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"Is there no one else in Hell who can sing?!" Jin shouted in frustration, burning the nearest chair along with the poor little demon who had been sitting on it.
"Why do you want to look for demons who can sing anyway?" Tatsuya asked while strumming his guitar, ignoring the destruction Jin was causing to one of Hell's lounges. "If you want to sing so much, why don't you join the choir up there?"
"Didn't you listen to me when I was telling you about my plan to take over the world by forming a boy band?" Jin rolled his eyes. "You know how all the girls go crazy over pretty boys."
"Then you only need to look for the pretty looking ones, no need for talent." Tatsuya pointed out.
"But that won't differentiate my band from the human ones." Jin waved dismissively. Suddenly, Jin popped up right in front of Tatsuya and started to shake the latter's shoulders in excitement. "I've decided. I'm going to go to heaven to recruit some of those goody-two-shoes from the choir! Bye Tat-chan! See ya later!"
With that, Jin disappeared with a poof, only to appear again the very next second. "Oh, and tell Kazuya for me. Ciao ciao!" Jin waved, this time disappearing for good.
Kazuya popped into the room then. "Where is that idiot?! He stole my clothes again!"
* * * * *
Heaven was very white and bare, very unlike Hell where there was always something somewhere. Take Kazuya's room, which was filled with so many branded clothes, Jin wondered how Kazuya always managed to figure out when Jin borrowed a few of them. Or Tatsuya's room, which had one corner full of gigantic and scary-looking dogs, one corner with boxing equipment, and another with several musical instruments.
Jin's ears perked at the sound of harmonious voices coming from a room just up ahead. His eyes lit up in joy as he started skipping towards that direction, ready to trick some angels into joining his boy band with some lame goal of ‘bringing joys to the hordes of teenage girls'. Jin must say that he thought that was a rather good reasoning he came up with; it wasn't totally a lie.
It took all of Jin's efforts not to burst into the room. Instead, he stealthily slipped inside to observe, wanting to spot the really good ones that he wanted to recruit. When the singing stopped, Jin applauded loudly, startling a few of the angels who had been completely oblivious to his presence.
Introducing himself vaguely --- he didn't want to tell them his real identity lest they freak out and start to kill him with their goodness --- and told them about his ‘project'. Jin was really proud of his persuasion skills when he saw that a few of the angels were seriously considering his offer.
There was this particular angel called Massu who had a voice that would suit his boy band. Just as he was about to try to convince Massu further, the door to the music room opened, and Jin felt his heart stop…
…Okay, so that wasn't really possible since he didn't even have a heart in the first place, but the idea was the same.
This angel who was walking in now was… kinda cute and un-angel like! Jin couldn't quite believe his eyes, rubbing them to make sure he wasn't seeing things.
"Massu, you've exceeded your budget again. I see that you've ordered an excessive amount of beef." The newcomer said.
Jin turned to Massu. "You're an angel but you still exceeded your budget? I thought that was something only humans and demons do."
Massu's cheeks turned a shade of pink. "Sorry Yuichi, but the butcher looked so pitiful that I couldn't help but buy a bit more from him each time. But it's Kobe beef so it should be good!"
Ah, that angel's name is Yuichi, Jin thought, as Yuichi sighed. "Actually, the order just came in this morning and it looked like normal beef. I think he overcharged you."
Massu paled as he mumbled. "Not again."
Yuichi put a comforting hand on Massu's shoulder, and Jin couldn't help but notice how pretty looking the hand was. "Ne, next time try to be a little less trusting okay?"
Jin nodded in agreement. "Humans are bad in nature, that's why they are so easy to damn."
Massu frowned. "But as angels, we should see the good side of all humans! We shouldn't be so skeptical, right?"
Before Yuichi could reply, Jin suddenly shouted, pointing a finger at him. "Ah ha! I knew it! You're a fake angel!"
Yuichi blinked. "No. I'm an accountant. Who are you?"
"I'm Jin."
"You're not Akanishi Jin, are you?" Yuichi eyed the other suspiciously.
"I am! How did you know my name?" Jin beamed at the thought that this accountant-angel actually heard about him before.
"You're Akanishi Jin, the demon who went to a high school in Los Angeles and damned the souls of the whole cohort?" Massu asked, incredulous.
"Eh, yeah, that's me." Jin replied, suddenly noticing that all the choir angels were taking a step backward, and seemed to be shining the Light of Goodness directly at him. It was a good thing he came prepared, whipping out a pair of sunglasses he had borrowed from Kazuya and putting them on. "Now, now, I'm not here to do anything evil. I'm just recruiting you guys so that we can form a vocal group and bring joy to the hordes of teenage girls."
"I thought your plan was to brainwash them and take over the world?" Yuichi asked, making the other angels gasped in shock.
"You lied to us!"
"How come you're wearing white like us?"
"How did you even get in here?"
