When he saw Touda, all alarms went off inside Sohryu's mind. The black shikigami was pale, seemed a bit disoriented, and there were fine tremors running through the tall frame. He was leaning heavily against the terminal, clutching a print, and the golden eyes appeared glazed.
The dragon placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Touda? Are you okay?"
Those glazed eyes- feverish, if Sohryu was any judge- gazed at him, unable to focus.
"Touda!"
And then the serpent collapsed. It happened fast, like all strings that held him upright, had been cut. His knees buckled, his eyes closed, and Sohryu was just fast enough to keep him from hitting his head on the terminal as he fell.
"Touda!"
Something rumbled through the stone walls around him. Tenkuu shifted, her whole concentration suddenly in that small basement room. It was like an oppressive force that now washed over Sohryu.
"Tenkuu, call for help! I need medical assistance!" Sohryu barked.
"Kochin is on her way down," the palace rumbled.
"Where is Rikugo?" the dragon demanded.
"One of my servants is calling for him. Kochin was closer."
Sohryu nodded, but not pleased. Despite his differences with the earth dragon, the representative of the Emperor knew that Rikugo was the strongest healer. Unlike Kochin, he could influence a person's energy, aura and even his soul. His healing worked on the deepest level. Rikugo rarely used that method, but he could. And looking at Touda now, feeling the unnatural warmth of the man in his arms, Sohryu knew he might need it. Touda was a fire shikigami, but it didn't mean he was normally burning hot. His body temperature was as normal as anyone's.
°
"Tatsumi, I don't know about this... this... "
Tatsumi Seiichiro watched with growing confusion as Tsuzuki hesitated in the middle of his speech, and then turned ghostly pale all of a sudden.
"Tsuzuki? Are you okay?"
Violet clouded eyes looked at him and then they rolled back into his head. Tatsumi reacted just in time to catch the unconscious body of his colleague before he could collapse onto the ground.
He was yelling for assistance seconds later.
° ° °
Kochin arrived a few minutes after Tenkuu's call. The musician and healer knelt wordlessly next to her leader and the sick man in his arms. She held out one hand, leaving it hovering over Touda's fever-hot face. A startled exclamation came from her and she withdrew his hand.
"What?" Sohryu barked.
"I don't know," Kochin replied, the normally so calm and collected voice uneven. "I can feel a great disruption in his physical form."
Sohryu was close to snapping at the shikigami. Of course there was a disruption! Touda was burning with fever, had just broken down like struck by lightning, but he swallowed his comment.
"He was never sick before in his life," Sohryu murmured.
Kochin tilted her head. "I know. I can only tell you that it feels... painful for a healer of my level. I'd like to ask Rikugo for a second opinion. His healing power runs deeper; he can Look at Touda. I could only assist him with physical wounds, but this feels... spiritual, in a way."
Sohryu grit his teeth, but he waited, gazing at the unconscious man. He felt the heat radiating off Touda, seeping through his clothes. When Rikugo finally hurried into the room, Sohryu's anger was boiling.
"Where were you?" he demanded.
The onyx eyes were cold as they met his blue-gray ones. "I am here. Isn't that enough?"
Kochin rose gracefully, aware of the tension between the two powerful shikigami.
Rikugo looked over Touda and suddenly the cold tension was replaced by worry.
"Tenkuu, I need some servants down here. We have to transfer Touda to another room, into a bed, where I can start treating him."
"Understood," the palace rumbled.
Sohryu shot him another look. "What's wrong with him?"
"I don't know yet, but I won't treat him in these dungeons."
Sohryu was close to exploding, but he reigned himself in and waited until servants had finally done what Rikugo wanted them to do. Then his reptilian eyes fixed on the astrologer like daggers.
"What is wrong with Touda?" he snarled.
Rikugo, all eyes open, turned to his leader. "I don't know, Sohryu. I need to analyze it, find out more."
"Then do it!"
The astrologer met the angry, worried eyes, then just nodded.
° ° °
Tsuzuki lay unconscious in one of the beds of the medical wing. His black coat, the jacket and the tie had been removed, just like the shoes. He looked pale, but there were no physical wounds.
