Fushigi Yuugi Fan Fiction ❯ In Dreams ❯ Chapter 5 ( Chapter 5 )

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

Disclaimer: I own no Fushigi Yuugi Chararcters, Places or Ideas.



Amiboshi was sure that this was the biggest mistake of his life. He had begged and pleaded and fought to be allowed to stay with Jennifer, but she had refused with a calm logic that even in his dreams he had barely ever seen. He just knew that something bad was going to happen to her, but she was right. If Nakago got one look at him, just enough to identify him, he'd be a dead man before he could say a single word. And that was assuming that Nakago didn't know that it was him by his chi and just killed him that way. He'd had no choice but to leave her there alone. He just truly hoped that she wouldn't get hurt. He didn't think that she had much of chance though. Tomo had seen her and had probably made an illusion of her to show Nakago what she looked like. Amiboshi had a strong feeling that Tomo would definitely have done that, and also twisted the story of what happened around to incriminate her more because he was upset at getting knocked out by a girl.

He sighed as he walked at the end of the group. At least he had given her his token so that, if she ever had the opportunity, Suboshi, at least, would help her. He followed behind Tasuki who was still muttering over what it was that Jennifer had told him when she'd pulled him aside earlier. Amiboshi was painfully curious about whatever it was, but knew that he couldn't ask, or else sound terribly rude. Tamahome who had recovered from his outburst that had taken place a long time ago now, walked near Chichiri talking to him softly about something that Amiboshi couldn't fathom. That was another problem that Amiboshi had with leaving Jennifer behind. He wanted to ask her why she hadn't told him what Suboshi had done. He was sure that she had some sort of convoluted reason, but he wanted to know why, in any case. As it was he felt a little betrayed her.

He stretched his shoulders a bit as they continued out of the city. He still couldn't believe what Suboshi had done. Shun just didn't act like that. Sure he made rash decisions and was violent, but he would never just completely destroy a family like that. He was sure that it had to be a combination of things... More than just his supposed death. Shun must have been provoked by Nakago, or pressured into doing something, or something. Amiboshi just sighed again. He was getting himself worked up over something that wasn't helping them stay alive any. He'd just have to ask his questions once the people he had to ask them of were back around him. Right now, he just had to settle down his roiling mind and follow the others.



Jennifer was still sitting on her bed in the inn when the Suzaku Seishi left the borders of the city. She sighed in relief when she felt them on the other side of the walls. They had come dangerously close to running into Nakago several times. They were lucky that Chichiri had led them through a back way upon sensing something. Nakago had shielded himself well, but he still let out an evil ambiance, shielded or no. By now, Jennifer was in a presentable state. With most of the dust and dirt out of her clothes and her hair perfectly placed in two small buns, she seemed to be just relaxing while waiting for a friend to come and meet her. In a sense that was what was happening. She was waiting for Suboshi, as well as Nakago. If her experiences with the other two brothers were any sort of a guide as to how this was going to go, she had a fairly good chance of getting along well with Suboshi.

It was true that he was a murderer and that went completely against everything that she believed in, but she also saw a little light of hope that Suboshi could gain redemption. There was no way that he could be a brother to both Mark and Amiboshi and be as evil as that. She was sure that as soon as he had learned that Amiboshi was alive, and thought about it, that he would have felt terrible. Nakago, on the other hand, had no redeeming qualities. There was no way that she would let him live. There was no compassion in that man's heart. There wasn't any emotion in his whole body except for anger at his terrible past. Jennifer could not stand his constant pity party. She couldn't stand his attitude one bit. And the fact that he though people were expendable was just horrid. No lives were expendable, especially not those of Seishi. She still couldn't believe that he had sent Ashitare out to lose his human life. Sure, now he lived as an animal, but that is nothing compared to being a sentient creature. But she was glad that he was alive, even if in a different form because it meant that she could make Nakago's death come to pass without any feelings of guilt.

She yawned a bit as she waited. She carelessly twisted the piece of Amiboshi's headband around her wrist. He had cut it in half and then tied the piece around her wrist and having her tie the other piece around his. She was sure that the act implied more than just a token to show Suboshi, but she hadn't said anything at the time. He had still been distraught when he had been doing it and she didn't want to make him feel any worse by asking him about it. After he had done that, most of the others had been working on gathering all of their things or buying more from the innkeeper downstairs. She had closed her eyes to feel where they all were better. She had sensed Tasuki on the other side of the door about to walk past and she had called him in. There were some things that he needed to be told.

He had come in curiously and made a jibe about the fact that she was still hearty and hale and that there were no blood stains on the floor as a result of Tamahome's anger. She had thrown something of Miaka's at him and he had barely caught it before it smashed into his face. He had grinned his evil fanged grin and then asked what she wanted. She wasn't quite sure how this was going to turn out because there had been a few time in the story where he had surprised her. She made him sit down on Miaka's bed before she explained. She was a little miffed that she had had to make Miaka's bed for her, but then again, it had kept her out of the room while she needed to think. She looked Tasuki straight in the eyes and used the expression that Mark had once said could convince an allergist that she truly was allergic to Christians like she always said.

