Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Fushigi Yugi or Middlemarch characters, places, etc.
A/N: Thanks for the review! I'm glad you're enjoying it! I certainly have had a blast writing it! I don't think it'll be a zillion chapters, and things should start to heat up pretty quick.
Chapter 7 – Race
Mary looked like Hell. Tasuki bolted upright, rigid in his inspection. Her hair was clumped about her head, face streaked with dirt and soot, her hands torn to pieces by burns and blisters, and her clothing rumpled, torn, and singed. He smelled her long before he saw her, and it made his nose curl.
The whites of her eyes and her teeth were the first things he could distinguish as she smiled in relief at them. Tasuki didn't wait two second before he had drawn his iron fan and was storming towards the common room.
"Tasuki, wait," Mary sighed, putting out a hand to stop him. The palm was torn to pieces, the injuries textured by filth. He could see splinters in the web between her thumb and forefinger.
"I'll kill him," he snarled. "I'll tear his throat open with my bare hands!"
"You saw what happened last time," she told him, her fingers closing around his sleeve for balance. "You'd better not push your luck until you have something that trumps his powers." Tasuki grit his teeth, glowering at the floor. He was too ashamed to meet her gaze. "You wouldn't mind if I took a bath?"
"You look like you could use it," Chichiri came forward and took one of her arms. She tugged at Tasuki's sleeve.
"Come on. You can tell me what you've found out so far."
"Nothing," Tasuki spat, shrugging her arm off. He stomped towards the stairs.
"Where are you going?" Mary chorused with Chichiri.
"Downstairs for a drink!" Tasuki thundered, strapping the fan back onto his shoulders.
"Let him go, Mary. Sometimes he just needs to work himself out," Chichiri coaxed behind Tasuki, who didn't look back. He thundered downstairs, making a point of slamming his foot on each step, stormed across the room, and threw himself onto a bench in the corner, at a small table by one of the main hearths. The fur trader at the shop he put himself next to glanced at him, before going back to his sales. Tasuki snuggled back deeper, pressing his shoulders against the cool panes of glass, where the night air was beginning to condense into dew droplets. Steam sprang onto the window from the impression of his body.
"Get me whatever will knock me out the fastest," he growled at the pretty blond barmaid ominously. Her hair was bound back out of her face, exposing large gray eyes.
"How will a drunken sloth like you ever help Mary?" she demanded.
Tasuki looked up at her, startled. He examined her seriously this time, and recognized her as the little maid who'd been asking for Mary's traveling companions. She had banged on every door in the inn and caused quite a ruckus, and when Tasuki had ignored her insistent knocking this morning while he snoozed in the tub, she'd come in through a wall panel for servants.
"Why didn't you even tell me you were in here?" she had demanded quite cross. Her small hands were fisted on her hips, cheeks ruddy from the exercise.
"Hey! Get the hell out! This is my room!" he had argued.
"You should learn basic manners and answer a lady when she's looking so desperately for something! What kind of man are you? I could have been in trouble, and you'd have let me die by some marauder just so you could laze about in your tub!" Her righteous fury had not dimmed at all, and Tasuki had been quite irate that she was impertinent enough to stay and audacious enough to refuse to apologize.
"My manners? What about yours?" he'd yelled back. "You come bursting into my private rooms and demanding things from me! I don't even know you!"
"And that should pardon you? I'll have you know I'm looking for someone, so tell me if you've seen them! One's a monk, and the other's a drinker! They've been traveling with a woman named Mary!"
Tasuki had choked then, and she'd swirled away with a "hmph!"
"Wait! What about Mary?"
"I'm sorry; I'm still looking for her friends. I wouldn't want to bother an important individual such as yourself!" she had snapped back.
"Hey!"
But she had already been leaving and would not stop. Tasuki had reacted on instinct, leaping from the tub and grabbing her by the shoulders. He'd spun her around and shaken her, demanding to know what she had to say about Mary. She had turned up her nose in his face.
"I don't speak to indecent men!"
A hot blush had stained Tasuki's cheeks, but he'd dragged her by the arm into the bedroom, and thrown a towel on, not releasing her until she had disclosed that Mary was worried about them and wanted to know where they were. He'd sent her off to assure Mary that they were fine and waiting to hear from her, urging her to run as fast as she could to do this and motivating her with a swift blow to the rear from his fan when she had stomped very slowly down the hall.
