Disclaimer: Yami no Matsuei is not mine. I will have to settle for getting the manga volumes and anime episodes (as other fans have done) and augment it with fanfiction writing and reading.
Summary: An early case for Tsuzuki, before becoming Tatsumi's partner.
Warnings: This is not in the anime or manga. It's just my
imagination. There are OCs, I needed to have OCs to make this story.
-------
"Just stay out of my way and everything will be fine
Tsuzuki-san."
"Hai. Chikara-san" Tsuzuki shyly replied as he taking in
the sights of Oki Islands.
Chikara looked over his new partner, the rookie.
This wasn't his regular area of assignment but
there was limited man power, maybe that's why they made this guy a shinigami. He
sighed in irritation. He was
unimpressed. If it wasn't for the rumor that Enma had hand picked Tsuzuki as a
shinigami, he couldn't think of anyone less suited to become one. He was so
unsure of himself and... slow.
"Hurry up!" The senior agent
ordered, his irritation rising.
The rookie quickened his
steps to catch up, then fell flat on his face. Chikara mentally added clumsy to
his list.
"Sorry." Tsuzuki said with an embarrassed smile, as he got up
on his feet.
"Never mind. Let's go." Chikara took another deep
breathe. He knew he wasn't being fair. Tsuzuki was just a rookie after all,
but the senior agent missed his old partner. Their partnership was
something he had for decades until their last assignment together. If
only... it had ended differently.
"Chikara-san?" Called a soft and unsure voice. It was almost like a mouse.
"Don't worry about it." His voice softened a little, but he felt a keen pain in his heart.
-----
They went to a small stall
and ordered some food.
"This is one of the fringe benefits of our job,
eat as much as you want." It was somewhere between an order and an offer,
the senior agent decided it might help his new partner to keep up on his feet.
"Really?"
The smile went from ear to ear.
"We will charge it to the
office."
They ate their fill. The senior shinigami
watched Tsuzuki eat as if he had been starved for ages. He even had
room for
dessert. Chikara briefly wondered when did he have his last meal
anyway?
"You are as bad as Kanoe." Remarked Chikara in a
slightly teasing tone.
"Who?"
Tsuzuki asked with crumbs all over his face.
A rookie. Chikara
reminded himself. He
didn't even know Kanoe. Kanoe was the sweet tooth champion at the office,
but seeing Tsuzuki in action, he could give Kanoe a run for his
money.
He remembered there was business to attend to so he
asked directions to find the man they were looking for; the inugamimochi Yokubari
Shinshi.
The cook gave it to them, for being such good customers. Tsuzuki was still praising the dishes as Chikara dragged him away. "It was really good!"
-----
Tsuzuki saw a dog lying in the yard looking so sick even if it
was sleeping. There were other dogs who looked just as weak under a large
tree. "You would think he would take better care of his
pets." He mumbled.
Chikara sweatdropped. "Don't you know
anything?"
"Eh?"
A rookie. He had to remind himself. "Those are
not pets Tsuzuki. Those are his servants."
"Servants?"
"Their
spirits are sent on errands but their bodies stay. If it takes them too long to
complete a job their bodies grow weaker and die. If that happens their spirits
are absorbed by their master."
"What?! That's so cruel!"
"As a
shinigami you will see more cruelty Tsuzuki-"
Chikara had seen much in
his career as a shinigami himself but he was unprepared to find his partner,
tenderly caressing the dying animal. His partner was crying over the dog. This
was not going to be easy. Why? Why in Enma's name did they make him into a
shinigami? He though for a moment off killing the animal
there and then, as an act of mercy, send the suffering animal on it's way.
He took a deep breathe, just whose suffering was he really hoping to end?
He decided against it... that would just empower the inugamimochi.
"We should
just get this over with."
Chikara
went inside the house. Tsuzuki followed behind him. He had a mounting sense of dread as they
entered the house.
"Yokubari Shinshi we
are shinigami here to serve your summons."
"Shinigami?"
Tsuzuki
could not see the man entirely as he stood behind his partner, but he saw the
eyes full of malice.
"Come with us now. It is your time." The
senior agent pressed.
Tsuzuki didn't mind if his partner was going to do all the talking but it
seemed that Shinshi had other plans.
"I don't
want to die."
Shinshi released a spell that Chikara countered with an
ofuda. The blast blinded Tsuzuki and he stumbled back.
Chikara heard the frightened gasp behind him and he uttered a silent curse. He forgot to arm Tsuzuki with a shielding spell at least. He had to end this quick.
