3/7/2016 **In response to a recent guest review stating this is discontinued (because I don't want to post another chapter just to say this, that would be cruel to you guys): I SWEAR IT'S NOT! I'm writing it, just really slowly. Ask anyone whose been following for a while - my updates are totally random. Sometimes I get one up monthly sometimes I drop off the map for months at a time. I try to update my profile pretty regularly if I do go an extended period without posting a new chapter just to keep you all in the loop, but I'll go ahead and post here what I posted there for those who don't care enough to check my profile: "Gosh, I'm so sorry I still haven't finished this chapter (chapter NINE not eight) everyone, but between the difficulty of one of the characters in this chapter, school, and my having been very sick the past few weeks (like I swear if I have to visit a doctors office one more time I'm gonna sue) I just haven't had the chance to finish it. I'll try to have it done as soon as I can."

I have actually been sick these last few months for varying reasons, first off it was a cold - or I thought it was but it escalated to the flu so I was quite sick for almost a week due to that. Then I finally recovered only to get sick again with food poisoning (it was awful...so awful). Plug in school and various other health issues that I won't address and I've just been really lacking for time and energy to devote to writing (for fun mind you, my teachers rejoice in making me write project proposals, papers, and every other cruelly devised academic writing scheme) - but I haven't dropped it! So please do not fret! And again I apologize for the delay! (Wow this note ended up being a lot longer than I meant for it to be - I feel like my time would have been better spent writing the story...oi.)

I do not own Blue Exorcist – only my characters and story line.

"I'm not a doctor. I just have a tremendous amount of common sense."

~Steve Harvey

A Budding Menace

Morning couldn't come fast enough.

Yesterday was really quite eventful, too eventful honestly. My little heart could only handle so many surprises and so many emotions in a short period of time. What I just went through was really pushing my limits and I could feel it even after a night's sleep.

It didn't help that I hadn't had a proper night's rest in weeks due to the recurring dreams I was having. I wasn't really sure if these enervating dreams were nightmares or not. They weren't pleasant but they weren't scary. Mysterious, yes. Connected as well. The first few nights it was the same dream over and over again, about the faceless people, the bright road that I wasn't supposed to step off of, and the whimpering that made me do it. But then my dreams moved on. It was the same story but instead of starting at the beginning it picked up where the other dream left off. I'd end up wandering in the dark, totally lost (as if that were unusual), but following the sound of whimpering all the while. Eventually my eyes grew accustomed to the dark and I could see with more and more clarity, though still not anywhere near perfectly.

I'd trip on something, and whimper myself. I'd decide to go back to the bright path, if I was able to find it. But when I'd go to stand up, I found myself receiving help from a hand reaching out to take my own. However, I always woke up before I took it and before I could see whom it belonged to.

I might could guess who it was if I were pushed to.

Sunlight trickled into my room through the partially closed blinds as the sun rose. My eyes fluttered, trying to shoo away the morning light frolicking across my face. It didn't work.

So though this morning was a happy chance to start anew, it was still a morning, and I was still tired, and I was still not in the mood to crawl out of bed, and I was still miserable. I simply wasn't ready for the day to begin. A rebellious growl rumbled in my chest and I defiantly grabbed my pillow, pulled it out from beneath my head, and covered my face.

Yes. I could most certainly sleep like this.

Or not.

It was a thought I had had many times before but never really acted upon since, though it embarrassed me, it never seemed to be that big of a problem. But now, now I realized this was a bigger problem than I originally thought. There were some things that, no matter how unaware or innocent the intention is, simply aren't appropriate. Which meant I really needed to talk to Amaimon about appropriate and inappropriate breaches of personal space between male and female friends, who are in fact only friends.

This thought, of course, occurred to me only after I felt the rustle of bed sheets and my body shifting towards the impression made in my bed by a heavy object quickly joining me in it. I admittedly didn't make much effort to move away at first, since I had assumed it to be Behemoth, but when I felt a very human body wiggle a little closer, I flew out of bed and turned on my heels towards to person still laying on it. Ready to begin lecturing him.

But when I actually saw him I stopped dead in my tracks. It was Amaimon, as I had assumed. He had sat up when I jumped to my feet and cocked his head curiously, but that wasn't what stopped me. What stopped me was that he was head to toe covered in cuts and bruises.

I tried to look him in the eyes as I gasped my shock and worry, but was immediately distracted by a set of cuts and bruises that highlighted the area around his left eye. Finally I found my voice, "What!? What happened to you?! You're really hurt!?"

If I'm being honest, I wasn't totally certain if I was more concerned that someone had actually managed to hurt him (from what I'd read and seen that's no easy task, so I could be a little fearful of what sort of powerful creature could cause this kind of damage admittedly), or was concerned because he was hurt. Although I do believe I was leaning more towards the latter.