Tasuki had become apprehensive at her serious stare, but didn't fidget or say anything. Jennifer then explained why it was that she couldn't save Nuriko. Why she had come too late to save him..her..whatever. He had kept a solid lock on her gaze, even as his eyes had filled with tears at the memory. When she had finished, he had given a great shudder and then collapsed into wracking sobs on the floor. Jennifer was stunned by the very un-Tasuki-like actions, but she moved to comfort him before she could think about it twice. While she had rubbed his back and murmured consoling words she realized that Tasuki had been affected even deeper than he had let on at Nuriko's burial. They-he had never been given proper time to mourn the loss and it had been hanging over him for all of the time until then. She had helped him compose himself after that. She could tell that now he liked her a great deal better. Before he had been resentful that she hadn't saved Nuriko, but now he appreciated that she had taken the time to explain everything to him. Of course, he hadn't said anything of the sort and had only started teasing her again, but that was just Tasuki's way of doing things.

She sighed. At least that was out of the way and she didn't have any more of the Seishi hating her behind her back. She had given over Mark's jacket to Miaka to hold and keep safe. It wasn't that she was afraid that she'd ruin, it was that she hoped that Tomo wouldn't recognize her without it. He hadn't got a very look at her before she had clocked him and she hoped that he wouldn't be too mad if he figured out that it was her. Besides, she had come up with some sort of story for being with the Suzaku Seishi and then coming over to them willingly. Granted, Seiryu may have told Nakago or one of the others about her, but that didn't matter if he thought she was a spy pretending to be the girl his god had mentioned. It was all very exhausting and involved. She fingered the blue laces on her black shoes as she waited for the Seiryu Seishi to show up.

It was very pathetic. They were right across the street, trying to sense any chi from the Suzaku warriors and they were trying so hard that they didn't see that she was still there, or that the others had already left. She rolled her eyes and tried to turn herself into a beacon of chi or whatever to catch Nakago's attention and finally sighed when he and Suboshi and Tomo left the other building and came walking into the lower floor of the inn. She sat boredly, waiting for them to come in. She rolled her eyes again when Nakago stood on one side of the door while having Suboshi go in first. "You know Nakago, it's not like I'm going to pull a knife on you; that would be defeating the purpose of my coming here." Suboshi, who had just opened to the door, looked at her with a shocked face that perfectly matched both of his brothers'. Nakago pushed him out of the way before coming in, dark blue cape billowing behind him.

"Well, I see that you knew we were coming." He said noting her position on the bed and the lack of anything, except for a small packed bag, in the room. "Of course, you did. You've been following our movements the whole time that we've been in the city." She nodded; it was no use denying if he already knew. "I have been told that you are here to keep us," he gestured to Suboshi and Tomo who had entered behind him, "from dying. This leads me to believe that we were supposed to die before. Am I correct?" She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Are you sure that you want to know?" Suboshi made a face that she translated into meaning: "What does she think she's saying? Does she have a death wish?" Tomo saw it too and hit him on the shoulder, to make him pay attention. Nakago only gave her a death glare in response. "Well, yes, you were supposed to die. All three of you, and most of the others as well."

"I see. So you are saying that we will only live if we stay in your good graces?"

"Basically," was all that she said and Suboshi could not hold in another face. He was definitely more transparent than his brothers, but that was endearing too. She sighed and shook her head, "What exactly do you want Nakago? You wouldn't be baiting me unless you thought that it would just you something. I'm getting very bored of your little game and am ready to move on." Nakago remained unfazed at being commanded by a little girl, granted, she was a deal older and larger than Yui, but that was beside the point. He did, however, raise an eyebrow at her comment.

"I do believe that the agreement that was made with your god stated that you had to save all of the Seishi of both Suzaku and Seiryu. I take it that that it why you have done us the honor of waiting for us. This leads me to believe that you plan on making us your first priority in saving, over the Suzaku Warriors. I want to know why that is, especially if you went to them first." He looked skeptical and she couldn't really blame him, she was planning to liberate Yui from his power.

"Simple. I was always going to protect the Seiryu Seishi first. I just had to make sure that he," she jabbed her thumb in Tomo's direction, "didn't get himself killed by a blood thirsty Suboshi because he had wounded his brother. Then I had to go make sure that Tamahome didn't kill Amiboshi because of the deaths of his family which you caused."

"You seem to be a little misinformed. You see, it was Suboshi that killed Tamahome's family. I even went as far as to tell him not to do anything."

"Right. And while you told him that, you were feeding him drugs to raise his anger and cloud his thought." Nakago's eyes narrowed at the comment and Jennifer mentally jumped for joy. She had only been guessing that Nakago had done that and now she had proof. This was going much better than she had planned. Suboshi, on the other hand, looked angry and offended; she couldn't imagine why. Of course, he was smarter than to say anything, but he glared at Nakago's back.

