Haley entered the recovery room Hiro was occupying and sat in a chair close to the bed and watched his younger brother. He was sleeping as if nothing was wrong. But it was an eerie kind of sleep; sleep that made you wonder if he was really dead. Haley felt so powerless seeing Hiro this way.


“It looks like I’m early” said a voice. Haley looked to the side and saw Nanasei floating in a sitting position above Hiro.


“Why are you here?” he asked shakily.


“...I’m sorry, but Hiro’s soul is trying to leave his body” Nanasei said. Haley’s heart sank into his empty stomach.


“He’s...dying?!”


“Well, yes and no”


“How is that possible?!” Haley snapped. He couldn’t see it, but Nanasei saw that Hiro’s soul was leaving, but kept being pulled back. Hiro did not want to die.


“Basically, Hiro is trying to stay alive. This happens a lot with people who are in critical health conditions”


“So is he really going to die?” the writer asked, shaking from worry.


“No, he’s too stubborn to die just yet. He’ll just skip back and forth over the thin line that separates Life and Death for a few more hours” Nanasei explained. Haley heaved out a sigh of relief, which woke up Serenity.


Opening her eyes, she saw Hiro emaciated and weak in the hospital bed. She was so woozy at first, so she thought she was still dreaming. After a few moments of blinking to clear her vision, the tiny angel was sure that the sight before her was real.


“Hiro-sama!!” she cried, forcing herself out of Haley’s arms and beside Hiro. Hiro made a groaning sound and opened his eyes. “He’s alive!!!” Serenity squealed, throwing her arms around him. Despite Hiro’s screams of pain, she kept her grip on him.


“Aren’t you going to stop her?” Nanasei asked Haley.


“No. this is entertaining” he said with a smirk.


“What happened? Where am I?” Hiro asked when Serenity had finally let go of him.


“You’re in the hospital. Your appendix busted!” Serenity told him.


“Yeah, and it wasn’t supposed to. So you have to stay here longer to recover” Haley said.


“Bro? You waited for me to wake up?” Hiro asked, smiling weakly.


“Of course! I was worried about you, stupid!”


Hiro’s eyes weld up with tears. “Thanks Bro, that’s really touched me. I’d hug you, but I feel like I’ve been hit by a bullet train...twice!” Hiro sniffled.


“Poor Hiro-sama!!” Serenity cried again, painfully hugging him once more.


“Serenity...you’re hurting him” Nanasei sighed, hearing the monitor connected to Hiro’s heart rate beep faster each second. After pulling Serenity off, Hiro spoke softly again.


“Serenity-chan, I need to know...what’s heaven like?” he asked.


“Why do you wanna know? You’re not...dying! ...are you?!” she sniffled, about to lunge at him with another hug.


“Just tell me...”


“It’s a surprise. I don’t wanna ruin for you. But there aren’t clothes there” she giggled. Hiro’s face turned pink. It would’ve been red, but his body was using much of his blood at the moment for recuperating.


“S-so there are...naked girls running around in heaven?” he asked, not believing his ears.


“Nah! Everyone wears clothes, stupid! Well, unless you were a nudist or something...” Nanasei interrupted before Serenity could spread more lies.


“Oh, I guess that’s okay” Hiro said, he sounded slightly disappointed.


“Looks like you’re going to be alright” Haley said, nodding his head in approval. With that bit of encouragement, Hiro heaved himself up into a sitting position, trying to ignore the terrible pain shooting up his spine. He felt his side and gasped. He had stitches.


“You know the funny thing, I’ve always wanted to get stitches. Just not in a near-death experience like this!” he chuckled. Serenity poked at the stitches firmly, making Hiro jolt and move her hand away. “No touchy!!! It hurts, damn it!!” he cried, sniffling back tears of pain.


“It feels like string!” she giggled. “What’ll happen if the string gets pulled out?”


“His guts will fall out into a heap on the floor and we’ll see that vile sandwich he ate earlier!” Haley said in a haunting tone.


“...Cool!!” Serenity cheered. Haley and Nanasei fell over.


Haley decided to let his brother rest, so he hailed a cab home with Serenity with him. Nanasei flew alongside the taxi. “Hmm, she’s following us. I wonder if this means Serenity will be going back to heaven soon” Haley thought, focusing on the flying Nanasei.


“Hey, you’re Haley Amakoi!” said the taxi driver. This driver was female, surprisingly.


