A big HELLO to all my readers! Thanks to all of you for your reviews. The fact that you all took the time to read and post your reviews inspired me to keep writing; once again, my sincere thanks to all of you! The run-up to the festive season holidays was hectic for me, but I did squeeze in some writing time and managed to complete this part. I hope you will enjoy it. Please be warned though, this part has some gritty and hard-boiled bits – TGO
Part Seven
Oriya: A full circle of sorrow
Summoned back to Shinigami headquarters to attend a briefing, Tsuzuki and Watari almost collide with Hisoka and Tatsumi, while turning a corner in a hallway located in the bowels of the huge complex, which is the flagship office of the Ministry of Hades.
"Hello there, you two!" chimes Tsuzuki.
"Hey, good to see you both," the secretary responds. "Sorry to have called you back on such short notice, but Chief Konoe felt it was necessary. So, Abe and Shin are keeping an eye on Oriya?"
"Uh-huh."
"Good. Being trainees, it's good for them to gain more field experience."
"So, what's this meeting about, Tatsumi?" enquires Tsuzuki, playfully ruffling Hisoka's hair and earning an exasperated glance from the young Shinigami. "Is it concerning what Hisoka told us about – the pentagram and a lord of darkness? By the way, good work, Hisoka!" Tsuzuki flashes a grin at his official partner.
"Yes, plus a few other details," replies Tatsumi. "Shall we proceed to the boardroom, everyone? We don't want to keep the Chief waiting."
Shuffling into the room, the four of them find a grim-faced Konoe, already seated with his arms folded across his chest, and quickly seat themselves.
Konoe closes his eyes for a moment, seeming to collect his thoughts before he begins addressing them.
"First off, I'll fill you in on what we've learned concerning the disturbance in the spirit realm.
"On the night in question, Sanae, a protector goddess, was invoked. She identified the devotee who called for her aid as none other than Oriya. According to Sanae, he has been her believer since he was very young."
Tsuzuki quirks an eyebrow and Watari's eyes widen…
Upon his arrival at the house where Kazutaka was waiting for him, Oriya was immediately pounced upon, lifted off his feet and carried through woodlands nearby, then to a grassy clearing close to an outcrop, set over a ravine of a waterfall. The speed with which Kazutaka moved seemed inhuman to him, and Oriya's heart raced, partly with the exhilaration of arousal, and partly… to trepidation…
While he was away seeing to his business affairs, Oriya had been troubled. The time apart from Kazutaka gave him an opportunity to stop for breath, work through his confusion and look at things from a different perspective.
After the two Shinigami called on him, delivering their warning of the possibility of Kazutaka being in danger, the memory of the occurrences on the veranda – the mysterious mist that had snared Kazutaka that night – had returned to plague him. As those images clicked in his head, he turned over and questioned certain facts: Kazutaka's miraculous healing, the wounds on his body disappearing without a trace… His superhuman strength, the ominous gleam in his eye as he pronounced words of love to him… His frightening, insatiable sexual appetite, although flattering and arousing to Oriya at the time…
All these facts began to gnaw at his newfound joy, filling him with a sense of foreboding. However, his disquiet had been allayed by Kazutaka's voice on his cell phone, seductive and desirable, requesting to see him.
After the pollution of the cities, the air of the mountains smelled fresh, moist and overflowing with verdure to Oriya as he was placed on the ground. As his lips were claimed, his body was slowly laid bare. As Kazutaka's mouth moved along the skin of his neck, murmuring tributes and affection, Oriya arched his back at the pleasing touch and words of his lover and turned his face. His eyes lingered on the magnificent sight of white sprays, plunging over the precipice of the falls, their cries of want drowned by the thunderous sound of rushing, wild water. His sight moved to azure sky, painted here and there with white cotton candy clouds, behind the damp, trailing and swaying branches of willows with their delicate leaves of pale green. He tangled his fingers in Kazutaka's white locks when his nipples were nipped and sucked. His unease melted away into oblivion as he sighed in gratitude, awash with the deep bliss only a lover feels, euphoric at the thought that, at last, the one he had given his heart to when he was still a boy, loved him in return…
After taking a sip of tea, Konoe continues. "Sanae telepathically transmitted her powers to Oriya, and found herself engaging an entity in a spiritual battle. She has fought this demon before, but on this occasion, she realized its power had increased tremendously. Summoning the aid of her sister, Hoshi, the both of them attempted to vanquish the demon, but they were forced to withdraw, as she sensed the weakening of her host – Oriya. To continue would have resulted in serious injury to him or worse – death."
