Disclaimer: Yami no Matsuei belongs to Yoko Matsushita and that's it.
AN: Well, what to say, what not to say…? Gomen for the late up-dating as well as THANK YOU for all that positive reactions.^___^ Thanks a lot! And now on with the story!
*****
+ ~ Hisoka´s POV ~ +
"Well, birdie. Lost your way?"
I stared at them. No. Impossible. How could that be? Kurikara... Kurikara wasn't- ! I mean... He couldn't-!! Why was he acting like that?! Just moments ago he'd told me that he didn't want to be found. Why now-? Argh! I couldn't understand anything! Kurikara RyuOh was the evil spirit?! But why-? And how? How could this be?! He'd been here before and nothing had happened!! How could he have suddenly turned into something that set all of the twelve celestial generals off like that? And why, for heaven's sake, is he attacking Suzaku?!
I watched with morbid fascination how a single scarlet drop of blood made its way over the fire-type shiki´s forehead and dripped onto the fire general's shoulder. Strange, how such a little drop could evolve into such a big stain. Kurikara has really bright blood, by the way. I've already seen more than enough blood, so I know what I'm talking about. Tsuzuki for example has really deep, red blood that looks a bit like red wine if you squint. My own blood is a plain, simple red. Blood-red, if you like. But Kurikara´s … until now I didn't know that such a brilliant quality was even possible. It inhabited an intensity and clarity that involuntary made one think of liquid rubies.
Next to me Tsuzuki and Byakko were in a similar state of shock. "K-Kurikara RyuOh!!" The shout resolved the tension. Within seconds the wind shiki had conjured a swirling ball of air/atmosphere-*something* and had hurled it right at the crouching Dragon King.
Kurikara evaded almost lazily, just letting go of Suzaku in the very last moment. The fire general gasped as Byakko´s blast tore past her through the air.
It was almost a pity. I really would've liked- No! No way!! I shook my head with a jerk. I most definitely didn't want to see what Suzaku´s blood looked like. Just what was wrong with my head suddenly? Ever since I had left my room I had that strangely dazed feeling…
Kurikara snarled at us from where he'd landed. His eyes were concealed by his wild black bangs, but I already knew the expression they held. Anger. Rage. An all-devouring hatred for everything alive… I could feel it here and, short, it just gave me the creeps.
I involuntary shivered.
"Hisoka…?"
Tsuzuki. He sounded worried. A bitter part of me wondered why it had to be always me that made him worry like that. You know, I know Tsuzuki. No matter whatever bad was going to happen, it would end up with my partner blaming himself for it. And like always, I wouldn't really be able to do anything for him. My lack in supporting abilities never ceases to depress myself. It's also an important reason in my wish to gain a strong shiki. With a strong shikigami under my command, I would get strong as well. If I could be strong, I could try and prevent at least some of the bad things that seemed to follow us from happening. I could support and aid my overly childish partner like he always aided me. To return the care and affection he so willingly gave to me. I was never good about showing my emotions and such stuff, and frankly, I don't think I'll ever be. I could only hope that my actions would talk for me. To accomplish that, I needed to be strong (and patient, since I know very well about my partner's abilities of grasping the obvious hints concerning him - or rather lack thereof).
But since I died, my body wouldn't change anymore. That was why I needed to get a strong shiki. – why I needed Kurikara RyuOh.
As if he'd heard me, the short shiki suddenly lifted his head. Getting for the first time a good glance at his face, both my companions gasped. His pupils had contracted to small slits, betraying his true nature.
"Hisoka!!"
My partner in crime- uh, .work. slammed into me, knocking all of the air out of my lungs. Landing on the floor, I could barely see as something cut through where I'd been standing just seconds ago.
From the other side of the corridor, we could hear Byakko yell in distress. The wind general had barely managed to block another blow that had been aimed at him, when Kurikara already sent the next one. This time I could see better what he did. Though I can't say that it made much sense. The diminutive shiki had made a slashing/whipping motion with his hand, and the next second something was soaring through the air again, aimed towards Byakko.
Despite his best affords, the tiger-shikigami didn't manage to dodge it completely. Yelling out in pain, he fell to the floor, clenching his injured shoulder.
"Ofuda, Tsuzuki-san? That won't bring you anything."
The amused words tore my attention back to where my partner was trying to erect a barrier. Kurikara was watching him with amused curiosity before blasting the enchanted papers to shreds. Wow, not even ashes stayed behind. Tsuzuki collapsed with a pained gasp. Obviously my shiki hadn't only aimed at the ofudas.
Kurikara let out a shrill laugh that almost sound psychotic. Wait, forget what I said. He sounded like a sadistic, psychotic lunatic who had waaaay too much fun.
I shuddered at that laughter. It was totally crazy. Not in the sense of a mad scientist who'd gone finally off the rocker or someone like that. No, it wasn't anything near that reassuring.
