I Want to Return

(Fushigi Yuugi Chapter Seven part II)

Her three Shichiseishi behind her, Miaka knelt, again fully-dressed, upon a bright yellow carpet that had been laid out over the blue tile floor. The girl forced her hands to relax and tried to quieten her pounding heart.

"Are you ready, Suzaku no Miko? You’ve been in this world for quite some time. Opening the way back will not be as easy as when you arrived."

Miaka blinked and leaned forward. "Opening the way?" she uncertainly echoed.

"The pathway between the two worlds. In the beginning, you could have returned merely by the strength of your will."

The girl did not flinch. "How can I do it now?"

Taiitsu-kun’s answer was completely unexpected, and it took all four by surprise. "There is an object that connects both worlds."

Miaka blinked once. "An object connecting both worlds...?" she echoed, mind racing over how it could be possible.

"This thing exists in both this world and the other," Taiitsu-kun anticipated. She remained silent, curious to see if this Miko would be able to realize the answer on her own.

"Exists here...and there..."

*******

"Exists here...and there..." Yui read with disbelief. Her arms went limp, dropping the book down into her lap. Her own mind searched for the answer, desperate to aid Miaka’s return.

*******

Miaka suddenly placed a hand upon her breast, pressing her uniform into her skin. "Yui-chan ‘s and--"

*******

"Miaka to atashi no--"

*******

"Seifuku!" the girls realized simultaneously, worlds apart.

"Sou ka!" Yui breathed. She quickly turned back to the pages of Shijintenchisho. "That’s why in the story, things that happen to Miaka, also happen to me!"

*******

"The uniform connects deeply your strong wills and emotions," Taiitsu-kun confirmed. Again, she surprises me.

Miaka’s eyes were wide. Deeply connects our strong wills...

*******

Within the library, Yui suddenly straightened, face determined. "Miaka!" she shouted down into the book. "I’m here! Come back!" Her eyes closed, and tears crept into her voice. "Miaka!!"

*******

Miaka stood, hand still on her breast. She looked up at the ceiling of the palace of Taikyoku. "Yui-chan..." She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, searching for her friend’s face, hovering above the pages of Shijintenchisho. Yui.... Miaka snapped her eyes open and returned Taiitsu-kun’s watchful gaze. "Connected with our strong wills. Deeply!"

"Transporting Suzaku no Miko back would be simple if all seven Shichiseishi were assembled. Hotohori, Tamahome, and Nuriko are only three. And, except Nuriko, they are weakened."

"Daijoubu, we can do it," Tamahome answered, voice confident.

"Of course we can," Hotohori echoed. "Absolutely, I will send you back." I will never fail you, Miaka, he added internally.

"Be relieved, Miaka!" Nuriko told her with his usual playful tone. He winked. "Haven’t I been a good girl lately?"

Miaka watched the three over her shoulder, tears slowly filling her eyes. "Minna...arigatou."

Tamahome placed a warm hand on Miaka’s head. She raised her face to his. "Instead of thanking us...just come back. We’ll be waiting." He slowly lifted his hand and moved back into his place.

Miaka’s eyes trembled as the heat of his touch faded from her shoulder. The dissappearing warmth speared through her, and she finally realized the full meaning of her return. Sou ka. Leaving this world means...means not seeing Tamahome anymore!

"Dewa hajimeru!" Taiitsu-kun leaped into action, not noticing Miaka’s sudden uncertainty. "Shichiseishi, surround Suzaku no Miko!" she commanded. "Concentrate on sending your chi energy to her. Miaka, visualize your world from deep within your spirit. Feel their chi, and accept it."

Taiitsu-kun’s words fell on deaf ears.

Gomen-ne, minna, for causing you such bitter experiences.  Miaka's resolve quailed. Hotohori and Tamahome had to be injured for me. Can I really go back to my world and leave them?

Blue lightening suddenly arched down to the girl, zapping through her spirit and yanking her back to the present.

"Bakamono!" Taiitsu-kun angrily yelled. "Don’t get distracted! Carelessness could blow you into the gap of another dimension! Concentrate!" She glared at Miaka to drive home her point before continuing.

*******

Yui’s hands trembled where they clenched Shijintenchisho. She stared determinedly down at the illustration of the girl, sitting in the middle of the square carpet. A Shichiseishi knelt in each corner, and Taiitsu-kun hovered in the fourth. Miaka, gambatte! Gambatte-yo! Think of me and OUR world!

Yui closed her eyes and concentrated with all her will.

*******

Miaka gritted her teeth, then suddenly shook her head. "Dame! No matter how hard I concentrate, I can only think about Tamahome and Hotohori!"

*******

Tears in her eyes, Yui fought to see beyond the paper and ink of Shijintenchisho. "Baka!" she shouted. "Come home! Come back! Your mother and brother will be frantic!" Yui cut herself off with a deep, sobbing breath. "Besides, you and I have been together since kindergarten!"

With a sharp flash of pain, images of their youth together flashed through Yui’s mind, each memory a painful stab to her heart. Miaka pushing me down the street, me giving Miaka’s head my Elbow Crunch, us drawing mustaches on Miaka’s dolls. Yui pushed the book from her lap. It fell, flat and lifeless, on the cold tile floor. She leaned over it, a hand on either side. "We’ll go to the same high school....won’t we?" A tear trickled down her cheek. "Let’s go...together! We’ll both pass the entrance exam!" Yui’s soul screamed out to Miaka’s, crying forth for the return of her beloved friend.

