Summary; Disclaimer: See First Chapter.
Warning: Some sexual innuendo and lots of language - courtesy of who else but Tasuki?
Yea! An update - I've been sick, and couple that with LOTS of problems and writers' block and I was screwed with all writing. But I formulated an idea in my delerium last night, and voila! Little longer than usual, just since you guys were so patient. And lots of reviews! Thank you so much! And I'd like to thank Katayanagi for thetree scene later in the chapter. Some humor, some drama, but a little lighter than previous chapters. Just to let you know, since it's drawing to a close (eventually) and things are coming toa head, there will be more serious stuff than humorous things in these chapters, so please don't be too disappointed. (hides) I am trying to insert things here and there, though. But the mood! The MOOD!
Please review if you read. Comments, ideas, suggestions, and helpful criticism welcome.
As she slept, Kae was aware of her own nightmares trying to enter her dreams and of the ever-increasing pressure as Keung Xi-Wang tried to force his way back into her mind. However, a calming power seemed to be present as well, keeping the evil chi from troubling her. The thought briefly crossed her mind that it was Byakko, before she realized it was a ward of Chichiri's, one that was able to keep her mind protected without the monk having to intrude within her mind himself.
"That must be why he's so tired," she thought, withdrawing from the dreams and returning to the deep sleep that strengthened her body. "He's using his chi for this."
"Daa…" Chichiri sighed, becoming aware of a powerful aura gradually surrounding him. Opening his eye fully, his jaw dropped when he realized the chi was coming from Kae, sleeping against Tasuki. The young woman was surrounded by swirling chi, and the monk realized that the chi was gathering strength and transferring itself to him, giving him the strength he lacked.
"Is she doing that on purpose?" he wondered, wanting but unable to stop her from using energy to manipulate the chi. In a few moments, however, the aura faded away and Chichiri was left with his thoughts, his chi having been replenished. He looked up at the stars, still bright in the sky, before sighing and settling back down to try to sleep some more before something else happened to wake him up.
"Morning," Tasuki grunted, rubbing his eyes as his body forced him to wake up. Chichiri looked up in surprise, and then returned to whatever he had been doing. Tasuki took a moment to stretch slightly before glancing down at the girl in his arms, who muttered something into his shirt. "Still asleep?"
"Daa," Chichiri nodded. "Her chi is becoming stronger, though. Why don't we try to eat something – when she wakes up we'll get something."
"What'd ya find?" the bandit asked suspiciously, and the monk grinned.
"Some plants Mitsukake taught me about," he replied. "He said they're edible, and not bad when heated over a fire. So, that's what I did. I thought you'd wake up soon, no da."
"Yeah, ya were right," Tasuki admitted. "Couldn't sleep."
"Here," his friend said, handing him some of the plants. Tasuki eyed them warily before shrugging and taking a bite, looking surprised at the minty taste that filled his mouth.
"Not bad," he nodded, the other Warrior already beginning to eat. Chichiri noticed with amusement how Tasuki managed to eat his food without releasing his grip on Kae, who was cuddled against his chest. He also noted how carefully the bandit held her, even though at first glance it appeared as if he was crushing her with his arm.
Several hours later, as Chichiri was examining the area curiously, Tasuki blinked in surprise when Kae suddenly shifted in his arms and looked at him blearily.
"Hey, yer awake," he commented, and she nodded wearily as he helped her sit up a bit straighter. The Warrior noticed curiously that she seemed to be trying to avoid his touches as much as she could, and briefly wondered why before coming to several conclusions. He helped her sit against the tree and moved a little away to fetch the food that was left over. "Here, Chichiri found some herbs earlier," he told her, offering the greens.
"Thanks," Kae murmured, taking them from the bandit after a moment. Her body screamed at her to continue her rest, but she didn't want to be more of a burden than she already had been – even though the combined effort of giving chi to Chichiri and maintaining her own alertness within her mind to keep the persistent spirit out had drained her of more energy than she had been able to regain while sleeping. As a result, Tasuki thought it looked like she was in a daze, or half-asleep still.
"Ya coulda kept sleeping, ya know," he informed her suddenly, and she looked at him in surprise. "Ya still look like ya want ta go ta sleep again."
"Oh…no, I'd rather not," Kae shook her head, and Tasuki was aware of a twisting in himself at the sudden look of pain on her face. She gasped when he suddenly appeared at her side and drew her to him, wrapping his arms around her roughly.
