InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Demons in Disguise ❯ Calm Before the Storm ( Chapter 1 )

Golden streams of light found their way through a young woman's bedroom window and spilled onto her innocent face which was partly hidden by a mess of jet black hair. Her lovely oak eyes slid open with a slight morning groan. From downstairs she heard her foster mom, Janice, calling up the stairs to her room.

"Lin! Are you awake, yet? Lin, hurry, you'll be late for your first day of your new high-school!"

Lin hurriedly jumped out of her colorful comforters on her futon and ran to her closest when she heard the distinct sound of Janice's feet making their way up the stairs. Just as she opened the door Lin cried out.

"Ach, no! Janice, I'm not decent!"

"Oh, my, sorry, dear," Janice quickly shut the door to the relief of Lin. While Janice spoke Lin began to change into her new generic school uniform which was set out on her bed.

"Now, Lin dear, remember what we talked about. I know you've been moving around from school to school for the past few years and haven't made any friends, but that doesn't mean you can't make friends. Go out and talk to some people, be friendly," Lin could feel Janice's thin lips smiling through the door. "This is your senior year in high-school. Make it a good one, sweetie. Quicken the pace please, Lin. Tardiness is not a good first impression. I have some eggs waiting for you downstairs when you're ready."

Lin waited patiently until she was sure Janice had strode back downstairs before continuing with her morning routine. Once Lin had dressed into her, rather uncomfortable, school uniform she sat down at the mirror in her room and began to brush her thick black hair and sorted through a pile of barrettes. As she did so, Lin couldn't help seeing another person in that mirror. A much more innocent and confused girl.

Falling. Magic dancing around me. Purple and violet waves of enchantment. Suddenly pain. Headache. Big one. Head feels empty. Feels like I've forgotten something. Many things including my entire life. Stumbling through strange black rock path and large metallic speed demons zooming by me. Searching for him. Can't remember who he is. I know that he will care for me. Can remember creamy and fluffy, flowing strands of silver, blue crescent, magenta scratches, white face as still as the moon, and…gold. Two golden coins. Looking at her. That's who he is. Where is he? Who is he? Better yet, where am I? What's…what's my name? So tired…so weak…please let him come rescue me. Help me please…

Lin let an exasperated sigh as she looked in the mirror. That moment when she was young is where her memories started. When she was falling. She couldn't remember anything before that. A group of good Samaritans took Lin to the hospital when they found Lin blacked out in the middle of a street with a rather serious wound on her skull. They said she had rambled about demons, and dogs, and toads, and a tall ivory royal when she went in and out of consciousness. The doctors concluded that Lin was emotionally unstable. She had been the one to tell the doctors that she remembered her name was Lin. Only a few days after she told them, she regretted it. Lin wasn't her name, and somehow she knew that he knew her true name. The beautiful prince in her dreams. Her knight in cuddly armor and his faithful scaly steeds with his amphibian squire. Lin stared into the mirror once more before Janice's voice rang out.

"Lin, I thought I told you to hurry!"

In a panic Lin quickly grabbed her book-bag and slammed her door behind her.

* * *

While Lin was rushing off to school, in another part of town, a young nineteen year old man with eloquent beauty lay face down at his desk. He was fast asleep on his advanced political studies textbook. He was residing in a rather lower-middle class run down apartment complex in a bad part of town. Not the kind of place you expect to find a guy as gorgeous as he was. His short hair hung straight, smooth, and practically bleached. In the right light his amber eyes seemed gold. He was thin yet muscular and tall. His aristocratic aura was so overwhelming that many of his classmates were either intimidated by him or considered him a snob pretty-boy. Save the girls who, to his disgust, gawked over him.

As Mitsuharu Sesshou slept, the couple with marital issues located on floor above him started their daily morning argument. They stamped on the floor above his head with some force. As stated before this building wasn't near the best of apartment complexes. The force of the slam on the floor above caused a small piece of Sesshou's ceiling to come down onto his head serving as very rude awakening.

Sesshou let out a shout when the chunk of ceiling collided with his skull. He straightened up sending plaster and white dust on the floor. He coughed out the dust rubbing his eyes vigorously. The white powder had hardly affected the pigment of his already perfect pale complexion.

Once Sesshou had blinked the dirt out of his eyes he focused his sight on the clock sitting on the desk. It read 3:34 AM. Sesshou looked out the foggy window and gasped. It was morning! His clock must've stopped working in the middle of the night.

"Cheap junk," he sighed angrily as he knocked the clock off his desk. He checked his watch and yelped. It was 10:17 AM! His first class started in 33 minutes!

Sesshou scrambled up as he ran his nimble fingers through his silky hair sending out clumps of leftover plaster onto the fading orange carpet. He rushed into his small bathroom which was probably the cleanest bathroom in the entire building. It had better be since Sesshou had spent an entire day scrubbing and cleaning it when he first moved in to the second-hand apartment.

