Chapter Text
Rin woke with a jolt.
He was... standing up? But that part wasn't entirely new. He wasn't in Toraya's kitchen anymore either- but that wasn't new either. He'd sort of gotten used to waking up in weird places lately. He was in... the branch office, right? It had to be.
Everyone was here, after all.
...but why were they all looking at him like that?
Their faces were pale, eyes blown wide in horror and... fear? Why? Why were they all looking at him like that? He didn't understand. He took half a step forward- and a number of them flinched. Rin froze, his body going stiff.
Oh. He knew that reaction. They were afraid of him.
Mamushi and Juzo were at the front of the crowd, and his gaze swept desperately towards the pair. Their faces were pale- but as he met Mamushi's eyes, she swallowed and took a step forward.
"...Rin?"
Why did she sound so hesitant?
"...Mamu-nee?"
Mamushi exhaled, almost in relief. Then, as if a spell had broken, a pair of non-Sect exorcists stepped forward... and began to chant? He vaguely recognized it as some kind of spell of protection, but he never paid enough attention to know what kind. It made him feel weirdly nauseous, and he staggered backwards half a step.
...huh? Was he holding something?
Juzo snapped out of his own daze at the motion, turning to face the pair- who had been joined by a few others- mostly non-Sect, but some were faces that Rin knew.
"Wait!" Juzo barked. "Be quiet!"
"But the flames!"
...flames? Rin blinked, glancing around the room. What flames? He didn't see any- but it was weird. He felt so warm, in a way he never really had before. Glancing down at his body, he let out a strangled cry as he realized that the one on fire was him.
...the flames were blue.
The flames were blue .
He dropped whatever he was holding with a start, patting at his arms to try and get the fire to go out- but it only seemed to make the flames worse. Everyone who had stepped forward took a sharp step backwards, even as he became vaguely aware of the most baffling thing of all-
-the flames weren't hurting him.
He was burning, but he wasn't burning. There was no pain.
He just felt... warm.
Rin's mind buzzed. What was going on? Even though he'd never seen them before, he knew these flames. He'd grown up with stories about the Blue Night and the devastation it had wrought on the Myoda sect. Countless people had died, and their temple had fallen to the brink of ruin before they'd joined the Order.
These were Satan's flames.
...why? What was going on? Why would he...?
"Rin!"
Rin's head snapped up, making eye contact with his father as he rushed in. Ryuuji's father was right behind him, pausing only for a moment to catch his breath.
"...old man?"
Shiro didn't hesitate, stomping past everyone else into the room. Rin's shoulders jerked, and he took two steps back- before stumbling, falling to his feet. His balance felt wrong- but at the same time as it finally felt right. He grunted, dimly aware that he'd landed painfully on something, but he didn't have the bandwidth to process what it was at the moment.
"Stay back!" Rin said. "Don't come closer!"
The blue flames weren't hurting him, but he could smell the burning tatami underneath him. He curled up, trying to make his body as small as possible. What was going on? Was he possessed by Satan? He dug his hands into his hair- only to jerk them back.
What was wrong with his ears?
"Rin," Shiro crouched next to him, "-it's okay. Take a deep breath."
He looked up at his father, meeting the man's eyes. He could see his body illuminated by blue flames in the reflection on his glasses- which his father must have realized, because he took them off.
Take a deep breath? How could he?
"It's going to be alright," his father's tone was soft, reassuring, "-but you have to calm down, Rin."
Calm down. How could he be calm?
The chanting started again.
Rin clamped his hands over his ears, the words twisting at his gut. They were like needles under his skin, burning even when the flames that had enveloped him didn't.
It hurt. Why did it hurt?
Shiro's head snapped towards the voices- and just as abruptly as it had started, it stopped. Rin lifted his head just in time to hear the hiss of Mamushi's familiars, which loomed threateningly over her fellow exorcists. He heard a few of them cry out, demanding to know what the hell she thought she was doing.
...huh? He could see Mamushi's familiars. Since when... since when could he see demons?
"Be quiet," Mamushi hissed, "-can't you see you're making the situation worse?"
"He's Satan's host! We have to deal with him before-!"
There was the distinct jangle of a k'rik being unfolded, as Juzo stepped in front of Mamushi.
"No," he said, "-for once, I agree with her. Give Fujimoto-san a chance first."
Rin shut his eyes, trying to drown out the angry retort Juzo's words earned him. Everyone was fighting- and it was his fault. Was he really possessed by Satan? He didn't know. He didn't understand anything that was happening to him right now.
A hand clamped firmly on his shoulder.
Rin's eyes snapped open, staring at his father. He moved to jerk back, but Shiro refused to let him.
"It's alright," Shiro's voice was calm, "-you're not hurting me."
