Old Friends
I look out my window and sigh when I see no stars in the sky tonight. It seemed as if every night that he wasn't here made the sky dark and desolate. Only the sickly yellow moon hung directly above me, showing me what time it was without having to look at my clock. Midnight. I missed my best friend terribly, but it seemed that he didn't miss me in the least.
Then again, I wouldn't miss me either. I try to blink back tears, but they fall anyway; sliding down my cheeks and onto my long, white pajama shirt. We were starting school in a few days and my friend hadn't returned. It was a special time in my life; I was starting my first year at Darkwraith School for Demons. For a long time, my guardian thought that I wouldn't make it into the prestigious demon school.
You see, most demons are born with unusual features. Most have fangs and claws, animal ears and tails. Some even have wings or antennae or talons. But, I was born with none of those things. I looked 100 human. The only odd thing about me was the three whisker marks that adorned each cheek. We don't even know what kind of demon I am.
My best friend, Sasuke Uchiha is a Wolf demon. He comes from a very wealthy family who are all descended from the most powerful Wolf demon lords. He was the friend that was gone. He and his family had gone on vacation to the Demonic Lands, a dangerous place to be if you weren't a demon, and still hadn't gotten back.
Now that I think about it, Sasuke and I have been friends since we were pups. He was there for me when my father died in battle against the Rogues, a nasty breed of hybrid demons who haunt the human world, sucking the life out of humans, and then devouring their hearts. The very thought of these creatures running rampant in the human world made me shudder. My mother had died in childbirth, so now I was living with my godfather, Jiraiya.
The last six months have been rough, because Sasuke's family didn't like him hanging around me as often as he was. So, I haven't had any word from Sasuke in a month and I'm starting to feel the beginnings of longing pains. At least, that's what I call them. I lie down on my bed and close my eyes, trying not to think of the next time I might see Sasuke.
The next morning
My guardian, at the break of dawn, shook me awake. I rolled over onto my left side and tried to ignore him, but he was very persistent.
"C'mon! I need your help with my research!"
"Do it yourself, I'm not helping you."
I pulled the blanket up over my head and tried to go back to sleep but the old man pulled the whole blanket off me. I sat up, plainly irritated just to see his happy face. I normally liked seeing him happy because it meant he had made a lot of money off his newest book. But today, the look of his happy face just angered me.
"C'mon kid! We need to get going or we'll be late!"
I looked at the clock and saw that it was 5:30 a.m.
"The hot springs don't open up until 10:00! Why are you waking me up now?"
Jiraiya seemed to consider this then said,
"I only said that to get you up. In reality, we have to go to the hospital to get your blood drawn. That'll tell us what kind of demon you are."
I grumbled about 'hyperactive lechers' but got up anyway.
"Good sport! See you downstairs in half an hour."
With a jovial wave, Jiraiya left the room and slammed the door behind him. I groaned and went to my drawer to pick out my clothes. I pulled out my usual black t-shirt and orange pants along with my favorite green boxers that had little ramen cups on them. Hey, what can I say? I like ramen! And orange...for some unfathomable reason.
I took them into the bathroom and grabbed a towel out of the old green locker. I set my things on the sink and turned on the water. It heated up to just the perfect temperature and I stepped in, closing the shower door behind me. I washed up relatively quickly but took my time washing my hair. I looked at the bottle and saw the Uchiha fan on it.
I always used this bottle...even though the original shampoo ran out almost a year ago. It was a gift from Sasuke on my 10th birthday. He knew how much I prided myself on my hair, so he persuaded his mother to give him an extra bottle of his specially made shampoo (his mother was the head of a beauty salon and made her own shampoo for the family). When it was empty, I bought a new bottle of regular shampoo and just kept refilling this bottle with the other shampoo.
My spirits, aside from being sufficiently lowered at being woken up at 5:30, went considerably lower. I don't know how long I stared at the bottle before I actually washed my hair and got out, but it must have been a while because Jiraiya was tapping his right index finger impatiently on the table when I finally got downstairs.
"About time! Do you want to find out what kind of demon you are or not?"
"You said that my father was a fox demon, so why are you complaining? Just tell the school principal that I'm a fox demon."
"Right. A fox demon that has no ears, claws, fangs..."
I glared at him.
"Fine! A late blooming fox demon!"
Jiraiya smiled knowingly as I sat down in a huff and wolfed down my breakfast. He knew that my demonic heritage (or my seemingly lack thereof) was always a touchy subject with me. That doesn't mean that he doesn't push that button every now and then.
After breakfast, he and I got into the car and headed down to the hospital. I sat there nervously in the waiting room while Jiraiya signed me in. I hated needles and any form of jabbing or poking with pointy objects. Don't get me wrong, I loved sparring and enjoyed nothing more than the satisfaction that came with a good beating...I just hated needles.