Title: Loyalty: A Bond Between Friends
Summary: A new demon battle is taking place, but why? Has something happened to Gash? Can he be saved? And most importantly, who will win? Accepting Fan Mamonos.
Disclaimer: Slave To Noah does not claim to own Konjiki No Gash Bell, or any of its characters or related logos. All bits, peices, and ideas go to their respective owners.
(A/N: 'thoughts', SPELLS, "talking", flashbacks, "the person speaking on the other end of the phone")
(A/N: I'm embarrassed to say that I had a lot of fun torturing little Tsuine. That's why this chapter is longer than normal.)
Chapter 10: Tsuine's Horrible Day
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
A boy with messy red hair sat up from the floor. He hadn't fallen asleep there, mind you, that was just where he was when he woke up. He stood up and stretched. He was wearing a black shirt and pants with a flame pattern on both (obviously), and was barefoot. The sleep wear was too big, however, so his shirt hung off his shoulder and he had to be careful not to step on the legs of his pants or else he'd fall. It took him a minute for the sound to register in his head.
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
'Stupid alarm clock…' he thought. He pressed the snooze button and crawled back into bed. 'Five more minutes…'
"TSUINE!" Quinton shouted as he bounded onto the fire demon's bed. "Wake up man!" The ripple effect that was Quinton jumping on the bed ended Tsuine falling off the other side. He sat up off the floor for the second time in less than 3 minutes.
"What?" He asked his partner. "I was trying to get some more sleep before you interrupted me."
"Today is Sunday. You know what that means?" An evil grin was spreading on Quinton's face. He was rich, as his parents had been multibillionaires, and had left him all their money. Quinton didn't work, but lived in the large mansion alone, since his parents died when he was 19. But Sundays, Tsuine remembered with horror, was the shopping day.
"Shopping Day…" He said with fear. Tsuine hated shopping. Quinton loved it only because Tsuine hated it. He found it fun to watch his partner whine about the old people who didn't call him the devil, ask him how he got his hair to stay in their spikes so perfectly. To be perfectly honest, all Tsuine did was slick his hair with warm water and it stayed all day.
Quinton stood and stretched. He was dressed in a plain white shirt and jeans. He currently wasn't wearing shoes either. "Get ready for the tor-I mean-the shopping!" Quinton said and left. Tsuine allowed his head to flop onto the bed.
"Dear God, kill me now…" As if on cue, the alarm clock started to beep again, steadily and rhythmically. "Damn it." He hit the off switch located at the side. "I hate Sundays."
A half hour later, the team of Quinton and Tsuine climbed into Quinton's stylish Marceau, a luxury car made in Italy, which made no sense whatsoever because it had a French-sounding name. It was a very sleek car, which the latest and greatest security tech. It was truly a masterpiece. Tsuine could never understand why humans loved such lifeless objects, yet coldly killed each other. It puzzled him.
"Let's start with the bookstore," Quinton said, sporting an innocent smile. Tsuine looked out the window. Quinton noticed that Tsuine went into a frenzy in the bookstore-grabbing as many different light novels and manga (mostly manga) that he could carry. It had started simply enough-he picked up an 'Okaasan!! Kounyuu!!' manga, and slowly became hooked on manga. Tsuine would never admit it, but… he was an otaku.
They pulled into the parking lot of a large bookstore. Its whole upstairs was dedicated to manga and anime, from '.:Asterisk:.' to 'Zuugan Gann'. Tsuine went upstairs immediately whilst Quinton looked around in adult fiction.
Upon reaching his secret haven, he ran totally amok, grabbing mangas of all different genres, until he dropped all of it. He had seen what he'd been looking forward to all week. It was the latest issue of 'Bust Blade, in which the hero fights several large beasts that are full of blood and guts. He grabbed it, but it was immediately taken out of his hand. He looked up at the guilty, soon-to-be-dead person. It was a woman in her early 30s, and she was smiling.
"Little children shouldn't read such violent manga. It would hurt your emotional growth. Let me get you a book more suitable," She said smiling. She walked in the direction where he had just come. The only reason Tsuine didn't run away with his lovely treasure was because the trip was useless if 'Bust Blade' wasn't in his possession. And the woman had taken the only copy.
She returned and gave him a manga with a squirrel with a small body and a large head on the cover. It had large blue eyes and it read, 'Yuumi, The Happy and Peppy Squirrel'. He pretended to be intrigued and opened it. The first page was just like the cover, only Yuumi, The Happy and Peppy Squirrel was eating a pecan. He turned to page. It was a sunflower seed. Then a stalk of asparagus. Then celery. The woman put 'Bust Blade' back on the shelf and walked away. It was licking honey off its paws. He then tossed it over his shoulder and took 'Bust Blade' off the shelf. He ran to the escalator and walked down. Until he realized he actually wasn't moving.
