Recommended listening: Angel Dust III by BlutEngel
My Angel
Chapter Eight
Tsuzuki heard Hisoka scream out his name before the fireball flashed down right in front of him. A sharp white light bounced off the dark walls of the alley and blinded him. Surprisingly, the impact did not hurt him. He expected the fireball to hurt him, but it did not even seem to have hit him at all. It had stopped short. But what had stopped it? The light began to fade and Tsuzuki gasped at what he saw, eyes wide in shock.
It was Hisoka. At the last moment, he had gained enough speed to fly in front of the fireball, stopping it… but in the worst way possible. He had used his own body as a shield. Now, he was floating there, his eyes closed and his wings burned to almost nothing with a gaping hole in his chest. He was falling, falling down, falling down so slowly…
He hit the ground.
Tsuzuki barely had time to get a grip on his sense before he was rushing to his fallen friend's side, picking up the bleeding and possibly dead form of the boy. His hands felt warm and sticky as they covered over in the angel's blood within moments. The boy had risked his life for him. No one had ever done that for him before. Why did he have to?
Tsuzuki buried his face into the limp shoulder that he now realized was stronger than it looked. It felt hard against his forehead, but it didn't stop him from beginning to cry right into that shoulder, crying out his anguish and sorrow. He then heard a laugh from high above him, suddenly causing his tears to stop. He glanced up just to see Muraki floating down smoothly on his black wings, an evil, satisfied smirk plastered on his face, as though it were permanent.
"I told the bouya not to interfere with my affairs," he said casually, crushing off a white feather that fell on his shoulder. "And he paid the price."
"You bastard!" Tsuzuki shouted. "Do you find that killing others is fun!?"
Muraki chuckled. "Why, actually I do."
"You monster!" Tsuzuki nearly screamed.
Muraki shrugged. "No more of a monster than you."
Before Tsuzuki could retort with anything, the body in his arms flinched and a painful groan escaped the dusty pink lips on that pale face as the tissue around the eyes crumpled tightly with pain, eyelids flickering at a pace unmatchable by human standards. A bloody corn silk hand came up, desperately trying to grasp something invisible or something that wasn't there.
Tsuzuki caught the hand, clutching it like a lifeline, his eyes not believing that the boy was alive. How could he be? After that…? The hand squeezed his desperately, the breathing renewed within the boy coming out in short gasps. Then, as though Hisoka had spoken aloud, Tsuzuki heard his voice inside his head:
'This is going to hurt… but please… I… I need you… to synchronize with me…'
'Huh? Synchronize?' Tsuzuki wondered, unsure if what he had heard in his head was Hisoka's voice or his imagination.
'It is me… please! It's the only way out!'
Tsuzuki gave a slight nod, and he suddenly felt warm as a flame inside his heart burned brightly, but he was not sure if it was his own heart or Hisoka's that burned so deeply. He felt full, like he was being filled up with warm wine, the kind that made your head feel like nothing on your shoulders and your body so light you could feel like you could fly. He felt himself brought to his feet, his arms still holding the winged boy bridal style as his purple eyes opened, swirls of green mixing within them like a bottomless pool of rich power.
A white light began to surround them, so bright it almost made Tsuzuki squint, but he could see through it clearly, as if it were not even there. Muraki, however, brought his hand up to shield the light from his eyes, his black bat wings folding reflexively behind his back, as though trying to escape the light. He appeared threatened by the light and knew he couldn't be brought up against it.
"You may have won this time, but I assure you, I will be back!" he yelled and in a flash, he was gone.
The fire inside of Tsuzuki faded away as soon as it had come and he closed his eyes, letting out a shaggy breath. When he opened his eyes again, he was, to his surprise, back in his apartment, in his bedroom where it lay as neat as it had been when he had left hours earlier. He let out a sigh of relief.
The body in his arms groaned and felt lighter than before as white feathers fell around Tsuzuki's feet. He looked down at Hisoka, his head thrown back, his lips slightly parted and his eyes shut, as though he were dreaming. Hot tears formed back into Tsuzuki's eyes and he fell onto his knees, holding Hisoka to him tightly as the blood that had shortly stopped now came out of the gaping hole again, soaking his fingers in its essence. He wept again, his tears not stopping as he realized he had lost his closest friend.
"You're… crushing me…"
Tsuzuki's eyes snapped open and he held the teen back a foot, watching as those tired green eyes blinked at him and the broken wings attached to Hisoka's back pulsed slightly, in the same rhythm he had seen only once before. Hisoka pushed him away for a minute, leaning against the wall, his breathing coming out in gasps again.
"You're… you're alive?" Tsuzuki asked, his eyes hopeful before they fell with despair, the mind remembering something. "But… but that's impossible…"
"It'll heal," Hisoka murmured, closing his eyes again.
Tsuzuki shook his head. "That's impossible! Look at it, Hisoka! You have a hole in…!"
