Sorry you didn't get a chapter yesterday! I was having Christmas dinner with my housemates and it went on way longer than I expected. So there's two chapters today to make up for it.
The first is dedicated to SushiTheCookie, whose reviews and PMs never fail to cheer me up whenever they turn up in my inbox! Sushi suggested Reiji and/or Tetsuya to fill out the last place I had in my list of characters, and as I said I wanted a challenge, we're going with Reiji! It's not particularly Christmassy, it's just set at Christmas.
Reiji
It is Christmas Eve when Reiji meets him.
He's not sure why this is important, but it is. The date sears into his memory, and though he doesn't know it he will never live through another Christmas Eve without thinking of this day.
He is there by invitation – a note dropped through his door with an address and an offer to allow him free reign with his desires – but he does not like the building. It is too bright. The ordinary lights would be enough, but after walking there through the city that had decorated for the Christmas season, it makes his head hurt. He likes the dark better.
The woman at the reception desk is very professional, but Reiji can tell she isn't certain about him. There are very few humans who are comfortable when they actually have to interact with him – the way he moves isn't entirely human, and they are unsettled by him, their primal memories of snakes overriding the evidence of their eyes that it is just a person there.
"Mizuchi?" she confirms. "Yes, you have a meeting with the Director. Please follow me."
She leads him up a flight of stairs and into a meeting room. It doesn't seem to be one that is used very often – the chairs are stacked against the walls and the tables are folded up. In the corner of the room, Reiji spots a little blinking red light, and gives his best sneer-smile to the camera. Should give some foolish security grunt a shock anyway.
The woman stays with him, to his surprise, even when the clock on the wall suggests he's been stood there for nearly fifteen minutes. She is gradually becoming more used to him, it seems – she's no longer watching him out of the corner of her eye. Reiji gets bored once she's no longer imminently afraid of him, and wanders over to the window.
The city below is festooned with lights. White, coloured, twinkling, still, large, small, in straight lines, curving around shapes – every type of light imaginable. Typical Christmas time. Reiji hates it. He's happiest in the shadows. No-one is ever afraid in the light, and Reiji lives to create fear. It is the only reason he battles.
After a few more minutes, Reiji hears footsteps outside in the corridor. Two sets. Wait, one. No, two – one of them walks with such purpose it's difficult to hear the other. He tenses.
"Don't be afraid," the woman says, and Reiji laughs. He is never afraid. His only joy is in making others afraid – what would he be if he was frightened too?
"He won't hurt you," she says, and then something in her manner seems to darken. "Not yet."
Before Reiji has a chance to work out what she is talking about, the door opens and a man walks in. He has spiky black hair with a single streak of gold, and wears a purple suit and glasses. On the pocket of the jacket, the logo that Reiji saw on the outside of the building is stitched.
And then the second person steps into the room, younger than the first but almost as tall. His hair is white, and his eyes are dragon-gold, and the world lights to blinding flame in his presence.
Reiji freezes.
He is certain he is about to die.
He is also certain that he is face to face with a literal angel.
Not the cutesy cherubs on cards, or the winged humans in old artworks. This is a supernatural warrior of terrifying power.
"Do not be afraid" he had been told. Oh, but Reiji is afraid. Reiji is staring at the angel of death, and there is no word strong enough for the fear that pins him to the wall. He cannot bear to look at him directly, and instead watches him from between the strands of his hair. He's not certain whether he wants to run away or fight or kneel to swear his allegiance.
"You are Reiji Mizuchi, correct?" the man asks, and Reiji nods once, never taking his attention from the angel. "Thank you for agreeing to come here. We have been watching you for a while. We think you'll be a useful addition to our Dark Nebula organization. You have a particular style that we are interested in."
Reiji would do anything to get the weight of those lion-gold eyes off him. He would do anything to stay in their gaze forever. He cannot move, frozen in a mixture of terror and delight that is almost exhilarating.
When it becomes clear that Reiji is not going to make any answer, the man continues, "We would like to test you to see if your power is truly as formidable as it appears."
Test?
For the first time Reiji manages to drag his attention away from the angel and look at the man. "What sort of test?" he asks suspiciously.
"Nothing too difficult," the man says, smiling with his lips but not his eyes. "Just a battle against Ryuga here. Show us what you're capable of."
Reiji feels his blood run cold. To fight the angel – Ryuga – is a death sentence. He knows this without knowing how. Imagine if he could turn this kind of fear on his own opponents? Will Ryuga show him how to do it before he destroys Reiji in the light of the otherworldly fire he burns with?
No-one is ever afraid in the light. But Ryuga's eyes blaze with fire, and Reiji shudders in terror with the power they hold over him.
"He'll do," Ryuga says, voice like a lance through the heart. "He's the one you want." After a moment the man nods.
"Very well, Master Ryuga. You know best. Reiji, follow me..."
Reiji follows the man almost blindly, too preoccupied with the sense of weight from the gaze boring into his back. He might be a serpent, but he is nothing compared to the Dragon. He is afraid of Ryuga in a way that goes beyond dread. He revels in that fear, tasting how strong it makes him as he refuses to give Ryuga a reason to make that fear rational.
This is the best Christmas present anyone could ever have given him.
