CHAPTER FOUR: Her Name Is Nizuki
Masaka: HELLOOOO! Sorry for not updating for a while
Yami Masaka: After a chapter like the last one why would anyone care-
Masaka: *smacks Yami Masaka in the head*
Nero: WHO IS OTHER ANGEL!
Masaka: Hold on Nero we're about to find out
Nero: YIPPEE!
Yugi stumbled backwards a step or two to land on his bottom as a beautiful seraph stepped into his house with a very cold look on its face.
Unlike Nero there was nothing cuddly about this angel. This angel not only looked older, but it had a very powerful radiance to it. This angel looked more like the type who'd been sent to destroy cities once upon a time than a cherub that liked to play with human toys.
As the angel squeezed through the front door it flared out its wings in what Yugi could only assume was a threatening manner, illuminating the hallway with the rich golden light that poured off every feather. Yugi probably would have been blinded except for the fact that for some reason or other this angel's feathers were tipped in gray which kept the light from being too overpowering.
Gold seemed to be this angel's main color because not only where its wings gold, but its waist-length hair was a brilliant amber color and its eyes shone like sunlight through a glass honey-jar.
Yugi gulped nervously and dropped his gaze from angel's face, trying to look for some less intimidating place to rest his eyes. As his eyes roamed down the angel's frame, however, he noticed with some surprise that this angel…was female.
Well, probably. Yugi couldn't be absolutely sure because the angel had absolutely no cleavage but it definitely had hips that were too wide for a male. That and its hands and feet were femininely plump –and wrapped up in a very intimidating cord of chain—.
"Um…hi?" Yugi said nervously. He would have said more if he could get his knees to stop knocking.
The angel's frown deepened and Yugi could swear he felt his internal organs freeze.
"All right mortal, I'm feeling generous so tell me where are you stashing him and I won't set your house ablaze, understand?" the chain-wielding, older, female being of glory ordered. Her voice not quite as musical as Nero's but rather powerful like a cresting wave.
"S…stashing? Stashing whom?" Yugi asked, his mind a worrisome blank.
The girl-angel floated over to Yugi and her expression darkened.
"Where is the Gabriel?"
"…Nero! You're talking about Nero!" Yugi finally exclaimed in shock.
From the way Nero had acted last night Yugi hadn't expected anyone from…you know…Up There…would be coming from the little winged one any time soon.
Then again Yugi had only been in acquaintance with the student-angel for about eighteen hours, so the standards of angels were still pretty unclear to him.
"Nero?" The angel-girl repeated with blissfully human-esque confusion, "That does not sound familiar. The Gabriel I'm looking for didn't have a name."
"Yugi-sama gave me one!" Nero's voice chirped from the top of the stairs.
Both Yugi and the angel whipped around to look at the little one. Despite the rather hazardous way Yugi had been hiding him earlier Nero didn't look so bad, and with the blanket still wrapped around his shoulders, the fact that the little angel was only dressed in jeans didn't look so suspicious.
"GABRIEL!" the girl angel yelled in exhilaration.
She body-slammed Yugi out of her way –and into the nearest wall- then ran up the stairs to draw Nero into a tight embrace.
"Oh Gabbie, I was so worried about you! I mean when I overheard Nakagato-sensai saying you'd leapt to earth my heart just nearly stopped! Oh I should have KNOWN you'd be too overly-sensitive!"
"I'm ok, Nizuki!" Nero muttered, his face pressed right into the girl's robes.
Yugi watched this little exchange from the floor in slight amusement. It seemed that even in Heaven there were sibling like relationships, and that thought was really comforting.
Yugi was just starting to wonder what kind of angel this 'Nizuki' was to already look like a nineteen-year-old and have a name when the girl-angel's humor faded and she held the Nero at arms'-length and glowered at him.
