Class Reunion [Closed/Tokibro/M]

There had not even been time for a thought to creep through his head between standing at Kiriko’s side, being gripped by Sakamoto Miki, and being ripped through reality into some gaudy, white, tingly mess of teleportation.

He wasn’t sure if his eyes just weren’t working or if his body was overwhelmed with sensory input.  Or equally likely, that he had no idea, consciously or otherwise, what was happening to him and so his body screamed out with whatever inventing interpretation it could conjure for what was going on.

Fujikagi could not be mad, he was busy.  A terrible gurgle and sloshing filled his insides, as the energy from the teleport seemed to reverberate inside of him like the aftershocks of a quake.  The bright, white light and sparkly spots began to fade from his vision and the fuzzy faintness of the underground lair dominated what was left of his vision.  There she was.  Miki.  

That actually happened.  She grabbed me right from my Captain’s side…

“Does the Soul Society understand how dangerous this makes her?  You have to get out of here.  Do anything you can to get to the surface.  Do anything you can to draw the attention of someone else.  Get us free, now!”, a true panic gripping her voice.

He wanted to draw a deep breath and make a break for the nearest wall, calling upon whatever reserve of energy laid within him to force every ounce of strength into his presently disoriented legs.  He imagined it would be easy to run in a straight line...once he got going.  And even someone as slow as he was could probably find the time to create meaningful distance before Sakamoto Miki could react.

He wanted to.

The burbling in his guts renewed with vigor and Tokiyo lurched forward with his hands finding themselves braced against his knees.  His biology was being hijacked for purposes other than fight or flight…

Bile rose in his throat, his eyes began to water, and his brow broke out in a cold sweat.  Somehow, with intense focus and a heart that was threatening to beat hard enough to bust right out of his chest, he managed to calm down.  Slowly, still shaking, the urge began to subside and the throbbing in his head began to quiet and the ringing in his ears settles to a softer tone.  He breathed deeply, steadying himself, and caught the tail end of what Miki had said.  

Karaudo?

He lifted his head up just as she stepped out from between several rocks.  This place was already in need of repairs, but if it weren’t in such shambles, the hole that his heart and stomach metaphorically left as they plummeted down into his feet would have ensured the need.  Tokiyo fell to his knees ; he knew the moment he saw her.  How could he not recognize his own soul?

But just as he was ready...the moment he was prepared to reach out for her, to call to her, to say her name again...a terrible, skull splitting pain with the fury of a thousand knives cutting into his head gripped Tokiyo.  He doubled over on his side, hands clutched to his temples as he gritted his teeth in agony.

“No!  She’s an imposter!  She can’t be us!  We are us, don’t you see?  You and I, we are team.  You can’t threaten that.  Nobody threatens that.  Take it back!  See her for the fake that she is!”

The bile came back.  Up came the vomit.  Mercifully spilling out onto the cracked dirt and rocks beneath him, the heave didn’t dislodge too much of his innards.

Karaudo’s eyes were still locked on him, welled lightly with tears that she was, up to this point, successful in holding back.  “You don’t write, you don’t call.  And you make me stage these hijinks just to find you.  What have you been doing, Tokiyo?  Why have you been...avoiding me?”

There was a calm to her voice ; an eerie calm lined with anger and fury like crossbow bolt cocked back, ready to loose its tension all over the unfortunate sod in front of it just the second that wire was tripped.

His shaking calmed and the intensity of the headache subsided enough for him to hear her.  To see her.  To feel her energy.

“I don’t know what’s going on here”, he practically choked out between gasps for breath and spitting out residual bile from his mouth.  “but something is very, very wrong.  You never left ; you’re still inside me now.  I can feel it.  It looks like you, it talks like you, it feels like you.  Yet here you are in front of me.  You look, talk, feel, smell, walk, and even scold exactly like you.  And Miki brought you here?  What is her angle in all of this?  Is this some kind of feeble attempt to place a sleeper agent in the Soul Society?  You failed spectacularly if that’s the case.  In what reality do you expect that people will just gloss over the fact that you disappeared with a Lieutenant right in front of a Captain?  Do you have any idea how many people are, once again, looking for you?”

He sat up to his knees again and slowly pushed himself up until he was standing.  The confrontational body language, all too obvious.

Karaudo stared him down.  Tokiyo should have been thankful that looks could not kill.  She broke contact to look at Miki.  “Stubborn fuck, isn’t he?  I don’t know what your deal is, lady, but you said you could help me fix it.  He isn’t going to admit anything, and a simple slap just won’t do it when you are used to tickling his existential substance.  So can you catapult me in there or was that all a line?”

Tokiyo looked back and forth between the two as their dialogue began.  He did not have a fond history of women with plans.  These two women had a plan.  Nervous, summed things up nicely.

Word count // 1009 = 20 || 20

As dangerous as Miki was with her fabled Tiara technique, or her Ten-Point barrier, or as one of the few Masters of Kido so skilled as to be able to use the Kurohitsugi without getting themselves killed in the process, what Tokiyo always remembered most about Miki was her speed.

Such a tiny, furious blur.  He had little more time than to drop one foot back in surprise before she was on him, flinging Karaudo at him.  He braced.  He braced for a wound that never came.
 

Miki’s hand thumped into his chest, expelling all the air he had in his lungs while simultaneously filling him with...something.  More appropriate, someone.  Tokiyo dropped to his knees, clutching at his diaphragm, gasping for air as the overwhelming confusion of the moment began to subside and his body let his muscles relax, just a little bit.  At least enough for his airways to start working again.

The bulging veins on his neck subsided and his eyes met Miki.  He could feel it now ; she had thrown the three of them together.  Whatever the truth of the matter was, it was inside him now.

Kill it or I’ll have to kill you.

Now *that* was the Miki he remembered.

Tokiyo’s body began to ache and groan.  He felt like he was wearing clothes two sizes too small, trapped, stuffed inside a packaging he couldn’t escape.  He wanted to tear his skin off and crack the shell that was now slowly strangling him, drowning him with the weight of something he didn’t understand.  But giving up would be too easy.

The last time Miki touched him, it had cost him dearly.  

Tokiyo was the victim no more.

Steadying his breathing, he remained on his knees and pulled back his focus.  Back from the walls of this secret facility, back from the rocks and terrain surrounding him, back from reiatsu coursing around Miki.  Back into himself.  He closed his eyes and felt cold, oily raindrops on his face.

