*headdesk*

[pez]

Yeah it's me again. Spammy day.

I admit defeat. Don't think I'll be able to come up with a title today. Here's the first chapter, ~5k words. Read and tell me if you want to see the rest? It's subject to minor changes (such as age - different time dimensions between Felines and Humans = fun to play with but so hard to handle). Concrits will be received with much loff.

And for those who once saw a bit of the original stuff I was writing - I adapted this story from there. I'm not writing that anymore, too much work. So the first half of this chapter is going to be very familiar.

Yagyuu is in this chapter. Tez will come in, eventually. I think I know what to do now...


The rain finally fell. The air had already been pregnant with moisture for several days, but when the rain came, soon after nightfall, it was not a downpour but a drizzle so light it could be breathed into the lungs. With the aid of the darkness, Yagyuu Hiroshi leapt, unnoticed, from one roof of a building to another, not stopping to look down, a mistake he had made the day before. He had been warned of tall buildings before he set out on this journey, but he had never seen anything like this in his life, structures that climbed up and up into the sky. Ten, twenty, some even had thirty floors, he counted. The city of Hyoutei had buildings that were one hundred floors high, he had once heard, but Yagyuu had never been there. In any case, he had expected Rikkai to be nothing but slums, a city razed to the ground during the war twenty years past and in a sense it was, but the soulless shell of the city still remained, and when the wind picked up, it howled through the empty remains of what was once a great city and the sound of it made Yagyuu shiver. He thought he could hear the anguish of the thousands that were killed in the war.

Yagyuu paused to extract the note in his pocket, and shone a small torch on it in order to read the words, brown eyes squinting behind his glasses. His destination should be somewhere around here, fifteen miles northeast from the Gate. He adjusted the hood of his pullover. His ears were uncomfortable, but it helped keep them dry - no sane Feline enjoyed being wet. With a deep breath and telling himself again to not look down, he began his slow descent.

Very little had changed in Rikkai in the past two decades. Piles of rubble and military machines could still be seen - relics of the battles that had once taken place, exactly as it was shown in the photographs of history textbooks Yagyuu had studied in school. Some of the debris had been cleared away to the sides to reveal a path. With soundless footsteps Yagyuu followed this path towards where in the distance he could see thin trails of smoke rising into the air. So close. The weariness on his face from weeks of travelling was gradually replaced by relief and excitement that flickered in his eyes. Keeping to the shadows, Yagyuu walked with hurried steps and as he drew closer to the scattering of simple houses, around thirty of them in all, he wished he could look more presentable than wearing a tracksuit, with its hood pulled over his head. But this was not the time to worry about appearance. Ignoring the fatigue from travelling without rest and very little food, he kept moving until he arrived at the first house he could see. He did not know the exact location; twenty years were a long time and he could only hope that that family had not moved. The only option open to him was to knock on every door.

After a moment, someone answered. For the small crack that was opened, the door creaked very loudly at its hinges. A pair of narrowed eyes and bushy eyebrows peaked out from the crack.

"Good evening. Sorry to have disturbed you, I am - " Yagyuu winced internally when the door shut in his face before he could finish.

Undeterred, he continued on, looking very much like a door-to-door salesman except nobody would try to sell anything to anyone in Rikkai, for there was no point selling anything to those who had no money. Shivering in the cold, his breath misted before him when he spoke to each opened door. But no one was willing to help, every person he met eyeing him with suspicion and some telling him to get lost. One told him that Mister Niou and his wife, who Yagyuu was looking for, were dead. Yagyuu tried to ask for more details, perhaps this stranger just said this because he did not like being disturbed at night. But the door slammed shut and would not open again.

Dead. But they could not be dead. They must not be.

He walked to the next house and raised his hand to knock again. A man, possibly in his sixties, answered. And said that the Nious had passed away two years ago.

Yagyuu's lips quivered, but whatever words he wanted to say only came out as a whimper. Then the world became pitch black.





The wooden bed creaked when Yagyuu woke and sat up suddenly, as if he was on springs. The thin blanket which was covering him fell onto the floor. Realising he had no idea where he was, he took a moment to study the surroundings and pull himself together.

