Title: The Crime of Passion

Genre: Supernatural/Romance

Rating: T

Pairing: One-sided Oga/Furuichi, One-sided Hecadoth/Furuichi

Status: One-shot. Complete.

Summary: When love is the purest of all emotions, is it a sin to fall in love so deeply that you would do anything?

Warnings: Violence. Biblical Reference. Blasphemy. Murder. Artistic License taken with Religion. All love is one-sided. Alternate Character Interpretation taken so far it just might be OOC. Non-linear storytelling. If you're religious or easily offended, this probably isn't for you.

Disclaimer: Nope. Not mine.

-x-x-x-

Furuichi doesn't think of it as falling in love.

For him, it would be more accurate to describe the sensation as crashing headfirst into the ground after jumping from a cliff.

After all, that was what being in love with Oga was like.

[You bruise. You bleed. Your limbs break.

You die.]

-x-x-x-

It started like this:

"There are toxins in those tissues. You'll die if you use them." Hecadoth had said, while sending a roundhouse kick to another random delinquent using Furuichi's body.

"And?" Furuichi had replied, seemingly disinterested, dodging a punch and sending another assailant flying backwards into his ally.

Hecadoth had blinked and inclined his head towards Furuichi, "did you know about this beforehand?" he had questioned, before frowning to himself. "I would doubt so though – you weren't expecting me to be summoned."

A harsh chuckle had left Furuichi's mouth, "does it matter?" he had questioned, and had paused to tilt his head up towards Hecadoth who was floating above him, "if I died?"

"I would assume so." Hecadoth had replied, while watching the faint tendrils creep up his contractor's leg, "I believed it had mattered to most humans. Those that I met did panic when I told them that they were going to die. You, on the other hand, seem rather calm for a human who was told they were going to die."

At Hecadoth's words, Furuichi had felt the corners of his mouth lift up, "I'll take 'being calm' as a compliment," he had said.

[It was then that Hecadoth knew that he wasn't falling in love with Furuichi Takayuki. After all, falling implies plummeting to a lower place. And even though Hell is technically a 'lower place', Hecadoth doesn't think that he can use the word plummeting in juncture with Furuichi Takayuki.

But he can.

Because sanity is a slippery slope and once you step off the road you go down down down down dow-

And sooner or later, you crash.]

-x-x-x-

Love at first sight is a wondrous thing. Love at second is even more so.

Furuichi Takayuki fell in love the carefree smirk that Oga Tatsumi gave him the first time they met. He fell in love with his reckless behaviour the second time. Furuichi Takayuki fell in love with the violence that emits from him and falls deeper every day.

Every day, every minute, every second of his life, Furuichi Takayuki finds a new way to fall in love.

But there are two faces to every coin. Two sides to every story.

And Furuichi Takayuki hated Oga Tatsumi the first time they met. A hate that felt like rust, like sin - a deep and disgusting emotion.

He hated Oga Tatsumi's carefree smirk. He hated Oga Tatsumi's mindless violence and reckless behaviour. For everything that he loves about Oga Tatsumi, Furuichi finds a new thing to hate.

But he doesn't want that - Furuichi doesn't want to hate. Because he knows that a general cannot hate the person that he is supposed to serve - because there are enough enemies for that already. And Furuichi knows that he must not hate because he loves.

So Furuichi shuts his eyes and prays to a god that he doesn't believe in but knows that exists because there are demons and devils and-

Everything must exist in equal.

For black there is white.

For good there is evil.

[For hate, there is -.

For love, there is -.]

-x-x-x-

No, it starts like this:

Furuichi stared at the green haired baby sitting on top of Oga's shoulders. Oga was looking intensely towards the television screen as he gripped the controller within his hands with what might be too much force.

The green haired child looked back at him, eyes wide in the way that only babies could pull off. And Furuichi feels emotions he thought he had long buried.

He feels a deep, dark and festering hate, laced with strings of jealously and the odd urge to commit infanticide.

Or perhaps it isn't so odd.

[Because deep down, Furuichi knows that he is a filthy monster, and that one day, everything will come to light.]

