Hi all. My third FY fic. Wow. This one is completely unrelated to the other 2 though.

            Speech

            Thoughts

            Summary: Tasuki wakes up in the real world. A new life is glaring him in the face along with a roommate he never expected. Amiboshi. Tasuki has to put aside his hatred for the Seiryuu seishi long enough for them to find a way back or find out how they got there. As they settle into their real world lives, they look for information until a little girl runs across their path.

            Tasuki is 20. Amiboshi is 18.

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"Oh hell…" Tasuki groaned. "I feel like I got run over by a wagon…" He pushed himself off the bed and looked around. "That or I got really drunk…" Nothing was familiar to him and the pounding in his head didn't make things any easier to think about. "Where the hell am I?" The sun was shining right into his room. 'Well, where ever I am, it's morning…' He could smell something cooking somewhere in the house so he got up to see who was around.

He made him way to the kitchen. Someone left a plate of breakfast on the table. "Hello? Is someone here?" He called, hoping someone was around.

"Uh…hi…" A timid, yet familiar voice reached his ears. He spun around.

"You…" A smaller man stood in the doorway of the kitchen. Dark blonde hair fell carelessly over the boy's purple eyes.

"Hi Tasuki…"

"Amiboshi…" Tasuki could barely say his name. He froze. "What the fuck did you do? Why am I here?"

"I didn't do anything! I just woke up here an hour ago!" Amiboshi tried to keep calm.

"Then how the hell did I get here? What's going on?!?!"

"I don't know! Don't blame this on me!"

"You're the only one around and I know I didn't do anything, so it has to be you!"

"How do I know you didn't do something?!?!" Amiboshi yelled back. "I was minding my own business when everything went black and I woke up here!"

"Why would I?"

"Because you hate me!"

"Why shouldn't I? Four of my friends are dead because of you!"

Amiboshi stopped. "I…I know…my own brother is dead because of me…if hadn't agreed to go to Konan…"

"Everything would have been fine!" Tasuki wanted to give into his urge to strangle the younger seishi, but he found he couldn't.

"Stop it! I know! I'm sorry, but I can't change what I did!" Amiboshi slumped into the seat and began to cry.

"Dammit…" Tasuki muttered. "Now what the hell is wrong with you?"

"I can't stand the thought of all the people that died because of me…I can't count all the mistakes I've made. If I just thought about what would happen by pretending to be Chiriko…"

Tasuki stayed quiet for a few moments. He still wanted to hurt Amiboshi, but he began to wonder if maybe Amiboshi was doing a good enough job of beating himself up on his own. He grabbed a dishtowel from the counter and flung it at the younger boy. "Shut up and quit crying."

"What?"

"It's bad enough when women cry. I don't wanna hear a guy cry too." He muttered and left the room.

Amiboshi watched sadly as Tasuki left the room.

~*~*~*~*~*~

A few days passed. Tasuki wouldn't say much to Amiboshi other than acknowledging his presence. Amiboshi was still thinking about how the two of them got there. Who would stick the two of them together?

They were both settling into the lives they'd been thrown into though. Tasuki was doing fine at a car garage a few blocks from the apartment he was stuck in. Amiboshi was a little more uneasy as he started working as a receptionist in a doctor's office. He liked helping people but he wasn't used to doing it in a modern environment. Tasuki didn't care. He liked the modern world.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Two weeks past. Tasuki finally started being friendlier towards Amiboshi. Amiboshi was happy Tasuki would talk to him. After all, there was no one else who knew the truth about where they were from except for each other. They'd quietly search for anything that could lead to clues about what had happened to them. Nothing was leading to anything.

Tasuki and Amiboshi sat on a bench in the park on a sunny afternoon. Tasuki sat there looking at the sky with a can of soda in hand.

"Are we goin' around in circles here?"

"Maybe we've been looking in the wrong places for clues."

"Where else can we look? Miaka said she found the book the first time in a library. We can't go to a library and start looking for an ancient Chinese novel that someone maybe stumbled over. All was can do is keep our eyes open."

"I know…so…"

"Kohana! Where the hell did you go?" Suddenly a girl ran by Amiboshi and Tasuki. She was medium height and had long brown hair and green eyes. She looked really worried. "Ayame will kill me for this!" She groaned as she ran.

"Would ya look at that? Woman can't even hold on to her own kid…"

"Why do you always have to put them down? Little kids are hard to control. Besides, I don't think that was her kid. She mentioned someone else's name."

