I decided put this up despite not being finished yet. Fingers crossed, I get this completed quickly now. Anyone who's read Big in Japan will recognise the link to this. I had a little fun with the names. I put the names on Google translate in the language of the countries they represent and translated them to Japanese (because this is meant to be a manga) and this is what it gave me!
Translated to – Translated from - Country
Arufureddo (Japanese) – Alfred(English) - America
Āsā (Japanese) – Arthur (English) - England
Mashū (Japanese) – Matthieu/Matthew (French/English) - Canada
Girubāto (Japanese) – Gilbert (German) - Prussia
Ansonī (Japanese) – Antonio (Spanish) - Spain
Furanshisu (Japanese) – Francis (French) - France
Rōman (Japanese) – Romano (Italian) – South Italy
Ferishiāno (Japanese) – Feliciano (Italian) – North Italy
Roderich (Japanese) – Roderich (German) - Austria
Iwan (Japanese) – Ivan (Russian) - Russia
Rutovu~ihi (Japanese) – Ludwig (German) - Germany
U~Orufugangu (Japanese) – Wolfgang (German) - Germania
Romyurasu (Japanese) – Romulus (Italian) – Roman Empire
Bāto·-tatchi· torio (Japanese) – Bad-Touch-Trio (English)
Bāto·-tatchi· karutetto (Japanese) – Bad-Touch-Quartet (English)
Bāto·-tatchi· kuintetto (Japanese) – Bad-Touch-Quintet (English)
Well, here we go! Enjoy!
Warning: Mentions car accidents and death!
It was two years after the Japan Tour and a lot of things had changed for Arthur Kirkland, lead singer of Revenant. His now fiancé, manga author, Kiku Honda had moved from Japan to England to be with Arthur in London. He had finished Demonic Romeo, which was now a anime with English translation and he was now working on his new yaoi manga Backstage Pass, inspired by his romance with Arthur and right now he was working on his latest draft to send to his editor in Japan.
Arthur stood in the doorway to the office he had put in for Kiku's work, watching his fiancé putting the finishing touches to one of the characters. Kiku sat up from his work and stretched, then spotted Arthur from the corner of his eye.
"I'm retiring for the night, Kiku," Arthur said.
"I just need to finish this to send to Japan tomorrow," Kiku replied. "Then I'll join you." He noticed Arthur was holding his volumes of Demonic Romeo. "I thought you had already read all that!" Arthur smiled, sheepishly.
"I love your new manga," he said. "But Demonic Romeo will always be my favourite. It's thanks to that I met you. By the way, I couldn't help but notice that some of your characters resemble certain band members of mine." Kiku blushed lightly.
"I began Demonic Romeo just as Revenant became popular in Japan," he replied. "You inspired me."
"And any reason the two main characters are like Alfred and I?"
"There was that rumour that was in all the music magazines at the time."
"Ah!" Arthur remembered the rumour that he and Alfred were dating. As if! It would have been like dating his own brother. Arthur went over to Kiku and kissed him lightly on the cheek.
"Don't stay up too late," he ordered and left the room.
Arthur changed into his sleeping gear, brushed his teeth and settled down in bed. He opened his book and began to read.
Demonic Romeo Vol I
Arufureddo was bored. He walked through Hell, seeing the same old sights, the same old demons, hearing the same old screams from the punishment pits and Arufureddo was so, so tired of it all, despite not being in Hell for very long. He wanted something different. He just did not know what.
Arufureddo was quite handsome for a demon. He had bright blue eyes that peered from behind half-rimmed glasses, a remnant from when he was alive and his hair had the cowlick he had in life. There were differences though. He had been blonde in life but now his hair was raven black with two black horns that curled round his head and he had two large, leathery, reptilian wings sprouting from his back and a snake-like, forked tail that flicked through the air and he wore the clothes that he had died in. A black suit.
He had been attending his brother's funeral.
