Hello there! I know it's been some time, but I've updated now. By the way,
if any one is interested in drawing Adrian, don't be afraid to let me know.
That should satisfy his damn narcissistic cravings. He posts up pictures of
himself in his room and stares at them all the time.
Adrian: I do NOT!
Riiight, tenshi-san. Well, I have a touch of writer's block right now; so don't expect the chapters to be coming too quickly. I also have school and a major assembly to plan. *rolls eyes*
Once more, I don't own any of these characters. I only own my own characters and some elements of the plot!
Adrian: You don't own me!
Me: I'm your creator and your mistress.
Adrian: In a thousand years.
Me: Adrian, you know that bike? The one I gave away? You'll never see it again unless you behave.
Adrian: /pouts/
Me: At least try to. Please? /Big, hurt eyes/
Adrian: /tries to resist/
Me: /lip quivers/
Adrian: /breaks down/ All right, all right!
~*~
Hikari sighed as she sat in the apartment, staring at the television but finding no interest in the talk show that was currently on. She had just been released, but warned to take it easy. No work for at least half a week. Taichi was trying to persuade Sora to let her stay on permanent housing within HQ currently, leaving Honda to watch her.
The young man was currently reading a magazine, flipping through the pages. She looked over at him. "Honda, did you ever fall in love with a girl that hurt you constantly, but had you wrapped around her little finger so tightly, you loved her all the more for the torture?"
His gray eyes sharpened at that. He set down the magazine. "If someone is harassing you, Hikari."
She shook her head quickly. "I just want to know."
He sighed and leaned back in his chair. "Once, just once. It was a few years ago, just before I entered the agency. Wait a second, let me get something to drink, it's a pretty long story." He got up and returned with two bottles of Coke, offering one to Hikari.
She wanted to decline, but took it, more for politeness' sake. Sometimes Honda was sweet in that innocent, chivalrous way. He took a long sip of his.
"Well?" she asked quietly, twisting her ruby ring.
He heaved a sigh, as if preparing himself for doing something exhausting. "It was a few years ago, I was entering college. As you know, probably through your brother, I was also in a police academy." He stopped. "I wanted to be in the military once, but after seeing a school shooting before I graduated, I decided to go the academy instead."
"Why?"
He smiled thinly. "I wanted to be able to help directly, to help the community instead of the nation. Also, a police officer comforted me as I saw one of my best friends carried away in a stretcher. Both of them changed my life. Jounouchi Katsuya. We were together since middle school. I bailed him out of street fights; he made me laugh. We promised to always be there together. Until that one day. Some punk brought a gun to school. To this day, I'm not sure why he did it. He was an honors student, popular, well liked. After school, just in the schoolyard, he started shooting at people. I remember his face. It was utterly inhuman. I could see nothing that was good or even sane in his expression. At the time I would have called him evil, but- after fighting vampires, they make him look like an altar server.
"People were screaming and trying to run. Some brave, foolish souls tried to reason with him, to get him to snap out of the madness he was in. They died with their pleas still on their lips." He coughed. "Now I'm getting to be a poet, how sad. I remember the blood the most; there was so much of it as it stained the dirt bright red. Friends and enemies of mine died about me as he calmly reloaded and shot, just as if he was in some video game." Honda counted the names off on his fingers. "There was Yamazaki Miho, a girl who wanted to be a preschool teacher and would never hurt a fly, but choking someone with one of her death glomps was another story. Kotaru Keisuke, major bastard and schoolyard bully. And last, but not least, there was Jounouchi Katsuya, my friend. Of course there were others who died and others who had injuries. My other friends Mutou Yuugi and Mazaki Anzu were shot. Both survived, but Anzu, who always wanted to be a dancer, will always be stuck in a wheelchair." Hikari shuddered slightly at the thought of having a dream shattered that way.
"What happened to him?" she whispered.
"To Katsuya? He was actually being rational by helping everyone get out of the way. How he died was taking a bullet for me." Honda closed his eyes in pain, remembering the day too clearly as he opened them again. "He tackled me to the ground and it entered through his back. The paramedics arrived just a little too late, just a few minutes earlier and he would have survived. But- he died two days after in the hospital; he just slipped out of life." He sniffed a little, something glinting suspiciously at his eyes. "At least it was a painless and quick death for him, and we didn't have to cut off life support. As for the other guy, and I won't say his name, he got arrested. Pleaded on insanity, got prison for ten years and was shipped off to a mental hospital after a few years." Honda shrugged suddenly. "He's going to get his own some day."
