Thanks to Gengkotsuya for her help!
Miss Kittin has done a sexy pencil sketch of Muraki ruffling Tsuzuki's head and having a cigarette. It's a beautiful work that embodies the main theme of this story: Tsuzuki's dormant powers and Muraki's determination to awaken them. Check my website for the link. That aphorism about a picture being worth a thousand words has never been more true.
Monster! You're a monster!
The childhood taunts still stung decades later - for he knew their insults were true.
Clusters of needle-like pinpricks pierced his shoulder blades. He could feel the growing quills cutting through his skin, through his shirt, extending out into the cold night air, wet and sticky with blood.
Agony. Sheer agony.
Tsuzuki fell to his knees. He doubled over, clutching his shoulders. Tumbling on his side, he let his cheek rest against something damp and cool. An odd mixture of smells invaded his nostrils - a mixture of acrid pungency and heady perfume...
Fertiliser and flowers. Was he dreaming?
He opened bloodshot eyes. In the distance, he could see trees backlit by a streetlight. A public park? Wasn't he back in his Meifu apartment? Was he still in the land of the living? Focusing his mind, he tried to summon the energy to make himself vanish. It was impossible to concentrate for long. The parasite within him was clawing along his back, revealing itself to the world once more.
No, he couldn't go back to Meifu like this. He needed to destroy it once and for all.
Bowing his head, he clenched his hands together in prayer.
"Enduring gatekeeper...of all wisdom..." Pain dulled his memory of the prayer. "I call on you...help me end this torment!"
The ground heaved and shook beneath him. Tsuzuki tumbled on his back, and swore with the pain. Quickly he rolled on his stomach, face down.
In a puff of black smoke, Genbu loomed over him, long thin neck curved in a regal cobra-like arch. Sulfurous gas wafted from his crocodilian jaws. "As you have summoned me, so I am here."
"Where are we?" A stupid question, but Tsuzuki needed to know.
"This is the garden you summoned me to bless the writing implement. The shrubs and grass have again been clipped in my absence. Foolish humans." He shook his head in disgust. "What has become of your chimera?"
"I can't control him, Genbu. I tried...and I failed..." Tsuzuki gritted his teeth against a spasm of pain. "He pretended to surrender...when all along..."
The back of Tsuzuki's shirt ripped apart. A thick wedge of sharp black quills tore through the cloth, the tallest a metre high. Fine hairs sprouted perpendicular to these spines, growing in all directions to form a grotesque imitation of a bird's feather.
Genbu peered down, gold eyes wide. "Excess energy. You cannot sustain such power in your current form."
"I won't let it out again! I won't let it take over my mind!" Tsuzuki's hands clenched in the soil. "I can't hold it back any longer...this shameful mark..."
"When one elemental energy is in excess, it over-nourishes the others. This sets up a vicious circle." Genbu lashed his tail. "The generation cycle becomes active - a spiral of ever-increasing power."
"That's...what he's been after all along. Both him and his cat..." Tsuzuki hissed and rested his forehead against one hand. "I knew it and yet I still came to him. I knew, dammit! I knew!! And now--"
Genbu stomped the ground with one foot. "Focus," he rasped. "Only by focusing your mind will you subdue your surplus power."
"You think I haven't already tried that?" A new cluster of quills pierced through the shirt, their points glistening with blood. "It's too late! You must destroy me...before I kill more people. Before I destroy everything again--"
"What will that achieve?" A derisive snort from Genbu's nostrils sent black ash fluttering over Tsuzuki. "You summoned me to end your suffering, not eradicate your existence."
"If you can't put a stop to this, then destroying me is the only solution!" Tsuzuki strained to lift himself up on his hands and knees. A line of quills projected stiffly from his back. This was not a pair of graceful wings with joints and muscle - only a single monstrous fin-like appendage looming above him from behind. "I should've summoned Touda instead! Touda obeys my orders!"
Genbu swayed his head from side to side, a denial and a warning. "Touda transforms everything he touches into smoke and ash!" he hissed. "Summon the Fire Snake and you bring upon the earth the very chaos you dread!"
"Dammit." Genbu wasn't called the Guardian of Wisdom without reason. "Then what do I do? How do I control it?"
