*Note: For reasons unknown, American money is mentioned in this ficcie. My suggestion? Just go with it.
This was written for an ML I'm a part of, and I wasn't going to upload it to FF.net until I got badgered by my good bud, StarSapphireZ, whose name may have changed by now. I dunno. I also dunno that my email made it to her... But this is up because of her. This is also almost a year old, so please, give me some slack. There are SOME revisions, but for the most part it's exactly the same. Please enjoy!
Late Night Fun
By: Squeak
Suboshi wrung his hands, nervous. Yui had agreed to meet him when he told her he needed to ask her something. She said she had something to tell him too. When he proposed his suggestion to her, she smiled and said she'd get back to him with the answer.
So now, the seishi waited, wringing his hands and feeling nervous. But, he would do anything to impress his priestess-anything at all.
A sound behind him made the boy jump, and he landed blushing as Yui apologized.
"I'm sorry, Suboshi. Did I make you wait long?"
"Huh?" Suboshi was still blushing, but not out of embarrassment now. "No, it's ok. I've just gotten here." Yui smiled again and sat down in the chair. They were in her room, where she had told Suboshi to meet her. She had been in town, "shopping" she called it, but she hadn't made him wait long. Suboshi gulped.
"So, ah, Yui-sama...about my, um, question? Did you decide? I mean," he rushed, blushing like mad, trying not to sound too enthusiastic, "I perfectly understand if you don't want to. I mean, it was a pretty silly request...really out of place, actually..." He trailed off, his hand behind his head, eyes downcast. 'Stupid stupid stupid! Now she'll definitely say no! Why can't you just keep your mouth shut?'
"Yep, I've decided. And I asked some others to join us. Nakago, Miaka, and Tama."
"Others? But, Yui-sama...couldn't we do this alone? I mean, isn't it better with only two people?" Then he noticed the other names. "Tama? That stupid idiot? Why are you bringing him? I can see bringing Suzaku's priestess, but..."
"Well, it's more fun with more people." Suboshi turned positively scarlet. "And Miaka always takes Tama with her. He's cuddly and cute, and his impersonations are hilarious."
Oh. She had been talking about the cat. 'Stupid stupid stupid!'
"So," she continued, "meet at the usual spot later tonight, ok? I need to get ready. See you!" She waved him off, half pushing him out the room. Suboshi just stood there gaping, then ran off. He needed to consult someone.
Amiboshi was sitting in a tree outside their little home, holding a bird in his hand while others hopped around him playfully, singing their hearts out. Birds seemed to like Amiboshi. There was almost a halo of light around his head as he smiled benignly at the small, twittering creatures.
"Aniki! Aniki, get down here, I need your help!"
Amiboshi gazed down and saw his brother shouting up at him, a look of panic on his face. Shaking his head worriedly, Amiboshi descended to land before his brother.
"Aniki, I just got back form Yui-sama's," Amiboshi's eyebrows shot up, "and she agreed to it! She said tonight!" Suboshi conveniently left out the fact that others would be present, as well as a cat. "She told me to meet her in the usual spot, tonight! What do I do?"
The older Boshi put a reassuring hand on his brother's shoulders. Suboshi was near hysterics. "Suboshi, Suboshi, listen. Just calm down and explain everything to me, because I can't help you if you're ranting."
But Suboshi already was into a good rant. "And and, I've never done this before! I mean, I know how to and all, but I've never really, actually done it, you know? What if I screw up badly, and Yui-sama ends up hating me? The whole point of this is to impress her!"
"WILL YOU PLEASE LET ME TALK?!" Suboshi shut up instantly. "Good. Now, she agreed? And you don't really know how... Well, I'm not an expert either, but I would assume that you just kinda...um, do it?"
"That's why I need your help, Aniki! You know more about this than I do!"
"Well, you shouldn't let yourself get into situations like this. If you wanted to impress her, why not do something simple that you knew how to do? Or were at least able to do well. Anyway, too late for that. What you need to do is-"
"So, you see, I was hoping you would coach me through it. You know, find someway to help me while I'm there."
Amiboshi sweat-dropped. "Um..."
