autumnleaf16

Perhaps I should try and spend more time on my blog but then I haven’t even written in my diary that often. But anyway, here we are: the last chapter, the epilogue of my fushigi yugi fan fiction: Hidden Secrets. But there is a sequel for this, so if you really like it then I hope you’ll read the next one to, but I think I’m going to put up my prince of tennis ones first.

What happened last time: Yuri and Hotohori are finally united, and now they are going back to the village of Konan, to be married.

Epilogue

The village of Konan was very isolated from the rest of civilization. In order to get there, one had to first take a train ride of two days from Tokyo, and once at the train station of the closest town, they would be met with the cart from the village, which they would ride for about an hour before they finally arrive at their destination.
It was rare for Konan’s inhabitant to leave the village even on a semi permanent base like Ju-An and Ryoen for the sake of further education. Sometimes villagers might go into the town but it was not a common event, as the villagers were self sufficient in growing their own resources. There was only one phone in the village, and that was at the leader’s house for emergency and urgent news.
Three months ago the village received their biggest news of the year: Seishuku, the village leader’s elder son, was engaged a few weeks after his arrival in Tokyo and planed to get marry as soon as he could.
Not much was known about his future bride, other then her name, and the fact that the marriage was delayed because she was still recovering from an accident, so she was still in hospital, where she met Seishuku.
That was why the driver of the cart today was the village leader, with his wife accompanying him. They were both very eager to meet their soon to be their daughter in law. They loved both of their sons greatly, and they had been a bit worried at Seishuku who never showed any interest in girls, that was why they were overjoyed at the news of his engagement.
“What are your parents like, Hotohori…I mean, Seishuku.” Yuri quickly corrected herself.
“We can just say that Hotohori is your nickname for me.” Seishuku said cheerfully, now that he remembered his past life, both names were equally familiar to him, although he preferred the name Hotohori more then Seishuku right now, as that was what Yuri had called him most of the time.
He was truly grateful to be reborn into a life where he was free from the large amount of responsibility that he had as the emperor.
“My parents? I don’t really know if my parents as Seishuku are what Hotohori’s parents might have been if they were just ordinary people.” he began, but was interrupted by the appearance of the cart with his parents on it.
“Seishuku, where is she?” his father called out even before they reached them. “Where is our future daughter?”
“Papa, you are more happy to see her then your own son?” he protested playfully, laughing he swept up Yuri into his arms and ran to the cart, carrying her. “Here she is, your beautiful new daughter!”
Yuri spent the last three months recovering, as she had been in a coma for three years her leg became rather weak due to the lack of use. Seishuku would arrive as soon as the hospital opened, and spend all his time with her until he had to go work, then he would rush here as soon as he finished, and stayed until the hospital close.
With his help, holding her as she began to walk again, she managed to recover completely and be allowed to be discharged from the hospital in three months’ time.
During this time Seishuku told her many thing of his new life, and he assured her that he was so much more happy living as Seishuku, a son of the village leader of a rather small village, instead of Hotohori, the emperor of a vast kingdom.
“This means that I can spend most of my time with you.” He had said happily, stroking her hair. “And I no longer have to worry about a kingdom anymore. I can just focus on you completely.
He also sent the news of their engagement to his village, so they could start preparing for the wedding. Strangely, the wedding date was set on one week after the day she left the hospital. The total time between their reunion in the hospital and their wedding, was the exact same amount of the time that had lapsed between Hotohori’s first meeting with Yuri and their elaborate wedding.
There was one thing she didn’t ask him yet, and that was what his parents were like. Even though Yuri regarded them as already married she still wanted to have the ceremony held as quick as possible, so everyone else would see them as married. Therefore she had been rather worried at whether his parents would allow their son to marry a woman whom to them, he only just met.
Nuriko…no, Ryoen clearly thought that his brother was bewitched. Likewise, Ju-An and Hojen were both shocked at their friend’s engagement. Not that they were condemning her, but she wished that they would stop looking at the two of them strangely.
