Lightly edited, not extensively, don't expect utter perfection.

I do not own Blue Exorcist.

"I have not always chosen the safest path. I've made my mistakes, plenty of them. I sometimes jump too soon and fail to appreciate the consequences. But I've learned something important along the way: I've learned to heed the call of my heart. I've learned that the safest path is not always the best path and I've learned that the voice of fear is not always to be trusted."

― Steve Goodier

Monsters in the Closet

It's extremely hard to get lost when you only have only one path laid out before you. But I have a rare talent for losing my way. My eyes settled on the single road. It was bright; it was straight; it was safe; it was the path that I should take and I saw the distant cheerfulness it lead to. I saw figure after figure walk down it and they all ended up happy. They were happy and totally ignorant of what existed in the shadows on each side of the road. They were happy because they were totally ignorant of what existed in the shadows on each side of the road.

I was too as I took step after step on the clear road before me. I never bothered to look to each side of me – even if I did, the bright light of the road distorted any image and squelched any other light that may have existed anywhere else.

Well, that was a lie. I could see more than I let on. Not a lot, but more than the others. Faint and passing images occasionally caught my eye and curiously I'd approach the edge of the road, but every time I'd get close, the voice or the hand of an unrecognizable blurring figure would stop me and remind me what was normal – where I should be going – warn me against stepping off the bright path. Deter me from being unique and not travelling down the same path as everyone else.

My curiosity suppressed and hidden away, I turned away from the bad, the evil shadows and back to the right, the good path.

Without realizing it, I fell in line with the fuzzy figures that lined the way. Step. Step. Step. Step. Caught in the flow, I thoughtlessly found myself following the crowd and I was perfectly content to stay that way. I was unaware of any other possible road, but that might have been because there was not yet any other road to follow.

The thought had never occurred to me that someone at some point must build every road.

But that thought might be occurring to someone else somewhere else now.

It might occur to me someday too. Perhaps, sooner than I think. Maybe all I need was a catalyst to get me started, to get me thinking, to make me curious enough to step away.

Whimper.

Speak of the devil. What was that? I stopped my lifeless marching and looked around, looking to the unclear people still walking forward. Had no one else heard that? I called out, asking, but no one spared me a glance. Perhaps, I had imagined it? I turned once again to take a step forward towards the same destination as everyone else.

Whimper.

It was louder this time. In greater pain. I couldn't take the step forward. I couldn't leave the creature behind sounding as it did. Didn't anyone hear that! I called again. My voice seemed to echo loudly around me, but no one stopped. Their march droned on. My brows furrowed in frustration and I took a step backwards.

I bumped into another mindless figure. I noticed now, their faces were faceless, devoid of any feature. How had I not seen that before? How blind had I been? Disturbed I stepped away from the faceless person, closer to the edge of the road, and lifted my hand to my mouth. To my horror, I realized upon touching the space where my lips should have been that I too had no face.

Why?

What did it mean?

Why did I look exactly like these faceless things?

I wanted to get away from them – they were infecting me. But where was I to go? There was no other road, no other place for me to be.

Whimper.

I turned towards the sound again. It existed in the shadows – away from this bright path. I could go to it. I started towards it but was stopped by a faceless person – again I was warned against leaving the road, against the dangers of the dark, but this time I frowned and forcefully pulled away from its grip, let go!

Now, I faced the edge of what I'd always known and something new and generally unknown. As I stared out at the endless expanse of shadows, my heart ached with fear. Momentarily, I again saw the outline of some creature before it disappeared once more. I wasn't sure whether I should be scared of what I saw or not.

Whimper.

Again! Somewhere there was someone or something in need of help! My help! My gaze flitted to the road before narrowing on the gloom once again.

Determined, I stepped off the blinding road.

My eyes shot open and I awoke to the sound of my iPod blaring through the speakers of my alarm clock. Groggily, my eyes searched the room for the source of the noise. Eventually, they narrowed on the little electric device and I groaned and buried my face into my pillow in a desperate attempt to avoid the impossible.

I wasn't a morning person to begin with and coupled with the fact that I hadn't been sleeping all that well recently due to the bizarre dreams I had been having, I really didn't want to get up. Blindly, I searched my nightstand for the alarm, and then I searched my alarm for the snooze button. It was a double-edged sword. I loved the extra ten minutes I got every time I pressed it, but I hated having to run around like a chicken with its head cut off when I pressed it too many times.

After I had successfully, albeit forcefully, pressed the snooze button, silence returned to my bedroom and I sighed into my pillow. My eyelids, my arms, my head, my whole body was so heavy with fatigue, I honestly didn't think I'd be able to get up even if I had wanted to.

The seconds ticked by and my consciousness began to fade out once again, that was very easily done when you were never fully awake to begin with. It was a shame, really. I had almost completely gone back to sleep, but alas it was not to be.

Behemoth made sure of that.

