TITLE: Second Chances
AUTHOR: Macx and Lara Bee
DISCLAIMER: not mine. Definitely not! I just play with them and hope I tread on no one's toes.
Author's Voice of Warning (aka Author's Note):
English is not my first language; it's German. This is the best I can do. Any mistakes you find in here, collect them and you might win a prize g The spell-checker said everything's okay, but you know how trustworthy those thingies are...

WARNINGS: we leave out a few events from the Hana to Yume scans that can be found at this site:
It's not because we don't like them, it's just that we developed the plotline before ever reading what happened after volume 11 and we couldn't incorporate them without changing everything, even the past stories. So please bear with us.

TYPE: yaoi
RATING: R
PAIRING: several
FEEDBACK: empty inbox seeks emails g

The observatory was bathed in the warm golden glow of setting sun, the rays touching the polished looking floor, their ghostly fingers stroking and caressing the old parchments, the ancient books and the quills, pens and stones that were strewn among them. Part of the floor was taken over by a huge divination board, a complicated pattern that was as old as Time itself. The lines had been drawn on exquisite wood, only the most rare and expensive, and each pen stroke, each carving, had been done by a master's hand.

The man looking at the divination had no eye for the beauty, didn't admire the rarity of it, nor did he appreciate the wealth of intricate decoration. Those black eyes were on something else, something only he could see.

"Impossible," Rikugo murmured and waved his hand.

The lines seemed to quiver, twist, unfold, then settle back into an original pattern. For a moment the astrologer was completely still, then he inhaled a little and let his aura cast out anew, let his powers touch the divination board, and finally he opened the other sets of eyes he possessed.

Red dragon eyes, with a slit pupil, gazed at the result. Set above his actual human eyes, they looked frightening and fascinating in one. Combining with the eyes in the palms of his hands, he looked at the results.

With a sharp exhalation he finally closed them again, including his black ones, then shook his head.

Three times. He had done it three times, but the result was still the same. It wasn't as if he couldn't already feel it, but the answer had always eluded him. At least the particular name to the question. Until now.

"Sohryu's going to hate it," he murmured as he rose gracefully, long robes whispering silkily.

Leaving his palace, the new Protector of the North strode across the wide expanse that led up to the palace of the Protector of the East, the representative of the Golden Emperor himself. No guards stopped him, no assistants tried to distract him from his purpose, and when he stepped into the main hall, he almost laughed at the miserable expression on the regal water dragon's face. Sohryu was in the middle of whatever meeting was now Very Important and Couldn't Wait, and from the fine lines on his handsome face he was about to get the migraine of the day. And the servants around him would soon get a temper explosion if they didn't take their petty complaints to the headmasters of the particular section it concerned.

"Sohryu," Rikugo greeted the highest of the four Gods, smiling faintly.

The narrowed, blue-gray eyes were on him in a second, brows drawing even deeper. Rikugo knew that despite their growing friendship over the last year and a half, despite everything that had gotten so much better between them, Sohryu would always suspect him to bear bad news if he approached him formally. Or to come up with a snide remark concerning his latest decisions.

Rikugo shrugged inside. It wasn't as if they hadn't clashed as equals already. He was now one of the four Gods, the new Protector of the North until a true Genbu would be born, and he wouldn't just sit back and take Sohryu's decision without argument if he saw it as justified to do so. He had settled into his new 'job', was able to juggle astrology, divination and being responsible for a quarter of GensouKai, though sometimes it was a strain. He was glad to get some time off to be with Ryu, his lover in Meifu, even if it meant just staying at the Palace of Candles while Ryu did his own work.

Just being away from GensouKai helped immensely.

"May I have a word?"

"What about?"

Rikugo tilted his head a little. "In private, Sohryu."

I'm going to save your sorry ass from petty political tirades, so come on, he thought with amusement. Not that you'll like what I have to say any more than you like this.

The other dragon rose slowly and nodded, ignoring the cries of the servants that he needed to finish something or other. He just muttered something to one of his personal assistants and the man bowed with a resigned expression.

That's what delegation is for, Sohryu, Rikugo thought, still smiling a little as he followed the other man into the private office chambers.

The moment the doors were closed, the dragon rounded on him.

"So, talk?"

"I don't suppose I have to tell you that despite recent developments, we still have an imbalance."

Sohryu sighed. "No. And if you have come here to talk about candidates, I already looked into it and no one is strong enough to take on this position."

Rikugo smiled a little. "Not the ones you're thinking about."

Those blue-gray eyes narrowed again.

"My divinations weren't about just the imbalance of the twelve Divine Commanders. We know we're missing one of us ever since Genbu ascended to be the Emperor and I took his place. And we're not looking for a replacement of me, we're looking for someone to compliment us in strength and power."

Sohryu was silent, his face a mask. Rikugo knew that a lot had been going on in the palace as of late. They might have a new Emperor now, a true ruler of GensouKai, but Sohryu was still his representative and the new ruler had to take care of so many things, the dragon was still carrying most of the responsibility on his shoulders. It was a weight that was both heavy and painful, and while Rikugo and the other Protectors helped, there was only so much they could do without neglecting their own duties. Rikugo was still juggling astrology, divination and the job as a Protector. He understood Sohryu was under a whole lot of pressure.

And I'm not going to make it better with what I have to say, he thought with a sigh.

"What are you talking about?"

"There is someone strong enough, Sohryu. Someone who is our equal and who has the power to become a Divine Commander."

"Who?"

"Kurikara."

°

You could have dropped a needle in the room and heard it all the way to the other side of GensouKai central. Rikugo met the wide, gray-blue eyes and suddenly Sohryu let out a snarl of anger.

"Kurikara!" he hissed.

"Yes, Kurikara RyuOh."

"I don't know what you did in that observatory, but your charts are wrong!"

"They have never been before, Sohryu. You know we need a strong twelfth. Kurikara is that strength."

"He tried to kill me! He's uncontrollable!"

"No, he was angry. You know he hasn't been seen since he was freed from his prison in the desert," Rikugo pointed out calmly.

"I'm not going to beg him to return!" Sohryu snapped.

"You could ask nicely. Though that might be a bit of a problem in your case," Rikugo remarked snidely.

He saw the other Protector coming and he grabbed one arm, holding it, fingers curling hard around one wrist. Black eyes clashed with blue ones and the water dragon whispered a curse. Rikugo just held on, his own aura rising a little.

"We need him," he repeated.

"No!"

"We need a twelfth or everything will crumble. Not today, not tomorrow, not even next week. But in time it will."

"In time there will be another one!"

"Sohryu, be sensible!"

The powerful aura rose again and Rikugo let his own deflect the attack. It was nothing new. A few years back something like this would have led to a rather rough tumble between the sheets as aggression turned into sexual release. Now it was just a confrontation on an equal level.

"Sohryu," he intoned softly, using a voice he had when the younger shinigami had still been his to teach the ways of GensouKai. "Think about it. My charts are not wrong. I Saw the solution to our problem, and whether you like it or not, Kurikara would make a strong Commander."

Sohryu tore his wrist out of Rikugo's grasp and whirled around, robes billowing, He was seething with anger and he was probably going to snarl and bitch and snap at everyone now coming close for the next few days, but Rikugo only sighed.

"Think about it," he only called after the retreating form.

Then he turned and walked back to his palace, deep in thought.

tbc...