"Matter is energy stored, energy is matter released. Your physique is undergoing drastic change as it attempts to assimilate the excess energy within you. But your current form has a limited capacity for transformation--"
"I won't change! I don't want to change! Anything but that!" Tsuzuki reached for the wooden cane, its polished shaft gleaming in the dim light. He pressed it in the ground, and lurched to his feet. "There's got to be another way."
The cane shivered in his hands, and began growing in diameter and height. Ridges and furrows appeared in the grain of the wood. A green shoot sprouted halfway along the shaft and sprouted a single small leaf.
Tsuzuki threw the cane to the ground. "What's going on? All I did was touch it!"
The cane continued to grow. Thickened bark replaced polished wood. It writhed and twisted in slow motion until it was transformed into a gnarled branch.
"Wood energy producing new life - the fruit of the generation cycle." Genbu poked out a forked tongue to lick one tip of the cane. "It smoulders." His eyes lit up. "Herein lies your cure. Bless the barren Earth with your energy. Let the Earth be transformed into a profusion of new growth."
"I won't accelerate the chaos in the world! Generating new energy is taboo!"
"It will absorb your excess power to generate new matter and new life, not energy. It is not forbidden for living things to utilise the generation cycle of the elements. This is the prerogative of all things that reside in the material world, for they cannot flourish without it." Genbu nudged the cane-branch with his snout. "Take hold of your staff of Wood and press it into the ground. The tip will ignite when the Wood can absorb no more. The Fire will then return these valuable nutrients to their rightful place - replenishing the Earth."
Tsuzuki held back. Feeling the cane stretching and curling in his hands horrified him in a way no demon ever had.
The parasitic plants in his nightmares - was it a premonition of this terrible moment?
"I...I can't! I can't do it!" He took a step away. The quills lengthened behind him, the tallest almost twice his height. Its hairs were wiry and fuzzy, more like fluffy tufts than the smooth shiny filaments of a wing feather. "This is just like my dream - plants growing all over me, choking me of life! It wants something from me - like everyone else!"
Genbu took one ponderous step forward. The ground trembled around him. "Plants have longer memories than they are given credit for - they retain information passed down through many generations within the very fibre of their being. This little one has not forgotten its foremost allegiance."
"Allegiance? What allegiance?"
From the cane, delicate green tendrils crept towards him. They extended over his shoe to encircle his ankle. More leaves sprouted, their glossy surface reflecting the moonlight.
"Stay away from me! I don't want anything to do with you!" Tsuzuki kicked it away.
"Such disrespect is unworthy of you, Tsuzuki."
"You know what I am! I'm a good-for-nothing Shinigami! I'm a God of Death!" He lifted his foot over the flourishing greenery, ready to trample it dead. "Killing is the one thing...the only thing I'm good at!"
"Is that so?" Genbu indicated the plant with a sweep of his serpentine neck. "Explain it to this one."
A green bud sprouted from the leading shoot, directly under the sole of Tsuzuki's shoe. It unfurled to reveal petals of the purest white - a white that radiated its own light in the darkness.
Astonished, Tsuzuki moved his foot away and knelt down for a closer look. It was a tiny star-shaped blossom the size of his thumbnail. When he touched it, the flower opened up a fraction more. Its fragrance was an arresting olfactory jolt to the senses - a hint of vibrant jasmine, the old world refinement of tuberose and gardenia, the delicate sweetness of the evening angel trumpet, the rich exotic aroma of ylang-ylang.
The scent awakened a flood of nostalgic memories. He could see the many flowers in his mind, sharp and clear and drenched in the glorious sunlight of childhood memory. Rows of flowering shrubs grew in his mother's garden, heavy blossoms nodding in the breeze. Bees and butterflies darted from one flower to the next, imbibing the plentiful nectar. Tree branches hung down, heavy with fruit and alive with chittering birds.
So much activity. So much life.
Alongside his mother and sister, he tilled the soil by hand, sowed the seeds, tended the shoots...and they had rewarded him with their finest bounty. The most beautiful flowers, the finest seasonal fruits and vegetables - despite the prejudice against his family, many came to purchase the excellent produce from their garden.
Their garden had been their lifeblood. In spite of drought and blizzard and flood, there had always been some plant thriving to provide them with food. This was one of the many reasons his family attracted much envy and suspicion within their village.
