AN: This story was inspired by the concept of the movie City of Angels. My first try at an AU fic.
I dedicate this one to Alex, who read all of my works and reviewed each one, thank you so much; to Hephaestus1923 who sent me some love in my inbox; to lilazo who requested for a longer story, well here it is xD; to Hyourinmaru165 who favorited all my works; to closetotaku711, Fanamaniac, Melodic Shadows, and OtakuLeader for their reviews that inspired and motivated me.
Disclaimer: I claim no ownership over the characters, the movie, and the band I mention in the story.
Title: To Love Is To Breathe (tentative)
Chapter Word Count: 3,820 word(s)
POV: Third person
Pairing(s): Mio x Ritsu; Ritsu x Mio (for now)
Summary: AU: Mio is an angel, barely feels emotion, never gets tired, thirsty, or hungry, and has lived for millnenia and will live for eternity to serve the Maker. So why is it that a being so close to perfect like her take interest in the human that is Tainaka Ritsu? Mitsu. Multi-chap.
To Love Is To Breathe
As sunlight streaked the dark skies, as twilight hours ended, as morning's warmth overpowered the coolness of night time, as skies awoke and clouds parted and gave way, as the sun's rising reflection danced on the waves of the sea, as the familiar melody of proud trumpets, horns, and harps blossom from somewhere inside each of them, the angels gathered at the shore once again to welcome the coming of a new day.
They all stood there with outstretched arms and closed eyes; a daily routine and obligation. Every single angel all over the world must come to the closest body of saltwater and witness the crack of dawn. And as the sun rose, an invisible orchestra plays and only they will be able to hear it. This is the Maker's way of thanking them and reminding them of both their gifts and of their duty. To barely know of emotion, to never lack breath thus having no need for breathing, to never feel hunger and thirst, thus never needing food and water, to never feel exhaustion and thus have no need for sleep, and to stay alongside him for eternity so that they may guide and guard generations and generations of humans that enter the world and help their wandering souls find peace when they leave.
Contrary to popular belief, angels have no wings and thus cannot fly. They however do have the power to transport themselves in a blink of an eye to wherever they are needed and other unthinkable powers that they can summon only when necessary. They also only wear white robes and all possess white-colored hair and irises that change color along with the skies.
The beautiful sounds of the trumpets, horns, and harps slowly faded and the guardians awoke from their trance. It was another day, but then again time is merely an insignificant matter to these celestial beings, and their numbers thinned down as they all went out to perform their duties.
Each angel is assigned a specific number of people depending on which sphere they belong in. There are three; the first, second, and third spheres, the third being the highest, something akin to Archangels in Christianity and are the seniors since they are oldest. Angels advance when the Maker finds that they have done well and are deserving of the title and will also be able to handle a bigger number. Some angels have been in one sphere for as long as they have existed. To advance to the third sphere is also considered a huge recognition. Every decade, candidates are chosen and then chosen among them are the ones who advance to the next sphere.
"Congratulations on being chosen as candidate, Mio-senpai."
Azusa, a first sphere angel approached her senior and gave her a smile, her long pigtails swayed in the air as it carried her voice, a voice too beautiful to be heard by human ears. Her robes flowed in the air, as early morning sun shine caressed her features. Despite being considered young for an angel, it has been said that she would have advanced to the second sphere already from how good her records look but her age held her back.
"Azusa, thank you… I feel that it was premature, though. I do not think I deserve such an honor yet."
Mio, a second sphere angel and third sphere candidate, turned around to face her junior, the young angel she had taken under her wing after seeing how much they had in common, and her hair that reached the small of her back followed her movements. Her bangs fell to her face and she titled her head to the side as she gave the other angel a small humble smile. She now had her back to the sea and the breeze blew her robes forward.
"Nonsense… In all the millennia I have spent serving the Maker, I know no other angel more deserving than you, Mio."
A third voice joins in the conversation. She slowly walked towards the pair all the while she smiled softly. If there was any angel who looked close to the popular depiction of them, it would be her. The long waves of her hair danced so beautifully that anyone who watched would be caught in a trance.
"Only Azusa can probably compete."
She finished as she stood with the two other angels, each at her side.
"Ah! Mugi-senpai, congratulations on being chosen as a candidate also."
Azusa smiled and bowed politely.
"Mugi, we became candidates and advanced to the second sphere together, and now we're candidates together again."
Mio thought the two angels believed in her too much.
"Ah, indeed that is true… But I am not the one with the fanclub."
Mugi giggled. Mio sighed exasperatedly, not wanting to be reminded about that. She was disturbed to find out that the other celestial beings have made a fanclub in her honor, and was even more surprised when she found out that some of the younger and lesser angels are members. She never felt that much emotion in all of her millennia. Azusa just watched her seniors interact.
