Wet leaves blew up against the porch like a smattering of applause, gold and crimson kissing their final scenes of the year. From the living room were the sounds of Rowen and Kento's video game, overlaid with the murmur of Sai's voice, querying a plot point here and there before going back to the soft rustle of his magazine pages. Mia's computer bleeped in the study, the click of a keyboard paused, then resumed.

Sage attended to the sudden shrill hiss of the teakettle with a contented smile, setting it aside before resuming his task of cubing tofu for dinner. He hummed softly to himself, the sort of warm tune that went well with fires in the grate on cold autumn days and sleepy afternoons and the wearing of one's favorite green sweater. Peaceful and serene, just the way Seiji liked his life.

That's when the zombie showed up.

"Boodley boodley booldy!" the zombie intoned, waggling green fingers at Sage.

The blond warrior picked trailing burial wrappings out of his seasoned bean curd before checking the amount of sesame oil in the wok. "Next time we go out you're replacing all that gauze, Ryou."

"aww, C'mon," the zombie whined, dropping his arms in disappointment. "Is that all you can say about my costume?"

Sage dumped his perfectly cubed tofu in the wok. "Why don't you try being a CREMATED Zombie. It would be much more challenging, I expect. Hand me the wasabi, would you?"

"You're no fun," The zombie sulked, turning over the lethal horseradish paste and lumbering off into the living room.

"WOW! EXLELLENT costume, man!"

Sage blew up at his bangs in frustration. Kento WOULD think so.

Why couldn't they let Halloween just be a DAY for once? He stirred viscously at lunch, hoping that Johnson & Johnson clad roommates would be the most bizarre of today's events.

So it was with a bit of relief that he realized the large crate with Kento's name on it contained nothing more ghoulish than a pinball machine.

"Aw-RIGHT! I didn't expect it to get here so soon!" Kento beamed over his new prize, absently shining the chrome. "Isn't it cool?"

Sai blinked at it uncertainly. "Love, do you have enough clear floorspace in your room for this? It's rather.. large."

"Nah.. I figured we'd keep it down here. It is for EVERYBODY."

Mia looked dismally at the playstation with game and music CDs and Kirin bottles and pocky wrappers scattered about her living room, and surrendered the area with a sigh. It was already past saving. She retreated to her own, pristine study and surfed the net for outrageously expensive clothes.

They still paid her rent money, after all...

"So what'sit do?" Ryou peered at the game. It was slightly grimy; he unwound part of his wrappings to wipe at the glass display. The letters spelled out in red across the top of the illustration that was full of tigers and swords and fluttering doves, and the long black hair of a velvet cloaked illusionist, golden balls

suspended magically in his slender fingers.

"Whooooahhhhh....." Was Rowen's comment, peering at the game. "He's HOT."

Sage snorted. "He's two dimensional. Honestly, Rowen, nobody looks like that."

"Damn shame too," Rowen replied, surveying the artfully drawn collarbone in the white poet shirt, the exotic odd-eyes of the magician, one ice blue, one gold.

"How's it work, Kento?" Ryou tugged at the ball launcher, wiping his whole arm over the game proper to see the gadgets inside. "It looks really cool."

"Is it American, love?" Sai was interested in spite of himself, and retrieved some glass cleaner and papertowels to clean the thing up properly. It really was an interesting piece, in a sort of western pop culture kind of way, and seemed to be a very well made game.

"Yeah. My Uncle found it for me in a shop in Chinatown, shipped it as a late birthday present. I played one kinda like it when we were in New York?" Kento paused in the act of plugging it in. "I think the picture had a girl on it, though. Well, check it out."

The game, shining after a quick polish by Sai, lit up like a festival with whirring gears and a LCD readout boasting 000,000,000 as the last high score.

Tickets Please, the game said, in English, a polite smooth male voice.

"Ugh." Sage made a face. "It talks?"

"All good pinball machines talk." Kento scolded, and Sage muttered something about lunch and retreated back to the kitchen.

"Hn." Rowen glanced after him. "I wonder what's buggin' Sage?"

"Ah," Ryou-zombie scratched his head. "I think he's miffed at me for raiding the first-aid kit for my costume. Anyway, Let's see ya play this thing, Kento."

"Ohh!" Sai grinned. "Look at all the little scenes.. it's like a whole world."

