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First off, the Author's Confession:

I actually wrote this chapter like, months ago, but I never got
around to posting it on the FFML. I kept on putting it off... and 
putting it off... and getting caught up in my collab comic with my
sis, and, well-

I actually have two new chapters *gasp* of this story to post to the
ffml. I'll get around to posting the next one probably tomorrow.

(That is, if any of you actually remember this story; it's been a 
while and the ffml attention span ain't too long to begin with. :p 
j/k)



Second off, the disclaimer:

Okay, I've meddled with, switched around, or outright removed enough 
characters from this story to 'claim' it as mine, complete with 
spiffy new character designs and MUCH better villians. ^_^ 

However, since I never would have been inspired to write this story 
without a weekend-long binge of Fushigi Yuugi with my mom, I still 
insist this story is fanfiction, with proper credit belonging to Yuu 
Watase, Flower Comics, Shogakukan, Bandai, Studio Pierrot, TV Tokyo, 
Movic, Viz, Pioneer, and others, I'm sure. They can sue me all they 
want, but they'll have to wait until I get rich first. 


Third of all, the brief review:

When last we opened the pages of this book, Miaka had just broken
free of Tai-Yi Jun's mirror magic, and...

Wait a second. 

Miaka's not in this story? What are you talking about?

...Oh yeah, that's right. In this tale, another pair cracked open the
pages of the Shi Ji Ten Shi Cho and were drawn into its whirlpool of
magic. 

Akira Tanaka opened the pages of the book and was cast into the role
of Suzako no Miko, despite his utter lack of miko-ness and femininity. So far, the book has managed to adapt itself to him, but
signs have been shown that this state of affairs may not last
forever...

Anyway, Akira had just managed to shatter the Reflection spell by
plunging the broken end of his dagger into the palm of his own hand,
forcing his mirror-double to drop the magical mirror that it'd been
using to destroy two of Akira's companions, Tamahome and Hotohori.


Also, Ben recommends that I leave a link to the rest of the story.
The first part resides on Larry F's Lost Library of Florestica, here:

http://www.rakhal.com/florestica/aaron-bergman/fyttw/fy01.html


And now, on with the legend...




FUSHIGI YUUGI 
TURNING THE WHEEL
CHAPTER NINE



Nuriko rushed through the wilderness back to where Tamahome and
Hotohori were fighting for their lives, Akira's whispered messages
into his ears urging him on. _Ah, dammit! I hate getting tricked!_

He hefted the boulder he'd plucked from the earth grimly, feeling its 
weight with vindictive pleasure. _I wonder how that bastard will try 
to trick THIS._

When he reached the path, he stopped dead in his tracks at the scene
before him. Nuriko gasped in shock, then shouted, "NOO!" 

Tamahome lying on the ground behind the dying monster, disturbingly
still.

Hotohori fallen, limbs askew as if tossed aside by a giant, twitching
uncontrollably, his sword glittering in the grass just a few inches 
from his spasming hand.

The false Akira, writhing as black energy sprayed from his twisted,
withered body. 

Well. Once Nuriko spotted his target, he tossed the boulder up in the
air, aiming for the thing that had tricked him. "Laugh at THIS!" He
curled his legs underneath him and leapt up after it, landing on top
of the boulder with such force that it cracked underneath his feet,
driving it deep into the ground, burying the false Akira deep into 
the ground. 

Nuriko looked around at his two companions and almost started to weep 
as he realized that he'd arrived too late. _What the hell kind of
legend is THIS?!?! It's... it's not fair for me to get here just
in time to watch them die!_

His heart leapt for joy as he saw Tamahome, who had lain so still,  
move just enough to look up at him. Nuriko gave a silly grin and put 
one hand behind his head, feeling a hot flush cross his cheeks. "Heh. 
I _thought_ something was fishy, so I rushed right back... 
ahehehee..." He trailed off, and the sound of a mirror shattering 
filled the sudden silence.

Akira appeared right next to the boulder, and after a grateful smile
up at Nuriko, he rushed to Tamahome's side. For a moment, Nuriko 
couldn't see what was wrong with his hand, to hang so limply at his 
side, then Nuriko spotted the blade jutting from the back of his hand 
and the blood still dripping down his fingers to the hungry ground.

