Title: Deal with The Devil
Rating: T (It will probably change later on)
Pairing: Amuto: Amu x Ikuto
Genre: Romance/Supernatural
Warnings: Rated for language, blood and situations later on. Oh, and of course: severe raping of Japanese mythology. Be warned.
Word count: 5,619
Disclaimer: No, I don't own Shugo Chara!
Summary: AU. It was just Amu's luck to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now she's stuck with a certain demonic cat who does nothing but tease her and the search to find a way to free them both. And, you cannot forget the responsibility to take down the oh-so-evil Company that caused this all. AMUTO.
A/N: Yeahh, so this is my first fanfic I'll post here and one of the first I've written. So please, do review. I love those :3 And you want to make me happy, right? And this kind of streched... so please be patient and read to the end :3 And, yes, this is a multichappie one, but I don't know yet how many chapters I'm going to write. We'll see.
Chapter :: 1 :: Of Kidnappings and Beginnings
"Are you sure you don't want to come with us? You know, we could always call grandma and tell that you changed your mind and that you'd come too. I'm sure she would be happy..."
"It's okay mama, really, I'll be fine," Amu reassured her mother while lugging her little sister's suitcase towards the car which seemed like miles away – the damn suitcase was so heavy! Who would've thought such a little girl needed so much clothes – and only for a month in the countryside?
She wiped the sweat from her forehead and continued the struggle with the heavy piece of doom. She bet that her little sister had packed so much clothes only because she knew that her precious onee-chan would have to carry the freaking suitcase. She cursed the little angel who called herself her little sister.
"And besides, you shouldn't call to granny's cellphone that often," Amu told her mother. "She thinks the vibration means that it'll explode." She grinned at her. And you know she prefers the snailmail anyways, she added in her mind, remembering all the blisters she got from writing notably lengthy (read: extremely long and painful) letters in response.
Her mother gave her a smile and a quick hug. "Yeah, I know, I know. I'm just so worried about you. Remember that if anything happens, you can always call me or papa, or even Ami-chan if you'd like. And I asked Nobuko-san to keep an eye on you so you can turn to her if you have any troubles."
Amu cringed inwardly at the thought of Nobuko-san, their creepy fortunetelling neighbour keeping an eye on her. The old lady probably took it literally and dug an eye of nute from her Endless Supply of Weird Things™ and glued it onto her porch. Sounds lovely, doesn't it?
They finally reached the car and Amu heaved the suitcase on top of a giant pink spare tire which was decorated by frilly lace. "You shouldn't worry that much, mama. For the umpteenth time, I'll be fine. I'm a big girl now-"
"Oh my little Amu-chan is all grown up!" her papa wailed, who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Wasn't he supposed to do the last dishes before they left?
"Oh please," Amu sighed, exasperated, "you'll only be gone for a month or so. Not a big deal. Didn't you tell me you trust me? And besides, I only have vacation this week - I can't just skip school for three weeks straight." The guilt trip and the conscientious student – they always worked, she snickered in her mind.
Her mama and papa were looking at her with signs of defeat and Amu whooped silently in her mind.
"You shoudn't worry, Tsumugu-san, Midori-san," the fortuneteller, who had come to say goodbye, told them - and at the same time, scared Amu to the brink of death; what was it with people suddenly creeping up on her today? Did they want her to have a heart-attack? "I can clearly see that Amu will be fine..."
With that they looked relieved, until Nobuko added: "...and she even might discover something important, about herself, and about someone else..."
"What do you mean, important?" Amu queried, now interested what the ghastly mountainhag had to say.
"Hmm... Something very important... something great... something like love." She prophesized with a mysterious tinge to her voice.
Amu almost choked on her on spit and she cackled loudly, trying to breathe. "W-why are you suddenly springing up something like t-that? Are you implying I'll fall in love?" She asked, incredulous.
"Hmm... who knows...?" Nobuko replied distantly.
Amu furrowed her brow in frustration. Clearly the old lady had gone senile. Spouting such nonsense in the middle of a clear and a sunny day. Maybe the incense she burned at her house so often had finally muggled up her brain.
