Backdated - Tatsumi & Fai Log

[wheet-woo.livejournal.com]

When; Wish Day
Rating; PG-13 for Violence?
Characters; Tatsumi thrifty_shadow & Fai wheet_woo
Summary; Feeling moody and morose, the two meet and decide to go make some trouble in the Underground. Unfortunately, they get in over their heads and end up in some trouble.
Log;


Stretching his arms high over his head, Fai eyed the subway train that had taken them down to Hades, the underground. He stepped off, looking about him with a placid expression. There were bright lights of bars and seedier places, but plenty of shadows. Dark alleyways, tunnels leading off into places only the suicidal would go.

He cast a glance to his companion, smiling with the resolve that he would go in, and quite possibly not return. At the moment, it didn’t seem like such a bad idea. "Shall we?"

"Yes," Tatsumi said, following the light-haired young man. He was studying his surroundings with calm, calculating blue eyes and was pleased to find the abundance of shadows, his element. He caught a movement from in front of them and, smirking even though he felt nothing, ordered the shadows to attack the source of movement. A loud squeak later and bright orange blood began oozing from one of the corners. A leprechaun. Easy kill. It must've gotten itself lost here...

"I imagine the monsters we're anticipating here aren't that easy to kill?"

Fai blinked, surprised to see Tatsumi's technique and more so to see the Leprechaun. But a little luck bringer wouldn’t be what would trouble them this night.

"Yes, I’m sure they won’t be. I’ve seen glimpses of some.. quite disturbing really... " Catching movement in the corner, Fai quickly wrote out scrawling script across the air in front of him, which formed into a long, blue staff. He wasn’t ready to use most of his magic yet.

"I've battled my own share of demons and dark creatures. They shouldn't surprise me... much." He paused to push up his glasses. "If they do surprise me, I'll welcome the excitement. The danger. Today's been incredibly dull."

The shadows rippled around him as he began walking ahead of Fai towards one of the darker tunnels. He'd always wondered what the limits of his powers were. His teacher had once said that like the darkness in people's hearts, there were no limits to what a shadow master was capable of. The limits lied on the masters themselves and what they were willing to submit themselves into.

"Shall we walk to our doom? ...What was your name again? Fai-san?" His voice sounded far too polite in his ears. He didn't think he was polite though. He couldn't feel anything.

Fai whistled softly at the shadows (calling up blue flames on the end of his staff, an accidental but welcomed effect) as he strolled down the same path. He was feeling better already, the risk and challenge ahead much easier to handle than the confusion of human interaction.

"Indeed~ I don’t intend to watch your back, Tatsumi-san~" Smiling sweetly, he inclined his head slightly. "No disrespect, but I do feel we can handle ourselves~"

"I'm used to it," Tatsumi said with smile. He arched his eyebrow when he remembered. "I'm usually the one getting my subordinates out of trouble."

Save for the sound of their quiet footsteps and the occasional water dripping, their journey was a silent one. Tatsumi, whose patience had once been known to be quite legendary (no thanks to having to deal with Tsuzuki), found himself striking up an idle conversation. He couldn't have known the reason for his shortened patience and the itch to feel anything was a direct result of losing his heart.

"So why are you out here?" He questioned conversationally without letting his guard down for any sudden attacks.

"In the city? A few companions and I have been hopping worlds for a while now.. and I followed them here~" Fai kept his smile, twirling the quarterstaff casually as he watched for surprises. He felt comfortable in a sort of mutual apathy. Tatsumi and he were both concerned with themselves, so the conversation seemed pure and honest. Not something Fai was used to, without worrying about the consequences. "And yourself?"

"An accident, I think," Tatsumi found himself saying softly, though he felt no such emotion and still felt unbelievably numb. "Countered an attack... intended to avoid it by hiding in a pocket world inside the shadows. Something must have happened, though, because after that... I was here." A sharp clutter of feet -- unusually loud -- caught Tatsumi's ears but he continued, adding conversationally: "I was on a little assignment with someone."

"Did that someone end up here too?" Smiling, Fai turned to notice a group of.. somethings racing towards them. He couldn’t see them very well in the dark, and he didn’t really want to. With a grace that seemed surprising from his narrow form, he launched himself forward, spinning to staff to strike out at the monsters. He smiled as he cracked what looked like the skull of one, fighting with a casual sort of concentration.

Tatsumi's instincts took over and though the feeling of incredible numb was still there, he felt something else finally. It wasn't excitement though or anything he had felt before. Or maybe he had felt it before but that small feeling was simply overwhelmed by the rush of emotion and thoughts he usually felt.

It was the darkness, growing inside him, calling to the creatures within the shadows.

