Chapter Fifteen
"I feel like I've taken a step back in time."
Nuriko examined his reflection in the mirror, pursing his lips as laughter danced in his vivid dark eyes. "Tamatama, you really have a gift for this, you know. I'm sure there are transvestites enough in Eiyou for you to make a career of this makeover thing, if you wanted to. I look like a new woman."
"Well, that was the idea." Tamatama laughed, although there was still a flicker of regret in his eyes as he gazed at his friend. "You're like noone else I've ever met, Nuriko...but most of all, your figure is sickening. You can get away with so much, with your features - with my help, you could pass as a woman forever and noone would ever ask any questions."
"It's strange, but it feels nostalgic." Nuriko touched his cheek, shrugging his shoulders. "I didn't get a chance to be very much the girl when Miaka was here. In fact..."
He faltered, then sighed.
"I'm not quite sure how I felt about Miaka." He admitted at length. "But she was the first and probably the only person to make me think or act at all like a man. Now she's gone...I feel...like a girl again. It's strange, but dressing like this seems the right thing to do. Not because I'm trying to be Kourin any more - but because this is Ryuuen, after all. I think."
"Well, Ryuuen or Kourin, you've still got a sickening figure for a transvestite." Tamatama sighed, shaking his head in resignation. "You're a dream model to work with, you know...where will I find anyone quite so ravishing for my next project, huh?"
Nuriko laughed, nodding his head.
"It's all right." He asssured his friend. "You like a challenge."
He turned back to his reflection, eying himself critically.
"I wonder if I'll be as pretty as this in the next life." He mused. "I'm seriously considering coming back as a girl, you know. And giving it a proper shot."
"You get to choose?" Tamatama stared, and Nuriko grinned impishly.
"That's a perk of dying in the service of the Miko and the Beast God." He agreed lightly. "When whatever this is is resolved...I'll be able to choose my next incarnation. What do you think? I think it would be an adventure. I've spent so much of this life being girlish - and I've liked living that way. There are a lot more things that make sense to me about girls than about boys, in the final analysis. Maybe I'd be happier if I started over as a female."
He pursed his lips, looking pensive.
"Maybe then he'd notice me, if I was a girl." He added cryptically, reaching up to brush a faint smudge of makeup from his cheek. "After all, he did marry Houki, and she and I do look alike...surely, if I was a girl next time, he'd not be able to resist me."
"Woah, girl. He?" Tamatama blinked, and Nuriko laughed.
"The beautiful man I told you about." He said with a shrug. "Hotohori...the former Emperor of Kounan. Thanks to your pampering, I spent a year in his harem undetected...I never meant to fall in love with the Emperor, but it was something I couldn't help. And now we're both dead, it makes me wonder. I mean, when I died, I did my best to push him in the direction of my friend Houki - because she was the only woman in the harem worthy of his attention, besides me. But now he's dead too - we'll both be reborn. And maybe next time around...it will be my turn."
"A year, huh." Tamatama looked impressed. "I trained you better than I thought...and he didn't even realise?"
"Well, he didn't honestly spend much time in the harem. If any time at all. He's a man of too much honour." Nuriko shrugged his shoulders. "But I am serious, you know. If I'm very clever...I might manage to secure him in the next life, even if not in this."
He winked, mischief in his eyes.
"Worth a try, right?"
"Oh, I've missed you in Yukigase." Tamatama laughed. "And I'm going to miss you again, when you...go. I should have travelled away from the village sooner...it seems such a short space of time, now we've rekindled our friendship. And then you'll be born again, and you'll forget everything and everyone you ever knew in this life."
"Maybe." Nuriko looked thoughtful for a moment. "But I think it'll still be there - somewhere inside of me. Otherwise, why do people make connections? I might not remember you in the next life, Tamatama, but you and my other friends will still be part of who I am. It's just how it is. Miaka too - even though I'll probably never see her or Tamahome again, now. They're part of me, somewhere...and I think that will be true, even in the next life."
He laughed, the moment of solemnity gone.
"But we're getting serious again." He scolded. "And I imagine there's enough of that to come, when we reach Eiyou. So let's not, huh? Are we travelling on today, or what?"
"The only carriage going the right way left an hour ago, and it was full - I asked that lecherous young man downstairs." Tamatama admitted, and Nuriko fixed him with a searching look.
"It was full, or you want to delay me getting to Eiyou now you know what it means?"
"Both." Tamatama owned, looking sheepish. "But I know you have to go there...it's all right. I won't stall you forever. I just thought, while there's a little time..."
"I guess so." Nuriko's eyes softened, and he nodded, grabbing his friend by the hand and leading him towards the door of the small chamber. "Then we'll go out into the city and see the sights, all right? I want to show myself off to the crowds, and you always catch people's eyes wherever you go - let's go out there and be noticed, huh?"
"I catch people's eyes all right, but not in the same way as you." Tamatama said dryly, as he allowed himself to be hauled out of the room and down the stairs. "What it must be to be born svelte."
