No Reason – Chapter 9

AN: Usually I don't update without have a beta go over a story… But after waiting for several months and no help in sight I'll just take the risk (this time). I've proof-read this chapter several times before posting, but I fear there will still be some mistakes inside. If you find them or possible can tell me here to find a good beta, please let me know! (bows)
-Picaro

Also first hints of yaoi showing in this chapter!

„Kurikara?"

The dark-haired shiki in front of me let out a dark laugh.

"I´m sorry, human boy, but I fear your diminutive friend isn´t any longer here to hear you."

"But-!" I staggered back. I kew it! I´d known it all the time already! This wasn´t Kurikara, it was just some sort of evil thing that had taken over my shikigami´s body! Next to me, Rikugou and Touda exchanged glances out of the corner of their eyes. It was Rikugou who spoke first.

"If you're really not Kurikara, who are you then?"

The fake Kurikara´s face fist turned into a expression of pure bafflement, but then it turned into a hideous smirk. That expression wasn´t a nice one to be looking at on Kurikara´s childish face at all. I shivered inwardly. Was it that what all of the others constantly saw when they were looking at Kurikara? The true, my, Kurikara RyuOh? Was I the only one who saw the little shikigami with an undisturbed vision?

No… That couldn´t be.

Tsuzuki had wanted Kurikara to become his shiki as well, and despite all his goofiness my partner possessed a quite good sense for the true core of humans…and, well, shikigamis too, I guess, from what could be told about his little escapade with Touda… He surely wouldn´t have wanted to suffer the company of such an hideous creature as Kurikara, would the shikigami truly be as evil as was constantly claimed. …Right?

I couldn´t pinpoint my own feelings. The only thing that I knew for sure was that that thing in front of us might be possessing the real Kurikara´s body, but was never ever in life (and afterlife) the true thing himself. The presence of the thing whatever it was made me feel sick.

´Kurikara´ had watched us all through one single slanted eye. Underneath thick lashes, red that was sprinkled with unnatural yellow streaks glittered in an victorious sneer.

"It´s your deaf day today, huh? Like I already stated, I´m the true and only owner of Kurikara´s allmighty powers now, Fudo MyuOh!" The worlds were accompanied with small streaks of negative, dark-hued power starting to surround his body. Remembering the same stuff having done that much damage towards Byakko not so long ago, I quickly took a step back. Unconsciouly, Touda and Rikugou mirrored my actions. Seeing us back away, Fudo laughed haughtily.

"Just right you fools, be scared! Be scared of Kurikara´s power and shiver at its face-…" He stopped in mid sentence, his smirk turning into a thoughtful sneer. "But what am I talking here anyway? Why don´t demostrate it!" Laughing, he strechted his right arm out and the dark energy surrounding him turned with a flash into the spiraling form of a black sword, which looked like it was growing directly out of his arm. I heard Rikugou gasp, but couldn´t bring myself to do anything else but stare at the black edge like the proverbial deer at the headlights.

Enjoying our fear, Fudo laughed again, a black, vicious sound that I was growing to hate each minute more. Who was he and what right did he have to mutilate Kurikara´s body like that! And worse, was Kurikara still somewhere in there, desperately trying to win his own body back and help? Or was he already….? No! Alone the possibility of the last thought made my mind turn numb. It also turned my blood into hot, burning oil at the same moment, though.

"I.Am.Its.Master!" Again he barked out that strangely repulsive laugh. "Kurikara´s mine! And all that´s going to be left of you will be your fancy blood ruining the carpets." The last comment was hissed in an that casual manner as if he was talking about nothing more than taking a stroll instead of murdering two of Gensoukai´s highest ranked shikigamis as well as an at least theoretically immortal shikigami.

Touda and Rikugou had barely the time to push me out of the way as he attacked.

The swirls of dark energy that came hurling in our direction were a lot more powerful than the ones he'd previously thrown. They missed Touda´s head by an inch's breath away and blew the wall behind us into tiny pieces. Kurikara – no, not Kurikara! The doppelgänger – let out a shrill, malicious chuckle and lunged in our direction.

-And again it was one of Tsuzuki´s shiki who saved me.

