THE DOOM: Northward Bound Part 3 for Sagely_Sea!
Title: THE DOOM: Northward Bound Part 3
Author: Mathias
Recipient: sagely_sea
Pairing/Characters: Tezuka, Atobe, Niou, Oshitari … + others
Rating: R
Warnings: … None?
Disclaimer: I own nothing
Summary: Tezuka is trying to go on a quest, but keeps getting delayed by people wanting to get in his pants As Atobe invades Rikkai, General Tezuka from Seigaku offers his aid in defending the country and pushing the Ice King back.
“Thank you for coming to our aid,” Tezuka said, as he reached out to grasp Niou's shoulder, seeing the all to smug expression on Niou's face.
It was a dream again and Tezuka should have expected it, as he fell asleep that night. It did make him wonder whether it was Niou initiating the dream meetings or... there was the crazy idea that it was himself responsible.
Either way, Niou didn't seem to particularly mind his appearance there, nor did Tezuka, he realised.
“It was worth it. I couldn't just let you be skewered by some kind of Hyotei underling, that would have been really unfortunate.” Niou was still grinning though as he said it and it was difficult to take his words too seriously.
Tezuka moved to run his fingers through the shorn hair at the back of Niou's head, running the pads of his fingers over the back of his neck and seeing Niou hunch his shoulders uncomfortably.
That just made him want to touch it more to see him squirm.
“Did Atobe cut your hair?”
Niou frowned at the question. “We met. And yes, he did.” Niou waved his hand though, and the hair reappeared, though it felt insubstantial as Tezuka touched it, the ends trailing into the wisps that were so reminiscent of the foxes.
There were no foxes around this time, the clearing they seemed to always meet in seeming much quieter and emptier without the sight of the animals around them.
“In real life or in your dreams?” He'd felt the hair as he'd held onto it and it had felt so real and as he clenched his fingers now, he could remember clearly the feeling of them cutting into his palms.
That question was greeted with a grin and Tezuka was suddenly aware that he knew nothing of magic. “Who says dreams aren't real, Kunimitsu? What defines it?”
Tezuka had no answer for that, but Niou didn't seem to be expecting one as he just smiled and sat back, leaning against Tezuka's legs.
“It was just in dreams that he cut my hair. My hair in real life is still there, he can't touch me there.” There was a touch of that overconfidence that had Tezuka biting his tongue. “I had to let him, anyway. I needed something of myself there and the hair was the easiest.”
Niou cackled to himself and tilted his head back to look up at him. “He seemed really irritated, somehow he seemed to know that you liked touching my hair.”
Tezuka looked down at him and frowned slightly. “I'm sure you made sure to tell him.” The shrug and the vague smile was enough to give him an answer and Tezuka just frowned some more.
They fell into silence then, Tezuka's fingers automatically moving to run through Niou's hair and Niou's eyes closed, leaning back more against the steady legs behind him, and it seemed like almost a crime to have such a silent moment of enjoyment between them in such a tranquil environment so far removed from the fort and the snow and just... something that Tezuka knew was drawing inexorably nearer.
“We think Atobe is coming south to meet you in person,” Tezuka said, finally breaking the silence and Niou's eyes opened into slits, gazing steadily at the spot in front of him.
“I know. I think he is too.”
“Can you hold yourself against him?” Tezuka didn't know what Niou was capable of, despite all the stories and what he'd been told. He also, if he was truthful with himself, didn't know the full extent of what Atobe was capable of.
Niou snorted and then fell quiet, his gaze becoming distant. “It's not Atobe I'm worried about. Him, I can handle.”
There was no need to ask who it was Niou worried about, he knew the answer to that already. The mysterious other man, who stood behind Atobe and none of them knew about.
“Do you think both of them are coming?”
Niou shrugged. “Probably. I don't see why Atobe would just come by himself?”
For someone who apparently was worried, Niou seemed remarkably calm, leaning back into Tezuka more. Tezuka petted his hair some more and if he tried hard enough, he thought he could feel the edge where Niou's magic met the tips of his cut hair.
“What are you doing about it?” Was Niou doing anything at all? Or was he just planning on sitting in his forest and waiting?
“I'm getting ready, don't worry. I'll be prepared.” Niou's smile was still confident as he tilted his head back to look up at Tezuka and for a moment, he wondered exactly what it was that Atobe was going to meet when he arrived there. “You can probably notice it for yourself if you look.”
As he looked around at Niou's words, Tezuka did indeed see the forest was darker than it normally was, in all the past times he'd been there with him. The trees almost seemed closer together, as though they were forming some kind of protective shelter with Niou as its epicenter.
He wondered if the same was happening with the physical forest that surrounded Niou in the real world... and then he wondered if it mattered at all, if dreams and reality were the same thing.
“Do I need to worry about you?” Tezuka asked and he didn't know how to feel when Niou laughed a bit.
Niou finally moved, reaching his arms up to pull Tezuka down. “Atobe still wants you, right? I think you should worry about yourself more.”
-
When he met Atobe, it was on the edges of the pass, overlooking the fort where he'd seen him what seemed like a lifetime ago. Atobe seemed surprised to see him, which confused Tezuka - wasn't Atobe the one that usually pulled him into his dreams and should be expecting him?
“Are you here already, Atobe?” he asked. It was better not to show any reaction to the surprise, which vanished quickly enough anyway, settling into the usual haughty exterior Atobe showed.
“I won't be staying long.”
Tezuka looked towards the first of the outside walls of defence of the fort and saw the fingers of ice creeping up the walls and he could almost imagine as they reached the top, the wall was going to come crashing down.
Even worse though, was the swarm of men, clad in the blue and silver of Hyotei, coming towards them and Tezuka glanced at Atobe's face, the coldness of his expression and the glint of triumph that Tezuka knew all too well.
“Keigo.” That got Atobe's attention on him. “This is unnecessary.”
“That sorcerer has been annoying me long enough. I'm getting rid of him. You'd do well to stay out of my way, Tezuka.”
It was such an impulsive thing to do and as he tried to figure out why he'd done it... he didn't know; but he reached out to grab Atobe by the arm, catching the man's attention.
“I'll meet you in Hyotei. Leave Rikkai alone.”
It was almost like it wasn't him talking, to be so impulsive. But it was and he didn't take the words back or let go or Atobe's arm, digging his fingers in slightly to the cold flesh, seeing the troubled look on Atobe's face.
“I'm only interested in dealing with one unimportant person in Rikkai. It's not great loss to you.”
Tezuka heard the first ominous crack of the wall and forcibly pulled himself out of the dream, his fingers clenching around thin air as he awoke. And the cracking sound was real, perhaps worse as he heard it outside. He knew what was just behind it and he threw off his sheets as he moved to dress and quickly hurry to Sanada's room down the hallway.
The door was heavy and the man was thankfully in the room, though perhaps Tezuka would have preferred it more if Sanada was awake already and on the walls of the fort. Even so, the door opening was enough to wake him up and Tezuka was inwardly pleased to see a knife appearing from nowhere in Sanada's hand as he sat up, his eyes alert and he sighed loudly as he saw Tezuka standing in the doorway.
“What is the matter?” he asked, still warily holding the knife and not quite prepared to put it down yet. There could be another enemy, Tezuka was aware, they'd received the same training after all. How many times had they awoken each other in the night to test one another?
But it wasn't important, as Tezuka's heart raced from the remnants of his conversation with Atobe in the dreamscape and he was so aware of the coolness of the air against his heated skin the drops of sweat.
“Genichirou.”
But before he could speak, there was suddenly the loud ringing of the alarm bell as someone high up on a watch tower struck it, the sound ringing through the fort. It wasn't a dream then, that there was a wave of blue and silver soldiers coming, ready to take advantage of a wall that was bound to crumble soon. Were Atobe's fingers going to follow next, to pull down the second of the ringed walls?
Sanada needed no other words, already out of bed and pulling clothes on, fast from practice and together they ran for the wall.
-
“Prepare the catapults!” Jackal shouted, his voice carrying and the order spreading through the men that wound back the great catapults that lined the wall. The ones on the outer wall were being prepared as well, though the wall was going to collapse inevitably and take them with them. “Permission to use fire requested,” he asked, turning to look at Sanada who jerked his head in assent.
