autumnleaf16

Our computer is…sick again…although this time I almost wonder whether it is dying. Apparently it got a virus, which wasn’t stop by our computer system as the system crashed caused the anti-virus software to crash or something like that. The result of this is that…my blog will be suffering again (ok, I admit, it was suffering in the first place. But I thought I’ll post up my fan fiction because I really want to do it once a week, even though it wouldn’t always be on Friday, which is my original intention.

What happened last time: The originally happy marriage of Yuri and Hotohori is troubled by the rumors of Yuri being barren, and the courtiers’ attempt of persuading Hotohori to elect another concubine. Meanwhile, Miaka has arrived in the universe of the four gods and is now regarded as the priestess of Suzaku. Yuri, who heard this news, reacted in a very extreme fashion by fainting, and there are indications that she knows Miaka…




Once she settled into her new role as the Suzaku priestess, Miaka actually found her life most enjoyable. She was treated with the ultimate respect by almost every single person, and her only regret was that Yui was not here with her to share this fun.
Initially she was deeply worried about her exams but she was sure that her wish of passing her entrance exams would be granted as soon as she finishes this strange quest that she stumbled to.
So far, they have found the third celestial warrior, Nuriko, one of the emperor’s concubines. From what she heard, it seemed that all the imperial concubines were unwanted by Hotohori, who was clearly very much in love with his elected empress.
Although Nuriko seemed to regard her with hostility, Miaka was sure that she would be able to work her way through the other’s stubborn jealousy by volunteering to be her personal maid.
As if there was something to be jealous about! Miaka thought as she tugged the other’s long hair. She rarely gets to be alone with Hotohori, and everyone knew that he was usually in the empress’ quarters.
She actually hasn’t even talked to the empress yet, it would be interesting to meet her, and see her properly. The servants all spoke of the empress with reverence, while the emperor’s advisors would frown at the mentioning of Houkigou.
Houki…once more Miaka frowned, she was sure she had heard of the name before. Now more then ever, she wanted to meet the empress, but Hotohori had told her that she couldn’t just yet, as she was still unwell.
“What are you doing?!” Nuriko screeched out, bringing her hands sharply down she caused the jar of rouge beside her to fly toward Miaka’s face. “You are pulling my hair!” (1)
“Sorry!” Miaka grimaced as she attempted to brush the hair as gently as she could manage, she really wasn’t skilled at doing such things.
“Hey Nuriko, what is the empress like?”
“The empress?” at this Nuriko frowned, her eyes becoming very hard. “Well…she is rather pretty I suppose, as she was one of the one hundred women that were chosen for the emperor.” An idea suddenly appeared to her, bending her head down she hid her smirk as she realized that she could shoot two birds with one stone. “She is usually in her own part of the palace…I went there to pay my respect to her once but…”
“But?”
“One of my ear rings dropped into the pond there, it is a very valuable one too.” she spun around and grabbed Miaka’s hand, her eyes suddenly wet. “It was my mother’s gift to me as a parting gift, when I was selected to go into the palace.”
“Why don’t you just go back to the pond and search for it?”
“I cannot leave my own quarters without permission. Oh!” dramatically, for good measure, Nuriko buried her face into her hands. “If only I could go…”
“I’ll do it for you!” Miaka immediately offered, seeing this as a chance of winning Nuriko’s friendship. “I am allowed to go anywhere in the palace so I’ll get it for you.”
As soon as she left Nuriko laughed and pulled open her drawers, carefully she took out the pair of supposedly missing ear rings, admiring them as she put them on. Nuriko, naturally, has never even went anywhere near the empress’ private chambers. (2)
While it was true that Miaka might have been granted permission to go anywhere, the empress’ section of the palace was a bit different. With the exception of the emperor, and those who received his orders to go in there specifically, no one else may enter without the empress’ permission.
And it seemed that the empress was not deeply fond of the priestess of Suzaku, otherwise why hasn’t the empress meet the Suzaku priestess yet?
“Two birds with one stone.” Nuriko smirked again, but deep down she was actually angry. It was just simply not fair that Miaka could have the emperor’s attention! What she had sought and failed to obtain for the past two years.

