Running Away
Chapter 4
Tasuki and Chichiri were sitting with Taikisei at a table in Taikisei's room. His room was a lot bigger than their room… so, of course they were there.
That's not saying that they had anything to do…
"I'm bored…" Tasuki slammed his head down on the table. "Isn't there anything interesting to do in this hell-hole?"
Taikisei gave Tasuki a mean look, but did have to admit that there wasn't anything to do. "Well…"
"How do you spend your nights here, Taikisei-kun, no da?"
A slight smile spread across Taikisei's face. "We could always play… cards."
Tasuki lifted his face up from the dent in the table he had made. "And just what kind of cards do you suggest?"
Taikisei held up his pack of playing cards, looking out at the other two men. "How about… strip-poker?"
The whole room must have gotten 100 degrees warmer because both Tasuki and Chichiri's faces got beet red.
"S… strip-poker, no da?"
Taikisei nodded with a smile, a bit pleased at the reaction he had gotten.
"… but I don't know how to play poker, no da." Chichiri said with a bit of relief sounding in his voice. Maybe he could get out of this yet…
Tasuki's heart was fluttering in his chest. If they were to play… if they were to play… well, anything like that, then… then… He glanced at Chichiri, his blush deepening.
Taikisei smiled, unfazed. "Well, everybody knows how to play hearts, right? We'll just play that instead." He knew from their silent faces that they both knew how to play. "Come on, this'll be fun."
"Yeah.. yeah, it'll be fun…" Tasuki tried to look like everything was fine, despite how completely uncomfortable he felt right then.
Suddenly, the door to the room slammed open, hitting the wall with a huge bang. "I wanna' play!!!" An old man, one of the residents of the inn, jumped through the open doorway.
"DAAAAA!!!!!" Chichiri, already completely off-guard with their conversation right before, instinctively jumped in Tasuki's arms. "This inn scares me!!!"
The man sauntered in, taking a place at the table.
"Nokorihashi!!! What did I tell you about eavesdropping?" Taikisei stood up angrily, glaring down at the short man.
"Gomen ne, Taikisei-san. But I just couldn't help it! I love playing hearts!!"
Tasuki and Chichiri seemed to not even notice the conversation that was going on as Chichiri had just noticed where he had jumped to so quickly. Blushing madly, he returned to his seat as fast as he could.
"G-gomen, Tasuki-kun. I… didn't mean…" He looked down, gripping his hands tightly together.
Tasuki was just as uncomfortable back in his chair. He looked away, quickly adding, "It's… it's okay, Chi-san."
Taikisei, after finished scolding the old man, turned back to the two seishi, completely oblivious to what had just happened. "Alright, we gonna' play or what?" He sat back down in his chair, quickly shuffling the cards. "I hope it's okay with you two that Nokorihashi is playing… I couldn't get him to go away."
Though neither of the two men really wanted to see the old man naked, there were worse things that could happen.
"Daijobu, na no da… it's fine."
Taikisei slid his chair all the way up to the table and started dealing out the cards, 13 cards to each of them.
Tasuki picked up his cards, staring intently at them. He didn't really want to admit to everyone that he was a terrible card player…
"Alright, pick three cards to pass to your left."
Tasuki looked over the cards in his hand. He had to pass three of them to Chichiri… He thumbed through them. Finally he picked out three and slid them across the table. He flinched when Chichiri's hand touched his, picking up the three cards.
He quickly brought his hand back, and then picked up the three cards that Nokorihashi passed him. Geez, these are terrible cards! Why'd he have to give me the Queen of Spades?
"Alright, I'm starting." Taikisei sat the 2 of clubs down in the middle of the table. Nokorihashi set down a king of clubs next to the 2. Tasuki hurriedly looked down at his cards, wondering what to play.
He decided to try and get rid of his highest cards first, so he set down his highest club, an 8. To his left, Chichiri set down an ace, so he took the cards.
Tasuki braced himself, wondering what the next suit would be. Chichiri set down a… spade. Oh noooo!!!!! The only spade I have is the Queen!!!
