Fushigi Yuugi Fan Fiction ❯ A Story Retold ❯ Chapter 10

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Disclaimer: I don't own Fushigi Yugi. The original story and
characters belong to Yu Watase. Any characters that did not appear in
the original story are my own creation.

Warnings: The story picks up shortly after the episode 52 of the
Fushigi Yugi series. If you haven't seen all of the series not only
will the story probably leave you confused, but it contains some
major spoilers as well. This story has nothing to do with the OVA,
except the use of Taka's name.

Summary thus far: Upon arriving for the second time in the "Universe
of the Four Gods," Yui and Miaka are again separated. Yui, staying at
the Kutou palace discovers that the changed events have affected her
more than she realized, and now she is expecting a child... by the
same man who raped her. Like before, Yui blames her suffering on Miaka
and resolves to again become the priestess of Seiryu. She gives birth
to the baby, a girl, and names her Yuiren. At first, Yui struggles
with taking care of her, but with her handmaiden Toki's guidance, she
learns to love her daughter and promises that she will guide and
protect her. Meanwhile, the search for the celestial warriors
continues...

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A Story Retold: Chapter 10
By Katrina Kadabra

Yui awoke to the warm sunlight on her face. Soft cries could be heard
in the next room. Rubbing her eyes, Yui glanced out the window to the
sky to see that the sun was already well above the horizon. Of course.
She had overslept. Yui quickly sat up and without delay, walked to the
next room, picked up her crying daughter, and started to feed her.
Yuiren's cries quickly soothed, and Yui sighed as she gently rocked
the girl in her arms.

It had been a few weeks since she returned to the Kutou palace. Since
she had made her decision to stop acting on her own feelings of pain
on concentrate on her duties. She had even begun contemplating what
her wishes to Seiryu would be once she summoned the beast god again.
The fact that she was still the priestess had not occurred to her in
ages.

It seemed any attempts to separate Miaka and Tamahome again were
futile. If Miaka went back to their world, she would have Taka. If she
remained trapped in this world, it would be Tamahome. Both were one in
the same, the identical person in two different worlds. Short of
sealing Miaka in a dark cave somewhere for the rest of her life, and
Yui was not quite that vengeful, there seemed little she could do to
separate Tamahome and the girl he loved. But Yui was not going to
concern herself with Miaka now. Enough had happened already, and as
far as her revenge for Miaka's lies, she was sure something would
occur to her sooner or later. First she had to actually locate all
eight of her warriors. Nakago had already found seven of them, mostly
due to the sense of their life forces, but partially to Yui's physical
descriptions of each of the warriors as she remembered them.
Unfortunately, she had no idea what the eighth warrior looked like and
neither did Nakago. Thus the search had dragged on for several months.

There was a light knock at the door. Yui pulled Yuiren away and closed
up her robe.

"Come in," she said. The door opened slowly as Suboshi peered in. It
was rare he entered Yuiren's room, or Yui's for that matter. Most of
the time, he got harshly reprimanded for it.

"Um, Lady Yui?" he asked nervously.

"Oh, hi, Suboshi," she said pleasantly, standing up and laying
Yuiren's head on her shoulder. "What brings you here?"

"Uh, Nakago sent me to tell you that he thinks they've found the last
warrior." Yui's ears perked with interest.

"Really?" she asked.

"Well, they aren't really sure. He hasn't displayed any powers, but he
seems to posses a strong life force connected to Seiryu, a life force
similar to that of a celestial warrior. And since the warriors don't
necessarily know they carry the celestial marks or not..."

"I see," said Yui. "It's very much worth our investigating then." She
turned and placed Yuiren, who had now fallen fast asleep, back into
her cradle. She then stepped out of the room with Suboshi, shutting
the door gently behind her.

"So what's this supposed warrior look like?" she asked.

"I don't know, I haven't seen him yet," Suboshi told her. "Nakago
contacted me this morning and said he found the guy deep in the center
of Kutou's capital."

"I see," Yui answered quietly. There was a long silence between the
two of them as they walked down the hallway of the Kutou palace.