He was inside a house, possibly one of the ones he had been standing outside earlier, judging by the garden shed-looking walls and roof, although he had no idea how long ago that had been. The draught whistled in through the gaps between cracked pieces of wood and a window, and when Yagyuu looked out there was nothing he could see, as night had fallen completely.

Someone was coming. The ears on top of Yagyuu's head twitched towards the door, which opened seconds later. A young man, possibly in his late teens or early twenties, wearing a pair of jeans and a scowl on his face, leaned against the door frame and crossed lean arms before his bared chest.

Yagyuu's ears pulled backwards by a fraction. "Where am I?" he asked.

"You should know. You knocked on my door," the young man replied with a sneer, dropping his arms and stepping into the room, his movements cautious. "Who are you? What's a Feline doing in Rikkai?"

Yagyuu stood. The room was only dimly lit but he did not need much light to see. This person was the average Rikkai citizen without a doubt, possibly half Human and half Feline - the white hair, cropped roughly into something that could not be called a hair style, said as much. His shoulders and arms were darkly tanned, a huge contrast against the pale chest. The man was several inches shorter than Yagyuu, but not too short for Human standards.

Yagyuu thought about how he should answer the questions. The young man looked unfriendly but not hostile, and Yagyuu was so close to his goal he had taken the dangerous step of asking for Niou already. He could not leave without a proper answer. "I am looking for the Nious. Do you know them? They should be living in this area."

"Why are you looking for them?"

"I heard that they had died. Is that true?"

The young man's eyes narrowed. "Who are you and why are you looking for the them?"

This was getting nowhere. Yagyuu tried to come up with an answer that may satisfy the man, but there was nothing he could say. He reached back to pull the hood of his tracksuit over his head again. "I must get going. Thank you for your help."

"You aren't going anywhere until you've answered my questions." The young man stepped back and blocked the door. At the same time, a Human man appeared behind him. Yagyuu recognised him as the one whose house he had stood outside.

"Masaharu! Don't be rude!"

Masaharu whipped around. "He could be - "

"I'm sure he's not." The man and Masaharu glared at each other, but then his expression softened as if an understanding had been reached. He looked past Niou's shoulder to Yagyuu. "Are you from the military?"

"N... No." Yagyuu was surprised by the question.

"I knew it." The man turned. "Come, both of you, I've made rabbit stew."

Masaharu was obviously not satisfied. "Banji!"

"I said come and have dinner."

Yagyuu thought about leaving and getting on with his task, but tiredness and the need for food finally won him over. And somehow, Masaharu's reactions seemed to suggest he knew about the people Yagyuu was looking for, so Yagyuu reasoned with himself that he should stay a little longer.

Retrieving the bowl of stew he had left outside to cool, Banji gave it to Yagyuu and explained that he had passed out on his doorstep about two hours ago. Yagyuu sat at a tiny stone table, which was likely made from pieces of rubble he had seen earlier in the day. Across from him was Banji, and to his right Masaharu, who kept a watchful eye on him as they ate. Yagyuu was grateful for the food, and even more grateful that the man had the mind to cool it down for his Feline tongue. His hunger made him throw caution into the air and he made quick work of the stew.

"Could you tell us what brought you to Rikkai..." Banji said, looking at Yagyuu expectantly.

Yagyuu tore his gaze away and stared at the table. "I am sorry," he could not give his name. Whatever was going to happen, Rikkai was likely to be the last place to be hit by it, but one could not be too careful. "I just need to speak to Mister Niou and his family urgently. But I heard that they had died... Is that true?"

Masaharu kicked his chair back and lit a cigarette. Banji frowned at him before turning towards Yagyuu again.

"Why do you need to see them?"

The hard line of Yagyuu's lips told Banji he was not going to get the answer. Masaharu took a deep drag of his cigarette and puffed the smoke in Yagyuu's direction.

"Talk, or I'm having kitty stew for dinner tomorrow."

"Masaharu!" Banji raised his voice when both men pushed back their chairs, making the legs scrape against the worn floor, and stood. "Sit down!"

Masaharu did not move. Yagyuu clenched his fists, digging finger nails into his palms. He had said he would do anything to accomplish this task given to him, but he would not stand to be insulted for no reason at all. There must be someone else in the settlement who knew about the people he was looking for.

