The Circle of Darkness
by
Jennifier D.




III:


Kamijo nearly dropped his saucepan on the kitchen floor when the 
news of the new White faction leader reached him from the 
grapevine. Mayu watched with raised eyebrows as the blond 
vocalist shakily put the saucepan back on the stove, then pulled 
out a chair and sat down slowly, nursing his forehead with a 
pained look.

"WHAT the HELL is Takuro trying to do? Has he finally lost his 
mind totally?" Kamijo was almost growling when he finally spoke.

Mayu shrugged. "I wouldn't know. I'm not the great leader-sama, 
you know."

"Just WHO THE HELL is You?"

Unluckily for the blond vocalist, his bandleader, You, chose then 
to step into the kitchen, eyeing Kamijo with a dubious look. "Why 
are you saying my name in such a manner? Don't tell me you have 
suddenly developed temporary amnesia and you don't remember who 
the hell I am... Or did you hit your head on something, Kamijo?" 
You then turned to glance at the stove. "I didn't happen to burn 
anything essential on the stove the last time I tried to cook, 
did I?"

"No, not _you_, You. Apparently, Takuro just appointed some You 
from goodness knows where to be the new leader." Kamijo hissed 
unhappily, clenching and unclenching his hands.

"So long as it's not me, I don't give a damn." You muttered in 
reply, opening the fridge to pull out a carton of milk. "And 
don't look at me like that. I'm not that 'You' Takuro picked, so 
you can stop giving me murderous looks."

"The world has gone mad."

"That's what you believe." Mayu retorted with a sigh. He couldn't 
understand what was Kamijo's problem at all. It wasn't as if he 
had been eyeing the position of the leader. If he was Izam, Mayu 
could understand why he was throwing a fit. Yet, he wasn't, so 
the guitarist couldn't think of a suitable explanation as to why 
the vocalist was throwing a prissy fit.

"Tadaima!" Aya called out the moment he stepped into the house 
and was immediately assaulted by a wave of resentment. "Ouch. Who 
offended Kamijo?"

Mayu could only give a dry chuckle when he heard Aya. "You can go 
ask, then pacify your boyfriend yourself, Aya-kun. Kamijo is a 
highly unhappy man now."

"Shut up, Mayu."

"Kamijo... Throwing a fit at me is not going to work."

"Just shut up."

"Kamijo." At the tone of Aya's voice, Kamijo turned sulky. "In 
your room. Now."

While grumbling to himself, Kamijo followed his boyfriend into 
the room they shared, which was formerly Kamijo's room since this 
was his apartment to begin with.

"Wow. Aya really has Kamijo wrapped around his little finger, 
huh?" You couldn't help snickering when he saw what happened.

"That's Kamijo for you." Mayu murmured softly, an amused look on 
his face. "I pity Aya-kun, actually."

"Why?" You looked up from his cup of milk, blinking innocently.

"Well, he has to deal with Kamijo's prissy temper for one."

"Ah."

"And he has to make sure that the silly man doesn't do something 
which can possibly kill himself by mistake."

You could only blink and stare at the door of the fridge with a 
suitably bemused expression. "Sou ka."

The two men sitting in the kitchen suddenly sighed at the same 
time, then glanced at each other, surprised. Mayu started 
laughing. "Ah. Karma. I bet only Aya-kun can do this to Kamijo 
and get away with it."

"Of course." You murmured softly, a smile hanging on his lips. 
"He is Aya after all."

Meanwhile, in Kamijo's room...

"Now, tell me again what's your problem with the new leader?" Aya 
was sitting on the bed he shared with Kamijo, an amused 
expression on his face.

Kamijo sighed, exasperated. "He's an unknown mage, Aya."

"So?" The other prompted the vocalist nonchalantly.

"That means he probably doesn't know what the hell he's supposed 
to do! What the hell is Takuro thinking of, handing his title 
over to a greenhorn! And when Mana is so close to doing something 
tragic to the world!"

