Terazuma knew he was running out of time. The lion was growing weaker and weaker, barely able to greet him any more, the wings limp appendages that looked strangely gray and lifeless, and his eyes had a permanently dull shine now. Terazuma had taken to sitting with his shikigami, stroking over the black fur, talking with him. Kijin and Tenkou kept him company, brought him food, but there was nothing else either of the two could do to help. The lion, outside of a shinigami host, was dying.

"I don't know what to do," Terazuma whispered and leaned against the large head, tears in his eyes. "I don't want you to die, cat."

There was a weak purr.

"No one can help us... aside from one person I'd hate to owe a favor. Well, he is responsible for this in the first place..." He closed his eyes in despair. "Tsuzuki could have the same powers, but he isn't Enma-Daiou."

Another whuffle.

"Hajime?"

The gentle voice made him look up and he met the worried eyes of his lover. "Sohryu? What are you doing here? I thought you and the others..."

"I took a break." The dragon approached the lower shikigami, looking him over. "He's not well."

"He's dying," Terazuma said bluntly. "I don't want him to die, Sohryu! And the only one to reverse this is the person responsible for it!"

Sohryu nodded. "Enma-Daiou."

"I don't trust him to reverse this properly."

"He gains nothing from harming you or Kagankokushunkei now. His reasons were not to destroy your bond forever; his plans involved something else."

"I won't grovel!" Terazuma growled.

Sohryu reached out and caressed one round lion ear, drawing a weak whimper. "No one asks you to grovel. Ask."

Terazuma felt everything inside him rebel at the thought, but he would have to jump over his own shadow or lose the Black One.

He leaned against the black fur, heard the shallow breathing, the weak purrs.

I won't let you die, he thought. If I have to go down on my knees, so be it.

"We're in GensouKai. He cannot come here," he murmured.

"The Lords of the realms can move freely. And he was our Emperor for centuries. He can." Sohryu reached out and touched Terazuma's neck, cupping it gently.

"Hajime..."

"I guess it's the only way," was the shinigami's reply.

° ° °

Genbu was alone in his study, gazing out into the world he had spent so many millennia in already, a world he loved, a world he protected, and a world that had been close to extinction twice now. It was a world that had changed a lot and still remained the same, and it was a world that needed a new leader.

While many would have voted for Sohryu immediately, the dragon had declined vehemently. Genbu understood why. Sohryu was young. He might not look it due to the changes his demanding and stressful job as the representative of the Emperor had invoked, but he wasn't ready for this. He had a life, he had children, he had found love again, Tsuzuki needed him... and this realm needed him.

It also needed a new Lord.

Steps announced a presence and he turned. Rikugo bowed his head in respect and sat down.

"You have come to a decision," the astrologer said, not even making it a question.

"I have indeed."

"You will take the Emperor's place."

"Yes."

Rikugo's black eyes were fathomless. A sad smile played over his lips. "I will miss you, sensei."

"Oh stop it, Rikugo. You haven't been my student in ages." Genbu smirked as he looked at the taller shikigami. "You have grown. You have outgrown the student status. You are a teacher yourself and you will do great things. You already have, actually. And it's not like I'm leaving or dying. I'm just taking on a new job."

Rikugo met the dark gaze from under bushy eyebrows with a faint smile.

"You always had a lot to teach me. We never stop being students, sensei."

"Not even the one who can see all?" the Protector of the North teased.

"No, not even him."

A silent chuckle escaped the ancient being.

"You know I am the only, logical choice, my friend. As is my successor. You."

Rikugo's face gave nothing away, but his posture stiffened. "Genbu..."

"GensouKai needs four Protectors, four Gods. Until a new Genbu is born and has come to power, you shall be my successor. I already told Sohryu. I know you will make me proud, and I know you will teach the new Genbu when he is born. It might be tomorrow, it might be in a few centuries."

"I'm not sure I can tolerate that dragon a few centuries," Rikugo muttered.

Genbu snickered. "You have done very well so far, Rikugo. You and Sohryu have come a very long and difficult road. As his equal, you will be even more of a challenge, but you will also be his friend, as you are already."

Rikugo fought down his reaction.

"There is little I don't know about you and him," the older shikigami teased. "And while I was surprised by your choices of a bed partner, I know it kept you two from fighting on a more dangerously physical level. But it is the past and the past is gone. We learn from it, but we should not cling to the foolishness."

"Sensei..."

"You shall be his equal, Rikugo, and I know you will do your job well. With the return of the Emperor, Sohryu will have more freedom to be what he was. Help him, my friend. He will need you as he needed you before, as a verbal sparring partner, to point out the errors of his ways, and to just listen." Genbu leaned forward, fixing him with a hard, intense look. "You both need each other. Don't fight that friendship because of what is the past."

"I won't," Rikugo replied softly.

"Good! Now, I should prepare for the ascension. So much to do." Genbu rose and bustled off. "And never enough time!" he called.