Their main consol was that one day, hopefully soon, the memories of being Nuriko, Mitsukake and Chichiri would surface.
Seishuku’s parents were certainly not what she expected, but then she was thinking of the parents he had as Hotohori, a distant father bound by his duty, and a mother who was obsessed with keeping her power.
The village leader was in his late fifties, his hair was a hard grey but apart from that there were no more obvious signs that betrayed his age. He still seemed rather strong and he was controlling the two horses with minimum effort. Even though he was the village leader who was held with great respect and reverence in Konan, he appeared just like anyone else in the village with no hint of any airs.
Beside him was the most important woman in the village, his wife. She was only in her early forties, being seventeen years younger then her husband. Unlike Hotohori’s mother she was very friendly and open.
Perhaps the main difference was that both loved their sons and showed the love openly. Jumping down from the cart Seishuku’s father immediately gave Yuri a hug and a loud kiss on her cheeks.
“We are very expressive in Konan.” He said with a wink at Seishuku.
“My son certainly chose a very pretty bride.” Seishuku’s mother said, bidding Yuri to sit beside her. Once Yuri did so she took Yuri’s hand and began to speak to her very affectionately.
“Are you ready to live in the village for the rest of your life, my dear?”
Yuri nodded. “I just want to be with Hotohori, and I think I will like the village.”
“Then we consider you as a very suitable bride for our son.”
The journey back to the village was very pleasant, the family all began to tell Yuri about the nature of their village, and about the upcoming wedding.
Much to Yuri’s shock the whole village had assembled at the gate, eager to meet their future village leader’s bride to be. All of this took her back to the time she had spent in the universe of the four gods once more. Rows and rows of people beside the street, throwing flowers at their new empress. She waved at them, still in daze at her new position…
“Yuri, the village seamstress is waiting for us in your future home.” Seishuku’s mother announced, dragging her back into the real world. “We have to assure that your wedding gown fits.”
“And Seishuku, come with me to pick the jewellery for Yuri.” The village leader said.
“When the village leader or his heir marries, he has the right to pick one of the three jewelleries in Konan to give to his future bride. She would have the right to wear them until she die.” Raising her hand the village leader’s wife showed Yuri the ruby decorated gold bangle on her wrist. “This is the jewellery my husband chose for me.”
The wedding garment of Konan was of the ultimate importance as it was also their funeral gown. Looking at her new reflection in the mirror, it was if she was going back through time.
Her wedding gown seemed identical to the one she had worn the day she became empress. Obviously, the material of this dress was not as fine as the other one, but the style and the embroidery looked completely similar.
“It is such a beautiful dress.” she finally said.
“A bride looks beautiful in whatever she wears.” The seamstress said sagely, “Every single wedding gown in this village is made by my family.”
“As I said, my son certainly chose a very beautiful bride!” her future mother in law said again, smiling with true affection at Yuri.
“I have something I must ask you, and I wish for you to tell the truth.” Yuri began nervously, her gaze slipping down so they ended up staring at the hem of the richly pattered dress. “Are you truly happy with his choice? After all, it is a very quick wedding and an even quicker engagement. I know that is what his brothers and friends all think. But I truly love your son and I…”
Smiling warmly, her future mother in law placed her hand on Yuri’s chin and titled it so that Yuri ended up looking right at her.
“I am very happy for my son. I also understand why you are afraid of other’s disapproval, as we live in a time when we are expected to know our future partner for sometime before we marry them, perhaps it is worse outside Konan, as one reached to the stage that they simply expect their first relationship to fail as few people end up marrying their first lover.
“When I first met my husband I was fifteen, while he was thirty two. It was at one of the festivals and that was the first time I actually met him properly, we danced together and by the end of the dance we know that we want to marry.
“I believe strongly that you are able to recognize the one that you will love forever when you see them. I certainly did, and I believe you and Seishuku have recognized that in each other.”
Smiling with tears threatening to fall, Yuri nodded.
