Chapter 5: Aggravations
Disclaimer: Same old, same old. I do not own Tasuki, etc. etc.
A/N: about Nuriko, still want to refer to him as a "her", so don't sue me.
Normally, a very dedicated Paladin would be deep in thought right now, trying to find a weakness to his enemy, and plotting out possible ways of ensnaring the bad guys in a trap. Unfortunately, these times aren't very conventional, Akire is young according to Amrian standards (and you know how young people are), plus she has this pulsing vein at her temple, which just won't subside. Not to mention the fact that arguably the most loathsome creature on two legs happened to kiss her earlier, so you really cannot blame Akire if saving the universe is not on her to-do list that night. She has more, erm, impractical thoughts in mind.
"WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING TO ME!" she screamed into her pillow. Like a child on a tantrum, she messed up the bedsheets and started kicking them off the bed. She probably would've torn out her hair if she fancied, but looking like a rag doll would only aggravate her more. She took off the boots she was wearing, and was about to throw it at the door, but it seemed as if someone else did it for her, on account of two loud, banging sounds coming from it.
"WHAT DO YOU WANT!" she yelled, this time getting a chair and placed it against the door. Well, needless to say, Tasuki's on the other side.
"OPEN THE DAMN DOOR YOU HOT-BLOODED WOMAN!" Tasuki yelled back, not to be undone. He pushed at the door so hard; it got wedged out of place. Alarmed, Akire leaned against it, trying to push it back.
"You – aren't – the boss – of ME!" she countered, this time, reaching for her sword and stabbing it through the door. Though not entirely successful, the tip protruded into the other side and almost scratched Tasuki's face. Hmm, it was time to exercise a value he truly fails at: diplomacy.
"Alright, alright, I'm lettin' go of the door," he said, stepping back. He saw the sword tip being drawn back; either signifying that she wants to listen or to try poking him again. "Nuriko sent me down here, 'kay? Not like I wanna speak to you. Feh, I'd sail to the other side of the world if someone told me I had to step into the same room as you, but Nuriko's gonna crush my head like a melon, and it's all your fault so open up." From inside the room, Akire groaned, and finally opened the battered door.
Tasuki stepped into the room and looked around, scratching his head. "Weird. Your room is,"
"Is what?" Akire said, raising an eyebrow and her hand itching to grab the sword hilts.
"Is plain," he replied quickly. Akire sighed and said, "You really don't know me at all." Glancing at her bedsheets' mangled state; she immediately kicked it under her bed to conceal it. "And besides, you've been here before," she said. Tasuki pouted, and retorted, "It was dark that time. And why do you care?"
Akire pointed at the door and said, "Hey, if you came here to insult me, get out." He pursed his lips in the hope that it would stop him from baring his teeth in anger. "Fine, fine, you win. I'm wrong, you're right, you happy?" he finally said.
"So, why are you here, then, aside from being sent here?" Akire asked, taking a chair and sitting down. Of course, she offered no chair for Tasuki, so he would have to content with sitting on the floor. He said, "If you want to get rid of that Ikegai person, you better count me in. We both know we have to work together."
"Why not with the others, then?" Akire asked.
"Nuriko told me I have to convince you to include me first."
"Waaiiiit a minute. I see what you're trying to do," Akire said, a smile on her lips. "You're being so nice and so cooperative just so you can get rid of me faster! No more Ikegai, no more Akire."
"So? That way, we both win," Tasuki said. He glanced at the small hole her sword left behind on the door and said, "I can't stand you, and you can't stand me. So if we nab the guy, you'll be home free and I go back to living without an annoying girl sleeping in a room adjacent mine."
Akire thought it over and said, "Hmm. For once, redhead, I agree with you. Okay, you can work with me, but I call the shots." Tasuki frowned at the arrangement and was about to counter, but he was tired anyway, so he trudged off to his room and slammed the door behind him. Akire, equally spent, took a quick bath and a change of clothes. She then pushed her closet against the now wobbling door, and snuggled up on her bed, but not before placing her sword above her pillow, just in case.