"Whatever. I really don't give a damn." Tasuki took another sip of his soda.

"HI!!!" Both guys were startled when a small girl popped up behind them. Tasuki nearly choked to death on his soda.

"Uh…hi…" Ami turned around. The little girl couldn't possibly be older than 6 or 7. She had short black hair and blue eyes.

"I'm Kohana! I'm 6." She held up 7 fingers, realized her mistake and put down one. "Who are you?" She asked with the sweetest smile.

"I'm Amiboshi." He looked to Tasuki who was grumbling something about bratty kids. "He's Tasuki."

"How old are you?"

"I'm 18. He's 20."

"You're cute." She walked around to the front of the beach and sat between them. "Wanna meet my friends? They're cute and single."

"And what? 6, 7 years old?" Tasuki looked down at the girl.

"Nu uh!" Kohana poked Tasuki. They're both 18!"

"Um…Kohana? I think there's someone looking for you…she ran by a little while ago."

"Huh? Oh…that's Ruri. She's one of my friends." Kohana kept smiling. "Did you think she was cute?"

"Why aren't you with her?" Amiboshi looked at her, trying to avoid the previous question.

"I didn't feel like it."

"KOHANA!" Ruri appeared again. "Why do you always have to bother people?" It was obvious she was embarrassed.

"I wasn't botherin' them!" Kohana hopped off the bench.

"Wanna bet?" Tasuki muttered.

Amiboshi elbowed him. "Shut up!"

"I'm so sorry you guys! She has a habit of running off." Ruri picked up the little girl.

"She wasn't that bad." Amiboshi was trying to be nice.

"Ruri, don't you think Amiboshi's cute?" Kohana looked up at her. "I think you and him would be cute together, don't you?"

She blushed a deep red. "Wh…what? Kohana, stop it. We're going now!"

"You didn't answer though! And don't you think nee-chan would like Tasuki? He's cute. She could take a day off for once, right?"

"Stop!" Ruri turned to the guys again. "I am sooooooo sorry! She's…oh…never mind!" Without another word, Ruri took off down the park path.

"That was different…" Tasuki muttered and went for his soda again. "Shit…it's warm now…" He began to dump out the rest as he looked at Amiboshi. "You might wanna stop drooling there…"

Amiboshi snapped back to reality. "What?!?!

"You're drooling." Tasuki smirked. "So that's why you didn't answer the kid…you did think she was cute! Ha!"

"What? I'm allowed to think girls are cute, aren't I?"

"It's a waste of time. Women are a waste of time. Little brats like her grow up to be big brats who don't care about anyone but themselves."

"Kohana isn't a brat. She was cute."

"Oh Suzaku…she got to you…"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"The little brat has this whole 'I'm 6, the world loves me, I could get away with murder if I wanted to' thing going for her. You fell for it!" Tasuki scoffed.

"What?!?! No, she doesn't!"

"Of course she does!"

"You're impossible!"

"So what?" He snapped back as he tossed out the empty soda can.

"Never mind."

"Excuse me, could I ask you something?" Someone was standing in front of them.

They looked up and saw a girl only a little taller than Ruri with very long black hair and blue eyes.

"What is it?" Amiboshi asked.

"Have you seen a hyperactive, black haired 6 year old and a brunette 18 year old who can't control the little girl come by this way?"

'Damn…she looks good…' Tasuki shook the thought from his head and stood up to speak to her. "You mean Kohana and Ruri?"

She sighed. "Yeah. That's them. Did Kohana stop to talk to you? I hope she wasn't too annoying."

"Nah…she wasn't that bad." Tasuki smiled. "But they went off that way. Are you Kohana's sister?"

"Yes. I'm Ayame. My sister can be such a pain. She opens her big mouth to everyone."

"Kohana's you're sister?" Amiboshi stood up. "She's cute."

"That's what everyone says until they know her." Ayame smiled.

"She can't be that bad." Tasuki chuckled.

"If only." Ayame smiled. "Thanks for helping me. Maybe we'll see you again." She left the boys alone.

Tasuki watched her walk away. Amiboshi burst into laughter.

"What the fuck is so funny?" Tasuki glared at him.

"Two minutes ago, you we going on and on about what a brat Kohana is. Now look who's drooling!"

"I was not!"

"Yes you were! You talk about how horrible women are and now you just melted in front of Ayame! That's hilarious!"

Tasuki bit his lip. "It's probably just their way of meeting guys."

"What? Sending Kohana to find guys?"

