The Calm before the Storm

Chapter one

She kicked her feet off the nearby desk to gain speed in her spinning chair. She sighed deeply and stared at the rotating ceiling above her head. The pouring rain had made the customer traffic slow, very slow. It was almost 7, in 15 minutes she would be free from the boring film store where she worked part time, usually not on Saturdays, but she was doing a special favor to the manager, plus she gets a raise from it so it was worth it. Sadly she hadn't seen a soul in over an hour and was starting to contemplate blasting the radio throughout the whole store when a huge clap of thunder sounded and the startled girl fell out of her, still spinning, chair.

"Damn it! That hurt…" She whined as she rubbed her now tender butt.

She heard the bell on the door signaling that a customer had entered and she used the chair to pull herself up slowly from the hard floor. She stood up behind the counter still rubbing her posterior region, she saw him… gorgeous… she didn't know how else to describe the boy, he had hair the colour of the deepest oceans, blue but black at the same time, and his eyes were a liquid blue like melted azure. He was drenched from the rain and obviously didn't know where he had run to escape the cold shower outside.

He still hadn't noticed her when another flash of lightning hit and the power went out. Her eyes adjusted instantly and she felt a tingling at the top of her head, she winced as her canines bit into her lower lip lightly, and she felt a tingling at her tail bone and knew that she had to do something, if anyone saw her like this she would be killed by them. The Exorcists. Now that she had a good view of the boy she scanned him for any sign of a possible threat. Her eyes landed on the crest over his heart She began to panic, she was trying to move around the counter when her skirt caught on a pen that had been placed too close to the edge, as it dropped she clenched her teeth, and in the dark silent store it seemed like the loudest sound in the world.

"Who's there?" he called into the dark, lightning lit up his face then it darkened again.

"Please…" she whispered almost inaudibly, "Please…don't kill me…" she felt tears sting her eyes.

"What are you talking about? Where are you?" He sounded confused and frustrated. She managed to get up the courage to take a run at the door, in this form she was very fast but this was an exorcist she was dealing with. She still had to try. She took a deep slow breath and her feet started moving towards the door. Her left foot caught -she had chosen the wrong day to wear ballet flats- the boy grabbed her, his bare hands wrapping around her wrists and held her in front of him. She could feel his warm breath on her face 'he smells good' she thought silently and her face went scarlet, but in the low light the boy couldn't see the flushed face just inches from his.

He did however feel her; her wrists were small and her skin soft as velvet. He instinctually moved his face closer to the girls and felt her breath, 'she feels so soft, and warm' he had never felt this before, his heart was racing and his cheeks filled with blood, he still hadn't even seen the girls face. 'Why did she think I was going to kill her though?' it didn't make sense to him, he hadn't noticed anyone else was in the small store until she had made a noise.

He was taken out of his thoughts when the emergency lighting flooded the room with low blue tones. 'Her hair… it's white. Like snow.' He felt his heart skip a beat as he saw the small beautiful girl but an inch from his face; she was unlike any other he had laid his eyes on, her hair was pure white that extended a few inches past her shoulders, and her eyes were different colours one a hypnotizing crimson and the other a shimmering silver that sparkled in the low blue light. What threw him off the most however was that she had small cat ears at the top of her head; he looked down and saw a long fluffy tail curling between the girls legs. 'A demon?' he guessed, he smiled at the girl warmly.

"I'm like you; you don't have to be afraid of me." He said quietly. She looked up at his warm face and felt her cheeks flush red, she quickly looked away.

"How could you possibly be like me? You're an exorcist." For a reason she couldn't comprehend, her heart sank slightly as she said the words to the ground at her feet.

"I can prove it, just promise you won't run away if I let go...please?" he begged and looked into the girls dazzling mismatched eyes. He couldn't explain what had come over him, he desperatly wanted to stay near this girl.

"F-fine. I won't run…" she replied and looked away from the boys azure blue eyes that seemed to see through her.

"Here, I'm going to take out my sword, but don't worry, I swear I won't hurt you!" He said it with such conviction she felt she had to believe him.

"Okay…" she stepped back as he released her wrists and she watched him with skeptical eyes.

He took the sword off his back and opened the red bag that held the weapon and she thought something looked familiar but she couldn't place it. He held the sword in front of him and she felt overwhelming power surge around her as the black haired boy unsheathed the beautiful blade. The boy lit up in blue flames that had no heat, they were beautiful, but they were the flames of Satan. To her surprise her body seemed to react to the power, her teeth elongated and her nails turned to sharp claws that felt so sharp they could cut through iron.

"You… You're his son?" She suddenly got very cold; she had heard of Satan's sons, her chest tightened, could this boy really be one of them?

"My father is…was Shirō Fujimoto. Not Satan." His eyes went dark as he said the demon lord's name.

"How can you be an exorcist and a demon?"

"My father raised me as a human; I have no allegiance to Satan or to Gehenna." The blue flames reflected in his azure eyes.

"I guess you are the same as me...I hold no hatred towards humans and no love for the demon lord, which is probably why I haven't been killed as of yet, or possibly because I'm half human" she looked at her hands and back up at the fiery boy in front of her.

"What's your name?" He asked as he sheathed his sword and stepped closer to the white haired half demon.

"Morika, I go by Rika though. I don't have a last name…" She watched him with glowing eyes as he came closer and closer to her.

"I'm Rin, Okumura Rin." He looked down at Rika with pondering eyes, "How do you live with humans when you have, well, cat ears?"

"Oh, yeah, I forgot." She closed her eyes and felt the tingling on her head, mouth, fingers, and at the base of her back; "Exorcist's don't kill what they can't see.." she smiled slightly and looked up at a bemused Rin.

"Where do you live?" Rin asked then realized that he had only just met the beautiful girl, his cheeks flushed a rosy pink and he scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

"Nowhere… I don't really have a home among the humans, I used to… but that was a long time ago.I've been... wandering, I don't need much sleep so... " There was pain in her voice as she remembered her mother.

"You can stay with me!" He said the words before his brain could properly think them through and silently swore at himself for being so stupid, "I-I- I mean only if you want to… I have a free bed in my room 'cause my brother just moved to the teacher's suites."

"I…um… well…I don't want to impose…"Rika's face went cherry red at the idea of sharing a room with the striking young man in front of her, as the lights suddenly flickered back on.

"It would be my pleasure to share my room with you, Rika." Rin smiled warmly as he said her name and reached out his hand to the stunning girl.

"Thank you...Rin." She felt his warm hand close around hers.