Tsuzuki darts his eyes to Watari and registers the alarm in the blond's blood-drained face.
"The vast amount of spirit energy released during the fight caused the rocking in the spirit world…"
Watari, his voice tense and urgent, asks, "Who is this entity Sanae and Hoshi fought against?"
Pinching the bridge of his nose, Konoe replies, "It is referred to as 'the nameless one', or 'the lord of eternal darkness', and also, 'the ruler of the lost souls'. Its origins are obscure, and we are not certain of its gender or what it looks like. We'll use the pronoun 'he' for convenience."
Moving to sit up and pushing his lover down onto his back, Oriya reaches for the hard, pink column of flesh reclining against pale curling wisps on Kazutaka's lower belly. As he gently caresses the organ, his lips and tongue seek out the fluff that grows more abundantly closer to the juncture of his lover's thighs, surrounding the base of the shaft he fondles, flanking the damp skin of his substantial ball sac. He licks the flaxen pubic hair all the way down to where it meets the edge of the entrance between his lover's buttocks.
He stops his licking, repressing his urge to caress the pucker of flesh there with his lips and tongue, fearful of a rebuke from Kazutaka. He slides his tongue back to lick the velvety skin of the sac and draws it slowly into his mouth, sighing and salivating, relishing the taste of his lover's genitalia.
To his surprise, Kazutaka snarls, and Oriya looks up to see his lover sitting up. Growling thickly, Kazutaka throws his legs wide apart, plants his feet on the ground and lifts his hips. He moves his hand to indicate his entrance, now fully displayed. He rasps, "Fuck me now, Oriya!"
Oriya is stunned as he stares at Kazutaka's face, the contortions on it frightening him.
Never before had Oriya been allowed to penetrate, or touch, his most intimate spot, during the short time he and Kazutaka had been lovers, before Kazutaka began to change. Oriya had accepted this rule, never questioning it. Years after they ceased to be intimate with one another, Oriya found out the reason for Kazutaka's aversion…
His tongue loosened by alcohol during a visit to Kokakuro, Kazutaka began relating, with considerable exuberance, an incident to Oriya, about how he had chanced upon a youth…
"It was Saki, I tell you, Saki, reincarnated!" yells a less-than-sober Kazutaka, before breaking into fits of hysterical laughter, pounding his fist on the table with gusto.
A sad Oriya tries to calm his friend, softly telling him, "I'm sure it wasn't him, Kazu. Saki is burning in hell, I guarantee it. There's no way he could have been reincarnated."
Kazutaka breaks off laughing to squint suspiciously at his friend.
"Eh? No, no… knowing that bastard, he just might have duped whoever is in charge of afterlife punishhh… punishment, and somehow found a way to… to come back… and, and haunt me! It was Saki, I tell you… heh, his eyes were different, though… bigger… and green, not turquoise… whatever! It was Saki, in the flesh, come back to haunt me! Well, no matter," Kazutaka pauses to sniff disdainfully and wave a flippant hand, "I dealt with him, good and proper." Pleased with himself and with the manner of one hiding a wonderful secret, he smirks conspiratorially, his smile breaking into a wide grin as he looks at Oriya with his cup raised in the gesture of a toast. He pours the sake down his throat before smacking his lips and sloshing more of the rice liquor into his cup.
Alarmed, Oriya stiffens. "Kazutaka! What did you do to him?"
Chortling gleefully, Kazutaka answers, "Why, I did to him exactly what he did to me! I raped him!! I made sure he felt all the pain I had felt!"
Kazutaka is now on the floor, spread-eagled, laughing maniacally, out of control, tears running down his cheek.
Shocked and distressed at the revelation, Oriya is numbed by gut-wrenching horror to learn that Saki had raped his beloved Kazutaka. At a loss and struggling to find words to comfort him, he watches the tall frame of Kazutaka, curling on the floor, balling up like a fetus, shoulders shuddering. The sound of Kazutaka's sobs tear at Oriya's heart and he goes over to his friend, falling to his knees.
Kazutaka flinches at Oriya's touch and swats his hand away roughly, snarling, his anger distorting his handsome face. "Don't touch me! Stay away from me! Don't touch me… leave me alone… don't touch me… leave me…" his words crumble into sobs, and Oriya sits close to his friend, silently crying with him…
The chiming of Tsuzuki's phone impinges upon the briefing. While he answers the call, Watari and Hisoka put forth more questions to Konoe and Tatsumi.
After finishing his telephone conversation, Tsuzuki informs the others that Shin and Abe have sighted Muraki and will remain at their present location to await his and Watari's arrival.
