"> Echoes of Destiny : Chapter Eight: Shattered Lives

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, they belong to Watase Yuu and several other people. This is just fanfiction.

Notes: Alternate Universe. Contains spoilers for entire series, hints of yaoi, language, and violence. Read at your own discretion. Again, pairings are not canon.

*thoughts*

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Tokyo

Miaka looked up at the house and sighed. "Are you sure this is the right place, Kouji?"

"Yeah, mom. I know I felt dad's Ki here. Tasuki and the others, too," Kouji replied. He walked into the house and started looking around. "I don't get it. There's no sign of them, anywhere. It's like they--"

"--vanished," Miaka finished. She knelt down and picked up the red book lying on the floor of the study. She clutched the book tightly and looked at her son. "What do you remember of your last life? Of Mt. Reikaku?"

Kouji sighed and lightly rubbed the birthmark on his face. "Nearly everything," he replied. He stepped closer to her, watching the book. "Is that ... what are you planning, mom? If you're going into the book, I'm coming with you."

Miaka hugged the young man and quickly led him out of the house. "I was hoping you'd say that. I may not be the priestess of Suzaku anymore, but they are my friends. Only this time, I know I have friends waiting on the other side."

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"You're going where?!"

"Into the book." Miaka put down the bag she was carrying before sitting on the edge of her friend's bed. "Yui, I know you think I'm crazy, but this is something I have to do."

The blonde nodded. "Well, you're not going alone."

"Kouji's coming with me."

"That's not what I meant. Two former Miko's are better than one."

"Yui, be serious. You can't walk. And as much as I love you, I am not dragging your skinny ass all over Konan."

"You won't have to," the blonde replied. She pulled herself to the edge of the bed and then shakily to her feet, using the bedside table for support. "The doctors have always said it was hysterical. I'm not about to lose my best friend to that damn thing again. Just give me one day, please. If I'm not walking on my own by then ... go without me."

Miaka brushed a few stray tears from her face and nodded. "One day. But that's it. If you're not walking by then, Kouji can drag your skinny ass all over Konan," she replied. She hugged the blonde, then made her sit back down on the bed. "Since there's going to be three of us now, I have to make a few more arrangements."

"Better make them for four," the younger Yui replied. She dropped her bags onto the floor, next to her mother's and smiled at the older women. "I may not have been there before, but it's still a part of me."

Seeing that she was going to protest, the former Seiryuu no Miko placed a hand on her friend's shoulder. "She has a point Miaka. We're going to need all the help we can get and non-seishi will be much more likely to find anything."

Miaka sighed and shook her head. "Alright, fine. Just let me call your uncle and tell him you're not coming, after all."

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"Moshi Moshi, Yuuki residence. Oh hi, Auntie Miaka! What? No, daddy isn't here right now. He's still at work. You're going where? But that's silly, you can't go into a book--"

Keisuke's wife grabbed the phone from her seven year old and told him to go play with his sisters. As soon as he was gone, she held the phone to her ear. "Miaka, Keisuke told me what you're planning to do. I won't say that I understand it, but -- so they're both going with you? What about Kouji? He's going, too? Ok, I'll tell him. Miaka, please be careful. Keisuke said that it's dangerous. Come home soon, okay?"

Minako, Keisuke's wife and mother to their three children sighed as she hung up the phone. Shortly after she had met him ten years ago, Keisuke had told her the legend of the Shi Jen Ten Chi Sho and how his sister had been sucked into a book. At first, she had thought it was a joke, until she had seen Mitsukake in action, saving the life of her own young son. Now, she worried that more of her family would fall victim to this horrible book.

Upstairs, her oldest child, Iriana, carefully hung up the extension and turned to her younger twin, Nadia. "Our dear cousin is going with them, as is Aunt Yui."

Nadia nodded slightly. "Then we have to tell the others. Iname, are you sure we can do this? They are family, after all."

"Hai. And we are Genbu no Sichiseishi. I don't like it, either, but we have to. This fight doesn't concern them anymore." Iriana picked up the phone and quickly dialed a series of numbers. Almost as soon as she hung up the phone, a small red bird appeared on the windowsill. "Uruki, they're all going into the book tomorrow. We have to find a way to stop Auntie Miaka from going."

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"So ... the book is found? Good work, Iname, Naname. Just tell me where to find it and we'll stop your Aunt from using it."

Iriana glanced at Uruki before speaking again. "They'll be at our house. Our cousin changed her mind again," she replied, turning to her sister.

Hatsui nodded and motioned for the twins to leave. As soon as they were gone, he looked at Uruki. "She changed her mind? I didn't know she was ever going. Make sure they don't betray us."

"They're just children, Sami. And Miaka is--"

Hatsui glared at her as the entire room seemed to grow colder. "If I were you, I would be very careful how I finished that sentence. I would not hesitate to let you share the same fate as your husband's first wife." He smiled slightly as she lowered her gaze. He then moved to the window and smiled as he watched the two young girls leaving the house with Karasuki. "Take a cue from your step-daughter, my dear. She knows where her loyalties lie. Where do yours?"

Uruki sighed to herself as she stared at the floor. "I am a Genbu no Sichiseishi. My loyalties are to Genbuseikun. What HE wishes, I will do." She looked up as she heard a couple of the other Seishi gasp.

Hikitsu moved in between her and Hatsui, giving her a slight look of panic. Hatsui turned, smiling slightly. "Then feel free to ask him yourself what he wants. And also ask him why Byakko has allowed your husband to die." With a wave of his hand, several body guards stepped forward and grabbed the shocked Seishi. "Oh yes, my dear. He is quite dead."

"I don't ... believe you," she replied, pulling free from the guards. She changed back into the red bird and flew out the open window.

