Fushigi Yuugi is (c) Watase Yuu and Flower Comics - this fanfic is for entertainment purposes only. Heavy spoilers are present, so read at your own risk. Note that I’m totally ignoring everything that happens in Hotohori’s novel at this point in the storyline, so don’t hold me to it.


Rain fell swift and noisome outside, beyond the flimsy silk screens that served as the walls of her room. A slight draft, testament to the strength of the storm winds, ruffled the gauzy curtains that enclosed her bed as if it were a tent rather than just another part of her sleeping chamber. It wasn’t quite cold, and a charcoal brazier that doubled as an incense burner sat in the corner near the door to ward off the chill of the night, but Houki shivered anyway, eyes wide as she stared up at the gathering of the silk curtains above her prone body.

She was awake. At this time of night she should have been sleeping peacefully like the rest of the inhabitants of the seraglio, but instead... she lay there, staring at the washed out colors and the rings that held them as a canopy above her bed, biting her lip. Sleeplessness on this rainy night was not something she relished.

Why wasn’t she sleeping? What had awakened her?

Houki sat up slowly, limbs not the least bit tired, and stared through the curtains to the sliding screen, and the pale glow that must be a lamp or torch - no moonlight would be seeping through the rain tonight. The sky had been overcast for days, and the air thick and hot, as Konan made its transition from summer to fall unwillingly. It was such moody, ominous weather... Perhaps a shift in temperature had pulled her from her dreams.

After another moment she lay down again, rolling onto her side and drawing the covers up over her shoulder. Maybe she’d had a dream that she simply couldn’t remember right now, and was still suffering from its effects.

Light, soft, almost like a reflection, shined on her dressing table. Houki lifted her head from the pillow and stared, locking her eyes on the faint glow. Maybe she was still in her dream after all...

She levered herself up and swung her legs over the edge of the bed, pushing the curtains aside so she could stand, and have a better view of the mysterious little object without the barrier. It was really a compliment to call it a light; that made it sound like a little star was shining on her table, when in fact it was so soft that she was surprised she had caught sight of it at all. Intrigued, she padded across the room and stared down at the surface of the desk.

It was Korin’s earring.

‘Beautiful stones, aren’t they? My mother gave them to me when I left to journey here to the capitol... If you hold them out in the moonlight, they gather it in and glow - like this...’

“How odd,” Houki whispered into the stillness, picking the earring up and cradling it in her palm. “The moon isn’t out tonight at all. Why...?”

It had been Korin’s wish to leave this earring behind with her while she was away in Hokkan with the priestess of Suzaku. Why, Houki didn’t know... Had she kept the other one? Or given it to someone else, maybe? It was such a sad glow... The longer she gazed at it, the more difficult it was to look away, and she felt in her eyes the filmy warmth that could only mean tears.

Why?

The stone seemed red, tonight, not the soft lavender she remembered. The impression was faint, but real, and she cupped her hand around it and turned toward the door, a single tear finding its way down her cheek, drawn out by the pale red glow. She felt as if she was in a daze, pulling her robe on and slipping out the door without her slippers, shuffling along with the faint slap of bare skin hitting wet wood every step of the way. She should have been quieter, more graceful... Here she was a princess, not a simple village girl. But she paid no heed to etiquette, and continued on her way through the misty, windblown halls until she reached the destination only her feet seemed to know.

Suzaku’s shrine.

Darkness blanketed the interior, deeper than any her own room had ever harbored. Only the faint, warm glow of incense and low burning candles illuminated the chamber, making of the sculpture of Suzaku a wondrous, ethereal being, rather than plain gold.

Hesitating only a moment, Houki stepped into the shrine, her robe damp and her hair drenched, with the earring still cupped in her palm. Suzaku’s benevolent eye gazed down at her from its height, watching, and waiting. Waiting for what?

A cough shattered the silence of the shrine, and she ripped her eyes away from the statue to search for the source of the noise. It didn’t take long; huddled not far ahead of her on the constellation of the sea snake was a bundle of robes and lustrous dark hair, pooled in damp folds around the slender frame of a fellow worshiper.

