Hisoka had a moderate idea of what had hit him. He knew it was Tsuzuki, but not his lover's emotions. The source had been from somewhere else. From Touda.
He had never felt such anger or rage, such pain and despair, and his shields had crumbled like thin paper.
Now Hisoka found himself in a bed, among fresh sheets, with blinds drawn shut. There was something cool to drink on the bedside table and he gladly sipped at it, noting with dismay that his fingers were shaking. It took him a while to gain enough strength to make it out of the bed, noting that he was still dressed. It also looked like this was still the same day, so he hadn't been out long. His shields had grown stronger throughout the last years. They had to.
Hisoka left the room, getting his bearings. He wasn't far from the reading room and from prior explorations he remembered that there was only one other possible guest room, which was where he was headed. The emotional wave had blown into Tsuzuki's unprotected and unsuspecting mind, taking him apart, leaving him a total mess, and Hisoka needed to be there for his lover. There was no one else.
Well, only one other person, the Count, and despite the frequent interaction in the last weeks, Hisoka still didn't know what to make of the man. He was such a contradiction and knowing that he was Rikugo's lover didn't make it any easier. He only got the surface emotions and they were rather general.
Approaching the door to the other room, he felt his lover's presence, as well as the Count's. There was a gentle voice, talking softly, and Hisoka peeked inside. Like his own room, the blinds were drawn shut to keep out most of the sunlight, and he saw Tsuzuki on the bed, moaning, whimpering now and then, curled up. He was suffering from a headache, his head buried under his arms. Hisoka could feel the pain at the edge of his shields. And if he could feel it there, it was taking Tsuzuki's mind apart.
What stopped him from entering was the second presence inside, sitting on the edge of the mattress, talking gently to Tsuzuki. Hisoka held his breath, aware who he was looking at.
The Count.
Hidden in the twilight, Hisoka could still see quite a lot of the man. Tall, slender, dark-haired, and apparently younger than everyone thought he was. An ungloved hand was stroking over Tsuzuki's head, but there were no perverted thoughts touching Hisoka's shields. It was honest worry and protectiveness.
"Asato," the Count whispered. "Relax. "
"It's Touda," Tsuzuki moaned. "Something happened. I need to be there... I need to go!"
"Not in your condition. And even if you were stronger, you know I can't let you leave. The Palace is your only protection right now."
Tsuzuki shuddered and looked at the Count with eyes narrowed in pain. "But... Touda..."
"Whatever happened, we'll know soon enough. I sent a messenger."
"Really?"
"Yes. Now relax. Sleep. You need to recover." The tender caresses hadn't stopped and Tsuzuki was actually leaning into them.
"He lost it," the shinigami murmured. "I could feel it. It was so bad. It hurt. He hurts, Ryu. He hurts so much."
"I know," was the soothing reply. "But right now you can't help him. You have to recover first."
Tsuzuki mumbled something and in the half-light of the room, Hisoka saw a smile on the Count's face. He pulled back as the man rose and quickly made his way back to his room. He waited until a few minutes had passed, then left again, almost timely enough to see the Count leave Tsuzuki's room – and he was wearing the mask again.
"Ah, Hisoka, have you recovered?" their host asked pleasantly.
"Yes. Where is Tsuzuki?" Hisoka asked, face neutral.
"In here, resting. It was quite a blow."
"I noticed." And with that he pushed into the room and walked up to the bed. Tsuzuki was dozing, his pale face lined with pain, a fine sheen of sweat covering his skin.
"Oh Tsuzuki," he murmured.
The Count walked away without a word, just nodding at him. Hisoka watched the door close, still in control over his expression, but inside he was trying to work through the discovery. He hadn't seen much, but what he had seen had wiped his image of this man completely. Sure, he was Rikugo's lover, so he had figured he wasn't Konoe's age, but the glimpse had already given him a good idea about the man's beauty.