"Because, you know how to play cards, but you've only taught me-huh, Aniki, what's wrong? Why are you looking at me like that? Remember? I wanted to play Yui-sama in a game of poker, and she agreed. Aniki? Aniki?"
Amiboshi's eye twitched.
Suboshi was there before everyone else, and so was Amiboshi.
"Ok, Suboshi, just listen to everything I tell you. I'll be up in the rafters, letting you know when to continue and whatnot. So figure out a way to look at your arm while looking at your cards, ok?"
Suboshi nodded, and his brother left the room, looking to find a way upstairs so he could spy for his brother. Suboshi remained behind, wringing his hands and going over moves in his head as Yui and the others entered.
"Ah, Suboshi! Are you ready? You told me you were rather good at this game. I haven't played someone good in a while." Yui's smile always made him blush. Miaka followed her in, that damned cat on her shoulder, a dopey grin spread across his face. Nakago entered last, shutting the door silently. For once, he wasn't wearing his God-forsaken ugly armor. His typical expression (read: nothing) was there, though.
They all pulled out chairs around the table in their small cabin, and Yui picked up the deck. Shuffling quickly, she dealt the cards.
Suboshi looked down at his as his brother scrawled a message on his arm.
~ Get rid of the two and five, and take your luck with drawing. ~
Suboshi did so and smiled slightly.
~ Silly fool! Don't smile like that or you'll blow your hand! Now, just keep betting until I tell you to stop. ~
Suboshi looked up from pretending to arrange his cards and put a nickel in the pot. "Everyone, let's start this up. Everyone got their nickel in there? Good. Now, I raise it ten."
Everyone threw in their dimes, and Miaka raised it another ten. Yui raised it fifteen, and Nakago kept it there.
"Call." The blond general set his cards down, proudly displaying his two pair of tens. Yui placed her two pair of jacks, and Miaka blushed as she set down a pair of nines. Suboshi was the last to present.
"Well, boy, what do you have?" Nakago looked angry. Suboshi gulped and put down his cards.
"Two pair of queens, huh?" Miaka looked sulky as she passed the pile of money to Suboshi. For his part, the golden-eyed seishi absolutely beamed.
The next few rounds went the same way, with Amiboshi giving aide to his brother. Suboshi's pile very quickly added up, and he found he was having fun.
~ Ok, Aniki, what now? ~
Amiboshi's reply came back slowly. ~ Well, let's see. Nakago has a really good hand. If you can bluff him, you might be able to win. But I don't know if you're that good. ~
~ I'm going to try, Aniki. ~
Suboshi looked pointedly at Nakago, who only scowled and set down his quarter. Suboshi did the same, a small grin across his face. Yui and Miaka had long since folded. Nakago scowled some more, and continued to put down money, as Suboshi did the same. Finally, however...
"Fold!" Nakago slapped down his cards and Suboshi grinned wolfishly. Setting down his own cards face up, Suboshi fell backwards as Nakago nearly jumped across the table.
"A pair of eights? You beat me with a pair of eights? Dammit! I had three queens!"
Suboshi sighed in relief as his brother messaged him. ~ Not bad, not bad at all. I didn't think you could pull it off. ~
~ Why didn't you tell me he had such a better hand?! ~ Suboshi nearly hurt himself writing the angry reply.
~ Well, then you would have given up, wouldn't you? Now pay attention to the game and let me do my job. You so owe me for this one. ~
Over the course of the next hour, Suboshi continued to win, except for one time he had an exceptionally bad hand (~ Fold you fool! Fold or die! ~), and everyone else was becoming suspicious.
"Miaka, why do you think he keeps, you know, looking down there? Do guys usually hold the cards over...there?"
"I don't know. Maybe it's a good luck charm for him?" Miaka blushed as she said it, and Yui turned a shade paler. "Well, I mean like athletes! You know how some athletes will wear the same underwear for luck, maybe holding his cards down there is, um, good luck..."
Both girls stared at Suboshi, feeling a tad bit scared. For his part, Suboshi didn't pay any attention to them.