Akira knelt, Tamahome looked up at him, and Nuriko had to look away 
at the look in her eyes. He wiped away a tear. _Well, it looks like 
she's taken my advice... good. I'd hate to see a pretty girl like her 
become an old spinster._ He hopped down from the boulder and started 
for Hotohori, but he stopped as a voice rang in his ears.

"YOU HAVE PASSED MY TEST."

To say that the landscape gradually vanished, the trees dissolving 
away to reveal the faerieland valley that Daichi-san rested in 
and the soft clouds around it that formed into fanciful faces which 
mouthed silent invitations and fantastic hands which beckoned them 
forward would have been a lie. Instead, it was as if the mountain 
and the valley and the clouds had always been there, and they had
just refused to see it.

Nuriko took another step towards Hotohori and reached one hand out to 
help him stand up, but the Emperor shrugged his hand off and managed 
to stand for a bare second before a violent seizure racked his body.
Nuriko caught him before he fell. _What's wrong with Hotohori-sama?_

Nuriko glared at the mountain over Hotohori's head and shouted, "And 
what if we all die right now at your doorstep!! Some test!"

The boulder vanished, and a huge carpet with rich, whorling patterns 
that drew Nuriko's eye appeared underneath all four of them. 

"I SHALL BRING YOU TO MY HOME, BRAVE SUPPLICANTS."

Nuriko stumbled and almost fell as the carpet rose silently into the 
air, though more from reaction than anything else. _What the hell!_ 
There was no feeling of motion, not even a light breeze, as the 
carpet conveyed them over the mountain's valley towards the base of 
Daichi-san.

****

As the carpet's image rose into the air, Chichiri turned his 
attention away from the mirror and to the back of Tai-Yi Jun's head. 
"Are you _sure_ you want to go out to meet them looking like that 
no da? Surely, your magic is strong enough to..." 

Tai-Yi Jun turned to face the young priest, who had to gape open-
mouthed at the changes in her even in the brief time they'd been
watching Akira and his companions. _Dear spirits! This is terrible!_

The ancient sorceress sighed and waved one hand in an idle gesture
towards the mirror. "I doubt it'll make any difference at this 
point," she grumped. "If the story holds true to the course, 
they'll come upon me unexpectedly at some point anyway. Better that 
they learn at least part of the truth today."

Chichiri glanced at the mirror over Tai-Yi's shoulder and watched
one of his fellow warriors glance over the edge of the carpet, then
flinch away and cover his eyes. _Ah, the dangers of airsickness for
the uninitiated..._ He smothered a brief smile and turned his 
attention to more serious matters. "I should leave before you welcome
them no da. Do you have any tasks for me no da?"

The old woman frowned thoughtfully for a moment. "I ask that you 
search for your counterpoint and awaken him, wherever he might be. 
It is strange, but I can find signs of all your fellows except 
for-"

Chichiri nodded, tapping his staff against the ground to jingle the 
rings in it. "And if I find Chiriko dead no da?"

Tai-Yi Jun looked grim. "Pray that his successor awakens soon, for 
without his wisdom Suzaku will never be summoned, and the story will
never turn."

The servant-spirits who were watching the conversation unfold gave
a collective gasp, and Chichiri wanted to do much the same himself.
_If the wheel of karma is broken... if we are trapped in this cycle 
of the story forever... our universe will shatter and drift away on 
the winds! May the Four Gods forbid such a thing!_

Tai-Yi Jun noted his expression and gave a smile that tried to be 
comforting, but Chichiri knew the old woman too well to be fooled. 
"Don't worry about it. I'm sure that I'm only old and jumping at the
slightest shadows, but-" 

She cut herself off abruptly, but the young priest had no trouble 
filling in what came after the 'but'. _But what you look like now is 
a sign that the Wheel is already out of balance, that the universe 
is changing in a way never seen before and never likely to be seen 
again._

He shook his head to drive away the end of the sentence, but the 
conclusion rang through Chichiri's skull like a doom bell's dread 
tolling, thrumming with portents of doom. _Never likely to be seen 
again, if only because it will break the Wheel beyond recognition 
or recovery._

****

Mika raised her arm away from Matsura's shoulders and stretched, 
yawning. A glance over at the clock told her that it was about time
to go back to her house. "Well, we've got school tomorrow. Guess I'd
better head off, right?"

