Terazuma had been stunned by the idea to outfit him with a kind of personal
key into GensouKai, based on his shikigami's natural affinity with the
other realm, but he had been willing to assist. Like Sohryu and even Tsuzuki,
Terazuma wanted nothing more than to find a way to have his lover as close
as any of the others were with their respective others. Wakaba wouldn't
always be able to open her gate. She had a job to do and opening gates
wasn't it.

Tatsumi watched as Terazuma became the Black One, the black lion shikigami
with red eyes and large, leathery wings. The lion blinked and rumbled,
apparently a little confused as to why his host and master had let him
out. There was no one to fight.

"Hello, Kokushunkei," Watari greeted him, smiling brightly. And then
he started to explain the procedure as if he was facing a normal student
of cross-dimensional gate technologies 101.

The Black One tilted his head, attentive, showing no aggression, and
when Watari held up the scanner, the massive head lowered to sniff at it.

Tatsumi held his breath.

Nothing happened.

A gust of air ruffled Watari's blond mane, then the lion just rumbled.
The wings stayed folded, the aggression in the box.

"Great!" Watari exclaimed. "So just relax. It'll take a while."

And the scan began.

°

It took the best part of an hour before Watari was done with the proceedings.
In that time, the Black One lay down, front paws crossed, wings folded,
tail flicking lazily. His blood red eyes were drooping and he was watching
the small shinigami walking around him with lazy interest.

003 had taken an interest, too, fluttering around them, hooting excitedly.
Now and then Kokushunkei made a few soft rumbling noises and it seemed
he was talking to the tiny owl. 003 finally landed on the large head --
and promptly sank through the fluffy mane with an owl exclamation of surprise.

Watari looked up from his notes and sighed. "003!"

Unconcerned he reached up and plucked the tiny owl out of the black
mane, putting her onto his shoulder. She shuffled a little, hooting her
indignation. Kokushunkei growled softly and peered at the tiny bird now
perched on the scientist's shoulder, then snorted.

003 tumbled off, Watari's hair was ruffled even more, and the lion mewled
a little, sounding playful. It was the beginning of a number of interplays
between the two so different beings, and all Tatsumi could do was watch
in wonder.

° ° °

Watari was beaming when he walked over to where Tatsumi still watched,
alert and ready to intervene should the black lion attack his lover.

"Relax, Seii," Watari laughed, giving him a brilliant smile. "He's a
kitten." Watari smiled tenderly as he looked at he big, black shikigami.
"He looks cute."

Tatsumi stared at him. "What?!"

The lion was still basking in the sun, stretched out on one side despite
the leathery wings and it had to be comfortable or he wouldn't be purring
continuously. His eyes were closed, the paws outstretched, flexing now
and then as he expressed his relaxed mood, and the tail lay still. No nervous
flicking or twitching.

"Look at him. He's okay, he feels fine, he's completely at ease."

"That's the shikigami that destroyed the library!"

"Well, not alone," Watari said with a mild reproach. "Sohryu did his
share. It's really okay, Seiichiro. Terazuma learned a lot lately and by
just looking at him you can see the changes."

Tatsumi sighed. Yes, okay, so the lion was peaceful, but parasitic shikigami
were temperamental and easily slipped from relaxed to attack-happy.

Wakaba, who had manned the other end of the huge yard walked over to
them, still keeping an eye on the lion. But she smiled, almost proudly,
too.

"You done?" she asked.

Watari nodded. "Yes, I've all the data I need. The next step is all
lab work."

Wakaba hefted a backpack in her hand and nodded. "Then we can get Terazuma
back."

Unconcerned, she walked over to the lion, calling out to him. The Black
One raised his head, yawned, which showed off rows of sharp, long teeth,
and then he suddenly shifted. Within the blink of an eye they were looking
at a stark naked Terazuma who gratefully took the clothes from Wakaba and
dressed.

Watari just grabbed Tatsumi's arm and pulled him away, leaving the other
shinigami to themselves.

"I'll be in the lab," he announced.

