New Year's Firsts

It had been nearly fifteen minutes since Nuriko had left, and Tasuki was getting impatient. Horribly impatient. "What th' hell is taking her? It doesn't take that long to get some sake, does it?" he growled to his companion sitting across from him at their small outside table.

Chichiri merely grinned back at Tasuki through his protective mask, unfazed by the former bandit's ire. "There must have been an awfully long queue at the tavern. It is New Year's after all, na no da!"

"Tell me something I don't already know! Jeez. When you ain't spouting that mystical crap, you have such a gift for stating the obvious!" Tasuki groused, placing his chin in his hand and drumming his fingertips atop the table.

It wasn't that the monk kept bad company, or that they were so surrounded in the center of the Konan palace's New Year's celebration that they couldn't move. Together with Chichiri and Nuriko, Tasuki had spent most of the evening eyeing the street decorations, watching the parade of colorful Chinese dragons dance through the center of town, and laughing as Nuriko gave the town's purported strongmen a run for their money... But it was far too much time without alcohol in Tasuki's opinion. How were they supposed to ring in the new year without a full pot of sake?

"I'm sure Nuriko-kun will be back soon. In the meantime, try to enjoy yourself. You didn't seem to have a problem earlier when we were walking about, na no da!" Chichiri said, still grinning goofily.

"We didn't need sake before," grumbled Tasuki. "I'll bet she won't even be back by the time they ring in the new year."

"None of us need sake, no da..."

"Spare me the moral lecture already," said Tasuki, taking advantage of the pause in Chichiri's words to interject. "Just `cause you're too good to drink doesn't mean the rest of us are too. It's New Year's Eve, and I deserve some good alcohol."

After a pause in thought, the monk said, "Well, it being the holidays, I doubt a bit more celebration than usual would hurt you, no da!"

"You'd better believe it, monk." Tasuki smirked.

Although Chichiri smiled back, a thoughtful expression lurked behind the masked grin. "All the more reason for those of us more sober to keep a level head, na no --"

But before the monk could continue, a robust, yet feminine voice broke through the din of the celebrating crowd, which parted swiftly to make way for one of the more lovely ladies of the evening. Standing out in a crowd as always, the seishi known as Nuriko somehow managed to gracefully wriggle through the throng of people, even despite the elaborate kimono she'd chosen to wear in celebration of the new year. "Yoo hoo! You can't let the new year start without me, boys!" she sang, lifting the small tray she held in her immaculately manicured hands in indication.

Tasuki turned, his eyes narrowing as he beheld the lady. The distinct lack of the traditional sake pot, however, caught the former bandit's eye -- instead, Nuriko carried with her three larger stone mugs, a pot of tea for the monk, and a slender glass bottle of something that certainly wasn't sake.

"What th' hell took you so long? And where's the sake?" Tasuki grumbled.

"Oh, posh! Sake isn't a ladies' drink!" said Nuriko, waving her hand dismissively. "This is something even better -- I remember Miaka- chan telling me once that they celebrate New Year's in her world with sparkling wine. Wouldn't you know it, there just happened to be some sparkling wine in His Majesty's reserves!" Tapping her fingertip against the cork, it popped down into the bottle, as if smacked there by a large hammer. Physically the strongest of the seishi, sometimes even Nuriko misjudged her own might.

"Oh, great, aren't we lucky?" the former bandit muttered, hackles starting to raise. "Don't break the bottle, Nuriko! Even if it ain't sake, you can't go wasting alcohol."

Nuriko ignored Tasuki, continuing on as if he'd never even spoken as she poured out the sparkling wine into their glasses. "Another thing they do in Miaka's world is to make New Year's resolutions -- a promise made to better something about yourself, or to change something in yourself that you don't like. Since this will be our first New Year together as seishi, I think we should mark the occasion and do that this year as well! I for one, resolve that I will do everything in my power to make His Majesty, Hotohori-sama my husband! The Emperor needs a good, strong woman to rule at his side!"

Chichiri laughed in amusement as he poured himself some tea. "Would you be helping him to rule Konan, or would you be ruling him, no da?"

"Ha ha, very funny." Nuriko rolled her eyes, but grinned in amusement nonetheless. "So, tell me, Chichiri, what do you resolve this New Year's?"

The cheerful monk brought his fingertip to his chin as he contemplated the question. "There really isn't anything I want to resolve for myself, na no da," he concluded.

"Come on, there's got to be something," Nuriko said enthusiastically.

"Maybe to get a better sense of fashion?" said Tasuki, chin resting grumpily in his hand.

Chichiri merely smiled. "I just want to keep doing what I'm doing now. Making sure everyone else keeps their feet on the path before us. It's certain to be twisted, no da!"

"And what about you, then?" Nuriko challenged as she turned her dark eyes to the former bandit. "What do you resolve this New Year's?"