"Don't you hate him in some way?" Hikari asked.
Honda shrugged again. "I guess you could say that I hated him, hated his damn guts for a long time. But- the police officer, he was there for me. It was rather surprising. He told me some things that I won't forget, ever. What he said was, 'Do you want revenge?' I answered, 'Hell yeah, he murdered my friend.' He then said, 'Will killing him ever bring Jounouchi back?' That finally brought back my reason. I was grieving and letting that cloud my judgment. Nothing would bring back Jounouchi. He was dead and gone, from this earth anyways." Honda smiled slightly, before sighing. "Well, I managed to settle for the fact that he would be locked away, so he wouldn't kill anyone else. If you're going to get revenge, you have to make sure it will satisfy you. Scum doesn't learn lessons, rabid dogs won't listen to reason." His voice was rather matter of fact as he toyed with the bottle. "You have to make sure scum can never do dirty work ever again, or you destroy it, completely. Rabid dogs, you just shoot, it's doing them a mercy as it is doing a mercy to innocents."
Hikari nodded understandingly as Honda swallowed another gulp of Coke. He coughed a little. "After that, I went to the police academy. Then I got diagnosed and got kicked out." Hikari nodded again.
Honda had a rare blood disease, inherited from his mother's side of the family. It had lay dormant for his infancy and adolescent years, but had finally erupted when he reached adulthood. Eventually it would have killed him, even if treated, a trait that ruled him out of being a full-fledged officer.
"You know the whole damn story, how I got 'found' by some of the members of C.R.O.S.S. and got initiated into it. The whole thing about getting medication to lay my disease low, you already know from a long time ago." He smiled slightly. "Well it was during my training I met a woman."
His eyes closed as he recalled it. "She was the most amazing woman I ever met. Beautiful, intelligent, happy, she just exuded the perfect example of what a woman could be. I was head over heels in love with her. There wasn't anything I could do that was too good for her. It was bliss; she kept me going on, even as I grew weaker. Then she started to change. She wasn't an angel; she was a demon, a demon that had me wrapped about her fingers like a little toy. When she couldn't come to our lunch dates, I was the one that apologized. If she hit me or insulted me, it was my fault. I knew it was bad for me, but I couldn't let go. It was an addiction, I knew I was destroying myself, but I was too attached to the source of bliss and damnation. Then, she left me. Like a broken toy.
"I was lost, I was just a shell. I went to a bar, got drunk. A full bottle of prescription painkillers was in my pocket and a .35 was in my other. I was ready to kill myself. Then, someone stopped me. I forget now exactly who it was; I think it was Syaoran." Honda sighed. "Needless to say, it took me a long time to heal, emotionally that is. I'm still healing today. The healing didn't start, unfortunately, until I hurt myself badly." He stared at his arms, clothed in a sweater and his brown trenchcoat. Heaving a deep sigh, he pushed up his sleeves and showed his forearms to the woman. A myriad of fine white scars laced down like a sickly version of a spider web. He then said nonchalantly, pushing them back down, "That's why I don't wear muscle shirts."
Hikari swallowed. There seemed to be a lump in her throat. He suffered so much, in so many short years of his life. She touched his hand. "Honda, I'm sorry."
The brunette smiled at her touch. "Hey, it feels good to let it out." He frowned slightly. "Today's something special, but I can't remember anymore." He sighed. "I love faulty memories."
That brought a giggle from Hikari, who couldn't help herself. Then she asked softly, "Honda? How did you break free?"
He looked at her thoughtfully. "Break free? Oh, from a relationship?" He paused. "Well, it is like an addiction. You cannot snap free completely, or you will go insane from withdrawal. What you do is slowly distance yourself from the addiction." He shrugged. "It is no easy feat."
"I would guess so."
Honda stroked his chin. "Hey Hikari, like to see a picture of them?"
She leaned forward. "Sure."
