Paved with Good Intentions
by Surefall and Aishuu
Disclaimer: Based on Prince of Tennis, by Konomi.
Part One Summary: In Which math class reminds a devil of home and a devil and angel kick the whole mess off by walking into a bar together.
Being a demon sucked when your mission forced you to enroll in college mathematics. Kirihara Akaya normally would have been falling asleep in math class, since it reminded him too much of home -- it was boring as Hell. However, the presence of another divine being danced along his senses, and it was impossible for him to relax enough to snooze.
Looking over his shoulder every five minutes or so was an angel, and it was all he could do not to call down lightning or find a telemarketer to plague the annoying creature.
Math was clearly designed by god. All the inner workings, the simplification of equations, the true delight of discovering that even irrational numbers had a part in the grand design of electricity ... Sengoku was more than pleased to be assigned to this particular mission. Who knew college could be so interesting?
Not to mention there was this demon sitting right in front of him that happened to have all the notes scribbled on the pages resting just beneath his sleeping head. Sengoku grinned and leaned farther forward to copy a few of the middle lines.
Kirihara gritted his teeth, reminding himself not to blow his cover by summoning a plague. Around them, class continued at a low throb, unaware of the minor divine conflict that was going on.
"Could you tilt your head to the left?" Sengoku asked.
Kirihara deliberately moved his head to the right.
That worked, too. Sengoku scribbled industriously.
Kirihara gritted his teeth, before leaning back to stretch, in the process knocking Sengoku's hand and causing the angel to draw a huge line through his somewhat neat notes.
"Dyam" There was a scrubbing sound as Sengoku picked up his eraser and started rubbing out what he could of the line. He reached over when he was done and tugged on a lock of Kirihara's hair, "What do you say?"
"Let go, you bastard!" he hissed, "or else I'll make you say some things you'd never imagine would pass your lips."
"Really?" Sengoku was intrigued. "What would those be?" He tugged on the silken, black lock again, curling it around a finger.
Kirihara's arm swung around and caught Sengoku across the face, his natural instincts finally letting loose. The loud "crack" echoed through the room, and the hundred-odd students and one professor stared at them in horror. Next to them, Kamio Akira looked at them with scorn, while Saeki Kojiroh just seemed amused - even though Sengoku had been pushed into his lap.
"Ouch," happened to be Sengoku's brilliant reply to getting smacked hard enough to go sprawling between the seats. An arm waved into view, "I'm okay!" He flashed a thumbs up at Saeki before clambering over his sorta friend to get back to his seat, rubbing his reddening cheek a little. It would figure that he would have to get hit by a devil instead of a human ... this one was going to leave a bruise.
"That wasn't very nice," he informed Kirihara.
"You expect me to be?" Kirihara asked in disbelief. As surely as he'd recognized Sengoku, Sengoku must have recognized him. He didn't think Sengoku was one of those "believe the best in everyone!" angels like Ohtori Choutarou, but he guessed he could be wrong.
"Well, no ... but one hopes you would keep up a nice face in front of yanno, the class," Sengoku replied. One got the feeling he meant to say 'mortals' instead of 'class'. It would seem this particular demon was bit unrestrained. Really, he had expected better considering the last representative of evil he had encountered was Fuji.
"Speaking of the class..." a third voice inserted chillingly, and the two divine beings were forced away from their conversation to look up into the implacable eyes of the professor. Sakaki Tarou was a tall man, and had Kirihara not known better, he would have sworn that he was a higher-ranking power for one of their sides instead of a mere mortal.
"Eh heh heh ... " Sengoku rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "Oops?" He was forced to agree with Kirihara. Some humans were very scary, especially when they started to stare at the two of them with an especially evil eye. Decidedly ominous.
Sakaki, ignoring all rules of decorum, quietly shut both of their notebooks for them. "I suggest you find somewhere else to continue this discussion. The next time this happens, you won't be allowed to return."
