Only Time: The Sacred Power

Epilogue

By J. Marie

Warning!!! This is a lemon yaoi fanfiction starring Nakago and Tasuki from Fushigi Yugi. It is rated NC-17. Ever onward and forwards...

Over 90 years later in the real world and 300 years later in the Universe of the Four Gods...

Corrine blew her hair from her face, adjusting the annoying skirt from her school uniform. It was scratchy and she hated it, but they forced her to wear it. She made it a point to glare at her teacher, Ms. Keith, as though it was the elderly woman's fault.

"And here, children, we have found the numerous and fascinating historical collections of Keisuke Yuki," Ms. Keith intoned, taking them down into another museum exhibit. Corrine noted with irritation that it was filled with nothing but books, and bits of odds and ends that were older than her grandfather.

"Keisuke Yuki was a famous Japanese scholar, more than a little obsessed with ancient China. He once proclaimed that his young male lover, a mysterious youth by the name of Chiriko, was actually the reincarnation of an ancient Chinese 'Celestial Warrior'. He was quite insane in his old age, convinced his sister had visited another universe by way of reading that old book that we have in the glass case," Ms. Keith said, gesturing to an old book lying under glass on pedestal. It looked rather harmless.

Ms. Keith went on. "He called this place he believed his sister had gone to the 'Universe of the Four Gods', or the Shi Jin Tenchi Sho in Chinese. He went so far in his madness to proclaim his brother-in-law was also another reincarnation of a 'Celestial Warrior' from this realm. He said that this is the 'Book of the Universe of the Four Gods'. Whenever a young, female virgin touches this book, she is supposedly instantly transported inside this book, and becomes a Priestess of one of the Four Beast Gods. She then has an attendant of seven Celestial Warriors that she needs to gather to summon the God and is granted three wishes, ensuring prosperity for the kingdom she visits. No one believed him of course.

"There's a lot more to the legend, but we don't have the time to go over it right now, because we still have three more exhibits to visit in an hour. It is an honor for the Japanese to let us display this brilliant scholar's collection here in New York. Rumor has it that they wanted to get rid of it," Ms. Keith said, letting the teenagers mill around the rather dull exhibit filled with archaic paper and ink books, and antique trinkets.

"Why's that?" Corrine asked, her curiosity piqued now.

"Betcha nerd girl wants to touch the book and get whisked away. With an outdated hairdo like that, she definitely has to be a virgin," Christina, the prettiest and most popular girl in the class whispered viciously, loud enough for Corrine to hear.

Corrine ignored the blonde, absently adjusting her glasses, and tugging on the braids her mother insisted she wore every day to school, despite being sixteen. Christina and her popular friends began to degrade Corrine for her boring brown hair and eyes, as her mother refused to let her dye her hair and color her eyes like everyone else. Next to be insulted was the fact that Corrine had yet to receive liposuction, like the other girls, and still carried extra weight.

Corrine ignored while she waited for Ms. Keith to sift through her notes to answer her question. She hated Christina and her friends with the core of her being. She almost wished she could touch the book and be whisked away to another world. If she could summon a god for a wish, she'd wish for Christina and her friends to be uglier than anyone else in the world.

"Well," Ms. Keith said. "It says here that there were mysterious disappearances of two girls in Japan. One was never returned and presumed dead, while the other came back and lived out her life in a nunnery, vowed to silence. There's a lot of superstition that surrounds that book in that case right there. Maybe the Japanese wished to rid themselves of the stigma."

"Oh," Corrine said, staring at the book in frank curiosity.

The rest of her class wandered away behind Ms. Keith, who was eager to get to the ancient Britain display. Christina and her friends whispered insults to Corrine as they passed by.

Corrine thought of her overbearing mother, and of all the cruel girls in her class. Of the boys who never noticed her, and the teachers that ignored her. She was a nothing, a nobody. An outcast, and a misfit.

She wanted so badly to be someone else, somewhere else, she could taste it.

A dull red glow flashed past her, and Corrine could almost swear she saw a giant red bird fly past her and towards the glass case where the magic book lay.

Corrine bit her lip, and glanced at the receding backs of her class. Should she risk it? Was it worth a try? What was the worst that could happen?

Corrine stepped over the ropes of the display, grunting in discomfort, because she was too short to make it over comfortably. She readjust the irritating skirt and her glasses, staring at the glass case and the book within it.

There was a dull red glow, and the lock to the case opened automatically. Corrine's brown eyes widened, and she grinned. There was definitely something funny going on here.

She carefully opened the case and cautiously poked a finger at the book, looking around at the empty room to be sure she wouldn't be caught first. Nothing happened, much to her disappointment.

Corrine sighed, and opened the book, noting a little scribble in the corner of the inside cover.

"Tasuki and Nakago Forever?" Corrine murmured, translating from Japanese, a language she could easily read. "Who the hell are Tasuki and Nakago?"

Corrine sighed, and began to read the book itself, translating it from Japanese, grateful she had passed her foreign language classes.

"This is the story about a girl who got the seven seishi of Suzaku. She obtained omnipotent power and made every wish come true. The story itself is an incantation. Whomever finishes reading it, will receive this power. As soon as the page is turned, the story will become reality and begin..."

"What the-"

Corrine would have finished that statement, but a red glow surrounded her and she disappeared into the book. It fell to the floor, its pages fluttering wildly for a moment before calming down.

What happened to Corrine? Well that's a tale for another time, another day, by another person.

But rest assured that the Great Cycle continued, and the Universe of the Four Gods was renewed...

Owari.

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