Late AGAIN!  I AM sorry.

This is the last chapter.
 ... There will be an epilogue.  (You'll see why at
the end.)

Please enjoy.

Raye

------------------

Starlit Reflections: Dark Quarter 

by Raye Johnsen
raye_j@yahoo.com

*****
	Fushigi Yuugi is copyright Watase Yuu, Flower Comics,
Studio Perriot, Pioneer Entertainment, Viz
Communications and other interested parties.  The
characters and situation are used without permission
for personal entertainment only, and no copyright
infringements are intended.  No profit is being made
from this fic; if there was, Tasuki and Tamahome would
lighten me of it, as soon as they could.
*****

Chapter Eight: Summoning - Takiko


	It is hard for me to define Takiko, as I think of her
now.  Idealistic yet practical in ways I'd never
imagined; innocent, yet knowing more of humanity than
I ever would.

	I know that she found our world confusing and alien
and yet she gave of herself selflessly for our sake. 
She was a stranger in our land and I don't think she
ever forgot that, and yet she was only one step below
a goddess to our people.

	She was my first and best friend, and I loved her. 
That's all I can think of to say.  I loved her.

	There are worse epitaphs.

*****

	"You were not easy to find," Urumiya said, making
himself comfortable beside our fire, as if he had not
been a total stranger quarter of an hour earlier. 
"That isn't a bad thing, though, what with all the
Koutou spies around, trying to track you down and kill
you."

	"Koutou spies?" Takiko replied, horror in her voice.

	"Why, yes," Urumiya answered her.  "It was a Koutou
spy who torched all the inns in the quarter where you
were staying last light.  Didn't you know?"

	"No," Takiko replied shakily.  "We thought..."

	Iname stepped forward.  "I'm sorry - who are you?"

	The redheaded man beside the fire looked up at him
and smiled.  He sang, "Oh, and he was a friend to all
he met, and an ally to all he knew; and I am he, oh
believe me, to you I will be true."

	As he sang, the delicate tracery of the symbol 'wei',
which means 'roof', glowed at the base of his throat.

	"I really shouldn't do that," he murmured, "but a
practical demonstration is always better than an
involved explanation."  Raising his voice, he added,
"My name is Wang Cu, but I'm also known as Urumiya."

	I stepped forward, and smiled at him.  "It's good to
meet you!  I'm Uruki, and this is Iname.  Have you met
Hatsui?"  For some reason, I felt no need to hold
back.  This man was a friend, and I knew I could trust
him.  Furthermore, he was Urumiya.

	"We've met," Hatsui said shortly.

	"I should mention," Urumiya added, "that my
shichiseishi talent is that everyone who hears me sing
believes what I sing."

	There was a sudden silence around the eight of us. 
We were all rather taken aback.  Did this mean....

	"But you *can* believe me," he finished, and smiled
again.

	"Ho!" came a yell from the side of the camp.  On the
back of a horse there sat a slightly older man, who
looked like he was about thirty, as opposed to
Urumiya's late twenties.  We turned to see a man in
the clothes of the plains, sitting astride a shaggy
pony.  His auburn hair was loose down his back and he
was grinning.

	"Yung Lu!  Everyone, this is my best friend, Yung
Lu."

	"A pleasure to meet you," the man lied.  Hatsui
stiffened beside me, so I knew I wasn't imagining
things.
 
	Urumiya stood and stretched.  "You can't stay here
now," he pointed out.  "If I can track you down, then
so can others.  Why not stay with my tribe for a
while?  I can guarantee you'll be welcome."

	So we all saddled up and rode out to join a tribe of
nomads as they wandered past, leaving quite a number
of pursuits behind.

*****

	Urumiya had not told us he was a *chieftain*. 
Knowing him, I think the omission was deliberate.

	His two wives were quarrelling in front of his tent
as we all rode up.  They didn't stop either, but
pulled him into it, each demanding Urumiya support
her.

	What I found amazing about it was the way all three
of them were grinning as they argued over whose turn
it was to supervise the cooking.  Eventually the
argument was settled (though to me it merely looked
like everyone simply ran out of breath) and all three
turned to welcome us to the camp.

	That led to an argument over whose tent Takiko would
stay in, followed by a quarrel over whether I would
stay with her.