"I'm…sorry about all that," he said huskily, pressing his face into her hair. "I wish I coulda done somethin' more for ya…I promise, I won't let that bastard do anything to you, Kae."
"Tasuki…" she murmured, and wrapped her arms around him and squeezed with all the strength she could muster, leaning into him weakly. "Thank you."
"Fer what?" he asked in surprise, leaning back a little.
"For being here," she replied simply, closing her eyes. Tasuki took a moment to process this through his head before moving closer to her again and abruptly dropping a soft kiss on her head.
"Kae…I…well, I…"
"Is there anything more to eat?" she asked suddenly, interrupting the bandit and pushing him away from her. A hurt look crossed Tasuki's face as he turned away, silent for a moment before nodding.
"Y-yeah. I'll get 'em," he said emotionlessly, getting up and moving away to find the rest of the herbs. Kae looked at his back with tears in her eyes, and stared at the ground determinedly. She knew she still loved the Warrior, but didn't know why she didn't want to hear him say the words to her. Resting her head in her hands with a sigh, she shook her head in self-disgust.
"I'm just afraid," she thought to herself. "I'm just scared he was going to say something else."
"Kae?"
"Huh?" her head shot up, only to find Tasuki's face inches from hers. There was a strange expression in his eyes, and she tried not to pull back from him.
"I can't ask ya ta forgive me fer what I did," he said quietly, sitting down and peering at her intently. "I mean…well, it's not fair. But lemme try again. I may not be what ya love, but I don't want ta hurt ya anymore." Kae's mouth opened and her jaw moved, but she was unable to form any sounds in her throat, and could only gaze at the bandit with several emotions flickering in her eyes. Tasuki, who had apparently been hoping for a reply of some sort, hesitated when she didn't say anything and finally moved back with a sigh. "Sorry if I scared ya," he muttered gruffly, and jumped when she placed a light touch on his arm.
"You didn't scare me," she shook her head. "I just…you startled me, that's all. I guess."
"Well, sorry fer that, then," he repeated, fervently wishing Chichiri would come back from his explorations and ease his friend out of the situation he had gotten himself into.
"Tasuki…you know how I feel," Kae said quietly, catching the bandit off guard. "And…that day you apologized…I'm sorry I rejected it."
"Ah, ya had all the right to," he shrugged, but she grabbed his hand with both of hers, and he was suddenly aware of how thin and small her hands were.
"No…it wasn't right," she insisted calmly, her eyes downcast. "I'm just…I don't want pity, that's all. I don't want you to trick yourself into thinking you have…feelings…for me that you don't." Tasuki went to reply, but she pressed her other hand against his lips to silence him and shook her head again. "Please…don't say anything right now. Just think about what I said and make sure you're not making a horrible mistake. And then I can be happy…"
"With you," Tasuki finished in his mind, but nodded as she released his hand. "Alright, I'll do that, if it'll make ya happy. Now, where's that damn monk?" he demanded, looking around and abruptly changing the subject.
"You don't think he's in trouble, do you?" Kae asked worriedly, but Tasuki shrugged and got to his feet.
"Nah – not him. C'mon, I found a pond or whatever a little ways from here in the forest. I'm sure ya want to clean up and stuff," he said, swinging her up before she could protest. "And quit squirming! Ya don't want me ta drop ya, do ya?" he pointed out, and she hesitantly relaxed in his grasp. "Damn that bastard…doin' that ta her," Tasuki growled to himself, picking his way through the forest and keeping his face carefully set. "Ta think she's scared of us! I swear I'll kill him."
"Now where'd she go?" Tasuki grumbled, looking around in annoyance. He had left the young woman alone at the small pond to give her some privacy, but hadn't gone that far. However, when he had returned after a bit, there was no sign of her. "Damn it," he muttered, crossing his arms. "Now I'm pissed."
"Tasuki!" Kae called, and he looked up in surprise, only to see her waving at him from above, seated on a tree branch.
"How'd the hell ya end up there?" he demanded, and she shrugged cheerfully.
"I felt better, after getting in the water," she said. "And I felt like it."
"Well, get down!" he ordered. "Chichiri's back an' makin' food fer us, and I'm hungry!"
