Sakura awoke to some sort of banging down the hall. She yawned and sat up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.
Her eyes fell on the digital clock next to the bed. She reached out and turned it to see the glowing numbers.
She released a small cry and scrambled out of bed.
"It's already five-thirty!"
She pulled on a pair of comfortable flannel pajama bottoms and her black "STAFF" T-shirt.
"I need to be there in a half hour!"
She rushed in the bathroom and brushed her teeth, subtly noticing that a suitcase was missing from the counter.
^-^
"I can' see how this was necessary."
"Your other punishment would have hurt much more than just your pride," Nuriko stated. "Besides we need you in the show tonight. And they're enjoying it."
He pointed at Chichiri and Chiriko. The men laughed, supporting each other's weight. Chiriko's laughter erupted into a fit of hacks and Chichiri worriedly pushed him back towards Mitsukake's room.
"We need to have a little visit, don't we?"
^-^
As Sakura brushed her teeth, she heard a smart knock on the door and leisurely walked over to it, thinking Nuriko had somehow forgotten his key.
She opened the door, toothbrush still in her mouth, and was rather surprised when a strange woman jumped at her.
The door slammed shut and Sakura yelped as she hit the carpet. The woman caught herself before she could crash into Sakura.
Sakura looked up, wide-eyed, at the woman as she jumped to her feet and pounded on the door.
"NURIKO!! GET ME THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!"
Genrou-san… Sakura realized.
He tried the door but found he couldn't pull it open.
"NURIKO!" he yelled again.
"Genrou-san?" Sakura asked quietly.
He spun around and glared at her. "Yeah. What about it?"
"I just wanted to know why you are dressed in drag."
It was true. His hair was curled and put in pigtails; he wore blue-toned makeup and a rather unflattering pink dress with lace around the hem, wrists, and neckline. Worse than all that was that he was wearing fake breasts.
He crossed his arms over his not voluptuous chest and she swore she could see a tinge of pink across his nose.
"I can' see how any of that is yer business," he huffed.
Sakura didn't have a comeback. Somehow she never did have a comeback when it involved him.
Damn him, she thought. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't be late getting ready or sick.
She scowled at him momentarily, then got up and went into the bathroom. She slammed the door behind her.
Tasuki heard some spitting noises and the sink running briefly.
Sakura walked out without looking at him. She took a duffel bag from her bed and pulled a couple candy bars from it, jumping onto the bed in the process.
She threw a bar his way and turned on the television.
"He's going to need you for the concert, so there's no point in fighting at the door," she said. "Best to just relax." She looked over to him, still standing by the door. "Don't you think?"
Tasuki looked away and crossed in front of the television. He went over to the windows and pinched shut the curtains.
Sakura's gaze flickered to him at the sound. She blushed and averted her eyes as he began undressing.
Sure, she had seen men naked before. On accident, of course. Walking into dressing rooms without knocking was a bad habit of hers when she was younger. When she visited Tamahome's family as a toddler, she would bathe with him and his brother, Chuuei, and no one had thought anything of it. She also helped Tamahome take care of his other younger brother, Shunkei.
So she really shouldn't be blushing at Tasuki stripping to only his boxers, right?
It must be the crush resurfacing. Why today? she thought. I need to find something unattractive about his personality, but…
Her nose began to tingle and she wiggled it to try to relieve the oncoming sneeze. She wiggled it more and more and sucked in some air.
But it came before she could stop. Four sequential sneezes.
"Sounds like yer gettin' a cold," Tasuki said.
"Yeah, and I wonder whose fault that is," she snapped. Her eyes widened and she hung her head. "Sorry, I didn't mean to…"
"No, dun apologize," he said. "It's my fault you and Chiriko are sick."
"I think Doukun-chan is worse off than me."
He chuckled. "I really dun think so."
"I'm sorry about how I acted earlier, too. It was wrong of me."
"Dun worry about it."
A silence fell between them.
Oh, God. This is uncomfortable, Sakura thought. Is he uncomfortable? Is it just me? I have to look like I'm really engrossed in this show, so he won't see that I'm uncomfortable.
