Disclaimer: Yami no Matsuei is not mine, I don't want to own it because I'll probably totally ruin the wonderful characters anyway so I'm sticking with fanfiction.
Warning: spoilers mainly in Devil's Trill Arc and Manga Vol. 2.
Author's Note: Right now, I feel like beating myself on the head with a hammer. I uploaded the first chapter without putting in the title for the Count's book! It's fixed now along with some grammar mistakes. Just for those who don't want to go back to read that chapter again, the title of Hakushaku-sama's book is called 'Amaryllis'. Yes, that's where the title of this fic came from. Sorry about that.
And to answer the question how you can tell Hakushaku-sama winked, well, you can't. (sweat drop) Let's just say the Count winked forgetting that nobody can see him considering he does have a proper body and face under that mask and Hisoka rolled his eyes not at the winking but at what the Hakushaku said about Tsuzuki... Can you tell that I'm trying to bail myself out of trouble?
Finally, thanks to the following people for reviewing: DarkSapphireDragon, neko-nya, real-circus, Pich, and Amethyst Jade
xXx
Amaryllis
Chapter Two: The Characters
"That shield has got to come down!" Tatsumi exclaimed, staring at the dome-like barrier that covered the concert hall. Watari's attention, however, was elsewhere.
"What's wrong?" Tatsumi asked at the wide-eyed expression on the blond scientist's face.
"This is Hijiri's concert," Watari answered weakly as he looked at the advertisement outside the door.
Just then, a white light coming from somewhere inside distracted both shinigamis. Already loud screams became even louder as the people trapped inside assumed the worst was happening. They pushed against each other and against the locked doors, which they could not understand why wouldn't open. Then as if an unspoken order had been given, the doors swung out and frantic people poured out, screaming in hysterics and running as fast as they could in every direction.
The shinigamis could only stare dumbly as the shield came down with a bang!
Watari blinked in confusion. "What just...happened?"
"The shield came down," Tatsumi stated the obvious, "Let's go," He gestured to Watari and headed toward the open doorway now empty of people.
Sirens of police cars were getting louder. Someone must have contacted the cops, Tatsumi realized. It didn't bother them since they were in invisible mode but he still hoped to find his missing comrades before the cops arrived. Or the book... His mind reminded him unpleasantly.
"See them anywhere?" Watari broke into Tatsumi's thoughts.
"No," The secretary snapped. Worry was making him be on edge.
"Tatsumi?"
"What?" Tatsumi glared without meaning to.
"How did the shield come down?" Watari asked cheerfully.
Tatsumi was about to answer that someone must have broken it when he realized his answer wouldn't have made any sense. "Well, it wasn't Tsuzuki-san." He glared at Watari again. Watari only smiled innocently. If it had been him, they would have spotted him by now or at least Kurosaki-kun, but it was quite empty except for a few dead bodies and unconscious people lying around. Tatsumi realized something else too.
"I can't sense anything," It was true. The evil, whatever it was, that caused all this mess seemed to have disappeared with Tsuzuki and Hisoka.
"So you mean the shield came down by itself? That doesn't make sense," Watari said, frowning.
"Not necessary. There are three ways the shield can come down and those are if the person who put it up takes it down, if it's broken by another force, or if the distance between the person who put it up and the shield itself is too far, then, the shield falls by itself," Tatsumi explained. Then he realized what he'd just said, "I think we should start searching for the book now."
Watari stared at him. "You're not serious."
"I am," Tatsumi sighed and pushed his glasses up.
By now, the police forces had arrived. They piled in carrying out the bodies and wounded people to the hospital, either for treatment or to be identified. Bystanders were questioned and the few people that hadn't left the hall were been asked the details.
"...a bomb went off and people started to panic and scream and running away from the performance. Then there was another explosion..." A man who appeared to have been with the orchestra was speaking with a police officer. "It was really chaotic and we were all running toward the exits but then I saw something."
"What did you see, sir?" the cop asked while jotting down notes.
"I saw a man briefly and he was pulling that young violinist, Hijiri, into the backstage."
Tatsumi and Watari whipped around at this and listened carefully.
"Can you give us a description sir?"
"He was wearing all white and had silver hair. I couldn't tell how tall he was but I did see his face. He had only one eye. The right one was an mechanical one I think..."
Tatsumi and Watari looked at each other. Without another word, they sprinted into the music hall and toward the stage, running by rows of seats. They stomped onto the stage, behind the curtain, and into the darkened backstage. There was no doubt in their minds that the man the witness had seen was Muraki: who else wore all white, had silver hair, and one eye? They had no idea why Muraki wanted Hijiri but it was clear that Tsuzuki and Hisoka had fallen into another one of the doctor's traps.
