Akira stood up after a few minutes, feeling refreshed,
though he would have died before admitting it to
anyone. He dusted his hands roughly. "Well, does no
good just standing here waiting for the bandits to
wake up. Might as well go somewhere."
After a quick look around, Akira still only saw one
road. He dug an American quarter out of his pocket.
"Heads that way, tails that way."
It came up tails. Akira picked it up, shrugged, and
set off in the same direction that strange woman,
Tamahome, had gone.
FUSHIGI YUUGI
TURNING THE WHEEL
PART TWO
Matsura stopped reading the book. "What is up with
this thing?" He watched as another kanji was formed by
an invisible brush. He turned back one page. On the
backside was a picture that showed someone fighting
off a group of bandits.
He gasped and shook his head in disbelief. "No way..."
No matter what he said, though, he couldn't deny that
the person in the picture was that martial artist from
his wierd dream, Tamahome. And in the background...
"Akira?" It had to be. Somehow, the ancient Chinese
illustrator had managed to capture Akira on paper,
right down to the cocky way he had of turning his
collar up.
A suspicion started to cement itself in Matsura's
mind. Quickly flipping to the end of the book, he saw
that the pages there were still filled with writing.
He quickly translated the first line. "Suzaku no
Miko's elder brother shouted into the book in an
attempt to bring her Seishi. 'Miaka needs...'"
He turned back to the very beginning of the book.
"This is the story of a young lady's quest to gather
the seven Seishi of Suzaku together." Matsura
scratched his head. "What's a Suzaku?" After a
moment's pause, he added, "I'd bet that's what Akira
would say right now."
He continued. "This story is actually a spell that can
grant the reader wishes, but be wary. The danger is
always proportionate to the rewards." Matsura blinked.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" He turned
back to the page where the kanji were still forming,
and started reading again. "Suzaku no Miko had managed
to choose the road leading to the capitol, and having
found a ride in a cart..."
****
Akira yawned and stretched. "Jeez, having a nap
interrupted by a jerk of a teacher and then being
transported to some weird dimension really takes it
out of you."
"Oh, but there's no time to sleep now, lord!" The
peasant Akira had hitched a ride with had decided that
Akira was a lord of sorts (judging by such oddities as
new-looking, clean clothes, a full head of teeth, and
a bearing that comes from not being ground into the
dirt by everyone above you) and Akira had given up on
changing his mind after the first hour. "We're almost
to the capitol of Konan!" The peasant pointed, and
Akira forgot all about getting home for just a moment.
"Wow! It looks just like a movie!" Then it all came
crashing back, and Akira sighed. "Yeah, a Twilight
Zone special feature..."
He slid off the cart. "Thanks, old man!" Akira started
walking towards the city, ignoring the peasant's
attempts to call him back.
He quickly moved to the massive open-air market.
Sights, sounds, and especially smells dragged at his
attention, until he caught a glimpse of the only other
person he actually knew in this world. Not sure what
else to do, Akira shouted, "Tamahome!" and started
pushing his way through the crowds. However, when he
got to where she'd been standing...
"Would you like something, young man?" asked the old
woman seated behind the foodstand's counter.
He managed to stop drooling enough to ask, "Have you
seen a woman who calls herself Tamahome around here?"
The old woman scowled. "Of course I haven't seen her.
Are you gonna buy something or not?"
Akira fished a thousand yen bill out of his pocket and
handed it to the old woman. She looked it over
carefully, held it up to her nose, and blew. "Thanks
young man, I've been stuffed up all day. But I hope
that you are going to pay for something."
Akira sighed. _That was my last thousand yen..._ He
handed the old woman several coins, and the old woman
started smiling. "Thank you, thank you." Akira chose
several pork buns and started to walk away. Then he
heard the old woman shout "What the hell is this?!"
and he started running.
After he finished the pork buns, he sat down and
started thinking. _I only know one person in this
world, and I don't know if she'll help me, but what
other choice do I have?_ That decided, he set off to
find Tamahome.
****
The Boss (for that was, as far as anyone knew, his
only name) was a man comforatable with his position in
the world. The Emperor he lived under was good for
business, being too concerned with his own looks to
rule properly; all of his one-time rivals were either
dead or cowering in their basements; and all of his
subordinates were skilled, loyal to a fault, and not
afraid to get their hands dirty (or bloody, to be more
accurate) if necessary. He was usually very happy.
Today, he was not. And the reason for his unhappiness
was sitting across from him, slurping down a bowl of
noodles. The Boss leaned forward. "Tell me, Tama-chan.
Tell me why you no longer want to work for me."
