Fushigi Yuugi Fan Fiction ❯ The Ties that Bind ❯ Deception Often Wears a Mask One Would Never Suspect ( Chapter 4 )

Author's Notes: Um...so...this chapter has everyone's favorite bandit... ;x and...lot's of ramble...that really leads to no where. MUCH like this author's notes box...so I'm gonna shut up and let you get on with the chapter finally XD...

On about the tenth ring and no response, Miaka hung up the phone, turning toward Keisuke and Taka, "Yui-chan won't pick up."

"Maybe she's not home..." The girl's brother pointed out, taking a bite from a twinkie he was holding which forced the cream to squeeze out of the bottom, lining his fingers. He groaned and then just licked them clean for lack of a napkin.

"Ie, she would have called. We made plans to get together," A concerned glance was spared toward the phone and then back at the two. "Maybe we should head over and see if she's all right."

"What if she got wrapped up in something important?" Taka tilted his head, bringing one hand through aqua strands.

"That's what I'm afraid of. Keisuke, stay behind and wait by the phone. Taka...! You come and give me a ride. We have to hurry," The Yotsubadai student headed out of the room.

The two boys glanced after her with dumbfounded expressions. Keisuke swallowed down the majority of his food and wiped his hands on those slacks, "I think Miaka spent too much time as the Suzakuu no Miko. She's giving orders to all of us now."

Taka sweatdropped, nodding toward the other, "Hai, hai."

"TAKA!"

"Er...coming, Miaka!"

The two moved out the door and into the car, with Miaka hoarding as much food as could possibly be held in her jacket. It seemed whenever she was worried, she needed more snacks than normal--which wound up being a lot. Taka heard the crinkling of wrappers as he turned the key and started up the engine. He reached over to put the seat belt over his chest before he spared a glance toward his girlfriend.

"Miaka, you might want to slow down or you'll choke."

"A-anou..." She stopped amidst shoving chips in her mouth. That hand lowered to her lap and she cleared her throat. "Gomen..."

He shook his head with a laugh and then glanced over his shoulder, backing the car out of the driveway. Then, the gear was put into drive and they headed up the road in silence...well...mostly silence. The only conversation the two held was Miaka's constant munching and Taka's sighs. Luckily, though, Yui's house wasn't that far and they arrived before they knew it. Barely giving Taka a chance to park, Miaka pushed open the door and ran to the porch, pressing the tip of her finger against the bell. There was absolutely no response, even after a couple more rings. She frowned and then seized them knob in her palm, turning it slightly. As she did so, she found it surprisingly unlocked and the door creaked open. Miaka looked back toward Taka, before she drew in a breath and stepped inside.

"Yui-chan?"

She squinted around the darkness and then fumbled around blindly for the light switch, finding it after a moment of search. That was flicked upward, and an instant flash of brightness filled the room, forcing her to shield her eyes. Once they readjusted to the change, she looked around the vacant surroundings. With a pang of nervousness aching in her chest, Miaka went to step forward, though something light crinkled beneath the toe of that strapped shoe. She blinked and lowered her gaze, bending down at the torso to lift up those slightly crumpled sheets of paper. The girl scanned over the familiar writing and once she spotted the sentence about the arrival of the Seiryuu no Miko, she knew exactly where Yui had gone.

Those eyes widened in shock, and Miaka dropped against the wall...her shoulder connecting with it painfully. But, she didn't seem to notice. The papers escaped her grip, fluttering gracefully to the floor and landing atop each other before her feet. At that point, Taka raced in, furrowing his brows in confusion as he noticed Miaka. He stepped over to her carefully, laying hands of comfort on her arms.

"Miaka...? What's wrong...?"

She didn't respond, just pointed toward the area before herself...to the ground where the things she dropped were laying so innocently. Taka looked in that direction, and then moved past her, lifting those sheets in his hands. His eyes scanned over a few of the characters, noticing familiar names such as 'Suboshi' and 'Nakago.' Lids narrowed somewhat instinctively, but he really didn't understand still. What did those names have to do with Yui? Other than the fact that they were her shichiseishi at one point. And why was Miaka so upset over something like that...?

"Miaka...nani--"

"Yui-chan...Yui-chan's back in 'The Universe of the Four Gods.' "

Spheres of lavender blue widened, "M-Miaka...are you...sure?"

She nodded gravely, turning back toward him again. Hands reached forward to take the papers away, and she studied the Japanese characters with a heavy sigh. Taka hung his head in silence, not sure what to say or how to comfort her. Their silence was cut jaggedly short as the ringing of the phone rose up. Both jumped in surprise, but since they were the only ones in the house, Miaka decided to pick it up.

"Hongo residence..."

"Miaka!" The voice on the other end seemed alarmed.

"Oniichan? What's wrong?"

