Chapter 5. This Kind of Taste

Angel was lying on the floor with his hands at his throat, choking on his own blood while coughing and gasping for air.

What the hell did he do?

Blood continued to stream from his stomach wound, creating a puddle with a terrifying speed.

He hurt him.

Aki could still see those eyes, that had looked at him in misery before they shut in pain. The guilt was building inside him. The sorrow was rippling through his body like waves created by a drop, falling into a still body of water. Bigger and bigger, deeper and deeper. As if his heart had been grabbed and punched. A feeling of pain that he had experienced before, but that didn't mean he was used to it. Every single time it was worse. At that very moment it was so much worse it almost made him run out of air.

Had he... had he just killed him?

Angel had told him that he was ready to die at any moment. He had told him that, when he was on the verge of death, but he was serene, surrendering that time. That look just moments before, however, was not the same... For how long was he going to keep killing those around him?

Unwanted memories began to crowd his mind; people he always thought of, but he tried not to associate with that conviction, failing every single time.

Now also Angel was among those faces.

"That's right, Devil Hunter, that's the look I want to see! Despair... Why don't you kill yourself as well?" it laughed as it blew those words into his ear. The icy hand gripped Aki's cheeks harder, distorting his face. Stronger than before. The touch almost seemed to be burning him from how cold it was.

No. He would no longer allow anyone to die before his eyes. Especially not Angel. He would save him, he swore that to himself.

He needed to free himself.

He swiftly swung his katana towards the devil, but it avoided the blow, dissipating like mist and disappearing.

"'Wanna play, huh? Let's have some fun until you die then. Let the show begin!" the devil exclaimed with a distorted voice and an horrific laugh.

"Future, you asshole, do your fucking job" Aki invoked the devil with whom he had contracted. He was worn out. Not even a trace of his enemy was to be seen, and no predictions had been shown to him: Aki only had a few seconds left for action. He ran towards Angel. First of all he had to try to make him recover, perhaps there was still a chance to save him.

He reached him.

With a decisive slash, he cut his forearm superficially, also tearing the sleeve of his jacket and shirt, he groaned in pain at the contact with the cold, thin but sharp blade. He clenched his fist to increase the pressure of the blood and forced quite a bit of it into Angel's mouth; he had stopped coughing and was laying motionless on the ground. The copious flow of blood stained his lips, some spilling out of his mouth; a few drops were running down his pale neck and onto his jaw.

"Please... wake up" he whispered pleading, more to himself. There was nothing more he could do but hope.

Aki foresaw that his enemy was about to hurl an iron pipe at him. He ducked in time, covering Angel with his body as well, avoiding the blow. The piece of metal shattered violently against a red stone pillar that was holding up the ceiling, partially shattering it. Aki grabbed his partner by the collar of his jacket, and tried to drag him closer to the wall, so that he could protect him better. He was going to do everything in his power both defend him and take the devil down. It seemed frighteningly strong; it would not be easy to face it alone, he felt he did not have much hope, but he would not give up. He would do anything to stop that monster; he would rather die than run away.

The blanket of fog rose again, Aki could no longer see anything around him.

Another vision allowed him to prepare his guard just in time. The devil lunged at him with his long arm and scratched him with its sharp claws. It was fast. Although Aki was using all his strength to stand up to him, he was knocked down, tumbling far to the ground. He got back up quickly, the enemy had his back to him, approaching Angel to deal him the death blow. Aki ran towards the devil, charging his katana upwards, ready to slash his enemy.

"It's no use, you can't cut me" it sneered, taunting him.

Aki's swing, however, was successful, opening a deep slit from the shoulder to the foe's abdomen. The enemy screamed in despair as it retreated. Iron wires appeared, stitching the offended part.

"'You damned bastard! It is a sword that traitor forged. Die, Devil Hunter! You shall suffer the pains of hell, as you all make us devils suffer. I hate beasts like you! Die, die, DIE!" it growled, foaming at the mouth.

The vision did not come in time since, when Aki saw the enemy materialise at his side in his mind's eye, he felt first a sharp pain in his chest, which exploded in bursts of blood from three deep scratches, and then a very violent pounding, which knocked the breath out of him. He was thrown against the wall.

He hit his head and then fell violently on the ground.

A strong heat started radiating from the back of his skull, where he had hit the rocky walls. Aki brought a hand to the wound, it was wet, then looked at his palm: blood. His head was starting to feel heavy and his thoughts light. His abdomen also hurt as he struggled to breathe. Aki tried to get up, pushing himself up with his hands and arms, but failed. His legs were giving out from the effort. His body was also becoming tired, he felt his energies abandon him. He fell back to the ground, a little dust rose on impact.

