by: Asurahime
Chapter 4- Harmonies That Ring True
Distress and loss were in the hearts of the Suzaku Seven of the Konan Empire. The worst news has just broken out four nights ago: the Priestess of Suzaku has been abducted by Kutou!!
"What are we going to do? We need Miaka to summon Suzaku, but now..." said Tamahome as he tried to hide his anger over his ex-girlfriend's abduction.
He immediately got flamed by a very pissed off Tasuki. "Is that all you can fuckin' think about?! Right after ya once again ripped her feelings apart, you just dismiss her again?!!"
"Tasuki, calm down. We can't have you lose your temper and--" started Nuriko.
Now to that, Tasuki replied, "DON'T LOSE MY TEMPER?!? OSOI, NE!! MY DAMN TEMPER HAS BEEN LOST EVER SINCE THAT BASTARD FIRST MADE MIAKA CRY! NOW YOU EXPECT ME NOT TO LOSE MY TEMP--!!!"
Suddenly, he was cut off by a cry. "GYAAA!!! KOWAIII!!!! SUNAKAKE BABAA!"
Chichiri noticed who the cry was referred to. "Taiitsukun, na no da!"
"Seishi, what has happened? I have sensed something dire that has occurred." said Taiitsukun.
Chiriko answered, "Miaka-san has been kidnapped..."
"How do we get her back?" asked Hotohori frantically.
Taiitsukun remained silent as she glanced at Tasuki, who was still fuming.
"Taiitsukun, we need you help, no da!! We need to get her out of Kutou!!" said Chichiri.
".......... I knew that Suzaku no Miko has been kidnapped, but even that does not make sense something this critical."
"You @%$&@$&@$%^*@()($$#!^!*^(#~$~!!!!!!! We fuckin' need to know how ta get Miaka back and you ^&$#* just stay there and solve some damn critical shit which I don't give a fuck about!!!" screamed the ex-bandit.
Taiitsukun grabbed Tasuki's tessen and repeatedly flamed him. "Be careful how you talk to me you fanged idiot!! I am not a @%$&@$&@$%^*@()($$#!^!*^(#~$~!!!!! I want all of you to go to Kutou and regain the Priestess of Suzaku. Use any means necessary, but try not to shed any blood....." Taiitsukun disappeared.
The Suzaku Seishi glanced at each other in silence.
Finally, Hotohori sighed. "Chancellor!!!", yelled Hotohori.
"Hai, Heika?"
"Have a boat ready as soon as possible..... We're sailing for Kutou...."
*~*~*~*~*
Azeruse woke to the sound of a flute. She flinched visibly, for the song was quite harsh on the hearing. She wasn't the only one--- some more easily irritated people began throwing sharp objects a few feet before the musician. However, the flutist just kept on playing, oblivious as a blue aura colored the air around him.
Soi and Yui entered the room with their hands over their ears.
"Damn!! He woke her up!" cursed Soi.
"We never should have sent Suboshi as a spy, even if he was the only volunteer! Now Amiboshi is pissed that we are endangering his brother!", cried Yui.
Azeruse blinked. "This is Amiboshi?! That flute can wake the dead! And if one of those projectiles being thrown hits him, he will be!!"
The door burst open as Nakago, Tomo, and Ashitare ran in.
"Amiboshi, you idiot!" shouted Nakago as he leaned off the balcony of Azeruse's room. He began to become desperate and formed a small ki ball and was about to send it to Amiboshi.
Tomo tapped his head, "Not even magic is going to stop him. That boy can be way more irritating than his brother at times, but he makes sure that those being irritated won't forget his 'performance'."
"SOMEONE SHUT HIM UP BEFORE I TEAR HIM APART!!" snarled Ashitare, threatening to run out of the room in wolf form to silence the musician.
Yui screamed. "We have to get him to shut up, but we don't know how!!!"
Azeruse suddenly felt a sense of deja vu. A flute... and a leaf whistle.... to break through the barrier...
She didn't hesitate and ran immediately to her desk, where she found a jade and sapphire flute that was meant to be only decoration. To everyone's surprise, she grabbed the flute and jumped off her balcony and to the roof. As the others were too shocked, and so they made no move to stop her.
The blue-haired seishi glared down at Amiboshi, who was still going at it with his flute. Realizing that she has never played a flute in her life, or at least remember ever playing one, Azeruse panicked. Although, as she listened to the piercing melody that Amiboshi is playing, a song started to form itself in her mind.
