Chapter 17: Messes are Very Easy to Make

"Oh my, you're not doing anything! Nobody gets to do nothing around here!" Rin'an was moving almost as fast as her mouth was talking. She had an armload of fabric and a wooden food container dangling from an arm, and was clutching some rags in the other. "Can't have Mama seeing you idle!" So saying, she dropped the bundle of rags into Lolita's lap. "Shun-chan's room needs tidying up. I swear, that boy is the messiest, most disorganized person..." the rest of her rant trailed away with her.

Lolita looked from the rags to her poor hands, sighed, and hauled herself up. The family had been up even before dawn, running to and fro with odd chores that needed immediate attending.

It was the day before Aidou's wedding.

And she was sleepy. Chichiri had offered to take over her morning duties, which she gladly turned over in favour of more nap time. But she had hardly been asleep for half an hour then a godawful banging reverberated through the house, followed by a long, shrill, child's scream. Footsteps came pounding after the battle cry; footsteps that charged into her room and jumped right on top of her.

After that, she didn't even dare think of skiving.

As Lolita proceeded down the hall where Tasuki's second sister indicated his room was, it suddenly came into her mind that she had never seen his room before. Oh, Tasuki had obviously seen the guest room she and Ami slept in, popping in every night as he was wont to do, to check on her.

Ever since they came to stay with his family, those nocturnal visits were the only time they had in each other's company. But they never lasted. Lolita often wanted to sneak out into the dozing town to be alone with her bandit, but every time she proposed the idea, he always had to reject it. So each evening meeting ended with a swift kiss goodnight and a last longing look just before Ami came in.

Now she was going to cross the threshold into forbidden territory. Or almost forbidden territory. A mess of giddy excitement and nerves, she found herself standing grinning at the door for a whole minute before finally pushing it open.

It swung in.

Lolita had a sudden compulsion to laugh. Or maybe cry. Tasuki's room looked like a five-year old on a sugar high happened to it. In one corner was his unmade bed, the chair beside it looking less like a chair and more like a clothes pile. The drawers of a chest were all pulled open, their freshly wrinkled contents spilling out. Out of an armoire tumbled childhood memorabilia. Everything was topsy-turvy. The only clean place was the corner where Chichiri's cot stood, pristinely made, his staff leaning against the wall at the foot of the bed, marking out a perfect, spotless little territory.

It was heaven compressed, shoved into a protective bubble, and thrown into the heart of hell.

Thinking back, Lolita realized that maybe the culprit was Tasuki's five-year-old look-alike nephew. She was almost sure she saw smudges of candy on his fingers.

Nevertheless, it was time to get to work. Figuratively rolling up her sleeves, she attacked the bed, tucking and smoothing everything back into place. She was plumping pillows and was about to throw the coverlet over her masterpiece when the wave of exhaustion she had been pushing away for so long came over her. One minute her vision emptied into total blackness; the next, she was sprawled on the bed, waiting for the weak feeling to pass. Shutting her eyes, Lolita tucked herself into a ball, forcing herself to suck in deep lungfuls of air. She was beginning to feel better when the door banged open.

"What a nice surprise," came the teasing drawl. It wasn't very hard to imagine the accompanying smirk.

"Tasuki." She didn't even crack an eye. She didn't move; just lay there coaxing her jagged breaths back to normal. Catching on fast, he was instantly by her side. "I'm okay," she mumbled, forcing herself to look at him. "Everything's under control."

He growled. "Go to sleep. I'll cover fer ya."

"I only need a minute." Rolling over onto her back, Lolita took one last deep breath, shoved away the lingering faintness, and pushed herself upright. The world spun, but righted itself quickly. "Okay. Back to work."

For the first time, Tasuki took a clear look at his room. His face changed from surprised to annoyed to mortified. "They made ya clean my room?"

"I don't mind."

"Well, I do." Irately muttering to himself, he plodded through the mess to begin putting things back in their proper order. Lolita caught snatches of "that little brat takes perfectly after his mother" and giggled.

"Here I was thinking what a little boy you were to leave your room in such shambles."

He paused to throw her a smug look. "Ya think too little 'a me."

"Nah. My room looks like this, too," She stood up to join him, choosing to commandeer the open armoire. "But worse. Mommy will probably be happy when I get home knowing how to keep my room tidy," she said without thinking.

Tasuki froze.

When the words sank in, Lolita too, stopped. "S-sorry."

"Do ya...miss home?"

