Illusions

Chapter 6: Homecoming

***

After at least an hour of strolling around in the massive city, Kazuya couldn’t see what was so traumatising about it. Sure, many of the building were old and decrepit, but there was nothing terrifying here. It was an ancient city, after all – thousands of years old – and it was the main centre of administration into this half of the planet.

He’d caught some interesting looks whilst walking up the main boulevard. The cobblestone path beneath his feet was surprisingly cool, considering the scorching heat in the thick air…a pleasant relief to say the least…as he made his way up the street, it was mostly the demons that gave him passing looks of curiosity…he paid them no mind.

Finally, spotting an interesting-looking outdoor café, he decided to sit down and have a drink rather than walk around aimlessly for the rest of the day. He sat down in an empty chair at the front of the café, and picked up the menu. One of the women on duty, a voluptuous middle-aged demon with rather brilliantly toned red skin, approached him after a few moments, and smiled down at him.

“Is it just me, or have you been here before?”

He glanced up, covering his momentary shock at her blazing blue eyes. “To tell you the truth, this is the first time I’ve ever been on this side of the planet…”

She grinned. “May I ask what you’re doing over this side of town?”

Shrugging, he placed the menu down casually on the table, and smiled. “Babysitting, mostly…”

Odd. She arched a thin, deep crimson brow. “Oh really?”

Idle chitchat…not something Kazuya was particularly accustomed to, or good at for that matter. “Do you know Akuma?”

Of course she did…she nodded, and smirked. “That sexy bastard…yes, I do…” She looked him over, admiring the powerful chest…and the great mass of white feathers behind him. “That’s why you look familiar…you’re the spitting image of him!”

Now he was getting somewhere. “Well, that’s because when I was alive, Akuma was assigned to me as a guardian.”

She grinned even more, displaying a set of rather sharp-looking fangs. “Well! No wonder you’re not a snooty bitch towards us…you must be Kazuya Mishima, no?”

Nodding once, he shifted in his chair slightly. It seemed she was making an obvious effort to show him her legs and chest more and more…it was making him rather uncomfortable. “Indeed I am…”

She of course sensed this, and figured he wasn’t the kind of man to grab a good screw whenever and wherever he could. Regaining her composure, she pulled out her writing pad and pen. “Well, Mr Mishima…can I get you anything?”

The heat was starting to get a little uncomfortable, even for him. Drink would be good. Very good. “Iced coffee would be great…”

She smirked, and jotted it down. “Certainly…a cold drink is just the medicine in this heat…” After doing so, she wandered off to the kitchen, swaying her large buttocks as much as she could on the way. Kazuya just sighed and shook his head.

***

Rather than going home, it seemed Akuma and Keiji were quite happy to wander around town…with Keiji perched on his father’s shoulders, using his horns as handholds.

“Are you sure your mother isn’t going to kill me for this, Keiji?” Akuma’s mood had substantially lightened since he’d been assigned to temporarily watch over this bundle of energy. He was so different to Kazuya as a child – so happy.

Keiji grinned and shook his head. “Nope…I know she misses you heaps…so she’ll be glad to see you…”

He stopped dead. “Whoa…who said anything about me seeing her?”

Keiji perked a brow, then looked down at his father curiously. “Well…there’s no harm in it, right?”

Akuma paused, then sat down on the curb of the sidewalk, pulling Keiji down to plop him onto his lap. “You don’t really understand how hard it is for that to be possible, do you Keiji?”

The sudden change in tone scared the boy slightly…for the idea that he wouldn’t one day have both of his parents with him, and that alone – Akuma didn’t scare him one bit. He loved his father as much as his mother…though he’d only seen him once.

“Well, I don’t see why it’s so hard. I mean…”

Akuma cut the boy off. “We’re worlds apart Keiji…it’s impossible for you to be able to stay with both of us at the same time. And your mother has taken good care of you for the last nine years; naturally, she’s the parent that will no doubt look after you until you’re old enough to do so for yourself.”

Keiji felt his heart sink in his chest, burdened with the pain of that information. Basically, it meant that he would be cut off from his beloved father…and be destined to become one of those angels entirely. Sure, he loved being an angel, a messenger of ‘good’…but part of him had always yearned for the fire on the other side – the other half of him. He was not entirely angel after all…there was still that more animal, that adventurous, defiant, determined, stubborn heart of a demon within him…the main reason he made the expedition all the way out here.

“But Otousan…I don’t want to be without you…” He cast his brilliant eyes aside, looking down at the sidewalk below, a sad sigh of resignation escaping his lips. “But I understand if you don’t want me around.”

Had it really sounded so much like he’d rejected the boy? His son? That hadn’t been his intention at all. For the mere suggestion of such, however, Akuma felt intensely guilty. His fingers gently threaded through the thick raven hair below him, and pressed the boy’s head to his chest possessively. “No Keiji, that’s not what I meant to say…” He felt the little arms wrapping around him, and returned the gesture with his own, much larger, much more muscular arms. “I’d love to have you stay with me, I’d love to raise you alongside your mother…but it’s not possible for the simple reason of the racial boundaries that exist on our world.”

