Fushigi Yuugi Fan Fiction ❯ Kentah Den ❯ Just the Beginning ( Chapter 3 )

Disclaimer: I still don't own Fushigi-Yuugi! But I do own Kage, Maru, his mom, and dad, and brother (hmmm, who's his brother I wonder? He won't be coming till much later . . . much, much later.)

Sorry for taking so long! Have a research paper to finish and it was about the end of the quarter and the teachers were working us hard. Basketball, we're nearing the regionals to so practices are longer too. But I'm still writing as much as I can! Thanks for your patience. Say, should I put replies at the end of the chappy, beginning, or not include them at all?

Twisted Fool: Hey folks! Unfortunately I must admit, I DO know Fire Pendant, I AM in the same grade as her, I DO go to the same school as her, I AM on the same basketball team as her, I DO have the same homework amount as her (or more *snicker snort*) and I DO have to yell at her to calm down every five minutes, and I DO have to run a couple miles everyday. So if she complains about me, it's not my fault.

Fire Pendant: Hey! I don't rant and complain about you! That's LPS!

Twisted Fool: *snicker snort*

Chapter 2: Disaster

* *

Tasuki and Chichiri stared in surprise when the army of Kutou suddenly retreated; giving the two seishi no attention as they disappeared back into the forest. Tasuki made a move to follow but Chichiri rested his hand on the younger man's arm and shook his head.

"Why the hell not Chichiri?! Did yeh see what they did? This place's ruined!" shouted Tasuki gesturing wildly to the scorched and broken buildings, and bodies as well as the ransacked houses.

"I would like to see them pay as much as you Tasuki." murmured Chichiri his voice dropped a few pitches and his `no da' gone. taking off his mask, his one eye summing up all the damage done and the lives lost. . "Right now we must honor the dead. All the survivors have escaped and one we saved; I can't sense any life forces in this village except for us."

Tasuki looked away from the ruined village and then back where the Kutou army had disappeared. He gave a feral growl and sheathed his tessen back in its holder. "I'm not sayin I'm agreein wit' yeh or anything. But if I run off dey might come back. And I'm not fuckin' leaving yeh alone here."

Chichiri remained silent, his hand slipped in his prayer beads and lips moving in soundless words. Tasuki mouthed his own prayer to the dead and stood next to Chichiri keeping watch.

* *

Kage opened his eyes and saw the outline of leaves in the midday sunlight. Blinking to clear his vision, he sat up. *Where am I? What happened? * thought Kage sitting up. He looked around and found himself on the forest floor. Memories from the night suddenly flooded back into his mind, the festival . . . fire . . . soldiers . . . chased. The smell of burnt flesh and wood filled his nostrils.

He jumped to his feet and stumbled out of the small clearing. * What am I doing out here? * Kage started running towards his village, * Ma! Dad! Maru! Oh Suzaku! Please let them be alright!* he wondered as he took off toward the village, in his rush, he tripped over something. He cursed as he tripped over a jutting tree root, tearing his line of vision away from his village. But he would have gladly tripped a million times more when his gaze fell to a small item among the foliage.

He could see a corner of a dirty bright red shirt poking out from under the undergrowth. His hand shook as it brushed away the leaves. A porcelain face gazed up at him. It was the doll he had won for Maru at the festival. Its silk clothing was sooty and speckled in dirt, and the round smiling face had a crack in it.

An image of Maru running through the forest being chased by those soldiers arose in his mind. Her horrified face, her arms clutching the doll and calling out her older brother's name, the one person she had always looked up to and that had protected her . . . and he never came. She stumbled on the forest ground and dropped the doll, in her rush and panic she forgot to pick it up again and she ran on into the dark forest, still calling his name until her voice faded away into the darkness. "Kage! Nii-san! Kage . . ."

He knelt there on the forest floor clutching the doll to him desperately. Where was she now? Lost in the forest? Caught by those bastards? Or even worse . . .dying all alone, cold and afraid? * No! She's a smart girl! She knows her way back from anywhere in the forest, she MY sister. She knows to come back to the village after anything wrong has happened. She knows . . .* But a little voice in the back of his head contradicted that, "She was afraid, maybe she was too frightened to come back. Or maybe she was killed before she could."

With trouble, he pushed it back into a dark corner of his mind and picked himself back up still clutching the doll and started running towards the village.

He didn't know what to expect when he got to the village. But what he found next made him stop in this tracks and gape. His village . . . in ruins, the building still smoldering from the night fires or some of them even broken down; the streets that had been bustling with lively celebration last night were empty. Only the occasional broken sake or beer bottle held testament to the happiness last night. Slowly he started trudging down the road as he walked down the streets of Kentah. His mind whirled as he walked past the abandoned and burnt houses. There was Neami-san's house, one of the village's most venerably aged women . . . and his mother's mother, the one that always caught him stealing meat buns and punishing him with a hard whack on his backside with her cane. He stopped at his family's inn, the roof had toppled in on itself and the walls were charred and partly black. Pushing his way past the doors on which shreds of red paper hung, he walked through, remembering that just last night they were new and freshly painted by his father. The inside of the in was in disarray, chairs overturned, tables broken and ruined. In the kitchen the sake jugs were empty and food cabinets ransacked and broken.