A sharp ear-splitting shriek sounded and, releasing his spiritual energy to track the presence of the monster, Tatsumi readied to deliver a sharp and brutal piercing with his shadows. He was surprised though, to feel....so much. Like there was simply no end to them. "That's strange," he managed to say before a sharp-nailed hand appeared at the edge of his sight and managed to scratch deeply at his face before disappearing back into the thick darkness. He unleashed the shadows on instincts and willed them to attack without restraint at the direction the 'hand' disappeared into. There was another ear-splitting shriek followed by the familiar sound of blood and flesh being torn apart but it was followed by a multitude of loud, animalistic breathing and feet. More feet.

Tatsumi seemed to fade in and out of the shadows--it was hard to focus on him, hard to know which side he was on. Which, oddly, only made Fai amused. He'd cross that bridge whenever it presented itself. But at the moment...

Wincing as something metal grazed his back, Fai dashed forward, scrawling out text with his fingers, driving the creatures back with waves of ice. They fell back, not used to such resistance and Fai paused, whipping the blood from his mouth with a chuckle. "I think something big is coming.."

"All the better." Tatsumi appeared beside Fai, taking form from the shadows. His left cheek was covered in blood and his glasses were slightly cracked. Otherwise, though, he looked relatively unhurt. Without a word of warning, he stretched his arms forward and the long, sharp, tentacles began forming from the shadows around them. The tentacles eagerly moved forward, lazily at first, before raining smaller branches of themselves on the unseen creatures before them. He let Fai deal with the ones behind.

A cacophony of screams and squeaks and all sorts of otherworldly sounds filled the dark silence. He brazenly began walking forward, confident in his skills. Bits of sharp... knife-like projectiles began raining from the darkness, coming at him but he ignored them and barely winced when one found home on his upper right thigh. He didn't move to remove it, liking the sharp, tearing pain it brought with it and only stopped when he realized the darkness wasn't... moving for him. As if he had finally reached a wall of some kind.

He frowned, but didn't will the shadows to return. Just then, something bright seemed to come from the... end of the tunnel? A gust of sharp wind blew from that direction and a loud sound, the sound of feet hurrying on wet ground echoed. He was taken by surprise when an extremely bright light blew at his shadows like wind, dissolving them into tiny white dots of nothingness, before engulfing him. He was thrown off and barely missed impaling himself onto a monster's eager... claws?

Before the nature of their new opponents could register, the fact that they had most probably been caught in an inescapable pincer attack sank in.

Fai stepped back, catching his breath as a form slowly began to take shape from the shadows. It was large, very large. It looked like some kind of bug, hissing and snapping with giant jaws and crawling forward on multiple pairs of heavily armored legs. Glancing backwards brought his attention to the hound-like vision in flame that Tatsumi was dodging.

He remembered situations like this, paired off and back to back with Kurogane. They had complimented each other well, working fluidly. He was vaguely aware of wanting the ninja to be there--to fight in ways he couldn’t, to watch his back when Fai grew careless. But he shrugged that desire off and focused. He was here because that way of life was disappearing, or should disappear altogether.

Trapped, Fai drew up the waves around him, darts forming into his hands as he turned to flank the creature. Its legs were fast, lashing out when its jaws wouldn’t reach. With a laugh, Fai stumbled back towards Tatsumi, brushing blood from his brow, watching the monster for a weakness.

Tatsumi glared at the fiery dog that, irritatingly and suddenly, reminded him of Tsuzuki whenever he pulled his puppy-eyed trick. Were it not for the fact that it was almost literally smothered in flames that ensured the once dark tunnel was now bathed in extremely bright light, the beaded eyes and cartoon-like innocence it had on its face would've easily caught Tatsumi off guard. He hissed, unconsciously backing away as the shadows about him struggled to keep its form against the sickeningly bright light.

It reminded him of Suzaku.

Darkness and Light. What did he have against this thing? There were indeed weaknesses in everything. He threw a quick glance behind him, towards the centipede-like creature Fai looked to be concentrated on. In the two creature's arrival, it seemed like all the minor monsters they had been easily taking care of had backed away and were now eagerly waiting as they made a makeshift circle around them. They looked ready to pounce on them were they to fall.

He turned his attention back to the fiery dog and threw a weak ofuda attack at it before launching another barrage of shadows. Fire or not, light or not, he was sure he would eventually find a way to defeat it.

The tendrils of shadows barely touched the hissing flames that smothered the creature but Tatsumi knew, it would be a matter of time before he got through... A matter of time...

He let out a sharp cry of pain when the fiery dog unleashed a hellish torch of fire towards him and he was barely able to shield himself with a hastily brought up kekkai.

