The more Chichiri met with Mitsukake and Chiriko, the more his memory returned, along with his powers. He had been able to access a storing capability in a simple chinese paper hat and had retrieve his shakujo and kesa and kasa, as well as his prayer beads and a picture Miaka had taken on the boat before they had left to find the Shinzaho's. This picture was framed, as well as duplicated for Chiriko and Mitsukake and one to put in his office.
It was now 5 weeks since he had found Mitsukake and Chiriko and he was content to know the rest were out there. He was in his office, looking at his calendar when there was a knock on the door. He was trying to reschedule a meeting so he could attend a formal event for Doug, at his university. His youngest seishi brother was being awarded for his academic achievments and had requested that he and Mike be present.
He glanced up and called out "Come in." Not really expecting anyone, he was surprised to find a slightly irritated Claudia at his door. "Hayden, we have a problem."
"What problem?"
"Derrick called in sick again."
Hayden sighed. Derrick Chase was the laziest person on staff and this would be the second time in a week that Hayden would cover his assignments. "How long is his assignment?"
"Not long, 1 model, male, about 2 hours."
Glancing at his schedule he sighed. "Fine, but 2 hours is about all I have."
Claudia smiled. "Good, Ryan is all ready, we were hoping Derrick would show up in that time, so he's ready to start shooting."
She handed Hayden some files about what type of feeling the company was going for and then he paused as he looked at Ryan's picture as he stopped in the doorway. Staring up at him was a black and white picture of Nuriko.
"Ah, Claudia, you're back and with..." the voice cut off and Chichiri raised his head to gaze in shock at Nuriko who was staring equally amazed at the photographer. "Chichiri?"
Claudia blinked "No, this is Hayden Jonston."
Nuriko's purple eyes flickered to Claudia and then back to Hayden before grinning. Chichiri shook his head "Yes, my name is Hayden, but you can call me Chichiri if you like."
He moved closer to the man, who was still standing in shock. "Nuriko, let's get this done in two hours, no da. We're having supper with Mitsukake and Chiriko tonight, ok?"
Nuriko blinked at his words and then let out a loud screech of joy and Chichiri was quick enough to get his camera out of the direct path of the willow warrior, who picked him up in a huge bear hug, swinging him around. Claudia's mouth fell open at this, cause although he managed to hang onto the camera, Hayden was laughing and hugging the model back.
"You guys know each other?"
Nuriko set Chichiri back on his feet and smiled at Claudia. "Oh yeah, this guy and I go way back. It's just been a long time, right Chichiri?"
"That it has, no da. Are we ready to start? Are you going to be able to make dinner with Mits and Chiriko tonight?"
"Are you kidding, I wouldn't miss that for anything, let's get this show on the road."
During shots the two chatted easily, almost forgetting others were in the room with them and that half their conversation didn't make sense to anyone but each other. Chichiri smiled to himself. Tasuki had more of a connection with Nuriko in the last life, but in this one, it would seem that they would get to have a better friendship. He was thrilled by this, and Nuriko appeared to be also.
Later that evening, on their way to dinner to meet with Mitsukake and Chiriko, the two devised a devious plan. Chichiri would go in first and have another chair brought over and after 5 minutes Nuriko would come in. Chichiri was known to have a wicked streak in him, one that had been carefully hidden from the others before, but he was happy to go along with this little prank on his seishi brothers, especially knowing they would forgive him when Nuriko sat down.
He walked into the restraunt and sat, luckily there was a fourth seat and he didn't have to request one. As he greeted the others and placed his drink order, he ordered an extra glass of water, for Nuriko.
Chiriko and Mitsukake blinked at this. "Why do you need two glasses of water, Chichiri?"
"I invited someone to join us that I want you to meet, no da."
The two shared glances and then looked back at the blue haired photographer. "Do we know this person?"
"I don't believe you have met Ryan." Which was technically true, they hadn't met Nuriko as Ryan.
He smiled at them "He's a very special person to me."
Chiriko and Mitsukake both frowned at these words. "But, I thought we were searching for Tasuki for that reason?"
Chichiri blinked, pretending like he hadn't meant it like that. "Oh, not that special person, special person. Just someone special to me. You will like him."
Mitsukake sighed at these words and Chiriko leaned back "Oh, well, I didn't realize we could bring others, I was kinda hoping to go over something my dreams brought up with you guys, but we can do it later."
His forced cheerful voice pulled at Chichiri and he suddenly wished he wasn't pranking his celestial brothers.
From the lobby, Nuriko saw Chichiri's shoulders slump and the unhappy looks on Mitsukake and Chiriko's face and knew it was time to bring their prank to an end. He slipped into the room and arrived behind Mitsukake and Chiriko. Chichiri tried to not smirk and look at Nuriko, as the model leaned down and whispered "Boo" right behind them.
