This is a fanfiction based on Yami no Matsuei,
by Matsushita Youko
Rating :
G
By :
Naga
Spoiler :
Kyoto Arc, before Tsuzuki summoned Touda.
~*~*~*~
~*~*~*~
His Master was crying.
Byakko flexed his claws restlessly and fought
down to urge to pace around in circles. He could not stop the nervous twitching
of his tail, though. The fine fur on his human form was hackling stiffly and
his muscles were giving him sore twinges for crouching so tensely for so long.
He tightened his grip on his knees instead and pushed himself more firmly
against the palace wall. It was that, or run screaming, and Soryuu had told him
in no uncertain term that the older Shikigami had had enough of that.
All in all, he could not remember being quite
this miserable in his whole not-inconsiderable life-span.
Byakko gnawed on one sharp nail absently, and
winced as another wave of misery/agony/despair swept over him. He
blinked away a film of moisture and muttered under his breath, “C’mon, Tzusuki…
call us. Any one of us.”
Byakko knew himself to be a little on the dull
side in terms of empathetic connection. Like all Shikigami, he could feel what
his Master felt to a certain degree, but compared to some of his siblings, he
was like a half-deaf child. But only a dead Shikigami would not feel
this barrage of emotions.
“Poor Sis…”
Unlike Byakko, Suzaku was very
emphatetic. It made her an exceptionally effective Shikigami, but it was not a
blessing in this situation. And her empathy had indirectly brought about this
whole miserable situation. Not that it was her fault, really.
Byakko winced as he remembered the huge fight
between the two Guardians when Suzaku had returned from her latest Summoning.
They had all felt the sudden crash of overwhelming negative emotions that had
come from Tsuzuki, just moments before it cut off into disturbing blankness. It
had nearly bowled him over, and little Tenko was shocked into nearly hysterical
crying. And in the midst of it, Suzaku had returned, looking so taut and
brittle as if she was on the verge of a break down herself. No one had quite
the nerve to press her for information except Soryuu. By the time Suzaku had
thrown the last of the unattached furniture at his head and stormed off the
audience room, Soryuu was livid enough to excommunicate her on the spot. The
last thing Byakko saw before he slunk off, the other cooler heads were risking
life and limbs trying their damnedest to cool down Soryuu.
Byakko pulled himself up with a grimace. Soryuu
could go to hell. He was going crazy sitting here, doing nothing. The
helplessness of it all made him want to scream and hit something hard, useless
as it may be.
He trotted off down the palace corridor towards
the main building. He needed to find someone to talk to, growl at, and maybe…
cry with.
~*~*~*~
Touda sat on the roof, gazing down at lily pond
and the pavilions. Solitary at best, he had taken to this high ground after
getting tired of avoiding various frazzled shikigamis in the Palace. If he had
any choice in the matter, he would have left the Palace and seek quieter
places. But his uncertain status as prisoner-on-parole denied him such a simple
choice. The Old Man was convinced that allowing one such as him to go free was
a Very Bad Idea, and he was adamant that while Touda was to be allowed a
certain degree of mobility and freedom, he was not to leave the Palace compound
unless given specific permission from the Elders. Meanwhile, his previous
jailer had taken it upon himself to keep an eye, or whatever equivalent things
it used as eyes, on him while Tsuzuki Asato was not around.
Tsuzuki. His Master.
Even though Tsuzuki had never called on him for
all of twenty years now, ever since they were bonded.
Touda did not mind. He was old enough, and
powerful enough, that he felt no driving desire to prove himself ‘useful’, as
was often the case with younger, newly-bonded Shikigami. He had seen enough
conflicts, had actively participated in one of the bloodiest war in the history
of Gensoukai, to be drawn by the siren call of battles.
And he was what he was. A weapon yes, but a
double-edged sword at most times. His Black Fire had been a scourge in the War,
a fire that would burn anything and everything into ashes – the scales of
greater Dragons, Magical swords, and even other fire-based creatures like the
Phoenix.
In comparison, the body of a human, or even a
Shinigami, was nothing. A Master of his would be wise to beware his use. It
would not be the first time that his summoner had ended up as badly hurt as the
enemy he had been directed to kill.
It was another reason why other Shikigamis
avoided him, he knew. Compared to most, he lack the strong compulsion to
protect his summoner. In fact, he had no qualm in turning on his summoner if he
sensed the other to be weaker, or perceived weaknesses in the summoning magic
used. It was in his nature.
That was, before he met Tsuzuki Asato.
Others had coerced, had enslaved, had offered
him valuable gains in return of his service. He had allied himself with lesser
and greater beings, offered servitude for the reward of glories in battles and
the freedom offered by power. But the Shinigami was the first person that he
gave his bond to simply out of his own desire, without manifest gains.
Even now, he was not sure just how much that
had changed him. Would he kill Tsuzuki, if given the chance, and break the
bond? He was uncertain of the answer. More importantly, could he kill
him? He had pondered that long into many sleepless nights, when the bindings on
his crippled body made him restless and edgy with the longing to stretch his
true body and soar into the endless sky. Even after all this time, he had yet
to discover the answer.
He wondered if his current Master fully
understood what he was getting himself into, when he bonded him. As shiftless
as Tsuzuki could sometimes seem, he could be surprisingly perceptive at times.
In many ways, Tsuzuki was unlike any other
Masters he ever had. As full of surprises and murky depth as anything he had
ever seen in his long life. Easy to laugh, quick to cry, generous in extending
his friendship, and strongly passionate in his defense of the weaker. But in
some ways, he was fragile - and sometimes Touda saw something inside of him,
something dark and terrible that coiled like a unborn foetus, and its resonance
made his jaded heart beat a bit faster.
But right now, this confusing, fascinating
Master of his, was crying.
The soft keening of an er-hu drifted to
his ears. He cocked his head, sharp eyes making out the shape of the Court
Musician sitting half-hidden in one of the pavilions. The music today was more
heartrending than usual.
Of course, Kouchin was another one of Tsuzuki’s Shikigami. And considering the emotional bombardment all ten of them suffered for the last several days, he would be surprised if she was not affected in some way.
But out of all of them, it would be the
solitary figure sitting in the farthest pavilion which would be most affected.
Even as he watched, a familiar young man with
shaggy white hair and long, striped tail crossed the narrow bridge linking the
pavilion to the Palace ground, and knelt in front of the other. They were far
away, but Touda possessed very keen ears.
