Fushigi Yuugi Fan Fiction ❯ The Girl and the Curse ❯ Painful Memories and a New Meeting ( Chapter 1 )

Author's notes: This is my first ever fan fic so please be easy on me in the reviews. I hope this is an alright story I promise to work on it hard, however I happen to be very slow so please try to be patient with me as I update it. Also any suggestions or ideas concerning the plot are very welcome, Arigato.

 

Disclaimer: I don't own Fushigi Yugi or any of its characters; it belongs to the wonderful Yuu Watase-sama. I do own Izumi thou. (evil laugh)

 

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Chapter 1

 

Painful Memories and a New Meeting

 

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She walked slowly up the mountain, not knowing what fate might bring. `Once again I have to leave a village. Why does this always happen.' Thought Izumi bitterly, she had been forced to leave the village she lived in. The people were sure that the misfortunes in the village were caused by her. `This always happens when I think that I could be happy in a village, it's always right after I start thinking people are ok again. Her eyes spoke of the painful thoughts in her head. But I can't blame them, I never can, can I after all it seems to be true. Why though, why did it have to be me all of these times.' At this thought she nearly broke into tears. But stopped herself without mercy `NO' she thought her determination taking over `I will not cry, I will keep my promise and never cry again. I simply can't feel anything anymore, that is all there is to it.'

 

As she forced her thoughts aside she noticed that the sun setting. She looked around and settled on staying in the forest for the night. When she found a suitable campsite she set about getting her things ready for the night. She knew she would have to sleep lightly because of the bandits and other robbers that might find her, which was why she was not traveling by road.

 

“Not much more I can do tonight,” she said, her voice was tired and sore sounding. `I wonder if I should just stay in the mountains for good. Then I wouldn't have to worry about a village forcing me to leave.' She knew she would not be able to stay alone forever, she knew quite well that she would need human contact. She knew all of this from the time that she had tried to live on her own before, she had almost died.

 

Before she could force herself to sleep she had the usual thoughts about the family she would never see again. She could still picture her father and mother clearly, him slightly dirty from his day's work, her smiling lovingly at her 2 children. `If only I could go back to that time' she thought before her eyes finally allowed her to drift into an unmercifully dream filled sleep.

 

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“Tell me again why you couldn' just do this alone Kouji,” a man with bright red hair asked another man with dark blue hair.

 

“Well you're the leader Genrou so shouldn't you know any thin thas' happenin' close to the strong hold?” the blue haired man said in reply. The red head couldn't think of a good retort for this so he settled for mumbling curses under his breath.

 

A few minuets past in silence as they continued walking.

 

“I know its some where around here,” the blue haired man, apparently known as Kouji said to himself.

 

“Trust you to get us lost, or somethin stupid like that,” said an annoyed Genrou.

 

“If you think you can find it better then go ahead,” Kouji shot back, effectively shutting up Genrou.

 

A few minutes later they were still searching. “What are we look'n for again Kouji,” asked Genrou in a mocking tone.

 

“We are looking for some one camping by our mountain, if that's ok with you,” he replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm. At this comment the red head stopped complaining and started looking around for singes of a fire.

 

“Over there,” Genrou pointed to his left “there's some smoke rising between the trees.”

 

“Makes cense that you would be the one to find it fire boy,” said Kouji with exasperation.

 

“C'mon already, lets go check it out,” said Genrou ignoring his friends comment.

 

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Izumi often found herself dreaming about her childhood; unfortunately for her she could always remember those dreams far too clearly.

 

This night she dreamt about a day she could remember with stunning detail, it almost made her sick every time she thought about it while awake. When it happened she was only 15.

 

The day had started out like any other, she helped her mother prepare breakfast, as her father went outside to start the forge (he was a blacksmith). She had to spend about 20 minuets just starting to wake up her older brother Daisuke, he is always impossible to wake up, she thought, not knowing what the day would end up bringing her (in her dream she is a younger version of herself). She finally resorted to pulling off his blanket and jumping on him.

 

“Get off,” he said sleepily. She just did it again and again until he finally woke up. Even thou he was the elder and, supposedly, more responsible one he still couldn't wake up on his own, she thought it had something to do with him being 17.

