HOW TO ATTRACT BLUE-HAIRED MONKS (6/?)
BY : Chikki

Well, here's the sixth part, no da. I'm really sorry that it took so long. (^_^;) Anyway, this ficcie is almost done. I think it would need around one or two more chapters, no da. ^_^

Warnings Tasuki has a _VERY_ impressive vocabulary of official "bandit" words, no da…so it's PG 13 for swearing…oh…and some yaoi too,na no da. (^_^)
Disclaimer Not mine. Never will be,na no da.



"I still can't believe he called me Tas-chan AND that he actually told me that he likes sunrises!" Tasuki said happily, all the while piling food on his plate.

It was now midmorning and Tasuki and Chiriko had spent all the time since "Chichiri Encounter #1" (as Tasuki had dubbed it) roaming around the palace. But just a few minutes ago, Chiriko had started complaining that he was hungry. So after much arguing and swearing and threats of using a certain tessen, the two seishi had made their way to the palace kitchen and had started raiding all the food within.

Tasuki's hand-eye coordination was not really at it's best so the food he attempted to place on his plate ended up on the floor. What's more, he was also declaring everything that had just happened between him and Chichiri in a very large voice,much to the amusement of the palace chefs on duty.

"He sat right next to me, Chiriko! Right NEXT to me!" the older seishi said, amber eyes lighting up with each moment with Chichiri that he remembered. "…and he grabbed my face too!"

Chiriko looked on with mild interest as the bandit took no notice of his overflowing plate and continued piling on the food. "So he did, Tasuki-san."

The red-haired seishi grinned in reply. In a solemn voice, he looked up and declared, "From now on, I am going to watch the sunrise as well! I shall wake up early and never sleep in again!"

This comment earned Tasuki a snort from one of the palace chefs currently eavesdropping on their conversation. Tasuki heard it and turned around to glare at the culprit. He growled. "Whad'dya think 'yer snortin' at?"

Said palace chef simply smiled knowingly and shook his head. "Nothing, Tasuki-sama. Nothing at all." And he turned away, trying to stifle the laughter that was threatening to overcome him at any time. One could hardly blame him, of course. The questionable relationship that Tasuki and Chichiri shared was one of the palace staff's more popular topic of conversation, and he was rather enthralled to learn something new about it.

Tasuki growled at the chef before turning back to placing more food on his plate. "Damned cook. Eavesdroppin' I bet. Wait 'til he comes back, I'll flame his sorry ass for listenin' in on us like that!"

"Tasuki!" Chiriko cried out, snatching the plate away from Tasuki's hands. "If you continue piling on more food, the surface of the floor will be more satisfied of hunger than you will be!"

The other seishi, however, didn't seem to be listening at all. His brow was scrunched up in deep thought. "But if I use my fan on that chef…"

Glaring at the older man, Chiriko scraped off the mountain of food on Tasuki's plate down to a considerable size before handing it back to the bandit, who had scarcely noticed that his plate had been taken at all. "Once again, it is not a fan, it is a tessen, Tasuki-san." He muttered.

Tasuki's eyes grew large and watery. "The who is going to cook food for my Chiri-chan?!"

"Wow." Chiriko said, rolling his eyes. "It certainly is nice being payed absolutely no attention at all."

"…and if no one cooks food for my Chiri-chan, then he would fuckin' starve!"

"Oh, and what a dilemma that would be!" The younger seishi said in mock dread. He placed one of his hands to his forehead in a dramatic pose. "Whatever shall we do?"

Tasuki immediately dropped his plate, the clattering sound attracting the attention of everybody else in the kitchen.

Not noticing that the attention of every person in the room was focused on him, he grabbed Chiriko by the collar with both of his hands and shook him. "You're damned right! We need to be as ready as hell if anything like that happens!"

Chiriko looked at him in amusement. "So what you're saying is…"

"I'm saying that we should go and learn how to cook in case I ever DO find that sneaky chef and flame him! Then Chiri-chan will never go hungry!"

There was a long, tense moment of silence as everybody waited for the outcome of this bizarre situation.

Finally, after what had seemed to be forever, Chiriko shook his head in amusement and grinned. "Are you absolutely sure that you are not suffering from your hangover anymore, Tasuki-san?"

Tasuki looked down. It was a long time before he looked up again, and when he did, his expression was hard and determined. "I don't know, Chiriko." He said slowly. "I don't know what the hell has gotten into me and I don't know why I'm acting like this. I don't know anything anymore, but you know what, Chiriko?"

Almost afraid to ask, but feeling that he had to anyway, Chiriko took a bite from one of the sweets that he had managed to salvage from Tasuki's overloading plate and looked at the older seishi. "Er…what, Tasuki-san?"

A roguish grin spread across the bandit's face. "I don't give a damn." He turned around and grabbed one of the spare aprons that had been lying around.

Chiriko watched with widening eyes as the other began to tie the apron around his waist. "Tasuki-san, you're not serious, are you?"

"I've never been so serious in my entire fuckin' life." Tasuki said. He finished putting on the apron and tossed another one to Chiriko. "Here 'ya go. Put this on. I wouldn't want Mitsukake-kun comin' after me 'fer dirtying up your robes and stuff."

"You're worried about Mitsukake-kun?" the green-eyed seishi said, laughing lightly.

This time, it was Tasuki's turn to roll his eyes. "Yeah. That damned healer kept givin' me dark looks after the time that I took 'ya out hiking and we got lost and we slipped into that huge mud puddle. Remember that?"

