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Full Circle	By : drunkenmuses Category: +S to Z > s-CRY-ed/Scryed Views: 6023 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own s-CRY-ed, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 1-Slip
- 2-Interrupt
- 3-Denial
- 4-Help
- 5-Presence
- 6-Friend
- 7-Return
- 8-Awake
- 9-Defiance
- 4
- 5
- 6
Title: Full Circle

Author: Drunken Muses (Battlejoy and Brightdreamer)

Genre: Romance/Angst/AU

Rating: NC-17

Summary: Some secrets have a way of coming back to haunt those who keep them. Memories are shared willingly and unwillingly, with drastic consequences. Ryuhou/Kazuma, Kazuma/Shiirice, Ryuhou/Shiirice, and (eventually) Kazuma/Shiirice/Ryuhou.

Disclaimer: We don't own s-CRY-ed. Wish we did. Have no money, don't sue us!

Chapter 5: Presence

Hearing Kazuma's frightened cry, several nurses rushed to the room and fussed over the young girl, quickly checking her pupils and taking her pulse. Mimori returned midway through the commotion, and immediately took charge. "What's the problem here?" she waded through the flock of nurses to the unconscious girl, kneeling by her side to begin her own examination.

"She collapsed! Quick, do something!" Horrified, Kazuma stood by once again struck and panicked by the fact that he was useless in helping anyone. "Dammit, you stupid woman, do something!"

Mimori gave him a dry look since she was doing something, then proceeded to finish checking Kanami over. "The girl seems to be exhausted and fainted. Nurse, fix a bed." She turned to Kazuma, "We're going to have to keep her for observation. What was she doing?"

Kazuma felt his fingernails dig into his palms as he tried to keep himself under control. First Ryuhou, now Kanami... he didn't know if he could handle this. "I don't know. She was just trying to see if she could help Ryuhou with her Alter... she only touched him for a minute..."

From the doorway, Asuka Tachibana watched the bustle of nurses placing the small girl on the room's other bed. "Look like I have another patient," he sighed, alerting Kazuma to his presence and reminding him what Mimori had left for in the first place. "She really should try getting a trainer and not jump in with her Alter like that." Kazuma's eyes widened at the shock of seeing such a older and wiser sounding Tachibana. The tan cape the boy wore was puzzling as well.

Kazuma watched distractedly as the nurses settled Kanami in, his gaze flickering back and forth between the two beds. Ryuhou was still obliviously unconscious, unaware of the confusion raging around him, while Kanami looked dangerously small and frail in the bed. Biting his lip, he felt a hand rest on his shoulder and looked up to meet the sympathetic hazel eyes of Tachibana. "Don't worry," he said with a reassuring smile. "I'll take a look at her too, see if I can help."

After Kanami was lying peacefully in the bed with a saline IV in her arm and monitors attached to check her vitals, Tachibana stepped toward her, dismissing the nurses with a wave of his hand. Kazuma was amazed at how quickly they obeyed him. After a brief flash, a green sphere appeared in the air above Kanami's head. With a slight gesture, Tachibana pressed the Eternity Ball to her forehead, closing his eyes in concentration briefly. After a moment, he opened them and withdrew his Alter. "She's all right, just seems to have... overloaded herself. I was able to ease her mind a bit. What was she doing when she fainted?"

Kazuma felt a bit guilty, though he didn't know why. "She was using her Alter... seeing if she could help Ryuhou at all. All she did was touch his hand."

Tachibana nodded. "I wonder what she saw," he murmured to himself, moving to stand next to Ryuhou's hospital bed, the greenish ball hovering over his shoulder.

Watching him sharply, Kazuma found himself still resisting the urge to hold Ryuhou's hand. "So, think you'll be able to help him, doc? No one else here has done anything." At that, Mimori looked down, frowning slightly. She had been trying to help, but even with all her medical knowledge, she couldn't do much.