He nervously watched as Taikisei and Nokorihashi set down their guards, and stared helplessly when they both set down lower cards than a Queen. Why me why me why me?!?
Tasuki gulped, and set down the Queen. Taikisei let out a little snicker as Tasuki reluctantly took the cards, setting them off to the side.
I'm gonna' lose, I'm gonna' lose, I'm gonna' lose!!! He stared down at his cards, waiting for the next person to go.
"Um… Tasuki-kun, no da. You have to put down a card."
Tasuki jumped up. "Oh yeah…" He grinned sheepishly, and then down a 6 of clubs. He watched as Nokorihashi took the newly formed pile of cards. Sure, the cards he has to take don't give him any points.
The four of them continued putting down cards and following suits until Tasuki finally broke hearts. Then, it started to get hard.
First a two, then a five, then a seven… Tasuki sighed in relief as the first round came to a close and he hadn't gotten anymore points.
Everybody counted up how many points they had gotten, and then Taikisei wrote down all their scores on a piece of paper. He went over the scores.
"Tasuki… you're losing." He gestured towards Tasuki.
"…yeah?"
"You've gotta' take off something."
The blush returned to Tasuki's face. "…. Okay…" He looked down at his feet, but then he felt better, seeing that he could just take off his boots.
He bent down and quickly slipped his left boot off his foot. He sat back up, a triumphant smile on his face. "Okay, I'm done."
Taikisei sighed, resting his head in his hands. "If you take off something like that, then you have to take off both of them."
Tasuki grumbled something to himself, but reluctantly he bent down and took off the other boot. He held up both his boots. "Happy now?"
Taikisei nodded, and then began passing everyone out 13 cards again. "'Member, this time we pass the cards to the right."
Everyone nodded, and then picked up their cards to see what they got. Tasuki looked down at his cards, and then picked up his three highest cards and slid them across the table to Nokorihashi.
He turned to face Chichiri so that he could get the three cards from him, and couldn't help but notice how fast Chichiri removed his hand from the cards as he passed them to him.
"Ooh, I start again." Taikisei said, putting the 2 of clubs back onto the table before Tasuki even had the chance to look at the cards he got.
"What the hell?!" Tasuki stood up, seeing the Queen of spades back in his possession. The other three players looked quite shock at his sudden outburst.
Tasuki coughed into his hand, feeling rather stupid. "Oh, um, sorry…" He sat back down, turning his attention back to the game. He noticed Chichiri giving him a worried look out of the corner of his eye, and he couldn't help but shrink a little lower in his chair.
"It's your turn, sonny." Nokorihashi looked at him anxiously.
Well, he's certainly into the game. Tasuki shot Nokorihashi a glare and then sat down his king of clubs next to the other two cards.
When Nokorihashi set down his 2 of spades next, Tasuki noticed in relief that he had more spades besides the queen. He would have sworn the whole game was rigged in some way if the same thing happened this time as did the last time.
The game went on for a bit, and this time it was Chichiri who broke hearts. Tasuki sighed in frustration as he took the ace of hearts from the middle of the table. Why oh why did he always end up getting the first points?
His worry increased as more and more hearts seemed to magically appear in his point pile. Was he really that bad at this game?
He stared down at the last card left in his hand, the Queen of spades. He closed his eyes and set it down on the table. When he opened them, he saw Nokorihashi slide the cards his way.
"NOOOOO!!!!! Why is this happening to me?!" Tasuki shot up from the table.
"I guess it's just the luck of the game, sonny." Nokorihashi said with his usual smile.
"Wait a minute, no da… none of us have any hearts…"
All of them were quiet when they noticed this. They stared at the pile of cards that had developed next to where Tasuki sat.
"Oh no… he shot the moon…" Taikisei slumped down on the table.
Tasuki seemed very confused. "I… I did?" He picked up the point cards he had collected, staring at them. "I did!!!!!"
The three other players sighed disappointedly as Tasuki began to dance happily. "So, where does that put the standings, no da?"
Taikisei reluctantly added 26 points to each of their scores and then added it all up. "Aw man… that puts me in the rear. Guess that means I gotta' take off something."
