Tasuki huddled in a corner, Chichiri's kesa wrapped tightly around her shivering frame. On the other side of the room, the blue-haired monk spoke quietly to the innkeeper. After what seemed an interminable interval to Tasuki, the innkeeper nodded, coins changed hands, and Chichiri headed to the isolated table where he had seated the former bandit leader.

Tasuki's eyes radiated misery as her best friend plunked down in the chair across from her and shoved a flask into her hand.

"Here," Chichiri stated, his 'no da's conspicuously missing. "You look like you need this."

Tasuki reached one delicate hand for the flask, twisted the cork out with a practiced flick of the wrist, and gulped down the contents. The fiery liquid burned a path down her throat to her stomach, where it settled into a pleasant warmth. Her shivers slowly faded, and after another hasty swallow, she almost felt capable of dealing with the situation.

To Tasuki's surprise, Chichiri picked up the discarded flask and took a healthy swallow of his own. For all Chichiri's promises to someday hit the bars with Tasuki, she'd never actually seen the monk touch a drop.

Chichiri responded to his best friend's stare with a wry grin. "I need it too," he admitted wearily. "The innkeeper is going to bring us a hot meal, but other than that, we shouldn't be disturbed. So why don't you tell me what happened."

To her great disgust, Tasuki felt tears rising to choke her words. This new body was far too prone to brust into tears at the slightest provocation, and she didn't like the sensation. She was beginning to remind herself of Miaka. Chichiri watched her internal struggle silently, with no further prompting. Tasuki was grateful for her friend's understanding, and harshly suppressed the sobs.

"It started…" they both jumped at the unexpected soprano trill of her new voice. Tasuki grimaced, grabbed another gulp from the flask, and started over, determinedly ignoring the unfamiliar sound of her own voice.

"I was up on the mountain, and came across this fancy-ass carriage stuck in the mud on one of the remote roads. Just a couple of guards, and they were distracted tryin' to get the thing out of the mud. Even though I was by myself, it was too good to resist." She shuddered, seeing the scene before her once again. Inwardly, she cursed her own overconfidence, cursed herself for ignoring her own rule that no bandit was EVER to attack alone. "I took the guards out easy enough. One Lekka Shinen and it was all over. Then I jumped up and opened the door to see what was inside…"

Her voice trailed off as the innkeeper came up to them, his hands laden with trays of food. After settling the food before them, he backed off discreetly. Tasuki stared at the steaming food; she couldn't remember the last time she'd eaten. Hastily, she tucked into the meal, wolfing it down as if half afraid someone would try to take it away from her. Chichiri observed, a slight frown on his face.

Between desperate mouthfuls of food, Tasuki continued the tale. "Just this… fancy-ass woman… sitting there lookin' pretty… Chiri, you wouldn't BELIEVE the jewels this chick had… all sorts of stuff…"

With her haste in eating and her attempts to speak, the outcome was inevitable. She tried to inhale at the same time as she put a spoonful of broth in her mouth; her face quickly turned a shade of purple which clashed alarmingly with her hair as she started to choke.

Chichiri was on his feet beside her before she'd even begun to stammer a plea for help, his hand firmly pounding her back. As she finally managed to swallow and her face returned to it's normal shade, the monk grinned wryly at her before retaking his seat. "Take it easy Tasuki no da, you don't have to tell me in the next five minutes no da!" Somewhat relieved by the return of the monk's 'no da's, Tasuki did slow down, both in eating and in telling the tale.

"Well, so there's this rich bitch, pretty as you please, sitting there while all her men did the hard work. Guess she didn't wanna get her silk dress dirty in the mud. Anyway, I told her to hand over the jewels, and she just laughed at me!" Tasuki looked indignant at this, and Chichiri smothered an obvious laugh.

"Let me guess, you started spouting off about how much you hated women?"

Tasuki's indignant look abruptly faded to one of utter fear. "Y-yeah. I did. And I wish to Suzaku someone had put a gag in my mouth before I did."

Sensing they were reaching the core of the story, Chichiri leaned towards his friend, silently supporting her while prompting her on.

Tasuki's eyes were unfocused, as if she were reliving the scene. "She just looked at me, this real nasty look in her eyes…" She trailed off and shivered again, unconsciously hunching deeper into the kesa. "And she said she was gonna give me my just desserts. Then she started chanting in this weird language and a glow formed around her hands… kinda like you do when you're castin' a spell. That's when I knew I was in deep shit." Twisting the kesa nervously between her hands, Tasuki lowered her eyes. "Then it felt like I was hit by lightning or something, and the next thing I know, the carriage is gone, I'm lyin' in the mud…. And I'm a female."
 

Author's Note: ARGH! Gender pronouns are so FRUSTRATING in this fic! ^_^
 
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