He was back in the cemetery.

~~~~~~~~The following takes place in Tokiyo’s Inner World~~~~~~~~

[Be aware below, “He” means Tokiyo, “Her” means Karaudo, “It” means The Visitor]

She barely recognized the place anymore.  Karaudo imagined that this is what it felt like to go back to your home town ; things stayed the same but were also, somehow, entirely different.  Buildings had a familiar look and were in the same places, the same quiet, lazy, almost small-town feel gripped everything.  But some of the names above the shops had changed, or gone completely.  The old barber that would sweep his front sidewalk every day retired a long time ago.  Your old friend you used to go to grade school with who still lives in town got married and is working on popping out kid number two…

Of course this was her hometown, but that slice of Americana was something she had never experienced.  Instead, when she materialized on the hill in the cemetery, she was treated to her own version.  The tombstones and pathways and the manor on the hill were all still in the same place and the oily, gray rain still fell like spittle at almost all hours.  Thunder rolled throughout the sky, distant and aloof, like an old nextdoor neighbor waving to her as she pulled into her parent’s driveway.  Except she wasn’t here to visit her parents ; She was here to kill an intruder.

Shortly after she caught her bearings, the space next to her warped and sizzled as Tokiyo came into being, finally joining her.  Their eyes met and his dripped with unspoken apology.  She could tell without the slightest hesitance how difficult it was for him to look her in the eye right then.  Good.  For the time being, that would have to be a sufficient apology.

“You know, I came in here only once since...that experience in the basement with Umi.  I didn’t even make it to the gate before I left.  I don’t know why.”  He sighed lightly, laughing to himself.  “Some part of me, at some level, must have known I wouldn’t like what I found in there.”

The eye contact finally broke for a moment, as Tokiyo searched the ground as if the words were scribbled somewhere for him cheat off of.  “I’m...I’m sorry, Karaudo.  I’m sorry I didn’t know.  Or couldn’t accept.  I’m sorry I didn’t face myself.  I’m sorry I couldn’t find you on my own...I’m...I’m just.  I’m sorry.  I feel like I can’t trust anyone anymore.  There’s no such thing as a friend, even in the Soul Society.  And maybe some part of me knew that even part of *me* couldn’t be trusted.  Maybe.  I’m not trying to rationalize it...”

“Feeling you here, now.  I know I was wrong.”

Her jaw had tightened as he began his apology, clenched shut with a force that would have made orthodontists raise an eyebrow in concern.  But as he finished, she could not help but let it release.  Her shoulders softened as she shifted her weight and sighed as heavy a sigh as she had ever mustered.

“That will do for now.  Don’t go getting soft on me ; we’ve something yet to finish.”  She motioned with her head towards the manor on the hill, looming ominously.  “As I understand it, you’ve rented the same property to two different tenants.  That’s not okay.”  

A coy grin did some damage to the tension.  Perhaps not cutting it cleanly, but it did make progress.

The two of them began their walk down the cobbled path, side by side.  It was overdue.

The long-standing, wrought iron gate hung open and waved slightly despite the still air like something out of a horror movie.  Karaudo pushed it safely out of the way and took the first step over the threshold and past the fence.  Tokiyo placed his arm on her shoulder and stopped her, meeting her puzzled look with a stern glance.  “I allowed this to happen.  To continue.  I will be the one to make it right.  I need you to have my back though, and I know you do.”

Karaudo returned a nod and turned her body to the side, allowing him to walk past and take the lead.

They reached the door, narrow and tall, stained dark and looking every bit as heavy as it always had.  He lifted his arm and rapt once on the door, knocking with a loud thud.  Twice.  Thrice.  The latch on the door popped and it creaked open just wide enough for the blackness inside to spill out into the frame.  Tokiyo lowered his hand to the middle of the door and gave it a strong push, opening it the rest of the way.

The interior foyer looked...desolate, for lack of a better word.  Cold and unoccupied and especially unwelcoming.  A smattering of a black, dried liquid was caked onto the floor and the wall on the far end of the room, a remnant from something Tokiyo did not want to know about, and a draft flowed through the room lending it an unnatural chill relative to the outside.

“I am here to serve notice”, he bellowed out, declaring his intent towards the current resident.

“Come in, come in, honored guests!” The Visitors voice rang back, echoing off the stark walls with a strange, slightly metallic twinge on its voice.  “I felt you coming up the walkway!”

And in an instant its voice bottomed out to an unearthly, deep, tone that was drenched in malice.  “Both of you.”

Karaudo stormed forward to a ceremonial piece that was hanging from the wall in the foyer and ripped down two rapiers that were mounted in a cross pattern.

“Will these hold up?”, he wisely questioned, taking one of the blades she offered.

“Do you think, for even a second, that any of the weapons hanging all over this place are anything short of legitimate, combat ready pieces?”  She replied flatly, looking over the blade for a moment before giving it a test slash through the air.  A curt nod let him know she was ready.

Gripping the blade in his right hand, Tokiyo walked off towards the study, the place he had heard the voice call from.  At the far end of the room, seated next to a barely crackling fire was the facsimile-Karaudo in a high back chair with its legs crossed, smiling warmly at them.  At any other time this would have been a welcoming, pleasant scene for him, touching on all the favorite memories he had of his time in here.  But now, it stared back at him, a mockery of that trust and comfort.

“I don’t know what you are, and I don’t know why you’re here.  But whatever it is you’re up to, it’s time for it to end, and it’s time you to go.”  His command was clear, his voice was confident.  And while the sword’s tip was presently pointed at the floor, it was clear his face meant business.

