A/N: I totally didn't make the deadline I set up for myself. If you wanna know when the next chapter comes out, I usually post progress reports on my profile so check it out. I also have some other stories so if ya wanna check em out, be my guest. PLEASE REVIEW.
WARNING: The rating of this story may change to M.
And for people who don't know, the term "Kami-sama" basically means God.
Chapter 1
"Tenshii, you are aware of how serious your actions are, correct?" A forty year old man addressed the young girl standing in front of his desk. His voice was deep and his gaze was stern. The young girl, with her whitish-blonde hair and pale periwinkle eyes, glared at the man defiantly. "Father, I'm tired of staying here! I wanna go out there!" She said, pointing at the door. "I wanna see the world. I don't wanna be locked up here to rot away…"
"Silence!" The young girl held her tongue, realizing she may have pushed it a bit too far. "You know we need you here at home! Your powers…they give hope to our people…"
"But Father, I…"
"You are my daughter and as such it is your duty to stay here and to lead our people!"
"What about Onii-sama!"
"That man is not holy in the eyes of Kami-sama, like you are! Kami-sama has not blessed him as he has blessed you!"
"How could you know what Kami-sama sees or thinks of him?"
"Quiet!" He barked, but then spoke more softly. "Tenshii, please. I've had enough of your behavior. If you ever do this again, the consequences will be severe, understand?" The girl was silent. "I said, understand?"
"Yes, sir."
"When the hell can we leave this fucking place?" I asked, walking beside Kakuzu.
"Damn Kakuzu, doesn't Hidan ever shut up?" Kisame asked from behind us. Uchiha Itachi walked silently beside him.
"No," Kakuzu growled.
"Don't talk about me as if I'm not fucking here!"
"We just got here. Why do you want to leave so bad?" Kisame asked.
"This place…it's fucking…crazy! I mean look at all the religious nuts around here!" I yelled. "They all worship some make believe god, when they should be worshipping Jashin-sama!"
"Aren't you a religious nut?" Itachi muttered under his breath.
"What was that pretty boy!" I asked him.
"Can't you shut up Hidan?" Kakuzu asked me. "You're drawing too much attention to us."
I snorted. "Just look at Kisame! We're already attracting fucking attention!" Kakuzu hit me on the back of the head. I was too pissed off to retort. I hated this bloody city; this city named Ametsuchi in this small isolationist country called Maho. All over the place they had their religious symbol of an 8-pointed star, along with statues of some lady that seemed to be some sort of saint or something.
"Where the hell is this stupid 'Holy Cathedral' anyways?" I asked angrily.
"How many times must I tell you Hidan?" Kakuzu asked impatiently. "We don't know where it is. Leader-sama had a lot of trouble finding the whereabouts of this country, let alone about the 'Tensei Angel'."
"The what?"
"Kakuzu, your partner's hopeless," Kisame commented. I glared at him. "'Tensei' is the religion of the people who live in Maho…now that I think about it, we haven't run into any shinobi since we've been here. Isn't that strange?" All four of us stopped, trying to sense a ninja's chakra, but failed to sense anything.
"The people here probably don't have shinobi," Itachi concluded. We all nodded, but some old lady now stood in front of us. When the hell did she get here?
"You four….you are all unholy men." She pointed her wrinkly fingers at us. I opened my mouth to tell the old bag to keep her fucking mouth shut, but Kakuzu covered my mouth. "You all should go to the Cathedral and see one of our bishops. Surely they'll save you from damnation," The old hag continued. I fought the urge to shove this old woman's mouth in her face for suggesting that I, a loyal follower of Jashin, was doomed to damnation.
Itachi stepped forward. "Could you be so kind to show us the way to the Cathedral? We have traveled a long ways to come here to receive salvation."
"Why aren't you a fine looking whipper-snapper!" The old woman exclaimed, pinching Itachi's cheeks.
"Madam…"
"Now listen hear young man, I have a granddaughter who'll just be the perfect match for you and…" The woman began to ramble about her granddaughter and I swear I can feel my fucking face turning red from laughter.
"Mam!" Itachi said rather sharply, causing the woman to stop her rambling. "Will be so kind as to show us where the Cathedral is?" He asked his voice noticeably kinder.
The old hag took no notice of the change of tone in Itachi's voice and smiled up at him with her wrinkly eyes, "Of course dearie. Come follow me." The lady motioned us to follow her. "I'm so glad that foreigners have come to convert to Tensei. We don't get much foreigners around here you know." We walked past the many tall buildings.
"Is there a reason for that?" Kisame asked.
