Fushigi Yuugi Fan Fiction ❯ White Stones in the Moonlight ❯ Epilogue to Chapter 8. Forgiveness ( Chapter 9 )

The characters from Fushigi Yuugi are the creations and property of Yuu Watase and related enterprises. I do not own them, and do not make any profit from this fiction except for my own enjoyment in spending time with them. But I do own this storyline! Whoo-hoo!

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Epilogue to Chapter 8. Forgiveness (Mitsukake, Tasuki, Hotohori, Chiriko, Miaka)

Mitsukake strolled through the palace to the throne room, his companion trailing him reluctantly. The events of the past hour had taken a few years off his life, as he thought he saw the efforts of three days of vigorous counseling go down the tubes in five minutes flat. Surprisingly, the misunderstanding between Hotohori and Tasuki had strengthened Tasuki's sense of self instead of weakening it. "No way that fuckin' pansy-ass pretty boy's gonna make ME feel like shit about what happened!" Tasuki had snarled in his characteristic eloquent fashion. Mitsukake deplored the language but applauded the defensive sentiment behind it - it was the biggest stride toward accepting himself that Tasuki had made in the past two days.

Mitsukake couldn't believe that the normally kind, sensitive Hotohori would do something so cruel as to mock Tasuki during a supposed welcome back speech, so after he had calmed Tasuki out of his homicidal frenzy and cautioned Miaka to keep an eye on the bandit, he returned to the dining hall to talk to the young emperor. There he found Hotohori sulking in his chair, as Chiriko directed the servants to clear up the wreckage of the dining table. A few gentle inquiries sorted out the truth behind the disastrous speech. Although Hotohori acknowledged that the mixed-up notes made his speech much less coherent than he would have liked, he was still offended at the reaction of the honored guest, this being the first time that a recipient of his graciousness had actually tried to attack him. Mitsukake suspected that the emperor was particularly miffed at Tasuki's insults to his royal footwear. However, once Mitsukake gently showed Hotohori the content of his remarks which had led Tasuki to such a violent outburst (steadfastly ignoring the muffled giggles coming from Chiriko's direction), the emperor paled at the implications he had inadvertently made and became truly contrite. "I will apologize to Tasuki forthwith and present him with the transcript of my intended speech, sealed with the Imperial seal!" declared the emperor.

"Anou, Your Highness, would you mind if I took a quick look at that speech first? I, uh, want to make sure that Tasuki will, um, understand it… you know how over-sensitive he is nowadays…" Mitsukake tried to diplomatically defuse a possible repeat explosive situation.

Hotohori looked down his elegant nose at the doctor. "Of course, Mitsukake. However, you will see that I'm not quite as incompetent as I appeared to be earlier," he acknowledged with royal graciousness. "I will make a transcript with my own hands and give it to you in the throne room within the hour. You may bring Tasuki so that he may receive it with all proper ceremony."

Mitsukake gave a mental groan of despair but ducked his head in gratitude. So he made his way back to the young couple walking around the palace grounds, Miaka having wisely determined that the best way to cool Tasuki's temper was to let him stomp around for a while. Mitsukake explained the mix-up of speech excerpts to Tasuki, who reacted with frank disbelief that so many pernicious remarks could be the result of coincidence. Mitsukake stood firm, however, telling Tasuki that he must go before Hotohori and accept his apologies. Tasuki replied by describing the weather conditions that would have to occur in the deepest depths of the seven hells before he would "kiss ass to that sissy boy." Mitsukake felt the beginnings of a pounding headache and lost his patience.

"Look here," he snapped, grabbing Tasuki by his collar. "That 'sissy boy' is not only one of your brother warriors, but also the Emperor of your country. He has the power to throw your sorry ass in prison for attempting to attack him, if he so chooses. He can also forego the formalities and skewer you on the end of his sword before you can blink! So I strongly recommend that you get off your high horse, get down on one knee before him, and accept his apologies with as much grace as you can muster. Do I make myself CLEAR?!!"

