Wow, it's been a week already? Where have the time gone..? Anyways, I'm somewhat sad that this story doesn't let up like my previous story, but I try to keep an open mind since..well, it's been months since I last made a new story and all so readers' ratings must have dropped somewhat, I try not to get it to my mind too much (sheepish).
But I'm also glad that there are some of you who enjoyed this story and supporting me, I'll try to keep updating as best as I can. Really, this stupid laptop doesn't have any Microsoft Word, how lame is that?! I'm now depending on the computer and my USB hoping that nobody would steal it or it goes missing, everything's in there..
Enough stalling now, I don't want to keep you waiting for long after all, let's continue on with the story.
"Monkey! If you don't let me go, I'm going to personally stab you in your sleep tonight!" Misaki shrieks as Saruhiko has his waist in a death grip. The morning after is almost a routine for them both ever since they started living together, Saruhiko would get ready for work and Misaki would still be asleep as his work normally starts around 9 and this gives him some slight bit of chance to sleep in a bit. But Saruhiko would demand a hug and kiss from the crow and this seriously irks the shorter male to the point where sometimes he'd bring pepper spray with him just so he can repel Saruhiko when he's not in the mood.
But then Saruhiko is smarter, he'd sometimes shields himself with various items such as Misaki's preferred pan, a pillow, his jacket, putting his glasses on or even Misaki's skateboard, though he no longer uses the board as the crow once locked him outside as a protest. "Come on, Misaki. You're going to see those annoyances today and give them your attention, so right now I'm demanding my share," the blue clansman whines out as he kisses and licks up the crow's neck.
A sharp elbow to his ribs sent the blue clansman reeling back with a groan. He'd have to admit, Misaki had grown rather strong over the years and with the milk he's been consuming, his bones now are quite dense, too bad the crow drank the milk a little too late in his teens, so he never grew much and is almost at the same height as he was when he was 19. Though he had gained some centimeters, Saruhiko can strongly say that the crow never grew more than 170cm, and that fact always makes Misaki's blood boil. "Get to work, Saruhiko. I don't think I can stop that Tundra Woman from killing you anymore if you keep slacking off," Misaki says as he rolls his shoulder.
Saruhiko smiles lightly at the short burst of anger as it's Misaki's own way that he cares and that he doesn't want to see Saruhiko get in trouble, as if that works much, but it's sweet that the crow even cares for him that much. "You don't have to worry about the Vice-Captain, I'm pretty sure she's busy with her daughter, fussing over her and making her wear all those frilly dresses Anna used to wear," Saruhiko says with a wave of his hand and a slight shiver going down his spine. Misaki wonders what made Saruhiko so uncomfortable with Izumo's and Seri's daughter, to him, she's rather sweet and angelic if she's not mad.
Kusanagi Chiharu, born on the second year of Izumo and Seri's marriage and is now four-years-old. She has her mother's sweet looks and Izumo's rather sharp eyes along with his eye colour, she even has some of his temperament, once she threatened Misaki with his old baseball bat when he had accidentally spilled tea on her most loved plush bunny. And much to Scepter 4's horror, she also loves red bean paste as much as her mother and is constantly pushing the members to eat them, but that fact Misaki didn't know. One little trait on Chiharu is that her blonde, waist-length hair is straight at the top half and wavy at the bottom half, something she got from both her parents and is constantly cooed over by people.
Buttoning the blue clansman's shirt and getting his vest, Misaki turns to look at him strangely while Saruhiko grabs his glasses and pulls his jacket from the wardrobe. "Why are you so worked up about what that girl wears? You told me yourself that your Vice-Captain often sleeps with loads of plush toys before she's married, all thanks to that creepy boss of yours installing cameras in her dorm," the crow says with a slight grimace on his face. In a sense, Saruhiko and Reisi are more similar than what they seem.
"Now you know why I moved out of the dorm and into an apartment," Saruhiko replies back blandly and looking at Misaki with emotionless eyes, though the crow could see the hesitant need to just want to shriek in them. A quirk of a brow and Saruhiko embraces Misaki in a bone-crushing hug. "He watched everything that's going on in the dorms! It's as if he's a ghost who uses cameras as his eyes and it was freaking me out. Do you get it? Having your superior watching you dress, undress, study, and practice, everything... It's not right,"
Misaki groans lightly at the pressure around his shoulders and chest, but Saruhiko heard him and quickly releases him so that Misaki can catch his breath. "Why are you complaining? I have to deal with that everyday ever since we lived together. Or do you seriously think I won't notice how you'd stare at me when I sleep at night? Or the many times you kissed me around when I was trying to sleep! Hell, you even sniffed my boxers when we first slept together! That one was creepy as hell!"
