HOW TO ATTRACT BLUE-HAIRED MONKS (8/?)
BY : Chikki

Yey! After a _very_ long absence from the net, I am BACK! pumps fist into the air YEAH! Anyway, here's the eighth chapter and I'm really sorry that it took so long. I've got a lot of reading and catching up to do, but I decided to finish writing this chapter first and post it up before I did so. R+R PLEASE! is begging I need to know if people are still reading this, 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.



Drip.

Drip.

Drip.


Tasuki silently cursed under his breath as beads of sweat trailed down his chin and dripped onto the floor. 'K'so.'

He loosened the collar of his shirt a bit. Literally speaking, the room was getting too hot for him. The red-haired bandit did not know how long he had been crouching behind the table. However, he was sure that it had been a heck of a long time, because the last rays of the sun filtered in through the tiny window near the ceiling and bathed the entire room in a soft, orange glow.

With as much care as possible, Tasuki shifted his position as quietly as he could. It wasn't because his muscles were beginning to feel cramped or anything. Countless hours of spying on Chichiri in pretty much the same position had made his entire body immune to any kind of cramp that he could possibly feel. He had moved so that he could get nearer to the door where his other companions had exited earlier.

Growling, Tasuki bit his lower lip in annoyance. He was seriously pissed at Chiriko and Kazumi right now. He didn't understand how he, of all people, could have been caught in this kind of situation. One moment, he and Chiriko were trying to sneak out of the kitchen without being seen, and the next, he was completely abandoned and crouching behind the table, trying not to be caught by a certain monk that also happened to be the cause of the rapid cadence of his heartbeat right now. 'ARGH!' he yelled in his mind. 'I thought shit like this only happened to people like Nuriko!'

Suddenly, Tasuki could feel himself being lifted up against his own will. He forgot that he was supposed to keep quiet and exclaimed, "WHAT THE HELL!?" And before he could say anything else, the same mysterious force had begun to hurl him into a wall. Screaming profanities the whole time, Tasuki crashed into the wall at full speed.

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Meanwhile, in another part of the palace, Nuriko was talking quietly with Miaka when all of a sudden, he felt a part of his strength leave him. "Nani?"

Miaka looked at the purple-haired seishi in concern. "Nuriko-chan? What's wrong?"

Nuriko slowly shook his head, in attempt to calm his confusion. "Ah, it's nothing Miaka-chan…I just felt weird for a moment. Like, I just tossed Tasuki into a wall or something."

"But you didn't, did you?" The young girl asked, also confused.

"That's what's puzzling me." Nuriko said, frowning a bit as he raked his fingers through his hair. "
It's almost like I did it with my mind or something…"

An awed silence fell between the two of them for a while.

Finally, Miaka looked up, grinning wildly. "That is so cool!"

Nuriko smiled as well, a hand on his cheek. "Of course!" he said, giggling girlishly. "What else could you expect from me?"

And then, the two friends went back to talking and gossiping about everybody else in the palace as if nothing out of the ordinary had ever happened.

-----------------------------

"Tas-chan, no da…Wake up, na no da…"

Tasuki first opened his left eye, but he closed it again when the light in the room blinded him momentarily.

"Da…wake up, no da."

Someone was tapping his cheek gently. At first, Tasuki attempted to ignore the light tapping, but no matter how hard he tried, it wouldn't go away. Heaving a big sigh of irritation, Tasuki sat up quickly. "All right, all right already! I'm up! I'm up! Quit the tapping before I go fuckin' insane!"

There weren't a lot of people in the palace who possessed the sheer guts that were needed to wake him up, especially when he appeared to be enjoying his slumber extremely well. So, with eyes burning in exasperation but also with a hint of curiosity, Tasuki then turned around to see who had been brave enough to wake him up…and came face to face with Chichiri's mask.

"AHH!" Tasuki yelled, still not used to seeing people (or masks, for that matter) pop out of nowhere.

Chichiri moved back as well, startled by the other seishi's yell. "DAAA!"

"What the fuck?!"