-x-x-x-

Furuichi is a selfish person by nature. He doesn't like to share things. He doesn't like care much about what other people want. What matters is what he wants, and nothing else.

So when he sees Oga with other people (friends) it angers him. It angers him so much. Because Furuichi is selfish, he doesn't like sharing things, and Oga is his.

But Oga smiled. He grinned and beckoned to those friends of his and he smiled (happily).

And it hurt. It hurt so badly. Because as selfish as he was, Furuichi cannot resent them (those filthy thieves-I'll break their-) for making Oga smile.

[But he does resent and hate and despise and-

One day, he hopes to end them all.]

-x-x-x-

No, that's wrong too. This is how it truly starts:

"I'm very worried about Tatsumi-kun," Furuichi overhears one day, while walking alone along the corridor to his class. Oga had skipped out, claiming that his sister had something for him to do. And while Furuichi had wanted to go with him, he recalls his mother's lamenting over his grades, and of his association with someone who was deemed to be a 'problem child'.

While Furuichi doesn't want to spend time away from Oga, he knows that in the long run, this will benefit them. Will benefit him.

"He keeps skipping classes and getting into fights," Furuichi pressed his ear against the door, trying his best to hear what the teacher was saying about Oga. What the teacher was saying about his Oga. "I feel really horrible saying this, but it's not only him. He also gets other students into his troubles! Why, recently, I just found out that he dragged Takayuki-kun into one of his fights!"

Furuichi took a deep breath in and tried to calm himself down – it would not do him any good to mindlessly rush in and tell his teacher that she should just take her opinions and stick them in a place where the sun doesn't shine. "I really don't know what to do about that boy!" A pause; and Furuichi grits his teeth. "I don't think it'll help. I heard his sister is involved in gang activities, this must run in the family, don't you think?"

With each word that came out of her mouth, Furuichi feels a chill spreading through his body. He feels murderous rage, and a not-so-strange need to put a permanent end to the venom spewing from her mouth.

"Alright, I'll see you later." Furuichi hears the click of an 'end call' button and thinks to himself, that this just might be the moment where everything changes. "I really hope my children don't grow up to become like that boy."

He grits his teeth and clenched his hands.

This time, Furuichi thinks, he will do it.

["Walls have ears. Doors have eyes. Trees have voices. Beasts tell lies. Beware the rain. Beware the snow. Beware the man you think you know."]

-x-x-x-

Miki was an oddity. Miki was something that Furuichi didn't expect. He feels jealousy, he feels rage, he feels anger - but what he doesn't feel is the urge to commit murder. At least, he doesn't feel the need to commit it on Miki.

Although, he suspects, it might just be because he knew that Miki posed no threat to the both of them back then.

This fact doesn't stop him from feeling joy when Miki moves away, angry against Oga. It doesn't stop him from feeling happy when Miki's misunderstanding and angers drives a wedge between him and Oga.

But when they met once again, him and Oga and Miki, Furuichi burns with a dark, murderous hatred that had become all too common for him.

[And Furuichi dreams of blood and gore, of black hair matted with blood.

Who's, he doesn't know.]

-x-x-x-

It takes him 4 months to plan everything out. 4 months of careful planning, of plotting and of diverting attention, before he finally decides that it was the correct time to act on his plan.

His… teacher - for a lack of a better word, liked to stay back on the second and last Thursday of every month. This is coincidentally the day that most of the teachers leave on time. The other teacher that also stayed back on Thursday had gotten an anonymous letter in his home, with evidence of a student that had been abused by his parents.

His teacher prefers to takes the South stairs, which are the furthest from the staff room, but nearest to the back gate, which was right next to a parking lot. She parks her car there every morning, after driving her child to the childcare centre.

Thursday is the day that both parents work late, so their child is brought home together with the neighbour's child, and will stay in the neighbour's house till either one of the parents come home.

On that fateful Thursday night, Furuichi tells his parents that he has a surprise to plan, and planned to go to the shopping district to buy some items – items that he had bought a week ago and hid in his classroom desk. He then hid in the toilet till the time that the teacher would probably start to leave and goes to the alcove near the stairway and waits for the teacher to pass by.

