Miryuu stared at the weeping boy. He was clutching the shinzaho to his chect,
 bawling. She shook her head. "what kind of warrior are you?"She sneered, 
flipping her long balck hiar over her shoulder. "What could make a true 
warrior cry?"

"My sister is gone...shes left me forever..."He pointed with his shaking 
hand to a lavender ribbon. "I found the shinzaho in my room, wrapped in 
that, when I woke up."

"Huh." She knelt beside him and studied the ribbon laying on the ground. It 
said simply: 

Aniki
Gomen nasai
Sayonara
Nii-chan

"So she is." Miryuu nodded. "Too bad. I thought she was a bit more loyal."

Amiboshi glared up at the princess. "Dont you have a heart, Miryuu?!?"

She shook her head. "I killed that troublemaker long ago. Now come inside, 
we have work to do."

He glared at her and raised his flute. "Im not going anywhere!"

Her voice turned to ice. She raised her hands in the air, allowing them 
to crackle with electricity. "If you belive I can find your sister, 
and you value her life, come inside."

Shakily, Amiboshi stood. "Were going to be defeated, Im sure of it. We cant 
obtain the other shinzaho. Your out of seishi." his voice rose. "You cant 
leave here, not a princess like you, it would throw the kingdom into chaos. 
Tomo tired and failed to trick them all, and they can recognize him easily. 
Suboshiko is gone, and Im going to find her."

"Youre wrong."

"Huh?"

"If you love your sister, you will stay with me. If you value her life."

He nodded, fists clenched. He was defeated. "And the other shinzaho? I wont 
go for you, not to retrive it."

She smiled. The sighn on her forhead glowed. "My father has informed me of 
a final Seiryuu seishi...one he met on the kami plane. This new seishi has 
been sent back to the earth for his final task..."

Amiboshi shook his head. "How? How could anyone convince a ghost to return?"

"He has a score to settle...with a suzaku shichiseishi."


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Harmonychan productions Proudly Present
A Fushigi Yuugi OVA: Ripples in the Water
OVA22: Water-borne Hellfire

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"H-chan!"K-chan was a morning person.

"Uhhnnn...." H-chan was not.

"H-chaaannn!" K-chan shook her friend by the shoulders angrily. "Its time 
for BREAKFAST!"

"Don care. Start without me."

"We cant do that." K-chan sat at the opposite end of the bed, legs crossed. 
"We have to plan our next attack. Hotohori says get packed for the next 
trip, he planned the route last night."

"What?" H-chan sat up, trying to blink the red out of her eyes. It had been 
a LONG night.  "when?"

"We're apparently leaving right after breakfast."

"Uuuggghhh." H-chan stood up and tottered forward. She sliped on a light 
robe.

"Sooooo...." K-chan batted her eyes. "What did you and Chichiri-san talk 
about so late?"

"Nothin much." H-chan yawned again. "Stuff...where we would live, how we 
would make a living, when we could be married-"

"married?"

H-chan noded drearily. "he said we should wait, but I said-"

"MARRIED?!?" K-chan squeaked. "You cant mean that! Not at our age!"

H-chan glared at K-chan. "Hey, who got engaged to Obake-chan about a week 
after she reached this world?"

K-chan flushed. "Thats diferent!"

"And how is it different, exactly?" H-chans voice took on a teasing edge. 
"You didnt wait as long?"

K-chan mock-glared at her friend. "Baka!"

"Bii-daah!"

"Bi-daah yourself!" The two sat there, tounge stuck out, eyes twisted 
horribly, untill they both burst out laughing. Tasuki stuck his ehad in 
the doorway.

"Hey, if you to can cut it the ^%$# out, some of us want BREAKFAST!" 

"Oh, uresi!" H-chan followed their red-haired leader to the breakfast table. 
To their mutual dismay, there was no usual smorgasboard but a large map of 
the four countries. 

K-chan went shoujo. "Heiga-sama?!? Wheres the FOOD?!? Im hungry..."

The rest of the seishi were seated around the table. H-chan waved at 
Chichri.  "Ohayu, chichiri-san!"

"Good morning, H-chan no da!"He slid over to make room for her, his new 
necklace jingling. Nuriko pikued at it. "Chichiri-san! Thats a-"

"Kokoro no Yakusuko!" Tamahome burst out. He clapped Chichiri on the back. 
"Lucky dog! Way to go!"

"Da-aaa...." Chichiri turned red. "Its not such a big deal no-"

"nani?" Tasuki grinned over at Chichiri. "So you finnaly give in? What some
 guys wont do for a little action-"

"URESI!" H-chan stomped his foot, effectively putting an end to all further 
debate. Chichiri smiled at her with a mix of embarrasment and relief. She breifly beamed at him, then turned to Hotohori. "Heiga-sama? the food?"

