The Devil Wants You

[blood_crow]

Yay!! The first chapter to the AU Ren/Ichi I was talking about earlier has been written. I’m pretty excited about this one… The idea for this came to me earlier today when I was listening to Blink 182’s “Miss You”. I heard the first line, and suddenly I was hit with inspiration and a fast developing plot line. This story centers around old fashioned angels and demons, but you don’t have to be religious or read the Bible to know what I’m talking about. I myself have never read the Bible, so~ I hope that those of you who take the time to read this enjoy it. I know that AU isn’t some people’s cup of tea, and I respect that completely.

Title: The Devil Wants You: Chapter One [The Crimson Falcon]
Pairing: Renji x Ichigo
Rating: PG-13 [NC-17 in future chapters]
Warnings: Mild to strong language, yaoi, angst, AU
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, I only steal its characters so I can go on perverted conquests via fan fics. Also, all characters involved in sexual situations are fictional and above the legal age of consent in the state of California, regardless of what age they may be in the material they are derived from.
Summary: After a failed suicide attempt Ichigo Kurosaki finds himself thrown into a world full of creatures he’d only seen in movies. Suddenly there are surreal beings at every turn, and when a demon prince puts a mark on him there’s only one person who's willing to help; a redheaded angel, who will risk the loss of his wings to save a human’s life.
 

 

Hey if God will send his angels
And if God will send a sign
And if God will send his angels
Would everything be alright

--If God Will Send His Angels by U2  

The Golden Gate Bridge. Kurosaki Ichigo could honestly say that he’d never seen a more beautiful fucking bridge in his whole life. Not that he’d seen that many bridges, but even if he had he knew the Golden Gate would still be the most beautiful. Why? Because a four second fall was almost always fatal. No really, he’d looked it up online.

At the moment he was standing near the edge, looking out over the railing with his hands in his pockets. It was around noon, and traffic was heavy. He could hear the vehicles as they passed, felt the vibration of their tires against the asphalt. There weren’t many more bridge goers, just a young couple about thirty feet to his left, a group of tourists to his right. And then there were the patrollers in their carts, keeping watch for suicides. Well, today they’d see some excitement. He had searched the web, and found that the bridge saw at least one suicide every fifteen days. It had been fifteen days since the last jumper.

Looking around casually, Ichigo watched the two patrollers with careful eyes. He took his hands from his pockets, flexing his fingers as he continued to study his surroundings, his possible obstacles. After a minute or two he put his hands on the railing and hefted himself up, his knees following close behind and then finally his feet. He made sure to count how long it took before he heard the first scream.

Four seconds.

Ichigo turned so his back was facing outwards, his gaze towards the six lanes of traffic. His world became a blur of motion and sound, voices shouting, car horns screeching. He saw the couple pointing towards him, the boyfriend breaking away from his girlfriend as he ran forward, his hands waving wildly and his mouth open on various shouts. He saw the tourists, all of them staring, screaming, the bulbs on their cameras flashing. And finally he saw the patrollers, both of them coming straight for him.

Stretching his arms out, Ichigo stared at the approaching patrollers, a huge grin stretching his mouth. He pushed out with his feet as hard as he could, his body flying back. One of the patrollers skid to a halt in front of the railing, his hand lashing out towards Ichigo’s ankle. It was too late, he was already out of reach, out of hope and salvation. He smiled up at them as he fell, the air spinning around him, shaking his clothing and his hair.

He’d jumped with his back to the water because he didn’t want to see the great strait before he died. No, he wanted to see the sky. The clear blue sky, littered with clouds. He’d chosen this day because it’d been the fifteenth, and also because the news said it’d be sunny. Sunny and warm, with clear blue skies. Yea, he wanted to see a beautiful sky when he died.

He counted as he fell, wanting to know if the statistics had been right about four seconds. Supposedly he’d hit the water at seventy five miles per hour, most likely dead upon impact.

