AnEx: Midori Oshoku: Chapter 1

Bright rays of sunlight shone in through the windows of a particular classroom of the True Cross Academy, where a particular spawn of Satan sat, half-asleep, trying to pay at least a little attention to what his brother was telling him. Beside him, a short blonde girl was smiling almost as brightly as the sun outside, evidentally paying about tenfold the amount of attention as he was. He sighed, turning his head to glance back at a group of three boys sat together. One of them, a broad-shouldered male with brunette hair and a blonde streak through the middle, was taking notes of everything being said. His pink-haired companion was looking helplessly from the front of the classroom to the practically bald boy beside him, who was muttering lowly, no doubt explinations, and gestured towards various pieces of paper. The son of Satan rubbed his eyes, checked to make sure his brother was concentrating on giving his lecture, before turning his head again to glance behind him in the other direction. A girl with purple hair had her chin resting on one hand, scribbling onto some paper on the desk in front of her. She would occaisionally set her pen down and turn a few pages of a book before continuing work.
Something whacked across Satan's spawn's head, causing him to yelp and wrenching his attention to what it was meant to be concentrating on; his brother.
''Rin, since you obviously know everything, perhaps you should tell us all about Dragoons?''
Satan's son, Rin, blinked. Dragoons? What on Assiah was a Dragoon? Was it a food type..? He glanced helplessly at the girl next to him, who giggled; a small Greenman sat atop her head shared it's cheerful laughter.
''Idiot...'' came a voice from behind Rin. He twitched. ''I'm not an idiot!'' Turning around, Rin fixed a glare to the broad-shouldered Bon. His face was fixed in the usual scowl reserved just for Rin. ''Of course you are. You don't even know what a Dragoon is.''
''Of course I do!'' Cried Rin, gaze darting about the room frantically. ''It's a... I mean... well, you know...''
''Perhaps you should pay attention in class, Rin.'' Came his brother's calm voice.
''Shut up, Yukio,'' muttered Rin.
Yukio turned his attention to the rest of the class as Rin's decided to go for a wander, having no interest in what his younger brother had to say. His eyes landed on the door for some reason, and he noticed the handle turn. The door opened just as Yukio asked, ''I don't suppose anyone could tell me what a Dragoon is?''
''That's easy,'' a new voice from the doorway's direction spoke, yet another distraction to the poor young teacher's attempt at capturing the class' attention, ''a Dragoon is a Meister that fights demons with guns.''
Yukio, as well as everyone else within the classroom, stared over as two girls entered the room. The taller of the two, a rather flat-chested female with black and green hair and dark eyes, stood with her arms folded beside the doorway, a wide grin to her face. Beside her, the shorter of the two girls stood, clinging to the others' arm and peering around with sparkling green eyes. Rin leant back, curious to see more of the second of the two girls. He noticed, with a hint of annoyance, that a white scottish terrier with a polka-dotted bow-tie around it's neck was stood with the pair. It then trotted over to where Rin sat, leapt onto the table in front of him, and promptly stared him out.
''Mephisto,'' Rin muttered as Yukio beckoned the two newcomers inside, introducing them to the rest of the class. ''What're you doing here?'' The terrier continued staring at Rin, before letting out a low chuckle. Rin knew the crazy look in his eye, and glared at him.
''Eins,''
''Don't.''
''Zwei,''
''No.''
''Drei!''
In a poof of pink smoke, the dog was gone, leaving Rin to grit his teeth together. His attention was dragged back to his brother as he was, once again, whacked around the head with a book.
''Rin, really, show manners.''
''Stop hitting me, damn it.'' The young demon rubbed his head. ''What do you want, anyway?''
''I was introducing two new additions to our class,'' Yukio frowned; the taller of the two girls sniggered. Rin looked up, noticing the second a little more now she wasn't hiding so much. She had a slim build, short brown hair framing her, Rin couldn't help but notice, rather pretty face perfectly. Yukio's voice overran his thoughts, ''their names are Ryuushin,'' he gestured to the taller of the two, who Rin just noticed was wearing a school shirt, the school tie, a short black skirt and black boots. As she lifted a hand, two fingers up in a peace sign as she waved, he also noticed fingerless gloves. He snorted. ''And this,'' Yukio continued, ''is Kimiko,'' the shyer girl was nudged by Ryuushin; she blushed, also waving. Rin eyed her curiously, her outfit somewhat plain compared to her companion's. A sleeveless white dress that came down to her knees, with a thin black belt. With an encouraging smile, Yukio told the two to take a seat. Ryuushin glanced at Kimiko for the briefest of seconds before grinning, an expression shared by the other. Rin stared at the two; it was as if they shared an ultra-fast telepathy. The two passed Rin to sit at the desk behind him and to the side of where Bon and his friends sat. As Rin watched the two, trying to figure out what kind of bond they shared, Ryuushin grinned maddeningly at him.
