The demon was a creature of Hell.
The demon had been or still was a prisoner of Meifu. According to Sohryu he was allowed to leave once in a while to visit other realms, mostly GensouKai.
Terazuma knew of no prisons in Meifu. There was no need for them because shinigami took no prisoners and he had never heard of one of their own committing a crime. Even if one did, he would be either ascended or there were other ways to deal with him.
Meifu... prisons... What was strong enough in Meifu to even hold a demon?
His powers were sealed. The words echoed in his mind. Only one person had enough power to do that, and that was Enma-Daiou. And the palace of the Lord of Hades was probably the only place in all of Meifu where a demon might be held for a while.
No, Terazuma decided. No way. There was no reason at all to do that! Hell would probably send armies against Meifu should one of their own be held here. Killing each other was one thing, but holding a shinigami in Hell was as unthinkable as imprisoning a demon in Meifu.
After four days of turning those ideas over in his head, Terazuma began a new approach.
Rikugo had come to Meifu a while ago and they had all known about it to an extent. There was no way a shikigami could hide here for long, aside from really masking his or her powers, and Rikugo hadn't. So Terazuma began to retrace the steps of the astrologer and earth dragon.
He had been with Tsuzuki, of course. Often, regularly, whenever he arrived, but he hadn't stayed with his shinigami master.
Employing the finely tuned senses of his black lion, Terazuma began to almost literally sniff out the trail the dragon had left.
It led him to the Palace of Candles.
Repeatedly.
Sitting on a patch of grass, looking at the Palace in the distance, Terazuma frowned, deep in thought.
Rikugo came here.
Every single time he came to Meifu he had also been here.
Why?
The Palace was nice to look at, sure. It was a master piece of architecture. The Count was a gallant host, too, if he held his lecherous streaks in check. Terazuma had never had much trouble with the strange master of the place because the Count's whole attention had been on Tsuzuki, who he pursued like his long lost love. It was amusing sometimes.
So what would Rikugo...
The thought struck him out of the blue and he almost forgot to breathe.
No way! No freaking chance!
But what did he know about the Count anyway? Aside from the obvious, that was. And the obvious was never what reality was like. That was something Terazuma had learned by now, thanks to Tsuzuki.
So... was it possible that the Count was a demon?
The simple thought boggled the mind.
If he was a demon, why had no one ever felt it? Why had Enma employed him as the Master of the Candles, a job that was as difficult as it was important. Any demon who had access to the candles would delight in the possibilities. So why use one? Why imprison one here? And how come the Count had never registered as a demon with any single one of them?
The questions were endless and Terazuma couldn't wrap his mind around the facts.
And why would Tsuzuki want to free him? Why would he fight for this man? The Count was nothing but a lecherous old man -- at least that was what he showed to the outside.
Terazuma remembered the slender, dark-haired man with the handsome features, the red eyes... That was him? That was the man behind the mask? He couldn't believe it. It was impossible. The Count was everything he hadn't believed him to be, but the facts.. the facts were... unshakable...
This man was the Count, and the Count was a demon called Ryu, who was in love with a shikigami, Tsuzuki's shikigami. Rikugo.
Rubbing over his aching head, Terazuma felt the lion's confusion at his troubled mind. For the shikigami that possessed him, the whole situation was simple. Love was an emotion and if a demon felt it for a shikigami, so be it.
He's a demon, cat! Terazuma growled in his mind. Demons are the enemy and we fight them.
The black lion rumbled softly. He knew the Count and he didn't see any danger in him.
Terazuma raked a hand through his tousled hair. Oh well... He would have to talk to Sohryu. Just get it out in the open and hear what his lover had to add. Maybe he would confront Tsuzuki with his knowledge one day, but not now.
He rose to his feet and took out the Key, his access into GensouKai.
Sohryu might not know much more than he had already told Terazuma, but it would be good just to use his lover as a sounding board. These news... these facts... it really was mind-boggling.
He activated the key and jumped.
° ° °
"For all your scheming and planning, you have yet to succeed."
The dark eyes narrowed at the slender man who lounged on the wide-spread bed. Silver eyes, framed by equally silverish hair, shone with the taunt.
"You tried to trigger Tsuzuki and give him some rudimentary control by binding him to Touda, Muraki ticked off at his fingers. "You succeeded at first, but you lost him nevertheless. You never accounted for the strength of the bond, the balance and the calmness it gave dear Asato. His demon heritage is so much more than you ever expected it to be, and Touda is so much closer to him than you could ever guess. The most dangerous of all shikigami bound to the most dangerous of all shinigami. A wonderful combination."
"It was a minor set-back."