Tilting his head lightly to the right, Saruhiko now remembers which scene Misaki's talking about and the thought made him smile widely, causing the crow to throw him a punch but he evaded in the last seconds. "You can't blame me, Misaki. You know I just love your scent and your scent alone. Besides, we were doing it so many times that night that your smell just sticks to your clothes, and I can't control myself," the blue clansman says with a shrug and retrieves the vest from Misaki before pecking him on the nose playfully. "I hope you don't get yourself into trouble with them later,"
"They won't do anything to me, they're girls," Misaki replies nonchalantly before collapsing back on the bed. The mattress feels nice and cool under his touch and his eyes are already drooping low, ready to take him to sleep but it seems that Saruhiko still has some tricks up his sleeves. Silently walking to the crow, the taller of the two swoops in and bit Misaki's neck hard before running out of the room as the crow screams vehemently and spewing curses at him. Once Saruhiko is gone along with his laughter, Misaki takes the opportunity to check himself in the mirror. And true enough, there's an obvious hickey where Saruhiko had bit him.
That stupid, idiotic, useless, does-as-he-like monkey... I am going to kill him later when he gets home, the crow thought hotly as he rubs his neck as if trying to rub the now forming bruise away only to no avail. Sighing, the crow walks back to bed and closes his eyes the moment his body touches the mattress. He's still sleepy, but currently there are so many things that are going through his mind until he can't even sleep. Most of those thoughts are circled around Megumi and the thousands of questions he has for the girl, such as how could she have saved the soul? Why couldn't she done that earlier? What is going on and just so much more that it hurts his head just thinking about it.
Next thing he knows, the sun is already up and it's about the right time for him to visit Megumi and the girls. He had called in his boss for personal leave and not being one to be on leave all the time, his boss easily granted his request without much question, and for that Misaki is quite thankful. Walking towards the bathroom, Misaki was about to strip his clothes off when he felt something watching him. The vein in his head throbs and he reaches for a nearby chair before climbing up and notices a small camera being implanted near the bathroom mirror. Without hesitation, he smashes the camera with his fist and strips down as usual after putting the chair away.
That'll teach that monkey something about privacy, he thought with a sadistic but triumphant grin. He knows for some time now that Saruhiko often hide cameras around the house, just so he can see when Misaki leaves, comes back and what he does to pass the time. The whole reason the crow even knew in the first place is because he suspected that Saruhiko seem to know so much about what he did in his spare time, hence the reason he searched around the house and found the aforementioned hidden cameras. When he told Saruhiko what he knew, the blue clansman only clicked his tongue in annoyance. This leads to Misaki destroying every piece of hidden cameras wherever he could find them.
Misaki enjoys the peaceful bath he had and puts on a casual shirt with brown hoodie along with a pair of jeans. His hair, cascading down his shoulders is let loose as he dislike to tie them up, it makes his rather feminine look even more feminine, and he wouldn't want that. Snatching the piece of paper Ayame had given him the day before, Misaki dials the number written on it and waits for the connection to be made. His heart beats wildly behind his chest as he now waits for someone to pick up the receiver from the other end.
Finally, someone answered. "I assume this is Fushimi Misaki, formerly known as Yata Misaki?" the voice of a young girl questions. Misaki simply replied 'yes' dumbly, apparently this person is expecting him to call. "Yatagarasu, no time to explain, especially not in an unsecured line such as this! Come meet me and my sisters here where I live, I assume Ayame-oneesama had given you my address?" the girl continues to question in a rather frantic tone. Misaki again replies 'yes' dumbly as the girl seems to be in a hurry for something. She tells him to quickly go to her house and to keep all his questions until they meet. Misaki is a little surprised that he didn't notice the girl is actually Megumi until he puts down the phone.
I hate surprises, he thought grumpily as he locks the door with his skateboard in hand. The crow then quickly skates down the streets, avoiding people and obstacles as he looks around to make sure he's on the right path. Because Megumi lives on the other side of the city, Misaki had to skate for quite some time until he reaches the area where her house is situated, and by then it's already late noon and he's sweating rather profusely. Looking at the given address in the note, he nods to himself. "This is the place, now to find someone who can help me navigate through here," he mumbles to himself as he makes his way to a guard post. The guard seems rather hesitant at first when he came near, wondering if Misaki is some sort of thug about to break in.
"Hey, do you mind telling me where I can find this house in this crazy maze? The girl, Megumi said she wanted to talk to me," Misaki explains to the guard. The guard nods his head and brought Misaki to the aforementioned house, the crow's jaws nearly hit the ground when he sees the size of the bungalow. The front lawn can fit around five cars with a large fountain in the middle, the doors are huge and the house itself has marbles that reflects the sunlight, making it glow warmly. Just then, Megumi came out of the house in a white baby doll dress before pulling Misaki inside in a hurry. The guard only watches them with question marks above his head.
