Paved with Good Intentions
by surefall and aishuu
Disclaimer: Based on Prince of Tennis, by Konomi.
Part 18 Summary: Fight! Flashback!
Part 18: In Which All Is Explained (Kinda)
It goes without saying that Fuji was interested in what was going to happen as Sengoku and Kirihara vied for his former position. So, like most other angels and devils in the know, he'd decided to watch via HBN (Heaven Broadcasting Network, which is where all intrepid reporters end up working, if they didn't sign up for Heavenly Times).
In preparation for this millennia event, Tezuka had opened the door to his 'private' quarters (a door that hadn't existed before Tezuka had decided to open it). Within the admittedly small room was a comfortable looking sofa chair attended by a small folding table for snacks which resided across from a very small black and white television set on a folding stand. Its antennae were contorted into nearly unholy positions in an effort to keep a reception. Tezuka had created himself a bowl of popcorn and was settling very comfortably into his chair in anticipation of the unfolding drama.
Fuji wasn't satisfied with the accommodations. With a derisive look at the 13 inch screen, he waved a hand, replacing it with a 60 inch flat screen, wiring the room for surround sound while he was at it.
Tezuka had only one comment for this, "You replaced my TV with an abomination."
"I merely upgraded you," Fuji said, coming around to sit by Tezuka. He mischievously snatched a handful of popcorn, tossing a few pieces into his mouth. "More butter..." and with another wave of his hand, he adjusted the popcorn to his satisfaction.
Tezuka calmly set the popcorn that had just been contaminated with the udder squeezings of a cow to the side and created himself a new bowl of untainted popcorn. The look he gave Fuji very clearly expressed his disgruntlement with the interference in his entertainment. "I was perfectly content with my black and white."
"But this is better," Fuji replied. He leaned against Tezuka's shoulder, making himself comfortable.
Even more disgruntled by that, Tezuka made his chair expand into a couch, dropping Fuji onto the cushions.
Fuji managed to make it look intentional, inching over so his head rested on Tezuka's thigh. "Shhhhhh... the show is about to begin."
If he could have scooted to the side to get away, he would have. Who knows what evil Fuji might perpetrate with his head that close to ... yeah. Let's not think about that. Tezuka's lips curved downward in the faintest motion of a scowl, not willing to acknowledge that Fuji's television had a better picture (even if his television had been very comfortable for watching old westerns, an entertainment that Tezuka was very secretly fond of).
The picture was focused on a man teaching a class, where Sengoku and Kirihara were due to arrive. "I always hate-" Fuji started, but was interrupted by the door opening.
Momoshirou, with a rather flustered expression on his face, entered. His eyes widened as he saw the way Fuji and Tezuka were curled up together. "I'm sorry!" he started.
"Do not be," was Tezuka's flat reply. "Fuji was just moving himself. Weren't you, Fuji?" He gave Fuji's head a mild push with his fingers, ignoring how silky the hair actually was ... if he was lucky, Momoshirou would sit between them.
"Yes, I was." Fuji moved so he was more firmly situated, pinning Tezuka down with his weight. "What's up, Momo-kun?"
It was very hard for Momoshirou to suppress a shudder. It was just too weird to be addressed so familiarly by the former lord of hell. But he was an angel now, so... "Well, I was talking to Kawamura, who heard from Akutsu that there's going to be a battle between Kirihara and Sengoku-san!"
"We were preparing to watch it," Fuji said pleasantly.
"You may watch with us," Tezuka offered before tipping his head ever so slightly to the side. "What exactly did Akutsu say?"
"That Sengoku-san sent an invitation to Kirihara to settle things." Momoshirou plopped down on the sofa next to Fuji, who had his feet elevated. It was a big sofa, though, Momoshirou thought.
Tezuka was wondering what it would take to get Fuji off of him when Sengoku snuck his way into the room onscreen. In Tezuka's opinion, he could have snuck a bit more subtly. "I doubt he couched it in exactly those terms."
"Kawamura edited the profanity," Momoshirou said, picking up the bowl of popcorn Fuji had tinkered with and grabbing a large handful. "There was some garbage about a challenge for the Lordship of Hell, but Sengoku's an angel." He shoved the popcorn in his mouth, gaining chipmunk cheeks.
