autumnleaf16

my proper blog is at: http://autumn-leaf16.livejournal.com/

Chapter Two

By the time that the train finally arrived in the right station, its passengers were quite happy to get off, as it had been about half a day. (1)
Miaka was probably the happiest person to be arriving, apart from the two that was returning as a native. She had wanted to come to Yuri’s wedding but was unable to, as her mother and stepfather had also decided for that time to be a family vacation.
The six of them were able to make their way out of the train station rather fast because few people get off at this station. As they expected, they saw the familiar sight of the village’s cart, accompanied by Seishuku, who was pacing so agitatedly that he did not notice their presence.
“Aniki!” Ryoen cried out joyfully as he was met with a warm hug from the brother whom he loved a lot. (2)
“Oh, you arrived already!” Seishuku laughed, but they all sensed a sense of nervousness in his laughter. “I’m sorry, but I was too occupied with my thoughts.”
“Is something wrong with our parents, Aniki?” his brother naturally asked in concern.
“No, Chichi and Haha are both fine. It is just that Yuri is in labour right now.” (3)
“So soon?” Miaka called out, dumping all her luggage on Taka so she could run forward. “I thought that it would be a few days more and…”
“According to the village midwife it is normal for children to be born maybe one week or even two weeks earlier or later then the expected date.” The listeners couldn’t help but to wonder whether he was assuring himself or them, as he was clearly very worried.
“Well, on behalf of the village of Konan,” he began the tradition that was rarely practiced as few people would go there, the last time a formal welcome was given was when Yuri arrived. “Since my father the village leader is unable to be here, I, his eldest son and heir stands in his place, to welcome you all.”
“I’m so happy to be here!” Miaka cried out happily as soon as Seishuku finished speaking. “I am so glad to see neesan again. Is she well? Is she happy?”
“We are very happy, so much more then we thought that we could ever be.” Seishuku said, referring to their past life.
“Aniki…you are really happy then?” Ryoen said very softly as they began to head back toward the village.
At this his brother frowned, as Ryoen knew that he would. This question was not as innocent as it sounded because even up to the day of the actual wedding, Ryoen had suggested that he should wait a bit longer- which caused some strain in the brothers’ relationship.
It was not his fault that he could not remember his life as Nuriko, Seishuku would say to himself as he was staring to feel angry. Why should he not be with Yuri immediately after what happened?
He did not know that you were married to her for two years, to him you just met her and proposed to her on the very same day, he repeated again, but surely by now…
“I am very happy with my life, Ryoen.” He said in equal softness to push back the initiating anger. “I know that you are worried about what might happen because Yuri and I got married after a very short engagement but we really are happy, because we really do love each other.”
“But you asked her to marry you in your first meeting!” Ryoen began once more, that was always what frustrated him.
Behind them, Ju-An gave a rather indiscreet cough and began speaking. Like Ryoen, he had been rather sceptical about his best friend’s very hasty engagement and marriage, but he quickly got over it when he saw, with most people, how happy they were. But then, he would be rather biased, as he and Houki Yuri had been good friends. (4)
The two of them had talked of marriage once, when he somehow mentioned his engagement. She had congratulated him and he still remembered her words rather clearly: she would never marry for a mercenary reason.
“I have a job and I have supported myself since I was very young, and I grew up in a household that had a tragic marriage, that is why I would not marry for such reasons. If I ever marry, I want a happy marriage.”
“Seishuku, I hope you still remember Dokun? He is our landlady’s son, who is now quite good friends with Ryoen.” Everyone knew that he said this to interrupt the possibility of a fight. Both brothers shot him a grateful look as the two brothers had always been close, so this new conflict was something that frustrated both of them.
“Of course I remember him and his mother, how is she? She is such a kind woman.” Seishuku quickly said. “Yuri always talks about how grateful she is that her stuff was not thrown away, and that her old room was not even rented out.”
“She is in good health, she asked after Yuri, hoping that she is happy with her marriage…” at this Dokun quickly shot a glance at Ryoen but conveniently his friend was busily talking with Genro.
Thus, they managed to arrive back rather peacefully.

