b AN: /b Don't take this New Aged stuff seriously: I'm practically making up my own religion in this fiction. I don't believe any of it myself, so I ask you not to either. I believe the scattered lyrics are from Dirty Joe and the Fish
And yes ... shame. Shame to all of you who are reading, and not reviewing. Why ... I should delete this entire story! No ending for you! (I forgive you though, rebelyell59 ... but I'm expecting cake as your repentence) --
-Cookie- l Tohma 911 l - Umm ... thanks ...:reads profile: Oh ... I understand ...
Reese - :pet: It's all right ... thank you for tolerating the names this far.
Ashcat - Thank you for reading AND reviewing; and no, unfortunately Maa and Ken won't be showing up again, so their names were just changed enough to fit with the rest of characters.
A New Hotness - I'm sorry I've ignored you ... I keep forgetting about mediaminer, (no excuse) but thank you for reviewing if you're still reading. ; :extra cookies for you:
Roses & Heart Chocolates for everyone You'll see why
Maiko Shindou- (13) Maggie Shoeman
Shuichi Shindou - (16) Shane Shoeman
Ryuichi Sakuma - (17) Ryan Satterfield
Hiroshi Nakano- (17) Hilary (Hi) Nathan
Tatsuha Uesugi- (? looks 16) Thaddeus (Tad) Understold
Eiri Uesugi - (? looks 22) Eric Hueman
Tohma Seguchi - (?) Tohma Seguchi
Mika Seguchi- (--) Mira Sears
Suguru Fujisaki - (15) Sullivan Fulk
Taki Aizawa - (18) Taylor Ainsworth
Ma-kun - (--) Mark Kurt
Ken-chan - (--) Ken Chandler
Noriko Ukai - (18) Nova Upton
Claude K Winchester - (?) Claude K Winchester
Sakano - (28) Mr. Sakner
Yuki Kitazawa - (--) Yale Kitterman
Ayaka Usami - (?) Ayaka Usami
Vigilante
Upon the third hour of being subjected to K's tedious scrutiny, Eiri discovered the strangest song was repeating itself in his mind.
'One, two, three, what are fightin' for? Shut up, I don't give a damn! Hurray it's Vietnam!' This was odd, since he never once had anything to do with Vietnam ...
'Five, six, seven, open up those pearly gates!'
A tired groan caught his attention, "Are you sure that's all that you can think of?" The taller blond asked wearily.
With an indifferent quirk of his eyebrow and an irritated grunt, K had a, 'positive' response.
The disbelief was evident on his frustrated face, "Okay!" the boisterous man began cheerily, "So we'll start with the beginning, again." and then he thrust a pointer at a scribbled on chalkboard.
Eiri was still trying to figure out why there was an empty classroom setting floating around in Heaven. Perhaps in was symbolic, maybe the dead were to continue learning after life ... why was he sitting a desk stacked with folders again?
K's booming voice interrupted his deep thinking, "You show up along side with Thaddeus, and?"
The harried man sighed and shifted his chin into one hand, "Nothing eventful happened until that Taylor guy showed up." he recited in a slightly annoyed monotone.
"Yes." The long-haired one agreed, "Before that Sullivan and Hilary arrived too. After that Thaddeus told you of the demon reports, but still nothing happened."
"Correct."
"So we can cancel out Taylor for being a demon, because the report happened -before- he arrived."
Eiri frowned as he found this information a bit contradicting to his own, "But Thaddeus told me about them after Taylor showed up."
"Yes, but the actual reports were beforehand. Thaddeus probably waited a bit to tell you."
Eiri remembered how hesitant the boy had been; it made sense that he would have waited at least a week to tell him about the reports. "Okay, you're right. What next?" He assented reluctantly.
K stared at the chalkboard as though it held the answer he needed, which coincidently, he was sure it did. "We made sure Hilary and Sullivan weren't possessed by some malicious spirit; Hilary twice, and Sullivan once. We checked Taylor three times, but it turned out his aura had only been heavily tainted over the past week, not possessed."
Eiri's frown deepened into a scowl, "Wait, you didn't tell me that part."
A surprised expression was thrown in his direction, "I didn't?" K asked, disbelieving.
He rolled his eyes, "No, you didn't." The blond quickly turned the subject back to its course, "Taylor's aura was tainted after he had come from England? Within less than four months?"
"Yes."
"After Sullivan and Hilary showed up?"
K's eyes narrowed thoughtfully, "Yes actually, now that you mention it." He picked up a thick folder off of the school desk that Eiri sat in, and flipped through it until he found a certain page. "Taylor was actually a good kid, then when he was fifteen his aura began getting darker - which isn't unusual for teens - when he came to America it practically changed from blue to black."
