Part 20

Death gave the barrier he created one last glare before stomping around the space given to him, muttering curses under his breath. He had always thought of Sendoh as the joker of the Underworld, but this joke has gone too far. Death could have sworn that he kept his diary in one of his best places wherein no one would know where it was. How did they find it? His mind was racing like nuts. If his guess was right, though Sendoh never told him the reason why they were doing this, they planned all this to sneak that mortal in. And maybe worse, made the young prince choose him as his bride.

At that thought, Death clenched his teeth and kicked the barrier. How could he have been tricked so easily? Why didn't he bother to mind-read Sendoh? He was angry at himself and the rest of the world, and deciding that nothing would come out from his kicking and cursing. He sat down on one side of the barrier and rested his head on his knees, wanting a miracle to come.

"I finally found you, Death-san."

Death instantly lifted his head at that voice, and when he saw a figure coming towards him, he stood up from the ground, "Fujisawa-san!"

Eri stopped in front of the cloaked figure and touched the barrier, a slight frown settling over her lips. She sighed, then gave Death a look. "Sendoh, right?" When Death was about to ask how she knew, Eri backed away and interrupted him. "I overheard the group talking. Oh, and by the way," She gave Death an angry glare. "Your prince chose a mortal to be his bride."

At that, Death paled considerably paler than his usual skin color. He bowed his head. "Satan's going to KILL me."

Eri gave a grin at Death's expression and leaned in close again. "I have a little proposition that can give us both what we want, if you agree to it."

Death looked up from the ground. "What is it?"

Eri chuckled evilly and said, "I'll get you out of your barrier since I'm one of the strongest relatives to your kind, and in return," Her eyes hardened slightly. "You kill that mortal so that Kaede'd be mine."

Death thought that over and asked, "But I am suppose to kill the mortal tomorrow, after the battle with the prince and the angel which is at noontime."

"I figured that would happen, considering the situation we have in our hands." Eri muttered, but she waved her hand away. "But I don't want you to kill Hanamichi on the battle time. I want you to kill him before that time comes, so no one will be there to protect him."

Death's eyes widened at that plan, but nonetheless, he gave a diabolical grin. "Done."

Eri grinned back, then shifted her weight to the other foot. "So, how do I get you out?"

* * * * * *

Sendoh laughed happily as he watched Koshino stuff a piece of tissue paper up his nose to stop the bleeding. Right after Hanamichi and Rukawa's performance, Sendoh was the only one left conscious, while Mitsui fainted to the floor and Koshino was nose bleeding like nuts. He had to haul the 2 demons with him to his room so that the servants that would pass by wouldn't suspect a thing. Well, Mitsui had gone away right after he woke up, and as for Koshino, he still couldn't stop his nose from bleeding.

Koshino groaned angrily. "This is all your fault, Akira!"

Sendoh raised his eyebrows in an innocent look. "Moi? Why's that?" He moved towards his lover and nuzzled his neck lovingly. "Come on, Hiro-kun...I know you enjoyed it."

Koshino blushed and turned away. "It was suppose to be a PRIVATE thing."

"Yeah well, they didn't know we were there." Sendoh replied.

Koshino shook his head and sighed. "Hentai."

Sendoh grinned and looked at the clock. "It's 11:45 pm...let's go to sleep."

Koshino nodded and stood up. "Yeah." But when Sendoh didn't release him from his hold, Koshino gave the blue eyed demon a curious look. "What?"

Sendoh grinned evilly. "I think the hentai part of me is still awake."

"NANI?!" But before anything else, Sendoh pulled Koshino down with him towards the bed and let the hentai out.

* * * * * *

Kogure walked back and forth in his room impatiently, wondering what could have happened to Hanamichi and the rest. He had been up all night worrying that maybe they were caught or Hanamichi was killed. Both suggestions seemed imaginable enough. Kogure glanced at his clock. 7:10 am... He sat down on his bed and cradled his aching head, wishing that he had the power to see through a crystal ball or something. It was quite annoying to be patient at a time like this.