Making his way through the inn and out of the back door he came into his house's yard. The hard-packed dirt was covered with the outlines of large heavy boots. Its outside and inside looked much like what had happened in the inn. But he found no bodies but instead smears of blood. What had once been his family's alter to Suzaku was charred, blackened, and the room had collapsed in on itself. He stood in his yard, head bowed, teeth clenched tightly together, eyes glaring at the ground as if trying to bore holes into the footprints. His fist tightened and loosened self-accordingly as if itching for something or someone to throttle as the other clenched the doll to him even harder.

The sound of a crackling fire made him jump in surprise. * It couldn't be another attack could it?* thought Kage rushing out of yard and back onto the street. Quickly he rushed down the street to see the source of the roaring fire until he came to the village center. There, he saw the monk and fiery man from last night. *Chichiri and Tasuki. The Suzaku seishi!* he suddenly realized, why didn't he know that before? Maybe they knew what happened.

Chichiri was standing before a carefully constructed and burning pyre, doing what was probably prayer and Tasuki stood beside his head bowed. It burned intensely and Kage knew with a sinking feeling of what was in it, so they had collected all the bodies, now they were burning them all, no way to tell who was who, it was as if they were nothing, just casualties in war. He shook his head knowing that the seishi and especially a monk wouldn't do that. He would honor every person before putting them in the pyre. Every one . . .

"NOO!" he cried out falling to the ground and striking the dirt with his free fist ignoring the pain as small bits of stone and wood pierced into his skin. The other hugged the doll closer to him.

No . . . his family; did they perish as well? How many people had died?

* *

Chichiri felt his desire to destroy the shameless army of Kutou get kindled even more when he heard the hopeless and dejected cry of the boy. They had managed to rescue him from the enraged man. Maybe they should have let the boy know it was them first, Tasuki sported a darkening bruise on his cheek from one of the boy's lashing fists.

They had received very little wind of information telling that the ragtag army was pillaging and plundering the unprepared country-side. How long had this been going on? Blood stained the armor and cloth that covered them. And they seemed to be reduced to nothing but bloodthirsty beasts. Why did they leave? They were just about to gain the upper hand on the two seishi and without a word, they just left. Why?

He finished his prayer to the gods, wishing that the souls would be granted safe passage and allowed through the heavenly gates. Chichiri opened his eye and let out a tired sigh as the roaring fire slowly started to smolder. He and Tasuki had been up all night gathering the bodies of men, women . . . even children from the wrecked houses. Even if some had escaped, many had been struck down. Why was this happening? What had these people done to deserve this? His fists clenched at his side and he shut his eyes again. Just last night, these people had been talking, eating, laughing together. There was no clue, no clue at all telling that the village was going to be attacked. He had not sensed any of the soldiers' ki either. Nothing.

"Ak! Get off of me kid!" came Tasuki's sudden yell. Chichiri turned to see the cerulean haired young man holding the front of Tasuki's shirt and shaking the bandit. His face was dirty except for where tears had coursed down his cheeks and there was a desperate look on his eyes.

"Is Maru in there? Is she gone too? My Ma, my Pa. Are they dead? Answer me! Maru, she's the little girl I was with last night. My Pa owned the village inn. You saw them before. Are they in there?" shouted the boy shaking Tasuki even more. Chichiri walked up to the boy and put a hand on his shoulder. The shaking ceased and silver-green eyes turned to meet his mahogany one. Chichiri caught the look of surprise, shock, and fear as it fleeted across the boy's face and turned around quickly so that his back was to the boy. It would do no good to frighten him any further.

"I didn't see any your sister or father amidst the bodies we had gathered. There is a possibility that they might have escaped. It would be in your best interest to find them for they should be worrying about you as well." said Chichiri raising his shakujou and planting it firmly again into the ground letting the rings on it jingle further reinforcing his words, "There must have been somewhere for all the people to go; some other village."

"The village of Ne Hongo is not too far away." said the boy softly, his head was bowed and he was holding a doll in his arms, no doubt the one he and Tasuki had watched the boy win for his sister last night. But his head rose back up determination brimming in his eyes, "I'll find them. But what are you two going to do?"

Chichiri turned "Tasuki and I shall go to the capital of Kutou and ask for the presence of the emperor. He should be able to tell the army to retreat and re-civilize them." As he said all of this he made eye contact with Tasuki to let the younger seishi know that this would be the road they were taking. The younger seishi gazed back at him for a while with a strange look in his eyes.

It seemed to take a moment for Tasuki to snap out of his reverie and nod back in response. "Yeah, we'll take care of `im. That pompous ass coward." growled Tasuki punching his hand, a smirk on his face.