“Pathetic creature of flesh and bone.  You try to touch my mind, fumbling in ignorance.  You have no idea what you’re doing.  You’ve no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into.”  The creatures voice was wrapped in an eerie calm.

The fake made its first move, uncrossing its legs and scooted to the edge of its seat.  It gripped the arms of the chair and rose to standing, squaring up to its guests.  “But if you’re going to gang up on me…”, it’s voice returned to the unearthly, deep, almost demonic tone.  “Let me play the proper host.”

As if a stiff breeze had blown through the study, all the light around the creature seemed to falter and fade away, shrinking back as if repelled.  The thing lurched over, its body and face now obscured by shadow, and a sickly crunching sound accompanied its transformation.

First its spine began to lengthen and bend and contort.  Then the other joints followed suit.  What had once been the standard form of a 5’10” humanoid woman was now the disgusting shape of a gangly...thing, standing somewhere just shy of eight feet tall.  Its right hand had vanished, melding into a long blade as an extension of the arm.  It’s left hand was intact but the fingers extended out like small blades, jagged and vile looking.  Nothing about this thing was right.

The Visitor’s voice had lost all pretense of trying to blend it.  It was an almost whimsical, soprano tone that seemed to echo within itself.  “I love company!  Let us get to know each other better!”

It took three large steps towards them, closing the gap with its massive stride, and cocked its sword arm up, slashing downwards at Tokiyo.  He quickly brought the blade to bear but was in neither the proper footing nor stance to parry such a massive blow and was knocked back on his feet several paces.

In a fluid motion, as the strike connected with Tokiyo, The Visitor pivoted and backhanded Karaudo with its claw hand, sending her off of the ground and through the air, crashing into a bookshelf several feet behind her.  He saw her go flying, he wanted to scream out for her and run to her side, to be there for her like he should have been this whole time.

The Thing pulled back its blade arm for another strike and thrust it straight at Tokiyo, drawing back his full attention.  With a short leap and an instinctual dodge, the massive sword went under his left arm and deep into the bookshelf and wall behind him ; a blow that would have clearly cut him in half had it landed.

On the other side of the room, Karaudo had gathered herself and returned to her feet, ready for action.  She made a short run, sword gripped tightly, and leapt up onto the creatures back left side, near the shoulder.  The Thing bayed out a howl of surprise as it pivoted around, flailing its claw arm, attempting to throw the attacker off.  

See the opportunity.  Then wait for it to present.

There.  Nice and clean, right as he opened up to shake her off.

Clenching his jaw, he gripped his sword with two hands and swung it hard across his body, aiming to hack The Things arm off below the elbow!  The sound of steel slicing through meat filled the room as black blood splattered upwards and onto the wall and ceiling like a Jackson Pollock painting with a room sized mural.

Karaudo finally lost her grip as It began to rage in pain and thrash harder still.  She slid off an onto the ground, landing on her butt.  The Visitor used its claw arm to grip what was left of the bladed arm and wrench it free from the sheath it created in the wall.  It spun around, as Tokiyo prepared for another strike, and grabbed Karaudo by the chest with its claw arm and scooped her up off the ground.  In the same motion, It flung her into Tokiyo, disrupting his strike and sending them both tumbling over one another and onto the floor once again.

The Creature stumbled away from the pair, clutching at its arm, surveying the damage and girding itself against the pain, its chesting heaving with the labor of battle.

The pair scurried over one another, quickly untangling their limbs and hurrying back to their feet with all due haste.

“That was good.  But I don’t think it will work twice.”

“Looks like we need to keep him at least partially preoccupied.  Got anything in mind?”

“Sure, make the time count, would you kindly?”

She had nothing to say, only a short nod and a wild look from underneath her frazzled bangs.

Tokiyo turns his sword over, gripping it in the reverse, and stuck his index finger out towards The Thing.  “Byakurai”, he declared with a quiet confidence as a well of pale blue energy swirled around his hand and burst short in a crackling streak of lightning.  The Thing was quick to raise its sword arm, using the blade like a makeshift shield.  It struggled to keep the arm in place, but it resisted buckling under the immense power of the Hado.

With her host completely engaged, Karaudo ran to the far wall staying as quiet and low a profile as running would allow her to keep.  The moments seemed to stretch on forever, each step she covered felt like crawling across a football field in agonizing distance from her goal.  As she neared It, the hair on her neck standing from the static outflow of the Kido, she sized up the monstrosity for the most efficient strike.

“Now, a quick cut to his arm should disable his ability to defend against that Hado and open him right up to a finisher from the Boss man.  But…”  Her hesitation was a tactical one.  “But that would leave me wide open.  No, strike lower.  Take away his ability to make me pay.  Get out of range.  Yep.”  With her place decided, she was ready to act.

Diving forward, she rolled low to the ground, somersaulting into position behind It.  It saw her ; It glanced to the side, no doubt having caught the metal of her bodice reflecting the blue glow of the lightning, but it was too late.  To turn and strike would spell certain doom.

Her blade was quick, clashing up from the floor and cleaning cutting through both of its hamstrings right down to the bone.

The Thing fell to its knees, wailing in rage and agony, as the Hado stopped.  It pivoted its upper body best it could and swung wildly at Karaudo but she leapt back a few short feet, clearing herself from its range.  It began to claw towards her, vengeance dripping from it almost as thickly as the black blood.