Despite my concern for his wellbeing, Amaimon was totally and completely unconcerned. So much so, he all too literally shrugged off my question and when Behemoth joined him on my bed actually began wrestling with him, laughing while he did so I'll add. I noticed rather quickly the way scabbed over cuts, visible even to my eye through the rips in his shirt, reopened and started bleeding again, and in a fretful flurry ran to the pair and worked to separate them, "STOP IT! Amaimon, you're BLEEDING!"

As a side note, there is nothing intelligent about jumping in the middle of two rough housing demons and I most certainly don't suggest it. Fortunately, though they were certainly rough with each other they didn't seem at all intent on roughing me up (of course, that doesn't mean they didn't). That being said, I did not successfully separate them. Rather, I seemed to get pulled into their game.

It had started out as I had meant it to; I had latched onto Behemoth and pulled desperately, my foot even making it to the edge of my bed for leverage, "Behemoth! Get off!" I grunted as I pulled with all the force I could muster. Frankly, they didn't seem the least bit fazed and in the end my grip slipped and I ended up falling backwards onto my back with a measly yelp while they continued wrestling. They did end up on the floor, but that was a result of their own actions – not mine, and honestly that just made me even more worried about Amaimon's injuries. Although if I thought it through, perhaps I shouldn't have been at all worried about them since he wasn't.

Nonetheless, I clearly wasn't thinking things through. And I sat up in time to see Amaimon toss Behemoth away playfully, only to have the goblin immediately recover and impishly leap back into the fray with a slight growl. I quickly followed suit, but changed my tactics. This time, instead of trying to pull one off the other, I attempted to force myself between them. "Come on you two! Quit it!" I did actually managed to maneuver myself between them slightly; I had my left elbow and shoulder on Amaimon's chest, and both my hands and right forearm trying desperately to push away Behemoth.

"Haha!" I heard the warning in Amaimon's excited laugh far too late and could do nothing when I felt his hand grip one of my knees and pull it out from under me, sending me stumbling onto my back again.

"Ack!" Annoyance, was quickly replacing worry as I sat back up only to get knocked back down by Behemoth. "OW!" I shoved at the goblin as he tried to lick my face, but I was being overwhelmed by the fiend's enthusiasm. "BEHEMOTH!"

I did find myself being rescued, however. I mean, I guess you could call it being rescued – although, that might not be the best term for what happened either. Two hands took hold of my ankles and dragged me out from beneath Behemoth, of course, this did cause my over sized pajama top and old plaid shorts to ride up indecently, and I won't even begin to mention the unfortunate rug burns that were certain to be on my back now. "GYA!" was about the only sound I managed to make as I grabbed my shirt and glared at Amaimon. It was seriously too early in the morning for this and I was too damn tired.

Amaimon had a frown of his own, "Don't ignore me!"

"I wasn't!" I declared dumbfounded while sitting up for the third time and trying to kick my feet free from his grip. My words apparently satisfied him since he smiled gleefully, which only called attention to his painful looking left eye. Of course, before I could say anything about it our hobgoblin pet tackled us both.

He tackled me from behind effectively knocking the wind out of me, and subsequently shoved me into Amaimon's chest, which knocked him onto his back and forced him to release my feet. I groaned in pain, as Behemoth was very heavy and frankly Amaimon's chest wasn't exactly soft against mine. Plus, Behemoth's back claws were scratching my rug-burned back (that now that I was thinking about it was still bare making this entire sandwich situation even more awkward than it already was considering I also wasn't wearing a bra).

Of course, I apparently was the only one suffering since Amaimon had resumed his joyful giggling and Behemoth was chuckling in his own monstrous way as well and they started wrestling once again, only this time with me awkwardly trapped in the middle. As for me, I was smacking Amaimon's chest in an attempt to escape from this very unusual position that I now found myself in.

It was a fruitless effort really as no matter how I slapped I was still entrapped between their arms.

I flinched when I heard Behemoth growl somewhat possessively and yank me by the arm away from Amaimon. "Ow!" I squealed.

"Behemoth!" The green-haired demon sat up and frowned, "I had her first!" I took note that my feet were once again in Amaimon's grip and I grimaced for what I knew was coming. My intuition was accurate and I felt my backside slide back across the floor as he hauled me back towards him. I flinched in pain and squeaked.

"Gu-YAAH!" I was cut off by Behemoth pulling on my arm again, which caused my shrill squeal of pain and then a whimper.

I felt Amaimon release my feet, and heard rather than felt him move towards me. But he never laid a hand on me; rather he frowned and reached around my body to shove Behemoth off. "Don't break her! It's no fun if you break her."

I'd had enough, "You're BOTH breaking me!" I snapped at them and shoved Amaimon, who was still fairly close, away. The moment I did it, however, I noticed something wet on my hands and glanced down at them. My eyes went wide and I remembered why I had involved myself in this nonsense to begin with.

