Stupid word document is killing me! It's meshing different parts of my fic together! If you find any please tell me!
Achromatic Colors
III. Angelic
Claannggg! Metal clashed against metal. The song of the swords carried out in crescendo and accelerando. The swift movements of the swordsmen graced the scene with beauty too fast for the untrained eyes. Sunrays bounced off of the ever swinging metallic swords. The tempo of the piece increasing to the point where even sound is having difficulty keeping up with its pace.
Yet the artwork seemed to be drowned out by the chanting of the mob around the stadium. Its beauty stained by the surrounding flocks of bodies, the song of the swords drowned by the mantra. A master piece ruined. Such a shame.
"THE WINNER WILL BE ATOBE. THE LOSER WILL BE ECHIZEN. THE WINNER WILL BE ATOBE. THE LOSER WILL BE ECHIZEN." The chant continued, only to be interrupted by the encouragement of fan-angels in the forms of piercing extensive screams on both sides of the party.
Yet the dancers ignored the thundering distraction in the midst of the battle (even though one of them was the cause of it). They concentrated on the other's movement, ready to respond to a slightest action.
"You know Monkey King," Echizen inserted in between exchanges of bouts. "You can almost start another religious cult with this army of yours." He smirked. "I wonder what Yukimura will think about that."
"Jealous of my followers brat?" Atobe made a thrust for Ryoma's middle, only to meet his sword. "You could take up your own subordinates under your wings you know."
"I'd rather not baby-sit, thanks all the same." He ducked a slash Atobe made at his forehead.
Atobe smirked. "Those girls are more than willing to fawn over you if you let them."
"I do not strive for attention like you." As if he'd have fangirls as his squadron. He mentally shuddered at the thought. Anyone who does that must be mentally insane or is a flirt, but they still have to be an insane flirt.
"You are the only archangel that doesn't have anybody under you." Atobe made a statement that Ryoma have heard repeatedly. "I've heard you still have yet to take-"
"You're drifting from your concentration," He cut the grey haired man off before he could continue. "If you keep on talking you might lose." Ryoma glared at him. He really did not need to hear what the counsel and fellow angels (and fan-angels) have been insisting him of doing. Repeatedly.
"You are still too feeble to be graced with Ore-sama's undivided attention." He jeered.
"Hmm, if you say so." Ryoma snaked his sword around Atobe's effectively flinging it out of his grip. The sword went sailing into the screaming crowd. In a second, he pointed his sword to the man's throat, checkmating his opponent. The crowd shrieked over the grand finale more in a frown than joy.
"Cocky brat," He posed for the crowd as if they had switched roles, his voice barely audible over the shouts of his followers. "Don't let your victory go to your head just because Ore-sama went easy on you." For effect, he brought out his massive golden wings that were previously hidden. His fingers graced over his silver locks out of habit as if to appear attractive. The crowd once again began to chant the archangel's name.
Ryoma brought down his sword and started to leave. "Say it next time when you win Monkey King." He taunted, letting his wingless back face the elder archangel.
"Sure, next time during an official match. Think you can beat me then?"
He only returned a cocky grin and continued to walk away.
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(A/N: I don't really like this section but oh well; I left it in since I took the time to write it.)
Ryoma exited from a side entrance to avoid any clingy fangirls who will bombard him with compliments. Hopefully he gets left alone until-
An annoying shrilly female voice screamed. "Ryoma-sama!! Over here!" He cringed. Speak of the devil. Didn't anyone notice that he prefer to be left alone?
He inwardly groaned as he turned to face the source of the noise with a blank expression.
A girl with two pigtails waved enthusiastically all the while heading toward the young archangel. Another girl of the same age cowered shyly beside her best friend, blushing for some unknown reason that Ryoma is uninterested in. A trio of low ranked boy angels was following them. To be honest, Ryoma didn't remember any of their names. He was appalled to find that just because they were born on the same year, they thought they had the privilege to approach him everywhere.
Out of only sheer politeness for the shy granddaughter of a council executive had refrained him from glaring at them or do something worse for getting close to his personal bubble of ten feet radius.
Two tall black haired men trailed the approaching loudmouthed gang; Inui Sadaharu-sempai and Momoshiro Takeshi-sempai. He does remember his sempais' names. They were past rivals after all, even though that was before Ryoma had excelled the two. Inui-sempai is still is an annoying rival considering the fact that the data-man can predict much of his moves.
"Inui-sempai and Momochan-sempai told us that you would be here." Kachiro explained and pointed at the two men at the back.
"Probability of exiting through a back entrance, 100 percent." The bespectacled teen added.
"Che," Ryoma was unsurprised.
