log; finished

[scienceinacan.livejournal.com]

When; 28 October, Noon
Rating; PG-13
Characters; Watari Yutaka [scienceinacan] & Kurosaki Nagare [snakeintheveins]
Summary; Routine check ups gone reaaaally bad :(
Log;

Nagare sighed, adjusting the bandages over his shoulder. At least he was not cursed today: not by the City, at least. The monster dwelling in his blood had not manifested since Tatsumi scared it away. Sometimes, he caught himself hoping it had been injured by those shadows his host wielded with such skill.

His physical condition, at least, appeared the same. With an effort, he stood, pacing out into the living room with one hand on the wall. Better to wait for Watari there on the couch. Lying in bed when he was not so weak as to have to... his pride revolted at that.

A small sense of discomfort invaded Watari Yutaka's senses briefly as he entered Kurosaki Nagare's apartment; technically, it was Tatsumi's too, but he reasoned to himself that as the stiff-necked secretary wasn't present at the moment, he could do with that simple label. Today, he was here for that long-delayed check-up. Last time they'd set a date for an appointment, the Kurosaki Head had found himself transformed into a feathery eagle. At that state, it was no doubt the man has not fit at all for any sort of check-up. Thankfully, today, Nagare was free from any curse's effects. And he'd checked too, very early in the morning at that, so he was definitely, absolutely, sure Nagare hadn't turned into anything inhuman so as to make his check-up virtually impossible.

"Kurosaki-san ~ ♥"Yutaka chirped as he peeked into the living room. In doing so, he conveniently ignored everything else in the apartment that would imply the shadow-master also lived here. Forget the man! Hah! This was his check-up, and he had no reason to acknowledge the fact that he was walking into the shadow-master's territory right now.

Maybe I can make a discreet stain on the carpet and pretend it was an accident just to get back at him? The idea was very tempting, but he'd decide on whether to follow on that later. Right now, he had a check-up to focus on.

"There you are!" he said cheerfully when he "spotted" his patient sitting on a couch, clapping his hands together as he moved closer. He cheerfully, and quite proudly too, held up a small black bag he'd taken with him from his laboratory. It was supposed to be a doctor's bag, and he'd brought it with him to create the illusion that he was realprivate doctor but, really, all it had in it was a notebook, a pen, 003snoozing in one of its inner side pockets, a thermometer and a stethoscope. "It's time for your check-up, Kurosaki-san!"

Nagare's eyebrows climbed at the sight of the black bag. Was the blond scientist a doctor after all? He'd lost track of just how much of their story was truth, how much falsehood.

"Welcome, sensei," he said, reserved, and pulled himself to his feet again. It was odd to look at Watari and think of him as the man who had transformed half the City into the wrong sex; he wouldn't even consider what he had heard about Watari and his host. That was most certainly private.

He could not, however, keep himself from wondering if that was why boththis and the previous appointment had been scheduled well within Tatsumi's work hours.

Turning his attention back to Watari, he said, "Would you rather perform the examination here or in my room?"

Yutaka gave Nagare a brief questioning look before finding an empty spot to look at while in thought. A few moments later, he turned to Nagare again, smiling confidently. "It might be easier on your body if we do it in your room? It's too open out here anyway--" Yutaka shrugged in mid-sentence. "And you never know when someone might walk in! Or something... like that cactus that lives next door!"

Or Tatsumi.

Who knew after all? The shadow-master might have forgotten something as mundaneas a pen or a wipe-cloth for those glasses of his, to keep them glint-ready for poor and unsuspecting Tsuzukis and underlings... Yutaka didn't want to risk having to run into Tatsumi again unless he reallyhad to, and especially not with someone around to take note of the awkwardness between them.

Besides, how dangerous could a check-up get? As if Nagare could even muster enough strength to tug at a strand of his hair and pluck it out. No, the man was perfectly harmless, too harmless and fragile in fact. It was hard to imagine Hisoka had begun as a result of this man.

