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Ryoko could catch the faint murmuring coming from inside the room; Keisuke was talking to himself again.
It didn’t use to happen as often as it lately did when he had been younger. There was no reason for him to have imaginary friends when he had enough real ones. The thought of taking him to a specialist or asking their family medicine doctor about it was rather embarrassing, so for the most part all Ryoko really did was keep an eye on him and pretend everything was alright and that she wasn’t as concerned as she was.
She had read once online that it was normal for kids to have imaginary friends but Ryoko had never had one and she believed that Keisuke wasn’t as lonely as to have any either. He was constantly engaged with one activity or other, he was sociable, he didn’t have a hard time talking to people, so what was going on?
Was this why he was constantly distracted? Did his mind just wander from time to time, was that why he couldn’t do his school work properly?
“I don’t really want to do that,” she overheard her son mumble from inside the room when she pressed her ear to the door, hoping to catch more than just bits and pieces from Kei’s conversation. “Though he deserved to get what was coming to him! I could’ve punched him, you know...What’s that? Oh...No, but...I could...That wouldn’t be bad? I could-”
Ryoko opened the door instantly, catching Keisuke sitting at his desk doing his homework, right where she had left him an hour ago.
“What are you doing?” She asked, raising her voice despite not really having caught him doing anything fatal or improper. Keisuke’s stunned expression was telling enough that his mother had maybe overreacted or even if her reaction was warranted, then he was confused just what he had done to prompt it.
“Nothing...?”
“Who were you talking to?” Ryoko asked again, looking around the room. The window was closed but even if there was someone outside, they were on the fifth floor, no way was Keisuke yelling down at them.
“Nobody,” Keisuke mumbled, very obviously lying.
“You were talking to someone just now...”
“I wasn’t !”
There really wasn’t any way to prove otherwise.
After a short glaring contest and a warning to watch how he spoke to his mother, Ryoko slid the door shut and left Keisuke to his homework, though it was worth asking if he was even paying it any attention.
As soon as he was alone again, Kei looked down at his notebook and bit the end of his pen in his frustration.
“Stop distracting me,” he growled, his canines piercing through the plastic cap of the pen, “you’re gonna get me in trouble with mom...I gotta finish this to go out with Mikey and Haru.”
“No, you don’t,” the voice whispered in his ear and Keisuke’s cheeks grew warm suddenly, he swore he could feel not only the enticing promise but also feel the dangerous breath tickle his ear. “But if you insist...Get to it, Baji.”
“Leave me alone already, Tora...”
“You got it, babe.”
Hell had very little to do with penance, Kazutora would know, he had spent quite a bit of his mortal life in detention centres as a teenager and then as an adult he had served a couple of years in actual prison – awful service, by the way, horrible experience, minus one out of a thousand, he wouldn’t recommend.
On the other hand, his immortal life as impure servant of the underworld was the second worst experience he could think of.
Sure, there were some things he did despise, but some of his duties were actually fun. For example, taking care of his current tiny, dangerously underage charge.
Baji Keisuke was a good puppy, he was an experiment, and he was the first soul Kazutora had been given the responsibility of dragging into the circle of eternal damnation. He started small, whispering encouragements here and there when Keisuke tried really hard to be a good boy, helping him make the worst possible decisions, solve his problems with violence, run from home, be defiant and raise his voice at his mom.
Surely, it was the most fun Kazutora had had since kicking the bucket.
The job had its many perks. And it also had one awfully big inconvenience.
Baji Keisuke had not only a guardian devil, but also one very stubborn guardian angel .
He always managed to catch Kazutora in the act and kick him right back down in hell before undoing all of his progress with Kei. And because Kazutora not only had a boss to report to but because he had also grown very fond of the kid, he completely disapproved of the angel’s disciplinary methods!
Kazutora had enough of him. Whoever was giving orders upstairs and making sure all the pure souls on earth remained untouched had to go, otherwise Kazutora would have a lot of trouble with his own employer and that was scary enough of a thought to motivate him.
Nevertheless, crawling back from the underworld when he so rudely got kicked down there at least twice a day was annoying.
He'd be doing the most mundane thing, like talking to Keisuke and giving him the best ideas to have fun, and out of nowhere the damn angel would show up, cursing his name on the slide back down to hell.
Well, it wasn’t every day that Kazutora was caught off guard. A lot of times he’d manage to ambush Mr Blue Eyes and thanks to Keisuke’s unpredictable nature and violent tendencies, getting him to listen to the angel was rather hard, while Kazutora could manipulate him all he wanted.
