Fushigi Yuugi Fan Fiction ❯ Nemesis ❯ chapter 3 ( Chapter 4 )

Chapter 3:

 

The garden was quiet. The light of the crescent moon fell on the rose bushes, the air heavy with their fragrance. A girl sat on the marble bench under the shade of a sakura tree casting an intricate pattern on her face, covering her profile with a mysterious veil that nature herself made. Her long unbound tresses swung slightly in the lazy night breeze. Her hair the colour of the night glinted slightly in the moonlight. Her apparently frail looking face was marked with determination and there was a shade of stubbornness around the lips that appeared as soft as petals of a flower. But the most impressive of her features was her eyes . A pair of magnificent eyes, dark and fathomless that seemed to stare into a person's very soul. At present her eyes were turned to the heavens, a strange expression her them.

 

"Princess "

 

The girl turned at the direction of the voice .

 

She smiled a little "Suraco "

 

There was something wonderful about her smile . It came slowly from the depth of her eyes until her very face sparkled with mirth.

 

The man approached her "Can't you sleep Princess Keeah?"He asked.

 

Keeah nodded her head "No."

 

She patted the place beside her "Come sit "

 

Suraco sat down beside her stretching his long legs "I can't sleep either!"He said, "Sotisku is experimenting with something really stinky. And his room just happens to be next to mine!"

 

Keeah chuckled " Poor you "

 

Suraco grinned "Yes …Poor me …and woe to the cleaning crew tomorrow!"

 

Keeah laughed aloud at this.

 

Suraco was nineteen springs old with a lean build that reminded a person of an unstrung bow, apparently lying useless but capable of becoming a fatal weapon at any instant. He had hair like spun gold and a sharp handsome face with a pair of mesmerizing green eyes that glittered like emeralds and a wickedly mischievous smile on his firm sensual lips that was designed to give woman's butterflies in their stomach.

 

"So, what are you staring at ?" he asked Keeah .

 

"The sky ", Keeah replied.

 

" Oh…that again… " Suraco gazed up at the sky with her.

 

"Suzaku… Genbu …Byako…and Seiryuu. The four Gods …" Keeah muttered to herself "The four Guardians of the four directions. Legends speak of a priestess who comes from another world, a miko capable of summoning the beast God. For this she needs to gather the seven seishis, the seven sacred warriors who are the physical embodiment of the God and summon the God with the help of the holy object of the God. If she succeeds then the God will grant the maiden three wishes …”

 

"And peace and prosperity will reign on the lands ... what rubbish !" Suraco said scornfully .

 

"So the legend says. " Keeah chuckled.

 

Suraco's voice was if possible more scornful than before " Right. You seriously cannot believe in this shit.”

 

"Believe in what Suraco ? The fact that there are seishis or the fact that a girl from another world without an inkling of our problems can somehow magically solve them” Keeah smiled at Suraco.

 

"I know that seishis exist. Menesku is one." Suraco grimaced massaging his bandaged hand "He is only too glad to take a chunk out of me whenever he sees me.”

 

Keeah gave a lovely tinkle of laughter "Don't be sore Suraco "she teased, " It is only to show that he cares about you."

 

Suraco's lips twitched "I know." he said pseudo seriously " Though I am pretty much sure that he cares more for you ...I mean the you -know - who.”

 

Keeah batted her eyelids "I know." She simpered in the sickly sweet voice employed by the court ladies "I bet he thinks of me his every waking hour.”

 

Then her face became serious " the all important question is however...Why aren't there any Seiryuu seishi? There haven't been any since the last Great War between Kutou and Konon …Why?"

 

 

"The last great war left both Kutou and Konon in shambles! Much of our history has been corrupted, even destroyed due to that war and the incessant strife in-between...." Suraco chewed his lips "All we have at present is a couple of stories …fiction not facts!”, he paused, "what grantee is there that Seiryuu even exists.”

 

 

"Look up at the sky . There are four constellations, each of which represents a God. But only look while the constellations of Suzaku, Genbu and Byako shine ever so brightly …look how dull the constellation of Seiryuu is … now if Seiryuu did not really exist then would the constellation still be there? " she paused "It would not do . Seiryuu must exist, if only to maintain the balance of power and besides don't myths have a base in reality?"

 

"But Princess what use do we have of the seishis ?" Suraco asked " Do you really believe that our problems can be wished away by a miko ? Is it that simple ?"

 

"No Suraco " Keeah smiled " I merely wish to level our positions .If we had sacred warriors then we would be on the same platform to dictate terms as Konon. Truth to be told our countries need peace. And even though that is a far possibility a couple of month's ceasefire could do wonders for our economy. "

 

" That is true . Then why not make a push for peace right now?" Suraco's eyes held disapproval.

