Yes, we were fast bringing this story next, but I'm anxious to get it started. I'm also a bit apprehensive. I hope you'll give this the same chance you gave Catharsis, the story that introduced Sohryu x Terazuma, because we're now running with something totally new and never attempted before, too.
It also bears some relation to Fever. Just a tiny little bit.
Have fun reading!
Macx, fretting, nervous, and hiding
TITLE: Phoenix
Direct sequel to Bete Noir
AUTHOR: Macx and Lara Bee
DISCLAIMER: not ours. Definitely not! We just play with them and hope we tread on no one's toes.
Author's Voice of Warning (aka Author's Note):
English is not our first language; it's German. This is the best we can do. Any mistakes you find in here, collect them and you might win a prize g> The spell-checker said everything's okay, but you know how trustworthy those thingies are...
ARCHIVE: yes
WARNINGS: violence
TYPE: yaoi
RATING: M, for FFNet specifically. All MA scenes were cut out or changed to M. If you still think this is too ecplicit to be M, please contact ME, before you get 190+ stories tossed off FFNet. Thanks.
PAIRINGs: several
FEEDBACK: empty inbox seeks emails g>Due to the feedback received in the past we are adding another warning: this is an AU! Our take on the Count's past is purely of our own making. Nothing, and we repeat: nothing! points toward what we made of it. There are a few hints as to what he might be, and we ran with our own ideas.
This is NOT canon!
Phoenix contains a never before seen pairing. Please bear with us.
'Nuff said.
The palace was empty and dark. The servants were already in their quarters and only the guards patrolled the peaceful night. There was hardly any need for them, but since the observatory and the adjoining palace belonged to a Divine Commander, guards were a formality. Rikugo had never seen the necessity at all, and he had argued with Sohryu about it more often than not. In the end he had grudgingly gone home and just endured it.
Tonight, the sentries were just as superfluous as on other days.
Rikugo sighed and walked back into his semi-dark study. He didn't feel tired. He hadn't felt tired since he had Looked into Byakko's mind and had been witness to the horrors the young God had had to endure at the hands of the devil. The astrologer wished he could take the false memories and bury them forever, lock them away, but it was impossible without hurting Byakko in turn. The tiger had to work through this and he had to come to terms with the attack. Byakko knew what he remembered was wrong, but his reactions, his emotions, his fear was true.
His fear of Rikugo.
The astrologer gritted his teeth, hands curling into fists, and he felt a slight spark of energy as his helpless anger rose again. There was nothing he could do, he knew that. The memories were branded onto Byakko's mind.
But it hadn't been him!
The simple idea that he had done... that he would do this to a child...
He felt sick.
Nauseous...
And so helpless.
Byakko feared him whenever he came close, and there was no evading him here in GensouKai for all eternity. Byakko was one of the four highest shikigami, and Rikugo was part of the twelve Divine Commanders, which included Byakko as well.
Running a shaky hand through the blond bangs he drew a shuddering breath.
It hurt to be looked at with such fear, with such terror, and he couldn't suppress his aura, the very thing Byakko instinctively reacted to without even looking at him.
Except...
Rikugo ran a hand over the long hair that was woven into a tail, usually hanging over one shoulder. The long hair was vital for a dragon shikigami. It showed his power, his strength in battle, and the longer the hair, the older and more powerful a dragon was. Like Sohryu, Rikugo collected his energy through his hair and was immensely powerful, which also showed in his aura.
There was a moment of hesitation, then something inside him snapped.
The huge, red eyes of a child, gazing at him in blank terror, a voice crying, then screaming in pain, erased all other thoughts. He strode over to his work table, yanked open a drawer, and took out a pair of scissors. There was no more hesitation then and while a tiny part of him screamed self-mutilation, another was in complete and utter shock, a daze nothing could penetrate.
The sharp blades cut through the blond strands several times. It wasn't easy, but in the end the astrologer held a good portion of his own hair in his hands.
And his aura diminished.
It shrank, it grew less, and finally it leveled.
Rikugo just stood there, his eyes closed, his face pale, and for a moment, an insane moment, he wanted nothing more than scream.
But the moment passed.
The blond strands in his hands felt heavy, unreal, and the rest that spilled over his shoulder blades was suddenly so light, so strange...
A smile crossed his pale lips.
He was no longer strong and fearsome. His aura, the aura that could scare even such powerful shikigami like Sohryu, was no longer a threat. He was still strong, still a Divine Commander, his strength was fed and balanced by Tsuzuki's power, but he was no longer a threat to Byakko.
Slender hands opened and the cut off strands fell to the ground. He felt his body tremble with the reaction and he finally had to lean against the table or he would keel over.
After a long while he opened his eyes, aware that someone else was in the room. He looked down to where his hair lay in a heap, still braided, and he discovered someone standing next to it.
Genbu's ancient eyes held his, no emotion in there.
"Do you think it will solve your problems?" the old God asked.
Rikugo smiled darkly. "No, but it eases my mind. It will help Byakko regain at least a fragment of his old confidence."
"You are not his enemy."
"No, in his eyes I'm the man who raped him as a child," was the cruel answer.
Genbu didn't so much as flinch. "Mutilating yourself will not help him."
Rikugo felt like laughing. An insane, wild laughter, brought forth by nothing but the desperation and terror inside him, but he didn't. Shaking hands rubbed over his face.
"I can't stand to see him like this, Genbu. He was my student! He was my protégé. He came to me because he was afraid after his father's death and I never... I never would... Oh Gods...!"
Genbu gently touched his leg, the power of the much older shikigami enveloping his student.
"I know what you did was only to help, but you took away more than just a threat. You took away yourself."
Rikugo sank down onto the ground, watery eyes looking at his sensei.
"I don't know what else to do!" he whispered roughly. "He fears me. He thinks I did this to him and just seeing those memories... it made me sick! He lives them whenever he sees me. I'm the trigger, Genbu!"
"Then maybe you should give him a bit of distance for a while, don't you think?"
"How?"
"Meifu is nice this time of the year," was the easy answer.
Rikugo was silent, then he nodded his understanding. Still shaky, he rose and walked past the cut off braid. He undid his robes, sliding the heavy cloak off.
Where he was going, he didn't need to represent. Where he was going... he hoped to find a measure of distance.
tbc...