A/N: Thanks for the awesome reviews! You guys rock!

This chapter is pretty intense... I hope you like it ^_^

Disclaimer: I do not own Junjou Romantica

Chapter 6: Maybe I'm in a Little Over my Head

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I free fell for a few seconds, the night air rushing around me and cooling my burning skin, before Kage snapped out my wings. He said nothing as we soared higher, over the rooftops of the shorter buildings and around the reflective, windowed sides of skyscrapers. The few people and cars on the street below us looked like ants from this height.

That was a close one, I said after a few more moments of silence. Kage didn't respond and I suddenly got the distinct feeling that he was mad at me.

You think? snapped Kage, angrily.

But he didn't find out about you, I pointed out, did he?

Kage made a noise very similar to a growl in my mind. That is beside the point, Misaki, said Kage, harshly. When I didn't respond he continued, The point is you have to kill him.

… So? I asked, my voice sounding weak, even in my own head.

Kage growled again and when he spoke, his voice came out gruff, Exactly, Misaki.

I don't follow, I knew the words were a lie before I even thought them.

Then why bother? asked Kage, You can't lie to yourself and you certainly can't lie to me. I have not stayed with you for ten years just for you to fall in love with an angel! The demon's voice was livid by the end of that statement.

You make it sound like it was my choice to have you in my head, I retorted evenly.

It was, said Kage, I was going to take your brother, but you, you little guilty child, couldn't handle your conscious. The fact that your whining for your parents to come home caused their deaths.

Get out of my head! I yelled, anger coursing through my body. My body that was not under my control.

Gladly, said Kage, after we kill that angel.

"No!" I yelled aloud. It was the first time I had ever spoken after Kage took over. I could tell that he was shocked too.

"Know your place, human," said Kage in my voice, pushing my consciousness back into the depths of my mind.

"Get out of my head!" I yelled, breaking through again. This time it was accompanied by a falter in wing strokes. Kage's grasp was slipping, but that meant the demon form was too. I shuddered involuntarily at the height we were currently flying at.

"Stay back, Misaki," said the demon, "If you want to live." And I retreated, planning to resume the battle for control once safely on the ground.

You will not, said Kage, eavesdropping, as always, on my thoughts, or I will leave right now. You can't survive without me. If it was possible to glare at someone you were sharing a mind with, I would be doing it right now, as I tried to think of some sort of protest. But my mind was coming up blank.

Kage began to laugh aloud, but stopped suddenly. She's here, he said simply.

Who's here- I began to ask, but didn't need to finish as I saw exactly what Kage was talking about. Standing atop a very tall building was the demon girl from the restaurant. She smirked when she saw us and stretched her black, leathery wings wide. Her red eyes glowed in the moonlight.

She waved as if we were old friends as we landed on the rooftop. She pushed her hair back and I could see the blue tattoos. "Fancy seeing you here," she said.

"I suggest you leave before your human must do so in a body bag," said Kage and I wanted to shudder at the intensity of his words – but I couldn't, he was in full control now.

"And miss all the fun?" she teased back, "I see you haven't killed the angel yet."

"I was just on my way to when you interrupted," said Kage evenly.

"Then why stop?" she said lightly, and when Kage didn't answer, she continued, "I saw you almost fall. I think somebody was having a little trouble controlling their human."

"That's where you are wrong," said Kage. I wanted to protest, but the ice in Kage's tone made me hold my thoughts. Someone's finally learning, said Kage in my mind.

"I'm rarely wrong," said the girl, "Just like how I said I was going to kill the angel. I just left out the part where I'm going to kill you first." The girl smiled in attempted sweetness, but the fangs of her demon form kind of ruined the effect.

"I'd like to see you try," said Kage, confidently, but I wasn't so sure. Something in the off-kilter lilt of her smile and crazed look in her red demon eyes made me think she was something more than meets the eye.

Kage… I warned, but he ignored me.

"If you insist," said the girl and then she pounced with a lunge that Kage easily sidestepped. But she was quick, turning in the air before she even hit the ground and knocking into my body with such force that we were pushed of the roof, my body and the girl's as well. But the fight didn't stop there. Both demons went for the other's throat as their bodies' plunged towards their deaths.

Kage, I said again in my mind, wondering how I could feel such vertigo when I wasn't even in control of my body. The stories of the building we had been on only moments before rushed past as we grew closer and closer to the ground. Kage's hands were wrapped around the girl's neck trying to crush the life out of her as she pulled at his wrists - neither seemed to notice the rapidly approaching ground.

Kage! I yelled and this time he seemed to hear me as he let go of the girl's neck and snapped his wings out. She did the same and both landed in the middle of the empty street.

The girl laughed softly as Kage turned my body towards her. She had pulled out a thin dagger with a blue crystal set into the hilt and was running her thumb lightly over the blade. "You can't win, you know," she said in an eerily soft voice, still staring down at the knife with a look of adoration.

"I hardly think that's true," scoffed Kage, "I've nearly strangled your human twice now. I promise I won't let up the next time."