Pranks were his specialty and what fun he couldn’t get in hell while on his unpleasant job as other demons’ chew toy, he’d take it out on the angel – mostly because, as he found out, his adversary was a complete prude. He'd gasp and turn red whenever he saw Keisuke bring porny mags home but Kazutora could tell the angel turned over a couple of pages every time.
“I’m going to make you a deal about Baji, you disgusting predator,” he told him once while the two, much like a couple of parents going through a nasty divorce, sat inside a coffee shop near Keisuke’s school, ready to dash there as soon as the kids started running out.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Kazutora shrugged, caring very little for the guy. It didn’t matter that they joined sides on occasion, cursing people left and right whenever they looked at Kei the wrong way, even the angel had some pretty mean moments that made Kazutora wonder just how holy he actually was. He wouldn’t give up Keisuke ever, or else he’d be fired.
“You can watch over him every second and fourth weekend of the month,” the angel proposed.
“No way! You'll have him through the week like that and that’s too much time, you’ll turn him into a boy scout!”
“Yeah, but...”
“How about I get him one week and you have him the next?”
“No, that’s too much time spent with you and that’s bad for him!”
“Then how about you just disappear,” Kazutora grit his teeth, knowing that they wouldn’t make much progress ever at this rate.
The angel looked at him, his icy eyes narrowed as he spat, “Absolutely never.”
There was something quite hot about being glared down by the apex predator of the under and aboveworld, in this case, a hottie with a halo that ruined Kazutora’s plans of a quick promotion and early retirement. He had to admit, the angel had a very pretty face, his taste of style was bland and he talked weirdly but maybe that’s just what heaven did to you.
“I don’t understand,” the angel said once, while the two sat a couple of rows behind Keisuke and his friends at the movie theatre. They were watching some dumb action movie with too much adult romance and a couple of horny scenes that ruined the love story and were pretty tacky, but the leopard print panties the lead actress wore made up for it, in Kazutora’s opinion. “Why do you make such a big deal of ruining Baji’s life like this? Look how happy he is with his friends! He’s such a sweet and kind kid, why do you have to ruin his future?”
His harsh tone almost made Kazutora embarrassed. What was he even talking about? Wasn’t it obvious, it was Kazutora’s job, ruining futures, ruining souls and it was the angel’s job to stop him and make sure he failed.
He wasn’t even ruining Keisuke’s future, that was a bit overdramatic.
“I’m just doing my job,” he shrugged, “just like you. The way I see it, you’re the villain here.”
The angel didn’t say anything, knowing that whatever he did, Kazutora would be able to turn it against him.
Suddenly, something became quite clear to Kazutora, and while some big explosion was going on onscreen, he looked over at the angel.
“Hey. Why aren’t we fight right now?”
Living in hell sucked quite badly but working under the closest thing to the devil with a capital D was the worst of it.
Kazutora, for as long as he could remember, hadn’t had much luck where relationships were involved. His status had always been not exactly single and never really taken considering the men and women he had fancied.
He hit rock bottom when, early on in his stay in hell, he crossed paths with Hanma – his caregiver, his primary source of income and earthly pleasures and unfortunately, like the many partners before him, not quite a boyfriend, not exactly something else either.
He'd work for Hanma and do his dirty work, he’d serve him and indulge in the fantasy that they were more than what Hanma obviously thought they were. Meanwhile, Kazutora would pretend that his abuse, verbal, physical and more of the same twisted variety, was nothing more than a joke. He very easily forgot that in hell, where the worst of the worst resided, there wasn’t any room for anything outside toxicity and the rotten remnants of something as beautiful as love.
His love had a different name, dependency, and Hanma had him wrapped around his finger with kisses.
Kazutora believed that he managed to hide his true feelings well enough, so it caught him off guard when Hanma decided to take his frustration out on him. Apparently, his rage had nothing to do with Kazutora’s obedience, the root of the problem was different and the only thing Kazutora was sorry for once the storm passed was that he ran back upstairs to the human world, knowing he’d eventually bump into none other than the angel.
“If you’re gonna send me back to hell,” Kazutora demanded, turning his back on the angel once he noticed him approaching, “just do it. I can’t be bothered to deal with you today.”
His lack of retaliation caught the angel off guard. He was used to having the upper hand over Kazutora apparently but he didn’t want to kick his ass without at least breaking a sweat.
“You have a little...something...” The angel said with something that sounded suspiciously like worry, tapping his cheek to indicate the spot that had him looking.
Kazutora knew he had more than a little something, he wasn’t sure what exactly to call the awful bruise spreading over the side of his face where Hanma’s fist had left its mark.
He stood with his back to the angel waiting for him to disappear or do his work, if he were less stubborn, Kazutora wouldn’t mind being killed. He hadn’t managed to outgrow his suicidal tendencies, he had brought them along all the way to the afterlife.