"Fine then. We shall leave now. We have left Her Eminence alone and unguarded for too long. But before we leave the city we will purchase you some suitable clothing. I will not have you around the Priestess dressed as such." He waved at her black long-sleeved shirt and jeans. She only shrugged. "You also cannot use your given name. I don't know what it is, but I'm sure that Her Eminence would find it offensive, therefore, we shall call you Tarakai." She was mentally a little confused by his over use of the royal plural, which he had no right to use at all, but nodded agreeably. This was no time to start fights; that was for later once everyone was safe. Granted, she had been picking fights earlier, but if she hadn't, she never would have convinced him that she was who she said she was. She was getting exhausted by all of the double thinking that she had to do. Why couldn't these people just be simpletons, or at very least have some obvious cause of death that she could get rid of once and then be done with all of it.



Suboshi was unsettled once they were out of the city walls. He was no longer angry at Nakago for drugging him; he was more frightened that he had been controlled so easily. That lead him to believe that maybe he was being manipulated and that Nakago could control his actions so easily. He thought back on the past week and paled in fear. Nakago had been using him to track Amiboshi so that he could kill him! He had no clue how he could have missed that. It was painfully obvious, but then again, he had always had Aniki to tell him things like that.

He put a hand to his heart. He had felt that pain last night, but somehow he knew that it wasn't Amiboshi. He wasn't sure how he knew that, or who it could possibly be, but he hoped that Tarakai would answer some of his questions. She knew more than he thought that she should and he wasn't sure why he didn't have a problem with that. She was obviously from Yui's world, which was good. Now he could ask her about the way things worked over there so that he might have better luck in winning Yui's heart. Right now he seemed to be failing in that task. He rubbed his messy hair and readjusted his headband. He still wasn't sure of Tarakai's motives. She was obviously doing this for herself as well as for her god, but he couldn't think of anything that she could possibly gain from this, except for her own death.

He looked over at her in time to see her sigh and raise a hand up to her head and watched the sleeve of her new dress fall down a bit revealing a scrap of cloth tied around her wrist. His eyes widened when he saw it. It could mean one of three things. One: Amiboshi trusted her and had given it to her as a token to show him and she had just tied it around her wrist. Two: Amiboshi had tied it around her wrist to show that she had someone she held as a koibito as was the custom in the village that they had lived in while they were children. Or three: He had tied it on her wrist as a sign, but had only told her that it was a token for himself. Glancing at her face as she took a brief look at it as well he guessed that it was the third. Of course, Suboshi didn't have a problem with this, he was in love with Yui, he just thought that maybe he should have told her what she had, probably willingly, walked into.

He wasn't going to say anything with Nakago around, he didn't trust the Seishi leader one bit anymore, so he just sighed a little and waited. He was relieved when Nakago called Tomo up to walk next to him to once again explain about the miko's world, which he found fascinating. He rolled his eyes and walked nearer to Tarakai, wondering why Nakago had decided to forgo on horses this time. Tarakai didn't even look at him she just stared into the desert through which they walked. Irritated, Suboshi finally spoke, "So, what do think of this world so far?"

She glanced over at him and he looked at her with innocent eyes. "I think that I would do better much farther west, where I know how things work and the clothes are less complicated." She said and Suboshi laughed as she gave her flowing sleeves a death glare.

"I think that that particular dress was just Nakago's little revenge for spoiling his secret about drugging me." She looked thoughtful.

"Maybe... I was just guessing back there. I vaguely know what happened, but not in any detail. I also think that he was going to let you die and that Soi found out on accident and went to save you. You know that you wouldn't have had a chance against Tamahome don't you?" He sighed.

"I do now. I was just so angry at the time. I wasn't thinking." She laughed, a small laugh that he could tell was more used to sarcasm than actual humor.

"Well, you had a little help in that department." She gestured up at Nakago. "Oh, how badly was Tomo injured when you two found him?" He looked at her curiously, why would she want to know?

"He had a broken nose and had to walk bowlegged for three hours about. Why?" She started laughing before he even finished and he had no idea why. "What is it?" She had to gasp for breath a few times before she could speak. Nakago shot them both back a glare and that did well to quiet her down, too.

"Oh, I just think that it's funny that I actually broke his nose. I was so surprised at the time. It must have truly been one of those situations where your enemy is more afraid of you then you are of them because I was terrified at the time."

"That was you? Oh, we had better not let them know, who knows how they will react?" He couldn't help a small laugh himself though.

"Yes it was me. I thought that Amiboshi was my friend Mark, so I went over to him and Tomo grabbed my arm. I just punched out behind me and kicked as hard as possible." They both broke into new rounds of laughter and were finally separated for the rest of the trip until they reached the tent that held Yui and Soi. They eventually even had to stop looking at each other or Tomo because every time that they did, they broke into new peals of laughter.

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"Hi! Chapter five! I hope I explained the thing with Ashitare because I know that someone had a question on that. As for Kaelar: Kaelar is the Goddess of a race of people called Yaren in the book The Stolen Secret. As far as I know, there is no current religion that follows Kaelar, but I believe that somewhere is a god like Kaelar and it is in that god I believe, no offense to any other religion, of course.
Thanks to Ryochan8 and Bronze Dagger for reviewing. Any questions on anything, feel free to email me!"
-Tk.DuVeraun