Amu turned and stilled at the hurt look on his papa's face. "Oh, Amu. I've always been dreading for this day, the day you'll grow wings and leave your nest... Ohh mama, this is so sad!"
"Bu..but I haven't done anything," she defended herself, a bit taken aback. This all made her want to tear her hair out of frustration.
"Yet," Nobuko added, smiling benevolently, even though she was being anything but.
After exchanging tight hugs and a dozen of reassurements on Amu's part, the car was finally able to leave.
"We'll call you everyday!" Her mother shouted from behind the window. Amu just nodded, having heard that already for a dozen of times.
"Have fun," she smiled back at them. "And don't forget to visit grandpa's grave for me, mmkay?"
Her mama nodded and finally, the car was off. Amu waved at them until the car swerved to the right and she couldn't see them anymore. She sighed and smiled hopelessly.
"What a big fuss for only a month... It's not like some life-changing event is gonna take place," she breathed, a little tired from all the hassling.
If only she would've stayed outside for a moment longer, she would've heard Nobuko say from the shadows of her porch: "That's what you think little girl, that's what you think... Love comes at inconvenient times, not when it suits you..."
&&&
Amu faced her first problem late in the evening, when her stomach growled nastily.
"Oh geez, I totally forgot about food," she grumbled as she opened the fridge door only to face the agonizing nightmare of the hungry – the fridge was empty. There was some expired milk and natto, but those clearly weren't an option. "I guess I should go shopping..."
She quickly donned her old black sweatpants that had 'AMU-CHAN' printed on the backside and a random white hoodie with black and pink hearts, spades and clovers. She twirled her pink hair that reached her shoulder-blades into a simple bun and cursed the loose locks that decided not to comply. She sighed, but didn't bother to fix her hair anymore since there wasn't really any need to – she was only going to the grocery store after all.
She grabbed her keys and after making sure the door was locked, she left. She didn't bother to take the bike because the nearest grocery store was so close. It was dark outside, the clouds hung low at the sky, creating an ominous atmosphere. She shivered before starting a brisk pace, determined to get some cup ramen. Yes, cup ramen. You couldn't really blame her for not being a super chef like Suu or a wife-y - was that even a word? - guy like Nagihiko. She snickered when she remembered the disastrous outcome of the cooking lesson they had tried to make her go through.
She slightly quickened her pace when she heard catcalls from some guys who loitered in front of the park near to their house. Oh, the inconvenience of being alone outside late at night. She lowered her eyes and sighed pitifully. How nice it would've been if she had someone beside her, to hold her hand, to cheer her up when she was down. Someone like Tadase-- no! Must...resist, she thought to herself frantically, slapping a hand on her forehead to enhance the effect.
Tadase had been her crush from elementary school, and now they already were sophomores in high school, and she still thought of him. How pathetic. He had hooked up with Ran, one of her best friends, in the beginning of the year. Ran had known that Amu had had a silly crush on Tadase, so she had repeatedly asked Amu if it was okay for her to date him. Of course Amu had told her she didn't like him anymore and that she should go for it, even though secretly, a tiny part of her had still liked Tadase.
Maybe it was destined for her to live her life alone and have multiple cats when she was old. Her neighbours would call her The Cat Lady and she would always give the children sour looks and they would run away from the immediate vicinity. She grimaced.
Oh get a grip, the level-headed part of her mind nagged at her. It's not the end of the world if some guy doesn't like you back. And besides, you don't even like him anymore!
All of her thoughts came to an abrupt halt when she reached the store, which, to Amu's immense displeasure, was closed. "Oh great," she groaned. This was just her luck! She stepped closer to peer at the small post-it note inside the glass that said with an almost illegible scrawl: "Closed for vacation".
It didn't help at all that while doing so, she had accidentally stepped on a puddle of water and now her left shoe and the leg of her sweatpants were drenched.
Oh this was perfect. Just perfect.
&&&
So what should she do now? There was a seven-eleven a bit farther out, but it was a cold night and the water was freezing her leg. It wouldn't do any good to go home and then leave for the seven-eleven – it would take too much time.
