A/N: Please take note that I own everything in and about this story.
Including the characters and plotline. So..KEEP YOUR GRUBBY MITTS OFF IT!!!
AND THAT MEANS *YOU*, VIDDY!!! erhem ::smiles sweetly:: thank you.
Continue on, please. (One note: *.* is emphasis. //.// is thinking.
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HELP! AN ANGEL CRASHED IN MY BACKYARD!!
Chapter Two-the ending
Hunter tapped his foot worriedly, leaning against his locker and glancing at his watch. Azami was usually at school by now. What could have happened? She couldn't possibly have been serious about staying home for a few weeks, could she?
Then he saw her familiar head of wild red hair and grinned. //Yes!// He started walking toward her.and stopped. There was a guy with her. Hunter's eyes narrowed. If the guy was bugging her.
Kai had dark brown hair, even wilder than Azami's, which wasn't exactly a bad thing. He had very pale skin, as pale as his companions', and that pale complexion, coupled with his dark wreath of hair and black ensemble of clothing, made him look like a death angel. Kai smiled at his own mental joke, chuckling to himself, //Death angel! Get it?! Angel!! Heeheeheehee, I crack myself up.//
Azami wore a customary scowl on her face, trying to ignore Kai. She would have preferred that he not go to school, but he was supposed to be an exchange student, so it couldn't be helped. //I am *so* looking forward to how he'll deal with school after five years of being dead,// she thought to herself sarcastically.
"Hey, Azami!" Hunter called, hurrying towards her, shooting a venomous glance at Kai, and preparing to be the knight in white armor. From long experience, he could tell that Azami was somewhat annoyed, and he guessed that it had something to do with the new guy. "Who's that?" he practically growled.
Kai smiled, but it turned cold when the blond boy frowned at him viciously. He could tell that this guy didn't like him, though he didn't know why. And Kai wasn't about to apologize when he hadn't done anything wrong! The guy acted like a very worried older brother, which suited Kai just fine. He was never one to sidestep trouble when it practically jumped into his lap. Kai practically rubbed his hands together with glee.
"I'm Kai Hiroshitan, an exchange student from Japan. I'm staying at *Azami's house.*" He emphasized the last part, a bit cruelly, but couldn't help the surge of smugness when the other guy's eyes widened. Hey, he was an angel, but he was allowed to have his fun, wasn't he?
Hunter struggled to keep the smile on his face and succeeded, but his lips twitched every once in a while, betraying his annoyance. Azami was stuck with this stuck up prick for who knew how long?! The situation was worse than he'd previously thought. Hunter stuck out his hand to Kai reluctantly.
"Hi, Kai, and welcome to Beach City High School," he forced himself to say, and tried not to flinch when Kai took his hand.
Kai gripped Hunter's hand as hard as he could, and Hunter returned in kind. They stared at each other for several moments with tightlipped smiles, each straining to crush the other's hand.
Azami watched them with much consternation and some amusement. There was something going on between them that she didn't understand, but she didn't mind if they wanted to hurt each other. She was still somewhat peeved at Hunter for laughing at her, and Kai just rubbed her wrong entirely.
The bell rang then, and the boys let their hands drop. Azami was surprised that she hadn't heard anything crack. "Uh, guys?" she ventured when they continued to glare at each other, not moving. "We should, uh, go now."
Hunter slowly looked at her, then nodded. "Yeah."
"Don't I need to get my schedule or something?" Kai questioned, feeling disoriented.
"Yeah, don't worry, I'll go with you," Azami assured him, though not sure why she did so.
"I can do that, 'Zami," Hunter volunteered quickly, shooting a glance at Kai. He didn't want Azami to have to do anything more with that guy than she had to.
"That's really okay, Hunter," Azami declined, looking at him sideways. //He really *is* acting strange,// she thought to herself. //I wonder why.//
Leaving them both no room for argument, she grabbed Kai's arm and dragged him into the building.
Azami threw herself down on her bed, groaning and covering her head with her pillow. Kai followed soon after, looking mutinous. Neither had given Mr. Tsukizawa a care when they stormed into the house after school, but then, neither was really in a mood to do anything but sulk.
"You are *hopeless!!*" came Azami's muffled voice. Kai leaned against the doorway to her room and scowled blackly at her.
"You keep taking that idiot Hunter's side, when it was all his fault to begin with!" Kai complained petulantly. "He *tripped* me while I was running! How was I supposed to help it if one of the books I was carrying flew at him accidentally?"
Azami sat up suddenly and glared at him. "Accidentally?" she shouted. "Kai, don't act like I'm stupid! Everyone in the hall saw you chuck it at his head! I have never been so embarrassed!" //Except for yesterday, the bathroom thing, but I'm not going to think about that.// "You guys were both acting like such little kids!"