"In Meifu, all I ever see are sakura blossoms dying. Their dead petals fluttering down around me - a beautiful blizzard of death." His vision blurred with tears. "I can't remember the last time I saw a flower bloom. It makes no sense. I used to love flowers so much. Why I can't remember...?"
The tendrils entwined around his fingers, a reassuring squeeze. The lone flower grew higher, closely inspecting his distraught features.
"When I was a child, I loved helping out in the garden. The happiest moments of my life were spent there with my mother and sister. We grew so many things - it would've made you proud, Genbu." He pressed his hands against the damp earth. Loose dirt trickled between his fingers.
Barren soil becomes fertile when he places his hands in the earth. Dying plants are revived when he touches them.
"Plants are capable of much generosity. They reward those who take the time to tend them," Genbu said.
"I had an affinity for gardening when I was alive. I loved watching them sprout and grow and blossom and bear fruit. My mother used to say the plants liked me best, but I never took her seriously. Plants are just plants, right?" A leaf shivered when one of his tears fell on it. "Why would they grow for me more than anyone else? I never understood. There's nothing special about me--"
Genbu nudged Tsuzuki's head. "Have you forgotten you are master of twelve divine commanders?"
"I know, but that was an honour each of you bestowed on me. Serving me was the lesser of two evils, huh?" Tsuzuki looked up at him, his smile sad.
"You are but young," Genbu said, without censure. "Do not presume to comprehend the workings of a Divine Commander."
Tsuzuki let the plant go. It slithered free from him so he could rise to his feet. "I won't allow myself to be transformed into some kind of monster." He rubbed his eyes using the back of one hand. "Having these strange eyes is bad enough - I refuse to become even more of a freak."
"Take the Wood. It will be the lightning rod for your excess energy: from Wood to Fire to the starving Earth. Let the regeneration cycle inherent in all living matter take care of the rest. Earth has an infinite capacity for transformation. It will absorb this surplus energy in your place."
Tsuzuki dared to pick it up. It writhed and twisted in his grip, invigorated by his touch.
"Hold it firm. Observe the tip."
Multiple shoots sprouted along its entire length. They wound themselves around the cane to form an overgrowth of green vegetation. Some entwined themselves around Tsuzuki's hand. Tsuzuki was unnerved at the sight, but he didn't let go.
The tip of the branch-cane glowed red. It crackled then burst into a single red-gold flame. Tsuzuki held it up with both hands, eyes wide. The shoots became flaccid, their energy consumed by the kindling fire. The cane was now a torch.
Fire from Wood - the regeneration cycle in action.
Genbu stepped back, making the ground shake. He lashed his tail from side to side in excitement, and his eyes shone red from the reflected flames. "Now let this sacred Fire revitalise the barren Earth!"
Tsuzuki turned the torch down and thrust it into the soil. The open flame was instantly snuffed out, leaving acrid smoke.
His body was changing back. The cluster of quills on his back shrivelled up. The mass of hairs fell to the ground. The ache over his shoulder blades was easing. Only moulting plumes remained stuck to his ripped shirt - the skin beneath was unmarked and clean.
"Yes!" Tsuzuki whispered. "It's working!"
A thin green carpet sprouted at his feet. Gradually it spread around him, extending under Genbu's heavy-set legs to surround them both.
Genbu rubbed his lower jaw against the budding shoots of grass, his teeth bared in a grin. "The cradle of life is fertile once more. You have passed your energy to these seedlings that need it the most." He bowed his head low before Tsuzuki. "On their behalf, I thank you for reviving them." He stamped his foot. "Arise! Arise!"
The ground shook violently. Blades of grass grew high.
"Enough, Genbu!!"
"It is my duty to nourish and revive them. I will continue your work--"
"It's all right. Let them grow without further interference. They must learn to endure on their own sooner or later." Tsuzuki removed his ripped shirt and reached behind his back. All gone. He flexed his shoulders, relieved to be himself again.
"Very well." Genbu heaved a sigh and lowered his foot.
Tsuzuki lifted the cane. It was smooth and straight, a lifeless piece of wood once more.
Wood. Was this the occult element Muraki was talking about? Was that the reason why Muraki had given it to him? But how was its power a threat to shikigami? How was it the key to eternal life?
