Achromatic Colors
X. Rain
The sky darkened. It was so clear days before, Ryoma noted. He stared at it in perplex as his hands ran over Karupin's snowy fur. The clouds have blocked out most of the sunlight and heat so the temperature was cooler than usual. He was used to having a whole bed of clouds under his feet and he silently wondered its difference when it covered over the world. He shivered, though not from the cold. Still, he pulled his snowy jacket higher against his frame. In heaven, the sun was always shining above the sky each day and most of the clouds functioned as an 'earth' to angels. There may be occasionally an island of clouds that floated away from the others, but it never did cover the whole sky. But what will happen when the sun was completely shadowed by the clouds?
He heard a page turned from the book and directed his attention to the devil. They've been doing this a few times now, sitting under the tree and doing nothing much in particular – at least for him. Ryoma would spend the daylight mostly with Karupin or go to sleep if he weren't bothered by the bored devil. The brunet always had something to read and some official document or another to be writing on, he reflected. Ryoma was somewhat satisfied on the basis that he was not so interesting to the devil that he could sit and do nothing for hours with him.
Ryoma guessed that the 'tensai', as the brunet chose to call himself, was probably a desk officer and can probably port his work everywhere. The devil, in turn, was probably perplexed about Ryoma's own post that consisted of doing nothing all day.
For a moment, he pondered in amazement that he stopped even to bother to ask why the brunet was hanging around him again and briefly wondered if he should get rid of him, angry Yukimura or no. And if that brunet is indeed a scholar, then he should seriously consider getting rid of him for good.
"That fisherman, he's dead." The brunet injected just as he looked away.
Ryoma turned back to face him; wary at where the devil was going with this. "You knew he was going to; days ago."
"You killed someone." He said as he placed a finger between the pages he was reading and smiled.
Ryoma frowned. "Don't ask me something you already know."
"Is it okay for angels to steal and kill?"
He sighed. This topic was almost as annoying as the one about his duties that everyone seemed to bring up – almost. "It's kind of pointless to train in combat when you can't." He stated the obvious.
"How good are you?" The brunet smiled.
He shrugged off a direct attempt to pry for information. That devil probably suspected him for a while already… great.
"Can earth angels fight?" The brunet prodded.
"Not that I know of." He shrugged again.
"Do you know any of them?" The brunet inclined his head knowingly.
Ryoma grinned. "Exactly." The devil was sharp. He heard faint warning bells from the back of his head and if he was who he was, he probably would have started backing away from this figure.
"But angels must have a special attack," The brunet tapped his chin as he contemplated. "Kawaii smile, 9999HP damage with 100 percent accuracy that makes any devil bleeds to death through his nose." He began to laugh when he saw the angel's venomous glare that partly said 'there's no point arguing with you'.
Ryoma sighed dramatically. "It's a double standard isn't it? It's okay for your race to do something, but it's not okay for us."
"No, it's just unusual."
"Well we do – back in heaven. It's just those cherubs ruining our reputation." Ryoma grinned. "Though it's eons apart chaotic as the reputation in hell – or is it because those earth demons are ill behaved?"
"Oh don't worry; they make a nice representation of us."
"The fact that they are destructive cowards as well?" Ryoma taunted, trying to evoke some sort of emotion out of him.
"All of that and more," The brunet grinned back fully knowing what the angel was playing at.
The angel sighed again, disappointed of his failure and turned his attention back to Karupin who began complaining when Ryoma's hands stopped moving. "You have no sense of patriotism."
Fuji also turned back to his book. "And you do?"
"No," The angel replied casually, "it is okay for me, but it's not okay for you."
Fuji chucked. And the angel was probably right. He had a nation to care for after all. If he doesn't care for them, who will? "You don't really care that a little bit of metal and the like was cheated off of you right?"
"I don't." He confirmed.
"But you do have a sense of the law don't you?" The angel's movement halted. "…The equilibrium law obeyed by all angels. Did you know that your method is only executed by high angels?" He smiled knowingly.
Golden eyes glared at him. 'How did you know?' it seem to demand.
"Remember, Lucifer was originally an archangel, so naturally we know somewhat about your dimension."
The angel was silent for a moment, and then replied casually. "…I'm not spineless and clouded by personal beliefs. That is all."
"Hmm…." He was skeptical and the angel knew it. In Fuji's opinion, the law of equilibrium was the most annoying law of all. The dead man suddenly got extremely rich by cheating on an angel. The price he paid to receive that was unequal, so the man repented by death. The law itself was formed rather loosely and it has various interpretations. Any normal angel would probably have chosen a different route, but penalty paid by death was the most simple and instant with no future responsibilities in part of the angel. He doesn't know much about the normal heavenly angels since they rarely descend to earth, but earth angels definitely do not have the heart to blow out a life, no matter how insignificant.
Who is this angel? Fuji wondered.
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Tezuka calmly stared at the clouds through his spectacles; deeply in thought. 'The Statue'. He was nicknamed by his subordinates behind his back. It was almost a daily routine for him to meditate hours on end on this particular spot and if anyone wanted to find him for any reason, they had a pretty good guess of where he is. It was rumored that he once sat through more than two weeks without moving a single inch. He was that unemotional.
The place itself was one of Tezuka's favorite parts of his estate. It gave off a beautiful view of the sea of clouds from a high elevation. It has nothing but clouds like a feathery Sahara desert – an expanse of cotton bed that extended as far as the eye can see that reflected the shiny rays of the golden sun.
He sighed, sensing a familiar presence behind him and stood up from his cross-legged position.
