Author: J.J.
Warning: It's an AU and it's BASED ON THE MANGA... it's unbetaed, it contains some OOC, some use of Japanese words (the Dictionary is at the bottom), a bit of sappiness, some spoilers...
Notes: This work is based on the manga even if it makes perfect sense even if you haven't read it. After all this story is placed before the series start so it shouldn't be a problem.
About the characters... Tsuzuki and Touda are a bit different from the original because this fic is placed back in their past. I'm supposing they and their relationship changed with time.
Warning over notes: This fic is filled with notes. You will find them at the bottom. Each time you see a number between brackets it means there's a note connected to the word/sentence that preceded it. Many of them explain references to other series, to YnM manga only or YnM anime only facts for who didn't get to read the manga or see the anime, explain apparently illogical things or warn you there's an explanation for illogical facts but that you'll get it later. However I suggest you to read the notes AFTER you finished the fic unless the word/sentence connected to the note is really troublesome for you to understand. Anyway the fic should be still understandable without the notes. Notes are merely extra explanations for who wants to know more or search for spoilers.
Disclaimer:
"Yami no Matsuei" belong to Matsushita Yoko. I'm merely using her characters because I love them... especially Touda, Tsuzuki and Hisoka... -
Ehy, Do I own something here? Oh yes, I own the plot and a sensible heart which would surely break if you give me harsh reviews... so please be honest but nice ok?
Thanks: To Candy-chan who encouraged me to write this! Thank you a lot!
Summary: 1936. GenSoKai. A city had been burned. Completely. Touda is suspected, Tsuzuki is trying to fix things while Kotaro and Kojiro are there to complicate the mess.
"This bloody road remains a mystery.
This sudden darkness fills the air.
What are we waiting for?
Won't anybody help us?
What are we waiting for?
We can't afford to be innocent
Stand up and face the enemy.
It's a do or die situation - we will be invincible."
(Pat Benatar - "Invincible")
They had run to the city but the Akuma wasn't there anymore. To make up for it the Akuma had put a Kekkai around the place he was burning. It would keep the damage limited but it won't allow people to escape from the fire. Plus it would dim the smell of the fire, allowing only the ones who were close to it to perceive it. A good way to assure himself that no one would escape alive and no one would notice what he was doing.
Touda would have praised the Akuma's plan if it wasn't giving him troubles and if it didn't hurt Tsuzuki, who couldn't deal with death in any manner. The Tengu stared at the scene in horror. They had caused it and they knew. Tsuzuki stared at the apparently perfect Kekkai in rage. As there had been a way to raise it there should be a way to break it. His talent lied in offensive spells while the Kekkai were defensive. He also knew that, since his partner also was more versed toward offensive spells, he needed to learn defensive spells in order to be a good balance to him and so he had studied them hard. At the time he had no idea but soon, in JuOhCho, there would be no one who could compete with him in creating Kekkai. Right then his knowledge wasn't complete yet but it was extended enough to know which were the weak and strong points of a Kekkai.(1)
He could break that one.
He had to break that one. He concentrated and started murmuring the spell. It was complicate and energy draining and he had never tried it before but it was the only chance they had to save at least someone. Touda and the Tengu stared at him but he didn't notice them, too concentrate in what he was doing.
Then... the Kekkai broke and Tsuzuki fell with it, his energy gone. Touda caught him and held him close as the temperature raised drastically and the screams of the survivors could now be heard clearly. Tsuzuki blinked, trying to stay awake but it was a lost battle. He managed to murmur something about the people that needed to be saved, the fire that needed to be stopped before it would spread in all GenSoKai and, before falling into unconsciousness, he heard Touda's voice ordering people around. He really didn't understand what the Shikigami was saying but it kind of calmed him. Things would go well. Touda would take care to help the people. Then darkness swallowed him.
"It was the most idiotic thing you ever did," was the first thing he heard when he returned back to consciousness. He turned his head a little. Touda was sitting right next to him, arms crossed and a glare behind that visor that he had to wear due to the conditions set for his release.
"Hi, Touda. I'm glad to see you too," Tsuzuki replied weakly. He was laying on the ground, but someone, probably Touda, had covered him with a cover and there was a wet cloth on his forehead. They were in some sort of tent. He wondered where the Shikigami had found the cover and the tent then what had happened dawned on him.
"The people!" he exclaimed trying to stand and managing to raise himself only a tiny bit. Touda pushed him down. Gently. He should have been very worried if he was being that gentle. It wasn't in his nature to be like that.
