Fushigi Yuugi Fan Fiction ❯ I'll Be There ❯ Chapter 2

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

Chapter Two

Kouji blinked awake as a stray sound caught his attention. He sat up
and looked over at his buddy in the bed on the other side of the room.
Genrou growled in his sleep as he tossed in his bed, getting even more
tangled up in the blanket and bed sheets. Kouji frowned as look of
concern crossed his face.

Ever since Genrou had returned to his duties as the leader of the Mt.
Leikaku bandits, he'd been some what different. On the outside he
seemed like the normal Genrou, but somehow Kouji knew there was
something wrong and Genrou just wasn't talking about it. Kouji tried
prying it out of him but eventually gave up when all Genrou will tell
him was bull shit. He let Genrou go on thinking that he didn't notice
the dullness in the fire-haired bandit's amber eyes anymore. And he
had to admit, Genrou had gotten pretty good at hiding it these days.
None of the other bandits noticed it. But Kouji knew it was still
there.

He knew about Genrou's nightly treks to the cliff. He'd even followed
him a few times to check up on him. As happy and cheerful as Genrou
was on the outside, Kouji knew there was a secret ache in his best
friend's heart that was slowly eating at him. At night, Kouji could
see it clearly when Genrou's shields came down as he went off by
himself then came to bed to go through another restless night of
dreams.

Kouji sighed. He hated having to sit and watch as his best friend
pined away. But he knew until Genrou was ready to talk about it, there
was nothing he could do.

Genrou was walking threw a thicket late at night. He hadn't a clue
where this thicket was. Nothing looked familiar to him. But then
again, the places in these nightmare worlds of his never did. He was
glancing around, gaining his bearings in this directionless wood went
suddenly a tree morphed into a giant monster which growled at him
bearing its fangs viciously as slime dripped from its hideous mouth
full of razor sharp teeth.

Genrou growled back at the beast and bared his own fangs as he
brandished his tessen with a deathglare. The monster roared and struck
out at him with its huge wickedly clawed hands. Genrou ducked as the
"wing" symbol on his right forearm began to glow a fierce red. The
monster's hand swiped over Genrou's head, barely missing him. The
beast hissed and swiped with its other hand. Genrou leapt into the air
with amazing speed and kicked out at the beast's head with his feet.
The beast howled as Genrou's feet made hard contact with it's head. As
they did so, Genrou pushed off of the beast and back flipped back down
to the ground. The second he hit the ground he pointed the tessen at
the beast and yelled, "REKKA SHINEN!!!" A raging inferno of flames
arced out from the metal fan and surrounded the beast in a wall of
fire that then moved inward and instantly destroyed the demon as it
screamed in pain.

Then suddenly, the world shifted and warped as the ground twisted and
became a swirling black hole that swallowed up everything. Genrou
couldn't help but scream as he fell through into the pitch black
abyss.

Kouji watched as Genrou tossed restlessly in his bed and was about to
get up and wake the bandit up when Genrou suddenly screamed and
flipped himself out of the bed. Kouji shook his head and stood up. He
padded over to his friend, who was amazingly still asleep despite
having hit the hard floor, and bent down. He tried shaking Genrou
awake, but Genrou just groaned softly and rolled over. Kouji sighed
and put the seishi back in his bed and put the covers back over him.
He stood there a moment longer then returned to his own bed.

Tasuki awoke in a bed of sakura blossoms and blinked in the darkness.
He was in a world that was pitch everywhere and yet a strand white
ambient light filled area immediately around him. The sweet aroma of
cherry blossoms filled the air, and more blossoms and petals drifted
lazily down in a soft pleasant breeze.

"Where the hell am I?" Tasuki wondered aloud as he sat up and looked
around. Then, suddenly, as if on cue, light swirled in the distance
and a tall figure emerged from the light. Slowly he walked towards the
wide-eyed Tasuki as a strange misty white aura shone about him.

"Who.. who the hell are you?" Tasuki demanded quickly. The figure
walked closer till he reached the bed of flowers and the ambient light
bathed his body revealing the figure to be none other than Taka.

"You know who I am, baka," Taka said with humor in his eyes and a
barely audible soft laugh.

"T.. Taka? What the hell are you do'n here? You're suppose to be with
Miaka, dumbass!" Tasuki shot back. Taka closed his eyes and sighed.

"Though we've clashed and had our differences, you're still my best
friend. Take care of her for me, Tasuki. Make her happy. ... And let
her know that I'm always around even though she can no longer see me,"
Taka said softly as he opened his eyes again and looked at Tasuki with
a serious yet calm serenity so pure it made the fire-haired seishi
gasp. Before Tasuki could react, Taka smiled softly and gave his
shoulder a gentle squeeze then turned and walked back into the
darkness and disappeared with a flash of light.

"What... wait! Taka!! TAMAHOME DAMMIT!! Come back here and talk to me
for the love of Suzaku!!" Tasuki shouted. But it did nothing. Tasuki
gasped again as the world shifted again and began to quickly fade.

"Tamahome, dammit!" Genrou swore in his sleep as he tossed in his bed
again. Kouji's eyes flew open again and he looked over at his buddy.
Then suddenly, Genrou gasped and sat up, instantly awake with eyes as
wide as basketballs.

"Genrou! Are you okay?" Kouji said as he sat up. Genrou took a few
breaths to slow his pounding heart and straighten out his senses, then
he shook his head and looked to Kouji.

"Wha.. huh? Oh. Yeah. I'm... fine.." he said blinking in the
astonishment he was left with from his dream.

"Yeah. Sure you are," Kouji scowled pointedly. "You walk around here
like everything's happy-go-lucky terrific and yet one looks in your
eyes and finds you in a melancholy daze 24/7. You run off late at
night and mope then you return to be plagued in your sleep with
nightmares that make you talk and scream and toss and turn and flip
you out of bed! I tried before to pry it out of you, but you gave me
bull shit. So I quit bugging you thinking you'd tell me in time. But
no... you just keep it locked up inside and retreat deeper into that
hell inside your head and let it eat you alive from the inside out.
DAMMIT Genrou! I can't take this much longer! You're my best friend
and it's driving me insane watching you wither away to nothing because
you're too damn full of it to tell the one person you can trust the
most! Now tell me what the hell's going on before I get REALLY mad and
decide to BEAT it out of you!" Kouji spat angrily.

"Why tell you and burden you with something that you can't fix?"
Genrou growled back.

"Because, you peabrained asshole! That's what friends are here for!
Now come on! Spill it!" Kouji replied with a glare. Genrou started to
glare back, but the night's events had taken their toll on him. He
sighed and let his body flop limply back to the bed as he blinked at
the sleep that was so persistent at reclaiming him.

"Tomorrow morning, you and I can make the ride into Souun. I'll tell
you then," Genrou finally answered in a soft voice.

"Come on, Genrou! Don't give me this bullshit. I'm not taking it
anymore," Kouji retorted.

"It's not bullshit. I promise, I'll tell you tomorrow," Genrou said
quieter still. Then he turned over on his side to face Kouji and was
asleep the instant his eyes shut.

Kouji sighed heavily and flopped back in his bed. "You'd better, else
I swear I'll kick your ass," he said softly then turned over and went
back to sleep.