Auras: unseen energy given off by the human body. Each aura has a colour that can change, and the darker the colour is, the more evil the spirit. Only newborn babies are known to give off pure white auras, which commonly turned light grey from age Year, on up. Usually people's auras are relatively neutral, leaning toward a darker colour but never truly neutral. It takes a special person to be completely one of three main colours: white, neutral/grey or black.
"What had been Hilary's?" Eiri inquired as his face began to show thought.
K flipped through another file that layed on Eiri's desk, "A little lighter than neutral. He didn't change at all after he came from California."
"And Sullivan's?"
The taller man picked yet another folder, "... very close to neutral, leaning toward dark but ..."
Eiri made a curious noise in the back of his throat when K trailed off his sentence's path. The other frowned at the folder in his hands, before he turned and lay it on Eiri's crowded desk; Eiri stared at the page on which the folder was opened.
A neatly created chart labeled, 'Weekly - Monthly Aura Rates' complete with a dated line-graph that stood on a horizontal page. For the most part the line stayed between the Y axis, but twice it suddenly reached the top before zig-zagging its way back down to the middle on the same day.
Eiri vaguely wondered if they had records of his heart beats since birth, or how many times he had washed his hair, or perhaps what his favorites foods had changed to. 'Probably.' He thought wryly, but the concern now was why an aura would suddenly go completely black so spastically. "So, does this mean Sullivan is possessed?"
K tapped his chin as he considered the new facts, "No, but a demon could be moving in and out of his body for short periods of time. That would explain the dark aura spurts ..."
"It's still working through him, but not living through him." Eiri concluded without a hint of distress; it was merely a fact that had happened.
"Right!" K cried happily, "The demon most likely chose the most inconspicuous host, knowing that we would focus on whoever was more likely to cause a confrontation!" The tall blond slammed a fist into the opposite palm as his brain steadily placed all of the puzzle pieces together. "If the demon -isn't- working through Sullivan directly, it might be using him to influence another." He paced restlessly and bit on his thumb, glancing occasionally to Eiri to make sure that he was listening. "In that case, someone probably gave the demon orders since they usually can't do anything on their own, but this still means that Sullivan is the host."
"Could Hilary be affected? We missed Sullivan so we could have missed Hilary." Eiri pointed out, and was rewarded with an agreeing nod and the shuffling through yet another folder.
"Nope. Absolutely nothing out of the ordinary." K said a bit triumphantly, "That leaves Sullivan." He looked at the one still sitting in a student chair, "All we need is one more little proof and we'll be able to act on it."
Eiri tapped his fingers against his desk before shifting backward and crossing his arms, "The band's rehearsal." He stated pointedly.
K appeared confused, and obviously required more explanation; Eiri obliged. "Shane and his friend Ryan got into an argument during their band rehearsal. Sullivan was supposed to come and watch if I remember, but Shane thought he never showed up. Sullivan later told him that he did hear them, but Shane being the stupid boy he is didn't think to wonder why Sullivan never just came out into the open." The narrating blond smirked in a self-satisfied manner, "I remember feeling -something- lurking around the side of the house, but I was so focused on making sure that Shane wasn't going to hurt himself I didn't think about it until later. How much you willing to bet that was Sullivan?"
The grin that spread on K's face nearly reached his ears, "My halo and rights as an angel. Congratulations!" He said with a heavy slap on Eiri's back, "You just helped to figure out one of many mysteries! Sullivan, at this very moment, is probably scheming to do something terrible to Shane, eventually leading to his untimely death!"
Eiri didn't react for a moment as he took in what was just said to him. His arms fell into his lap, and he then said dully, "Wait, and the demon probably knows I'm not there to protect him right now."
"Probably." K confirmed cheerfully.
"And only we know to do anything."
"Correct."
"So if we don't get moving someone's probably going to die."
"I think already said that."
The mysterious wind that swepted through that particular little room in Heaven which held only two people, stressed their silence as neither moved from their standing or sitting spots. "We should probably get moving." K vouched in a voice somewhere between amused and deadpan.
"Yeah."
As they took their leave, Eiri couldn't stop the feeling of worry that spread over him.
--
When Shane entered the theater again the only people remaining were a few janitors and employees who were locking up restrooms and double-checking money boxes. The room backstage was barren, with the exception of some diffused papers and miscellaneous trash, but the scatterbrained boy still searched around the obviously empty place, frantically seeking his lost microphone and stand.
'Dammit ... right when they're about to lock the place up on me ...' Finally figuring that it wasn't hiding underneath a table or in a trash can, Shane stood in the center of the square room and huffed irately.
