Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction / Yami No Matsuei Fan Fiction ❯ Red Shaman ❯ About Damn Time ( Chapter 82 )

***For those of you who don't know the YnM universe very well, this chapter might take a bit of explaining. As I understand it, Meifu is where shinigami live, for want of a better word. Touda (fire serpent), Rikugo (dragon) and Suzaku (phoenix or firebird) are Tsuzuki's shikigami, sometimes called gods or other worldly beings. Shikigami have both a human and an animal form, usually a thousand times larger than the actual animal ever dreamed of being. GensouKai is where shikigami exist, live, whatever. Again, this is as I understand it. I'm sure someone will tell me if I'm wrong. Okay, on we go.***

 

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Watari held onto the neck of the fire serpent for dear afterlife. His mind was frantically searching through possibilities and probabilities. Though he wasn't sure he wanted to contemplate what had to have occurred for Blaze to be injured badly enough to go to the hospital wing.

 

He stared blankly as not Meifu, but the gates of GensouKai, came into view.

 

“Touda? Why . . .”

 

“She was brought here to Rikugo because her injuries were too severe for the doctors of Meifu to deal with.”

 

Watari felt even sicker than before. Needing to go to the hospital wing at Meifu was bad enough. Being injured so badly that she had to be sent to GensouKai sent his internal worry meter off the charts.

 

“Do you know . . . “

 

“As I understand it, she was caught in a backlash of her own fire. That is all I was informed of before leaving to find you as Tsuzuki instructed.”

 

Watari digested that piece of information as real fear began to coil itself in the pit of his stomach and clench at his heart. He shuddered and his vision blurred. His mind was reeling. Blaze had been caught in her own fire. That white hot flame that could disintegrate nearly anything in a nanosecond.

 

Touda touched down smoothly and shifted to his human form when Watari had slid from his back. The fire serpent turned to him.

 

“Know this; if I find you've broken her heart again, you'll deal with me, shinigami. And you will be most unhappy dealing with me,” Touda said, his lips twitching slightly. He turned his back and started toward the massive palace. “Don't worry, I doubt Tsuzuki would allow me to kill you again.”

 

Watari stared at his rapidly retreating back in shock before it registered he was to follow. Why was Touda of all shikigami suddenly so protective of Blaze? He was fully aware of the fact they knew each other well. Touda and Suzaku had both been at certain council meetings that Blaze attended as the fire sovereign for the Kings and Queens of Earth. Odd, now that he thought about it. They had flanked her in guarding positions. Something else registered as well, Touda had been allowed to have his visor removed during those meetings. Even stranger, he was not wearing it now. As he understood it, the visor was a power limiter and a condition of Touda's release from prison. He shook off the strange recollections and focused on following Touda.

 

Rikugo met them at the doors. He bowed deeply to Watari. “You must be Watari Yutaka,” Rikugo said, smiling warmly at him. “I'm truly sorry our first meeting had to be under such unfortunate circumstances. Please come with me.”

 

He followed Rikugo down the long corridor, Touda trailing in their wake. They came to a set of ornately carved double doors only to find their way barred by a woman holding a large sword.

 

“Suzaku,” Rikugo said calmly, “Stand down. This is her husband.”

 

“I know who he is, dragon. We've met.” She did a sky to ground of Watari before grinning. “Like I've said before, damn, it's good to be the queen.”

 

Watari looked at her oddly. “What makes you say that?”

 

Suzaku laughed. “She has two husbands who are smart, strong, beautiful and not obnoxious about being any of those things. What more can a girl ask?”

 

“Well, that certainly seemed clear enough,” Touda said sarcastically.

 

“Snake . . .” Suzaku said warningly.

 

“Enough, you two,” Rikugo said. “We have more important matters to attend to at the moment. Added to the fact that Tsuzuki is upset enough as it is and I'm certain this young man is impatient to see his wife for himself.”

 

“Yes. Please,” Watari said quietly.

 

The doors swung open to reveal another long corridor leading to a second set of double doors.

 

“Her injuries are quite extensive,” Rikugo said. “I'll not lie to you about that. Something in her system seems to reject anything remotely resembling modern medicine. Probably due to the fact that she was a shaman in her lifetime and there is an ingrained distrust of invasive procedures. Hence why she was brought to me. Your husband is with her now, as are Tsuzuki and his partner.”

 

Watari nodded solemnly. “Gods, I'm an idiot.”

 

“Why do you say that?”

 

“Because I am. I know they're incredibly powerful, I have known it for ages. Long before we were married. Neither of them have ever treated me as anything other than an equal. But some loser points it out to me and suddenly it's a big deal,” Watari said, running his hands through his hair in frustration.

 

“Watari-san, as I understand it, he is no garden variety individual. He is a telepath, with many centuries of training; there was most likely a push for you to take that knowledge down a darker path.”

 

“Why me?”

 

“I suppose because this person knew that hurting you would hurt her. An ancient but still highly effective technique. Find what someone loves and try to destroy it.”

 

They had made it half way down the hall when the doors at the other end swung open. Hisoka, followed by Tsuzuki, came out of them. It was obvious even at a distance that Tsuzuki was upset and Hisoka was looking particularly grim. Watari's heart sank even more. Before he realized it, he was down the rest of the corridor and nearing Hisoka and Tsuzuki at high speed. He skidded to a halt just before bowling both of them over.

 

“About damn time you showed up,” Hisoka growled at him.

 

“Soka!” Tsuzuki started to protest.

 

“No. He has a right to be upset with me if I'm correct in what I think happened,” Watari said.

 

“She underestimated the strength of an enemy's shield because she was worried about what was going on with you,” Hisoka said angrily.

 

“How bad is it?”

 

“Rikugo says it could have been much worse,” Tsuzuki said hesitantly, glancing at Hisoka, who looked ready to explode at any second.

 

“Stop stalling. If she was bad enough to be brought here it has to be bad,” Watari said.

 

“When they moved her from Meifu, she had third degree burns over 90% of her body. Her wedding ring melted and the metal and stones fused into the skin, if that tells you anything,” Hisoka growled. He had barely finished the sentence before Watari had wrenched the door open and bolted inside.

 

 

*******************Author's Notes***************************

Thanks to everyone still reading and reviewing. Thanks, as always, to the fabulous Assassins Anonymous team.