Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

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Rin genuinely believed that scavenging was an art.

Especially if it was how you survived, like in Rin’s case. If he didn’t scrounge around in dumpsters, he would starve. If he didn’t rummage through the lost-and-found bins at the local gym, he wouldn’t have any clothes. If he didn’t scour the streets for a tiny little crevice only he could fit into at night, he wouldn’t sleep.

That was why Rin loved to scavenge. It was his way of being independent. Sure, most people wouldn’t imagine a life on the street at his age to be so enjoyed, but Rin was having the time of his life. It wasn’t even comparable to where he’d had before the city-side. Everything was just that much better.

Except for the hunger.

And constant thirst.

And sleep deprivation.

And constant threat of being attacked by demons and exorcists alike.

(To be honest, that was still an upgrade from where he was before. But we don’t talk about that place.)

It was pitch black outside, but Rin could see perfectly. He dug through the garbage piled inside of one massive tin bin. It was hard work; human waste wasn’t light, and he wasn’t exactly the most fit. Not to say he was fat, it was actually the opposite of that.

Icy blue eyes pierced the midnight haze of the large city. Rin grunted from exertion, the full moon casting just enough light on the alleyway to make the sweat on his pale skin glisten. The stench of cat piss and rot demons clogged his nose. Speaking of rot demons, he brushed a few insistent coal tars away from his hair. They always seemed to think the choppy, silver mop of hair was a perfect place to sleep in. It was really annoying.

Sharpened, claw-like fingers closed around a greasy McDonald’s bag. It was half full, which was a good sign. A triumphant grin split Rin’s face and he hastily took out the half-eaten cheeseburger someone hadn’t bothered to finish. He crammed the soggy, cold food into his mouth and put his massive incisors to work.

The meal was slimy and might’ve had a few maggots speckled in there, but it was still food. Rin couldn’t understand the concept of wasting food, because of how scarce he was used to it being.

He’d gained a little weight living off of garbage. (It was an upgrade from living off of nothing.)

Rin licked the grease-juice off of his claws and sent a glare towards the goblin crouched low in the garbage bags. It was eyeing him up. The thing was obviously stupid if it thought it could take him on.

Icy eyes narrowed, and he bared his fangs with a threatening hiss. The stupid goblin squeaked and scrambled into the shadows. Rin grunted in satisfaction and went back to digging for more food.

He didn’t notice the other threat until there were claws around his arm. He hissed violently and jumped away, just barely saving himself from an impromptu amputation. Rin landed on all fours, back arched and fangs bared.

A demon stood in front of him. It was possessing a human, not something many demons could do. That alone told Rin that it wasn’t a weak opponent. That and the stench of death it was cloaked in. The wound on Rin’s arm wasn’t healing, and blood was seeping into his tattered clothing. The demon was powerful if it could negate Rin’s natural regeneration.

He stepped out of the shadows, claws dripping with Rin’s blood. His body was pale with sickness, and his bright brown eyes were blank with boredom. The demon didn’t seem surprised Rin had dodged his attack, but he did look a tad bit miffed about it.

“Prince, come.”

Rin snarled silently, not moving an inch towards the demon. His claws dug into the ground and his hackles raised. The man looked like he fully expected him to jump up and follow him.

Once the demon realized he wasn’t moving, darkness clouded his face. Cold rage set in the creatures eyes, turning those plain brown irises into dark pools of ink. The man flexed his fingers and ten claws descended in sync.

“Very well. Then I will drag you back home myself.” He said coldly.

Both demons crouched low, fangs glinting and eyes flashing as they built up power. Rin was at a disadvantage. The demon was unknown and his power had limitless potential. Rin himself had several limitations to his own abilities. But-

The demon struck, but Rin was already on the street behind him.

-Rin was fast.

The demon growled and ripped his fist out of the ground, chunks of dirt flying into brick walls. He stalked out of the alleyway to the street. Rin crouched low to the ground, and snarled at the demon threateningly.

The creature snarled back, and attacked.

Rin barely dodged his third swipe, which came right for his throat. He twisted in the air and slashed his claws across the man’s wrist. Blood spurted across his face and in his glowing blue eyes. The creature roared in pain as his fist smashed into the pavement, exactly where Rin had been standing a moment ago.

Rin didn’t have time to rest, the demon had recovered as quickly as Rin had landed. He was darting out from under thunderous blows of sheer power, scrambling on the dark road in the cloudy night. The creature punched right through a wall, nearly taking Rin’s head off. The sound echoed through the street like a bomb had gone off.

Rin winced at the noise. They were being too loud. If the human’s noticed, the exorcists would be called and he wouldn’t have a chance. Neither of them would.

But when his head was nearly taken off, thoughts took a backseat and it was survival of the fittest.

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Shiro sighed.

It was a quiet day for the Order. After the raid yesterday, demons had gone silent all over the country. There hadn’t been many calls and not a single attack had been reported. His underlings were happy, laughing and joking with each other on duty.

Shiro, however, was bored.

He slouched against his chair, hands behind his head and teeth picking at his cigarette. The ceiling was quickly becoming less and less interesting as time went on. He’d completely caught up on his paperwork and even finished grading the papers his students had turned in. They’d all done horribly, of course.

‘Damn. If Yukio was in that class, he’d crush them all despite the age gap.’

Shiro frowned thoughtfully. Putting Yukio in exorcist school had been on ongoing internal debate for a good portion of the decade. The kid was smart, and observant. He was eager to prove himself, sometimes almost too eager. Not to mention he’d been able to see demons since birth.

‘But would it really be helping him? He’s only seven years old... I don’t want him to get hurt.’

Yukio had already asked for some of Shiro’s books he used in class. He’d read through them without any problems, which was doubly impressive because they were made for high school level readers. The brat ate up information like a starved hobgoblin.

But he was also kind, and delicate. Yukio was a crybaby. He was scared of coal tars and then cried when they were hurt. Shiro didn’t know if he’d be able to handle life as an exorcist, at least as young as he was. That was why Shiro was so hesitant to sign him up at True Cross. The kid had his whole life ahead of him, he didn’t need to worry about murderous demons and nest raids. He was in third grade. There wasn’t any rush.

If he developed powers, however...

But that wasn’t going to happen. The only reason there was a chance was because his twin was dead. Demonic power didn’t just vanish. At least, demonic powers of half-blooded twins.

Shiro winced. That wasn’t a thought process he wanted to go dow-

“Shiro!! We got a call about two humanoids fighting on fourth street!!! It looks bad!!! I think there’s a kid involved!!!”

Shiro was on his feet before the exorcist had finished his sentence. He stormed out from behind his desk, the gasping, panting man looking at him with wide eyes. He was a rookie, but good one.

“Get me Ray’s team. We’re going right now. Have back-up ready and prep the doctors for incoming injuries.” Shiro barked.

The exorcist straightened as Shiro walked out the door, “Understood sir!”

He darted off to follow orders, and Shiro cut across the massive hallways to the weaponry. He kicked open the door with a boot-clad foot and made right for the riffles. His pistols were hidden in his coat, and he had several knives and grenades stacked away, but he wanted something powerful. Two humanoid demons were nasty by themselves, but put them against each other and they could destroy half a city if they got too riled up.

And then there was the possibility of a kid involved. Shiro wasn’t taking any chances. Ray’s team had incredible history with rescue ops. Some say they were the best in the country. Not to mention they were a literal powerhouse. There was also the fact that Shura was currently on the team.