"If you prefer, sensei," Nagare said, making his way towards the inner door. He preferred the bedroom, himself, for the greater privacy; but those splashes of blood had never quite come up. He wondered if Watari would notice the faint stains.

If the other man did, he would tell the truth. After all, wasn't Watari here as a doctor?

He left the door open behind him, taking a cross-legged seat on the floorin lieu of the futon he had folded and put away hours ago. Pale eyes turned to Watari, waiting for the other man's instructions. He was mildly curious about what, exactly, the blond Shinigami might consider a 'checkup.'

Nagare was in no state to be expending so much of his energy on mundane tasks as walking on his own to his room. He was better off being supported as he did, to lessen the stress on his weakened body, if not carted off completely until there was a suitable place for him to rest on. However, despite knowing this, Yutaka only followed him in silence. He understood the man's pride, and he respected it. If for some reason Nagare's body proved to be unable to continue the task, wasn't he there after all to help him up?

In the end, Nagare was able to complete the short trek without a hitch, although it did take twice as long as Yutaka thought it would. He said nothing about that either.

When Nagare was finally seated comfortably on the floor, Yutaka cheerfully set his bag on it as well before sitting down himself. "How about we strip you first? Do you need help? Or should I do it myself, Kurosaki-san~?"

He knew there was a high possibility Nagare was going to misunderstand him, but at least he knew he had no intentions like that towards Nagare! Let them misunderstand, he was going to prove them wrong!

Nagare stared at him for a long, long moment. Then, with a put-upon sigh, he slipped his arms from the sleeves of his kimono. It fell around his waist, revealing a chest still broad despite its wasted muscles, and swathes of clean bandages hiding thescale-marks over his skin.

"Should I remove the bandages aswell?" he asked, a hint of challenge in his words. What exactly was the purpose of the Shinigami's request? He held his tongue, not yet askingfor explanations; but if the answer was yes, then indeed he did want to hear them.

"No, don't worry ~ I can remove them for you! ♥"Yutaka said happily. He crawled closer and then began making sense of where those bandages began and ended for him to unravel them easily.

"You're probably wondering why I'm doing this," Yutaka was saying as he slowly peeled those bandages off the Kurosaki Head's body. "Well, firstly, it's so I can get my stethoscope to work perfectly well! And then...there is the fact that usually there's an indication, a mark... like a contract of sorts..."

His eyes narrowed at the snake-like skin before him; Tatsumi had spoken about this before, but he'd dismissed it as a possible result of a medical condition. It did look peculiar now that he had a chance to see them up-close like this, but the rational part of his brain argued that it was still within the human boundaries of afflictions. Plus, it's not like it had anything like spiritual residue about it.

Of course, there was that time with Tsuzuki. Yutaka had strip-searched Tsuzuki during that time too, but while that had yielded to nothing as well, hadn't it come out that Tsuzuki had been possessed after all? Then again, Sargatanus was a high level demon... If they were dealing with a very important supernatural being here, he doubted they would have sent him and Tatsumi to deal with it...

But they could have had their reasons as well, couldn't they have?

Yutakablinked. "Oh," he mouthed and then smiled brightly as he pushed his glasses upwards. "I spaced out, didn't I? As I was saying, if what you say is true and you really have a curse about you then there should be a mark of sorts somewhere in your body. Unless you're harboring a very high-level demon or someone with a clever means of hiding things like that... but hey, if they knew they were dealing with someone powerful like that, I doubt they'd have sent me and Tatsumi to investigate you. Tsuzuki doesn't look like it, but he'd be the type they'd send to your case if it was really like that, regardless of Area and all those regulations ~"

"The only mark I have noticed," Nagare almost said through his teeth before realizing just how rude that would be and unclenching them, "is the scaled skin." Which Watari had a perfectly good view of. And he couldn't reach the end of the bandage to help; patiently, therefore, he waited with hands resting on his thighs.

The bandages stuck in places where the skin between the scale-markings had cracked and seeped; he kept his face impassive. "The being claims to be a god. 'Yatonogami.'"