"And what makes you think there will be a next time?" asked the girl.

"There doesn't have to be," said Kage, "I don't relish taking the life of another's host. There's nothing in it for me."

"You say that like you will get the chance to take her life," said the girl off-handedly, "I bet you didn't know that there was a reason I chose this girl as my host body." When Kage didn't answer, she continued, "Well, I guess I didn't so much choose her as she chose me. You see, she was a priest before she was kicked out of the church."

The girl paused and laughed softly to herself and Kage asked, "Why are you telling me this?"

"Patience is a virtue," said the girl, "So I know you have none. But try not to interrupt, okay? Now where was I, oh yes, she was kicked out of the church because she developed a fascination with demonology. And as you can imagine, that is frowned upon by those who see angels as perfection. Anyway, she sought me out. And really, who can pass up such a willing and knowledgeable host?"

Kage said nothing, but I could feel him raise one of my eyebrows in question. My portion of our mind reeled, trying to understand what could possibly prompt someone to become a willing host.

As I recall, you were fairly willing as well, Misaki, commented Kage.

Before I had a chance to respond the girl continued. "Do you see this knife?" she asked, "I'm going to use it to kill you."

"I'd like to see you try," said my demon with a laugh.

The girl's crimson eyes flicked upward and she hesitated only a moment before striking. She dove forward, making to stab my body with the dagger, but Kage knocked her hand aside as she landed before him. But she was far from giving up. With a grin she ducked low and swept out a leg, trying to knock Kage off my feet. He stumbled back a few steps and used his wings to steady himself as she bounded up and towards us, knife arm outstretched.

She slashed out with the blade and Kage dodged to the side, but not before the edge grazed my left arm. Pain shot through the limb as Kage cried out in my voice. The girl struck again before either of us could react she stabbed, sinking the knife deep into my right shoulder before pulling it out and backing away, using her wings to propel herself.

The pain was immense, stinging like hell, but something was different. Our vision swam as my body sunk to its knees. Kage clutched at the wound on my shoulder, warm blood seeping out through my fingers. Usually the few wounds my body suffered under Kage's control healed themselves almost immediately – something to do with the demon magic running through our combined veins – and most of the blood I returned with, staining my clothes and skin, was not my own.

My head turned up to look at the girl, who was now laughing, one hand on her hip, one holding the knife.

"What," asked Kage, my voice straining, "did you do to me?"

"Something you'd never expect," answered the girl, before wiping my blood off her dagger onto her black tank top. The new stain reflected wet in the moonlight. "Or maybe you should have, I did say this girl was a priest."

I felt my eyes widened as Kage realized what the girl meant. Unfortunately for me, however, he didn't seem to feel the need to explain.

Holy water, he said emotionlessly, in answer to my thought before saying aloud, "But how?"

The girl giggled and held the dagger up to her face, the blue crystal in the hilt shimmered in the moonlight. She pressed the flat edge of the blade to the tattoo that began at her hairline and dragged it down her face to where the markings stopped. I gasped at what I saw when she removed the knife: the etchings were glowing as if backlit with blue fire beneath her skin.

"She performed the ritual herself," said the girl, "in order to make her body more appealing to demon-kind."

Kage and I stared at the girl, him in disbelief, me in confusion. So what if her knife was fused with holy water? How did that relate at all to the glowing blue markings now lighting her face?

Demons can't touch water that has been blessed by a priest, explained Kage, voice sounding strained, It burns our skin and forces us back into our host's consciousness… Like it's doing right now. I suddenly understood why our vision was swimming. It was transitioning from demon sight back to my normal eyes. Usually the transition happened so quickly that I scarcely noticed. Unless, continued Kage, the human host underwent certain rituals prior to inhabitation, like her.

We looked up at the girl, manic glee shone with painful obviousness in her eyes. "It was a nice find," said the girl, the flat edge of the blade still resting against her cheek, "But who can resist the idea of one's own body. Remember how I said that angel is mine? Well that's still true. I don't know why you ever doubted me…"

The mocking pout in her voice made me want to punch her. "You can't have Usagi-san…" I breathed. It took me a few moments to realize that I had said that out loud. The holy water really was driving Kage back into my mind, I could feel the weight lift as the wings retreated into my back. My vision still swam, wavering between demon and human, and my limbs felt like lead, but I was in control.

"Oh," said the girl, "It looks like someone's no longer in control of their little human. Too bad, I was having so much fun. But I guess all things must come to an end. Just like the life of the angel you seem to so dearly love."

"No," I said as firmly as I could, pushing myself to my feet. Every little movement of my injured shoulder felt like someone was setting fire to my body. It's the holy water, kid, said Kage, Just leave it. This is a fight we can't win.

"He's got some spunk, this one," laughed the girl with a smirk as I shakily took a step towards her.

"You will not kill Usagi-san!" I yelled, mustering up what energy I had left. And then I lunged, fingers curled like claws, ready to tear into her flesh.

