Fan Fiction ❯ Fallen Angel ❯ First Show of Power... ( Chapter 7 )

I'm so bored…Okay, I'll say this one more time: I can NOT view your review, so email me if you want to tell me something about the story…

Last time:

We found out that Kage slaughtered a village that Mitsukai was trying to save, causing him to hate her existence now. And that Mitsukai is one of the very creatures that he protects Amy against.

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`Grph…he likes to lock himself in his room,' Amy thought as she sat across the hall from his room, staring at the door.

He suddenly poked his head out of the door. "When were you planning on knocking," he asked rudely, staring down his nose at her.

She was caught off guard and stumbled to stand up. "I-I'm sorry; it's just that you stay in your room so long and often," she stammered, watching as he opened the door the rest of the way to reveal himself.

He stood in the doorway without a shirt. (A/N: *drool*…Okay, I'm better now…*continues drooling*) She could see several scars on his torso, including the ones from the battle in the Mind. He had a long jagged one reaching from the right side of his collar-bone to the last set of his ribs. There was another healed slash mark across the center of his throat. She was sure there were more, but he turned around and motioned for her to follow him.

As he led her through his room, she studied his back. There was yet another large scar stretching from base of his neck, under where his wings were to his hip. And where his wings used to protrude from his back, he only had a small tattoo on each shoulder blade of a pointed, ruffled, black wing.

Mitsukai led her through a door in the back of his room and down a set of stairs. Once through, an old, dusty smell insulted her nose. She looked around Mitsukai's broad shoulders to see a giant room filled with book shelves. There were thousands upon thousands of books of all sizes and thicknesses.

In the back corners there were two desks, covered in more books, some parchment, and calligraphy pens. On top of one of the desks was Mitsukai's sunglasses and what looked like a woman's bracelet. On the other desk were two rolled up pieces of parchment. She recognized one as the letter Mitsukai left on the island bar and she had read when he went to bed. The other was tied with a dark, blood-red ribbon and looked just a little newer than the first scroll.

Mitsukai walked over to a book shelf, pointing to each book as if counting them. He stopped, looking up to the top row of books. Each book shelf was two stories high, and he didn't have any ladders in this library. He simply crouched then jumped, grabbing the book before falling back to the ground with a loud thud.

"Come here," he called to her, startling her away from the desks.

He handed her the book. "This is what I believe we are dealing with," he said pointing to a picture in the book.

Amy looked at the picture, reading the description next to it.

It was a picture of what appeared to be a man mixed with a snake. He had snake-like skin and eyes, and was covered in armor. Next to the portrait, the description read:

"Balthazar: a feared demon of great power in the Feudal Era of Japan. He is said to have power over snakes and other reptiles in the area, making him a difficult opponent. With his keen, demon eyesight, and snake's sense of smell and taste, he hunted down his enemies, annihilating them all. Anyone to cross him did not live to tell the tale. He was said to have held power over the Northern Lands of Japan for many decades before falling to a mysterious warrior. Though, defeated, he was not killed and disappeared after many attempts at regaining power. He was not seen afterwards except for the occasional said sighting."

"What's this got to do with me," Amy said after she was finished.

Mitsukai took the book back, closing it with a snap. "I believe he is the one after you, or at least the one pulling the strings behind the attacks."

"What makes you say that," she asked, moving toward the desks again.

He watched her warily, making sure she didn't touch anything she wasn't supposed to. "It is said that a demon of great power would come after you," he said, absentmindedly, watching her closely. "He is one of the most powerful demons, and the most power-hungry one that I know of. With you, he can control the world."

"What," Amy screamed, turning around quickly to stare at him. "What do you mean `control the world'?!"

Mitsukai brought his attention back to their conversation, hitting his forehead with his palm when he realized what he had done. "Damn it all," he muttered as he set the book next to the scrolls on the desk. He picked up the scroll tied with ribbon. "I suppose I should pay more attention to what I'm telling you next time, ne? Chikushou sore," he yelled.

Amy looked at him questioningly after his outburst, but shook it off. "What's that," she asked, pointing to the scroll in his hand.

He looked at her, wondering what she meant before he realized she was pointing to the scroll in his hand. "Ah, right," he said, handing it to her. "This is for you, but you are not to open it before it is time to. You'll know when that time is, don't worry."

With that he left her with a million or so questions swimming in her head.

She glared at his retreating form, but soon began searching through the books after he left.

"These are all about spells, and demons, and angels," she thought aloud.

She picked up another book, flipping through the pages. She paused, gasping. `This can't be real,' she thought over and over.

There, on the pages in front of her, was a full-page picture of Mitsukai and a description just like Balthazar's on the other page.

"It's him," she whispered in awe.

"Indeed, it is," he said from right behind her, making her shiver from the feel of his breath dancing on the back of her neck. "You're very nosey," he continued. "That's not a very good quality."

She was shocked, but her shock soon turned into anger. "And neither is leaving a young woman with the knowledge that she can destroy the world," she yelled, unknowingly flinging him across the room.

He hit the bookshelf with enough force to cause an avalanche of books to fall on top of him.

"Oh, my God," Amy squealed as she ran to the giant pile of books. She began digging into the pile, soon finding Mitsukai looking up at her.

He sat up, straightening his hair. "It would seem as though you have begun to tap into your powers already," he whispered more to himself than to her.

"I have powers," she asked, amazed, looking at her hand. "What are they? What can I do?"

"I'm not sure, but you will find out in due time, dove," he said, leading her out of the library. "It will be dark in a few hours. Would you like to spar with me?"

"Uggh," she moaned. "Weapons or no?"

"Your decision, it does not matter to me," he replied, opening the door to his room.

"I'd like to practice archery first, then hand-to-hand combat, okay," she asked.

"That's fine with me."

They practiced until there was no light to see with, and then retired to bed, not noticing the eyes glaring at them all night.

`We will see who gets the last laugh, Mitsukai,' Kage thought from the shadows, `we will see.'

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Um…? *shrugs* I don't know where that came from… This chapter was totally unexpected…Balthazar wasn't even planned to be in this story, let alone exist at all! Oh, well! Hope you liked it!

Happy Haunting,

Chisai Oni