Everything seemed to go down the drain today. The pink haired girl glanced around, and when she was certain that there wasn't anybody around, she let out a frustated shriek that scared all the crows from the tree beside the store. She closed her eyes and pulled at her hair, ignoring the flapping sound the birds made when they flew away. "This sucks!" she continued, and started to stomp her foot like a little child (or more like Yaya), the drenched shoe making disgustingly squishy sounds. "No, everything sucks! I freaking hate this – mmph!"
She was forcefully silenced when a big, clammy hand clamped on her mouth and another grabbed her waist from behind. "Shut up, you wench," a rough voice grumbled, belonging to a burly looking man who had caught her. She was so closely pressed to the man she could feel the rumbling when he spoke.
"Just be a nice girl and be quiet, okay?" another voice coaxed, coming from a thin, serpent-like man who slithered from the shadows. The men exchanged quick glances and started to drag her deeper into the city, into the maze of alleyways and dead-ends.
All this time, Amu was panicking, at a loss of what to do. She kicked and tried to scream, but it only made the man wind his arms tighter around her, making it hard to breathe. "Let me go! Somebody help!" her voice came out muffled though, so nobody could hear her. Her eyes darted back and forth, trying to formulate a plan to escape. What were these men after? What did they want to do with her? Why was this happening?
Her eyes started to water when she thought of the possibilities of why they had decided to kidnap her. She crunched her eyes close, desperately trying not to hyperventilate, not to panic. She trashed wildly one more time before her energy would wane out and she would be left to the mercy of the strange men. She flailed her arms, kicked the air and bit the hand silencing her, screaming all the while like a wild animal.
This had the thin man alerted too and he sneered at the girl. "Just give her the sedatives already, Ganjou-san. She's just being an annoyance." Clearly the thin man was the one in control.
"Right, Hebi-san. I just thought the demon would prefer her undrugged. They are so damn prideful animals anyway," the bigger man, apparently Ganjou-san, replied with a lopsided smirk. At the same time he removed his hand from Amu's mouth and dug a syringe from his jacket pocket and stuck it to Amu's arm before she could react. She snapped her head to stare in pure horror as the syringe was slowly being emptied on her arm. She could feel the pressure of something being slowly pushed in to her bloodstream, and a moment after, she started to feel a little lightheaded. The clink the syringe made when it was threwn away echoed in the alley, and made her feel even more dizzy.
She didn't even have time to panic when she felt her muscles loosen and her head loll back to rest on Ganjou-san's shoulder. Her breathing calmed down and her eyes drooped. She was completely vulnerable now, and if she could've, she would've curled into a tight ball.
She could still hear and see, but her thinking had considerably slowed down. She didn't understand everything the thin man, or Hebi-san, said.
"I don't care what the demon wants. It's just a stupid demon among plenty of others. Besides, the drug will wear out eventually, and we got clear orders from the top; get a human, hopefully a virgin," at this part, he stopped and eyed Amu with a sickening smile on his face, as if he had seen through her clothes. "And if the she resists, drug her. Then we take her to the destined place. Nothing less and nothing more. You wouldn't want to defy your orders at the very first week you work for The Company, right, Ganjou-san?" The thin man smiled cruelly.
Ganjou-san visibly gulped and nodded his head. "Right, Hebi-san."
Amu was feeling very confused. What was all that talk about demons and such? The rational part of her mind told her repeatedly, that demon's didn't exist, but she just shivered in fear at the thought of demons.
I don't want to die yet, was her last thought before the sedatives got to her and she passed out.
&&&
She had a terrible headache when she woke up - she wanted to grab her head but she was being held down by Ganjou-san a.k.a Mister Burly. She looked around and saw that they were in an alley, and the tiles were covered by dreadful paintings, symbols and text. Hebi-san a.k.a Mister Snakey was painting a huge pentagram on the ground with a bucket of red paint and a brush. Talk about cliché, she snickered silently. The amusement was replaced by dread when she smelled the paint – it smelled of blood. "That's disgusting," she said and wrinkled her nose.
"Like what you see, huh?" Snakey smirked.
"Not really.. I mean, with that big butt of yours in the way, the view isn't really the best." She deadpanned.
