"How is everyone today?" A familiar, sultry male voice came from the right. I immediately backed away from Satsuki, ripping our fingers apart, and met brilliant green emerald eyes-Axel. For once, Kyandiihoriku wasn't by his side.
"W-what are you doing here!?" I screamed, widening my eyes. Axel laughed. "What happened to the poker game!?"
"Thought I'd stop by and leave my mark while I still can. Don't know if it'll make any difference because people usually listen to Luciel, just because he's an angel. But anyway, I'm here just to encourage your developing relationship."
"What…?" I looked at him with raised eyebrows. They could see the future, right? So was Axel here to make sure we got into a relationship? Or was the relationship destined to fail and he was here to help keep it going? It was hard to tell at this point. I had to wait for Axel to talk a bit more.
"I can't tell you what exactly will happen… but I will say that you need to stay together, for many reasons." Axel told us.
"Stay together…?" Satsuki echoed, frowning. "No one ever said that we were toge-"
"Shut up." Axel told him stiffly. Satsuki looked surprised by this comment and kept his mouth shut, to my surprise, his azure eyes locked onto the demon's pale face. "You two are destined to be together. Look at the attraction! It's been what, a month? And you're acting like lovebirds. It's so obvious!" He cried exaggeratedly, waving his arms around to try and make his point. If the topic hadn't been so serious, I might have laughed at his spectacular show of emotion.
"Can you just go now, please?" I begged, my eyebrows dipped down in agitation. Axel grinned, showing us a lovely row of sharp looking teeth.
"You're so impatient. And I was just about to reveal the secret that Satsuki holds-"
"Don't you dare, Axel." Luciel appeared, his gigantic white wings beating powerfully behind him as his form became more and more visible in the corner. I simply stared in awe at the large, feathered appendages. They never failed to impress me. "You know we're not supposed to reveal that to them yet."
Axel didn't look the slightest bit surprised-just annoyed. I almost laughed at his irked expression. It was the kind of expression that made me want to take photo-his eyes were all scrunched up as if he was constipated, and his lips were pursed tightly as if he were trying, with all his heart, to rid himself of the evil ailment.
"I don't care about rules, Luciel! Just look at these two-they're meant to be together! Why can't we just tell them the secret and get things over with?" Axel asked, blinking. He seemed to be getting angry now; I could see it in his face.
"Would you like to spend the rest of eternity locked in a torture chamber forced to relive all of your worst memories over and over again?" Luciel asked in such a frigid voice that it made me shake. Axel waved a hand nonchalantly at the angel.
"I live in the torture chamber, when I'm not here or with Kyandii. And all my memories were pleasant."
"Even killing your parents and sister or watching your brother die at your feet?" Luciel snarled, staring right into Axel's ruby red eyes.
"Don't fucking mention that." The demon took his dark wings out widely on either side of him, flapping them majestically. I sat watching this feud, wondering when Kyandiihoriku would be coming in. He was the one who stopped the fights, right?
"Why not? It's true, isn't it?" Luciel kept stepping back as Axel advanced forward, his eyes shining with nothing but pure hatred.
"Who cares if it's true?" A pale fist came flying at the angel's face, but stopped right before it got there. I gasped in surprise as Kyandiihoriku appeared in between the two, his face bent in anger for the first time since I'd met him.
"You said there wouldn't be a fight!" He looked directly at Axel. His eyes softened immediately and he began lowering his fist down and unclenching it. Luciel wasn't even fazed; his white wings had remained down and limp the entire spat, while Axel's had been perked up and aware the whole time. I wondered if their wings were like a cat's ears-they reacted to how the person was feeling.
"I'm sorry, but Luciel provoked me." It was kind of funny how he was immediately calm once his boyfriend was in the room
"I provoked you?" Luciel laughed mockingly. "You were going to tell Satsuki the secret!"
"They deserve to know." The other said, folding his arms over his nicely carved chest. Wait; did I just make that observation? Man, I certainly was being corrupted by all these pretty guys around me. "We can't hold it from them forever."
"We'll tell them when we're told to tell them. Why must you always break the rules!?"
"Hey, it doesn't matter if I break the rules this time. I've got a Reprieve."
"What? How?" Luciel demanded, ice blue eyes hard. I stared at them blankly, not quite understanding their back-and-forth banter. What was this 'Reprieve'? It certainly sounded important, and this was made clearer by the surprised look on Luciel's face.
"Remember those twelve dollars? The devil just gave me a Reprieve instead."
"Uh… what's a 'Reprieve'?" Satsuki asked uncertainly. I was curious too, but afraid one of them would eat me if I dared to ask while they clashed. And like, not eat in a perverted way-I would leave that to Satsuki.
Ooh, I certainly was creepy!
"Oh. It's like a 'get-out-of-jail-free' card. If I feel like spurring up a tornado, hurricane, tsunami, or genocide, I can do it and management won't get pissy. That includes," Axel looked at Luciel with a frown. "telling them the secret."
"Yeah right. A Reprieve for twelve dollars!? Unheard of!"
"It's heard of now. I've got some nitty-gritty on the big man that made him give this lovely Reprieve to me." Axel grinned and held out his hand, where a shining yellow card appeared. Kyandiihoriku giggled and took Axel's hand, leading him over to my bed. Wasn't it sad that more men had been in that bed than women I'd dated in my entire life?
"Don't you dare tell them, Axel! They're not meant to-"
"I'm tired of all this commanding, Luciel." Axel sighed melodramatically. "As much as I love a good genocide in the afternoon, I think the Reprieve would come much more in handy for revealing the secret."
"Why would you use it for such a thing!? I know you, Axel. I've known you for a long time. You never would have done something like this before we met Takumi! You're selfish."
