After questioning the locals, they determined that there was a healer a few villages to the north. Getting a whiff of the unconscious youth with them, the seishi were chased out of the town by a mob wielding torches and pitchforks. Amiboshi regained consciousness about three hours down the road, at which point Tamahome, who retreated to a safe distance for his nose, instantly dumped him in the dirt.
"You owe me money for new clothes," Tamahome growled at him by way of greeting. "These are going to have to be burned and the ashes buried at least six feet deep."
"We should burn and bury him too," Tasuki muttered, pinching his nose shut in a childish gesture.
"Now, who are you and what are you doing out here?" Tamahome asked, always the suspicious little snot.
"My name is Amiboshi," he said. "I heard rumor that the Suzaku seishi were gathering. I came to see for sure."
"You have a kanji, de gozaru," Kenshin stated with bored certainty. Amiboshi verified his suspicion by flashing a red symbol at them.
"Bummer, no da," Chichiri mumbled under his breath. "This means that the living stink bomb is going to be following us from now on, na no da."
"Can't we just ditch him somewhere and come back for him when we're ready to perform the ceremony?" Tasuki asked miserably.
"You know I can hear you," Amiboshi called to them.
"We don't care," Tasuki returned. "You reek."
"We can't risk loosing track of him," Hotohori said reasonably. "He comes with us."
"Even if skunk boy was useless, we'd still have to take him to the healer anyways," Nuriko said. "Thwap-Happy here made sure of that." He gave Kenshin an irked look.
"Leave her alone," Tasuki commanded, protecting the other redhead.
"Her?" Amiboshi echoed.
"Yeah, her," Tasuki snapped. "What'd you expect? Us to stuff a guy in drag and try to pass him off as a priestess?"
A lot of muffled snickering followed the remark from all of the gathered males with the exception of Kenshin. The diminutive redhead was a bit disconcerted by the thought of wearing a dress in a religious ceremony. Immediately following the thought came the mental image of Saito in a frilly blue dress over the top of a stuffed bra and he was caught between laughter and a massive chill down his spine. The resultant noise from his throat made him sound rather like he was choking on a hedgehog.
"Are you okay, no da?" Chichiri asked, still grinning from the thought of Kenshin in a pink dress. For some reason, it was all too easy to imagine it. Kenshin knew what he was thinking and gave him a dirty look.
"I was just imagining Seiryu's chosen in a tight, lacy number," Kenshin answered.
He was surprised to see Amiboshi a little ways from him, trembling from a full body chill, his fingers curling and eyes twitching as though he was having a seizure. Kenshin gave him an odd look. Though willing to overlook the boy's knowledge of his true gender, since Chichiri had managed to figure out the same thing, he couldn't ignore the fact that the stink factory quite obviously knew who Saito was. A quick glance at Chichiri showed that the monk was thinking along the same lines.
"Is the Seiryu priestess a hot chick too?" Tasuki asked eagerly. Amiboshi made a gagging noise and went pale. Chichiri and Kenshin exchanged evil looks.
"Da?" Chichiri asked, arching one eyebrow at Kenshin. (The translation of bubblehead to normal speech came roughly to, 'Spy?')
"De gozaru." ('Of course.')
"Da. Na no da?" ('I see. Are we going to torture this poor guy?')
"Oro." ('Until he rips his hair out and screams for his mommy.')
"Oro, no da?" ('Would you like to go first, or should I?')
"De gozaru, oro. Na no da." ('We'll make this a competition of who can get him to snap first. I'll even be nice and give you the first move.')
"Da!" ('Thanks!')
The two psychos looked up from their quickly muttered conversation to find that all of the other seishi were staring at them. The emotions emitted towards them ranged from confused to 'you can expect a butt-kicking if you don't stop immediately' irritated. Amiboshi looked somewhat amazed, seemingly understanding that they were talking in their own little code while everyone sane was unable to follow their conversation.
"Are you two quite finished?" Hotohori asked, frustrated.
"Oro?" ('Were we doing something?')
"Da." ('Aw, but we're perfectly innocent and ever so cute.')
"Stand back. I'm going to kill them both," Nuriko growled.
"Do they do that a lot?" Amiboshi asked Tamahome, who was the only one with his sense of smell damaged enough to let him even remotely close.
"Constantly," Tamahome sighed.
"It's not so bad," Tasuki said, shrugging. "As long as Chichiri isn't competition."
"Da…" ('He has the IQ of a cabbage…')
Snort. "De gozaru ka? Oro?" ('It took you this long to realize that? Why do you think I like teasing him?')
"I'm warning you two," Tamahome growled.
"Da, no da." ('We should probably knock it off for now. I think Tamahome is about to blow the vein in his forehead.')
"De gozaru. Oro, no da." ('You're probably right. But if that thing goes off, you get to clean up the mess.')
"Da!" ('Says who?!?')
Cracking knuckles finally broke them up. Both Tamahome and Nuriko were approaching them, fists clenched. Kenshin raised his hands in defeat.
"Lets get to the next village," Chichiri said, pretending that nothing had happened. "The sooner we get Amiboshi patched up, the sooner we can get to Mount Taikyoku, no da." He started back down the trail as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Kenshin fell in step with him, arching one red eyebrow in question. Chichiri smirked.
A little ways behind them, Hotohori caught the interaction and was honestly afraid. They were planning something. Something potentially very bad. And when two head cases started in on their weird little schemes, it did not bode well for the rest of the world.
To Be Continued…
Just thought I'd do something really quick since I've gotten a large number of requests to get off my butt and update this fic. I figured that while I was at it, you guys would appreciate the bubblehead to English translations. ^_^ R&R!