sakon76

(12) Kishi - Revival

"-dai. Godai." Between the voice calling his name, the light but steady shaking of his left shoulder, and the crick in his neck Yuusuke found his way to consciousness again, blinking muzzily against the light.

"'ch'jou-san?" he mumbled.

Dark eyes looked into his. "Godai."

Sense snapped back into sudden focus and Yuusuke sat up straight so fast their heads nearly knocked together. "Ichijou-san!" Ichijou put a steadying hand on his chest, which considering that Ichijou was the one still in hospital robes, didn't seem quite right. "You're awake?" Yuusuke asked. "You're better?!"

"Yeah," Ichijou replied, slowly sitting back on the edge of the bed. "Somehow...."

"'Somehow'...?" Yuusuke asked suspiciously.

Ichijou looked up at him. "What do you remember happening?"

The world stopping when you threw yourself in the way, Yuusuke wanted to say, but didn't. He'd always cared, but he'd never realized that the thought of losing Ichijou, of losing anyone, could be something that felt like that. He never wanted to feel like that again. He took a breath, trying to find the right words instead. "You stepping in front of me," were the most neutral that he could find. "Then... that G3-X armor showed up." Ichijou's eyes widened. "You really should have told me about that, Ichijou-san," Yuusuke chided softly, trying to distance himself from the memory of that one moment of realization that seemed like white noise blanketing his heart. "You should have told me about a lot of things."

Ichijou's mouth thinned and he looked away. "I didn't want you to feel guilty, or responsible," he replied. "Not when there was nothing you could do. And... the Guardian armor series wasn't complete and working in time to help against the Grongi. I didn't want you to feel like we hadn't been trying our hardest to back you up."

"I met Hikawa-san," Yuusuke said. "He came to see how you were doing. He seemed like a good man."

"He is," Ichijou confirmed. "He's a little naive, but very passionate... very idealistic. He reminded me of you a little when I first met him."

"Really?" Yuusuke asked. "He reminded me of you." Ichijou looked back at him, surprise on his face. Yuusuke smiled. "Passionate, and idealistic, and very much wanting to be a good police officer and do the right thing," he said.

"Godai...."

"I'm not mad, Ichijou-san," Yuusuke said. "But you should have told me."

Ichijou took that in, considered it, and finally nodded. "I should have, you're right. I'm sorry, Godai."

"There are... others?" Yuusuke asked. "He said something that hinted at that."

Ichijou nodded. "Two others that we know of. They're called Gills and Agito."

"You think they're humans like me, who can transform?" Ichijou nodded again. "Is that why the Unknown called me Agito?"

"I don't think so," replied Ichijou. "That is, I don't think it was mistaking you for him. I think... I think an 'agito' is a person with special abilities, or a certain potential."

"Hikawa-san said something about psychic powers," Yuusuke reported dubiously.

"That's the current theory."

"But I'm not--" Yuusuke started, then stopped, remembering how he'd gotten flashes of the Kuuga armor before he'd ever even put the belt on. "Maybe... a little," he said dubiously. "I'm not sure if it counts, though."

"I think being Kuuga certainly counts as a special ability," Ichijou replied.

"I guess."

"Skill number two thousand?" Ichijou reminded him.

Godai had to breathe a laugh of agreement. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Nothing else happened, though, last night?" Ichijou pressed.

Godai shook his head. "I fell asleep--" The memory of a dream occurred to him. "I dreamed... Baruba-san asked me to make a choice."

"A choice?" Ichijou's voice was neutral, almost making Yuusuke look up in suspicion, but he ignored that impulse, trying to sort the dream fragments into something more clear and linear.

"She said she could heal one," Yuusuke remembered, troubled. "Either the Amadam stone... or you, Ichijou-san."

"Me?"

Yuusuke looked up and smiled. "It was an easy choice. There may be other people in the world who can fight the Unknown," he explained, "but there is only one you, Ichijou-san."

*

Ozawa Sumiko reviewed the data with sharp eyes, searching for any flaws in either her creation or her command. She couldn't afford to let anything slip, or that insufferable man Houjou would-- She forced herself to take a breath, count to five, and release it before returning to her rapid scan of the numbers. Facts and figures, reality broken down into little pieces that made it all so much more comprehensible. Pure science, unsullied by human interference.