My hands and my shirt, now that I was looking at it, were painted red. I doubted Amaimon's life was in danger but I was reminded that he was hurt and I had a first-aid kit in the bathroom.

I looked back at my demonic friend, who was staring at me in his customary blank fashion. Out of my peripheral I noticed Behemoth coiled and ready to spring forward, but before he could engage either one of us in the game again I turned on him, "Behemoth! SIT!" His butt hit the floor immediately and he stared up at me. He almost seemed confused and a little frightened, likely by the unusual authority in my tone, but frankly I was kind of okay with that at the moment.

The next person I turned on was none other than Amaimon, obviously. I clambered to my feet, and corrected my disheveled appearance as best I could (I was trying to ignore the fact I likely had bed head and wasn't wearing an ounce of makeup). Then I spoke to the green-hair demon who had, at some point, unwrapped a lollipop and started sucking on it, "You, come with me. I'm gonna take a look at your injuries."

He furrowed his brows, clearly confused, "Why?"

I stomped my foot in aggravation before answering, "Because I'm worried about you and I don't like seeing you hurt. Isn't that obvious?" His head cocked and he shifted his lollipop from one side of his mouth to the other.

"But then…why do you want to look at my injuries?"

I might have smacked him for the smart-ass remark. "So I can help heal them!"

He blinked then gave his bored reply, "I don't need help."

I narrowed my gaze on the Demon King. Not in anger, but more in an attempt to understand his point of view, and somehow I could. He was, after all, a King of Demons. Receiving help in general was probably something he might consider shameful, especially if it came from a human girl like me. Still, his words did kind of cut a little.

With a self-calming sigh I chose my next words carefully, "Amaimon, I know you don't need help. You're strong, so much stronger than me, which means there isn't a lot I can do for you as you're friend. But if you will let me, I'd at least like to treat you on the rare occasions you're hurt, even though you don't actually need me to." My words were completely honest, but I won't lie I was trying to gain his favor a little. Sometimes a little sucking up is necessary to get your way.

He gave me a rather curious look, one I couldn't really place since I hadn't actually seen it before, but it passed quickly enough and his normally impassive face reappeared. That being said I was still caught off guard by what he said, "Ah~…but I think you already do a lot." My mouth opened slightly, and I felt a warmth spread from my chest to my cheeks at his unexpectedly kind words. Of course, despite my reaction, he just continued to suck his lollipop as he got to his feet and stared expectantly at me.

I shook away my surprise a second later and stared back at him, not entirely sure what he wanted from me. After a moment, I finally asked, "What?"

"You told me to come with you." He deadpanned.

"OH! Right!" I was unsure why, but for one reason or another I was flustered, "Uh…this way." Nonetheless, I still awkwardly lead him to my bathroom (I was a little surprised he was even letting me treat him).

When we entered I put the toilet seat down and had him sit down on it while I shuffled through my bathroom cabinet in search of the first-aid kit I knew had to be there. After messily rearranging a few things, I located the treasure I was in search of and pulled out the white semi-translucent plastic case. Setting it on the countertop I popped it open and glanced over at Amaimon. He was staring at the tiles around the tub, I took a peek at them through the mirror, but didn't see anything unusual about them so I shrugged and continued what I was doing.

I found the cotton balls and disinfectant and turned to face Amaimon. I distinctly remembered treating Behemoth when I first brought him home and momentarily wondered if things were going to proceed in a similar manner. I hoped not. That hadn't been an overly pleasant night.

Dampening a cotton ball with disinfectant, I maneuvered myself in front of Amaimon, which drew his attention from my tiled walls to me. I noticed his eyes narrow on the cotton ball and his nose wrinkle, like he could smell the alcoholic liquid and didn't find the scent appealing. He made no attempt at concealing his distaste for the cotton ball as he leaned away from my hand in a very childish manner. "It smells bad."

I smiled, "Agreed. It isn't a very pleasant smell, but it's good for you."

"Hm." I watched as he shifted the lollipop to the other side of his mouth once more and stared vacantly at the white puffball as it approached his left eye. Just when I thought things would go fairly straightforwardly and he'd let me treat his eye calmly, he leaned to the right, effectively dodging my hand.

I eyed him and he met my gaze with an indifferent stare, yet, and it might have been my imagination, he almost seemed to be issuing a challenge. A challenge I wouldn't dare back down from.

"Now you. Sit still."

He blinked before he answered, "…Ah, okay."

Somehow, I got the feeling those were completely empty words. Again, I tried to dab the cut by his left eye, and once again he moved out of the way. Then for a third time, the routine repeated itself and I stomped my foot. "Amaimon! Stop that!"

"Don't wanna."

