This is my first fan fic, I hope you enjoy it. Please let me know what you think by leaving a review, thank you for looking it over.

Aki

Disclaimer:

I do not own Fushig Yuugi, Watase Yuu does.

I do own Aki, Sen and all the other characters I make up.

"I could see it," A female voice stated softly, the revelation coming out slowly but certain. The statement was barely audible, but it held such strength. Though the words were so simple, all the sadness of the world were contained in them. "In his eyes, my own beauty reflected…"

The blaring beeps of an alarm clock continued to sing on, it had been doing this for the past ten minutes. From her bed a groggy girl turned over, flopping lazily onto her side, facing the opposite direction of the clock.

Five more minutes…

But she would not be afforded this wish, as most wishes do go un granted. From the bunk bed above, her agitated room mate gave off a grunt, it was always the same thing, every morning. The girl who owned the alarm quickly bolted upright, tearing the sheets off of her and tripping over to the clock, finally stopping its ungodly noise. She gave a quick look back to her room mate who gave a soft sigh of relief and settled back to sleep.

The girl soon made her start on her morning ritual, getting ready for the day ahead. Papers were sprawled over her desk along with books and writing utensils, it was obvious she was a college student, Freshman to be exact. This was the first time she had been away from her over protecting family, and she was glad. She was free to do what she wanted, when she wanted. Well, at least she had been content, at the start.

She grabbed her things and went on her way, rich brown hair nearing her waist, wavy but tame, swaying from side to side as she walked towards her door. She gave one last look around, making sure she hadn't forgotten anything, and with a frown she closed the door.

Everyday, it's the same routine…why can't life hold a few surprises every now and then?

But she didn't just want a few surprises, she wanted something to change her life, for the better. The nineteen year old girl made her way through the campus, she had a very early class so it wasn't as crowded as it would be in the oncoming hours. She shouldered her bag and continued with her rapid pace, keeping her light brown eyes glued to the ground in front of her. She would mutter an "excuse me" or "sorry" every once and again, whenever she accidentally bumped into another student, but that was all that was said. She was a very solitary person… or so it would seem. In truth she did enjoy being social, if given the chance, but seldom did that occur.

"Morning, Aki." Was muttered as another person maneuvered herself to walk next to the girl.

"Good morning, Sen!" Aki's lively voice called out as she brightly grinned over to her friend. "Sleep well?" And the conversation continued until they reached a large brick building, a large crowd of students already waiting outside of the metal double doors for class to begin.

Aki gave her surroundings a quick glance, noticing the familiar faces and topics of discussion, it was as if this scene repeated every day, and would, for the rest of her life.

Nothing ever changes…

A flood of students poured out of the lecture hall, ready for their next class or perhaps done for the day. Aki and Sen walked together, discussing their new assignment. They made their way down a paved path, towards the main center of the campus to grab lunch. Time sure did move quickly, even if it always seemed to flow in the same order.

"I was thinking, want to go do something when you're done?" Sen asked her friend, black gaze watching a pair of students that had decided to display their perfect love. She rolled her eyes as they walked by them, disgusted by the whole affair. Aki, on the other hand, gave them a longing look, though she was careful to hide it from Sen. "Um, sure, what do you want to do?"

"I'm almost out of food for the week so I thought it'd be smart to get some groceries." Sen gave a shrug of her shoulders as she quickly ascended a few steps, they soon turned a corner and entered a large food court. "Nothing special, but, one must eat."

"Yeah… well I guess I'll go." Sure she didn't really have to buy anything, but she might as well keep her friend company. And soon it was their turn to order their food.

XXX

The day passed as every other and Aki soon found herself in the grocery store, loading up her cart with a variety of things. She suddenly came across something that made her giggle. "Look!" And she tugged at her friends sleeve, pointing to a baby. "Doesn't he look like Boushin-sama?" She asked happily, her face holding the largest smile possible. But Sen simply nodded her agreement and then promptly turned her attention back to which cereal she wanted to try.

Aki gave her friend a long look, forehead creasing as a frown replaced her smile. Sen had been the one that always gushed over anything that had to deal with Fushigi Yuugi. But as of late, she seemed to have stopped caring as much.

She probably grew out of it.

Aki let out a sigh, gaze still on her friend.

Maybe it's time I gave up believing too.

