Swinging my legs from the rooftop ledge of the men's dormitory, I stared down the lightening horizon in the distance. It was just before dawn, but I'd already been up for an hour. My loose, white hair was still damp from the sweat I'd worked up from exercises for the past hour, my wooden sword resting on the concrete behind me. The breeze up here—still cool from last night's chill—blew gently through my thin white tanktop which hung over my small frame. Skin-tight black shorts and a black sports bra made up the remainder of my attire. Even my feet remained bare as I preferred to get a feel for the terrain and footing of sword technique. My brown eyes stared straight ahead and at the main campus. Mephisto was at the center of my thoughts as was his bet he'd made with me...
'Survive the semester and I'll take you home.'
That's what Mephisto had said, but I still didn't get it. Survive? I was well-aware of the dangers in this world, but, if that was all there was to it, then couldn't I just stay clear of Rin and Yukio? They were the main focus of this story, after all. Meanwhile, I was a normal human who'd been dragged here for a "game", apparently.
Curiosity ate away at me at that implication. He'd said "game". He had also mentioned how there had been others who'd come before me. Clearly, he'd done this before, but how long ago and for what possible reason remained shrouded in mystery.
A yawn fluttered past my lips as the exhaustion caught up to me. It had been a week since then and I'd been forced to move into the old, decrepit dormitory for some reason. Luckily, that meant I wasn't sharing a room with anyone and only had Rin and Yukio to worry about. After the "kitchen incident"--as I'd dubbed it—Mephisto had insisted I'd feel more at ease with the move. His claim as to why I couldn't bunk with the regular students was that the other dorms were all full. Granted, it didn't bother me. In fact, I was ecstatic to be in the same building as the twins, seeing as how Rin was my only friend here. Keeping up with my studies in the "cram" school proved much more efficient with Rin helping me translate kanji I didn't know. In exchange, I helped him with his work. Oddly, Yukio was quite impressed with my knowledge pertaining to the subjects, realizing that the reason I failed my in-class work was due to the complicated writing system rather than the material itself. He even started to give me kanji lessons so I could catch up to the other kids.
"Why are you out here so early?" A familiar voice snapped me to attention.
Jumping to my feet, I turned around only to see Rin Okumura come out onto the roof, rubbing sleep from his eyes and yawning widely. With a curious tilt of my head, I watched the demon-halfling. His raven-black hair was messy from bedhead, white T-shirt and black shorts haphazardly-thrown on and askew, and even his tail was out and waving lazily behind him near the ground. For a brief moment, I wondered what Mephisto's tail would look like. Or even Amaimon's. Would they mimic their hair color and have the same structure as Rin's, or would they be completely different?
Realizing where my train of thought had gone, I shook my head and hopped off the wall. I made my way over to Rin who was just now noticing my state of dress.
"Training?" He guessed, eyes catching on the wooden sword resting on the ground a couple feet away.
"Why are you up so early?" I threw right back to him, hands on hips with a pout on my face. A week straight of living and attending classes with the teenage son of Satan had effectively eradicated all of my shyness with him...well, when I was alone with him, anyway. In groups, I still had trouble with my damned introverted nature, but Rin had a habit of pushing one past their inhibitions. His carefree but reliable personality also helped to put me at complete comfort in his presence, so I'd warmed up to him quicker than I'd ever done with anyone else. After I'd done so, I'd half-expected him to give me the cold shoulder upon noticing I wasn't the quiet, obedient, and perfect little doll my outer persona put on. Instead, he'd surprised me and was even quite ecstatic by me just being me...
"Today's the start of our training camp," Rin reminded me, picking up my bokken. "The others will be here soon and I was going to wake you up, but you weren't in your room. Figured I'd find you up here." His smug smirk wiped away any remnants of fatigue I may have felt at that moment as he brandished my own weapon against me. "I could teach you a few things, you know." He gave a wink before poking me in the cheek with the tip of the practice blade.
Rolling my eyes, I grabbed the "blade" and took back the bokken with graceful ease. The surprise in his blue eyes was worth all that hard work day in and day out.