Not that Sanada was likely to object.
He could see Atobe, near the front of his forces, wrapped in an icy stillness that nevertheless drew Tezuka's gaze to him. Atobe seemed to be staring up at him and although there was such distance between them still, he saw the man look away.
The catapult loads were lit, great torches thrown into their piles and they waited for Jackal's signal. It came as a shouted “FIRE” and they were loosened, all three of them watching the burning stones fly through the air, hitting Atobe's forces hard.
But there was no magical fire that caught onto their skin and armour and drove them away this time, no magical fire that arced through the air and seemed to touch everyone and they could only watch on as the catapults rained down upon them but didn't stop them.
“Where is Yanagi?” Tezuka asked, looking around as Jackal shouted more commands. “He needs to move back into the Keep.” And away from all of this when Tezuka was so unsure of his intentions. It made him feel safer to not have the man watching him from the shadows.
“Find Advisor Yanagi and tell him to find a safe room,” Sanada ordered, nodding at Tezuka as the closest man ran off, off the wall and into the Keep.
There was nothing for them to do but wait and watch and Tezuka hated it. It was a slow, inexorable wave that moved closer, slowly chipped at by the rain of fire down upon them at Jackal's command. But still they drew closer and the fingers of ice spread slowly up the walls, even as Jackal ordered boiling tar poured down upon them.
It was magic, then, and seeing Atobe's proudly tilted head from a distance, Tezuka could almost imagine the smirk that must be twisting his lips upon his face.
And then he realised, as he heard more cracking of old, solid stone that shouldn't be breaking for a long time, what was going to happen next. He saw the fingers reach the top of the wall, and he moved.
“Get away from the walls! Pull back to the second level!” Tezuka suddenly shouted and Jackal looked at him in surprise before he echoed him. The men moved, with practiced efficiency and Tezuka heard the crack as the last men were moving off the wall. And in horror, they watched the front section of the wall crumble, pulled down by Atobe's icy fingers.
Sanada's expression was a mixture of horror and anger and Tezuka saw his fingers gripping the hilt of his sword so tightly in its sheath.
How long had it been since the outer wall had been breached?
He could hear Jackal's shouts for “pull back!”, but he barely registered them as the men ran through the first circle, pulling back to the second wall. The gate had been opened as they got into position for the start of the attack and it slowly started to shut as Atob'es forces hit the crumbled wall, climbing over the remains.
“I'm going down there, Genichirou. I can draw Atobe out and lead him away.” They both knew the breaching of the wall that had held up so long, was because of Atobe's presence there. And it changed things now.
There was so much reluctance in Sanada's expression and Tezuka loved him for it. But they both knew what had to be done, that what Tezuka was proposing was risky, but it was an idea rather than just sitting and watching Atobe pull down the second wall at his leisure. The man grasped his shoulder and Tezuka squeezed his forearm before he moved, heading down into the now breached outer ring.
With a torch in one hand and his sword in the other, Tezuka cut his way through the first group he came across, pushing them back from the second wall. There was ice following them that swiping the head of the torch across had no effect on, not that he expected any.
“Atobe, where are you?” Tezuka shouted, pulling his sword with twist and a squelch out of one body and kicking it aside. “Atobe!”
He should be near the head of the group, Tezuka knew that, if he was leading the spread of magic up the wall to take it down for all of his forces to follow him through Rikkai down to the forest. Tezuka could only imagine what they'd do to the trees of Minstrelsea to drag Niou out and he parried another blow, bringing the hilt of his sword down hard on the neck of another.
It was so easy to lose track of time, to not hear what was going on around him as he focused on one foe after another as he cut through them to find Atobe. There were other men there, he knew that, fighting in the bright livery of Rikkai and men that he knew as his own, but Tezuka barely paid them any mind, so singularly focused on his task.
He had to find Atobe.
He had to make a difference and help them hold this line.
He was so focused, he almost missed it, the sharp yip to get his attention and Tezuka looked up. There, just behind the group ahead was Niou's chubby fox, so out of place as it sat above the snow, insubstantial as ever, though just as wide.
It yipped at him again and perhaps he was dreaming as it stared at him with too bright, too intelligent eyes, its talk wagging. Tezuka wanted to laugh at it, for surely this was some kind of battle induced delusion.
It was madness, Tezuka decided, the idea that just came to him. But as he blocked another blow and he heard the cracking of the ice starting to climb the wall not too far distant, perhaps madness was his only chance.
He threw it, the torch in his hand, towards the fox and as it left his hand, the realisation of what a stupid thing he'd done occurred to him. But there was no time to waste thinking about that as he pulled out his dagger for his now freed hand, stabbing it immediately into someone's neck.
And then suddenly there was fire, catching alight the armour of the iced men around him and Tezuka could see them burning as he pushed them away and they screamed. And Tezuka could just see the burning of the flame and see the wispy, waving tail of the fox as it moved between them, too fast for his eyes to follow properly.
He didn't stop though, to try and figure out what was happening. Something was working, there was fire that was genuinely harming them and they suddenly feared, and Tezuka didn't hesitate to use it to his advantage.
The group of men were driven off with a few well placed blows and fox fire, and Tezuka took a moment to catch his breath as the remains retreated. The fox stood next to him, the torch held in its mouth, surely too heavy for it, but its tail was wagging and it looked so smugly at him in a way so reminiscent of its owner.
“You could have done that faster if you'd exercised before this,” Tezuka said reprovingly at it, but the fox didn't seem to mind too much.
Tezuka sighed and clenched his hand around the sword again. “Let's move again.”
-
Atobe found them, eventually.
He should have expected it, even as he searched through groups for him, trying to find the epicenter of the attack. Instead it found him, Atobe appearing from nowhere in front of him. And his fire wielding companion shrank back from him, cowering behind Tezuka.
“What's that dirty animal you've got with you, Tezuka?” Atobe asked, looking down at it. There was no move to attack him, though surely he'd done enough to deserve it by now. Tezuka held his sword tightly in his hand, waiting for the suddenly strike, even as he answered.
“It's a fox.”
Atobe moved, almost teleported behind him and swiped at it with his hand and the fox vanished, though Tezuka wasn't sure whether it was by his own will or by Atobe's. The torch fell to the ground, its flame quite unremarkable now. But Atobe hissed, pulling back, his face furious as Tezuka spun around.
“Niou.”
Tezuka didn't reply but somehow he thought Atobe didn't need one. The man's fingers clenched into a fist and he wondered at the lack of control that Niou seemed to cause Atobe, so different from the composed man Tezuka usually saw in his dreams and had met before those few times.
“He's going to keep doing this to your army, Atobe,” Tezuka said and Atobe looked at him furiously. “From his place in Minstrelsea to the south.” He spoke quickly, daring not to breathe as he did, so aware of the emptiness in the area around them and Tezuka could almost believe that they were in a dream again, just the two of them, if not for the sound of the fighting he could hear nearby though he couldn't see any, his focus entirely on Atobe.
It was his only chance, he realised, to push Atobe away from this location. Sanada and Jackal could hold this position, even with the first defence wall breached, they could hold their position and maybe push them back. But only if Tezuka managed to taunt Atobe into leaving. And surely, if that other man that Niou was so afraid of wasn't there... there was nothing to worry about.
It had only been Atobe performing the magic that Tezuka could see, the other man wasn't around. They had a chance.
They could separate Atobe from his forces and the overall threat to Rikkai would be manageable.
“You can't stop him if you stay here. You'll just remain ineffective and even after abandoning his position maintaining the barriers, Masaharu would have won.”
He didn't know where the words were coming from, certainly not ones he would have dared to say out loud himself, but say them he did, his heart racing with adrenaline.
He saw, almost in slow motion, Atobe puff up, his face flushing, surely spreading warmth underneath his icy cheeks, before he turned and disappeared into a swirl of snow and ice that vanished as he did.
Tezuka ran then, winding through the streets and cutting through men that hadn't seemed to notice the disappearance of their King and leader as they continued. It was surely magic that made him run that fast, sprinting up the stairs to the top of the wall where Sanada and Jackal were, watching the scene.