"Well…I suppose it's Lady Tenshii's idea."
"Who the hell is Lady Tenshii?" I asked. SMACK. My eyes grew wide as I realized that the old lady had turned around to smack me in the face. I heard Kakuzu and Kisame snicker.
"Don't you ever talk about Tenshii-sama in such a disrespectful tone young man! She has watched over Maho for centuries and has always kept our country safe!"
"Alright, alright…" I mumbled. "Crazy grandma…"
"Maybe you can tell us more about this Tenshii-woman?" Kakuzu asked politely.
The old woman grinned. "Tenshii-sama is loved by nearly everyone in all of Maho. She has a kind and gentle soul and always thinks of the people first. She also has amazing healing abilities."
"Healing abilities?" Kisame asked, intrigued.
"Yes, she performs many medical miracles every day to people in great need of them. Sometimes she even performs blessings and conversion ceremonies…Ahh, here we are." The four of us looked in front of us at the ridiculously large and white building before us. The cathedral practically glowed, thanks to the rays of light being reflected from its white walls. The doors were huge, along with the large stain-glass windows that were above the doors.
As magnificent as this building was, I couldn't help but think, what kind of cathedral was this? It was more like a castle. I'm surprised we didn't notice the damned thing before. "Just go on and walk in dearies. A priest or a nun will assist you once you're inside," said the old lady and walked off.
Itachi, Kisame, and Kakuzu all headed for the large doors, but I stood in my spot. "Oi Hidan, hurry up."
"No way in hell am I going into that hell-hole!" I shouted, drawing attention to myself, but it's not like a gave a fuck.
"Yeah, but this is a holy cathedral," Kisame pointed out and I yelled at him. "Not in the eyes of Jashin!"
Kakuzu sighed. "We don't have all day. We just need to get in there, grab this Tenshii-woman, and bring her back to Leader-sama...and after I guess we can let you sacrifice some people."
"Fine," I agreed and followed the other three into the "holy" place.
"Tenshii-sama," An old woman looked up from her paper work to see the Head Bishop, standing in front of her desk in her office. The man who spoke to her was your typical old man. His grey beard was neatly kept and his face was disrupted by wrinkles. He wore his usual white and gold robes.
"Yes, Kiro-san?" She asked looking back down at her work. She had received letters from the city's main hospital to visit certain patients and heal them.
"We have detected four foreigners in the main sanctuary."
She looked back up at him, her eyebrows raised. "That's strange Kiro-san. I thought you had made it so that other nations didn't know about our country of Maho. How did they find out where we are?"
"I know you may be upset, but…"
"I'm not upset, but I believe it is your idea to keep Maho an isolated country, like it has been for all these years …"
"I know that Tenshii-sama; I will send swordsmen to the sanctuary to remove these foreigners."
"No."
"Excuse me?"
"No, I would like to see these foreigners for myself. I never get to see foreigners very often. I'll go see them myself." She got up from her chair. "Aiko-chan, please grab my veil," She ordered her servant. The timid 18 year old girl, with whitish-blonde hair, fetched her veil and handed it to her.
"You cannot; you don't want your mind to be tainted by such beings. Tenshii-sama, I really must protest…" Kiro warned her, bitterness was evidence in his voice.
"Now now, you may be the Head Bishop, Kiro-san, but that doesn't mean you can order me around all the time," She smiled at him, knowing he couldn't do anything about the situation.
Kiro nodded in defeat. "At least allow me to accompany you, my lady."
"Of course," she said, grinning even wider. Many people of this country saw the old woman as their leader, since a majority of the people believed in Tensei and that she is an angel sent by Kami-sama. However, in reality it's the head bishop and the council that makes most of the political decisions of this nation; the old woman was merely a figure head, who's somehow able to get whatever she wants done, done.
Kiro and Tenshii descended the stairs and walked down the right wing hall; Tenshii's maid followed closely behind, in her simple white knee-length dress and veil covering her face. Making one right, a left and down another flight of stairs, the three of them walked into the main sanctuary. There was no service being held at the moment and many people were at different altars, placed around the room, praying or presenting offerings. In the front center were the four foreigners Kiro was talking about. It was more than obvious that they didn't belong here. What is their purpose here?
Tenshii began walking down the aisle, with Kiro and Aiko following close behind, to the front of the sanctuary. The members of the church kneeled one by one as she passed them by. As she drew closer to the front of the room, a bishop, who was talking to these four men, saw her approaching and also kneeled. The four men turned to see why the bishop was kneeling. Aiko's mouth opened slightly when I saw the appearance of the four men.