“Now, this gown…” her future mother in law began practically, after giving Yuri an loving pat on the head, making Yuri thought of her two maids with a slight sadness, although she knew they should be able to seek their own happiness. “I think the hem might be a bit too tight here.”
“It is best for her to walk around a bit then.” The seamstress suggested.
Doing so she ended up in the gathering hall of the village. Right in the very end, against one wall, was the statue of Suzaku, identical to the one that she prayed in front of for many days in Hotohori’s palace.
“Suzaku…” Yuri whispered out in wonder as she knelt in front of the statue.
“Has Seishuku been telling you about the many legends we have in this village? He has always been fascinated about these old tales.” the voice of her future father in law said as he approached her. “This is our village guardian.”
“Yes, papa, I have been telling her about Konan’s legends.” Seishuku said, this was not untrue, as when he was Hotohori, he had told Yuri many of Konan’s stories.
Seeing Yuri he choked, if her hair wasn’t untied, then he would have wonder whether he was dreaming again, as she was dressed in the very same way she had the day he made her into his empress in the kingdom of Konan.
“You look so beautiful…” he quickly said, using that as an excuse.
Smiling, his parents excused themselves to let the two of them be alone. As soon as this happened Seishuku went up to Yuri and took her into his arms again.
“Isn’t it strange how everything is the same as it was?” he whispered softly.
“Only that we will be happy for the rest of our life.” Yuri corrected him. “You are not an emperor, and neither Seiryuu nor Suzaku have anymore claim on us.”
Nodding he pulled her closer for another kiss, then he took her hand and put something on her palm.
Looking down Yuri gasped slightly, in her hand was a strand of pearls.
“This is actually one of the village’s treasures.” He told her. “When I saw it, I thought this would be the most suitable thing to give you.”
Suddenly he was a bit afraid, was it possible that this was another trick that fate or the gods were playing? If everything was so similar then was it possible that they would have to suffer again? He could not go through what he underwent as Hotohori when Yuri left him.
He did not see her death but the memory of her death still brought tears to his eyes, along with an unbearable sadness, even when he woke up with her sleeping against him.
Watching him, Yuri realized what he must be thinking. Then she would tell him her news now, instead of at their wedding night as she had originally planned. Grabbing his hand she pressed it against her abdomen.
“Can you feel anything, Seishuku?” she asked with a huge smile on her face.
Bewildered, he shook his head.
Cupping his face with one hand, while the other rested on his shoulders she gently guided his body to move so that he ended up keeling in front of her with his ear resting where his hand had previously been.
“Can you hear anything then?”
Once again, he shook his head.
She leant down to whisper right in his ear.
“I am pregnant.”
“What?!” at this he quickly pulled himself up, for a long time he just stood there and stared at her. Then he finally whispered: “Is…is that really true?”
She nodded, “I think our child will be a month old now. I noticed that everything seemed to be repeating too, but I don’t think it is because we are going to relive everything, including our suffering and parting. I think it happens because we are having the second chance of living our life without the approaching tragedy. We are living the way our life should have been if we were from the same world.”
Half laughing, half sobbing he embraced her tightly, then put his hand on her abdomen again. He was not certain but he swore that the statue of Suzaku seemed to be smiling at them.
He strongly believed…no, he knew that Yuri was right, they would be able to live the rest of their life in happiness.

Author’s Random comment- written in July 8, 2006

So my fan fiction is now officially finished. I guess I just put this up as I feel like it. This is basically my thoughts and all that in regard to this fan fiction, and a bit of my own view in regard to Fushigi Yugi. I just finished cheeking my epilogue and it is pretty late right now, so it will be pretty messy.
Word of warning now: it is very random, very long, and rather pointless most of the time, though it does contain some explanations of how my story ended up the way it is. But basically: read at your own risk of being bored.  Don’t say I didn’t warn you that it is not important!