"Well now that I know you're alright… WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU! Why in the name of the stars did you run away in the first place? And of all the places to run away TO why did you come here? Why didn't you come to me? You could have been hurt, you could have been molested, no worse, YOU COULD HAVE BEEN KILLED!"
Nero bowed his head down until his face vanished under his bangs and he mumbled a timid, "I'm sorry."
Nizuki looked at the ceiling in what Yugi somehow knew to be a call to higher powers for patience then she dropped to her knees to 'stand' face to face with her companion.
"Gab-…Nero. Nero look at me…" The blonde commanded. Nero looked up tearfully.
"You are the biggest idiot I know." Nero's head went back down but Nizuki put a hand under his chin and lifted the child's head back up, "because you should have known I'd have understood your troubles. It hurts to think you didn't trust me to help and you went and ran away to earth instead…but then again I think we both realize what rebels we sometimes have to be."
Nero sniffled and gave a faint smile and looked about ready to reply when a fake cough brought both eternals' attention down towards the teenager at the foot of the stairs.
"Not to interrupt but could someone PLEASE tell me what's going on here," Yugi asked.
"Oh!" Nero squeaked and blushed, "I'm sorry Yugi- sama."
"Sama?" Nizuki asked narrowing her eyes suspiciously at Yugi, her pretty,-STILL chain-wrapped-, knuckles clenching threateningly.
Yugi grinned nervously at her and held his hands up passively.
"Yah! Oh! Yah Nizuki-onee, this is Yugi-sam! He saved me! He helped me wrap up my wing when it got hurt on my Fall," Nero said pulling the blanket down enough to show off the sling around his wing.
Nizuki blinked wide-eyed at it.
"Oh my," she turned and looked at Yugi again, "oh dear."
"And-and Yugi-sama also gave me place to stay! And so, cuz it's a rule, since Yugi-sama helped me I'm gonna grant his wish!" Nero chirped.
Nizuki looked in Nero's excited eyes and smiled teasingly.
"Oh yes and I'm sure that the fact that granting Yugi's wish keeps you away from heaven longer has nothing to do with your excitement, ne?"
Nero blushed and turned away while Nizuki just chuckled.
She snapped her wings briskly and gracefully flew down the stairs so that she was once again standing in front of Yugi.
Yugi almost started to panic when Nizuki bowed deeply in front of him. Then her golden hairs fell around her head to give a seductive flash of slender neck; after that Yugi just started to blush like crazy.
"My apologizes to you, Yugi," she said much more angelically. She lifted her head up and smiled at Yugi. "You see, I feared greatly for Nero's safety and well…sometimes I can get a little short-sighted with worry."
"Oh uh well err honest mistake," Yugi said blushing.
Privately he was wondering when how many angel-sightings it would take to become immune to their charm. And he was also wondering why it always seemed to be HIM that got involved in these sorts of things.
If St. Peter showed up for lunch tomorrow, Yugi was just going to lose it.
"Please understand that I've know Nero since he was a cherub," Nizuki explained, "and I know better than anyone how sensitive he is. He would think nothing of giving his every feather to another, and while that is a wonderful sentiment, such charity is dangerous."
"Err," Yugi said. He was stilled confused.
Nizuki apparently sensed this because she crossed her arms over her non-existent chest and looked at his curiously.
"What is it?"
"Wha…I thought angels had to be assigned to come down to earth," the teen commented stiffly, his mind running a little bit slow because of all the new information pounding around in his cranium.
Nizuki arms fell to her sides and she looked at Yugi in horror.
"What…did you…say?" she chocked.
"Well it's just Nero told me that angels only came to earth when they have mission so I thought-"
"Oh no!" She yelped suddenly, digging her elegant pink nails into her scalp. "I completely forgot!"
"Forgot what?" Yugi asked, taking a precautionary step back, encase the thing she'd forgotten had something to do with beating up any human that got in Nero's way of returning to Heaven.
