Mrs. Ichinose thumped Tetsuo in his bare chest with the end of her fan. Tetsuo grunted and he felt the fire build inside his arms. But he released the power behind it in a simple deep exhale.

“I am IN college, and I'm going in to put my name to paper today! I been accepted, let me say,” Tetsuo retorted. He found a pair of sweatpants and stumbled into them when he heard a kinder feminine voice come up the stairs.

“Mrs. Ichinose! Mrs. Ichinose, Mr. Yotsuya, are you bothering that young man already?” Godai Kyoko was coming up the stairs. Tetsuo swallowed a curse and hopped into the sweat pants, tugging the waistband up to his navel. Mrs. Ichinose cracked up at him and Yotsuya leered as Mrs. Godai made her appearance. She wore a housedress and apron with chickadees dancing across the bosom, her long hair tied back simply. Her beauty could not be ignored or talked down, as she was simply radiant in her simplicity. Tetsuo, in a moment of brief clarity, knew what the earnest older man below saw in her.

“Why, dear Mrs. Manager, we were merely welcoming young Shinwa to the household!” Yotsuya explained oily. Godai Kyoko wasn't having it, and her arms crossed under her breasts. Apparently she was used to these outbursts and Tetsuo was suddenly glad for her intelligence and experience.

“Yeah, you know we have a housewarming party for each new tenant!” Mrs. Ichinose took up a pose with her fans, prepared to dance. Yotsuya laughed and drank from the bottle. Kyoko shook her head.

“Out! Out of this room! If you're going to drink, go down to apartment number one!” Kyoko threatened. Tetsuo was relieved when the two odd tenants complied with light complaints and moderate leering. In moments he was alone with his landlady. Tetsuo stammered and looked around for a t-shirt to house the rest of his strong form. It wasn't polite to go around half-dressed in front of a woman, particularly a woman he didn't know that well.

“I must apologize for the other tenants, Shinwa-san. They're alright once you get to know them,” Godai Kyoko said in an apologetic tone. Tetsuo grabbed a t-shirt and tugged it down over his head. His red hair stuck straight out in wild spikes. He rumbled a response and ran a hand through his bed hair. The effort didn't help.

“Ah, that's okay Kyoko-san! And you can call me Tetsuo,” Tetsuo offered. The woman smiled and smoothed her hands over her apron.

“Well then, Tetsuo, I'll leave you to your morning, and I apologize for the rude wake-up call,” Kyoko smiled, and like a summer breeze, she was out the door, closing it behind her. Tetsuo sighed and scratched at his belly. He knelt to fold up the futon and sat against it, hiking one ankle up over his knee. Well he was here in Tokyo, and he was doing it. When he got to college that is, still had to appear in person to get his books and schedule!

Tetsuo had breakfast at a local diner down the road, and took the train in to the city. He waited in line with several young men and women, some accompanied with their parents or other family members. Tetsuo tapped the toe of his scuffed sneaker against the floor, feeling rather out of place. He never felt more `country' in his life. But he was on his own now, and he had to do it. Tetsuo followed his hand map of the campus, registered, bought books and walked around getting a feel for his schedule. His first class wasn't in two days and he could spend the time finding a part-time job to help with rent.

 

“Well Miaka-san, I'm here. Wish I knew where you were exactly…” Tetsuo mumbled. He swept a hand through his red bangs. Squinting up at the Tokyo skyline, he inhaled the tang of smog and sighed. He had made it where he wanted to be, now he had to make it work.

 

* * * *

 

“Naisen….” Sadako murmured.

“Hmm?” Naisen's deepening voice rumbled.

She and Naisen were sprawled on their backs on the hard concrete of the school roof, watching the clouds. They had snuck up there during lunch break and luckily nobody else had the same idea. The view of the sky was the best that high up and the two lay against each other, Sadako's red head pillowed on Naisen's thin chest as they made shapes out of the fluffy clouds. It was hard staying that way as the concrete dug into hipbones and legs, but they were alone and they were together.

“Do you ever think about that night?” Sadako asked. Naisen's face reddened and he coughed.

“When we… well of course. I am a man,” Naisen stammered. His loins tightened uncomfortably and he shifted his thighs. Sadako raised her head and smiled down at him.

“Do you think… we could again?” she asked, shy. Naisen's heart threatened to pound its way out of his chest and he looked utterly caught by surprise. Sadako wrapped the memory of his vulnerability in her heart before he smirked.

“If you want to, and we can be alone….” His hands roamed over her and Sadako blushed, ducking her head against his chest. Naisen stroked her hair until she lifted her face and they kissed deeply. The blond boy let his girlfriend pin his arms above his head in mock play. Things started to turn serious before two voices sounded from the stair well. Naisen sat up, pulling Sadako with him and they darted around the corner from the open door.

“Drat and here I thought this was our private place,” Sadako murmured. Naisen shushed her. They peered round the corner as two tall slim boys stepped out onto the roof, their school uniform jackets fluttering with the breeze. Naisen recognized the long dark gray hair that hung past the slim shoulderblades of one of the boys, and the tall short-cropped head of the other boy.