I managed to obtain Fushigi Yugi from my sister’s friend, and when I start to read it I just got really hooked into it that I finished the whole thing in one day. I think the main reason is that I really wanted to read a romance, and Fushigi Yugi just had it. Miaka and Tamahome’s romance did really touch me, and I ended up really eager in wanting to find out what was going to happen.
My favourite character is Hotohori the moment he comes out. He truly is one of the most beautiful drawn manga character that I have ever seen (and I have a thing for guys with long hair- even in manga world it seems!). But what really touches me is Hotohori’s character. The way he loves Miaka in an unrequited fashion but remains in love with her even though he knows he has no chance. When I read his love declarations to Miaka I was just so touched! It’s the cases of taking out the boxes of tissues.
As I said in the very beginning of my fan fiction, judging from the manga I think he never stopped loving Miaka even though he married Houki, because I think while he regard her with affection, he does not love her the way he loves Miaka.
The one thing about Fushigi Yugi that really annoys me is how Hotohori kind of got shoved to the back ground. In the first few books he was so important, and then after book 7 I think he just rarely get to come out since he had to stay in Konan while the other travel. Likewise in the anime’s opening, he actually appears with Tamahome when all the seven celestial warriors kind of demonstrates their powers (Nuriko lift up a big rock, Taisuke waves his fan, then Hotohori- drawing his sword- appearing with Tamahome after everyone else appears.)
I was on a web site about Fushigi Yugi the other day and the site creator actually like Hotohori the least (Sob, sob, how cruel is that!) I do disagree with that person’s claim of Hotohori not being aware of what is happening, isn’t it the opposite? Hotohori is filled with the whole burden of an emperor and all that.
I came up with the idea of doing a fan fiction when I was just randomly thinking about the story, like many Hotohori fans I feel really sad that his love is never returned. However, I really don’t like the idea of him being with Miaka cause I felt that the author showed Miaka is meant to be with Tamahome since their first meeting,, and I don’t think Miaka can be a suitable empress- even an empress in an eastern world. (I always get the impression that Eastern empresses have less duty then western queens. And in ancient China your birth does not matter that much in you being the empress or an concubine.)
So I came up with the idea of having a Hotohori OC paring, despite Hotohori being attracted to Miaka due to her cheerful nature, I actually had an idea of an OC who is rather depressing and sad, perhaps it is also because I felt that so many Fushigi Yugi fan fictions are so light hearted, that I wanted to attempt something serious to a degree. I guess I want to have an OC who will manage to share Hotohori’s burden due to understanding.
Somehow I decided to make Yuri (at the start she just got called Yuri because I wanted to give her a flower name, and I thought Yuri sounds the nicest) into Miaka’s half sister, because I wanted them to have a connection even though Yuri would be older as she would be the same age as Hotohori. Since Miaka’s dad left them I thought I’ll let Yuri be her half sister, as they couldn’t be that close either. Due to Yuri’s background she became a character who was rather melancholic and longed to be loved yet very sceptical about being in love.
I like Miaka quite a bit but I have to say, she can be quite useless sometimes, and the fact that she and Tamahome often just hide what they really want to say kind of frustrate me a bit. So I wanted to Yuri to be a bit more useful, hence she ended up wielding a sword. And I wanted her to be bit less impulsive then Miaka- which is why she is kind of really sombre.
That is my initial ideas for the fan fiction that remained the same in this version, however the rest of my original ideas were very different. Miaka and Yuri were actually closer then they are in this version, so she actually fell into the book with Miaka somehow. Yui was meant to be in the story too as the priestess of Seiryuu.
What happened was that Yuri was separated from Miaka and she worked in a tavern, and met Hotohori there (escaping from the palace for some reason), and this being a fairy tale romance () he kind of fell in love with her at first sight, and offered to take her with him. Being Yuri she said that she was unsure, she must have more time.
Later on Yuri was found by Miaka and she ended up in the palace. Hotohori made her his personal servant, an excuse for him to be with her. And I was actually going to write the bit in volume one when Hotohori first offered to make Miaka his empress with Yuri in it.
