Okay, I honestly didn't expect this to happen but here we are - I have a seasonal chapter for ya'll! And it's for Halloween :D It's actually my favorite holiday and even with the 2020 bullshit it hasn't lessened my love for the holiday at all.

So besides that, I sat down and cranked this out in like two hours because I'm still struggling with the next chapter. I CRANKED OUT OVER 3000 WORDS FOR SHMOOPSY DOOPSY HALLOWEEN SHIT! Sorry it's not scary, but this was too good an opportunity to pass this up.

Happy Halloween everyone :) Have a good and safe one!


Another Side

Happy Halloween

"UGH! Will ya quit it with that crap?!" Tasuki leaned away from Nuriko's can of doom, glaring at the thing as if it would magically explode in his hands. Nuriko just huffed and dragged Tasuki back into the chair, spraying his hair down with even more color.

"Quit being a baby! Tama ain't complaining!" Tasuki glanced over to Tamahome, who looked like he was more afraid of what would happen if he spoke out rather than enjoying this horrid experience. "Besides," Nuriko leaned back and grinned, fangs poking out over his painted ruby red lips. "Don't you want to impress Igneous?"

Coloring at that, Tasuki fell silent, though the scowl on his face spoke volumes.

Around him, all of their other friends were getting ready for Halloween, though Mitsuki was noticeably absent at the time. He was getting ready with his sweetheart though, so it made sense. The gentle giant wouldn't be joining in on their escapade, but the party would inevitably end up at his house. Chiriko decided to be a little maneki-neko, the ears twitching on his head making him even more unbearably adorable. Tasuki still didn't know how the kid got the ears or the tail to work like they did, but he wasn't going to question the little genius, not today.

Nuriko was already dressed as a vampire queen, hair curled attractively around his face and the dress sweeping the floor slightly. It would have dragged, but Nuriko was wearing heels, making him taller than he already was. Hotohori matched his boyfriend as a vampire king, the both of them looking more realistic than Tasuki was comfortable with.

If Toji could see him now, he would be called a coward a thousand times over.

While Nuriko was helping Tasuki perfect his make-up and hair, Hotohori and Chichiri were struggling with Tamahome, who was only doing all of this mess because his dear, sweet Miaka begged him to go trick-or-treating with her. Currently, it looked like they were fighting Tamahome's hair, since it needed to be all messed up for the zombie couple the two were going as.

Chichiri decided to be a monk this year, though Tasuki didn't know where he dug the costume up. If the man was honest with himself, he would have thought that Chichiri was simply waiting to bring the costume out.

"Alright!" Nuriko stepped back, looking thoughtful. "Okay, I think we got it!" He picked up the tricorn hat that Chiriko had been holding, plopping it on the red head delightfully. "You're done! Look in the mirror."

"...Damn." Tasuki carefully ran his hands on his face, seeing 'stubble' on his face but not feeling it. The gold around his neck and hands glinted in the light, matching the roguish grin he threw at himself. "Ya did a good job." Nuriko preened at the praise, flipping his wig hair over his shoulders. Somehow, long hair and short looked much too natural on him, but Tasuki wasn't caring about that.

He was thinking about Igneous and what her reaction would be.

"You think she'll like it?" There were doubts running through his mind – he liked, no, loved Igneous and had for a couple of years now, but was too damn shy to do anything about it. They had all seen what happened with Igneous' last boyfriend (suspiciously, the boy had ended up in the hospital, a couple of broken limbs and trembling whenever someone asked him what happened. Tasuki had spotted both Chichiri and Nuriko looking smug afterwards, so he had a pretty good idea of what happened) and none of them wanted to see their fellow redhead be that crestfallen again, especially since she had tried to dedicate her life to making that idiot happy.

Chichiri threw an arm over his friends shoulder, grinning at him with one eye twinkling beside him in the mirror. "She'll love it, no da! She's been wanting to do a pirate this year, so this is gonna be a surprise." The arm tightened around his shoulders, and Tasuki was reminded of just how damn scary his friends were when Chichiri continued with, "don't fuck this up, yeah? You've been mooning after her for ages."

