Starlit Reflections

Fushigi Yuugi is copyright Watase Yuu, Flower Comics, Studio Perriot, Pioneer Entertainment and Viz Communications. All rights remain theirs and I have no claim to any of them. Tasuki, Kouji and the Mt. Leikaku bandits, however, have cheerfully laid claim to all the money you happen to have in your pockets as you're reading this. It and all C&C will be welcome.

Chapter Thirteen: Choosing The Path

Yui hung on to Soi's waist, trying to ignore the way that straddling the horse stretched thigh muscles she hadn't even been aware she had. She was now, and would be even more aware tomorrow.

It wasn't supposed to be like this, she was sure. She hadn't seen many shows or read many books about people getting sucked into magical worlds, but she was fairly certain that the characters hadn't had to flee from the authorities as soon as they arrived.

And you wouldn't either, if you'd let them take you away from Suboshi and Soi, she admonished herself.

There was nothing she could say to that.

The stars were clear and bright, unwavering in their intensity. She looked up at them and noticed how low the Autumn Trio hung in the sky. "Virgo, Libra, Scorpio," she murmured dreamily. Somehow, between the late hour's urging her into sleep and her aching body keeping her awake, she had managed to fall into a kind of half-trance.

The man with the painted face, who had been introduced to her as Tomo, was riding a little behind Soi and Yui. He heard her voice and urged his horse forward. "What was that, Lady Yui?" he asked politely.

Yui pointed up at the three constellations. "I was just thinking that those three constellations are very bright," she said quietly. "Virgo, the Maiden. Libra, the Scales. And Scorpio, the Scorpion. They're used for divining the future in my world. I was born in November, so I'm a Scorpio."

"That's interesting. In our mythology, they are the seven Moon Inns of Seiryuuseikun. We use them for divining, too." Tomo said thoughtfully. Soi blinked and cast a sharp sideways glance at the ex-opera singer.

"Is there any significance to the signs? In my world, there's a lot of meanings in the three signs there."

"Of course. There are several different traits attached to the seven Moon Inns."

Soi was strongly tempted to ask if arrogance and vanity were attributes of Tomoboshi, but held her tongue. Tomo continued, "But what are the traits they hold in your world?"

"Well, Virgos - people born in September - are supposed to be perfectionists who are really good at handling crises."

Soi glanced ahead at Amiboshi and Suboshi, and decided that the astrologers in Lady Yui's world needed to do some more work.

"Librans - people born in October - are supposed to be diplomatic and sweet-tempered."

Soi privately wondered if Tomo had ever been diplomatic in his life.

"People born in November are Scorpios, and we're supposed to be passionate and determined."

But, on reflection, Soi thought, these otherworld astrologers might actually have gotten it right for once.

"But this is just all stories. Legends, really. Nobody really believes them anymore. There's no use for them anymore. They're not even accurate."

"Not all legends are worthless," Soi put in, without turning her head. "It may simply be that the real truth has been forgotten."

"Probably," Yui agreed, noticing absently that Tomo had fallen back into his position in the column again.

Taking tea with Hotohori, Nuriko decided, was not nearly so nerve-wracking as taking tea with the Emperor. And yet, for the life of her, she could not determine the exact difference.

Maybe it's me, she thought, as she blew on the cherry blossom petal that stubbornly floated on the top of her tea, refusing to sink to join its siblings at the bottom of the teacup. No, I'm being silly.

She sat back on her cushion, and studied Hotohori over the rim of her teacup. He was, she acknowledged, a very handsome young man, without equal if one were looking for beauty in the classic mode. Elder Brother was cast into the shade, and she was entirely eclipsed. Yet he was so much more than just his face.

The Emperor smiled at her, and somehow it was Hotohori again, sitting across from her. "Is the tea too hot?" he asked her courteously.

"No," she replied. "It's just this one petal won't sink."

"Isn't that supposed to be a sign of good luck?"

"I wish," she replied sourly. "We could use some good luck. No, that's only when the stalk of the tea leaf floats to the surface. Drinking your tea and obviously swallowing your petals is simply bad manners."

He sipped his own tea and twitched his eyebroys at her over the rim of the cup.

She glared back.

He set the cup down gently, and smiled at her maddeningly. "You'll note," he said sweetly, "that I didn't say anything."

Nuriko rolled her eyes. "Sometimes, Lord Hotohori, you are worse than Elder Brother. And I don't mean it as a compliment," she added sharply when Hotohori's smile filled with satisfaction.

"How is Sir Rokou? I haven't been to call on him since that day a week ago. I meant to ask him how Tamahome's brothers are settling into their new apprenticeships."

Nuriko grasped onto this emotionally-neutral subject with relief. "I haven't been to see Elder Brother since then either, but he wrote to me a few days ago. The two boys are settling in fine, apparently. So are their sisters - Kourin gets along like a house afire with Yuiren, and Gyoukouran is the most sensible maid I've ever had in my life. When Lady Miaka comes back and we go out looking for the other three Shichiseishi again, I may very well drag her along."

"Tamahome may have something to say to that."

Nuriko lifted an eyebrow. "Tamahome is wandering around as if someone was feeding him opium."

Hotohori laid his cup down, a worried expression on his face. "You think that...?"

Nuriko shook her head. "No, he isn't addicted, and I will admit that I did investigate that. It just seems to be shock over Miaka's absence. I don't really understand why, though. We don't seem to be affected nearly as badly."