Shaking her head, she said in a small voice, "I can't seem to keep it out of my head. It comes even when I'm not consciously trying to remember it."

"I'd think 'bout Konan too if I were away," came the nonchalant reply. He just had to try to lighten her up.

She smiled and returned to sorting through a jumble of childhood memorabilia. "I can imagine."

Leaving his work, Tasuki went over and sat down beside her. Lolita was smoothing several sheets of crumpled paper together. Recognizing the black scrawls, he suddenly grabbed them out of her hands, face flushed.

"Are you okay?" she asked, eyebrows raised.

"F-ferget these. Too dusty."

Shrugging, she reached into the pile, retrieving a bundle of copper coins all strung together. Tasuki's eyes lit up. "Hey! An' I thought Manka-nee took these ta buy 'kaa-san's birthday present." Looking sheepish, "Had a row 'bout it, too. Screamed at each other all day."

"So did you ever get to buy your mother a present?"

The look he gave her spoke tons. "'Kaa-san? If I bought 'er a birthday present all those years ago, I wouldn't be 'ere now!"

"That bad at picking presents, huh?"

He snickered. "Hell no. Ma'd smother me for joy. Never bought 'er a present after th' first time." He shook his head. "Was a miracle I made it out alive." Then a thought occurred to him. "I never did ask you when yer birthday was, did I?"

"It's long over," she said mildly, putting away old toys.

"How old are you?" he persisted.

"Eighteen."

"Oh." He sat in thought before saying, awkwardly, "Yer parents...must've found somebody fer ya."

Unexpectedly, Lolita snickered. "Sure they have," she replied, tone derisive. "Plently. I hate them all."

"But yer gonna hafta marry one a' them."

"That'll be the day," she scoffed.

He felt strangely content watching her tidy up. It was so mundane, so much like something a bride would do – a real bride. Tasuki felt his face warm as a corner of his mouth tilted in a lopsided grin. Well, it was something to think about.

"...forty-eight...forty-nine...fifty!" A clatter of wood upon wood finished the session. Lugging another big food basket towards herself, Ami was beginning to fill it with the assorted cakes spread out on the table before them when she glanced up at the bride-to-be.

The cutout of twin characters for joy hung limp from Aidou's hands. A pile sat on the table, untouched. She was supposed to stick them onto each and every little thing she would be bringing to her future husband's house, but the chests and stacks of boxes around her simply went ignored.

"Aidou-san? What's the matter?"

The girl blinked out of her reverie, shaking her head and sheepishly smiling at Ami. Grabbing the closest box, she haphazardly smoothed the paper cutout onto it and reached for another.

"One cutout per box, remember?"

Again, Aidou blinked at the flimsy red paper in her hands. She was about to stick it onto the same box. "I...I guess I'm a little distracted," she admitted with a nervous laugh.

"I'll say."

The girls continued working in silence until the bride-to-be murmured, "Marriage must be so weird."

"But you're getting married."

"I know, right?" When she laughed again, it sounded uncertain. "And I have no idea what's going to happen."

"All sorts of great things are going to happen! You could start a family, for one!"

"This is my family." She shook her head. "I'm not supposed to leave them." Frustrated, she tossed the box back onto the table, upsetting the heap of paper cutouts. "All my sisters have gone and married. If I leave, too, who's going to take care of Mama and 'Tousan? Shun'u's always running off on his own, thinking it's so cool to play bad boy. And now he's gone and gotten himself a girl!"

Ami thought she was beginning to understand. Conspiratorially leaning forward she asked, "Do you wish you could run off like Tasuki, too?"

She got an incredulous look. Aidou was beginning to form an "of course not" but her expression changed at the last second and she grinned. "Yeah. Sometimes I do."

"But you never got the chance."

"I never chose to," she corrected, looking nostalgic. "I can't. I can't make myself just up and go. I'd...I'd miss them. All of them. Even that cocky little brother of mine," she spat out rather fondly. "He never thinks! What does he suppose he's doing, disappearing for years and then coming back home, girl in tow? It's so irresponsible!"

"People in love tend to do irresponsible things."

Aidou's eyes widened and she sat up straighter. "So he did get her pregnant!"

"No!" Ami laughed. "I didn't mean it that way. But Tasuki's sure different when he's around her."

"That's because she expects him to protect her all the time. As if we're a family of monsters," Aidou muttered, none too pleased. Retrieving a sorry piece of red cutout, she slapped it on a nearby cosmetics box. Ami returned to aligning sweets into the first layer of the second basket.