"Oh come on! I thought you were going to let me help you!" At my declaration, Amaimon furrowed his brow for a moment then bit down on the remainder of his lollipop, crushing it. Then he spit the stick out. I recoiled a little. I was half worried that was his way of warning me and I subconsciously found myself backing away from him.

However, I didn't get far as he snatched one of my wrists. "It's no fun if you give up."

I puffed up my cheeks in annoyance before I responded, "I'm not giving up! I said I'd help you and I will but only if you let me! So make up your mind." After making my statement, I initiated a stare down with the demon. It was difficult, as always. I would never be able to fathom how he could remain so emotionless while I struggled just to maintain one consistent emotion.

"Fine."

I broke my gaze with a surprised blink and then allowed an earnest smile to light my face. Of course, we'd see if this was an authentic 'fine'. I cautiously raised my free hand, the hand with the cotton ball in it, and gently rested it on the cut on his face. He didn't so much as flinch despite the fact I was certain it must have stung. I was admittedly, impressed.

Of course, even more astounding was the fact he literally never blinked. How he managed to keep his eyes open with a hand, cotton ball, and disinfectant less than two inches from one of them I don't think I'd ever know. Although, though it was impressive, I kind of wished he would blink since I'd be lying if I said the way he was staring didn't fluster me at all. Still, I managed to focus on my task and proceeded with cleaning up his face.

A few moments of awkward silence passed between us before I was finally too uncomfortable and too curious to hold my tongue any longer, "What happened to you?"

The Demon King finally blinked when I spoke, but ultimately ignored my question.

"Please?" I entreated.

He cocked his head and creased his brow in displeasure, but did eventually give in, "Big brother disciplined me for fighting when I'm not supposed to."

I recalled yesterday's incident and looked down. While I don't think what happened was really my fault, I still felt partially responsible since he believed he was acting on my behalf and therefore guilty for his current state. However, I also felt horrified. I couldn't imagine beating someone like this, especially not my own family.

Somehow, the more I heard about Amaimon's brother, the more he scared me and the less I like him.

"…" I was quiet for a second, but eventually, I looked back up at the demon sitting before me, "Amaimon, will you promise me something?"

His already cocked head tilted further but his frown dissolved leaving behind his standard blank stare, "Nope."


"Language is the proper way to communicate, followed closely by five balled up fingers forming a fist and flying at a face. Violence is never the answer—unless the question is: What the f*ck are you going to do about it?"

Jarod Kintz, This Book is Not FOR SALE


If he wasn't already so beat up I'd probably feel inclined to hit him. He could never justsay yes. He always had to give me a hard time. While I did not hit him, I did express my frustration with his response in the slightly rough way I applied the Band-Aid to the side of his head. "Ow." He did complain, although frankly the complaint was so monotone that it felt more like a rehearsed line than an actual expression of pain, so I honestly felt no remorse.

I stepped back, crossed my arms, and ignored his last two words. He had flipped the switch on my lecture mode and I wasn't planning on holding back, so for the second time that morning I spoke with an unusual amount of authority, "I'm gonna speak anyways. And you're gonna sit there and listen."

Amaimon blinked three times and straightened up in his seat. He wore the same look of surprise he had when I shoved him into my closet that night my parents came home.

"First of all, I want you to try your best to avoid fighting until these injuries have healed," I continued as fast as I could, I didn't want to give him the opportunity to backtalk, "And second of all, I want to talk to you about appropriate and inappropriate boundaries."

He blinked and sat in momentary silence, then his head tilted, "…boundaries?"

"Yes. Boundaries."

"What boundaries?"

I bit my bottom lip for a moment while I thought about how to explain this, I glanced at my ceiling while I spoke, "Well, we are friends, but there are certain things that are okay to do with friends, and certain things that aren't."

When I looked back down, I turned bright red. Oh, the irony. Here I was talking about boundaries, and he was totally ignoring mine. He'd leaned into my personal space in that way he's done so often in the time I'd known him, and just like usual it set my heart a flutter. "Like what?" He queried apathetically. How? How could he be so indifferent when he was so close?

"W-well, for starters, you really shouldn't get this close to people…it's kind of intimate…and we're only friends."

"…I get this close to Behemoth all the time."

I was at a loss for words. Could Amaimon really not see a difference between Behemoth and I? At all? "…it's different with Behemoth, though. I mean…I'm different from Behemoth."

"You are?" He leaned in closer and my temperature skyrocketed, although I was unsure if that was due to self-consciousness or irritation. I met his gaze before I spoke, and I could swear I saw a mischievous glint in those unfeeling orbs of his.

Why did I get the sense he was teasing me? That he was testing me, appraising my reaction, and thoroughly enjoying it. "W-well…yes. Because you're a boy and I'm a-"

Now I was certain, there was most definitely an amused gleam in those not-so deadpan eyes as he interrupted me. "A girl? So?"

