When the Pink Clouds Clear Away

By Mel-Mel

Thank you to all the people who e-mailed me! You know who you are. I'd love to hear from you again and to hear from new people. Tell me what you think, what I should do....compliments, comments, nothing too heartbreaking, please. I was so happy to get a response. I hope to get more responses. This is chapter 2 and 3. That's it I believe. Send any questions to me. Thanks for reading!

CHAPTER 2:

Ferio continued to fall. His sash flapped in crazy circles, whipping the poor boy in the face. Finally getting the piece of cloth out of his face, he viewed Umi calmly floating beside him.

"Help! What do I do?", Ferio exclaimed, trying to keep his ever increasing terror from taking over. Umi glanced at him and frowned.

"First off", she replied, "Stop being so afraid. You're already dead. Or have you forgotten? It's not going to injure your body when you reach bottom." Ferio slapped a hand to his forehead. 'Of coarse.' His terror subsided. Umi grinned.

"Okay. I get your point. Now, how do I fly?" Umi shrugged.

"It just happens. Nothing really special. Since you don't have wings, and they don't do anything anyway, it's sort of like Superman or Peter Pan."

"So I have to think "happy thoughts"?"

Umi rolled her eyes. "No, you just, fly."

"You're helpful." Ferio crossed his arms.

"What?!" Umi waved her hands wildly. "I'M supposed to know everything?" Ferio gave her a look.

"You're my teacher so... YES!!!"

"Oh, yeah." Umi looked down. "Brace yourself. This lesson is over."

Ferio hit the ground with a resounding thud. He felt like he had been run over by a freight train. Expecting to see his body with a thousand broken bones and sinking in a pool of his own blood, he was surprised to see nothing but a perfectly intact body. He still felt sick, though. Pain sprouted from all points. He glared furiously at Umi.

"I thought you said it wouldn't hurt," he growled. Umi smirked.

"I said it wouldn't INJURE your BODY. Not that you wouldn't be in pain. It's to teach angels lessons. Feeling pain reminds them that they aren't fully immortal yet." Ferio frowned and brushed himself off.

Umi smiled sweetly. "Your first lesson! This should be fun!" Her smile turned evil. 'A devil with angel's wings.' Ferio thought. "There are a few rules that all angels follow. They were listed in the scroll, but you DIDN'T read it so I'll tell you. Don't forget these." She glanced at Ferio who was standing carelessly, leaning on a nearby parked car. "First. Sobriety." Ferio face faulted.

"What?! You can't get drunk?! Why not?! Damn that rule!" Suddenly a lightening bolt struck Ferio, leaving him burnt to a crisp.

"Rule Two: No cursing, swearing, or using the Lord's name in vain."

Ferio coughed up smoke. "Thanks for the warning, snob." Umi grew red.

"What do you mean by that you fu-... Oh no. You aren't going to bait ME! You Water Dragon stealing screwball!" She grinned triumphantly. Ferio grimaced.

"Water Dragon? Screwball?" Umi blew out air.

"You have to be creative. I use Water Dragon. It's mine and you can't use it. Thbt!" She blew him a raspberry. "Some people use "fudge buckets", or "screwball", "ocean scum", "slime", or even "pants" in place of the more colorful words. Really gets your imagination going." Umi sighed. "Anyway. Next rule. Number Three: no sexual relations with ANYONE. Especially demons. Those send you to the underworld in a minute."

Ferio banged his head against the parked car. "Ferio," Umi cautioned. He paused for a moment.

"What?" He continued to beat his head on the car.

"Stop. You're going to leave a dent or..." Ferio yelped as a sharp spark went through his body and his head went through the car door.

"...go through the door." She sighed, exasperated. Grabbing his shoulders she tugged him out of the car, causing another spark to ripple through the poor boy's body. He looked around dazedly. "Are you quite done?" He nodded.

"What happened?", Ferio asked.

Umi slapped her forehead with her hand and mumbled incoherently to herself.

