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Empty Spaces	By : Macx Category: Descendents of Darkness/Yami No Matsuei > General Views: 3188 -:- 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.

Chapter List
- 1-Empty Spaces
- 2-part 2
- 3-part 3
- 4-part 4
- 5-part 5
- 6-part 6
- 7-part 7
- 8-part 8
- 9-part 9
- 10-part 10
- 11-part 11
- 12-part 12
- 13-part 13
- 14-part 14
- 15-part 15
- 16-part 16
- 17-part 17
- 18-part 18
- 19-part 19
- 20-part 20
- 21-part 21
- 13
- 14
- 15
Terazuma knew he was running out of time. The lion was growing
weaker and weaker, barely able to greet him any more, the wings limp appendages
that looked strangely gray and lifeless, and his eyes had a permanently
dull shine now. Terazuma had taken to sitting with his shikigami, stroking
over the black fur, talking with him. Kijin and Tenkou kept him company,
brought him food, but there was nothing else either of the two could do
to help. The lion, outside of a shinigami host, was dying.
"I don't know what to do," Terazuma whispered and leaned against the
large head, tears in his eyes. "I don't want you to die, cat."
There was a weak purr.
"No one can help us... aside from one person I'd hate to owe a favor.
Well, he is responsible for this in the first place..." He closed his eyes
in despair. "Tsuzuki could have the same powers, but he isn't Enma-Daiou."
Another whuffle.
"Hajime?"
The gentle voice made him look up and he met the worried eyes of his
lover. "Sohryu? What are you doing here? I thought you and the others..."
"I took a break." The dragon approached the lower shikigami, looking
him over. "He's not well."
"He's dying," Terazuma said bluntly. "I don't want him to die, Sohryu!
And the only one to reverse this is the person responsible for it!"
Sohryu nodded. "Enma-Daiou."
"I don't trust him to reverse this properly."
"He gains nothing from harming you or Kagankokushunkei now. His reasons
were not to destroy your bond forever; his plans involved something else."
"I won't grovel!" Terazuma growled.
Sohryu reached out and caressed one round lion ear, drawing a weak whimper.
"No one asks you to grovel, Ask."
Terazuma felt everything inside him rebel at the thought, but he would
have to jump over his own shadow or lose the Black One.
He leaned against the black fur, heard the shallow breathing, the weak
purrs.
I won't let you die, he thought. If I have to go down on my knees, so
be it.
"We're in GensouKai. He cannot come here," he murmured.
"The Lords of the realms can move freely. And he was our Emperor for
centuries. He can." Sohryu reached out and touched Terazuma's neck, cupping
it gently.
"Hajime..."
"I guess it's the only way," was the shinigami's reply.
° ° °
Genbu was alone in his study, gazing out into the world he had spent
so many millennia in already, a world he loved, a world he protected, and
a world that had been close to extinction twice now. It was a world that
had changed a lot and still remained the same, and it was a world that
needed a new leader.
While many would have voted for Sohryu immediately, the dragon had declined
vehemently. Genbu understood why. Sohryu was young. He might not look it
due to the changes his demanding and stressful job as the representative
of the Emperor had invoked, but he wasn't ready for this. He had a life,
he had children, he had found love again, Tsuzuki needed him... and this
realm needed him.
It also needed a new Lord.
Steps announced a presence and he turned. Rikugo bowed his head in respect
and sat down.
"You have come to a decision," the astrologer said, not even making
it a question.
"I have indeed."
"You will take the Emperor's place."
"Yes."
Rikugo's black eyes were fathomless. A sad smile played over his lips.
"I will miss you, sensei."
"Oh stop it, Rikugo. You haven't been my student in ages." Genbu smirked
as he looked at the taller shikigami. "You have grown. You have outgrown
the student status. You are a teacher yourself and you will do great things.
You already have, actually. And it's not like I'm leaving or dying. I'm
just taking on a new job."
Rikugo met the dark gaze from under bushy eyebrows with a faint smile.
"You always had a lot to teach me. We never stop being students, sensei."
"Not even the one who can see all?" the Protector of the North teased.
"No, not even him."
A silent chuckle escaped the ancient being.
"You know I am the only, logical choice, my friend. As is my successor.
You."
Rikugo's face gave nothing away, but his posture stiffened. "Genbu..."
"GensouKai needs four Protectors, four Gods. Until a new Genbu is born
and has come to power, you shall be my successor. I already told Sohryu.
I know you will make me proud, and I know you will teach the new Genbu
when he is born. It might be tomorrow, it might be in a few centuries."
"I'm not sure I can tolerate that dragon a few centuries," Rikugo muttered.
Genbu snickered. "You have done very well so far, Rikugo. You and Sohryu
have come a very long and difficult road. As his equal, you will be even
more of a challenge, but you will also be his friend, as you are already."
Rikugo fought down his reaction.
"There is little I don't know about you and him," the older shikigami
teased. "And while I was surprised by your choices of a bed partner, I
know it kept you two from fighting on a more dangerously physical level.
But it is the past and the past is gone. We learn from it, but we should
not cling to the foolishness."
"Sensei..."
"You shall be his equal, Rikugo, and I know you will do your job well.
With the return of the Emperor, Sohryu will have more freedom to be what
he was. Help him, my friend. He will need you as he needed you before,
as a verbal sparring partner, to point out the errors of his ways, and
to just listen." Genbu leaned forward, fixing him with a hard, intense
look. "You both need each other. Don't fight that friendship because of
what is the past."
"I won't," Rikugo replied softly.
"Good! Now, I should prepare for the ascension. So much to do." Genbu
rose and bustled off. "And never enough time!" he called.
--
Rikugo remained where he was, stunned beyond belief by the words of
his former sensei. It was a lot to digest and a lot more would still happen.
Sohryu knew about Genbu's choice already, too.
He finally rose and left the palace, almost automatically seeking the
next Gate into Meifu. He needed to talk to Ryu.
° ° °
It was hard to stop a Terazuma Hajime on a mission. Especially a very
pissed off Terazuma, who hadn't slept well in the last few days, had eaten
little, had started to smoke again from sheer fury and frustration, and
who currently looked like someone who had spent the last days sleeping
under a bridge. He pushed the servants aside, snarling at them, making
them cower. When he walked into the silent main hall, he glared at the
empty throne.
"Enma-Daiou!" he called.
Terazuma had rarely been in the presence of the highest being of Meifu,
mainly because he was just one of many employees. He had a Section Chief
to report to, not Enma directly.
"Welcome, Terazuma Hajime. What can I do for you?"
He gritted his teeth at the pleasant voice, facing the handsome form
of the Lord of Hades with balled fists, pale-faced and barely civil. This
was the man who had been responsible fro so much pain, and this was the
man who had killed his lover's father.
"I want my shikigami back!" he growled.
Enma's dark eyes were a mirror of the universe. "I thought you despised
the bond between you. Kagankokushunkei was forced on you by his previous
host. This is the only chance you have to exist as a free shinigami."
"Don't tell me you separated us to grant me a wish! I don't believe
it. And the lion is dying without a host!"
"You want him back?"
"Yes."
"It is your choice, Terazuma. So be it."
Terazuma frowned. "Just like that?"
A smile. "Yes, just like that. You made your choice knowing what will
come. Kagankokushunkei will be your parasite shikigami until either of
you dies or he should challenge you if you weaken."
There was a gentle surge of power and Terazuma tensed, warily looking
round. Then the aura of his Lord flared with such force, he felt his own
respond in alarm. Not that he had any chance to ever counter Enma-Daiou's
magic, but instinct was instinct.
The next sensation was one of total displacement. He was no longer in
the palace, no longer in Meifu... he wasn't anywhere. For a second he seemed
to hang in Limbo again, fully conscious, looking at the five worlds that
existed side by side, then his body tingled and he cried out in shock.
He felt him.
The Black One.
With him... around him... inside him... and his body briefly fought
to maintain its human traits, then it surrendered.
Ears became slightly pointed, eyes turned a deep red, and the stripes
appeared underneath his eyes. His senses spiked painfully, then leveled
out, as if he had never lost them.
There was a sense of belonging, of welcome, or warmth, of need, and
Terazuma turned to his shikigami, smiling like a little kid as he felt
the big cat with him.
"Welcome home, cat," he murmured.
The response was a warm feeling, thankfulness, and the promise to protect
him.
"Thank you," he replied, feeling so warm and giddy himself.
And then they were out of that strange place. It felt like rushing along
a tunnel and then ending up somewhere bright and... not at all at the Palace
of Enma-Daiou. Blinking, Terazuma tried to get his bearings.
"What the...?"
He tried to get up but lost that fight. His body was weak and he felt
like his joints were made of jelly all of a sudden.
"Shit..."
He lay back, tired, exhausted, slightly out of breath.
"Shit."
Closing his eyes, he only wanted to gather his strength, but he couldn't
stop himself from drifting off.
--
It was how Sohryu found him not much later, alarmed by his lover's lack
of response, but when he saw the black stripes and pointed ears, he breathed
a sigh of relief. Checking Terazuma's pulse, he gathered him into his arms
and carried him into the palace, ordering the servants to open the doors
to the bed chamber and pull back the covers. He then deposited the exhausted
shinigami onto the mattress, the servants leaving silently and quickly.
° ° °
"He's back," Terazuma murmured, curled up against his lover, feeling
the calming strokes across his back.
"Yes. It was your choice."
"I couldn't let him die."
Sohryu gazed at the shinigami. "Was it your only reason?"
Red eyes, with those endearing two stripes underneath them, met his.
"I can't let him die just like this. It wasn't our choice to be separated.
It couldn't be my choice to let him die. Not if I could help."
"You never liked him."
There was a flare of anger. "You know that's not true!"
Sohryu leaned down and kissed him gently. "Yes, Hajime, I know."
Terazuma sighed and pressed his face against the naked chest. He liked
the smell of the warm skin and nuzzled one semi-interested nipple.
"I like him," he murmured. "I wouldn't let him die. Never. He's innocent.
It wasn't his choice to live inside me, to have me as his shinigami. We
made the best of it for decades and after I came here... after you taught
us... we have an arrangement... and it worked. I don't want to lose
that stupid cat."
Sohryu chuckled and tousled his hair. "Of course."
"I like him," Terazuma repeated, playing with his lover's hair. "I'd
never push him away. He's my shikigami."
"Yes, he is. And he likes you, too."
Terazuma turned his head to kiss him gently. The kiss started out slow,
then started to grow more intense, deeper, loving. Sohryu ran his hands
through the black strands and moaned as his lover's fingers brushed over
the nipple his mouth had been interested in before.
Inside him, the Black One purred.

tbc...
- 13
- 14
- 15
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