Kami no Matsuei Nocturnes

[rev.tsukiyama]

Another snippet in need of a quick beta-ing, please. This time Alexis is being his usual badassed self and giving Jezebel an enthusastic flogging. You have been warned.
Oh and again, it has sweet f.a. to do with the KnM plot, sorry.
Find it at:
http://www.nijikon.net/newromantic/cain002.htm
I make no claims about being any good at this whole fanfic thing, btw.

<font color="#660033" size="1">[ April 22, 2003 11:12 AM: Message edited by: tsukiyama saunt ]</font>

[crisisdreams]

*rushes to save this thread as well*

^___^** (for those who are confused, read my post on Kami no Matsuei thread)

[Crystallyne]

Well, here's my feeble attempt. I would really appreciate any feedback people have on it.

Okay, this is only slightly related to the daytime storyline. (Yeah, I know Riff is supposedly busy elsewhere with Cain right now, but I just wanted to have some fun with Tsuzuki and Riff). I'm sorry if I stole people's characters, but anyway, here it is. It's completely PG, because my comfort zone is playing with hints and innuendos [img]wink.gif[/img]

************************************************

Tsuzuki moaned in agony and curled tightly into a fetal position, waves of pain radiating outward from his stomach. It seemed that the baby cinnamon roll was enacting its final revenge after being eaten. Tsuzuki could feel the fever coming and was powerless to stop it. He moaned again, feeling the world spiral out of all reality and taking him with it. Old memories, long since subdued and buried, began to raise their heads in anticipation as they felt Tsuzuki's control rapidly evaporate.

No, Tsuzuki thought, not now. Not this again. The dizziness overtook him as his temperature skyrocketed.

****

Riff paused as he passed Merryweather's room, uncertain of the sound he thought he had heard. Was that a person moaning? He knocked politely on the door, but silence was his only answer. His medical training, as well as his concern for Merryweather, had him opening the door uninvited.

"Miss Merry? Are you well?" Riff blinked and stared at Merryweather's bed. As well as the usual panapoly of dolls and toys, it also held one of Master Cain's guests, who appeared to be in severe pain. Merryweather was nowhere in sight.

"Excuse me, sir? Mr. Tsuzuki? May I ask what's wrong?" Riff approached the man slowly, hesitating only for a moment when Tsuzuki moaned again and began panting rapidly. One close look at his face told Riff that Tsuzuki was experiencing a serious bout of illness. His face was pale and his shirt was completely soaked. As Riff lay a hand on Tsuzuki's forehead to gauge his fever, Tsuzuki jerked upright and stared straight through Riff with piercing lavendar eyes.

Oh, my, thought Riff, falling into Tsuzuki's gaze. I've seen this expression before.

****

The pain. The guilt! Tsuzuki stared at Riff without seeing him, caught by the memories he thought he'd conquered long ago. No. Why couldn't I save them? Anguished thoughts raced through Tsuzuki's fevered mind, taking him closer and closer to a breaking point.

"Mr. Tsuzuki? Can you hear me?" Riff's voice, faintly heard along with the second gentle touch on his forehead, provided a much needed anchor into the real world. Tsuzuki blinked and managed to focus on Riff, actually seeing him for the first time since Riff entered the room.

****

Yes, I know that expression, far too well, Riff thought. Master Cain gets this same expression right after his worst nightmares. I never expected anyone else could be as experienced as Master Cain in guilt and anguished memories. How can I refuse to help him, when he needs me as much as Master Cain does?

"Please, Mr. Tsuzuki, you're burning up. We have to get your fever down." Riff soothingly placed his hands on Tsuzuki's shoulders and eased him back down against the pillows as he spoke, then reached down to unbutton Tsuzuki's shirt. It was soaked through, and clung stubbornly to Tsuzuki's chest as Riff tried to slip it off. When Riff had finally removed the shirt, he was shocked to feel how hot Tsuzuki's chest was.

He should be dead by now with that temperature! As Riff reached up to check Tsuzuki's pulse, Tsuzuki suddenly grabbed his wrist in a painful grip. Looking at Tsuzuki, Riff swallowed hard. It was clear that the fever had claimed Tsuzuki's mind once again.