"I've got more data from your match." Inui stated, taking Ryoma's reply as a compliment. He was still in the middle of writing down data from Ryoma's match on his notebook. His magicked notebook contains endless amounts of data despite looking very thin. It has everything Inui has ever recorded in millennia of his life from data he gathered on his opponents - both angelic and devious - to notes on his infamous concoctions that has managed to knock out every living creature unconscious including himself. Ryoma has a strong urge to burn it. But knowning Inui-sempai, he probably has duplicated copies hidden elsewhere – as well as traps for anyone who tries to steal them.
"Yo Echizen! Nice match!" Momoshiro grinned.
"I didn't know you came to watch as well Momo-sempai."
"Ryoma-sama!! That was a wonderful match you had!" The pig tailed girl, Tomoka, had practically jumped five feet out of sheer excitement.
"Hmmph! Echizen fought a wingless match! In a wingless match, you fight like a mortal; no wings, no magic, ordinary swords only." He mimicked a scholar. "There's no way a brand new archangel would have been able to beat Hyoutei's commander when he has his magic and his powerful legendary ice blade at his disposal!"
"Shut the hell up you! Like Ryoma-sama would lose! You wouldn't have been able to won a wingless battle with the commander's hands tied behind his back!"
"Hmmph! With my two centuries (1) of fencing experience, of course I can win with his hands tied behind his back!"
Ryoma sweat dropped. Boasting in the situation where the opponent has a major disadvantage; no hands in a sword fight. Is that something to be proud about? But Ryoma is pretty sure the Monkey King can win over the loud mouthed unibrow even with that disadvantage and being blindfolded, though it's pointless to voice his opinion. He left the argument alone and turned to leave.
"Wait! Ryoma-sama, will you have lunch with us?" Tomoka called out.
"I got something to do." He promptly refused and left.
"I wonder where Ryoma-sama has been going off to lately." Tomoka murmured thoughtfully after Ryoma was out of sight.
Inui's glasses shone with anticipation of juicy information. "He seemed like he was leaving to do something."
"Do you think he has a girlfriend now?" Momoshiro joked.
"Momochan-sempai!"(2) The younger angels exclaimed.
"Hmm, probability of Echizen having a girlfriend, 0.05 percent."
Tomoka nodded in agreement. "There's no way we wouldn't have found that out if it was true! And he has to be somewhere only archangels can go freely!"
"Tomoka-chan," Katsuo sweatdropped, "How do you know that?"
"Because…" Tomoka trailed off.
"Ii data. So there are Echizen's fan club members in the higher ranked offices as well. They have access to all areas that are not archangel restricted I presume?"
She nodded smugly.
However, Inui was skeptical of this information. "Are you sure, you have an accurate data of this? After all, to be sure of this information, someone really must stalk him for twenty four- seven."
"EEHHH! You are stalking Ryoma-kun?" Kachiro paled.
"All members of the prince's fan club have the responsibility to report all sightings and conversations involving Ryoma-sama!" Tomoka stated proudly. People who heard the exclamation all sweat dropped. 'It sucks to be popular', they all thought.
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Grey orbs casually stared at the world with the air of the all-knowing eye of Odin--who sees the world from the cold throne in Norse mythology. The depths of the eyes suggest he indeed possesses the Wisdom of the Ages yet no sacrifices of vision were made to gain that ability.
The all knowing grey orbs gazed upon the fluffy, pure white clouds through the glass windows and yet seems to look beyond them at the same time.
The owner of those grey orbs, Yukimura Seiichi, sat in behind the elegantly patterned glass door in a large study. Behind him lingered five angels, each peacefully doing their jobs thing filling up the void of the sizable room. Though they are moments when he wished to be left in peace, he preferred company. And he is really grateful that few of his most trusted comrades are with him that day.
The title of the Archangel goes to only the best of the best among the angels. It didn't matter if the angel was born in line for a title. The only requirement is to be strong in an area of combat and be good enough to defend their own hides when they get singled out in battle.
Three of the five angels; Atobe Keigo, Tezuka Kunimitsu, and Shiraishi Kuranosuke are fierce commanders; each famous for their formidable militias, wealth, and power. Inui Sadaharu and Oishi Shuichiro, who are also present in the room, are not yet at the level of archangel, but they are both very capable men. Inui and Oishi are the strategist and secretary of the nation respectively. The only thing preventing them from filling in the void of the seven positions is their low combat level.
"I heard you lost Atobe." Yukimura calmly remarked, breaking the peaceful silence.
The said man looked up from a book he was reading and frowned. "Shut up, there is no way Ore-sama would have lost to the brat if Ore-sama had been fully paying attention."