~ All right, you can beat them with this hand, don't worry. ~
Suboshi was suspicious, but complied to his brother's help. "Call." Miaka set down her cards (two pair, tens), Yui-sama followed (full house) and then it was a considerably paler Suboshi's turn. Nakago had long since quit and was watching a hockey game. When he lost to the other seishi again, this time with a two pair of tens versus a pair of aces, he had jumped the younger man from across the table, smashing Suboshi's nose into the wood panelling. No amount of talking on the girls' side helped, as the round wooden piece of furniture found itself on its side, with a tall blond trying to choke the life out of the smaller golden-eyed boy. Suboshi's skin was turning blue and Nakago had a death look in his eyes as he repeatedly thumped Suboshi's head against the floor. Only when Suboshi managed to lift his leg to pry the man off-inadvertently kneeing him in the groin-had the blond Seiryuu Seishi decided to call it quits. Now, he refused to have anything to do with the game of poker.
So now, rounds later and without Nakago competing, Suboshi placed his cards on the table, and Yui beamed in delight. Suboshi only had a pair of twos.
"Yeah, I win!"
"Could you please be quiet? I'm trying to watch this game. It's fascinating." Nakago's eye twitched slightly.
Everyone turned to scowl at the Hin tribesmen, then continued with their game. The girl's suspicions of Suboshi were basically gone now. It had to have been dumb luck that he won so much.
~ Aniki! Why did you tell me I could win?! ~
~ They were getting suspicious! ~ came the reply. ~ And besides, you have to be really gullible to believe a pair of twos can win. I didn't force you to continue. ~ Suboshi could feel the mirth as his brother wrote the words. Making a small threatening promise under his breath, the younger twin continued to play.
Tama the cat was uncomfortable. He had been sitting on Miaka's lap, watching her play, but now he was bored. These stupid bipeds were very boring, and made no sense. However, unlike them, he knew Suboshi was cheating. He wouldn't be able to call himself a cat if he couldn't tell that.
So, Tama the cat leapt down from his warm perch on Miaka's skirts, stretched, and waltzed over to Suboshi's feet. Since the stupid biped was always looking down, Tama figured that the mode of his cheating was at his feet. He looked around, pawing at Suboshi's slippered feet and sneaking around the bottom of the chair like a great detective. However, coming across nothing, the cat slumped down and lay there, tired. He had walked all this way, after all.
Why was the biped looking down all the time if his mode of cheating wasn't on the floor? Stupid bipeds, they never did anything logically. It would be just like a stupid biped to look down when his source was up... A sudden inspiration came to Tama as he sat there. There was something wrong here, something very wrong. Taking a very deep sniff, he detected, very faintly, the smell of another biped. Looking up out of sheer curiosity, Tama spotted a shadow above them in the rafters. His eyes narrowed as he realized his discovery was Amiboshi.
Standing nonchalantly, Tama made his way out the door Amiboshi had, determined to find the intruder, not because he was ruining his biped's game, but because it would be fun to watch everything go to Hell down there.
Yui glared at Suboshi as he set down his cards, once again winning the hand. Suboshi gulped.
"Suboshi, we have a question for you. Why is it, that out of 59 games, you've won 56 1/2 of them?"
"56 1/2?"
"Well, yeah, there's that one where Nakago kind of attacked you, and we kind of forgot who won after that fight. Wow, that sure did take a long time. By the way, is your nose all right?"
Suboshi touched the tip of his nose, where a bandage had been placed once they finally stopped the bleeding. Yui had put that bandage on, her eyes full of concern, and Suboshi had wanted to melt right then. It had been after that fight when Nakago announced he wasn't playing anymore, hated everything to do with cards, and went to watch this "television."
Speaking of Nakago, he had a bag of popcorn in front of him now, his legs up on the "coffee table" in front of the "couch", cheering on some tiny people locked in a box (the television).
"This game, it's so, so perfect! Full of beauty, did you know that? The strong versus the weak, deciding who the victor is through semi-mortal combat. Do you see how fights make up the majority of this game? This world knows the true meaning of power! The glorious struggle for power!"