"Miaka, you and Taka better get back here...something's happened that you won't believe..."

Yui found herself resurfacing through the various folds of sleep without really any knowledge of drifting off in the first place. Light broke through as those lids raised slightly, immediately falling in order to block out the sudden brightness. For a moment...a brief shining moment...the girl through she may have been dreaming--that she had just fallen asleep after school and never went back into the book. Though, the moment she heard the crackling of fire and felt the makeshift hay bed beneath herself, she knew the truth. A soft whimper rose up in her throat and she opened her eyes completely to focus on the rocky surroundings of the cave.

"Yui-sama, you're awake...are you all right? You just passed out..." Suboshi stated plainly, looking toward her with concern.

Yui glanced at him, spotting her former seishi beside the flames. The orange and golden heat cast highlights over his light brown hair and even seemed to warm up that cute visage. It made him appear so kind and innocent. Though, really...Suboshi was always kind around her. Even when she yelled at him or lost her patience with him. That was why it was so hard to believe he could possibly kill those children. Fingers tightened around the blanket and she lowered her gaze toward it with a blink. It wasn't a blanket at all, rather the gi Suboshi had been wearing. Her eyes lifted toward him again and sure enough he was bare-chested.

A blush spread across her cheekbones and she looked away, "Un...I'm fine."

"Are you hungry? I could go out and get us something to eat..." His eyes closed cheerfully.

The fifteen year old found that she was indeed quite a bit famished and was about to agree until she remembered something. Those eyes widened and she shook her head, "Ie, Suboshi. You can't leave me alone! Nakago...Nakago is after me along with Tomo. If they find you, they're going to kill you and then take me back there!"

Suboshi raised his brows, though they narrowed almost instantly, "Anyone who even tries to hurt you will answer to me personally, Yui-sama."

"Suboshi...nani...?" She trailed off in realization and then shook her head. "Ie! No more hurting anyone! I don't want people to die...no more innocent people! I don't want you to fight to protect me if you're just going to kill...and enjoy it...like with those poor children! Tamahome's family!"

The boy wore a rather dumbfounded expression as she went off like that, but sighed, "I know...I know it was wrong. Demo, Nakago-sama--er...Nakago told me Tamahome killed my aniki! I didn't think...I just acted. I felt like I needed to take something of his to make up for my loss. I needed to destroy something he loved more than anything because my aniki was like that for me. I'm not going to lie and tell you I felt guilty when I did it or even immediately afterward. I enjoyed killing them...I enjoyed their screams and begs for mercy. In my mind...my aniki probably suffered worse than those children at the time. And then I learned...I was wrong. I realized my mistake when I was in your world. I understand if you won't forgive me for it, Yui-sama. Demo, I'll still protect you. I swear I won't let any harm come to you...if not for anything else...because it's my duty as a Seiryuu seishi."

"I just want to go back, Suboshi. I don't want to be here after all that's happened...after all the people that I've hurt here. Or people who have hurt me. Nakago..." Her voice died and those hands covered her eyes as though to prevent tears from escaping. "How could he be alive when I only wanted to--wait a moment. How are you alive, Suboshi? I didn't write for you to be..."

"A-anou...I don't understand what you mean, Yui-sama."

"You died in my world. Miaka told me you did and even though I meant to revive you, I hadn't done it before I came back here, so...how...?"

"I couldn't really answer that. For a few days, I was reunited with my aniki. I guess...it was my soul that resided within him. It was...as though we were a complete person...the way it should have been. I couldn't be happier, though shortly afterward...I was ripped away from him. I went to some place where it was sheer torture every day. It felt like an eternity of suffering for as short of time as I was there. All the horrible...unjust things I had done haunted me. And I wasn't alone. I was there with Miboshi, Ashitare, and Tomo..."

"And Nakago?"

"Ie...Nakago-sama...er...Nakago wasn't there. Neither was Soi."

Yui raised her brows slightly, If they weren't there...then...where were they?

"Demo, one day...all of that faded. That day, a light of hope shined through a place where only chaos and despair resided. And that day, I returned to this world. Perhaps it was a second chance. You said Tomo is alive too...? Then maybe that means we were all returned for that purpose...to try and undo all those horrible things of the past."

"So, you don't know why? What caused it to happen?"

"Ie...all I know was I came back. And then, soon afterward, I found you."

"I see..." She glanced off thoughtfully. So...was it just because I came back? If Miaka came in after me...would her seishi be revived as well? If Miaka--

"Yui-sama...?" Suboshi frowned, watching her features sadden. He brought one hand to rest gently on her shoulder.

Overcome by emotion, Yui threw her arms around Suboshi's waist, sobbing against him, "Suboshi...I...I'm stuck here forever! Miaka can't come back to save me. As one of my wishes to Seiryuu...I wanted her to never return to this world. Now, I'm stuck here. No one can save me...I can never go back home!"