Two policemen were there. One of them held a book in their hands. The invisible shinigamis went over, grabbed the book out of the man's hand and before the dazed cop could blink, they had left the music hall behind.
xXx
He was awake, which meant there was work to do. Lazily, he stretched and yawned, buzzing his wings. Then the beetle took off into the whiteness that was his world.
There were four figures, unconscious and seemingly floating in thin air. It would have been quite strange but in here, there was no dimension, no gravity, and no direction. It was just empty, containing nothing. Well, not yet anyway.
Two shinigami, two human, interesting...The beetle got to work.
xXx
Sakura reminded him of a lot of things, none of which were nice. Fear and horror, the emotions always came first. Then images of pain and visions of death would follow. The desire to live would seem so ridiculous but it wasn't possible to let go, for the idea of death was even more frightening. It was a moment when the soul is stuck in the middle, unable to live and unable to die while fires of pain burned around, cutting, shredding until there was nothing left to hope. Despair and darkness. The desperate cries would become hoarse and disappear and answered by nothing except the silent fall of petals but the mind...the mind could not stop screaming! Innocence would be forever shattered while life was cruelly torn away from a body. A moon, red like life, like blood, was the only witness. Petals. Sakura. His nightmares started and ended with them.
There were sakura petals now but he knew he wasn't dreaming this time as he sat in a dark corner of his own mind under the tree. He was perfectly aware of himself but something was keeping him from waking up. Then he felt something breaking through one of the barriers he set up in his mind. Strangely, there was no pain. An image soon appeared. He recognized it immediately and felt dread creep up his spine. But it was different this time. Unlike before, he could not feel the fear and terror and pain. He felt detached somehow as if he was only watching everything. And he was.
The memory was soon replaced by another and then another. In every one of them he was merely a spectator. He realized that someone must be looking through his head, tampering with his mental shields. A little frightened by that idea, he tried to build them back up. It didn't work. He couldn't even move at all. He struggled pointlessly but the images continued to shift and change. Then there was a push against his final wall. Now more than a little anxious, he tried again to fight.
He didn't want anyone to find out what was behind that wall. It was a place even he was afraid to look too deeply into. He found it confusing and frightening, not in the same sense as his nightmares but still frightening all the same. Strangely, however, he sometimes found himself yearning for the feel of warmth behind that wall. There was comfort and safety. He wanted to trust it. But those urges were crushed cruelly. He didn't trust anyone because trust made him week and vulnerable. He would be betrayed and he didn't want to be hurt ever again. Therefore, the only thing he could think of to do was to push it away, bury it deep inside him under all the other thoughts and feelings. But now it was about to be opened and he was scared. There was absolutely nothing he could do except watch as the wall cracked and fell apart.
"...Hisoka, come try this apple pie..."
A deep rich laughter that sent his knees melting...
"...Hisoka are you alright?..."
Amethyst eyes staring intently into his...
"...Watch out, Hisoka..."
Warm, caring arms wrapping around him, protecting him...
"...Why do you stick your nose into other people's business...? Nandedayo...?"
"...You're my partner..."
xXx
Unknown to Hisoka, Tsuzuki was also having the same problem although he was dealing with it much more efficiently.
His mind was dark, contrasting with the world they had all ended up in but he had no way of knowing that. He wondered what had happened. At the same time he was also worried sick about the two boys. Were they alright? What about Muraki? Muraki can go to hell for all he cared but the last thing he remembered before been shut up in his own mind was Hisoka's cry of pain. Damn Muraki. Unless someone woke him up, he couldn't do anything. He bit his lip instead.
It took a moment for him to realize what had happened as images floated through the darkness of his mind. He blinked as the events of that morning played like a movie in front of him. What the... Well, he wasn't the one conjuring up that image. Why would he? It wasn't even that pleasant. Then suddenly he felt it. Something or someone was trying to tap into the first of his barriers. Before he could pull himself together to strengthen that shield, it had shattered like glass. Memories floated before him again.
Ok, Asato calm down. That memory wasn't that bad, you just have to stop whoever from taking down more shields.
There were some memories and thoughts he would rather keep hidden and to himself, thank you very much. He concentrated. Nothing happened except more images came floating like water. It was distracting, really. An image from one of his dreams appeared. He blushed. That was NOT good. Whoever it was, was fast approaching his more private thoughts. With a desperation born out of frustration and a bit of anger he threw all his will into strengthening the last of his shields. He felt the someone pause and then another push. The shields held.
Get out of my head already, whoever you are... He sent a message, now quite annoyed and anxious. He felt what was equivalent to a surprised gasp before the presence of the other person or thing disappeared from his head. Weird... He shrugged and prepared to wait until someone decided he could wake up.
xXx
He was dreaming. It was strange because he usually couldn't remember his dreams. And he almost certainly never knew he was dreaming! His life was full of surprises. And he began ticking off all the things that had happened to him during this past year.