A growl and a quiet roar that, in my drowsy state, I mostly ignored was the only warning I got before a weight was dropped on my back pinning me to the bed and knocking the air out of me with a scream that was muffled by my pillow. My limbs momentarily, not to mention uncoordinatedly flailed around in a desperate attempt to get the object off of me.

"Mmmeh-eeeeem-mmuuuuh!" I screamed into the pillow, "ngeh oh uh me, nam ih!"

I loved Behemoth, I really did, but by golly it was too early for this. Why did he have to be a morning person – or rather demon – anyway?

He squirmed a little, it was painful and I groaned in agony as my spine popped and my ribs shuddered against his weight. In the next moment, his weight was gone from my back, instead bearing down on the little space between the edge of the bed and me.

With yet another groan, I turned to face him. He wore his trademark goofy, innocent, yet still somehow guilty grin. I sighed in resignation before smiling, "Morning, Behemoth." He nuzzled his nose into my face, tickling me and making me giggle. Habitually, I returned the show of endearment and rubbed my nose on his.

To be honest, I wasn't sure when I start getting so physically affectionate. Nuzzling with anything – even teddy bears when I was child – always seemed weird and improper growing up. But after having been around this extremely touchy demon, I had either grown desensitized or fond of intimacy. It was probably the latter, but I'll never admit that.

Of course, even if it were the case that I was fond of the intimacy of nuzzling, I'd only ever nuzzle Behemoth. Anyone else would be strange; people don't nuzzle people unless they were involved romantically.

I giggled again as the hobgoblin started to burrow his face into my cheek with more vigor, effectively pushing me closer to the wall.

"Good morning."

I briefly glanced up and greeted the green-haired teenager, "Good morning, Amai-" I shot up to look at the demon currently situated on my bed's headboard, knocking a yelping Behemoth off the bed in the process, "AMAIMON!?" Flustered, I turned back to Behemoth; trying to crawl out of bed after him, I called out "Behemoth! I'm sorry! Are you okay?!"

I should have paid more attention as I scrambled towards the edge of the bed, but alas I didn't. So when I got a little too close and I went to put my hands down, all I found was air and I quickly began to fall face first towards the floor. I squeaked in surprise and tried to grab the edge of the bed, but even after I had gripped the sheets, I was already too far forward to stop my descent and merely brought the mass of linen down with me.

My first instinct was the close my eyes and brace my face for the soon to come collision. I waited. I waited a little longer. Apparently the fall to the floor was much higher than I thought it was.

It took me another moment to realize I was no longer falling and when I opened my eyes, I discovered that I was hanging upside down about an inch from the floor. Looking back to the headboard, I realized why that was. Amaimon had a firm grip on one of my feet and was holding me up by it.

We made eye contact and awkwardly I started to thank him, "Oh – uh – tha-" WHACK! "OW!"

His laughter rang out in the bedroom, child-like and totally grating on my nerves. The green-haired fiend had released me without any warning so that I'd fall on my face, which meant now he was laughing at my expense. "It's not funny!"

I rubbed my nose as I sat up and glared at the giggling teenage demon. Behind me the sound of monstrous snickers alerted me to the fact that Behemoth too had found humor in my painful situation.

Indignantly, I puffed up my cheeks and scrambled to my feet in an effort to regain some dignity. I turned away from Amaimon, I noted that his laughter stopped when I turned my back to him, and shot a cross look at Behemoth, which seemed to halt his chuckles as well, before stomping out of my bedroom and adamantly declaring, "No candy for either of you!"

Behind me I heard Behemoth's whimper and Amaimon's discontented gasp.

Yet another hectic morning, just like the day before and the day before that and so on and so forth, all of which were a direct result of these two's occupancy in my life. And though I seemed peeved and wasn't one to like busy mornings or mornings in general, I wouldn't trade these mornings for anything.

These feelings, these smiles, these memories, they were precious to me. Even if we smile at my expense, I'm simply glad to be smiling with them.

Still, Amaimon was never so punctual as to be here at the same time every morning, that time being when my alarm clock went off. I wonder what started this sudden promptness every morning, anyway?

I know he started doing this every day a week ago, three days after our visit to the amusement park, but I have no idea what started it. Of course, I don't really mind that he comes, so I don't really care that much why he does. But I do care a little.

Walking into my kitchen, I got myself a bowl, found the cereal, and retrieved the milk. As I poured myself my breakfast, I heard the sound of someone creeping around behind me. I didn't need to turn around to know it was Amaimon and Behemoth trying to sneak into my candy cabinet. Without turning towards the two troublemakers, I chided them, "Get out of the candy, you two."

"Don't want to." I turned to face Amaimon and Behemoth then. They were crouching on my counter; a bag of candy was in Amaimon's hand and he was getting ready to open it.

Hands on hips, I walked over to them. I gave Behemoth a 'you know better look' and he immediately and apologetically hopped off the counter. Unfortunately, my looks were relatively ineffective when dealing with the Earth King. I tried it anyway. But alas, it seemed as though my look merely bounced off his stony one.

