Disclaimer: Fushigi Yuugi belongs to Yu Watase and not me. I'm only doing this for fun so please don't sue me.

Author's notes: I'm sorry it took a while to upload this chapter. I'm in the process of moving and to top it off, I'll be going back to school by next week. I'll try my best to update as often as I can in the following months. Again thanks to CJ for the help with this chapter. And thank you all for the additional reviews. Thanks Sanomi for putting me in your favorite list. Hope you all like the next chapter. Enjoy!

Chapter 9

Mei rode in silence as their group headed to Touran. They had been lucky enough to encounter a northern tribe of Hokkan's upon their arrival in the country yesterday. They were not only helpful in pointing them towards Touran, but they were also gracious enough to supply them with horses.

Mei sighed as she discreetly stole a glance at Tasuki. Chichiri looked back and slowed his horse until he too was at the back of the group with Mei.

"Mei, are you still upset with what happened at the ship?" the monk asked.

"No, not really," young women replied forlornly.

This time Chichiri was the one that sighed. "He didn't mean to come down that hard on you, no da. He was just worried."

"You think so." Her face lit up as hope rose within her, but quickly fell. "Then how come he's been avoiding me since yesterday?"

The seishi shook his head. "I told you before not to let his behavior fool you, no da. Apologizing doesn't come easy to Tasuki. I'm guessing his avoidance is a sign of guilt, no da." There was silence for a while before Chichiri spoke up again. "By the way, did Taiitsukun ever tell you where exactly in Hokkan is the shinzako located, no da?"

"No. You know she never tells me anything."

Up ahead Nuriko rode up to Tasuki and slapped him on the back. The bandit almost fell off his horse if not for his quick reflexes.

"Why the heck did you do that for?!"

"Oops, sorry," Nuriko replied with a gain. "I meant to just give you a tap on the back." The purple hair seishi grew serious when his friend failed to return a scathing remark. "So, what's on your mind Tasuki? You've been kinda quiet lately- which is a rarity for a loud mouth like you!"

Tasuki glared at Nuriko. "Why don't you just leave me alone."

"Oh come on, don't tell me you're still thinking about how badly you treated Mei after saving us all?" This earned him another glare from the red head. "Don't worry, she probably forgave you already. Besides, that's not what you should be worried about."

"I know, I know," Tasuki said irritably. "I should be concentrating more on our mission."

"Actually, what I was gonna say was that you better change your attitude soon or you might just lose her to Chichiri."

Nuriko saw Tasuki tense at this comment and knew that he finally had the red head's attention. With a mischievous smile Nuriko said, "In fact, I think I just saw Chichiri take a hold of Mei's hands back there."

"What?!" exclaimed Tasuki and quickly turned around. To his relief, the blue-haired monk had done no such thing. But the two did seem to be having a private conversation.

"Ha, I knew it!" Nuriko said triumphantly. You do have feelings for her."

"I do not!" denied Tasuki.

"Then why'd your eyes bug out like that at the thought of Mei and Chichiri holding hands?"

"Because……," he reasoned lamely, "Chichiri's a monk. He's not suppose to be doing those kind of things."

"Uh-huh," came the dubious reply.

"Shut up and leave me alone." Tasuki urged his horse forward and tried not to think about a certain green-haired girl.

*******

Mei watched the stars from the windowsill. The inn had quieted down sometime ago, but sleep still eluded her. She crossed the room she shared with Miaka and softly opened the door. Mei briefly glanced at the priestess. Saw that she was still deeply asleep and stepped into the hall. As she climbed down the stairs, Mei spied Tasuki sitting at the bar. After debating what to do, she steeled herself and walked over to the seishi.

"Hi Tasuki," she said cheerfully. "Whatcha doing?"

"Mei," exclaimed Tasuki in surprise. "What are you doing up this late?"

Mei swallowed her nervousness and tried to sound nonchalant. "I couldn't sleep. I guess you couldn't sleep too, huh?" she briefly glanced at him before taking the stool beside his. Unsure of what to do next, Mei poured herself a drink from the bottle sitting in front of Tasuki. Not knowing what it was, she swallowed the liquid. Mei coughed as the fluid left a warn trail down her throat.

Tasuki thumped her on the back. "You okay?"

Mei nodded and asked, "What is this stuff?"

"Sake," he said with a smile. "You sure you wanna drink that?"

"Um…yeah," she replied taking other sip. "It's not so bad after the second try."

Tasuki watched her from the corner of his eyes. He saw the smile on her face, but her eyes still held a bit of wariness.

'Maybe Nuriko was right,' he thought. He gulped down some of the sake for courage and plunged right into the apology he had been mulling over in his head.

"Listen, Mei," he began. "About the…ah…well, I just wanna…um… the thing is…"

Mei giggled and took pity on the bandit. "It's okay Tasuki. I think I know what you're trying to say."

"I hope you don't think that I…well, it's just that I…um"

"I understand," Mei said after another set of giggles. It wasn't everyday that she sees the Seishi be so unsure of himself. "Really I do. I mean, my sister did it all the time. Every time I do something wrong. She'd yell at me." Mei paused to pour herself another cup of sake and drank before continuing. "I know she didn't mean half the things she tells me. She only did it because she cared about me. There was this one time, Tai…" Mei caught herself in time and brought the cup to her lips to cover her near-slip. "Never mind about that. So tell me, how'd you join up with the priestess and the others?"

Tasuki felt himself relax and smiled inwardly. Mei was talking to him again and it felt like a load has just been lifted off his shoulder. He told her his story. She in return would thrown in a comment or a laugh here and there.

After a while Tasuki began to get worried when he noticed Mei finish off a second bottle of sake. He himself had several cups of the drink, but he could handle his liquor. Mei on the other hand seemed to be quite drunk.

"This stuff sure is good." Mei's voice was slurred as she placed the empty cup on the counter. She giggle for the hundredth time but stopped when she saw Tasuki frowning at her. "I'm sorry were you *hiccup* saying something?"

"I think you should hit the sack." When Mei just stared back at him, the Seishi decided to elaborate. " 'Cause you're drunk. Besides, you're gonna be feeling lousy in the morning, so go rest up."

"Drunk? I'm not drunk." She tried to sound dignified but ended up burping. This set off another fit of giggles and Mei almost fell off her stool.

Tasuki caught her in time and held her close. Mei grew serious when she found Tasuki's face inches away from hers.

"That little boy was wrong, you know," said Mei.

Tasuki tried to concentrate on what Mei had just said, but all he can think about at that moment was how pretty she was even in her drunken condition. He gave himself a little shake and asked, "What boy?"

"The one from the northern tribe. He said your face was scary. He's wrong. You're face isn't scary at all. In fact, I think you look really…"

The seishi held his breath. "I look really what?"

The demi-goddess' eyes widened and pushed herself away from the bandit. She ran over to a corner and promptly threw up.