When he tried to look and see why, he tripping and began to fall. That's when he suddenly realized…
He was falling down the up escalator.
Eventually, he righted himself (after falling for like, 20 minutes) and managed to collect the manga he was holding and go down the right escalator. Quinton bought the manga and a thick book of his own, and went back to the Marceau.
The next stop was the market.
Tsuine disliked the market in itself, or, to be more accurate, he disliked markets that were cold because they had an over-powered, open freezer section, and he just plain hated that part of the market. This is why Quinton made sure to go past said section every trip, making Tsuine shiver.
But not this time. The Warrior Of Faia would not be stabbed in his Achilles Heel ever again. When he felt they were nearing the section, he ran off, quickly but quietly. He ran past the cereal, the bread, the produce, until he made it to the aisle that had the toilet paper and paper towels. He leaned against one pack, until he felt that he had worried his bookkeeper enough. He ran back the way he came, to the freezer section. But Quinton was not there. He decided he must have gone off somewhere.
Tsuine checked the Check-Out lines, but he wasn't there. He checked the baked goods aisle, but wasn't there. He soon was in frenzy like at the bookstore, but this was the bad kind of frenzy. He had checked every aisle twice, and Quinton wasn't in any of them. He had no choice. Tsuine, the heir to the Faia clan, would have to go to the Lost Children desk.
When he arrived, he sighed and said, "Excuse me, I'm…" he dreaded saying the next word, and apparently, it dreaded coming out. "Lost."
"Who lost you?" The man said. He said it as if he was talking to a baby. Tsuine wanted to punch the man in his ugly mug, but kept his cool. He merely did it in his head as he answered.
"Mori Quinton," He said, while he kicked the man's family jewels in his mind.
He moved to the speaker and said, "Mori Quinton, Mori Quinton, you have lost… eh," he covered the microphone. "What's your name, kid?"
'Did you ever stop to think that I would be the only kid with him?' Tsuine thought. But he answered anyway. "Faia Tsuine."
"Wait a minute… is this man your father?" The man asked. It took all Tsuine's self control not to slap the man.
"No."
"Well, I'm afraid I can't call him."
Tsuine sighed. Time for his sob story. "My parents died when I was very young and I was sent to live with my distant relative. He is very kind to me, and, though he's not my biological father, he's the only family I have."
The man wiped his tears and turned to the intercom. "Mori Quinton, Mori Quinton, you have lost Faia Tsuine, please come to the Lost Children desk.
In less than thirty seconds, Quinton was there. He said that he had been in the candy aisle the whole time, which Tsuine missed because he didn't think Quinton would get that far in the few minutes he was gone.
The last stop was lunch.
Tsuine ordered a Cheeseburger and Quinton ordered a Seafood Platter. The two enjoyed their food, that is, until Tsuine almost broke his tooth on something. He pulled it out and, between his thumb and forefinger, was an engagement ring.
"What the fuck?" He said to himself. He looked at Quinton, who shrugged.
"I'm sorry young man, that dish was meant for a young woman who a customer was going to propose to. Thank you," The waiter said and took the ring. He was allowed to keep his food, and continued eating. Then bit into something hard, smooth, and round. He pulled it out and he was holding a marble.
"Man, this guy was trying to break her teeth," Tsuine said, and took another bite. He felt something else. He sighed and pulled it out. It was white and triangle-ish.
"Looks like a piece of a tooth," Quinton commented. Tsuine looked up at him and frantically grabbed his spoon. Opening his mouth he saw it. One of his side teeth was broken.
"Oh gods damn it all!" He shouted louder than he meant to. A waitress came over and told him to quiet down and to not use such fowl language. "HELL NO, I WILL NOT QUIET DOWN! I FUCKING BROKE MY TOOTH ON THIS DAMN DISH THAT WAS MEANT FOR SOMEONE ELSE!" Tsuine shouted purposely louder. "THIS SHIT IS CRAZY!" After that, Tsuine began screaming curses in Faian Language. He slowly began to calm down. Quinton was finished by then and guided him back to the car. They returned to the estate and Tsuine bolted upstairs to read the only good thing that came out of this day: 'Bust Blade'.
When he finished he was disappointed, there was no blood. But he looked at the blurb for the next issue. It read:
IN THE NEXT DRAMATIC ISSUE, JUN FIGHTS MANY LARGE MONSTER THAT ARE FULL OF BLOOD AND GUTS!! YOU DON'T WANNA MISS THIS BLOODY, GOREY ISSUE!!
Tsuine screamed swears for 3 hours straight.