Tenshi no Uta (14/16)
Nov. 1st, 2014 11:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wendyjolyTitle : Tenshi no Uta
Author : WendyJoly
Pairing : Sakurai Sho/Ninomiya Kazunari, Matsumoto Jun/Ueno Juri, Ohno Satoshi/Ken Miyake
Rating : PG
Genre : SF
Lenght : Chaptered
Genre : Music, love and star ships
Disclaimer : I owe nothing but Arashi owns surely my soul
Summary : “An Angel has the power to pacify a crowd, to convey emotions people ignore. But…when an Angel sings for his master, this man can feel the fullness of body and mind…however, one Angel is made for a Master and only one. And the master can’t choose his Angel.” But when Ninomiya Kazunari, an Angel fated to belong to the ruler of the galaxy chooses the Commandant of the ship designated to guide him to his Master, what will happen to him?
Note: The concept of singing Angel belongs to O.S Card, I borrow it with all the respect due to his huge talent.
CHAPTER 14
Sho didn’t understand right away that Nino was in his arms. He saw him running toward him as he exited the Arashi, the head still full of the illusions created by the Oracles and he really thought that his brain was fooling him. It couldn’t go differently…he tried to find a reason to explain the hallucination and there were thousand: he missed him so much that he began to imagine him right in front of him, the Oracles cursed him, the engineers of the base had found a way to create a spectacular android…
But he opened the arms instinctively and without thinking further, his heart answered to Nino’s. His Nino who was miraculously here…
“How…Why are you here?” He murmured between two kisses.
“Ken-kun made me run away and Aiba-chan brought us here.”
“We have to talk, Sakurai-san.” Cut Aiba a bit embarrassed by this love demonstration “It was unexpected for me too. Things happened a way too fast…”
“I follow you.”
He figured out that the crew has gone away and no one else was there. How much time has passed since their arrival?
“You can help Nino to settle, we’ll talk later.” Said Aiba.
“But I~”
Aiba turned tail, leaving them all alone, and Sho had to face an awkward reality. He had never been face-to-face with his Angel until now, except in the glade and it was a so painful memory. What would he say? What would they do? How would he manage to stay far from him? Crap…impossible.
Lost in his anarchic thoughts he felt Nino’s hand in his and he smiled irrepressibly. The Angel had no doubt, his incomparable gaze full of love and it was enough for Sho to lose ground. He began to walk, Nino’s hand hidden in his but this latter intertwined their fingers. This intimate contact, palm against palm, made him blush and a wave of pleasure twisted his belly.
He spoke to hide his embarrassment.
“When did you arrive?”
“Earlier with Satoshi.”
“Do you have chosen a bedroom?”
“I’ll sleep with you.”
Sho swallowed hard. It was certainly not something to tell, but did he really understand what it implied? He wasn’t so naïve since he managed to isolate him on Shinagawa to kiss him once.
From someone else, Sho would have found this inappropriate and vulgar but coming from Nino it was different. It sounded so natural and obvious to stay with the man he loved, like a stubborn child, that Sho couldn’t find the courage to refuse. Yet he had to.
“Nino, you can have your own room.”
“No, thanks, I’d rather sleep with you.”
“I…I can’t share your bedroom.”
“I won’t disturb you, I swear. I’ll take good care of you.”
Sho would have screamed with despise. Did Nino realize the fire he was lighting in his body with this kind of proposition?! He forced himself to keep in mind the image of the Oracle, when Nino was by his side, sad and depressed.
He kept on walking, without arguing and entered to an empty bedroom, far from his.
“You’ll sleep here, you’ll be fine.”
“And you?” Asked the Angel puzzled.
“I’ll sleep out there and we’ll meet soon, don’t worry.”
“I’ll stay with you no matter what.”
The Angel began to panic and Sho’s heart broke.
“ We can’t sleep together, it’s wrong.”
“Why?”
“Because I…Oh Godess…”
Nino clang on him with strength and put his lips at Sho’s ear. He crooned a sweet melody that touched his heart more than every word in the world. He conveyed his happiness to be with him, the desire he had for him, the terror to be far from him again and be rejected, the emptiness of his life since their separation.
So those fairy tales were true, thought Sho, all those legends pretending that the singing of an Angel talked to the soul of his Master, dragging it to unknown places by the hand.
“Please…please…” Sang Nino to Sho’s heart.
Sho didn’t dare to speak to not break the enchanted moment they were living. He was only a puppet into the Angel’s hands and by themselves his arms squeezed him tighter, his mouth ran to his neck, making his song difficult. With an ultimate effort Sho moved back…to give up.