“Why aren’t you going already!” Kazutora snapped when he kept feeling the silent presence of the angel. He stood just a couple of feet away, watching him, as though made of warmth and comfort. “I don’t want to fight you or anything, you can have Kei this weekend. Make him do his homework or do the dishes without his mom making him, or whatever it is you want of him, just...Go...”
“Do you...want to talk?” The angel questioned and Kazutora, shocked by his sudden interest, turned around to face him.
“What?”
The angel seemed uncomfortable but he repeated nonetheless, “Do you want us to talk about it? I’ll listen. We don’t have to get violent every time we see each other, plus, Baji isn’t even here right now.”
They weren’t friends or anything and the angel didn’t owe him his time.
But Kazutora would lie if he said he didn’t need someone to hear him out, and as poetic as it was, he had an angel there with him to aid him in his time of need.
He told him everything, about himself and Hanma, about his life and afterlife and about his deal with the demon of a higher status than him in exchange of all kinds of trivial things. He explained in detail just how he felt lately and how much the pressure annoyed and irritated him.
The only time Kazutora didn’t feel as though he was suffocating down there was when he was with Keisuke, when he saw the sun and heard the commotion of the living, though he couldn’t feel the warmth of the weather and couldn’t be bothered to care about the emotions of humans unable to feel the presence of minor evil.
The angel, now in the role of a dedicated listener, never once scoffed, scowled or made his indifference or disapproval known. He sat next to Kazutora on the set of swings, kicking his feet in the sand on occasion in a mindless act of childishness, but he didn’t interrupt and he appeared as though he was really paying attention.
When he finished talking, after a couple of long minutes and the help of numerous cigarettes, Kazutora thanked the angel for his company and stood up to go.
“I really hope,” the angel called after him, “that you feel better. I can’t give you any advice and after all you’ve told me of your mortal escapades, I can’t say you haven’t particularly deserved an eternity in hell. But...I do have a heart, and all the compassion in the world, so...You know where to find me if you happen to need someone to talk to.”
Kazutora might have been a demonic presence and he was a sinner above all but he knew honesty and though he hadn’t seen or experienced it in a long time, the way the angel looked at him made Kazutora feel confident and safe.
Maybe it was some angel trick, who knew what those guys had up their sleeves.
The angel couldn’t make physical wounds disappear but he could clean the scars, bandage them and kiss the bruises until the pain became a ticklish sensation.
Kazutora would stand just out of sight in Keisuke’s room while the entity of the Lord scolded him and planted tiny kisses on his bruised knuckles to make him feel better. Keisuke was talking and talking, explaining that he had gotten into a fight to defend a friend and the angel, being the stubborn man he was, didn’t condone it even so.
The angel couldn’t make physical wounds disappear but he had managed to do so with the ones Kazutora carried in his heart with his presence alone.
He wasn’t sure what exactly was going on with him but after the angel had let him confess his worries and troubles, Kazutora was able to sleep much sounder knowing that he had someone out there to talk to. Such weakness was forbidden in hell but in the world of the living, Kazutora was free to do as he wished and his supervisors would have a much harder time finding out.
It really must have been some angelic aura washing over him, bathing him in light and whatever else.
He knelt next to the angel when Keisuke ran out of his room called by his mother, and the angel looked at Kazutora with a stunned face, not sure what his intentions were. Kazutora didn’t want to pick up a fight this time, he knelt next to him motionless and docile like no devil ever had before in the history of their existence.
The angel’s flinch was just barely noticeable when Kazutora raised his hands to hold his face, taking great pleasure when he felt the warmth under his palms and saw the skin becoming flushed with embarrassment.
He pressed his lips to the angel’s and he thought he heard a faint mumble of disapproval. It didn’t last as long for the angel to do anything else and when Kazutora pulled away, he opened his clear blue eyes to look at him fondly.
“It’s the second weekend of the month,” Kazutora reminded him, their lips brushing against each other with every word. “I get Baji now.”
He found himself with an armful of angel in the hot pits of hell amidst a crowded street in devilish ruin by accident.
Many demons would say that but Kazutora really hadn’t pulled the angel down the portal to hell with himself when the angel opened the dead end hole and kicked him in. Apparently, he hadn’t ever been to hell before because the sight of the endless commotion and neon flashes of colour overwhelmed him immediately – somewhere in the distance sirens were blaring in a mockery of an alarm system and over the speakers lining the streets and billboards the sounds of eternal damnation, screaming, dictator speeches and lewd music played endlessly all night long because there never were days in hell.
There was never any rest for the wicked, demons and devils ran rampant, the night clubs, saloons and bars were stuffed full of alcoholics and addicts, lost souls sold bits of their dignity in the privacy of the tiny alleys, and the stench of sulphur and death hung in the stuffy air.