No doubt the words escaped the youngster, so, he elaborated. “Demons are scornful of angels…your mother would have a really hard time getting on down here. And in Heaven, angels are very intolerant of my kind. It doesn’t matter how ‘open-minded’ they call themselves…they still believe themselves to be better than us by default, merely because they take in the ‘good’ humans, and we’re stuck with the evil-doers.”

He felt Keiji’s head nod a little against his chest. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t love you, okay? Never forget that…because even though I don’t know you very well yet, I’m still proud of you…”

The arms around his waist tightened…and he smiled. “Maybe one day…one day when we can all learn from human example…when racial boundaries are abolished…heck…when THE Boundary is abolished…we could all live together happily.”

The boy leaned up to look his father in the eye after a moment. “I guess I have a legacy to carry out, huh Otousan?”

Akuma blinked. “What do you mean?” Those were big words for a small boy.

“Well,” Keiji begun, feeling much happier already once he’d learned a new purpose in his existence, “Since I’m half and half, people hafta get used to me being a bit like them and a bit not. So when I’m older, I’ll be able to convince people on both sides that one is as good as the other…so demons can like angels, and angels can stop thinking they’re so much better…because there isn’t that much difference between us, really.”

A deep chuckle escaped Akuma, and he hugged the boy. “You’re smart for your age, you know that? You’re smarter than everyone on this godforsaken planet. I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of that before…”

Keiji giggled, and snuggled up against his father. For someone with a reputation of being dangerous to cross, he certainly was a cool Dad. “I always thought about it like that cuz I look so different to all my friends. When I saw all those demon kids when I came her first, I realised that I was like the best of both. So one day, when I’m big n’ stuff, I’m going to make our races become friends…like you and Okaasan.”

“That’s a brilliant idea. I can’t wait for that day to come…” It wasn’t simply humouring the child either; it was a sincere thought.

Keiji was going to say something further, but a roughed-up-looking soccer ball whizzed past his arm and hit the wall behind them with a loud thump, rebounded, and rolled into Keiji’s foot.

He jumped up as Akuma let him go, and picked the ball up, looking around for the owner.

It happened to be a scarlet preteen demon boy, probably the same age as Keiji himself. He’d been about to rush over and snatch it back, but when he saw who – or what – Keiji was, he’d stopped dead. The group of kids behind him did the same, unsure as to what action to take.

“Uh…is this your ball?” The sudden tension in the atmosphere was apparent and unnerving.

“Yeah…it is…can we please have it back?”

Keiji shrugged. “Of course…” He tossed it back to the boy, and looked back at his father over his shoulder.

Akuma smirked somewhat, and watched the interaction.

The kids hastily went back to kicking their ball around…except for one. A pale lilac girl left the others to play, and wandered over to Keiji. “You’re an angel, huh?”

He scratched the back of his head shyly. “Kinda.”

She blinked. Her eyes were a startling shade of bright emerald green. Like all demons, they had a luminescent quality about them…a characteristic of powerful night vision common in her species. “Kinda?”

He smiled and waved a hand behind him. “Yeah…he’s my Otousan.”

The girl peeked around him, seeing Akuma sitting there, watching in a half-interested manner. She smiled and waved before turning back to the strange boy. “So who’s your Mom?”

“She’s an angel…”

For a moment, she had nothing to say. “Wow…so you’re half of each?”

He nodded and smiled proudly. “Yup…”

The girl looked him up and down, thoughtful. “Which do you like being more?”

Now how was he supposed to answer that? “Well…I was born in Heaven, and I live with my Okaasan…” The young girl looked a little disappointed for a moment, but he continued. “But I like being a demon just as much as being an angel…because both are just as cool as each other, y’know? Don’t let anyone tell you anything different…because I’ve been to both places now, and I’ve met lots of each…and they’re all awesome.”

Now she was smiling brightly, and waved her friends to shut up as they yelled at her to return to the game. “In a minute!” She turned back to Keiji. “Well…I hope I’ll see you again. You’re the coolest angel I’ve ever seen…” He blushed slightly, smiling down at the ground shyly. “And…you’re kinda cute too…”

Now he was really blushing…he waved to her as she raced back into the game. As they roared off down the street, he walked back over and sat on Akuma’s lap.

“Did you have fun making more new friends?”

Keiji grinned. “Yeah…now I KNOW that demons and angels are equally as cool.”

Akuma ruffled his hair and stood up. “Good…now that we know that, we can start heading back home…”

The boy’s face fell. “No, you can’t…” The look on Akuma’s face was enough to stop him in his tracks.

“Kazuya’s nearly here, I can sense him…two hours has passed…it’s time to go home.”

Though he pouted, he knew it would get nowhere. Grasping his father’s hand, he followed him back to the meeting place, where indeed, Kazuya was sitting, waiting. And interesting sight he was too, in this place. They were the only pair of white wings in sight, after all, and considering Kazuya’s height and power, they were huge. The tone of his skin helped him to stick out even more.