"You know Lolita doesn't think of you guys like that. Besides," pausing to admire the herd of sweet bun rabbits, "they're in love. We're not supposed to understand them."

"What a shame. It's surprisingly easy to read young couples," interrupted a titter. The girls turned to see Tasuki's mother coming in to inspect their work. She nodded at Ami's approvingly, but frowned a little at her daughter's less-than-necessarily-neat paper cutout branding.

"Ai-chan, I'd like to speak to you and Lolita-chan before supper. I'll meet you both in my room."

Chichiri didn't need to turn around to know that Lolita had been standing at the entrance to the stable for a while now. He tried to scan her chi for a clue as to why she had come, but couldn't read anything. She waited quietly, wordlessly, not speaking until he wiped the final bit of dust off the top of the red wedding palanquin, dropped the rag into a nearby bucket and said,

"Can I help you, no da?"

He felt her smile. "Funny. I came hoping I could help you."

"Oh?" Quirking an eyebrow, he finally turned around. She pushed the little gate open, took a deep breath and cocked her head.

"Smells like hay."

"It's a stable, no da," he chuckled.

"Remember the last time we were in one?"

"The one and only time, not counting this one?"

"Back then," she began, but cut herself off with a laugh and a shake of the head. "No, no. That's not right." When she looked up again, Chichiri sensed a growing sombreness in her aura. His eyes followed her as she leaned over a stall to pat the horse's nose. "I still can't ride. Not by myself, anyway."

"You're doing better, no da."

"That's a good thing."

"It is," he agreed, not sure where the conversation was going.

"Hey...Chichiri, we're friends, right?"

He nodded.

"Do you care about me?"

A tiny frown creased his masked face. What was she going on about? "Of course, no da. I care about everybody."

She shrugged. "Would you still care about me if you knew I had secrets?"

"Everybody has secrets."

"Bad ones?"

Ahh... He was beginning to see what she was getting at. Chichiri internally flinched at the pointed look she gave him. It was a question he had been hoping he wouldn't ever need to answer. "Bad secrets...exist too...no da."

"Would you still care about me if I told you I kept some very bad secrets?"

"Lolita-chan, what could you possibly..." The words died as he realized that that was the exact same thing he had been thinking about Ami before she...disappointed him. "I don't want to talk about it." Then he marched back to busy himself with scrubbing the spotless palanquin, determined to ignore her. In the ensuing silence, they heard a female voice call for Lolita.

"It's Aidou."

"I know. We were supposed to finish packing up her trosseau."

"You should get going then. It's almost sunset. No da."

Unexpectedly, she crouched down beside him. When she a hand to his face, her fingers lingered near the edge of his mask. "May I?"

Sighing, Chichiri slipped the mask off. He never gave her a glance until he felt gentle fingers near where the scar tore across his face. He jumped, making he withdraw instantly. But when they locked eyes, she smiled, a bittersweet gesture.

"I'm afraid to touch it. I never know what you'll do. Even then, I still care about you. You're my friend, Chichiri. I'll always care."

"Lolita! Mama wants you!" echoed in the background.

"That's my cue," she shrugged, pushing up from her knees. "Exit, stage left!"

"Lolita-chan!" he caught at her wrist. She turned, looking at the monk's maskless face. The expression was harsher than she was used to. "It isn't that easy...to accept somebody. You can't – you can't just decide to do it and expect to feel right about it!"

"But you've been doing just that all your life. All your second life." The darkening backlight shadows kept him from seeing the soft tint spreading across her cheeks. "That's why I liked you the first time." Then her hand slipped out of his grasp.

As soon as she was out of the stables he stood, watching her break into a jog towards an impatient Aidou.

How different she seemed. How quickly she could switch from one persona into another in a matter of seconds. How, when he really stopped to think about it, very like him she was.

Ami was reading from a checklist she had propped up on the bundle of red garments in her arms when she caught sight of Tasuki, skulking very much like a bandit around his mother's room.

"What's up?" she very innocently asked, coming up from behind him. Caught unaware, the bandit jumped, whirling on her with a finger stuck to his mouth.

"Ssh!" Casting furtive glances, he pulled her a little way down the hall and whispered, "If my sisters see me sneakin' 'round eavesdroppin', I'll be in a ton 'a trouble!"

"Eavesdropping? On whom?"

"My mother," he rolled his eyes. "An' my sister...th' one who ain't gonna be an old maid startin' tamorrow."

"What makes you so interested?" she cocked an eyebrow.