He heard footsteps approaching from his left. Angel was walking slowly. He stood in front of him. His halo was much brighter and his circumference had almost doubled. From his back, beneath his wings, which had now become huge and much larger than him, another pair was sprouting. They were pointing downwards. Angel flapped all four of them, causing the air to move, sweeping away the mist generated by the enemy, the wind blew over him as well. Two more small wings grew on either side of his head, just above his ears.

"Sorry... I use five years" Angel said those words with an ice-cold calm, his voice was a little different than usual. It was darker and deeper. He sounded extremely serious, even angry.

A cascade of blood surged from his halo, falling viscously onto his hand, then solidifying into a thick, dark, blood-red spear, spiked at both ends. Angel spun it confidently in his palm, then broke it in two and armed both his hands. He barely turned to look at Aki. Angel's eyes were red, glowing incandescently in the dark, along with his halo. A tear of blood ran down his cheek, starting from a large, wide-open third eye, again with a blood-coloured iris, which had opened on his forehead. Angel's blood mingled with Aki's, which before had stained his pale jaw and lips.

"You're not going to die here, Aki" he said before turning. The last thing Aki saw, before he fainted from too much blood loss, was Angel posing, bending slightly and then thunderously snapping towards his enemy, almost disappearing.

Angel entered the building, the heavy metal door was already open. Inside, darkness reigned supreme and the little light that shone came just from his own halo. The place was completely barren, there was only a cold, shabby desk. His sense of smell suggested there was no one nearby, indicating to him to go downstairs. He looked around and noticed another metal door, but this time a clear one. He pushed it, opening it fully.

The smell he was chasing became stronger. He wondered how he had failed to catch it earlier. It was sickening from how intense it was.

He descended the stairs and ended up in a dungeon carved out of sandstone; there were a few pillars and arches supporting the ground over his head. He looked throughtly around him in suspicion: there was no one there... Until he heard a soft voice called his name.

Not Angel. Not Angel Devil. It was a name he had never heard, but it lit something inside him. He knew it. And he also felt he knew that voice. He searched for the spot where the call came from. Further down, there was a girl with dark brown hair, some of which was gathered into thick braids. She was waiting for him, smiling. Her eyes were large and dark, like her skin. On her forehead, a chain was engraved. Angel approached her, moving like a piece of iron attracted by an overpowering magnet, he could not do otherwise, he couldn't resist. He looked at her and spoke, but not in Japanese. In a language he did not realise he knew.

"What are you doing here?" he asked surprised. The words came out naturally.

He did not know why, but he felt it was simply wrong that they were talking. Yet he longed to hear that voice again, to see her kind eyes again. Who was she?

"It's been a while... how are you?"

"I..." Angel thought about it.

How was he? He was not well; there was only one thing - one person - that kept his mind off from his miserable life, but he felt guilty naming him.

Why?

"I'm fine" he lied, to not worry her. "How are you?" then asked, interested in her. He really was.

He heard the lapping of the waves in the distance, so familiar, so peaceful; the smell of gentle saltiness made its way through his lungs. Did he feel... at home? He was confused.

The woman's expression changed from the smiling one to a deep frown: "You're fine, huh? I'm not. Because of you."

Angel froze on the spot. What was she even saying?

He extended his hand towards her. He knew he could do it.

But the girl's expression twisted into a grimace of pain, then fear, until the light disappeared completely from her eyes. She then vanished like mist, which surrounded him.

No more sound of waves, no more smell of salt.

Even the nauseating smell, which he had been chasing before, surrounded Angel. He heard footsteps, and perceived a shadow approaching. The silhouette became more and more recognisable in the mantle of haze. He recognized the blue eyes.

"Aki" he whispered in disbelief.

The man looked at him with wide eyes, also sickened, frightened by him, like the girl just before. A few seconds later he struck a pose, his hands were clenching hard on the katana. Aki narrowed his eyes and screamed at the top of his lungs, "Monster!", piercing Angel.

Angel was ready to die, so why did he feel the pain?

Why did he feel betrayed?

The sorrow spread through his body like a great dark abyss that was devouring him, but it did not come from that wound, or from that katana, but from something much deeper. He saw his own blood begin to gush, the red spread all over his shirt.

An icy voice spoke behind him. Frantic, excited breathing brushed against his ear, giving him the shivers.

"Angel Devil, brother from Hell. How does it feel to die by the hand of the one you love? It is a great feeling... maybe romantic? You have been cursed along with the human! Die once and for all, so you can learn what comes from betraying your siblings for this bitch. It was only a matter of time before he killed you, too. Did you really think you were any different from the rest of us? Better, perhaps? Let's start this new cycle with you!" he snickered shrilly, disappearing.

The strength left his legs. The last thing Angel saw, before he was seized by convulsions and a strong cough from all the blood surging up his windpipe, was Aki: shock full painted on his face, drawing the katana from his abdomen and, above all, his desperate, guilty stare.

