Episode 1: Continue On
"Rin, your muscles are so huge! Oh my!" Shiemi exhorted, clasping Rin's right bicep in one hand, and running the other down his torso; the perfect shade of blush in her cheeks. She had her school uniform on, with one leg resting on his thigh.
"Oh, you like those, huh?" Rin mumbled.
"Can I poke your stomach muscles?" Shiemi asked.
"Go ahead honey. Do whatever you want."
"Well..." she said shyly, "I would have to be on top of you for that though..."
Rin wondered why she needed to be on top of him, but decided not to complain. "Oh...th..that's ok. Better coverage that way, heh, r...right?"
"Yeah..." Shiemi climbed into Rin's lap so she could be face to face with him and feel his abs from a different angle. "Rin...when we're like this...I just...I..."
"Yeah? What's on your mind...Shiemi?" He trailed off; the glistening girl leaned in closer to him to whisper something in his ear.
"Oh, Rin, you drool so much, it's crazy!"
"Mhm, yeah...wait...AH!" Rin woke up to Kuro hovering over him, poking the puddle of drool on his pillow beneath his cheek. "Kuroooo!" He moaned. "I was having such a sweet dream too...why did you have to wake me up?"
"Sorry Rin. I've just never seen someone drool that much before. What were you dreaming about anyways?" Rin's eyes widened immediately, as they surveyed around his room in the old Cram School Boy's Dorm.
"N...NOTHING. Just...some really good eggs I made for breakfast the other day...and...you know...well-I'm gonna go make some right now! Haha!" He spouted nervously. "Want some?"
"As long as mine are runny!" Kuro exclaimed.
Rin Okumura, finally an exorcist, and trying to find the right girl to spend his free time with. In the cafeteria kitchen, he cracked the eggs open on the side of the frying pan and pondered all the possibilities of being "single and ready to mingle" as Yukio had told him. But a part of him didn't want to be single, or mingle for that matter. This feeling was more forced than anything else, because there was one girl in particular, always filling up his thoughts. However, she never returned the feeling. In fact, he never told her about his feelings in the first place. He stared off into space as the eggs were sizzling away.
"Rin, you'll overcook them!"
A few flips and kicks later, breakfast was served for Rin and his loyal companion, Kuro, and they scarfed everything down right there on the kitchen counter, like always. "I wonder what Yukio's doing right now..." Rin wondered as he took his time finishing the last few bites. These days Yukio was off at Vatican Headquarters taking direction from the current Paladin in how to become a better exorcist all-around. Of course, this was only a 7 day endeavor, and then it was back to the usual, everyday missions. Until his return, Rin was instructed to lay low and "stay the heck out of trouble". A task which he was not good at fulfilling, but one could always hope.
"Rin! You'll be late for your date! What's up with you today? Are you spacing out?"
"Oh, ah...yeah kind of...I just don't know how I feel about going on a date, you know? She doesn't even know I'm a demon!"
"Rin, you'd have to tell her eventually. At least she already knows they exist! Just make sure you're the first one to tell her about yourself!"
"Right!"
And with that, he sprinted up the stairs where he kept all of his nice clothes. Kuro danced in and out of his legs, perfectly in sync with Rin's movements. He stumbled around his room, digging in his closet for what he had in mind. He picked out a pair of black dress slacks, and black loafers, but he couldn't figure out what color shirt to wear. Standing there, shirtless, he spurted, "KURO! What color!?"
"Erm..I heard Yukio say once that pink makes guys look very inviting. Have any pink?" Rin glanced in the closet, to no avail. Then he looked at the floor and saw one crumpled up near the computer desk.
"THERE!"
"But Rin...it's so wrinkly..."
"No problem, I got this!" He quickly cleared a spot on the floor and laid the shirt down. Carefully, he pressed his hands to the shirt, letting a thin layer of flames between his hands and the garment, but making sure the flames never touched it at all - it took nearly all of his concentration. After a few seconds, the whole shirt looked crisp as new. Rin smiled at Kuro, who looked fascinated. "What's wrong, little guy?" He said as he threw the shirt on and started to button it up.
"How'd you do that, Rin?"
"A little trick Shura taught me. I heat my hands up just enough with flames, and as long as I don't touch the shirt, it straightens up!"
"Oh! Cool! You are your own iron!"
"So, how do I look?"