"Maggie didn't pick it up," He thought out loud, "and Hilary and Sullivan's hands were full; where is that prick anyway?" The pink-haired singer pouted as he realized everything important was becoming lost. No matter, maybe Sullivan left through a different exit for some unknown reason.
He double-checked the room once again, twice and another third time before inspecting the restrooms on the offhand that his precious equipment would be located there. No such luck, and he had just figured one more look around couldn't hurt when he saw a notable black cord leading from the section of stage blocked from his view, to a speaker on the stage's right.
'Oh, duh! You left it on stage!' Shane grinned and hurried his way up the side steps and to the spot that he had just left barely forty minutes ago.
The main room was grey, red and empty, and the metal ceiling ws arched high enough that any movement resounded much louder than it truly was. Shane hummed a few notes just to hear, before he gave himself a private smile and set to the task of unplugging his microphone. He followed two cords that led from the stand to their respective outlets, and knelt down to find the correct wiring. "Go figure I'd leave it on stage." He chastised himself as he released one cord from a speaker, "Hilary's going to go on about this when I tell him ..." Next was the other wire ...
"I have to keep my stuff organized more ..." The boy grunted as he attempted to pull an adaptor plug from the wall next to the speaker, but it only wiggled reluctantly. "C'mon you ..." Shane moved from his squat to his rear and began to fight with the most likely bent metal.
The annoying adaptor seemed determined to remain where it was, so he set his feet on either side of the socket and began pushing against the wall, "COME OUT!" he yelled at the stubborn inanimate object.
No matter how many times he pulled or how roughly he did so, the little black box stayed attached to its given place on the wall - this was problematic.
The growl that left Shane could have almost been described as feral. "You WILL come out," He glared at the adaptor, "Or I'll ... I'll buy another one!" With another violent yank to the cord, the plug did not leave the socket. "DAMMIT!"
An unmistakable 'thump' of a door closing caught the frustrated one's attention, and he paused to look over his shoulder and into the empty room behind him. A pout formed, and the unconscious tears abruptly stopped at the corner of his eyes as he listened.
'Probably just the owner coming in to check the place ...' He considered after a moment, and then returned to his pointless argument.
--
He could hear the other's curses and grunts over the concrete wall that separated the main rooms and the side hallway. Upon re-entering the building, Taylor observed that there was only one janitor left sweeping up the junk off the floor, and he had headphones over his ears, so Taylor he slipped passed the unaware stranger unnoticed.
'Perfect ... this is too perfect; I can't believe this is playing out so perfectly.' He grinned and slipped a hand into the pocket of the oversized sports jacket he had on.
'I'll just scare him a bit, not hurt him ... unless he throws the first punch of course.' The grin spread itself, 'And then I'll give him a bloody nose and call the cops to boot! Either way, I'm going to win this ...'
He had a plan, and it was going so flawlessly that Mark's already insignificant warnings against 'scare tactics' were fading into nothingness. Taylor was almost giddy with excitement; nothing could ruin his scheme!
However, he knew that his plan was more than an adolescent play. If he messed this there could be dire consequences, and everything he planned would be a waste. -He- would be a waste, sent to the nearest trash bin to rot with the grimy lot closest to his kind, because everything in mind was horribly illegal, and had to be handled with extreme care.
'I won't screw up, I can't ...'
Inside he was trembling, half terrified, half anticipating of what he was about to do. This was not to be a hinderment though, and Taylor felt himself focus when he saw a mop of pink hair thrown back as its owner's legs pushed against a wall.
"Come ... out ... you ... piece ... of ... shit ..."
Shane possessed a lack of breath, and gasped at his latest attempt to remove his amazingly stubborn adaptor. He stared down at it very close to truly crying, and the stretched cord attached appeared to be nearing a breaking point. "I can't fucking believe this ..." He whimpered, then jumped when a hand was suddenly blocking his view of the infernal box.
With a few wiggles and couple of tugs, out it popped from its socket, and Shane was being presented with what he couldn't budge for a good ten minutes. Glancing up, the last person he expected to be helping him was staring down at him.
"Thanks ..." He mumbled, and took the plug from Taylor's outstretched hand.
The black-haired boy raised an eyebrow as Shane scrambled to his feet and went to his microphone stand, still placed in the center
stage. "That didn't sound very thankful ..." Taylor didn't bother hiding his smirk as his adversary visibly tensed.
They remained silent for a few heavy moments.
"Look," Shane said with a touch of exasperation, "I just --" he paused, and started wrapping the black cords into a neat bundle, before releasing a breath and making an attempt at a smile. "Good job today, ASK did good. And I wanted to say good luck, and I hope you get a decent score." There, simple without sounding sarcastic.