A bit uncertain of what to say, he simply held onto her in a comforting manner and allowed her to cry as much as she wanted. Somewhere deep down, however, Suboshi couldn't be happier about the news. To have Yui-sama return to him forever...after all that time he spent loving her. In a way, it seemed like a wonderful thing. But, there she was...so upset about never going back. He brought his palm over those flaxen strands, and sighed softly. Above all else...he only wanted her to be happy.

Despite all the changes that had occurred in Konan as a result of the war, absolutely nothing had changed on Mt. Reikaku. The fortress was still in the same run-down condition and the bandits were still the same drunkards as always. Only now, their leader--Genrou, or more specifically Tasuki of the Suzakuu shichiseishi had returned to them. After they came back to their world, the only two celestial warriors decided to part ways and Chichiri went back to being a monk under Taiitsuken's watch. It would have been nice to have him as a part of the gang, but despite that, Genrou had never been happier. He had all the booze he wanted and plenty of money from after the war...there were no girls to throw logs at him, yes everything was perfect.

So, on that particular morning, the majority of those Reikaku bandits were gathered around a table to play poker. Though, some were a bit too soused and kept mixing up their aces for deuces...and kings for queens. Tasuki, however, was skipping out on the game. He merely sat in the farthest corner, boots propped up on a stand. Those eyes were closed in relaxation, hands clasped behind that fiery head of wild orange. It was almost nice to not be doing anything for a while, though in all honesty, he missed the thrill of an adventure. It was a shame everything was peaceful in Konan now. That meant much less excitement.

A knock on the main entrance forced Genrou out of his thoughts. Those crimson tinted spheres shifted in that direction, and he tilted his head somewhat. Who could be there...? Eh, one of the other guys would get it. So, Tasuki just shifted back a bit more to get comfortable, until a voice rose up outside the door.

"Hello, who is it? It's the incredibly handsome Kouji, back from his journey to the village. Ah, I see...did you bring anything back? Hai, hai. I noticed our booze supply was a bit down. Oh, Kouji...come on in!" The blue-haired bandit opened the door with a smirk. "Arigatou..."

"Kouji!" Tasuki lit up, rushing forward for the typical greeting between them.

"What's up, Genrou?"

"Not much, man! How are you doing?"

"All right!"

And Tasuki broke from that arm link, giving a fangy grin, "So, you got the stuff?"

"Of course. It's all right here in this bag," Kouji handed off the bottles. "Demo, I heard some strange things this morning down in Konan."

The bandit leader snatched up the drinks, sorting through them until he grasped one. A fang sank into the cork, and he pulled that off, before he guzzled down the liquor. His attention shifted toward the other afterward, "Oh?"

"Un...in the tavern, these guys were talking. They said something about a girl appearing soon...one from another world."

"Nani?!"

"I'm not sure if she's here already, demo...they were talking like it was going to happen soon...something to revive the Kutou empire to what it was before. Something to make them attack Konan. Demo, they were pretty drunk...so they might have been babbling nonsense. Talkin' about some prophecy or other bullshit..."

"Miaka-chan? Hn..." One of those sharp canines pressed into his lower lip. "Ie...Miaka-chan wouldn't help with that. Then, who--"

"The Seiryuu no Miko..." A rather familiar voice sounded behind them.

Tasuki blinked and turned toward the small child clad in green. Those eyes lit up, "Chiriko!"

The boy closed those lids happily in greeting, "Hai. Ohayou, Tasuki-san..."

"How did you--what are you doing here?!"

Chiriko canted his head, "It's a long story. Demo, Tasuki-san...we have to find the Seiryuu no Miko before it's too late. We can't let her carry out her purpose here and destroy all of Konan. I've been revived by Taiitsuken for that purpose."

Tasuki shuddered slightly at the mention of Taiitsuken. She kind of scared him after all, "Hai...come right in...we'll discuss plans! Heh, all right, Kouji! I'll get the adventure I've been waiting for. I can't wait to get my tessen out and kick some ass!"

Inwardly, Miboshi laughed at them. To think...that such fools would be able to lead him straight to Yui...that they would bring about the destruction of their own nation.

***

"Keisuke-san, nani...?" Taka rushed into the Yuki house with Miaka leading the way.

"It's 'The Universe of the Four Gods.' It appeared here and opened up to these blank pages in the back. They've been slowly filling up with words," Keisuke pointed out, stepping back so his sister could look it over.

Miaka raised her brows and then lowered her gaze to the papers in her hand. Just like Yui-chan's story. This really ishappening. She's really back in there . A look of determination crossed her features and she leaned forward to scrutinize the words.