"Great! Now get out of here already!" He came barreling down the stairway, leaning one hand on the railing and jumping into the air to let himself slide down; a trick he always did when he was an unsteady balance of excited and nervous. He got his exorcist key out and went through the front door of the Boy's Dorm and into the town square. He was to meet a girl named "Yuuki," at 11:00 AM, to go shopping and eat lunch together. He knew she liked him because she was a friend of Paku's, and she had told Yuuki all about Rin-especially how he had a lot of money, but a small wardrobe. Yuuki said to meet by the fountain in the middle of town.
Rin nonchalantly walked up to the fountain and looked for a girl with long, brown, wavy hair and bright yellow eyes. He sat down on the ledge of the fountain and waited, glancing at the clock tower. 10:59. "Just one more minute. I'm right on time!" All of the sudden, "*SMOOCH*" A girl kissed him right on the cheek.
"HI! Are you Rin Okumura!?"
"Um, yeah., but...HEY! What if I wasn't and you just kissed some random guy on the cheek!? Are you crazy!?"
"No," she giggled, "I just have good instincts, love."
"So...you're Yuuki? It's nice to meet you..." Rin wasn't sure what to make of the initial greeting. She circled around him like a vulture, looking quite intently. Her Pink sun dress was twirling around in the wind as she inspected him, with her thumb and forefinger caressing her chin.
"Wooow, you really are attractive! Much more in person than what Paku said!"
"So, she said I wasn't that good-looking!?"
"No, it's not that! She talked you up just fine honey, don't you worry! So are we gonna get to shopping, or what!?"
"Um...yeah...I guess so."
"Oh no.." Rin thought, "I'm already being stand-offish. This is not good! Just do what Kuro said: be yourself, and picture that it's Shiemi...Ooohhh CRAP! I'd be even MORE nervous if Yuuki was Shiemi!"
"Ok, what's your favorite color?" she asked, snapping him from his train of thought, and she grabbed his arm and started walking towards a shop.
"Um..I guess it's blue. Ya know, the most chill color of them all! Just like me!" He was going to try to segue into his blue flames, and being Satan's Son and all.
"Well duh, I know what blue looks like. So are you more of a t-shirt kind of guy, or dressy button-up and sweater vest kind of guy?" All of the vendors in the street square were yelling out prices, and displaying their products, but this was a busy Saturday morning, and Rin didn't even know where to start.
"All of the above?" Rin said, not knowing what answer Yuuki was looking for.
"So in other words, you're going to be hard to shop for?" She let go of his arm and kept heading towards a very colorful shop. The mysterious girl pranced along the street in front of him, seemingly intending for him to stare at her butt. Even so, he started to blush.
"No no no, just pick out things that you think would look nice, and I'll buy them!" Not knowing that Yuuki had no fashion sense whatsoever.
"Wee!" she spun around with her arms held out, "Ok! Well how about we start over here!?" The first vendor looked exactly like where Mephisto buys his get-ups from. She ran over to the store owner and pointed to a kilt that a bagpiper would wear, along with a hooded jacket from the 60's. "Oooo how much for this?"
"6,000 Yen." The clerk said.
"Ok! We'd like a fitting room, please!"
"WHAAAAT!?" Rin thought, "I'll look like a clown!" But despite his thoughts, he tried it on anyways, to make Yuuki happy. Skittishly, he slipped out of the fitting room, and Yuuki pointed her finger, saying, "Ok, ok, now turn around!" Then she thought a bit more when he got all the way around and said, "Oh my gosh! It's perfect!"
"For what?" Rin pouted, "I look like an old clown..." Yuuki frowned, sighed, and said, "fine...let's move on to another store." Rin figured she wasn't at the first vendor as a joke, but rather as a serious contender for his wardrobe. He got changed back into his street clothes, and at that point he started to worry so much that his appetite was completely lost already.
They were walking around the perimeter of all the vendors for a while when Rin started thinking, "I don't think this girl is really my type...I wonder if she's thinking the same thing...but how do I ask? Has it even been long enough? I can't take it not knowing what she's thinking! Besides, I bet if I were with Shiemi in this situation, she'd ask me what I think looks cool, and when I tried it on she's be honest...plus I'm sure she wouldn't even like shopping for very long...she's not so superficial like that...but I wonder..." With his hands in his pockets and his head slouched towards the ground, "Hey, uh" He started to mumble, "What do you think of me so far?" Yuuki stopped right there, and so did Rin, having been following about 4 feet behind her. He didn't realize that was clear body language that he was not interested; he couldn't have been more distant. The girl looked at him curiously, and then for some reason she looked amused.
