Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.

A/N:

So… I'm supposed to be studying for finals right now. But this is what I'm doing…

When inspiration hits, you just gotta go with the flow. Right?

Anyway, here is something a little different…

The Demon and the Typhoon

The road was small and dusty, desolate with the lack of people about. Yet he chose that road precisely because not many frequented it in the village.

There was a small stall on that road that he visited around every full moon. The owner now knew when to expect him and was only too glad to scurry about and give him what he deemed were the Demon's due. He surely did not want to incur the Demon's wrath.

Kamijou scowled at the man's fear. Yet, unknowingly, he only intimidated the man more, exacerbating the situation at hand.

The man fumbled incompetently, hands shaking and sweating, to pack the goods in a bundle before giving it to the Demon with fearful eyes.

Glaring at the man, Kamijou turned with a swish of his cloak, leaving the stall owner huddling. He briskly walked back the way he came into the village, but taking a different path to his home in the woods, ignoring the people who swiftly stopped and stepped away from his direction once knowledge hit. Some even had the audacity to run back to their houses and slam their doors locked.

Kamijou only grit his teeth and scowled.

Born on the night when the moon was red, and with his hair matching in colour to that of the moon then, the village had already looked on his minutes old self with suspicion and mistrust.

When his mother was not found five years later - simply disappeared - the village deemed his tiny, malnourished self unholy. Evil. A threat.

The villagers flinched whenever its piercing, accusing gaze landed on them. They became afraid as it survived the years. Rumours and tales arose of the Demon: it fed on blood; it had gone mad and killed anyone who entered its forest home.

Ludicrous rumours that made Kamijou doubt the villagers' sanity.

The fear evolved. It led growth to scorn and contempt. A simple glimpse of reddish hair had everyone glaring fearfully and rushing to the safety of their homes. They despised what they were afraid of.

They named him a demon.

He was Demon Kamijou.

The sand was soft and prickly underneath his bare feet. He had chosen to walk to the beach instead of the cliffs that day, though the walk to the beach was laden with more sticks and stones that hurt his feet than the path to the cliffs.

This was his only solace now: the open sky, and the endless waters. An abundance of blue to make him feel alive.

The wind softly breezed past, fluttering through his cloak and attempting to push back the hood that covered his unusual hair. It felt like a hand ruffling his hair almost. He slowly relaxed as the wind continued to toy around him.

He visited this place countless times. It was his only comfort now. The wind, his sole companion. It somehow felt like there was a presence there, whenever the soft brush of air greeted him as he stepped onto the shore and let the water lap at his feet.

Gazing at the never-ending sky and horizon, the vastness overwhelmed him for a moment, before the wind was there again, caressing his face and whispering in his ears.

Closing his eyes, he let himself feel. Let himself imagine and be free.

And he let himself forget who he was, what he was.

The breeze brushed past him for a few precious moments before a frown overtook his face. He opened his eyes and was once again met with the vastness of the world.

He couldn't forget.

He was Demon Kamijou.

The woods were thick and vibrant with the sounds of life. He slipped between the trees, not moving one branch out of place, traversing the well-walked path to his hut.

There wasn't an animal trail one could follow to his home. Kamijou had simply learned to recognize the trees leading to his hut. He didn't want the other villagers to destroy his only safe place.

For the longest time, the villagers had wondered where the Demon's abode was. Where it kept its treasures and hunts. They had seen it disappear into the woods often enough. Nevertheless, few dared venture into the wood's depths. The forest was scary on a normal day, but with a demon living amidst it, it became a place off-limits. No one wanted to willingly step onto the demon's territory.

Kamijou had been grateful for this as he didn't need to constantly watch his back in his own home then.

Yet, as usual, his luck had struck and a few of the overgrown, arrogant bastards in the village had become keen to find the hellhole the demon lived in and destroy it. Along with the demon, if possible.

The big lugs had first followed the animal trails. Kamijou had watched in amusement as they bumbled around, scaring themselves with their own movements and, in turn, scaring the wildlife. However, as the oafs grew more confident of being in the forest without anything mortal occurring to them, they had set out deeper into the woods and grown more adventurous in their explorations.

