One of Those Days 5: One of These Days
First the disclaimer thing. The characters of Fushigi Yuugi are not mine. They belong to Watase Yuu, and various other companies. Story not written for profit.
Originally there was another piece that went between One of Those Things and this one which would have made One of These Days 6th in the series. However, all of my fanfics got eaten by my computer in the spring of 2000. I tried re-writing the fifth section, but to no avail. Do not email me asking for it. It is lost forever. Instead enjoy the ending even if it is a little abrupt. Shounen-ai.
This was not Tasuki's day.
Of course, it hadn't been Tasuki's day for quite sometime. First there was the Conversation, which had done nothing more than drive a wedge between him and Chichiri. Then there was the three months of Chichiri avoiding him while they traveled together. Silence may be golden, but not when it's coming from a friend. After that, there was the snowball fight. Snow, and cold, and Chichiri pining him to the ground with his hands and his eyes. Which was followed by three days of absolute silence.
And let's not forget about the kiss. The kiss that he had forced upon Chichiri in a moment of anger and hurt, which had ended as something warm, comforting, and all too good. The kiss was part of a much larger chain of events which had resulted in him walking out on his best friend just when that friend had so desperately needed him to understand and stay.
But he hadn't stopped being stupid there. Oh, no. Just being a little bit dumb wasn't good enough for the great Tasuki. He had to go and be the biggest @#$%-ing asshole the world had ever seen. So when Chichiri had arrived at the palace, he had done the most selfish, thoughtless, stupidest thing ever in his life.
It was dumber than the time he'd gotten drunk in Sailo while in one of that-painted-freak-boy's clams. It was stupider than the time he had insulted Miaka's cooking in front of her. It even topped the times he had fallen in and out of love with Miaka when he knew that Tamahome was the only one she loved.
For when Chichiri had arrived at the palace a few days after him, Tasuki had left. Without warning, without pretense, without thought. Making it abundantly clear to both Chichiri and the entire palace that he was avoiding the monk.
It had taken Koji to make him realize just what he had done to the other seishi. To show him that getting so drunk that he forgot was not going to solve the problem, and was not going undo what had happened. There was only one course of action left. He was going to make things right if it killed him.
And it just might. The red-haired seishi thought as his boots squelched into yet another piece of soggy, marshy ground. Why can't monk-boy stay in one @#$%&^* place so I can find him?
In a semi-rare moment of insight, Tasuki had realized that as Suzaku seishi he and Chichiri were connected. Which meant that if he focused, he could use his chi to find Chichiri's chi, and consequently find Chichiri. So technically, all he had to do was concentrate and walk.
For Tasuki, it was a plan much simpler in thought than in deed. It seemed that the bandit had an extremely hard time concentrating his attention on the task at hand. Then when he finally managed to get it working and locate Chichiri's chi, he could only get a general direction, and that for about thirty seconds max. Which meant that he would spend an hour slogging through the mud, the bugs, the pollen, and all the other wonderful things that came with spring in Konen-koku. At which point, he would repeat the process all over again, usually to discover that he had somehow wandered off track.
It hadn't helped that Chichiri had been walking for most of the morning, and a good part of the afternoon. It was only about thirty minutes ago that the monk had finally stopped so that he could actually make some headway on catching up with his fellow seishi. Tasuki had no idea what Chichiri was doing to make him stay in one place, but he was glad the monk was doing it.
A branch laden with sickly sweet flowers was so low it almost caught him in the chin. Irritated by the strong smell, the bandit slapped it out of his way. Which got it out of his way for the three second it took the branch to swing out and snap back. The sturdy branch smacked him in the back of his head, and dumped it's load of pollen down his shirt.
Tasuki hated this forest. Right now he hated spring. No wonder the season was Seiryuu's. The red-haired seishi pushed another set of newly green branches out of his way. He was muddy. He cooked during the day, and froze during the night. His boot found another puddle, and the water soaked through his boots. He got wet whenever a passing cloud thought of him as a target. A few stray sunbeams came through the forest, indicating that there was a clearing ahead. He was tired. He was hungry. The sound of running water, the kind found in a small stream came to him. He was thirsty.