But she was laughing before I even reached her. She easily sidestepped my teetering attack and used my momentum to push me to the ground. She pinned me, prone, face pressed into the asphalt, and hands caught behind my back, beneath her body which was on top of me to keep me in place. It didn't really matter, though. I had no chance of fighting back in the state I was currently in.

I stifled a pained yelp as she grabbed my hair to pull my head up from the pavement and slid her knife between the ground and my throat. "You shouldn't have misbehaved, little human," she spat in my ear, "I was going to let you live a little longer. Let you watch as I took the life of the angel you are so obviously in love with. I love to watch the pathetic ones squirm when they know there's nothing they can do."

She pressed the edge of her blade just deep enough to draw a thin line of crimson blood from my neck. I bit my tongue to stop myself from crying out, to give her the satisfaction of hearing me, us, in pain.

"You've got some restraint, kid," said the girl, "I'll give you that. Maybe I'll tell your angel as I take his life. Give him something to live – er – die up to. Well," she bent down lower, I could almost feel her lips on my ear as she said, "Goodnight, little human."

Time seemed to slow for that instant. I shut my eyes tight, steeling myself in whatever way possible for my imminent death. But I couldn't bring myself to feel fear for me, all I could think was that this demonic, psychopath girl was after Usagi, and if he was dead it wouldn't matter whether I was or not. There would no longer be a difference between life and death if I had nothing left to live for. Maybe I was better off dead.

Somewhere in the back of my I heard Kage say, It was nice knowing you, as I whispered, "I love you… Usagi," fully expecting the blade to come at that moment.

But it didn't.

I heard a strangled cry from somewhere above me and suddenly the weight on my back was lifted. The dagger clattered to the ground beneath me as I sucked in a few, free breaths. I looked up from my prone position to see two huge, white and feathery angel wings, spreading out from the back of a silver haired man. "Don't. You. Dare. Hurt. Misaki." said Usagi in a strained voice.

"Looks like you do get to watch your angel get killed, after all, kid," said the girl knowingly, floating on leathery wings above me and Usagi. And with that she bared her fangs and dove. At the same moment, Usagi leapt to meet her and they clashed. Dark and light struggling to extinguish the other as they battled in the moonlight.

My head spun as I watched and I blinked to try to clear my still swimming vision, limbs still struggling to even push my body into a sitting position. The holy water must run its course… said Kage weakly from the back of my mind and I could tell he was struggling at the moment to keep his presence known at all.

I didn't answer as I tried to keep my gaze fixated on the battle above me. I knew that when I was in demon form I must have been moving that incredibly fast, but from a mostly human perspective it was like watching twin bolts of lightning struggle for dominance of the sky, fighting in spastic flashes. Blood and feathers fell to the ground after each assault – it was the only evidence of the battle my spinning mind could make out until they parted long enough for me to assess the damage.

Usagi looked mostly intact with only a bloody scrape across his cheek, where I imagine the girl's nails raked across his skin. The demon, on the other hand looked much worse for the wear. She had a long cut running down her face, from her hairline to her chin, opposite the tattoos and her leathery wings were shredded at the bottom as if they were made of nothing more than tissue paper. Her breath came in labored gasps and I could see in her eyes that she knew that she was losing.

But there was a glint underlying the pain that told me she was not giving up yet. "I've never seen an angel fight so hard to save anyone before," said the girl. There was a crazed lilt to her voice. "Too bad it will be for nothing."

"I will not let you harm Misaki, demon," said Usagi, his voice hard.

"That's what you think," said the girl as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a small glass vial. She held it up to the moonlight, as if examining its clear contents, for a moment, before looking back at Usagi an evil smirk plastered across her face. "Catch," she said and then she threw the vial with more force that any athlete could ever hope to achieve. But she didn't throw it to Usagi, she threw it at me.

I was on no state to catch anything, my body being in the mangled condition it was, especially not something being chucked at me at breakneck speeds. The glass hit me square it the chest, knocking the wind from my lungs. But that I could handle, what I couldn't handle was the fact that the vial cracked as it hit me, the clear contents spilling out and drenching my bare skin.

I couldn't hold back the scream of pain this time as the holy water doused my skin. Only it didn't feel wet. It felt as if a thousand flaming knifes had pierced my skin simultaneously and were going to continue to do so until I gave up the will to live. Darkness began growing at the edges of my vision and I could feel Kage writhing in pain, mirroring the movements of my body, in the back of the ground.

"Misaki!" I heard Usagi yell, followed by the girl's manic laughter. But it cut off with a choked cry, and in its place I heard Usagi's voice. "Go. To. Hell. Demon."

For a few moments the night air was only filled with my strangled cries as the burning had yet to let up. And then a sound cut through my screams, a thud - the sound of a body falling from the sky and hitting pavement – followed by a feather light landing.

Suddenly two arms were around me, someone was holding me close and softly cooing my name, "Misaki-kun…no, no, no, stay with me, it will be alright, Misaki-kun… I love you." I could just make out two shining violet eyes before the darkness consumed me and everything faded to black.