Tasuki grew visibly uncomfortable. "They're talkin' about...stuff. Weddin' stuff, mostly. I wanna hear."

"That's something new."

"Lo's inside, too."

"Ahh," the girl grinned, shifting the bundle of clothes higher up her arms. She began to trot away. "Happy listening, then."

"Where are ya goin'? Don't ya wanna hear what they have ta say?"

"Not as much as you, Tasuki," Ami replied with a wicked grin. "Don't let your sisters catch you!"

Visibly reddening, the bandit caught up to her and roughly grabbed the clothes away. "Where to?" he muttered, eyes averted.

"Aidou-san's room."

Although grumbling about having to enter the realms of hell and hoping to come back alive, he trotted after Ami, anyway. She held the door open as he stumbled in, thankfully dumping the layers of red fabric onto his sister's bed.

Tasuki had never been in Aidou's room ever since he ran away. His final visit was the last straw that made him jump ship to join the Reikaku bandits. Now, looking around, it seemed to him more like a girl's room and less like the torture chamber of bygone years. Almost.

If anything, all the redness nearly blinded him. On the walls were gold-printed charms written over with flowing red calligraphy; the windows were swathed in yards of red ribbon. A red-lacquered travelling chest stood at the foot of the bed, ready for transport to his fifth brother-in-law's house along with the enormous pair of black-and-red food containers. Even the bed was spread with red sheets, and every last surface had been imprinted with the 'double happiness' symbol.

He stared, almost flabbergasted by the change. "Weddin's are so much work."

"You almost forget what it's really for," agreed Ami, busying herself with laying out the complicated layers of the traditional wedding dress.

"No, ya don't," said Tasuki, arms folded as he continued to survey all the wedding paraphernalia. "When ya start wakin' up every mornin' rememberin' there's in-laws ta please, ya never ferget th' essence 'a weddin's."

With a secret smile Ami replied, "I wonder if you'd still think like that when you and Lolita marry."

He whirled on her looking like he was going to spit out a sharp rejoinder. But the blush took over his face faster and Tasuki found himself stumbling for words. Realizing that he was making a fool of himself, he returned to staring out the window, arms folded across his chest. "I've never asked 'er."

"She told me," his companion serenely replied, never looking up from her work.

"She...she ain't mad?"

"What could she be upset over?"

"In front of my family we – I – I act like we're engaged'r somethin' when I never really even asked 'er yet." He looked at her over his shoulder. "Shouldn't she be upset?"

Ami paused to smile back up. "She's not."

"Do ya think..." Tasuki caught himself before he could go any farther. What the hell was he doing telling Ami all about his love dilemmas? Covering his embarrassment with a little cough, he made for the door. "I should...go. Got stuff ta do, yeah. Old maid's weddin's tamorrow. Busy."

"I think you'll have enough time to catch the last of the secret meeting," she winked.

He barked a stuttering laugh. "Y-yeah. Like I said: busy," and scooted out the door as quickly as affected dignity would let him.

Tasuki never looked back at the room he had just left. When he passed his mother's room, the doors were still closed. Hushed voices drifted from inside it. He deliberated between walking away and living with the curiosity or satisfying that same curiosity and, quite possibly, be executed upon discovery. Weighing the options, he decided that living uninformed would be more unbearable, and making sure that coast was clear, edged towards the door.

"I will love him, Mama!" It was Aidou's voice. Tasuki almost flinched at the vehemence of it.

"But it will be a different kind of love, dear," his mother's voice followed.

"Not everyone gets to live a romantic life," the younger girl said. Tasuki could almost imagine her shooting a meaningful glance at Lolita. "I don't believe in the kind of love they write about in the books," her voice lost its edge as she continued, "but some people do. So I'm happy to marry someone I've met only twice if it means Shun-chan won't have to worry about supporting Mama and 'Tousan in the future!"

Tasuki sucked in his breath.

"I know I'm a crick in his neck and I know I annoy him no end. But he's still my little brother and I want him to be happy. When he and Lolita-san marry I don't want him to have to think about how he's going to support all of you. He's a part of a legend, and he's played his role well. Shun-chan...should have his chance at a fairy-tale ending, too."

He reeled back. Aidou didn't love her fiancee? Suddenly, words from a long-forgotten memory pushed themselves back into the surface of his mind.

"You don't have to worry about anything because Aidou nee-sama will fix everything for you. You only need to be happy, Shun-chan."

