Author's Note:
Warnings:
Disclaimer: Yami no Matsuei belongs to Matsushita Yoko and RiD belongs to Hasbro/Takara. I have no claim to anything except the plot.
Chapter 4: Tenshi Yumemi
(trans: Dreaming of Angels)
Tsuzuki watched in wordless amazement as the world flew past Daytonus's windows, upside down. Or rather, they were upside down, driving on the underside of an overpass. He had no idea what specific magic Muraki was using, but between his powers and Hisoka's, he was confident that it wouldn't matter.
"Daytonus-san," Hisoka mumbled, looking slightly ill, "could you not drive upside down?"
"Ah, sorry about that, Kurosaki-san. I'm not used to having passengers," the Autobot chuckled, shifting around to the side of the overpass. That didn't seem to improve matters much for Hisoka, even though, from their perspective, gravity was still oriented to pull them towards the car's floor. When the overpass ended, Daytonus leaped off the wall and straight towards a building. Tsuzuki could feel himself starting to panic when a red gateway opened up before them and they were suddenly in the spacebridge again.
"Daytonus-san, where are we going?"
"Ah, well, the tracking I'm trying to do is very tricky. I'm using the spacebridge to cut down distance, but it's not an exact science I'm dealing with here, so I have to be careful. I won't really know where I'm going until I'm almost there."
"I think I'm beginning to see why your superiors didn't want you doing this."
"Optimus? Yeah, he worries worse than my own creators. At least they were smart enough to know there was no way they could stop me."
Tsuzuki raised an eyebrow at that; from what he had learned of the Autobot expedition, it was a military outposting. While it wasn't impossible to think an entire family might be in the military, it seemed strange that said family would be posted together. Then again, he barely understood human military thinking and these Autobots were aliens. Who knew what was normal for them?
Daytonus revved his engine as they burst out of the spacebridge to land on the roof of another building. Tsuzuki craned his neck to try to get a better idea of where they were, surprised to see the buildings of a Kyoto shrouded in a gentle rain all around them. Daytonus remained unmoving, as if studying the land, like a great metal dog sniffing out a faint trail, but just the sight of the familiar city was enough to rouse Tsuzuki's temper. They had already been in Kyoto once that morning. Had that man lied to them?
"He can't possibly be here," Hisoka said, denial clear in his voice. "If Muraki was in Kyoto, surely Mibu-san would have known!"
"Perhaps he did and chose not to tell us. He's been Muraki's best friend for decades. Why shouldn't he lie?"
"You don't know him, Tsuzuki," Hisoka muttered. "Not like I do. He wouldn't lie to me. Not about this."
"Relax, you two. Cross is still a couple hundred klicks or more from here. I just needed to pause to make sure I was still on the right bearing. That and to get yelled at properly by Mirage for running off without him."
"Did you really think you were going to get away with leaving us behind?" a new voice asked from somewhere outside Daytonus and to the left. Tsuzuki twisted around in his seat, trying to see who was there, more than a little surprised to see a racecar idling beside them.
"Aww come on, 'Raj, you know it's not like that. I just saw an opening to get out and split before Prime could say 'no' one more time."
"And nevermind the rest of us. Yeah, yeah, I know. The team's waiting for your signal but until we know what this bastard's doing to neutralize us. . . ."
"That's why the shinigami are with me. Between Tsuzuki-san and Kurosaki-san, they're pretty sure that they can handle anything this guy decides to dish out."
The one named Mirage made a sort of quiet disbelieving noise, then the red of the spacebridge gateway yawned open in front of them once more. Tsuzuki had no idea how far 200 klicks was, precisely, or how quickly the spacebridge would allow them to cover that distance, but he relaxed against his seat anyway. Perhaps they should have been forming a plan of attack, but . . . it was Muraki. The only truly effective plan was to expect the unexpected. And to try not to underestimate him too much.
"Will you summon Suzaku again?" Hisoka asked quietly. Ah well, so much for not planning ahead, he thought to himself with failing amusement.
"She didn't do much last time," he sighed.
"Then Byakko?"
"I . . . don't really know, Hisoka. I'll have to see the situation, but . . . maybe Touda."
"You can't be serious!"
