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Phoenix	By : Macx Category: Descendents of Darkness/Yami No Matsuei > General Views: 2184 -:- 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-Phoenix
- 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
- 14
- 15
- 16
A/N: I'm not sure whether the following scene is M or MA. There's
nothing sexual in here, but the description of what Byakko saw in his mind
might just squick one or two readers. I didn't change it because I wasn't
sure... if you think it's too much, let me know. I can still edit it...

Matters had calmed down. Rikugo had returned to his Palace, to the observatory,
and to the sharp and watchful eyes of his sensei. Genbu hadn't said much,
just given him a welcoming nod and gone about his business. Rikugo still
felt the drawbacks of his reduced power and aura, but he had done what
was necessary. It was a small price to pay.
Rain splattered against the window and the storm was rattling the shutters.
Every now and then a sharp spike of lightning would illuminate the proverbial
dark and stormy night. It was rare that it rained like this in GensouKai,
but when it did, it was as if the floodgates had opened. Some shikigami
hated storms, Suzaku among them. She became cross, even more short-tempered,
and usually holed up somewhere, waiting out the weather. Others, mostly
wind and water shikigami, thrived.
On a night like this Rikugo really loved his open fireplace, loved hearing
the fire crackle, and rest in front of it with a large mug of hot chocolate.
He had always had had a real knack for it, but even more so since Ryu had
introduced him to this fluffy white stuff called marshmallows that could
be melted on top of the hot liquid or put on a stick and roasted over the
fire.
His lover had also introduced him to instant hot chocolate, the stuff
one need only add boiling water to, but for Rikugo it just wasn't the real
stuff. He needed real chocolate and real cream to melt it in. For Ryu the
'real thing' had been a treat. While Watson could move about Meifu unhindered
and bought what his master wanted, he had never bought the basic ingredients;
only instant.
An especially loud crack of thunder pulled him out of his thoughts,
but also made him miss the first knock on his door. But not the second
one, and when the astrologer opened he looked at -- a slender figure in
a hooded coat that gave a real good impression of a drowned cat.
"Byakko?!" he exclaimed, shocked.
Water ran down in rivers from the not very protective coat and Byakko
peeked out from under the hood.
"Uh, hey. May I come in?"
"Sure. Holy, boy, what are you trying to do in a weather like..."
Red eyes blinked at him from under the dripping hood and Rikugo trailed
off... déja vu anyone? He forced himself to relax, but the
tension was creeping up unwanted. So instead of focusing on the past, he
focused on the here and now, which meant a soaking wet tiger in his home.
"Here, you must be soaked to your skin. I'll get you a towel and some
robes," Rikugo said, throat still dry as he put the items in front of his
guest before turning back to the fire.
"Are you preparing chocolate, Rikugo?" Byakko asked, voice muffled through
the towel he was rubbing himself dry with.
"Yes. You... like some?"
"Sure. I've tried the other stuff in Meifu and it's good, but yours
still is the best."
"I see."
Rikugo's mind was whirling when he heated some more cream and crumbled
the chocolate into it. Why was Byakko here? Why had he come to his place,
in weather like this? Why now?
When he returned with the steaming mugs Byakko had curled up in a large
chair in front of the fire, the robes, almost too large for his size, drawn
around him like a blanket. It made him look a lot like the lonely eleven-year-old
who had come to him such a long time ago. He was staring into the fire,
the dancing flames reflecting in his red eyes causing an interesting effect...
like some demon's eyes Rikugo loved to drown in.
The astrologer carefully put the steaming mug into Byakko's hands, sinking
down in the chair opposite him, and watched as the young man took a sip,
red eyes closing in joy.
"Just like I remember it," he said quietly and Rikugo had to swallow.
So it was all about the devil incident. He glanced into the flames.
"Did you See everything?"
Rikugo's head shot up, eyes widening in shock at the rather conversationally
uttered question.
"I... don't know. I... I didn't See me anymore when you were older,
but..."
"Then you're lucky."
"What?!"
In the Golden Emperor's name, what else could he have done to the tiger
that he hadn't seen in the soul chambers? What more horrors did Byakko
remember?
Granted, he hadn't opened every door to every chamber -- and damn, what
he had seen had been more than enough -- but...
"Please tell me I stopped... " he blurted, almost pleading.