Nuriko chuckled.
"Delicate and yet so strong inside." He teased. "At that rate, I should be every man's dream, shouldn't I? The perfect woman."
"Don't push it." Tamatama's eyes twinkled with humour. "Last fling or not, I'm not going to stroke your ego any more than it already has been. You don't need me to compliment you on your looks, you know. You just spent a half hour examining your reflection in minute detail. You know you're beautiful, even with your hair short."
"I guess I picked up one too many bad habits from living around Hotohori-sama." Nuriko said sheepishly.
They stepped out onto the main street, heading down the centre of the small town. It was not as busy as the place where Nuriko had saved the life of the little girl, but there were people around, and as they past, heads turned and nudged together in whispers at the sight of the beautiful young woman and her unusually attired companion.
"Do folk stare like that in Eiyou, by the way?" Tamatama asked curiously. Nuriko shrugged.
"I don't know." He admitted. "When I was growing up, people got used to me being, well, me. I won't pretend they liked it, but the neighbours all knew that I was Ryuuen, even though I dressed like Kourin. Maybe they whispered behind my back...but noone was really...unpleasant about it. Not to my face."
He frowned.
"I don't know whether my family took worse than I did over it." He added. "Sometimes, there are things Rokou said to me in the past that I stop and think about...and I wonder about that. Still, as Nuriko, I made them proud...so I know that they've something to cling on to, even if it's wrapped in the memory of their cross-dressing younger son."
"Rokou is your brother?"
"Yes." Nuriko agreed. "Sometimes I wonder if he was actually the strong one, in the end. I always saw him as a coward - a weakling who I defended from bullies and whose messes I always had to sort out. But when Kourin died, he didn't lose himself in grief like I did. And now I've gone, too, he's still able to find the strength to move on and live his life. I underestimated him, but he had more strength than I realised. And he must have seen Mother and Father suffer for my actions more than I ever did."
"Does he look like you?" Tamatama asked speculatively, and Nuriko gurgled, reading the implications of his companion's words.
"Yes, somewhat, but if you start making a move on him he might die of fright." He said with an amused chuckle. "Whenever someone suggested a marriage alliance between him and the daughter of any of Father's associates, he about became apopleptic and clean hid from sight if he could. I don't think he'd know how to handle it...even from a real woman."
"Pity." Tamatama joined in the laughter. "Because if he's anywhere near as pretty as you, I might have paid him a visit."
He paused, sending his friend a sidelong glance.
"Hell, I might yet. Your people run a fabic emporium, after all - and they say Eiyou is the best place to get good material."
Nuriko giggled appreciatively.
"I almost wish I could be there to see it, but I doubt I will." He said regretfully. "I promised myself not to go home again, now. I did - once - with Miaka, as a spirit, when we had to find something that was hidden around the property. But it upset Rokou-nii - and to be honest, I don't want to keep dragging his thoughts back. He won't move on if he sees me everywhere he looks, just like I didn't move on when Kourin died. So much as I'd like to see it - when we get to Eiyou, I won't be going to the textile quarter."
"Pity, but I understand your reasoning." Tamatama reflected. "I was going to offer to convey a message to your people, but if that's how you feel..."
"There's nothing I need to say to them." Nuriko shook his head, glancing up at the sky. "I think they know all they need to know...that I love them and I'm sorry for the things I've done to hurt them. Any more would just be prolonging the pain...even considering what a terrible son I was, they did love me a good deal, you know. More than I probably deserved, in the end. I won't be selfish...I've said my goodbyes."
"You're a sickeningly good person sometimes, you know that?"
"Well, if I am, it's also because of spending too much time around Hotohori-sama." Nuriko said ruefully. "I'm just trying to think as someone who's leaving his regrets behind. That's all. Talking to Kourin healed more than just my missing memories...it's hard to explain, but everything makes more sense now."
"Speaking of making sense or otherwise, what do you suppose is going on up there?"
Tamatama jerked a thick, polished finger towards a commotion up ahead, not far from the entrance to the town. A cluster of people had begun to gather around something or someone on the ground, and Nuriko frowned, a sudden flicker of something darting across his senses. He grabbed his friend by the hand, quickening his pace as he approached the gathering.
"K...Nuriko?" Tamatama cast him a startled look. "What? Do you see something?"
"No...I feel something." Nuriko looked as non-plussed as his companion. "Briefly. I thought..."
He faltered, as they reached the back of the growing mass of bodies, and he glanced at his hands, pursing his lips as he slipped them between two bulky townsmen, pushing them aside as if they were no more than feathers on the wind.
"Coming through." She said cheerfully, as one man stumbled back, almost knocking over a second, and the other tripped over his own feet in an attempt to regain his balance. "Whoops - sorry about that. Guess I don't know my own strength!"
As they pushed through the crowd, Nuriko was once more aware of the vague sensation crossing his senses, and as they reached the front, his eyes widened as he realised the cause of the disturbance. A man was crouched on the ground, his face pale and his eyes bright with alarm and consternation. Though it was clear he had collapsed in some way, and that he was too weak to get back to his feet, he was refusing to let anyone near him, and as his eyes rested on the stranger's face, recognition flared in Nuriko's heart.
