Peer Promotion Corner (because we need it):
I think the fic Unto Derision by Crooked Mile is written pretty well and because of the dying fandom, the amount of attention paid to this person does not do her justice. (I think most fanfiction authors are female, generalizing that 99percent of yaoi fans are female – from an informal study, plus guys don't really come here I think). Anyway, this is a really well written AU vamp fic. (I won't spoil anything)
Also, Fairmoon is a joint account by Playgirl Eugine and MoonlightExpressions, the really well known authors in the fujiryo fandom (there's no way I have the time to write as much as they do) so that's another thing to pay attention to.
One of my personal favorites is Walk Upon the Waves by Jase Shadowstar. It's about the Seigaku pirates and a dragon. Yeah yeah, all my favs are AUs.
Achromatic Colors
XI. Devious
The man panted furiously as he was dragged by the metal collar. The shackles on his arms and legs weighed heavily. The magick on the collar restrained what little ability he possessed compared to the mighty devils. The guards forcefully dragged on his chains and was half driven by the whip that followed closely should he dared to lag. He was going to die, he knows.
He snarled as his last attempt to show defiance as the force that dragged on the chains pulled him forward. The guards, used to such pitiful displays of stubbornness and pride, remained completely indifferent.
One of the guards in the Crown's red uniform stopped to fiddle with the key chain hanging on his belt, and fumbled as he selected the one with the correct shape, which the trained guard remembered by heart. Long time ago, he recalled, the doors unlocked by the fingerprint of the Crown's men. But that was until a number of criminals bypassed the system by cutting the men's fingers off.
'Those were the good old days', he sighed. Now, the Crown Prince somehow managed to get the walls itself to recognize intruders.
How long they walked, he cannot recall. The aftereffects of torture and hunger fogged his mind. He passed through the rows of empty cells and doors that sometimes shifted on its own accord – just like the maze. It was impossible to obtain a map on this place without insider help. That in itself seems unfeasible as traitors were picked off faster than they ripe by those skilled high devils loyal to the Fuji family.
Before he noticed, the passageway got wider and it eventually opened into the Hall of Judgment. He glared at the inverted pentagon hung high above the entire court and was startled when his eyes trailed down to see a teenager seated behind the high mahogany desk usually occupied by a practiced judge. He openly stared at the young prince engaged in a casual conversation with a cheerful read head, a raven haired and a tall silver haired male which he quickly identified as archdevils.
Of course, the prince is here because he was connected with him.
"Down cur!" The guard kicked the devil's foot from under him and he thudded to his knees. The four devils broke off their conversation and turned their way towards him and he immediately hid his eyes behind his bangs. The raven haired devil, Kirihara Akaya yawned.
"My lords," the two guards kneed low beside him without letting their firm grip loose of their chain.
"Now, let's keep this meeting short and straightforward as possible." Prince Syuusuke rested his chin on his hands and his usual smile adorned his features. "On account of treason, by several attempts to infiltrate the palace – if you can call it one," he joked in a bored voice, "by ruling of the court under the laws and yada yada yada, you are sentenced to death penalty. But before that… tell me," he paused. "Where is he?"
He clinched his fist in frustration at the prince's uncaring attitude. "I don't know what the fuck you're talking about!" He sneered when he saw the frown on the guards' faces from the corner of his vision.
"Really…." Fuji answered sarcastically, playing with the pen between his fingers in disinterest. "But a direct answer would have been for your best interest."
"And why should I give a damn?" He yelled out with hoarse voice.
"You don't have to." The teen stated casually making him take a step back in surprise. "I'll find out whether you like it or not. It just saves me some energy if I ask directly."
"Tsk…." One of the prince's abilities no doubt. His infamous Sight was inherited from the best of the best, and it is rumored that his ability to 'see' may rival those of the Three Seers.
The young prince smiled and his blood ran cold as if the icy glow in the intense cerulean eyes had frozen it. He stared at the brunet, eyes wide with fear. Sweat tickled down from his body and he shivered. Something…like a thin streak of line flashed in front of the brunet for an instant and disappeared. He froze in confusion until he felt his body lurch forward.
