Sorry this took so long... again. I had a hard time trying to get Ryuji and Noriko together... anyway, enjoy!

Chapter Eight

On Monday Noriko was sitting at her seat in class listening to her ipod while waiting for other students to arrive. Since she didn't have regular school, she was able to get to class early without having to deal with traffic. As she waited, she started to hum the song she was listening to on her ipod and tap her foot. When she saw Ryuji walk into the classroom with Konekomaru, she stopped her humming and tapping and smiled at them. They smiled back and walked to her seat. Noriko took out her earphones and smiled at them when they reached her.

"Hey, so how did it go last night with the love birds?" Noriko asked as she wrapped her headphones around her ipod and shoving it in her bag.

Ryuji groaned, "He never shuts up about it."

Konekomaru smiled and said, "I think it's nice he finally asked her out… I just feel sorry for Izumo that she has to deal with him now."

The three of them laughed and stopped when Shima and Izumo walked in while holding each other's hands with a blush on their face. Shima smiled and walked over to them.

"Noriko! Thank you so much for your help! I am in your debt!" Shima yelled as he gave her a hug.

"Um… you're welcome. I'm glad everything worked out."

Shima asked how everyones weekend went and all of the answers were the same, slept, homework, study. Shima rolled his eyes and was about to tell them about his wonderful date with Izumo but stopped when the professor walked in the room. Shima and Izumo took their seats together and Ryuji and Konekomaru with theirs. Rin and Shiemi entered the last minute and got a warning from the professor about their tardiness. Noriko smiled and started to listen to the teachers instructions.

As the long day of classes were over, Noriko stretched her spine and started to pack everything up. She decided to go to the library and see what sort of books they would have since she has already read the books in her room. Noriko walked to Rin and Shime who were talking to Shima and Izumo.

"Hey Rin, I'm probably going to be late tonight. I'm going to the library, if you need anything I have my cell phone."

Rin nodded and Noriko walked out of the room and down the hallway.

"Hey Hitomi wait up!" Ryuji said while walking over to her.

"Hey Suguro, what's up?"

"I overheard you were going to the library, mind if I join you?" he asked with a blush covering his ears and scratching behind his neck.

"Um… sure I don't mind." Noriko smiled.

The two of them walked to the library in an awkward silence. But was soon broken by Suguro.

"So… where are you from?" he asked.

"Out in the country, how about you?"

Ryuji explained his experience in Kyoto and reason of being an exorcist. Noriko was surprised and was impressed by his devotion to all his plans. As they walked into the library, Noriko's breath was taken away as she saw the mountains of books the library had.

"Wow… this is…" Noriko couldn't even finish her sentence because of the sight that was in front of her.

Ryuji smiled and said, "Ya, the amount of books they have is ridiculous. So where do you want to start?"

"Well, I was just going to look around and then head back to the building. What are you going to do?"

"Study...but… I wanted to see if you could… um… help me with some stuff." Ryuji asked as he blushed from head to toe.

Noriko smiled and said, "Sure, I don't mind. Come on, I want to see what they have."

They walked around and started to look through the thousands of books that sat on the shelves of book cases that kissed the heavens. Ryuji followed her with no complaint.

When Noriko walked into the supernatural genre of books, she started to look at different books and see what sounded good to read and what sounded like a boring book. Ryuji decided to look around as well, but something caught his eye when he looked down the corridor of books. There was a little demon peeking from the corner with big beady eyes.

"We have some company." Ryuji said as he was getting ready to chant a spell.

Noriko looked up from her book and saw the demon and knew why it was here.

"It's not going to harm you unless you damage a book. These little guys keep an eye on people in the library to make sure they don't harm their books."

Ryuji looked at her and saw she was still reading her book.

"How do you know that?"

Noriko sighed, closed her book and placed it back from where she got it. The demon that hid behind the book case disappeared.

"I know that if I lie you're gonna be pissed off at me again so I might as well tell you the truth. My parents were once exorcists that worked here."

