Fushigi Yuugi Fan Fiction ❯ Legend ~ Book Two: Misadventure, Mayhem & Really Hot Guys ❯ Three: Channeling Mr. Spock Chapter Text ( Chapter 3 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

   Forty-five minutes later, KC finally finished her tale, sat with hands folded in her lap and regarded her friends expectantly.

   They regarded her right back and didn't say a word.

   This went on for a good minute before she finally threw her hands up with an exasperated, "See, I knew you wouldn't believe me!"

   "It's not that we don't believe you," Brady denied as she finally shook herself out of her stupor.

   "Yes, it is," Kimiko deadpanned. Brady nudged her sharply in the side while KC pouted.

   "Okay, Einstein, then you explain why I suddenly look so different overnight," she sniffed. "You're the ones who brought it up, remember."

   They exchanged glances and Brady offered a glib shrug. "I got nuthin'."

   Kimiko sighed and fixed a stern glance on KC. "You do realize what you told us sounds like something straight out of a fantasy novel or an anime or something, right?"

   "And she would know!" Brady quelled under Kimiko's glare. "I was just kidding! Geez, don't get your panties in a twist."

   "I swear, if this is some kind of a prank you two cooked up…"

   "Hey! I've got nothing to do with this!" Brady pouted, all wounded innocence.

   "It's not a joke!" KC sighed and slumped against the couch, frustrated with the both of them.

   "So you really believe this happened."

   "Yes!"

   "KC, think about this." Kimiko's voice took on an all-too-familiar tone.

   Brady leaned over. "Do something, quick! She's channeling Mr. Spock again!" she hissed, earning a muffled snicker from KC.

   Kimiko just ignored them and plowed ahead. "You're telling us that … that other universes and time manipulation really exists. But something like this would upset the entire balance of nature. It's impossible!"

   "Wow! That must be why they call it supernatural!" KC pressed her hands to her cheeks in mock-astonishment.

   Now Brady sniggered, and Kimiko scowled. "Magic isn't real," she insisted.

   "How do you know?" KC challenged. "D'you think just 'cause you can't see something, it doesn't exist? You can't see air, can you? Does that exist, or are we just imagining we breathe it?"

   "That's a good point," Brady put in with a nod.

   "Brady…" Kimiko sighed.

   "Well, it is." She pouted. "Look, this is KC we're talking about here. Even if it's hard to believe, why would she deliberately make something like this up?"

   "Thank you." KC smiled at her gratefully.

   "I mean, it's not like she has the imagination to think up a story that bizarre all by herself, anyway! Right?"

   "Hey!"

   Kimiko pursed her lips and tapped an impatient foot on the carpet, pondering. "Well, okay then," she decided pertly. "If you expect me to believe you're not completely bonkers, you're gonna have to show me some kind of proof or something."

   KC's face split into a catty grin. "Well, golly. You should've just said that in the first place!"

~*~*~*~*~

   Her dad was gone when KC finally returned to her house, friends in tow. She shoved down the swell of disappointment and hurt. After all, it wasn't like she'd really expected him to stick around and wait for her to come back. The phone still lay on the table where she'd left it, along with the picture of her soon-to-be stepfamily and a short, hastily-jotted note.

    KC, I'm sorry things are left like this, but I have to leave or I'll miss my flight. My number is in the phone. CALL ME. Please.
   Love you,
   Dad

   She crumpled the note and picture and tossed them both into the wastebasket. "Up in my room," she said and stomped up the stairs, beelined for the digital picture frame sitting on her dresser; last year's Christmas present from Kimiko. "Behold! My proof," she exclaimed as she held it up to display the images scrolling slowly across the screen.

   Her friends stared at it for a few moments before Kimiko glanced up with a raised eyebrow. "Uh, just what are we supposed to be looking at?"

   KC rolled her eyes. "Konan. I had my camera with me so I took pictures while I was there. Although they're mostly just of the palace estate. I didn't exactly think to take pictures of the actual city when I first got there. Too busy freaking out and all."

   "Looks like a movie set," Brady commented.

   "It really does." Kimiko's eyes narrowed.

   "Come on, guys!" KC whined. "We're in the middle of Boston suburbs, not Hollywood. Where the hell would I find a movie lot around here?"

   Brady didn't answer. Her eyes suddenly went wide and her jaw dropped. Just a little. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Pause and rewind! Who the heck is that?"

   KC snickered. She could think of only one person who would elicit that response. She flipped the frame around and scrolled back two or three pictures until the image of Hotohori appeared. The one she'd taken when they'd first met. "This is the emperor of Konan. He's the guy who's been taking care of me. His name is Saihitei, but I call him Hotohori."

   "Is he one of those senshi guys you mentioned?"

   "Seishi. And yes. And I met three more when I was there. I think I got a picture of Tamahome, but not the rest of them. My camera battery died."

