Yami No Matsuei Fan Fiction / Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Living Shinigami ❯ The Imaginary World ( Chapter 11 )

“Living Shinigami”

Chapter Eleven

The Imaginary World

When the pair of attackers were cleared after their concussions, Sally and Une let the remaining three pilots at them. Both bound men were quickly wishing the dragon had killed them in the alley. With the combination of Heero’s deadly and no-so-subtle threats in monotone, Quatre’s emotional tidal waves of scary zero mode and guild causing teary accusations, and Trowa’s silent and frigid presence in the corner of the room, the three were nothing short of terrifying.

“Do you really expect us to believe that you were attacked by a dragon?” Heero growled, white knuckled as his hands clenched the edge of the single table in the interrogation room.

“Hook us up to one of our fancy lie detectors,” the taller of the two growled back. “We know what we saw. That long-haired freak of nature summoned a dragon.”

“He wasn’t human,” the other man murmured, staring at his hands with blank eyes. He’d been rocking to himself since being brought into the room. “Not human, immortal. Death.”

“Which of you injured Duo?” Quatre asked, blue eyes boring holes in the men’s heads. “And where are they now?”

“The hell we know,” the first said, glaring right back at the blonde. “I told you asses, the dragon knocked us out. Maybe it ate them afterwards.”

The quiet one briefly lifted his eyes. “Kijin.”

Heero pounced. “Where did you hear that name?”

“The dragon, he whispered, eyes clearing. “He called the dragon Kijin. He was protected by the king of thunder. Oh gods, what have we done?”

“Daniel, what are you saying?” the other demanded, outraged and confused. “That guy killed your sister!”

But Daniel had lapsed into a mantra of “We attacked a kami, we attacked a kami…”

“The shock’s gotten to him,” Quatre said quietly in Trowa’s ear. The green-eyed man nodded and slipped out of the room.

Une was waiting outside and pulled the agent aside. “Any progress?”

“They’re still insisting on the story about the dragon, and one of them has gone into psychological shock,” Trowa reported. “They claim to not know where Chang or Maxwell are.”

“I thought as much,” the stern woman said, lips pursed. “When Chang called, he said that they were already unconscious, so unless there was a third who was unknown at that point, it wasn’t one from their group. But there was something about the way he paused. I think he was hiding something.”

Trowa was silence for a moment. “All calls to your phone from agents are recorded, correct?”

Une’s eyes lit up. “Of course. If we could isolate the background sounds, maybe we can figure out what. Go find the tape while I rescue our guests from Winner and Yuy.”

-

Of all the unexpected things about the other worlds, the fact that the Imaginary World, home to the four gods among others, existed in the internet shocked Wufei the most.

“Only the four gatekeepers know how to connect to Imaginary World,” Duo explained, leaning over Wakaba’s chair to watch her work. “Wakaba-chan’s the keeper of the Suzaku gate. Can’t remember if I met any of the other keepers.”

“Just when you were a baby and Tsuzuki was showing you off to everyone he met with,” the girl said with a grin and a roll of the eyes. She hit a final key. “Connected!”

Wufei covered his eyes as there was a bright flash of light. When the air was clear enough to see, he saw that two new being were held up in the air by their own crow wings. Their bodies were that of young men. “Tengu?”

“It’s been a while, Kotaro, Kojiro,” Tsuzuki greeted while Terazuma growled from his end of the room, glaring death at the pair.

“We’ve been expecting you since Kijin told us you’d returned,” Kotaro, the darker skinned of the two said, focusing on Duo. “You’ve grown.”

The shinigami-to-be shook his head. “Why does everybody say that? Did they think I was going to stay a child forever?”

The tengu exchanged a glance before Kotaro spoke up again. “Your mother did.”

“Kaa-chan is dead,” Duo pointed out. “I’m not.”

“You were born from the dead.”

“Will you just get on with it?” Terazuma grumbled. He wanted nothing more than to grab his partner away from the guards, preferably injuring Tsuzuki along the way. But going near them would mean getting within range of the spawn, and he really didn’t want to find out if Hijiri had inherited Kurosaki’s ability to release his shiki.

Duo laughed. “Okay, okay, no need to get into a fuss. You ready, Wufei?” The Chinese man nodded. “Alright then, guys, let’s get this show on the road.”

Kojiro shook his head while Kotaro chuckled. The two lifted their staves and a vortex of sorts seemed to grow from the air, basing around the computer Wakaba sat at. For a second time in a few minutes, Wufei was robbed of his sight as electricity crackled through the room.

Suddenly, there was no ground beneath Wufei’s feet and he free-fell for only a few movements before a strong grip under each arm stopped his plummet.

“Sorry, we forgot you couldn’t fly,” Tsuzuki said, his voice laughing.

Fly. Wufei’s eyes followed each of the arms holding him aloft up to Duo and his father, who were flying. He tried to contain his awe as both grinned down at him.

“You’re missing a great view, Fei,” Duo informed his, eyes growing wistful as he looked away from his comrade and around at their surroundings. “Welcome to the Imaginary World.”

If Wufei hadn’t known better, he would have sworn that they floated over medieval China, the grand city stretching as far as he could see. On the streets, people moved about as they would in a normal city. What they were doing, Wufei could only guess at.

It wasn’t long before his feet touched down in a stone paved courtyard, theirs following soon after. Waiting by a fountain was Kijin. “I’m glad to see that you’ve made it here. With Chang-san, I was not sure.”

“You’re the first living human to come here, Hijiri aside,” Tsuzuki explained when Wufei looked confused. “Since the move from beside the living world at least. I don’t know about what might have happened before that.”

“It is an honor then,” Wufei said with a deep bow.

“Otou-san! Nii-san found them! Hijiri-kun!”

The one mortal in their group barely moved in time to avoid being bowled over by a little girl running to tackle Duo in a bone-crushing hug, squealing in delight as she was lifted and spun.

“Ten-chan, you won’t believe how much I’ve missed you,” he said, setting her down. “But how’d you recognize me?”

The girl, whom Wufei noted bore a pair of eyes to match Kijin’s, wrapped one hand around the end of Duo’s braid and pointed the other at his eyes. :Kurikara-san wanted you to grow your hair out, and no one else has Tsuzuki-sama’s eyes. ‘Sides, you smell like Hijiri-kun.”

Tweaking her nose, Duo straitened up to face the far end of the courtyard. Following his gaze the striking figure of a long-haired man in robes similar to Kijin’s, but more ornate, signifying a higher rank.

Approaching them, the man greeted Tsuzuki first before turning his attention to Duo with a bow. “Hijiri-san, it is a relief to see you safe again.”

Duo returned the gesture with equal depth. “It is a relief to be back again, Sohryu-san. This is my comrade and friend, Chang Wufei.”

Before either Wufei or Sohryu had a chance to acknowledge the introduction, a blur of black and white and green knocked Duo over. “Chibi!”

There was a muffled laugh from beneath the blur, which resolved itself into another longhaired man with a braid and a... tail? “I missed you too, Byakko.”

“That’s the guardian of the west?” Wufei asked in disbelief before he could stop himself. Beside him, Sohryu was shaking his head in despair. “All three of them act the same. The exact same.”