With operations like this, it was best to deploy a dozen well-trained, highly powerful people who had perfect teamwork instead of an army of people you end up protecting the whole time.

Shiro cocked his chosen riffle and checked for amo. He slid a few extra magazines into his pockets and marched out of the room, gun slung over his shoulder. Smoke streamed behind him from the tip of his cigarette.

Looks like it would be an interesting night.

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Rin panted, blood dripping off his chin and into his mouth.

His lips were split and a nasty bruise was already forming. The boys ribs were bruised black and blue from a particularly hastily blow. His shaggy, shoulder-length hair was stained crimson by a cut across his forehead and neck. The world was swimming in and out of focus, but he showed no sign of weakness. The demon would take advantage of it.

His arm had gone limp a while ago. He wasn’t sure if it was become of the blood loss or if his nerves had been cut, but both were equally troublesome. The humanoid was a lot stronger than he had anticipated. But Rin wasn’t fighting at full power. Hence the injuries.

The demon was in just as crappy a state. His perfect hair was messed up and his arms were slashed to bits. The dude looked like he was about to pop a blood vessel, he was shaking with rage.

“You little shit!!! Get over here right now before I murder your pathetic hide!!!”

Rin snarled, fangs bared and eyes wild. He crouched to the ground and readied his claws. The world slipped away, and suddenly the only thing he could see was his opponent. His blood boiled and heart pounded against his screaming ribs.

The demon sneered. “Fine! I guess I’ll be dragging your pathetic ass to Gehenna myself, if that’s how you want to play it!”

Rin growled, saliva dripping off his fangs.

The demon roared back, and attacked. Rin leaped twenty feet into the air, landing on a bridge that arched over the road. He crawled over the railing and jumped onto the empty street. The creature screamed and launched himself at him. A ball of demonic rage struck the bridge like a canon, Rin just barely jumping off in time. The entire structure shook, rock and pipes cracking and crumpling in slow motion. The little demon landed on the ground hard, legs snapping under his weight and tumbling over and over against before finally stopping.

With a deafening boom, the bridge crashed to the ground.

He curled up on the road, protecting his head with his arms. Rocks and rubble shot over his back, ripping through his skin like bullets. He squeezed his eyes shut to protect himself from the choking dust that was spreading through the street from the chaos, and held his breath in a desperate attempt to not choke.

Claws gripped his hair and yanked his head up. Rin screamed, thrashing violently like a feral animal. The demon hissed at him furiously, and yanked him off the ground. He held him to his chest in a bruising grip, cutting off Rin’s growls with a crushing hold on his throat.

Rin gasped for air, slamming his heels into the man’s knees and clawing at the hand around his throat. Black stars swam across his vision and the street wiggled under him like it was liquid.

The demon chuckled in his ear. “What’s this? You’re really so weak you can’t even kick me hard enough to tickle?” He laughed manically, shoulders shaking and chest heaving. “How pathetic!!! Did daddy steal from you or something?!?!”

Rin snarled, and white-hot fury spread through his blood like lava. His claws sliced right through the creature’s fingers, eliciting an agonized roar from the humanoid. He dropped Rin like he was on fire and leaped back.

Rin crashed to the ground, coughing up blood from his crushed trachea. He felt like he was going to pass out. His hands were numb, and his vision was black as the blood rushed to his head. He wobbled on his knees, putting a hand on the ground to steady himself.

The demon growled at him from across the road, holding his hands to his chest protectively.

“You bastard!!! You took off my fingers you little shit!! You’ll die for tha-“

A gunshot cut him off mid-sentence. Rin’s eyes flew open, and he whirled around.

He was staring at Rin, stunned. His mouth was open, eyes wide with shock. A trickle of blood ran down his forehead and dribbled over his nose. The bullet steamed in his head, fizzing in his brain like soda.

Rin’s eyes widened, shock and horror quickly taking over his fury.

The demon gasped one more time, and fell on the pavement.

Lifeless.

Rin whirled around to where the bullet came from, cursing his own stupidity. ‘You forgot about the exorcists, I can’t believe you forgot about the exorcists-‘ He spotted the shooter on the roof a few building down. He froze, tense as a rod. The gun was pointed at him.

His eyes darted around the street, taking in the damage he had caused for the first time. It was a wreck. Buildings were destroyed, the road completely ripped apart. He spotted exorcist after exorcist, each one hidden in some sort of rubble or on top of a building.

Rin was completely surrounded.

Gasps came in sharp breaths, painfully ripping his abused lungs to shreds. He hunkered down on the road, eyes darting around wildly. This was not good. Rin didn’t want to die three months after escaping literal hell. He didn’t know how to deal with exorcists, they had things demons didn’t. Like holy water. And guns. Something heavy and crushing settled on Rin’s chest, and suddenly it was nearly impossible to breath. He gasped for air and tried to will the dark spots out of his vision.

A single exorcist walked forward, riffle balanced on his shoulder and cigarette held between his teeth. He had silver-grey hair and cold eyes.

“We are the Knights of the True Cross. Turn yourself in, or we use force.”

Rin snarled at that. The stupid humans sounded way to much like the demon he had just finished fighting. Everything hit him at that moment, and Rin was pissed.

“Screw you old man!!!” He screamed, voice cracking in his bleeding throat.

The exorcists gaped, looking genuinely surprised by the outburst.

Then the idiot had to go and start laughing. “Old man!? Is that the best you got!!?? Bwahahahahahaha!!!!! My cat can do better than that!!!!”

Rin hissed furiously, hackles raising in defense and hunkering down on the road simultaneously. He was going to kill somebody. No, he was going to run. But first he was going to kill somebody.

The man wiped tears out of his eyes as his laughter trickled away. “Oh, man. You’re funny kid! Now be a good demon and turn yourself in.”

Rin hissed.

The man sighed amusedly, and took up his riffle. “Well then, okay.”

A bullet came from behind him, and Rin barely had time to dodge. He jumped out of the way and tripped over the rocks that peppered the destroyed concrete. His head hit the ground hard, and he yelped. A bullet ripped through his thigh, and he screamed.

It burned.

The street echoed with the agony of someone who sounded too childlike for it not to be horrifying. The city was eerily quiet all of a sudden, or maybe the only thing anyone could hear of Rin’s pain.

He curled up on his side, clutching the bullet wound as his vision went white. He gasped for breath and choked on blood. Sweat trickled down his forehead and dripped into the growing pool of crimson he was laying in. His leg was being stabbed over and over, invisible acid clawing its way through his veins. It was agony, too painful to even put it in words.

His ribs hurt. His arm hurt. His leg was burning in lava. His head was bleeding in two places. His lips were split and his throat was black and blue.

The whiteness faded for a second, just enough for him to see a pair of black boots stop in from of his face. The old man crouched in front of him, riffle of his shoulder and smoke trailing into the night sky. Something weird was in the man’s eyes, something soft and guilty.

Rin absently realized his limbs were trembling, and there was liquid pooling in his eyes. He clenched his teeth, furiously trying to choke down the whimpers his stupid throat was making. Why the hell was he crying!?! He couldn’t show weakness damnit!!

But a voice at the back of his head was breaking down. Not because of the pain, he was used to that but because this was it. It was over. All that sacrifice, all of that planing, and he’d only gotten three freaking months of freedom.

‘It was practically for nothing. I’m gonna die here, and all of it was for nothing.’

