2Hey, guys! I'm back with the latest installment of Demonic Storm! In the last chapter, you learn about Kas and Conri. In this chapter, I introduce two new OCs as well to keep things interesting, one of my own creation and another belonging to Kuroi inazuma that you will get a slight glimpse of towards the asked if I could add them to the story and I intend to, but I'll keep this OC as a total mystery. We always need the enigma character in a fanfic because it adds a certain flair to keep people guessing. Anyway, enough of my babbling on, enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 2: Heavenly Visitor
"What the hell?!" I heard a scream echo throughout the dorm, startling me awake as I soon bolted out the door with Conri by my side. We ran along until we finally made it out to the dorm kitchen to see Rin standing there in the middle of the room. He turned around to look at me before pointing at the table in disbelief. "Breakfast was already made for us! How is this guy doing all of this?!"
All I could do was laugh, his irritated and confused glances making me even more amused. I knew that this was going to be one of those mysteries that would end up driving him crazy and I wasn't about to lessen what I was sure would be one hell of a moment. He was still rather annoyed with me after we settled down from breakfast around the time Yukio arrived, going through the same emotional process that Rin went through. They kept trying to question me about the dorm chef, but I stayed silent as I ate my breakfast and then quickly bolted back to my room to change into my uniform. Since I was taking a few classes in this academy when I periodically arrived and they were higher ranked, they didn't care how I wore my uniform so long as I had it on.
When I went down to the ground floor, Rin was already waiting for me. "Yukio said that he had to leave early for his medical class, so you're going to have to show me around."
"Why didn't he do that yesterday?" I grumbled, snatching his class schedule from his hands and reading it.
"He was still really angry at me," Rin said with a shrug.
"Why are you taking such low level classes at the academy?" I wondered as I checked the list.
He snatched the paper back and growled, "Probably because I only have a junior high diploma!"
"Well, that would explain it," I said with a sheepish smile before grabbing him by the sleeve to hurry him out the door. "Come on, Rin. I've got half an hour before my first class starts and I fully intend on showing you around beforehand because I'm not going to be late for you."
"Take it easy, will ya?! You're going to rip the sleeve off and I'll probably get in trouble!"
"Oh, please. It's the first day of school for you. They'll look the other way. If they don't, say some crazy upperclassman ran into you in the hallway and ripped the jacket in the process."
We stayed silent as I rushed use along toward the main campus, Conri wandering around as we walked and lightly wagging his tail like a big dog. "Do they allow him on campus?" Rin finally asked when Conri loped back over to us after inspecting something he heard in the bushes on the edge of the path.
"The teachers may not understand why it's allowed, but Mephisto told him that anyone with a pin from the True Cross Order is allowed to keep their familiars in the classroom. He's assured them that they are well-behaved. Not only that, but the familiars look almost exactly like pets."
"What does Conri look like to a human?"
"Depends on the human," Conri said. "Some say I look like an oversized German Shepherd or Siberian Husky. Personally, I'd say I look like a wolf and dog hybrid."
"A Wolfdog?" Rin asked curiously.
"Yep, I just tell people that he's a high content Wolfdog and they don't freak out as much if I had told them he's a wolf."
"Humans…." Conri said with an amused sigh. "Such a panicky race that can't handle things that are different."
"That's not entirely true," Rin said with a slight frown. "I thought I handled the news well when I was told there was a world of Demons that mirrored our own."
"You're also not entirely human," I reminded him.
"Why does that have to matter?" he mumbled. "Demons are apathetic and don't care about who lives or dies. I'd rather be human than Demon because humanity is capable of great things."
"Or terrible things," I said lightly before turning my gaze back to his. "Don't forget that."
We were just about to reach the main square when Rin spoke again. "Why aren't you offended over the fact that I just insulted Demons?"
"Maybe it's because I'm more in tune with humanity than other Demons," I explained as we headed towards a large brick building. "I just don't… feel like a Demon most days, probably because I spend most of my time saving them rather than trying to destroy them."
"So I guess there are exceptions in every case," he said with a kind smile. "For a Demon, you're alright, Kas. I won't mind working with you."
Even though I tried to stop it, I felt the answering smile forming on my face, looking down so he couldn't see it and adjusting the silver chain around my body that kept the sword strapped on my back. "Alright, enough of the mushy talk," I said before pointing at the large brick building ahead of us. "That one is the building that you'll be spending most of your time in the first half of your school day. It's also the last one I'll be in before lunch, so I can lead you to the cafeteria if you wait for me in the lobby. Your first and last class of the morning will be here as well. The class in between is in the grey building to the right of it. Now, do you want me to show you were your last three classes are or do you want to wait until after lunch?"