"All right, all right," Kae agreed, shifting around, "Give me a seco-whoops!" She yelled as her foot slipped from the bark, and lost her grip on the branch above, sending her plunging down to the ground below. Without thinking, Tasuki rushed to catch her, and ended up tripping and falling on his back with Kae on top of him. It took a second for the two to realize it, but quickly figured out that Kae had landed on her stomach on top of the Warrior.
And they were kissing as a result.
Tasuki remained frozen, blinking in stunned silence a few times, while Kae slowly turned more and more red. The spell was broken, however, when she jumped off of him roughly – causing him to wince – and turned around hastily.
"W-well, I'm down now!" she stammered, as Tasuki got to his feet and brushed himself off wryly. "So I guess we can go back now."
"Gee, thanks," he commented, and began to lead her back to the camp without further comment. A few paces behind the bandit, Kae gazed at him apprehensively, unable to determine what was going through Tasuki's mind at that point.
"What's the matter with you two, no da?" Chichiri asked curiously, as they ate yet another hare that had fallen victim to a Suzaku Warrior. The monk had noticed that his two companions hadn't even looked at each other since he had been able to see them, but was unsure what the problem now was. "Tasuki, you didn't ravish Kae or something, did you?" he asked, half-jokingly, but the bandit spit out his food and choked on whatever remained in his mouth, while Kae blushed again and occupied herself with Tama. "You did! You masher you, no da!" Chichiri gasped, trying to lighten the mood a bit.
"Ah, shut up," Tasuki grumbled, getting up and stalking away from the firelight. Kae remained quiet, and Chichiri sighed.
"Sorry, no da."
"You didn't do anything," Kae told him in surprise. "Besides…his face was kinda funny," she admitted with a slight giggle, and Chichiri nodded. "What did you do while you were gone, anyway?" she asked, and he shrugged.
"Not much, no da. I was seeing if there was anything around here, but nothing but sand as far as I can see, no da," he told her, and she sighed.
"How long are we going to be here?"
"I don't know, no da," he admitted with another shrug. "I can still sense Byakko's presence here, protecting us, though. But I'm not sure what we should do next, no da. We can't stay here forever."
"Yeah," she agreed morosely, staring into the flames darkly.
"Is something the matter, no da?" Chichiri asked gently. Kae seemed to snap out of a daze, and looked at him in surprise before managing a cheerful grin.
"Nope! I'm fine – I feel a lot better!" she assured him, but winced under his intense gaze. "I am!" she said defensively, but he only continued to stare at her. "Would you cut it out already? I feel like shit, okay?" she grumbled, resting her chin on her knees. "Happy now?"
"Of course not, no da," he shook his head, and moved a little closer to her. "You look so sad, that's all. Want me to go find Tasuki?"
"No, tha – yes, please," she nodded, sighing in defeat. Chichiri grinned at her as he got to his feet, patting her head reassuringly before taking off.
"Meow?"
"What's your problem now?" she asked, as Tama stared at her. She could have sworn the feline actually glared at her before jumping to her lap and pointedly clawing her legs harder than usual as he kneaded, causing her to wince. "Damn cat."
"Rude woman!"
"I wonder what they're doing?" Kae wondered, looking around at the surrounding trees with a frown. "They've been gone for so long…but I haven't sensed anything weird since they left, so I dunno. What do you think?" she asked, glancing down at the cat in her lap. Tama merely yawned before snuggling back down, and she rolled her eyes. "Gee, thanks," she said, and sighed. "I guess I should go look for them, huh?"
Stretching a little, she pushed Tama out of her lap as she stood up, and ignored the dirty look the animal gave her. Straightening her clothes awkwardly, she looked around and groaned.
"But I don't know which why Chichiri went!" she realized, and – with surprise – noticed that Tama was suddenly plodding into the brush, and decided to follow him. "Might as well," she shrugged, rushing to catch up to the cat before she lost sight of it entirely.
"Where the hell are you going?" she demanded, having followed Tama for the best part of thirty minutes. "If you're lost too…"
"Meow," it said smugly, suddenly stopping in its tracks and smirking at the human. She blinked, taking a moment to regain her train of thought, before hearing noises coming from further away in the trees.
"Huh?" she noticed, and turned toward it curiously. Making her way through the greenery, she realized that they were at the pond Tasuki had taken her earlier that day. Pushing several branches out of her way, Kae promptly went into shock at the sight that met her eyes.
