Author's note: Whew, I'm on roll, but I'm not saying anything else to jinx myself. That's the last thing I need, heh. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: The wonderful characters of Fushigi Yuugi do not rightly belong to me. I'm only borrowing them for creative purposes. Please not lawsuits. Poor as dirt. Domo.
Chapter 11The sun was just about to set and all the men were in place, surrounding the enemy's hideout. Tasuki peered over some bushes and stared at the building. Just looking at it, it seemed that the building was well protected but his appointed infiltrators were getting inside to open the door from the inside. He wasn't too sure about the enemies defense; either it was weak because they did away the scouts with ease or the enemy was just deceiving them. Kouji slid next to him.
"Oi, how much more time?" He asked quietly.
"About five more minutes," Tasuki's eyes narrowed then widened. "Matte! There's the signal." Candlelight was shining through a window next to the main doors and one of the men opened the door. Tasuki turned to all the man that were with him and nodded. Quickly and quietly the men hurried into the building. When his men were in, Tasuki quickly gave orders to split up and attack. As the men dispersed, Tasuki and Kouji nodded and headed down a hall. It was time to take down the leader.
Soon, screams and yells were heard throughout the whole building. The clanging of metal and groaning followed after that. The Mount Reikaku Bandits were taking advantage of their surprise attack and no mercy was shown.
The stars were coming out one by one. Ruri sat on the grass after eating dinner with the others. Suzaku, she prayed. Onegai shimasu! Let everyone be safe. Watch over them… And I hope they kick their ass.
A hand touched her shoulder and she looked up to see Chichiri. She smiled and sighed. "They'll be back soon, right?"
Chichiri patted her shoulder and sat down next to her. "Of course, no da."
He was in the last room of the hall. He could hear their footsteps getting louder. They were close. And once they were out of the picture, the mountain and the country would soon follow. His black eyes were filled with confidence, malice and triumph. Flipping back his shoulder length black hair, his hand went into his pocket. A malicious grin played on his lips. This is for you Nakago-sama.
The door flew open with a bang and two men burst in. One with flaming orange hair and one with blue hair. They were his targets. "Welcome."
"Who the fuck are you!" Tasuki asked.
"Kencho," he replied nonchalantly. He pulled out a small object from his pocket and showed it to the two bandits. It was very tiny, shiny and blue.
Tasuki and Kouji squinted to see what the man pulled out of his pocket. "It's a bead." They both replied, "So what?"
Kencho glared at them. "This is not a bead! I guess it would be giving you too much credit if you noticed something like this."
A stress mark appeared over Tasuki's head. "Then what the hell is it! You know what? Screw it, I don't care. I'm gonna kick your ass!" Kouji nodded his head in agreement.
Kencho closed his eyes. The bead then started glowing and slowly a mist appeared and Kencho dissolved into it while Tasuki and Kouji looked around warily.
"If I told you who it belonged to, would you remember?" Kencho's voice traveled through the mist.
"Like we said," Tasuki growled, "We don't care."
Kouji tapped Tasuki on the shoulder and pointed to the right, indicating that he was going in that direction. Tasuki nodded and stayed alert.
"It belonged to the general. It fell of before he died. I tried looking for the other one, but it must have gotten caught in the other world." Kencho continued.
Tasuki's amber eyes wavered in disbelief. The only one he knew that died in another world, enemy wise, was Nakago and Suboshi. But he didn't know about Suboshi's death until later. At that time, the only death he knew about was…
As if reading the Seishi's mind, Kencho laughed, "That's right Suzaku Seishi Tasuki. This earring belonged to Nakago-sama. I'm here on behalf of the general to finish what he could not. It's what he would have wanted."
Tasuki rolled his eyes. Great. He was dealing with a raving lunatic who had an obsession with that bastard and is trying to take over the world with the help of an earring. Waste of my….
Before Tasuki could finish his thought Kencho appeared before him and started attacking. Tasuki dodged with ease but was surprised when another Kencho appeared behind him. "What the hell?" He ducked as the second Kencho was punching.
Kouji came running when he heard Tasuki but was stopped when another Kencho appeared before him. Each bandit had three attacking while the real one was hidden somewhere.
Shit, and I thought this was going to be easy, Tasuki thought to himself and he looked over at his best friend. With a grin, Tasuki saw that Kouji was thinking the same thing. Then he concentrated at defeating the clones before him. Whenever the two thought they destroyed one, another would appear to take its place.
