The Sequel of “If Life Followed To Death”

laustic · Joined: 09 Jul 2006 Posts: 660 Location: Florida

Wow! The imagery here is quite vivid and so much like a nightmare. You really got how lost and probably scared Hisoka is.

Jani_chan · Joined: 23 Aug 2006 Posts: 2685 Location: Enma's bed

In Kurikara’s palace stood the blue haired dragon Soryuu and the worried eyed figure of Tsuzuki beside him. They’d hated coming to the fire dragon, even if it was for Hisoka, but Tsuzuki was determined to go to the ends of everything for the boy, be it in the living world, Meifu, or the imaginary world within the internet. Soryuu didn’t like this, as he didn’t like Hisoka at all, but Tsuzuki was his master, and as much as he disliked it, he had to listen. Kurikara was ridding his front door of a pair of bloody wings that looked frighteningly like crow’s wings. Tsuzuki saw them and his brows furrowed without thought.

“You’d better not have done anything to the gate guardians!!” He threatened, forgetting for the moment that his threat was completely empty. The black haired dragon turned, looking at them.

“Soryuu,” he said, tilting his head to the side, as he completely ignored the human at his side, “long time no see.” Soryuu solemnly nodded, noting every change in his mortal enemy.

“Your hair has gotten longer,” he observed aloud, ignoring Tsuzuki’s complaining about his topic of conversation. His mind was emptied of thoughts of the man’s young mute companion as he saw that the other dragon’s hair would drag over the ground if he let it down, and it shone like darkened lacquer in the hot desert sun. The other dragon grinned widely.

“It has,” he said, a hint of gloating in every motion. He knew what Tsuzuki didn’t. For a dragon, the hair was the symbol of power; the longer, healthier, and shinier the hair, the more powerful the dragon. How much power had Kurikara gained in his years of exile and imprisonment? Silently, they tested at each other, their draconic powers each pushing at the others mental and physical shields, the fight unseen by the human who had accompanied Soryuu. The unseen battle stopped when Tsuzuki’s voice broke the silence.

“Where’s Hisoka!?” he demanded, less fierce than he’d meant to be, seeming more worried than anything else. Kurikara shrugged.

“The boy?” he said, now seeming less cocky, more annoyed, “I wouldn’t know, he was chased out a while ago.” Tsuzuki’s eyes widened.

“Chased?” he near choked out. Kurikara was a cruel creature, so the shinigami’s heart was threatening to burst with the fear in his chest. Kurikara waved a hand in the air, choosing not to say anything more on the topic. Soryuu frowned and turned away.

“He’s not here, Tsuzuki,” he said, “let’s go.” He began to stride away, but Kurikara spoke up as he did.

“Leaving already?” he asked, though it sounded more like a statement, “aren’t we mortal enemies, sworn to be at one another’s throats for all eternity?” Soryuu ignored him, continuing away as Tsuzuki begged him to stay, wanting more information from the shiki. With a growl, the smaller dragon shiki changed his tactics. “Are you going to fix these wormholes? Or can’t you figure out how? Let me guess, you’ve been asking your ‘god’ for help with them? This so called ‘hero of the imaginary world’? How do you even know that he’s real?” At this, Soryuu turned around, nearly knocking Tsuzuki to the floor.

“How dare you—” he began, but Kurikara was still talking.

“I mean, after all, he is a god,” he said, “with all of his power, he should be able to fix all of these problems without much effort, right?” Soryuu’s growl of anger was less animalistic and more the growl of an immortal creature that was so close to god that they’d touched hands.

“HOW DARE YOU INSULT THE GREAT GOD OF OUR WORLD!!?!?” he was ready to fight now, his power crackling around him in his anger. Now Tsuzuki was fighting to keep him away from the other shiki. They stared each other down until Tsuzuki resorted to his final option.

“Soryuu!!” he yelled, his voice more demanding than it had been in a long while, “I command you to stand down!” The shiki’s power faded and he looked disgusted as he did as he was told. Kurikara made a face.

“The great Soryuu,” he said, “turned into this… I have no business with you. Leave.” He turned and began to walk away. Tsuzuki looked at him.

“Kurikara,” he said, his eyes softening. The shiki turned slightly.

“I still refuse to be your shiki, if that’s what you wish to ask,” he said. Tsuzuki shook his head.

“Why did you start the war?” he asked. The shiki paused for only a moment before continuing his walk away.

“Leave,” he said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

laustic · Joined: 09 Jul 2006 Posts: 660 Location: Florida

That was awesome ^_^ I enjoy every minute of this fic and I can't wait for the next part.

Jani_chan · Joined: 23 Aug 2006 Posts: 2685 Location: Enma's bed

When Tsuzuki and Soryuu returned to Tenku, they found Byakko waiting for them, looking distressed. Tsuzuki was the first to speak.

“What’s wrong?” he asked as soon as they were close enough to talk normally.

“Michiru’s gone,” Byakko said, his tone grim. Both shinigami and shiki’s brows furrowed at this, confusion and worry becoming stronger.

“I thought she was sleeping?” Tsuzuki asked. Byakko shook his head.