--

Rikugo remained where he was, stunned beyond belief by the words of his former sensei. It was a lot to digest and a lot more would still happen. Sohryu knew about Genbu's choice already, too.

He finally rose and left the palace, almost automatically seeking the next Gate into Meifu. He needed to talk to Ryu.

° ° °

It was hard to stop a Terazuma Hajime on a mission. Especially a very pissed off Terazuma, who hadn't slept well in the last few days, had eaten little, had started to smoke again from sheer fury and frustration, and who currently looked like someone who had spent the last days sleeping under a bridge. He pushed the servants aside, snarling at them, making them cower. When he walked into the silent main hall, he glared at the empty throne.

"Enma-Daiou!" he called.

Terazuma had rarely been in the presence of the highest being of Meifu, mainly because he was just one of many employees. He had a Section Chief to report to, not Enma directly.

"Welcome, Terazuma Hajime. What can I do for you?"

He gritted his teeth at the pleasant voice, facing the handsome form of the Lord of Hades with balled fists, pale-faced and barely civil. This was the man who had been responsible fro so much pain, and this was the man who had killed his lover's father.

"I want my shikigami back!" he growled.

Enma's dark eyes were a mirror of the universe. "I thought you despised the bond between you. Kagankokushunkei was forced on you by his previous host. This is the only chance you have to exist as a free shinigami."

"Don't tell me you separated us to grant me a wish! I don't believe it. And the lion is dying without a host!"

"You want him back?"

"Yes."

"It is your choice, Terazuma. So be it."

Terazuma frowned. "Just like that?"

A smile. "Yes, just like that. You made your choice knowing what will come. Kagankokushunkei will be your parasite shikigami until either of you dies or he should challenge you if you weaken."

There was a gentle surge of power and Terazuma tensed, warily looking round. Then the aura of his Lord flared with such force, he felt his own respond in alarm. Not that he had any chance to ever counter Enma-Daiou's magic, but instinct was instinct.

The next sensation was one of total displacement. He was no longer in the palace, no longer in Meifu... he wasn't anywhere. For a second he seemed to hang in Limbo again, fully conscious, looking at the five worlds that existed side by side, then his body tingled and he cried out in shock.

He felt him.

The Black One.

With him... around him... inside him... and his body briefly fought to maintain its human traits, then it surrendered.

Ears became slightly pointed, eyes turned a deep red, and the stripes appeared underneath his eyes. His senses spiked painfully, then leveled out, as if he had never lost them.

There was a sense of belonging, of welcome, or warmth, of need, and Terazuma turned to his shikigami, smiling like a little kid as he felt the big cat with him.

"Welcome home, cat," he murmured.

The response was a warm feeling, thankfulness, and the promise to protect him.

"Thank you," he replied, feeling so warm and giddy himself.

And then they were out of that strange place. It felt like rushing along a tunnel and then ending up somewhere bright and... not at all at the Palace of Enma-Daiou. Blinking, Terazuma tried to get his bearings.

"What the...?"

He tried to get up but lost that fight. His body was weak and he felt like his joints were made of jelly all of a sudden.

"Shit..."

He lay back, tired, exhausted, slightly out of breath.

"Shit."

Closing his eyes, he only wanted to gather his strength, but he couldn't stop himself from drifting off.

--

It was how Sohryu found him not much later, alarmed by his lover's lack of response, but when he saw the black stripes and pointed ears, he breathed a sigh of relief. Checking Terazuma's pulse, he gathered him into his arms and carried him into the palace, ordering the servants to open the doors to the bed chamber and pull back the covers. He then deposited the exhausted shinigami onto the mattress, the servants leaving silently and quickly.

° ° °

"He's back," Terazuma murmured, curled up against his lover, feeling the calming strokes across his back.

"Yes. It was your choice."

"I couldn't let him die."

Sohryu gazed at the shinigami. "Was it your only reason?"

Red eyes, with those endearing two stripes underneath them, met his. "I can't let him die just like this. It wasn't our choice to be separated. It couldn't be my choice to let him die. Not if I could help."

"You never liked him."

There was a flare of anger. "You know that's not true!"

Sohryu leaned down and kissed him gently. "Yes, Hajime, I know."

Terazuma sighed and pressed his face against the naked chest. He liked the smell of the warm skin and nuzzled one semi-interested nipple.

"I like him," he murmured. "I wouldn't let him die. Never. He's innocent. It wasn't his choice to live inside me, to have me as his shinigami. We made the best of it for decades and after I came here... after you taught us... we have an arrangement... and it worked. I don't want to lose that stupid cat."

Sohryu chuckled and tousled his hair. "Of course."

"I like him," Terazuma repeated, playing with his lover's hair. "I'd never push him away. He's my shikigami."

"Yes, he is. And he likes you, too."

Terazuma turned his head to kiss him gently. The kiss started out slow, then started to grow more intense, deeper, loving. Sohryu ran his hands through the black strands and moaned as his lover's fingers brushed over the nipple his mouth had been interested in before.

Inside him, the Black One purred.

tbc...