"It's not garbage. It's happening." Fuji watched as Sakaki was turned into a pillar of flame. "Ouch."
"Kirihara is seriously out of control," Tezuka observed, stating the obvious.
Fuji nodded. "Total God complex."
Momoshirou was about to ask another question when Sengoku said something to completely distract him.
"I, Sengoku Kiyosumi, archangel of heaven, also known as Lucifer, the Serpent, the Dragon, the damner of all mankind, challenge you, Kirihara Akaya, for the throne of hell."
"WHAT?" Momoshirou bellowed, turning white.
Fuji just stole the popcorn back by levitating it into his hands.
Tezuka also paled, fingers tightening around his bowl as the back of his eyes throbbed. Lucifer? Lucifer was dead ... he was supposed to be dead ... except angels can't lie and even Sengoku wouldn't lie during a challenge like this ... and Sengoku had been standing there when he opened his blurring eyes so long ago ... standing there and smiling at him ...
Tezuka cleared his throat quietly and fished some popcorn out of his bowl.
"Didn't you kill Lucifer?" Momoshirou asked.
"I never killed him, he exploded on his own and the rest of you decided I killed him," Tezuka answered with amazing calmness. He had just thought Lucifer was dead and had never challenged the interpretation of events.
Fuji just laughed, raising a hand to cover his eyes. "Like you thought any differently? I had a bet on with Yukimura over if you'd ever figure it out..."
"Whether I thought differently or not certainly didn't lead me to suspect Sengoku."
Fuji just shook his head. "It's that lack of creativity thing you have going on." He reached up to pet Tezuka's cheek consolingly.
Tezuka pushed his hand away. "Though it was certainly obvious that he was not particularly angelic when he was shooting people in the back during the war of the flood." That was the point that Tezuka had stopped looking to Sengoku for anything, even if the older angel had taken him under his wings after Lucifer's supposed defeat.
Momoshirou quietly watched as Fuji sat up slowly, his blue eyes wide open and an expressionless look on his face. "Tezuka, even if you lived to be twice your current age, you'll never reach half of Sengoku's knowledge or power. Don't question what you don't understand."
"I simply do not approve. Questioning him is hardly my concern." At least Fuji had gotten off his lap...
Momoshirou was itching to ask what had happened. "Um, Fuji-san?"
Fuji didn't answer, instead focusing on Tezuka. "Ignorance is bliss?" he asked Tezuka instead.
"It is certainly safer."
Fuji sighed, lying back down. Tezuka was so hopeless sometimes. "Look. It's about to begin," he said instead of arguing.
If Tezuka (or anyone with enough curiosity) managed to find time to search around Sengoku's office for the missing books, they would have been surprised to learn what only four beings aside from God still knew. The book propping open the closet was particularly interesting, because it was a rather revised version of Genesis.
If anyone had dared to rescue this book from the clutches of the evil closet monster of the many tentacles (also called Cthulu by mere mortals and worshipped by thousands), except no one was really that brave ... and had opened this book to the shocking first page (not much extra exposition here since there wasn't much in the mortal realms to talk about), they would have been introduced to a garden not wholly unlike the one they imagine first existed ...
Where a woman in Godiva black hair strode through an orchard. Except she wasn't named Godiva. Instead they called her Eve.
The mother of humanity was a nice enough sort, if a bit oblivious. She was sincere in all she did, but sincerity really wasn't an excuse for lack of brains. Not that Adam had specifically requested brains, though. He was just lonely at the time and didn't care as long as his companion walked on two legs and didn't say 'ook'.
It was destined to be a problem.
When God created the universe, he started on a Monday. Maybe that's why there was so much ill-luck attached to the day. There were definitely times when he would later wish he'd never gotten out of bed on that fateful day. By the fifth day, he was ready to create something with intelligence, and he decided that a creature that looked rather like him, albeit with a few modifications, was a good idea. He'd already had some luck with angels, with the exception of that nasty incident where Lucifer had taken him a bit too literally and ended up fragmenting his race.