"Do you mind if I ask you a question, Lady Yui?" Suboshi inquired.

"Go ahead."

"Well, it seems you've become a lot more, well, cheerful over the past
few weeks. I have to admit, I love seeing you smile. I was always
hoping I'd be the one to make you happy again." Yui was quick to
ignore the romantic undertones of Suboshi's compliment.

"Thank you," she said simply. "But I think it has more to do with my
attitude towards things that's changed, rather than a specific event
or a person."

"Oh," said Suboshi as his face fell. He knew it was a long shot, and
once again Yui had completely rejected his feelings for her. Yui felt
a bit guilty, but she couldn't pretend she had emotions that weren't
there. Suboshi would simply have to accept that she was not interested
in having a man in her life right now. Not that she had anything
against Suboshi as a person. She was in fact, quite grateful for the
protection and companionship he provided to her, even if it was pushed
on solely by his romantic feelings for her.

"Hey," said Yui suddenly, hoping to steer the conversation in a
different direction. "I'm getting a bit hungry. Why don't you tell one
of the cooks to make some breakfast?" Suboshi nodded happily. He
didn't mind being ordered around, not by her anyway.

"Of course, Lady Yui. I'll be right back."

Yui spent most of the rest of the day in her room, studying some
scrolls she found in the library of the Kutou palace. Even a genius
did grow tired of reading schoolbooks now and then. She also wanted to
make sure she was close by for when Nakago returned with news of this
mysterious new warrior.

It was early afternoon when she finally got her answer. Yui had dozed
off while she was reading, but a light tapping on the door aroused
her. She sat up to see Toki walking into the room.

"Sorry for disturbing you, Lady Yui," she said.

"It's alright," Yui yawned. "I sleep too much anyway. What's going on,
Toki?"

"Nakago just returned with the one he thinks may be our last warrior.
He wants you to see him."

"Oh right, of course," said Yui, standing up. "Just let me go and get
Yuiren first. She's been in her cradle all this time, and she probably
wants to get out." Toki smiled as Yui walked to the next room. The
past several weeks had brought an astonishing change in Yui. She now
took nearly all the care of Yuiren upon herself, without even a
reminder from Toki. She actually seemed to enjoy it. Perhaps it was,
Toki speculated, that Yuiren was giving her just what she needed:
someone else to live for besides herself. Whatever the reason, she
seemed happy now, possibly for the first time since Toki met her.

After given Yuiren a much-needed change, Yui walked down the hallway,
her child supported on her shoulder. She began to ponder about what
this new constellation might look like. Suboshi said it was a man, but
he didn't give any physical description whatsoever. She hoped he
wasn't a brute like Ashitare. Then again, a young and handsome type
might make Suboshi think he had competition, and that was the last
thing Yui needed. She shrugged her shoulders lightly, supposing that
she would not know anything until she saw this person for herself.

"Welcome Lady Yui," said Nakago as he saw her coming.

"Hello, Naka..." Yui started to reply, but she froze upon entering the
doorway. In the room stood Nakago, and next to him the man who might
posses the powers of the last warrior. He was also the one Yui had
hoped and prayed that she would never have to set eyes on again. Yui's
blood ran cold when she saw his face. His eyes were narrow and
menacing, with rough eyebrows and dirty brown hair, dry lips only
slightly parted over a horrific-looking smile. It was a face Yui would
never push from her nightmares as long as she lived.

"What is he doing here?" she said barely above a whisper. No one
answered. A brief moment of total silence passed before Yui yelled out
at the top of her lungs, "WHAT IS HE DOING HERE?!" Soi was shocked at
Yui's reaction and wondered what it could possibly mean. Nakago, on
the other hand was much more passive. He turned to the man in
question.

"Have you met the priestess of Seiryu before?" he asked. The man
scoffed.

"Why would I have?" Yui was paralyzed. She wanted to cry out again,
but her voice failed her. She wanted to run away, but she could barely
get her body to breathe. The man slowly walked up to her, looking her
body over with a grimacing glare to his eyes. Suddenly, a detestable
smile formed over his dry, cracked lips.

