(Ahhh man... I felt like rewriting this due to my desire to take over the world with this pairing. : p Too lazy to write a real author's note.
If you're reading this for the first time, Celebrity occurs before this, but it's not really necessary to read to understand this fic. Just throwing it out there :P
With this being a rewrite, please tell me if I screwed something up oddly. I had an old version, the version on and mental revisions to piece together so I wouldn't be surprised if I repeated myself or if some sentences looked funny. ^^
Timeline: Emi and Yuni are in school, Akira (who's only briefly mentioned) is, well, employed by Yuni, and Rage decided to make a living right away for some reasons not gone into in this fanfic. This takes place about a year before the older games (two years before SN/SN2/X), meaning Emi is 16, Rage is 18, Yuni is 13 (I think...?) and Akira is supposedly 19.)
He forgot why he was roaming the streets alone. It just seemed to happen.
There had been reports of robberies in that area, even some attacks, so few dared to travel by themselves after the stores on both sides of the streets closed. It was rumored the criminal wasn't human, that it resembled a large animal with wings. Whatever it was, it was uncatchable, no where to be found, and sent people screaming away at night.
As if... right?
Most people would fear it, but one man chose to ignore how eerie this street seemed. It was the shortest way back home. Ah, that's right... his friends chose to take the safe way home, and he somehow wanted to prove his bravery by going down this street. They didn't think he was serious, and had this man known that, it would've explained why they left him alone.
So there he was... the only person to walk that long street that night.
"I don't know what everyone was talking about," Rage mumbled to himself, as no one else was around. "This isn't so hard." He found a rock and started kicking it, partially out of boredom and partially for the sake of noise.
But it wasn't enough for him... he was used to loud music and being full of energy. Now that he was out of both, he wasn't really much like himself. He still acted strong and tough, but the personality trait he lacked at the moment was happiness. The absence of the sun and other people wasn't helping his condition. He simply wasn't in a smiling mood.
Whoosh.
His thoughts were interrupted when he heard something overhead. "Maybe it's a bird or something," he said. Wait... birds aren't out at night. "Or a bat, then."
Shoom.
He heard it again, and instantly looked up, seeing an odd shadow. "Looks like a bat." He shrugged and kept walking. That was one big bat, though... or a close one.
Whoosh.
Nope, he was wrong... it was close and big. Rage didn't quite panic yet, but he decided to walk a little bit faster, leaving the rock behind.
Shoom.
His pace quickened.
Whoosh.
Rage halted, as he was getting annoyed. He knew he had the strength to take on some bat thing, even if he had no idea what to expect.
"All right, who's there?" Rage said, with his fists at his sides. His hearing may not be as good as others', but it was quiet enough for someone to hear the wind. He listened and noticed the creature landing behind him. Quickly he turned around and reached out to grab this person. Luckily, he got his wrists.
... actually, her wrists.
"So you're a girl, huh?" Rage asked, straining and holding pushing her back.
It was indeed a girl all along. And she surely wasn't human, or not all human. She was a large bat creature. Her arms and legs once had red bandage-strips wrapped around them, but they were beginning to unwind. Her oddly-striped skirt wasn't stiff and spread out like it once had been, but instead hung like a normal one. Her pale skin and blood red eyes glowed soullessly, and she made no effort to respond to her enemy.
On one hand, Rage had more confidence knowing he was fighting a girl. On the other hand... he was fighting a girl. How right was it for a man to hit a woman? In addition, he felt a small amount of sympathy for her, as she clearly didn't have a place to live.
The girl dropped an unidentifiable weapon to grab Rage and throw him on the ground. He kicked his way to the side, using his arms to push himself up. Well, if she wants a fight, then it's a fair match, Rage thought.
She picked up the weapon, being a knife, but Rage smacked it out of her hand and grabbed it again. "Hey, I'll hurt you if I have to."
She tore her hand away from him and tried to kick him. Rage grabbed her ankle and pulled it, causing her to fall backward. Her skirt slid up, causing Rage look away. Yet out of the corner of his eye, he noticed she was wearing shorts and sighed. Though most girls would be offended, this one's only instinct was to kick her way out his grasp.
Rage threw her leg to the side and pinned her down before she regained the energy to get back up. Knowing she'd probably try to knee him, he did this with his body at her left side.
The bat girl struggled, but couldn't break free as Rage continued to push her shoulders against the ground. "Looks like I win," Rage stated, grinning to her. She narrowed her empty eyes, and then her expression lost all emotion as her head suddenly fell back and rested on the ground. I didn't go too far, did I? Rage thought. Then he noticed she was still breathing, and pushed that thought aside.
"Now, why do you hang around this place and scare people off?" Rage demanded.
"I... I don't know," a small but emotionless voice said. "I do not know what my purpose is. I only want this to be my territory."
"Well, I want a better job, but I can't beat people up who say otherwise," he complained. "Anyway, you're a pain to the people in this city.
"Pain...?"
He loosened his grip on her, but was still ready to push her back down. "Yeah. You don't think people run for their life 'cause they enjoy it, do you?"
She looked away.
"What's the matter? Feeling guilty about it?"
"I always thought... my purpose was to be evil..."
"Well, you kinda look... er, never mind... what gave you that idea?"
"I was given the name Devil Zukin... I only know my heart is evil."