Tachibana looked up at Kazuma with a small smile. "This must be really hard on you, considering your relationship to Ryuhou. I understand. It's good that you brought him here, though."

Kazuma nearly choked. Did Tachibana know? How? His mouth opened and closed several times, but no sound came out. He glanced frantically over at Mimori, but she was fussing with the pillows behind Ryuhou's head, and apparently hadn't thought anything odd of the comment.

Pulling up a chair, Tachibana sat by Ryuhou's bedside. He didn't want to faint onto the floor should something go wrong. That girl's mind seemed to be finely tuned in to emotions so he might not be susceptible to the overwhelming power of them, since he dealt generally with thoughts. But emotions were thoughts so he'd still have to be careful.

Kazuma stood behind Tachibana, trying not to fidget. He'd only seen him use his Alter power to control people�had experienced it first-hand, actually. The healing aspect of Eternity Eight was new to him. He felt vaguely uneasy seeing the jade sphere slide into Ryuhou's forehead. "Don't get too comfortable in there," he murmured.

Closing his eyes, Tachibana allowed another small smile for Kazuma before turning his attention to Ryuhou. Quickly, he searched Ryuhou's mind, "asking" his body where the physical hurt resided. His smile faded as he didn't find anything specific. The body was obviously trying to expel something that it didn't feel was right, but aside from some residual damage to the stomach and throat, he couldn't find much physically wrong. The fever was still present, but he could find no reason for it.

Mimori looked on to the scene nervously, feeling left out. In all her time at HOLY, she had been surround by these strange humans with Alter power but it still didn't ease her apprehension that there was things she could never know about them. Despite all her fascination, her studies, her research on Alter power, there were still limitations to her knowledge. And Ryuhou... she had once believed herself close to the pale man lying on the bed, but what changes had 10 years wrought in him? She'd only known him for a few months before she left for the mainland, and had only had scant weeks to catch up with him at HOLY. Mimori determined that she wouldn't let Ryuhou slip away so easily this time. Hopefully, Tachibana would be able to help him.

After confirming Mimori's assessment that there wasn't anything physically wrong with Ryuhou, Tachibana decided to follow Kanami's trail. He noticed the weakened spot that the girl had gone through into the psyche, impressed by the power of will to do it. Tachibana knew he couldn't go in all the way like Kanami did. There had to be another way. He frowned as he felt the overwhelming jumble of thoughts and emotions in Ryuhou's mind. There were walls, sure, but Kanami had pushed past most of those, clearing a trail, so to speak. Underneath it all, he felt a strange duality... as if a second consciousness was struggling to make itself known. Ryuhou's mind was frantically trying to push it out, or repress it... and neither option seemed to be working.

Concentrating hard, he saw an oddly tinted streaming ribbon of memory that he latched onto and decided to focus on. He saw a empty hallway and a glimpse of a green-haired young man walking away from him. Immediately, he felt an internal burst of hope, comfort, and joy, while at the same time sadness and longing. This wasn't right for Ryuhou, he instantly knew, and at the same time he felt another's presence. Tachibana gasped as he pushed closer to this second persona... it was familiar to him. He tried desperately to get a better hold on what he was sensing, but it slipped out of his mental grasp, causing him a sensation of vertigo. With some difficulty, he pulled himself back from the exploration, withdrawing his Alter in the process. He took several deep breaths, willing the feeling of exhaustion to subside and to regain his bearings after being immersed in another mind.

"Well, I think I know what the problem is." Ignoring the anxious Kazuma for a moment, Tachibana turned to Mimori. "Miss Kiryu, do you remember how Shiirice Adjani's Alter power worked? From your studies at HOLY?"

The young doctor frowned a bit. "No, I never had access to all of the HOLY officers files, so I'm not really..."

"I know." Two pairs of eyes fixed on Kazuma as he interrupted. "I know how her Alter worked."

"Go on..." Tachibana prompted, watching the redhead closely.