"Mitsukake." He breathed, and at the sound of his name, the man raised his head, looking straight at Nuriko with first shock and then comprehension.
For a moment, nothing moved, then Nuriko stepped briskly forward, taking his friend by the arms and pulling him firmly to his feet.
"What the hell are you doing here, of all places?" He demanded, concern flickering in his expression as he registered how tired and drawn the physician appeared. "Have you been blitzing your power on healing people again, you idiot?"
Mitsukake could do nothing more than stare at his companion, and Nuriko sighed, tut-tutting under his breath as he turned to face the crowd.
"Nothing to see here - just a doctor who's been working too many hours helping the sick, as usual." He said pragmatically, taking Mitsukake firmly around the wrist and pulling him through the mass of people towards an open stretch of street. Having already experienced Nuriko's strong touch, many of the townsfolk stepped back to allow them to pass, although a low murmur of conversation echoed behind them as they moved into a more secluded area of the town. Tamatama, having gauged his companion's behaviour, was quick to follow, and soon it was just the three of them in a side-street, Nuriko casting Mitsukake an admonishing glare as the man sank back to the ground.
"What have you been doing this time?" He asked softly, crouching at the doctor's side. "You're dead, you know. You can't go round healing the world - look at you."
"Dead?" Tamatama looked startled, glancing from Nuriko to Mitsukake, and then back to Nuriko again. "You mean this is one of your..."
"Seishi friends. Yes." Nuriko nodded. "Tamatama, this is Mitsukake. Myou Juan."
"Mitsukake." At this, the physician murmured his name, glancing at Nuriko afresh. "That is...truly who I am."
"You're way out of it, aren't you?" Nuriko sighed. "Don't you remember anything yet? What are you doing in this town - can you tell me that?"
"I..." Mitsukake faltered, rubbing his temples, and Nuriko sank back against the wall beside him with a sigh.
"Okay. Let's start with something more basic." He said softly. "Do you know who I am? When I said your name before, I thought you recognised me...but we won't get anywhere unless you do."
"Nuriko." Mitsukake managed a weak smile, and Nuriko nodded.
"Good start. You know you're Mitsukake and I'm Nuriko - so you're better off than I was when I stumbled into Yukigase." He reflected. "This is my friend Tamatama, by the way. He might look...unique, but he has a good heart...so you don't need to look so apprehensive. I was going to Eiyou to track down the rest of you - but since you're here, you and I might as well make the trip together."
"Eiyou." Mitsukake echoed the word, then he sighed heavily, shaking his head. "No. I can't...I can't go there. Not yet. I need...to find Tasuki."
"Tasuki?" Nuriko looked startled. "So you know who he is, too...are you saying you've seen Tasuki? Recently? In this part of Kounan?"
"My thoughts are all so jumbled." Mitsukake admitted. "And I feel so tired, as if a large part of my energy has been sucked away. I am not sure what I saw...but for some reason...I think..."
He hesitated, then glanced at his bandaged hand, holding it up before his face.
"You've wrapped your fist again." Nuriko frowned. "Why? Mitsukake, what's going on?"
"I think I hurt him. With this." Mitsukake confessed, looking troubled. "I don't know...how. But...I think...I think he came towards me. And I...I repelled him. With my hand."
"But your Suzaku power is to heal. Not harm. That doesn't make sense." Nuriko shook his head. "It looks like you're as disjointed as I was before Tamatama helped me - stop for a moment and think rationally, if you can. If you saw Tasuki - where did you see him? And was he alone?"
"I...don't remember." Mitsukake owned. "It is all interspersed with images of a woman. A woman named Shouka, who I think I once loved."
"That would be an understatement." Nuriko sighed, getting to his feet and pulling his broad companion up with him as if he were no more than a small child. "Right. So you think you saw Tasuki, that somehow you hurt him, but you don't know how, where or if he was roaming the country alone. Right?"
"Yes."
"Well, I suppose it's still a start." Nuriko frowned, casting the bemused Tamatama a glance. "It's a good thing we didn't leave this morning, after all. He's all in - and I think we should take him back to our room. Whatever happened to him, he's as unsettled as I was when you first found me...maybe after some rest, he'll be able to think more clearly."
"You do know what that bar attendant will say if you turn up with a man on your arm." Tamatama said frankly. "He already gives me doubtful looks...and even for a dead guy, this one's not so shabby."
"Tamatama." Nuriko shook his head, but a faint smile twitched at his lips at his friend's blunt assessment. "Not right now. Come give me a hand keeping him upright, huh? If anyone asks, we'll tell them he drank too much, or something...but I think we should get him out of the streets."
"But...Tasuki..." Mitsukake faltered, and Nuriko cast him a smile.