“Atobe's gone south, he's broken away and left his forces,” Tezuka said and barely noticed the wide eyed looks he was receiving as he breathed heavily, clutching his side.
It took just a few moments for Sanada to pull himself together and he nodded curtly. Surely Sanada had been thinking about this as a possibility with how quickly he started issuing commands, shouting down to the men around them, entrusting Jackal to move off and follow.
Had Sanada been planning privately, waiting for the inevitable and preparing strategies for it? Had he known somehow that it was going to come to this, even as he held fast to his stance to hold their position on the wall?
It didn't seem to matter so much now.
“Go south, Kunimitsu,” Sanada said, moving past him to pull out his own sword, as though he was going to take Tezuka's place down on the battlefield. “Chase after Atobe and cut him down. Get him out of my country.”
Tezuka was almost surprised that Sanada wasn't insisting on doing it himself. And then on the other hand, he was so grateful that he wasn't insisting and allowing Tezuka to do it instead. Tezuka nodded and a further look of understanding passed between them before they parted.
“We'll have to trade stories about what happened next time we see each other, brother,” Tezuka said and he could almost believe Sanada smiled as he moved to head down to to the battlefield and Tezuka did the same.
He needed a horse and supplies; he'd travel lightly, past the one day's ride to the edge of Minstrelsea and just hope that the forest would listen to him in getting him to Niou's place further to the south. Atobe was going to be traveling with magic, what was a horse in comparison to that?
He walked swiftly towards the stables, moving the soldiers he passed out of the way, not caring what they thought he was doing.
“General Tezuka!” Yanagi called suddenly appearing and catching onto his arm and stopping him in his tracks. “You can't go, it's foolish! Let Niou take care of himself, you're needed here.”
He shoved the man away, pulling his arm free in impatience. “Genichirou is more than capable of commanding here. I don't have time for this.”
“The tide could turn at any moment.” The hand was back on his arm, Tezuka's footsteps slowed again. “It could be a bluff, you need to stay here.”
It was then that the suspicion set in - how had the man known what was going on, where Tezuka was going and why, if he had been hidden in the Keep as he was meant to have done?
Tezuka stopped, looking at him and then he realised it wasn't the most important thing right now, it was just slowing him down. Yanagi's hand was overly cold, searing through the thick cloth on Tezuka's arm and he yanked his arm free again. He would deal with Yanagi and his suspicions properly later.
Tezuka pulled his dagger, pressing it against Yanagi's neck and stared at his eyes that were wide in shock. “I'm doing what is best. If you're afraid, continue to hide in the Keep but do not think to get in my way again. Let me pass.”
There was something frightening in Yanagi's expression as he stepped back, so reluctantly, a trickle of blood spreading down his neck from where Tezuka's knife had nicked his skin, but it didn't seem to bother the advisor at all.
Tezuka gave him one last glance before he turned and hurried away again, so aware of the staring piercing at his back as he ran away and the niggling feeling that he'd made a mistake by not dealing with this now.
He called for a horse, grabbing supplies and cleaning his sword as he went. There were men that were quick to follow his command and their questions on where he was going fell on deaf ears as Tezuka saddled up the horse quickly, pulling himself into the saddle and shouting for the south gate to be opened and closed immediately behind him.
Was he abandoning them and leaving them to their fate? Was he riding south to get reinforcements from somewhere? Tezuka couldn't answer, just shaking his head and kicking the horse forward, breaking away from the men around him.
And he left, pushing his horse fast along a path that he barely knew and wasn't marked, chasing behind a man whom he knew could travel so much faster than he could. It was madness, it was insanity that he was doing this and Tezuka was well aware of it. But still he pushed the horse again, leaning over its neck as they galloped through the countryside, in a direction Tezuka guessed at but he somehow knew had to be the correct one.
There was no spread of snow south as he'd expected, following behind Atobe; perhaps, he thought, the man was in too much of a hurry to focus on spreading signs of his magic behind him. Dealing with Niou was to be a quick job before he circled back around to come to the pass. Was it something he expected to take but a few hours?
How far ahead was he?
How quickly was Atobe traveling with magic?
Was he with Niou already?
… Could Niou hold him off? He'd been confident about dealing with just Atobe himself, but somehow Tezuka couldn't bring himself to believe that so easily, having seen what the man had done.
And surely Atobe was driven by rage which could only amplify his powers.
He didn't rest, pushing his horse at the fastest pace they could go, so mindful when they slowed to a walk, of how much distance was surely growing between himself and Atobe. But there were no wispy foxes to keep him company and no magic to speed his steps or those of his horse's. He shook from the adrenaline that pumped through his body, anxiously watching the dying light of the day.
But it was still faster to travel by himself than with a train of men behind him as last time and he saw the growing edges of the tree line as he pushed through the night, the light of the moon showing him the land ahead.
Niou had told him it was Minstrelsea because the trees sang together, like a sea of minstrels, but in the darkness of the night with only the stars and moon for light in front of him, he couldn't hear any singing from them. There was just a suffocating silence except for the sound of his horse and his own heavy breathing.
It was a miracle that his horse tripped on nothing and that they crashed into nothing, even while rashly breaking into a gallop for the nth time that day.
Perhaps it was also a miracle that they were traveling fast, faster really than they should have been able to, if Tezuka thought about it reasonably, how fatigue didn't seem to punish them as much.
Tezuka threw himself off the horse as they were paces from the tree line, making himself take a moment to unbridle and unsaddle the horse, making sure he had everything.
It was time wasted, he knew that. And he didn't have much time.
Surely Atobe had arrived long ago.
Tezuka ran into the forest, hoping, praying to whoever that the trees would listen to him and somehow he'd find himself where he wanted to be. He didn't know how it worked, had never asked Niou how it worked. There was no fox this time either, to make it easier.
When had he grown to be so dependent on Niou's foxes, he wondered.
The path was dark, if there was a path at all and Tezuka stumbled over roots and pushed branches from his face impatiently. The northern edge of the trees were rougher than those of the south that he'd spent so much time in in his dreams and surely it was hopeless to travel like this. He was days, weeks travel from where he knew Niou to be physically.
And it would be far too late then.
But then, so clearly that he almost wanted to weep in relief, the trees lightened and he stepped upon paths more familiar, as much smaller and cramped as they were than when he'd first seen them. Tezuka ran still, though he slowed down a little, his sides aching and his heart racing.
It was like his feet knew where to go, as he ran along the paths and headed towards the fort, past the clearing and into the other with the pool of water. It was iced over, he realised and felt his blood freeze as he stepped past it. There was now just the glint of cold ice instead of the sparkling waters he had come to know.
Different too was the lighting, that was normally daytime. It was still silent, and darker, though surely not as dark as it should be for the nighttime he knew it to be outside.
Thankfully, or perhaps not, there was no sign of a struggle in the clearing and he made his way to the door of the fort, still closed heavily as it always was. He'd never been inside, and he almost didn't want to go inside there now.
He pulled his sword free, warily taking the final few steps to the entrance. He didn't know what he would find in there - Atobe dead? Niou dead?
What would happen when they faced off against each other, for surely that was what they had done? He didn't know.
Were they upstairs? His steady footsteps on the stones of the ground were the loudest sound in there as he moved through the fort, trying to hear anything that might give him a hint. It was completely dark on the bottom floor and lifeless and it only make him more tense.
He moved up the stairs and there, at the end of the corridor was a light, finally. Tezuka made his way towards it, making his footsteps as light as possible, though the sound of them upon the stone still seemed overly loud. There were voices, murmuring that he could hear as he approached, but their words he couldn't distinguish.
The door was slightly ajar and the voices fell silent as he stopped outside the door, but there was no indication from the person - people? - inside of who it was.
His hand was shaking, he realised, as he pushed open the door, straining his muscles as he shifted the heavy weight.
…
What did he want to find on the other side of the door? What did he want greeting him?
If he was completely honest with himself, Tezuka didn't know the answer to that question.
-
It was the aftermath, as Yanagi stepped through the forest, pushing away the branches as they moved forward to try and stop him. His hand against them was enough, searing heat through the ancient creatures, making them recoil from him in a way that Yanagi didn't care about anymore. He was too focused on getting through, he would look at what he was doing later.