Matsura stood up a moment after she did, setting the book carefully
on the couch. "Yeah, I guess so."

She put one finger on his forehead and looked him in the eyes, a 
stern expression creeping onto her face. "Look, Matsura, I don't 
want you staying up all night reading the book." The stern facade 
Mika had put over her face almost cracked as she remembered Matsura 
recounting why she'd found him walking home from school this 
afternoon.

But Mika knew that giggling wasn't exactly the right thing to do 
while scolding someone. It tended to reduce the effect, and she was 
in full big-sister mode now.

She added extra glare and a firm, "This book is important, but we 
can't let anyone know about it yet. That means we both still go to 
school, hang out, and try to live normal lives."

"What about Akira?" 

Mika pulled her finger away from Matsura's forehead and waggled it
back and forth. "Don't worry, already got it covered. Called in that
there was a family emergency, and we'd try to get him back to school
as soon as possible because blah blah blah..." 

For some reason, Matsura looked sulky for a moment, then he muttered
something that Mika didn't catch. Before she could ask him what he'd 
said, he shrugged. "Well, all that's true enough, I guess... So, will
you stop by tomorrow afternoon?"

Mika grinned. "Sure thing! Right after school. If you want to come
over to my place, though, I wouldn't say no." She glanced around 
and sniffed. "Your apartment is starting to smell like a bachelor's 
pad. You'd better clean it up if you want to bring a cute girl over 
while your parents are away!"

For a split second, Matsura seemed stricken, as if she'd said 
something hurtful... but it passed over his face so quickly that 
Mika wasn't sure what it meant.  He smiled again and said, "You'd 
better hurry along, then." He sat back down on the couch and picked 
up the book again, waving one hand idly in parting.

Mika turned towards the door, and with her face away from Matsura, 
a frown crossed her face. _I wonder what that was all about..._ Once 
the door was closed behind her, she looked up at the sky, where a few
stars managing to shine dimly even against the oppressive brilliance
of the streetlights. "Well, I'll ask him tomorrow. I mean, it isn't
as if anything's going to change THAT much in just one night, right?"

****

By the time the carpet landed on the elegantly tiled balcony of the 
palace that perched on top of Daichi-san mountain, Akira knew that 
something was...

Not necessarily _wrong_, but definitely not right. After all, he'd 
just stuck six inches of tempered steel through his hand, and he
wasn't feeling the slightest bit of pain! Akira glanced down at his
hand and the looked away, swallowing queasily. It was one thing to
_know_ that he'd done that to himself, but _watching_ the blood drip
down the blade, spattering on the carpet...

And while he wasn't as connected to his three companions as he had 
been before waking up with the necklace that hid underneath his
shirt, Akira could still feel things about them sometimes; and 
right now, he could tell how badly they were hurt, how much pain 
they should be feeling, and how much they actually WERE feeling right 
now. 

A sense of shame filled him as he clenched his still-whole hand into 
a fist. _This was MY fault, dammit. If I hadn't've been such a fool, 
if I hadn't've rushed off, then my friends wouldn't've almost died.
This was MY fault..._

Nuriko released the fistfuls of carpet he'd had a deathgrip on and
leapt off, landing on his hands and knees. He seemed ready to kiss 
the ground for a moment, then reluctantly stood up straight, 
wobbling around slightly. "Aah... at last, back on firm ground!"

"DID YOU NOT ENJOY MY METHOD of conveying you to my home?"

The voice faded from a resounding echo that came at them from all 
sides to a vibrant contralto from the doorway of the balcony. The
woman's voice rang with power, filled with confidence and a strength
that Akira had never heard so strongly from anyone in his entire 
life.

He turned towards the doorway and saw a woman standing there, tall
and proud, her vibrant red hair showing just a touch of white and her 
face lined enough to give the impression of wisdom without detracting 
a whit from her handsome beauty. She wore an ornate black robe of 
silk that was stitched with gold thread in intricate designs which 
glinted in the late afternoon sunlight. They shifted as she moved 
one hand up in a slow greeting, the sleeve's threads forming a bird, 
a turtle, a mountain...

"I am Tai-Yi Jun."

Akira stood there for a moment, unsure of how to react. "Uh, er, ah, 
hi?"

Nuriko elbowed him and hissed, "'Hi'? Is that the best thing you can
say?!"