"We're looking for Tasuki too. And Chichiri,and his Highness and Chiriko." He assured his friend. "So we should stick together...we're both after the same end. Tamatama? Do you mind?"
"No!" As the brawny transvestite came to take Mitsukake's left arm, the doctor held up his hands, taking a step back and almost colliding with the wall of a nearby building. "Don't...don't touch me!"
"Mitsukake?" Nuriko stared at his companion uncomprehendingly, and Mitsukake slipped his right fist over his left one, shaking his head.
"I don't know what I might do." He said faintly. "This hand...even bound...there was a rat, and it...it died, just by touching my skin. And...and I think...Tasuki...I hurt Tasuki, somehow. Your friend is...not like us. He must not touch me...just in case."
"You're serious about this, aren't you?" Nuriko eyed him in consternation. "You're not kidding - you really do believe you did harm to Tasuki in some way."
"The rat died when the mark appeared on my palm." Mitsukake said softly. "And Tasuki...he fell...there was red light...he fell. I'm sure of it, Nuriko. And I don't want to hurt...anyone else."
"Then I guess I'll manage you on my own, since I think it's unlikely you can do much to hurt a fellow deadie." Nuriko said decidedly, although he exchanged apprehensive glances with his transvestite companion. "Come on - back to the inn with us. Then you can rest and later, we'll talk more clearly, when you've had time to regroup. Maybe if you can tell us where it was you saw Tasuki, we can find him more quickly."
---------------
"Genrou!"
As Chichiri crouched at his friend's side, the anxious circus performer hurried forward, fright in her dark eyes as she registered the look of pain on the bandit's face.
"What's wrong with him - what happened?"
"I was worried about this." Chichiri said grimly, resting his hand gently on Tasuki's arm. Slowly he rolled back the redhead's sleeve, and Anzu gasped, realising that, despite his fighting for breath, her friend's normally vivid Suzaku mark had faded almost to nothing against his skin. "When we left Choukou...I wasn't sure. But he seemed all right, so I hoped, being Tasuki, that it wouldn't..."
He trailed off, glancing around him, and Anzu made to take Tasuki's hand, but the monk shook his head, warding her off.
"No, you mustn't touch him." He said urgently. "Hotohori-sama, will you help me? We need to get him inside...he can't stay out here. Not like this."
"I...I...I'm all right, dammit." Tasuki himself gasped at that point, raising his head. "There's no need to fuss yourself over me. I...I'm fine."
"Like hell you are!" Anzu exclaimed. "You just collapsed right in front of us - don't try and pretend you're all right, because it's not true!"
"I told you. I'm fine." Tasuki pushed Chichiri's supporting arms back, struggling to his feet. "Just...indigestion, or something. That's all it was."
"How can you get indigestion when you barely ate a thing?" Aidou snapped, although Anzu could hear the anxiety in the older woman's voice too. "Shun'u, stop being a baby and let Chichiri-san help you. Whatever's wrong, you won't fix it by throwing a temper tantrum about it!"
Tasuki took a couple of steps, then stumbled, and Hotohori darted forward, catching him as he met the growing concern in Chichiri's gaze.
"Stop fighting us." The swordsman said softly. "Let us help you."
Tasuki swore softly, but he did not push the former Emperor away, and Chichiri came to support his other side as between them they helped their rebellious friend into the old farm cottage. Once there, he sank to the floor, and Chichiri bit his lip, brushing his fingers against Tasuki's brow as the bandit flinched away from him.
"Hey, watch what you're doing! You might be happy with only one eye, Chichiri, but I wanna keep both of mine!"
"Shut up and listen to me." All the usual fun and mischief had gone from the monk's voice and Anzu's heart chilled to hear the seriousness of his tones. "Tasuki, you have a fever. You should have told me you weren't feeling right - as it is, I don't like the look of it. You need to stay here and rest, and I need to think...there was something bad hanging over Choukou, and I think it's touched you. I hoped I'd got you away quickly enough, but I'm starting to think that I didn't - that when Mitsukake made contact with you, it did more than just knock you back."
"Mitsukake?" Hotohori looked alarmed, and Chichiri nodded.
Tasuki snorted.
"Don't be stupid." He snapped. "Mitsukake's a doctor...what the hell would he have done to me?"
"And I was an Emperor, but I still attacked my former people without provocation." Hotohori said gravely, a shadow touching his beautiful eyes as he remembered. "Whatever force has brought us back to half-life, it comes at a price. I used my power to destroy instead of protect, when I did not know who I was or what I was attacking. Mitsukake...must be in the same position. He seeks to heal, but in fact..."
"He harms." Chichiri's gaze darkened. "Heika, I think you've hit the nail right on the head, you know? Tasuki said he mentioned Shouka, and you were stuck in a memory from your past, when first we found you. Maybe Mitsukake is the same - reliving his last encounter with Shouka, when in fact it was only us."
He sighed heavily.
"All the signals I'm getting from Tasuki's body suggest that this isn't just a fever picked up by cold nights or too much travelling. It's something else - something dark taking root inside of him."
