Fushigi Yuugi Fan Fiction ❯ Only In My Heart ❯ Dreams and Getting Drunk ( Chapter 14 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Chapter 14 "Dreams and Getting Drunk"

Once again, they walked in silence back to Jenna's apartment. Hotohori wanted desperately to ask the photo of Jackie but thought better of it after her earlier reaction. Once outside her apartment, Hotohori stopped her as she began to walk up the steps. He held her hands in his and gazed into her eyes. The gaze led to taking in all her features. He wanted to remember every inch of her face. He wanted to… He gazed at her lips and slowly found himself once again being drawn to them. He gently kissed them taking in the petal softness. How he longed to kiss her all night, that was all he could think of as he sat in his office all those long hours.

The feather-light kisses turned more demanding as she raised her hands to chest. He placed his hands on her back and pulled her closer as her hands reached up to his shoulders. One hand slowly slid up her back to her neck deepening the kiss. All thought was lost as the two made love to each other's mouths.

Slowly Hotohori pulled away for a much-needed breath. They stared at each other and Jenna was about to invite him in when they heard a hardy laugh come from down street.

"Geez, will two go inside. You're causing a spectacle out here." Tasuki's laughter bellowed through the silence of the night.

"Tasuki, what are you doing out here?" Hotohori asked in an irritated tone.

Tasuki stood up from the steps he was sitting on. "Aw, I'm just waiting for Korin to get home. But I lost the key she gave me."

Jenna looked down at her key chain and took the key off that she had. "Here, I'll give you mine. Korin won't be home for about another hour." Hotohori took the key from her then gave her a kiss on the cheek. "I will call you tomorrow. Good night." He walked away towards Tasuki and Jenna ran up the steps to her apartment.

Hotohori walked down to the apartment where Tasuki was standing and handed him the key. He looked longingly back at Jenna's apartment and sighed. Tasuki smirked at him. "Yup, you got it good too, huh?"

Hotohori looked up and grinned. "Yeah, must have rubbed off. So, you are living here now? You have not been back to the condo since you ran into Korin at the restaurant."

Tasuki bent down picking up a brown paper bag. Hotohori heard glass tinkle as the bottles in the bag banged together. "No, not technically. You wanna come in for a drink?" Hotohori glanced back down at Jenna's apartment and shrugged his shoulders. "Sure, why not?"

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"… really, I swear to god. That's exactly what I thought. I mean can you imagine, me a guy?" Tasuki, Hotohori, and Korin sat in her kitchen laughing. "You sure musta been one hell of a sexy guy." Tasuki mumbled as he placed his arm around her. More laughter. "No, that's not the worst of it. I was dressed as a woman and I was in love with this emperor guy…"

Hotohori cut her off with a serious expression on his face. "So you mean, you were gay?"

Korin stopped laughing and looked down at her drink. "Yeah, well I guess I was. That's not all that's weird about the dream. Jenna was in the dream and she was in love with the same guy." Korin glanced up at Hotohori for a moment. "And the guy in the dream was… you." She looked back to her drink waiting for one of them to comment. When they didn't she glanced back up and when she did, they all burst out laughing.

"Hey, I'm serious. But there have also been other dreams. Jenna of course, has had the hardest time. When she dreams of you, she dreams of your death." She turned her back to them remember how her friend would burst into tears over the dreams. "They were really upsetting to her. That's why she was so weird when we were at your condo. Those paintings, she knows that palace from her dreams. That's why she fainted."

Hotohori leaned back in his chair, taking a sip of his drink. "No way." He placed his glass down on the table and stood up. "You can't be serious." He glanced at Tasuki. "Did you tell her about my dreams? And you told her about my family, didn't you?"

Tasuki shook his head. "Nope. I haven't told her anything." He nodded at Korin. "Go on, tell 'em about the other dreams you've had." Korin looked at him with pleading eyes. She didn't want to tell him anything else. She felt like she was betraying Jenna.

"Can't we talk about something else that isn't so depressing. Come on, let's listen to some music or something." She walked towards the living but Tasuki stood up abruptly and grabbed her by the waist, whispering in her ear. "Korin, it's important. You've all been having similar dreams or memories. If you talk about them maybe we can sort this thing out, find out why you're all remembering the same things."

Korin turned to look at him with tear filled eyes. "No, I don't want to remember." She sighed. "Don't you get it? It was bad Tasuki. People died, people that I loved. I died." Korin was taken over by sobs as Tasuki pulled her closer.

Tasuki let go of Korin and turned to Hotohori. "We should let Korin meet the rest of our friends."

Hotohori sat down and glared at Tasuki. "No!" He blurted the word out then changed his tone so as not to scare Korin. "No, I don't think that would be a good idea right now." He was silently thinking that if some of the others were having memories of a past life, what would it mean now. He knew that at least two of them had had some similar dreams. Would the past come back to haunt them? Are they destined to repeat their past mistakes? Why would they be coming together again? Why now, that he's met Jenna?

He suddenly had the urge to see her. He wanted to tell her he loved her. That he has always loved her. That he never forgot her. Neither saw as Korin made her way to the CD player. They were both in their own thoughts of what all this meant, when suddenly loud music began to play. Type O Negative, Cinnamon Girl. Hotohori watched as Korin began to dance to the music and Tasuki slumped into the kitchen chair. Taking his cue from Tasuki, he too sat back down. This was getting pretty strange.