Rin pressed his face into the ground, his stupid limbs trembling as tears leaked from his traitorous eyes. ‘Right in front of the shitty exorcists, damn it!’

Everything was fading away, at a startlingly fast pace. He was desperately dragging oxygen in and out of his tarnished throat, but for how much longer? He could hear the other exorcists jogging towards him. Some of them were already there.

“... Damn,” One of them muttered. “I hate it when they possess kids. Makes me feel like... shit.”
There was silence. Then the old man hummed in agreement, a heavy sigh slipping past his lips. A huge cloud of smoke billowed into the air.

A gloved hand reached for Rin’s face, and he flinched away, pressing his forehead into the ground, attempting to hide from the pain and cover his weakness at the same time. But the pain never came. Instead, the hand simply rested on the back of his head, and ruffled his hair gently. Rin shuddered against the ground, his stupid body trying to choke on blood and sob at the same time. Blood, grime, and saliva left a nasty taste in his mouth. The little demon’s limbs were shaking uncontrollably as the lava spread through his body, only making his wounds hurt even more.

Rin didn’t want to die. He didn’t want to die. He didn’t want to die.

“He kinda looks like he’s Yukio’s age, just a few years younger...”

All of that effort. All of that pain.

“Come on Shiro,” A woman’s voice prodded gently. “He’s a demon, you don’t know how old he is. He could be a thousand years old, the body’s age doesn’t always match up to the soul’s.”

He’d done everything for this chance. He’d given up everything.

“I know, Shura.” A tired response.

It wasn’t fair. He hadn’t done anything. He’d never hurt anyone!!!

The pain was almost unbearable. He could feel his strength draining out of his limbs like a squeezed sponge. His vision was blanking, everything fading. The bullet lava was inching up his throat, crawling into his head. The pounding of his heart drowned out everything until it was the only thin Rin could hear.

It all condensed, every emotion he was feeling. The terror overcame his boundaries and sparked his instincts aflame. His most unstable power, and also his most used power, surged to life in that moment.

Rin shape-shifted.

He heard the exorcists yell and shout, but it didn’t register. He was on complete autopilot, total survivors mode. He felt himself condense and then bolted.

Bullets ripped up the ground behind him, and he shot between someone’s feet. The road raced underneath four little, bloody paws as he made a break for the alleyway a few yards away from him. It was so close, just a little bit more!

He could barely see and he wasn’t breathing. Adrenaline crashed through his thoughts and sent one message to his little body:

Run.

He heard shouts behind him, but he was already gone, racing down street after street, ducking under a fence and darting around a corner a second later. Everything was so much bigger in that form. He was smaller, weaker, pathetic. But it was incredibly hard to catch him. Animals were like that, specifically the animal Rin had shifted into.

He didn’t know how long he had run, time had been erased by the sheer pain. His body failed him too quickly for his tastes. Pretty soon, he wasn’t running, but dragging himself through the streets. He couldn’t see anything, and blood was freely trailing behind him. He didn’t even know how many injuries he had anymore: everything hurt.

Four trembling limbs collapsed under him, a tiny muzzle dropping to the cold, greasy ground. His lungs heaved for breath, eyes slipping closed of their own accord. Everything was so fuzzy, and the pain was slipping away. Rin felt so light, as if he was floating out of his own body. At the same time, it was as if he was being dragged down by twenty-ton weights.

The last thing he remembered before he passed out was buckets of rain pouring down from the sky.

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Chapter Text

Chapter Two: catnapped :D

Rin woke up deeply annoyed.

That tends to be one’s reaction when they are awoken by rude pokes to broken ribs. His eyelids felt like they were glued shut. His throat was as dry as a desert. The sun was harsh and unforgiving and the pavement underneath him was blistering.

“Is it dead?” A squeaky little voice asked curiously.

Another poke. Ow.

“I dunno. I think it is.”

Rin dragged a big lungful of air through his cracked, parched throat with no small amount of effort. His entire body screamed in protest and his ribs almost erupted from the pain. Shit, they were definitely broken. And the little humans had been poking him. Rude.

The kid’s gasped, and he heard at least three bodies scramble back. A dull, glazed eye opened ever-so-slightly, and he hastily made out a trio of shapes above him. The miniaturized humans stared at him, all of them frozen in shock.

Rin pinned his ears back, bared his fangs, and hissed.

The kids squealed, as if it were a game, and ran away. They laughed at each other as they scrambled to safety, the demon rasping for breath in their dust.

Rin’s eyes slipped closed, panting on the sidewalk. A tiny surge of triumph surged in his chest.

‘Hmp. Stupid humans, think they can mess with me. I’m the scariest cat ever.’

Because Rin was, indeed, a cat. More specifically, he was a kitten you could fit in the palm of your hand, with shaggy white furr the same color as his hair and huge blue eyes as bright as crystallized ice. His fangs were the size of toothpicks, and his claws were as useful as any other kitten’s: which is to say not useful at all.

(But we call him a cat, because when he uses that word he can trick himself into believing the form is intimidating instead of absolutely tiny and pathetic.)

Of all the animals he could have had the ability to shift into, god chose a kitten. A fluffy, bright-eyed, tiny little kitten.

Fuck life.

He was just about to close is eyes and go back to dying a miserable death when another blob appeared in his eyesight. His eyes slid back open, and he struggled to focus on the new tiny human timidly approaching him. It was scrawnier and shorter that the other humans, but definitely well-fed. Lucky him. Definitely a boy human, if that hair cut had anything to say. Humans were so weird, assigning different lengths of hair to a gender.

The boy was very nervous, Rin noticed. His little eyebrows were scrunched up like a... like a blanket. Yep. Blankets are scrunchy. His eyebrows were scrunchy. Everything was scrunchy. And squiggly. Like the air, the air was squiggly today. Rin mentally thanked the air for letting him see it today, that was very nice if it.

Rin wondered if the road was supposed to breath. Then he decided it would be rude to ask, so he kept his mouth shut.

And then the little boy was on his knees, leaning over him and- whoa. When did he get so close? Rin blinked blearily at the shapeless blob of a boy swimming around in the air. Everything was squiggly today. It was very disorienting, but shhh! He wasn’t supposed to let anyone know that!

Someone touched his cheek, and he opened his eyes. Wait, when had he closed them again...? The thing- finger- was gently petting his cheek with an unbearable amount of gentleness, you’d think he was made out of glass.

It felt nice, actually. Rin pushed into the fingers, demanding more attention. Rin didn’t get a lot of attention. This was very nice of the small human.

He was offered a finger to sniff, which was very polite. The boy smelled...

Strangely familiar.

Mint and salt, little wifts of freshly pressed paper and the musty scent of a new book. There was also something else, something that Rin recognized in his blood.

Rin sighed, and went boneless on the road. He lifted a shaky, bloody paw and grabbed the tiny human's hand. The tiny human seemed surprised, but let him rub his face into his little fingers. Very nice, good human.

‘Yep. My human now. You’re mine.’

Rin nodded into the human’s hand, a strange rumble bubbling up from his chest and spilling out of his throat. Yes, yes, yes. The tiny human was his, he liked this one, so he was keeping him.

A gentle whisper sounded above him. “Good kitty. I’m not gonna hurt you. Do you know who did this to you? Did someone hurt you?”