Upon realizing that was getting me nowhere, I decided to try 'plan B'. You'd think I'd of learned my lesson by now but it seems – I never do. Lunging forward I attempted to snag the candy from him, "Give me that!"

I failed miserably as the green-haired demon pulled the bag out of reach far faster than I could ever hope to reach it. "Nope."

After so many times of being in this situation, I had come to realize that jumping around and pulling on his shirt would not get me any closer to getting the candy back. With a huff I crossed my arms, refusing to play that silly game again, "Amiamon, I'm not kidding. Give me the candy."

He blinked and his eyebrows furrowed somewhat. I wasn't sure if it was in disappointment that I wasn't jumping around or because I had told him to do something, it hadn't taken me long to realize during the time that I'd known him that he didn't like being told to do anything. Thinking back on what I said, perhaps I should have added 'please'.

Within seconds, my personal space had been invaded by the teenage demon as his face moved in on mine. I felt my eyes widen and my arms uncross so that I could hold them up between him and me. His narrowed, cold eyes held my surprise ones and he issued a challenge, "make me."

I withdrew slightly, unwillingly to take him up on his challenge, plus his face was too close and it was causing mine to redden. I really wish he wouldn't do this – he does it all the time, so much so I'm beginning to wonder if he really doesn't realize that it isn't normal to get this close to people, or that it flusters me every time he does. Nonetheless, I didn't say anything. Instead, I steadily backed away from the boy in an attempt to create some distance between him and I. Unfortunately, as he usually does when I start backing up, Amaimon followed.

Before I knew it, the small of my back had collided with the counter behind me and as a result my hands flew behind me, quickly making contact with the counter as well as the cereal bowl.

I flinched and broke eye contact with the stone faced demon as I turned around and frantically attempted to catch the ceramic bowl before it hit the ground.

I failed miserably. I barely managed to tap the edge of the bowl as it fell to the floor, and soon I heard the sound of shattering ceramics and saw milk and cereal spill all over the floor. "Shoot!" I hopped out of the way as the sharp shards of the shattered bowl flew across the floor. When all was calm again, my shoulders drooped in exasperation and I grumbled in frustration as anger began to boil up in my worn-out, unrested mind.

I would have been fine if I had had just a moment to cool down. But Amaimon just had to laugh. I bit the side of my lip, and gave him a sidelong glance as I leaned down to start picking up the pieces of my bowl. I wasn't going to react negatively. I wasn't going to.

Yet, as I worked to clean up the mess, Amaimon's snickers grated on my nerves until finally I sliced my finger open and had had enough. I flew to my feet, slammed the shards I had collected down on the counter – tearing my hand up further in the process, and shot Amaimon the most murderous glare I could while I stomped away and hissed, "quit laughing – you jerk. It isn't funny."

He silenced almost immediately and cocked his head in clear confusion. For a moment, he simply sat in silence but eventually is face morphed from confusion to irritation and he opened his mouth to say something. Unfortunately, in my anger dazed mind I didn't give him the chance to do so. By the time he was ready to speak, I had reached my room and before he could do so, I'd slammed my bedroom door closed.

Turning around, I leaned against my door and gradually sunk to the ground. Once seated against the door, I took a peek at my hand, which was now starting sting. It was bleeding really badly – I really shouldn't have slammed the bowl shards down like that.

I felt that I probably had over reacted – no I knew I overreacted and I wasn't entirely sure why. I was normally so calm and levelheaded, things like that didn't bother me. But, I guess even I sometimes have my limits. I'd put up with his teasing (although I usually laughed along with him), his utter lack of manners (but I'd seen him take steps towards getting better), his mean remarks (though I'm fairly certain he doesn't even realize what he's saying), so much (although they're usually accidents or his total unawareness of social etiquette), and I was just so tired. So between the pain of my hand, the huge mess, yet another thing of mine breaking, and his laughter, I just couldn't stay calm.

Talk about an awful start to my day.

I buried my face into my knees for a moment. Then looked up. This wasn't like me. Even I knew that. My eyes settled on the teddy bear still sitting on the end of my bed. As I gazed at it, a small smile grew on my face and I remembered how I came into possession of the little toy just a week ago.

~One Week Ago~

"Adolescents are not monsters. They are just people trying to learn how to make it among the adults in the world, who are probably not so sure themselves."

~Virginia Satir

Sitting on a park bench for hours on end afforded me unique opportunities to contemplate life, which I was fully willing to take advantage of. Especially since I had more than enough opportunities of that nature.

Whether it was out of spite of having to always wait for him or simply because I was hungry, I was currently sucking on a lollipop – one of Amaimon's promised lollipops. Admittedly, when I first met him, I'd never have been so presumptuous, but now that I had known him for as long as I did – suddenly, I was a little less afraid of how he'd react to finding out I was eating one of his lollipops.

I sat with my legs crossed, an arm rested on one leg, my head resting in the hand of the same arm, and an extremely bored expression on my face. Those that walked by me usually gave me a weird second glance that I generally ignored since I was choosing to pay close attention to nothing in particular instead.