Kazuma shifted nervously. He hoped they wouldn't ask exactly how he knew. "Well... um... she used her energy to boost someone else's healing�or pain, I guess, if she was fighting. She saw Ryuhou die, and used ALL her power�her life�to bring him back..." he trailed off, the memory of her death too painful.

Tachibana frowned. The boy was obviously distraught, but he had to get information. "Do you know any other details of her Alter?"

"She need physical contact too." He really hoped they wouldn't ask more about that, so he quickly continued. "And I know her body disappeared when she died." An image of Ryuhou sobbing into her empty clothes flashed across his mind, and he winced involuntarily. "That's about all I..." he broke off as a low moan issued from Ryuhou.

Ryuhou stirred as the voices above him came more into focus. His head was throbbing, worse than it had been before he went to sleep. At the moment, he wanted nothing more than to sink back into the welcoming dark, but curiosity drove him toward awareness.

At the first sign of movement from Ryuhou, Mimori immediately moved closer, leaning over him and grabbing his hand. "Ryuhou! How are you feeling?" Kazuma automatically moved closer as well, crossing his arms to keep from touching his companion. Mimori smiled down at her patient, pressing the button to raise the head of the bed slightly. "Mr. Tachibana was just saying he had an idea what might be wrong."

Ryuhou blinked, his mind still half-asleep. "Why are they-" he didn't finish that statement as his stomach decided to do a triple-Lutz. The meager contents accumulated over the last day or so abruptly found themselves splattered across Mimori's crisp clean uniform. Mimori flinched and grabbed a basin from the bedside table, but it was too late. "Oh god, Mimori, I'm sorry," Ryuhou croaked before dryly heaving into the bowl.

Mimori gave the strained smile of who had experienced this one too many times. "It's okay, Ryuhou." She rubbed his back soothingly until the spasms stopped, then eased him back onto the pillows.

Kazuma and Tachibana watched in awe, staying out of the way as she quickly got Ryuhou cleaned up and gave him a small sip of water to rinse his mouth. Kazuma observed her with wide eyes. "Wow, I guess being a doctor gets you used to stuff like that." He grinned down at Ryuhou. "I wasn't nearly that nice when you puked on me."

Mimori nodded, still smiling wryly. "Perks of the job, I suppose." She straightened after a moment with a quick smile to the other two men. "I'm going to go change my uniform. Excuse me for a moment." She picked up the basin and turned toward the door. "Call the nurse if you need anything, I'll be back in a few minutes."

Ryuhou settled back on the pillows with a groan, rubbing at his head. With Mimori gone, Kazuma finally gave in and squeezed the other man's shoulder lightly. "Hey, you okay?"

Ryuhou opened one eye to glare at Kazuma. "I feel like shit, what do you think?"

Tachibana watched their mild banter as he casually scooted his chair in front of the shut door and leaned back. "That was surprisingly convenient. Ryuhou, are you doing okay?" Receiving a weak nod, he took a couple seconds to try his best to phrase his next words. Finally he decided that honesty and time constraints meant bluntness was appropriate. "Ryuhou, Shiirice is stuck inside of you."

In unison, two voices echoed, "What?!?"

"I don't know the exact details of her Alter but I know Shiirice when I feel her." Tachibana looked up to find two sets of narrowed eyes locked onto him. He felt that there was a bit more in their scrutiny but that wasn't important that moment. "Her presence is there, I'm certain. But I don't know how to get it out."

Kazuma clenched his fist, not wanting to accept it. "You mean you can't help either?" But with a side glance at Ryuhou's stricken face, he instantly softened, and decided to take a different approach. "But... why would Shiirice make him sick?" he asked incredulously, while Ryuhou nodded in agreement. "She used her Alter to save him."

