Hey there everybody, new chapter is here! I won't say much here, Just hope you all have a happy holidays and hopefully this Chapter is a nice Christmas Present! It's funny, Chapter 24 is being uploaded on December 24th. Now if only it was the year 2024 and then it'd be 24/24/24. Enough rambling from me though. Enjoy!
Iku Nagae was not having a good day. It was still morning and the day had already become her absolutely most hated day in all of the days she's been alive. The reason she was upset? It had to do with the eldest child of the Hinanawi clan. Tenshi Hinanawi had always been a bit of a problem child but this time? This time she'd really done it. It turned out that she'd sneaked out of Heaven again, but this time she'd gotten herself tangled up a person named John Graham. This wouldn't be too much of an issue, but there had been some digging into who he was and the findings had made several people in Heaven...concerned. What was pulled up on him was that he was currently a business owner, a trader of sorts, resourceful, and usually well behaved. The problem had been when it was revealed that he'd taken on multiple fiancees. Well, that wasn't the problem itself, numerous humans over the course of history had had several lovers, some of them having the most caring families ever seen. No the problem was just who those fiancees were. There was Kogasa Tatara, not a problem at all, it wouldn't be the first time a youkai married a human. There was also Sanae Kochiya, which again wasn't a problem. Just a regular human girl all things considered. After that though is when things got...alarming.
One of those fiancees turned out to be Yuuka Kazami of all people. Those who looked up John were confused on how that managed to happen, but things got even wilder when it was revealed that Yuugi Hoshiguma was one of his brides to be along with Flandre Scarlet, along with the immortal moon princess Kaguya Houraisan. About the only other 'normal' person on that list of brides was Youmu Konpaku(though it was apparently not cemented yet) but even that that gave him some connection to Yuyuko Saigyouji and despite how flighty that woman could be, she was a lot more dangerous than she let on. This caused many people to go into panic mode, especially the head of the Hinanawi clan, the only reason the man was keeping composure was because he wanted to get his daughter away from him and back home as soon as possible and also to not alert anyone else into panicking. He mostly wanted to have her serve her punishment as intended...and also because in the eyes of the head of Hinanawi clan, John Graham was a perverse being who lusted after any woman who caught his interest.
To top things off, he was a literal Godslayer and had apparently killed Lord Susanoo. Or at least some form of him or an impostor, because the higher ups did a check-in and Lord Susanoo was currently in the outside human city of Las Vegas and when he was told of the information he laughed it off and told a messenger to send John Graham his congratulations. Needless to say that many were dumbstruck by the information, but for now that particular bit of information was being kept quiet. That said, a few other members of the Hinanawi clan had convinced the Clan Head to take a more diplomatic approach. After all, he simply wanted his daughter back and upsetting John Graham wasn't smart. To that end, Iku was now running hurriedly to the spirited away home of John Graham where his wives-to-be were currently with a blessed talisman in hand. The talisman in question was for Flandre Scarlet as with her being a vampire if she stepped outside as she is currently she'd turn to ash in a matter of seconds, in fact, her just being in heaven is probably causing her some discomfort. The last thing anyone wanted was for John to arrive, find out one of his lovers had died and then to be so consumed with grief and attempt to murder the Clan Head…and that wasn't even getting into the possibility of what Remilia Scarlet would do. Despite her appearances, she was a very old vampire and vampires only got stronger with age.
"I need a freaking drink…" Iku muttered, hopefully things weren't too bad and the women were being patient. They'd been found drunk after all…
-000-
Kaguya and the others sat quietly in the living room of their home. While things were normal on the inside, one look outside at all the white clouds was enough to tell them that they were not in the human village and after sleeping off all the drunkenness they had the day before, the girls were now all (mostly) sober and wondering what they're next move would be.
"Hang in there Flan, we'll figure something out." Kogasa said, using her umbrella to at least somewhat cover the girl in darkness. Flandre had been in the worst state after sobering up, the alcohol had actually done her some good and dulled her senses enough that she couldn't feel the pain, but with that gone, she was feeling the full effect of being in heaven and being a vampire.
"Thanks Kogasa...my skin feels like it wants to tear itself off my body, how long are we gonna be here?!"
"Not sure...we could always fight our way out?" Yuugi said "I wouldn't mind getting into a scrap with some of heaven's finest."
