Possession 10: Back to Basics... Kind Of

“So where’ve you been, Tensh? I’ve only seen you like three times in the past two weeks. Got a girlfriend or something?”

Tenshi walked down the alley on his way to school with Kai. “Trust me, if I did, you’d be the first to know.” Oh man, I ache all over! Tenshi thought with a sigh. Rei really took that ‘training’ idea to heart! I haven’t had a chance to relax for two weeks… He groaned as he thought about the rigorous exercises Rei put him through.

“Come on Tenshi! Work those muscles! Let’s move move move!”

“I…Can’t…Move!”

“Oh come on! That dumpster isn’t that heavy! Pull harder! You need to drag it all the way down to the school by noon!”

“That’s in ten minutes!”

“Then start moving!”

“The front flip isn’t that hard, Tenshi. Just jump, fall forward onto your hands, throw your weight forward, and spring up to your feet!”

“Maybe we could do it if I was on the ground…”

“What’s wrong with using the garage roof? Your neighbor’s is only ten feet away!”

“I’ll fall!”

“Naah. Just concentrate. You can do it, Tenshi!”

“AHHHH!”

Wumph!

“Oh… well, maybe it is a bit too far for you… Alright, you can get off the ground now. Tenshi? Um… Tenshi?”

“Tenshi?” Kai arched a brow. “Hellooo. Earth to Tenshi. Come in, Tenshi.”

“Huh?” Tenshi blinked himself out of his reverie. “Did you say something?”

“Houston, we have a problem. You seem more dazed nowadays than I usually am. What’s the deal?” The blonde boy ran a hand through his bangs as he gazed at his friend.

“I’m really sorry,” Tenshi sighed. “I’ve just been working on some… side projects, that’s all. If you want to, we can hang out today.”

“No can do. I got work today, remember?”

“Oh, right. Still saving up for that sports bike?”

“Yep.” Kai buffed his fingernails on his shirt and smirked. “Almost got enough now. Pretty soon I’ll be riding around in style.”

Tenshi chuckled. “Cool. Can’t wait to see it.”

Rei drifted along lazily above them. Now that she was more or less a part of Tenshi’s life, she decided to dress the part. She tended to wear his school’s uniform on the way to school, despite his protests. At the moment, she listened to the two boys talk with each other with a smile on her face.

Well, Tenshi seems to be able to hold on to his normalcy, she thought. I have been working him hard, but how can I teach him in weeks what took me years to do? Rei paused as she looked ahead. “Don’t look now, but trouble is coming.”

Tenshi snapped his head up in alarm. A demon? Here? Now? I’m so unprepared!

“Heeeey, just the little worm we was lookin for.”

Tenshi groaned. “Izumi… What do you want?”

Flanked by Nezumi and the stocky boy whom Tenshi didn’t know that well, Oda Izumi strolled towards Kai and Tenshi. “Oh, we just wanna pay you back for what you did a few weeks ago. We can’t let ya get away with it, y’see.”

“Yeah, right. So you come back three weeks later?”

Kai arched a brow. “I think I missed a beat here…”

Izumi spit on the ground and sidled over. Tenshi instinctively took a step back. The bully grinned. “Ya ain’t so tough, are ya Saishi? Last time was a fluke, ya see. You could never beat us up again.”

Kai frowned. “Tenshi beat you up?”

Rei settled on the ground beside Tenshi. “Hey… Let me handle this.”

Much to the surprise of the priestess, the high school boy shook his head. He watched Izumi with a nervous yet determined look in his eye. “Come on, Izumi… can we skip this? I really don’t want to go through with this today…”

“Looks like ya grew some balls, Saishi. Lotta good that’ll help you when I beat the pulp outta ya!” Izumi snarled and whipped his right fist around. It would never strike his target, however.

Tenshi had blocked the attack with his left arm, grabbing Izumi’s wrist with his right hand. “Izumi… I’m asking you again… can we skip this? Please?”

Kai stared. “Well… don’t see that everyday…”

“You can say that again,” Rei murmured in agreement.

Izumi went pale and he shuddered with anger. “That’s it, Saishi! I’m gonna pound ya into the ground!” He brought his foot up towards Tenshi’s groin.

Tenshi responded quickly, ducking under the arm he still held onto and twisted it backwards, causing Izumi to pitch forward, off balance. Tenshi kicked out at the only leg he had for support and Izumi flipped completely, landing on his back with his arm still in Tenshi’s grasp.

Tenshi stared. “Whoa… I… I actually did it…”

Kai, Rei, Nezumi and the stocky boy all stared. “He actually did it…”

Nezumi gulped and charged forward. “Hold on boss! I’ll get him! Yeah! Yeah!”

Kai blinked himself out of his amazement and stuck out his leg, tripping Nezumi and sending the rat-faced boy into the ground. “Whoa there, scrappy. Two on one is a little unfair, isn’t it?” He glanced at the stocky boy. “What about you, Uchiro?”

The short boy took one look at his fallen comrades and turned tail and fled.

“Coward!” Nezumi shouted into the ground.

Tenshi let go of Izumi’s hand and turned away, taking a shuddering sigh of relief. Kai sauntered up to him, grinning ear to ear. “Oh, I see. You’ve been practicing judo, haven’t you?” The blond boy grinned and slapped Tenshi’s back. “I’m proud of you! Finally standing up for yourself! Hey, why’re you so pale?”

“…I think I’m gonna be sick,” Tenshi muttered.

Kai laughed as he resumed walking, his friend by his side. “Man, I haven’t been entertained like that for a long time. Welcome to manhood, Tenshi.”

Rei chuckled. “That was very well done, Tenshi!”