 

After breakfast, she helped her mother with the daily chores while her father and brother started working with the forge. When they were finally done her mother took her outside to teacher more about fan making.

 

When she was finally done with that “Do you want to practice your fighting today?” her mother asked her.

 

“Don't I always,” she replied with a grin.

 

Outside her mother told her to take out her fighting fan. She did as told taking out a fan made out of wood with several different thin pieces stacking on top of one another. The fan also had a painting on it, the painting showed a blossoming branch of a cherry tree. You couldn't tell from looking at it but concealed in the fan were six deadly, thin blades. She turned to the targets that she and her mother had made about a year ago. She then took her fan and opened it just a little; she then took her fan and raised it up. It was right by her head after a moment she suddenly brought it down fast towards the first target, there was a satisfying `thunk' as one of her blades hit wood.

 

She almost laughed out loud, but remembered that she still had five blades to go. She opened her fan a little more and repeated her target practice until the fan no longer held any blades. “Good,” said her mother obviously proud of her daughter.

 

She moved on from the target practice to fighting hand to hand. For this they both took out sliding fans that looked almost too solid as thou they were made of something hard like metal. What most didn't know is that their fans were made of metal. They where metal Tessens. But these fans had a sharpened edge that could cut right through a tree with ease. Both of them stood still for a few moments before charging at each other. Izumi first blocked her mother's upward attack quickly, the sound of metal clashing made her even more exited. The girl had always loved to spar with her mother.

 

She spun around fast to try to get a hit in, but her mother blocked her with ease. “Too slow,” her mother said with a grin.

 

At this comment Izumi's eyes took on a mischievous glint. “At least I'm not as old and slow as you,” she said trying distract her mother as she prepared to kick her mother's feet out from under her. He mother jumped just in time to stay on her feet, but now she had the upper hand. Her daughter would have to take the time to stand from her couching position, before she could her mother had one of her fans at the girl's neck. Looking as though she had just lost everything she held dear, Izumi brushed away her mothers fan and looked up at her mothers face.

 

Her face held a soft expression one that seemed to say `don't worry about it, it was just luck.' Seeing that her mother's guard was down Izumi took the opportunity to kick the feet out from under her.

 

Her mother's eyes grew round with surprise as she realize that her daughter now had a fan at her neck, `I guess I should have seen that coming' she thought dismally, after all her daughter had only used the same trick on her brother about a million times.

 

“Ok you finally beat me, but now you have to do it without any dirty ticks,” she said trying to sound stern, though it just came out sounding like a joke.

 

“I had to use it, you've been beating me way too easily for 2 years now,” she told her mother with a look of exasperation on her face. “All because Daisuke lets me win doesn't mean that I'm fooled into thinking that I've gotten any better, I had to know if I could beat you just once, even if I had to play dirty,” she said hoping her mother would understand.

 

Her mother had understood perfectly. When she was young she did a similar thing to her own mother, but it wasn't a brother that always let her win, it had been Izumi's father.

 

“You get by this one time,” she said with a deadly serious look on her face. “But there is something that comes with this,” she said continuing seriously “now you can never again fight like that unless you will be killed. Do you understand?”

 

Izumi didn't quite know what to say. She had never thought that using her trick would cause her mother to become so serious all of the sudden. To put it mildly, she was shocked. With wide eyes she answered “yes I think I understand.”

 

A few hours later, and after lunch she found herself sitting by the river near their village thinking about the fight she had with her mother. `I really need to work more on sparing with fans. I also need to work on my dagger fighting, maybe I should ask Daisuke to spar with me.' With this thought in mind she ran off to find her brother.

 

She knew that her brother had talked to her mother about their fight that morning. He seemed more determined then usual, for some reason this made her exited and slightly frightened at the same time. She was trying to determine weather her brother would fight like he usually did, clearly holding back, or with all he had. If he was going to fight with all he had…. then she wasn't sure if she could even keep up with him, let alone beat him. `This is either going to be very interesting or very painful for me' she thought grimly.

