Many Faces of a Friend
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Author's notes: Well... *sigh* just an idea? It sorta sprung up from my Differnt Forms idea...
***

Chichiri had a tough time making friends ever since he came back from talking with the prince. The other "West" women thought he was a freak, someone that didn't deserve friends. They twittered around him whispering rumors and such.

"Does she LIKE that nasty prince?"

"Ugh, she's NOT a reject?"

"Aww, don't feel bad Miss Chichiri. They're just jealous."

Chichiri looked up. The small girl, who had been very quiet, who poured over books every single day, was standing next to him, a smile on her young face. "Chiriko no da..." he said slowly.

She sat down, a book clutched to her chest. "You know, I don't want to be here, but I've been breed to live here.."

"What na no da?"

Chiriko waited for a moment before replying, her fingers gently toying with the strands of hair that framed her face. "I was a slave here as a child, and I've lived with the women since I was 10 years old. My parents died a few years ago. Lack of care... they shared the black lung disease, something I'm not afraid to admit I might have."

"I thought slavery was abolished no da..."

"Not for those that lived in the palace."

"Hallo Sister!! Hallo Chiriko!!"

Chichiri and Chiriko looked up to see Nuriko and Miaka loom over them, a wide smile plastered on his face. "What are you so happy about no da?"

"Nothing! Except the fact that we've been summoned by the princes to go to the parlor immediately!"

They stood up and all four bustled down the hall way towards the ornately decorated room. They entered throught their respective doors, the women on the West glaring at Chichiri.

"Oh my! Isn't it the Prince Tasuki's little wife," Yui said loud enough for him to hear. Her voice was nasty and crude. Chiriko's face turned into a scowl and she cried, "Stop that! Stop that! Chichiri's done nothing wrong! If anyone should be made fun of... it outta be you five!! She's only been nice! And what does she do? She wears a smile on her face! Never does it frown, instead she stands there and takes what you dish out! HOW COULD YOU!?"

Tears were streaming down her cheeks, as she tried to defend him. Suddenly Chichiri layed a hand on her shoulder. "Shh, Chiriko no da," he whispered, "It's alright, I don't mind it. Don't lose your temper."

The women were quiet, in fact all of them were. The two turned around to see Tasuki looking into the room rather discreetly. He caught the sight, but walking into the room was something he wanted to stay away from. Finally after a moment of silence he entered and cleared his throat. "I have every right to get rid of you," he said sternly.

A good amount of women gasped. His hand was wrapped around Chichiri's wrist and he pulled him away saying, "Ya need ta get away from here"

"What no da...?"

"And Miaka, the you'll come with me as well. The Prince Hotohori wishes to see you," he said more formally, ignoring his friend's question.

The girl gasped and her face turned white. "M-m-m-me, my lord?" she stuttered.

"Yes, you Miaka."

Nuriko pushed her from behind hissing, "You mustn't disobey a prince. Just do what they want and it'll be over with."

Miaka took a deep breath and started after Tasuki and Chichiri. Halfway down a hallway she was directed into a large open room, not a single person present. She looked at Chichiri desperately. His mask screwed into a fox-eyed look of sympathy. Then, with a deep breath she entered, and the door closed behind her.

"Now that's she gone, I can talk to ya.."

Chichiri blinked.

"Look, I know that those girls have been sayin' about ya, 'n I'm sorry 'bout it. I just had ta tell ya that... ya know, let ya know yer still my friend. Sorry if I don't visit... I just can't stand dem girls, ya know?"

Chichiri nodded.

"AND," Tasuki began, "what's up with yer face?"

HOUJUN paled, Chichiri smiled, or rather, he paled behind the smiling mask. He tried for a sentence for a moment, and let out a long line of stuttering, "No da"s. he had to find a way to explain his expression without giving neither himself or his brother away. "It's a secret na no da," he finally answered.

The young prince stared at him. "Hey, I thought we were pals!"

"It's a secret no da. A promise I made to my br-- sister na no da."

Tasuki continued to stare at him. "Dammit, yer not a normal girl are ya?"

Too late, Chichiri had already run away. He skidded down the hall in a very informal manner, running straight into Miaka, who was flushed bright pink in color. "M-m-miaka no da?"

She giggled and seemed to float off. He scratched his head, his bangs bouncing as he did so. Carefully he followed her, walking slowly behind her. She didn't seem to be in her right mind, and her clothes were offly disheveled. Suddenly a thought occured, and he dismissed it quickly, avoiding any inappropriate thoughts. He knew it was a prince's right two get rid of any sexual tension before marriage. Miaka continued to float right into the parlor, where the women had already mingled amoung each other. Luckily though, they're eyes went straight towards the girl and avoided him altogether.