"We can eat on the road." Hotohori bent over the map. "we need to get a jump 
on the Seiryuus..."


Tamahome studied the route. "Bet youve been almost everywhere on here, 
Chichiri!"

He smiled. "Could be no da!"

"Hey!" Tamahome's eyes lit up. "I KNOW youve been here!"

"Daa?" He looked at where he was pointing on the map. "Shoryuu! Our old 
villiage!"

Tamahome nodded. "Remember all that? The fishing, the long mornings, 
working on the farms..."

"Like it was yesterday no da!" Chichiri grinned. "And since Ive been there 
before, I can take us all in the kesa no da!"

"Uh-uh. No WAY Im ridin that %$#@in thing again." Tasuki shook his head. 
"Count me the &%$# OUT!"

Hotohori looked up. "Tasuki. You dont really want the Seiryuus to get ahead 
of us?"

"Well, no, but-"

"Insteaneous travel is the best way to do it.
Shoryuu is just on the border of Hokkan...Good idea, Chichiri."

"Damn." Tasuki whimpered as Chichiri spread his kesa on the floor. 
Everyone assembled themselfs on it. "Bit of a tight squeeze..." K-chan 
muttered as it began to glow.

"Chill. We'll be there insteaneously."

And as soon as H-chan said it, they were there.

To really appreciate what they saw, you would have to have lived in a city 
most of your lfes like K-chan and H-chan did. You would have to have been 
born and rasied within concrete walls, breathing carbon monoxide and barely 
ever seeing a tree not surrounded by a tiny picket fence. In short, the best 
way to appreciate the beauty of Shoryuu was to have lived in suburbia all 
your life.

Tasuki had not. He rolled his eyes at the gaping girls. "Its a viliage!"

"But..." It was a villaige, yes, but a beautiful one. Small straw huts 
surrounded by lush greenery, lined by a sparkling blue river. H-chan 
blinked. "Suteki na... Hotohori, where first?"

"H-chan! Come this way no da!" Chichiri grabbed her hand. H-chan laughed. 
"But, the shinzaho-"

"Go on." Hotohori smiled. "We will begin the search."

"Ill give you a yell if we find anything, promise!" K-chan winked, 
shoving her in Chichiri's direction. "Trust your inazuke."

"Inazuke..." H-chan murmured. She shivered. 

"Is it that scary?" K-chan blinked at her.

"No...its not that!" It was something, though...something, some kind of 
nameless dread raked a claw across the back of her neck. She shook it off. 
"Okay. Lets go, Chichiri-san! But first-" She summoned her wings and plucked 
a bouquet of feathers. She gave on the each of them. "This way, I can tell 
oll of you if the shinzaho is located. If you find anything, send a little 
chi and tell the others-now we can all be connected!"

"Ja ne, minna no da!" Chichiri ran off, dragging her behind. The seishi 
watched, shaking their heads and laughing. 

"Can you belive her?" Tasuki muttered. "Look what she does in the time of 
emergenc-Ite!" He scowled at Nuriko, who had popped him a good one in the 
arm. "What was that for?!?"

"Let her have her fun!" Nuriko scolded him. "we dont have much time before 
we lose her for good!"

"Lose her for good?" Tasuki blinked. It had never occured to him that 
H-chan might leave after she found the shinzaho. He shook his ehad feircly. 
"That little oinu aint goin anywhere. Shes too persistant!"

"What did you think, she would stay?"

K-chan shook her head. "Actually, she does plan to stay with Chichiri."

 Tamahome looked over at K-chan. 

"What about you?"

"nani?"

"Are you going to stay, or go back to your world?" Tamahome looked a little 
nervous. "Ill understand if you dont wanna stay here with me...your world 
sounds so much more exciting than mine..."

She shook her head. "Iyah. I want to stay with you." She glomped him. 
Tasuki gagged. "Any more of this and Im gonna %$#@in lose my lunch!"

"Good thing we arent with H-chan right now, then..."

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They two ran along, both deep in thought. H-chan was still having trouble 
with this "Inazuke" thing. K-chans outburst had set a psark of doubt in her 
head. (Jeeze...Im so YOUNG...can I actually DO this? Not to mention never 
seeing my family or friends ever again...can i really stay here?) She looked 
up at Chichiri. He was smiling broadly, blue bangs drifting and bobbing like
 mad. He sudenly burst into speed, and she summoned her wings in an effort 
to keep up.

"Hayaku no da!"

"Hai, hai!" She laughed. (Ive never seen him this happy...) She shivered 
again. (What is this? I feel like the worlds going to end! What in the 
world do i have to be scared of? Chichiri's here...)

