Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Romancing Lucifer ❯ Contract 1: Dancing on Sword Blades ( Chapter 1 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: MellyN 
Miscellaneous: Original Stories Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Fantasy / Romance / Psychological / Occult / Horror | Type: Yaoi | Uploaded On: 09.08.2015 | Updated On: 09.08.2015 | Pages: 9 | Words: 6.1K | Visits: 547 | Status: Work In Progress
Miscellaneous: Original Stories Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Fantasy / Romance / Psychological / Occult / Horror | Type: Yaoi | Uploaded On: 09.08.2015 | Updated On: 09.08.2015 | Pages: 9 | Words: 6.1K | Visits: 547 | Status: Work In Progress
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Romancing Lucifer
By: Melissa Norvell
Contract 1: Dancing on Sword Blades
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"Hey Seraj, did you get your essay done?" A girl with long, blonde hair and sparkling, round, blue eyes questioned.
"Yeah, it took me two hours. It's really hard to look up information about Lucifer in a house of holy people." The dark-haired Nepali boy joked. No matter what kind of joke it was, it was mostly truth to him. He couldn't let his faith-ridden parents know that he was researching things about the devil or he'd be in more trouble than he could imagine. That was, after all, one of the many reasons that he had to do his report late at night. Having religious parents when doing something like that was just a pain.
At that moment, a girl in a red fuku with a pink jacket and black bow tie walked up to the two with a bright, vibrant smile on her face. She appeared slightly younger than the two of them, even though they were in the same class and possessed an odd haircut that was similar to an old, traditional Japanese style then a more contemporary school girl hair. There were two long, board-straight sections of auburn hair that hung down and were cut evenly across at the bottom, while the rest was pulled back with a very elaborate cherry clip with faux red jewels. Her bangs were also perfectly cut across and at eyebrow level. She had overheard the two students talking about their reports about angels and decided to add her comments into the conversation.
"I had a report on Zakiel, the angel of storms. Who did you get, Yaone?" The auburn-haired girl asked as she turned her head towards the blonde and smiled.
"Uriel, though I wanted Lucifer," Yaone sighed as she straightened the flower on the right side of her head, just in front of her ear that held back her parted bangs.
"Yougot Uriel? I wanted that one," Seraj jerked his glance back towards his blonde friend. Uriel was aLOTbetter to research than Lucifer, especially in his household. At least Uriel was pure and holy.
"We could have switched. I have tons of stuff on Lucifer. I could have done that report in no time," Yaone did a small wave with a placid smile on her face. She had always been a strange girl who was interested in the dark, sinful and even evil entities of the world. Anyone who knew her wouldn't dare question her on the topic and half of those who wanted to were too afraid of what would happen if they did.
Yaone was regarded as a creepy and mysterious girl and some even considered her wicked. Even the few friends she had regarded her as a force to be reckoned with and one of sly and devious nature. They didn't let her calm and seemingly unaffected personality sway them in the least bit- Seraj and the auburn-haired Ukayou included.
"Uriel was the most interesting to me but Lucifer was pretty interesting as well. I never knew there were so many different views on him and who he is or what he is," Seraj mentioned. While he was Muslim, he came from a branch of Muslim that regarded Lucifer as a presence in nature or a spirit but not necessarily the fallen angel of legend as Christianity had proclaimed him to be.
"Even those who worship him have different views on what he is," Yaone explained. “Some people think he's the fire on the torch of Baphomet (1) and some think that heis Baphomet. Some see him as a dark angel, some as a demon and some as a force in nature."
"Wow, Yaone, you've really done your research!" Ukayou clasped her hands together and smiled brightly. She had really thought of the blonde as a very intelligent woman and, at times, was completely unaware of her dark side due to blind adoration.
"You come from Nepal, right? Yaone turned her attention to the only male of their group.
"Yes, I do," the answer was simple really.
"Why didn't you go to college in Nepal?" Yaone wanted to ask Seraj that for a long time but she never found an appropriate time for such a question. Japan seemed to be quite a way from Nepal. It was pure curiosity, rather than just something that suddenly hit her mind.
"The colleges aren't very good in Nepal. Most Naples go to college in the United States," Seraj answered.
"Why did you want to come to Japan?" Ukayou placed a finger to her thin, pink lips in question.
"I've always been interested in Japanese culture. I read a lot of books about Japan and I always was researching things about Japan. If Sajani and I weren't planned to be wed, I may have considered marrying a Japanese girl and just staying here rather than going back to Nepal," Seraj commented on how most Japanese women were very pretty. Even though his parents would be very disappointed that he didn't marry a Nepali woman but most Nepali women didn't fit his taste. He had always looked for things on the farther side of the spectrum and was considered someone who thought of the box.
This was one of the many reasons his parents tended to think that he had been possessed by evil spirits.
"Why wouldn't you go back to Nepal?" Ukayou asked. To her, it seemed very strange to simply leave your country and never go back. Talk about being homesick! She could imagine doing something like that and found it hard for anyone else to think of something that would make you leave all of your family and friends and not return for such a long time if at all. The vibrant girl would imagine that one would become lonely or homesick over a course of time.
"My parents wouldn't like the idea of me marrying a foreigner," the dark-haired boy stuck his hands in the pockets of his black school uniform pants.
"Oh, so they are prejudice," Yaone told him, without a second thought of what offense lay behind those words. She received a harsh stomp on her foot from a pair of black Mary Janes. The blonde yelped in pain and held her foot, glaring down her auburn-haired attacker, who ignored her pain and turned to the Nepali boy as if nothing was wrong.
"How long have you and Sajani been together?" Ukayou smiled innocently despite her earlier impish deed prior.
"Since we've been young. Our parents made the arrangement when we were kids," Seraj told the two girls as Yaone stopped hopping around and listened to his story. As he explained what had happened in the past between he and his arranged lover, brilliant memories flooded into his mind, taking him backwards in time.
A tall Nepali woman, adorned in a brilliant blue and gold sari (2). Her hair was long, about mid shoulder and wavy. Even though she had a child, she still seemed very young. The man on the other side of the door was a men dressed in official robes with a small child by his side. The child was male and appeared to be no more than eight in age. He had short, black hair and brown eyes. He wore the standard Nepali dress- a long scarf, large, baggy shirt and capri pants.
