Fushigi Yuugi Fan Fiction ❯ Learning to Heal ❯ Chapter 4 ( Chapter 4 )

Tasuki awoke to agony. His muscles were all screaming from whatever had been in that dart, and he was hanging from the ceiling by his chained wrists in a dark room. He was only half aware that he'd been stripped down to his pants. He shook his head a few times to clear the fuzziness out of his vision. The first thing he saw was his tessen on a table only a few cursed feet away from him.

 

Ignoring the pain in his arms, he pulled at his bonds, testing them for weakness, but they held tight. He muttered a string of curses, and began to work at the cuffs around his wrists. `These are loose, might be able to pull out of `em if I can just get my muscles to work…'

 

He screamed as the first blow to his kidneys caught him by surprise. The cold voice he had heard at the lake rang out again like ice. “Don't try to escape Tasuki-kun, it will only make things worse for you.”

 

The endearment coming from Chichiri spoke of affection and love. Coming from this man, it spoke of slimy intimacy, an unwanted caress. Tasuki gathered his strength and yelled at the man. “You can't be Hikou; I saw him die, but ya look just like him. Who the hell are you?”

 

The man walked slowly around Tasuki to the table, leaning very casually against it. “I'm sorry, I haven't introduced myself properly, have I? I'm Deion, Hikou's brother.”

 

“Chichiri never said anything about Hikou havin' a brother, you fuckin' liar!”

 

“Yes, he did in fact have a brother. I was kidnapped as a child and my parents gave me up for dead. I was raised by some rather unsavory characters, but I killed them as soon as I could and started my journey back to where they had taken me from my family. It took a long time; I had to… work… my way there. When I arrive, I find that my family is dead, and my only brother is dead by the hand of his best friend. Now, the only logical thing to do is to get revenge, wouldn't you say?”

 

“Bullshit. How many people did ya murder and rob to `work' your way home, huh? I know yer kind. You're doin' this ta satisfy yer own need ta kill, not to avenge anyone, ya fuckin' phony bastard!”

 

A flare of anger quickly covered was the bandit's only reward. `Well, at least I've got his number…' Deion walked to the door and opened it, and three vicious looking men filed in. “Soften him up, but don't do any permanent damage… yet. He is just the appetizer; the main course should be on it's way any moment now.” He shifted his cold gaze to Tasuki before exiting the room. “We'll talk again a little later, Tasuki-kun.”

 

Giving the fiercest grin he could manage, Tasuki turned his attention to the thugs. “Well, what're ya waitin' for? I can't hurt ya that bad trussed up like this!” As they began beating on him, he sent up a prayer to Suzaku that Chichiri would stay far, far away from wherever in hell this place was…

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Chichiri strode out of the inn headed for the lake at a fast pace. He was sure that Tasuki would've headed there after leaving the inn. On their last trip here, Tasuki had said wistfully that he'd like to visit it again, that it seemed like a good place to learn to swim. He knew something was wrong; he had finally calmed down enough to meditate when he had been jolted out by what felt like a blow to his back. It only took a moment to realize that it wasn't his pain he was feeling, but Tasuki's. The bond they shared as the two remaining Suzaku seishi was unmistakable.

 

When he reached the bank, he found the dart that Tasuki had deflected into the tree. A quick sniff and Chichiri determined that it was a paralyzing toxin. Tasuki would not be able to move normally for a day or so at the very least, until the drug burned itself out of his system. It also explained why he could barely feel the bandit's life force.

 

As Chichiri felt more of the phantom pain that was not his own, anger began to cloud his vision. His eye narrowed as he saw the trail the attackers had left; it was clear enough for a baby to read. This was clearly a trap; he was being baited. A grim smile settled on his normally gentle features. `Big mistake.'

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Tasuki knew when the beating stopped that Deion had returned. By the time he got his eyes open, the man was standing right in front of him. “Feeling any less feisty, are we?”

 

With at least three cracked ribs, a damaged lung, and Suzaku-knew-what else, Tasuki spit blood in his captor's face.