Yuri was surrounded by her mother in law, the village midwife, as well as many other women in the village who were mothers. In a way, she found this rather amusing: this dedicated attention which had been given to her since the moment her water first broke. (5)
“The labour will not be very long, but you will be fine.” The midwife reassured her as she began to scatter numerous herbs in the room.
“How is Seishuku?” Yuri asked her mother in law.
“Worried as a new father would be, worrying as bad as his father was when he was born.” she said with a reminiscent smile. “His father was so shocked when he heard about the birth of Seishuku that he didn’t know which direction to walk.”
“And you sent Seishuku to the train station?” Yuri protested, visualising an image of her husband driving to some wilderness due to his worry, which was very clear when she told him that their children are going to be born this day.
“He will be with Ju-An and Ryoen, they can take over the driving if he get too nervous. Beside,” her mother in law reassured her with a careless wave of hand. “They, the fathers, need something to do, otherwise their worry is going to affect everyone negatively.”
“When Seishuku was born his father kept on pacing so much in the next room that it was beginning to distract all of us.” The midwife explained. “That was why we sent him to fetch us my extra basket of herbs from my home.”
Yuri herself was not worried about the birth of her children at all, although she was not unaware about the danger of pregnancy that existed both today and in Konan: her two maids’ mother had died in giving birth to them. But she was not worried at all as she knew that she was in excellent hands, and somehow she was also very sure that the children she and Seishuku had wanted so much would not create difficulties for their arrival. The hard bit seemed to be their conception.
Automatically, Yuri began to think what it must have been like when she was born. From her birth certificate she knew where she was born: the hospital that also housed her for three years due to that ‘car accident’ (6)
She was a child from an affair so her arrival was naturally not waited eagerly by her father, she wonder whether he even knew that she was going to be born?
Her mother had run away from her home when she was only fourteen, with a boy that became her first lover. Yuri had never heard of anything from her grandparents, although she did ask about them once.
“Oh darling, we should not worry about them.” Her mother had laughed out, as she gave her only child a warm embrace. “You do not need to know them.” (7)
“Why don’t they come and see us? Everyone else’s grandparents come and see them.” Yuri had asked in one of the opening days of school, where parents and grandparents all came. Her mother was naturally there, but she could not help but so feel sad as everyone else had at least both parents if they were not surrounded by doting grandparents and other relatives. (8)
“Well, they…along with my other relatives…don’t think that you should have been born because I am not married, so that is why I refused to have them visit us.” Her mother announced proudly, making her daughter believe that her grandparents would have come if it wasn’t for her mother, instead of the opposite way.
Later on, Yuri would discover that Houki Chiai was only the perfect mother, as she did not achieve any success in all the other categories. As a daughter she was most likely a rebel, running off at fourteen from a home that was relatively comfortable; as a lover she was probably a failure as she indulged in various relationships that never worked. (9)
So she must have been alone when her daughter was going to be born. Yuri shuddered as she thought about what it must have been like, lying on the cold hospital bed alone with no one to reassure you that it would be alright, with no one waiting…
She could not even understand how her mother even managed to be in a love affair with a married man. How could you love someone, even if it was not a permanent love, knowing that they would never be with you?
But the ironic thing was that her mother was a perfect mother, even though her daughter did wonder why she only had a mother, she was perfectly happy as long as her mother was there.
Yuri had been her mother’s first priority, there were even times when her mother broke up with her new boyfriends because they could not accept the little girl’s appearance and dominance. (10)
“Sp please help me now, Haha.” she whispered when the first spasm of serious pain began. Someone grabbed her hand, it must be her mother in law, but with the tears in her eyes she could almost see that blurred figure as her mother.
Her mother in law grabbed her hand tightly as the difficult part of the birthing began, once more, she was glad that her son was not here, as he would surely start to panic if he heard Yuri’s screams.
The pain of birthing was something that no woman could get used to, no matter how many children she has. She herself had screamed just as much at Ryoen’s birth, even though he was the second child.
“Haha…” at this address she knew that her daughter in law was no longer thinking of her, but of her real mother. She wished that she knew more of the other woman so that she could reassure Yuri somehow.
“You will be alright, Yuri.” She promised.

