Drowning Sorrows
Tasuki pushed opened the door to the bar, looking forward to getting drunk as he possibly could. After all the shit that had happened in the past week, he needed it. He didn't even care what bar it was, as long as they had some good sake. 'I wish Kouji was here.' he thought glumly. It was more fun getting drunk if you had someone getting just as drunk with you.

"I'll take another no da."

Tasuki froze, mid step. That voice... using 'oira'... in a bar? It couldn't be! Slowly, he turned. "Shit." Tasuki swore softly.

The blue haired seishi was sitting at the bar, the stools on either side of him vacent, a small neat row of glasses lined up next to him.

The bandit blinked a few times. Chichiri was--- drinking?

"Are you just going to stare or are you going to sit?" the monk asked in a low, soft voice.

Tasuki walked quietly to the bar and sat next to the blue haired man, feeling awkward. "Chichiri--" he began, hesitant. He could see the seishi's eye was dull and vacant looking. "What are you doing here?" he finally asked.

"The same thing you are," the monk replied as he began idly playing with the row of glasses beside him, stacking them on top of each other, unstacking them again, and repeating the process. "Trying to get drunk."

The bartender silently placed another glass in front of the depressed seishi and quickly walked back to the other end of the bar.

Tasuki watched, eyes wide, as the monk lifted the glass and drank most of the dark coloured liquid inside of it.

The blue haired man looked gloomily into the glass as he swirled the remaining liquid around in a circular motion. "Isn't that what bars are for?" he asked softly before finishing the drink. He placed the glass at the end of the unstacked row and lifted his arm to order another.

"Don't." The bandit instructed, pushing the monk's arm back down.

Chichiri's eye, dulled and depressed, connected with the redheads for a moment, then, turning away, he pulled his arm away from Tasuki's restraining grip. "Why are you stopping me?" he asked softly.

"'Cause you've had enough," Tasuki replied.

"No I haven't," Chichiri muttered. "I'm not drunk yet."

"And I'm not lettin' ya get drunk, baka!" The bandit retorted.

Chichiri looked up at the red head as he continued. "If you get drunk, you're gonna get hung over, and I don't wanna hear ya complaining in the morning when I'm hung over!"

The blue haired seshi smiled faintly.

"And besides, you've probably never gotten drunk before---"

"I have." the monk replied softly. "I got drunk once before--"

Tasuki's eyes went wide.

"After--" Chichiri closed his eye in pain, his voice taking on an odd quality as he continued. "After the flood."

"The flood?"

Chichiri nodded, his eye still closed.

There was a pause. "Did you want to talk about it?"

The blue haired man shook his head silently.

"It's because of yesterday, isn't it?" Tasuki asked softly.

The monk nodded slowly. "It was like it was happening all over again," he said in a near whisper, "and I couldn't stop it. And he was there, watching me, smiling, as the majin took that part of me and put it in control..."

There was an awkward silence as Tasuki tried to come up with something to say that would help. "I don't know what happened, but I know it can't help trying to drown your sorrows--"
He was cut off as Chichiri spun around and grabbed the bandit's trench coat, his eye wide. "You don't understand!" the monk cried out, his voice shaking as a tear slid down his face, passing over the edge of his scar. "I tried to do that before!" He suddenly left go of the startled bandit, and hung his head limply, his bangs covering his face as he repeated softly: "..I tried to.."

." 'Kuso.' Tasuki thought. He wasn't helping things any, was he? Reaching into his pocket, he grabbed a few coins and dropped them onto the bar. "C'mon, we're going back." he rose to his feet, placing a hand on the monk's shoulder.

Chichiri slowly got to his feet and allowed himself to be led from the bar and back to his room. Tasuki make sure the monk wasn't going anywhere, and quickly walked down the hall to Mitsukake's room.

"Oi, Mitsukake? I need yer help here."

The healer opened the door and looked at the redhaired seishi with concern. "What's wrong?"

"Chichiri. I found him in a bar. He's in his room."

The tall man nodded, then walked down the hallway. Knocking softly on the door he opened it, entered the room and closed the door behind him.

Giving a sigh, Tasuki crossed the hallway to his own room and located the bottle of sake he kept as reserve. There was no way he was going back out to the bars tonight.
A few hours later, there was a knock on his door.

"Is he all right?" Tasuki asked as Mitsukake sat down.

The older man nodded. "He's sleeping."

"Well? What happened?"

"He asked me about Shoka," the healer replied, "and about what happened when you and the others came to my village."

"Did he tell you anything about what was buggin' him?"

Mitsukake shook his head. "He said he didn't want to talk about it, that it was something from his past. I gave him a special herbal tea mixture that should help him feel better, and cure any hangover he might get." The big man yawned as he stood up. "I'm sure he'll be fine, Tasuki, don't worry too much."

The bandit nodded.
"Oi, Chichiri?" Tasuki knocked on the monk's door the next morning, mildly uneasy. Even though Mitsukake had said not to worry, he had had an uneasy sleep worrying about his friend.

"Hai no da!" Came a cheerful reply. "Matte kudasai no da!"

A few moments later, Chichiri opened the door, his mask smiling. "What is it no da, Tasuki-kun?"

Tasuki felt a huge sigh of relief. Chichiri seemed to be back to normal. "I was just checkin' ta see if you were are right." he replied.

"Hai no da!" The monk smiled. "Oh, Tasuki-kun." Chichiri walked over to his desk and retrieved a few coins. Removing his mask, he placed the coins in Tasuki's hand. "Arigato." he smiled. Then replacing the mask, he asked cheerfully, "Shall we go no da?"