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. |
It was a pitiful sight.
Terazuma looked at the black lion that lay on the clearing, took in
the limp wings, the coarse looking for, the dull expression in the red
eyes. When he stepped out onto the clearing, for the first time ever since
the separation, the lion raised his head and huffed in recognition.
"Hey, cat," Terazuma murmured.
It was the first time he saw Kagankokushunkei like this, outside his
body, able to touch the black fur and look at the shikigami that had possessed
him over three decades ago.
The Black One whined a little.
He looked sick. Weak and sick. Terazuma felt the same, still suffering
from the aftereffects of being in Limbo. No blankets in the world managed
to warm him when he went through the shivers.
"What a fucked up situation," he murmured and held out his hand.
The big cat snuffled at it and whined more, pushing its huge head against
it. Terazuma smiled a little and stroked over the surprisingly soft fur
at the nose. He came closer and ran a quizzical touch over the mane, which
was much coarser and that hung as limply as the wings.
"He's sick," a small voice announced and Terazuma looked around, meeting
the large blue eyes of Tenkou.
Sohryu's daughter looked very worried and her small face was scrunched
up.
"He won't eat and he won't really sleep. He's really, really sick."
"Yeah," Terazuma murmured and looked at his shikigami again.
His.
The Black One was his. But not right now. He was outside and they were
separated, both still suffering, both weak, but apparently the lion wasn't
really getting better.
"I wish I knew what to do," he murmured.
Tenkou rubbed her small hands over the large nose, completely unafraid
of the cat that could so easily snap her in half. Kagankokushunkei just
whimpered softly and closed his eyes, head resting on his paws.
Terazuma felt a strange kind of pain.
This was what he had always wanted. To be himself, not possessed by
a being he had never wanted. Why did it feel so wrong?
A new-arrival made Tenkou turn and she smiled at her older brother.
"Father has called a Council meeting," Kijin told her, nodding at Terazuma
in a greeting.
"I'm coming," the girl called.
Terazuma smiled a little as the two youngest of the twelve Divine Commanders
left for the main palace. Tenkou was a child, but she was also powerful
and the Goddess of the Sea. He had never seen her fight, but her position
was the same as Taimo's or Rikugo's. It was such a contradiction, but Terazuma
had learned to live with it. Being Sohryu's life-partner had opened his
eyes to a lot of things.
"Well, it's just us now," he murmured and sat down cross-legged beside
his shikigami. "I have no idea what to do with you, cat. None at all."
The Black One whined weakly and nuzzled faintly at him. Terazuma smiled,
more of a grimace than that anyway, and patted the massive neck.
° ° °
Sohryu felt his world freeze, felt it narrow down to the blond shinigami
speaking those blasphemous words, and his aura lashed out in rage. His
temper rose to the boiling point, his body trembled inside with suppressed
outrage, but on the outside he was like made of stone. His face showed
no emotions, was expressionless, though his eyes burned.
Watari Yutaka faced the highest of the shikigami, shoulders squared,
back straight, hands balled into fists of determination, and he only winced
once when the aura spiked painfully.
Behind him, a little to the right, stood Rikugo. The water dragon growled
softly in his throat, feeling betrayal that the other Divine Commander
had apparently fallen for those words.
How could he believe them?
How could he think that this was the truth?
It couldn't be!
But they were. Delivered by a man who had nothing to gain from uttering
the blasphemy, supported by a shikigami who could See betrayal and lies
easily and who nevertheless stood with Watari.
The Emperor was dead. He had died centuries ago, before Sohryu had become
Protector of the East, and ever since Enma-Daiou had filled these shoes.
It had been Enma talking to him, sending commands and answering his calls,
when he did.
Kurikara had been right.
Kurikara had known.
Sohryu's rage turned into a nauseous realization that he, and everyone
else, had been played.
Their Lord had perished, almost unnoticed and so sudden, there had been
no successor. Enma had known, Enma had been there, and he had taken over
without realizing that this would one day backfire. Today was that day.
"What proof do you have?" he demanded roughly, clinging to a last shred
of hope.
Watari met the demand bravely. "I was inside Mother," he only answered.
Sohryu frowned. "Mother? The super-computer?"
"Yes."
"No one but Enma-Daiou can access the Mother computer."
Watari was visibly fighting not to move back. "That's correct, but not
completely. Five more people can. The Five Generals."
Sohryu looked into the steady amber eyes.
"I was the Chief Researcher on the Mother project. I have complete access
to her."