"You got out of that mess all those who were worth trying to save," which was Touda's delicate way to point out many others had died.
"How many had died?" Tsuzuki asked staring at him with a pleading expression.
"I surely didn't count them," Touda answered evasively. A bad sign really. Tsuzuki's gaze turned even more pleading. "Quite a bunch, I guess," Touda admitted reluctantly. Tsuzuki turned his gaze away. "It wasn't like you could have had chances to save them, Tsuzuki. You've done more than any other person would have done. It's stupid to blame yourself for something you couldn't have avoided."
"What about the fire?" Tsuzuki asked, his voice void of emotions. He still wasn't looking at Touda.
"It was stopped, don't worry."
"You stopped it, didn't you?" the man asked turning to look at him. Touda shrugged.
"Being a Fire Shiki doesn't mean you know only how to light a fire."(2)
"Thank you. Thank you. I'm sorry I couldn't help."
"Tsuzuki, wake up from it! Without you none of us would have been able to break down the Kekkai and they all would have been burned! If you keep up this idiocy I... I'll kick you!"(3) Touda wasn't really sure about what he was saying and definitely that wasn't going to be considered proper behaviour toward his master but stopped Tsuzuki from wallowing in misery. The man looked up at him with wide, surprised eyes and than smiled.
"Thank you, Touda," he repeated as he raised his hand toward him. Touda got the hint and grasped Tsuzuki's hand even if he wasn't sure what should he do with it afterward. Tsuzuki grinned and closed his fingers around Touda's hand. Apparently the man was content with him simply allowing him to hold his hand.
"You're welcome," he replied simply. "Now get back to sleep and the next time you decide to make a spell that's going to deplete all your energy just change your mind." Tsuzuki's grin widened a bit and maybe he would have followed his suggestion hadn't the Tengu come to bother him.
"You. Out," Touda ordered to the two stupid birds who were doing nothing but babbling about how good 'Tsuzuki-dono' had been at breaking the Kekkai.(4) Why hadn't he followed his first impulse and used them to prepare some Yakitori?
The Tengu looked at him confused. He glared. They got the hint and left. Quickly.
"You scared them," Tsuzuki pointed out.
"That was the plan, you know," he replied with a note of amusement in his voice. Touda liked to be feared. It was only proper for a Jyazoku to be feared, especially if he was one of the twelve ShinSho.
"Meanie," Tsuzuki replied smiling. "If you had asked nicely they would have done it all the same."
"I'm not nice," the Shiki remembered to Tsuzuki.
"You are the nicest person I know," Tsuzuki stated with a smile.
"You're an idiot," Touda replied frowning.
"The nicest person I know in full denial about it!" Tsuzuki insisted and chuckled a bit. Touda didn't try to make him change his mind. As long as the thing kept Tsuzuki in a good mood he could be a 'nice person' for him, it didn't matter if it ruined his reputation. He could be everything Tsuzuki wanted him to be if it pleased Tsuzuki. Just for him. For the nicest person he knew. For the only one who was special to him.
Tsuzuki's gaze darkened as he sobered up.
"Had someone informed SoRyu about this mess?" he asked. Touda shrugged.
"I guess it was in the agenda but I don't know if they accomplished it already," he reported in the dismissive tone he used for everything that wasn't his business or that didn't regard him. He was out of trouble now. The survivors could attest he hadn't been the one to burn the city but an Akuma. Protecting GenSoKai was SoRyu's problem. This mess didn't regard him or Tsuzuki anymore.
"It'll take time," Tsuzuki observed. "It'll give 'him' the time to do this again. I've to stop that Akuma before he'll burn another city tonight." Ops. It seemed he had forgotten Tsuzuki's caring nature. The man still felt involved.
"You think he'll hit again tonight?" He too believed the Akuma would hit again but he didn't really want to have Tsuzuki involved in this mess any longer.
"Three cities in three nights. Why should he stop? SoRyu won't be here fast enough to organize something to stop him and I don't know where he is or where he'll hit. I must think to a plan..." Touda groaned. Tsuzuki won't sleep. He won't rest until that matter wasn't resolved. So all he could do for him was helping him to solve that story as soon as possible.
"So far he's following a line," Touda offered.
"A line?" Tsuzuki asked, raising himself up a bit. Touda nodded as he tracked on the ground a rough plant of GenSoKai, showing him the position of the three cities and how they were placed on a line. Tsuzuki studied the map carefully.
"Do you think he'll keep following this pattern?" the Shikigami asked. Akuma weren't his ground of expertise.