 

Deion just laughed and dismissed his guards. “I guess that's a no!” He said as he wiped the mess off his face. “You know, I've had someone or another observing Chichiri for months now, just looking for weaknesses. You want to know what I found out?”

 

Tasuki just continued to glare at him through slitted eyes, attempting to save what little strength he had left for when he would need it.

 

“Well, I'll tell you anyway. His one weakness is you. He should have sensed this coming, you know. He's just been so preoccupied with you lately that he never even guessed that something could be wrong. I figured that now would be the perfect time to snatch you, while he's too distracted to do anything before it's too late. And now he'll finally suffer for what he did to my brother.”

 

“Shut… yer fuckin' mouth! This has nothin' ta do with Chichiri, `an you know it! He made peace with Hikou before he died, `an ya don't know what he suffered, before then or after!”

 

Deion laughed jovially and circled the bound man slowly. “Well, that's true enough, but it doesn't matter. You were right earlier. Killing just isn't enough of a thrill for me anymore. I want to make someone suffer, destroy their soul, and then destroy their life. And if I can get a little revenge while I'm pleasing myself, what's the harm in that? Chichiri will get here just in time to see me slit your throat, and watching the last life leave your broken and used body forever will destroy him because he will blame himself for not protecting you. And then, when all the fight has left him, I will take my time killing him. But first, I get to have some fun with you!”

 

Deion's eyes sparkled with bloodlust and malice. Tasuki had heard enough, and wasn't quite ready to resign himself to another beating. He had to find some way to get loose before this man could kill him. He renewed his efforts to twist his abused wrists out of their shackles, and was completely unprepared when Deion twisted his hand in his hair, yanked his head back and shoved his tongue down his throat. Tasuki only had a moment to think back to what Deion had said earlier. `Broken and used…'

 

Deion ravaged his mouth until the need for air finally made him stop. He licked his lips and circled his captive, running his hands over the seishi's body at will.

 

As the full impact of this evil man's sadistic plan to destroy Chichiri hit him, Tasuki had only a moment of cold terror before his body was assaulted in a way he had never imagined could happen to him.

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The stronghold was a formidable place. There were at least ten guards posted around the entrance, and probably several more inside. They looked to be very well trained. Chichiri decided that even though it would make him feel better, it would take too much time to disable the guards; it would be faster to slip in unnoticed, get Tasuki and teleport out of there. He was about to transform into the likeness of one of the two guards that he had incapacitated in the woods, when the most terrible scream of denial he had ever heard sent shockwaves through Chichiri that sent him to his knees.

 

He knew. He knew exactly what that scream meant, and what had happened to his love. And when the red haze of rage descended on him, for the first time since he discovered that Hikou had betrayed him with Kouran, he did not fight it. The ever-present mask cracked and crumbled to the ground. As he climbed to his feet and stalked toward the stronghold's entrance, Chichiri did not register that several of the guards were fleeing in terror of him, nor was he aware that his entire body glowed a bright red, and that the cursive writing on his knee had burned a hole through the fabric of his pants.

 

Chichiri intoned a spell as he leveled his staff at the doors, heedless of the escaping guards. The doors blasted from their hinges, taking some of the slower guards with them. Once inside, he located Tasuki's fading life force, and hung onto it, moving as fast as he could to get to it. He blasted everything and everyone that got in his way without hesitation.

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Deion called the three guards back into the room shortly after he had finished with Tasuki. The bandit was slumped in his chains, all his weight hanging from wrists that dripped blood.

 

“Ok guys, he's all yours. Have fun, but remember, he is not to be killed until Chichiri gets here.”

 

The first guard approached him as Deion settled in to watch the seishi's further torture, but the flame-haired bandit barely took notice. The man smiled sadistically as he began to strip off his own pants, and then the first explosion rang out. From the look on Deion's face, the fiend was not expecting a reaction this severe from Chichiri. One of the guards burst through the door at that moment. “He's here, and he's destroying the compound! Most of the others have taken off, and many are dead!”

