A/N: Crazy Sunshine is a nonprofit project. All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Recommended Listening: anything by Nujabes.

Ao no Exorcist (c) Kazue Kato.

Crazy Sunshine

Chapter 1

At the start of this all, I had hoped for something or someone to come along and break the mundane cycle I had found myself in. Getting up, going to school, working a shitty minimum wage job, sleeping in on the weekends, never going out with friends-I didn't even have any. When my life started to change, it excited me and despite the instability, I wanted more. I find that humans are like that. We're never really satisfied. If we make 500 hundred dollars, then we want hundreds more. The more I desired, the worse things seemed to get. The direction my life had taken was something I could never even imagine. I began to experience insomnia from over-analyzing my situation and I realized soon enough that everything could be traced back to him. He was killing me. It was like having a parasitic twin, starved of nutrients. I gave him what he needed like an infant relying on its mother. And the more I gave, the worse my life had become. I was scared of what would happen if I severed our ties-he had a hold over a vital organ, and separating us was unthinkable. I knew he didn't mean for it to be that way, it was just the luck of the draw-and goddamn was I unlucky.

"Rin."

I didn't hear the teacher the first time because of the blood pounding in my head. Like when it gets really quiet and all you can hear is 'thud, thud, thud'. I hated that because it made it hard to imagine being somewhere else.

"Rin!"

"Y-yes! Here!" I stammered, jumping to my feet.

"Y-yes! Here!" mimicked the moron behind me. They called him Bon.

The entire room roared in laughter and my face became hot. I eased back into my seat, forcing a smile. It was like that for the rest of the day—that same kid, who didn't really look like a kid, trying to get a laugh out of everything I did. It really pissed me off when I found out he wasn't just a wise ass, he was actually really smart.

Later in the period the teacher called on me when I clearly didn't know the answer, and the jerk off from earlier threw his hands up in distress, "Teacher call on me! It's me, I know the answer! I do! Call me teacher! Why don't you call on me? It goes so much faster when you call on the smart kids; you only call on the dumb kids. It takes forever to learn anything—please call on meeeeee!"

Okay, so he was smart, not afraid to go for what he wanted, and he was an okay looking bastard, but what was it about him that people found so funny, and so fascinating, if they were fascinated at all?

When the lunch bell sounded, I bought a burger from the cafeteria and booked it once I learned Bon and his gang of bitches were looking for me. The room I came crashing into was dusty, small, and occupied by a guy with brown hair, glasses, and what appeared to be a massive stick up his ass.

"Sorry about barging in and all, but this douche bag won't let me eat my lunch." I said, panting. I had wind, but ever since I started smoking, I'd been losing it.

There was a table in the center, flanked by two large bookshelves; though there weren't that many books and most of them looked untouched. I looked about some more, then took a seat across from the guy who hadn't spoke since I arrived.

I started unwrapping my burger, but half way through, I opted for a cigarette.

The brunet snapped the book he had been reading shut and casually gestured me to hand the cigarette over to him, "no smoking."

"Oh, my bad."

I handed it over thinking it nice of him to extinguish it for me, but unexpectedly, he put it out on my hamburger and snapped the goddamn thing in half.

"You're not allowed to smoke anywhere within a mile of campus. I don't care about the rules, but I like my air clean and my books safe."

"What the hell was that for? Cigarettes aren't fucking cheap and lunches aren't either. What am I suppose to do now? The bell's going to ring before I get back to the cafeteria."

"Should have thought of that before hand."

He seemed harmless at first, but this guy hit a nerve before we even had a chance to exchange names. I had no where else to go though, so I kept my mouth shut and sat quietly.

Finally after some minutes I spoke, "I normally don't smoke; it's just something I recently picked up this year," I said, not really expecting a response.

Without lifting his gaze from his book, he replied: "it doesn't suit you anyway."

I gave him a weird look; what the hell does that mean?

Soon after the ten minute bell sounded I called out after him before he left, "you haven't read a single word in that book since I got here, have you? At first I thought you were just fidgeting, but you were actually counting down the seconds with your finger. You look like you give a damn about school but I bet you couldn't care less."

He said nothing and went his way. If I hadn't been behind him, I'm guessing he would've grinned at that.

Later that day, I showed up in the same place looking to join a club. I really didn't want trouble after school and I didn't feel like returning to an empty home just yet, so I came to the only place where I could relax and read manga.

"Oh, hey. Are you here for the Book Club too?" I said upon seeing the same guy from before. I still didn't know his name, but I wasn't eager to learn it or anything.

"If you mean the Literature Club, then yes," he said.

"Yeah, whatever. So, is it just you then?"

"For now, unless you join. And I think there will be another person; a girl from our grade. Assuming you're also a senior."

I took a seat across from him once again and pulled out my phone to text someone-anyone. Scrolling through my contacts I realized not a single person on the list would want to talk to me. So I looked over to the guy and opened my mouth to speak, but I stopped myself when I realized he probably didn't want to talk to me either. I sighed and sunk into my seat; man, am I a loser.

"What you said about me earlier today surprised me," he said.

"What, the thing about you not reading?" I replied, straightening up in my seat.