The statement threw Taylor a bit off his path, and he took a moment to consider the possible peace offering. "That's nice of you." He stated dryly, and shifted the hand still buried in his jacket, "But I still want to, 'talk'."
Shane knew he had every right to be worried when he saw the malicious gleam glittering in Taylor's eyes, and venom drenching his entire persona.
--
Hilary had severely underestimated Sullivan's abilty to run. Gasping, panting and almost weezing, the tired red-head had abandoned Maggie at least six blocks back because she couldn't keep close: giving up this little chase seemed a pleasent idea at the moment.
In the back of his mind Hilary worried that Shane would be confused when he realized they weren't at the van, but capturing this amuck Sullivan seemed more important, and the guitarist forced himself faster.
'I shouldn't have given up track in junior high ...' He regretfully thought, 'Maybe I'll join again ...'
All ideas of school left his mind as he saw Sullivan take a sharp right turn around a brick building, and he fought the urge to sob as his chest heaved heavier.
--
"Hold it ... hold it ... THERE HE IS!"
"Where? I don't see him."
"There! Let's go get the slimy little bastard!"
Eiri still didn't know what K was aiming for, when he was rudely grabbed by the wrist and pulled off the top of a six-story, brick apartment building. As they fell, a short boy running as though his rear was burning in extremely torrid flames, suddenly dashed beneath them just as K was about to land on top him. There was a brief moment of worry that the boy would panic, seeing as a pair of men were about to drive into him, and then Eiri remembered that Sullivan more than likely couldn't see their descent.
In fact, K passed right through the running human as he landed while still holding on to Eiri's wrist. The shorthaired blond felt himself winded with the impact on the cement, and watched dazedly as Sullivan gasped and tripped over - unconscious and face down on the sidewalk.
The blond paused studied his handy-work for a moment, and noticed that a cell-phone had skidded from the boy's hand when he had fallen; K bent over and retrieved the technology.
" ... thank you for your anonymous tip off of drug possession," A professional woman voice stated, "The police will be right on it."
K stared at the phone before he silently turned it off. With a shrug, he dismissed the event and triumphantly grinned at the object beneath his feet, "Yes! A shadow demon, of course."
Writhing under his finely tailored and shiny black shoes, was at first glance, a large shadow attempting to reach its way from its owner.
'It's like something gone wrong from Peter Pan ...' Eiri thought wryly, and only stared as the other stomped on the shadow with his free foot until it stopped struggling.
"Okay ... a little bit of water ..." K smiled and pulled a clear diamond shaped vile from his trousers. He opened it and carefully tilted the container so that a single drop spilled out, and onto the shadow that wasn't his; it disappeared into a thin of vapor of smoke.
The tall blond turned and faced a silent Eiri, "Holy water --" He started to say, then hesitated abruptly when pained gasping could be heard around the corner of the building.
An extremely worn Hilary stopped when he saw Sullivan laying on the sidewalk, "What happened?" He gasped, flushed and sweating and slightly relieved but mostly worried.
K chuckled and bent to retrieve the unconscious body, "Oh, me and my friend here were walking when this kid just suddenly turned the corner and ran right into me."
Hilary raised an eyebrow, and walked closer to study his friend, "And that knocked him out?"
"Out cold!" K said just a bit too cheerfully, and then quickly dumped Sullivan's body into Eiri's not expecting arms, "Why don't you help him carry this kid? I have to ..." He paused as he thought of an excuse, "go to work. Yes, I have to go to work, and this one here seems a little tired."
"I can carry him --" Hilary started, only to be interrupted by Eiri.
"It's okay, I'll follow you." The blond grunted, and began walking without giving Hilary a chance to protest. The redhead sighed, and started back to the Theatre with two extra people in tow.
"Hurry!" K called to their retreating backs, but only Eiri caught the honest urging tone in his voice.
--
"Talk?" Shane repeated nervously, "Uh, sure. About what?" He smiled rigidly, and unconsciously tightened his grip around the microphone cords that he still held.
Taylor offered his own smile without expression and stepped closer in a show of intimidation, "Well, I suppose I wanted to talk about something I did."
The other boy frowned, definitely not liking Ainsworth's expression, "Yeah?" He stepped back with every advance Taylor made to make himself unwantedly closer.
The black-haired one nodded slowly, and his smirk spread in a self-satisfied manner, "Yes." He started carefully, and with acid dripping from his voice, "You see, there's a little something illegal in your guitarist's instrument. Something that the judges from this contest wouldn't really approve of." Taylor added as he continued moving forward.
