I do not own Kamichama Karin.
The Three Realms;
chapter one: kazune, first realm
Rain was a fantastic thing, and yet you couldn't get it in the First Realm. It disappointed Kazune to no end, as he found the falling water simply magical. But on this day it served only as a distraction and hindered him. He hoped that it wouldn't keep up all day—especially since he had set off at dawn.
He had just crossed the border between the First and Second Realms, visible only by Angels. Here was a lucky thing: Demons could not see or enter the border, as Angels couldn't see or enter the border between the Second and Third Realms, and the First and Third Realms were not directly linked. If there was, then there would be a war every other week, which would probably bring about the extinction of the realms
Kazune shivered, body adjusting to the cold air. Unlike humans, his body would adjust body temperature until he felt comfortable walking around at the regular. He was never too warm or too cold—a small trick he had picked up, and the magic he had to use was minimal.
The village where this Karin girl lived was a few miles away, and he could feel the potential magic in the area, which…scared him, a little. Usually, you couldn't sense magic unless it was being used, so by his reasoning the girl had to either radiate magic, or that magic itself followed her. He'd heard of that kind of thing happening before, a being that was like a magnet to magic, and beckoned to it without knowing it. He made a note to not use his magic, instead to put it in what he referred to as his 'storage' for magic, which not only saved his magic, but protected it with his own mental barriers.
In his head, he began to rehearse what to say. After all, "I am an Angel, and I'm here to take you to the First Realm where you belong, because you're the new Voice," didn't sound too believable.
He decided to settle for impressing her with his lineage and titles first, because at least he could prove that simply enough. A pair of wings is a pair of wings, no matter how you look at it.
"I am Kujyou Kazune, an Angel of the First Order," he began. "I live in the First Realm, and have earned my place in the First Order through inheritance and my own succeeds. I am also known as the Lord Uranus, formerly the Lord Apollo…before, as you may know, the sun god's power was made obsolete. I have come to request your audience at the First Realm, as well as to escort you if you so please."
He finished his small speech and made a derogatory noise. Women, he thought to himself. All they need are a few fancy words and there you have it. He snorted. Useless things, they can be…Especially you, Suzuka. Mother.
That was when he noticed a person walking down the pathway in the opposite direction of himself, silhouette blurred by the fog and rain.
"You-you…you're an Angel!" gasped the person before darting out of sight. "Please, don't come near me…"
Now, this was strange…first was the fact that the person could tell he was an Angel without being able to see his wings or clothing. Humans couldn't do that, so…perhaps he was an Angel, or demon? No, not an Angel. Angels were very welcoming; they wouldn't hide from each other. Not a demon either. If it were a demon, he would already be fighting.
A half-breed…?
He followed, and was greeted by a shocked face. But that wasn't what made Kazune flinch…it was his eyes.
They were different colors: one blue, the other violet.
"Half-breed…!" he breathed, and then noticed the pathetic wings the boy had. "You…you're…"
The boy's face grew stormy. "Go on then," he said in forced calmness. "Say it. Tell me what an abomination I am. That I wasn't meant to live…that I should die. Say that you hate me because…because…because my mother and father were stupid and thought they were in love…"
"…You're pitiful," replied Kazune, turning to walk away. "Not because you are a half-breed…but because you wallow in your own pity, and what people say about you." He stopped in his tracks. "The first demon that comes along will probably demolish your poor soul and you'll find yourself in the Third Realm."
"What would you know?" snapped the half-breed.
Kazune made a small humming noise. "I'm an Angel of the Fifth Century, the Lord Uranus. I've been alive for over four hundred years. And more importantly, I've seen scores of half-breeds like you—vampires, fallen Angels, and even the children of those we do not speak."
The half-breed scowled. "And yet, you cannot understand me—us."
Kazune walked away, and neither made a passing glance.
Once their shadows had long crossed, Kazune sighed. "Half-breeds," he murmured. "They are such poor souls…" He smiled. "I wonder what he would think if he knew I had both Angel and human blood…"
It was the best and worst secret in the First Realm that Kujyou Kazune, Lord Uranus, of the First Order—was not much better than a half-breed. His mother was a pure Angel, tainted by Kujyou Kazuto, a human, whose life's work was to make an Angel artificially.