Lucifer was hell-bent on fragmenting this new race too, though he considered it to all be part of the greater divine plan. He was on a holy mission! A mission of evil and having lots and lots of fun. Mainly the fun and then hopefully the evil. Okay, so the evil first (there were a lot of angels who could be moles in a cosmic mole whacking game) because it was fun and then the fun for the fun. Ah, decisions, decisions.
So, needless to say, Lucifer snuck into the garden, the heart of new earth. He snuck in by literally flying under the radar in the form of a winged serpent, a wyvern (snakes were a fancier bunch back then). Since he'd done the hard part, all that was left was the easy part, getting the new humans to disobey the Great Lugnut In The Sky. It shouldn't be too hard. After he had invented sin, the angels had flocked to it like candy, and he didn't figure that the new race would be any different.
He had the fortune to see Eve, in all her unclad glory, staring with slight longing at the apple tree in the center of the garden. She'd been told she couldn't touch that tree, but like all children, forbidding something only made her want to do it more. Unfortunately, the apples all hung well out of her reach, and she wasn't about to climb a tree... she would probably get splinters in her tender ass. She'd discovered pain a couple days ago when Adam had accidentally pushed her into a rock, and wasn't eager to experience it again.
Lucifer the magical serpent slithered his way into the tree that she regarded with such desire and draped himself over a branch, wrapping his tail around it so he could drop the rest of himself down into her view with a sproing! "Hi!"
Eve had never met a talking snake. Actually, the only beings that had talked to her were God and Adam, so needless to say she was interested. "Hello," she replied. A hand reached up to poke him.
He flexed his wings for her and rubbed his head against her finger. It was best to luffle up the pretty ones. Then they were more easily manipulated.
She giggled. "Who are you?" The snakeskin was surprisingly smooth, and she scratched him under the chin.
Lucifer flicked a tongue out, having fun making the end whip about. "My name is Lucifer, what's yours?" Not that he didn't already know.
"I'm Eve."
"So what's a pretty lady like you doing in a place like this?" Someone had to say the world's first pick-up line.
Eve didn't know how to lie, so she told the truth. "I'm looking at the tree and wondering how those taste."
Lucifer sproinged himself around on his tail in an attempt to see the things that she was looking at. "Those red things?"
"Yes. They're pretty," she said. "You're pretty, too."
"Awww, look, you're making me blush!" Lucifer turned his skin red just for her.
She blushed as well. "I'm sorry, Lucifer."
"It's okay ... hey, did you want me to get them down for you?"
"I was told not to touch them..." she said. Of course she wanted one.
"Well, you don't have to touch them ... I can touch them."
"Well..." she looked hesitant. "Are you sure it's okay?"
"Sure. Would I lead you wrong?"
She offered him a brilliant smile. "I would appreciate it, then."
Lucifer fell off the branch and fluttered his way into the air, swooping around the tree a little before he decided on the juiciest looking apple there. He jerked it free with his claws and dropped down to hover in the air before her, offering it, "Here you go! Payment for transportation services will be a smooch ... I'll collect after you eat."
Carefully she leaned forward, taking a bite. Chew, chew... swallow... and then scream as she recognized the snake as something Not Nice.
"Mou, so cruel. And after all that hard work too... " Lucifer shed his serpent form like a snake sheds its skin, materializing as himself, bouncing the bitten apple on his palm. "Does this mean I don't get a kiss?" he asked innocently.
He got slapped instead. "You... you bastard!" she shrieked.
Lucifer rubbed his cheek and made wobbly eyes at her. "It was an innocent mistake ... how was I supposed to know you'd attack me after you ate it?"
She stomped on his foot, jiggling her breasts rather impressively. Then she stomped away, taking the apple with her. If she was going to suffer, so was Adam. After all, misery loved company.
"Ow!" Lucifer bounced around clutching his foot dramatically as she walked off. Ahhh, what a woman. Adam was a lucky man to have sole possession of those hooters. He looked up at the tree with amusement and reached up to pluck an apple (for later, maybe it was useful for multiple damnings on the angelic side) and slid back into serpent form to make an escape from the garden ... before God caught on and tried to stomp him.