"Byouma?" Hotohori whispered the word, and Anzu frowned, glancing between the two Seishi as she struggled to understand the unspoken message between the two. At length, Chichiri nodded.
"That's what I fear." He said heavily. "Which is why, Anzu, Aidou-san - you must not touch him. Not even a little bit. If I'm right about this, then you could both be at great risk if you did, you know? Tasuki's strong, and he may be able to fight it off. You two - I don't think I'd like to risk it. In fact, you'd be better off not being near him. This disease saps strength and spirit, and there's no sense in causing more danger than we have to."
"I want to stay with him." Anzu shook her head. "Please, Chichiri. I promise not to touch him - but I can't...I can't just go outside."
"Anzu..." Chichiri sighed, then he shrugged. "You give me your word?"
"I swear." Anzu nodded solemnly. "I promise not to touch him. Not even a little bit."
"Don't I get a say in this?" Tasuki objected, his tones unusually belligerent, even for him and Chichiri sighed, raising his fingers as he focused his energy into a stronger spell.
"I've put a barrier around your body, Tasuki-kun." He said softly. "But I can't do anything more to help you unless you fight it too. Try to stay calm, and focus your energy, okay?"
He glanced across to Hotohori.
"Will you take Aidou-san outside, and explain to her about the byouma?" He asked quietly, and the Emperor started, then nodded his head.
"With pleasure." He agreed, glancing at the troubled face of Tasuki's older sister. "As far as I can. But Chichiri - if you need my strength, I will offer it gladly. Just let me know, and I will come."
"I might need to take you up on it, depending on how this goes." Chichiri smiled grimly. "Thank you, Heika. I'll keep it in mind."
Hotohori inclined his head slightly, then held out a hand to Aidou, who cast her brother a faltering glance, but allowed herself to be guided from the room.
"Is this...serious?" Anzu asked in a hesitant voice. "I mean, Chichiri, is it...really so dangerous as that?"
"It could be." Chichiri agreed. "Tasuki is strong, and if anyone can fight it, I believe it's him. But we've had a trying, busy few days, and he needs to rest."
He stood, eying her doubtfully.
"I'm not sure about leaving you here alone with him, even with the barrier." He admitted. "But someone should get some water, to help cool him down. Maybe you should..."
"Don't make me leave here." Anzu begged, shaking her head. "I swear not to go near him, I swear...Chichiri, please!"
Chichiri sighed, taking in the earnest look on her young face, and at length he nodded.
"It's against my better judgement, you know?" He admitted tiredly. "But considering everything...maybe...you are the right one to be here. At least...you're fond of Tasuki, and you aren't tainted the way we are with past knowledge of this thing. I think he needs that, at the moment. Just don't break your promise, all right? You mustn't touch him, no matter what he says or does, or what happens. It's dangerous. And if he changes - if anything changes, no matter how small - call for me. All right?"
"I promise." Anzu repeated solemnly, and the monk cast her another hesitant, troubled look. Then he sighed, leaving the room, the door swinging shut behind him.
For a moment, there was silence in the small chamber. Then Anzu bit her lip, casting her companion a sidelong glance.
"How do you feel, Genrou?" She asked softly. Tasuki snorted.
"Are you going to be a girl and fuss over me like a mother hen?" He demanded. "I'm all right now. I'm stronger than that...I'm fine. Chichiri's overreacting - he's prone to that, sometimes. It's all right. It's just been a long day so far."
"For all of us." Anzu sighed, leaning up against the wall of the room as she considered. "Your friend in Choukou - do you think you'll be able to help him, somehow?"
"Ask Chichiri. He's the sorcerer." Tasuki said bad-temperedly. "If you're just going to sit there and bother me with questions, you could at least leave me alone."
"I'd rather stay here."
"Why? I don't need you."
"Because I want to. Isn't that reason enough?"
"I wish you'd go back to the damn mountain." Tasuki said flatly. "Get Chichiri to take you there. You and Aidou both. You're in the way. You're not Shichi Seishi, and this is none of your business. Besides, all girls do is cause trouble and cry and think they know a better way. It's annoying. You should go back."
"Genrou..." Anzu stared at him, hurt by this brutal assessment. "I told you, I'm not going back to Reikaku-zan until you do. I don't want to stay with Kouji. I want to be here with you."
"Well, I told you, I don't want you, okay?" Tasuki retorted. "Will you listen? Why do girls never listen?"
"Maybe because men are too stupid to know what they're talking about." Anzu snapped. "Besides, I'm not going back. Not if you don't come with me. I'm not going to be some prize that half of your men decide they can have for the taking now that Kashira isn't around."
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"Your bandits. Some of them...you'd think they didn't know women aren't just there for them to play with." Anzu said bitterly, turning her face away from him as tears glittered on her lashes. "It's like Aidou says - you just don't get it. You don't understand that women have feelings - we're not just toys."