It was only time now - Kamijou knew - keeping those idiots from finding his home.

Standing on the threshold of his crumbling home, he clenched his hands in anger at his own futility. There was nothing he could do if the villagers found his home even after all the traps he assembled around the area.

Filling a bowl with musty water to wash his hands and feet, he saved the clean water to drink later. Reddish hair that had faded to brown under all that filth and grime, framing a dirt streaked face, reflected back at him, marred by the ripples on the water's surface. Meeting his own hardened and guarded eyes, he knew the villagers would be relentless in their pursuit.

For he was Demon Kamijou.

Lightening split the sky and thunder rocked the ground as waves rushed past and violently hit the craggy shore.

A lone, cloaked figure fought the blustering winds hammering against him to climb onto the towering cliffs that created an inky blot in the night's landscape. It walked to the precipice and stood there, gazing forward.

He was the black-sheep, a pariah, because of his odd hair colouring and slim build. And, therefore, the cause of all misfortune to the village. Some part of him had long since wanted to scoff at the skewed logic, but now, he only felt overwhelmingly sad and alone.

Kamijou fisted his hands, his fingernails digging painfully into the palm of his hand. However, the pain did nothing to distract him. The roaring winds continued to whip fiercely around him, yet the wind didn't soothe him then as it always did. The horrific and sickening image of his home burning into cinders was firmly etched into his mind and replayed over and over again, haunting him at every breath.

The scorned soul surveyed the night around him and tried to forget the village that cast him out. The dark, churning waters presented a gruesome sight below him but the ever elusive horizon was inviting and eerily welcoming.

Seventeen years of forsaken solitariness led to this instance and his decision.

He wavered. But a moment later, Kamijou took a step forward, placing his feet on nothing but air, before he plunged sharply into the frothy depths of the sea. A flash of lightening covered the sight of his plummet and the water swallowing him whole.

Time seemed to stand still for a moment, before the sea angrily invaded and retreated again from the land as usual.

The next day, the village rejoiced when they found the Demon's hut in the woods burned down and the knowledge that the Demon was in the sea.

Dawn unfurled along the soft lines of the sea, casting reddish hues along one side of the shores. Some distance away from the sandy beach, the cliff stood, tall and looming, surrounded by calm waters. Winds lazily swirled about the land that morning. The storm of the previous night abated and long gone. The waves playfully flowed in, stretching to reach the figure lying unconscious on the sand.

Wracking coughs seared his chest as he came to. His lungs burned with the salt still lingering in his airways. His throat was raw and scratchy.

He was cursed to not even be granted a peaceful death, Kamijou thought bitterly.

Sand covered and stuck to him from head to toe. Pushing himself up the best he could, with the sand shifting and sliding, Kamijou looked around himself to get his bearings. His body trembled with the effort. Kamijou frowned at its weak state. If someone from the village were to find him now, he would be very much helpless and pose such an easy target.

"Are you okay?"

Kamijou jerked at the voice suddenly coming from above him. His body spasmed at the action and he became powerless to speak for an instant as a throb emanated from all parts of his body. He looked up at the imposing figure with bleary eyes.

The other had dark raven hair that put his face in shadow from Kamijou's viewpoint. He stood tall with his head cocked at an angle, as if curious. Kamijou couldn't decipher the other man's expression or intention quite yet.

Finding his throat too raw to speak, Kamijou simply nodded with weary eyes in response. He wanted the stranger gone already.

"You know, that was a very foolish thing to do," the stranger said.

Though his words were mild, there was something underlying there in his tone that sent prickling awareness down the slighter man's spine. Kamijou frowned and glared at the raven. In his current condition, he was at the mercy of the other.

Kamijou attempted to further fully sit up and put some distance between the two of them somehow. The raven unnerved him. There was an air about him that was oddly familiar, though, Kamijou knew he had never seen the man before. The wind brushed against his side and it felt as soothing as ever. But, Kamijou noticed, there was something peculiar, something on the edge of his senses, that bothered him.