"I CAN'T BELIVE I FORGOT THAT I HAVE AN ASSIGNMENT! I-I GUESS…I JUST GOT DISTRACTED WHEN I SENSED NERO THAT EVERYTHING ELSE IN MY HEAD JUST SORT OF BLANKED OUT! AHHHH I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!"
"Nizuki is going to care for a human?" Nero asked.
Nizuki nodded distractedly at him as she unfurled her wings and charged towards the door.
"Yes I have a human to look after, and I can't stay around here any longer or I'll be taking a human up to the pearly gates instead! I have to go! Godbye Yugi! Nero I'll help you with the wish thing later. I REALLY HAVE TO GO!"
And with that the female angel zipped out the door.
Nero and Yugi watched after the seraph for a moment then looked at each other in surprise.
Yugi gently broke their gaze and went over to the door, closing it and locking it against any more surprises.
Once pacified he turned back to Nero and gave the angel a nervous smile
"Well...she seemed nice," Yugi said sheepishly.
Nero sweat-dropped.
SCENE CHANGE
Several blocks away a certain Half-Brit nudged his front-door open with his shoulder and let out a heavy-sigh.
It had not been a good day for the Ryou Bakura. After getting the most major nose-bleed he'd ever had in all his teenager years, the boy had ambled on home hoping to catch up on some light reading and rest for the weekend.
Unfortunately, the moment he got inside his nice Victorian-styled house he'd been faced with a stack of library books that had to be returned and an even more serious stack of bills he had to drop off at the post-office –mostly payments for Bakura's various purchases from Leather and Steel Catalogue-.
After getting that all sorted out Ryou had decided to grab a few groceries as well to hold him and his other-half over until his father sent the monthly stipend on Monday, which wouldn't have been so bad except this weird lady standing in front of the alcohol coolers had mistaken Ryou for his other-half and had nearly peeled off all his clothing and had her nasty little way with him before a store-clerk came running over to help.
After the crazy-Bakuragal had been taken care of Ryou had bought his things and ran to the bus, where he ran across another one of Bakura's acquaintances. That time it was a punk who'd demanded Ryou fork over ¥20000 or less lose a finger.
Luckily the cops who'd arrested Bakuragal were still in the area so they came and settled the matter before anything happened but Ryou was still very glad to be back home.
The white-haired bishonen sighed heavily and trudged to the kitchen, dumping the grocery bags onto the kitchen counter with none of his usual tidiness.
"I wonder where Bakura is, anyway? He was home when I was gathering up the bill. I hope he's not getting into more trouble," Ryou shrugged to himself, "oh well."
Ryou's yami was always of skulking around rather dangerous parts of town. Not that Ryou had anything against that. If Bakura wanted to spend his new-life boozing and clubbing, that was his choice.
Only…only it wasn't just the boozing…it was as if being in the same house as Ryou for too long physically sickened Bakura.
Ryou tried to not think too much about it but the constant avoidance made him feel …well it made certain already latent guilt and self-hatred impulses well up in Ryou's soul with a little more power than they'd probably have otherwise.
After half-heartedly putting the food away, Ryou took a cola out of the eight-pack he'd bought and wandered back into the living-room.
Ryou plopped down on his well-cushioned couch and just took a moment to just look around the room.
Everything was clean and pressed. The white carpet was perfectly white, without blemish, the blue curtains were steamed straight; nothing seemed out of place.
'But it's always so quiet, it really does start to get to you after a while,' Ryou thought as he took a sip of his drink.
And it was very quiet. Ryou's house was historical. It had been built the first British Professor to come to Japan and its' rather generous grounds were thereby very distinct from any neighbors.
Ryou's favorite maple tree had once been filled with birds but for the same reason Ryou didn't dare keep fish or any other living pet the tree was now empty. Bakura was always out partying and Ryou's father, while a decent man, seemed to be incapable of staying in his adopted country for any decent amount of time. This left Ryou himself to fill the house with any noise at all.
