Author's Notes: Well, here I am. I'm very glad that you all reviewed. When I checked my mail this morning, I found six reviews. I know that they're not that much, but to me they are. ^_^. Six all in a row, and the seventh a day after, or some sort. Thank you all for the reviews. Thank you very much. I would like you all to enjoy every chapter that I make, although it's hard because my mind tends to get blank in the middle of my story writing. I'm just glad that you all liked it! Thanks, and this chapter is of course for all of you!!! Please, please enjoy!
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A Devil's Halo: Part 8
'Oni's New Plan'
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"Sora! Sora!" called a familiar female voice from inside the crowded halls of school.
Sora turned around to see her best friend, Mimi Tachikawa. She hadn't really been paying attention to her for a while, and she was just about to guess what Mimi was going to say 'I just wanted to say that we need a closure to our friendship. I don't like being ignored, and I can only guess that no real human being would either... So I'm just saying that this friendship... is over.' Sora was waiting for the worse.
"We haven't talked for a while Sor. What's up?" Mimi asked curiously. She had no hint of anger in her tone.
Sora stared at her, confused for a minute. "I... Things have just been fixed. I'm sorry Meems. I know that I really shouldn't have done that to you. It was wrong. Just because I'm having a few problems to deal with doesn't mean that I should have shut you out for a while, and think that you were just so easily going to be my friend again. I know that I was wrong-" she said, true-heartedly.
Mimi just smiled in return. "Oh come on Sor. You know I'm not like that. Besides. I was pretty busy all week too. I've signed up for drama and I swear, our practices are everyday. But then again, I shouldn't complain. I did sign up for it. By the way. What problems?"
Sora smiled innocently at her. "Just the usual. You know? Fighting in the house."
With this Mimi nodded her head. She thought that she understood. Sora didn't lie. She just didn't tell the whole problem. Usually her mother and her would fight, causing Sora to become distant from Mimi, until Mimi finally would corner her and make her spill the beans. "I see," she said. "Besides that. I've noticed that you've been around your new home buddy for a while. What's been going on with you two? You're practically inseparable, but since you're here, and he's... somewhere else, I think it's safe to say that you two aren't really glued onto each other... just very well attached."
"I guess you could say that. At first, we were having some problems, but that's all sorted out now. We've talked it out for a while at the park a couple weeks back. He even helped me clean out the rain gutter. You know how disgusting that thing is. Especially since neither my mom or I bothered to clean it for at least a year. I just started getting mad since I received moldy leaks from my ceiling during the rainy days." Sora said.
Mimi made a disgusted face. She could just imagine all the green ooze dripping... no... splatting one moldy, slimy, appalling drop, by one moldy, slimy, appalling drop. She shook her head, getting the image off her mind. "By the way, here comes your lover boy now," Mimi said, taking her tray from the counter after the lunch lady gave their food. "Thank you," she said to the woman, as she paid for her lunch and waited for Sora to follow suit.
"Hey Sora! Mimi, right?" Tai asked, turning his attention to Sora's best friend.
Mimi smiled genuinely at him, and nodded. "I see that you two only have one more week of school cleaning duty. Keep up the good work! Our school's never been more clean!" she joked.
Sora glared at her playfully.
There were adolescent male voices coming a distance away from the three. They were shouting something incoherent, but Tai picked up on it. "I gotta go you guys. Nice talking to ya Mimi, although it was pretty short. See ya gals around!" he said, before catching up with 'the guys'.
(A/N: You know? 'The guys'? I mean the types of guys that every other boy hangs out with? Okay. So I didn't know what else to call them... Can you really blame me ^_^.)
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"One potato..." Sora said as she cleaned off one table top. "Two potato..." she sung as she switched from the clean desk to another.
Tai shot a glance at her. "What are you doing?" he asked.
Sora was just mindlessly spraying the desktop and rubbing off the liquid. She wasn't really paying attention to it. Just then, she accidentally knocked over the spray of the desktop cleaner, and it broke. "Oh man... I am such a klutz!" she yelled, as she scrambled to mop up her mess. Tai walked over to her, and helped her clean up.