Angels can sometimes have little quirks. The Maker even enjoys seeing his most loyal servants fumble and be silly once in a millennium. They can't reach the level of perfection, after all, and can only be close to it, so somewhere on each of these majestic beings, there are tiny cracks. The Maker likes finding out where those cracks are.
One would even think that because of this, even the Maker has quirks.
The sun illuminated the island of Japan and the three angels who were the only ones left on the beach turned to each other.
"Senpais, I think we should be going now."
"Indeed. Shall we see each other again here at the next sunrise?"
"Of course."
And together they all blinked themselves to the first human on their list and started on their rounds.
As daylight disappeared, as twilight enveloped the city, as neon signs flicker to life, as regular employees hurriedly and excitedly leave their offices because it's a Friday night, as one of Tokyo's well-known bar's patrons downed their first shots and undressed the short-skirted waitresses with their eyes, the first band scheduled for tonight set up their amps and the drum kit.
This band, made up of all girls, has only recently started their rise to fame. For the past month, they had a gig every Friday night and they all were at pretty known places. Although, they all had the earliest slot, which means the bar would only have a fair amount of people, mostly patrons in it, they figured they could have done worse and gratefully accept whenever they were invited to play. This Friday night was a good one because this was the biggest bar they've ever played at.
The distorted guitar sounds reverberated in the four corners of the bar. The guitarist nodded, their amps were top quality and the acoustics of the place were perfect, she thought. She turned to her band mate who sat herself on a stool behind the expensive looking drum kit and nodded once again, silently telling her that they were game for sound check number one before the show starts.
1… 2… 3…
The drummer crossed her sticks above her head for all her band mates to see. She clashed them together along with each number.
1, 2, 3!
The band went over the choruses of the songs on their song list, all original compositions. They were good. They immediately caught the attention of the few early birds who wanted to get as much alcohol in their system as possible tonight. But they still had that aura of being amateur around them.
Most of their songs were rock 'n roll. One would think they sound like The Runaways with how they play. They had one or two slower songs but still not the kind that would put you to sleep. There were a few mistakes here and there as they ran through the songs. The guitarist seemed a little childish with how she moved, the bassist seemed to not be paying attention to the drummer, and said drummer rushed in some parts of the song, but sounded good together and they enjoyed playing together so they thought everything was okay.
The drummer got up and faced the microphone positioned beside the drum set.
"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, we're Wild Child and we're first up tonight. We hope you like what we've prepared for you."
The drummer walked back to her drums, sat and began her count.
1… 2… 3… 4… 1, 2, 3, 4!
The guitarist went through the riff at the song's intro smoothly, the drummer was obviously pumped up which made her drumming powerful, the bassist's low tones accentuated the beats and added depth to the sound, the keyboardist hit the keys expertly and blended in perfectly.
They played four songs and took a water break. The girls panted and wiped the sweat from their brow. The bar's population doubled and this only served to motivate them and energize them.
A bespectacled woman who looked young for someone who was already in their thirties, approached the stage causing the heads of men of all ages to turn and follow. They stared at her ass like how starved tigers would at a piece of meat. She gave the band two thumbs up, and grinned.
"Big pay tonight girls, biggest we've ever had. Let's celebrate. Drinks are on me later."
She said and the girls on the stage perked up even more.
"Yeaah! That's what I'm talking about!"
The drummer raised her fist in the air. The woman walked back to her stool at the bar and ordered another shot of vodka.
"Okay guys, break time is over. Time to rock."
They started their second set and played with even more intensity than their first.
Soon, they had to get off the stage as the second band arrived along with what they could only assume to be a mob of groupies that packed the place and made it harder to move around.
They all headed backstage and went inside the dressing room for the musicians. They collected their things and grabbed their coats from the coat rack and went out to meet up with their bespectacled manager.
"Geez, I feel so envious of bands like them! So many fans following them around, showing up at every gig and asking for autographs. Don't you think it would be nice if we had that too, Ricchan?"
Hirasawa Yui, their airheaded guitarist, turned to the band's drummer, a finger to her lip, short brown hair bouncing, as her imagination surely ran wild with strange ideas. She doesn't look like it, but she can have moments where she rocks that guitar of hers like a prodigy.
"Yeah, but I think that would just lose its magic later and it would end up just being a pain in the ass. Besides, Yui, imagine what would happen to you if you accidentally trip on an amp cord and fall into the sea of groupies. That would be a nightmare."