"Yeah," he said checking his watch. "I don't think that girl is coming since it's a quarter til' four, so you wanna grab something to eat? I'll make up for the burger."

I stared at him, looking real confused. "Uh, sure."

We took a train down to the shopping district and stopped by the fanciest burger place I could think of.

"Alright, order anything you want," he said once we were standing before the cashier.

"Anything?" I asked with a peculiar glint in my eye.

"Anything. Hurry up."

"You got it, bud. Okay, I'll have a Super Mac with large Fries, a Double Quarter Pound with extra Cheese, a Big and Super Tasty, Twelve Piece Chicken Nuggets, and one large Soda with refills. Oh and loads of hot sauce and ketchup, please." As soon as I finished, I sprinted over to an empty booth with a big, goofy grin on my face.

When the order was ready, my browned haired friend brought forth two trays of greasy goodness. "You better eat it all. Fast food these days cost an arm and a leg," he said curtly.

I began shoveling the food in like a swine and he watched me all fascinated yet disturbed like he'd been watching giraffe sex.

"You sure do put it away; you'll get fat if you keep eating like that," he said more out of obligation than concern.

I took my last bite of my second hamburger and a large swig of soda to clear the palate, "I'm not a woman. Why the hell would I care about something like that?"

"Well you're obviously not human either," he said as he pushed up his glasses.

I laughed at this, "how the fuck would you know?"

Just as he opened his mouth to speak, a woman stopped at our table. A real strange broad because of her hair and the way she carried herself, but I'd still peg her nonetheless.

"Hey Potter, who's the kid?" asked the woman picking at my fries. What a rude cunt.

And just as I took the first bite of my third hamburger, the guy she called Potter grabbed me by the face and laid down a big ol' kiss right on the pecker. The bastard pulled me so hard that he almost knocked over my soda. Rather than slugging him, beef and bun fell out of my mouth and onto the tray. What the fuck just happened?

"Good for you, Yukio. It seems you might just get laid after all! Who better to loosen that tight ass of yours than a male companion?"

The dude she now called Yukio drew in a breath and sighed, "nice seeing you too, Shura. Here's some fries to store in your snatch; try not to get laid on your way out of the parking lot."

The lady made a fist, then hooked her index finger over her thumb and walked away.

When she was finally out of sight, I turned to Yukio, "what the fuck, man? What you do in your personal life is your business, but don't go fucking touching me. I don't mess around with guys."

"I had no choice. That one is really thirsty, if you know what I mean. "

"I don't care."

"You'll think otherwise once you hear my offer," he digressed. This bitch didn't listen to a word I said. "Pose as my lover and I'll compensate you generously."

I nearly choked at that. "Hell no! I don't care how much money you pay, I won't-"

"We can either go by the hour or provide a quote in advance and I'll pay half before and half later," he replied nonchalantly.

"NO!"

"I'm willing to pay triple what you're making."

"Go die!" I exclaimed.

"Look, I'm a grass eater. An herbivore man, so don't entertain men or women unless it benefits me. However, I have serious business prospects that I'm considering and I need to concentrate as much as I can on my work. If spending a little time with an acquaintance saves me from having to spend countless mind-numbing hours on blind dates with money hungry parasites, then it's well worth spending a little extra cash.

"And tell people I take it up the ass? Go fuck yourself!" I shouted.

"Lower your voice, people are staring. It's not like you have some sort of reputation to uphold. You'll earn more than you make in a year flipping burgers, you'll also learn how to defend yourself, and girls might come to you—for fashion advice of course."

At that point, I was so angry that I shoved the rest of my burger in his snooty face, "fucking rich kids with too much time and money on their hands; why don't you go home and fuck your parents some more?"

He suddenly came at me from across the table and I threw my soda which did little to stop him.

I slid out from the booth and into the aisle; sprinting a ways down, I quickly turned on my feet with my right fist retracted. And just as I took the first swing, it barely nicked his jaw. He hadn't been following too closely: smart bastard. Unfazed, he darted over and tackled me, and for a real nerdy looking guy, he was strong and had wind.

Eventually, we were on the floor choking each other out until security had to pull us apart.

We ended up at a local police station because someone had phoned the cops. Yukio was released immediately after being identified and I was a sitting duck. Now that I've screwed up, pretending to be gay with Mr. Tight Ass seemed a far better deal than getting turned out by a gang of depraved thugs.

"Are you going to call someone?" he asked.

"Don't tell me you have a hard on for me."

"I'm just trying to help."

"I don't need your help. I wouldn't be here in the first place if you hadn't provoked me with your gay shit."

He went silent and watched me for some time, "you don't have anyone to call, do you?"

I didn't respond.

"My Name is Yukio, and I-"

"Have you ever stopped to consider that maybe-just maybe, I don't give a shit?"

He paused, quietly regaining his composure, "I won't press charges, but only on the condition that you accept my offer."

"So you're black mailing me?"

"No, I'm giving you an option."

"Horse shit," I spat. "Fine then, take me home and I'll assume the position."

"Don't make bargains your butt can't handle."

He laughed and I refused to get hot in the face again. But I swear, that was the first time I ever saw the prick smile. I guess he had a sense of humor after all.