"But what about Flan?" Kogasa said "The second she goes out there she'll die. I don't think I can cover her all that well either."
"Dammit, why are we even here?!" Medicine growled "Did heaven just decide to screw with us?"
"John is the reason we're here." Youmu said curtly "Let's be honest with ourselves, he's definitely at fault for this."
"That's a bit...well no, you're probably right." Sanae sighed "Maybe I can help? I could call Lady Kanako or Suwako to aid us?"
"Personally, I like Yuugi's idea." Yuuka said "Fighting agents of heaven sounds fun. I could use the work out and it would be nice to teach heaven a thing or two about hurting my family."
The conversation continued on for several more minutes before Kaguya finally spoke
"Enough! The best plan we can do is...wait." Kaguya said
"You want us to wait?!" Kogasa snarled "We're being held hostage! All we've been told is to 'wait here' by one of those lackey angels!"
"Calm yourself Kogasa." Kaguya replied in a gentle tone "This isn't a hostage situation...at least not entirely. I'm almost certain were it not for Flan we could walk around heaven at our leisure."
"If this isn't a hostage situation then what exactly is it then?" Yuugi said "Because it definitely looks like a hostage situation to me."
"It's not." Kaguya said again "This is...negotiations."
"Negotiations?! What the hell is being 'negotiated' here?" Medicine said while making air quotes
"We'll find out soon I'm sure. That said, we're not in as bad a position as it appears, no doubt we'll soon be brought something to placate us...for a time. I've seen this happen before...been party to few of them from both sides. We need a united front, we can't let the denizens of heaven think that we aren't on good terms with one another. It could go very badly…"
"Bad...how exactly?" Kogasa asked
"In the worst case we'd be forced into an agreement that has absolutely no benefit for us at all. Or our adversaries would try to sway one of our own to their side. The list is long and I don't want to go over it all."
"I want some darkness...it sucks here." Flan whined
"Just hang on, you'll be fine soon." Kaguya said in a reassuring tone
As if on cue, the front door opened, with Flan inching back just a tiny bit more to try and avoid any light that filtered into the room.
"A thousand pardons for the wait." a woman in a large hat said "I am Iku Nagae, a messenger of the Dragon Palace."
"A pleasure." Kaguya said with a polite nod "I would love to talk but our friend is in quite the dire state as you can see. Is there anything you could do about that?" she pointed towards Flan who was still huddled against the wall, trembling slightly.
Iku's head followed her hand and she nodded in understanding. "Do not worry, that is part of the reason I was sent here." Iku said taking out a talisman that was fashioned in the shape of a necklace, "This is a talisman made by Lady Tsukuyomi, imbued with the power of the moon itself. It should be more than enough to help her."
Not wanting to overstep her boundaries, Iku presented the necklace to Youmu who quickly took it and draped it over Flandre's neck. The vampire's mood changing almost instantly.
"Finally, I don't feel like I want to tear my own skin off." She said with a happy sigh "This thing is amazing! There should be more of these for vampires everywhere."
"I'm afraid that's not likely to happen." Iku sighed "No offense my lady, but giving vampires the ability to freely walk without fear of the sun would cause quite the commotion."
"Wait I can actually walk outside with this thing?!"
"Er...yes...you can?" Iku said slowly, starting to feel that she'd made a grave mistake
She watched as Flandre gingerly stepped towards the door, opening it slightly and sticking a singular finger out. She quickly pulled it back in shocked at the fact that her body wasn't burning. Emboldened by this, she opened the door wider and stuck her leg out next.
Still no burning.
"This is amazing! I can go outside! I can walk around in the sun!" Flandre said excitedly, her crystalline wings fluttering in happiness "John will love this!"
"That's all well and good, but why are we here?" Yuuka asked "Is there a reason we were spirited away from our home?"
At this, Iku rubbed her temple and sighed "Let me be the first to apologize about that, from what I can tell this has to do with your husband-to-be getting wrapped up in the scheming of one of the Hinanawi Clan's children."
Kaguya rubbed her chin in contemplation for a few minutes as she tried to recall the name Hinanawi. It rung a bell, she recalled Reisen using the name at some point, particularly in regards to a certain string of earthquakes that had happened a few years back. To hear the name again had Kaguya intrigued, though she kept it hidden behind a mask of indifference.