"Let's just do it after lunch," Rin said as he adjusted the strap to the slip of fabric that covered his sword on his shoulder. "So what are we going to do for our remaining time before class?"
"That's up to you. I don't mind hanging out with you until it's time for class to start. If you want to be alone until then, that's fine with me as well."
"We can hang out together for now," he said with a slight smirk, one that I was beginning to think was something he was prone to doing. He was the one to lead me over to a shady area next to one of the buildings, sitting down on the bench after placing his weapon in front of him and patting the seat next to him. I shook my head slightly before pulling my own sword from the chain and settling it upright against the bench next to me. Conri then thought it was a good idea to climb up on the bench with us and lie down, the wolf being big enough to lie on both of our laps.
"Take it easy!" I grumbled, playfully shoving him a little so that he turned to nip my arm.
"So tell me more about yourself," Rin said quickly, trying to seem nonchalant when I could see the curiosity blazing in those blue eyes of his.
"Nothing really to tell," I told him as I scratched Conri behind the ear that was closest to me, watching as he closed his eyes in bliss. "I'm mostly categorized as a Knight Meister, but I'm also slightly a Tamer and Doctor. I'm also the one person that others can't sneak up on, no matter how hard other people try."
"Wait, seriously?"
"Yep, seriously. It's how my Demon abilities work."
"I need to see this."
"Sure." I looked down at Conri, who had a bit of a knowing look on his face. "We have a non-believer here. Show him how it works."
"We'll see if I can scare you this time," he said with a wolfish grin before hopping off the bench and practically disappearing into the shadows.
"Aren't you going to be aware of the fact that he's going to ambush you?" Rin asked, frowning slightly.
"Yes, but I won't know from which direction he'll appear. He's pretty great at literally melting into the shadows because of his dark pelt."
We still had ten minutes left before class when I sensed Conri coming swiftly from the right. He knew that he had to be speedy about it or else I would catch him early. I turned my head just as he came into sight next to me, quickly planting a kiss on his nose when he abruptly stopped. With a snort, he violently shook his head and I laughed, turning to smile at Rin.
He had a strange look on his face for a split second before it disappeared entirely. I chose to ignore it when I said, "See what I mean? I'm not too shabby at this."
"I think that was better than not too shabby," he said before a bell began to toll, signaling that we had five minutes to get to class. "Well, I think I should get going. If I don't leave early, I probably will make it to class late. See you later!" He stood up and threw the strap of the covering for his sword over his shoulder before walking away in his normal slouchy way.
I shook my head before heading in the opposite direction towards a building that looked rather high tech, the sheath of my sword slid back into the chain for now. Conri followed beside me as we headed inside and walked down a myriad of hallways before I made it to class. Just as I walked inside the room, all heads turned in my direction and the whole room fell silent. It was yet another reason why I hated being back. The other students would always watch me warily and avoid me like the plague, like they were a school of fish and I was the shark in their midst. I walked over to my desk and pull my sheathed sword from the chain, leaning it against the wall next to me and sitting down with Conri by my side.
"Are we going to play the game where I talk and you tap on the table in response, two taps for yes and one for no?" the big wolf asked as he rested his head on my lap. "I think you keep forgetting that you can use telepathy with me, what with you being a strong demon and all." When I tapped the tabletop once loudly, Conri chuckled. "Oh, right. You insist that the teacher will somehow think that you're not listening because it looks a little like you're zoning out while speaking with me in your mind. Just try it once today please." I tapped the table once more, making the wolf sigh. "Fine then. You can sit in silence. I won't speak to you again until you start a conversation."
I stuck my tongue out at him and he laughed softly before I looked up at the teacher that was walking into the room. "Alright, take your seats," he said. All the students began filing over to their seats and once again I was still alone. They all avoided my table and I shrugged, not caring about the fact that they didn't seem to want to be around me.
This class was all about higher forms of math, ones I could some days get into if I wasn't concentrating on other things. The professor was explaining something new involving calculus when I happened to look out the window. I was startled slightly when I saw someone standing on the sidewalk and looking at me. I thought perhaps he had just happened to be looking in my direction, but a solid minute passed and he kept watching me. He was kind of tall and quite muscled even though he looked lean. He had short, shaggy blonde hair and bright violet eyes, ones that blazed as they met mine from afar. A slight smirk appeared before he turned away and walked off into the crowd, disappearing entirely.
"I just saw someone watching me," I spoke in my mind, projecting my thoughts to Conri as I turned to listen to what the teacher was saying.