	As his two wives happily squabbled, I slipped up to
Urumiya and pulled his sleeve.  "Do they do this all
the time?" I whispered.

	"Yes," he replied the same way.  "Don't try to stop
them.  If they can't argue, they're miserable."

	I blinked.  "Why?" I asked.

	"They're sisters.  They grew up fighting.  They love
each other dearly though, and if they're separated
they're absolutely devastated."  Urumiya flashed a
grin at me.  "And they make sure I'm never bored." 
With that, he plunged into the argument himself.

	Iname stepped up beside me.  "What price for a quiet
life?" he said.

	"Something tells me," I replied, "that he prefers it
this way."

*****

	That afternoon, I managed to quietly shake off the
littles who were determined to follow me everywhere. 
I took the opportunity to hunt for Iname, who had
vanished, apparently into thin air.

	I didn't notice that Hatsui wasn't around either.

	I walked around a clump of bushes into a small
clearing, to see Hatsui punch Iname.  Iname blocked
the blow with his forearm, and kicked out.  Hatsui
grunted, and swept Iname's legs out from under him. 
Iname, in his turn, rolled and caught Hatsui's ankle,
bringing him down to the ground in his turn.  Both of
them lay on their stomachs, panting, then rolled to
their feet.  They circled each other warily, neither
taking his eyes from his opponent.

	It was silent.  That was, in its way, more unnerving
than anything else.  This was serious.  The two men
were trying to seriously hurt each other.

	A soft voice began to filter across the air.  "We
face each other from different sides....  The anger
burns - can't remember why!  It's kind of crazy to
cause such pain.... Our foolish pride makes us hate
this way!  We watch our world fall apart....  Tell me,
what good is winning when you lose your heart?"

	Urumiya stepped out from the other side of the
impromptu arena.  "Well?" he asked, speaking normally.
 "What good is fighting like this?  Uruki has made her
choice.  This fight won't make her change her mind."

	Me?  This was about *me*?  

	"This isn't about her," Iname said.  "This is about
what he said!"

	"And I meant it!" Hatsui hissed viciously.  "You're a
two-bit thief who's been kicked out of his own
profession!  You've probably got a string of lovers
all over Tolan - you don't deserve to even *look* at
her!"

	"I resent that!" Iname snapped.  "I may have *been* a
thief, but I do not have, and never have had, any
'string of lovers'!  And *you're* not the one who'll
decide if I'm worthy of Uruki!"

	"Stop this NOW!" Urumiya commanded.  "Do I have to
adopt Uruki and make the two of you court her properly
to make the two of you behave like civilized people?"

	They both blanched.  I didn't blame them.  The idea
of Urumiya as my heavy-handed father was enough to
make *me* blanch, too.

	"What do you say, Uruki?"  Urumiya suddenly asked,
looking up at me.  "This is your future."

	Both Iname and Hatsui glanced at each other, then
followed Urumiya's eyes to see me beside the tree. 
The matched looks of dismay on their faces would have
been funny if the situation hadn't been so serious.

	I looked at both of them.  "Urumiya is right," I told
them.  "I've made my choice."  I looked at Hatsui. 
"I'm sorry, Hatsui," I said softly.  "I don't know why
I've chosen Iname.  I only know that I have."  Then I
looked at Iname.  "And I'm not that impressed with you
either right now."  I looked up at Urumiya.  "I'm
going back to the camp."

	"Good idea," he smiled, wrapping his arms across the
two younger men's shoulders.  I probably wasn't
supposed to see the way his fingers dug into their
shoulder muscles, or Iname's wince.  "I've got a few
things to say to the boys, so you go ahead." 

*****

	That night, after dinner, when we were wrapped up in
our sleeping furs, I told Takiko what had happened
that afternoon.  She was sympathetic - to a point. 
This was exasperating.

	"You did the right thing," she told me.

	"Did I?" I questioned.  "Maybe I could have stopped
it...."

	"It's been building ever since you brought Iname
back," she told me authoritively.  "Ever since it
became obvious you weren't in love with Hatsui, the
way he was in love with you, and that you *were* in
love with someone else."

	"I didn't even know," I said sadly.

	"We knew *that*, too," she said.  "Cheer up, it's not
that bad.  They've got it out of their system now."

	"It can't be that simple."

	"You'll see."

