AN: I've become sidetracked. I have to admit, I'm in a bit of a writer's block. But then a certain pixylinx dropped a very interesting PM. Here is the result. Story Cover courtesy of KajikoKylance on deviantart. Enjoy.

A Demon Romance

Chapter 1

It is said that every once in a while, a demon falls prey to the emotions of a human. Empty husks of slow, systematic destruction, sometimes their love for their single-minded goal is replaced by the love of a human. To avoid such contradictions, demons tend to keep the emotion-filled creatures known as humans at a distance, only dealing with those that would advance their plan. Yet even such precautions as these are not enough. Love, a foreign thing to a demon, ofttimes appears without warning, but once there strong and undeniable. And when a demon becomes so infatuated they become distracted, their plans completely pushed back until, at the very least, the natural death of the human whom they love. Those few humans, who manage to infect a demon, are unwittingly the ones who keep the world's destruction at bay.

Jun stood out on her balcony wistfully. The night was young; clear and refreshing as a light breeze played at her dark hair. She leaned against the railing with one hand holding onto it and the other holding a half full champagne glass. Every now and then she tipped the glass towards her lips to allow the sweet nectar to pass over her tongue and slip down her throat. Her mind was completely consumed by despondent thoughts. Only the night air seemed to do anything to lighten her mood.

"Sweet, innocent Jun partaking in such poison—I guess I've seen everything."

Jun gasped when such a dark, heavy voice broke the silence almost dropping the fragile glass she held. On instinct, she turned towards where she had heard the voice. She found her eyes trying to adjust to the darkened corner of the balcony. She sensed that someone was there, someone quite familiar. She took a step forward.

"Don't come any closer," the darkened figured said sharply.

"Oh," Jun said, startled by the harshness.

"I'd rather you were at a distance just as you are now."

Jun stood there awhile longer gazing into the deep darkness before she finally made up her mind. "Fine," she replied gently, "Strangers on my balcony is the least of my problems, but I warn you, whether you be stalker or some wanton madman, if you do anything funny, you will regret it." With this, she returned to her previous position.

"Fair enough, although, you must really be out of it. A sane person would have run for the phone by now."

"Lucky for you, I'm not. I could…use the company. Right now, I'm just as likely to converse with a cat." Jun looked up to the starry night forlornly and took another sip of champagne. "For your information, I do drink champagne from time to time."

"So it appears."

"And I'm not so sweet and innocent."

"So you want to believe."

"I'm not," Jun repeated as her eyebrows furrowed a little. "I'm not the person I used to be. I look back on my life…Maybe there was more I could have done."

"You have done enough."

Jun looked over to the darkened area. "This coming from a complete stranger. Why don't you humor me—who are you?"

"I'd rather not say."

"Hm, of course not. That would be too easy, right? How long will you be hiding there?"

"As long as you're here on this balcony."

"So you're saying that when I go inside, you'll just "poof" disappear?" she asked. Jun heard the other snort lightly.

"You could say that."

"I really am going crazy. I'm talking to a ghost and I'm not scared in the least." Jun turned back to the night sky. "This could be bad news for you. I'm liable to talk your ears off. You might want to disappear sooner than you think."

"I'm a good listener. Talk as much as you please."

"That's one of the good things about stalkers—they never get tired of you. I have a lot to say so don't fall asleep."

"I'm all ears."

"Guess what happened to me today?"

"You went clothes shopping."

"Stalker," Jun accused. "Yes, I went shopping, but that's not what happened to me. I realized something. I never accomplish anything I set out to do. I wanted to buy some clothes but I ended up buying nothing. I went to the ice cream store and bought a hot dog instead. I wanted to enjoy myself today, but I only wound up making myself sadder. I came out here to drink and forget about things and all I'm doing is thinking about everything. I wanted to be a wife one day, but all I ended up doing is having a child. I wanted to help somebody, but only caused the person more pain—giving him hope when there was none. I really am a horrible person and now all I can do is talk about it. Every day I wonder, how can I make things better? It's in my nature. I can't help myself. Every day I'm presented with the same answer: nothing. I continually beat myself up over things I couldn't possibly change now. I just want to go back in time and change some of the decisions I made. I wish I had been stronger for Jin. I tried to shield him from the world, to love him unconditionally, to be a mother and father to him. I've failed in more ways than one. Now I'm here on this balcony looking to the stars. Perhaps they could help me. What should I do? What can I do?"

"You've done enough."

"There you go again, saying things that you couldn't possibly know for sure."

