Title: One Thing Led To Another (4/5)

Author: Lady Shinimegami

Pairings: Well let's see if I can list them all off. Tasuki/Nuriko (but that's only from the drunken frenzy), Tasuki/Kouji, Chichiri/Tasuki, Nuriko/Hotohori and I suppose it could go without mentioning, but Tamahome/Miaka (although I try to avoid them and their fish love…)

Warnings: Foul language (but of course, this is me after all), violence, TWT, I only hint at lemon.

Disclaimers: Sigh Ok, I admit it; I don't technically own Tasuki (but I still have him stashed away in my basement)… or the rest of these people.

Summary: The title really tells it all…

(Note: If a sentence is in italics (i.e. He left) then it's a memory.)

Miaka: Relationship Specialist

Chichiri sat by Tasuki's bed and watched him sleep. After Tasuki passed out, he felt more than inclined to help him into bed and make sure he was better when he woke up. When he woke up - which he hoped would be before twelve hours have come and gone -he would get the story out of Tasuki.

He was acting so strangely. Tasuki liked drinking and all, but he didn't get this drunk in such a short amount of time. Something big was bugging the redhead and he really wanted to find out what it was.

In the short time that he had come to know all the Seishi, he had gotten very close to each off them. He loved them all in his own little way. This of course was no exception to Tasuki.

But unfortunately for him, he didn't know how anybody truly felt about him. More importantly, he didn't know how Tasuki felt about him. Sometimes Tasuki acted like they were best friends, sometimes not so good friends, and other times dangerously close to being more than friends.

Tasuki was a confusing fellow. And in some ways, it made him all the more likeable. All the more…

A soft groaning cut of his train of though and he looked down and Tasuki, his brow was furrowed in either pain of confusion, his teeth lightly clenched.

"Are you having a nightmare no da?" Chichiri asked, more so himself than Tasuki who was sure to not reply. "I should wake him up…"

He was about to reach over to shake him, when Tasuki's face simply went back to normal. Chichiri looked on a bit confused, but let the matter rest. Whatever nightmare he was having, it was over and he most likely wouldn't remember it come morning.

News travelled fast in the little Seishi group that Nuriko was feeling bad, and so everyone decided to inquire about the fact. Miaka was a bit shocked; Mitsukake seemed to have been the only one to expect something like this to happen and Chiriko looked pale at the mention of 'sex' in itself.

Hotohori acted strangely enough about it. It didn't seem to bother him, and on a whole other level, it seemed to piss him off completely. Whether it was because both had gotten drunk enough to do something so foolish, or the fact that Nuriko had slept with another man, if you get my drift, was left to be unsaid and unseen as he seemed to retire to his room after hearing about it.

Miaka was very relentless, she got the news last and was alone with him in her room that she had promptly dragged him into after she got his story. She wanted to make things better between everyone.

"Miaka… I really should go check on Tas'ki-Kun," Nuriko pleaded softly with the girl.

"Didn't Tas'ki-Kun pass out again?" Miaka asked him.

"He passed out?" Nuriko asked with a rather worried expression on his face.

"Yeah, Chichiri-Kun's with him now. So you can't go talk to him until he wakes up."

"I wonder if it's because what happened…"

"Maybe he just felt like drinking and get got out of hand. Ne, Nuriko-Kun," Miaka looked around in her head trying to find the right words. "Why were you and Tas'ki-Kun drinking so much?"

"Well… I guess we both had our reasons," Nuriko stammered a bit.

"What was yours?"

In all truth Nuriko felt comfortable enough with Miaka to tell her about his problems, but telling her Tasuki's problems was something else. He had a vague idea of why the redhead was drinking. He kept going on about Kouji, not that he was following so much being drunk himself.

"Mine?" Nuriko looked down. "Hotohori-Sama I suppose."

Miaka raised her eyebrows, but let him continue to talk.

"He just pisses me off sometimes, always ignoring me while paying so much attention to you, not to make you feel guilty. I just wish he realized I lived."

Miaka put her hands on Nuriko's.

"He knows you live," she said with a smile.

"Not the way I wish he did."

"But you can't change the way someone feels you know. That's something you have no control over."

"I know all of that… but I can't change the way I feel either."

"I never said you had to Nuriko-Kun, nobody did, and I know that one day everything will work out for the better."

"Like with you and Tamahome-Kun, huh?" Nuriko asked, not to be difficult, but just to know if that's what she was basing a comparison to.

"Well… it's different for everyone."

"But love is love no matter what. It's all the same."

"In a sense I suppose, but all people react differently to love."

"I guess that's where my problem lays. That or I'm simply fooling myself."

Miaka gave his hand a little squeeze.

"Love doesn't play tricks, it can be confusing and frustrating, but in the end makes perfect sense."

"I should probably go," Nuriko said standing up. "I've got a lot to think about."