Hatsui smirked as he watched her leave. "I wonder if the Suzaku knows yet that it wasn't Yenting that attacked him, but you?"

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Miaka glanced up as Kouji brought her the phone. "Who is it?"

"Uncle Keisuke. He said something's wrong with the twins."

Miaka grabbed the phone and quickly asked her brother what was happening. On the other end of the line, Keisuke sighed. "Relax, Miaka, they're fine. I just ... I think they may have something more to do with this than we thought. Do you remember what happened when they were born?"

"Of course, you said you thought you saw ... Genbu. Then that means ... Keisuke, where are the twins now?"

"Not here. They went over to their friend Kara's house. Miaka, do you think they would ..."

Miaka held her hand over the phone for a moment. "Go tell your sister and your aunt to get ready. We're leaving sooner than expected." She watched Kouji leave, then took her hand off the phone. "Keisuke, don't say anything else about what's going on to them. Don't even mention it to Minako or Tetsu. Come over as soon as you can. We don't have time to wait any longer."

Keisuke was silent for a few moments. "Okay. Miaka ... please be careful. And if the girls ..."

"Don't worry, Keisuke. I'll do my best to keep anyone else from getting hurt." She hung up the phone and stood from the desk, closing the book. "I'm coming, Taka."

She picked up the notebook she had been writing in and smiled slightly. "Now we just have to find Mitsukake and Shouka. And open the doorway back to this world." She had seen in the book where Tetsuya and two of the kids had survived the plane crash, but decided to wait until they were in the other world before telling Yui. Walking into the main living area of the house, she smiled when she saw her children and best friend waiting for her. "I told Keisuke to come as soon as he could, but I don't want to wait for him."

"Neither do I," the elder Yui replied. She stepped forward, leaning slightly on a cane the doctors had given her years before. "I say we go ahead and do this. You know that he'll try to stop us, Miaka. We have to go now."

"Agreed. But not here. Keisuke thinks that the twins are working with the Genbu, so we can't let them know we're leaving. Kouji, do you still have a key to Chichiri's apartment?" When he nodded, Miaka grabbed her and Yui's bags, then opened the door. "Then that is where we'll leave from. The Genbu won't be able to find it until it's too late."

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Uruki had followed the car the former Mikos had taken, carefully watching them from the balcony as they prepared themselves to enter the book. 'I thought Hatsui said that former Mikos couldn't go back in. Unless ...' She glanced up, still in bird form as she felt *something* calling to her. Nodding, she changed back into her human form, opening the sliding glass doors with ease. 'Guess they never thought about someone breaking in this way.'

Kouji turned as he heard the door open and immediately froze when he saw the strange woman surrounded by green light. "Genbu..."

Miaka turned to face Uruki, glaring at her. "If you've come here to try and stop us, you might as well give up. We're not letting you get the book."

"It's not the book I want," Uruki replied. She dropped her gaze to the floor. "Sukunami-san, I ... the twins asked me to stop you. They do not want you to be hurt."

"So they are Genbu Seishi. I don't know which one you are, but you can go back and tell your friends that-"

"They're not my friends."

Miaka looked at the purple-haired woman curiously. "What?"

Uruki risked looking up, fighting back tears. "They're not my friends. Besides my husband, I ... Sukunami-san, there is perhaps more that you need to know before you leave. More about your own Seishi."

Yui placed a hand on her friend's shoulder. "Listen to her, Miaka. I don't think she's a threat to us."

"What do you ... know about my Seishi?" Miaka moved Yui to a chair, then motioned for the others to sit.

Uruki remained standing, turning to face out the window she had come in. "First of all, I am Uruki, but my real name is Korina. When I was two, my brother and I were orphaned and sent to a group home with several other kids. It was ... during the fire that destroyed most of the island of Kauai. I learned later that it was designed that way. To make it seem like an accident. Just so that they could get their hands on four kids. I have never been so angry at Sami as I was when I learned that. My brother was just eight months old when we were seperated, so I'm sure he doesn't remember. But I have remembered everything since I was born and have made myself remember all those times I wanted to forget. It is only because of this that I even know I had a brother.

"Sami arranged to have me adopted a few months later, but my brother ... they left him there for years. Until he started to show signs of being a Seishi, then they sent him away. I didn't know where he was until I saw him ... here, in Tokyo. With Nakago." She paused for a moment, watching the reactions of the others. She nodded slightly when they didn't seem too surprised, knowing that they probably expected what she was going to say. "My brother is the Suzako no Sichiseishi Nuriko."

Miaka sighed, smiling slightly. "So it is him. And that's why you look so much like him." She hesitated for a moment, then stood and walked over to her. "Don't worry, we won't let what happened last time happen again. But, I don't understand, why did you come here? To stop us?"

"Because, I ... don't think I can trust him anymore. He took my brother from me and now he's taken my husband and step-daughter. I have nothing left to lose."

The younger Yui stood and walked over to her, hugging her. "Nuriko's safe. We saw ... we know where he is. And maybe ..." She glanced at her mother. "Mom, perhaps it would be better if you and Aunt Yui stayed here. We can find them easier than you can."

"What? Yui, don't be ridiculous, you can't..." Miaka stopped her protesting as Kouji came up behind his sister, the book clutched to his chest. She glanced at the older Yui, only to see her smile sadly in return. "No. I'm not letting you do this. You can't .."

Realizing that the kids were trying to protect their mother, Uruki reached over and touched the book, opening the portal. When the green light faded, Miaka collapsed back onto the couch beside Yui.

Yui placed a hand on her friend's arm and squeezed lightly. "They're right, Miaka. It's better if they go. Besides, our story is finished, we can't go back in," she replied. "Their story ... is just beginning."

~fin