"He won't hurt me, Hisoka. But I won't know until I see the place," Tsuzuki said quietly, watching the tunnel walls zip past, to be replaced in time with the street of a small town. Tsuzuki felt his breathing catch as Daytonus sailed through a town only starting to rise in the watery light of a misty dawn. Summoning Touda was an act of desperation, not reason; the shikigami would think nothing of burning the entire town to the ground. His black fires could be controlled, if the snake god could be made to care . . . and that was a rather big "if". If Muraki had an installation here, then perhaps he could allow it. But if Muraki was only usurping some space . . . perhaps Byakko wouldn't be such a bad choice. Or perhaps SohRyu. Or both.
"Whatever you two are planning, you might want to wrap it up pretty fast."
"Then you found him?" Tsuzuki asked, sitting up and looking around curiously. A warehouse loomed up ahead, unmarked, but the size alone made it a likely place for whatever Muraki was plotting this time. Unless, of course, it was one of the other buildings.
"Yup. The warehouse, which figures, really. You two ready?"
"As ready as we can be," Hisoka confessed uneasily. Even as his partner spoke, Daytonus coasted to a stop, parking with undeserved ease outside the warehouse before opening his doors. Tsuzuki paused only momentarily before climbing out and assessing the building. It looked too easy - an abandoned warehouse just beyond the business district, once used in the steel industry like several of the other empty buildings in this part of town. Cracked, missing, and boarded up windows spoke of long neglect, but gave little clue what Muraki was planning.
"Hisoka," he started, but as he looked over, his partner had already anticipated him, eyes closed as he stretched his senses outward towards the building. After a moment he opened his eyes, shaking his head. Nothing useful. Not unexpected, given their adversary, but they'd had to try.
"You two stay out here," Tsuzuki directed calmly. "If he's here, you'd be useless anyway. If he isn't, we'll let you know. Easy."
Ofuda ready and a summoning prayer on the tip of his tongue, Tsuzuki carefully lead them into the warehouse, only marginally surprised to see Hisoka gripping the hilt of his sword. He hadn't realized his partner had brought the weapon with him, though in hindsight he wasn't surprised. Tsuzuki had no idea where Hisoka had received the gift, but he had watched as, over several days, his young partner had carefully infused it with protective and enhancing magic, inordinately proud of his partner's achievement in mastering the complex spells and charms involved. The enchantments long since complete, the katana's blade could slice through steel trusses without losing its razor-sharp edge and Hisoka weilded it like a master.
The first room of the warehouse was empty save a thick layer of dust and hundreds of abandoned cobwebs. They passed through it quickly, though the entire room gave Tsuzuki pause. Aside from their own passing, there was no sign anyone had been inside that room in years. Could they be wrong? They passed through the second room, similarly abandoned, and then the third, and with each room Tsuzuki became even more certain that Daytonus had made a mistake. If Muraki had been using this warehouse, there should have been signs of it.
"Hisoka. . . ."
"Wait . . . there's something in that room. . . ."
"Something or someone?"
"Both," Hisoka muttered. "Only the Autobots feel like this. I don't sense Muraki, but. . . ."
"But it doesn't mean he isn't there," Tsuzuki finished for him. Nodding his understanding, the elder shinigami silently opened the door. He tried to summon some reaction beyond bland acceptance of the sight of Muraki leaning against the prostrate form of Crosswise, but nothing came. They had known the madman was responsible for the alien scientist's disappearance, after all.
"Ah, Tsuzuki-san. So you have found me. I'm impressed. It couldn't have been easy."
"Let him go, Muraki."
"Tell me, Tsuzuki-san, what trinket did they offer for your assistance? Promises of soothing your guilt? Glimpses of wonders not yet conceived by mortal men? Tell me, Tsuzuki-san, what price for your conscience?"
"Cut the crap, Muraki. It's me you want; let the Autobot go."
"You are never more beautiful then when you're furious, Tsuzuki-san. But really, you are much too kind-hearted for your own good, my dearest. And too trusting."
"Che, you're so full of shit, Muraki. Either tell us what you want with the Autobot or leave," Hisoka declared calmly, drawing his sword to hold it defensively before him, a thin line of steel by which he showed his confidence, the tip pointed to the floor. Tsuzuki smiled in spite of himself; Hisoka had tamed the outrage that had so marked their previous encounters with Muraki. The madman's good eye widened momentarily before hardening with resolve.