And when they met Tai Yi-Jun Yuri actually helped Miaka to go back by giving up her own right to go back. In this version she really just fell into the book by pure accident, and she had no special purpose in the book.
I suppose I really just wanted to write all the romantic scenes with Hotohori with my OC, to make it no longer an unrequited love. So some of the other scenes I had planed to do were: the mirror image- where the mirror image insulted Yuri, and Hotohori ended up comforting her; a farewell between Yuri and Hotohori when Yuri chose to accompany Miaka and Nuriko to find the rest; the kiss from Hotohori just before they got caught by bandits; the fever bit where Hotohori had to kill her for Shoka to revive her; and the drowning scene where she was the one drowning instead of Miaka.
This version was more cheerful as well, they actually found Chiriko straight away and they just summoned Suzaku straight away and everything ended happily with everyone living. Yuri stayed in Konan as Hotohori’s empress. Although with this version I had the idea of writing about the bits in volume 14-18 as well. I had the idea that what happened was that a civil war broke out in Konan, so Hotohori had to go out, in his absence Yuri felt sick (like the real Houki). Eventually Taka and Miaka came and they discovered that one of the stones was in Yuri, and also one of the person working for the ‘evil guy’ –sorry I only have his Chinese name- was actually one of Hotohori’s brothers.
Obviously my ideas for Hidden secrets changed- I only come up with the title after I typed the prologue. One night I couldn’t sleep so I was thinking about whether I should actually start doing a bit of fan fiction writing when I suddenly came up with a new set of ideas for Yuri. I guess I kind of reversed things. She went to the book herself and met Hotohori and became his empress, and initially she actually gave birth to twins soon after her marriage- a girl and a boy.
In the second version of ideas I decided to let her have the last name of Houki, as she is going to be with Hotohori obviously I can’t have Houki coming out. But Houki is such a pretty name so I really wanted to use that, that then become her title which is really good- it’s certainly elaborate enough.
But what happened was that Yui arrived with Miaka, and Yuri actually saw Yui and she recognized Yui from that world, and she started to feel guilty even before she saw Miaka due to the fact that she hid about her identity. Then she saw Miaka, which caused her to leave the palace. She wanted to find the rest celestial warriors as a way of redemption but she was not the priestess of Seiryuu, she only went to Kutou in her old cloths and hoped that she would be taken to be the priestess as she was just really desperate to save Konan. She ended up calling Seiryuu not because she was destined to, but because she just did.
Initially I was going to put Yui as I thought since Yui won’t be the priestess of Seiryuu, why not have her in the story? But then I couldn’t be stuffed due to the fact that the story is pretty much focused on Hotohori and Yuri.
I also had two possible ends for this new version. One was that Yuri stayed in Konan, but in a coma, until Miaka and Taka returned- where they found a stone in her and therefore woke her up. Or to let everyone be reborn. Although everyone but Miaka and Yui no longer remember what had happened as they were reborn or resurrected.
I was going to write a bit about volume 13-18’s event too, as well as more of their life in the present. Because of this I was actually going to make Nuriko into a girl, as it would be much more easier to write about him/her that way.
When I started to type the prologue up everything kind of changed again, the biggest change is that I decided to make Yuri into the priestess of Seiryuu, this kind of became her destiny all along. I also made their story more tragic- the whole thing about her being barren and all that. Somehow I didn’t end up having Yui in this story other then to read the book. Then there was many things in this fan fiction that just came as I type, completely unplanned. eg. The whole mark on her head, and deciding that the celestial warriors will regain their memories etc etc. but otherwise most stuff remained the same as the ideas I had for the second version.
Originally I never thought I would finish Hidden Secrets this fast but because of the reviews that I got I just feel so encouraged. I spent ages in front of my computer, typing it up and reworking on it. Thanks to everyone who read the story, especially those who reviewed it.
Ok…I have blabbered on for three A4 pages. If you are still reading this thank you very much, you are truly an amazing person, and I am very grateful that you are actually willing to read this. 