Houki bit her lip, afraid to advance any farther into the chamber. If someone was already here... She did not want to intrude upon someone else’s solitude, and truthfully, she’d hoped that the shrine would be empty. It was difficult to pray in the presence of others, even if she did not speak aloud... Drawing attention to herself was the last thing she wanted, especially since all women in the seraglio were supposed to remain in their rooms until dawn.

She knelt anyway after another moment of hesitation, and bowed her head over the earring in her hands. So melancholy, tearful... It radiated such a sense of loss she did not know what to make of it; but in her heart, the pinprick of fear she’d felt for Korin before the ship had sailed began to grow. This was her earring... It was precious to her, and it served as a very strong bond between the two of them. If it carried such painful emotion, what did that mean for Korin?

Suzaku, divine protector of Konan... please help us shed our sadness. Let the grief of this stone melt away beneath your wings, and allow us the peace of your love. It was her simple but heartfelt prayer, offered with an upturned face and another tear crawling down the curve of her cheek. She still did not understand what terrible thing had happened to elicit such emotion, but no matter what it was, she wanted it to end. No one should ever have to feel that way, and it frightened her that it was happening this way. More and more, she wished there was a way she could see her friend, and assure herself that Korin was well... perhaps she should have sent that wish to Suzaku instead.

Her eyes opened slowly, greeted once again by the twinkling red of Suzaku’s eye, and she prepared to rise, seeing no reason to remain now that she had finished her prayer. But she lowered her eyes and stopped, caught up in the golden eyes of the woman she shared the shrine with. The alabaster face stared silently over a silk-draped shoulder, framed by damp ebony hair, and Houki found that she could not move with that heavy gaze fastened upon her.

The glow of the earring pulsed in her hand, and Houki jumped, startled. What in the world...? It flared again more faintly, and her lips parted in a little gasp, as her eyes caught a hint of the same glow bathing the other woman’s face. Her suspicions were confirmed the moment she looked down at the other’s hand – another earring. Korin had seen fit to bestow its companion on someone else, it seemed. But why, then...?

“I’m sorry for disturbing you,” she uttered softly, cupping the earring in both hands and holding it forth like an offering. “Perhaps we were both drawn here by the same sadness...”

The figure nodded and rose in a swish of silk, moving to kneel again before Houki. She lowered her head immediately to avoid staring rudely, and felt more than heard her companion’s sigh. “What is your name?”

She froze with the reply half-formed on her lips, her eyes widening again in surprise. It was a man’s voice that had asked that question - this was a man? And here she was, far away from her rooms in the seraglio, where she was supposed to be, intruding upon his privacy... against the rules...

“Houki, my lord.” It was all she could do to keep her voice from shaking. Surely he must see her nervousness; was she going to be in trouble for this? “I am a lady of the realm, awaiting his majesty’s decision to marry.”

There was a pause. Then, two slender fingers tilted her chin up, and she met his golden eyes with her lips parted in something akin to awe. She had never seen a complexion so smooth, or such a perfect arch of eyebrows, or just that hue of lips... certainly not on a man. But it was his expression that really pulled at her heart. The same fear she had been feeling was reflected in his burnished gaze, sharpened by traces of tears – reddened rims, clumped eyelashes, moist, salty trails that traced paths over his cheeks. She reached up impulsively to wipe the wetness away, marveling at the silken feel of his skin.

“Are you Suzaku’s blessing?” His free hand closed over hers, caught it within its grasp, but his expression softened into a melancholy smile. Red suffused her cheeks and she lowered her gaze, noticing only distantly that his smile faded the moment she looked away. “You must have felt it...”

She nodded silently, not trusting herself to respond verbally. She felt silly, getting so worked up over a few words exchanged with someone she didn’t even know... But meeting him was right - she could feel that much, at least.

“It must have been your sadness I followed, then,” she finally answered, hand still pressed against his cheek. Her voice was a mere whisper, but the words formed themselves as if she had known them all along. “You won’t be alone anymore.” She tried to smile for him, and was delighted to see his expression lighten, just a little. “I’ll be with you... until Suzaku washes your sadness away.”