As soon as he was back over the wall, a rather cute demon tackled him in an affectionate hug. "Lucy!"
Lucifer looped an arm around his associate and made a face. "Stop calling me that, what will the underlings say?" but his complaints didn't stop him from leaning down and playing tonsil-hockey with Satan.
It was sometimes hard to believe that Satan was the second oldest creature. He was still painfully innocent in some ways, despite taking a rather hard fall when Lucifer had opposed God. Still, he kissed with the experience of ages.
As much as having sex right there on the doorstep of Eden would stick a sharp stick into God's eye, Lucifer decided not to press his luck and wrenched them through the ephemeral to Hell's grand hall ... where anyone walking by could be scarred instead. "Mmmm, guess what I just did?"
"Something evil?" Satan always went for the obvious, even though time had proven Lucifer rarely did that.
"It certainly falls under the heading of evil," Lucifer replied, nipping Satan's nose. The other demon was just so damn cute. He was glad he'd managed to drag him down with him when he fell. "I just gave humanity its first metaphorical assfucking."
Satan pouted. He wasn't too fond of humanity, since it'd diverted God's attention from the fun and games the demons had planned. Really, why create humans when there were already angels?
Lucifer gave the pouting lips a lick. "Don't look like that ... just think of the fun we're going to have with them!"
Satan perked up. "Really?" He wrapped his arms around Lucifer, pulling him closer so he could caress him in all sorts of fun places.
"Of course. It wouldn't be fair if God kept them all to himself now would it?" Lucifer replied with a grin, making his fingers sharpen into claws so he could rid Satan of those obnoxious clothes.
This first step with humanity was only the tip of the iceberg, the hundredth move in a plan. Lucifer always had a plan, often plans within plans. Just a couple more steps with the humans (he thought it might be especially entertaining to teach them his very favorite of sins, the one that got him tossed out of heaven ... murdering one's own brother) and it would be time for Hell's King to move off the board and allow the Queen to ravage the field.
All of those plans predicted Satan's loyalty. Back when God had created Lucifer, in a time so distant it boggles the mind, it hadn't taken long for God to decide his child needed a playmate - and thus Satan was born. For a while, they had no names, merely thinking of themselves as "me" and "not me." Their trust in each other was so deeply entwined in the fabric of their being, it had been a rude shock when Dan and Yamato had come along.
Upon the heels of Dan and Yamato had come other angels, sometimes one or two, sometimes a whole score ... until there were playmates by the hundreds and things had gotten pretty chaotic until Lucifer (he had finally needed a name after saying "me", "not me", "not me two", "not me three" had gotten insanely unwieldy) had proposed a generic plan of order: "Obey your elders ... you annoying little titches. Now get out of my cloud and get lost before I zap you."
Age hierarchy was quickly established after that (especially after the first couple zappings) and was the government of choice ... until a whole new mess of angels headed up by Yukimura, Fuji, and Yuuta came into being in the finally settled heaven. Sides were drawn. Names were called. Someone threw a spoonful of yogurt at someone's head. All heaven was about to break loose ... so God created archangelic status.
There really wasn't any telling how God made the choices, since he ignored some of the oldest and went with two young upstarts called Michael and Gabriel. Yukimura was appointed as well, and it goes without saying that Lucifer made the cut.
Considering the obvious bias toward the young in the appointments, it's only natural that the older half of heaven who had gotten used to this age hierarchy thing were a bit pissy. Only Lucifer the eldest? How unfair! They murmured. They grumbled. They whined to Lucifer. (Or rather, they sent Dan to whine at him since Dan whined the best.)
Lucifer just smiled and said everything would be just fine, that he would fix things ... right before he turned around and gutted Gabriel without a second thought, caroling merrily that now there was an open place!
To say that Michael was pissed was an understatement and he was the one who not only cried for the removal of Lucifer from heaven, but was the one who attempted to throw him out. Lucifer was kicked out of heaven all right ... after killing Michael for having used the metal-toed boot instead of the soft leather one.
The elder angels revolted against the loss of their Eldest (while shaking a collective fist at the youngsters) and left heaven enmasse to follow Lucifer. It helped that he had been whispering all sorts of sweet seductions into their ears before he had axed off Gabriel too...
