Oba-san: Grandmother

Miaka's blush deepened as Hidori leaned expectantly towards her, awaiting the answer to his question.

"L-loved me?" she stammered, wondering how she was going to get out of this one. "I...I think you might have had some..." she swallowed to wet her suddenly dry throat, "some f-feelings for me...before..." When had it gotten so hot up here on the roof? she wondered. Was Hidori leaning even closer to her now, or was it just her imagination?

Hidori had noticed Miaka's discomfort but saw no alternative method for finding out the truth. Knowing that he loved her once had come as no real surprise, as he could see many admirable traits about her even in the two days since they met. And she was terribly cute, Hidori had to admit. He unconsciously moved toward her as he wondered if perhaps...in this life...he had a chance...

"Hidori," Miaka gasped, her voice no more than a whisper. Hidori was so close to her now that she could feel his breath upon her face. For a fleeting moment she feared he might kiss her. She put her hands up in protest, to push him away. Tamahome, she thought, panicked.

Hidori had begun to close his eyes when he saw Miaka move slightly and he pulled away as he caught a flash of light off of her left hand. Her ring, he recognized, blushing. Her and Tamahome's wedding ring. He sighed and stepped away from Miaka completely, and she closed her eyes in relief.

"Gomen," Hidori apologized, as he started towards the door. "Sorry if I made you uncomfortable." What was I doing? he chastised himself. I wasn't trying to kiss her...was I?

"Ah...Hidori!" Miaka said cheerfully, unwilling to let Hidori part under these circumstances. The 12th grader turned to face her. "Let's go call my brother and see if he and Tetsuya have found anything new about the other seishi!"

Hidori nodded and smiled, relieved that Miaka was not upset. "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea."

"This is impossible!" Keisuke growled in frustration as he threw down a library almanac detailing the number of births in Japan in the year 1975. He rubbed his tired eyes with a loud sigh, then glanced at his friend who was poring over a microfiche of a 1975 newspaper. "Tetsuya, are you having better luck?"

Tetsuya shook his head. "I can't find any unusual weather or astronomical phenomenon that occured around the time of Hidori-kun's birth or conception. We simply have nothing to compare his situation to in order to find the other seishi's reincarnations. The others might not even have been born in Japan," he added, noting Keisuke's almanac.

"I know," Keisuke responded, downcast, "but I had to start somewhere...."

Both he and Tetsuya had known before they began their search that this was almost a lost cause. They would need to discover at least one more seishi before they'd have anything concrete to go on. For Miaka's sake, Keisuke hoped the next would be Tamahome. She practically lived and breathed waiting for his appearance, and the arrival of Hidori in her life had surely raised her expectations. He hated to discourage her and so had not told her just how uncertain his and Tetsuya's research was going to be for the next little while.

Keisuke looked once again at the almanac. 950,500 male births in Japan in 1975, it said. He stifled the urge to scream.

"Well?" Hidori asked as Miaka finished talking with Keisuke and hung up the phone.

"He said it was too soon to tell anything for certain, that it might be some time before they had any leads to go on." She looked up at Hidori. "I should have known better, I guess, but I've waited so long already, and with you here...I just thought..." her eyes filled with tears, "I thought he would come right away..."

This time Hidori didn't restrain himself. He reached out and pulled Miaka to him, holding her close as she shuddered with sobs. "Daijoubu, Miaka," he murmured into her hair. "He'll come soon, and then everything will be okay." And the sooner he does, the better, he thought. Before I...

Miaka recovered momentarily and the two students straightened themselves up. "Come on, then," Hidori said with a grin, pausing to wink at Miaka. "I'll walk you to your bus stop."

Who is that girl? Suzaku no Miko? And the man with her is a seishi? Tamahome...
Why does the Emperor care for her so?
All I ever wanted was for him to notice me!
That bitch!
Suzaku no Miko is in danger?! Where? I have to do something!
Oh, but I did it to save...this man.

Hidori woke up gasping for air and in a cold sweat, sitting bolt upright in bed. As he struggled to get his breathing under control, he became more aware of his surroundings.

Another dream, he realized. I had another dream about my past life. This one had been confusing, to say the least. He had had such feelings of hostility toward Miaka...jealousy? Why had he wanted the Emperor's attention? And yet, when she was in danger, he had put his feelings aside and saved her life.

