Wishful Thinking...

Disclaimer: I don't own Fushigi Yuugi. Now leave me alone while I cry in a corner.

Author's Note: Well, here's my first Fushigi Yuugi fic! This is an a/u (sort of, I follow the series through part of it but not all) that takes place during the series. It's not exactly self-explanatory, (whoa! Big word!), but I can't say too much without giving away the chapter. Hmm...I'll explain more about when it takes place in next chapter's author's note. It's written in first person if that helps... Oh yea, Chichiri and Tasuki may appear in my author's notes if they feel like it. Some other characters may too, but Tasuki and Chichiri are my little buddies. Yea... o_O I should start now...

'...'Character's thoughts

Chapter 1: Rain Rain, Go Away

I sat in my window seat on the second story of my home, watching as the rain pounded on and on outside. A book lay on my lap, open. I was reading, but had stopped. I'm not sure if I got bored with the book or I simply became mesmerized by the rain. I wasn't positive, but for some reason I had decided to sit on my window while reading the novel I had picked for English class. It was some foreign folk tale that I somehow managed to sell to my teacher as a young adult novel. I let out a long heartfelt sigh as I glanced down at the page. 'Yet another cordial romance novel. No matter how the authors may change the wording, all these stories are the same. A poor, defenseless young woman is dealt a hard hand by a cold, unforgiving society. Maybe she got lost and a villain appeared out of the darkness and tried to harm her. Perhaps she was being robbed. No matter what they do to her, a gallant young man appears just in time to save her. Then, gradually, even when all odds are against them, the two people fall in love and agree to face all hardships together. Blah blah blahdy blah. It's all the same to me,' I thought bitterly. I looked away from the window where the rain was still pounding and turned my gaze to my bed where my dog, Shiriko, was sleeping. "Shiriko?" The dog looked up at me when he heard his name called, a sort of "well? What do you want?" look. "How come all these stories are the same?" I asked him. He gave me a "don't know, don't care" look and if he was capable, I'm sure he would of sighed at my stupid question.

Sometimes, I find myself wondering why none of the stuff that happens in stories ever happens in real life. Well, maybe it does happen, but not very often and not to anyone I know. I don't care what my English teachers say. Young adult literature has not gotten more realistic. People still live perfect lives and everything ends "happily ever after." In all the stories, you never hear about a girl who doesn't get the guy she loved in the beginning. Feelings change. A person you think you love you may not later on, even if you are sure your love is "pure." But it still always ends the same. It makes me bitter just thinking about it. I clinched my fists in an attempt to suppress another sigh. What's there to get bitter about? 'The crap they feed us in their tales, that's what,' I answered my own question. I got up and headed towards my door. "Well Shiriko, let's get something to eat, shall we?" The dog got up and followed me with his wolf walk. Shiriko was half wolf and you could clearly tell just by watching his movement or by looking at him. He had the lean wolf body and ran just like one. As we reached the bottom of the stairs, I turned and looked behind me. I felt a presence but couldn't explain it. I knew that I was home alone. My parents were gone for the week and my brother was at work then he was going to his friends for the week, too. 'So why am I sensing things?' Shiriko turned as well and sniffed the air. I always believed that animals were more alert than we are, you know, more in tune with their senses or something. Ever since I was little, I have often thought that I was more in tune than other people, that maybe I had some gift that I could help people with. My name is Yume after all "Yume" stands for "dream" in Japanese. I never could figure out why my parents gave me a Japanese name when I'm far from being Japanese.

I turned around again. 'I swear that I'm being watched.' Shiriko started to growl and I began to shake. 'It's just my imagination,' I told myself. Shiriko started barking. I started shaking harder. "Who...who's there?" I called out, secretly hoping no one would answer. Fate must have been smiling on me because I didn't get a response. 'Or maybe they didn't want to reveal themselves just yet,' a voice in the back of my head whispered. It was unlike my normal thoughts. It seemed almost as though someone else was inside my head telling me things. 'Maybe they want you to think that they aren't here even though they are...' it continued. I looked at Shiriko for support. He had stopped barking but continued sniffing the air for any sign of an enemy. My parents weren't afraid of leaving me alone because they knew Shiriko would always protect me, even though I am young. I was almost 15 but still shouldn't be left alone a lot. I grabbed a soda from the fridge and just as I popped it open, I felt it again. The presence. There was definitely something here and I wasn't sure I liked it. I called Shiriko and ran upstairs. As soon as both Shiriko and I were safe in my room, I closed and locked my door. If there was something there, I knew that locking my door probably wouldn't do anything to stop it but it made me feel safer. It wasn't like I could go anywhere, it was still pouring out. How I wished the rain would stop! Then Shiriko and me could go for a nice walk and get away from this place. But, I can't control the weather.