No more math? He was crushed ! Sengoku shot Kirihara a sharp look out of the corner of his eye. Next time the demon was going to get his mouth duct taped. Tossing a glance at Saeki that said 'take notes for me', Sengoku calmly gathered up his books and bowed to Sakaki, "Yes, sir."
Kirihara could frankly care less about missing math class, but many of the people who'd he decided on dragging down into the delights of evil were in said class. He'd pinned about twenty good candidates, and being denied access would be extremely annoying. "Fine, fine," he muttered.
The path from Sengoku's seat to the doors was filled with idle thoughts of why Kirihara, a demon, would be doing something constructive like actually attending class. Most demons sent to a college were more of the party type, seduction through 'far too much fun'. Kirihara didn't seem to fall quite so neatly into that category. Tilting his head thoughtfully, Sengoku pushed the door open and slipped out into the hallway.
Kirihara, trailing close behind, was caught between a rock and a hard place. Now that he had the angel alone, he was obligated to either try to seduce him or destroy him. He was quite sure, however, that the students would notice any hell hounds he let loose, and he didn't like Sengoku enough to try to seduce him. It would be downright distasteful.
Sengoku tossed a grin over his shoulder at Kirihara, "Did you want to go somewhere so you can take a couple pot shots at me?"
"How about a quick trip to hell?" Kirihara suggested brightly.
"Really? Can we visit Fuji-kun?"
Kirihara blinked. "You... you know Fuji?" he asked, a bit taken aback. It was natural enough; an angel on good enough terms to call the Lord of Evil "Fuji-kun" was something he'd never heard of before.
Sengoku wagged a hand, "Who doesn't know of Fuji?" No one said that he was on good terms, per se ... but Fuji did happen to be a very good conversationalist and was the man to go to for the witty stab in the back. There was never a dull moment when facing off against Fuji.
"Anyone who wants to remain pure and virtuous?" Kirihara returned. He stared at Sengoku in amazement, unsure of exactly what kind of angel he had on his hands.
Angels, to his mind, were all dreadfully alike. There were the innocent ones, like Ohtori (who really had no clue about anything except the Greater Good); the redeemed ones who never stopped angsting over their past sins, like Shishido (one of the top-ten wanted traitors, because before he'd repented, he'd been quite high on Hell's ladder); the holier-than-thou ones like Tezuka (someone needed to corrupt him, but word was out that Fuji considered Tezuka a personal project) and the sweet ones, like Yukimura. He'd never heard of an insane angel before...
"Who wants to remain pure and virtuous? It sounds like too much effort," Sengoku replied with a grin. There was nothing quite like holding a discussion with a demon about the merits of virtue and purity.
This was just too damn easy, Kirihara thought. He'd never tempted an angel into sin before, but this would be like taking candy from a child (a favorite part-time). "Really? Then are you up for a trip to the bar tonight? I'll buy you a drink, and we'll forget about this little incident," he suggested.
Sengoku nodded amicably, "Sounds good. I knew you were a sweet 'un. Where do you wanna go?"
It definitely wasn't a place a person would ever expect to see an angel, but that was exactly why Oishi Syuuchirou was there. The bar, known simply as The Lounge, was a popular place for students from the nearby university to hang out. Its business tended to ebb and flow along with the main testing schedules.
Oishi had gotten a job as a bartender right before the most recent session of classes, posing as a graduate student who was taking a semester off the earn more money. His assignment, one Ibu Shinji, drank too much for anyone's comfort, and more than once he'd been required to pour the boy into a cab to make sure he'd get safely home.
Still, Oishi loved his job, because there were so many people who he could help with just a word or an indication that someone cared. A bar really was better than a psychologist's office, since people expected the bartender to be a free counselor.
The Lounge was Ibu Shinji's lair of choice after, well, any day at all lately. School was the pits, though it hadn't always been. Home was the pits, which was actually to be expected. His love life ... his /love/ life ... that was a whole another story all together. For that he needed another beer before he felt capable of tackling it.