Unnoticed behind them, Izumi had pulled himself to his feet. With a low growl, he suddenly charged forward, bringing back his fist. His sudden action brought Rei’s attention to him.

“Tenshi, look out!” Rei shouted with alarm.

The boy spun around just as Izumi threw his punch. The blow struck Tenshi in his cheek. Doing as Rei had told him to avoid being seriously hurt; the teenager turned his head and stumbled backwards. He tripped however and was sent wind milling, crashing into something that let out a small scream as they fell in a heap.

Izumi laughed. “Ha HA! Got ya, didn’t I Saishi? You ain’t nothing! NOTHIN!” He laughed again but froze as his eyes went blank and his knees gave way.

Kai lowered his arm, having just pinched a nerve on Izumi’s shoulder to make him lose consciousness. “That guy was starting to annoy me…”

Tenshi groaned and sat up, turning to look behind him. He blinked before a blush started tinting his face red.

He had crashed into a girl with long, dark green hair. Her eyes were a light shade of green, and she was dressed in a Kakidashi High uniform. Standing above her were her two startled friends. The cause of Tenshi’s blush, however, lay in the fact that from the way she was sitting on the ground, he could see right up her skirt.

Tenshi fell over as stream of blood gushed from his nose.

The girl glared at him. “Idiot! Watch where you’re going next time!”

Rei floated over and knelt beside the fallen Tenshi. “Are you okay? Why is your nose bleeding? Izumi didn’t hit you that hard, did he?”

Tenshi sat up, dazed. That is, he was dazed until he caught a glimpse of a strange look on the girl’s face. She was actually staring at Rei, rage and surprise in her eyes. The next moment, it was gone, and the girl was standing up and dusting herself off.

The other two girls were chattering away, asking if their friend was okay. The green-haired woman glared once more at Tenshi. “Yeah, I’m fine. Let’s get going. Stupid guys, think they own the alley…” She turned and began walking towards he school. Her friends followed, each kicking Tenshi in the side as they passed.

Kai knelt by his fallen friend. “Quite the ladies man, aren’t you?” He said with a smirk.

Tenshi twitched on the ground. “…Why me...”

Kai took on of Tenshi’s hands and hauled him to his feet. “Beating up bullies and sneaking looks up girl’s skirts. What’s gotten into you, Tenshi?” He managed to feign disapproval, but his grin gave away the fact that he thought the whole thing was hilarious.

Tenshi grunted. He looked after the girls. She saw Rei… I know it… “Hey Kai… Do you know that girl’s name? The one with the green hair.”

“The one you bowled over? Yeah, that’s Bakeru Kawari. A real stuck-up little witch, if you know what I mean. Popular. One of Akuma’s crowd. I don’t recommend you get into anything with her.”

Tenshi scoffed and dusted himself off. “I don’t plan to… I was just curious that’s all…” He cast a glance at Rei, who was watching him curiously. “Come on, let’s get to school.” He walked away, stepping on Nezumi (who squeaked with protest) as he passed. Kai followed.

Rei decided to walk next to Tenshi. “Did you want to tell me something, Tenshi?”

“Yeah,” he whispered, just low enough so Kai wouldn’t overhear. “That girl… Kawari… She saw you.”

Rei blinked. “Really?” She raised her eyes to look after the girls. After a moment, she frowned. “She’s hiding her aura… but I can feel darkness.”

“Kinda like the darkness around Ukyo when he was possessed by Gouka Ryouken?”

“I’m not sure,” Rei said as she bit her lip. “If she can see me, then that means I shouldn’t get near her. I’ll have to watch her though…”

“Hey Tenshi, are you talking to yourself?” Kai asked as he moved next to his friend.

“Me? Ah, no, I was just… thinking out loud, yeah,” Tenshi stammered as he laughed nervously.

“That’s playing it smooth,” Rei muttered.

Kai arched a brow. “Ooookay. I think you hit the ground a bit too hard back there. Or maybe that shot of Kawari’s panties put you into shock.”

Tenshi went pale and was aware of his still-bleeding nose. “Er… I’m fine, really, I just need some tissue…”

“You know Tenshi, you really should not take advantage of a situation like that. You wouldn’t want to be called a pervert, would you?” Rei mentioned.

“Oh shut up….”

“What’d you say?” Kai asked as he pulled out some tissue from his pocket for Tenshi.

“I said hurry up….um… with the tissue.”

A boy slowly turned the combination to his locker. Kawari moved out of the crowd of students and leaned against the locker next to his. “I saw her,” she muttered in a low whisper.

“Interesting… Ironic how she has found her way so close, yet does not realize it.”

Kawari growled. “Gouka was an idiot. If he had told us before going out to fight her, we could have stopped her then.”

The boy smirked as he opened his locker. “Relax, my dear. This is merely a game. Gouka was a pawn who made the wrong move. The priestess attacked with her knight and took him fairly easily. Now it’s time I retaliate with my own knight.”

The green-haired girl shook her head. “I’m not sure I understand, Master, but I will do my best to prevent her from getting any closer. Oh, and I have found out who she is working with as well. A sophomore by the name of Saishi Tenshi.”

“Saishi Tenshi… I don’t believe I’ve heard of him,” the teenager responded, pulling out a book.

Kawari scoffed. “He’s nothing more than a coward. A ‘bully magnet’, as they say.”

The boy paused as if to think then shut his locker. “Interesting. Confront them, my dear Kawari, and destroy them. I do not wish to be troubled by educating those new to my game.”

Kawari bowed her head respectfully. “As my master commands.”

“Mm.” Saishi Tenshi, eh? The boy thought. Interesting…