"Yeah," Kento pressed start. "One waitin' for my high score rule."

Welcome to the theatre of Magic. A pinball rolled into the chute as if by magic, the lights whirling seductively. Here is a ball for you.

"Love, are you coming to bed?" Sai dropped a kiss on Kento's cheek, smiling at the warrior engrossed in his new toy.

"Yeah, in a few. Just with all the running around tonight I haven't gotten to play much."

"Well, stay up if you like but keep it quiet.. Mia has and early day tomorrow. Goodnight, love."

Kento nodded, his eyes on the game as Sai brushed a kiss over his lips and drifted upstairs to bed.

Shoot for the main staircase the game urged, in that same demure voice. Kento's fingers pattered on the paddle buttons, shooting the small silver orb up over the ramp as requested. The stairs lit up and the LCD display swam with flying doves.

I am only an illusion, the magician warned. Kento, intent on the game, did not see the odd-colored eyes narrow slightly. Shoot for the magic trunk.

The ball shot and spun around the lit obstacle course, the lights from the game reflecting on its metal surface, making it appear orangish. Kento finally managed to send it zipping down the right chute, spinning though a gate and straight into the gaping maw of the magic box. The trunk lid closed, the box sliding back into a hidden panel. On the lit score display a ball appeared, wrapped snugly with chains.

The first ball is locked.

Kento wasn't there to see his high score, the game glowing eerily silent in the empty living room, waiting patiently. One of the five spheres the magician juggled tinted slowly carnelian, glowing as if with inner power.

The illusionist smiled.

Rowen stretched a kink out of his back. He'd had to wait for Mia to get done on the computer before he could do his nightly surfing, so it had taken a little longer than usual. Now he was comfortably settling in to bestow his profound intellect on about twelve smut-related mailing lists when his stomach reminded him

politely that there was leftover pizza in the fridge and dinner had been several hours ago. Not to mention that with sage cooking, it was appallingly healthy.

He left the browser open and wandered down to the kitchen.

Tickets Please.

He frowned at Kento's abandoned game. So he'd either finally given up or Sai had lured him to bed with more enticing bells and whistles. Rowen peered at the game. It looked pretty complex, it might take him a few hours to master it. Pinball was all mathematics, anyway. He pulled the knob and sent the ball whizzing in a perfect arc, setting the paddle to connect with it at a precise angle-

Which missed by a mile.

Rowen blinked in surprise. It couldn't do that! It went against the laws of physics! The silver ball clanged along a ramp and back down onto the floor, stalling in place for a moment while the illusionist warned You are under my control.

"Sh'yah, right. S'called MAGNETICS, dude." Now assured that the game was just cheating, not that the laws of the universe weren't going awry, Rowen altered his strategy.

"Shoot for the trunk, huh?" Not a hard shot, provided the game didn't change the rules on him. It was too easy to send the ball -reflecting a deep violet blue in the weird light- shooting straight for the maw for the mechanical box.

Rowen's whoop of triumph ended mid-way.. that had been disgustingly easy.

"Hey- wait just a damn minu-"

The second ball is locked.

There was a whoosh as air rushed in to fill the void where the archer stood, and a second orb in the illusionist's hand glowed a brilliant, Tenku blue.

Somewhere, Kento was trying to yell. The darkness was complete and claustrophobic, like being rolled up in silk and then stuffed in a box. From outside, terrifyingly close, came a rasping slither of razor sharp steel that punctured wood panels in a deadly staccato. A moment of panicked, terrified struggling-

Then silence.

Sai woke up with a shriek, His heart thundering like mad. Damn that ridiculous game of Kento's! He was having nightmares. Sai rolled out of his bed, surprised at the lateness of the hour and his lack of company. Maybe Kento had just crashed on his own bed; surely he couldn't still be playing, could he?

The Warrior of Hardrock's room was empty, abandoned and cluttered and cold. Sai felt a needle-prick of fear in his heart, cold like a sword through a magic box. He crept downstairs as if expecting a burglar, but the livingroom was dark, the pinball machine quietly switched off.

Sai hugged himself in his blue silk pajamas, frowning out the window. Where was Kento? He wouldn't have taken off to town without a note, the kitchen was not being rummaged in, and there was no ordinary comfort of water rushing in one of the bathrooms.

