Fushigi Yuugi Fan Fiction ❯ Fushigi Yuugi-Genbu ❯ What's a Genbu? ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Disclaimer:
Muse Tk: My goal is to own Ami-ai and Su-chan, so far, it's not going too well.

Muse Zv: Well, obviously, we don't own anything you recognize.



Takiko Okuda tucked a piece of light hair behind her ear and resisted the urge to roll her eyes at her father. He worked at the head office of a book publishing company and was always bringing home some new book or other. She really couldn't care less about what new author was writing what and she was bored to death of hearing about it. She stared at the grain of their polished wood table and sighed, zoning out. She was startled back into reality when her father threw said book onto the table in front of her face. 'Oops...'

"Takiko! Look at what they found! Isn't it wonderful?" She carefully picked up the small battered green book. The leather was worn and tearing slightly at the corners. Looked at the cover and sighed when she saw that it was written in Chinese. She was really beginning to regret learning the language, now that her father was making her read everything he came across in the Chinese version.

She gave him a small, forced smile. He always was giving her some sort of book. 'Oh yes, this is just wonderful...' "Is it for me?"

Her father gave her an excited smile and she inwardly groaned. She really hated these "gifts". She decided that it was time to end the conversation before he pulled some old book written in English. She shuddered at the thought. That language was so hard to read! "Um... Thanks father. I'll go and... Uh, yeah, read this wonderful gift." She secured her hold on the old book and shot out of her chair and into her room. Walking as fast as her evil kimono would let her.

She practically fell to her knees and sighed, holding the book in both hands and taking a better look at it.. "I'm bored as the end of the world and he gives me a book. I would much prefer something else, but try to tell him that..." She sighed and opened the poor damaged thing. 'How bad can one old Chinese book be?' She pulled a small teddy bear over and began to read.

"This is the story of a girl who made her dreams come true after she came to possess the seven stars of Genbu…"

She made a face at the book, "What's a Genbu?" She laughed at her own question and started reading further. She figured it was some sort of fairy tale and as books went, fairy tales were okay...

"...And many powers bestowed upon her. The story itself is a spell. The one who reads it through will be given the powers and granted a wish like the girl of the story..."

Takiko was drawn into the mysterious words. They whispered into her mind and sparked her excitement. She was so lost that she didn't hear the footsteps in the hall.

"...Because the story becomes real..."

"Takiko!"

"...The moment the first page is turned."

As if in a spell, Takiko turned the page. Just as a green light flared from the book, her father opened the door. She heard him begin to yell her name, but it was soon drowned out when the green light engulfed her and everything went black...

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Takiko shivered in the cold, she must have left the window open again… Damn… She hated when she did that, it was always so… Cold! Err… She was just not made for cold. She curled more around herself and brought her knees up to her chest. Her dream was odd. Her long time crush, Ichigo Kaname, was saying some weird things to her. This wouldn't be abnormal, except that usually when he was in her dreams he was saying endearments, not... Whatever it was he was saying.

"Well, that was easier than I thought it would be. I can only pray to the gods that finding the other Warriors is this easy."

She blinked at him a few times before responding, "What are you talking about?" She then felt her father trying to shake her awake.

"Wake up little Priestess, this is no time to freeze to death. Kotou is being evil and we need to go show them a good lesson." She rolled away from her father.

"Go away daddy, five more minutes." She rolled over again as her dad continued to try and wake her up.

"Wake up! There's no more time to be messing around, you have a very important job to do."

Her eyes flashed open and immediately narrowed painfully against the glare of the sun off of the snow. "What the?!? Ack! Who?? You're a molester!" She yelled once she realized that there was a young man, who greatly resembled Ichigo, standing over her and touching her.

"Oh, stop it. I'm not molesting you, I'm trying to wake you up so that you don't freeze to death. You really made a bad choice of clothing before arriving, Your Eminence." She felt her cheeks heat up and then she realized that the young man had just called her "Your Eminence".

The young man offered her a hand up, which she gratefully accepted. He then began to dig through his bag and Takiko looked on with interest. He finally pulled out a long coat which he handed her. "Here, take this. It'll help until we can get you a complete change."

She pulled it on and reveled in the instant warmth. Really, it was very cold, especially with all of the snow. It then hit her that it wasn't snowing at home. She looked around with wide eyes and felt her mouth drop open at just how empty the area was. "Wh-where am I? And who are you?"

The young man seemed to have to think for a minute before answering. While he was thinking, he brushed the snow off of his own coat in an industrious manner, another thing that greatly reminded her of Ichigo. So what if she idolized him?

"You are in the wonderful country of Hokkan, under the guardianship of the wise deity, Genbu, whom you are here to summon." He held out her gloved hand, "I am Karasuki, but from this point forth, I am your Celestial Warrior and protector, Inami."

Takiko felt her eyes widen as she stared dumbly at the young man. "G-Genbu? All that's holy, I'm in the book!!" She yelled at the sudden revelation. He gave her a slightly wane smile and a look that bordered on the polite side of condescending. He may have been Karasuki or whatever, but he certainly looked and acted like Ichigo.

"There is no need to get uppity about it, that only wastes energy. I do not know what you mean by "in the book", but you are no longer within the boundaries of your own world." She thought about his words for a moment.

"Not in my world?" She muttered to her self. 'But that means no more stupid books as "gifts" from father, no more having to be poilte to his friends. Yes!' her mind yelled in triumph. "So... You're like my knight in shining armor?" She raised her eyebrow at the young man and received only a sour smile in return.

"Far from it, Your Eminence. I am merely one of the seven Celestial Warriors that you must gather in order to summon Genbu." The man paused to adjust his bag again, which had a cross-chest shoulder strap, "If you would, we should really be getting along. There are six more Warriors to find and not a great deal of time to do it in."

She gave him her own sour look, "Oh man, I have chores, even here."

"Are we ready to proceed?" Takiko gave Inami a confused look. He was really very odd. One minute he was a mirror of Ichigo, super hunk of the universe, and the next he was just… Different. She knew there was some story behind it, but said nothing to keep from seeming rude.

"Yeah, sure. But where exactly are we going?" He gave her a cheerful and slightly -mindless?- smile. It seemed caused more by reaction than any actual feelings.

"I'm not quite sure. We'll just wander around until you or I "feel" something. We are connected to the others, so it shouldn't be too hard. And you also have to keep in mind that the other Warriors will be drawn to you by fate." She nodded, even more confused now than she had been before. Warriors? Drawn by fate? He was not making any sense at all, but hey! No more evil books in Chinese.

"Okay then... Um, Inami?"

"Yes? Is something wrong? I know we need to get you new clothing as well..."

She interrupted him before he could start rambling. "Can you just call me Takiko? The whole "Your Eminence" thing makes me uncomfortable." He was good looking, he was a mirror image of Ichigo, if a little odd, so maybe it wouldn't be too bad. He smiled at her politely.

"Of course, Takiko, but we really must be going. We can't have you getting sick this early in the play." The play? What on earth was he talking about?

She gave him a curious look, "The play?" He gave her a winning smile in answer, before elaborating.

"But of course! We are living a legend, and what is a legend, but a live story. And what is a live story but a play?" She only shook her head at him and let him lead her away to where ever they were going.

-------------------------- "Hello to all readers, past and new. This was originally an rp between ourselves and Aiko6. It has been extremely modified by us for story purposes. Don't worry, we haven't given up on In Dreams, we're just sorta aty a block with that right now. If you have any comments or questions, write a review or im us on aim under: themusestkandzv We'd love to hear from ya! Thanks to Mari-chan for being a wonderful beta, as always."
The Muses Tk and Zv DuVeraun