Author's Note: Yes, I know, it's been forever since I've updated this fic. Between unexpected developments (like the birth of an as-yet unfinished sidebar), an all-consuming addiction to GetBackers, and just plain stress, this chapter took a fair bit to finish. And then I sat on it, thinking I could finish the sidebar quickly and release them both together. Hah! Yeah right! How foolish of me.
ANYway...this is your one-chapter warning, kittens. Unless Touda mocks me again, there will be one more chapter after this one, and then it'll be on to the next fic. For your notes, this is day J-7. And yes, I know, I've changed the paragraphing format since the last chapter. No, I won't change older chapters; I already have too much work to do as it is.
Warnings: post-Kyoto, personal interpretations of Touda's past and the nature of GenSouKai.
Disclaimer: Yami no Matsuei is the property of Matsushita Yoko - I'm just borrowing a few things. The plot is all mine though. And a couple other things, but not much.
V. Black Sun
Returning to GenSouKai had not been entirely enjoyable for either Tsuzuki or Touda. Suzaku had been beyond insensed at being excluded yet again and nothing Tsuzuki said had done a thing to calm her. In the end, he'd chosen to give up the fight, snatching Touda and fleeing Tenkuu completely. Byakko kept a small cabin high in the mountains beyond Tenkuu, an escapist retreat. A place away from the firebird's anger and the others' resentment.
"Do you think they'll find Hisoka today?" Tsuzuki asked quietly, watching as Touda rekindled the fire in the wood-burning stove that served as the cabin's main source of heat.
"Perhaps . . . if they're lucky."
Sighing silently, Tsuzuki sunk himself deeper into the couch's cushions, drawing his blanket up to his chin. To be completely honest, it was too early in the year to be so high up in the mountains, but listening to all the bickering had been making Tsuzuki's heart ache, to say nothing of his head. Byakko's cabin was a perfect choice for a haven; as much as the tiger god didn't approve of his master's liason, he also wouldn't intrude on their privacy. Or tell anyone else where his private sanctuary was hidden.
The cabin wasn't particularly large; a bedroom, combined kitchen and living space, and a bathroom. The insulation was old and not very thick, though at least it was staying warm enough not to freeze the pipes overnight. And while Tsuzuki would have to be twenty kinds of fool to complain about having to sleep close to Touda for warmth, it had not been the best night's sleep, either. He wasn't entirely sure how Touda could stand to walk around in only his sleeveless tunic, setting the fire and then fetching in fresh wood to dry for later.
"Breakfast next?" Touda asked casually. "We brought enough food to feed an army. . . ."
"You know, don't you?"
"Know? Know what?"
"You know what's going on with Hisoka, don't you, Touda?"
"I don't know anything," the shikigami murmured. In anyone else, the slight emphasis might have gone unnoticed, but from Touda . . . it only raised Tsuzuki's suspicions even more. And supported what he had already suspected; Touda was purposefully not telling him what he knew.
"I could order you to tell me what you're hiding," he said quietly, hoping the tone alone would be enough to coax out the answers.
"You could," Touda agreed quietly, "but you won't. Breakfast?"
"Dammit, Touda! He's my partner!"
"I know," the snake god murmured, turning away from him to inspect their dry stores.
"Muraki could be --!"
"Muraki is doing nothing. You heard the report from Kijin. Are you now doubting the boy's power?"
"But. . . !"
"Asato," Touda murmured, startling the shinigami by suddenly being behind him, surprisingly gentle hands resting on his shoulders, "trust in me as I have trusted in you. I will always obey your orders . . . but I would prefer your trust in this matter."
"Touda, I . . . I can't help it. I can't help worrying about him. Hisoka hasn't been on his own like this or for this long since he became a shinigami. It's not normal, it's not natural, it's not right! Something's happened to him, something he obviously can't handle on his own. And I . . . I don't understand why you won't help. . . ."
"And that is why you fail," Touda murmured, moving back to the kitchen.
"Huh? I don't get it. . . ."
"Exactly."
Tsuzuki watched as Touda poured them both bowls of cold cereal and milk. Not his idea of the perfect breakfast, but as long as there was some sugar, he would survive.