Snakey narrowed his eyes and Burly raised his eyebrows at her. "Mind your own business," Snakey hissed.
"Well, since you asked so nicely..." She muttered silently. She took notice that it was darker than before, so she figured it was about midnight.
She didn't know why she was so calm and composed now, compared to what she was like earlier. The panic had somehow subsided and she actually felt a little comfortable. There was just something about this alley that gave off this kind of warmth, a feeling of... kindness. There wasn't any better word to describe the feeling she got. She almost felt like she was being protected. Apparently though she was the only one who thought of this, because the men had decided for this alley to be the scene for their ugly deeds.
"Okay. This is done," Snakey said and got up from his crouch beside the pentagram. "Now I'll just chant and then you cut her and then – we get the hell out of here," he instructed his partner.
She was about to object, to ask what the hell was going on, when he took a script out from his jacket and started to read it aloud. The objection vanished the second he opened his mouth – she just stared there in awe as the words flowed from Snakey's mouth with suprising ease. This all was clearly very well rehearsed. The words sounded really old, and she didn't understand a thing. There were some recurring parts and after a while, Amu started to discern a pattern in the chant.
When the chant was over, Amu was in a daze and she didn't notice when Burly took a switchblade from his pocket. He dragged her in the center of the just-painted pentagram, and with a quick flick of his wrist, cut a deep gash on her left hand.
She cried out in pain and clutched her hand tightly against her chest. She heard, rather than saw the cowards running away from her, leaving her all alone in the dark and deserted alley. For many minutes, she just sat there on her knees, trying to gather herself and get up. The gash on her hand was bleeding, and the blood trickled down her arm until it dripped on the cold, hard ground. She tried to inspect the wound, but the blood flowing blocked her sight. She sighed heavily and tried to get up, to stop this ridiculous game, but it felt like her legs were glued to the pavement.
...actually, what was that smoky smell?
She looked down, and to her horror, the blood which had dropped on the ground, had started to sizzle and black smoke had started to twirl upwards.
What was going on? Was she hallucinating?
...it couldn't possibly be correct that a demon would appear... could it?
The smoke had started to twirl around her, first enveloping her feet, then the tendrils started to creep upwards her body - now covering half of her torso. She couldn't do anything, the dark matter was keeping her still, pressing and gently tugging her beneath the ground, enfolding her in a sweet embrace, coaxing her to go with the flow, to let go.
She was beginning to feel more relaxed, and she was ready to let go, until the unexpected happened.
Had one of the tendrils just slipped under and up her shirt?
Had it just groped her?
"What – the – hell?!" she exploded, fingers fisting that particular tendril, choking the life out of it. "What do you think you are doing?!"
The tendril drooped a little, as if ashamed of what it had done. The visibly fake action just fueled Amu's anger.
"You – you! Make sure you don't do that again! And tell all your other tentacle-y friends too!" She shook the tendril maybe a bit too harshly, but she hoped it worked.
"You do understand how insane you look at the moment, right?" a deep, mysteriously lilting voice said.
This had Amu look up with a suprised look, which later turned into one of horror - the tendrils had gathered together and formed a vaguely human-shaped smokey pillar. She could only stare in dread as the figure came more and more pronounced, until there was a young, blue-haired and blue-eyed man standing directly in front of her.
Buck naked.
There was a few moments of silence before Amu threw her hands over her eyes, blushing profusely, and at the same time, effectively smudging the left side of her face with blood.
What the hell was going on?
&&&
"Okay... so you tell me that you're a demon and that demons are a just a different species living together with the humans in this world - without the humans knowing anything of it?" Amu paced before the young man, who was sitting on the ground and who now had her hoodie tied on his waist.
"Well, yes, except for the government. They know mostly everything. They want to hide it from people – I mean, could you imagine the chaos the people would be in if they found out about us? If they found out that there actually is a far more superior species in the planet? They would be completely terrified."
"Err, right. Then you also say that every hundred years the demons can be summoned and be bound to humans to achieve... greater power? Just... what the hell, really? That is the most corny thing I have ever heard. Do you actually expect me to believe that?" She took a longer glance at the alley and continued. You could practically see the vein popping on her head. "Is this some kind of prank? Are we on television or something?" She inspected the alley walls for something even she didn't know.
