Here We Go Again
Chapter twoooooo
3/29/03
Yay, thank you for the reviews I've received so far, you guys rock! I do have a question though: what is a 'beta-reader' and how would I go about getting/finding/using one? Thanks! ( ****
"Chichiri! Chichiri, damnit, wake up!"
Chichiri groaned and opened his eyes, then closed them again when a splitting pain burst into his head. Tasuki was kneeling beside him, one hand on Chichiri's back, another on his arm as he tried helping him to a sitting position.
"Damn, man, I thought you were dead," Tasuki said, relieved.
"Not yet, no da," Chichiri muttered, raising himself to a sitting position. Chichiri opened his eyes again, slower this time, and was relieved that the pain in his head was gradually starting to fade. His hand when to the back of his neck and felt a small lump forming on the back of his head. He hissed as his fingers gently brushed by the lump, then brought his hand away from his neck as he spotted the palace doctor entering the room, carrying his little pouch of medicines. Chichiri looked around and found the prison chamber filled with guards, but the two he'd frozen were nowhere in sight.
The doctor spotted Tasuki and Chichiri sitting in the corner and rushed over to them, stopping short when his eyes found Chichiri's jagged scar. Chichiri looked up at the doctor curiously, not sure what was causing the doctor's face to twist like that until he felt a nudge beside him and saw Tasuki holding his mask.
"Here," Tasuki said, handing the mask to Chichiri, who quickly put it on. "It must've fallen off when she hit you," Tasuki mumbled as an explanation.
Chichiri looked up at the doctor, who now looked more ready to offer his services. Walking to him, the doctor knelt down behind Chichiri and hmm-ed at the sight of the lump on his head. "Well, she has quiet an arm, doesn't she?" asked the doctor, chuckling. Tasuki rolled his eyes at the doctor's joke.
"Doctor?" Chichiri asked, jumping a bit as the doctor poked at Chichiri's injury, "why was the girl being kept in here, no da?"
"I thought she might be dangerous," said the doctor, applying an ointment to the back of Chichiri's neck, causing him to jump again. "And it appears I was right."
"I don't think so," said Chichiri softly. "She didn't hit me in anger. She felt that she was defending herself, she thought I was going to hurt her."
"Were you?" the doctor asked nonchalantly.
"What the hell kind of question is that?!" Tasuki yelled.
The doctor shrugged. "He obviously wanted to get in here," the doctor replied, "even going to such lengths as to freeze two guards." Chichiri's eyes turned to the doorway and he could see out on the lamp-lit walkway the two guards still frozen there. A number of other guards stood around them, poking at the frozen guards and laughing. 'I should probably get away from here before unfreezing them,' Chichiri thought.
Chichiri shrugged the doctor's hand off his neck and said seriously, "I saw no reason for her to be locked up in here like she was our enemy. No wonder she hit me, no da! It was wrong to put her in here and, as the decent man I think you are, you should have known that."
Chichiri could feel the doctor's anger at him, but his voice reflected none of it when he said cheerfully, "Well, there's nothing more I can do for this lump. You should probably stay here for a while and rest though."
"Stay locked up in here?" Tasuki shouted again. "Are ya out of yer mind?!" Chichiri wished Tasuki would stop yelling, it was making his head hurt.
"He might have a concussion," the doctor said, "and it would be best if he just stayed where he was."
Tasuki and the doctor began arguing over Chichiri's health condition, causing Chichiri's head to throb. The balding doctor's face turned red as Tasuki told him to go do something to himself (Heh, oh yeah, you know what I mean ().
'Okay, enough of this,' Chichiri thought as he lurched to his feet. Tasuki jumped up beside him and grabbed his arm, steadying him. When the ground stopped spinning under Chichiri's feet, he said, "I'm fine, no da." Tasuki released his arm and Chichiri exited the room, skirting around the group of guards on the walkway.