His ears perked up as he asked, "Was it a Demon?"
"No, some guy I didn't recognize. He was staring at me before he left. Something about him just… makes me wonder if we'll keep seeing him around."
"We can only hope that we don't."
The rest of my classes that morning passed swiftly and before long I was done with the last morning class in the brick building. I headed downstairs to the lobby and saw Rin already waiting for me. "Ready for lunch?" he asked with a smile before his stomach growled loudly.
"I definitely am," I said before gesturing that he should follow me.
I headed in a northerly direction for a few minutes before we finally reached a huge one story building with all of the door thrown wide open to help with the heat. I lead him inside and made Conri wait at a table so he could save us a spot while we went over to the line to get food. It was as we were waiting that I heard Rin gasp and I smirked a little at his expressions. He was reading a sign that showed the prices for food and I knew that he wasn't very happy.
"This is crazy expensive! I can't afford this food!" he exclaimed.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out a black card, flashing it in front of him. "This little piece of hardware is overly full of money," I said, feeling rather amused by his attitude. "I am perfectly okay with paying for your lunch since I barely use the money for myself."
"Just know I might eat a lot," Rin said, grinning excitedly over the fact that he'd have a free meal.
I smirked a little and we walked closer to get a huge tray of food before moving to the short line to pay for it. Once there, I saw a familiar tall student with dark red hair that was in a pixie cut that was working at the register. When we walked up to her counter, her forest green eyes sparkled excitedly before she gave me a happy smile. "Kas, you're back! It's good to see you again! When do you get here?"
"Hey there, Rei," I smiled back, feeling happy to see the girl again. "I just got back yesterday. I didn't know that you were working here."
"Yeah, they hired me here a month ago!" she said excitedly. "Now that you're back again, we should totally go out on the town together! There are supposed to be some good movies playing at the theater!"
"It will have to be this weekend," I told her before bumping my shoulder lightly against Rin's. "I have to help this guy out for now."
She gave me a teasing look before she said, "Kasumi Imai, you sly dog! You've been back a day and you already have a boyfriend?"
"W-what?" I asked shakily, noticing out of the corner of my eye that Rin was beginning to blush. "Reina, get that thought out of your mind right now! He's a new student and the headmaster of the school wants me to watch out for him!"
"I'm sure that's it," she said with a devious wink. "I see the way he already looks at you."
"N-now wait a minute!" Rin protested, his voice cracking slightly. "I barely know her! There's no way I'd date her if I don't know her well!"
"I'm good at sensing these things," Reina said wickedly, "so I know that one day it really will happen."
"Alright, quit teasing him," I reprimanded her, making her giggle a little before I handed her my card. "Rin, go take the tray to the table. I'll be there in a few minutes."
He agreed and swiftly left so he could get out of the embarrassing situation. As Reina typed away on her computer to gain access to the card, I said, "There's no need to tease the newbie so much."
"I was and I wasn't," she said, now sounding serious when she handed me the card back. "You know how when I first met you, I told you that I was slightly clairvoyant?"
"I remember."
"Well, I'm getting to the point where that ability is getting stronger," she explained with an absentminded smile. "I can see clearer bits and pieces into the near future and I can see him watching you rather fondly. You and he are going to have a close future, whether you guys like it or not."
Even though I didn't want to, I said good-bye for now to my old friend before heading back to the table where an impatient Rin sat in wait. "Who was that girl?" he finally asked when I sat down, a faint blush still adorning his cheeks.
"Her name is Reina Tsukino and she is a good friend," I told him as I began to separate our food. "Out of all the humans on this campus, she is the only one who didn't shy away from me just because she could sense deep down that I was different. In fact, my uniqueness is the reason why she sat with me on my first day at this academy. She explained that she had inherited her grandmother's clairvoyance after it had skipped a generation and she could just tell that she and I would become good friends."
"If she's clairvoyant, does that mean…?"
"That she can see Demons?" I said, looking over at him and noting that he nodded. "I want to say no, but I have a feeling that she might be able to, even if it's just a little. I mean, how else could she be so comfortable with me if she didn't already know my secret?"
Rin started to concentrate on the weird food he had before him, the one with a name I couldn't remember, before remembering something important. "Oh, I meant to ask earlier. What do you have in mind for the first day of training?"
"Oh, it will just be basic things tonight," I said before taking a huge bite from a bread roll.
"Define basic things."
After chewing for a few seconds and then swallowing the bite of food, I said, "Basic things, Rin. I need to test your speed, strength, defense, and maybe even your critical thinking skills."