She settled on the bed trying to watch the screen intently. But she kept stealing glances at Tasuki, sprawled on Nuriko's bed.
He turned to her, brows furrowed. "Whatsa matter?"
Dammit. "Oh, um…" Think fast! "Your eye shadow is…blue and sparkly."
"Damn it." He sat up on the bed. "I'll go wash it off. No fucking way in Hell am I gonna let Nuriko wash it off fer me."
"I HEARD THAT!" Nuriko called from the hall.
"Aw, shaddap!" Tasuki shot back.
Sakura could just see Nuriko on the other side of the door sticking his tongue out.
"AHH!" Tasuki cried.
Sakura ran into the bathroom. "What is it?
Tasuki looked at her. His face was still covered by the incandescent blue makeup save for patches of bright red where the makeup hadn't touched.
"It won't come off," he said pitifully.
"Ryuuen-san, what did you put on Genrou's face?"
"Lacquer," he said.
"WHAT?!" Tasuki cried.
"Just kidding, just kidding," he said.
"What was it, Ryuuen-san?"
"That blue cream stuff."
"Ryuuen-san!" she scolded. "You know that stuff won't come out with soap and water. What were you expecting him to do?"
"The scrubbing pads are in my suitcase, Sakki-chan."
Sakura moved across the room and dug through Nuriko's large suitcase. Moments later she emerged with a pack of circular white pads.
"Why did you do this to him in the first place?"
"To punish him, of course."
"Punish him? Why would he need to be punished?" Sakura didn't sound nearly as surprised as she had hoped.
"Well, for several reasons. Firstly, he's a dumbass."
"HEY! Nuriko, I'm gonna git you fer that."
"I'd like to see you try, fang
boy!"
"Now, I don't think he's a dumbass, per se," she said quietly. "You are impetuous, Genrou-san." She slowly wiped the pad down his face. "You act according to your personality, not how others think you should. That's a very admirable quality." She took an extended amount of time pulling out another pad so Tasuki couldn't see her blush.
"Secondly," Nuriko continued. "He's stupid."
"That's mostly the same as the last one, Ryuuen-san."
"Fine. Then thirdly, to apologize to you."
"Apologize? For what?"
"Sakura, don't be stupid," Nuriko said sternly.
She stopped removing Tasuki's makeup momentarily and hung her head.
"If anyone, you should apologize to Doukun-chan."
"He already did. I must say, I was quite disappointed with your reaction to him. Chiriko nearly died again, he was laughing so hard."
"I was only a little too surprised to be attacked by an ugly woman, no offence, to be taken in with the hilarity of the situation," Sakura said.
"The fourth one is irrelevant yet."
"Fourth one?" Sakura asked, turning toward the door.
"Yeah. What fourth one?" Tasuki demanded. "I know the first three; ya kept repeatin' them over and over again on the way up 'ere. What the Hell is this fourth one?"
"I said it was irrelevant as of yet."
She removed the last bit of blue makeup on Tasuki's face.
"All right," Sakura said, putting the pack of pads on the countertop. "Nuriko, he's said it. You can let us out now."
Tasuki looked at her, questioningly.
"I didn't hear it."
"Of course you didn't hear it. He said it quietly, so he wouldn't be interrupted by you, telling him how to do it right." She walked out of the bathroom. "I've accepted his apology, so let us out."
"Are you sure he said it?"
"Of course he said it."
"Oi. Am I not in this conversation?" Tasuki asked. He was ignored.
"Fine. You can come out."
They could hear Nuriko move off the door. Tasuki opened the door.
"So you stripped for her. Was that your apology?" Nuriko asked with a self-satisfied smirk on his face.
Tasuki blushed faintly, but put his arm around her shoulders.
"Course it was," Tasuki said, grinning. "What other apology could I give?"
Sakura put her forehead in her palm and shook her head, grinning as well. It also did a great job of hiding her full-force blush.
^-^
Author's Note:
Sorry, sorry, sorry!! This update took
so long. It wasn't writing the chapter
that took so long, but finding the time to write the chapter. This chapter is for Joce, who had to spend
Thanksgiving with her evil cousin, Ellen.
Joce—Use poison. There's less
mess to clean up afterwards.