First there was the eye problem. He had almost gone blind. The scenery changed to a hospital room and another him was talking with a doctor. Cool... That's another first, he could control his dreams now. He had gotten a surgery and his eye had been fixed. Next was meeting Kazusa and getting that nice violin. In a swirl of colours, Kazusa appeared holding her teddybear and a violin lay on the bed. Well, that violin was where all his troubles started. He had tried to commit suicide, went to Meifu, met Tsuzuki and Hisoka and the other shinigamis, and learned that a demon was after him. He was seeing that final battle again and watching as Kazusa had pushed him aside to save him from the falling boulders. Kazusa had died that day. If it hadn't been for him then Kazusa wouldn't...and with a jolt he remembered his concert and how it had gone awfully, awfully wrong.
That man had grabbed him while he was trying to get out like the other people. The man had whispered to him saying how he looked like his doll and how he was going to help get his doll back. He had no idea what the man was talking about until Tsuzuki and Hisoka had shown up...
As he remembered these things he began worrying about the shinigami. What had happened to Hisoka? Was he safe? Or was he... It was all his fault again, just like that time with Kazusa. If anything happened to the other boy, he didn't think he could forgive himself. And where's Tsuzuki? Tsuzuki had saved him once and now all he could do to pay back the debt was to get them into trouble. And how did he fall asleep in the first place? If he remembered correctly, Hisoka was about to be kidnapped by that sadistic bastard. It wasn't time for sleep!
It was then that he began to realize that something was very wrong. Now that he thought about it, was it even possible to be thinking and mope about the past in a dream? Oh please, let Tsuzuki and Hisoka be alright...
A shock ran through his mind. He shook his head slightly to clear his brain. What had he been thinking about? Oh ya, Tsuzuki...
...Tsuzuki...
...Tsuzuki... ...
...Tsuzuki...?
...Who is Tsuzuki?
xXx
He cracked open one eye and glanced around at his surroundings. White. Ok, not bad, he liked white. Then he saw the other three people floating around him not so far away. A beetle was muttering to himself. He observed as the bug busied himself with his doll. "...this kid's empathic, huh...interesting...what's this?...a curse...?" He closed his eye and stayed perfectly still as the beetle glanced his way.
The bug was reading minds? He could feel the magic around this place and he was curious. The spell that had kept him unconscious had been awfully easy to crack. Wherever he was, it certainly didn't look like that concert hall.
"...this'll make an interesting plot for this book..."
He blinked at what the beetle had just said. Oh, so they were in a book, that explained why it was white. Then he remembered that his doll had been carrying a book. They must have been sucked in when the book was dropped open. He watched as the beetle moved on to Tsuzuki-san, appearing to be finished whatever he wanted to do with the other shinigami. He heard the little bug gasp and narrowed his eyes again as the beetle stared at him. Then it went back to what it had been doing. After a moment it flew away from his Tsuzuki-san, muttering something about no respect.
He continued to observe the little thing and had to close his eyes again as he was given yet another suspicious look. Stupid bug. He muttered under his breath.
"...What is Hakushaku-sama thinking sending me these characters..." The bug muttered.
They were to be characters of this book. How absolutely ridiculous. And it looked like he would be meeting the other shinigamis and this 'Hakushaku-sama' person when they got out. The future didn't look very bright at the moment.
The bug was heading for him now. He closed his eye and pretended to be asleep. He felt the vile thing land on his forehead and a presence entered his mind. He allowed it to look through his thoughts, hiding nothing. At the same time, making use of this mental contact, he went into the beetle's mind and carefully learned all there was to learn about the situation. He could sense that the bug was horrified at his thoughts. He smirked inwardly. It looked like there would be a few changes in his original plan. He loved a good challenge.
Suddenly he felt new memories trying to block out his own. They were memories of the character he was to be, he realized. He placed a spell to protect his own thoughts. Well, he could always play along for a little while. This would prove to be an interesting experience after all.
xXx
As the manager of the book, it was his job to create the plot and see that it comes to a happy end. The Hakushaku certainly loved those. But as he looked through the thoughts of his characters-to-be, that kind of seemed impossible. Even if he could give them new memories, their personalities would be impossible to change. Then again, he wasn't the master storyteller for nothing. Plots flew through his head at a rapid pace.
This would be a happy story... the beetle decided. Those two especially deserved it. Then he glared at the other one. His plans must not be allowed to complete. It would only bring disaster. Then he began casting a spell that would give them new memories to fit the plot. He didn't even notice that Muraki was awake and smirking.
xXx
Back in Meifu, Tatsumi, Watari, and the Hakushaku surrounded a table. They stared at the book, opened it, and began to read...
To Be Continued...xXx
Notes:
Nandedayo? – Why?
Thanks for reading! Tell me if anything didn't make sense and please review