Yami No Matsuei Fan Fiction / Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Living Shinigami ❯ Oath ( Chapter 17 )

“Living Shinigami”

Chapter Seventeen

Oath

Twenty-one years ago:

Chang Mao and Long Chen were nervous enough sitting in the presence of Enma to give a report directly to the kami. With the recent politics in the living world, high profile cases were becoming more and more difficult and delicate, meaning that more shinigami were giving their reports to the top.

What made it even worse was the fact that their lord seemed preoccupied over something, divine eyes glancing toward the door every few minutes. Curiosity overcoming him, Mao was just about to ask what was bothering Enma when the door opened and a woman entered with a child in her arms. The shinigami drew breath as they noticed the tenshi’s robe wrapped around the infant.

“This one apologizes for her lateness,” the woman said with a deep bow to the kami. “We thought it best to feed him as well.”

Their curiosity was roused further when Enma raised an eyebrow at her, but she seemed to know what the expression meant. “There was no change in his spirit, Enma-dono. He is as he was.”

As she knelt down and better settled the child in her arms, Mao couldn’t help but to peer into the robe to get a clearer look at him. He and his partner drew a sharp breath.

“He is beautiful,” Mao whispered in awe, taking in bright violet eyes that looked at him far too clearly. Tearing his own eyes away, he looked to his lord for permission. Enma nodded before apparently turning his attention inward. Free to focus his attention elsewhere, Mao carefully extended a hand toward the baby, who reached up to tightly grab hold of a pinky. Mao smiled. “He’s the same age as my grandson.”

They were only allowed to fawn over the child for a little while longer before Enma himself took hold of him and dismissed all three of them from the audience chamber. Barely five steps from the closed door and they rounded on the woman.

“Who is he?” Chen asked, gesturing back at the room. “Where did he come from?”

“He’s the son of two shinigami, according to Daisuke-san, who spoke directly to Enma-dono,” she said in an excited whisper. “His name is Hijiri.”

“But it’s impossible for shinigami to bear children!” Mao said, shaking his head.

“That’s what we all thought, but they’ve done it,” she stressed. “I haven’t found which ministry the parents are from yet, but we’re sure to learn about it soon.”

“His name’s Japanese, so it stands to reason that he’s from there,” Mao reasoned.

“Or possibly the American ministry,” Chen suggested with a shrug. “You can never tell with them.”

“Very true.”

-

Mao was irritated. All he’d wanted to do was deliver his report before returning to Enma’s halls to see if the child Hijiri, who rumor now painted as the adopted son of the death lord himself. But when he’d stopped in at his office to alert the chief of his plans, he’d been told that he was to go over to Japan in preparation for a joint case.

“Calm down,” Chen tried to tell him for the seventh time in the span of two hours as they began to make their way up the steps of the Japanese ministry building. “He may not even be in his halls anymore. Hijiri-sama was originally the child of shinigami. He may have been returned to them.”

His partner didn’t even dignify the suggestion with a response as he entered the grand building. A few of the Japanese shinigami glanced up from their desks in curiosity, but they paid them no heed other than to offer polite nods of acknowledgment. This particular branch of the ministry was well known for its unorthodox mannerisms and treatment of cases that often led to expensive damages. However, it was also famous for containing the only shinigami to possess twelve shiki, Tsuzuki Asato, the very shinigami they’d be working with. Until recently, he was the only man to ever possess violet eyes.

An infant’s screams startled Mao out of his musings. It couldn’t be…

“Ah, Watari-san! He won’t stop crying!”

“Have you tried feeding him?”

“Feeding, burping, changing; I’ve tried everything!” The girl’s voice sounded absolutely panicked.

Sharing a look of disbelief, the two Chinese shinigami quickly followed the cries to an office containing two blonds and a screaming baby. A dark haired man lurked in the corner, staying as far away from the chaos as possible.

“Thank goodness you’re here,” the teenage girl gushed the moment she noticed their presence. “Tsuzuki-san and Hisoka-kun had to go on a short notice mission, but they should be back by this evening. So could you keep an eye on Hijiri-kun until then?”

Before he knew it, Mao found himself with an armful of yukata clad, tenshi robe wrapped, newborn shinigami. He barely had time to blink before the three were gone and they were left alone with the very baby Mao had wanted to see. Instantly, Hijiri stopped crying.

“Well, we can’t leave until Tsuzuki and Kurosaki get back here anyway, so we might as well,” Chen said, breaking the silence.

They’d taken Hijiri out to the Sakura orchid and sat with him for a couple of hours when Mao’s head shot up.

