Part 21

Hanamichi woke up that morning feeling both sore and great. Sore because his entire body felt all cramped up and tense, great because...Hanamichi blushed at the picture that passed before his eyes and sat up. He turned to look at his right and his eyes widened with confusion. Rukawa wasn't beside him. He turned to look around the room, wondering where the raven haired man could have gone, when his eyes landed on a small piece of paper on top of faded, jeans and a white shirt with a wanted sign on it. He cautiously picked up the paper and read the note written on it:

Hana,

Sorry if I'm not by your side when you wake up. I was called to fix a certain problem in the East side of the Underworld. Hope you understand. I will be back around 9:30 or 10 am, so please have breakfast for the meantime. Put on the clothes I got from your room and go downstairs. I asked the servants to prepare a meal for you.

Oh, and after that, when I come back, I think I want to re-enact our taking ritual, don't you?

Forever yours, Kaede

Hanamichi blushed at the suggestion Rukawa made, then smiled, shaking his head in exasperation. Looks like my entire body will be feeling sore and great all over again. Hanamichi sighed and place down the note, checking the clock on the far end of the corner. 9:10 am...Only a few more minutes or so before Rukawa returns. He considered staying in bed until Rukawa comes, but before he could lie back down, his stomach gave a long, loud cry. He blushed to himself then shrugged. Guess he had to eat breakfast after all. With that, he went into the right side bathroom to take a quick bath, came out rubbing his wet hair with a towel, place on his clothes, and stepped out of his room.

Once he did that, however, the ground beneath his feet disappeared and he was swallowed into darkness.

When he was gone, Rukawa emerged from the left side bathroom, wiping his still wet hair with a towel. He looked at the bed, hoping to find Hanamichi awake, but when he saw that it was empty, his eyes flew around the room in alarm. "Hana? HANA?!" No answer.

He gritted his teeth and looked around, hoping to find a clue where Hanamichi could have gone. Just then, his eyes landed on the piece of paper on the bed. He snatched it up and read it with swift eyes. When he was done, he crumpled the paper and opened his drawer to find something to wear. He hoped that he wasn't too late. The handwriting on the note was distinctly Deaths.

* * * * * *

Hanamichi gasped and backed up, feeling that the darkness around him was alive. "What the hell-?!"

Everything in the darkness seemed to move. Hanamichi stood where he was, not wanting to come across anything undesirable. He clenched his fists as he shouted out, "Hey! What the hell is going on?!" No one answered him. Feeling helpless, he moved around the darkness little by little, hoping to find an exit of some sort. He turned around quickly when he heard someone breathing behind him. "Who's there?!"

"Welcome, Sakuragi-san."

Hanamichi turned around to face the owner of that voice, then his eyes widened. A young girl stood in front of him in what looked like an arena made out of diamonds. Torches of blue fire were positioned in what looked like an upside down star with a circle around it. Hanamichi stared at the girl with short hair for a while then demanded, "Where am I?"

The girl laughed at that, her face twisted to an evil sneer. "My, my, aren't we rude. Let me introduce myself, since I already know who you are." She took one step towards the redhead and announced, "I am Eri Fujisawa, the true bride of Kaede."

Hanamichi blinked at that and lowered his fist. "Nani?"

Eri shrugged then laughed at Hanamichi's disturbed look. "That's right. I'm the real bride. If you hadn't arrived and ruined everything, I could have been the chosen one! Hah! I practically made it known to the entire population that I was going to be the new queen, but instead, Kaede picks a MORTAL!" At that word, her sneer vanished and it was replaced with a dark look. "A stupid mortal got what every demon has wanted for themselves. How pathetic!"

Hanamichi's eyes furrowed. "What the hell are you talking about? Why would every demon want Rukawa all to themselves?"

"Quite a question indeed, mortal."

Hanamichi stiffened at that airy voice and craned his neck to one side as Death passed him. Hanamichi still felt a strange feeling of fear pass over him when Death floated beside Eri and stood by her side, his scythe resting comfortable against his chest. "What are you doing here?"

Death cackled evilly at that. "I'm the very reason why you're here at the moment." He gave Hanamichi a strange look then recited:

"Hana,

Sorry if I'm not by your side when you wake up. I was called to fix a certain problem in the East side of the Underworld. Hope you understand. I will be back around 9:30 or 10 am, so please have breakfast for the meantime. Put on the clothes I got from your room and go downstairs. I asked the servants to prepare a meal for you.

Oh, and after that, when I come back, I think I want to re-enact our taking ritual, don't you?

Forever yours, Kaede"

When Death finished saying all this, he gave an amused chuckle at the look on Hanamichi's face. "Yes, I do love the way I write messages, don't you?" He gave Eri a grin and together, the two of them laughed malevolently. Their laughter echoed around the arena, making it sound like there were a thousand other people laughing with them.

Hanamichi's eyes widened at that as he took a step back. "You..." He swallowed the lump that had formed on his neck and gasped out, "It was you..."

"Hmmm, yes." Death said in a cocky tone, making Hanamichi falter. "Luckily you have never seen Kaede-sama's handwriting before. If you had, you could easily tell the difference."

Hanamichi looked back and forth between the 2 in front of him then asked silently, "What are you going to do now?"

Eri laughed out loud. "Are you that stupid or something?" She craned her neck to one side then said in a childish tone, "We are going to KILL you."

Hanamichi backed up even more. No good...this is no good...

