A/N: Okay folks. This is possibly the WEIRDEST thing I've ever written. It's going to be like…weird. It just is. And as far as I'm concerned it is unique. I have YET to see a sudden rise in any villain fics as of yet. Mad at the fanfic world. I bring… Teasing Shadow…
(Just kidding…)
It's just everyone writes about the Sanzo Ikkou and Kougaiji but Kami and Ukoku and Nii, Koumyou, even Hwan are like…ignored (being supporting cast i guess i should expect it...). So I thought id brighten my day with one :D If you understand it. I applaud you! Because personally i didnt think i did a very good job with...how this was presented...But thats just me. Drac yelled at me saying it was fine. So, read on!
Disclaimer: Don't own anything lalala I don't own Saiyuki and all that entails.
Pairing: Ukoku/Nii (Yes. You READ that correctly.)
Rating: T (I'm still trying to get used to the new ratings…)
Saiyuki
Teasing Shadow
"Nii-hakase…?"
Hwan stood partway up from her chair when the man in question dropped the disc he had been holding, fingers suspended in mid air. He was shaking profusely, but from what, Hwan had no idea. "Hakase…?" The female questioned again, careful not to drop the vial she held in her fingers when she walked to the professor's side, leaning past his shoulder. What unusual behavior. "Are you all right?" Clipboard clutched in one hand, and vial in the other, she had no way of touching him save for a very faint brush from her sleeve.
Without warning Nii stood up, knocking the woman back and sending the vial flying to shatter on the tiles. "Don't touch me!"
He didn't shout, but to Hwan's astonished ears he might as well have. Nii never raised his voice. Nii never looked anything but calm and happy. But this… Hwan moved back with a shocked look etched across her face. Her glasses slipped down, but she took no notice.
The ruckus the two were causing caught the attention of the normally quiet figure typing at the computer. He hummed, taking a swerving glance to the two, but otherwise, didn't raise any question, deciding it was better to not get involved. But still—Nii losing it. That was new, and not something he wanted to see in his lifetime. "Has he lost his marbles early?"
"Nii-hakase..."
"Shut up."
Hwan clambered to her feet, placing a hand on Nii's shoulder as he swayed unexpectedly, grasping the end of the table and looking positively frightened. His eyes were widening, quite out of character with his normal lazy know-it-all look. "Perhaps you need to rest…" she soothed. Of course she hated Nii to the bottom of her guts, but he was an important person in their work. And this kind of …questionable action was enough to make anyone concerned. "You've worked yourself too hard…take a break…"
Hwan shook her head when there was no response. And when she tugged the man back, he responded in such an alarming sense that she found herself afraid of him.
"I said…DON'T TOUCH ME!" Nii shook, pen slipping from his hands. The palms raised shakily up to the side of his head, clutching at raven-black locks with a look of madness in his eyes. His chest heaved up and down, eyes slowly squeezing shut, and he shuddered before wordlessly shoving Hwan out of the way and immediately made for the exit.
The rabbit, for once, left behind.
Hwan stared as the door slammed shut and rubbed her shoulder. The doctor hadn't just shoved her; he had dug his fingers---and nails into her labcoat, which had pierced right past layers of fabric and into her skin. Muttering a few choice words under her breath, she wandered over to the sitting bunny and picked it up. What was so great about it?
She stared.
Beady black eyes stared back.
It winked.
"I think I've been working too much…" she admitted disdainfully.
Turning away to go back to her own work, she paused, looking out of the corner of her eye to see something glinting on the previously occupied desk. "Hmm?" Tucking the toy bunny under her arm, she took a closer look at what had caught her eye. Reaching out she carefully plucked the empty glass from the clutter, blinking in surprise.
Then followed the trail of purple splotches along the desk, and the smudged fingerprints.
Dark…
Mocking…
Nii ran his palm along the walls of the interior of the castle. The walls themselves seemed to churn, twisting and turning around and around in his wavering vision, until the scientist couldn't determine if he was standing on the floor, the walls, or the ceiling. His knees buckled underneath him, and, breathing hard, he took it as a sign to stop.
Cold…
Sinister…
His free hand fisted in his hair, nails digging into the scalp to force back the wave of dizziness and headache, using the sharp pain as a distraction. After resting for a few minutes, he was acutely aware that his vision was going blurrier, his head beginning to pound. Stumbling to his feet and moving once again, he groaned, making it to his room after several slips, slides and near-collapses. Unlocking the door, he slipped inside, kicking it shut and stumbling to his bed.
Lonely…
Familiar…
Squinting, he plucked his glasses off, allowing his eyes to adjust and regain (blurry) vision, then tossed them to the side, not caring where they landed in his resident mountain of stuffed animals. Tripping on his last step, he fell ungracefully onto the bed with a moan of discomfort. 'Why…do I feel so heavy? Everything…hazy…Bunny-san…?' He groped blindly for the familiar touch, the comforting fuzzy outline of the special toy. But nothing of the sort was found, only the rumpled bedsheet underneath him.
What do you feel, Nii Jien'i?
Evil…
Nii turned over, curling up. The headache was worsening. Everything in his vision was just a hazy mess of colors. Perhaps the experimental chemical he was working on had…spilt? No, he'd been extra-careful with it. There was no way it could have…
Or…could it?
Come and play…play with me…the Raven of Omega.
Playful…'Dimmer…everything…vanishing…why…?'
Head dropping to the side, and body going limp, Nii's form stilled, the only sign of life being the rise and fall of his chest in shallow breaths.
Omega awaits.
Where…?
Nii wasn't sure if it had been a minute, an hour, or a day, but his eyes were suddenly open and he was aware once again. Groaning, he brought a hand to his face, confused by the familiar weight and touch of glasses. Hadn't he…? The headache had ceased. The world didn't spin. But then, how could it when it was a void of inky black?
"What the…?" Nii was not a man that liked to be the toy; he had always seen himself as a god, using people and manipulating their movements to fit his own agenda. And this was definitely not anything he had predicted in any part of his life. This time there was no bunny to bring confidence, or to talk to. He slowly sat upright, disturbed by his hand touching the black void. No solid surface underneath it, yet supporting him, unlike water...
"I see you're finally up. Took you long enough."
Nii snapped to attention.
"What? Not used to voices talking to you? Like that rabbit of yours..."
The voice rebounded off the darkness, echoing those chill and mocking words. He gripped the ends of his lab coat anxiously, looked back and forth, and risked a few turns around, but there was nothing. Nothing that could explain the sudden voice.
'A mind game…'
A sudden smile came to his lips. He relaxed, leaning back and welcoming the change. It was a bit disturbing but, then, what wasn't, in his life?
"I'm used to everything talking to me. Doesn't surprise me anymore. Not even a void with an echoing voice. I think the rabbit took the cake." Hwan had smacked him on several occasions, just because he did something inappropriate with his favorite bunny plush. Really, when he had tried to talk to a plant (in the case of Bunny-san going missing, hmm.) his resident female bio-engineer had grabbed it and turfed it off the top floor of the castle.
It hadn't quite survived the landing.
The voice erupted into a disembodied chuckle. "Rabbit takes the cake, hmm? How quaint. Just what I would expect from you. Surely that isn't all?" Nii tilted his head in thought. Taking another look around, suddenly mildly interested.
"It would help to know what you are aiming for. Asking spontaneous questions and receiving random answers isn't very interesting." He responded in a bland tone, mind reeling in the information that took longer than usual to pick at. He knew this type of game. He'd played with Kami-sama, with Kougaiji, with everyone. It was his game.
And what better way to play it then to play against yourself?
"I see you figured it out. I guess this means it won't be very interesting from this point, now, would it? What a shame…I was going to let you off easy, too." The voice drifted off on the last word, and along with it, the entire black void. Rippling like water until colors began to piece themselves together, one by one. Nii climbed to his feet, craning his neck to one side.
The sky appeared first, inky nothingness melting to the unseen floor and replaced with lighter shades of gray and bright pinprick splotches of yellow. Nii guessed, after a moment of thought, that they were stars, and when the moon surfaced gibbous and bright, he knew he had been right. The ground was next, the rippling below completely washed out of existence before shaping itself into pale tile flooring, regularly patterned.
A very familiar pattern.
Then the walls were built, the doors sliding out of them, then the outside balcony; all perfectly reconstructed, just like…
"Chou-An…"
But that was impossible, wasn't it?