Whatever cause that made Yuri faint that day, was still present as she was still spending most of her days lying on her bed, even though the incident happened quite some time ago. Hotohori summoned the royal physician and the verdict was: “a depression of the mind that led to a physical invalidism.”
“Everything is fine now, Yuri, the priestess of Suzaku is here, and she will summon Suzaku, who will grant our wish.” He whispered, squeezing her hand. “Do you want to talk to her? She is a cheerful girl and maybe she can make you feel better.”
“I don’t want to see her!” this uncharacteristic loud scream caused her maids to quickly withdrew, while Hotohori actually flinched slightly, seeing this she lowered her voice and even sat up so she could put her arms around him. “I am so sorry, Hotohori, but keep her away from me!”
“Why?” he pressed on, truly puzzled.
“I don’t want to see her.” Was all she would say. “I know I am being unreasonable but I simply don’t want to see her.”
“Are you jealous?” it seemed pretty ridiculous but then she had undergone so many pressures lately and the gossips were not helping at all. “I know I have spent sometime alone with her but I…”
“It is not because of that.” She interrupted quickly. “I just don’t want to see her. The sight of her is a reminder of how Konan is in danger.”
The way she stuttered made the lie very clear.
“What is happening, Yuri?” he asked sadly, “That you would lie to me?”
“Because I do not wish to lose you,” she sank into her bed again, closing her eyes after this strange answer.
“Please,” bending down he kissed her forehead, “please tell me the truth.”
“How can I tell you the truth if I will lose you by doing so?” seeing her tears he could only embrace her, abandoning his question as he could not bear to see her cry even more.
But he was greatly puzzled at her answer. Why was she so afraid of losing him by telling him her reason of not wanting to see the Suzaku priestess?
What could it possibly be?

Unknown to them, Miaka was only a few steps away. Armed with only a torch she began to stalk around the pond hoping to find the lost earring. Unfortunately for her, her sense of balance was not the best, so after a rather bad trip she ended up in the pond, and even more unfortunate, the seaweeds attached themselves around her leg.