Rin blinked, stunned to discover he was right. The blue flames twisted around Shiro's hand, but it wasn't burning. His father put his other hand on his other shoulder, gripping both of them tight. There was an edge of fear in his eyes that twisted at Rin's stomach.
...was his old man afraid of him too?
"Listen to me," Shiro said firmly, "-I need you to take a deep breath, Rin."
Rin swallowed, but forced himself to do as his father said. He took in a shuddering breath, slowly letting it out. His father did the same, and soon Rin found himself timing his breaths to those of his father's. Slowly, the blue flames that flickered around them both began to die down.
"There," Shiro said, "-see? You can do it."
Rin opened his mouth to say something. He had a million questions he wanted to ask, to the point where he couldn't decide on what he wanted to say. The absence of his earlier panic just brought with it a cold feeling of dread- and a deep, overwhelming sense of exhaustion. He tried to fight it off- the last thing he needed to do was fall asleep again.
...but it was a battle he couldn't win.
With a groan, Rin blinked awake.
He was lying down this time, he dimly registered. Shoving himself up into a sitting position, he looked around. For a moment, he couldn't place where he was.
...oh, he realized. He was in a confinement cell.
So that had been real.
Taking in and letting out a deep, shuddering breath, he stared down at his hands. Someone had removed the splint from his left wrist, but it didn't even hurt anymore. His hands, at least, looked the same- but he couldn't shake the sensation that his body was different.
With shaking hands, he touched his ears.
For a moment, he nearly let out a breath of relief- before his hands brushed the tips of his ears. It wasn't the drastic change he'd felt earlier, but the tips were pointed. He gave one a tug and winced.
Yep. Definitely real.
Something brushed against his leg.
With a frown, Rin glanced behind him- and just stared, uncomprehending at the sight. There was something long and black behind him- its fluffy tip flicked back and forth as he watched, almost like it was just as anxious as he was. Swallowing, he reached out to grab it...
He could feel it.
Unbidden, he let out a dry laugh. He had a tail. What the fuck.
Groaning, he pulled his legs up to his chest, burying his hands in his hair. What the hell? Had Satan possessed him? Was he a demon now? He didn't remember anything- how had he even gotten to the branch office in the first place?
...stupid question, actually. It had been the sleepwalking again.
"Rin?"
Rin's head jerked up, his eyes wide. Torako stood in front of the cell- his cell- with a gentle smile on her face, and a piping hot bowl of ochazuke on a tray. His stomach growled at the sight of it, and she laughed, opening the hatch to slide it in.
"Here," she said, "-eat up."
He stared at the bowl for a long moment- before his stomach growled again, and he gave up. It felt absurd to be hungry after everything that had happened. Picking it up, he quickly demolished it- ignoring the way his tongue kept ghosting over sharpened canines as he ate. He wasn't sure how much time had passed, but he got the feeling that he'd been unconscious for awhile.
"...thanks," he said when he was done.
"You're welcome," Torako smiled, "-I'll let Yaozo-san know you're awake."
Torako collected the tray, leaving him alone. He watched her go, his newly grown tail flicking behind him. He shot it a glare, but it just flicked again.
Heaving a sigh, he pulled his legs back up to his chest, resting his head on them. What the hell had happened to him? There had been blue flames, and then...
"Rin-kun."
Rin swallowed, looking up at Yaozo. Shima's father stared down at him- but unlike Torako, he wasn't smiling. There was tired look in his eyes, like he'd been up for awhile.
Rin's stupid tail flicked.
"...what's happening to me?"
Yaozo heaved a long sigh, taking a seat in front of Rin's cell. "I'm sorry, Rin-kun. If I had my way, you wouldn't be in there right now."
Yeah. He was sorry too.
"Where's my old man?" Rin asked. "He's not hurt, right?"
"No," Yaozo shook his head, "-Fujimoto-san is fine."
Rin let out an sigh of relief. He didn't remember burning him or anything, but it was another thing to hear it with his own ears. He frowned, wondering why it was Shima's father here, and not his own- or even Ryuuji's. Outside of the brief moment of panic he'd seen on their faces when they'd entered the room, they'd seemed... calm, Rin thought.
...almost as if him bursting into blue flame hadn't been unexpected.
"Rin-kun," Yaozo's began, "-I want you to listen to me carefully."
Rin looked up at the man, and swallowed.
"You know that fifteen years ago, your father stole our sacred object of worship, correct?" Yaozo asked.
"...to kill Satan's kid, right?" Rin asked.
Of course he knew the story. His father had returned the sword to the Myoda afterwards, and had ended up joining the sect as penance- both for the theft, and for having a murdered a child. He'd adopted him and Yukio around the same time, for the same reason...
