Secrets: Suiko's Captivity
Chapter Three
By: Valandra
A/N: Cookies to anyone who remembers who Dara is! (Probably shoulda offered that in the last chapter…oops!) Writer's Block is hopefully kicked and knows it's not welcomed back. Scene doesn't play out quite how we'd tossed back and forth (thank ya'll for being a sound-board and tossing ideas back at me!), but I'm rather happy with how it turned out. Enjoy my friends!
And also, thank you all for the positive feedback and encouragement! I'm so unbelievably happy that everyone I've heard from like/are intrigued by the Ma'Sho. You're very spot-on with your observations Yami Flo! I always worry that I'm being too subtle with certain foreshadowing. Until next chapter.
Warning: Computer reset halfway through my final proof-reading on the site, where I try to catch any formatting issues from the upload and last minute error corrects. Last time I put off posting because everything was blurring together from multiple back-to-back re-reads, I was quite for a couple months, so I'm not postponing. If ya'll see anything I missed, please let me know; I truly do appreciate such feedback!
Evening meal found Naaza both alone and, while he failed to show it, concerned. Though he hadn't expected Anubis to return for another day or two, the fact that Rajura had yet to be dismissed from Arago's throne room was disturbing. 'Rajura has himself hidden behind his shields as well. The demon wasn't going to be pleased with Suiko's status to begin with; no doubt Badamon was fanning the flames of his displeasure this entire time as well. Regardless of the fact that if we'd left Suiko to his spirits, his death and the yoroi's loss would have been on his transparent head.'
An aggravated hiss vibrated in his throat as the Doku Ma'Sho stalked down the darkened castle halls. He paid no mind to the scattered servants or Youja soldiers that hurried out of his way. It was his need for a distraction, and nothing else, that led him to Suiko's quiet, isolated chamber. Well away from the gardens he and Sh'ten had collaborated on, so many centuries ago. He'd managed almost a full week without so much as thinking about them. The fact that he'd caught himself at the double-arch that led to the tranquil garden and its little, clear spring, had done wonders for souring his mood before evening had fallen.
With the solid doors secured behind him, Naaza leaned back against their wooden texture and closed his eyes with a sigh. He could feel Anubis' wards as they accommodated for and settled around him. The fire Rajura had bespelled still burned with a gentle, rhythmic crackle and a soothing heat. He could have very easily slid down to the stone floor and curled up on the sparse bit of rug near him, and have been quite content to his rest there.
Before he could slide more then a handful of inches, a both familiar and yet unfamiliar sound of distress pierced his serenity. He held onto his frustration for a few breaths, before the warrior pointed out that though the sounds were familiar to the healer, they had never heard such noises from Suiko.
'Labored breathing,' Naaza catalogued as he hastened to the bedside. 'Not just general distress, irritation…painful irritation.' Naaza indulged a growl better suited to Anubis after he drew the sheets down. Suiko had twisted about as best he could in his sleep, but even those few movements wouldn't account for the purpling in his arm and chest.
'Allergic reaction, let's hope to the metal and not the tonic.' Steady, careful movements withdrew the two IVs, one after the other. Chest first, and there was a noticeable ease in the youth's breathing. Naaza sighed as he took care to purge and clean the two new infection points.
"Battlefield or medical bed, you've a talent for causing me trouble," he spoke absently, voice quiet, as his thoughts turned to seek a solution to this new issue. 'Organic, but still a slow, steady release or the tonic will itself become a poison. Organic means internal; neither of them are available to keep him stable, and his system will shut down if I feed him much more for pain or numbing.' Even as his thoughts mapped out the necessary steps for the operation, his hands prepared the tools and Suiko himself.
As he prepared to cut the young man open once more, with knife instead of nail, Naaza sent a silent prayer to the goddess, should she care to listen to one such as he. He then checked the ties securing Suiko in place once more before he pressed blade to flesh. As blood flowed once more, the healer worked as quickly as he could with the knowledge that the more blood the youth lost, the more strain would be placed on his heart.
He'd decided on a short-lived, stationary parasitic "release capsule." He'd infused a "blank slate" with Suiko's tonic to act as the parasite's "poison." The body's natural defenses would, in theory, destroy the "capsule" within three to four days, dependant upon the body's overall stress.
Suiko's unconscious struggles had grown increasingly worse, so that by the time he was securing the "capsule" to the youth's heart, Naaza was honestly surprised Suiko hadn't woken himself. 'He's going into shock,' the healer acknowledged even as he started stitching the young warrior up. 'No,' he corrected himself as he cleaned even more blood from his needle's intended path. 'These convulsions are in reaction to something else, there's a familiar rhythm to them…I just can't place it. Damn it Rajura, hurry up and pacify that forsaken head! Or he may yet still loose his life, and us the yoroi.'