The scientist's face took on a more serious look when the building had been completed, and another shape winked into existence. Smiling warmly, holding a smoking pipe in his fingertips. Eyes curved up happily. Oblivious to the world…
"Koumyou…Sanzo…?"
"Na, Ukoku-san. Won't you join me? The stars...they're beautiful aren't they?" The lips moved, the voice spoke, but held no life within it. And yet, Nii was foolish enough to believe it and moved toward the figure. Koumyou was dead. He had assassinated him with the help of monsters. He had seen to that. He had…
"Something wrong, Ukoku?" There was a brief pause, in which Koumyou lowered the pipe. "You seem bothered tonight."
Nii, for a moment, wanted to believe what his eyes were showing him. He wanted to think this was a reality, but it wasn't, no matter how good an imitation it was. But… but… He swallowed a response, instead raising his hand to one of the many walls, guiding callused fingers along the smooth stone. Every detail. He remembered it like it was yesterday…
"Ukoku…is something the matter? You've been awfully quiet today. But then again, I suppose you always have been, haven't you?" Koumyou patted the spot next to him on the balcony, and only then did Nii realize that the door was wide open. Cold air suddenly licked at his clothing, blowing it back. "Come and sit, Ukoku."
Ukoku…Ukoku…Ukoku…
Nii closed his eyes. 'My name, thirteen years ago. A failed Sanzo…iie, not even…proclaimed a Sanzo, but never accepted.' He re-opened his eyes. Deciding not to ask just yet, he padded over to the monk, sitting carefully down as he reached the edge.
"Is something the matter? You look a little pale," The brown haired Sanzo asked, concern leaking into his tone. "If you need anything…"
Refusing to open his mouth and speak to the ghost—no, image beside him, Nii continued to sit in silence, dropping his face into one of his palms. None of this added up. This was not real...then why did everything feel real? Nii lifted his head in surprise when arms wound around him, bringing him closer to the elder monk. "You look cold, Ukoku. It would be terrible if you caught an illness out here..."
'That look…Koumyou…'
"Cat got your tongue tonight, old friend?"
"…" Dark eyes glanced down at the silken sleeves draped around him. He could feel the warmth; feel the body next to his, smell the usually foul scent of pipe-smoke and burning incense. He shook his head wordlessly. "Koumyou…" He started, looking slightly to the side; checking for a response. And he received one. A smile and tilt of a head, always a sure sign that Koumyou was listening.
Koumyou had always listened to him…
He was the only one he had ever been able to trust...
And he…
Koumyou took a long pull on his pipe, breathing out the smoke in a long misty sigh before draping one arm over his knee. The other arm that had moved Nii closer removed itself and lay flat against the wooden surface beneath them. "What is it? You're always welcome to speak your mind, Ukoku." The gaze, the tone, the body language, all balanced, offering only a gentle support.
And it was quite possibly the only thing that Nii still longed for. To be understood, to be accepted as he was. Shakily Nii reached out, watching Koumyou's face change when he grasped Koumyou's shoulder tightly, expecting it to be an illusion, to disappear and melt away into ashes. To fall and turn into a pile of bones and skeletons. But it remained. A reality or a dream? He couldn't decide.
"Koumyou."
"Aaa…? You're acting more strange than usual, my friend. Has the incense finally gotten to you as well?"
"Koumyou, you…you…you…"
All the bio engineer received was a blank, confused look. "Have I done something wrong?" Koumyou inquired gently, glancing down at the pipe.
"No…no…" The thirty-five year old shook his head. "No. You haven't done anything wrong, you've…" His gaze fell back down, defeated...noticing, perhaps for the first time, what he was wearing. 'A lab coat…?' His brow furrowed slightly, before he glanced back accusingly at the figure beside him. His next words were venomous, no longer carrying the trance, the forced belief of the illusion's existence. "Koumyou is dead. You're dead. Your death was not by my hands, but an assassination ordered by me."
In an instant Nii truly felt a deep disturbance. He shivered unconsciously, hairs standing up on the back of his neck. He stared at Koumyou, watching the other male turn to him, features twisting into something that definitely was not Koumyou. "You're not even Koumyou…you're that voice from before, aren't you?" Before he could rise to his feet and take a proper defensive position, Koumyou—the voice--had suddenly moved forward with incredible agility, knocking him over and pinning him to the chilly floor.
