Disclaimer! FY is the property of Watase Yuu, Bandai, Tokyo Television, Flower Comics, Pioneer, Viz Comics, and others. No infringment was intended.

"But I don't want to take a bath!!"

"You're going to take one, whether you want one or not!"

"You smell so bad, I'm sure Byakko can smell you!"

"It's for the best that you clean yourself."

"IYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"

Toroki, Tokaki, Ekie, and Amefuri dragged Kagasuki to the men's bath. Tatara had gone to the bath as soon as they arrived at the local lord's home. The others spent their time chasing Kagasuki down. It took them quite a while to catch the boy. It wasn't easy since the kid had the power to disappear. It was with Ekie's help that they were able to find the boy, by his chi.

As they neared the bath, Tatara came out. He smiled pleasantly at them. With the exeption of Toroki, they all greated him cheerfully. "I see you finally found him," Tatara remarked.

"Hai," Tokaki replied. "And I'm going to give him a good dunking for the trouble he's caused us!"

Kagasuki continued to try to wiggle out of their grasp. After Tatara left, they dragged the young boy into the bath. The three younger seishi managed to pull an indignant Kagasuki to the ground and began to undress him. The boy cried out and struggled against them. Suddenly everything went quiet. Ekie, who had just gotten his robe off, moved near them to see what had happened. One look told him everything.

Outside the men's bath, sat Subaru. She had heard the boy crying out all along the walkway. She decided to sit outside, just in case the others got to rough on the boy. 'He's so small and thin' she thought. 'They could easily hurt him if they aren't careful.'

She shook her head in dismay as she heard the ruckus from inside the men's bath. She wondered if she should go in and tell them to leave the boy alone. True, he smelled bad, but there were better ways to handle it. What it probably needed was a woman's touch. When the noise suddenly stopped, she began to rise. She was going to put a stop to this!

She was startled when the door slid open. Toroki came out, red-faced. When he saw Subaru standing there, his face somehow managed to become even redder. "I....uh....well....you...ah...ummmm...that is...." He quickly turned and left. Subaru stared after him.

A moment later, Ekie came out, dragging Amefuri and Tokaki by their collars. He saw Subaru and stopped. "I think your presence would be better. I'll go and have some...appropriate clothing sent." He walked off in the same direction that Toroki had gone. As she watched him leave, she noticed that both Tokaki and Amefuri were drooling and had glazed over eyes.

She looked back at the door to the men's bath. 'Could it be,' she wondered. Stepping through the door, she saw Kagasuki sitting on the floor. She walked over to the child. "Kagasuki." The child jumped and looked up at her. There was a mixture of emotions in Kagasuki's brown eyes. "Come," she told the child. "I think the women's bath would be a better place for you."

Kagasuki bit her lip and nodded.
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Ayako pushed herself up from the pillow where she'd been half asleep listening. "The boy is a girl?? Why on earth was she dressed as a boy? Didn't she like being a girl?"

"I don't know. We'll just have to keep reading. Maybe it'll say just why she was pretending to be a boy."
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Suzuno strolled through the gardens in the moonlit night. She turned as she heard the sound of footsteps. "Ah, Tatara. It's you."

"Hai. I hope I didn't startle you."

Suzuno blushed. The moonlight made his face look even more gentle. More beautiful. She shook her head quickly. "Iie. I was just curious as to who else was here in the garden. Do you like gardens? Well, of course you like gardens. You have the power over plants after all." She brought her hand over her mouth. "I'm sorry. I'm babbling."

Tatara chuckled. Such a musical sound! "Yes, I do like gardens. Especially at night. The moonlight gives things a more surreal look. Like being in an enchanted land. But I'm sure this land already seems enchanted to you."

"Hai! Mysterious and wonderous! I miss my home and my family very much, but I don't regret coming here. The others are so wonderful and I've learned so many things! It's all so wonderful, even if a little frightening.....and I'm babbling again." She lowered her head, blushing once more.

Tatara put his finger under her chin. A strange tingling sensation went all the way down to her toes and back up again. He lifted her chin till their eyes met. "Don't ever be ashamed of the way you are, Suzuno. There is no one else like you, and you should be happy for that." Suzuno nodded slightly, as she stared into his eyes. Time became lost as they stayed like that, gazing at each other. Then Tatara moved his hand away. "I was sent to find you. There is something interesting that was found out about our newest seishi. We will be meeting in Kagasuki's room to find out what that interesing something is."

They entered Kagasuki's room, to find the other seishi there. All, but Kagasuki and Subaru. Suzuno limped to the nearest chair and sat, waiting. The wait wasn't for long. Subaru came out from an ajoining room and seeing that everyone was there, announced, "I'd like to introduce to you the new Kagasuki." When Kagasuki didn't enter, she moved to the door. "Come out, so everyone can see how nice you look." They could hear Kagasuki mutter something. "No one's going to think badly of you. Now just come out, dear."

Suzuno gasped in surprise when Kagasuki entered the room. She wore clothing simular to Subaru's, only not at revealing in the chest area. Her short, dark blue hair was brushed and trimmed. It fell softly around her face. She looked at the others with a mixture of fear and resentment. Suzuno spoke softly. "You're a girl? Oh how wonderful! You look beautiful!!" Kagasuki looked at her with surprise. No one had ever complemented her before. And she could tell by looking at Suzuno's face that the words were sincere.

"Thank you," she said softly, a look of adoration on her face. It was at that moment, that she felt, knew, that she would follow this girl everywhere and give her life for her.

Amefuri cleared his throat. The others looked at him. "I think this calls for a celebration. I have been told that there is a festival that starts tomarrow. I don't see why we don't wait a little bit and have some fun before we get on with the Summoning."

Suzuno looked at Toroki. "Oh, can we? I do love festivals! And it sounds like it would be wonderful."

Toroki, who was about to protest Amefuri's idea, melted at the look of excitement in Suzuno's eyes. "I don't see why not. After all, we've all worked very hard and we could use a break." Suzuno's smile took his breath away. 'I'm sure it'll all be fine,' he thought. 'It's only one day. What could go wrong in just one day?'