“Come with me, I’ll show you our bedroom.”
Nino’s face beamed.
“But I can’t stay with you for the moment, I have to meet Aiba-san.”
“Yes, Master.” Answered the Angel gripping his hand for Sho to take him away from this anonymous room.
Sho noticed the ironic looks of his crew, sat in the mess, as they walked through once again to reach his own bedroom. Was it bad for his authority? He got rid of the idiotic thought and squeezed Nino’s hand stronger. Yes he was in love, and so?! He opened the door and showed to the Angel the bed Jun occupied before he moved in with Juri.
“You can sleep here.”
“Yes, Master.”
Sho was afraid that he could insist to share his bed but he seemed to be satisfied. He swallowed an inappropriate disappointment, cursing his contradictions, and after entrusting him to Becky and Kanayoshi, he went to search for the Yamabushi.
He was in the council rom arguing passionately with Juri, Jun, Ken and Nagase. Their serious faces struck him, bringing him back to the hard reality. He sat at the table and right on the bat asked for the question which was on the tip of his tongue since their arrival.
“Why is he here? Did something happen at the Palace?”
“Ken-kun, my apprentice used to be Nino’s servant and he learned to know that Lady Aoi planned his murder. Again. He had to make him leave the palace as soon as possible.”
“Aiba-san, don’t misunderstand me, I’m happy to see him here, but the rational part of my brain tells me that this disappearance will have consequences. And seeing your gloomy looks, I think that, indeed, the situation is serious.”
Nagase leaned forward, intertwined his fingers and answered.
“Indeed, we fear that the effect of surprise we possessed vanished with Nino’s desertion. Okada should be on his guards more than ever.”
“But” Cut Juri “ After the Oracle’s test, I have the right to claim the throne, why would we wait? It’s a fact, he should be searching for Nino, but I can keep him at the palace for a moment.”
The men looked at each other, thinking about the consequences of a frontal attack.
“What do we know about Okada’s reaction, Masaki?”
“I was on Onarimon in our shrine but I heard some rumours about a big fuss on Kanda. He thinks that Nino is hidden in a place close to the palace. He knows nothing about Ken, that’s our chance, he thinks he comes from a pleasure house.”
“But he will summon you, Aiba-san, it’s a given.” Asserted Jun.
“He fears Yamabushis. He can’t openly fight us, it would undermine a very unsteady balance.”
“And if he doesn’t find him?” Asked Sho, already guessing what would come.
“He will look for him elsewhere. On other planets. And he’s not famous for his sense of diplomacy. Sakurai, Matsumoto, you know him, what will he do, according your opinion?”
“If I was a methodical and determined strategist” Began Sho “I’ll try to know where my target would go if he was desperate, which shelter would be the most reassuring.”
“The Orchid Palace” concluded Jun “That’s where he will claim him.”
Aiba knew they would find the same conclusion but he sincerely wished that a military mind could find new possibilities.
“Hoshiko, you take the decision.” Continued Nagase after a minute.
The pilot stared at the man of her life for an instant then faced her counsellors.
“I will send a delegation to the Imperial palace; it’s high time for the rebellion to be opened. We’ll ask to the Yamabushi from Onarimon- the closest geographically speaking- to protect the Orchid palace. Masaki-kun, you’ll go there with Ken.”
“I have to be part of the delegation, Hoshiko.”
He didn’t understand her decision but for some reasons she had to refuse.
“This is only a preliminary and I know they will mock me. And Usui-sensei needs you currently.”
He hung the head, accepting his Empress decision.
“When are we leaving?”
“As soon as possible.”
The Yamabushi rose suddenly and dragged his apprentice behind him. Sho ran after them.
“Aiba-san, I have to talk to you before your departure.”
“About Nino?”
“Exactly…the Oracles showed me a pretty dark future. They are pretending that if I share Nino’s bed he will lose his voice…or even the will to live. Is it true?”
“I knew you would ask one day or another but…I don’t know.”
The monk sounded embarrassed suddenly.
“But you did…?”
“Toma and I, we never went this far. We feared this legend about the loss of the voice for Angels, we would have been exposed.”
“What do you mean? That no Angel ever…never?”
“Every master chooses the life he leads with his Angel, the palace loses all right on him once he gave him to his master.”
“So I have to keep my distances?”
“I didn’t say that. I said that each man has to choose the life he wants to lead.”
“But the Oracles? Nino was laid by my side, so sad…”
“You were laid by his side, that’s all, isn’t it? And if he lost his voice because you refused to sleep with him?”