“Let us walk in the garden for a while,” Hotohori suggested. “I always have a fondness for doing so, as we were walking in a garden when you told me that you would marry me.”
Nodding, she stood up with him supporting her although it was not necessary. Her maids approached her to help her dress, one holding a gown while the other had her hair brush and that strand of pearls.
“Don’t bother with all that, there is no point for me to dress myself when all I am doing is take a little walk in the garden, and there will be no one else there any way.” Yuri said gently, bidding them to go and rest.
“You will be cold, so wear this.” Hotohori told her as he selected her favourite robe.
Taking the robe she kissed him before they went to the garden hand in hand, she really loved him so much and it pains her to have to lie to him. Not for the first time she wished that she had told him that she was from the other world the moment they met, or at the very least during the period when he had wooed her.
Then she wouldn’t be tormented with guilt. Right now her biggest fear was to see Miaka in case she was recognized, and then Hotohori would know that she was from the other world. Even though it had been five years since she last saw Miaka, and even before then Miaka only saw glimpses of her, and they never really talked to one another although Yuri would have loved them to be closer.
“Do you still love the flowers of your namesake best?” he asked as he took her to the patch of lilies.
“People do not change so fast in two years.” She said softly, “I…Hotohori, the pond!”
Turning he saw that the water was rippling in such a violent way that it suggested some sort of creature or person hiding in there. Drawing out his sword Hotohori carefully walked to the pond, as an emperor he was well aware of the danger of assassination. Even if the assassin was very unskilled by giving himself away in an obvious fashion, a person who wished to kill him must be taken seriously.
Gasping, Miaka staggered up, collapsing on the bank, crushing a few of the flowers that grew beside the pond.
“That was close!” she breathed out the sigh of relief very loudly.
“Miaka…” Hotohori was truly torn between laughing and worrying. The situation was amusing as it seemed a very typical thing for Miaka to do, enter somewhere she shouldn’t be and then revealed what she did in such a method. He was also a bit worried as he noticed that Yuri was turning rather pale at the sight of the Suzaku priestess.
“Hotohori? Ha, I didn’t thought I’ll be seeing you here. I’m here because Nuriko lost something here and she wants me to look for it since she can’t leave her own quarters.” Miaka explained quickly in her usual straightforward fashion. “I’m not trying to steal anything so you can put that sword away!”
She was going to continue when she suddenly noticed the women standing beside Hotohori, with her arm resting on his. Miaka felt the same shock she had experienced when she saw Hotohori: that woman was so beautiful as well.
Miaka had a quick glimpse at the woman, by being a girl she naturally noticed the other’s cloth. Some sort of thin under-dress with the skirt in multiple layers, and a furry outer robe with the sleeves wide and trailing. Both cloths seemed to be made of fine material, and the robe was richly embroidered. She made a mental note to search the wardrobe in the chamber she was given as soon as possible. (3)
The woman’s long raven hair made her very envious, she had always wanted hair that long, hair that flows down to her waist, but like most girls, she was forced to cut her hair as soon as she finished elementary school. The lady’s hair was very pretty as well, as it was unbound the curly texture was very obvious. (4)
She only wished that she was more presentable in front of this beautiful lady, instead of having her school uniform soaked and her own hair tangled.
An important thought suddenly entered her mind as she recalled what happened in her meeting with Hotohori.
Reaching foreword she grabbed the other’s chest. (5)
“MIAKA!” Hotohori hissed, pulling Yuri away from the younger girl. “What…what are you doing?”
The two naturally attached bundles in front of the chest was a clear sign to Miaka that unlike Hotohori, she was right in thinking of this person as a woman. Laughing a bit nervously she quickly began to explain.
“I just wanted to make sure that she is a woman.”
“Make sure that I am a woman?” Yuri muttered, she almost had a heart attack when Miaka grabbed her, she had thought that Miaka was going to announce to the whole world who she was. At what just happened Yuri suddenly reached to the conclusion that her fears in the past days might have been completely unjustified.
“You…you don’t recognize...you don’t know who I am do you?” Yuri asked bluntly.
She retreat into Hotohori’s arms even more when a pair of large eyes suddenly appeared right in front of her. Miaka began to circle around her, examining her in every angle. (6)
“No!” she finally announced. “I don’t know who you are.”
Much to Hotohori’s surprise, Yuri smiled, and stepped forward to introduce herself.
“I am Houkigou, consort to the emperor.”
“Oh so you are the empress.” She then began to explain the story again.
“I have never seen this ‘Nuriko’.” Yuri told her truthfully. “With the exception of my two maids I have not even talked with any other of the emperor’s concubines.”
“Is Nuriko causing trouble for you again?” Hotohori asked. “Should I issue an order?”
“No, no, no!” Miaka laughed. “I want to be her friend and you can’t order a person to be my friend! I’ll just give her this pretty stone as compensation for her lost ear ring.”
She began to walk away but she suddenly stopped and she went up to Yuri and took the other’s hand.
“I want to be your friend too! Can I come here again?”
“I…I…” Yuri muttered. “Maybe.”
“That’s good enough! Good bye then, Hotohori, I’ll probably see you tomorrow. Oh wait, I won’t, I am going to the market with Tamahome tomorrow, some other time then! Good bye to you too, Houkigou! Maybe I’ll know your name next time I see you.”
“She seems to like you quite a lot.” Hotohori finally commented.
“With such a bright and cheerful nature she will be able to like most people, a rare gift.” Yuri said, it was just a shame she never get to see much of that sunny nature, “She appears quite young though.”
“She is fifteen, only five years younger then us.” (7)
“Fifteen?”
When she in that world two years ago Miaka had recently turned fifteen, and the girl was still fifteen? So time passed faster in this world but did that mean anything? (8)
“You saw her and that wasn’t that bad, was it?” he kissed her tenderly before wrapping his arms around her once more. “I am still here and I still love you so much.”
“Yes, maybe I was wrong.” Sinking into his embrace she smiled happily for the first time since the arrival of the Suzaku priestess. “Only promise me that you will always love me.”
“I always will,” Stroking her hair, he quoted out the poem that he had wrote on her fan. “In the heavens, the stars are twinkling. In the ground, the flowers are blooming. And now, in my universe, my love for you is shining. It won't stop. It won't be stopped. Love, like breathing, is irreplaceable. I'm glad I was born, because I exist for you. I have only one wish: your happiness.” (9)