"Anyway," Miaka cut in, drawing their attention from the devious general, "how is it that you've continued to win? I never knew you were so good at this game, I thought Amiboshi was the one who knew how to play."
"Yeah, exactly right. So, Suboshi, is there something you need to tell us?" Yui's eyes held no compassion now.
"Um, well, you see-"
A huge crash reverberated through the room as a large figure fell onto the table, sending the three around it flying as the wood splintered and broke.
Suboshi covered Yui, making sure no splinters touched her. Miaka was left to fend for herself, which was fine for Suboshi.
Amiboshi coughed as soon as his lungs stopped contracting in his chest and his ribs stopped poking into his vital organs. Tama lay on top of him, purring contentedly, his work done.
"A-amiboshi?!" Miaka's stunned shout made everyone look, except for Nakago, who stood proudly.
"The game calls me. I must leave, and find a team! Such a magnificent sport, I must be a part of it!"
Nakago slammed the door shut as he ran out, popcorn falling all over the room as he threw the half-empty bag. No one paid him any attention.
"Erm, hi, Yui-sama, Miaka-san. Nice to, um, see you." Amiboshi's lopsided grin faded fast as Tama kneaded his claws-hard-against Amiboshi's bruised ribs. Suboshi stood, helping Yui up as she scowled at both of them.
"So, I think I understand perfectly now. Yes, it's all becoming very very clear to me." Yui's eyes hardened as she took one menacing step after another toward Suboshi, who was being herded towards his brother. On the other side of the broken table, Miaka had the same idea and advanced on the wounded Amiboshi.
"Um, Yui-sama, I can explain. You see, it's just that, well...just that..."
Yui's eyes gleamed red as she smiled evilly, advancing on the poor, unlucky seishi twins, who huddled against the broken table as doom loomed above them, wearing cute short skirts and with beautifully detailed eyes.
A week later, Amiboshi walked by his brother, a tray in his hands, and slapped him upside the back of the head. Beyond the door, they could hear Yui talking animatedly with Keisuke and Tetsuya, whom Miaka brought back with her.
"The next time you have some smart idea about how to impress Yui-sama, leave me the Hell out of it."
This was written for an ML I'm a part of, and I wasn't going to upload it to FF.net until I got badgered by my good bud, StarSapphireZ, whose name may have changed by now. I dunno. I also dunno that my email made it to her... But this is up because of her. This is also almost a year old, so please, give me some slack. There are SOME revisions, but for the most part it's exactly the same. Please enjoy!
Late Night Fun
By: Squeak
Suboshi wrung his hands, nervous. Yui had agreed to meet him when he told her he needed to ask her something. She said she had something to tell him too. When he proposed his suggestion to her, she smiled and said she'd get back to him with the answer.
So now, the seishi waited, wringing his hands and feeling nervous. But, he would do anything to impress his priestess-anything at all.
A sound behind him made the boy jump, and he landed blushing as Yui apologized.
"I'm sorry, Suboshi. Did I make you wait long?"
"Huh?" Suboshi was still blushing, but not out of embarrassment now. "No, it's ok. I've just gotten here." Yui smiled again and sat down in the chair. They were in her room, where she had told Suboshi to meet her. She had been in town, "shopping" she called it, but she hadn't made him wait long. Suboshi gulped.
"So, ah, Yui-sama...about my, um, question? Did you decide? I mean," he rushed, blushing like mad, trying not to sound too enthusiastic, "I perfectly understand if you don't want to. I mean, it was a pretty silly request...really out of place, actually..." He trailed off, his hand behind his head, eyes downcast. 'Stupid stupid stupid! Now she'll definitely say no! Why can't you just keep your mouth shut?'
"Yep, I've decided. And I asked some others to join us. Nakago, Miaka, and Tama."
"Others? But, Yui-sama...couldn't we do this alone? I mean, isn't it better with only two people?" Then he noticed the other names. "Tama? That stupid idiot? Why are you bringing him? I can see bringing Suzaku's priestess, but..."
"Well, it's more fun with more people." Suboshi turned positively scarlet. "And Miaka always takes Tama with her. He's cuddly and cute, and his impersonations are hilarious."