"You're a spirit. You go through walls. Do you know NOTHING of the supernatural?" At Ferio's negative, she gave up and continued. "Rule Four: No fooling with death. No killing or bringing people back. Clogs the paperwork and Clef gets really annoyed." Ferio nodded. Made sense.

"Rule Five: No sleeping, eating, or any other humanly functions of the sort."

"What?! But I love sleeping and eating and all those "humanly functions"! They make me feel alive!"

"Well, you're dead, so get over it. Rule Six: don't leave your ward/ assignment. They're bound to get in trouble." She glanced at Ferio. "Now that that's over, we have to find your assignment. Who and where is it?" Ferio reached into his handy pocket and brought out the crinkled paper. Umi looked it over and smiled.

"I know who this is! This is the girl that hangs around Nova's assignment! Come on!" Grabbing his hand she led him through a portal. They reappeared in a park.

"Welcome to Tokyo Park," she exclaimed. "Let's find Nova. Hm." Umi studied the surrounding area searching for someone. As Ferio looked he saw many people walking around. More startling was the fact that behind each creature or person was a shadowed figure of an angel.

'Wait,' he thought. 'If everyone had a guardian angel, what happened with mine and why'd I die?' He tapped Umi on the shoulder.

"Umi?" She looked at him. "Who was MY guardian angel?" She shrugged.

"I don't know. I think it was Innouva something? All I know is he's now guarding Hikaru's dog."

"Who's Hikaru?"

"Nova's assignment." Ferio scrunched his eyebrows in confusion. All right. He could deal. Wait!

"Umi?" She turned back to him. "Why'd I die?"

"Oh, your angel left."

"I thought we weren't supposed to leave our assignments."

"You can, but it's not suggested. You were also part of the cut list. We need to kill a group of people every once in a while to fill requirements for heaven. There's this whole legal water dragon about keeping our lease on heaven and money issues. There wasn't a war going on at the time. Those can be really handy or really annoying. Lot's of paper work or filled requirements. It's crazy. Anyway, we pick a bunch of names from Clef's book and kill them off. Your name was chosen." Ferio frowned and leaned on a tree. 'So I'm just a legal technicality. Peachy.'

"Umi? Where's your assignment?" He was caught off guard when Umi swung around and squealed.

"I forgot! Water Dragon! Ascot!" She disappeared leaving a very confused Ferio in her wake. Unfortunately she also disappeared in a puff of pink fog. Ferio sneezed until his nose was sore.

"Shit." A lightening bolt hitting him ended his bout of cursing and sneezing. "I'm really not loving this death thing." Rubbing his watery eyes, he looked around the park. He leaned back on his tree to wait for Umi. Looking down, he noticed a girl with short auburn hair and glasses. She was quietly reading a book. She was pretty, true, but really boring-looking.

"HIKARU!!!"

"HIKARI!!!"

Two loud shouts were heard as a young red-haired girl, her dog, another dog-like creature, and a red-haired angel came running up. The girl with glasses looked up as the dog bounded into her lap and licked her face. The girl's laugh blended with the panting of the three other newcomers. Ferio looked at the dog-creature. 'Weird,' he thought. Innouva shrugged and lay next to the tree. He really hated dogs.

"What are you doing here?," the red-haired angel asked him. "You aren't replacing me, are you? You can't replace me! I love my job! You aren't killing Hikaru either! She's mine!" Ferio shrugged at her angry expression.

"Calm down, I'm just waiting for Umi. She's the one who's showing me the ropes." The newcomer gave a sigh of relief.

"Oh good. I thought you had come to take over Hikaru's care."

"Nope." Ferio shook his head. "I have to find a girl named Fuu." The red-haired angel raised an eyebrow and pointed at the girl petting Hikari (the dog).

"That's Fuu." Ferio jumped back in shock.

"HER?!" The angel nodded. "But why would she need an angel? She looks perfectly capable and sensible. In no need of an observer."