Pushing that thought away, Hisoka turned back to his partner. He couldn't touch Tsuzuki, unless he wanted to risk an overload, but he could be there when he woke. So he crawled onto the bed and made himself comfortable
° ° °
The black fire radiated the heat of hell, burning everything in its wake, and the four protectors knew they wouldn't be able to get closer to Touda. Within the flames they could make out the dark coils of the hell serpent, bathing in its own heat. The flames were snapping and hissing, and Touda howled and hissed with them as he raged against defenseless rocks. Sohryu dared to approach the licking flames, bellowing over their roar in an attempt to make himself noticed by the serpent. Touda's head snapped around and he hissed in response to the challenge, golden eyes rolling.
What has happened to Tsuzuki? the dragon thought briefly. Their master hadn't come, so it meant Touda had either completely cut him off and Tsuzuki hadn't felt it, or he had been overrun by the surge of emotions.
He feared it was the latter.
Sohryu looked into the fiery golden eyes, so close to the expression now that Touda had had over five centuries ago.
Back then he had killed.
Today...
"Touda!" Byakko cried. "Stop this! What are you doing?"
There was a snarl from the hell serpent and the coils moved ceaselessly.
"Touda, what is wrong with you?"
"Madness," Sohryu whispered.
"No! He isn't mad! It's... it's anger. Fury. He's not gone!"
Sohryu regarded his fellow Protector sadly. He knew how much Byakko loved Touda, and he himself considered the serpent his best and oldest friend, past problems forgotten, but this... this was too close, way too close.
Byakko gave a roar of denial and launched himself into the air.
"Byakko, no!"
But it was too late. The tiger opened his jaws and they felt the summoning of power, then a vacuum wave of immense proportions rolled over the desert. Suzaku screeched and took off, hovering in the air, but both dragons remained, watching.
Byakko was a wind shikigami and could influence atmosphere and winds. He controlled weather, so to speak, and he could create everything from a small breeze to a thunderstorm or a blizzard. Right now, the vacuum wave snapped across the fire, extinguishing the flames, and it was the same attack his father had used on Touda, just before the fire shikigami had torn him apart.
"No..." Sohryu breathed, those memories coming back. "NO!"
--
Byakko was running across the cleared path, unheeding of the powerful hell serpent, and suddenly jumped Touda. The serpent gave a gurgle of surprise as large paws pushed his wings to the ground, and he hissed in annoyance when the mighty jaws snapped a warning at his throat.
"Stop it!" Byakko whispered harshly. "Stop it, now! You're getting yourself killed if you continue! What is wrong with you, Touda?"
Touda growled deep in his throat and suddenly flexed his very muscular form, throwing the tiger off. Around them, the fires were dying down a little, now just warm instead of scorching hot.
"Byakko, you idiot!" he exploded, twisting around the young tiger. "What were you thinking, throwing yourself into my fires like that?"
"They said you lost it... they said you were like back then... Touda, I... I had to bring you back."
Byakko changed his form, just a small, human figure within the huge coils of the powerful fire shikigami, and golden eyes stared at him in shock. Maybe it was that shock, maybe it was something else, but Touda changed his form and was his normal self, dressed in black, the eyes wide, face lined with pain.
"There was no need... "
"Can it, snake!" Red eyes flared. "You ran away instead of talking to me and the next thing I know is we're after you, fearing you'd wreck GensouKai again! Do you have the slightest idea how I felt? You may have been pardoned, you know, but Sohryu was ready to kill you, moron! Do you think I'd have liked it to watch your execution?"
Byakko gestured toward where the three others were sitting, all in their battle forms, all tense.
"Byakko..."
"Don't 'Byakko' me! What happened? Why did you lose it in the first place? I've never seen something like that happen before. I know you can be grumpy, but you're not like that!"
Touda stared at him, glancing at the blue dragon not far away, meeting the furious eyes with an expression of bewilderment.
"I am fire," he only murmured.
"And I'm wind, but I don't go up in a hurricane!" Byakko approached the slightly taller man. "Touda," he said, carding his fingers through the long black strands of his lover, "I love you. What caused this?"