She looked up, though, as one of her subordinates entered the G-Trailer. She smiled at Hikawa, who was as always immaculate and cute in his uniform. He was definitely better to have around than that other man, and while he didn't have Houjou's brains, she was far more appreciative of what Hikawa did have--a pure heart. "So, how was he?" she asked. "Your sempai."

Hikawa blinked momentarily before nodding. "Thank you for asking. It seems he's made a full recovery and been discharged already."

"As to be expected of Officer Ichijou," Omura remarked from his terminal. "It's good to hear that he's still living up to his reputation."

"Yes." Hikawa took a seat. "I was really glad to hear that. His condition didn't look too good last night when I was there. His roommate took him home, though, and there are two officers keeping an eye on them, as well as more keeping an eye on Godai-san's sister."

"Kind of surprising, though," Omura remarked. "I mean, to have an Unknown attacking a policeman's roommate...."

"Officer Ichijou Kaoru," Ozawa said, eyes back on her screen as she divided her attention, "age twenty-seven. Born in Nagoya, raised in Nagano, son of a policeman killed in action, later joined the force himself. Distinguished career record, sent to Headquarters when the task force to combat the Unidentified Lifeforms was formed. One of the leading officers in the defense against them, was rumored to have a way of contacting Number Four. Returned to Nagano in March of this year, then moved back to Tokyo in June, shortly after the return to the country of current roommate and Unknown target Godai Yuusuke."

Omura and Hikawa were looking over her shoulders at the secondary screen detailing this information. Ozawa paged down. "Godai Yuusuke, age twenty-six. Born in Hokkaido, raised in Yamakita City in Kanagawa Prefecture, parents deceased, one younger sister Minori. Holds a series of menial jobs, mostly at the PorePore Cafe in the Bunkyou ward, between frequent extended trips out of the county. Very frequent," she emphasized. "Most recent trip was to Mexico, from January fourteenth through June fifth of this year. The one before that was to Indonesia; he returned to Japan on January thirtieth of last year." She looked up at her subordinates expectantly.

"That's a lot of trips out of the country," Omura said, staring at the admittedly rather impressive list of destinations. "Are we sure he's not a drug runner?"

"Him?" Hikawa asked. He shook his head. "He's not the type. Though he doesn't seem the type to be Ichijou-san's roommate either," he admitted.

Ozawa huffed in irritation and highlighted the January 30th, 2000 and January 14th, 2001 dates. "You can't tell me these dates aren't significant to you two."

They blinked back and forth, not a clue batting between them until Hikawa's eyes slowly lit up. "Those are the first and last dates of sightings of Number Four!"

Omura leaned back. "That's pretty coincidental," he commented.

Ozawa glared at him in annoyance.

"You don't think it's a coincidence, do you, Ozawa-san?" Hikawa asked slowly. Omura's eyes widened in comprehension.

"He's Officer Ichijou's roommate," she pointed out. "What do you think, Hikawa-kun?"

"But... if he's Number Four, wouldn't he be fighting with us?" Omura asked.

"I don't know," she admitted. "Hikawa-kun, you met him."

"I think...." Hikawa paused, then continued, "He said that if Number Four was here and able to fight, he thought he'd be fighting along with us."

Ozawa nodded, absorbing those implications. "So if he is Number Four, he may not be able to fight, for whatever reason," she said, and swiveled her chair back to look at her information. "Still, he may know something."

"You think we should question him?" Hikawa asked.

She nodded absently. "I think we should do it secretly." She didn't miss the glance Hikawa and Omura exchanged behind her back.

*

They still didn't have any daikon.

Yuusuke looked at the fridge's contents in mild perplexity, then rearranged the menus in his head and began to pull out what vegetables they did had. Stir-fry for lunch, he thought... with rice and miso soup and maybe some pickled vegetables, it shouldn't be too unpalatable. He could always run to the store later, with the police officers shadowing him, and pick up some more daikon then. He absently began to combine ingredients for a sauce for the stir-fry, wondering if this was what normal people had felt like while the Grongi were attacking. At least he'd been able to do something about them. This time he was helpless.