"Hell, now you're listening to Aidou?" Tasuki demanded. "Will you just get out and damn well leave me alone, Anzu? I'm tired and you're whining. I don't know what you mean, I don't care what you mean. Girls are always so complicated and it's always about them and their problems. I don't care about that, all right? I care about finding the others and about getting back to my life on Reikaku-zan. I didn't ask for you to drop in on me and I didn't invite you along on this trip. Stop yapping and listen, will you? I don't want you here. Go away."
"So it's all right then, is it, for me to stay on Reikaku-zan and be raped by some drunken bandit who doesn't know any better?" Anzu demanded angrily. "Is that the kind of Kashira you are, Genrou - do you really think that's all right, for a man to just take a woman because he wants to, and not even care about her feelings?"
"Anzu, you're getting hysterical." Tasuki sighed, rubbing his temples. "You're giving me a headache - leave it out already, huh? If you don't like Reikaku-zan, you don't have to be there. Like I said, noone invited you!"
"If it wasn't for Chichiri's barrier, I'd slap you." Anzu's voice shook. "You can't seriously mean that you hate women enough for that? Hotohori-sama...Hotohori-sama took his sword to a man because he tried to hurt me, even though he didn't know who I was or anything about me. He defended me, with real honour. But all you can say, Kashira of Reikaku-zan, is that if I don't like it, don't go there?"
Tasuki glared at her for a moment, then he shook his head.
"You have no idea what kind of a man I am. What I'm capable of." He said thickly, and with a start Anzu noticed the odd brilliance of fever glimmering in the depths of his bronzeish eyes. "Bandits take what they want - it's how life is when you choose to live that way. That's why it's no place for women...that's why you shouldn't have come to Reikaku-zan. Because that's the way that it is."
"I don't believe you." Anzu shot back. "I don't believe you think that way! You're just trying to get me to go - you're just trying to push me away because you're still obsessed with Suzaku no Miko and you can't get her out of your head!"
As soon as she'd said the words, she regretted them, for a haunted look came over Tasuki's expression, and had it not been for his rising fever, his face would have drained of all colour.
"Hell, what has this to do with Miaka? Miaka isn't even here!"
"The fact that you hate women, but you don't hate the Miko." Anzu's voice shook, knowing she was pushing things too far but somehow unable to stop the feelings as they flooded out. "You loved her, didn't you? You were in love with Suzaku no Miko and that's why you treat all other women like dirt. Well, I don't think there's anything so special about her! So she came from another world - big deal! I don't think she's so much better than any other woman is!"
"Anzu, dammit, shut up." Tasuki snapped, but Anzu shook her head.
"I'm not going to shut up." She said tearfully. "All I've done since I came to Reikaku-zan was to try and help you. I thought we were friends, at the very least. My sister died and I had noone to turn to, but I felt sure that I could come to you."
"I'm not your nursemaid! It sucks that Karin died but it's nothing to do with me!"
"You always said you hated girls, but you lied, because you love Miaka-sama and you pretend that you don't!" Anzu shot across him. "I bet even now if you could go to her damn world somehow you would, wouldn't you? You'd go...you'd run after her. I bet you didn't stop her being at Reikaku-zan. I bet you didn't mind travelling with her as a companion. You're a hypocrite, Genrou, and you're lying even to yourself. I can't stand it any more - it's driving me crazy!"
"Do you really think you understand anything about Miaka? Why I'd give my life for her, if ever I had to?" Tasuki demanded, and Anzu bit her lip, seeing that the lines of pain had increased across her companion's brow. "You don't know anything. And if you're so against men who push themselves on women, you're the hypocrite. You should do as I tell you and get lost. I'm a bandit, just as they are. Miaka...I'm no different from the men you want to leave behind, so don't think that I am. I'm a man, I'll take what I want. That's what it is, being a bandit. Do you still think you're better off with me? Go away, Anzu. Leave me alone. You don't get it. And I hate women because of conversations like this."
Anzu's eyes widened, as cold horror stabbed through her soul. She whitened, slowly shaking her head.
"You...Miaka-sama...you didn't?" She breathed, disbelief in her eyes. "You're lying to me! You didn't! Genrou, tell me you didn't!"
"Why, is the truth too big for you to handle?" Tasuki snapped back at her. "Face facts. I tried to rape Suzaku no Miko, and I would've succeeded, if I hadn't been interrupted. I woulda killed anyone who crossed my path that night, Anzu, and I damn near did. I broke the ribs of one of my best friends, and I did my best to violate his woman, too. Still want to hang around with bandits? Grow up. Get a clue and leave me alone. I'm fed up with your...ah!"
He trailed off, doubling up as he clutched his hands to his chest, his brow creasing in pain as he struggled to draw breath into his lungs. Fear leapt into Anzu's expression and she jumped to her feet, only just remembering her promise to Chichiri not to touch him.
"Genrou?" She whispered. "Genrou, are you...all right?"
The bandit did not reply, drawing in pained gasps of air and Anzu saw to her alarm that he was perspiring heavily, even in the coolness of the small sleeping chamber. She bit her lip, tears streaming down her cheeks as she berated herself for not realising it sooner.