“Yeah! He’s a mega pretty-boy hot writer” Serenity said.


“Oh my God! May I have your autograph!! All my friend will be sooo jealous!” she squealed. Haley smiled his suave smile and took a pen and blank paper from his laptop bag and signed it.


“Can I sign it too?!” Serenity asked.


“Who are you?”


“S-she’s my niece...from Hong Kong!” Haley lied.


“She’s adorable! Sure, I’ll have her autograph, too” the taxi driver said, making sure she kept her eyes on the road. Serenity cheered and scribbled her untidy signature near Haley’s professional looking one.


After finally getting home, Haley and Serenity listened intently to Nanasei. “Well, its not easy for me to say this...but you both need to keep a sharp eye out from now until Serenity can go back to Heaven” she said.


“Huh?! Why?!” Serenity gasped.


“Ryu has dispatched a minion to come after you, Serenity”


“What for?” Haley asked defensively.


“That’s something I can’t really explain since I really don’t know myself. But the minion has already been seen slinking around the Tokyo area since about a week ago” Nanasei said. Serenity was shivering all over.


“w-what if I’m caught?! What does Ryu want with me?! Waaaaaah!!!” she wailed, trying to sniffle back her tears and failing fast.


“You’ll be alright. I won’t let anything happen to you!” Haley assured, hugging the tiny angel.


“But you’re only human. This is a supernatural battle and you will most likely be no use to us” Nanasei interrupted.


“Umm, mentor...mister is getting that angry look in his eyes!” Serenity tried to warn. Haley slowly turned and glared at Nanasei, who at the time had her eyes closed in calmness.


“A true fight between good and evil has no place for weak humans who are only in the middle and undecided!” she half snickered. She failed to notice the grin Haley was sporting.


“Here it comes...” Serenity said, looking away.


“Of course, what could a weakling of a human do in this situation, right?” he asked, taking hold of Nanasei’s hand. She faced him and smiled.


“So you do understand?! I’m so happy I don’t have to go into explaining it!” she sighed happily, hugging onto him tightly.


“And when an angel feels happy...” Haley said, lifting Nanasei up over his shoulder. “I won’t be attacked!” he finished, swatting her white kimono covered behind firmly. Nanasei cried out and began to pound her fists on Haley’s back as more swats were administered.


Serenity noticed that lightning didn’t strike Haley and spoke up. “Nanasei, if an angel feels in danger, doesn’t lightning strike the person causing the pain?” she asked. Nanasei was letting out small cries of pain and was only barely struggling to get away. “If Haley’s not being hurt then that means...” the blue haired girl thought.


“GASP!!! S-she likes to be spanked!!” she cried. Nanasei blushed and shook her head.


“N-no I don’t!! Stop telling lies!” she shouted, panting a bit.


“Then how come you aren’t putting up a fight? Hmmmmm?” Haley asked quite smugly. She flew out of his grasp, her hand rubbing her bottom.


“Hah! I was just showing you mercy! If a human gets struck by lightning, so I saved you!” she said, trying to get herself to stop blushing.


“Uh-huh, suuuuure...” he snickered.


“Nanasei likes spankings!! Nyah nyah nyaaaaaah!!” Serenity giggled.


“Oh shut-up! Just keep your eyes peeled for Ryu’s spy!” the flustered angel yelled before vanishing in a stream of light that went upward.


“Well, you heard her. Keep your eyes peeled” Haley told Serenity, petting her head affectionately.


“But won’t peeling my eyes hurt?” she asked.


“Baka!! It’s just a figure of speech! It means keep an eye out!” he growled.


“But don’t I need both of my eyes in my head? Why would I take one out?” she questioned again.


“That was another figure of...you know what, forget it! Just make sure nothing happens to you! There’s no way you can mess up that sentence...”


“But nothing is something! So something can happen to me!” she giggled. Haley glared at her darkly. “Eeeep! N-nevermind!” she gulped.


“Off to bed with you!” he said, leading her upstairs, swatting her bottom every step of the way.


“Waaah! I’m going! I’m going!!” she squealed loudly.


(Outside)


“That is correct. I’ve found where the angel is living” a being covered in shadow said into a modern cellular phone.


“Great. She’s not that smart, but that human she’s with makes up for it. Don’t let him suspect you. Oh, and when you see Akki, make sure you tell you took over her job” Ryu’s voice said on the other line.


“Oh, I’ll make sure of that” the being said with an evil chuckle before hanging up.


To be continued...