Chichiri awoke with a start, his entire body on fire. Stifling a moan, he rolled over to press his face into the pillow, shuddering with desire. His sleep had been broken with incredibly erotic dreams, every one of which centered around a certain flame-haired bandit leader.

*This is crazy,* he thought to himself. *I've NEVER thought of Tasuki that way before.* *Tasuki's never been female before,* that little voice inside him whispered.

Chichiri considered it. Granted, it had been a long time since he'd been as close to a woman as he'd been to Tasuki last night. It was possible that had triggered emotions and desires he'd thought long dead. But from what little he remembered of the dreams, it had NOT been a female body he'd been cuddled up to…

He groaned, then quickly glanced over to see if Tasuki had awoken. The bandit was sleeping facing Chichiri, curled nearly into a fetal position, with her hands tucked beneath her face like a child. The blankets had been twisted around her, and his kesa had fallen off. The loose neck of the borrowed shirt she wore exposed pale, silky skin and a hint of shadowed cleavage. She looked incredibly vulnerable, and incredibly beautiful. Chichiri drew in a sharp breath, his features beneath the mask haunted.

*I could fall in love with her,* he realized. *I may already BE in love with her. The mind of my best friend, the only person in the world who understands me, in a body like that…* He shook his head, and rose from the bed. *Baka. In a few hours, with any luck, he'll be back to normal. So there's no point in torturing yourself like this. You're not interested in guys.* But the memory of his dreams mocked him.

"Oi, Tasuki no da!" He called out, forcing his voice into its normal cheerfulness. Tasuki mumbled and turned over, burying her face into the pillow. "Oi! Wake up no da!"

Without looking, Tasuki threw the pillow with deadly accuracy, smacking Chichiri in the face. With a grin at this familiar routine - Tasuki had always been incredibly difficult to wake in the mornings - Chichiri crept over to the washbucket in the corner. Testing the water with one finger, he found it to be satisfactorily cold, and brought it over to the sleeping Seishi.

He flicked a few drops onto Tasuki's face. "Oi, wake up no da!" Tasuki wrinkled her nose adorably and buried herself deeper into the blankets. Chichiri splashed a larger handful of water onto her. "Up, no da!" He insisted.

Tasuki gasped at the cold water and sat bolt upright in bed, looking around dazedly. "What the fuck?" She demanded, rubbing water and sleep out of her eyes. Then she glared at the grinning monk. "Ahou ga. What the hell did you do that for? It's barely dawn!"

"So you don't want to be turned back into a guy as soon as possible?" Chichiri asked innocently. "Okay then no da. I'll just go back to sleep…"

He was caught from behind by a flying tackle, and sent sprawling to the floor in a heap, Tasuki perched on top of him, now wide awake. "Do it! Do it now!" Tasuki demanded, pounding lightly on his chest with one small fist.

"Oi!" Chichiri protested, laughing. "I can't cast the spell from here na no da!"

Tasuki jumped to her feet and backed off, allowing the monk to rise. "What do I gotta do?" she asked, twisting her hands nervously.

Chichiri gestured to the center of the small space in the room. "Just sit there and concentrate on your male self no da." Tasuki seated herself cross-legged, and closed her eyes. Chichiri drew out some coloured chalk from one of his pouches and began drawing an elaborate circle around his friend, chanting under his breath.

Circle complete, Chichiri seated himself just outside the chalked lines, looking directly at Tasuki's face. He settled his staff across his lap, raised his hands and looped them into his prayer beads, then with a small grunt, began to concentrate.

After what seemed an interminable time to Tasuki, Chichiri began to chant again, softly at first, then louder and louder. Tasuki could feel little tingles of electricity running through her body, and did her best to ignore them and concentrate.

Chichiri frowned deeply, then suddenly shouted out what seemed to be a command of some kind. The electricity peaked within Tasuki, then surged outwards, stunning the monk and sending him flying backwards.

"Chichiri!" Tasuki cried, jumping to her feet. Knowing from past experience that crossing the chalk lines before Chichiri said it was safe to do so was a BAD idea, she stayed inside it. "Chichiri!" She called again, her heart clenching in fear.

Chichiri moaned and sat up slowly, rubbing his jaw. His mask was half melted off his face, and his scar stood out even more clearly than normal. His brown eye was vacant and unfocused. "That hurt," Tasuki thought she heard the monk mumble.

"Chichiri! What the hell happened?"

Chichiri shook his head, his good eye snapping into focus, and began to erase the line drawing carefully. "I'm not sure. I've never felt anything like that before. I think there's a spell inside the transformation spell, that repulses attempts to undo it."

Tasuki turned slowly in a circle, following Chichiri's movements. "Does that mean you can't lift it?"

"Hai," Chichiri nodded grimly. "It's much more powerful than I am. Whoever this woman is, she has more power and greater control than me, a Taiitsu-kun trained Shichiseishi - and that SCARES me."

"Can Taiitsu-kun lift it?" Tasuki asked frantically.

Chichiri met his eyes squarely, then sighed. "I don't know, Tasuki. I just don't know."
 
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