"Yeah…actin' like it was a mistake, actin' all polite…it's probably a trick."

"I swear…you have two personalities…"

"And?" Tasuki began walking.

"Never mind…" Amiboshi followed him. "But come on…didn't you think either of them was cute?"

"When did it become your business whether or not I think a girl is cute?"

"I dunno…just curious. I thought Ruri was cute…"

"If easily embarrassed, spastic ones are your type, then go for it."

"She wasn't spastic. If you were her, wouldn't you have been embarrassed by Kohana too?"

"Maybe…"

"We really shouldn't be thinking about girls though, should we? We gotta go home…"

"True…what's the last thing you can remember before waking up in that apartment?"

"Um…let's see here…I was in the forest…gathering firewood I think…" He stopped to think. "Then I heard a kid laughing."

"Laughing? That's weird…"

"Why?"

"Same thing happened to me." Tasuki thought for a moment. "Was it a boy or a girl?"

"I dunno…too far away to tell, so I followed it. Then things went black. I don't remember what happened after that besides waking up in that bed…"

"That's pretty much all that comes to mind for me too…"

They walked in silence for a while, avoiding kids and adults that ran by. Everyone was happy for one reason or another, just not them. As comfortable as they had gotten in the real world, they still felt like they didn't belong.

"So how long till you gotta go to work?" Amiboshi broke the silence.

"A few hours. Why?"

"Wanna grab something to eat?"

"Sure. Got nothing else to do."

They left the park and headed to a corner restaurant. They sat in a booth by a wall. Tasuki ordered a burger with everything except cheese and a soda and Amiboshi got pizza and a milkshake. Tasuki was disgusted by all the milk in Amiboshi's food. Amiboshi smirked and said he did it on purpose.

A few minutes later, the food came. As they ate, the table behind them was getting into a heated conversation.

"You could at least meet Jiro before you shoot him down, you know."

"I don't have the time, Ruri! I work all day."

"What about at night?"

"School work."

"You never have fun anymore. We used to go out all the time, Ayame!"

"My parents are gone now! What do you want me to do? I've gotta take care of Kohana now!"

"My family is still here for you! Do you keep forgetting that?"

"I hate depending on people."

"You're not depending on us! Coming to friends once in a while isn't being dependant!"

"Ruri…you've known me for a long time, you know that I don't change."

The boys heard one of them sigh deeply. "You know…it wouldn't kill you to bring Kohana to my house for a night so you could go out."

"Kohana's too much for you. Maybe if someone else was there too, but not on your own."

"I can take care of her!"

"Like at the park?"

"That was different. That was the park. If she was in the house it wouldn't be so bad. No sugar for her either."

"Ruri…I can't impose on you like that. Your mom is really sick, remember? There's no way she could handle the noise Kohana makes."

"My mother always treated you like one of her own. She'd wanna see you happy."

"I am fine. You really don't need to worry about me!"

"You're my best friend. Of course I do!"

Amiboshi and Tasuki were silent as they listened. All of a sudden, Kohana was standing at their table. "Hi again!" She giggled and smiled.

They gasped. "Jeez, Kohana…wanna give a guy a warning?" Tasuki muttered.

"Sorry." She hopped up into the booth on Tasuki's side. "Whatcha eatin'?"

"Food." Tasuki said while eating a French fry.

"Well, I can see that." Kohana stuck out her tongue at him.

"Ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer." Tasuki chuckled. "Want some?"

"Yeah!" Kohana grabbed a fist full of French Fries. "Thanks!"

"Sure kid."

Amiboshi leaned across the table. "Now who's falling for it?"

"Shut up!" Tasuki hissed.

"Kohana? What are you doing?" Ruri had gotten up from the table to go to the bathroom and saw Kohana with the boys.

"Look who I found!" She grabbed another French fry.

"Uh…hi…" Ruri smiled nervously at Amiboshi. "Small world, huh?"

"Hey." Amiboshi smiled back. "Yeah…guess so."

Ayame turned around in her seat and saw Kohana eating Tasuki's food. "I hope she's not stealing your food…"

"Nah…I offered it to her. I'm not that hungry."

"Oh…okay then…" Ayame smiled.

"Why don't you girls sit with us?" Amiboshi offered.

"Say yes! Say yes!" Kohana happily bounced on the seat.

"Eh…why not?" Ruri grabbed her milkshake and slid into the seat next to Amiboshi.

"Yay!" Kohana smiled even wider as Ayame reluctantly sat down on Kohana's other side. She poked Tasuki. "So wasn't I right? Amiboshi and Ruri make a cute couple, don't they?"