"Oh really? I'd say it was a catastrophe since all your careful scheming and planning with my family and Tsuzuki's birth went down the drain," Muraki added with a vicious smile. "My grandfather delivered him to you. Young, innocent, needy, desperate, suicidal, so vulnerable..."
Muraki smirked at Enma's narrowing eyes.
"It's not like it was your last failure. Like... Watari. Allowing a devil to enter Meifu the first time to claim the soul promised to him was daring. Angels can be such a pain in the butt, right?"
Another glare and the expensively robed figure turned to gaze at the world only he could see from here.
"Touda not only proved to be a very stabilizing factor in Tsuzuki's life, he was also pardoned because of that stability. He got himself a lover in form of the Protector of the West, and your attempts on breaking the bond almost resulted in total chaos for all realms. You call that a working plan?"
Enma seethed silently at the words, but he wasn't striking out at the man who was no more than a prisoner to him, a pet, a toy.
"It's a miracle no one has found you out yet, too, though Watari and Terazuma looking into the computer virus could prove to be a bit... distracting."
"I'll deal with them."
"Whatever you do, it won't work. You want Tsuzuki to lose himself in his demonic side, but Touda is in your way. You want GensouKai to weaken, you want them in confusion, but the strength of all Protectors is a thorn in your side."
"That can be changed."
"You tried it before," Muraki reminded him.
Enma turned slowly, the handsome, beautiful face a mask of barely contained fury.
"You let a devil possess Byakko, you turned a blind eye on the possessed human entering the Palace of Candles, you bet on your little hybrid demon breaking apart, but wherever you strike, someone strikes back. It all revolves around Tsuzuki, the one person you want and need for your plans." Muraki folded his hands behind his head, grinning insolently. "The very person you can't risk losing to insanity or death. I can give him to you."
"As you just reminded me, I don't need a broken wreck," Enma growled.
"I have more finesse than that."
A dark eyebrow rose and the smirk on Muraki's lips grew.
"You work your plan, you let me do the rest," the slender man added. "I'll give him to you; not broken... but open for your plans. I can make him lose his reservations, I can bring out the darkness and I can bring out the one you need."
The dark eyes in the beautiful face regarded him thoughtfully. There was a barely restrained fire in those eyes that sent a thrill through the genetically engineered human on the bed. Enma's gaze spoke of his power, of the ancient mind behind the ageless face, of his ruthlessness and his mercy in one. Enma-Daiou was no vengeful god; he was no mad man. He was a calculating being with a big problem on his hands, a problem he needed to solve in the near future. He had to prepare Tsuzuki for a task that Enma hadn't planned on for a while. He had hoped for a few more decades, to shape his chosen shinigami, but events had sped up.
Things were changing.
Time was running out.
Muraki was quite aware of his minor role in this play, which was far from a game, but he had his own survival in mind. As long as he pleased this powerful entity, he would live. Enma needed his services, but the requirement wasn't just a plaything for his bed. Muraki had many talents.
"One chance," Enma said calmly, walking over to the prone figure. "You want one chance and you will bring Tsuzuki to me?"
"Yes," Muraki purred.
"One chance," Enma murmured, gazing at the slender form with a familiar hunger in his black eyes.
Muraki knew what awaited him. He smiled invitingly, meeting the harsh lips in an equally harsh kiss. His body craved that contact, needed it, was conditioned to respond in kind, and what was sick and perverted for others was totally normally for him. He spread his legs, intention clear, and felt the chains materialize around his wrists, pulling his arms over his head, spreading him for Enma's eyes and hands.
The Lord of Hades smiled predatorily.
"One chance," he promised before he took control of their game.
Muraki closed his eyes and sank into the sensations of their encounter. Deft, nimble fingers closed around his arousal, stroked and teased and had him writhing against the bonds.
One chance.
-- The fingers slid deeper and he groaned in expectation.
He would use it his chance.
-- The fingers penetrated him and Muraki strained against the chains, gasping.
Enma slid onto him, playing with him.
-- "Mine," a velvety voice whispered before something else entered him roughly.
He would win, Muraki promised himself. And he would survive.
A/N: Well, this is it for the next few weeks. I'm on vacation in the US, starting September 17th,and won't be back till October 12th, 2005. For those who haven't read the stories on AFFNet or the LJ Community yamifics, there are two more fics for you to read that won't get posted here due to so much smut in them, it would be a crime to cut them down from MA to M.
One is called Dragon Flight and is a bit of an AU for my AU; pure Sohryu/Rikugo smut with some WAFFIshness.
The other is a Tatsumi/Watari one called Astarte's Wink.
You can find them here: home.arcor.de/macx/ynm/ymnindex.html
Have fun! I sure will on my vacation ;)