“What're Hiroshi and Toya doing up here?” Sadako whispered. Naisen felt waves of sadness roll off of Toya, and anxiety, and seeing him twist his small hands together he had an idea why.

“He's going to confess his heart to Hiroshi,” Naisen guessed correctly. Sadako fidgeted, and eyed the door they peered around.

“Think we can sneak back down without them noticing?” she whispered. Naisen tensed, then went slack behind her.

“They'll hear us.”

“Dammit…. Hope it goes well for him,” Sadako bit her fingernails. Naisen clasped her shoulder.

“We're going to see it firsthand either way,” he murmured. Sadako sighed.

Toya looked up at the taller boy, his tiny hands clasped together. His heart fluttered in his breast as he noted the fine edge of Hiroshi's jaw, of his shortly cut dark blue hair, his easy smile and twinkling eyes. Hiroshi gazed out happily at the surrounding district and breathed in the cool air.

“So what you want to talk about?” Hiroshi asked kindly. Toya's heart twisted and he twined his own fingers together.

“Well, see there's this person I like… and I don't know…. If they like me back,” Toya began, rather lamely he thought. Hiroshi smiled at his friend.

“Who is it? Megumi-chan? I think she likes you,” Hiroshi suggested. Toya felt his heart shudder and sway dangerously. Hiroshi was going to hate him, he knew suddenly. But he couldn't just not finish this, he'd die first.

“Uhm… Hiroshi…. I don't like her…”

“Noriko? Nozomi? Setsuko? Akane?” Hiroshi suggested. Toya shook his head at each name, his face flushing with shame behind his long bangs.

“Who is it you like?” Hiroshi decided to let his friend explain himself.

“Hmm… it's not exactly a girl,” Toya mumbled. Hiroshi's mouth went dry but he smiled anyway.

“That's okay if you like guys, Toya, if you ever need any backup, you just tell me,” Hiroshi winked. Toya's heart fell to his feet. Here was the part where the camaraderie would go out of his best friend's eyes.

“Uhm… Hiroshi. It's… uhm… you, I've wanted to tell you I liked you,” Toya said sweetly. Hiroshi's mouth went dry again and he licked his lips.

“Huh?” was his intelligent response. Toya looked down, ashamed.

“I like you. Please, say something,” Toya pleaded. Hiroshi gaped at his friend then scrubbed at the back of his neck, trying to smile. Toya felt lower than dirt for his effort.

“Oh! Hey, I didn't catch on to that… uh… I don't know what to say, Toya,” Hiroshi confessed. His mind worked fast through this unexpected maneuver. What would his mother say? How would she help him? He had to do something! He wasn't comfortable with this new arrangement, but his mother would have SAID something at least!

“You can say anything,” Toya mumbled, his bangs shielding his eyes. “Just…. Anything! Do you like me?

There, there was safe territory. His mother would have answered and quickly!

“Of course I like you! We've been friends for years,” Hiroshi protested. Toya clasped his hands together until the knuckles turned white.

“But… do you want to be with me?” Toya whispered. `Please, please…. Let him hear my heart….'

Hiroshi clenched his fists and looked out over the district. What would his mama do? Had she ever been asked for love when she hasn't thought of them that way? Suddenly he knew his mama had, even though she had been so very much in love with his father. How had she dealt with it, how had she kept a friend?

“I… I don't know. I never really thought about it,” Hiroshi confessed quietly. Toya gasped lightly and bit his lip, looking away as tears filled his eyes.

“Toya?” Hiroshi asked, reaching for his shoulder. Toya dodged him and hid his face behind his slender hand.

“It's okay… I shouldn't have told you…” he whispered. Hiroshi smiled weakly.

“It's not your fault! Come on, Toya, cheer up….”

“Please…. Can you just leave me alone for awhile?” Toya pleaded. He heard Hiroshi walk away to the roof steps and he knelt down holding his face in his hands. He could feel his heart breaking as his friend's footsteps receded from his hearing. Sadako looked up at Naisen as their friend quaked and cried seemingly alone on the school roof.

Naisen nodded and they approached the kneeling form of their friend. Toya looked up, alarmed, but not surprised when he felt their link come close to him. Sadako dried Toya's tears and Naisen patted his shoulder. They sat with Toya until he asked to be alone.

Naisen hugged Sadako close as they walked downstairs. “Don't worry, Hiroshi may think about it,” he suggested. Toya nodded. For now his world was bleak.

 

* * * *

 

That night, Tetsuya took care of Miaka at Yui's behest. He took her out to dinner alone, as Hiroshi was not in the sorts to go out after school. Tetsuya resolved to talk to his friend's son later if he needed, now that his father figure had passed on, and took Miaka out. They had a simple dinner and talked together congenially. Tetsuya was always amazed at the amount of optimism his auburn-haired friend always had. Even with the passing of her husband, she tried not to let the aftermath drag her down to a gloomy despair. If he hadn't been so in love with Yui, Tetsuya could have seen himself easily falling for the once Suzaku no Miko.

