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Harmonychan Productions proudly present
A Fushigi Yuugi OVA: Ripples in the Water
OVA24: The Time of Darkness is Upon Us
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Tasuki watched them cry, not knowing quite what else to do. H-chan had 
followed Chichiri doggedly, determinedly, throughout this whole thing with 
utter faith in the fact that if she loved him enough he would love her 
fully in return. It was to the point where she had given almost all the 
chi she had to protect him.

And instaed of being greatful for her sacrifice, Chichiri had turned on 
her and screamed. Chichiri had been prepared to die...but H-chan wouldnt 
let him. As long as H-chan lived, she would make sure he did too. That, 
really, was the reason he ha put off the tessen in the first place...

"Tasuki." Nurikos voice came from behind him. He turned in suprise to see 
the rest of the schichiseishi standing behind him, looking mildly confused. 
"whats...going on?"

Tasuki just shook his head. "When did you get here?"

"When Chichiri called his kesa, we were sucked here along with it." 
Tamahome looked over the scene. "So they finnaly battled with Hikou...and 
H-chan finnaly snapped..."

Tasuki nodded. "Its sad, isnt it?"

K-chan shrugged. "I think...I think shes needed to say it for awhile 
anyway."

A few feet away, H-chan was slowly gaining control of herself. her sobs 
had subsided to the wracked sniffles after a small childs wailing outburst. 
She became aware of Chichiri's weight leaning into her. She gently held 
his head against her chest, stroking his hair and murmuring. She marveled 
at how fine and thin his light blue hair was...close shorn but still soft. 
"Daijobu. Daijobu. H-chans here...shh, shh..." She sniffed a bit, then 
smeiled a little. he was just like a child, huddled in his mothers arms. 
She held him closer, still murmuring. "Sh...Sh...as long as Im here, you 
wont be hurt. I wont ever leave, Chichiri...Ill always be here for you...
shhh..."

Chichiris sobs slowed to quiet as well. He looked up at H-chan, tear-streked
 cheeks glistening in the dim light of the cavern. "Is that true, H-chan."

"Always." She kissed the top of his forehead. "Always and forever, 
Chichiri-san." 

"Honto..." He kissed her. "Ai shiteru, H-chan." He strightened himself up, 
and laughed a bit. "Here I am, bawling like a kid...Im supposed to be 
protecting you!"

"Thats okay, Chichiri-san." She giggled a bit. "Just like a kid..you 
should SD and complete it."

"Mou, that wouldnt be very good of me." Chichiri grined at her with the 
mask off, totally suprising her. "You need all of me to hold you!" he 
pounced on her, trying to hold her madly flailing arms into a hug.

"Ah! Ahhh!" H-chan squirmed and giggled. "Lemme go Chichi-"

"A-HEM."

"Eh he heh..." They both looked up to see Migenrou and Tasuki leaning 
against the wall behind them. Migenrou grinned. "I hate to ruin such a 
%$#@in cute thing-"

"I dont!" Tasuki crowed, and was swatted soundly by his ni-chan. She 
harrumphed. "But Hikou was a Seiryuu seishi, and he had the shinzaho..."


"Oh! Right no da!" Chichiri slowly sunk huis hand into the water and 
pulled out a mirrored necklace, shimmering and dripping with water. 
"here...now you can call Suzaku!"

"Chichiri-san...are you really allright?"

Chichiri paused for a second, then nodded. "I think...I think ill be 
okay. I am forgiven, finnaly."

H-chan hugged him. That meant...maybe...she felt the healing feather 
twitch in her wings with hope."Mou, we still need the other one..."

"Oh, I have that...silly me, did you need it?"

H-chan looked up in shock. "Masaka!"

But it was...there were the Seiryuu sichiseishi standing in front of them. 
Amiboshi was chained to Tomo's wrist, shoulders slumped in defeat. The 
Sailo Shinzaho glittered around Miryuu's neck. "Nice of you to meet us 
here. Ill be needing the other shinzaho, if you could spare it..."