Taikisei folded his arms around his waist and then pulled off his shirt, revealing a white undershirt underneath. He tossed the shirt off to the side and then returned to the pile of cards, which he began to once more deal out.
"You can sit down now, Tasuki-kun, no da." Chichiri sweat-dropped as Tasuki dropped back down in his chair, a huge smile spread across his face.
"I guess that just shows you guys, huh? Who's the better player here?"
Nobody said anything as they picked up their cards. Tasuki eyed his eagerly. "Wait a minute, who do I pass to this time?"
"You pass across." Taikisei said before sliding three cards across to Tasuki.
"Oh yeah, I knew that." Tasuki once again slid his three highest cards, and was very relieved when he saw that he didn't get the Queen of spades.
At first, nobody did anything. "Um… who has the 2 of clubs?"
Tasuki looked at his cards. "Oh! I do!" Tasuki set the card on the table and waited while everybody else put their cards on top of it.
The next few games went a lot faster, and were better for Tasuki at least. Chichiri didn't have it so lucky, he lost all three of them.
"Daaa…." Chichiri sighed as he carefully took off his kesa, folding it before setting beside his other discarded garments. "Why do I always lose?"
Tasuki's face began to redden some more as he began to realize what would happen if Chichiri kept losing. He'll be… he'll be…
His thoughts were interrupted as Taikisei passed out the next set of cards. Tasuki tried to tell himself that everything would turn out alright, but… he didn't really believe himself.
Tasuki got a ton of points on the next game, which was probably a result of his poor concentration, but Chichiri was still losing. Tasuki blushed even more as Chichiri reluctanly took off his shirt, putting it in his ever- growing pile of clothes.
Both Nokorihashi and Taikisei thought it rather off that Tasuki seemed to be blushing even more than Chichiri, even though it was Chichiri that had to take off something.
Tasuki was finding it now very hard to concentrate, with this shirt-less Chichiri sitting right next to him. He found his eyes wandering over to him in the middle of the games, and he had to almost slap himself to stop.
It was no big surprise then when Tasuki soon had more points than Chichiri, and he had to start taking off clothes. He watched as his pile of clothes on the floor grew larger than Chichiri's. Of course, he had more layers than Chichiri… but the room was definitely starting to feel colder.
Well, it would have felt colder to Tasuki if he hadn't been blushing so hard. Because now, five games later, he sat wearing nothing except his underwear.
Everyone in the room was starting to get very uncomfortable because they knew that Tasuki was going to lose the next game too, he was too far behind to not lose, and they knew the only thing left to come off was…
Chichiri felt like he was on fire. He looked down at his hands, at his cards, at the walls, anywhere to not be looking at Tasuki. His mind kept picking out little details on Tasuki's body: the curve of his back, the muscles in his arms… basically, just how bea-… no, he wouldn't say it. He wouldn't say it.
The final round of the game came to a close, and everybody stared intently as Taikisei added up the points. They all knew what he would say, they just wanted to hear it out loud.
"Well… Tasuki. You're… last again, I guess. There really wasn't any way you could have caught up in the first place." Taikisei shifted uncomfortably in his chair. He had thought they would finish the game before anyone had to… you know…
Everybody looked at Tasuki, whose face turned bright red once again. I have to… I have to… and in front of Chichiri!! I can't do this! I just can't!
He stood up, gripping the sides of his underwear with his hands. He closed his eyes, not really believing he was about to do this.
Chichiri couldn't take his eyes off Tasuki. He watched him there, shaking, holding on to his underwear as if they were his lifeline. He's really going to do it! I'll see him… all of him…
Tasuki held his breath, and then slid them down his legs as fast as he could. It was so silent in the room you could have heard a pin drop.
Chichiri sucked in his breath, not able to breathe. Oh Suzaku oh Suzaku oh Suzaku…
Tasuki stood there, visibly shaking. Finally, he just lost it. He ran out of the room, not caring that he was running out into the hall where about a dozen other inn residents were standing.
Chichiri could hear Tasuki's footsteps running to their room, but he didn't really hear them. The only thing in his head right now was the picture of Tasuki standing there… with nothing on. He sat there, not saying a word.