Jin raised his hands, which only caused the angels to brace themselves for an attack. Was he really that scary? Back in Hell, they were always calling him stupid. Jin sighed. "Okay, one by one. First, there's some sort of elevator that links Hell and Heaven so you guys should come visit sometimes. Next, unlike you angels, we demons have no fixed colours to wear so we can wear anything we want. Oh and of course I lied! I'm a demon!"
The Light of Goodness seemed to shine even brighter at his confession, and Jin was thankful for his sunglasses. "Oh come on, there was some truth in it! We would be making all those girls happy!"
"Why do you have to recruit people from our choir anyway?" Yuichi asked. Jin noticed then that Yuichi was the only angel not trying to outshine him and he was rather pleased by that. The next thing Yuichi said though gave him a sense of déjà vu. "You only need to look for the pretty looking ones, no need for talent."
"ARE YOU TAT-CHAN IN DISGUISE?"
Yuichi cringed at Jin's loud voice, which seemed to have temporarily burst the ear drums of the other angels who naturally had a rather heightened sense of hearing.
"No." Yuichi replied, seeing that Jin was still expecting a reply with that wide-eyed look of his, which Yuichi must admit was rather adorable looking for a demon. "I don't even know who ‘Tat-chan' is."
"Don't lie. You're Ueda Tatsuya. Who else would be so evil to come and foil my plan?" Jin accused.
"I'm an angel. I never lie." Yuichi stated. "I do know Ueda though. He would have found better things to do than to come here and foil your plan."
"You know Ueda?" Jin repeated.
"Yes."
"How did you know him?"
"We've crossed paths a few times."
"Are you friends with him?"
"More like acquaintances."
"Are you in love with Ueda?"
"No."
"Do you think I'm attractive?"
"Yes."
"Yatta!" Jin raised his arms in victory.
Yuichi blinked, before realization hit him as to what he had just admitted to. Damn him and his ‘I am an angel, I never lie' personality. And as he was contemplating digging a hole and burying himself in it forever, he was caught off guard once more as the demon gave him a quick peck on the lips.
"See you later, Yuichi." Jin grinned, doing a victory sign with his fingers before disappearing.
The other angels in the room stared dumbfounded at what had just happened to them. Yuichi groaned. This was the worst day of his long life yet.
* * * * *
The first thing Jin saw when he returned to Hell's lounge was a hand reaching towards his face and snatching the pair of sunglasses off in a quick, violent manner.
"That hurt!" Jin whined.
"Next time, please ask for my permission before you take my things."
"But Kazuya, I'm a demon. We don't ask for permission before doing whatever we want."
"And similarly, I don't have to extend any generosity towards you and let you take my things." Kazuya glared at the other. If Jin wasn't still wearing one of his set of clothes, Kazuya would have hurt the other already. "It's irritating when I am looking for something and I can't find it because you took it. And this happens all the time."
"I was only borrowing since I needed something white to blend in. It's like a mental institution up there by the way!" Jin commented. "Anyway, even if I wanted to ask you first, you're never around. You're always busy nowadays."
"Well after your lucky stint in LA, I have to make sure I maintain my status as number one." Kazuya said indignantly. "And don't tell me you don't have your own white clothes."
"They're dirty and I didn't have time to wash them."
Kazuya made a face. "Sloth."
"It's a sin." Jin grinned.
"Anyway, why are you back empty handed? Didn't manage to recruit any members for your boy band?"
"I was almost there, but this cute angel came and foiled my plan." Jin replied. "I thought he was one of us at first though. You know how you tend to feel a little annoyed by that… holy aura that all the angels usually emit? This one had very little of that aura!"
"So you were distracted by a cute angel. Typical."
"Hey, you're just jealous because you didn't get to meet him." Jin pouted.
"Then you should have brought him down with you so that I could see for myself how cute he supposedly is."
"I can't bring him down against his will. Speaking of which…" Jin bounced towards where Tatsuya was now reading a magazine. "How did you come to know Yuichi?"
Tatsuya stared at Jin, trying to comprehend what Jin was saying to him. "Who's Yuichi?"
"An angel who is an accountant, quite cute, has a big nose, thick lips, and pretty hands, around my height, really skinny, and his hair is a bit messy, and oh, he also seems rather un-angelic."
"Oh… I'm guessing that you're referring to Nakamaru. He's the only angel I know who has a big nose."
"Is he even cute? You don't seem to remember him that well." Kazuya interrupted, curious about this angel who now appeared to be Jin's latest obsession.
Tatsuya shrugged. "He's not my type. I have only talked to him several times in the past because he was often the guardian angel of the human whose soul I was trying to damn. Of course, with my immaculate record, I was always victorious in our battles, which probably explains why he's now an accountant."
"What immaculate record? You don't even have a record." Kazuya snickered, before having to jump away as a sudden flame almost burnt his jacket.
It was a fact that most in Hell knew --- Ueda Tatsuya had no record of damning a single human soul because he found it too troublesome to bother. No one was better at creating a financial crisis than Ueda Tatsuya though.