"HAHAHA! Are you joking!? You seriously are clueless aren't you?" Rin looked at her with disgust and surprise.
"You don't just ask a girl if she likes you...that's a good way to make sure she never does, dummy!"
"I'm not clueless...I just don't like wasting my time, and first impressions are important!"
"Then get lost, buddy. So far, I don't like you. And Paku said you used to like Shiemi so I'm sure you'd rather be with her right now-"
"AHHHH!" A scream came from the rooftop of one of the surrounding buildings. It was a middle class demon that had ahold of a little girl.
"Out of the way!" Rin pushed Yuuki to the side and leapt up to the rooftop. After some surveying, he knew that to defeat a demon like this on his own he would need to tap in to Satan's power, but first he had to make sure no one could see him. By now most people knew he was the son of Satan, but many were still unaware. He was running so fast on the tops of the buildings that gravel flew everywhere, leaving a fog behind him. Just as it was about to swallow the girl, Rin threw a rock from one of the rooftops at the spiky demon, which caught its attention enough to start chasing him. "Good! Just keep on coming!" He led the demon in a zigzag pattern leading away from the town square, and shoved it off of a rooftop and into a back alley where he flashed his blue flames, commanding the demon to let the little girl go, and to not attack any more innocent people. Hesitating, It jumped up onto the building behind it, and leapt from rooftop to rooftop, back towards the crowd, ignoring Rin's pleas. The monster was bright green and had thorns all over it with purple, parasitic juices coming out of each thorn. It had already stabbed the young girl in a few places, leaving possibly fatal wounds on her.
"If you don't let her go, I'll send you back to Gehenna right now! As the Son of Satan, I command you!" He revealed his true nature to the beast, and suddenly the enemy stopped and started bubbling and boiling, until it exploded into 10 smaller demons. They cascaded down the sides of the tallest building in the square, busting into the windows and grabbing people; screams were all Rin could hear from below him.
"I don't have a choice..." Rin drew his sword and sent a burst of blue flames toward a group of the monsters, taking out 4 of them, meanwhile he thrust himself towards the ground to try and catch the little girl in time. He caught her and told a young man next to him to call for a Doctor Exorcist. The little demons each stole someone from the work building and headed for the alleyways where they would open gates to Gehenna and take their victims, but Rin cornered each one and struck them down one at a time. Exhausted, he saw Yuuki running toward him in a frenzy. People were gathered in the square, so the two were basically alone.
"Rin! What were those blue flames!?" She yelled out loud, and then whispered, "are you ok?"
"Yeah, I'm fine, don't worry about me. How is everyone?" he asked, avoiding the flame topic, "Were there any Doctor Exorcists around?"
"Yes, they are working now to fix up the victims."
"Good...O-" Yuuki leapt into his arms and kissed him right on the lips, making him blush, but he pushed her back, and when he looked to his left, he saw Shiemi turning around and walking back to the crowd of victims.
"I'm so glad you're ok, Rin!" He looked back at her, confused. With his voice raised, he told her, "Look...I don't know what card you're playing...but I don't like it. I don't think we should hang out anymore...I'm sorry."
"You Dummy!" Yuuki yelled at him, clenching her eyes shut. "I was really starting to like you!"
At this point, Rin had no idea what to think. He was either going crazy, or girls were a lot more complicated than he thought. Then, he started speaking softer. "Look, Yuuki, you're right. I used to like Shiemi...and I finally started to let those feelings go...but I'm not the average guy. I live my life for my friends and family...it doesn't revolve around any one girl at the moment, and I don't know if it ever will. I'm not sure where my life is headed, so if you're not ready for that, leave me alone." He walked away from her, feeling both victory, and loneliness.
"Rin!...I..."
"It's nothing personal," He told her, and looked back to get in one last comment.
"I just don't have it in me to fawn over some girl with petty desires." At that, he coldly walked away from her only to see Shiemi, who was treating that little girl from before. His legs heaved him forward into a jog.
"Shiemi! Hey!"
"Oh! Rin! How's it going?! This one is doing great!" He ran over to her and the little girl, who was already responsive and conscious.
"That's amazing Shiemi...you know just what to do, huh?"
"I owe it to my mother, really. Hey, who was that girl you were kissing?"
"What? Oh, no one. And she kissed me, but I didn't like it...so you know...no big deal."
"You don't like kissing? Weird. I thought maybe you finally got a girlfriend!" In that moment, Rin's heart sank, because this meant Shiemi didn't see herself as ever being a candidate for his girlfriend. He was ultimately friendzoned.