He was not a true Angel
But as long as he looked like an Angel and served his purpose, then, well, who really cared? Certainly not the Angels…and even less so the Voice.
Angels only serve as a mouthpiece for me, the Voice once told him. You have your jobs and your lives…but more so than the humans and demons, you live to follow my bidding. But is that not a good thing? Do I not always know what is best? I know who you really are, Kujyou Kazune…but as long as you live to serve, then nobody will care.
Storing magic is complex, an art, some people would say. You couldn't simply just put it aside; there were things you had to do beforehand. Kazune had spent a half-hour boiling his magic down to purity—using magic and then recalling or regenerating it usually made inequalities in it, or in some cases, the magic would come back tainted. To store his magic, he had to sift through every bit of it, smoothing out the inequalities and gently removing the pollutants without prying away magic. Once it was in its purest form, he could then begin to gently sap it out of his system, and concentrating it in one place. Attempting to remove it all quickly would be disastrous: he could faint, or in severe cases, die. Then he laid down his mental defenses. Pure magic is always stronger than tainted, unequal magic, so at least if he had to spar with an Angel or demon with magic, he would have an advantage.
Of course, he never had to do this when he was called by the Voice. The Voice was strong and wise, and had a strong grasp on magic. Obviously, the Voice could control the magnetism of magic.
When he had gotten close to the village where the magnetism laid, he sent out the smallest tendril of magic to direct him, but was horrified to find that his magic was slowly being pulled out by that thread he had expelled, and quickly broke it away from his main pool of magic, letting it get summoned by the attraction to power. He would regenerate it later, anyways.
He arrived at the village that night. It was still raining.
Kazune soon realized staying in his usual garb wasn't such a wonderful idea. His outfit clearly showed that he was an Angel, and if that wasn't a giveaway, then his wings were. He could easily conceal his wings with a simple trick that all Angels could use, even without magic, but clothing was a different matter. He couldn't trade away his clothing, but he had no money…but people were staring.
"S-sir Angel?" stammered a woman.
The girl had bravery, he would give her that: she was the only one who dared approach him. But he was really not in the mood. "I'm sorry, miss, but I have business here," he informed her succinctly.
"Sir Angel, are you not cold? Come, sir, I own a tavern here in this village, and it is warm and cozy in there," she said with a curtsy. "I ask not anything of you. It is my pleasure to serve an Angel such as yourself."
Kazune was used to this treatment. The first time he went to the Second Realm, he was touched and would go anywhere that a human asked him to (for free, of course, no charge)—until he found out what they were really after: his blessings as an Angel. But this woman seemed sincere, and he did need clothing…
"Kind woman," he said (although he had to push out the 'kind' part), "I need proper clothing. If you could spare me some that would be wonderful."
Minutes later, he had normal clothes and directions to the Hanazono house. "Please, sir, if you ever return, you know where to come!" the woman had told him as he left. She had told him her name, but Kazune couldn't be bothered to remember it. He couldn't be bothered to place it with the thousands of names that he had to learn over the centuries.
He knocked the door and a middle-aged woman answered the door. He reeled off his little spiel in a monotone ("I am Kujyou Kazune, an Angel of the First Order. I live in the First Realm, and have earned my place in the First Order through inheritance and my own succeeds. I am also known as the Lord Uranus, formerly the Lord Apollo…before, as you may know, the sun god's power was made obsolete. I have come to request your audience at the First Realm, as well as to escort you if you so please.") and stared the woman in the eyes.
"Ooh, dearie me," said the woman faintly. "I always knew I was special, I did!" She turned inside and screamed, "Karin, you lousy little tick! Get a nice dinner started! We've got a handsome guest that wants to talk to me!"
She batted her eyelashes at the Angel, but Kazune barely noticed. He was too busy obsessing over the mistake he had made—a mistake that he knew would probably cost him in the end.
"I guess I'm so special you can even see it from the First Realm, huh?" giggled the woman flirtatiously. She obviously thought she was still young and pretty, which she was not. "Why, Kazune-chan, is it? Kazune-chan, do you have a pretty girl waiting at home?"