*******

Miaka gasped at the force of the cry that twisted into her. Yui-chan!

A myriad of images and memories flashed through Miaka’s mind. The two worlds fought each other, competing inside her troubled heart. The three motionless Shichiseishi focused their spirits, sending every part of themselves outward to augument the Miko’s determination to return.

The girl clenched her eyes and forced the memories of home to flash through her. A group picture of me and Yui , Yui comforting me in the schoolyard. Me defending Yui from those bullies in elementary school. Mother at the sight of us, filthy and laughing from the fight. Then, that day, in the playground...Yui building a mountain in the sandbox alone, looking up, and meeting my eyes for the first time.

Miaka set her jaw. I am going back to my people! Back to my world!

*******

"MIAKA!!!" Yui screamed, tears flying.

*******

"I’M COMING!"

A red haze grew around Miaka, suddenly intensifying to block the sight of everything but red. The faces of her three Shichiseishi and the wizened Taiitsu-kun vanished, lost in the searing glow. As before, the warbling cry of the strange bird echoed around her, the wind of its passage ruffling through her hair.

"I feel overheated. Like the first time, it’ s like being absorbed into Shijintenchisho."

She opened her arms to the red above her, skirt and hair flying in the hot wind. With a flash, a blue comet shot down, its passage sending a cool, unnoticed wave against Miaka’s skin. The red light intensified, passing through the spectrum into the blinding white of--

*******

Thin bolts of electricity sparked around Miaka’s prone body where she lay, huddled with her knees to her chest, upon the cold library floor A distance away, Shijintenchisho rested, pages-down, flat and abandoned on the tile.

"Koko wa..." Miaka suddenly sat up. The chilled, air-conditioned atmostphere of the room cut through her lungs. She took a deep breath that tasted of dust and stale words. "Yui-chan! Yui-chan? YUI-CHAN!! I’m back!"

*******

From a speaker in the wall, a pleasant female voice spoke, ringing artificially in the depths of the library. "We have information for patrons. Closing time is at hand, we will commence checking out at this time. Please use Counter Two."

A security guard walked down the hallway, his hard-soled shoes ringing out sharply on the tile floor, and his oversized key ring jingled counterpoint to the tempo of his steps. He paused at the ajar door to the Important Documents Reference Room. "Oh, it’s open." Brow creased, he pushed open the door. "Is anyone in here?" he called out into the darkness. His voice echoed through the still air.

"Who’s on duty today?" he asked himself with distaste, then answered his own question. "Seki is. That dummy is always--" the closing door cut off the remainder of his kind remark.

Miaka clutched Shijintenchisho to her chest, her back pressed against the end of one of the long row of shelves. She listened with relief as the guard locked the door behind him and departed, his footsteps echoing away.

"Yui-chan....I wonder where she went?" Miaka silently studied the old book for a moment before she set it back in its place on the dusty shelves. And why did Yui-chan leave?

She moved to the door. Luckily, it still opened from the inside. Miaka crept out of the room and peeked down the stairwell to ensure the coast was clear before silently making her way. She paused when she reached the juice vending machines, images from Konan flashing through her mind. Miaka quickly squelched them. NO! I’ve got to find Yui-chan! She jogged down the remainder of the hallway into the vast lobby.

"It’s now officially closing time," the voice spoke from the intercom again. "Please remember your belongings and take care of yourselves."

Miaka turned around the library’s lobby, eyes searching for her friend. Yui could not be seen. The girl slowly walked out the entrance, the setting sun casting long shadows on the hard cement underneath her feet. Miaka turned her head to the light. "Yui-chan, doko...?"

*******

Yui-chan, where did you go? Miaka walked in a daze down the busy sidewalk, avoiding collisions with people and lamp posts by sheer instinct. Her surroundings were a blur of noise and dull colors. I came all this way back to see you...

"Miaka!" a girl called from behind her.

She turned, delight on her face. "Yui-chan?!"

"What are you doing?" one of her classmates asked, the other standing next to her. "You skipped juku."

"Mori! Fu-chan!" Miaka cried. She leaped and engulfed them in a huge hug. "It’s been so long! You look great!"

"Wha--what’s with you?!" Fu stuttered in shock.

"We were together two hours ago!" Mori added.

Miaka jerked upright, eyes wide. "EH?!"

*******

Miaka walked past an arcade, not seeing the animated martial artists fighting on the oversized screen, visible through the window.

She mulled over the last part of her conversation with Mori and Fu-chan. "Yui? What about Yui?" one of the girls asked Miaka. "She was with you, wasn’t she?"

Miaka mechanically stepped in a phone booth and inserted her phone card.

"You and Yui are different! Goof off with her, and you’ll never pass the Jonan entrance exam."

"Sou sou!" the other seconded with a laugh.

She dialed the number. The phone rang, over and over again. Each unanswered tone was a cold, hard stab in Miaka’s heart. Yui-chan....

** end episode seven **

This summary is based on the translation by Karen Duffy and Yamazaki Masatomo. Used with permission. Adaptation by Sailor Two Moons 6-15-00.  Last tweaked 11-15-01, when I tweaked links to bypass the problematic code.