'Oh, Mr. Shada please come in,' the woman smiled kindly with her bright red lips and closed her hazel eyes. She was a very beautiful woman so the Nepali priest assumed that her daughter was also beautiful.
'I brought Seraj as I had promised,' the man spoke in more of a business tone then a friendly tone.
'We just got finished making tea, didn't we Sajani?' She smiled at her daughter. A small-framed girl dressed in a purple and silver sari. She was just as beautiful as her mother. The girl's features were mature, despite her young age and her hair was long, board-straight and to her hips. Sajani had large, round orange eyes and wore several golden bangle bracelets on her wrists and ankles that jingled when she walked.
'Yes, mother,' Sajani spoke in a toned down voice and closed her eyes. She cocked her head and gave the two men a pleasant smile as they walked inside to have tea with her mother.
'Do you see him? This is Seraj Shada. He will be your husband,' the mother leaned in and said lowly into her daughter's ears.
The four of them sat at the tea table, drinking tea and eating spicy dishes of food. Sajani stared with a pleasant smile at her future husband and Seraj looked as if he wasn't quite sure of what was going on. He knew that this strange girl would eventually be his wife one day and he had played with her a few times with the other children but the idea of being wed to someone he barely knew was strange, no matter how much he was taught to accept it.
'He's very nice-looking. I will be happy to be his wife,' Sajani told the high priest happily. She, on the other hand, didn't seem to mind the idea but he supposed that it may have been different for women. When he thought about it, what could be better than a guaranteed boyfriend?
'What do you think, Seraj? Do you like her?' His father leaned in and asked, his long beard and mustache combo nearly brushed his face.
'She's very pretty,' Seraj took a sip of tea.
'Is there anything you'd like to ask Mr. Shada, Sajani?' Her mother looked to her and asked politely.
'Is your son going to be a preacher like you?' It was the dreaded question that made Seraj shudder. He didn't want to be a preacher and his father thought that there were evil spirits surrounding him because of that reason among others. If he protested, he would be exorcised again and treated like he had the plague. So he had no choice but to be forced to try and success his father.
'Yes, he will become a great figure of Nepal as I am. He'll definitely make me proud,' his father looked so happy when he uttered that phrase.
Seraj was silent.
'Right, son?'
'Yes father.'
'Why don't you and Seraj go and play while Mr. Shada and I talk, if that would be alright with you?' Sajani's mother asked and Mr. Shada replied in affirmative.
Sajani walked up to Seraj and gently but firmly took his hand as the two walked outside and left their parents in the house to discuss all formal matters at hand. As soon as they were out of earshot, Seraj told his future wife that the whole procedure was boring. Sajani agreed and replied that she knew that the time was drawing near for the two of them to be arranged to be wed.
Apparently, his father knew the woman and had all of this planned.
'Mother said that she found a husband for me. I didn't know who it was at first, until I saw Mr. Shada come to the door,' Sajani told him as they walked around the house.
'Yeah, dad said something about meeting my wife or something,' the young boy told her nonchalantly. He still didn't know what to think of this whole situation but he had a feeling that he would eventually learn to just deal with it, as he had so many other things.
'I hope we can be good friends.' At least Sajani wanted to get to know him. Maybe living with her as a wife wouldn't be so bad. She was beautiful and kind. At least his father had good taste in women. All he had to do was think of the positives.
'Me too...'
As the nostalgia of the past departed from his thoughts, he could clearly hear the voice of a certain peppy girl comment on his story of arranged love.
"It sounds romantic, like an old Japanese tale or something. You must be so lucky," the girl clasped her hands together and stared with daydreaming eyes at him, as if he were the most fortunate man alive.
He saw it quite another way and to his surprise, so did Yaone.
"I don't think it's lucky at all. I mean what if you don't like the person or never grow close to them?" The blonde asked.
"Sajani and I have just accepted it really. I mean, I love her as my friend and I'd always protect her but I don't know. For now, I'm just winging it. I'll decide how I feel when the time comes up. I'm still young anyway," Seraj replied. Even after all of this time, he still had not figured out his true feelings and wasn't sure if he ever would. For some reason, when it came to the subject of that Nepali girl, he just couldn't see past friendship. That was probably a reason that he had never had sex with her. It wasn't that he wasn't aroused by her; it was simply that something was missing and he could not place what it was.
"That might never happen." Never had those words sounded like those of heed than when they came from that blonde woman's mouth. For some reason, they sent chills up his spine and worry though his heart.
"Why do you keep doubting our relationship?" Seraj asked in an irritated fashion. Ever since he had brought up the subject, it was as if the negativity button went off in Yaone's head and everything she had to say regarding the subject were simply either giving hints or outright telling him to abandon the idea of being with someone that was predetermined to be his bride from a young age.
It was bad enough that he didn't know what to feel, much less have someone from another country question his problems further.
"Can I talk to you in private?" The blonde girl had a serious look on her face. It was as if a premonition of a bad omen to come. He had a feeling that whatever she had to tell him in private would be far worse than the things she was telling him in public. However, Seraj couldn't ignore the fact that whatever it was seemed very important. Yaone never pulled him aside for something trivial and that he knew for a fact.
Nothing good could come of this.
"Why?" He wondered what reason she had to tell him without Ukayou present. They were all good friends, so what was with her not being present?
"Yeah, why can't I come along?" Ukayou turned her sights to the blonde.
"This is strictly between us," the blue-eyed girl shot a warning glance towards her friend, silently telling her not to argue against her words. The girl pouted for a few minutes before Seraj felt his hand being taken and felt his body move away from the girl and off towards the location of the large fountain, on the center of school grounds.
The two walked down one of the many sidewalks until they got to a large, beautiful concrete fountain. A top of the fountain were four angels with pitchers hung over their shoulders. The water flowed from the pitchers and hit a pool, which flowed into several smaller, round pools before finally landing in the large, round pool below.
Seraj sat on the edge of the fountain and stared up at the blonde, who tucked a few stray bangs behind the left side of her face. Her long hair glimmered in the sunlight. It was straight but slightly flipped out on the bottom. She had always worn it the same way, ever since he'd known her- parted down the middle, long bangs tucked behind her ears and long, mid-back hair that slightly flipped out. Eyes studied his form with a serious emotion locked behind the pools of blue.
Brown eyes narrowed and he leveled the girl with a serious stare of his own and asked her what this was all about.