"Genrou, no...no! You can't get worse...you have to fight this!" She murmured. "Genrou? Genrou!"
As her companion slumped back against the wooden floor, pain lines still drawn across his brow as the fever seemed to take hold of him anew.
"Chichiri!" Anzu shrieked. "Chichiri!"
The door swung open immediately to reveal the monk, and he did not have to ask her what was wrong. He was down at Tasuki's side in a moment, putting a hand on his friend's brow. He bit his lip.
"What happened?" He asked softly, as Anzu's tears threatened to overwhelm her. "Anzu, stop crying, please, and tell me what happened."
"It's my fault!" Half hysterical, Anzu flung herself on the startled monk, burying her head in his shoulder as she shook with the force of her sobs. "I'm sorry, Chichiri. I'm sorry!"
"Just tell me what happened?" Gently Chichiri disentangled himself, holding her at arm's length. "What do you mean, it's your fault?"
"You s...said that this wasn't like normal illness. That it sapped his spirit." Anzu said unsteadily. "But I...I was upset, and he said things, and...and I shouted at him. And he...he shouted back and now he's like this and...and I'm sorry, Chichiri. I'm a terrible nurse - I didn't mean to make him sicker!"
Chichiri frowned, brushing his fingers against Tasuki's brow once more.
"His temperature has gone up." He reflected with a sigh. "Tasuki? Tasuki-kun - can you hear me? Open your eyes."
There was no response, as Tasuki sank deep into a fever driven, restless unconsciousness, and Anzu swallowed hard, terror in her dark eyes.
"Is he going to die?" She whispered. Chichiri frowned, shaking his head.
"I don't know." He admitted. "I don't know enough about byouma to tell you that. I only know the things I do from travelling with Mitsukake and hearing his accounts. And considering that Tasuki got sick after the trip to Choukou, I'm certain that his encounter with Mitsukake there must be the root cause of this. But...more than that..."
He sighed, rubbing his temples.
"You didn't touch him, did you?"
"No." Anzu shook her head. "You said not to. But...but..."
"Will you tell me what you said to him? And what he said to you?"
"I..." Anzu flushed uncomfortably, looking down. "I accused him of being in love with Miaka-sama. And he said...he said something horrible about it. Something...something I couldn't believe, but..."
She faltered.
"He wasn't at all like himself." She whispered. "He was angry and bitter and...and that isn't Genrou. It isn't! Sure, he can shout, and yell, and he's tactless and insensitive...but this was different. It was like...like he really hated me and he didn't care how much he hurt me. Maybe it was because...because I was hurting him, too."
Chichiri's expression darkened, and he shook his head.
"Byouma feeds off negativity." He said sadly. "It's not like other illnesses - it has a demon's power at it's root. It infiltrates the person's doubts and regrets, and turns them into much bigger weaknesses. It's how the disease takes control of someone's body - by breaking down their spirit and their will and driving them deeper and deeper into darkness. That's why he was acting that way. It's not Tasuki's true self, not really. It's the influence of the demon inside of him - feeding off his uncertainty and using it as a weapon to drive him further away from people who care about him."
"Genrou..." Anzu's voice caught in her throat.
"As a rule, Tasuki would be a bad choice for a disease like this to infect." Chichiri sat back, regarding the patient pensively as he reached for a discarded blanket, pulling it over his friend's body. "He's not given to doubts or regrets by nature. But things aren't as they usually are at the moment. Things have happened - there's a general layer of negative energy in the atmosphere. An instability - something that makes it easier to make big deals out of little things. I imagine it affects everyone to some degree...but I think perhaps it affects Shichi Seishi more - because we're more in tune with this world's spiritual atmosphere."
"Even you?"
"As a sorcerer, I can sense it and guard against it, although it takes some of my strength and it's a pain to have to do." Chichiri said ruefully. "More or less. Tasuki's guileless though, you know? He's unprepared for it."
"And that's why the byouma's made him sick?"
"I don't know." Chichiri sighed. "The fire in his village, his father's injury...I suppose they've unsettled him too. And whatever you said to him - about Miaka - it wasn't wise, you know. Not right now...though I imagine you couldn't help it."
Anzu buried her head in her hands.
"He said he tried to rape her." She said unsteadily. "Like it was no big deal - like he wanted to tell me to hurt me. Chichiri, when I was at the mountain, one of the bandits...tried to rape me. Kouji stopped it, but that's why I decided to come after you. Because I wanted to be able to protect myself, and I knew that Genrou...that he wouldn't ever..."
She sighed.
"Then he said something like that." She added. "And...I...I don't understand. I don't understand!"
"I thought that might have been it. The final blow, as it were." Chichiri got to his feet, resting his hand on Anzu's shoulder. "Listen. I want you to go outside, and stay with Aidou. Understand? You're upset and that's not going to help him any."
"But...but..."