"Sora, don't worry about it. There's a whole bunch more in the janitor's closet. I'll go get it," he said, grabbing a whole bunch of paper towels, and placing it over the mess, before walking out of the classroom, on his quest for the desktop cleaner, in the janitor's closet. Just then, he heard a little beeping noise. He figured something must have malfunctioned in some teacher's room, so he decided to ignore it. If something bad happened, he really couldn't get blamed. Besides, they only gave him and Sora specific keys to specific rooms in the school.
The beeping didn't stop, nor did it get faint as he kept walking. On the contrary, the beeping became louder. Loud enough that Tai became irritated, and tried to listen intently at the source of the sound. He finally realized that Oni was calling him from his communicator. He pressed the 'Talk' button and just as he pressed it, he heard a booming angry voice on the other line.
"HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE A DAMN IMBECILE TO PRESS THE BUTTON?!"
Tai pressed the 'volume' button lower, because Oni's voice was just too loud. "I'm sorry sir. It's just that you've never called me before and-"
"SHUT UP DAMMIT, JUST SHUT UP!!!"
Tai suddenly stopped his chatting.
"I just heard from a very good source of mine that you have been doing 'good things' or 'nothing sinister' for the past couple of weeks hmm?" Oni began.
"I... Sir. It's just a plot-" Tai began.
"Did I tell you to speak yet? I THINK NOT!!! Erm ehm. Anyways. As I was just saying before I was so RUDELY interrupted by my 'lesser ones'. I have trusted you to do this job quickly and fast. I need you back down here in Hell for more jobs. I thought that you said you didn't want life. It gave you painful memories from the past. Am I right?" Oni stated.
"Uh.. yes sir-" Tai began.
"Good," Oni said, cutting him off quickly. "Then I want the job done right, and I want it to be finished quickly. Besides all that, why didn't you tell me that Heaven had sent one of their most powerful angels there?! You ASS HOLE!!! You tell me EVERYTHING that seems important. Instead, you just go off, and decide to wait a couple of weeks. NO. Actually, in fact, if I don't have this correct," he said laughing a horrible, double-octave laugh. "If I didn't hear this from my very good source, you would have never remembered. You would have forgotten. Only when I bring you back down here, and torture you, and release you of your memories back there on Earth, will you remember."
"Sir, I'm sorry, it's just that-" Tai tried again. No use.
"Fuck you. Don't 'sir' me anything. Just get you job done. In fact, as I have been counting along, you only made her do how many sins was that? It was-" Oni said trying to remember.
"Sir," Tai said, hearing foot steps in the hall ways. "I have to go." With that, Tai disconnected the connection.
"Love life, do you Taichi? Ever since you found out that there is so much to do in it? Everything horrible can always be countered with things of happiness... People of happiness maybe? Kindness? Care? Hmm...? Anything of those things ring a bell with what's happening now?" asked a voice so irritating to Tai. He turned around and stared at the face that he for some odd reason, hated beyond all belief, for no reason.
"Matt..." Tai spat out.
Matt smiled politely at Tai, before walking around him; circling him.
"What the hell are you doing?" he asked.
"I was wondering if the wings we made for you will fit exactly," Matt said.
Tai glared at him. "Thinking of sending me to Heaven? You of all souls should realize that Oni has trained me to refuse your offers. They mean nothing to us... Oni's-"
Matt cut him off quickly. "Minion's? Oni's minions. And what a great title it is, but wouldn't an angel sound so much more better for people who you're trying to gain their trust?"
Tai gave him a look of disbelief. 'What the hell was this guy thinking? He was a demon. A DEMON!!! He had been strictly trained, and warned by Oni many times to refuse all of Heaven's offers. If not, there would be dire consequences. Oni had even given them an example.
"I understand that although you threatened Miss Takenouchi, you never intended to hurt her. You have your human characteristics back now Taichi. You have your memories, your feelings. Do you really intend to do harm on Sora?"
Tai stood there with a dumb expression on his face. If Oni ever found out that he was even conversing with an angel like this, Oni would have his soul. Literally.
"I understand that at this moment you may not even give me an answer, although deep inside you know what it is. If you just look inside but not search that far, you will only find an undecided answer. A confused answer. I'll be asking you once again soon..." Matt said, turning away from Tai; beginning to walk away.
"Wait!" Tai called out.
Matt turned around quickly. "Yes?"
"If you're Sora's guardian angel, why are you still not talking to her?"
"What do you mean?"