Noriko continued to tell Ryuji everything as they walked around looking at books. Ryuji listened and followed her like a lost puppy. She told him about her always being a target since birth, not being able to have friends because of the way she looked, how she was trained and what she had to go through with her father during training. Noriko put her hand on a book that she used to read when she was a little girl and smiled.

"And now… here I am."

Ryuji was speechless at what Noriko had just told him about her life. She was trained from such a young age to be an exorcist. All the training and learning plus having to deal with high school and having demons track you down like a dog. He looked at her and saw that her face was reliving the sorrow, and he also saw something else, the scar on her right cheek that went from the cheekbone to barely hitting her lip.

"How did that happen then?" Ryuji asked as he pointed to the scar on his right cheek.

Noriko placed the hand that touched the book to her scar and frowned.

"A demon attack… but that's for another time… So what did you want me to help you out with?"

"Well… since you're more advance in the class, I was hoping you would teach me some of those spells." Ryuji said as he looked down and shuffled his feet.

Noriko smiled and replied, "Sure, I just hope you're up for it because it can take a lot out of you."

Ryuji smiled at her with a determined look, making her blush a little bit.

"Let's get started." Ryuji said with a confident attitude.

For the next hour, Noriko gave Ryuji a simple spell that would serve as a sensor of demons and where they were located. Ryuji took down notes and was pretty much drinking in all the information. But once in a while he would look at her and he was really able to see her stunning face again. Her eyes sparkled silver, her long grey hair covered her face from time to time which made Ryuji irritated that he couldn't see her face. When he thought over what he just thought, he shook his head and returned to listening to Noriko.

Noriko on the other hand was also keeping a close eye on him as well. She was able to see his brown eyes look at her and was able to see his smile from time to time. His hair spiking out in all different directions and his cologne washing her senses. She could tell he was lean because of the way he sat and the way the muscles in his arms would ripple in taking notes. They sat a foot away from each other at a desk and she soon started to notice Ryuji having a glazed look over his eyes. She waved her hand infront of his eyes, making him come back to planet earth.

Noriko giggled when he blinked constantly and shaking his head.

"It's late, we can continue this tomorrow if you'd like." Noriko said as she packed up her things in her bag.

"Uh, sure… I'd like that." Ryuji said with a smile that almost melted Noriko's heart.

As they walked out of the library, Noriko's phone went off. She groaned and pulled it out to see that the clown had sent her a message, saying that he has news for her. She rolled her eyes and closed the phone and shoved it in her pocket.

Ryuji saw the look of irritation on her face and asked, "Who was that?"

"An evil clown with a weird hobby… apparently he has some news for me. Who knows what that could mean…. So I will see you tomorrow in class?"

Ryuji smiled and said, "Of course."

And with that they went separate ways. The moon was high in the air and the breeze ran through her hair. When she arrived at Mephisto's office, she knocked and heard his flamboyant voice say, "Come in darling!"

She rolled her eyes and opened the door to see not only Mephisto but also Yukio.

"Um… Hi?" she said nervously as she sat on an empty chair.

"Noriko my dear… we have some good news for you." Mephisto said as he stirred his tea with a small spoon and sat back in his huge chair.

Yukio took out a file and said, "Ms. Hitomi… we are going to be giving your parents a proper burial and their grave sight isn't far from here… would you like to go and pay your last respects?"

Noriko's eyes went wide by the news that she just heard. Blinking a few times to focus, she nodded her head in agreement.

"Very well. When would you like to visit them?" Yukio asked.

"Sunday. Now is that all? I have homework to do." Noriko said as she got up and headed to the door.

Mephisto was about to speak but before she left the room she whispered her thanks and slammed the door on her way out. He sighed and said to Yukio, "She is a mystery, is she not?" In response, Yukio just nodded.

The next day in class, Noriko decided to just skip class today. She didn't want the others to know why she would be slumping in her desk all day. Plus she didn't want to talk to anyone at all for the next few days. Noriko turned over in her bed and decided to just let sleep take over her for a while.

Meanwhile at the cram school, Ryuji was expecting to see Noriko all happy today. But instead he found her seat empty for the whole day. Rin wondered why she wasn't here and what happened to her. At the end of the day, Ryuji decided to not worry about Noriko. She probably just didn't feel like coming in today.

When Rin got home, he walked up to Noriko's room and knocked on her door.

"Oi, Noriko! You ok in there? You missed class today and I didn't see you come down for dinner last night."

Noriko opened the door and said, "Ya I'm fine. I just didn't feel like going in for class today."

"Oh.. ok, well I guess I will see you for dinner?"

"Definitely." and with that she closed her door and went back to reading her book.

When Noriko walked into class for the next day, she was surprised to see that Ryuji was the only one in the room. He had his hair pinned back with a clip and was studying one of his school books. When she walked closer, she found out that he had his earphones on his head and was completely lost into his book. Sneaking up behind him, she quickly took out the earphone in his right ear and said, "What'cha listenin' to?"

Ryuji jumped and turned sharply to see Noriko smiling at his reaction.

"Holy Fuck Hitomi! Why did you do that!?" he asked in outrage.

Noriko laughed and sat down next to him, "It was the only opportunity I had to mess with you."

Ryuji scowled, turning off his ipod and putting it away, Noriko saw that he looked really mad.

"I'm sorry…" she said while dropping her head down and fiddling with her pant fabric.

Ryuji sighed and ruffled her hair with a blush creeping along his face, "It's ok… just scared the living shit out of me. Where were you yesterday?"

Noriko fixed her messed up hair while saying, "Meh, didn't feel like it. What did I miss?"

She lied to him so that he wouldn't worry about her. Ryuji explained what the lesson was yesterday, and of course, she already knew the subject. She looked across the room and then asked Ryuji, "So why are you here so early anyway? Don't you have other classes?"

Ryuji replied, "Our class was canceled, so I decided to come here to just study and relax… what about you? You're usually the first one here."

"I already finished high school, so I have half of the day to do nothing."

Ryuji's jaw dropped and he said, "Wait… how old are you?"

"17… why?" she asked in wonder.

Ryuji blushed and said, "I'm only 16."

Noriko smiled and said, "So?"

Ryuji shook his head and said, "Nothin'... So are we still up to studying after class today?"

Noriko nodded, "Yes sir."

There was an awkward silence so Noriko decided to break it.

"So when is your birthday?" she said as she rested her elbow on the desk and her head in her hand.

"August 20th. You?" he asked while tapping his pencil.

"Damn I missed it! Well happy extremely late birthday" she said with a smile on her face and a laugh escaping her lips. "Mine is October 26th."

Ryuji blinked and said, "That's only 4 days away!"

"Good job, now I know you can do math." she said with a smirk.

Ryuji blushed and glared at her, "Smart ass. What do you plan on doing?"

Noriko looked away. It was the day she was going to go see her parents grave. She couldn't tell him that, so she lied, even though she knows that he hates it.

"Um… hang out in my room?"

He shook his head and said, "That's not a way to celebrate your birthday!"

"Why not? It's just another day."

Ryuji shook his head at the stubborn girl next to him, "You do have friends you know. And family."

Noriko's heart felt a stab at his last sentence. She put on a fake smile and said, "Ya…"

"Why don't we hang out… or something." he said with a blush that covered his cheeks.

She was taken back that he would offer to hang out with her, "Um… sure… what do you want to do?"

"It's your birthday, think of something." he said while rubbing the back of his neck.

She thought about a lie and said, "How about hanging out with the others, I think we would have more fun with them."

He rolled his eyes and was about to say something but Konekomaru and the others walked in. Rin and Shima gave them a weird look that made them feel confused. As Noriko said her goodbyes, Ryuji grabbed her wrist and said, "Why don't you sit with me?" His face blushing once again, along with Noriko's. She agreed and sat down. As class went by, she was surprised that the classes were over in a snap. Next thing she knew, her and Ryuji were in the library studying. Well more like Noriko teaching and Ryuji studying. When that was over, they said their goodbyes and went their separate ways.