Konoe emits a sound – half-sigh and half-grunt – of satisfaction. "Ah, that's good. It's about time too! I'll try not to keep you and Watari here any longer than necessary, so you can get on with your assignment. I need you to get a glimpse of that doctor… well, let's continue shall we?
"According to the count, his sources in the higher realm believe he, this nameless one, is responsible for the unaccountable vanishing of souls. Upon investigation of the backgrounds of these vanished souls, it was found that as mortals, they harbored certain negative traits. It is suspected that the nameless one is attracted to these dysfunctional mortals – those with sorrow and rage in their hearts, those who seethe with unforgiveness, thoughts of revenge, those who cannot let go of their grief, and those who lust with dark and unspeakable desires.
"He courts these tormented souls, wooing them with promises of fulfillment of their desires, feeding off their misery.
"The souls of these unfortunate mortals who have fallen prey to his deceptively sweet and seductive voice are then bound to him. The tragic result is that after these mortals pass on, their souls never arrive in Meifu, but remain captives of the nameless one.
"Recent search and recovery missions by Shinigami Special Forces have been unsuccessful…"
"Shinigami special forces?" Tsuzuki gapes. "I've never heard of them."
Konoe clears his throat. "Yes, well… Tatsumi, perhaps you would like to take over?"
"Certainly. Please understand, the information Chief has divulged is classified. Each department within the Ministry of Hades has its responsibilities. Because of the fact that we have learned, thanks to Hisoka's efforts, that the words, 'the nameless one' were inscribed on the pentagram Muraki used, it is necessary for you to be informed of certain facts; besides, Muraki's case is our jurisdiction.
"Coming back to this demon… He has grown more powerful, nourished by the ever-increasing tide of evil and chaos in the mortal world. The number of souls that are unaccounted for is rapidly increasing.
"When this stealing of souls first came to the notice of Special Forces, they were able, through the incantations performed by the protector deities, to summon them back to Meifu. These rescued souls proved to be still in torment, and even after having gone through rehabilitation treatment, have been unable to move on, or to take on positions of usefulness within our realm.
"As time progressed, the incantations employed began to prove ineffective in retrieving the lost souls, possibly because the nameless one found a way to counter the spells…"
Sweat pours from the skin of his lover's chest, his hips bucking wildly. Recovering from his shock, Oriya grabs hold of the rocking hips to still them. Covering Kazutaka's body with his own, he kisses the lips beneath him lovingly, tenderly, tears flowing, in gratitude to his lover's demand.
To Oriya, Kazutaka's offering of his body symbolizes so many things: he is ecstatic at what he believes to be a complete recovery, a re-emergence of his beloved Kazutaka, a deliverance from the sorrowful memories and despair that had triggered his descent into darkness, a vanquishing of the warped monster he had become.
A multitude of words rush, muddled, through Oriya's mind. Dazed, he attempts to vocalize his thoughts, when, without warning, he is thrown off. After rolling to the ground, he sees his lover, sitting with his legs splayed. Bending one knee, Kazutaka reaches a hand around and beneath his rump to locate his cleft and begins thrusting frantically with his fingers. With his other hand he begins to pleasure himself, gasping, yanking on his shaft determinedly, appearing oblivious to Oriya's presence. A once-more stunned Oriya sees a lolling tongue, licking sensuously over lips.
Although astonished at the spectacle, an anomaly, an act he has never before witnessed Kazutaka engaging in, Oriya finds it charging his body with sexual currents, stirring and girding his own cock to fresh arousal.
Moving closer to him, he encircles his hand over Kazutaka's to slow its frenzied strokes, and kisses him. The mouth he claims clamps over his. Taking hold of Kazutaka's arms, Oriya shifts them both. He positions himself behind his lover's kneeling form, feeling the shuddering of the overheated body. Pushing him to go down on all fours, Oriya gently inserts fingers into his lover's drooling mouth, and Kazutaka greedily sucks on them. He withdraws them to slide one slowly into the hot crevice, delving gently with it, and smiles when he hears Kazutaka's moan.
His lover begins to rock with his finger inside him, his cries of pleasure growing louder. Oriya adds another finger, working with the other to thrill his lover. With his other hand, he reaches for Kazutaka's excited, dribbling penis, squeezing gently while stroking it along its length. He quickens and deepens the plunging of his fingers, their buried tips stroking the hidden landscape of the heated passage, to delight, to increase the pleasurable sensations and harden the balls in the hanging sac swinging back and forth between Kazutaka's spread thighs…
Missing pieces of the puzzle in Tsuzuki's mind have been clicking into place, and he leans forward to ask, "Where are these souls now, the ones who were rescued?"