Rin licked the tiny humans fingers soothingly, ‘Yes, silly exorcists... Don’t worry tiny human, I will protect you from the squiggly road.’ He purred, rubbing his cheeks into the boy’s palm. His head felt weird. But there wasn’t any more lava inside of him, yay! He wondered where it all went.

Another hand came to gently pet his spine. It was soooo nice. Rin was super hot, and his tiny human was nice and cool. The rumbles in his chest grew louder. Rude, he was thinking here.

“H-how about I take you home, yeah? I’ll get you all fixed up. Daddy isn’t going to be back for a long time, but I know some first aid, I-I can do it.” The boy said determinedly.

Rin hugged his tiny human’s fingers tighter. He wasn’t quite sure he knew what he was talking about, words were kind of hard at the moment, but he seemed worried. His human shouldn’t be worried, that was bad!

A shaky breath, and, “Okay, I’m gonna pick you up now, okay kitty?”

Rin didn’t really register those words either until there was a hand slipping under his torso, rubbing against some very bruised ribs. Rin cried out, and was in too much pain to even feel embarrassed by the tiny squeak that ended up leaving his mouth.

His human shushed him and cooed softly. A hand came up to his butt, taking the pressure off of his ribs. He left the scorching ground and for a second, the world was upside down.

When the spinning stopped, Rin found himself swaddled in a jacket, being held like a baby by his human. He could make out his face much easier now.

“Spots on his face... glasses. Are his eyes broken? Don’t worry tiny human, I can help you fix your eyes. I have a friend who will heal you, he’s very good at that.”

A bunch of unintelligible meowing later, and Rin decided his human was running really fast for someone so tiny. That was good, he would be much easier to protect if he could run quickly.

Rin blinked dazedly, the sun above him almost blinding him with it’s brightness. It was soooo hot. Rin mewled in protest and tried to bring a paw up to block out the sun. His bloody, matted arm ended up on his tiny human’s chest, and his claws hooked into the fabric instinctively. Rin was dizzy, so he needed something to hold on to. If he didn’t do that, he would melt away. That’s what happens when things get too hot: they melt. Rin was definitely getting too hot.

‘I’m gonna melt,’ He informed his new human gravely, mildly annoyed when only a pathetic meow came out.

His human shushed him and lifted a finger to his cheek again, still cradling him like a baby. Rin pushed his cheek against the little human as his furry face was petted gently, more weird rumbles erupting from his chest.

Rin huffed. His lungs were so rude today.

For just a split second, just a tiny second, Rin closed his eyes.
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Shiro walked into the meeting room with a gravity he didn’t usually carry about. The cigarettes usually found in his mouth were gone, and in there place was a grim frown. He had something important to talk about with his subordinates, this wasn’t the time for a smoke.

The Paladin drew the eyes of those already seated at the large table in the centre of the room. There were eight in total, all of them silent as Shiro took the largest seat at the centre of the table.

Two of the Arc Knights were there: Aoi and Fujiyama Ryusko.

Aoi looked incredibly bored, lazy blue eyes staring at the others blankly. His dark blue hair was messy and unkempt, like he’d just rolled out of bed. The fancy uniform he was wearing was wrinkled and untidy. The 18-year-old looked the same as always.

Fujiyama was the polar opposite, grey eyes alert and posture ramrod straight. His uniform was in perfect condition and his silver hair was slicked back with enough gel to drown a rat. The 25-year-old looked like a stuck-up rich kid or some pompous stickler, nothing like who he actually was.

The six remaining exorcists were all members of Ray’s team. The team leader himself had chosen the seat beside Shiro, and was slouched back in his seat lazily.

Shura had taken up the spot on Shiro’s left. She waved at him with an unnecessarily loud greeting, considering the fact that they were literally two feet apart from each other.

“Shiiiiiiiro!!! How ya been? Didja’ finally get those hair implants I told ya about or are you still stuck on how young you are-“

Oso was talking quietly with Ryu, his twin brother. The two were a crazy combo of pure power and were known to have taken down demons with their bare fists. That said, they weren’t really on the muscular side, so the men’s lithe frames made combat a startling encounter for their enemies.

Kyoto was talking to himself again. He was short and thin and kinda creepy, but he did his job incredibly well, so no one complained.

June Shimihaza stared at Shiro blankly, her violet eyes as sharp as her aim. The girl was the best dragoon in Japan, and her sniper skills were off the charts. She was a natural gunman. She was also the person who had shot the demon they’d encountered last night.

Her reputation of never missing had also been destroyed last night. It was the first time a demon had ever escaped one of her poisoned bullets.

Shiro leaned back in his chair, silently demanding the attention of everyone in the room without doing a single thing.

“Thank you all for coming in today. I asked you here to talk about the humanoid we discovered last night.” Shiro stated, pulling up the folder in front of him. He passed a pile of papers to Shura, who took one and started passing it around.

“We were called to diffuse a fight between two powerful demons, both of them humanoid. At the time we were told there was a child involved. It wasn’t until we got to the scene that we realized one of the demons was actually the child in question.”

The exorcists studied the papers in front of them. It was a picture, one grainy enough to have been salvaged from a security camera. A child was crouched on the ground near a garbage can, showing exactly how small they were. The demon’s clothes were in tatters and their hair was a mess, the grimy grey locks probably darkened by dirt and mud. The little demon’s claws tore into the ground and they were snarling at something off-screen. It was clear they were injured, one arm badly so. Whatever they’d fought had put up a fight.

Shiro tapped the picture with a fingernail. “We aren’t really sure why, but the two demons went at it in the middle of the street.”

Oso cocked his head, “That’s weird.”

Ryu nodded in agreement, “Yeah, usually demons make an effort to stay off the Order’s radar.”

“Exactly,” Shiro stated. “I’m guessing the instigator of the fight thought it would be an easy one, and didn’t expect the amount of resistance they ended up getting. The larger one was probably the one who attacked first, seeing as the little guy mostly focused on dodging.”

Shura nodded, “It’s true. From what we saw before June took out the big guy, it didn’t seem like the other one was really focused on attacking.”

Aoi leaned forward, cheek resting on his palm as he looked at the picture in his hand lazily. “He’s super young. Demons don’t usually go for kids: their bodies can’t manage the power.”

Shiro grinned wryly, “The brat didn’t pack a punch, but he was fast. Fast enough to outrun one of June’s bullets.”

The two Arc Knight’s took on perfect looks of shock at the same time. Fujiyama managed to recover quickly, but Aoi didn’t care enough to do that. He turned to June, eyes wide and mouth slack with delight.

“Gasp! Our June missed a target!? What!? Is the demon some sort of illegitimate child of the Flash or something!!!”

Everyone stared at the teenager, either totally confused or just plain annoyed.

The man waved his hand flippantly. “American tv show reference, not surprised you don’t recognize it.” Under his breath, he muttered, “Uncultured swines …plebeians…. you rats….”

Shura cleared her throat. “Yeah, whatever. Can we talk about how he managed to outrun her now?” She prodded impatiently.

Shiro nodded, “Yes, that’s the thing. He didn’t just hop up and run away. The demon transformed.” Shiro met Fujiyama’s eyes seriously, gaze as hard as steel. “The demon transformed into some kind of small animal and managed to run away when we were surprised.”

The Arc Knight’s eyes widened, and his gloved hands stiffened almost imperceptibly.

“You said... he transformed into an animal.”

Shiro nodded gravely, glasses glinting in the light.

Even Aoi paused to take that in, the lazy amusement in his eyes disappearing for a split second.