Noriko dreaded today. It was her birthday and the day she went to go say goodbye to her parents… again. She got herself dressed in a plain black t-shirt, black skinny jeans, a pair of dark brown fingerless gloves and her black combat boots. It was around lunch time when she decided to go and see her parents. But the tricky part was getting by Rin and Yukio without them knowing. The past few days the whole class had been acting weird, Ryuji wasn't talking to her as much and Rin would try to talk but everyone took him away and she was left alone. She shrugged it off and looked around. Then she remembered that her room had a window. Looking outside, she saw that dark clouds were starting to dress the blue sky. Opening her window, she grabbed her messenger bag that her wallet, phone, Bible, and papers for summoning just in case. As she strapped her bag over her head and let it rest on one shoulder, she perched on the window sill and looked to see if there was anyone around. Luckily there was not a soul in sight. Jumping from the third story window and landing with ease, she fixed her hair and started to walk down the path. Mephisto had given her the address and decided to walk there, she wanted to be alone for right now and didn't want that clown around her.

But meanwhile, Rin was sitting on the couch watching the television when he heard a thump outside, he peeked out the window and saw Noriko walking away.

'Did she just jump out her window!?' Rin thought.

Rin decided to text Ryuji and Shimei that Noriko was going somewhere without them knowing. And sooner or later, Ryuji, Konekomaru, Shima, Izumo and Shimei arrived at Rin's building and he told them the story. Everyone was confused why she left and decided to follow her. Rin and the others ran around the city until Izumo spotted Noriko buying flowers at a flower shop. Everyone hid behind things that they could manage to hide behind from a suspicious Noriko. Keeping their distance, they were lucky that Noriko decided to put her headphones on.

"Where is she going with those flowers?" Shima asked as he tip toed behind Izumo.

"Maybe she has a boyfriend that none of us knew about." Rin said with a smirk towards Ryuji.

"We don't know that yet! Just shut up and let's keep following her." Ryuji said.

As Noriko put her headphones in and listened to music, she kept feeling like she was being followed. Looking back, she didn't see anyone that seemed to be suspicious. Continuing her walk to the cemetery, she continued to get closer. Her heart felt like it could disappear at any moment.

She finally reached the gate and saw that Mephisto was already here with his pink limo. Rolling her eyes, she opened the gate and walked down a path until a guard came to lead Noriko to her parents grave.

As the group got closer as well, everyone was shocked to see her go into a graveyard. Shiemi squirmed and said, "Maybe we should let her be alone now."

The others ignored and she was forced to follow them. The dark clouds starting to release the rain in tiny sprinkles. They hid behind tombstones as they searched for Noriko. When Rin found them about 20 feet away, they all hid behind the stones and heard Mephisto speak to Noriko.

"My dear… we waited until you arrived to begin the ceremony. Now let us begin."

As a priest recited verses from the bible and music playing in the background. Noriko closed her eyes and started to remember the good memories of her parents. She remembered how her father would read her a book every night before she fell asleep. How his deep voice soothed her and how he would tuck her in at night before leaving the door cracked for her so that the night light gave her a sense of safety. Smiling, she then remembered Halloween where they all went as a family of vampires. Her father acting all out with the Dracula accent and her mother acting like Morticia from the Addams Family. They would wait for her on the sidewalk as she went up to her neighbors to ask for candy. When she got what she wanted, she would see her father hugging her mom from behind, both having the smiles of proud parents. Before she knew it, Mephisto tapped her shoulder and she came back to reality.

"We will leave you now to say your last goodbyes. They were great exorcist and friends Noriko… And um… Happy Birthday" and with that Mephisto left with his guards, leaving her alone. Well not completely alone.

She fell to her knees and put the flowers in front of her parent's tombstone, the rain drenching her in water.