His thoughts immediately went to his cousin, Himeka, a beautiful and gentle girl. He would never love her in the way she wanted him to, but he loved and cared for her deeply. Next they went to his sister, Kazusa…who came about the same means that he did. They were an interesting pair of siblings, who were much closer and yet so much further away from each other than normal siblings. Kazune shook his head, suddenly realizing that the woman was belittling him, and scowled slightly.
The woman—her name was…was Rika, he thought, but he could be wrong—mistook the scowl and sent a similar one to the girl who was serving them. "I know, Karin's an ugly one, isn't she?" said Rika distastefully. "I can understand why her parents would abandon her."
Karin wasn't ugly, per se, just…deprived-looking. Her hair was a lovely light-brown, her skin flawless…and her eyes were alight with hope. "She's fine," replied Kazune dully. He would have to speak with her in private later, but for the time being he would have to deal with the woman pestering him.
"I don't eat meat," he lied when she passed him some sort of chicken substance that looked utterly toxic. (Rika's face fell: that was the only part of the meal she had cooked. But she recovered quickly.)
She laughed in her middle-aged way, quick to assume that there was some sort of code against it. "I suppose I'll just have to get used to it when I become an Angel, right?" she giggled. "Oh, but I can't imagine life without chicken…"
Kazune passed a glance at Karin, who seemed uncomfortable. Obviously she was a common girl, not one who would think she was befit to serve an Angel, let alone become the New Voice…unlike her not-so-humble aunt.
"Excuse me, Miss Rika. I would like to visit the washroom. I am sure that Karin can guide me there—you can, can't you, Miss Karin?" (Said girl nodded) "Very good." Kazune stood, for the umpteenth time realizing how silly and stupid females could be, and let himself be guided by Karin to the washroom, while leaving "Miss Rika" to puzzle over who this Rika lady was.
"Karin," he said simply, deciding it would be best to be straightforward. "I'm going to be honest with you. I am an Angel from the First Realm, sent to find the New Voice. There was a…mix-up on my part, and that woman believes she is the one I was supposed to find." He stifled a sigh. "But she's not the one that I must find. It's you."
Karin's eyes grew huge. "You must be joking," she breathed.
The Angel stifled yet another sigh. "You aren't going to make me repeat it, are you?" he asked. "Surely women are not that stupid."
Karin froze. "What…did you say?" she asked.
"I said, surely women cannot be that stupid."
He was shocked when the girl slapped him across the face. But he was impressed by her spark. A girl with enough fieriness to hit an Angel was surely strong. But that didn't mean that she could become the New Voice—far, far from it.
"Kazune?" asked Karin cautiously. "Um, could you help me here?!"
That was when he noticed that Karin was 'holding' magic. His magic.
"What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?" Karin went slightly spastic, but luckily, Kazune kept it together.
"Calm down, woman!" he snapped. "Just let me take care of this."
He touched her hand gently, and quietly beckoned for his magic to return. Slowly, the magic seeped back towards Kazune, sinking into his skin and melting past his mental barriers. The Angel closed his eyes in relief.
"What…what happened?" asked Karin, confused and flustered.
Kazune rolled his eyes. "I told you that I came to find you so you could become the New Voice," he said in a controlled calm voice. "This means that you aren't an ordinary human—you have magic, just like I do. But it's stronger than a usual Angel's magic, so…I suppose, I'll have to teach you how to control it—starting with how to switch it off," he added, when he sensed his magic fighting to join and meld with her magic.
He paused. "We should probably go back," he reasoned evenly. "That lady will suspect something." His eyes narrowed. "She's not your mother, is she?"
Karin shook her head and her voice wobbled a little as she said, "My mother is…dead. My father too."
Kazune shrugged indifferently. "I figured as much," he replied. Listening to Karin sniffle a little, he brusquely stated, "Well, what's done is what's done. It's just like a girl to get overemotional about it."
"Well, what would you know?" squeaked Karin. "It's not like you could understand."
The Angel rolled his eyes. "If it makes any difference to you, I don't have any parents either."
Clearly, this was the wrong thing to say because the girl started glaring at him. "Kyah! How can you be so insensitive!? Don't you care about your parents, let alone mine?" She was about to hit him again, but then thought better of it and paused.
Kazune caught yet another 'women are useless' rant in the making before it exited his mouth.
That was when there was a scream and a thunk from the dining room, which sounded suspiciously like a woman fainting.
"Oh. It's the Lord Uranus."
There was a shadowy figure looming over the unconscious body of Karin's aunt. He looked up and smiled agreeably. His features were princely, like Kazune's, and bespoke of great linage and title. But Kazune knew about demons—the pretty face could easily be a simple transformation, since their ability to shape-shift was well-known.
"You have my name, demon, so why don't you bestow me—I mean, us," (Karin had shot him a glare,) "with yours?"
His golden eyes looked directly at Karin. "Oh, is this the New Voice?" he asked, still sounding affable enough. "Do you think she's pretty, Lord Uranus?"
"Shut up!" snapped Kazune, raising one of his hands to summon his bow—an ancient, legendary weapon used only by the best and greatest—and aimed it at the intruder. "I know this trick. You're trying to confuse us, and it won't work. Answer the question!"
"Tch…I thought Angels were supposed to be kind and courteous."
"Fine! Tell us your name, please," ground out Kazune, as if the words caused him agony to say.
The dark-haired demon prince turned. "I'm the Demon Lord, Jin," he said with yet another smile. "But soon, you'll know me by another name."
Kazune forced a smirk. "The Lord Hades…ah, yes…the next question is, what are you doing here?"
"Oh, I think you know."
The Angel's temper began to flare. "And how did you know to come here?" he asked.
"I followed you."
"That can't be," argued Kazune. "I would have sensed you."
The demon lord flicked back a stray hair. "A little bird told me," he said coolly. "A little bird with broken wings—poor, poor birdie!"
Kazune froze. "The half-breed?" he muttered. "How?"
"I'm getting tired of this question and answer, you know, but since I feel nice, I'll tell you how. The little bird told me on his own decision…and as a reward I told him that I'd fix his pretty little wings up for him."
"And…did you?" hissed the Angel, appalled by the demon's behavior.
Jin stopped smiling. "I'm sorry, Lord Uranus, but I did say that was the last question. Good night, Sir Angel."
He stepped past Kazune, who was still pointing his white bow at him, and gave a short bow to Karin.
"It was nice to meet you, Kamichama," Jin told her, kissing her hand as if she were a noble. "But I'm afraid we will have to part. Until next time, then—the both of you."
And just as Kazune lunged towards the demon, he suddenly disappeared.
"Kazune…?"
Karin was hunched over her aunt, looking worried even if she didn't like the woman so much. "Kazune, she's not waking up."
Kazune gave a patient sigh. "Karin, I'm going to erase her memories," he told her patronizingly. "If you're going to leave, it's better. In fact, I'll erase this whole village's memories of you." Recalling the magic problem, he thought better of it. "…Or not."
"Don't I get any consideration?" huffed Karin. "I mean, I have friends and stuff, you know!"
The Angel nearly broke his staff in half because of frustration. "Yes, but you'll have to leave them anyways!" he informed her exasperatedly.
"Well…well…uh…Who was that?" asked Karin, changing the subject.
"The Demon Lord Jin…the sole ruler of the Third Realm," muttered Kazune. "So the demons are taking an interest in the New Voice too…I see." He stood. "Well…the demons aren't going to get their way."
Kazune turned to Karin. "I promise you everything will turn out fine," he told her. "I swear by this sacred bow that I hold in my hand…the bowthat the god, Uranus, once held…"
Swearing by a legendary weapon is something that is not to be taken lightly at all. If it isn't carried through, then both the bearer and the weapon will be incinerated by the power of the Gods…never to be remade again.
The Bow of Uranus was a thing of great magic, and was Kazune's relief from normal life. The white bow held his essence—what made him, him. When he held it, he knew what was right…always.