"Gwak," an unintelligible noise escaped from mouth as white hot pain burned from his body. He doubled over and finally managed to pull his eyes away from the glowing azure ones.
The last thing he saw was the floor and his own crimson blood began to pool around his feet on the cold stone flooring. He coughed. Warm liquid clotted his throat and he sputtered out the horrible tasting fluid that was his blood. His vision haze and he saw the floor rise up rapidly – or was he falling? He couldn't tell anymore. He closed his eyes and two pairs of cerulean eyes burned brightly in the back of his mind. And in a moment, that vanished as well.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Flashback – Angels
'Tung.' The bamboo knocked against the stone and created a clear pitch that broke through the silence. It rose to collect the little bit of water that streamed out of the fountain and it crashed down again as soon as the weight of the water was too heavy to bear and on it went.
The water flew down from the bamboo goblet and gushed out to join the others in the small pond that were contained by the cloud as it slowly soaked into it. Both the water and cloud reflected a blinding glare that would be unbearable for the mortal eyes and the black pines. Maples grow above a carpet of ferns and mosses on the clouds greedily soaked it up.
The little boy learned to ignore this sound that rang constantly in a steady, slow rhythm throughout the day and night. He was deep in concentration as he forced the wind to coil into a ball between his petit hands. Golden eyes were fixed fiercely at the half formed ball gathering between his hands and it dared it to try to flow off of his designated course. His emerald locks wavered from the pull of the gathering wind, but his feet dangled childishly from the Japanese wooden walkway that was a little above the ground. Ryoma was three years old in his appearance at the time.
The snow white yukata was interfering with the wind's pathway and a small pout adorned his baby face – he hadn't learned thread magick yet to keep his clothes from getting in his way.
Happy with his wind that had finally obeyed his wishes to gather into the size of a tennis ball he began to bounce it up and down. Sensing a pair of hazel eyes from behind, he caught the ball and turned around to face his supposed guardian.
"Nee Mitsu… when can I see mother again?" The little boy muttered with his childish voice.
The eyes left him and went back to the calligraphy the man was writing. For the week that he came to live in this 'oji-san', Ryoma had learn to play by himself. Mitsu was always working and when he's not, he was meditating or doing boring stuff that he'd seen the other adult angels do.
"I wonder if she is all right." The young Ryoma went on, not expecting a reply most of the time. Tezuka ignored him mostly. It was probably Ryoma's fault. As like any other little child, there were a lot of infinite repetitive questions and inestimable numbers of 'why' that Tezuka have eventually come to ignore. Ryoma learned to keep his mouth shut most of the time and when he does asked questions, he talked to himself rather than expect any form of reply.
"Why did they take me away?" He talked to his ball of wind as if it was a seeing glass ball his mother used to have.
Tezuka put his brush down and left his spell to dry. "…What was your mother like that day?" He replied calmly. He didn't blame the little boy for demanding answers.
"She was laughing." Ryoma stated, surprised that Mitsu actually responded to him. He tilted his head to recall the night from more than a week ago. "It woke me up during the night and she was laughing. Then Ryuuzaki Obaa-chan came with other people and brought me here."
He sensed the stoic brunet rise silently from the writing desk in the Japanese-styled room behind him and stride toward him.
"Ne- Mitsu, why did they take me away?" He turned around to tried again, his eyes stared pleading at the towering hazel eyes that observed – indecipherable – behind a pair of spectacles hoping to get a proper answer from his new guardian.
Tezuka smiled sadly and ruffled the boy's hair. Ryoma clutched his ball tighter, subconsciously reacting to the emotion in the expression that was unfamiliar to him.
The thwacking of the bamboo branch continued in the background.
/ Flashback
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cold cerulean eyes watched as the fresh corpse splattered to the floor and watched as the blood slowly spread out on the stone floor. The guards froze in shock as their detainee dropped dead in an instant and quickly collected themselves.
"…Get this thing out of my sight," Fuji muttered heedlessly and the guards made one last bow and hauled the body away.
"You went too easy on him Syuusuke," Niou remarked with a grin on his face as he look to the direction of the guards. "For his offense, slow and painful torture should have been a wiser choice."