Well, if Touda was going to be cagey and difficult, he'd have to try to puzzle this out on his own. As Tsuzuki sampled his breakfast - frosted shredded wheat; not great but not bad - he went over the pieces in his head. Whatever had happened to Hisoka, it was more complex than just Muraki's usual games. Kijin himself said Muraki no longer held Hisoka, which meant his partner was out of contact for some other reason. Watari had gone to the Kokakurou as soon as he had reported Hisoka missing, but the owner had known nothing. Hearing that Hisoka was in Kyoto was worrisome. Had Watari been lied to before? Or was something else going on? And what would Touda know of any of it? Better yet, how would the snake god know? What source of divination did he use that was clear where Kijin and Rikugou had been blocked?
Well, no, that wasn't fair. He hadn't actually said his source was clear, in fact, he'd rather implied the opposite. That his source told him nothing concrete, only speculations. But that didn't explain the shikigami's last words. Something he didn't understand about Touda was keeping him from finding Hisoka? That didn't make sense.
"You're thinking too hard, Asato. Have faith in your shikigami; Rikugou and Kouchin will bring back your wayward partner. When the time comes."
"Stop making it sound like it could be days before they find him."
"If this was an easy case, you would have found him yourself, days ago. There's nothing you can do to make them find him faster, so try to relax. That's why we're here, isn't it?"
"Aa, I suppose it is. . . ."
Except as the day passed, no matter the attemps at diversion, Touda's words kept gnawing at him. As much as Hisoka always argued that he could take care of himself, that he didn't need Tsuzuki to watch over him, the elder shinigami knew better. Oh sure, Hisoka was far from helpless and the more he trained with Kanoe-kacho, the stronger he became. As long as they were dealing with ordinary casework, Hisoka could handle pretty much anything. Muraki still threw him a little, but Tsuzuki rather believed that wouldn't be the case for too much longer. But there were still plenty of things his partner couldn't expect to handle on his own. Things like higher order demons. If Hisoka had to face a high lord of the Makai, without Tsuzuki there to help him. . . .
"Oh Enma have mercy, that's it, isn't it?"
"What is?"
"The Makai."
"Asato, I have no idea what you're talking about," Touda sighed, but Tsuzuki saw a flicker of surprise in visored eyes. Further proof that the shikigami knew more than he was telling.
"You know, I know you do, Touda. Maybe you doubt it, but you heard something. The other day, when you got so distracted around Suzaku. You heard something you thought was important enough to ignore Suzaku. It was the Makai, wasn't it? They had to be talking about something important if it was enough to distract you from her. Dammit, Touda, why didn't you tell me?! Tell me what they said!"
"Asato . . . you have no idea what you're asking. . . ."
Touda pushed himself out of his chair, crossing the living space in a straight line for the door. But Tsuzuki wasn't about to let the snake god walk out on him.
"No. You aren't walking out on me, Touda. Tell me."
"Asato," Touda sighed, not turning away from the door, "don't do this. Please. Trust me."
"How can I just let this go when you're lying to me?" the shinigami demanded, hurt warring with anger in his eyes. Not that Touda could see him, with his stubborn insistence on facing away. Heavy metal claws sank into the dark walnut wood of the doorframe, Touda's posture growing progressively more rigid as he waged a battle within himself. The decorative molding of the jamb was already cracking, threatening to break off completely if the claws sank any deeper into the wood beneath.
"I am not lying," Touda muttered, left hand still digging into the door jamb. "I have not once lied to you, Master, not from the moment I swore myself to you. I could no more do so than I could disobey your orders. But I suppose my saying that means little, as you do not trust me, though I would ask what I have done in these six months that would make you doubt me. Or was it that you never trusted me, even then? Was it not trust then, that caused you to summon me as your executioner, but rather arrogant presumption?"
Tsuzuki didn't know how to respond to Touda's accusations. He had called for the hellsnake, knowing that only Touda would obey his final command. Only Touda's hellfires had the power to kill him and bound to him as the snake god was. . . . He had been selfish then, thinking only of a way to end his pain and not caring for how anyone else would react.
"How can you say that? After everything that's happened between us, how can you say that? After what I've done for you, for us, defending you to all of them, bringing you here. . . ."
The hurt words tumbled out of his mouth, surprising even Tsuzuki. Perhaps he'd had the words after all.
There was a loud snap as the jamb's molding registered it's final protest of Touda's abuse, cracking from lintel to floor and breaking off the frame. For a fraction of a second, Touda appeared genuinely startled, his claws retracting from the underlying timber. Then the mask of cold indifference slid back into place, only his head turning to gaze at Tsuzuki over the pauldron with slitted eyes.