"Stop fighting like childish, little demons." Jin chastised, as if he was the mature one of the group. "Anyway, do you know where I can find Yuichi's office?"
The other two stared at Jin. "Do we look like we know?"
"Well, then who should I ask? The accountant in Hell?"
"We don't have an accountant."
"We don't?" Jin's eyes widened as the other two shook their heads.
"No one wants to do such a boring job."
The wheels in Jin's head started turning. "Then I should get Yuichi to become the accountant here! No matter how boring it is, I'm sure it's more challenging than keeping the books in Heaven considering that hardly anything bad happens there. We've probably got a lot of fraud and embezzlement here!"
"So what if there's fraud and embezzlement? Don't we encourage it?"
"But Hell might end up being bankrupt and that would seriously affect our operations and lavish lifestyles." Jin protested.
"Jin, you're scaring me." Kazuya said.
"Good." Jin smiled. "Anyway, for the sake of sustaining Hell's ability to continue its operations, I shall go recruit an accountant."
The other two waited for Jin to disappear, but the latter merely stood there, stretching his arms and yawning.
"Aren't you going to get going on that mission of yours?" Tatsuya asked.
"Oh, that's for tomorrow. I'm going to sleep now. See you guys during dinner."
* * * * *
The balance sheet wasn't balanced, but Yuichi just stared at it blankly, his mind not in the right state to figure out where the numbers had been wrongly debited or credited. His mind, after all, was too distracted by The Kiss.
Yuichi groaned as he recalled the feeling of soft lips on his. It had only lasted for a few seconds but for some odd reason, Yuichi could still remember the taste and texture of the demon's lips.
Besides the fact that his lips were now tainted by a hot-looking demon, The Kiss had been his very first kiss. Yes, he might have lived for a really long time, but never has Yuichi kissed anyone else nor been kissed, until now.
It had happened so suddenly that Yuichi was torn between wanting to vanquish the demon --- something he was sure that the other angels might frown upon for they believed in showing demons The Light and using elimination only as a last resort --- and wanting to kiss the demon again.
Of course, he'd never tell anyone the latter part. He could imagine the looks on their faces if he did admit that he was kind of tempted to kiss the demon again, and he was sure one of the elders would be sent over to talk to him about the path of temptation and the Seven Deadly Sins.
It was all Akanishi Jin's fault though. Yuichi wouldn't even be thinking about it if one, the kiss wasn't so short that Yuichi thought it was unacceptable for his first kiss to be such a lousy experience, and two, the demon wasn't so damn attractive that Yuichi couldn't stop seeing the other's face in his dreams.
Oh no! Yuichi mentally screamed as he grabbed his head. He had just used the word ‘damn' (mentally) and even lied (mentally) to himself about the kiss having been a lousy experience.
"Slacking on the job, Nakamaru-kun? You're lucky Sho-kun's not here to catch you." A voice shook him out of his reverie. Yuichi turned to find Nino, his supervisor's best friend, standing right next to him with an amused look on his face. "You're not trying to pull your hair out, are you? I doubt it'll suit your look."
"Ah, I'm sorry!" Yuichi stood up quickly and bowed in apology. Although Nino wasn't his supervisor, he was still a senior, and not doing his work could be seen as Yuichi ‘heading towards the path of sin'. He was already secretly lusting after a demon, no need to add more black marks on his record.
Nino laughed, and waved dismissively. "Don't worry. I'm sure your job can be quite frustrating sometimes, so it's perfectly fine for you to take a break now and then. Just don't pull out your hair, alright? I mean, Koki-kun can look cool being bald, and I know he's your best friend, but not everyone can pull it off, the look I mean."
"Eh, I'm definitely not going to do what Koki did. I like my hair too much." Yuichi said. "Anyway, was there something you wanted? Or were you just looking for Sakurai-kun? I'll let him know that you stopped by."
"Actually, I was looking for you."
"You were?" Yuichi asked, surprised.
"Yeah, I heard some other angels talking about a demon trying to infiltrate Heaven yesterday. One of them mentioned your name in their conversations." Nino began, and Yuichi was starting to dread this conversation. "When I approached them to find out what exactly had happened, they just shrieked and started to get all defensive about not spreading rumours."
"Ah, eh, a demon came to Heaven yesterday to trick some members of our choir into joining his boy band to aid him in his plan to damn the souls of teenage girls. At least that's the gist of it that I got."
"That sounds fun." Nino remarked, and Yuichi knew that the other angel genuinely meant it. Angels don't lie after all. "Not the damning part of course, but the whole idea of forming a boy band just to try to damn the souls of teenage girls sounds highly entertaining. Won't it be even more fun to see him try and fail miserably because we're there to stop him from succeeding?"
"Actually, it just sounds like you're trying to take joy in other people's misery again, Nino." A new voice joined the conversation, and the both of them turned to see that Sho had returned from whatever meeting he had just attended.