Touda listened impassively to their heated
conversation, yet keeping a metaphorical ear open and attuned to that soft
weeping, wondering all the while at the unfamiliar tug that quiet sound
prompted in his spirit.
~*~*~*~
“Suzaku-neesan?”
The woman who turned around to meet his gaze
was a far cry from the proud, fiercely beautiful shikigami whom he adored.
Strands of lusterless black hair escaped the careless braid, and there were
shadows under her golden eyes. The usually sharp gaze was dulled, and the
beautiful orbs were red-rimmed.
Suzaku turned her eyes away from Byakko and
murmured listlessly. “Go away, Byakko. I don’t want to hear it.”
“Hear what?” Byakko questioned, confused.
Suzaku snorted. “Whatever you’re about to say,
Soryuu has already said it a hundred times worse. And it can’t possibly be any
worse than what I’ve already thought of myself.”
Byakko hesitated, a little intimidated by the
bitterness in Suzaku’s voice, but he persisted. “You’re wrong, neesan.”
When Suzaku looked at him in surprise, he continued, “I’m not angry at you.”
She turned away again. “Then you’re the
exception.”
Byakko looked at where Kouchin was playing her mournful song. “I don’t believe that. You did what you think was best. You saved Tsuzuki’s life. He would’ve died if you hadn’t, and even Soryuu can’t possibly fault you for that.”
“No?” Suzaku cried out. “You’re wrong there.”
Her tone took on the harsh, lecturing tone of their fellow Shikigami, Soryuu,
at his worst. “‘A Shikigami’s duty is to do as she is bidden by her Master.
A Shikigami does not take matters into her own account. A Shikigami does not
disobey her Master’s direct order.’” The last words were nearly shouted at
Byakko, but then Suzaku’s voice wavered and she dropped into an unsteady
whisper. “Most of all, a Shikigami is to protect her Master, not push him into
madness by thinking she knows what is best for him.”
“Oh, neesan…” In two strides, Byakko had
enfolded Suzaku into his embrace, nuzzling his face into her shoulder,
tightening his grip when she would have pulled away. “Please don’t. Don’t hurt
yourself like this. You know Tsuzuki, he wouldn’t be blaming you. The ahou
can’t even get mad at you, he adores you, you know that.”
As he babbled, Suzaku had slowly relaxed in his
arms. When he stopped, not knowing what else to say, a sob suddenly tore itself
out of her body. “I hurt him, Byakko,” she half-wailed, “I really hurt him. He
was in so much pain, I can feel him breaking, but there’s nothing I can do.
I’ve done enough damage. I c-can’t even stay by him when that crazy human took
him…” And she then broke down in earnest, her slim body shaking against him and
tears soaking his vest.
Byakko had a moment of sheer panic before his
innate compassion took over and he held her tightly, smoothing her hair and
whispering soothing words that were as much for himself as for her.
"It's
going to be all right, sis. It's gonna be fine. Remember, he maybe pretty
useless, but he's still a Shinigami. It's not that easy to take him down, he'll
be ok.”
We’ve all failed, neesan. We got caught inside
his madness.
“Why, not even that Demon General Sagatanas can
kill him. And the other Shinigami aren’t going to just stand still, you know.”
All four of us were there, and we couldn’t do a
thing to help him. We can only… watch… and wait…
“Can you imagine Tatsumi letting that
albino freak do anything to Tsuzuki? He’ll be here soon enough, smiling that
idiot smile of his, and you can whack him on the head and shout at him for
being so stupid…”
That prompted a choked laugh from Suzaku, as
Byakko had hoped. “Oh, Byakko,” she murmured against his chest, “what am I
going to do? I can’t stand this…”
Byakko shrugged helplessly. “Actually, I was
kinda hoping you have some ideas. To tell you the truth, I’m going bonkers
here.”
Suzaku sighed deeply and gently disengaged
herself from Byakko’s arms, giving him a wan smile. “If only he’d call one of
us… he needs us, I can feel it. That ‘albino freak’ was up to something nasty…”
A shudder went through her body and her full lips twisted in revulsion. “I… I
don’t even mind if it’s not me he called, if he doesn’t trust enough to call me
again…” She took a deep, shuddering breath. “But he could call you, Byakko… the
two of you were always more like one of a kind…”
“Hey,” Byakko yelped in instinctive protest,
then grinned sheepishly at Suzaku’s slight smile. The fragile moment did not
last though.
“Gods,” Suzaku exploded suddenly, “I wish that
snake would go somewhere else.”
“Huh?” Byakko was completely thrown by the
sudden non-sequitur.
“Up there,” Suzaku jerked her chin sharply, not
deigning to turn around. “On the roof.”
Byakko turned to scan the roof-top. On the
building opposite them, perched on the edge of the tiles like one of the
decorations, was a figure shrouded in matte-black ragged cloak. It billowed
around him in the strong wind, the torn edges looking like nothing so much as
half-rotten wings of a gigantic bat. Byakko shook off the macabre image with a
shudder and tilted his head towards Suzaku.
“That’s Touda.”
Suzaku’s nose wrinkled as if she had sniffed
something bad. “I know.”
Byakko’s eyebrows rose. “Is that the really
ancient bird-versus-snake hate-hate relationship I’m hearing, or something
else?”
“Something else,” Suzaku replied curtly, then
relented. “Although the snake part didn’t help.”
“Did he do something to you, sis?”
Suzaku sighed, glancing at Byakko. “Not
personally. I never did meet him during the War, when he was allied with
Kurikara-oh. But several of my sisters did.” She looked away. “I would never
say this to him, but Tsuzuki should never have let that that thing out of his
prison.”
“Oh.”
“But that wasn’t it either. It’s… he’s not like
us, Byakko. We would sacrifice our lives to protect our Master,” a spasm of
pain crossed over Suzaku’s beautiful face. “Or at least, we would try. But
Touda…” The name was almost spat out. “He could care less. The snakes have
always been the most selfish of all the created beings. They thrive in chaos
and blood-shedding, which was why so many of them was involved in the last war.
I don’t doubt he can be an asset in a fight, but I don’t trust him not to put
his interest above Tsuzuki’s well-being. I heard he had killed his previous
Master before.”
Byakko’s mouth formed an O as he pondered over
the implications.
“Well… but as far as I know, Tsuzuki has never
called on him before, right?”
