Fushigi Yuugi Fan Fiction ❯ In Dreams ❯ Chapter 9 ( Chapter 9 )

In Dreams
Chapter 9

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Suboshi couldn't help but feel that his every action was a betrayal to Amiboshi. He had had to bind himself to Tarakai to keep himself within Nakago's good graces. That had obviously been the reason that Nakago had been so proud of himself when he had seen Suboshi watching Yui. He had mistakenly thought that he was staring at Tarakai and had been gloating that he had designed the kodoku to make her believe that she loved him when he believed that Suboshi loved her. He was tense and upset about the act that he had to play now. He had to pretend to Tarakai that he loved her while at the same time try to think of a way to join with the Suzaku Seishi. The main problem with that was that the Suzaku Seishi were somewhere in the middle of Sairo trying to find the second Shinzaho. He hoped that Amiboshi trusted him because there was no way that he could reassure his brother that he didn't love Tarakai. His brother just had to live on the faith that Suboshi would never willingly take his love away.

He sighed as he thought about it more. Amiboshi had obviously loved Tarakai far more than Suboshi had ever expected, otherwise the pain would not have been so intense when the bond was broken. He truly felt sorry for what he had done to his older brother, but it had been the only way. There was no help for it. If he didn't comply to what Nakago believed to be true than there was nothing that he could do to protect her without looking suspicious. He just wished that there had been another way, besides making his brother's koibito believe that he loved her. He took one look at her devoted face and shuddered before standing as well. He wondered at what exactly Nakago was planning on doing with Tarakai in this altered state. There was no way that she could possibly do her job if she was acting completely lovesick and violent at the same time.

Suboshi followed her back to the main encampment trying to think of a way out of this terrible mess. Somehow, someway he would have to get everyone away from Nakago. It was his responsibility now. If he hadn't been stupid enough to get on Nakago's expendable list then she never would have had to come in the first place and put herself in that kind of danger. He shook his head. He was just trying to make himself feel guilty. There were plenty of reasons besides his own stupidity that would have made her come in any case. The only thing that was his fault was that he had not noticed the drug sooner, or more of, that he had been in the position that Nakago had seen them and upon which he had based his assumptions. He almost hit himself in frustration. None of this was his fault; all of it was the direct result of Nakago's malicious workings.

He took a deep breath and steadied himself. He was going to do the best that he could to get everyone out of this alive and hopefully keep Konan and Kotou from going to war. It was the least he could do as a Seishi. He wouldn't do it because he had done anything wrong, or because he had done anything that required redemption, he did it only because he was a pawn of his god. He knew that Seiryu would want his people to stop dying and the only way for that to happen would be for the war to end, which Nakago wasn't doing. If he had to kill Nakago in the process, well that was just too bad. He tried to remember everything that she had said.

"I will have to cause the death of one of you. There has to be balance for Nuriko's death." The remembered words brought him up short. Balance? But there already was balance... Ashitare had been killed by Nakago after he had stolen the Shinzaho from Miaka. He gasped in surprise. That meant that she didn't know. That meant that he had to make sure that when she regained her true mind, if she ever did, that she didn't kill anyone, namely Nakago just because she'd want revenge in any case for being drugged. How could she not know though? She had known everything else. How could this one important detail escape her notice. She was going to get herself killed in her error. He ran a distracted hand through his hair. This was getting more complicated the more that he thought about it. He had more respect for Tarakai now that he knew some of what she had to have been thinking about the whole time that she had been in this world. Granted, that was only a few days, but after less than a turn he was getting a headache from thinking too hard.

He thought for a minute about those books that she had mentioned. "The Mysterious Play," that was an interesting title for a story where everyone dies in the end. He wondered what she thought of it. It would be interesting, he thought. A story about someone going into another world through a book must certainly be interesting. Though, coming to terms that, to Yui, all he was, was a book character was a little hard, but it faded a little into the background when you looked at Miaka and Tamahome's relationship than Nakago was always complaining about. He was a little disturbed that Yui hadn't even told any of her Seishi that they were just characters to her, he had only found out because Tarakai had explained it on the way to the encampment from the city. He sighed again, thinking how correct that Tarakai had been when she had said that everything was complicated and involved and just hard to deal with in general.

He walked to a level with her when she turned to him expectantly, "Do you need anything, Tarakai?"

"No, I'm fine thank you. I was just curious about your telekinesis. I was wondering what its range was and how much it could do." She looked at him, but not in a way that implied that he answer or face consequences.

"Oh. I haven't tested the exact range, but I don't think that it is very far. I can control two things at once as a maximum. I've been trying on that for the longest time and I can't hold anything more. That's why I use the ryuuseisu instead of just moving twenty or so knives around until they trapped and butchered whatever I'm fighting." She looked thoughtful in a way that he didn't take as a good sign.

"Really? That's very interesting. Hmm. Have you ever thought about focusing your ki into something? And then used that to amplify your power? If it was like crystal or something then you could store energy in it and then use it in a wave."

"I don't think that it works like that..." Suboshi said uncertainly. He wasn't sure but he was pretty sure that it didn't work like that.

"You're probably right. Only western magic ever worked like that. I never read anything about Easterners doing it."

"I really don't think that it's any different in Sairo, Tarakai." He said a little confused as to what she was talking about.

"No, not Sairo. Farther west. So far that it takes months and months to get there from here." She looked wistfully westward and Suboshi still had no clue what she was talking about. He guessed that she might have read other books that told of lands farther west and that she was just relating it all together. He decided not to say anything though. He had learned very quickly the last day that once she started talking about something she wouldn't shut up for at very long time.

"Hmm. I've never heard of such a place, but I'm sure that it exists. You are probably right about their ki control being different as well." SO much for not saying anything, he thought as he saw her take a deep breath to explain.