One…

He heard a scream. It wasn’t a human scream. No, it was beautiful, and majestic, and surreal. He heard it before he saw it, a great bird diving towards him. It looked like a falcon, and when the sun hit its wings just right, they appeared to be a deep crimson, speckled with ebony. Wait, falcons didn’t have red feathers…

Two…

The falcon was diving towards him the way it would its prey, its talons and wings held close to its body, its sharp beak like a bullet. It screamed at him again, and now that he’d heard it twice it didn’t sound as animalistic as before. It had emotion behind it, the way humans have emotion behind their words. He swore to fucking God it did. It sounded angry, it sounded frustrated, and it sounded distressed.

Three…

He couldn’t keep his eyes open anymore. The wind was kicking too fiercely around him, and he could feel himself growing lightheaded. The falcon was gaining speed, closing the distance between them. Just a little longer, and it would touch him.

Four…

He hit the water at back breaking speed. His body went limp instantly, his head jerking and his eyes rolling behind closed lids. His head felt as if it would explode from the pressure of impact, his ears pounding as water rushed up to greet his nose. It was cold, surrounding him, sucking him down.

He smiled as the blackness settled in.
 

***

 

“You shouldn’t… Just a kid… Doesn’t matter… Fuckin’ clip me… He just might…”

Ichigo groaned, his head turning to the side. Voices…he could hear two voices… Did people hear voices in the afterlife?

“Let’s go.”

The voices were clearer now, and a thin line of light was parting the darkness surrounding him.

“No, I wanna make sure he’s ok.”

“He’s breathing, he’ll be fine.”

Ichigo tried to moan again, but his breath caught in his throat, his chest heaving. He coughed and felt something wet flow from his mouth to spill over his chin. It felt like…water. But why was it coming out of his mouth, and why didn’t he feel it all around him? All he could feel was the wetness of his clothes clinging to his moist skin, added to a gentle warmth that he recognized as the sun. And that’s what that thin light was parting the blackness, it was the sunlight seeping through his closed eyelids.

“Holy fuck…” he muttered, cracking his eyes open to slits. He shut them immediately as sunlight poured in to blind him.

“There, he’s awake. I told you he’d be fine, now let’s go.”

Opening his eyes once more, Ichigo glanced around slowly, searching for the voices, trying to discern if they were real. It took him a moment to adjust, his vision fogged and blurry. When his eyesight finally came back into focus, he was met with the image of one man. The guy was standing near his feet, tall and slim, dressed in long, draping clothing. Black pants and a black long-sleeved shirt, both made of an odd material that fluttered in the wind, so thin it was almost see-through. He had short dark hair, a silver line stretching the left side of his face. And…was that a sixty-nine on his cheek? What the fuck?

“Yea, he’s gonna live.”

“Thanks to you.”

Movement to his right caught Ichigo’s attention. When he looked he saw another man, crouched a few feet away with his hands dangling over his knees. He was wearing the same clothing as the first, and he was barefoot. He had long, flowing hair, a deep red that drifted outwards with the wind. Red…like the falcon’s wings…

When the man stood up and turned away, his dark-haired companion behind him, Ichigo forced himself up on his elbows. He coughed again, his throat burning and his lungs aching. He pushed past the pain and sat up more, wiping the water from his mouth with the back of his hand as he looked at the retreating duo.

“Hey, just who the hell are you?” he asked hoarsely.

The two men froze mid-step, turning their heads simultaneously to look over their shoulders. They stared at Ichigo intensely, their gazes piercing.

“Just a fluke,” the dark haired man finally muttered, shaking his head slightly as he started turning away once more. “Come on Renji, you’ve done enough.”

The redhead--Renji, as the other man had called him--didn’t move. His hair flew around his face as he stared, and it was then that Ichigo noticed the strange black markings stretching over the man’s forehead and neck.

“Can you see us?” Renji finally questioned, surprise evident in his tone.

“What?” Ichigo asked in return, his brows furrowing. “What the fuck do you mean ‘can I see you?’ Of course I can, dumb ass.”

The redhead gave a start, and the other man stopped dead again, his head jerking back. The two of them stared at Ichigo once more, looking stunned.