Sen felt something odd, as if she was being watched, she slowly turned her eyes and found Aki with an odd look on her face. "Is something wrong?" She asked, a bit un nerved.

It didn't take long for Aki to snap out of her daze, she straightened up and gave a firm nod of her head. "Y-yes!" She let out, startled cry not too shrill, but loud enough so that the man standing a few feet from her gave a small jump. Sen continued to observe her friend, the look on her face showing she didn't believe her. "Really, I'm fine. I was just thinking about something I had to do for class." And she waved it off, giggling a bit as if to prove she was all right.

Aki ended up going over to Sen's dorm room, spending a decent portion watching movies and talking about random things instead of studying, like most friends do. She was having such a good time away from her room and assignments that she didn't realize how late it had become.

"Oh no, it's nearly midnight!" Aki cried out as she leaped from her spot on Sen's bed. She gave a frantic look around, gathering her bag and the few things she had bought at the store.

"Do you want me to walk you out?" Sen asked as she watched her friends antics, Aki was always good for a laugh.

"No, it's okay." She knew that Sen didn't really want to walk her out, she was just being polite. She hated bothering her friend, so she was off without much more delay.

She made her way through the deserted campus, shouldering her book bag that kept slipping on her bare shoulders. Her keen gaze searched every corner, ready for an attacker. She had walked home at night before, but never this late. Not too far off the bells in a steeple tolled, telling that a new day had begun. "Great, it's midnight." The girl muttered as she continued on her way.

She was getting ready to cross a street, looking both ways like a good girl, when something caught her eye. She had been looking up towards the full moon, admiring its beauty for a brief moment, when something passed by it. "A bird?" She questioned as she halted in her tracks, mesmerized for some reason. She continued to watch it as it sailed gracefully through the night sky, it's body aflame with a luminous scarlet light. She loosened her grip and her grocery bags soon fell to the ground, her attention completely caught by the creature as she set off to follow it. She didn't look ahead of her, no, she simply continued to watch the bird, eyes glued to it. Aki didn't even realize that she was picking up speed, jogging after it and soon she was running. She never stopped to think, never stopped to look at what was coming until she tripped and fell towards the earth.

A yelp went out as her arm scraped against the dirt, snagging on a few sharp rocks here and there. She shook her head, trying to bring herself out of the dreamlike state she had been in.

That's what happens when you start to make things to be what they're not. She mentally scolded, lifting herself off the ground. Great, now I wandered off and got lost… She quickly turned around, unsure of where to go, nothing looked the same.

She debated calling out for help, but was worried that the wrong set of ears would catch the message. Instead she grabbed her book bag and began to make her way towards a 'path' that looked promising. The girl parted the brush as best she could, getting smacked in the face by a few branches, adding to her collection of scrapes. "Finally!" She let out as she finally made it past the debris and into a clearing, exhausted by her efforts. She gave a bright smile, pleased that she had triumphed and made it out of the woods, but the joy she felt soon faded.

Before her lay land, un touched by the hand of man. No streets, lamp posts and buildings were seen as far as her gaze reached.

"Where am I?"

Aki continued to wander for the rest of the night, searching for something she recognized. Soon the sun was rising and she could no longer continue to walk. She leaned her back against a large tree, setting her bag next to her. Her eyes began to water slightly, she had never gotten this lost before, anxious and confused. She fought to stay awake, afraid that if she dozed off she would never awaken again, but she had little control over this, her body could not stay alert any longer.

XXX

"Not another one, why do we always find the odd ones?" A gruff voice dimly resounded inside of Aki's pounding head, everything was dark. "Do we have ta take her in?"

"It's not right to leave her like this, no da. She's just a girl, na no da."

That voice…

She willed her eyes to open, the morning light greeting her and causing her to wince, she hadn't gotten nearly enough sleep. Soon she was searching for the owners of the voices and found two men with their backs to her, slightly to the side of where she was facing. One sported reddish wild locks while the other had golden brown, his head shaved except for a thin rat tail that was tied with a simple band. The man with the red hair wore a long black coat while the other wore Asian looking garb, leggings and all.

Wait, what? No, this can't be, it's just a dream… yah, that's right, just a dream.

And she smiled to herself, glad she had talked some since into that brain of hers, but when they turned around her smile faded and a look of bewilderment appeared.

Tasuki and Chichiri, two of the Suzaku Sichiseishi, were staring right back at her.