Then what if, by some twist, the participants of this universe happen to encounter those characters of a time and place much more familiar to you, the readers? What then?
So as worlds collide and fall...
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Searching for Eden
Prologue
By RubyD
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Light flashed through the dark painted clouds which danced low over Nagasaki. Muraki Kazutaka, or simply Kazutaka to all that knew him, dashed into the church just as the thunder arrived and covered the heavy thud of doors shutting behind him. His young and never aging body gasped for air, a lonely sound lost in the eerie following silence. The sky had been threatening to rain all day, but so far not a drop of water had fallen.
So quiet.
Where was everyone? The church was dark and empty, not even a priest to be found. He quickly approached the altar and saw that a thin layer of undisturbed dust blanketing the seats. Unfortunately, it seemed no one had been there all day. Very strange for such a well-known place. It was lifeless.
Damn.
He stumbled and wilted to the ground, chest feeling as if it were weighted down by lead. His search had failed... Bowing his head, he fought back the urge to cry in despair. This place was the only clue he had in hopes of finding him.
Three months ago his partner, Tsuzuki Asato, had disappeared on a mission. They had been separated in the maze of an underground human slaughter house. One moment they were dodging booby-traps and the half-dead, and the next thing he knew he had lost Tsuzuki. Before he could find the older Shinigami, a hellish blaze had erupted and the building collapsed.
The morning after, he searched the ruins. (Only ashes.)
No bodies were found. (They could have burned away.)
Tsuzuki was simply gone. (Or he could be dead.)
Kazutaka felt his stomach rebel at the thought. He should have done something, should have suspected it was all a trap. But though his heart was burdened with guilt, his head said otherwise. No, the person to blame... the person he could blame everything on... the man who caused the disappearance, who Kazutaka was sure had played some part, he was -
"Right here."
The calm and smooth voice echoed throughout the church. Kazutaka jerked his head around to see at the entrance the source of all his recent pain. Jade colored eyes peered into his soul a moment before the Shinigami could frantically throw up a mental shield. A dim light filtered in through the high stain-glass windows, giving the air an eerie glow that was interrupted every so often by brilliant lightning.
"Looking for me, ne? Or your dear brother Saki, again?" the young man said mockingly at his icy glare. This was Kurosaki Hisoka, age twenty-one, a powerful empath bordering on mind-reading, and Saki's obedient lapdog. Kazutaka glowered. "Me then? How predictable."
"Kurosaki!" he snarled, leaping to his feet. "What have you done with Tsuzuki?"
The man said nothing, only walking leisurely towards him. The rustle of the tan coat and steady footsteps becoming faintly louder.
Kazutaka clenched his fists. "Tell me!"
Kurosaki stopped just a yard away. "I have no duty to answer you," he said impassively.
"What?!"
"Move, boy, you are in my way."
His eyes narrowed. "Don't call me that - I am older than you."
"That may be," he murmured, lips holding the trace of a smirk, "but inside you're still that little boy who died twenty years ago. The hatred in your heart that has branded itself on you since then... did you know it scares even Tsuzuki sometimes?"
Scares? As in present tense? "Then... is Tsuzuki alive?" he asked, despising himself for the desperate note in his voice. He needed to know - needed the knowledge so badly that he would gladly give up any ounce of dignity he had. "Please, tell me, do you know what happened to Tsuzuki?"
"I know." Hope suddenly flared in Kazutaka, but the green eyes remained hard as emeralds. "I just won't tell you."
He snapped, aiming a fist at the man. "Bastard!" he cried just as his hand was easily blocked and captured. Kurosaki effortlessly spun him around and twisted the arm painfully behind him. And the other arm. The man drew Kazutaka back, trapping the teen against him.
"Do you also want to know," he murmured into a pink-tinged ear, "how adorable you are when you struggle?" He languidly wrapped a free arm about the boy possessively. Kazutaka shuddered as the empath trailed a finger down his chest to pause and hover just below the navel.
"S-stop it." Fear spiked his soul as the man gently rubbed his exposed skin.
"You're never prepared - it was very stupid to come to me all alone. No one to save you this time, ne? Not even that bothersome Shadow Master." Panic rose at the increasing caresses. In the past Kurosaki had never truly done anything more than touch - always hinting, always threatening, yet always stopping short of crossing a line. But now...
