I own nothing, not the characters, the space where this story exists, or even the eyes that you are using to read it. This is for entertainment purposes only, no money involved.

Rin scanned the area he could see from his window for any signs of his father or any of the others who resided at the church who might have reported to him, but he couldn't see any of them. They were most likely cleaning the main hall like they did every Saturday to prepare for the Sunday mass.

So, Rin put on his best clothes and opened up the window, jumping out from the second story and falling fifteen feet before landing with a loud thud on his bare feet. After looking about to make sure no one heard him, he put on his socks and dress shoes and when to slip out of the back of the church.

"Where is Rin going? I thought Shiro told him to stay at the church today." Rin froze at the sound and his head whipped around trying to see who had said it, but there was no one there. The only thing he saw was the church's resident stray cat, Kuro, that Shiro had brought back with him from one of his 'exorcism' jobs around six years back. The voice hadn't sounded familiar, and Rin couldn't even say where exactly it was coming from.

Rin looked at Kuro for a few seconds as the black cat stared at him with its large green eyes, ones that had always seemed a little too intelligent. Kuro had mostly black fur, with a gray mouth and white stomach, one white strip was wrapped around his right foreleg. Rin had to blink a few times as he could have swore that for a moment he saw two tails swinging around behind the cat, a small horns sticking out of its head. But the next second the cat was back to normal.

"I must be imagining things." He finally said before opening the back gate and slipping out. The black cat watched him as he ran off towards the bus station.

Kuro jumped up onto the fence and watched the boy running off. "I need to tell Shiro." The cat seemed to say, before jumping off the fence and running back towards the church.

"What... the hell is this?" Rin mumbled as he looked around the bus station. Hundreds of thousands of tiny black creatures, with little horns and tails and freaky smiles that took up a majority of their bodies, were flouting around in the air. They were everywhere.

But the most freaky part of it, was that no one else seemed to be able to see it. They were all just going along with their normal everyday lives as if nothing was wrong.

But before too long, Rin's bus came along and he wasted no time getting onto it. He didn't care if this was some kind of precursor to the end of the world, he was going to get that job. The bus was fairly empty as it was already the later afternoon and people weren't taking buses from the more residential areas into the city, they were all trying to get home from their jobs. So Rin managed to get a seat in the back of the bus and sat staring out the window.

He was trying to wrap his head around everything that he was seeing. They passed several large misshapen forms, but no one seemed to be paying them any mind. It was as if they were completely invisible to everyone else on the planet besides him.

Then again, just the other day he hadn't been able to see that butcher's knifes for fingers freak until after he had been cut on the shoulder. Had the cut somehow opened his eyes to an entirely different world, or was all this some kind of dream? Most of the Shounen Manga's he read would suggest the former, but just thinking that was more implying the latter.

For someone who grew up inside of a church, Rin's understanding of religion and morals were pretty slim. He didn't like the idea of a big man in the sky throwing him into the world and then getting to judge him. With all the times he had been told that his hardships were a 'test from god' he was more or less convinced that god hated him as much if not more than his old middle school teachers. And morals were a bit above his head as well, since he was told that punching someone is not the proper response to bullying. He still wasn't clear on what the right response was. Something to do with authority figures, but those kinds of people seemed to rarely help anything and always looked down on Rin as a punk.

Actually the world seemed designed to keep people like Rin down. The only reason he wasn't a completely emotional mess was because of Father Fujimoto. No mater what happened, or how bad things looked for Rin, Shiro never gave up on him and always pushed him to do better using his own brand of humor and cheer. It was Shiro who had first encouraged Rin to put his heart into cooking and convinced him to join the church's quire. He was the reason that Rin could still put a smile on his face whenever he talked to people. The reason Rin still felt like there was hope. Shiro had always tried his best to help Rin find work, and was even the one who taught the boy how to tie a tie properly.

To Rin, Shiro was the coolest guy ever, but he never told the old man that. He had an image to keep up after all. But no mater how many people told Shiro that Rin was a worthless punk or a monster. No mater how many employers said that he was a useless walking disaster. Or how many parents requested that he had Rin removed back in elementary school because their children were afraid of him. Shiro had always brushed it all of, saying that there was nothing wrong with his son. Always standing tall and proud as he said it. Saying that one day Rin would become the kind of guy who everyone would flock to and want to be friends with, if he just kept trying and never gave up.

These were the kinds of thoughts on Rin's mind as he got off the bus at the local park. He would show everyone that Shiro was right about him. That he could make it in the world.

The park was pretty empty, since it was nearing the end of winter. No one would coming until April when the cherry blossoms started to bloom, but that is where the couple had decided they wanted to have a wedding, so that is where they were having the additions.

Though when Rin arrived he found that very few other people had shown up, and the couples best man, who had been left in charge didn't have a very hopeful expression on his face as the man behind the piano was going a little to stiff and heavy on the keys.

"Um... thanks for coming, I'll contact you if you were picked." He said to the latest disappointment as he looked down to the paper in front of him and pretended to write the man's house number down. He forces a smile as the man walked away before giving a heavy sigh. His brown eyes looked tired from behind his black bangs, but he straightened up when Rin got close. "Something I can do you for, kid?" He asked, wondering why the body was all dressed up in the park.