Oozing low on his seat, Shinji pushed a bit of money across the counter and mumbled a brief, "One more beer, Oishi-san ... not that I really need a beer ... but it has a lovely taste and makes the world seem so much nicer ... there's a lot of annoying people out there, yanno. I can't stand anyone, not a one of them, especially not that one that really annoys me, you know the one ... "
Oishi could tell that Shinji still wasn't completely drunk, as his words still were slurred. Beer seemed to have an inverse relationship with Shinji's speaking abilities -- the more he drank, the more elucidate his speech became.
"Just one," Oishi warned as he drew a foaming pint, even though he didn't really have the heart to cut anyone off. If they really felt the need to drink that badly, well, it would be mean to stop them.
That happened to be why Shinji kept coming back to The Lounge. Oishi could be trusted to only make lip motions when standing between Shinji and his much needed liquor. Shinji could handle that, it was pretty easy to just ignore Oishi when the time came to drink himself under the table.
Shinji pulled the glass close and sucked the foam off the top, licking his lips with a certain satisfaction. He lifted the glass in cheers to Oishi and took a long swallow, thumping it back down on the bar hard enough to make it slosh over the sides. He didn't care really, he could always buy another beer.
Oishi sighed, knowing he would have to clean up the mess. "Ibu-san... do you want to talk about it?" he asked, staring at what was a once immaculately clean bar,
Shinji blinked owlishly and managed a succinct, "No," before taking another long swallow.
Which really meant "yes." Shinji hadn't rambled at the end of his answer, so he was about drunk enough for Oishi's purposes. "Are things okay with your roommate?" Oishi said gently, knowing he was about to unleash a flood.
Shinji thumped his pint just to thump something since something needed to be thumped. It was that or thump An, the no good two bit bitch who was -- Shinji scowled sullenly at Oishi, "Things are just fine. Kamio and I are getting along just fine."
Oishi felt like he was slamming his angelic head into a wall. Talking to Shinji was like dealing with a wounded lion, and he knew that it would probably be a while before the boy was ready to open up to him. Laying the groundwork now would be beneficial later, but he felt like he was waltzing on a tightrope. One wrong move, and... well, it wouldn't be pretty.
"That's good. If... if you do need to talk to someone, let me know, okay? You don't even have to buy any -- "
Oishi's words were interrupted by the sound of the bar door slamming open, and two extremely loud creatures wandering in.
Shinji craned his head to glance over his shoulder, only to recognize those two guys who had made the disturbance in math class that day. "Hmph. They're always so loud ... don't they know people are trying to drink in here?" he mumbled, hunching more firmly over his beer in case they tried to steal it. One could never tell with Sengoku and Kirihara.
Sengoku waved madly at Oishi from the doorway as he trotted inside, "Oishi-san! It's been ages! I want something tastelessly American!" With that demand in place, he thumped down at the bar two seats from Shinji, tactically ignoring his presence.
Oishi stared in alarm at Sengoku and Kirihara. Whenever an angel and devil associated, it only led to trouble, and usually heartbreak. However, with Shinji present, he couldn't say anything that would disclosed their secrets. "You saw me yesterday," Oishi said lamely, unable to think of anything else to say that wouldn't be a dead-giveaway.
Kirihara squinted at Oishi like he couldn't believe what he was seeing. "What are you doing here?" he asked rudely.
"Well, it felt like ages," Sengoku responded blithely. Shinji just muttered something rude into his cup about Sengoku and horrifying taste in drinks, not to mention manners.
Oishi was unable to take his eyes off the demon. "I... I..." he stuttered, feeling thrown off balance. The last thing he wanted was to be spotted by one of Hell's minions, because that would invariably lead to problems he just didn't want to deal with -- one problem in particular.
"Get me some tequila, and leave the bottle," Kirihara ordered. His eyes danced wickedly. "Oishi-san." He drawled the angel's name, making it quite clear that he'd recognized him.