"From what Kotaro and Kojiro said I'd say he's a low class Akuma. The Sempai told me they tend to follow always the same pattern. Like a sort of ritual," Tsuzuki reported.(5)
"That's stupid." It was Tsuzuki's turn to shrug.
"They're like that. Since rarely someone tries to stop them, they've no reason to make up a bright battle plan. High class Akuma follows rituals too but theirs are more complicate." Touda nodded. Tsuzuki looked straight at him. "Touda. Where do you think he's going to attack next?" The Shiki looked uneasy at the ground. Telling Tsuzuki would mean to have him get up and go there. It wasn't an option he particularly liked. "Please," Tsuzuki asked. It was strange how Tsuzuki could affect him so badly. All a master had to do to get a straight answer from one of his Shiki was to order him to reply. Tsuzuki hadn't ordered. He had asked, giving him the option to refuse. Touda discovered he wasn't able to deny his request in the same way he wouldn't have been able to disobey him. Maybe even more. He sighed and told him.
The sun was setting. The possible target was far. The Tengu had decided to join them for the ride. No one else had been informed about their destination. They were fast but it won't matter. They won't make in time again and Tsuzuki knew it.
"We'll part here," he announced.
"We'll what?" Touda asked. He already knew he wasn't going to like this plan.
"We'll part here. You three are going to persuade each Shiki in the city to leave it as fast as they can, I don't care how," Tsuzuki told them.
"What are you going to do while we do so, Tsuzuki?" Touda asked, his eyes narrowing. He had a bad feeling over this.
"Gaining time, of course," Tsuzuki replied nonchalantly as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. The Tengu made surprised sounds. Touda's frown became more marked.
"Against an Akuma? Are you out of it?" he yelled. It wasn't the proper tone or the proper language to use with his master. He didn't care. All he cared about was that he didn't want Tsuzuki to face an Akuma alone. Tsuzuki shook his head calmly.
"You're respectively a Fire Shikigami and two Wind Shiki. Wind Shiki couldn't fight a Fire Akuma and if you and this Akuma should fight most likely you would burn out all GenSoKai.(6) I'm a Shinigami. Sometimes I deal with Akuma. And the Sempai and one of our Akuma Baraishi told me all I've to know to do so," Tsuzuki explained in a very rational, calm way. Of course he avoided mentioning he never ever tried to do so before and that he wasn't even sure he could. The Tengu started protesting. They didn't want to let Tsuzuki facing that danger alone.
"Tsuzuki..." Touda started in that low, dangerous tone he used when he won't accept a 'no' as an answer and that had caused many powerful Shikigami to tremble in fear.
"Please, Touda. Trust me on this," Tsuzuki asked him. Trust. In the end all turned around this. Did he trust Tsuzuki enough to respect his decision? He lowered his head.
"If that's what you want from me, I'll do it," he said in the end. Not that he would like to do it but he would respect Tsuzuki's wish. He owned him that.
"You're a real friend, Touda," the man told him resting a hand on his shoulder. He didn't feel a real friend. He didn't want to allow Tsuzuki to do it. But he had promised to trust Tsuzuki and so... "I'll trust you to keep good care of the people in the city, okay?" Tsuzuki continued and he knew Touda will never allow himself to fail him. Touda raised his head and met his master's gaze.
"I won't disappoint you." Tsuzuki smiled at him, one of those warm smiles that Touda had learned to like so much, then moved to leave. "Tsuzuki!" he called before he could stop himself. He needed to tell something to Tsuzuki, he needed to; only he had no idea what it was that he wanted to tell. He never felt the imperative NEED to tell something to someone else. Tsuzuki turned and he found himself bugged by a nagging fear as if that could be the last time the man would turn toward him. "If you'll do something idiotic again, I'll make sure you'll regret it," he muttered, clenching his fists. He should have been able to say something better, something smarter, something... nicer. He wasn't. Tsuzuki understood anyway and smiled at him.
"Don't worry! We'll see later!" he said cheerfully, then waved and left. Touda wasted only a precious minute to stare at Tsuzuki's figure as the man left.
"Let's go!" he ordered then to the Tengu determinately. The two birds stared at him, unsure.
"But Tsuzuki-dono..." one of the two started to say. After Tsuzuki had saved the city they had upgraded quite a bit their opinion about him. They didn't feel like leaving him to face an Akuma alone either. Touda's eyes narrowed dangerously.
"Tsuzuki said he wants whose worthless idiots to be saved. We'll do as Tsuzuki said, understood?" Traitor or not he still was one of the twelve ShinSho, a fine warrior and a good strategist. Not to mention the fact that his glare, even if hidden by the visor, still made people uncomfortable. The young Tengu had no choice but to obey.