"Well," the red-haired angel went into deep thought. "Last week I saved her from walking in front of a bus while she was reading. Then a few days ago she almost got involved with a nasty group of boys. Then..."

"Okay, I get the point. Who're you anyway?" The angel before him brightened.

"I'm Nova! This is my ward! Isn't Hikaru great? She's just so pretty. I love the color of her hair. She can hear me too. Watch this!" The Nova leaned in towards the red-haired girl and whispered in her ear.

"Hikaru..."

"EEK!" The girl known as Hikaru jumped five feet into the air.

"Fuu! Did you hear that?" Hikaru asked her friend. Fuu looked up from where she was petting Hikari's head.

"Hear what, Miss Hikaru?" Ferio looked at his assignment. Her voice was quiet and controlled. He still didn't understand why this girl need a guardian angel. She'd never get in trouble.

He looked at Nova. As he was about to ask a question he was overcome with another fit of sneezing. Pink fog penetrated the air. Umi was back. "Damn..." He was surrounded by a fireball. Umi smirked and shook her head.

"You're hopeless."

CHAPTER 3:

A while later, after leaving Nova and Hikaru, Ferio and Umi were quietly following Fuu. Well, maybe not so quietly.

"What are you reading?"

"Volume 3 of Magic Knight Rayearth."

"Rayearth? But that's so juvenile. What about X/1999. Clamp did really well on that one."

"Yeah. Those evil goddesses-" BAMM! Umi was taken over by a fit of coughing after being scorched by a lightening bolt. Ferio smirked.

"Selece, I forgot. No other gods. Anyway. X is good, but Rayearth has more twists and unanswered questions. I love the Master Summoner, too. His eyes are so mysterious behind his long, sexy bangs." Ferio raised an eyebrow. Whistling, he continued on walking behind Fuu. He looked at Umi for a moment.

"Hey, Umi?"

"Yeah." She never looked up from her manga.

"Who's Ascot?" She rolled her eyes.

"The bumbling idiot I have to take care of. He's really annoying. Always in trouble. That's why I tied him to a tree this time and put him to sleep. That way he won't get in trouble, and he'll be happy dreaming about his disgusting monsters." She shivered and continued reading.

"So, what do angels really do? Just follow their wards around? Doesn't that get boring?" Umi shrugged.

"You want interesting you either read old manga (she held up her copy of Rayearth) or you mess with your ward." She thought for a moment. "You don't know much about this girl. You could become visible and get to know her. Plenty of angels do it, just so they know their ward's habits." She looked at Ferio. He shrugged and nodded.

"Why not? What else is there to do?"

Umi smiled. "We just got the new copy of Card Captor Sakura. It's really sweet." Ferio grimaced. His companion "hmphed". "Fine, be that way." She pulled him into an alley. Looking out she watched Fuu walk away. "Ferio. Tell Fuu to sit on the bench there so we don't lose her. You just think it into her head." Ferio sighed. Might as well give it a try. 'Think into her head. Alrighty. Fuu, sit down.' His eyes were scrunched and his hands clutched. Umi smacked him.

"You think too hard she's bound to hurt herself. Now stop." Ferio opened his eyes and looked out of the alley. Fuu was sitting on a nearby bench rubbing her temples. A few minutes later she was again reading her book. 'What does this girl do besides read?', Ferio thought. 'She needs a life. Maybe I can help her with that...Then again. Maybe not.' He turned to look at Umi. She was scrutinizing him.

He stared back blankly. Glancing around warily he put his hands on his hips and scuffed the ground with his shoe.

"So, how do I become visible?", he asked. Umi snapped out of her trance. She looked him up and down.

"First, we have to change your clothes. People would think you were nuts if you ran around Tokyo in pajamas." A guy walked by the alley in a turtle costume. "Then again... This is Tokyo, but we don't want to scare Fuu. So change your clothes."

"Into what, oh great and powerful Umi with the keen fashion sense?" Ferio crossed his arms and waited. He jumped back when Umi snarled.