Scowling, Tasuki tossed off Chichiri's arm, but the effect of anger was lessened by the embarrassed blush painting his face. "Yeah, yeah, I know!"

Tamahome huffed, finally escaping Hotohori's grasp, grinning at himself for a quick second in the mirror. "Dude, you'll be fine – ask her out on a date!"

Everyone stared at Tamahome.

"Tamahome," Hotohori started with, flicking some dust away with manicured black nails. "We all know what happened with you and Miaka – we don't think it's a good idea to listen to your advice concerning dating of any sort."

After that, a good-natured argument erupted, the memories and laughter flying through the air. Tasuki smirked, thinking that seeing Tamahome covered in sauce and food had been one of the funniest days of his life.

He could also say it was one of the best, because that was the day he had met Igneous. That was five years ago now – school seemed so long ago now that he thought of it like that. She was so much shyer and quieter then, but now she walked with confidence. Tasuki admired her and loved her and by the gods did he love her.

"Alright kids, let's go!" Nuriko waved everyone out of his house, locking the door behind them as they started the fifteen minute walk over to where Miaka's place where she, Igneous, and Yui were getting ready for Halloween themselves.

Tasuki prayed he would finally get the damn courage to ask out Igneous this year.


"Aaaand DONE!" Yui stepped back, the smugness radiating off of her as Miaka admired herself in the mirror. "What do you think?"

"I look terrifying!" Miaka turned and grinned at the blonde. "It's almost as if I was a real zombie! Thank you Yui!"

"WOAH!"

Igneous chuckled, fixing the strap of her boots as Miaka glomped Yui in appreciation. The redhead was glad that her dunce of a friend hadn't changed from the happy woman she met – if anything, it was even more prominent now that she and Tamahome were together.

"IGNEOUS A LITTLE HELP!" Yui seemed to be crawling towards her on the floor now, her top hat askew on her face.

"Miaka, if you don't get off Yui, you're going to ruin your makeup." Smirking, Igneous watched Miaka as she sped off of their friend, running around the apartment and throwing on the last of her outfit. The redhead thought it was kind of cute that she and Tamahome were going as a zombie couple, though she despaired at Miaka's lack of planning.

Yui straightened her suit, huffing as she grabbed her top hat and righted it. "Alright, since I got your make up done, I got to go!" Yui hugged Igneous (oh so gently, mindful of the scars on her back) and smiled softly. "I have a party to get to, and you," Igneous dreaded that smirk. "You have a redhead to catch!"

The blonde cackled at the shade Igneous turned, waving goodbye through the door.

Miaka huffed, standing before Igneous and twirling in one last attempt to find anything wrong. "You know she's right, Igneous. You and Tasuki have been circling each other for like a year! Are you going to ask him out or not?!"

Igneous shrugged, fondling the hilt of the sword she had strapped to her side. She wished she could have asked Tasuki out, see if he would be okay with being the Calico Jack to her Anne Bonny, but Igneous was a coward and simply decided to be the lonesome Anne Bonny this Halloween. "I don't even know if he likes me…"

The deadpan stare Miaka gave her spoke a thousand words. "Are you kidding me? Who was the one you ran to when Nakago was found cheating on you?"

Igneous couldn't help but to twitch at the mention of her ex. He was a mistake and a half, probably the biggest mistake of her life. She didn't want to hear any mention of him, ever, but…

"And who was it that kept you company those nights you couldn't sleep? Who made sure you had a place that wasn't your old apartment? AND WHO - "

"ALRIGHT I GET IT!" Igneous scowled at her friend, having blushed deeper with each sentence Miaka spoke. "He was there for me, helped me pick up the pieces, but you know how Tasuki is with girls!"

Miaka shook her head, exasperated. "He's only like that with you Igneous. Remember when I cried in front of him during one of our group lunch dates?"

"Yeah – he panicked and threw food at you until Tamahome punched him." Igneous could barely remember most of that day – she had been staying with Tasuki and his family for two weeks at that point, still depressed over the whole Nakago situation, but Igneous definitely remembered threatening everybody about making Miaka cry again and then dying of laughter when Tamahome punched Tasuki. "What about it?"