 

"Because my dear Suraco they will not agree to it. And neither will my ego agree to it, not at least I find out the truth about Seiryuu." Keeah said grimly "But understand this Suraco, whoever wins this war will be left to rule in a graveyard!"

 

Suraco shuddered a bit " Perhaps this is the fate of our world ...to be lost in this never ending vortex of war and bloodshed."

 

"And still we fight." Keeah gave a sad smile.

 

"And still we fight." Suraco sighed.

 

Suddenly the ground shook and the distant sound of an explosion was heard .

 

"Sotisku !"Keeah jerked up from her seat and started to run towards the source of the sound .

 

"Damn !"Suraco followed close at her heels swearing colorfully "He must have blown off the roof again !"

 

Keeah burst out of the garden and headed towards her private quarters. There were already soldiers their throwing water on now smoldering ruins of was once the living quarters of the royal doctor Sotisku.

 

"Simply brilliant!"Suraco gaped at the amount of destruction caused " Why don't we just let Sotisku burn? That will spare us from this daily carnage.”

 

"Suraco!" Keeah scolded him laughingly.

 

A boy of Keeah's age walked up to them, wiping the smut from his face with a wet cloth smiling sheepishly "I got the portions wrong again.”

 

"That is all right." Keeah smiled kindly at him "You can stay with Suraco tonight."

 

"No way in Hell." Suraco swore loudly.

 

"Like I would share a room with that fool." Sotisku said loftily.

 

"Well I am not the one who blew his room apart!" Suraco smiled nastily.

 

"I was only trying to make a medicine." Sotisku said sullenly"Do'nt come crying to me when Menesku digs another dragger into your arm.”

 

"Well I never ..."Suraco began

 

But Keeah cut in with a determined "That is enough !"

 

That put an end to an argument that could go on for the entire night " You are giving the Princess of Kutou a headache.”

 

"Headache." Sotisku started to pat the pockets of his tunic " I have a salve in here somewhere."

 

"Sotisku, I do not need it "Keeah smiled at him.

 

"But you said ... "Sotisku began .

 

"It was only to get you to shut up moron.”Suraco said disdainfully.

 

Keeah shot Suraco a quelling glare "Don't mind what he says Sotisku "

 

"I don't " Sotisku said loftily.

 

Keeah watched her two closest friends glaring draggers at each other and smiled . Sotisku was the complete opposite of Suraco. He was tall with a handsome smiling face and sparkling blue eyes that held a deceptive innocence. His wild hair was the colour of the setting sun fell and in delightful disarray over his shoulders.

 

"Come " she addressed the both of them "Let us go inside while the people clean up here”

 

 

They headed inside. Keeah's living quarters opened up into a garden surrounding a small lotus pond . There was a small shade beside the pond .That is where Keeah liked to receive her friends . They sat down on the cushions spread on the carpeted ground .

 

"So ,what were you two doing up so late ?" Sotisku asked .

 

" We were talking ." Suraco said calmly .

 

"About what ?"Sotisku asked .

 

"We were trying to decide why there are no Seiryuu seishi or whether Seiryuu even exists." Keeah said quickly before Suraco could say something rude.

 

Sotisku and Suraco were very close friends and there way of showing their friendship was quarrelling incessantly .Now that was all very well, except that she got a headache after sometime.

 

"Well we could easily go the cursed forest and find out for ourselves." Sotisku shrugged as if it was the most evident thing in the world.

 

"Say what ?" Suraco asked confused.

 

"Long ago there was a city where the cursed forest now stands, …"Sotisku said with the air of a man about to tell a scary story " That city was the capital of Kutou during the first war. If Seiryuu does indeed exist, then we might find some clue there.”

 

"Sotisku sometimes I feel that I know you not at all." Keeah remarked.

 

Sotisku grinned a little "Actually I have been spending a lot of time on this ."

 

Then his face became serious " Only by knowing our past can we forge our future. "

 

"Sotisku is right.”Suraco said gravely " We might find a clue as to what happened if we journey there.”

 

"I don't know gentlemen ...there must be a catch in this." Keeah's face was serious "I am sure it is not called a cursed forest for nothing. Still, we cannot let that deter us. Tomorrow when the first birds sing we depart for this place.... Menesku is at the capital and hopefully he will not return to the front for a few days. We can search in peace ...I hope...”

 

"Fine." Suraco yawned "Let us get some sleep now."

 

Up in the studded satin veil of the sky the constellation of Seiryuu glowed a little brightly…and far away in an enchanted land a figure turned from her mirror and addressed a darker shadow in the darkness awaiting her command

 

"Go now !"The voice was strange and misty "It is time !"

 

OoOoOoOoOoOo