The attack on the fort had failed, as they had all foreseen, even with Tezuka abandoning his post partway through. Just the thought of Tezuka leaving and the way he had left made Yanagi pause and clench his fingers together.
The man himself had ruined everything and it filled Yanagi with rage. All of his carefully laid plans had been thrown into turmoil because of him. Coming to Rikkai had been predicted, although he'd pretended otherwise to Sanada and Yukimura.
But Tezuka becoming entangled with Niou?
That had been unexpected, for someone who normally foresaw everything and he hated it.
He dropped the topmost layer of his disguise, that of Yanagi the King's advisor and friend, dropping away at his feet to fade away into magic and he continued on.
The next of his identities had short black hair and glasses that he pushed up as he stepped neatly over a tree root and kept walking. This was Inui, the man who had stood by the side of Seigaku and pushed Tezuka north into the Higa territory patrol to first meet Atobe. That had been an unexpected infatuation, but it had been easy to manipulate, easy to force into growth once it had started.
He should have foreseen it then, perhaps, that Tezuka was a difficult person to predict. But the ease of which he'd been able to repair that damage had lulled him into compliancy.
Atobe had always been passionate and perhaps that had been the saving grace of that mess. Passionate despite trying to pretend otherwise with his cold outer shell that pushed people away as easily as he pulled Oshitari towards him.
Oshitari, who stepped out of the shell of Inui as it too fell to the ground and revealed his final self, the one who had stood by Atobe's side for so long, who had pushed him towards so much and allowed himself to be pulled into Atobe's circle of affections gladly.
Atobe who was easy to manipulate, so trusting of someone who had been his friend for so long. That had been no problem, though it had taken time to build up that relationship. It hadn't been a trial for him though, almost enjoyable if Oshitari allowed himself to linger on those thoughts as he walked through the forest.
At first Tezuka too had been easy to manipulate, if unpredictable and he'd been foolish to hope he'd always remain like that. He'd managed to so easily push the man into training with Sanada in his youth to form those strong bonds between the two men that Oshitari was so pleased to note had continued throughout their lives.
They'd both been good for each other, growing as young men together and forming such a stable relationship and bettering the other. Seeing the results of that in Sanada as he'd stood by him as Yanagi had been a pleasure and perhaps Oshitari admitted that he'd let himself get lost in that particular friendship even as he manipulated the man and bent his will to his own.
Sanada, Tezuka, Atobe... all easy people early on. Yukimura, he'd managed with.
Niou had been harder.
He'd known for a long time, he'd have to weaken Rikkai's defences, too strongly protected as they were by the circle of sorcerers for such a long time generations ago. He'd witnessed it himself, how easily the magical defences had repelled attacks, and combined with the strength of its military, the country truly was formidable.
It had taken slow, patient manipulations over generations, to place the trust of the country inside a single soul. It was stronger, he'd said, to tie it to the life and magic source of a single person. And indeed, in many ways it was, and it certainly appeared so to the people looking on.
More attacks repelled, and in the hypothetical situation in which they did fail, it would only be one person who was harmed by the magical backlash... not a whole group that they couldn't so easily replace.
He'd intended originally, a long time ago, to twist the sorcerer around his finger and to get them out of the picture, render them useless to the country. It was difficult to make the transfer of responsibilities without a death, Oshitari had made that intentionally. And so it would render the whole magical defences useless and so difficult to rebuild.
But Niou had been so unexpected and so much better. To begin with at least.
Difficult to manipulate. He'd tried, of course, but he hadn't needed to for that first step of pushing him away and getting the magical barriers to crumble.
He was so whimsical and against selling his life to the protection of a country, without any sort of input from Oshitari. For the sorcerer to vanish, all it had taken was a few carefully timed comments to fan the already budding flames, and he'd gone through with it.
Convincing him to stay in the fort hadn't been difficult either and that particular incident... it hadn't been a task he'd not enjoyed.
Of course it couldn't be that easy.
Of course Niou couldn't not interfere, however unintentionally with Oshitari's plans.
He should have pulled them away from the forest, the moment he knew Niou was close by and accessible, no matter Sanada's insistence that they stay close for their own protection. He should have blocked the dreams that Tezuka had, communicating with Niou... but he had learned about them too late and who would have thought that Tezuka of all people, would be communicating via dream with Niou?
Atobe, he could understand, as a man who liked to invade another's dreams and had been doing so for a lifetime. But Niou, who preferred his spirit messengers?
Unexpected too, were his own warm feelings towards Atobe, seeing him as a genuine friend instead of as someone he needed under his control to push so he could get his plans into place.
It had made it more difficult.
He disliked unexpected things, he had learned very reluctantly.
Oshitari stepped around the pond, sparkling in its water that lapped at the edges from a breeze that stirred from nowhere as he passed. There was no sign of ice in this clearing and that didn't bode well.
It had been a mess to lead them all here, to let them all gather here, one had hadn't wanted to happen. He didn't know what had happened, he had no way of foreseeing what could have happened.
He knew what he wanted, what he needed to happen for him to start pushing into the next stage. But it had been such a mess... surely he couldn't hope that it had worked with everything that had gone wrong.
Manipulating people and getting what he wanted had never been so difficult before, and he'd done it many times for so many years and in so many different places.
He didn't know if he hated it or enjoyed the challenge, if he was honest.
The door opened easily and there was magic around them, that he could feel and Oshitari pushed past so easily. He could taste Atobe's magic in the air, something he was so intimately familiar with. Niou's was there as well, and Oshitari frowned slightly as he stepped through the fort.
He followed the trail, of emotions, intimacy... lust, he realised, and magic that hung heavy over everything like some thick smothering layer that even Oshitari couldn't push aside.
Oshitari should have expected it, having felt the emotions that spread through the fort, but he still stared as he came upon the sight: the tangle of limbs, the sweat streaked skin and his gaze lingered on Atobe's face, flushed in a way that it hadn't been for a long time, even from his visits with Tezuka.
There were hands everywhere, hot trails of lips on flushed skin and surely they should have noticed him, even cloaking himself with magic, but they were all so distracted, and for that he was thankful as he stood and watched for longer than he should have.
He wondered how it had come to this, with Niou all but plastered on top of Atobe, hands in his hair and mouth against his own and Tezuka behind them both. But he supposed he'd never know, and it wasn't so important, no matter how curious he was, for him to find out.
He laughed to himself, quietly, and turned around, stepping through the fort swiftly and shutting the door behind him, locking it with his magic.
That result worked as well, he supposed and he laughed again.
-
The country was green, in the midst of summer as Oshitari stepped onto its shores, a prosperity that spoke of a great recovery after a soiled history of war and bloodshed.
He took his time, wandering through the country, unseen by its residents that didn't stop to pay attention to him and Oshitari found he didn't mind at all.
The castle was simple, structured and it didn't take long for him to be allowed into the throne room as he finally made his way there. He looked upon the inhabitants of the throne room and nodded his head at them.
The two leaders of the country were there together, as they always were, sharing an intimacy that Oshitari could only find himself envying slightly as he looked upon them.
“It's done. It was successful,” he said. There was no bowing, no formalities and it didn't seem important now as he stared boldly at them and they looked back at him.
“Atobe has been taken care of, Rikkai is open and defenceless... and Seigaku will follow soon with Tezuka gone. As you wanted.”
It didn't seem important to mention that Atobe and Niou were still around... they weren't going to bother them anymore, he could see that, lost in the magic of the fort as they were. Perhaps he would join them one day, when he grew tired of his manipulations and games, lose himself in the fort as well.
But for now, he was still enjoying the real world and what he could do here.
There were twin looks of joy growing on the men's faces and they turned to each other to clasp their hands together. Oshitari watched on impassively, noted down their interactions for surely it would come in use later on.
“Do you hear that?”
“It's time, Masami. Time for Yamabuki to again make advances to expand our Empire. Rikkai held us back before, but this time we'll be successful.”
There was hand squeezing and twin smiles and Oshitari had to bite his lip to stop himself from smiling as well.