"Godai."

He looked up at Ichijou, who stood in the doorway to the kitchen.

"What's wrong?" his partner asked softly.

Yuusuke looked back down at what his hands were doing. They seemed almost disconnected from him as they moved on autopilot, combining things in a small bowl, mixing them into a thin slurry of pale brown. "Why did you do that, Ichijou-san?" he asked softly. "It would have killed me and left you alone...."

"That's why," Ichijou replied, his voice equally quiet. "You've... already sacrificed so much, Godai. I couldn't let you do that this time. Not to save me." He hesitated, then added, "I didn't want to be alone, without you. I couldn't live like that anymore."

Something inside Yuusuke snapped. He quietly set down the chopsticks he'd been using to combine the sauce. "So it's okay," he whispered, "to leave me alone instead?"

And there must have been something in his expression as he looked up, because Ichijou whispered "Godai..." in a tone of comprehension.

"What I was thinking," he said lowly, moving toward Ichijou, "was that we were both going to end up dead unless I let it kill me first. If I let it kill me, at least you'd still be alive." He reached Ichijou, who refused to retreat as Yuusuke advanced. "Do you really think I could've lived with myself, knowing you'd done that, if you'd died?" he demanded.

"How do you think I could have lived, letting you die in front of me without doing anything?" Ichijou demanded in reply.

Yuusuke caught his partner's hand, pinned it against the door frame. "If I died, Ichijou-san, I'd've wanted you to live knowing that there was someone who cared enough to want to give you everything," he bit out, somehow on the verge of tears. "That I loved you enough to want you to live--" And then his throat closed up and he couldn't force any more words out.

"Godai...." Ichijou whispered. Then, "Do you think I care any less?"

Mute, Yuusuke shook his head.

"If anything happens to me, ever," Ichijou said quietly, "I want you to keep living. I want you to know that I cared enough to make a home with you, that I never loved anyone more than I loved you, that... that you were the most important person to me. And that I'm so glad to have met you."

Yuusuke choked a breath. "Don't do that again," he demanded, letting Ichijou's hand go. "Not for me. Never for me."

"Only for you," Ichijou promised, both hands catching at Yuusuke's sweatshirt, tugging him closer. Yuusuke let his forehead rest on Ichijou's shoulder, his eyes closed against the tears behind them.

"I was so scared," he said, his breath ragged, his own hands clenching in Ichijou's shirt. "When I thought...."

"So was I," Ichijou admitted, his breath warm against the back of Yuusuke's neck. He took a breath, let it sigh out. "I can't promise it'll never happen again, Godai. All I can promise is that I'll try not to die."

Yuusuke had to accept that, nodded in understanding, and finally looked back up at Ichijou. "Thank you," he said. "For that, and... for saving my life."

Ichijou smiled just a little. "It was my turn." And carefully wiped away the traces of Yuusuke's tears with his thumb.

*

Normally having one police officer inside his cafe and an unspecified number more lurking somewhere outside would have made Tamasaburou feel like the PorePore was the safest place in Japan. Unfortunately, the day didn't seem to be proceeding according to normal circumstances, and so he ended up feeling nervous instead.

Yuusuke sat at the counter of the empty cafe as the rain thrummed down outside, sandwiched between Ra'Baruba'De and Detective Ichijou. He held a pencil in one hand and was rapidly sketching in the book before him. The detective watched with interest, the woman pretended not to, and Tamasaburou was just thankful his niece was at rehearsal and out of the way of collateral damage.

"Done," Yuusuke said, and set down his pencil. He turned the book so that Ra'Baruba'De would have a clear view of the sketch.

She looked at it and turned white, starting to sway and hyperventilate as shock and fear rewrote her face.

"Baruba-san!" Yuusuke said, putting a stabilizing hand on her shoulder while Tamasaburou fumbled behind the counter for a glass to pour water into. The detective half-stood from his chair, ready to catch her if she fainted. "It's gone," Yuusuke said. "It's gone, the police took care of it. I saw it explode."