"So this is the fifth element. I never thought about Wood as a type of elemental energy. I always took it for granted."
"You are not alone. Humans have forgotten its importance, too." Genbu shook his head, a sign of displeasure. "Their callous vandalism of forests threatens the existence of all life on earth, including their own."
"It's a shame there isn't a God of Wood, a living spirit that embodies its qualities of growth and renewal." Tsuzuki stamped the tip of the cane on the ground. "If there was such an entity around, people might give plant life the respect it deserves."
"Maybe." Genbu's brooding gaze lingered on his master for a long moment. "Then again, he too might be ignored and forgotten like the rest of us."
Tsuzuki chuckled ruefully. "Yeah, that's possible too."
Genbu lowered his head until he faced Tsuzuki at eye-level. "Have you forgotten your chimera? What will you do with him?"
"I'm letting him go. He despises me for what I am. There's no way he'll accept me as master." Tsuzuki closed his eyes and murmured the spell. In an instant he was dressed in his usual black trenchcoat, white shirt and loosened tie. "It's not the first time I've been turned down."
"So what will you do about his destructive nature? How will you stop him spilling more blood?"
"There's still a shred of humanity within him, Genbu. Right now his mind is bound by kagetsu magic that's not within my power to dispel. But he has a visitor with him now, a good friend." He waved the cane. "Come on. Let's see if this person can jog his memories and break the spell."
Oriya sat perched on the armchair, his back ramrod straight. He looked out of place in Muraki's minimalist apartment, his patterned silk kimono at odds with the neutral shades of the furnishings.
On the facing sofa, Muraki lounged back in his white yukata. He stroked the grey cat resting in his lap.
Oriya's glare would have struck terror in the most inebriated of brothel clients. "It's common courtesy to offer a guest something to drink, Muraki."
"I don't recall sending you an invitation to barge into my apartment."
"You hid your tracks well. My father's underworld connections couldn't find a single trace of you. They monitored your assets, bank accounts, phone records...zilch." Oriya looked around the apartment. "They knew of this place, but according to your accountant you sold it years ago. Was that a sham?"
"I had second thoughts and bought it back shortly after. I even made a small profit from the transaction, and kept the funds in a safe place for a rainy day." Muraki smiled. "It was here in Nagasaki five years ago that I laid eyes on my beloved for the first time."
"Beloved!" Oriya spat out. "Enough of this! You don't know how to love anyone! You dare speak about your 'beloved' when you desert Ukyou-chan without saying a word!"
Muraki scratched the cat's jaw. "Your concern for her welfare does you credit. Entrusting her in your care was a wise decision on my behalf."
"What? Is that all you have to say? Don't you care at all about the pain you're putting her through?"
"Evidently not as much as you," Muraki murmured. "But this situation presents you with the perfect opportunity to give her the comfort she needs, ne?"
Oriya clenched his jaw. "My first and foremost obligation is the day-to-day operation of Kokakurou. My familial obligations prevent me from doing otherwise. All I can offer her is my hospitality. Each time she visits, I serve her the best food and finest sake, and attempt to lift her spirits--"
"Very good. Women appreciate such attention to details during a date."
"We're not dating!" In the folds of the silk kimono, Oriya's hands balled into fists for a moment. "I'm not the one she's waiting for. You should see the desperate hope in her eyes when she asks for any news of your whereabouts--"
"Did you tell her where I am?" Muraki's voice was curt.
Oriya paused. "No. I wasn't sure there would be anything left of you to find." At Muraki's raised brow, he explained: "I received a lead from one of my father's associates. With the country's largest human genetic laboratory in ruins and public support in a fully-fledged military force at an all-time high, the government's clandestine superhuman project is being shut down for good. The last thing the bureaucracy wants is news of this controversial research to become public knowledge. They are silencing everyone involved in order to preserve the unblemished reputation of our self-defence forces."
"Shut down?" Muraki was miffed. "As the recently-appointed Chief Investigator, I don't remember being consulted about its closure. I arranged the secondment to Shion University for the express purpose of taking over Professor Satomi's research. Decades of valuable work will be wasted if--"
Oriya snorted. "Fine, whatever. You can debate that with the special police when they come to arrest you. They're meant to be flying into Nagasaki any day now with orders to bring you back dead or alive. You must've been careless somewhere along the line, because they've managed to track you down."