His breath caught for a moment as he felt the sudden chill of the snake god's attention rouse within him. It wouldn't dare manifest here, in front of a Shinigami, witnessed...would it?

A jolt of pain ran through his shoulders and chest as the scales roused themselves to prominence, blood welling between them.

The sight of blood seeping through his patient's skin immediately alarmed Yutaka. He had to admit, the sight of that brought some panic to him; it clearly meant he had done something wrong!

"Ack...did I pull at your bandages too hard? Wait wait... let me go and grab some anti-septic for them now..." He reached for his bag pulled it closer. 003 blinked up at him from her pocket inside it. "003, do you mind looking for some alcohol?" He didn't elaborate where 003 would have to look, but the owl understood anyway. She flapped upwards and hooted at him in agreement, perfectly happy to follow her master's orders, before surveying the room briefly and finally flapping away and out of the room.

Yutaka turned to Nagare again. "I should be able to fix you up in no time, don't worry! ♥"

With an effort, Nagare managed not to call the blond Shinigami an idiot. He gritted his teeth as the snake god's power moved coldly under his skin. Was this merely an annoyance, or was it going to -

The shadows near the wall stirred. His gaze snapped to that point, tracing the curve, the glisten of scales, as Yatonogami pulled itself up to its full height.

Through teeth still clenched against the pain, he hissed, "There, sensei."

Amusement curled thick in its voice as it spoke.

Did you think you could escape me? My fragile little Kurosaki. This man will do you no good.

Nagare forced himself to his feet, staggering, and stared back at the cursed spirit. He knew too well just how fragile his resolve was likely to be and just how quickly the god could drive him to his knees.

"Sensei," he whispered, "it might be best if you left."

Yutaka had heard Nagare; that was an absolute certainty considering he had perfect hearing. However, instead of heeding the man's earnest request, the blond scientist merely stood up and pushed his glasses upwards. He eyed the snake god with something akin to disinterest and then frowned slight.

"Oh, so it was true... Tatsumi wasn't being delusional."

Despite the bewildered act Yutaka put on, inside, the blond guardian of death was already calculating how he would possibly deal with a powerful-looking entity. As he nonchalantly pocketed his hands into the pockets of his white lab coat, he began fidgeting nervously with the small notebook and pen to be found in each of the pockets. If talkingfailed, he'd have to resort to actually fighting and, frankly, Yutaka could sadly number the times he'd actually had to resort to thatin his stint as a Summons Division guardian of death. This had to be part of the glaring disadvantages of being a guardian of death of the Sixth Division; the various onmyouji and spiritualists from his division had certainly made him lax...

Or so, that was a possibility.

Yutaka didn't move at all but he did watch Nagare closely. If all else failed, he could try running away with Nagare? Would that even work if he was possessed by the thing?

It's been too long. You've grown brave,the snake hissed, coils bunching and shifting. A tentacle snapped out, curling around Nagare and slamming him to the ground. He couldn't stop himself from crying out, spitting blood from a split lip. Its grip tightened, and he felt bones grinding together.

"Watari-sensei," he managed past the crushing pressure, "care-"

The snake hissed, inhuman as a teakettle. Are you worried about your friend? Do you think you can save him from me...? How foolish.

Another of its tentacles uncurled, flashing towards Watari. Nagare could only watch.

The snake was fast, but Yutaka was too and he whipped out that notepad tucked in one of his pockets, and that ballpen from the other. Without even giving the incoming tentacle a cursory glance, he drew a straight line right across a blank page on the notepad and then held it in front of him; all in a mere second in ahalf.

A wall - a line literally - appeared instantly before the blond guardian of death. It wasn't thick, and it was the color of ridiculously bright blue (the color of Yutaka's pen), but it was enough to block the tentacle's attack, and to give Yutaka the time to teleport to Kurosake Nagare's side. He doodled quickly the first thing that came to mind: a stick sword, something to use to release Nagare from the snake god's grasp. He then quickly summoned the drawing to life and hoped he was fast enough to make an escape for both him and the other man.