From moment to the other Rikugou had appeared in front of me, arms hold high as if he was busy with some sort of prayer. He shouted an illegible word that touched something inside me and this time I could see how the time around the Kurikara-impostor was frozen. Rikugou didn't waste any time, though.

Grabbing me roughly by the arm he dragged me past the frozen dragon and shouted at the same time at Touda, who was freeing himself from several pieces of debris that had half buried him, to hurry up.

Catching sight of the glazy look that had also spread over Kurikara´s left eye, I felt a strong bang of guilt surging through me. Following an impulse I tried to tear myself free from the stargazer's grip and run towards my own shikigami. Rikugou brutally yanked me back, hardening his grip on my arm that much that I felt like I could hear my bones crunching underneath it. Still, I kept on struggling.

"No! Rikugou! Kurikara-! We've got to help him…"

The six-eyed shikigami only fastened his steps, dragging me mercilessly down the next hall with him.

"There's no way we could do anything of use for him now, Hisoka-kun. That other guy will kill us all as soon as we get into his reach again." Although intentionally not speaking it out loud, I could clearly hear that he'd originally had meant to say ´you´ instead of ´us´. ""But Kurikara-!" I was dragged down another hall. "Right now Kurkikara is about as helpless as we are, Hisoka." He roughly pushed me through a narrow passage that I'd completely overlooked on our way before. Rikugou´s four eyes on his head kept scanning the area and at least the top-most pair of them kept sneaking nervous glances back to the direction we were coming from. Finally, we came past something that looked like some sort of storage chamber and Rikugou pushed me hastily in it.

"Stay in here!" he ordered, looking once more frenzily at the direction in which we had left Touda and the impostor in. Turning back to face me, all of his eyes fixed me with a look that told me just how serious the situation we were in was. "No matter what happens, you'll stay in here until I come and get you! It's obvious that he's aiming for you since you seem to block his way towards complete control over Kurikara…" He shortly broke off as an pained inhuman shriek drifted to us. Somehow it sounded snake-ish to me. When Rikugou turned to me again, his expression had turned very grave.

"Touda´s loosing." He stated blankly. "Since it's obviously his goal, he mustn't get you, Hisoka! Tenkuu! Block all the ways leading here once I've left and tell Sohryu and the others what's going on!"

"It's already happening." Announced a rumbling voice that seemed to come from the walls around us. Rikugou nodded curtly. "Alright. I'm going to help Touda buy us some time. Hisoka…" he paused, looking unsure of what he was going to say. "When he manages to get past us, flee. Run! Do you understand! That thing is NOT Kurikara!" Not really thinking anything, I nodded my head mechanically. "Understood."

"Good."

Rikugou nodded a last time in my direction and then turned heel and vanished in a blur of fluttering blond hair and elaborate robes. With a crunching sound the wall's melted together after him, locking me in successfully.

I couldn't say how much time had passed since Rikugou had left – entirely too much, if you're asking me- but at some point or another I had the impression to hear faint shouts and roars drift through the walls opposite to me.

In the end I couldn't stand it anymore, and asked, to the palace-shikigami directed "Have… they won?" I barely caught myself from something sounding a lot less enthusiastic. Nobody answered my hesitant question. The sounds seemed to get louder though.

"Hello?"

Again no answer. Feeling slightly irritated (as well as more than just slightly worried) I walked over and pressed my ear against the wall. If the palace was already not talking to me it could maybe grant me some answers by simply letting me eavesdrop on what was happening. Or so I thought.

Only seconds after I'd pressed my ear against it, the whole wall seemed to shake that violently that I immediately jumped a good foot back. My reaction came just in time to prevent me to be sharing the fate of the wall I'd just listened on and that was now getting blasted into tiny bits.

Through it stepped a broadly smirking Kurikara.

"YOU!" I glared hatefully at him. "What did you do to Touda and Rikugou!"

The body-snatcher grinned haughtily at the question, displaying much more pointed fangs than I'd ever seen the real Kurikara do.

"Isn't that obvious?"

He stepped closer, raising a now blood-covered edge towards me. Gulping, I took a step back – and hit the wall. Hell, was it really this small in here! Seemingly having read me thoughts, the fake Kurikara let out an bark-like laugh and slowly came closer. The tip of the sword pointed casually first at my head, then at my bared throat.