I picked up my book and started reading again. It was the part where the two characters were just about to admit they had feelings for each other. I put it down in disgust. Nothing like that ever happened to me. I wish sometimes that even a little bit of excitement would come to my life. Maybe not romance, but at least something remotely interesting. I sighed again at my own wishful thinking. 'Please, that kind of stuff only happens in fairy tales, in books,' that voice from before came back again. I soon became lost in thought about how I wish that sometimes there could be excitement in my life and the falsehoods that authors tell us in their books. 'Then they wonder why so many people wish they could fall in love and why we have such high divorce rates? Everyone believes in love at first sight and soul mates. It's not that I don't believe in that kind of stuff, it's just that it is hard for me to put full faith in something based entirely on chance. What happens if you don't find your soul mate? Then what? Are you destined to live a life of despair because you can't find your other half?'

I was so lost in thought that I don't even think I noticed that it had stopped raining, well, until Shiriko pointed it out. His bark awoke me from my thoughts. I blinked a few times to clarify my vision, (I had been staring into space the entire time), and looked outside. The sun was out; it had stopped raining. "Let's go for a walk, Shiriko. We could both use some exercise." I got up and walked to my door. 'It's locked...I wonder why?' Then I remembered my paranoia from before. 'I can be so paranoid sometimes... Weird presence. Yea right,' I thought as I grabbed my bag and unlocked my door.

Shiriko and I headed out on our usual path in the neighborhood: down the street and around the block. We lived in a nice little housing development, not at all out of the ordinary. All the houses looked similar, with the same basic color schemes with a few variations here and there. Our house was one of the odd ones, its color scheme didn't match the neighbors and it was slightly larger and designed differently. Not that we were rich, we just wanted a little more space since my brother and I were older and had more stuff. We moved in a couple years ago and were accepted. They eyed a little suspiciously when we took in Shiriko, but for the most part our neighbors liked us and were your average friendly people who worked average hours at average, boring jobs. 'I would hate for my life to become that monotonous,' I thought with a shake. 'Nothing was ever different, nothing out of the ordinary in your day. Wait...that is what my life is like now, isn't it?' One of the neighbors smiled and waved at me from their driveway and I returned the greeting with no intention of striking up conversation. They must have felt the same, because they went back to whatever menial task their lives called for and Shiriko and I continued on our way.

Although he could easily pull me down the street, Shiriko almost always stayed at my pace. Today, however, he pranced and pulled, almost as though he had somewhere he wanted to go. "Whoa, Shiriko! Heel! Slow down!" He paid no heed to my orders and continued to pull with such urgency it disturbed me. 'He's taking me towards that field. I should let him run.' "Ok, Shiriko. Have it your way. We'll go to the field. Now will you please slow down?" He slowed but still moved with an unusual excitement. No, it was more of an anxiety, really. 'What's with him today?'

We reached the field and I bent over to let him off the leash when he took off. He dragged me a good twenty feet before I let go of the leash. Bruised and dirty, I dusted myself off before getting up and looking for him. He was a good 100 yards ahead of me, standing there, watching me. It seemed almost as though he was waiting for me. "Shiriko!" I called. "You wait right there! Don't even think about running!" He stayed until I got almost close enough to grab the leash that was still dangling from his collar. Then he took off again. "Shiriko! This isn't a game! Come back here now." But to him it was a game. He kept it up until we were deep in the forest. I was so tired I could barely move and I knew I'd never be able to find my way back to the clearing. Shiriko had barely tired out. I knew he could keep this up for quite a while longer. "Shiriko," I called again. 'Please...stop..."

As though I said the magic words, Shiriko stopped, full speed. He was looking straight ahead, teeth showing, growling at some unseen enemy. At first, I thought it was me he was snarling at but as I got closer, I saw that there was another reason he stopped and another reason he had his teeth out. He, I think it was a he, anyway, had long blond hair and piecing blue eyes that seemed as though they could look right through you, into your soul. He was dressed in some kind of armor, also blue and quite out of place in the middle of a forest, and was smirking at Shiriko. I grabbed Shiriko's leash and the man's gaze turned towards me. I felt chills go down my spine and the hair on the back of my neck go up. There was a familiarity about him that made me feel as though I should know him. He regarded me with a look so full of expectation and longing that I felt as though he had been waiting for me, that he wanted me, e and only me, to be there, like no one else mattered in the world at that time but me. I didn't like it, not one bit. I didn't know what to do or say so I just stood there, trying to keep a calm disposition.