"So... you're not human?"
"I... no."
"Mind telling me where you came from?"
"I don't know."
Rage groaned. "Look... I don't believe you're evil. It's just that you're making people afraid of you."
"But... that's what I-"
"You're letting someone or something else control who you are. You're not really supposed to do anything, but if you're gonna live in this town, you better start respecting the people in it. It doesn't matter if none of them are like you."
"Control... who I am?"
"Yeah. You need to think for yourself. If I catch you attacking someone again, you're not getting off anywhere near this easy." Rage walked past Devil Zukin. "So long," he said, waving behind him.
There was something she began to feel... which was weird... because she never really felt anything. No one tried to tell her what feelings are. She placed a hand over where her heart would be if she had one, completely unsure of many things at that time. She didn't know the answers to the questions she had...
But maybe he knew...
- - - - -
"Home at last," Rage said, about to open the front door. Suddenly he felt a small tug on his arm. "Whoa!" he said, nearly jumping. He turned to see Devil Zukin holding onto part of his sleeve. Her once bloody irises lost their glow, and were now a dark ruby color.
"You again?" Rage asked. "I thought I said 'bye.'"
"You did, but..." the bat girl replied, "you are different than anyone I've seen before."
"I'll bet... you probably never talked to any of your victims."
"I am... sorry."
"For attacking them or me?"
"Everyone. But I am... I am..."
"Guilty? Sad? Confused?"
"I think it's the last one."
"So you're not guilty?"
"No, I... maybe..."
"I take it you've never tried to be a normal person?"
"No. I've only watched others. I sometimes wonder what it would be like to be..."
"Be...?"
"... accepted."
Rage had been relatively joking around with this new girl, but he didn't want to push her too far. If he did, she'd just go back to her previous life of being alone.
"You don't know what it's like to have a friend, do you?"
"I haven't had one, no. I have only seen humans and their friends. They seem very... lively... very happy..."
What exactly do you say to a confused ex-criminal, who just fought with you in the street, anyway? Who knows whether or not she was still armed with a weapon?
"Hey... as long as you're off your habit of knives and whatnot... you've got somebody now. I'm Reiji Itoh. But if you plan on being my friend, call me Rage. You already introduced yourself, Zukin, so..."
Zukin nodded a little. "I... like that."
"What?"
"That I'm not a devil now... that I can be Zukin."
Rage glanced away, thinking she was just weird. They said nothing for a moment.
"... I'm guessing you want something else from me," Rage said, breaking the silence.
Zukin nodded again. "Is there a place I can stay?"
"Ah... er..." he scratched the back of his head. "I can't think of anywhere... people don't exactly lend out houses to robots."
"I see," Zukin stated. "That's all right... I can find my old home from here."
Send her back out into the cold night? It seemed heartless to him. "Tell you what... you can sorta... stay in my house. Until we find somebody else who'll let you room with them... preferably a girl..."
"..."
"This... is where you thank the guy who doesn't like awkward silences."
"I... thank you. R-Rage-sama."
"Sama?" Rage thought, What's that for...? Gah, I'll sort it out later...
The two of them went inside, with Zukin slightly attached to his arm, as if there was something to be afraid of. There was a couch to the right, a table with a folded newspaper in front of it, and a cheap television on the opposite wall. There was a door in the back that presumable led to a bedroom, and to the right was an open doorway to other rooms.
"Okay," Rage began, again to break the silence. "I'm not really sure about all this, but what else can we do? You can take the couch... at least it's more comfortable than wherever else you were at before."
Zukin nodded and sat on the couch. She took a newspaper from the table and started opening it up.
"I'll be back in a minute," Rage said. He headed to a closet upstairs and pulled out a blanket and pillow. "I still can't believe I'm doing this," he mumbled to himself.
You're so soft around girls, Rage-kun, Emi would say. The thing was, Rage really liked her more than any regular girl. Of course he'd be nice to her. But she was right... one of the few things that could bring out Rage's gentle side was an innocent girl, possibly in need. He wouldn't give Zukin a hard time. At least not for a while.
When he came back, he found Zukin already trying to sleep on the couch, with the newspaper being used as a blanket. Guess she doesn't know what it's like to sleep inside, Rage thought. He walked over to her; she wasn't quite asleep yet.
"Er, no, that's... not what the paper's for. This is really," Zukin handed Rage the newspaper, and he held it up, "a cure for boredom when you wanna know what everyone else is doing." He tossed it to a random area to his right, intending to pick it up later. He put the pillow where her head was, and Zukin rested on it. Rage had already defied being a strong, tough man many, many times that night, and he did so again by putting the blanket over her.
"This is better," Zukin stated, closing her eyes.
"Probably is..." Rage agreed, running out of things to say. "... well, good night," he sort of rushed as casually as possible, heading to his bedroom.
He skipped changing and lay down to sleep, wondering what he was going to say to everyone the next day.
Zukin puzzled Rage. She seemed like a robot... but an odd... humanlike robot. It's like she was made to be human, but became an animal. It made no sense, but there she was... a being without a known purpose. It's not like Rage could think much of her, as his eyes were already on a friend of his. Still, his deep down kindness told him to help her. He could only try hope she didn't think too much of it.
Perhaps, however, it was already too late.