It was on this stroll through the many parks and gardens that he ran into him. Not literally; not like with Touda. Ryu had been admiring a beautifully arranged rock garden with a water fountain when he felt the aura and turned.
"So you are the demon, hm?"
Ryu faced the tall, handsome shikigami and immediately realized who he was. It wasn't the aura alone. It was everything. Sohryu. The Azure Dragon of the Sky, the Protector of the East.
"I guess," he replied warily.
So far he had met only a few of the Divine Commanders. Byakko, Touda and of course Genbu. The others were either busy or didn't seek him out, which was fine with the demon.
"You don't look like one."
"You don't look like a dragon either," Ryu replied and could have bitten off his tongue the very next second.
He was talking to the representative of the Golden Emperor, the designated ruler of GensouKai. Great. Wonderful. Step on his toes, he muttered silently to himself.
Sohryu actually smirked. "We both hide well."
"I'm not hiding," Ryu replied almost defensively.
"I suppose not. Your aura gave you away."
Ryu pulled it more tightly around him, which made the dragon frown. He knew he was radiating his heritage, but it had gotten better. People were getting used to him. Not everyone, of course, but the tolerance had grown.
Blue-gray eyes looked him up and down. Ryu felt like Sohryu was checking him out.
"I hope I'm not trespassing. I was just... looking around," he explained carefully.
There had been no privacy signs and he had done his best not to venture onto palace grounds, especially not the palace that was in the center of it all.
Sohryu smiled a little. "No, you're not. This is a public place. May I show you around?"
Ryu hesitated. The leader of GensouKai was offering him... a guided tour?
"I... thank you for the offer," he answered politely, "but I guess you have... errr... more pressing matters to deal with than a visitor..."
Sohryu's smile stayed, but the eyes grew a little more intense. "Not at the moment. You could say I declared you to one of my matters. I'd like to get to know the demon one of my commanders has fallen in love with. The demon who seems to come here regularly."
Ryu sighed. Great. Thankfully Sohryu hadn't confronted him the first or second time he had come here, because it would most likely have left him a gibbering wreck.
"I could send you my references and my resume. Would probably be quicker," he muttered.
Sohryu chuckled. "Maybe, but I hate paperwork."
A black eyebrow quirked. "So I heard."
"Tsuzuki," Sohryu only commented.
"Yes, we talk quite a lot."
"About me?"
"Among other things."
Sohryu just inclined his head in an invitation to come with him and Ryu did. He fell in step beside the slightly taller shikigami, surprised how easy it was to talk to someone who was normally seen as unapproachable, cold and without emotions.
°
Ryu had no idea how much time had passed, but his conversation with Sohryu had been rather pleasant. Of course, the dragon had asked him a few very personal questions, but all in all it was nothing he wouldn't have expected from the Protector of the East. He was the one being responsible for all of GensouKai in the absence of the Emperor -- which was a permanent absence -- and Ryu was an intruder of sorts. A demon, nonetheless.
It was while they were close to a small pond that Ryu felt a familiar aura flare and before he could react, a rather furious looking Rikugo was facing a very calm Sohryu.
"What do you want here?" the blond demanded.
"I was just talking to Ryu," Sohryu replied pleasantly.
Rikugo gritted his teeth. "You never just talk! He is my guest! You have no right to question him!"
"I have every right, Rikugo," was the slightly more cold reply. "He is a demon which is a possible threat to GensouKai. I was confirming his alliance myself."
Rikugo's aura flared and Ryu's brows rose with it, surprised by his lover's temper. Normally the astrologer was a rather balanced and calm individual, but somehow Sohryu seemed to be pushing buttons Ryu had been unaware of.
So he watched the encounter with interest and confusion. Sohryu's presence was awe-inspiring. His demonic half could feel the power in the God, could feel his strength and his distrust of the new-arrival, but there was also a core of softness, something that was willing to give him the benefit of a doubt. It was something he had felt in their conversation, which was now just a lot clearer than before.
The strange thing was the posturing of the two dragons against each other. Rikugo was positively bristling, spoiling for a fight, while Sohryu freely emitted waves of dominance. He was clearly telling his subordinate that should he try for a fight, he would take the challenge -- and beat him with it.
There was a tug at his pants and Ryu looked away from the verbal fight, straight into a pair of large blue eyes that had no visible pupil, framed by a round, child-like face. Long, dark blue hair was elaborately piled up and there were a dozen decorative elements woven into the long hair. The child, because she was a child, was dressed in wide robes that seemed too large for her. The sleeves fell over her hands, of which one was holding on to his leg, the other was clutching a crumbled paper bag.
"Do you want to see my ducks?" the girl asked.