Sesshou had been short on funds for quite some time. His adoptive family hadn't had any better luck when they were still alive. His parents, Mr. And Mrs. Mitsuharu, were old when they adopted him. Too old really to be adopting kids, but no one else would take the quiet Sesshou. The young friendly hopeful parents that visited the orphanage were looking for innocent, happy, ignorant, perky, playful little chibis. Not the withdrawn, intelligent, apathetic Sesshou who was reading middle school level books by the age of five. He even demanded to be called Sesshou as soon as he could speak.

It didn't help that Sesshou was found abandoned by a hiking group in the wilderness when he was a newborn. But Mr. And Mrs. Mitsuharu were senile and looking for a quiet well-behaved child. Therefore Sesshou was perfect for them. When they were still alive Mrs. Mitsuharu would always tell him that he practically raised himself. He didn't cry even once as a toddler (although Mrs. Mitsuharu claimed she could have sworn she heard him sob a little when she took Sesshou to see Bambi) and never once acted like the other troubled, misguided children that lived in the ghetto where their house was. He had impeccable manners which was strange since the Mitsuharu's hadn't ever taught him any. No person is without flaws though. Sesshou wasn't very compassionate to others besides his adopted family. Not to mention he had a short temper and was sent home on more than one occasion from school for beating up kids who called him a stuck-up poser or princess.

In fact, Sesshou acted as if he had been raised by royals is what his adoptive mother said. Yet he never demanded anything or to be served. Sesshou was more like a short adult than a child to the senile couple who raised him. They were simply overjoyed when Sesshou had received a full scholarship to one the most prestigious colleges in Japan. And when they died two years ago as a result of being hit by a drunk driver while coming home from the grocery shop, they had left him every penny they had to their name. Which wasn't a lot.

This small three room run-down apartment was the best thing he could afford, and was practical since it was close to his college. Sesshou worked in the evenings at a high-class restaurant as a waiter. He really didn't make a very good waiter though. Sesshou wasn't great at socializing and could be pretty cold to the customers who complained about the food, service, etc. The other waiters were sure that he was only hired for his looks. Either way, Sesshou made enough tips to keep himself stable and never falls behind in his studies for college. Just last night he had been studying and must've fallen asleep. Sometimes being the most advanced classes had its downside.

Once Sesshou had cleaned all the plaster chunks out of his hair he grabbed a towel and jumped over to the mirror. It doesn't take much to groom himself in the morning. He was already naturally handsome. All he had to do was send a comb through his hair and that was it. Of course there was the teeth brushing, face scrubbing, and all the other hygiene stuff.

"Why doesn't that wretched couple upstairs just split and get it over with instead of bringing down this already crumbling building?" Sesshou scowled. He flung open the doors of his closest and quickly put on a pair of blue jeans, a dark green shirt, and a purple button up coat over that. Bag in hand, Sesshou hurriedly put all of his textbooks on the desk into the bag and rushed out of his apartment on the third story of the five story building.

Ignoring the barks from the landlady about his rent, Sesshou quickened his pace and exited the building, jumping off the stoop to the sidewalk. But instead of continuing down the sidewalk Sesshou walked down a small flight of steps to the unused basement of the apartment building. When no one was looking, Sesshou pushed aside the piece of plywood hiding the entrance to the basement. He slide in silently and opened the blinds to let in some light.

Against the wall was an old fraying couch and next to that an old lamp. On both sides of the couch was piles of books. Books likes Stephen King, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Edgar Allen Poe, Neil Gaiman, and many other advanced literature. Sesshou had found this place by accident one day and figured it'd make a great place to read. The foot thick concrete on the ceilings and walls blocked out practically all sound. He also figured it would make a great place for his two closest friends.

From a pile of cushions, bones, and chew toys in the corner of the dim room two brown and black-striped greyhounds cantered over to Sesshou. They both rested their front paws on Sesshou's thighs while yipping and panting happily. Sesshou settled the dogs, smiling softly. He bent down and began stroking their backs gently.

"Shh, I missed you guys too, Aguh and Unan," Sesshou cooed quietly. Sesshou had found these two brother greyhounds a week or so after he moved into the building. They were being used as guard dogs for a convenience store a few blocks away. The owner would lock the dogs in the shop every night with little food and little promise for praise in the morning. That owner treated the dogs horribly and practically starved them. Sesshou had had enough and broke into the back one day where the dogs were kept when they weren't on guard duty. When he let them out the dogs followed him back to his place so Sesshou decided to keep them.

Sesshou had to keep the dogs down in the basement for two reasons. One, the owner had put up signs and was threatening to strangle whoever took the guard dogs. Two, pets weren't allowed in his building. The dogs had been practically rabid with their original owner and everyone else who came near them. But for some reason they were completely placid around Sesshou.

Sesshou reached into a nook in the wall and took out a bag of doggy kibble. Aguh and Unan skipped alongside their master as he went over to their bowls and poured a good amount of kibble in each. While they munched away Sesshou took out two thermoses of water from his bag and poured the water into their bowls. He patted the dogs before clutching his bag and rushing out the door.