Chapter 4
Tasuki and Chichiri were sitting with Taikisei at a table in Taikisei's room. His room was a lot bigger than their room… so, of course they were there.
That's not saying that they had anything to do…
"I'm bored…" Tasuki slammed his head down on the table. "Isn't there anything interesting to do in this hell-hole?"
Taikisei gave Tasuki a mean look, but did have to admit that there wasn't anything to do. "Well…"
"How do you spend your nights here, Taikisei-kun, no da?"
A slight smile spread across Taikisei's face. "We could always play… cards."
Tasuki lifted his face up from the dent in the table he had made. "And just what kind of cards do you suggest?"
Taikisei held up his pack of playing cards, looking out at the other two men. "How about… strip-poker?"
The whole room must have gotten 100 degrees warmer because both Tasuki and Chichiri's faces got beet red.
"S… strip-poker, no da?"
Taikisei nodded with a smile, a bit pleased at the reaction he had gotten.
"… but I don't know how to play poker, no da." Chichiri said with a bit of relief sounding in his voice. Maybe he could get out of this yet…
Tasuki's heart was fluttering in his chest. If they were to play… if they were to play… well, anything like that, then… then… He glanced at Chichiri, his blush deepening.
Taikisei smiled, unfazed. "Well, everybody knows how to play hearts, right? We'll just play that instead." He knew from their silent faces that they both knew how to play. "Come on, this'll be fun."
"Yeah.. yeah, it'll be fun…" Tasuki tried to look like everything was fine, despite how completely uncomfortable he felt right then.
Suddenly, the door to the room slammed open, hitting the wall with a huge bang. "I wanna' play!!!" An old man, one of the residents of the inn, jumped through the open doorway.
"DAAAAA!!!!!" Chichiri, already completely off-guard with their conversation right before, instinctively jumped in Tasuki's arms. "This inn scares me!!!"
The man sauntered in, taking a place at the table.
"Nokorihashi!!! What did I tell you about eavesdropping?" Taikisei stood up angrily, glaring down at the short man.
"Gomen ne, Taikisei-san. But I just couldn't help it! I love playing hearts!!"
Tasuki and Chichiri seemed to not even notice the conversation that was going on as Chichiri had just noticed where he had jumped to so quickly. Blushing madly, he returned to his seat as fast as he could.
"G-gomen, Tasuki-kun. I… didn't mean…" He looked down, gripping his hands tightly together.
Tasuki was just as uncomfortable back in his chair. He looked away, quickly adding, "It's… it's okay, Chi-san."
Taikisei, after finished scolding the old man, turned back to the two seishi, completely oblivious to what had just happened. "Alright, we gonna' play or what?" He sat back down in his chair, quickly shuffling the cards. "I hope it's okay with you two that Nokorihashi is playing… I couldn't get him to go away."
Though neither of the two men really wanted to see the old man naked, there were worse things that could happen.
"Daijobu, na no da… it's fine."
Taikisei slid his chair all the way up to the table and started dealing out the cards, 13 cards to each of them.
Tasuki picked up his cards, staring intently at them. He didn't really want to admit to everyone that he was a terrible card player…
"Alright, pick three cards to pass to your left."
Tasuki looked over the cards in his hand. He had to pass three of them to Chichiri… He thumbed through them. Finally he picked out three and slid them across the table. He flinched when Chichiri's hand touched his, picking up the three cards.
He quickly brought his hand back, and then picked up the three cards that Nokorihashi passed him. Geez, these are terrible cards! Why'd he have to give me the Queen of Spades?
"Alright, I'm starting." Taikisei sat the 2 of clubs down in the middle of the table. Nokorihashi set down a king of clubs next to the 2. Tasuki hurriedly looked down at his cards, wondering what to play.
He decided to try and get rid of his highest cards first, so he set down his highest club, an 8. To his left, Chichiri set down an ace, so he took the cards.
Tasuki braced himself, wondering what the next suit would be. Chichiri set down a… spade. Oh noooo!!!!! The only spade I have is the Queen!!!