With a cruel laugh, Kencho remained hidden. "It was nice of Nakago-sama to infuse some of his powers into this earring. I haven't mastered everything, but it looks like I've mastered enough to kill the two of you and take over the mountain."
"You fuckin' wish!" Tasuki and Kouji yelled.
Frustrated, Tasuki sent out his thoughts to the only one he knew that could help them. Chichiri!
"Da" Chichiri fell over.
Ruri looked at Chichiri, "Doushitano?"
Chichiri shook his head and sat up. "Betsuni, no da." He heard Tasuki calling out loud and clear, but he didn't want to worry Ruri. Concentrating on his chi, Chichiri sent out his thoughts, Tasuki-kun! What's happening?
This bastard's somehow got a hold of Nakago's powers!
How is that possible? Chichiri was now worried.
Ruri sat next to Chichiri and glared at the monk. "Chichiri! What's going on!" There was still no reply. Ruri glared harder at the monk. "Baka monk!"
He salvaged the bastard's earring. And now he made a bunch of look-a-likes and I can't tell where the real one is.
That is a problem, no da. Matte. I'll see if I can locate his chi. Keep him busy.
What do you think I've been doin'!
After a pause Chichiri couldn't help but put in a remark, You know, Tasuki-kun. If you just let me go with you, this would be a lot easier, no da.
URESAI!
"URUSAI!" Tasuki yelled as he took out two at once. Just as quickly two more appeared.
Kouji glanced over at him, "What the hell?"
"Nothing," Tasuki grumbled.
Tasuki-kun! Chichiri's voice called. He's in the back of the room!
"Kouji!" Tasuki called to his best friend. With his eyes, he showed Kouji where Kencho was hiding. They both nodded and went into position. Tasuki brandished his tessen. "LEKKA SHINEN!" He shouted as he slammed the point of the tessen on the ground. A circle of flames formed around the fiery bandit and it widened dissipating the mist and the illusions. Kouji was standing away from the flames and watching intently until saw his target. Kencho was at the back of the room with his arm up to block the heat and flames.
With a smirk Kouji ran towards Kencho, "I found you," he muttered under his breath.
Kencho lowered his arm and was about to raise the mist again when he saw Kouji rushing up to him. Half panicking, he pulled out his sword and blocked in time but gasped in pain when two swords entered his body. "How…"
Tasuki and Kouji glared at the dying man. "Payback's a bitch, isn't it?" Kouji said.
"Someone like you will never defeat us." Tasuki commented.
With a gasp and sigh (using the Christopher Lee technique), Kencho slid to the floor. The earring he was hold bounced on the floor. Tasuki looked at it with disdain and crushed it with his tessen.
Chichiri concentrated again to find Tasuki. He explained to Ruri what was going on after helping Tasuki, but he hasn't heard from his bandit friend for a bit. Tasuki-kun. Tasuki-kun.
After a pause, Tasuki finally replied, Nani?
Daijoubu, na no ka?
Aa. And Tasuki proceeded to tell Chichiri of the battle that just ended.
Ruri watched Chichiri's expression change and sighed. She then glared at Chichiri again. "At least tell me if they're alright before hearing the story, baka monk!"
"Hai, hai," Chichiri said, giving in. "Women can be so impatient, no da."
Ruri chose to ignore the comment. "So are they okay?"
Chichiri nodded. "They're on their way home right now."
Tasuki and Kouji were exiting with building while the rest of the men were cleaning up when they heard a rustle. Each man went to his weapon and guarded themselves.
"Who's there?" Tasuki called out, glaring at the bushes.
Slowly out of the bushes, several men emerged and the two bandits blinked. A small contingent of Konan soldiers was standing before them.
"What the hell are you guys doing here?" Tasuki asked when he recovered from the surprise.
One of the soldiers, they assumed to be the captain, bowed. "Sumimasen. Her majesty ordered us to come here and arrest the and bring them to the palace."
Kouji nodded. "I see. Well, our men are in the process of pilfering and rounding up the prisoners now. Only about half of them seen to be alive, though. I guess we went a little overboard." Kouji shrugged, "Oh well." Tasuki chuckled.
"And the leader?" The captain inquired.
"Dead," Tasuki said. "He was a fuckin' moron. He was nothing more than a lunatic trying to achieve something he can't. He definitely wasn't worth all this trouble."
The captain nodded. "Arigatou gozaimasu. We will now take the remaining prisoners with us." With that the captain gave orders and the small contingent went to where the prisoners were being held.