When Miaka returned to Nuriko’s room she found Tamahome there as well, the latter shaking the former, who was yelling so loudly and sharply that she was almost screeching.
“Why does the emperor always like women from foreign places?” Nuriko was screaming. “First the empress came from some other country or so and he chose her the moment he saw her and did not even give the rest of the women a chance. I didn’t even get to meet him because of her! He saw her and he just forget about everyone else.
“Then she is barren but he refuses to elect another. It is all because of her that I have no chance of being noticed by the emperor at all!
“And Miaka…why is the emperor spending so much time with her when he wouldn’t do so to any other of his concubines?”
“So you like Hotohori!”
“Miaka, are you alright?” Tamahome immediately asked.
“I’m fine!” walking up to Nuriko she stretched her hand out with the rock on it. “I didn’t find your ear ring but this stone is quite pretty too, why don’t you have this and wear it as a necklace?”
“I…”
“I am sorry that you like Hotohori but I met him and his empress tonight and I know he really loves her, because he told me that the one wish he would wish is for his people to be happy, but the wish he most desire is to make his empress happy.”
“Idiot, you are just making the situation even worse.” Tamahome hissed to Miaka.
“Don’t worry about it, Nuriko!” Miaka laughed, patting the other’s back. “Come to the market with Tamahome and I tomorrow, we are bound to meet some gorgeous boys!”
“Miaka…that is not why we are going…”
“Why are you being so nice to me after what I just did?” Nuriko asked at the same time, and Miaka seemed to regard her question as the more important one, as she answered her instead of Tamahome.
“Because I want you to be my friend!”

The other cause of Yuri’s illness brought by Miaka beside guilt was the memories that she had tried so hard to forget. She would dream of these lonely days even though she could feel Hotohori’s arms around her. These memories affected her more then she imagined.
She understood her beloved’s loneliness too well because she herself had underwent a similar feeling until the day she met Hotohori, now Miaka’s arrival made many of what she wanted to forget surface again.
“But maybe you will be proud of me, mama,” she was crouching beside the pond, trying to see her mother’s face in her rather blurred reflection. “You made me promise that I will marry a good man who will take care of me forever, unlike what happened to you. I have done that, and I think you would like your son-in-law very much if you could meet him.”
Her father? She rarely thought of her father since the day he abandoned them all, though he had been the one person whose love she desperately wanted to possess. Childishly, she had reasoned that a father would love a child if the mother did.
Hotohori heard all the words his beloved empress said in a private reverie that was no longer silent. He was glad that she was feeling better but he was still a bit upset at what happened last night, as she actually lied to him.
But he trusted her and he believed in her, he was sure that she would tell him her reasons when she was ready. He had told her that she would have a choice in every thing that she do, so he would not force her to give him the answer, although he greatly desired it.
Walking to her he placed his arms on her shoulders, and she lovingly pressed his hand against her face.
Their pleasant interlude, however, was interrupted by a soldier who knelt at the doorway to the empress’ section of the palace.
“Your majesty, the celestial warrior Tamahome is back with the priestess, she is unconscious and…”
“Miaka is sick!” Tamahome snapped, approaching with Miaka in his arms, while Nuriko was beside him, her hand on Miaka’s forehead. “We met some slavers in the city and…”
“What are you two just standing there for? Tamahome, take her to my room so she can lie down!” Yuri snapped. “Nuriko, go and fetch the royal physician at once!”