Forcing her limbs to stop shaking, Azeruse raised the flute to her lips and tried it out.
If I don't do this right, I'll just add on to the chaos already going on... why me..., thought Azeruse.
After a few wrong notes, the seventh seishi finally calmed down enough to just play 'Chiriko's Tune'. As she focused her ki through the flute, the ki of Amiboshi came in contact with hers and the two collided, each of them forcing through the other's defenses.
Amiboshi felt another's ki forcing through his guard, and noticed that the ki was from a Seiryuu Seishi. Although, he also felt that the ki felt strange--- like it was corrupted.
The girl on the roof felt Amiboshi suddenly let down his guard for a moment, so she took her chance. Azeruse let out a strident note from her flute and practically used her ki to tear through Amiboshi's ki.
The green-haired flutist felt his shield disintegrate, and glanced up to the roof. He saw that it has been Azeruse who was battling with him as she lowered her flute and locked stares with him. Finally, Amiboshi broke the staring contest and bowed his head in embarrassment.
All was silent as Azeruse slipped quietly down from the roof and back onto her balcony. She discreetly peered inside her room and grinned upon seeing the others sighing in relief. Soi noticed her and gave a shaky smile.
"What's wrong? Was that even worse than Amiboshi?" Azeruse flared crimson.
"No, that's not it..." replied Soi.
Yui suddenly shoved everyone out of the room. "Everyone out!! She needs her rest, and Amiboshi, his punishment!!", then she turned back to smile gratefully at the girl. "We'll talk tomorrow, Oyasumi nasai."
As soon as Yui left, Azeruse breathed a sigh of relief and lay down on her bed.
~Go to sleep, you earned your rest.~ ordered Asura.
Azeruse smiled. "Yes, good night Asura... see you in the morning."
Outside, Amiboshi looked up to the seventh seishi's room just before he surrendered to his fate.
"Oyasumi nasai.... Azeruse....."
*~*~*~*~*
Azeruse woke up to the sound of running. She got out of bed, picked up Asura and began to drag a comb harshly through her hair.
To her complete surprise, her door was suddenly opened as Ashitare picked her up and rushed her down stairs.
"Ne, Ashitare!! What in the hell is going on?!", Azeruse cried.
Ashitare answered quickly as they reached the Seiryuu Hall. "Suboshi returned with news."
As soon as Ashitare dropped her off, Azeruse immediately ran over to wher Suboshi was explaining what he had discovered.
"The Suzaku Shichiseishi are on the move. They are coming here to retrieve their 'Miko'."
Yui turned towards Nakago. "What are we going to do? Do we have to fight them now? When we just discovered the seventh member?"
Everyone suddenly stared at Azeruse, who stared back at them calmly. "I don't care what anyone says. I'm fighting alongside all of you."
Amiboshi gaped at her. "But... you're still new, and since that ordeal with that monster, are you sure that you want to go through with this?"
Azeruse gazed indifferently back at him, exactly as she did the night before. Amiboshi flushed scarlet and let the matter drop. "I get the point..."
The girl broke her gaze and glared at all of the others stubbornly. "I told you before, what kind of seishi am I if I run away at the first sign of danger? No, I'm fighting."
The others sighed, and/or grumbled at the girl's terseness and obstinacy. When Azeruse had a confused look, Yui told her not to worry about it.
"Suboshi? One last thing." asked Nakago.
"Hai, Nakago-sama?"
"When did the Suzaku Shichiseishi leave Konan?"
"They left yesterday, at high noon." answered Suboshi.
"Without or interference, and with their mage's magic, they'll be here by tomorrow morning. But now, the question is what we are going to do. Do we just destroy them all as they set foot on land, or do we wait until they know we have what they truly want?" considered Tomo.
"It's truly a pity that we couldn't have just summoned Seiryuu, but one of you is still incomplete..." Yui turned to face Azeruse. "How do you think we should do this? You decide, since you saved our lives enough times."
The others murmured agreement as Azeruse consulted her sword. I hate to fight...
~You should be fair, and if you must fight, the combats should be one-on-one battles. I hate to put you through this risk mistress, but I am only trying to save your hands from cold blooded murder. I know that you would kill yourself to prevent useless bloodshed.~, said Asura.
