Phoenix | By : Macx Category: Descendents of Darkness/Yami No Matsuei > General Views: 2183 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0 |
Disclaimer: I do not own Descendants of Darkness (Yami no Matsuei), nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story. |
Due to the feedback received in the past we are adding another warning:
this is an AU! Our take on the Count’s past is purely of our own making.
Nothing, and we repeat: nothing! points toward what we made of it. There
are a few hints as to what he might be, and we ran with our own ideas.
This is NOT canon!
Phoenix contains a never before seen pairing. Please bear with us.
‘Nuff said.
The palace was empty and dark. The servants were already in their quarters
and only the guards patrolled the peaceful night. There was hardly any
need for them, but since the observatory and the adjoining palace belonged
to a Divine Commander, guards were a formality. Rikugo had never seen the
necessity at all, and he had argued with Sohryu about it more often than
not. In the end he had grudgingly gone home and just endured it.
Tonight, the sentries were just as superfluous as on other days.
Rikugo sighed and walked back into his semi-dark study. He didn't feel
tired. He hadn't felt tired since he had Looked into Byakko's mind and
had been witness to the horrors the young God had had to endure at the
hands of the devil. The astrologer wished he could take the false memories
and bury them forever, lock them away, but it was impossible without hurting
Byakko in turn. The tiger had to work through this and he had to come to
terms with the attack. Byakko knew what he remembered was wrong, but his
reactions, his emotions, his fear was true.
His fear of Rikugo.
The astrologer gritted his teeth, hands curling into fists, and he felt
a slight spark of energy as his helpless anger rose again. There was nothing
he could do, he knew that. The memories were branded onto Byakko's mind.
But it hadn't been him!
The simple idea that he had done... that he would do this to a child...
He felt sick.
Nauseous...
And so helpless.
Byakko feared him whenever he came close, and there was no evading him
here in GensouKai for all eternity. Byakko was one of the four highest
shikigami, and Rikugo was part of the twelve Divine Commanders, which included
Byakko as well.
Running a shaky hand through the blond bangs he drew a shuddering breath.
It hurt to be looked at with such fear, with such terror, and he couldn't
suppress his aura, the very thing Byakko instinctively reacted to without
even looking at him.
Except...
Rikugo ran a hand over the long hair that was woven into a tail, usually
hanging over one shoulder. The long hair was vital for a dragon shikigami.
It showed his power, his strength in battle, and the longer the hair, the
older and more powerful a dragon was. Like Sohryu, Rikugo collected his
energy through his hair and was immensely powerful, which also showed in
his aura.
There was a moment of hesitation, then something inside him snapped.
The huge, red eyes of a child, gazing at him in blank terror, a voice
crying, then screaming in pain, erased all other thoughts. He strode over
to his work table, yanked open a drawer, and took out a pair of scissors.
There was no more hesitation then and while a tiny part of him screamed
self-mutilation, another was in complete and utter shock, a daze nothing
could penetrate.
The sharp blades cut through the blond strands several times. It wasn't
easy, but in the end the astrologer held a good portion of his own hair
in his hands.
And his aura diminished.
It shrank, it grew less, and finally it leveled.
Rikugo just stood there, his eyes closed, his face pale, and for a moment,
an insane moment, he wanted nothing more than scream.
But the moment passed.
The blond strands in his hands felt heavy, unreal, and the rest that
spilled over his shoulder blades was suddenly so light, so strange...
A smile crossed his pale lips.
He was no longer strong and fearsome. His aura, the aura that could
scare even such powerful shikigami like Sohryu, was no longer a threat.
He was still strong, still a Divine Commander, his strength was fed and
balanced by Tsuzuki's power, but he was no longer a threat to Byakko.
Slender hands opened and the cut off strands fell to the ground. He
felt his body tremble with the reaction and he finally had to lean against
the table or he would keel over.
After a long while he opened his eyes, aware that someone else was in
the room. He looked down to where his hair lay in a heap, still braided,
and he discovered someone standing next to it.
Genbu's ancient eyes held his, no emotion in there.
"Do you think it will solve your problems?" the old God asked.
Rikugo smiled darkly. "No, but it eases my mind. It will help Byakko
regain at least a fragment of his old confidence."
"You are not his enemy."
"No, in his eyes I'm the man who raped him as a child," was the cruel
answer.
Genbu didn't so much as flinch. "Mutilating yourself will not help him."
Rikugo felt like laughing. An insane, wild laughter, brought forth by
nothing but the desperation and terror inside him, but he didn't. Shaking
hands rubbed over his face.
"I can't stand to see him like this, Genbu. He was my student! He was
my protégé. He came to me because he was afraid after his
father's death and I never... I never would... Oh Gods...!"
Genbu gently touched his leg, the power of the much older shikigami
enveloping his student.
"I know what you did was only to help, but you took away more than just
a threat. You took away yourself."
Rikugo sank down onto the ground, watery eyes looking at his sensei.
"I don't know what else to do!" he whispered roughly. "He fears me.
He thinks I did this to him and just seeing those memories... it made me
sick! He lives them whenever he sees me. I'm the trigger, Genbu!"
"Then maybe you should give him a bit of distance for a while, don't
you think?"
"How?"
"Meifu is nice this time of the year," was the easy answer.
Rikugo was silent, then he nodded his understanding. Still shaky, he
rose and walked past the cut off braid. He undid his robes, sliding the
heavy cloak off.
Where he was going, he didn't need to represent. Where he was going...
he hoped to find a measure of distance.
tbc...
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