12I promised myself I wouldn't do this, but here is yet another story…Damn it… At first I wanted to make an alternate universe where everyone's genders are swapped, however, I realized that it wasn't what I wanted. This takes place directly before learn Rin is Satan's son, and before the whole "Impure King" thing. So, this happens right before the camping trip.
For this fic I am going to act as if it's an actual episode. This means that whenever there's a new theme song, I shall describe the opening. This will happen only once per song, so expect if for chapter one and then never see it again until the next opening.
赤の祓魔師 – Episode 1 – "The Demons Within"
A tiny brown puppy lay on its side, two of four of its legs scrambling madly. The other two limbs were broken and bleeding. Three teenage boys were looming over the animal, their sneakers smeared with its blood.
In the distance a lone girl watched as they prodded the desperate dog with their feet, wondering when it would finally die. She gripped the handlebar of her bike and grit her teeth.
Those bastards…
"What the hell are you doing?"
The tallest one, a shifty-eyed brunette with hunched shoulders, barely glanced her way.
"Move along sweetheart, nothing to see here."
The first mistake was telling her to move along; the second was calling her 'sweetheart'. It was barely ten seconds in between the time that it took for her to sprint over to the wicked trio. If anything, it taught them one thing: she may have been a 164 cm girl with an attitude but that never stopped her from picking fights. All she saw was red, her blind rage only fueling the megaton punch that she slammed into the delinquent's skull. Her fist was like a lead dumbbell to the face—unrelentingly painful.
It was only when she noticed that he was nice and bloody that she calmed down, which was time enough for his friends to jump into action.
"That chick is insane!" The shortest, roundest friend flung the boy over his right shoulder.
"She's some kind of demon! Let's go!" The lankier, more fragile-looking friend flung the injured boy over his left shoulder.
The three of them hobbled/ran away in a panicked mess of legs and arms.
It had taken only one punch, but Miyu's hand had seen better days. She held her left arm with her right hand and winced, looking down at the barely conscious animal at her feet.
"I'm the demon?" A touch of sadness crept into her eyes, but Miyu looked to her shoes before she could tear up. "You all are worse, far worse that I could be."
( Upbeat drums and lively electric guitar play. )
Zoom in to the logo, a red and white stylistic version of "Aka no Exorcist" that fills the screen.
( An enthusiastic saxophone plays in the background.)
The words are lit by a red flame, and behind the words the screen becomes white.
( Sei wo uke sorezore ga jinsei wo ouka )
Miyu springs upright in bed, and glances at the alarm clock, running out the door of her room in the boys' uniform with her hair untied and messy. A blue shinai bag is slung over her shoulder. Yukio looks to the camera in time with the lyrics.
(Nou no black box wo shiru sore wa kou ka).
She sprints out of the dorm and past Kuro, who yawns. Shiemi cameos for a bit as well, holding a small plant.
(You wa limit line wo subete ryou ga)
She arrives just in time to wait for the train to pass beside Rin, who is hopping impatiently from foot to foot. Konnekomaru, Bon, and Shima do some weird hand gestures while mouthing the words "ryou ga".
(Saa ikou ka fumidasu sore wa kyou da)
Izumo and Paku point into the distance while saying "ikou ka". Rin and Miyu, both sprinting to school side by side at this point, jump into the street, only to realize that a car is heading towards them. More specifically, Mesto Philes's ostentatious pink car.
A chibi Mesto Philes grins, winks and points.
(Yappa hibi wa ika sen kou sotsunaku konashitecha NO NO)
Split screen. Miyu and Rin are walking. Not side by side, but they do have the same "rebellious teenager" gait going for them. Goblins swarm around them harmlessly.
(Stop nagare wo miki wa me na mazu mono to mo sezu ikou ze (here we go))
Miyu passes by Rin, who is leaning on a random railing somewhere. He decides to join her for some reason in walking down the sidewalk, and ends up running on another railing next to the street.
