Chapter 3:

Shin groaned at Shu's comment as he reached up to give Shu a soft kiss. Their tongues intertwining with one another. Shin was just about to start their lovemaking all over again when he heard a soft noise. Glancing up, he saw Byakuen watching the two of them from the doorway. A perfectly satisfied feline expression on his face. Shin glared at the cat, before pulling away from Shu. "Byakuen," he hissed to the tiger's mind, "get out of here, before I call for Ryo to come and get you."

"Oh, you wouldn't do that, now would you Shin? Then that would interrupt your fun."

"You HAVE already interrupted our fun. Now scat."

"Sure Shin, but are you sure you wouldn't want a threesome?"

Shin paused, fear evident in his green eyes. "You didn't?"

"I did, so I suggest you get your clothes on in a hurry, unless you want to add him to your little play time." Byakuen smirked at the auburn-haired boy, who would have gladly throttled the cat, had Shu not been giving him an odd look. Glancing down at his lover, "It's nothing, Shu. But I think that we had better get dressed."

Shu looked between Shin and the cat that was still in the doorway. Something was going on there, but he wasn't sure what it was. "Why? It's just Byakuen. He'll go away if you tell him to."

Shin rolled his eyes at his lover. "What do you think that I have been doing? Having a staring match with him?"

Shu winced at Shin's harsh tone.

Shin realized the tone that he said that in and immediately began to apologize. "Shu, I'm sorry. It's just . . . well, Byakuen has been getting on my nerves." He shrugged his shoulders helplessly.

Shu huffed at this; sitting up to put his clothes back on. Shin was already mostly dressed. Sitting back down besides Shu, Shin attempted to pull the older man to him, but Shu resisted him. "Shu, I'm sorry okay? Please don't be mad at me."

Shu turned to Shin then, as he pulled on his orange t-shirt. "Shin, I'm not mad at you, but well . . . I just don't understand why you pulled away. I know you said it was because of Byakuen, but he's just a tiger, Shin. He doesn't know what was going on." Shu ran his hand through his ash-blue hair as he contemplated Shin's face.

"Shu . . . you're wrong. Byakuen is much more than a simple tiger. He used to be human and thanks to the Wyverns and Kaoso, I can now hear Byakuen's voice in my head."

Shu looked at Shin questioningly. "Shin, hon. I think you need to go lie down some more. We probably shouldn't have made love with you so weak still."

Shin gave an exasperated sigh and glared at the cat who was now curled at his feet. "See, I told you he wouldn't listen to me."

Byakuen tilted his head sideways. He could tell that Shin was upset with his mate for not believing in him. "Shhh, Shin. It's okay" the tiger tried to calm the boy.

"No, it is not! The one person that I care for, more than anything, thinks I'm nuts and it is all your fault, Byakuen."

Byakuen listened intently. "Tell him that Ryo is coming. In fact he should be here in less than a minute."

"What good will that do?"

"Just do it, Shin" said the tiger in exasperation.

"Fine. Hey Shu, Byakuen wanted me to tell you that Ryo is coming." The words had no sooner left Shin's mouth than Ryo, himself walked into the room.

"Hi guys. Have either of you seen Byakuen?"

"Hi Ryo. He's right here." Shin pointed to his feet.

Byakuen just purred as Ryo came closer. "What is it boy?" he asked the tiger silently.

The tiger inclined his head toward the other two boys. "They've been arguing" he said softly to Ryo.

Ryo jerked his head up to see that Shu's mouth was hanging open in astonishment, and Shin was sitting on the couch looking very pale. He also noted Shu and Shin's rumpled appearance. Figuring out what probably happened, Ryo glared down at the tiger. "You interfered, didn't you?"

"Not technically."

"NOT TECHNICALLY!!!!" You could hear Ryo shout those two words for miles. He had forgotten to speak to the tiger in his mind, because he was sooo angry. Blushing crimson, he looked up at his two friends. Shu was looking bewildered while Shin only smiled. "Gomen. I did not mean to shout. Shin, I am sorry that Byakuen appears to have interrupted something with his meddling. I am sure he meant no harm."

"No Ryo, It's all right. I am just not used to having him in my head like you are. And your right, he didn't mean to cause trouble. Shu just didn't believe me, when I tried to tell him that Byakuen and I could talk together."

Ryo raised his tiger blue eyes to meet Shu's uncertain blue ones. "Shu, do you believe Shin now? Because if you haven't noticed, he isn't the only one that talks to Byakuen."

"Yeah, I believe you two. It's just hard to imagine that you guys can communicate with him. But I think it's really cool."

"Good. Well, I'll leave you two alone since you obviously need some time together. Have either of you seen Touma or Seiji yet this morning?"

"Yeah, I have. Touma was in the kitchen with Nasutei about an hour ago."

"And Seiji was still asleep when I got up about two hours ago" said Shin.

"Okay, I am going to go and check on those two and I'll be back later okay?"

"See ya Ryo" they both said in unison.

Ryo shook his head as he left the room, searching for his other two friends. Byakuen followed close to his side.

