Only Time: The Sacred Power
Chapter Twenty-Five
By J. Marie
Only Time: The Sacred Power
Chapter Twenty-Five
By J. Marie
Warning!!! This is a lemon yaoi fanfiction starring Nakago and Tasuki from Fushigi Yugi. It is rated NC-17 (for the moment, but the rating is subject to change). Wheee!! More background!! Yippee!!
The realization of who his real parents were made Nakago retch onto the hard ground beneath him. His whole body trembled and his mind reeled.
He had parents. Real parents who loved him. His parents were...
But the past soon swept him up again, and Nakago wasn't allowed to think anymore.
Joseph Kinder sunk onto his bed, staring blankly at the four walls that surrounded him.
He had left his girlfriend, and his son at the hospital. Nicholas and Junko had gone home. All four youths were now left to wrestle with the darkness that threatened to consume them.
Now that he was alone, Joseph could hear the darkness whispering to him. Whispering such horrid, sad things. Telling him of what would happen, what could happen.
His parents were going to let him marry Danielle, but was that right? He was only sixteen, and she was only fifteen. And now they had a son. How could he deal with this? How could he deal with a wife and son already? He didn't even have a job, or a house of his own. Nicholas lived mostly by himself, because his father was always away on business and his mother had left them long ago. But Joseph had two sets of parents to deal with, a wife, and a son now.
He loved her. Oh, how he loved his Danielle. But they were so young. They would never make it. They would make horrible parents. What can love do, in the face of the trials of life?
He could hear the whisperings, the urgings, the stirrings in his soul and in his mind. Darkness consumed him, and Joseph Kinder lost his hope. His hope for love, his hope for life, his hope for the future. He lost everything, sitting on his bed, listening to the sinister whispers of the dark creature within him.
His hand reached out, and pulled the shotgun from his father's cabinet into his lap. He cradled it in his arms, tears streaking down his face. His newborn son's face flashed before his eyes, as did the haunted expression of his lover's. Danielle was just like him now. They couldn't raise a son, they couldn’t do anything now. They were tainted, evil.
In an effort to abolish the evil from himself, little did Joseph realize he was letting it in. He put the barrel of the shotgun into his mouth, listening to the dark urges of the creature within him, believing he was doing the right thing.
He lost his hope, and he succumbed. Joseph closed his green eyes for the last time, and pulled the trigger.
The first victim had been claimed.
Nakago knelt over his own vomit, wide-eyed. Not a single tear escaped his eyes, not even for his father. Nakago didn't know how to cry.
A flash of bright white light emanated from Joseph Kinder, and a dark yellow spirit was cast from his body and dissipated out of existence.
Joseph Kinder's dead body fell to the ground. Despite the hole in the back of his head, and the seventeen year's worth of decay on his corpse, he looked happy. A smile was etched into his rotted face.
He had regained his hope, and conquered his demon. His soul had been freed.
Danielle Manor hummed softly to herself as she placed her newborn son in his cradle, assuring herself he was asleep. His face seemed so peaceful to her, and reminded her of her dead lover, the child's father.
It had been a week since Joseph killed himself. She understood why he did it, even as she listened to the dark whispers in her own mind, the urgings, the evil promises. The darkness was eager to claim her.
"I love you, Nakago," Danielle whispered kissing her infant boy on his soft, baby cheek and turning to the bathroom.
Junko had promised to take care of Nakago, and Danielle trusted Junko implicitly. She turned the water to her tub on, as cold as it would go. She put the stopper in, and let the bathtub fill as she slowly undressed, humming to herself and thinking of her dead lover.
They would be together soon.
Danielle knew she was tainted now, corrupted. She could feel it, like another face beneath her skin, scratching to get out. It was going to drive her mad. She couldn't do this anymore. She couldn't trust herself to raise a child.
She had lost her faith, her faith in herself, her faith in life, her faith in everything. Nothing would ever turn out right, and if Danielle didn't do this, she risked her son's soul, and she would not allow that. She thought she was doing the right thing. She thought she could destroy the evil in this manner.
Danielle sunk into the filled tub, letting the water pour over face as she lay down on the tub, letting the water pull her in. She closed her blue eyes, her tears mixing with the cold bath water. It was for the best.
She lost her faith, and succumbed to evil within her. She took a deep gulp of water into her lungs.
Nakago felt empty. Shouldn't he be feeling sad, anguished over his parents? He knew who they were now, but they were both long-dead. He stared blankly at his father's dead body and then dragged his eyes up to his mother.
A bright light burst out of Danielle Manor, and a dark blue spirit was forced from her being, and faded out of existence. She trembled and dropped from the sky, to land on the ground beside her lover.
She was as badly decayed, bearing the bloated appearance of someone who drowned. But like Joseph, Danielle looked happy, and a smile graced her decayed face.
She had regained her faith, and conquered her demon. Her soul was free.
Nicholas O'Brien was unable to find peace.
He had run away, far away. He thought, perhaps, if he left his old life, and the people he loved behind him, he wouldn't hear the dark whisperings, the quiet urgings of the darkness within.