The bandit and doctor eyed each other for a moment before Tasuki exited the room after Chichiri. Looking up and down the walkway, Tasuki was surprised to see that Chichiri had already disappeared. Shrugging his shoulders, Tasuki shoved his hands into his coat pockets and slunk off towards his room.
The doctor stood and went to the doorway, watching Tasuki walk away down the walkway. After a moment he turned left and was gone. The doctor raised his voice and said, "Alright, everyone, spread out and find the girl. When you have her, bring her directly to me, and, please, try to avoid the Suzaku warriors while doing this." The guards stared at him for a moment, before the doctor shouted, "GO!" The guards quickly cleared the room, leaving the doctor and the two frozen guards. The doctor walked up to the frozen men and spoke a few words under his breath. A green light enveloped the men and just as soon as it had appeared, it was gone, leaving two unfrozen and confused guards standing in the hallway. "The girl has escaped, go find her," the doctor said with an air of authority. The two guards, still slightly confused about how the blue-haired monk was gone and the doctor was now in front of them, nodded and briskly walked off down the hallway. The doctor watched them go, then turned and headed back to his chamber.
***
Chichiri stormed into his chamber, furious. Taking off his mask, he threw it onto his bed and took a seat in a cushioned chair. His muscles were tense, but he forced himself to relax, to calm his breathing. Chichiri bowed his head in thought. He needed to find the girl, before the guards did. He was sure the guards were out looking for her right now, thinking she was a criminal of some kind. Why were they putting such ideas into their heads? Shouldn't they have learned from their experience with Miaka that just because she was from another world didn't mean she was an enemy?
Chichiri sighed and stood up, holding onto the back of the chair as the floor settled underneath him. He knew he probably should be resting now, but . well, he'd be all right.
Grabbing his kesa from a table where it was laying, neatly folded, he wrapped it around himself. He grabbed his mask from his bed and put it on as he exited the room.
***
Tasuki stood by the railing of the walkway. He was too wired to go to bed now. Setting his hands on the railing, he leaned out into the night and looked up at the sky. The clouds were few and the full moon shone down brightly, illuminating the palace grounds below him. His amber eyes closed as he bowed his head, listening. He could hear frogs and insects chirping from the pond and birds settling down for the night. His fiery-red hair waved in the soft breeze.
Suddenly Tasuki's eyes flew open as his sensitive ears heard a noise behind him: a creak, or a footstep, moving through the shadows of the walkway. He listened to the faint shuffling of feet against the floor, the slight rustling of clothing. It had to be the girl, Tasuki was sure of it.
Tasuki straightened, making his movements casual. He listened as the girl drew closer, was almost directly behind him. Tasuki's muscles became tense as he debated whether to grab her, or to let her go. On the one hand, he sure as hell did not want to see her in the hands of the palace guards. Sure, they were okay and everything as far as guards went, but you put one drink into them and there was no telling what could happen. On the other hand, Tasuki thought, the girl had attacked on of his best friends and he was not happy about that, to put it lightly.
As Tasuki carried on his mental debate, he could hear that the girl was probably right behind him now. He decided he might as well let her go on. 'Hell, she's not my problem,' he thought.
Just then Tasuki heard another sound, a louder, more masculine sound.
"Girlie!" called a guard, obviously drunk. "Com'er, girlie!" A second guard called, "We'll not hurt you, we just want to play!" The two guards laughed
Tasuki looked up and watched as two fairly muscular men turned off one of the halls and started walking down the walkway towards him and the girl. 'Damn, change of plans,' he thought, deciding it might not be a good idea to leave the girl at the mercy of guards such as these.
Dashing across the walkway, Tasuki ducked into the shadows where the girl was hiding. Reaching out his hands, he caught the girl by her shoulders, stopping her from running out on to the walkway. He turned her so her back was to his stomach and clamped a warm hand over her mouth. She let out a squeak and fought against Tasuki's strong arms.