"I'll take you up on that," I trilled happily, intent on bettering my fighting technique for what I knew was to come. As I was now, I wouldn't stand a chance...
Suddenly, I felt something snake around my waist and an arm hook around my neck. I should have been used to this by now, but I still couldn't prevent the blush from staining my cheeks at Rin's nearness. I don't even think he realized how intimate the action was.
"Good! Now let's get ready," Rin suggested with a toothy grin as he proceeded to drag me back into the dorm. My eyes flicked once more to the building which housed Mephisto Pheles's office. I had seen neither hide nor tail of the demon since our little bet. His brother hadn't visited me either, not that I was expecting such special treatment.
So what was with this hollow feeling?
I left Rin to go get ready on his own while I headed off to the showers. I only had an hour, but I never did like to just soak around in the baths. Waste of time, in my opinion, and all you had to show for it was wrinkly skin. On a similar note, I didn't bother to do jack to my hair—too untamable—and I wore no makeup. The last part was partly due to my easily-to-irritate skin, but also because Mephisto had kidnapped me before I could pack an overnight bag...
'So why had he kissed me?' I couldn't help but think as I pulled off my sweaty clothes and tossed them into a basket. I was a human—and a plain one, at that—not anything special...
I washed up quickly, glad to ease away the tension in my sore muscles. The cool water cascaded over my skin like a waterfall, making me glad that there were actual showers in this dorm. I needed to learn as much as I could in this world. I had to win that deal I'd made with Mephisto. Still, something about his words bugged me. They were much too vague...
I secured a white towel around my body, the bottom hanging just below my hips. Unlike the other girls—maybe not Shiemi—my body had curves, so this "large" towel covered less on me than the girls they were meant for. Hourglass figures may be an ideal type in America, but it was a pain to find the proper attire for, especially when it was combined with a short stature. A small shirt covered my torso properly lengthwise but strained against my chest, while a skirt fit well around my waist but the length...revealed much more than it ought. Thanks to Ukobach's cooking, my scrawny frame had begun to get back to its healthy weight. Of course, this meant I had to get new measurements for a uniform. Embarrassing as hell to have that discussion with Yukio the other day...
"Wait...clothes..." I sighed, dropping my head in shame at my forgetfulness. I really didn't want to go traipsing through the halls to make it to my room...even if there were only two others in the building...
"My, my, forget something?" A familiar voice chuckled from above.
With a squeak, I looked up and caught sight of Mephisto—in all his fancy suit glory—sitting atop the lockers. His green eyes watched me intently, unabashed despite me standing there in nothing but a towel. "I'll say, you definitely have a figure. And such clear skin! I could have sworn you wore makeup..."
I could feel a blush burning in my face at the unexpected compliments spilling from that silver tongue of his. Then again, it could all be lies. He definitely had something up his sleeve...
"I'm going to scream--" I started to warn him with an embarrassed flush but was quickly silenced by a finger pressing against my lips. His face got dangerously-close to mine as did the rest of him. Something flashed briefly in his eyes but he wiped it away before I could pinpoint the emotion.
"Now don't do that, Kitten," he hushed with a smirk. "I actually came to pick you up." He backed off then but only a few inches.
"Pick me up? For what?" I repeated, confused. No one had informed me of this.
Mephisto nodded in affirmation, his eyes surveying me up and down. A feverish-red bloomed in his cheeks at the realization that all that stood between him and my nakedness was a simple piece of fabric. Water still dripped from my damp hair and glistened on my pale-white skin. My hold on my thin covering was tight but could easily be broken by a demon king. The fact that my own cheeks were rosy from a combination of cold and shyness did not help lighten the intense atmosphere.
"Mephisto?" I plucked his hat from his head while he stared, uncovering that single violet curl sticking up from the rest of his hair. Just like with Rin, Mephisto had a personality that could bring out my playfulness. "Should I just go ask Yukio then?" I inquired as I plopped the Director's strange top hat on my still-damp hair. It was a little big but still managed to stay above my eyes. It did not remain there for long, sadly, as a force barreling into me forced the thing to tumble off and to the ground. Before I knew it, Mephisto had me pinned to the bathroom wall.