"So that's how you found me." Muraki kept silent about the earlier rendezvous he'd already arranged with the police. The less Oriya knew about that debacle, the better. Truly this was turning into a night of botched plans. "What a pity. I never intended to entangle you in my affairs again."
"Never mind." With a silken rustle of his robes, Oriya stood up. "Be thankful they haven't found you yet."
"They won't be a problem, I assure you." Muraki frowned. Why didn't anyone trust him against a gang of thugs? Didn't his reputation as a serial killer count for anything? "I'm not going to allow such a minor annoyance to interrupt my sabbatical. In any case, there was no need for you to endanger yourself by coming here. It would be best if you left before they arrived, ne? Allow me to see out." He made no attempt to hide his impatience.
Oriya ignored it. "So do you have one of your flashy cars here? I can't imagine you without one of your many toys."
The casual tone raised Muraki's suspicions. "I'm not lending it out to you to drive."
"I'm not wearing the right footwear for driving anyway." Oriya lifted his robes to reveal wooden geta clogs. "If you're in such a rush to get rid of me, then the least you can do is give me a lift."
Muraki placed the cat on the floor. "Very well. I'm only doing this for old times' sake." He stood up. "Where am I supposed to drop you off?"
Oriya rested his hand on the handgrip of his katana. "The airport. I don't suppose I could persuade you to come along?"
"Abduction is unworthy of a man of honour, Oriya." Muraki indicated the door with an indolent wave of his hand. "I even remember you telling me once you'd never allow your precious blade to be defiled with my filthy blood. Don't tell me you've had a change of heart?"
Oriya chuckled. "You still remember that? Yes, it still holds true. That's why I also brought along this." He drew his hand into one voluminous sleeve and pointed a small pistol at Muraki's chest. "Whether you like it or not, you're coming with me."
Muraki's gaze widened. "Well, well...I never thought I'd see the day." He eyed the distance separating him and the gun. Safely overpowering an armed Oriya without the use of magic wouldn't be easy. "Yet you were always such a staunch supporter for the honourable warrior arts, Oriya."
"I may be a traditionalist, but I'm not a sentimental fool." The gun didn't waver. "I'm perfectly willing to incapacitate a leg or arm if that's what it takes to bring you back. I stood back and allowed you to do as you pleased once before. I'm not going to repeat the same mistake a second time." His mouth twisted in a glimmer of grim humour. "Please do as I say, Muraki. For old times' sake."
At Muraki's feet, the cat hissed and arched its back.
There was no point in using magic if Tsuzuki wasn't around to witness it. There was no sign of his vibrant humming energy in the air. This would not do at all. Muraki knew he had to find a way to provoke Tsuzuki into revealing himself...
...and Oriya, a mortal human, could hold the key.
"How could I refuse an old friend?" Muraki's suave voice was charm itself as he tightened the sash of his yukata. "Allow me to change into something more appropriate before we depart."
From the rooftop of Muraki's apartment, Tsuzuki watched the silver Ferrari roar out of the driveway and down the street.
"It must have worked, Genbu. They're leaving together."
In his human form, Genbu scowled. "They are polluting the air. Foolish humans."
"Never mind that. Muraki must have regained his memories. I was counting on them returning to him when he saw his friend in person." He managed a wry smile. "Never underestimate the power of love, Genbu. His friends will look after him from now on. I'm sure he'll listen to their counsel more readily than mine."
"I see. So you are truly letting the chimera go?"
"Yeah." Tsuzuki wasn't quite able to hide the flatness in his voice.
"Hmm." Genbu seemed unconvinced. "I am aware that strong emotion can influence magic to some degree, but I fail to see how the presence of a mere mortal could break a shadow spell so easily. Are you sure that's what you encountered within his subconscious landscape?"
Tsuzuki sat down with his legs dangling over the barrier ledge, the cane across his lap. "I'm positive. My illusion fuda couldn't generate the forms of the people he loved. All I could hear were their voices calling out his name."
Genbu's shaggy brows knotted together. "Then this so-called memory block is nothing of the kind. His auditory memories remain intact."