It was far worse.
The only thing I've ever heard which barely resembled that sound was a faint memory of Muraki when he'd realized that I was there, long ago in that night when I died… -And even that was a more than weak comparison.
In it echoed the pure, sadistic-gleeful joy of a little child that had somehow managed to catch a insect and was now about to rip its legs out one by one, just for the heck of it. Yeah, that sound. Hearing it I knew that Kurikara wouldn't let any of us leave while still alive. Strange, I wasn't even scared…
The KouRyu raised his hand with a triumphing expression.
"Time to end our little game."
Those incredibly red eyes were ablaze with gloat as he moved to bring his hand down, summoning again the same unknown power that he'd used to render Tsuzuki and Byakko helpless. I closed my eyes. I'd rather not see whatever he had in store for us.
"Wha-?!"
At RyuOh´s enraged outcry I snapped them open again, just in time to see Suzaku slamming into Kurikara and cancelling the attack. I don't have to tell you that the Dragon King wasn't exactly happy, do I?
Still scuffling on the floor with the enraged boy-shiki, Suzaku screamed "Byakko! Make sure that you get away!"
"But-!"
"No buts!! Byakko, you have to-!" She broke off, coursing. When she continued again, she wasn't talking to us. "Tenkuu-ojisan!! Get them out of here!!" The fire general's voice was now laced with urgency, as the air surrounding them had gotten hotter and hotter from the two struggling fire deities barely restrained divine auras.
Right now Suzaku was still able to keep the upper-hand by using her average size and weight (Kurikara´s barely more than half her height…^^;), but it was obvious that it wouldn't last for much longer.
"No! Tenkuu!!"
Tsuzuki´s shocked cry was futile, as the walls surrounding us had already started moving. Changing their places, they quickly began to erect a new wall between us and the two fighters.
The female fire-general looked up long enough to give us a reassuring look before the wall closed. "It's all right Tsuzuki-san. Just go and warn the others."
"But-"
"Byakko!"
"Nee-san…?" The tiger-shikigami was bleeding badly.
"Get them to safety, you stupid tiger! And warn SohRyu!"
"… Hai!" With a cat's quick reflexes he managed to grab both me and my struggling partner and stormed off, dragging us out of the immediate zone of danger.
"Byakko! Let go! We have to help her-!!"
The very pale wind deity just shook his head, not pausing in his speed.
"I doubt we can do that, Tsuzuki…"
+ ~ Suzaku´s POV ~ +
I watched with relief as Byakko finally managed to get a hold of himself and proceeded dragging Tsuzuki and Kurosaki-kun away. Honestly, that guy could be such an airhead sometimes that…-!
I gasped for breath as Kurikara RyuOh landed a good kick into my guts. Pushing me roughly off, the shorter shikigami immediately lunged after his escaping prey, just to get a wall slammed shut right into his face.
A faint smirk crept over my face as he let out a howl of rage. Hah! Take that!
As if he'd heard my thoughts, the black-haired shiki suddenly snapped around. Taking in the sight of me, his lips twisted into a malicious smirk. I gulped. Not good. Definitely not good at all. I was going to pay for that one, dearly. Forcing myself to return his stare I tested for my sword, firmly deciding not to make it too easy for him.
+ ~ Tsuzuki´s POV ~ +
"What do you mean by that?"
I stared wide-eyed at Byakko. The tiger-shiki had stopped dragging us further for a brief moment and was giving me a sad look. "What I said, Tsuzuki."
"We can't help her?"
"No, we can't." He started pulling us again.
"But she's your friend-!"
"Yeah! And because of that we have to do what she said and warn the others!"
"But-!!"
"Tsuzuki… She's strong."
Evading his look, I turned my head away, mumbling "I know…" Byakko was right. Suzaku WAS strong. Very strong. But she was also a fire type shiki and thus the same as Kurikara. When two shikigami of the same element fought each other, it was normally the level of their power that decided the outcome. And no matter how much I wished for it to be otherwise, Kurikara RyuOh´s level of power excelled hers by far. We both knew that.
As well as Suzaku did.
I could even understand Byakko´s obvious resistance to intervene into the fight, since wind and air in general tended to just raise the power of fire.
Just why did the KouRyu do this anyway? I would've thought that things would get better now, since he'd become Hisoka´s shiki. Hisoka? Hisoka! I quickly cast a look on my precious partner. Hmm, he seemed to be okay, as far as I could see, though his green eyes were misted over in a way that didn't do any good in lowering my worries. That's not good… The last time he'd looked like that was right after a rather ugly incident with Muraki.
I found myself agreeing with Byakko. There was no way we could help Suzaku like that. The only way was to hurry and find somebody else who could. Quick!
+ ~ Hisoka´s POV (again…) ~ +
…
... ...
We were too late.
That's the only way I could of how to describe it. We were simply too late. When we'd finally found some of the other and hurried back to the front of my room, they weren't there anymore.