"Hold still, will ya?" Tasuki hissed into the girl's hair as he pressed his back against the palace wall, making sure the two of them were as hidden as possible. The girl continued to struggle against him and Tasuki whispered into her ear, "Look, I doubt you want to be taken into the custody of our two friends up there so please be still." Though Tasuki could still feel how tense her muscles were, he was relieved that she finally stopped moving. "Good," he said, "now keep quiet." Tasuki gently removed his hand from the girl's mouth, but kept his other arm wrapped tightly around her, pressing her to him.
Tasuki watched the two guards moving closer, swaying back and forth as they continued to giggle for no apparent reason. 'Damn, I thought I was the only one allowed to get plastered around here,' Tasuki thought.
As the guards staggered forward, Tasuki couldn't help but noticing the girl he held in his arms. He was nearly a foot taller than she, though he guessed that her strange shoes added at least an inch to her height. Her soft dark brown hair was cut short, no longer than her chin, and it tickled his nose and lips. She smelled a bit like the pond water she'd fallen into earlier that day and her clothing was still a bit damp-though if it was from the water or her own perspiration, he wasn't sure. He looked down at her clothing, at her small, form-fitting white shirt with no sleeves, and her baggy black pants. How those pants stayed on her slim hips without the aid of a belt was a mystery to him. She also wore a black bag that hung off her left shoulder and rested at her right hip.
The guards were closer now, much closer and Tasuki wondered how long he'd been staring at the girl. He watched as the girl's neck craned back and her eyes met his own. Tasuki's stomach did a flop under her intense gaze and he noticed that while her face had the same shape of Miaka's, her features were different.
"Who are you? Where am I?" she whispered.
Tasuki tore his eyes away from hers and watched the guards as one stumbled onto the other. The first guard laughed at the second and pushed him to his knees.
"Shhhh!" he hissed at her.
Tasuki felt the girl sigh and decided it would be all right to risk a short conversation, as long as the guards were making all their noise. "My name's Tasuki," he said quietly into her ear. "Now who are you?" He decided to refrain from asking the question of how the hell she'd got here, since she obviously didn't know either.
"My name's Anna," she said.
"Good. Now be quiet."
This time Anna didn't sigh as she watched the second guard climb to his feet. Together the two guards began walking towards them again. A slight shiver ran down Anna's back and Tasuki wondered if it was from the slight chill in the night air, or possibly from her fear of the two approaching guards. Tasuki watched her eyes widen as the guards were now only feet away from them. She pressed herself closer to him, and as she did so Tasuki's cheeks turned an alarming shade of red as she pressed against a certain sensitive area.
'Damnit, you're so slow!' Tasuki's mind shouted at the guards. Tasuki watched over the girl's head as the guards passed right by them, not even looking once in their direction. As they moved away, Tasuki's grip on Anna lessened. Leaning out of the shadows, Tasuki watched the guards turn down another hall and disappear. He leaned back against the palace wall, eyes closed and breathed a sigh of relief.
Opening his eyes, Tasuki cried out, seeing Chichiri's masked face inches from his own. Jumping away from Chichiri, Tasuki clutched his chest and yelled, "Damnit, Chichiri!"
"Sorry about that Tasuki, no da," said Chichiri, smiling.
Tasuki scowled at him. "Don't do that! I nearly had a heart attack!. what's wrong?" Tasuki asked, noticing a Chichiri's attention was being focused on something else.
Chichiri looked around and said, "Perhaps we should get off this walkway. I believe there are more guards coming this way, no da."
"C'mon, we'll go to my room," Tasuki said, walking off down the walkway in the direction the two drunken guards had gone.
Chichiri looked down Anna, still hiding in the shadows, and smiled at her. "Hello again," he said. Anna lowered her eyes, remembering how she'd injured him and followed Tasuki down the walkway.
Tasuki opened a random door to a well-lit bedroom and waited for Anna and Chichiri to enter before walking in and shutting and locking the door behind him.
Turning around, Tasuki leaned against the closed door and sighed. Looking to Chichiri, he asked, "Now what?"
***
Good question, Tasuki, I'm not sure. Review and we'll find out!