"I must get going. Thank you for your hospitality. I am forever indebted to you," said Yagyuu, who ignored Masaharu's glare and started for the door. Masaharu made a move to stop Yagyuu, but Banji got there first. Stepping in front of the Feline, he looked up at Yagyuu.

"Are you here to... take something from Niou?"

Yagyuu's eyes widened. "Yes. It is something that was entrusted to him twenty years ago." He glanced between Banji, who suddenly looked a little pained, and Masaharu, who did not seem to know what they were talking about. "How did you know this?"

Banji sighed and made Yagyuu sit down again. Niou was his cousin, he explained. Both Niou and his wife had died for some time already, but before his death Niou had told his elder sister that someone, likely from another race, would be coming to collect something. He would not disclose what the item was, saying that the person would know where to look. Banji must let this person take what he had to take, as a matter of utmost importance.

Yagyuu took a moment to digest this information. Could this mean Niou and his wife never told anyone about it, not even to... "Sir, I believe your cousin had a child?"

The man nodded, and looked towards Masaharu. Yagyuu followed his gaze. Masaharu was leaning against a wall, getting the lasts of his cigarette. "That'd be me," he squashed the butt on the wall, leaving a dark scorch mark on the wood, "but my old man didn't leave me anything, and I don't know what you guys are talking about."

"You are Niou's son?" Yagyuu said in disbelief. Over the years, and all through this long journey, he had tried to imagine what this child would look like, a child born at the end of the war and living amongst the poorest of mankind. In his mind, he had always pictured this child, now nineteen years of age, to be a good-looking young man who would be polite, kind and dignified. After all, only such a person deserved to be the Host. But Masaharu was as far away from that as it was possible.

"Niou Masaharu. The one and only." Masaharu pushed himself up from the wall. There was a deadly light in his eyes. "My old man left nothing behind. He didn't even have anything to leave behind, dammit. What you see in this house is everything we have now; your comrades come and crush everything every time we try to make something out of our lives."

"Masaharu!"

"You shouldn't have let him in." Niou Masaharu hissed through his teeth at his uncle, then turned towards Yagyuu again. "Get lost, kitty."

Yagyuu understood only a little of what was said. He knew there was more to it than "restoring order" whenever the army was dispatched to Rikkai - it was a common secret - but to what extent, he could only guess. But this was not the time to question these things. "Do you have any proof that you are who you say you are?"

The words barely left Yagyuu's lips before a chair flew towards him and he had to duck out of the way. The chair crashed against a wall, making the entire house shake. Within the blink of an eye Niou Masaharu was in front of Yagyuu, a hand reaching for the front of Yagyuu's tracksuit, but Yagyuu was faster and again moved out of the way. Niou growled, but Banji put his plump body between the young men before they could touch each other.

"I'm afraid I will have to ask you to leave."

Minutes later, Yagyuu found himself outside the house. There was just something about Banji's voice, stern and leaving no room for argument, that made him obey his request to leave. But what was he going to do now? He definitely could not return empty-handed. There was just too much at stake and even if this Masaharu person was not who he claimed he was, he definitely knew the people Yagyuu was looking for. Perhaps he could apologise? Perhaps he could talk Banji into letting him in again, ask him if he would be kind enough to let him stay the night...

"You are still here?"

Turning around, Yagyuu stared into the darkness and saw Banji coming towards him, apparently having left the house via a back door. "I am sorry about what I said, it was very rude of me to ask questions like that, I - I am sorry."

"You are a good child who's been given a difficult task. How old are you?" As Banji walked closer, he had to look up at Yagyuu. He smiled when Yagyuu bit his lip. "I know a thing or two about you cat people. You're a lot younger than you look on the outside. But I must know why a child like you has journeyed so far from your homeland to come to this place and then ask us for our identities. You do understand that this makes no sense to us, don't you?"

Of course he understood. But could Yagyuu trust these strangers enough to tell them his purpose? Could he gamble on this Niou Masaharu? He was the very opposite of the person Yagyuu had in mind, but Yagyuu could have been expecting too much. Anyone who had grown up in Rikkai, knowing nothing but the aftermath of war, would be hostile towards people from other cities. And now that Yagyuu thought about it, Niou Masaharu was not even hostile to begin with. If he was Niou's son, then he was simply being careful about a stranger from a foreign land who was asking for his dead father.