Just then, a black vortex appeared in front of him, and he sat up instantly, his senses alert. When Mitsui came out, looking like he had run a mile or two, seeing that his face was red and his breathing was labored. "Hisashi!" Kogure shouted, coming to the aid of his lover.

Mitsui gave a small nod to Kogure before falling on top of Kogure's bed, mumbling curses underneath his breath.

Kogure's eyes widened in fear. "What? What happened?"

Mitsui moaned in reply.

Kogure was starting to worry. "What's wrong? Did you guys get caught? Did Death stop everything? Did Satan come back?"

Mitsui shifted his body to face the wall and gave another moan as he rasped out, "Worse."

Kogure's heart jumped as he shouted, "What?! Did they kill Hanamichi?!"

Mitsui lifted his gaze a little bit at that, then gave a smile to Kogure. "Oh no, nothing like that."

Kogure gaped at Mitsui's smiling face, then grounded out hysterically, "What?! What happened?"

Mitsui shook his head then whispered faintly, "Damn Akira. He had to make us watch."

"Huh?" Kogure fell back a that, the shook Mitsui's arm. "Watch what?"

Mitsui groaned then added, "He made us watch Hanamichi and Kaede while they were doing it."

Kogure gaped at that answer, then whacked Mitsui on the back of his head. "BAKA! I thought it was something SERIOUS!"

"Nani?!" Mitsui looked up at his lover. "Believe me Min-kun, watching another pair of lovers doing it is something I would call very serious."

"BAKA, BAKA, BAKA, BAKA!!!!!!!"

"Ouch! Hey, stop whacking me with that pillow! It hurts!"

"WHO CARES?! BAKA!!!!!!!!!!!"

* * * * * *

Mrs. Kogure looked up from the newspaper she was reading in the dining table to the area above her head, which was Kiminobu's room. She vaguely heard shouting and things falling to the floor, combined with another persons cries, then smiled, shaking her head to return to her newspaper. Whatever was going on up there, it looked like she shouldn't but in.

* * * * * *

"Hana...Hana..."

Hanamichi opened his eyes slowly, his senses still tired and unfocused. He closed his eyes then stretched, his leg bumping into another warm body. His movements stopped as he opened his eyes and focused. In front of him, staring back with an amused smile, was Rukawa, naked from waist up. Hanamichi stared at him for a while, then smiled softly, snuggling closer to Rukawa drowsily. "Hi..."

Rukawa smiled at his beautiful redhead, his hair tousled over the pillow, his skin soft and pale against the contrast of the white sheets. Rukawa leaned in close and whispered, "How do you feel?"

Hanamichi closed his eyes and hugged Rukawa to him, his head nestled under Rukawa's head. "Great..."

Rukawa closed his eyes also and draped his arms around Hanamichi's body. As Hanamichi fell asleep, Rukawa shifted his gaze from his redhead to around the room, his senses alert and his body slightly tensed. Today was the day the battle for Hanamichi's life would occur. Even though the battle would be at noontime, as all fights against Death are scheduled, Rukawa couldn't help feeling that something was going to go wrong. Something not planned...

Hanamichi shifted his body closer to Rukawa's, making the raven haired boy feel how warm and soft Hanamichi's body was. Rukawa sighed and settled back against the bed, his eyes slowly closing as he too drifted off to sleep, murmurind softly into Hanamichi's ear, "I love you."

Hanamichi sighed against him and murmured just as softly, "I love you too."

Rukawa smiled and fell asleep. There was nothing to worry about.

Nothing at all.

* * * * * *

Eri watched from her crystal ball as the 2 men cuddled against each other, her face contorting into an ugly sneer. She watched as Rukawa fell asleep against Hanamichi's head, nuzzling the red hair before he dozed off. Eri balled her hand into a fist before.

"Now, now, Fujisawa-san. There's no need to get vexed."

Eri turned to look at Death, who was watching the crystal ball from behind her, then retorted, "I'm not vexed." She turned to look at the pair and glared. "I'm just impatient."

Death cackled at that then turned to look at the redhead sleeping beside Rukawa. He grinned evilly. "Soon, Fujisawa-san. It will happen very soon."

TBC