The light behind him made it hard to focus on the darkness in front. Even squinting his eyes, the contrast was great and his reactions were slow. This wasn’t working. The ice and wind he brought up against the creature only slowed its reaction. When he had reached the joints, unprotected by the hard plates, the creature bled fiercely, but it wasn’t enough to bring it down, and Fai was beginning to feel tired. He needed strength to fight this thing and he was slow to bring up a strong enough attack.

The creature's tail caught him square in the chest and he flew back onto the hard ground, stunned as the air left his lungs. This really wasn’t working.

"Switch with me.." he gasped, hauling himself to his feet.

Tatsumi had barely dodged a swipe from the dog's claw when he heard Fai. Distracted, he threw the light-haired man a glance. "That's a good idea," he breathed, more to himself than to Fai. He looked back at the dog and realized suddenly that it was probably not going to let him off easily. He summoned another batch of shadows and became aware of how tired he was now. He wasn't close to being spent but he knew if this kept up without change, he'd find himself unable to even will the shadows to flicker.

He slowly backed away, dodging attacks from the dog with pained difficulty. The pain in his right thigh had grown and he realized, in retrospect, how he shouldn't have let himself be cocky.

Tatsumi gritted his teeth as he called a particularly concentrated tendril of shadow to being and willed it to a harder form. He focused on distracting the dog enough, wounding it even, to allow a safe switch without leading to one of them being split into two by the creature's huge claws. He succeeded and managed to graze the dog's left side barely. It gave a sharp cry and Tatsumi quickly headed towards Fai, summoning shadows to attack the centipede-like creature instead. He did not anticipate retaliation and could only gasp as three sharp claws dragged itself across his back. Were he alive, he knew the attack would have killed him; instead, it only brought a sharp, unimaginable, almost overwhelming pain.

He stumbled forward, slightly, but willed himself to go on. This was nothing. A shinigami could be sliced into half and still live.

Provided of course they got help eventually, he thought bitterly but refused to think on that.

Fai crouched, hearing the clatter of legs behind him. They'd hit him, or Tatsumi, and neither of them were in very good shape. But his companion was coming toward him, his back open to the claws of the beast. He had only a small window, but it might just be enough.

He jumped forward, a long spear made of air forming in his hands. His ice would have very little effect, but perhaps this would be enough. Dashing past Tatsumi, he whistled, a shield flowing up around him as he threw himself under the claws of beast and slammed the spear upwards.

The roar filled his ears as the beast stumbled backwards, clawing at the spike in its chest, swiping Fai aside. His skin and clothing burned, the heat pulling a scream from his mouth as he crashed into a wall. It took him a moment for his senses to come back to him, to remember who he was above all the pain.

Tatsumi met the centipede-like creature with a wall of shadows when it charged towards him. The impact was enormous and it rattled his senses, sending sharp jolts of pain into his mind as he struggled the keep the shield up. He managed to push the creature deeper into the darkness though with a yell and followed while he gathered thick clouds of shadow around him. As the creature seemed to be overcome by temporary confusion, Tatsumi was allowed a brief reprieve and he remembered his companion. He chanced a glimpse of Fai and was barely able to catch the creature's sharp horns in his hands when the creature gained its bearings.

With his left hand run through one of the centipede-like monster's horns, Tatsumi found himself face to face with its head. Glowing a luminous blue, it shone in the dark.

Ignoring the bleeding and the pain in his left hand, he took that moment as an opportunity and reached his right hand out, positioning it in front of the monster's glowing parts.

He willed the shadows to form a long stalactite as fast as possible.

Shaking himself back into his senses, Fai approached the beast slowly, biting his lip with movement. The cuts and open wounds would heal soon enough, but the burns would be stubborn and hurt a lot more. But it was too late to worry about that. The beast snarled and whined, puffing fire as it ripped the ice pick from its breast. Oddly, the animal bled bright yellow blood, almost like molten rock. Fairly interesting, and Fai made the connection that it would probably burn as well. He had to settle it soon.

Gathering his strength, Fai called up long crystal knives into his hand and set out to flank the creature. It followed him quickly, snapping its jaws at the few knives Fai threw. One landed in its haunches, it roared and reached around to pull it out with teeth. As its head swung back around to catch Fai unawares, he threw the last few knives straight for its eye before throwing himself out of the way.

The creature shrieked loudly and began to violently thrash as soon as the shadows began tearing into it. Tatsumi leapt back, quick enough to avoid being sliced into two but not quick enough to avoid a sharp gash to his side. He cursed in Enma's name sharply and then followed it with a sharp order to the shadows as he slammed his right foot onto the ground. The ground beneath him began to shake as dark shadows leapt from with in it and reached out to restrain the creature. Once the shadowy ribbons had it pinned to the ground, Tatsumi pressed his hands together, imagining a thin, sharp blade and willed the shadows to emulate the image in his mind.

