There was respect, though, and there was blind obedience. Touda had
never been blind, not even with all his senses caged in with the visor.
He spoke his mind and he had never feared the consequences. Sohryu needed
opposition to think, to fire up that agile brain of his. Rikugo had held
that position as personal opposition for a long time and still did, but
Touda had another place.

He was free to kick some ass when he wanted to.

Today was such a day.

He caught Sohryu in his private chambers, pouring over reports, and
when the serpent closed the door after himself, blue-gray eyes rose briefly
to scowl at him.

"Care to explain yourself?" Touda asked, voice dead quiet.

"I was just about to ask you the same thing," Sohryu replied. "I think
I remember telling my personal assistant that I didn't want to be disturbed."

Touda smirked. "You better tell him again."

"Apparently." The scowl was still there. "To what do I owe the pleasure,
Touda?"

"I want to know if you lost the last of your marbles, Sohryu! What the
hell are you thinking sleeping with a shinigami!?"

Sohryu placed his pen on the desk, exhaling slowly. "I don't see where
that's any of your business."

"I made it my business!" came the angry reply. "First Rikugo and now
a shinigami? You can't just go around sleeping with shinigami!"

Sohryu stared at him like a goldfish, mouth opening, then closing again.

"Rikugo?" he then finally managed.

Touda smirked. He had never told his friend about that piece of knowledge.

"How do you...?"

"I have eyes," the serpent said cooly.

"What?!"

He sighed. "Sohryu, I caught you two by accident. There wasn't even
anything incriminating, but I added a few things, watched you a few times,
and then I knew. I didn't know you were sleeping with the enemy."

Sohryu gritted his teeth. "Rikugo is not an enemy."

"Right. And I'm an angel. You two are at each other's throat more often
than not! It's part of life around here. I would be severely disturbed
if a week goes by without you shooting each other those looks or having
an argument." He tilted his head, smirking. "But I never had you figured
as someone like that, dragon. You caught me by surprise. What started that
particular by-play, hm?"

"I had my reasons," was the growled reply.

"I see. And they are?"

"It's my business what I do in my free time, Commander! I'm not asking
what you do with Tsuzuki through the bond either!"

The moment it was out, the room temperature changed dramatically. Touda
froze, eyes narrowing, face a mask.

 

 

 

Sohryu sighed and closed his eyes, fingers massaging his forehead. That
had come out... wrong. That shouldn't have come out at all.

"I apologize... That was uncalled for," he murmured, the pressure behind
his eyes rising.

"Very much so," was the frosty answer.

He leaned back in his chair, shaking his head. What had made him attack
Touda with the only means of inflicting soul-deep pain? Ever since the
dream incident it was a sore spot. The connection between Touda and Tsuzuki
was something sacred for the fire serpent and his one slip had nearly cost
him everything, including his life.

Sohryu knew Touda would never dream of abusing the link, the constant
connection that balanced their powers, that allowed Tsuzuki a freedom in
his life he had never had before. Touda was the counterweight to the darkness
inside the young shinigami; nothing more, nothing less. Implying that he
used it for something like this... for sex...

Damn, Sohryu thought, wishing the headache would stop.

"Touda... what Terazuma and I share... is within our private realms."

"You hide it poorly."

He cocked one eyebrow. "So it seems. You know. I assume Byakko does,
too?"

"He found out about it."

"Ah." He was silent for a beat or two. "How?"

"Terazuma apparently reeked of it."

"Ah."

He should have expected that. Their last encounter had been quite...
intense. For both of them. Sohryu still remembered the waves of ecstasy
coursing through his lover, how Terazuma had finally let go and simply
accepted what Sohryu was willing to give.

"Do you intend to pursue this after he's gone?" Touda asked, voice still
cooler than normal.

"Why? Are you his chaperone?"

The golden eyes narrowed. "No, I'm just reasonable! Sohryu, he's a shinigami!
His place is not here, neither is your place with him in Meifu!"

"I know that. I never claimed I loved him, Touda."

The fire serpent gave him a startled look. "What?"

"What Terazuma and I share is something else. We're both aware of it.
As he tells me again and again, he isn't 'gay', as they call this kind
of relationship in the world of the living. I helped him find a compromise
with his shikigami and we both received some pleasure out of it. This is
temporary."