"The only tragic thing Mana can do now, which will disrupt the 
non-magical world greatly, is to kill Gakuto. But since the Dark 
Prince has already left his side for more than two years, and is 
currently still striding around healthy and strong _with a new 
boyfriend_, I doubt that that will happen."

"NO Aya. That's not I'm trying to say!"

"Then _what_ are you trying to say, Kamijo? And don't shout."

Kamijo closed his eyes, then breathed in deeply. "Forget it."

"Hmmn." Aya thinned his lips as his gaze on Kamijo turned shrewd.

"I'm going back to cook dinner." The vocalist muttered, defeated. 
Aya allowed himself a small smile.

"Okay." Just as Kamijo was about to close the door, his boyfriend 
called him. "Oh right, Kamijo, remember not to put olives in the 
pasta, okay?"

Kamijo gave his boyfriend a suffering look before he closed the 
door firmly and stomped down the hallway to the kitchen. Aya lie 
down on the bed and stared at the ceiling, grinning to himself. 
Kamijo can be such a dear at times... if you look past the 
explosive temper, the tendency to act like an aristocrat and also 
his wonderful ability to get pissed at _anything_.

Yes, Kamijo could actually be a very sweet man.


-----


"Aiji..." Jun began worriedly when he saw the other guitarist 
spasming on his own bed, his face pale. Sweat beaded the slender 
man's forehead and his eyes were squeezed shut as he grabbed a 
fistful of bed sheets before spasming again.

"Jun, move aside." Kirito appeared beside the rhythm guitarist in 
a shower of glass shards, and he pushed the other man aside 
before grabbing Aiji.

"Aiji, can you hear me?" Kirito murmured to the other man as he 
clutched his hands tight. "Don't go there. Come back. I'm waiting 
for you."

After an infinitely long moment later, Aiji finally opened his 
eyes, his pupils dilated with fatigue. "Kiri...?"

"You went Wandering just now." Kirito explained, lowering the 
guitarist onto his bed gently. He wiped the sweat away from the 
latter's brow, and smiled thinly. "How are you feeling now?"

"I'm fine..." Aiji began shakily. Oracles never Wander unless it 
was a death premonition. When they Wander, their minds sometimes 
were affected by the minds of those who are dying, and they get 
drawn along into death. Sometimes, when they Wandered too far, 
they themselves might get lost and never return to their own 
bodies.

"I Saw..." Aiji began, then choked. "Kiri... please stop Mana..."

At this, Kirito went deathly still. Nobody had ever figured out 
how Mana managed to get Kirito's unwavering loyalty. Yet, many 
also didn't dare to seek the reasons, cease they find their own 
lives at stake. "Why?"

"Stop Mana... he is going to kill you! Don't work for him 
anymore, Kiri... Mana will kill you... he will kill you..." Aiji 
whispered brokenly, and his eyelids finally fluttered close as he 
passed out, a frown still adorning his forehead.

"Kirito?" Jun began uncertainly. "What Aiji Saw..."

"Oniisan, what's wrong with Aiji?" Kohta appeared in a burst of 
green flames.

"He went Wandering..." Jun replied for Kirito, who was still 
watching Aiji sleep. Jun could see Kohta's eyes widening, and the 
bassist bit his own lips.

"What did he See?"

"My death." Kirito stood up then, and glass shards began to 
materialise and spin around him wildly. "Aiji saw me dying."

With that, Kirito disappeared.


-----


Hyde paced the studio room unhappily, pausing every few moments 
to stare into space, then kicked the random objects lying around 
him. Tetsu, Ken and Yukihiro were all watching him with rather 
wary looks on their face, keeping their instruments as far away 
from Hyde as possible. Yukihiro was having the hardest time 
concealing his drum set, and every time Hyde wandered near his 
area, he kicked Ken to distract the vocalist.

"Ow!" Ken yelped, then rubbed his butt. "At the rate you keep 
this up, I won't be able to sit for weeks!"

"Shh! Keep quite, Ken!" Tetsu hissed at the guitarist.

"I'm not going to kill _anyone_, Tetchan." Hyde turned and stared 
at his three band mates, who were sitting beside Yukihiro's drum 
set.

"Yeah, but if you kick my bass-"

"_Don't_ make me repeat myself, Tetchan." Hyde swivelled around 
to glare at Tetsu.

"Okay..." The bassist smiled nervously in reply.

"I don't understand Takuro! What the hell is he thinking of? 
Handing his position over the You?" Hyde finally exploded, 
kicking the amplifier beside him.

"Maybe he has other plans in mind?" Tetsu suggested hastily, 
pulling the poor abused amplifier towards him.

"Like what? Going for a vacation with the rest of GLAY without us 
harassing him for the rest of his bloody, soon-to-be-screwed-up 
life? I swear, if he wasn't the leader, I would have killed him 
long ago!"

"Well, he's no longer the leader now..." Ken suggested helpfully, 
only to be smacked by Tetsu.

"Bloody hell!" Hyde continued pacing. "If You messes up things, 
guess who has to go around picking up after him? ME! Every time, 
it'll be ME! The last time Takuro let Izam take over for a week 
so that the bloody idiot would stop pestering him, I had to clear 
up the matter with his wife for him! And all of those idiots from 
the council don't trust me at all! Do you realise how stupid this 
sounds? They don't trust me, yet I have to clean up after them!"

"Er..." Tetsu began, then quickly snapped his mouth shut when 
Hyde turned on him. "Nothing!"

"DON'T you dare suggest that Gakuto will be helping him and 
everything! Gakuto will only mess things up if you give him the 
chance! He's a bloody Dark mage!"

"Formerly one." Ken interjected, risking the wrath of Hyde.

"I bet he still keeps in contact with that creepy ex-boyfriend of 
his! Who knows what tricks he has up his sleeves?"

Yukihiro sighed, then finally spoke to prevent both Tetsu and Ken 
from giving more stupid comments which would only serve to send 
Hyde's temper sky high. "Haido, after you damage this place, not 
only will your anger not lessen in the least bit, you'll have to 
pay for the damages you inflicted on the studio equipment, and 
our manager will not be a happy man. Furthermore, there is 
nothing we can do if Takuro wants to do that. It's his choice. I 
can bet that the moment the whole of GLAY reached home, Teru 
probably screamed at him until his ears bled."

"Humph." Hyde crossed his arms, still scowling. The next five 
minutes was spent in pure agony as Tetsu and Ken anticipated 
another outburst from their vocalist. Finally, after what seemed 
like eternity, Tetsu tentatively concluded that Hyde had finally 
calmed down.

"So... can we continue with practice?" Tetsu ventured from where 
he was huddling on the floor with Ken.

"NO! I want to see Takuro! NOW!"


-----


Somewhere in another part of Tokyo, something reminiscent of what 
just happened in the L'Arc~en~Ciel studio was occurring. Takuro 
was huddled up on an armchair, trying to stuff the cushions into 
his ears futilely. Hisashi and Jiro sat in the next armchair, 
blissfully unaware of Takuro's torment as Jiro had erected a 
sound barrier between themselves and whoever who was currently in 
Takuro's living room.

"TAKURO! I thought we agreed that we will NOT be picking somebody 
not everyone knows to be the next leader! Now that you have gone 
and pick You, how do you expect anyone to do anything?! I told 
you that you could have picked someone like Haido but 
NOOOOOOOOOO! Obviously you seem to think that this is a really 
good joke of some sort and..." Teru had been going on for the 
past few hours ever since they all reached home, and true to his 
talent as a vocalist, he was still going strong. Takuro looked as 
though his ears were going to start bleeding any moment soon. 
With a miserable look on his face, GLAY's bandleader tried harder 
to stuff the cushions into his ears. It was just a pity that he 
wasn't an Air mage and he couldn't manipulate the air around him 
to erect a sound barrier like what Jiro had done for himself and 
Hisashi. Maybe Takuro was trying to repent for whatever crime he 
had committed in Teru's opinion. Or maybe he was simply letting 
Teru rant until his anger ran out. It was entirely possible that 
the vocalist might just decide to shut up permanently on this 
issue after he was done with his raving. Takuro shot a glance at 
Teru, then shuddered. 