She does not disappoint.

[Years later, Furuichi will look back on this moment and think of all the loopholes that his plan had and resolves to never make such mistakes ever again.

He doesn't.]

-x-x-x-

Furuichi calls himself a tactician because he plans. He has contingency plans over contingency plans. If Plan A didn't work, he'll go to Plan B. Or Plan C. Or Plan D.

But this time, just Plan A was enough.

Oga will never be able to forget him. Will never be able to un-see him.

Will carry the guilt of causing his death for the rest of his life.

["Do you know what I fear, Hecadoth?"]

-x-x-x-

"If I die," he tells Hecadoth, "don't contact the Pillar Squad."

Hecadoth stares at him, disbelief clear upon his face.

"He'll come here," Furuichi says, "he'll come here and I'll die. My dying visage will be forever imprinted upon his eyes. I'll be the first one to sacrifice my life for him. He'll remember me forever."

['Tactician,' Hecadoth thinks to himself. 'You're not the only selfish one here.']

-x-x-x-

He did it.

"You have it wrong, you know." Furuichi said, standing over his teacher's soon to be dead body, "Oga Tatsumi isn't a monster. He's a beautiful storm, a raging force of nature - something that a creature like you could never understand."

His teacher coughs, and blood continued to seep out from her head and out of her mouth onto the floor. Furuichi took a step back, away from the rapidly forming pool of blood.

"Oga isn't a monster, I am."

[They were a couple of years older than him and had outnumbered him nine-to-one.

They called him a monster, and Furuichi smiled as he slit their throats.]

-x-x-x-

"You would be such a wonderful contractor," Behemoth whispered, "such darkness, such sin in one so young like you."

Furuichi takes a deep breath in and ignores the voice echoing in his mind, he doesn't threaten, he doesn't attempt to defend himself, and he doesn't ask questions. What he does is ignore the words, because out of everybody, he knows that if he ignores everything, nothing ever happened.

"Ignoring me won't change anything, it won't erase the blood on your hands," Behemoth continues, "The young teacher was only the start, wasn't she? Such a poor little thing, her oh-so innocent blood stains your hands, for what? She is sacrificed for your twisted love, her, along with so. Many. Others," he chuckles, and in Furuichi's mind, Behemoth's smile twists and morphs into a macabre version of itself.

"Did you not think that she has people she loved too? That she had people who loved her? Who cherished her like you cherish Beelzebub's Contractor?" Behemoth questioned, his words slithering out and coiling around Furuichi like chains, "is the grief of so many people worth it?"

Images long repressed flashed across Furuichi's mind - he remembers her talking about her husband, talking about her children, talking about how they spent the holidays together. He remembers how she had talking about how much she missed her husband whenever he went on an overseas business trip. He remembers her putting up photos of her family as her computer's background. He remembers how the feeling of triumph took over him when he saw her dead body and-

Furuichi forgets.

"I'm afraid I don't know what you mean. I feel sorry for her, for having her life ended by such a horrible accident. I don't know why you're bringing this up though," Furuichi answered, truly and honestly confused.

And Behemoth laughed, with a grin so wide it almost splits his face into two.

-x-x-x-

The rumours travel around the school, whispered words of sympathy flow from the students' and teachers' mouths and Furuichi looks at the tears they shed, hears the words they speak and learns.

"Oh, how I pity her children. So young and they had to lose their mother. Poor things."

"And her husband looks so terrible, he must be so sad."

"Her students too! What poor things, to lose a beloved teacher."

He learns, he learns and he learns. Tears, as false as the words that fall from his lips, fall from his eyes, and Furuichi thinks to himself, that his words shouldn't be false, that his tears shouldn't be fake - they should be real.

Otherwise, they might take his love away from him.

So Furuichi believes and the memories in his brain rearrange themselves. And when someone asks him what he thinks about his teacher's accident, real words tumble from his mouth and real tears spill from his eyes. And no guilt, no feelings of responsibility threaten to take over him and it doesn't matter, because those emotions have no place in him.

After all that was what it was - an accident, and nothing more.