Saved her life and walked up to Tamahome....
...and kissed him!

Hidori shook his head, attempting to clear the confusion. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, looking at his clock as he did so. 4:50, it said. He heaved a sigh, shuddering as he lay back in bed, and placed his hands beneath his head. A collage of jumbled thoughts and images clouded his mind as attempted to get back to sleep. Two hours later he was still wide awake, so he grudgingly got out of bed and got ready for school.

That morning at school, Hidori was immensely distracted. He couldn't get the events of last night's dream out of his mind.

Why would he have been jealous of Miaka? Why had he been so reluctant to help her?

He'd had maids with him, he recalled. Female servants. They'd called him by a different name then...what was it? He knew that his name had been Ryuuen in that life, but that wasn't what they called him.

He remembered being too warm for comfort, wearing so many layers of clothing; and yet he had felt accustomed to the outfit. For some reason, though, Hidori couldn't remember what it was that he had worn.

And then there was the most damning question of them all, the one he himself was afraid to think of; why on earth had he been kissing Tamahome, another man?

"Shinboku!"

Hidori snapped to attention in his seat. "H-hai, sensei!"

"Translate this sentence into Japanese..."

Hidori's shoulders sagged. It was going to be a long, long day.

Lunch time fared no better for Hidori. He half-listened disinterestedly to his friend's conversations while he nibbled his lunch, his appetite long gone.

"Ahhh...looks like Hidori-kun is awfully distracted today," his friend Houyu observed. "Wonder if he's hung up over a girl?"

"Well, he's been spending a lot of time with that 10th grader Yuuki Miaka for the past few weeks," another friend commented, laughing. "Think they have something going and he's not telling us?"

"Well, he'd better tell us if he gets lucky or I'll never forgive him!" Houyu said in mock threat.

That got Hidori's attention. "What did you say?" he hissed, getting to his feet and glowering over Houyu.

"Ah, hahaha, Hidori-kun," his friend laughed nervously. "We thought you weren't paying attention. We were just joking around, we didn't mean anything!"

Hidori didn't comment as he gathered up his things and stalked off to where Miaka and Yui were sitting. Surely Miaka would know what was going on, and could dissuade his fears. He'd get to the bottom of this yet.

"Mi-Miaka," he began uncertainly once he arrived, suddenly shy as to what exactly he was going to say to her. He glanced at Yui and blushed. She was here, too? He couldn't say anything about this in front of her!

Miaka paused from relieving her dishes of their food to greet him. "Oh, Hidori, it's good to see you," she said, mouth full, and cheerful as always.

Hidori bowed to the two girls and murmured a greeting out of reflex. "Ah...Miaka..." he said nervously, "may I speak with you please? About...another dream I had last night." He fixed his gaze firmly on the brunette and prayed that she would understand.

"Oh, it's okay, Hidori. Yui-chan was Seiryuu no Miko after all; she knows all about the book world," Miaka said, clearly oblivious to her friend's discomfort.

Hidori only managed to become more flustered. Of course, Yui knows about this, too, he thought. Does she know all about me...?

Yui, being more perceptive than her best friend, recognized Hidori's anxiety and prepared to leave. "Excuse me," she said, standing, "I'm going to go inside and read ahead a little for class." She caught Hidori's grateful look and could feel his tension ease without seeing him as she turned around to go.

"So, Hidori, what did you dream about this time?" Miaka asked as Hidori seated himself. "Did you get more memories?"

"Yeah," Hidori began, running his fingers through his hair. "It was a very strange dream. I was hoping you could explain it to me."

"Hidori?"

As Hidori described the events in his dream, Miaka began to realize the source of his discomfort. She knew that he was not aware of his troubled past, and so understandably he would be confused by the actions of Kourin/Nuriko. She remained silent and attentive as Hidori spoke, going over in her mind just how she would explain this situation to him.

When she had finished, Hidori sat dumbfounded, his eyes wet with unshed tears. "Miaka, that's...that's amazing, what I'd been through," he said, the words catching in his throat. "I've been to hell and back again. I've never known pain like that in this lifetime.

"You know, Oba-san always calls me her 'Sad Eyes'," Hidori continued. "She says, 'There are a hundred years of wisdom and pain behind those eyes'... I guess now I know why that's so."

He didn't mention some of the other things his oba-san had said to him; the times she called him a late bloomer for his contralto speaking voice and short stature. How many times had she given him a scolding look when he laughed at a joke and his laughter sounded undeniably feminine? He knew he was pretty enough to pass for a girl; he didn't particularly like it, but he'd always figured he would grow out of it sooner or later. To know this past, disturbing as it was, somehow made Hidori feel as though a burden had been lifted from his shoulders. Finally he knew why some things were the way they were.

Hidori sniffled and brought his knees to his chin, a thoughtful expression on his face. "Thank you, Miaka."

Miaka reached out and touched Hidori's hand comfortingly. He held on to her and the two linked fingers, sharing a peaceful moment before the chimes rang and lunch period was over.

As he got up to leave, Hidori leaned over to whisper his confirmation of the expected rooftop meeting. This was now a daily ritual for the two, although occasionally Yui would join them. As he pulled back, he allowed his lips to graze Miaka's cheek next to her mouth, and he lingered there for a moment before separating from her completely. Satisfied that she did not protest, Hidori waved happily and entered the school, leaving Miaka to stare with awe at nothing in particular.

As soon as school ended for the day, Miaka gathered her things in record time and bolted up to the roof, throwing a careless, "See you tomorrow, Yui-chan!" over her shoulder as she did. While she ran up the stairs she thought about what had transpired at lunch time. She had not expected Hidori to kiss her like that. He shouldn't have, she knew; he was well aware of her past relationship with Tamahome and should have understood her to be strictly hands-off. Yet she hadn't exactly stopped him when his lips touched her face, had she?

Miaka stepped out onto the roof with an image of Hidori's smiling face in her mind. Nuriko's face. She really liked Hidori, she realized. She'd spent a lot of time with him these past few weeks, as they found out more about one another. He and Yui had hit it off, too. And he walked her to her bus stop every day after school, like a gentleman. Tamahome would do something like that, she thought fondly.

Yes, Tamahome. He still hadn't appeared yet. Her constant nagging at her brother hadn't made him discover information any more quickly. He and Tetsuya still hadn't uncovered anything, he told her. Give them time, he said. She felt terrible even thinking it, but would she have to wait forever for him to arrive? Miaka's thoughts settled on the story of Byakko no Miko, Oosugi Suzuno. She had had to wait 90 years to be reunited with her love. 90 years! Miaka shuddered, but before she could further consider this the school's door opened and Hidori stepped out.

"Miaka, about--"

"Hidori, I--"

The two students giggled as they began speaking simultaneously. "Sorry, please go first," Miaka smiled, gesturing to Hidori.

Hidori took a deep breath. "Miaka, about what happened earlier.... I...I know I'm not the one you've been waiting for, and you may never see me as more than a friend, but I still..."

Miaka silenced him by placing her finger to his mouth. "It's okay, Hidori," she murmured, smiling slightly. "I like you, too." She blushed as she became aware of how close the two were standing, and after what seemed like a long moment she closed her eyes as Hidori lowered his head to kiss her.

Hidori tried to blot out all doubts and distracting thoughts as Miaka returned his kiss. She still wears Tamahome's ring, he noted, bringing his arms up and around to embrace her, but it's okay. If I can have her for even a moment, that's all I ask.

Forgive me, Tamahome, Miaka thought, threading her fingers through Hidori's hair, please understand...

End Part 3

Author's Notes: Ouch! Evil, huh? Come on, I totally had to get those two together! If I could do nothing else for my Nuri-chan, this would be it!
Hidori's birth year is based on the fact that Miaka's own birthday is in 1977. So you have to think in 1993 mode when reading this fic. I haven't yet decided if Hidori was born on March 10 like Nuriko though.
Were there any unusual astronomical or weather phenomenon in 1975? Beats me. If there were, though, pretend there weren't. ^_^
About the number of male births in Japan in 1975; there were 1.901 million births altogether in Japan that year, so I divided by 2. Simple enough, ne?
Houyuu means friend. I'm shameless! ^_^

And now: Me no own Keisuke and Miaka and Tetsuya and all fine Fushigi Yuugi characters. Me just like to play with them. Me not harm anyone and me not make any money from this. Please no sue me. Belong to Watase Yuu they do.
Shinboku Hidori and his buddy Houyu, on the other hand, are my own creations, so if you want to use them for anything (like, why would you?), please ask me first, 'kay?