"I don't recall inviting you to join this coversation . . . bouya."
"Do you think you can frighten me with your words? I am not your toy anymore . . . ."
"Ah, but you're wrong, Kurosaki-kun. You will always be my own beautiful doll. . . ."
A red halo suddenly glowed around Hisoka as his curse marks flared to life. His partner screamed and collapsed to the floor, the sword clattering uselessly against the concrete. But before Tsuzuki could even finish the invocation that would have drawn Byakko into the world of the living, Muraki was gone, the echo of his laughter all that remained.
"Hisoka! Hisoka, are you all right?"
"Don't . . . don't touch. . . ."
Tsuzuki ignored his trembling partner's protests, pushing down his own annoyance in an effort to project calm onto Hisoka. The clamor of metal footsteps did nothing to help, but he forced himself to ignore them even as he watched the two Autobots burst into the room, weapons drawn. They had the room scanned in less than a minute, weapons vanishing in twin flares of light.
"When we heard screaming," Mirage started to explain, but he was cut off as Daytonus pushed past the other robot to kneel beside Croswise. "Is he okay?"
"He's in stasis; T-AI should be able to bring him around easily enough. How's your partner, Tsuzuki-san?"
"Hisoka?"
"Baka . . . I'll be fine. But . . . he shouldn't've left."
"I know . . . it was too easy."
"Easy? Easy?! You call this easy?" Daytonus said loudly as he rose to his feet. "You think tracking Cross was easy?? You shinigami don't know anything!"
Tsuzuki watched, helpless, as the Autobot stormed out of the room, Crosswise still laying on the floor. The robot's anger made no more sense to him than Muraki's sudden withdrawal. And it did nothing to improve his own mood when he saw the impact it was having on his partner. A situation that, he realized with a start, he was only worsening by his own sour thoughts.
"You'll have to excuse Daytonus," Mirage said a moment later, crouching down to run questing fingers along the side of the still-prone Autobot, searching for something. "This has been particularly hard on him and now you say the enemy fled too easily."
"Muraki doesn't leave unless he's accomplished something. And all he proved was. . . ."
Hisoka trailed off to blink up at Tsuzuki with wide eyes. The physical link between them only reinforced what Tsuzuki had already suspected.
"Tatsumi-san. . . ."
"Watari first," Tsuzuki murmured. For a split second, he hesitated. Then Hisoka flinched and tried to push down another wave of burning pain from the still-visible curse marks.
"Mirage-san, we'll meet you back at the base!"
Not waiting for the Autobot's response, Tsuzuki shifted his grip on his partner minutely before making the mental adjustment that would carry them back to the lab. And Watari.
Daytonus stood outside the final room, silently watching Mirage examine Crosswise as he apologized for Daytonus's own behavior. The Spychanger sniper was right - he had acted unreasonably. But the thought that this situation could repeat itself left him feeling seriously unsettled.
Something suddenly occurred to the two shinigami. Something they feared they should have considered sooner. And whatever it was, instinctually, Daytonus knew it was bad. Still he hung back, waiting for the two to vanish before stepping back into the room.
"Well?" Mirage asked without looking up.
"Sorry."
"I'm not the one who needs to hear it. Come on, give me a hand here. Magnus is waiting in the alley."
"He even fits back there?"
"Barely, but it was better than trying to fit him in here."
"And the shinigami? What was that about?"
"Who knows. Don't worry about it, just help me with him."
Daytonus nodded and tried not to think about that look he'd seen. But it was impossible. Maybe he was too much like REV, a natural worrier, but he couldn't help it. When an angel of death looked worried, only a great fool remained calm.
Watari glanced between Tsuzuki and Tatsumi, then nodded. They were right, of course. Enough time had been wasted already. And for all his efforts, all he had to offer was an assurance that the world would not end if Tatsumi completed the mission.
"Anou . . . Watari . . . take Hisoka back to Meifu for me?"
"Nan da? Don't talk like that! I don't need any help! This is our case!"
"And there's nothing more you can do to help. And with your curse marks still burning . . . at least let him give you some asprin, ne?"
Hisoka sulked, but didn't argue, a sure sign that his curse was hurting him again.
"Worry not, Kurosaki-kun," Tatsumi said with a faint smile. "I'll look after your partner."