I will admit. There were many things I was willing to do for my friends, but giving this full-grown demon male the 'sex' talk wasn't one of them. Besides, I had the sinking suspicion, that though he paid little to no mind at all to differences between the sexes (or at least acted that way), he wasn't completely unaware of them, rather I think all the while I'd known him he'd always known (which made some of the more awkward memories all the more awkward and made me very suspicious of some of his previous behavior). So instead of answering his question I deflected the problem, "Ask your big brother."

At this point my face was burning, but I managed to continue, "F-for now, just try not to be too close to me and don't lay in bed with me."

"…"

Admittedly, I don't know what his silence and blank stare meant in this situation. But I hoped it was acquiescence. "S-so, can I look at your other injuries, please?"

In the following moments, I would deeply regret my plea, although, later I would have more diverse and conflicting feelings concerning it. Why? Well, I hadn't thought through my request when I made it, so it hadn't occurred to me that his torso would be the site of most of his injuries, which meant that in order for me to see them he'd have to show me his chest.

In simple terms: He'd have to take off his shirt.


Oh~ goodness. This had been a day. This had been a series of days. But this one may actually take the cake. As if the fiasco from this morning was not heart pounding enough, now I was desperately running away from exorcists with Amaimon and Behemoth. What had I done to deserve this? But before I address my current misadventure, let's backtrack a little to this morning's.

Don't misunderstand. I'd never say it out loud, but, though this morning was uncomfortable and highly embarrassing, I did enjoy patching up Amaimon.

How could I not? I'm a healthy hormonal teenage girl and a demon he may be, but he was a highly attractive male demon with abs to die for. Seriously though, if pressed, I will deny all charges lain against me and claim indifference. After all: Amaimon is not eye candy he is one of my friends, and one does not ogle their friends, especially not when said friend is covered in cuts and bruises.

I'd been silently and shamefully chanting that mantra since this morning. Even when he was once again fully clothed, every time I looked at him I turned bright red with the memory of his shirtless self and had to resist the urge slap my face in an attempt to cleanse my mind of the image.

And instead of dealing with this awkwardness like a proper adult, I'd resorted to doing everything in my power not to look at him at all, and let's face it I was about as inconspicuous as an elephant, so he caught on to my avoidance. The problem is Amaimon's nature doesn't allow for him to be ignored. He hated to be ignored. Which meant I couldn't actually ignore or avoid him.

Now, if I can't ignore or avoid then the next best thing was a reasonable distraction, right? That's what I thought too. And under normal circumstances, my plan would have worked. But, from the get go this day was doomed to failure and as a result my plan hit a snag and the problems snowballed from that point forward.

The plan was simple. We were going to leave the house. The less reminders of this morning and the more distractions the better. So, after ushering Amaimon and Behemoth into my living room, I proceeded to begin the day and once decent I emerged and asked them if they'd like to go somewhere. Behemoth was always agreeable on this point, and Amaimon didn't seem to see any reason to disagree with the hobgoblin and thusly we set out. Honestly, I had no idea where to take them so our adventure began directionless.

However, perhaps this was one of the few things that actually turned out okay. Despite not having anywhere specific to go, where we ended up was actually a nostalgic surprise. A park. A currently empty park. The park where we originally agreed to meet one another when we made our exchanges of Behemoth and lollipops.

As our agreement had basically been forgotten we hadn't been here in quite a while so I was actually kind of pleased to be here. "Hah~ we haven't been here in forever!" I smiled in contentment as I glanced over at Amaimon, who wasn't standing next to me anymore. I blinked confused, and did a three sixty spin in an attempt to find him. "Huh? Where did he go?" It was a question to no one in particular but it was answered nonetheless.

"Where'd who go?" I started and turned on my heels to face the voice behind me and found myself staring at a familiar, friendly, and rather lively face. Remember that snag I mentioned? Yeah, this was it.

"Rin!?" My eyes widened in shock and slight horror as I took in his cheerful but bandaged visage.

What was I going to do if he and Amaimon ran into each other again? I don't think my heart could handle another ordeal like yesterday's. Plus, what would I say? 'Yeah, I'm pretty chummy with the demon king that kicked your ass yesterday without so much as a warning.' Somehow, I doubted that would go over well. While it bothered me that Amaimon had vanished without so much as a word, I also found myself grateful he wasn't here. Maybe Rin was the reason for his disappearing act in the first place…

After all, he was supposed to be avoiding fights with Rin, right? Still, he could have said something – although knowing his personality it made sense he wouldn't.

On another note, what was Rin doing here anyways?

During my entire internal monologue, which had in fact only lasted a fraction of a moment though it certainly seemed longer, the dark haired teenager smiled and waved shyly but energetically nonetheless, "Hey, Kotoro!" Seriously, you'd think he was the one that hit his head yesterday.