“No. Not once in twenty years.” Suzaku smiled
at Byakko somewhat wryly. “When it was decided twenty years ago, that Tsuzuki
was to be allowed to bond Touda as his Shikigami, Soryuu and I – we pulled
Tsuzuki off to one corner and told him very explicitly that he was to use Touda
only as a last resort. And if he did not have a very good reason for
doing so, and showing off does not count, ” Suzaki’s eyes twinkled with
an almost feral light, “Soryuu and I would have a firm WORD with him.”
“Oh,” Byakko mouthed, feeling somewhat weak in the knees at the look in Suzaku’s eyes. He could only pity Tsuzuki, caught by two such strong-willed individuals like Soryuu and Suzaku. “I’m sure he’ll heed your warning.”
“He’d better,” Suzaku grumbled, then with no
warning at all, both of them cried out as a strong surge of emotions threatened
to overwhelm them. Byakko slumped against a pillar, hastily grabbing Suzaku as
she nearly fell to the floor, eyes wide and unseeing. He rode the wave, as
powerful as the first catastrophic overload of emotions that had sent Tsuzuki
into his coma.
Tsuzuki was awake.
His heart beat double time as he fought against
the reflected surge of soul-killing pain and total despair.
And this was only a fraction of what Tsuzuki
was feeling.
“Tsuzuki,” Suzaku whimpered, eyes wide with
horror. “No, don’t…”
“What’s happening?” Byakko asked frantically.
Unlike Suzaku, his weaker ability denied him any glimpse of the happenings in
the human world. But Suzaku could see fragments of it, little good though it
gave her.
“Tsuzuki…” Suzaku moaned, pain lacing her
voice. “Call us… please, let us do this for you. Don’t stain your hands
anymore.”
Byakko raised his head sharply, his nostrils
flaring as a familiar weave of power sang across the boundary of worlds. “Yes!”
He exulted, a fierce smile breaking across his face. Finally! “He’s calling us,
sis!” He shouted at Suzaku, unable to stop grinning. It would be a hard fight –
the albino freak was no pushover. Tsuzuki would probably be an emotional wreck
and would require a lot of soothing and cosseting. But he did not care, he knew
none of them would mind. At least one of them would be by his side, and things
would be better then. It had to.
Suzaku was about to smile back at him, when it
withered still-born. “Tsuzuki…?” She whispered, confused, “…who are you…?”
Byakko strained his senses towards the magic of
the summon. He was having difficulty sensing it and the weave felt alien to
him, which meant that Tsuzuki was not calling for him. He squelched his
disappointment firmly and listened some more. Suzaku would be better, he told
himself firmly, and so would Soryuu, or (botoka?), or Gui-long, they’re older
and more experienced. But he was familiar with most of his brethrens’ summons,
and yet he was sure he had never heard this one before. It swirled and
undulated in the ether like the arms of a hurricane, heavy and hot like the
first gust of furnace fire, and he could just hear fragments of the faint words
that shaped the summon into being…
…rising from the mist of black
flame… descending from heaven… come to me…
“NO!” Suzaku shrieked suddenly, lunging out of
Byakko’s grasp. She came against the railing of the pavilion, staring at the
rooftop. Byakko watched, transfixed, as the black form on the rooftop seemed to
be engulfed by a fast-expanding cloak of darkness, a living patch of night that
undulate and rippled, then it started swirling like a matte-black tornado,
faster and faster, ever expanding…
…hideo… Touda.
And the tornado ripped apart, shredded, as the
being within uncurled and rose into the sky, meters and meters of glistening
black-ruby scales, seeming to glow and lit from within by a hellish furnace.
Hot burning wind whipped the Palace compound, plucking roof tiles by the
hundreds and slinging them like arrows across the ground. The heat was like a
living thing, stinging Byakko’s eyes and driving him back several steps. He saw
dry leaves and twigs burst into flame and sparks of fire danced all around the
compound. In all the roaring chaos, Byakko could barely hear Suzaku’s voice
screaming:
“TOUDA!!”
The serpent that rose from within the cocoon of
black tornado was almost as wide across as a Greater Dragon and already taller
in height, even with half of its length still coiled, seemingly resting on thin
air. Byakko was guessing the full length could easily reach forty metres, all
of them solid muscles, the intense heat it gave off shimmering the air and
distorting its outline. Two membrane wings unfurled just beneath the strangely
bird-like head, but it was obvious the serpent did not need them to soar into
the sky. It turned slitted red eyes at them and Byakko thought he could see
flames dancing beneath the surface of the eyes.
“Touda!” Suzaku was still screaming, and Byakko
had a sudden overwhelming urge to transform into his real form and crouch
protectively in front of Suzaku. But those burning red eyes caught him,
hypnotizing and compelling, and he froze on the spot. In a flash of insight, he
knew then, why Touda’s eyes had been hidden behind shades.
“Don’t you DARE! Don’t you dare Touch him,
Touda!! Or I swear I will kill you!!”
The serpent gazed at them with impassive eyes,
then it opened its beak-like mouth. Wisps of black-edged crimson flame escaped
its mouth, and the feather-crest around its head rose and seemed to dance in
the heat wave. Then with a trilling cry that shook the leaves from the trees,
it undulated in one smooth motion and soared into the sky in a graceful loop.
“DON’T YOU DARE!! TOUDA!!”
A circle of black nothingness expanded in the
middle of the sky, connecting Gensoukai with the human world, and the serpent
vanished through it. Immediately, the circle contracted back to nothing and
disappeared with an abrupt thunder of displaced air.
With the serpent’s disappearance, the
temperature immediately dropped back to manageable level, and Byakko sucked in
his first lungful of air that did not threaten to sear his lungs to ashes. He
hurried over to Suzaku who had dropped back to her knees, staring at the spot in
the sky where the extra-dimensional hole had appeared.
“Sis, you okay?”
Suzaku slowly shook her head, her expression
wooden after the frightening outburst of before. Byakko took hold of her
shoulders and shook her slightly. “Nee-san, snap out of it, please! What
is it?” He had to know. “Why would Touda hurt Tsuzuki? Suzaku-neesan!”
Suzaku turned dull eyes at him. “Tsuzuki,” she
whispered, “he wanted to die.”
“…what?”
“That’s what I felt, through the link. He
wanted so desperately to die.”
“He knew none of us would do it, could do it.”
“So he called for Touda.”
“He called for the only one who could kill a
Shinigami.”
~*~*~*~
Touda soared into the sky and reveled in the
sensation of his body.