Megumi continues to drag Misaki into the house and up the stairs with the crow screeching for her to stop all the while. "Will you pipe down, Yatagarasu? We're almost at my room so shush for a bit," Megumi reprimands him with a slight glare. The crow blinks stupidly at her words before it sinks into his skull, and he blushes beet red. Megumi only rolls her eyes at his blatant stupidity and lightly smacks him at the back of his head. "Stop thinking like that! Ayame-oneesama and Yua-oneesama are there too, and I have some explanations for you, remember?" she questions him a little gentler and he nods his head after a while, finally remembering why he's in the bungalow in the first place.
Once they reached the light green room, Megumi pushes Misaki in and closes the door before locking them and making sure no one followed her. Her adoptive parents are at work today, and she has no maid but one can't help but make sure they're really alone when it comes to important and private matter. True enough, Ayame and Yua are already in the room, lounging on the beanbags while reading some of Megumi's manga and novels. Misaki took note how Yua's hair had grown significantly and pools on the floor when she sits on the chair, and the way she has a headdress around her head with a blue jewel that falls in the middle of her forehead reminds him of some sort of Arabian princess, not to mention the white, satin flow dress she's wearing really made her stand out the most.
"Alright, no one is around to interfere and I believe I owe all of you an explanation," Megumi says with a clap of her hand and a smile. Misaki only makes a small noise of surprise, still trying to wrap his mind around the sudden whirlwind of occurrences. Ayame and Yua however, aren't pleased at all and glare at the younger girl as she nervously sits down on her bed. "Fine, fine, I'll explain everything from beginning to end on how I know Yatagarasu's child's soul is here and how I managed to save it. But before that, Yatagarasu, you might want to sit down, I don't want you to faint on me," she instructs and points to her dresser's chair. He complied and sits down as he was told.
Taking a deep breath, Megumi starts to explain. "Years ago, as you are well aware, I blessed Yatagarasu here and it gave him a child's soul, a child that has never been born into this world, a pure soul," everyone nod their heads at this and she continues. "However, that soul didn't make it to the world and because I was still so young at the time and not fully in-tune with my abilities, I did not know that I can call it back as the soul is actually connected to mine," she says and this makes the other three occupants of the room to sit straighter, now interested in the progressing of her explanation.
"Hold on a second there, if you said the soul's connected to yours, does that make you as the original mother then?" Ayame asks and glances at Misaki nervously. The crow seems a little upset, but he didn't show his emotions completely so Ayame couldn't be so sure on how he exactly feels. Megumi shakes her head and turns to look at Misaki with a gentle look and a caring smile, surprising the crow a little along with the other two girls. "You're not the mother? Then how is it tied to you?" Ayame continues to press, Yua glares at her a little to silence her, the girl never said a word throughout the whole ordeal.
"I am not, but because I blessed him, in a sense, my soul is linked with the child's soul. I don't know the details myself but that's how I managed to find it," she says and Misaki scratches his head a little in confusion. "After you gave the child's body a proper burial, his soul however, wanders around and doesn't stay up there for long because he wanted to stay by his parents' side," Megumi continues and smiles at Misaki. The crow blushes slightly but he too gave a small smile, touched at his son's reluctance to leave even after his death.
Yua then speaks up after listening to her explanation. "In a sense, the secondary bond you have with the child is what enables you to find him. I now understand how her powers work," she says and all eyes are on her. "When she blesses someone, especially with a child, she will form an unconscious secondary bond with the soul, like a rope that acts like a lifeline should the soul unable to be born. Unlike a real bond similar to the three of ours or like Yatagarasu's and his partner, this secondary bond is almost undetectable,"
"Like how someone would form an unconscious bond when they see someone else got hurt?" Ayame interrupts and Yua nods her head. Misaki however, is still a bit in the dark and so Ayame opts to explain to him. "Take it like this, person A is walking somewhere minding his business, when he sees person B falls off a bike and nobody wants to help. Of course, person A feels sorry for person B despite not knowing person B at all and goes to help him. That's a secondary bond, a bond of empathy and sympathy. That's how Megumi manages to save your child's soul,"
Misaki nods his head in understanding as Megumi thanked the two for explaining. "I felt sorry for your child, and he was crying out with such a sad tone that I can't bear it anymore. And since my powers have grown, I decided to 'fish' him back to the land of the living and return his soul to you. That is, if you and your partner still wants this child's soul. Remember Ayame-oneesama once told you I blessed three other people and two of them didn't want the child? Their souls are with me now, slowly being devoured," she says with a blank look and holding her hands against her chest. The other three occupants stare in horror when she says that and Ayame almost faints.