"It's Kotori, and…uh…hi…back?"

He blushed a little and scratched the back of his head in his energetic manner but his friendly smile didn't waver, "I knew that…" he laughed a little awkwardly but quickly continued, "so how are you? I mean…I did kind of knock you out yesterday…and then…" he trailed off slightly and a small frown adorned his features as he recalled all the chaos.

Rin really was a kind person. Not that I ever doubted that. "I'm fine, thanks." I smiled, "And you? You did hit that tree pretty hard…actually, I was surprised to see you get up so quickly…or at all."

"Uh…well, I've always been a fast healer." He seemed unusually nervous answering that question. But then again, I was nervous myself so I shouldn't be judging. Although, subconsciously I was curious.

"Oh, well that's good. You know, I actually need to go."

"Ah, that's right! You were looking for someone."

I felt my hands get a little clammy with nerves, "Er, y-yeah."

"Then I can help you look." His smile was so innocent and glittery that I honestly felt guilty despite not actually having done anything to feel guilty for, yet.

"Well, I mean that's not really necessary."

"Nah. I don't mind," he shrugged as he continued, "I promised I'd meet my brother and help him go shopping around here anyway, so I've got time to kill 'till he gets here."

I could have cried when I heard this unfortunate news and I did make a few nasty internal comments about my luck, but all I said aloud was, "So he's okay?"

"Yeah, he was in a pretty bad mood for a while though," his face darkened and he shivered as though remembering a terrifying memory, "and he's got a few bruises but nothing actually broke."

I liked Rin. He was nice. But by golly, I wasn't paying attention to a word he said. Rather, I was attentively attending to the plan I was in the middle of concocting to get rid of him before Amaimon or Behemoth decided to reveal themselves.

"So who are we looking for?" The question was so innocent and yet, I dreaded it so dearly. At the moment, I wanted nothing more than to pull my hair out in frustration and apprehension, but that would do nothing more than make me seem guilty of something – which I guess I might be.

I tried my best to think of an answer to the question that was as vague as possible since I didn't want to lie. Truthfully, I just wasn't very good at lying. But also, Rin was such a nice person I would feel like a horrible human being if I did lie to him. As a result the honest answer I ended up give him was as such, "A friend of mine."

Now the obvious problem with my answer to his question was it hadn't given him any details that could be utilized to locate said person, which meant that wasn't really the answer he was looking for. He scratched the back of his head, "um…what does she look like?"

I loved how he just assumed I was looking for a girl. "Well, for starters, I'm not looking for a 'she'."

"Oh!" A look of surprise and understanding crossed his features, but then his face morphed into a teasing smile, "You're looking for your boyfriend." As he spoke, he nudged me with his elbow, as if he were somewhere between teasing me and encouraging me.

I paused all thought and action and stared blankly at the boy. I wasn't sure what was more shocking, that he'd actually said it out loud, or that in the split second after he said it I had actually imagined Amaimon as my boyfriend. It didn't help that the image of the demon king totally shirtless was still fresh in the forefront of my mind, so when I imagined it, I imagined it in vivid flush worthy detail that effectively stalled my brain.

I don't know what my face looked like, but I knew I must be at least a little pink in the cheeks and my expression was likely one of disbelief because Rin began waving his hands in front of him while backpedaling, "Hey, I was just kidding. I didn't mean anything by it."

I blinked while my mental faculties worked to restart. Unfortunately, that meant my mind once again called up inappropriate images of my friend and forced me to lift my hands to my face in a vain attempt to hide my shameful blush.

Clearly uncomfortable with the situation at hand, Rin attempted to divert the conversation elsewhere, or rather return it to its original goal, "So, what does your missing friend look like?"

I cleared my throat and calmed myself so that I could answer, however, it proved unnecessary since someone answered for me. "Ah ~ yes, I guess he would look like me." The voice, which originated from directly above me, was simultaneously impassive and amused (how that was possible remains to be seen), and I knew whom it belonged to without looking.

Amaimon.

I had a moment to wonder what the chances were that Rin hadn't heard the King of Earth speak and therefore wasn't going to look up.

Apparently, they weren't favorable. Because Rin did look up.

Standing amidst the branches of a nearby tree, were Amaimon (who was sucking on a lollipop) and Behemoth, the latter of which was far less graceful in his attempts at remaining on the relatively thin branch and if it had been in any other context I probably would have laughed at his clumsiness. Unfortunately, this was not a moment for laughter.

"Amaimon!" Anger and aggression were clearly present in the voice of the teenaged boy standing next to me. Likely remnants of his frustration from yesterday, but I wasn't given much time to ponder this as I felt a hand on my arm and the sensation of being pulled. As it were, Rin had forced me behind him so that he could stand protectively between me and the green-haired demon while simultaneously reaching for that mysterious cloth clad object he always had with him. But like before, he hesitated to remove it from his back and opted instead to simply remain with a single hand gripping it.

