II. GensouKai: Consequences
It was a pitiful sight.
Terazuma looked at the black lion that lay on the clearing, took in the limp wings, the coarse looking for, the dull expression in the red eyes. When he stepped out onto the clearing, for the first time ever since the separation, the lion raised his head and huffed in recognition.
"Hey, cat," Terazuma murmured.
It was the first time he saw Kagankokushunkei like this, outside his body, able to touch the black fur and look at the shikigami that had possessed him over three decades ago.
The Black One whined a little.
He looked sick. Weak and sick. Terazuma felt the same, still suffering from the aftereffects of being in Limbo. No blankets in the world managed to warm him when he went through the shivers.
"What a fucked up situation," he murmured and held out his hand.
The big cat snuffled at it and whined more, pushing its huge head against it. Terazuma smiled a little and stroked over the surprisingly soft fur at the nose. He came closer and ran a quizzical touch over the mane, which was much coarser and that hung as limply as the wings.
"He's sick," a small voice announced and Terazuma looked around, meeting the large blue eyes of Tenkou.
Sohryu's daughter looked very worried and her small face was scrunched up.
"He won't eat and he won't really sleep. He's really, really sick."
"Yeah," Terazuma murmured and looked at his shikigami again.
His.
The Black One was his. But not right now. He was outside and they were separated, both still suffering, both weak, but apparently the lion wasn't really getting better.
"I wish I knew what to do," he murmured.
Tenkou rubbed her small hands over the large nose, completely unafraid of the cat that could so easily snap her in half. Kagankokushunkei just whimpered softly and closed his eyes, head resting on his paws.
Terazuma felt a strange kind of pain.
This was what he had always wanted. To be himself, not possessed by a being he had never wanted. Why did it feel so wrong?
A new-arrival made Tenkou turn and she smiled at her older brother.
"Father has called a Council meeting," Kijin told her, nodding at Terazuma in a greeting.
"I'm coming," the girl called.
Terazuma smiled a little as the two youngest of the twelve Divine Commanders left for the main palace. Tenkou was a child, but she was also powerful and the Goddess of the Sea. He had never seen her fight, but her position was the same as Taimo's or Rikugo's. It was such a contradiction, but Terazuma had learned to live with it. Being Sohryu's life-partner had opened his eyes to a lot of things.
"Well, it's just us now," he murmured and sat down cross-legged beside his shikigami. "I have no idea what to do with you, cat. None at all."
The Black One whined weakly and nuzzled faintly at him. Terazuma smiled, more of a grimace than that anyway, and patted the massive neck.
° ° °
Sohryu felt his world freeze, felt it narrow down to the blond shinigami speaking those blasphemous words, and his aura lashed out in rage. His temper rose to the boiling point, his body trembled inside with suppressed outrage, but on the outside he was like made of stone. His face showed no emotions, was expressionless, though his eyes burned.
Watari Yutaka faced the highest of the shikigami, shoulders squared, back straight, hands balled into fists of determination, and he only winced once when the aura spiked painfully.
Behind him, a little to the right, stood Rikugo. The water dragon growled softly in his throat, feeling betrayal that the other Divine Commander had apparently fallen for those words.
How could he believe them?
How could he think that this was the truth?
It couldn't be!
But they were. Delivered by a man who had nothing to gain from uttering the blasphemy, supported by a shikigami who could See betrayal and lies easily and who nevertheless stood with Watari.
The Emperor was dead. He had died centuries ago, before Sohryu had become Protector of the East, and ever since Enma-Daiou had filled these shoes. It had been Enma talking to him, sending commands and answering his calls, when he did.
Kurikara had been right.
Kurikara had known.
Sohryu's rage turned into a nauseous realization that he, and everyone else, had been played.
Their Lord had perished, almost unnoticed and so sudden, there had been no successor. Enma had known, Enma had been there, and he had taken over without realizing that this would one day backfire. Today was that day.
"What proof do you have?" he demanded roughly, clinging to a last shred of hope.
Watari met the demand bravely. "I was inside Mother," he only answered.
Sohryu frowned. "Mother? The super-computer?"
"Yes."
"No one but Enma-Daiou can access the Mother computer."
Watari was visibly fighting not to move back. "That's correct, but not completely. Five more people can. The Five Generals."
Sohryu looked into the steady amber eyes.
"I was the Chief Researcher on the Mother project. I have complete access to her."
That left a second of total silence, then Sohryu understood the whole impact of it all. Watari, a simple shinigami with no apparent powers other than being able to give life to inanimate objects, had been one of the Five? Sohryu knew about the hierarchy in Meifu, he knew about the leaders, the ones of influence, and the Five Generals, while working in the background, had been and still were influential.
He wanted proof of those declarations, of this incredible truth. He wanted this to be a lie.
But he knew it wasn't.
There was no reason for Watari to lie.
Sohryu felt his aura still quiver and spike. He closed his eyes and tried to breathe, felt the shock and outrage of the others, and he looked at the twelve Divine Commanders. Touda's face was one of frozen rage. His eyes glowed and Sohryu saw Byakko's fingers clenched around his partner's wrist. It was either to keep the hell serpent in his seat or to cling to something himself before he exploded.
All of this had been because of Enma-Daiou. The possession, the devil invasion, the near-loss of Terazuma... and something older. Something more personal than anything else that had happened. Sohryu pushed it away, not ready to deal with that particular truth just yet.
"Tsuzuki is still in danger," he said, voice cold and hard. "We will not allow Enma-Daiou another chance to destroy either out master or any one of us. He is in the Palace of Candles right now and under special protection, but I speak for all of us when I say that I feel unwell knowing that he is in Meifu and in Enma's reach. Until I have informed the Lords of Heaven and Hell, I want Rikugo, Touda and Byakko to stay at his side."
He met the eyes of the three shikigami he had chosen and Rikugo's face, pale and drawn, radiated surprise, but only briefly. Touda just nodded and rose together with Byakko, followed by Rikugo.
"He won't get him again," the serpent growled.
°
Sohryu was shaky, reeling from a truth he had denied five centuries ago, a truth that had let him make mistakes already. SO many had suffered because he had been such a fool. He had been made a fool!
Hands clenched, he stood in the silent council hall.
Fool!
The Emperor was no more and he had been played by Enma-Daiou.
There was a little shiver of an aura, a shinigami aura, and he turned, glaring a the slender blond who had dared to come back in here.
Watari wasn't alone. Touda was at his side, as was Rikugo. For whatever purpose... maybe to protect him from Sohryu's wrath?
The dragon almost laughed humorlessly.
Watari was the unlucky messenger and you just didn't kill the messenger. Especially not someone who had finally opened his eyes.
Watari walked up to the imposing form of Sohryu and cleared his throat.
"Uhm, Sohryu... I... I'd like to talk to you." He glanced at Touda. "And it would probably be best if you were here, too."
Blue-gray eyes narrowed.
"It's about what I saw in Mother. I... I didn't tell you everything... at least in front of everyone... There's something very personal that concerns only you, Sohryu..." He stumbled to a halt.
"Then why are Touda and Rikugo here?" the Protector of the East demanded.
Watari chewed on his lower lip. "Because you will need their friendship. And because they were there, too..."
Sohryu looked at them, especially Rikugo, and sneered a little.
"So talk, shinigami. What else is there to know?"
"It... concerns the death of your father," Watari began.
Narrow features froze and the reptilian eyes grew hard as diamonds.
"He didn't die a natural death," he ploughed on. "He found out the truth, realized the Emperor was dead, and he confronted Enma-Daiou... and lost..."
tbc...