Chiriko placed a hand on his chin thoughtfully for a while before brightening up and laughing some more. "Oh yes! He made you wash my robes, didn't he?"

Tasuki made a face and whacked the younger seishi lightly on the head. "He sure as hell did. Be happy that I like 'ya so much, 'else I would've forced 'ya to do your own damned washing."

"Hmm…are you sure that it was purely out of like for me that you agreed to do my laundry?"

Another blush was beginning to form on Tasuki's face, as the kitchen staff at work tried their hardest to ignore the conversation going on between the two seishi and failing. "Eh?" Tasuki asked, his face beet red. "Whad'dya mean this time?"

Chiriko whipped out a scroll from within the folds of his robe. "According to my records, at the time that you were doing my laundry, Chichiri-san was doing his laundry as well, too…AND you were in the same place that he was doing his laundry too!"

The redhead next to him shrugged. "So? That doesn't prove anything."

"Also, it was highly unusual for a lazy bandit such as yourself to suddenly agree to doing someone else's laundry when you hardly ever did your own ever since you set foot on the palace grounds." The child genius paused from his reading and looked up, an impish grin on his face. "Well, Tasuki-san?"

Chiriko laughed at the look on Tasuki's face. "C'mon Tasuki-san, I know about your obsession with Chichiri-san. You don't need to hide it from me!"

"Shut up!" Tasuki all but yelled, his face still a brilliant shade of red. But when the younger boy started rolling around the floor in laughter, even he could not stop the amused smile from spreading across his face, and he laughed. "Just put the damned apron on, Chiriko!"

"But why am I doing this too?" Chiriko complained good-naturedly, securing the apron around his waist as well. "I'm not the one who's head over heels in love with Chichiri-san!"

"Well, you wanted to stick around with me and learn how I go about bein' in love, didn't 'ya?"

Chiriko nodded rather reluctantly. "Hai."

Tasuki smirked in triumph. "So you're goin' to have to go through this traumatic experience with me!" Placing his hands on his hips, he looked around the palace kitchen, noticing that everyone was staring at both him and Chiriko. He glared. "What're y'all looking at? Nothing to see here!"

Everyone hastily went back to their respective jobs, and Tasuki tapped the nearest cook on the shoulder. "Hey you. Me and Chiriko here-"

"Chiriko and I, Tasuki-san." Chiriko quickly cut in. "Saying Chiriko and me isn't really grammatically correct. The correct form would be Chiriko and I."

"Fine!" Tasuki said, sighing. He tapped the chef on the shoulder again. "Chiriko and I want 'ta ask 'fer 'yer help!"

The chef did not answer and Tasuki frowned, his temper beginning to break in. "Hey! I'm talkin' to 'ya!"

Still no response.

Now thoroughly frustrated, Tasuki took the chef by both shoulders and spun him around. "Now you listen 'ta me! I'm on a mission to save a monk, and a very kawaii one at that, from starvation! If you're not goin' 'ta help-" Suddenly, realization dawned upon the bandit and his eyes narrowed to angry slits. "YOU!" he cried out. "You're the fuckin' cook that was eavesdroppin' on us earlier!"

The cook, who was a young boy of no more than fifteen years old, covered his face with his arms and cried out. "Please don't burn me with your tessen, Tasuki-sama! I promise not to do anything else that may offend you in any way for as long as I live!"

Tasuki raised an eyebrow and loosened the grip that he had placed on his tessen. "Uh…sure, kid. Whatever 'ys say." He helped the other boy up. "What's 'yer name, kid?"

The youth brushed away some of the dark stands of hair that had fallen into his line of vision during his moment of terror with Tasuki's Almighty Tessen. "Kazumi."

"Kazumi-san?" Chiriko said tentatively, coming out from his place behind Tasuki and extended a hand in greeting. "I'm Chiriko, and this is Tasuki-san. You best better excuse his impoliteness, but we would really appreciate it if you could teach us how to cook."

Kazumi looked from one seishi to the other and noted the aprons tied around their waists. "Er..cook, Chiriko-sama?"

Chiriko sighed. "Yes. It seems that this is one of Tasuki's new goals in life and…" he leaned in so that Tasuki wouldn't hear what he was going to say. "He's simply using it as another way of attracting Chichiri-san's attention."

The other boy's eyes widened in realization and he smiled. "Ah! Well, in that case…" he looked at Tasuki. " I would be honored to help the two of you."

Tasuki whopped in delight and winked at Chiriko as they followed Kazumi into one of the more secluded areas of the kitchen so as not to be disturbed while they embark on heir journey of mastering the culinary arts. "See, Chiriko!" the bandit said gleefully.
"Lesson number two in attracting blue-haired monks! Make sure that they don't die out!"

Chiriko shook his head and glanced up again as Kazumi gestured them into what would be their learning area. He turned again to the older boy and bowed deeply. "Arigatou for taking the time to teach us, Kazumi-san. We are most grateful. Aren't we, Tasuki-san?"

Tasuki noted with amusement at the flush that appeared on the boy's cheeks on being in the presence of two of Suzaku's chosen ones. He started to laugh at the sheer ridiculousness of the entire situation but caught the look that Chiriko shot him and the bandit cleared his throat instead. "Er, yeah. We are both very thankful and all that shit. Now let's get started!"


TO BE CONTINUED

NOTES:: Now here is where I need your help! I wanted to lead up to Chiriko liking someone, but I couldn't decide who! (I was planning on Kazumi, but I don't think people would go for a yaoi pairing for young little Chiriko, so ...any suggestions?) Arigato no da and I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! ^___^