Disclaimer: PoT isn't mine.
Warnings: Gore in this chapter. If you're sensitive to descriptions of blood and the like, please do not read, or proceed with caution. ^^;
A big thank you to everybody who reviewed! It's the best motivation there is to keep writing ^_^
PWNsomeness: There has been a decrease in ZukaFuji fanfics, but I hope that's temporary. Anyway, I like to end chapters on cliffhangers – so there will be some more in the future ^^;
Cielo Tierra: Thank you very much. I don't think Fuji is going to faint again in future chapters, but they will have to confront the demon again. XD Glad to hear you like the way I write the two of them, and one of those days I hope I'll get around to do a suspense fic with all of Seigaku, but here Eiji won't have a large part to play…
lemon-and-chai: Well, the demon has gotten a bit impatient. And really, what's school to her? XD One of those days I'd really like to try writing an ensemble suspense fic, just because I like writing the other characters as well (but I guess that'll need a looot of time). For now I'll keep adding more chapters ending on cliffhangers to this story.
Mesonoxian: Not over yet, the showdown is just beginning. It'll probably be another eight chapters or more until it's all over.
Koshi Sekisen: Thank you very much for reading, and I hope you're feeling better now. I rarely get sick, so either I'm not sick at all, or I'm too sick to really care about anything. Ah well, Tezuka and Fuji have their special relationship, and I'm trying my best to depict it as something between intimate friendship, but not yet really lovers. Their mutually concerned for their wellbeing, and also aware of other things – like Fuji knows about Tezuka's elbow, and Tezuka (at least I like to portray him like that) is aware of how Fuji is a bit smaller than himself.
Yumiko is fun to write. We don't have much information about her, but I like to picture her as somebody intelligent and headstrong, who is very polite and gentle on the outside, but if push comes to shove, she won't let anybody walk over her (or her siblings).
Hasegawa though… err, he sort of appears again, but … read for yourself ^_~
Scarlette Shizuru: ^^; There shall be even more cliffies in the future. I don't know why, I just like ending chapters like that. Anyhow, I don't think I know the show you're mentioning, but thank you! Concerning ghosts and demons and all that – I have to admit my own knowledge is limited, and I have a habit of adjusting what I know to fit the plot (in the long run I believe it helps to keep the general plot simple; and as I can't expect anybody to know anything, I'll have to explain the entire thing in the end anyway.)
Thank you for reading, and I wish everybody a Happy New Year! ^_^
Sixteen
Dim light filtered through Fuji's eyelashes.
Unfamiliar white walls greeted his blurry vision, all sound appeared to have vanished and for a moment he wondered where he was. Then the memories flooded back, and with them icy horror.
The demon...
An involuntary gasp left Fuji's lips, and he never heard the door opening. Questions assaulted his mind; why had it returned, what was it doing in their school? Where was it right now?
Was it going after Tezuka again?
Fuji sat up, and only a pair of hands grasping his shoulders firmly stopped him from jumping to his feet. A fierce wave of dizziness swept over him, his vision darkened before he could make out the person in front of him.
"Fuji!" Eiji was calling his name, closely watching Fuji's face. "Fuji, calm down!"
It took a moment and a deep breath, then Fuji had himself composed once again. Eiji was pale, an unfamiliar frown on his face replaced his smile, but there was no franticness in his actions. His hands on Fuji's upper arms weren't shaking. Nothing in his behaviour to betray unspeakable events.
Fuji couldn't keep his voice from hitching. "Eiji, did something happen?"
He didn't care if his eyes were showing how desperate he felt; not when the demon might be far too close, not when it might be attacking Tezuka right now. Not when – Fuji did not dare to finish that thought.
The red-haired boy tilted his head, blinked, but chose not to comment on Fuji's behaviour. "No, nothing happened. You just fainted all of a sudden, and scared the entire class," he replied, "Are you feeling alright?"
"I'm okay," Fuji said, and pressed his lips together. He couldn't sense the demon any longer, but it had been close. There was no way he could have mistaken the sensation, this suffocating degree of spiritual power. He hadn't fainted so abruptly on accident.
It was gone now, though.
"You look like hell," Eiji suddenly told him, lips pulled down in disapproval. His fingers tightened involuntarily and Fuji met his concerned gaze head on, "You should have stayed home. Really, if I had had the choice, I would have stayed at home in this weather."