Miaka felt herself being placed onto a soft bed and then someone was dabbing water onto her forehead. Squinting her eyes open she saw her mother.
“Mama…Papa…”
It wasn’t her mother after all, but her father? Her father whom she had not seen for about five years now. He was just as she remembered, so cheerful, he would always greet them with a joke. When he was there they were all laughing.
“Onichan?” (10)
The figure become blurry again and when her eyes finally focused she saw another person. A much elder girl whom she rarely get to see, as her mother forbade her to see her, and even if she wanted to, the other’s very early schedule made meetings quite impossible.
“Oneesan?” (11)
She could still recognize that hair style, when she first came to them her hair was so long and she would always tie half of it up with a ribbon, later on she had to cut it but Miaka was sure that the last time she saw her, the hair had grew rather long again. As a child, Miaka had always been filled with envy wherever she saw her half sister. Because she was so beautiful.
Yet that was such a long time ago, not as long as her father’s absence, but it would still have been a few years. She remembered so little of her now. (12)
The ribbon seemed unnaturally bright and she was suddenly filled with a desire of tugging it loose.
“You hair is so pretty, oneesan, how do you tie it like that just by one ribbon?”

If Hotohori, Tamahome and Nuriko had remain in Yuri’s chamber then they would have seen Yuri turning very pale at the mentioning of the word elder sister, and when Miaka tugged her hair she withdrew, almost stumbling.
“Miaka…” Yuri whispered dumbly, watching the younger girl who was still stretching her hand out and muttering. “So you will still recognize me.”
When the rest returned they found Yuri’s maids taking over the job their mistress was previously doing, the two young girls told Hotohori that the empress was at the altar of Suzaku.
Hotohori found her kneeling in front of the statue again, her eyes tightly shut with her hands clenched together. She was so absorbed in her prayers that she didn’t even notice him.
“We found a way to send her back.”
At the sound of his voice she trembled slightly and he fancied that the glows of her eyes were almost wild, but seeing that it was only him she seemed to immediately calm down.
“You will send her away?” she asked, hugging him tightly.
“She promises that she will be back.” He returned her hug, not fully sure of why she was embracing him in an almost desperate fashion. A few minutes later he was even more shock as he felt the front of his robe getting damp.
“I am so sorry to be such a burden to you, Hotohori,” she whispered between her weeping, “You are worrying about your whole kingdom while I am distracting you by being so weak and almost hysterical! But it’s just that I am so worried about every thing!”
“I know the pressure you have went through, it is all right to cry, Yuri.” He assured her, pulling her even closer to breathe the fragrance of her hair, while his lips rested on her forehead.
Had he know the real reason of her tears then he would not just hold her in his arms. Yuri was crying because she realized that she could no longer stay beside him as his empress, his consort, his beloved.
As soon as Miaka had that look of half awareness in her eyes, she knew that she must leave him, because Miaka would eventually recognize her as her half sister, and once she revealed that, Hotohori would know that she was from the other world.
She could have spared him and his people so much pain if she had told him that she was from that world in the first place. But that was her hidden secret, because of her own selfish desire of wanting to be with him as his empress she concealed it. (13)
“I am being punished.” She whispered to herself.
She would leave because she could not bear to see the look of hurt and even fury in Hotohori’s eyes when he discovered her identity. She was sure that he would be angry because although he loved her so much, his people were very important too. To an extent they were more important then her, and she made them suffer through her own selfishness.
We will both break our promise, she concluded sadly. She was clinging onto Hotohori so tightly because soon she would be letting go out of her own freewill, and be away from him.
Yet she rather release her hold herself instead of letting him shook her hand off. (14)