Death shook his head and murmured, "But before we let you die, I just have to test something." And in a flash, a dark form surrounded Hanamichi's body as Death reached out his hand. Hanamichi twisted and turned as excruciating pain traveled up his body. Wounds were inflicted in different areas as blood burst out, making Hanamichi cry out with each wound. This went on for about 30 seconds, and finally, Death lowered his hand, making Hanamichi fall to the ground, gasping in pain. Death shook his head and turned to Eri. "See? He isn't the one."

Eri nodded back, a smile forming on her lips. "Good."

Hanamichi raised his head up slightly to look at the two, his entire body pinned to the ground with an unseen force. "Wha-" He coughed out blood at that first try. He shook his head, licked his lips, and tried again. "What are you talking about?"

Eri shrugged her slim shoulders at Death then murmured, "Well, I guess we can explain this thing to him since he is going to die in a few minutes."

Death smiled at her arrogant response then stepped forward. "Fine with me." He looked at Hanamichi in the eye and stated flatly, "You aren't the true bride of Kaede-sama." When Hanamichi opened his mouth to ask, Death interrupted him. "Almost every demon in the Underworld wants to marry Kaede Rukawa because once Kaede and the person's powers are combined, you can ask for a wish. That wish will come true no matter how impossible it may sound. The sign that the person chosen is right is when inflicted with pain, black wings with silver linings will erupt from that persons back. Obviously, you aren't the real bride because nothing happened to you."

Hanamichi's head slumped to the ground. Sou na...

Eri stepped forward and snorted in disgust at Hanamichi's prone form. "Hah! See? This is why I am the real bride of Kaede! And once I combine my powers with his, I will wish for universal domination!" She laughed evilly at that, then pointed her finger at the redhead. "Kill him NOW!"

Death moved forward, grinning as he did so. "My pleasure."

Hanamichi's eyes closed as he saw Death position himself over him, scythe raised. Hanamichi gave one small smile as he whispered, "Aishiteru...Kaede..." And then, he felt something hot and hard press against his chest, and everything went black.

* * * * * *

Kogure sat up straight from his bed, screaming as he did so. He grappled around, searching for something when Mitsui sat up and held him back. "Min-kun! MIN-KUN!"

Kogure stopped screaming and fell back against Mitsui's warm chest, tears streaming down his face as he continued to sob, his hands covering his face. "No...Hanamichi-kun..." He turned to bury his face in Mitsui's neck and wept hard, the sunlight hitting his closed eyelids.

Mitsui shook Kogure and held the angels' head up. "What's wrong, Min-kun? What happened?"

Kogure bit his lip and whimpered, "He killed him..."

Mitsui stiffened at that.

Kogure lifted his tear stained face up to look at Mitsui's and whispered, "Death killed Hanamichi..."

Mitsui became deadly white as he fell back against the wall, his arms slack around Kogure's torso. "No...how?..."

"Hanamichi's soul..." Kogure cried silently. "Hanamichi's soul screamed..." With that, Kogure cried out loudly, his entire body shaking furiously, his hands grasping Mitsui's arms so tight that the arm turned red.

Mitsui leaned his head back against the wall, and when he closed his eyes, tears fell from them as well. He hugged Kogure's body close to his, wanting to think that this was all just some kind of nightmare. But it wasn't. This was reality. The fact that Kogure's hands on his arms hurt was proof enough. Mitsui banged his head hard against the wall and gritted his teeth. "No..."

Please let his be a nightmare... And it started to rain.

* * * * * *

Sendoh and Koshino bolted up from the bed and looked around, looking for the source of the scream they had heard. Sendoh turned to Koshino then sighed. "You heard it too?"

Koshino nodded, shaking slightly. "Yeah. What was it?"

Sendoh shrugged at that. "I don't know, but..." Sendoh pulled the covers away from his body and stood up, ruffling his hair as he did so. "I feel weird."

Koshino nodded in agreement. He looked at the crystal beside his bed as he stood up, then promptly fell to the ground, his mouth open as he shouted, "AKIRA!"

"Eh?" Sendoh turned and saw his lover covering his mouth with his hand as tears fell from his eyes. Sendoh came to him and asked out, "What? What's wrong?" When Koshino didn't answer, Sendoh followed his gaze and felt his mind shut down. The crystal ball was...

...destroyed.

Sendoh shook his head in disbelief. "No...it can't be..."

Koshino shook his head and held on to Sendoh's shoulders. "Hanamichi-san..."

Sendoh shook his head and continued staring at the crystal ball, dumbfounded. "Sou na...he can't be..." But then, the crystal ball was the one Koshino created for Hanamichi so that they could see where the redhead was every time. Now that it was broken...Sendoh clenched his fists and cried as well.

Doshite?

* * * * * *

Kaede stood under the rain when heard that anguished cry. His wings spread out as he place himself in stealth mode, hovering high above the ground. Cars passed by, humans came and went, not noticing the floating figure that was slowly beginning to appear. Rukawa could care less if anyone would see him. He recognized that scream all too well...

Thunder and lightning appeared at some distance away from him. Rukawa lifted his gaze to look at that area, his face masked with tears. He clenched his right fist tightly as sobs threatened to pour out of his mouth.

Hana...

As he thought of that name, a soft voice floated to his ear and whispered lovingly, Aishiteru...Kaede...

With that, he spread his wings to the limit, looked at the clouds over his head, and shouted as he cried, "HANA!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Sayonara...Kitsune...

TBC