He shivered. "Let go of me, you monster!" His voice cracked on the last word. He attempted to move, and failed, succeeding only in drawing another stab of pain from his slowly dislocating shoulder. Then, to the Shinigami's relief the hand moved away, but now traced his jaw line. Nails scratched lightly.
"Very stupid." That taunting tone again. A warm breath tickled his cheek as the fingers wandered over his neck. "What is a monster, ne? Someone not human? If that's the case, then is Tsuzuki-san any more of one than I? Than you?"
That hit a nerve. They both knew that Tsuzuki sometimes qustioned his humanity. And no matter what Kazutaka did, no matter how much he said otherwise, there was always that lingering doubt in those eyes. And it was those beautiful, unnatural violet eyes that damned him. "He's human!" he denied. "I am human. You are not."
"In different circumstances I may be less of a demon that you'd like to believe."
"Shut up!" he growled.
Kurosaki frowned at the order - impudent child. He took his exploring hand, placed it on the small of the boy's back, and drove his nails feircely into the soft flesh. Kazutaka gasped, his back on fire and muscles pulled and protested.
"Oya. First you want me to talk, next you want me quiet?" he tsked, smirking. "Fickle minds make fickle lovers."
"And what is that supposed to mean?" Kazutaka managed to pant.
Kurosaki finally released his hold and spun the teen face to face. He leaned close, so very close, and stared darkly into the narrowed gaze. "It means you should move on with your afterlife, and accept that Tsuzuki-san will never return to you."
Never. Return? He stiffened, heart skipping wildly. That could be read so many different ways. Was his partner dead? Alive but captured? He couldn't settle on a thought, knees becoming weak as the numerous possibilities he had been surpressing the last months whirled through his mind. Never return. Two words that meant too much, yet not enough. He was horrified. "What? W-what do you - "
The man forcefully shoved the boy away, who fell on the floor with a quiet thump. Kurosaki left him there, surprised, choosing to stroll past him and to the back of the church. Thunder rumbled, sounding closer.
"Where are you going?" Kazutaka demanded hotly, shakily rising. "Don't walk away! Where is Tsuzuki!"
He didn't answer, but instead touched the cool gray bricks that made up the back wall, near an exit. Strangely, he tapped them. He was looking for... what? Then, one golden hand grasped a particular brick - one that was square, not rectangle - and violently pulled it out, letting it clatter to the ground. There was a space behind the opening, but Kazutaka couldn't see what was in it.
"What the hell? Kurosaki..."
"Do you actually think I'm here because of you, boy? No, this is what I'm after..." He reached in and pulled something out. Something dull and heavy. "Hiding a cross in a Christian church. No one would ever think twice." Indeed, it was a cross - an intricate one, made of stone - but what was so important about it?
"It's important," Kurosaki said, reading the curiosity, "because Saki-san wants it. The key to everything."
"A key...?"
"To a countless number of dimensions - to heaven, to hell, and all else in between. One only needs to find the correct door. Silly isn't it? I don't know if it even works... do you feel well enough to experiment?" he chuckled with a nasty grin, the first full expression Kazutaka had seen him use that evening. It scared him. "I've studied on this. Very interesting."
"Wait, what are you - " He started forward in dread. Nothing Saki ever wanted was good.
"So many questions, child! For once in your life, be silent." Kurosaki moved towards the back exit. The door was plain, made from wood, and had a leaf-like design on it.
"Don't move - !" The Shinigami ran, reaching out to stop him.
Too late. The man had pressed the cross into the center of the doorway and suddenly the church exploded with a blinding light. It wasn't lightning from the storm - it came from the door itself. It had become a bright, dazzling, hungry portal. The portal seemed to yawn and waver as if it were awakening and getting a good morning's stretch. Kazutaka shielded his face, and tried to see if Kurosaki was still there.
He wasn't.
Then, a strong power grabbed him, like gravity, or a magnet to metal. Wind whipped around the room like a tornado, and he felt himself pitching forwards. No... no! He tried to scream, but his breath was sucked away along with his body. Against his will, Kazutaka was dragged into the light.
Once the radiance had faded out and the dust settled, there would be no sign that anyone had been there.
And outside, it began to rain.
***
To Be Continued
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Notes: (re: Key) I know, I know... Plot Device (tm). Big narfin' thanks to my beta-reader TK-chan and Becky for their input and support.