Summary: Tas/Chi. The only seishi left, Tasuki & Chichiri are traveling together. Over time they find hidden feelings, only to have everything ripped away when a demon surfaces. Reborn, can they find each other again and gather the others to fight evil again?

Disclaimer:  Oh yes, I don't own Fushigi Yugi, but I'm broke, so don't bother suing me .  ^ ^ I just like to play with Tasuki and Chichiri and the other characters.

Warnings: **SHONEN AI** **YAOI** whatever you want to call it ^^;                                                  

                                                 *~Through Eternity~*

                                                          By: Suki Inari

                                     ~Chapter One: Sake and Drunk Bandits~

  "Tasuki no da!  Hurry up no da!"  A young man with blue hair called over his shoulder.

  "'m comin'!" Yelled his red-haired companion.

  The blue-haired monk, Chichiri, stopped and waited for his foul-tempered friend Tasuki to catch up.  "Aren't you supposed to have super speed, no da?" he teased.

  The bandit jogged by Chichiri.  "Oi! Jus' shut up 'kay?!" he grumbled.  "Come'n!  Now yer the one behind!"

  Chichiri laughed, continuing on down the dusty path, his staff jingling.

  Tasuki and Chichiri.  My, what a pair.  These two were the only remaining Suzaku sichiseishi.  The sichiseishi protected Suzaku no Miko, the priestess of Suzaku, Miaka Yuuki.  There had been seven seishi at one time,  Tamahome, Hotohori, Nuriko, Chichiri, Tasuki, Mitsukake, and Chiriko.  After the others had fallen, and Miaka was to be sent back to her own world, Tamahome had found some way to be with her, for the two had fallen in love.  The first to fall had been Nuriko.  He had fought Ashitare, a Seiryuu sichiseishi, hand to hand, or hand to claw, to the death.  Nuriko defeated the wolf-man, though not before receiving a mortal wound, and lifted the boulder in the way of the Miko's path to summoning Suzaku.  They arrived too late for Mitsukake, the healer, to save him.  Next was young Chiriko, who had not yet reached his fourteenth year.  Another Seiryuu sichiseishi, Miboshi, had possessed him, and the boy knew, in order to save his friends from certain death, he must destroy himself.  Long afterwards, when the battle had shifted to the world of the priestess, the modern world of Japan, a war had started in the land of the seishi, the book "The Universe of the Four Gods."  Konan, the land of Suzaku, and Koutu, land of Seiryuu, had gone to war.  Mitsukake gave his life to save the lives of all wounded in the war, being a healer, he chose this way to die, saving people.  Emperor Hotohori died at the hand of Koutu general and Seiryuu sichiseishi, Nakago.  Nakago then traveled to the world of the mikos and was defeated by Tamahome, who's power was maximized by the power of Suzaku, his love Miaka, and his friends, alive and deceased.

  What a group Miaka had had.  The con man Tamahome, the emperor Hotohori, the cross-dresser Nuriko, the mage monk Chichiri, the bandit leader Tasuki, the healer Mitsukake, and the thirteen year old genius Chiriko.  How Tasuki and Chichiri could travel together for so long after the departure of the miko was beyond comprehension.  Though it could have been the differences, the balance that helped.  Tasuki's fiery temper and Chichiri's calm, Tasuki's quick tongue and Chichiri's patience.  The distinct opposites got along well most of the time, surprisingly.

  Tasuki puts his hands behind his head as he looked to the monk at his side.  "So, Chichiri!  Where are we headin' to now?"

  Chichiri kept looking forward, the perpetual smile on his mask staring straight ahead, smiling at the air.  "You always ask the same question, and I'll always give you the same answer, no da.  Wherever we are needed."

  "Well... where are we needed?" Tasuki inquired.

  "You always ask that question too, no da.  We go wherever the roads take us."

  "Yeah...okay..."  Tasuki blinked, still confused, but decided to keep his mouth shut about the matter.  "Hey... could we maybe do something fun at the next town instead of the whole look for the needy thing first?" He looked to the side, only to find the monk gone.  He blinked.  "Chichiri...?"

  "DA!" the chibified monk appeared on Tasuki's head with a pop of his magic.

  Tasuki sweatdropped.  "Oi..."

  "In answer to your question,  I remind you that your idea of fun is a pub and lots of sake no da."

  "REALLY?! WE CAN?! THANKS!"  the bandit took off at a run.

  "DAA~!!" Chichiri cried, hanging onto the back of the bandit's shirt for dear life.

****

  Tasuki dragged the monk into the pub and sat down at a booth, dumping the chibified monk in the seat across from him.  He wore a big grin.  "Thanks Chichiri!"

  Chichiri sighed, returning to his normal state.  "Yeah no da, you're welcome."  Chichiri had been around Tasuki long enough to know that now they were in the pub, Tasuki wouldn't leave until he had gotten himself plastered.  It was no use fighting it he had learned.

  Tasuki ordered a huge bottle of sake and had it set on the table as he started to drink.  Chichiri ordered some water.  "Hey, Chichiri!" Tasuki said, his cheeks already slightly reddened, meaning he was already half drunk.  "Try some!"