"I... I wanted to try out." Rin said a little stiffly.

The man looked Rin up and down. He didn't exactly look like the kind of guy you would see behind a piano, but the man was willing to give anyone a try at this point.

"There are three pieces of music up there. Just do those three and I'll judge you on that." The man said simply.

Rin nodded and walked over to the piano. He looked over the given music and felt rather disappointed at how simply it was, but he did as he was told, playing each completely flawlessly on his first time. By the time he was through the best man's eyes had widened in surprise.

The man gladly told Rin that they would have him, and explained exactly what he would be doing. It was mainly traditional music during the ceremony and then more classical music afterwards, though he was going to be allowed to take requests if he wanted to. As everything came to an end, Rin was full of confidence as he started walking back towards the street.

But he then had an encounter he hadn't been expecting. "You're pretty good, though you need to loosen up a little more when you hit those lower keys." Rin nearly jumped out of his skin as he turned around to see the white haired boy from the day before, grinning at him with teeth that would make a shark shrink away with fright.

"You! You're that scythe guy from yesterday!" Rin shouted in surprise.

The guy laughed a bit. "I thought you looked familiar." He said before lifting up one finger and pointing towards one of the small black creatures that were flouting around in the air. "You can see them, can't you?" He said as if telling a joke.

"Yeah... what are they?" Rin asked, his curiosity getting the best of him, as the thought of running never even entered his head.

"They's called coal tars. They're pretty much the weakest demons there are. So you really don't have to worry about them." The kid said, reaching out and crushing the thing in his hand, causing it to turn into a black mist.

"Demons?" Rin said, thinking of everything that Shiro had told him about demons. Which considering he was an exorcist and ran a church, was not much at all.

"Yeah, demons." The white had boy said as he sat down on a bench in front of Rin. "You know, usually after people first start to see demons, they become hermits, refusing to leave there homes for days out of fear of the things that only they can see, until they are finally dragged away to the mental hospital. So imagine my surprise when I spotted you playing a piano in the middle of the park the day after one actually tried to kill you. You got some balls, kid. What's your name?"

"Kid? We're the same age." Rin said frowning. "I'm Rin Okumura. So don't call me kid."

"Rin Okumura, huh? My names Soul Evans, but just call me Soul. Mind if I call you by your given name? Formalities have never been my thing." Soul said with a shrug.

"Sure, doesn't matter to me." Rin said, trying to play it cool. He preferred his given name anyways. Otherwise it was hard to tell if they were talking about him or his brother.

"Good to hear. So Rin, what was your connection to that woman yesterday, the one you were carrying way from that demon?" Soul asked him in a half curious manner.

"None really, I just heard a scream and went to help." Rin admitted.

"So you risked your life against a demon, to help someone you didn't even know? And now your walking around like it was no big deal. You're either one cool dude or as stupid as they come. Probably a bit of both." Soul said with a laugh. Rin didn't know whether to be flattered that a living scythe thought that he was cool, or annoyed at being called stupid. Seeing the mixed expressions on Rin's face, Soul decided to continue. "Hey Rin, I think you might just have what it takes to become a Meister."

Rin's expression changed to a puzzled one. "What's a Meister?" He asked, confused.

"Meister's are people like Maka, the girl from yesterday. They use Weapons, like me, to hunt down demons and take care of them." Soul said proudly.

"So... you're like exorcists?" Rin said, thinking of his old man.

"Not quite. Exorcists go after all demons but that usually ends up mostly being the ones that cause any kind of property damage or bother normal humans to much, expel demons from their vessels and sending them back to Gehenna, the world that the demons come from." Soul said before pointing to himself and grinning wide. "Weapons and Meisters, like me and Maka. We go after demons that start to feed on human souls. Instead of sending them back to Gehenna, we draw them into this world, Assiah, and then we eat their souls so that they are completely destroyed, and can never come back. So we only go after the dangerous stuff. None of these coal tars, or the little goblins that just pull on people's arms. But the serial killers that have no respect for human life."

"Wow..." Rin said, he didn't understand a word of it, but it sounded bad ass. He remembered Soul eating the red orb from the night before and his mouth started to water.

"Here, take this." Soul said, pushing a card into Rin's hand. "They're just instructions on how to get in touch with our headmaster. If you decide you want to become one of us or if you have any problems with adjusting to seeing demons, ring us up." Soul said, walking past Rin. "You're a pretty cool guy, so try not to die on us."

Rin didn't know what to say as he looked down at the card. 'Death's Weapon and Meister Academy' Rin's heart sank. It was a school. Of course it was a school.

He sighed heavily as he pocketed the card. He had never been able to handle schools. And if he couldn't handle a normal school, then what hope would have have at a kick-ass one? "Just my luck. Should have known it was too good to be true." He said sadly as he turned to start heading back to the church. At least the piano additions had gone well.

"You sure it was smart to talk to him, Soul?" Maka asked her partner as the boy walked away.

"The guy has guts. You know that the academy always has a need for people like him." Soul said, crossing his arms and grinning slightly.

"Maybe..." Maka said, but one thing was making her nervous. "Why can't I see his soul?"

Still only have a vague notion of where any of this is going. But this makes it look like Soul has to die if Rin is going to become Maka's partner...