"Of course I'm selfish. I'm a fucking demon! But do you really want to know why I'm set on revealing that secret?" His normally green eyes blazed ruby red. "Because you don't want me to."
"Must have been a reeeally rough baseball game if they're fighting like this." Satsuki commented. Kyandiihoriku nodded in our direction, apparently having heard that. His face was drawn down in fatigue, probably from the level of their argument.
"It was a hard time." He told us almost apologetically.
"You're impossible!" And suddenly Luciel was gone. Axel grinned, thinking that the angel had given up on their little feud, and got to his feet. He advanced toward Satsuki and I; I responded by hiding behind my vaporous friend. Despite his friendly words, what Luciel had revealed and Axel didn't deny about killing many of the members of his family freaked me out. Did he really? Was that why he was a demon? How could Kyandiihoriku love someone like that?
"Now. The secret is that you, Satsuki, are able to-" And then Axel was gone too. Kyandiihoriku looked around in confusion, frowning. It didn't look like he knew what had happened, but I decided to ask anyway.
"Kyandiihoriku… where did they go?" I asked him, looking about crazily.
"I don't know… but I can't teleport to where Axel is. There's only three ways that's possible."
"And those are…?" Satsuki stared at our dress-clad friend, waiting for him to continue.
"Either he's with the devil, the angel leader, or he's blocking me from following. I highly doubt he's blocking me, so it's gotta be one of the other two." Kyandiihoriku scowled-oh my wow! A negative expression!-and gazed around once more, sighing. "I'm going to the demon world. I'm sure one of us will come back to update you." And then he was gone too, leaving Satsuki and I all alone again.
It felt awkward now, all that pent up… whatever it was that happened earlier still looming in the air. Satsuki sat down where he had been standing-a few feet away from me, but no more than three-and crossed his legs, sighing and staring at the floor.
"…Satsuki?" I said his name only after a long, uncomfortable silence had passed and I realized that my ghostly friend wasn't going to say anything.
"Hm?" His voice was dry and quiet, barely noticeable. I hoped he wasn't crying again.
"What… what happens now?" I asked in a low voice. He shrugged nonchalantly, making a disinterested noise.
"Beats me." He frowned, letting his body fall backwards so he was spread out over the floor. His cape was extended all about him, just like wings. I watched him carefully, trying to read his actions, but I wasn't getting anything. He looked stiff, unfriendly, and upset. This made me feel unhappy. I stood up and headed for the door, stopping only when Satsuki's voice, quiet and perhaps a little melancholy, spoke from those few allotted feet away.
"What's wrong?" He asked.
"Nothing. I-I'm going to take a shower." I stood up, keeping my eyes averted from the ghost in white as I gathered up some clean clothes. He didn't follow me, but he stood close by just enough so I wouldn't be restricted from movement.
"Should I come in?" He asked in an innocent voice. I stared at him with wide eyes and said the most obvious of answers, especially after the earlier scenario.
"…No. Just stand outside the door, please." I grabbed my clothes and walked in towards the washroom, closing the door before he could enter behind me. I actually heard his body thump up against the door.
From there I shed my clothing, letting it rest on the floor in a pile and turned on the water. After I stepped in underneath the warm, comforting water, I let myself fall to the floor, sniffling. In minutes, the tears had swarmed over my face.
"Why did this have to happen…?" I cried, slamming my fist into the floor of the shower. I let my dark colored hair fall over my face, the tears mixing in with the hot water.
After the shower, which took around two or more hours, I dressed and opened the door to find a sleeping Satsuki. The one odd thing about him was that his cheeks were wet… possibly from tears, most likely from tears. It made me want to start crying again.
I sat down across from my ghostly friend, smiling lightly at his beautiful sleeping figure. His eyes, even closed, looked so wonderful with his eyelashes folded over his pale skin like a princess'. A lock of his long honey blonde hair had fallen in front of his face, making him look so innocent and so appealing… I just wanted to reach over to him and touch him to make sure he was real. I couldn't imagine him quietly crying in front of a closed door with no one looking on. He seemed like the kind of person to want someone to see his sadness, just so he could take an advantage of it. That's the kind of person I thought he was. Was I wrong? Of course I was. No matter how much I debated over it, Satsuki had been a human, and he still had feelings like a human. I was an idiot for leading him on and then backing off, just because I thought it wouldn't affect him. That was such a stupid idea!
And then I began to cry. Weak, weak Takumi… crying because he loved a man, a ghost, and… couldn't make the feelings stop. Wasn't I so horrible? Wasn't I so despicable?
"Takumi…" Axel suddenly appeared in front of me, kneeling down to become eye level with me. He reached over and wiped away my large fountain of tears, smoothing down my hair. I felt a bit strange as he did this, and a bit scared. He wasn't supposed to be caressing me like this!
"There is a way… for Satsuki to become real." He said to me, grinning. My eyes went wide with surprise at this new revelation and I laughed maniacally. This was it! This was… this was how I could reveal my love to the world!
Author's Notes: Satsuki plushies for my reviewers! If you don't want a Satsu plushie, just review to congratulate me on turning the big 1-7! I'm really excited.
I hope everyone enjoyed these chapter! Don't forget I also double chapter updated Laconic Oblivion, so feel free to head over there and check it out!
The next update might not come for a little while. I think I might tell everyone now. I haven't been working on CE lately; the story has been stuck at one hundred and seventy four pages for a few months now. Expect lots of Laconic Oblivion updates-I've written about twenty pages just this week, and finished two or three chapters. It's getting really exciting!
Stay alert until my next update, faithful readers! Don't forget to review!