"He recognizes you and not me I feel so unloved" Sengoku mourned with drama, looping an arm around Kirihara's shoulders, "But we'll get to know each other real well, won't we?" Sengoku smiled at him brilliantly, while idly wondering if there was a way to erase Oishi from Kirihara's memory so he wouldn't lose the best bartender he ever had. Probably couldn't be done. Alas. He wept for his loss.
"Oh, quite well," Kirihara returned.
Oishi stared at the two, wishing the ground would open up and swallow him. This was so many shades of not good. "Sengoku-san..." he started, but was distracted by the sight of Shinji rising clumsily to his feet and making for the restroom. "Oh, dear." Oishi scurried after him.
"I can go to the bathroom myself, Oishi-san," Shinji grumped, shutting the door firmly in Oishi's face.
Since Oishi forgot to produce the liquor, Sengoku merrily slithered over the bar and began picking through the bottles, holding them up at random to peer at the liquid within, "I think this is tequila." he said and plunked a bottle in front of Kirihara.
Kirihara took a sip of it cautiously, and the throat-scalding liquor made him wince. "You idiot! That's vodka!" Despite his protest, he continued to drink. With his earthly body, it was hard to get drunk, but that never stopped him from trying.
"Details, details. It's all liquid rot anyway." With this unpleasant observation, Sengoku shook up a mix of grenadine, jack, and coke before pouring it in a tall glass for his personal consumption. He knocked the glass back and thumped it back down on the counter with a satisfied, "Ahh"
"Sengoku! Get out from there!" Oishi yelled from across the room, bringing all eyes to the redhead.
Sengoku blinks his patented 'who me?' look while pointing at himself, "But Oishi-san ..... "
"Are you even going to pay this time? Do you know how big your tab has gotten?" Oishi sounded thoroughly harassed, and not about to buy the "cute l'il ol' me" act. The sound of Shinji being sick and his inability to help him made Oishi irritable.
"Pay? What is this pay you speak of?" Sengoku slid out of reach, and back over the bar to sit behind Kirihara, using him as a shield.
"Sengoku-senpai..." Oishi started, seeming about ready to strangle the redhead but unable to because of his inherently gentle nature.
Sengoku grins, "Kirihara is going to pay!"
"I am not!" Kirihara protested.
"Yes, you are. Because then I'm going to owe you, ne?" Sengoku batted his eyelashes.
The idea of Sengoku owing him was just too much to resist, and Kirihara smiled at Oishi. "I'll pay off his bar tab," he volunteered easily.
"Um, Sengoku, are you sure..." Oishi said hesitantly. A heavenly debt wasn't something to enter into lightly, and it seemed like Sengoku was about to let Kirihara put a down payment on his soul for some booze.
Sengoku smiled a smile at the back of Kirihara's head that indicates that Kirihara has no clue what he was about to be getting into. So easy. So very, very easy. Sengoku turned the smile on Oishi, "Ahh, but who am I to stand in the way of someone paying off my tab out of the goodness of his heart?"
"If he had any goodness in his heart, it'd be different!" Oishi exclaimed. "But -- "
Kirihara merely cocked an eyebrow, enjoying the angel's immanent breakdown.
"Everyone has a little bit of goodness in their heart, Oishi-kun. I'm just deciding to take it all right now," is the blithe reply.
Kirihara smirked. Of course he had no goodness in his heart -- he was a minion of evil. "Get the tab, and I'll pay," he asked Oishi.
Sengoku smiled encouragement at Oishi before glomping onto Kirihara's arm and pressing a sloppy kiss to his cheek, "Thanks ever so much, sweetie pie!"
Kirihara was hard-pressed not to hurt him. He was even more hard-pressed when he saw the size of the bill -- but he figured it was a good investment, and was Fuji always saying that most of the work was done in preparation?
Hell was a terrible place, unless you worked there.
For the demons, it was all about having a good time, and Niou Masaharu knew better than most what a good time was. When he wasn't screwing his partner, he was tormenting souls. He loved playing mind games with them and making them miserable, because that was just the way he was. He was also very, very good at his job. On his last performance evaluation, he'd scorned Infernally, the highest grade a demon could get.