The people in question blushed furiously. Ayame giggled. Tasuki looked at them for a moment. "You know, you're right. They would go good together." He smirked.

Amiboshi's eye twitched as he kicked Tasuki's shin under the table. Tasuki winced, but it was pretty unnoticeable.

"You and Ayame should go out too. She never goes out. Black and red looks good together."

Ayame's eyes widened. "Kohana, you promised me you weren't gonna do that anymore…"

"But you need to have fun once in a while."

"But Kohana…"

Kohana began to pout. "No! No more buts! Go out with him!"

Ayame was taken aback at her sister's forcefulness. "Ruri…can you take Kohana somewhere else so I can talk to Tasuki?"

"Uh…sure…Amiboshi, wanna help me keep an eye on her?" Ruri grabbed Kohana's hand as Amiboshi nodded and the three disappeared into the arcade next to the dinning area. Kohana protested until Amiboshi picked her up and let her sit on his shoulders.

Ayame moved to the other side of the both. "Oh my God…I'm so sorry Tasuki…I had no idea she'd go off like that…" Ayame stared at the table and began playing with a napkin.

"It wasn't that bad…"

"Yes, it was…she does that all the time…telling me I should go out more…she's got a lot of nerve for a 6 year old…"

"You ever think she might be right?"

"What? You mean that I should get out more? What do you know about me?" Her head snapped up.

"Look, don't be offended or anything…but Amiboshi and I couldn't help but over hear you and Ruri…"

"Oh…I see…" She lowered her head again. "You heard Ruri yell at me too…"

"I know I really don't know what's going on but it sounds like you could use a night out…"

"I'd love to, but I can't. I gotta take care of Kohana…"

"Ruri could watch her."

"Not on her own."

"Amiboshi could help her. He likes her."

"He does?"

"Yeah…he kinda drooled after he met her." Tasuki chuckled.

"Ruri has more luck with guys than I do."

"Come on…how bad could it be?"

Ayame raised an eyebrow. "My love life no one's business but my own. Especially someone I just met."

"Okay, okay…sorry. Just thought I'd ask."

"It's alright…I guess I'm just a little defensive about it."

"It's alright. You can be defensive if you want."

"I still can't believe Kohana today…she usually doesn't go after someone for so long…"

"You can't get mad at her just because she wants you to have fun though, can you?"

"I guess not…I just wish she didn't ask every guy around if they would take me out."

"What? Don't like her taste?"

"No it's not that, she has pretty good taste." Ayame blushed. "I mean…that is to say…"

Tasuki chuckled. "Should I take it as a compliment?"

"I…uh…" Ayame stood up. "I gotta go." She got up quickly.

"Hey, wait a minute." He grabbed her hand.

"What?"

"If I got Amiboshi to help Ruri watch Kohana, would you take a night off? Sounds like you deserve it." He looked up at her from the seat.

'Wow…he's got the prettiest eyes…' "I guess…yeah…if I knew she'd be okay…"

He let her hand go. "Amiboshi likes Kohana and Ruri. I think they'd be fine."

Ayame pulled a pen out of her purse and wrote something on a napkin. "Call later if it's cool."

"Sure."

Ayame, Kohana and Ruri left and Amiboshi sat back down with Tasuki. He noticed the napkin. "What's that?"

"Nothin'." Tasuki shoved it into his pocket.

"Then why don't you throw it away?"

"If I wanna save the damn thing, I will." He snapped.

"Why don't you just admit that's Ayame's phone number? We saw her write it down for you."

"You did?"

"Who are you and what have you done with the real Tasuki? The one who hates women?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You do have multi personality disorder! Before we had lunch you couldn't shut up about how bad women are! Now you just made a date with Ayame! You know that can get treated at the hospital I work at…"

"Shut up. I don't have a date with her…yet…and she isn't like other girls."

"I knew it. You have kidnapped the real Tasuki…"

"Shut up!" Tasuki threw the money for the food on the table and got up. "Come one. I gotta get ready for work."

"Alright…if you say so…I'm still hoping the real Tasuki comes back soon though…"

"How many times do I have to tell you to shut up?!?!" Tasuki whacked Amiboshi in the back of the head.

"Ow! Watch it!" They left the restaurant and headed home.

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So, shall I continue? I accept anything you have to say but if you don't like it, remember to tell me why, kay? That's the only rule.

~*~Shadow Hawk~*~