The Angel of Black Wings Chapter 4 - Good or Evil?
Chapter 4 already? Man, I'm makin' a lot of headway with this one. I think I need to give my other story this much attention, too!
The next few days, for Sakura and Syaoron, seemed to go as smoothly as they used to before Death made his appearance to them. Save for the fact that they were totally on guard around him every time that they so much as swapped glances, all went without any real trouble. This, to Sakura and Syaoron, was something that they could handle. Unfortunately, as with all things, nothing good can last forever.
On Friday, it was the same routine as always. Get up, get to school, and get through the day. Nothing out of the ordinary, and it appeared to be another day that went off without a hitch. Sakura sighed as the last bell of the day rang out, echoing through the halls. She watched as her classmates poured out of the room, while she continued to gather her things. Today, she, Tomoyo, and Syaoron were to head out to the movies together. There was a new movie out at the time that had gotten excellent reviews by all of their classmates who had seen it, so it seemed that seeing it was a requirement. Sakura gave one more sigh as she finished packing her things, her thoughts still on Death. 'I still can't believe he, or anyone else for that matter, can ever possibly be pure evil... That warmth I felt inside his aura, that's not something that pure evil could generate, is it...?'
Sakura was broken from her thoughts as she picked up another presence. She looked straight up above her head, blinking a little. "It's... coming from the roof...?" Without wasting any time, she stood with her book bag, rushing out the door of her class to the stairs. The presence was warm, inviting, and comforting, and it grew even more-so as she drew closer to it with each stair she climbed upwards. Within a moment or two, she finally reached the roof access, panting heavily as she leaned over on her knees to catch her breath. She shook her head, reaching one hand forward as she peaked out the door. Nothing. But the presence wasn't coming in the direction that was visible to her range of sight. No, it was on the other side of the roof. Slowly and silently, she creeped out the door to the corner of the roof access' entrance. The presence was right around the corner, and even more powerful than before. She gulped a bit, somewhat frightened thanks to what she'd been put through the past few days with having to be on guard around Death nonstop. Without wasting another moment, though, she peeked around the corner, her eyes shooting wide open at the sight before her.
Death stood at the corner of the roof access, hovering slightly off the ground. His eyes were only half open, with a dull, straight forward gaze as though he were in a tranced state. Around his body, a white aura eminated, giving Sakura that same warm feeling she had detected earlier. She stood silently, watching him as he floated in that one spot. The aura surged momentarily, sending a tiny wave of his dark aura out that was almost immediately became engulfed by the light aura. Sakura, who had entirely forgotten she was holding her bookbag, dropped it on the ground, creating a loud thump upon the ground that snapped Death out of his trance. He dropped down, landing firmly on both feet as he looked over his shoulder. By this point, Sakura had already recoiled her head from view. That wouldn't do her any good, though, as Death could detect her presence. "Kinomoto!",he hollared out sternly, "Show yourself, I know you're there!"
Sakura winced as she heard her name, picking her Wand off of her necklace as she walked around the corner, a bit of a guilty look showing in her eyes. Death walked forward to her quickly, his fists clenched. Sakura stepped back, but not quickly enough, as Death was soon on top of her. "What did you see...?" Sakura shook her head nervously, quickly returning her gaze to him. "N, nothing! I, I mean, I did feel that warm aura, and... well, you were kind of up in the air, but, that's nothing I haven't seen or felt before..." Death stood still before her, his eyes narrowed into an intimidating glare. Sakura feared that he would try and take the Cards from her now, and she knew that would require going into battle with him. She gripped the pendant in her hand as she quivered a bit, biting her bottom lip. Death remained silent, not budging even an inch for about a moment. He then sighed, shaking his head. "Like it really matters... Do whatever the Hell you want, I'm sure you know better than to leak that kind of information to regular Humans..."