He was naked.
No, not Tasuki. Chichiri. In a pool, formed in the lee of a few rocks. Tasuki stared at the unexpected sight, noticing how the monk's blue hair stuck damply to his back. Musn't think those thoughts about Chichiri. Oh wait. I'm going to be honest with him. So I can think those thoughts. Crap, this is going to take some getting use to.
With careful, deliberate movements, Tasuki walked to the edge of the clearing. There he found a convenient tree to lean against. Absently, the bandit wondered how long it would take before Chichiri registered his presence. In the meantime, he was going to enjoy watching the muscles in the monk's shoulders and back move when the other seishi did. In a purely aesthetic way. Really.
I wonder when this happened? When did I start to feel this way about Chichiri? Tasuki wasn't much into introspection, but he indulged in it every once in a while. But never for long. Does it matter? He's my friend. We've lost too much too fast to just let it go. Only thing to do now is go forward.
Unfortunately, it didn't take Chichiri long to realize he was being watched. The monk slowly turned around, and looked up in shock. Tasuki simply gave him a fanged grin. Instead of a back view from the waist up, he had a front view. Now only if the water were a little clearer...
When did I become such a hentai?
"Tasuki-san." The bandit visibly flinched at the cold, impersonal honorific. "I am surprised to see you, no da. I thought you had made it clear that you didn't want to see me again, na no da."
"Yah, well. You had been avoiding me, and I wanted ya to know how it feels. Didn't mean to let the whole palace know, heh heh." Tasuki quickly realized he was only making it worse, and sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "Hope nobody got the wrong idea or anything."
"Of course not, no da. It was just the talk of the entire palace all winter long. Houki-sama had to explain to Boshin why you were not their for the winter celebration, na no da." Tasuki took a deep breath. He deserved that. The bandit knew that he had acted badly. But Tasuki had always followed his feelings, and his feelings had told him to hurt as he was being hurt.
Now they were telling him to fix what he had broken. Or else.
"I acted like an asshole. I've already been to the palace, explained that we were having a fight, and made my apologies to Houki-sama," Tasuki said. Houki hadn't bought the explanation one bit. If the bandit didn't know better, he would have sworn that the Empress had known exactly what was going on.
Chichiri, meanwhile, gave him an even look. "A fight?"
"What? Did you want me to announce to everyone that I tried to take advantage of you?" Tasuki said defensively. Chichiri merely shrugged. This conversation was not going as he had planned. Time to get back to the matter at hand. "I had all winter to think about what I did, and what happened. And Koji helped me realize something."
"I just bet he did, no da." Chichiri had removed his mask to bathe, but his face revealed as much about what he was thinking as the mask. The temperature of his voice, however, had dropped a few more notches until it was below frigid. Tasuki blinked at the sudden change, then grinned.
"Your jealous. You think me and Koji... You are @#$%-ing jealous," stated Tasuki. The realization proved too much for the bandit, and he sat down on the ground laughing. The wet mud soaked through his pants, but the bandit ignored it. The monk was jealous! Of him and Koji!
"DA?!?!" Chichiri was staring at him like he had just lost his mind. Which only made Tasuki laugh harder. Finally, Chichiri's mood broke and the bandit could see the other seishi fighting a smile. "Tasuki-kun, you are impossible, no da."
Finally, when his laughter had wound down to occasional snickers, Tasuki replied. "Yah, but that's why you love me." A stricken, panicked look crossed Chichiri's face but Tasuki pretended not to notice. "Because I think ya do love me, and it is not in a strictly friendly way. And I think you're scared and sick inside. Well, @#$%&* Chichiri so am I."
Tasuki looked away from Chichiri when he said that, arms crossed defensively across his chest. "You're my friend, and my fellow seishi. I tried going back to Mt. Leiakaku, but I don't belong there anymore. I don't know where I belong. Except with ya.
"So the @#$%&-ing question is, what are ya going to do about it? Because I know what I want to do. But this isn't about me. It's about ya."
A few minutes passed, as a stray breeze rippled the water. It chilled the water on his skin, but not as much as the panic in his heart. Chichiri couldn't, move, couldn't speak, could barely think. All Tasuki did was watch him with clear, calm golden eyes. The silence grew so thick that it became impossibly loud. Finally, Tasuki realized he wasn't going to get an answer.
"Hey Chichiri, I'm going to the inn up the road. I'm going to get a room there. When you've figured out what ya want to do about this whole thing, come find me. Just realize this, I'm not going to let you run away from this @#$%. If ya don't show up, I'm going to track you down and confront you again. And again. And again. And I don't have anywhere else to go. We can either make it work, or forget it ever happened. I don't care as long as ya let me me stay with ya."
Tasuki stretched his muscles, suddenly feeling tense and vunerable. There was still only silence from the pool. He'd said too much, but at least he had said it. Then he turned and headed towards the inn. Only to get smacked right in the face by another sickly-sweet branch laden with pollen and flowers.
I hate spring. And Gods, I need a bath.
* * * * *
Tasuki lay on a futon, stripped down to his pants, the blanket pulled up to his hips, thinking. Chichiri hadn't shown. The bandit had hoped the monk would, but wasn't really surprised that he hadn't. More surprising was the fact that he didn't feel any rejection or hurt. Instead a quiet sense of determination filled him. He had warned Chichiri that not showing up wasn't going to stop him. Now, he was going to prove it.
What else can I do? I've got no where else to go. Chichiri, I hope your the friend I think you are. Please be willing to let me stick with you even if you don't want anything but my friendship.
"Tasuki-kun?" The words almost made him jump out of his skin. He hadn't heard the door open, and Tasuki's hand was on his tessen before he placed the voice. It couldn't be. "Chichiri?" he asked.
There was no verbal response. Instead, Tasuki felt the blanket being lifted right before a warm body slid against his. He stiffened in shock, as the shirt Chichiri wore to bed rubbed against the skin of his back. the red-haired seishi barely dared to breathe. He didn't want to assume anything at this stage. There the two lay, before the monk got up the courage to snake his arm around Tasuki's waist.
"I've been thinking, Tasuki-kun. About what you said. I want to try to make this work. If you're okay with it, I can do it. But if you want to stop and go back to being friends, I can do that too. I think. I hope," his voice was calm and serious and just slightly nervous, the "no da's" having been dropped.
"We can do this. I believe in ya," Tasuki said as twined his fingers with the ones laying across his chest. "I promise, we won't do anything ya don't want to. And if I do something ya don't like, ya have my permission to chi blast me." Tasuki felt a huff of breath against his back, and a slight easing of the stiffness ion Chichiri's lean frame.
Again, Tasuki was content to just have Chichiri against him. But he had to push it. Because he could. "And one of these days you're going to be able to do stuff like this without turning bright red." Faster then Chichiri could react, Tasuki twisted in his arms and planted a sloppy kiss on the other seishi's lips. They were warm, and dry, and he recieved a small squeak in return.
"Tasuki-kun!" Chichiri said in shock, as Tasuki returned to his former position. His face was bright red. By the four gods, this was going to take getting use to. "Don't you think that's moving a little fast, no da?"
"Probably. Whenever you're ready Chichiri, we'll do some more. Now go to sleep. Finding your @$$ wore me out."
"All that thinking will do that to you, na no da." Tasuki chose to ignore that statement. He was too warm and content, and this change in their relationship was too new to be tested.
In the darkness of a room in an inn somewhere, two friends slept together. In trust, and in harmony. With a promise to be fulfilled.
One of these days...
I would like to take this time to thank all of the fans of the One of Those Days series. Thank you for your emails, your support, your suggestions, and your demands that I hurry up and finish it already. I would like to thank those few who wrote me saying that they didn't like yaoi, but my story was so well written that they couldn't help but like it. A special thanks to all the wonderful people who stuck it out when my fanfics got eaten by my computer, or when I seemed to lose interest in this story. I didn't. And finally, a special thanks to all the people in the FY fandom. You are what makes the series truly special.
One of Those Days
By Tsaiko
© 2000, Tsaiko