Tasuki leaned forward pouring more whiskey into their glasses and nodding at Hotohori. They picked up their glasses and Tasuki made a toast, although Hotohori heard not a word over the loud music. They drank the liquor down in one breath and Tasuki kept pouring more.

After several drinks later, both men sat grinning at each other through heavily lidded eyes. Neither noticed the music had stopped and neither had noticed that Korin now sat between them with her own glass in hand.

Korin rolled her eyes at the dopey looks on both men's faces. "Gee, ya think you had enough yet?" The men slowly blinked at her before focusing.

"Hey, Nuriko, you remember the first time we met Tasuki?" Hotohori didn't look up, he kept staring at his hands. 'Why did I just said that?' He quickly glanced back up at Korin. Her mouth was hanging open and he laughed. "You had that dream too, did you not?" He waited for her to speak but she shook her head.

"No, I didn't. But you're not the first to call me Nuriko." They both sat up, the booze slowly releasing its hold on their minds as they stared at her. She continued to speak. "The question is, who is Jenna? I don't have any dreams of you being married." She grinned sheepishly. "I only remember that I was in love with you. But you were in love with someone else."

Hotohori shook his head, remembering when he first started having dreams of what he suspected were past life memories. "Miaka. That's one of our friend's fiancée. When I met her, I thought I was in love. That's one of the reasons I took this job in the states, to forget about her. But then I met Jenna my first day here and it seemed as if I'd known her forever. I just want to…" He stopped and stared at his drink.

Tasuki took the opportunity to speak. "Korin, will you please tell Hotohori about your dream of the rainy night in the courtyard. It's really important you tell him about it." Korin and Hotohori both looked up quickly at Tasuki then Korin met Hotohori's eyes.

Korin shook her head. She didn't want to replay that dream right now. It was really troubling to her and she didn't want to think about it. She shook her head as Hotohori started to speak, telling her about his dream… the same dream she had…

By the time he had finished telling her about how he fought his friend, Korin was in tears. "No, that is not all. After he was healed by one of our friends, I walked behind everyone back to the palace. That's when I saw her in the courtyard. She was standing there in a nightgown and bare feet, the rain pouring down on her. She hid in the shadows but I went to find her later." He didn't continue and slowly Korin looked up, wiping her eyes and her lips formed a silent, oh.

Tasuki leaned back in his chair with a grin on his face. They both glanced at him. "Korin, you gonna take up from there or what?" Korin just stared at him before looking back to Hotohori.

"You found Jenna that night." She noticed Hotohori blushing. "She didn't tell me everything about the dream. But she told me you were married shortly thereafter and that she was pregnant." She raised an eyebrow at Hotohori and then giggled and blushed herself at the look on Hotohori face.

Tasuki stood up. "Okay, well I guess we can assume, at least the three of you are having the same dreams." He crossed to the counter, then returned with another bottle of whiskey, and poured them all another drink.

Hotohori sat contemplating what she had said. He had dreamt of them preparing for a baby but that's as far as it went. He remembered a war and going into battle but he didn't remember anything after that until several years later when he saw her again and his son… but he had to leave them shortly thereafter. That's as far as his dreams ever went. It was as if his life ended that day… And then he was here meeting Miaka.

Miaka, she was something else. He smiled thinking about her. When he had first met her, he felt he was destined to be with her. That was when his dreams started. He thought at first he was just dreaming about her but then the dreams became more intense as time went by. That was when he thought they were more like past life memories. She was so silly and her and Tama were madly in love. But he always held hope he could win her over. But when she and Tama had gotten engaged… well it was all over.

That was when he decided to take the offer to come to the states. He didn't wish to be in China anymore or living with his family. The pressure to be wed was too much for him. He thanked the gods that the woman he was betrothed to had run away from home. Apparently, she felt the same way he did about arranged marriages. This did not bode well for either family but he didn't care. He would much rather find love than be wed to a woman he didn't know. If their families business suffered because of it, well it was not his concern. He thought of his father's speeches about family customs and business affairs.

His half-brother could provide an heir to throne. What throne? He let out a laugh. There was no political power involved, it was just a title. It was meaningless. And the business, well who really cared if one of the partners sold their share? It was none of his concern. Or was it? The whole point of the older men becoming partners was so they could combine their empires and continue to flourish well into the future. Their families had once been partners and they wished to revive the old family tradition. But a betrothal? That was completely unnecessary in this day and age.

He was brought from his thoughts as Korin grasped his wrist. "Hello, anyone home?" Hotohori blinked at her. "Yes, I am sorry, I was thinking." Korin and Tasuki laughed. "Yeah, well we could see that. Didn't you say you had to get up early tomorrow?"

Hotohori glanced down at his watch. 3:40? He jumped up quickly and then soon regretted it as he slumped back down in his seat. "Um, I do believe that I am drunk." This brought laughs from Tasuki and Korin once again.

"Gee, ya think so? We jus' killed three bottles a whiss key." Tasuki slurred his words than chuckled. "I gotta take a whiz." He slowly stood up and staggered towards the bathroom.

"Do ya wan me to make some coffee?" Korin speech sounded as bad as Tasuki's as she stood up and swayed towards the sink.

"No, that's okay." Hotohori stared at her back for minute. "Do ya think I could sleep on you sofa?" He slowly stood up and turned toward the livingroom, staggering slightly he made his way to the sofa before falling down on it face first.

Korin turned to answer him and heard the soft snores coming from him. With a laugh, she grabbed a throw blanket from the chair and covered him. "I guess not, your highness." She giggled and made her way towards her bedroom where Tasuki was already fast asleep.