Well, for now I was. However, when anyone or anything cries out in any kind of distress I tend to notice. This is especially the case when it's the sound of a child crying since I seemed to have an extraordinary soft spot for children.

The soft sound of a whimpering child quickly drew my attention to a nearby swing. I blinked once and then twice, a little surprised. I wasn't surprised because I saw a crying child however; I was shocked because the boy I saw crying I had seen before. Four days prior, the day before I went to MephyLand with Chou and Amaimon, he had come into the candy shop with his mother. It was the shy, green-eyed, blonde boy who had spent the majority of his time hiding behind his mom's legs.

Only this time, his mom wasn't around for him to hide behind so he was making do with a worn-out stuffed light brown teddy bear.

From what I could see and hear, he was crying, and one glance around the park told me that the reason was more than likely due to the absence of his mother. I could sympathize; it may come as no surprise to you that growing up I often got separated from my caretakers as well.

But that is beside the point. I was physically incapable of leaving the child alone, both because he was crying and because it simply wasn't safe to leave a seven or eight year old boy alone this close to nighttime. Without any hesitation I stood up and made my way over to the boy. I didn't try to get to close to him – I knew from experience that was the best and easiest way to make them retreat. Rather, I slowly made myself visible to him, waved and gently called out to him, "Are you okay?"

His green eyes widened slightly and he buried his face into his teddy bear, as if he thought I would no longer be able to see him if he did so. Staying where I was, I smiled and spoke to him again, "I'm Kotori, I work at a candy shop; we met there, do you remember me?"

There was a moment's hesitation before he peeked out from behind his bear and he slightly nodded his head in the affirmative. My grin widened, "That makes me happy!" He sniffled a little and wiped his face as I continued, "Is your mom here?"

He shook his head.

"Are you lost?"

He nodded.

"Do you want me to help you find her?"

He shook his head.

I furrowed my eyebrows ever so slightly in disappointment, "Would you like me to wait here with you until she comes?"

There was yet another moment of hesitation during which he glanced from side to side before he cautiously nodded.

"Okay then, I can do that. What 's your name?"

"…..-chio….."

I cocked my head, quite certain I misheard him, "Chio?"

"Michio."

I bowed my head in greeting, "It's nice to meet you Michio."

He bowed his head as well and in a very small voice responded, "Nice to meet you."

There was a second of awkward silence before I finally broke it, "So how'd you get lost?" He looked at me wide-eyed and almost appeared conflicted for a second, but then he looked down in thought. It seemed to me he wasn't sure whether or not he should tell me. "It's okay, you can tell me – I get lost all the time too, so I'll understand."

He squeezed his teddy bear close to him and glanced up at me. "U-uh, my bear…it got taken and I wanted it back."

I frowned, not at the boy, but rather at the fact that someone would be so mean as to steal a little boy's teddy bear. That's like stealing candy from a baby. Awful. "That's terrible, who took it?"

He buried his face into the bear again and gave a very muffled reply, "mah mohnsteh."

"I'm sorry?"

He looked up, "a monster." I blinked a few times. A monster? I wondered about that for a few moments – did he mean an actual monster? I mean he clearly thought that whatever initially took his stuffed toy was a monster but that didn't necessarily mean it was an actual 'monster'. That being said, I couldn't deny the existence of monster like creatures.

"A monster? What did this monster look like?"

"Uh, it was round, i-it had big t-teeth, and big arms, and small legs, and a tail, a-and -AH!" He sprung forward and held onto my legs, startling me in the process and nearly knocking me over.

"What!? What is it!?" Shaking against my legs he managed to hold up one hand and point. Turning my gaze in the direction he had pointed I spotted it. Peeking out from behind some nearby bushes was a goblin. It was smaller than Behemoth and its coloration was different, it was redder than the hobgoblin I had come to know and love, but it was unmistakably a hobgoblin. I looked at the little boy, "Is that the monster who stole your bear?"

He nodded against my legs. I looked between the boy and the demon. I wondered why the demon was bullying the little boy at all; remembering my first encounter with Behemoth, I also found myself wondering whether or not the goblin had hurt the child. "Has he ever hurt you?"

Green eyes found mine as he shook his head in the negative, "he just takes my bear."

"He does this a lot?"

"Uh-huh."

I wondered about something for a moment, "How do you get it back?"

The boy paused for a moment as he thought; "He drops it after a little while." A hint of a smile graced my lips as I recalled how Behemoth generally played with me. Usually, it was some variation of the game tag, where in I spent the entire time chasing him around until I gave up and he let up on the game. This sounded very similar.

I knelt down in front of Michio, "I don't think he's trying to be mean to you."

The boy's emerald eyes glittered with an almost mysterious curiosity, "You don't?"

"Nope. I think he just wants to play with you. They like chasing games."

"…like tag?"