Clenching her fists she told him, "Think of nothing and clear your mind." Ferio closed his eyes, clenching then shut while trying to rid his mind of thoughts. "Ferio? Stop thinking of nothing. Think of an outfit you want. Please! Do it quickly." Umi's pleading invaded Ferio's head. He concentrated and brought up an image of his favorite outfit, a black and gold dragon T-shirt and worn out jeans. He opened his eyes at Umi's grunt.

"What?" He looked down.

Nothing out of the ordinary. His favorite T-shirt and jeans with sneakers. It was much better than the pajama things.

"What?", he asked again.

"We're gonna have to work on your fashion sense," Umi shuddered. Ferio shrugged.

"To each his own."

"Uncultured slob." Rolling his eyes he continued his favorite past time, leaning on nearby inanimate objects, mainly the wall. Umi sighed. "All right. I'm calm. I'm okay."

"Sure you are," Ferio quipped. Giving him the death glare she smacked him upside the head.

"Usually angel's aren't hypocritical, but there's no rule about hitting things."

Ferio rubbed the back of his head. "You have a hard hand," he grumbled. "Dios."

BAM! Another lightening bolt hit him. Umi smiled contentedly.

"And you have a hard head. God knows all languages so stop cursing." Ferio coughed up some smoke. "Anyway. Visibility." She placed her hand to her forehead to think, drumming her fingers on a trash can. Ferio gritted his teeth. That was so annoying, but he wasn't about to give her the pleasure of telling her so.

"A few rules," she explained," are in order. One: same stuff that applies to angels. Two: be back by sunset. We don't let new angels out at night. Too much temptation. So no after work drinks, got it dead boy?"

"Yeah, whatever. Stop calling me 'dead boy'. Just tell me what to do."

"All right. Close your eyes and run into the wall." Her eyes held an evil glint. 'This can't be good.'

Ferio looked skeptical. "Don't worry!", Umi said. "Nothing will happen. Except of course, you'll become solid. I know it sounds stupid, but give it a try." Ferio looked heavenward in a desperate prayer. Closing his eyes, he ran full tilt into the nearest wall. Then right through the wall. A nasty shock went up his spine. He was now on the inside of the building whose wall he had tried to run into. He decided he didn't want to be there the second he saw the contents of the store. Bracing for the shock, he thrust himself back outside. He glared at Umi whom was on the ground with her feet in the air laughing.

"That wasn't funny," he said.

"Yes it was! What's the matter? Don't like animals?" She started beating the ground with her hands.

"Not when they're gutted and hanging from the ceiling of a refrigerator room," he grumbled. This made Umi burst into another fit of laughter. Finally, breathing heavily, she calmed down.

"Sorry," she said. "I had to do it! You had the funniest look on your face!"

"Har, har, har." Ferio wasn't amused.

She stood up and brushed herself off, straightening the feathers on her wings. "To become visible, simply place your finger on your nose, stand on one foot, turn around three times, and snap your fingers." Ferio looked at her skeptically. "Just do it. I'm telling the truth now. Go on, try." Defeated, Ferio balanced precariously on one foot, placed his finger on his nose, shut his eyes and snapped his fingers. All this while trying to turn around three times. Even prepared, he fell on the last turn. Expecting some strange phenomena (birds, lightening, pink fog) he was surprised when nothing happened.

"Umi, are you sure that was right? You're pulling my leg aren't you?" Turning to face her he stepped back when he saw nothing but air where a blue haired angel once stood. He also noticed a reflection in a store's back window. His.

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There you have it. I apologize for the use of the curse words, but it was the only thing that worked and I did say "general warning". I hope you liked this part. There will be more and 'm almost done with the entire story, so keep reading. Please? Oh! An e-mail! I was so happy when I actually got e-mail! Please e-mail me!

-Mel-Mel

"Inspiration is disturbing."

princess_rosalyn@hotmail.com