"Why critical thinking skills?" he asked curiously.
"I have to make sure that you're clever enough to get out of any situation presented to you," I told him with a smile.
"I think I should be able to do that," he said with a determined expression.
We finished our lunch rather quickly and I still couldn't figure out where Rin managed to put all the food he bought earlier. I was thinking about asking him if he had a tapeworm when he grabbed the tray and ran off with it so he could put it in its proper place to be cleaned. I waited patiently for him to return before I showed him the buildings for his next classes. I noticed the schedule that was sitting on the table and grabbed it before he came back, skimming over what was written until I noticed with a laugh that he only had one class after lunch. Great, that means he's going to be coming back to the dorm in an hour and annoying me, I thought with a smirk. When he finally returned, I turned to give Reina a quick wave, one she enthusiastically returned, and we headed back towards the center of the academy.
"Can't I just skip this last class?" Rin grumbled just before we reached our destination.
"Now I can understand why you only have a junior high diploma," I said under my breath.
I showed him the building that he would be in for an hour and then forcibly walked him inside so that he couldn't somehow escape. I shook my head at his retreating form before beginning to head back to the old dorm, yawning a little as I walked along the path with Conri. It was when I almost made it to the dorm that I noticed a figure standing there, looking up at the old dorm with disinterest. I was getting closer to that person as I noticed the blonde hair and stature, cringing a little when Conri growled at him. The man turned his head and looked at me out of the corner of one violet eye, an air of seriousness exuding from him that set me on edge.
"You're not a student here," I said simply, staying emotionless as I stopped ten feet away from him.
"You'd be correct," he said as he turned his entire body to face me. "I guess you could say that I am a visitor."
"Why are you in True Cross Academy in the first place?" I inquired suspiciously. I felt Conri move closer to my leg so that his fur brushed against my skin.
"Strictly for business," he said as he slid his hands into the pockets of his pants.
"I seriously doubt that you have business here at this dorm," I told him, frowning slightly.
"Actually, I do. I'm here to speak with you on a matter of utmost importance."
"Oh, I doubt that very much," I said, snickering a little to myself before beginning to walk in his direction to head to the front of the dorm.
It was as I was approaching the door to the dorm and had my back to the guy when I heard him call out to me again. "Perhaps you shouldn't dismiss me so soon, Lilith!"
I instantly froze on the spot, barely even noticing when Conri began to growl deep in his throat at this stranger. How does he know that stupid name that was given to me by Satan on the Blue Night? I wondered to myself as I felt anger well up from the depths of my mind. I slowly turned to face the stranger, a sudden strong wind picking up with my ever building rage, and glared fiercely at him. Not once did he flinch, even when dark storm clouds seemed to roll in over the town from out of nowhere.
"How the hell do you know that name?" I growled, seeing out the corner of my eye that Conri was beginning to look worried with me.
"Perhaps I should introduce myself first," the stranger said over the now gusting wind. "My name is Michael. You're most likely going to be seeing me often."
"Your name is Michael? You definitely aren't from around here, are you?"
"Well, I'm from Assiah and that is all that matters. Now, to the important part of the discussion," he told me before his violet eyes seemed to blaze. "I work for the great Heavenly Light, which is the higher being that reigns over all angels, gods, and goddesses in Assiah. The Heavenly Light has instructed me to keep a close eye on you from now on since I hold the title of Archangel. Now that you are associated with the Son of Satan, you are a threat to the well-being of Assiah. We cannot allow for Gehenna to take over this world."
Red had begun to tinge the edges of my vision with his overly long explanation and before long an evil smirk was playing along my lips. "I'm a threat, am I?" I asked, my voice barely loud enough to be heard over the wind. "You haven't seen anything yet." I used a small fraction of my power to boost my speed, rushing at Michael almost faster than he could react. He quickly sidestepped out of the way, a move that I had expected, and I whipped around to tightly grab him by the throat. "Obviously, you underestimated me more than you realized."
"Kasumi, stop this!" Conri roared, running over to us to grab the back of my jacket with his teeth.
"Listen to your familiar, Demon," Michael gritted out, annoyance clearly making an appearance after being expressionless for so long. "Attacking an agent of the Heavenly Light is one thing, but injuring one means corporal punishment. Think long and hard about if you want to do anything more than you already have."
Even though I didn't like it, I could sense that everything he had said thus far was true. It was unbelievably infuriating, but I finally managed to calm myself just enough to let him go. The storm that had begun to brew dissipated slightly, rain lightly falling as the black clouds lightened to a soft gray. "Just get out of here now before I change my mind about not killing you," I growled before walking back to the doors of the dorm with Conri.