"*He* started the wrestling match!" the boy was quick to defend himself. Even if he was supposed to have been twenty-one years old by now if he hadn't died, Kai still had all the stubbornness of a teenager.
"Not before you poured *blue dye* on his brand new white shirt!!" Azami reminded him, waggling a finger in his face. Kai snapped his teeth at it and she drew it back instantly.
"He called me an idiot!" The tousle-haired angel wasn't about to let her demean the level of his suffering at the hands of the dastardly Hunter.
"Only because you blew up our experiment, dolt!"
"He *told* me that the acids *could* be mixed!"
"I suppose you've been dead so long that you've *forgotten* the *basic* rules of chemistry?!"
"Oh, please! After all these years, *you* forgot how to tie your *shoes* and fell flat on your face at lunch!"
"Aaaaaggh!" Azami threw up her hands and slumped back onto the bed, exhaling in a long, exasperated hiss.
"Aaaaaggh!" Kai threw up his hands and sank to the ground, leaning against the wall and tilting his head back.
Simultaneously, they looked up and glared at each other. Then Azami finally spoke.
"We need to find some way to get you back where you belong."
"Thank you *so much* for your concern," Kai drawled sarcastically, rolling his eyes.
"It's the only way to get you out of my life!" Azami retorted.
"If I *knew* how to get back, I'd leave, and welcome!"
"Then you'd better know we're gonna investigate *anything* that might let you leave."
"Good!"
"Jerk!" Azami flung at him.
"Ass!" Kai tossed back.
"Shut up!"
"You shut up!"
They both sat glowering in silence, neither willing to let the other know that they each thought the argument was completely ridiculous. Not wanting to leave things unresolved, but seeing no other way out, Kai stood in a huff, and walked out.
"That guy!" Azami griped. "If I didn't know he was already dead, and in no danger of dying, why I'd-." here she went through several very vivid, anatomically impossible descriptions, one of which involved a butter knife, three porcupines, pepper spray, and a hog-tied Kai. Feeling slightly better after venting her rage, Azami paused and admitted, very quietly, "Maybe he isn't *that* bad.He's actually kinda funny.But he makes me so mad sometimes!"
Letting the troublesome thought of the stray angel slip out of her mind, Azami went down to dinner, hoping her dad wouldn't notice anything wrong.
Azami had never been able to sleep as well as she should have since her mother died. It always took her a long time to fall into the land of Winkin', Blinkin' and Nod, and she was easily startled out of it. Then, it was hard to go back. Her father, and the various doctors they consulted, called it insomnia. Azami, well, she used a less fancy term.
"&*%#& @!$#^*% nightmares!" she grumbled to herself, sitting up and giving her pillow a good punch. She laid back down and tried to squirm into a comfortable position for a while, but when she finally resigned herself to waking up in the morning with her neck and back in kinks, she flopped back with a sigh. She didn't want to fall asleep. She knew what would happen when she did. Visions of her mom, walking away, not looking back. Running after her desperately, calling out. Then her mom would decay before her eyes. That was one of her least favorite, but it recurred the most often. //Just my luck, huh?,// she groused.
Lost in her thoughts, Azami didn't notice the first creaking of her wooden floor. The second time, though, it was so loud she could hardly miss it. She sat bolt upright, her breathing shallow, but her eyes unable to make out anything in the pitch black room. There was another creak, and Azami silently picked up the lamp on the shelf next to her bed, praying her trembling hands wouldn't drop it.
"W-who's there?" she ventured, hating how her voice quavered uncertainly. No one answered her. And then-
"Waaagh!" Azami yelped as she was flipped off the bed and ungracefully plopped to the floor. Acting on pure instinct, she swung the lamp with all her strength. It hit her target with an almighty "CRASH!!" And someone fell to the floor, groaning.
"Gee-*zus!*" a very familiar, and very unwelcome voice cried. "Can't you take a *joke*, you crazy alive-person?!"
Azami felt along the wall and flipped the light on. Kai was sitting on the floor, his head clutched in his hands, the shards of the shattered lamp all around him.
Sweeping her bangs out of her face, the very pissed girl hissed in a low voice, "What the hell did you *think* I'd do if I heard someone sneaking around in my room who wouldn't answer me? Jump around and sing the Barney song?!"
Kai wasn't paying attention. He was too busy rubbing the throbbing lump on his head. "Aaaaaaooowwwww," he mewled piteously. Azami sighed, rubbing her temples.
"For God's sake, Kai, don't you have healing powers or something?" Kai looked up sheepishly, and she could tell that he was just remembering that he was an angel, therefore dead, therefore immortal, and therefore couldn't really be hurt.
