Oy bugger! Fushigi Yuugi isn't like... mine and stuff.

The sight of a town as they were walking the next day seemed like one of the best sights any of them had ever seen. They neared the town, which consisted of only about two dozen buildings, each one planning what they were going to do upon their arrival. Miaka planned to head for the nearest restaurant. Hotohori wanted to find an inn. Nuriko wanted to do whatever Hotohori was going to do. Tasuki wanted to see if this sorry excuse for a town had a bar. Mitsukake wanted to go somewhere and bore people. To death. He chuckled maliciously to himself. So they arrived at the town, stopping just before they reached the first small one-room building.
"I'm going to see about accommodations," Hotohori stated flatly.
"I'm hungry..." Miaka whined, rubbing her stomach.
"Aa... I need something to drink," came Tasuki's grumbled complaint. It had been nearly a week and a half since he had gotten plastered, which, for him, was far too long.
"Hotohori-sama... I'll go with you to see about the inn... Tasuki would you go with Miaka? I'm sure there's somewhere that'll serve both food and... yeah. Go with Miaka," Nuriko said, eyeing the various buildings.
"Right," Tasuki said, unhappy about the fact that he was stuck with Miaka, but his unhappiness was made up for by the joy that he felt in knowing that he would soon be very, very drunk. He beckoned Miaka and the two walked down the main dirt road of the small town.
Miaka called over her shoulder, "We'll meet you back here at sunset!"

Nuriko turned around to Hotohori, smiling. Hotohori smiled back.
"Shall we get going?" Nuriko asked, his hands folded behind his back.

"Of course," Hotohori said, taking a step forward before turning around to make sure Nuriko was following.
Mitsukake was left alone at the entrance to the city. If anyone came by, they would become a new addition to his list of victims. But for now, he sat down, admiring his toes, pondering them.

Nuriko had noticed something different about Hotohori since that night... Well, not really different. He was acting the same as always, which was differently than he had acted that night. Nuriko guessed that he had expected him to keep acting like that... not just to revert back to his usual quiet, regal self.
"Nuriko? What are you thinking about?" Hotohori said, cocking his neck to look into Nuriko's eyes as they were walking.
Nuriko flashed a quick smile. "Nothing, Hotohori-sama."
"Look over there," Hotohori pointed to a two-story building, one of the only ones in the town. "Do you think it's an inn?"
"Only one way to find out," Nuriko hesitantly walked up to the door, politely drumming on it a few times. The door creaked open, a young girl with waist length black hair standing before him.
"Can I help you?" she said, her voice as sweet as... something sweet.

"Uh, yes..." Nuriko lowered his head apologetically. He didn't know why, but he was uncomfortable about asking help of strangers. "We're travelers... And we were looking for an inn..." he trailed off.
"Oh yes! Come in!" she smiled, stepping out of the way, "This is the inn."
Nuriko turned to Hotohori, silently telling him to go in first. Hotohori obliged, gracefully strolling inside, subconsciously making a face of tremendous repulsion as he saw the shabby inside of the small inn. Nuriko noticed this and laughed a little quietly.
The girl led them up the narrow, crooked stairs. "So are you two married?" she asked rather innocently.
Hotohori seemed to be at a loss for words, so Nuriko took over. Hotohori soon realized that he should have just gone 'yes' to avoid conflict. "Erm... no, you see, I'm not a girl," Nuriko said flowingly. He had trouble asking for help of strangers, but he had no problem whatsoever with making them uncomfortable.
"Oh...," the girl smiled vacantly.
Nuriko ran a hand through his thick hair as the girl showed them into their room. "Uh... we have three others that are going to be joining us... Is that alright?"
"Oh yes. We have another room. The bedding is in the closet... Have a nice night," her eyes lingered on Nuriko for moment, obviously searching for some sign as to what gender he really was.
Nuriko smiled as the girl shut the door and left, leaving Hotohori and himself alone. Alone. It was mid-afternoon, about two hours away from sunset. Nuriko grinned. Hotohori stretched out a little before sitting down in a small chair that was in the corner. Nuriko went and sat on the floor by Hotohori's chair, smiling up at the emperor.
"Nuriko..." he whispered, smiling, reaching down to stroke the seishi's hair. He stopped suddenly, furrowing his smooth brow. "What is your real name?"
Nuriko was a bit surprised at this sudden question, "What made you think of that?" he looked puzzled into Hotohori's eyes, who showed no sign that he was going to answer the question, so... "It's... It's Ryuuen..." he gave a dry laugh, "It feels so odd saying it... I haven't used it in..." he thought for a moment, "seven years..." Nuriko rested his head against the side of the wooden chair, remembering how sweet his sister had sounded when saying that name. "Ryuuen..." Hotohori repeated, taking it to memory. "Mine is Saiheitei..."
Nuriko looked up at him, grinning a bit, "I know." Hotohori suddenly got up. "Where are you going?"
"Here," he smiled, sitting next to Nuriko on the floor, immediately leaning over to kiss him.