His brother, Mashū, had been diagnosed with cancer and given a short time left to live. Arufureddo had been offered a deal by a man called Iwan who turned out to be a demon. Arufureddo gave up his soul to save his brother from cancer but Mashū died in a car accident instead. On the way back from Mashū's funeral, Arufureddo's car had gone off the road and he had been killed.
Since then, he had been a demon, serving darkness and punishing the sinful. Someone who sold their soul to a demon would become one after death but someone who corrupted their soul without demon intervention went to Hell to be punished. Arufureddo had naturally felt cheated as he had given up his soul but his brother had still died and Arufureddo had lost everything. His brother! His life! His soul! He partly blamed Heaven for it. It seemed that everyone was born with a set time to live and, although demons could affect the order of things, Heaven would find a way to put things right.
Heaven could have just left Mashū alone? Why did it not?
He also hated Iwan who had carefully worded the deal so that Iwan would prevent Mashū from dying of cancer! He never said anything about preventing Mashū from dying some other way. He was still brooding when ….
"Arufureddo!"
Above the punishment pits, Arufureddo could see his friend, Girubāto, flying through the air toward him. The Prussian had white, reptilian wings and tail that matched his white hair, his horns matched his red eyes, wearing a blue Prussian uniform. He had died during World War II when he sold his soul in order to save the army group he was commanding. He got them to safety and then caught the wrong end of an artillery shell. When Arufureddo first came down, Girubāto had, quite literally, taken the new young demon under his wing.
The albino demon landed in front of Arufureddo with a big grin on his face.
"What's happening?" Arufureddo asked.
"Me, Ansonī and Furanshisu are going up top," Girubāto smirked. "Going to mess with a couple of angels out 'doing good'." Girubāto made air quotes around 'doing good'. Girubāto, Ansonī and Furanshisu used to be known as the Bāto·-tatchi· torio. When Arufureddo joined the gang, they became the Bāto·-tatchi· karutetto.
"Want to come?" Arufureddo shrugged. He had nothing else to do.
"What kind of angels?" he asked.
"Guardian."
"Let's go steal what they're guarding!" Arufureddo replied, making Girubāto raise an eyebrow as Arufureddo was yet to corrupt any innocent soul but Arufureddo thought it might be a good idea to ward off the suspicion that it just did not appeal to him. "Maybe we can grab a couple of angels while we're at it."
"Why do you let yourself get pushed around by the Piano Bastard, idiota?" Rōman Vargas groused as he and his younger brother, Ferishiāno walked down the street, unaware that they were being followed by their own unseen and unheard, white-robed guardian angels.
The two brothers looked very similar to each other except Rōman was the eldest with dark red-brown hair and caramel eyes while Ferishiāno's hair was more auburn and his eyes were amber. Both had wayward curls springing out at the sides of their heads, Rōman's on the right side, Ferishiāno's on the left.
"Ve~," Ferishiāno replied. "He's my boss. I have to do what he says." Ferishiāno worked for an Austrian called Roderich Edelstein who owned the Music Box shop and he was a difficult man to work for but the job had its upside. Roderich was extremely gifted on the piano and he would sometimes play in the shop, to the delight of the customers and Ferishiāno. Ferishiāno's guardian angel, Mashū loved to listen too.
"You can always work in the restaurant, you know," Rōman suggested. "Nonno would have loved that!" Nonno was their grandfather, Romyurasu Vargas, the only family they had after their parents had died and he had opened Cielo Italiano. He had died a few years ago and left the restaurant to his two grandsons and Ferishiāno owned half the restaurant but had wanted to try something new.
"Ve~ I'll think about it," he promised. His guardian angel, Mashū, smiled.
"He'll be an angel when the time comes," he said to the other angel, his mentor and friend, Āsā.
This was Mashū's first assignment as a guardian angel. He had just above shoulder-length, blonde hair with a wayward strand that stuck out and curled down between his violet eyes. A pair of wings with beautiful white plumage grew from his back.