"Nuriko-Kun, don't ever give up on love."

"Thanks Miaka-Chan," he said and then left out the door.

Miaka sat down, confusion written all over her face.

"Where did all that come from? I didn't realize I knew so much about anything… I hope I was right," Miaka mumbled and began to pray quietly.

"Tas'ki. Promise me you'll come back."

"Don't worry Kouji, this shouldn't take too long."

"Heh, just don't get too attached to anyone."

"I couldn't get attached more to anyone than you…"

Tasuki's eyes fluttered open ever so slowly, he didn't have a headache or anything, and in fact he felt quite at peace with himself. He was trying to figure things out; he had been since he had gotten to know Chichiri so well.

He had thought for the longest time he had found that one person for himself, and then… then he thinks he finds another. How does one cope with being in love with two people? How is it one's in love with two people? Which is love? Is either love or are both just hormones?

Why was life so damned confusing?

Tasuki was about to sit up when he noticed, or rather felt, something on his stomach. He squinted his eyes though the darkness that had fallen during his sleep and saw none other than Chichiri.

He was startled enough to fall out of his bed… had not Chichiri fallen asleep on him. Instead he just stared on in pure shock, too scared to move or to breath.

The moonlight shone of his face and he looked so peaceful, he still wasn't wearing his mask and looked so… beautiful. He would have been breathless if he weren't already holding his breath.

Remembering that he had to breathe, he gently let the breath out. He was wondering if he could somehow get out of his bed without waking Chichiri up… then he started wondering why he would want to?

How many times would he wake up and Chichiri would be sleeping on him? Probably never ever again.

That's another thing that bugged him, he could feel how he felt all he wanted, but how did Chichiri feel about him? Did Chichiri even think of other guys like that? If he told him one day… would Chichiri freak out at him and never want to see or talk to him again?

Would Chichiri feel the same way?

And then what happens to Kouji? He can't very well completely brush Kouji off. That was something he could never do. He loved Kouji so much… so whatever he was feeling for Chichiri couldn't be the same… it couldn't be love…

"Tas'ki?"

Tasuki froze in fear as Chichiri's head slowly lifted itself off the bed and stared at him, he wasn't too sure what to say.

"You're awake," Chichiri mumbled smiling.

"Yeah…" Tasuki managed to choke out.

"Are you feeling better no da?" Chichiri asked and reached out to feel his forehead, instinctively Tasuki backed his head up and it hit the headboard.

"Ow…" Tasuki mumbled holding his head.

"Ne Tas'ki, I'm not going to hurt you no da," Chichiri said with a bit of a nervous tone.

"Sorry…"

"Are you all right?" Chichiri said, absentmindedly moving closer.

Unfortunately for Tasuki, he couldn't back up any further.

"I guess I'm a little jumpy…" he mumbled out ever so quietly.

"Oh… why?" Chichiri asked suddenly getting very lost in Tasuki's red-brown eyes. He sometimes dreamt of being this close to him.

It was in that moment when something very odd happened to Tasuki. His entire life flashed before his eyes, from beginning to end, very detailed and very compressed at the same time. He realized his life had been very short and on the whole, pretty boring, but that wasn't the point.

Covering the tracks of those 17 years, it also went over everything about Kouji. Every time he saw Kouji, how he felt when he saw Kouji and how the more he got to Chichiri, the more he found his feelings changed.

Maybe he didn't love Kouji anymore.

Then the thought scared Tasuki out of his wits. And by turning to his right, he rolled right off the bed.

"Tas'ki?" Chichiri questioned as the boy fell on the ground with a loud thump.

"I'm ok…" He mumbled standing up quickly. "But uh… ah uh… Bye!"

And as fast as he could, Tasuki ran out of his room. He even forgot his coat.

(Well, as I read over this story to edit it, I notice two things. 1) I shouldn't edit it, because I've started hating it. Whenever I edit anything of mine I begin to dislike it, but I am because people bitch so much about editing it, and there's no way I'm going to finish this story unless it's up on the MLs or something to keep me writing it… wow, I really can ramble 2) The second thing I notice is how much this story hits home. I've been in situations where I think I'm in love with one person and then fall in love with somebody else. It's the most confusing thing in the world and can be very scary. So I guess I'm kinda modeling Tasuki after me a bit here… and in a sense that's ok because I am quite like him. Anyhoo, I hope you like. I have no idea how long this will be, but, hopefully for my sanity, quite quickly. And fear not, I will not turn this into one of those FanGirl FanFics shudders at the though. Sayonara)

Edit: I think this Fic was being posted on two different sites at the same time as I was writing it. It was getting some good buzz, but my general lack of writing talent at that point kept it from getting terribly popular. Either way, I think this chapter is very good, no? Just the interaction with the characters seems well done. I dunno, maybe I shouldn't toot my own horn.