They were shoulder to shoulder, shoving each other around because their priorities were, of course, more important than everybody else’s. He hated students, and schools, and having to push his way through a stream of scurrying students to make it to the dorm. Clutching the folder of papers he’d been given tightly to his chest and keeping his suitcase close to his body so it wouldn’t get too abused, Zakeri shoved his way against the current, trying to head in the direction of the dormitories rather than the dining hall. It took longer than he would have hoped, but he managed to break free of the crowd, standing on top of a low stone wall as he waited for them to pass.
I thought we were going to die! A high, worried voice in his head made Zakeri angle his head, just enough to see the small, fluffy white kitten perched precariously on his shoulder.
He shook his head with a chuckle, reaching up to scratch under his familiar’s chin and earning a purr as reward. “You would have been just fine,” Zakeri said, but a hint of doubt crossed his face. After a moment of hesitation he added, “I think.”
You think? The kitten hissed in his ear, but couldn’t be threatening when her silky fur brushed against his cheek. If you get me killed, I’ll kill you!
Zakeri laughed again, shaking with it, threatening to dislodge his familiar entirely. “I’ll try to keep you alive,” he managed to squeeze words between gasps for air, drawing attention from passing students as he almost lost his balance, pinwheeling his arms to stay upright.
You’re such an idiot.
“Don’t be a brat,” Zakeri sniffed, his lips still tilted up in a slightly crooked smile. It made his eyes light up, and turned him from a somber ghost to a sensational heartbreaker in the space of a breath. One of the girls walking by ran into her suddenly halted companion, both of them staring at the new boy with wide eyes.
Used to the attention, Zakeri waved at them cheerfully, laughing again when their faces turned red and they hurried quickly on their way. He knew girls reacted like that on the human plane, but he hadn’t figured demons would be so susceptible to his charms. He would graduate much faster than he’d thought if it was so easy to disarm them.
Don’t get cocky. Claws dug into his shoulder, making him hiss with pain.
“Oi,” he reached up to pull his familiar off his shoulder, holding the cat up so they were eye to eyes, “Don’t get pushy, Kissa.”
The kitten scrunched up her face at him, ears twitching her annoyance. Any demon with a knack for tongues is going to know what a complete imbecile you are. I still can’t believe you named me with Google Translate.
“I’ve never been good at that kind of stuff.” Zakeri shrugged, failing to stop the smile from returning, even brighter than before.
Kissa sneezed in his face.
“Kissa!” Zakeri complained, drawing out her name and dropping her on the top of his suitcase so he could wipe at his face. “That’s gross, seriously.”
The kitten made a halting purring noise that Zakeri recognized as her form of a laugh. Ignoring his scowl, she curled up in a ball on top of his suitcase, taking advantage of the safe perch to fall asleep.
“Stupid cat,” Zakeri muttered rebelliously, looking up at last from his familiar to find a group of students- mostly female, but with a few of the younger male students in the mix- watching him. Sighing, he pulled a face, making them all laugh before they dissolved, heading off in the direction of the dining hall where the rest of the students had gone.
Looking directly up, Zakeri checked the height of the ‘sun’ that lit the school’s grounds- not the actual sun, because its light didn’t reach hell, but a close enough approximation that he could measure time by it. He’d spent far too long standing on that wall, and it was all Kissa’s fault for distracting him.
Satisfied with the certainty that it wasn’t his fault, Zakeri jumped off the wall. He landed with ease, knees bending slightly to absorb the shock of landing- even though the wall was barely five feet tall and short by his standards, most people would have some trouble landing properly. A quick stretch up had his suitcase in his hands. After transferring Kissa back to his shoulder, where she continued to sleep soundly, Zakeri dropped the rolling suitcase back to the ground and continued on his way to the boys’ dorm.
His memory was good enough that he didn’t need to look at the map of the school grounds in his folder to find his way. Not that ‘follow the path through the trees’ was all that hard to remember. The school’s headmaster, Rahil, had attempted to make it as easy as possible for his mid-year transfer from the human plane.
A pleased smile teased Zakeri’s lips, and he ducked his head, allowing his silver hair to fall into his face to hide it from prying eyes. Seeing his hair helped his cause, making him frown- he hated the unnatural color, which had been the source of as much teasing in his younger years as his soft voice and easy laugh. Too many people had compared him to the nerdy girls who hid behind books in corners, and his hands curled into fists at the memory of gibes about hair ribbons and other unmentionable things. Not that he had anything against those girls, and had actually found many of them rather fetching- he was just a red-blooded teenage boy, whose love for sports and typically large ego made being compared to a girl the world’s worst insult.
“Okay, enough of that. It’s a beautiful day, and nobody here will call me a girl and walk away alive. Buck up,” Zakeri muttered to himself, forcing his chin up and some close facsimile of a smile back on his face.
The smile quickly became real as he stepped out of the trees and saw the expanse of lush green lawn before him. He’d always been an outdoors person, and the idea of spending lazy afternoons sprawled on the grass with the light beating down on him, or kicking around a soccer ball with a few friends he’d doubtless make by the end of the week- that was more than enough to lift his spirits. He gave a patch of particularly tempting patch of grass a longing look before striding past it, heading into the dormitory.
It was empty, almost echoing with the loneliness of its complete lack of students. Zakeri found it odd; he’d been to a private school with dorms before, and there had always been a student or two, ditching class or hanging out during a free period. Of course, being alone was dangerous at the Daeva Institute, so he supposed he understood why they were all in the crowded dining hall, which was a safe zone on top of the crowds.
At least it meant he was safe, too, as he jogged up the stairs, tossing the key to his room up and down. His room was on the third floor, right next to one of the communal bathrooms, both a blessing and a curse- he wouldn’t have to walk far in a towel, but he was afraid the showers would be as loud as they were in his dorm on the human plane. And there were other risks that came with noises in a bathroom in an all male dorm- but he didn’t mind those kinds of noises.
The knob stuck a little when he tried to twist it, and he had to push his shoulder against the door to get it open. Lucky again. If anybody tried to come into his room, they’d make enough noise to wake him even in the dead of night. Zakeri smiled and shook his head, resolving to yell at the headmaster when he saw him next. If he was treated differently, the other students would quickly realize he wasn’t the average student.
“Alright, Kissa, you stay here. I’ll be back in a little bit.” Zakeri deposited the kitten in the middle of a bed that was already put together with his favorite quilt, made by an old girlfriend- Rahil’s work again.
His familiar raised her head barely an inch, looking at him with half-closed blue eyes. Where ya goin?
“I’m just going to catch some sun. Er, light,” Zakeri amended with a small frown. He’d have to get rid of all the slang and phrases he’d learned.
Kissa yawned widely before dropping her head back to the bed, flicking her tail up to cover her nose. Keep safe.
“Yes, captain,” Zakeri said with a salute she didn’t see- but snorted at all the same, catching the drift from the smug air of his aura, which she could always feel brushing against her mind. That aura turned gold and fragrant with pleasure as the boy spun and left the room, his suitcase abandoned on the floor but the folder still in his hand so he could go over the rules of the Institute.
He didn’t get far. After having abandoned his shoes and socks so he could feel the grass against his bare feet, it was inevitable that he end up on his back. And with the warmth of the light on his face, he felt himself growing drowsy, until he finally gave in to a cat nap.
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