He drew out his wallet, opening it. His long fingers pulled out a single picture of a striking woman with long, silvery-blonde hair. She was smiling at the camera, but Hikari noticed how very empty her blue-gray eyes were. Honda quickly put that away and pulled out a group photo of some high school students. There was a younger looking Honda there, and right behind him was a blonde, holding him in a chokehold and grinning. A short boy with the most unusual hair (black and red with gold bangs) was laughing, sitting on the ground as a female brunette with blue eyes smiled, obviously having collapsed right before the picture had been taken. There was a taller boy in the back, looking remarkably similar to the male with the unusual hair, along with a shy looking white haired young man. Honda pointed them out. "There I am. The blonde is Jounouchi. The short guy on the ground is Yuugi. The girl is Anzu. The guy in the back with the white hair is Ryou and the guy that looks like Yuugi is Yami."
"You all look so happy," Hikari said softly, touching the photo.
"We were happy," Honda said, a little gruffly. "Things changed though."
Hikari looked at him. "Honda, Jounouchi will always be with you. He's your friend and he always will be."
Honda smiled slightly then he snapped his fingers, sobering slightly. "Now I remember what day it is. Today's his birthday." He looked at the ceiling and sighed once. "Happy birthday, Jounouchi, happy birthday my friend."
~*~
Takeru growled as he clenched his fist in midair. The form of a bird materialized, his hand grasping a clawed leg. "Tell whatever son of a bitch that sent you that I do not appreciate scrying spells!" he snarled, shaking the bird roughly and letting it go as it flew off, disappearing into mist.
"Violent today," Adrian commented, appearing in an armchair nearby.
"Fuck off."
"Tut, tut, language."
"Shut the hell up."
"Make me."
He looked at the angel and his temper, already fraying, snapped. He lunged at him, only to find Adrian disappear. The angel reappeared behind him, holding his arms in a firm grip.
"Get your hands off me!" he snarled, struggling.
Adrian shook him twice. "Calm yourself."
Takeru caught his breath, slowly calming himself down. "Let me go. Right. Now."
Adrian let go of him and the vampire stalked to the fireplace of the study. He stared into the dancing flames. They cast off a golden, flickering light, giving no warmth to his marble cold skin. The angel walked up behind him. "Takeru."
"Just leave me," the vampire said hoarsely. "Just get out of here right now."
Adrian looked at him before disappearing without another word. Takeru felt something brimming in his eyes. For the fourth night in a week, he swallowed away tears as he silently stood in front of the fireplace with only his thoughts.
~*~
Takeru: Thank you for making me the Angst King.
Adrian: Excuse me but that's MY title.
Takeru: You-
Me: Break it up you two. Who would've known? Honda as an angsty boy. Poor Honda.
Adrian: I do NOT!
Riiight, tenshi-san. Well, I have a touch of writer's block right now; so don't expect the chapters to be coming too quickly. I also have school and a major assembly to plan. *rolls eyes*
Once more, I don't own any of these characters. I only own my own characters and some elements of the plot!
Adrian: You don't own me!
Me: I'm your creator and your mistress.
Adrian: In a thousand years.
Me: Adrian, you know that bike? The one I gave away? You'll never see it again unless you behave.
Adrian: /pouts/
Me: At least try to. Please? /Big, hurt eyes/
Adrian: /tries to resist/
Me: /lip quivers/
Adrian: /breaks down/ All right, all right!
~*~
Hikari sighed as she sat in the apartment, staring at the television but finding no interest in the talk show that was currently on. She had just been released, but warned to take it easy. No work for at least half a week. Taichi was trying to persuade Sora to let her stay on permanent housing within HQ currently, leaving Honda to watch her.
The young man was currently reading a magazine, flipping through the pages. She looked over at him. "Honda, did you ever fall in love with a girl that hurt you constantly, but had you wrapped around her little finger so tightly, you loved her all the more for the torture?"
His gray eyes sharpened at that. He set down the magazine. "If someone is harassing you, Hikari."
She shook her head quickly. "I just want to know."
He sighed and leaned back in his chair. "Once, just once. It was a few years ago, just before I entered the agency. Wait a second, let me get something to drink, it's a pretty long story." He got up and returned with two bottles of Coke, offering one to Hikari.
She wanted to decline, but took it, more for politeness' sake. Sometimes Honda was sweet in that innocent, chivalrous way. He took a long sip of his.
"Well?" she asked quietly, twisting her ruby ring.
He heaved a sigh, as if preparing himself for doing something exhausting. "It was a few years ago, I was entering college. As you know, probably through your brother, I was also in a police academy." He stopped. "I wanted to be in the military once, but after seeing a school shooting before I graduated, I decided to go the academy instead."
"Why?"