"If you're really her guardian angel, after all these weeks, I haven't seen you once try and talk with Sora. You didn't even go near her. I notice that you keep a close eye on me though. What is it with you? Shouldn't you be trying to win Sora's trust, so you could tell her to stay away from me? Or is it because of the fact that you have your own little 'power' for making people trust you instantly? I mean, what other choice could there be? It's not like you're a demon's guardian angel!" Tai laughed.
Matt gave him that same polite, calm smile before dissipating into the thin air.
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"It took you long enough Tai," Sora said, receiving the table cleaner spray from Tai.
"Yeah.. Took a little detour down to the vending machines, but they didn't work at all. Wouldn't take my money, so I went back to my little 'quest'," Tai said.
Sora nodded. "Umm... Tai?"
Tai looked over at her, from him floor waxing. "Yeah?"
"Why aren't you bossing me around anymore? I mean... it's not like I want you to, it's just that it kinda seems a little suspicious. Especially because of the fact that you stopped about a couple weeks back."
"I..." 'What do I say?' Tai thought. "I..."
Sora gave him a look of impatience.
"I was given different orders," he finally finished.
"Either that, or it's because of our 'talk' at the park weeks back," Sora teased.
"Pshh. Yeah. Right," Tai said, concentrating more on the waxed floor now.
Sora gave him a little smirk before cleaning the desktops once more.
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"There is no way that I'm letting that... Slave of mine... My minion go ahead and cut me off like that! Once I get my hands on his soul, he'll be sorry that he ever did that. That damned slave. That damned servant. That lower class soul! That- That. ARGH!!!! Once I find an opportune time, I'll snatch him away from his once hated, but now cherished earth, and kill him. Yes... But first of all, I must give him the worst of all punishments. The things that he never wanted ever again in his life. I'll make it happen on earth. I will make him relive his former life on earth with the people he most cares about," screamed Oni.
Indeed. He was mad. Undeniably infuriated.
Thanks to Taichi.
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Tai placed the typical red and white checkered table cloth down on the weathered grass, and sat on it, placing his back pack down behind him. Sora followed along. She sat down against the flowerless cherry blossom tree and stretched.
"There's nothing like doing homework in a beautiful, serene place right Tai?" she asked, as she removed her books and binders from her pack.
"Yeah. Whatever. As long as I raise my grades for all my classes by doing my homework-" Tai began.
"Finally doing your homework," Sora finished for him.
"Yeah yeah," he said, waving her off. 'Did I just say that I wanted to raise my grades up for my classes? Why? It's not like I'm going to stay here long enough to find out if I can still join a good college. Oni will take me back down once my project is completed. Plus I need to finish my project. It's been a while since Sora's done even just a stupid petty, little, insignificant sin...which we're cheating heaven by counting anyway.'
"Tai? Helooo? Anybody home?" Sora called to him.
Tai snapped out of his thinking mode. "Oh. Uh... What?" he asked kind of rudely.
Sora just ignore this. Tai had a tendency to act rude at times, but she knew that deep down, he really didn't mean it.
"Didn't you just hear me?" she asked. She was a little annoyed, but a little relieved that he didn't hear her.
"No."
"Well then... Never mind."
"Tell me. You've brought it up, don't change the subject now, or you'll just get me pissed," Tai said.
"I... well... I mean I know that you don't have a job, and I know that it will be during the night... and I defiantly know that you're eyes are going to glow and everything... but I've got nothing to do on Saturday, and you've got nothing to do but lay down on your bed and think... Well... I've come to the conclusion that we both shouldn't be bored at the start of our week end right? Let's go to the dance. Both of us. This Saturday," Sora said. At first she sounded nervous, but then again, heck, she's said this a first time, and although he didn't hear her, her courage was already raised up.
"Sure," Tai said without hesitating. Although he did say it in his normal tone... not a nervous quick tone. "By the way."
"Hmm..?" Sora asked.
"You're wrong," he said, placing his homework back in his back pack.
"About what?" Sora asked, becoming interested with his broken sentences.
"My eyes."
"What do you mean?"
"They've stopped glowing."
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Author's Notes: Okay... so maybe it's not that big of a cliff hanger, but then again, maybe people would want to know the reason why his eyes don't glow anymore? Maybe... That will be explained in the next chapter. Hope that you enjoyed, and please, pretty please, review!