Okay, maybe not.

Jiro turned to Hisashi with a droll look. "Anou... have you ever 
seen Teru that angry?"

Hisashi shrugged. Normally, people would have thought that the 
first person to start ranting and raving at Takuro had to be 
Jiro, since he was the most hyper and emotional member of the 
team. Yet, in reality, Jiro was not as hyper and bouncy as 
everyone would like to believe. It probably had something to do 
with Hisashi being his boyfriend, since being too long with that 
blue-haired guitarist could often reduce anybody to periodical 
speechlessness. Or maybe Hisashi had finally taught Jiro the 
importance of keeping his mouth shut at all the right instances. 
It was funny that Teru, who had known Hisashi far longer than 
Jiro, never learned that trick.

The members of L'Arc~en~Ciel appeared, then promptly stuck their 
fingers into their ears after they were blasted by Teru's 
shouting. Hisashi nodded curtly at the four rather dazed looking 
men, and Jiro waved them over with a grin. The four stepped into 
the sound barrier, then gave a sigh of relief.

"That was close..." Ken muttered.

Hisashi took one look at Hyde, then spoke up before the smaller 
men could. "If you want to scream at Takuro for acting like an 
ass, well, you'll have to wait. He has a long line of people who 
want to do that to him personally, and Teru is the first in 
line."

"Oh." Hyde's anger seemed to be doused by the sight of a cringing 
Takuro and a madder-than-thou Teru ranting away at the top of his 
voice.

"How long has this been going on?" Tetsu asked Jiro, grinning.

"Hmmn. Three hours? Or four?" Jiro shrugged, then leaned over to 
prod his boyfriend. "Hey, we better get home soon, Hisa-chan."

Hisashi sighed when he heard the term of endearment. He had 
explicitly stated many times to Jiro that he shouldn't use it 
_out_of_the_bedroom_. "You're cooking dinner?"

Jiro gave Hisashi a look that seemed to say 'You MUST be 
joking...' "Of course not! Remember what happened the last time I 
tried to help you in the kitchen?"

Hisashi thought about it for a moment, then sighed again, 
resigned. "Okay, maybe not. I don't want to end up in the A & E 
department of the hospital for food poisoning again. Or call down 
the fire rescue department. Or have the police crowding around my 
home."

At this, the pupils of the four other men shrunk into little 
dots.

"So, good luck!" Jiro cheerfully saluted to Hyde and Co. before 
hugging his boyfriend around his waist and disappearing in a 
shower of blue and yellow sparkles. And of course, with the 
disappearance of Jiro, his spell was also released. Hyde cringed 
when Teru's voice assaulted them again.

"WHY don't we have an Air mage among us?!" Hyde tried to drown 
out Teru's voice in an attempt to converse with the rest of 
L'Arc~en~Ciel.

"Well, Sakura is an Air mage, and he would still be with us now 
if you hadn't kicked him out of the band." Tetsu muttered from 
where he was trying to stuff himself into the couch. Ken was too 
preoccupied with using the remaining two cushions to answer. He 
had stuffed them into his ears with his eyes scrunched shut, like 
what Takuro was doing.

"I DIDN'T. You are the one..."

With a sigh, Yukihiro raised his voice slightly and spoke to 
Hyde. "Why don't you just send us all into the dream reality? I'm 
pretty sure the both of them can't reach us from there."

Hyde gave a sigh of relief and did as Yukihiro had suggested, 
then beamed at the rest of his band members. "Much better?"

"Definitely." Ken muttered, then sat up on the couch again. They 
were still, technically speaking, in Takuro's living room. But 
reality-wise, that would be a different issue. The world around 
them was in monochromatic shades, as how it usually looked like 
in dreams. The bad side of the dream reality was, after being in 
it for more than a day, you would find yourself craving for 
anything with colour, never mind the fact that it would make you 
look like a fashion and colour impaired victim.

With a suffering look, Hyde leaned back against the couch and 
closed his eyes, waiting patiently for Teru to stop ranting in 
reality.


-----


Yoshiki sat upon his chair in the long hall, which was where he 
had formerly ruled. All his past glory were located here, dark 
and dusty from being ignored and forgotten. It had barely been 
five years... yet everything already looked so faded, as though 
all had been ancient history and nothing else. Like whispers of 
memories which echoed in abandoned hallways. Yoshiki didn't want 
to give up, even though he was forced to step down. That was why 
X Japan had dragged on for at least a year before disbanding 
totally. Furthermore, Takuro had found out about what happened. 
The funniest thing was, all the members of GLAY used to be under 
him. It must have taken a lot of courage for Takuro to declare 
that he wanted to break away from Yoshiki and set up the White 
faction. After all, in both reality and in the world which only 
mages existed, Yoshiki was a man whom many feared and respected. 
Many respected him greatly for his geniuses, yet just as many had 
feared him utterly, for the ambitious and manipulative nature he 
had. 

hide took off on another path on his own, trying to outsmart Mana 
by going over to America... yet it looked as though things didn't 
work out the way the pink haired guitarist wanted after all. Pata 
and Heath were both managing on their own, and Yoshiki didn't 
want them to be involved in this affair. The both of them were 
normal humans. Out of the six members of X Japan, including 
Taiji, only three of them were mages. Yoshiki had concealed the 
truth from Toshi long enough that it was one of the reasons why 
he and Toshi started to quarrel so much in 1996. hide had always 
been off in the pink world of his own, so not many people had 
suspected that his eccentricity was due to the fact that he was 
not a normal human. Yoshiki actually didn't agree with hide's way 
of doing things, but so long as nobody suspected that he was a 
mage, everything was fine. Taiji wanted to leave because of the 
pressure of keeping the secret from Toshi and Pata. Furthermore, 
his wife was already suspecting that something was wrong.

As for Luna Sea... they were all such good friends with members 
of GLAY, despite the differences in their magic working 
principles. Maybe it was because the both of them started from 
scratch together, and got to fame through their own ways. That 
was also the reason why when the time came for Luna Sea to 
disband, Ryuichi, Inoran and Shinya all three moved over to the 
other faction. Sugizo and J were both, slowly, but surely, making 
a break away from both factions. At first, Inoran wasn't happy 
with what J was doing, but he understood his reasons. As for 
Sugizo, Hong Kong and Taiwan both held great possibilities for 
him. Now, with the help of his Taiwanese girlfriend, things were 
beginning to look better than before. 

They were all left alone since Mana couldn't see how he could 
make use of them in any manner. Actually, with Gackt by his side, 
Mana really didn't need anyone else. Gackt alone was powerful 
enough to do all that Mana required of him most of the time. 
Sometimes, Yoshiki wondered if the Dark Prince was deserving of 
any pity. He had chosen his own path after all. Nobody forced him 
to follow Mana. Yet... the man was bound to Mana with the same 
fierce loyalty the rest of Malice Mizer had. Even Kami, who 
remained so intensely loyal right up to the point where he died. 
Yoshiki actually felt ashamed at himself for thinking that Mana 
wanted to kill Kami for traitorous reasons. 