"Oh, right. Heh, heh." The hand on his head glowed for a moment, and he jumped up a second later, perfectly fine, and grinning that extremely annoying smile that made Azami want to smack him. Either that, or roll around laughing. //I suppose he's contagious,// she mused to herself, before staring at Kai until he remembered why he'd came.
"I figured out a way to get back to the Upper Realms!" he said finally, as if letting her in on a huge secret. "I'm such a genius!" he congratulated himself.
"Good for you," Azami said, applauding snidely. "Then why haven't you used it already and left, so I could sleep in peace? Some people are here *do* sleep, you know." //Though not including me,// she added mentally.
Kai grinned at her mischievously. "I didn't think you'd want to miss such a monumentous occasion," he said angelically, then laughed when she raised her hand threateningly. "Just kidding, lighten up. I need your help."
"You told me that the day you fell in my backyard." Kai gave her a look, and she sighed, standing up. "All, right, what do you need?"
"Well, I was thinking about how we angels can communicate telepathically," he began, then stopped when he noticed her blank expression. "Telepathically." No signs of comprehension. "Y'know, *telepathy?*" he said, staring at her.
"Whazzat?" Azami asked cluelessly, scratching her head.
"Talking to someone else with your mind?" Kai said, looking at her with disbelief. "I thought everyone knew that!"
"Less dissing, more explaining, please," Azami said sourly. "Get on with it."
"Okay, okay, jeez. I'm obviously too far away from the Upper Realms to communicate directly with a senior angel as I am, but I remembered that some things can amplify telepathy, and enhance it. Flawless jewels, such as diamonds or rubies, are the easiest of those things to find."
//He sounds like he's reading from a textbook,// Azami thought, grinning a bit. Kai caught her grin and misinterpreted it for enthusiasm on the subject.
"Yeah, you get it?! If you have a crystal of some kind, then I could get one of the senior angels to come down and get me!" Kai said, practically hopping with excitement. A thought occurred to Azami, and she frowned.
"Why didn't you remember this before?" she demanded.
Kai shrugged sheepishly. "I must not have been paying that much attention in class that day," he said.
"Class?" Azami inquired, raising an eyebrow.
"At Guardian Angel School," Kai said, as if that explained everything. To his credit, he left the 'duh' unsaid, but it was implied very strongly. //Yeah, like everyone in the world knows that you go to angel school when you die,// Azami said, giving the mental equivalent of rolling her eyes. //Common knowledge, I'm sure.//
"Oh, well. Yeah, I think there's a big emerald in Mom's-." she paused painfully, "Anyway, would an emerald do?"
Kai nodded enthusiastically. "Sure, that'd be perfect!"
"All right."
She led him to her father's room, where she sneakily removed a small box from the top of his dresser, then quietly tiptoed back out the hallway and into the living room, to sit on the couch. While she was rummaging to find the right item, she asked Kai a few questions that she had been dying to ask, but felt that it would be to awkward.
"What's it like being a guardian angel?"
"Well, I haven't really had first hand experience yet, since I was on my way to get my beginner's assignment when I fell. But a guardian angel basically follows their mortal around, discreetly, of course, and prods their conscience sometimes, when they're about to make an important decision or something. I'm not really sure, they're supposed to brief you about that just before you leave."
Azami stopped for a moment to look at him incredulously. "So you mean that there are guardian angels walking around in plain sight every day?!" she exclaimed. //Could my mom be walking around somewhere, without me even knowing it?! //
Kai shook his head. "No, no. They're invisible and untouchable. You can't hear them or smell them or detect them at all. Most of the time, anyway. They say it gets kind of irritating to be insubstantial all the time, so they do become 'real' once in a while."
"Oh." Azami couldn't help being a bit disappointed. //So much for that idea. Damn.// "So, have I got an angel that's been with me my whole life, getting to know me and all my deepest darkest secrets?" This was said with the minimal amount of sarcasm.
"No, actually," Kai said seriously. "Angels switch assignments all the time. You've probably had around twenty different angels, all at different points. But then, it's not really a problem, because it doesn't take that long to figure out a mortal's deepest, darkest secrets. Y'know, since guardian angels can read minds."
This stopped Azami dead, and she looked at Kai incredulously. "Have you been reading my mind?!" she said suspiciously, her hand curling into a fist.
"Uhm.." //Why, oh why did I have to go and say that?// Kai sweated a bit and eyed her nervously, but didn't answer. A glittering of green had caught his eye. "Hey," he said, genuinely forgetting what they had been talking about. "Is that it?"
Azami didn't forget, exactly, but the sooner Kai was gone, the sooner her life could get back to normal. "Ah!" she said triumphantly, picking up the small emerald crystal, shaped like a hexagon. "Here you go," she said, handing it to Kai. He held it carefully, grinning.
