In unspoken accord, Tatsumi and Watari split up as soon as they entered the hospital.  Watari headed back down the hall to check on the young man the succubus had already made an attempt on, while Tatsumi headed straight for Kelly Esoka’s room.

 

The Kagetsukai held out a brief hope that he would find the woman curled up in bed, peacefully asleep.  Then the situation might be handled quickly, peacefully and Kelly Esoka would be spared any further trauma.

 

But this was not to be the case.  Tatsumi turned the corner and entered an empty room.  The Fenalla was hunting yet again.

 

“Damn it.”  The Secretary cursed tightly, starting to stride out of the room when the brush of spiritual sensation danced across his mind.

 

Pausing, Tatsumi cocked his head to the side as if listening to something.   Motionless, he was able to focus on the faint trace of Kelly Esoka’s life force, amplified by the room.  Grasping the faint thread, Tatsumi called the shadows to him, giving them the trace touch the way a hunter would give scent to a pack of hounds.  Released the shadows spilled away from Tatsumi, slipping out into the hallway and flowed across the floor of the hospital, up the corridor and towards a stairwell.

 

Tatsumi strode purposefully behind his inky guides, concentration centered so wholly on the behavior of the shadows in front of him, it didn’t dawn on the Kagetsukai to call his partner to back him up.

 

The shadows led Tatsumi up a flight of stairs to the next level of the hospital.  Gliding down the hall, they moved with a sense of urgency, causing Tatsumi to pick up his own pace until he was running.  Speeding along, he almost missed the sharp turn the shadows made as they slipped under a closed door into a private room.  Skidding to a halt Tatsumi grabbed the handle of the door and pushed it open.

 

Tatsumi felt his heart sink as he realized he was too late, the succubus was over halfway finished with the transfer of energy, and for a split second, Tatsumi considered letting her finish.  Letting Kelly Esoka have another two weeks with her son before stopping the next killing but even as the thought crossed his mind, his arm was coming up sending the shadows spilling forth towards the feeding Fenalla.

 

Focused on her meal, the Fenalla didn’t see the danger until it was too late.  The shadows wrapped around her and pushed her away from the middle-aged man on the bed, yet, there had been enough energy transferred that this time around the succubus was able to throw off the Shinigami’s restraints.  Snarling at Tatsumi, she darted away from the bed and slipped effortlessly out a door that connected the room to its neighbor.

 

Momentarily caught by surprise, Tatsumi found himself a step behind her.  Wheeling about, he dashed through the door, turning in time to see her disappear down the first flight of stairs.  Chiding himself for his lack of foresight Tatsumi raced down the empty hall chasing after the fleeing Fenalla, intent upon catching her before the succubus could escape the hospital.

 

Jumping off the last couple of steps, he caught sight of the woman slipping through an exit, which appeared to lead back out to the hospital’s garden.

 

Back out to the garden, it’s like a damn yo-yo, the Guardian thought as he put on a burst of speed, caught the door before it had a chance to close and dashed out into the middle of the now raging rainstorm.

 

The rain was coming down in sheets, nearly washing out the pale bolts of lightening as they raced across the sky.  Thunder boomed overhead, a deep rolling rumble that Tatsumi could feel echoing through his bones.  The garden was not overly large and it was rimmed by a twenty-foot high stonewall with no visible exits.

 

Standing in the center of the courtyard Tatsumi spun in a slow circle.  When he didn’t immediately see the succubus he called out a challenge, pitching his voice to carry above the rain and thunder.

 

“I know you’re here!  I can feel you!  Face me!” 

 

When only the cacophony of the storm responded, he feared the Fenalla had found an unseen escape route, after all the hospital was her primary hunting ground but a movement in the shadows quickly drew his attention.   Off to his left the frail, soaking wet form of Kelly Esoka stepped clear of a grove of nadeshiko trees.  Her long black hair was plastered across her face and neck, her nightdress practically transparent as it clung to her emaciated form.

 

“Didn’t we already have this conversation you silly, silly man?  Do you honestly believe you are ready to face me?  Do you believe you’re ready to dispatch me from this mortal woman and condemn her to the Netherworld?  You overestimate your newly discovered convictions, Guardian!”

 

Tatsumi spun on the balls of his feet, his hands clenched into fists and this time he studied the supernatural effect the succubus had on the sweet young mortal she inhabited.  Kelly’s eyes were no longer the warm, welcoming blue that had drawn him to her in the first place.  They glowed with an immortal brilliance, which only made them too large for the mortal woman’s slender face.  It helped remind him that what stood before him was a parody of Kelly Esoka, not who the woman herself would want to be.