Tasuki looked over at his best friend. "Let's clean this shit up and go home."
"I hear ya."
Ruri stood at the gateway to the stronghold with Chichiri standing beside her and the few who remained to guard the premise.
The sun was beginning to set and shades of orange, pink and red streaked the sky. The air was still and there was no music or birds or the chirping or crickets. It seemed like the area around them was also waiting with the small group… awaiting the arrival of those important.
Ruri was looking out into the forest expectantly as the sky began to go from pink, orange and red to pink and different shades of purple. Chichiri looked down at the small girl and gave a little smile. He placed a hand on her shoulder and she looked up at him. Both of them smiled and looked toward the forest again.
Several minutes later, the small group heard rustling through the trees and bushes. They all waited eagerly.
The Reikaku bandits were quickly walking, whispering excitedly. The words "party" and "sake" came up very frequently.
Tasuki and Kouji were in the middle of the group talking with Takeshi. Takeshi looked very distressed and it looked like Tasuki and Kouji were trying to comfort him.
"It is hard the first couple of time," Tasuki said.
Kouji nodded. "Sure is, but you do get used to it. Only because there are going to be times where you have to kill in order to survive and protect."
Takeshi just nodded.
"Accepting that it's wrong to begin with is the first step Takeshi." Tasuki said. "That's how you start becoming a man. Those who kill for fun don't understand humanity. But you do. And now you know that you don't kill unless it's absolutely necessary, like it was today."
Takeshi looked at Tasuki then Kouji. "Thanks, Boss."
Kouji and Tasuki smiled. Then they heard the rest of the men cheering. The three looked at their surroundings and cheered with them. Ahead was a small group waiting to welcome them home.
Tasuki ignored everyone around him and started looking for her. He saw the light blue bang of his fellow Seishi but he couldn't find her. Of course she had to be short.
Ruri smiled at the victorious men and congratulated them. But she kept searching for him at the corner of her eye. Several meters away, she spotted his orange hair and it looked like he was looking for her. It would be hard to find me in a crowd.
She quickly ran towards him, her brown eyes shining with happiness. Tasuki turned and saw the person he was looking for. His amber eyes brightened and he walked quickly towards her. As they got closer, Tasuki saw the love she had for him shining in her eyes. He knew that that love would always be for him and never anyone else.
"TASUKI!" Ruri called. Tasuki opened his arms and she jumped into them. Their bodies met in a fierce hug. Ruri wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder. Tasuki held her tightly by the waist and set his chin on her shoulder. Then Ruri lifted her face and looked Tasuki straight in the eye. Tasuki looked back a Ruri and then both met with a happy kiss.
The men all around them clapped, cheered and threw out catcalls. Chichiri smiled and went towards the couple. He set a hand on Tasuki's shoulder and Tasuki turned, breaking the kiss.
"I guess it's time for you to celebrate, no da." The monk said.
Tasuki gave a fanged grin. "Hell yeah!" He turned to the men. "Oi! Forget about organizing and shit! Tonight, we party!"
All the men cheered and ran into the stronghold. Tasuki turned to Chichiri, Ruri still at his side. "I know you're going to be joining us, right?"
Chichiri smiled and shook his head. "That's alright, no da. I'll go to the palace and report to her majesty."
Tasuki gave Chichiri a look. "Those soldiers who were there can take care of that."
"Iya. I'm going to report the whole incident. She needs to know why and how this happened, no da. Anyway, there are other matters that I have to discuss with her, no da."
The fiery Seishi shrugged. "Ok, but you're going to miss out." Tasuki smirked.
"That's more sake for you, no da." Chichiri pointed out. He turned to leave. "I'll be back in a couple of days, no da."
Ruri and Tasuki nodded while Chichiri waved goodbye. "Safe journey!" Ruri called after him. The two watched as the monk walked out of sight and they turned to each other. Ruri hugged him again. "I'm so glad you're back safe, Gen-chan."
"Aa," was his response.
"And now it's all over, ne?" She asked still holding on to him.
"Aa."
"You know what?"
"Aa."
Ruri stopped and looked at Tasuki. It looked like he was staring into space. Ruri also noticed that he was getting fidgety. Ruri sighed, "So how 'bout we celebrate with some sake now?"
Tasuki snapped back to reality and grinned. "Hell yeah!" He picked her up and practically flew to the dining hall. A sweatdrop went down Ruri's head. And yet I'm not pissed. Not a lot anyway.