He'd scarcely disposed of the stitching needle on the tray he'd placed on the bed with his supplies before he climbed onto the bed himself. Mindless of the blood he'd yet to clean from the youth, he quickly straddled and further pinned Suiko in place as his convulsions threatened to tear the fresh stitches and incision back open. 'And I'd rather not deal with whatever…attachment Anubis seems to be gaining, should that happen. …Damn it,' Naaza silently cursed, an aggravated hiss escaping his clinched teeth. He grabbed Suiko's face and dug his fingers into the youth's jaw to keep it open as the convulsions progressed into a seizure.
~Not a good time!~ Naaza snapped, his tone as venomous as any of his yoroi's blades. Anubis' silent mental prod of concern snapped back with an anger to match. ~The Ronin's having complications!~ the healer relented, knowing his brother wouldn't otherwise cease his distractions. He could literally feel Anubis' internal debate to stay silent or seek more information. Before Naaza could properly impress upon him the consequences of distracting the healer further, Suiko reclaimed his full attention.
Fever-bright sea-green eyes snapped wide open to stare unseeingly through Naaza while a yowling scream of bewildered pain spiraled up past his parted lips. Though his seizing was calming down to mild convulsions, Naaza refused to release the youth. 'Delirium,' Naaza read in the young warrior's dilated eyes. 'He's not going to remember any of this. …Perhaps for the best.' He felt Anubis flinch as if his elder brother could also hear the pitch of Suiko's scream.
"Suiko, focus!" Naaza snapped. He used his hold on the youth's jaw to force unfocused eyes to meet his own. "Calm the hell down brat, or you're going to hurt your heart further!"
~Can't you force him back into sleep?~ Anubis questioned, against his better judgment. He refused to flinch beneath the flare of Naaza's temper.
~Comatose is what he'll be if I feed him any more pain killers or sleep aids. And given that Rajura's not currently available to sit on his spirit to keep it from departing to the other side, I'd rather not give Suiko that option again.~ His dark eyes narrowed as he felt Anubis hesitate. ~What is it?~ he snapped, his patience worn thin.
Secluded in his own tent, Anubis sighed and dropped back to stretch out on his bed roll. ~You're the one that emphasized how…sensitive Suiko is. A calmer bedside manner might serve to calm him more then your usual methods with us.~ Though he couldn't contain his resulting smirk for Naaza's response, Anubis managed to keep his amusement from bleeding through their bond to his younger brother.
Naaza carefully hid his disgust as he called upon a calm he'd been forced to abandon centuries ago. As the minutes passed and Suiko's fits calmed, the healer straightened over the bound figure. He slowly released Suiko's jaw and, when it remained slack, he slid himself down the length of the youth's body, untying the straps over Suiko's upper body. Once resettled, Naaza resumed the forgone task of cleaning the incision, with the additional task of checking that no further damaged had been done.
As he put pressure over the fresh injury, a pitiful moan of distress drew pitch black eyes back up to Suiko's face. The youth's pain-glazed and fever bright eyes had fallen half shut, yet they seemed to have focused on his green-haired nemesis in blatant bewilderment. Naaza canted his head to the side curiously as he observed Suiko's expression, even as he maintained a gentle pressure over the youth's slowly bleeding chest.
"Wha…?" Suiko rasped. A minor coughing fit interrupted him, and Naaza was grateful that it calmed quickly so he wouldn't be forced to remove pressure to obtain the water mug. Short though it was, the fit drained what little energy the aquatic warrior had left.
In spite of himself, Naaza felt a small, bemused smile pull at his thin lips as lidded eyes were weighed closed and Suiko fell into a natural, if fitful sleep. "…Ryo…." he thought he heard the youth breath as the body beneath him relaxed.
ooOooOoo
Hours passed into late night, and Naaza was forced to reluctantly accept the fact that Arago wasn't going to release Rajura from his…displeasure, any time soon. 'Suiko's already almost a full-time concern, I truly do not need Rajura to be in the same state. Single-minded, manipulative, idiotic Floating Head! What kind of Demon lets himself be so blatantly manipulated and maneuvered by a forsaken Spirit Priest?'