"Da?"

"Chichiri?"

"Tas-chan, no da?"

"Chichiri??"

"Tasuki-chan, no da??"

"Chichiri!"

"Tasuki-chan, no da!"

Tasuki shook his head from side to side in confusion. That conversation sounded WAY too much like Tamahome and Miaka. They always sounded dull and monotonous to Tasuki, so he did not even want to think about how he and Chichiri had sounded like. Not that he would actually mind Chichiri saying his name over and over like that. He grinned widely.

"Tas-chan, no da?"

"Chichiri?" Right after he said this, Tasuki gritted his teeth and winced inwardly. Maybe saying each other's names came with being completely in love with one another. If so, then that was a good sign. If not, then both of them had been spending too much time around Tamahome and Miaka.

"Hai, no da?"

"Don't 'ya ever scare me like that again!" Tasuki yelled, using his shocked and confused state to cover up his raging heartbeat and his blush before Chichiri could notice.

"Gomen nasai, Tas-chan, no da!"

Tasuki sank down to the ground and, for the first time, took notice of his surroundings. "Where are we, anyway? And why are we still here if I've been out cold for the last few minutes?"

The monk sat down beside him and took off his mask. "We're in the unused kitchen, no da. The door has been locked, no da . You and Chiriko were taking culinary classes from Kazumi, na no da."

At this, the bandit looked away and blushed brightly. "Aw, hell. How'd 'ya find out about that?" Inside, he berated himself grumpily. Sure, his mission may have been to save kawaii blue-haired monks from starvation when he got the idea of learning how to cook in the first place. But the kawaii blue-haired monk that was to be rescued was not supposed to know that he was saving him from starvation! For Chichiri to know so would only result in humiliation for him! Tasuki did not want the other seishi to think even more lowly than what he probably thought of him now.

Chichiri smiled cheerfully. "I was hungry, no da."

And for one ridiculously long moment, Tasuki began to panic. Shit! I am such a failure! Now, because of me, he's going to starve! I faaaiiled!!!

By this time, Chichiri had noticed the wide range of emotions that had flashed through Tasuki's face in his moment of panic. He stood up and looked at the younger seishi in concern. "Tas-chan, no da? Are you oka-DAA!"

The last part was said because Tasuki had suddenly grabbed onto the bottom part of his legs and was now holding on to them like a lifeline. "Chiri! I am so sorry!" Tasuki was crying torrents now, much to the dismay of his blue-haired companion. "I didn't mean to fail 'ya but I still did and now you're going 'ta starve and I just want 'ya to know that I'm so sorry!!"

The other seishi sweatdropped. "Nani, no da?"

"You're an' all the other kawaii blue-haired monks are goin' to die out from starvation and it's gonna be all my fuckin' fault!"

"Da?" Chichiri looked around cautiously, glad that no one else could witness this somewhat embarrassing scene. Not that he was ashamed of Tasuki or anything. It was just that with nobody else around, he wouldn't have to try to look like he didn't enjoy having Tasuki grab him like that. Chichiri looked down at the mass of red hair that was spewed out across his flat stomach and he shivered slightly. Fortunately for him, Tasuki was still too busy ranting on incoherently to notice anything else.

"Demo…" the blue-haired seishi said cautiously, trying to search for the right words that would calm Tasuki. "I'm not hungry anymore, no da."

"I swear! I tried as hard as I could to fry that fish in just the right way, but it didn't work an' that fuckin' fish from hell still came out half-cooked! 'An I chopped up those damned vegetables with-" Tasuki's eyes suddenly widened and he released Chichiri's legs rather forcibly. "Wait…" His amber eyes narrowed suspiciously. "You're NOT hungry?"

"Iie, no da. While you were still unconscious, I ate most of the soup from that pot on the stove." To prove his point, Chicihri gestured towards the table which was indeed covered with empty soup bowls.

Tasuki sank back down to the ground in relief. "Oh."

Chichiri just smiled.