He turned around to face him, humor evident in his voice and those grey orbs. "One of the factors of victory is NOT to have your concentration scattered, Atobe."
"The little angel has grown." Oishi nodded with his closed eyes, grinning.
"He wouldn't be happy with your condescending tone." Shiraishi smirked.
Inui picked up the conversation also grinning. "But we do it anyway."
"Speaking of him, I wonder where he's going of late." Yukimura muttered in a tone that sounds as if he already knew the answer to the statement.
"He's on Earth." Tezuka replied bluntly, already knowing Yukimura is aware of it by now anyway. "I received reports that there are daily sightings of him recently on the gateway to the mortal world."
Shiraishi snickered. "To think he protested so hard to NOT go to Earth just a week ago. You've done wonders Tezuka."
Tezuka frowned. He had sent the boy to force him out of his usual isolation. It did result the desire effect of having the boy going off somewhere other than his usual daily routine, but he was uncomfortable not knowing what entrapped the younger into doing so. What had made the boy to make daily travels to Earth? He felt responsible. After all, it was his idea in the first place.
Oishi was surprised by the information. Usually Echizen was known to be sleeping in one of his lands or sighted in the training arenas specially built for archangels. But right now the boy was seeing going to Earth repeatedly. Why wasn't he informed of this? What did Tezuka tell him to do? He swore that he would have a private word with Tezuka once he manages to corner him.
He hoped the boy wasn't doing anything dangerous. Echizen wasn't stupid enough to get himself caught in a mess over the course of few hours would he? He could take care of himself, Oishi reasoned. The boy has to have some common sense in him to stay out of trouble. The title of archangel is not just for decoration after all.
Unless he was challenged. 'Oh God.' Oishi started to get restless. That boy cannot resist a challenge. He was incredibly dense in some subject areas. Plus that viper tongue of his will surely deepen whatever chasm he managed to fall into – or in some cases dived head first into. He should have known, no matter how reclusive, viper tongued or powerful Echizen was he is still an angel - a young, still unsullied angel to add to that.
"Oishi, stop pacing. You'll carve your footprint into the carpet if you haven't already." Shiraishi snickered again. "And Tezuka, stop frowning. You look funny."
"Don't waste your brain cells on the brat. He probably had found something interesting to quench his boredom. Maybe he already swore himself to a pretty mortal. The current behavior of his definitely supports my reasoning. If you're not worrying over him, have a bout with Ore-sama to clear your head. Your circling is giving me a migraine."
Tezuka and Oishi are both highly skeptical about Atobe's explanation. Guardian angels were lower rank jobs and demanded daily dedication. Ryoma pledged himself to a mortal? Not possible. That was one of the areas Echizen was incredibly dense in.
"In due time Tezuka," Yukimura returned to the scenery once again smiling his smiles, "In due time."
Tezuka frowned. He knows something – he always knows something. Even though Yukimura had given him an assurance of sorts, he did not find it comforting.
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Fuji bathed in the sunshine. He did not mind the darkness, but it is boring not to have changes once in a while. The sunlight filled his skin with warmth. The sounds of creatures and the rustling of the plants filled his ears. Gentle breeze tugged his hair with a touch of playfulness, unlike the harsh tearing currents of air or the ominous draft pulling one to the depths of the dungeon.
He likes the wind best.
He stood in his place, merely enjoying gift of nature. He never did understand those close-minded devils that seem to reject everything they consider earthly or angelic.
Blue orbs slowly opened to adjust the blinding sunshine too harsh for a devil's night vision. The vibrant green of Mother Nature covered the ground. Fuji likes the change from the usual dark and heavy colors back home.
It's not that he preferred one landscape over the other. He likes this mainly because he can relax there. There are no annoying marriage-minded women and council members chasing him, no one reporting troubles, no trickery or assassination attempts – albeit they could be attempting it on Earth -, and no responsibilities. No one knows him here.
Fuji realizes that he will be scolded again but he didn't care. 'Warning me against angels…' He snorted, 'I'm more likely going to be killed by my own people before that ever happens.'
A presence tugged on his mind and snapped out of his thought; a presence of an angel. 'Hmm, what's an angel doing way over here?'
Out of curiosity and boredom, he followed its source. He saw a boy sleeping under a tree with a white Himalayan cat curled beside him.
Fuji smiled, he concluded that the angel was probably sleeping on his job. The boy didn't even try to cover up his presence. He paid no more attention to the angel and wandered off.
He wants to see the ocean again.
1. I know it's supposed to be 2 years but I figured angels are immortal so I dragged it longer.
2. They seem to call him that way in the anime
My style is weird isn't it T.T it doesn't flow well! sob
Please Review
Published: 11/01/2008