“She was found before wandering the halls,” Byakko nodded at Soryuu, remembering that it was him who’d found her and called for servants to bring her back to bed saying that she seemed ill. What he didn’t know was the fact that she’d spoken or how she’d addressed Soryuu. The dragon shiki hadn’t told anyone. He’d assumed that she was half asleep, walking with her eyes closed and something had triggered her outburst. Maybe instead of seeing him she truly did see an old master? He mentally shook himself out of his thoughts as the tiger shiki continued, “and when we brought her back to her room she was crying and seemed about ready to scream, but… Michiru never screams, so of course she wouldn’t. The servant who’d led her to bed went off for some help, not knowing what to do. But when I followed her back, Michiru was gone. We’ve had the servants search Tenku, but there’s nowhere she could be.” Tsuzuki wrung his hands for a moment.

“You’re sure?” he asked, his voice wobbling ever so slightly. Byakko nodded.

“We think she’s going after Hisoka,” he said.

laustic · Joined: 09 Jul 2006 Posts: 660 Location: Florida

Excellant work! I love the impact the short chapters tend to have. It makes everything so exciting.

Jani_chan · Joined: 23 Aug 2006 Posts: 2685 Location: Enma's bed

Wandering aimlessly, Michiru had no idea where she was going or what she was doing. She had no sense of herself at all, her mind a confused fog of memories and thoughts that she couldn't decipher. Was she in a forest? Were there any buildings around her? She had no idea. All she knew was that she was walking far and long, following a swiftly breaking thread as fast as her tired body would let her.

Flying overhead was a large bird… or was it? White hair and beautifully tanned skin were attached to the crow’s wings and long sleeves billowed out from the empty arms as the tengu flew his fastest in the direction that Michiru had come from. Her mind only half registered him, the invisible pull from who knows where still too strong for her usually small attention span to be caught.

The tengu flew as though Kurikara himself chased him, though the rest of the sky was empty, even of clouds. He focused on a spot in the distance. The spot that was the largest city in the imaginary world, where Soryuu and the twelve resided within Tenku. He knew that was where he would find Tsuzuki, the partner of the boy he'd saved. Of course, he had yet to hear from his brother, which made him worried as well, but after being chased by that damned sword for so long and then delivering the young shinigami to his elders, he'd received orders to go tell whomever it was who was to look after the boy. Tsuzuki needed to know where the empath was. Despite his orders, he burned to search for Kojiro, his darker, quieter half.

When he finally reached Tenku, he found that it looked mostly empty, yet the building itself was emitting an angry hum, disliking the course of events that had come to light. Following the sound, he was able to locate a servant who told him where he could find Tsuzuki and his shiki. They were in an inner chamber where there was a meeting room that had gone long unused until this day. They were fighting over what to do next. Tsuzuki was focused on Hisoka, bringing up Michiru only when he needed the extra leverage for his argument. Kotaro wasn't surprised at this. He had a far stronger bond with the green eyed youth than he did with the silent girl. Right as he entered the room, eyes turned to him, some angry, some surprised.

“I can bring you to Hisoka,” he said before he could be questioned. Tsuzuki stood, but Soryuu growled.

“We have more important things than that boy,” he said, glaring at the tengu who'd dared mention that child whom he hated so. Tsuzuki turned and glared at him in return.

“Hisoka may be none of your concern,” he said, “but he is mine!” He rushed from his seat, ready to follow the bird to the ends of the imaginary world for the empath. Kotaro, only too glad to have someone willing to rush with him, turned and left in a flutter of feathers. Soryuu threw down an ink block with a roar, sending several servants scurrying. The shiki scattered, some wanting to follow Tsuzuki, others going out to investigate the wormholes that were popping up like mad all around them.

laustic · Joined: 09 Jul 2006 Posts: 660 Location: Florida

I'm thrilled with Tsuzuki's reaction to Soryuu's "We have more important things than that boy." I love how vocal he is for his concern over Hisoka.

Jani_chan · Joined: 23 Aug 2006 Posts: 2685 Location: Enma's bed

Tsuzuki followed the crow without a word, looking straight ahead, not caring where the was at all. Of course, without warning, Kotaro slowed down. Tsuzuki glared at him without realizing it.

“What is it?” he demanded. Kotaro pointed downward.

“Look,” he said. The small treeless clearing where he was directing his attention held the thin body that could just barely be recognized as Michiru. Tsuzuki cursed slightly and made his way to the ground. He wanted to go after Hisoka, but he couldn’t just leave Michiru behind. Kotaro frowned. “We can bring her with us,” he said, “my people won’t be happy, but they will live.” Tsuzuki nodded as he lifted her off of the ground and moved into the air again. The girl was out cold, her face pale and lips blue as though she’d been walking through the snow or had drowned herself, though there was no body of water anywhere near the area and it was a quite warm day.

laustic · Joined: 09 Jul 2006 Posts: 660 Location: Florida

Oooh, this is getting strange (in a good way of course!).

Jani_chan · Joined: 23 Aug 2006 Posts: 2685 Location: Enma's bed

"My people will care for her," Kotaro said, "we'd better hurry..." Tsuzuki bit his lip and nodded, suddenly feeling terribly worried for Hisoka. When something was so wrong with Michiru, that usually translated to something being wrong with Hisoka. The shinigami and tengu flew fast as they could, Tsuzuki clinging to the young woman who was shivering in his arms. Soon, the nest was in sight... though the nest was only a term for a village... a very large village...