The youth actually smiled at the outraged protest from Tsuzuki, who very definitely did not, in his opinion, need anyone to look after him. It was not something often seen, that smile, and it eased some of Watari's worries.
"T-AI-chan, thank you for all your help. You've made all the proper arrangements?"
"Most welcome, Watari-san," the holographic girl replied with a genuinely sad smile. "I would say that you are welcome here any time, but. . . ."
"Of course. Perhaps in another five years, ne? Well Bon? Ready to go home?"
"More than ready, Watari-san," the boy sighed, almost but not quite succeeding in hiding another flinch. Before the young shinigami could protest, he clasped his hand and took them back to Meifu. He would miss T-AI-chan and the Autobots, but perhaps they would meet again some day.
Crosswise woke up to the smiling face of Daytonus hanging over him and the sounds of Medical humming all around him. A quick diagnostic confirmed what he already knew - all systems were operating normally. Which was a relief all it's own.
"Hey . . . welcome back. . . ."
"You found me," he whispered, surprised at the weakness in his own voice. If everything was operating normally, then there was no reason for it. And yet. . . .
"Of coruse I did," Daytonus smiled back. "You didn't think I'd just leave you in the hands of a depraved lunatic, now did you?"
Crosswise couldn't think of a suitable reply, so he merely smiled, knowing Daytonus would see it even with the concealing faceplate in place. Doubting Daytonus had never been an option; his partner was incapable of letting him down. Spychanger or not, Daytonus, as much as either of the young 'bot's creators, would do anything for him.
"What happened?" he asked a moment later.
"Well, as best the shinigami can figure it, you really were the target all along. Or at least your knowledge of our technology. Thing of it is, with you in stasis mode, this Muraki guy wouldn't've been able to get anything out of you. Watari-san and T-AI agree that he poked around your insides a bit, but face it. We're lightyears ahead of anything the humans have. Since you couldn't give him the knowledge he sought, you became worthless to him, so he left."
"You of all people should know better than to try to tell me it was that simple."
"Hey, that's not simple!" Daytonus protested. "Besides, you'd know if I was lying."
"And Koji?"
"Ah, yes . . . Koji. . . ."
Daytonus's visor meant it was difficult to tell when he was avoiding direct visual contact, but Crosswise had learned to see the signs. Beyond that, he could feel his partner's unease.
So, they win. The boy dies anyway.
"It's not . . . well, you know how it is. . . ."
"I know," Crosswise sighed. To all things there comes an ending.
When Koji woke up to see the strange purple-eyed man from earlier that morning, he nearly screamed. But whatever he was, and he had little reason to disbelieve Ultra Magnus's claim that he was shinigami, his face was too gentle to be feared. The man standing next to him, however, was another matter entirely. Taller than even his father with imperious blue eyes that reflected no emotion at all. It was like looking at two faces of a mirror: the rumpled, kindly angel versus the prim, ice-cold demon.
"Tsuzuki-san . . . I would not have imagined the Angel of Death looking like you. . . ."
The smile that had illuminated the man's face at his name vanished immediately at the mention of death. Strange, but then no more so than anything else Koji had seen of the angel who would be ending his life. He didn't want to die, of course, but at least he could take some comfort in knowing the angel was sorrowful as well.
"I . . . I'm not ready to die. I haven't even said goodbye to anyone. . . ."
"It's . . . better this way," Tsuzuki whispered, amethyst eyes refusing to look at him directly.
"Better for who?" he demanded, unshed tears catching in his throat. "This isn't fair!"
"This life is often unfair," the shadowed one replied coolly. "What binds you so to this life?"
"I . . . I'm too young to die."
"Children younger than you die every day. So I ask again, what binds you so to this life?"
There was something in the way his blue eyes flared in the shadows surrounding him that made Koji flinch. He didn't understand what the man was asking, didn't know what he wanted to hear. The intensity of the ice-demon's glare burrowing into his very soul left him speechless.
"Tatsumi . . . you're scaring him," the angel whispered, stepping between them to interrupt Koji's near-trance. As the shadows seemed to slither into a dark pool at the demon's feet, Koji blinked up at the strange angel, struck once more by the regret he saw echoed in inhuman eyes. An Angel of Death who regretted his job? Well, perhaps that was better than one who did not care.