"What do you mean those two souls are being devoured? You said you 'fish' the souls to return them to their parents, not devour them!" Misaki screeches out in panic, but Megumi continues to stay silent as if contemplating on what she should explain to them. "Hey kid, explain to me! I get how you managed to save Ryuu's soul, but what about the other two? Can't you give those souls to the people who wants children or something?" he continues, but then she stares at him pointedly with those jade green eyes of hers, and it sends shivers down the crow's spine.
"I'm a double-edged sword! I kill as much as I bless! Some people, they came to me with pure hearts but they never desire anything until their hearts are corrupted with anger, hate, jealousy and other negative emotions. Those people became blinded and their hearts became too dark, and their wishes are just a thirst for blood! These souls I fished, their parents wanted them completely gone and that's what I have to do! I have to devour them, or else it'll just bring them more pain and suffering," she cries and hugs herself to stop the trembling now wracking her frame. "The only soul that's safe is the one that belongs to your child because deep down, you still want him,"
With that, she extend her hands forward and a gentle light glows from her palms, revealing a small orb that's just warm to the touch and as bright as a tiny star. Misaki stares at the glowing orb with fascination and tries to touch it, but drew back, afraid of hurting the light. "Go ahead, this is your child's soul, you have every right to hold and love him. This is his form before he has a body, but this is merely a false form, no one knows how a soul actually looks like. I found him circling around your house, apparently he has a deep attachment there, and I don't know why," Megumi says with a motherly smile. Ayame and Yua stares in fascination at the soul and the former even prods it with a finger, gasping when she feels the fluffy, yet solid feeling.
Misaki knew why Ryuu's soul is circling the house, it's because of the baby room the both of them had set up, Ryuu must've been dreaming of being with his parents. Now he also knows why he sometimes hear a child's laugh in the house when he's all alone, and sometimes even hushed sobbing, all of them had came from Ryuu, and he thought it was their neighbors' children who was crying and paid no mind. Tentatively, the crow retrieves the glowing orb from Megumi's hand and is awed at the loving sensations coming from it. Megumi stood up and without warning whatsoever, she blew on the soul and it immediately went into Misaki through his chest. The crow only blinks in surprise at what she just did.
"The soul is now yours again, everything will be just as it is so please, be careful this time. This soul suffered all these years because he couldn't be in your arms, and now that you got a second chance, you have to make it work," Megumi says fiercely. Just the thought of having his son back in his arms, Misaki nods his head and took his leave, content that Ryuu's soul is now with him once again. With the crow out of the sight, the two older girls stood up to face Megumi.
The younger girl looks down at the carpet as her adoptive sisters encircle her. "You didn't just fish Ryuu's soul, you exchanged a bit of yours, cutting your life shorter. Question is, why and how?" Ayame asks rather sharply as she crosses her arms across her chest. Even Yua is expecting an answer, but the other two suspects she already knows; her powers are linked between all three of them, not surprising if she had sense the slight agony that Megumi felt when she exchanged a small bit of her soul to fish back Ryuu's.
"He'd never allow himself to take Ryuu's soul, no matter how much he yearns for it if he had known," Yua says with a sympathetic tone and pats Megumi on her head. "Though the secondary bond acts like a lifeline for her to know if a soul is suffering, she can't just save a soul that's not meant to be devoured without having to pay compensation. To save a soul, she has to sacrifice a bit of hers, that's how it goes. Now I know why having the ability similar to a God is burdening, your soul is your price in exchange for another," she explains lengthily to Ayame who merely sighs in defeat. Now they hope that Misaki would take care of the soul so that Megumi won't have to fish for it again.
Later that night, an ecstatic Misaki had told Saruhiko about what had happened and not wanting to disappoint his beloved, both blue clansman and former vanguard of Homra decide to give their baby-making a shot, filling their night with passion and intense love. On the other side of the city, Megumi only smiles in her sleep when she heard the very familiar voice she had been listening to for weeks whisper to her.
Thank you.
I'm not entirely sure if I did well in this chapter as opposed to the previous chapters, but I tried my best. Somehow it feels to me like I'm focusing too much on the OC's and it's somewhat bothering me, so maybe I should do a change of pace.. Hmm... And I seriously hope that I get the complex theories right, all the ideas come to me when I want to sleep so it's always fuzzy, full of holes and requires lots of diligent work so it won't be left hanging.
If I sound like I got issues..maybe I really do (dies).
Anyways, this is it for this week's chapter, next one will be up same time and/or day next week, keep a lookout for it and if it's not too much to ask..leave me some reviews..? (sad Misaki eyes)