Getting the hang of feedback response, but don't get used to it ;)

Mikel Abel: the demon scene was short, granted, but that's not the main plot here. We're just gettign started and after this chapter, you'll find that the massive editing had to be done because of the contents warning the down-rated M version. We're just getting started...

Ita-chan: keep on guessing who the person behind all of this is :)

PJ Zatken: I'm not sure I can reassure you just yet... I guess the chills will continue...

Sohryu had shooed his personal servants away, unnerved by their hovering, their questions as to his condition, and he had finally executed his right as their master, almost kicking them out. They had scurried away, disturbed, but Sohryu didn't care. The events of the last few hours had rattled him badly.

Gazing at the closed door to the room where Byakko lay, he asked himself the same questions again and again: what had happened? Why had a devil made it into GensouKai as a stowaway in Byakko? And how come the young tiger had been under his control so completely? For a devil to possess a shikigami... the shikigami had to surrender to him, and Sohryu doubted Byakko had simply rolled over.

At the moment, Rikugo was taking care of their fellow God. The astrologer had looked horrified by the condition Byakko was in, as well as Touda's state, but Kochin had pushed him to their young friend while she would take care of Touda.

Steps alerted Sohryu to the arrival of their second patient and he almost smiled. Touda was shuffling toward him, looking like roadkill, swathed in bandages, but there was a determined expression in his eyes. Sohryu hadn't expected otherwise. It was hard to keep Touda down and right now he was more than worried about Byakko, who just happened to be the most important person in Touda's life, right after Tsuzuki.

"Sit before you collapse," the dragon rumbled and nodded toward a couch.

Touda shot him a brief glare, but he did sink carefully into the cushions.

"Any word?" he demanded.

"No. Rikugo is still trying to figure out what happened."

Touda snarled softly, his uninjured hand massaging over his bandaged one.

"Thank you," Sohryu broke the silence between them.

There was no answer, just Touda's brief smile. Sohryu knew that his friend was loyal to him, despite their past, and that he would always be a protector of the representative of the Emperor in GensouKai. What he had done had come from that vow. That the attacker had been his lover had only briefly stopped Touda's defense. He had done what had needed to be done, getting wounded in the process. Had Byakko attacked outside the palace, Sohryu would have been able to defeat him on his own. The element of surprise had been to Byakko's advantage.

° ° °

Rikugo looked at his patient, feeling a sigh escape his lips.

What was going on here? What was happening to them? For centuries there had been no conflicts other than a political opposition or discussion, but lately, things were getting worse. Just a few weeks ago he had been trying to save Touda from death, and with him all realms from collapse. With Touda's death, Tsuzuki would probably have died, too, and then chaos would have struck. They had skidded sharply away from a total catastrophe.

And now Byakko...

"What happened to you?" he murmured.

Physically Byakko was fine. A bit on the thin side, but the Protector of the West had always been rather slender, even as a child, and Rikugo knew that he himself was still in need to replenish lost reserves. He had just now regained his full healing powers, and apparently not a day too soon.

The white tiger was unconscious, but it wasn't a healing sleep. He was very deep inside his mind and it had nothing to do with getting knocked out by the devil.

Rikugo didn't understand how a devil could have broken the will of the God so easily. Byakko was a strong person... what could have happened to him?

Devils worked on the mind. They manipulated, coerced, coaxed, promised and threatened. They were quite good at their job and humans were easy prey. Mostly humans even called out to them to get their wishes fulfilled.

Byakko wasn't human. Far from it. He also hadn't called the devil; he had fought it. And lost.

Why?

Rikugo gently stroked over the unruly mop of hair. Byakko looked almost peaceful; almost. There were fine lines of stress on his smooth features, and they were deepening. Now and then the eyes would roam behind the closed lids and a finger would twitch.

"What happened?" Rikugo whispered.

Only one way to find out, to find Byakko, and get him back.

Rikugo opened his other eyes and concentrated on the man lying in front of him on the bed.

He found himself surrounded by high granite walls, a labyrinth of walls and corridors, only interrupted by heavy wooden doors, and he understood he had managed to step into Byakko's soul. A soul that had transformed into a web, into corridors with dead ends or circles, with memories closed away behind those doors. The astrologer had seen something like this before but not so complex, so multifaceted. Difficult. That devil must have done a fairly good job, but that meant he would need time to find Byakko who could hide himself behind any of these walls or doors, shut himself out from the outside world.

Rikugo sighed. He really didn't want to this... and he opened the first door.

Semi-darkness enveloped him, and he waited for his eyes to adapt. Heavy walls, no windows, and a slightly moldy stain... a cell. There was a soft clinking of metal and when he turned Rikugo swallowed. There in a corner, chained to the wall, sat Byakko, huddled into himself, his clothes shredded and stained with something rusty red... what the...?

With a creak the large door opened and Byakko looked up, confused red eyes blinking into the sudden light. The person standing in the door was tall and when he stepped into the cell Rikugo recognized Sohryu. The dragon's face was a stony mask, his eyes hard and unrelenting, unforgiving as he stared down on the almost naked prisoner.

"S...Sohryu, I..."

"Silence! I just came here to look at the one who slaughtered my family."

"I didn't do anything... Sohryu, please..."

Byakko's pleas met deaf ears, as the dragon turned sharply.

