Yami No Matsuei Fan Fiction / Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Living Shinigami ❯ Phone Call ( Chapter 12 )

“Living Shinigami”

Chapter Twelve

Phone Call

It took a few minutes to get Byakko off of Duo, though he still insisted on clinging to the braided man’s arm, occasionally sniffling. By that time, Wufei was feeling seriously disillusioned about the four gods.

“So, where’s Suzaku?” Tsuzuki asked, glancing around as if to spot the phoenix god running toward them.

“She mentioned something about wanted snake for dinner,” Tenko said cheerfully.

“Man, is she still mad at him about Kyoto?” Duo asked, palming his forehead. Sohryu’s children nodded. “She definitely knows how to hold a grudge. It’s been over two hundred- Wufei, you may want to duck.”

War instincts came to life just in time as a black clad figure flew past them, intent on avoiding the enraged woman swinging a large sword at him. “Stop running away and let me hit you!”

“Suzaku, Touda, good morning!” Tsuzuki called over the sound of their fighting. “Guess who’s here!”

The woman stopped instantly, lowering her sword as she noticed the older shinigami. Seeing that he was no longer being attacked, the man relaxed, turning his head toward them, though it was difficult to see his eyes through the visor he wore. There was a moment of silence before she squealed and glomped both of them, one with each arm, her sword forgotten on the ground.

“Are they always like this?” Wufei asked Kijin, trying to keep his bewilderment from showing. She was Suzaku?

“Most of the time,” the dragon said, nodding. “They’ve never really gotten along. That’s Touda, by the way.”

Introductions were passed around once again after everybody had been untangled. As the group moved toward Tenku palace, Wufei noticed Duo watching the skies. “Something wrong?”

“Kurikara’s not here yet,” Duo whispered, a little saddened. “Kijin, you did tell him I was coming here, right?”

“I asked my father to,” Kijin said, glancing to the older dragon. “Father...”

Sohryu suddenly found the scenery fascinating.

“Father!”

The pilots had been banished from the tech lab for hovering while the background noise from the phone recording was isolated. As a result, Heero was not happy, Quatre was worried, and Trowa was... Trowa.

The door opened, a techy standing there. “Alright, you can come in now. We’ve done the best we can.” He led them into the lab and over to the sound equipment. Une was already there, the technicians not having the rank to shove her out of anyplace she wanted to be. “Alright, this is the original recording.”

There was some static before familiar voices began to emit from the speakers.

“Une here.”

“This is Chang. Maxwell’s been shot. He’s alive and the assassins...” There was a pause. “The assassins are unconscious.”

“Alright, I’ll send someone over to pick them up while you get Maxwell to the hospital. You’d better be able to give me a good report when you get back.”

“I’ll try. We’re in the alley between Xing street and the lower port. I think there’s a pet shop on one side, and the other side looks like the back of apartments.” There was a rustle, probably caused as the phone was removed from Wufei’s ear. “Maxwell, what are you doing?” The line went dead.

The techy messed with his keyboard for a moment. “Alright, this is all that we could clarify from the background.”

When the speakers came to life a second time, Quatre’s eyes widened at the unmistakable sound of slithering scales, claws digging into stone, and a worried trill not of human lungs.

“That’s enough, Kijin-kun. They’re out.” Duo’s voice, tired and in pain.

A low, questioning rumble. “I’ll be okay. Takes more than a little bullet to take down this shinigami.” A yelp and a small thump. “Okay, okay. Mind taking me home? You can carry me.” A few second of pained grunts and heavy breathing. “A little help here?”

“Maxwell, what are you doing?” Once again, the line went dead.

No one spoke for a few minutes after, going over in their minds what they’d heard.

“So, there definitely was something named Kijin there, whether or not it actually was what we found in our research,” Quatre said, staring at the speakers as though they held the answers.

“Duo asked it to take him home, which clearly did not mean his apartment,” Trowa pointed out. “Where else does he consider home?”

“L2?” the blond suggested.

Heero shook his head. “Duo’s said before that he’s never really considered anyplace other than the Maxwell church on L2 home.”

“What about where he was born?” Une suggested, speaking up for the first time. “I believe Dr. Po mentioned that she found his birth certificate in Tokyo. Going there might also speed up our access to it.”

“Perhaps he has family left after all,” Quatre said, a small smile forming despite the concern for his friends.

Trowa nodded at the possibility. “Or perhaps that’s where the gift senders are located.”

A few quick phone calls had the three pilots on the next flight to Tokyo. Millardo met them at the airport. Since he had lived with Duo for over a year, Une had thought it a good idea for the former lightning count to go as well. Hopefully, they’d be able to figure out just where their comrades had vanished off to. After all, they couldn’t have just dropped out of the world.

Tenku palace was magnificent, and Wufei was floored to learn that it was sentient as well, one of Tsuzuki’s shiki in fact. It was there that he met the rest of Duo’s father’s (a concept that boggled the mind on its own) shikigami, including the last of the four gods. Only one of them even came close to the image Wufei had been taught of them through the myths he’d been told as a child. The six eyed Rikugo and the faceless Taimo were simply creepy, Touda was more monotone than Heero and Trowa put together, Kochin seemed the most normal of any of them, despite the flowers, and he didn’t know what to think about Daion, who looked like little more than a clay pot.

He was further confused when Suzaku announced a huge party to celebrate Duo’s return where even Tenko, who he had a difficult time remembering was older than her appearance of six, drank vast amounts of sake.

Around evening, there was a sudden stillness in the festivities. Sohryu became especially tense. Tenku palace itself seemed to be attempting it keep its doors shut as they were forced open.

The being that marched in was... short, to say the least, and looked little more than a child. His hair sprung from a high ponytail that reached past his feet to encircle them on the ground. One eyes was kept shut, a long scar running over it. When he spoke, it was with barely contained fury.

“Why was I not informed when my master was found?”