Azeruse cocked an eyebrow in surprise, and smiled ironically. "My sword said that we should fight the Suzaku group in one-on-one battles."
The group looked skeptical. "Your sword talks? I didn't think that thing can do anything but slice."
~I'll sing, dance, and crack jokes as much as you people want later, but now you have bigger things to worry about. And by the way, I'm not a thing. The name's Asura.~
The others blinked in confusion until Suboshi chose to change the subject. "But, who shall fight who?"
Tomo opened his 'Shin' and took out a piece of paper that was inside. "I think this shall help. I was kind of expecting something like this to happen."
Amiboshi took the sheet of paper and read off the names. "<Nakago/Tamahome>, <Soi/Chichiri>, <Amiboshi/Chiriko>, <Suboshi/Hotohori>, <Tomo/Mitsukake>, <Azeruse/Tasuki>"
"Well, these matches do seem kind of fair. But, I'm not very sure about Azeruse going against that fire-throwing boy with the red hair and fangs.", stated Soi.
"I'll be fine." smiled Azeruse.
The seven seishi and the priestess suddenly began to glow with a steady blue light. Nakago suddenly launched one of his ki-balls straigt towards the direction that the opposition would arrive. "All right then; everything begins at dawn."
*~*~*~*~*
The next morning, the Suzaku Shichiseishi arrived in Kutou. Strangely, they have not been harried by any spies or Kutou agents. Although, a strange occurrence disrupted then the night before. A blue globe, bearing the image of Suzaku no Miko being tortured by the Seiryuu Shichiseishi emerged from the horizon leading to Kutou.
"Shimatta! Do they fuckin' take us for fools? Who knows what they could be doin' to Miaka now!" asked Tasuki as he screamed up at Kutou Palace, and was frantically waving his tessen in the air. "Come on ya dumb bastards, and I'll fuckin' have a fuckin' great time as I fuckin' tear and flame your asses as revenge for bein' such sons of !$^%$#^!! One of ya is even a fuckin' daughter of a damn whore!!!"
Nuriko and Tamahome immediately came up behind Tasuki and proceeded without ceremony to beat the crap out of him.
"You fanged aho!! Do you think that you'll succeed in anything except being killed by yelling like that?!! Flame them?? Ha!! They'll flame YOU!!!", shouted Nuriko as he and Tamahome stopped beating on Tasuki, who was showing large bumps on his head.
"Can't you scream any louder, Nuriko-san!?" The others of the Shichiseishi formed huge sweatdrops and turned away as Tamahome decided whether he should laugh hysterically at Tasuki, or begin going on a rampage in search of Miaka.
"Minna-san! Don't let your guard down! Anything or anyone can be watching." warned Chiriko.
Chichiri swung open the gate, and to his and everyone else's surprise, he met no resistance whatsoever.
"Now I'm really worried, no da.", he asked as they all walked tentatively to the open courtyard of Kutou Palace. "Dooshite no da?"
They knew that being out in the open gave them the disadvantage, but they knew that Miaka, being dangerous to Kutou would not be kept in a locked room or in the dungeons, because that is too obvious. They didn't like it, but the Suzaku Shichiseishi didn't have a choice, for they knew that Miaka was in a place with a barrier of magic.
"Now what?" asked Tasuki as they looked around for any signs of an ambush.
Suddenly, eight figures appeared before them, and transfigured into the Priestess of Seiryuu and the Seven Seiryuu Shichiseishi in black cloaks.
Yui smiled coldly. "It's been a long time.... Tamahome."
Tamahome gasped sharply. ".... Yui..."
Hotohori demanded, "Where is Miaka?!!"
"Who knows? But no matter what, we won't give her back, because you'll probably just lose her again." said Nakago.
"What do you mean?! We didn't lose Miaka-chan, YOU kidnapped her, no da!!" cried Chichiri.
The others of the Seiryuu Shichiseishi took off their black capes, except for one, who wore a cape of the purest white.
"Do they always have to make an entrance?" asked Nuriko to Hotohori, who nodded his agreement.
"Nakago, Soi, Amiboshi, Suboshi, Ashitare, Tomo....." Yui reintroduced the seishi to each other.
The white figure said nothing as Amiboshi stood in front of her protectively.
