Chapter 4

Her body ached badly, all of it. Hands were tired of holding her weight above the ground and strained, her legs trembled with exhaustion after the recent activities. However, she paid no mind. She was much more interested in what was happening in front of her - a kneeling man who should have already killed her. Devoured her. But no, he kneeled trying to regain his control, and soon enough his wings retracted back under his skin and disappeared without leaving a mark.

Temari has never seen an angel, who had his wings in when an immortal was around. Never.

Shikamaru stood up and looked at her, the feral redness flashed in his eyes for a second, but as he blinked it was gone. So were her handcuffs the next second and she collapsed on the ground, too drained to try to stand.

A ton of emotions overwhelmed her and she shivered unable to fight it. The fear, the anger, the desire, all feelings mixed up inside her and it took her a lot of willpower not to break into tears. But she didn't, somehow regaining herself and looked back up at that incredible being before her.

He zipped up his pants and found some shirt, also bringing a pair of sweatpants to her and a white t-shirt. He didn't say a thing, and she figured he must be as lost as she was.

"How did you..." she stopped herself, unsure of what to even ask. "Why are you different?"

He answered in his normal voice and normal manner, and there was no way of telling he was an immortal, if you ignore the fact that she was still sitting on the ground, naked, with his sperm slowly dripping from her.

"I have no idea, really. I..." he pressed his lips together, glancing at her bare skin. "You should put some clothes on."

To both of their surprise, she smiled amused at the little plea - even though it was nothing unexpected for an angel to be attracted to her, still her nakedness affecting him suddenly seemed funny.

Temari did as he asked, and clumsily stood up on her legs, staring intently into his eyes not anymore with crippling fear of what will happen next, but rather curiosity.

Shikamaru just looked back at her as if trying to read the answers in her eyes; then he slowly lifted up his hand and ran his fingers on her cheek gently. The touch sent ripples in her belly and she shuddered, closing her eyes and heavily exhaling a gust of air. Before she opened them again, he kissed her, carefully, even sweetly, as if testing what would happen - and the passion again gripped them both by their throats and she was against the wall again, only now gently. But this time he broke away his lips, yet didn't pull away his arms that were wrapped around her body. She didn't fight it, she couldn't, only started in awe at what is happening. Everything was just too weird.

"Why..?" She repeated, but it was more like a sigh than an actual question. Lulled by passion and unimaginable feeling of being safe in the arms of an angel, feeling his strength around her, hearing his breathing so close to her ear and not shuddering with fear, Temari wrapped her arms around his shoulders and allowed herself to relax. She caught herself feeling like she felt in the arms of her lover - but the lover was always another girl for most of her lifetime. This was new, refreshing, exciting and... for a reason she couldn't quite comprehend, she wanted to stay like this. They were not friends nor they were close, but suddenly she felt like he was someone who she had, wanted and needed to keep by her side, and walk by his. This, whatever that was, what they lived through just now, got them feeling much closer than they normally would have felt, and Temari clenched a handful of his shirt in her hand while resting her head on his shoulder. Her bruised face begun hurting just now, but the warmth radiating from his body took that away; his hand gently held her head close to him and Shikamaru sighed, completely giving in to emotions and feelings and delaying the thinking for later.

However a phone call woke them from their daydream. Temari's cell vibrated on the ground, and she picked it up to answer.

"Hey Rin... no, we're both okay. But we have some news. I think we... or maybe I alone will come back to the office. Mhm. Bye."

They both started into the phone in Temari's hand, and shared a look.

"Now what?" Shikamaru asked.

"Why are you asking me?"

"You have known stuff about angels and immortals longer than me."

"And I have never seen anything, anyone like you."

"Well good for you then."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You're not dead..."

"I am not dead? Do you realise that you should be happy I had those handcuffs on my wrists, or else you would be dead?"

She raised an eyebrow at his cockiness, and with his next answer she raised both. A small smile played on his lips, and his eyes glimmered with amusement. What a guy.

"Well you also should be happy you survived the best sex in your life."