Golden eyes evaded his. "I think it was a accumulation of several things. I had to control myself for so long, and... and after what you've told me about that devil, it somehow mixed up with... with Keijin's death. I didn't lose it like back then, I just had to get some out of my system, badly. Otherwise I think I wouldn't have been able to guarantee for anything."
Byakko looked at him, shocked, then just hugged him fiercely. "Oh Touda..."
"I'm sorry," the fire shikigami murmured into the silvery-white strands. "I'm so sorry..."
--
Outside the circle of burned desert ground, a ground that had turned into black glass, Sohryu shifted his shape back to his human self, face pale. He was aware of Rikugo close by, of Suzaku changing as well, then a hand rested on his shoulder, squeezing once. Black eyes reflected understanding.
Rikugo had been there when his son had died. And like everyone in the Council, he knew what had happened to him.
"We should leave," the astrologer murmured, exchanging looks with Suzaku, who nodded her agreement.
Sohryu felt a tremor race through him, then he pulled himself together. So much was lately bouncing back at them, hitting them in the face even centuries after its conclusion, and no one was immune. Looking at the two men, standing entwined, Touda holding on so tightly to his young lover, he smiled sadly.
Sohryu understood the fear and desperation one felt when losing a loved one. He had gone through it too many times. And Touda... his friend had suffered emotionally and physically ever since Keijin's loss. With Byakko he had an equal, a lover who was able to tame the fires, as Byakko had just shown. He just needed to accept that the tiger was strong enough to withstand the outbreaks of his lover's temper.
"Let's go," he murmured.
° ° °
Touda sat on the smooth, glass surface where once a desert had been. His fires had done this, turned everything to glass, and it was still warm. At his side, Byakko sat cross-legged, waiting.
"Touda?" he coaxed.
"You know Suzaku and her temper tantrums," he said, almost to himself. "All fire shikigami can be volatile, easily roused, to the point of choleric, but not me. I can't allow myself to let go, to feel the anger, to truly rise and explode in a moment of emotional overload. Suzaku can; she doesn't have hell fire. I do. I had to gain an iron control over me and my powers, because if I didn't I could have caused lots of havoc. Sohryu's father taught me, and some of it I learned along from Rikugo."
"Ever thought of constructing a training court?" Byakko asked softly.
"Where? Made of what? You've seen it, even rock can't withstand my fires."
Byakko leaned against him, complete in his trust, in his love, and he wrapped his arms around the dark-clad form.
"Talk to me, Touda. Whatever it is. In the future, talk to me..."
Touda buried his face in the white strands. "I just couldn't... I... I could imagine what you had gone through... in your mind... what the devil had done, and it hit too close to... home."
"Keijin," Byakko murmured.
"You're not," was the soft addition. "I know you're not. You're both so different. But... it was like having to go through it all again... I can't lose you like that, Byakko. I just can't."
It was more than just a plea, it was an admission of immense proportions. Byakko whispered softly as he drew his older lover closer, as caressed him, running his palms over the muscular, curved back.
"It didn't happen to me. And it wasn't Rikugo."
"I know."
"It was a nightmare and I can't even remember it, really. Not any more. Not like this."
Touda inhaled deeply, trying to compose himself. "I know."
"And as honored as I am that you turned a desert into a glass wasteland because of me, I think Sohryu had a heart attack when you let lose," Byakko quipped.
Touda chuckled softly. "I suppose. I'm sorry."
He suddenly tensed as something else struck him.
"Tsuzuki," he breathed in fear and shock.
Byakko stared at him, eyes wide. "What?"
"I... he felt it, too. Front seat... Dear gods..."
Touda turned toward the link and ran into a wall that he himself had constructed, and he hurriedly tore it down. He stumbled into a mind that was suffering from a merciless migraine, the mother and father and ancestor of all migraines, and he keened softly in despair.
:Tsuzuki...:
tbc...