"Who are you?" His voice came out as a croak and Kamijou couldn't help it if all the paranoia he felt was reflected in his suspicious and gruff tone.

"I am Nowaki," the other man said simply and easily, if not a little amused.

Kamijou flashed his teeth in a snarl and replied acerbically, "Typhoon."

Nowaki merely nodded, not affected by the other man's tone. "And, you are?" he asked.

Kamijou stiffened for a moment. Who didn't know what he was? He thought. Apparently, the idiot in front of him. Nonetheless, some part of him was still pleased at the other's ignorance of his title.

Just the same, all of his anger directed towards the villagers and now, his own existence, suddenly focussed on the raven in front of him. Feeling defensive, he bit out sharply, "I don't answer to anyone."

Instantly, without notice, the winds rose sharply and the raven was looming in front of him, impossibly close, before the smaller man could even blink. Kamijou's breath caught as Nowaki gripped his chin and tilted his head so that their gazes directly met for the first time.

Kamijou's eyes widened. So close to the other man, with the winds swirling about them, and lost in the raven's vivid blue eyes that reflected the sea and the sky, Kamijou abruptly realized what was bothering him earlier.

The tall raven before him was the presence he felt everyday. The one he sensed in the winds that greeted him whenever he came to the shores. The one that battered against him so doggedly last night, on the cliffs. The winds he found so much comfort in...was inexplicably the man in front of him.

"Typhoon," he whispered with stunned and wide eyes. "You're the wind. You were the one...always with me, everyday."

And, in a sudden turn of events, the raven was leaning in, catching the smaller man's lips between his own, stealing his breath away. The action sent his mind reeling and Kamijou was instantly lost on what to make of the situation.

Nowaki pulled back slowly, watching the other man with intense eyes. "Do not do that ever again," the raven commanded. "Your life is now mine," he deemed. "I think I deserve to know the name of the one whose life I now own."

Kamijou suddenly felt very tired. He lowered his eyes. He didn't know what the man in front of him wanted. He was still overwhelmed with the realization that the one in front of him, pestering him, was actually his wind.

"I am...Demon Kamijou," the words seemed to be dragged out of the smaller man.

The instance of silence that followed his words echoed and ringed in his ears. Kamijou feared how the taller man would react.

"But you are not a demon," was the amused reply.

Well, Kamijou definitely wasn't expecting that.

He jerked his head up and gaped into those clear blue eyes with a startled expression. His breath caught at the words that he had so longed to hear his whole life from someone - anyone.

"I am a demon," the raven said. And, as if to prove his declaration, the winds once again swelled in ferocity, whipping Kamijou's grimy, reddish strands into his face and eyes, but leaving the raven entirely unaffected.

Typhoon, Kamijou's thoughts swirled, Demon.

Though he knew he should be afraid of this being in front of him who was, apparently, a veritable demon, all Kamijou felt was confusion and shock. He didn't care if his current condition was wholly too weak and vulnerable. Besides, if the demon - Typhoon, his mind corrected. Nowaki - had indeed wanted to hurt him, then he would have already done so by now.

"So, human, what is your name?" The demon was persistent in what it wanted.

Kamijou was speechless. He was referring to another as a demon. Not himself. Blinking soundlessly, caught in a whirlwind of emotions, he attempted to speak.

But it was some moments, before his voice came out unsteady and out of breath as he said, "Kamijou," each word enunciated carefully, "Kamijou...Hiroki."

Then, Nowaki was impossibly close again, his lips curving. The smaller man found himself lost in those blue eyes that comforted him the same as the sea and the skies always did.

"Your life is mine." Nowaki commanded. "You are now mine, Hiroki Kamijou."

Kamijou could only look on with wide eyes. He couldn't object to the other man - no, demon's - statements. He was the typhoon, the wind, that had always looked after him and been his only solace.

You are mine, Hiroki Kamijou. The words echoed in his mind and resonated in his body. And, suddenly, the world was small again, consisting of a demon named Typhoon, playful winds and blue eyes.

He lowered his eyes in acceptance.

He was… Kamijou Hiroki.

A/N: What do you think? Comments and honest criticism requested, please.

Thanks!

-Black