Fan Fiction ❯ Pure Essence ❯ Marriage? ( Chapter 1 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

It had begun as just a small flame but the torrent had quickly exploded and spread throughout the house destroying everything it touched. The family living inside had been caught in a ring of fire that forced them back against a wall. Behind them was a hole only small enough for the family’s pet fox to escape through. She had already taken her kits from their home and returned.

“Serenity, hand her to Vixen,” the man urged his wife. The woman stared at her husband but slowly nodded and knelt, giving her child to the black fox. The fox gently took hold of the bundle and carried it through the hole to safety. The man took his wife into his arms and held her while the flames engulfed them both, turning them to ashes and dust.

Outside, a safe distance from the burning home, the fox and her kits watched the house as it began to cave in. The small bundle had begun to cry and the female fox was nervously looking around for another angel. The kits were playing, oblivious to the fact that their home and masters were now gone in the blazing fire.

“Strange how a home could have caught fire on such a nice night,” said an angel as he landed not too far from the foxes. His long blonde hair and gold and white kimono highlighted the bright white wings behind him. Beside him landed another male angel with short brown hair and bright violet eyes wearing black pants a tan long-sleeved shirt with a long gray over coat and scarf. “Hayao, take her,” the blonde angel said to the other. He watched the fire as his companion knelt and scooped the baby into his arms, cradling the crying child. The female fox tensed suddenly while baring her fangs at the two angels. The male with blonde hair frowned at it. “Calm down. I’ve decided to raise this child myself.” He snatched one of the kits up and smirked down at the fox.

“Yasuyoshi?” Hayao said uncertainly. Yasuyoshi frowned, his glare setting upon Hayao.

“Let’s go and be careful with her. Or I’ll have your wings,” he threatened and spread his wings still holding the small fox and flew into the air. Hayao frowned looking at the baby then followed Yasuyoshi.

Five years later the baby had grown to a hyper active little girl. Her long brown hair fell just short of her waist and her bright blue eyes were full of emotion. Following her wherever she went was a little black fox pup, only the tip of his tail and his belly were white. Watching the duo from the far wall was Hayao; he stood with his arms folded over his chest.

“Hayao, come play?” the little girl asked and stopped in her tracks. She smiled to him, waiting for him to come over. The little fox ran circles around the girl’s feet. Hayao frowned.

“Playing is for children Nancy.” The girl pouted but saw that her guard would not be deterred and turned to continue her playing. She tripped over the little fox and hit the floor. The little girl blinked a few times before starting to sniffle then began to cry. The fox hid behind a table and Hayao pushed off the wall and walked over to her. “Stop crying you’re not hurt.” He pulled her to her feet and frowned as she buried her face into her hands while continuing to cry.

“What’s going on in here?” Yasuyoshi asked, walking into the room. Hayao looked up at him.

“She tripped,” he explained. Yasuyoshi nodded and pulled the little girl into his arms. He patted her back and smiled softly.

“You’re alright, Nancy,” he said soothingly. The little girl sniffed and pulled her head off his shoulder.

“Yasuyoshi, will you play with me?” She pouted again and tugged slightly on his shirt.

“Of course,” he laughed. She squealed happily and hugged him. Hayao rolled his eyes as Yasuyoshi put the girl down. She closed her eyes, telling Yasuyoshi to hide.

Twelve more years passed and at the age of seventeen the girl had grown into a young lady. Her playful mind and nature had stayed the same while developing a bit of a short temper. The only thing that had really changed was her physical appearance.

“Yasuyoshi do you think the position of the angelic army is very wise? By putting them so close to the human boundaries couldn’t they be found out?” The golden haired male looked up from a map he had been looking over and frowned slightly. Though seventeen years had passed Yasuyoshi hadn’t changed, after all, angels stopped aging physically after a certain amount of years. She leaned her head to one side waiting for an answer. Behind her sitting in a chair against the wall Hayao slowly slid his hand to the hilt of his sword. Yasuyoshi’s eyes traveled over her face then down to her chest where the tops of her breasts peaked over the tight, blue velvet dress she wore; he spared another moment to admire the curves of her waist and then brought his eyes back to her face.