Watari sighed and put away his instruments, then shook his head. He drew the blanket over the unresponsive form and left the room, facing the waiting assembly of a worried Tatsumi and more than worried Hisoka.
"There's nothing physically wrong with him," Watari told the assembled men, looking confused, even disturbed. "He's completely fine. There's no explanation for his loss of consciousness."
Hisoka, face closed off, looked past the blond shinigami and toward the door that led into the medical room.
"Anything you can feel?" Watari asked hopefully.
"I haven't tried," Hisoka answered slowly.
"Uh... could you...?" the scientist asked carefully.
Hisoka was silent for a moment, then nodded jerkily.
Watari beamed, but there was a cautious note to it. "Pull away before it overwhelms you, okay? Just... well, see if there's something..."
Another nod, then Hisoka walked into the room.
Tsuzuki looked like he was sleeping, Stripped down, he was the picture of innocence. The relaxed features reminded Hisoka of the times he had watched his lover sleep, when he had studied the youngish features of a man who hid so much behind the façade that was the opposite of who he was. There had been times he had played with the dark strands of Tsuzuki's hair, had enjoyed the simple presence of his lover.
Hisoka swallowed, aware of Tatsumi and Watari close by, of their presence, but he tried to tune them out. His eyes were on his lover, the man who had so surprisingly broken down right in the middle of a briefing with Tatsumi.
He had been fine this morning. He had been fine last night. They had spent the evening together, going to a small park concert that had lasted till midnight. It had been a nice evening, full of warmth and fun and just them among the many living souls, enjoying themselves. Tsuzuki had stayed at Hisoka's place, they had slept in the same bed, kissing and caressing each other, dozing off. Nothing else had happened and it was what Hisoka loved so much about this relationship. No pressure, no demands, just what they both felt at ease with.
Now Tsuzuki lay in the hospital and no one knew why.
Hisoka steadied himself, evening out his breathing, preparing himself for the whatever he might encounter. His empathy had gotten better in the last years. He was in control of the shields, he no longer fell victim to sudden bursts, but it was still a difficult ability to have. He could still be overwhelmed if things got out of hand, though he knew Tsuzuki fairly well. He knew what lurked inside this wonderful man and he had touched and seen it often enough.
Opening up to the consciousness and soul of his lover, Hisoka closed his eyes and started to concentrate on the emotions coming in. Skimming over the surface thoughts, diving deeper, into the mind of a man he had come to appreciate, to love, to need so much, Hisoka followed an invisible pull. There was nothing harmful. No dark presence, no evil aura, no signs of a demonic influence. He encountered memories of last night and had to smile at their silky, warm caress, at their happiness. Tsuzuki, for all his danger and power, was such a child sometimes, could enjoy himself in the simplest of situations or be happy about menial things.
It was what had attracted Hisoka. It was what made him happy in turn.
Looking at the spot that he had soon realized was the bond with Touda, Hisoka frowned. Something was not right. Something was... trickling through... was coming into
Tsuzuki's mind. He approached --
and screamed.
"Hisoka!"
There was a voice, Watari's voice, and someone touched him. Hisoka cried out, defenses flaring, and there was a yell of pain and surprise, then the touch was gone.
Curling up, the young shinigami was panting heavily, trying to bring up his shields, ignore the raw feel of his mind, as the horror set in.
"Touda..." he whispered.
There was another presence, cool and controlled and not touching him.
"Hisoka?"
Tatsumi. So very much in control. So very soothing for the upset empath.
"It's Touda. Something happened to Touda," Hisoka stammered.
Stunned silence greeted his announcement and he looked up, his sight still a bit blurry but clearing. Tatsumi was kneeling before him, looking shocked. Watari was behind him, rubbing a burned looking hand that was already healing.
Must have hit him with my power, Hisoka thought dimly, feeling sorry for the blond.
"Touda...?" Watari finally asked. "But... he wasn't in a fight, right?"
"No... it's something different. He's not okay and whatever it is..." Hisoka steadied himself more. "Whatever it is, it went through the bond between them."