Exhaling slowly, he released the shadow-blade after it was formed and hurled it towards the centipede-like creature with the intent of slicing it into two.

He felt the impact in his mind; the creature's tough shell-like external layer resisted. But he strengthened the shadows with the will of his mind. Shadows had no limit; no limits at all but the mind of their wielder and Tatsumi refused to let himself be beaten.

He wasn't.

Wary, Fai sagged against the dark rock wall, watching the beast claw blindly at the walls and the ground in front of it. The knives stuck, melting at the edges but staying logged in the creatures skull. The blood splashed against the rock, sending up heat towards him. He staggered back, risking a glance behind him. Tatsumi was dealing well, the tides hard turned and Fai allowed himself a smile. They might just make it out of here after all.

The fire-beast gave a final snarl before spinning on its back legs and running down a tunnel, leaving only darkness in its wake. The smaller shadow creatures, hidden since the beginning of the encounter, snuck about, unsure if they should engage or not. Fai ignored them, turning round to see if he could aid Tatsumi, though he figured the shinigami would be fine.

Thick blue luminescent blood was splattered onto the wall and floor by the time Tatsumi's shadows were finished with the creature. He smirked, pleased with having overcome the creature. He ignored the dull throbbing in his head, the fatigue in his body, that told him he had nearly overtaxed himself, and foolishly so too. His heart beat loudly in his ears. He knew he would hurt a lot more later when the adrenaline wore off but it felt... good. He still felt annoyingly empty but at the same time, not so anymore.

He turned around and swept his eyes across the darkness that met him, suddenly aware of the sheer absence of the light that had been there before. Had his companion gotten rid of the fiery dog? Or had it gotten rid of him?

Waving feebly, Fai limped his way towards Tatsumi, smiling tiredly despite the wounds and burns across his skin. He couldn’t see out of his left eye, an odd feeling and he wasn’t sure if bones were broken. They felt broken, but he decided to ignore it.

"That was pretty impressive, ne~ Lots of scary things down here..." Tatsumi looked better off, a fact that made Fai chuckle at his own ability. The other certainly had a flair for the dark arts. Fai himself had never enjoyed combat and perhaps that translated to battle readiness. But he hadn’t been protecting anything this time, so perhaps that made all the difference. "How are you feeling?"

"....well," Tatsumi said quietly in response. He could feel it beginning already; the pain from his accumulated wounds firing up as the adrenaline wore off completely. Still, he stood still, as if he hadn't been hurt like he was. He could feel warm blood on his left cheek and wondered, just a bit, how fast it would take for him to heal... He'd certainly been close to his second death just now.

"You're right about the scary things." He heard a quiet ticking in the distant as if it was reminding him something. "It's dangerous," Tatsumi added softly and then closed his eyes, whispering mentally to the shadows and they leapt from the ground and began creeping towards Fai. "They'll make sure to hide you."

Smiling, Fai glanced about at the shadows, bemused and curious. "You're not coming up as well? You should get those wounds looked at.." Up close, he could see the damage across Tatsumi's body, see the tension in his shoulders as he held himself upright. Fai didn’t feel like leaving him down here, with more of those monsters running about. But he wasn’t particularly keen on staying down there. It had suited his mood before, but now he wanted to see daylight. Even if the daylight was tainted from the city and its magics.

Tatsumi didn't think he could, honestly, make it upwards yet. Not when his body was struggling to regenerate itself rapidly. As rapid the regeneration was, the pain remained and paired with the near-depletion of his energy, he knew he was better of sitting down at first. "I'll stay a while," he said quietly. "The shadows will hide me... they always have."

Fai nodded, saluting Tatsumi sharply with a wink. "Take care, then, Tatsumi-san~ I'm sure to see you soon." He let the shadows follow him as he took his leave, limping slowly as he took the path upwards. He was sure Tatsumi would be alright, hoped so anyways, but didn't spare it too much thought. They were of similar minds, distant and independent and it wouldn’t do for Fai to worry over him.

Once Fai was out of sight, Tatsumi forced himself toward a wall and leaned onto it, exhausted. He breathed in and out slowly and mentally checked the status of the shadows he'd wrapped around himself too. It wouldn't do to be caught in another brawl; not now. The ticking returned; so much louder. He shut his eyes tightly.

Nothing.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick.

He gasped and clutched at his chest when a sharp pain came at his chest. The pain lasted for a few minutes and then he was bombarded by memories... what he'd done that day, to Tsuzuki... to everyone....

"Oh, Enma," he gasped disbelievingly and buried his hands in his face. What had he done?