A/N: Chapter 7 of Fallen Angel. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters except my own. Shakugan no Shana belongs to the rightful owner.

Special thanks to the reviewers, I truly appreciate it.

Bold Words= Alastor speaking

Chapter 7: Museum of the Arts

School….

Shana and I didn't discuss yesterday's event with any of our other friends even though our eyes were constantly making contact with each other without meaning too. Yuji asked me if I had feelings with her and I quickly denied the possibility with red cheeks; Shana on the other hand just smacked Yuji upside the head and stormed off with steam flowing out of her ears.

"Jeez Yuji you tease. If you're going to poke fun at my love life why don't you fix yours first. " I grumbled under my breath as he playfully patted my back and told me not to worry about it. Annoyingly I set my bag down and lazily glanced out of the window as the teacher yakked about Japanese history. At some point my eyelids drooped over and I found myself nodding off.

"TAKAHASHI AXEL-KUN!" Jolting out of my reverie, I gracelessly leaned too far back and landed on the floor with my legs in the air. The professor clenched his piece of chalk in annoyance as he barked at me. The other students muffled their chuckles, Shana whispered the word 'baka' and shook her head in disapproval as I got back into my seat. "Since you had the decency to sleep through my lecture, maybe you would like to answer the question on the board?" My eyes traveled to the board, scanning the words scribbled poorly in yellow chalk. After taking a moment to collect my thoughts and formulate a decent answer, I responded as clearly and as scholarly as possible. The professor's mouth gaped and his hand quivered slightly as he said,"Very well, you may sit down."

"Thank you." I responded and sat back down. A crumpled piece of paper landed on my desk and I unfolded it carefully. Scanning over it I kept a neutral expression on my face as I looked over at Shana, a smug look on her face as she continued her usual routine of making the teacher feel like crap. Once the lunch bell rang, she tugged on my sleeve and practically dragged me to the rooftop, closing the door with her foot. I slowly sipped my strawberry-milk drink through the straw while she scarfed down her melon bread as usual. Luckily I managed to swipe one of those yakisoba bread and one bowl of yakisoba noodles from the store but unfortunately I caught Shana eyeing the yakisoba bread so I decided to split it in half and gave her the other.

"Thanks." She mumbled with a blush evident on her face. I'm guessing she was a little upset that she didn't the entire bread but I smiled in response and picked up my bowl of noodles, unclasping my chopsticks and dug in, savoring every single bite. We ate in silence, just the two of us while the wind played with our hair.

"Shana, what do you think about that woman from yesterday?" I asked, staring at the sky because that was the only thing I wanted to stare at.

"What about her? It was just another woman no big deal." She replied hotly, licking the yakisoba sauce off her fingers. "I swear, high school boys these days."

"It's not like that and you know it." I sighed. "It's just I feel like that woman is pretty dangerous; that vibe I got and the aura from the handbag, she's definitely not normal."

"You think she's like me?"

"She could be but I need more evidence. Maybe we could set up a diversion as an excuse just to meet her. Once I'm completely positive then we'll figure out something."

"Highly doubt it." Shana stated simply. "In order to flush her out, we have to have something worthy, something valuable to her. If we don't have a bait suitable for her standards she will not fall for it."

"How high are her standards?"

"….pretty damn high."

"Well then we're screwed." I groaned loudly. "I'm totally out of ideas."

"Well lucky for you," Shana reaching into the inside pocket and produced a neatly folded piece of paper. "I saw this flyer on the bulletin board and I just had to get it. Check it out!" I plucked the item from her fingers and unfolded it. Bright and bold letters greeted me and I had to blink a few times to make sure I wouldn't go blind.

"Grand opening at the museum this weekend from 9 am – 1 pm. Food and beverages provided. Bring your friends and families." I looked at Shana in confusion. "That's nice but what's the point?"

My senses were tingling. Alastor decided to speak at the moment. He was so quiet that I almost forgot that he was with us. If my hunch is correct then someone most worthy will appear at this event and we need to reach him before that woman.

"It's decided then." Shana stood up abruptly and jabbed a finger in my direction. "You and I are going out on a date!" It came out so sudden that it took me 5 minutes to process what she just said.

"WHAT!"

Weekend…

I stood outside the museum in a nice dress shirt and a vest, a red and black tie hung from my collar. I tapped my foot nonchalantly and glanced at my watch. Usually there weren't many people on Saturday but since it was a grand opening, everyone seemed to flock to this one location.

"Sorry I'm late." Shana's voice caught my attention. She looked really nice for someone who doesn't wear anything else besides a school uniform. A blush was evident on both of our faces and, being the gentleman that I was, I offered her my hand.

"Shall we go, my lady?"

"Shut up. Shut up. Shut up." She said but took my hand with a shy smile. I paid for the two of us and we walked in through the refurbished mahogany doors. Pictures of paintings from well-known artists hung from the gallows; their vibrant colors in every piece dazzled, mesmerized and captivated us….well me in particular.

"Beautiful isn't it?" I asked her as we looked at a recent painting of Pablo Picasso.

"Looks to me like a paint brush high on acid and belched out the rainbow but you're right, it is beautiful." She nodded and moved on to the next picture. "I wish I could express my emotions like the artist had but…..I'm not artistic."

"Are you intrigued with art young miss?" An old man asked from where he sat on the bench, his hat covered his eyes but he had a small white mustache.

"Ha! Hardly." She scoffed but secretly the art fascinated her. The man cracked a smile as he adjusted his hat.

"Ahahaha young children these days are so bad at lying between their teeth." He walked up casually to a painting and stared at it for a few minutes. "What about you young man? What do you think about art?"

"I think art is an alluring entity used to express someone's feelings or thoughts." I responded kindly. "Each brush stroke and even the little splash of color fantasia have their own stories that create the whole. I believe that is what the artist is trying to convey to us."

"Such a remarkable man, I'm astonished by those words." The elder responded and tipped his hat to the two of us. "Young miss, as pulchritudinous as you are, don't overlook a simple painting. There's always meaning behind every action; if there isn't a meaning then search for it because it is always there. Now then, good day to you both."

"What a weird old man…at least he called me beautiful if my knowledge of the English vocabulary is correct." Shana commented before looking at the picture. It was a simple picture of a common flower field, sunflowers to be exact. The girl in the picture sits cross-legged, paint brush in hand and it looks like she's staring out into the horizon. A white bonnet covered her head of golden tussles. "What's the meaning I wonder…."

"Let's not dwell on this too long Shana." I gently guided her away from the picture. "I think there are hidden meanings behind his words just like paintings. I also feel like we'll meet him again very soon."

"So you also feel the same way huh?" She gazed up at me with thoughtful eyes. "He just might be the bait we have been waiting for."

Hotel room…..

"Marco I feel like he's near, the one we're looking for." Margret drawled as she looked out her window as the sun dipped beneath the skylines. "His scent is so strong it's intoxicating."

"We'll pluck him out like a rotten mango, my lovely Margret Daw." He crowed from the bed.

"Oh shut up stupid Marco." She smiled and sat quietly next to him, watching the last rays of light disappear. "We'll start planning bright and early tomorrow. The Corpse Collector is as good as ours."