Kazutora took the angels hand and before he could fall into panic in the middle of the street for everyone to see, he ran, pulling him along as they pushed their way through the delirious crowd. He wasn’t proud of his home and wouldn’t ever want to give the angel a tour around the place, but now that it was necessary, Kazutora ran as fast as he could to get them somewhere remotely safe.
He was back under the radar and every second out on the streets made him a target.
“I have to get home,” the angel was hyperventilating by the time Kazutora pushed him inside his tiny one-bedroom apartment. “I have to get home, I can’t be here, surrounded by...by these monsters ! Even I won’t be able to defend myself alone here, it’s all your fault, why did you have to-!”
Kazutora shut the door and pushed the angel against the wall, holding his face with his hands as he had done numerous times before and looking into his panicked, fear-struck eyes to hold his attention.
“Absolutely nothing will get you here,” he promised him, feeling as the angel panted heavily, angry at him and unable to calm himself down. “I’ll make sure of it. You'll be upstairs in no time, so, please, don’t worry.”
“Kazutora-” the angled tried to shake his head, closing his eyes to try and block out the overwhelming feeling of being in danger.
Kazutora didn’t allow it. He kissed him deeply, holding the angel tightly until he melted in his arms and until he was certain that his presence, although part of hell, had chased away some of the fear and insecurity.
“Chifuyu,” he gasped against the angel’s lips, saying his name in the same manner one would a prayer.
He stroked the angel’s cheeks with his thumb before dropping his hands down to find his and hold them, their fingers locking together in a desperate hold. They never looked away from each other and Kazutora could feel with each passing second the angel’s worry leaving him.
Their next kiss wasn’t any less passionate and Kazutora let the angel lead him, enjoying his dominance and succumbing to the knowledge that with him, he’d be safe. He led him towards his bedroom and the bed, feeling as though it was only proper to do it there, as much as Kazutora wouldn’t mind taking the angel against the wall.
Little did he know, he wouldn’t be the one doing the taking. He laid obediently under the angel and let him do to him what nobody else had, allowed him to take care of him in a most intimate way until he was floating and until the sounds of hell became a mute rumble in the background.
What Kazutora felt in those few long minutes was as close to heaven as any demon would get to in the forsaken bottoms of the underworld.
When he opened his eyes however long later, Kazutora found himself in bed naked, under the covers. He felt pleasantly sore and there was not a drop of shame in him, he felt secure and relieved to have exposed all of himself to the angel.
Speaking of him, when Kazutora rolled over to look for him, he spotted him standing in a pair of his sweatpants on the small balcony. He wasn’t in distress anymore and judging by his calm posture, it appeared that he was observing the eternal night engulfing that part of town, he had a good chance to do so from the fourth floor of the apartment building where Kazutora lived.
He got out of bed and pulled on a T-Shirt, not bothering to dress himself further. The angel didn’t flinch or react when Kazutora approached him soundlessly to stand beside him, breathing in the stale air.
“I hate it,” the angel mumbled. “I can’t believe you have to spend an eternity down here.”
“You get used to it quickly,” Kazutora replied with a lazy grin and in a sudden gesture of affection, he leaned into the angel, soaking up his warmth and scent like a cat searching to get a scratch behind the ears.
“I like it better upstairs.”
“That makes two of us.”
The angel angled his head so as to give him a quick kiss, “I wouldn’t mind...being out of here, with you.”
“I have too much holding me back, Chifuyu,” Kazutora scoffed. He thought of his job, he thought of Hanma and what he’d do to him if he knew he was making love behind the scenes with a player of the opposite team. He couldn’t bring himself to care just yet.
“I...never imagined that this could be possible.”
The angel’s face fell and it felt as though he was ready to shut the door to his heart in Kazutora’s face once he got the chance. Even if it meant that he would be hurt in the end, he would do the right thing and Kazutora really wanted to see him change, to see him risking everything for him.
Even though he had done that already just by being there with him and prolonging his stay in hell where he didn’t and wouldn’t ever belong.
“ Just so you know ,” the angel said, whispering the words against Kazutora’s lips, “ I don’t regret anything. ”
Kazutora smiled, feeling happiness in the most unlikely of places. Under the black moon dripping disease and full of more holes than a midwestern road sign, they shared kisses and promises.
The following weekend, it was the angel’s turn to have Keisuke.
It was summer.
Ryoko sat on the couch, trying to makes sense of the report card her son had handed her once he came home from school. The sound of the TV was distracting, and in the kitchen, Keisuke was talking to his imaginary friend – he was giving him tips on how to make instant ramen. 2