Shoka was waiting right beside the entrance of the village, she had wanted to go with Seishuku but was told that she could not as the cart would not fit everyone. So she had spent the interval making herself as beautiful as she could possibly be, although it was a needless action as her fiancé loved her so much. (11)
She knew that Ju-An loved her, but what angered her the most is his unwillingness to marry her right now. Why should they wait when they loved each other and knew that they would love each other?
The warriors of Suzaku were given a second chance, but the irony was that many were repeating what they had done in their past life.
Shoka sighed again as she turned to look at the village leader’s house, where Yuri was along with many women in the village. She couldn’t help but to breathe out a sigh of envy as she would love to be in Yuri’s role: to be married to the man you love and about to give birth to their children.
She liked Yuri, Seishuku’s wife. Unlike Ryoen, she truly believed that it was a very romantic act of true love. Since the village was small there weren’t many other girls of their age, so she naturally became very good friends with Yuri along with her sister, although Seika was so much shyer.
Yuri was friends with Ju-An, this naturally bond them even more. But she couldn’t help but to be jealous of Yuri, as Seishuku was not afraid to marry her immediately as soon as he found her.
“Ju-An!” she cried out loudly as soon as she saw the sight of the village cart, this would not be the first time she did this. What she truly wanted was to be on that cart with him!
“Shoka!” she could hear his voice even before the cart stop, and within a few seconds he had jumped down to run to her and embrace her tightly. It was a rather uncharacteristic thing to do but it had been eight months or so since they last met.
“Ryoen, it is good to see you again after a whole year. We all missed you very much.” Shoka said when Ju-An finally let her go.
“Shoka, about Yuri…” Seishuku asked urgently, as she had expected him to. She had talked with Yuri and she was instructed to make sure that Seishuku was not going to panic.
“Yuri is perfectly fine.” She said, and this was not untrue. Even though the other woman was a bit pale, the wife had told the worried friend that it was nothing unusual.
“My children has not arrived, have they?” the soon to be father asked nervously, afraid of missing the opportunity to be with his wife and children as soon as he could.
Once again Shoka shook her head. “Oh but I am being very rude! I have not introduced myself at all!” she suddenly called out, as she turned to face the visitors.
Miaka has not seen Shoka before, but she was simply glad that Ju-An was happy, as she recollect the sadness in Mitsukake’s face whenever he thought and talked about Shoka, his lover that died from a diseases that he could have cured had he been there. (12)
“I am Shoka. Ju-An’s fiancée.” She said to these strangers, she couldn’t help but to sigh slightly, she wished that she could say that she was his wife, as Yuri could. But she could at least take some comfort in her title, unlike her sister.
“I am Miaka, I am Yuri’s sister!” Miaka declared out.
“Yuri’s little sister?” Shoka frowned slightly. “But you don’t seem to…” her words trailed off as Miaka misjudged the distant between them and ended up tripping onto the ground, instead of shaking her hand.
“They are half-sisters.” Ju-An whispered. “They are not very…” at this he paused, wondering why he was suddenly going to tell his girlfriend that the two siblings were not close when they must be. He himself could remember the numerous times that Miaka had come to find Yuri.
“I will take you back to our house then.” Seishuku interrupted, despite his eagerness to get back he caught his friend’s slip of tongue. Was that a sign that Ju-An was going to remember his life as Mitsukake?

Pale but happy, Yuri held her two children in her arms. After all this struggle her children finally arrived in the world in perfect safety.
“A boy and a girl! Didn’t I promise that there will be at least one son?” the midwife smiled at the new mother as she began the tidying up.
“A future leader of this village.” Yuri’s mother in law said merrily, even though such thing did not matter that much in their village anymore, it was still good for tradition to remain unbroken by the birth of a boy.
The two women helped Yuri to sit up straighter, and then began to brush her hair, which had tangled slightly due to the labour. Even though her husband was not going to notice any of this, they both knew the importance of this to a woman.
Yuri herself was in great shock, she wasn’t even sure whether this was true at all right now. She could feel the two children’s weight on her arms but somehow she just couldn’t quite realize the impact of all that has happened.
“My children.” She repeated, hoping to reassure herself of the reality of all this. She was the mother to these two beautiful children, children that she dreamt of having for such a long time, not because they were necessary as heir or prove that she was not barren, but because she simply wanted to have children with the man that she loved.
“I just don’t believe this.” She repeated once more. “It is like a dream.”