Folding his arms, Tachibana pondered the problem for a moment. "Well, we've never seen her Alter used fully before, so there was no telling how Ryuhou would react. From what I can tell, his mind and body are trying to expel her, causing the fever and vomiting. You said that the illness was getting progressively worse. Perhaps her spirit, her presence inside is becoming stronger. We need to get her out of you before it kills you both."

Ryuhou's mouth opened and closed several times before he could form a question. "You mean... Shiirice is alive? Inside me?"

"Yes, I think so," Tachibana said simply. "And I can't get her out. But I think I know some people who can help you."

Kazuma sank into the chair by the bed, his mind spinning with all the possibilities. He managed to focus his attention on the younger Alter user by the door. "Who?"

Tachibana leaned forward and his voice dropped to a whisper. "Have either of you hear of the old group Lawless?"

Kazuma once again looked incredulous. "That rebel group was only a rumor. There wasn't a organized group that was HOLD's sworn enemies. Only a handful of outlaws or poor deluded jerks." His hand distractedly traced patterns on Ryuhou's arm. "Kimishima and I looked into finding them, but we never could."

Ryuhou's eyes widened, "The showdown with HOLD. I only heard about some vague information about them. They took out a whole battalion." Tachibana nodded. "But they are supposed to be all dead," Ryuhou pressed. Kazuma was dumbfounded. Lawless was beyond infamous and the legend of their exploits, though vague and cloaked in whispers, had grown for years until HOLYs downfall.

"Not as HOLD reported. There were a couple survivors including the leader."

"And this guy can help Ryuhou?" Kazuma asked excitedly.

Tachibana made a motion to keep the volume down. 'No. But they can be the gateway to the person who can."

Ryuhou put a shaky hand on Kazuma's shoulder. Tachibana was his old friend and he could tell something was up. He wasn't oblivious to everything. "You seem hesitant. What's the catch, Tachibana? How do you know them?"

"I'm getting to that. They've got contact with an Alter user there who's trained me a bit. He may be able to help... his healing Alter is a lot stronger than mine. The only thing is..." The young "doctor" shifted nervously. "...they don't exactly like to be found."

"Well they can suck it," Kazuma bluntly replied. Ryuhou squeezed his shoulder. "I don't care what they like. Tell us where to go."

Tachibana hesitated. "Well they come south during this season so you are in some luck. They might be around Konpaku springs. I wish I could go and guide you better but I have to stay in town for at least the next month."

Kazuma looked at him curiously. "Why?"

Ryuhou exchanged glances with Kazuma. "Why can't you?" he echoed.

"Cammie's expecting!" Tachibana nearly beamed. "The baby's due any time now."

Ryuhou saw Kazuma opening his mouth to gracelessly wonder if Tachibana would make a good father in that dorky cape but Ryuhou's hand had already clamped over his mouth. "That is great news, Tachibana. Congratulations." He knew that Kazuma only opened his mouth to insert food or a body part�usually his foot�into it, and didn't want to risk him hurting the feelings of the young father-to-be.

Kazuma squirmed free from Ryuhou and gave him a dirty look. "Fine. Let's get going." He slid his arm behind Ryuhou's back and helped him sit up. Ryuhou felt a wave of dizziness and pain wash over him as he swung his legs over the side of the bed. Clinging to Kazuma for stability, he rested his head on his companion's chest for a moment, waiting for the feeling to pass. Kazuma kept his hands firmly on Ryuhou's back, offering support and comfort in the touch.

Tachibana watched all these little movements with amused interest. When Ryuhou finally lifted his head, indicating that he was all right, he moved over to the bedside. Beginning to remove the IV from Ryuhou's arm, he casually asked, "So, how long have you two been together?"