He nervously watched as Taikisei and Nokorihashi set down their guards, and stared helplessly when they both set down lower cards than a Queen. Why me why me why me?!?
Tasuki gulped, and set down the Queen. Taikisei let out a little snicker as Tasuki reluctantly took the cards, setting them off to the side.
I'm gonna' lose, I'm gonna' lose, I'm gonna' lose!!! He stared down at his cards, waiting for the next person to go.
"Um… Tasuki-kun, no da. You have to put down a card."
Tasuki jumped up. "Oh yeah…" He grinned sheepishly, and then down a 6 of clubs. He watched as Nokorihashi took the newly formed pile of cards. Sure, the cards he has to take don't give him any points.
The four of them continued putting down cards and following suits until Tasuki finally broke hearts. Then, it started to get hard.
First a two, then a five, then a seven… Tasuki sighed in relief as the first round came to a close and he hadn't gotten anymore points.
Everybody counted up how many points they had gotten, and then Taikisei wrote down all their scores on a piece of paper. He went over the scores.
"Tasuki… you're losing." He gestured towards Tasuki.
"…yeah?"
"You've gotta' take off something."
The blush returned to Tasuki's face. "…. Okay…" He looked down at his feet, but then he felt better, seeing that he could just take off his boots.
He bent down and quickly slipped his left boot off his foot. He sat back up, a triumphant smile on his face. "Okay, I'm done."
Taikisei sighed, resting his head in his hands. "If you take off something like that, then you have to take off both of them."
Tasuki grumbled something to himself, but reluctantly he bent down and took off the other boot. He held up both his boots. "Happy now?"
Taikisei nodded, and then began passing everyone out 13 cards again. "'Member, this time we pass the cards to the right."
Everyone nodded, and then picked up their cards to see what they got. Tasuki looked down at his cards, and then picked up his three highest cards and slid them across the table to Nokorihashi.
He turned to face Chichiri so that he could get the three cards from him, and couldn't help but notice how fast Chichiri removed his hand from the cards as he passed them to him.
"Ooh, I start again." Taikisei said, putting the 2 of clubs back onto the table before Tasuki even had the chance to look at the cards he got.
"What the hell?!" Tasuki stood up, seeing the Queen of spades back in his possession. The other three players looked quite shock at his sudden outburst.
Tasuki coughed into his hand, feeling rather stupid. "Oh, um, sorry…" He sat back down, turning his attention back to the game. He noticed Chichiri giving him a worried look out of the corner of his eye, and he couldn't help but shrink a little lower in his chair.
"It's your turn, sonny." Nokorihashi looked at him anxiously.
Well, he's certainly into the game. Tasuki shot Nokorihashi a glare and then sat down his king of clubs next to the other two cards.
When Nokorihashi set down his 2 of spades next, Tasuki noticed in relief that he had more spades besides the queen. He would have sworn the whole game was rigged in some way if the same thing happened this time as did the last time.
The game went on for a bit, and this time it was Chichiri who broke hearts. Tasuki sighed in frustration as he took the ace of hearts from the middle of the table. Why oh why did he always end up getting the first points?
His worry increased as more and more hearts seemed to magically appear in his point pile. Was he really that bad at this game?
He stared down at the last card left in his hand, the Queen of spades. He closed his eyes and set it down on the table. When he opened them, he saw Nokorihashi slide the cards his way.
"NOOOOO!!!!! Why is this happening to me?!" Tasuki shot up from the table.
"I guess it's just the luck of the game, sonny." Nokorihashi said with his usual smile.
"Wait a minute, no da… none of us have any hearts…"
All of them were quiet when they noticed this. They stared at the pile of cards that had developed next to where Tasuki sat.
"Oh no… he shot the moon…" Taikisei slumped down on the table.
Tasuki seemed very confused. "I… I did?" He picked up the point cards he had collected, staring at them. "I did!!!!!"
The three other players sighed disappointedly as Tasuki began to dance happily. "So, where does that put the standings, no da?"
Taikisei reluctantly added 26 points to each of their scores and then added it all up. "Aw man… that puts me in the rear. Guess that means I gotta' take off something."