Tokiyo broke out in a run towards their side of the room and dropped his sword whole opening his hand and facing the creature with his palm.  “Jugeki Byakurai!”, this time the blue energy welled up and retreated within his hand before exploding outwards in a thin, red beam.  Gone, were the jagged edges and unrestrained might of Byakurai, replaced with the honed edge of his Jugeki technique ; a prize amongst his peers, or at least it would have been if anyone in the Kido Corps were left alive to notice.

The bolt ripped into the The Visitor, entering Its back on the left side, where the kidney would be, and exploding out the front just below the left pectoral.

It fell to the floor, breathing heavily and slowly, its blood pooling below it now.  It was beaten and it knew it.

Tokiyo’s eyes met Karaudo, both of their chests heaving to catch their breath.

“Anything witty to say?”, he posed to her.

“You know”, she said between heaves.  “I’ve thought about it.  But.  Nope.”

Reversing her grip on the sword in her hand, she approached It and thrust the blade down right through the middle of its chest without another word.  Its body cut like a wet sponge and immediately began dissolving into a shapeless, black mass before fading from sight.

Both of their shoulders slouched in tandem, accepting the end to immediate confrontation.  Minutes past in mutual silence as they looked at each other and surveyed the room.  Karaudo made the first move to break the stillness and walked to the far end of the study.

“It that thing actually were me, it would have known about the bourbon behind Paradise Lost on the shelf over there, and offered you a drink”, he fingers danced over the book case, searching for the copy she mentioned.  She grabbed its leather cover and pulled it out of the way, setting it on a higher shelf with a delicate care.  Reaching into the opening, she withdrew a decanter of a brown liquor and two, dusty glasses.  She blew into each of them, displacing most of it, and walked over to a small table still left standing in the corner.  Pouring them each a glass, Tokiyo finally made his way over.

The first taste was a gulp for both of them, but with the edge off they both took a sip to follow up.  “That felt good”, he spoke, partially into his glass.  She mumbled in agreement from partially into her own.

“We just can’t catch a break, can we?  Can’t trust anyone these days.”  Her tone implying levity but laced with seriousness.

“You’re all too right.  We seriously can’t.  But...I can at least trust you.”

“Yeah, now, after I practically made you.”

“Can lead a horse to water….”, he trailed off dryly.

“Yep.” she took another drink, emptying her glass.  She set it back onto the table and poured herself another two fingers.  Well, maybe three.

“I know you know I’ve thought about it.  But what about you?  How can all of this possibly be a coincidence?  What stark, raving, mad agent of Fate would let all these circumstances pile up on one another and smack one person in the face again and again?  This cannot be an accident.  I know it.  What do you make of all this?”

And so the ‘Mother of Questions’ was finally dropped.  Karaudo had her suspicions, sure, and she certainly knew what Tokiyo had been thinking about...what he felt like on subject.  It all kind of, sort of, just lined up.

“Do you have any idea what I went through to be here right now?  And what bizarre twists things took for me to find you like this?”

“That’s my point ,dear.”  His tone dry and factual.

“I mean.  The woman who ran the shrine I landed next to happened to be spiritually aware and a capable healer.  She did just what she needed to, to get me back on my feet.  Even got me on the train.  And there were a couple old friends in Tokyo, one of which was even looking for you.  And they just happened to..I don’t know...run into me?  And I was in the right place at the right time for Sakamoto Miki to find me.  And you.  And do a thing about it.”  The realizations were plainly drawing across her face now, as she recounted out loud.  Things that didn’t add up, now had a number to merge with that converted a confusing mess of events into a glorious puzzle cube, finally solved.

“I don’t know why, at least not yet, but I know it’s big.  Epic even.  How could it not be?  What else would be worth so much trouble?  We didn’t choose it.  We didn’t even provoke it.  Nothing in the Three Realms could even pretend to justify this.  And so, Occam’s Razor, it must be something beyond it all.  You’ve experienced it all yourself, have you not?”  He motioned to the busted up study around them and the spattered blood on the walls and ceiling and the tussled books strewn about.  Tokiyo raised his glass towards her and raised an eyebrow, waiting on her answer.

“There’s no part of me.  Or you.  That can deny it any longer.  We’ll endure it, Toki, because we need to.  We’ll endure it because something out there is relying on us for what is to come.  And you can rely on me.”  She clinked her glass into his, nodding to him, and taking a big swig.

“I know I can.  It’s obvious when you work with me...when we work together...how strong we can be.”

Karaudo patted him on the shoulder and walked past him, crossing the room and approaching a large window that looked out the front of manor.  The stormclouds, thick and black only minutes before, had already begun to lighten and lose their ominous palor ; this place couldn’t have been further from a meadow of sunshine before, but it was good step brighter than the new guest had set for its tone.

Before long, Tokiyo joined her, approaching on her right side.

“You know, I think I can finally say I’m ready to show you the tombstones.  But not now.  Give me a little time to clean up.”  She folded her hands in front of her, a maneuver Tokiyo was intimately familiar with.  “And when you get back to that big, bright, blue skyed reality?  Give Miki my thanks.  Whatever she did to put us in this position, she’s here making it right.  Any you know what?  If she had not done what she did, we wouldn’t be where we are today.  I finally see it, Toki.”  She smiled, her reflection glinting off the glass just a few, short inches away from her nose.

Tokiyo closed his eyes and willed himself out of his Inner World.