"I know that when you set out to do something, you do so with the utmost of your ability. You throw yourself at the problem wholeheartedly. You make those around you stronger—you give them the ability to do things they never thought they could."

"Let's say you are omniscient and you somehow know about me. I'm not the person you just described."

"Is that a fact? In your depressed state, how can you rely on your own judgment?"

"So I'm depressed."

"Are you not?"

"I'm…I don't know what I am really." She took another sip. "I guess I'm just biding my time."

"For what? Why do you spend your days in hiding?"

"You're one to be talking, ghost. Why does anyone hide? Because they're afraid of what the world might think of them."

"You judge yourself too harshly. The only one holding you back is yourself."

"Don't make me laugh. I think I'm being generous right now. After what I let Jin go through…"

"That boy can take care of himself."

"That's not the point. I vowed to shield him from the Mishimas and now…he's completely submerged."

"Perhaps that was a mistake."

"The Mishimas are like poison. They destroy everything they touch."

"By removing him from the world, he became ill-prepared. There is such a thing as too trusting, too loving. He was handicapped from the very beginning."

"Are you blaming me then?"

"You did what you thought was best. Perhaps it was for the best. It is difficult to change one's fate."

"Fate, you say? I don't believe in that sort of thing."

"I believe people are predisposed to certain things. You like to help others so you do so. That is your fate."

"But it is something I've always wanted to do. It was never forced on me."

"Who says it has to be forced upon you?"

"Well, that's what fate is. Something you can't control, something that you wouldn't want to experience if you had a choice."

"There are a great many things we can't control."

"You sound as if you speak from experience."

"Who hasn't experienced such things? You have no say as to what family you're born into or how you might be raised. Those things were already decided before you ever existed. Didn't you make a decision before your son was born of how you were to protect him from the evils of the world?"

"Yes…I decided that I would not only protect him from the world, but from Devil. The spirit that plagues the Mishimas."

"Devil is a palpable being, something you can point a finger at, but the true darkness of the Mishimas was there well before Devil made its mark."

"What are you saying?" Jun said becoming tense. "It is Devil that perverts and twists anything that it touches."

"No. It is Devil that enhances what already exists in one's soul."

"Are you saying that…?"

Her thoughts finally came to Kazuya, a less than perfect man who had eventually broken her heart. She had no idea why she had expected so much from him in the first place. Really, it should not have been a surprise how quickly their relationship dissolved. She wanted to believe that it was all Devil's fault. She wanted to believe that there was something she could have done had she been strong enough and more aware. As she thought of it now in her present state, she knew how fragile her excuses sounded.

"It is in your nature to forgive even for those who should not be forgiven."

"I forgave him a long time ago, but in the end, that doesn't matter if he doesn't accept it."

"How could you expect such a thing from him? Perhaps he wanted something else from you—your hate, your anguish."

She hadn't even mentioned his name yet she was sure the other was talking about the same person. It was eerie. Perhaps this ghost was just some made up person, maybe she was talking to herself.

"I do not hate and anger is useless to me."

"But you can feel pain and sadness. Do you think if you feel enough pain, your dilemma would disappear?"

"Don't patronize me. I just can't…help how I feel." She took yet another sip. "If only I had done things differently," she began again.

"But you didn't."

Jun looked over to the shadowy area with an irritated expression, "You love stating the obvious."

"If I didn't, who would?"

"You remind me of someone."

"Do I?"

"You remind me of someone who should have accepted my forgiveness."

"He who has wronged someone as deeply as you should not accept such things. They await their punishment."

"And who made you the judge of that? I chose to forgive because I wanted to. When you don't accept such things, it means that you never really cared for that person in the first place. You'd allow that person to continue to suffer. I forgave him because I still loved him. No matter what happened, I was willing to weather the storm. I was willing. Why couldn't he get that through his thick, stubborn skull? It's like he enjoys watching me suffer." Then she turned completely to the shadow. "Just like you, ghost, watching me suffer. Is that what you like to see?"

"No…"

"Why doesn't he put away his own petty guilt? He wraps himself in his own guilt so he doesn't have to face things. That coward." Jun waited for the other to respond, but it never came. Then she sighed. "I guess the conversation has become too heavy even for you. I've managed to scare away the only company I've had in years."

"I'm still here."

"True to your word, huh? Well, I'm done now. I've said enough. I think…I'll call it quits tonight. You can do your disappearing act."

Jun emptied her glass before turning and making her way inside again. When she slid the glass door closed, she waited for a while to see if she might spot her ghost escaping into the night. She heard the swooping wing falls of some large night creature before heading off to her bedroom.