“Yes, Kentarou. The whole world will be Jimi.”
-
FIN
Author: Mathias
Recipient: sagely_sea
Pairing/Characters: Tezuka, Atobe, Niou, Oshitari … + others
Rating: R
Warnings: … None?
Disclaimer: I own nothing
Summary: Tezuka is trying to go on a quest, but keeps getting delayed by people wanting to get in his pants As Atobe invades Rikkai, General Tezuka from Seigaku offers his aid in defending the country and pushing the Ice King back.
“Thank you for coming to our aid,” Tezuka said, as he reached out to grasp Niou's shoulder, seeing the all to smug expression on Niou's face.
It was a dream again and Tezuka should have expected it, as he fell asleep that night. It did make him wonder whether it was Niou initiating the dream meetings or... there was the crazy idea that it was himself responsible.
Either way, Niou didn't seem to particularly mind his appearance there, nor did Tezuka, he realised.
“It was worth it. I couldn't just let you be skewered by some kind of Hyotei underling, that would have been really unfortunate.” Niou was still grinning though as he said it and it was difficult to take his words too seriously.
Tezuka moved to run his fingers through the shorn hair at the back of Niou's head, running the pads of his fingers over the back of his neck and seeing Niou hunch his shoulders uncomfortably.
That just made him want to touch it more to see him squirm.
“Did Atobe cut your hair?”
Niou frowned at the question. “We met. And yes, he did.” Niou waved his hand though, and the hair reappeared, though it felt insubstantial as Tezuka touched it, the ends trailing into the wisps that were so reminiscent of the foxes.
There were no foxes around this time, the clearing they seemed to always meet in seeming much quieter and emptier without the sight of the animals around them.
“In real life or in your dreams?” He'd felt the hair as he'd held onto it and it had felt so real and as he clenched his fingers now, he could remember clearly the feeling of them cutting into his palms.
That question was greeted with a grin and Tezuka was suddenly aware that he knew nothing of magic. “Who says dreams aren't real, Kunimitsu? What defines it?”
Tezuka had no answer for that, but Niou didn't seem to be expecting one as he just smiled and sat back, leaning against Tezuka's legs.
“It was just in dreams that he cut my hair. My hair in real life is still there, he can't touch me there.” There was a touch of that overconfidence that had Tezuka biting his tongue. “I had to let him, anyway. I needed something of myself there and the hair was the easiest.”
Niou cackled to himself and tilted his head back to look up at him. “He seemed really irritated, somehow he seemed to know that you liked touching my hair.”
Tezuka looked down at him and frowned slightly. “I'm sure you made sure to tell him.” The shrug and the vague smile was enough to give him an answer and Tezuka just frowned some more.
They fell into silence then, Tezuka's fingers automatically moving to run through Niou's hair and Niou's eyes closed, leaning back more against the steady legs behind him, and it seemed like almost a crime to have such a silent moment of enjoyment between them in such a tranquil environment so far removed from the fort and the snow and just... something that Tezuka knew was drawing inexorably nearer.
“We think Atobe is coming south to meet you in person,” Tezuka said, finally breaking the silence and Niou's eyes opened into slits, gazing steadily at the spot in front of him.
“I know. I think he is too.”
“Can you hold yourself against him?” Tezuka didn't know what Niou was capable of, despite all the stories and what he'd been told. He also, if he was truthful with himself, didn't know the full extent of what Atobe was capable of.
Niou snorted and then fell quiet, his gaze becoming distant. “It's not Atobe I'm worried about. Him, I can handle.”
There was no need to ask who it was Niou worried about, he knew the answer to that already. The mysterious other man, who stood behind Atobe and none of them knew about.
“Do you think both of them are coming?”
Niou shrugged. “Probably. I don't see why Atobe would just come by himself?”
For someone who apparently was worried, Niou seemed remarkably calm, leaning back into Tezuka more. Tezuka petted his hair some more and if he tried hard enough, he thought he could feel the edge where Niou's magic met the tips of his cut hair.
“What are you doing about it?” Was Niou doing anything at all? Or was he just planning on sitting in his forest and waiting?
“I'm getting ready, don't worry. I'll be prepared.” Niou's smile was still confident as he tilted his head back to look up at Tezuka and for a moment, he wondered exactly what it was that Atobe was going to meet when he arrived there. “You can probably notice it for yourself if you look.”
As he looked around at Niou's words, Tezuka did indeed see the forest was darker than it normally was, in all the past times he'd been there with him. The trees almost seemed closer together, as though they were forming some kind of protective shelter with Niou as its epicenter.
He wondered if the same was happening with the physical forest that surrounded Niou in the real world... and then he wondered if it mattered at all, if dreams and reality were the same thing.
“Do I need to worry about you?” Tezuka asked and he didn't know how to feel when Niou laughed a bit.
Niou finally moved, reaching his arms up to pull Tezuka down. “Atobe still wants you, right? I think you should worry about yourself more.”
-
When he met Atobe, it was on the edges of the pass, overlooking the fort where he'd seen him what seemed like a lifetime ago. Atobe seemed surprised to see him, which confused Tezuka - wasn't Atobe the one that usually pulled him into his dreams and should be expecting him?
“Are you here already, Atobe?” he asked. It was better not to show any reaction to the surprise, which vanished quickly enough anyway, settling into the usual haughty exterior Atobe showed.
“I won't be staying long.”
Tezuka looked towards the first of the outside walls of defence of the fort and saw the fingers of ice creeping up the walls and he could almost imagine as they reached the top, the wall was going to come crashing down.
Even worse though, was the swarm of men, clad in the blue and silver of Hyotei, coming towards them and Tezuka glanced at Atobe's face, the coldness of his expression and the glint of triumph that Tezuka knew all too well.
“Keigo.” That got Atobe's attention on him. “This is unnecessary.”
“That sorcerer has been annoying me long enough. I'm getting rid of him. You'd do well to stay out of my way, Tezuka.”
It was such an impulsive thing to do and as he tried to figure out why he'd done it... he didn't know; but he reached out to grab Atobe by the arm, catching the man's attention.
“I'll meet you in Hyotei. Leave Rikkai alone.”
It was almost like it wasn't him talking, to be so impulsive. But it was and he didn't take the words back or let go or Atobe's arm, digging his fingers in slightly to the cold flesh, seeing the troubled look on Atobe's face.
“I'm only interested in dealing with one unimportant person in Rikkai. It's not great loss to you.”
Tezuka heard the first ominous crack of the wall and forcibly pulled himself out of the dream, his fingers clenching around thin air as he awoke. And the cracking sound was real, perhaps worse as he heard it outside. He knew what was just behind it and he threw off his sheets as he moved to dress and quickly hurry to Sanada's room down the hallway.
The door was heavy and the man was thankfully in the room, though perhaps Tezuka would have preferred it more if Sanada was awake already and on the walls of the fort. Even so, the door opening was enough to wake him up and Tezuka was inwardly pleased to see a knife appearing from nowhere in Sanada's hand as he sat up, his eyes alert and he sighed loudly as he saw Tezuka standing in the doorway.
“What is the matter?” he asked, still warily holding the knife and not quite prepared to put it down yet. There could be another enemy, Tezuka was aware, they'd received the same training after all. How many times had they awoken each other in the night to test one another?
But it wasn't important, as Tezuka's heart raced from the remnants of his conversation with Atobe in the dreamscape and he was so aware of the coolness of the air against his heated skin the drops of sweat.
“Genichirou.”
But before he could speak, there was suddenly the loud ringing of the alarm bell as someone high up on a watch tower struck it, the sound ringing through the fort. It wasn't a dream then, that there was a wave of blue and silver soldiers coming, ready to take advantage of a wall that was bound to crumble soon. Were Atobe's fingers going to follow next, to pull down the second of the ringed walls?
Sanada needed no other words, already out of bed and pulling clothes on, fast from practice and together they ran for the wall.
-
“Prepare the catapults!” Jackal shouted, his voice carrying and the order spreading through the men that wound back the great catapults that lined the wall. The ones on the outer wall were being prepared as well, though the wall was going to collapse inevitably and take them with them. “Permission to use fire requested,” he asked, turning to look at Sanada who jerked his head in assent.