...no. There was no way.
"He lied," Rin whispered, "-he never..."
"That's correct," Yaozo said, "-instead of killing Satan's child, he simply sealed their demon heart into Kurikara. I myself was not aware of this until just now."
Rin stared at Yaozo in horror, the implications of his words sinking into him. It was him. He was the child of Satan, the one his father was supposed to have killed. That's why the blue flames hadn't hurt him, and why he didn't feel possessed.
Those weren't Satan's flames.
They were his.
"According to Fujimoto-san," Yaozo said, "-your seal had been gradually breaking. Your recent sleepwalking was the result of that."
Something clicked in Rin's head.
Oh. He'd been searching for something in his sleep, desperately- he'd known that, but he'd never known what. He'd been searching for his own demon heart, hadn't he?
"...what the fuck," Rin muttered, a bitter laugh escaping him, "-I'm Satan's kid?"
Sure, people outside the Sect loved calling him a demon, but...
The old man had known about it, this whole time. He didn't get it. Why bother raising him, then? Shouldn't they have just exorcised him? He had blue flames! They were dangerous! They'd killed so many people, and he-
-he was just as dangerous, wasn't he?
"Wait," Rin's eyes widened, "-what about Yukio?"
Yaozo shook his head. "According to Fujimoto-san, you alone inherited those flames. Yukio-kun is a normal human."
Rin let out an breath of relief, his shoulders slumping. He wasn't sure what he'd do if he'd screwed things up for Yukio too. Thinking about his brother just made his gut twist, his gaze dropping to his feet. He was glad he wasn't here right now.
...he didn't want him to see him like this.
Heh. Come to think of it, wasn't Ryuuji's goal to defeat Satan? They were training to be exorcists, and he- he was a demon. This whole time, he'd really been a demon.
...if he really was Satan's child, then maybe this cell was perfect for him. Blue flames- he had blue flames. That made him the enemy of Myoda, right? After all, it had been those same flames that had killed so many on the Blue Night. Shima's older brother, Ryuuji's grandfather, Konekomaru's parents...
His father had done that. His real father. If they knew, they'd never look at him the same.
(Did they already know? Had someone called them?)
"Rin-kun-"
"...go away."
Yaozo heaved a long sigh, before standing up. "Very well. I'll have Torako-san bring you some dinner later. In the meantime, try to hang in there."
Rin didn't look at him as he left, keeping his head buried in his knees. He let out a shuddering breath, his fingers digging into the fabric of his shirt. What the hell was he supposed to do now? A demon? The son of Satan?
It all sounded like a bad joke.
Swallowing, he held out his hand and focused. For a brief moment, a sputter of blue flame flickered in his palm, cementing this as reality.
Ah. He really was a monster.
"I spoke with Rin-kun."
Shiro looked up at Yaozo as he entered. His expression gave nothing away, the kind of neutral poker face one would expect from someone in his position.
He'd put him in a really shitty one, he realized- him and Tatsuma both. They were currently being confined in separate rooms, after having undergone questioning by both the Myoda and the Order itself. He had no doubt that word of Rin's existence had already made its way back to the Vatican.
Where the hell was that damn clown at a time like this?
"How is he?" Shiro asked.
"As well as you might expect," Yaozo said, "-what were you thinking, Fujimoto-san?"
Letting out a long sigh, Shiro let his shoulders slump. "Believe me when I say that I never meant for this to happen."
This wasn't the worst possible scenario he could have come up with, but it was up there. Tatsuma had been right, he realized too late- he should have told Rin the truth earlier. He should have taken Kurikara and left with him, so that he wouldn't have awakened in front of other people. He should have barged into Mephisto's office and refused to leave until he agreed to help.
...but what's done was done.
All he could do now was do his best at damage control.
Rin was unsealed- and half the Sect had seen his flames- concrete proof of what and who he was. He'd been left with little choice but to tell the truth- it was better to tell them Rin was simply Satan's half-human son, than let them continue to believe he'd been possessed by him. To the Myoda, defiling their sacred object of worship with the demon heart of Satan's child was the worst kind of blasphemy. For their head priest to have known about it...
Yeah. The whole thing was a mess.
(At least Satan himself was quiet, for the moment. He'd been laughing uproariously the whole time earlier, as he'd tried to calm Rin down.
...he never wanted to see him look that frightened ever again.)
"Where's Kurikara?" Shiro asked.
"I have it under lock and key," Yaozo said, producing said key from underneath his robes, "-at the very least, I won't let anyone use it to cause Rin-kun further problems. I have Uwabami and Juzo watching it in shifts."
Shiro nodded. "Thanks."