"Perhaps you should consider paying closer attention to your own words when you speak, Master. If you have no further need of me, I am going for a walk."
"Touda. . . ."
But it was a weak protest at best and he didn't offer any further resistance as Touda walked out into the growing darkness. Nice going, he scolded himself with a sigh. He hadn't intended to insult the shikigami, he'd just wanted to know what the Makai could possibly want with his partner.
If it's even the Makai, his conscience reminded him. You could be completely wrong about this. It's probably Muraki, like we thought from the very beginning. After all, what possible interest could the demon world have in Hisoka. Well, aside from being Kurosaki, but . . . that's never been an issue before. Why now?
"You're getting old, Asato," he muttered to himself, flopping down on the couch. "Jumping at shadows. Imagining the worst. You can't even let yourself have a restful vacation. . . ."
Touda stormed out of the cabin, boots crunching on the gravel walk as he headed for a nearby rocky overlook. Fifty paces and he'd reached his destination, the trees thinning naturally to afford him a better view of the valley below. A vast stretch of virgin forest, the canopy set ablaze by the sinking of the red sun. It looked innocent, pure, but Touda could see through the facade to the node of darkness that lurked within. He wondered if Byakko even knew about it, but only briefly; what the wind god did or did not know about the valley didn't matter. Only the power mattered and his claws clicked against each other as his hands balled into fists. He could feel it, a darkness that fairly begged him to feed on it, to grow strong and strike out at all who would oppose him.
No, he told himself, turning away even from the view of it. I will not walk down that path again. It holds nothing for me. My place is where he wills it, for what remains of his life.
He managed a couple of footsteps, then stopped. The dark node felt like it was calling to him, pleading with him to drink his fill. Touda knew full well he couldn't do that; to take that much power would only make it that much harder not to use it on something. The same wilderness that sheltered him from the temptations of lashing out against the rest of the twelve also left him with few reasonable targets for the anger that simmered under the surface.
Still . . . just a taste couldn't hurt. . . .
Turning back towards the node far below, Touda reached out into the air, his fist unclenching as he began to draw on the well of dark energy. The essance that was the very fabric of darkness, the common link of all those born of the dark side, rushed through him as it hadn't in thousands of years. Every sense was suddenly sharp and completely clear, burning with the power he was pulling into himself.
And then, like a hammer's blow, it was suddenly gone, leaving him open and exposed. He mentally scrambled to stop the draw, but not before golden fire seared into his very soul.
::Touda! Do you dare defy Me?::
His head was ringing with the displeasure . . . no, the wrath of the Golden Emperor, his senses burning with the great dragon's ire. Only his innate defiance gave him the clarity and temerity to speak out in indignant rebellion.
"No prohibition was laid against drawing on the nodes!"
::Your insolence may have amused in the past, but the terms of your probation are clear. ANY attempt to rise in defiance against the new peace will not be tolerated.::
"I was doing nothing of the sort!" he growled back, annoyed that the dragon wouldn't even show himself. "Drawing power is not proof of intent to use it for ill, dammit. Do you really think I'm stupid enough to think that you wouldn't notice if I rekindled the war? Do you really think that, with all the restraints on me, I even could? Do you think that I want to go back to that damn dungeon?!"
Silence greeted his challenge, a silence sullied by the pounding of his head. But the lack of counter argument was enough to send a sliver of vindication through him and that was almost enough to soothe singed senses.
::You should not be here.::
"Is that the best you can do?" he snorted. Surely the great dragon could summon a more extensive lecture than that.
::Leave this place now and I will . . . overlook your disobedience, hell-servant.::
"I'll leave when Tsuzuki does. Or have you forgotten that you bound me to his will?" Touda taunted. "And I have never once bowed to the dreadlords of the Makai."
::I have not forgotten. Neither have I forgotten that you have betrayed all of GenSouKai in the past because of your greed. You will bring about his ruin.::
"Perhaps, but not today. Nor tomorrow. Nor the next day. Nor the next. Nor, indeed, any of the days after, unless he asks it of me. If his death could be called ruin and yes, I will kill him if he asks it. Even if it damns me for all eternity. That is his right."
