Fushigi Yuugi Fan Fiction ❯ Fushigi Yuugi: Daydream's Embrace ❯ Episode 6: Manifestation of Doubt ( Chapter 6 )

Episode 6

Manifestation of Doubt
By: Mrs. Tasuki and Nyan Nyan

"Welcome to the other side of the mirror," one of the silhouettes said as it stepped out into the light. The figure turned out to be someone who could have easily passed off as Katherine's twin.

"And I thought I was the only one that looked this good," the second silhouette said. When it stepped out next to Katherine's it was obvious that it was a copy of Hotohori with an evil smirk on his face.

"Your reflection even has your narcissism," Katherine said in shock, but Hotohori ignored her comment and drew his sword.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. You might hurt yourself," Hotohori's reflection warned.

"I demand an explanation!" Hotohori replied in his most commanding voice.

"I thought you of all people would recognize your reflection when you saw it," his imposter answered.

"We are your reflections in the mirror. We are the very image of you," Katherine's reflection explained. "Now get out of our way!"

"What makes you think we are just going to let you walk right out of here?" Katherine asked sarcastically.

"This..." Hotohori's reflection answered as he grabbed his sword and quickly whacked Katherine upside the head with the flat end of it. The priestess fell to the floor from the blow.

"Katherine!" Hotohori shouted as he ran over to her to see if she was okay. Meanwhile the reflections walked out of the mirror with ease.

"See ya!" the sadistic priestess said with a sneer as she waved her hand once and stepped out of the mirror.

"Katherine can you hear me?" Hotohori worriedly asked as he kneeled beside her.

"Ow... my head..." Katherine muttered. Hotohori helped Katherine stand up; she stood there for a second looking blankly at the floor, catching her balance.

"Do you need to sit back down?"

"No... I'm fine," she replied with a sigh.

A mysterious voice came from the ceiling, "Just try to break my spell, Katherine, if you really are the Priestess of Suzaku."

"Who are you?!" Hotohori shouted back, but there was no reply.

"Hotohori, come over here," Katherine said as she looked through the large circular sheet of glass on one of the walls. Hotohori walked over and stood beside her.

*

Nuriko and Tamahome finally saw Katherine, who had a large mirror hanging from her right arm, and Hotohori walking out of the fog. "It took them long enough to find us," Nuriko mumbled. Tamahome saw Katherine running towards her.

"There you are! I missed you," Katherine said as she hugged Tamahome tightly.

"Katherine?" Tamahome asked, quite puzzled. "This has got to be some kind of joke..." he thought to himself.

"I love you," Katherine whispered; her lips lightly brushing against Tamahome's ear.

*

Hotohori was holding Katherine back at her waist with all of his strength. Her arms were trying desperately to get out of his hold so she could hurt her reflection... badly. "I'm gonna kill her!!!" Katherine shouted.

"Katherine, please, calm yourself."

"But I'm being disloyal to you! And worst of all, the guy I'm doing it with is TAMAHOME!"

"I know it's not you!"

"But. let go of me! I want to hurt her!" she yelled, still trying with all of her might trying to get out of his hold.

"Even if I let you go there's nothing you can do," he replied. Katherine stopped struggling, realizing that he had a point, and Hotohori let go of her. She turned around to see his face; he put on a fake smile hoping that it would cheer her up. She glanced down at her feet, ashamed of the way she acted, but then she noticed something.

"Hotohori! Your sword! Use it to break the glass!" She shouted happily.

"Why didn't I think of this before?" he wondered as he took his sword out of his sheath. He charged at the mirror, and, with all of his might and energy, slashed at the glass. He landed on his knee and looked up to see if the mirror had broken.

"Nothing..." Katherine said disappointedly as she looked at the unmarked glass. "You just want me to hurt myself, don't you?!" she shouted up towards the endless black sky. She knew of only one way for them to get out of the mirror.

*

Hotohori walked over to Nuriko and embraced her tightly; she melted in his arms. "Nuriko, where were you? I was worried sick about you," Hotohori inquired, but she was too much in awe to answer. Katherine stopped hugging Tamahome and turned to them.

"Hotohori-sama, I wouldn't do that if I were you. After all, Nuriko is a man," she pointed out in an uncaring manner.

"What are you talking about?" Hotohori said as he backed away from Nuriko.

"You're joking right?" Tamahome asked, but when he saw the look of shock on Nuriko's face he knew that it was true.

Nuriko just slowly backed away in disbelief, as if his world around him was crumbling. "H-how did you know?" he muttered. Before Katherine could answer he turned around and ran off into the forest.