"Oh...haha it's not that I don't like kissing, she just kind of attacked me...ya know? It wasn't a mutual kiss it was more of a forced thing...you know, forced on to me of course."
"Ok," Shiemi responded, a confused look on her face. "Rin, I think we should call an ambulance or two."
"Ok! I'm on it!"
In no time, a few ambulances arrived, and the little girl's parents showed up to see her to the hospital, and by nightfall, Rin and Shiemi had helped everything to be cleaned up and for everyone to be sent home. The two were saying their goodbyes for the night, and turned away from each other to walk their separate ways, when Rin had an epiphany. He thought, "Maybe Yuuki is right...maybe I still have feelings for Shiemi...I mean I'm attracted to her and I admire her so much. Also I'd go on a shopping spree with Shiemi any day...even if she did put me in clown's clothing. She's so special to me..." Rin turned around not knowing his fists were clenched and shouted out, "Shiemi! Wait!" She turned around with a small glimmer of tears in her eyes. Rin was instantly caught off guard, and ran over to her. "Shiemi...what's wrong?" Then, as if she had no clue what he was referring to, she said,
"Oh, nothing. There's something in my eye I think..." Rin knew better.
"No there isn't...something's bothering you." He went to wipe the tear that fell onto her cheek, but she pushed his hand away.
"Rin...it doesn't matter...please...just leave it alone." He started to really notice how closed up she had become. He hated that she kept her walls up around him of all people.
"No! Shiemi...I..care about you a lot...and I can tell when there's something wrong that you need to talk about." He kept his voice calm and paused for a reaction from her, but got nothing. So instead he grabbed her shoulders and swiftly pulled her into a big warm hug, hoping she would break down and tell him what was wrong. But she did not. She was callissed. "How about we start with me walking you home, huh? After the day we've had it would be nice to make sure you get home safely. There are way too many creeps out there... whaddya say?"
"No...I don't want to bother you..." More tears fell from her sparkling eyes. Rin took Shiemi's hands in his and said, "You've never been a bother to me and you never will be!" So, he poked her nose and started skipping along ahead of her while humming an upbeat song. Her expression instantly brightened up and she stopped for a second.
"I wonder where he gets all that energy..." She thought as she wiped away her tears and ran towards him to catch up with him.
"Rin...you're not like other guys...you are always trying to make sure I'm happy...why is that?" She asked. He stopped skipping.
"Well...I don't know...I think it's just the type of guy I am. I guess...that's the way my dad raised me...to care for other people." he turned around to face her, "Especially your friends!"
"I thought we weren't friends, huh?" Shiemi said jokingly.
"Oh, shut up! That was like 2 years ago, Shiemi! You know that I love y-" he caught himself before he said it, "...having you as a friend..."
"I know...I value our friendship as well...but sometimes I wish we could know each other better...ya know?"
"Haha...yeah. I feel the same way." He turned toward her and she stiffened up like a board. It was weird because she had stopped tensing up around Rin a long time ago. He stood beside her and put his right arm around her shoulders with his left hand holding her left shoulder, and they started walking together.
"So, what do you want to know? Ask me anything!"
"Really!?" She clapped her hands together under her chin.
"Ok, let's see...ummm...would you ever dance with a girl if she asked you to?"
"Well of course I would. Do you mean to say you're asking me?" Rin was trying not to make it obvious that he really did want to be with Shiemi as more than just a friend. Shiemi blushed at his question, and he let his arms drop so he could look at her more accusingly.
"WELL..UM! NO! I was just wondering!" Rin stepped out in front of her, and hesitated a moment before taking her right hand in his left, holding it up, and putting his right hand on the small of her back. He went slow because he wasn't 100% sure that this was the correct posture for ballroom dancing.
"Because you know...demons are great dancers, especially ones related to Satan." He smiled.
"Oh! You rest your left arm on my right, like this." He showed her what to do to the best of his knowledge, and she smiled back at him, "Ok!" Then he started to hum a slow song and pulled her in close to her, and she did something he didn't expect; she leaned in and rested her head on his shoulder, wrapping her left arm around his neck, as they swayed back and forth. So, he wrapped his arm further around her torso, and hovered his tail around them. He ignited it to keep them warm, feeling the goose bumps on her skin against his. She knew what he was doing and she knew he could feel how cold she was. Still, she loved the way he was always thinking of her. They both let their posture fall, and found themselves in a sort of swaying hug, with both of Shiemi's arms around his neck, and both of his arms around her midsection. The atmosphere suddenly got heavy.