Then, realizing how stupid he had been acting, Tasuki blushed very hard and looked away from Chichiri as the latter sat next to him again. "Hey." He said very softly.

"Hai, no da?"

"Gomen ne for acting like a complete idiot back there." Tasuki said, still not looking at Chichiri so that the older man couldn't see the tomato red blush that graced his face.

Of course, because of Tasuki's very obvious attempts to hide his blush, Chichiri saw it and the monk caught himself thinking about how absolutely adorable Tasuki looked like when he blushed. Chichiri sighed dreamily. Like he was a little kid caught doing something that he shouldn't be doing, no da. He's absolutely adorable.

"What?"

Realizing that he had spoken that last thought out loud, Chichiri covered his mouth with his hand and looked away. Now, it was his turn to break out into a tomato red blush. "Nothing, no da." He said, though it came out muffled because of his hand.

Silence reigned over them for a few moments. Then they both began to speak at the same time.

"'Chiri, I just wanna say-"

"Tas-chan, no da, Why did you-"

Both of them stopped talking at the same time as well and looked away. Tasuki took out his tessen and began fidgeting with it nervously. Chichiri was smoothening out an imaginary wrinkle from his pants, his mask had been taken off a long time ago.

Silence again. From somewhere in the palace, they could hear Nuriko's laughter ringing out and occasionally, they would hear the shouts that Tamahome made when he was being attacked by Miaka for attempting to steal some of her stuff to sell at the local marketplace again.

Chichiri sighed and decided to take the uncomfortable situation into his own. hands. He was the older one, after all. Having decided to do so, he gathered all of his courage and tried to forget about the fact that he was talking to Tasuki dressed only in his pants. Chichiri took a deep breath, then cleared his throat, causing Tasuki to look at him.

"What?"

"Da. You were saying something about saving blue-haired monks, no da?" Chichiri tilted his head to one side and did his best to look like he wasn't hoping to hear what he wanted to hear from Tasuki.

Tasuki fidgeted with his tessen a little bit more, splaying it out and then folding it up again. "Uh-yeah. We wouldn't want them to die out, would we?" He laughed nervously.

"Ah." Chichiri said, nodding his head to show that he understood what the other seishi was saying when in actuality, he was becoming more confused by the minute. "Demo…I was assuming that I was the only blue-haired monk that you knew, no da." Here, he looked at Tasuki straight in the eye. "There are other blue-haired monks that you know, na no da?"

"Er, no." said the red-haired bandit. He screwed up his face as he thought. "Come to think of it, 'yer the only blue-haired monk that I know. For as far as I can remember, anyway. There was this one monk I met when I was still a kid though. But his hair wasn't blue."

The situation was going out of Chichiri's control, so he looked away from Tasuki and focused his gaze on the door instead. Hmm…Kazumi is taking a really long time in finding me a shirt, no da. It must have been an hour since he had left, na no da!

Chichiri sighed and hugged his knees to his chest. He was beginning to feel very uncomfortable. He was trapped in a locked room. With Tasuki. Half-naked.

"'Ya know..." Chichiri looked up as the bandit spoke, still not looking directly at Chichiri. "I was taking those cooking lessons 'fer 'ya."

"For me, no da?"

Tasuki nodded slightly, his head bowed down. "I know, it was probably a stupid thing 'ta do and I 'dun know why I did it, now that I think about it."

"Da."

"It doesn't matter now, anyway. I was still a failure and 'ya still didn't get anything from it." Tasuki stood up, so that his back was facing Chichiri.

Chichiri started laughing. The whole situation was strangely ridiculous yet amusing at the same time. A warm feeling began to spread throughout his entire body and he started to feel a little light-headed. Suddenly, the image of the bandit trying to cook for him in a frilly apron popped into his head and he laughed some more.

Tasuki looked at him sadly, biting his lower lip, obviously hurt by Chichiri's laughing at his intentions. "Yeah, pretty stupid, na?"

The monk quickly realized that he had hurt Tasuki's feelings and he stood up to face Tasuki, looking up slightly since the bandit was taller than he was. "Iie, Tas-chan, no da." He chuckled slightly. "I think that it was a very kawaii thing to do, na no da!"