"But Sho-kun, I only take joy in the demons' misery. It's not like they don't deserve it after all." Nino stated. Yuichi always suspected that Nino wasn't like the other angels who tried to show demons The Light. He wasn't so sure if enjoying watching demons suffer was considered an angelic thing to do though.
"And this is coming from someone who used to be next in line to become the Lord of Hell." Sho snorted.
Nino grinned, while Yuichi gasped in shock.
"Oh, you didn't know that I was a demon?" Nino asked Yuichi, who shook his head. "Ah well, I guess it really was a long time ago when I rose to Heaven."
"Your personality hasn't changed though."
"Hey, what matters the most is that I don't do what I used to do, and my love for Satoshi is true." Nino replied melodramatically, making Sho roll his eyes. "Anyway, does Nakamaru-kun still need to work? If not, I want him to help me with something urgent."
"Hm, the work for today doesn't have to be finished until next week so yeah, sure."
"Great!" Nino said, before grabbing onto Yuichi's arm and making them both disappear in a puff.
* * * * *
"This is…"
"Welcome to my old home!" Nino announced to Yuichi, as the two stepped out of the elevator.
This was the first time Yuichi had stepped foot into Hell. He had expected the place to be all dark and surrounded by fires and scary things, but instead, all he saw ahead was a really wide hall that looked like the lobby of a five star hotel.
"That's why I always think angels should get out a little more often." Nino said when he noticed Yuichi's surprised look. "Hell isn't some burning oven unlike what some of the elders claim. Not quite sure where they got that idea from anyway since they've never been down here themselves."
"But… But isn't Hell supposed to be a horrible place?"
Nino shrugged. "Well, we do have an area where all the damned souls get sent to, and that place is more similar to the general perception of Hell that angels tend to have, but for the demons and obviously the Devil himself, Hell has always been a place of luxury."
"Oh." Yuichi nodded slowly, absorbing the information that Nino was giving him. Then he paused. "Erm, why are we here though? We're not here to look for the demon, are we?"
"No. Aiba-chan asked me to come down to test one of his new recipes but the last time I helped him out, I got a stomach upset. So I thought I'll bring you along to be his guinea pig this time."
"Hey!" Yuichi protested.
"I'm not forcing you of course." Nino began. "If you prefer, you can always go look for the demon who kissed you yesterday."
"Why would- Eh wait, how did you find out about that?!"
"Word spreads quickly in Heaven. Even Sho-kun knows, but he's just too shy to bring it up."
Yuichi's jaw dropped, feeling his cheeks turn pink from embarrassment.
"So… Food tasting, or finding the kissing demon?"
"Food tasting." Yuichi said, not wanting to embarrass himself further. Anyway, he wasn't sure how he'd handle himself if he saw Akanishi Jin again.
* * * * *
Jin was starving. He had missed both dinner last night and today's breakfast, because nobody in Hell was ever kind enough to wake another demon up in time for meals. Luckily for Jin, the Head Chef in Hell had said that he was going to test out a few new creations and would gladly let Jin be his guinea pig. Jin wasn't about to complain when his stomach was growling like a mad hyena.
"Jin, over here!" Aiba called out as Jin stepped into the dining hall. As he walked towards where the Head Chef of Hell was standing, he noticed the presence of two other beings sitting at a table. Jin couldn't help but break into a wide smile when he noticed a familiar face.
"Yuichi, we meet again! Isn't it destiny?"
"A- A- Akanishi!" Yuichi stammered, clearly not expecting to meet Jin again, which Jin thought was strange since this was Hell and Hell was Jin's territory after all.
"Oh, is that who I think it is?" The other being, who was sitting next to Yuichi, asked, voice tinged with amusement.
"Nani? Nani? What happened?" Aiba asked. "How come I'm the only one who doesn't seem to know what's going on?"
"Nothing new there right, Aiba-chan."
"Don't be mean, Nino. You're an angel now so you have to be nice to me."
"You're a demon. I should be shining the Light of Goodness at you."
"Oh c'mon, don't do this to your ex-best friend." Aiba pouted. "Anyway, Jin, sit down, sit down!" Aiba pulled Jin towards the empty seat across from Yuichi, before heading back to the kitchen to bring out his new dishes, with Nino offering to help. That left the two of them alone, making Yuichi feel a little uncomfortable.
"I didn't know you were on friendly terms with the Head Chef of Hell." Jin said to Yuichi. "Guess it explains why I sense a lack of angelic aura coming from you."
"I have a lack of angelic aura?" Yuichi raised an eyebrow at Jin, before continuing. "I'm not on friendly terms with Aiba-san. I came here with Ninomiya-san."
"Are you in love with this Ninomiya guy?" Jin scowled.
"No, of course not." Yuichi replied quickly.
"Great!" Jin exclaimed, the scowl switching to a smile in a matter of seconds. "What do you think about a change of environment?"
"Eh, depends on what the change involves?"
"You'll get to meet new people. There'll be more challenges too. And the best part is that you'll get to see me every day!"