****

No. No! I'll stop it this time for sure! I won't let them suffer like this! Tsuzuki's spiritual power gathered around him as he prepared to strike at his foe, a fatal strike to finally end the agony he was in. His eyes glittered fiercely and took on a look of steely determination.

****

Riff couldn't take it anymore. This grown man, such a clown with no common sense during the day, was now in the throes of the agony that Riff was achingly familiar with. The similarities between Master Cain's expressions and Tsuzuki's blurred the lines just enough for Riff to set aside his fear of Tsuzuki's power. He slipped his arms around Tsuzuki and held him in a gentle embrace, trying to offer the only comfort he had.

****

Tsuzuki completely lost his hold on his power as he recognized what he was feeling. It had been so long since he had been cradled in another's arms so tenderly. Already weak from the fever and generating such intense power, he collapsed into Riff's arms, accepting the comfort offered as a safe port in the storm of his emotions.

Time passed oddly in Tsuzuki's mind after that moment. It seemed like he sheltered in Riff's arms for an eternity, and yet the time flew by in little flashes of activity. Once he awoke to find a damp cloth being stroked across his chest, relieving the terrible heat of the fever. Then he would blink and the cloth would appear on his forehead while strong arms supported him, gentle fingers checking his pulse. The next time he focused on Riff, there was an odd tightness in his chest that he couldn't explain. But the gentle man seemed to know what he was feeling.

****

Finally, I think the fever has gone down, Riff sighed in exhaustion, sinking down onto the edge of the bed. It had been an extremely long night, spent bathing Tsuzuki with cool compresses, coaxing weak tea into his abused stomach, and generally nursing him back to health. Now faint light was beginning to appear in the windows, heralding the coming dawn of a new day. Riff sighed again, having spent all his energy nursing Tsuzuki.

I'm so tired. So very tired. Riff glanced at Tsuzuki and was glad to see that he was sleeping, apparently already recovering from the hellish night. Riff was suddenly startled to feel a gentle brush of fingers against his back. As he looked over at Tsuzuki again, he met the clouded purple gaze and realized that Tsuzuki was actually awake.

"Thank you," murmured Tsuzuki, his voice slurring slightly from exhaustion. "Thank you." Tsuzuki drifted off to sleep again as Riff leaned over him and whispered, "You're welcome."

Riff felt waves of fatigue crashing over him and fought to stay awake. It was a very short battle quickly lost, and Riff leaned down further into the soft support of the pillows as his eyes drifted closed. Riff fell into a deep sleep, listening to the even rhythm of Tsuzuki's breathing against his chest.

*************************************************

Okay, I'm tired now so I'm stopping. Don't ask me why no one else showed up to check on them, 'cause I don't know. I'm not really good at tying in little details like that.

So, is it plausible? I tried to get Riff's tone right, but I don't think I was formal enough. And on the subject of pulses, I assume if the shinigami can bleed, then they have pulses. Right? Oh, well. It's just something I was playing around with, but since no one else was posting, I decided to share it.

~Crystal

[Risu-chan]

{kneeling in front of Crystallyne with hands folded in supplication}

Please pardon the sins I am about to commit... I know it usually works better to ask forgiveness for sins that aren't premeditated, but at least I recognize this as a sin... that's progress on the way back from evilness scale, maybe...?

Inspired by Crystallyne's Nocturne:
------------------------------------
Superdeformed Kami no Matsuei Omake Theater:
The ending that got left on the cutting room floor!

[A charred cinder that bears some scribbly resemblance to Chibi-Riff staggers into the parlor and does a faceplant, with little wisps of smoke trailing up from a still-smoldering point in his hair. He looks a bit like a part-extinguished candlewick.]

Chibi-Cain and Chibi-Mary: [blink blink blink]

Puppy-Tsuzuki {bouncing in behind Riff}: Thank you! I feel soooooo much better!

Chibi-Cain {with scary yellow chibi killer eyes which end up looking cute despite his best efforts because honestly, come on, he's a chibi}: WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY BUTLER?!?!?!

Puppy-Tsuzuki {ears drooping a little}: Well, there was this cinnamon roll...