Nagare stared in shock at the wall that sprang up across the room, blocking the tentacle's attack - and then Watari was beside him somehow. He tried to move, but hardly managed to turn his head; his strength was ebbing.

And... Watari was holding a weapon. He felt as though he were missing things, as if life was proceeding in stop-motion.

The snake-god, hissing in anger again at the Shinigami's escape, snatched at him with three of its tentacles this time. Die!

He could not afford to even glance at those incoming tentacles; Yutaka knew this as he doodled several stick men onthe notepad and brought them to life. It had been a quickly-thought-out creation and the stick men came to life and became literally stick men. Still, they did their purpose and provided some sentient resistance against the incoming tentacles.

Yutaka worked on cutting at the tentacles that held fast around Nagare then, confident of his creations' ability to buy him precious time.

"There must have been a mistake..." Yutaka was mumbling as he worked against the tentacles.

Just then, his ears picked up a familiar sound, or series of sounds; the light flapping of wings, small hoots--

003Yutaka's mind identified the sounds all too quickly and just as he'd finished releasing the younger man, he instinctively turned to the direction the sounds were coming from. From the entrance!

"003, get away! Get Tsuzuki somehow!" he yelled frantically and hoped his partner heard him in time.

Nagare struggled up, blood running down from the cracks between scales to soak into his kimono. "Watari-sensei-" he began, then swallowed the comment, surveying the room. Little wiry creatures - were those stick figures? - were clawing at Yatonogami's tentacles. The snake-god's gaze turned to him, its angercold and tearing under his skin. It struck viciously against the little figures, reaching past them to attack

The little owl Watari kept fluttered into the room, and Watari turned, yelling out to her -

And Yatonogami struck out with those free tentacles, smacking the little owl hard against a wall.

"003!" Yutaka yelled and could only watch in horror as the tiny owl motionlessly slid down to the floor from the wall she had hit. He turned to the snake god angrily, normally warm amber eyes flaring into an angry gold as normally round pupils became long slits across the irises. "You're going to pay for that," he said with a smile, "ugly excuse for an overgrown snake."

The tentacles had certainly breached through the stickmen's line of defense, but Yutaka wasn't too concerned about that. He grabbed Nagare by the hand and then teleported to the far end of the room, behind the snake god. It was a difficult thing to do to ignore 003's motionless body for the moment, but he knew he couldn't waste the precious seconds for her right now. He'd just have to have faith she was going to bealright. "Stay put, Kurosaki-san," Yutaka ordered. He'd have teleported somewhere else if he didn't think the snake god would just follow.

Usingthe notepad again, he angrily drew a simple inverted L on the paper and tilted it. It looked simple enough, but inside the blond scientist's mind, it was already recalling the proper mechanics behind an automatic rifle. He'd read that once before, and he was confident he could summon one by his powers. Tatsumi will just have to bawl later about the holeshe'd make into his guest room.

He pulled out an automatic rifle from the piece of paper and then aimed at the snake god wordlessly.

The teleportation caught him entirely by surprise. Nagare stumbled and had to catch himself with a hand on the wall; when Watari ordered him to stay still, though, he froze. The man's abilities were formidable. This time he could see clearly what Watari was doing: drawing on his notepad, and pulling a real object from the simple sketched lines.

Thisreal object was a gun. Nagare held his breath, eyes tracking to the snake's massive form as it spun to face them. Against Tatsumi, a simple attack had sent it fleeing; would that be the case this time, too, or had it only been surprised...?

Ignoring the emaciated things still fighting against it, the snake whipped its tentacles away and struck out at the two men.

The blond scientist fired at will, wondering if the bullets would be enough to tear through supernatural flesh, or ifhe needed a stronger thought to fight against the snake god. If it were even a god, really.

How was one supposed to defeat this? He stole a quick glance at Nagare; ifit was tied to Nagare somehow, then... he'd probably have to fight it through the man's own body, by way of wards and spells, by his own drawings perhaps... but that would take time, and with the creature out like this ready to strike, Yutaka doubted he'd have the chance...!