''What?'' he mumbled. Her grin merely widened.

Lunch found Rin, Sheimi, Bon, Miwa and Shima sitting together, discussing the happenings of the day. Or at least, Bon and Miwa were -- Rin kept complaining about the heat whilst Shima was admiring a couple of girls nearby.
''So, Bon, we're Arias...'' Miwa was saying, adjusting his over-sized glasses for the sixteenth time, ''and Rin's specialty with the kurikara makes him a Knight...''
''Don't forget the flames,'' Bon grumbled. Miwa shuddered, ''y-yeah...''
''Relax already.'' Rin heaved himself up with a sigh. ''Why're you so serious?''
''Why aren't you?'' Bon retorted, much to Rin's annoyance. Before a fight could break out, Shima leant back to casually announce, ''Those two new girls are over there.'' Rin, Bon and Miwa peered over in the direction of Shima's hand to see that they were, indeed, over there.
''What were their names?'' Miwa asked. Shima grinned devilishly, ''Ryuushin and Kimiko.'' With a sigh, he looked over the pair. ''Kimiko... so cute...''
''Izumo's over there,'' Rin jerked his head to gesture to the purple-haired girl a little way behind them. In an instant, Shima had disappeared. Miwa and Bon promptly facepalmed. Rin yawned, ''so, what'cha reckon'll be going on later?''
''In class?'' Rin nodded. Miwa shrugged, ''I'm not sure. Yukio seemed... kinda secretive.''
Rin had noticed that. All day, Yukio had acted like Rin was a disease that if he got anywhere near to, he'd fall ill and drop dead. It wasn't like him. Usually, if he wanted Rin's attention, he'd knock the side of his head with his own hand. Slouching forwards, Rin frowned as he ran possible answers to his brother's strange behaivour through his mind. Bon and Miwa must have noticed the off look on his face as they asked, ''what's wrong?''
Rin blinked. ''Oh, nothing, nothing,'' he said in what he hoped was an off-hand tone, ''was just thinking about... food. Heh.''
Before the topic could be persued, much to Rin's relief, there was an interruption. Much to Rin's dismay, the interruption was somebody launching themselves over to where they all sat, and then proceeded to sit on his head, arms folded with a victorious smirk plastered to their face.
''R-Ryuu!'' Bon and Miwa could only watch as Rin struggled to free himself from Ryuushin, who was snickering away. Kimiko leapt up to try and pull her away from the raging Son of Satan. It took all his might to not burst into flames.
''Ryuu, please don't harass people! Especially if they're in our class...!'' Kimiko tugged at Ryuushin, eventually managing to pull her off of Rin. Ryuushin huffed, re-arranging something attatched to the back of her belt. ''You're no fun,'' she muttered. Embarrassed, Kimiko then turned to the three boys, ''I'm really sorry--''
''Don't worry about it, Miss,'' Bon was at her side in an instant, an arm around her small shoulders, ''we don't mind in the slightest!''
He seemed to speak only for himself, however, as Rin, in a throuroughly bad temper, pushed himself to his feet. ''That... You! You just sat on me like I'm some kind of--!''
''If it makes you feel any better, you're not comfortable.'' Ryuushin stuck her tongue out. Rin twitched. Looking highly amused, the female then placed her hands on her hips, one leg crossed over the other as she stood. ''Anyway, we decided--''
''You mean, you decided.'' Kimiko corrected. Ryuushin frowned, ''well, yes. Anywho! I decided we ought to come introduce ourselves fully to our dear classmates. So, here we are!'' She held her hands out, as if expecting an applause. ''I'm sure you heard my name, but in case you have a bad memory, I'm Ryuushin.'' She paused before adding, ''you can call me Ryuu, though,'' with a wink. Kimiko then wriggled from Bon's grasp, ''I-I'm Kimiko. It's nice to meet you all.'' She bowed quickly. ''Also, p-please don't mind Ryuu...'' she recieved a scowl from her taller friend. ''She's not used to human company.''
''Not used to human company?'' Miwa repeated, staring at Ryuushin with mixed emotions of fear and curiosity. ''What do you mean?''