(Todokanu mono ya kagiri aru mono ni) (Atsuku naru mune wo osaetsukeru no wa)
The wind blows Miyu's hair into the wind, overlaying with Rin walking by.
(Rikai mo sezu osaetsukeyou to shite kita) (Ano otonatachi to onaji jan ka yo)
Close up of Rin, walking with many people passing him by. Miyu is waiting for him when he does stop walking.
(Doushitatte kamawanai esoragoto darou ga)
It's raining, and Miyu is lying on the grass, looking to heaven as the drops fall earthbound.
(Mune wo moyasu hi wa dare ni mo keseya shinai)
Her pained face breaks into tears when she tries to pull herself up from the ground by the chainlink fence.
(Sore kara furu kuroi ame ga kono mi nurashi furi wa nakutemo)
Rin extends a hand to help her up, and she falls into his chest with sobs.
(Mada ore wa kawareru jibun de kaete miseru)
Close up of Rin's understanding face. He pats her on the head and she looks up to him.
(Kore ga sou « pride » sorezore no basho de)
She leans to kiss him, but the scene is cut short by…
(Mada mada kieru na kokoro no hi wo)
Mestophiles flies on screen, his cape billowing around him. Shima, popps up from the bottom of the screen, swinging his weapon. Shiemi, arrives in the same manner, with Nee-chan shooting green beams.
(Mada mada ikeru zo ikeru zo)
Bon, waves around his prayer beads rather awesomely. Izumo, attacks with her fox demons. Konekomaru begins his aria and holds his hands together in prayer. Yukio points his gun at the screen, causing a large flash.
(Oh baby my pride !)
Rin and Miyu are standing back to back with their swords undrawn, looking at the screen.
"Brother….where is my sword?"
"I'm afraid I can't give it to you."
"You wretch! I want my sword."
"Sounding like a child, I see. Have you not heard?"
"It's been destroyed."
"Amaimon!"
"It wasn't me…"
"What do you propose I do now? That day is drawing near."
"Why don't you get a new one, brother?"
"Yes, why don't you?"
"A new…sword?"
A group of three girls are seated in a row before an altar. All of them were dressed in the traditional Miko uniform, a long red slightly pleated skirt and white kimono jacket. In each of their laps rested a boulder the size of a skull, each with a disturbingly distressed expression. Of course, these stones were none other than Baryon, and the girls were being punished for some reason. In front of the girls the priestess stood with crossed arms. Her hair was a long and silky, a dark dark purple that looked nearly black in the low light. She, in comparison to the others, wore an all-black kimono top with long pants of the same color.
They had been sitting there for thirty minutes already, so Mrs. Miyamoto decided that this was enough.
"…so I hope you all have learned your lessons."
She gestured for them to take the stones off of their laps and walked away, leaving them to brood.
"Miyu! I swear, I'll kill you one day!" A girl of roughly fifteen years smacked the offender on the back. "Mama always punishes us all, you know." Her puff of bright blue hair swirling around her face seemed to have devil-horns sticking out of it, but that was only because she was acting so cruelly at the moment. Atsuko Miyamoto was human through and through despite her usual stints of unkind behavior.
Miyu Himura flinched from her attack. The injury from that fight from earlier today had been jarred by Atsuko's frustrated smack. "I'm sorry," mumbled Miyu, cringing inside.
"Still…" The other girl, Atsuko's twin, Chikako, hadn't had a chance to chide her yet. "You should really apologize to Mama."
"Hmph," Miyu turned away stubbornly. She had saved that dog and now she was being scolded for it. Figures. Everyone saw the state of the poor thing when she brought it in, but that wasn't the point. Oh well, she had given up on trying to seem angelic long ago. Ever since Miu had died, there was always this little spot of darkness that had clouded her judgment. She stood, looking rather petulant in disposition. Her fists hung next to her sides limply. "I'm going to go change," she announced. "I got homework to do."
After all, aside from her afterschool job as a miko, Miyu had nothing to do. She had been grounded, of course, and it was always impossible to avoid getting caught sneaking out. Miyu walked to her room, the wooden sandals clunking against the floor loudly in her usual pilgrimage to her personal prison.