"Yep, like tag." The boy stared at me for a bit, his head slightly cocked to the side. I almost felt like he was judging me in some way.

"…I-I like tag…"

I winked, "me too…say do you want to play while we wait for your mom?" The little boy glanced between the demon and I like he was trying to decide whether or not it was safe.

"I-is it okay?"

I looked at the goblin still peeking awkwardly out from the bushes. Turning back to the boy I signaled for him to stay where he was – upon receiving a nod that told me he wasn't going anywhere I started to approach the goblin. As I got closer, the demon seemed to grow restless. I remained perfectly calm, and when I was a few steps away, I slowly knelt down in front of the fiend. "Hello there."

He disappeared into the bushes for a few seconds before reappearing then disappeared and reappeared again, each time the leaves rustled loudly and I had to keep from laughing. When finally he settled on not hiding in the bushes he stared awkwardly at me, "You like playing games, right?"

I chuckled a little as his tail started vibrating in excitement, "Can you be gentle?" He ran in a few circles that made me slightly dizzy while I tried to follow him before he ran up to me and gently nuzzled one of my hands. I beamed, "Awwww, you're so sweet…and strangely well-behaved…" I tilted my head in thought, "Do you have a name?" He cocked his head as if he didn't understand what I had said. "I guess not – and here I thought you might be someone's familiar."

Turning towards Michio I motioned for him to come on over. Upon seeing my smile and confirmation that he could come over, the blonde warily approached us. He eventually settled behind me, looking at the fiend from behind me. Motioning to Michio I introduced him to the goblin, "This is Michio." The demon ran in yet another happy circle, when he reseated himself in front of me I looked at Michio, "he doesn't have a name – maybe you'd like to give him one?" I turned back towards the goblin, "If that's okay with you, of course." The little fiend grinned.

"Oh come on! Why are you two so fast, darn it!" I yelled out in exasperation as I was tagged and once again given the label 'it'. Michio and the newly named 'Yuko', who according to Michio was a female hobgoblin (though I have no idea how in the world he could know that and he simply stated that 'I can tell' when I asked), were far better than I was at tag apparently. I had spent the majority of the evening being it. Furthermore, I had given up trying the tag Yuko, which made it way too obvious who I was going to chase and that much easier to get away.

By this point in the game, I was exhausted and ready to stop playing – of course, we'd only been playing for about twenty minutes so quitting now wouldn't reflect well on me. Furthermore, Michio had finally come out of his shell and I didn't want to ruin that. Not to mention, he and Yuko were getting along so splendidly that they would work together to make sure I couldn't quit. Seriously, what is that?

Outsmarted by an eight year old and a goblin. Way to go me.

I took a quick breather and analyzed me surroundings, Yuko was literally running circles around me, much to my chagrin, and Michio was peeking out from behind the nearby play set, a smile plastered to his face as he giggled. When my breathing got under control, I started to take off after the boy. Unfortunately, I barely got a step forward before I was knocked to the ground by some heavy thing colliding with my back. "GYAH!" I squealed as my face met the dirt and I had the air knocked out of me.

I wondered for a fraction of a second what it was that had hit me, but when I felt the sloppy wet kisses that were so clearly Behemoth's on my cheeks, I stopped wondering. "H-hey! Behemoth!"

My hobgoblin friend crawled off of me and, in his usual manner, sat next to me with a goofy smile on his face. Mindful of my now bruised back, I succeeded at getting back to my feet without any further incident. I admittedly, flinched a little when I looked up and discovered Amaimon standing barely a foot in front of me, but soon a bright smile engulfed my face as I greeted him, "Hi, Amaimon!"

"What were you doing?"

I popped my lips, "It's nice to see you too, and yes, I've been really great." My sarcasm either flew right over his head or he simply wasn't having it because not only did he not respond, but his face remained deadpan for the entirety of my comment and indefinitely afterwards. After a grand total of three slow blinks, I finally answered his question. "I was playing tag."

His jaded expression lightened as a childish smile spread on his face. "Tag?!"

"Yes, tag. With," I gestured to the little boy, still slightly hidden behind the nearby play set, "Michio and," I pointed at the red goblin, "Yuko."

Amaimon glanced quizzically between the child and the goblin before settling his gaze inquisitively on me. He blinked a few times and at first I thought he was going to make a comment that would sound a little like: I don't want to play with annoying human children. To which I would probably respond with something along the lines of: Then don't.

Of course, he surprised me by being unusually open-minded, "I want to play!"

I stared at him, completely dumbfounded. An eternity seemed to pass, though if I'm being honest it probably wasn't even a full moment, before my brain started to work well enough to form a comprehensible sentence, which consisted of one word, "Really?"

His already present smile widened and he nodded with an unnatural amount of excitement, "Yep! I enjoy these human children games! They are very amusing."

I looked at Michio for a moment before turning back to Amaimon, "But…will you be okay playing with Michio?" After all, Michio was a human child. I worried that Amaimon might accidently scare him, inspire him to attempt things that might cause the boy injury, or end up being too rough with the kid. And with his mother still not here, I wanted to be sure he stayed okay.

