| Volume 1: The Universe of the Four Gods
Volume 1 contains the first four episodes of Fushigi Yuugi:
The Girl of Legend
It all began when Miaka Yuki, a typical 15-year old student preparing for her high school entrance exams, took a trip to the National Library with her best friend, Yui Hongo. While buying something from the juice machines at the library, Miaka sees a vision of a Phoenix and follows it into a restricted area of the library. Yui shows up and asks what Miaka is doing. They find a book entitled "The Universe fo the Four Gods" that has just fallen to the floor. Upon reading the book, the two discover that whomever reads it gets dragged into the story and takes on the qualities of the main character. Before they know it, Yui and Miaka are teleported to a strange land. There, they are attacked by slave traders. They are saved by a strange young man with the character for "ogre" on his forehead. The two girls thank him for saving them, but when he finds out they have no money to thank him with, he replies that he "doesn't like poor people" and walks off. Miaka turns around to find that Yui has vanished. Yui has really been transported back to the library, but Miaka thinks that perhaps the guy with the ogre symbol kidnapped her. So Miaka heads to the city (hitching a ride on a haycart) to find the guy and Yui. Meanwhile, Yui picks up the book and discovers that whatever happens to Miaka is written in the book. Yui follows Miaka's travels for quite some time this way. When Miaka reaches the capital city, she finds out the country is called Konan, and that it is a lot like ancient China. Miaka goes looking everywhere for a boy with the character for "ogre" on his forehead. Tamahome (the "ogre" guy) overhears this. Miaka ends up getting attacked by bandits (those annoying bandits are everywhere) and is once again saved by Tamahome. (Although she does a very nice job of defending herself against several guys much stonger than herself). She asks Tamahome about Yui, but he tells her he won't help her unless she has money. Instead, she follows him around annoying him until they are interrupted by the Emperor's caravan passing through. Tamahome mentions that if he had one gem from the emperor's crown, it'd be more than enough to pay for his services in locating Yui. Miaka then decides to run after the emperor's caravan asking for his help. For this show of disrespect, the guards threaten her. Yet AGAIN, Tamahome saves the day. He tells her that if she has the guts to do that just to find her friend, he'll help her. As "payment" for his help, he kisses her ont he forehead. All of a sudden, a red light begins to shine around Miaka. Unfortunately, the guards catch her and Tamahome, and they are both thrown into the dungeons. They escape (Aren't you glad all TV guards are completely incompetent?) and are separated when Miaka goes looking for food. She meets a young "woman" (I still wonder why she didn't notice the masculine voice) who asks if she were the girl with the red light in the town square. That's when Tamahome shows up with a lot of guards hot on his tail. They guards are about to recapture the two when it is revealed that the "woman" is the emperor himself. Miaka is shocked, but the emperor Hotohori tells her of the legend of the Priestess of Suzaku. The legend goes something like this: A girl from another world will arrive in Konan and gather the seven Suzaku seishi in order to summon Suzaku and save Konan. Hotohori is one of the seven, as well as Tamahome. Each one of the seishi has a specific power. Tamahome's is over martial arts, Hotohori's is over swordplay and fencing. At a meeting to discover more of the Suzaku seven, a gazebo ends up falling on Tamahome and Miaka. (Don't ask, long story.) A woman serving as one of the emperor's consorts saves the two with a show of incredible strength. Her name is Nuriko, the third seishi. Her power is, obviously, immense strength. Also, when Miaka's leg was injured during the whole gazebo thing, Yui, back at the library, also felt the pain, and blood appeared on her uniform. Back in Konan, when it is discovered that Miaka and Tamahome are going to be okay, Nuriko mentions that she really didn't want to save Miaka, but Tamahome. Miaka is shocked. Soon thereafter follows a very hilarious scene in which Tamahome is mainly trying to escape Nuriko's blatant advances. Miaka is determined to make friends with Nuriko, and tries her hardest, although Nuriko is rather catty to her. Then, Nuriko sends Miaka out at night to find an earring she supposedly dropped. While searching, Miaka falls into the pond and gets tangled in some weeds. (Yui's uniform also ends up soaked when Miaka falls in the water.) Miaka mentally shouts for Tamahome to come save her, and he wakes up in his room in the palace with a start. He overhears Nuriko telling her maids about how she sent Miaka after a nonexistant earring, when Tamahome gets angry with her, and Miaka shows up again in Nuriko's room, not too happy. Miaka learns that Nuriko has been chasing after Tamahome in order to make Miaka angry. Nuriko has been trying to get the emperor's attention since she began serving as a consort a year ago, but Miaka just shows up and she gets noticed immediately? Miaka assures Nuriko that there is nothing between herself and Hotohori, and offers to tell Hotohori how Nuriko feels. Miaka goes to talk to Hotohori to talk to him, and he reveals his "love" for Miaka. (Personally, I think it's more obsession/infatuation than love, but I'll let you form your own opinion.) He offers to make her his Empress after the summoning of Suzaku, but she tells him he can't force her to do that. He agrees, saying he won't try to force her. Then, he walks over to the screen on the opposite wall. When he slashes the screen apart with his sword, it reveals Nuriko and Tamahome trying to pretend they weren't eavesdropping. (Pretty funny!) Hotohori tells Miaka to sleep in his room for the night and leaves. Tamahome and Nuriko leave as well. The next morning, you discover that Miaka couldn't sleep a wink overnight. When she greets Tamahome, he acts somewhat cold to her, and Nuriko directly yells at Miaka. Then the two head off to the city to do business. Miaka follows the two, and finds out that Tamahome went to the city to sell some chewing gum (a novelty in ancient China. *g*) that Miaka gave him earlier. The crowd doesn't believe Tamahome when he says the odd artifacts came from the Priestess of Suzaku, so Miaka speaks up and tells the crowd that Tamahome is indeed telling the truth. Tamahome sees the opportunity for making more money, and tells people it will cost one gold tael to talk to the Priestess (I believe the monetary amounts are different in the dub.) The two are swamped by the crowd, and manage to escape into an alleyway. There, they are assaulted by bandits/slavers once again (See, told you they were everywhere). Miaka is restrained by one man, while "the boss" tells Tamahome to pay up if he wants to work in this town again. Then, when the boss realized Miaka is the Priestess of Suzaku, he offers to buy her from Tamahome for 30 gold taels. Tamahome replies, "Don't be ridiculous. 40 taels." This makes Miaka angry, and she is able to escape from the man holding her. Tamahome then beats up the guys in yet another "Tamahome kicks butt" fight scene. Miaka yells at Tamahome because now he won't be able to work in the town again, since he angered "the boss". Then she asks why he keeps saving her, and he shrugs her off. Miaka gets upset and screams for him to answer her. She can't accept no answer. Then she confesses that she loves him. He turns away and replies that he doesn't feel the same way. He only protects her because she is the priestess of Suzaku. Miaka starts crying, then her vision blurs and goes dark as she passes out. Yui, reading the book, states that Miaka passed out from a terrible fever suddenly... End of Volume 1...
More to come soon!!!
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