Not that Sanada was likely to object.
He could see Atobe, near the front of his forces, wrapped in an icy stillness that nevertheless drew Tezuka's gaze to him. Atobe seemed to be staring up at him and although there was such distance between them still, he saw the man look away.
The catapult loads were lit, great torches thrown into their piles and they waited for Jackal's signal. It came as a shouted “FIRE” and they were loosened, all three of them watching the burning stones fly through the air, hitting Atobe's forces hard.
But there was no magical fire that caught onto their skin and armour and drove them away this time, no magical fire that arced through the air and seemed to touch everyone and they could only watch on as the catapults rained down upon them but didn't stop them.
“Where is Yanagi?” Tezuka asked, looking around as Jackal shouted more commands. “He needs to move back into the Keep.” And away from all of this when Tezuka was so unsure of his intentions. It made him feel safer to not have the man watching him from the shadows.
“Find Advisor Yanagi and tell him to find a safe room,” Sanada ordered, nodding at Tezuka as the closest man ran off, off the wall and into the Keep.
There was nothing for them to do but wait and watch and Tezuka hated it. It was a slow, inexorable wave that moved closer, slowly chipped at by the rain of fire down upon them at Jackal's command. But still they drew closer and the fingers of ice spread slowly up the walls, even as Jackal ordered boiling tar poured down upon them.
It was magic, then, and seeing Atobe's proudly tilted head from a distance, Tezuka could almost imagine the smirk that must be twisting his lips upon his face.
And then he realised, as he heard more cracking of old, solid stone that shouldn't be breaking for a long time, what was going to happen next. He saw the fingers reach the top of the wall, and he moved.
“Get away from the walls! Pull back to the second level!” Tezuka suddenly shouted and Jackal looked at him in surprise before he echoed him. The men moved, with practiced efficiency and Tezuka heard the crack as the last men were moving off the wall. And in horror, they watched the front section of the wall crumble, pulled down by Atobe's icy fingers.
Sanada's expression was a mixture of horror and anger and Tezuka saw his fingers gripping the hilt of his sword so tightly in its sheath.
How long had it been since the outer wall had been breached?
He could hear Jackal's shouts for “pull back!”, but he barely registered them as the men ran through the first circle, pulling back to the second wall. The gate had been opened as they got into position for the start of the attack and it slowly started to shut as Atob'es forces hit the crumbled wall, climbing over the remains.
“I'm going down there, Genichirou. I can draw Atobe out and lead him away.” They both knew the breaching of the wall that had held up so long, was because of Atobe's presence there. And it changed things now.
There was so much reluctance in Sanada's expression and Tezuka loved him for it. But they both knew what had to be done, that what Tezuka was proposing was risky, but it was an idea rather than just sitting and watching Atobe pull down the second wall at his leisure. The man grasped his shoulder and Tezuka squeezed his forearm before he moved, heading down into the now breached outer ring.
With a torch in one hand and his sword in the other, Tezuka cut his way through the first group he came across, pushing them back from the second wall. There was ice following them that swiping the head of the torch across had no effect on, not that he expected any.
“Atobe, where are you?” Tezuka shouted, pulling his sword with twist and a squelch out of one body and kicking it aside. “Atobe!”
He should be near the head of the group, Tezuka knew that, if he was leading the spread of magic up the wall to take it down for all of his forces to follow him through Rikkai down to the forest. Tezuka could only imagine what they'd do to the trees of Minstrelsea to drag Niou out and he parried another blow, bringing the hilt of his sword down hard on the neck of another.
It was so easy to lose track of time, to not hear what was going on around him as he focused on one foe after another as he cut through them to find Atobe. There were other men there, he knew that, fighting in the bright livery of Rikkai and men that he knew as his own, but Tezuka barely paid them any mind, so singularly focused on his task.
He had to find Atobe.
He had to make a difference and help them hold this line.
He was so focused, he almost missed it, the sharp yip to get his attention and Tezuka looked up. There, just behind the group ahead was Niou's chubby fox, so out of place as it sat above the snow, insubstantial as ever, though just as wide.
It yipped at him again and perhaps he was dreaming as it stared at him with too bright, too intelligent eyes, its talk wagging. Tezuka wanted to laugh at it, for surely this was some kind of battle induced delusion.
It was madness, Tezuka decided, the idea that just came to him. But as he blocked another blow and he heard the cracking of the ice starting to climb the wall not too far distant, perhaps madness was his only chance.
He threw it, the torch in his hand, towards the fox and as it left his hand, the realisation of what a stupid thing he'd done occurred to him. But there was no time to waste thinking about that as he pulled out his dagger for his now freed hand, stabbing it immediately into someone's neck.
And then suddenly there was fire, catching alight the armour of the iced men around him and Tezuka could see them burning as he pushed them away and they screamed. And Tezuka could just see the burning of the flame and see the wispy, waving tail of the fox as it moved between them, too fast for his eyes to follow properly.
He didn't stop though, to try and figure out what was happening. Something was working, there was fire that was genuinely harming them and they suddenly feared, and Tezuka didn't hesitate to use it to his advantage.
The group of men were driven off with a few well placed blows and fox fire, and Tezuka took a moment to catch his breath as the remains retreated. The fox stood next to him, the torch held in its mouth, surely too heavy for it, but its tail was wagging and it looked so smugly at him in a way so reminiscent of its owner.
“You could have done that faster if you'd exercised before this,” Tezuka said reprovingly at it, but the fox didn't seem to mind too much.
Tezuka sighed and clenched his hand around the sword again. “Let's move again.”
-
Atobe found them, eventually.
He should have expected it, even as he searched through groups for him, trying to find the epicenter of the attack. Instead it found him, Atobe appearing from nowhere in front of him. And his fire wielding companion shrank back from him, cowering behind Tezuka.
“What's that dirty animal you've got with you, Tezuka?” Atobe asked, looking down at it. There was no move to attack him, though surely he'd done enough to deserve it by now. Tezuka held his sword tightly in his hand, waiting for the suddenly strike, even as he answered.
“It's a fox.”
Atobe moved, almost teleported behind him and swiped at it with his hand and the fox vanished, though Tezuka wasn't sure whether it was by his own will or by Atobe's. The torch fell to the ground, its flame quite unremarkable now. But Atobe hissed, pulling back, his face furious as Tezuka spun around.
“Niou.”
Tezuka didn't reply but somehow he thought Atobe didn't need one. The man's fingers clenched into a fist and he wondered at the lack of control that Niou seemed to cause Atobe, so different from the composed man Tezuka usually saw in his dreams and had met before those few times.
“He's going to keep doing this to your army, Atobe,” Tezuka said and Atobe looked at him furiously. “From his place in Minstrelsea to the south.” He spoke quickly, daring not to breathe as he did, so aware of the emptiness in the area around them and Tezuka could almost believe that they were in a dream again, just the two of them, if not for the sound of the fighting he could hear nearby though he couldn't see any, his focus entirely on Atobe.
It was his only chance, he realised, to push Atobe away from this location. Sanada and Jackal could hold this position, even with the first defence wall breached, they could hold their position and maybe push them back. But only if Tezuka managed to taunt Atobe into leaving. And surely, if that other man that Niou was so afraid of wasn't there... there was nothing to worry about.
It had only been Atobe performing the magic that Tezuka could see, the other man wasn't around. They had a chance.
They could separate Atobe from his forces and the overall threat to Rikkai would be manageable.
“You can't stop him if you stay here. You'll just remain ineffective and even after abandoning his position maintaining the barriers, Masaharu would have won.”
He didn't know where the words were coming from, certainly not ones he would have dared to say out loud himself, but say them he did, his heart racing with adrenaline.
He saw, almost in slow motion, Atobe puff up, his face flushing, surely spreading warmth underneath his icy cheeks, before he turned and disappeared into a swirl of snow and ice that vanished as he did.
Tezuka ran then, winding through the streets and cutting through men that hadn't seemed to notice the disappearance of their King and leader as they continued. It was surely magic that made him run that fast, sprinting up the stairs to the top of the wall where Sanada and Jackal were, watching the scene.