Satan hadn't followed because of that. He'd come because his "not me" had left, and he would have been lost without him. It would only be later that they realized how lost he was without Lucifer. It hadn't been Lucifer's fault, exactly, that Satan ended up being left behind, but he hadn't been completely innocent, either. Not that he was ever innocent, anymore.
Time in hell had changed them all, warping their belief system. If God was Love, the last thing allowed in Hell was that. Satan's affection for Lucifer was called "lust" and no one picked a fight over it. Satan was pretty powerful, and always willing to make someone else miserable if it made Lucifer happy.
Not that it was hard to make Lucifer happy as long as he had Satan around. Satan was his very own, the only thing he didn't have to share, to compromise, or to sacrifice for the sake of the great plan that was his mission, the purpose of his existence. He loved him and trusted him implicitly and intended to keep him by his side forever...
Through the wars that kept heaven and hell at each other's throat for millennia upon millennia (Hell swore up, down, and sideways that it was winning, they had the fairest and brightest to lead them and they were definitely more experienced than that lot 'over there') ... until God broke down and finally made the humans.
That was the beginning of the end for the longest relationship in existence.
It started out fun enough. "Let's corrupt the humans to our side!" was the new rallying cry of hell and they made some great initial strides after Lucifer managed to get the humans kicked out of Eden and then taught them not only what death was like, but how to kill each other (even the most beloved of the other, as Gabriel once was among the youngest) when Cain killed Abel.
Incredibly pissed off by this rampant interference among the humans, heaven retaliated in kind. This was just the opening Lucifer was waiting for and he led an attack into heaven itself. His generic mission? Massacre them some archangels. The overall mission? Get one of the pansy suckers to 'forgive' him so he could Rise. Plan Stage Three needed to be initiated. If they couldn't manage it this round ... well ... there would be other archangels and there would be some looting and pillaging all around before some victory smut in hell.
Enter Yamato. Yamato was one of the strangest angels - the oldest one in heaven who hadn't taken the plunge. He spoke in obscure riddles, and while his power levels weren't on par with the other archangels, he had a strong gift of prophecy.
Satan had been sent off to kill Raphael (which he did successfully), while Lucifer had gone after Yamato. Sadly, he hadn't been able to find him right away, so he'd had to settle for a bunch of lower angels. He'd killed about ten and was just about to kill a pretty young one named Tezuka, when Yamato had shown up.
No one's really sure what happened, but it ended in Yamato's death, Tezuka's near blinding, and the creation of a new Archangel, one Sengoku Kiyosumi. He was the one who had been Lucifer, but had been subtly changed by the resurgence of God's power. One of those changes had been in his relationship with Satan. Satan, still thoroughly evil, had felt betrayed by his Lucy's sudden change of heart. Lucifer had always discussed things with him before... and then one day he just... left.
Unfortunately, Satan didn't have that option because the great void that Lucifer had left automatically sucked him in as the next Lord of Hell since he was the best candidate. Unfortunately, it was rather like plugging his finger into a power plant - the shock of the sudden wave of malice and sheer power fried his brains a bit.
Lucifer had always intended for Satan to take his place when he left. It was practical. The Love Clause would have let them be together anyway and there would be a Lord of Hell who Lucifer could work with without difficulty ... but Lucifer, now calling himself Sengoku Kiyosumi, had been blinded by his absolute trust in Satan and what he thought was Satan's absolute trust in him, forgetting that the divide that he had caused to happen was between them now and that the power of being Lord of Hell which he had created to suit himself would not necessarily suit others as well ...
Instead of ending up with a person who he could deal with, he ended up with a sadistic lunatic. Satan was a creature of whim, with only one goal. Get even with Lucifer for leaving.
Getting even with Lucifer entailed a wide range of evil acts which included fucking up the humans but good, throwing a hissy fit over The Library, sending the occasional assassin after Tezuka (that annoying little brat who was spending time with HIS 'not me'), destroying the world, and then destroying heaven. It was the second to last that finally forced Sengoku to retaliate in kind, for his intention (his orders, his mission, his reason to exist in his mind) since the beginning had been Balance. There had been only good, so he had created evil. For evil to perpetuate, there must be grudges, so he created the divine war. For their existence to be felt, there must be free will, so the humans were given the knowledge to choose.