::You've been collared. . . .::
"Of course I have. You ordered this damn thing put on me."
::You who, even in your defeat, would not bow to Me, now submits totally to a mere shinigami? I would not have thought such a thing possible. . . .::
Touda remained grimly silent, unwilling to confirm what they both knew to be the truth. Why should he when it would only demean him further?
::Why are you here, Touda?::
"Why do you ask questions to which you already know the answers?"
::Why touch the node at all?::
"Why do you even care? I suppose you'll modify the terms of my probation, forbid me from touching them as well."
::Should I? Or can you control yourself? No, Touda, I will not forbid it. Already, you have resisted once. Perhaps I should not have doubted your resistance to the promises of dark destruction. Someone must keep the balance amidst those who serve him. Better you than one of your former comrades.::
For a brief moment, Touda thought the Golden Emperor would explain, but instead the presence simply vanished back into the ether. Touda returned to the overlook, perching on an old tree stump; he had no desire to return to the cabin before his mind had stopped burning from the dragon's wrath. And there was something else, something he didn't want to bring any closer to Tsuzuki than he already had. As he watched the final descent of the sun, he felt the proximity of entities he had not felt since before his imprisonment.
"Massster returnsss?"
"No," he murmured to the gathering darkness.
"Massster is bound. But Massster drew the power, drew usss to him. Doesss Massster want usss to free him?"
"No," he repeated, visored eyes drifting across the dome of the sky as he avoided looking into the shadows around him. He didn't need to see the chaos-spawn to know they were there, didn't care to know how many his momentary indiscretion had called.
"Doesss Massster want usss to burn thisss foressst?"
"No."
"There isss immortal blood near. Want usss to kill it?"
"No!" he growled, suddenly rising to his feet and glaring at the shadow-wraiths. "Do not lay one breath on him!"
"Asss Massster wishesss," the wraith-speaker demured, the darkness flickering in submission like a groveling dog. "How may we ssserve, Massster?"
"Leave me and seek not to return."
"Massster . . . doesss not want usss?"
"You offer me nothing of value," he muttered, turning away from the wraiths and crossing his arms over his chest. They had served him well in the war, seeding terror and chaos, but their power no longer interested him. He wanted only to be rid of them before he returned to his master.
"What isss it Massster ssseeksss? An enemy'sss corpssse? The sssecretsss of thossse ssstinking demonsss? The hiding placesss of the nodesss? Tell usss, and we will get it for you, Massster."
The shadows seethed and cackled, the wraiths pleased with their own perceived cleverness. The sound had once made him smile, but now it only turned his stomach.
"I seek your absence," he snarled.
"But then . . . why did Massster sssummon usss?"
"It was a miscalculation, that is all."
"Well . . . if Massster isss sssure. . . ."
"I . . . wait, what demon secrets do you know?"
"None yet, Massster," the wraith-speaker hissed, "but if you want, we can find their sssecretesss. Ssstinking demonsss, alwaysss ruining our sssport. . . ."
Touda had no reason to use the wraiths to find out what had become of the Kurosaki boy; finding the young shinigami would mean Tsuzuki would return to Meifu, return to his partner. Return to working closely, some would say intimately, with the one person Touda could consider a true rival. In time, Rikugou and Kouchin would find the boy without his help, if anything he learned from the chaos-spawn could even be considered such.
But if he learned something valuable . . . it would make Tsuzuki happy.
"Find out the Makai's interest in the shinigami, Kurosaki Hisoka. But come no closer to the cabin than this point. Any who approach closer will be destroyed by my hand. Understood?"
"We hear and obey, Massster."
The shadows lessened as the wraiths dispersed on their appointed task. He waited to be sure that they were all gone before returning to the cabin. Tsuzuki was huddled on the couch, sleeping fitfully and shivering despite the three blankets piled around him. Smiling in spite of himself, Touda carried his sleeping master into the bedroom, reassured when the man's restlessness calmed. It would be several hours before any of the wraiths would return. In the mean time, he would tend to Tsuzuki's needs, as he should have done from the very first. Perhaps it would be enough of an apology until he actually had something to offer.
He laid down beside his sleeping master and drew the man against his chest, an involuntary smile tugging at his mouth as the man nestled against him more comfortably. Touda was taking a risk, using the creatures at all; someone might misinterpret his meaning. But if they could deliver the information he wanted, then it would be worth it.