“Atobe's gone south, he's broken away and left his forces,” Tezuka said and barely noticed the wide eyed looks he was receiving as he breathed heavily, clutching his side.
It took just a few moments for Sanada to pull himself together and he nodded curtly. Surely Sanada had been thinking about this as a possibility with how quickly he started issuing commands, shouting down to the men around them, entrusting Jackal to move off and follow.
Had Sanada been planning privately, waiting for the inevitable and preparing strategies for it? Had he known somehow that it was going to come to this, even as he held fast to his stance to hold their position on the wall?
It didn't seem to matter so much now.
“Go south, Kunimitsu,” Sanada said, moving past him to pull out his own sword, as though he was going to take Tezuka's place down on the battlefield. “Chase after Atobe and cut him down. Get him out of my country.”
Tezuka was almost surprised that Sanada wasn't insisting on doing it himself. And then on the other hand, he was so grateful that he wasn't insisting and allowing Tezuka to do it instead. Tezuka nodded and a further look of understanding passed between them before they parted.
“We'll have to trade stories about what happened next time we see each other, brother,” Tezuka said and he could almost believe Sanada smiled as he moved to head down to to the battlefield and Tezuka did the same.
He needed a horse and supplies; he'd travel lightly, past the one day's ride to the edge of Minstrelsea and just hope that the forest would listen to him in getting him to Niou's place further to the south. Atobe was going to be traveling with magic, what was a horse in comparison to that?
He walked swiftly towards the stables, moving the soldiers he passed out of the way, not caring what they thought he was doing.
“General Tezuka!” Yanagi called suddenly appearing and catching onto his arm and stopping him in his tracks. “You can't go, it's foolish! Let Niou take care of himself, you're needed here.”
He shoved the man away, pulling his arm free in impatience. “Genichirou is more than capable of commanding here. I don't have time for this.”
“The tide could turn at any moment.” The hand was back on his arm, Tezuka's footsteps slowed again. “It could be a bluff, you need to stay here.”
It was then that the suspicion set in - how had the man known what was going on, where Tezuka was going and why, if he had been hidden in the Keep as he was meant to have done?
Tezuka stopped, looking at him and then he realised it wasn't the most important thing right now, it was just slowing him down. Yanagi's hand was overly cold, searing through the thick cloth on Tezuka's arm and he yanked his arm free again. He would deal with Yanagi and his suspicions properly later.
Tezuka pulled his dagger, pressing it against Yanagi's neck and stared at his eyes that were wide in shock. “I'm doing what is best. If you're afraid, continue to hide in the Keep but do not think to get in my way again. Let me pass.”
There was something frightening in Yanagi's expression as he stepped back, so reluctantly, a trickle of blood spreading down his neck from where Tezuka's knife had nicked his skin, but it didn't seem to bother the advisor at all.
Tezuka gave him one last glance before he turned and hurried away again, so aware of the staring piercing at his back as he ran away and the niggling feeling that he'd made a mistake by not dealing with this now.
He called for a horse, grabbing supplies and cleaning his sword as he went. There were men that were quick to follow his command and their questions on where he was going fell on deaf ears as Tezuka saddled up the horse quickly, pulling himself into the saddle and shouting for the south gate to be opened and closed immediately behind him.
Was he abandoning them and leaving them to their fate? Was he riding south to get reinforcements from somewhere? Tezuka couldn't answer, just shaking his head and kicking the horse forward, breaking away from the men around him.
And he left, pushing his horse fast along a path that he barely knew and wasn't marked, chasing behind a man whom he knew could travel so much faster than he could. It was madness, it was insanity that he was doing this and Tezuka was well aware of it. But still he pushed the horse again, leaning over its neck as they galloped through the countryside, in a direction Tezuka guessed at but he somehow knew had to be the correct one.
There was no spread of snow south as he'd expected, following behind Atobe; perhaps, he thought, the man was in too much of a hurry to focus on spreading signs of his magic behind him. Dealing with Niou was to be a quick job before he circled back around to come to the pass. Was it something he expected to take but a few hours?
How far ahead was he?
How quickly was Atobe traveling with magic?
Was he with Niou already?
… Could Niou hold him off? He'd been confident about dealing with just Atobe himself, but somehow Tezuka couldn't bring himself to believe that so easily, having seen what the man had done.
And surely Atobe was driven by rage which could only amplify his powers.
He didn't rest, pushing his horse at the fastest pace they could go, so mindful when they slowed to a walk, of how much distance was surely growing between himself and Atobe. But there were no wispy foxes to keep him company and no magic to speed his steps or those of his horse's. He shook from the adrenaline that pumped through his body, anxiously watching the dying light of the day.
But it was still faster to travel by himself than with a train of men behind him as last time and he saw the growing edges of the tree line as he pushed through the night, the light of the moon showing him the land ahead.
Niou had told him it was Minstrelsea because the trees sang together, like a sea of minstrels, but in the darkness of the night with only the stars and moon for light in front of him, he couldn't hear any singing from them. There was just a suffocating silence except for the sound of his horse and his own heavy breathing.
It was a miracle that his horse tripped on nothing and that they crashed into nothing, even while rashly breaking into a gallop for the nth time that day.
Perhaps it was also a miracle that they were traveling fast, faster really than they should have been able to, if Tezuka thought about it reasonably, how fatigue didn't seem to punish them as much.
Tezuka threw himself off the horse as they were paces from the tree line, making himself take a moment to unbridle and unsaddle the horse, making sure he had everything.
It was time wasted, he knew that. And he didn't have much time.
Surely Atobe had arrived long ago.
Tezuka ran into the forest, hoping, praying to whoever that the trees would listen to him and somehow he'd find himself where he wanted to be. He didn't know how it worked, had never asked Niou how it worked. There was no fox this time either, to make it easier.
When had he grown to be so dependent on Niou's foxes, he wondered.
The path was dark, if there was a path at all and Tezuka stumbled over roots and pushed branches from his face impatiently. The northern edge of the trees were rougher than those of the south that he'd spent so much time in in his dreams and surely it was hopeless to travel like this. He was days, weeks travel from where he knew Niou to be physically.
And it would be far too late then.
But then, so clearly that he almost wanted to weep in relief, the trees lightened and he stepped upon paths more familiar, as much smaller and cramped as they were than when he'd first seen them. Tezuka ran still, though he slowed down a little, his sides aching and his heart racing.
It was like his feet knew where to go, as he ran along the paths and headed towards the fort, past the clearing and into the other with the pool of water. It was iced over, he realised and felt his blood freeze as he stepped past it. There was now just the glint of cold ice instead of the sparkling waters he had come to know.
Different too was the lighting, that was normally daytime. It was still silent, and darker, though surely not as dark as it should be for the nighttime he knew it to be outside.
Thankfully, or perhaps not, there was no sign of a struggle in the clearing and he made his way to the door of the fort, still closed heavily as it always was. He'd never been inside, and he almost didn't want to go inside there now.
He pulled his sword free, warily taking the final few steps to the entrance. He didn't know what he would find in there - Atobe dead? Niou dead?
What would happen when they faced off against each other, for surely that was what they had done? He didn't know.
Were they upstairs? His steady footsteps on the stones of the ground were the loudest sound in there as he moved through the fort, trying to hear anything that might give him a hint. It was completely dark on the bottom floor and lifeless and it only make him more tense.
He moved up the stairs and there, at the end of the corridor was a light, finally. Tezuka made his way towards it, making his footsteps as light as possible, though the sound of them upon the stone still seemed overly loud. There were voices, murmuring that he could hear as he approached, but their words he couldn't distinguish.
The door was slightly ajar and the voices fell silent as he stopped outside the door, but there was no indication from the person - people? - inside of who it was.
His hand was shaking, he realised, as he pushed open the door, straining his muscles as he shifted the heavy weight.
…
What did he want to find on the other side of the door? What did he want greeting him?
If he was completely honest with himself, Tezuka didn't know the answer to that question.
-
It was the aftermath, as Yanagi stepped through the forest, pushing away the branches as they moved forward to try and stop him. His hand against them was enough, searing heat through the ancient creatures, making them recoil from him in a way that Yanagi didn't care about anymore. He was too focused on getting through, he would look at what he was doing later.