Ryu blinked, slightly confused. "Ducks?"
"Yes. They had babies. They are really cute. Come!"
And with that she hurried off to the lake not far away. Ryu cast a look at the two dragons, who were still very much at it, then shrugged and followed the girl. Let those two battle it out, he mused.
The lake was more of a pond, but it had a family of ducks. There were two grown ones and a clutch of six little ones. The girl was beaming at him when he crouched down beside her.
"That's Aka," she explained and pointed at the mother duck. "And the other is Naka. He is the father," she added.
Ryu had no experience with children per se. The last time he had had interacted with a child had been two thousand years ago, in a village that no longer existed, among people of who he had killed many by just existing as he was. He pushed those thoughts aside.
"Aka's babies are Kuro, Marui, Saza, Yoshi and Toku."
"That's five," he pointed out. "What about the little one over there?"
The girl shrugged. "I haven't named her yet. Do you want to give her a name?"
"Are you sure it's a girl?"
She beamed. "Yes."
Ryu looked at the tiny duck, trying to think of a name. "What do you think of Mori?"
The child nodded enthusiastically and held out her paper bag. Ryu took it and found it was filled with crumbs and something that looked like dried seaweed.
"I'm Tenkou," the girl introduced herself. "You want to feed them with me?"
"I am Ryu," he returned the favor. "And I'd be honored."
Tenkou climbed onto his lap as he sat down, completely innocent in her behavior, not the least scared of an aura she might or might not feel, but perfectly friendly to a stranger anyway.
"They're fighting because of you, right?" she asked after the first handful of duck food was thrown. Ryu tensed a little.
"I guess."
"Don't worry. They fight often."
"Really?"
"Yes. Since I can remember."
"Oh."
"It's not bad," Tenkou added. "They fight and they make up and they fight again."
Like an old couple, shot through Ryu's head and he was drawn between amusement and a stab of unexplained jealousy.
"Is it because you're a demon?" came the next very precise shot out of the blue.
Ryu clenched his hands around the crumbs. So she did know. She was a shikigami and she had probably felt his aura because he still couldn't suppress it completely. He gathered the wayward emissions of energy, which resulted in a frown on the child's face.
"I'm not afraid of you;" she declared.
"No?"
"No." Those large blue eyes were suddenly looking at him and Tenkou gave him a warm, full smile. "You're the first demon I met, too. I like you."
"Not all demons are like me," he cautioned her.
She was a shikigami and as such, when she was all grown up, might one day be challenged and won by a shinigami. She had to know that demons weren't like Ryu.
"I know, silly! Rikugo taught me everything. He's my teacher, you know. He knows everything! And I know that demons are dangerous, but you aren't. I like you. And Rikugo likes you, too."
Oh great. Even the kids knew.
"He's nice. You're nice, too."
Ryu had no reply for that. She was a child, what did she know? She had no experience with his kin and Ryu himself didn't pride himself on his forced heritage.
° ° °
Two dragons faced off against each other, one livid, black eyes sparking, the other radiating a lot more calm but still appearing the more dominant of the two.
Rikugo, eyes narrowed behind his reading glasses, suddenly frowned. His gaze darted to the empty spot where his lover had been moments ago and where now there was... no one. Ryu was gone.
"Where..." he began, confused, Sohryu forgotten.
The blue dragon frowned likewise and suddenly started to smile. "Over there."
Rikugo followed his gaze and his eyes widened. Speechless, stared at the scene. There he was, his lover, Ryu, the demon hybrid, the one person he loved more than anything else, and he was feeding ducks with Tenkou. It was a peaceful scene, so totally at odds with the emotions he had felt until a minute ago, the aggression against the perceived threat of Sohryu.
A hand landed on his shoulder and briefly squeezed it. It was a rather unusual gesture for Sohryu, as was the expression on his face. It was warm and calm.
"You and him... you fit," the more powerful shikigami said softly.
It sounded like a blessing. Rikugo blinked at the dragon, who was grinning at him.
"Sohryu?"
"He is a demon, I can't ignore that, and it will take getting used to, granted. Take care of him. You might not find someone like him again."
Rikugo tried to understand. Sohryu was... he had said...
"Why?" he asked, mystified.
The blue-gray eyes were unreadable. "Because he makes you happy, Rikugo. Something no one has ever done before." And with that Sohryu walked over to the pair at the lake to gather his daughter.
Rikugo was dumbfounded. He knew that if things had been different in the past, there might have been a chance for him and the other dragon, but the odds of two dragons having a lasting, loving relationship was close to nil. Even if positive emotions had accompanied their relationship in the past, the rather volatile escapades, it wouldn't have survived.
tbc...