A part of Fuji wanted to run out of the room, make sure that Tezuka was alright; make sure the demon's unannounced visit had caused no harm. Dread coiling in the depth of his stomach warned him not to hope for too much.
There was no reason to believe the demon would have left without causing damage.
And yet here was Eiji, holding onto him as if he was afraid Fuji would collapse once he let go. Eiji, who obviously understood that there was a lot Fuji wasn't telling him – and didn't feel betrayed. At any other time Fuji would have wondered what he had done to deserve such a loyal friend – yet right now he only wanted to leave the bed in the nurse's office as fast as possible.
He brought a hand up and rested it on Eiji's shoulder. With a faint smile he said: "You would have stayed at home regardless of the weather, if given a choice."
"You know I make an exception for tennis practice. But school," Eiji shot back, then shook his head and sat back, "Honestly, just what possessed you to come in today? There's no tennis, and not even anything remotely interesting happening in class."
Fuji shrugged, and made a second attempt to get up. Already there was cold sweat forming on his back. The room seemed to be shrinking with each second he wasted sitting around doing nothing.
"You should stay down," Eiji immediately admonished, "The nurse already called your sister, she's going to come and pick you up. Orders are not to let you leave the bed until she arrives."
"Eiji," Fuji hissed, "This is…"
The unusually serious look in Fuji's eyes tipped Eiji of. An unhappy frown crossed his face.
"Urgent?" He raised an eyebrow, "Yes, but isn't your health more important?"
There was not enough time for explanations. Fuji had half a mind to push Eiji away – to hell with repercussion – and run for it.
"Please, I need to speak with Tezuka," Fuji added, his voice pressed, "Now!"
He feverishly hoped Eiji would understand. Time was running out, might already have run out, and he really didn't want to resort to any unbecoming measures, not against Eiji of all people, nor did he want to lie, but if this was what it took to save Tezuka's life…
If he wasn't too late already.
"Tezuka, right?" Eiji sighed and stepped back, "Your sister is going to have my head."
Fuji was on his feet and out of the door in a matter of seconds. It took every ounce of self-possession not break into a blind run, and he could feel Eiji's worried gaze boring into his back.
He wished there was time for an explanation. An apology. A thank you. Anything…
But there was no time left.
Both shivered the moment the cold air of the corridor hit them, yet Fuji energetically turned into the direction of Tezuka's classroom. Eiji hurried to follow him, taken aback at the urgency in Fuji's gestures.
There was something else going on here.
And if all the years he had been friends with Fuji had taught him anything, then it was not to interfere when Fuji had that expression on his face.
But he couldn't recall ever having seen his friend this close to panicking.
Halfway up the stairs they encountered Ishida Ken with a bundle of papers underneath his arm, shivering in the biting air and clearly unhappy about his errant. His face lit up when he caught sight of Eiji and Fuji approaching, but their body language was off.
"Ishida-kun," Fuji started immediately, out of breath and not paying any heed to the surprise on Ishida's face, "Do you know where I can find Tezuka?"
"Tezuka?" the other boy repeated, thoughtfully, "He got called out earlier, by some old lady. I heard they went to the student council room; probably for some sort of a conversation. I'm not sure if he's still there, though."
Fuji had gone as white as a sheet. Eiji reached out, afraid his friend would faint again, but Fuji took no note of the hand at his elbow.
"An old lady?" Fuji repeated, his voice absolutely toneless. A frown crossed Eiji's face, he stepped closer, but he couldn't decipher the expression on Fuji's face. A shudder ran down his spine.
Ishida nodded, intimidated.
And in the next moment whatever emotion might have coloured his Fuji's voice was gone. His expression shut off, and not in the familiar smile, but in a cool, unmoveable mask. Eiji pressed his lips together – he recognized the pattern, and it bode no good.
"Ishida-kun," Fuji addressed the other boy once again, "I'm sorry for troubling you, but could you accompany us to the student council office then? Or, if that is not possible, lend me the key?"
The reminders of an already waning smile left Ishida's face completely. For a moment he stared at Fuji questioningly, yet Eiji already knew his friend's face revealed nothing.