That night, she had quite a strange dream. She's standing before a large, circular room with a sort of courtroom setup in front. She looked at herself, and saw that she was wearing white all over, with an ornate jeweled shoulder-piece and belt. "I know this place," Akire murmured, "the Court of the Councilmen. They, they were the ones who appointed me as Paladin. What in Amria am I doing here?" Then, blurry figures began to surface behind the panels and spoke in unison: "Judgement upon Akire, empress of Amria and the current Paladin. We observed you are falling back on your duties as protector of dimensions, and hereby give you notice. If we see no improvement, we will relieve you of your post, until such time as we see fit to restore you. Dismissed." As the ghost-like Council shuffled past her, one of them approached her and gave her the written notice. "B- but, I, wait! This is not fair!" she deplored, refusing to clutch the parchment. The councilman took her hand and made her close her hand around the notice. Then, he whispered, "Once, when I was among you living, I turn to my brethren for strength. Perhaps, you might want to do the same." With that, he disappeared, leaving Akire standing in the now darkening courtroom, staring with trembling hands at the message she's holding in her hand. "But, but this is, is, impossible," she muttered.
She woke up, with the stars still winking sleepily from their lofty places. Looking around her room, Akire was very glad that she was just dreaming, that is, until she felt something in her hand. Upon looking at it, she found a neatly rolled up parchment, the same one she saw in her dream. She opened it up, crumpled it into a ball, and tossed it away. Where, she did not care. "I'm doing the best I CAN! What more do you WANT!" she cried, over and over until she fell asleep once more.
Morning came, bringing no morsel of comfort to Akire, as she sat up from bed, staring blankly outside. "'We will relieve you of your post...' the nerve! I'm doing my job, I work hard rain or shine, and in places that take me far from the land I know, the land I'm supposed to rule. And they're going to reprimand me for NOT BEING DEDICATED ENOUGH! Strident, self- appointed, righteous pigs!"
She heard a knock on the door, a polite knock at that. Akire was about to say "Come in" when she remembered she moved her closet to block the door. "Oh! Um, JUST A MINUTE!" she yelled, changing her clothes quickly. She was about to push away the closet when Nuriko swept it aside instead. "Having trouble with the furniture?" Nuriko said, beaming. She carried a tray of food and set it upon Akire's bed. "Oh, thank you!" Akire said, fixing up the bed a little and placing the tray on a small table next to her. Nuriko looked at the hole in the door, and the messed up bed. "Do you need any help?" she asked. Akire smiled and shook her head, saying, "Um, I'd like to be alone for awhile. I can fix the place up myself, but thank you anyway." Nuriko nodded, and went away.
Akire then closed the door and opened a window. She breathed in the cool, morning air. "Hmm, I wonder," she murmured, glancing way up at the roof. A whimsical mood befell her, and she proceeded to climb up the side of the wall, till she reached the tiled roof. She then laid herself down and sighed. "It's much cooler up here than I expected," Akire said, lazily watching the clouds roll slowly past the blue sky. She whispered, "If only I can do this all day...no. The Council would probably take that against me. 'Lazing around', that's what they'll call it."
"So is that what's bothered you last night? Sheesh, could've kept down your screaming," a voice behind her said. She sat up and saw that Tasuki was lying down right behind her. "You, you heard me?" she asked.
"Duh! My room's adjacent yours, remember? You kept me up the rest of the night. I was thinking you went crazy or somethin'," he replied, taking a piece of loose roof tile and hurling it as far as he could. Akire, a little less irate that usual, said, "I'm sure you understand. What if someone just told you out of the blue that you're not a Suzaku Seishi anymore?"
Tasuki grabbed another roof tile and said, "Huh. I say good riddance," here he threw the tile away again, saying, "hope it hits Tamahome square on the head." Akire, upon hearing this, smiled mischievously. "You liar. I hear Tamahome is Miaka's boyfriend." She let out a sarcastic gasp. "You're jealous, aren't you, lover-boy?" Seeing his reaction, she threw a fit of giggles. But Tasuki wasn't going to be beaten hands-down. "Well, then, I saw you goggle at Hotohori the minute your ship docked. I bet you know where his room is by now." This time, it was his turn to snigger.
"I don't look at him that way, redhead!"
"Yeah, well, I don't look at Miaka that way, neither!"
"Um, I think your grammar's wrong, mind saying that again? Oh, I'm sorry, you said 'neither'! That makes you an idiot, because you just contradicted your own statement!"
Strangely, Akire didn't feel too angry with him right that moment. In fact, she was enjoying the verbal exchange, and it seemed to calm her down a bit, or at least take her mind off her present problem. Realizing this, she grinned to herself, and fell silent.
"So, what's our next course of action, 'O Royal Highness'?" Tasuki asked. At first, Akire was alarmed, thinking he discovered one of her secrets, but then, she thought, "It's Tasuki, almost everything's a sarcastic comment." She replied, "Not sure yet. The first thing to do is to find out where he's hiding, then infiltrate his lair, but I don't know how to start yet. We then find out what they're doing-" "-can't we just beat 'em up, plain and simple?" Tasuki interrupted. Sigh, she said to herself, how barbaric. "No, dum-dum. What if they've orchestrated a trap, knowing we'd come? Then we'd all be eliminated," she told him. "You're a fan of big words, d'you know that?" he said, not really out of annoyance, but out of boredom, or the fact that he can't say something intelligent.
After this short (and in the end, meaningless) debate, they've run out of words to say, and for the first time in record history, they both stopped bickering and fell silent in quite a long while. Akire was deep in thought about her pending sanction, so the only way to prevent this is to capture Ikegai for good. But to do this, she's going to need help, expert help. She needs someone who's quite up-to-date with dimension workings and Paladin work. She needs the help of, " '...the help of brethren," she thought, remembering the words of the Councilman who handed her the written notice. "'...the help of brethren, brethren, DARYLL!" she exclaimed, surprising Tasuki so much he almost slid off the roof. "Dangnabit, woman!" he said, rubbing his ear, "stop doing that!" Akire rested her head upon her hands, laughing hysterically. Daryll! Of course! Why didn't she think of it earlier? Of all the people she knew it was her own cousin that provided the help she needed. "Well, it was nice talking to you, for once, redhead," she said, standing up and started climbing down back to her room window. When she was out of earshot, Tasuki murmured, "Heck, was nice talking to you to." Then, realizing what he said, he shook his head. "Her craziness is rubbing off onto me!" he thought.
Akire stumbled into her room, and rampantly seizing a quill and paper. She scribbled a note, saying: Dear Cuz. Need some help on finding Ikegai ASAP. Hope you can give me some pointers. Give my love to all back home. –Akire. She folded it hastily, and using her ring, opened a small portal to Amria on the floor, and promptly dropped the note in. In a twinkling, the portal disappeared. She was about to sit back and relax, when she thought, "Oh, no. What if there's a time difference from this dimension? And, darn! Why didn't I just tell him that personally? The note might not reach him!" Plagued by these grim possibilities, Akire was left to her waiting, and watching, for signs of help, admonition, or Ikegai.
Disclaimer: Same old, same old. I do not own Tasuki, etc. etc.
A/N: about Nuriko, still want to refer to him as a "her", so don't sue me.
Normally, a very dedicated Paladin would be deep in thought right now, trying to find a weakness to his enemy, and plotting out possible ways of ensnaring the bad guys in a trap. Unfortunately, these times aren't very conventional, Akire is young according to Amrian standards (and you know how young people are), plus she has this pulsing vein at her temple, which just won't subside. Not to mention the fact that arguably the most loathsome creature on two legs happened to kiss her earlier, so you really cannot blame Akire if saving the universe is not on her to-do list that night. She has more, erm, impractical thoughts in mind.
"WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING TO ME!" she screamed into her pillow. Like a child on a tantrum, she messed up the bedsheets and started kicking them off the bed. She probably would've torn out her hair if she fancied, but looking like a rag doll would only aggravate her more. She took off the boots she was wearing, and was about to throw it at the door, but it seemed as if someone else did it for her, on account of two loud, banging sounds coming from it.
"WHAT DO YOU WANT!" she yelled, this time getting a chair and placed it against the door. Well, needless to say, Tasuki's on the other side.
"OPEN THE DAMN DOOR YOU HOT-BLOODED WOMAN!" Tasuki yelled back, not to be undone. He pushed at the door so hard; it got wedged out of place. Alarmed, Akire leaned against it, trying to push it back.
"You – aren't – the boss – of ME!" she countered, this time, reaching for her sword and stabbing it through the door. Though not entirely successful, the tip protruded into the other side and almost scratched Tasuki's face. Hmm, it was time to exercise a value he truly fails at: diplomacy.
"Alright, alright, I'm lettin' go of the door," he said, stepping back. He saw the sword tip being drawn back; either signifying that she wants to listen or to try poking him again. "Nuriko sent me down here, 'kay? Not like I wanna speak to you. Feh, I'd sail to the other side of the world if someone told me I had to step into the same room as you, but Nuriko's gonna crush my head like a melon, and it's all your fault so open up." From inside the room, Akire groaned, and finally opened the battered door.
Tasuki stepped into the room and looked around, scratching his head. "Weird. Your room is,"
"Is what?" Akire said, raising an eyebrow and her hand itching to grab the sword hilts.
