Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

WARNING: This story contains Shounen Ai / Yaoi !

~~ 1. Frightening Suspicion ~~

~~ 11. April, Late Afternoon ~~

"It's nearly time. They will hatch soon." The king of Amaterasu* looked out of the large window which covered the whole wall. His view was directed at his guards, who guarded his entrance hall, and the young and different colored angels who flew through the wind and air. They were on their way back, rushed home to visit their parents on earth and also to search for the newborns. This year's newborns would be promising, he could feel it in his veins. Some of the newborns were already active and tried to control themselves, in vain. He could feel their presence, each of had no control over their aura and strength. The king's voice was pure ice. "Keigo, Syusuke, Genichirou and Kunimitsu, my sons, go to earth and collect the newborns. After two days, fly back there a second time and get the ones who are left behind. Force them to come along if they fight back, but don't kill them. We need every angel who survives his or her birth."

His son by blood - Atobe Keigo - and his adopted sons - Fuji Syusuke, Sanada Genichirou and Tezuka Kunimitsu - nodded and bowed down before they left the big, open and splendid living room of the king and walked out, ready to fly to their own home in Amaterasu. Most angels were born on earth, lived there as long as their wings needed to spread out of their back. They grew out of their human shell around the age of 20 - some sooner, some later. Many angels died in between the change, because of immense blood loss, or after their first lesson how to fly. Strict rules were to follow to survive and grow up as an angel.

"Saa, shall we? I'm tired." Syusuke asked his brothers/lovers and glanced over his lightly blue wings. They shone in the afternoon sun, glittered on the outlines in a dark shade of blue. His shoulder-length, brown hair and being the smallest from all his lover gave him all the more a feminine look. He spread his wings and moved them, lifted himself from the ground and began to fly. A picture for the gods. His lovers smiled, a rare side of angels, and followed suit.

The king, Atobe Raidon*², chuckled by the sight. It had been right to listen to his wife's wish, to adopt the three young angels and raise them as their own. His wife and the queen, Atobe Maemi*³ had always wanted a big family with many children. Sadly, her body had grown weak and wouldn't survive another pregnancy. Thin and skinny arms snaked over his golden, shiny wings, caressed every feather. Angels-dust hovered down slowly, glittered in the light. It seemed his wife talked too often with their sons.

~~ 11. April, Night ~~

"Still amazed by the night sky?" Syusuke asked the other brunette, Kunimitsu, and kissed him on the back of his head, ran his tender fingers along the lightly brown feathers with a darker shade on the outsides. Kunimitsu smiled and took off his glasses, laid them on the little table next to him. He pulled his smallest lover carefully with the drawn-in wings onto his lap and kissed him. The kiss was short but showed passion and respect. Both viewed at the sparkling lights above them, sat on their balcony and listened to the silence around them. Tomorrow would be a tiring and boring day, collecting all the newborns, like every 300 years.

"Thinking about your first flight again?" Keigo chuckled, understood the yearning gaze, and joint the two angels, leaned his hands on the balcony. His beauty was flawless, his wings glinted in light violet with each feather outlined in a soft gold. A mix between his mother's wings, pure violet ones, and his father's, shining in complete gold with silver outlines on each feather. Many newborns lost themselves in the look of the older generation, but forgot the unseen danger and risk with their admiration. Jealousy was the biggest factor for the high rate of death. It wasn't done directly, it was done when nobody watched. A sudden disappearance wasn't something unusual.

"I can't believe it's already time for the newborns."

"Try not to seduce the good ones. We need them. I remember the time where you purposely sprinkled the newborns with your angel-dust. Our father was furious about all the deaths." Genichirou, the last of the four lovers, entered the balcony. His pitch black wings with the silver patterns on the feathers were held strongly on his back as he walked like the teacher who he was. His subject for the newborns would be mainly discipline and respect.

"Newborns should know their place and also that we're untouchable for them."

"Might be true but pushing them literally over the edge to see who can already fly or has the right instinct is not a reason for you to teach them." Kunimitsu told Syusuke and caressed the blue feathers. A delightful sigh escaped the smaller brunette's lips. Syusuke let his wings go limp, enjoyed the refreshing and seldom gentleness. Nobody, who had a brain, would dare to touch his wings without getting permission from him.

"I think, it's fine. I'm already excited, the humans are so eager to give us their children in hope to receive a little bit of our angels-dust in exchange."

"Let's see what we find tomorrow." With that the four lovers made their way to their canopy bed.