   Brady still gazed adoringly at the picture. "Hotohori… I think you mean Hoto-hottie," she sighed. "Helloooo, emperor! Where have you been all my life?"

   Kimiko, as usual, remained skeptical. But even she looked a little dazed. Which, for Kimi, was as good as a full-on swoon. "There's no way his eyes are really golden," she muttered. "Colored contacts. And that's gotta be silver hair dye."

   KC gave her shoulder a condescending pat. "If it'll help you sleep tonight."

   "Why's he look like he's about to piss his jockey shorts, though?" Brady asked with a laugh.

   "What do you expect? He never saw a camera before. I think he thought I was gonna attack him with it until I explained. I had to sneak all those other pictures. I didn't want to freak people out. They don't … handle different and unknown very well. That's why some of the angles are so weird."

   "Oh, and here I thought you were just trying to get all artsy and everything." She smirked. "Maybe you should introduce them all to the wonders of video next time."

   "Oh, yeah, that'd go over real well."

   "Guys!" Kimiko clapped her hands sharply, twice. "Can we please focus? The man in the picture is very pretty, yes. But there is nothing about him that screams 'I'm from another world'!"

   KC pouted. "Well, what about all the other pictures? What do you call those?"

   "Botanical gardens? Clippings from magazines?"

   She was clearly grasping, and KC pursed her lips. "You know," she began, "if this was a horror movie, you'd be that one bonehead who refuses to believe her boyfriend is possessed, even when his head keeps spinning around on his neck and he's stabbing everyone in the eyeballs with a crucifix or something!"

   Brady laughed. "That kinda sounds like a guy I used to date."

   Kimiko whapped her in the face with a pillow. "This isn't funny! Okay, fine. For argument's sake, let's say her story is true. If this place is real and she's actually being called on to save a country from hostile takeover or whatever, wouldn't that make her a major target for assassination?"

   "That's why I'll have seven super-powered Seishi to protect me," KC pointed out.

   "Are they all as gorgeous as Hotohotti?" Brady asked hopefully.

   "Stop calling him that! It'll stick in my head!"

   She just grinned. "How are you even able to function, looking at his face every day? We all know what a spaz you turn into around cute boys."

   KC huffed and scratched her head. "I dunno. I got used to him?"

   "Does this mean you'll be able to act like a normal person around other guys now?"

   She thought about it, then shrugged. "I've done okay so far, I guess. Tamahome is pretty cute, too, and I talk to him fine. He's kind of like a brother, you know? And Nuriko is just as pretty as Hotohori. Of course, I thought he was a woman for the longest time. He likes to crossdress." Upon witnessing the expression on Brady's face, she quickly added, "Forget it. He's completely in love with the emperor. You wouldn't stand a chance. Besides, Nuriko can be … temperamental. I don't think you'd get along well."

   Brady sniggered. "Is that the polite way of calling him a bitch?"

   "We've had … differences of opinion," KC replied vaguely.

   "Well, that's great." Kimiko shook her head. She practically radiated disapproval. "Seven superpowered warriors and one of them doesn't like you. How do you know you can trust him?"

   "He helped get me back here. And he protected me. He even saved my life once. Besides, I don't think it's that he doesn't like me. It was more that he was really jealous because he thought I was trying to steal Hotohori out from under his nose."

   Kimiko's eyebrows shot into her hairline. "And why would he think that?"

   KC squirmed as her cheeks began to turn red. There had been … a few details she'd left out of the story…

   Brady sat up with a huge grin and pounced like a cat on a cornered mouse. "You totally had a thing going with him, didn't you?" she squealed.

   "I did not!" KC protested, but her burning face belied the denial.

   Brady wasn't buying it. "I want details! Spill!"

   She squirmed and glanced at Kimiko for help, realized she wasn't about to get any from that quarter, sighed and slumped into the desk chair. "It … seems that Hotohori thinks he's in love with me," she mumbled, shot a dirty look at Brady when she squealed again. "But it's totally ridiculous! He doesn't even know me! What he's in love with is the Priestess. I mean, come on. A guy like him falling for … me?"

   "It does seem a little farfetched," Kimiko agreed. She yipped when Brady punched her in the arm. "I … I mean, of course there's no reason why he wouldn't love you," she hastily amended. "You have a good personality and you're cute!"

   KC rolled her eyes. "Nice recovery, friend."

   "Oh, come on! You know I didn't mean it like that."

   "I know," she sighed. "And it's not like I don't agree with you. He's got a whole harem full of drop-dead gorgeous women handpicked just for him, all ready and willing to leap right into bed with him. I'm probably just his equivalent of … of teenage rebellion or something. He has to know I'd make a terrible empress. I don't know anything about how his world works!"

   "Wait. Empress?" Kimiko's eyes widened.

   "He proposed to you?" Brady leaned on her hands and knees so far over the edge of the bed that she was in danger of tumbling right off.

   KC cleared her throat. "…He might've," she admitted. "Once or twice."

