Fushigi Yuugi OC AU/Rewrite

Chapter 3. The Seven Stars of Suzaku

"On the night of her initiation, her first night as the Priestess of Suzaku, the girl had a dream."

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"Ice?! Where are you?! Ice?! Can you hear me?! Ice?!" I slowly opened my eyes as I heard a familiar voice. "Hmm? Is that my sister...?" I sat up some and saw my sister, Sapphire, standing before me. "Ice..." She seemed concerned. "Sapphire!" I reached out and grabbed her hand, looking into her eyes. "I want to go home! Sapphire, take me back to real life, where everything is normal!" I pleaded with her but all she did was stare down at me. "Take me home... Big sister, please..." She continued to stare at me before finally speaking again. "But you don't understand, I am not your sister." My eyes widened at her words.

"But I'm not your sister." Her voice was replaced with another familiar one, this time male. Suddenly her image faded and all I saw was Tamahome. I blushed brightly as I realized I must have been half asleep and I quickly let go of his hand, scrambling backwards. "Tamahome! What are you doing in my room?" I glared at him and hugged a pillow against my body, still embarrassed that he heard me sleep talking and I called him my sister. The only similarities they even had was that they had the same hair color and were taller than me, that second condition not being hard to achieve.

"Oh that's real nice. I just came in to check up on you and make sure you were alright." He frowned at my defensive reaction, his tone mirroring the hostility that had been in mine. He sighed and continued, "The Emperor's worried about you to." His tone was more normal now and I took the olive branch he seemed to be giving me and relaxed a bit. "Is he really...?" I felt a bit guilty, making a man in such high standing worry about my well being.

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Emperor Hotohori sat at his mirror, looking back at himself with contemplation as four of his attendants sat in waiting behind him. He turned his face from side to side and seemed to be examining himself before letting out a sigh. "I'm so beautiful, it scares me." The attendants all quickly launched into hysterics to agree with him and praise him.

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"You were worried about me? Why?" I tilted my head as I brought my legs over the edge of the bed to fully face Tamahome. "Yeah... Everyone in the empire is talking about you." "What about me?" "They say that Suzaku has appeared. And thanks to you I get to stay in this magnificent palace!" I rolled my eyes, 'As material as ever I see.' I turned away from him and crossed my arms. "Don't be obliged to look after me because of that. I'm not lonely, I've always been fine on my own. All I'm worried about is having clothes to change into in this place, or otherwise I'd just- Ah!"

As I was talking Tamahome suddenly wrapped his arms around me and hugged me. The unexpected gesture made me stiffen up like a rock and I froze stock still. "Don't keep it pent up, cry if you feel like it." I was at a loss for words at his suddenly caring actions and didn't know what to do, so I just remained silent. "I don't think I could be a stand-in for your sister, but you could consider me your brother if you want. I won't even charge you, how's that for a deal?" He chuckled and I sighed a bit, loosening up some. I finally got a bit more comfortable and leaned against him gently. Maybe that wouldn't be so bad, maybe I was more lonely than I thought if such a gesture would make me this emotional. "Thank you..."

"Listen, I was just thinking," I pulled away from the hug as he began to speaking again, "If you really wanna get back to your own world, you should try to fulfill the prophecy right away. You'll be given the supreme power of Suzaku, and with that you could wish yourself home! Right?" I stared blankly at him for a moment as I processed the information. "Yes, that's right!" I got up and changed back into my school uniform before rushing through the palace hallways, trying to remember the way to the Emperor's room.