“I…well, I didn’t think about this possibility. I thought I remembered…”
“The Oracles showed you a possibility, more than often the worst one to test your determination. You are free to change your behaviour. And about Nino…I don’t think he could turn his back to you because you love him. Sorry, I have to take my leave now…”
“Thank you Aiba-san. Good luck for your mission.”
“Good luck for yours too.”
“Thanks.”
Sho stared at the monks leaving the place and went back to the council room where the three others were still conversing vividly. As soon as he approached the table, Jun grabbed his arm.
“Sho, tell her, please she refuses to understand.”
“I won’t send Masaki at the palace. It’s not negotiable.” Answered Juri immediately.
“He knows Okada and the palace by heart, he’s experimented and he knows how to negotiate.” Added Nagase.
“I said no!”
“Hoshiko, it’s not like you to be so stubborn.”
“I think I know what’s happening” Cut Sho. “What showed you the Oracles, Juri?”
They gazed at her waiting for her reaction.
“I saw my son, our son, to Jun and I. And he never heard about Masaki. It could only mean one thing, he’s dead.”
“Or perhaps is he living in a shrine or he changed his name…how could you be sure?”
“I won’t take the risk.”
“And me? Where was I Juri?” Said Jun in an undertone.
“You weren’t with us.” Answered Juri sadly.
“I see. I think we need to take a rest before establishing our plan. Do you agree?”
They nodded and Nagase left the place.
“Go find Nino.” Said Jun firmly.
“It’s not as simple as~”
“It is! We living day after day, we don’t have the time to take our time, Sho.” Jun took Juri’s hand delicately.
“You’re right. See you later.”
He had the time to see Jun putting his palm on Juri’s neck for her to rest her head on his shoulder before passing the threshold.
When he entered the mess, Nino was laughing genuinely with the dwellers of the base, Satoshi and the members of the Arashi. Sho admired him for a moment, so happy, so beautiful, curbing the desire to go to him to not break this peaceful scenery.
“Yo, Commandant!” called Yuta.
Sho sat on a chair and Nino nestled against his chest. They told their adventures, they ate, laughed and never spoke about their uncertain future. The Angel listened attentively, an unwavering smile on the lips.
Bit by bit, each of them left the place or gathered around a card game.
“I’m tired.” Whispered Nino to Sho as he brushed his hair.
“Let’s go to bed.”
He took his hand and they headed to their bedroom. Nino’s hand was trembling and wet, or was it his own hand?
“I’ll take a shower, do as you wish, okay? Go to bed if you’re tired; don’t wait for me to sleep.”
Nino nodded and Sho exited to clean the dirtiness of the trip and find his serenity back. Jun was right; the time they could share was precious.
When he came back to his bedroom, Nino was already in bed, but in his bed. His eyes were close and his sweet breathe was barely perceptible. Sho sat on the other bed…then changed his mind and go to his’. As soon as he lied down, Nino put his arm around him and rested his head on his chest, making him sigh. The Angel stared at him.
“Are you worried?” He murmured.
“A bit.” Smiled Sho.
“Tell me. I’m really skilled to hear things.”
Sho laughed. He had no doubt about his listener skills.
“I’m worried about what could happen to you.”
“If I’m with you, nothing can happen to me.” Nino rested back his head, as if the conversation was over.
“You could lose your voice with me. If I…If I touch you, like that time in the glade, you could lose your voice, Nino, definitely.”
“Don’t you want to kiss me?” Asked Nino, his eyebrows knitted.
“I don’t want to hurt you. And there’s a risk.”
Nino turned back and put his chin on Sho’s torso, gazing at him.
“Usui-sensei told me once that every problem has a solution, so there’s nothing to worry about. And if a problem has no solution, there’s nothing to do, so there’s nothing to worry about.”
Sho chuckled joyfully.
“Nice philosophy…”
“It’s silly?”
“Certainly not! This is the cleverest thought I’ve heard since month.”
He grabbed Nino shoulders and made him rise to kiss him gently. But this latter weighted down on his lips and straddled him without notice.
“Nino, even if you don’t have any doubts, I still have some…”
“Will you dislike me if I can’t sing anymore?” Whispered Nino, brushing their noses together.
“Of course not. I love you, not the Angel in you.”
“Listen. I will sing to your ear until dawn and whatever you could do, if it’s because you love me, my singing will be more and more beautiful. I know it, Master.”
“I’m not your master, Nino, you are mine like I am yours, so call me Sho, please.”
‘Sho’ was the first word of love that Nino sang to his ear this night.
“I never felt like this before.” Chanted the Angel.
“Me neither.” Murmured Sho. “I guess it will be the first time for both of us.”