"Don't worry, I won't take as much time with you as I did with Kurikara." He grinned sadistically. "I'll make it quick and painful."

With that he lunged, his katana describing a smug liquid-like move that would sever my head from my shoulders like cutting through hot butter. I screamed and ducked away, just to run against the cold wall that was behind me once more. Damn it, I was cornered!

Many things happened at once.

I desperately tried to duck away and slid further against the wall. The fake's sword came down in a swooshing metallic bow at me. The not-Kurikara´s face was drawn into a grimace of triumph. And from somewhere, a loud thunderous voice suddenly boomed.

"#NO!#"

The sword pieced the wall right next to my right side and Kurikara´s body crashed against mine, sending us both once more tumbling against the wall.

Right then I expected the other to stand up and finish what his first blow had missed, but instead of attacking me once more Kurikara´s body only leaned limb against mine. Then, slowly, hesitant arms wound around my torso. With a visible strain of force, Kurikara hooked his fingers in the front of my shirt and drew himself up by it. All during that time, his movement seemed strangely strained to me, as if the mind behind these motions used all of his remaining energy to force his exhausted body to do even this.

With a slow groan, clear, wine-red eyes blinked up at me. I gave a started jerk. That weren't the eyes Kurikara had had during he'd been possessed. This eyes were clean, vibrant and very, very deep… I blinked another time, staring into them. It was strange but possibly for the first time the uneven matched irises didn't disturb me in the least. So what if Muraki had also an unseeing eye that was on the same place as Kurikara´s? Those eyes and the persona behind them were definitely my shikigami and ally, Kurikara!

As if having heard my thoughts out loud (and maybe he had, considering our closeness and the fact that the dragon-shikigami had been showing signs of picking my talent of limited mind-reading as well) the petite RyuOh pressed his body even closer against mine, letting out a soft, exhausted groan in the process. When he looked up again, his impish face was half hidden against the fabric of my shirt. I also noted that his eyes were both open and half-lidded, giving me a somewhat dreamy look. Involuntary, a cold shiver ran over my spine. If the little shikigami wouldn't have looked so utterly exhausted, and thus the obvious reason for his acting not thrust this openly into my face, believe me, an over-ripe tomato wouldn't have been anything compared to the colour of my face!

Things being like they were, I only reacted with a heavy feeling of worry at his obvious bad state. Kurikara had by now closed his eyes again and nestled his face comfortably against my chest. I could feel the fringes of his ash-shaded ink-black mass of hair tickle my collarbones. The little shikigami sighed loudly. Despite no way of knowing it, I was absolutely sure that he was listening to the beat of my heart. After a short while – was it really that short? It felt like millions of years and only a few split-seconds at the same time- his arms loosened their grip. Kurikara stayed leaned close to me though, I could feel the warmth of his lithe body slowly seeping out of his and what seemed into mine. What was going on?

"…Kurikara?"

My tentative question sounded loud and shrill against my ears, and almost I'd have thought that the shikigami wasn't going to answer it. Then, with a loud intake of air, Kurikara´s body tensed a bit, and his head moved against my chest.

"H´soka…"

My heart leaped in my throat. It was really him!

"Kurikara! What-? I mean, where… how..?"

The shiki hmp-ed lightly and I could practically feel him smirk against my chest.

"Heh… Were you expecting somebody else…?"

The joke didn't aim well, and we both knew it. Feeling my internal uproar, Kurikara cut my words off with a tired but definite movement of his hand, now finally looking up and meeting my eyes again. The red irises I was looking into were serious and determined, worlds apart from the dreamy and tired ones I'd looked into just before.

"Not now." He stated. "We don't have much time! He won't let himself be blocked out much longer and my shields are already crumbling." At that words Kurikara paused and seemingly listened into himself, totally ignoring my involuntary wince as the meaning of them registered to me. If I'd have bad luck, I could have the impostor suddenly clutching the front of my shirt. I quickly pushed that thought away from me.

"Kurikara.."

"Not now. Do you trust me?"

"I- what?"

" I repeat: Do you trust me?"

I looked at him flabbergasted. What did he mean? His question didn't make any sense. Seeing the urgent expression on his face, I answered it with the truth.