Oh, he had forgotten so much. And yet, how
could he have forgotten how it feels like to stretch his full body in the
limitless sky? It had been so long since they had bound him in the limited
human form, most of his power taken away by bindings, then by the shearing of
his mane. He had adapted and lived with the limitations, but perhaps he had
forgotten this so he would not crave for it so - this feeling of utter freedom,
utter power. He felt almost drunk on it.
He twined his body, letting scales rubbed
against scales and threw off brilliant sparks of flame. His eyes took in the
swirling multi-color of chaotic space between worlds, the far gate coiling open
before him. He dove into the opening and into the human world.
Instantly, he saw his Master. Tsuzuki Asato.
The power of the summon linked them together, reeling him in like a catch at
the end of the line. He turned his body so it would not touch his Master’s
body, spiraling his length as he fully entered this world. It was freezing
cold, but the heat he threw off immediately super-heat the air, vaporizing all
moisture. He was inside of a building, he saw, and although it was vast for a
human and relatively empty, there was precious little space for him. The ground
and the surrounding walls were covered with sheets of metal, and the moment his
body came within a meter of it, they began to melt, running down in runnels
like silver streams. He coiled his length gracefully on the open ground in
front of Tsuzuki, ignoring the bubbling streams that hissed and steamed as they
evaporated under his body, and dipped his head to await his Master’s command.
It had been several years since Tsuzuki had
visited the Gensoukai, and while Shinigami did not age, their look could alter
depending on circumstances. Still, Tsuzuki’s appearance came almost like a
shock to Touda.
There was nothing drastically different with
him physically, except for him being a little thinner and paler under the dark
red glow Touda cast off. But the look in those amethyst eyes of his changed
everything.
Wearing only a thin white yukata, Tsuzuki gazed
up at him from where he was kneeling on the floor, his movements slow as if
drugged. The pupils of his eyes were pin-points of black in a sea of violet as
he smiled at Touda, and everything that seemed wrong with him came to a focus.
There was nothing behind his empty smile, empty
eyes. Everything that made him Tsuzuki, his impossible, incomprehensible
Master, was gone.
“Touda…” Tsuzuki breathed up at him. “Utsu-kushi…”
Touda rubbed his coils together as a nervous
tingle coursed through him. Something was very, very wrong. Where was the
enemy? Who was he supposed to fight and destroy? He raised his head higher, his
uncovered eyes giving him a glorious wide view of the world in their true
colors. But there was little enough to see. There were metal contraptions
everywhere, their purposes unknown to him. A glow of white light caught his
attention and he turned his great head just to catch the last glimpse of it
disappearing into nothingness. But at the last, he thought he saw feathers –
white feathers like those of white dove…
He dismissed it as unimportant and focused on
his Master instead.
Tsuzuki. Master. I am here. What
do you need of me?
The smile slowly died and it was just Tsuzuki’s
eyes that gaze at him with that far-away look in them. As if he was not quite
there, as if it pained him to be here. Even as he watched, Tsuzuki took
a shuddering, convulsive breath.
“…Help me.”
…Tsuzuki…?
Those eyes closed. And when he opened them
again, Tsuzuki was there. The spirit that he recognized was there, but so was
agony. Anguish, pain, despair – so much intertwined that he was drowning in
them. A tear rolled down one corner of his eye, like crystal it was, a perfect
drop of pure misery.
“End this. Please.”
And he knew then what Tsuzuki wanted. The link
between them resonated with Tsuzuki’s desire/need/yearning.
The desperation of it resonated in him, the
unbearable pain cried out to him, and he rocked back as if hit with a physical
blow, as the past he thought he had left behind reached out for him with grasping
claws.
End this. End this non-existence, this mockery of life. Let me cease to be than stay frozen in eternity of hell.
He had screamed them before, to the uncaring
black emptiness that was his prison. Deep in the womb of the Palace, where even
the memory of sun light, the feel of wind brushing his scales, the fresh taste
of cooling water in his tongue had faded and ceased to exist. Where the
remaining thing left to feel was the burn of the enchanted manacles chaining
his wrists, and the only sound left was the sound of his own cries. And even
those had receded in time, and he wondered in passing moments of lucidity
whether he had dreamed the sound of his own voice, whether he had cried out in
reality or merely remembering a time long ago when he still had a voice.
Touda twisted in agitation, his scales rubbing
red-black sparks as he coiled himself tighter. He disliked remembering those
times, had resolutely put it behind him along with the memory of the War and
the feel and power of his true form. But he could not deny Tsuzuki’s call, his need,
and the resonance it had awaken within him.
Tsuzuki wished to die. To be released from an
existence that was for him worse than death. Touda had been there before, could
understood perhaps better than most. And perhaps that was why Tsuzuki had
chosen him.
The bond between Shikigami and Master tugged at
him, compelling him to follow his Master’s command, yet at the same time the
implicit directive to protect his Master’s life resisted against it. He knew he
had a better chance of breaking the latter than most Shikigami, but should he?
For the first time in his long life, Touda had
no idea what to do.
He shifted restlessly, uneasy with this
confusing hesitation and unable to remember ever being so torn with indecision.
He had always been one for direct measures; his likes and dislikes were clear,
and his method of action tended to follow the most direct path. It was not that
he did not understand complexity, he just did not find any value or need in
them. In the past, he had always been strong enough that subtlety did not
matter. But this was not a matter of strength, was it?
Ii no-ka…Tsuzuki? He asked instead. My Black Flame will burn even your kind. It is
uncontrollable, and it kills indiscriminately. Isn’t this why you’ve always
avoided using me?
Among other reasons.
“It’s all right, Touda.” The reply was faint, almost lost in the hiss of fire. The room had begun to burn, his presence in the confined space enough to ignite most combustible materials and some less so. A human body would have burn by now. A Shinigami’s body had a higher resistance to flame, but not that much higher.
“This is something that I can only ask from
you.”
- sorry, I’m so
sorry -
Touda cocked his great head, feeling/hearing
that silent whisper that he had become familiar with these long few days, that
all of them had become familiar with. But now that he was so close to his
Master, more came through than mere vague emotions. Tsuzuki’s thoughts seeped
through, a confused, chaotic jumble of
fragments. He could feel how it hurt Tsuzuki to be aware, to be sane for just
this while, just long enough to impart his last wishes to Touda.
“Suzaku-neesan… the others… they will try to
save me because of the bond. But I don’t want to be saved. Not anymore.”
There was nothing Touda could say to that.
“I’m so tired… so tired of fighting it. It’s
been so long… so long…”
So
long, so long that he forgot what he had been living for, what he had been
fighting for. When the struggle seemed so endless and ultimately futile that
the end became the only source of salvation left.