"Tenkuu. Seal this cell. Forever," he ordered and then the door slammed shut.

Byakko's desperate screams went by unheard and the tiger broke down sobbing as the palace moved its walls.

Rikugo closed the door of the soul chamber and inhaled sharply.

Yes, something like this had happened five hundred years ago, but it hadn't happed to the tiger. Rikugo shook away the dreadful feeling when he thought about Touda and his incarceration. Back then they had sat in council over the serpent, who had been unable to defend himself at the time. He had been struck down and remained unconscious. They had ruled over his future, his fate, without listening to the reasons for his total loss.

Touda had been the one to be sealed away in Tenkuu.

Not Byakko.

So why...

He shuddered. The devil. It had started to manipulate Byakko's mind, as it seemed, playing with actual events, twisting them so that the white tiger was the guilty party.

Rikugo collected himself and straightened.

On to the next door.

It was like a déjà vu --– same cell, same smell. But from the looks of it Byakko must have been here for a very long time. What had been left of his clothing was hanging from his thin form in small shreds and it wasn't white anymore. As was the hair which had grown. But when the door opened this time, Byakko didn't look up. He just did that when he heard the soft voice.

"Byakko."

Hope shone in the tiger's red eyes and awe when he seemed to recognize the voice. A voice that had always meant hope and safety and love for him-- the voice of his master.

"Byakko -- do you regret what you did?"

"Tsuzuki..." the tiger's voice was hoarse from the long time of not using it. "Tsuzuki... what did I do? Why am I here? Why is everybody mad at me?"

"You still refuse to see, Byakko?"

"Tsuzuki?"

"You killed Sohryu's family, his kids, for crying out loud, in simple bloodlust, and you still refuse to see?"

Horror reflected on the tiger's face.

"I... no, please, I never..."

"You tore apart their little bodies and you still refuse? You disemboweled Terazuma in front of Sohryu's eyes and you expect us to be nice to you? And when Touda tried to stop you...?"

"Touda?" Byakko whispered. "What..?"

Tsuzuki snorted in disgust.

"Last thing I remember is you chewing on his throat. You killed him, Byakko. You almost killed me in the process, that's why I needed so long to come here and look into the eyes of a traitor. Rot in hell, Byakko. Thanks, Tenkuu. You can seal it again."

Rikugo closed the door after him softly, not needing to see the expression on Byakko's face. There were many more doors and many more things for him to witness. Hopefully he would find the tiger soon. He chose the next one -- and frowned.

A little run down hut at a small clearing, the sound of a little stream behind it. There was a small but well kept garden with some vegetables, and even a goat was enjoying the warm sun, tied at a long rope behind the hut. Somebody walked down the path toward the cabin, opening the door without even knocking. Rikugo stepped closer, wondering where he was or what he was witnessing. The figure froze and a ray of sunlight glittered on a metal blade, telling Rikugo that the owner of the hut hadn't been too pleased with his visitor and was holding a dagger. The knife disappeared and the figure threw away his coat, revealing long white spiky hair-- Byakko. Strangely enough he wasn't wearing his usual white attire, but was clad in black. But who was the other person in the hut? Taking a much closer look Rikugo gasped when recognizing the man. Touda.

"Are you suicidal, cat?" The serpent snarled. "You know I can't sense your aura."

"Yes, I know," Byakko purred. "Due to that punishment of yours. I found out, Touda. You did kill Sohryu's wife, didn't you? Along with his son-- your lover, I may add. Did you enjoy it, snake?"

Rikugo gaped in shock. He had never heard the gentle tiger use such malevolent words or speak in such a venomous tone. He saw golden eyes widen, the serpent shocked, too, before Touda regained his composure, turning his back to the tiger dismissively.

"Get lost."

"Do I remind you of him, snake? Come here and make yourself useful."

Touda stood frozen to the spot for a second, fists clenched at his side.

"Don't you dare order me around, Byakko. You better leave."

Rikugo watched in growing horror as Byakko raised a training katana which seemed to have been increased by heavy iron weights. It crashed onto Touda's shoulder, making the serpent cry out with the pain. And then-- Rikugo couldn't tear his gaze away from the vicious scene, watching as Byakko systematically beat the living daylights out of Touda, who due to the initial blow was too stunned to fight back. The wet sounds of tearing flesh and the snapping of bones made Rikugo shiver.

Breathing heavily Byakko stood in the middle of the hut, blood was dripping from the katana, before he kneeled down beside the bloody broken figure that was supposed to be the man he loved, regardless of the blood soaking his pants.

"Fool," he hissed, clenching his fingers into Touda's hair and pulling his head up brutally. "And the really funny thing is, Byakko truly loves you, can you imagine that? Now," he pulled the other man closer, opening his pants, "make yourself useful, whore."

Rikugo slammed to door shut.

The astrologer was confused. Shocked, too, about what he had seen so far. It were Byakko's memories of a life he had never lived like this, of a life where he was both Byakko, wind shikigami and Protector of the West like everybody knew him but also this twisted and jaded creature that liked to torture others-- or was tortured, for that matter. Rikugo wondered what it could have been that had turned the gentle happy white tiger into that dark and hateful creature. He hesitated to open the next door ... but he also knew he had to.

And stood in his own study all of a sudden.

tbc...