Elsewhere, Miaka and Tasuki sat at a table in the small pub, a large stack of plates growing in front of Miaka, a large stack of empty glasses of beer growing in front of Tasuki. Tasuki grinned his lopsided, fanged grin as he noticed, much to his pleasure, that he was starting to feel a little woozy. When Miaka started talking again, Tasuki did his best to ignore her and cherish the feeling of drunkenness beginning to seep into his brain.
"But I really miss Tamahome... I hope that we find the last seishi soon so Tamahome can come back... I wonder how we're going to get him back. Something tells me that Yui won't just let him come walking back just like that... But oh I miss Tamahome so much... What if he doesn't want to come back???11 What if he's with Yui right now? But... no. Tamahome loves me! He wouldn't do that to me!!! I love Tamahome..."
Tasuki slammed the latest empty glass down on the table before starting, his voice growing lazy, "Why the hell do girls feel free to tell me ALL about their love life... but they won't let me fucking be fucking part of it...? I mean don't get me wrong... There's no way in hell I'd ever do anything with YOU... but damn! It's all Nuriko ever talks about! Blah blah! Hotohori! Blah! Ohhh Hotohori's sooo fucking hot! I'm so in looooooove with Hotohori! I don't give a damn about Tasuki! He has no fucking chance in hell with me! Noo..."
Miaka looked out the window, too lost in her own thoughts to even hear what Tasuki was saying/drunkenly rambling. "Oh!" she jumped out of her seat suddenly, "Come on Tasuki! We told them we'd be back by sunset!"
"Yeah? So? Whaddya gonna do about it?"
"Tasuki we have to go!" she dropped some money on the table.
"I ain't goin nowhere!" Tasuki slurred.
"Come on!" she pulled his arm up.
"Okay okay... Just don' touch me. Yeegh..." the bandit slowly, unsteadily got up and shuffled out the door as Miaka led the way.

"I wonder what's taking them so long..." Nuriko wondered aloud as he and Hotohori stood at the place they had agreed to meet. Luckily for them, Mitsukake was still sitting there, but he had taken off his shoes and was staring intently at his toes...
"Well... Miaka going somewhere with food... Tasuki going somewhere with liquor... Something tells me that they're not going to be in any rush to leave," Hotohori reasoned. He glanced over to Mitsukake to see if he was watching. Mitsukake was staring downward, poking at his toes with a stick. Hotohori turned slowly back to Nuriko, smiling boyishly before dropping a quick kiss on his lips. "I love you, Nuriko," he kissed him again, letting it last until he heard Miaka's shrill voice a few seconds later.
"Come on Tasuki!" she whined. Hotohori and Nuriko both whirled around to see where they were. Luckily, they were just stepping into sight and hadn't seen them kissing. Miaka was pulling on Tasuki's arm, leading him as he drunkenly stumbled down the dirt road.
"Hey! Hands offa me..." Tasuki jerked away from her grasp, frantically wiping his sleeve where her hands had been. Miaka grabbed his arm again when he started leaning sideways, threatening to fall.

"Mitsukake," Hotohori called over to the tall man, "Let's go." Mitsukake slowly put his shoes back on and got up. The three of them walked over to Miaka and Tasuki.
"The inn's this way," Nuriko said, heading off toward the building that was their home for the night.