Yagyuu Hiroshi slid into the room with all the stealth of smoke - which is pretty stealthy when you think about it, but has a tendency to leave this smell - and pushed his glasses up his nose out of habit. It wasn't really a room and they weren't really glasses, but for the simplicity of discussion and the avoidance of mentioning the metaphysical, we'll say that they were. "Guess who just came back to Hell."
Niou thought of all the demons he knew on assignment currently, and only one name would have warranted this response from his lover. "Kirihara?" he asked, trying to contain his delight.
Yagyuu's glasses glinted. It was a precise science getting them to glint just so with the red light, but Yagyuu was and had always been a master of such things. "None other."
Niou sat down in a chair which appeared under his ass as soon as he needed it. Crossing his legs, he tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Well, isn't that interesting? I wonder what our little prodigy has been up to?"
Yagyuu produced the relevant list, "Spending a substantial amount of his requisitioned yen."
"Oh, hooo.... are you going to give him more?" Niou asked. Yagyuu was the one who'd kept hell's books for the last couple of centuries, and he was a notorious tightwad.
"Depends on if it was a justified expenditure," was the smooth reply. Yagyuu did not consider himself a tightwad, he considered himself to be an excellent manager of limited resources in a realm where self-control was considered to be a trait of the enemy. Frankly, Hell needed him more than Heaven.
"He's screwed," Niou murmured, relishing the thought. As much as he liked Kirihara, he would enjoy watching the youngster squirm.
Kirihara was hell's prodigy, on the fast-track to replacing one of the great demons who had managed to get exorcized by a miko about twenty years ago. The brat was less than a millennium old, but already he had wracked up an impressive record of damned souls to his credit. Rumor had it that Fuji intended to promote him within the next century or so.
Not feeling it necessary to reply to such an obvious statement, Yagyuu slipped from in front of the desk to behind it so he could look out the just-appearing window. "He should be here shortly. I took the liberty of inviting Kikumaru as well."
Kirihara's message had been vague on the matter of Kikumaru Eiji's presence during his little visit. Something about 'best news' and 'he owes me one' that seemed to have gotten scrambled in translation between Hell and Earth. Yagyuu made a mental note to speak with the Damned Operators about getting a proper connection established. This slipshod work was costing them money... money..
Niou looked disgruntled. Kikumaru was not one of his favorite demons to deal with, simply because he had the attention span of a gnat. Every now ant then, Niou almost saw someone worth his time, but then that would fade away behind a bubbly exterior. The only thing they had in common was their sheer enjoyment of their jobs -- Kikumaru was one of the best incubi Hell had. Niou had never known him to fail in a seduction -- even if it took centuries.
As if speaking of him had summoned his presence (and considering his nature, it might have very well had), Kikumaru Eiji appeared -- but in tow with him was hell's other prodigy, Echizen Ryoma.
Eiji smirked, waved, and without further ado threw himself into a seat that barely had time to appear before he hit it. "Kikumaru Eiji reporting for service!" A tail waved in the air in a form of address that was both rude and sensual. Eiji was known for forgetting that the human form was lacking such extra appendages, but then again, sometimes it paid to be an incubus with multiple little extras.
Echizen, now released from Eiji's vice-like grip, adjusted his cap, which was as much a part of him as Yagyuu's glasses, but not as schway looking - in Yagyuu's personal and brutally honest, but also horribly biased opinion. "Why did you drag me here, Kikumaru-senpai?"
Eiji ignored him, grinning behind a paw. The reason was most likely going to be walking through the door shortly.
"Kikumaru, his presence here is going to be disruptive," Niou warned, then tossed the red head a wicked grin. "Quite a good idea."
The tail wriggled with glee, "You doubted me, Niou-san?"
"Usually," Niou admitted. He rarely bothered lying since the truth was so much more tormenting.
