And another (very brief) A/N, this time concerning Watari's eyes: if you look at the scanlations of the 12th manga, you can see that his eyes take on cat-like pupils after he comes out of of his 'merge' with the supercomputer. Lara and I jumped on that and gladly incorporated it into our story. Don't think we'll leave you hanging. There is an explanation to everything, there is a reason, and there's come more hurt/comfort. :evil grin:
Magic flared, his own responded, and he whipped out ofuda to repel the demonic creature that tried to snap his head off. It easily dropped dead at his feet, but several more came at him.
And then the power rose even more.
There was a roar, a soft voice chanting an incantation, and across the hall Tsuzuki saw the hated figure of Muraki.
The doctor smiled amiable, a dragon rising behind him.
"Hello, Tsuzuki. And welcome," the silver-haired man greeted him. "You're just on time."
The dragon screeched toward him, wild and untamed, but still under Muraki's control. Tsuzuki jumped aside, anger mixing in with the fear he had felt all the way over here.
"I think you have come for your beloved partner, correct? He is here, waiting for you. He was quite... entertaining."
Tsuzuki felt something inside him twitch in anger. "Where is Hisoka?" he demanded.
The human smiled amiably. "Why, here..."
He made a little gesture and a drape that had been hanging like a partition in the hall dropped.
Tsuzuki froze as he took in the sight.
Hisoka.
Blood.
Everywhere.
Wounds not yet healed.
Shackled and chained and tortured and...
"No!"
"He didn't even cry out," Muraki chuckled. "He has become quite a man, in every sense of the word."
Tsuzuki felt something inside of him creak under the pressure that was rising inside him.
It wasn't just the fact of Hisoka's kidnapping right now that snapped the camel's back. It was everything. Too much had happened to him and his friends in the last months and years. Like Byakko, who had just now started to recover from his ordeal. The devil possession had hurt the wind god's soul, had nearly destroyed his mind, and in the wake had scarred not only him but everyone around him. Like Rikugo, who had reduced his aura and his power by cutting his hair. Like Touda, who had just recovered from his own problems, from the almost fatal virus that had threatened to kill Tsuzuki, too.
There was also Sohryu, who had finally, after centuries, discovered the truth about the death of his first born son and his wife Aya. It had resulted in a pardon for Touda, but the emotional pain had settled deep inside. At least he had found a new happiness with Terazuma.
Who was now missing.
Tsuzuki felt his fury turn into rage.
Someone had taken Terazuma, kidnapped him, and left him in Limbo. He could have died!
Like Touda.
Like Byakko.
Even Sohryu, struck down by grief, by his anger, by his rage.
So many people had suffered.
Now Muraki had topped it all by making such a timely reappearance, taking his partner from him.
And Tsuzuki cried soundlessly in rage.
His aura flared, his energy rose like a storm, his magic sizzled, and Tsuzuki was no longer willing to stop it. He felt no buffer from Touda, nothing at all, and his next scream was on the mind-plane.
Revenge.
It was all he wanted.
For all his past suffering at Muraki's hands. His approaches, his murderous touch, his killings. Muraki had forced him to take lives... he had manipulate dhim... he had tortured human beings, had used them, abused them, had carved a curse into Hisoka's skin.
Silver eyes, a pale face, the long thin strands of hair covering the artificial eye. The lips were twisted in a malicious smile.
"You'll pay," Tsuzuki whispered.
Hisoka was still, like dead. So much blood, so much pain still around him. The curse glowed vividly on the pale skin.
"Hisoka," he whispered.
Darkness trembled around him.
His partner, his responsibility, the only one who had accepted him. The only one who had stayed. Hisoka, who was his lover, his partner, who was everything to him.
-- Unable to protect those important to you
-- That is your weakness.
In his mind, the bond shut down, walls rose, and Touda, who didn't respond at all, was separated from his master.
"You'll pay," Tsuzuki repeated, his voice icy cold and emotionless.
Muraki chuckled. "Really? How do you want to pay my debts to you, Asato? With my body?"
The leer was there. As was the offer.
Tsuzuki felt nauseous, but the feeling drowned in his fury. Muraki had always tried to get him laid. He wanted to possess his body, his soul, everything, and once he had nearly had success.
No more.
It was over.