He would be lying if he said that the last thing Jin said didn't pique his interest. Having been tricked by Jin before though, Yuichi was more wary, and inferred what Jin was trying to offer.
"No, I don't want to work for your boss." Yuichi said.
"You don't want to see me every day?"
"I didn't say that."
"Then why don't you want to take up my offer? You can still be an accountant, it's just a re-location."
"I'm happy where I am." Yuichi insisted.
"Okay, fine." Jin shrugged, effectively ending the conversation just as Aiba and Nino walked out with trays of dishes.
The two didn't speak to each other anymore for the rest of the time as they tried out all the different dishes Aiba presented. Jin left without a word, and Yuichi had to admit that he felt a little hurt by Jin's coldness towards him.
"Did you two have a lovers' quarrel or something?" Nino asked Yuichi as they took the elevator back up to Heaven. "The demon looked like he was going to combust any time while you look depressed."
"Huh?" Yuichi blinked, before he registered what Nino had said. "There's nothing going on between us!!"
"Geez, okay, you don't have to shout so loud." Nino rubbing his ears. "You do know that by protesting in this way, it just makes it seem like there is something going on between the two of you?"
"Well, there's nothing. At least I think there's nothing." Yuichi said quickly, but at a normal volume this time. "And maybe he just looks like he was going to combust any time because he found some of Aiba-san's dishes too spicy for his liking?"
"Hm, true. There was that one dish that looked like a red hot volcano but thankfully Aiba-chan didn't notice that I made my portion disappear." Nino grinned. "You know, I used to wonder why the Devil nominated Aiba-chan to be the Head Chef of Hell but then I realised that the Devil just enjoys seeing the faces of his minions turning all kinds of awkward when they accidentally eat one of Aiba-chan's weird creations that he secretly mixes between the normal food."
Yuichi's face whitened a bit at the thought of having to eat Aiba's food again, feeling his stomach churn in an uncomfortable way. Thank God that the Head Chef of Heaven was much more sane.
* * * * *
"Jin, if you want to continue sulking, could you please go back to your room to do so?" Kazuya said as he entered his room and found the familiar figure on his sofa.
Jin had probably stayed in his room for eight days now, and it wasn't because they were having sex non-stop or something. Instead, Jin was spending most of the time sulking. It wasn't a pretty sight, and that ruined the niceness of his room.
Seeing that Jin wasn't moving, Kazuya sighed melodramatically. "Jin, if you want to make an angel fall, sitting on your ass here in my room is not going to help you."
"He said he's happy where he is! How can he be happy when he doesn't get to see me every day?" Jin whined in a high pitch tone that almost sounded like he was screaming. It was the first thing that came out of his mouth whenever Kazuya tried to talk to him and it was really irritating after the sixth time. "You should help me, Kazu-chan. Remember how when we were younger we used to work together? We were partners in crime! We were unstoppable!"
"Okay, okay, I'll help you." Kazuya smacked Jin's legs away so that he had a space to sit down on his sofa. "How about I go up there and threaten this angel into taking a merry fall? Maybe I could burn a few of his accounting books and all that jazz."
"No, I don't want you to threaten him." Jin said in a small voice. "That's not very nice."
"We're demons. When are we supposed to be nice?" Kazuya made a face. "Wait… You're not in love with this angel are you?"
"Of course I'm not!" Jin spluttered. "How can I possibly be in love with anybody? That's such an insult to a demon!"
Kazuya raised an eyebrow at Jin's defensive outburst. Despite the fact that Jin was a demon, Kazuya sometimes thought that Jin was terrible at lying about certain things, particularly when it came to the subject of feelings.
"Why don't you rise?" Kazuya suggested.
"What? Why would I do that? I mean, yeah so he gets to see me every day in that situation but the point is to get him to come down here to be Hell's accountant." Jin said. Then he paused as he thought of something. "Kazuya, you just want to get rid of me! You're afraid that I'll take the number one ranking from you!"
Well, Kazuya had to admit, there was some truth to that statement. Not wanting to prove Jin right though, he continued. "Let me continue. As I was trying to say, why don't you pretend to rise, make him fall in love with you, then make him sleep with you? You're great at sex after all, so he'll want it again and again and again. And then, he'd have sinned so much, surely he'll be kicked out of Heaven."
There was silence as Jin considered Kazuya's suggestion, while the latter stared at his fingernails. Finally, Jin got off Kazuya's sofa, a look of determination on his face.
"That does sound like a possible plan I could use. I should try it." Jin nodded. "But first, I need to get some practice."
Kazuya eyed Jin, noticing that the look of determination was now replaced by that of lust. In a few seconds, Jin had closed the gap between them and devoured Kazuya's lips, their tongues fighting a battle of dominance.
Kazuya bit Jin's tongue. Jin yelped in pain, tasting blood. Kazuya grinned as he watched Jin dashing off to ice his tongue in case it started swelling, cursing and swearing at Kazuya (incoherently, since he couldn't really talk) as he did so.