"You want to know why I oppose the two of you so much?" Yaone folded her pink-clad arms over her mid-sized chest.
"You brought me all the way out here just to ask me that?" Seriously, it could have been done a little closer to the school.
"Because I heard that Sajani said that she was pregnant," the blonde leaned down and placed her hands on her mid-thighs for support. "Is it yours by any chance?"
"What?!" Seraj was utterly shocked.
The omen hit and it hit hard.
"No?"
"We haven't even had sex yet. I'm still a virgin." There was no way it could have possibly been his.
"You are? You don't seem the type," Yaone was too calm for such a situation. How could she act so nonchalant while he was about to go brain dead trying to figure out how or even if this statement was even true?
Seraj blushed in both frustration and embarrassment. He didn't mean to let the virgin thing slip out but there was nothing that he could do about it now. He had already let that little technicality be known. "Don't make fun of me. You said that you justheardthis, right? If that's so then it's just a rumor."
"Don't be so naive. I heard her say that myself." There was really no way to deny it. It was straight from Sajani's mouth to the student body masses. She was actually surprised that the information had not reached Seraj. The poor Nepali boy was probably scrounging for anything that seemed to be a plausible reason to deny such an allegation. Yaone pitied him.
"You're lying." She had to be! There was no way that Sajani would cheat on him!
"Go and ask her yourself, if you don't believe me. You can even go up to her and say 'so, I heard you were pregnant' and watch the look of surprise on her face as she looks like a captured mouse in a cat's paw," Yaone didn't have to say much. This verbal battle had already been won.
"No, she can't do this to me. We're supposed to be husband and wife." At this moment in time Seraj could feel his world falling apart all around him. He was desperate to find some way,anyway that Yaone could be wrong, although he knew in his heart that she was undoubtedly right.
"You're pathetic, you know. Hanging on to what little excuses you can muster to try and solidify your slowly crumbling relationship."
"You're sadistic." It was nothing that Yaone hadn't heard before. Actually, it had become second nature for her to receive such a comment.
"It's part of my religion."
"You enjoy this, don't you?"
"It seems that Sajani enjoys watching you suffer in delusions as well," Yaone pointed out. If he was to blame anyone, it would be his so called 'future wife'. He shouldn't kill the messenger when all they did was spread the word of the truth of the situation.
"I won't believe you until I ask her myself," Seraj wanted to make absolute sure that she wasn't lying. He had never known Yaone to be a liar but he knew of her sly nature. That seemingly normal-looking blonde had the power to drive someone to tears by mere words alone. Seraj would not fall victim to her cut-throat ways before talking things through with Sajani.
"Such a sad man you are," the girl commented, as if she felt sorry for him and indeed she did. It was never a good thing to see such a strong and stubborn person like Seraj fall apart so easily.
"Say what you want and I hope you're wrong." Though the Nepali boy still tried to hang on to his bite but was reduced to a small goldfish, rather than a fearsome shark in stature.
"I'm just trying to help you as a friend. What's wrong? We've known each other since you first came here. Why wouldn't you trust me?" Yaone was the very first person that he'd met when he began to attend school in Japan. She had never lied to him, despite her nature of seeming shady to most people.
Seraj looked down at the cold, unforgiving cement below. His long, black bangs shaded his eyes from view as he frowned deeply. "You don't want me to be with her, do you?" The dark-haired boy asked lowly, nearly in defeat.
Yaone knew what he was thinking and it was far from true. She was a little offended that he'd think such a thing of her. "If you think I'm in love with you, then you're wrong. How cliché' do you think I am?"
"I owe her at least a chance," he still would not give in to her without confirmation from Sajani on the matter.
"Fine but don't say that I wasn't right on this one. Tell me how things go, okay?" Yaone waved to her friend and casually strolled away, as if it were just another normal conversation. Seraj watched as the strange girl walked away and soon blended in with the many, red and black uniforms of his school.
He sat there for a while, thinking deeply to himself.'She can't be right. It's just some rumor! Sajani would never cheat on me! She knows what happens to women who cheat in Nepal. She wouldn't dare cheat with those consequences. She could be disowned or even killed.'
As his thoughts trailed, Seraj caught sight of Sajani. She was walking with a few of her friends, laughing and talking as if she lived with no guilt. To him, it was a small glimmer of hope that maybe Yaone's words were false and she was just trying to pull one of her sadistic jokes.
No matter how much he denied it, Seraj had a feeling that Yaone's words may have been true. He just didn't want them to be.
Seraj arose and began to walk towards the small group of girls. He didn't know what would happen but he would not let the subject rest until it was resolved. It was of the utmost priority and anything that posed that much of a threat to their relationship clearly needed to be assessed.
"Hi Seraj!" Sajani called out to him and waved happily. The girl ignored the frown on his face. Seraj was normally stoic and frowned a lot.
"Sajani, we need to talk," his voice was dead serious when he stopped in front of her. Seraj stared Sajani down. She seemed confused by his sudden serious nature and cold expression. Usually, his eyes were at least warm and friendly but not now. They were devoid of light and his entire body posture was stock still.
"Huh? Why?" Sajani was very confused. She didn't know what any of this was about and earlier he seemed so happy. What was going on?
"Come with me," Seraj's voice was nearly a command as he grabbed the long-haired girl's hand and led her away from her friends, who were clueless as to what was going on.
Sajani had not seen her future husband that upset in a long time. The two of them had such a good relationship that they hardly ever fought and she liked his company. Though there was a slight prang in her heart, for she knew that she had felt guilt about what had been going on between the two of them. It was wrong of her to commit the sin that she had but she didn't want to anger him or even hurt him. It boiled down to one simple theory: what he didn't know wouldn't hurt him.
Seraj led her to the same fountain that he and Yaone were at earlier when she had brought up the subject of Sajani's pregnancy to him. This was the moment of truth. There would be no turning back for either one of them after this point. Everything that he wanted to know would be laid out in front of him and despite his protests and denial there would be no covering things up.
After the two of them were directly in front of the statue, Seraj leveled his future wife with a stern look and demanded the truth. "Tell me that what they are saying isn't true."
"What are they saying? I haven't heard anyone saying anything," Sajani had a look of nervous confusion. She had only told her closest friends about her pregnancy. How did he find out...if he did find out? She hoped that it would be something else that was rumored about her, even though she would be faced with telling him the truth when her stomach started to expand from the growth of her unborn child.