That left a second of total silence, then Sohryu understood the whole
impact of it all. Watari, a simple shinigami with no apparent powers other
than being able to give life to inanimate objects, had been one of the
Five? Sohryu knew about the hierarchy in Meifu, he knew about the leaders,
the ones of influence, and the Five Generals, while working in the background,
had been and still were influential.
He wanted proof of those declarations, of this incredible truth. He
wanted this to be a lie.
But he knew it wasn't.
There was no reason for Watari to lie.
Sohryu felt his aura still quiver and spike. He closed his eyes and
tried to breathe, felt the shock and outrage of the others, and he looked
at the twelve Divine Commanders. Touda's face was one of frozen rage. His
eyes glowed and Sohryu saw Byakko's fingers clenched around his partner's
wrist. It was either to keep the hell serpent in his seat or to cling to
something himself before he exploded.
All of this had been because of Enma-Daiou. The possession, the devil
invasion, the near-loss of Terazuma... and something older. Something more
personal than anything else that had happened. Sohryu pushed it away, not
ready to deal with that particular truth just yet.
"Tsuzuki is still in danger," he said, voice cold and hard. "We will
not allow Enma-Daiou another chance to destroy either out master or any
one of us. He is in the Palace of Candles right now and under special protection,
but I speak for all of us when I say that I feel unwell knowing that he
is in Meifu and in Enma's reach. Until I have informed the Lords of Heaven
and Hell, I want Rikugo, Touda and Byakko to stay at his side."
He met the eyes of the three shikigami he had chosen and Rikugo's face,
pale and drawn, radiated surprise, but only briefly. Touda just nodded
and rose together with Byakko, followed by Rikugo.
"He won't get him again," the serpent growled.
°
Sohryu was shaky, reeling from a truth he had denied five centuries
ago, a truth that had let him make mistakes already. SO many had suffered
because he had been such a fool. He had been made a fool!
Hands clenched, he stood in the silent council hall.
Fool!
The Emperor was no more and he had been played by Enma-Daiou.
There was a little shiver of an aura, a shinigami aura, and he turned,
glaring a the slender blond who had dared to come back in here.
Watari wasn't alone. Touda was at his side, as was Rikugo. For whatever
purpose... maybe to protect him from Sohryu's wrath?
The dragon almost laughed humorlessly.
Watari was the unlucky messenger and you just didn't kill the messenger.
Especially not someone who had finally opened his eyes.
Watari walked up to the imposing form of Sohryu and cleared his throat.
"Uhm, Sohryu... I... I'd like to talk to you." He glanced at Touda.
"And it would probably be best if you were here, too."
Blue-gray eyes narrowed.
"It's about what I saw in Mother. I... I didn't tell you everything...
at least in front of everyone... There's something very personal that concerns
only you, Sohryu..." He stumbled to a halt.
"Then why are Touda and Rikugo here?" the Protector of the East demanded.
Watari chewed on his lower lip. "Because you will need their friendship.
And because they were there, too..."
Sohryu looked at them, especially Rikugo, and sneered a little.
"So talk, shinigami. What else is there to know?"
"It... concerns the death of your father," Watari began.
Narrow features froze and the reptilian eyes grew hard as diamonds.
"He didn't die a natural death," he ploughed on. "He found out the truth,
realized the Emperor was dead, and he confronted Enma-Daiou... and lost..."
tbc...
While AFF and its agents attempt to remove all illegal works from the site as quickly and thoroughly as possible, there is always the possibility that some submissions may be overlooked or dismissed in error. The AFF system includes a rigorous and complex abuse control system in order to prevent improper use of the AFF service, and we hope that its deployment indicates a good-faith effort to eliminate any illegal material on the site in a fair and unbiased manner. This abuse control system is run in accordance with the strict guidelines specified above.
All works displayed here, whether pictorial or literary, are the property of their owners and not Adult-FanFiction.org. Opinions stated in profiles of users may not reflect the opinions or views of Adult-FanFiction.org or any of its owners, agents, or related entities.
Website Domain ©2002-2017 by Apollo. PHP scripting, CSS style sheets, Database layout & Original artwork ©2005-2017 C. Kennington. Restructured Database & Forum skins ©2007-2017 J. Salva. Images, coding, and any other potentially liftable content may not be used without express written permission from their respective creator(s). Thank you for visiting!
Powered by Fiction Portal 2.0
Modifications © Manta2g, DemonGoddess
Site Owner - Apollo