Tai-Yi Jun smiled and stepped down the small stairway gracefully, the
thread shifting to more intricate patterns and scenes, her every 
motion creating and recreating new designs. "We don't stand much on 
formality up here." She glanced at Akira's wound and grimaced. "It 
would not be meet of me to let you die on my doorstep, were those not 
your words? I shall summon the Nyan-Nyans to heal you."

She clapped both hands together sharply, the report reverberating
from the valley around them. As the last echo faded away, a series of 
cheerful pops sounded, and from the air around the foursome appeared 
a dozen children... or at least that's what they seemed like to Akira 
at first glance. When he looked at them again, he noticed something 
off about them that he couldn't quite put his finger on...

Tai-Yi motioned towards the four people around the carpet. "Attend
them and heal all their wounds." 

"Yay!" All of the girls let a cheer, then rushed two to a person, 
including Tai-Yi Jun. She glanced at them as they floated into the 
air beside her.

"What do you want with me?" 

One of them pulled a bottle out of a pocket and swirled the bottle 
around, making the red liquid inside dance. "We can get rid of
those..." 

Another picked up the sentence. "...Unsightly white streaks!"

An angry roar sent them reeling backwards, and the two Nyan-Nyans
attending Akira exchanged a pair of cute glances over his hand before 
giggling. 

"Ever since the Wheel spun awry..."

The first Nyan-Nyan turned Akira's hand palm-up with both of her
little hands, and the second picked up her sentence. "...She's been
getting so glum, but..."

The second Nyan-Nyan closed her mouth as she ran one finger
delicately along the jagged end of the blade where Tamahome had broken it, and the first looked up at Akira and smiled. "...Now that you're here, she's back to her..."

"...Usual cranky self!" the second Nyan-Nyan concluded brightly as
she gave the jagged end an experimental push. Akira winced in
anticipation, but felt... nothing, aside from the slight downward
movement of his hand. The two Nyan-Nyans exchanged another pair of
cute girl glances before the first gripped his hand firmly and the
second grasped the jagged end.

Akira watched for just a moment as they pushed the blade out a 
fraction before turning away, the very sight of it making him feel 
ill. For some reason, it disturbed him to even _think_ about what 
they were doing, so he looked at his companions.

His gaze landed first on Nuriko, who seemed to be engaged in some 
sort of staring match with her two Nyan-Nyans. For several long 
moments, all three of them were quiet, then finally Nuriko snapped 
out, "Why are you staring at me?"

The first one grinned. "We'll heal you!"

Nuriko looked confused for a moment. "But I don't need any healing."

The second one tugged on Nuriko's sleeve. "We'll heal your 
perversion!"

"AAAGH!"

Akira chuckled at the way Nuriko chased the laughing Nyan-Nyans away,
arms wildly flailing, then he looked over at Hotohori and Tamahome.
The four Nyan-Nyans around them weren't looking nearly as cheerful as 
the other six scattered around the balcony, and were exchanging 
worried glances constantly. Hotohori was still twitching 
uncontrollably, and Tamahome wasn't moving a bit, not even when the 
Nyan-Nyans touched her...

A sudden, wrenching gout of fiery pain tore at Akira's vision and 
made him gasp with agony, hunching over. From the edges of his 
narrowing vision, he glimpsed the two Nyan-Nyans recoil from his hand 
as bright flames spurted from his wounds, bathing his arm up to the 
elbow. 

A moment later, Akira looked at his hand, regarding his whole, 
unmarked palm with wonder. _What the hell..._

A pair of hands grasped his newly-healed one in a firm grip and 
Akira looked up at Tai-Yi Jun as she examined it carefully. He 
caught snatches of her muttering. "Long lifeline... twisted 
loveline... broken in places, but... psychic abilities... lucky as 
a..." She dropped his hand suddenly, shuddering, and met his gaze, 
her eyes sad. "You have a long, painful road ahead of you, and you 
will lose everything that you value and take for granted long before 
you reach the end of the path awaiting you. Whether or not you 
regain what you've lost will depend upon the choice you make." 

She knelt down beside him, and Akira belatedly realized he'd fallen 
while his injury had been healing. He watched the threads on her 
robe's shoulder form into the outline of two lovers embracing, a 
blaze that consumed them, a pair of birds flying away...