“Are you guys meth-heads or what?” Ichigo asked, scowling darkly as he slowly pushed himself to his feet. He groaned, his muscles aching as if he’d just had the shit beat out of him by twenty guys. Hissing in pain he arched his back, then sighed in relief when he felt the crack reverberate up his spine.

“God damn…”

“Don’t say that.”

Swinging his gaze, Ichigo looked at the dark-haired man, who was now staring at him with a little heat in his eyes. He cocked an orange eyebrow, snorting before he looked away to study his surroundings.

“Whatever.”

It took him only a few seconds to realize where he was, washed up on the short, sandy shore along the Golden Gate. He saw the ships on the water, and the bridge. The bridge…holy fuck, how the hell did he survive the fall and wind up where he was?

“The hell…?” Ichigo murmured, looking back at the two men suspiciously, watching as they conversed with each other quietly. “Hey, you never told me who the hell you are,” he said with a scowl.

“I’m the guy that saved your stupid ass,” the redhead replied, glancing at Ichigo. “A thank you would be nice.”

Glaring, Ichigo stared at Renji before passing his gaze back to the bridge. It took him a moment to realize what the other man had said, and when he did, he scoffed. “Wait, what? Did you just say you saved me? Listen man, I didn’t see you on that bridge when I jumped, and there’s no fuckin’ way you were swimming in that water. Even if you were, you wouldn’t have been able to swim all the way over here while carrying me.”

Renji didn’t respond. He shared a glance with his companion, who muttered something so quietly that Ichigo couldn’t hear. Ichigo scowled angrily, his lip curling. He was just about to demand who the hell they were and how he’d survived the fall, when the dark-haired man suddenly jerked, his head tilting back to look at the sky. The movement was so abrupt and alien, like that of a wild animal, that Ichigo flinched away from it.

“Oh man, he isn’t happy.”

“You’re telling me like I don’t fuckin’ know,” the redhead muttered, his gaze turning to the sky as well. “Shit, you’d think he’d be grateful. I saved one of his damn kids from dying.”

“You know it’s not the same thing, Renji. You don’t interfere with suicides.”

“Yea yea, let’s just get outta here before he blows a fucking blood vessel.”

Ichigo listened to their conversation silently, his gaze shifting back and forth between the two. Just what the hell were they talking about? Who was 'he', and why was this Renji guy still trying to claim that he’d saved Ichigo’s life?

All of these questions, however, flew from his mind when the dark-haired man suddenly turned, his arms outstretched as he leapt into the air. One moment he was a man, and the next he was a bird, a falcon with dark wings and a gray underbelly. Ichigo blinked, his breath catching, his heart beat seeming to stutter. He gawked as the falcon rose into the air, ascending towards the clouds at incredible speed.

“Yo kid.”

Jumping nearly ten feet off the ground Ichigo spun, his attention shifting when Renji addressed him. The redhead rose an inked eyebrow at his reaction, a small smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.

“No more suicide attempts, ya hear me? No jumping off bridges or trying to slit your wrists. I saved your ass and it’d be pretty insulting for you to kill yourself afterward. Besides, suicides aren't allowed in Heaven.”

Grinning broadly Renji saluted Ichigo with two fingers, before turning and leaping into the air like his companion. The second his bare feet left the ground he morphed, turning into the red and black falcon Ichigo had seen diving towards him when he leapt off the bridge.

Ichigo watched the two falcons fly towards the clouds, his gaze frozen there even when the birds slipped from view. His mouth hung open, his eyes so wide he swore they’d fall out of their sockets. His legs shook, giving out beneath him so he was kneeling on the ground. He swallowed to work moisture into his suddenly dry throat, but found no relief.

What… the fuck…

 

Comments

[aurorarose1414.livejournal.com]

Falcon Renji for the win! Wow, I love this. I really really really want to read more, right now, this second. *waits patienly* I wonder what has Ichigo so angsty and I am always happy to see Shuuhei with my Ren/Ichi OTP. Great job! ^_^

[blood-crow.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Falcon Renji IS ftw. Hell any Renji is ftw. And Shuu!! I love my Shuuhei. I'm glad you liked it xD