Tatsumi sighs, frowning. "Sadly, because of their troubled personalities, they are held in… well… sort of… detention facilities."
Tsuzuki's eyes narrow. "There is no hope for them, then?"
"They haven't been written off, no, not at all. The officers in charge of their treatment continue to work with them. It is hoped that they may see a breakthrough in their efforts."
The bellow issuing from Kazutaka's throat, over the roar of the cascading water in the gorge, sounds unfamiliar – another anomaly – to Oriya, and he frowns, his brow furrowing with incomprehension. The organ enclosed in his hand grows iron-hard and begins spilling thick jets of pungent semen over Oriya's hand.
As Kazutaka springs lithely to his feet, Oriya stares at the white, gluey substance on his hand and wonders why it disturbs him. While he gazes at the semen, smelling faintly of… decay… and ashes, a strange rasping voice next to his ear startles him.
"Are you going to eat that?"
He turns bemused eyes to Kazutaka and any semblance of an answer is choked off in his throat when he sees the red outline around his lover's silver iris.
What the…? What the hell is going on…?
Discordant, jangling laughter jolts him, and suddenly, Kazutaka's tongue is avariciously slurping up the semen on his fingers.
"Your turn now, my love…"
Oriya closes his eyes, and gives in to the pleasure of Kazutaka's mouth on his cock. The swift oral teasing of it quickly sculpts it, lengthening and hardening it. Gasping while his growling lover swallows his entire gush, he is amazed when he sees Kazutaka's penis – the organ is fully engorged once more!
His legs are grabbed viciously and pulled apart. Unprepared to receive him, Oriya cries out in pain when Kazutaka penetrates him…
Gazing intently into Tatsumi's eyes, Tsuzuki breathes, "So, Muraki…"
Tatsumi finishes his sentence for him. "Has fallen prey to the nameless one, and…
his soul is, in all likelihood, forfeit. This may be an explanation of why his candle…"
"But, Tatsumi, the others who fell victim to this demon, their candles did not…"
"Yes, that's true. Since the black glow around his candle is the first case of its kind, we can only conjecture on the reasons for its alteration…"
On his hands and knees atop the bed, Oriya's limbs begin to ache, to tremble, the muscles within them straining. Finally buckling from exhaustion, he flops in a sprawl on his belly, his arms flung out on either side of his torso, his legs spread wide to accommodate the man behind him, the man who continues driving his cock into Oriya, undisrupted by his shift in position.
His own orgasm long over, Oriya shuts his eyes and hears Kazutaka's grunts and growls, while his torso moves forwards and backwards, in accordance with the brutal thrusts into his nether entrance. Hard fingers knead the flesh of his buttocks, pinching cruelly. He hisses, sucking air in through his clenched teeth; the stinging sensations inside his passage are beginning to intensify, and he is convinced that he has been ripped, and is most likely, bleeding…
Oriya is roused from a deep troubled sleep, by hot hands, groping at his thighs, hard fingers bruising him. He moans, refusing to open his eyes. The thought of looking at Kazutaka again, to see the unbridled lust in place of love in his eye, sickens him. He feels a wave of nausea building in his stomach and gags, almost retching.
His thighs are forced apart violently, stretching and opening the entrance to his sore passage. He shrieks when Kazutaka rams his cock inside him, ravages him again, driving into him unmercifully. Tears of grief and despair spill from his closed eyes.
When the savage raping of his body is over, Kazutaka disengages himself from Oriya to straddle his hips, panting from his exertions. As he feels the wetness, a mixture of semen and blood, flowing out of him, a shuddering sigh escapes Oriya's throat.
"Kazu… help me… please… I'm bleeding…"
Kazutaka looks at him, his eye glazed over, his expression indifferent, before abruptly leaving the bed, and Oriya feels the crushing weight of his sorrow in his breast, the pain of his heart breaking, and the searing pain caused by Kazutaka's cruel assault.
Growing weaker, Oriya slowly turns his head, his wet eyes looking for Kazutaka in the dimly-lit room, and sees him leaning against the doorjamb, the outline of his pale body silhouetted against the dark expanse of sky above a full, radiant moon as he lights a cigarette.