"Tezuka," An elderly woman's voice called.
He turned around to acknowledge the elder, and bowed slightly as a sign of respect. "Ryuuzaki-san."
A lively elderly woman appeared. She is one of the twelve councils – or seraphs as they are called – that governs the daily matters in heaven and influences those on earth.
She was one of the oldest angel around, and one of the few elders that survived the Holy War that wiped out almost the entire generations of angels and devils.
For some reason, her age stopping ability malfunctioned and she looked… old, in human terms. Some say it's because she is one of the eldest around and some say it's because she forfeited her youth to her younger generation – a fear not wholly unjustified among angels as they do seemed to age as they raised their young. Some say that as one of the few survivors who directly experienced the horrors of the war in their primes, their youth was sucked out of them by their internal agony. Some even theorized that she exchanged her youth for knowledge as a price or even to aid in the war. But whatever the reason, only she herself knows.
"Have you seen the kid?" She asked in a slightly annoyed tone stereotypical of elderly human woman.
"According to Momoshiro, he is on Earth." He replied calmly.
"I've heard." She muttered with a slight bitter tone. "Mattaku, the young archangel sure knows how to cause trouble, throwing the whole bureaucracy into frenzy like that. Just like his father." She sighed sadly.
Silence descended upon the two as they both stared at the glittering cotton field.
"Tezuka…," she began with a slightly pensive voice, "do you think I made a mistake that time?"
Tezuka didn't say anything for several moments, deep in thought. "It was inevitable." He stated simply and they continue to stare at the beautiful horizon.
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A drop of water fell on the tip of Ryoma's nose. He jumped as if being burnt.
He looked up in surprise, only to have another drop on his cheeks.
Ryoma instinctively brought up an instantaneous shield and was so intent on the sky that he was unaware of Fuji who was silently contemplating on his abilities. This level of sorcery could only be done by someone in a high position, Fuji analyzed, high enough to be a captain or a major – class wise. If the angel had the Gift, he didn't use it which makes this even more amazing. It seems like the angel just started to frequent earth recently, upon finding a Himalayan cat. It made the situation even more suspicious that he genuinely did not understand much about Earth. And if he was pretending, he must be really good to fool an intense scrutiny.
"What's going on? There's no sorcery." He stared at the water droplets splashing and sliding his glass-like shield. It was a few drops at a time at first, but the rain got heavier and heavier as if a shower hose was washing the whole area. "Is this normal?" Ryoma turned around to hear his answer, but his eyes connected with intense sapphire eyes. His heart skipped a beat. For a second, he subconsciously felt as if he was the cornered animal that just noticed a dangerous predator sneaking from behind.
"You've never seen rain before?" Fuji inquired curiously and he returned to the disarming smile.
He blinked. "Rain?"
"They water the earth. Scientifically, rain is a type of precipitation. The moisture from the oceans evaporates, and forms clouds in the sky. Once the clouds gets too heavy it breaks apart, and falls down to earth. It eventually returns to the ocean by rivers and streams to repeat the cycle again."
"…Why?"
"There is no vegetation in heaven? Or are they special?"
"I thought you knew all about us."
"The God of Underworld is not much of a storyteller." Fuji smiled. "Plus, much of the original generation have been lost since those days."
Silence descended on them as knowledge of the Holy War was recalled. Only the music of the rain interrupted the stillness. Karupin mewed quietly and broke Ryoma out of the silence. "…We walk on the clouds and the plants grow on them." He replied calmly.
"Hmm, the plants need water to live and when the earth is dry and there are no rivers nearby, the plants depend on rain to moisturize the earth so they can take it up through their roots." Ryoma nodded. "The clouds in your dimension must be special. It needs to double as the source of water and soil and it also needs to be firm enough to take the weight of everything."
"You should read more." The brunet injected teasingly at the adorable sight of the little one trying to absorb all the facts.
When any of the devil's earlier backhanded compliments washed over his mind like water hitting glass, this advice which contained some underlying insult jabbed him in the body and needless to say he was not happy about it. "I'm sorry that I'm not a bookworm." He gave the brunet another fierce look and his cheeks colored when the brunet only chuckled.
"I've never known devils can read." Ryoma retorted back to their earlier conversation.
"And I've never seen an angel that can smile so." He replied sarcastically.
They exchanged a brief grin before the angel turned his attention back to the rain. Through his Sight, he saw the transparent shield slowly dissolve and the rain fall on the outstretched fingers that belong to the curious angel. His expression was full of wonder and curiosity. Karupin as all felines detests water, meowed in protest and ran to hide in a nearby bush.
"The humans believed rain was a sign of the Gods' anger towards them for their actions." He explained through a slightly pensive voice as he watched the raindrops slide on the angel's soft skin, "But they later realized that rain is the source of life and created and worships Zeus, the king of all Gods as the master of the weather."
"I think it's… pleasant." Ryoma smiled and let the raindrops wash over his face – a small but a genuine smile tugged on the corner of his lips.
Fuji observed Ryoma's expression with open eyes. This is the first time he had seen this angel smile. He shouldn't be this astonished by this. Angels smile all the time, he told himself. Yet he somehow knows that this is something that the gold eyed angel rarely does. For one, this angel is a big mystery box. Who is he and what is he doing here? This angel was more intriguing that he had originally thought.
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A blurred image of the two was faintly seen before it dissolved into the glass orb. Yumiko smiled sweetly before she gazed at the tarot card in her hand.
"Why are you doing this?" She whispered into the empty room. Her perplexed tone was barely audible.
Published: 07/11/08
Revised: