Dedicated to rusalkaz
It was almost as if it were happening in slow motion. Their progress through the air was measured in heartbeats instead of seconds. There was a terrifying moment when Rikuou's green eyes met his own and in that single second, he felt his breath stolen. There was no change in expression, but just somehow…
"RIKUOU!"
"WATANUKI!"
He didn't know which of them had yelled first, because his own voice melded with Doumeki's so perfectly. Then they were both pounding on the old staircase as they ran up, hoping to reach a halfway point with the two falling down.
Time seemed to slow down for Kazahaya. Rikuou's hand reaching out was drawn into a movement that every second took a year and every heartbeat was barely completed. There was no way he'd reach that hand…no, but Doumeki's did. The sound of the slapping of hands as they connected and gripped sounded like church bells to his ears.
"Kudou-san, quickly. With this much force, I'll be pulled over too."
Everything happened so quickly that before he realized, Kazahaya was clutching onto Doumeki's waist with every single inch of strength he had. The railing was long gone and he heard the creaking of the stairs under the combined weight. But at least Rikuou's fall had been stopped.
"Watanuki! Oi, Watanuki wake up!"
"Doumeki-san, I don't think he hears you," Kazahaya grunted, already his arms going numb.
"He's out cold," Rikuou told them, the strain in his voice obvious. He had to not only hold an unconscious person, but also bear the brunt of holding onto Doumeki's hand with only one of his own.
"I can wake him up."
"How exactly?"
"Oi, idiot. Wake up. Only morons could sleep like this."
"Sh-shut…up…you…jerk…!"
The words were soft and full of strain, as if he had barely any breath to speak, but at least he was awake. Kazahaya couldn't believe that no amount of yelling would have woken him up, but calling him an idiot would do the job. That was…almost impressive. Then again, did he really have the place to be impressed, when it was, ultimately, up to him to keep all three of them from plummeting to the ground?
He didn't think so.
"How do you think we're going to get up now?" Rikuou muttered.
"Watanuki just needs to climb up you, over me, and Kudou-san will drag him onto the stairs. Then I pull you up." There was a pause and he could practically hear Doumeki gritting his teeth against the effort of holding them up. "Watanuki, did you hear me?"
The only response was that of a blood-curdling scream. It was the highest pitch of anything Kazahaya had ever heard in his life, worse even than that when Watanuki had been captured by the spirit in the first place.
"Watanuki-san! Watanuki-san! What is it!" he yelled, not knowing what the problem was, but whatever it was, it was below Watanuki, because he was thrashing wildly in hopes of escaping.
"TEETH! TEETH! IT HAS TEETH! DOU-ME-KI!"
"Don't thrash around, idiot! Just climb up Himura-san."
"Doumeki-san, you really keep strong under a crisis," Kazahaya commented breathlessly from holding them. Indeed, he admired Doumeki for it, because he was already terrified himself. Watanuki's panic was infecting him to the point that he wanted to yell at Rikuou to just get up there and away from the danger.
Watanuki didn't need any more urging and though it was awkward, Rikuou grunted quite a bit from the thrashing, the boy managed to get a death grip on Doumeki's shoulder until a well-placed kick accidentally caught Rikuou's stomach. For a few seconds, the grip he had with Doumeki loosened and the delicate balance they had was disrupted.
Lest Watanuki fall, Doumeki reached out to grab the boy's wrist until he held onto both Watanuki and Rikuou. Kazahaya was amazed at the strength of the other boy until he realized that Doumeki was actually speaking.
"What?"
"The staircase is going to collapse under us unless we get more even weight on it. Quickly, pull up Watanuki."
Kazahaya knew he had to place trust in Doumeki to not fall when he let go of the boy's waist. Instead, he tightened his grip with one arm until the boy hissed with a shortness of breath and reached out with his free hand for Watanuki's.
"Hurry! Hurry! It's coming! They're coming!"
With a jerk, Kazahaya dragged Watanuki, not gently at all, onto the landing. Frantically, he reaching for Rikuou and despite the fact that his strength was sapped almost entirely, his hands had a deathlike grip on his partner. Once his hands were around Rikuou's, just by that gesture, his heart was suddenly calmed. So long as Rikuou was okay, things would work out fine. Every job that they'd gone out on had always turned out fine when Rikuou was there. So long as Rikuou was there, things would be okay.
Reality intruded when they were all back up on the staircase and Watanuki's panicked voice interrupted like shrill bells. "Doumeki, get your bow! Aim for the top of the stairs!"
"I know where to aim, so long as you look there."
"How can you shoot something without any arrows!" Kazahaya demanded, hands still clutching Rikuou's biceps tightly, while his partner merely gasped, too tired to speak at the moment. But when that string was let loose, Watanuki calmed ever so slightly.
"Down the stairs! One's down the stairs!"
"Be quiet, I can see it."
"How?" Rikuou broke in just as that string was let loose again. "He said he couldn't see them."
"They share the same eye." When Rikuou looked at him with incomprehension, he waved off the confusion. "I'll explain it to you later, this isn't the time right now."
Not when enemies were closing in from all sides, now was not the time at all for explanations.
"How do you think they're doing?"
Saiga frowned at his sake cup, which he hadn't touched, and looked down at Kakei. "I don't honestly know. I've never met those two others before and I didn't like the whole idea to begin with."
Yuuko's face had been serious since the moment she had come for tea that evening after sending the boys into the house a few hours ago. She had not said a word once and only sipped her sake once in a while. She was, in fact, nursing the same cup for the last hour. Kakei knew what a good drinker she was and it didn't help his peace of mind when she was worried enough to not even be interested in her alcohol.
"I wish I could foresee either way what sort of outcome it's going to be," he muttered. "Waiting is terrible."
"That's what the rest of us say who don't have that ability," Saiga muttered, but he draped his arm around Kakei's shoulders, dragging him close in a comforting hug.
"Mokona," Yuuko uttered, causing both of them to look up. The black magical being she had created bounced to her lap, as if he had expected her call.
"No, never mind."
"What was that about?" Saiga demanded when the creature went back to sleep. "Were you going to do something to help them?"
"I thought about it, but it's better if I don't. I know very well how dangerous it is, but all I can do at this point is have faith in Watanuki and the rest." Her fingers twitched as if she longed to weave a spell.
"Why don't you interfere, damn it! This is your mess!"
"Saiga!" Kakei gasped, but Yuuko didn't take offense. In fact, though her face was serious and even slightly intimidating because of the power he knew she held, she appeared somewhat sad.
"You're right, this is my mess. It was something that I didn't know how, couldn't deal with, when I was very, very young. I made a wrong call and what happened because of it, the consequences it bore, were nothing short of catastrophic. I caused many needless deaths." She swirled the sake in her cup slowly and finally took another sip, glancing out the window of the office in the back of the Green Drug store. "But if I were to try and sort it out myself, with my involvement with it in the past, it would be creating a huge opening for my enemies to exploit it. That is a very dangerous place; they could use it to trap me there, even. Besides…"
"Besides…?" prompted Kakei softly.
But she didn't answer. Instead, she graced them both with a smile that was somehow both gentle and sad, as if she had never truly forgotten or stopped regretting that incident. After that, she didn't speak again and the little room was left in silence once more to be permeated only by the sounds of breathing and the rustling of someone's position changing.
End chapter 4