"Ugh, seriously?!" Miaka crossed her arms. "Igneous, he treats you as if you're gold, as if you're the prettiest treasure he's ever stolen and he's a bandit king."

Silence.

"That's pretty damn specific Miaka." Igneous grinned at her friends blush. "But, anyways…" Igneous looked in the mirror at herself. The hat she had placed on her head didn't take away from any of the rugged beauty she had painted on herself, blue eyes painted with black kohl and her lips an almost black red. Her hair had several braids in it, drawing the eye down to Igneous' pirate outfit for the evening. She looked regal and ready to kick ass, pants almost shiny and painted on her legs. "I don't know if Tasuki is… Is capable of liking someone broken like me."

"Oh, Igneous…" Miaka came over and took her friends hands, rubbing thumbs in soothing circles into the leather gloves. "You're not broken, you never were." Miaka didn't hate anybody, she didn't really have the capacity for it.

However, she had made exactly one exception to that rule and it was Nakago. Miaka still didn't know how Nakago and Igneous met, or even when they started dating, but she hated that blonde asshole with every fiber of her being.

The sentiment was shared by every single one of their friends, even Yui who had known the man before the whole dating thing went on. Miaka knew Yui once had a crush on Nakago, but their blonde friend was in a much happier relationship with Seiryuu, though the brunette didn't know how to feel about Seiryuu being five years older than the rest of them.

Oh, well, as long as she was happy.

Igneous had to take a deep breath, quelling the tears that always wanted to come out. "Sorry – it's hard to convince myself of that."

The two of them shared a smile – it had taken a long time and many difficult obstacles to get to where they are now, but they were happy, all of them. Mostly content as well, but they were getting there.

Miaka simply wished that Igneous could see how good Tasuki was for her, and if she could convince her friend that her insecurities were terrible liars, Miaka knew they could be happy together!

A knock on their door interrupted their moment, followed shortly after by a yell of, "MIAKA! IGNEOUS! HURRY UP BEFORE THE CANDY IS GONE!"

They could hear Chiriko giggling at that, and Tamahome and Tasuki arguing in the background as well.

Igneous could feel herself relax at the familiar sounds, feeling safe with all of them (Tasuki) there with them that night. Miaka chuckled, elbowing her friend softly. "Come on, it's a full moon and it's Halloween! Let's go have fun!"

"Alright, Miaka, make sure you have everything. I don't want to walk back here and be locked out because you forgot your keys again."


Tasuki stood over Tamahome victoriously, back to the door as he dug his foot into Tamahome's back. He knew that Tamahome would get back at him eventually for this, but the redhead was going to enjoy this moment while he can. It wasn't often that he got a win over Tamahome anyways, and this was a pretty good way to avoid the inevitable with facing Igneous.

Tamahome reached over and grabbed Tasuki, pulling his leg and making him fall on his ass flat. Smirking, Tamahome glanced up and seemed to brighten up, immediately forgetting about their tussle. Tasuki groaned, dropping his head back until he was face to face with the starless night.

Not like it needed stars – the moon shined bright enough that it didn't really need stars. He didn't like the fact that it was a full moon, but Tasuki could at least see what the fuck was going on around him. He could protect Igneous much easier that way. The redhead closed his eyes, heaving out a breath to try and gather enough courage to stand up and face Igneous.

He was going to ask out Igneous, he will ask out Igneous, he will -

A shadow fell over him. "Um, Tasuki? Are you going to lay down on the sidewalk all night long?" Speaking of Igneous. "Oh, you're um…"

He opened his eyes, ready to throw some snark at Igneous (fully expecting some back and wow wasn't that a heady rush) but stopped in his tracks.

Holy shit she's gorgeous.

Now, that was a normal thought that Tasuki had about Igneous, but damn was she even more so as a pirate (Anne Bonny if what Nuriko said was right). Her corset accented her figure, and she looked dangerous with her hat and leather coat, the make up making her blue eyes light up beautifully. Giggling, Igneous reached a hand out and helped Tasuki up. He still didn't say anything though, his mouth hanging in shock at how she looked.