"This won't be the last that you'll see of me," Michael said before the sound of wingbeats could be heard. I turned my head slightly to see that he was now gone, not a trace of him left on the ground and not even in the sky itself.
I threw open the door, Conri bolting inside before I swiftly turned around and slammed my fist as hard as I could into the door. "Stop it, Kasumi! There's no need for that!" the large wolf reprimanded. "That man is now gone, so you need to calm down. You've done enough to alert the other humans to your rage."
"They won't think anything about a little storm," I grumbled as I looked down at my fist, noting that my knuckles were bleeding. I watched as the skin slowly healed itself and it was like nothing had ever happened. "They'll just write it off in their minds and then move on with their lives. Nothing to worry about."
"How are you going to train another Demon to keep his powers hidden when you can't seem to do it yourself?"
"I could have controlled it, but that 'angel' needed to learn that I was serious," I told Conri before walking towards the stairs that would lead up to my room. "It won't happen again, at least not like that."
"That's good to hear," Conri said softly, his tone changing from stern to comforting. "We don't want any more trouble than we already have."
I nodded in agreement before we silently made our way back to our room. I sat at my desk, pulling out the homework I would have to do for the night, and heard Conri hop up on the bed so he could get a nap. I was finished with homework by the time I heard the front door open, meaning that Rin had finally finished his last class of the day and was back in the dorm. I could hear him running around as he made it up to my floor and then the noises stopped just outside my door before a soft knock echoed in my room.
"It's unlocked," I called to him, leaning back in my chair as I stared up at the ceiling.
"Hey, Kas!" he said excitedly as he walked into the room. "Are you ready for—" His words were cut off before he could say anything else, so I could only guess that he caught sight of me and the odd mood I was in. "Kas, is everything alright?"
"Never better," I said as I slowly forced myself to stand up from the chair. "Now, what were you going to ask me before you changed your mind?"
"Oh, right. I was going to ask if you were ready to start my training."
"I think I told you it would be after dinner," I said, barely noticing that the rain outside was falling even harder than before.
I began to walk past him, signaling for Conri to stay where he was when it looked ike he might follow me, and headed to the door. It was as I was turning the door handle that Rin asked, "Does this strange mood of yours have anything to do with the blood stained dent in the door?"
"Maybe. Now go do your homework before you have to go to Cram School. It's better if you don't fall behind right from the start." I walked out into the hallway as Rin groaned in exasperation, then quickly stuck his head out into the hallway so he could still talk to me.
"Are you going to tell me what happened later?" he called to me.
"Probably not!" I yelled back.
"What happens if I keep bugging you about it?"
"I'll probably be forced to kill you!"
I heard him snort derisively before he went back into my room, making me wonder what the hell he thought he was going to do in there while I was gone. I headed further into the dorm in search of the old library, just to see if it was still as fully stocked as the day I left so many months ago. To my surprise, it looked untouched and slightly dusty, so I grabbed a cleaning rag and duster before getting to work. I knew I had a few hours left before Rin had to go to Cram School and I intended on going there as well, just to sit in and see what the trainees had to learn nowadays. They had a tendency to change the curriculum slightly whenever Exorcists seemed to be dying faster than the Paladin liked.
I was about halfway through cleaning the library and was about to open a window to find a quicker way of doing things when I happened to see something odd off in the distance. There was a huge field that led out to a dark forest behind the dorm, one I went into periodically when I was bored. I thought I could see the form of Mephisto, along with a smaller individual following behind him, out along the edge of the trees. He seemed to be talking to the figure about something and I was about to adjust my sight to see even further by focusing my energy to my eyes when they both disappeared into the forest.
"I wonder what that tricky Demon thinks he's up to," I said to myself, staring out the window for a couple seconds more before going back to my task at hand. "Oh, well. It's honestly none of my concern right this second. I can go investigate later."
I quickly opened the window and then snapped my fingers, the wind outside obeying my command and easily sweeping the dust out of the room without harming the books that I cared about. It was good to know that there was at least one thing in my life that I could still control. I decided to leave the opened window as it was so I could air out the room some and then grabbed a book from one of the shelves. I always seemed to read whatever I could get my hands on because it took me to a world where I didn't have to worry about Assiah and Gehenna causing me trouble. The only issue I had was that time seemed to fly by because Rin found me once more and alerted me to the fact that it was time for him to go to Cram School. I hurriedly put the book back on its proper shelf before I ran out of the library, placed the proper gold key into the lock, then twisted it and opened the door for us to pass into the Cram School with ease.