"Wow, there's another man as beautiful as I," Hotohori muttered and never gave a second thought to the fact that he was about to kiss a man.

Katherine put her arms around Tamahome's neck and looked deeply into his eyes. "Tamahome," she said in a soft, gentle whisper, "let's forget about my friend, whatever her name is, I just want to be here with you." She leaned over to his face and was about to kiss him, but he took a step back just in time.

"Katherine, what's going on?" he asked in a serious tone. "And Hotohori, don't you have a problem with this?"

"No, not at all," Hotohori said, appalled at the idea. "This girl is just an annoyance to me; I wish Suzaku had chosen someone who actually had respect for the emperor."

"You see Tamahome? There is no one standing in our way. Please tell me you love me too," Katherine said as she walked slowly over to him and kissed him on the lips.

*

"Fine!" the real Katherine shouted towards the ceiling, now exasperated and disturbed, "I'll do it! Just don't make me watch any more!"

She tried to recall every possible detail of episode six, knowing that if she forgot something the results could be fatal. First, Miaka broke part of a plate from the buffet Taiitsukun set up for her. Then, she stabbed herself in the chest, hoping that it would cause the reflection to become wounded too. When her reflection's life force was weakened it caused the spell she had over Hotohori and Tamahome to disappear. There was only one problem. Miaka was in the mirror alone, so there was only one imposter amongst the seishi. If she wounded Katherine Hotohori's reflection could still take away Tamahome's powers, but she didn't have much of a choice. She had to do something fast, or else the reflections would win their battle.

She took a deep breath and turned to Hotohori, who was staring at her, quite confused. "Hotohori, can I please see your sword? I have an idea of how to get us out of here."

*

"Who are you and what have you done to Katherine?" Tamahome asked as he backed away slowly.

"She's right under your nose. I am Katherine; I am her reflection. And this is Hotohori's reflection, my accomplice," she said while pointing to Hotohori.

"What do I look like an idiot?" Tamahome said as he put up his fists, "Katherine and Hotohori-sama would never act as uncaring and cruel as you two."

"Don't even try to fight us, we have this," Katherine's reflection said with a sly smile has she held up the mirror.

"Oh and may I ask what the hell a mirror is going to do?" Tamahome replied sarcastically.

"Watch and learn," Hotohori's reflection answered; just then strange bright lightning came out of the mirror and surrounded Tamahome. He fell to the ground in pain as the lightning slowly drained all of the energy in his body.

"Katherine and Hotohori are inside this very mirror, watching you in all of your pain. You'd give your life to protect Katherine, right? So it only makes sense that I should take all of your power from you. After all, I am Katherine," the fake priestess said as she laughed sadistically.

*

Katherine and Hotohori once again heard the strange voice from above. "Try to save him if you can, Priestess of Suzaku," it said with distaste.

"I guess that's my cue," Katherine thought as she took Hotohori's sword. "Forgive me Hotohori..." she took a deep breath and plunged the sword into her left arm. The pain shot through her whole body. It was as if it was in slow motion, the bone shattering, Hotohori trying desperately to get her to stop, the pain itself. She fell to the floor and slid the sword out of her arm. The sword went all the way through it, she was sure of it, she could barely feel her arm any more, as if it damaged too many nerves. The only thing that she could feel was the blood slowly flowing out of her arm and onto the floor. She struggled to grab the sword and she raised it once more.

"Katherine... stop!" Hotohori shouted. He was about to take the sword out of her hand, but he was a second too late. She held the sword in her right hand thrust it into her thigh. He kneeled next to her and, as gently as he could, pulled the sword out from her thigh and threw it to the side. "Katherine what are you doing?!" he said as his eyes filled with worry. He lifted up her head and let it rest on his arm.

Katherine started to breathe heavily. "Look outside," she replied as she winced in pain. Hotohori turned his head to see green liquid flowing out of her reflection's left arm and right thigh.

*

Katherine's imposter fell to her knees and dropped the mirror. "Ow! What's happening?!" she exclaimed as she clutched her arm. Strange green liquid started to seep through her fingers.

"Can't you do anything right?!" Hotohori's reflection asked in a cold tone as he picked up the mirror. "I guess I have to do everything myself," he said as he continued to steal Tamahome's strength.

*

"Did it work?" Katherine asked as she gasped for breath.

"Katherine please don't talk..." Hotohori said as he tore a strip of white cloth from his sleeve.

"No... Hotohori, you can't heal me, if you do then my reflection will be healed too. Look to see if they are defeated yet."

*

"I won't lose!" Tamahome muttered under his breath.

"Help me!" Katherine's reflection ordered Hotohori's imposter, "You're my sei, obey me!"