"I guess it's important," Ishida shrugged eventually, gathering himself, "Well, I'll just go with you then. Watanabe-sensei probably won't mind if I come a couple of minutes later."
"Thank you," Fuji replied, bowed, turned on his heel and started marching in the direction of the student council room so fast that Eiji and Ishida had to jog to keep up with him.
Ishida glanced at him, but Eiji could only shake his head in reply to the silent question.
Whatever was happening, he sincerely hoped it wouldn't come to a bad end.
The minute it took them to reach the student council office felt like an eternity to Fuji. A part of his mind couldn't stop going over the facts – an old lady, asking for Tezuka…
But the demon's presence was gone.
Maybe it hadn't been the demon in Mori-san's body then? Maybe a rare chance event that another old lady had sought out Tezuka? Energetically he shook his head.
What had happened in the mean time? And why, why, why had Tezuka gone quietly? Or had he?
What about everybody else? Nobody, nothing seemed off. The few students they had encountered in the corridor had appeared perfectly calm. Was this tranquillity real? Was something interfering; something so subtle even he couldn't sense it?
Fuji's stomach twisted in knots, and his hands trembled when he knocked on the door. With baited breath he waited for a reply, but only silence reigned. Eiji and Ishida were both watching him, confused and concerned.
"Could you open the door?" Fuji inquired, his voice audibly strained.
Ishida nodded. He might not have been particularly close to either Fuji or Eiji, but the tense atmosphere told him enough. Something was going on, and while he liked to understand what, now was not the time to ask questions.
"Maybe Tezuka-kun already went back to class…" he suggested, while a click sounded and he pushed the door open. Fuji took a step forward, while Eiji squinted into the dimly lit room.
A loud gasp echoed, yet Eiji never heard it. The door swung against a fallen chair, and the collision echoed in the empty corridor, but nothing, nothing could tear his eyes away from the scene of carnage in front of him.
Blood covered the floor and the walls, soaked into the dark carpet and spread over floor tiles, was splattered over the desks, chairs and the ceiling. Loose papers sprinkled with red fluttered in an invisible breeze; while others were so soaked the ink started mixing with the blood.
Several chairs were overturned; folders looked as if they had been tossed across the room. Objects littered the floor, the twilight making it impossible to identify the odd lumps sticking up here and there.
Another gust of wind blew through the room from the half-opened window, shifted papers and carried the unmistakeable, thick smell of blood and gore to the three shell-shocked spectators. Outside, the clouds shifted and a little more light fell into the room.
Abruptly the full scale of the scene in front of their eyes revealed itself.
It wasn't just blood, Eiji realized.
There were body parts strewn across the room.
A severed leg in the middle, half on the carpet, half on the tiled floor, still covered by the ripped remains of what once had been black trousers. The fabric hid the torn skin and muscles from view, but the once white sock was bright red. The sight of blood pooling beneath a polished shoe made Eiji's stomach twist.
Pieces of ripped cloth littered the floor, and it was hard to discern if there was skin or tissue attached to it. Some were wet, others formed odd lumps. A large shape rested motionlessly in the far corner of the room, almost completely swallowed by the shadows.
It looked suspiciously like the trunk of a body.
Hideously distorted, with only one leg remaining, the other severed above the knee. Something pale emerged from the mass of darkness, looking suspiciously like a snapped bone. Dark clothes and bad lightening hid what had happened to the upper body, but here and there frighteningly similar spots of white appeared in the mess.
Fuji swallowed. Every hair on his body stood as he wearily gazed further into the room, his brain not yet daring to draw any kind of a conclusion. There was a severed arm, not too far from where they stood. He could even see the watch that was still attached to a hairy wrist. A bit of bone emerged from the other end, still surrounded by tissue and muscle, before it broke off at a jagged end.
The palm was turned up, the fingers positioned to grasp something.
But Fuji's gaze didn't remain fixed there; an invisible force drew it to the desk, usually place of the student council president. How often had he sat on top of it, watching Tezuka put the finishing touch on one document of another?
The seat behind it was empty, yet even the dark wood was splattered with wet, dark patches.
Eiji turned green, and Ishida pressed a hand in front of his lips, violently twisting away. Fuji's mind froze.
A severed head sat atop the desk. Blood was still trickling down from the surface, was pooling over the documents and pens and magazines. A thin rivulet of already dried blood ran from the dead man's lips, down his chin and mixed with the rest of liquids.