As Kazutaka smokes, Oriya is on the verge of appealing to his lover again, when he sees the mist…
Along with the exhaled cigarette smoke, thick black mist streams out of Kazutaka's mouth, clearly visible to Oriya against the backdrop of the risen full moon. Watching it gathering to form a cloud, hovering outside the doorway, obscuring the glow of the moon, a terror, the same fear he had felt after he had been hurled away from Kazutaka, when he had seen that same black vapor take hold of Kazutaka before he had slipped into unconsciousness, grips him. He hears ghoulish, nightmarish laughter, not Kazutaka's, but someone else's…
Turning his head away, his closes his eyes. Silently, he calls the name of the deity his mother had believed in, the goddess she had acquainted her son with while he was but a toddler…
'Celestial goddess of shining light and purity, Sanae, hear your believer now… help me, Sanae… I call upon your powers to vanquish the darkness in my presence… come, Sanae, radiant daughter of righteousness, help me…'
On and on, he invokes his personal goddess to come to his aid, fighting the fatigue creeping through his bones, until he hears an ear splitting howl of pain.
Returning his sight to the doorway, his eyes are blinded by the flashing bolts of orange and blue light, as terrifying as the dark cloud they challenge, smiting it, beating it back, until it dissipates, roaring with wrath…
Silence descends in the boardroom as each of the Shinigami considers what Konoe and Tatsumi have told them. Hisoka, abruptly jumping to his feet, frowning and breathing hard, clutching at his chest, disturbs the stillness in the room.
"Chief, I… I…"
"Yes, I'm feeling it too." Konoe looks over at Tatsumi, who nods his head.
"What?! What is it?!" cries Watari, leaping upright.
The Shinigami chief looks at him with a grave expression. "You and Tsuzuki had better rendezvous with Abe and Shin at once!"
Materializing at the place where Abe and Shin are waiting for them, Tsuzuki and Watari spot the pair of Shinigami trainees standing outside the gates of a house, situated on a hillside on the outskirts of Kyoto.
His long hair flying, Watari sprints over to them, with Tsuzuki following him. Almost yelling, he asks, "Where are they?"
With a jerk of his head to indicate the house, Abe replies, "Um, in the house… probably."
Tsuzuki turns his gaze from the darkened house to the trainee, his eyes narrowing. "Probably?"
Abe seems at a loss for words and glances nervously at his partner. Shin reddens and stammers, "Well, we, um… followed them both when we first got here… to the falls at the edge of the woods over there," Shin points to the trees growing adjacent to the garden at the side of the house, "and saw them, Oriya and that doctor…"
Tsuzuki coaxes, noting the man's discomfiture. "Yes, Shin?"
"Well, um… we withdrew and came back here…"
Watari frowns. "Are they in the house now?"
Shin runs a hand through his black hair. "We think so."
Tsuzuki, exasperated now, huffs. "You think so? Shin, whatever is the matter? Spit it out, man!"
Shin snaps to attention at his senior officer's tone of voice. "Yes sir, Tsuzuki-san! Near the waterfall, they were engaging in acts… of an intimate nature, sir… so we…"
Understanding dawning upon him, Tsuzuki clears his throat. Softening his tone, he addresses the pair of trainees. "I see. Good work, men. We'll take over now, and thanks, guys."
After Shin and Abe disappear, the blond at Tsuzuki's side grasps his arm. "We should go look for them! Hisoka and the others felt something…"
"Take it easy, Watari," Tsuzuki squeezes his friend's shoulder to placate him. "Listen, my friend, I know how you feel about Oriya…"
"Huh? Tsuzuki, I… " Watari lets his arm drop, shame-faced.
Tsuzuki, his voice soft, reassures his wide-eyed colleague with a smile. "Hey, don't worry about it, you needn't be embarrassed, Watari. However… we may be confronting Muraki at any moment, so I'm counting on you to stay focused, all right?"
Relief and gratitude are evident in amber eyes looking into glittering amethyst gemstones. "I understand… I will, Tsuzuki… and… thanks…"
"Shush, no need for thanks, old buddy. Come on, let's go find them."
With the stealth and silence of highly trained Shinigami, Tsuzuki and Watari make their way to the back of the house, where, without warning, they come face to face with Doctor Kazutaka Muraki.
The man is sitting, attired in a navy blue kimono, on a garden chair. At first glance, he seems to be dozing – the pair of Shinigami's heightened vision makes out his closed eye.
The two guardians of death are somewhat unsure of what to do next, being completely unprepared to come upon him, the man they have been hoping to glimpse for almost a month, the man now before them without any due warning. Both men silently wonder why their combined acute senses did not detect his presence as they approached the rear garden of the house.
While each one seeks the other's face, Tsuzuki hears a sound, a sound he hears frequently in his dark dreams – that sensuous, taunting laugh – and turns to see the doctor, his visible, normal eye still shut. Muraki's lips move as he smiles, and begins to speak, after his chuckling dies away.
"Ah, Tsuzuki-san. Can't stay away from me, can you?" He punctuates his question with another chuckle.
The dark-haired Shinigami glowers at the seated man, furious with himself for not being able to find anything to say. The ambience in the garden seems to alter; the air seems to grow heady and pervasive with aromas, which Tsuzuki associates with sex.
Inconceivably, though he sees the smirking doctor still seated, arms crossed in front of his chest and a leg bared, thrown over the other, Tsuzuki feels warm breath against his cheek, fingers caressing his throat, a hand cupping and massaging his crotch, making the flesh there tingle and stir…
"Did you miss me, my beautiful Shinigami lover? Have you come back for more… more of the pleasures we shared during our last encounter? Before you plunged that knife into me? Tsk, Tsk, my, my, what a naughty, naughty boy you've been, Tsuzuki! Do you make a habit of stabbing and attempting to murder people after you've fucked them?"
Pique and embarrassment scorch Tsuzuki's face; Watari's presence – his colleague and friend privy now to his shameful secret - horrifies him. Bravely conquering his mortification, he grits his teeth and curses Muraki under his breath.
"Shut up, you bastard! It looks like I didn't stab deep enough, or enough times, to rid this world of filth such as yourself!"
Seeing him in the flesh for the first time, Watari narrows wary, angry eyes at the doctor. Photographs of the infamous doctor have done him no justice, he realizes, as he takes in the splendor of the man in his sight.
Sensing Watari's eyes on him, Muraki gives him a quick once-over and dismisses him with a sadistic grin. Bringing his gaze back to Tsuzuki, Muraki affects a deep sigh and lifts a hand, dramatically placing it over his left breast. "Ah, you wound me deeply, you're breaking my heart, Tsuzuki-san. I've yearned to see you again, and here you are, before me now, as breathtakingly beautiful as ever! Why do you pretend to hate me so, when deep down, all you want is my love, my touch?"
Tsuzuki's traitorous eyes roam from Muraki's face, his pouting mouth, down to the skin on lower legs, covered with shimmering pale down. The ghostly touches on his body intensify, particularly the stroking of his genitals. He gasps and stares, mesmerized by the contours of calf muscles, and fights an overpowering urge to touch them, squeeze them, lick the fair skin, slide his hands upwards between strong thighs, push them apart, play with the soft sac, suck the warm cock there, the same cock that had given him so much pleasure once…
Muraki's lips curl sensuously, his flaxen eyebrow lifts… even the wind seems to do his bidding – the edges of the robe around his legs flap and billow, lifting and parting, opportunely laying bare a lengthy, sculpted alabaster thigh…
Tsuzuki teeters, the pressure of sexual arousal threatening to rip his belly open… he opens his mouth wide to receive the thing sliding into his mouth… as the phantom phallus nudges the entrance of his throat, he moans…
Watari's movement, of coming closer to his side to firmly grip his arm, rouses him, preventing him from falling into the spell of seduction being cast by Muraki, and Tsuzuki growls again, wiping the saliva dripping from the corners of his mouth with a sleeve.
"Stop it, Muraki!! Don't think that I don't know what you're trying to do, you psychotic pervert!"
Muraki rises smoothly to his feet, laughing. In an instant, his movements so fleet that neither Tsuzuki nor Watari registered it, the doctor is standing pressed against the dark-haired Shinigami, with both hands circling his neck. Tsuzuki finds his arms paralyzed, unable to rise and dislodge Muraki's hands.
Still chuckling, he drawls teasingly, "Now, now, my Shinigami lover, watch yourself, I can only stand so much of your insults. Hmm, I should punish you for what you did… how could you have done that to me – give yourself so completely to me, and then try to kill me?"
His hands tighten their hold, causing Tsuzuki to gag and splutter, "Let go of me now, Muraki, or I'll…"
"Or you'll what?" Guffawing delightfully, he looks down into a pair of petrified violet eyes and taunts, "Your pathetic Shinigami methods of subduing me make me laugh! Come now, what say you just apologize, and then we'll kiss and make up, hmm?" One of Muraki's hands drop to the place where Tsuzuki's penis throbs, straining against cloth in its need to stand erect. "Oooh, you are so ripe for me, I want you just as badly… ahhh, the last time we were together, you were such a good fuck, my love…" the doctor nuzzles Tsuzuki's neck, while the Shinigami squirms.
To his abject disgust, Tsuzuki's hand moves against his will, parting silk to reach for Muraki's cock. Without volition, his hand curls around the stiff shaft, squeezing it. Muraki trembles and moans, and begins thrusting to slide his cock back and forth within Tsuzuki's enclosing fist. Mere seconds pass and the Shinigami, a puppet of Muraki's spell, is on the verge of orgasm, his cock jerking, when his colleague intervenes.
Watari has had all he can stand and with a shout of outrage, lunges for Muraki from behind, one of his arms reaching around the taller man's neck, his other grabbing the doctor's arm. The blond Shinigami's valiant efforts are no match against the doctor's superhuman strength, however, and he is thrown off, his hold swatted off effortlessly, and as he lands on the ground unceremoniously on his butt, Muraki is again pressing himself against Tsuzuki, his arms tightly around him, trying to kiss his mouth while the Shinigami's head flails and strains to avoid his kisses.
Watari makes out the materializing form of Seiichiro Tatsumi, appearing close behind Muraki to deliver a blow, backhanding the doctor's neck, stunning him and causing him to reel away from a swaying, dazed Tsuzuki.
Swiftly regaining his balance, an irate Muraki spins around to face his assailant squarely, his scowl melting into an amiable, welcoming smile. "Ah, Tatsumi-san, I'm so glad you could join us! However, that wasn't very nice of you, interrupting my fun like that," he states, wagging a reprimanding finger.
"Hold your tongue, doctor! If you so much as look at Tsuzuki again, I'll destroy you where you stand," Tatsumi's voice quavers with his fury.
Laughing wickedly, Muraki deliberately casts a leering eye at a grimacing Tsuzuki. "There! I've looked! So go ahead and destroy me, Mister Secretary!"
Before the doctor finishes his sentence, Tatsumi has moved towards the doctor, arm poised to smash his fist on Muraki's grinning face.
Muraki sidesteps, easily avoiding Tatsumi's bunched fist. "Come now, you'll have to do better than that!" He doubles over, roaring in amusement. Wiping tears of mirth from his cheek, he straightens to pin a derisive eye on Tatsumi. "Seriously, Mister Secretary, it would be against the rules of your organization to murder me in cold blood, wouldn't it? Would you risk being disgraced and stripped of your rank? Huh, even if you were eventually forgiven, I doubt you would be considered for the post of a janitor!" mocks Muraki smugly.
A seething Tatsumi responds, his voice low and threatening, "Don't underestimate me, doctor. I owe you for everything you did last year. I don't give a damn about what happens to me."
Recognizing Tatsumi's stance and sensing a tremor in the ground beneath him, Watari moves to Tsuzuki to draw him away from the secretary. An ominous rumbling precedes the crumbling of earth and stone, the ground surrounding Muraki begins collapsing and through the fissures, shadows emerge to engulf the doctor.
Unfazed, Muraki bellows with laughter, his form begins to spin within the circle of Tatsumi's shadows. His spinning accelerates, until the three Shinigami discern nothing more than an iridescent blur, the shadows falling away from him, weakening and vanishing.
Unknown to the Shinigami, a figure, enshrouded in the darkness near the house, has been observing the events unfolding in the garden.
As Muraki's body slows its spinning dance, Watari detects something moving in his peripheral vision. Shifting his eyes, he recognizes the man, lurching forward erratically, his long dark hair swirling, stirred by the gusting wind. Realizing something is amiss, Watari's breath hitches in his throat as he watches the barefooted figure staggering closer to Muraki.
By now, his two colleagues have noticed the new arrival and all three Shinigami track his unsteady progress, the man coming to a halt, teetering on his feet, an arm outstretched towards Muraki, who is smirking at Tatsumi triumphantly.
A strained, anguished voice breaks the silence ensuing Muraki's and Tatsumi's clash. "Kazutaka… please… stop this… fight it… Kazu… fight it… I beg you…"
Muraki, whirling around at Oriya's voice, merely looks at him impassively, before inspecting the fingernails of his hand. Suddenly narrowing his eye venomously and smiling, he reaches with his arm, in a gesture of offering his hand to Oriya. "Ah, my poor, beautiful, pathetic Oriya!"
Oriya's beseeching eyes widen, his hands claw at his chest, his head strains backwards with mouth agape, his legs buckle as he struggles to breathe…
"MURAKIIIII! STOP IT!" Enraged, Tsuzuki hurls himself at Muraki, only to be prevented by Tatsumi, the secretary's firm arms holding him back.