“I have Zhou in charge of them. He’ll keep them out of trouble.”

“Who?” Nancy raised an eyebrow.

“Zhou. I appointed him in charge last night at the banquet. The one you missed,” he explained. Her eyes suddenly widened while Hayao shook his head. Yasuyoshi stood and walked around his desk. Nancy sighed and looked down.

“I guess it slipped my mind. I’m sorry,” she said softly. He placed a hand on her shoulder and lifted her chin, revealing a remorseful look on the girls face.

“My dear you’ve got to get your pretty little head out of the clouds. Now run along. And try not to be late for dinner. We’ve a very important guest coming.” Nancy leaned her head to one side curiously smiling at him.

“Who?” she asked. Her face reddened as Yasuyoshi frowned at her.

“You know that I always invite the honorary guest of our banquets for a private dinner the following night. Although, I admit that we have some personal issues to speak about.”

“Personal issues?” She looked intrigued.

“Nothing a little girl like you would understand,” he teased.

“I’m not a little girl! I’m seventeen,” she snapped. Yasuyoshi smiled and took that as an invitation to circle her further inspecting her body his eyes running over her as his hand slid down her arm so it could rest on her waist. He stopped behind her; his face beside hers and his arm wrapped around her front.

“You’re right you’re not a little girl any longer,” he whispered as he leaned closer to her so he wouldn’t have to worry about Hayao hearing him. “You’ll soon learn what that means.” His arm around her became firmer and he held her against him while lightly kissing her neck. “Now go on and don’t be late.”

“Uh huh.” She sped out of the room, grabbing Hayao and pulling him out with her.

“He’s been acting really weird Hayao,” Nancy said as they reached the garden. She sat down on a bench and sighed, swinging her feet. Hayao frowned at her.

“He doesn’t think of you as the little girl he allowed to live in his home any longer,” he said to her.

“When I look at him I still think of him as my father. I mean, he did raise me and bring me up like a father would.” Nancy bit her lower lip. Hayao shrugged slightly.

“Then I guess you should start thinking about him as more than the man who raised you.”

“Hayao what am I supposed to think of him as? I know about as much about men as you do about having fun.” Hayao sent a glare at her.

“You want me to toss you to demons?” he growled. Nancy cracked a smile and stood stretching her arms.

“Let’s find Harmony and Faith. Maybe they’ll be some help with the current situation.” Nancy walked down the path; Hayao frowned deeply.

“Well don’t forget you’ve got to be back in time for dinner! Come on Keitaro maybe you can get her home on time,” he said to the little black fox who had been sitting by a tree. It ran off after Nancy.


“Hello Nancy!” An angel with long wavy red hair and bright green eyes smiled brightly and waved from her position in a tree branch. Above her in the air was an angel with shorter hair but the same green eyes.

Nancy waved to both of them as a smile crossed her face. Keitaro came running up and took his place right beside Nancy who stopped to look up into the tree. Hayao stood back and allowed the girls to chat while leaning against a tree. The angel with longer red hair smiled at him.
“Hello Hayao. It’s a nice day isn’t it?” she asked. He nodded slightly.

“Sure is Harmony,” he said to her. The girl with shorter hair landed near him and grinned.

“It’ll be a nice night too. Do you want to go to the fields when you get off work?” Hayao smirked.

“Hello Faith,” he greeted. Faith smiled at him and turned her attention back to Harmony and Nancy.

“Alright what’s going on?” Nancy turned bright red and Harmony smirked.

“Faith don’t look now but I think our little friend has guy troubles.” Harmony motioned for Hayao to back off so they could talk. Hayao raised an eyebrow but decided he didn’t want to listen to the conversation the girls were going to have anyway. His wings appeared and he flew high into the air.

“I don’t have guy troubles. I’m just confused over Yasuyoshi,” Nancy explained. Faith and Harmony smirked and sat down in the grass, Faith patted the grass beside her and Nancy joined them.

“Do tell,” Faith said, leaning her head to one side. Harmony grinned.