Having left Suiko unbound, save for Rajura's chain about his ankle, and to his dubious sleep a short time ago, Naaza curled himself around his pillows before the warm fire in his own chambers. With Anubis' promise to return by the next evening, Naaza closed his eyes to the dancing flames and gratefully sank into his own rest. He had the silent hope that the new day wouldn't bring with it as many tribulations, but given the length of time Rajura was being detained, he knew it to be a foolish wish. Just as silently, as he was already slipping into sleep's embrace, the healer turned warrior wondered when he'd started to care again.
oOo
Cold…cold, dehydrated, and surrounded by the sickly scent of hours spent in the same place sweating a fever out. His body ached as if he'd spent days fighting his way solo through consecutive waves of husk soldiers. He flinched away from the very thought of touching the load-stone spot in his spirit where Suiko rested.
It was a pitiful struggle to push sweat-soaked blankets away. Shin was distantly grateful, in that hazy, not quite one-hundred percent well sort of way, that Shu wasn't around to witness his numerous attempts to climb out of the overly soft bed. Once upright, he had no mind for the fact that his feet didn't touch the floor as they hung over the unfamiliar bed's edge. Instead, his eyes had lit upon a large, ornately crafted clay mug filled with what he instinctively knew to be water.
A quiet groan escaped the young redhead as he reached out for said mug. He flinched his left arm back with a pinched expression; his action had pulled oddly at his chest, causing a fire he'd not noticed there before to roar painfully to life. With another groan and resigned expression, Shin braced his hands on the bed edge to ward off an expected dizzy spell before slowly slipping himself from the bed. He stood white knuckled and motionless for a number of heartbeats before he carefully shuffled his way to the bedside table and water.
This time he used his right hand to obtain his goal. He drank deeply until the mug was empty, his left hand clutched around bed sheets the entire time to maintain his balance. He'd almost choked on his first gulp, his throat not only bone dry but also…swollen? Shin set such concerns, including his burning chest, aside for later when he didn't immediately gag. Once the mug was empty and he'd confirmed that there wasn't a jug to refill it with, Shin replaced the mug on the table. Thirst momentarily appeased, he shivered and huddled in on himself with a pained sound.
'A cold?' he wondered as he looked around for warmth, unwilling to crawl back into the bed without fresh, dry sheets. 'Would explain why I ach so much.' Glazed and overly dilated sea-green eyes lit upon the quiet fire across the darkened room. He thought he could make out what looked like pillows near the place too. 'Maybe there's a blanket too?' With a mental shrug, Shin slowly and carefully made his way across the seemingly endless distance to the promised warmth, with frequent stops to assure himself that the room was not in fact, spinning beneath his feet.
It was with a painful cry of relief that Shin allowed himself to collapse upon the large pillows only a few feet from the fire. He bit his bottom lip on what promised to be a pained yowl and immediately curled in on himself. His left arm tucked tightly to his chest, his right over that with his head tucked so his chin pressed against his bare collar bone.
'More then a cold,' he whimpered to himself, eyes clinched shut. 'What's wrong with me?' His mind felt as ravaged as his body, both weaker then he could ever recall being. 'I felt better then this, in my weakest moment of pneumonia those years ago…nnggh…!' Shin curled impossibly further in on himself as he rode out the painful waves of a coughing fit.
He pressed both palms over his chest as if to calm irritated lungs, only to stiffen, breath stolen, as electric pain pulsed through his chest, deep inside of him and down his spine. A fear, greater then even when he'd faced off with Arago's demonically human warriors for the first time, gripped him as he felt a foreign tickle in his chest. Not in his lungs, but against his heart. Fingers curled in terror as one possibility after another played itself out in his mind's eye. For once, he wished on of the guys were hovering nearby; he wasn't so arrogant as to think he'd be fine alone.
"Sh…." Shin swallowed thickly to wet his suddenly dry throat and tucked his knees against his stomach. He wasn't aware that the pain from the pressure of his curled hands wasn't superficial. It was in fact, threatening to re-open the flesh and start fresh bleeding between the stitches he had yet to notice. "Seiji!" Shin screamed, eyes clinched as tears fell, uncaring of the terror his voice carried.
Breathing heavily as his strength escaped him, Shin fought off the growing pull of sleep. 'Seiji!' he tried again, reaching out with whatever strength and bond he and Suiko had left. 'Ryo…anyone…help…please….'
Darkness claimed him as his spirit pulsed in painful, mournful silence.
ooOooOoo
A new day dawned according to human biology, with no change to the deceptively beautiful, eternally twilight sky. Naaza dragged himself from his nest long after he should have started his day, his inner healer be damned. He had scarcely made himself presentable and prepared for the day ahead when the sense of a sleep-deprived Anubis brushed his mind.
~You should check on…Suiko.~ He hadn't almost called him boy again, Anubis growled. The snarl on his lips further encouraged the troops before him along.