The inugamimochi summoned his dogs to fight for him.
Chikara cast a kekkai over him and Tsuzuki. The dogs were relentless in
their attack. They were dying but summoned by their master they seemed to
have new strength. Soon they broke through the kekkai. They then
turned to tearing the two shinigamis apart. Most of the dogs
were going after Chikara, since Shinshi considered him the greater threat.
"No stop!" Tsuzuki
yelled, as he lifted his arms to shield himself.
Memories of the last mission that went so horribly wrong plagued Chikara.
The last scream of his partner. He couldn't let that happen again!
"Stop! Stop!!"
Came Tsuzuki's desperate cries. A sudden burst of power came from him
driving the dogs back in surprise.
Chikara cast out a
spell and then all the dogs disappeared, leaving behind only a ghostly image of what had
been their spirits. They were dead.
Shinshi's eyes narrowed dangerously
. "You think you have beaten me?"
The ghostly spirits came to
Shinshi, adding their power to his.
Chikara was just about to cast another spell but with one single blast Shinshi sent the senior shinigami to the far end of the room, where he laid motionless on the floor, like a broken doll.
It was up to him now, Tsuzuki told himself, but what could
he do? He was just a rookie.
Shinshi was deciding which to go for first.
The agent down on the floor wasn't moving and the one left standing was
hesitating in fighting him. He walked towards them as he continued to
absorb his former servants.
The last spirit hovered in
the air but instead of going to Shinshi as the others had done, this one went
into Tsuzuki. He gasped in surprised as he felt a rush of power go through
him. It scared him.
Shinshi grabbed him by his hair and turned his face
to met his.
"Hmm... violet eyes. You are not from around here. You even
attract one of my own to serve you, without calling."
Tsuzuki tried to
pull away but Shinshi held him fast by the throat.
"Such a pity, you
don't know how to use the power within you." Shinshi grasp grew tighter.
He could feel the underlying current of power within the young shinigami.
He had only consumed the spirits of his dogs so far, but what would it taste
like to consume this one? He found it oddly amusing how human the
shinigami reacted to being strangled.
"Release him at once."
Demanded Chikara.
Shinshi just looked up in surprise. He released Tsuzuki
to deal with Chikara. He did not know of the shinigami's healing
abilities. Tsuzuki dropped to the floor.
Chikara summoned his
Shikigami. A plant type Shikigami letting out long thorny vines, which latched
on to Shinshi, cutting deep into his skin. It tore the man
apart..
His vision was blurred but Tsuzuki saw the vines. He blinked a
couple of times and then he saw the blood. There was
so much blood. He froze at the sight. Shinshi was in pieces. Tsuzuki tried to speak but words failed
him.
"Tsuzuki?"
Tsuzuki looked up to find Chikara, but then the
world fell into darkness.
-----
Chikara was cradling his head, when he opened
his eyes again.
"Chikara-?"
"Can you get up?"
Tsuzuki got
up with Chikara's assistance.
"The assignment is finished. We can go home
now."
"Is... it... always.... like this?" The rookie mumbled
weakly.
"No. But these things
happen."
Tsuzuki was still in shock over what happened. The next thing he
realized they were out of that dark room. They were in the yard again, but now
even single dog there was dead. "Something happened. I can't explain... one
of the spirits-"
"I saw what happened." Cut in Chikara.
Pleading violet eyes
turned to him asking for an explanation.
I didn't know his eyes were
purple. Chikara silently noted, now recalling how Tsuzuki kept from making
direct eye contact with him since they met.
"The dog recognized you as his master so
he went to you."
"Me?"
"Are you an idiot? Do I have to repeat
myself?"
Tsuzuki decided his best bet was to just shut up.
"You
must have potential with spells. I should teach you some."
"Was the plant
an ofuda?"
"No that was my shikigami. You can get your own from
Gensokai."
Chikara wondered why the dog spirit chose Tsuzuki over his
master. What other surprises would happen with this rookie? Maybe he wasn't such
bad a choice for a shinigami.
"I'm so hungry!"
But then
again.
"We'll eat dinner."
"Don't forget dessert!"
Why did
the rookie suddenly resemble a
puppy?
OWARI
------------
Author's notes:
There is
such a place as Oki Islands. This fic was inspired by the reference to the dog
in "Myths and Legends of Japan" by F. Hadland Davis
Special thanks to those who reviewed the first version. I do listen to reviews (I just don't always act on them right away). Hopefully this was easier to read.
Sequel? After I finish "Asylum Arc".
03-29-04