The two men traded panicked glances as if wondering how to respond to that. But Tachibana didn't need a verbal response... the choked sound from Kazuma and the bright blush on Ryuhou's face gave him all the answer he needed. He waved his hand, brushing off their stammering explanations. "Nah, nah, it's okay." He finished with a grin, taping a bandage securely over the tiny needle prick. "Here, let me do something else... maybe this will help give you some strength for the journey." Raising his hand to Ryuhou's forehead, he quickly formed his Alter once again. This time, he stayed out of the man's consciousness, focusing instead on fixing the damage caused by the illness. He encouraged Ryuhou's stomach to calm and heal, then did his best to boost his energy. Opening his eyes, he smiled at both men. "Think you can get him out of here, Kazuma? I'll distract Mimori."

"Um, yeah." Kazuma looked quickly around seeing a few scattered possessions, along with some medical supplies and a couple bottles of some juice stuff they'd been making Ryuhou sip over the past few days.

Ryuhou slowly got out of his bed, marveling at how light he felt, yet still a bit better than even a few minutes ago. His stomach empty and his head throbbing, he was still able to get to his feet. He knew also this mild strength wouldn't last. "Where should we go?"

Tachibana helped them gather up their few supplies, then closed his eyes and concentrated, forming one of his Eternity Eight outside. "Hold on, I'll contact Eelian and see if he can find their location."

Kazuma shoved all the contents of supplies in a pillowcase and crouched down. "Come on, Ryuhou. Climb on and I'll carry you."

Ryuhou looked at him in extreme annoyance as he tried to maintain his dignity�which was difficult since he was only in a paper gown. "No. I can walk. And give me my clothes, would you? I'm not going anywhere like this."

The redhead rolled his eyes. "Yeah, and you'll pass out after a few steps." He did, however, stand back up. "You're right, you should probably get dressed, though." He hunted around a bit and tossed Ryuhou's clothes at the bed. "Need help?"

Ryuhou's furious, embarrassed glare gave Kazuma his response. Though Tachibana seemed deep in concentration and ignoring them, under no circumstances would there be any Kazuma touching him. Setting his teeth, he pulled his clothes on, still cursing the shaky feeling that lingered. Kazuma hovered nearby... trying not to look like he was hovering. Tachibana had to hide a smile by turning away. These two really were perfect for each other. After a moment, he turned back to the two, finding them watching him expectantly. "Well, he found them, but I wasn't able to make contact. They're at Konpaku Springs, as I thought." He peeked out in the hall, then looked back. "Be careful. They're very wary of strangers."

Kazuma shrugged. "I don't care. They're going to help him whether they like it or not."

"Well, I'll keep trying to contact them to expect you. I hope you'll give my warmest to my master. He's... well... very interesting." Ryuhou and Kazuma gave him a puzzled look. Master? Without further explanation, Tachibana leaned out in the hall again. Summoning the rest of his Alter, he quickly diverted the minds and attentions of the nurses away from Ryuhou's hospital room and the hallway to the front door. "Okay, get going. I'll hold everyone off for a few minutes. Ask Akira to lead you to Kevin, and tell them I sent you." He turned and flashed the two men a quick smile. "Kazuma, don't worry, I'm sure Ryuhou will be fine. Take care of him."

Kazuma hesitated briefly, glancing worriedly over at the other bed. "And I'll take care of Kanami, too," Tachibana added quickly. "She'll be all right. Now, get out of here." Kazuma nodded as he helped Ryuhou hobble out of the room. Tachibana stepped out and waved them on as he went on to find Mimori. Oh dear, it was going to be one hell of an explanation for the poor girl.

Mimori looked up from her new uniform and was startled to see the purple-haired boy. "Tachibana, what's wrong? Did something happen to Ryuhou?"

Tachibana smiled nervously. The concern from her was genuine and this could be touchy. "No, Mimori. Ryuhou's fine. In fact, that's what I've got to talk to you about. Ryuhou and a certain um, lifestyle he's chosen. Y'know, maybe you would like to sit down. Why don't we go out for some coffee?"

Kazuma thought he heard a faint screech of "Whaaaaaat?!?" as they drove away, but it could have just been his imagination.

To Be Continued...
- 4
- 5
- 6
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Full Circle