Amaimon glanced at the blonde boy. Almost unnoticeably his brows knitted together, either in thought or confusion, or both. It could very well be and most likely was both. Eventually, he seemed to be unable to come to an understanding and turned to me for assistance, "I don't understand."

I scratched the back of my head as I tried to think through my answer and state it in a way that would make sense to him, "I guess I was just worried that you might accidently hurt him, or scare him, or something."

"I won't."

"Oh…well, okay…then…" I smiled mischievously, "in that case," with far more force than was probably necessary I tapped the green-haired demon's arm, "TAG! You're IT!"

The boy's eyes widened in surprise as the nearby goblins and I took off. I headed towards the play set, hoping that if I reach it the obstacle would provide an escape for me. The two demons, however, scattered towards the shrubbery. Fortunately, Amaimon had not decided to come after me. Unfortunately, he had decided to go after Michio.

The little boy shrieked as he ran around the play set in an attempt to get away from the quickly approaching demon king. For a moment, I was deathly afraid that I had made a mistake in allowing Amaimon to play, but one look made me realize that it wasn't a shriek of fear but of excitement. Content that the boy was okay; I turned tail and ran the other way.

I'm not so brave as to head toward the tagger. Especially not when the tagger was a demon.

That's not courage; that's stupidity.

It wasn't fair. I was 'it' again. And I had been for far too long. "Ugh." I panted as I leaned over to rest my hands on my knees. I knew part of my problem was that I was too easily distracted, I kept switching targets which made getting away extremely easy, but the other problem was that I was playing with demons – sure Michio was human, but he was a little fiend in his own right!

"You're really bad at this game." Then there was Amaimon and his truly incredible ability to state the completely obvious. Too tired to attempt to yell anything back at him I settled with simply sticking my tongue out.

Honestly, isn't there a mercy rule or something?

"Demon, over here towards the sound of clapping…"

"STOP THAT!" I finally yelled at the green-haired boy who had turned his back towards me and started clapping. Fully irritated, I charged forward trying desperately to tag the demon.

"Ah! It worked!" He laughed as he continued to escape me with relative ease. His comment would probably of made me blush considering the truth of his words – I had, in fact, come when called – but I was already so red in the face from physical exertion, I don't think I could grow any redder.

In my frustration, I managed a pretty pathetic comeback, "that's –ugh – not even – agh – the real – huff – song!"

He stopped running for a split second and watched me with surprised eyes, "It isn't?"

"NO!"

He scowled a little but quickly moved on and resumed his unrealistically quick retreat. I was just about ready to raise the white flag, which was something I had been trying to avoid in a last ditch effort to save whatever pieces were left of my pride, when someone did it for me.

"Michio!" A woman's voice rang out across the park and I immediately stopped running. I turned on my heels towards the source of the voice and found none other than the same woman who had come into the candy shop with Michio just a few days ago. In other words, his mother.

"M-MOMMA!" The little boy ran forward, albeit it a little ungracefully, and met his mother halfway, leaping into her worried but caring arms. I smiled fondly at the sweet scene and glanced at Amaimon. He seemed extremely unimpressed; I wouldn't have expected anything different though, and in response, I rolled my eyes.

I gave myself a moment to start breathing normally again and then I approached the woman, "Um…hi. I take it you're his mom?" She looked up at me, eyes full of the relieved tears you'd only ever see in the eyes of a mother who'd just found their child safe and sound.

"Yes, I am."

I grinned, "Ah, in that case, I'll leave him with you. I'm glad you two found each other."

"Thank you." With a nod, I turned to leave, but before I could take even a single step another smaller voice stopped me.

"W-wait!" I looked back at Michio, a smile and question painted on my face.

"Yes?"

Separating from his mother's hug he shyly walked over to me. There was a span of time during which he stared awkwardly at the ground and I stared self-consciously at him and his mother, until finally he held out his teddy bear. "H-here."

I blinked.

"I-I want to thank you, so y-you can have him. J-Just take good care of him."

I blinked again, and finally I smiled. "Thank you, Michio – but are you sure you want to give me that?"

His eyebrows came together in a determined scowl as he responded enthusiastically and pushed the bear into my hands, "YES!"

Gently, I took hold of the little furry toy, "then thank you." Upon accepting his gift, he smiled brightly and his eyes sparkled with victory. "We should hang out again, all of us," I nodded towards Yuko, "okay?"

He nodded, "Uh-huh!" As out interaction came to a close his mother came up behind him and took the boy's hand so that she could guide him home but stopped momentarily to once again offer me her thanks. As per usual, my response was a simple 'it was nothing' and I waved while I watched them leave.

"Sweet kid." I murmured to myself. Turning around, with my new gift in hand I faced Amaimon. He had crept up on me and I instinctually recoiled and yelped due to the sheer proximity between him and I. His jaded eyes, I noticed, were focused entirely on the stuffed animal I now carried in my arms. I also detected a slight frown, which I quickly attributed to the fact he hadn't been given anything.