"Kitten, you won't survive for long if you keep that up," he warned in a husky voice. My body grew taut at the feel of his tongue lapping at my neck and up to my jaw. Heat flourished like fire over every inch of my flesh, intensifying every touch and feel of the male's body against mine. A whimper escaped my throat when I felt something wrap around my right thigh. It felt eerily reminiscent of something else...
Was that...a tail?! Mephisto's?!
I could feel the prehensile appendage inching up, getting dangerously close to what lay under the towel. Meanwhile, his lips devoured my own, tongue pushing its way into my mouth to explore every crevice. By the time he finally pulled away, I was a heaving, red-hot mess and struggling to stay standing on shaky legs. His tail remained on my leg, just brushing the hem of my towel.
"Now, it wouldn't be fun to end the game so soon," the purple-haired demon teased, but the lust in his eyes betrayed the opposite desire. "You need to put up more of a fight than this. I am a demon, you know. I enjoy a good chase." It was almost as if he was goading me—begging me, even—to refuse him. I hadn't a clue what he was talking about, but then it clicked.
"Game?" I repeated, putting two and two together. This "survival game" had something to do with...
My face heated up a hundred-fold at the conclusion I'd come up with. Without a second thought, I shoved him away, feeling his tail—as purple as his hair and beard but, otherwise, exactly like Rin's—unravel from my leg.
"New deal," I demanded with a blush, feeling like my spontaneous attraction to the Demon King—maybe even his brothers—was a side-effect to this "game" of his. It was just too unnatural to be ordinary. Even moreso that I had never felt like this for anybody before.
"New...deal?" Mephisto blinked owlishly, top hat still on the floor and tail out.
"I'm the human, why should I expect to...resist," I let my eyes wander off to the side at the awkwardness of this conversation, but pressed on, nonetheless. "What if you resist, instead? Assuming you can, but you can't avoid me! That would be too easy," I added stipulations, well-aware that he was a demon. I'd love to say that I could withstand his advances, but this was still a demon king who could easily take advantage through whatever means he had at his disposal.
And with someone who had earned the nickname of "Trickster", that could be anything and everything...
Mephisto suddenly broke out into full-blown laughter. I stuck my tongue out at him while putting on his hat once again. "Your choice." I gave a shrug, honestly not caring whether or not he changed the terms of the deal. The knowledge escaped me on the reasons behind this game of theirs, but it would be more amusing for me to do the chasing.
Not to mention, I'd be in control. Now that was something I greatly preferred to have.
"Deal," Mephisto smirked, palm outstretched towards me.
I grabbed it and we shook. He looked pretty confident of himself. I suppose he had every right to be, considering...
"Ah, one more thing," Mephisto made sure to hold my hand tightly so that I couldn't get away. "We need to get you dressed! Eins, zwei, drei!" A poof of pink smoke and I felt my towel disappear to be replaced by dry clothes. With a curious glance, I noticed he'd given me proper sizes for my fuller body—black skirt, black thigh-high stockings, a pink T-shirt with a black tanktop beneath, and a pair of brown shoes to complete the outfit.
"Um, thanks," I spoke in a whisper, feeling my now-dry hair as I pushed a stray lock out of my face.
"Come with me," Mephisto snapped his fingers before walking away. I started to follow after him, watching as his tail wrapped tightly around his waist once again, showing his bare back to me. A scar caught my eye and I stumbled to a halt. For the briefest moment, my gaze followed the light outline of...
No possible way...
Mephisto pulled his shirt back down, blocking my view. It wasn't until he exited the bathroom that he realized I'd stopped. "Something the matter?" He questioned with a tilt of his head. It was then that I noticed that he had yet to retrieve his hat.
Without a word, I rushed past him, plopping the hat back onto his hair with difficulty as I was much shorter than him. I couldn't seem to look him in the eye. My head raced with thoughts and faint memories that had plagued me before Mephisto and Amaimon had pulled me from my home. I couldn't get that eerily-familiar scar out of my head. It was as if it had been burned into my cornea...
Why? Just why?
My brown eyes slid over to the purple-haired demon now striding calmly beside me.
Why did he have a pentagram on his back?