Yami No Matsuei Fan Fiction / Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Living Shinigami ❯ Confrontation ( Chapter 22 )

A/N: I’d like to dedicate this chapter to my cat Scamp, who passed away early yesterday morning. She’s been with the family for almost exactly thirteen years along with her brother, Mathias. On a lighter note, I hope you enjoy the new chapter. I don’t own either series. Read and review.

“Living Shinigami”

Chapter Twenty-two

Confrontation

Quatre couldn’t remember his head ever having hurt so much before, with only a possible exception of when he’d come out of the Zero system. Taking a claming breath, he began to take stock of his situation. He was blindfolded, and his hands were bound behind him, fingers wrapped tightly in cloth to prevent him from working at the cord. His ankles were similarly bound.

He and Relena had gone to L2, arriving at the memorial early. Right at five, an elderly gentleman walked up to them and introduced himself as Dr. Muraki. There had been something… off about the way he’d looked at Quatre while they shook hands, but he’d brushed the feeling aside then. If only he’d listened to his space heart.

“So, you’re awake, Winner-san,” Muraki’s smooth voice said out of the cloth-induced darkness. “I apologize for the use of the drug, but I needed you and Miss Peacecraft to cooperate.”

“In what?” Quatre asked, heart pounding. “Where is Relena?”

“Right beside you, still unconscious,” the man said offhandedly. “Poor child doesn’t seem to have quite the same resistance as you do. As for why you are here, it’s really quite simple. Bait.”

When Quatre didn’t give any reply, the doctor continued. “You see, Winner-san, I am a very patient an. For a long time, I have managed to stay alive and hidden, waiting for my beloved Asato to resurface. Several weeks ago, I was almost ready to give up hope. But then I heard something on the radio. The description of a man, with brown hair and violet eyes, a color I have only seen in someone once, because such a color is impossible or humans to have.”

“You already knew the name Tsuzuki when you called,” Quatre said in realization. “We aired the name Maxwell and you said Tsuzuki. But Duo isn’t this Asato.”

The laugh was short and mocking. “Of course not. I realized that after doing a bit of my own research and finding records of his at the end of the war, and before his involvement. Not Asato, but perhaps a distant nephew.”

There was something else coming toward them, its presence brushing against the edges of Quatre’s space heart. He couldn’t tell what it was, but it felt safe. Alongside it, almost completely shrouded, was the strictly contained fire that he knew was Wufei. He forced back a sigh of relief. Help was coming. He just needed to keep Muraki distracted.

Beside him, there was a shifting as Relena stirred awake. She was bound like Quatre, but left able to see. Despite her attempts to stay still, the doctor noticed her rousing immediately.

“Duo’s his son, not his nephew,” she said, having heard them in her half-awake state. “Duo’s mother was named Kurosaki Hisoka.”

“Do you think me to be a fool, Miss Peacecraft?” Muraki asked, scorn in his voice. “Kurosaki has been dead for over two hundred years. I should know. I killed him myself.”

“But we saw both of them on a video that was only fifteen yeas old, and they were alive until the building went up,” Quatre protested, his mind scrambling for a reason why his space heart was telling him that Muraki wasn’t lying.

He flinched as a cold hand touched his face. “My dear boy, that is the power of a shinigami, the dead souls cursed to linger on the earth and help others to their final rest. As for my beloved, he was cursed from the beginning, the child of a demon, as would all his family be cursed. How else would you explain their impossible eyes?” The hand traced along the line of Quatre’s jaw. “Unable to see your eyes, you look almost exactly like that boy, Hisoka. He had the misfortune of meeting me under the Sakura one spring night under a blood red moon. I caught him, and I stripped him, and then I cursed him. He lived in agony for three years before my curse finally killed him. Imagine my surprise when I saw him again the fourth year, working beside my Asato.”

Quatre began to shake at the amount of evil rolling off of the man. He tried to jerk away, but the caressing hand clamped down. “What do you hope to gain by holding us? Duo has been missing for several weeks.”

“If he’s anything like his ancestor, he’ll show up again to protect those he considers family, no matter the danger,” Muraki said, amused. “And to protect his kin, Asato won’t be far behind.”

“You’re right about one thing, bastard.”

“Duo, no, it’s a trap!” Relena shouted.

Despite the warning, Duo stepped into view from the shadows, Wufei a step behind him. Both were dressed in silks and bore swords on their belts at the ready. Duo’s eyes were locked onto Muraki.

Relena had never seen such hate, and Quatre had never felt such fury. It was truly terrifying. Terrifying and somehow beautiful, like watching lightening.

They missing pilot’s unbound hair fluttered behind him as he stepped forward, hand on his sword’s hilt. “You, Muraki Kazutaka, murdered my mother. You hunted my father. You destroy everything you touch, breaking the sacred oath as a healer. For the last two centuries, you’ve run from my lord father’s justice, and now you dare touch those I hold dear to me.” Face cold, he drew his sword. “I am Tsuzuki Hijiri, son of Tsuzuki Asato and Kurosaki Hisoka, chosen child of King Enma himself. I will pass his sentence upon you.”

“So Winner-san told the truth. The dead have given birth to life,” Muraki said slowly, eyes moving over the man who bore Hisoka’s face and Tsuzuki’s unique coloring. “Amazing.”

As Duo and Muraki sized each other up, Wufei used the moment of distraction to slip around them to where Quatre and Relena were bound. Silently, he cut their bindings, removing Quatre blindfold as well. “Are you alright? Has he hurt you at all?”

“Just my pride,” the blond said, rubbing his wrists. “Getting captured so easily. I’ve gotten soft since the war.” He forced down a gasp as he took in Wufei’s appearance. The Chinese man just laughed, glancing over his shoulder to where his lord (somehow, this situation called for the title) settled into a sword stance. Following his gaze, Quatre didn’t manage to cover a second gasp. The ethereal robe floating about his arms was all too familiar, as was the style of robe. Added to the fact that their comrade’s feet were not making contact with the floor, and Quatre suddenly had a feeling that the shooter, Daniel, hadn’t gone as crazy as they’d supposed. “He’s a kami…”