"Well, right back at you!"

"Who said it was the best in my life?"

"Who said it was the best in mine?"

"You kind of just confirmed that."

"And you don't even need to say anything for me to know it was your best."

"Really? How is that?"

"You said it yourself, I've been around for longer than you. I know men better than you think."

"I don't think I am a man now, not anymore."

Those words brought them back from playful banter to the reality and graveness of what had happened weighted down their hearts. "So, now what?" He repeated. "I'm guessing normal life as I know it ended for me, and then... I will go, or rather fly around looking for immortals to rape? Until one of them kills me?" His voice clearly betrayed this was a rhetorical question, he has seen what happens with the angels enough times to know the pattern.

Temari stayed silent for a while, looking through the window and drowning in her thoughts. But her head wasn't empty, it was buzzing with thoughts of what to do.

"Actually, I can already tell you're not like other angels, so maybe the same rules will not apply to you. If you didn't lose control with me, maybe you won't with the others." The thought of Shikamaru fucking another woman suddenly seemed uncomfortable. "But there is always a risk they will try to kill you as soon as they identify you as an angel. You're our natural enemy, after all."

She turned around to look to him, and a small hope glimmered in his eyes. He had his hair back up, and a mere sight made her insides ripple in heat. It will be difficult with him around, after all.

She drove back to the office alone, leaving Shikamaru in his flat and her phone with him since his cell was taken by those men.

Rin had her eyebrows up as soon as she saw what Temari was dressed in. She had a bad feeling in her gut ever since Shikamaru didn't answer her call, and now her heart trembled slightly waiting for the news.

Temari took a seat on the couch, and gathered her loose hair with her fingers away from her face, and begun.

Rin and Mimi both stared equally appalled. First it was for the fact that their enemies found out; that they identified who were the group and the leads were pointing at Rin; which in turn meant they were all in danger. Only they figured it out too late already. When Temari told them what they did to Shikamaru, Mimi didn't even try to hide her tears and Rin seemed so calm as if she didn't even comprehend the events. They always had an extra employee with them, usually a man, and coincidentally things always ended bad for them; now they were convinced it was pure bad luck for men to hang around here.

"But you said...you're both okay. How did you, how are you both still alive?"

"He is alive because I was handcuffed. Why am I alive remains an unanswered question."

"What do you mean?"

"He didn't kill me. We had sex, naturally, but he never bit me, well almost, but remained in control of his actions."

What followed was silence. A long, teasing silence, during which Rin stayed frozen despite several blinks, and tears started drying from Mimi's cheeks. Suddenly the girl jumped up and took a seat by her computer, typing something wildly, while Rin only muttered. "It's the first time in my life I have even heard of something similar."

"I figured you wouldn't know why was he different either."

"So what are we supposed to do now?"

"Hold your horses you two." Mimi said over her typing and scrolling. "I'm trying to find something... I have once heard a legend of an angel who gained perfect self-control because he had something, I can't remember what was it. But it was made from deer's antlers if I remember well..."

"But even so, it's just a legend..." Rin doubted.

"It's still something... otherwise we have no more ideas, do we?" Mimi retorted.

Temari stayed silent. She was never too much into religion and legends and other mystical things, but then again, when she was still a human she was not into believing of immortality.

"I found it!"

Three pairs of worried eyes fixed their gazes to the monitor.

The story of Kinoshita Takao

Kinoshita Takao was a humble man.

He lived alone in a small hut in the middle of the forest, but he did not feel lonely. He liked the solitude because meaningless talk exhausted, the unspoken rules of socializing seemed pointless to him. Kinoshita enjoyed the tranquility the nature provided him and lived in harmony with the forest.

It provided him a shelter and allowed him to build a hut out of trees, it gave him clean, pure water out of the mountain springs to drink and bathe in, animals to hunt, fishes to catch, fruits to pick. He was always grateful and respected the forest, and took care of it and its inhabitants as best as he could: picking up some rubbish a passerby left, putting out a fire caused by dry season, setting up feeders for birds, squirrels and deer and filling them up during the long and harsh winters with the food he gathered and the grass he dried. The forest grew to love him the same way he loved it, it took care of Kinoshita and protected it. The animals got used to the human and were not afraid to come and eat of out of his hands.