"I see...but then, why would we be brought to heaven? Surely things would have resolved themselves without us having to be dragged here."
Iku let out a loud and long sigh before speaking again. "This is the head of the Hinanawi Clan acting rashly, no doubt wanting to get his daughter to return and when he learned that she was with a man, he more than likely overreacted."
"You sound like you could use a drink." Yuugi chimed in
"Make it several."
"No problem." Yuugi said pouring the messenger of the Dragon Palace a drink and motioning for her to sit at the table in the room.
"Be careful, she is an oni." Kaguya says "So her idea of a light drink is very different from what a regular person could consider light."
"Do not worry, I can handle my drink."
Kaguya let the woman help herself, while she thought about what she'd learned. So it was the head of the Hinanawi clan who had spirited them away? And all of this was to procure the return of his daughter? Maybe she could work this to their advantage, though really it seemed like Iku wasn't doing her best to impose anything on them.
"So Iku…" Sanae asked as the woman downed a drink "What exactly is going to happen to us? Is the head of the Hinanawi clan going to speak with us? Perhaps we could come to an understanding and we could be returned home?"
"I'll be honest, I sincerely hope that's the plan, but the Hinanawi clan can be a handful at the best of times. Hopefully, he hasn't done anything drastic.
-000-
"My fiancees have been kidnapped and are being held hostage in Heaven?!" John exclaimed as a messenger angel stood before him, Satori, and Tenshi. This had been quite the thing to wake up to as he and Tenshi were just getting ready to leave.
"Kidnapped is a harsh word. The lord of the Hinanawi clan simply wishes for a peaceful exchange. He wants his daughter back and in return, you receive your family back. I've delivered the message, so I'm going home, it stinks down here."
With that the angel flew away, leaving John to stew on the information he'd just become privy to.
"T-Tenshi! What the hell?!" John said rounding on the celestial
"I-I-I don't know! I didn't think Dad would do something like that!"
"Well he just fucking did!" John growled "What do I do, how can I save them?"
"I-I don't know! I'll um...I'll go talk to him? I don't know why the hell he'd go and do kidnapping like that!"
"I can't believe this, but Tenshi I need you to sneak me into heaven." John said in a serious tone "I've gotta save my girls!"
"That's easier said than done, it's not like we can just go through the front gates. Well we could, but that wouldn't be comfortable for us at all and some foolhardy angel may try to smite you."
"Smite me?" John asked with a raised eyebrow
"You know, holy light...in the name of their patron god etc? They'd try to kill you is what I'm saying."
"That...would be bad. Would someone in heaven really do that?"
"Believe me when I say this John: Heaven has had many many mess ups and it's only because of some good politicking that a lot of it doesn't spill out into the human world."
"Like what?"
"Ever heard of Atlantis?"
That...caused John to stop and stare at her "Atlantis is real?"
"Very real. And it getting sank was the result of some overzealous idiots in heaven and it is one of the many reasons why you cannot do any big time water related projects without going through the proper channels in each pantheon. In our case? Lord Suiten is the water god in charge and even then he has to bring it up with all the other pantheons to make sure no shoes are stepped on. You know those stories of great floods right? There's several out there and many of those required numerous water gods to come together to make sure not everything is completely submerged."
Hearing all of this was fascinating to John. A part of him wanted to just sit there and have Tenshi give him even more knowledge on things that went on in heaven or several other notable events from history and myth but he pushed that desire away to focus on the currently more pressing matter.
"Right, so...any way we can get in? Does Heaven have like a back door or something?"
"Actually...you aren't too far off." Satori said finally speaking up "There actually is an old pathway to Heaven down here in Old Hell, but I have no idea where it'll take you on the other side."
"Why is there a pathway from what used to be Hell that leads to Heaven?" John asked
"Mostly for political reasons." Tenshi said with a shrug "Despite what most humans believe, Heaven and Hell are not enemies. At least not anymore, there's a fair bit of respect on each side and it's usually the idiots who don't know why they're fighting that end up causing problems."
Satori nodded at this "She's right. I remember hearing about a denizen of Heaven killed a notable member of Hell. Both sides were not happy for something like that to happen without good cause. It could jeopardize the good relations Heaven and Hell have with one another."