He smiled thinly. "I wanted to be able to help directly, to help the community instead of the nation. Also, a police officer comforted me as I saw one of my best friends carried away in a stretcher. Both of them changed my life. Jounouchi Katsuya. We were together since middle school. I bailed him out of street fights; he made me laugh. We promised to always be there together. Until that one day. Some punk brought a gun to school. To this day, I'm not sure why he did it. He was an honors student, popular, well liked. After school, just in the schoolyard, he started shooting at people. I remember his face. It was utterly inhuman. I could see nothing that was good or even sane in his expression. At the time I would have called him evil, but- after fighting vampires, they make him look like an altar server.
"People were screaming and trying to run. Some brave, foolish souls tried to reason with him, to get him to snap out of the madness he was in. They died with their pleas still on their lips." He coughed. "Now I'm getting to be a poet, how sad. I remember the blood the most; there was so much of it as it stained the dirt bright red. Friends and enemies of mine died about me as he calmly reloaded and shot, just as if he was in some video game." Honda counted the names off on his fingers. "There was Yamazaki Miho, a girl who wanted to be a preschool teacher and would never hurt a fly, but choking someone with one of her death glomps was another story. Kotaru Keisuke, major bastard and schoolyard bully. And last, but not least, there was Jounouchi Katsuya, my friend. Of course there were others who died and others who had injuries. My other friends Mutou Yuugi and Mazaki Anzu were shot. Both survived, but Anzu, who always wanted to be a dancer, will always be stuck in a wheelchair." Hikari shuddered slightly at the thought of having a dream shattered that way.
"What happened to him?" she whispered.
"To Katsuya? He was actually being rational by helping everyone get out of the way. How he died was taking a bullet for me." Honda closed his eyes in pain, remembering the day too clearly as he opened them again. "He tackled me to the ground and it entered through his back. The paramedics arrived just a little too late, just a few minutes earlier and he would have survived. But- he died two days after in the hospital; he just slipped out of life." He sniffed a little, something glinting suspiciously at his eyes. "At least it was a painless and quick death for him, and we didn't have to cut off life support. As for the other guy, and I won't say his name, he got arrested. Pleaded on insanity, got prison for ten years and was shipped off to a mental hospital after a few years." Honda shrugged suddenly. "He's going to get his own some day."
"Don't you hate him in some way?" Hikari asked.
Honda shrugged again. "I guess you could say that I hated him, hated his damn guts for a long time. But- the police officer, he was there for me. It was rather surprising. He told me some things that I won't forget, ever. What he said was, 'Do you want revenge?' I answered, 'Hell yeah, he murdered my friend.' He then said, 'Will killing him ever bring Jounouchi back?' That finally brought back my reason. I was grieving and letting that cloud my judgment. Nothing would bring back Jounouchi. He was dead and gone, from this earth anyways." Honda smiled slightly, before sighing. "Well, I managed to settle for the fact that he would be locked away, so he wouldn't kill anyone else. If you're going to get revenge, you have to make sure it will satisfy you. Scum doesn't learn lessons, rabid dogs won't listen to reason." His voice was rather matter of fact as he toyed with the bottle. "You have to make sure scum can never do dirty work ever again, or you destroy it, completely. Rabid dogs, you just shoot, it's doing them a mercy as it is doing a mercy to innocents."
Hikari nodded understandingly as Honda swallowed another gulp of Coke. He coughed a little. "After that, I went to the police academy. Then I got diagnosed and got kicked out." Hikari nodded again.
Honda had a rare blood disease, inherited from his mother's side of the family. It had lay dormant for his infancy and adolescent years, but had finally erupted when he reached adulthood. Eventually it would have killed him, even if treated, a trait that ruled him out of being a full-fledged officer.
"You know the whole damn story, how I got 'found' by some of the members of C.R.O.S.S. and got initiated into it. The whole thing about getting medication to lay my disease low, you already know from a long time ago." He smiled slightly. "Well it was during my training I met a woman."
His eyes closed as he recalled it. "She was the most amazing woman I ever met. Beautiful, intelligent, happy, she just exuded the perfect example of what a woman could be. I was head over heels in love with her. There wasn't anything I could do that was too good for her. It was bliss; she kept me going on, even as I grew weaker. Then she started to change. She wasn't an angel; she was a demon, a demon that had me wrapped about her fingers like a little toy. When she couldn't come to our lunch dates, I was the one that apologized. If she hit me or insulted me, it was my fault. I knew it was bad for me, but I couldn't let go. It was an addiction, I knew I was destroying myself, but I was too attached to the source of bliss and damnation. Then, she left me. Like a broken toy.