Yaozo sighed, tucking the key back away. He knew this situation couldn't be easy for him- he'd lost his eldest son during the Blue Night. To know that they'd been helping raise Satan's child all this time...
"Don't blame Tatsuma too much," Shiro said, "-this was all my idea."
Technically it was Mephisto's- but it was better to avoid complicating things by mentioning the clown's involvement. Rin's fate was already hanging on a razor's edge as it stood. Once the Vatican got involved...
Yaozo just huffed. "Knowing ossama, he didn't exactly say no."
In spite of himself, Shiro laughed. He couldn't deny that- if anything, he was certain the thought had never even crossed the monk's mind. Thanks to him, he'd been able to raise Rin here peacefully for the past fifteen years...
...but now he couldn't help but wonder if that wasn't a mistake.
"What I want to know is why?" Yaozo asked. "Why raise Satan's son?"
Why? Good question. At first it was just because he'd made that shitty deal with Mephisto- but now?
"I promised his mother," Shiro said, "-that I would be their father."
Yaozo arched his brow. "That's all?"
"That's all!" Shiro laughed.
It really was- Mephisto might have schemes of his own, but when it came down to it... he'd just wanted to keep his promise with Yuri. Raise her children in her place, and make sure they grew up into fine adults. He'd been a little concerned when Rin had told him he didn't want to attend high school, but he'd been doing well working for Torako. He'd seemed happy, even if he was a bit lonely.
And Yukio...
Right. Yukio.
"...has anyone told them yet?" Shiro asked.
"Not yet," Yaozo said, "-but I sent Ryuuji a message to tell him and the others to return as soon as they can, and that it was urgent. This isn't something we can keep from them, Fujimoto-san."
He paused, watching him with a frown.
"...did Yukio-kun-?"
"-know?" Shiro finished, then shook his head. "I considered telling him, but decided against it. I didn't want it to change the way he thought of Rin."
"Fair enough," Yaozo said, "...he's not dealing with it well, Fujimoto-san."
Yeah. He expected as much. Pinching the bridge of his nose, Shiro pushed up his glasses with a sigh. He had contingency plans for everything else- he just wasn't sure how to handle Rin himself. Admitting that, even to himself, made him feel like a failure of a father.
...but maybe he was.
"Can I talk to him?" Shiro asked.
Yaozo shook his head. "It was hard enough to get everyone to agree on just confining him without taking any extra measures. Not everyone has taken the betrayal well, Fujimoto-san."
"Betrayal, huh?" Shiro laughed. "Is that how you view it?"
"...no," Yaozo said, "-whatever else he is, Rin-kun is my son's friend. He's family."
"In that case," Shiro leveled his gaze with his, "-if the worst comes to pass..."
"If the worst comes to pass," Yaozo said, "-I'll almost certainly forget to lock this door. I made sure to place those I trusted to watch the confinement block. There's still plenty of us in the Sect who are sympathetic to Rin-kun."
Shiro chuckled, giving the tanuki bastard a grin- that Yaozo just barely returned.
Good to know he still had some allies.
Now he just had to hope that the Vatican sent a favorable inspector- and try and figure out just what the hell that damn clown was up to. There was no way he hadn't noticed Rin coming unsealed- he was willing to bet he'd even been planning for this happen.
Damn jerk. This was why he hadn't returned any of his calls.
"When I see Rin-kun next," Yaozo said, "-is there anything you want me to tell him?"
Tell him? There were a million things he wanted to tell him.
"Yeah," Shiro said, "-tell him I'm sorry."
"Enter."
Shura strode into the great hall without hesitation- but if he was being honest, the sudden summons had caught her attention more than a little. It wasn't every day that a single exorcist was called before the Grigori- even one of her rank.
This had to be something big.
"Kirigakure Shura," it was Shemihaza who spoke, "-Upper First Class Exorcist. We have a special mission for you in your capacity as an inspector. Several hours ago, blue flames were reported in our branch office in Kyoto, but since then, they've failed to send us any updates on the situation. We are sending you there to investigate."
Blue flames? Now that was big.
And of all places, the Kyoto branch office? Wasn't that the one that was staffed mostly by members of that Buddhist sect that Shiro had thrown his lot in with? The Myoda or whatever? Why weren't they asking him? He was the Paladin, wasn't he?
She got the feeling she might not like the answer to that question.
"Got it," Shura said, "-I'll head there now."
"One more thing," Shemihaza said, "-if what you discover there is indeed connected to Satan in some way, then you are ordered to exterminate it."
Shura huffed. Kill a Satan related entity? Guess she should be flattered they thought that much of her skills- but why call her, and not one of the Arc Knights? Osceola would be a better fit for something like this.
(Angel would just be overkill.)
But a mission was a mission.
"Understood," Shura said, "-I'll deal with it."