"Hey guys… miss ya. Happy Birthday to me huh? You won't believe what I've been through since that night… I know I shouldn't dread on the past but," her heart caught in her throat and tears started to mix with tears, "I cry myself to sleep almost every night. I felt like I could have done something to save you guys. But then again you wanted me to live… Thank you." She put her hand on the tombstone and continued, "You know… even through all this mess… I met some pretty awesome people. There are these two twin boys that have been helping me throughout the whole ordeal. There names are Yukio and Rin Okumura," Noriko smiled and choked a laugh and said, "You won't believe it, but… they are the children of Satan himself… You would expect them to be evil...but honestly… they are the most down to earth people I've ever met. I could go on about them but I don't have much time, pouring like cat's and dogs out here. There are others also. There is Shima who is the biggest pervert in the world but sweetest guy. Then there is his girlfriend Izumo, they are so opposite that they complete each other… goes along with Rin and his girlfriend Shimei" Noriko choked out another sad laugh while tears still fell from her eyes, "The funny thing too… I kinda acted like a matchmaker and got them together… I don't know how you guys dealt with Mephisto… he has got to be the weirdest demon I could ever know… besides from Rin."

While all of this was happening, everyone was able to hear her speech. Rin, Shiemi, Izumo, and the whole lot started to tear up. Rin smiled sadly at Shimei and Shima did the same with Izumo. Ryuji's heart felt like it was going to shatter into a million pieces. She has hid this much pain from them so that they could live their lives happily and stress free.

Noriko smiled through her tears and said, "Even though you guys are not on earth… I know you guys are still watching over me from wherever you guys are…," she put her forehead on the tombstone and continued, " Please watch over us and… I love you mom...dad." And with that she broke down bawling her eyes out. She hugged herself and let her head fall, her hair falling in globs in front of her face.

Ryuji got up as well as the others and walked over to her. Noriko knew they were there for a while but didn't want to say anything. Ryuji got on his knees besides Noriko and wrapped his strong arms around her. Rin was hugging a crying Shiemi and Izumo put her head on Shima's shoulder. Konekomaru stood next to Rin, he had his head bent and was sending a prayer. Everyone had tears in their eyes.

Noriko cried harder when Ryuji put his arms around her. He slowly rocked them back and forth while the rain drenched them. She yelled crying, making everyone else's heart strings pull. Ryuji smoothed down her hair and said, "It's ok Noriko, we're all here for you, I'm here for you."

Noriko turned her body towards him so that she could hug him back properly while she cried.

It felt like an hour before she calmed down, Ryuji never left her side. He hid his face in between her neck and had his arms wrapped around her waist like a snake. Noriko released her arms from around his neck and let them slid down to his chest. He pulled back and was able to see her face, even though he regretted it. He saw how much pain she was in and can almost tell her heart seemed to be on it's last life. Noriko saw that his spiky hair was now almost covering his eyes. She brushed them away with one hand and rested her forehead against his. Both of them blushed a bit from her action. Rin and Shima looked at eachother and then grinned.

They both had their eyes closed and Noriko said, "Thank you… I'm sorry I didn't tell you."

"Forget about it… I'm just glad you're ok."

Noriko opened her eyes and saw how close they were. She was able to see his dark brown eyes so much closer. Ryuji on the other hand thought his soul was being read by her, making him blush.

Rin cleared his throat and said, "I don't want to ruin the moment...but we are getting soaked out here and if we stay any longer all of us are going to get sick."

Noriko and Ryuji smiled at each other and got up. Everyone jogged back to Rin and Noriko's building. When they finally arrived, all of them were out of breath and were soaking wet.

"I will go get the towels. I have some extra clothes Izumo and Shiemi if you want to wear them while your clothes dry in the dryer."

Izumo and Shimei smiled and followed her upstairs. Rin gave the boys towels to dry off and extra clothes as well. As everyone dried off and warmed up, Noriko found a noted on her bed and a gift. She opened the note to see that it was from Mephisto.

'Here's a little gift for the birthday girl. Use it well.'

Noriko raised an eyebrow and looked at the rectangular box. When she opened it, she saw the most beautiful dagger she had ever seen. The hilt had a blue gem and silver metal was lacing over each other like vines. The blade itself was long and sharp with a tint of blue in it as well. Noriko gasped at the beauty and just stared at it.

"Look's like the crazy clown does have a heart." she said with a smile.