Tasuki recognized when he was out-gunned, so with just a few comments muttered under his breath, he agreed to accompany Mitsukake back to the throne room within the hour. Mitsukake's usual demeanor as the gentle healer made Tasuki forget how intimidating the big man could be, something he should have remembered, considering that he had seen Mitsukake's formidable fighting skills first-hand when they had met in Choko.

And so it came about that Mitsukake entered the throne room, Tasuki dragging along behind him, to be admitted into the splendor of the Imperial presence. Hotohori sat on his throne, smiling his regal welcoming smile as Mitsukake approached him. Tasuki stood off to one side, his version of graciousness involving a belligerent stance with arms crossed across his chest, a scowl darkening his features and his mouth firmly closed. Mitsukake frowned at him, then decided that Tasuki's closed mouth was probably the best that he could hope for, and sighed.

"Your Highness." Mitsukake bowed to Hotohori as the emperor presented him with Tasuki's gift. Mitsukake bowed again, and retreated to scan the speech quickly. Meanwhile, Hotohori regarded Tasuki with some amusement at his sullen attitude. "Quite immature," thought Hotohori, forgetting his own sulky stance not one hour before. Although there was only one year's difference in age between the two, Hotohori prided himself on his advanced maturity. It was no doubt due to the awesome responsibilities that he had been forced to assume while Tasuki at the same age was probably playing in the dirt, stealing apples, and brawling with the village lads. Hotohori preened himself on his superior intellect and decided to treat Tasuki with the utmost kindness and graciousness, making allowances for his deprived background.

Mitsukake finished reading the speech, noting with relief that it was actually a very nice personal little speech, containing nothing that could offend Tasuki. He waved Tasuki forward towards Hotohori, then gestured for him to kneel. Tasuki's scowl grew deeper, but he did as ordered.

"Rise, Tasuki. There is no need for you to kneel before us." Hotohori pronounced grandly. "We wish to offer you our deepest regrets that we may have made any statements that caused you distress in any way. We assure you that we had no such intention. We want you to know that we hold you, our brother, in the highest esteem."

"We…" muttered Tasuki under his breath. "Ya got a flea in your pocket, or somethin'?" Mitsukake jabbed Tasuki in the side with his elbow, indicating that Tasuki was expected to respond to the apology.

"Yeah, well, maybe I flew off the handle too quick." Tasuki admitted. Mitsukake gave a sigh of relief that Tasuki was actually apologizing with as much grace as he knew.

"I mean, " Tasuki continued, "I thought you were sayin' all that shit on purpose. Ya know, you're usually Mister Perfect - perfect hair, perfect clothes, perfect fuckin' attitude." Tasuki was feeling congenial after Hotohori's apology and relaxed, chatting easily. "It never occurred to me that you were fucking up big time - I never saw you make such an ass of yourself before! So sure, I forgive ya - it's kinda nice to know that the emperor can be as big an asshole as the next guy."

Mitsukake put his hand up to his temple. "I knew this was a mistake." he muttered.

A muscle began to tic under Hotohori's left eye. "Well, I'm pleased that you're pleased." he said icily. "I suppose it was too much to hope that someone of your limited perceptive abilities could discern that I had mixed up my notes, even though it happened right under your nose! I will make allowances for your limited intellect and deprived upbringing, and forgive you for attempting to assault my royal person."

Tasuki flushed with anger. Not being as stupid as Hotohori thought, he understood each implied insult perfectly. "Well, I forgive you for being such a stuck-up ass that you didn't even realize what you were saying, being too in love with the sound of your own voice to pay attention to what everybody else was noticing about your stupid fuckin' speech! So who's the one with 'limited perceptive abilities' now?!"