She shook her head. "It has come... he has come...." And then her words dissolved into a spate of incomprehensible terrified syllables, probably the Grongi language. Tamasaburou set the glass of water on the counter before her, and covered one of her hands with his own. "Ra'Baruba'De," he said forcefully, addressing her by her full title. She looked up at him, fear in her eyes. "If it can be dealt with, the police will deal with it. If it can't," he said, "then there's no point in being afraid of what will come. Fear only paralyzes us."

Slowly she nodded, then picked up the cup with both hands, childlike, and sipped at the water within. Her shoulders were still tense beneath Yuusuke's hand, and she was still fearful... but at least she was no longer panicking.

*

They knew nothing, so she had to begin at the very start of time. "There was light, and there was dark," Ra'Baruba'De said softly, "and their shape was like those we were created in, for they were our creators." She looked into the past, into the dark eyes of the one who had been Ra'Baruba'De before her, the eyes of her mother's mother, and remembered the history she had been taught. "The darkness created the Grongi, and those we would come to call the Rinto, and any other tribes there may have been of which we did not know. And we were ignorant as the beasts, and as savage. And the darkness and the light were also savage in their hatred of each other, as were their natures, and warred in an eternal battle, attempting to destroy one another."

"What happened?" the Rinto warrior, Ichijou, asked her.

"The light had realized that being equal and opposite, neither could overwhelm the other," Ra'Baruba'De recounted. "Instead, he found a way to cripple the heart of the darkness. He spent himself in a rain of stars that fell upon humanity, taking our simpleness away. He changed the beloved creations of the darkness, implanting the seed of himself in each, corrupting us away from our savagery. We became... aware. We became civilized. We knew the potential for godhood in each of us, and became hated by our creator for it. In pain, he sealed himself away, leaving us only with his promise of vengeance, to someday return us to the pure beasts he created us to be."

"Why did that make the light the winner?" Ichijou asked. "If the light was dead, then surely...."

Were the Rinto so divorced from the world they lived in, Ra'Baruba'De wondered, to not understand the simplest answers? "Seeds," she said succinctly, "grow."

"What is an 'agito'?" Kuuga asked her.

She smiled. "In your language... a seed. Those seeds of light that were bestowed upon us, those shards of godhood... the star stone embedded in Kuuga's belt is one."

Kuuga slowly nodded. "And that?" he asked, indicating his drawing with a gesture. Ra'Baruba'De looked at it, then looked away, suppressing a shudder.

"A Beast Lord," she answered quietly. "The messengers of the darkness, as promised and prophesied, foreshadowing his return, his reclamation of the seeds of light... their destruction... our destruction." She closed her eyes. "He will destroy all that the Rinto have built, his heralds shall murder, one by one, all those who bear the seeds, until civilization is a wasteland and all those who remain are but the wild things he created us to be."

"Angels of destruction," the cafe owner said into the silence. "The end of days."

"But the police were able to destroy it," Kuuga said, sounding puzzled. "As long as they can do that with all the rest, then we should be okay, right?"

Ra'Baruba'De opened her eyes, weary of living in fear and hatred and opposition. "His messengers may be destroyed," she told Kuuga, "but the darkness itself? You pit yourself against a god. Even were you able to assume Kuuga's form again... it would be impossible."

"I didn't make the wrong choice, Baruba-san," Kuuga replied. He smiled a little. "The world is a big place, bigger than I ever imagined when I started exploring it. Somewhere in it there's got to be something that can stop a god, and... if what I've heard is correct, there maybe already is."

"Godai," Ichijou said. "We don't know...."

Kuuga's smile widened, and he placed a hand over his companion's. "Have faith, Ichijou-san," he chided. "If I could defeat Daguba alone... and there are three of them up against this... it'll be all right. It will."

Ichijou stared down that face of optimism, and was reluctantly defeated. "If you're sure," he said. Then he smiled a little. "You are, after all, the 'agito' here."

Kuuga grinned and gave him a thumbs-up, and the cafe owner, who reluctantly returned it with a smile as well, and Ra'Baruba'De, who finally nodded and looked away.

As the leader of the Grongi... if he asked her to have faith and not live in fear... she would try her best to obey his wishes.