Fushigi Yuugi Fan Fiction ❯ Chuushin ❯ Ishi no Chuushin ( Chapter 1 )

Ishi no Chuushin

By Asteria

Disclaimer: Fushigi Yuugi is the property of Ms. Watase Yuu. I am making no money from this story.

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There are strangers in our camp tonight. Travelers. Two young women, off-limits to us soldiers, and two young men, also off-limits. I overheard them speaking to the Captain. The brown-haired girl with the strange blue dress is Byakko no Miko, the other three are Byakko no Shichiseishi. It worries me, that they are here, now. We are not at war, but the threat looms. Raids from Kutou have been worse these past five years.

I do not want to think about the raids.

After the evening meal, the Miko and her Seishi join us around the fire to drink and exchange news, though the Miko takes no sake herself. There is a Seishi here, she says, we can feel it. We have been given clues, "soldier" and "stone" but we don't know any more than that.

Ask Daveh, says Rehn, pointing to me, he's made of stone.

I tilt my cup upward to tip the last drops of sake into my mouth, while at the same time making a rude gesture in Rehn's general direction. I do not tell my whole story to anyone, only enough that it is understood why I am in the army.

My fellow soldiers laugh, though the Miko and her companions do not.

Come on Daveh, says Nikhi, tell the visitors why you're a stone.

Stones don't tell stories, I say.

He's shy, says Rehn, he barely talks, he doesn't even swim with us.

I'd sink, I say, I am a stone, aren't I? Have you ever met a stone that could swim?

That gets another laugh, this time the two male Seishi join in and the female and the Miko look as though they would like to.

Please, Daveh-san, says the Miko, I would like to hear your story.

I give her my kindest smile, the one I use to show children that soldiers of Sairou are not frightening.

Since you asked so politely, Miko-sama, I say.

I do not want to be doing this.

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I was born, I begin, in a small village near the Eastern border. And when I say a small village, I mean small. Four extended families, including mine, fewer than one hundred people, I had a twin sister, her name was Tanak. When my mother found out she was carrying twins, she decided to give us both names that could go either way, which is why I am Chiko. My village isn't there any more. Four years ago, it was completely destroyed in a raid.

I was trying to get to my family's horse, to ride for help, I say, but he spooked and knocked me over and part of the stable wall fell on me. When I came to, it was over. The livestock, the harvest, anything of any value was all gone. There were bodies everywhere. Every female had been raped before she was killed, from my seventy-one-year-old grandmother to the two-year-old cousin of my sister's best friend. The men had simply been killed. I buried the bodies, and then I left to join the army, so that I might avenge my family.

This is what I tell them.

What I do not tell them is far more horrible.

I worked for two days straight to bury the bodies, stopping for neither food nor rest, only water. Those two days changed me. I feel nothing but my hatred of Kutou, my desire for revenge and my own weakness. I could have protected the village, but I didn't. We were all trained to fight, being so close to the border we have to be. If I had protected them, I would not have been able to fight, when it happens it burns so badly that my leg can't support me, I collapse. I worry because the Miko is here, I am no use to anyone when I'm like that, I will not be able to serve her if I can't walk.

But this is not the worst.

The worst is that I am a liar. I have been since my village was destroyed four years ago. I am Chiko and Tanak was my twin, but I am the daughter of the family. A thirteen-year-old boy is much safer traveling alone than a woman of any age. This is why I do not swim, why I keep to myself. I cannot be found out. I would be put to death, and I would never have my revenge. I cannot die. For I am Byakko no Shichiseishi Kokie, and though my heart is stone, my soul rides among the stars.