Of course, he didn’t mind one bit. He simply stood up as he saw the two coming, and nodded to his counterpart. “You ready to go back, Keiji?”

The boy shook his head…only to get a rough nudge in the ribs. “Ow…yes.”

“Actually,” Akuma interrupted before Kazuya could speak, “I’m going to take him home.” The idea of crossing over into angel territory had him a little nervous…he knew the stares and comments he’d get…but he wanted to see Mitsukai again, and to prove that he wasn’t an incapable guardian of a child – that he’d looked after Keiji well.

Kazuya’s expression was that of uncertainty. “Are you sure?”

Unlike his former host, Akuma had a fiery temper, rather than Kazuya’s cool and level-headedness. “Damnit Kazuya, if I’m sure I’m sure! He’s my son not yours…” His tone was terse, though not that of outrage. His voice remained low, just with a dangerous hint of venom in it.

Of course, the Mishima was unperturbed. “Fine, have it your way…but since I’ve got to head back that way I’ll go with you.”

Akuma made no further comment, and simply picked Keiji up, and leapt into the air, carrying the both of them across the skies toward the Boundary at tremendous speed. Of course, Kazuya had no trouble keeping the pace, though he hung back by around fifty metres or so.

The flight through the heat was a little on the stressful side, but once the Boundary was crossed, the dying heat was replaced by the cool of the night. That was when Akuma realised he had absolutely no idea where the Hell he was going…or in this case, where the Heaven he was going; after all, he had never visited Mitsukai before, and didn’t know where her home was.

Thoughtfully perhaps, Kazuya darted ahead of them, flying low, and led the way by a few hundred metres, saving Akuma the embarrassment of having to ask…what after that show of anger and defiance and the like.

It was a fast journey from then on out, considering the speed and power behind the two pairs of wings responsible. Kazuya eventually got too far ahead to be seen, but as soon as Akuma knew the general direction, he was fine.

Perhaps another half an hour later, he saw the small clearing in the forest, the tiled roof…he knew from the fidgeting of the boy in his arms that it was ‘home’. Silently, a little way down the path, he landed, and placed Keiji on his feet. He had to hold the boy’s hand and almost literally drag him…he was resisting. What was the problem with going home? Certainly it wouldn’t be Mitsukai’s influence. Then again, aren’t all nine-year-old boys just a little defiant every now and again?

As they made their way up to the house, Akuma saw Mitsukai and Kazuya standing in the doorway of the small house, their features indistinct against the bright lights from inside. He heard the deep chuckle of his counterpart, who noticed him walking up the path with Keiji. He smiled, and turned to leave. “I’ll see you later…you have company.” After nodding at Mitsukai, he took to the air, leaving the family alone.

Though she knew he was coming, she was still surprised. “Akuma…Keiji!”

She reached down to pick the boy up, but he stayed firmly attached to his father’s arm. “Keiji?”

He shook his head, and stayed attached. Akuma tried to gently pry himself off the kid, after all, it wasn’t fair on Mitsukai to have him behave like this. “Since he made the effort to come all the way to see me, I thought I’d make the effort to bring him back, too.” Not a brilliant excuse, but the truth was often the best.

She sighed, and knelt down in front of her son. “Do you know how much trouble you’ve caused?”

Keiji bit his lower lip, and looked away. “I don’t care…”

Akuma squeezed the small hand in his own. “Keiji…” The warning tone in his voice, for once, didn’t affect the child.

“I don’t. I really don’t care.” He looked up into his mother’s eyes with a frighteningly defiant expression…dark, almost evil. Yes, he was most definitely a demon.

For once, the look on the angel’s face would rival that of an enraged demon. “I don’t care whether you give a damn or not, young man. You’re only nine years old, you’re too young to go gallivanting off to the other side of the border, especially without telling me!”

He considered himself officially scalded. Tears formed in his eyes, and he found himself unable to stop them from falling down his cheeks. “I only did it because I want you two to be together, okay? I want to have a Mom and a Dad…not just one or the other! It’s so lonely…”

At that, even Akuma felt the sting of the words. Mitsukai was reduced to tears soon after. She said nothing, only clung to her son…who finally relented and returned the gesture. Akuma of course was unsure as to what he should be doing at this point…he found himself standing uselessly beside the sobbing pair. From within the house he saw a few figures approaching. It turned out it was a small group of angels, who immediately knelt down to comfort Mitsukai…most of them, at some point, gave Akuma a stare or a glare, or a mixture of the two.

He overheard the mutterings between them, and couldn’t help but glare heavily. “You know, I can understand every word you’re all saying…my hearing is much better than yours is. Not only that, but I believe such derogatory comments are expected of humans sent to MY department, not yours.”

They all silenced, considering themselves sufficiently abraded. “Besides, you can stop your guessing as to why I am here. Just take a closer look at Keiji and I.

They did so, and by now, Mitsukai had regained her composure, and was simply holding her son. The pieces fell together. The mysterious father of the enigmatic half angel had finally been revealed. Through her tearful eyes, Mitsukai found herself immensely proud, and smiled likewise.