He'd run away, far away. From his father, who he didn't give a damn about and from his...
Junko.
The redhead was sitting quietly in the alleyway he had stopped in, playing with the razor he had bought with the last of his money. He entertained dark thoughts while reflecting on his girlfriend.
Junko.
He loved her. Didn't he? And she loved him. Didn't she? Was it all just a lie?
It had to be.
It was just a silly infatuation. It would pass. She would forget him, and move on with her life. She didn't love him. And he couldn't possibly love her.
Nicholas O'Brien had lost his love. And the eager demon within him urged him forward, urged him onwards. Urged him to cut.
It was better this way. He was tainted, corrupted. He was cold and heartless. He didn't deserve Junko Ishida's love. He didn't deserve any of it. It was just a ridiculous crush. And he couldn't take the pain anymore.
He couldn't take the whisperings, the urgings. The sinister desires that lay just beneath the surface of his mind, scratching at his soul.
Nicholas cut into his flesh, downwards from the palm of his hand deep into the crook of his elbow. He meant to die, and grimaced only slightly when he slashed into his veins, closing his green eyes.
He lost his love, and succumbed to the evil lying within him. He leaned back against the stone wall, and let his life's blood pour out.
Nakago raised his head, and stared bleakly up at the sky. His parents were dead, as surely as Junko's ex-boyfriend was. It was all death and decay, and he couldn't stand it anymore. He wanted to scream in rage, and pound his fist into granite.
A bright light burst from Nicholas O'Brien, and a dark red spirit passed from his being and disintegrated out of existence. His body quaked, and he fell to the ground, leaving Junko to spin in the air alone.
Nakago blinked as he watched the man groan and struggle to sit up. Fresh blood poured from his wrists, and Nicholas was pale from blood loss. He had aged, no longer appearing as a youth, but as a man in his thirties. His clothes were stained with blood.
"The passage of the past has stopped!! Mitsukake!! Quickly!! Nicholas needs your healing touch!!" Taiitsukun croaked.
Mitsukake rushed beside the redheaded man, and bent down beside him. He brought out the pot of medicine he had been given in his past life, and poured the ingredients onto Nicholas' slit wrist. The redhead moaned, and his body shook.
"Alive...how can he be alive...the others...?" Mitsukake asked softly, turning his squared profile to the wizened old woman who was approaching the seishi and the four former Demon Elementals.
"JUUUUUUUUUUUUNKOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!" Tasuki screamed, standing beneath his sister, beating his fists into the air at her.
Nicholas O'Brien stood up, shoving Mitsukake away from him. His wrist was healed, but a nasty scar lined it. He stood up, staring at the still spinning Junko, who glowed green in mid-air.
"Junko! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to leave! Forgive me!! I do love you!!" Nicholas cried, his face filled with guilt and grief.
"The Demon Elemental of Fire was too eager to claim Nicholas O'Brien. Before he even died, the spirit took over his body, unlike the other two, who waited until their hosts were dead. That is why he is alive, while Joseph Kinder and Danielle Manor are dead. For seventeen years, Nicholas O'Brien has been trapped in darkness, waiting for Junko to join them and make their circle complete," Taiitsukun explained to Mitsukake calmly, ignoring the spectacle Tasuki and Nicholas were making.
“I shall return the dead to the graves they had been stolen from,” Taiitsukun said gravely, and the dead bodies of Joseph and Danielle disappeared, back to wherever their graves were.
Nakago stood up, his head hung low. Tears burned at the back of his eyes, but he refused, he refused, to let them fall. No, he would not cry. Not for himself, not even for his dead parents. Nothing could make him cry.
"And what of Junko Ishida, Genbu no Miko?" Hikitsu asked softly, suddenly appearing before Taiitsukun, his face blank and impassive. Behind him stood Tomite, whose eyes were wide. Nakago suddenly recalled that those two's devotion had led their spirits to guard the Priestess of Genbu's Shinzaho for two hundred years.
Taiitsukun turned her face to Nicholas, ignoring the Genbu seishi. "Nicholas O'Brien! Tetsuya Kajiwara!! You no longer belong here, in this world!! You must go back, or endanger the crumbling balance even farther!!" she cried.
Nicholas turned, his eyes filled with tears, as Junko continued to spin in mid-air, her body wracked with violent convulsions. Tetsuya stood forward, casting a look of trepidation back at his wife and sons.
Taiitsukun pointed, and a portal appeared in mid-air, revealing a startled looking Keisuke beside an equally shocked Taka, whose body contained the soul of Tamahome, Miaka and Taka's son. "You must leave. All will be taken care of. Read the Shi Jin Tenchi Sho and you shall know what happens. But if you remain, this world is doomed," Taiitsukun said gravely.
"But Junko..." Nicholas choked, the tears spilling down his face. Tasuki stared at him in shock.
"There is nothing more you can do for her, Nicholas. I am sorry."
Nicholas turned to cast one last look at the woman he loved, but instead, he found himself staring into the golden eyes of a young man who looked almost exactly like him.
"Who...is he...?" Nicholas whispered, as Tetsuya hugged his family in farewell.