"Look. All I know is that I'm not lying. I don't know why this is happening. The summonings shouldn't have started yet. But now that I mentioned it, I did hear rumors about few cases of demons being summoned already... But there's one thing I don't understand at all. You say you were kidnapped?"
"Yes," Amu snapped impatiently.
"Strange..." He quieted down and fell into his own thoughts.
Amu's patience was wearing thin. There was guy sitting in front of her, who had seeminlgy appeared out of nowhere and who was claiming to be a demon? Since when had her little peaceful town been so full of lunatics? She sighed and rubbed her temples. What should she do? She couldn't just leave him here... Maybe she could give him the directions to the insane asylum? Or maybe not – she doubted he would go there willingly, as he seemed to believe his own story so strongly. She doubted she had ever been so lost as she was now.
"...So what do you expect me to do now?" She started desperately. " Admit that you're a demon? Take you to the madhouse? Take you to the police?" She slid down the wall and slumped to the ground, knees scraping the grainy asphalt. "And I can't just leave you here, my conscience tells me otherwise. Just- it's just- AARGH! I don't know what to do!" She screamed, her fingers fisting her hair, effectively loosening the bun.
The whole day – or night – had been so screwed up Amu didn't know what to think.
Firstly, she had been kidnapped.
Then she had been taken to some strange alley which was full of freaky paintings.
Then her kidnappers had recited some weird things and left her alone in the alley, with a nasty gash on her hand.
Then this bizarre, naked stranger had appeared with a cloud of smoke and now claimed to be a demon.
This was utterly, and ultimately the weirdest and terrifying day of Amu's life.
Or night, actually.
Amu glanced at the starry sky and sighed. Maybe some information about the stranger wouldn't hurt.
"So, who are you?" She asked and fixed her eyes on him.
The stranger smiled a little. "The name's Tsukiyomi Ikuto. Nice to meet you."
"Tsukuyomi? The god of the moon?"
"Not Tsukuyomi, Tsukiyomi."
"Well, that's practically the same thing, just a different spelling," Amu argued. "It's a brave name for a man to bear."
"Well, I'm not a normal man of your kind. As I said before, I'm a demon."
"Then tell me more about you lots, moon boy."
The said man raised an eyebrow at her demanding tone and the nickname, but started nonetheless.
"There's a whole community of us. We're living with you humans, but we're just disguised. So don't even think about saying that we live in hell or some place else. I'd bet you'd be suprised if I told you who actually were demons and not humans.
"I honestly don't even know why we're being called demons. We've had a lot of names; demons, angels, fairies, elves and so on. Nowadays the word 'demon' is just settled, I guess."
Amu blinked and you could almost feel the confusion radiate of her. Had he actually said that demons, angels and fairies were all the same thing? The same race?
A disturbing image of the man in a tinkerbell costume floated into her mind and she cackled.
The said man looked at her weirdly before continuing his explanation.
"We are physically stronger that you are, and almost every one of us have some kinds of magical powers – it depends if you trained them or if you focused more on the physical side. And of course every demon has animalistic qualities."
All the info was sinking into Amu's brain, when they heard a crash from the alley opening. They both snapped their heads towards the sound and they got up, alert.
A trash bin had been kicked against the wall and dust and sand had risen from the ground to hinder their vision.
When the dust settled Amu let out a small gasp in horror. There was a red, really buffed-up looking creature, who was wearing a loincloth. It sort of looked like a human, but the red skin, fangs, and the number of eyes indicated something else.
There were four eyes.
And now that she looked, it had ten toes in each feet.
And it didn't help that it was growling and staring at the man beside her ferociously.
Amu gulped visibly. "Wh-what is that?" She asked shakily.
"It's an Oni."
"Oni? As in an ogre?"
"Bingo."
There was a moment of silence
"Whaaat?! They exist?!! I thought they were just a part of the folklore to scare the children!"
"Almost everything you were told when you were little, are true. "
Amu blanched. "Even the boogieman under my bed?"