Sou-ka…
“Please tell Soryuu and the others, this is my wish. Please forgive me.”
And overlying that, the refrain that ran over and over in Tsuzuki’s mind - forgive me – even when I feel everyone’s strength around me – I’m sorry I’m such a useless Master – thank you for everything - forgive me for asking this–
The irony of it was rich, thick enough to choke
on. Even for this request, Tsuzuki could not stop apologizing.
So typical of him.
Tsuzuki was whispering now, no longer seemed to be aware of Touda’s presence.
“Until now, how many people have died because of me? I’ve always been …
unwanted… shouldn’t have exist… in this world…” The words were soft, private, a
litany of a lifetime of guilt and self-loathing brought to a head that Touda’s
sensitive hearing could not help but overhear. Too intimate, too raw by far,
and for a moment he wished any of the others were here, any of the other
Shikigamis who would know what to say or do in times like this. Yet he was the
only one there, and all he could do was stand as a silent witness.
“…It’s past time to correct it.”
Tsuzuki.
Issyoni-iku… Touda.
Once upon a time, a stranger had offered him a
release from an existence worse than death, at a time when he had ceased to
believe in anything or in himself. He had taken hold of that hand and it had
lead him out into the sunlight. It had been a deep, cobalt blue sky - such
intense color! - such as it had seared his eyes with its glory. And the wind -
the sweet caressing wind that carried the scent of spring rain and teased with
the promises of blooming peach and apple blossoms - filled his dry throat and
lungs and poured new life into his withered soul. The tears that had fallen as
he closed his eyes shut came from more than the sting of forgotten sunlight.
He had carried that memory with him, preciously
and jealously hoarded in the deepest part of his soul. He warmed himself with
it as he knelt before the highest of the Shikigami as they argued and shouted
among themselves, threatening him with death and worse, a return to the eternal
prison he came from. He watched and listened as the one who had freed him - a
Shinigami, he found out, a Shinigami named Tsuzuki Asato - pleaded and fought
on his behalf. On behalf of someone he had never met before and not beholden
to.
He thought that he would fight to the death if
they chose to return him, never mind that it would most assuredly result in his
death, bound and weakened as he was then. Had in fact readied himself for it,
gathering himself during the distraction from the most heated of the debate so
far, with Souryuu and Suzaku leading the screaming match against one lone
flustered and backed-into-a-corner Shinigami. He remembered Souryuu had flung
out his last argument like a dagger, aimed at what he later found out to be one
of Tsuzuki’s major weak points, his compulsion to protect the innocent and the
weak.
Touda remembered Souryuu’s exact words. “Jya-shin
are amoral and have no concept of gratitude. Release him and he will go out
there and kill again, indiscriminately and with no remorse. What shall we do
then? I refuse to be responsible for his actions!”
And Tsuzuki’s shouted reply, one that had
stunned him and the rest of the presiding Shikigami. “Then I will! Let me be
responsible for him!”
Touda could not remember his reaction, except
that he had stared at the violet-eyed Shinigami for a long, long time. The
argument had taken up again soon enough, with more heat than before if that was
possible, but he had fixed his eyes on the one who had dared to claim him and
had no interest in anything else. He had watched as Tsuzuki Asato argued,
cajoled, pleaded with all he had for Touda’s life and freedom. He listened as
Tenkuu finally acquiesced and laid out the harshly restrictive terms to limit
his power and movements, adding shackles that made mockery of the term
‘freedom’. He saw how the rest of the Shikigami had looked at him then, and
knew that they expected him to be too proud to accept them, to refuse the terms
and fought them to the death.
He remembered thinking that freedom of self was
the one thing that made life worth living, and a freedom under constraints is
no freedom at all. But then he looked at Tsuzuki Asato’s pleading eyes, seeing
the pain and the knowledge in them of what was being asked of him, and he knew
then of all people, he would be one who would hold the leash as gently as it
was possible to be, and gave him as much freedom as it was achievable under the
limitations.
Touda was proud, but centuries of limbo had
broken things in him that he never thought would break. He had tasted the world
again after centuries of nothingness, and he was not ready to give them up.
Tsuzuki Asato was a Shinigami, but he was not immortal. Shinigami moved on
after a few decades, at the most, and he would have those years to live free
from the prison. And seek other ways to free himself.
He had expected to be used often, to earn his
indenture. He was not overly prideful, but he knew his worth in battle. What he
had not expected was for Tsuzuki to leave him alone, asking nothing from him
let alone asserting his mastery over him. The only times he saw his so-called
Master was when Tsuzuki came ‘visiting’ to Gensoukai, all exuberance and warmth,
greeting each and every one of them like fondly missed best friends.
Once he had flat out asked Tsuzuki why he had
never used him. The Shinigami had gone uncharacteristically quiet. “Because I’m
not your Master… not really. I had to because that’s the condition they set
out, but…” Tsuzuki had smiled at him, the same smile as the he remembered years
ago, as the man had offered him his
hand for the first time. “You’re your own man, Touda. Or shikigami, or
whatever. I’ll try my best to stay out of your way and you can do whatever you
want. Or… ,” Tsuzuki frowned as he thought that over, “well, within the limits
set anyway. I’ll see if I can get the others to yield a bit on those
restrictions. I’m sure after a while they’ll see that you can be trusted.” He
had brightened up again and the smile lit up those rich violet eyes. “I’d love
to see you fly, in your own true form. You belonged in the sky, Touda, and
you’ll return there one day. I promise.”
The fates were the masters of irony. He had
returned to his true form and he had flown in the sky for however brief it had
been. But the violet eyes that had promised him those were no longer the same.
And the same person who had given him back his life now asked him to take his.
It had taken him a long time, but he finally
realized that Tsuzuki Asato had offered more than his hand, but also the
promise of companionship. But now it was too late.
You
released me from my prison. I can do no less than release you from yours.
It was hard, harder than he ever thought it
would be. How many times had he dreamed of true freedom, to be bound and
beholden to no one? This was his dream handed to him in a silver platter. With
the price tag being the life of one Shinigami.
Before the prison, before Tsuzuki, he would
have taken the offer in the blink of an eye and count himself fortunate. Now,
the thought of an end to all those whirlwind visits, the end of exuberant hugs
and inquiring chatters, the end of a future with Tsuzuki Asato in it, dimmed
the world in a way he had never experienced before. The companionship that he
barely understood, the promise of more that he had just began to grasp, slipped
through his fingers before he had time to truly look at it, to nurture and see
what else may grow out of it.
The realization came then that he had changed.
Without truly being aware of it, he had changed into someone that his old self
would not have recognized.
I
would have given you whatever you desire.
He owed Tsuzuki his relative freedom, his life.
If this was what Tsuzuki wished, it was not in him to deny him his need. He may
wish that Tsuzuki had chosen another way, but he had not. And of all the
Shikigami, he was the only one that Tsuzuki trusted to understand and carry out
his final wish.
Very well. I shall do as you wish.
Even if this new self mourned the loss of a
Master.
And Tsuzuki smiled once more. “Thank you,” he
whispered, and that was wrong, so wrong that his Master was thanking him for
agreeing to burn him to death. But what else could he do? A weapon he was, and
a fine one too, but a weapon was not created to save people. A weapon,
especially one like him, was created to destroy.
So he lifted his head, spread his crest, and
breathed out streamers of black flame. The flames scoured the domed ceiling of
the room, silvery runnels sizzling down the curve of the walls, rivers of
liquid metal that hissed and steamed toxic fumes into the air. He turned his
head around and breathed his flame around the room, but avoiding the middle of
it, where Tsuzuki’s frail form knelt in the increasingly deadly surroundings.
It was only a matter of time, Touda knew, but try as he might, he could not
speed up the process. He knew how he would take Tsuzuki out in the end, with
one blast of his black flame, so quick that it would be over before the pain
began. But until the time came…
Tsuzuki had lifted his hands up, his eyes
shining with reflection the black flame and darker anticipation.
“Burn higher, hotter, Touda. Burn everything.
Burn away this eternal life of mine.”
Touda paused, wreathed in the shimmering heat
of his breaths.
Eternal life… is it such a burden
to you, Tsuzuki?
But Tsuzuki was gone, what was left of his
rational mind buried under too deep for him to reach. His eyes were closed,
shuttering whatever internal hell he was seeing that made Touda’s very real,
physical flames preferable to it.
“TSUZUKI!”
Touda reared up in surprise. It was the first
other human voice he had heard since arriving in this world. The place had
seemed abandoned, and no human could have survived for long in the
flame-shrouded world that he had created.
Sure enough, before his eyes could see the
owner of the voice, his other senses had warned him that this newcomer was no
ordinary human. A slight figure scrambled in the debris-littered floor, picking
his way towards the center of the room. Another Shinigami, with fine brown hair
and green eyes the color of new spring leaves. Young, in years as well as body,
and new in his calling if he had never seen him before. Behind him yawned a
five-meters wide opening into the room that he had not seen before. His flames
had covered that entrance, blocking entrance and exit. He could sense other
not-quite-living beings behind the wall of flames, but their way in was
blocked. The young Shinigami was alone.
Even as he watched, the Shinigami’s eyes rose
up to find his, wide with apprehension, then they slipped down to find Tsuzuki.
He called out Tsuzuki’s name again, his voice strident and frantic with worry.
“Tsuzuki! It’s me! Come on!”
At Touda’s feet, Tsuzuki stirred, lifting his
head and gazing towards the other Shinigami, his movements still sluggish.
“Hisoka?” he whispered.
The young Shinigami, Hisoka, ducked to avoid
falling pieces of the ceiling raining down almost on top of him, but his eyes
never left Tsuzuki. “Can’t you move? Stay there, I’ll come and get you.” A
shimmer of movement and Hisoka disappeared, reappearing in moments halfway to
their spot. A teleporter.
A groan from above made Touda look up. The tortured sound had come from the
curved metal beams that supported the domed ceiling. They had turned virtually
incandescent white from the heat, edged with angry red that spat sparks and
worse. Some of the beams had begun to warp and run together like cheap plastic
over flame, twisting curving down as gravity asserted itself. It would not be
long before the beams ceased to provide sufficient support and the entire
ceiling, and however many tons of structure above it, would come crashing down
on them. It may not be sufficient to kill him, but to remain for much longer
would be tempting fate.
But while it may not be fatal to him, the
Shinigamis would certainly not survive the experience.
Hisoka had reached Tsuzuki’s side and was
urging him to his feet, his gaze darting about to assess the room, flinching
away from his serpent body but boldly coming back to assess him for threats.
Hisoka had no way of knowing if he was enemy or friend, but from his posture,
the Shinigami was ready to protect Tsuzuki if needed. That took courage, a lot
of it, and a strong sense of loyalty.
So, was this Tsuzuki’s new partner?
Tsuzuki was resisting him. Touda could hear him
through the roar of the flames, and what he heard only confirmed the validity
of his decision.
“It’s all right Hisoka. I’ve lived for a long time…
it’s enough.”
“I’m so… tired… of regrets… guilt… that’s all
there is for me…”
“I
can’t go on anymore, so just, let me…”
Then the unexpected occurred. The young
Shinigami, instead of turning away, flung himself into Tsuzuki’s lap with a cry
of negation. Touda felt himself blinked in surprise, and judging from the
shocked look that spread across Tsuzuki’s face, he was not the only one taken
by surprise. For Tsuzuki at least, the surprise was enough to shake him out of
his apathy.
“…Hisoka?”
“Then live for me alone.” Tsuzuki’s partner was
crying openly, narrow shoulders heaving with the force of his sobs. “I don’t
want to live alone. Wherever you go, I will go with you.”
“The only place that I belong to is where you
are.”
A long, tortured groan from above warned Touda.
From the corner of one eye he saw one of the support beams gave way, a section
fully ten meters across falling accompanied with great chunks of tiles from the
unsupported ceiling. Right on top of Tsuzuki and Hisoka.
Touda did not pause to think. His head shot
forward with the lightning quick snap that all serpents possessed. The
half-melted beam hit his long neck with an impact that jarred and bowed him
down a meter or two. It stung, but his diamond hard scales shrugged off the
blow, and the succeeding shower of tiles merely bounced off with sharp cracks
to rain down on the floor. Touda hovered over Tsuzuki and Hisoka, pulling his
body tighter above them, protecting them from any further debris. Now that he
had time to think, he realized the foolishness of his actions. It was his fires
that brought this about, fires that were meant to kill Tsuzuki. Did it matter
whether he died now or later?
But somehow, despite it all, he could not stop
holding on. Hope was an unfamiliar feeling to him, but it was all that stayed
his hand now. Hope that somehow things could change.