[Years later, Furuichi will pick up a newspaper and stare at the headline that proclaimed the death of a gang that had been terrorising middle schoolers and forcing them to join their group.

Then he will put it down. Because such stories don't concern him.]

-x-x-x-

"Hecadoth, do you have somebody you like?"

The sudden and unexpected question had Hecadoth blinking several times in confusion at his contractor. He tilts his head, "do you?"

A pout, and Furuichi turns to mock glare at Hecadoth, "it's bad form to answer a question with a question."

He shrugged, and turned his eyes away from the dark remnants of the poison coursing through his contractor's veins, the crawling shadows from the depths of hell just waiting for the opportunity to drag his contractor into hell for going against the laws laid down.

Humans, no matter how much demonic energy they have, have things that they cannot see.

"For a given value of 'like', yes," Hecadoth replies and turns away from his contractor to assess the damage done to the surrounding landscape and delinquents.

"Really? So do I," Furuichi replies, "for a given value of 'like', anyways."

[It doesn't take much to know that Oga Tatsumi is the one person that Furuichi Takayuki likes. Hecadoth is a demon, and good demons have the ability to see into a human's heart, to see the darkness that lurks there.

Furuichi Takayuki is one of the best contractors that a demon can have.

After all, killing someone who wasn't meant to die at that time only means that you're a step into hell.

It isn't a sin to murder.

But to deviate from your set path -

To step into God's domain-]

-x-x-x-

Gang Fight leaves 9 Dead

A fight that occurred late last night in a construction site left nine high school gang members dead due to knife wounds.

The fight occurred at approximately 3am to 4am in the morning, according to the police and eyewitness accounts.

A passer-by, who wishes to be known only as F-san, said: "I heard very loud shouting and scream last night, while walking back home after getting some late night snacks from the convenience store nearby. I didn't want to get involved with gang fights, you know. So I took the long way back."

Police said that they were trying their best to find the other party in the fight, and ask residents to report any information they might have to the nearest police box or station.

-x-x-x-

"Did you know," Behemoth starts, causing Furuichi to jump up in surprise.

"Where did you come from?!" Furuichi almost shouts, and places his drink on the table before him, thankful that he didn't spill any of his drink.

"Did you know," repeated Behemoth, ignoring Furuichi's exclamation, and the subsequent glare that was level at him. "That the most interesting thing about demons is that there are good demons, and there are good demons."

Furuichi scoffs, "for a given value of good?"

Behemoth glances towards Furuichi and a lazy grin spreads across his face, "for both values of good."

-x-x-x-

"Good afternoon," a clear voice cuts across the gathering of delinquents, and all eyes turned to look at the silver haired boy standing at the entrance of the clearing.

The ring leader of the group squinted at the unarmed boy and said, "aren't you Oga's little puppy? The hell you doing here?"

"I have a message for you guys," the boy begins, "although I'm not exactly sure how to put it…" He continues, a sheepish look crossing his face.

"A message? From Oga?"

The boy pointedly ignored the question and continued muttering to himself, "How should I put it? In a roundabout way? A straightforward manner?"

The leader of the bunch of delinquents gritted his teeth and stood up, marching over to the boy and swung a first, "don't ignore me, you little-"

But the first never connected, as the boy stepped to the side and used his foot to trip the delinquent, causing him to fall flat on his face. "I guess I'll go with the straightforward way then," the boy said, with an air of one who had to make a very troublesome decision.

He turned towards the rest of the gathered delinquents, "don't go near Oga. You guys are trash; you're not worthy to stand by his side."

The delinquents stared at the boy who floored their leader in one move and began to stand and move towards him.

"You're just one boy, what do you think you can do?" One of them said, cracking his knuckles in what was supposed to be a threatening manner.

"Oga is one boy too," the silver haired boy said, easily stepping to the side to avoid a first that flew at him.

"And I know I'm not strong," the boy continued, ducking to avoid a kick. "I don't have the raw power that Oga has. If I fought any of you in an arm wrestling contest, I'll definitely lose."

"Shit! This little brat keeps running away, just stand there and let me hit you!"

"I think that it would hurt," the boy said, "and thus would have to kindly refuse."