“Kurikara’s calling me,” he said, clutching Hijiri closely to him.

“We’ll just have to take Hijiri-sama with us,” Chen said in understanding. When the dragon king called, you did not make him wait.

Once his partner had grasped hold of him, Mao slipped through the worlds as only a shinigami descendent from Kurikara could, appearing in the sky of the imaginary world just above where he waited in human form.

“Ancestor,” Mao greeted with a bow upon landing.

They looked up in time to see a surprised expression on the dragon’s face as he noticed Hijiri in Mao’s arms. The look almost instantly melted into a grin as the baby reached out for him with shrieking giggles.

Kurikara reached out his arms to receive the child, meaning that Mao had no choice but to hand him over. “Hello there, little master. I didn’t think I’d get to see you again so soon.”

Mao and Chen choked before the former spoke up. “Master, ancestor? Surely you don’t mean-”

The short yet powerful shiki looked up at them with a raised eyebrow. “I do mean, my descendent. I’ve chosen this boy as my master. Both of his fathers tried and failed to conquer me, but he had me entrapped since the moment he was born. In fact, it’s fortunate that you brought him. There’s something I want you to do in the living world for me. I’ve already gained the old man’s clearance for the two of you.”

-

“This is insane,” Chen whispered as they entered the Chang compound, still invisible as they carried the finally sleeping infant. “We’re not supposed to contact living family members.”

“We have permission,” Mao countered, slipping through the door of what he remembered as a nursery. Catching sight of the few month old baby sleeping within, he couldn’t help but to smile. “Hello, Wufei.”

“He’s getting pretty big already, isn’t it?” Chen asked fondly. “Four months old already.”

His partner nodded, gently laying Hijiri down next to his sleeping grandson. As though sensing someone in his space, Wufei rolled over halfway to clutch at Hijiri. Mao leaned on the edge of the crib, looking down on them. “Wufei, this is Hijiri-sama. When you grow up, you’ll become his guardian. Protect him and serve him.” He chuckled softly. “With Tsuzuki Asato as a father, he’s going to need all of the help he can get.”

Watching them with amusement, Chen left the room to go find his son and daughter-in-law. She and Mao’s were childhood friends as where their husbands, so spend a good amount of time together at one family home or the other during their pregnancies. Chen’s granddaughter, Meiran, was due soon.

Left to his own devices, Mao ran a hand over both heads with their sparse hair. Dark eyes opened and looked up at him fuzzily. Smiling, he lifted one child on each arm before moving over to the empty rocking chair. Between the late hour, the multitude of shocks in a single day, and the smell of clean baby, he soon drifted off to sleep.

He woke up to a sharp gasp, eyes flying wide to see his son staring at him from a pale face. “F-father? What- How- You’re dead!”

Mao quickly motioned for silence as well as he could with his arms full. “Jun, they’re asleep, and only asleep, I assure you.”

Jun’s eyes focused in on the younger of the two children. Or, more precisely, on the robe drifting around him. “Who is he?”

“A child that our oldest ancestor has sworn service to and that Enma himself has held in his arms and declared his,” Mao said, shifting said boy as his violet eyes blinked open. “Here, come take Wufei from me so I can stand up.”

The current clan head was quick to do just that, moving back the moment he had his son in his possession. He had felt the cold from his father.

“Why are you haunting us?” he asked, clutching his son tightly. “Is there some task, some promise left unkept-”

“My son, I’m not haunting anyone,” Mao said with a light laugh. “I wasn’t really supposed to come into contact with you, but it should be fine. I’m merely paying a short visit to introduce Hijiri-sama to his future guardian.”

“His guardian?” Jun asked, looking down at his son as he made the connection. “Wufei?”

“When they’re older, possibly after Wufei’s died like I have,” Mao clarified. “That’s when our ancestor Kurikara usually contacts us. So, how’s your mother?”

“Enduring,” Jun said cautiously as he returned Wufei to his crib. “She misses you.”

Mao’s eyes went a little sad. “She’s the one who I am absolutely forbidden to visit. We’re usually not allowed to be seen by any friends or family, though we can keep an eye on them. One of the perks of our job.”

They stood in silence for a few moments before Mao turned away, regretfully returning to his spirit state. Knowing that his father had to leave, Jun bowed respectfully low, not rising until he and his son were, as far as he could see, alone.

Invisible, Mao waited until Chen returned. Neither of them spoke as they returned to the Japanese ministry, but Hijiri’s cheerful gurgles made enough noise to efficiently cover the silence.