This might be a bit long, so bear with me...The story begins with two ordinary girls, Yuuki Miaka and Hongo Yui, taking a library book back. It doesn't sound like an inspired beginning, but in the library Yui not only finds a scroll entitled "The Universe of the Four Gods" but reads it out loud, thereby transporting herself and Miaka into the scroll itself.

Miaka and Yui are promptly attacked, and like most useless anime heroines, are rescued by the hero, Tamahome. I'm beginning to think the duty of a heroine is to a) scream, b) make stupid decisions, c) be rescued by the hero, and d) be in various states of undress. I mean, honestly. Pardon me while I rant, but I find so many heroines that could be so cool if they weren't, well, pansy bitches. Supporting girls tend to be cool - but not the heroines for some reason. O_o

Anyway, back to the story. Tamahome has the character "Oni" on his forehead, and is incredibly gifted in martial arts. At some point Yui is mysteriously returned to the normal world, and finds that what happened was written down in the scroll.

Miaka is in a country called Konan and, luckily for her, manages to convince Tamahome to help her. They end up in a scuffle with some imperial guards and are taken prisoner. Naturally they meet the emperor, Hotohori. He explains the legend that says a strange girl will appear to save the land--Suzaku no Miko. She must gather seven shichiseishi ("star honored warriors") to save Konan.

Obviously, Tamahome is one of the seishi, because of his oni mark. Hotohori is also one--he bears the "star" glyph on his neck. Whoo hoo! Two down, only five to go. Already got two guys following her around. Isn't she lucky? Not every girl gets to be Suzaku no Miko.

Anyway, the third seishi appears dressed like a Princess. Nuriko has amazing strength and falls in love with Hotohori, who is in love with Miaka. Of course, Miaka's in love with Tamahome, but she doesn't realize that quite yet. Nuriko, jealous, monopolizes Tamahome and Miaka begins to realize her feelings and admits she loves him. Nuriko soon finds out that Miaka is no threat and starts to try to set her up with Tamahome. Naturally, at some point Miaka discovers the truth about Nuriko - this "she" is a he. Nuriko is actually a man (backwards Dilandau!). There's a big thing about his sister and keeping her alve through assuming her identity (hi, Aya!), which he eventually manages to get over when he can deal with her death.

Miaka briefly returns to the real world to find that Yui has taken her place in the book, and she goes back. Her brother, Keisuke, begins to read the scroll and follow what's going on. Back in Konan, Miaka discovers that the country of Kotou is looking for the Seiryuu no Miko and Miaka, as Suzaku no Miko, is a target for assassination.

The fourth seishi is Chichiri, the wandering monk/mage. His face is scarred so he wears a smiling mask. His kanji is "well," and is on his knee. He is apparently the only magic user that the Suzaku have, which is unfortunate.

Yui, of course, is in Kotou. Miaka travels to find her with Tamahome and Chichiri on her heels and wants to convince Yui to go home. All kinds of feelings get mixed up in here--Yui is grateful to Nakago, who is convincing her that Miaka doesn't care for her. Yui also has a crush on Tamahome, so she decided to become the Sieryuu no Miko, with Nakago as her first seishi.

Chichiri transports them out of there and as Tamahome goes to Kotou to stop the assassination attempts on Miaka, Miaka, Nuriko, and Hotohori go to Mt. Leikoku where it has been indicated the fifth seishi, Tasuki, is. They meet up with two bandits named Genrou and Kouji, and eventually Genrou admits that he is Tasuki, with the symbol for "wing" on his forearm. I dig the tattoos, definitely, especially on hot guys. There's just something about them... ^_^

The sixth seishi, Mitsukake, is a healer who was found when Miaka became ill. He's the definite doctor type, still carrying the torch for his dead lover. His kanji is "Sadness," on one of his palms (which sounds really painful, all things considered). Definitely the strong, silent type.

The 7th seishi is Chiriko, a boy genius with the symbol for "Stretching." Initially Amiboshi, the flute-playing seishi of the Seiryuu hoaxes the Suzaku into believing that he is Chiriko so that he can kill them, but eventually they get the right one. Amiboshi has a twin brother, Suboshi. However, they find the right Chiriko and eventually get back Tamahome (Nakago put a spell on him via Yui that made him want to kill Miaka, and Hotohori stabbed him!).

To summon Suzaku, the seishi need an artifact left by the Genbu no Miko of Hokkan. Miaka decides to go after it, knowing that it is essentially a race against Yui to reach the shinzaho first. Nuriko is fatally wounded by Ashitare, a Seiryuu seishi, while they are trying to get the artifact. However, they manage to convince the Genbu seishi, Hikitsu and Tomite, that Miaka is worthy. Unfortunately, Hikitsu and Tomite have been dead for 200 years and are alive only as ghost-type-people to protect the shinzaho.

Of course, Miaka et al now discover they need another shinzaho, left in Sailo by the Byakko no Miko. Road trip! Also, Miaka manages to lose hold of the Genbu shinzaho and nearly loses her precious virginity in seducing Nakago to get it back. She needs to be "pure" (what is the obsession with virginity? I mean, I have nothing against virgins, but honestly, is sex so dirty? Grow up! O_O) to summon Suzaku...and it is also revealed that Yui was not raped as had been believed so she can summon Seiryuu also.

Anyway, I'm getting tired of this summary and I think I'm about to have all my fingers drop off from typing, so if you want to find out all the rest of what happens and even more detail, go to the Fushigi Yuugi Story Summary , a most excellent page which I used for many details that I would not have been able to get otherwise. Besides, a whole bunch of other people die and it's depressing to write about.