Tainaka Ritsu, the band's drummer and leader figure, shook her head at the image of her friend crying and calling out her sister's name. She moved to take off the headband she has been sporting all night. She felt its grip loosen and it slowly slid down her head sometime during their last three songs. Her long ochre bangs fell to her face and she closed her left eye in reflex as she felt the strands poke her. She combed her fingers through then pushed her fringe back and quickly slipped the yellow band back on. It was her favorite out of all the headbands she had.
She felt Yui grip her arm. The girl quivered and there were tears in the corners of her eyes. Ritsu sighed.
"Uiii~"
The guitarist whined to her sister, the band's keyboardist, who walked a few steps ahead of her. They both looked so alike that one would mistake them for twins. Ui wore her short hair in a ponytail. She is so different from her sister just due to the fact that she rarely messes things up. Give Yui something that isn't guitar related and you can't expect more than a disaster from the girl.
"Onee-chan?"
The younger and more responsible sister looked behind her, to the older one, in question. The older one gripped the younger's arm.
"Ui," Yui sniffed. "Don't let me fall into a sea of groupies, okay?"
Ui stared for a moment wondering what her sister was talking about, but then after she realized that this was her sister talking, she linked arms with her sister and just smiled.
"Of course, of course."
Beside Ui, their bassist sighed. Jun was Ui's friend and former classmate. One afternoon, back in their high school days, Ritsu had impulsively decided that she and the Hirasawa sisters should form a band, and after she randomly mentioned this to Jun, the girl asked if she could join. Then they heard that the Light Music Club of their school was about to get disbanded and they all decided that they should reviver it. That's where everything started.
"Oh, Sawa-chan sensei."
They found their manager sitting on one of the couches backstage. Sawako was their teacher in high school. She had the image of a sweet, kind, and gentle woman. But one day, after rummaging through old boxes in their high school's music room they found a photo album of the band of girls who were the previous members of Keion. They were shocked to find out that the woman in one photograph, who sported make-up and face paint, wore tattered clothes with piercings, and had streaks of neon highlights in her hair was their lovely teacher, Yamanaka Sawako.
Ritsu had blackmailed her into agreeing to become the faculty advisor of their club and from then on, they had all become friends in the way only a strange bunch like this could.
"First one to get knocked out buys the drinks next time."
Their manager turned to them, laughed an evil laugh, and then hiccupped.
"I think we should pass tonight, Sawa-chan. You're already tipsy. We should all just head home and rest, then celebrate tomorrow night."
Ritsu suggested and scanned the faces of all of her band mates and saw them all nod. She turned to Sawako only to be greeted with the sight of their manager, head in her hands and groaning.
They all sweatdropped at this.
"I guess I'll drive sensei home since I'm closest to her."
Jun piped up and volunteered with as much reluctance she could muster. Ui patted her shoulder feeling sympathy for her friend.
"Well, we'll be on our way also."
The sisters turned to Jun and then to Ritsu, waved and walked off.
"Lemme help you carry Sawa-chan to her car."
Jun nodded gratefully at her senpai and moved to assist their teacher turned manager to her feet.
The skies were already dark and the streets were illuminated by the various establishments in the city's center for night activities. It was late and no one should walk home at this hour. Ritsu wasn't just anyone, though, she reasoned out.
The streets were unsafe, she knew, but she's done this for so many times that she's confident that nothing bad would ever happen to her. She also wanted to have some alone time, to just think about the recent changes in her life.
Mio had finished her rounds for the third time that day and most of her wards were safely tucked in their beds anyway, so she decided to take a little break and walked around the still awake parts of the city. With her long white robe, she looked like she was floating. What a sight she was to behold! But humans can't see her; they were too undeserving of that privilege. She shook her head reminiscing of the time when humans tainted themselves with the foul elements out of too much curiosity or greed or both.
Ritsu had decided to walk through the dark alley instead of the better lit one because that place always stinks of something rotten and dead. She had a gut feeling that she would come to regret this decision later. Unfortunately, her gut feeling would prove her right.
Mio felt drawn to explore the shady parts of the city where criminals roamed the streets freely and many rookie police officers had been incapacitated or killed, for some reason.
With her sharp hearing, she picked up a loud scream for help from an alley meters away from her. She closed her eyes and blinked herself to the source of it.
Ritsu imitated the sounds of drum beats under her breath as she walked. She then had the strange sensation that someone was following her. She looked behind her but there was no one there. She went on but she was more aware of her surroundings this time. The feeling kept nagging at her so she looked back again. Nothing.
She was about to take another step when someone grabbed her from behind with an arm around her midsection and a hand holding a piece of cloth covered her nose and mouth.
She smelled it. The cloth was doused with chloroform. Shit.