 

He crouched into a fighting stance as he thought about what he would do. He knew that his sister should not have used her trick on their mother, but at the same time he could understand why she had. If he used all he had he could beat her quite badly, `but what if I accidentally hurt her he thought I know if that happened I could never forgive myself.'

 

He decided that she needed to learn something from this day, and he would do everything he could to make sure she didn't actually hurt her. He knew that if it came to it he could always just toss his daggers aside and fight her with his bare hands, even then he would end up winning.

 

They both stood perfectly still, nether wanting to set the other into attacking. Izumi knew that if she did attack first her brother could easily use it to his advantage, he was far more skilled a fighter then her, almost as good as their father. She grasped her daggers with sweating palms as she waited for her brother to make the first move, it seemed like she stood there for hours, tense and alert for movement.

 

Finally her brother charged at her using his momentum to place an attack at her side, testing her reflexes for weakness. She easily dogged this attack and made one of her own aiming for his head. He ducked before she was anywhere near him and went for a swipe at her legs, the place he knew she tended to forget about. She jumped but not before she felt the slightest brush of his blade on her feet. She took this chance to try to use gravity to her advantage, by using the hilt of her dagger to try to knock him out. He was too fast for her backing up just in time. She stumbled slightly from the force she had used on her attack, she knew now that he was far too fast for her to keep up with. Her mind scrambled desperately to think of a way to trip him, her fist thought was to fake an injury, but she immediately herd her mothers voice from earlier that day in her had.

 

`Now you can never again fight like that unless you will be killed.' She could still see the way her mother's eyes had glared at her, it was like she had been stabbed.

 

`No, she thought `if I am to win this fight I want to do it the fair way. Then if I beat him it will have been an even match. No more playing, it's time to try my hardest.' With this in her head she grew more determined then she had ever been before. Her eyes took on the look of steal freshly polished, they almost shined in the afternoon sun.

 

Daisuke saw the change come over his sister with frightening results. She lowered her stance for more stability, and griped her daggers in more steady hands. He was unsure of how to react to this, he had never seen his sister look more frightening then she did right now. He wanted to wait for her to come at him giving him a chance to see just how much her determination would change her fighting, but as usual he lost his patients and charged at her first.

 

He did tried the same move he used before attacking her side to test her reflexes. Too his surprise this time she blocked his dagger before he executed the attack, and used exactly the same attack on him. He could barely see her dagger and hand has it wiped foreword, hitting nothing but air. `If I had been a second slower, I would be dead.' Daisuke thought with horror. `What the hell is going on with Izumi?'

 

He knew that if he didn't stop holding back he would get seriously injured if not killed. `This is going to be the fight that will finally tell us witch one is stronger, her or me. Let's get this over with.' He immediately swung his arm out to slice her across the face. She moved back as if she expected the blow and ducked to go for his legs this time. He felt the air move with incredible speed below his feet has he jumped up just in time.

 

They both knew that if they didn't end this fight fast, then injures would start to pile up. Izumi was still running off of adrenaline pumping through her veins, soon it would start to where off leaving her slow, tiered, and beaten as far as this fight was concerned. She swung her arm as if she was trying for his face but used her other arm to swing lower, at his stomach. He blocked the swing at his face easily but noticed the dagger coming at his stomach a fraction of a second too late. Fortunately the only thing that was cut was his shirt, but that was enough to convince him that, even if he didn't want to believe it Izumi had caught up with him. He almost thought she would keep fighting but when she saw that shirt that now hung a good deal further down then it should she seemed too stunned to even move. Her eyes where bulging out of her head, she couldn't believe that she had finally managed to get any attack that close to him.

 

He stared at her for a moment, enjoying the look on her face, and then snapped his fingers inches away from her face. She jumped about 3 feet in the air, it was a hilarious site.

 

“YES!!! I FINALY BEAT YOU!!!!” she screamed at the top of her lungs.

 

Nether of them realized that they had been watched this whole time by their parents, they stood in the doorway of the forge that their father worked. Their mother's face held several emotions, fear, pride, anger, as well as just a little bit of happiness. Their father's face held only relief, he was just glad that he had not lost his children and that they would both mature from this experience. It was then that all hell broke loose.