"Is plain," he replied quickly. Akire sighed and said, "You really don't know me at all." Glancing at her bedsheets' mangled state; she immediately kicked it under her bed to conceal it. "And besides, you've been here before," she said. Tasuki pouted, and retorted, "It was dark that time. And why do you care?"
Akire pointed at the door and said, "Hey, if you came here to insult me, get out." He pursed his lips in the hope that it would stop him from baring his teeth in anger. "Fine, fine, you win. I'm wrong, you're right, you happy?" he finally said.
"So, why are you here, then, aside from being sent here?" Akire asked, taking a chair and sitting down. Of course, she offered no chair for Tasuki, so he would have to content with sitting on the floor. He said, "If you want to get rid of that Ikegai person, you better count me in. We both know we have to work together."
"Why not with the others, then?" Akire asked.
"Nuriko told me I have to convince you to include me first."
"Waaiiiit a minute. I see what you're trying to do," Akire said, a smile on her lips. "You're being so nice and so cooperative just so you can get rid of me faster! No more Ikegai, no more Akire."
"So? That way, we both win," Tasuki said. He glanced at the small hole her sword left behind on the door and said, "I can't stand you, and you can't stand me. So if we nab the guy, you'll be home free and I go back to living without an annoying girl sleeping in a room adjacent mine."
Akire thought it over and said, "Hmm. For once, redhead, I agree with you. Okay, you can work with me, but I call the shots." Tasuki frowned at the arrangement and was about to counter, but he was tired anyway, so he trudged off to his room and slammed the door behind him. Akire, equally spent, took a quick bath and a change of clothes. She then pushed her closet against the now wobbling door, and snuggled up on her bed, but not before placing her sword above her pillow, just in case.
That night, she had quite a strange dream. She's standing before a large, circular room with a sort of courtroom setup in front. She looked at herself, and saw that she was wearing white all over, with an ornate jeweled shoulder-piece and belt. "I know this place," Akire murmured, "the Court of the Councilmen. They, they were the ones who appointed me as Paladin. What in Amria am I doing here?" Then, blurry figures began to surface behind the panels and spoke in unison: "Judgement upon Akire, empress of Amria and the current Paladin. We observed you are falling back on your duties as protector of dimensions, and hereby give you notice. If we see no improvement, we will relieve you of your post, until such time as we see fit to restore you. Dismissed." As the ghost-like Council shuffled past her, one of them approached her and gave her the written notice. "B- but, I, wait! This is not fair!" she deplored, refusing to clutch the parchment. The councilman took her hand and made her close her hand around the notice. Then, he whispered, "Once, when I was among you living, I turn to my brethren for strength. Perhaps, you might want to do the same." With that, he disappeared, leaving Akire standing in the now darkening courtroom, staring with trembling hands at the message she's holding in her hand. "But, but this is, is, impossible," she muttered.
She woke up, with the stars still winking sleepily from their lofty places. Looking around her room, Akire was very glad that she was just dreaming, that is, until she felt something in her hand. Upon looking at it, she found a neatly rolled up parchment, the same one she saw in her dream. She opened it up, crumpled it into a ball, and tossed it away. Where, she did not care. "I'm doing the best I CAN! What more do you WANT!" she cried, over and over until she fell asleep once more.
Morning came, bringing no morsel of comfort to Akire, as she sat up from bed, staring blankly outside. "'We will relieve you of your post...' the nerve! I'm doing my job, I work hard rain or shine, and in places that take me far from the land I know, the land I'm supposed to rule. And they're going to reprimand me for NOT BEING DEDICATED ENOUGH! Strident, self- appointed, righteous pigs!"
She heard a knock on the door, a polite knock at that. Akire was about to say "Come in" when she remembered she moved her closet to block the door. "Oh! Um, JUST A MINUTE!" she yelled, changing her clothes quickly. She was about to push away the closet when Nuriko swept it aside instead. "Having trouble with the furniture?" Nuriko said, beaming. She carried a tray of food and set it upon Akire's bed. "Oh, thank you!" Akire said, fixing up the bed a little and placing the tray on a small table next to her. Nuriko looked at the hole in the door, and the messed up bed. "Do you need any help?" she asked. Akire smiled and shook her head, saying, "Um, I'd like to be alone for awhile. I can fix the place up myself, but thank you anyway." Nuriko nodded, and went away.