“Yasuyoshi has been acting strange. I’ve noticed him staring at me over his work, and today he got a little too close and even kissed my neck,” she pointed to the spot on her neck Yasuyoshi had kissed. Harmony raised an eyebrow, there were no visible marks but she knew better than to question Nancy’s credibility. The girl never lied.

“Well that’s to be expected. You two are betrothed so you’ll have to get used to it.” Harmony looked to Faith for help but the girl was trying to stare a whole in the ground elsewhere. Nancy pulled Keitaro onto her lap and began to pet him.

“How could that be? He’s raised me since I was little, he’s like my father.” Nancy tried to avoid Keitaro as he moved to lick her chin.

“You’ve been betrothed to him since you were born. That’s one of the reasons why he took you in,” Faith mumbled, twirling a finger in the grass. Nancy sighed and took a moment to look up into the sky.

“Well Hayao said I should start thinking about Yasuyoshi as more than the man who raised me. I guess that was what he meant.”

“You know, that dinner is tonight I guess you should get back there so you’re not late,” Faith said, Harmony nodded slightly.

“Yea Yasuyoshi loves it when you listen to him. Try to please him then explain that you don’t think it’ll work out,” Harmony urged her. Nancy nodded and stood, still holding the fox, then turned to run back home. But before she left she looked back at her two friends and smiled softly.

“I’ll do that, thank you both. Hayao let’s go!” she called to her guard before running off down the path towards home.

“Hurry up Nancy,” Hayao urged her as knocked on her door, annoyed that it had taken her over two hours just to get ready for dinner. The door opened and he stared at her, stupefied by what he saw.

“Ok done. Sorry I took so long,” she said. Hayao nodded slightly. Nancy smiled at him and Hayao finally shook his head.

“It took you over two hours to get ready and you look like you haven’t changed at all,” he grumbled.

“Well I like this dress.” She looked down at the blue dress. “Is there something wrong with it?” Hayao grabbed her arm and pulled her down the hall.

“No, now come one before we’re late.”

“We’ve got a couple minutes, can I grab my-”

“NO!” he yelled. Hayao pulled her into a large room, the entrance hall. The ceiling was high with a painting of the sky and stereotypical cherubs and such. There was a large chandelier dripping in diamonds and the floor was made of white marble. A stair case lead up and split in two to get to the next floor. Nancy was humming something to herself that Hayao had never heard before.

“Nancy, it’s nice to see you on time.” Yasuyoshi smiled broadly, warmly, it sort of unnerved her. But she smiled back at him.

“Well Hayao was very stern in getting me out here on time.” She patted Hayao’s arm while smiling up at him. Yasuyoshi glanced to Hayao for a moment.

“Good,” he said and turned as the door bell rang. Yasuyoshi glanced back to Nancy and Hayao then opened the front door. They were greeted by a man with short black hair and soft gray eyes. He had a pleasant enough smile and wore the standard military uniform. “Nancy meet the commander of the angelic army, Zhou,” Yasuyoshi introduced him. He stepped inside and took her hand. Nancy felt herself blush as he kissed the top of her right hand.

“It’s a pleasure to finally meet the girl Yasuyoshi has told me so much about.” Nancy blinked and smiled.

“It’s nice to meet you too Zhou,” she said. He let go of her hand and Yasuyoshi cleared his throat.

“We should get to the dinning room. After all Junji hates to wait.” Nancy’s face fell, but Yasuyoshi caught her expression and slipped an arm around her waist. “None of that. You have to be polite tonight,” he said quietly. She nodded slightly. And they walked down the hall to the dinning room. Instead of the normal long dinning room table there was a short one. Four places were set. Zhou pulled a chair out for Nancy and she nodded her thanks while sitting down. Beside her already sitting was another man. His short blonde hair was long enough to fall into his bright blue eyes but it couldn’t hide the sly smirk on his face.

“Nancy, how are you?” he asked.

“Quite well Junji, and you?” She smiled as politely as she could.