*****

	Amazingly enough, she was right.  The next day, Iname
and Hatsui glared at each other, but they spoke
civilly to each other, when they spoke at all.

	So we got down to the serious business of working out
where to hold the ritual.

	"According to the scroll," Takiko said, "I need to be
near water.  I have to read the prayer, then hold the
scroll under flowing water.  If the ritual has been
carried out correctly, Genbu will come."

	"Running water?"  Tomite said thoughtfully.  "That's
pretty rare here in Hokkan.  We have lots of wells,
but not very many rivers.  Does it have to be
naturally-occurring running water, or can we pour
water onto it from a jug?"

	"I'm not sure," Takiko said slowly.  "I don't think
so... although I would imagine Genbu would prefer a
fountain or something like that."

	"That explains why they always have fountains in all
the Temples of Genbu!" I suddenly realized.  Then I
noticed everyone staring at me.  "Sorry," I said,
hunching in on myself.

	"We can't go to a Temple, Uruki," Namame told me, in
a long-suffering tone of voice.  "Spies from Koutou,
remember?"

	"I remember," I told him sulkingly.  "I'm not a
child!"

	"Could've fooled me," he murmured.

	I didn't stick my tongue out at him, despite the
temptation.

	"A Temple, hmm?" Urumiya said musingly.  "What about
a hidden Temple?"

	"A hidden Temple?" Hikitsu asked.  "What do you
mean?"

	"Three hundred years ago, the then-Great Khan was
converted to Buddhism.  He was very fervent about his
new religion, and... *discouraged* the worship of
Genbu.  People who remained loyal to the old religion
had to conceal their worship," Hatsui said.  "What?  I
liked studying history," he continued in an aggrieved
tone.  "Anyway, there were a number of secret temples
built - in hidden locations and concealed as other
types of buildings.  Some are now popular places to
worship.  But apart from those ones, none of the
hidden temples still exist."

	Urumiya grinned, a secret-keeping grin.  "That's not
- quite - true," he said.  "There's at least one
that's never been found - except by the tribe that
built it, of course."

	"So how do *you* know about it?" Iname demanded.

	Urumiya's grin widened.  "Because *we're* the ones
who built the Temple to Genbu at the peak of Mount
Black, and *we're* the only ones who know it's there."
 He smiled graciously.  "Does that suit you, Uruki?"
he asked me courteously.

	I giggled.  "It sounds good to me," I said. 
"Takiko?"

	She grinned.  "I *like* it."

	"The Calling Ceremony in *our* Temple!"  Urumiya's
younger wife was standing behind us, her youngest
child held in her arms.  "This will be an event to
remember!  We'll have to prepare - oh, it's good that
it'll take four days to get to Mount Black, we'll need
the time - oh, clothes, what will we do for
*clothes*...."  And she hurried off to find and
consult with her sister.

	We stared in befuddlement as the entire tribe
suddenly became caught up in excitement.  "... in
*our* Temple!" was about the only discernable phrase.

	"Somehow, I think they're going to want to come
along," Hikitsu said finally.

	"Somehow, so do I," Tomite agreed.

	In the excitement and preparations, which we got
caught up in, we did not see Yung Lu leave the tribe's
camp.

*****

	Four days later, we reached the snow-covered Mount
Black.  Two hours of arduous climbing through
snowdrifts brought us all to the peak, to the pair of
large, metal doors which were set into the mountain. 
And that's all they were.  Tall and metal, yes, as all
temple doors should be, but without any of the
ornamentation or symbolism that was usual for a door
of one of Genbu's temples.

	"This doesn't *look* like a holy temple," Namame
commented, giving voice to my own opinion.

	Urumiya laughed.  "It's meant not to," he said
cheerfully.  "It was built to be hidden, after all."

	"A wise decision, I think," Hikitsu said, as four of
Urumiya's tribesmen pulled open the door.

	We stepped into a plain passage.  Hewn out of the
rock, the vaulted corridor was as tall as the doors
leading into it, braced with slender, elegant columns
on either side of the passage.  The two doors at the
end of the corridor, I could see, were embossed with
the various symbols of Genbu, the way temple doors
should be.  Dark, soft and cool, I felt myself relax. 
It wasn't moist enough to be truly comfortable, but
still very nice.

