Colors of Fire Ch. 1
Disclaimer: I don't own Blue Exorcist.
Welcome to my first fanfiction! Due to me being a cute little kid when I first wrote this, I had written a cumbersome timeline as author's notes. For sentimental reasons, I left them up. If you don't want to read them, feel free to skip over them.
Warnings: Foul language, mild violence, and mentions of blood and other bodily fluids.
Setting: Post-anime. A few months after the defeat of Satan.
Updating System: None, this story is completed. For now…
And that about covers it. Enjoy the story. :)
o.O.0.O.o
Rin's POV
"We have a new student today, class." Yukio said up front, gesturing at the door for someone to enter.
The door opened slowly and a girl walked in, followed by a little white dog with a pink polka-dotted scarf around its collar. The unmistakable gleam of the pendant adorning the scarf told Rin it was the one and only Mephisto.
The girl shifted her weight uneasily, standing at the front of the class. She had long, jet black hair tied up with two braids splitting from the single elastic band. Her Spanish-tanned skin was smooth but faded.
She wore the girl's uniform with a sword strapped to her belt. The hilt and handle looked like a Greek design, only the blade was thin and sheathed in a Japanese style purple and red sheath.
Despite the sword, the starkest feature was her right eye, white with cataracts and a long, thin scar stretching from her eyebrow to the top of her cheek. Her left eye was a deep purple-magenta.
The girl smiled warmly and greeted her new classmates with a polite yet casual, "Hi."
Yukio cleared his throat and continued. "Everyone, I'd like you to meet Shen Neko. She's a transfer student from an exorcism school in America."
Then Rin's brother addressed her directly and told her to take a seat at an empty desk.
Relieved to have been dismissed from the unwanted spot light, she paced to the back of the room and sat on the opposite side to Takara. Once there she unpacked her bag and brought out a couple of text books and a spiral notebook. Mephisto hopped up onto the chair next to her and began whispering to her in hushed tones.
Rin turned back to the front of the class, knowing full well she'd appreciate a little space right now. He'd gone through the same process when he came to the Cram School, Mephisto as his guide as well.
For a moment, he couldn't help but wonder if Mephisto did that for everyone or just half demon students. Then again, when Shiemi enrolled the clown didn't show up. Rin began forming ideas in his head.
Maybe Neko really was like him. He doubted she was a child of Satan, but there were other types of half demons out there, right? He started pondering what type of demon this girl could've been.
Had to have been a big deal since Mephisto involved himself.
"…isn't that right, Mr. Okumura?" a voice was saying.
Rin turned and realized the rest of the class was looking at him expectantly. It took him a second to figure out that his brother was addressing him.
"Huh?" Rin said, confused.
What was the question?
The teacher squeezed his eyes shut and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Mr. Okumura, this is your last warning today. Please, try to pay attention."
The bluenette ran his hands through his hair and mumbled, "Sorry, teach."
The younger twin merely sighed and continued the lesson. He occasionally called on his older brother for answers that he, unsurprisingly, still didn't have despite paying attention.
o.O.0.O.o
The day went by rather slowly for Rin, much to his annoyance. His Cram School classes were the highlight of his school day. However, when he got back to the dorm his day got a bit more interesting.
When he walked into the kitchen Rin found the new girl sitting on the counter, swinging her legs like a child and chatting with Ukobach. Their conversation was abruptly stopped when the stove spirit spotted the new arrival.
Neko turned around and grinned. "Hey! I didn't know you had a demon chef! That's pretty cool."
Rin choked and asked, "You can hear him talk?"
The girl frowned and furrowed her brow. "Of course I can hear him. Clear as day."
Rin rubbed the back of his head nervously. "S-so you're like me and Yukio?"
Ukobach hopped off the counter and left the two to get a head start on dinner.
She laughed and replied, "Not exactly. I mean, I'm no daughter of Satan, mind you. I'm more of a chimera."
Rin tilted his head, confused. "Chimera? But you don't look like a mutant half-animal to me."
Her left eye sparkled with amusement. "No, not when the seal is activated. My mother studied witchcraft, so she outfitted me with one. I, too study witchcraft, but I'm more of a scientist at heart."
Rin was taken aback by how much information Neko was willing to share with him. Normally people kept to themselves about their strangeness. This girl was openly talking about herself, giving an overall relaxed air about her. Rin liked that.
"Okay… wait, witchcraft?" Rin inquired uneasily.
The girl laughed again, a little more easily this time.
Suddenly a new voice said, "I see you two are getting along."
Yukio entered the room with an armful of books. He quietly set them on the counter and continued, "Miss Shen will be staying in room 617 since Mephisto figured we wouldn't mind. By the way Neko, here are the books you've requested."
The girl smiled and said, "Thanks, Mr. Okumura. And don't worry; I won't blow up the building. I'll be taking my experiments outside this time around." A light undertone made it obvious that blowing up buildings was an issue for her in the past.
A flash of relief played across the younger twin's face. "Excellent. Well, I better be off. I've got stacks of papers to grade."
With that, Rin's brother left the kitchen. Rin then leaned against the counter and asked, "So what type of chimera are you?"
From Rin's tone it was evident that he wasn't used to asking these kinds of questions. His voice held an awkward note that told someone he had no idea how to ask the question casually.
Hearing this, Neko laughed. "I was combined with a raven demon shortly before my mother died."
"Oh… sorry to hear that."
She waved his apology off. "Na, it wasn't your fault. The reason why I took up exorcism is so I can track down the filthy creature that killed her. No biggie."
Her voice was smooth and steady the entire time she was talking. Something told Rin that she was long used to saying those words, which was a bit sad, Rin thought. The bluenette himself often spoke the same way about Shiro, and how pissed off he was at Satan.
In a sense, they were there for the same reason: to avenge their parent's death. It wasn't an uncommon motive among exorcists, after all.
An awkward silence enveloped the two, occasionally disrupted by the sounds of pots clanging in the background.
"So…" Neko ventured. "How's life?"
At first, Rin was startled by the bluntness of the question. Then he realized the girl probably hadn't meant it that way.
"It sucks, for the most part. Nothing you can do about it, so why complain, right?" Rin stated, picking at his fingernails.
The raven girl nodded and looked away. "Don't I know it…"
o.O.0.O.o
Later that night, Rin was getting ready for bed and he walked into his and his sibling's room to find said sibling asleep at his desk. Yukio's glasses were crooked on his nose as his head rested on the papers he was grading. A pool of saliva trickled out of the teen's mouth and spread out all over the tests and quizzes.
He was snoring softly.
Rin walked over and shook his brother's shoulder in hopes of waking him. No such luck, seeing as how he got no response. Slightly irritated, he prepared his hand for a swat upside his twin's head when suddenly he felt something tap his leg.
It was Yukio's tail, swishing contently in correspondence to its owner's slumbers.
A sleepy grin flashed across his face and the older twin grabbed the furry limb and gave it small tug. That effectively startled his brother awake. "Hmm… what do you want, nii-san?"
"You're soaking everyone's papers in drool." Rin yawned while rubbing his eyes. Then he stretched and whispered, "Time for bed, Yukio."
The younger twin mumbled something incoherent in response and shifted from his desk to his bed. He didn't even bother getting undressed; he just crashed and went straight to sleep.
Rin slipped into his own bed not before turning the desk lamp off. Kuro hopped onto the bed and curled up at his feet.
Unknown to Rin at the time, Neko was hard at work in her room, concocting the blueprints for her latest experiment: DNA alteration. And yet more information unknown to the blue exorcist, this particular experiment would eventually, and unintentionally, involve him.
o.O.0.O.o
Fare thee well, strange ones!