These two beautiful babies…did they really come out from her body? Bending down she could see that her stomach was now flattened, but somehow…
Before she even had time to react, she felt her husband’s arms around her…he had suddenly appeared and was sitting beside her. Strangely enough he seemed to be crying, as her cheeks seemed quite wet.
“We are parents.” She whispered to him, as he held the two new babies in his hand, his whole body seemed to be shaking.
Chocking, Seishuku nodded. He couldn’t even speak for his throat seemed to be blocked with tears, and even if they weren’t, he truly didn’t know what to say at all.
Yuri was safe, and she was holding their children…such beautiful children too, just like their mother. This seemed like a dream, because it just didn’t seem possible that anyone could be as happy as he was at that moment.
I have my heir now, he thought when he first heard the cry of his son, before he realized with great relief that he was no longer the emperor of Konan.
“Seishuku,” his mother whispered to him as she elbowed him gently from her position behind him. “Their names.”
“Whose names?” he asked dumb fondly, so great was his shook that he out of all people forgot about the practices of their village: children were to have their name announced as soon as their father held them.
“Your children’s names.” His mother said again, almost laughing. It just seemed ironic that her son, who loved these old tales and ritual so much, would be forgetting about them completely. She was relieved too, as there was a time when she was afraid that he would be more interested in what were stories, instead of what was real. (13)
“My children’s name…my children’s name!” he repeated when he suddenly remembered both the tradition, as well as the names he and Yuri had come up with.
“Our son will be called Boushin, while our daughter will be called Seihana.” (14)

To Miaka, her niece and nephew were absolutely adorable, although their uncle could not be as certain as she was. But then, Ryoen was only a teenager boy.
“They…” Ryoen didn’t know how he could say the two babies were like his brother or his sister in law, when they seemed to be nothing alike.
Behind him, both Taka and Genro were thinking the same thing, the formal not knowing that within a few years he would be doing what Seishuku was doing. Taka could understand how happy Seishuku must have felt, as he secretly begun to imagine he and Miaka being in a family as well, but he couldn’t comprehend why the man he regard as rather narcissist, was seeing these two babies as the most beautiful things in the world.
It was not as if they were ugly at all, but they were what most babies looked like!
“Yuri-neesan, you must be so happy!” Miaka said to her half sister, who could only smile happily as an answer. Right now, Yuri was so full of goodwill that she truly couldn’t be sad or angry in anyway.
“I am glad to see you.” she said softly, her strength used up for the birthing. “Is everything alright? Keisuke…”
“Everything is fine!” Miaka dismissed any possibilities with a wave of hand. “But are you alright, neesan? You don’t write to me that often.”
Yuri evaded the question by smiling, as she didn’t want to explain to the other right now about how she really felt in regard to the altering of their lives.
“Miaka, I am so happy in my life.” She said truthfully. “Married to the man I love, and now the mother of children that I longed for. It will not be hard for you to understand.”
Meanwhile, Seishuku could finally greet his best friend properly, as well as those who were his comrades in his past life, he could not say that they were his friends, as his title and status had made them drew an invisible line between them, yet he had longed to receive friendship from them: the other six who should be his equal. (15)
“How long do you plan to stay in our village?” he asked Taka, who would probably speak for his cousin as well. Cousins…he dimly recollected how these two were always fighting. It seemed rather fitting.
“Perhaps a month or so.” Taka replied.
“Good, you and Miaka will be able to attend the whole-month festival.”
“What is that?” Dokun asked. “I think I have read about this somewhere.”
“It is an old tradition that is probably not practiced much in the city now.” Seishuku explained. “We will hold a celebration when the new born children turned a month old.” (16)
The festival had always been something that everyone looked forward to due to its very nature of being a celebration, as well as symbolising the full recovering of the mother.
Ironically, the real sorrow chooses to arrive on the day of the festival. (17)

(1) I actually made a mistake in my last story, well I wrote something that was completely unreasonable. I wrote that the village of Konan is about two days of train ride away from Tokyo, since Tokyo is in the middle of Japan this seems a bit too impossible no matter how slow the train get, and the village is not in the very bottom either. So, to make it more practical it will only be half a day. Please ignore the inconsistency.