"What's going to happen when you leave? 'Cause my Dad and everyone at school's gonna be wondering if you just vanish into thin air."
"Don't worry," Kai said absently, studying the emerald carefully. "They'll forget that I was ever here."
"Is this gonna be hard?" Azami asked, eager to see more 'magic'. "Lighting flashes, smoke, that kind of thing?"
Kai glanced at her, half amused, half irritated at her naiveté. "Of course not," he scoffed. "It's not like all those fake magician's tricks you see on TV. All I have to do is focus my thoughts inward at the emerald, it'll enhance my abilities, and I'll be able to project my 'SOS', so to speak, as far as I want."
"Excuse *me* for not knowing how to work magic," Azami said with a huff, leaning back on the couch. "A girl can be curious, can't she?"
Kai shrugged, then hunched over, staring intently at the small jewel. //Okay, how does this work again? Might as well give it a shot./////Emergency! Stranded junior angel Kai Hiroshitan calling for.uhm.assistance!///// he shouted with his mind. /////If someone could, uh, zero in and pick me up, I'd be, er, very grateful? And willing to take any punishment that I deserve.///// He just tacked on the last sentence for good measure, but he did so much more quietly. Then he sat there, feeling extremely stupid. How did he even know if this was going to work? It hadn't felt any different than just thinking..Except that his thoughts had been laced with a weird green mist.
"Well?" Azami said impatiently. "Aren't you going to get on with it?"
"I already did," Kai muttered, looking at the emerald uncertainly.
"Is anybody going to come?" Azami's nose wrinkled restlessly. "I'd better not be stuck with y-!"
All of a sudden, a tall man with black hair, wearing white robes and a very dark scowl appeared in the living room. Both Kai and Azami froze, looking at the intimidating man apprehensively. He glowered at them for a moment, then focused on Kai.
"Uh, hi, Seraph Isaiah," Kai squeaked. Azami looked at him, and her eyes asked, //Big time angel?// His wide eyes said back, //Big, BIG time angel. I'm so dead.// Again ignoring that fact that he was already dead.
"KAI!!" Seraph Isaiah shouted, (whatever a Seraph was,) grabbed the paralyzed youth's ear, gave it an agonizing yank, and promptly disappeared again.
Azami sat frozen in shock. One moment they were there, the next, they just.weren't. She blinked. She looked around the room carefully. She blinked again. Then she stood up slowly, carefully. All of a sudden she went wild.
"YESSSSS!!" She punched the air with glee, jumped up and down with delight, did a ridiculous little victory dance, and said, "Oh, yeah, oh yeah!" probably more times than was healthy. After she had tired herself out, she promptly went into her room and fell asleep, a wide grin practically splitting her face in half.
Azami smiled with contentment as she walked home. It had been a week since Kai had gone back to the Upper Realms, and he'd kept his promise. No one even remembered the accident at school, and she was glad of it. No one remembered Kai either, and Azami was particularly glad of *that*. She rather thought Hunter would have *preferred* forgetting Kai, if he still remembered him. The two friends were back on good terms, but for some reason, Azami herself hadn't forgotten the whole ordeal.
Then Azami winced, remembering another aspect of the 'happy ending'. Kai hadn't done anything about her grades, sad to say.. She still had another two weeks to go before she was allowed to go back on the internet and watch TV again. //Dad is so cruel,// she thought, her mouth quirking a bit.
Everything was back to normal, and Azami couldn't be happier. She'd even found out that a seraph was the highest ranked level of angel. So Kai had been right. VERY big time.
Azami reached her house and opened the door, whistling cheerfully, and walked into the kitchen.
Whereupon she immediately dropped the books she'd been carrying. They landed on the ground with a clatter, and the tune she'd been whistling was cut short. Her eyes widened with surprise, but not exactly horror, and she gaped.
Kai was leaning against the counter, absentmindedly crunching on an apple. He looked up, like he had just noticed she was there, but Azami knew better. Kai grinned at her. "Hi," he greeted. "Turns out that your old guardian angel just retired," his eyes sparkled with delight and mischief, like they usually did, "And guess who got assigned the job."
Azami slumped with disbelief, but her lips, seemingly of their own volition, curved up in a reluctant smile. She almost felt like laughing. Almost. After a moment, Kai's eyes softened slightly.
"Azami?" he said slowly. She looked up at him. "I *could* read your mind," he confessed guiltily, but when she didn't leap up and strangle him, he continued. "I pulled a few strings, called in a few favors, and so now I have a message for you."
Unable to think where he was heading with this, Azami merely waited for him to finish, watching his eyes closely. Kai smiled warmly.
"Your mom says she misses you, and she loves you more than *anything.* **Never** forget that." Azami smiled tremulously as he paused. "Maybe now those nightmares will go away, eh?"