 

Screams of pain and sadness reached all four of them at the same time. They saw as the other villagers ran past them, fear clearly visible on their faces. Their father grabbed one of his neighbors and yelled

 

“What's going on? Why is everyone running?” the urgency in his voice seemed to brake the villager out of his terror.

 

“Bandits are raiding the village. Their burning everything! Everyone has to run!” he shouted to no one in particular.

 

Izumi and Daisuke looked at each other not knowing what to think at this news. Their parents looked at each other too, but the looks they gave each other spoke volumes. They both knew what they had to do he ran inside the house to get his two swords and daggers. She ran in the house to get her two blade throwing fans and her two metal Tessens.

 

Both of them planed to die fighting, but first they had to get their children armed. Their children would not be fighting with them they would be running with the other villagers.

 

“Izumi Daisuke get over hear now!!” their father yelled at them, effectively snapping them out of the trance of confusion.

 

When Izumi and Daisuke reached their parents they where not prepared for the weapons that were forced into their hands.

 

“You guys will run with the villagers.”

 

“We are going to stay and fight the bandits.”

 

“Get as far from here as possible!”

 

“Don't waste time looking back!”

 

“You two take care of each other, and remember we love you no matter what!”

 

They herd their parents say these things but didn't really take the words in. They were still numb to what was happening.

 

Both of them snapped out of it at hearing “RUN NOW!!” from their mother.

 

Both turned and ran, not quite understanding what was going on. The first one to understand what had just happened was Izumi.

 

“NO” she yelled fear showing clearly in her face and eyes. She stopped and turned back towards the village. Her brother understood what his parents said as he passed the stopped Izumi on the path through the forest.

 

“MOM” “DAD” he yelled the pain oblivious in his voice. He ran back to the village before Izumi registered what was happening. She tried to follow but her legs wouldn't move. `I have to help them. I have to save my parents and my brother. I HAVE TO!!' Her mind was screaming in pain, but her body still was not listing to her commands. She slowly got her right hand to move struggling to gain the control she needed to run. Slowly her hand reached down to her dagger. She quickly sliced across her right leg. With the pain came the ability to control her legs.

 

She sped towards the village tripping every few steps. By the time she reached her house on the edge of the village she could see her house burning. The forge was on fire too. All that she had known in her life went up in flames.

 

As she reached the house she could see her brother and someone fighting. When she was finally close enugh to help she saw the man fighting her brother stab her brother in the chest. She ran up to the man and rammed her two daggers into the man again and again. She no longer was aware of herself. All she could feel was pain and sorrow.

 

Izumi woke with a start. `How in the hell could I let myself sleep deep enough to dream. My stupid mistake could cost me my life.' As she thought this she herd a twig snap in the forest behind her.

 

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`Whack!!' It sounded as if a branch had just connected with something solid.

 

“Shit! What the hell did you do that for?” said Genrou while rubbing his forehead right where the branch had smacked him. Said branch had been pulled back by Kouji.

 

“Well maybe you should pay more attention to the situation at hand,” said Kouji with no trace of regret for what he had done. Genrou continued to rub his head while cursing Kouji under his breath.

 

“Shut up, we're almost there,” snapped Kouji to the stubborn read head. They both went into creeping mode you had to have the senses of a wolf to hear them now.

 

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“Look at her! We'll get a good price for `er,” said a filthy looking man with cloths that reflected his filthiness. Another filthy man listened to the first with interest.

 

“Are we gonna get her or not?” he said in a way that would make anyone shiver.

 

“That we are,” said the first with a hunger showing in his eyes.

 

Both of them crept closer to the camp site there was just one girl there, they were sure they would be able to take her with no problems.

 

They didn't know that this was not just your average girl that was lost from the village, no this was a girl that knew how to fight for her life, and she had been forced to do so on many occasions. They also didn't realize that this girl had herd them, meaning she knew what she was up against. `Slave traders most likely, if they have back up then I may be in trouble, but if they don't then I think I can take them and get away without any problems.'