"Never!" Migenrou crowed. She summoned her shadow wolf. "Kage-gen!" 
The wolf roared froward.

Miryuu stared at the charging thing, unconcerned. "Oh yes. Tomo?"

"Yes, milady." Thorny vines shot out of the ground around all the 
shichiseishi, Migenrou, the Kage-gen, K-chan, and H-chan. "Cant have 
you all escaping, now, can we?" She laughed. 

H-chan hung from the vines, as all of her friends. They were strapped to 
a wall of the cavern, each one struggling to free themselves. She winced, 
feeling the throns prick her skin and draw blood. "shimatta...I cant 
lose..."

A memory sprang to her mind of Chiriko, having his final battle with Tomo. 
"I ABSOLUTELY WONT LOSE!" he had shouted.

"I..." H-chan began to strain her sodden wings against the vines. The 
remained taut, but the meomory of Chirikos sacrifice gave her confidence. 
"I..." Sweat beaded on her brow from the effort. "Minna..." The sacrifices 
and pain of her seishi sprang to her mind. It was for them she would be 
strong. The glow of chi around her became almost bliding. "I..wont..." 

*SNAP!* The vines fell to the ground. H-chan stood forth, holding one of 
her largest feathers at the ready. "I WONT LOSE! NO MATTER WHAT!" she 
screeched, holding the glowing feather like a sword.

"Really?" Miryuu lifted her ornate sword into the air, mist curling around 
her hands. "Run for your life, Suzaku no miko-SAN!"

"Iyyyaah!" H-chan ducked the lightning. She sent a barrage of bright 
feathers at Miryuu, who barely managed to duck. One neat loop of hair 
was lopped right of her head, the long black-red ponytail falling to the 
floor. She took no notice, sending another bolt at H-chan."H-chan!" 
Chichiri screamed, and used his energy to break the vines around him. 
They fell to the ground, smoldering slightly as he rushed up behind her. 
"Yamano! Youre not strong enough!" 

"Chichiri, I cant give up! I cant-uhn." He chopped her quickly behind the 
head, and she swooned to the ground. He scooped her up, frowning.

Miryuu smirked. "Should I thank you?"

"Why? I just saved her." He kissed her on the forehead and set her gently 
on the ground. "Youre yet so young...H-chan."

"Enough of this!" Miryuu hissed. "Its time to get serious." She summoned 
a great amount of crackling lightning, swirling around her arms and up 
the sword's blade. She set it off at Chichiri. He caught it on his staff 
and sent it spiraling back at her. It caught her straight on, knocking 
her to the ground.

Meanwhile, a few feet away, H-chan was starting to regain consiousness. 
(minna...i hafta free everyone...) she hacked a bit. Her personal chi was 
at an all time low. It would have to be an all-or-nothing gamble...

Miryuu fell to the ground, in a cloud of her own lightning. She fought it 
off. "TOMO!" she shreiked.

"MIRYUU!" Tomo turned to Chichiri, fire of hate smoldering in his eyes. 
He snapped, and thorny vines shot out of the ground. pinning him to the 
wall directly above H-chan. He struggled and winced as the thorns began to
 grow, peircing into his skin deeply.

"Prepare to bleed to death!" Tomo shreiked.

"no..." H-chan was strugling to a sitting position. She gathered a 
handfull of feathers, mentally commanded them on what to do. 
"Chichiri-san..." The red kanji sighn of well shown on her knee. 
She flashed back to when that same thing had happeend to her foot 
when Chiriko was dying. "That means...shit!" she flew up to free him.

"NOW WE FINISH THIS!" Miryuu screamed, throwing her sword at Chichiri's 
form.

H-chan rose too fast.

*SHNKT*

The sword was a long, curved affair, with a deep blue handle etched with 
dragons. It was sunk to the hilt-in H-chan. 