Finis
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A/N: Please review, and tell me what you thank! Domo Arigato! Danke! All those other 'thank-you's in other languages! Bai bai!
Hunter tapped his foot worriedly, leaning against his locker and glancing at his watch. Azami was usually at school by now. What could have happened? She couldn't possibly have been serious about staying home for a few weeks, could she?
Then he saw her familiar head of wild red hair and grinned. //Yes!// He started walking toward her.and stopped. There was a guy with her. Hunter's eyes narrowed. If the guy was bugging her.
Kai had dark brown hair, even wilder than Azami's, which wasn't exactly a bad thing. He had very pale skin, as pale as his companions', and that pale complexion, coupled with his dark wreath of hair and black ensemble of clothing, made him look like a death angel. Kai smiled at his own mental joke, chuckling to himself, //Death angel! Get it?! Angel!! Heeheeheehee, I crack myself up.//
Azami wore a customary scowl on her face, trying to ignore Kai. She would have preferred that he not go to school, but he was supposed to be an exchange student, so it couldn't be helped. //I am *so* looking forward to how he'll deal with school after five years of being dead,// she thought to herself sarcastically.
"Hey, Azami!" Hunter called, hurrying towards her, shooting a venomous glance at Kai, and preparing to be the knight in white armor. From long experience, he could tell that Azami was somewhat annoyed, and he guessed that it had something to do with the new guy. "Who's that?" he practically growled.
Kai smiled, but it turned cold when the blond boy frowned at him viciously. He could tell that this guy didn't like him, though he didn't know why. And Kai wasn't about to apologize when he hadn't done anything wrong! The guy acted like a very worried older brother, which suited Kai just fine. He was never one to sidestep trouble when it practically jumped into his lap. Kai practically rubbed his hands together with glee.
"I'm Kai Hiroshitan, an exchange student from Japan. I'm staying at *Azami's house.*" He emphasized the last part, a bit cruelly, but couldn't help the surge of smugness when the other guy's eyes widened. Hey, he was an angel, but he was allowed to have his fun, wasn't he?
Hunter struggled to keep the smile on his face and succeeded, but his lips twitched every once in a while, betraying his annoyance. Azami was stuck with this stuck up prick for who knew how long?! The situation was worse than he'd previously thought. Hunter stuck out his hand to Kai reluctantly.
"Hi, Kai, and welcome to Beach City High School," he forced himself to say, and tried not to flinch when Kai took his hand.
Kai gripped Hunter's hand as hard as he could, and Hunter returned in kind. They stared at each other for several moments with tightlipped smiles, each straining to crush the other's hand.
Azami watched them with much consternation and some amusement. There was something going on between them that she didn't understand, but she didn't mind if they wanted to hurt each other. She was still somewhat peeved at Hunter for laughing at her, and Kai just rubbed her wrong entirely.
The bell rang then, and the boys let their hands drop. Azami was surprised that she hadn't heard anything crack. "Uh, guys?" she ventured when they continued to glare at each other, not moving. "We should, uh, go now."
Hunter slowly looked at her, then nodded. "Yeah."
"Don't I need to get my schedule or something?" Kai questioned, feeling disoriented.
"Yeah, don't worry, I'll go with you," Azami assured him, though not sure why she did so.
"I can do that, 'Zami," Hunter volunteered quickly, shooting a glance at Kai. He didn't want Azami to have to do anything more with that guy than she had to.
"That's really okay, Hunter," Azami declined, looking at him sideways. //He really *is* acting strange,// she thought to herself. //I wonder why.//
Leaving them both no room for argument, she grabbed Kai's arm and dragged him into the building.
Azami threw herself down on her bed, groaning and covering her head with her pillow. Kai followed soon after, looking mutinous. Neither had given Mr. Tsukizawa a care when they stormed into the house after school, but then, neither was really in a mood to do anything but sulk.
"You are *hopeless!!*" came Azami's muffled voice. Kai leaned against the doorway to her room and scowled blackly at her.
"You keep taking that idiot Hunter's side, when it was all his fault to begin with!" Kai complained petulantly. "He *tripped* me while I was running! How was I supposed to help it if one of the books I was carrying flew at him accidentally?"
Azami sat up suddenly and glared at him. "Accidentally?" she shouted. "Kai, don't act like I'm stupid! Everyone in the hall saw you chuck it at his head! I have never been so embarrassed!" //Except for yesterday, the bathroom thing, but I'm not going to think about that.// "You guys were both acting like such little kids!"
"*He* started the wrestling match!" the boy was quick to defend himself. Even if he was supposed to have been twenty-one years old by now if he hadn't died, Kai still had all the stubbornness of a teenager.