Chichiri's thoughts were distinctly different. Memories of his childhood, 
happy ones, drifted through his head. (Theres where me and Tamahome would 
fish...theres where me and Hikou-) He stopped. (What am I thinking?) Kourans 
face drifted past his eyes. (How can I even imagine marrying another girl-a 
girl that cant even live here for more than a year without-) He wouldnt 
allow himself to think the last part.  (How can i tell her...How do i tell 
her she cant stay?) Not telling her simply wasnt an option. He would rather 
he himself die than her. But he kenw she wouldnt leave unless there was 
simply no othr choice...

H-chan tugged his arm. "Chichiri-san?"

 "Cmon!" He forced a smile on his face and scooped her up. "We'll reach 
the river soon no da..."

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You wouldnt have known what you were seeing if you werent looking for it.

For those gifted with true sight, they would see a young man, oily black hair
 pinned up in a bun, plain village garb drfiting and actaully mixing with the
 water.He would have been wearing a beaded necklace that fairly glowed with 
energy. 

For those who didnt see, it would have just been a particularly strong 
currant.

It had been easy to get the shinzaho from Sailo, once he had explained the 
situation...and he was a Seiryuu seishi, after all. it was as free game to 
him as it was to a Suzaku seishi. They realized that...after a little 
presuasion.

So now he was merged with this river, bound of Kutou...bearing the 
shinzaho...Miryuu would surely give him a wish.

As a water spirit, he was limited. But, as he was constantly reminded, 
it was only his Seiryuu Sieshidom that had allowed him to remain (even as 
a spirit)on this earth, and it was his Seiryuu seishidom that gave him his
 powers over the water he flowed with.

But this water...this river...he despised. Even after two years, he could 
still feel his blood mingling in the water. He could still remember the 
pain of breathing his last...

His body was somewhere in the river.

He set his mind away from such thoughts, and concentrated on the task ahead. 
Revenge againt the one who had killed him could be his reward for a job 
well done...

Speaking...of the one who killed him...wasnt that his chi along the 
riverbank now?

A grin played across his face. "Perhaps I wont wait for this revenge..."

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"Here no da!"

Chichiri set her down on the grass gently. 

"Kakkoi!" H-chan looked around. They had ended up in a small clearing by 
the seemingly glass river. She stared up at the green rustling trees 
overhead and breathed in a deep breath of the clean air. "Oh wow...how 
can anywhere be this beautiful?"

"I guess it dosent mean much to me no da..." Chichiri sat beside her, 
twisting a peice of grass in his fingers. "Its beautiful, but I never 
really noticed till I saw it through your eyes no da. Its been so long, 
i guess I forgot..." he trailed off.

"Its so beautiful...why did you ever leave here, Chichiri?"

"I had to...the memories were too painfull. But...I should pay my respects." 
Chichiri stood up. 

"Chichiri-san?"

He walked to the waters edge and knelt, muttering prayers under his breath. 
H-chan closed her eyes and laid back. (Now I know why I was frightened, I 
guess...No matter how beautiful it is, it will always make him sad...and 
theres nothing I can do about it. Its just not fair!) She slammed a fist 
into the grass. (Why cant I help him? I love him so much...but no matter 
WHAT I do, I cant help him.) She bit her lip to keep from crying. (I dont 
think anyone can.)

At the waters edge, Chichiri had stopped murmuring prayers and was trailing 
his fingers through the water. Images of him, Hikou, and Kouran came 
flooding back. All the festivals...the parties...the fishing trips...and 
most of all, Kouran. He took off his mask, staring at his reflection in the 
water. "Kouran...would my face frighten you? Hikou...would you forgive me? 
Would you ever forgive me?"

*tap* *tap* *tap*

"Nani?" H-chan looked up too see rain start to patter down from the 
seemingly clear sky. "Rain? Without clouds?" She shivered. "Its cold..."

Chichiri was brought out of his daze by the waters rippling. "Nani?" He 
put on his kasa, and heard the rains solid pattering. "Cold rain from a 
clear sky? Its not right no da..." He placed his kasa on H-chans shuddering 
head. "This is odd no da..."

"No kidding...look!" She pointed to a few feet away...the trees leaves 
were still. The rain was only in a square around them. 

"Chichiri-san! Should I call the others?"

"Yes...something weirds going on here..."

H-chan grabbed the feather. "Guys, come over here! Freaky stuff!" She sent 
a quick Chi charge through the feather. 

Chichiri froze. "That scent..."

"Huh?" H-chan turned torwards him. He looked oevr at her to warn her...

A massive wave of water came behind her.

"H-chan!" He reached out to grab her-

but the water swallowed ehr whole, trapping her in a globe. H-chan began 
to beat on the sides of the globe."Chichiri-san! Whats going on!"

"His name isnt Chichiri!" A cruel voice behind them cried out.

"That voice..." Chichiri muttered.

A figure rose out fo the water. 

"HIKOU!"
END CHAP 22!