JJ's Notes:
1. In 'Devil's Trill' we see that Tsuzuki's Kekkai can effortlessly face the attack of an Akuma... I say it must be a strong Kekkai...
2. Honestly I've no idea if Touda knows how to stop a fire but it makes sense that he knows everything about it including how to stop it so...
3. In Vol. 10 we see Touda kicking Tsuzuki to wake him up. However I supposed that at the time in which this fic is placed they weren't that 'intimate' yet...
4. After Tsuzuki had managed to break up the Kekkai and save all those people his reputation is risen in the Tengu's eyes and so that's why they now call him 'Tsuzuki-dono'.
5. I'm not sure about that but demons in mythology seem to favour following always the same ritual (or so I've been told) so...
6. In the manga is said that the Tengu couldn't face Kurikara RyuOh because they were Wind Shiki while Kurikara was a Fire Shiki. Later is also said that Suzaku can't face Kurikara because they're both Fire Shiki. I assumed that this reasoning works with Akuma as well.
JJ's Extra Notes:
This chapter shows how Tsuzuki managed to rise in the Tengu's opinion. Hisoka did so in the manga saving Kojiro's life, Tsuzuki saving many Shikigami from being burned alive. It also shows how Touda didn't always like to obey to Tsuzuki's orders but in the end he always chose to do so. In the 'Kyoto Arc' manga version before obeying to Tsuzuki he asked him if he was sure that was what he wanted and obeyed only when Tsuzuki said: 'Yes...'
Dictionary:
-dono: Name ending used to show respect, somewhere between '-san' and '-sama'
-sama: "Lord" or "Lady"
-san: "Mr." or "Mrs."
Akuma: Demon
Akuma Baraishi: Demon Exorcist
ChiJou: Land of the Living
Enma: "Demon of Darkness". Ruler of the Land of Dead
GenSoKai: "Illusory world". It's where Shikigami reside and it's a mirror copy of ChiJou located in JuOhCho network
JiGoku no Kuro no Honoo: Black Fire of Hell
JuOhCho: "Ten Kings Office". Meifu's bureaucratic organization ruled by Enma. It's in charge of judging the deceased in Japan
Jyazoku: "Snake Race" or "Member of the Snake Race"
Kekkai: Shield
Meifu: Land of the Dead
Sempai: "Older Workmate" or "Older Classmate"
Shiki: Short for 'Shikigami'
Shikigami: "Ceremonial God". Summoned creatures with two forms (usually one is animal looking while the other is human looking) that live in GenSoKai
ShinSho: Divine Commander
Tengu: "Heavenly dog". A race of winged Shikigami who're in charge of the Suzaku gate
Yakitori: "Roasted Bird". It's a type of food. Basically 'Chicken on the spit'
Replies to reviews:
To Everyone who reviewed: Thank you! You're a great encouragement for me!
To Silverfox1: I fully agree over the fact that Touda is always cute expecially when he comfort Tsuzuki! I guess that if Touda were to have children they would grow in Tenku-Kyuu even if he won't exactly be a father figure... more like someone who's surpervising they won't get themselves killed because if they did Tsuzuki would be sad... but I can't say for sure. Since I supposed it was part of the Jyazoku culture to abandon their children things might not be that simple... Of course I doubt Tsuzuki would allow him to abandone them someplace so... it'll be kinda complicate... Tsuzuki will never like Tengu-Yakitori... however Touda sees nothing wrong in roasting people he doesn't like... He'll avoid doing it only because it displeases Tsuzuki...
To TeeDee: I hope you'll be satisfied with this new chapter!
To May: I'm glad you like the dymanics between Tsuzuki and Touda. I particulary love those two characters! And I wanted Tsuzuki's relationship with his Shiki to be explored more. The fact that Tsuzuki had 12 of them is amazing since normally people has at best 2/3 but it shouldn't have been easy at the beginning to deal with all them since they all have pretty different personalities and strong wills...
To Lothlorien1: I'm glad you like this fic also and that you enjoied the way I portrayed Touda and Tsuzuki! Thank you again for all the help you gave to me with 'Gifts'! I'll never thank you enough!
To Arlaikeeno: First of all thanks for all your reviews! You made me really happy! Touda and Tsuzuki are my fave also so I'm glad you like them and I'm happy you like Kuroshiro also! Evrything will have a solution in the next and last chapter, I promise!
Send me your comments!