"Yes. I think so. But why…-"

Kurikara cut me off short once again. Leaning against my chest once again, his eyes swerved to the side where they seemed to look onto something I couldn't see. Then, Kurikara straightened with a visible push.

Taking one step back from me (and leaving me feeling strangely alone and cold) he regarded me once more with a very serious look, before announcing.

"Alright! Then I've got no other choice! I'll have to trust you as well…"

Before I could react in any way to this strange words, he already had leaped forward and pressed his lips against mine. Something behind my eyes exploded at the contact of his soft lips. Instead of following my first impulse and pushing him away repulsedly (his body was barely older than thirteen and he was a boy!) my arms seemed to evolve a will of their own. Sneaking around his thin waist, they wound against the boy-shiki´s torso and drew him closer, pressing his warm form closer to mine as his amazingly soft lips locked me into a passionate kiss. My eyes had slid shut within the very first seconds of this and still I felt like I saw more of Kurikara´s body than I had ever done before. There were supple, hard spans where his fighting-shaped muscles broke through the soft form of his kid-like body, and all of it felt so very soft and welcoming and yet so strong… I was completely lost in the act by now, drawing him closer and closer until I felt that our bodies would have to melt to get any more tighter as Kurikara locked me into a gentle, yet unbelievably demanding kiss that seemed to suck the very soul out of me.

The dragon's kiss was like nothing I'd ever experienced before. It was unbreakable like the cold, mocking ones Muraki had given me while killing me slowly, yet there was no similar poison in it, and the few fleeting good-bye styled kisses I'd received since being in Meifu didn't even deserve to be called kisses anymore compared to this. Not even the single one kiss I'd exchanged with Tsuzuki (Watari´s potions be thanked) had stirred such emotions in me.

A soft, wet something prodded against my closed lips and I gave a little start, realizing belatedly that it was Kurikara´s tongue. Without further thinking I obediently opened my lips and granted entrance. What had been like the gates to heaven before turned into pure ecstasy as Kurikara´s tongue touched mine twined with it, battling a silent mock battle… And something felt off. One moment to the other all feelings left my body and it felt like all of my immortal life was sucked out of me. Instantly I tried to break the kiss, but Kurikara´s arms were too strong, holding me onto place by griping my chest and the back of my head. I struggled even more, but my body didn't seem to want to comply. Instead of prying him off my arms wound even closer around Kurikara, lifting him off the ground as our lips were still locked in that unholy kiss of dead…

Something changed again.

Instead of being sucked out, all of my life-grating energy suddenly was returned to me and with it even a little more. The kiss still didn't break but instead of grinding lips against lips it suddenly felt more like an strange experience of breathing into each others beings. Kurikara´s body suddenly jerked up in my hold and then something was pushed from his mouth into mine. Involuntary I gagged, trying to stop whatever was being transferred, but a horrible strong force forced my mouth to stay open and I felt it being pushed down my throat where it instantly expanded, flooding first my chest and then slowly my whole being with a new, burning sensation… it was almost as if my body was filled inside with fire that didn't burn but warmed me immensely…

Giving a whimpering sigh, Kurikara´s body suddenly turned slack against my arms.

With a startled gasp I released the immense pressure -I just then realized how much I must've squeezed him enough to break several ribs of a normal child- and watched his form tumble to the ground in a dead faint.

"Kuikara-…"

My words were cut of when a surge of soaring fire raced through my head, almost knocking me out too and leaving me with a deep feeling of vertigo and dizziness behind.

"Kurikara…-!"

I bowed over his unconscious form. What exactly did he just do…? I don't know how long we must've stayed like this in that room before Rikugou followed by Tsuzuki and the others stormed in. There were several gasps of surprise in the face of Kurikara´s knocked out state and Tsuzuki stayed all draped over me in personified worriedness, but it didn't really register to me.

Only when I had softly been steered back to my room and the commotion had died down to an tolerable level I woke up again. My thoughts still felt irritatingly slow and dizzy, like I had to give every order twice before my body finally opted to follow it, but somehow I managed to ask what had happened while I was in that room with Kurikara.

As it looked the fake RyuOh had already been quite finished with beating the shit out of Touda –Rikugou´s time-freeze hadn't hold half as long as the stargazer had hoped- and the serpent shiki had only survived heavily wounded by having himself turned in his true form inside Tenkuu (a thing the palace-shiki couldn't stand at all) as well as the fact that the other had mainly attacked him with fire-based attacks. When Rikugou had joined the battle he'd tried to lure the impostor away from the wounded Touda, but had then lost him somewhere on the way. Later he had met up with Sohryu and the others. Together the had followed Tenkuu´s instructions and found me and Kurikara – me in a semi-sort of trance and Kurikara cold out.

By now Kurikara´s body had been brought into what had been explained to me a high-security-cell of which Sohryu had steely refused to give any further information on. Most of the shikigamis had left by now, leaving me with a still fretting Tsuzuki and the faceless Taimo, who seemed to be some type of medic in shikigami terms.

Tsuzuki was just about asking me for the fifty-fourth time if I really was alright when Byakko suddenly barged into the room, knocking my partner over in the process.

"Taimo! O sorry Tsuzuki… Taimo, come quick, we found Suzaku!"

Both other jumped up at those words immediately. "Really?" "Where?"

I was too surprised to listen to what followed. Suzaku wasn´t dead? So maybe Kurikara still had had some control over his body while they had fought. But then, later in that room, he'd been desperate. Desperate enough to kiss me… Was it really that what he did? Or was it something completely else that only appeared like a kiss on the first glimpse…?

Involuntary, I felt the stunning sensation of him stuffing …something.. down my throat and deeper into me. Kurikara… what did you think? Against my will another thought came up in my head. It hadn't felt all that bad to be kissed by Kurikara… With a startled jolt my subconscious me jumped up and boxed the thought down again. Only when I was sure that it was securely trampled to pieces, I allowed myself to relax a bit again. Kissing Kurikara… What was I thinking anyway? The guy was still a kid…

…And so was I in similar terms, judging by the appearance of my immortal body alone. But what Tsuzuki and the others sorrowfully most often failed to recognize was that that was just appearance and appearance only. Mentally I was a healthy, albeit dead, young man at the age of twenty… I wondered if Kurikara felt the same way. Did he also feell frustration rise every so often because of people misjudging him by his pre-teen appearance? How old was the dragon god anyway, in shikigami terms? I barely stifled a frustrated outcry as I realized how astray my thoughts had gone again. But was that really so amazing? That guy had kissed me, for heaven's sake…

"Hisoka?"

The worried, and as I belatedly realized, repeated call of my name forced my thoughts back onto the matters at hand. Frowning a bit at my own clumsiness, I gave Tsuzuki a questioning look.

"What is it?"

My partner gave me a look that told me exactly how worried he was and repeated his question if it would be alright if he left to look for Suzaku for a little wihle. (This point was empathized so strongly that I felt the need to whack him on the head once again.) Giving him my most dignified stare, I kept my eyes open for Taimo. The shikigami had already left.

"Yes, I'm fine. You go and take care of her, Tsuzuki, she'll need it…"

"Oh, Hisoka…-!"

Tsuzuki was in his little-puppy form and clinging to my neck, wailing waterfalls of tears while proclaiming how strong and understanding I was. I pried him off, a veine popping on my head.

"Quit it already! I´m fine! Kurikara didn't do anything to me, so go and help Suzaku! You're her friend and master, right!"

It came off more annoyed than I really was, but I couldn't help it. Actions like that always make me feeling very uncomfortable, and anyway, Tsuzuki was used to it by now. Lo and behold, the brown-haired shikigami gave me a last trusting look, before turning mature again and rushing off to help Suzaku.

Behind me, a little scoff was heard.

"Seeing this, I know why you're so ardent about getting a more adult partner instead of him."

Hearing somebody talk like that about Tsuzuki immediately sent the little hairs on the back of my neck standing. What was he thinking… Sure, Tsuzuki could be an extremely incapable idiot at times, but on other he could just as easily be the exact opposite. And he was my partner…

Intending to tell that idiot off for good I turned around – and couldn't get my mouth closed. The one standing casually behind me, one hand casually stemmed against hip and measuring me with a toothy grin was nobody else than Kurikara RyuOh himself.

And he was see-through.

Noticing my surprise (with could hardly be missed at the moment), the petite shiki raised a mocking eyebrow at me.

"What? Never seen a bodiless soul before?"

CONTINUE…?