When Fushigi Yuugi begins, we meet a Miaka who thinks more about food and having fun rather than anything else. To her, a library is foreign territory, yet she tags along as Yui returns a book. While there, she sees a juice machine, and intent on buying the juice, she drops her coin, as she goes to pick it up, a beautiful apparition of a red bird appears behind her. It is Suzaku; translated it is 'Su = red' and 'zaku = sparrow', but in the manga, Watase calls it 'Fushichou = bird that never dies.' So, we know that Suzaku is actually a phoenix.

Seeing this apparition, flying ahead of her, Miaka, entranced, follows it upstairs to a forbidden room housing important documents. There, she meets Yui, when all of a sudden, a book falls of a shelf. Miaka goes to it and they begin to read it. They learn of the legend of Suzaku No Miko, and are bewildered by its meaning, when a red light emanates from the book, and absorbs the girls into it. It is here, that our story of Miaka and Tamahome begins. Click below to begin the story.