“Rather well now.” He placed a hand over hers in her lap and she quickly jabbed his side with her elbow, sending him a stern look while he removed the hand. Yasuyoshi sat down on Nancy’s other side and Zhou beside him. They began dinner, talking about the war, demons, and prisoners but Nancy was silent the entire time. She preferred to listen rather than to get into the conversation. Though she didn’t hear anything that could have been a “personal issue”. Until dessert when Junji finally leaned back in his chair.

“Well, who gets her first?” he asked. Nancy raised an eyebrow at him and Yasuyoshi frowned. Zhou was half way through a drink of wine and he put his glass back down to frown at Junji.

“Zhou does,” Yasuyoshi said, shifting his position in his chair. Junji cast a glare to Zhou who blinked.

“Yasuyoshi I thought-”

“What are you guys talking about?” Nancy cut him off, placing her napkin on her plate. They were silent for a moment and then Yasuyoshi sighed.

“This may come as a sort of shock but ever since you were born you were to be married to one of us. You’re going to be spending some time with Zhou and Junji to get to know them better.” He waited for her response and winced when Nancy drank the rest of the wine in her glass.

“Well. Isn’t this a grand surprise?” She got up before anyone could speak and walked away muttering to herself. Yasuyoshi leaned back in his chair, Junji scoffed.

“You spoiled that little brat Yasuyoshi; you should have punished her at least once. Then maybe she wouldn’t be so rude.” Zhou shook his head at him.

“Don’t forget she’s still just a child. She’s only seventeen and we’ve sprung this upon her quite suddenly. If you were her would you have asked to be excused from the table so you could storm up to your room?” he asked. Junji brushed his blonde hair out of his eyes and smirked.

“If I was engaged to three women I’d-”

“I don’t have the time or the mind to listen to your perverted fantasies Junji. If you’ll both excuse me I’m going to go talk to her,” Yasuyoshi excused himself. Zhou and Junji watched him get up and walk away.

“Now that he’s gone I’d like to know how why the hell you get her first Zhou.” Junji glared at him.

“You were supposed to spend the first week with her Junji. I suppose when Yasuyoshi thought it through he changed the order,” Zhou said with a small smile. Junji poured himself another glass of wine and shook his head.

“Why the hell would he do that?” Zhou sighed as he looked at the red wine in his glass.

“Because she has to choose who she’s going to marry unless of course two of us die then that leaves no choice for her. Yasuyoshi knows she wouldn’t choose him, she thinks of him like a father. She hates you from what I hear, and she’s never even meet me before tonight,” Zhou explained.

“So you’re saying that you are the only one of the three of us who even has a chance?” Junji snapped. Zhou shook his head and chuckled.

“That’s the entire point of spending time with us. So she can decide who she’d like to be with.” Zhou frowned slightly as Junji smirked at him and picked up his glass of wine.

“Yesterday you said that you couldn’t care less about this whole thing. Has something changed your mind?”

Up in her room Nancy was sitting on her bed silently petting Keitaro while staring at the wall. Yasuyoshi knocked on her open door. He stepped inside when she didn’t tell him to leave.

“Nancy is something wrong?” She sighed but didn’t look away from the spot on her wall.

“No, I think I rather enjoy being engaged to three men while I’m only seventeen, you know it’s really great to think that I’ll never get to do anything interesting. I’ll just become some house wife and raise a million kids then my hair with go white from the stress and I’ll one day hang myself from sheer boredom and self loathing. I always dreamed my life would be like this,” she said quietly. Yasuyoshi sat down on the bed beside her.

“You know sarcasm is better used with some tone in your voice.” Nancy shrugged slightly still focused on the wall while stroking Keitaro’s fur.

“So?” she sighed. Yasuyoshi frowned.

“I know you won’t listen to me but I think you should get rid of your pessimistic attitude right now and just give in. Zhou is a good man and Junji is, well, Junji is Junji,” he said. Nancy smiled slightly and looked to Yasuyoshi.

“You’re right I’m not going to listen to you, I’m going to ignore you and continue to hate this because I would rather become a slave to demons than have to choose between three men while I can’t stand one, would never be able to consider another and don’t even know the third,” she snapped at him.