Chibi-Cain {face buried in one hand}: I should have the stuff outlawed as illegal narcotics...

Chibi-Merry {scratching behind Puppy-Tsuzuki's ears}: I note the cinnamon roll went into past tense.

Puppy-Tsuzuki: Yeah, I kind of ate it. And that was kind of really an incredibly bad idea. Which I should have known at the time but come on, it's a CINNAMON ROLL and... and...

[Chibi-Cain upends the vase of flowers on Chibi-Riff's smoldering head so that he's now wet-soggy-ashy and splattered with rose petals but no longer smoldering.]

Chibi-Cain {to Puppy-Tsuzuki}: AND?

Puppy-Tsuzuki: Well, I tend to start hallucinating when I get sick... it has to do with these fevers...

Chibi-Cain {tapping one foot}: And your fevers are in the habit of charbroiling other people's butlers?

Puppy-Tsuzuki: Well, I thought somebody was attacking me... only he was trying to give me a hug... only I figured that out after I stopped hallucinating. I mean, while I was hallucinating, I thought he was attacking me instead of hugging me, sooooo....

[silence]

Puppy-Tsuzuki {perking up}: On the bright side, dropping that fireball on his head seems to have used up all the extra heat and I'm not feverish and hallucinating anymore!

[siiiiillleeeeeennnnccceeeee]

Chibi-Merry {watching Chibi-Cain's eyes do a somewhat more convincing version of menacing-as-heck despite their inherent chibiness}: Um, Tsuzuki, I don't suppose you could un-charbroil Riff, could you? {Not to mention my bedroom?}

Puppy-Tsuzuki: I'm not sure. This is what Tatsumi is for, you see. I make the messes; he fixes them. I always thought it was a good partnership anyway...

[Chibi-Cain is smoldering without assistance of fireball. Both Chibi-Merry and Puppy-Tsuzuki are warily impressed by this.]

Puppy-Tsuzuki: Why don't I just go get Tatsumi now. Like, fast.

Chibi-Merry: That would be quite a good idea, yes.

[5 minutes later, exterior of the Hargreaves mansion]

Chibi-Tatsumi's voice {shouting the roof off its foundation so it rattles and little puffs of dust shake free}: YOU DID WHAT?!?!?!?!

[Interior again, where Puppy-Tsuzuki is hiding under the table with paws over his head and tail drooping and Chibi-Merry is trying to keep both Chibi-Cain and Chibi-Tsuzuki from ripping his head and various other bits off]

Puppy-Tsuzuki {talking fast}: But it's the rules!

Chibi-Cain: I don't care what rules they make in France; in MY house you do NOT CHARBROIL MY BUTLER!

Puppy-Tsuzuki: I mean the rules of comedy! It wouldn't be funny if he wasn't charbroiled! I mean... I had a fever... and I do fire spirits... and I was hallucinating... and what else is a hallucinating person going to do when someone grabs them? It's the laws of comedy, I'm telling you -- it wouldn't be funny if he didn't get charbroiled!

Chibi-Merry: You figured this out while you were hallucinating?

Puppy-Tsuzuki: No, afterwards. That's why it makes more sense.

Chibi-Merry {mouthing an incredulous echo}: Makes more...? {stopping to shake her head vigorously}

Chibi-Tatsumi {to Chibi-Cain}: I'm so sorry. You're from a non-superdeformed-mode series. Our series just does this every so often, we can't help it. You've probably never experienced anything like the laws of comedy in effect upon your part of the space-time continuum before, have you?

Chibi-Cain {glaring at everyone in general}: I can't even do angsty eyes like this! I'm too damn cute! How am I supposed to deal with major life trauma when I can't even go into angst mode and snivel all over Riff and have one of our patented look-but-don't-quite-touch Special Moments? I can't have a Special Moment with a charbroiled chibi!!

[Everyone stares at Chibi-Cain fuming.]

Chibi-Cain {with those little >.< eyes}: And I can't even brood properly either! Someone FIX this~~!

Puppy-Tsuzuki {very hesitantly peeking out from under the edge of the tablecloth of the table he's hiding under, with enormous violet eyes that he's putting to even better don't-kill-me-I'm-cute effect than usual}: Well... these ARE the laws of comedy... so...