And for a second Nii couldn't breathe, eyes transfixed on the face that was no longer Koumyou, no longer even resembled the gentle man he had cared so much for. Instead there were twin ebony orbs staring back at him. Eyes, filled with a crazed madness. Dark locks draped over them, no longer covering the face like the previous blonde's had, instead haphazard on all sides and falling down the back in a controlled fall of black.
"Have you looked at yourself lately, Nii Jien'i?"
Nii stared, unblinking, mouth open to respond, but unable to utter anything coherent. Nothing could have prepared him for this. Was such a thing even possible? How could… "U-Ukoku….?" The figure upon him, dressed in Sanzo robes, Muten Kyoumon draped over his shoulders, leaned forward, lips just barely brushing against Nii's.
"Are you scared of saying our old name? You stuttered…" The form chuckled, tightening his grip on Nii's arms. "In fact…I was sure you would fall for that illusion. You were eating it up, right out of my hand. Are you really that naïve?" Ukoku mocked. A grin manifest on his face at the clueless look on Nii's. Deciding it was better to explain, Ukoku loosened his hold, yanking the scientist up like a weightless rag doll.
"Have you even wondered where you are? Think about it. Where else could this happen? A shape so real...I'm surprised you never even considered it to be an old memory. It was, after all, word for word. From that monk's own mouth. For shame, Nii." Ukoku shook his head sadly, looking almost disappointed.
"But you…" Nii hung ontowhatever was left of his mental sense. "You're me! You can't be me. Two cannot exist." He reached for logic, grasped at straws.
The other Nii, the past Nii, laughed. "Of course not. But you messed up on the potion and now your mind has split, so to speak. I've always existed, just in your memories. But thanks to that new experimented chemical...we are now two different people." Ukoku dug his fingers into Nii's arm, expression turning curious.
"But I wonder…how good is your mental capability? You're good at manipulating…but how good are you when being the one manipulated?" The figure shimmered, body changing in all aspects. Revealing a familiar blonde haired male in Ukoku's place. Nii's eyes widened, the pain in his arm dulling in the face of this new development.
'Kami-sama…'
"Sensei…" The voice carried throughout the room, a small hand slipping around Nii's form and a pale gold head burying itself in his chest. The raven-haired man sat, shell-shocked, as the room changed to that of the manor he had left the blonde in. To play a game. And to keep playing, and playing until he lost. And he had…the return jogged his memories.
"Sensei… I missed you! What game shall we play next?"
Nii stared at the eyes of the child whose mind had never grown to match his body. How was…could the mind hold such an incredible power to bend everything? Reality meant nothing; imagination ruled all in this place.
'What am I saying? Reality is everything…this is not reality. No matter how much I yearn for it…'
A hand touched his cheek, laying a warm palm against it and stopping Nii's train of thought abruptly. "Sensei, will you play with me?" Guilt drove Nii on. Kami's death hadn't been something he'd accepted easily, no matter how casually he'd taken it. It had taken him days to get over it, just like Koumyou. Not necessarily his fault, but all the same…
He was torn. To believe, or not to believe? Ukoku had….Ukoku…
Ukoku?
Who?
Nii found it quite alarming when his body began to move of it own accord, and he reached out, taking one of Kami's hands in his. It was one way he had calmed the child long ago, soothing him to stop the tears. And this wouldn't be so bad, except it wasn't he who had acted. It wasn't his body moving. It wasn't...
…it was almost like…
A puppet…"Of course, Kami." The beads draped over the blonde's body began to shift and twirl, twining around and around him, snakelike in fashion. "I'll play whatever game you wish…"
The blonde's smile widened to unnatural proportions, growing colder and more knowing than the usual happy daft look that accompanied those words. The beads lifted over his head with a hushed rattle.
And through it all Nii stood, unable to move. Unable to blink. Unable to perform any action whatsoever, save for breathing.
"We'll play my game, Sensei. It's called atonement…"
Manipulation…The beads lifted up, all at once, disconnecting from each other like a spray of blood-drops. The red glowing orbs formed a circle around Nii, then spun together, making a ring, a deadly blurring ring. And without warning Kami raised his weapon, the priest's toy turned deadly tool, pointing it forward. In response, one bead shot forward at speed that only a god could have dodged, slicing into Nii's arm.
