Saito was silently congratulating himself. Amiboshi had come out of hiding, but instead of taking him to Nakago, as the tall blond had demanded, he had sent him out to spy on the Suzaku seishi, in compliance with the boy's original excuse for hiding. Even as he watched the boy escape with his flute in hand, he fully expected Kenshin to recognize him as a spy in less than three seconds and thrash him soundly. Despite the pressing urge to return home, he much preferred tormenting Nakago.
Knowing that the blond would be expecting him shortly to rehearse the ceremony for summoning Seiryu, he vacated his quarters to take a walk, determined not to be found when the younger man was looking for him. He would not give the blond the satisfaction of telling him to do anything. As much fun as it was tormenting Kenshin, aggravating the blond was infinitely more amusing for some reason.
* * *
Amiboshi swore luridly. He was covered in insect bites and stings, as well as a number of rashes and sores that he could not readily explain, nor did he really want to. Ashitare had followed him for a little while, probably as an excuse to avoid a certain sword-wielding lunatic, but had finally left when Amiboshi managed to get sprayed by a skunk. Tired, stinky and spotted, the teenager stomped off towards his goal.
* * *
Kenshin was standing in the middle of a small lake they had found while traveling, delighted to finally have the chance to bathe. He knew what was coming and he was waiting for it, smirking slightly. A slight snap of a breaking twig alerted him to his observer and he hunkered down in the water, keeping only his head above the surface. He turned in the water, making sure his back was towards the shadow in the trees before he rose again, smirking to himself.
Predictably enough, hiding in the trees was no one other than Tasuki, the redhead seishi having snuck off to attempt to sneak a peek at his crush. Long since done washing, Kenshin started for the shore where his clothes were neatly stacked, moving carefully so that certain plant life would remain in the way of certain telltale anatomical features that would give away the game. Moving completely out of sight, he dressed quickly and sprinted back to the camp, knowing he would return long before the teenager could.
Chichiri was setting up various trinkets and weird things that no one could readily identify in preparation for summoning Taiitsu-kun. Seeing the redheaded swordsman's return, the masked monk arched one eyebrow in inquiry.
"Oro?" Kenshin asked innocently. Nearby, Tamahome twitched at the word that all of the seishi had come to dread.
"Da?" Chichiri returned pointedly. He avidly ignored the blue-haired teen who was popping his knuckles threateningly.
"De gozaru," Kenshin answered.
Nuriko chunked a rock at the two. Since Chichiri had joined the group, he and Kenshin made it a point to only speak to each other with the weird little phrases that drove everyone else insane, mostly because no one could figure out what the two were talking about. Strangely enough, the two bubbleheads seemed to understand each other perfectly, their odd little minds completely in sync. To prove that they seemed to think with one mind, they both casually leaned to the side as the hurled stone flew by at a velocity that wouldn't be out of place on something leaving the planet's orbit. The flying rock made a clean hole through one tree and lodged itself in the next in its path. Chichiri leaned forward to look through the hole in the once mighty oak.
"Da," he said appreciatively. Nuriko growled.
"I'm going to look for Tasuki," Tamahome announced, standing rather stiffly and stalking out of the camp.
Chichiri and Kenshin exchanged triumphant looks and laughed hysterically at the younger man's thickness for not realizing what Tasuki had been up to. On the other side of the fire, Hotohori diligently pretended not to know them. Nuriko eyed them strangely, seeming to catch on.
"Wait a moment. Was Tasuki…" Nuriko said, trailing off as he realized what the other teenager had been up to. The two loonies only laughed harder. Nuriko snorted. "How could he not have figured it out by now?"
"Indeed," Hotohori sighed. "It's such a simple matter to spot a crossdresser."
At that, Nuriko and Kenshin cracked up. Chichiri turned a blank face to them, not knowing that Hotohori still thought the purple-haired seishi was a woman. Kenshin filled him in on the situation.
"De gozaru," he said, jerking his head at Nuriko.
"Da!" Chichiri exclaimed in understanding.
"What?" Hotohori asked, not understanding the maniacal grinning. "Never mind. Are you about ready to summon Taiitsu-kun?"
"Hai, no da," Chichiri said a little too happily.
"Should we wait for the horn dog and the brat to come back?" Nuriko asked.
"They're back," Hotohori said, nodding his head towards the trees. "They're just over there."
"That ain't us," Tasuki said, appearing with Tamahome from the opposite direction.
Violet eyes narrowed dangerously. "Wait here," Kenshin said in a flat voice.
"But…"
That was all Nuriko had time to get out. Kenshin took off like a shot, sword leading. The five seishi with him could only listen as the scene unfolded beyond their sight in the growing darkness.
"Ryu Sho Sen!"
THWACK!
"Oro?"
"We really need to keep him tied up," Nuriko commented dryly, being one of the two seishi there that Kenshin hadn't beaten up in some way. Tamahome and Tasuki winced, both of them having been on the receiving end of Kenshin's attacks. Chichiri was still bruised from being a landing pad for the lard butt the redhead had beaten up last.
Hotohori grabbed a stick from the fire, holding the lit end far from his robes as he led the way into the darkness to figure out who the midget had bludgeoned this time. That's when they heard him again.
"ORO!"
THWACK-THWACK-THWACK-THWACK-THWACK!
"I'm afraid to ask," Tamahome muttered.
Afraid to ask or not, he found out just what Kenshin had caught a moment later when the lit branch Hotohori was holding illuminated the scene. Kenshin was standing a little ways back from a heap of something, holding his sleeve over his nose and mouth, violet eyes watering profusely.
"You killed him," Tasuki said dryly, prodding the downed figure with one toe. Suddenly, he got a whiff of the figure too and he leapt back, pinching his nose shut. "Never mind! He was already dead!"
"I don't think so," Chichiri said, poking the unconscious mass with the tip of his staff, not really wanting to get too close.
"Then he should be dead and Kenshin did us a favor!" Tasuki said, backing up further.
"He's not dead," Chichiri sighed. "But he does need a doctor now."
"I thought he was a giant skunk," Kenshin said in his defense.
"Close enough," Tamahome said, face screwed up from the smell. He came up with the question of the day a moment later. "Who's going to carry him?"
Nervous looks were exchanged and a lot of finger pointing went on for a few seconds. Surprisingly, it didn't take very long to figure out that particular conundrum.
In the end, Tamahome ended up having to carry the stink factory that would later be known as Amiboshi. They were originally going to throw him onto one of the mounts and lead that horse by a lengthy piece of rope, but all of the horses ran away the moment they scented skunk boy. Kenshin still had his reverse blade sword and no one in their right mind was going to try to make him do anything he didn't want to. Hotohori had calmly issued a royal decree stating that menial labor such as that was below him and it would be a short drop and a southern stop for anyone who defied that order. Tasuki still had the Fan of Doom and no one was willing to challenge him. Chichiri had, in all seriousness, threatened to turn everyone else into newts if he had to carry stink boy. When it came down to Nuriko and Tamahome, the purple-haired crossdresser simply had to pop a tree out of the ground with his bare hands and threaten to clobber Tamahome with it.
Faced with those options, Tamahome stuffed moss up his nose and grudgingly carried the unconscious boy.
To Be Continued…
I am SO sorry. I had writers block for a little while and then I actually forgot about this story! I'm as ditzy as I'm making Kenshin and Chichiri out to be. I just discovered my brain dead mistake today and quickly wrote up a section. Please forgive me and R&R.