“How are you doing anyhow? You know you can always talk to me,” Tetsuya smiled. Miaka thought it kind of him to remove his shades when they sat down. Tetsuya had rather expressive eyes that he always hid from everyone. Miaka sipped her coffee and blushed politely.

“I'm doing as well as I can. I would worry more about Hiroshi. He tries so hard if I'm down, and he's trying to be the man of the house,” Miaka confessed. Tetsuya laid his hand lightly over hers and squeezed.

“He wants to see you happy, we all do, Miaka-chan,” Tetsuya smiled. Miaka's eyes misted and she lifted her cloth napkin to her face.

“Oh, Tetsuya… it's just so strange….” She said. Tetsuya started, seeing her tears cascade down her cheeks.

“Miaka-chan! What is it?” Decorum be damned, he was ready to stand, go around the table and embrace her until she was done crying. As Tetsuya made to rise to his feet, Miaka's bright smile shone through as bright as the sun. It was her old smile and it put the businessman at ease when he was sure it was not a substitute for recovery.

“Tetsuya… have you ever felt like the story's not done with us yet?” she asked. Tetsuya raised an eyebrow.

“But the story is complete. It made its backup program to save its own lands when young Mayo-san was taken in, and the priestesses are married. What do you mean?” Tetsuya was perplexed. Miaka this time laid her hand over his, her smile radiant.

“I have a feeling the gods are sending their reincarnations to our land to ensure we are all together again. Its far too soon for Taka to be here….” Tetsuya started, ready to lend her comfort but she went on. “But the others I'm sure are here, Suzaku would want them to be happy…”

“And you? What about his beloved Suzaku no Miko?” Tetsuya asked. Miaka took his hand between hers and grinned a shy smile.

“I believe he's sending someone to see me through these dark times. He can help me love again… I'm sure of it,” Miaka blushed. Tetsuya gaped at her, then smiled impishly.

“How? How will you tell who it is?” he asked. Miaka shook her head.

“I've dreamt of his name, and seen his red hair. And I'm sure I'll know him when I see him here,” Miaka said with conviction. Her husband's sad smile faded to the recesses of her mind, giving her his silent blessing. Miaka was sure of it.

After Tetsuya had dropped her off home, Miaka checked on her son, and prayed a small prayer to her husband's altar. Her heart wasn't into it, feeling Suzaku wanted her to focus on the happier future. As she undressed, a still trim mother and widow, Miaka could feel the young man's presence spark somewhere in the major city. She paused before her window half dressed to gaze out at the neighborhood. Where was this young man? He said he was coming to her, he should be here soon… shouldn't he?

Miaka smiled and kissed her fingertips to the glass and climbed into the wide bed she had shared with Taka. After his death she had slept either in the living room, or boxed in the large bed with several pillows to take up the place her husband once took.

Tonight she felt at ease and fell into several dreams stark bright in their clarity of a grand friendship and tryst in the past. Every smile, every chivalrous act Tasuki had ever done for her resounded through her dream-memory. Even his uncouth manner didn't matter, for his impetuous attitude only assured her he was not rude to her, but would protect her from any ills of the world. Even the memory of the night at the inn wasn't terrible. She had let herself go enough to take Tasuki's advances with open arms and a ready heart. They had melded together in passion, and in the midst of their undressing the door had opened. Miaka's mind remembered that from the memory, Taka had burst in to save her. But she hadn't needed saving this time. This time, Taka looked sad, but happy for her, and he had given his blessing. The door closed and Miaka was swept back into Tasuki's strong arms, his muscular form pressing hard against her soft curves. And she welcomed him, her high gasps echoing off the ethereal walls of dream-time…

Miaka awoke, naked and aching beneath a hot desert sky. Her bare skin didn't trouble her as she sat and surveyed the sun-bleached sands. Her skin was as heated by those sands as by a fire seishi's large hands….

“Hehehe!” A serpentine dragon with plumed feathers rose before her. On it's back rode a red-haired youth wearing modern clothing. He saluted Miaka below with an impetuous gesture and Miaka laughed aloud. The memory of Tasuki melded to this young man, everything she knew about him was in this similar yet different man.

“Tetsuo! You've finally found me,” she called. Tetsuo's eyes roamed over her curves with appreciation and she blushed.

“Indeed I have! Tetsuo always gets his man. Er, woman,” Tetsuo called with flair and hopped down off the dragon's back. He knelt in the sand and took her hands in his.

“You have me, all of me. I've waited for you…” Miaka said. Tetsuo rose and took her in his wiry strong arms. The desert sands dusted their bodies together.

 

When Miaka awoke, she was flushed and bothered. While she laughingly berated herself for having erotic dreams about the young man, she was eager to start her day and see where it took her. The fiery youth was here. She knew this as sure as she had been Suzaku's consort.

He had sent her love again.

 

End for now

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Most sincerely yours, penpaninu 4/19/06