The bullets struck and tore through Yatonogami's tentacles, into its massive body, spilling blood onto the floor and spattering it over the walls. Still, the god did not retreat. The wounds puckered, blood stopping almost as quickly as it had spilled, and it reached out to snatch at the weapon in Watari's hand.

Nagare, more than half supported by the wall, thought dizzily that he was gaining an entirely new appreciation for his ancestor's deed. With a sword, this being must have been almost impossible to kill.

"Damn!" Yutaka swore as the weapon was snatched from his hands, and the notepad he'd held along with it was tossed aside. He ducked to grab the notepad but found that he'd lost his pen.His eyes met with Nagare's briefly, and then he turned to the snake god. It occurred to him suddenly; would the snake god even dare hurt its host? Did he need to cast a protective barrier around Nagare? How about casting a protective barrier between Nagare and himself as he attempted to seal the snake god via the man's own body?

"Kurosaki-san, how exactly... well, this thing must have a reason it's with you, right?"

So, he'd missed more than just a few words, but he hoped that at least the man had an idea what he was asking about. As he waited for an answer, he dodged whatever attacks came his way, all the while searching for his lost pen... or any pen at all.

Nagare kept his eyes on the snake god, tense with - he wasn't sure what. He didn't have the strength to stop it; he hardly had the strength to dodge if it attacked him instead of Watari.

"It's the spirit of a god killed by my ancestor," he said, quickly, in a low voice. He wasn't sure what the Shinigami was asking - unless... "It takes its vengeance by tormenting the head of our family."

And if Tatsumi's storytelling had not included details of how,Nagare was certainly not about to provide them. He glanced to Watari's face, trying to gauge whether his answer had been enough informationfor the other man.

The tentacle arrowing in from the side and pinning him against the wall took him entirely by surprise. Any hint of color drained from his face as Yatonogami stroked a mockingly casual touch over his bare, blood-streaked chest.

Clearly, the snake god had no qualms about attacking its host. Yutaka swore again as he teleported back towards Nagare and yanked away the tentacle before teleporting with the manfarther away. He didn't have the same energy reserves Tsuzuki had for supporting an active barrier and battling effectively but practice did make perfect, right? Quickly recalling the hand gestures for a simple barrier - standard guardian of death knowledge - he put upa barrier for Nagare's protection. He knew he wasn't going to last long like this, and it was either he call for help now or defeat the snake god... and he still couldn't find a pen!

As a last resort, Yutaka brought his right index finger to his mouth and then bit hard... hard enough for it to bleed profusely, and long enough for him to actually draw more stick figures on his notepad. For 003'ssake, he needed to fight back at least.

Trapped inside the barrier - he could see it, a thing like a soap bubble glowing around him, magic somehow more realand terrifying than the creatures Watari's art was bringing to life -Nagare gave up on recovering from this lack of balance and sagged to his knees. He was useless. The knowledge was a file on his raw nerves.

As Yatonogami roared wordlessly, tentacles arcing towards Watari and his new army of wire-bodied assistants, Nagare coughed. The metallic tang of blood filled his mouth, and he spat to clear it, coughing again. How much power did it take to heal bullet wounds? Where did a dead spirit get the strength to become tangible? He forced his head up to watch the fight. If this was what it had as he weakened, as the bonds that tied it to his family failed with his flesh...

For the first time, he wondered what this monster would become when he died at last.

The sound of Kurosaki Nagare coughing was irritatingly distracting for Yutaka. Try as he might to ignore the wet sounds, even with logic clear in his mind that any distractions would spell his failure, he could not, simply because of what it suggested. If this snake god was tied to Nagare by bloodthen it was highly possibly any and all damage he would inflict on it would be shared with the frail human being. Even if, as a mere assignment subject, Nagare could not possibly hold so much of an importance to Yutaka, the scientist also knew what drastic complications could follow if the man under their protection died within the confines of the city and never made it back to their world. There was not only the paperwork to worry about, but thecollective displeasure of the higher powers, even Enma himself, quite possibly...

Yutaka, honestly, didn't want to have to deal with that being any time soon again.