"Shiemi..."
"Hm?" Rin kissed the top of her head, and felt her heart beat faster as she looked up hopefully at him. His hearing was much more attuned after training his senses during the winter.
"I...I just...really admire you Shiemi...and I don't ever want to lose you...that's all..." He said with a flushed face.
"Oh" she sounded disappointed.
"You know...the real reason I was upset earlier was because I don't want to see you get hurt by some floozy girl like her...and it made me think of you and Yukio being all alone...without very many friends...without any family..."
Rin interrupted, "Shiemi, our friends are our family, and just because some of them moved away, doesn't mean they are lost forever. Just temporarily not with us. Besides, Yukio and I adore you Shiemi...so as long as you are here...everything is great!" He stopped the smooth swaying and stylishly dipped her, kissing her cheek. He wanted her to feel special...and to hear her heart race. Sure enough, it was racing out of control and he figured her face was bright red. He said in her ear, "I like the way we are, Shiemi. Just like this." He swooped her back up to the classical posture and put his right hand up in the air above her head.
"Oh! That's my queue to spin, right?!"
"Hehe, yes! Silly girl!" He spun her around and then spun her out away from him, holding on to her right hand, and then he whipped her back in through a flurry of spins so that she was curled up in his arm, facing away from him. It was a classic move that Izumo taught him a while back. Just then, he realized he was going way overboard and she probably thought he was being super cheesy, so he jumped back and scratched the back of his head while he laughed like a dork. "Haha, well anyways let's get you home, huh?" They continued to talk as they walked in the darkness, with Rin's tail held above their heads, lit up with blue flames to light the way.
They approached the shop where Shiemi and her mother lived, "Ok, well here we are!" Rin blurted out to kill the recent silence during their walk.
"Thank you very much for walking me home, Rin! It was fun! We should talk some more in the future, ok?"
"Uh..yeah! I'd love that! You got it!" A huge smile was plastered on his face; it was so big his eyes shut.
"See you later, Shiemi!" He said, and she closed the door. He turned around to go back onto the bridge and walked back to the boy's dorms. He couldn't help but think about that last 20 minutes of their walk, when their hands kept touching by accident, and made them both blush. He wondered if she had the same feeling. The one that left him wanting more. The feeling that made him want to grab her hand and squeeze it tightly, as if to say, "she is mine, and I am hers." He decided not to dwell on it too long, and ran the rest of the way home.
When he got to the front door to the dormitory, he burst through and shouted, "Kuroooo!" and the little black cat came running toward him.
"Rin! What took you so long! I almost went out and started looking for you!"
"Oh, sorry, there was a break-in at the town square: a middle class demon started attacking people, and I ran into Shiemi, so I walked her home."
"Why didn't you just use your exorcist key?"
"Well, they blocked all other doors except a few of them, and the nearest was the one leading to this building, so i unlocked it and luckily it opened up to the bridge leading to her house!"
"Soooo, you were just going to keep her here if that didn't work, huh!? You sly dog!"
"N-NO! I mean...she would have stayed in a different part of the building or something!"
"But what if she ran into something dangerous there?"
"OH SHUT UP! IT'S NOT WHAT YOU THINK. I just wanted to get her home safely...and maybe we did have fun talking to each other so we took our time walking..." Rin had the guiltiest look on his face, but Kuro found it incredibly amusing so he started cracking up at Rin's frustration.
"Hey...whatever...I'm going to bed, alright? See you in the morning..." He started walking up the stairs to his lonely, dark room.
"Oh, stop it Rin! You know you're my best friend! I'm coming too!" And they snuggled into bed for the night.
Back at the Moriyama residence, Shiemi walked past her mother's room to see her sleeping soundly, and she headed for the kitchen to pour herself a glass of Almond Milk. She sat down at the kitchen table, sipped her milk, and thought about her walk with Rin; how much it meant to her. However, she was so tired she figured she could dwell on it some other time. She put her glass in the sink and started to try to go up the stairs to her new bedroom that was built during the spring, but she was so fatigued she had to stop and catch her breath after every couple steps. "Why am I so tired...? Come to think it, I had to sit down just to drink a glass of milk...I wonder what's wrong with me..." She thought, as she struggled to climb those last few steps, and fell to the floor, sleeping on the cold, hard wood.
What ails Ms. Moriyama?
To Be Continued...