"Ah yes, I remember now. We had a fun time, didn't we, baby?" Yui
lashed out her hand, or rather it seemed to lash out on its own. As it
did, the man jumped back, yelling out as he covered his face. There
was blood on his fingers.

"She scratched me!" he exclaimed. At this, Nakago decided to take
matters into his own hands. He walked up to Yui and took her firmly by
the wrist.

"Lady Yui," Nakago said calmly. "Please try to control yourself." But
Yui was beyond control. She screamed relentlessly, twisting her body
as Nakago tried to hold her still. Finally he excused both himself and
the priestess and took her and Yuiren to her chambers. Once back in
her room, Yui threw herself on the bed, holding Yuiren ever close to
her chest. She let out long sobs, the tears flowed, and Yuiren placed
a delicate little hand on her mother's face as if in an effort to
soothe her. Nakago scoffed at the scene.

"Your eminence, forgive me, but your behavior was quite out of place.
Regardless of this man's past actions..."

"Past actions!" Yui interrupted. "You talk like he was a shoplifter or
a neighborhood gangster! That man caused me more pain than I will ever
know! He defiled my body, treated me like a piece of garbage, and so
help me if you think I'm going to let him lay a finger on my
daughter..."

"Your daughter is fine, priestess, I assure you," Nakago said. "Don't
forget he is her father, after all." Yui turned away. Father? No, that
man was not Yuiren's father. Yui would not allow it. Not someone so
kind and innocent as Yuiren could ever have a father like that. His
cruelty and depravity could never bear fruit to something so beautiful
as her. As far as Yui was concerned, she he would be the only parent
her daughter ever knew.

"You may deny it," said Nakago, as if reading Yui's thoughts. "But
that doesn't change anything that's happened. In either case, we think
this man may be the last celestial warrior we've been seeking, and we
can't allow him to leave until we know for sure." Yui didn't answer.
She held onto her daughter's fragile body as if the child's life was
woven on her fingertips. Nakago then left her presence, sweeping by
the door and causing it to swing closed as he passed. Yui looked
around the room at her belongings. She would not
allow Yuiren to be hurt. Maybe her innocence was already lost, but not
Yuiren's. And Yui would live through her torture a hundred times over
before she let any harm come to her daughter. She lived to protect her
as her celestial warriors lived to protect their priestess. A sudden
gust whipped mercilessly at the curtains, startling Yui. It was cold;
she could feel the chill of the wind on her neck. But deep inside of
her, she knew what she had to do.

As the storm raged outside, another one was brewing inside. Soi had
decided to take it upon herself to discuss Nakago's actions that
afternoon with him.

"I just think you should have been more compassionate to Lady Yui and
thrown that man out as she requested," Soi began.

"We cannot have him leave before we find out for sure whether or not
he carries the powers of Seiryu. Besides..." Nakago turned to Soi, a
cold and heartless smile parted on his lips. "I should think I would
be grateful to this man. It's only because of Lady Yui's experience
that she trusts me as much as she does." Soi's body cringed as she
listened to Nakago's words. Was this truly the same man who had saved
her from the same fate as a child? It didn't seem like him.

"Nakago, how can you say that?" she asked. "Don't you remember when
you saved me those years ago? Why is it do you think I have fought so
loyally by your side all this time? How can you turn on Lady Yui like
that?"

"Life is full of suffering, Soi," Nakago said. "People hurt each
other. And by saving you , I gained a powerful ally. You have grown
into a strong warrior, Soi. But Lady Yui is nothing more than a child.
All that matters is that she trusts in me completely. And if this is
the course of events that does that, why should I not take advantage
of it?" Soi could not bear to listen to Nakago's twisted reasoning any
longer. She turned sharply and began to leave the room, only to almost
knock over Suboshi in the process.
But Suboshi didn't seem to notice, or perhaps he didn't care. He was
only turning his head this way and that, as if searching desperately
for something... or someone.

"Nakago, have you seen Lady Yui?" he asked anxiously.

"This afternoon."

"No, after that!"

"I have not seen her since then, why do you ask?"

"I think... I think she may have run away."
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