"I was told that you were pregnant," the words hit the Nepali girl like a bullet through her heart.
She felt the jolt within her as slight shock ran across her face before she looked down. "It seems I can't hide it anymore," Sajani replied in defeat. Serajhadfigured it out.
"What, you are?" A part of him really didn't want to believe that it was true but now he could do nothing but face the truth.
"I am pregnant."
"By who? You're supposed to be with me!" Seraj both heard and felt the last strand of mentality he possessed snap within him. Anger quickly took over as outrage now controlled the inflamed boy.
"We've grown apart." While her words were sad, he could tell that Sajani seemed very apathetic towards the whole situation. It was like he was merely a miniscule word in a large paragraph that could be easily overlooked by the human eye.
"We're supposed to be wed! Do you know what will happen to you when you go back to Nepal?!" Seraj was more than pissed as he yelled in rage at the girl.
"I'm not going back to Nepal."
The words hit him like a rock in his face. "What!?"
"I've fallen in love with a Japanese man and I'm going to stay here in Japan. My parents will disown me no matter what and I'd be safer here," Sajani explained. She had made this decision long ago. The girl wanted to abandon everything that had to do with that country- including him.
How could she simply erase him from her life like that, without purpose or care in the world?
"When were you going to tell me?" Seraj tried to calm himself as he trembled in anger and balled his fists by either side to try and keep his emotions under control.
"When you found out," the girl replied lowly. She knew it was wrong but she really didn't want to face him in any other situation.
"No...This cannot be..." Seraj muttered to himself in disbelief, attempting to hang on to any denial that he possibly could before he was left with nothing. Yaone was right; he was pathetic for being so weak.
'I think I'll like being your wife.'
It was as if that very phrase had reminded him of everything that he had and everything he had tried so desperately to hold on to. He tried to make things work, even though he felt strange about it. Was his efforts in vain? Was he truly worthless to her? Did she not even try to care about him at all? Her words and actions- were they all false? He began to question even the slightest motives that she could have had and every little thing that he'd thought of between them seemed fabricated and hollow.
Everything between them when they began to attend school in Japan seemed as if it all had double standards. She kissed him but had sex with another. Everything became blurred between truth and lies and now he questioned everything.
"After all this time...After everything I tried to make work. Why? Why couldn't you just be honest?" Seraj desperately tried to hang on to the last shred of his composure as it quickly faded.
"I knew you would be angry but-" Sajani tried to explain before she was slapped hard on the face, a reminder of her shame. The injured girl held her cheek and glanced at the concrete below. She knew that she deserved it but she couldn't help but feel hurt and even a little angry that he would strike her.
"You bitch! You're a shameful bitch! I hate you!" Seraj yelled as his composure finally broke.
"I thought we could at least be friends. It's not like we actually love each other." Tears ran down the girl's face. Sajani knew that it would hurt him further to hear what she had to say but she wanted to work things out with him. Their arrangement was simply a friendship with benefits and she knew that now that she'd found someone that made her feel like nothing she'd experienced before. Perhaps Seraj could get over everything if they'd just talk and maybe he'd find someone he knew that would love him better then she could.
"You arenofriend of mine," Seraj spat hatefully and trudged off.
He wanted nothing more than to be away from that girl before he literally killed her. When he was half way away from her, he caught glimpse of Yaone. Great. That was all he needed. It was bad enough that the blonde teased him about his relationship and doubted him but now she was going to tell him that she was right as well.
Nothing like being stomped on when you couldn't get up.
"How did it go? You told me that you'd tell me," Yaone commented as she stopped.
Wonderful.
He had hoped that she'd simply just walk past him but today he couldn't be so lucky.
"I'm not in the mood for you to rub it in," Seraj warned.
"So, I was right," Yaone was nonchalant as always.
"How long?"
"How long what?"
"How long did you know about this?" Seraj looked into her large, ocean blue yes.
"Well, I had my suspicions but I didn't know anything about it until I heard her talking about it with Imogawi." It really had been something that she'd just overheard. She was glad that her suspicions were right and that Seraj was warned beforehand. At least the situation hadn't gone on for too long before he found out. Things may have gone a completely different way if that was the case.
"How far is she?"
"I think she said two months."
"Two months!?" Seraj about flew out of his pants once again. Things had gone on forthatlong without him noticing? "She's been cheating on me for two months!?"
"Apparently a lot longer than that if she's been building a relationship with him," Yaone noted. They had to be going out for much longer than that. It was probably more like two-four months before the incident occurred.
"I'm so pissed off!" Seraj fumed. This was yet another piece of unwanted information to add to his collection. Not only was she pregnant but she had been cheating on him for months, not to mention however long she'd known the guy to feel differently about him.
Even though he loved Japan, part of him wished that he never decided to come.
"Don't you want to know who it is that she had eyes for?" Yaone asked with a small yet sly smile on her face. Perhaps it would be easy for her to talk him into a little payback. Besides, she was on a mission to bring something precious to the one she called her savior and Seraj seemed to possess all of the qualities that she needed.
"I don't care," Seraj just wanted to be rid of the subject. If they talked any more about it his mind would over load. Right now, he just needed to calm down and try to straighten things out. He would not act irrationally as he had with Sajani. The black-haired boy just needed to mull things over.
"You really hate her right now, don't you?"
"What do you think?" He shot back sarcastically as a small, elegant hand was sat on his shoulder. Yaone's touch was nearly ghostly and warm to the touch.
"Calm down-" The blonde only managed to get in two words before she was cut off.
"I can't always be calm like you! My life is falling apart and you want me to be calm?" The Nepali boy couldn't help but lash out. Yaone's calm nature just seemed to rub him the wrong way. He didn't know why exactly it did and he had figured that it was something about her nature towards the whole situation. How could she be so calm when he was such an emotional train wreck?
"How would you like to give her an opportunity to experience the pain that you're feeling right now?"
"What?" The question seemed out of the blue, even though the placing and type of question it was seemed all too planned.
"What do you say?" An impish smirk crossed the blonde's face as she tried to convince Seraj to take some initiative in his crumbling relationship and there was no time like the present. "How about some good old-fashioned revenge?"
...To Be Continued...