And it was bad. Touda had apparently no shields left and every little trickle had come through without a buffer. Hisoka knew about buffers; he was an empath. Tsuzuki's mind was connected to Touda's and whatever happened between them was for both like being empathic to the other. Tsuzuki had natural shields which he had trained and the same went for Touda. They were rarely completely open, but a shock to the system, like pain, could destroy the natural barriers of one side. For those signals coming from Touda to flood Tsuzuki so completely, it must have come abruptly, with incredible strength, and in mass.
There was a soft, hooting noise from 003 and the little owl looked deeply disturbed, as much as owls could.
"We have to know what happened to his shikigami," Tatsumi decided, rising to his feet.
"I'm on it," Watari announced. "I'll get Terazuma. He can go and pay them a visit."
The Shadow Master nodded. He helped Hisoka to his feet, the younger shinigami still swaying on his feet.
"Hisoka..."
"I'm staying here," he said firmly, daring Tatsumi to tell him otherwise.
A little smile crossed the secretary's face. "I'd ask nothing less of you."
Hisoka walked over to his lover's bed and reached for the lax hand closest to him. He stroked over it, feeling its life and warmth, the soft emotions still wafting on the surface. Whatever was happening to Touda, it hadn't spread out yet. As long as he didn't go too deep, he would be fine.
° ° °
Touda was drifting in and out of conscious, mostly lucid, but there were moment when he couldn't tell Rikugo his name. His skin was burning hot to the touch, his body was sweating, his black hair slicked back, the high cheekbones all the more prominent now.
Rikugo had spent a long time Looking at his patient and what he Saw disturbed him greatly. Something was raging through Touda, destroying him, multiplying by the hour. It was definitely viral, living off its host, but where had it come from? Shikigami rarely fell ill and if at all, they had a cold, which could easily be battled by the shikigami's immune system. Touda's immune system was losing.
Badly.
Kochin had tried healing songs, a wide variety of them, to help him with his task, but nothing had happened. Kochin was a healer of a completely different category than Rikugo. She worked over time, with non-invasive methods, and her songs triggered the body of the patient to start healing. Touda's body hadn't accepted the outside influence and his energy levels were on a downward curve. Rikugo had turned to a more invasive method.
The astrologer's powers were immense. He could infuse energy into another shikigami and start a healing process. His energy would jump-start the sick shikigami's immune system, sometimes assist for as long as was needed, and finally withdraw. Rikugo rarely had to truly exert that ability due a shikigami's own healing powers. Normally, as had been the case not so long ago with Touda, he had cleaned and closed physical injuries and the patient had done the rest. Only when the energy lines were disrupted did he have to use that method.
In Touda's case, Rikugo knew it would take a while. The damage was extensive and Touda, while fighting, was growing weaker.
Throughout that time, Byakko had arrived, pale, worried, eyes wide, and he had been with Touda ever since. He had quietly sat, waiting for Rikugo to finish his examinations, and when the astrologer had, he had taken one of the lax hands and curled his fingers around it.
Rikugo had spent more time going through his findings, checking and double-checking them, and finally he had come to the only decision he could make in this case. He rose from the bed, each movement heavy.
"Tenkuu," he said quietly, aware that the Palace could hear him.
"Yes?"
"Close down the outside doors. I'm calling a quarantine."
There was an almost audible shift in the ancient walls. Byakko looked up, shock on his young face.
"Rikugo? What is wrong?" the Wind God asked.
"Touda contracted a virus and if it is contagious, we need to quarantine him. And us, so to speak. No one leaves or enters without my permission. I don't know where he was infected or how long the incubation period was. It's too dangerous to let people come and go, and maybe spread the infection."
"I understand," Tenkuu said.
There was a low rumble as more walls shifted.
Rikugo stood still for a few seconds, then turned back to his patient. Quarantine was a safety precaution, keeping Touda from spreading the infection any further, but he had been in contact with several people. Byakko was here, as was Kochin, who was currently resting in another room, but there were still Sohryu, the servants, maybe more...
It was impossible to call a quarantine for all of GensouKai center yet, but he knew that if more shikigami fell ill, things would change.
Right now he had one patient that needed his help.
So he began.
tbc...