"He's a true pure soul," his companion agreed. "If he stays like this, Heaven will welcome him with open arms." Āsā, a veteran angel, was also blonde with emerald eyes, capped with the biggest eyebrows ever seen and usually wore a scowl on his face. Sometimes he would think of something that would soften his face but these moments were few and far between. He also possessed a pair of magnificent white wings.
"What about Rōman?" Mashū was not sure about him. "He seems a little hostile and ….. foul-mouthed?"
"So was I," Āsā chuckled. "Don't let his attitude fool you. He loves his brother but he never shows his true feelings. Believe me, he has a good heart and a good soul. Heaven won't reject him for little idiosyncrasies. All I have to do is make sure he doesn't stray from the light."
"I'm sure you'll …..." Āsā stopped and held up his hand, indicating for Mashū to be quiet. He scanned the buildings around them and immediately went on alert.
"There are demons nearby," he warned.
Arufureddo looked down from the roof-top as he and the rest of the Bāto·-tatchi· karutetto watched the two humans being followed by the two angels. Ansonī was a Spanish demon with brown hair and green eyes who had died during the Spanish Civil War where he had sold his soul for the safety of his family. He was dressed in brown and his horns, wings and tail were a darker brown. Furanshisu was French with long, blonde hair and blue eyes and his devilish appendages were dark blue/grey. He had sold his soul to save his wife, Jeanne, from dying from a heart condition but she died in a fire instead. All were Iwan's deals.
The others were ready to go in for the attack but the humans and the angels needed to be closer. Then Arufureddo saw one of the angels stop and make a hand gesture to the other, looking around at the buildings.
"He knows," he said, indicating the now alert angel. Girubāto grinned.
"Let's not disappoint," he replied, with a smirk.
The Bāto·-tatchi· karutetto attacked.
Rōman and Ferishiāno were completely unaware of what was going on above their heads but their guardian angels took to the air, producing golden bows and arrows as the demons swooped in. They split up and the demons divided too. The black and brown-haired demons facing Āsā, the blonde and white-haired ones confronting Mashū. Mashū moved his bow left and right, trying to keep both demons covered with his arrow as they moved toward him, both carrying swords, the blonde, a fencing sword and the albino, a broadsword. He fired his arrow but both demons dodged it and when they turned back, the arrow was back in the bow.
"My, my," he heard the white-haired demon say with a German accent. "You're a fierce little birdie, aren't you. Imagine what you could do, corrupting souls. You'd make a cute demon, what do you say, Furanshisu?"
"Hon hon hon," The blonde demon laughed, clearly French "He would be absolutely adorable, not that he isn't now. Why not come with us, petit oiseau mignon (cute little bird)? We'll take very good care of you!"
"I'll never be a demon!" Mashū declared and fired off another arrow. Both demons dodged it and began circling the angel like airborne sharks.
Arufureddo observed his enemy and thought it was a pity he was an angel, he was kind of cute even with the large eyebrows. His blonde bed-head hair and his bright green eyes were adorable and not at all marred by the scowl on his face as he aimed his bow at him and Ansonī.
"There are over six billion souls in the world," Arufureddo commented, gripping a pistol, his weapon of choice. "Do you really want to get hurt, fighting over a mere two?" Āsā's scowl deepened.
"Every soul is precious," he sneered. "Not that I'd expect you to know that since you clearly sold yours. For what! Fame! Fortune! Power! Was it worth it?"
"None of your business!" Arufureddo snapped. Āsā had clearly struck an nerve and he wondered what the demon's story was. It was a pity he was a demon, though. With a face like that, he would have been a beautiful angel but Āsā's priority right now was to protect the Vargas Brothers until they got safely out of the way.
"Cute little friend you have there, amigo," Ansonī said with a smile as he held his battle-axe ready. "And I'm not talking about the other angel." Ansonī looked down at Rōman and Āsā immediately flew to put himself between the demons and the Vargas Brothers.
"You'll get him over my cold dead body," he declared, aiming the arrow at Ansonī's chest. Arufureddo had a feeling the angel was going to say that.