Tamahome rubbed her forehead and sat up a bit. It
would be easy enough just to say, "Because I went home
to give some money I earned on heists to my family -
bet you didn't know I was supporting a family, boss -
and my little sister, who just turned four, looked up
at me and said, "Sank yoo!" That made me feel great.
Then, my little bro - who's doing a fine job of
running the family for only being eleven - took me
aside a few hours later and asked me bluntly, "Are you
a whore?" He explained that he couldn't think of any
other way I could earn so much money so quickly. At
first I was mad, then I started thinking that maybe he
was right. Only instead of whoring my body, I was
whoring my skills, strength, and principles. And I'm
tired of being your whore, Boss."
Tamahome didn't say any of that, though, because it
would be showing weakness, and the only thing the weak
got in this place was six inches of steel between two
ribs. Instead, she leaned back and said, "I like the
ambiance, but the pay sucks, and the retirement's
nonexistant. You've gotta look at all the angles,
y'know?"
The Boss raised one finger. "Just one last job, that's
it. It'll pay as much as I've payed you in the last
three years, I promise!"
She started drooling slightly, and the Boss grinned
inwardly. _I knew that would hook her..._
Then, Tamahome shook her head. "Just how much are we
talking here? I'm not about to say yes or no without
specific numbers."
The Boss reached into his belt pouch and pulled out a
rolled scroll. "This is the exact letter that I
recieved from my customer." He slid it across the
table, and Tamahome unrolled it. Her jaw dropped as
she read it.
"That much? Just for some dumb book from the Emperor's
library? Why doesn't it say in here what book this guy
wants?" She looked suspiciously at the Boss, who
spread his hands.
"We're supposed to break his messenger inside, and
he'll grab the book."
"Does this messenger have any skills?"
Tamahome turned around when someone tapped her
shoulder, but there was no one there. When she turned
back to the Boss, there was a man sitting crosslegged
on the table. He smiled. "Judge for yourself,
Tamahome. Judge for yourself."
She stood up, knocking her chair back. "Just who the
hell do you think you are?!" Tamahome raised her
fists, not about to let some punk mock her.
This was interrupted when a kid came to the table.
"Tama-chan, there's some guy wandering around the town
asking about you. He's wearing clothes that I've never
seen before, and looks like some kind of lord."
Tamahome immediately thought of the two boys she'd
saved on the road. "Are you sure that there's only one
of them?"
The kid nodded and said, "Kilik said that he'd take
care of the problem, and took off."
That made Tamahome mad again. "I can take care of my
own damn problems, okay?! Where the hell is he right
now?"
The kid shied back slightly from the angry martial
artist as he stammered, "O-over by the old part of
town, where Yarr used to have a gang."
Tamahome started for the exit. "I'll take your job,
Boss. But it'll be the last."
As soon as she was gone, the Boss said to the man that
still sat on the table, "Well, it's a good thing she
agreed, right, sir?" He rubbed his hands together
nervously.
The man said nothing, only staring out the doorway
that Tamahome had walked out of.
****
Akira stopped short when he saw the wall at the end of
the alley. "Are you sure that Tamahome is this way,
Kilik?"
"No. I lied to you." Akira turned around, only to see
that Kilik had produced a knife from somewhere and was
waving it around. "You see, Tama-chan is a member of
_my_ gang, and nobody asks about members of _my_ gang
in this town without paying some kind of price."
Akira started chuckling slightly, and Kilik scowled.
"What're you laughing at?"
"This." Akira kicked the knife out of his hand, then
followed up with another kick to the face. Kilik went
reeling back, and Akira threw him up against a wall.
"It's real funny to hold a knife like that and expect
a black belt to take you seriously."
The world exploded into stars as something hard hit
the side of Akira's head. He went to the ground and
looked up, vaguely seeing a man-sized shape standing
over him. "Y'oughtta pay more attention, Mr. Black
Belt, or y'get blindsided by a rock from an alley
every time."
"Uhhh..." He tried to get up, but flew several feet as
whoever had whacked him kicked him in the ribs. He
landed facing away from the mouth of the alley where
he'd been standing.
"Hey Kilik, whaddya want done with him?"
"I'm gonna cut him, Jakrin. I'm gonna cut him good."
Then, Akira heard the sounds of an intensive fight,
but it only lasted a few seconds. Someone helped him
to his feet, and a familiar voice said, "Geez, you are
helpless, aren't you?"
"T-Tamahome..." He passed out.
****
Tamahome sat on the windowsill of her second-story
room, looking out over the rubble-strewn Old Town. She
was unsure of why she'd chosen to help the poor guy,
so she was trying to figure out why she'd brought the
guy to her own room and laid him down in her own bed.