"What happened to the guy that did it?"
"I'm not too sure actually, I think he was stripped of his power, turned into a statue and then plopped down in a human city somewhere."
The way Satori just casually dropped that information made John's skin crawl just a bit. Pissing off Heaven was clearly not a wise move, but he didn't really have a choice.
"Anyway, I'll show you the way, it's not too far from here."
Following behind her, John and Tenshi were lead out from Satori's home and out to the back, From there they made their way towards a cave that embedded into a wall. It was unnatural, almost as if it didn't belong there at all. A pale white glow emanated from the entrance, almost as if it were beckoning them forward.
"Yup, that's definitely a path to Heaven." Tenshi nodded "Well, let's get going John we don't have time to plan, so we'll just have to play it by ear."
Nodding at her, the two walked into the cave. The light was blinding, so much so that John couldn't see at all and he had to bring his hands to his eyes to make it even remotely bearable. Despite that, he continued on walking for what must have been a full 15 minutes before finally coming to a halt as Tenshi grabbed his shoulder.
"We're here." Tenshi said as John opened his eyes "It took him a moment or two for his eyes to regain focus, but when he did he was greeted with an almost blinding sunlight, and was surrounded by several buildings all of them clearly of Japanese origin. They were almost completely red with several gold accents giving them a regal feeling that he'd never experienced before. As he looked above, he noticed several people with small wings on their backs floating and flying around. Some doing so lazily, others hurrying from one place to the next, and others happily conversing together.
A quick look around showed that they were in alleyway thankfully and so the shadows of the buildings towering over them acted as a decent enough cover. Though it'd probably be only a matter of time before someone looked down and saw them.
"Tch, I should have known it'd put us out here." Tenshi said with a sigh "That path really is old, it must have been made well before any of these buildings existed."
"Where are we?"
"This is the inner ring. We're one ring away from the center where most of the Japanese gods preside. The inner circle consists of numerous noble families in Heaven. Think of it as a one big political district."
"So your dad is here then?" John said with a growl
"Most likely, but let's not worry about him yet. We should find your fiancees and make sure they're okay. One of them is a vampire right? We should at least get her out of here before anything happens to her."
"How do we even do that though? One move outside and she's toast...literally."
"One thing at a time John, we'll cross that bridge when we get there. Let's find them first...we just need to find you some way of sneaking around without causing suspicion. I'm a known face, so it won't be a problem for me...but you aren't, even worse if someone knows about your status.
"Sneaking you say…? I think I have just the thing for that."
Looking to his bracelet John turned the slots until it landed on a black star shaped crystal. Locking it in place, a small flash overtook his body as he was now clad in durable yet light-weight looking black chainmail armor. He had two black daggers sitting on his hip as well as a black mask that obscured his face save for his eyes.
Tenshi looked at him, a look of surprise on her face at the sudden change. "You're a ninja…?"
"Yes. I should be able to travel unimpeded with you this way." John replied with a nod
"But how? With that outfit you'd stick out even more and there's not really many places to hide while also making our way around."
At this John let out a small chuckle as he made a simple hand-sign, the action causing a puff of smoke to appear. It quickly dissipated...only for Tenshi to not see John anywhere.
"What the hell?! You can turn invisible?!"
"I can indeed, this is my Hide ability! With this I should be able to follow you around without much issue. So, let's get moving and gathering information. Surely someone must know where the girls are."
With that being the case, John and Tenshi made their way out of the alleyway and onto the streets proper. Tenshi was leading the way since she was familiar with the area and also because...John couldn't speak to anyone at the moment and run the risk of ruining his hidden status. The reason it was working he noticed was that many of these denizens of Heaven were really low level...some of them weren't even above level 5 which was surprising to say the least. He'd half-expected most of the denizens of Heaven to be super strong, but thinking on it a bit more it made sense why they weren't: Heaven was meant as a paradise for people who passed on and ascended. Can't really be a paradise if you're having to fight. That particular line of work was probably left to whoever volunteered for it, leaving the result to be a bunch of denizens that were pretty weak overall.
This worked better for him as his ability didn't work on anyone who was several levels higher than him. As he followed Tenshi he kept quiet, keeping his eyes peeled for any danger while Tenshi did the talking. After a few minutes they came across a couple of angels who were talking and giggling to themselves.