Unable to stop her upward motion, it sliced cleanly through her front, 
through her chest neatly as a surgical scapel. It lodged itself midway 
to her stomach, blood flowing down the blade and onto the ground.

"H-chan!" Chichiri shreiked. Rage filled him, and he used his chi to break 
his bond and the bonds of his friends. The schichiseshi fell to the ground. 

H-chan hovered in the air for a second, eyes glazed in shock. She 
lifted one hand to the sword, almost checking to see if it was there...
then she squinted and screamed in pain. "aaaaaaAAAAHHH!" she yelled. It 
echoed off of the caverns walls, making Chichiri wince in empathy.  She 
reached up and grabbed the sword around the hilt and, grimacing with pain, 
pulled it out of her chest with a sickening sound. It clattered to the 
floor, red-stained and useless. "Chichiri-" she choked, eyes falling shut.
 She swooned backwards.


"H-chan! H-chan!" Chichiri screamed, averting his eyes from the red 
staining the front of her shirt and diving to catch her. They fell to 
the ground. Chichiri sat up, holding her in his lap. "H-chan..doushite 
ano..."

 She closed her hands over the wound, but the blood still leaked through. 
It leaked through her hands, through her fingers, out of a corner of her 
mouth. Her pain was painted in red...

"Chichiri...you love me..." She choked out. He nodded, sobbing. 
"Dont speak, H-chan! If you do, you-"

"Then show me..." H-chan choked, reaching behind her for a particular 
feather, "your face." 

The rest of the seishi gathered around her. Tasuki jumped down next to her. 
"NI-CHAN!" he screamed. "BAKA!" He slumped beside her, almost bowing, 
grabbing her wrist for dear life. He yanked her sleeve feircly, then his 
grip became weak. His shoulders wracked with sobs. "My ni-chans...are 
idiots!"

"Yes...I am...I shoulda been..." she paused, hacking a bit of blood onto 
Tasuki's shirt front. "carefull..." She picked up the feather and handed 
it to Chichiri. Wordlessly, he placed it on his scar.

The scar glowed, and the left side of his face burned for a second. He 
felt things inside his face reforming, changing....he opened his eyes.

His EYES. 

He reached up and felt. Two eyes, open, one still blurry but adjusting 
after not ebing used so long. Both eyes focused down on H-chan, who 
actually was half smiling. "Chichiri...you DO love me."

"OF COURSE I DO!" Chichiri wept. Tasuki had grabbed her arm. "Hang on, 
H-chan! Mitsukake-" Tasuki looked up at the medicine man with hope in 
his eyes.

Mitsukake shook his head, tears brimming on his cheeks. "I cant save her 
from a wound like that. Im not powerfull enough."

"Ah! AH! AAAHHH!" H-chan cried, convulsing as Chriko did long ago on the 
mountain top. "This is what you went through...brave, admirable Chiriko..."

Chichiri held her close, now knowing nothing would save her. He wept into 
her hair. "Damnit H-chan...I love you so much...please, dont leave me..."
"H-chan!" K-chan stumbled forward. She blinked, trying to accept the situation. She knelt beside her friend. "Why...why did you do this? Whos going to-"

"K...chan..." H-chan smiled. "Nakayoshi...youre...Suzaku no... miko now." 
H-chan tried to take the shinzaho off of her neck.

"NO IM NOT!" K-chan grabbed H-chans hand and placed the shinzaho back over
 her head. "YOURE SUZAKU NO MIKO, NOW AND FOREVER! FOREVER AND ALWAYS!"

"Minna-AH!" H-chan choked, convulsing again as Chichiri fought to hold 
her still. The feathers began to float away from H-chans wings, one of the final sighns her life chi was fading. The feathers flew out in all directions, flowing on an etheral red light. "Minna...I love...everyone..."

"I NEVER MEANT IT! Youre no oinu..." Tasuki sobbed. "..so %$#@in cool."