Several hours later, they were all sitting around in the larger of the two rooms that they had rented for the night. Well, Miaka, Nuriko, and Hotohori were sitting around, talking about where they were going to go tomorrow to look for the last seishi. Mitsukake was busy dunking Tasuki's head in a bucket of cold water, trying to relieve him of his drunkenness. Suddenly there was a lot of yelling and splashing as Tasuki grabbed the bucket and emptied it over Mitsukake's head. Obviously the effect of the alcohol had worn off.
Tasuki walked slowly over to Nuriko, his soaking hair dripping down his face and onto his partially soaked shirt. "Hey Nuriko? Can I talk to you for a minute?" Nuriko turned a little, glancing quickly to Hotohori and Miaka to excuse himself before stepping away toward Tasuki. "Of course." Tasuki motioned him over to the far corner of the room, where he sat down on the floor, wiping the water off of his face before engaging in conversation.

"So... How did it go with you and Hotohori?" his voice was a husky whisper. He obviously didn't want anyone else to overhear.
Nuriko looked over to the person that was the topic before looking back to Tasuki, whispering back, "Fine... why?"
"Just wondering... So what did you two do the whole time?" he was still whispering.
Nuriko stifled a grin, blushing a little.
"Ohh-ho!" Tasuki returned the grin, nodding slightly, "So is he any good?"
Nuriko went redder before hastily whispering, "We didn't do THAT! We... we were just talking... and stuff," he looked to the ceiling, smiling. "He's just so perfect, Tasuki..."
Tasuki raised his eyebrows, feeling as though he'd just been slapped in the face, "Yeah..." he looked around the room, "Well I just wanted to know how things went..." he sighed, "I'm trying to look out for you." He got up slowly, dropping the whisper and announcing loudly, "I'm goin'a bed" he reached into the closet and pulled out a rolled up mattress (one of the thin kind that you sleep on the floor with) and blanket, laying them out against the wall.
Nuriko looked back over to Hotohori, who was now standing with Mitsukake in addition to Miaka. "How do we divide up the rooms?" Nuriko asked, "Cause I'm ready for some sleep, too." Tasuki gave him a fanged grin.
"Why not boys in one room and girls in the other?" Nuriko suggested playfully, walking toward the door. Everyone except Tasuki rolled their eyes at Nuriko's referral to himself as a girl. "Coming, Miaka?" he said, smiling.
"Yeah!" Miaka practically ran out the door, calling behind her, "Goodnight!"
Nuriko looked to Hotohori, giving him his sweetest smile, "Goodnight..."
Hotohori smiled back, giving Nuriko a meaningful look, "Goodnight, Nuriko..."
Nuriko backed up toward the door, turning around and closing it behind him, thinking how these past few days had been the best ones in many, many years.