"I'll fish for information, keep quiet." Tenshi whispered, when she was met with silence, she assumed that John had silently agreed and then approached the two women.
"Hello girls, how is it today?" Tenshi asked in a far more polite tone than she'd been using with him
The two women turned and looked surprised to see Tenshi standing before them.
"Wait...Tenshi? You're here?" One of them said in a surprised tone
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"
"Well, we heard word through the grapevine that you'd sneaked out to below the clouds again, we heard your father was quite livid."
"Oh no, I was merely lazing, I did end up er...falling asleep for a while though. Why, did Father do something?"
"Oh quite! We heard he's spirited away some mortals. Not sure where they are though, have you checked your home?"
"Nope, but this is concerning. I didn't mean to cause Father any undue worry, perhaps he is with these spirited away. I can only imagine what they have done to earn his ire."
"Are you sure it's wise to see him, he must be quite busy dealing with them and whatever it is they've done to offend him. Serves them right I say."
Tenshi could almost feel the malice coming from John
"Come now, that's quite cruel. I think I'll go see Father and figure out what the issue is, I'd rather not have some mortals get hurt and who knows, I could always use new servants."
"Teehee, you're the same as ever, having a soft spot for mortals." the woman laughed
Tenshi gave a fake laugh in return "What can I say? You're right in this regard, I use to be one after all. Old habits I suppose. Farewell for now ladies, perhaps we can have tea later?"
"That would be quite nice Tenshi, good day to you and tell your father I said hello!"
With a nod, Tenshi turned and left. Once they were out of earshot John spoke
"So hey Tenshi, is murdering an angel liable to get you sent to hell?"
"Without question. Now keep calm and don't do anything rash okay?"
"Fine, but I catch someone talking about the girls like that again and I'm beating their ass."
"It won't come to that, I promise." Tenshi replied, though she knew deep down it was a promise she couldn't really keep. Many people in Heaven had a tendency to talk down about people from anywhere that was considered 'below' them. Which was incidentally, just about everyone else on earth. Tenshi never really liked it, mostly because in her opinion the idiots of Heaven were missing out on just how fun the surface was and the myriad of interesting things you could find. Heck, she'd been contemplating to see if she could find a way to the outside world...but that would have to wait for now.
Pushing those thoughts out of her mind Tenshi and John walked through the areas of the inner circle towards Tenshi's home. Along the way the two stopped and talked to a few other denizens of Heaven, using it as a means to fish for information. There was nothing too important there, just that there was a group of mortals spirited away from earth and brought to Heaven by Tenshi's father, for (what they assumed) a presumed slight against him or Heaven itself.
So basically, all these nobles were pretty much in the dark and didn't care enough to find out anything else. With that being the case, the two strolled up to Tenshi's home where two guards stood, both of them going slack-jawed as she casually walked towards them.
"L-Lady Tenshi?!" one of the guards said in a higher pitched voice than normal "Y-you're back?"
"I never left!" Tenshi exclaimed
"Pardon my words my lady but...please don't lie, we have it on good authority that you ran away to the surface. Again." The other said recovering from the shock of her appearing "We have it on record from our men who chased after you."
"U-urk…!" Tenshi grunted "W-well, that isn't important! Where is father? I heard he's causing trouble for some mortals!"
"Your father is currently taking care of the idiot mortals who deigned to aid you in breaking the rules. He seemed quite interested in speaking with them, though I'm not too sure why. More than likely to show how much they've messed up. The fools are probably crying in terror at what Lord Hinanawi will say or do to them.
Again, Tenshi could feel that anger from John who was right behind her.
"I heard that one of the people possibly involved was a vampire. How disgusting, I hope they're made to suffer."
"Please...stop talking." Tenshi said weakly as she felt John's anger mounting
"Pardon me Lady Tenshi, I understand your love of the surface but it's a vampire? What good do they bring to the world besides feasting on the life of the living? We'd all be better off without them."
"Shut. Up." Tenshi scowled
"Haha, I think he's right my lady? What I wouldn't give to fly down to the surface and purge those disgusting youkai, all they do is cause problems, attacking things indiscriminately and being a blight. Perhaps Lord Hinanawi will at the very least be rid of the vampire. They are practically devils after all."