"I'm going to strengthen the barrier, if I can." Chichiri said evenly. "Can you ask Hotohori-sama to come join me, please? I think I'll need his help, and he has done this before. Now he has some physical form, I'm hoping his contribution might be stronger even than the last time."
Anzu bit her lip.
"So it is true." She whispered. "Chichiri...I know you. You don't cause conflict or confrontation if you can avoid it...but...but...if what Genrou said hadn't been true...you would have said so right away."
"Anzu." Chichiri sighed, casting Tasuki a glance. Then he nodded. "Yes...in a manner of speaking, I suppose it is true. But I wasn't going to bring it up."
At this, Anzu's face drained of all colour, and she shook her head.
"I don't believe it." She murmured. "I won't believe it! Genrou...he isn't...he isn't that kind of man! He wouldn't do that! He just wouldn't!"
Almost as if he'd heard her, Tasuki let out an incoherent murmur, and Chichiri frowned.
"I wonder if he knows what we're saying." He mused. "Anzu-chan, you have to stop this. Crying like that in here...if he can hear you, he might be further affected. You need to go outside...please."
"Not until you tell me what happened." Anzu grabbed the monk by the hand, shaking her head obstinately. "I don't care how awful it is. I won't go until I know."
Chichiri sighed, but sank back to the floor, crossing his legs as he nodded his head.
"All right." He said resignedly. "Although I'm sort of breaking an unspoken promise by doing so, you know. It's not something we discuss. It happened...it's in the past. It was better for everyone that we moved on. Tasuki especially."
"But Chichiri!" Anzu's eyes widened. "He tried to...and you...you were all okay with this?"
"You're jumping to conclusions." Chichiri said evenly. "I thought you loved Tasuki - do you doubt in your feelings so much?"
"No, but...when he says...when...Chichiri, what are you trying to do?" Anzu demanded. "Just tell me! Tell me the truth!"
"So you can justify loving him?" Chichiri raised an eyebrow. Anzu shook her head.
"Because I won't believe it unless you do." She whispered. "Because I have...I have faith in the kind of man Genrou is. I...I thought I knew that, at least. Kouji said...he would never tolerate someone treating a woman that way - any woman. And...and I believe that. So...please. Make me understand. There must be something...make me understand!"
Chichiri's expression softened at this, and he nodded his head.
"Tasuki did...there was...an attempt to assault Miaka. He plied her with alcohol, and sought to seduce her against her will." He said softly. "When Tamahome tried to intervene, there was a fight of some sorts, and Tamahome's ribs were broken in the struggle. It was...ugly. For all concerned."
"But why?" Tears still poured down Anzu's face. "Why would he do such a thing? Even if he loved Miaka-sama - no, especially if he loved her - he wouldn't hurt her...would he?"
Chichiri pursed his lips.
"It's true that he doesn't really understand women, or how they think or feel. Not very well." He admitted. "But...you're right. Tasuki would never do something like that of his own volition. At least, that's my belief. It's Miaka's, too. And Tamahome's. Tasuki was being manipulated by a demon's power at the time. A demon born and controlled by one who you know well - the being known as Tenkou."
"Tenkou." Anzu echoed the name, clenching her fists at the sound of it. "Hasn't he caused enough suffering?"
"He won't cause any more." Chichiri said lightly. "And I can't comment on Tasuki's own feelings...he's the only one who really knows. But I don't believe he would have assaulted Miaka on his own."
He frowned, looking troubled.
"The problem is, Tasuki doesn't know for sure whether it was his doing, or the demon's. He's said as much." He added. "Which is why it's not something we discuss. Tamahome and Miaka, they feel about it the way I do. In the end, you see, Tasuki was the one who broke the spell. Instead of betraying those he cared about, he turned his tessen on himself and tried to end his life - that was the moment Mitsukake saved him, and probably part of the reason he feels so strongly about going back to Choukou. I think...if he has any doubts, or anything which a byouma could take root in, this would probably be the biggest one. Until then...he'd never had cause to doubt his own honour or integrity. Betrayal is an unforgivable thing to him, you know. It was like he'd crossed a line he couldn't go back from."
"Genrou..." Anzu whispered, horror flickering in her eyes. "That's what he was talking to Kouji about, the first night you and he came back. I heard a bit of it, from Reirei's grave...they didn't know I was there, and I...I suppose I eavesdropped on what was being said. He sounded...serious. It was then I heard him say...about Miaka...that he didn't know whether he loved her. But I didn't think...oh, poor Genrou! And I yelled at him! How could I have yelled at him?"
"Will you go find Hotohori for me, now?" Chichiri asked gently. "Between us, we might be able to try and confine the demon a little. At least until Tasuki has had a chance to fight it himself. Without his help, we probably can't drive it out. But if we can lend him our strength and prevent it from overtaking him completely, we'll do that."
"All...all right." Anzu got unsteadily to her feet. "I...I'll go now. But if he dies, Chichiri - if he dies now, I'll never forgive myself."
She shivered involuntarily as she glanced down at the fevered bandit, a haunted look entering her gaze.
"Never."