The attack on the fort had failed, as they had all foreseen, even with Tezuka abandoning his post partway through. Just the thought of Tezuka leaving and the way he had left made Yanagi pause and clench his fingers together.
The man himself had ruined everything and it filled Yanagi with rage. All of his carefully laid plans had been thrown into turmoil because of him. Coming to Rikkai had been predicted, although he'd pretended otherwise to Sanada and Yukimura.
But Tezuka becoming entangled with Niou?
That had been unexpected, for someone who normally foresaw everything and he hated it.
He dropped the topmost layer of his disguise, that of Yanagi the King's advisor and friend, dropping away at his feet to fade away into magic and he continued on.
The next of his identities had short black hair and glasses that he pushed up as he stepped neatly over a tree root and kept walking. This was Inui, the man who had stood by the side of Seigaku and pushed Tezuka north into the Higa territory patrol to first meet Atobe. That had been an unexpected infatuation, but it had been easy to manipulate, easy to force into growth once it had started.
He should have foreseen it then, perhaps, that Tezuka was a difficult person to predict. But the ease of which he'd been able to repair that damage had lulled him into compliancy.
Atobe had always been passionate and perhaps that had been the saving grace of that mess. Passionate despite trying to pretend otherwise with his cold outer shell that pushed people away as easily as he pulled Oshitari towards him.
Oshitari, who stepped out of the shell of Inui as it too fell to the ground and revealed his final self, the one who had stood by Atobe's side for so long, who had pushed him towards so much and allowed himself to be pulled into Atobe's circle of affections gladly.
Atobe who was easy to manipulate, so trusting of someone who had been his friend for so long. That had been no problem, though it had taken time to build up that relationship. It hadn't been a trial for him though, almost enjoyable if Oshitari allowed himself to linger on those thoughts as he walked through the forest.
At first Tezuka too had been easy to manipulate, if unpredictable and he'd been foolish to hope he'd always remain like that. He'd managed to so easily push the man into training with Sanada in his youth to form those strong bonds between the two men that Oshitari was so pleased to note had continued throughout their lives.
They'd both been good for each other, growing as young men together and forming such a stable relationship and bettering the other. Seeing the results of that in Sanada as he'd stood by him as Yanagi had been a pleasure and perhaps Oshitari admitted that he'd let himself get lost in that particular friendship even as he manipulated the man and bent his will to his own.
Sanada, Tezuka, Atobe... all easy people early on. Yukimura, he'd managed with.
Niou had been harder.
He'd known for a long time, he'd have to weaken Rikkai's defences, too strongly protected as they were by the circle of sorcerers for such a long time generations ago. He'd witnessed it himself, how easily the magical defences had repelled attacks, and combined with the strength of its military, the country truly was formidable.
It had taken slow, patient manipulations over generations, to place the trust of the country inside a single soul. It was stronger, he'd said, to tie it to the life and magic source of a single person. And indeed, in many ways it was, and it certainly appeared so to the people looking on.
More attacks repelled, and in the hypothetical situation in which they did fail, it would only be one person who was harmed by the magical backlash... not a whole group that they couldn't so easily replace.
He'd intended originally, a long time ago, to twist the sorcerer around his finger and to get them out of the picture, render them useless to the country. It was difficult to make the transfer of responsibilities without a death, Oshitari had made that intentionally. And so it would render the whole magical defences useless and so difficult to rebuild.
But Niou had been so unexpected and so much better. To begin with at least.
Difficult to manipulate. He'd tried, of course, but he hadn't needed to for that first step of pushing him away and getting the magical barriers to crumble.
He was so whimsical and against selling his life to the protection of a country, without any sort of input from Oshitari. For the sorcerer to vanish, all it had taken was a few carefully timed comments to fan the already budding flames, and he'd gone through with it.
Convincing him to stay in the fort hadn't been difficult either and that particular incident... it hadn't been a task he'd not enjoyed.
Of course it couldn't be that easy.
Of course Niou couldn't not interfere, however unintentionally with Oshitari's plans.
He should have pulled them away from the forest, the moment he knew Niou was close by and accessible, no matter Sanada's insistence that they stay close for their own protection. He should have blocked the dreams that Tezuka had, communicating with Niou... but he had learned about them too late and who would have thought that Tezuka of all people, would be communicating via dream with Niou?
Atobe, he could understand, as a man who liked to invade another's dreams and had been doing so for a lifetime. But Niou, who preferred his spirit messengers?
Unexpected too, were his own warm feelings towards Atobe, seeing him as a genuine friend instead of as someone he needed under his control to push so he could get his plans into place.
It had made it more difficult.
He disliked unexpected things, he had learned very reluctantly.
Oshitari stepped around the pond, sparkling in its water that lapped at the edges from a breeze that stirred from nowhere as he passed. There was no sign of ice in this clearing and that didn't bode well.
It had been a mess to lead them all here, to let them all gather here, one had hadn't wanted to happen. He didn't know what had happened, he had no way of foreseeing what could have happened.
He knew what he wanted, what he needed to happen for him to start pushing into the next stage. But it had been such a mess... surely he couldn't hope that it had worked with everything that had gone wrong.
Manipulating people and getting what he wanted had never been so difficult before, and he'd done it many times for so many years and in so many different places.
He didn't know if he hated it or enjoyed the challenge, if he was honest.
The door opened easily and there was magic around them, that he could feel and Oshitari pushed past so easily. He could taste Atobe's magic in the air, something he was so intimately familiar with. Niou's was there as well, and Oshitari frowned slightly as he stepped through the fort.
He followed the trail, of emotions, intimacy... lust, he realised, and magic that hung heavy over everything like some thick smothering layer that even Oshitari couldn't push aside.
Oshitari should have expected it, having felt the emotions that spread through the fort, but he still stared as he came upon the sight: the tangle of limbs, the sweat streaked skin and his gaze lingered on Atobe's face, flushed in a way that it hadn't been for a long time, even from his visits with Tezuka.
There were hands everywhere, hot trails of lips on flushed skin and surely they should have noticed him, even cloaking himself with magic, but they were all so distracted, and for that he was thankful as he stood and watched for longer than he should have.
He wondered how it had come to this, with Niou all but plastered on top of Atobe, hands in his hair and mouth against his own and Tezuka behind them both. But he supposed he'd never know, and it wasn't so important, no matter how curious he was, for him to find out.
He laughed to himself, quietly, and turned around, stepping through the fort swiftly and shutting the door behind him, locking it with his magic.
That result worked as well, he supposed and he laughed again.
-
The country was green, in the midst of summer as Oshitari stepped onto its shores, a prosperity that spoke of a great recovery after a soiled history of war and bloodshed.
He took his time, wandering through the country, unseen by its residents that didn't stop to pay attention to him and Oshitari found he didn't mind at all.
The castle was simple, structured and it didn't take long for him to be allowed into the throne room as he finally made his way there. He looked upon the inhabitants of the throne room and nodded his head at them.
The two leaders of the country were there together, as they always were, sharing an intimacy that Oshitari could only find himself envying slightly as he looked upon them.
“It's done. It was successful,” he said. There was no bowing, no formalities and it didn't seem important now as he stared boldly at them and they looked back at him.
“Atobe has been taken care of, Rikkai is open and defenceless... and Seigaku will follow soon with Tezuka gone. As you wanted.”
It didn't seem important to mention that Atobe and Niou were still around... they weren't going to bother them anymore, he could see that, lost in the magic of the fort as they were. Perhaps he would join them one day, when he grew tired of his manipulations and games, lose himself in the fort as well.
But for now, he was still enjoying the real world and what he could do here.
There were twin looks of joy growing on the men's faces and they turned to each other to clasp their hands together. Oshitari watched on impassively, noted down their interactions for surely it would come in use later on.
“Do you hear that?”
“It's time, Masami. Time for Yamabuki to again make advances to expand our Empire. Rikkai held us back before, but this time we'll be successful.”
There was hand squeezing and twin smiles and Oshitari had to bite his lip to stop himself from smiling as well.
“Yes, Kentarou. The whole world will be Jimi.”
-
FIN