“But only Demon Kings can do that,” Ryu stated.

Oso nodded in agreement with his twin, “That’s why we’re having a meeting.”

“We need to know-“

“-Exactly who this demon is-“

“-And if he’s a threat,” Ryu finished.

Shura scowled. “I told you to stop doing that, ya weirdos.”

Ray leaned forward, picking up the picture in front of him for the first time. He studied the image silently, his wizened expression perfectly neutral. Everyone waited for the man to say something. He was the most experienced person here, with even more combat time than Shiro himself.

The man was also the only exorcist in history to turn down the offer of Paladin.

Ray sighed through his nose slowly. “I wanna talk about how young the brat seemed.”

There was a pause, each exorcist processing the statement.

Ray waved a calloused hand in the air as if brushing off their inquisitive stairs. “I’m not talkin’ about looks, kid looks five or somethin’, we all know that. I’m talking about the way he acted, his body language, the way he moved.”

The man rubbed his stubbly chin, eyes clouded thoughtfully as he looked at the picture. “I’ve seen a lot of demons, and come across my fair share of mama demons in my time. The few ones that don’t kill their kids end up protecting them until they die. Personally, a lot of demons I’ve had to bring in have been young ‘uns who don’t have a mama demon to protect them. Those ones are the feistiest. Don’t take shit from no one.”

The man chuckled, “They got survival skills for days. Have to if they’re gonna go at it all on their own.” He cocked his head thoughtfully. “They’re usually fast, more focused on protecting themselves than mindlessly raging and killing. They may be feisty, but they’re also the easiest to talk to. The little shits never start fights they can't run away from, too smart to do that.”

He let the picture drop on the table, eyes blank. “Never seen one as scared as this one though. Little shit was crying.”

There was silence. Shiro’s face was dark as he remembered that night, only a few hours before. The boy was curled up on the broken street, eyes glazed with pain and covered in blood. He remembered the agonised scream that ripped through the street a split second after June’s bullet found its target. He remembered the kid shaking as the poison spread, and tears leaking out of his eyes as he choked on sobs and blood.

And just like before, Shiro wondered how Yukio would have reacted to that situation.

Ray sighed, running his fingers through his raven hair. “This one is young. And I mean really young. I wouldn’t be surprised if the little brats the same age as his body.”

Shiro twitched, not really sure how to take that information.

‘If Yukio had been there... he would have cried.’

June clenched her hands on the table, stormy violet eyes meeting Ray’s eyes with an intensity they hadn’t seen in a long time.

“Sir, with all due respect, I would ask where you are going with this.”

Ray hummed, “Juniper, you shot a kid and feel like shit.”

The woman flinched violently. “That’s not- it was a demon. I am well aware of my actions, I don’t sympathise with-“

“Stop your crap-yappin’,” Ray said blankly. “It’s not a weakness to feel guilty, June. It’s called humanity.”

The sniper was silent, head low and bangs covering her eyes.

Shiro looked at Ray, “What’s your opinion? How would you proceed?”

The man grinned, revealing massive canines as white as polished pearls.
“Well, that’d be nothing.”

Oso frowned, “What do you mean nothing?”

Aoi perked up, “Does that mean I can go back to bed?”

Ray leaned back leisurely, “Welp, this is my first time coming across a baby humanoid demon. They ain’t exactly made every day ya know. But if the little shit’s anything like the brats I’ve come across, it’s best to just leave ‘im be. We probably won’t have to worry about any revenge plans or angry rampages if we just mind our business. Besides, I didn’t come into this job to kill kids, be it demon or human.”

The man stood up with a dramatised grunt. “Whatcha say Mr. Paladin, it’s up to you!”

Shiro hummed, mind drifting to a broken road and boy who flinched at raised hands.

“I got better things to do anyway,” He announced, before standing up and grinning at the exorcists.

“Thank for coming on such short notice. I still want you guys to keep an eye out, just in case. If you guys see him again, I wanna know about it. Stay alert.”

The exorcists nodded, and Aoi offered up a lazy salute.

Fujiyama was silent as always, studying Shiro with an unreadable look in his eyes.

Shiro grinned, “Alright, I’ve gotta go pick Yukio up from school before I get fussed at for being late. See you guys!”

The Paladin scrammed before he was forced to do cursed paperwork.

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Rin blinked.

He was inside of a house. That was strange, he thought he was outside. With-

His human. Where was his human.

Rin struggled against the fabric holding his legs down, trying to stand up and find his little human. He couldn’t see him, and that was bad, because humans were weak and died and he couldn’t let that happen. He didn’t really know why he couldn’t let it happen, it was just something he knew.

Rin meowed frantically, as loud as he could. He tried to stand up, but something was wrong. He wasn’t talking about how the room was spinning, and the walls were rippling. Or about the fact that he was shaking so much it looked like he was hypothermic.

He couldn’t move his leg.

It was completely limp, not responsive at all. The limb didn’t so much as twitch when he heaved himself up, causing his weak, trembling front legs to give out in a matter of seconds. The tiny kitten heaved for breath, panic clenching around his heart in a cold fist. His lungs were burning with the need for air, and the world tilted, sending him right back to the pile of fabric he was wrapped in.

Too exhausted and dizzy to move anymore, he laid slumped on the soft fabric, panting for air. His limbs felt like they were glued down. The walls were spinning so fast Rin was pretty sure he was going to throw up.
He needed to get to his human, he really, really needed his human. Right now, right now, right now-

“Hey, hey,” A soothing voice cooed from behind him. “It’s okay, I’m right here.”

Ron mewled and tried to turn his head, barely managing to move it an inch off of whatever he was laying on. Small fingers ghosted over his back and a little boy leaned down in front of him.

Rin yowled, distraught. How could his human leave! It was dangerous, he could have been hurt, or taken, or killed!

The boy leaned in until his nose was almost touching Rin’s muzzle. The kitten grabbed the boys cheek with his paw, which was made even chubbier by the smile on the kid’s lips.

“I’m sorry I left, I had to go get some stuff to heal you. Don’t worry kitty, I’ll fix you up, you’ll be all better soon!” The boy murmured happily.

“I’m okay, I’m okay... don’t fix me, I’m strong. I can do it on my... oooh, the dots are moving.” Rin batted at the boy’s ‘moving’ moles weakly, attempting to hold them down for his human.

The boy caught his paw and kissed his toe beans, and then stood back up straight. Rin realised he was laying on a table: a wooden one. The jacket he’d previously been swaddled in seemed to be serving an impromptu mattress.

Rin kept his hazy eyes on his human as the boy reached for something on the table behind him. He let his panic fade and totally dazed out, content to stare at the kid blankly as long as he was within eyesight.

That served to be a mistake when his human picked him up and held him over a bowl of water.

Rin meowed, shocked, and hooked his claws into the hands holding him up. He fit into his human’s two fists without any problems, which was a perfect indication of just how small he was. The boy switched him over to one hand carefully and pulled the bowl of water closer to him.

‘Hey! Bad human! Put me down!’ Rin meowed indignantly.

“Shh, it’s okay baby cat,” The boy whispered, voice noticeably tenser now that he was dangling a clawed feline above water. “I need to clean you so that I can see where your hurt. I need to make you better, okay? This is only gonna be for a little bit.”

Rin squeaked helplessly as the boy tried to lower him into the water. It was a large bowl, and deep too. He wouldn’t drown, but would get sopping wet. Rin clung to the boy’s hand like the lifeline it was.