"It may be," Hotohori said thoughtfully, "that he's missing her as more than the Priestess."

She flicked her eyes at him. "Then I would expect you to be just as affected," she commented, her voice carefully blank. "You were attracted to her too."

He laughed. "No, I was in love with an image I'd built in my head. I wanted a perfect woman and I expected the Priestess of Suzaku to be one. Naturally enough, she isn't - and I am wise enough to admit it. Tamahome, though," he continued, "doesn't seem to have had the same preconceptions. His feelings are inspired by Miaka herself, not the legend."

"Oh." Nuriko sipped at her tea. Finally, she said, in a very small voice, "I'm sorry."

"Whatever for?"

"The death of an illusion... it's just as painful as any other death."

Hotohori smiled, his eyes intense as he stared directly into Nuriko's eyes. "Don't worry. I am consoled by the birth of another regard, one that is based on fact rather than dreams."

She blushed, and glanced down, staring at her tea. When she glanced up again, his eyes were still on her face. The silence stretched, long and uncomfortable, between them. Finally, Nuriko said softly, "I never... intended to be more than a friend to you."

Hotohori felt his face fall. The breeze was suddenly icy cold, blowing right through him.

"I wasn't going to tell you that I wanted more."

He jerked his head up, eyes alight with sudden hope. Nuriko was staring off into the middle distance, her face and tone serious.

"But... if you feel an honest regard for me, I should tell you - I feel an honest regard for you." She finally turned her head to look at him directly.

The silence this time was no less charged, but not nearly so uncomfortable. It was broken when Nuriko glanced toward the path and commented, "Oh, look, here comes Lord Yukino. It must be time for you to attend evening Court."

"And Nuriko will join me for supper," Hotohori said hastily, as they both stood.

"Of course, Your Majesty," the Court Princess replied as Lord Yukino came up to the table, made a gracious courtesy, and left.

When Keisuke met his best friend, Kiryuu Tetsuya, at the National Library, he wasn't expecting his friend to be so agitated. Tetsuya kept glancing up at the people who were passing by their table, and twice dropped his pen.

Finally, Keisuke stood up. "Come on, Tetsuya," he said. "I'm hungry. Let's go get something to eat."

Tetsuya tilted his head up, his messy brown hair falling over the sunglasses he was wearing, even though it was indoors and after dark. Whenever anyone asked him why, Tetsuya would grin at them and reply, "Because, when you're this cool, the sun shines on you twenty-four hours a day!"

But Tetsuya wasn't grinning now. He looked worried, for some reason. "Should we?" he asked. "We really ought to keep working...."

"No. I need food. Now," Keisuke declared, dragging him up out of his chair by his arm.

"Fine, fine," Tetsuya sighed, picking up his notebook.

When they were safely ensconced in a nearby ramen shop, and he had snarfed down his order, Keisuke began to quiz Tetsuya. "So, what's up?"

Tetsuya wasn't a student of the Yuuki School of High-Speed Eating, much less a master like Keisuke, so he was still halfway through his chicken ramen. "Wuhaahyuh-" he swallowed, and began again. "What are you talking about?"

Keisuke gave him a very old-fashioned look. "You've been acting really weird all night. What's up?"

"I'm worried."

"Thank you, Captain Obvious. What are you worried about?"

He could see Tetsuya's eyebrows lift, as he clearly considered confiding in him. He felt his hopes lift, and then be dashed, when Tetsuya finally muttered, "Stuff."

Such a short, dead-end answer was very unlike Tetsuya. He didn't talk when he didn't have anything to say, but he usually did have something to say, and he was hardly ever rude. Keisuke decided to keep pressing. "What kind of stuff?"

Keisuke was finally silenced when Tetsuya said, "Family stuff."

"Oh," Keisuke finally said. Not talking about family problems was something the son of a divorced couple understood perfectly. "Well, you do know you can tell me anything, if you do want to talk, right?"

"Right," Tetsuya said. After a pause, he added, "Thanks. For noticing."

"Hey, I'm your best friend, right?"

They shifted onto the subject of their university work, and the atmosphere lightened. They were both relaxed and Tetsuya, although still far more tense than his usual laidback self, was no longer doing an excellent impression of high-tension wire when they pushed aside the curtain to step outside the little cafe.

Miaka ran past them.

"Miaka!" Keisuke said, shocked.

"Why was she running to the library so fast?" Tetsuya asked mildly.

Keisuke glanced over at Tetsuya. "We have to get back to the library, before she does!"

Tetsuya grinned, for the first time that evening. "All right. We parked over here...."

Tamahome had been thinking, while birds nested on his head and he amused the Court servants with his thoughtless antics.

He'd seen his sisters running around the Palace, and spoken to both of them. His brothers had both sent him letters from their apprenticeships in the city. They were all four of them settled, but he had no idea what was happening with his father, especially with nobody at home to look after him.

And, as if an omen, he saw Nuriko running along the corridor - obviously to attend on the Emperor, as she was wearing a particularly fine set of boys' robes. So he stepped out into the corridor to attract her attention.

"Hello, Tamahome," Nuriko called out, cheerily. "I'm sorry, I'm in a bit of a hurry. Is there anything I can do to help you?"

"Yes," Tamahome said. "I need you to ask the Emperor for me for permission for me to leave Court and go visit my father."