Just as Watari charges toward the collapsing form of Oriya, Suzaku and Byakko materialize, the screeching phoenix belching tongues of fire from its beak, and the great tiger, white fur bristling, roaring furiously, as the pair prepares to rout Muraki.
The tumultuous arrival of Tsuzuki's Shiki, responding to the distress of their master, catches the doctor off-guard thwarting his spell of debilitation directed at Oriya, and he springs away from them, leaping high into the air to land softly on his feet behind Tsuzuki and Tatsumi, deviously using the two Shinigami as shields against the Shiki's attacks.
Watari, supporting an unconscious Oriya, lowers himself and the limp man to the ground to tenderly cradle his beloved Oriya in his arms. He looks over at his two colleagues glowering with bunched fists at a smirking, giggling Muraki.
Waving a dismissive hand, Muraki drawls, "Ah, I grow bored of this skirmish. If you will excuse me, most esteemed gentlemen of the netherworld, I must take my leave. As much as I would like to stay and be further entertained, I have much more pressing things to see to."
With a snap of thumb and finger, Doctor Muraki's form dissolves into nothingness, leaving Tatsumi and Tsuzuki snarling with frustration. The latter Shinigami nods his thanks to Byakko and Suzaku, mentally instructing them to depart. Huge wings lift in an arc, and the giant cat roars once more, before both vanish.
Looking down at the ashen face and bruised, swollen lips of the unconscious man in his arms, Watari becomes aware of a wetness seeping into his trousers. At the same time, he detects the unmistakable, metallic odor of blood. Blinking with panic, he gulps and parts the lower front of Oriya's kimono with propriety, ensuring that only his calves and thighs are revealed, and is horrified, frozen, at discovering that the skin of Oriya's inner thighs is profusely smeared with blood. A whiff of something else penetrates the Shinigami's sense of smell. It takes but a second for him to identify it and to deduce what has befallen Oriya, and Watari is instantly shaking with fury.
Tsuzuki and Tatsumi, shaking off their wrath at being bested by Muraki, seek out Watari. In the gloom of the dim lights of the garden, their gaze falls on the pieta-like tableau, and hurriedly join him, staring grim-faced at the blood on Oriya's pallid skin, and then at Watari's stricken visage. They, too, accurately guess the despicable violation inflicted upon Oriya's body and both men's eyes darken with outrage.
Watari, his voice thickened with his anger, splutters, "He requires immediate medical attention."
Noticing Watari's increasing distress, Tatsumi reaches out to touch the blond's shoulder. "We'll bring him to a hospital at once. Watari, let me carry him…"
Shaking his head and tightening his hold on his precious burden, Watari whispers, "No, I will carry him… to Meifu… to our hospital, not to any hospital on earth," determination kindling a fire in his golden eyes. "Please, Tatsumi, he's not safe here, where Muraki can find him, and hurt him again…"
Tsuzuki quickly interjects, "I agree with Watari, Tatsumi. We have to bring him to Meifu, and ensure he is safe," while removing his long overcoat. He wraps the garment, serving as a makeshift blanket, as best he can with Watari helping him, around Oriya's limp body.
At once, Tatsumi gets to his feet, his decision made. "All right, I'll clear it with the upper echelons later, and take full accountability for any repercussions to breach of protocol, since there is no time to waste. Come, quickly, let's teleport now."
Tsuzuki assists Watari to his feet and places his hand on Watari's arm, clasping his other with Tatsumi's. The secretary's hand holds the blond's other arm, thereby enclosing Oriya in their circle of three, ensuring that their bodies will shield Oriya's from any possible injury as they pass through the barrier, charged with spirit energy, between earth and Meifu.
End of part seven
To be continued
Author's note:
Writing this chapter was hard on me – I hated doing that to my beautiful Oriya! (Sniffles, and wipes tears away.) Oh, and Muraki – what can I say? When that man is bad, he's very bad! But the story must be written. I was emotionally overwrought while working on this part, what with a certain painful revelation from Muraki's sorrowful past. I'm attempting here to wring compassion from my readers for Dr Muraki – I hope I have succeeded, at least a little. I am awfully fond of Muraki, but this does not mean I condone his acts of violence. I do not advocate all and any crimes of violence whatsoever. Because I like the dashing doctor, my story is a way of digging deep into the monster's psyche, to find the reasons for his sadistic behavior, to understand why he became the man he is. Again, this is not to say that I agree one should become violent and vengeful after being wronged, no, not at all! Thanks for reading – TGO