Well, apparently it was not a lifeline. The brat didn’t seem to care and just put his hands down in the water along with him.

It was surprisingly warm. Not too warm to be painful, and not too cool to eventually turn cold. Run froze, stock still as the liquid began seeping into his thick furr.

The the little boy breathed out shakily. “Thank you for not biting me, baby cat.”

Rin squeaked.

Water was spooned onto his back and top of his head. His thick, mangy fur filled with liquid and weighed him down like lead. Slowly but surely, Rin detached himself from the boy’s hand and tried to stand on on his own.

His back leg was still completely numb.

His tiny human rubbed the top of his head soothingly, careful to avoid the patch of blood where he was cut. The little boy worked slowly and gently, his tiny little hands cautious not to brush against any sore spots. After a while, the water filled with grime, dirt, mud, and blood, creating a nasty reddish-black color.

Rin was half asleep at that point. The little cat woozily licked his paws, cleaning the last of the blood off of them before going for his tail, which was flicking around in the water curiously.

The back of his head was totally healed, as were his paws. The only thing left of the injuries was the blood. He still had a cut on his forehead and his ribs were on fire, but that was pretty much it. It looked like his healing had focused on the injuries easiest to fix before going for the big ones, and then it had just... stopped. That had never happened before.

It still didn’t explain what the hell was going on with his leg and why he couldn’t feel it.

The little boy gently lathered some blue goo into his fur. Rin did not like the feeling, his fur was getting thick with strange bubbly stuff.

“Get me oooout!” He whined.

The boy just shushed him with soothing nonsense and kept on working. Rin kept on meowing his displeasure very loudly. His human wasn’t listening to him.

Finally, the boy picked him up out of the bowl, still covered in suds and sopping wet. He carried him all the way into another room and then dangled him above an even larger bowl. It was shiny, and built into the counter. His human held him under a weird pipe and reached for a lever of some sort.

Rin cried out when water poured from the faucet, dousing him completely. He squirmed and fought the little hands holding him still. It was warm, true, but also wrong!

“No! Bad human!” Rin yowled, doing everything short of using his teeth to escape.

The little boy apologized over and over again, but didn’t listen and obey. Hence, Rin had to endure being slowly drowned by horrible water spewing from a shiny faucet.

After an eon of agony, he was finally rescued and taken away from the evil sink. His human quickly wrapped him up in a soft, warm towel and rubbed his furr all over. Rin mewled angrily and went to work grooming the water out of his coat. He was shivering violently, which didn’t really help with the dizziness.

The little human carried him into another room, away from the stupid water and stupid soap suds. He sat down on a soft, over-stuffed couch and plopped a rumpled and wet Rin in his lap. The cat immediately fought his arm free from the towel and set to work scrubbing his furr with his tongue. The little boy seemed content to scrub him with the towel, which was largely unappreciated.

“I can do it myself, silly human.” Rin said angrily.

“Shh, it’s okay baby cat,” The little boy murmured. “It’s all okay, we’re almost done.”

Rin hissed.

The towel was painful against his ribs, and made the bruises that littered his body feel like they were being bludgeoned all over again. The freezing cold was making him sleepy and weak. He didn’t want to go to sleep though. He needed to stay awake in order to protect his human, damnit.

“My name is Yukio,” The little boy said. “I’m seven, which means I’m a big boy. You’re a baby cat, so I’ll look after you.”

Rin prickled, offended. “No! I can look after you, I’m not a baby silly human!”

Yukio just rubbed his fluffy head with his thumb and smiled at him. “You’re very talkative. Most of the kitties I meet are quiet. Are you saying something to me?”

“Of course I am,” Rin huffed, cleaning his toe beans thoroughly.

Yukio giggled. “You’re so cute. And so pretty! I think that you have some blue in your furr. I thought it was just super duper white, but it actually looks baby blue on the ends.”

He gasped. “Are you a demon kitty? My daddy has a demon kitty, her name is Asia and she has horns. You don’t have horns, but you have kinda-blue furr and your eyes glow!!! Did you know that? You have super pretty eyes. They’re probably the coolest color I’ve ever seen, and my daddy has red eyes. He said that I have my mommy’s eyes, which I’m really glad for. She died when I was a baby. Daddy doesn’t like to talk about it. Did you know Asia is his familiar? Daddy said he found her in our trash can looking for food. That makes me sad, cuz nobody should have to look in trashcans for food!!! And did you know...”

Rin listened to Yukio rambled on and on, grumpily relaxing under the insistent towel scrubbing him dry. He was super sleepy. Super, super sleepy. His human was very adorable though. Rin licked the boy’s fingers grudgingly, eyes slipping closed. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to have a tiny nap. Just a tiny one.

‘Nope, nope. Totally awake. Can’t fall asleep....’

“Okay baby cat, I’m just gonna wrap up your ribs and... deal with your leg. Then I’ll be all done and you can have some sleepy time.” Yukio concluded with a nod.

“Hmm... that’s nice...” Rin mumbled.

He winced as Yukio wrapped his torso. The boy was infinitely gentle, but that didn’t stop it from hurting. Silky soft, snowy white bandages twisted around his ribs snuggly, but not too tight enough to hurt. Rin protested half-heartedly, but Yukio just shushed him with his random murmuring and kept on working.

Rin let his chin droop on Yukio’s hand, too tired to move anymore. He could vaguely feel the boy messing with his leg, but it was too numb to hurt and he was too exhausted to care. Maybe his human would fix it. That would be good, because Rin needed his leg. If he wasn’t able to walk or run then he would die. He’d be hunted and killed in a matter of hours.

‘Maybe... if it doesn’t get fixed, I can just cut it off... it might grow back...’ He thought absently.

The last thing he remembered before falling asleep was the door opening and a strangely familiar, old, masculine voice talking to his human.

And the smell of gunpowder and cigarettes filled his brain before the world went dark.

Chapter Text

When Rin woke up, he sneezed.

“OMG DAD DID YOU SEE THAT?!??”

“Shhh, don’t wake him up Yuki, he needs his rest to heal up,” a gruff, gentle voice responded to the very excited child.

Rin grumbled and stretched, a tiny whine squeezing out of his chest as all his muscles spasmed from the wonderful just-woke-up stretching. His claws stretched out and curled back up into his face, covering his eyes.

A faint, smothered squeal made him wake up the rest of the way, yawning and blinking awake.

A very excited child was about 3 inches away from him, holding his mouth closed and eyes sparkling behind massive, oversized glasses. Rin blinked at him slowly, his brain taking a hot second to kick-start awake.

‘Oh. It’s my human. Super nice human.’ Rin started purring like a freight train, almost startling himself in the process.

Purring was so relaxing though. And his adorable little baby human was so happy about it, so he didn’t care. He stretched out a paw to touch his human’s nose, gently clawing at him and then licking his toe beans.

This was awesome. 10 out of 10 best way to wake up.

Then he turned around and saw the guy who tried to fucking murder him sitting on the other side of the living room.

Rin yowled and scrambled to his fee- paws, and raced to his human. Both humans flinched and Yuki jumped up to catch him from falling off the little coffee table he’d been sprawled out on, cradling the frantic kitten to his chest. Rin clawed his way up to his human’s neck, shoving his face under his chin and hiding.

“I don’t think your new baby likes me very much,” the murderous, gun-wielding, horrible person of a human said dryly.

Rin turned around and hissed at him.