Tenshi didn't even get a moment to speak, as a bolt of lightning struck the guard, causing him to cry out pain and crumple to the floor.
"W-what was that?! Wa-wait...who are you?!" The other guard said noticing John, who thanks to launching that attack his 'Hidden' ability had worn off.
"I'm John Graham. The 'blight' and 'devil' that you described is going to be my wife soon. Your 'Lord' has whisked them away...and I came to get them back.
"Y-you! Attacking someone from Heaven is a grave offense. You'll be banished to hell for this!"
"Then I'll beat as many of you all down as I can before I go." John said coldly as he made two more hand signs before blasting a stream of fire from his mouth.
"J-John wait! Calm down, CALM DOWN!" Tenshi wailed
-000-
Iku was laid out on the floor. The poor woman had drank herself into a stupor, the irritation from her job having caused her to drink more than she meant to. She'd been out for the past few hours as they were now talking to an older looking man. He was surprisingly youthful looking, looking no more older than 30 or so. His hair was a light shade of blue, and he had somewhat stern look on his face.
He'd been talking with Kaguya and the others for the past few hours explaining that he misread the situation and had assumed that John had been in the know about Tenshi dodging her punishment and had aided her. Thus, he brought Her and the others here as a means to force his hand into bringing her home.
Kaguya could tell he was nervous though. It was in his eyes, they shot towards Yuuka and Yuugi a lot, as well as Flan and even Kogasa. Kaguya could tell: He was scared. He didn't realize just who John's betrothed were until was too late and he was now attempting to backpedal. No doubt that talisman for Flan was an attempt to curry favor.
"So with that being the case, I think we can agree that this is all a big misunderstanding. I'll be more than happy to return you all home and have you speak on my behalf to your husband to be."
"I dunno, I almost want my own piece of Heaven as compensation." Yuugi joked, which caused the head of the Hinanawi Clan to flinch in response.
"I-I beg you to reconsider that idea." he stammered
"Relax, I was joking! I already know Suika can be a handful and my hubby probably wouldn't like it if I caused problems up here."
A sigh of relief escaped the Clan Head's lips as he regained his composure "Right then, so I will make sure you are all returned home let me just take care of a few small things and-"
THWOOOOOM
CRACK
CRACK
THWOOOOM
Kaguya and the Clan Head looked out of the window to see streaks of lightning coming down within the city of Heaven, confused at what was happening
"What's going on?" Kogasa asked "Is that one of the Gods?"
"No, none of them would ever cause trouble there. That appears to be the inner ring. What on earth could be going on?" The Clan Head said in an inquisitive tone "There are hardly any battles here in Heaven besides the soldiers doing some training, but that never causes something like this."
As if to answer the question, the door flew open as one of servants of the Hinanawi clan stood there panting before him.
"M-my lord we're under attack!"
"Under attack?! By whom?"
"T-that's the thing my lord, it's Lady Tenshi...and she's accompanied by some ninja!
"A ninja…?" The Clan Head replied in disbelief "Why is she being followed by a-oh...oh no."
"It's John." Medicine said with a sigh "But how did he know we were here?"
With a louder than normal cough the Clan Head spoke "Ah, that...may be my fault. I completely forgot but I sent a message to him earlier that I had...detained you all."
Everyone in the room stared at him(save for Iku who was still passed out) with deadpan disbelief.
"You can't be fucking serious." said Youmu in the most deadpan tone possible
"F-forgive me, but let us get to the inner circle quickly, before things can get any worse!" the Clan Head exclaimed
"So question." Flandre asked "Is a bunch of armored angels flying towards the sounds of a fight worse?"
The Clan Head said nothing, simply heaving a large sigh "Please, can we just go?"
"Oh hell yeah, time to go fight some angels!" Yuugi exclaimed clapping her hands together "Suika is gonna lose her mind when she hears about this!"
The Clan Head merely whimpered as they all left the house and made their way towards the center of all the chaos.
Never insult a man's significant other. That aside, I had fun writing this chapter, it's meant to be a bit more silly with things getting worse because both parties sort of act without thinking. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter at least a little bit. I hope you have a merry Christmas and a happy new year! Until Next time!