Taikisei folded his arms around his waist and then pulled off his shirt, revealing a white undershirt underneath. He tossed the shirt off to the side and then returned to the pile of cards, which he began to once more deal out.
"You can sit down now, Tasuki-kun, no da." Chichiri sweat-dropped as Tasuki dropped back down in his chair, a huge smile spread across his face.
"I guess that just shows you guys, huh? Who's the better player here?"
Nobody said anything as they picked up their cards. Tasuki eyed his eagerly. "Wait a minute, who do I pass to this time?"
"You pass across." Taikisei said before sliding three cards across to Tasuki.
"Oh yeah, I knew that." Tasuki once again slid his three highest cards, and was very relieved when he saw that he didn't get the Queen of spades.
At first, nobody did anything. "Um… who has the 2 of clubs?"
Tasuki looked at his cards. "Oh! I do!" Tasuki set the card on the table and waited while everybody else put their cards on top of it.
The next few games went a lot faster, and were better for Tasuki at least. Chichiri didn't have it so lucky, he lost all three of them.
"Daaa…." Chichiri sighed as he carefully took off his kesa, folding it before setting beside his other discarded garments. "Why do I always lose?"
Tasuki's face began to redden some more as he began to realize what would happen if Chichiri kept losing. He'll be… he'll be…
His thoughts were interrupted as Taikisei passed out the next set of cards. Tasuki tried to tell himself that everything would turn out alright, but… he didn't really believe himself.
Tasuki got a ton of points on the next game, which was probably a result of his poor concentration, but Chichiri was still losing. Tasuki blushed even more as Chichiri reluctanly took off his shirt, putting it in his ever- growing pile of clothes.
Both Nokorihashi and Taikisei thought it rather off that Tasuki seemed to be blushing even more than Chichiri, even though it was Chichiri that had to take off something.
Tasuki was finding it now very hard to concentrate, with this shirt-less Chichiri sitting right next to him. He found his eyes wandering over to him in the middle of the games, and he had to almost slap himself to stop.
It was no big surprise then when Tasuki soon had more points than Chichiri, and he had to start taking off clothes. He watched as his pile of clothes on the floor grew larger than Chichiri's. Of course, he had more layers than Chichiri… but the room was definitely starting to feel colder.
Well, it would have felt colder to Tasuki if he hadn't been blushing so hard. Because now, five games later, he sat wearing nothing except his underwear.
Everyone in the room was starting to get very uncomfortable because they knew that Tasuki was going to lose the next game too, he was too far behind to not lose, and they knew the only thing left to come off was…
Chichiri felt like he was on fire. He looked down at his hands, at his cards, at the walls, anywhere to not be looking at Tasuki. His mind kept picking out little details on Tasuki's body: the curve of his back, the muscles in his arms… basically, just how bea-… no, he wouldn't say it. He wouldn't say it.
The final round of the game came to a close, and everybody stared intently as Taikisei added up the points. They all knew what he would say, they just wanted to hear it out loud.
"Well… Tasuki. You're… last again, I guess. There really wasn't any way you could have caught up in the first place." Taikisei shifted uncomfortably in his chair. He had thought they would finish the game before anyone had to… you know…
Everybody looked at Tasuki, whose face turned bright red once again. I have to… I have to… and in front of Chichiri!! I can't do this! I just can't!
He stood up, gripping the sides of his underwear with his hands. He closed his eyes, not really believing he was about to do this.
Chichiri couldn't take his eyes off Tasuki. He watched him there, shaking, holding on to his underwear as if they were his lifeline. He's really going to do it! I'll see him… all of him…
Tasuki held his breath, and then slid them down his legs as fast as he could. It was so silent in the room you could have heard a pin drop.
Chichiri sucked in his breath, not able to breathe. Oh Suzaku oh Suzaku oh Suzaku…
Tasuki stood there, visibly shaking. Finally, he just lost it. He ran out of the room, not caring that he was running out into the hall where about a dozen other inn residents were standing.
Chichiri could hear Tasuki's footsteps running to their room, but he didn't really hear them. The only thing in his head right now was the picture of Tasuki standing there… with nothing on. He sat there, not saying a word.