He trailed off as Hisoka's hand came up, gently taking his own, gently giving it a squeeze. Tsuzuki watched as Hisoka brought the hand to his chest, just to the right of the hole and blood, placing it there with little ease. Tsuzuki's breath hitched at the sudden moment.
"Do you feel that?" Hisoka whispered. "My heart against your hand… it still beats."
Tsuzuki felt a slight thump against his hand as Hisoka quietly uttered out his words. It beat again. Hisoka was right. He was still alive, barely just, but still burning with life nonetheless. Still, Tsuzuki was worried.
"Can I get you anything that'll help?" he asked, concerned. There had to be something he could do. All he needed was a simple answer from Hisoka. Nevertheless, he didn't want to leave the boy alone for a second, nor loosen the grip he held on him for fear that he would suddenly vanish away.
"Maybe water… nothing else," the teen requested with a tired tone, his eyes closing and his head rolling off to the side. Tsuzuki's hand was released as Hisoka's hand fell across his lap. Tsuzuki went into the bathroom, grabbing a small cup and filling it with water before rushing back into the bedroom. He knelt before the angel, looking at the tired face, the slight parted lips.
Tsuzuki raised his only slightly bloody hand to caress that pale cheek. It then settled in… the realization that this was his fault. If he hadn't gotten all depressed and gone to that club, Hisoka wouldn't have worried about him or sensed him getting drunk and wouldn't have come, and then the man may not have…
"It's not your fault," he heard a whisper reach his ears, causing him to look up. The green irises stared back at him, despite the tired look they held deep within them. They flickered once to the right, then to the left before closing again, the owner of the eyes allowing his head to fall back, leaning back against the wall once more, exhaling slowly. "It's not your fault… so don't blame yourself, you fool."
"Gomen, Hisoka," he replied quietly. He offered the cup of water to the teen, but noticed that Hisoka's hands were shaking as they reached out to take the cup. Tsuzuki shook his head then. "No, let me do it, you're shaking."
Unable to have the strength to refuse, Hisoka allowed the elder man to wrap an arm around his shoulders, supporting him, leaning him against the broad chest, as he brought the cup rim to his dusty lips, watching as the boy took a small sip. At the first drink, the boy choked and pulled back, coughing as his lungs—or rather, what was left of his lungs—forced it back up. When he got his breathing normal again, he was able to drink properly.
After he had drained the cup, the boy leaned his head onto Tsuzuki's shoulder, his wings moving comfortably to rest their injured joints against his back, as he proceeded in closing his emerald eyes. Tsuzuki felt a question that had been eating away at him for the past few minutes.
"Hisoka?" he asked hesitantly, wondering if the boy was still conscious. After all, the angel needed his rest to restore his strength and his body.
"Hmm?" came a small response.
"Why did you do that?" Tsuzuki asked, biting his lower lip as his grip unconsciously tightened on the limp body in his arms as a tear rolled down his cheek. "Why did you save me that way?"
"Because…" Slowly, those emerald irises slid back, flickering between the tear he had just shed and the pained amethyst eyes. Hisoka's mouth settled into a frown as a corn silk hand came up to wipe away that tear. "You would have died."
"But you're suffering," Tsuzuki protested. "I would rather die than to see any of my friends suffer like this."
The frown deepened. "I know… which is why I did it. My job is to keep you safe at all costs… to protect you against what I couldn't be protected from."
"That man?" Tsuzuki asked, afraid of the answer.
Hisoka nodded. "That man killed me… he was the reason I died. Now, he is the reason I fight. I can't kill him, but at least, I can protect you from him."
"God sent you to do this?" Tsuzuki said, more of a statement than a question.
Another nod was the response. "He did. It was because my prayers were with any other child that man was to abuse."
"He abused you?" Tsuzuki asked, now horrified.
Hisoka bit his own lip. "…In a few ways."
"How?" Tsuzuki asked, scared that his protector was in more than just physical pain.
"I don't really want to say," Hisoka said, flicking his gaze away from those prying amethysts. "At least, not at this time… I would prefer to tell you after I heal… is that okay?"
Tsuzuki nodded quickly, reaching down to clutch Hisoka's hand as his eyes filled with unshed tears. "Of course… of course it's okay."
Hisoka nodded in small thanks before those green forest eyes slid closed again. Hisoka's ash bangs fell over those eyes as his conscious slipped away, leaving his drained body to rest in the arms of his client.
Tsuzuki gazed down at the sleeping angel and ran a hand through the sandy hair, brushing it away from his eyes. Sadness filled Tsuzuki as he watched his friend sleep in his arms, wondering what the boy had been through in his life before that man had killed him.
Muraki. The name was like poison vile on his tongue if he dare breathe the word. He hated that man for coming after them, for putting Hisoka through whatever hell he was capable of… for nearly killing Hisoka a second time. He silently swore to himself that he would kill that man if it took his life in the process. He would avenge Hisoka.