Byakuen was worried about Ryo, especially now that Shu and Shin had consummated their relationship. That only left Ryo and Nasutei as the odd ones out, but the Wyverns only attacked men and so Nasutei would not be in any danger from that. Even Seiji and Touma were safer than Ryo. Seiji may not remember their first time but Touma sure did. Leaving them at least semi-protected. Huffing slightly to himself, he thought 'I had best stay close to him. The Wyverns are likely to try something soon, and they will not be happy to find their two primary targets with strong bonds to another person.'

Ryo could sense Byakuen's tension but decided not to comment on it. Heading for the kitchen, he was glad to see that Touma was still there. "Hey ya Touma. How you feeling?"

Touma glanced up at Ryo and blinked several times to clear his double vision. "Oh, I'm just great Ryo" he said sarcastically pushing himself to his feet. He was in no mood to listen to his unofficial leader. Opening the door wide, he took off for the lake.

"TOUMA!!!!!" Ryo yelled after his friend, unsure of what was bothering him. Running his fingers through his hair in an unconscious gesture, Ryo wandered if he should go after the archer or go check on Seiji. 'Just what the Hell is going on around here?' he thought to himself. Glancing down at the tiger, he asked softly, "Whatcha think boy? Touma or Seiji?"

Byakuen sniffed the air before perking his ears up. He could feel the evil. It was in the house. Heading away from Ryo, he skidded up the stairs to Seiji's room. The door was shut but Byakuen was not going to be deterred. He moved into Ryo's room and out the balcony doors. Racing back around to Seiji's balcony door, Byakuen crashed through the glass. The Wyvern had its hand around a pale slender throat. Fear was evident in Seiji's eyes as he stared at Byakuen. Byakuen jumped on the shadowy creature, who hissed at being detained, its fingers losing their grip on Seiji's throat.

Seiji pushed himself away from the dark shadow and stood with his hand to his abused throat. Angry red marks were evident on the pale skin.

The creature moved back a few steps as it regarded the tiger and the human boy. It was slightly bigger than the one before but the general overlook was about the same. The only difference Seiji could see was that this one had one blood red horn jutting out over its right eye, where the other Wyvern had not had a horn. The shadowy hands were the same with the retractable claws, however. The creature growled menacingly, showing his fangs. Cocking its head to the side, he heard another's approach. 'Damn, this boy has more luck than he should.' "This isn't finished boy" he growled as he vanished into thin air.

Ryo seeing which direction Byakuen had went knew immediately that something was wrong. Byakuen never ran that fast without cause. Ryo was in subarmor almost immediately as he bounded up the stairs after the giant cat. Pushing against Seiji's door, he heard glass breaking and he realized where Byakuen must have gone. The balcony, of course. Running into his own room, he exited back out onto the balcony. Stopping at Seiji's doorway, he was surprised to see Seiji collapsed against the giant tiger's side, his face buried in the thick fur. Red rivulets ran down Byakuen's side where the glass had cut him. Ryo could feel Byakuen's pain but he was more worried about Seiji at the moment. "Seiji?" he asked softly.

Seiji raised his tear streaked face up to see Ryo's tiger blue eyes peering worriedly down at him. "Ryo?" he asked raspily.

Ryo moved around his tiger to kneel beside the blond haired boy, careful of the glass that littered the carpet. Reaching out his hand, Ryo traced the angry red lines that marred Seiji's throat. "Oh Seiji." Ryo said with sympathy. "Hold on and I'll go get Touma."

The blond made a mad grab for Ryo's hand as the raven-haired boy went toward the balcony. "NO!!!!" he screamed.

Ryo looked down at his friend, wondering at the harsh tone.

Seiji winced as the words echoed in his ears; trying again in a gentler voice, he said, "no, Ryo. Please, please don't leave me." Tears coursed down the fragile boy's face. He was terribly afraid to be alone at the moment.

Ryo sat beside the blond and pulled him into his arms, willing his subarmor away. "Shhh, love. I won't leave you." Ryo began to gently rock the quaking figure in his arms. Seiji settled closer to Ryo's warmth. Needing the support he was offering.

The blond looked at Ryo's caring face and felt safe for the moment. He knew Ryo wouldn't let anything happen to him. With that last thought, Seiji slipped into oblivion.

Ryo knew the moment that Seiji fell asleep. He could feel his breathing even out. Well, that's one problem down. Reaching for Byakuen, he called the cat to him. "Come here boy."

Byakuen limped over to his master. He was wounded, but it was nothing that he could not handle. "Is he all right?" Byakuen asked the dark-haired boy while nodding his head toward Seiji's unconscious form.

Ryo looked down at the pale warrior of light. "I hope so, Byakuen. I truly hope so." Shaking his head, he focused back on the cat. "What about you? You got cut by the glass pretty bad."

"Nah. It's okay. It is already starting to heal."

Ryo smiled briefly. "Can you reach Shin?"

The tiger looked at him askance. "Of course I can. Why?"

"Well in case you haven't noticed, Touma is outside alone and Seiji needs him."