"I was lost, I was just a shell. I went to a bar, got drunk. A full bottle of prescription painkillers was in my pocket and a .35 was in my other. I was ready to kill myself. Then, someone stopped me. I forget now exactly who it was; I think it was Syaoran." Honda sighed. "Needless to say, it took me a long time to heal, emotionally that is. I'm still healing today. The healing didn't start, unfortunately, until I hurt myself badly." He stared at his arms, clothed in a sweater and his brown trenchcoat. Heaving a deep sigh, he pushed up his sleeves and showed his forearms to the woman. A myriad of fine white scars laced down like a sickly version of a spider web. He then said nonchalantly, pushing them back down, "That's why I don't wear muscle shirts."
Hikari swallowed. There seemed to be a lump in her throat. He suffered so much, in so many short years of his life. She touched his hand. "Honda, I'm sorry."
The brunette smiled at her touch. "Hey, it feels good to let it out." He frowned slightly. "Today's something special, but I can't remember anymore." He sighed. "I love faulty memories."
That brought a giggle from Hikari, who couldn't help herself. Then she asked softly, "Honda? How did you break free?"
He looked at her thoughtfully. "Break free? Oh, from a relationship?" He paused. "Well, it is like an addiction. You cannot snap free completely, or you will go insane from withdrawal. What you do is slowly distance yourself from the addiction." He shrugged. "It is no easy feat."
"I would guess so."
Honda stroked his chin. "Hey Hikari, like to see a picture of them?"
She leaned forward. "Sure."
He drew out his wallet, opening it. His long fingers pulled out a single picture of a striking woman with long, silvery-blonde hair. She was smiling at the camera, but Hikari noticed how very empty her blue-gray eyes were. Honda quickly put that away and pulled out a group photo of some high school students. There was a younger looking Honda there, and right behind him was a blonde, holding him in a chokehold and grinning. A short boy with the most unusual hair (black and red with gold bangs) was laughing, sitting on the ground as a female brunette with blue eyes smiled, obviously having collapsed right before the picture had been taken. There was a taller boy in the back, looking remarkably similar to the male with the unusual hair, along with a shy looking white haired young man. Honda pointed them out. "There I am. The blonde is Jounouchi. The short guy on the ground is Yuugi. The girl is Anzu. The guy in the back with the white hair is Ryou and the guy that looks like Yuugi is Yami."
"You all look so happy," Hikari said softly, touching the photo.
"We were happy," Honda said, a little gruffly. "Things changed though."
Hikari looked at him. "Honda, Jounouchi will always be with you. He's your friend and he always will be."
Honda smiled slightly then he snapped his fingers, sobering slightly. "Now I remember what day it is. Today's his birthday." He looked at the ceiling and sighed once. "Happy birthday, Jounouchi, happy birthday my friend."
~*~
Takeru growled as he clenched his fist in midair. The form of a bird materialized, his hand grasping a clawed leg. "Tell whatever son of a bitch that sent you that I do not appreciate scrying spells!" he snarled, shaking the bird roughly and letting it go as it flew off, disappearing into mist.
"Violent today," Adrian commented, appearing in an armchair nearby.
"Fuck off."
"Tut, tut, language."
"Shut the hell up."
"Make me."
He looked at the angel and his temper, already fraying, snapped. He lunged at him, only to find Adrian disappear. The angel reappeared behind him, holding his arms in a firm grip.
"Get your hands off me!" he snarled, struggling.
Adrian shook him twice. "Calm yourself."
Takeru caught his breath, slowly calming himself down. "Let me go. Right. Now."
Adrian let go of him and the vampire stalked to the fireplace of the study. He stared into the dancing flames. They cast off a golden, flickering light, giving no warmth to his marble cold skin. The angel walked up behind him. "Takeru."
"Just leave me," the vampire said hoarsely. "Just get out of here right now."
Adrian looked at him before disappearing without another word. Takeru felt something brimming in his eyes. For the fourth night in a week, he swallowed away tears as he silently stood in front of the fireplace with only his thoughts.
~*~
Takeru: Thank you for making me the Angst King.
Adrian: Excuse me but that's MY title.
Takeru: You-
Me: Break it up you two. Who would've known? Honda as an angsty boy. Poor Honda.