"Okay. Just don't fall asleep in there again," Tatsumi teased.

"Uh-huh. Very funny, Mr. Work-a-holic. Anyway, this is important. Statistics
are just plain boring."

"Statistics are what keeps this place running," Tatsumi argued good-naturedly.

Watari huffed. "Riiight." He placed a quick kiss on his lover's lips.
"Later."

And then he was gone.

Tatsumi smiled a little and watched the blond man disappear in the building.
Finally he turned to where Wakaba and Terazuma were still talking, the
young woman looking excited. She was smoothing her partner's clothes, a
wide smile on her features and her eyes alight. Terazuma just appeared
his usual, gruff self, but he wasn't changing into the lion, which showed
how much he was in control now.

Tatsumi hoped there was a solution to the problem. He knew how bad it
would be for him to be separated from Watari. He loved him dearly, needed
him close, and he wanted the choice to be with him whenever they felt like
it. Terazuma had no such options.

Fingers crossed, he thought as he nodded at the possessed shinigami.
Terazuma just nodded back, then they both went their own way. Tatsumi had
matters to take care of and Terazuma had his own cases.

° ° °

Byakko walked into the depths of Tenkuu, heading for the main computer
room that gave direct access to the heart of this world, to all its outposts,
to the energy lines running through GensouKai. It was a restricted access
room, in the bowls of the sentient palace that was one of Tsuzuki's shikigami
and a Divine Commander like himself. No one who had no business being on
this level could even reach the place. Tenkuu's insides were like a maze
and the palace could shift walls, rooms and whole floors at will. It made
for a complex and sometimes entertaining stay.

Looking over to the access station, Byakko felt something cold touch
him at the sight of the black-dressed figure, seemingly suspended in mid-air,
sitting on an invisible chair, with power lines and cables running from
him into the ground. Touda was busy typing on the flat, transparent keyboard
that hovered in front of him, his eyes on the equally flat, angled screen
above.

What had Byakko freeze was the sight of the visor covering his lover's
eyes, the cables attached to it, and the golden eyes he loved so much hidden
behind the tinted plastic.

It looked a lot like the control device.

He swallowed and forced himself to move.

Touda turned his head at the approach and gave him a brief smile before
returning to his work. Numbers, letters and strange symbols flashed across
the left half of the screen while the right one had been segmented into
two halves. One showed a diagram, the other a wire model of what had to
be a wormhole.

"Hey," Byakko greeted the fire shikigami, trying to divulge from what
he saw how far Touda had come.

"Hey. I'm almost done here."

He nodded. "Just looking in on you."

"Afraid I got lost in Tenkuu's labyrinth?" Touda teased as his fingers
flew over the keys and more equations appeared.

"Nah. Only Tsuzuki can manage that."

A chuckle. "True."

"So, any progress?"

"Actually, a lot. Watari has finished the device and we're just getting
ready to upload the data. If Terazuma agrees, we can run a test tomorrow."

"With him as the guinea pig?"

"Of course. It's been made for him and Kagankokushunkei. We can test
it no other way."

Another equation was finished and the image of the wormhole on the bottom
right hand shifted a little, bulging first, then shrinking to a tiny dot.

"Sohryu will be thrilled."

A shrug.

It took Touda another hour to finish his part of the job and he finally
uploaded everything from the GensouKai mainframe into Meifu where Watari
would now begin the integration of the complicated program into the miniature
control device.

Disconnecting himself from the machines, Touda rose and stretched a
little. He took off the visor and Byakko breathed a sigh of relief, looking
into those wonderful eyes once more. Touda wrapped an arm around his waist
and pulled him close.

"It's not like before," he said softly, kissing him gently.

"I know. Just... seeing you like that... it brought up some bad things.
I don't want you to be controlled like that ever again."

"Neither do I. It's a necessity though, if I want to work effectively.
And the cyber-visor has no influence on me."

Byakko nodded, quite aware of that. "Let's go," he only said.

They left the silent computer room and not much later stepped out of
the sentient palace into the sun.

 

 

tbc...