"Tatsumi asks because your spirit is unwilling to move on. It's our job to find out why."
"I . . . I don't understand."
"You should have died. Instead, you managed an impossible recovery. What holds you here?"
"I just . . . I couldn't let them down. When I'm gone, who'll be there for them?"
"Satsified now, Tsuzuki-san?" his shadowy companion asked.
"Only one thing more. A last request, Koji?"
"If you will not let me say goodbye . . . then can I at least see your wings? I've never seen an angel before, but . . . you do have wings, right?"
"Koji, I . . . I'm not an angel. I'm just a poor shinigami . . . and not a very good one at that."
The shadows quivered like living things, the dark pool at the demon's feet rippling with a life of it's own. Fear gripped his heart then. Fear of death, fear of the unknown, fear of being alone. He never would have imagined his life ending in Crosswise's lab, all alone in the night.
"You don't have to be afraid, Koji. Meifu is a beautiful place. And . . . well. . . ."
"Tsuzuki-san," the demon said warningly.
"He could do the job, Tatsumi. It'd only need the chief's approval and you could get that. . . ."
"Job? You mean . . . become a shinigami?"
"No, only EnmaDaiOh can choose new shinigami," Tatsumi said frigidly. "But . . . perhaps Tsuzuki is right. You have the interest and the tie to Chijou."
"I don't understand," Koji sighed, watching the two . . . were they both shinigami? The one called Tatsumi didn't seem human, but then neither did his comrade.
"Shokoucho's field office is hiring. It's not much - they need a new, well, intern, basically - and you'll still be dead, but. . . ."
"But?"
"Shokoucho is this district, Kyuushuu. Interning isn't much fun, but if you kept at it, you could move up to researcher or maybe even field agent. And with this being my district. . . ."
"Tsuzuki!"
"What? It'd just be lunch! You know Hisoka wouldn't allow anything else. Besides, I know this wonderful little place in Nagasaki that makes the best desserts. . . ."
Koji blinked up at the two shinigami again, disbelieving what he was hearing. The dead had jobs? From the sounds of it, he would still be able to interact with the living world, even if it was in a limited capacity. If he could do that, then maybe he would still be able to help the Autobots.
"But you still have to kill me, even if I take this job, right?"
"Yes," Tsuzuki said with a nod, sadness ringing him like an aura.
"But if I take it, I might still be able to help my friends?"
"Juuohcho has little interest, official or otherwise, in these aliens," Tatsumi replied. "As part of the Shokoucho office, you would be similarly bound. However, there are always . . . exceptions, Onishi-kun."
"Then . . . I am ready."
A sad smile momentarily touched Tsuzuki's face and then disappeared. Folding his hands and closing his eyes, the shinigami began chanting softly. Pale lavender light pushed aside the shadows as it formed a hazy halo around Tsuzuki's entire body. Mystified, Koji watched in rapt attention as the glow deepend in hue, then slowly extended out from the man's back. His eyes grew wide as the halo added the outline of folded wings. Then his breath caught as black feathered wings suddenly filled that outline, stretching out from Tsuzuki's back to full extension as the glow faded before folding back again.
"But . . . but you said. . . !"
"Aa, I said I wasn't an angel," Tsuzuki replied with a wink. "I never said I didn't have wings."
"Tsuzuki Asato. . . !"
"I know, I know, but he wanted to see them. Last wish of a dying boy."
For a brief moment, Koji felt like his eyes were about to pop out of his head as Tsuzuki walked over to him. Up close, he could see the wings had two kinds of feathers - edge feathers that shimmered in the low light and darker feathers that absorbed the light completely. Entranced, his hand reached out of its own accord and he was surprised at the softness, like the finest silk.
"I . . . arigatogozaimasu, Tsuzuki-sama," he whispered, unable to hold back a flood of gratitude and despair. Closing his eyes, he surrendered his fight against the tears that flowed freely down his cheeks. The sight of those black wings had been more beautiful than anything he had ever seen in his life.
He felt a soft warmth wrapping around him a heartbeat before arms pulled him into a silent hug. Opening his eyes, he was surprised to find himself surrounded by Tsuzuki's wings.
"Close your eyes and go to sleep, Onishi-kun," the shinigami whispered. "Dream of angels. It will all be different when you wake."
-- The End --