Sakura just stood there, totally dumbstruck and in awe. He hadn't attacked her, or retaliated in even the least to the fact she had been spying on him. A bit of a smile crept over her face as she thought to herself. 'That sinches it. That aura, the fact he didn't even attack me for sneaking around like that and discovering this... He can't be pure evil! He must have some kindness in his heart!' Sakura sighed, feeling a large weight lifted off her chest. She blinked, watching as Death moved towards the open stairwell. "H, hey, wait! I want to ask you something!" Death blinked a bit, coming to a halt at the entrance to the roof access. He turned around, just to see Sakura coming to a halt about three feet away from him, reattaching her pendant to her necklace. "Death... well, it's just... you've got a lot of other talents, why be a mercenary? I mean, I'm sure you could do something a lot better suited to your skills..."
Death just stood there, raising an eyebrow. He couldn't understand why this girl cared what he did or didn't do, outside of the fact that he wanted her cards for Pegasus. He sighed a little, shaking his head. "I guess I just feel like being a mercenary, is there a problem with that? Or is this some kind of attempt to talk me out of taking your Cards?" Sakura shook her head hastily, waving her hands frantically infront of her. "Nononono! That's not it at all!" She sighed a little, calming herself before she continued. "It's just... I really think you could do better for yourself than just hiring yourself out to the first person who comes calling with good pay..." Death sighed, turning his gaze away from her, depression clearly shining within his eyes. Sakura saw this, then lowered her head. "S, sorry... it wasn't my place..." Death shook his head, shutting his eyes. "Nah. Yer right, I could be doing other things..." He sighed, turning his back to her as he began down the stairs. "But then... who would accept me for what I really am...?" Upon hearing that last remark, Sakura just stood there, her arms dangling at her sides as she watched Death continue down the stairs until he was out of sight. She looked down at her book bag lying on it's side, kneeling down to pick it up. She could see she touched some kind of nerve, and for that, despite the fact he was her opponent, she felt guilt.
Sakura sighed, reaching the school gates about a half hour later than she was supposed to. Syaoron and Tomoyo watched as she came up to them, both with looks of concern worn upon their faces. Syaoron walked forward, stopping right before Sakura. The auburn haired young woman looked up at her fiance, a slightly guilty look upon her face. Syaoron sighed, putting one hand on her shoulder. "What kept you? We were beginning to worry that Death may've gotten to you..." Sakura smiled gently, shaking her head. "No, no... I just had a couple things in class I needed to take care of, that's all." Syaoron looked straight at her, concern apparent on his face. He knew when she was lying, but he felt it would be a bad idea to press the matter. He faked a smile, nodding gently. "Yeah, alright..."
Tomoyo, who had been behind Syaoron when he approached Sakura, cleared her throat a bit to draw the attention of her two friends. "Everyone, I'm glad that everything's alright, but we're not going to make the movie if we don't hurry." Sakura and Syaoron winced a bit, then nodded. Syaoron flung his book bag over his left shoulder, gripping the handle tightly. "Alright then, let's get going." Sakura nodded gently, following behind her friends. She knew that Syaoron could tell she was lying, and she knew she'd have to answer later. Right now, though, she needed time, time to contemplate upon what she had seen of Death on the roof.
Later on in the evening, at the dead of Midnight, several loud screeches eminated from a back alley at the far side of Tomoeda. Death stood there, holding his Long Sword composed of light, blood dripping off the blade. Behind him lay the quickly decaying corpses of a horde of Goblins and Basilisks. He turned, holding his left hand up, facing their corpses. Without any warning, a violet and blue Gate opened beneath them, sending each piece of their corpses to a Dimension that would be far more familiarized with such sights. The Gate shut, and his Long Sword vanished. He growled silently as he smacked the bottom of his fist against a brick wall next to him, lost in his thoughts. 'Curse it all! They've already tracked me down... I've got to take care of this job before any innocents lose their lives... I can't let what happened 12 years ago reoccur in this world...'
Yep, it's time for the real trouble to start folks. Hope you enjoyed readin' this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it!