Author's Notes: Oh wow... Thank you! You did certainly brighten my day, my week, my life, so much! Thank you for all your compliments, and I love you all for it! I can't express my feelings enough in words, actions, etc., but I hope you know how grateful I feel. Thank you again, and please do enjoy!!! ^_________^: big grin for y'all.




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A Devil's Halo: Part 11
Questions, Answers & Foreshadowing




~*~




"As I've said before Taichi, Oni has given you that dream as an obvious foreshadowing in your future. You must understand that he is an extremely powerful being, and if you're not careful, he can just flick you away like the lint on your clothes," Matt began with his pacified voice, once again.



Tai was anything but calm. He took this opportunity to yell at Matt. "Don't you think that I know that already? I was the one who had to be stuck with the ass hole for more than fifty years, not you, so there's absolutely NO NEED for you to tell me all this shit. Just tell me the information that I DON'T ALREADY KNOW!"



Matt looked away from Tai. Tai did not know. Of course the guy wouldn't know. No one else knew but Oni and Heaven. "You're wrong Taichi," he said quietly.



Tai shot him a look of confusion. "What? About what?"



"You can't go on implying that I have no idea about hell. Believe me I have. I mean, yeah I was a 'big star' when I was still alive, but I was a jerk too. One of the people whom I corrupted eventually got their revenge and killed me. Hell was the first place I went to when I died. I was sent on a mission similar to yours, but instead, I was just there to rouse up more evil in the world. When I was looking for trouble, what I found was my human guardian angel. She had calmed me down. She turned me good. She had said that with the powers I had- since Oni never stripped me of my powers- I could use them for good, and so I did. Oni tried to go after me, but I defeated him with my powers with the help of some angels in Heaven."



Tai just gave him a look of utter disbelief. Matt? This guy... this overly calm, angel used to be a demonic spirit? He gave a little smile knowing that this guy used to be in love.



"Wait- So the reason why Tai doesn't have any powers is because of you? Also, you mean, after every good that you did, and your proof of being good, Heaven took you in?" Sora asked. She had been quiet since the time Matt took them from the rain, due to her surprise of teleporting, but now she spoke, curious.



"Yes and not entirely. They were still a little 'iffy' about my actions. For example, they wondered if I might turn back to my violent nature, so they made me human again. They gave me a name, a record, a new life... literally. With that new life I knew that I didn't want to return to hell once again, so I stayed with my human angel, and she taught me that there was more to life than violence. When I died... again, I ascended into heaven and was taken in."



"Is there some kind of note here that you're trying to tell us about?" Sora questioned.



Matt gave her a wry smile, and said, "I'm sorry but Oni made us a deal, so that we cannot interfere with Taichi's choices. If he truly wants to do good, and go to heaven, then it's his choice. I've tried to hint it to you, and I hope that you will get the message in all of this Tai. This was the dire information that I needed to give to you. The rest is up to you..." he said, as he slowly disappeared into the air.




~*~




"The bastard! That damn information was useless!!!" Tai yelled. "We were supposed to receive information that would help in this situation, but no, the ass just had to go tell us his life story. I really don't give a shit about that!". He slammed his fist into the wall.



There was silence.



"Sora?" he asked.



Nothing.



He decided to look around. Maybe she went off to just look at the house? Where was he anyway...?



'This painting... It looks so familiar,' Tai thought, as he ran his hand along the bumps of the overlapped oil paint. 'This door...'. He looked at the side of a mahogany frame, and saw marks that read 4'1" or 4'3¾". The ¾ of an inch was just to humor him when he was younger. His dad always gave bimonthly height checks on Tai, two years after his sister died. "Wait a minute..." he whispered softly to himself, as he fingered the marks on the door frame. "This was my home..." he continued. "Sora! Sora!" he called, but he had yet to be answered.



Maybe she was playing around?




~*~




Thirty minutes. Thirty minutes and Sora was still not found. By now, he could safely say that she certainly was not playing hide-and-go-seek with him. He was about to walk out through the back door, but he heard keys jingling at the front door. Of course! Didn't Matt just send him here? It wasn't like this house was abandoned or anything due to the lack of dust in the house. This must have had owners since his mother moved.



He walked up towards the door, but pressed himself against the hallway walls. He didn't want to scare the people out of their wits and make them call the cops due to an intruder. He was just curious as to what type of a person the house owner would be, to want to keep all the Yagami belongings and not change one thing. For example his room. As he passed by it, nothing was changed, but this was the room he had when he was sixteen and his father hadn't died yet. He wasn't completely depressed then, and his room still held a homey, welcoming feel to it. How did that person change it to look exactly like this? A look that Tai had changed previously.



Tai passed by the hallway table, and found family pictures atop it. They were his family's pictures. 'What a weird person...' Tai thought. Who in their right mind would keep up family photos that were not theirs, in their home and not put up pictures of their own family? Maybe this guy was just lonely... or sad?



Before he peeked at the owner of his old house, he walked back into his room, curious if the person had kept it up. He found his journals that he had been writing ever since he was seven and sisterless. Okay, not he thought that it was safe to say that this person was insane.




~*~




Finally, Tai walked back out of his old room, and decided to check up on the owner. If just a little peek at the person.



He tried to creep out silently from his old room, not wanting the floor boards to creak underneath him, but unfortunately, what you don't want usually happens anyways, so the floor gave out a loud groan.



Now he heard footsteps walking quickly towards the room, and before he could run and hide, the person caught him, as they stared, standing just outside of the room.




~*~




"Dad?!" he exclaimed loudly. His father...? Alive...? And... Young?



