Warnings, disclaimers, etc.
A/N's -
- Oh my god, the story's alive. I think it's been like a year or so... You might want to reread the earlier chapters.
- looks like I'm going to freely mix the CCS anime and manga continuities, but I'm not sure anyone will notice yet.
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-CHAPTER STARTS HERE-
Ch. 5 - Sealed With
Silence.
A grid of arcane symbols, strange patterns in no order that could be read, save by Enma and his son, glowed softly on Koenma's monitor. A single, tiny glyph in the pattern blinked red-white.
The phone handset
red-white
clattered back in place,
red-white
not even a dial tone left to fill the room.
red-white
red-white
red
This time the sigil didn't flicker back. Koenma sat back in his chair, staring at the little red light. Tomoeda sector lay cut off from the rest of the Three Worlds, under a powerful Reikai barrier. Several thousand humans, one self-proclaimed Reikai Detective, one S-class prince of Hell... and one vampiric demon, gorged on at least one B-class human, and most likely two A-class demons, as well. Kurama and Hiei weren't likely to be alive by now.
Yuusuke and Kuwabara were on their own. If the earthquake accompanying the barrier didn't bring their hotel down on their heads, that is.
And as if that wasn't bad enough...
"I'm going to have to do all the PAPERWORK!" Koenma wailed.
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Kero jolted wide awake in his drawer, with the all-too-familiar sensation that something inside his small body was twisting against itself. Hissing, he leapt for the front of the drawer, flying free and already halfway through his transformation as the room jolted.
The clock over Sakura's head slid from the shelf, but her bed was bolted in place.
"SAKURA!" Keroberos (now full-sized) yelled, lion's paws outstretched. A single claw clacked against the plastic of the clock, under it, Kero's paw twisting to knock it aside. The clock shattered against the wall.
But at least it hadn't hit Sakura.
The room shuddered again.
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In the bathroom doorway of their hotel room, Kuwabara shoved Yuusuke to a better-braced position against the jamb. "What did you say to him?" he yelled, against the instinct to hunker down and stay silent (or run screaming like a little girl, but he hadn't done that in years).
"You heard me!" Yuusuke shouted back. "I didn't say nothin'!"
"You must've said something! An earthquake isn't 'nothing'!"
"It ain't what I said, it's what you said! He's doing this 'coz of the goddamn vampire-thing that proba--" A second jolt knocked the cheap painting crashing down on a lamp, drowning out the rest of Yuusuke's shout. But that was just as well. Yuusuke didn't want to hear his own voice repeat that his... their... friends were probably worse than dead.
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He'd flung himself out of bed, Yukito's form, and the window at the initial snap, already ten meters in the air before he'd become fully coherent (both magically and mentally) and for a long moment, had been completely bewildered. Then the air had shivered again, piercing somewhere deep in the core of his existance, and a crack split the street below him lengthwise.
Earthquake. But Yue hadn't been designed to feel earthquakes on more than a human level. Earth was Kerobero's element, not his. What was going on...?
Later. He'd figure it out later, after he'd satisfied his primary imperative (one could hardly call it an 'instinct') to protect his Mistress. To make sure Keroberos could do so. To make sure the Mistress and the Cards and his fellow Guardian and To... that they were were all right. Then... then he could figure out why the very air felt raw in his heart.
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Upon being jolted out of a sound sleep, Tomoyo instinctively grabbed the cellphone on her nightstand. Long months of late night 'adventures' had drilled, beaten, and otherwise impressed on her the importance of quick communication. Whatever was happening, Sakura was probably involved anyway.
She had just enough time to notice there was no dial tone before one of the night guards burst into her room, scooped her up (bedclothes and all), and pulled her into the doorway to wait out aftershocks.
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Usually, the city at night was a gold-toned mirror of the sky, though the streetlamps' beads of light looked clumsier and gaudier than the stars by far. But tonight, Yue flew over a broken reflection; the lights were out in great gaping blocks, and sputtered fitfully in between. Fortunately, Yue didn't need the lights outlining roads, or any landmarks, to navigate. He was following the faint, warm ember of Sakura's power to his destination.
And it was far below, in another of the darkened patches. Yue folded his wings and dove, winging straight for the little house. The slanted windows in the roof had shattered, was the first thing he noticed. The next, as he floated over to Sakura's window, was the flash of pale movement -- Yue's own reflection -- in cat eyes.
"Go check on Touya and Fujitaka," Keroberos hissed, wings spread protectively over the Mistress, claws flexing rhythmically, nervously into the mattress. "They ain't shown up yet!"
Yue froze, that single sentence cutting through his naturally-exclusive focus on Sakura.
Hadn't... Touya hadn't... with his sister complex? And Sakura's father?
Yue's wide gaze flicked towards the other broken window on his right. He soared to it, willing his wings away to crouch on the sill. Touya's room was empty, the bed in disarray, and the door to the hall open. Yue (couldn't let himself leap into the room; it would do Touya no good if he sliced his throat open on the glass) eased carefully through, peering about for a looming teenage boy. Somewhere. Anywhere.
"To-ya?" he called softly, just in case.
No answer.
Broken glass crunched underfoot, the room too small for Yue to restore his wings and float, as he stepped to the door. He ignored the sting with almost-forgotten skill, gleaned from fights to protect the Cards, and called up a small, glowing ball of power. "Touya...?"
A shadow moved in the hallway; Touya's father, Kinomoto Fujitaka, crouched next to something, clutching it closer as he spun to face Yue. "Who are you?" he demanded, squinting against Yue's globe of light.
Yue flinched, snuffing out the light instinctively. He wasn't... Touya's father wasn't supposed to... but of course he'd be there, Yukito had known he was coming back that afternoon... but Touya's father wasn't supposed to ever see Yue or Kero!
