Venture through shadows I could go on at length about the could have, should 
have, and would have. There is no limit to the things that can he said of the 
love that never had a chance to develop, and arguably did not even exist. But I 
dare say, at the risk of sounding a bit foolish, that this is the most beautiful, 
pure form of love present in Fushigi Yuugi, untainted by frivolous cares or 
desires.

What most often is overlooked or brushed off as a silly crush on Suboshi's part 
is, in my eyes, the foundation on which the story builds itself. Consistently 
simplified by those without an interest, Suboshi and Yui's relationship is 
probably the most overlooked aspect of the series that has any bearing on the 
ultimate turn of events. From the point after he murders Tamahome's family, 
everything Suboshi does is for Yui's sake, despite her persistent rejection of 
his advances. One could say that Suboshi lives for Yui, though the feeling is 
obviously not mutual.

So then, why does Suboshi love Yui? I think that, contrary to popular belief, 
Suboshi does not love Yui merely because she was kind to him. True, he was 
unused to gentleness and the comfort she offered him upon his brother's death 
did much to heal his wounds temporarily, but more than that, Yui gave Suboshi a 
reason to continue on with his life. His brother had been the center of his 
universe up until the moment he died. Prior to Amiboshi's death, the only 
purpose Suboshi had was to indicate what his brother was doing. Consider 
Amiboshi an extension of Suboshi for just a moment. When Amiboshi fell into the 
river and "died," a part of Suboshi was whisked away. If not literally, than at 
least figuratively. He was losing someone that meant everything to him.

Yui is informed of the loss of a Shichiseishi. To her Amiboshi is just a name, 
someone who means very little on a personal level. She doesn't know him -- 
hardly knows of him. All she knows is that he is one of her Shichiseishi. Then 
Nakago says that Suboshi has lost his brother, and something in Yui finally 
gives in a bit and recognizes that she is not the only one who has suffered. So 
she wraps her arms around a reluctant, if not furious, Suboshi, cradles him, and 
tells him that he can cry as much and as long as he likes. This is the sort of 
treatment Suboshi no doubt received from his brother before, and now Yui was 
giving it to him. So in a sense, Yui was replacing Suboshi's greatest loss.

But not completely.

He still reaps revenge. Soaked in blood, his eyes vacant, Suboshi stares down at 
Tamahome. This is not someone one would think capable of love at this moment. 
Most probably it was the expression, or lack thereof, on Suboshi's face in this 
scene that did in his popularity. He was destined to find contempt rather than 
pity. Suboshi returns to Yui, a little worse for wear, and devotes himself to 
the girl who for just a moment was able to take the place of his brother. But 
Suboshi, being so horribly desperate that it's really rather pathetic, clings to 
the notion that if Yui cared for him once, she can do it again. Yui isn't nice 
to him. Actually, she's rude, cruel, condescending, distant, and basically not 
the sort of person most of us would consider a good romantic prospect. But to 
Suboshi, Yui is more than just a pretty girl with a divine status. Yui is his 
everything, the new reason that he breathes.

Call it insane, call it ridiculous, call it stupid. But above all, it's honest. 
It's a show of someone who is so wrought with grief, loneliness, and humiliation 
that even a person who abuses his friendship and loyalty frequently is good 
enough because she was nice to him at the right moment. Suboshi is clumsy at 
love and his displays of affection leave a lot to be desired. Did anyone not 
flinch when the miserable boy whipped Yui around and kissed her? It was a 
mortifying scene for the characters, and most of the audience probably felt some 
stab sympathetic embarrassment. This inability to be suave and debonair is one 
of the things I like most about Suboshi. Unlike Tamahome, Hotohori, Amiboshi, or 
other such characters, Suboshi has no idea how to express himself, so he resorts 
to rough, childish behavior that sometimes gets people killed. I hasten to add 
that this makes him that much more natural than the other Fushigi Yuugi men, 
none of whom have the same insecurities that Suboshi. He's in a class all his 
own.

Suboshi is not one to ignore the lessons learned from mistakes. If we do not 
learn from the past, we are destined to repeat it, right? He knows this and 
wisely applies his gained knowledge to future advances. He tries a second time 
to tell Yui how he feels and she responds that he ought to shut up because, in 
her opinion, he's just as sleezy and disgusting as the men that "raped" her. 
Suboshi is taken aback, but at least he's keeping to himself. There's something 
to be said for someone who knows better than to be an idiot the same way twice. 
Unfortunately, this scene dooms Suboshi to die trying to make things right in 
his own signature method of violence and irrational blame.