The moment he had moved between Amaimon and I, there was a noticeable change in Amaimon's expression. His usually vacant façade morphed into a scowl, which seemed to settle on the hand still gripping my arm.

The tension in the air was palpable. And I knew that something had to be done or I'd have a fight on my hands, "Um…"

The dark haired boy, who had apparently incorrectly guessed what it was I was going to say, interrupted me, "Don't worry, I'm gonna protect you, Kotori." Though his concern was sweet, it was also unnecessary and irritated me slightly, seeing as Amaimon was my friend and would never hurt me (of course, obviously Rin did not know that).

I heard Amaimon crush the lollipop in his mouth and when I glanced up at him I noticed that his frown had not yet faded and was now focused solely on Rin. However, when I eased Rin's hand off my arm and opened my mouth to speak his gaze did shift towards me. "Rin…Amaimon won't hurt me."

"Well, obviously Amaimon won't-" He froze mid-speech, "huh?"

"He's my friend."


"I love running. I'm not into marathons, but I am into avoiding problems at an accelerated rate."

Jarod Kintz


Well, I said it. It was out there in the open, for every exorcist to know now. That I, Kotori Ueda, was friends with the Demon King of the Earth, Amaimon. And while I'm not sure how I was expecting to feel, I was surprised to discover that I felt relief and not an ounce of regret.

All that being said, I think I broke Rin. He'd been staring at me open mouthed and stunned ever since I made my declaration.

When he did finally gain his wits again, it seemed as though he couldn't decided whether to be surprised or angry, "What?" The hand that had been holding my arm began pointing at the demon in the tree while Rin let accusations fly, "He's dangerous; he attacked you yesterday! Don't you remember that?"

"I didn't attack her." Rin and I turned to face Amaimon who had, at that point leapt out of the tree, Behemoth following close behind him. "I attacked you."

Rin glared and poised himself to fight, "You! You punk! What'd you attack me for!" He took a step forward, like he was going to charge and I reached out to stop him.

"W-wait!"

I tried to take a step forward but was stopped by an arm that wrapped around my neck and pulled me backwards into the torso of another person. It was done gently, so it didn't hurt but I was relatively surprised by the sensation nonetheless and gasped. Frantically, I sought out the face of the one who owned said arm and discovered that Amaimon had at some point moved behind me. Though I suppose I shouldn't be surprised by that. This wasn't the first time he had moved faster than my eyes could follow. Rin too had been caught off guard by the movement.

Though surprised, Rin's glare didn't falter, "Get away from her!"

Amaimon wrapped his other arm around me in an obvious taunt, "…Don't want to." I tried unsuccessfully to fight back an exasperated sigh. And tried to peel his arms off my neck.

"Amaimon! Don't use me to start a fight." I narrowed my eyes at the demon, who met my determined gaze with an empty one of his own. After a moment, he blinked and released me. Following my release, I glanced at Rin whose eyes were flitting back and forth between the two of us, he looked as though he wasn't sure what to do or think. I noticed with slight worry and hope that the grip he had on whatever he carried around with him kept tightening and loosening, like he was trying to decide if he should let it go or not.

He was the epitome of conflicted in this very moment, and I knew (or maybe hoped) that just a little push would probably win him over, "Rin, please…" He looked at me, concern, confusion, irritation, and many other emotions reflected in his blue eyes.

He frowned and looked down, and then shut his eyes in a temporary deep concentration. When he finally looked back up he looked ready to speak, but unfortunately did not get the opportunity to.

"Rin?" We heard the voice from a distance and when I turned to look at the one who had spoken, I saw Yukio a little ways away. He looked a little surprised at first but as soon as he laid eyes on Amaimon his face darkened and a terrifyingly aggressive seriousness painted his features and he tensed, "Amaimon." All Yukio did was say the Demon's name, but I could hear it clearly – the threat. Even I could tell that if push came to shove, Yukio would fight to kill Amaimon and the realization sent shivers down my spine.

"Ah~ this might be a fun game, but…" The Demon King spoke and I turned on him, ready to lecture him about fighting (or simply beg him not to), however his final word 'but' cut me short in favor waiting to hear what else he was going to say. Unfortunately, whatever it was he might have said died while still on his tongue and it was clear he had no intention of resurrecting it. Instead, I felt a hand on my wrist, firm but oddly gentle and unquestionably Amaimon's followed by the sensation of being coerced into a sprint.

"Eek!" I stumbled initially since I wasn't expecting to be dragged into a chase, but soon fell quickly in line with Amaimon and Behemoth's stride. Well, as best I could – they were demons.

Amaimon was running away? That seemed most unusual, he never ran from a fight. I don't know what made him choose to do so, but I didn't really care right now. I was just glad I wouldn't have to watch anyone get hurt.