"Yes Tai... Now that you're finished getting excited about... something... please clean up your room. It's a mess. Dust the counters, your mom will be home in an hour," his father said, before turning away and walking towards the master's bedroom. Before he could walk any further though, he felt arms thrown at him, and his son hugging him for all he was worth. Ever since Kari died, he didn't think that his son would show this much love to anyone. Besides he had proof, ever since Tai had stopped hugging his parents when he was seven. "Uhh..." he had no idea how to react to this, but he truly was happy.



"Dad!" Tai said in a happier tone now. "But... how?"



Mr. Yagami gave him a look of confusion. "What do you mean? I've already told you that my plane arrives two hours after your school," he replied.



"What?"



"Taichi, how about getting a cold drink of water. Your brain's getting scrambled again isn't it?" the man said, laughter in his voice.



Tai smiled genuinely up at him. But wait... How did this happen? And where was Sora? Before his dad could say anything else, he ran to his room and checked his calendar. Wait a minute. This was the year his father died. This was the year he committed suicide.



'Afraid yet Taichi...?' Asked a horrible, double-octave voice.



Tai froze. Oni.



'How do you like the all-too-real flash backs?' he interrogated. 'I'm just refreshing your memory, before I really destroy you new life... Ha ha ha... hope you have fun...' It was such a chilling tone of voice.




~*~




"You said that you were going to come over and watch my soccer game dad!" said Tai over the cellular phone.



"I know, I'm sorry Taichi. I know that I promised, but there was a huge traffic jam-" Mr. Kamiya began, but he was cut off.



"A promise is a promise!" said the insecure boy.



"I know but-" the man began again.



"You weren't even there for Kari's funeral! You weren't even there fore anything! What the hell are you doing there that's more important than every other damn thing that's happening here?" yelled the boy.



"So this isn't just about me being late for Christmas is it?" the man tried to reason with his son, but his son didn't want any reasoning as he continued to yell at his father.



"Fuck you..." said the boy with a chilling tone in his voice. "Since whatever the hell you're doing seems more important than the past events of this year, why don't you just go back? You ass hole! I can't believe I called you my dad! I wish you never come home for Christmas!!!" he said finally. He had tried to stop himself from saying these things, but on impulse, they came out.



Oni. That bastard. Damn it, damn it, damn it. Oh no...



"Tai... you have to understand-- Wait son, I have to--" said the man, panic rising in his voice. There was a pause, and then he finally said, "I love you both very much--"



With that, there was screaming from the young boy's father, screeching, a loud colliding of metal, and then silence.



"NOOOOO!!!" Tai yelled over to the receiver. "ONI! You BASTARD!!!! I will find a way to KILL YOU!!!!" Tai yelled over and over again, before he just broke down crying a river...




~*~




The next thing he knew, he was back on his bed, his pillow wet from the salty tears that came down as his past, his worst nightmare, came back to him.



"Tai... Hey... Come on you big baby," Sora whispered joking, affectionate words to the teen, as she roused him gently from his sleep.



"Sora!" Tai said, as he grabbed the girl and hugged her tightly. That's when he saw what was behind Sora. This wasn't his room over at the Takenouchi house. No. This was some little three star motel. "Where are we?" he asked just ask suddenly as he grabbed her.



"We're in Tokyo Inn. I had enough money from my work to pay for this," she said. "I mean, we couldn't just go back to my house. My mom wouldn't allow it at all. She would probably call the scientists and ask them to give you an autopsy on how you lived twice. She was frightened, Tai. I don't blame her as much any more, but she shouldn't have yelled at you, and kicked you out like that."



Tai nodded. "How long have we been here?" he asked.



"About three days now," Sora said, counting her fingers.



Tai nodded. He looked up at her, and noticed that she had been straddling him. He blushed, and tried to hide it, but was unsuccessful. Sora had noticed it, and became aware of their position too.




~*~




"It was Oni Sor," Tai was explaining to Sora as the two sat atop Tai's inn futon. "He practically made me relive when my dad died. It seemed so real..." he said.



Sora nodded understanding how he was feeling right now. The best thing to do was to get his mind off of that, or else he would just become depressed. Something she didn't want him to feel. Depression was what led him to commit suicided anyway. "Let's forget about this for now Tai..." she said.



Tai looked up at her unique, beautiful ruby colored eyes. That urge to just kiss her came back to him, and this time, he was the one who began the kiss. He took her into his arms, and tasted her vanilla lip gloss. He smiled as he licked her bottom lip to get a better taste. He felt Sora's lips curve upwards, into a smile, as she kissed him back. He slowly brought her down on the bed, refusing to break contact, even for air.




~*~




Sora stared at the ceiling. They had come too close this time, and it was only the second time that it happened. What if the saying was true 'The third time's a charm?'. Well, although she knew she loved Tai, she didn't want that 'third time' to be a 'charm'. She wanted to at least be married to the guy before she put herself at risk of getting pregnant. Besides that, they didn't even have protection. Not that she doubted his stay if she became pregnant. It was just that she didn't want to get pregnant yet. Period.




~*~




Oni's cursing boomed out loud enough for the echos to bounce off the walls of the enormous territory of hell. His plan had failed.

Not matter how strong his powers were... Was Taichi's and Sora's love stronger than that?




~*~




Author's Notes: So... How'd ya like it? Okay? Bad? The worst crap that you ever had to deal with? Hopefully not. What I want is for all you wonderful people to enjoy my fics. Hopefully you did. Please, if you did, tell me by reviewing. I mean it's not like I really care about how much I get. What I really care about is if people like my fics, and the only way I can know is by people reviewing ne?
Thank you so much for reading! Love you all people!!!


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