"If the old Kurosaki killed this thing..." Yutaka muttered as he drew more stick men onto his notepad with his blood (when it healed, he bit a this fingers again). "Then, by that... I should be able to get rid ofit, shouldn't I?"

It was a bluff, he knew, because hecertainly wasn't doing a very good job of holding up against it. Oh, he had powers, but he had limitations... and there was the fact that he was also pretty out of practice. Excuses, excuses... Yutaka loathed having to rely on them.

Yatonogami's voice laughed in Nagare's head, hissing that Watari was no match for him. He gritted his teeth, too weakened to stand. He would not relay the words. Watari was fighting valiantly, though the snake seemed still unhurt... What could the man do that he had not yet revealed?

He hated it, but he had no choice but to put his faith in the shinigami. The snake god's anger beat like waves against his mind.

Distracted, weakened, still coughing intermittently, he did not notice the snake's slithering approach until too late. Its tentacles still struck against the little stick-men, crushing them down as fast as Watari could draw; but suddenly, there it was, lambent eyes glaring down through the shield.

Nagare stared up, frozen as any prey, as it threw a loop of its body around his shield and bit down, shattering the shell.

Its scaled bulk closed tightly around his body.

Yutaka cursed loudly, knowing exactly who was to blame for that weak barrier; himself of course, for underestimating th esheer strength that snake god possessed underneath its scales. He decided he'd pass on helping Nagare for now; getting rid of Yatonogami or at least scaring him away was top priority now. He wasjust one man and could therefore do only one thing at a time. He quickly scribbled a sword to life again. Even if he wasn't trained in any form of martial arts, he trusted his ability to fly and dig that sharp object into the snake's gut. He'd have to worry about the adverse effects it might have on Nagare... There was no way he would let Nagare die anyway. Yutaka was confident that he'd be able to keep Nagare from dying.

Nagare screamed, unable to stop himself, as Yatonogami's coils closed around him. He could feel ribs bending underthe force - one cracking, with a sickening noise - and then the snake-god's tentacles struck out over his head, all of them curving out to surround an unseen target.

The scream automatically brought Yutaka's attention back to Nagare. Precious seconds were lost in mid-air,concentration wavered... a part of Yutaka knew the dangers for letting himself falter like that, but he could not let Nagare die here.

Not here.

Call Tatsumi and Tsuzuki; a private message. You know you can do it--a part of him suggested, but he reasoned against it. He didn't have thetime to go through the effort of sending out a secured private message and Tatsumi was the last person he wanted to come to his aid, especially when he was making a less-than-stellar job of it andafter he'd riddled the man's apartment with bullet holes and caused other damages. No, a pissed off PMSing Secretary of Hell was the last thing he wanted to deal with and--

The tentacles curved and struck, twining around Watari's limbs and slamming him down into the ground.

"Sensei!" Nagare called out, his teeth set against the pain of each breath. This was more violence than the snake had ever directly committed against him; surely more than he had seen it do to another. Although the servants had known better than to intrude; he had only seen it face Tatsumi....

He coughed again, spitting blood. A chill stole over him as he wondered just how much more his frail body could take.

There was a loud crash accompanied by the telltale sound of bones crushing as the snake god slammed the distracted guardian of death to the ground. Despite this, however, the blond scientist grit his teeth sharply through the pain and was finally convinced to call on anyone, if only because he lacked the proper concentration and time to post it with the proper codes and filters, over the network.

Need help? Stupid snake screwing me :(

That had required swallowing his pride, really. Then again, in the few moments he'd waited for the blinding pain to subside, he had to admit that it had been his fault in the first place. If he had called on Tatsumi and Tsuzuki first, then Nagare wouldn't be at any risk! He would have done that before too...

"Dammit, I have to... I have to..." Yutaka hissed through gritted teeth. In his mind, he was fighting back the pain with reasoning; he'd experienced pain greater than this! Don't balk, Watari Yutaka! This is nothing! There was that sore temptation to loosen some of those limitations he'd put for his own safety, but he was also aware the risk of losing yourself was high. Hadn't he promised himself that he'd never lose himself to anyone or anything anymore? His mind... that was his and his alone. No great reward, not even the promise of omniscience, could ever possiblytempt him to lose his very being anymore!