~~~~~~~~Back to The World of the Living~~~~~~~~

He sat up and pulled himself to his feet, gut gurgling and intestines quivering.  Without warning, he clutched at his stomach and bent forward and began to retch up a thick, tar-like mass of black thing.  Inky tendrils oozed out from it as it quickly took shape into something small and humanoid, then it made a run for the nearest cover.

“Destroy it!” she cried out, one last instruction before letting him rest.  His hand went up and his palm opened, reflexively firing off a blue beamed Kido that struck The Visitor squarely in the back, breaking it into small globs and scattering it over several meters.

Tokiyo wiped the black vomit from this mouth using his sleeve and turned to face Miki.  “I don’t trust you.  I can’t.  How could I?”  The indignation in his voice, less than hidden.

The hatred quickly gave way to a mixed palette of secondary emotions.  Some more soft than others.  “But I’m also in your debt, grateful even, for what you did for me today.  I suppose you’re waiting for me to say something, or expecting me to, about a debt of gratitude.  Well, I can’t.  I won’t.  At best we’re even ; you owed me.  And sure you already understand that I can do nothing to stop those who are going to come looking for you?  You did remove a Lieutenant from the side of his Captain.”

“I don’t know what to make of all of this, Miki.  Everywhere I turn something is jumping out at me from an angle I’ve never even heard of doing a thing I could have never expected.  At least out of all of this, I’ve been given back the one thing that would never let me down.  And for that”, a genuine smile accompanied his words, “I am nothing short of grateful.”

“Goodbye Miki, at least for now.  You know Kiriko ; They’ll be on us in a matter of minutes.”  He nodded to her, sternly, as if two brothers were about to go off to war, uncertain if they would ever see one another again.

Many things had come full circle for Tokiyo, but in other ways they were only just beginning.  He wasn’t particularly strong on his own, and his time to himself only helped to prove that.  He had failed to recognize the full extent of his injury.  Or maybe he just couldn’t face it.  Surely he had to know on some level, that the part of him he needed most was replaced by a cheap, foreign ripoff?  He hoped he knew.  He wanted to.  He wished he had.

Defending her, now, was every bit the same as defending himself.  They shared a purpose.  They were united.  They were unstoppable.  Together.

Word count // 4286 = 85 || 105