"Not before you poured *blue dye* on his brand new white shirt!!" Azami reminded him, waggling a finger in his face. Kai snapped his teeth at it and she drew it back instantly.
"He called me an idiot!" The tousle-haired angel wasn't about to let her demean the level of his suffering at the hands of the dastardly Hunter.
"Only because you blew up our experiment, dolt!"
"He *told* me that the acids *could* be mixed!"
"I suppose you've been dead so long that you've *forgotten* the *basic* rules of chemistry?!"
"Oh, please! After all these years, *you* forgot how to tie your *shoes* and fell flat on your face at lunch!"
"Aaaaaggh!" Azami threw up her hands and slumped back onto the bed, exhaling in a long, exasperated hiss.
"Aaaaaggh!" Kai threw up his hands and sank to the ground, leaning against the wall and tilting his head back.
Simultaneously, they looked up and glared at each other. Then Azami finally spoke.
"We need to find some way to get you back where you belong."
"Thank you *so much* for your concern," Kai drawled sarcastically, rolling his eyes.
"It's the only way to get you out of my life!" Azami retorted.
"If I *knew* how to get back, I'd leave, and welcome!"
"Then you'd better know we're gonna investigate *anything* that might let you leave."
"Good!"
"Jerk!" Azami flung at him.
"Ass!" Kai tossed back.
"Shut up!"
"You shut up!"
They both sat glowering in silence, neither willing to let the other know that they each thought the argument was completely ridiculous. Not wanting to leave things unresolved, but seeing no other way out, Kai stood in a huff, and walked out.
"That guy!" Azami griped. "If I didn't know he was already dead, and in no danger of dying, why I'd-." here she went through several very vivid, anatomically impossible descriptions, one of which involved a butter knife, three porcupines, pepper spray, and a hog-tied Kai. Feeling slightly better after venting her rage, Azami paused and admitted, very quietly, "Maybe he isn't *that* bad.He's actually kinda funny.But he makes me so mad sometimes!"
Letting the troublesome thought of the stray angel slip out of her mind, Azami went down to dinner, hoping her dad wouldn't notice anything wrong.
Azami had never been able to sleep as well as she should have since her mother died. It always took her a long time to fall into the land of Winkin', Blinkin' and Nod, and she was easily startled out of it. Then, it was hard to go back. Her father, and the various doctors they consulted, called it insomnia. Azami, well, she used a less fancy term.
"&*%#& @!$#^*% nightmares!" she grumbled to herself, sitting up and giving her pillow a good punch. She laid back down and tried to squirm into a comfortable position for a while, but when she finally resigned herself to waking up in the morning with her neck and back in kinks, she flopped back with a sigh. She didn't want to fall asleep. She knew what would happen when she did. Visions of her mom, walking away, not looking back. Running after her desperately, calling out. Then her mom would decay before her eyes. That was one of her least favorite, but it recurred the most often. //Just my luck, huh?,// she groused.
Lost in her thoughts, Azami didn't notice the first creaking of her wooden floor. The second time, though, it was so loud she could hardly miss it. She sat bolt upright, her breathing shallow, but her eyes unable to make out anything in the pitch black room. There was another creak, and Azami silently picked up the lamp on the shelf next to her bed, praying her trembling hands wouldn't drop it.
"W-who's there?" she ventured, hating how her voice quavered uncertainly. No one answered her. And then-
"Waaagh!" Azami yelped as she was flipped off the bed and ungracefully plopped to the floor. Acting on pure instinct, she swung the lamp with all her strength. It hit her target with an almighty "CRASH!!" And someone fell to the floor, groaning.
"Gee-*zus!*" a very familiar, and very unwelcome voice cried. "Can't you take a *joke*, you crazy alive-person?!"
Azami felt along the wall and flipped the light on. Kai was sitting on the floor, his head clutched in his hands, the shards of the shattered lamp all around him.
Sweeping her bangs out of her face, the very pissed girl hissed in a low voice, "What the hell did you *think* I'd do if I heard someone sneaking around in my room who wouldn't answer me? Jump around and sing the Barney song?!"
Kai wasn't paying attention. He was too busy rubbing the throbbing lump on his head. "Aaaaaaooowwwww," he mewled piteously. Azami sighed, rubbing her temples.
"For God's sake, Kai, don't you have healing powers or something?" Kai looked up sheepishly, and she could tell that he was just remembering that he was an angel, therefore dead, therefore immortal, and therefore couldn't really be hurt.
"Oh, right. Heh, heh." The hand on his head glowed for a moment, and he jumped up a second later, perfectly fine, and grinning that extremely annoying smile that made Azami want to smack him. Either that, or roll around laughing. //I suppose he's contagious,// she mused to herself, before staring at Kai until he remembered why he'd came.