He was suddenly so glad to have followed Nuriko's advice for this Halloween.

His favorite part was her smile, for that was entirely Igneous.

"So, we're both pirates…" Tasuki blushed, running his hand on the back of his head. Her smile was just as nervous. "Any uh reason why, Tasuki?"

He could see the rest of their group giving him thumbs up, urging him on. Gods, he loved his friends, but dammit he wanted to throw something at them right now.

"Uh, well, I heard you were goin' as Anne Bonny…" Igneous nodded at that, cocking a hip. Tasuki had to swallow a helpless groan at that. "And uh, I know that Anne Bonny had Calico Jack, so I was thinkin' that you and I, could, ya know…"

Igneous hid her face in her hands, but he could see a hint of a blush paint her cheeks.

Grinning, Tasuki gently pried her hands away from her face, feeling bolstered at her response. "I was wonderin' if I could be your Calico Jack, ya know?"

She glanced up at him through her eyelashes (that was an unfair move in his opinion – she looked like she would have asked for the world and he would have given it to her with that one look), looking as nervous as he felt.

"Is this just for tonight?"

Tasuki's grin softened, pulling Igneous to him. He laid one hand on her waist, twining their fingers with his other hand. "If ya would have me, I can be your Calico Jack every day of the year."

"Oh…" Igneous' shoulders seemed to slump, looking a little more relaxed than before. "That's um…" She looked down and leaned her head against his chest. "I would rather have Tasuki every day than Calico Jack, you know." She then shot back, looking panicked. "If that's okay, of course! I mean, I really like you and would like to date you and oh my gods I am rambling again, I -"

Her lips were as soft as he imagined they were. The kiss was simple and chaste, but it made her stop before she rambled herself into an incoherent mess. Tasuki leaned back, his golden eyes glinting softly. "That's a yes, by the way."

Igneous threw her arms around his neck and before he could shout in surprise, her lips landed on his, pushing deeper and claiming him. Tasuki did not mind at all, wrapping his own arms around her waist.

"YES FINALLY!" They startled apart, matching blushes on their face, seeing their friends celebrating.

Nuriko picked the both of them up, grinning delightedly. "You are just so adorable!"

"Thanks, Nuriko…" Igneous coughed, feeling glad that Nuriko no longer choked the life out of her with his insane strength. He had simply set them down after one twirl, but that was still enough for her for the moment. She straightened and glared at the rest of them. "Exactly how long have you been planning this?!"

Hotohori shrugged. "You two have been dancing around each other, so we had to do something about it."

Tasuki slung a shoulder over Igneous, laying a kiss on her forehead. "Yeah, well, I'm not too mad about it."

Igneous blushed, but intertwined her hand into his. "Yeah… Yeah, I can't be too mad."

Miaka cheered. "Great! Now let's get going with Halloween!"

Laughing, the group followed after the exuberant brunette, looking forward to the rest of the year. Igneous and Tasuki kept themselves to the back, relishing in the warmth they could now share shamelessly.

"This was a long time coming, huh?" Tasuki kept his eyes on Igneous, seeing the moon reflecting in her eyes and thanking every deity he knew of for being in the same timeline as Igneous.

She laughed. "I'd think so." Her grin captivated him. "Thank you, Tasuki."

"Fer what?"

"For being there for me."

He kissed her, knowing with a giddy rush that he could do this whenever now. He didn't have to ask any further what she meant by that – Tasuki could read Igneous easily, and he knew that he could see a long and prosperous future with her.

The redhead won't tell her that he loved her – not yet – but he knew that was the warmth seeping into his soul now. He had loved her a long time, and he knew that he would love her for even longer.

"Always, Igneous."


Like I know it's a Halloween chapter, but it isn't scary, instead it's adorable and toothrotting fluff and is that possible AU material?! NO BAD TIRYN! LOL, I hope you all enjoyed this :D

Happy Halloween

Tiryn