	The tribe surrounding us, Takiko led us up to those
great doors.  Two men reached out to help her to open
them, but before they could touch it, she had laid her
hand, a lily on bronze, onto the door, and it
noiselessly swung open before us.  

	We gasped.

	We had passed through the mountain and come out the
other side.  But on the other side of the passageway,
rather than bare mountainside, we stepped into a great
hall.

	The hall was as rich and beautiful as the passage
leading to it had been bare and cool.  The ceiling was
high and vaulted.  The walls were panels of thick,
expensive glass, and curtained with delicate, rich
cloth.  The fluted columns that supported the vaulted
ceiling were made of purest white marble.  At the end
of the hall sat a raised dais, partitioned away from
the rest of the hall by gauze curtains so fine they
were transparent.  Behind the curtains a small,
beautiful manmade waterfall was set against the back
wall of the hall.  The song of falling water filled
the temple as we slowly filed in.

	I felt grubby and threadbare as I moved into this
clean-aired place, pitiful and insignificant before
the bas-relief image of Genbu carved on the back wall
above the waterfall.  I'd fallen over into the snow
twice on the way up - never into clean snow, I may add
- and was most aware of the fact that I looked exactly
like a person who I would avoid on the street.

	Takiko, however, looked pristine.  She was wearing
that silk foreign dress she had been wearing when she
arrived that revealed the shape of her bosom and was
really too thin for winter.  I had suggested that she
should wear a coat over it, but she had told me, quite
decidedly, that climbing a mountain was an activity
that was too hot to wear a coat for.  She had been
right.  

	Namame had looked up to greet her as she came to
breakfast, and the poor boy had nearly swallowed his
tongue as his eyes brushed those curves.  I couldn't
help but think that the light blush that ran along
Namame's cheekbones each time he glanced at her was
also a factor in Takiko's insistence on not wearing a
coat.  And I could not blame her.  If Iname were to
look at me in such a way, with all his eyes....  I
think that I would array myself in too-thin silk and
let the shape of my body be seen without any padding,
too.

	So we stood, I a wet and muddy rag-doll and she a
jade princess, dwarfed by magnificence.

	I glanced around, and realized that we two stood to
one side of the hall, with the women of Urumiya's
tribe, while the men all stood to the other.  And then
I realized we were being herded to a small door at the
side of the room.  Looking over at my star-brothers, I
saw that they, too, were being guided to an
unobtrusive exit.

	One of the women saw my concern and said, "Don't
worry!  You have to bathe and purify yourselves before
you summon Lord Genbu.  We're just taking you to the
baths."

	I immediately became as docile as a calf with the
mention of the magic word, 'bathe'.  "Please lead the
way," I told her happily.

*****

	We were a surprised, when we came out of the baths,
to find that the tribeswomen had been secretly
preparing special garments for us to wear in the
Summoning Ceremony.  I had no objection to the set
prepared for me, but Takiko was not happy about the
summoning robes that had been made for her.  "They're
indecent," she told me.

	"So is the dress you wore up here," I replied.  "What
is the difference?  If you wear this Namame's eyes
will fall out of his skull."

	"I like his eyes where they are, thank you," she
replied tartly.  "What's different is that with this
you can see my breasts!"

	I had to admit she had a point.  The summoning robe
consisted of a long-sleeved, floor-length under-robe
made of the finest gauze, a pale green just this side
of white.

	It was so fine it was transparent.  It was also slit
from hem to hip.

	There was a surcoat to go over the under-robe.  It
was made of light wool, dyed black, edged and lined
with forest-green silk.  The inch-wide border of green
was embroided over the area that would cover the chest
with a stylized image of Genbu.  Matching it was a
forest-green sash that was clearly meant to hold the
surcoat closed at the waist.

	It was knee-length, but it too was slit to the hip -
and the inch-wide border meant that the cut could not
go unnoticed.  It was also clear, from the pattern of
the embroidery and the cut, that the edges of the
surcoat were not meant to meet until they were cinched
together at the waist.

	If Takiko wore this gown, with its bare concessions
to modesty, one thing could definitely be guaranteed -
every eye in the room would *definitely* be on her.

	"Well," I said doubtfully, "maybe we can adjust it?"