"Nyah Niou-san is so cruel!" Eiji made a face, though he smirked to himself. He expected nothing else from Hell's Infernally best.
Echizen was just a lava drip away from being justifiably annoyed. Did his senpai do nothing except give each other verbal blow jobs? Or in some cases, actual blow jobs, he thought, casting a sly glance at Yagyuu, who was glinting in the light from the window.
A smart-ass comment from the youngest demon was averted by the door swinging open, admitting Kirihara. Blinking, he stared at the gathering before his eyes narrowed on his number one rival. "Get out," he ordered Echizen.
"No," was the brief and to the point reply.
Kirihara jumped forward to forcibly remove the brat, but Niou caught him by the hair, rudely throwing him across the room so he landed on Kikumaru, who squawked angrily. "Where do you think you're going, junior?" he asked.
Kirihara's eyes were spitting fire as he swore, making his seniors laugh.
There was nothing to be done except /smirk at Kirihara, which is exactly what Echizen decided to do. That and hold his head up higher and eye his elders with somewhat less annoyance.
Eiji, once past his initial anger, was finding a vast supply of entertainment in feeling his new chairmate up, "It's so nice of you to drop by, Akaya-kun."
Kirihara ignored where Eiji's hands were going from long experience. "If you don't behave, I won't tell you my news," he taunted the incubus.
Eiji considered this, "Is it good news?"
Yagyuu lifted his expenditure list, "Frankly, I would like the news on why you felt it necessary to spend this much money."
"Hey! My news first!" Eiji snapped, waving his paws, and coincidentally freeing poor Kirihara.
Kirihara agilely rolled off, and produced a chair of his own. Unfortunately, he was right in Niou's reach, and Niou grabbed him in a headlock. "Spill it, junior, we're curious!" he demanded.
Kirihara howled as Niou started to give him a noogie. "Alright! Alright! Lemme go first!" he yelled, trying to land an elbow in Niou's midsection and failing abysmally.
"Kikumaru-senpai is molesting your Fallen, Niou-senpai," Echizen observed, watching with more than a little amusement as Eiji decides that waving his paws at Yagyuu isn't sufficient enough encouragement to let him have his way and switches to pounce-and-feel-him-up instead. Let it never be said that Kikumaru Eiji was subtle.
It wasn't that Echizen feels like helping his rival by distracting his tormenter. Not at all. He just didn't want to watch Hell's Incubus molest Hell's Accountant. There was some scarring he just didn't need. And it meant that Kirihara was going to owe him.
Niou let Kirihara go, rising to his feet to grab Kikumaru by the tail. "I seduced him first," he said dangerously. "Remember what I said the last time you tried to grope him?" he hissed.
There was a long pause as Eiji experimentally gave Yagyuu a squeeze before pulling away and lashing his tail in Niou's grip, "I remember" he answered somewhat sulkily.
Yagyuu adjusted his glasses as well as his clothes while Echizen smirked at Kirihara, "I appreciate that you all must posture, but can we please get to the matter at hand?"
Niou jerked on Kikumaru's tail experimentally, enjoying the protest that followed. "What'a the scoop?" he demanded.
Kirihara tried to decide if it would be more fun to let the chaos continue, or wiser to spill and bail from the insanity. Wisdom won the strange tug of war, so he turned to Yagyuu first. "I'm working on corrupting an angel," he said. "I had to pay off his bar bill."
"And angel with a bar bill? What the hell are you talking about?" Niou demanded.
Yagyuu mulled this over, not quite sure if he believes Kirihara or not, "An angel ... with a bar bill .... you are quite sure it was an angel?"
Eiji pulled on his tail, trying to free it from Niou's grip, forgetting that he could just make it vanish.
"I wondered, but Sengoku -- "
The normally imperturbable Yagyuu's jaw actually dropped. "Did you say Sengoku?"
"Yep, Something wrong?" Kirihara asked curiously, eager to have the mystery of Sengoku's rather unangelic behavior explained. Yagyuu had lived in heaven until about four centuries ago, when Niou had managed to drag him down, so it was quite possible he would know something.