Taka and Keisuke exchanged glances.

"I have to go back in there..." Miaka stated suddenly.

"Miaka!" Taka looked back toward her, shaking his head slowly.

"Anou...you can't go back, remember? Yui-chan...her wish to Seiryuu...it--"

Her eyes glazed over with tears and she whipped around to face them, "Then we'll find someway! Seiryuu's bound, ne? Maybe...maybe that wish won't matter anymore. Maybe I could go back in there...we can't just stand around helplessly as all those things happen to Yui-chan. What if--"

"Miaka..." Taka sighed, bringing his arms around her.

"That won't happen. She's with Suboshi..."

The aqua-haired youth narrowed his eyes, clenching a fist, "And that's a good thing?!"

"Taka-san, Suboshi loved Yui. He may have had a strange way of showing it, but he did..." Keisuke stated, looking between the two. "He won't let anything happen to her."

"Oniichan's right..."

"Demo--"

"Taka-san...we know what he did to you in the book. And all the things he did to Miaka. But, not once had he done anything to hurt Yui-chan. That's why...we have to trust that he's the one we should be routing for now..."

"Che...Amiboshi's the only Seiryuu seishi I would trust..."

"Yamete, Taka!" Miaka snapped at him. "Onegai...onegai...just listen to Oniichan."

Keisuke grinned smugly. That was certainly the first time she ever said anything like that. Taka sighed, letting Miaka out of his arms. Once she was free from that embrace, she moved toward the book, lifting it slowly. Those eyes scanned over the words that had surfaced and saw the new sentence had to do with the Seiryuu no Miko. Liquid glazed over her vision, blurring it until she collapsed to her knees, and the droplets spilled out of the corners, scattering all over the pages.

"YUI-CHAN!!"

"Mi...aka...?" Yui's eyes opened slowly, and darted around the cavern before they lowered. I could have sworn I heard her calling me, demo, I suppose it's just wishful thinking. Is it night already? Was I sleeping? That's right...the time passes much quicker here than in my world. I guess I'm just too used to home. Still...I want to go back there.

She went to roll over on her side, only to find great difficulty in doing so. Something was holding her back. Yui moved one hand downward to connect with the warm and smooth...thing. Skin...? Her gaze shifted over her shoulder and those crystalline oculars landed on the sleeping form of Suboshi. A deep shade of red came into her cheeks and she pried his arm away, sitting up rather quickly. Those actions woke up Suboshi and he lifted those lids, stretching out somewhat.

"Yui-sama...nani...?" And then he seemed to realize it, springing up to his feet. "A-anou...! G-gomen nasai! I...I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. I...I just wanted to hold onto you until you were asleep so...you wouldn't get upset again. I didn't mean to--gomen nasai!"

"Suboshi..."

"H-hai?"

"You don't have to apologize. I didn't mind all that much..." Yui fidgeted with the surface of the shirt that had been doubling as a blanket. "Demo...I am very hungry."

"I can hunt for something. Or, I could just take you into town where we can get some bread or something like that..."

She flinched at the mention of hunting, "I'd rather have the bread."

"Hai...anou..." Suboshi looked around, before he just took his gi and draped it over her head. "In the dark, no one should be able to tell that it isn't a real cloak."

"Arigatou..." Yui rose weakly to her feet. The strength just seemed to have vanished completely in her body. Probably from lack of eating accompanied by fatigue. Because of that, she nearly fell, and would have...had Suboshi not been there to catch her in his arms. She blinked, glancing toward him and he offered her a faint smile. The girl narrowed her eyes and fought her way out of his touch. "Yamete! I'm not completely frail!"

"I didn't--gomen ne, Yui-sama."

"Let's just go. The longer we stand here, the sooner morning will come, ne?" She huffed, glancing away. Yui would probably apologize when she was feeling less cranky, but for now, she left it at that.

"Hai..."

The two started forward in silence and through that silence, both heard quite clearly, the sound of rustling bushes. Yui's eyes widened and those hands moved up to cover her mouth, holding back the scream which threatened to break loose in her throat. What if it was Nakago?! What if Nakago was there to find her?! Suboshi, on the other hand, was ready to protect Yui and he narrowed his eyes instinctively, rushing forward to clutch the hilt of his dagger in hand. Since he could no longer use his Ryuuseisui, he had to settle on normal weapons. For a while, both stared quietly at the mouth of the cave, waiting for whatever it was to make an appearance. Finally, the darkened figure emerged--a black silhouette against the moonlit entrance.

"I've finally found you..."

Suboshi gritted his teeth, lifting the blade defensively. Though, once the person stepped a bit further inside, that hand lowered and his features softened. The fire's glow broke through the shadow's that lined the other's visage, revealing only the perfect mirrored image of Suboshi himself.

"A-aniki!"