Now this was more like it.
* * * * *
"I've risen so that I can be with you."
Those were the words Jin said when Yuichi found the other sitting in his room. Yuichi didn't believe a single word of it though, which kinda hurt since a part of him wished Jin was telling the truth.
But he knew Jin was lying, not just because the other was a demon, but also because if Jin had truly risen, the Human Angel Resource department would have informed the Finance department of an increase in headcount so that they could take note and make necessary changes when it comes to making payroll expenses. Yuichi was a hundred and ten percent sure that there hadn't been any changes to the headcount recently, as per Taguchi Junnosuke from HR (still referred to as "HR" instead of "AR", just because), and told Jin precisely that.
"I'm on probation because they didn't believe me." Jin said sadly, trying to use the sympathy card on Yuichi. "Don't tell me that you don't believe me too?"
"You're a demon. Why should I trust you?"
"But I've fallen in love with you." Jin replied, a part of him realizing that there was some truth to that but he brushed it off as merely lust. "Way up high, or down low, I'll go wherever you will go! And since you don't want to go down to Hell, I've decided that the only way for us to be together is for me to rise."
Yuichi eyed Jin skeptically, unwilling to give himself hope. "You're going to have to do more than just make lame declarations of love to prove to me that you're being honest."
"So if I prove to you that I'm really serious about this, you'll fall in love with me?"
"Wh- What?" Yuichi spluttered. "Who said anything about falling in love with you?"
"You don't love me?"
"I just met you a few weeks ago."
"Two weeks and three days."
"Okay, two weeks and three days ago. Love at first sight doesn't happen unless Cupid is involved and I'm pretty sure Koki hasn't shot an arrow through me or through you." Yuichi stated confidently. "Also I highly doubt that anything significant has happened during these two weeks and three days for either of us to have fallen in love with the other."
So he might be a little attracted to Jin, but he was pretty sure that love wasn't involved. How could an angel fall in love with a demon anyway? Yuichi ignored the tiny voice in his head reminding him that Nino was a demon and Ohno an angel when they had fallen in love.
"Who says nothing significant has happened? What about the kiss we shared on the very first day? We're not humans. We don't need any Cupid arrows." Jin argued.
Hearing Jin bring up The Kiss, Yuichi tried not to blush as he retorted. "That could hardly count as a kiss. It's just a touch between two pairs of lips."
"Fine! I'll give you a proper kiss now then!" Jin declared.
Before Yuichi could react, Jin had immediately appeared right in front of him, their faces only centimeters apart. Yuichi's eyes instinctively dropped down to look at Jin's lips that were inching closer and closer to his own. One part of him was screaming to get away, since it wasn't like Jin was gripping onto him to prevent him from escaping. The other part of him was reluctant to move though, and instead was anticipating what was to come.
Finally, after what felt like eternity, Jin's lips pressed against Yuichi's.
It started off slow and tender, which surprised Yuichi since it didn't match Jin's personality. He felt Jin gently nibbling at his lips, nudging at him to open up. Yuichi learnt that he had absolutely no self-restraint when it came to such matters (although he blames it on his lack of experience) as he allowed Jin access, and immediately felt the other's tongue delve into his mouth.
The kiss gradually became hungrier, more desperate, and Jin was glad that angels and demons didn't need to stop to breathe because he didn't want to stop at all. At the same time, realising that this kiss felt so different from the others, and felt even better than any of the kisses Jin shared with others, it scared Jin.
What if he had really fallen in love with this angel?
The thought struck Jin like an electric shock, making him pull away from Yuichi in fear. He took one quick look at Yuichi and noticed how disheveled the angel now looked. This was lust. He wanted it to be lust. But deep down, Jin knew that it was something else.
Too scared to admit the truth, Jin quickly turned around and dashed out, leaving Yuichi dazed and confused.
* * * * *
The other demons watched in fear as Jin stomped into the lounge, rushing towards the biggest sofa in the room. The few lower-ranked demons who were sitting there immediately made haste, not wanting to be vanquished by Jin. Immediately after the sofa was emptied, Jin dived headlong into it, hiding his head among the cushions.
Quickly, most of the demons exited the room, leaving only three others along with Jin.
"I return after a hundred years and my good friend here doesn't even say ‘hello' to me." Ryo retorted as he watched the scene before him.
"Did you come back for me or did you come back for Akanishi?" Uchi, who was standing next to Ryo, asked.
"Of course it's for you. You're the only demon for me."
"And Yamashita's the only angel for you, I suppose?" Tatsuya commented. "You're back a hundred years early, Nishikido. Did Yamashita get sick of you?"
"Shut up, Ueda." Ryo shot back, before scanning around the room. "Where's Kame when you need him around? Only he can deal with this idiot." He turned to look at Tatsuya expectantly, but was met with silence. "Are you a mute now, Ueda?"