Oh. She had been talking about the cat. 'Stupid stupid stupid!'
"So," she continued, "meet at the usual spot later tonight, ok? I need to get ready. See you!" She waved him off, half pushing him out the room. Suboshi just stood there gaping, then ran off. He needed to consult someone.
Amiboshi was sitting in a tree outside their little home, holding a bird in his hand while others hopped around him playfully, singing their hearts out. Birds seemed to like Amiboshi. There was almost a halo of light around his head as he smiled benignly at the small, twittering creatures.
"Aniki! Aniki, get down here, I need your help!"
Amiboshi gazed down and saw his brother shouting up at him, a look of panic on his face. Shaking his head worriedly, Amiboshi descended to land before his brother.
"Aniki, I just got back form Yui-sama's," Amiboshi's eyebrows shot up, "and she agreed to it! She said tonight!" Suboshi conveniently left out the fact that others would be present, as well as a cat. "She told me to meet her in the usual spot, tonight! What do I do?"
The older Boshi put a reassuring hand on his brother's shoulders. Suboshi was near hysterics. "Suboshi, Suboshi, listen. Just calm down and explain everything to me, because I can't help you if you're ranting."
But Suboshi already was into a good rant. "And and, I've never done this before! I mean, I know how to and all, but I've never really, actually done it, you know? What if I screw up badly, and Yui-sama ends up hating me? The whole point of this is to impress her!"
"WILL YOU PLEASE LET ME TALK?!" Suboshi shut up instantly. "Good. Now, she agreed? And you don't really know how... Well, I'm not an expert either, but I would assume that you just kinda...um, do it?"
"That's why I need your help, Aniki! You know more about this than I do!"
"Well, you shouldn't let yourself get into situations like this. If you wanted to impress her, why not do something simple that you knew how to do? Or were at least able to do well. Anyway, too late for that. What you need to do is-"
"So, you see, I was hoping you would coach me through it. You know, find someway to help me while I'm there."
Amiboshi sweat-dropped. "Um..."
"Because, you know how to play cards, but you've only taught me-huh, Aniki, what's wrong? Why are you looking at me like that? Remember? I wanted to play Yui-sama in a game of poker, and she agreed. Aniki? Aniki?"
Amiboshi's eye twitched.
Suboshi was there before everyone else, and so was Amiboshi.
"Ok, Suboshi, just listen to everything I tell you. I'll be up in the rafters, letting you know when to continue and whatnot. So figure out a way to look at your arm while looking at your cards, ok?"
Suboshi nodded, and his brother left the room, looking to find a way upstairs so he could spy for his brother. Suboshi remained behind, wringing his hands and going over moves in his head as Yui and the others entered.
"Ah, Suboshi! Are you ready? You told me you were rather good at this game. I haven't played someone good in a while." Yui's smile always made him blush. Miaka followed her in, that damned cat on her shoulder, a dopey grin spread across his face. Nakago entered last, shutting the door silently. For once, he wasn't wearing his God-forsaken ugly armor. His typical expression (read: nothing) was there, though.
They all pulled out chairs around the table in their small cabin, and Yui picked up the deck. Shuffling quickly, she dealt the cards.
Suboshi looked down at his as his brother scrawled a message on his arm.
~ Get rid of the two and five, and take your luck with drawing. ~
Suboshi did so and smiled slightly.
~ Silly fool! Don't smile like that or you'll blow your hand! Now, just keep betting until I tell you to stop. ~
Suboshi looked up from pretending to arrange his cards and put a nickel in the pot. "Everyone, let's start this up. Everyone got their nickel in there? Good. Now, I raise it ten."
Everyone threw in their dimes, and Miaka raised it another ten. Yui raised it fifteen, and Nakago kept it there.
"Call." The blond general set his cards down, proudly displaying his two pair of tens. Yui placed her two pair of jacks, and Miaka blushed as she set down a pair of nines. Suboshi was the last to present.
"Well, boy, what do you have?" Nakago looked angry. Suboshi gulped and put down his cards.