"He's not even hitting us, what, you scared or something?'

The boy nodded in agree, and ducked another fist, "I'm scared of course, but don't get me wrong, I'm not scared of you," a smile that didn't reach his eyes crossed his lips, "and the weak have their own weapons."

-x-x-x-

"It's quite rude to disappear in the middle of a conversation," Furuichi said, and motioned to the empty seat beside the demon, "mind if I sit down?"

"Be my guest," Behemoth said, shifting over to the other side of the bench.

"You're not going to disappear on me this time, are you?"

Behemoth shrugged, "I'm a very busy demon."

"And yet you still have time to come visit a human," Furuichi said, chuckling, "am I that fascinating?"

"All in all? Yes," Behemoth turned towards Furuichi, with his ever-present grin on his face. "After all, it's really quite rare for a human not to be afraid of me."

"How would you know that I don't feel fear for you?" Furuichi replied, "I could just be very good at hiding it."

"Hiding it has no use," said Behemoth, who then pointed at his eyes, "good demons can see through a human's heart. There's nothing you can hide from a good demon."

"Really? For which value of good?"

The grin on Behemoth's face grew even further, "what do you think?"

Furuichi chuckled, "I guess that was kind of a stupid question."

Behemoth chuckled back at him, "I'm not about to give out information for free, if you really want to know, I'll give you a deal, a question for a question, an answer for an answer."

"And if I don't want to answer a question? What then?"

"I'll ask a different question, vice versa."

"Alright, sounds interesting. I could do with something to kill my time."

Behemoth laughed, "I'm sure you'll find this to be more than interesting."

-x-x-x-

When Furuichi faces Takamiya and Lucifer, he thinks and calculates the best possible outcome based on his current situation.

There is an 87% chance that he will win if Behemoth appears, a 74% chance Jabberwock will win, a 49% chance that that Lunana, Lindworm or Kirin will win, a 39% chance the Pillar Barons will win and a 27% chance that a Pillar General will win.

He decides to go with a Pillar General.

["It's not death I fear," Furuichi said, "it's not pain either."]

-x-x-x-

In the end, it doesn't matters how it starts.

It doesn't matter if it starts with an accidental demon summoning, a green-haired demon baby, an overheard phone conversation or a forgetful little boy.

It doesn't matter if it starts with a new transfer student with a tendency for violence and love at first sight.

It doesn't matter how it starts.

What matters is how it ends.

[In blood, pain and bruises.

In love.

In hate.

And in-?]

-x-x-x-

He woke up panting, with barely formed sentences falling from his lips. "The tactician-" he said, gasping, "at the school," he had managed to choke out.

"Lucifer," he had buried his face between his hands, "-his soul."

And they could only stare as sobs left him, along with muffled mutters of "Furuichi," "I'm sorry," "I'm selfish," left his mouth.

["Can demons feel love?"

"Of course they can."

"But isn't love supposed to be the embodiment of all things good? The purest and most selfless of all emotions? Aren't demons supposed to be embodiments of sin?"

"Crimes of passion stem from the deepest of love, shouldn't you know that yourself?"

"Whatever do you mean?"]

-x-x-x-

"So," Furuichi begins, "why would a human being be sent to hell for?"

Behemoth cocked an eyebrow, "you'll be going to hell anyways, what's the point of asking that?"

"For knowledge? And it is okay? To tell me that I'm going to hell?"

"Why not? Telling you won't change a thing."

"Hmm. So humans can't redeem themselves? Can't beg forgiveness and be allowed into the pearly gates?"

It depends, really." Behemoth said, "I wonder if I should be telling you this," he muttered to himself before shrugging, "what harm could it do?"

"Famous last words," said Furuichi, a small grin on his face.

A chuckle left Behemoth's mouth, "like I said before, it depends on the human. A human can be a murderer and go to heaven, or be a selfless being who donates their last bit or cash to charity and go to hell."

"Doesn't that invalidate all the teachings?"

"Does it? The teaching says that God has your path set out for you, but you still have free will. And that's the truth."

"So it's what? Free will to murder? To pillage? To rape? But that doesn't explain why saints can go to hell."