"First you tell me to shut up. Now you call me a mute when I decide not to talk to you." Tatsuya replied, strumming a few notes on his guitar. "You're so fickle-minded, Nishikido."
"Why do I bother talking to him?" Ryo raised his arms exasperatedly, turning to Uchi. "C'mon, let's go."
"Wait!" Ryo stopped in his tracks as he heard Jin's shout.
"Oh, finally acknowledging my presence now, baka?"
Jin strode towards where Ryo stood, putting his hands on Ryo's shoulders. "Tell me, Ryo-chan, how did you know when you fell in love with that angel?"
"Huh?" Ryo looked at Jin like the latter had grown pink hair.
"I'm going to look for Ohkura." Uchi announced as he turned to leave.
Ryo watched as Uchi stomped off, before turning back to Jin, sighing. "Thanks Jin. You just ruined my chances of having mind-blowing sex with Uchi tonight."
"Who cares? My problem is more important right now."
"The answer is, I don't know how, I just knew. Happy?" Ryo said, as the door to the lounge swung open and Kazuya strolled in. "Oh look, you can tell Kame all your problems. Now let go of me before I suffocate from being in the same room as Ueda for too long."
"Demons don't breathe, Nishikido. You can't possibly suffocate."
"Yeah, even I know that." Jin nodded in agreement to Tatsuya's comment.
Ignoring the two, Ryo turned to leave, waving briefly at Kazuya before making his exit.
"Arguing with Ryo again, Ueda?" Kazuya remarked as he settled onto the sofa. "Sometimes I wonder if he comes back to Hell because of Uchi or because he misses you." Kazuya moved his head slightly, already anticipating the flame that Tatsuya was sending his way and easily avoiding it.
"Stop playing with fire, guys. Now isn't the time to be caring about whether Ryo-chan is back in Hell or Heaven and his reason for being such an indecisive whore." Jin said in a serious tone, his arms stretched out to stop the other two demons. "I have a serious problem on hand."
Kazuya rolled his eyes. "What is it now, Jin? Aren't you the one who's supposed to be in Heaven now?"
"I can't do it!" Jin whined. "If I go back again, I'll be stuck there forever! I'm not Ryo-chan. I'll go crazy from all that Goodness radiating from everywhere."
Kazuya turned to Tatsuya, raising an eyebrow. Tatsuya merely shrugged.
"You were right, okay." Jin said in a defeated tone. "I might have, y'know, er, committed an act forbidden by Hell."
Despite Jin's vague mumbling, Kazuya clearly understood what the other demon was saying, and smirked. "I'm always right."
"Whatever." Jin rolled his eyes. "Just find a solution for me?"
"Solution?" Kazuya pondered for a second, before continuing. "Well, either you make him fall, or you rise, or you just get over it? Seriously though, you should ask Ryo."
Suddenly, the door to the lounge opened with a bang, and a bright white light filled the doorway. The three demons whipped out their sunglasses --- Jin's one being one of Kazuya's many pair of sunglasses of course --- to shield their eyes from the Light which was approaching closer to them.
A hand grabbed the front of Jin's shirt as the Light finally dissipated to reveal a very angry looking Yuichi.
"DO YOU THINK I AM A TOY FOR YOU TO PLAY WITH?!"
Jin cringed slightly at the volume, at the same time taken aback by the sight before him. He never knew that angels could get this angry, and look so good at it. Hell, he'd never seen an angry angel before, much less knew how to deal with them. So Jin just stared at Yuichi in surprise, letting the other continue his rant.
"First, you STEAL MY FIRST KISS. Then, you act all friendly and offer me a job in hell but when I decline the offer YOU GIVE ME THE COLD SHOULDER. Next thing I know, you suddenly decide to go up to Heaven saying 'Oh I've fallen in love with you' and then you KISS ME AGAIN. And what do you do after that? YOU RAN AWAY." Yuichi ranted, both hands pulling roughly at Jin's shirt.
"That's hot." Kazuya remarked as he watched the sight before him. "I never knew an angry angel could be so sexy."
"You think Nakamaru's hot? What's with the two of you? Am I the only demon who doesn't see what's the big deal about him? Other than his nose of course." Tatsuya rolled his eyes, as he got up from his seat. "I'm getting out of here. This is too dramatic for my liking."
Yuichi ignored the comments from the other two demons, focusing his attention on Jin instead, who appeared too taken aback by his outburst to reply. Slowly letting go of Jin's shirt, Yuichi sighed. "Just stop messing with my mind from now on."
Turning around, Yuichi began making his way back towards the door when suddenly he found his path being blocked by Kazuya.
"Don't go back to Heaven yet." Kazuya said, smiling. His hand reached out to touch Yuichi's cheek. "I'm Kamenashi Kazuya, and it's nice to finally meet you. I won't mess with your head like what Jin did, so why don't you come with me?"
"GET YOUR HANDS OFF YUICHI! HE'S MINE!" Jin, who seemed to have finally found his voice, shouted angrily at Kazuya.
