The suggestion that Watari had to scan the lion hadn't sat well with Tatsumi. Kagankokushunkei, despite Terazuma's claims that they were working well together by now, was still an unknown variable. Past encounters had been rather violent. So it was with a bit of trepidation that the Shadow Master watched the proceedings in one of the huge yards of the judicial building.
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...
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