Yagyuu shook himself and closed his own jaw with a snap. He felt the need to adjust his glasses again, or perhaps rub the bridge of his nose. "I would advise not paying anything of Sengoku's ever again."
Interested in the proceedings now, Echizen actually focused and payed closer attention.
"He owes me a favor now!" Kirihara announced. "Isn't it worth getting a favor out of an angel? It's the first part of corruption!" he said, darting looks between Niou and Yagyuu, since the story of Yagyuu's corruption was quite well known.
There was a moment in which Yagyuu actually considered telling Kirihara exactly what he had gotten himself into ... but it was the part of him that no longer existed and he calmly rid himself of the little bit of pity as well. "I think you will find that it is you that owes him the favor." Okay, so maybe a little bit of his former angelic nature was still there, or maybe he just liked watching Kirihara squirm over the possible implications of that.
"He promised me a favor!" Kirihara shrieked, rising to his feet. His eyes turned red, a sign that he was ready to go destroy something or someone, "Angels don't lie!"
Yagyuu adjusted his glasses, "That is true," he said, "just don't expect me to extend your expense account if you run out." There was no way in Heaven or Hell that he was letting Sengoku get his fingers on the 'bleed Kirihara dry, and thus Hell dry' button.
Kirihara blinked, looking at him. "But I need more money -- and I have some really, really interesting news to pay for it!"
"News first, money maybe later."
"Nope, money first," Kirihara wangled, knowing how Yagyuu's mind worked. "Otherwise, Niou can bug you until I get more funds, cause I won't spill."
Niou gave Yagyuu a Look that meant he'd better Think Carefully about what he was going to do.
Yagyuu managed to glint his glasses in a manner that somehow conveyed 'He Paid Sengoku's bar bill! He's a FOOL.' Perhaps he was using morse code. "If your news is of a caliber that will directly affect the inner workings of one of our more serious plans, you will have your expense account refilled. Otherwise, you can suffer."
"It's going to make life interesting..." Kirihara drawled.
"Life is made interesting by your mere existence, Kirihara-kun."
Kirihara set his jaw and stared at the ceiling. He knew he could out wait them -- or at least Niou and Kikumaru, who had the boredom thresholds of a two-year-old human child who'd just ingested a week's worth of sugar.
Yagyuu weighed the value of his information versus the true annoyance of Niou and finally decided that he would rather not risk it. "Very well," he jotted a notation on the list and it vanished in a puff of smoke, "This had better be good." Or I'm taking it back, he added to himself.
"Kikumaru, when was the last time you managed to catch up to Oishi?" Kirihara grinned, knowing it had been several decades since Hell's most famous in-progress seduction had been waged.
Eiji scowled, not enjoying the reminder of Oishi's disappearance being rubbed in his be-whiskered nose, "Seventy years. Why?"
"Well, I happened to run into him, and -- " Kirihara was interrupted by an excited Eiji, who jumped up and tackled him, pinning him to his chair.
"Where? Where?! C'mon, ochibi! Hurry up and tell me!" Eiji wriggled in excitement at the very thought, "C'mon, c'mon, we're wasting minutes that I could be there!!!"
Niou started to laugh. "Ohhh, this is good," he murmured, ignoring the way Kirihara was being shaken.
Yagyuu was forced to agree. Kirihara could keep his hard won yen. Echizen, however, did not look particularly pleased at having not found Oishi first.
"Where?! Where?! Akaya-kun! I can't stand it anymore! Where's Oishi!?"
"In a bar," Kirihara finally managed to gasp, and Kikumaru fell back, dumbstruck. "I guess his assignment must be a regular."
Yagyuu almost twitched. The same bar with Sengoku, no doubt. This would indeed be interesting.
"Oh hoi?! Oishi in a bar, with a regular! He's ripe for the plucking!" Eiji crowed, doing a little dance.