"Show yourself, please," Fujitaka said, a slight edge to his tone. Yue recognized it all too easily; Clow had taken the same tone occasionally about the Cards. There was little that was more dangerous than a loving parent protecting his children. Even if Clow had been a manipulative little... well.
Carefully, Yue schooled his face to impassivity, then opened his clenched fist (when had that happened?) and slowly called up the light again.
Fujitaka's eyes widened a fraction, wariness draining from his face. Before Yue had a chance to wonder over that (people generally didn't relax upon finding a stranger in their house, much less an almost unmistakeably non-human one), the man twisted, bringing his burden fully into the light.
"To-ya..." Yue breathed. He went to his knees next to Touya's father, reaching out to the unconscious teenager. A cut on his forehead trickled blood; Yue barely noticed the red-soaked cloth in Fujitaka's hand, using his own trailing sash to press to the wound instead.
"It looks worse than it really is," Fujitaka murmured, though it sounded like he was trying to remind himself more than assure Yue. He carefully passed Touya into Yue's arms. "I'm going to check on my daughter," he added, standing.
Yue's gaze flew up to meet the man's eyes. "She's..." being guarded by a magical winged lion twice her size, "... safe." Fujitaka had seemed to instantly trust Yue (and why was that?), but somehow Yue didn't think he'd take so kindly to Keroberos.
Touya's father stood, half-bent to aim a silencing finger towards Yue. "Yes, but we should head downstairs. It's not safe up here." Yue's arm instinctively tightened a fraction around Touya, his fingers clenching on his sash at the reminder. Not safe. The Mistress was in danger, the Cards, Kero... Touya... Fujitaka, who had his hand on the knob and the door open and was halfway into the room without any reaction.
But the Sun Guardian should've been in full form, to protect Sakura...
Soft rustles came from the room, a reassuring murmur that the Mistress shouldn't need unless she was starting to wake...? But no, there wasn't so much as a whimper of sleepy protest among the rustling of cloth.
A moment later, Fujitaka stepped gingerly back into the hallway, manuvering Sakura (still asleep, and wrapped in blankets) carefully around the door jamb.
A small plushie lay flopped in the crook of her arms: Kero, playing 'toy'. His beady eyes narrowed when they fell on Yue, fake 'I'm a plushie!' smile weakening. Yue knew Kero well enough to interpret the expression properly: 'you messed up', with hints of 'we are SO going to talk later' and 'I'm never going to let you live this down'.
Yue ignored it, turning his attention to the problem of lifting Touya without moving his sash from the wound. Finally, he slipped the trailing end off his shoulder, let it pool in Touya's lap, and used Touya's limp hand to hold the cloth in place. Then he managed to get both arms under the teenager, lifted, and was instantly glad Clow had planned for Yue to need magically-enhanced strength.
Throughout all this, Fujitaka had watched with unconcealed, mild worry on his face. As Yue stood, though, he turned and made his way down the stairs. Yue quickly sent the small globe of light ahead and followed.
A cool breeze tugged at the curtains of the living room, the sliding glass doors cracked and the bay window broken. The glass here, fortunately, lay behind the sofas, so Yue only had to brush plaster dust away before laying Touya down. Behind him, he heard Fujitaka settle Sakura onto the smaller couch.
"I'm going to get the radio," Fujitaka murmured. Yue looked over his shoulder, watching the man brush Sakura's hair back from her face before straightening. Then Fujitaka glanced at him. "Can you...?" he trailed off, pointing up at the light.
Yue made another. "Follow," he told it softly, tapping it towards Touya's father. It darted off to hover over the man's head.
Fujitaka's eyes widened under the increased light, but he only paused, eyeing Yue and Touya. "And the first aid kit," he added, before leaving the room.
The instant the man's faint shadow vanished, Kero darted up and into Yue's face. "What was that!" he hissed, barely keeping his voice to a whisper. "What... he saw you! Sakura's dad saw you!"
How very astute of him. Yue waited, face as irritatingly blank as he could make it.
"How could you let yourself be seen! You were supposed to turn back into Yukito!"
Who would have absolutely no idea why he was in Touya's bedroom, where Touya was, or why the glass was broken. Yukito was for after the crisis was over.
"You... you... say something, dammit!"
Yue twitched the faintest hint of a smirk, something that had always been guaranteed to make Keroberos throw a fit (hadn't it? He was pretty sure he remembered that...), but a soft footfall sent Kero flitting back to flop on Sakura's stomach and play toy. Yue's face smoothed and his gaze fell as Fujitaka re-entered the room. He eased back a bit, giving the man room to work on Touya. So it came as a complete shock when Fujitaka's hand closed about his ankle.
The man ignored Yue's wide-eyed stare, gently picking glass from the sole of Yue's foot before wrapping a length of sterile gauze around it. He set the foot down, and reached for the other, warm fingers pressing Yue to twist his foot for better access.
Yue found his voice. "Why are you doing this?"
Fujitaka barely paused. "I wonder."
There really was nothing to say to that, so Yue didn't. After another moment, Fujitaka taped off the gauze on Yue's other foot. He handed Yue the radio in an unmistakeable gesture, and the Moon Guardian shifted to the far end of the couch. As Fujitaka worked on Touya's cut, Yue searched for a working radio station. For the time being, static filled the silence between them.
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TBC
A/N's -
- delay because I had to figure out how to write confusion and chaos of the earthquake-at-2-am variety when I live thousands of miles from earthquake country. Plus I had severe writer's block, plus other stories...
- this is after the end of the YYH series. Yuusuke's in Tomoeda playing detective because, hey, would YOU refuse to let the guy go looking for his missing friends? I didn't think so.