The Angel close Sho’s mouth with a new kiss, so daring and sensual that the soldier lost ground once again. He was right, they didn’t have to talk to understand each other, they belonged together and when Sho caught his breathe, he suddenly figured out that he was holding it since the day he ran away from him. Losing Nino was like breathing with only one lung and for the first time since ages he inhaled with full lungs, he was alive again into his arms.
They kissed and caressed all night long, discovering the marvels of physical love, the way they had been so perfectly created to make love to each other.
When dawn came, Nino’s singing transported them in their glade and Sho possessed him for the first time under a warm pouring rain.
~Ã~
The monk left the base with Ken with a light ship and they flew to Hitoo system, as quickly as the engine allowed them to. The news they received episodically by radio from the monks reaching the Orchid Palace were more and more alarmist. They crossed war ships, which was so unusual on this merchant’s road.
Eventually the communications broke off.
And Aiba began to seriously fear for the Orchid Palace resident’s safety.
High red and orange smokes coloured the sky of the Hitoo atmosphere and an unbearable smell of burning penetrated their lungs.
They landed on a scorch earth surrounding what was once the Orchid palace.
The ashes were still smouldering and only some leper’s sooty walls were standing. Everything was covered by particulate matter totally burnt.
The big stair had lost his vegetation and was now erected to an opened sky. What had been a few days earlier the splendour of the galaxy was no more than an ashes hearth and Aiba swallowed a retching when the odour of carbonized flesh overwhelmed his nostrils. Like a brainless puppet, he walked to the door as if it was still useful and pushed it without hearing his apprentice speaking his name behind him.
In his memory popped the moment when he had passed this very door, as a toddler, holding Usui-sensei’s hand, when he had passed it back by Lady Park’s side, suffering opprobrium and out of hope. And eventually decades later, the day he came back, as protector of the Angels.
The monk walked like an automat to the Hall of the chorus. Under his arch so high that it seemed to be lost amongst the cloud he discovered, horrified, hundreds of little corpses already ate by the flames.
What was this madness?
Where they all here?
Aiba fell on his knees, puking the content of his stomach on the marble ground. He didn’t feel Ken’s hand on his shoulder to support him and he gasped when he saw the corpse of a man he recognized instinctively, no need to see the ring with the angel’s wing at his index finger. He crawled to him and for the first time since decades, the monk cried all his heart content, letting his sadness and his anger exploding painfully on the rest of the man who has been his father during so many years.
He hasn’t been fast enough, he didn’t protect them like he should have. He had always suspected that Okada wished to destroy the last vestige of the late Emperor’s splendour. Since he had his Angel, the palace was useless, now that he had lost the Angel, he held it responsible of his loss.
“Aiba-san! Aiba-san, let him go. Please, let him go. We have to find our brothers.”
Aiba raised his gaze to Ken, trying to understand his words, doing his best to pull himself together.
“The monks of Orinamon, Aiba-san. They are probably in town.”
Aiba stood up and nodded before putting his hood on his eyes, leaving this nightmare behind him.
“Aiba-san, thanks goddess you are here!” Shouted a young apprentice running to him. “He had already burnt everything at our arrival; we only managed to save some children.”
“Where are they?” Asked Ken, stepping forward.
“We hid them in town, with the nannies.”
“Lead us there.”
They walked through the city until a pavement district, with little streets where the flourished houses were stuck to each other in a peaceful atmosphere. No one could guess such barbarousness happened just a few meters away.
When Aiba entered a house with the two apprentices, a nanny led him to a bedroom where tens of children were curled into themselves in a loud silence. Ken kneeled by their side, taking the hand of a boy who should be 10 years old. The apprentice closed his eyes to hear him and suddenly turned the head to the monk behind him who was looking at the children with compassion.
“You have to do something for them.” Whispered the nanny at the door. “They didn’t move since it happened.”
“What could we do?” Asked the monk.
“Aiba-san…could you sing for them, you were an Angel before?” murmured Ken huskily, his voice stuck into his throat by tears.
“I didn’t sing since decades, Ken.”
“This is the only thing able to appease them. This is the only thing they know.”Said the apprentice.
“I…I can’t.”
“Usui-sensei would have asked you to take care about the children.”
Ken was right, thought Aiba. The monk closed his eyes, trying to remind the way he let the singing overwhelming him long ago and naturally it came back, allowing him to convey feelings he couldn’t tell.
The horror, the pain, the harm, the unbearable loss, the joy to see them alive, healthy. And when his singing became too strangled, the voices of the children joined his, creating a song of farewell for the man who had been the Great Intendant of the Orchid Palace for several centuries.