"No, no, no. That's not it," Behemoth tilted his head, "let me put this in a way closer to you."

He turned towards Furuichi, "your teacher was supposed to die 8 years, 4 months and 5 days after you pushed her down the stairs in a fatal car accident from a drunk driver. The paramedics would arrive to the scene too late and pronounce her dead on arrival. Her husband and children would cry and mourn the fact that she never got the chance to see her grandchild."

Pausing to see if Furuichi was still listening, Behemoth continued, "she would have died an early death, according to human standards, but she would have lived a happy and fulfilling one, doing her best to do what she believed was the best for her students."

"Why does it matter?" Furuichi asked. "She's dead, and that's all there is to it."

"She's dead," Behemoth replied, "because you killed her. Because you pushed her down a flight of stairs and took 8 years off her life. You decided her fate," he continued, with a wicked grin upon his face, "you stepped into god's domain."

Laughter rang throughout the area, "that's it? Oh god, that's the most hilarious thing I've heard in my life!" Furuichi gasped out, in between laughs.

"I was right," Behemoth said, staring at Furuichi with amusement clear in his eyes. "You would make a good demon."

["Can Hilda-san see through a human heart too?"

"Hilda is a good demon, despite her attitude, she can only be a good demon."]

-x-x-x-

Furuichi knows many things.

This isn't love.

He knows that is this is the truth.

This isn't hate.

He knows that this is the truth too.

This is-

Something.

Everything.

[Obsession. Envy. Jealously. Fear. Boredom. Passion. Infatuation. Addiction. Desire. Adoration.

This is-]

-x-x-x-

Setting the bouquet of flowers down; Furuichi stares at the grave of his elementary school teacher and smiles softly to himself.

"You know, I just found out recently that demons and monsters do actually exist, not in an abstract sense, but actual, physical demons that emerged from hell." He said, chuckling to himself.

"But that's not what I came here to say," Furuichi continues, "years ago, you said you hoped your children didn't grow up to be like Oga. Turns out, you should have wished that they would turn out like him."

The wind rustles the trees and a loose leaf drop down in front of Furuichi, on top of the flowers he brought.

"Oga is the best example of a stellar citizen, one that would be let through the gates of heaven should he choose to ascend. You see, a demon told me that God could hardly fault him for harming others, without first punishing a lioness or a shark that hunts. Oga was made to fight in glorious battle, and I'll stand by his side till my last breath leaves my body."

"If you just hadn't made that phone call, just hadn't kept to such a rigid schedule, you probably would still have been alive today," Furuichi tilted his head to the side, "well, you would have died eight years later, had I not killed you first."

"But really, it doesn't matter. I would have killed you for trying to separate Oga and I."

Furuichi leaned in closer to the grave, "you want to hear something funny?" He whispered.

"You were my first kill, and I forgot all about you."

The wind continues to blow across the almost empty gravesite, rustling the leaves and grass.

"I forgot about planning your death, I forgot all about watching you die, I forgot everything and it was glorious."

-x-x-x-

"Hey, do you have anybody you like?" Honoka had asked him one day, while doing her homework.

"Hm? Why are you asking me this? Don't tell me you have someone you like? Do I have to protect my cute little sister's chastity?"

"NO!" She had shouted out, huffing in annoyance. "Just-just answer the question!"

"I have lots of people I like, you, Mum, Dad, Oga, all the pretty ladies in the world-"

"You idiot brother, answer it properly!"

"Haha, you're already at that age, huh."

"My age has nothing to do with this!"

"Yes, yes. It has nothing to do with this."

"Don't patronise me."

"Okay, okay... Your big brother has someone he loves."

"Really? Who? It is someone I know?"

"I'm not telling you~"

"Che. But… being in love... How does it feel like?"

"It-"

-x-x-x-

Furuichi feels his heart being ripped out, feels his soul being shredded into pieces. Feels his very core being consumed like a mere dessert and it-

-x-x-x-

"-hurts. It hurts a lot."

-x-x-x-

This is how it ends.

In blood.

In bruises.

In broken limbs.

In death.

-x-Fin-x-