"Chichiri..." She leaned up to kiss him, eyes nearly shut. Only a dim 
kelton of her wings were left, "Ai...shite..." He leaned in a and kissed
 her,wincing at the scent of blood in his mouth. The skelton exploded
 into sparks, and H-chan slumped in his arms.

"Nani..." Chichiri looked down at her.Her face was still smiling, eyes 
half colsed. Biting his lip, he closed them. "Haruka..."

He screamed to the sky, to the taunting gods that would never be content 
untill they had stolen everything he loved. "HARUUUKAAAA!!!"

"Chichiri..." Miryuu murmured, surveying over the crying seishi. Tasuki 
was huddled in Mitsukake's arms, Tamahome holding K-chan. Nuriko was 
comforting Migenrou. Hotohori stood alone, his head down. Chichiri was 
still holding H-chan, unwilling to let go. He glared up at her. 
"NOW YOU KNOW!" he screamed. "NOW YOU KNOW HOW IT FEELS TO KILL SOMEONE! 
NOW YOU KNOW HOW PAINFULL IT IS!"

Miryuu sunk to her knees in shiock. She had killed ehr rival..she should 
have been overjoyed...instead she just felt a cold lonliness and 
crushing pain. "I just...." She whispered, then her voice raised to 
a shout. "I JUST WANNA GO HOME!"

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"Huh."

It was  dark and black, wherever she was. It was also quite peaceful. 
She had no idea why, but she was all the sudden very, very tired. 

Seing no reason why not to, she laid down and closed her eyes. "Ahhh...."
She rubbed her head. "Im so sleepy, my head hurts, Im so weak..."

"This is no time to complain."

"Huh?" H-chan looked up. she blinked and rubbed her eyes. "Chiriko?"

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"Isnt there anything you can do?" Tasuki looked up at Mitsukake. He 
furrowed his brow. "It would take everything I have, plus some."

Tamahome looked over at Chichiri. Chichiri had stood, and was covering 
H-chan with his kesa. He covered her body, then paused reaching her head. 
He sniffled. "You know, minna, she looks alive...she cant be dead."

"No." K-chan stood. "H-chan wouldnt die. she promised to be Suzaku no 
Miko, and she never breaks promises. She promised to save the world."

Nuriko pounded the ground. "Damnit! Damnit! A seishi's supposed to die for 
a MIKO! This isnt right!"  

Chichiri looked over at them. "If it take everything we have..."

"Chichiri-san?"

"Then ill give it EVERYTHING IVE GOT!" He began to chant, concentrating on
 her, calling her back. He weas barely aware of the enrgy mass growing in 
his hands, nor was he aware of the burning in his newly-healed eye.

"Chichiri!" K-chan cried, but Tamahome held her back. 

"But...his eye! Hes unhealing it!" Sure enough, as the energy ball grew 
bigger, Chichiris scar began to reappear. The eye sealed itslef shut. 
The skin went from pink to brown to light pink again. If he was 
feeling any pain, he didnt show it. He was commited.

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The boy knelt beside her, glowing with red energy.His face was worried. 
H-chan, why are you laying down?"

"Im very tired." She sat up, eyes trying to adjust to the darkness. 
"How come youre here, Chiriko?"

He looked at her as if she was insane. "Youre dead. We are both dead. Didnt 
you know that?"

H-chan blinked. "That cant be. We were fighting Miryuu. The Seiryuu 
shichiseshi almost killed Chichiri, and then-"

"And then?"

"And then, I dont know."

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"Chichiri's right!" Tasuki thrust his tessen ionto the ground 
besides H-chan. He concentrated his chi into it, focring it to glow 
bright red. 

"Hai!" Nuriko knelt besdies H-chan, her bracelets growing. "We are the 
shichiseshi! We give everything we have for the miko!"

"For the miko!" Tamahome knelt beside her body, sighn glowing fericly.
 Mitsukake wordlessly did the same. 

"For the champion of Konan." Hotohori pointed his sword into the ground. 
The kesa began to glow bright red.