TBC....
Author : WendyJoly
Pairing : Sakurai Sho/Ninomiya Kazunari, Matsumoto Jun/Ueno Juri, Ohno Satoshi/Ken Miyake
Rating : PG
Genre : SF
Lenght : Chaptered
Genre : Music, love and star ships
Disclaimer : I owe nothing but Arashi owns surely my soul
Summary : “An Angel has the power to pacify a crowd, to convey emotions people ignore. But…when an Angel sings for his master, this man can feel the fullness of body and mind…however, one Angel is made for a Master and only one. And the master can’t choose his Angel.” But when Ninomiya Kazunari, an Angel fated to belong to the ruler of the galaxy chooses the Commandant of the ship designated to guide him to his Master, what will happen to him?
Note: The concept of singing Angel belongs to O.S Card, I borrow it with all the respect due to his huge talent.
CHAPTER 14
Sho didn’t understand right away that Nino was in his arms. He saw him running toward him as he exited the Arashi, the head still full of the illusions created by the Oracles and he really thought that his brain was fooling him. It couldn’t go differently…he tried to find a reason to explain the hallucination and there were thousand: he missed him so much that he began to imagine him right in front of him, the Oracles cursed him, the engineers of the base had found a way to create a spectacular android…
But he opened the arms instinctively and without thinking further, his heart answered to Nino’s. His Nino who was miraculously here…
“How…Why are you here?” He murmured between two kisses.
“Ken-kun made me run away and Aiba-chan brought us here.”
“We have to talk, Sakurai-san.” Cut Aiba a bit embarrassed by this love demonstration “It was unexpected for me too. Things happened a way too fast…”
“I follow you.”
He figured out that the crew has gone away and no one else was there. How much time has passed since their arrival?
“You can help Nino to settle, we’ll talk later.” Said Aiba.
“But I~”
Aiba turned tail, leaving them all alone, and Sho had to face an awkward reality. He had never been face-to-face with his Angel until now, except in the glade and it was a so painful memory. What would he say? What would they do? How would he manage to stay far from him? Crap…impossible.
Lost in his anarchic thoughts he felt Nino’s hand in his and he smiled irrepressibly. The Angel had no doubt, his incomparable gaze full of love and it was enough for Sho to lose ground. He began to walk, Nino’s hand hidden in his but this latter intertwined their fingers. This intimate contact, palm against palm, made him blush and a wave of pleasure twisted his belly.
He spoke to hide his embarrassment.
“When did you arrive?”
“Earlier with Satoshi.”
“Do you have chosen a bedroom?”
“I’ll sleep with you.”
Sho swallowed hard. It was certainly not something to tell, but did he really understand what it implied? He wasn’t so naïve since he managed to isolate him on Shinagawa to kiss him once.
From someone else, Sho would have found this inappropriate and vulgar but coming from Nino it was different. It sounded so natural and obvious to stay with the man he loved, like a stubborn child, that Sho couldn’t find the courage to refuse. Yet he had to.
“Nino, you can have your own room.”
“No, thanks, I’d rather sleep with you.”
“I…I can’t share your bedroom.”
“I won’t disturb you, I swear. I’ll take good care of you.”
Sho would have screamed with despise. Did Nino realize the fire he was lighting in his body with this kind of proposition?! He forced himself to keep in mind the image of the Oracle, when Nino was by his side, sad and depressed.
He kept on walking, without arguing and entered to an empty bedroom, far from his.
“You’ll sleep here, you’ll be fine.”
“And you?” Asked the Angel puzzled.
“I’ll sleep out there and we’ll meet soon, don’t worry.”
“I’ll stay with you no matter what.”
The Angel began to panic and Sho’s heart broke.
“ We can’t sleep together, it’s wrong.”
“Why?”
“Because I…Oh Godess…”
Nino clang on him with strength and put his lips at Sho’s ear. He crooned a sweet melody that touched his heart more than every word in the world. He conveyed his happiness to be with him, the desire he had for him, the terror to be far from him again and be rejected, the emptiness of his life since their separation.
So those fairy tales were true, thought Sho, all those legends pretending that the singing of an Angel talked to the soul of his Master, dragging it to unknown places by the hand.
“Please…please…” Sang Nino to Sho’s heart.
Sho didn’t dare to speak to not break the enchanted moment they were living. He was only a puppet into the Angel’s hands and by themselves his arms squeezed him tighter, his mouth ran to his neck, making his song difficult. With an ultimate effort Sho moved back…to give up.
“Come with me, I’ll show you our bedroom.”