He could talk to these people. Masaharu had to be the person he wanted. Yagyuu was not sure where his faith came from; it was perhaps because he could not accept the alternative that the family was already dead.





"This is insane."

Yagyuu agreed, but he was not going to say it out loud.

Niou Masaharu would not stop cussing. The night before, he was a standard Rikkai citizen, the next morning he was travelling with someone who had ears poking out the top of his head to some place he had only ever heard of. He was leaving his uncle behind. Sure, their people looked after themselves and Banji would be fine, but this had to be the stupidest thing he had ever done, and he did not even half-believe the Feline's tale of him being the Host of another soul, the soul of someone who had the power to -

"Save the goddamn world." Niou had very little reading skills and never had much of a chance to read books apart from the ones dumped by other cities, since Rikkai was the communal waste tip, but he could still tell that this was the typical children's story. "You want me to save the goddamn world."

"No," Yagyuu knew how it sounded, and he must clarify. "We are interested in the other soul inside you, which was extracted from the womb of the dying queen during the war twenty years ago and entrusted to your parents. This soul is the one with the power and my task is to deliver it to the palace."

Niou had heard it all before, last night. Good guys, bad guys, the war twenty years ago. Bad guys murdering the Queen who was bearing the child of light. Good guys saving the unborn child by extracting its soul and putting it into another pregnant woman's womb. Twenty years later, peace was being threatened once again and so they want this soul back. It was the same myth that Niou had heard about ever since he was a child. Did anyone really expect him to believe in any of it?

"So why don't you take it from me now? Why do I have to go with you?"

"There are very few who can perform such an extraction. Lord Oji was the one who extracted the soul from the Queen back then, but his health is deteriorating and he shouldn't travel. Having him come to Rikkai would draw far too much attention, anyway."

Walking down the path Yagyuu had used last night, the two of them were subjected to curious glances. Everyone in the area knew each other and Yagyuu was a new face. His ears hidden under the hood of his tracksuit, he bowed his head and tried to draw as little attention as possible. Apparently the Felines was not a popular race here, or that was what Banji said, and it did not take a genius to guess it had something to do with what Niou said about his "comrades" destroying everything they had.

It was difficult to keep a conversation going. Niou was busy staring down anyone who wanted to challenge Yagyuu's identity and Yagyuu was not much of a conversationalist in the first place. Frankly, Yagyuu did not care much about bonding with the Human, since they were not going to spend much time together anyway. He had his questions, such as why Niou agreed to go with him if the Human did not believe a word the he had said, but the answer was pretty obvious: who would pass up on a chance to leave this place, no matter how slim a chance it was? As for other things, such as what exactly the Felines had done to warrant such intense hatred, Yagyuu had heard rumours before. He decided it was he would rather not find out. He had important matterrs to take care of.

They stopped where the path ended abruptly. Yagyuu looked around him, seeing properly this once-great city in the daylight for the first time. Niou waited, thumbs hooked at the back pockets of his jeans, with a surprising amount of patience. Quite exactly why anyone would want to gaze at this hell hole he did not know, but he was not in any hurry. He was not going to lose his cool over a little kitty, be Yagyuu an errand boy or a knight from some palace.

Or, Niou thought, the kitty could just be a nutjob. Whilst that sounded the most believable (more believable than the tale about souls and saving the world, anyway), it did not explain how a lone Feline managed to show up in Rikkai looking for Niou's father, nor how Banji seemed to understand what they talked about last night.

In any case, Niou knew if he did not deal with this... thing properly, Banji would be more than just upset. That man had a soft spot for children, definitely, and apparently the kitty was not even a teenager yet, despite the Feline being taller than Niou. Now, if he could find a way prove that this was all insane, then he could, as they said on the radio, return to the original programming.

Yagyuu had finished looking around. He stared at the hill of debris in front of them; there seemed to be no path beyond this. The night before he had travelled on rooftops and did not have this problem, but he could not expect a Human to be able to do that, even though Niou could have Feline blood in him. "Is there another path?" He asked.

Niou answered the question with one of his own. "Where are you taking me anyway?"

"To the palace. I told you last night."

"Yeah. And how exactly do we go there?"