	It defied adjusting.  We pulled at the collar of the
under-robe, trying to create folds that would layer
one on the other and render the robe opaque.  That
didn't work, as the robe had been very well cut.  We
tried tying the surcoat higher, and it slipped apart
to sit on her waist.  We looked for other garments,
but the only other outfit was the black wool tunic and
trousers that had been made for me.  And Takiko didn't
care to wear a shirt embroidered with bats.

	"I guess I'll *have* to wear it," she finally said
with a sigh.  "If only I had something to cover me a
little, though...."

	I suddenly thought of a particular piece of jewellery
I had.  Was it still with us?  I turned and asked one
of the tribeswomen to fetch my bag.  It was brought to
me quickly, and I quickly pulled out my jewellery-bag.

	I quickly found the particular piece I was looking
for.  It was a long-stranded necklace with an unusual
pendant.  An oval of red jade was set in a wider oval
of embossed gold, fretted into the petals of a flower.
 The petals at the base of the oval were longer, and
suspended from them by three fine, short chains were
two strips of embossed gold, joined at the centre so
they formed a shallow arrow pointing upwards.  From
the join hung a tiny circular flower of gold, set with
a drop of blue jade, and hanging from *that* was a
tiny bead of red jade.  Two gold crescents curved out
from the sides of the main flower, just below where
the chain joined it.  The chain itself was made of
long gold beads alternating with tiny red jade beads,
and suspended from it on either side of the pendant,
two beads up, was a tiny pendant made up of a drop of
blue jade and followed by a gold flower, finished by a
red jade bead.

	I picked it up and looked at it.  Long had given it
to me four years before - it had been part of a
collection that had been a gift to the Great Khan. 
The Khan had accepted the gift, but had not been
particularly fond of it, so, in the way of the Court,
had given it to the eunuchs to be distributed as they
saw fit.  Long had brought Chiu Yuen a tiny green jade
statue of Genbu, no bigger than her hand, and then
presented me with the necklace.  It had been my first
piece of jewellery.

	"What about this?" I asked Takiko, holding it out to
her before I could change my mind.

	Takiko blinked.  "It's beautiful," she said
reverentially.  "You don't mean...."

	I swallowed, and then swiftly hung it around her
neck.  "There," I said.  "It looks lovely."  It did,
too.

	Takiko touched it, then turned to the mirror,
adjusting the pendant so that it seemed to cover more
than it actually did.  Then she sighed.  "Well," she
finally said,  "I'm ready."

	She sounded like she was ready for a funeral, rather
than a Summoning.

*****

	We Shichiseishi lined up, four on one side and three
on the other.  Takiko paced slowly down the hall of
the Temple along the corridor we made, up onto the
dais and facing the waterfall.  She bent her head and
began.

	"To the Lords of the Four Quadrants, I pray.  Holding
the virtues in my heart, I call to the Guardian of the
North, Genbu.  I, Okuda Takiko, make this prayer to
you now.  To this earth from the sky, come to us
physically.  Through your holy power, grant us
protection from every evil.  Lord Genbu, please, hear
our prayer, and come down to us!"

	As she finished saying the last word, she unrolled
the scroll, its white inner layer almost glowing
against the black backing and the black writing. 
Holding it out and unfurled, she thrust it beneath the
waterfall.  

	The ink began to smear and run, pooling on the paper.
 But, rather than running into the catchment tray, it
began to both grow and glow, a ball of darkness
blazing around her, swelling across the dais.  I held
up my hand against its brightness.

	From the centre of the ball, I heard a man's deep,
rich voice.  "I am the Lord of the Genbu Quadrant."

	It had worked.  I fell to my knees in wonder... we'd
done it.  We'd called Genbu.

	"Are you the Priestess who called upon me?"  Genbu's
voice continued.  It wasn't in my ears, I realized,
but in my mind, my heart and my bones.

	"Yes," Takiko whispered.

	"Now we will merge and become one, so that you may
wield My power upon this land.  Three times may you
call upon My supernatural abilities and make your
wishes come true.  When you are ready to do so, speak
the word 'kai-jin'.  Do you understand?"  Genbu's
voice continued.

	"Yes," Takiko murmured again.

	The ball of black light shrank down in on itself once
more, almost as if it were sinking down into its own
centre.  It cleared, to reveal Takiko, who looked
dazed.  Namame sprang over to her and caught her in a
tight embrace.  Then he released her and held her out
by the shoulders, inspecting her.  "You're all right?"
he demanded.

