http://bright-shield.livejournal.com/ ([identity profile] bright-shield.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] tampered2007-04-07 01:08 am

Log: Ongoing

When; April 6th; Late Night
Rating; PG-13, Mild swearing
Characters; Jowy [livejournal.com profile] for_destiny, Kamui [livejournal.com profile] fateisabitch, Riou [livejournal.com profile] bright_shield,
Summary; In a night full of ghosts and shadows, a few living people have their own fated meetings...
Log;

It had already been a very long day. Riou had lost track of the ghosts somewhere in the hundreds. They came from both sides of the wars, those he knew and didn't know, with messages full of love and hope or hate and vengeance; talking to him, shouting at him, shouting at each other, even a fair few trying to kill him or each other. He was lucky they were incorporeal. He was not so lucky that the one who stayed the longest was Luca Blight.

That bastard.

And finally all the others had disappeared when Genkaku had arrived. His father. It didn't matter that they weren't related by blood. The previous bearer of the Bright Shield Rune. Who wasn't too pleased with how Riou had been acting.

He has been your best friend for your entire life!

"...but it seems I didn't really know him very well after all..."

Do you really believe that? Can you really give up on him?

"...it's better than the alternative! He wants to duel for the Rune of Beginning..."

Does he really? Is that what you think?

"You know what that means! That duel can only end with one of us dead. At least you and Han Cunningham sealed your runes away!"

But you and Jowy... are stronger than that...

And then Genkaku had suddenly stiffened, his translucent body rippling in an unseen wind. He then warned-- directed-- practically demanded that Riou must go north into the dark forest immediately surrounding the city. Now. At this very moment! Before Riou could get in more than a confused "What?" the older man had disappeared and no other ghosts had risen to take his place.

And so Riou found himself tromping through the wilds of a forest he had been warned about -- full of shadows cats and creeping things, especially to be avoided at night-- on perhaps a wild goose chase at the behest of his long dead father, who might or might not have been a figment of his imagination. I am really not liking these curses, Riou thought ruefully to himself as he tripped over a particularly gnarly tree root and nearly landed in a prickly bush. At least he hadn't met anything out here yet.

The moon's silvery illumination cast a brighter glow than the false torch carried by Riou as he abruptly came across a small clearing in the woods. And slumped upon the ground in the midst of that clearing lay a very familiar figure, golden hair glinting softly within the light. Riou stared in shock, blinked, and stared a bit more.

Jowy?

It couldn't be. What possible purpose would the other boy have for being out here at that time of night? Unless ghosts were playing tricks on him too. Riou carefully walked up to the still figure and knelt beside him, reaching out a tentative hand. Warm and solid, definitely not a vision then. Although perhaps not as warm as he should have been. Riou then caught sight of a trickle of blood leaching from a bandaged left arm.

Damn. He was hurt. Riou stood up, looked around, and hesitated. He didn't dare heal Jowy himself... he couldn't very well use Bright Shield on the bearer of Black Sword, could he? If he somehow set off the other rune... Argh, why had he thrown his tablet at Luca Blight earlier that day? He couldn't even call for help, as it was.

With a sigh, Riou settled down next to Jowy and carefully checked over his wounds-- nothing too serious it seemed-- if one would classify being passed out in the middle of a dangerous man-eating forest as 'not serious'. "What are you doing here?" he asked the other's prone body, as if half expecting a reply. "What am I doing out here? And why do we keep meeting like this?"

This was helping nothing. Riou gently brushed the hair back from his once-bestfriend's face, gathered the other within his arms, and awkwardly settled him unto Riou's back. Definitely no more tripping into thorn bushes tonight. This really is not a very good way to be avoiding each other's presence Riou thought and with a soft, rueful laugh set back off for the forest's edge.

[identity profile] fateisabitch.livejournal.com 2007-04-07 06:28 am (UTC)(link)
Hiding. Yes, that seemed the logical course of action at the moment, seeing as most now knew exactly how strange he was as a child. It was… embarrassing; enough so that he had politely excused himself from the residence of those twins who seemed to care so much about him the moment he changed back to normal. Hopefully they wouldn’t worry about him too much.

Though, considering he was currently huddling in an alleyway like a street cat, perhaps any worries they had would be well-founded. He didn’t exactly take good care of himself when in this sort of ‘I want to stay away from everyone’ mood. At least he was only planning to hide for maybe the night? He could so sleep in the alley for just one night.

Or, at least, that had been the original plan; it washing from his mind the moment his eyes found two familiar people in the distance. One he didn’t know so well, but vaguely recognized from his time as a child; the other… was one he knew quite well, who he cared for immensely, and who… seemed to not be okay at the moment. “J-Jowy?” Before he knew it, he was up and running to catch up to them, slowing just when he was within an arm’s reach. “W-what’s wrong with him? What happened?” he asked, beside Riou now, but focusing entirely on Jowy, the questions pouring out of him in his worry.

After a moment, his expressive eyes finally settled on Riou, a small embarrassed blush creeping to his face no matter how hard he tried to will it away, “Is… is he going to be… um… okay?”