I've…Another one whizzed past, marking its path above his ankle. Blood spurted from the injury. As two went forward, another two came. Nii stood like a helpless doll, able to feel everything. And it ached, it ached like nothing he had felt before. It was the first taste of physical pain he'd had in years. He gasped as a bead shot into his chest, embedding itself in muscle and bone. "K…K…Ka..m…."
The blonde tossed his hair playfully, throwing the object he held in his hand up and down, watching the blood bath with silent satisfaction. He smiled, Ukoku smiled, as the hail of beads ripped and tore through Nii's body. Shattering bones, lodging in the most painful places. And through it all, the screams of agony, ringing like music in his ears.
Been…Ukoku stepped forward, dropping the illusion of his own dead student, kicking the bloodied toys aside. His right hand raised and waved in a circular pattern. The beads moved forward, mimicking the gesture, wrapping around and around before tightening and allowing the scientist to fall in a motionless, bound heap
Manipulated…Able to reclaim his body and senses, Nii struggled to breathe and see past the hazy crimson cloud. He could taste blood rising in his throat, dripping down his chin, flowing from every wound on his body into the spreading puddle on the floor. His vision blurred when he tried to focus, and he uttered a hiss when a foot dug painfully into his side. "Defeated already? That was quick." Ukoku knelt, placing a hand under Nii's chin to raise his face painfully up. Nii tried, he really did try to form words. But like everything else, his voice had been shot to hell.
"And I have you right where I want you, too." Hands traveled down from chin to the shoulder and to the side, observing the twitches and flinches the other made upon contact. He grinned in a way only the truly sadistic could, before undoing the tie and slipping the lab coat off, beads shimmering into nothingness. "And I will have such fun with you…" The man purred, leaning his head down to capture Nii's lips. And if one looked closely enough…
A single tear slid down Nii's face.
Did you have fun with me, the Raven of Omega?Black eyes glittered.
What do you fear?
"NII-HAKASE!"
Nii groaned and shifted, feeling the pain diminish, until it was as though it had never existed. The horrible knots and complications from earlier disappeared, leaving only the throbbing from his wounds. And someone, he winced to notice, was hitting him with a rather heavy object. He craned his neck, hearing an ugly-sounding crack.
"NII—Nii?" Hwan blinked when the doctor finally moved. Relief flooded through her. "You're awake. It only took you an hour! Don't you sleep?"
Nii cringed at the voice, raising a shaky hand to his head. Migraine. He had the biggest migraine ever. And he never got them. Not like this. He usually gave others migraines. "Hai, ha...ha...i." He clutched at his throat, managing a few words and a jumbled mass of wheezing sounds. Hwan's face took on a look of concern. This was totally unlike Nii.
"I'll be right back with some water. What if Gyokumen-sama found you lazing around all day! Being disorganized!" With an angry huff, she stormed to the door and out of the room, allowing Nii to be alone with his thoughts.
Nii swallowed, lifting himself up gingerly from the bed. He felt his face. No glasses. His hands traveled down, touching the many spots he felt the beads connect. Nothing. No imprints, no marks, no…nothing. He touched his neck, running it over the small bump, the one sign that what he had just gone through had been real--well as real as one could get.
'My mind…I was in my mind…the chemical split it in two with the wrong ingredients added. And...Koumyou…Kami...' He felt a sudden pang of pain and a wave of despair start to well up. Face turning sorrowful, he reached up, clutching his shoulder. For once, he knew that even if Bunny-san had been with him, it wouldn't have helped. He'd been outsmarted by himself. He had been used as a puppet by himself.
The echoes of those last words continued in his mind. The one thing he could remember clearly, even past the throbbing in his skull.
What do you fear? What do you fear? What do you fear? What do you fear?And Nii Jien'i had an answer.
'I fear myself…'
A/N: After working on this for 8 hours from about 8-2:37 in the morning. I was REALLY running out of ideas. And if you see spelling mistakes it is a spoon and the fork flew over the moon -yawn- R&R please! I'd love feedback on my first Saiyuki fanfic! (Yes I have seen all of Saiyuki…) And thank you Drac for beta'ing. My appreciation goes out to you!
Drac: My job as beta is done...I have prevailed... -waves, bows, passes out cold on her nice soft fuzzy carpet-