Then she placed the still-bloody point of Akira's dagger on his palm,
and it felt hot, searing into his flesh. Something deep inside of
him flared in response, like dying embers stirred to fresh life, and
without thinking about it he reached into his shirt and broke the
chain around his neck, tossing it aside.

Akira turned his head and watched the necklace tumble through the air
as if in slow motion, the chain ends flashing silver in the
brilliant sunlight. He stood up and strode towards the carpet where
his two warriors were injured unto death, and as he looked down at
them, Akira tested the edges of his flame, his power, seeking its
limits, wondering if he could do with it what he wanted, no,
_needed_, to do.

He felt a cool hand on his shoulder, and Akira looked at Tai-Yi Jun. 
"I want to heal them. This is my fault, and it should be I who heals
the warriors that belong to me." He felt the power inside of him 
rise up at his unconscious command. Akira closed his eyes and fought 
to retain control of the flame. After several moments in which he 
waged a  millennia of war against the impulse to let the world burn, 
Akira reopened his eyes slowly. "How can I do it? How can I heal 
them?"

She motioned, and the Nyan-Nyans around Tamahome and Hotohori s
crambled off the carpet as it rose into the air. "Come, follow me."

****

Matsura turned the page and stared blankly at the picture on the 
other side, shocked at what was before him.

Akira stood, looking down at the floating carpet, a pair of 
flaming wings that sprouted from his back protectively curling around 
it, sheltering the two obviously wounded people lying on it. His 
hands were extended towards them, but he didn't reach out to touch 
them and there was a look of fear on his face, because fire was 
flickering from his palms. 

For a long moment, Matsura didn't feel anything but numbly angry, 
then all the frustrations he'd experienced in the last few days, all 
the suppressed feelings of jealousy over Akira's adventure, coiled 
up inside of him and spiraled out of his control. 

He threw the book across the room. "AAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGHHHH!!!!"
His scream of frustration echoed off the walls, and Matsura stood up 
 to scream again, his fists raised up in the air. 

Slowly, he lowered them, and felt his eyes sting slightly. "Dammit, 
it's just not fair! HE gets magical powers. HE gets a girl. HE gets 
to... while all I can do is just sit here and READ ABOUT IT!!! Damn 
you, Akira!" 

Matsura stood there for a moment, then, hating himself for doing it 
and hating Akira still more, bitter rage throbbing in his head, he 
walked to where the book had landed on the floor. As he bent down, 
he whispered over and over, "Damn you... damn you..."

****

Akira walked through the hallways of Tai-Yi Jun's palace, marveling 
at the way that it all seemed so distant, apart from himself. It 
was as if there were two Akiras, one very small, very minor Akira 
walking, and a larger one dancing into higher and broader realms of 
thought and power and magic, growing more and more separate from his 
puny meat body...

A sharp slap cracked across his cheek, and Akira was forced back 
somewhat into his body, seeing through his meat eyes an irate-
looking Tai-Yi Jun. "That's how it starts," she stated firmly. "Keep 
yourself grounded in your flesh, and you won't be tempted to leave 
it."

For a moment, Akira was tempted to go back to that realm of light 
and aura and energy, then he looked at the carpet that floated just 
in front of him. _Tamahome!_ 

Akira tried to remain entirely in his body, but he could _feel_ it 
cracking from the sheer pressure of his power, and he had to let the 
magic range more freely. Every time he felt the urge to let go 
entirely, though, Akira looked back down at the carpet's burden to 
remind himself. 

At the fringes of his hearing, he heard Nuriko and Tai-Yi Jun 
talking.

"Why can't you just heal my friends right now?" Nuriko's tone was 
almost demanding, and Akira felt a distant amusement at the way he'd 
overcome his previous shyness of the sorceress.

Tai-Yi Jun sighed. "Just as you protect and shield the Summoner, so 
does he protect and shield you. I can do minor things to his 
Warriors, like putting a stasis on these two so their injuries don't 
grow any worse, and I could probably heal them of minor injuries, 
but anything as major as this the power inside of him would 
interfere, and I would have to break through it with force. It's 
easier just to teach him how to do it, if no safer..." 

The carpet stopped as she trailed off, and Akira stopped as well. 
"We are here." 