"Well...it was a partial memory block. Maybe the spell was weak to begin with..." But that didn't make sense. If this was part of the same kagetsu magic that protected Muraki against Suzaku several years ago, it had to be a powerful spell. "Then what else could it be? He couldn't visualise the people who loved him. I had to talk to him to get any kind of reaction, and then he attacked me. But it wasn't really him at all." Tsuzuki touched his throat, reliving the memory. "He didn't speak. His eyes were glowing but blank. I thought it was the demon taking over his body..."
"A demon bound by a strong kagetsu spell is unlikely to be capable of physical possession. The shadow magic that blocks a shikigami's energy would drain a demon of its limited reserves."
"Then what attacked me? Could this also be a result of his kagetsu spell?" Tsuzuki knew shadow magic could form impenetrable barriers to physical energy and psychic shields to conceal emotional pain, but the power to control a person's actions? This was beyond his experience. No memory block could do this.
No memory block alone...
"You're right!" Tsuzuki scrambled to his feet, and grabbed the cane before it tumbled down. "He's been under this spell for years! It's not like he's completely forgotten the important people in his life! His kagetsu spell must have some other hidden purpose!"
"Of course I'm right," Genbu huffed. "Am I not the Guardian of Wisdom?" But he puffed his chest with pride anyway.
"This isn't amnesia at all. I didn't ask him to show me specific people in his life." Tsuzuki began pacing on the rooftop. "I created that fuda illusion to remind him of the people he cared for, the ones he left behind in his past life. The fact that he couldn't visualise them or respond to their emotional pleas...it's a sign of...of..."
Tsuzuki stopped dead in his tracks. Blood drained from his face.
"His friend's in grave danger. We have to find them."
"Indeed." Genbu tapped his staff. "Let us be off."
Within the car, neither man said a word. The streetlights raced past in a dazzling neon blur. Apart from the odd taxi, the streets were free of traffic. The growl of the Ferrari's engine filled the silence.
The cat lay in Oriya's lap. Oriya stroked the back of its neck. "I didn't know you had an interest in animals. Where did you find this creature?"
Muraki's eyes remained on the road. "I didn't find it. It found me."
"Hmm." Oriya lifted the cat's jaw. "I pity you," he said to the animal. "Your taste in owners is terrible."
The cat mewed plaintively.
"A few days after your disappearance, a white cat began lurking around Kokakurou looking for food. Some of the servants believed it housed your restless spirit. The entire household was in a turmoil over what to do with it. Many of the younger female staff wanted to take it in. Some of the men suggested cutting off its tail so it couldn't become a neko-mata, manipulator of corpses. Tami-san recommended killing it in case it was a disguised kasha demon after human bodies - plus its presence was becoming bad for business."
"So what action did you take?"
"It never darkened our doorstep again. Maybe it overheard Tami-san's words and beat a hasty retreat." He held up the cat. "I wonder which method would work best with this one."
The cat wriggled and yowled until Oriya lowered it down.
"Test its patience too far," Muraki said lightly, "and I won't be held responsible for the consequences."
"When have you taken responsibility for anything?" Oriya's tone was acid. "That's precisely why I'm taking you back! I'm sick and tired of covering up for your reckless actions."
"You never made your distaste a secret. That's why I vowed I wouldn't trouble you again - a promise I was upholding quite well until now." The shifting play of lights obscured Muraki's expression. "Why waste your time in coming here? As you admit yourself, you had nothing to gain--"
"I gave Ukyou-chan my word I would search for you. She was inconsolable when I called her with the news of your disappearance. In her eyes, you're still a saint. Much as I wanted to, I couldn't bring myself to shatter her illusions."
The tyres screeched as the car rounded a corner.
"Really?" Muraki drawled. "How unfortunate. It would've been kinder to tell her the truth."
"And further compound her misery?" Oriya snapped. "I'd always suspected you had a sadistic streak, but this is too much! Do you have no idea of the pain you've put her through? And for what? So you could spend time toying with your newest puppet!" He shook his head, disgusted. "Has your heart become so cold that you feel no shame in hurting the woman who's supposed to mean so much to you?"
The cat looked up at him, eyes wide, ears pricked.
"Woman," Muraki murmured to himself. He suddenly chuckled. "Did you just call her a woman?"
"What's so funny?"