Naaza however, was silently surprised. Except for a brief pulse of self-directed anger, Anubis neither felt nor sounded angry or even cranky-highly unusual for a sleep-deprived Anubis. 'Unless he spent all night on a successful hunt, impossible given his current assignment.'
~Something happened,~ he reluctantly continued. ~The wards flared and got my attention. He's still there, still breathing,~ he assured roughly before the healer could snap at him for taking so long to inform him. ~His mind, spirit were in so much agony though…I took him into the darkness before he could hurt himself, or think to try and run from his body again. I withdrew my touch…roughly a handful of hours ago. He seems to be sleeping well enough now.~
Naaza simply shook his head even as he navigated the short distance from his personal chambers to Suiko's. ~I'm almost there now. When can I expect you back?~ The fact that Anubis was more concerned about the Ronin then Rajura should have assured him. Unfortunately, he suspected Anubis was using the redhead as a convenient distraction, much as he himself had the night before. 'Convenient for the Ronin, both times.'
~I'd planned for evening meal. However, things seem to be going well enough here now that I may try for mid-day meal. …I doubt he plans on letting us know when he's been dismissed.~
Naaza's nod, though unseen, wasn't unfelt. ~I've eyes watching. Until your return, brother.~ His farewell sentiment was returned before the sense of Anubis' conscious mind and existence withdrew to a dull, familiar pulse in the back of his mind.
Moments later, after opening the chamber door to find Suiko's bed empty, Naaza was heartbeats from flaring that pulse back to life to flay his idiotic, reckless elder brother into irresponsible pieces. Fortunately for Anubis, if not Naaza's mental state, the healer caught sight of Rajura's enchanted chain. Obsidian eyes followed the length of it to the fire place pillows, where they settled on the young warrior curled in a fetal position.
With a quiet, sharp hiss that shouldn't have been loud enough to cause Suiko to flinch as he did in response, Naaza quickly closed the distance between them. He knelt at the youth's side and with a gentle coaxing that he knew would have made the warrior wary, he got Suiko's sleeping figure stretched out and closer to the fire.
'Doesn't seem to have broken any stitches,' he observed with more relief then he felt appropriate, healer or not. 'Just pulled enough to restart some minor bleeding.'
After an impromptu, mildly difficult lukewarm sponge bath, the redhead was resettled before the fire, stretched out and with a blanket. 'His fever's not broken yet, but it has weakened. The flesh around the stitches is only moderately inflamed, from his idiocy last night no doubt. Although,' he glanced over his shoulder to the stripped and barren bed, still waiting for him to remake it. 'It should have aired out enough by mid-day.'
Naaza sighed and folded one leg up to wrap his arms around, before leaning forward to brace himself against it. Seated on one of the large pillows in arm's reach of Suiko, he rested his chin on his raised knee and stared off into the dancing flames. Resolutely not thinking about how his heart had leapt in his throat when he'd walked in to see the empty bed. He absolutely was not going to compare it to how he'd felt so many weeks ago, when Kayura wouldn't wake from her own fever for nearly a week.
'He is a Ronin. Not a temporary ally, barely a potential convert. He is not a little brother.' Razor sharp nails bit into sword-callused palms as a demonically quiet voice that sounded suspiciously and heart wrenchingly like Sh'ten whispered rather smugly, 'Not yet.'
Lips twisted in a silent snarl that had nothing to do with his palms, Naaza's attention snapped to Suiko when he heard a whimpered…sound vibrate in the youth's throat. He blinked in surprise when the redhead appeared to flinch beneath his sudden attention, his own pained anger ebbed away. It vanished entirely when the young man, for all appearances still asleep, reached out to tug on Naaza's billowed sleeve until the healer consented to drop said arm from around his knee.
After Suiko's long, feverish fingers encircled his injured palm, Naaza lost all trace of time as he stared at the unnaturally calming touch. He only turned his eyes away a handful of times, just to assure himself that Suiko was indeed asleep and not some faye trick.
'Alright,' he silently breathed, heart pounding with the realization that both Healer and Warrior were not just quiet, but calm…peaceful even. 'Maybe…I can understand why Anubis thought you a boy rather then a young man.'
It made him all the more curious though. Why hadn't the other Ronin regrouped to reclaim their stolen comrade? 'Surely even such as they realize….' he let his thoughts trail off, unwilling to even silently voice such things. No matter how kind of a touch the aquatic Ronin had for him while unconscious, it had no bearing on how the boy-young man would react and respond upon waking.
'Those that are kind, are capable of even greater cruelty. You know this as you know your healing, your poisons.' And yet, even after such a brutal chastisement, he didn't pull himself away from Suiko's touch.
TBC