"I want you to envision light inside of you, and it will come," Kazune commanded. Karin closed her eyes and concentrated, and soon enough, a faint pink glow did come.
"Wow…" breathed Karin, before suddenly beginning to panic. "There's…a lot of light. No, there's too much! How do I…how do I let it go?!"
"No! If there is one thing you do, Karin, you have to keep it all inside of you. If you expel magic at this stage, then…I don't even want to think of the consequences. Here." He reached his hand out. "Slowly—and slowly, I said!—transfer some of the magic into me. I'll be the catalyst for this."
The pink light slowly trickled into him, and he fused it into an easily controlled form. "There," he said after a few minutes. "I'll transfer it back to you. If you let go of your magic now, all you'll do is light up…of course, with the amount you have, people will probably be blinded."
He conveniently did not mention to her that he had also 'switched off' the magnetism her magic gave off for the time being. She didn't have to know that.
Kazune sighed loudly. "I can't believe it took you a whole day to learn that," he snapped. "Women…so useless sometimes, I swear." (He shut up when he saw Karin rearing up for yet another slap to the face, though.)
"Well," he said, "I guess it's time, then…we're ready to leave, I think."
"Time to go?" repeated Karin numbly. "Already?"
"We have to."
Karin sighed. "I guess…I'm just not ready to leave yet! I don't want to leave behind Miyon or Yuuki…or yeah, even Ami…even though she's a little odd. She never really wanted to talk…she always wanted to go home, so she could talk to her friend." Karin laughed at the thought. "Yeah, she once said her friend was a half-breed…and of course we didn't believe her, but still…we all had something that could be teased about, I guess…"
Kazune had lost her at 'half-breed.'
He could feel his lips moving, he could hear his voice…but at the same time, he wasn't even aware he was talking.
"Okay…let's stay for another few days," was what he heard. And he agreed with his subconscious…but at the same time, he got a bad feeling about it.
Earlier That Day
"Demon Lord?" asked a small demon, the form of a bat.
Jin waved his hand distantly. "What is it, Kirio?" he asked vacantly.
"My…sister, Kirika…she and I have found out some very interesting things about Kujyou Kazune, who has been sent to find the New Voice."
"I'm interested."
The bat seemed to smile, showing magnificent fangs. "You will have to pay a price, Demon Lord."
"You know I cannot restore your lordship, Kirio," hissed Jin, as if they had gone over the subject many times before.
"No, no, that isn't what I want at all," Kirio replied. "I want the Angel, Himeka… Kujyou's cousin."
Jin seemed to think it over for a few seconds. "Done," he answered. "You'll have her soon enough. Now, what is it that you have to tell me? And Kirio—" The Demon Lord drew a sword "—if it isn't as good as I expect it to be, not only will you not get your reward…but you will have the most horrible of deaths."
"Understood," spat the bat, gazing in a twist of awe and horror at the Sword of Hades, a Legendary weapon equal to the Bow of Uranus. "And…I also did as you asked and found out about the late Lord Neptune…and what legacy he left behind."
"I trust you found that interesting, Kirio?"
The bat gave his fanged smile. "Nothing less than."
"Report to me all your findings later…I would like to be alone for the time being."
With that, the bat disappeared in the smallest wisp of smoke.
Ending Note: The drama continues in the next epic chapter of the Three Realms! What are the secrets? What does Himeka have to do with this all? Why does the half-breed keep popping up everywhere? Why did Kazune choose to stay? What is going to happen next?! And when will there be some romance?!
All these questions and more will be answered next time on…the Three Realms!
Also…if anybody here role plays…I desperately want a Kamichama Karin role play, literate-advanced.
I had an amusing time writing this, because of Kazune being referred to as 'Lord Uranus.' I kept picturing a scene like this:
Kazune: I AM THE LORD URANUS! DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE ME! -
Karin: Lord of your anus…? -Cracks up- Omg, omg, omg, LAWLZ!
Kazune: Hey, I don't give myself the title…go take it up with the Voice.
Eight freaking pages I typed, so…I would rather appreciate a review. Or I'll just sic Kazune onto you, and he'll whack you over the head with his Staff…of Your-anus. x)