The murderer’s eyebrows raised and he smiled, the little bitch. Rin spat at him and wrapped himself around Yukio, fur spiking up and tail lashing around in the air. His baby human reached up and scratched behind his ears, turning around to kiss his face.

“He’s not usually like this, I promise dad, he’s very friendly and super nice, and he didn’t even scratch me when I washed him in the sink, and look how fluffy he is!!!” His human said happily. Rin licked his fingers. He liked his baby human too.

“Pretty sure he’s that fluffy because he hates me and wants me to go away, Yukio,” the murderer said humorously.

The old grandpa stood up from his recliner and Rin hissed at him, then decided to growl for good measure.

The murder grandpa laughed incredulously. “Jesus Christ.”

“Listen, Dad, he’s mine now, he has nowhere else to go!!! He was on the road and kids were poking him, and he was bleeding a lot and he’s already a lot better, see?! Please please please Dad. I need him!!!!”

Rin puffed up proudly and sat down on his baby human’s shoulder, licking the hair by his ear to show his thanks. His baby human was so nice and adorable. So sweet, fighting for Rin against the freaking monster little bitch across the room who should die and rot in hell.

He purred and kept licking his baby's hair.

The monster grandpa sighed, mirth in his very breath. “Fine. You can keep him, but he’s completely your responsibility. You have to clean the litter and feed him, and everything!!”

Yukio perked up immediately, lighting up light a freaking firework. “I will!!!! I promise you won’t have to do a single thing!!!!”

Rin growled at the freaking monster across the room but quickly melted into a mushy fluff of purrs when Yukio started scratching both of his ears at the same time.

“You hear this baby??? This is so amazing!!!! Dad said I can keep you so you’re my kitty now!!!! I’m so happy!!!!!”

Rin was not immune to the happiness of his baby human, so he stopped growling at the exorcist bitch across the room to steal all of his new human’s attention.

Wait.

Dad?

Did his human call the fucking exorcist bitch murderous grandpa his dad????

Rin whipped his fluffy little head around to the other side of the room, huge, horrified eyes meeting the amused pair of the terrifying exorcist who almost killed him who knows how long ago.

“Just keep him out of my room, okay Yukio???”

Rin shook in his babies hands while getting smothered with kisses. Fuck. Fuck. Shit.

This was so not good.

Oh fuck.

So Rin had a problem.

On one hand, he had a new baby human. He felt all safe and mushy with said baby human. He knew he could protect his human, which obviously meant he would get safety and protection in return, evidenced by the wonderful help his baby had given him by getting him off the street and cleaned up. He was clean and warm, and he still couldn't feel his leg or move it at all, but he was safe and with his human.

On the other hand, his human father was a little bitch murderer who TRIED TO KILL HIM.

Fuck.

Rin quickly summarized that there was only one option left for him. He had to kill the grandpa.

However, he would need to do it in a way that would never be traced back to himself. Rin knew that humans typically liked their parents very much, and while protective parental figures weren't as rare to humans as they were demons, they were still just as special. The death of a parent was as devastating to humans as demons, so Rin would have to be very. Very careful.

But. Operation: Kill Grandpa Bitch, was a go.

Rin snickered into his plate, cleaning the fish juices off of his fancy new dish. It was pink and had the words: pretty kitty, painted across the front.

He loved it. His human had gotten it for him.

His adorable, amazing, wonderful baby human. Who he would never ever ever leave ever.

The one who lived with a bunch of fucking exorcists.

Ugh.

Two small hands wrapped around his waist and lifted him away from his meal. He licked his whiskers clean and turned to look at Yukio, who was smiling at him adorably as he lifted him in the air.

A row of priests (who Rin knew were all exorcist bitches), stared at him as Yukio proudly showed his new kitty off.

“He's so cute!!”

“Aww, look at his little whiskers!!”

“Does he have fleas??”

“Shut up Seishiro.”

“You shut up.”

“Both of you shut the fuck up.”

Yukio held Rin to his face and kissed his belly and face, ignoring the shenanigans of his uncles in the background. Rin kissed him back and started at the kitchen he was in, glad the grandpa bitch was outside.

The priests surrounded Yukio in the kitchen, bickering and asking the kid all kinds of questions about Rin.

“He doesn't have fleas or anything, I washed him when I got him inside. But he's hurt and he can't move this leg, it is very floppy cuz he can't move it. He was bleeding loads when I found him, but I cleaned it like Dad taught me, and then wrapped it up and it's not bleeding anymore. He's very shy though and he's very nice, but he's scared of Daddy. He doesn't bite or scratch and he's very nice though,” Yukio rambled happily.

Rin let his human adjust to hold him just like a baby and allowed his human to hold his injured leg out to show the priests the bandage wrapping around his hind leg. It didn't hurt or anything, seeing as he couldn't feel it.

Rin was starting to think he should get a bit concerned about that, actually.

One of the priests reached out to pet Rin’s head. He allowed it.

You see, Rin typically hates exorcists. However, his baby human was obviously attached to these people. Rin was officially his human’s cat, so he had to be nice and not murder or seriously maim any of his baby human’s special people. “Family,” as the humans liked to call each other. So Rin had to make exceptions. Also, these specific priests-slash-exorcist-bitches hadn’t personally done anything to Rin. Not like the grandpa bitch.

They would make good protectors of his baby human. And good servants to fetch his food.

So he allowed them to pet him. But not his exposed belly. That got them clawed, of course.

His human seemed extremely happy that the priests were being tolerated by Rin, which meant the plan was a great success. For some reason, Rin really really wanted his baby human to be happy.

The thought of Yukio being unhappy made Rin feel like he was going to throw up.

Finally annoyed with the attention and grabby hands, Rin flopped around and waited until Yukio put him back down on the ground. He walked over to his food dish, as best he could with a limp leg.

Rin plopped down on his side and set to work cleaning said limo leg. He figured that if he groomed it well enough, some feeling might return to it. Unfortunately, he had to work around the bandages. The good news was that cats and kittens are quite flexible, so he had zero issues licking his toe beans.

And the cooing from his adoring fans around him wasn’t as unbearable as he thought it was. Neither was the clicking of cameras from the priest’s flip phones or Yukio demanding to see the pictures they took later that night.

Not only was he being fawned over by his baby human and their servants, but he was also given more food. Not the garbage he was used to fishing for in alley bins, but fresh egg yolks, canned tuna, and milk.

Rin could get used to this.

As long as the fucking exorcist bitch stayed away until Rin killed him.

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Shiro was having a good day.

It had been 2 nights since the last demon sighting in the city he’d been deployed to. The one with two humanoids, one of which was extremely young.

Shiro wasn’t a liar, so he would readily admit that after that particular experience, he’d needed a good day.

That good day had come in the form of a tiny little kitten his son had rescued off the street. Shiro was so proud.

He’d come home from work after the last mission and immediately gone to see Yukio. Needing to know his son was okay. Of course, the little shit had been sleeping soundly in his bed, snoring loudly and sprawled out everywhere. Shiro had knelt in front of the bed, still fully decked out in gear and gloves covered in a demon's blood. A demon who looked younger than his own child.

Shiro had watched his son sleep for a long time. Yukio was safe in a warm, cozy home. He had his own room with fluffy bedding, soft pillows, and clean clothes. His hair was still damp from a bath. His mouth was partly open in his sleep, a tiny bit of drool dampening his pillow.