No other sign of violence was visible on the unfamiliar face. Eiji didn't know l he ought to be thankful for that; his stomach kept rolling.
"What on earth…" Ishida muttered, one hand clutching the door frame for support.
It isn't Tezuka, was all Fuji was thinking, and for a second his legs threatened to give out. Relief washed over him, just to be replaced by cold dread.
He still didn't know where Tezuka was.
And the head…
Fuji forced himself to look at it once again, to ignore his rebelling stomach, the nausea assaulting him. Even in the dim light he could make out red strands of what might have been tendons, or muscle trailing from the lower end of the severed throat. Pieces of skin floated on the blood surrounding it.
It hadn't been a clean cut, Fuji realized, and everything in him longed to recoil.
Instead he took another step forward, conscious not to step into any of the suspicious lumps on the floor. The smell of blood thickened, mixing with other, illness-inducing elements, but Fuji tried to ignore them.
"We need to call the police," Ishida eventually uttered. He'd gone white as a sheet, and his voice hitched unevenly, "Now."
Fuji merely nodded in agreement. His mind started racing.
The features of the severed head looked familiar. Not Tezuka, but …
Hasegawa.
Fuji's eyes widened. A soundless gasp left his lips, as memories began to flash in front of his eyes. Tezuka's grandfather, the box in the backyard, the conversation.
Hasegawa had said he'd be able to keep it safe.
Yumiko had thought so, too.
All blood left his face, while his mind frantically attempted to make sense of the fragmented ideas flooding it. Everybody had deemed the affair to be over, and while he'd been sceptic, he'd trusted the judgement of his sister.
Where had it all gone wrong?
Or had it? Maybe Hasegawa had failed in protecting the object? But why had the demon appeared at their school? Why had it left Hasegawa's mangled body here? Why had it…?
Why had it killed Hasegawa so violently? Why had it sought out Tezuka once again?
Dread, colder than even the biting air outside, spread through Fuji's body. The picture formed, and it took his breath away.
The object in Hasegawa's possession had been nothing but a decoy. Subconsciously he'd suspected it all along – the box the demon had destroyed back at the Nakayama's house had been richly decorated, while the smaller one hidden in Tezuka's backyard had been plain. Then he'd thought the difference part of a cover-up…
But that had only been one clue.
Why would such a precious object be hidden in the backyard, when Tezuka's house, as the Nakayamas', was surrounded by several wards? He'd felt the small shudder upon entering the study of Tezuka's grandfather – the unmistakeable sensation of passing a strong protective barrier.
That study was probably the most fortified room in the entire house, where wards were concerned.
Fuji glanced through the room. No clue to hint at another person's presence, but the puddle of blood in the centre of the room was large, considering the ceiling and the walls were drenched as well. And the trunk of the body rested in the far corner, surrounded by a puddle smaller than the one in the room's centre.
His eyes found an empty water bottle on the ground.
It might have fallen in a struggle – if there had really been one.
Overturned chairs and scattered papers; he'd seen a scenario like this just a few days before. In the wake of a power used that should not exist. The window wasn't shattered, the door had been locked – the demon had made an exit by its preferred means: liquid.
Unless he guessed wrong, it had taken Tezuka along for the ride.
And it was headed for the hiding place of the object – most probably the study of Tezuka Kunikazu.
"Fuji…" Eiji's quivering voice cut through his thoughts, bringing him abruptly back to reality.
He'd not heard Ishida turn and run to get help. Eiji's eyes were wide in disbelief, yet still focused on the hideous scene. The twilight cast an odd glow on Fuji's hair, and a shiver ran down his spine.
Fuji took a step backwards and met Eiji's eyes.
He probably looked insane.
"Fuji, did you…" Eiji's voice was barely audible, "Did you… know?"
There was no way he could answer that question, no matter how badly Eiji's eyes pleaded him to. He turned on his heel and left the room, his heart racing.
If he had put the pieces together correctly, he knew where the demon was headed.
And if luck was on his side, it might not have done anything to Tezuka yet.
There was still time to save Tezuka.
With that, Fuji cast rationality aside and broke into a run.
tbc
Thank you for reading, and please feel free to share your thoughts and impressions with me ^_^