Tsuzuki Asato gave himself to the blackness that had opened up in his soul. He looked into the abyss, saw the fire in there, the black fire, the demonic fire. His father's heritage. He watched the demon rise and embraced it, for the first time not shying away.
He didn't care what happened afterwards.
The dragon serving Muraki was the first to perish, the dozen other creatures hiding within the playground came next.
°
There was no stopping what had started. It was an incredible wave of power, rising out of the slender man in the black suit. Eyes, hard and cold like diamonds, the color of amethyst, fairly glowed from inside. Black hair moved in the wind the darkness created as it rose, as it licked and hissed and sizzled for something to touch, to destroy.
Muraki gazed at the awe-inspiring display and smiled. It wasn't his usual cold and calculating smile, the sneer of a predator who finally had his prey where he wanted it. It was an almost sad expression.
"Asato," he murmured.
It was like a prayer, a vow, an oath, a calling, a summoning.
He stood before the avenging angel, knowing he had succeeded in his plans.
And he would be free.
Tsuzuki let go of a force that had slept inside him all of his life, that he had felt ever since becoming a shinigami, that had been his curse. He felt it roar past him, felt its mindless hunger, and he surrendered to what he was. He surrendered to the demonic heritage, the part that made him non-human, that set him apart from everyone else. He surrendered to something he had no more control of.
His eyes never strayed from his prey, but he was completely aware of the unconscious form of his lover and partner, of Kurosaki Hisoka, the one he would forever protect.
The power was his to use to fulfill his promise, to eradicate this creature from all realms.
Muraki.
His nightmare.
The power screeched around him like a banshee, erasing the sun, roaring and twisting, hissing and snapping as it spread everywhere, then even the last shred of humanity disappeared from Tsuzuki's eyes.
It struck.
It burned.
It shattered and destroyed.
It eradicated whatever it touched.
° ° °
In GensouKai, the Protector of the East was fast becoming a bundle of nervous energy and barely controlled temper, though by now the temper outweighed the nervousness. There had been no beep from either Touda or Tsuzuki, not had anyone heard anything from anyone else in Meifu. No one knew whether Touda had arrived safely, whether Terazuma was hurt or even still alive.
Rikugo watched the other dragon pace ceaselessly, only stopping to glare at the closed doors. No servants had dared to enter without any news about the missing two.
"Sohryu, stop it," the astrologer finally said sharply.
Blue-gray eyes glared at him.
"I know you're worried, but they'll be fine."
"How do you know? Have you Seen it?" Sohryu sneered, aura flashing briefly.
"No, but Terazuma is no longer in Limbo. That much I could See."
Sohryu huffed. "That means little. He could be anywhere now. He could be hurt!"
"It doesn't help him if you work yourself into a rage here, then."
Rikugo had no idea why he had followed Sohryu into the dragon's palace, why he was keeping his former political opposition company. Then again, maybe he did. If this had been Ryu, he would be just as frantic. He would want someone with him, just to anchor himself in that person, just to have someone to yell at, and who was better for Sohryu to yell at than the one person he had always argued with in the past?
"I know how you feel. If it had been Ryu..."
"It wasn't!" Sohyu exploded. "It was Hajime! And he was separated from his shikigami by force! Someone tore them apart and left him adrift!"
The aura struck out and hit Rikugo's, which had flared in defense. It was a harmless blast, but should Sohryu seriously lash out, Rikugo knew he might not be powerful enough to stop him.
Before he could argue again, there was a sudden spike from somewhere else. It was a connection that wasn't physical, not even purely mental, but spiritual. It was a psychic link to their master, a bond that allowed them to feel his presence, that gave them his power and his strength. Now it literally exploded with energy.
With darkness.
With the untamed demonic force that resided inside Tsuzuki Asato.
In the past, that darkness had been buffered by Touda and it had never reached that critical level.
Now it had.
And it tore free.
Sohryu's eyes widened and he gasped painfully, going down on his knees as his body was unable to handle the output.
Rikugo was even worse off. Since he had cut his hair he had lost power, and with it the resistance to certain attacks. All six eyes flew open and he screamed in utter agony as the power raged through him, touching his soul and tearing through his core. His own power screeched and let lose, thankfully flaring upward. The roof creaked and groaned, then went up in a pile of dust and smoke.
tbc...