NOTES:
Baphomet or the Sabbatic Goat-has occasionally been portrayed as a synonym ofSatanor ademon, a member of thehierarchy of Hell. Baphomet is portrayed as a human that possesses both genitalia with black wings and the head of a goat.
Sari- A wrap around dress that most Nepali and Hindu women wear.
Yaone- pronounced - Yah-Oh-Neh
Seraj- is pronounced Seh-r-ah-j
Romancing Lucifer
By: Melissa Norvell
Contract 1: Dancing on Sword Blades
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"Hey Seraj, did you get your essay done?" A girl with long, blonde hair and sparkling, round, blue eyes questioned.
"Yeah, it took me two hours. It's really hard to look up information about Lucifer in a house of holy people." The dark-haired Nepali boy joked. No matter what kind of joke it was, it was mostly truth to him. He couldn't let his faith-ridden parents know that he was researching things about the devil or he'd be in more trouble than he could imagine. That was, after all, one of the many reasons that he had to do his report late at night. Having religious parents when doing something like that was just a pain.
At that moment, a girl in a red fuku with a pink jacket and black bow tie walked up to the two with a bright, vibrant smile on her face. She appeared slightly younger than the two of them, even though they were in the same class and possessed an odd haircut that was similar to an old, traditional Japanese style then a more contemporary school girl hair. There were two long, board-straight sections of auburn hair that hung down and were cut evenly across at the bottom, while the rest was pulled back with a very elaborate cherry clip with faux red jewels. Her bangs were also perfectly cut across and at eyebrow level. She had overheard the two students talking about their reports about angels and decided to add her comments into the conversation.
"I had a report on Zakiel, the angel of storms. Who did you get, Yaone?" The auburn-haired girl asked as she turned her head towards the blonde and smiled.
"Uriel, though I wanted Lucifer," Yaone sighed as she straightened the flower on the right side of her head, just in front of her ear that held back her parted bangs.
"Yougot Uriel? I wanted that one," Seraj jerked his glance back towards his blonde friend. Uriel was aLOTbetter to research than Lucifer, especially in his household. At least Uriel was pure and holy.
"We could have switched. I have tons of stuff on Lucifer. I could have done that report in no time," Yaone did a small wave with a placid smile on her face. She had always been a strange girl who was interested in the dark, sinful and even evil entities of the world. Anyone who knew her wouldn't dare question her on the topic and half of those who wanted to were too afraid of what would happen if they did.
Yaone was regarded as a creepy and mysterious girl and some even considered her wicked. Even the few friends she had regarded her as a force to be reckoned with and one of sly and devious nature. They didn't let her calm and seemingly unaffected personality sway them in the least bit- Seraj and the auburn-haired Ukayou included.
"Uriel was the most interesting to me but Lucifer was pretty interesting as well. I never knew there were so many different views on him and who he is or what he is," Seraj mentioned. While he was Muslim, he came from a branch of Muslim that regarded Lucifer as a presence in nature or a spirit but not necessarily the fallen angel of legend as Christianity had proclaimed him to be.
"Even those who worship him have different views on what he is," Yaone explained. “Some people think he's the fire on the torch of Baphomet (1) and some think that heis Baphomet. Some see him as a dark angel, some as a demon and some as a force in nature."
"Wow, Yaone, you've really done your research!" Ukayou clasped her hands together and smiled brightly. She had really thought of the blonde as a very intelligent woman and, at times, was completely unaware of her dark side due to blind adoration.
"You come from Nepal, right? Yaone turned her attention to the only male of their group.
"Yes, I do," the answer was simple really.
"Why didn't you go to college in Nepal?" Yaone wanted to ask Seraj that for a long time but she never found an appropriate time for such a question. Japan seemed to be quite a way from Nepal. It was pure curiosity, rather than just something that suddenly hit her mind.
"The colleges aren't very good in Nepal. Most Naples go to college in the United States," Seraj answered.
"Why did you want to come to Japan?" Ukayou placed a finger to her thin, pink lips in question.
"I've always been interested in Japanese culture. I read a lot of books about Japan and I always was researching things about Japan. If Sajani and I weren't planned to be wed, I may have considered marrying a Japanese girl and just staying here rather than going back to Nepal," Seraj commented on how most Japanese women were very pretty. Even though his parents would be very disappointed that he didn't marry a Nepali woman but most Nepali women didn't fit his taste. He had always looked for things on the farther side of the spectrum and was considered someone who thought of the box.
This was one of the many reasons his parents tended to think that he had been possessed by evil spirits.
"Why wouldn't you go back to Nepal?" Ukayou asked. To her, it seemed very strange to simply leave your country and never go back. Talk about being homesick! She could imagine doing something like that and found it hard for anyone else to think of something that would make you leave all of your family and friends and not return for such a long time if at all. The vibrant girl would imagine that one would become lonely or homesick over a course of time.
"My parents wouldn't like the idea of me marrying a foreigner," the dark-haired boy stuck his hands in the pockets of his black school uniform pants.
"Oh, so they are prejudice," Yaone told him, without a second thought of what offense lay behind those words. She received a harsh stomp on her foot from a pair of black Mary Janes. The blonde yelped in pain and held her foot, glaring down her auburn-haired attacker, who ignored her pain and turned to the Nepali boy as if nothing was wrong.
"How long have you and Sajani been together?" Ukayou smiled innocently despite her earlier impish deed prior.
"Since we've been young. Our parents made the arrangement when we were kids," Seraj told the two girls as Yaone stopped hopping around and listened to his story. As he explained what had happened in the past between he and his arranged lover, brilliant memories flooded into his mind, taking him backwards in time.
A tall Nepali woman, adorned in a brilliant blue and gold sari (2). Her hair was long, about mid shoulder and wavy. Even though she had a child, she still seemed very young. The man on the other side of the door was a men dressed in official robes with a small child by his side. The child was male and appeared to be no more than eight in age. He had short, black hair and brown eyes. He wore the standard Nepali dress- a long scarf, large, baggy shirt and capri pants.
'Oh, Mr. Shada please come in,' the woman smiled kindly with her bright red lips and closed her hazel eyes. She was a very beautiful woman so the Nepali priest assumed that her daughter was also beautiful.
'I brought Seraj as I had promised,' the man spoke in more of a business tone then a friendly tone.
