Hell's Angel
Chapter
By: Lily no Anrui (aka. IQ)
It's been awhile, I know, but I've decided that fanfiction.net is now stable enough for me to continue writing and posting my fics. Plus there is a definite shortage of good Hotaru-centered fics right now, so I've decided to bring mine back to life. Damn, I really need to get my own website to store all these stories on…
What's happened to all my favorite stories though? All my favorite Hotaru fics are gone. No one's posting anymore…
Hotaru, as any ruler would be, was unaware of the deception in her midst. Life continued on as normal as was possible for her. It was any normal day in her surrogate monarch role in which she would listen to petitions from the people she ruled. The man, a low-classed warrior, knelt at the bottom of the dais on one knee, the typical submissive posture for a male of lesser rank.
"—Mistress, I swear it was him. I found his hair on my bed."
"The man rooms with you, soldier, what do you expect?" Hotaru answered, bored and disinterested. "I have listened to your case, and decided your evidence is insubstantial. Be gone." With a wave of her hand, she dismissed him.
The warrior protested loudly crying, "But I know it was him!" Hotaru narrowed her eyes at him, and lazily lifted a hand in signal to the guards. "Remove him," she said in her unfeeling monarch's tone that left no room for argument. The guards acknowledge her order by saluting in the customary manner; one hand fisted over the heart, and moved to obey.
The pleading soldier became a distant memory as his cries faded into an echo against the stone walls. "Bring in the next petitioner," she called out, weariness evident in her voice. Hotaru curled up on the throne that seemed to engulf her body, looking like a frightening child. It was, in a way, reminiscent of her days held in possession by the senshi's enemy, Mistress Nine. Her violet eyes scanned the doorway, and through it stepped an elegant blue-haired beauty, the picturesque sea siren.
"Michiru…"Hotaru said into the nearly empty room, "What brings you here?"
Michiru knelt down on both her knees, the customary gesture of submission from a lesser female. "Mistress, I bring you news of premonition," she called out, her eyes focused on the ground. At this Hotaru focused on the once-senshi, putting both feet on the floor and swinging to an upright position. Beckoning with a finger, she ordered, "Come here, Princess of Seas." At Hotaru's summons, Michiru rose as though pulled by strings, and walked to stand by her sovereign's throne.
"What did you see?" Hotaru asked, in a near whisper. She did so simply to keep others from overhearing potentially damaging news. "Haruka…" Michiru choked on her words, "Haruka and Serenity." Hotaru's eyes narrowed and her lips curled into a sneer. A soft inhuman growl was filtered between those civilized lips at the mere mention of the Queen of Light. Blinking the red haze from her eyes, Hotaru asked, "Could you tell the time?"
"No, Mistress," Michiru answered apologetically, nibbling on a nail. Hotaru nodded, digesting this new possible-information. "That's quite alright, Michiru. You're a clairvoyant, not a fortune-teller. I can expect nothing more from you," the violet-eyed demon-princess said, "You're dismissed."
"Mistress, if I may…?" Michiru inquired after a brief indecision on whether to go or not.
"Go ahead," Hotaru told her, nodding.
Michiru readied herself for an explosion from her once-foster child, before opening her mouth to speak. "My instincts tell me you must speed up your process in regaining our lord, Shinigami. The sands are running through the hourglass, as Setsuna once told me."
"I'm aware of this, Michiru," Hotaru replied, her anxiety increasing ten-fold. "I will do so as soon as I feel he is ready." Hotaru swallowed nervously as Michiru bid her farewell, and wondered how she was going to rip Duo from his mortal life without making him hate her. She could see no way. Of course Hotaru had changed others before then, her fondest memories being the mutual-consenting agreement with the Outer Senshi. It was different this time though; Duo was special. Duo was the Shinigami.
She got up from the throne, stomping her foot angrily. Why were all the tough responsibilities put on her? Hotaru swung around to face the guards. "Tell them I will hear no more petitions today." Without a second word, Hotaru disappeared.