He opened his eyes wide. The ceiling of his cell, on the lower floor of the Public Safety building, had never given him such a sense of comfort as at that particular moment.

His head was spinning, he felt extremely weak. He tried to move on the cot, so thin that he could clearly feel the metal supports pressing into his muscles and bones. His arm, in the crook of his elbow, ached. He noticed that he was still wearing his shirt, torn at stomach level and soaked in blood. He lifted his sleeve, a large bruise sat on the sore spot: they must have drew blood from him. They had never done it before because he was not allowed to drink it, but the Blood fiend had once told him about her experience after the fight against Samurai Sword and the Yakuza zombies. Slowly he tried to remember what had happened after what he had seen again in the dream: at one point he felt the taste of blood in his mouth and had recovered, had clashed briefly with the hostile devil and at the first chance, had grabbed Aki and returned to his car, calling for help from the radio. It was natural that his partner's safety was a priority: Aki could have bled out from the various wounds and the hit to the head; he had fainted within minutes after being thrown off.

He inspected his surroundings. In one corner of the room there was a change of clothes, a tray, with a piece of bread and white rice on it, and a separate plate where there were apples already cut and peeled in a peculiar way: in the shape of a bunny. He smiled sadly, recognising who was the author of that work. He quickly changed, without wearing the tie and leaving a couple of buttons of his shirt open, and began to eat, sitting down on the floor and leaning his back against the cot.

As he chewed the slices of apple, which he had saved for last, he heard the grate of the peephole sliding. He did not turn around to see who it was, he did not particularly care. Shortly afterwards the door opened.

It was Aki, standing in front of him. The first thing that Angel noticed was Aki's untied hair -thinking about it, he had never seen Aki with his hair down-, the bandages on his forehead, visible from under the long black tufts, and the one on his left hand, which seemed to continue under his clothes for who knew how long. Also for the first time that he could remember, he was not wearing a Public Security uniform, but only a simple grey tracksuit trousers, a light-coloured T-shirt and a dark jacket over it. Angel kept scanning him: it was so strange to see him in ordinary clothes, he could almost consider himself lucky.

"Hey..." Aki began to speak as Angel swallowed the last piece of the apple.

"Hi" Angel answered. Aki didn't continue the conversation though, he was watching him with a slightly furrowed brow, he seemed to be struggling. So it was Angel the one who spoke again: "How are you?"

"I'm doing fine, only my head hurts. The doctor said I was fine especially with the blow to my chest... in fact, she said I was miraculous that I didn't break a rib or a vertebra or whatever. The other injuries are not serious, but still I was unconscious for a few hours. They discharged me this morning" he explained in a comprehensive manner, far too much so than usual. Angel was glad, however, that he was OK.

"How long has it been since the attack?"

"Almost two days..."

So he, instead, had been unconscious for two days. Great.

"How are you?" Aki rocked slightly, shifting his weight first on one leg and then the other "I stopped by earlier but you were sleeping..."

He wasn't sleeping, but he didn't have the courage to correct him. He didn't know how much Aki remembered, however he didn't want to make him feel more guilty than he already appeared. "I'm fine" he replied.

"I came here to thank you for saving me, Denji told me. In theory he shouldn't even have known, he heard it from the nurses. You could have just left me there..."

"I'd do it again" Angel told him, feeling a little offended that Aki might think he could ever abandon him.

"I almost killed you, though. You would have had every reason not to help me" Aki's eyes fled from his. Angel missed the blue eyes, though they were more haunted than usual at that moment. Those words saddened him. It was true, he had hurt him, but the circumstances made him realise that Aki had been deceived just as it had happened to him. Did he really believe that it would take so little for Angel to change his mind and abandon him?

"Anyway the enemy was what we were looking for, are you glad they're a devil and not a person?" Angel tried to change the subject to boost Aki's morale. But mainly because he couldn't bear to hear him say those things any longer, it was better to put an end to that discourse.

"Sure, I feel relieved. And we're also done with this awful story now... thankfully it was short-lived" Aki finally looked at him again and sketched a tugged smile.

Angel hesitated, Aki was taking many things for granted.

"We're not done, I didn't kill them" he replied slightly testy.

"What? You spared it?" Aki's face changed expression abruptly, covering himself in astonishment.
He still didn't know anything then?

"No, I wounded them and as soon as I could I ran away."

"But you could have killed it?"

"Maybe... I don't know. It doesn't matter that much now."

Aki was looking down at him, but Angel had no intention and no strength to get up from the floor. He reciprocated his gaze with some coldness. Aki took a deep breath and began to speak, gesturing visibly agitated.

"Yes, it does. It's still on the loose and it could start its slaughter again at any moment... more than fifty people could die because we didn't kill it" he paused, leaving his speech in mid-sentence, as if a piece, that he couldn't understand, was missing in his reasoning. Then he asked the question with a weak voice, the one Angel had been expecting for a while: "Why didn't you do it?"