I snapped. I could not take any more of this crackpot old fool, who was trying to bless me with holy water. "Hold it you mother fucker! We're not here to see you! We just want to meet this fucking Tenshii-woman!"
Kakuzu hit me upside the head as the old geezer yelled. "Do not talk about our Lady that way! You should be ashamed, Tenshii-sama…" The old man trailed off and his gaze looked past us. His eyes widen and he went down on one knee, his head bowed down. Curious to see who he was kneeling to, all four of us turned to see an old man in gold and white robes standing behind us, who was accompanied by an old woman wearing a simple white dress, which trailed on the floor, along with a white veil. Both her veil and dressed had gold trimmings. Beside her stood a young looking girl, she also wore a white dress, but it only reached her knees. Her face was also covered by a white veil, making it hard to see her face.
The woman walked past us four and to the man kneeling. "Kenshiro-san, please get up and tell me the situation here," she ordered, yet her voice was kinda gentle.
"These men here have asked to be purified by you, my lady. I told them that you were much too busy to pay them any attention and that I could perform the purification myself. However, they insisted in meeting you and this one here," Kenshiro pointed at me, "Has disrespected our religion and you multiple times. I believe he must be the spawn of the Demon himself."
"That has to be the biggest load of bullshit I've ever heard!" I yelled, moving forward towards Kenshiro only to have Kisame and Itachi hold me back.
Kakuzu bowed in front of the woman. "I'm terribly sorry, my lady. We've traveled from far away, because we heard of your healing powers. We fear that our friend here has mental instability. We were hoping you could cure him."
"You mother fucker! I'm not mentally instable, you fucking bastard!" I struggled to get out of Kisame and Itachi's grasps, but failed. "The next chance I get I'm gonna sacrifice your sorry ass to Jashin!"
"Hidan, will just shut up. You're making the situation worse," Kisame growled.
"Ha ha ha ha ha," We stopped our bickering to see that the woman was laughing. "I'm sorry. I just find you all very amusing." Her laughter died down, but I could still see her smiling beneath her veil. "My name is Tenshii. This here is the Head Bishop, Hiroshiki Kiro. He is my top advisor." The man beside her, who wore the gold and white robes, nodded. He looked to be around 60 years old.
"Again, I apologize for our behavior, Tenshii-sama," Kakuzu repeated. "But would you still be willing to help us?"
"Why of course."
"But Tenshii-sama…" Kiro started, but Tenshii cut him off. "Now now, Kiro-san. These men have traveled a long way, just so their friend can be healed. They are in need and it is our duty to help them is it not? Of course…there will be a price to be paid…"
"A price?" I could see Kakuzu grow slightly paler beneath his mask. "How much?"
Tenshii laughed again. "Not money. I merely ask for you to share some information with me, in exchange for healing your demon-possessed friend."
"I thought he was a 'spawn of the Demon'," I heard Itachi comment from behind me.
"Oh yes, silly me. Don't worry demon spawn. You'll be purified in no time."
"Take that back you fucking bitch! I'm not the fucking spawn of any demon!"
"Aiko, escort our guests to the library, while dinner is being prepared," Tenshii ordered the girl, ignoring me.
"Listen to me when I'm talking to you!" I yell at her.
Kakuzu smacked me in the head again. "Shut it, demon child."
"I'm not a demon child!" I shout.
"Would you all please follow this young girl? She will take you to the library. I'll meet you all there shortly. I still have some business to attend to." Tenshii then bowed slightly to us and walked away; Kiro-san followed close behind her.
"Tenshii-sama helping those foreigners is one thing, but asking to have a conference?" Kiro asked her as they walked back to her office. "And to leave Aiko alone with them, that is rather dangerous don't you think? She's very timid…"
"Nothing happens around here Kiro-san and Aiko is always asking questions about the world outside of the Capital…'" The woman laughed. "Those foreigners won't be here long. I think it'd be interesting to see how Aiko will handle them."
"Why?"
"You remember how defiant Aiko used to be; she was always trying to run away, always talking about going on adventures. I just want to see if we've broken her in well. She's now slightly afraid of everyone she meets, even if she doesn't show it. If she treats those men the same as she treats everyone else, then I think we've finally been successful."
"But, it's strange that those men suddenly came from nowhere. No outsiders have come to Maho, or at least to the capital, in… a hundred years. What would happen if they were to discover that Aiko was really…"
"Enough Kiro," Tenshii snapped, finally annoyed with his badgering. "You saw those men. They're idiots. They're scum. I doubt they'll discover anything."