	"Yes, of course," she replied, with a gentle smile.

	There was a shrill scream from the main hall.  We
looked down to see that we were no longer only
accompanied by Urumiya's tribe.  A troop of soldiers,
wearing Koutou's uniforms, stood just inside the door.

	Urumiya stared at the man at the head of the troop. 
His hair was unbound and, while he did wear the
clothes of the tribes, they were the blue of Koutou.

	"Yung Lu."  Urumiya breathed the name disbelievingly.

	"Hello, *friend*," the other said.  "I'm dreadfully
sorry about this, but I'm afraid we're going to have
to kill you."

	"How could you do this?" an old woman's voice cut the
air.  "Yung Lu!  Are you not my son?  How can you
betray your God like this?"  She strode out from the
crowd, strands of black hair in her greying locks, her
carriage strong and dignified.

	The man snarled.  "For my due!  All my life, it's
been 'Wang Cu this' and 'Wang Cu that', because *he's*
Urumiya!  Well, now let's see what good being Urumiya
does *now*!  Koutou is invading, and I'll finally get
what I deserve!"

	"Koutou is invading?" Takiko said.  "NO!"  She stood
up.  "Lord Genbu!  Enclose Hokkan!  Let the army of
Koutou never set foot upon it, nor the ruler of Koutou
make war upon Hokkan, ever!  KAI-JIN!"

	A ring of black fire pulsed out from Takiko's body,
racing swiftly through all of us, out through the
walls, widening.  Soon it would enclose the country. 
It had held so much leashed power, I was left gasping,
on hands and knees, in the wake of it.

	"So we're too late..." Yung Lu's hateful, mocking
voice hung in the air.  "We'll pay for our lateness
with your lives!"

	I looked up, shrieked, and rolled to the side before
the sword of the soldier standing over me could behead
me.

	We didn't have any weapons!  This was a temple, a
place of peace, not war.  So we had no defences....

	Suddenly a childhood of playing pranks on fat eunuchs
presented a few solutions.  I ran over to the curtains
that hung to the side of the temple.  I'd thought so -
the cloth was looped over a metal bar that itself sat
in two broad hooks.  Easy to knock down, easy to
strip.  A minute later I had a serviceable stave, and
I laid into the two soldiers coming up behind me with
vigour and gusto, if not skill.

	I was not the only one who had realized that weaponry
was as much perception as use of an object.  Iname was
hitting three of the other soldiers with a bench,
while Hatsui was busily garrotting another with a
curtain tie.  Tomite was firing his ice arrows and had
gotten two more of the ten.  Hikitsu had encased
another with his ice shell.

	Urumiya and Yung Lu, meanwhile, were engaged in a
deadly combat, no less murderous for the fact that the
weapons were fists and feet, rather than swords. 
There was nothing of civilization in the way Urumiya
tore Yung Lu's ear off his skull with his teeth, nor
in the way Yung Lu broke Urumiya's rib with his knee.

	Unfortunately we'd all missed the tenth warrior of
Koutou in the confusion, as we all tried to avoid
hitting the innocent tribespeople, who had done
nothing wrong, while those tribespeople, in their
kindness, tried to help us further by taking down our
attackers themselves.  It was chaos of the worst kind,
for several had fallen in our battle.

	I will carry those souls with me for eternity.

	That tenth warrior slipped up behind Hikitsu, and
slid a dagger between his ribs.

	Hikitsu stiffened suddenly, and coughed.  His spittle
was nine-tenths blood.

	"Hikitsu!" Tomite cried, and ran to aid his lover. 
The Koutou soldier stabbed him as he ran past.

	Namame, being a little behind Tomite, saw it all.  He
grabbed up one of the swords the Koutou soldiers had
carried, and charged.  The Koutou soldier yanked his
blade out of Tomite's side and swung around to face
Namame's mad rush.  Neither had time to dodge.  Each's
blade impaled the other.

	In a heartbreaking parallel, we could all only watch
in shock as both Namame and Tomite fell.  Tomite fell
to Hikitsu's side, where he gathered him up most
tenderly, while Namame fell to his knees.  Takiko ran
to him, and caught him up against her breast.