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"H-chan, you know." Chiriko sigheed. "THINK, H-chan."

Her eyes burst open. "I...I dont know! I dont know!"

"Concentrate, H-chan."

She cleared her mind of all thought. a voice, a tiny one, echoed through 
her mind. It was Chichiri..why was he sad? Why was he yelling her name?"

"Uhhhn." She grasped her stomach with both hands. "My...my stomach...it 
hurts so badly..." She glanced down at her hands. They were red with blood. 

"Chiriko!" She gasped. "Whats going on?"

His eyes were stern. "H-chan. The country needs you. K-chan and the seishi 
need you. Chichiri needs you. "

"Chichiri..." She held her encklace. She felt the other one around her neck, 
the new one- "Shinzaho!" she gasped.

"H-chan." Chiriko closed his eyes. "Remember...the shinzaho isnt powerful 
enough to call Suzaku all by itself."

"I know, it needs another shinzaho."

"No."

"No?"

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Amiboshi looked up, breifly, at the glowing red mass of human before them. 
He glanced at Miryuu, who's eyes were closed in defeat. "This isnt what you 
wanted, is it? Did you want her to die?"

"No..." She wiped her eyes. "I just wanted to go back home with Tomo..."

He placed his hand on her head. "You know, all the time, my sister would 
talk about how nice you were, how sweet...I didnt belive her. Now I think 
i could..."

Miryuu nodded. She stepped forward and knelt beside Suzaku no Miko. 

None of the other seishi noticed her movements. 

She carefully undid the clasp of her shinzaho and placed it around 
H-chan's neck. she stroked H-chans cheek. "Please...If you live...grant 
my wish."

K-chan gasped. H-chans body floated out of the kesa, into the air. Red light 
began to fly into her wound, sealing it from the inside. The wound glowed 
brightly, then dissapeared.

"MINNA!" she screamed. They all looked up.

The skeletons of H-chan's wings appeared. Red light gathered around them. 
In a flash, the wings were fully feathered once more. This time, the wings 
were a bright shimmering white.

H-chans eyes remained closed, but her arm raised. It touched the shinzaho's.

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"No." Chiriko reached down and took her hand. It was a clumsy, childlike 
gesture, but she appreciated it anyway. She smiled at him. 

"Well, Chiriko-chan, how can Suzaku be called with only one shinzaho?"

"Baka. Suzaku was within your grasp all this time."

"Nani?" She grasped his hand harder. "Then why-"

"Because you had to learn lessons, as did everyone else. K-chan and 
Tamahome fell in love, learned about that. Tasuki learned to be softer 
to the people he cares about. Nuriko learned more about himself, and 
Hotohori became a stronger leader. Even Mitsukake was able to set 
his past aside for this quest. And Chichiri...Chichiri leanred more than 
anyone else."

"I see." She closed her eyes, and whimpered. "Chichiri...I have to get 
back to him!"

"You dont want to die this way, do you?"

"With a hole in the stomach, this close to victory?" She grinned. "Not 
bloody likely."

"Can you hear Chichiri's voice?"

"Yes."

"Then follow it-" Chiriko dissapeared. "-and go to him."
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"H-chan!" Chichiri cried.

Her eyes shot open. shining with red light. "I will not...die this way!" she 
screamed. Her clothes, in a flash, were the ceremonial robes of a preistess. 
She held her arms high ion the air. 

"SUZAKU!" she screamed. "GUARDIAN OF THE SOUTH! YOUR PEOPLE ARE IN PAIN AND 
SUFFERING! THE TIME OF DARKNESS IS UPON US! O SUZAKU, YOUR MIKO CALLS YOU!"

A flash of red light filled the cavern. A magestic red bird appeared, tail 
sparkling with stars. 

"Suzaku!" Hotohori cried, bowing quickly. The rest followed suit. 

The bird spoke directly to H-chan. 

"Haruka Gaijin...I have heard your cry."

(END CHAP 24!)