Tasuki blushed again, feeling it crawl from his cheeks to his ears and scamper down his neck. He glared at her severely, and she returned in kind, her small mouth drawn into a scowl with her dainty eyebrows angled ferociously.
"What is it with you creepy women? Just bring me my drink! That's your job!" he told her harshly, and she lifted her chin defiantly.
"I'll do no such thing, not if you're going to be any use to Mary," she declared. Tasuki leaped to his feet and gripped her shoulders.
"Listen you crazy wench!" he said severely. "You're not my mother, okay? Now go get me my drink, or send someone else over who will!"
"You don't scare me, you red plumed cockatrice!" she stated virulently. "You're harsh and crude, but not much more then a regular man here! You couldn't possibly hurt me!"
"Fine! I'll get the beer myself!" Tasuki lifted her by the shoulders and set her out of the way, before making his way towards the bar. He wove through the crowds and tables, and heard little footsteps following him. The serving girl gripped his coat and began to pull backwards. The top of her head would have barely brushed his chin, so he was surprised at how difficult she made walking.
"Oh no you don't! You've got a job to do! A lady to protect!" she grunted, her feet sliding across the polished floors. A few people turned to look at the spectacle.
"Let go, you crazy brat!" Tasuki growled, pushing harder on the floor. She was loosing ground quickly.
"There's no use in you slobbering over an ale! You should go and figure things out! She needs you!" the girl persisted.
"I'll do just fine on my own!" Tasuki argued. "I don't need you telling me what to do!" With a jerk, he was free, and the barmaid fell backwards. He faltered a split second and looked back, hoping she hadn't injured herself for fear of the ruckus it would cause. She instead scrabbled up, and shot around the table, trying to reach Jasper, the bar tender, first. "Not on your life girly!" Tasuki vowed, running now too. There were excited cheers from the men around them, and Tasuki thought he heard bets.
"I want a beer!" Tasuki called, pulling out a wad of cash and waving it around. Jasper looked up.
"Don't do it Jasper! Don't do it!" the barmaid called. She had removed her apron and was flinging it back and forth like a flag.
"I'll pay double!" Tasuki urged himself to go faster. Her small legs seemed to go impossibly fast.
"I'll pay triple for you not to give him a beer!" she called. A roaring amusement and excitement shook the building. "And I'll work for free for a month if you refuse him any beers at all!"
"What? How the hell am I supposed to pay a months' wages for a beer!" Tasuki shouted. They were coming up on the bar now, the final stretch. Tasuki put on a burst of speed, and glanced over at the barmaid. She saw him going faster and sped up as well, just as another barmaid got into her way, carrying a heavy tray of beers. With a squeal, the girl duck and skid beneath, sliding on her dress, which rode up her slender legs. Tasuki saw her get up and keep going. He looked back at his own trajectory, and saw another barmaid do the same. A man reached out to grab her out of the way, but there wasn't time enough.
Tasuki pivoted on his foot, throwing himself out of control and stumbling. He clipped his hip on another table, sending him ricocheting in another direction, and spotted the bar. The little maid slid in front of him just as he was going to slam into it with his chest. Panicked, he reached out with both hands, the palms slamming against the edge of the raised counter on either side of her small shoulders, and trying to slow himself.
Panting, his heartbeat thumping noisily in his chest, he rested his forehead against the bar. He could feel the maid's rapid heartbeats fluttering against his chest, as both of them caught their breath. She smelled like beer and pine wood.
"Doesn't a man deserve a beer after all of that?" he looked up pleadingly at Jasper, his cheek brushing against the girl's. Cheers erupted, and until then, Tasuki had missed the intake of breath and ensuing silence as everyone anticipated the collision. Jasper picked up a glass, and began filling it. Tasuki stood up straight, and looked down at the girl. Her face was red to the roots of her hair, and she was staring intently at his chest. "Get her something too. Put it on my tab," Tasuki sighed, looking back at Jasper. Her face shot up to his and darkened.
"How can you?" she demanded. "It'll be too late! They're so harsh when you're late!" Her small hands shoved him out of the way and Tasuki let her go, pushing through the crowd.
"Hey!" he called after her. She was gone. Tasuki was compelled to follow her, but men surged forward, clapping him on the back roughly.
"That's the way to show 'em!" one guffawed.
"Give 'em and inch and they think they own ye!" another agreed. Tasuki tried to get away, but there were too many people. So, he accepted his drink, and another, when it was bought for him. Then there was another, and another, and he forgot completely about the barmaid.