"Via the Gate." Yagyuu said matter-of-factly. "It's the only way to travel between all the Dimensions."

Niou rolled his eyes. "and be shot dead?" The kitty was just so naive. Seeing Yagyuu's confusion, he snorted humourlessly. "We get shot on sight if we're anywhere near the Gate. Five-miles radius no-go zone."

The horror on Yagyuu's face was almost comical, and the most evident expression he had shown in front of Niou so far. Niou studied the Feline for a while, an eyebrow arched, before turning away in mild disgust. It seemed like some people really did know nothing. But what could he say? Ignorance is bliss. Why would anyone want to care about what was happening in Rikkai anyway?

"I - I was not aware of that. But His Majesty is expecting me to return with you and has lifted all travelling bans for me. That must apply to you, too."

Niou crossed his arms in front of him. "I'm not going."

"It is safe - "

"If you came here from the Gate, you should've seen the amount of troops there are. If this mission of yours is oh-so-secret, would all of them know they should let me through? Can you guarantee that?"

Ears flattening under his hood, Yagyuu walked around so that he faced Niou again. "If you can show me the way to the Gate first, then surely I can arrange something."

"No." Niou hated the way the Feline was taller than him and he had to look up. "I'm not risking."

"Niou - "

"Kitty. No."

"My name is Yagyuu," the Feline had to try hard to not growl. "I know it is a lot that I am asking of you, but this is a very small problem. We can get around it easily. I had already said last night this is very important and you must help me. Please."

A very small problem. If anyone had ever had to bury a body so riddled with bullets the face was unrecognisable, they would never say something like that. "Look, you know I don't believe in a word you've said about the whole thing."

"Then why did you agree to come with me in the first place?"

Niou was about to say something, but he cut himself off. "It looked fun." He finally said after a moment's pause. "But now it doesn't."

Yagyuu was flabbergasted. How could Niou choose whether to do this or not based on his mood? Did he even understand how much was at stake? "You must to come with me. It is the right thing to do."

Niou would have laughed if he had not seen the light in Yagyuu's brown eyes. The right thing to do. Only those who did not understand what "survival" meant would say such words. So damn naive. But what could he say? This kitty had obviously come from a sheltered world. He could entertain him a little while longer, but to what purpose? The best way out of this was to let Yagyuu see for himself. Then he could go home and tell Banji he did what he could, eat some leftover stew from last night and call it a day.

When Niou made a sudden turn to their right, Yagyuu followed closely. Had he convinced him? The look on Niou's face had not changed, it seemed, but Yagyuu had not had much experience in reading the faces of Humans; there were very few of them in the palace and the same for his hometown, too. Usually only merchants who dealt with Humans often could integrate well with them.

They walked into an alleyway which was only wide enough for one person to pass, then followed a road that was parallel to the main one they had used earlier, but this one was definitely less-travelled. The road surface was uneven, littered with debris and what looked like shrapnel from many, many bombs, though Yagyuu did not stop to look because it seemed like Niou was not going to wait for him.

Although Yagyuu's internal clock told him it must be around midday, the sun could hardly penetrate the thick clouds that covered the sky, making it difficult to judge what time of the day it was. The air was starting to feel moist again, just like the night before. He did not even need to look upwards to tell that it was very likely going to rain. The thought made him frown. Niou glanced at Yagyuu briefly and said nothing.

Within minutes, rain began to fall. Biting his lips, Yagyuu tugged on his hood and walked on. Fighting his natural aversion to water was far from an easy thing to do and this rain was not light like yesterday's. Large droplets of water fell on him, making him flinch with every step. For half an hour they walked in the rain, carefully going around or climbing over debris, before they stopped at the sound of someone calling Niou's name.

The man who ran towards them and stopping in front of Niou looked to be of a similar age, perhaps older by a couple of years. His black hair was drenched, as were his clothes, but water could not dampen the fire in his eyes. He did not even spare Yagyuu a brief glance. "Have you seen him?"

There was half a second of silence. "No."

"He's been acting strangely since last night; I was keeping an eye on him but he snuck out the moment I turned!"

"Was that when it started raining?"

Pure horror filled the man's eyes. "He can't..."

"The Gate!"