"Is that last one mute? Teme... too bad for you motherf--", cursed Tasuki
As soon as he said this, Nakago shot an energy ball directly at his direction. Tasuki however, barely avoided missing the projectile and drew an arc with his tessen as he counterattacked.
"Rekka Shinen!" Tasuki shouted his incantation as the stream of flames once again burst forth.
The white figure sprinted past the Seiryuu group as if to intercept the flames. "Stop!", cried a female voice as she quickly drew a crimson sword out of its scabbard and slashed through the core of the oncoming flame vortex. "White Wind!"
A silver light emanated from the place where Azeruse entered the fiery maelstrom, and a moment later, the silver light transformed into a maelstrom of ice, dousing the flames of Tasuki's spell.
"What in the fu---" started Tasuki.
"I don't believe you have met... the Seventh Seiryuu Shichiseishi. Furthermore, as long as the Seiryuu Shichiseishi are gathered; Konan will fall, even if Seiryuu is never summoned." decreed Yui as she stood behind the white girl. "This is Azeruse, the replacement of Miboshi; and through her very being is the cause of your downfall... I mean that literally."
"Yui..." started Tamahome.
The seishi named 'Azeruse' walked in the space separating the Suzaku and Seiryuu Seven as she resheathed her longsword. "Yui-sama? I'll minister to them..."
The Seiryuu Seven stared at her with shocked and confused expressions as Yui nodded her consent. The Suzaku group gazed at Azeruse with a strange feeling that her voice sounded familiar, but the memory was not long lasting.
Azeruse adjusted her cape and beckoned to the Suzaku Seven, who still couldn't get the feeling of dread and mistrust out of their minds. "Please follow me."
Although hesitant, they obliged and followed her into Kutou Palace.
_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~
Preview of Chapter 5
Lost Light of Red and Blue
Tasuki regained his own will and immediately used his seishi gift of speed to catch a falling Azeruse, who without a doubt, has exhausted all of her reserves of energy. He caught her just before she hit the ground, but she was unconscious nevertheless. Likewise, Amiboshi rushed quickly to Azeruse.
"Azeruse, Azeruse!!! Shikarishite!!" yelled the green-haired flutist.
Tasuki suddenly got a good, clear look at Azeruse without her white cloak.
"... Mi.... aka? Miaka!?!!" he sighed as Azeruse slowly opened her eyes.
"Wha-What happened? Tasuki, Amiboshi... why are you crying? My body... so hot. Although... as long as everyone's... safe... I ......", whispered the blue-haired girl as she once again closed her eyes.
Amiboshi grew frantic. "Azeruse.... Azeruse!! Me o AKETE!!!"
Tasuki screamed, "Mitsukake!!! Hayaku!! HAYAKU!!
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Chapter Notes:
All right, THAT was also strange... I admit it!! My freakin' hands are hurting from all this typing, and I'm sorry for all the bad language, but it was *quite* necessary. Jeez, this is turning out a lot like a Romeo/Juliet thing. NOOOO WAAAAAYYYYY!!!!!! I've had enough of that in my English class. So, what will happen now? The battle is about to commence, but can the Suzaku Shichiseishi harm the one who they have sworn their lives to protect? The very same girl who is their only reason for living is now their enemy?!! And can the Seiryuu Shichiseishi actually keep Azeruse from her past? Whoo, I gotta take a break... these cliffhangers are dangerous. Please, I need your criticism and comments... I want to know what you people want to here.... or not want to hear... but deciding what to write is up to us authors... it's a hard life, but someone has got to live it.
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Disclaimers:
Yes minna, it's time again. Don't you people tire of hearing the same things over and over again? so just go on to the next part of this fanfic.... as soon as I post it up. I don't own any of the Fushigi Yuugi characters themselves... but kawaii Azeruse-chan is mine. They belong to Watase-sensei, and all those companies who created them. 'Asura' belongs to SquareSoft... yes, I know that there are many 'Asura' swords in games, but I explicitly am talking about the Asura sword sold by Gozarus in Facinaturu in the game SaGa Frontier. Full list of disclaimers are always in my Introductions. If you want to kill some time, go there... or maybe you just want to see me make a fool of myself.... good enough..... Flames both coming and not coming from Tasuki's tessen and life-preserving comments are always welcome once again at [email protected]. Although, I have no idea why anyone would read this far into my disclaimers... do you?? Mata ne!!
Shi Jin Ten Chi Sho^^Chapter Three^^Chapter Five