*

Kage watched the two Suzaku seishi as they walked away. They had offered to come along with him and escort him to the Ne Hongo village but he had declined. The faster they could get to the palace in Kutou and to the emperor, the quicker they would get the rogue soldiers back where they belonged. Slowly he turned away from the sight of his ruined village, the place where he had spent all of his life in . . . his home. He set his sights in the direction of Ne Hongo and began making his journey.

* *

Tasuki couldn't stand the silence that they traveled in. Not a word had passed between the two of them ever since they had left the village, leaving them in desolate stillness. The slender hand that gripped the shaft of the shakujou was white and tense. He could almost feel the waves of anger that rolled from the body of the monk as every now and then; they passed a body of a villager that was unfortunate to run into the soldiers.

Suddenly, Tasuki stopped unable to continue down the path. His hands were clenched at his sides and he felt anger seething through him. "Why Chichiri? What's goin' on?" asked Tasuki, the figure in front of him stopped moving and turned to face him, Tasuki went on, "We defeated those Seiryuu bastards! We fucking summoned that flamin' chicken! Why's this startin all over again?" the terror filled faces of the villagers floated back up in his memory and he closed his eyes trying to will them out of his mind. He felt a tear slowly trickle down his cheek and it was followed by another and then another until his body was racked with sobs.

"An' Nuriko, Chiriko, Mits, and Hotohori! They died fer nothin'?! They died to summon Suzaku so he could protect Khonan, they died defendin' everyone. And for what?! So that this could start all over again?" shouted Tasuki, he sunk to the ground on his knees. "Nuriko, he died tryin' ta get that shinzaho an' Chiriko, that lil' rascal!" said Tasuki between sobs, his voice shaky and unstable and vision blurred with tears. A comforting arm wound around his shoulders and hugged him. "Mitsukake n' Hotohori, they died in that war. Mits first, tryin' to save all those people; an' the soldiers too! But when they found themselves healed again they just started fightin' as if nothin' happened. And Hotohori, tryin' to protect his country and Miaka; went up against Nakago even when he didn't have his seishi powers."

*

Chichiri held Tasuki close, rocking back and forth gently and let the young man finish crying. It was sometimes easy to forget that the brash, cursing, and at times annoying young man was not much more than a child himself; just starting to get used to the responsibilities of an adult and the new outlook to the world. The sobs slowly died down, "It will be alright Tasuki-kun. We'll find a way to stop them, this time we'll stop whoever that is doing this without losing anyone." said Chichiri meaning every word, and to himself he firmly added mentally * Even if it takes my own life*.

*

Tasuki just wanted to stay like this forever in the beautiful seishi's arms. * Wait a minute . . . FUCK!* Tasuki opened his eyes and saw Chichiri's eye watching him, Tasuki quickly averted his gaze before he could get lost in the dark mahogany depths.

"Sorry `bout that Chichiri. I didn't mean ta break down like that . . . I mean the last thing yeh need now is trouble like I was just a moment ago cryin' and blubberin', like some woman about everythin' an . . ." Tasuki's excuses were stopped abruptly by an understanding smile.

"It's alright Tasuki." said Chichiri gently, "It's always alright to cry once in a while. It just shows that we're all human. Come on now Tasuki. That boy was right, the faster we get to Kutou, and its palace. As well as getting everything figured out. The faster we'll get rid of those men."

Tasuki brightened up, and grinned, "But jus' as long as we get ta knock them and that pompous-ass idiot they call an emperor around when we get there."

* *

Kage made himself run faster as he ran through the drying, picked, corn stalks. Ne Hongo should be coming up any minute now . . . He burst through the last row of the field and his heart jumped into his throat at what he saw. The streets were empty . . . not a soul in sight. Slowly, he walked down the path, his heart filling with dread with every step he took. A chill wind blew through the streets, and dead leaves flew everywhere like mini cyclones. "Hello? Is anyone here?" asked Kage, he still held the doll to him as if it were some sort of proof that there still was a shred of hope for his family, there was no reply from any of the houses.

Kage stopped at a door that swung back and forth in every little gust of wind, creaking and wheezing with every move it made a small ball rolled out of it and bumped gently at his feet. Carefully he pushed it open. "Ojii-san? Obaa-san? It's me Kage. Is anyone in . . . here?" his voice died away as he saw a pool of dark liquid on the floor. Blood.

* * * to be continued * * *

* * * * * * * * *

Sabrion: How could you leave off there?

Seth: `Che. She always does that.

Chichiri: Why are you making Kage's life so miserable right now? And Tasuki, yes he's only seventeen. A rather brash and confusing age.

As for making Kage's life miserable, not saying anything. But Tasuki, he likes you! Isn't that cute!

Chichiri: *blushes*

Seth: *grumbles* how many times have you said that already? Crazy females.

Well what did you all think? Was Tasuki OOC?

*Picture Fuzzied out*: *walks in and glares at FP* Why are you always asking that woman?

*jumps up* Ahhh! You aren't supposed to be here yet! *throws person out of the room.* *gets wacked yet again by Twisted for man-handling the character I gave her*

Well see yah! -Fire Pendant