Yay, thank you for the reviews I've received so far, you guys rock! I do have a question though: what is a 'beta-reader' and how would I go about getting/finding/using one? Thanks! ( ****
"Chichiri! Chichiri, damnit, wake up!"
Chichiri groaned and opened his eyes, then closed them again when a splitting pain burst into his head. Tasuki was kneeling beside him, one hand on Chichiri's back, another on his arm as he tried helping him to a sitting position.
"Damn, man, I thought you were dead," Tasuki said, relieved.
"Not yet, no da," Chichiri muttered, raising himself to a sitting position. Chichiri opened his eyes again, slower this time, and was relieved that the pain in his head was gradually starting to fade. His hand when to the back of his neck and felt a small lump forming on the back of his head. He hissed as his fingers gently brushed by the lump, then brought his hand away from his neck as he spotted the palace doctor entering the room, carrying his little pouch of medicines. Chichiri looked around and found the prison chamber filled with guards, but the two he'd frozen were nowhere in sight.
The doctor spotted Tasuki and Chichiri sitting in the corner and rushed over to them, stopping short when his eyes found Chichiri's jagged scar. Chichiri looked up at the doctor curiously, not sure what was causing the doctor's face to twist like that until he felt a nudge beside him and saw Tasuki holding his mask.
"Here," Tasuki said, handing the mask to Chichiri, who quickly put it on. "It must've fallen off when she hit you," Tasuki mumbled as an explanation.
Chichiri looked up at the doctor, who now looked more ready to offer his services. Walking to him, the doctor knelt down behind Chichiri and hmm-ed at the sight of the lump on his head. "Well, she has quiet an arm, doesn't she?" asked the doctor, chuckling. Tasuki rolled his eyes at the doctor's joke.
"Doctor?" Chichiri asked, jumping a bit as the doctor poked at Chichiri's injury, "why was the girl being kept in here, no da?"
"I thought she might be dangerous," said the doctor, applying an ointment to the back of Chichiri's neck, causing him to jump again. "And it appears I was right."
"I don't think so," said Chichiri softly. "She didn't hit me in anger. She felt that she was defending herself, she thought I was going to hurt her."
"Were you?" the doctor asked nonchalantly.
"What the hell kind of question is that?!" Tasuki yelled.
The doctor shrugged. "He obviously wanted to get in here," the doctor replied, "even going to such lengths as to freeze two guards." Chichiri's eyes turned to the doorway and he could see out on the lamp-lit walkway the two guards still frozen there. A number of other guards stood around them, poking at the frozen guards and laughing. 'I should probably get away from here before unfreezing them,' Chichiri thought.
Chichiri shrugged the doctor's hand off his neck and said seriously, "I saw no reason for her to be locked up in here like she was our enemy. No wonder she hit me, no da! It was wrong to put her in here and, as the decent man I think you are, you should have known that."
Chichiri could feel the doctor's anger at him, but his voice reflected none of it when he said cheerfully, "Well, there's nothing more I can do for this lump. You should probably stay here for a while and rest though."
"Stay locked up in here?" Tasuki shouted again. "Are ya out of yer mind?!" Chichiri wished Tasuki would stop yelling, it was making his head hurt.
"He might have a concussion," the doctor said, "and it would be best if he just stayed where he was."
Tasuki and the doctor began arguing over Chichiri's health condition, causing Chichiri's head to throb. The balding doctor's face turned red as Tasuki told him to go do something to himself (Heh, oh yeah, you know what I mean ().
'Okay, enough of this,' Chichiri thought as he lurched to his feet. Tasuki jumped up beside him and grabbed his arm, steadying him. When the ground stopped spinning under Chichiri's feet, he said, "I'm fine, no da." Tasuki released his arm and Chichiri exited the room, skirting around the group of guards on the walkway.