"If you search your heart, you will know the answer. Go now," Taiitsukun said, almost gently.
Nicholas bowed his head, and stepped through the portal, entering Keisuke's bedroom. Tetsuya kissed his wife good-bye one last time, and then stepped through the portal as well, waving to his sons. It closed behind him with no sound.
"What about my sister???" Tasuki screamed at Taiitsukun.
Taiitsukun almost seemed to smirk. "Sister...?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.
"You can't let her stay like that. She's still possessed by the Demon Elemental of Earth," Nakago growled.
Taiitsukun bowed her head. "Takiko Okuda remains soul-splintered from Junko Ishida. There is a rift in her spirit, and she cannot conquer her demon, until she conquers herself. She has so much farther to go, but she cannot go alone. Those she cares for most must enter her mind, and seek to help mend her spirit. Four, to represent the four corners of heaven," Taiitsukun said.
"First must go Tasuki, for it is he she loves above all else. Second must go Nakago, for he is the child of her dearest friends. Third must go Hikitsu, whom she loved in another life. Fourth must go Tomite, who loved her in another life," Taiitsukun explained.
Nakago blinked, and swallowed. How could he, of all people, be any good at helping anyone?
"If you wish to help her, join hands beneath her, and concentrate on her spirit," Taiitsukun instructed.
But this was not time for arguments, Nakago knew that. He walked to the circle, and joined hands with the others. He had reservations, but no hesitations. He saw the same in the others’ eyes. He clutched Tasuki's hand tightly as it entered his, grateful for the touch.
"You will be swept up in the past. The veil of time shall thin. Only by knowing the truth, can you help set Takiko Okuda and Junko Ishida free to be of one soul, and of one spirit.
"Good luck," Taiitsukun whispered.
Nakago closed his eyes, listening to the old woman chant, feeling Tasuki's sweaty palms in his, a strange contrast to Hikitsu’s dry hands. He thought of Junko, and realized he actually did want to help her.
She was like the big sister...maybe even the mother, he never had. She watched out for him, cared about him. Just like she did with Tasuki. She was funny, and spirited, a woman as ready to fight as she was to make love. She was as passionate as the earth itself, strong in ways Nakago didn't fully comprehend.
She had lost that strength, and now Nakago, Tasuki, Hikitsu, and Tomite were going to help her find it.
Taiitsukun's chanting faded away, and Nakago was swept up into darkness. He felt Tasuki pull away, and slowly, the darkness cleared, to reveal a scene from the past.
They could make out a bed, and hear sobbing coming from it. A bloody, shaking form lay on the bed, and beside it was a man on his knees, his face covered in tears. In his hand, he held a gun.
The four young men slowly approached the bed, unseen and unheard, for they were not truly there. Nakago stared at the bloody form, and realized it was a young woman, who had once been as elegant as she was beautiful.
But now, her back was hunched, and glistened as a bloody shell split apart her flesh. Her creamy skin was now mottled with dark green scales, the sort a reptile possessed. Her eyes reflected green, and blood poured from her mouth as she sobbed in what could only be unimaginable pain.
Nakago winced, sadly reminded of how he forced Yui into a similar situation, allowing her as a young woman to be devoured from the inside by Seiryu. It was slow, painful, and horrible.
"Faaa....thhh...eeerrrrr...." the young woman croaked, reaching a disfigured hand to rest on her father's shoulder.
The older man sobbed uncontrollably. "Takiko...I can't do this...oh, for the love of God, I cannot do this...." he sobbed, as he stroked her black hair. A bloody patch of it came off in his hand.
"Killll....mm...mmeeee...." the girl cried out, as her body was wracked again with pain.
The man swallowed, and he closed his eyes for a moment, before opening them back up. He placed the gun to his daughter's head, crying silently now.
"I love you, my precious daughter. I love you," he whispered, and then pulled the trigger.
Nakago didn't even need to watch to know the man put then put the gun to his own head and fired.
Everything went black again. Nakago realized that Tomite was crying and Hikitsu hung his head in grief. They had known her, after all. She was their Priestess.
A soft green light appeared, and a girl sat before them, naked and beautiful. Her long black hair covered her, and her eyes were a deep, warm brown. A smile graced her full lips. Even sitting, she exuded grace, and elegance. Nothing about her reminded Nakago of Junko. But then, they were still separated spirits.
"Takiko!!" Tomite gasped.
"It has been a while, Hikitsu and Tomite. And who are the two lovely young men you have brought with you?" the girl asked.
"Nakago of the Seiryu Seven, and Tasuki of the Suzaku Seven. They are connected to Junko, your reincarnation," Hikitsu said blandly.
"I see. So you have to help us join. But the question, little seishi, is where shall we begin? For Junko is in turmoil even greater than my own. Are you willing to step into the darkness and help her confront her demons?" Takiko Okuda asked.
"Yes," Tasuki said, stepping forward.
"But you have forgotten something," Takiko said not unkindly.
“What..?” Tomite asked, seeming eager now.
"That you must help me confront my own," she said in a throaty voice, before she disappeared into the darkness.
And took Hikitsu and Tomite with her.
To be continued...