1 In this fan fiction Nuriko’s jealousy on Miaka will be completely unrational, she will be jealous on the base that Miaka gets to spend sometime alone with Hotohori. And I’ll be describing Nuriko as a female because right now, every one else in the story think of her as a female.
2 I am not that sure but it seems that in the anime she was actually wearing both.
3 Technically Yuri should never wander around in only her under-dress as she is the empress, even if she is only at her private garden with Hotohori, and no one else would ever come, as the modesty factor in ancient China is really strong. Although their under-dressers would be seen as perfectly acceptable outer dresses by us.
4 I don’t know what exact year Fushigi Yugi was set in but I presume girls in Japan have to cut their hair after elementary school (primary) in Japan as well. I think it is quite a Chinese, Japanese, Taiwanese and Korean thing, girls have to cut their hair after elementary school. I don’t really know if they still do it in these country though, it didn’t happen to me as I went to New Zealand when I was in elementary school. But my mum had to cut her hair up to her ears when she entered junior high school, and my cousin, who is only a few years older then me, had to have her hair cut to her chin.
5 I know that technically Miaka shouldn’t be doing this yet as she only got fooled by Hotohori, right now she still thinks Nuriko is a woman. But well, Miaka’s action in regard to that always crack me up so I thought I’ll put that in with her first meeting with Yuri. Well, let us just presumed that for the sake of this story that she is either a bit paranoid after discovering Hotohori is actually a man, or/and she have been fooled by others as well.
6 One thing I noticed while reading the manga is that the author quite like doing this, making the characters being examined in various angles. I don’t know how to describe this but for example, when Miaka first told Hotohori that she is from another world, we see Miaka in the centre, while the author drew Hotohori three times in the same frame to show him looking at her from ever angle. That is what I am trying to describe, this is that Miaka is doing to Yuri.
7 In the manga Hotohori is actually eighteen but due to the plot of the story he will be older. Yuri met him when they were both eighteen and since two years passed they are naturally now twenty. I want them to be a bit older as I am trying to go for a more serious path, and also, I don’t think Yuri would agree to marry him if she was only sixteen at that time.
8 Time seem to pass faster in the book world, and Tasuki told Miaka that it had been two years since he last saw her when for Miaka, it was only half a year. So the same thing happened.
9 June 22, 2006: The poem that Hotohori quoted to Yuri is actually one of Hotohori’s character song, it is called “Boki no Uchuu ni kimi ga iru, (In my universe, there is you) and I got the translation from www.animelyrics.com, his character songs are really beautiful. I admit that I did do some…editing, as I cut some lines off, but to see the original, go to that site. Although it kind of make me feel more sad that he didn’t end up with the one he love, so this is where fan fiction comes in!
10 According to the site I used this is suppose to be the affectionate term of elder brother.
11 This is meant to be the more formal way of addressing an elder sister. Please do correct me if I got this wrong.
12 By this time I think it is really obvious who Yuri is, although Miaka herself will not find out until the next chapter. Basically in this fan fiction Yuri is Miaka’s half sister, they share the same father.
13 The title of the story.
14 I think Yuri’s reason is understandable, but not that logical, but then she is a woman in love. I don’t really think Hotohori will hate her for not telling him that she is from that world as she only knows about the legend after she lost her chastity and I highly doubt that he would want her to die for Konan’s sake. (as I said earlier, in my version a priestess can still summon one of the God even if she is not a virgin, the only draw back is that she will be killed by the God for certain, which is a clue to what I plan to do later on..)
In the next chapter Miaka would be back to her own world and through her we discover more about Yuri’s past in her ‘old’ world. Yuri will also leave Hotohori. And in the next next chapter Tasuki will be found by Yuri.