“Where would you find a demon?” he asked jokingly. Nancy growled.

“Why do I have to choose between three people? Why can’t I be able to fall in love like everyone else? It’s not fair, and not just for me either, but all of us. Why does this have to happen if it would only make two of us miserable?” Yasuyoshi shook his head and smiled.

“I’m not going to argue with you right now. You’re young and hardheaded. Just stop being a baby and go back down stairs spend some time with them. I’m not asking you to choose someone right away, I’m just asking that you keep an open mind about it.” Nancy turned her face away and shook her head.

“No. I refuse this. I’m not going to leave this room,” she huffed. Yasuyoshi raised an eyebrow.

“Oh? Well then, I’ll inform Zhou and Junji that plans have changed and they’ll be spending their time in your room.”

Zhou and Junji were arguing by the time Yasuyoshi came back into the room holding the arm of the angry young girl.

“What the hell do you mean by that Zhou?”

“You’re an egotistical.-” Zhou and Junji froze as they realized Yasuyoshi and Nancy had returned.

“Well at least Zhou and I agree on something,” Nancy said cheerfully. Yasuyoshi shook his head and Junji glared at her.

“Brat.”

“You’re too contemptible for me to reply to that Junji.” Nancy glared at him. Zhou smiled slightly and stood.

“I’m glad you decided to come back.” Nancy fought not to scowl at him, it had most certainly not been her idea to return.

“Well it has been an interesting dinner and I’m sure that you need to be getting home Zhou. Junji, I need to speak with you. Nancy, If there’s anything at all you need just tell Hayao and he’ll tell me.” Yasuyoshi grabbed both Zhou and Nancy and hurried them out through the dining room door and closed it before Nancy had the chance to argue.

“Shall we?” Zhou asked. Nancy looked at him for a moment then led him back out to the front room, looking regretfully over her shoulder before leaving with Zhou.

“So, where do you live?” Nancy asked when they stepped out onto the street. Zhou looked at her out of the corner of his eye.

“Not far, only on the fifth plane,” he said. Nancy hoped he was joking.

“You live on the military plane?” she asked. Most of the higher ranking angels lived on the ninth plane, only the regular military lived on the fifth plane.

“I like to be close to my men,” he explained. Nancy sighed; she wasn’t sure if she understood or not. A group of people caught her eye and she took a step closer to Zhou.

Nancy didn’t speak again while they walked down the streets passing soldiers and small gangs who kept to themselves anyway, for the first time she was glad to be with him, no one would approach her while the head of the angelic army was there. It seemed like an eternity before they left the street and entered a small building where a group of angels sat waiting for clearance to use the portal. Out of habit Nancy started to take a seat but when she saw Zhou pass through the doorway to the portal room she stopped.

“You’re coming aren’t you?” he asked, looking back over his shoulder. Nancy frowned slightly, she looked to the man sitting at the front desk but he didn’t seem to mind that Zhou was going in without clearance, nor did the other angel’s who had been there before them. She felt that it was somewhat unfair that they were going to go in out of turn but said nothing and followed him into the next room.

It was dark there, the only light coming from a circular pattern on the floor that Zhou stepped into the middle of. Nancy looked to the angel at the control desk and watched as he punched in the coordinates for the fifth plane before she walked onto the pattern to stand next to Zhou.

No sooner had she positioned herself the light from the circular pattern brightened and she shut her eyes to shield them from the garish flash. When she was brave enough to open her eyes again she found herself standing in a room identical to that of the one of the ninth plane, the only change was that there was a different angel behind the control desk.

Nancy quickly followed Zhou when he left the room, not wanting to be left behind as he maneuvered his way through the mass of soldiers trying to get home during their leave. He stopped long enough to let her catch her breath once they were outside.

“You must not be used to being around so many people,” he said.

“No, I’m not very social I guess.” Nancy took a deep breath and straightened herself up.

“My home is only a short distance from here, maybe a five minute walk,” he assured her. Nancy nodded and motioned for him to go on, following after him while keeping a close eye for anyone who might come up to them on the street.