'If I didn't usually have music going I'd think I was going deaf,' Ryou chuckled dryly at the humor less joke.
Slowly Ryou got up and went to the coat-rack to pull his CD player out of his backpack.
Ryou pulled the CD blindly from his little player and gently carried it over to the larger player in the entertainment center and pushed the CD into the slot. The machine clacked around its tracks for a second or two but as Ryou started to head upstairs gentle jazz music started to fill the room.
(A/N: AAAH Jazz music, gentle jazz, trumpets, saxophones ahhhhh star-eyes holding pink cheek Mmm… ACK Story! Must get back on track!)
"I'm glad Bakura isn't home right now, he despises jazz," Ryou sighed to himself as he slid out of his soiled uniform and slipped on his favorite pair of black-silk pajamas.
'I wonder why does it feel so late?' Ryou thought groggily rubbing an eye. He spotted the clock on his bedside table and nearly gagged.
"No wonders it's already twelve!"
Ryou sighed to himself and was just debating on whether it was alright to go to sleep while Bakura was still outside roaming when the front-door slammed open suddenly and a very unfamiliar feminine shriek came wafting up the stairs.
"Oooooh Kura-chan! Kura-chan come on, let me in! I'm sorry that my Papa-Daddy scared you at the hotel, but I promise he won't do anything! Plllllllease open the door! Come on honey!"
Ryou crept curiously over to the stairs and peered over the railing down at the foyer.
His other-half was back and as he usually did after a day of partying, the older male looked awful. His hair was a mess and his usually well-maintained, tight-fitted clothing looked like it had suffered a nine-round fight with a pack of cats.
As Ryou stared, a very well manicured hand shoot through the doorway and snatched Bakura's shirtfront.
"Ah well that explains the claw-marks," Ryou thought aloud.
Unfortunately Bakura must have heard that because the darker of the two ring-holders glowered up at him suddenly.
"Ryou! Get your ass down here and help me!" he yelled.
Ryou flinched at that too well-remembered tone of voice and darted down the stairs to Bakura's side.
"What do you want me to do?" he asked.
"Help me slam the door shut!" Bakura snarled.
"B-But that woman's hand will-"
"JUST HELP ME!" Bakura snarled.
Ryou flinched again and took a step forward to help when suddenly there was a very fleshy 'WHUMP' from the porch and the assault on the front-door halted.
Bakura stared at doorway in surprise then, against Ryou's protests, opened the door and looked outside.
"Phew! I DID make it in time after all!" a watery voice cooed.
Ryou tried to smoosh in next to his other-half when whatever had taken out the lady on the porch obviously took out the ex-spirit, causing the dark teen to collapse spectacularly onto the porch.
"There we go, all the trash is taken care of," someone said, and suddenly a woman marched into Ryou's house as easy as anything.
"W-what did you d-do to Bakura?" Ryou gasped.
"Oh I just sent little snow-bunny boy to snoozeville for a bit," the woman laughed, waving her hand casually in front of her. She then locked gazes with Ryou and smiled.
"Hello, Ryou Bakura," she said in a suddenly serious tone, "my name is Nizuki of the Gabriel and I have been sent here to be your guardian angel."
The exhaustion of the day finally caught up with him and Ryou collapse unconscious into the summer-scented arms of the seraph.
Masaka: YAHOOOO! Yes! Boom shaka laka! does little victory dance
Yami Masaka: OH COME ON! It's just one chapter!
Masaka: One chapter closer to bishounen LOOOOOOOVE!
Yami Masaka: Whatever, it's time to address the changes. Okay minna-san, the reason Masaka revised this chapter (aside from the fact she's nuts) gets nailed in the head by one of Masaka's shoes is because our first version of the chapter had Bakura as an immediate asshole –pardon my French—and Masaka didn't like that because Ryou wouldn't have any reason to fall for a drunken monster. That's all
Masaka: REVIEW! Oh please review all you nice people and tell me what you think!