Hotohori jumped up in rage. "Well, I forgive you for being such a complete CRETIN that you can't even…"

"All right, boys, that's quite enough forgiveness out of each of you!!" Mitsukake had reached the end of his rope. Collaring Tasuki with one hand and pushing Hotohori back onto his throne with the other, he took control of the rapidly degenerating situation. "We're going to stop right now before this turns into a pointless fist-fight! YOU!," he shook Tasuki by his collar, "go over there, sit down, SHUT UP, and read the speech that Hotohori wrote for you!" He pushed Tasuki off to the side, shoving the scroll into his hands.

Hotohori smirked (in a very mature way) at Tasuki. "He probably needs help in reading words more than two characters in length…" he began.

"And YOU!" Mitsukake loomed over Hotohori, glaring into his face. "SHUT UP, sit there, and wait for him to finish!!" Hotohori shrank back onto his throne, unused to being reprimanded in such a manner, not since… he couldn't remember since when.

Tasuki plopped himself down on the floor, scowling.

"READ!" commanded Mitsukake.

Tasuki reluctantly unrolled the ornate scroll and began reading. After a while, he stopped scowling as the words sank in. Finally, he looked up at Hotohori. "You wrote this?" he asked.

"Yes." Hotohori sulked, staring off in the opposite direction.

"By yourself? No one helped you?"

"No."

Tasuki looked down at the scroll again. "It's nice… real nice." he said hesitantly. "Thanks, Hotohori."

Hotohori straightened up on the throne, finally meeting Tasuki's eyes. "I wanted it to be nice… I worked all morning on it." he said earnestly.

Tasuki blushed, finally appreciating his brother warrior's efforts to do something special for him. "Well, thanks again, Hotohori… I really appreciate it." he replied softly.

Hotohori beamed, all transgressions forgiven. "I'm glad that you like it! I meant every word that I wrote!" He stopped, suddenly remembering their recent fight. "But I didn't mean what I said before, about you being stupid…" Hotohori paused expectantly.

"That's okay, Hotohori." Tasuki replied, smiling. Mitsukake gave him a discreet kick. "Oh! And I didn't mean what I said about you being stuck-up…" He crossed his fingers behind his back.

Mitsukake rolled his eyes but decided that it would be okay as long as Hotohori didn't notice.

Hotohori beamed again. "I have a wonderful idea! Let's get the kitchen to make dessert for us since we missed it at lunch!" He came down off his throne and threw his arm around Tasuki's shoulders.

Mitsukake reached the door first and threw it open. Miaka and Chiriko fell into the room in a tangled heap, a plain scroll rolling around them. "Hmmmm." said the healer. "I don't remember you two being invited here."

Miaka untangled herself from Chiriko and leaped to her feet. "I just didn't want to miss out on dessert!" she said brightly. Tasuki and Hotohori exchanged glances, then followed her, laughing, back to the dining hall.

"And I didn't want to miss out on that scene!" murmured Chiriko as he scrambled to retrieve the scroll and a charcoal crayon. "Some things are worth more than gold!" he chuckled to himself.

Mitsukake's shadow suddenly fell across him. "You wouldn't by any chance be recording these events, would you?!" the doctor said threateningly.

Chiriko opened wide, innocent eyes and blinked up at his brother seishi, hiding the scroll and crayon behind his back. "Who, me? I would never do such a thing!"

"Uh-huh. Just so you know… I get final approval on the finished edition. And you'd better be depicting me in a positive light!"

"It's a deal!" sighed Chiriko, relieved to avoid confiscation of his work. Smiling, the tallest and shortest seishi strolled out of the throne room together.

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Author's note: Well, I had to have Hotohori and Tasuki make up, didn't I? Though it was close for a minute there. I keep telling those two not to fight! Ahem.(glances at people shaking their heads over loony authors)…

Where is Chichiri? He's coming back in Chapter 11! (ducks objects thrown by Chichiri-lovers) Please be patient - it will be worth the wait, I promise you! Picture the Chichiri of Chapter 5, but even more! More power, more mystery… hey, I'm half in love with him myself, now!

And Nuriko's back in Chapter 9!

So see you next time!

Ja ne!

Roku-chan