"Ms. Ueda!" I glanced behind me upon hearing the formal outcry of my name and saw Yukio run after us. My vision shifted so that I could see the figure of Rin, about to begin running after us too.

Oh goodness~ here we were. Running from two exorcists. My heart was pumping blood to every part of my body, carrying with it adrenaline born from my nervousness, my excitement, and my exertion. And, what had I done to deserve this?

Well, the short and sweet answer was that I made a deal with a demon.

The slightly longer answer? I chose to befriend and trust a demon king named Amaimon that I made a deal with. Then I chose to side with said demon after openly admitting to said friendship in the presence of an exorcist. And frankly, I didn't regret it one bit. In all honesty, no longer having to hide it felt like a weight off my shoulders.

So, this fiasco was my just dessert. And I'd eat it willingly, and enjoy every second of it.

The corners of my mouth barely turned upwards as I took in Amaimon's back. Honestly though, the things I do for friends.

"Kotori!" I did my best to turn and look towards Rin, who was running after us, without tripping. At the moment our eyes met, I allowed my small smile to grow and his eyes widened in surprise and his gait slowed until he stopped all together. Yukio, when he saw his brother stop, also ceased his chase likely in concern for Rin.

"Woah!" I squealed when I was harshly pulled out of sight into the trees and shrubs to my right. Though, we couldn't be seen by the two brothers any longer we didn't stop running, which was okay for a while. Eventually, however, we were out of the park and in the bustling city where I highly doubted we would be followed and frankly I was out of breath. "A-Amaimon. Please, I'm tired!"

He stopped running so quickly and with so little warning that I crashed into his back and smashed my nose painfully against his shoulder blades, "Ack!"

He turned to glance at me while I rubbed my nose, slight tears formed in my eyes when I looked up at him. "Ow~"

He cocked his head and spoke, "You're really bad at running."

I pursed my lips and sulked, "Why do you only ever tell me I'm bad at stuff."

"Hmm…" he cocked his head as if in thought, "because you're bad at everything."

I gasped and hit his arm in irritation, "I am not!" His playful laugh echoed and a small grin forced its way onto my face despite my attempt not to let it.

However, the moment passed and a previous curiosity reemerged. Why had he run away? "Amaimon?" His smile disappeared and his apathetic countenance took its place, which I took as a signal that I now had his attention, "Why did you run away?"

He blinked. For one reason or another, the way he blinked made me feel like I had just asked him the world's stupidest question. And perhaps he agreed, because he didn't answer it.

That's not to say he didn't speak though, "exorcists…they're very weak." I furrowed my eyebrows while I wondered where he was going with this, but then he looked at me, "but you're much weaker."

My furrowed eyebrows immediately turned into an irate glare, "Now wait a second-"

"Stay away from them." Amaimon hadn't ordered me to do anything for a while. So I was caught off guard by the sudden tone he took. His face remained apathetic, but there was undeniably something that sounded like a warning hiding behind those words.

"Huh?"

"Stay away from them." It was the same tone again. And it sent a slight shiver down my spine. The shiver was reminiscent of the fear I'd felt yesterday after Amaimon had attacked Rin and Yukio, and I was once again reminded that I was dealing with a very powerful demon who was used to getting his way. I felt endangered. But my intuition was telling me not to run, that there was some kind of basis for his demand, though I didn't know what it was or if it was in my best interest, and that something awful would happen if I didn't heed it.

"Okay…I can do that."


"Where there is a will, there is a way. If there is a chance in a million that you can do something, anything, to keep what you want from ending, do it. Pry the door open or, if need be, wedge your foot in that door and keep it open."

~Pauline Kael


Season's Greetings to all my readers! I hope everyone who celebrates Thanksgiving had a wonderful holiday! Thanks as always for your continued support. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I'm trying hard to gradually bring in the story's main conflict in believable snippets, so I hope I've been successful thus far. I'm also trying to develop the characters in my story including Amaimon in believable ways. But let's face it, without any kind of development of character there could be no romance. Now don't fear, when I say development I don't mean changes in character. Amaimon will still be Amaimon, however, there are ways to retain a character's original personality while still showing growth so I hope I've been successful in gradually developing Kotori and Amaimon's characters and relationship. Anyway, as a warning, from here on out things will start to get a lot more serious because of the conflict, so there may not be as many funny moment as the mood gradually shifts - but fear not, I love humor so its not gone for good.

Also, yay! It didn't take me almost half a year to write this chapter! I'll try my best to get the next chapter up as soon as I can now that school is almost out, I hope you look forward to it.

Thanks again, and if you feel inclined I do love and appreciate hearing my readers thoughts and opinions, so don't be afraid to review!

And just in case I don't get the next chapter up before then, I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas, Happy Holiday, and a wonderful New Years!

~Cheru