Glancing behind him, I saw Behemoth sitting calmly on the grass a few feet away but could not find Yuko. I scanned the immediate area and discovered that at some point during the time I had my back turned, Yuko had disappeared. "Where'd Yuko go?"

"Hmm? Oh, right. The goblin left when the boy did."

I pursed my lips, a little disappointed, "Oh…" then I set my sight on the very near Amaimon and the corners of my lips turned upwards. "Kagome kagome the bird in the basket when," the teenage demon tilted his head in utter confusion as I sang the children's song, clearly not quite recognizing it yet,"oh when will it come out in the night of dawn the crane and turtle slipped who is behind you now?" Once the song was over, I smacked his arm, "TAG! You're it! AGAIN!" Then I took off.

I didn't get far admittedly; after all, Amaimon was far faster than I was. That being said, while I wasn't expecting to get far anyway, I was still very startled when he caught me. Not because he tagged me, but rather because of how he tagged me. He jumped on me. He literally jumped on me – in a very similar manner to how Behemoth tackles me every time we are reunited. I squealed as I was thrown headlong towards the ground and barely had time to throw my free hand forward in an attempt to save my face. When at last I had landed I found that I was very well pinned, face down, to the ground by a heavy object. That object being the green-haired trickster above me.

His taunting voice rang out above me an instant later. "Tag, you're it."

"Oh, come on!" I squirmed, pounding my fists against the ground and kicking aimlessly, hoping this would inspire Amaimon to get off of me. He didn't budge.

Instead he blinked a few times and gave me a lackluster stare, "Give up – you're not any good at this game."

I was too stubborn for my own good. I didn't like giving up anyway, but I especially didn't like giving up when someone told me to. "NEVER! I will be victorious!"

"You can't beat me. I'm better than you."

Still squirming, I gasped in insulted horror, "Says who!?"

"Me." He said it with a strange enthusiasm that really didn't match the lifeless expression on his face, and that combined with the honesty of the response left me somewhat speechless.

"Ugh."

~One Week Later – Back in the Bedroom~

"Saying 'I'm sorry' is saying 'I love you' with a wounded heart in one hand and your smothered pride in the other."

― Richelle E. Goodrich

A giggle left my lips as I picked the teddy bear up off the bed; it was such a delightful reminder of an equally delightful day. Despite all my complaining while I was 'it' and even if I was completely awful at the game, I had had a great time running around playing tag.

Glancing into the glossy button eyes of the worn-out toy I caught the fuzzy image of my reflection. Staring at myself, I was suddenly hit with an overwhelming feeling of guilt and my faint smile fell away. I knew I shouldn't have snapped at him the way I had, and admitting to that wasn't admitting weakness or even admitting that he had been entirely right within the context of the situation.

If it was anything, it was admitting that I thought our friendship was more important than a ceramic bowl and some cereal and milk.

With the bear in one hand and the other held out in front of me while I analyzed the many crimson superficial cuts, I sighed and sat down on my bed. I'd have to clean those up eventually. I couldn't just leave them be because even the most trivial injuries can grow serious if they're left to fester long enough.

It was the same for relationships.

I clenched my fist in newfound determination and immediately regretted doing so, "Ow!" It was a dumb thing to do considering my hand was still covered in small wounds. I shook my hand in an attempt to shake the stinging pain away while I sat the bear back down on the bed and stood up. Then, I glared at the door. I was definitely going to go out there and I was definitely going to apologize.

As I approached the door, I had to keep from chuckling because of the sound of someone or something retreating away from it. If I had to venture a guess, I'd suspect Behemoth had been pouting on the other side. Resting my hand on the doorknob, I turned it and pushed the wooden barricade open just enough to peek out into the hallway. By then, it was completely empty and the only sounds in the entire apartment were the sounds of someone messing around in the living room.

Stepping outside of my room, I slowly continued down the hallway and peeked into the occupied space. Amaimon and Behemoth were either wrestling or cuddling – I couldn't really be sure which. But when they noticed me standing there they stopped. Behemoth smiled at me. Amaimon glared.

I visibly flinched when met with the demon king's narrowed eyes, but despite the fact it was certainly intimidating, I remained steadfast. "Um…hello." I awkwardly shuffled in place as I tried to think up the best way to start my apology. Perhaps, I should have done that before I left the bedroom but I hadn't. I wanted to smack myself. Uncomfortable seconds flew by before I finally achieved something. That being said, it wasn't much since I didn't actually say anything at least not immediately – though I still think it was both an effective and important part in asking for forgiveness.

Covering the distance between us before I could chicken out, I got as close as I felt was appropriate and joined him on the floor. Except unlike him, who was sitting 'Indian-Style', I sat on my knees. Then I bowed. My face turned bright red as I did so, and I wished I could see his face before I said anything but in my current position I couldn't and would simply have to make do with a view of the floor.