"Well, well." Muraki shifted up a gear and accelerated hard. "I suppose it's true what they say about love being blind, ne?"
Oriya's gaze flashed daggers. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"Haven't you noticed anything unusual about her, Oriya?" Muraki mocked. "Unusually short stature; the absence of breast development; the narrow hips and thighs? As young master of Kokakurou, would you bid for her if she was up for auction? Is the androgynous type popular among your clients?"
"Muraki! Watch your tongue, you animal!"
The terrified cat dived from his lap. It landed behind the parking brake and scrambled into the narrow compartment behind the driver's seat.
"Do you know her body is free of pubic or axillary hair? Her ovaries remain dormant, and her uterus has never known menses. She is unable to comprehend, let alone experience, sexual desire - hence her crippling anxiety at the most trivial physical contact with an adult man." Muraki's clinical voice sounded all the more cruel for its lack of emotion. "Perhaps this phobia also serves as a defence mechanism, sparing her the pain of being rejected for her asexual looks."
"How...how dare you insult her like this? Have you no shame?"
"It's merely the truth. Sakuraiji Ukyou-chan is a thirty-four year-old female with the physical maturity of a twelve-year-old girl. She is a rare female case of Kallmann's syndrome - an autosomal-recessive trait characterised by failure of the brain's hypothalamic-pituitary axis." Muraki's sidelong glance was withering. "You've had the chance to see her recently, ne? Can you honestly say she's leading the life of a normal adult woman?"
Oriya turned away, his long hair falling over his shoulders. His fingers trembled, the only hint of his emotional state.
"It isn't my idea of one," Muraki murmured, "and it's certainly not hers. Her terrified rejection of men is a manifestation of the ambivalence she feels about her own body, forever arrested in childhood."
"Will this affect her life expectancy?" Oriya's voice was gruff.
"Probably not. She should undergo hormone therapy to reduce her predisposition to osteoporosis, but she was resisting such medication the last time I spoke to her because of the potential long-term side-effects." His lips twisted. "Ironic, ne? A pharmacologist with an aversion to tablets."
"No more ironic than a doctor who commits murder in order to fulfil his ambition to prolong human life."
Muraki inclined his head. "Or the brothel owner, surrounded by a surfeit of voluptuous femininity, yet secretly longing for a woman who remains trapped in the body of a child." He chuckled to himself. "Poor Oriya. Starving in the midst of plenty must surely be the ultimate misfortune--"
"Be quiet! I told you already I'm not after her!"
"Why ever not? How will she know your feelings if you don't make a move?" He shook his head and chuckled again. "You know, I noticed the way you watched us in high school. But you went to such pains to keep your interest hidden that I was never quite sure if you were secretly longing for her or me."
"Filthy blood or not, if you weren't driving this car, my blade would surely be up your--"
"And I never imagined you held a flame for her all these years! Ahh, how very romantic! You have my blessing to declare your honourable intentions after a suitable period of mourning for my disappearance followed by a discreet courtship."
"There's nothing to declare!" Oriya was almost shouting the words. "Not when she's only ever had eyes for you!"
"Do you know what she saw when she looked at me?" Sardonic amusement laced Muraki's quiet voice. "A white knight dedicated solely to the preservation of human life, an individual so noble in character he only touched her to wipe away her tears. I was her saviour tirelessly working to find a cure...and I could never bring myself to tear down the pedestal she built for me. Of all the people in this world, I wanted to protect her most of all from my blood-soaked hands. I didn't want her innocence to be tainted by being closely involved with me." His voice cracked a little, and he hastily cleared his throat. "Hero worship is not romantic love, ne? After all, how is it possible to love a person one doesn't even know?"
The cat meowed loudly and scrabbled the back of the driver's seat. Muraki froze for a moment, distracted.
Oriya's anger vanished as quickly as it had been roused. "Hmmph. You're capable of feeling for others after all. I thought such sensitivity was all but dead in you." He was silent for a long moment. "So is this love?"
For the first time during their journey, Muraki turned to look at him. "I beg your pardon?"
"Do you think you're in love with him - this ghost from the afterlife?"
The traffic light leading to the main highway flashed amber then red. The Ferrari screeched to a halt, the only car on the deserted road.