It took Shane a moment to register the words completely, "You planted something in Hilary's guitar?" He asked incredulously, "You're trying to frame us!" The young singer stared at his rival in disbelief, and the microphone stand tipped over when he pulled the cords too far out as he still backed away. "You're sinking so low as to try and disqualify us rather than just play fair?" The pink-haired boy laughed humourlessly, "There's something fucking wrong with you."
Taylor's smirk faded with Shane's insult and was deftly replaced with a snarl, "Shut up brat. It's more than just a contest now." His voice rumbled threateningly, and then the next movement happened so quickly that Shane couldn't quite bring himself to say anything coherent.
'Wow ... it's shiny ...' Was the only thing he could even get through his mind, and had the situation not been making itself so dire, he would have laughed at his own lack of intelligent words.
"Not so smart now, are you?" Taylor sneered, and pointed his weaponry directly in line with Shane's skull.
Shane stared at the gun barrel gleaming at him, and his own fright inspired the giggles steadily hiccupping from his chest; he was scared beyond imagination - this was something that he had never experienced. "What? You're gonna shoot me?" He asked hysterically, "That's rich. I bet you don't even have the guts to pull the trigger."
Taylor's eyes narrowed, and his fingers twitched around the handle.
"I was right wasn't I?" Shane stated rhetorically as his smile spread, "You're pathetic, and you can't stand to have people talking down to you because you have to be at the top of everything." He giggled again, and put a hand to his mouth to try and smother the sound, "Is this the only thing that you could come up with? What a sad way to win; I feel sorry for you."
"Do you want shot boy?" Taylor growled, and shook his gun to remind everyone in the room who was the most dangerous.
Shane's eyes glittered, and he stared at the other with blatant challenge, "Like I said: you probably don't have the balls to pull the trigger." He sneered.
'He's getting to you ... don't let that happen.' But Taylor's mind was becoming so clouded with anger that his own advice strained through his common sense. 'I'll show him ... when I came Mister Worthington said that he never loaded the gun in his vault ...'
The people that he lived with as an exchange student kept a gun for protection against wild animals, and had told Taylor so. He found out where the safe was in the Worthington's room, and he had located the bullets currently in his pocket, but hadn't actually checked to make sure he would even need to reload the gun. He smirked wickedly at the obviously scared boy standing before him. and cocked the pistol arrogantly, "I don't have the balls? See you in Hell you little bitch."
Taylor pulled the trigger.
--
Eiri could felt dread building up inside his chest as the Theatre grew larger with their nearing. Hilary had finally managed to regain his breath, and Sullivan was showing signs of waking at any moment, but the blond's so-called 'angel sense' was tingling very, very uncomfortably.
"HILARY! You got him!" A brown-haired girl in pigtails cried, as she rushed up to them from the only vehicle in the parking lot. "What happened?" Maggie asked, and stopped in front of Eiri to inspect the still passed-out boy in his arms.
Hilary looked around distractedly as he explained, "I think he fainted from an asthma attack or something."
Eiri fought off the urge to snort at the boy's assumption.
The guitarist looked back to his friend's sister seriously, "Where's Shane?"
Maggie's eyes grew large, "Oh ... I don't know. He still wasn't back when I came back." She turned and started to hurry toward the building that she never saw her brother return from, "We should go check for him ..."
Hilary looked up at Eiri and pointed to their opened van, "Could you put him in there?" When the blond nodded, the redhead muttered a thanks and started jogging after Maggie.
i 'Too late ...' /i
Eiri was just setting Sullivan onto the floorboards when the most heart-stopping 'POP' echoed from inside the Key Theo Theatre. 'Oh hell ...' The angel practically dropped his cargo, "Please let that be a fire cracker." Eiri prayed before he turned tail and ran for all he was worth to the opened side-door of the building, and into the semi-dark cement hallway which reflected Maggie and Hilary's hurried footsteps.
The panicked blond felt himself tremble in the blackness, and halted as he heard the most horrific scream of rage from who sounded similar to Hilary.
"YOU FUCKING BLEW HIS BRAINS OUT!"
Everything stopped and sunk into a portal of pitch-black nothingness; time slowed and Eiri couldn't hear a sound, as he numbly retrieved a cell-phone from his jacket pocket.
"911, please state your emergency."
"Yes, I believe there's a situation at the town's theatre ..." When he was finished Eiri allowed the dial-tone to repeat itself with its repetitive beep, just to drown out the girl's sobs, and the sickening sound of a body not struggling as it was nearly beaten beyond recognition ...
Helplessness is such a terrible feeling.
--
END PART ONE.
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