Part of the Darkness Unleashed Series
AUTHOR: Macx and Lara Bee
DISCLAIMER: not mine. Definitely not! I just play with them and hope I tread on no one's toes.
Author's Voice of Warning (aka Author's Note):
English is not my first language; it's 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: none
TYPE: yaoi
RATING: M
PAIRING: Touda/Byakko, Tsuzuki/Hisoka, Tatsumi/Watari
FEEDBACK: empty inbox seeks emails g>
Authors' note: Tenkuu is female in our AU. Don't ask Lara why, but she said whenever she reads Tenkuu's parts in the manga, she hears a female voice. No male would talk that way to Touda g>
The palace of the Protector of the West lay silent in the early evening sun. The bustle of servants was mainly concentrated in the official areas where high-level shikigami, other Divine Commanders, might visit, and even there it had died down. It was evening, the office hours had passed, and there was no imminent crisis.
The inner sanctum had always been a place of peace, not to be disturbed except for the most dire of reasons, and Byakko's major domus enforced that unspoken rule. He knew his master needed his quiet time, to reflect, to regenerate his powers, and to simply enjoy time with his partner.
Byakko let his red eyes wander over the topography in front of him. Hard planes, smooth valleys, sun-kissed ripples of pecs and abs. Dark hair, still growing out, tickling broad shoulders, a sharp-angled face that could be completely indifferent or incredibly gentle in its facial expressions. Golden eyes, currently hidden behind closed lids, that he couldn't get enough of.
Touda, his lover, the fire serpent shikigami. Feared, hated and respected. He was a fierce warrior with an attitude and a temper. He was powerful, in either serpent or human form. He was a Divine Commander, had been a field general once, and the pardon had reinstated him.
Byakko knew that Touda couldn't care less whether or not he had servants, a palace or followers. He wasn't a war general any more. His reestablished position only spoke of his status, not his political power. Sohryu employed his knowledge, but Touda refused to be anyone's lackey.
Well, the white tiger mused with a smile as his eyes kept running over the nicely exposed body, Touda was and always had been special.
Their relationship was as intense as it was unusual. Byakko had been warned of the traitor, the temperamental serpent, and he had listened. But he had made up his own mind about Touda. He had fought for him, he had defended him, he had stood up for his choice, and he had been proven right.
Touda was no cold-blooded killer. The truth had finally been revealed, the truth about the fateful day that the black serpent had lost his reason and killed so many people.
The white tiger crawled over to his lover and placed a kiss onto the broad, defined chest. There was a pleased rumble and golden eyes opened a slit, Touda's lips turning into a smile. Byakko grinned and kissed him again again on the chest, this time close to a peaking nipple. His tongue flickered over the tiny pebble and Touda's eyes clouded a little.
"You're back early," the fire serpent said softly.
"It was such a nice day, I thought I could cut business short," was the reply.
Byakko ran teasing finger tips over the definitely interested nipple and Touda twitched.
"And since I've got to leave for patrol again soon, I thought we could spend some quality time together."
"You thought, hm?"
"Yep." He flicked at the nipple and Touda caught his hands, pulling him abruptly forward.
Lips crushed on Touda's and he moaned in appreciation.
"Good idea," Touda breathed before he flipped them around in one smooth move.
Oh yeah, was Byakko's lust-filled reply in his mind.
° ° °
It started out as a normal day in Meifu, in the science lab of Watari Yutaka-- until the moment he switched on his computer and started his morning routine of going through his email and newsgroups. As of late, there had been little glitches in the system, which he had fixed or had believed to be fixed. One morning he had been unable to get a connection to the Meifu server, then one of his programs had refused to open, and then his files from one folder had gone missing or had turned up in fragments.
Watari had fixed it all. He knew computers and he was the resident nerd-- among other things. He had run anti-virus programs, turning up a few tiny bugs, and he had updated a few of his shields and firewalls. So, technically, everything should be fine.
He was proven wrong.
It happened from one moment to another.
The screen started to quiver, then twisted and turned like a vortex. Data streams scrolled past, windows opened and closed abruptly, and Watari gave a yell of surprise.
"Ah, hell!"
He typed quickly, but the situation just turned worse. Watari snarled a curse and finally did the only thing he could to stop the sudden attack: he pulled the plug.
"Damnit! I thought I had a firewall for something like that!"
This was worse than before, but still not too bad. At least the damage had been shown to him and he had had time to react. Still, it meant he would have to go through his hard drive, remove the bug, and then check into the main system to see if something had been transferred past the powerful anti-virus shields, the firewall, the blocks, the filters and the authorization window.