He managed to push himself off the ground with one arm - how he did this, he wasn't sure, considering the looming snake god over him... though it might not have taken as long as it felt it did - and brought his right hand to the warm blood flowing freely from the side of his mouth. He had an angry realization; that if Tatsumi were around, he'd have dealt with this thingeffectively. There was jealousy. There was anger. And so when he drew hastily on the carpeted floor, he wasn't completely aware that he was drawing messy circles.... to bring to life the shadows he'd imagined Tatsumi would.

Of course, this would prove to be a disastrous decision, as there was completely valid reason there were only two known shadow-masters in the whole of Meifu...

Nagare cried out in horror as he watched the blond Shinigami slam into the floor with crushing force. He could seethe blood - could hear the bones breaking, even from this distance and with his own pain clouding his senses. Another victim of his own helplessness and inactivity.

"Stop this," he shouted to Yatonogami, raising his blood-streaked face to the looming visage of the god. "You have me. He's not part of the curse!" He broke off with a gasp as the shifting coils ground his broken rib.

He is not mortal, the snake thundered, but did not tighten its grip. And it hurts you, doesn't it. More than if I were to slice through your lovely white skin.

"It doesn't," Nagare choked, but he knew the spirit heard the lie. His own pain and degradation was familiar. Failure bit him anew each time.

The snake only laughed. Poisonously.

Nagare watched as Watari smeared his hand through the blood at his mouth, drawing furiously on the floor. The bloody lines were hardly noticeable amongst the destruction already visited on the room.

Hardly noticeable until black shadows erupted from them, like the spears Tatsumi had used. These were no neat lances, though: they exploded out, slicing and shattering as they went.

Nagare's eyes widened as the shadows stabbed towards his face.

It didn't take much for Yutaka to realize how much he'd screwed up. Before a whole second had even passed, he already had an idea what the consequence of his insolence could be and, through the blinding pain, willed himself to be teleported to Nagare's side. Heknew that with unruly shadows about, the human was at his most vulnerable, and at least... at least he had to keep the human from suffering from this backlash.

The snake god could get whatever the shadows desired to dole out on them.

He was right to think Nagare would need help; if he'd hesitated for a second, even a quarter of a second even, he'd have had to explain when they returned why Nagare could not, and would not ever be returning with them to Meifu.

They blinked, together, from the spot Nagare had been in, and then to another safer spot. At least, Yutaka had deemed it safer until one of those lances shot straight at him, toofast for him to dodge, and impaling him through the center of his abdomen. He hissed angrily, and then laughed at the irony of it all; the snake god hadn't done that. Hastily, he put up a barrier for Nagare and himself, hoping the shadows would calm down until...

until what?

He had to admit, painfully, that he was waiting for either Tatsumi or Tsuzuki.

Nagare choked in horror as the shadow speared through Watari: the other man's blood spattered across him, and he forced himself up to his knees, hands clenching.

"Watari-sensei!" Mouth dry, he did not ask are you all right?It would be a cruel joke to ask that of a man who had just been impaled. Watari was not bleeding as much as he would have expected, though. He hesitated.

"Will you be all right?" he compromised, gaze flicking back to the snake-god as it writhed and dodged the raging shadows.

The shadows crashed against their thin protection, another of those soap-bubbles, but so far this one held.

"I think... I think I will be..." Yutaka managed to say through the pain. This was manageable; he could do this...somehow. Of course, definitely, easier said than done as he was already feeling the terrible urge to sleep. That wasn't good at all.

"003,I'll hold out," he muttered as he closed his eyes and concentrated on keeping the barrier up. The ill-done "shadow" summoning was definitely draining on him. Next time, he was going to make more of a conscious effort to not do what he just did...

Breathe slowly, he told himself. Try not to screw up.

Yutaka wasn't completely aware of the moment he hit the ground.