Tsuzuki Asato

#04 my knight slaying the beast

"Why do you do this, Kauket?"

In answer, the demoness' pet motioned towards Tsuzuki's path.The ground quaked with each step it took. Its huge black horned head set a fiery gaze towards Tsuzuki. It gave a great roar like a giant black lion and swiped at him, its hide a dark furry canvas of flames. For its size and gait its claws was swift.

Tsuzuki was on the ground, tasting blood on his teeth. Neither Suzaku, Byakko, nor Touda had any effect on this creature. It was as if it was indestructible. Generations of shinigami and their shikigami must have been eaten by this ancient woman, he imagined, so many she was so strong. It was a wonder he had not known her name before and shuddered to hear it, even by his own shikigami. He spat on the ground and dimly saw a tooth lying in the sticky scarlet puddle.

"Why..." He managed. "Is it because of Sarganatas? Of Grand Duke Astorath? Or are you one of the parasitic shikigami?"

"No." The spindly woman sniffed and ran her snakelike tongue across her lips. Tsuzuki caught a glimpse of the beast suddenly materializing above him. Thinking fast, he shot to the air, narrowly missing a blast of black fire.

"Please don't insult me, Tsuzuki-san. I could not care less about demon politics." She lifted her chin to throw him a haughty smile. "I just like pretty boys with tasty souls such as Hisoka's. And I like to eat."

"Tsuzuki!" The shinigami swiftly raised a ward in front of his face to block off a beam blast sparkling from the dark creature's jaws. Tatsumi landed a few metres away on the smoky grass. He looked as if his usual calmness was wearing thin for once. "We have to get to Hisoka!"

She's just too powerful... more than almost anything I've ever faced in my term as a shinigami.

The two sped into the air once more as another beam blast came their way. Kauket now sat atop her pet, laughing mockingly as they blocked the path between Tsuzuki and his unconscious partner.

He tried to catch another glimpse of Hisoka as Tatsumi tried in vain to throw balls of black energy at their foe. The boy lay so very still at the base of the sakura tree, lines of blood trickling down where the tentacles dug into his pale skin. A pang of anxiety began to build in him, and his mind raced as he could see the edges of Hisoka's outline begin to evanesce. He was starting to disappear, like a cup of tea evaporating into the air, dissolving into Kauket's waiting appetite. He would not be able to get to him in time...He was to be completely devoured by her. He was going to die.

"Hisoka--!"

"I'm not going to die."

The demoness and the battling shinigami looked on in amazement. It was Hisoka. His emerald eyes were half-mast, and his colorless lips parted ever so slightly. Then his eyes hardened and the black locks of hair entwined all around him dissolved in a shimmer of Hisoka's aura.

"Tsuzuki, now!"

Tatsumi lifted his hands and the evening's shadows became mobile encasing the black beast in a sable cage. It couldn't move now, weakened, and roared in helplessness.

"Humbly do I present my wish to he twelve gods that protect me... I command you to appear before us! Come forth Taimou!"

His violet eyes focused on the demoness woman, now shrieking in anger and fear. She seemed so small now, stripped of her power like the dark little parasite she was, after all. The faceless figure seemed to materialize from a smoky black cloud, looking like a strange yet majestic creature, with a smooth egg-like face. It glowed with a violent electrical energy and this energy surged towards Kauket. She was held suspended by the power and on the ground below her an intricate pattern was burned on the ground, traced with miniature lightning bolts. She screamed.


"Goodbye, Kauket."

The energy gathered, forming a large sphere around her, and then abruptly it exploded in a blaze of blinding light. When the blaze had cleared, save for the intricate mark left on the floor and a few strands of her hair lying on the grass, she had disappeared, hopefully forever.

Tsuzuki immediately rushed to the cherry tree, where his partner still stood, looking very worn and drained. Hisoka looked at him slowly, as if he was digesting every inch of him. He took a step forward and collapsed immediately in Tsuzuki's arms. Softly, he began to cry.


Tsuzuki bundled up Hisoka's now frail little body in his arms and held him close.

Disclaimer and Notes: YnM belongs to Matsushita Yoko blah blah blah. I have not finished the manga... a lot of what I know comes from the anime version, which I understand is really lacking. I took some liberties with Tsuzuki's shikigami in this part. I know nil about Taimou, but since accdg. to Theria.net, she is called 'kinjushi', I made it so Tsuzuki can summon her to constrict or seal things.