(2) Since they are reborn as normal people I decided to make them be called by their real name. (apart from Tamahome, as his real name is not Taka but something else, but since he’s called Taka in the original story…)
Hotohori = Seishuku (I’m still not that sure about this but well, according to some sources it is his real name, although it just seems an alternative pronunciation of his name as the kanji are the same)
Nuriko = Ryoen
Chichiri = Hojun
Taisuki = Shunu (also known as Genro)
Mitsukake = Ju-An
Chiriko = Dokun
There is another inconsistency in my story again, do forgive me. In hidden secrets Ryoen actually calls Seishuku ‘Onichan’, which is an affectionate enough term for your older brother, but I decided to change it to Aniki, because that is what the real Nuriko calls his brother. I don’t know whether this meaning is more formal or not but I don’t think it is like super formal or anything.
(3) According to my friend chichi means daddy, while haha means mummy. She tells me it’s very affectionate, so hopefully it is right. The real Hotohori does call his parents with that. Do correct me if it is wrong.
(4) In my fan fiction Yuri and Mitsukake/Ju-An have always been quite close. She and Mitsukake had both understand and experienced the whole concept of sacrifice for lover and be bind by that, and then she was Ju-An’s neighbor, so they are rather good friends.
(5) I am presuming that by being rather rural the village follows the tradition approach toward birthing, that is all men are excluded and the women would have a heavy use of herbs.
(6) Due to Suzaku’s alteration of their life Yuri got into a car accident on her eighteenth birthday, instead of arriving in the universe of the four gods. As a result she was unconscious for three years until Seishuku came, in which he woke her up.
(7) I think Yuri’s mother would be like that, very open and expressive in her feelings for her daughter. From what Yuri recollected in Hidden Secrets, I think her mother never found the one man she truly loved, but I think she would love Miaka’s father the best out of all her boy friends, although that would only be because he allowed Yuri to be born.
(8) I don’t know what this is called in English, but it’s basically the idea of parents coming to see their children in school, not really an open day. But just for parents to see their children.
(9) Randomly I also decided to let this be Yuri’s mother’s name, Chiai, (千愛) which means a thousand love. Chi(千) ai (愛). I guess this can have a lot of interpretations but no matter what, it is just really ironic considering the nature or her love life.
(10) I am really glad to get that bit done, because that was something I thought of very early when Yuri’s character first got created, but somehow that didn’t make it to Hidden Secrets.
(11) Shoka is reincarnated as I actually find the thing with her and Mitsukake really sad so that is why, and likewise Chichiri’s fiancée, I also find that really sad too. But Kourin is not coming out, it’s not because I am cold-blooded to Nuriko on purpose but I simply have no idea how I will fit that into my story. Sorry!”
(12) This bit is altered. In hidden secrets Yuri found Mitsukake and he told her about what happened to Shoka, which changed. Mitsukake could only cure a person affected with the fever only before a certain amount of time passed. In Shoka’s case it was too late as she had been sick for too long, but even though she was sick, she still made him leave her in order to save more people. When she died he couldn’t take it, so that’s why he stopped healing people. Then he met Yuri, who caught the fever and he was really touched when she told him to go to find the miko for Hotohori’s sake, instead of asking him to save her.
(13) That was what happened to Hotohori, he was so obsessed by the story of the suzaku priestess, what was only a legend, that he took no interest in the women around him at all, who were real.
(14) Seihana literally mean star flower, flower of the star.
(15) One of the saddest things about Hotohori is that everyone treat him as the emperor, whenever they call him Hotohori-sama or Koutei heika it is just so sad, because I think that is the sign of them not regarding him as the same. Because of his title he always seemed to be like the outsider. Especially when people like Taisuki and Nuriko might call Tamahome Taka, but Hotohori was still called Hotohori-sama apart from Miaka, who just call him by his name.
(16) This is probably not a western custom, although I’m not sure if they still practiced this in eastern words, I think they will. It is a tradition for a mother to rest for about a month and then there will be a celebration.
(17) I forgot to mention that in my fan fiction Urumiya is going to be an OC. So basically she is just an OC, forget about the person who really is Urumiya, the Urumiya in my story is a woman by the way. It is really funny, as I discovered the other day that in Genbu Kaiden…SPOILER- Urumiya is that assassin