So just why did it sound like a lie in his ears? Sohryu mused, then
pushed those thoughts away.

Touda's face gave nothing away, not even those golden eyes. He fixed
Sohryu with a level look.

"I approve of the changes in you," the fire serpent finally said. "I
just don't know if this is a phase or something more permanent."

Sohryu frowned a little. "A phase?"

Touda sighed deeply. "Sohryu, you're our leader. I always respected
that, I always will. I didn't think it was wise when you decided to take
on Rikugo on a more personal level..."

"You mean fuck him," was the crude reply.

Touda shrugged.

"I told you, my reasons are my own. I don't have to explain myself to
you."

"I'm just being reasonable."

Sohryu knew that. Touda had been his friend and trusted Commander in
the past and ever since he knew the truth about his black-out that had
resulted in his incarceration for so many centuries he had come to see
him as a friend again. Touda looked out for him, but Sohryu was perfectly
able to do that himself. His didn't have to justify his choices. Rikugo...
well, he couldn't explain those actions to anyone, not even himself. Terazuma...
was different. He felt it, he knew it.

"I appreciate your concern, Touda. I appreciate your openness. Terazuma
isn't Rikugo and what I share with him is on a different level."

The serpent sighed again. "Well, it's your decision in the end. Your
problem."

"Thank you for realizing that."

It got him a brief glare.

Sohryu rose from his chair and walked around the desk.

"Touda, I appreciate the concern. I know you want to protect me. Just
trust in my judgment."

Golden eyes met blue-gray ones, then Touda just nodded briskly.

"Thank you."

The black shikigami finally left, looking neither happy nor unhappy.
Just... concerned. Sohryu watched him go, finally looking at the closed
door.

There was nothing to be concerned about. This wasn't love; there were
no deeper feelings involved.

It was just a mutual liaison, an understanding between two people who
needed it for different reasons. Sohryu enjoyed showing Terazuma just what
he could experience, what he could feel, and how wonderfully sensitive
he was. The shikigami that possessed him was a sensuous one, and so was
the shinigami carrying it.

When Terazuma returned to his world, things would be back to normal.
It was a fling, Sohryu thought, a note of sadness entering his thoughts.
It was a brief affair.

In a few days it would be over.

° ° °

Terazuma felt good with himself and the world, even if it was this world.
Not his own. Thinking about the ever closer growing time he had to go back
to Meifu somehow filled him with reluctance. He had no purpose here in
GensouKai, except the forced vacation Konoe had sent him on. He was a visitor,
a guest, something like a tourist.

Terazuma snorted as he walked down the beautifully sculpted path of
an equally breathtaking landscape garden. Everything in this place was
beautiful, though there were rougher spots, as Byakko had told him. GensouKai
center was the safest place, a place of peace and quiet.

Something small and round bounced across the path not far from him and
he stopped, following the round object as it crossed the immaculate lawn
and then plunged down the incline toward the tiny lake, where it immediately
fell in. Terazuma was just about to wonder what was going on when a child
ran after what had to be a ball. She tore across the path, down the grassy
knoll and finally splashed into the lake, grabbing for the ball.

Terazuma had to smile at the picture. Small hands reached for the ball,
but the waves she had created pushed it away from her. With a few steps
the shinigami was at the lake and reached for the toy.

"Here you go," he said, holding the wet ball out to the girl.

She took it with both hands, large blue eyes looking at him. "You're
our visitor, right?" she asked, smiling at him.

"Yes, I am. My name's Terazuma."

She beamed. "I'm Tenkou."

"Nice to meet you Tenkou." Terazuma frowned a little. "How come you
know I'm a visitor?"

"You're a shinigami. I can tell. You feel like a shinigami."

Well, that was obvious. Every shikigami here could tell what he was.

"And father told me we had a visitor. You work with Tsuzuki, right?"

Terazuma shot her a surprised look. "Uh, yeah. You know Tsuzuki?"

She nodded eagerly. "Of course I do. He's my master."

Terazuma nearly swallowed his tongue. He felt his throat constrict at
the words, his heart miss a beat, and his eyes widened in horror. This
little kid was one of Tsuzuki's shikigami? One of the twelve?

Shit, he must have been desperate to challenge a kid! he thought angrily.
She was barely out of her diapers!

 

tbc...