	All of Koutou's soldiers now, including the traitor
Yung Lu, were either unconscious or dead.  We four
remaining Shichiseishi abandoned them to whatever
mercies lay in the hands of the remaining tribesfolk,
moving close to our fallen.  Hatsui, Iname, Urumiya
and I found ourselves standing in a circle about the
four of them.  

	And so both pairs of lovers knelt on the bloodied
tile floor, one couple slipping into death together,
while the other was about to be inexorably parted by
the same force. 

	Genbu's presence hovered in the air.  I could feel
Him, so close.  "Please," I breathed.  "It's not fair.
 We've only just met!"

	But, though I could feel His sympathy, my God did not
move.

	Ironically, for all that he had been wounded last,
Namame left us first.  His breath caught one final
time, and the air rattled in his throat.  We smelled
his death, and felt the ache in our hearts - the
little, joyous part that I hadn't even realized was
labelled 'Namame' was suddenly empty, and that loss
drove me to my knees.

	"No," Takiko whispered.  "No.  NO."  She stared
around at us.  Her eyes were wild and her voice was
not sane.  "No, no, NO!!"  Without lifting from her
knees or relinquishing Namame's body, she yelled,
"KAI-JIN!"

	And then, without even a flash of light, she and
Namame were gone.  The only trace of her was the
necklace I had given her.  It hung absurdly in midair
for a few short seconds and then fell to the bloody
tiles with a metallic clatter.

*****

Author's Notes:

	1. Urumiya's song is a portion of "Brother My
Brother", sung by Blessid Union of Souls, from the
first Pokemon movie's soundtrack. 

	2. I have absolutely no idea of the realities of
building a structure like my version of the Temple to
Genbu on Mt. Black.  I ask that all architects and
building workers forgive me my inaccuracies.

	3. Bats are bearers of good luck in northern China. 
Also, in the worship of the Four Gods, as it is
practiced in our world, the bat is the animal
associated with the seishuku Uruki.

	4. Jade comes in many colours and was a very precious
stone to the Ancient Chinese.  It was also relatively
plentiful.  Mei Ling's status at Court would very
likely not allow her to wear anything as expensive as
sapphires or rubies, but she would have had a few
pieces of jade.

	5. Genbu's element is water (Suzaku's is fire,
Byakko's metal and Seiryuu's is wood, or lightning). 
I don't know very many water-rituals, and the ones I
do know are all Western.  So this one is my own
invention completely.

	6. My chief resource for the anime version of Fushigi
Yuugi is the Tomodachi translation.  In this
translation, two versions of the Summoning Prayer are
offered.  Because the Prayer I have used is my own
adaption of these, here is are the two original texts.


	From Episode Twenty-Four, 'Fiery Decision':
		The four directions of the sky.
		By using the way, mind and goodness,
		Please tell the protector of the
                   south, Suzaku.
		Now I will complete the words.
		From the sky to the earth...
		... Come to us physically.
		Through the four ultimates...
		... Make extinct every kind of evil.
		Only I wish...
		... Please listen to this...
		... Please come down to us from the 
                   sky!

	From Episode Fifty-One, 'Committed To Hope':
		The four directions of the sky...
		The four directions of the earth...
		With deep rules...
		With truth and justice...
		Protector of the south,
		Suzaku come to me physically.
		Now, I'll finish it.
		Seven constellations, from the sky to
                   the earth...
		... Fulfil
		For all living things...
		... In this case...
		... From all evil in this world
		By the power of a deity...
		... Protect us.
		Please listen to this...
		... From the sky...
		... Please come down to us!

	7. When Seiryuu and Suzaku appeared to Yui and Miaka,
they both took very different approaches to explaining
the procedure to their Priestesses.  The differences
are almost certainly a reflection of their priorities.
 Seiryuu, the God of War, is almost clinical, while
Suzaku, the God of Love, is very emotive about the
matter.  Thus, my version of Genbu's explanation is
also meant to be a reflection of His personality.
	It's also unclear whether or not the Gods can be
heard by other people while being summoned, as neither
Priestess was accompanied closely during either
ceremony.  However, as the incantation specifically
requests the God's *physical* presence, I've decided
that, if you're close enough, then yes, you can.

=====
raye_j@yahoo.com
http://www.thejohnsens.com/index.html

"In the end, you're always by yourself.  You're all you've
got.  That's the point."
   - Whistler, 'Buffy, The Vampire Slayer'

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