The third time Suboshi approaches Yui with his feelings, he completes the task 
so successfully that at the moment I saw that scene, I fell in love with one of 
the most hated characters from Fushigi Yuugi. I already liked Suboshi, but up 
until that point he was more or less evenly matched with his brother in my 
internal popularity poll. Suddenly he ousted Amiboshi with such force that it 
was kind of creepy. But alas, he worked at it and so he deserves his status as 
my favorite. The scene in which he embraced her from behind in the bath prior to 
the Seiryuu summoning is my favorite from the entire series. The animation 
rendered the characters more mature than before. Their eyes brimmed with 
apprehensions and melancholy, but there was such an honest sweetness in Suboshi 
hugging Yui and promising to protect her that I don't think even the most ardent 
Suboshi detractor could despise him at that moment. That he moved in from behind 
was also telling of his apperception that she was not ready to face anyone at 
the moment. Moreover, that Yui did not jerk away or tell him to leave her alone 
was rather touching. She was coming around, if slowly.

A fourth encounter was, sadly, not animated due to the idiocy of the director. A 
shame, because I really think fewer people would detest Suboshi if the series 
had not tried so hard to dehumanize him by painting a villain rather than a 
confused, tempermental, but above all, loving boy. In this scene, Suboshi 
confided that he was concerned about Yui's weakened state. She gave him the bow 
from her uniform as way to link the two of them. The look on Suboshi's face is 
more than just another cute bishounen smile. Consider what this acceptance from 
Yui, small though it may seem, must have meant to Suboshi, who had spent months 
unsuccessfully pursuing his Miko.

I don't think anyone ever doubted that Suboshi was slated to die from the moment 
he gazed listlessly from the rooftop, the stain of children's blood demonizing 
his angelic features. He had to die. It was retribution. No, it was redemption. 
This is one scene that the anime handled better than the manga. As Suboshi 
fought Tamahome, he saw the "ghosts" of Tamahome's siblings holding him down so 
that he could not escape the ryuuseisui. As mentioned in other sections of the 
site, these were probably meant to convey physical manifestations of Suboshi's 
guilt over their deaths. To further this theory, he says each child's name. Why 
would he know their names? One has to wonder if Suboshi was quite obsessed with 
his deed. He never mentions it, even when fighting with Tamahome for the first 
time. All at once his actions come back to haunt him, in more ways than one, and 
he dies as a result.

The impact this has on Yui is apparent. She is visibly shaking as Miaka tells 
her the news over the phone. The look in her eyes is one of someone with a 
thousand emotions crushing her from within. Yui, normally prepared to express 
herself openly, is shocked into silence. Suboshi died. He died because she told 
him to hunt down Miaka. He died for her. Finally, Yui grasped the depth of 
Suboshi's love for her. It took Suboshi's death to snap Yui into reality. This 
was her first friend to die. Miaka had lost Nuriko and Chiriko, but Yui had been 
nearly alone, with only Suboshi and Nakago nearby. By the next day when Yui 
meets Miaka, she is more passive, less willing to lash out at Miaka verbally or 
physically. Reality has struck, and it isn't a pretty picture.

Why I care about this relationship enough to shove it down everyone's throats is 
because something about it hits home. There is no glory in Yui and Suboshi's 
coupling. No grand finale, no happy farewell. Their first kiss was hardly what I 
would call a pleasant memory for either of them. They were not the kindest, 
warmest people on the series. Their story is not half as well-known and popular 
as Miaka and Tamahome's, and it's obvious why. Simply, there wasn't much romance 
in their romance. But then again, that's the point. They didn't win, they didn't 
defeat all obstacles, they weren't reunited as lovers. They were just two people 
who had everything in common and no chance of making their relationship work. 
Each one was obsessed with revenge, and neither one understood the other very 
well because they were both extremely difficult people to read. Suboshi was 
immature, Yui was selfish. Both were prone toward making wild leaps in logic and 
placing blame for the sake of finding a scapegoat. For these reasons, among 
others, I think they make a perfect couple. Not a Miaka and Tamahome-style 
destined-to-be-together-forever-no-matter-what couple. A more realistic, less 
fantasy-driven couple who were destined to be, if anything, ripped apart and 
tormented by their mistakes. That is as it should be.

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