Akira examined the cavernous room with both his normal senses and 
his newfound ones, and found it incredible on all accounts. The 
walls flickered and danced in the shifting light from the giant 
stained glass dome that formed the ceiling, showing a giant mural 
across all of the room's circling walls. 

The dome was almost entirely black, aside from holes and lines 
that Akira recognized, after a moment, to be the constellations, 
each one in their proper quarter of the sky. Each set of stars 
shone down on a section of the mural, somehow illuminating just 
the part that related to each part of the sky: south, north, east, 
and west. 

The floor was made of dark marble laced with green, each section 
set in gold that formed a pattern which Akira couldn't see properly 
from his perspective on the ground. Tai-Yi Jun stepped forward, 
and the carpet floated ahead of her, coming to rest in center of 
the room. She gestured to Akira. "You must join them on the carpet."

Without thinking about it, Akira reached out with his power, 
twisting reality temporarily so that _here_ became _there_, and he 
was seated on the carpet between Tamahome and Hotohori. Both of 
them looked at him, and a suddenly receding part of Akira thrilled 
that Tamahome still had the energy to do that. 

He looked over at the ancient sorceress, and saw her anew. She 
seemed to overflow with a power that was older than the mountain 
they were standing on, older than time, older than the gods 
themselves; and for the first time since he'd thrown away the 
necklace that had sheltered him from the fires inside, Akira felt 
small and insignificant. From out of nowhere, an errant thought 
lodged in his head. _I am just a small part of the Wheel, and she 
is the Wheel's guardian. I am just using this book, this spell; she 
IS the spell..._

"Now, the next step is to disrobe entirely." 

Akira, distracted his thoughts, fumbled for a moment with clumsy 
meat fingers at the buttons of his uniform. Tiring of that, he 
focused for a moment and deformed his clothes into a small package 
that fit neatly into one hand, then he reconsidered and deformed 
them into a band around one wrist. _Just in case I need my hands._

While he was doing this, Lailais appeared next to Tamahome and 
Hotohori, reaching out little hands towards their clothes. Tamahome 
let them help her, weakly moving as they demanded, and Akira looked 
away from her as her robes were pulled away. _A free look would be, 
well, nice, but..._ 

He was distracted from that line of thought, however, as Hotohori 
shoved the closest Lailai away, his hands still shaking 
spasmatically but his jaw clenched with determination. "W-we will 
NOT! Our body is not for display!"

Tai-Yi Jun sounded sad as she spoke. "There is a time for keeping 
secrets, and a time for revealing them. Hotohori... your mother is 
dead, and you have to make your own decisions about whom to trust. 
You can't hide from yourself, and you shouldn't hide it from..."

A glare from the Emperor cut her off. "Very well, you needn't lecture 
us any further. We understand, damn you!" Slowly, exhibiting a rigid 
control over his every movement so that his shaking limbs wouldn't 
betray him, Hotohori unbelted his robe and shrugged it off his 
shoulders, pulling it free of his body...

At first, caught up more in reading the auroras dancing around his 
shoulders, Akira didn't realize what the bandages around Hotohori's 
body meant. _When did he get injured there?_ Then, as the Emperor 
reached around and undid the bandages, letting them fall loosely 
around his waist, Akira did realize what they were for, and it was 
enough to make him gape in shock.

Tamahome's ability to react was muted by her injuries, so all she 
did was gasp. 

Nuriko pointed at Hotohori and froze there, mouth opening and closing 
with no sound coming out of it, lone finger quivering in the air.

For some reason, Akira's mouth chose the exact wrong moment to start 
working again. "Wow, that's the first pair of real breasts I've ever 
seen!"

Hotohori blushed and covered herself with one hand, reaching out with 
the other to give Akira a slap that made his head ring. "DON'T LOOK AT 
ME!!!"

Tai-Yi Jun sighed in amusement tinged with irritation. "Kids will be 
kids... but we don't have time for this nonsense any more. Time is 
running out on my spell." She waved one hand and all three people on 
the carpet floated into the air, leaving their discarded clothing 
behind. 

Akira fought the sudden urge to break free of the sorceress's weave, 
knowing that it was there only to help him heal his Warriors. Strands 
of power threaded the three people together, binding them, and Akira 
could _feel_ the thoughts of the other two people tangibly. Without 
warning, Hotohori pulled at him powerfully, and Akira was dragged...

****

...Into the room that smelled of death unwillingly, knowing what was 
there and what it meant: That my father was no more. 