 

Lucky for her they were alone and they hadn't taken the time to go back and tell anyone about their find of a girl alone in the forest. They tried to sneak closer to her quietly. When they where about three feet away from the girl they looked at each other. One gave a signal to the other to jump on the girl, but before they had the chance to the girl turned quickly towards them looking like a predator preparing to pounce on its pray. Both of the filthy slave traders were shocked at this new turn of events they stood there with stupid looks on their faces stunned by the fact that they had been discovered.

 

She knew that they would snap out of it somewhat quickly, she was used to surprising the people that tried to attack her. She already had her hand on one of her blade throwing fans. She knew she couldn't justify killing them not until they tried to kill her first. So for now she was pulling out her fan just in case, but she also pulled out one of her metal fans, they could be sued for defense as well as for fighting.

 

The men finally broke out of there trances, both going for the swords that hung at their sides. They took fighting stances, one of them trying not to laugh at this girl thinking that she had a chance of escaping them.

 

He found it to hard of a task letting a small chuckle past his guard. He then realized his mistake seeing the look of the girl before him.

 

Izumi herd as the man laughed at her defending herself, she no longer felt like she needed justification in killing this man. Her face took on a dark expression that would have made even Suzaku run and hide.

 

At that moment she decided that this man might not actually be killed by her but he may end up losing an arm! She took her blade fan (blade throwing fan) and hurled two blades at the man both embedded themselves in the arm he was using to hold his sword. He immediately dropped his weapon unable to hold the wait of it any longer.

 

His comrade looked at the supposedly weak girl with shock, he then charged at her sword raised ready to strike. She easily dogged this attack by moving to the side before he could get his blade down, and then gave him a hard thump on the back of his head with her closed metal fan.

 

She hadn't seen the other one of the pair retrieve his weapon with his uninjured arm and charge at her, when she did it was too late.

 

Her eyes shot open at the immediate heat she felt from her upper thigh. The pain shot through her body it was like all of her was wounded not just her leg.

 

“Kuso,” she cursed venom dripping from her voice. She quickly brought her metal fan down onto the mans head, he slumped down as a result. She grunted as she limped over to her pack trying to remember if she had brought any bandages with her. After scrounging around in her pack for several minuets she concluded that she had forgotten to pack that very important item.

 

During this time she hadn't noticed two other men watching her, true they were watching for very different reasons but still watching just the same. When she stood up and started testing her leg for how much weight it could hold, they decided to make their presence known.

 

Genrou and Kouji walked towards her not remembering that they should have made some noise. When they were no more then a foot away from her she suddenly spun around holding one of her Tessens that they had just seen in action.

 

She was shocked at seeing more men in her campsite, the first thought that came to her was that they must be with the other two that she had already taken care of. With that realization she knew that she would have to fight these two as well, only problem was that she was already injured and these two looked far tougher then the last pair.

 

She brought up her Tessen as fast as she could trying to catch the red haired one off guard. Some how she had been blocked before she had gotten anywhere near him this was a shock to say the least, after all the only other people that had ever been able to block her at her fastest was her mother and her brother. Then she saw what she had been blocked with.

 

“A fan,” she said not knowing she was speaking her thoughts aloud. “No that's a… it's a,” she stopped speaking her thoughts without realizing that she had been. `It's a Harisen but it's made out of metal…I've herd of this guy he's supposedly can shoot fire with that thing.' She suddenly came out of her thoughts realizing she was in deep trouble. “Shimatta,” she said, before the world went dark suddenly she was no longer aware of what was happening.

 

“I guess she fainted from blood loss” said Kouji with no trace of panic, “let's take her back to the stronghold Genrou.” “Are you gonna make me,” said Genrou with a sour look on his face. “Yea I am, unlike you I have a hart, you baka,” replied Kouji starting to loose his patients with his `has to be tough' friend.

 

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Author's Note: I know, it's an evil cliffy and all but, to me the chapy was starting to get a little long and I wanted people to be able to read it quickly. I am already working on the second chappy and hopefully it will be out soon. It may take me longer then I want thou because I happen to have lost a pet just yesterday so please try to be patient with me. Arigato to all of you, your sorry authoress.

 

Oh yea and pleas review.

 

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