Tasuki stared down into his mug of that strange alcohol that Nuriko had poured. He seemed almost disturbed at the way it fizzed at the rim of his mug -- in his experience, any sake that ever bubbled like that had most definitely turned. "Sheesh, how the hell am I supposed to know?" he muttered. "Fine. I resolve to drink as much as I can, whenever humanly possible."

"Then drink up!" Nuriko exclaimed, slapping Tasuki on the back and nearly sending him face-planting into the table.

"Are you trying to kill me? Cut that out!" shouted Tasuki, gripping his mug tighter in his fist and his cheeks flushing in annoyance. Eyes narrowing, he brought the mug to his lips and drained the wine in a single gulp.

Across the table, Chichiri laughed brightly. "Aww, he didn't even wait for us to make a toast, na no da!"

Nuriko winked back at the monk, resting her chin in an elegantly painted hand. "That doesn't mean we can't. What do you say, Chichiri?" She paused, then, as a choked sound akin to a cough came from Tasuki, and her eyebrows lowered. "Oh, come on, the wine isn't that bad! That should be nothing compared to what you normally drink!"

Tasuki shook his head, his eyes closed tightly, and took another gasping breath before burying his face in the crook of his elbow as he let out a trio of soft, stifled sneezes. "Hh -- hettch! Htcch! Httch!"

"Blesses!" Nuriko practically sang.

The former bandit didn't raise his head, his chest hitching as he struggled to contain another, fiercer fit of sneezes. "Hh... heh... hh-htch! Httch! Httch! Htcch! Httch! Heh... Hettch!" While his companions might have expected Tasuki's sneezes to be as loud and prominent as he was himself, they were instead surprisingly soft, stifled `half-sneezes' in rapid succession.

Nuriko blinked in surprise, before letting out a coy laugh. "Don't fall to pieces on us, Tasuki-chan!"

Tasuki lowered his head further, face flushing a hot shade of red that clashed with his hair as he tried to expel the last of the irritation. "Heh... Hettch! Hettch! Huh.. HETTCCHH!" With a loud sniff, he finally tossed his head back, hair flying from his face and a menacing tone in his voice. "You really are trying to kill me, ain't you, woman?"

"Let me guess. You've suddenly gained an uncontrollable allergy to alcohol?" Nuriko teased as she fished an embroidered handkerchief from the pouch looped around her belt and fluttered it in Tasuki's direction.

"It's not the alcohol!" the ex-bandit cried, snatching the handkerchief and wiping his nose. "It's the bubbles in the alcohol, making my nose tickle!"

"Tasuki-kun's allergic to bubbles, no da?"

"I'm not allergic to anything! Wine ain't supposed to bubble!" Tasuki cried, planting his hands on the table as he turned his annoyance upon the monk.

"At any rate, it's the first sneeze of the new year! Congratulations!" Nuriko said with an impish grin, unmindful of the commotion that Tasuki was causing.

Tasuki snapped his glare back to the well-dressed woman and sank back into his seat. "Yeah, that ain't the only `first' you're gonna get from me either!" he muttered. Closing his eyes, he proceeded to let out a chest-shaking belch, before resting his hands on his stomach and grinning in satisfaction.

Nuriko's hands fluttered to her chest, although an amused twinkle sparkled in her eye. "How rude! To make such noises in front of a lady!"

"You ain't no lady," said Tasuki, rubbing at the edge of his nose with a knuckle. A faint smirk began to toy once more at the corners of his lips -- he couldn't stay angry for long, especially not tonight, not in such company... For as much as they drove him crazy, the former bandit couldn't think of anyone else among the seishi that he'd rather spend New Year's with.

"At any rate, should we finally have that toast, no da?" Chichiri asked, smiling pleasantly as he lifted his mug of tea towards the center of the table.

Nuriko picked up the bottle of wine and swiftly refilled Tasuki's glass. "Yes, we should. And this time, you're going to wait for us before you down that glass."

"You and what army?" Tasuki said with a wink.

In a single movement, Nuriko wrapped her hands around the lapels of Tasuki's coat and dragged him to his feet with one hand, the other raised above her head in a threatening fist. "This army," she said, all-too-cheerfully.

"That's a pretty powerful army," said Tasuki, shrinking from the powerhouse of the Suzaku seishi.

"Here's to peace," said Chichiri, mug still raised in spite of the bickering duo sitting across from him. "May we all be strong enough to protect the one most in need of our protection and be ready to give our all -- even our lives -- in her support, when the time comes."

Nuriko laughed demurely as she let Tasuki drop to the ground with a loud thud, and she picked up her glass of sparkling wine, tipping it against Chichiri's. "To peace."

"To strength," Tasuki said as he dragged himself back into his seat. "And to friends, neh?"

Chichiri dipped his chin in a nod of approval, and even Nuriko paused in her teasing of the former bandit, a gentle smile softening her expression. "To friends," the other two seishi replied in unison.

Clinking their glasses together, they drank to the year to come, as the fireworks of the new year lit up the sky, and dragons danced the streets in the hopes of bringing peace to the war-torn land. With laughter and with good, strong company, the new year had officially begun...