Reconnection

[Tsubarisu Hotaka]

Hotaka walked into the familiar flower shop that was the Devil Saints HQ. It had been a long while since he had been around so many different flowers. They obviously brought back fond memories of his youth. Hotaka's parents had been avid gardeners which was no secret to anyone even remotely familiar with their family. That was a thing of the past though, and Hotaka knew it. He was here to re-establish the relationship he had had with Devil Saints as well as picking up any information he could about strange going ons in said realm. Hotaka walked into the shop and sat down in front of the rickety old counter in the front of the shop. He hurriedly stood up and rang the small metal bell on the desk and sat back down. He seemed to have forgotten a small amount of mortal tradition after all. Hotaka didnt want to come off as too obvious, so he wore a pair of white washed jeans that were a tad dirty and a t-shirt that looked like it had seen better days. His naturally unruly red hair did wonders for this disguise. To anyone who didnt personally know him, Hotaka would just appear to be an ordinary Mortal gardener.

[Akuma Shadow]

[I'm SO Very sorry, I didn't see it.]


Shadow heard the bell ring which at the moment was a very odd because of the 'light' days that they, the Devil Saints, have been having. There was hardly any people who wanted the Devil Saints as a Bounty Hunting and Information gathering service but wanted them as The Devil Saints: the Flower shop that had a lot of flower that somehow, by "luck", no other shops nearby had.

So when Shadow heard the bell, it didn't come to a shock. It was more of a sigh that he was going to deal with the same crap a day had. On the way to the door way that led to the open area, he grapped his dirty white apron, quickly put it over his body and walked out with a smile.

He saw the man and only sighed again because of the sight of the person.

He was about to say that they were closed but something in him made him stop from doing that. Well, more like someone...


He looks...like I met him before Rage said in his english actcent.

Really? Shadow asked. "Hi, sorry I took so long. How may I help you?" he spoke

[Tsubarisu Hotaka]

"Surely you recognize me," Hotaka said handing Shadow a card with the Insignia of the Fifth Layer of Heaven.

Hotaka had been meaning to reestablish a relationship with the Devil Saints for awhile. He had become good friends with them in the past, but with the recent going-ons with both Heaven and Hell, Hotaka fell out of touch with them. Hotaka hoped that Hell hadnt gotten to the Devil Saints first, there were both good and bad reasons to that.

The bad reason would be, that perhaps they could be being paid far more than Heaven could afford and that would leave them lost to the Vile Influence of Hell.

The good would be that they might be able to learn a bit from the Devil Saints about what Hell was up to.

[Akuma Shadow]

Shadow had a dead look on his face. Not only did he not recognize the Heaven King before him, he also looked like pure crap.Well better than the outfit that the man before him had on but he could have done better.

Shadow bowed in respect then gave him a warm handshake. "Hotaka," he said after letting go, "Its been awhile. Please, come with me." Shadow walked into the the other room behind him, his right hand digging into his pockets to take out the Devil Saint Key--the only way to get into the actual building.

"I trust this is a matter of Importance or did you wanted to see our place of business. It has come a long way since our last meeting. Rage, go and hold down the fort till we get back, please."

A cloud of red smoked appeared behind the 5th king, "No prob," a voice came from it, "Just get me a soda when you get back, I'm kinda in the feeling for some dew?"

"Regular or what?" he asked turning around.

"Live Wire!" Shadow's alter ego called out as he went out the back door just in time to greet someone that was at the door.

[Tomoshibi Ethan]

As the heaven king walked into the headquarters behind Shadow, Ethan was there waiting patiently to great them at the entrance. It looked like Ethan recognized Hotaka for a split second, but then brushed it out of his mind to keep the task at hand in mind. "The great Heaven King himself, Hotaka. It is good to finally meet you, although I must say that I feel like I've met you before." Ethan said in a pleasant and inviting tone as he bowed. "Shadow, I've been doing recent research on the supposed war between heaven and hell and found nothing yet. And as far as assassinations go, I've had not a single hit! Business is really going slow." Ethan then turned to Hotaka. "If I may ask, what is your purpose of being here in the mortal realm at our flower shop?"

[Tsubarisu Hotaka]

"To be honest," Hotaka started nodded his head to Ethan as he walked in.

"Ive come to reestablish the relationships between Heaven and the Devil Saints. We used to be good friends."

Hotaka said sitting down in a nearby chair. He was very glad to see Shadow again. It had been quite sometime since they spoke to each other, and it was good to reconnect with an old friend.

[Akuma Shadow]

"Thats good." Shadow started to speak, "Its always good to stay in touch." Shadow placed the key back in his pocket and showed the heaven king the door to the HQ of the Devil Saints. Shadow went through first, making sure no incoming people were going through the hall ways.

"You have to excuse us here," Shadow smiled, "We just got dine with a mission and everyone is on a real high. It took all of our departments to get done and..." Shadow had to stop him self. He did not want to tell the heaven king any information on his deal with Tomoyo about The War.

But it did not warrant him from asking Hotaka about it. For sometime, the Devil saints have been looking into this War for lack of information on it. Although they were people who would do anything for anybody, they were also, for some of them, human.

"So, Hotaka, what have you been doing so far?" he asked as he got his thoughts together again.

[Tsubarisu Hotaka]

Hotaka followed Shadow down the halls of the Devil Saints complex. Things looked alot better than they did the last time he was here. Not to mention the fact that the HQ was no where near this big. Shadow was right though, things did seem a bit busier. This was also an indication of how much the staff of the Devil Saints had grown and also how much their reputation had grown. People had began to trust them with more important jobs and that of course was very good thing.

Hotaka figured he should just be frank with Shadow. He known him for quite sometime and it didn't make sense for Hotaka to walk on egg shell with him. He would just simply ask him if he could expect the devil Saints backing in the war against Hell or not. Then he would make his move from there.

"Now that we have the formalities out of the way, I would rather we just get to the reason of me being here. Does Heaven have the backing of the Devil Saints when the time for war comes?" Hotaka asked with a slight smile. His demeanor was still pleasant and welcoming, but Shadow should be able to tell that he was very serious in what he was asking.

After all they had known each other for quite sometime....

[Akuma Shadow]

Shadow cringed at the mention of those words.

The War. It almost seem like Heaven and Hell were playing chess, using all the world, including the Mortal realm as their damn chess board. It was already bad enough to have one side ask for their help but now it was getting close to thin ice. He didn't know what to do and in the end, he felt as though he would have to make a choice sooner or later, for better or for worst.

"Truthfully, my friend," Shadow started, "I don't really know what this War is all about. I just can't chose a side without knowing the chess pieces and from my understanding, your ranks are not in good shape at the moment. One of my informants had recently told me that one of your own had fell from grace. But it does not mean that I would side with Hell either, do not think that."

Shadow then walked down the wide hall way, all manner of human and other magical folk walked the hall ways, those knowing who was with the Devil Saint bowing in place then leaving quickly.

"You would have to give me time to think about this..."