Miaka had insisted on making her bed next to Nuriko's... Miaka had told him that there was something she needed to talk to him about. Nuriko shrugged. He couldn't think of anything that Miaka would want to talk about except Tamahome, so he braced himself for a long, annoying conversation.
"Nuriko...?" Miaka said after a few moments of them laying there, getting themselves comfortable for the night. Here it came. Oh, I just miss Tamahome so much. I really hope we get the seventh seishi soon, so Tamahome can come home! I love Tamahome. I hope he's doing alright. I wonder what he's doing right now... "I know you're not going to like what I have to say..." Damn straight. Hmm... when had he started cursing? Nuriko laughed inwardly, thinking that Tasuki must be rubbing off on him. "But I need to talk to someone... and since you're one of my best friends..." she started, somewhat differently than Nuriko expected. Since when had she needed to make sure someone was her friend before babbling to them about Tamahome? Nuriko thought to himself, no difference... She must be catching onto his lack of interest in the subject of Tamahome. Miaka sighed, her eyes searching around the room.
"Hotohori's been acting weird lately..." she said hesitantly, as if she didn't want to say what she was about to say for fear of being brutally murdered by a certain violet-haired admirer of Hotohori... This, of course, totally took Nuriko off guard. Nuriko's eyebrows shot up. Had she caught on to the two of them?? How would he explain it to her? "Lately," Miaka took a deep breath before letting the rest roll out, not giving Nuriko a chance for it to sink in, "at least a few times a day, like when we stop to rest or something and we're alone he always tries to kiss me and he tells me that he loves me and I feel really sorry for him because I don't love him that way, and it seems like he really likes me, but at the same time it scares me because he does it so often and I don't know what to do..." Nuriko's mouth dropped open slightly. He blinked in confusion. Miaka kept on. "And I know that you're probably going to hate me for telling you this, because I know how you like him, but I really need to think of a way to stop this and I feel so wrong when he tries to kiss me because it's obvious that he loves me, but I don't love him and I feel like he's forcing me to betray Tamahome and-"
Nuriko stopped listening as she went on. He didn't know what to do, but he felt that he should do something. So he slapped her.
"Nuriko please don't be mad at me... I'm sorry, but.." she trailed off as Nuriko quickly got up and marched out the door and across the hall to the other room. He slammed the door off its hinges, sending it flying across the room. He had prepared to angrily cuss out Hotohori, but soon found that he lacked the stomach for it as three pairs of eyes were on him, one of which were Hotohori's.
Nuriko planned a fierce, growling yell of 'HOTOHORI, HOW COULD YOU, YOU BASTARD?!' but it came out as more of a strangled, whimpered whisper, "Hotohori-sama..."
The emperor got up quickly, walking over to Nuriko to try and comfort whatever was troubling him.
Nuriko jerked away from his touch, his throat feeling rather choked at the moment.
"What's wrong...?" Hotohori asked, soothingly. Nuriko turned around, hiding his face as his vision blurred with tears that Nuriko was determined not to let fall, "Nuriko...? What's wrong?" Just then Miaka walked in from the other room. All at once Hotohori understood all too well what was wrong. "Oh god..." he took a step backwards.
Nuriko drew in his breath sharply, as if he were going to scream, which he very much felt like doing. That plan, however, failed him, so he turned on his heels and slowly descended the stairs and walked out of the inn, muttering something incoherent about going outside. Once he was outside, he didn't know what to do. He just stood there a moment, his face contorted slightly as he tried to hold back the sobs that were strangling him.
Upstairs, everyone stood perfectly still, nobody being daring enough to face Nuriko when he was upset, as they all know that he could, and probably would, beat them to a pulp. Miaka gave Hotohori a puzzled look. No one had noticed that Tasuki had stood up until he shouted "Y'asshole!" abruptly at Hotohori before marching after Nuriko. ( go Tasuki!)
Nuriko turned around suddenly at the sound of Tasuki's rich, and at the moment, gentle voice, "You alright?" Nuriko stood there a moment, his forehead wrinkled, contemplating the situation before he couldn't take it anymore. He lunged forward at Tasuki, jarring the bandit into the side of the building. He buried his head in his shoulder, crying and feeling rather stupid.
Tasuki's first thought was to yell at him for smacking him around into houses, but that, he decided, was a bad idea. So he settled on simply, stroking his long, violet hair, which was out of its usual braid and spilling over Nuriko's shoulders and down his back, whispering incoherent, yet comforting things to him. Tasuki couldn't help but smile as he felt Nuriko's thin arms tighten around him.
"Shh... Shh..." Tasuki whispered after a few minutes or so of being pinned to the side of the wall, "Nuriko...?" he lifted Nuriko's chin a little with a few fingers under it. Nuriko opened his red eyes slowly, wincing at the thought of how he must look. "Ah," Tasuki tilted his head a bit to the side, "Look at you... You're a mess." Nuriko closed his eyes as Tasuki wiped his tears with one of his rough, callused hands. Tasuki brushed Nuriko's hair out of his face before smiling, "A little better..." he looked Nuriko over, "Damn, you're hot."
As upset as he was, Nuriko laughed slightly, shakily at Tasuki.
"Ah! That's much better!" Tasuki grinned as he saw a slight smile flicker over Nuriko's features. "Come on... You wanna go get something to eat...? I don't think you've had anything..." Tasuki led him off to the small pub he and Miaka had been at earlier. Nuriko found himself a little surprised at the fact that Tasuki hadn't said anything stupid yet, and had actually made him feel a little better. Nuriko smiled, temporarily not worrying about Hotohori as he walked arm in arm with Tasuki.