Satan finally and nearly fatally threatened the Earth's balance that had been the entire reason things had gone the way they had. He couldn't be allowed to continue. So Sengoku concocted a scheme which he shared with Yukimura and two ambitious demons: Fuji and Yuuta. Satan would be murdered and the Fuji Brothers would take his place as the Lord of Hell. It's not like Satan wouldn't eventually be reborn, after all.
Maybe it was his affection that caused him to underestimate Satan. In the end, they both got what they wanted - Satan died, but he managed to extract punishing revenge on Lucifer. Sure, the power his death released might have permanently wounded Yukimura, and separating Yuuta from his power had been enough to get both Fuji brothers, but Sengoku was the one who really suffered.
His last words, as he was dying, cursed Sengoku. He cursed him to live until the day the world ended, and never know the happiness he'd known with Satan.
Sure, it was a curse, but in a lot of ways, it was a redundant one. Sengoku was already doomed to live until the end of world. His punishment from the divine father over the matter of assfucking the human race had been explicit: "You messed with it, you're stuck with it. When the earth ends, so do you ... so all your works will die with you. How do you like them apples, Prince of Earth?" (The title would live in biblical infamy and preachers would rail from the pulpit about it) Self-protection had naturally been the other motivating factor in Sengoku's plot against Satan.
As for the other half of the curse ... well, without Satan, Sengoku was already unhappy. The mere fact that Satan wasn't around, that his very own was gone, gone, gone ... was all the punishment a person could ask for. It's not like anyone could possibly replace him. Ever. No way. It just wasn't going to happen. Until Kirihara came along (but that hardly counted as anyone else since he was Satan in his expected rebirth)...
The only problem was Kirihara hated him on sight. It wasn't a standard hatred, but something deep and burning. Vestiges of his past life compelled him to.
The hatred had put Sengoku off in the hope of yoinking Kirihara to heaven, but that didn't mean he didn't intend to bring Kirihara around eventually... even if it took years and years of attempting to beat something into his thick skull while having lots of sex.
It was just too bad it had all gone wrong.
Kamio Akira had always considered himself a relatively good person, but as he watched Kirihara and Sengoku face each other down, he decided he must have committed a major sin somewhere. He wasn't quite sure what was going on, but after watching Sakaki turn into a human torch, he knew he was in way over his head.
Saeki watched the two with great wariness. Two divine being facing off in a -- what was it? Judgement Day? did not sound good. At all. He kept one eye on Mizuki and one eye on Kirihara, who was proving to be the slightly more dangerous one.
Sengoku ignored the uneasy rustlings of the class, "So we got poor suckers and we have challenge ... but what about the game itself?"
"Oh?" Kirihara sounded interested.
"Can't be Lord of Hell without a couple of doomed souls," Sengoku smiled, "Whoever dooms the most wins."
"That's not fair! I've been working on damning them for months!" Kirihara's pronouncement had more than a few flinch guiltily. "You'll be using my work!"
"You're the one who picked the class! It's not like I'm at fault if you limited the playing field to my benefit."
"How about we limit it more, then?" Kirihara asked. "We'll play for one soul." His eyes settled on Tachibana, who was kneeling at Sengoku's feet with a slight expression of pain twisting his face. "We've both been working on him, after all."
"Doesn't that make it even more unfair?" Sengoku asked, "You know focuses don't turn away until after their time is done."
"Scared of the challenge?" Kirihara taunted.
"Che ... whoever turns him to their side wins then," Sengoku gave a patented devil may care shrug before crouching down beside Tachibana, "Oi, you gonna make it?"
Tachibana watched him with wary eyes. "I'll survive."
Kirihara snickered at that.
"That's good ... we kinda need to use you as a pawn on the divine chessboard and all. It would kinda suck if you croaked."
Kamio was getting a very bad feeling about this. His breath, though, was caught in his throat so he couldn't protest. He stared helplessly at Tachibana, who was incapacitated and defenseless.