She reacted as fast as she could or else she would be dead, robbed, raped or all three in thirty minutes. She kicked her captor in the shin as hard as she could. Her captor gave a pained yelp and his grip on Ritsu loosened.
Ritsu took the chance and with as much strength she could muster, leapt out of the man's arms then screamed for help as loud as she could. She hit the ground with a loud thud and willed her body to get up, but it seems that her body was unable to listen to her. Shit. Shit. This is bad. Shit.
The chloroform kicked in and she was quickly getting dizzy. Soon she'd be unconscious and this man could freely do whatever he wanted with her.
She watched the man with tattered clothes approach her slowly. She could see his perverted grin through her blurred and fuzzy vision. A chill went down her spine and there were tears in the corners of her eyes. Her eye closed, the chloroform taking effect, and her whole body shut down.
Just then Mio blinked herself between a man and a girl lying down on the ground. She looked at the girl, then turned to face the man and looked back at the unconscious body on the ground.
Let it be said that for the first time in all the millennia of Mio's existence and in the history of angels that tonight would be the first where Mio felt a surge of irrational anger at the man, and that she is the first of the angels to be able to feel this much emotion.
Mio, with all of her angelic glory and celestial powers, put up the strongest light barrier between her and the man who reeked of all the foul elements of the world.
The man was surprised that all of a sudden a strong and blinding light appeared between him and his prey. He stumbled back and groans in pain. His groans grew into sobs as he held his face.
"Aaah! My eyes! My eyes! They're burning!"
His blood curling scream was laced with pain and blood was gushing between his fingers.
"MIO!"
Mio was pulled back to reality. The light that surrounded her vanished suddenly and she turned to face the very familiar voice that came from behind her. She took a step back. She didn't know what she had done, she had just… reacted. She didn't know why… She just… She…
The beautiful form of Mugi stood there, a hand on slightly parted lips, the other on her chest, eyes wide.
"I… I didn't know what I was doing, Mugi… I wasn't aware… I don't… I just did it…"
There was a quiver in Mio's voice and all of this brought on a foreign feeling at the bottom of Mugi's stomach. Was it… Dread? Fear?
"Mio… She was mine…"
Mugi whispered so quietly that if it wasn't for an angel's hearing Mio would not have heard it. Mio took another step back. Oh no. Oh no, no, no, no… This was bad.
If there was one rule angels were never supposed to break in their existence, it was meddling with another angel's ward. Once a person becomes an angel's ward, they would be theirs until their death. Meddling with another angel's ward is a sign of greed, one of the foulest of elements.
She just succumbed to the foul elements. She tainted herself. She would be demoted. She might even be stripped of her title as an angel. She would be left to float through her existence with no purpose, banned from interaction with other celestial beings.
Mugi realized what must be going through the other angel's mind. If angels had a heart, Mugi's would have ached for her friend at that moment. So she did what she thought was the best thing to do.
She took Mio's hands in her own, one in each. The angel's head was bowed down in shame for what she did.
"Mio, I promise to not tell the Maker."
Mugi tried to peer up and look into Mio's eyes.
"No, no… I'm sure he already knows. He only makes us submit written reports about our wards for formality, but he sees everything, Mugi."
"But, I can't let anything happen to you, Mio. I can't let you lose it all. And besides, I should've been here before you."
Mio looked up at her friend and pulled her into a tight embrace.
"It's not your fault at all. But, thank you for all this, Mugi."
Mugi pulled back.
"I know you, Mio. You wouldn't have done that for no reason at all… And I know the Maker knows that. Don't worry, okay?"
She assured the other angel with a soft smile on her face. Mio smiled back gratefully at her.
"I'll just take care of this one, okay, Mio? I'll see you at sunrise."
Mugi turned to her unconscious ward. She crouched down and laid a palm on the human girl's forehead. They blinked out of Mio's sight and probably to the human's home.
Somewhere up in the heavens, the most powerful entity watched over them. One of his top angels just broke laws he himself had made, not out of disobedience and disrespect, but out of a sudden surge of human emotion.
He never knew his angels were capable of that. He never made them to be capable of that.
This was certainly interesting…
To be continued...
AN: Whew, that was long! I pushed myself to finish this before the day ended, and decided that instead of dedicating oneshots to each person who's given me love by sending awesome and helpful reviews, I decided to write a multi-chap AU fic that would make you all go gaga over Mitsu. xD
What do you think? Do any of you have questions? Did anything confuse you? All reactions are welcome! Feel free to point out my mistakes! Til next update! :D
AN 2: I polished some rough sentences and fixed some words with missing letters :) Thank you for pointing it out, guys! The story summary will change later and lots of stuff will happen. :D Thanks again!
~pineappurus