Gathering up the rest of my courage I finally spoke, "I'm sorry." After the words left my mouth I sat up straight and looked him in the eyes. "I shouldn't have snapped at you and stormed out like I did. It was very rude of me and I could have handled the situation much better. I let my emotions get the best of my judgment and that reflected on my behavior. Please forgive me?" Considering the rate my heart was beating and how nervous I was, I was actually quite pleased with how my apology had come out. Now I just had to hope and pray that Amaimon was in a forgiving mood.

He stared me down, as if he was trying the gage the extent of my guilt. Having his eyes on me like that and in this situation, admittedly, made me astronomically more nervous than I already was and as a result I could feel my cheeks slowly warm.

I wanted to avert or close my eyes at one point, but I refused to allow myself to do so. I wished he'd just say yes I forgive you or no I don't. Waiting was killing me, slowly, painfully.

Until finally, "Okay." I blinked. That was it? Just 'okay'? I wasn't sure if I was disappointed that was all he had to say, or happy, or shocked, or annoyed. I had kind of been expecting him to ask for candy in return, or give me a hard time about earning his forgiveness. And I admittedly had hoped he'd, just maybe, apologize for giving me a difficult time in the kitchen. Though it doesn't surprise me that he didn't do the latter, I am very stunned that he didn't do the former.

"Really?"

"Yep." A slight smile danced on my lips but it soon grew both in size and brilliance. Until, that is, it was wiped away by the memory of the mess in the kitchen that I now had to clean up.

But before that, I nonchalantly crawled my way over to the teenager and situated myself side-by-side to him. He watched me suspiciously – yet still somehow bored – as I did so but did not attempt to retreat. Not that I thought he would, my experience told me he didn't have much awareness for personal space, at least, not when it came to me. I met his gaze and beamed before using my shoulder to affectionately nudge his, "I'm glad."

Then I stood up and made my way to the mess in the kitchen. I noticed the two demons follow after me, but they often did that so I paid no mind to it. That is until I rounded the corner.

I froze in the doorway for an indefinite amount of the time as the cogs in my brain struggled to turn and make sense of what was not in my kitchen and what was.

The mess was gone. It had been completely cleaned up. And sitting on the counter was another bowl of cereal. I rubbed my eyes, convinced I was seeing an image of what I wished was reality as opposed to what actually was. But even after trying to, I could not rub away the image in front of me. Cautiously I stepped forward. It wasn't my imagination. Somehow my kitchen got clean while I was in my bedroom and I had a pretty good idea how. But, just to be sure – I checked my candy pantry. Empty.

"Amaimon…" I glanced at the demon king; he was standing, bored, and totally ignoring me in the doorway. For a moment I wondered if I should thank him for cleaning the mess up and pouring me more cereal, or reprimand him for eating my entire stash of candy. He was like a double-edged sword.

I suppose I could just laugh, because if I'm being honest I found the entire situation both completely endearing and totally hysterical.

As it would happen, I did laugh. It was just a muffled fit of giggles that I struggled to keep contained but it was a laugh nonetheless. Amaimon turned towards me then, lifeless eyes staring me down – daring me to keep laughing.

"What's so funny?"

I pinched the bridge of my nose in an attempt to silence my chuckles, "Oh, it's nothing."

He blinked, and his eyes narrowed a fraction of an inch before he eventually shrugged away his current curiosity and adopted a new one. "Are you going to eat that?" he gestured to the bowl of cereal.

I glanced at it, "Yes."

"It smells sweet."

I raised an eyebrow, curious as to where this conversation was headed, "It is very sweet."

He stared at it for a moment. "I want to try it."

Trying to stop myself from laughing yet again, I snorted; he was going to eat every sweet thing in my house, "Would you like me to pour you a bowl?" But I didn't really mind it all that much. At least, he would be eating something a little healthier than a lollipop.

"…Yes."

I turned around and opened the cabinet where I kept all the bowls, "Okay, I can do that."

~Fin~

"Build your life on your dreams; because dreams never have bad endings."

~ M.F. Moonzajer

So in case you're wondering about that kid's song: In the episode entitled "A Game of Tag" Amaimon sings a song (as I'm sure most of you all know) that goes "Demon, over here towards the sound of clapping." This is a reference to a Japanese children's game very similar to tag called Kagome Kagome. The song that Kotori sings is the actual song from the game – in English. Below is the same song written using the Japanese Characters and Romaji:

"かごめかごめ 籠の中の鳥はいついつ出やる夜明けの晩に鶴と亀が滑った後ろの正面だあれ."

"Kagome kagome kago no naka no tori waitsu itsu deyaru yoake no ban ni suru to kame ga subetta ushiro no shoumen daare."

Also: I will give a cyber high five to anyone who can correctly guess why I named this chapter Monsters in the Closet. If you can't...well...sorry.

Lastly: Again, I apologize for any occasion that any character seems OOC. *bows* Thanks again for reading! And if you feel like it; please review!