Reappearing in the main hallway of the Preventers Headquarters dressed in normal garb, Hotaru began stalking away to Duo's office. She needed to know how he felt about what she had told him. Apparently the violet-eyed ones thought similarly, because upon arriving on Duo's floor she heard a voice call out behind her, "Hota—I mean, Camille! Hey, Camille, wait up!" She turned, catching sight of an exuberant braided man making his way towards her at a ground-eating pace.
Hotaru leaned against the wall until he caught up. "I was just looking for you," she said with a slight smile once he had. "Funny, me too," Duo said, "Listen, I've been thinking."
"A dangerous pastime," Hotaru slipped in sardonically.
"You're telling me," Duo said with a grin, "Anyway—" Guessing what he was about to say, Hotaru interrupted by saying, "Maybe we should talk elsewhere." Duo shrugged expressing his indifference, "Fine with me." The two of them walked out of the corporate building and across the street to where a rather elaborate park was set up. They walked along the path side by side in a questioning silence.
"You were saying?" Hotaru prompted coolly, arms swinging at her side lazily.
"Well I've been thinking, that if you're a demon from Hell and whatnot…then why are you here?" Duo asked, frowning in confusion. Hotaru's breath caught in her throat. Why was he so curious? Was it possible that he was remembering? That might be her chance to convince him of the truth to her tale. "Well," she began carefully, "I'm looking for someone."
"But who? You're dead. It's not like you have any family members left you'd like to talk to," Duo answered sarcastically, rolling his eyeballs. He stuck his hands in his coat pockets and scratched a rhythm on the inside of the fabric, impatience displaying itself in subtle ways.
"I'm looking…" Hotaru wondered how to phrase it, "For someone very important to Hell."
Duo looked exasperated. "Care to elaborate, dearie?"
"I'm looking for the Shinigami," Hotaru stated, also exasperated with beating around the bush. She watched as Duo froze up, mouth gaping wide, and stared at Hotaru with a mixture of awe and disbelief. Finally the words seemed to sink into his brain and he started. "The god of death. You mean THE god of death? You lost the god of death. How could you lose a god?!"
"I didn't lose him," Hotaru corrected sternly, "I just merely misplaced him. He was reincarnated after the last battle of the realms. Now it's time for me to collect him and bring him back to his job." She nodded, reaffirming her mission to herself. Duo looked at her strangely, "Haven't you found him yet?"
Hotaru smiled secretively. "I have."
"Then why are you still here?" Duo asked, frowning in consternation at the ground between his moving feet. Hotaru shrugged, taking a turn onto a side path, and walking towards a bench to sit down. Duo abruptly stopped walking, and crossed his arms. "Hotaru, I want an answer." Hotaru froze mid-step at the commanding voice he used, and found herself turning around to face him without even realizing it.
"I don't think he's ready to leave," she admitted quietly, fiddling with the cuffs of her jacket. Hotaru looked at the grass beneath her combat-booted feet and wondered how she could command an entire realm full of people, but in this one situation, failed to be assertive.
"Why do you need to get him then?" Duo asked, cocking his head to the side in curiosity.
"The realms are at war again. Really just Heaven and Hell are at war. My position is as a general, not a monarch, and I can't do both at the same time anymore. He has to come back and take up his rightful place as the eternal sovereign of Hell," Hotaru explained rather vaguely, flicking her wrist about in exaggeration.
"I see. Well then I don't think he has much of a choice anymore in the matter, and you're just avoiding the issue," Duo said matter-of-factly, nodding to confirm his own statement. Hotaru stared at him consideringly, before nodding to herself. "Perhaps you're right," she amended, her voice falling onto the air like a raindrop on a still pond. The ripples were barely noticeable, but Duo straightened up nonetheless. "Of course I am," he said confidently.
