It's the end! And it's ON TIME!
Please enjoy (and PLEASE comment!),
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.
Now that we have reached the end of Dark Quarter,
credit for the series as a whole is due and gratefully
given to:
Gerald Tarrant, for coming up with the Ten-Week
Challenge in the first place;
Quicksilver, for saying "You are going to
participate, aren't you?", thus guilting me into
saying "Yes,";
Fred Oliver, for being a sounding-board for
developments, giving complete and honest C&C, and
being a good friend;
Small Pink Mouse, for complete and insightful C&C and
a lot of D&D jokes I'd never heard before;
And (last but by no means least) Kijira and Chaotic
Serenity, for reading and enjoying. I was very unsure
of the reception of Dark Quarter, and your posts
reassured me that people *did* like the story. You
may consider yourselves wholly responsible for
Chapters Four through Eight; for without your
encouragement they would not exist.
Thank you.
Previous parts may be found at
http://www.thejohnsens.com/sr.html
Warning: shifting points of view follow.
*****
Epilogue: Legacy - Houki
I stared at the page before me, trying to blink back
sudden tears. The change had been so sudden - from
bright and hopeful to the lurching from disaster to
disaster - that I, probably as much as Uruki had been,
was in shock.
My tears fell anyway, but I could tell Uruki had wept
over her account as much as I had. They fell and
blurred characters written on paper ever-so-faintly
discoloured and ever-so-slightly warped from water
damage.
"After that," Uruki had written, "there is little
more to tell...."
*****
After that, there is little more to tell.
With the sudden loss of both Namame and Takiko, and
the impending loss of Tomite and Hikitsu, it would be
only fair to say that we were in shock. And so we did
not respond immediately when we heard His voice.
|My Children.|
"Lord?" Iname asked. "*Lord Genbu?*"
|Yes, it is I. My Children, the Priestess has
returned to her own world, and has taken Namame with
her.|
"We - we - Lord...." I took a deep breath and
started again. "My Lord, what are we to *do*?"
|First, you must take steps to guard the tool of My
power in this world.|
"The tool of Your power?" Hatsui repeated stupidly.
"I don't understand...."
|When I merged with My Priestess, I required a
physical object through which to focus My power, that
it could become part of her. I chose the necklace
which she was wearing. In the focus, it gained a
measure of My power, which it may yet release, under
the proper spell,| Genbu explained. |Such power must
be prevented from falling into the wrong hands.|
"I... agree," Hikitsu said. "Such a thing... used
wrongly... could be worse... than an earthquake."
|Much worse,| Genbu said.
"How long... would the guardian... have to stay?"
Tomite panted.
|Until the necklace is no more, or released to the
care of another Priestess,| Genbu told them. |A long
time. Perhaps for three hundred years. Certainly,
not less than a hundred.|
"Well, I'm... not ready... for Heaven... just yet,"
Tomite said. "I'll stay."
"And I," Hikitsu added. "We'll guard.. this
necklace... for you."
|Very well then,| Genbu said briskly, and Tomite and
Hikitsu were engulfed in a black flame. When it
cleared, they were whole, and healthy, and slightly
transparent.
|As soon as the necklace is released to the care of
another Priestess or it is no more, you will go on to
Heaven,| Genbu promised. |By then, I'm sure you'll
want the rest - and We, your star-brothers and -sister
and I, will be waiting for you.|
"I'm sure we will be wanting to come, by then,"
Hikitsu replied.
|Since this is now the resting-place of the holiest
artifact of My worship,| Genbu said calmly, |I am
sorry to tell you, Urumiya, that I must demand that
this Temple be sealed up and your people speak of it
no more. It is a beautiful place, and I am happy that
you called to Me here; but the necklace of the
Priestess of Genbu must be protected.|
"I understand," Urumiya replied.
|Uruki.|
"My Lord?" I squeaked.
|Uruki, your task is the most difficult, because I
cannot tell you why you must perform it. When you
leave this place, you must take paper and ink, and
record the story of the Genbu Shichiseishi.|
"To teach the children in the future?" I asked.
|No. Only one will read your account, and for her
sake as well as your own I urge you to be utterly
honest. Your story is not for yourself, but for the
Suzaku Shichiseishi Nuriko. She will read your story
and gain much from it. No other shall see your
words.|
"I will, Lord," I promised.
Behind us, the tribespeople had been discussing the
fate of the attackers. Not surprisingly, they were
all dead by the end of the discussion.
|And now,| Genbu said, |I will take my leave. As
should you.|
With a flash of green light, the great turtle-snake
was gone.
On our way out, we dumped the bodies in the
passageway and walked down the mountain. Sadder and
smaller than we'd ever thought possible.
*****
I had hoped, Nuriko, to give you a different ending
to this account. A 'Twenty years later, they all were
living happily ever after'.
It is, at this time of writing, precisely three days
since we summoned Genbu to this world, since Namame
died and Tomite and Hikitsu began their lonely vigil.
We four are still with Urumiya's tribe - but, I am
grieved to say, not for very much longer.
I had been seized with a frenzy of writing as soon as
we descended from the mountain. For a full day and
night I wrote my account; and then I laid down my
brush and I did not intend to take it up again -
except, of course, to write that cheerful postscript.
I slept and ate, and disappeared and reappeared for
the amusement of the children.
This morning, disaster struck.
I had brought my story to Urumiya, Iname and Hatsui,
and those three were reading it and commenting, when
we all four felt a sharp and sudden pain, like unto a
stab to our hearts. Iname, who was standing,
collapsed to the floor. Urumiya fell from his bench,
and Hatsui collapsed on top of it. I myself fell back
into my canvas chair, gasping for breath.
We all heard the scream, filled with pain and, what
was worse, betrayal. And we knew the voice for
Takiko's.
"Something... something has happened... to Takiko,"
Urumiya gasped, crystallizing it for the rest of us.
Genbu is with us, now, as we lie here, and He is with
Takiko too; it is through Him that we are sharing her
pain and her slow, agonizing death. We are trying to
share our strength with her but as her life bleeds
away so does ours.
While I still have the strength, I'm writing this to
you. I'm sorry, Nuriko - but I'm sorry for the things
I'll never do. Not for what I did.
And always trust your star-brothers, Nuriko. They
will never let you
*****
I stared at the broken off sentence for over a minute
before I realized it's significance, or the meaning of
the blots of ink trailing down the page, made by a
brush that had fallen from a hand no longer strong
enough to hold it.
I shut the book quickly, so that Uruki's last words
would not be blurred by tears.
*****
I sat up, sleep banished by a blast of sunlight.
Little Gyoukouran, Tamahome's younger sister and my
new maid, had pulled back the drapes that hid the
windows. While I yawned and rubbed at eyes made too
heavy by too little sleep, she bustled around,
fetching this, that and the other. I paid no
attention to what she was doing until the sweet child
presented me with a blessedly-hot cup of fresh tea.
I sipped at it, letting the hot, sweet liquid course
down my throat and gently wake me up. Gyoukouran
brought me a basin of warm water to wash in, which
helped, and by the time I gave her back the towel I'd
used to dry my face I was almost feeling human.
Then I got out of bed, and knocked Uruki's journal to
the floor.
What little distance sleep had let me place between
myself and a girl-seishi on the slopes of Mount Black,
far to the snowblown north, was knocked away in the
hollow *thump* of the book against the carpets.
I sat on the edge of my silken sheets and gently
picked up the book. Running my hand over the leather
binding, my mind's eye was crowded with images, of a
black-haired boy with laughing green eyes and an air
of danger about him, of a grey-haired healer and his
brown-eyed hunter, of a red-haired chieftain, a blonde
jeweller, a black-haired girl and a green-haired
merchant's son. But of them all, the one I thought of
most was a girl with the character 'Nu' blazing on her
ankle, charging headlong through life and dragging
cheerfully bewildered Shichiseishi and Priestesses
along behind her.
'Sister in destiny', she had called me.
I had thought I had cried myself dry of tears.
*****
I had completely forgotten that Lord Hotohori had
arranged to walk with me in the gardens. Fortunately,
I had warned Gyoukouran before I retired to bed with
the book, so she wasn't too startled when the page
arrived at the door to escort me to meet him.
As Gyoukouran had seen to it I was already dressed
for the occasion, I arrived in the garden first.
When dressing, I had wrapped Uruki's journal in a
piece of soft black velvet, a cutoff from one of my
surcoats that I had begged off the seamstress. I had
loved the feel of the soft plush against my fingers,
and had run my fingertips over it whenever I was
especially agitated, the action of stroking the velvet
soothing my nerves. Now I had taken this piece of
peaceful cloth and wrapped the book in it, tucking it
into one of my trailing sleeves.
So, alone in the garden, I sat down on a marble bench
beside a flowering plum tree and fished the book out
of my sleeve. I didn't unwrap it. I simply laid my
hand on it and closed my eyes.
I don't know what I wanted. Did I want to hear
Uruki's voice, innocent yet cynical, speaking to me?
And what did I want to hear her say? If I asked her,
would she tell me why everything that had happened had
happened that way?
"Knowing her, she'd probably say something like 'How
would *I* know?'" I muttered, and laughed a little.
It helped.
"That's something I haven't heard in a while,"
another voice broke in, and I snapped my eyes open to
see Lord Hotohori leaning against the plum tree
opposite me. My star-brother. My best friend.
"Um... what do you mean, Lord Hotohori?" I said,
trying to cover my sudden discomfort.
"You laughing. I haven't heard it for a while."
"You heard me last night," I said indignantly.
"It wasn't the same," he replied cryptically. "I
take it I have Lady Uruki to thank for it?"
I shrugged. "Not in the way you think," I ventured.
"I'm dying of curiosity, you know."
"It's not..." I sighed. "It's sad. And it doesn't
end happy either. It's... hard to explain."
He sat down beside me, and took my hands. I felt the
life flowing through his calloused palms as he
reminded me of his strength. 'Lean on me, I'm here,'
the touch said, as it always had. "We have time," he
said simply.
My star-brother was here beside me, as Uruki's had
been beside her. I smiled, my first real smile for
what was much too long a time.
"Yes," I said quietly. "Well... it started in the
Palace of the Emperor of Hokkan, when one of the
Emperor's daughters slipped into the chapel of
Genbu...."
*****
Author's Notes:
1. I am aware that in canon, Hikitsu and Tomite were
killed during a war with Koutou.
However, this is an Alternate Universe, so I have the
right to alter minor details to fit the story better.
Most ghosts do not venture far from the places of
their deaths; therefore, for Hikitsu and Tomite to
haunt the Temple they should have died in or near it.
If one takes the view that they're haunting the
Shinzahou, they should have been there with it, until
its destruction. (Which would, incidentally, have
required them to be in the story longer.) And much
the same goes for if they were guarding Genbu's power
in the world.
So I am taking the view that they are haunting the
Temple, not guarding the Shinzahou. It's just a
coincidence the Shinzahou happens to be there.
2. Technically, the only males permitted in the
courts of the Chinese Emperors, other than the
Emperor, were eunuchs. However, as I have made
mention of male servants before in 'Starlit
Reflections', I have chosen to be consistent to
myself. Male servants shall continue to appear.
But it *is* a detail that is historically incorrect.
=====
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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