'We just got finished making tea, didn't we Sajani?' She smiled at her daughter. A small-framed girl dressed in a purple and silver sari. She was just as beautiful as her mother. The girl's features were mature, despite her young age and her hair was long, board-straight and to her hips. Sajani had large, round orange eyes and wore several golden bangle bracelets on her wrists and ankles that jingled when she walked.
'Yes, mother,' Sajani spoke in a toned down voice and closed her eyes. She cocked her head and gave the two men a pleasant smile as they walked inside to have tea with her mother.
'Do you see him? This is Seraj Shada. He will be your husband,' the mother leaned in and said lowly into her daughter's ears.
The four of them sat at the tea table, drinking tea and eating spicy dishes of food. Sajani stared with a pleasant smile at her future husband and Seraj looked as if he wasn't quite sure of what was going on. He knew that this strange girl would eventually be his wife one day and he had played with her a few times with the other children but the idea of being wed to someone he barely knew was strange, no matter how much he was taught to accept it.
'He's very nice-looking. I will be happy to be his wife,' Sajani told the high priest happily. She, on the other hand, didn't seem to mind the idea but he supposed that it may have been different for women. When he thought about it, what could be better than a guaranteed boyfriend?
'What do you think, Seraj? Do you like her?' His father leaned in and asked, his long beard and mustache combo nearly brushed his face.
'She's very pretty,' Seraj took a sip of tea.
'Is there anything you'd like to ask Mr. Shada, Sajani?' Her mother looked to her and asked politely.
'Is your son going to be a preacher like you?' It was the dreaded question that made Seraj shudder. He didn't want to be a preacher and his father thought that there were evil spirits surrounding him because of that reason among others. If he protested, he would be exorcised again and treated like he had the plague. So he had no choice but to be forced to try and success his father.
'Yes, he will become a great figure of Nepal as I am. He'll definitely make me proud,' his father looked so happy when he uttered that phrase.
Seraj was silent.
'Right, son?'
'Yes father.'
'Why don't you and Seraj go and play while Mr. Shada and I talk, if that would be alright with you?' Sajani's mother asked and Mr. Shada replied in affirmative.
Sajani walked up to Seraj and gently but firmly took his hand as the two walked outside and left their parents in the house to discuss all formal matters at hand. As soon as they were out of earshot, Seraj told his future wife that the whole procedure was boring. Sajani agreed and replied that she knew that the time was drawing near for the two of them to be arranged to be wed.
Apparently, his father knew the woman and had all of this planned.
'Mother said that she found a husband for me. I didn't know who it was at first, until I saw Mr. Shada come to the door,' Sajani told him as they walked around the house.
'Yeah, dad said something about meeting my wife or something,' the young boy told her nonchalantly. He still didn't know what to think of this whole situation but he had a feeling that he would eventually learn to just deal with it, as he had so many other things.
'I hope we can be good friends.' At least Sajani wanted to get to know him. Maybe living with her as a wife wouldn't be so bad. She was beautiful and kind. At least his father had good taste in women. All he had to do was think of the positives.
'Me too...'
As the nostalgia of the past departed from his thoughts, he could clearly hear the voice of a certain peppy girl comment on his story of arranged love.
"It sounds romantic, like an old Japanese tale or something. You must be so lucky," the girl clasped her hands together and stared with daydreaming eyes at him, as if he were the most fortunate man alive.
He saw it quite another way and to his surprise, so did Yaone.
"I don't think it's lucky at all. I mean what if you don't like the person or never grow close to them?" The blonde asked.
"Sajani and I have just accepted it really. I mean, I love her as my friend and I'd always protect her but I don't know. For now, I'm just winging it. I'll decide how I feel when the time comes up. I'm still young anyway," Seraj replied. Even after all of this time, he still had not figured out his true feelings and wasn't sure if he ever would. For some reason, when it came to the subject of that Nepali girl, he just couldn't see past friendship. That was probably a reason that he had never had sex with her. It wasn't that he wasn't aroused by her; it was simply that something was missing and he could not place what it was.
"That might never happen." Never had those words sounded like those of heed than when they came from that blonde woman's mouth. For some reason, they sent chills up his spine and worry though his heart.
"Why do you keep doubting our relationship?" Seraj asked in an irritated fashion. Ever since he had brought up the subject, it was as if the negativity button went off in Yaone's head and everything she had to say regarding the subject were simply either giving hints or outright telling him to abandon the idea of being with someone that was predetermined to be his bride from a young age.
It was bad enough that he didn't know what to feel, much less have someone from another country question his problems further.
"Can I talk to you in private?" The blonde girl had a serious look on her face. It was as if a premonition of a bad omen to come. He had a feeling that whatever she had to tell him in private would be far worse than the things she was telling him in public. However, Seraj couldn't ignore the fact that whatever it was seemed very important. Yaone never pulled him aside for something trivial and that he knew for a fact.
Nothing good could come of this.
"Why?" He wondered what reason she had to tell him without Ukayou present. They were all good friends, so what was with her not being present?
"Yeah, why can't I come along?" Ukayou turned her sights to the blonde.
"This is strictly between us," the blue-eyed girl shot a warning glance towards her friend, silently telling her not to argue against her words. The girl pouted for a few minutes before Seraj felt his hand being taken and felt his body move away from the girl and off towards the location of the large fountain, on the center of school grounds.
The two walked down one of the many sidewalks until they got to a large, beautiful concrete fountain. A top of the fountain were four angels with pitchers hung over their shoulders. The water flowed from the pitchers and hit a pool, which flowed into several smaller, round pools before finally landing in the large, round pool below.
Seraj sat on the edge of the fountain and stared up at the blonde, who tucked a few stray bangs behind the left side of her face. Her long hair glimmered in the sunlight. It was straight but slightly flipped out on the bottom. She had always worn it the same way, ever since he'd known her- parted down the middle, long bangs tucked behind her ears and long, mid-back hair that slightly flipped out. Eyes studied his form with a serious emotion locked behind the pools of blue.
Brown eyes narrowed and he leveled the girl with a serious stare of his own and asked her what this was all about.
"You want to know why I oppose the two of you so much?" Yaone folded her pink-clad arms over her mid-sized chest.
"You brought me all the way out here just to ask me that?" Seriously, it could have been done a little closer to the school.
"Because I heard that Sajani said that she was pregnant," the blonde leaned down and placed her hands on her mid-thighs for support. "Is it yours by any chance?"