"You made it. I knew you come. I have been expecting you," he said. His voice was as cold as his eyes but also contained that note of longing still in his gaze. I shivered despite the fact that it was relatively warm out.

"Who are you? No, what are you? And what do you want?" I questioned, ignoring the fact that somehow this...person knew I would be here.

"Me? My name is Nakago, and I'm a human, not unlike yourself," he replied, the smirk never leaving his face. "And as for what I want, he he, I want nothing more than to help you."

"Help me?" I sneered. My attitude kicked in and I added, "You help me? HA! Yea right! Why would you want to help me?!? You don't even know me Nakago, or whatever the hell your name is!"

He laughed a cold, evil laugh and I felt the chills again. I definitely didn't like or trust this guy. "I do want to help you. You want to escape this world, find a little excitement, don't you? I can make that happen. And all I need is for you to do a little something for me in return."

I didn't like what he was getting at. Do a little something for him in return? Perv. "Ha! I knew you wanted something! Well look here, mister, I do want to escape this world but I don't think you can help and I'm sure I won't like whatever you want me to do for you," I retorted, trying my best not to look as scared as I felt.

"I can help. And all you have to do in return is help me sometime in the future. Do we have a deal?" he held out his hand so we could shake on it. Shiriko snarled at it and bit him. I was proud of my little warrior. "Beautiful beast you have there. It'd be a shame if something should happen to it." He smiled at me and pointed his palm at Shiriko. A blue light formed and spread around Shiriko. He whimpered and then I felt his body go stiff.

"Shiriko!" I cried. "What did you do to him? If he's dead..." I couldn't finish my threat. 'What could I possibly do to him?'

"He's not dead. I simply paralyzed him. He'll be fine once you answer. Do we have a deal or not?" That smile was really starting to piss me off.

I had a bad feeling about this. As a child, I learned to listen to these feelings and refine them until they were almost perfect predictions. This time, I was worried about Shiriko and I was sure he would kill him or harm me if I didn't agree to it. "What do you need help with? I cannot answer if I don't know what I'm agreeing to."

"All I want is for you to go to the land of Konan for a little while. Stay there and learn all you can about the Priestess of Suzaku and her plans. Then send me reports with this." He took off an earring and handed it to me. "You can talk to me using this. When you learn something of importance, push this to start it and a picture will appear. Talk into the bead and I will hear you."

"How will I get close to this Priestess? If she's important than I'm sure she will be under heavy guard." I was still hesitant. If any normal person told me to talk into an earring while spying on some priestess for a god I didn't know in a country I was pretty sure doesn't exist, I would assume they were insane but this guy...I had no choice but to believe.

"She will know that you are from a different world also and probably be very interested in you. I can transport you to Konan's capital but the rest is up to you. Oh yes, one more thing. Make sure that no one, especially not the Priestess finds out about our deal or I will have no choice but to terminate it and possibly destroy you. Do we have a deal or not?" He was still smiling, even as he said he would destroy me, as though this were no more than a simple business transaction and had no doubt in what my answer would be. Even under that exterior, I couldn't help but think he was getting irritated with my questions.

I took a deep breath and answered, "Yes, we have a deal. I'll go to Konan."

"Good." He waved his hand and the blue light around Shiriko vanished. "I expect a report as soon as possible." I nodded and he waved his hand again. The same blue light surrounded me and Shiriko moved closer towards my body. I watched as the trees and even Nakago faded before my eyes into this pale blue world. Then all the blue faded and I landed with a loud "thump" onto the ground. I slipped out of consciousness due to the blow.

Author's Note:

Smack: What will become of Yume in this strange land known as Konan?

Tasuki: Stop trying to sound all mysterious and stuff. Like you don't know what's going to happen. Geesh...

Smack: Shut up! I know I know what's going to happen! But I have to sound mysterious! It's my job.

Tasuki: Yea, yea, yea. Sure...

Smack: Well, I suppose I'll just go now. Until next time, the exploits of Tasuki the job less!!!

Tasuki: Ha ha ha.

Smack: Just kidding. The real next time, Yume's exploits in Konan! Weee! :: runs around in circles::