   "And you turned him down?"

   "Of course I did! I can't stay in Konan forever!" she snapped. "My job is to find the rest of the Seishi, summon Suzaku, wish to save the world, and then go home again. That's it! Staying is out of the question! What the hell would I tell my parents?"

   Brady gaped at her. "Uh, how about 'I just met the richest, most incredibly gorgeous man of my dreams and he loves me and I'm moving far away to marry him'?"

   "I don't love him 'cause he's rich and gorgeous!" KC protested indignantly.

   "Hah!" Brady pointed, triumphant, and promptly slipped off the bed, barely managed to catch herself before her face met the floor. "But you do love him," she grunted as she heaved herself back up to the mattress.

   KC's entire body had turned red by that point. "I … I like him very much," she mumbled. "Who wouldn't? But that doesn't mean I'm gonna stay and—"

   "Marry him? Have his babies? Live happily ever after?"

   "I couldn't do that anyway! The Priestess has to be a virgin in order to summon Suzaku!" KC crossed her arms and smirked. "Sorry to dash your romantic dreams."

   Brady just blinked. "So? Do the summoning thing and then marry him." As if it should have been the most obvious solution in the world.

   "Gah!" KC gripped her hair and yanked. "Kimi, you try talking sense into her."

   "Sorry, I don't fight losing battles."

   "Have you at least kissed the guy?" Brady cut in.

   KC blinked, caught off-guard. "I—"

   "That's totally a yes!" she squealed. "So was he any good?" Her expression turned impish. "Or maybe he was really terrible at it and that's why you don't want to marry him. He'd probably be bad in bed, too. All that perfection has to be too good to be true."

   "He's a perfectly good kisser! Fantastic even!" KC barked, offended on Hotohori's behalf. She cursed at herself when Brady just grinned smugly; how did she always manage to fall for such obvious ploys? "A-anyway, like I said, it doesn't matter how good or bad he is 'cause I don't have any intention of sticking around to find out."

   "Or maybe you should," Kimiko suddenly piped up.

   KC blinked. "Wait. What?"

   "I'm saying, go back to Konan and seduce the guy. It'll get you out of this whole mess you got yourself into, right? One quick tumble in the sheets and home you get, no summoning necessary. Seems like a pretty good deal to me."

   Both Brady and KC gaped at her, slack-jawed. "I can't believe Little Miss Prude just suggested using cheap sex to break a deal," Brady breathed. "I am so proud of you!"

   "Oh, shut up."

   "I couldn't do that, anyway," KC protested. "They all know I have to be a virgin, so Hotohori would never sleep with me now even if I asked him to. And I really like him. Using him like that would really hurt him and I couldn't do that." She considered. "Besides, Nuriko would kill me if I tried."

   "Awwww," Brady sighed. "That's so sweet! You really do love him!"

   KC rolled her eyes. "Sure, if you say so. Anyway, can we please get back to the matter at hand here? I have to go back soon and I really need your help to do this."

   Kimiko sat down beside Brady on the bed and crossed her arms, lips pursed. "You know, I'm still not sure I even believe this whole story you cooked up."

   "Look, feel free to disbelieve all you want, but when I get sucked back through that book, you won't really have a choice in the matter."

   "Well, what do you want us to do?" Brady asked.

   "I … I dunno." KC slumped. "Cover for me, I guess? I mean, I think it should be okay. If Taiitsukun could send me back in time to just a few hours after I left, then Suzaku can probably do the same thing, right? Could be that I can take all the time I need to do this and come home the same day. But just in case, a backup story would be a good idea, right?"

   "But, like, what if you take years over there and come home and you're, you know, middle-aged or something?" Brady asked. "I mean, that'll be a little harder to explain than dropping five pounds and gaining a tan overnight."

   "Oh. I hadn't thought of that."

   "I still say this is a bad idea," Kimiko grumbled. "Why don't you just burn the damned book and be done with it? It's not like the world inside it is real or anything."

   "Yes, it is." KC frowned at her. "I lived there. I met friends there. They have genuine feelings and lives and families to care for. I met a whole lot of people who all believe in me and if I break my promise, I'll spend the rest of my life feeling guilty for it. Burning the book won't make that world disappear and if I don't save Konan, it'll all go up in flames and take everyone I care about with it. Innocent people will die, and it'll be all my fault."

   "Well, when you put it like that…" Kimiko grumbled with a roll of her eyes.

   "So … you'll help me?" KC clasped her hands and offered her best puppy-eyed expression.

   Kimiko huffed an exasperated sigh. "Seems like there isn't much choice in the matter. Your mind is obviously made up, and who knows how you'll screw it up if we don't come up with some kind of a game plan."

   "It's us to the rescue, as usual!" Brady crowed, pumping her fist into the air.

   "Yes! I knew I could count on you guys!" KC launched herself at them and nearly knocked them all off the bed in her enthusiasm.