It was a long, long time ago, back when they were kids and he could still stand her teasing because somewhere in the back of it all he knew his older sister cared for him. The day she told him that they were walking home after she scared away the neighbourhood kids who came to pick on him. He was constantly teased for his strange hair colour, but nobody bothered him when Aidou was around.

To think he had almost...forgotten that.

Tasuki snapped out of his reverie in time to dodge the swinging door. A surprised Aidou stood in the doorway, though her surprise very quickly morphed into a queer mix of embarrassed annoyance. "You really shouldn't let me catch you eavesdropping, you know?"

"I...I wasn't..." he parried weakly. Rolling her eyes, she strode towards her room. Tasuki watched his sister go, unsure what he should do. But his legs moved of their own accord and he found himself jogging to catch up to her.

"Hey!"

She ignored him.

"I heard what ya said!" Reaching out, he laid a hand on her shoulder. "Nee-san!"

Aidou stopped, her back ramrod straight. Very slowly, she turned around.

"N-nee-san..." Tasuki repeated, albeit a little more quietly. "You don't have to..."

She smiled. He hadn't seen such an honest smile from her for the longest time. It was the kind that didn't send frightened shivers down his spine, working instead to make him feel guilty. Patting his hand, "I can fend for myself. You only need to be happy, Shun-chan."

Everybody had gone to the wedding reception at the groom's place. Except for Tasuki and Lolita, the Kou residence was completely deserted. It was also very dark, but for the solitary lamp flickering in the bandit seishi's bedroom. The said bandit seishi himself was slumped in a chair, absently staring out the window. The night sky flashed with bursts of colour. Fireworks. A morose smirk tugged up one corner of his mouth. Aidou's husband was the son of a filthy rich merchant desperate for grandchildren.

He knew the family; everybody in town did. But it felt rather wrong for his sister to give herself up to them without a fight. For him, she implied. She was doing it all for him.

Tasuki felt like a useless jerk.

A soft shuffling stirred him from self-pitying thoughts. He glanced up to see Lolita lying on her side, watching him. With a tired smile he got up and sat on the edge of the bed beside her.

"Hey, you. Sleep well?"

"What's with the glum face?"

"Old maid's married," he sighed. "Finally."

She pushed herself upright. "Shouldn't you be happy?"

"Yeah..."

"But you don't look it."

"I don't," he repeated, catching the hand straying to touch his face. Tasuki brought it to his lips. "I haven't been man enough. Nothin' I ever learned in Reikaku made me man enough."

"You're still thinking about what Aidou-san said, aren't you?"

"She's always been the worst 'a that gang a' tomboys I call my sisters," he chuckled to himself. "Never cared about learning ta be a wife – heck, she never acted like a girl as far as I was concerned! Picked on me all th' time. I always told 'er I hated 'er..." He paused, absently stroking the back of Lolita's hand while he thought. "Didn't know she'd been lookin' out fer me all this time."

"She wants you to be happy. I wish you would, too."

"Only one thing would make me happy," he murmured, closing the gap between them, brushing her half-open mouth with his. "I've been thinkin' about it fer a while. Stay with me, Lo. Marry me."

A/N: Just a tidbit on Chinese weddings (based on actual observation and not necessarily researched information):

Because traditional Chinese weddings were arranged, the bride and the groom usually only meet twice before their actual wedding – one during the introductions by the matchmaker, and a second time during the engagement parties. These events don't have too much activity except for the exchange of gifts between the families of the bride and groom, more or less symbolizing their acceptance of each other. Gifts usually included bolts of cloth (items of clothing now that we're in the RTW era), jewelry, and lots and lots of sweet food, which are placed in huge food baskets, which look sort of like round, stacked lunch boxes with a handle. Everything was papered over with cutouts of twin Chinese characters for happiness. What couldn't be papered over were stamped with them, right down to the teacups and bowls used by the prospective bride and groom when they take turns serving tea and noodles to each other's relatives.

The wedding palanquin. Obviously, that's not used nowadays, but way back when, the groom would lead a procession to the bride's house (wearing his shocking-red outfit topped off by a giant ball of red ribbon – hence Eimin's ribbon ball in the previous chapter, though I'm not sure whether the bride's family or the groom's makes it -.-") walking (or riding) in front of the wedding palanquin (don't ask why Chichiri ended up polishing it) to fetch his bride.

The actual wedding takes place in the morning, followed by a reception in the groom's house. The visitors then go to look at the bride's dowry, which is usually laid out in her room, before it is all taken to the groom's house, where they will spend their first night.

Thus ends our culture lesson. :) See you guys at the next chapter!