(A/N: Some vocab: Nani=What. Ano is the equivilant of our "Uh". Ano, yeah... 'N stuff...)
Hatashenai
~A Romantic Comedy By Akai Ku
"...nally awake."
"Heh, go git Knei-Gong."
Huan-Lang blinked. Once, twice, immediately recognizing his own room. He felt a splitting pain in his skull, along with a dull ache in his right arm, and the rest of his body throbbing slightly. He looked up at the blurry bandits above him.
"Uhh... Hsing-Chu...? Fa-Song?" The bandits in question grinned. "Glad t' see yer awake, Boss." Huan-Lang had a nagging thought in the back of his mind, but couldn't quite put his finger on what it was. "Wh-"
"What's goin' on?" Hsing-Chu interrupted. "Yew've been asleep fer three days, Boss, sweatin' somethin' awful. Ever since that duel with the phsyco-chick, we wan't sure if ya'-HEY!!!"
'Physco-chick!! Duel!! DAMMIT!!' Tasuki, despite the pain, was already charging out the door. He passed Knei-Gong in the hallway, sending him into a little whirlwind as he dashed by.
'Three days... CRAP!! They prolly already buried 'er. Still... I gotta' check! If there's any way at all she's still here, that them ****n' shitheads thought ta' keep her 'till I could pay my respects...I can't call myself a man unless I do at least that much...'
Tasuki knew that if her body was still here, it would be in the West Wing. The old boss had thought it would be funny to name the hideout as if it were a castle. The West Wing was where the women would stay if there was ever a need, like a bandit's sister or mother or something. Even though it was unlikely that they would ever need to use it, the old boss had thought it would be a good idea.
And he was right.
Once in the "West Wing," Tasuki quickly found what he was looking for: The door to one of the rooms was slightly ajar, and a warm candle-glow flickered from the inside. Tasuki dashed toward it.
*pant!* *pant!* "BOSS!!" Huan-Lang heard Knei-Gong's voice shout out to him. "YA DON'T WANNA GO IN THERE!!"
"YES I DO!!" The Bandit Lord retorted. "IT'S NOT LIKE I'VE NEVER SEEN A ****n' DEAD BODY BEFORE!!"
*SLAM!*
Huan-Lang dashed into the room, slammed the door behind him and...
"What're you doing here?"
! Oo
There, sitting in the bed, was Rasconza. She was still wearing what she'd been before, only now soaked with well-dried blood. She was bandaged and bound in several places, obviously the work of the only bandit that had any medical training whatsoever, Hwah-Miroka. She had a bandage running around her head and over her left eye.
Sitting on her lap was a large piece of parchment. She was painstakingly writing complicated kanji symbols with a brush on it, every once in a while dipping it into the inkwell on the table next to the bed.
Huan-Lang froze and SD'd, opening and closing his mouth. "..." He said.
"Hey."
"Oo;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;" Huan-Lang said.
"Eh?"
"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Huan-Lang said.
"What is it?!"
Tasuki opened his mouth, and the words he found himself saying shocked even him.
"I'm sorry."
Rasconza blinked a few times, then shook her head. "It was a fair fight, Huan-Lang. I lost, you won: So I'm gonna' git my ass outta' here pretty soon."
Tasuki's brain raced. 'Ok, OK. PERFECT!! This way I ken make it up to 'er! Hah!' He shuffled his feet.
"Aw, what th' hell: Yew can stay. We could use another bandit, girl or no girl." He gave a toothy grin. Girls couldn't be all THAT bad... Could they? Not THIS one... right.....?
"Besides, you ken fight. And... Uhm, yeah!!... And kick ass n'... Yup!...and.. STOP LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT?!!"
Rasconza sweatdropped and raised the eyebrow over her good eye. "Like...What?"
Tasuki flailed his arm about wildly. "LIKE _THAT_!!!"
"?" Said Rasconza. "Uhm, all right then..." She turned her head away.
"DON'T DO _THAT_!!!" He shrieked. "I _WANT_ YOU TO LOOK AT ME!!!" Rasconza was loosing her patience.
"WELL THEN HOW TH' HELL DO YOU _WANT_ ME TO LOOK AT YOU?!! I CAN ONLY USE ONE ****n' EYE!!! WANT ME TO USE THE OTHER ONE OR SOMETHIN'?!!!"
Tasuki froze in mid-flail. "Yew... Lost yer eye?" He stared for a moment. Her LEFT eye...
Rasconza rolled her eye. "Naw, yer doctor can't bandage stuff worth a shit. This was around my head. It fell over my eye an' nobody's making it very easy to get it back up there. Every time I shove it up, it falls down again... Stupid piece of shit..."
Tasuki muttred something, then cleared his throat. "Ano..."
"Nani?"
"What the ****," Tasuki grumbled, half to himself, as he walked over to the bed undid the loose tie on the back of the bandage around Rasconza's head. 'I don't see why he's gotta' be all dark an' muttery about tying a bandage... Yeesh. Byakko be damned...' She tried to look up at him.
"Hold still, dammit," he grumbled. "Sheesh, I don't see why ya' couldn't do this tiny little bit of work yourself..."
"I'm having trouble lifting my arms over my head," she stated simply. "My right arm's fine, except the muscles hurt an' I can't lift it very high at all... The other arm... Heh, that's a different story."
"Shut up," Tasuki said quickly, without thinking. Rasconza blinked. "Ar, sorry... I feel pretty bad about that... Damn yer a good fighter!!" He grinned as he finished tying the knot, then cast his eyes downward. "But dammit, I didn't hafta' knock ya' alla way into a **** WALL... I dunno what the- O.O" Tasuki found himself staring at Rasconza's chest.
*WHAP!!*
"OWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW!!!" SD Tasuki danced around the room, clutching at his cheek. "WRONG IDEA WRONG IDEAAA!! Yer right: That right arm's FINE!!" He returned to normal size and plopped down onto the bed. "Dammit, just lemmee FINISH!! Yer tunic's covered in dried blood, woman. Didn't anybody clean it?!"
"They're all men here," she replied cooly. "It'd take a lot of work and dexterity an' crap ta change these things... Something neither o' us have."
*wheeeeeew...* Tasuki sighed in relief.
They sat there in silence for awhile, Tasuki occasionally taking careful glances at the now rusty-brown tunic out of the corner of his eye. Dammit, he wished that Mitsukake were here. Or Miaka. She was a girl. Hell, at least Nuriko was close. But none of them were left. He was gettin' desperate. SOMETHING needed to be done about that. Dammit, he could use even-
"DAAAAAAAAAA!!"
Oo
OO
(A/N: BUAHAHAHA!! Did _I_ ever CONFIRM she was dead!? Noooo? Heh. BTW, thanks so much fer yer reviews. ACK, Tasuki-speach!! Ja matte!!)