So intently was he gazing into the night that at first he didn't notice the silent glow of carnival lights behind him, until a pair of mismatched magician eyes reflected narrowed malice at him in the window, burning cold with hatred. Sai spun with a gasp, ready to attack, but the game glowed innocently. The Magician painted on the upright smiled with a sort of flatness. Sai glanced back at the window, at the evil painted on the face in the reflection, and then back at the game. He laughed nervously. Of course. The angle was all reversed. No wonder the magician looked so nasty.

Although it still didn't explain why it turned on. He investigated the front of the game, where the coin slot would be if it were in an arcade, and poked in triumph at a small lens. Motion detector. It must turn on automatically if someone is nearby to plunk coins into it.

"Naughty sneaky," He scolded it, and felt much better. It's just a GAME Sai, he told himself, and tugged at the ball launcher.

"You're just a game," Sai retorted. "Don't get so cocky."

The magician smiled demurely.

Here is a ball for you.

A sudden, cold splash, frantic rattle of chains muted by water. Arms pinned in the small of the back and then wrapped in heavy iron links. Instinctively sucking in air to scream, gagging at the rush of icy water pouring into lungs. Dull thud of momentum as a body hurls itself through liquid against thick glass, slamming side to side and spine-joltingly up, fenced in even from above. Not even the least lee of air between water and glass ceiling, lungs burning, needing air, choking and blind, the cold and asphyxiation making a pleasant hum in stopped ears, blindfolded dark going fuzzy and grey, struggling limbs slowing, kicking once... twice... slower each time, then listlessly, submissively still. The chains rattle wetly into quiet.

Sage's eyes blinked open, his breath rapid and panicked. "Rowen?"

The usually occupied space next to him was empty. Not unusual, even at four in the morning. Still, the bad dream lingered in Sage's mouth like dank water, and he found himself downstairs glaring grimly at the cheerful lights of the pinball machine. "Who are you?" He demanded, to the blank face of the odd-eyed, coldly beautiful magician.

I am only an illusion.

"I don't think so."

"Of a sort I don't approve of." Sage sighed. This was ridiculous. He was standing here, at three a.m., in just his sleeping pants, talking to a PINBALL machine. Rowen was going to wander in at any moment, blithering about comets or asteroid storms or something, and have a really good laugh at his lover.

Stupid game. What was so fascinating about it anyway? It was just a set of paddles and a silly metal ball. All you had to do was bat the ball in the direction you wanted it to go.. what was so enthralling about that? He growled in his throat and tuned to tromp back up the stairs, when that voice like smooth chocolate ran ice down his spine.

"Nani?" three strides had him looming over the game. "What did you say?"

Sage looked at the image of the magician on the game proper, three of the balls floating between long slender fingers were lit. He was sure that that morning they had spelled out M A G I C.

But now the first circle gleamed orange, the second almost turquoise, the third deep indigo. Within each sphere glimmered bits of kanji... chi, shin, gi.

"Damn you! What have you done with them?" Sage grabbed the upright of the game, staring violet ice at the painted mage.

His dream. A magic trick. Cold rage seeped into his chest. Sage had his hand pulled back to break the glass of the game, when he froze. If he destroyed it, there was no way to know if he might be killing his chances of recovering the other three. He considered calling Ryou, but his eyes fell to the knob where a silver sphere rested, waiting. No. He might need Ryou for backup, and Ryou would know somehow, if something was wrong. Besides, he could have this whole thing tided up and Ryou none the wiser, with the livingroom still intact. No need to disturb that explosive temper just yet. Murmuring a prayer, he launched the ball up the main ramp.

The fourth ball is locked.

Damn if he hadn't been dreaming some weird shit. Ryou wandered in, on a quest for midnight munchies, just in time to see a green whirl vanish into Kento's game. He blinked for a surprised moment, then wandered right back to investigate Sage's room. "Sage? You in here?" Empty.

"Of course, he's with Ro-" he pushed the door to Rowen's room wide.

Equally empty. Fighting an irrational panic now, Ryou checked the other bedrooms. All he discovered was Mia, sleeping contentedly around an expatriated white tiger.

"Traitor," He muttered, and scrambled downstairs again.

"Fuck you," Ryou snapped at the game, chewing his lip. Something was wrong, he knew it.