We were simply freaking too late!
Splinters that had broken off Suzaku´s edge had littered the floor as well as some bigger pieces of it. Obviously she had tried to fend Kurikara off with it –and just as obviously failed. Remembering the fate of Touda´s artificial claws, I couldn't help but think that it must have proven pitifully useless against him.
Ugh, I scrunched my nose. There were still some traces of the atrocious smell of burned flesh in the air, as well as the nauseous stench of blood. Kurikara had been nice enough to leave a trail for us, you know.
A trail that consisted of a huge smear of blood where seemingly a rather tall body had been dragged over the floor.
Ladies and gentlemen, we had a clear winner! And it was painfully obvious that it wasn't Suzaku. I couldn't suppress a shudder at the thought that the monster that had done this and I were gradually becoming one.
Tsuzuki and his shikigamis were currently studying the devastation and probably trying to figure out what to do next. I can't say that I really cared. The only thought in my head was that it had been Kurikara who had done this. The same Kurikara that I was to claim as mine. The same that just moments ago had practically begged me to listen to him. Who had desperately tried to warn me of something…
If it really was Kurikara who had attacked us. First doubts started to worm their way into my heart. What could it have been that he'd been trying so desperately to warn us for? Or who? An impostor…? No. I was 100% sure that it had been the real RyuOh in the corridor. What about the strange numbing feeling in my head that had left as soon as I'd brought some distance between us? A side-effect of the bounding? Or…
Next to me, Tenkuu told the others that he was neither able to locate whether Kurikara´s nor Suzaku´s presences within it. I wasn't surprised. Seeing the blood on the floor, I remembered something. Kurikara had been bleeding as well when he'd visited me in my room.
Could it possibly be that the Dragon King was being controlled by somebody else? No! I discarded the thought. Kurikara RyuOh had already proven before that he was uncontrollable. Still… the idea of possession stayed. Against my will, I found myself musing again. It would make sense that way. Kurikara hadn't been himself when he'd attacked us. And if something had managed to gain control over RyuOh´s body, it surely must have paralysed his mind in the meantime, which would explain the mental numbness I felt around him. It would also explain why his two swords were missing and the urgency with which he'd tried to warn me.
He must've known that time was getting scarce for him…
A sudden wave of guilt washed over me, followed by a burning rage. Again somebody had gotten caught up in the maelstrom of bad events that seemed to surround me. So I admittedly had problems dealing with Muraki Kazutaka. Fine. But the doctor didn't have anything to do with this (for once, I hope), quite unlike me. By now I was sure that something, no, someone had seized control over Kurikara, and hell if I was going to just put up with it!
I might sound possessive, egoistical, childish and power-hungry –and maybe I was- but if somebody had a right on the KouRyu and his power then it was me and not some bloody mind-controlling bastard!!!
First I needed to make sure I was correct, though. I needed to talk to somebody who knew more about mind-control. Somebody who would be able to recognize the signs.
I needed to talk to Touda.
+ ~ Kurikara´s POV ~ +
"Nng…"
What was this?
I kinda knew that one couldn't expect any good after fainting due to an acute assault of extreme pain in your head, less if said head was bleeding. Well, at least that had stopped.
Still, lying on the floor in the middle of Tenkuu was definitely no- Oh. My eyes had by now gotten used to the dim light (Did the brat close the curtains or something? Note to myself: Must pay better attention to my surroundings.) and I finally got a better view of where I was.
Or better said: The lack of it. Guess I can stop worrying about getting blood on the furniture. Because there was none. Yeah, you heard me right. There was none! And even less of a room to be in, to be exactly.
I growled in annoyance. I was, as it seemed, stuck on a plain of darkness. Everything around me was black - walls, the floor I was sitting on, everything! Though… To be honest I highly doubted that there was even something like wall… or a floor. Just shiny, annoying blackness.
Looking down at the ´floor´, I grimace. Great. Just great. Somehow my feet had sunk into the floor (from the tip of my toes to my knees since I was kneeling, grrr…) and damnit! There was also some of that black stuff around my wrists too!!
I immediately tried to rip it off, but much to my dismay it didn't even budge. "Grrr….What's this-?" Before I could proceed to find any fitting words to what exactly I was thinking about what that *censored* was, a howling voice interrupted me.
A voice howling with laughter, in fact. Straightening, I glared at the source of it. (Or at least tried to. Do you even have a clue about how hard it is to glare at somebody you don't have the slightest clue of where he is?) So I just glared, hoping to look at least in the right direction.
"As hot-tempered as ever…"
"Ne, Kurikara-chan…?"
I froze at that voice. No. Impossible. "You can't…" My voice sounded hoarse. It couldn't be him. After all, Fudo MyuOh was-
"…dead?" My previous incarnation asked with an amused expression as he stepped into sight.
…
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CONTINUE…?