 

Deion was fuming. All of his months of planning, gone to waste just like that! He knew that unless he could follow through with his plan somehow, Chichiri would kill him where he stood. He turned to the man at the door. “Hold him off for as long as you can, and tell the others that if they run and they aren't killed this night, I will track them down and make them suffer for their betrayal!”

 

The man's face hardened at this, and he gave a grunt of assent and ran from the room, slamming the door shut behind him.

 

As Deion rounded on Tasuki, the bandit prayed for the strength that he knew he did not have. A good yank was enough to pull his wrists free from their restraints. Before Deion could close the distance between them, he flew the few feet between him and his tessen, snatching it off the table before Deion or any of the guards realized he had moved. However, they closed in on him quickly. He fell to his knees as the last of his strength failed him. Deion sneered.

 

“Despite that impressive display, I doubt that you have the strength to hit us all. No matter which of us you hit, someone will carry out my plan; Chichiri will be as good as dead as soon as he sees you die! Give it up, and I'll make it painless for you!”

 

Tasuki knew that Deion was right. He could not hit them all; he was barely able to stay conscious at that moment. He also knew that if Chichiri saw him die, Deion might very well be able to get the drop on him, and he would not, could not allow anything to happen to his love because of him. But if there was nothing left to find…

 

As the explosions neared, Tasuki did not hear them. A tear rolled unnoticed down his cheek. `I'm sorry, Chiri. I will always, always love you.'

 

For the second time in his life, Tasuki turned his tessen on himself to save someone he loved. A broken smile answered Deion's scream of fury as Tasuki began the incantation. “Rekka Shi--”

 

“Tasuki, no!!” Chichiri seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, knocking the tessen out of his hands before he could finish. He spoke a quick spell immobilizing the room's other occupants before turning an agonized brown eye to Tasuki, kneeling gently over the battered figure.

 

Tasuki smiled at the distressed monk as his vision began to fade. “Didn't think I'd get ta see ya again, Chiri… I didn't break my promise from earlier; I was on my way back to tell ya I loved ya…” He slipped into blessed unconsciousness.

 

“Tasuki!!!” Chichiri frantically searched for Tasuki's life signs, and he found them, though they were very faint. It was then that his eyes fell to the purpling, finger-shaped bruises on the bandit's hips and thighs, and to the blood sluggishly trailing down his thighs. The rage returned in full measure, but this time, it burned cold.

 

He turned his attention to the frightened guards. He saw that one was holding up his unbuckled pants. Moving to stand before the door, he released them from their enchantment. “You would have taken your turn?” he asked harshly. “For that, the only way you'll leave this room alive is with me dead.” The guards knew their time had come, but what choice did they have? They rushed him with swords drawn, and one by one, they fell.

 

Before coming face to face with Deion, Chichiri picked up the fallen tessen. He then confronted the man who had done such horrific damage to the person he loved most in the world. He lifted the enchantment enough for the beast to be able to speak. “Why?” the monk ground out through clenched teeth.

 

Fear and arrogance warred in the wild eyes, and arrogance won out. “Because… I… could.”

 

Chichiri struck him with the tessen, snapping his head back and knocking him to the ground. Fear finally beat out the arrogance in Deion's eyes as he realized that he would die at this monk's hands. Chichiri leveled the tessen at the man's head. “Will you beg for mercy?”

 

“Anything! Just don't kill me!”

 

His eye narrowed in fury. “All right. I'll show you more mercy than you showed my friend. I won't torture you while you can't fight back. I will give you a clean death, and let the gods of death deal with your evil soul.”

 

He recited the incantation as Deion sniveled and begged. “Rekka Shien!”

 

Chichiri held the flames on the man until long after the screaming stopped. And then he turned the fire on the stronghold. As the room went up in flames, the fog of rage that clouded his vision lifted. He turned his attention back to his fallen friend.

 

Chichiri gathered Tasuki gently in his arms, and as the stronghold burned down around them, he transported them both safely to Mt. Taikyoku through his kesa.

 

`Just hold on a little longer, beloved…'