No luck. It just defied almost everything she'd chosen
to live by these past few years to help someone
without there being a profit in it, and yet... she
couldn't seem to help herself. _Dammit, what's going
on? Why do I feel so damn protective, like he's some
kind of kid brother?_
She swung her legs back inside the room as he moaned.
"What happened..." He sat up and looked over at
Tamahome. "You... saved me?"
Tamahome shrugged. "Sure kid. Got a feeling about
you."
"What kind of feeling?"
As she did whenever the conversation turned to
something that she couldn't control, she changed the
subject. "I'll let you stay here tonight, because I've
got a job that'll keep me out until dawn, but after
that you're on your own."
To her dismay, he looked like he was about to start
crying. "What am I supposed to do on my own? I don't
know how to get home!"
Tamahome waved one of her hands. "Okay, okay. Can you
pay me once you get home? In real money, or, failing
that, saleable goods at a low bulk-high profit ratio?"
The boy nodded. "I guess. My mom works in a jewelry
store, and..."
Tamahome started drooling again. _Necklaces... gems...
gold... resale!_
"Then you've hired yourself a goon, starting tomorrow
at dawn. What's your name?"
"Huh?"
Tamahome held up one finger. "I never work for someone
whose name I don't know. So cough it out!"
"Akira."
Tamahome stood up and grabbed Akira's chin. "Look into
my eyes, Akira." After a short while (pretending not
to notice his blush) she dropped her hand. "You don't
have a concussion, so I guess you can go to sleep
tonight. Just don't go downstairs."
"Why not?"
Tamahome threw him a wink. "Because I live above a
whorehouse." A particularly loud moan from the floor
below brought Akira's blush back full-force.
****
Matsura held the book away from him. "What the..." He
had good reason to be scared. He'd turned the page,
only to find the kanji still there, writhing and
twisting like black ink serpents. Watching them, he
couldn't help but get the impression that they were
fighting for their lives.... But they vanished,
despite all their efforts, and new kanji began forming
in their place. Unable to help himself, he continued
reading the story he was convinced his friend Akira
was living. He felt a twinge of jealousy. _Why does he
always get to have the adventures?_
Squashing it took much more effort this time than it
usually did.
****
Tamahome made it a point to be early to meetings,
especially meetings like this one. A dark alley was
the most popular place for this kind of meeting,
closely followed by seedy bars and whorehouses. For
the first time, however, she wasn't the first to the
meet. The strange man was there before her.
Unsure of what to say, she just looked at him for a
second. The man smiled. "It's nice to see that you did
decide to show up, Tamahome. So tell me, why do they
call you that?"
Not seeing any alternative, she pointed to her
forehead. "They call me that because I have this."
The man leaned forward. "Interesting. Very
interesting. Looks like a natural one, too."
"Huh?"
The man waved one hand, then brushed his long hair
back behind his ears. "Never mind."
"So what are you doing here?"
The man waved his hand again. "Getting done what must
be done."
"What?"
Rather than answer, he said, "I won't help you at all
tonight. I will not fight, I will not suggest plans,
and I will not give you away. All I ask you to do is
get me into the library, and then you may leave. Your
Boss knows where the money is."
Tamahome punched her fist into her hand. "I hope he
isn't thinking of double-crossing me. That always gets
me just a little... angry."
Two other people Tamahome recognized showed up at the
mouth of the alley, and she leaned against the wall
casually. "Well, well, well, if it isn't Kilik and
Jakrin. Don't tell me that Boss put you two on this
job?"
Kilik only shot her a resentful glare, but Jakrin
nodded. "Yep. We get this job done, then we settle our
differences."
Tamahome shrugged elaborately. "Whatever. Shall we get
gone?"
They never saw the shadow following them as they set
out for the palace.
****
Security was lax on the perimeter, sucked in the
courtyards, and was even more sporatic on the inside
of the buildings, for which Tamahome was grateful; the
way Kilik was just tromping around would give them
away in a second.
Suddenly, the tall man with long hair stopped. "I can
feel it. It is near."
Kilik scowled. "What the hell are you talking about?"
The man reached for a nearby door, slowly sliding it
open. "The book is in this room." He stepped into the
room. Tamahome, not about to be left behind, followed
him closely.
The room was a library, filled with what seemed to be
thousands of scrolls and books heaped in disarrayed
piles over a number of tables and in many bookshelves.
A figure seated at one of the tables looked up at them
as the two entered. "What are you doing in my
library?!"