The bandit and doctor eyed each other for a moment before Tasuki exited the room after Chichiri. Looking up and down the walkway, Tasuki was surprised to see that Chichiri had already disappeared. Shrugging his shoulders, Tasuki shoved his hands into his coat pockets and slunk off towards his room.
The doctor stood and went to the doorway, watching Tasuki walk away down the walkway. After a moment he turned left and was gone. The doctor raised his voice and said, "Alright, everyone, spread out and find the girl. When you have her, bring her directly to me, and, please, try to avoid the Suzaku warriors while doing this." The guards stared at him for a moment, before the doctor shouted, "GO!" The guards quickly cleared the room, leaving the doctor and the two frozen guards. The doctor walked up to the frozen men and spoke a few words under his breath. A green light enveloped the men and just as soon as it had appeared, it was gone, leaving two unfrozen and confused guards standing in the hallway. "The girl has escaped, go find her," the doctor said with an air of authority. The two guards, still slightly confused about how the blue-haired monk was gone and the doctor was now in front of them, nodded and briskly walked off down the hallway. The doctor watched them go, then turned and headed back to his chamber.
***
Chichiri stormed into his chamber, furious. Taking off his mask, he threw it onto his bed and took a seat in a cushioned chair. His muscles were tense, but he forced himself to relax, to calm his breathing. Chichiri bowed his head in thought. He needed to find the girl, before the guards did. He was sure the guards were out looking for her right now, thinking she was a criminal of some kind. Why were they putting such ideas into their heads? Shouldn't they have learned from their experience with Miaka that just because she was from another world didn't mean she was an enemy?
Chichiri sighed and stood up, holding onto the back of the chair as the floor settled underneath him. He knew he probably should be resting now, but . well, he'd be all right.
Grabbing his kesa from a table where it was laying, neatly folded, he wrapped it around himself. He grabbed his mask from his bed and put it on as he exited the room.
***
Tasuki stood by the railing of the walkway. He was too wired to go to bed now. Setting his hands on the railing, he leaned out into the night and looked up at the sky. The clouds were few and the full moon shone down brightly, illuminating the palace grounds below him. His amber eyes closed as he bowed his head, listening. He could hear frogs and insects chirping from the pond and birds settling down for the night. His fiery-red hair waved in the soft breeze.
Suddenly Tasuki's eyes flew open as his sensitive ears heard a noise behind him: a creak, or a footstep, moving through the shadows of the walkway. He listened to the faint shuffling of feet against the floor, the slight rustling of clothing. It had to be the girl, Tasuki was sure of it.
Tasuki straightened, making his movements casual. He listened as the girl drew closer, was almost directly behind him. Tasuki's muscles became tense as he debated whether to grab her, or to let her go. On the one hand, he sure as hell did not want to see her in the hands of the palace guards. Sure, they were okay and everything as far as guards went, but you put one drink into them and there was no telling what could happen. On the other hand, Tasuki thought, the girl had attacked on of his best friends and he was not happy about that, to put it lightly.
As Tasuki carried on his mental debate, he could hear that the girl was probably right behind him now. He decided he might as well let her go on. 'Hell, she's not my problem,' he thought.
Just then Tasuki heard another sound, a louder, more masculine sound.
"Girlie!" called a guard, obviously drunk. "Com'er, girlie!" A second guard called, "We'll not hurt you, we just want to play!" The two guards laughed
Tasuki looked up and watched as two fairly muscular men turned off one of the halls and started walking down the walkway towards him and the girl. 'Damn, change of plans,' he thought, deciding it might not be a good idea to leave the girl at the mercy of guards such as these.
Dashing across the walkway, Tasuki ducked into the shadows where the girl was hiding. Reaching out his hands, he caught the girl by her shoulders, stopping her from running out on to the walkway. He turned her so her back was to his stomach and clamped a warm hand over her mouth. She let out a squeak and fought against Tasuki's strong arms.