"Pity," he commented and he and Ansonī flew in to attack.
As this was Mashū's first assignment, this was also his first fight against demons and he was facing two of them. He knew he was out of his league and the demons were just toying with him so he concentrated on keeping them busy long enough for Rōman and Ferishiāno to get as far away from danger as they could. He fired off arrow after arrow and the demons dodged his attempts, laughing as they did so. He finally made his mistake while taking aim at the white-haired demon, not realizing that the blonde one was coming up behind him until he was grabbed from behind, the demon's arms pinning his arms and his wings against his body and the demon's wings flapping to keep them aloft.
"You put up a good fight, Birdie," Girubāto commented. "Cute and determined! Imagine the souls you could corrupt! What do you say, Furanshisu? Time for The Bāto·-tatchi· karutetto to become The Bāto·-tatchi· kuintetto?" Furanshisu leant forward until his lips were almost touching the shell of Mashū's ear.
"Undoubtedly, Girubāto," Furanshisu breathed, making Mashū shiver. "I can't wait to induct this sweet little bird into our intimate little group." Girubāto flew up to Mashū and cupped his cheek.
"You're going to have so much fun, Birdie," he said and pecked Mashū on the lips.
Āsā was doing a good job of holding the demons off as the Vargas brothers got further and further away. Arufureddo had to admit that he was impressed with the angel's fighting skills and speed, dodging his bullets and Ansonī's axe. He would make a fine demon. Āsā was ready to fire again when he saw Mashū in the grip of his two opponents and saw the white-haired one kiss him. He turned his bow in their direction.
"MASHÚ!" he shouted and let the arrow fly, just as Ansonī took advantage of the opportunity and grabbed Āsā, pinning the angel's wings and arms and calling for Arufureddo to come help but Arufureddo had just frozen.
MASHÚ!
Furanshisu let go of Mashū and Girubāto flew backwards when the saw the arrow winging its way toward them. Mashū dropped a little until his wings caught the air currents and arrested his descent. He looked up, just in time to see his friend and mentor being grabbed by the brown-haired demon and winged his way to the rescue.
Āsā struggled to shake off the demon but he would not budge and then suddenly, a white blur ripped the demon away. Mashū pushed Ansonī away from him and then flew backwards to fly next to Āsā.
"Mashū!" Mashū turned and faced the black-haired demon who had spoken and his jaw dropped.
"Arufureddo!" he gasped. His hair had been blonde in life but there was no denying that the black-haired demon was his brother. The white and blonde-haired demons joined the other two as they faced the two angels.
"The two souls got away," Girubāto said. The Vargas Brothers were nowhere in sight. Āsā grabbed Mashū and flew away with Mashū looking back at his brother.
"Oh good!" Ansonī commented. "I love a good chase."
"Let them go!" The Bāto·-tatchi· torio stared back at Arufureddo.
"Arufureddo," Girubāto argued. "If we were to take two guardian angels …..."
"Let. Them. GO!"
They watched as the guardian angels made good their escape.
After checking to see if the two Italians had made it home, Āsā and Mashū had returned to Heaven but Mashū was quiet, more than usual. They had to report the incident to the Keepers of the Heavenly Records, Angel U~Orufugangu and Angel Romyurasu. Romyurasu bore a strong resemblance to the Vargas brothers and was most concerned about the incident because it involved the two people he loved most on Earth.
"Rōman and Ferishiāno!" he asked. "They were not hurt, were they?" Āsā shook his head.
"They were unaware of the whole thing," he replied. "We even made sure that they made it home unharmed." Romyurasu breathed a sigh of relief.
"However," Āsā warned. "One of the demons showed an interest in Rōman. That's something I'm worried about!"
"We'll give extra protection to him until we're sure this threat has passed," U~Orufugangu replied, an angel with long blonde hair that had a braid down each side. He understood the worry this would cause his friend. He himself had lost a grandson to Hell. "I'll assign Rutovu~ihi to him. He'll do whatever it takes to see that he's safe."