"C'mon, I always let you borrow my things. Can't I borrow him for a while?" Kazuya mocked, his hand still on Yuichi's cheek. "Plus, he doesn't look like he wants to be 'yours' right now." Turning back to Yuichi, Kazuya tilted his head. "Right?"
Yuichi found himself unable to reply, too busy studying the features of the demon before him. Kazuya was attractive too, though it was a different kind from Jin. With that thought, Yuichi realised that he really needed to make a move soon or he would be stuck in Hell forever, for lusting after two good-looking demons.
Jin rushed forward to slap Kazuya's hand away from Yuichi's face, before wrapping two arms around Yuichi, causing the angel to freeze momentarily in shock.
"Stay away, Kazuya!" Jin growled.
"How about a threesome?" Kazuya counter-offered.
"NO!"
"Did I just hear the sex-crazed demon, Akanishi Jin, rejecting an offer of a threesome?" Kazuya laughed before waving at Yuichi. "Oh well, hope to see you around, Nakamaru. If you change your mind, you know where to find me."
And then Kazuya disappeared in a flash just like Tatsuya before him.
And Yuichi suddenly realised that Jin was still hugging him tightly. Embarrassed, he pushed the demon away as roughly as possible.
"I'm going back up." Yuichi mumbled, having meant to actually shout it at Jin's face in anger except that he couldn't really find the anger within him anymore.
"No, wait!" Jin grabbed Yuichi's hand, pulling the angel closer to him. He looked directly into Yuichi's eyes. "I'm going to be a hundred percent honest this time. More than a hundred percent. I really like you. As in, y'know, for real."
"That's... nice to know." Yuichi hesitated. What was he supposed to say?
"Do you... like me too?" Jin asked. "As in, y'know, like like. Really like."
"Maybe... Probably... Yeah, I guess. Most likely."
Jin flashed a megawatt smile at the angel. "Then, will you let me marry you?"
Yuichi blinked.
"HUH?!"
* * * * *
A couple of weeks later...
Yuichi was busy preparing the budget for the new financial year when he heard a cough. Looking up, he saw his supervisor, Sho, standing at the front of his desk, waving behind him at a group of angels. "They're looking for you." Sho said. Noticing Massu's presence, Yuichi realised that it was the choir.
He wondered what Jin did now.
After Jin's proposal --- was that what he should call it? --- the demon rose and started to stay with Yuichi in Heaven. Since angels were not allowed to laze around without jobs, and Jin was pretty good at singing, he was given the task of being the vocal coach for the choir, on the agreement that he doesn't poach any of them for his plans to form a boy band to take over the world.
"Oh, I totally forgot about that plan!" Jin had exclaimed. "But can I still write my own songs for the choir to sing?"
They had said 'yes' to Jin, only for them to find out later, much to their horror, that most of Jin's lyrics involved going to some club and something about love juice and any other topic they deem taboo.
"I'm just describing what's going on down there on Earth." Jin had explained, which only led to the elders getting angry about the guardian angels not doing their jobs, in turn making the guardian angels angry at Jin.
Then there was that time when Jin wanted to get the choir to wear a variety of costumes for their performances to make it more exciting. Jin came back with a bunch of clothes that were pirate-themed, exceeding the choir's budget to boot. It made Sho really annoyed, and the choir members aghast at the idea of wearing clothes that were not white.
Luckily, Koki thought the clothes looked pretty funky and offered to buy some of them. Jin insisted on keeping the rest though, annoyed that nobody else seem to appreciate his good taste in clothing.
Somehow, Jin wasn't kicked out of Heaven yet. Yuichi figured that it was because Jin hadn't committed a deadly sin (yet) and the angels had the tendency to try their hardest to bring others onto the Path of Goodness. Yuichi wondered when their patience would run out.
"Yuichi, sorry but..." Massu began. "I don't think Akanishi-kun is suited to be a resident of Heaven."
"That's a huge understatement." Yuichi replied, amused. "Don't apologise, Massu, I know Jin must have caused quite a lot of trouble to the choir. My apologies on his behalf for all that."
"No, no, it's not your fault!" One of the newly joined angels in the choir, Tegoshi, immediately said. "However, we were hoping you could do us all a favour..."
"Yeah, we've spoken to a lot of other angels about it, even the elders, and Sakurai-san too..."
Yuichi glanced at Sho, who had been standing to one side. Stepping forward, Sho coughed to clear his throat. "We all think it's best if you fall and bring Akanishi-kun back to where he's more suited to."
…Okay, that was unexpected.
Sort of.
"We're not forcing you though! It's your decision to make."
Somehow, Yuichi didn't feel that way, seeing the hopeful faces on the other angels.
"Yeah, it's just that we don't think he'll leave on his own accord if you're still up here."
Something which Yuichi must admit, made him rather happy about.
"But if you decide to stay we'll all try our best to bring him onto the Path of Goodness!"
Mission Impossible.
Oh well, guess it's time for a trip down to Hell.
* * * * *