"Tch!" Oriya gripped the door for support. "Watch it, will you?"
"Then be silent." Muraki put the car into neutral, jarred by the lapse of judgement. "This entire conversation is an annoying distraction."
The cat began yowling a long series of caterwauling wails.
Oriya grimaced a little. "Your pet is either going into heat or agreeing with me. You better neuter it to be on the safe side."
"Leave it be. It's praying."
Oriya stared at Muraki as if he were mad. "I see. Of course, what else can it do with you as driver?" He folded his arms and remained silent until the car was cruising along the uniformly straight highway overpass. "It's funny how you go around lecturing everyone else about their feelings, but you're so tight-lipped when it comes to your own."
Muraki's long fingers tightened around the steering wheel. "With all due respect, my personal affairs are none of your business."
"Fine." Oriya shrugged. But his sharp eyes had caught the betraying movement. "So you don't want to admit what he means to you." Ignoring Muraki's glare, he continued: "So what about his feelings? Has he fallen for your charms yet?"
The cat's thin voice faded off, caught in mid-note. Peering from between the two passenger seats, it darted fearful glances at both men.
Muraki's features were set in a stone-like mask. "I'm not in a position to answer on his behalf. Why don't you ask Tsuzuki-san yourself?"
"He's here?" Oriya looked around. "I can't sense anyone else. Normally I can detect such things."
"His power has improved greatly since you last saw him. His cloaking ability is now far greater than the average shinigami."
In the oncoming lane, a truck approached, headlights blazing.
"I'll bring him out of hiding so we can both hear his answer, ne?"
"Muraki--"
Muraki yanked the steering wheel around. The Ferrari swerved to meet the truck head-on.
Dazzling white light filled the windscreen. The truck horn blared.
Oriya lunged blindly for the steering wheel. "Stop!"
An invisible hand grasped Oriya's wrist and pushed him away. The car shuddered and swerved clear, throwing him back in his seat.
"Enough." Tsuzuki materialised in the confines of the vehicle, clad in his black coat, a hand gripping one side of the steering wheel. Because of the limited room within the Ferrari, his torso was sprawled over the gearstick and parking brake, while his hips were wedged in the narrow space between the passenger seats. His violet gaze, glittering with controlled anger, was mere inches from Muraki's face. "This time you've gone too far."
"See, Oriya?" Muraki burst into gales of blood-curdling laughter. "What did I tell you?"
Wedged in the narrow rear compartment next to Tsuzuki's contorted legs, the cat began a full-throated yowling hymn loud enough to rouse the dead.
"Stop the car." Clearly enunciated against Muraki's ear, Tsuzuki's sotto voce command held an implacable resolve.
"Certainly." Muraki tilted his head close until Tsuzuki found his nose sandwiched against a pale angular cheek. "As soon as you give an honest answer to Oriya's question."
"Muraki!" Oriya roared. "I couldn't give a damn about the answer--"
Muraki jerked the steering wheel around and pushed down on the accelerator.
Genbu stood on the firm ground below, his long sinuous neck angled so that he could view the overpass at eye level. Under cover of midnight, he blended in well with the darkness, apart from the thin rays of moonlight that reflected from his armour-plated carapace and spiked head.
"Dried riverbeds of tar built for the movement of their metallic tools of vandalism," he rumbled to himself. "Do they believe elevating this monstrosity in the air will compensate for this crime against the Earth?"
The silver Ferrari careened past him. Zigzagging across three empty lanes, it lurched back and forth like a punch-drunk fighter, tyres screeching on the bitumen.
"Foolish humans." Genbu exhaled a puff of vapor. Further evidence of humanity's self-destructive streak - not that he needed more proof. "Foolish, foolish humans." Slowly he shifted his huge body around and lumbered after the vehicle.
Notes
1. The Five Element Theory (Wuxing) mentioned in this story is loosely based on traditional Chinese philosophy. Check Wikipedia or do a Google search for useful diagrams that explain the way these elements co-exist through generation and control cycles. Yinyanghouse dot com has a great set of diagrams depicting these relationships.
2. Cat mythology from obakemono dot com
3. Details of Ukyou's appearance derived from YnM sidestories published in 2005/2006 Hanayume magazine. See my website for banner link to Oriya/Ukyou Scanlations to DL them.