"Miaka! What happened?" one girl asked.

She only let loose an incohernt giggle and collapsed to the floor. A group of "East" women gathered around her, not counting Nuriko who backtracked towards his brother, along with Chiriko. "What happened?" the two asked in unison.

"To Miaka no da, or me na no da?"

"Either," Nuriko said quickly.

Chichiri thought for a moment and quickly relayed the situation about Tasuki and how he doesn't like girls, and then told about how he found Miaka floating down the hallway happily. "I think... it had something to do with the meeting she had. The door closed behind her no da, so I don't really know," he said finally.

~*~

Houjun wrapped his arms around his brother. They lucked out. Turned out that the women shared rooms by sets of two, and when they arrived, they were placed in the same room. Which was a good, thing because at night they could be more like themselves. The palace was also very cold at night, and the two brothers forgot about sleeping in separate beds and decided to do what they'd done for many years, keep each other warm. However, even at night they had to keep up the female persona.

Ryuuen sighed and murmured softly, "What does the Prince Tasuki talk to you about?"

"Hmm?"

"Seriously, what does he say?"

"He asks about my face no da..." Houjun replied, his voice low and tired.

"You're face?"

"The mask na no da. But, if I tell him no da, then I'll have blown our covers no da."

Ryuuen gave a nod, which was barely visable in the darkness of the room. "I understand..."

Just as Houjun was about to fall asleep his younger brother asked another question, this one spoken in a much quieter voice, one that was already half blanketed in the cover of sleep. "What do you think of him?"

"Hmm.. who...?"

"The princes."

"That would be 'them' not 'him' no da," the elder boy corrected.

"Yeah... whatever..."

"They're rich and pampered na no da. I don't really know what I think no da."

Ther was no response from his brother. Poking the smaller frame of Ryuuen, he got a disgruntled snort. Houjun smiled to himself and allowed himself to be embraced by the warm arms of sleep. Which didn't last too long, because he woke up heavily distrubed by a feeling of unease. A feeling of imbalance... like a kind of... "Evil," he hissed and pulled gently away from his brother.

It surprised him to sense this, especially from inside the palace. He figured with the protection, the monsters wouldn't be able to find their way onto the property easily. Slipping into something more appropriate for fighting(his old clothes), his long blue hair pulled back into it's normal ponytail, he wandered into the hall, leaving behind his mask. The land was always swarmed with beasts, created by the earth itself. The imbalance of the earth that it needed to purge itself of, and thus created an evil being, a monster. Running swiftly through the cold hallways, he found it difficult to see, the moon his only source of light. "Akari," he whispered in Japanese and a small globe of light appeared in his hands, enough to shine upon his path, and around his surroundings.

A distant growl, made him turn around and head in the opposite direction, but his senses were telling him the creature was in the other direction. In his confusion he whispered, "Tenji," and the light focused in on one direction, the one he was previously running in. Nodding his breezed through the halls, his senses growing more tuned and suddenly he saw a fleeting shadow pass him, a breeze of cold bringing shudders up his spine. The light disappeared from his hands and he relied solely on instinct. In one of the palace's many secluded gardens Houjun saw the beast tearing away at the soil, obviously trying to return "home".

It was then he saw the Prince Tasuki standing infront of it, his arms extended in battle. Channeling magic he used to defeat the monsters that ravaged his previous homes, he launched a blast of red energy. He stood shadowed in the hallway, and watched as the creature disappeared in a billow of ash.

"Hey....?" Tasuki cried.

Houjun ducked out of sight, and ran down the hallway as fast as he could. The younger prince stared in confusion, and although he refused to believe he... he had to admit.. that guy had familar looking hair.

Houjun slipped back into his room, hoping no one really noticed him. However, a standing silloute told him otherwise. He could make out the gentle figure out his brother, arms akimbo. "R-r-ryuuen!"

"Houjun! How could you go out to fight monsters without me!?" Ryuuen spat, angerily.

His elder brother pushed him back onto the bed and replied, "Look, if I took you with me, you would have given us away. We can't get caught fighting as women no da, and we can't been seen as men, you know that no da."

"But still-"

"And besides, I had a close encounter with the prince Tasuki. If you were there no da," he trailed off, shaking his head at the thought.

Ryuuen sighed, and pulled the covers over him, turning away as he did so. "Still, you could have told me where you were going."

Houjun pulled off the cloak wrapped around his clothes. "I miss these clothes na no da."

"You're Chichiri now," his brother replied.

"And you're Nuriko."

~*~

"How, may I ask, did a monster enter this land? How?"

The court magician stared at the floor from his low bow. "I'm very sorry your highness," he said quietly, "Perhaps I need to make the protection stronger." He was a very effeminate looking man, much like Ryuuen, and he had long silver hair.

Nakago placed a hand to his forehead. "I trusted you, Tomo. This isn't the first time either."

"Yes sire."

The emperor turned to his younger son, who was kneeling next to him. "And, according to the gaurds you were out and about last night. Attempting to destroy the beasts again?"

Tasuki kept his head bent, his mind returning to the previous night, and the mysterious warrior. His head shook slowly, and then it turned into a stiff nod. "Yes father..."

"What have I told you about dealing with peasant work? You should act more like Hotohori."

"Yes sire."

"Tomo!"

The magician jumped to his feet, bowed at the waist. "Yes?"

"See to the spell," Nakago snapped.

"Yes sire." With that he breezed out of the room, his long robes barely touching the ground.

The emperor leaned back and dismissed his sons with one wave of his hand. The two princes bowed and exited. Hotohori shook his head in disgrace. "Tasuki, how could you do such a thing?"

"What do you mean?"

"Trying to fight those beasts!"

Tasuki stopped short and grabbed his brother from behind. "Listen," he spat, "I'm doing what a ruler SHOULD do, and that's protect his people. We shouldn't sit back and let the dirty work be done for us, instead we should take things into our OWN hands."

Hotohori spun free from his brother's grip. His eyes were narrow. "So you say, but these people don't need to loose ANOTHER member of the royal family." With that he turned and walked down the hall, and he didn't turn back even when Tasuki called after him, "You've changed! Ever since you lost Houki! I don't know what's gotten into you!"

The younger prince growled and thundered down the hallway.

"I can't believe you! Your hair can't even stay down at this point! Why didn't you wake me up?"

"Me no da? I was the one up all night!"

"Forget this, we have to get the parlor! You heard the gaurds!"

"Chichiri? Nuriko?" Tasuki watched as they ran past, catching his friend from behind, pulling him back.

"Hey no da! What--" Chichiri paled behind his mask, "Tasuki na no da!" His hands shot up and he pressed his bangs to his head, allowing the feathery blue hair to splay across his face.

Nuriko immediately fell to the floor in a bow. "Prince!" he said with a gasp.

"What's going on here?"

"Apparently the emperor wishes to speak to us no da. Something about danger in the hallways no da. I'm not really sure na no da," Chichiri explained slowly, "and we're already late no da!"

"Late? Hey, wi-- oh, no.. I can't vouch for you too well today," Tasuki said, and started running, grabbing both brothers as he did so. "Sorry for this, I know you ladies like to keep neat," he apologized and dropped them off infront of the parlor, in far more disarray than before.

Nuriko and Chichiri attempted to straightened themselves up, the younger one succeeding while Chichiri only managed to keep his hair flat against his head. Tasuki stuck his head into the West door and said, "Sorry ladies, I believe you're waiting for a meeting?"

The women nodded slowly and stiffly. "Well, farewell then--" he started only to have his elder brother hold him back from behind.

"This is for all of us, did you not know? Join your respective women and await for our father," Hotohori told him.

Tasuki sighed and seemed to melt into the wall. "I HATE women!! I can't STAND being with--" before he could finish he was pushed through the west door and was now standing in the parlor.

Yui was one of the women who glared at him with peircing eyes. He gulped, and turned to look away, only to encounter another woman staring at him. The looks were not of admiration like those the women of Hotohori gave his elder brother... no... these were quite frightening.

Suddenly the lights seemed to dim for a moment, calling for silence, and the magician appeared by the doors, a shell in his delicate hands. Suddenly the wall and its doors seemed to vanish, so that the emperor could speak to them without entering the room.

"Ah, Hotohori... Tasuki, and your women. I'm sure you've either heard of, or sensed the monster than entered here last night, but I will assu-"

Suddenly a large roar sounded, from somewhere deep inside the palace. The women screamed, and Hotohori raised his voice over them announcing, "Women! Return to your quarters! This will be taken care of!"

"Tomo!" Nakago cried, and turned towards the magician. He was staring at the ground, apparently trying to cast a spell, but it didn't seem to be working.

"I'm sorry sire," he apologized.

Soldiers were already running around the castle, some escorting the women, others trying to find the creature. Tasuki ducked out of the way and down a secret passage. "I'm gonna find that thing 'n kill it myself!"
~*~

author's note: I keep forgetting disclaimers, well blahdy blah, me not own.. ya know! this ain't NOTHIN' like where I wanted it to go originally, but I felt... something like a REAL conflict was in order, so yes! Thanks for all the reviews and here's chapter 2!!