"Thank you!" Romyurasu was very grateful but U~Orufugangu was a little worried with the description of one of the demons.
The one with white hair.
"Why did no one tell me about Arufureddo!" Mashū blurted as they left. "Why did they let me find out about my brother like that!" Āsā stared at Mashū in shock.
"Your brother!" he replied. "You didn't know he was a demon?!"
"I didn't even know he was dead," Mashū said. "How did he become a demon? He could be loud and even annoying sometimes but he was still a good person so why?"
"The only way to become a demon after death," Āsā replied. "Is to sell your soul to another demon. Is there any reason why your brother might do such a thing?" Mashū thought back over the last few years of his life.
"Me!" he replied, upset that he was the reason for his brother's fall. "I was diagnosed with cancer and given six months to live. The doctors could do nothing but then I began to recover and went into remission. But then, a month later, I died in a car accident." Āsā began to regret his words to Arufureddo about why he sold his soul. If he had indeed sold his soul to try and save his brother then he had been cheated. Everyone was born with a certain time on Earth and nothing could upset that. The demons could affect it but the order of things would right the disruption in some other way. But it was a loophole that some demons took full advantage of. Particularly the demon Iwan, also known as The Soul Thief. He was the worst.
The irony was that someone who would give everything for someone they loved was the kind of person Heaven would welcome. But selling his soul stopped that. A shame! Arufureddo would have made a wonderful angel.
"Why did we let them go?" Girubāto demanded. "If we'd managed to drag two guardian angels into Hell, we'd have finally knocked Iwan off his pedestal of Top Demon." Arufureddo stalked through Hell with the others following him.
"Si!" Ansonī agreed. "You know how long we've been trying to beat him!" They all hated Iwan. Arufureddo and Furanshisu had felt cheated by Iwan and it seemed that Girubāto and Ansonī had sold their souls for outcomes that were going to happen anyway. It was the nature of demons but grudges were still held.
"Oui!" Furanshisu concurred and then added, lecherously. "And I would have loved to corrupt that cute little bird …... " Furanshisu was cut off as Arufureddo seized his throat, lifted him up and pinned him against the wall. Arufureddo might have been the youngest of them but he was also the strongest.
"Stay away from him!" he warned. "DO. NOT. TOUCH. HIM!" Then he dropped Furanshisu and stormed away. The other demons just looked at each other.
What brought that on?
Girubāto wisely waited a while for Arufureddo to calm down and then went to see him in his room. The young demon was brooding about the encounter with the two angels, especially Mashū.
"Want to tell me what that was about, earlier?" Girubāto asked. Arufureddo looked at him as if contemplating whether or not to tell him.
"The angel you and Furanshisu were fighting," he replied. "His name is Mashū. He's my younger brother, the one I sold my soul to save." Girubāto blew out a breath. Now it made sense. His little brother was a angel too and, as much as he would like to have his brother with him, he would not condemn him to Hell.
"Are you going to tell Furanshisu and Ansonī?" he asked. Arufureddo shook his head.
"The less who know the better," he replied. "I don't want Iwan to find out about Mashū! He knows too much about him as it is."
"I won't say a word!" Girubāto promised. "By the way, your younger brother's cute." Girubāto made good his escape, dodging whatever Arufureddo had thrown in his direction and smashed against the wall where he had been.
Left alone, Arufureddo tried to think of ways he could find Mashū again. Knowing his brother, he would have worked out what had lead Arufureddo to this and he would blame himself. He had to talk to Mashū and convince him that it had been Arufureddo's decision and mistake. And to do that he had to find him.
Or the angel who had been with him!
And that's Vol I! I'm going to try my hardest to get this story finished in time for regular updates but if I don't succeed, please bear with me! How do you like the Japanese versions of their names! I swear, I can't even pronounce many of them (except Roderich! His name's the same in any language, boring sod!)XP. Āsā and Arufureddo have met and you can bet they're going to meet again.
So until next week when, hopefully, I'll have some more of this done,
Hasta la Pasta!