Now... all that Yoshiki could think of was how tired he had been 
for the past few months. Working with Shiro and the rest was 
easy, since he used to work with people who had no magical 
ability at all, like Shizuka. But Yoshiki was starting to feel 
that his position was not here on this seat anymore. It was time 
that he-

There was a burst of flames, then Die and Toshiya appeared, with 
the bassist cradled protectively against the guitarist's chest. 
Die let Toshiya onto the floor gently, and the latter bowed 
gracefully, followed by Die.

"Konbawa, Yoshiki-sama..."

Yoshiki nodded his head and smiled gently at the two of them. 
There was a little distraction as the ground before the two 
members of Dir en grey suddenly opened up and Shinya was thrown 
forth, landing gracefully on one knee to greet Yoshiki.

"Yoshiki-sama..."

"You may all rise." Yoshiki murmured, then stood up and moved 
away from his chair. Shinya's eyes remained downcast, just as 
Toshiya smiled and moved up to Yoshiki's side.

"Kiyoharu-san declines you request, Yoshiki-sama."

"I know he'll do that." Yoshiki sighed, then walked over to where 
Shinya was standing with his head bowed. "But it's okay... he'll 
turn up sooner or later. That's the way Kiyoharu does things."

"Hai..." Toshiya murmured, then waited quietly for further 
instructions. Yoshiki only smiled at both Die and Toshiya, then 
dismissed them. The two mages teleported themselves out of the 
place, and Shinya was left standing forlornly in the great hall.

"Shinya-kun..." Yoshiki smiled, then took the younger man's chin. 
"Look at me."

Shinya raised his eyes to look at Yoshiki, and the latter smiled 
when he saw the fire of loyalty and passion burning within them. 
He released Shinya's chin gently. "Good. Now, I want you to 
listen to me very carefully..."

"You know that you have always been my favourite in the band. And 
I believe, that you can do many more great things in the days to 
come. But... I'm very sure that the truth about me getting on in 
my years has not escaped your notice."

There was a pause, then a heavy sigh.

"I'm already tired, Shinya. So tired, that sometimes, I just want 
to lie down in bed, close my eyes, and never open them again."

"So... There's something I want you to do."

"Take over my position, Shinya, when Mana is finally defeated. 
Take over my role and manage the mages wisely. Cooperate with the 
White faction... succeed me..."

Shinya shook his head slowly with a slight frown. "I can't do 
that, Yoshiki-sama."

"Why, young one?"

"I... I'm not good enough."

At that, Yoshiki started laughing. "Of course you are! You are so 
intelligent, wise and beautiful... what more can the rest ask 
for?"

"But... what about Kaoru?"

"Ah..." Yoshiki smiled ambiguously. "So he's the one...?"

"No!" Shinya lowered his head again after the vehement outburst. 
"He's not the one... I just thought that you would ask him first, 
since he is the leader of Dir en grey after all. Dir en grey has 
been picked by you... groomed by you. All of us now live only for 
you."

Yoshiki smiled when he saw the fierce look of loyalty and 
determination on Shinya's face. "I wish that you five haven't 
sworn to do that, because I'm not worthy of such loyalty..."

A soft sigh. "As for Kaoru... Kaoru is a good leader, Shinya. But 
he is also easily swayed by others' opinions, if argued in a 
sound manner. I need someone who is firm like you. Someone like 
you, who is strong enough to listen and follow your own heart 
despite facing obstacles. I'm sure that you will make a fine 
leader, Shinya... I'm very sure..."

With a tired smile on his face and before Shinya could ask any 
more questions, Yoshiki slowly faded away. Shinya clenched his 
fists tight, staring at the cold marble floor with a frown. He... 
didn't want to take over Yoshiki's position. It was too good for 
him. The perch too high for him to ascend to. He was still not 
strong enough. If he wasn't even strong enough to fight for the 
person he loved, how could he manage a bunch of unruly mages?

*Yoshiki-sama...*

With that, Shinya slowly sunk into the ground, the white, 
flawless marble opening up to swallow him in a soundless gulp.


End: III

Date completed: 060102
Last revised: 130102

to be continued

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