Akire then closed the door and opened a window. She breathed in the cool, morning air. "Hmm, I wonder," she murmured, glancing way up at the roof. A whimsical mood befell her, and she proceeded to climb up the side of the wall, till she reached the tiled roof. She then laid herself down and sighed. "It's much cooler up here than I expected," Akire said, lazily watching the clouds roll slowly past the blue sky. She whispered, "If only I can do this all day...no. The Council would probably take that against me. 'Lazing around', that's what they'll call it."
"So is that what's bothered you last night? Sheesh, could've kept down your screaming," a voice behind her said. She sat up and saw that Tasuki was lying down right behind her. "You, you heard me?" she asked.
"Duh! My room's adjacent yours, remember? You kept me up the rest of the night. I was thinking you went crazy or somethin'," he replied, taking a piece of loose roof tile and hurling it as far as he could. Akire, a little less irate that usual, said, "I'm sure you understand. What if someone just told you out of the blue that you're not a Suzaku Seishi anymore?"
Tasuki grabbed another roof tile and said, "Huh. I say good riddance," here he threw the tile away again, saying, "hope it hits Tamahome square on the head." Akire, upon hearing this, smiled mischievously. "You liar. I hear Tamahome is Miaka's boyfriend." She let out a sarcastic gasp. "You're jealous, aren't you, lover-boy?" Seeing his reaction, she threw a fit of giggles. But Tasuki wasn't going to be beaten hands-down. "Well, then, I saw you goggle at Hotohori the minute your ship docked. I bet you know where his room is by now." This time, it was his turn to snigger.
"I don't look at him that way, redhead!"
"Yeah, well, I don't look at Miaka that way, neither!"
"Um, I think your grammar's wrong, mind saying that again? Oh, I'm sorry, you said 'neither'! That makes you an idiot, because you just contradicted your own statement!"
Strangely, Akire didn't feel too angry with him right that moment. In fact, she was enjoying the verbal exchange, and it seemed to calm her down a bit, or at least take her mind off her present problem. Realizing this, she grinned to herself, and fell silent.
"So, what's our next course of action, 'O Royal Highness'?" Tasuki asked. At first, Akire was alarmed, thinking he discovered one of her secrets, but then, she thought, "It's Tasuki, almost everything's a sarcastic comment." She replied, "Not sure yet. The first thing to do is to find out where he's hiding, then infiltrate his lair, but I don't know how to start yet. We then find out what they're doing-" "-can't we just beat 'em up, plain and simple?" Tasuki interrupted. Sigh, she said to herself, how barbaric. "No, dum-dum. What if they've orchestrated a trap, knowing we'd come? Then we'd all be eliminated," she told him. "You're a fan of big words, d'you know that?" he said, not really out of annoyance, but out of boredom, or the fact that he can't say something intelligent.
After this short (and in the end, meaningless) debate, they've run out of words to say, and for the first time in record history, they both stopped bickering and fell silent in quite a long while. Akire was deep in thought about her pending sanction, so the only way to prevent this is to capture Ikegai for good. But to do this, she's going to need help, expert help. She needs someone who's quite up-to-date with dimension workings and Paladin work. She needs the help of, " '...the help of brethren," she thought, remembering the words of the Councilman who handed her the written notice. "'...the help of brethren, brethren, DARYLL!" she exclaimed, surprising Tasuki so much he almost slid off the roof. "Dangnabit, woman!" he said, rubbing his ear, "stop doing that!" Akire rested her head upon her hands, laughing hysterically. Daryll! Of course! Why didn't she think of it earlier? Of all the people she knew it was her own cousin that provided the help she needed. "Well, it was nice talking to you, for once, redhead," she said, standing up and started climbing down back to her room window. When she was out of earshot, Tasuki murmured, "Heck, was nice talking to you to." Then, realizing what he said, he shook his head. "Her craziness is rubbing off onto me!" he thought.
Akire stumbled into her room, and rampantly seizing a quill and paper. She scribbled a note, saying: Dear Cuz. Need some help on finding Ikegai ASAP. Hope you can give me some pointers. Give my love to all back home. –Akire. She folded it hastily, and using her ring, opened a small portal to Amria on the floor, and promptly dropped the note in. In a twinkling, the portal disappeared. She was about to sit back and relax, when she thought, "Oh, no. What if there's a time difference from this dimension? And, darn! Why didn't I just tell him that personally? The note might not reach him!" Plagued by these grim possibilities, Akire was left to her waiting, and watching, for signs of help, admonition, or Ikegai.