 

“Leave her.  She did not understand your bargain.”  Tatsumi snarled, pacing with measured steps towards the thin figure.

 

“She asked for her life.  She asked to be allowed to watch her child grow.  That is what I give her.”  The inhuman creature trilled, standing her ground fearlessly in the face of the Guardian’s substantial ire.

 

“At the expense of making her a murderer!  And what’s worse is you know that this is not something your host would want.”

 

“It is not a bad bargain!”  For the first time the succubus showed distress, yelling to be heard over the falling rain.  “Those lives we take are worthless, especially when weighed against the innocence of that infant!”

 

Tatsumi’s jaw clenched as he fought to silence his own heart’s renewed agreement with the Fenalla’s statement.  It would be so easy to turn away and let the bargain stand, let Kelly Esoka live, let Jonathan Esoka grow up in the loving arms of his mother.  Somewhere deep in Tatsumi’s head a little voice began to whisper once more.

 

Would it be so bad?  Those lives were being misused.

 

Tatsumi stopped his advance and shook his head.  Indecision struck him as the combined voices of the Fenalla and his own darkness tried to seduce him into turning around and leaving the Fenalla alone.

 

~~“But that doesn’t give the Fenalla the right to just harvest them, Tatsumi!  Who knows what those people might have ultimately done with their lives?  They each had the right to live their lives!”~~

 

Watari’s voice, complete with its peculiar accent, washed through Tatsumi’s mind overriding even the dark voice of his own heart.

 

~~“Seiichirou, listen to yourself!  When we start believing that we have the right to judge one life over another than the even hand of Death is compromised.  Our very function is compromised because no longer do we protect the mortal world, but we bastardize it into our image of what we believe it should be and how is that the right answer?  Who says we’re infallible?  Seii, we never stop being human!”~~

 

Tatsumi turned his face up towards the rain, feeling the cold drops as they fell against his suddenly feverish skin. 

 

Sensing that her hold on the Guardian was slipping the Fenalla quickly changed her attack, desperate to work any advantage should could.  She was strengthened from the feeding and if she could just get a good hold of his mind, she could catch him unaware, roll his already tortured thoughts and incapacitate him long enough to escape.  Stepping towards Tatsumi, she spoke in Kelly’s sweet tones, pushing her psychic energy towards the distracted Shinigami. 

 

“Tatsumi-san.  Tatsumi-san, help me.” 

 

“Seiichirou, Seiichirou, be a good child and help Mother.”

 

Tatsumi shuddered as the two voices, living and long dead mingled.  Disoriented, he couldn’t tell where the one voice started and the other ended.

 

“No, no you’re not her.” 

 

“Tatsumi-san…”

 

“Seiichirou…”

 

“No!  NOOO!”

 

Tatsumi reached up and pressed the heels of his palms tight against his temples, trying to push the unseen voices out of his head.  The psychic pressure was suddenly intense, driving him to his knees on the muddy ground.   He felt as if a hand were closing around his heart, causing it to flutter like a trapped bird.  Tatsumi could feel his muscles trembling, knew he was under a direct assault but his mind couldn’t escape the haunting voice of his mother, begging him to help her.

 

Begging him to support her.  Accusing him when he failed her.

 

“Seiichirou, why, WHY won’t you help me?  Why can’t you be a good boy and stop stealing my happiness?”

 

“No, no, no… not real, not real.”  He repeated desperately to himself even as the scent of nadeshiko flowers washed over him.  The faint scent he always associated with his mother.  As he knelt on the ground, he felt the feather light touch of her dainty hand.

 

“Seiichirou…”

 

“NNOOOOO!” 

 

Lunging to the side, Tatsumi sought to escape the phantom caress, with its nightmare memories, and replace both with the unforgiving, wet reality of the earth beneath him.  For years, both living and dead, Tatsumi had used harsh, self-inflicted punishment to cope with his pain.  In life, it had been a way to pay back a debt no child should shoulder for his parent, in death it had been a way to cope with the isolation of his new existence.  Tatsumi knew only how to seek strength through adversity and he fell back into the old pattern of behavior.

 

However, instead of impacting with the hard, cold ground his shoulders landed against something warm, which yielded like a willow branch, softening the impact.  Instead of a mouthful of mud, his face pressed against soft, brushed wool.  The subtle scent of cedarwood and sage drove away the ghostly fragrance of the nadeshiko flower and a slender, yet distinctly masculine hand cradled the side of his face.

 

‘Taka. Sapped of his own strength in that moment by the physical, mental and emotional agony of the night, Tatsumi leaned into Watari’s welcoming, unconditional support. My partner. Closing his eyes, the elder Guardian buried his face against the younger man’s waist accepting the shelter offered.

 

The Fenalla, standing only a few feet away from the fallen Shinigami, looked up from her victim in shock as the younger Guardian appeared out of the rain soaked shadows.  The wind and rain plastered Watari’s long hair down across his pale face, highlighting the sharp planes and angles of his set features.  His eyes were cast down towards his partner, whom he cradled protectively within the damp folds of his long, dark coat.

 

A crack of lightening illuminated the younger Guardian’s face, soft with concern, affection and a special sort of warmth as he gazed down at Tatsumi, running long fingers soothingly through flattened dark hair.   In between the crash of thunder and the next flash of violent lightening, those same gold eyes lifted away from his partner and fixed on the Fenalla.

 

And all bets were off.

 

Amber eyes so tender seconds before, hardened; the warmth washed away beneath an ice-cold, calculating thoughtfulness.  The handsome features were arranged in an unforgiving expression and though he made no move, which would take him from his partner’s side the Fenalla retreated a step.  The motion was not lost on the younger Shinigami. 

 

“Enough.”  His low voice carried across the rolling thunder.

 

Tatsumi felt the flutter of a fuda against his cheek, felt Watari shift in order to bring his hand up to deliver the spell.  Forcefully pulling himself together, Tatsumi pushed away from the reassuring support, freeing his partner’s range of motion. 

 

As Tatsumi struggled to his feet, Watari stepped in front of the older man and brought his arm around, eyes never leaving the Fenalla.

 

“You are making a mistake, Guardian.  This woman will perish without me.  Have you no mercy fo…”

 

“Be silent!”  Watari’s voice cracked across the static charged air. “The judgment of Life is not yours to make.  Remove yourself from the soul of Kelly Julliet Esoka and return to the land you are bound to!”

 

This time the binding spell, amplified by the fuda, overcame the Fenalla’s attempt to block it.  Pale blue and silver light, not unlike the color of the lightening bolts crashing around them, arched away from Watari’s extended arm, snaking out in multiple ribbons to wrap around the Fenalla.

 

The force of the magic lifted the succubus skywards, struggling in the spell’s hold.  Unable to watch the fragile body twist painfully, Tatsumi stepped up behind Watari, extending his own arm along his partner’s.  The shadows pushed away from their bodies, leaping up to cradle Kelly Esoka, holding her in a gentle, phantom embrace while the younger Guardian extracted the succubus from her soul.

 

As he watched, Tatsumi realized that it was unlikely that Kelly Esoka felt anything of what was happening to her.  Though the succubus had been able to enhance her own power with the act of drawing away another’s life energy incomplete, she had been unable to infuse Kelly’s failing body with the artificial support it so desperately needed. 

 

 We’re killing her.  Forgive me, Kelly.  Tatsumi sent the thought out along the shadows but he made no move to interfere with his partner’s actions.

 

With one last cry, the spirit of the Fenalla separated from the body and soul of Kelly Esoka.  Arm still extended, Watari stepped to the side, drawing the struggling bundle of energy away from the body it had so recently inhabited.

 

Moving forward, Tatsumi lowered Kelly Esoka’s limp frame.  He caught the woman’s painfully thin body, drawing her against his chest and sinking down to his knees.  It was a fruitless gesture but he couldn’t keep from curling his shoulders over her, trying to protect her from the rain.

 

Without a corporal form, the Fenalla was badly weakened.  Watari used a simple summoning spell to banish the succubus back to Meifu.  His expression was fixed but not unkind as he spoke the component words of the spell.  As the last syllable passed his lips, the energy cloud winked out of existence, leaving the garden dark.

 

While doing battle with the succubus, the last of the violence of the storm had passed and the only noise left in the garden was the sound of the rain as it fell.  Tatsumi felt Watari step up behind him, a silent presence at his back, providing wordless support.

 

“We need to take her inside, get her cleaned up and back to her room.”  Tatsumi was surprised at how steady his voice sounded to his own ears.  Securing his hold on Kelly, he stood up without looking over his shoulder.

 

“They’ll figure she slipped into a coma in the night.”  Watari gently supplied. “They have probably been expecting it for weeks now.”

 

“Mm.”  Without another word, Tatsumi turned and began to walk back towards the hospital, Watari a welcome strength at his shoulder.

 

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