"Do you agree to be the piece in this match, Tachibana-san?" Sengoku was momentarily solemn, an expression that was at odds with his normal state of being.
"What do I have to do?" Tachibana asked, making no commitment.
"Basically? Instead of spending your entire life to work or not work toward the final goal of your after-death existence ... you will have to make the decision now, based solely upon the things we choose to say or do to seduce you to our side."
"No!" Kamio finally erupted from his seat in protest. "Tachibana-san, don't do it!"
Kirihara gestured, and suddenly Kamio was tied back to his chair in heavy chains, with a bright pink gag in his mouth. "This doesn't concern you," he said with annoyance.
Saeki sighed and looked over at Kamio, his expression saying quite plainly that at least Kamio was alive.
"You can choose not to do it, of course," Sengoku tipped his head a little to the side, "It's a free decision to participate or not."
"Of course, if you don't, I'll just kill you and we'll see where your soul lands," Kirihara chimed in helpfully.
Tachibana glanced back and forth between the two divine beings, his expression hardening slightly. He looked over at Kamio with a significant look. "I accept, then."
Sengoku huffed a breath and bit back a smile, "You can't keep threatening everything, Kirihara-kun... what happens if the next puppy you threaten bites you in the leg?"
"What I do to it will hurt a lot more than anything it could do to me. I heal fast."
"It's the principle of the thing!" Sengoku plunked down out of his crouch and into a casual seat on the floor, "See, now, I'm going to make it extra easy for you, Kirihara, and not even offer him anything."
Tachibana's eyes widened and he swiveled his head to look at Kirihara.
"That's because you know you'll never be able to match me." Instead of approaching Tachibana, he went to Kamio, caressing his cheek gently. Kamio tried to squirm away, but Kirihara grabbed his chin roughly. "I know you, Tachibana. You won't accept anything I offer unless it's for someone you care about." The smile turned almost loving as he leaned over to kiss Kamio's cheek. "I offer you his life. If you don't accept me, I will kill him... and that pretty sister of yours after. I'll kill everyone you have ever met."
Tachibana went absolutely white. He pulled himself to his feet using the desks for leverage, glancing over at Sengoku nervously.
Sengoku shook his head, "He can hardly do that if he loses, neh? Since losing means he dies ... and he'll do worse than just killing the people you've met if you agree."
"Safe passage," Kirihara replied, studying his fingernails. "I'll let you name those you care for, and I won't interfere in their lives." Of course, death was always something different.
"Yes, be selfish, Tachibana. Immediately save only the ones who are personally close to you. Who cares about the rest? Forget the fact that they too have people who care about them ... "
Tachibana glanced back and forth, feeling something well inside of him. "Whoever I decide on becomes lord of hell?" he asked to make sure he had the situation firmly comprehended.
"No. I'm already lord of hell. Why change the devil you know?" Kirihara replied with exaggerated patience.
"Whoever you decide on lives ... and takes up the position in hell since, yanno, someone has to do it," Sengoku paused.
Tachibana caught the message, and then he understood. A slight smile lingered on his lips as he turned to Sengoku. "I choose what you represent, then."
Up in heaven, Fuji fell off Tezuka's lap as the room shook, Atobe ducked as another of his chandeliers came crashing down, and Yanagi was forced to tears as row after row of his bookshelves fell over. In Hell, Kikumaru suddenly gained a throbbing headache, Dan suddenly stopped playing on the playground, and Inui felt the cord of power which had bound him to Kirihara snap.
The power almost whiplashed away from Kirihara to snap itself into place around Sengoku, where is thrummed and fizzled in an almost affectionate manner before settling down to merely trying to play with his hair.
Sengoku flashed Tachibana a smile (that might almost have been relieved) before pointing dramatically at Kirihara. "That means your ass is mine. Get over here so I can kick it."
"Like Hell I will! I'll kill you this time!" Kirihara's malevolence hasn't decreased at all, even if half his power was gone. Even without the lordship of hell, he was still damned powerful. He reached down and grabbed Kamio around the neck.
BOOM! Something exploded, and then everything was quiet.