"Hold still, will ya?" Tasuki hissed into the girl's hair as he pressed his back against the palace wall, making sure the two of them were as hidden as possible. The girl continued to struggle against him and Tasuki whispered into her ear, "Look, I doubt you want to be taken into the custody of our two friends up there so please be still." Though Tasuki could still feel how tense her muscles were, he was relieved that she finally stopped moving. "Good," he said, "now keep quiet." Tasuki gently removed his hand from the girl's mouth, but kept his other arm wrapped tightly around her, pressing her to him.
Tasuki watched the two guards moving closer, swaying back and forth as they continued to giggle for no apparent reason. 'Damn, I thought I was the only one allowed to get plastered around here,' Tasuki thought.
As the guards staggered forward, Tasuki couldn't help but noticing the girl he held in his arms. He was nearly a foot taller than she, though he guessed that her strange shoes added at least an inch to her height. Her soft dark brown hair was cut short, no longer than her chin, and it tickled his nose and lips. She smelled a bit like the pond water she'd fallen into earlier that day and her clothing was still a bit damp-though if it was from the water or her own perspiration, he wasn't sure. He looked down at her clothing, at her small, form-fitting white shirt with no sleeves, and her baggy black pants. How those pants stayed on her slim hips without the aid of a belt was a mystery to him. She also wore a black bag that hung off her left shoulder and rested at her right hip.
The guards were closer now, much closer and Tasuki wondered how long he'd been staring at the girl. He watched as the girl's neck craned back and her eyes met his own. Tasuki's stomach did a flop under her intense gaze and he noticed that while her face had the same shape of Miaka's, her features were different.
"Who are you? Where am I?" she whispered.
Tasuki tore his eyes away from hers and watched the guards as one stumbled onto the other. The first guard laughed at the second and pushed him to his knees.
"Shhhh!" he hissed at her.
Tasuki felt the girl sigh and decided it would be all right to risk a short conversation, as long as the guards were making all their noise. "My name's Tasuki," he said quietly into her ear. "Now who are you?" He decided to refrain from asking the question of how the hell she'd got here, since she obviously didn't know either.
"My name's Anna," she said.
"Good. Now be quiet."
This time Anna didn't sigh as she watched the second guard climb to his feet. Together the two guards began walking towards them again. A slight shiver ran down Anna's back and Tasuki wondered if it was from the slight chill in the night air, or possibly from her fear of the two approaching guards. Tasuki watched her eyes widen as the guards were now only feet away from them. She pressed herself closer to him, and as she did so Tasuki's cheeks turned an alarming shade of red as she pressed against a certain sensitive area.
'Damnit, you're so slow!' Tasuki's mind shouted at the guards. Tasuki watched over the girl's head as the guards passed right by them, not even looking once in their direction. As they moved away, Tasuki's grip on Anna lessened. Leaning out of the shadows, Tasuki watched the guards turn down another hall and disappear. He leaned back against the palace wall, eyes closed and breathed a sigh of relief.
Opening his eyes, Tasuki cried out, seeing Chichiri's masked face inches from his own. Jumping away from Chichiri, Tasuki clutched his chest and yelled, "Damnit, Chichiri!"
"Sorry about that Tasuki, no da," said Chichiri, smiling.
Tasuki scowled at him. "Don't do that! I nearly had a heart attack!. what's wrong?" Tasuki asked, noticing a Chichiri's attention was being focused on something else.
Chichiri looked around and said, "Perhaps we should get off this walkway. I believe there are more guards coming this way, no da."
"C'mon, we'll go to my room," Tasuki said, walking off down the walkway in the direction the two drunken guards had gone.
Chichiri looked down Anna, still hiding in the shadows, and smiled at her. "Hello again," he said. Anna lowered her eyes, remembering how she'd injured him and followed Tasuki down the walkway.
Tasuki opened a random door to a well-lit bedroom and waited for Anna and Chichiri to enter before walking in and shutting and locking the door behind him.
Turning around, Tasuki leaned against the closed door and sighed. Looking to Chichiri, he asked, "Now what?"
***
Good question, Tasuki, I'm not sure. Review and we'll find out!