"Do you ever SHUT UP?" Ryou stomped over to the game, pulling up short with a startled noise. The board was lit up with armor orbs, only his was lacking. "Guys?" He pressed his face against the glass, sensing something vague and helpless, smelling death sharp and brittle, dark magic woven into an innocent toy. "Guys! I hear you! I'm coming!"

"Huh?" Ryou didn't remember it ever saying THAT before. His heart fluttered for a moment.

Or I might get you. Slowly, the painted magician smiled, his fingers undulating, spinning the orbs. Rekka no Ryou. His hands closed around the orbs, then opened with a puff of colored smoke. Abracadabra. the magician tossed long silver hair, flicking his tongue against his lips and grinning, executing a showman's mocking bow. Still painted and flat but moving with an eerie grace, the game let out a series of murky organ notes.

"GIVE THEM BACK!" Ryou's fist hurtled towards the game, connecting with a satisfying crash of shattering glass. The shards flew out in a sparkling array, hovering briefly in mid-air, then reversing and resealing themselves around his wrist. Laughter rang in his ears.

That was very foolish.

His body jerked forward into the black velvet embrace of the illusionist.

How do bats stand having all the blood in their heads, Sai wondered, dangling head down. He tried to wiggle, but all he received was a head-rush and the cold ache of handcuffs biting into his wrists. Something was burning. He tossed his head against the blindfold, trying to shake it off. His feet had gone numb from being tied at the ankles.

"This isn't funny!" he yelled, and sighed with relief when the cloth over his eyes slipped down and away. Lovely. Roped up from the ceiling and- He stifled a yelp. The rope was on fire! He hoped it wasn't a long drop, and really it wasn't. The blindfold had only fallen a few feet before being turned to confetti on the needle-sharp spikes below.

"Um... um... This isn't good at all!" The rope popped as part of it gave way, the spikes seeming to rush up a few inches towards his head. No way to call his armor with his hands pinned, even his connection with his fellows was fuzzy and dark. "Help?" He called, hopefully. Not even an echo answered him. Maybe if he bent...

Sai arched his back and tried to get his fingers on the flaming rope, and if he'd had a good twenty minutes or so to exercise his flexibility he'd have been out of it in no time, but he didn't even have twenty seconds. The rope fragments couldn't hold the extra weight, fraying and scattering smoldering ash into Sai's eyes before giving way entirely. Sai closed his eyes, bracing, hoping a point would get him through the heart for a quick death and that Kento wouldn't be the one to find him.

WHOOSH-WUMPH. THUD.

Sai blinked. Pointy iron spikes were not supposed to go "Wumph" when you hit them.

Sages, however, DID go "whumph" apparently, and then tended to get irritated after the thud bit. "Quit smacking me! I've got you!"

Sai was deposited unceremoniously to a delightfully non-lethal floor. Sage winced, rubbing shoulders he must have sprained on that flying leap and catch. He still wore his loose green silk pants, although they were mostly in shreds and streamers, matching the cuts on his arms.

"Good heavens, love, you look like you've been through a paper shredder."

"You don't look like a basket of fruit yourself. I never want to see a Mummy Case ever again. Whoever sucked us in here never knew I wanted to be a magician when I grew up." He gestured to his scrapes. "I didn't have quite the knack."

"You remembered enough to save my ass!" Sai gained his feet and looked around. There appeared to be in some sort of dark warehouse, there were lots of ropes and rigging lying amongst dusty crates. Of course.. it looked like the dark wings of an old theatre.

"I found Rowen first, and he's trying to get Kento out of a plywood pincushion- don't panic, he's okay. Go that way and see if you can find Ryou, I felt him come in the room right as I was leaving and he probably has followed us here."

"Right." Sai spun around and pelted off in the direction Sage had indicated, glancing back in time to see the blond warrior swing up into the rigging and silently make his way over the catwalks.

"The tiger saw. Just for you." He hadn't quite kissed him, but warm lips had been in close proximity, enough for Ryou to feel the bitter smile. "Ever feel like there wasn't enough of you to go around?"

At first Ryou had spat fury at his captor, somewhere mocking him behind the artificial night of black silk wrapped around his eyes. Then he realized he was alone, tied on his back, with only an ominous, serrated drone for company. There was a small click and a thud, then another, as something spinning fast enough to cause a cold breeze on his shirtless chest edged another inch nearer to his skin.

to be continued....

by Tenshi no Korin
yoroiden samurai troopers
b i s h o n e n i n k