My mother's hand dug into my shoulder, and I went along, playing the 
part of the good heir to the throne. I stood on tip-toes and looked 
my father in the face, wanting to run my fingers through his beard 
one more time, wondering absently why he'd chosen now to leave me 
alone with-

Her. 

She knelt down and whispered in my ear, "Take the sword from his 
hands. This is to show that you willingly accept the burden of being 
the Emperor, even if you are still too young to rule." 

Obeying her unthinkingly, I leaned forward and grasped the scabbard 
in both of my hands, tugging. 

Father didn't let go, his hands still holding firmly to the hilt.

Fearfully, I released the scabbard and started to back away, but I 
felt my mother pinch me savagely where the retainers couldn't see. 
"Do it!" she hissed, and I seized it again, yanking wildly, imagining 
that any second my father would sit up, pull the blade forth, and from 
his undead throat would issue a rank stench and the denouncing words, 
"GIRL!! MY HEIR IS A GIRL!!! FALSE! FAKE! WORTH NOTHING!!" I could 
almost see his sword arcing towards my throat, feel it piercing my 
neck...

I fell on my hind end as the sword finally came free, hitting me in 
the chest with a painful thunk. I stood up slowly, looking up at my
mother for a smile, something, ANYTHING, to show that I'd done
something worthwhile for her, wishing I'd've been born a male so this
lie I lived would be unnecessary, so that I might see my own mother
smile tenderly at me, so that....

But wishes were worth nothing, and all that was on her face was a 
grim look of determination, of one battle won and only a thousand 
more left to fight.

****

Akira reeled away from the memory and looked down at Tai-Yi Jun, who 
didn't seem to have noticed anything awry. "First, you have to search 
out the power of one of your warriors you haven't met yet, whose 
constellation is Mitsukake. His power is that of healing, and..."

As soon as she said the name, Akira _knew_ how to use that power. He 
called it out and let the soft green of healing play out through the 
threads betwixt himself and his two Warriors, first soothing their 
minor injuries, and then, as he grew more confident, mending their 
major ones, removing the stain of the monster's dark aura from 
Hotohori, shifting and stimulating Tamahome's broken bones and body,
and then...

It was done.

Akira blinked. "Wow, that was easy."

Tai-Yi Jun frowned. "Now, this is going to be the difficult part for 
you, Akira. You have to give them back their power."

He blinked. "Their power?"

Her frown turned to a grimace and she wave one hand. "The power of a 
god is too much for one puny human to bear for length of time. Long,
long ago, the gods decreed that each of their lands would have
protectors, seven of them, all entrusted with a fraction of their
power. When a Summoner of a god appears, these protectors gain more
strength, in exchange for becoming the Star Warriors of that Summoner.

"At least, that's how it usually works." Her grimace grew, if 
anything, worse. "You've been siphoning off the power that is meant 
for them, drawing it into yourself. I don't thi-- That shouldn't be
possible, but you're doing it.

"What you have to do, Akira, is 'lock' that part of yourself that
draws on their link through you, so that they can use their own power
to recover. Right now, they are little more than ordinary humans 
because you're using their power, so what you have to do is..."

Akira interrupted. "Can't you just make me up another one of those 
necklaces?"

"That was only a temporary measure, meant to protect you until I could
see you myself."

Akira shrugged. "So, can you tell me how to do it?"

"Uh, er, ah...." Tai-Yi Jun looked down at the ground as a slight 
flush crossed her face. "nIcn't..." she mumbled.

"Huh?"

"nIcn't..."

"Could you please..."

"I CAN'T, OKAY?!?!" She looked up and the force of her glare made 
Akira throw one hand up involuntarily. "I don't have the SLIGHTEST
idea how you're doing this, not in over eight Turnings have I seen
ANYTHING like this, and..." Tai-Yi Jun trailed off, looking a bit
embarrassed at her outburst, but Akira didn't need for her to finish
the sentence. 

"Yeah, okay. I'll try it." 

Akira closed his eyes, and instead of ranging outwards with his new 
senses, he looked inwards at his own flame. 

What he saw there...