''I used to live alone in a part of town where I often saw demons.'' Ryuushin nodded thoughtfully. ''I tried to befriend a few that didn't attempt to kill me. They usually got killed by bigger demons, though.'' She paused. ''All except one.''
''You have a demon as a friend?'' Bon eyed her suspiciously. ''Not all demons are bad!'' Ryuushin hissed defensively. As if on cue, Blacky appeared on Rin's shoulder, capturing everybody's attention. He blinked, turning to Rin, who understood his thoughts at once; 'Is this a bad time to come?'
''It's alright, Blacky,'' Rin scratched behind the Sith Cat's ears, ''just stay out of sight of the others.'' Rin then turned to Bon and Miwa, ''you were saying?''
Grinning smugly at the now-silenced Bon and Miwa, Ryuushin sat down beside Rin to get a closer look at Blacky. ''Adorable,'' she murmured, stroking him as he pressed his head up to her hand. Rin frowned as he noticed a faint flicker in Ryuushin's eye as Blacky spoke once more, 'She smells good!'

After lunch had ended, Rin strolled over to the classroom, stopping short as he noticed Ryuushin standing at the door, one hand to her chin thoughtfully. He approached her carefully, not wanting a random outburst from her, ''what're you doing?''
She turned her head to look at him, a distant look to her face. ''We're not in this room. There's a note on the door, we're meant to be somewhere else.''
''What?'' Rin frowned, looking for himself. ''Why'd we move?''
''Beats me. We should probably get going, though.'' Ryuushin nodded once before walking down the corridor. Following with a suspicious look, Rin held onto the stap of the case holding the kurikara. He had a feeling he'd be needing it.
Upon entering the new room, Rin noticed that everyone else was already there. He also noticed just how large the room was. His frown deepened. Standing before the class was not only his brother, Yukio, but none other than...
''Welcome, Rinny-boy, nice of you to join us.''
''Mephisto.'' Rin eyed the rediculous principal before them all, wondering what the crazy demon was up to this time. As if reading his mind -- which Rin suspected he did -- Mephisto waved one hand around and announced, ''I thought I'd see just how strong you are all getting. I managed to convince Mr. Teacher here,'' he promptly whacked Yukio's shoulder; Rin snickered, ''and I've allowed for this room to be used.''
Bon spoke out uncertainly, ''used for what?''
Mephisto stared at him, as if he was a fat person who was refusing cake. ''For training, of course! Dual each other, see how you've improved!'' He looked over at Ryuushin and Kimiko, the latter of whom was gripping her friend's arm. ''It'll be a good way for these two to get the general idea, too. Of course,'' he looked over at Bon, who was eyeing Rin, ''we can't have Rin fighting any of you, no no... I don't want him dead.'' There was a breif pause in which Rin was sure Mephisto added a quiet ''yet''. ''Rin, you'll be facing Ryuu.'' He lifted one hand, snapping three times. ''Eins, zwei, drei!'' He disappeared in a poof of smoke, and the room instantly gained some sort of glass wall, a doorway appearing in it. ''That,'' Mephisto continued, having re-appeared right next to Rin and making him jump, ''will be to stop those that don't fight from getting randomly injured. Only two will fight -- I mean, dual -- at a time.'' He grinned in a way that only Mephisto could. ''Any questions?''
Nobody dared question the absurdity of it all. Mephisto clapped his hands together, one of them still clutching his bizarre umbrella. ''Alrighty! Eins, zwei, drei!'' He promptly disappeared in another pink poof of smoke. Everybody exchanged looks, their faces all seeming to read the same thing: he's insane.
''How... exactly am I meant to fight?'' Miwa voiced a question that was clearly on the face of everyone else. ''I mean, I'm an Aria, I have no--''
''Eins!''
The students jumped; when had Mephisto returned?
''Zwei, drei!''
There was a sudden poof as a couple of crates appeared, each holding weapons of some sort. Blades, firearms, even a few monk staffs. Mephisto then snapped his fingers; a pink glow surrounded each person, fading almost as soon as it appeared.
''That should stop you from actually killing each other.'' He pranced around the group before snapping his fingers, ''Eins, zwei, drei!''
Once he had left, Rin felt dizzy. Ryuushin clapped his shoulder, ''we'd better get to it then, huh?'' Rin could only nod as he made to open the doors of what appeared to be a glass wall. On his way in, he tapped the wall. It seemed surprisingly strong. Shrugging, he entered.