The two Shinigami had not moved from their
spots, except that Hisoka’s death grip around Tsuzuki seemed to have tightened,
impossible as it may seem. Tsuzuki was staring down at the young man in his
lap, so desperately holding on to him, as desperately as Tsuzuki himself had
been seeking death only moments earlier. His hands, when he brought them up,
were shaking badly. Tsuzuki’s voice, when it came, was meant for Hisoka’s ears
alone.
“I can stay… here?”
“Is it really… all right for me… to stay here?”
- here with you? – can I stay with you? – will
you let me – will you -
Hisoka nodded, one quick, firm nod that
dispelled all doubts, never letting go of Tsuzuki’s body.
And the ragged smile that spread across
Tsuzuki’s face then was so fragile, still so full of pain, yet past the tears
that fell unbidden his eyes had regained a part of their usual luster.
Tsuzuki’s arms wrapped themselves around Hisoka’s smaller body and crushed
their bodies together, holding on as tightly as a man clutching the
personification of his salvation.
Final agonized cries from above, from all
around them, presaged the oncoming destruction of the underground facility.
Touda knew that their time was up, and felt a moment of despair that they were
too late, that even though Tsuzuki was no longer seeking death, death had come
looking for him. If Hisoka was able to teleport both of them out, he would have
done so earlier. Which meant that when the room came down around them, the two
of them would still be in the middle of it, too far away from any exit.
Touda heard the remaining support beams give
way above them, one death shrieks after another as sections of the support
beams broke free, and broken chunks of concrete from the building above began
to rain down along with the remaining ceramic tiles. The walkways that ran
along the perimeter of the building disintegrated with a resounding crash.
Despite his best efforts, fiery debris slipped through the protective canopy he
made of his own body and dropped on and around Tsuzuki and Hisoka’s entwined
bodies. Hisoka’s jacket caught on fire on several places, the younger man’s
body positioned on top and more vulnerable to the falling hazard. But Hisoka
did not move his position, curling protectively above and in front of Tsuzuki.
Touda had begun entertaining thoughts of
punching his way out to open a way for his Master and his partner, risking a
collapse, when the thick shadows behind Tsuzuki and Hisako suddenly shivered
and twisted like a living thing. In another instant, a man’s form stepped out
of the living shadow as if stepping through a doorway. This one, Touda
recognized. The shadow-master, briefly Tsuzuki’s partner, a powerful and
experienced Shinigami in his own right. The shadow-master looked up at him
briefly, the flames reflecting on his glasses and hiding his eyes, then he
knelt down and swept his arms around both Tsuzuki and Hisoka, pulling them back
into the shadow doorway, and presumably to a safer place than here. In no time
at all, the shadows churned again for one last time, then was still.
Touda was alone in the crumbling facility.
Now that he no longer needed to protect anyone,
he nimbly twisted out of the way of the falling debris and the next crash
easily buried the ground Tsuzuki and Hisoka had been on under tons of deadly
fragments. It was time for him to leave. He took one last look around the
facility, suddenly glad that it was going to be destroyed, glad that this place
that had been witness to Tsuzuki’s deepest despair would soon be gone.
Burn everything. Bring this unholy place down,
until only ashes remain.
Touda recklessly whipped his long body along
the walls and remaining foundation pillars of the place, melting steel, stone and
glass alike. He breathed out waves of heat so intense they scorched the
concrete floors into ash and flash-vaporize the remains. He reveled in the
destruction and the glorious feeling of being the administrator of such
destruction. For the first time in a long, long while, he was able to take out
all of his pent-up frustration and was free to indulge his desire for mayhem.
He was, after all, a Jya-shin, a warrior born for battles, and he was in
his elements.
And when the entire ceiling finally caved in with
a thundering boom that surpassed everything before it, he called up the doorway
to Gensoukai, the doorway that had been left open with Tsuzuki’s summoning, and
slipped into the passageway between the worlds, leaving the human world behind
him.
~*~*~*~
The journey seemed shorter than it had been
going out, and in no time at all Touda had dropped out of the tunnel between
worlds, and into the clear azure sky of a perfect summer day. From high above
here, the Palace was a speck no bigger than one clawed hand. He expanded his
fin-wings and caught the brisk, strong wind in his membranes. The simple
pleasure of the glide almost overwhelmed him, and he rolled his body around,
basking all of himself under the warmth of the mid-day sun. This was what he
had missed, what he had given up along with his powers to preserve his life and
a fraction of his freedom. And even though he could feel the magic of his bonds
tugging him down towards the Palace below, he could resist a little, just long
enough for him to prolong this pleasure of flying.
In too short a time though, it was time to
return. As he spiraled down, the Palace had grown steadily bigger until he
could barely see the end of the compound. The boundaries of his lavish prison.
Touda spied the lily pond where he had transformed earlier and chose the same
location to touch down. Signs of destruction from his earlier Change still
remained, Tenkuu-ouji had apparently not gotten around to cleaning up yet. Not
that he had any reasons to be fond of Tenkuu, but there was really no sense in
irking the Shikigami further by destroying two of his settings rather
than one.
Several meters above the pond surface, the
Change rippled through him. He felt his body shrinking, his essences compressed
and forced into the limiting bounds set into his human form. It was not painful
in a physical sense, but the immediate sense of loss was almost enough to make
him cry out. Touda was dimly aware of the whipping wind that accompanied his
transformation, the heat that he threw off as all excess energy was released
into the surrounding air. When it was all over, he sank into his knees on the
pavilion, panting and ill at ease in a body that seemed several sizes too
small, already mourning the duller senses and resenting the feel of metaphysical
chains around him. He got on his feet shakily and only then realized that he
had torn off the entire roof of the small pavilion sometime during his Change.
Soot scored the floorboards and the remaining pillars around him, and the
scorching hot air still smelled of brimstone fire. The previously peaceful pond
had been ruined too, upended lily bulbs bobbing in patches, and splotches of
green vegetation spattering the formerly pristine hallways and walls of the
surrounding Palace compound. Tenkuu’s displeasure saturated the air, permeating
each brick and beams of the Palace.
Touda sighed heavily. There would be hell to
pay in the coming days, with his jailor so utterly annoyed with him. Not that
Tenkuu would out and out attack him, but the devious Shikigami would intensify
his game of traps and misdirection, and perhaps catch Touda in one of those
little deadlier-than-it-seemed traps.
Just another day in the Palace.
