The Imaginings of a Feeble Mind

Disclaimer: I don’t own these characters. They belong to Matsushita-sensei and rest assured, she’d be pissed if she ever found out what I was making her characters do at night. They should all be ashamed of themselves. Dirty little buggers…–wags finger-

The hoarse cries of the pained shikigami filled the halls of Tenkuu as Tsuzuki worked his dark magic, SohRyu’s cries covering most of them as his deep voice commanded authority even on a good day, Touda’s low growls and grunts mixing in as the shinigami’s hand fisted in the snake’s dark hair. Tsuzuki dropped to rest on his haunches, crouched low so that he could look his highest shikigami in the eye, his demonic visage reflected in the polished metal of Touda’s visor. He dropped his hand from the man’s head and draped it across his lap with the other arm, the pain immediately diminishing from the larger creature but remaining with the others for the time being.

“You see how easily I can take over, Touda-kun? The lives of these…people...rests in my hands. The bond between myself and them is unbreakable except in death. You seem to have forgotten that since the last time we met.”

The demon Tsumibito grinned through Tsuzuki’s mouth, using him as it always had ever since his childhood, the violet eyed man’s consciousness hidden deep within the recesses of his mind now that the dark creature had surfaced once again.

He stood suddenly and walked to SohRyu, the normally graceful dragon lord on his side with his hands curled over his ears, his lips pulled back in a pained grimace before Tsumibito waved his hand and the pain receded completely, a muffled sigh escaping his lips as the blue dragon glared angrily at his master. The demon shinigami only smirked and chuckled softly before stepping over the larger man and heading down the long hallway. He had plans with a certain lord and wasn’t about to let his newfound freedom go to waste by torturing simple shikigami.

He spared a glance over his shoulder as he walked through the outer doors of the palace, his powers of flight lifting him instantly, the sound of heavy chains and creaking leather following close behind. Peering behind himself once again, the dark guardian saw his snake servant trailing along, keeping a respectable distance as they neared the lord’s home, landing noiselessly on the wooden steps and climbing to the guarded door.

Touda kept back as far as he could, knowing that his presence was unwanted in Enma’s residence since his most recent outburst, watching with slight horror as Tsuzuki grabbed the shikigami guards and threw them away from himself with a bright flash of light, their partly charred and mangled bodies landing in bloody piles on either side of the steep steps. The smug shinigami pushed through the double doors and stormed his way inside, Touda hot on his heels as he witnessed the incredible carnage, the valiant guards and servants lying destroyed and broken all around him. The snake god doubted there had been such bloodshed in Gensoukai since his own massacre hundreds of years prior.

He could hear Tsuzuki’s voice bellowing through the long halls, calling for the otherworldly king as rumbles and sharp shifts in the framework of the ancient building suggested that the man’s powers didn’t remain idle. Touda was about to call for his master, ignorant of his own voice in the sacred place, not caring if he was punished for being there. His master had gone mad once again and he knew he could stop it, but why did he feel so damn powerless? The shouts and booms came again from the lord’s chambers and Touda broke into a run, panicking for the first time since the darkness had started, worried for his king’s wellbeing. The creature was stronger than Tsuzuki on a normal day but what of this Tsumibito? It sounded familiar to him but why did he feel so childlike and useless when faced with it?

He rounded the doorway to Enmadaioh’s chambers and stopped dead, his mouth open in shock and hands instantly curling into angered fists, the claws barely missing his flesh as they dug into the thick leather of his gloves. The two attendants that had given him the dirty look previously were beyond a doubt dead, their bodies leaking precious blood as they slid painfully down the candelabras they had been impaled upon, the spilled wax mingling with the dark blood. The snake god’s eyes drifted to the tall altar that his lord occupied, the curtain pulled aside for the first time since the man had taken the seat of power, said seat now completely empty.

Had the visor not given Touda a view of the spiritual bodies of the people in the room, he would not have seen the others, Tsuzuki with his left hand fisted in the lace shirtfront of the Gensoukai monarch, his right hand lifted above and behind his head, extended in a movement that threatened a strike, the palm wavering with purple light. The small tendrils that Touda had come to recognize as Tsuzuki’s last line of defense, curling languidly around the man’s forearm, one or two of them raised like the snakes they were, mouths open and tongues showing as they hissed angrily at the attacker.

Enmadaioh as well, shared a fighting stance, his left hand curled around Tsuzuki’s yukata, the material pulling dangerously, the threat of tearing the precious fabric imminent as he growled loud enough that the far windows rattled noisily in their frames. His right hand remained behind himself, the light and shadows reflecting off of the walls to the sides of the pair showing the immense energy the creature was collecting, should the shinigami choose to truly strike. Touda remained quiet and watched with a strange sense of awe, curious as to what would happen but unwilling to test the rage of the golden emperor. The booming voice of the powerful lord broke the unnerving silence anyway, the echo of it in the quiet palace a frightening sound to the dark snake shikigami.

“You lack the power to strike me, demon. That you could even bear the sight of my face is evidence enough that you do not reside in this world. I know of your past. Of what you did to this poor soul. You have sat hidden for so long now and have corrupted his mind from the inside out. Have you nothing to say for your actions? Especially when faced with a situation you cannot control?” He growled dangerously and lifted his hidden hand into view, the dark pulsing matter in his palm whirling violently, a wicked vortex of power that was known throughout Gensoukai. The Chikara-tama. The power of the Golden Emperor. Instant, unconditional death to the receiver of it.

Touda panicked for real at the sight of the dark sphere, knowing it for what it was and feeling the hairs rise up on the back of his neck, his legs aching to spring as he started to walk towards the pair, mindless of the danger he was putting himself in as he came within three feet of the dueling creatures. Tsumibito, as if sensing the shikigami’s presence, turned his head to look at him, his lips peeled back in an angry sneer, his teeth sharp but eyes were bottomless pools of plum, the only human thing left of the shinigami’s mind. His fear for the smaller man mounted as his visor caught the swift movement of the Emperor, his fist coming down fast towards them, Tsuzuki’s eyes flashing a momentary lapse of recognition before his head turned in the direction of his attacker.

It was all Touda could do for his master as he jumped in front of the downward blow, holding his hands up and crossing his arms at the wrists, Enmadaioh’s strength a veritable weapon on top of his mastery of magic and spells, grunting out loud before wailing an ungodly noise as the Chikara-tama struck him full force. He dropped to his knees before collapsing under the weight of the immense power, his own power making a minute appearance as it tried to save him, the black flames dancing around his weakened body and lapping at the arm of the Emperor, doing nothing as the lord retreated to gaze down at his handiwork.

It was a gaze the snake shikigami would never forget, a look of pure malevolence mixed with a hint of glee, the smile on the creature’s face unmistakable to Touda’s slowly closing eyes. He couldn’t even turn his head to see his master before he fell into darkness, the sound of pained screaming ringing in his ears, Tsuzuki’s own wails heard high above the Emperor’s, an odd clash of metal, almost like swords singing together and the satisfying but curious gurgle of a body releasing itself of life-giving blood…