The Seiryuu seishi Tomo-past and present.
Fushigi Yuugi and all characters are property of Watase Yuu.

the amber night closing in about him and he could smell the amber smell of the moon glowing above the tall treetops above the tents and above

Smirking at the girl bound in front of him, the vines snaking over her bruised and broken skin, clad only in his vines, eyes narrowed in anger and tears running down her cheeks.
"You're such a foul-mouthed girl, Suzaku no Miko," he purred. "Tamahome was even more exciting than you."
Grinning. He knew his teeth were a frightening sight through his mask of paint and his tall headdress. She burst into a fresh flood of tears.
"Nooo! Tamahome! Tamahome!"
"He won't come for you, girl." Jerking her chin up so sharply she cried out. He wanted to kill her, strike the brat so hard that no hope of Suzaku could help her now. Not yet. Not yet.
He heard something behind him, whirled, feathers trailing behind him, a graceful deadly line of bloody birdsong. The blond boy was on his knees, flute in one hand, streaks of scarlet trickling down his face and dirt smeared across his nose. But his eyes…his amber eyes...

above the whistling wind it was cold like the coolness of ice and he shivered in his thin robe without the paint to hide his face and wondered where they were why they hadn't come back for him and the amber night so empty

"Amiboshi!"
The boy stumbled to his feet, holding his flute to his lips. "Miaka! I'll give you my strength. Defeat the illusion! It's only illusion!"
He whipped around with his feathers, holding his hand out, but the notes of the flute were shrill and painful cutting into his thoughts and he couldn't concentrate on the clams he held in his hand.
"My shin!"
"Miaka! Hang on!"
The brief respite was all he needed. He stretched out a finger, long nail black against the light, pointing. The vines wrapped themselves around the flutist, stretching, straining. Amiboshi screamed...
He cackled as he watched the boy flail . "So…you plan on fighting me, Amiboshi? To the bitter end?"
"Miaka…I'll protect you…"
He cackled again, taunting. "Don't be a fool. You've enough trouble protecting yourself." Walking closer to him, shoving his hand in the already bloody face, raking it with long nails. "Give it up and hand over the girl!"
The boy shook his head. He showed his teeth. "No?"
The vines twitched. Amiboshi screamed again into the eerie stillness.
"Give it up, Amiboshi!"
"If only…" mumbled between cracked lips. "If only I'd been born…a Suzaku…seishi…"

and the calling of his name high above the night breeze and the calls of invisible birds and the ghosts of the past surrounding him brushing at his head calling him calling him and he wanted to get away but he couldn't standing there shivering in the chill wind with only his cloak on and even without the paint so he couldn't hide even if he wanted to wondering why why he couldn't remember and why they left him and never came back

"You're no match for me." He hit. The boy grunted. At least he didn't scream. He screamed like a girl. So pathetic, for one of Seiryuu's.
"No match at all, if you can't tell the difference between me and one of my illusions."
Amber eyes, full of pain and anger. "Don't-Tomo-"
"Can't you?" Slap. Grunt.
"Your pain will be over soon." Making his voice sweet and soothing, like butter honey on cream. "Little boy."
And then he couldn't hold back his anger anymore. He reached out, lashed again and again. Amiboshi's body jerked spasmodically.
"So why don't you just DIE?"
"ANIKI!"
Behind him…Amiboshi? Amber eyes wide, brimming over with hatred and rage.
"DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH MY BROTHER!"

because he couldn't remember and each time they came to him their hot hands brushing at his body and amber smells of rancid breath too drunk to even care and he screamed and he screamed and no one came like no one came long ago so long ago and he didn't even know who he was anymore didn't even care only when their burning hands groped for him in the blue white gold amber darkness and when they touched him he screamed

Amber eyes. Flashing.
"GET AWAY FROM MY BROTHER!"
He gasped sharply as the ryuseisui whipped through the air, close. Too close. He felt the searing pain course through him, too sharp for him to even draw breath. The world was burning, bleeding down.
It…that wasn't fair, Suboshi.
Not fair at all.
The blond boy glared at him through the red veil over his eyes, ryuseisui swinging carelessly from one hand as he pointed at him accusingly.
"Don't you DARE touch my aniki."
He could feel the bright blood bubbling up his throat. A strange taste, blood. One of the only he had never enjoyed, curiously. He saw the blond flash of hair as the boy disappeared from his line of sight, saw the blond flash of another, another that was only here in his mind, blue eyes staring, wide, accusing and burning.
Those eyes...they hurt. Like blue fire.
"I…failed? Nakago-sama…I'm so sorry…"

and then there was only the amber darkness where he stood and the amber moon glowing high in the heavens like the amber eyes of a wolf or a wild thing high in the sky and he listened as the wind whispered his name through the shouting treetops and he was so alone all alone he had always been alone because so long ago they had gone away, they had left him, and they had never come back

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STORY NOTES

I hadn't seen episode 40 before I wrote this (seems to be a common problem with me, ne?) so some actions might be a little off. But this fic made me late to class (I stayed in my dorm room writing it until I finished it...was 5 minutes late), so I ain't changin' it! [looks emphatic]

Hmm...Tomo. What can I say? I haven't really seen any episode 40 fics out there, so I guess I am one of the first ones. Tomo is an enigma, appearing in only 5 episodes of FY, with very few lines in each. I wanted to write something that would explain him a bit more, or if not explain, then dig a little deeper into his character than the anime series was able to do.

I really tried to emphasize the fact that he was abandoned and sexually abused as a young child (I don't know about the abuse part, but it probably happened, and he really was abandoned). I also wanted to contrast the flashback parts with what was happening in real life and what he was doing to Amiboshi and Miaka. It's kind of a "silence-action" kind of comparison between the two. I hope the effect was what I wanted it to be.

Tomo: [bows] KAKAKAKAKAKAKA

If the title and references to amber in the story elude you...Tomo has amber eyes. ^_^ The title itself comes from the quote at the top of the fic-"Is it true that amber contains the tears of the sirens?"

Please send all clams of illusion to [email protected].