****

Tamahome felt marvelous after the soft green stars disappeared from
her vision and the warmth vanished from her body, though she still
felt a tinge of regret that it was gone. _Akira... THAT was Akira
inside of me, touching me, healing me. It felt so nice._ A blush
heated her cheeks, and to distract herself from those kind of
thoughts, she actually LOOKED at Hotohori. 

Well, she had noticed that the Emperor was really a woman earlier, but
the haze of pain had numbed most of the realization's shock, and she 
felt the ghost of jealousy pass through her as she examined Hotohori's
figure more closely. _Damn, those breast-bands must've REALLY hurt...
it just figures that she'd be... really...

_Big._ A grimace crossed her face, and she looked towards her own 
body. It was a nice one, but... _Now that Akira knows Hotohori is 
really a woman, he's sure to go after her. She's prettier (I 
should've KNOWN that she was WAAAAAAAY too beautiful to be a man!), 
she's smarter, she's higher rank, and I told him I didn't want 
anything to do with him!_ Tamahome restrained the urge to bury her 
face in her hands and cry a little. _Why wasn't I honest with him? 
Why didn't I try to work something out? Nuriko was right. I really
AM just afraid._

Her chin firmed. _That's it! I'm gonna accept Akira, if he can accept
me. I'm not losing to... her!_

Then Akira screamed, and all thoughts of anything so minor vanished
into mist as Tamahome jerked towards him involuntarily and smashed
into the edge of her bubble, helpless to do anything but watch him
writhe in agony.

****

The threads vanished, burned away, and Akira dropped heavily to the
floor, barely feeling the pain of his bruised skin against the fire
that raged inside of him, threatening to consume him from the inside. 

He felt hands turn him over, and he looked up at Tai-Yi Jun. "I... I
did it... I locked it away, but... I had to use too much power to do
it..."

Tai-Yi Jun ran her hands over his body, touching his energy points,
and Akira felt some of the pain subside. "He is going to have to go
back to his own world for a while. This was too much for him. He
needs to spend some time away from our world."

"How can we send him back?" Akira heard Hotohori ask, and Tai-Yi
tugged at his school uniform, still in the form of a band around one
wrist. 

"It's a form of sympathetic magic, several Laws bound together.
Basically, he has a friend in his own world that is bound to him 
through--"

****

Matsura looked up from the book and at his room, gasping in 
realization. "The uniforms!" Memories came flooding back. Every time
Akira was injured while they were both wearing the uniforms...

"I got hurt too!" The boy looked back down at the page and read the
next words. "'Tai-Yi Jun placed the Summoner's uniform upon him and 
prayed that his friend reading the book would realize-"

Matsura stood up and ran for his closet, peeling off the clothes he'd
worn on the date with Mika and tossing them aside. As he started
buttoning his uniform closed, a wicked thought occurred to him.

_When he comes back to our world... does that mean I go into the
book?_ A grin crossed his face, and anyone seeing it would have 
recoiled at the transformation it wrought in his features. _And once 
I'm in there, can HE come back in?_

****

As I go back to my world I see nothing but darkness shades of grey 
weaving into a numb vortex of reality that sucks at my soul drawing 
me closer and closer to the devastating truth the book calls to me 
but I cannot return yet my body too ravaged by the spells I wove...

****

As I return to the book wondrous blue light smooths my journey and I
see only one thing that I know is fate destiny karma the future 
Akira kneeling before me acknowledging me finally as the best out of 
us...


AUTHOR'S NOTES

Whew. Another part out of the way? ALREADY? I know what you're
saying. "Aaron? Are you sick? What's wrong with you?"

And then I slap your hand away from my forehead and insist that I'm 
just fine, really!

(author's note: above comments severely out of date)

But honestly, this is more an extension of the last chapter, and the 
next is more like an extension of this one. It wasn't much effort to 
write, actually; just a matter of getting enough time slotted...

This had to have been one of the most comprehensively preread chapters of my story ever. ^_^ It's kind of strange to think about all the friends who helped me out by reading this for me and giving me feedback. Thanx go out to Larry F, Ben, Jamie, and fanilia.

Anyway, tell me what you think of it!

...what am I thinking? Nobody on the FFML reads this thing anyway. That's why I didn't put it out on the FFML when I first wrote it.

Why am I bothering to do this?

Aaron Bergman
iamfanboy@hotmail.com
"Can't sleep... clown will eat me... 
 can't sleep... clown will eat me..."
 -Bart Simpson


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