AUTHOR: Macx and Lara Bee
DISCLAIMER: not mine. Definitely not! I just play with them and hope I tread on no one's toes.
Authors Voice of Warning (aka Authors Note):
English is not my first language; its German. This is the best I can
do. Any mistakes you find in here, collect them and you might win a prize
g> The spell-checker said everything's okay, but you know how
trustworthy those thingies are.....
ARCHIVE: yes
WARNINGS: This is our take on Sohryu's and Touda's past. It's not canon. We repeat: NOT canon!
TYPE: yaoi
RATING: R
PAIRING: Touda/Byakko mentioned, Sohryu/Touda in flashback
FEEDBACK: empty inbox seeks emails g>
The day had been long and strenuous. Touda couldn't remember when he had gotten up this morning, only that Byakko had still been asleep, completely unaware of his lover leaving their shared bedroom to prepare for his new responsibilities.
He had been reinstated as Sohryu's commander, which meant a load of work and especially a load of catching up to do. Touda had ignored the inner workings of GensouKai in the decades of his freedom. He had been at the edge of the group of twelve shikigami that were responsible for this realm. He had still been a Divine Commander by power and standing, but he had had no duties. Now and then he had been called upon to work the main computer because his visor allowed him a perfect interface, but those occasions had been far and few.
Now that had changed.
Two months ago Sohryu had pardoned him completely, had Rikugo remove the control mechanism, and Touda had been free. From one second to the next his life had been given back to him. Before that, his life had been his service of Tsuzuki, taking care of his master, only belonging to him.
He still belonged only to Tsuzuki in a sense of a word. Touda felt a deep, unwavering loyalty to his shinigami friend and master. Nothing could ever destroy that and no one else would ever take priority over Tsuzuki Asato not even Byakko. The tiger knew that because he had the same priorities. He served, too.
Sohryu had quickly integrated the serpent shikigami in the daily operations of GensouKai center. Touda had caught up on matters, was still the one who accessed the mainframe and did the work requiring extensive electronic research and creation, but he was also a commander, which meant Sohryu wanted him in charge of something. So far, the dragon had been slow in letting Touda get his feet wet again, but he was going somewhere.
Touda sighed.
He wasn't really looking for a command. He had been doing fine as he was, with no responsibilities, but he understood that Sohryu wanted him in a position that was secure and with back-up. Not all of GensouKai had taken the news as neutral or accepting as most had. There were those who still looked at the black shikigami with distrust and sometimes hatred.
Touda shook his head, clearing his mind forcefully of those thoughts. Nothing as what he had done would ever be forgotten and his own guilt would always be there. He had killed innocents because he had lost it over the sight of his lover's dead body, his mutilated body, and too many innocent people had died that day, including Sohryu's wife, Byakko's father, and many more.
Today Touda had gotten up so early because he intended to spend some time going through the old records. Sohryu had asked him too, actually. There had been too much lost in the time of the wars and after that. The fire serpent had started by going through the basement of Sohryu's place, the gigantic palace that was the center of everything.
He walked through the semi-dark corridors, a wistful smile on his lips at he let his eyes wander over the boxes of memories, over books and toys and albums full of the past. He had more or less taken a wrong turn, ending up in a section that wasn't part of GensouKai's official history. It was a private place, one for family. Sohryu had stowed everything down here, all the childhood.
And Touda lost himself. Not in the maze of corridors, of shelves with dusty relics of ancient times, of even more dusty papers, but in his memories of a time that had been a long time ago.
His childhood.
He ran careful fingers over a book he knew only too well. The last time he had looked at it had been together with Aya. Sohryu's late wife, back then his soon-to-be fiancée, had been asking him about their past and Sohryu had had nothing better to do than show her these pictures. Touda had grumbled, had felt embarrassed, but she had just laughed and called him silly.
Touda had loved Aya. Not as a lover, but as a friend. A good friend. His best friend's partner. She had been good for the dragon and while the two men had shared a lot in the past, Touda had voluntarily and happily stepped back. Their teenage years experiments, their first stumbling steps toward sex, was nothing compared to this love.
Aya was dead; as was Keijin.
Touda inhaled deeply and pulled out the book, chasing those ghosts away.
He opened it and smiled as he looked at the picture. Oh yes, even now he remembered those days, how he had come to GensouKai center.
He had been so scared.
He had been so terrified
The room was large. Very large. There was a hardwood floor with very elaborate carpets covering it. Throw pillows were piling in one corner. A huge table with two chairs stood in front of the double door window that allowed an unrivalled view of the inner yard with its landscaped garden and the pond. The walls were decorated with hand painted pictures and a huge wardrobe dominated one side, just opposite an equally huge bed that easily held two grown-ups.
To the little boy who had just received the shock of his life everything was overwhelming, fearsome, and alien. He had crawled into the safest place he could find, which was the wardrobe. The wooden piece of furniture was empty, the wood creaking a little, but the darkness was more consoling than anything. The bed had looked enticing, but he felt so exposed, so horribly alone.
Legs drawn up to his chest, small arms wrapped around the knees, he fought down his tears.
His father had left him alone.
He was in a strange place, so full of powerful shikigami, and his father was gone. He had left him alone. He didn't know why and there was no one to ask. The servants had simply left him here.
Tears spilled over and he angrily wiped them away. He was a big boy, had been all his life, and he wouldn't cry. His father would come back and get him. He firmly believed it.
Time passed. He was all alone in his wardrobe, mind blank, wiping his nose and his eyes, the small body refusing to stop the trembling.
There was a noise. A door opened, then closed, and light steps announced a visitor. For a moment there was nothing, then the door to the wardrobe opened. He looked into large, gray-blue eyes, framed by dark blue hair in a face that spoke of a child not much older than him. A smile broke out on the child's face.
"Hey. There you are."
It was a boy. He was dressed in an elaborate gown that spoke of his standing.
He huddled deeper into the corner of the wardrobe.
"Cool place," the boy remarked. "I mean I have my hiding places, but I never tried the wardrobe. It's too full anyway. Can I come in?"
He didn't answer, just tried to be as small and inconspicuous as possible, but the other boy just took it as an invitation.
"I'm Sohryu," he said, beaming. "I listened in when your dad spoke to my dad. I wasn't supposed to be there, but I sometimes peek. Dad doesn't know and neither do the servants. Just don't tell, okay?"
He nodded a little.
"Great. So you're staying, hm?"
He didn't know. His father would come and get him, he was sure of it.
"What's your name?"
He bit his lower lip and lowered his eyes. His senses, as undeveloped as they were, told him that this was a shikigami of power. About his age, but he would soon be very powerful, and he was the son of the Protector of the East.
"Don't you have a name?" Sohryu prodded.
"Touda," he mumbled.
"Touda? Cool! Are you named after your father? I am. It's so boring. And they tell me I'm the next Protector of the East. I don't want to have the same name as my dad, but it's just like that. So, is your father called Touda?"
He shook his head.
And Sohryu chattered on. He told him about the palace, about his father, about some of the servants, about school. Touda received an insight into what it was like in this place, but the fear only multiplied.
He didn't want to be here. He wanted to be with his father again. Hearing that Sohryu had a mother only made him yearn more for familiar surroundings. His own mother had died when he had been born; he had never known her.
"Listen, I'll be back tomorrow, okay?" Sohryu told him as he left.
He just looked at the other boy, unable to understand why he was
here, with him, when he was so obviously a much higher shikigami. His father
had told him about GensouKai center, about the Gods, and he knew they were
to be respected. They were powerful. Why would the son of the most powerful
want to be with him?