She walked into the modest little boxy room and flopped onto the western-style bed. There used to be a bunkbed, but it was removed a few years earler. In one corner was a desk filled with unfinished worksheets and drawings.
"A-a-alone in my world," she whispered, sitting up and staring out the window as a few pigeons flew past. Miyu wondered briefly how the puppy was doing. Hopefully they could keep him. She would call him…Sharin. Yeah, but to confuse people she could write it as "wa" in kanji. That was a nice idea. She rolled onto her stomach and sighed.
For a few seconds she merely lay there. She stood and walked to the far corner of the room where her closet was. Miyu took a deep breath and opened the door to reveal a (surprisingly) neat assortment of clothes. However, on the floor below the few outfits she owned was a small shrine. A picture of a young girl with bright red glasses was in the middle of the setup of incense and unlit candles. She glanced at it for a second before taking out a t-shirt and jeans.
Here in the shrine was where she grew up with her sisters Chikako, Atsuko, and Miu.
Miu was her twin sister, emphasis on was.
If only she hadn't gotten detention that day, everything would have worked out. If she hadn't, then those bullies wouldn't have cornered Miu. They wouldn't have hurt her. Her sister…would still be alive.
It was her fault, of course, but…did people have to be so cruel? Did they have to prey on the weak and innocent just to feel better about themselves?
No. The answer was always no.
She hated humans. Miyu hated them for being so evil, and she hated them for calling them such names: crybaby, loser, demon, bastard child. Oh, those kids were the demons, not her and her sister!
Sure, her temper was short but…she never hurt someone to simply hurt them. That was wrong. No, she was always just defending her sister.
"The Twenty-ninth Spirit is Astaroth.
He is a Mighty, Strong Duke, and appeareth
in the Form of an hurtful Angel riding on an
Infernal Beast like a Dragon,
and carrying in his right hand a Viper."
A couple hours later, and it was already dark. The twins were off preparing dinner, and Miyu had finally decided to study something instead of daydreaming and sulking. A pencil's eraser was in her mouth, and she was chewing it like bubblegum. She couldn't help her sisters because of her abominable skills in the kitchen, plus, she had a lot of work to do. Considering her constant procrastinating it was a miracle that she got into a high school. In reality, she had always wanted to go to True Cross Academy, but she figured that getting a scholarship was way over her head. Yes, she wasn't stupid. But Miyu could never get motivated enough to do her work, she constantly skated on the dangerous line of "barely passing".
She was halfway through her Algebra homework when all of the lights shut off. There was no warning when it happened, no flickering of lights. It simply was dark.
In the distance she heard a bell tolling.
"The alarm?"
Quickly, she began stripping, changing back into the miko uniform. If the alarm was sounding, then it meant that everyone was to immediately report to the main shrine building. Miyu wondered what was so important, but decided not to dwell on it.
The bell tolled once more, louder this time.
For some reason, the sound reverberated throughout the entire place. As for Miyu, she clutched her head in pain and stumbled as she stood in her doorway. Her eyes were clamped shut for a few seconds, and then the stabbing sensation subsided after a moment or two. She was able to stay standing, but when she opened her eyes, something was wrong. A couple of blurry dark specks floated in and out of her vision.
She ran down the corridor, panting as she did.
Another tolling of the bell. This time the pain caused her to cry out, and she repeated the same ritual of recovery. First closing her eyes and holding her head, then opening them once again when the pain dissipated.
The blurry specks had gained some definition. They had gained tails and ears, and even…
"What the…?"
…even eyes?
Miyu was one of the last of the inhabitants of the shrine to reach their meeting place. Mrs. Miyamoto was already there with Chikako and Atsuko, directing the rest of the group. "You five! Enforce the spiritual barrier with Triple-C density holy water!" The high priestess barked orders to anyone nearby, the worst scenarios reflected in her eyes as she watched them scramble to obey.
"What is…going on?"