Nino’s face beamed.
“But I can’t stay with you for the moment, I have to meet Aiba-san.”
“Yes, Master.” Answered the Angel gripping his hand for Sho to take him away from this anonymous room.
Sho noticed the ironic looks of his crew, sat in the mess, as they walked through once again to reach his own bedroom. Was it bad for his authority? He got rid of the idiotic thought and squeezed Nino’s hand stronger. Yes he was in love, and so?! He opened the door and showed to the Angel the bed Jun occupied before he moved in with Juri.
“You can sleep here.”
“Yes, Master.”
Sho was afraid that he could insist to share his bed but he seemed to be satisfied. He swallowed an inappropriate disappointment, cursing his contradictions, and after entrusting him to Becky and Kanayoshi, he went to search for the Yamabushi.
He was in the council rom arguing passionately with Juri, Jun, Ken and Nagase. Their serious faces struck him, bringing him back to the hard reality. He sat at the table and right on the bat asked for the question which was on the tip of his tongue since their arrival.
“Why is he here? Did something happen at the Palace?”
“Ken-kun, my apprentice used to be Nino’s servant and he learned to know that Lady Aoi planned his murder. Again. He had to make him leave the palace as soon as possible.”
“Aiba-san, don’t misunderstand me, I’m happy to see him here, but the rational part of my brain tells me that this disappearance will have consequences. And seeing your gloomy looks, I think that, indeed, the situation is serious.”
Nagase leaned forward, intertwined his fingers and answered.
“Indeed, we fear that the effect of surprise we possessed vanished with Nino’s desertion. Okada should be on his guards more than ever.”
“But” Cut Juri “ After the Oracle’s test, I have the right to claim the throne, why would we wait? It’s a fact, he should be searching for Nino, but I can keep him at the palace for a moment.”
The men looked at each other, thinking about the consequences of a frontal attack.
“What do we know about Okada’s reaction, Masaki?”
“I was on Onarimon in our shrine but I heard some rumours about a big fuss on Kanda. He thinks that Nino is hidden in a place close to the palace. He knows nothing about Ken, that’s our chance, he thinks he comes from a pleasure house.”
“But he will summon you, Aiba-san, it’s a given.” Asserted Jun.
“He fears Yamabushis. He can’t openly fight us, it would undermine a very unsteady balance.”
“And if he doesn’t find him?” Asked Sho, already guessing what would come.
“He will look for him elsewhere. On other planets. And he’s not famous for his sense of diplomacy. Sakurai, Matsumoto, you know him, what will he do, according your opinion?”
“If I was a methodical and determined strategist” Began Sho “I’ll try to know where my target would go if he was desperate, which shelter would be the most reassuring.”
“The Orchid Palace” concluded Jun “That’s where he will claim him.”
Aiba knew they would find the same conclusion but he sincerely wished that a military mind could find new possibilities.
“Hoshiko, you take the decision.” Continued Nagase after a minute.
The pilot stared at the man of her life for an instant then faced her counsellors.
“I will send a delegation to the Imperial palace; it’s high time for the rebellion to be opened. We’ll ask to the Yamabushi from Onarimon- the closest geographically speaking- to protect the Orchid palace. Masaki-kun, you’ll go there with Ken.”
“I have to be part of the delegation, Hoshiko.”
He didn’t understand her decision but for some reasons she had to refuse.
“This is only a preliminary and I know they will mock me. And Usui-sensei needs you currently.”
He hung the head, accepting his Empress decision.
“When are we leaving?”
“As soon as possible.”
The Yamabushi rose suddenly and dragged his apprentice behind him. Sho ran after them.
“Aiba-san, I have to talk to you before your departure.”
“About Nino?”
“Exactly…the Oracles showed me a pretty dark future. They are pretending that if I share Nino’s bed he will lose his voice…or even the will to live. Is it true?”
“I knew you would ask one day or another but…I don’t know.”
The monk sounded embarrassed suddenly.
“But you did…?”
“Toma and I, we never went this far. We feared this legend about the loss of the voice for Angels, we would have been exposed.”
“What do you mean? That no Angel ever…never?”
“Every master chooses the life he leads with his Angel, the palace loses all right on him once he gave him to his master.”
“So I have to keep my distances?”
“I didn’t say that. I said that each man has to choose the life he wants to lead.”
“But the Oracles? Nino was laid by my side, so sad…”
“You were laid by his side, that’s all, isn’t it? And if he lost his voice because you refused to sleep with him?”