"I think you should get Oishi's charge while you're at it, Kikumaru," Niou prodded. "A two-for-one special."
"I should!" Eiji flexed his claws, purring now. "I should, I should, nyah" He bounded for the door, deciding he no longer needed to stick around and worry about little things like meetings with Hell's Infernally best. There was an Oishi to seduce! He had to get going! There's no time to waste! The door bangs and Eiji was gone, leaving only a bit of shed fur behind.
"Che. You just got lucky," Echizen muttered vaguely in Kirihara's direction, quietly lamenting the fact that he wasn't on the scene of double angelic intervention. That would have bagged him quite the prize to put on his resume.
"Do you think he'll realize I didn't tell him which bar?" Kirihara asked, ignoring the upstart.
Before anyone could answer, the door banged open again and Eiji threw himself at Kirihara, "Aghh! Ochibi! You didn't tell me which bar! How could you forget something important like that?!"
"I didn't!" Kirihara protested, trying to untangle himself from his senpai. "You didn't ask! Besides, you can't go looking like that!"
"I'm not going to go looking like this! What do you take me for? An amateur?!" Eiji shook Kirihara to make his point. "The bar! Focus, ochibi! Where's the bar!?"
"It's called The Lounge, it's located in Tokyo," Kirihara said, his fingers trying to unpry Eiji's from his neck.
"The Lounge," Eiji purred with relish. "It even sounds sinful." He rattled Kirihara again. "Where in Tokyo?"
Kirihara looked uncertain. "Tokyo?" he said lamely. He had never been particularly strong on the geography thing.
"Perhaps it by the college that Kirihara is assigned to," Yagyuu inserted almost helpfully.
Eiji sparkled at Yagyuu, dropping Kirihara with a thump, "Perfect. Just ... perfect. I'm coming, Oishi! Wait up for me!" With that he charged back out the door.
Niou stared at Kirihara. "So that's your report? You've located Oishi, and you're working on seducing an angel?"
"And an entire math class -- well, damning them, at least. Most of them don't need more than a nudge." Kirihara scowled. "Just wish Sengoku wasn't in it."
Yagyuu placed his hand on his jaw to keep it from doing any more unexpected motions.
"Does it matter? I thought you were on the path of his seduction?" was Echizen's helpful commentary.
Kirihara's eyes flared as he glared at the brat. Echizen may had damned 99 souls in his mere century of existence, but that meant squat, considering they were all human souls. Kirihara wanted to play with the big boys now.
"Just watch! If Niou can damn an angel, then I certainly can!" he pronounced before stalking out of the door proudly.
Echizen watched him go, once more annoyed that he didn't have an angel to play with. That would certainly ensure his rise if an angel was his 100th damned soul. "He seems to think he's as good as you are, Niou-sempai."
"As bad as I am, ochibi-chan," Niou corrected, his eyes sparkling. "I think he has some natural talent, but let's see what he does with it?"
"Made made dane," was all Echizen felt he should reply to that. Hell forbid that he acknowledge that Kirihara had anything at all. Not willing to continue any discussion that included his rivals prowess and certainly none that had Niou and Yagyuu together while he was alone, Echizen drifted out of the room, making sure it wasn't obvious that he was fleeing.
Niou smirked at the door. "Now that they're gone, want to tell me about Sengoku?" he asked curiously.
"Depends," Yagyuu smiled somewhat slyly. "What do I get out of it?"
The door mysteriously vanished as Niou rose to his feet to stand behind Yagyuu. His hands wandered up and down his lover's body before he leaned forward to nibble his ear, evoking a shudder. "It would make me... happy."
"Would it?" Yagyuu let his eyes slide closed as he leaned back into Niou's arms, a hand reaching back to rest on Niou's hip, rubbing lightly, "I don't make you ... happy already?"
Niou recognized a distraction when he saw one, but just then Yagyuu rubbed against him provocatively, and Niou forgot about anything except pinning the Fallen Angel to the floor and making him scream in shared ecstasy.