Chibi-Cain: So?

Chibi-Tatsumi {patting Chibi-Cain's arm reassuringly}: So we'll think of something so you can get your angst back. I promise.

Chibi-Cain {bursting into loud sobs and sniveling all over Tatsumi's shoulder}: Oh GOD just stop this horror PLEASE...!

Chibi-Tatsumi {to Chibi-Merry who seems by default to have inherited the hat of the Last Sane Denizen of the Comedy Universe}: What exactly did Tsuzuki say?

Chibi-Merry: He said he made the messes and you fixed them.

Chibi-Tatsumi {scowling at Puppy-Tsuzuki and doing a much more creditable job than Cain did because he's used to having to work around random flashes of SD mode}: You could have given me something to work with, you know. Let's see. I suppose I'll just have to...

[Chibi-Tatsumi whips the tablecloth off the table Puppy-Tsuzuki is hiding under, makes like a whirlwind with a pair of silly oversized scissors, and ends up with a spaghetti pile of bandages. He then walks over to Charbroiled Chibi-Riff with a purposeful gleam in his eye, and reproduces the whirlwind effect.]

[30 seconds later, Chibi-Riff is covered from head to toe in sparkling white bandages and is approximately vertical with a tray with tea in one hand. There's also a stray rose sprouting out of the bandages at the top of his head, and a very expressive sweatdrop kind of hovering sheepishly beside him.]

Chibi-Riff {muffled}: mmpfh rrgh graahhgpff

Chibi-Cain {now doing tear-fountain of joy and sparkly eyes}: Oh, Riff! --Oh God, it's not over with yet? NOW WHAT?

Chibi-Merry {to Chibi-Tatsumi}: You didn't exactly leave Riff any talking or moving space, you know.

Puppy-Tsuzuki: Of course not. It wouldn't be funny otherwise. The laws of c-...

[Chibi-Cain snatches the SD scissors from Chibi-Tatsumi with a markedly more effective Evil Glint In The Eyes {TM}.]

Chibi-Merry {sotto voce to Chibi-Tatsumi}: Oh no. I think Big Brother's getting the hang of this.

Chibi-Cain {lunging after Puppy-Tsuzuki brandishing scissors and making chopping noises}: YOU COME BACK HERE, YOU MANGY MUTT! I WANT PUPPY EARS FOR HALLOWEEN! I'LL EVEN GIVE JEZEBEL YOUR EYES IN HIS CHRISTMAS STOCKING~! NICE FAMILY GIFT, WHAT? GOES A LONG WAY TOWARD PATCHING UP OLD FEUDS AND THE LIKE-- COME BACK HEEEERRRREEE~~~!!!

Chibi-everybody, including chibi-Riff: {collective ginormous sweatdrop}

The End

{^^;;;;; ducking for cover... I just got smacked over the head with the mental image of what would have happened if Tsuzuki had stopped hallucinating a few seconds AFTER the hug instead of BEFORE... ^^;;;;;;;;;; slinking away into squirrel hole again...}

<font color="#660033" size="1">[ September 25, 2003 07:22 PM: Message edited by: Risu-chan ]</font>

[Crystallyne]

[img]biggrin.gif[/img] *laughing hysterically, gasping for breath* [img]biggrin.gif[/img]

[img]graemlins/heart.gif[/img] Oh, I love it! I Absolutely Love It! [img]graemlins/heart.gif[/img]

*loses it and starts laughing again*

Wow, Risu-chan, feel free to unload any more quirky ideas on us, because that one was fantastic! I would have never been able to come up with anything like it!

~Crystal
(who isn't at all offended and tips her hat to Risu-chan)

[Risu-chan]

Hi there!

Since Kami no Matsuei tends to get lost in the spin cycle of recently-updated threads on this board, I'm porting it over to the Crossoverama section of the RP board, since it seems to fit there. (Very slowly. It's going to take a while to get everything up there... the Nocturnes thread is done, and I'll start on porting the main thread later...)

Note that people DON'T have to become members of the other board in order to post replies there like you would here; just use the board password (sakuracrisis) to get to see the board, and then you can post replies as a guest as much as you like...