Chiriko gave out a soft yell, catching the attention of those around them and Mitsukake jumped, banging his knee on the underside of the table.
"I want you to meet my friend, Ryan Bayard, no da."
As the other two spun around, Nuriko grinned "Yeah, but you two can call me Nuriko."
Chiriko was out of his seat in an instant, crying out "Nuriko." and latching onto the purple haired model. Mitsukake was soon pulled into the embrace after Nuriko let Chiriko go and Chichiri just smiled and sipped at the water, that had been delivered while the others were being reunited.
Chiriko looked over at the smug Chichiri "That wasn't very nice."
"Well, you were the one that believed I would really bring someone who wasn't a Suzaku warrior to one of our dinners, unannounced, no da."
Nuriko and Mitsukake chuckled at the two and for the first time in a very long time, possibly ever, Nuriko felt as if he finally had found where he truely belonged.
Almost a week later, while in the building, Nuriko knocked on Chichiri's door. He smiled when the ex-monk called out "Come in, no da."
He had noticed that Chichiri kept the "no da" out of his speech when he wasn't talking to a fellow seishi and knew that Chichiri knew it was him.
"Hey Chichiri."
"Hey Nuriko, what's going on?"
The blue haired photographer was standing at a table, head bent over shots. Nuriko approached behind him and saw they were the ones from his photo shoot. "Oh, I hate that."
Chichiri glanced at the one Nuriko was pointing at. "I like it. Your face looks very natural like that, no da."
The purple haired man sighed "No, I was talking about the outfit. I never look at my face when I look at pictures until the end. The outfit is horrible, totally not my style or color."
Chichiri glanced at it and realized he looked at the model's face first and then the outfit and then the whole picture. "Ah, you're right, the color does nothing for you."
He flipped it upside down and kept looking. Between the two, they came up with 3 options to send down the line and after putting them in an envelope, Chichiri smiled at Nuriko. "I doubt you came here to help me pick out your picture, no da."
The purple haired man shook his head "No, I just wanted to say hi. See if you have any new memories lately."
Chichiri sighed and flushed, causing Nuriko to grin. "Ah, I see and they are all about Tasuki eh?"
"Da! Nuriko, no da."
Nuriko chuckled madly at his friend, who was blushing wildly and looking anywhere other then at him. "It's ok, Chichiri. I understand."
Chichiri sighed "What about you, no da?" Nuriko grinned "You know me, I've had my memories back for a long while."
Chichiri sighed again, this time more heartfelt and slumped his shoulders, walking towards the framed picture on his shelf. One finger came up to trace Tasuki in it and he sighed again as Nuriko threw an arm over his shoulder. "I don't understand why my memories aren't complete. I haven't been able to visit Taiitsukun in my meditation, like she is hiding from me. I just wish we could find them."
"Ah, don't be impatient Hayden. Look, I'm sure Mike and Doug's assessment of the situation are correct. It's probably because of your powers and magic that you can't remember fully. You get more memories back the more you see us, so once we find Hotohori and Tasuki, as well as Tamahome and Miaka-chan, you should have your full memories back. We are all here in the city, so let's concentrate on Hotohori-sama and Tasuki-chan before we try and locate Tamahome and Miaka in Japan, ok?"
Chichiri nodded and smiled at his friend "Hai, you're right, Ryan, we should not lose hope and I know my memories will return fully."
Nuriko smiled "Good, now when do I get a copy of this photograph?"
He was peering closely at it, his eyes glued onto Hotohori-sama. "He's even more handsome then I remember. I want a copy of this Chichi..." he was cut off as he looked up to see Hayden holding out a framed copy of the picture towards him, an impish smile on his face.
"Way ahead of you, Ryan. There you go."
Nuriko grinned at the picture and then changed topics. "So, do you think Chiriko will get the internship?"
"I don't know, no da, but he is interviewing for it at Lambert Industries today, so we should know how he did tonight, no da. Now, I know you have a photo shoot coming up, you should probably get going, no da."
Nuriko blinked "How do you know that?"
"Because Derrick is really close to getting fired." Nuriko gave his friend a sympathetic look and nodded "Yeah, that's true. It's sad cause he's such a nice guy and a great photographer."
Hayden nodded "Now, go and get into make up and I'll take lots of great photo's of you and beautiful women and when we find Hotohori, it will be great material to hold over your head if you get to rambunctious, no da."
"Hey, no showing pictures of me and women to Hotohori-sama. That's not fair Chichiri!"
The bluette shoved his friend out the door, both heading towards the studio. "Don't you know that life is not fair, Nuriko."
"Yeah, but you're my brother, you are suppose to be on my side."
As they entered the room, Chichiri chuckled. "But Hotohori is my brother too. Now go get ready."