"I figured out a way to get back to the Upper Realms!" he said finally, as if letting her in on a huge secret. "I'm such a genius!" he congratulated himself.
"Good for you," Azami said, applauding snidely. "Then why haven't you used it already and left, so I could sleep in peace? Some people are here *do* sleep, you know." //Though not including me,// she added mentally.
Kai grinned at her mischievously. "I didn't think you'd want to miss such a monumentous occasion," he said angelically, then laughed when she raised her hand threateningly. "Just kidding, lighten up. I need your help."
"You told me that the day you fell in my backyard." Kai gave her a look, and she sighed, standing up. "All, right, what do you need?"
"Well, I was thinking about how we angels can communicate telepathically," he began, then stopped when he noticed her blank expression. "Telepathically." No signs of comprehension. "Y'know, *telepathy?*" he said, staring at her.
"Whazzat?" Azami asked cluelessly, scratching her head.
"Talking to someone else with your mind?" Kai said, looking at her with disbelief. "I thought everyone knew that!"
"Less dissing, more explaining, please," Azami said sourly. "Get on with it."
"Okay, okay, jeez. I'm obviously too far away from the Upper Realms to communicate directly with a senior angel as I am, but I remembered that some things can amplify telepathy, and enhance it. Flawless jewels, such as diamonds or rubies, are the easiest of those things to find."
//He sounds like he's reading from a textbook,// Azami thought, grinning a bit. Kai caught her grin and misinterpreted it for enthusiasm on the subject.
"Yeah, you get it?! If you have a crystal of some kind, then I could get one of the senior angels to come down and get me!" Kai said, practically hopping with excitement. A thought occurred to Azami, and she frowned.
"Why didn't you remember this before?" she demanded.
Kai shrugged sheepishly. "I must not have been paying that much attention in class that day," he said.
"Class?" Azami inquired, raising an eyebrow.
"At Guardian Angel School," Kai said, as if that explained everything. To his credit, he left the 'duh' unsaid, but it was implied very strongly. //Yeah, like everyone in the world knows that you go to angel school when you die,// Azami said, giving the mental equivalent of rolling her eyes. //Common knowledge, I'm sure.//
"Oh, well. Yeah, I think there's a big emerald in Mom's-." she paused painfully, "Anyway, would an emerald do?"
Kai nodded enthusiastically. "Sure, that'd be perfect!"
"All right."
She led him to her father's room, where she sneakily removed a small box from the top of his dresser, then quietly tiptoed back out the hallway and into the living room, to sit on the couch. While she was rummaging to find the right item, she asked Kai a few questions that she had been dying to ask, but felt that it would be to awkward.
"What's it like being a guardian angel?"
"Well, I haven't really had first hand experience yet, since I was on my way to get my beginner's assignment when I fell. But a guardian angel basically follows their mortal around, discreetly, of course, and prods their conscience sometimes, when they're about to make an important decision or something. I'm not really sure, they're supposed to brief you about that just before you leave."
Azami stopped for a moment to look at him incredulously. "So you mean that there are guardian angels walking around in plain sight every day?!" she exclaimed. //Could my mom be walking around somewhere, without me even knowing it?! //
Kai shook his head. "No, no. They're invisible and untouchable. You can't hear them or smell them or detect them at all. Most of the time, anyway. They say it gets kind of irritating to be insubstantial all the time, so they do become 'real' once in a while."
"Oh." Azami couldn't help being a bit disappointed. //So much for that idea. Damn.// "So, have I got an angel that's been with me my whole life, getting to know me and all my deepest darkest secrets?" This was said with the minimal amount of sarcasm.
"No, actually," Kai said seriously. "Angels switch assignments all the time. You've probably had around twenty different angels, all at different points. But then, it's not really a problem, because it doesn't take that long to figure out a mortal's deepest, darkest secrets. Y'know, since guardian angels can read minds."
This stopped Azami dead, and she looked at Kai incredulously. "Have you been reading my mind?!" she said suspiciously, her hand curling into a fist.
"Uhm.." //Why, oh why did I have to go and say that?// Kai sweated a bit and eyed her nervously, but didn't answer. A glittering of green had caught his eye. "Hey," he said, genuinely forgetting what they had been talking about. "Is that it?"
Azami didn't forget, exactly, but the sooner Kai was gone, the sooner her life could get back to normal. "Ah!" she said triumphantly, picking up the small emerald crystal, shaped like a hexagon. "Here you go," she said, handing it to Kai. He held it carefully, grinning.
"What's going to happen when you leave? 'Cause my Dad and everyone at school's gonna be wondering if you just vanish into thin air."
"Don't worry," Kai said absently, studying the emerald carefully. "They'll forget that I was ever here."