“I…well, I didn’t think about this possibility. I thought I remembered…”
“The Oracles showed you a possibility, more than often the worst one to test your determination. You are free to change your behaviour. And about Nino…I don’t think he could turn his back to you because you love him. Sorry, I have to take my leave now…”
“Thank you Aiba-san. Good luck for your mission.”
“Good luck for yours too.”
“Thanks.”
Sho stared at the monks leaving the place and went back to the council room where the three others were still conversing vividly. As soon as he approached the table, Jun grabbed his arm.
“Sho, tell her, please she refuses to understand.”
“I won’t send Masaki at the palace. It’s not negotiable.” Answered Juri immediately.
“He knows Okada and the palace by heart, he’s experimented and he knows how to negotiate.” Added Nagase.
“I said no!”
“Hoshiko, it’s not like you to be so stubborn.”
“I think I know what’s happening” Cut Sho. “What showed you the Oracles, Juri?”
They gazed at her waiting for her reaction.
“I saw my son, our son, to Jun and I. And he never heard about Masaki. It could only mean one thing, he’s dead.”
“Or perhaps is he living in a shrine or he changed his name…how could you be sure?”
“I won’t take the risk.”
“And me? Where was I Juri?” Said Jun in an undertone.
“You weren’t with us.” Answered Juri sadly.
“I see. I think we need to take a rest before establishing our plan. Do you agree?”
They nodded and Nagase left the place.
“Go find Nino.” Said Jun firmly.
“It’s not as simple as~”
“It is! We living day after day, we don’t have the time to take our time, Sho.” Jun took Juri’s hand delicately.
“You’re right. See you later.”
He had the time to see Jun putting his palm on Juri’s neck for her to rest her head on his shoulder before passing the threshold.
When he entered the mess, Nino was laughing genuinely with the dwellers of the base, Satoshi and the members of the Arashi. Sho admired him for a moment, so happy, so beautiful, curbing the desire to go to him to not break this peaceful scenery.
“Yo, Commandant!” called Yuta.
Sho sat on a chair and Nino nestled against his chest. They told their adventures, they ate, laughed and never spoke about their uncertain future. The Angel listened attentively, an unwavering smile on the lips.
Bit by bit, each of them left the place or gathered around a card game.
“I’m tired.” Whispered Nino to Sho as he brushed his hair.
“Let’s go to bed.”
He took his hand and they headed to their bedroom. Nino’s hand was trembling and wet, or was it his own hand?
“I’ll take a shower, do as you wish, okay? Go to bed if you’re tired; don’t wait for me to sleep.”
Nino nodded and Sho exited to clean the dirtiness of the trip and find his serenity back. Jun was right; the time they could share was precious.
When he came back to his bedroom, Nino was already in bed, but in his bed. His eyes were close and his sweet breathe was barely perceptible. Sho sat on the other bed…then changed his mind and go to his’. As soon as he lied down, Nino put his arm around him and rested his head on his chest, making him sigh. The Angel stared at him.
“Are you worried?” He murmured.
“A bit.” Smiled Sho.
“Tell me. I’m really skilled to hear things.”
Sho laughed. He had no doubt about his listener skills.
“I’m worried about what could happen to you.”
“If I’m with you, nothing can happen to me.” Nino rested back his head, as if the conversation was over.
“You could lose your voice with me. If I…If I touch you, like that time in the glade, you could lose your voice, Nino, definitely.”
“Don’t you want to kiss me?” Asked Nino, his eyebrows knitted.
“I don’t want to hurt you. And there’s a risk.”
Nino turned back and put his chin on Sho’s torso, gazing at him.
“Usui-sensei told me once that every problem has a solution, so there’s nothing to worry about. And if a problem has no solution, there’s nothing to do, so there’s nothing to worry about.”
Sho chuckled joyfully.
“Nice philosophy…”
“It’s silly?”
“Certainly not! This is the cleverest thought I’ve heard since month.”
He grabbed Nino shoulders and made him rise to kiss him gently. But this latter weighted down on his lips and straddled him without notice.
“Nino, even if you don’t have any doubts, I still have some…”
“Will you dislike me if I can’t sing anymore?” Whispered Nino, brushing their noses together.
“Of course not. I love you, not the Angel in you.”
“Listen. I will sing to your ear until dawn and whatever you could do, if it’s because you love me, my singing will be more and more beautiful. I know it, Master.”
“I’m not your master, Nino, you are mine like I am yours, so call me Sho, please.”
‘Sho’ was the first word of love that Nino sang to his ear this night.
“I never felt like this before.” Chanted the Angel.
“Me neither.” Murmured Sho. “I guess it will be the first time for both of us.”
The Angel close Sho’s mouth with a new kiss, so daring and sensual that the soldier lost ground once again. He was right, they didn’t have to talk to understand each other, they belonged together and when Sho caught his breathe, he suddenly figured out that he was holding it since the day he ran away from him. Losing Nino was like breathing with only one lung and for the first time since ages he inhaled with full lungs, he was alive again into his arms.
They kissed and caressed all night long, discovering the marvels of physical love, the way they had been so perfectly created to make love to each other.
When dawn came, Nino’s singing transported them in their glade and Sho possessed him for the first time under a warm pouring rain.
The monk left the base with Ken with a light ship and they flew to Hitoo system, as quickly as the engine allowed them to. The news they received episodically by radio from the monks reaching the Orchid Palace were more and more alarmist. They crossed war ships, which was so unusual on this merchant’s road.
Eventually the communications broke off.
And Aiba began to seriously fear for the Orchid Palace resident’s safety.
High red and orange smokes coloured the sky of the Hitoo atmosphere and an unbearable smell of burning penetrated their lungs.
They landed on a scorch earth surrounding what was once the Orchid palace.
The ashes were still smouldering and only some leper’s sooty walls were standing. Everything was covered by particulate matter totally burnt.
The big stair had lost his vegetation and was now erected to an opened sky. What had been a few days earlier the splendour of the galaxy was no more than an ashes hearth and Aiba swallowed a retching when the odour of carbonized flesh overwhelmed his nostrils. Like a brainless puppet, he walked to the door as if it was still useful and pushed it without hearing his apprentice speaking his name behind him.
In his memory popped the moment when he had passed this very door, as a toddler, holding Usui-sensei’s hand, when he had passed it back by Lady Park’s side, suffering opprobrium and out of hope. And eventually decades later, the day he came back, as protector of the Angels.
The monk walked like an automat to the Hall of the chorus. Under his arch so high that it seemed to be lost amongst the cloud he discovered, horrified, hundreds of little corpses already ate by the flames.
What was this madness?
Where they all here?
Aiba fell on his knees, puking the content of his stomach on the marble ground. He didn’t feel Ken’s hand on his shoulder to support him and he gasped when he saw the corpse of a man he recognized instinctively, no need to see the ring with the angel’s wing at his index finger. He crawled to him and for the first time since decades, the monk cried all his heart content, letting his sadness and his anger exploding painfully on the rest of the man who has been his father during so many years.
He hasn’t been fast enough, he didn’t protect them like he should have. He had always suspected that Okada wished to destroy the last vestige of the late Emperor’s splendour. Since he had his Angel, the palace was useless, now that he had lost the Angel, he held it responsible of his loss.
“Aiba-san! Aiba-san, let him go. Please, let him go. We have to find our brothers.”
Aiba raised his gaze to Ken, trying to understand his words, doing his best to pull himself together.
“The monks of Orinamon, Aiba-san. They are probably in town.”
Aiba stood up and nodded before putting his hood on his eyes, leaving this nightmare behind him.
“Aiba-san, thanks goddess you are here!” Shouted a young apprentice running to him. “He had already burnt everything at our arrival; we only managed to save some children.”
“Where are they?” Asked Ken, stepping forward.
“We hid them in town, with the nannies.”
“Lead us there.”
They walked through the city until a pavement district, with little streets where the flourished houses were stuck to each other in a peaceful atmosphere. No one could guess such barbarousness happened just a few meters away.
When Aiba entered a house with the two apprentices, a nanny led him to a bedroom where tens of children were curled into themselves in a loud silence. Ken kneeled by their side, taking the hand of a boy who should be 10 years old. The apprentice closed his eyes to hear him and suddenly turned the head to the monk behind him who was looking at the children with compassion.
“You have to do something for them.” Whispered the nanny at the door. “They didn’t move since it happened.”
“What could we do?” Asked the monk.
“Aiba-san…could you sing for them, you were an Angel before?” murmured Ken huskily, his voice stuck into his throat by tears.
“I didn’t sing since decades, Ken.”
“This is the only thing able to appease them. This is the only thing they know.”Said the apprentice.
“I…I can’t.”
“Usui-sensei would have asked you to take care about the children.”
Ken was right, thought Aiba. The monk closed his eyes, trying to remind the way he let the singing overwhelming him long ago and naturally it came back, allowing him to convey feelings he couldn’t tell.
The horror, the pain, the harm, the unbearable loss, the joy to see them alive, healthy. And when his singing became too strangled, the voices of the children joined his, creating a song of farewell for the man who had been the Great Intendant of the Orchid Palace for several centuries.
TBC....