"Two pair of queens, huh?" Miaka looked sulky as she passed the pile of money to Suboshi. For his part, the golden-eyed seishi absolutely beamed.
The next few rounds went the same way, with Amiboshi giving aide to his brother. Suboshi's pile very quickly added up, and he found he was having fun.
~ Ok, Aniki, what now? ~
Amiboshi's reply came back slowly. ~ Well, let's see. Nakago has a really good hand. If you can bluff him, you might be able to win. But I don't know if you're that good. ~
~ I'm going to try, Aniki. ~
Suboshi looked pointedly at Nakago, who only scowled and set down his quarter. Suboshi did the same, a small grin across his face. Yui and Miaka had long since folded. Nakago scowled some more, and continued to put down money, as Suboshi did the same. Finally, however...
"Fold!" Nakago slapped down his cards and Suboshi grinned wolfishly. Setting down his own cards face up, Suboshi fell backwards as Nakago nearly jumped across the table.
"A pair of eights? You beat me with a pair of eights? Dammit! I had three queens!"
Suboshi sighed in relief as his brother messaged him. ~ Not bad, not bad at all. I didn't think you could pull it off. ~
~ Why didn't you tell me he had such a better hand?! ~ Suboshi nearly hurt himself writing the angry reply.
~ Well, then you would have given up, wouldn't you? Now pay attention to the game and let me do my job. You so owe me for this one. ~
Over the course of the next hour, Suboshi continued to win, except for one time he had an exceptionally bad hand (~ Fold you fool! Fold or die! ~), and everyone else was becoming suspicious.
"Miaka, why do you think he keeps, you know, looking down there? Do guys usually hold the cards over...there?"
"I don't know. Maybe it's a good luck charm for him?" Miaka blushed as she said it, and Yui turned a shade paler. "Well, I mean like athletes! You know how some athletes will wear the same underwear for luck, maybe holding his cards down there is, um, good luck..."
Both girls stared at Suboshi, feeling a tad bit scared. For his part, Suboshi didn't pay any attention to them.
~ All right, you can beat them with this hand, don't worry. ~
Suboshi was suspicious, but complied to his brother's help. "Call." Miaka set down her cards (two pair, tens), Yui-sama followed (full house) and then it was a considerably paler Suboshi's turn. Nakago had long since quit and was watching a hockey game. When he lost to the other seishi again, this time with a two pair of tens versus a pair of aces, he had jumped the younger man from across the table, smashing Suboshi's nose into the wood panelling. No amount of talking on the girls' side helped, as the round wooden piece of furniture found itself on its side, with a tall blond trying to choke the life out of the smaller golden-eyed boy. Suboshi's skin was turning blue and Nakago had a death look in his eyes as he repeatedly thumped Suboshi's head against the floor. Only when Suboshi managed to lift his leg to pry the man off-inadvertently kneeing him in the groin-had the blond Seiryuu Seishi decided to call it quits. Now, he refused to have anything to do with the game of poker.
So now, rounds later and without Nakago competing, Suboshi placed his cards on the table, and Yui beamed in delight. Suboshi only had a pair of twos.
"Yeah, I win!"
"Could you please be quiet? I'm trying to watch this game. It's fascinating." Nakago's eye twitched slightly.
Everyone turned to scowl at the Hin tribesmen, then continued with their game. The girl's suspicions of Suboshi were basically gone now. It had to have been dumb luck that he won so much.
~ Aniki! Why did you tell me I could win?! ~
~ They were getting suspicious! ~ came the reply. ~ And besides, you have to be really gullible to believe a pair of twos can win. I didn't force you to continue. ~ Suboshi could feel the mirth as his brother wrote the words. Making a small threatening promise under his breath, the younger twin continued to play.
Tama the cat was uncomfortable. He had been sitting on Miaka's lap, watching her play, but now he was bored. These stupid bipeds were very boring, and made no sense. However, unlike them, he knew Suboshi was cheating. He wouldn't be able to call himself a cat if he couldn't tell that.