"Is this gonna be hard?" Azami asked, eager to see more 'magic'. "Lighting flashes, smoke, that kind of thing?"
Kai glanced at her, half amused, half irritated at her naiveté. "Of course not," he scoffed. "It's not like all those fake magician's tricks you see on TV. All I have to do is focus my thoughts inward at the emerald, it'll enhance my abilities, and I'll be able to project my 'SOS', so to speak, as far as I want."
"Excuse *me* for not knowing how to work magic," Azami said with a huff, leaning back on the couch. "A girl can be curious, can't she?"
Kai shrugged, then hunched over, staring intently at the small jewel. //Okay, how does this work again? Might as well give it a shot./////Emergency! Stranded junior angel Kai Hiroshitan calling for.uhm.assistance!///// he shouted with his mind. /////If someone could, uh, zero in and pick me up, I'd be, er, very grateful? And willing to take any punishment that I deserve.///// He just tacked on the last sentence for good measure, but he did so much more quietly. Then he sat there, feeling extremely stupid. How did he even know if this was going to work? It hadn't felt any different than just thinking..Except that his thoughts had been laced with a weird green mist.
"Well?" Azami said impatiently. "Aren't you going to get on with it?"
"I already did," Kai muttered, looking at the emerald uncertainly.
"Is anybody going to come?" Azami's nose wrinkled restlessly. "I'd better not be stuck with y-!"
All of a sudden, a tall man with black hair, wearing white robes and a very dark scowl appeared in the living room. Both Kai and Azami froze, looking at the intimidating man apprehensively. He glowered at them for a moment, then focused on Kai.
"Uh, hi, Seraph Isaiah," Kai squeaked. Azami looked at him, and her eyes asked, //Big time angel?// His wide eyes said back, //Big, BIG time angel. I'm so dead.// Again ignoring that fact that he was already dead.
"KAI!!" Seraph Isaiah shouted, (whatever a Seraph was,) grabbed the paralyzed youth's ear, gave it an agonizing yank, and promptly disappeared again.
Azami sat frozen in shock. One moment they were there, the next, they just.weren't. She blinked. She looked around the room carefully. She blinked again. Then she stood up slowly, carefully. All of a sudden she went wild.
"YESSSSS!!" She punched the air with glee, jumped up and down with delight, did a ridiculous little victory dance, and said, "Oh, yeah, oh yeah!" probably more times than was healthy. After she had tired herself out, she promptly went into her room and fell asleep, a wide grin practically splitting her face in half.
Azami smiled with contentment as she walked home. It had been a week since Kai had gone back to the Upper Realms, and he'd kept his promise. No one even remembered the accident at school, and she was glad of it. No one remembered Kai either, and Azami was particularly glad of *that*. She rather thought Hunter would have *preferred* forgetting Kai, if he still remembered him. The two friends were back on good terms, but for some reason, Azami herself hadn't forgotten the whole ordeal.
Then Azami winced, remembering another aspect of the 'happy ending'. Kai hadn't done anything about her grades, sad to say.. She still had another two weeks to go before she was allowed to go back on the internet and watch TV again. //Dad is so cruel,// she thought, her mouth quirking a bit.
Everything was back to normal, and Azami couldn't be happier. She'd even found out that a seraph was the highest ranked level of angel. So Kai had been right. VERY big time.
Azami reached her house and opened the door, whistling cheerfully, and walked into the kitchen.
Whereupon she immediately dropped the books she'd been carrying. They landed on the ground with a clatter, and the tune she'd been whistling was cut short. Her eyes widened with surprise, but not exactly horror, and she gaped.
Kai was leaning against the counter, absentmindedly crunching on an apple. He looked up, like he had just noticed she was there, but Azami knew better. Kai grinned at her. "Hi," he greeted. "Turns out that your old guardian angel just retired," his eyes sparkled with delight and mischief, like they usually did, "And guess who got assigned the job."
Azami slumped with disbelief, but her lips, seemingly of their own volition, curved up in a reluctant smile. She almost felt like laughing. Almost. After a moment, Kai's eyes softened slightly.
"Azami?" he said slowly. She looked up at him. "I *could* read your mind," he confessed guiltily, but when she didn't leap up and strangle him, he continued. "I pulled a few strings, called in a few favors, and so now I have a message for you."
Unable to think where he was heading with this, Azami merely waited for him to finish, watching his eyes closely. Kai smiled warmly.
"Your mom says she misses you, and she loves you more than *anything.* **Never** forget that." Azami smiled tremulously as he paused. "Maybe now those nightmares will go away, eh?"
Finis
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A/N: Please review, and tell me what you thank! Domo Arigato! Danke! All those other 'thank-you's in other languages! Bai bai!