Most of all Kinoshita bonded with sika deers that roamed this forest. Their black, deep, understanding eyes were watching everything what was happening in their homeland, ears moved at the slightest sound. They were calm and composed, and sometimes playful, bowing to their opponent in battle or a game before headbutting, just like human fighters do. And being a loner, naturally Kinoshita prefered their company much more than other people. Deers didn't talk, shout, lie, tried to trick or manipulate you, they simply lived their lives, were born, ate, mated, gave birth, and died. It was natural, and it was beautiful.

Thus he lived until one night, while he was sleeping in his hut, a seed of Yggdrasil, a Time Fruit wandered into the forest and in his home, accidentally or not - but finding its way and falling inside Kinoshita, right through his chest. The man slept calmly.

The spring, summer and autumn passed, and then the winter came, and only then he realised something was different.

A woman came to him. She wasn't just a passerby, she came directly to him and looking for him. She was a beauty, long black wavy hair, the kind you see and imagine touching, or spread on the pillow when she is under you. Her body curvy, feminine, full breasts and firm legs, skin soft tempting to touch. Her eyes glimmered as she looked at him, cheeks flushed with passion - a thing that wasn't alien to Kinoshita before he began living as an outsider. She breathed heavily. And his body responded, even though she was far away still, he felt the arousal burning inside him, so strong he never felt anything like that before. And he couldn't help but welcome her, giving up to his instincts as he was An Angel without his knowing, and the woman was The Immortal.

He fell on his knees and the pain ripped him apart, it slashed his back and it took him a while to realise it was a pair of wings he grew. And without a second thought they brought him to the woman and he kissed her with all he had, and she responded willingly.

What he failed to see was the knife in her hand, and what he failed to understand was why he bit her neck. He felt her blood in his mouth and he couldn't stop drinking her life, even when she lifted her hand and pointed the knife at his heart. At the back of his mind he knew this is the end of him, but the passion was too overwhelming for him to care.

But then something interrupted them. It charged at him from his side, sending him falling on the moss. He raised his eyes to see a stag holding the woman against the tree with his antlers, her knife now lost in the grass. And suddenly he felt the change. The unfightable urges became fightable, the overwhelming passion became more rational. Yes, he craved her, but he regained his ability to think. He understood the animal saved his life, and not simply in a physical way - there was a magical protection the deer gave him, and still kneeling on the ground he bowed low, tears over flooding his eyes.

The deer that saved his life came to Kinoshita, bowed his head and gave him his antlers as a present. The man took them and carved a bracelet for himself with beads made from the antlers, swearing to wear it for as long as he lived.

The deer run the woman away from the forest, and protected it from her and the likes of her for the rest of Kinoshita's life. And his life could have been a very long one - he was protected by the deers that witnessed his change, and their fawns, and their later generations, while Kinoshita remained the same and hadn't aged a day.

But Kinoshita was a humble man. He waited until a hundred year from his birth had passed, took off the bracelet and left it at his hut. With a breaking heart he left the deer, glancing at them one last time and saying goodbye in his head, and walked out from the forest. But deep inside he felt harmony and acceptance, and wandered to meet his death.

She came the next day, equally divine woman, and they engaged in the same ferocious love making until she was barely alive. Last second she managed to put a katana through his chest and Kinoshita died. The woman left.

The deer watched the scene from afar, not interfering as they knew Kinoshita wished to live no more. And when he was gone, they came to find only a pile of ashes with a red transparent Time Fruit on top of it.

They brought what was left of Kinoshita to his hut and his story thus ended. But the forest never forgot, and the deer still remember. The bracelet was said to still lie next to the Kinoshita's Time Fruit somewhere in the forest, and the whereabouts of these are known only by the sika deer.