The tall blonde man cursed. "Dammit! I can't believe
that I was this close!" He disappeared suddenly,
leaving Tamahome gaping.
"What the hell..."
The man in the library shouted, "Guards! Intruders!"
"Shit!" Tamahome turned around and ran out the door,
only to trip on a wire that was strung at
ankle-height. She pushed herself up on her hands and
knees, only to fall back down as someone kicked her in
the side.
"That's what you get for interrupting my fun,
Tama-chan! Have fun with the guards."
Tamahome tried to stand up, and stars shot across her
vision as she put weight on her left ankle. _Dammit, I
sprained it bad this time. I hate having a weak
ankle..._ Painfully, she started limping away as fast
as she could.
"Tamahome!"
She looked up, balancing on her right foot, and was
shocked to see Akira standing there. "Why the hell are
you here?!"
Akira reached one arm around her left side, supporting
her. "It wasn't too hard to follow you, y'know. And
the noise from downstairs was keeping me awake, so..."
He guided her around a corner, and into another room.
"I think we can hide in here for a little bit." Akira
set Tamahome in a chair, and she sighed in relief to
take weight off her ankle.
"I thought that you might try to hide in here."
Akira sprang into a ready stance, then raised his
hands slowly as the shadow in the corner held up a
sword. "No, tell me what you wanted in my library,
before I kill you both."
Akira opened his mouth to answer, but suddenly pink
light began to swell around him, illuminating the
surprised faces of all three people in the room. He
started to fade away. "What the..."
****
Matsura dropped the book as pink light began to flood
out of the book. "What's happening now?!"
"Who's in there?"
Matsura, knowing that he'd been discovered, quickly
snatched up the book he was certain his friend was in.
_I can't let him go..._ He shoved the book in his
shirt, then grabbed another book at random from the
shelves. A flashlight played across his face, and he
blinked.
"Who are you?"
Matsura stammered, "My name is Matsura. I'm, uh, doing
some research for a school report."
"Let me see that book." Matsura surrendered the book,
and after a moment, the old man with the flashlight
chuckled. "I can see what you're researching, boy, but
I'm afraid the _Kama Sutra_ with illustrations isn't
suitable reading material for someone of your age."
Matsura blushed. "Umm... I guess that you're right."
The old man waggled one finger. "Besides, this room is
off limits. I should take you to the director, but I
think you're an honest kid. If you get out of my sight
in ten seconds, I won't report you." He muttered, even
as Matsura took off, "My own damn fault, leaving the
room unlocked. This place is mighty dangerous..." He
set the book back on the shelf and pulled another one
from the shelf. Opening it, he started reading, "Iya,
iya, Cthulhu iya..."
****
The pink light shut off suddenly, but the amount of
illumination in the room did not drop. Tamahome looked
around at the ten guards, two of whom held lamps.
"Lord, shall we dispatch them immediately?"
The man still holding the sword waved one hand. "No.
Throw them in the dungeon. We are interested in this
magic they have displayed."
Tamahome didn't protest as they hauled her to her
feet, but Akira said, "She's hurt! You can't put her
in a dungeon."
"Do you think that really matters to us? Silence him."
For the second time in one day, Akira felt the hard
impact of an object against his skull. This time, he
didn't manage to keep ahold of his consciousness.
AUTHOR'S NOTES
True Fushigi Yuugi fans will notice how I continue to
deviate farther and farther from the true continuity.
I wonder how much farther I can go before one of them
protests...
One thing that y'all might complain about is my
portrayal of Tamahome as a criminal. This is for
several reasons, actually. One: Dramatic purposes.
Two: A male in from the sticks in this time period
would find it hard to find a legitimate job. Try being
a woman! The only jobs a woman can find that offer
enough profit to interest Tamahome would be prostitute
and criminal, and I just can't imagine her becoming a
prostitute. Three: Let's face it, strong-willed
females can be more cold-blooded about certain things
than strong-willed males. Male Tamahome might look at
a criminal job, say, "That sort of thing is beneath
me," and never look at it again. Female Tamahome looks
at it, says, "I need the money so my family doesn't
starve," take the job, and then take other jobs of a
similar sort once she finds out that it's easy. Flame
me if you think any of these reasons are inaccurate,
but don't bother spamming the ffml about it.
Why does every one of her fellow criminals call
Tamahome "Tama-chan?" Because criminals tend to be
insultingly familiar with each other at times.
Fuugies unite!
Aaron Bergman
iamfanboy@hotmail.com
"The Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills."
-Aes Sedai proverb
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Auctions - Buy the things you want at great prices.
http://auctions.yahoo.com/