"Even the boogieman," he nodded.
As horror dawned on her face, the man burst out laughing. "I was just kidding," he laughed out. "About the boogieman."
"But the folklore is true?"
"Mostly. But not everything of it is."
The Oni seemingly got upset about their little chit-chat, so it roared mightily, swung an iron bat over it's head, as if declaring war, and charged.
Only a moment after Amu realized, that it actually was declaring war.
She didn't have time to run away, so she did the most natural thing a girl would do in such a situation.
She screamed.
She crunched her eyes close and drew back in herself, hunching shoulders and clamping her hands over her face. She waited for the impact of the club in dread and screamed all the while. When she ran out of breath, she quickly drew in more air to scream again, but she was stopped by an amused voice.
"Are you done screaming now?"
Now when she thought about it, she should've been hit already.
She slowly pried her fingers off her face and opened her other eye. When she saw no immediate danger, she opened the other one, looked beside her and froze.
Standing there was moon boy, completely at ease, and he was dangling the gruesome Oni from the neck, like it was a daily occurence, like it was completely normal.
You could say she was a weeny bit disoriented. It's not like this happens to you every day now is it?
"Wh- wha-" she choked, trying to get out a coherent sentence, which was proving to be extremely difficult. "How?" She finally cackled out.
"I told you, I'm a demon."
The idea, that a more superior race had evolved when humans were too, seemed just so incomprehensible.
But there he was, holding another supernatural creature by the neck.
It seemed that... he was telling the truth all along. That there actually was another species, a superior one, on this planet. And apparently, folklore beings too.
She looked at him with an inspecting gaze. Now that she looked at him more closely, she noticed how brilliantly blue his eyes were – no human could have as beautiful eyes as those were. She noticed his abnormally pale skin and the powerful, prideful aura he seemed to emit. She watched as his muscles constricted and moved under his skin gracefully when he crushed the neck of the ogre and the supernatural being turned to red dust – wait, what?!
She recoiled and her eyes widened. The whole being just vanished into the thin air as the wind picked up the little pieces and took them away.
"Did you kill it?" She asked, wide-eyed.
"No. I can't kill those in my current condition. I just sent it back from where it came from. And besides, killing isn't really my thing."
"Oh." She didn't know what to say.
"So you believe me now?" He smirked.
"I don't have another choice, now do I?" She responsed, a bit vexed she had to admit it to him.
"Nope you don't, little girl," he answered with a devilish smirk.
"I have a name too, you know."
"Then maybe we should go through the proper introductions again," he smiled. "Tsukiyomi Ikuto. Nice to meet you." He extended his hand for her to grasp.
"Amaterasu Hanako. Nice to meet you too," she joked.
"Har har har. I look like I'm laughing right?"
She just grinned. "No, I'm Hinamori Amu, nice to meetcha." She grasped his hand and gave it a firm shake.
"Well then Amu-chan," he said while staring pointedly at her butt which had her name printed on it. "Welcome to my world."
&&&
A/N: Finally the first chapter is done! It kind of streched and... well.. I congratulate you if you read to the end *confetti rains down* 8D And yeshh, I looovve reviews. They make my day :3
NOTESSSSS:
General:
Natto = fermented soybeans
Ramen = noodle soup (every narutard should know this XD)
Japanese Mythology:
Tsukuyomi = the God of the Moon
Amaterasu = the Goddess of the Sun, Tsukuyomi's sister
Oni = an ogre, or a similar monster
The Amaterasu Hanako thing is just that Amu is making fun of Ikuto's last name, if you didn't get it. Hanako is a typical Japanese girl name she just added.
I've written, rewritten and rewritten again every part, and I'm too lazy to do so anymore, so blame my laziness 8DD And please give me constructive criticism so I can become a better writer. Cause now I suck 8 But, practice makes you better, right?
Oh and please take in to notice that I'm not a native speaker, and english is a foreign language to me... So if you see any grammar mistakes, please inform me! Thanks in advance 8D
I'll post the next chappie here when it's done, so I don't know how long that's going to take. The other chapters prolly won't be as long as this though.