"I don't care whether or not you live," Hotohori's reflection replied with a sneer. Suddenly, the two demons were annihilated when a gigantic boulder fell from the sky and landed on top of them. Nuriko was standing proudly on top of the cliff above Tamahome and the boulder.

"I thought something seemed funny," Nuriko stated as he dusted his hands off.

"N-Nu-Nuriko..." Tamahome stuttered in shock.

Nuriko gracefully leaped off the cliff and landed near where Tamahome was kneeling on the ground. Tamahome tried vainly to stand. "Here, let me help you," Nuriko said as he grabbed Tamahome's collar and lifted him off the ground.

"Nuriko... look..." Tamahome said as he pointed to Hotohori and Katherine's emerging silhouettes. Hotohori was kneeling over Katherine's wounded body.

"Katherine! Wake up!" Hotohori desperately shouted as Nuriko and Tamahome rushed over to their priestess and emperor.

"What happened?" Tamahome simply asked.

"She won't answer," Hotohori sadly replied, "Someone help me bandage her wounds!" he anxiously ordered the two other sei.

Tamahome and Hotohori blankly looked at Katherine, unsure of what to do. "Oh, get out of my way!" Nuriko yelled as he pushed Tamahome and Hotohori to the side. "Men are hopeless," he muttered under his breath.

"Wait... You're a man too!" Tamahome commented.

"Yes, but I have the soul of a woman," Nuriko replied as he looked at Katherine's wounded arm. "These gashes are horrible," Nuriko muttered, "You got yourself pretty good this time." Nuriko engaged himself with tearing cloth from his sleeves as he tried to stop the flow of blood. He tore off another cloth and wrapped it around her pant leg.

After a few seconds, a look of realization came to Tamahome's face. "The fake Katherine was bleeding from the same spots... did she do that to save us?" Tamahome gasped. Hotohori was too nervous watching Nuriko to answer, but Tamahome knew it was true.

"Well, she's still alive, but not doing very good..." Nuriko added as he stood up and surveyed his work.

"She's getting paler," Hotohori mumbled becoming more and more scared. "Nuriko!" he frantically shouted, "Is there anything we can do!?"

"If we could just give her blood," Nuriko commented, "But we can't... we don't have any instruments to operate."

*

"Where am I?" Katherine asked as she surveyed a large, dark area with no end in sight. A field of white lilies lay ahead of her, glowing like stars. She turned around and saw someone she hadn't seen in a long time. Christina was sitting in a chair off in the distance. Katherine started walking towards her friend, but she didn't get any nearer.

"Christina! I'm over here!" Katherine called; Christina didn't even glance over. Katherine started running towards her friend. "I've been looking for you! I got sucked into the book! I even met Hotohori!" She vainly yelled. "Christina! Why are you ignoring me?" Katherine suddenly stopped running. She hadn't gotten any closer than where she started. Christina suddenly fell to the ground and didn't get up; Katherine noticed blood slowly flowing from her arm and leg.

She looked at her wrist and saw her red bracelet. "Our friendship bracelets," Katherine gasped. "That's our connection! Whatever happens to me happens to Christina..." she stated.

"Katherine..." a voice off in the distance called, "Katherine, wake up!"

"Hotohori?" she questioned as she turned around, half expecting to see him standing there.

*

"The blood won't stop," Nuriko commented sorrowfully.

"If she needs blood..." Hotohori started while taking his sword out of his sheath, "You can have all the blood in my body! I'll exchange my life for yours!" He shouted as he slit his wrist and his blood fell to the ground and onto Katherine's wounds.

"Just don't die!" Tamahome yelled. Katherine slowly opened her eyes and looked around.

"Hotohori. Nuriko. Tamahome." Katherine said as she looked at their distraught faces.

"We were worried about you, you jerk!" Tamahome yelled.

"I'm so glad you're alright!" Hotohori said as he hugged Katherine tightly.

"I never thought for a second that an idiot like you would actually die," Nuriko teased.

"Just shut up Nuriko," Katherine replied. Then the scenery melted into an area covered in tall mountains with purple bubbles floating around aimlessly.

"What the-" Tamahome and Nuriko stuttered.

"Your feelings towards one another are now clear," a scratchy voice commented.

"That's the voice from the mirror," Hotohori stated in disbelief.

"You have arrived at the land of my home," the voice continued.

"Is this Mount Taikyoku?" Nuriko asked.

An odd-shaped shadow appeared in front of the seishi and Katherine. "Welcome Katherine," the mysterious shape said, "I shall now inform you and your three celestial warriors of the method to return to your world."

To be continued...