Fushigi Yuugi Fan Fiction ❯ I'll Be There ❯ Chapter 5

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Chapter Five

Miaka and Tasuki groaned in unison as they pushed away their empty
plates.

"Well, I think can most certainly be said that you are a far better
cook than I am," Miaka said as she patted her filled and satisfied
stomach. Tasuki snorted.

"Gee.. Ya think?" he said with glare.

"Hey! Cut it out Fang Boy!" Miaka retorted as she tossed a left over
roll at him. The roll bounced off his shoulder and made a face at her,
poking his tongue out. Miaka let out a soft giggle at him as he bent
down and picked up the roll. His own brief smile was hidden from her
as he did so.

"You better watch it do'n things like that. I'm quite liable to
retaliate," Tasuki said to her with a mischievous grin as he
brandished the roll and dropped it on one of the empty plates.

"You are huh? I thought you hated playing with girls," Miaka said with
an equally mischievous grin.

"Hmph! I do!" Tasuki scoffed as he stacked the plates and spun around
to take them back over to the galley.

"Oh? Then why do you say you're liable to retaliate?" Miaka inquired
smoothly as Tasuki set the dishes in the sink for one of the peon
bandits to clean up later.

"Because! This is my house and I'll be damned if I let a GIRL beat me
in a food fight!" Tasuki retorted with a strange grin/soft sneer as he
returned to the table.

"Oh. I see," Miaka nodded with a slightly down face as she met up with
another round of Tasuki's macho bullheadedness. Tasuki sighed.

"Come on. Let's go find Kouji and..." Tasuki started softly but then
was interrupted as a scream rang through the building. Suddenly, Kouji
burst from the hall and fell on his rear as he screamed and kicked his
feet.

"Get it off! Get it off! Dammit! Get that thing off me!!" Kouji wailed
frantically with his face twisted in pain. Tasuki's eyes scanned the
bandit to see what he was talking about and groaned as he saw the
mouse trap firmly fixed to the blue-haired man's right foot.

"Calm down, Kouji and be still a fuck'n moment!" Tasuki growled as he
walked over to his buddy. Miaka looked on wide-eyed as Kouji grimaced
but held still. Tasuki carefully pried the trap apart and removed it
from Kouji's foot, then he let the thing go again as he set it down on
the table.

"Who the hell had the bright idea to put that thing in the damn broom
closet?!" Kouji cursed as he sat up and nursed his sore foot.

"Ummmm.... Tsunaya put a few around here to get rid of that mouse
that's been poking about. YOU should have watched where you were
stepping, moron!" Tasuki answered with a face.

"YOU are lucky your Miko is here, else I'd knock you flat, Genrou!"
Kouji spat heatedly.

"Heh!" is all Tasuki said. Kouji instantly switched gears.

"Hello again Miaka," Kouji said softly with a bow as he got to his
feet, gingerly avoiding putting too much weight on the one.

"Hello Kouji," Miaka said with a slightly nervous smile. "You know,
you really should put something on that," she said with a concerned
face.

"Yeah. Getting to that right now," Kouji said as he started to hobble
over to the galley.

"Awww.. HELL! Sit!" Tasuki said to Kouji with a face as he pushed him
down on the cushions beside the table. "Stay," he ordered as he turned
and walked into the galley to gather first aid materials.

"Do I LOOK like a dog to you, Genrou?" Kouji growled back.

"Now Kouji. You know damn well we're BOTH wolves! Quite yer whining,"
Tasuki threw back over his shoulder. Miaka hid a small giggle.

"Me? Whining? I think you've confused me for yourself, baka!" Kouji
said nonchalantly.

"Hey! How many times did you hit me that first night we spent
together? And did I ever complain?" Tasuki said as he returned with
the first aid supplies.

"Heh! No, cause you were too busy running that damn mouth of yours,"
Kouji said with a face reflecting hidden nostalgic humor.

"Hey.. I thought that was one of my better qualities," Tasuki with a
fanged grin and amber eyes sparkling with amusement. Miaka giggled and
Kouji shook his head slowly.

"Here, let me help you with that," Miaka said as Tasuki started to
tend to Kouji's foot.

"Miaka, I can do this all by myself. I've done things like this so
many times here, I can do it with my eyes shut!" Tasuki scowled. Miaka
groaned and backed off. This time it was Kouji's turn to chuckle. The
action was swiftly rewarded with a smack on the head from Tasuki's
tessen.

"Oww!! Oi! Baka! Watch it with that thing! We don't need yet burning
the place down!" Kouji said as he rubbed his head.

"Moron!" Tasuki said simply as he roughly tied off the bandage on
Kouji's foot causing the blue-haired bandit to wince briefly and glare
at him. Tasuki ignored the glare and stood up, turning to face Miaka,
who sat behind Kouji with her legs tucked up to her chest and her arms
around her knees as she stared at the floor.

"Miaka," Tasuki called.

"Hmm?" she said as she turned and looked up at him.

"I have some wealth to redistribute to some villages a little ways
from here. Would you like to come along? Some fresh air and sunshine
would be good for ya," he answered as Kouji looked back and forth
between the two of them. Miaka sighed and nodded.

"Sure. I've kind of missed riding through the Konan countryside
anyway," she said with a small smile.

"I'll go tack the horses up," Kouji said as he hoisted himself back up
onto his feet, still not applying too much pressure to the one.

"We'll meet you out there in a few minutes with the loot," Tasuki said
with a nod. Kouji nodded back and headed down the hall that lead to
the building's main entrance.

"You two are crazy, you know that?" Miaka said with slight grin as
Tasuki lead her off down another hall to fetch the money they would be
carrying.

"Yeah. It's been that way ever since the previous leader Hakurou
introduced us," Tasuki said with a laugh.

"I see."

"We've been like brothers ever since."

"Well, it certainly looks that way," Miaka said with a grin.

TO BE CONTINUED...

That is.. when I can figure out where the hell I'm suppose to take
this from here! :P Stupid writer's block!