Shoving back a stubborn strand of hair, Watari unplugged several cables and pulled his computer out from under the table. He glared at the tower and began to unscrew the casing, then removed the hard drive. Golden eyes narrowed at the innocent piece of hardware.
"Let's hook you up somewhere safe and dig in," he murmured.
The risk of hooking his own terminal up to the network was too great. He would use an isolated station to comb through the data and find where the thing had come from. It was the first really bad bug he had caught in a while. The moment he had the invader he could find out what it was, where it had come from, and how to remove it.
So much for a quiet day.
Watari grinned. Well, sometimes he could get a kick out of a normal day as well. And this was right up his alley.
° ° °
Touda had slowly settled into his role as Sohryu's Commander again. True, he had held the position as a Divine Commander by title, even after his prison time, but aside from a title there had been no duties. No one had trusted the traitor.
Now he was back and he had responsibilities. Lots of them. Touda had started with catching up on the events of the last five hundred years, especially when it came to politics. He didn't like them, but he had to know. It was vital, especially since he was completely loyal to Sohryu and aside from knowing some basics, he had paid little attention to his friend's decisions.
It took time.
And effort.
And sometimes it bored him to death.
Byakko helped as much as he could, but he had his own duties and lately that had meant patrolling his quarter of GensouKai. He had been locked up in GensouKai center for too long. The tiger needed the space, the freedom, and the shikigami living in the West had to see their Protector was still there.
Touda coughed slightly, downing a cool drink thirstily. He had no idea what could be wrong, only that he felt as if he could topple over and sleep for three days in a row. He had started to feel strange a few days ago. There had been dizziness, a scratchy throat, now and then a little headache, but he had blamed spending hours in dusty archives for it. He was reading more than in the last years!
But it had not let up, not even when he had spent a day just to himself, enjoying the silence of nature, the peace of being by himself. The headaches had increased, the scratchy throat worsened.
Damn.
"Touda? You okay?" Byakko asked, worry clear in his voice. "You don't look so hot."
"Thank you very much," Touda answered dryly, "that's exactly what I long to hear from my lover."
Especially since his lover had just returned from a week at the outmost borders of his quarter.
Byakko didn't get the chance to reply when someone knocked at the door. Both men turned as one of the servants entered, bowing respectfully.
"Excuse me for interrupting, Lord Byakko, but Commander Touda's presence is required at the residence," his major domus announced quietly.
Touda suppressed the urge to cough again, watching Byakko roll his eyes.
"What does he want this time?" the tiger muttered, and Touda couldn't help smile.
"That's my job, Byakko," he said, placing a chaste kiss on his lover's lips. "He has the right to call on me any time he needs me."
"I know, I know. It's just... I mean, you aren't feeling well..."
Touda smiled at his lover. "I'm fine. It's just a little cold."
Byakko looked unhappy, but he didn't try to stop him again. Touda left just a little while later, on his way to the main palace to help Sohryu with whatever he needed.
° ° °
After the pardon, before he had been reinstated, Touda had been the one shikigami everyone turned to when it came to computer matters. The visor was part of a neural network that ran through GensouKai, the energy lines that were vital to all living things, and he could interface with them with ease. His mind quickly worked through numbers and letters and mathematical calculations, sifting files and data blocks, finding what was needed faster than any of the servants using the terminals everywhere. It was a knack, a talent, and he had used it often before.
Today was no different. He no longer wore the original visor, the control device, but had to use the interface mechanism supplied by the servants. It looked no different from what had covered his eyes for so long, but it felt different. It didn't encroach on his powers, it didn't make him deaf and blind.
Touda suppressed a sneeze and pushed up the tinted visor, feeling more tired than ever. Never had interfacing with the neural network been that straining. He rubbed his burning eyes and walked over to the small terminal that allowed outside access. He picked up some of the prints, going over what he had selected and what Sohryu needed.
He blinked at the tiny little numbers and letters, trying his best to prevent those darn things from slipping all over the paper, but they seemed to have a mind of their own. His vision stayed blurry and his ears seemed to be stuffed with cotton.
What was wrong with him? Sure, shikigami could get colds. Byakko himself had been sick before, but it usually wasn't that intense, that... strongly affecting everything he did. Touda had never been sick before in his life.
A hand landed on his shoulder and when he looked up he saw a pair of concerned blue-gray eyes. Sohryu seemed to say something to him, but he couldn't hear a single word through the rush of blood in his ears-- and then even that faded away as his world turned black.
tbc...