His child was not bleeding on the street from fighting a demon. He wasn’t matted, bruised, beaten, bleeding, covered in dirt and stains, wearing ripped, strained, nasty clothes too big for him. His son was safe, clean, sheltered, and happy.

But sometimes it was hard. It was hard for Shiro to see young demons half dead from a fight, bleeding and broken and cornered and about to be executed like a fucking dog.

Because that could have been Yukio.

In another life.

Shiro had taken a shuddering breath, trying to calm himself after that night. Because his son was human. Yukio was not a demon. Not even half demon.

He’d gotten lucky, having a twin. Half-demon twins split genetics.

One twin is a full demon, and on a full human. That’s just how it works. It’s how his son is human.

It’s why his son isn’t that demon child they’d cornered in the road, shot in the leg, and probably murdered.

Sometimes Shiro just needed to watch his safe, sheltered, loved son, sleeping in his bed. Not bleeding. Not fighting demons. Not struggling to survive.

His son was the child of a demon.

‘Of Satan,’ his traitorous mind whispered.

‘He’s human. He’s safe,’ Shiro thought back.

Nothing could harm his safe, beloved, human son while Shiro was here.

He’d finally been able to get up and leave the room after an hour of calming down.

The next morning, he sent Yukio off to school. Shiro himself had a day off of teaching, so he wouldn’t have to get in to work until 2 pm. If the day was uneventful and there were no last-minute calls for the Paladin to fight a demon, Shiro would get back at 10 at night.

He’d had breakfast with Yukio, made him rice and soup, and drank a nice big cup of coffee while his son chatted about his schoolwork for the day. Izumi and Naoya also got up and stole some coffee from Shiro’s pot.

“What are you going to be when you grow up Yuki?” Izumi asked, stolen coffee steaming in front of him.

Yukio grinned around his mouthful of rice. “I’m go’a be a ‘octor!!”

Naoya raised his eyebrows. “A doctor? That’s cool. What kind?”

“A really great kind!!!”

Shiro and Izumi laughed, Naoya rolled his eyes and hid a smile.

Shiro sent Yukio off to school and lounged around in his living room, taking a quick nap before heading off to work.

He had a meeting with Ray planned. To discuss things, and ask questions.

About demons.

“Whatcha wanna know, mister Paladin??”

Ray was an interesting exorcist. He was born and raised in America but moved to Japan for college. That’s when he got involved with True Cross and exorcism in general. Ray had made himself known as one of the best Tamer’s in the entire world and was known in Japan as the man who turned down the Paladin position. When he was 25 he was taming Middle A level demons and using them proficiently in the field. At 39 he had tamed an Upper B level demon, the highest ranked demon anyone had ever tamed, besides a Demon King. It was an extortionate feat that had made waves in the exorcist world throughout the globe.

Shiro liked to consider the man his friend.

Any time he had a demon-related question, he went to Ray. Like now.

“What can you tell me about young humanoid demons? How do they work exactly?”

Ray grinned, snowing off incredibly crooked, but perfectly white teeth. “Well, they’re hard to catch that’s for sure. And it’s pretty much impossible to tame one.”

Shiro raised his brow. “What’s that mean??”

Ray stirred his drink, a massive chocolate milk with ice in it. The bartender had stared for a solid five seconds when the man had ordered it.

Of course, this was a bar positioned down the block to True Cross’s HQ, so the man then went on with his life after taking in the uniforms his guests were wearing. Most of the civilians ignored them and their antics.

Ray hummed thoughtfully. “Demons still considered young range anywhere from babies to 300 years old. The one we saw last night is what I would consider a baby baby. He probably hasn’t been ablative for more than 10 years, if his mannerisms told me anything.”

“And a demon that young can’t be tamed? Why was that one fighting the other guy if he was so much weaker than him? Usually, demons who know they aren’t stronger or as strong as another will show submission to a stronger opponent. That kid didn’t.”

Ray nodded and sipped his iced chocolate milk. “Yup. That’s cuz he’s so young. Ya see, most powerful demons don’t actually live very long, because of how long they spent in the baby stage. Young demons are still learning how strong they are. They’ll fight anything they think they’ll survive. They’ll threaten anything they can run away from if things get hairy. The only reason one might survive all the fighting they do is because they also aren’t prideful enough to not run away if they need to. When it comes down to it, young demons will fight for their spot in the hierarchy, but they also know how to survive at the end of the day.”

Shiro nodded slowly. “So young demons can’t be tamed because they’re still fighting for their spot, or figuring out how strong they are. And if they can’t win a fight, they just run, which makes it hard to catch one.”

Ray nodded. “Exactly. You can’t tame a demon who doesn’t even know how strong they are, and what they need to see to show submission. A demon will only allow themselves to be tamed if they see that you are the stronger individual.”

“Because being tamed puts them in a vulnerable spot, so they need to know they’ll be protected,” Shiro finished, understanding that much from his years as an exorcist.

“Exactly. And not to say young demons can’t be tamed. If they imprint on ya, they’re even tamer than if they were a familiar,” Ray shared, shaking some salt into his drink.

The bar was nearly empty at 4 pm, and most people were still not back from work. Shiro stared at the wall of liquor behind the bar as he thought.

Ray didn’t know about Yukio and his parentage. He didn’t know why Shiro always asked him questions about demons and their culture and life, and how they thought and why they did what they did.

But that never stopped him from answering Shiro’s questions or accompanying him to a bar in the middle of the day while at work for a “meeting”.

“I’ve heard a bit about imprinting, but not a whole lot. That’s when a young demon latches on to a human and sees them as their parent, right?”

Ray shook his head. “Nah, most of that’s a myth. I mean, the young parts are true, but most of the time the demons gotta be really young. A year or less into life. The only exception is if a demon feels they are in extreme danger and instinctively seeks out a protector. Not necessarily a parental figure, but someone they feel can take care of them. In return, the demon will often be loyal to the human. Most of the time the bond is for life, until the human dies. Sometimes imprints can pass off through generations of humans, a demon never giving up the bond even after their human dies. That’s pretty rare though.”

“Damn.”

Ray laughed, deep and rusty, the true sound of a chain smoker. “Aye, the little shits don’t know when to give up.”

Shiro cocked his head and took a sip of the soda he’d ordered. “Aren’t you part demon yourself?”

Ray straightened up, a proud glint in his eyes as he responded. “Yup! My grandma's Grandaddy was the son of Iblis. She’s my great great great great grandmama or something. My ma always said that’s why I got such a temper, ha!!”

Shiro grinned, knowing that the real gift his trace demonic heritage had left him with was his extreme talent for Taming. That was definitely the only gift left from the demon blood in Ray’s bloodline, having been so diluted by humans generation after generation.

Nephilim were usually the only human-demon mixes that got any special powers. Children of Nephilim and humans were usually completely normal humans.

Shiro took a sip of his Coke. “Have you ever seen an imprint bond before?”

Ray shook his head sadly. “Na, unfortunately not. Wish I had thought. I hope I’ll see one before I kick the bucket. Usually, demons who imprint are strong, and strong demons with strong bonds with strong humans makes for crazy battles in the field,” the old man grinned.

Shiro laughed.

Then he got home and found out his son was still awake at 12 am on a school night taking care of a stray he’d picked up on the way back home from school.

A tiny little kitten with snowy white, fluffy fur, and what looked like a bullet wound in his leg.

Just what Shiro needed on his plate: another fucking cat.