"What?!" Seraj was utterly shocked.
The omen hit and it hit hard.
"No?"
"We haven't even had sex yet. I'm still a virgin." There was no way it could have possibly been his.
"You are? You don't seem the type," Yaone was too calm for such a situation. How could she act so nonchalant while he was about to go brain dead trying to figure out how or even if this statement was even true?
Seraj blushed in both frustration and embarrassment. He didn't mean to let the virgin thing slip out but there was nothing that he could do about it now. He had already let that little technicality be known. "Don't make fun of me. You said that you justheardthis, right? If that's so then it's just a rumor."
"Don't be so naive. I heard her say that myself." There was really no way to deny it. It was straight from Sajani's mouth to the student body masses. She was actually surprised that the information had not reached Seraj. The poor Nepali boy was probably scrounging for anything that seemed to be a plausible reason to deny such an allegation. Yaone pitied him.
"You're lying." She had to be! There was no way that Sajani would cheat on him!
"Go and ask her yourself, if you don't believe me. You can even go up to her and say 'so, I heard you were pregnant' and watch the look of surprise on her face as she looks like a captured mouse in a cat's paw," Yaone didn't have to say much. This verbal battle had already been won.
"No, she can't do this to me. We're supposed to be husband and wife." At this moment in time Seraj could feel his world falling apart all around him. He was desperate to find some way,anyway that Yaone could be wrong, although he knew in his heart that she was undoubtedly right.
"You're pathetic, you know. Hanging on to what little excuses you can muster to try and solidify your slowly crumbling relationship."
"You're sadistic." It was nothing that Yaone hadn't heard before. Actually, it had become second nature for her to receive such a comment.
"It's part of my religion."
"You enjoy this, don't you?"
"It seems that Sajani enjoys watching you suffer in delusions as well," Yaone pointed out. If he was to blame anyone, it would be his so called 'future wife'. He shouldn't kill the messenger when all they did was spread the word of the truth of the situation.
"I won't believe you until I ask her myself," Seraj wanted to make absolute sure that she wasn't lying. He had never known Yaone to be a liar but he knew of her sly nature. That seemingly normal-looking blonde had the power to drive someone to tears by mere words alone. Seraj would not fall victim to her cut-throat ways before talking things through with Sajani.
"Such a sad man you are," the girl commented, as if she felt sorry for him and indeed she did. It was never a good thing to see such a strong and stubborn person like Seraj fall apart so easily.
"Say what you want and I hope you're wrong." Though the Nepali boy still tried to hang on to his bite but was reduced to a small goldfish, rather than a fearsome shark in stature.
"I'm just trying to help you as a friend. What's wrong? We've known each other since you first came here. Why wouldn't you trust me?" Yaone was the very first person that he'd met when he began to attend school in Japan. She had never lied to him, despite her nature of seeming shady to most people.
Seraj looked down at the cold, unforgiving cement below. His long, black bangs shaded his eyes from view as he frowned deeply. "You don't want me to be with her, do you?" The dark-haired boy asked lowly, nearly in defeat.
Yaone knew what he was thinking and it was far from true. She was a little offended that he'd think such a thing of her. "If you think I'm in love with you, then you're wrong. How cliché' do you think I am?"
"I owe her at least a chance," he still would not give in to her without confirmation from Sajani on the matter.
"Fine but don't say that I wasn't right on this one. Tell me how things go, okay?" Yaone waved to her friend and casually strolled away, as if it were just another normal conversation. Seraj watched as the strange girl walked away and soon blended in with the many, red and black uniforms of his school.
He sat there for a while, thinking deeply to himself.'She can't be right. It's just some rumor! Sajani would never cheat on me! She knows what happens to women who cheat in Nepal. She wouldn't dare cheat with those consequences. She could be disowned or even killed.'
As his thoughts trailed, Seraj caught sight of Sajani. She was walking with a few of her friends, laughing and talking as if she lived with no guilt. To him, it was a small glimmer of hope that maybe Yaone's words were false and she was just trying to pull one of her sadistic jokes.
No matter how much he denied it, Seraj had a feeling that Yaone's words may have been true. He just didn't want them to be.
Seraj arose and began to walk towards the small group of girls. He didn't know what would happen but he would not let the subject rest until it was resolved. It was of the utmost priority and anything that posed that much of a threat to their relationship clearly needed to be assessed.
"Hi Seraj!" Sajani called out to him and waved happily. The girl ignored the frown on his face. Seraj was normally stoic and frowned a lot.
"Sajani, we need to talk," his voice was dead serious when he stopped in front of her. Seraj stared Sajani down. She seemed confused by his sudden serious nature and cold expression. Usually, his eyes were at least warm and friendly but not now. They were devoid of light and his entire body posture was stock still.
"Huh? Why?" Sajani was very confused. She didn't know what any of this was about and earlier he seemed so happy. What was going on?
"Come with me," Seraj's voice was nearly a command as he grabbed the long-haired girl's hand and led her away from her friends, who were clueless as to what was going on.
Sajani had not seen her future husband that upset in a long time. The two of them had such a good relationship that they hardly ever fought and she liked his company. Though there was a slight prang in her heart, for she knew that she had felt guilt about what had been going on between the two of them. It was wrong of her to commit the sin that she had but she didn't want to anger him or even hurt him. It boiled down to one simple theory: what he didn't know wouldn't hurt him.
Seraj led her to the same fountain that he and Yaone were at earlier when she had brought up the subject of Sajani's pregnancy to him. This was the moment of truth. There would be no turning back for either one of them after this point. Everything that he wanted to know would be laid out in front of him and despite his protests and denial there would be no covering things up.
After the two of them were directly in front of the statue, Seraj leveled his future wife with a stern look and demanded the truth. "Tell me that what they are saying isn't true."
"What are they saying? I haven't heard anyone saying anything," Sajani had a look of nervous confusion. She had only told her closest friends about her pregnancy. How did he find out...if he did find out? She hoped that it would be something else that was rumored about her, even though she would be faced with telling him the truth when her stomach started to expand from the growth of her unborn child.
"I was told that you were pregnant," the words hit the Nepali girl like a bullet through her heart.
She felt the jolt within her as slight shock ran across her face before she looked down. "It seems I can't hide it anymore," Sajani replied in defeat. Serajhadfigured it out.