The two suddenly broke into a run. Yagyuu had no choice but to follow. With his speed, keeping up was not the problem, but trying to disappear further into his clothes at the same time, was. He knew Niou's scent by now, so it would not be difficult to find him as long as he was not too far away, but rain always complicated matters. It seemed like they were heading towards the Gate, but the closer they got, the more Yagyuu wanted to stop. His keen senses warned him of danger, in the form of water, ahead. He could even feel energy vibrations through the soles of his shoes. The fur of his tail, tucked down one leg of his trousers, stood on end out of instinct, causing even more discomfort, but he was determined not to lose Niou.

The concrete jungle suddenly opened up to what could only be called a rock desert. Far away, in the centre, a giant structure stood. Yagyuu recognised this place from the night before; this was the Gate.

"We can't get any closer." Niou turned around to face the other two, his thumb pointing at a sign nearby. "Kitty."

Yagyuu did not bother correcting the way Niou called him; this did not seem to be the time to fuss over something like that. Stepping closer to the metal sign mounted on a post, he read the message written in white over a red background: "No unauthorised access beyond this point. Trespassers will be shot."

Lips pressed together into a thin line, the Feilne recalled Niou saying earlier that about not being allowed to get near the Gate. So the Human was not lying. Was such a policy necessary? No one was allowed to travel between the Dimensions without proper certification. Those who failed to obey would be arrested and tried in court, the same way anyone would be treated if he broke any other law. Why would they deem it necessary to shoot those who got close to the structure? Was this even legal? Rikkai was no longer a war-zone, it had not been one for twenty years already-

The vibrations in the ground stopped abruptly. A second later, the rain also ceased.

Colour drained from the man with black hair. He looked around frantically, but there was only the barren land before them, and the grey concrete towers behind. "That wasn't an earthquake. It was him!"

It did not take a genius to understand they were looking for the source of the energy. The earlier they sorted this out, the sooner Yagyuu could take his Host away, and so he spoke. "The origin of the vibrations is in that direction," he said, turning towards their right, "ten minutes south."

Mistrust was written all over the black-haired man's face. 'How do you know?' was a question unasked but evident in his eyes. Niou looked from one to the other, water dripping from the tips of his wild hair, and made the decision. "Let's go."

Back through the concrete jungle they ran. Yagyuu removed his glasses and tried to dry them on his tracksuit, but his clothes were equally wet and it was a lost clause, so he put them back on and continued to lead the way, until they encountered what had once been a public park. Littered with chunks of rock and war debris, wild weeds struggled to grow through the gaps on the ground, reaching towards air and sunlight, but that was the only speck of green that could be seen. The dead trees and hedges, broken street lamps and benches, just like the rest of Rikkai, reminded Yagyuu of a horror film he had once been dragged along to watch. Only this was real and the breezes, ice-cold after the rain, chilled him a lot more than the film did.

They ran through the park, searching for a sign of life, although Yagyuu did not even know if they were looking for an enemy or a friend. He tried to smell for it and picked up a clear scent of water that was unlike the rain but more like a river, fresh, its energy freely flowing. But gradually it ebbed away into a steady stream, finally dispersing into a million flow lines, like blood capillaries, too small to trace.

"This way," said Yagyuu, tracking upstream to the energy source that was fading away. The other two followed closely, until they came across a man laying in a puddle on the ground. Blue-black hair, like gentle waves of water, partially obscured his pale face. His slender body was motionless, but he opened his eyes when he heard the footsteps. The black-haired man rushed towards the collapsed man and knelt down. A name fell from his lips, his voice worried, angry, emotional:

"Yukimura!"

Yukimura's smokey, lavender-grey eyes brightened and a smile spread across his lips.

"Genichirou."


[to be continued]

Go on then, reviews/crits? Or just a simple yay/nay? If it doesn't interest you, it's okay to say so, honest! If it's bad I can just spend time to work on something else :P

oh and, if Banji is Niou's dad's cousin, does Niou call Banji uncle? *clueless*

Comments

[yuki-scorpio.livejournal.com]

=D

The City <-- all chapters there ♥

I dunno.... XD but it does, doesn't it XD

[mushrooms.livejournal.com]

Yey! Holiday reading~

It does. It fits so well that I'm starting to seriously wonder why.