  Chichiri shook his head.  "No thank you, no da."

  "Come'n!  Its good!"

  Again, the monk shook his head.  "No, I don't handle alcohol well, no da."

  The bandit shrugged and downed half the bottle.  Chichiri sweatdropped.  He would have to get the drunk bandit down to the inn and at this rate he'd probably end up carrying him.

  Not that you would mind. A voice in the back of his head commented.

  Chichiri shook his head quickly to rid his mind of that thought.  Why had he thought that?  He was so busy trying to figure out why he had that thought, he didn't notice when Tasuki slid under the table, thinking he had dropped something.  The bandit however got turned around somewhere along the way and popped back up next to Chichiri.  It was not until the red-head was directly in Chichiri's masked face that the monk noticed him.  "DA!!" Chichiri cried, jumping.

  The bleary-eyed bandit reached out at Chichiri's face.  "Yer mask ish peelin'..."

  Chichiri batted Tasuki's hand away, not caring about his mask because he knew if it was removed even the drunk Tasuki would understand why there was a large blush on the blue-haired man's face.  Again, the bandit reached for Chichiri's mask and again the monk pushed his hand away.  "I think you've had enough to drink for tonight, no da."

  Tasuki blinked slowly, his eyes still unfocused.  "Yeh, I guess so."

  Chichiri nodded.  Once he got the drunken red-head to listen to him, it was all down-hill.  "Come on, lets go to the inn."  Tasuki jumped up and dragged Chichiri so fast the monk barely had time to drop coins on the table to pay for the sake and water.

  Tasuki stumbled down the street, leaning and half falling this way and that, pulling poor Chichiri along with him.  "Th' inn!" Tasuki announced, pointing at the building like a child who had found something he was sure no one else ever had.  The bandit charged at the entrance, apparently not noticing the shut door and Chichiri had to reach out, quickly pushing the door open, before they crashed into the door.  Tasuki lurched forward and half tackled the desk.

  "DA!" Chichiri held his hands out and grabbed the front of the innkeeper's desk to keep from flying over it.

  The innkeeper looked up from his book, apparently un-phased by their sudden half crash into the desk.  "We only have one room left."

"Two beds?" the monk questioned.

"Yes."  The innkeeper replied.

  Chichiri put some money down on the top of the desk.  "That's fine then."  He was half glad that they didn't have separate rooms available.  Leaving a drunken Tasuki alone was not a good idea.

  Are you SURE that's why you're glad?  The annoying voice in the back of his head questioned.

  Shut up, no da.  He told the voice.

  It was a simple question.  The voice seemed a bit put out.

  ...Suzaku.  He was talking to himself in his head AND he could tell how it sounded?!  Chichiri sighed.  He really needed more sleep.  ...Why am I tilting...?  "DA!"  With a crash, the drunk Tasuki had fallen over on top of him.  "...This is going to be a long night no da..."  Chichiri groaned and picked himself and the bandit up.  The innkeeper had gone back to reading his book.

  Tasuki raised a fist in the air.  "To the room...!"  and he charged in a direction.

  "Da!"  The monk grabbed Tasuki's arm, sweatdropping.  "Tasuki no da... the room is this way no da..." he coughed, pulling Tasuki down the other hallway.  At some point in this trek, Chichiri had not noticed when, the bleary-eyed bandit had managed to be clinging to his arm for balance.  Chichiri did notice however when the bandit tripped and grabbed onto his waist to keep balance.  After thanking Taiitsukun mentally for training him in keeping his emotions in check, the monk then thanked himself for wearing his mask because of the mad blush radiating, almost glowing, on his face.  When they reached the room, Chichiri pulled Tasuki upright.

  Tasuki blinked slowly.  "My face moved..."

  Chichiri opened the door, blushing furiously and walked in with the bandit, closing the door behind them.  "Da...finally..."  but he had spoken too soon, for Tasuki was already moving towards his bed, and to his dismay, Chichiri was being pulled along.  Tasuki half fell onto his bed, pulling poor Chichiri on top of him.  "D-da..." the monk squeaked, blushing even worse.  Tasuki moved around a bit to get comfortable, and somehow in the midst of this, Chichiri was now on the bottom.  The blue-haired man's rapidly beating heart calmed and slowed as Tasuki fell asleep on his chest.  However, just because it had slowed, didn't mean it was anywhere near its normal rate.

  The lights had never been given a chance to be turned on and the sun was setting outside.  It was getting late and Chichiri needed to sleep.  He swallowed hard.  I don't want to wake him up no da... he thought.

  That's because you like him laying on your chest, asleep, idiot.

  Shut up, no da!

  Since he was apparently going to be falling asleep right here, Chichiri took off his mask with his free hand and set it on the dresser beside him.  "...Good night, Tasuki no da."

  The monk was already too far asleep to hear the murmured reply of "'Night Chiri..."

****                                                    ****                                                           ****

Gah, well, end chapter one.  ^..^;; What did you think no da?  Its my first Fushigi Yugi story.  . Remember this when you're reviewing, so be nice.  ^ ^ I hope you like it so far.