"You didn't." Byakko took another sip, curling into the warm robe even
more. "Well, you did, when I turned twenty-two. But not of your own free
choice. Thing is, you got killed."
What? How...?
"I remember seeing your... well, what was left of your body. Somebody
really hated you."
Gods... did he even want to hear that? Rikugo swallowed, only then remembering
the cooling chocolate in his own hands and took a large gulp. No, he didn't
want to hear any more of this, but -- Byakko maybe needed to talk about
it. He took it as a sign of trust that the tiger even talked to him again,
much more visited him in at this late hour. In this weather. Alone.
"Your spine was broken, so you weren't able to move your lower body.
I don't know why you didn't create a subspace bubble, but I assume the
pain from your hands was too great, where the eyes got burned out with
a white hot poker." Byakko pointed at the fireplace, and Rikugo blanched.
"That poker was used on you in... uh... several other places, but I think
since your nerves were not longer functioning you didn't feel much of it.
You might have smelled the burning flesh, though."
Rikugo felt his knees become weak, reminding himself that what Byakko
was telling him was not real, had never been real.
For the tiger it was. In a twisted, jaded way.
"Your ribs were broken, each one pushed in, through your inner organs.
You must have been still alive then, since there was blood from the pierced
lungs on your mouth. You must have been about to drown in your own blood.
But that didn't kill you."
"How...?" Rikugo croaked.
He didn't want to know.
Not really.
But he had asked...
"Your heart was ripped out. And roasted."
Rikugo managed to stutter an excuse before he stumbled into the bathroom.
°
When he returned to his guest -- minus the recently consumed dinner
-- Rikugo did feel a little better. Byakko was still curled up on the chair,
the empty mug standing beside him on the table. In the firelight he looked
almost peaceful, but there were lines in that young face. Lines of sleepless
nights, of remembered horror, of pain. Rikugo felt sick all over again
at the memories he had seen while looking for the young shikigami.
The astrologer sank carefully down into his chair once more and red
eyes gazed at him, so forlone, so filled with nightmares.
"I'm sorry," Byakko whispered. "I think I... I did that. And because
of that Tsuzuki never had twelve shikigami. Because you weren't there Sohryu
killed Hisoka when he came to find his shikigami... Tsuzuki never forgave
him... Touda never received his pardon... and Tsuzuki... Tsuzuki became
bitter..."
There was a hitch in the other shikigami's voice.
"It wasn't real. None of it was," Rikugo said as quietly as he could,
rising to stand beside the fireplace.
Would this nightmare ever end? For the both of them?
"I know."
There was a rustle of clothing and Byakko was suddenly beside him. And
then Rikugo froze as he felt fingers combing hesitantly through his cut
hair. The white-blond strands rippled through the slender fingers as Byakko
brushed over them, the back of his hand lightly touching Rikugo's skin.
"But this is," the wind god whispered.
"Yes."
"You... crippled yourself, Rikugo. You cut down your own powers and
you won't be able to regain them within at least some decades!"
"Yes."
What else was there to say? It was the truth. With one cut he had removed
a good century of growth. And a whole lot of power.
"Why did you do such a thing?" Byakko demanded, drawn between
anger and desperation.
Onyx eyes met red ones as Rikugo turned to meet the quizzical gaze.
Yes, those eyes were a lot like Ryu's, but far less demonic. It wasn't
just the missing demon aura, it was the whole expression. There were two
millennia reflected in Ryu's eyes.
"You were afraid of me, Byakko. You couldn't stand my presence, my aura
made you flinch. I almost could hear you heart starting to hammer whenever
you'd sense my approach. That's what I couldn't bear. To see a friend wince
away, frightened, because of my simple -- being there. To know what must've
run through your mind every time you saw me... I'd never... never lay a
finger onto a child, and... gods, I wouldn't... "
Rikugo choked on the very word �rape'. He had had his rough times with
one certain dragon -- sometimes Sohryu had needed to demonstrate his dominance
- but even that he had consented to. His emotions were running amok
and he was starting to tremble with the memories that weren't even his.
He hadn't...
He never would...
"I know, Rikugo," Byakko said softly. The wind god looked at him and
suddenly made a very soft noise -- before Rikugo had an armful of shaking
tiger.

tbc...
- 14
- 15
- 16
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