"He's not worth my time." Fuji stated simply. "Torture may be worse punishment than death, but it takes too much effort and it creates a lot of mess." He paused for a moment and watched as his redhead friend shaking while having his head down. "…Eiji?"
"Your majesty nyaa!!!" He suddenly burst out of his shell and clung onto Fuji's neck. "You were so coool!" He stared at his best friend with stars in his eyes.
Akaya was shocked out of his sleep by his sudden outburst and began a semi-friendly quarrel with Eiji and the two more sensible devils chuckled themselves.
Hearing the quiet laughter, Eiji rebounded towards Fuji and immediately claimed his neck again. "Fujikoooo! Where were you yesterday nya? I was sooo lonely!" He whined while forming a mock pout on his face. "Where do you half of the time?" He half-closed his eyes in suspicion.
"Saa-nee-" The brunet chided.
"Mou," Eiji pouted for real. "You seem to be gone more than usual now nya…."
"It's not nice to leave the kingdom with us you know," Akaya muttered as he draped himself back lazily on a chair.
"I'm not supposed to nice am I?" Fuji smiled back.
"…Did you see anything?" Niou muttered in a serious tone, changing the conversation.
"He doesn't know where he is." Fuji replied back. "But they've met. And we got some weeding to do." Fuji smiled.
Niou sighed. Weeding… more work to do. No doubt Fuji Syuusuke read that guy's memories. He was underground informant, that man, and he knew a lot of people. The underground was becoming more cautious as more secrets to the Sight were slowly unraveled. The underground no longer meets contacts in person, but they must have some sort of in-between person. They left a mark wherever they've been to and Fuji can probably see them.
Both the Sight and the Gift has many variations that are different for everyone. It has become common knowledge that Princess Yumiko's eyes can sometimes look into the future. There is probably only one person who knows the full capabilities of Fuji's Sight – and he likes to keep it to himself.
When Fuji caught on to a thread, he does not back down until the entire web - everything that it connects to - is burnt to the ground. What is the limit on his Sight? What is his Sight's capability? What is his full potential? He wondered silently.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
A bead of sweat tickled down Ryoma's forehead. 'Swiish' The sword sung as it cut the air and inflicted a fatal blow in the hologram's abdomen. The air still resisted his slash, he noted annoyingly. That would slow him down. When battling a level 99 hologram, a fraction of a second could determine a win or lost. Swarmed by an army of Level 40 soldiers, he calmly took them out one by one as he skillfully blocked and dodged their assaults. He mustn't slow down until he erases all of them, as a moment of pause could give the solider holograms ample openings.
It was true, he was losing his edge. He was already two minutes over his best time. He must make up what he missed during his visits. Karupin will be fine.
He thought of Yukimura and Tezuka. He remembered all the archangels. He won't lose to anyone. Ever.
He then thought of his mother and father and brought down his sword as if to slice through his mental image. In front of him, the solider dissolved into the digital numbers. But in Ryoma's eyes, the image of his gentle mother remained and the harder he tries to forget, the harder he tries to recall something else in her place, the more persistent the vision held him there.
Many thanks to Sakura Moon as always!
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Okay, now officially there are only a quarter of people following this fic. I really hope the fandom revives itself with the sequel T.T I didn't update for a while because it was partly due to popularity, and partly due to lack of time and interest. And also because I found a HUGE Japanese FujiRyo fandom!!!!!! And their stuff is awesome~!!! Heart-heart-heart
Been reading Fujiryo for so long and I've still yet to exhaust all the good fics! Japanese writers don't write as long but they write so many!!! Yay!
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The initial casting was done before I knew that Nationals was going to be the end of the series and I always thought that there will be more people who can perform those godly moves and open those inhuman gates so I only let the best of the best have the arch positions in the angels and left plenty open for future characters. The best part was I was having a dilemma about who to cast as 'God' and then sometimes within writing the 3rd chapter they declared Yukimura as the Child of God and I was like 'Sure!' XD
And so since there are no more future Godly tennis players, I've filled the devil's section with Rikkaidai players. Well, since there are going to be characters in the sequel, I may be able to use them later XD.
Published: 24/12/08 HAPPY BIRTHDAY to RYOMA!!! And Merry Xmas everyone!
Revised: