Atone

12

Ryuuga x L Drago (humanoid, fem)

Ryuuga has to keep going, he has to find her, but he also finds himself remembering the past. Of things he cannot undo even if he wanted to.

He was sore, pained and ached. The battle took so much out of him and he still lost, even though he had put all of his bladers spirit into that final attack.

There was one thing that he was proud of, one thing that made his battle worth it. He was the only blader who had; until that battle; got Rago to unleash his ultimate move. That was something he thought made his battle worth it, that he had been a challenge to him.

No time to rest for him, even though his body was beginning him to, he had to keep going, he could feel her calling to him and he had to answer that call.

Not one of the Legendary Bladers were aware that he was alive and well, they all thought he had died; he knew it hurt Kenta to have that knowledge and although that did weigh heavy on his heart, he refused to be moved from his goal.

He stopped for a moment, bending down to get some water only to fall to his knees and his body refused to move.

Damn it, I can't… He sighed in frustration although he knew it was a smart idea to listen to his bodies wants and needs, he really wanted to keep going, to get to the voice that was calling him.

Lying down on the ground he fell asleep, finding himself slowly entering a slumber that would help sooth his body and also being given clues to where she was.

As he looked around he found that he was in a cave of sorts, although the light gleamed from the long crystal peaks above him and he slowly walked onwards, finding the light changed every so often, from a soft blue to a gold and then to an orange, all the colours of the rainbow were reflected in the light of the crystals but he wasn't interested in that, no, what interested him was hearing her voice call to him, getting louder and louder until…

Blinking he felt a droplet of water fall onto his cheek and looked up, seeing a large black wolf look at him happily. He didn't move, but looked into the amber eyes of the animal and found nothing there that could be taken as a threat.

What is… He looked at the wolf, who sat down on it hunches and for a moment he was reminded of the man who raised him, the man who had made his who he was today, on purpose and accidently.

Damn that piece of trash Doiji. He growled into his head as he wiped the droll off his cheek and looked at the wolf, who cocked its head to the side; It's not Doiji, no way would Doiji be reincarnated as a wolf. He'd return as a worm. He almost moved his hand to pat the wolf and thought better of it, but the wolf rubbed its head against his hand any.

Slowly he got up and stretched, feeling a lot better than he had before, his body still ached, but not to the degree it had been before. He began to walk onwards, with the wolf following him.

He found that he didn't mind, a companion on this journey was welcomed, he needed something else to occupy his thoughts rather than just her voice.

Of course the wolf also made sure he stopped and got bed, its snout with prod him when it was time to eat or rest, and if the wolf hadn't been with him, he would have fallen flat on his face just trying to find her. He was many things and being proud was one of them. He could have asked for help, and he knew that he would have gotten it, but this was a personal trip. This was him reclaiming something from long ago, as though he could atone for all his past sins.

As he looked into the fire, the wolf, who he had decided to just call Doiji out of humour more than anything else; was sleeping by his feet having eaten the rabbit he had proudly caught earlier on while Ryuuga had caught for himself some fish.

Can past sins ever been forgive? Ryuuga wondered to himself, looking deep into the fire as though he would find his answer there.

'I told you! You are the one person I will never forgive!'

Ginga… He has every right to hate me… Ryuuga thought, remembering that day, that fateful day when his life was changed completely; though he wasn't sure if it was for better or worse.

After all he had almost killed Ginga's father, although the red haired boy wasn't to know that his father, Ryo, was alive and well, although he had to take some time to recover from his injuries.

Ryuuga closed his eyes tightly; the flames glow began to hurt his eyes.

He never noticed that Doiji looked up at him for a moment, as if aware he was becoming rather distressed, but the wolf returned to sleep before Ryuuga was aware.

I am the world's strongest blader… He tried to focus, to not let the tears fall; I am the…

He remembered the moment Doiji took him away from his mother, a woman who was expecting another baby, she had been heavily pregnant at the time and with no husband to support her she couldn't cope with two children under five.

Doiji had found Ryuuga to be special, although for years Ryuuga had no idea what he meant by that. It was only when he managed to get the darkness of his bey to leave, to be reborn with L Drago… He shook his head at the bey's name and remembered something else.

'You're mother was loyal to the man she loved,' Doiji had told him to begin with, trying to get the young Ryuuga to sleep.

In time, that story began to change, as Doiji wanted to black his heart, to turn him into a blader who could take Lightning L Drago's power without being controlled by the darkness.

'She slept with her pimp all the time, like a good little whore that she was,' Doiji would sneer at him and over the years the verbal abuse would continue on his mother.

Until one day, Ryuuga snapped; 'Or maybe she just refused to sleep with you,'

Doiji smirked in triumph, pleased that he had managed to turn Ryuuga into someone else, although Ryuuga himself hadn't been aware of it.

Can I atone for my past sins? He wondered again; thinking of how he had just walked away when Yu had battled against Reiji, remembering the sight of those blue eyes that looked pleadingly at him, wanting his bey to be intact.

He didn't do anything to help him, all he wanted was more power, just like Doiji had trained him.

He was aware that the wolf whimpered but he had no idea why, until he saw the wolf had backed away, tail between its legs and noticed the fire had changed from it reddish orange to purple and black.

No, I defeated the dark power! He shook his head and in an instant the illusion was gone, Doiji the wolf was sleeping by his feet still and the fire was still the normal colour. He let out a breath and lay down next to the wolf, deciding that his mind was playing tricks on him and he needs to sleep.

XX

He found himself going towards the mountains and heard her voice getting loud, he grinned as he knew he was getting closer to his goal. Doiji the wolf was his faithful companion throughout it all as well, and he found himself growing rather attached to the animal as he had with Kenta, although it was different; with Kenta he had begun to view the boy as his friend whereas with the wolf he felt it was more like…

Don't. He growled to himself and began to climb the cliff, with the wolf slowly following behind, trying to get to ledges that it would reach without the risk of falling to its death.

Ryuuga pushed himself onwards until he reached the mouth of the cave and here the voice changed.

'Ryuuga… Ryuuga… Come… Free me… Ryuuga…'

He slowly began to enter the cave; Doiji followed him not long after, carefully sniffing the ground. As they walked onwards they found themselves in a cave not unlike that of Ryuuga's dream; there was millions of large and small crystals above them and around them, all of them glowed from the light that streamed in from different parts of the cave.

It didn't seem to matter how deep they came into the cave, the light was still there to lead them onwards until they reached their destination.

Ryuuga felt his heart stop, his amber eyes were wide as he saw what he was looking for. There in front of him was a crystal coffin and inside was a body of a woman, who appeared to be only a year or so older than him; she looked so peaceful with her long golden hair cascading down, covering almost her entire body, which was covered in a bright red kimono although he found that she was no longer calling to him and he just stared at her.

What… What do… Ryuuga saw Doiji stand on its hind legs and looked at the woman, he then moved to sniff her before barking and wagging his tail happily, looking at Ryuuga as though what the wolf had discovered would be obvious even to a human.

He moved down, to see if the woman was breath and he felt her breath lightly on his cheek, he let out the breath that he had been holding, assured that she was indeed alive.

But… He then looked around himself and then back at the woman in her crystal coffin and remembered a story that he had been told a long, long time ago.

'… Snow White was not dead, the dwarfs assured the Prince, she just needs to be woken by….'

"True loves first kiss," Ryuuga finished off the memory and smiled sadly before he leaned down, tenderly kissing the woman's pale lips, closing his eyes as he did so, unaware that her own gold ones slowly fluttered open until he felt her arms wrap around his neck.

"Ryuuga," She said softly with a smile as he picked her up, carrying her out of the coffin and setting her onto her feet next to him; "You… You actually came,"

"Of course, you called for me," He said, brushing a stray hair off her face.

"Yes but…" Before she could say anything else he kissed her again and she wrapped her arms tightly around his neck; "I thought you would have tried to live a normal life,"

"Ha," He smiled; "Normal isn't for me," He looked down at the wolf, whose tail was wagging still and laughed; "I don't think I could have a normal life,"

She nuzzled into him as he began to stroke her hair; "I'm glad to hear it, I was certain that after everything that had happened…"

"I choose this path," Ryuuga told her and she stared at him, her golden eyes asking for him to explain; "I made my choice, not just when I was younger and allowed Doiji to…" At the sound of his name the wolf barked and she laughed; "To warp my mind, everything I did was of my own making, even when Rago defeated us…"

She touched his scared cheek; "We are alive though, he is not,"

"I know," He nodded, his hand touching her's; "L Drago…"

"Yes?"

"Do you want to go back to being how it used to be? Or do you want something else?"

She smiled at him, her other hand moving to tenderly touch his face as well; "So long as you are by my side, I don't care what you choose,"

"I want you to make a choice,"

"You are forgiven," She told him, kissing him as tenderly as he hand kissed her when she was in that crystal coffin; "Your sins are lifted, do not worry about them,"

Ryuuga said nothing else, just held her closely while Doiji barked around them happily.

This will be a new start, a new chapter… to both our lives.