So, Tama the cat leapt down from his warm perch on Miaka's skirts, stretched, and waltzed over to Suboshi's feet. Since the stupid biped was always looking down, Tama figured that the mode of his cheating was at his feet. He looked around, pawing at Suboshi's slippered feet and sneaking around the bottom of the chair like a great detective. However, coming across nothing, the cat slumped down and lay there, tired. He had walked all this way, after all.
Why was the biped looking down all the time if his mode of cheating wasn't on the floor? Stupid bipeds, they never did anything logically. It would be just like a stupid biped to look down when his source was up... A sudden inspiration came to Tama as he sat there. There was something wrong here, something very wrong. Taking a very deep sniff, he detected, very faintly, the smell of another biped. Looking up out of sheer curiosity, Tama spotted a shadow above them in the rafters. His eyes narrowed as he realized his discovery was Amiboshi.
Standing nonchalantly, Tama made his way out the door Amiboshi had, determined to find the intruder, not because he was ruining his biped's game, but because it would be fun to watch everything go to Hell down there.
Yui glared at Suboshi as he set down his cards, once again winning the hand. Suboshi gulped.
"Suboshi, we have a question for you. Why is it, that out of 59 games, you've won 56 1/2 of them?"
"56 1/2?"
"Well, yeah, there's that one where Nakago kind of attacked you, and we kind of forgot who won after that fight. Wow, that sure did take a long time. By the way, is your nose all right?"
Suboshi touched the tip of his nose, where a bandage had been placed once they finally stopped the bleeding. Yui had put that bandage on, her eyes full of concern, and Suboshi had wanted to melt right then. It had been after that fight when Nakago announced he wasn't playing anymore, hated everything to do with cards, and went to watch this "television."
Speaking of Nakago, he had a bag of popcorn in front of him now, his legs up on the "coffee table" in front of the "couch", cheering on some tiny people locked in a box (the television).
"This game, it's so, so perfect! Full of beauty, did you know that? The strong versus the weak, deciding who the victor is through semi-mortal combat. Do you see how fights make up the majority of this game? This world knows the true meaning of power! The glorious struggle for power!"
"Anyway," Miaka cut in, drawing their attention from the devious general, "how is it that you've continued to win? I never knew you were so good at this game, I thought Amiboshi was the one who knew how to play."
"Yeah, exactly right. So, Suboshi, is there something you need to tell us?" Yui's eyes held no compassion now.
"Um, well, you see-"
A huge crash reverberated through the room as a large figure fell onto the table, sending the three around it flying as the wood splintered and broke.
Suboshi covered Yui, making sure no splinters touched her. Miaka was left to fend for herself, which was fine for Suboshi.
Amiboshi coughed as soon as his lungs stopped contracting in his chest and his ribs stopped poking into his vital organs. Tama lay on top of him, purring contentedly, his work done.
"A-amiboshi?!" Miaka's stunned shout made everyone look, except for Nakago, who stood proudly.
"The game calls me. I must leave, and find a team! Such a magnificent sport, I must be a part of it!"
Nakago slammed the door shut as he ran out, popcorn falling all over the room as he threw the half-empty bag. No one paid him any attention.
"Erm, hi, Yui-sama, Miaka-san. Nice to, um, see you." Amiboshi's lopsided grin faded fast as Tama kneaded his claws-hard-against Amiboshi's bruised ribs. Suboshi stood, helping Yui up as she scowled at both of them.
"So, I think I understand perfectly now. Yes, it's all becoming very very clear to me." Yui's eyes hardened as she took one menacing step after another toward Suboshi, who was being herded towards his brother. On the other side of the broken table, Miaka had the same idea and advanced on the wounded Amiboshi.
"Um, Yui-sama, I can explain. You see, it's just that, well...just that..."
Yui's eyes gleamed red as she smiled evilly, advancing on the poor, unlucky seishi twins, who huddled against the broken table as doom loomed above them, wearing cute short skirts and with beautifully detailed eyes.
A week later, Amiboshi walked by his brother, a tray in his hands, and slapped him upside the back of the head. Beyond the door, they could hear Yui talking animatedly with Keisuke and Tetsuya, whom Miaka brought back with her.
"The next time you have some smart idea about how to impress Yui-sama, leave me the Hell out of it."