"Yeah, I guess that you wouldn't know of the westerners, would you? The commoners over there didn't know about you guys, so I guess it makes sense. I just miss having practitioners around. Granted, I was never really around practitioners in the first place, but it would still have been interesting." She looked thoughtful and a little annoyed at the same time. "Oh, well. I'll deal with what I've got." Suboshi was a little offended by her tone. It sounded like she thought that where she was was a second rate place. She didn't say anything else, she just walked away, back to her tent and Suboshi sighed. He didn't know what he was supposed to do now.

He saw that the "Command Tent" was wide open and walked in to find Nakago leaning over a map with a large sandbox on the floor near the table that the map rested on. On the map ad in the sand box were a great deal of little red and blue counters with number markings on them. He looked at the strategies that Nakago was planning and writing down. He jumped about two feet in the air when he heard Tarakai start speaking out of no where. "You know, Nakago, the best plans never last the first engagement with the enemy."

"You are right, of course, but that is why I am making so plans and writing them down. This way I will have plan for every situation that could arise." Tarakai looked interested and Suboshi was very surprised when he handed Tarakai the scroll that he had been writing on. He back away from the table, hoping to avoid notice, but stayed in the tent to listen.

Tarakai looked at the first plan on the scroll and started moving pieces on the map. She studied her work for a minute, though what she was looking for was beyond Suboshi and then she spoke, "Wouldn't it be better if you moved these over here and then came down from the north over here?" She moved the pieces as she spoke.

"No that wouldn't work because we aren't allowed to move armies through Hokkan. And over here," He said pointing to something that was blocked from Suboshi's sight by Tarakai's arm, "We would easily be cut off form the other forces if they ever found out, or if they just became very lucky and stationed a garrison right there." Tarakai nodded and then started moving pieces again. Suboshi had not known that she knew war tactics. He wondered if Amiboshi, the most ardent speaker against war that he knew, knew that little piece of information about his koibito.



Amiboshi was glad that he was with the Suzaku Seishi rather than the Seiryu Seishi. Before, whenever they eaten a meal the Priestess had always been aloof and too good to eat with her warriors, but Miaka was nice and actually tried to eat everyone else's food. He remembered when she had been to his house when he had been pretending to be Huaike. (Kaika) She had eaten all of the food, or would have if she hadn't been restrained. He hadn't been with them long enough when they still believed him to be Chiriko to see any of that. He was rather surprised that they had forgiven him for deceiving them and ruining their summoning.

They finished their lunch, but continued to rest a bit. They had all undergone the last few days which had been trying all around, for body and mind. He watched as Miaka pulled out Jennifer's jacket. "I still can't believe that she didn't take that with her." He said, moving closer.

"She said that it wasn't hers and that she's didn't want if to get ruined. She also said that maybe if she didn't have it Tomo wouldn't recognize her as the one who "clocked" him." Miaka held it up and open showing the red and yellowish fabric. She turned it around so that what he believed to be the front of it faced her. "I think that this is Mark's jacket."

"How do you know?" Amiboshi asked, looking the jacket over.

"Because it says his name right here." She said pointing to a spot on the front with little white squiggly lines on it.

"Oh..." She reached into the pockets and pulled out various things that looked completely foreign to him. She finally pulled out a little piece of paper with strange writing on it. When he saw it, his mind flashed with memories of Mark writing it and placing it in the pocket for Jenn to find. He gasped. It was the letter that Mark had been looking for in his dream! Miaka looked at him questioningly.

"Can you read that?" Miaka opened the letter and looked it over a bit.

"Most of it... But it doesn't make much sense to me." He nodded at her to say what it meant and she began, "Uh... something... Jennifer, I do not....know... uh... something to say.... I love you..." Amiboshi interrupted her.

"That's okay, don't hurt yourself, I remember what it is now. I just wanted to make sure."

"What do you mean, you remember?"

"Mark wrote that. He was going to give it to Jenn. I think that she was just too dense to read it or something because she doesn't know anything about it. That's good and bad I guess." He shrugged, but didn't explain even when Miaka gave him a questioning look. She sighed, but then began talking to Tamahome. Amiboshi leaned back against the tree he was sitting under and closed his eyes. He wanted poor Mark to know as soon as possible that the letter was in safe hands.



Mark woke up in the middle of the night. He was grateful that his brother had been so considerate with going to sleep. He sighed as he eyed the pile again. He really missed Jenn, but hew was sort of glad that she hadn't read the letter. It was beyond clear now that she didn't love him any more than a friend. He yawned broadly and looked out he window into the night. Awake time and asleep time weren't relative between himself and Amiboshi. He was thankful for that other wise he would end up sleeping most of the day because his brother was awake for more hours than he was asleep.

He picked up her CD player and looked at the CD that was in it. It was "Pieces of You" by Jewel. He swallowed hard trying to breathe past the lump of emotion that had formed. As soon as he saw the CD the lyrics to all of the songs came flooding into his mind, most prominent were the ones to what had been her second favorite song on the CD, "You Were Meant For Me." He closed the CD player and put the headphones on, listening to Track 10. He laid back down and put the CD player on his chest. Tears flowed down his face as he listened to the song. Eventually he fell asleep listening to the smooth melodies.

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"Hi all! Well, I find out tonight whether or not I made it. I just wanted ot post this now becuase someone asked me too. Thanks to: Ryochan8, my good friend Jesse, I lov Red Heads w/Fangs, Lirael1, Noodle8 and Cat.
Okay. Now, whenever you read the Mark sections listen to the song Someday by Nikleback. Trust me it'll bring tears to your eyes."
-Tk.DuVeraun