The two Warriors were nude in the pond, facing her in surprise. Now, that alone would have been bad enough, but to her horror that wasn't all.
She had apparently interrupted a steamy makeout session between the two young men.
"Oh…my god…" she managed, backing up in a hurry as Tasuki moved toward her. To her further surprise, he grinned at her.
"Why doncha come 'n join us?" he suggested, and Kae was surprised her eyes didn't fall out of her head in amazement.
"What the…hell is going on?" she demanded, her heart racing in her ears. "This is…you two are…ew!" Shaking her head to rid herself of the images, Kae continued to back up and yelped as she tripped over a tree root, sending herself flying backwards. She winced as she hit the ground, and didn't have time to think anything else as everything went black around her.
"No!" she screeched, shooting upright in horror. Chichiri gazed at her in surprise, mask off, and she stared back in shock before she realized several things. First was that she was in bed, wearing a clean robe.
Another thing was that her head really hurt.
And something else she noticed was that they weren't in the forest anymore, but the house was apparently in a desert city, judging by the view outside.
"What…the…" she managed with a groan, before hiding her head in her hands.
"Are you all right, no da?" Chichiri asked with concern, and her gaze returned to him in surprise.
"All right? What the hell happened?" she yelled, regretting the sudden noise as her head began to throb.
"I'm…not sure what you're talking about, no da," he replied, peering at anxiously. "I found Tasuki coming back to the camp, and we heard you scream. By the time we got there, you were on the ground in convulsions. Apparently, Keung Xi-Wang attacked while we were both gone, and I had to drain some of your chi to drive him out. But you still looked like you were having nightmares, no da."
"So…it was a dream?" she murmured, and he cocked his head.
"What was a dream, no da?" he asked, and she turned a bright red in recalling it.
"No-nothing," she replied quickly, and he shrugged.
"Several kobolds appeared, but with you unconscious we weren't able to fight them. So I teleported us out to Xi-Lang, into the city of Sairou, no do," Chichiri told her, and looked to the door as a young, busty woman entered, cheerfully carrying a tray of food.
"I heard the scream, Chichiri," she grinned, and Kae looked to the monk pleadingly as the stranger began to bustle him out of the room.
"This is…Subaru…she and her husband Tokaki are Warriors of Byakko, no da!" he called, as Subaru shut the door in his face.
"Nice to meet you," she smiled, taking Kae's hand gently. "You were doing pretty bad when Chichiri and Tasuki brought you here – you've been out for three days now."
"Three days?" Kae repeated, and the woman nodded. A thought suddenly occurred to Kae, and she peered suspiciously at the other young woman. "Hey, wait, if you're a Warrior of Byakko…shouldn't you be…older or something?"
"Oh, this," she smiled, and nodded. "Just sit back and eat something, and I can explain it while you eat."
"All right…" Kae agreed uncertainly, leaning back against the pillows a bit nervously as Subaru took a seat on the bed beside her and shifted the tray on her lap.
"So…how come you didn't die, if you couldn't revert back to your older bodies?" Kae asked curiously, having eaten everything on the tray that she could and listening intently to Subaru's story. "I didn't even know there were female Celestial Warriors!"
"I'm not entirely sure," Subaru admitted. "Perhaps Byakko decided to give us another life-span as a thanks or something. But we're still healthy and young, so I'm not complaining."
"This was great," she sighed in contentment, and the other woman nodded.
"You looked famished," Subaru agreed, and rose to her feet. "Now, your other clothes are pretty dirty – and they're too heavy for a desert climate like this anyway. Why don't we get you dressed into something better and then take you out to the Warriors, huh? They've been pretty worried about you, you know. They won't leave you alone no matter what – I made them switch so Tasuki could get some sleep," the Warrior confided to Kae, who watched her in surprise.
"Really?" she asked, and yawned. "Guess I'm still waking up," she laughed nervously, and swung her legs over the side of the bed as Subaru found some clothing.
"Let's get these on you – they should fit," Subaru told her, and promptly took complete control of the situation – Kae wouldn't have been able to protest even if she had wanted to.
Surprised? I had ya going for a while, didn't I? I considered making the whole THING a dream, but that would've been too much for me...ow. Anyway, I had to put Tokaki and Subaru in there! I love those two! (grins) Anyway, any scenes or ideas are still greatly appreciated. Please review!