Hotaru walked forward silently, a predator stalking her prey, until she was face to face with Duo. "You realize what you've done, don't you?" She asked, her voice almost a pained whisper. Her violet eyes were filled with solemnity, an emotion which came too frequently for her liking. Duo looked down at her, a confused expression gracing his countenance. "What?" He asked.
Hotaru took another step forward, invading his personal space. Duo stepped back, trying regain a comfortable distance between the now-frighteningly sad demon, but Hotaru was quick to close the gap again, swiftly wrapping an arm around his middle in an almost-embrace. Duo gasped, struggling to escape from her arms, but his mortal strength was no match for the hidden steel within her bones. She easily held Duo to her, and rose up on tip-toe, nuzzling her face into his neck and breathing in the sweet smell of his aftershave…or cologne. She wasn't sure which one Duo preferred.
This would be Duo's last day as a mortal, Hotaru thought to herself. He has condemned himself to eternity. With that last thought, she bit down hard over his pulse, stimulated fangs sinking easily into the tender flesh. It broke so easily beneath her jaws, still weakened from the last time she had fed. Hotaru sucked urgently upon Duo's neck, his sweet lifeblood flowing easily down her throat. She drank it down like a wandering man drank even the illusion of water when lost in the desert.
Duo's heart beat faster, still struggling in fear. Although Hotaru's grip did not waver, her balance was off, and his wriggling did nothing for it, only succeeding in sending the two of them tumbling downward. Hotaru propped herself up on one arm so that she was not smothering Duo with her body, but kept the other wrapped around Duo, effectively pinning him to her. She knew he was fighting his instinctive reaction to having the life sucked out of him, for the previous time he had merely sat there in a languorous haze during the feeding. Hotaru wondering why he struggled so hard when they both knew it was futile.
Finally she felt Duo's heartbeat begin to slow with the beginning of death, and pried her fangs from his silken skin. She could taste the spicy flavor of his chosen scent mixed with his natural flavor on her tongue, and licked her lips in ecstasy. Hotaru looked down at the soon-to-be Shinigami. By perchance Duo had tumbled them into a bed of wildflowers, and Hotaru noticed a few of the flowers among it. She saw violets nearby, and smiled. Duo noticed this, and said in a timid voice, "Why are you smiling?"
"You don't remember this, but a long time ago, you gave me violets for my birthday," Hotaru whispered, her ruby-stained lips a stark contrast to the innocence of her words. Reaching out, Hotaru stroked their soft petals before turning her attention back to Duo. "This is for those memories," Hotaru decided out loud, and bit into the fragile skin of her wrist until blood ran out steadily. Unwrapping her arm from his waist, Hotaru supported his head and held her wrist up to his mouth. "Take it," she said, "Or you will die, and all will be lost."
Duo stared at the crimson droplets falling from Hotaru's pale skin and onto his own, and finally decided that if this was his course in life, so be it. He closed his lips over the wound and licked it, feeling the coppery taste of blood devour his senses. Reaching up, Duo clutched Hotaru's wrist closer to him and sucked with as much urgency as she had earlier.
Beyond her, he stared at the sprig of violets Hotaru had lovingly caressed earlier. 'Yes, this was for those memories,' Duo thought in agreement. The violet petals become his whole world, until it swam before his vision, the only clear thing he was able to focus on. Gradually he realized his focus had gone from the violets to Hotaru and he was staring deep into her eyes. "Sorry," he saw her murmur. Then her pupils grew to take over his vision and eventually his world.
Hotaru stared at her lord, wiping her still-bleeding wrist on the grass. It would stop soon. She had succeeded in part of her mission, that Hotaru was sure of. Now there was the transition to see to, and Hotaru vowed that she would be there throughout all of it. She had to find a safe place for Duo until he awakened though, so now was not the time to dally about.
Hotaru stood, levitating Duo's body up with her, and both people vanished into the other realm.
There is more to come yet, just review and let me know what you think.