~~ 12. April, Late Midday ~~

"Mom, Dad, look! I can already move them! I can move them!" Ryoga shouted in excitement and jumped up and down from happiness like a little boy, instead of a 19 years old male. A vase shattered to the ground as his newly wings, dark green with a golden outline, connected with it. That would be fifth today and the eleventh in all. It was unbelievable that Ryoma was only two years younger than him while he acted like an adult and his brother moved like a kid. "I can't wait till they come and pick me up! I'll wait outside!"

Ryoma groaned, turned the music louder and tried his best to ignore his laughing parents. His brother was plainly too stupid to get what it all meant. Being an angel and getting treated like a prince that was the dream Ryoga probably had in mind. Not the harsh reality of hard practice for earning control and discipline. His father had told him about his missing grandmother. She was angel, too, lived somewhere now, where no human would be able to visit or see her. She had cried, had been forced to leave her son and daughter-in-law. Well, Ryoga had always been a stray cat. The house would get quieter, left only one more person, his father - Echizen Nanjiroh - to annoy him.

Ryoma was thankful his parents considered his decision and didn't force him to go to the place whatever-it-was-called-again. However, even if he wanted to go, it was impossible. He would never go there, the 17 years old male had no wings, was an ordinary male. Ryoma smiled by this thought. Tennis was his life and that would never change, so he thought. The first signs, if he would have been an angel, should have appeared on his body two years before the wings would have spread. A shudder overwhelmed him by the memory of the brutal and bloody happening. The wings had ripped through Ryoga's skin, the cracking sound made his stomach sick. Thank god, he would never experience such a thing.

"They're here! They're here!" He heard his brother speak in joy, somewhere in the house crashed something glassy onto the floor. "Darling, please be careful with my precious por-" Another crashing noise echoed through the air. The object seemed to be far bigger than the other small things which his brother had managed to damage. What a noisy and stupid brother. Maybe the angels wanted to be nice to him and would spare him the embarrassment by taking Ryoga? He would never say his brother was a bad brother. Ryoga took good care of him and helped him with his studies. It was just that his dear brother had the problem to get too close to him when he didn't need it and this annoyed him all the more. Ryoma would never dare to speak this out loud, but he guessed, he would miss his brother and his help in Japanese writing.

Someone knocked at the door. He dropped his headphones and answered in a silent tone, staying in his lying position on his comfortable bed - flat on his stomach and reading the book his teacher gave him. His mother, Echizen Rinko, peeked inside. She didn't smile while she walked to the curtains and closed them completely. She told him to stand up and so did he. "Ryoma, they're here. Please stay here and don't show up, alright? They would want to check your body if they knew you were here." Rinko was out before Ryoma had a chance to talk further with had hoped he could at least take a fast peek at the different colored wings. Even if he never wanted to have one, he couldn't deny the fact that they shone gorgeously in the sun, sparkled beautifully in all their glory. He heard voices outside, soft and gentle, rough and stoic. Nonetheless, all of them had a hint of dangerousness and coldness.

His curiosity grew with each second, nonetheless, his senses warned him to take a glance at them. His mother was right. One look could destroy his entire future and wish. Angels were the most beautiful creatures but they were also the most dangerous ones. Ryoma sat down under the windowsill, pulled his knees to his chest and leaned his head on them. He listened to their magical voices, tried not to feel joy by the cold creatures. His window rattled, the curtains flew aside and for a second, Ryoma held his breath. He waited in fear, his hands began to sweat, his eyes frozen at one point on the opposite wall. He waited further but nothing happened. There was no angel.

The voices had disappeared and his mother re-entered his room soon enough. Her son breathed out the breath which he had held inside and relaxed. "They're gone." She closed the door without another word and let him calm down alone.

A sudden tiredness overtook him and he yawned. His spine and head numbed for a minute and he thought the pressure was the reason for it but it wasn't. He had no chance to think about it as his spine started to burn extremely and something sliced his skin, ripped it apart to give some space for something. He bit on his lips to suppress the scream or any other noises, only small whimpers ran out of his mouth. Whatever it was on his backside, it pierced through his flesh and when he believe, he would lose his consciousness...

...as soon as it had come, it was gone. It left him shaken and catching for oxygen. His muscles were tense and hurt, he felt sick and frightened. His shaky, right hand scanned his back, scared that his guess was right. He touch the warm skin - one time, a second time and also a third. Nothing, there was nothing, no wings, no feathers, no anything.

He sighed in relief. Everything was okay.

* Japanese name composed of the elements ama "heaven, sky" and terasu "to shine," hence "shining over heaven." In mythology, this is the name of a sun goddess who rules the heavens. I thought it would give a good name for the place where the story takes place.

*² Raidon: The meaning - 'God of Thunder' or 'Thunder God'

*³ Maemi: The meaning - 'Smile of Truth'