Speaking of which, while Tenkuu would not
attack him outright, there were others who had no such qualm…
The sudden spike of sak-ki was barely
enough to allow him to leap aside and avoid having a seven-feet-long sword
skewered into his middle. He followed the leap with a roll and came up several
meters away from Suzaku. One look at the Phoenix Shikigami’s face was enough to
convince him that she was out for blood. If looks could kill, he would no doubt
be quartered and roasted by now.
“You worthless, sorry excuse of a Shikigami,”
she hissed through clenched teeth, her red-rimmed eyes showing more white than
black. She held her sword in a white-knuckled clench. “Ungrateful bastard of a
worm!” The sword swung again, a complicated series of maneuvers that would
probably score and tore Touda’s flesh apart if she was not so angry her form
became sloppy.
“Suzaku…” Touda tried.
“Shut up!” Suzaku screamed at him. “YOU TRIED
TO KILL TSUZUKI!”
That was the end of the conversation. Touda
launched himself into the branches of the nearest tree and propelled himself
further out. He could still hear Suzaku screaming behind him, calling him a
coward and worse, and other shikigamis’ voices calling out queries. He had no
wish to face Suzaku. For one, he was still tired from the summon and Suzaku was
stronger than he was in this form; he had no desire to be pulped into the
ground. Secondly, he knew he had no true ally among the others, and they would
side with Suzaku against him.
And also, a small voice whispered within him,
Tsuzuki worshipped Suzaku and would be hurt if anything happened to her.
All in all, it would be a good idea to make
himself scarce for the next few weeks, at the very least.
Touda reached one of his favorite isolated perch, high above a pine tree and
leant back with a sigh. He hissed as the bruise in his back scraped against the
rough bark. A careful probe brought back a palmful of blood, already
half-dried. There were other smaller cuts and bruises, left over from when he
had made himself a living shield between the falling debris and his Master.
They would heal in time.
He just hoped Tsuzuki’s emotional wounds would
heal in time too. His partner would certainly helped with that. Hisoka had
shone with the love he hold for Tsuzuki, and that love had been enough to pull
Tsuzuki back from the brink of self-destruction. Hopefully, it would also be
enough to help Tsuzuki held his inner demons at bay.
And when Tsuzuki had healed enough to visit
Gensoukai, what then?
There were a lot of things Touda had believed
of himself that were shattered today, and he was seeing many things he took for
granted in a new light. Not an entirely comfortable light, but the truth seldom
were.
He had wondered before this, just how much his
decision to become Tsuzuki’s Shikigami had changed him. Turned out that it was
a lot more than he had ever believed. He had started by accepting Tsuzuki as
his Master as the lesser of two evils, yet when the time came to rid himself of
the bond, he had hesitated. Some time in the decades that they had been
together, Tsuzuki had changed from a Master to something else. Touda would
never sacrifice his servitude for a Master of his, but for Tsuzuki… He had
weighted Tsuzuki’s life over his freedom and had unexpectedly found the former
the more precious of the two.
Touda settled back against the tree trunk with
a sigh, a strange sort of peace settling over him.
So
this is how it feels to devote yourself to someone else. To let yourself belong
to someone.
It was a new and frightening experience, but
once he accepted it, the acceptance cleared away brought with it its own brand
of peace. He thought he could understand Hisoka fighting for a place to truly
belong to, for someone to belong to.
Let’s go together… Touda.
“Yes,” he said out loud, sealing his own private oath with spoken words. “I shall live... the way you wished me to. Whatever your heart’s desire, I shall give to you, even if it takes all of mine. My Master… Tsuzuki.”
Shinigami was not immortal. They moved on after
a few decades, at the most. And now, by the grace of Fates, he would have those
years to enjoy Tsuzuki’s companionship, and perhaps see what else it may grow
into. Second chances were precious rare, and Touda did not intend to waste his.
When his Master next came to visit and gave out
one of those inevitable invitations for a picnic, he would take it and see what
may come of it. As a step, it was a small one. But it was a beginning.
~T~H~E~*~E~N~D~
Notes:
1. Uwaahh!! Finished! Damn it, it shouldn’t
have taken so long but I got turned around in the middle of this. Then I
realized that this is really a Shiki story, and I’m sure a lot of other more
gifted writers could have done a lot better on Hisoka/Tsuzuki, so I shouldn’t
be concentrating that much on His/Tsu and should just focus on Touda/Tsuzuki
and their past. Once that was decided, the story flowed out.
2. The 12 sentinels (Shikigami):
-
Byakko
- wind
-
Suzaku
- fire
-
Soryuu
- water
-
Genbu
- earth
-
Kijin
(Soryuu’s son) – lightning, ‘raitei’/lightning king
-
Tenko
(Soryuu’s daughter) – water, ‘kaioo’/sea queen
-
Touda
– fire
-
Rikugo
- Sensei-jyutshi (astrologist)
-
Taimoo
– kinjyutshi (forbidden art practitioner)
-
Kouchin
– kyuutei-ongakuka (palace musician)
-
Tenkuu (-ojii) - Kyuuden/the Palace
- er…
the pot thing (how on earth is he going to be useful in a fight? Dump sticky
things on top of the enemy? ^_^;)
3. I was quite surprised that, even though
Tsuzuki Asato was one of my favorite character ever, the first YnM fanfic I
wrote did not star him as the main character @.@. Maybe because if I do that,
this is going to turn into another unmanageable epic… Anyway, so instead I turn
to my second fascination – the Shikigami. My favorites are Touda and Byakko (as
you can see J), with Soryuu fast rising as a fav
(gods, he’s gorgeous in YnM 11…). And whatever you may think, I have a soft
spot for Suzaku too ;). Ever since they appeared in Gensoukai arc, I’ve been
wondering about that fateful event when Tsuzuki was almost successful in
getting Touda to kill him. We’ve seen the after effect of that, but not what
happened to the Shikigami-tachi between the time Suzaku returned after her
disastrous summoning, and before Touda was called. After I re-watched the anime
of Kyoto arc (oh man, the Anime was sooo incredibly high quality…), I ended up
writing this. Hope you enjoy.
4. The opinion inside the fic on snakes et al
was there to further the story. It does not reflect my own opinion of snakes
^_^;, which has always seem like a relatively sensible animal which avoids
confrontation as much as possible. Unlike certain two-legged homo sapiens…
5. I based the dialogue between Touda/Tsuzuki/Hisoka roughly on the
manga/anime, and then tweak them a bit more to fit the word flow. Hopefully,
they still sound like canon ^_^;.
6. Jya-shin = snake-god
Isshouni-iku
= let’s go together