"You…do?"

"Hai." Chichiri said smiling a bit, before suddenly rushing forward and closing the meager distance between them. Not knowing that he did so, he hugged the younger man to him tightly. He laughed. Tasuki always made him laugh and feel young again. He smiled and laughed more around Tasuki then he did with the other seishi. "Arigato, na no da!"

Tasuki couldn't move. He was literally rooted to the spot, his brain frantically ordering his hands to push Chichiri away before he did something that he would regret for the rest of his life. However, the feel of Chichiri's arms around him sort of made it hard for him to concentrate and his body was having trouble listening to his brain.

So instead of moving away like what he had planned to do, Tasuki grinned goofily and blurted out the first coherent thought that came out of his head. "I like flowers." Then, he instinctively leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss on Chichiri's forehead.

It was a few moments more before Tasuki realized what he had done. Shocked by this realization, he cautiously looked down, praying fervently that he hadn't scared the older man. "'Chiri?" he asked timidly.

Chichiri had not released his hold on Tasuki, which was a good sign, but the monk had turned his head away from him, preventing him from seeing Chichiri's face. The younger seishi did not know whether it meant that Chichiri was disgusted with him or if he was going to accept him, so he waited anxiously for the other to speak before doing anything.

Finally, Chichiri looked back up at him, his expression indiscernible. He still did not release his grip on Tasuki. "You know what, no da?"

Tasuki swallowed hard before answering. "What?" His voice shook and with trembling hands, he slowly placed them on the other's back.

Chichiri made no signs of moving away from Tasuki as he continued to stare into the other's eyes. "I like flowers too, na no da."

There was a very long moment of silence as the two contemplated the situation at hand. Tasuki coughed and smiled warily. "'Chiri?"

"Da?"

"Is something happenin' here?"

The other seishi laughed. "I have no idea, no da."

"Well, I'm having trouble breathing. That has to count 'fer somethin', right?"

"I guess so, Tasuki, no da."

"What happened 'ta 'yer callin' me Tas-chan?"

"Gomen ne, Tas-chan, no da."

No one said anything for a couple more minutes, each feeling very light-headed and deliriously happy that the other had not been disgusted by their actions. Then, Chichiri hesitantly released his hold on Tasuki.

"Tas-chan, no da?"

"Hai?"

Chichiri looked straight into the other's eyes. "I want to give you something, no da. Is it all right?"

Tasuki's eyes practically lit up. "Presents? Sure! I love getting presents!"

The older seishi shook his head in amusement. He took a deep breath and moved his face closer to Tasuki's. "Tasuki, I-"

"Yeah, 'Chiri?"

"I-"

Chichiri was cut off by a shout that pierced his ears. He looked over his shoulder sharply, half-expecting to see Miaka being attacked by another demon again. "Da?"

Tasuki pulled away from Chichiri, his face was beet-red but he looked determined. "Dammit, that was Chiriko!" The bandit rushed towards the door, his tessen in his hands.

"It's locked, no da!" Chichiri reminded him anxiously.

"Well, can't 'ya teleport?"

The older man shook his head. "My staff, my kasa and my kesa aren't with me, no da." He said, looking away in frustration.

"Not even 'yer prayer beads?"

Chichiri shook his head, feeling absolutely useless at the moment.

"Aw, it's all right." Tasuki said, giving him a slight smirk. He held up his tessen and winked at the other seishi. "Let's not forget that I have the tessen! Stand back, Chichiri!"

The monk obeyed him and stepped back a few paces to avoid getting burnt.

"REKKA SHINEN!!"

The door to the kitchen blazed brightly for a few seconds before it crumbled before their eyes. Tasuki casually stepped over the rubble and held out a hand to Chichiri to help him get across.

As they left the kitchen, first walking briskly before breaking out into a full run, Tasuki looked at the monk running beside him from the corner of his eye. I guess we'll have to finish our conversation later.



TO BE CONTINUED