"You needed a doctor."

"What?" Aki dropped his arms downwards. "You threw away the lives of sixty-four innocent people instead of just one? It doesn't work like that. You could have sacrificed me for them, it's my job..."

How could Aki say such stupid and senseless things? How could he tell him that he could have let him die, how could he talk about his life so lightly. Wasn't he afraid of death? Just before he had come to thank him for rescuing him and now he was getting angry at him for doing so. What was wrong with him?

"They can be one, ten, a hundred... I don't care about them" Angel replied, growing more and more testy.

"How can you say such things? They will die now!" Aki raised his voice. He was visibly angry.

Angel felt all the emotions overflow. They swirled inside him, so confused that he couldn't put a name to them, all he knew was they were hurting him.

"None of those people is you... do you understand that?" he confessed. He was unable to restrain himself any further.

"What... what are you talking about?" Aki widened his eyes.

"What I just said... what's the point of saving those people if you die. I don't care about any of them" he admitted softly. And he meant it, he would do it again and again, because none of them were Aki.

"Stop it!"

"'Do you understand how that devil works, or not?" he asked sternly. Angel feared, indeed, at that point he was sure, that the answer was a no. Aki froze for a moment and avoided the question with a calmness that seemed feigned: "It only wanted to kill us because we are from Public Safety."

"You're wrong. We were supposed to be the first of those sixty-four, they told me."

"That's not true!"

"Yes it is, they didn't tell me their name and I don't know what devil they are exactly but they..." he took a moment to continue his speech. Angel wouldn't be able to describe love in big words, poems, songs or whatever. He was not even able to say whether what he felt corresponded to what everyone else defined as love. Perhaps he could never do so, because it was not for him to express his feelings. However, he was able to say that, whatever drove him to do everything he had done and was willing to do for Aki, was definitely what he would have defined as love.

"...They kill the people you love."

"I don't love you" Aki replied in a rush, almost whispering, shocked. His expression was indecipherable. That was a cold shower for Angel, though it was impossible for him not to notice Aki's cheeks turning a very slight shade of pink.

"Ah, yeah... you like Makima, right?" Angel provoked him venomously. Aki made a strange expression upon hearing the woman's name, as if he had just remembered something. Angel couldn't figure out what it meant.

"Yeah, that's right! I do like her! - he countered - Cut the bullshit, that devil was wrong!" Aki was mad as he said those words.

"Devils are never wrong about such things. Besides, do you really like Makima?! You never talk about her, you never say anything about her. Nothing! I bet you don't even think of her, yet you're convinced of this. That's not love" Angel was sure of what he was saying.

Aki, angry, grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, making him stand up and bring him up to his face level. Angel had never been so close to Aki's face, their noses were almost touching; he could see nothing but the deep blue of his eyes, under his frowned brows, and his slightly flushed cheeks.

Aki was breathing heavily on his lips, Angel could smell the scent of the smoke. He felt the other's stern gaze travel over his face, stopping first on his lips and then in his eyes.

"What would you know about love! You are a devil!" Aki threw those words at him with unprecedented coldness, continuing to stare seriously into his eyes. Angel could see his reflection in the deep blue, and watched perfectly as his face broke into an imperceptible sad expression. But he would not give Aki the satisfaction of hurting him...

"Let me go!" demanded Angel. Aki, coming to his senses for a moment, obeyed.

"Yeah, what would I know..." added Angel as he looked at Aki sideways, adjusting his wrinkled shirt. He was furious, to say the least.

"That's right... devils can't feel love... you idiot..." Aki's tone had softened, it almost sounded like a whisper, but Angel didn't care.

"You are the idiot! What did you come here for then!" Angel nudged him viciously, causing him to stagger. "Get out!"

"You don't have to tell me that! I'll go away on my own."

"You're an asshole, you haven't changed at all!" Angel shouted at him.

Aki stormed out of the cell, leaving the door open behind him. Angel followed him with his eyes and, when he was sufficiently far away that he no longer heard his footsteps, he sat back down on the floor, bringing his knees to his chest and hugging them.

What had just happened? He didn't think that conversation could go that way, let alone that they would ever argue in such heated tones... Not after what had happened. Was he serious? He didn't care at the moment; going over it again analysing every little detail, the words, the tone, the expressions, would only be counterproductive and, in any case, he felt extremely hurt. His eyes wandered around the room until they rested on the empty plate where the bunny apples were.

Stupid human, you don't understand anything...- he thought sadly, crouching down and hiding his face in the crook of his arms.

Author's Note:

Thank you for reading this far I hope you liked it! There is just one other chapter and then I'll take a short break from translating to finish my thesis. Reviews are welcome, I'd love to hear what you think about the story :3