"What, you are?" A part of him really didn't want to believe that it was true but now he could do nothing but face the truth.
"I am pregnant."
"By who? You're supposed to be with me!" Seraj both heard and felt the last strand of mentality he possessed snap within him. Anger quickly took over as outrage now controlled the inflamed boy.
"We've grown apart." While her words were sad, he could tell that Sajani seemed very apathetic towards the whole situation. It was like he was merely a miniscule word in a large paragraph that could be easily overlooked by the human eye.
"We're supposed to be wed! Do you know what will happen to you when you go back to Nepal?!" Seraj was more than pissed as he yelled in rage at the girl.
"I'm not going back to Nepal."
The words hit him like a rock in his face. "What!?"
"I've fallen in love with a Japanese man and I'm going to stay here in Japan. My parents will disown me no matter what and I'd be safer here," Sajani explained. She had made this decision long ago. The girl wanted to abandon everything that had to do with that country- including him.
How could she simply erase him from her life like that, without purpose or care in the world?
"When were you going to tell me?" Seraj tried to calm himself as he trembled in anger and balled his fists by either side to try and keep his emotions under control.
"When you found out," the girl replied lowly. She knew it was wrong but she really didn't want to face him in any other situation.
"No...This cannot be..." Seraj muttered to himself in disbelief, attempting to hang on to any denial that he possibly could before he was left with nothing. Yaone was right; he was pathetic for being so weak.
'I think I'll like being your wife.'
It was as if that very phrase had reminded him of everything that he had and everything he had tried so desperately to hold on to. He tried to make things work, even though he felt strange about it. Was his efforts in vain? Was he truly worthless to her? Did she not even try to care about him at all? Her words and actions- were they all false? He began to question even the slightest motives that she could have had and every little thing that he'd thought of between them seemed fabricated and hollow.
Everything between them when they began to attend school in Japan seemed as if it all had double standards. She kissed him but had sex with another. Everything became blurred between truth and lies and now he questioned everything.
"After all this time...After everything I tried to make work. Why? Why couldn't you just be honest?" Seraj desperately tried to hang on to the last shred of his composure as it quickly faded.
"I knew you would be angry but-" Sajani tried to explain before she was slapped hard on the face, a reminder of her shame. The injured girl held her cheek and glanced at the concrete below. She knew that she deserved it but she couldn't help but feel hurt and even a little angry that he would strike her.
"You bitch! You're a shameful bitch! I hate you!" Seraj yelled as his composure finally broke.
"I thought we could at least be friends. It's not like we actually love each other." Tears ran down the girl's face. Sajani knew that it would hurt him further to hear what she had to say but she wanted to work things out with him. Their arrangement was simply a friendship with benefits and she knew that now that she'd found someone that made her feel like nothing she'd experienced before. Perhaps Seraj could get over everything if they'd just talk and maybe he'd find someone he knew that would love him better then she could.
"You arenofriend of mine," Seraj spat hatefully and trudged off.
He wanted nothing more than to be away from that girl before he literally killed her. When he was half way away from her, he caught glimpse of Yaone. Great. That was all he needed. It was bad enough that the blonde teased him about his relationship and doubted him but now she was going to tell him that she was right as well.
Nothing like being stomped on when you couldn't get up.
"How did it go? You told me that you'd tell me," Yaone commented as she stopped.
Wonderful.
He had hoped that she'd simply just walk past him but today he couldn't be so lucky.
"I'm not in the mood for you to rub it in," Seraj warned.
"So, I was right," Yaone was nonchalant as always.
"How long?"
"How long what?"
"How long did you know about this?" Seraj looked into her large, ocean blue yes.
"Well, I had my suspicions but I didn't know anything about it until I heard her talking about it with Imogawi." It really had been something that she'd just overheard. She was glad that her suspicions were right and that Seraj was warned beforehand. At least the situation hadn't gone on for too long before he found out. Things may have gone a completely different way if that was the case.
"How far is she?"
"I think she said two months."
"Two months!?" Seraj about flew out of his pants once again. Things had gone on forthatlong without him noticing? "She's been cheating on me for two months!?"
"Apparently a lot longer than that if she's been building a relationship with him," Yaone noted. They had to be going out for much longer than that. It was probably more like two-four months before the incident occurred.
"I'm so pissed off!" Seraj fumed. This was yet another piece of unwanted information to add to his collection. Not only was she pregnant but she had been cheating on him for months, not to mention however long she'd known the guy to feel differently about him.
Even though he loved Japan, part of him wished that he never decided to come.
"Don't you want to know who it is that she had eyes for?" Yaone asked with a small yet sly smile on her face. Perhaps it would be easy for her to talk him into a little payback. Besides, she was on a mission to bring something precious to the one she called her savior and Seraj seemed to possess all of the qualities that she needed.
"I don't care," Seraj just wanted to be rid of the subject. If they talked any more about it his mind would over load. Right now, he just needed to calm down and try to straighten things out. He would not act irrationally as he had with Sajani. The black-haired boy just needed to mull things over.
"You really hate her right now, don't you?"
"What do you think?" He shot back sarcastically as a small, elegant hand was sat on his shoulder. Yaone's touch was nearly ghostly and warm to the touch.
"Calm down-" The blonde only managed to get in two words before she was cut off.
"I can't always be calm like you! My life is falling apart and you want me to be calm?" The Nepali boy couldn't help but lash out. Yaone's calm nature just seemed to rub him the wrong way. He didn't know why exactly it did and he had figured that it was something about her nature towards the whole situation. How could she be so calm when he was such an emotional train wreck?
"How would you like to give her an opportunity to experience the pain that you're feeling right now?"
"What?" The question seemed out of the blue, even though the placing and type of question it was seemed all too planned.
"What do you say?" An impish smirk crossed the blonde's face as she tried to convince Seraj to take some initiative in his crumbling relationship and there was no time like the present. "How about some good old-fashioned revenge?"
...To Be Continued...
NOTES:
Baphomet or the Sabbatic Goat-has occasionally been portrayed as a synonym ofSatanor ademon, a member of thehierarchy of Hell. Baphomet is portrayed as a human that possesses both genitalia with black wings and the head of a goat.
Sari- A wrap around dress that most Nepali and Hindu women wear.
Yaone- pronounced - Yah-Oh-Neh
Seraj- is pronounced Seh-r-ah-j