Fushigi Yuugi Fan Fiction ❯ Happy Birthday, Hotohori! ❯ This Ain't Right ( Chapter 3 )

The sumptuous morning feast had begun. Tasuki and Nuriko shortly returned and took their places at the table, ready and eager to eat their hearts out with the others. By Hotohori's request, (as he soon felt guilty about leaving her in a room by herself), Cao Cao had tied Miaka to the chair at the opposite end of the table, so that perhaps in the absence of her conscious mind, her body and spirit could appreciate the sweet heavenly smells wafting about. As in the old fable, the spoon in the syrup pot was too big for people to pour syrup on their own waffles, thus the task soon became a struggle of teamwork. This teamwork soon boiled down to Hotohori spooning it up for everybody. He didn't mind, though; this just meant that he could serve conservatively and leave more to be served for him. He was the emperor, after all, and a most beautiful one at that. He deserved his syrup.

When it came time to be served, Hotohori tossed the handle of the spoon over to Tamahome, who was sitting over on the far end next to Miaka. It slowly floated through the goop in a graceful arc, landing on the other side of the pot within reach of Tamahome. He took the handle in both hands and clumsily lifted up a big spoonful of the ambrosia, reaching over to Hotohori's plate and slowly pouring it in luxurious folds over his six-some waffles. When this was accomplished, he returned the spoon to the pot and started kissing Miaka, trying to wake her up (or was he?). His majesty proceeded to dip one finger into a syrup-filled squares and slowly lifted it up to his lips. The guests turned their heads to watch him, waiting eagerly for the signal for them to eat.

He sniffed the syrup on his finger daintily, and then cautiously, ever-so-carefully licked it off his finger. The others immediately started digging in like the ravenous beasts they were, but he held his hand up, gesturing for them to stop. Before anybody had taken a single bite, they had all frozen in place, as if they were in suspended animation.

"Wait," said Hotohori, slowly lowering his hand and looking suspiciously at his finger, "Wait...."

Cao Cao hobbled over to his side. "What seems to be the matter, sire? Is there a hair in it?"

He shook his head. "No," he said, his expression and voice growing ever somber and serious. "Cao Cao, where did you say this syrup came from?"

"Sima Yi's Sticky Syrupy Sauce, brought over from Xu Chang, milord."

Hotohori quickly rose to his feet, pushing his chair behind him, to the surprise of, well, everybody. "Something's not right. I know Sima Yi's Sauce. It doesn't taste like that." He took a few steps away from the table. "And you know, being called 'milord' and 'sire' and 'your majesty' gets REALLY OLD after awhile."

Cao Cao bowed his head. "I don't know what to say, mi- ...Hotohori. What could be the problem?"

Chichiri closed his eyes and touched his fingers to his forehead, concentrating hard on something. "I sense..." he whispered, drawing the attention of all, even the emperor. It was sometimes suspicious to Hotohori how Chichiri seemed to just "know" things, but he knew them nonetheless, and so he in turn knew it was best to keep quiet and not disturb his "knowing-things" chi.

"I sense... yes, something malicious in the air. A skein of evil in the tapestry of the air around us. No da." He turned his face to Hotohori, keeping his eyes closed. "Hotohori, if your intuition is telling you something about the syrup in specific, by all means, listen to it... no da."

"Are you saying," said Nuriko, "this stuff is poisoned??"

Tasuki spit out the bolus of waffle he'd sneakily placed in his mouth. "Oh, y'GOT t'be KIDDING me! Ecch!"

Tamahome winced. "Perhaps another concoction of Nakago's?..."

"Certainly not Nakago - poison's too easy for his taste. No da! And probably not poison. Anything potent enough to be of any harm to us would be easy for me to detect. No da."

Mitsukake, who had been silently listening the whole time, lifted a waffle covered in syrup and sniffed it. "What could this be, then? It does indeed have a peculiar scent to it..."

Hotohori turned to Cao Cao. "Fetch me my horse. I'm going to Xu Chang!"

(A/N: Don't worry because this chapter wasn't very hoolarious. The humor is subtle. More like a chocolate bar over the entire story than a bowl of M&Ms. Or maybe it's like an M&M cookie. One of those enormous cookies that you just look at and say, wow, that's a big cookie, and the M&Ms are good too. Ateehee!)