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Chapter 1

-Rin wonders how 'this' became his life-

Rin was in shock, not that anyone could blame him - his whole world turn upside down in a matter of seconds.
First, that Shiratori guy tried to burn his face off with a fucking heated metal poll, and would have succeeded doing it too, if not for the blue flames that came out of nowhere and made him back the hell off.
Well, not out of nowhere.
According to his old man, the fire originated from Rin. Ho, and another bloody thing! He's a demon.
Not like a human that's acting like a demon, or a-a-an evil person. A REAL demonic being, the real fucking deal! And he's not just any demon, no! Why that would be too easy! He is the one and only, SATAN'S SON!
Then he discovered that his adoptive father is a super-fast chanting, Kong-Ku expert, that usually deals with this kind of crap!
So fucking yeah! He's shocked, and he's got every right in the world to be shocked. Anyone who thinks otherwise is welcome to try and deal with all of this shit themselves. Let's see if they can handle any of this better.
Let them deal with the fact that-that-that Shira something guy just grew a pair of fucking horns (because he's possessed, so why the hell not. And yes, possession can happen apparently) and a long bloody god-forsaken tail!
Ho, and let's not forget! Currently, demonic-Shiratori, who as it turns out, is super powerful for some reason, is trying to force his way INTO THE FUCKING MONASTERY!
So yeah, Rin's very stressed and scared out of his mind right now, and the old man isn't helping, like, at all.
Nope, you see Father Fujimoto is too busy moving around in Rin's room, packing. He's fucking packing. As if he's planning on running away, but this thing outside? Yeah, is unlikely to give up and let them go, so what's the point?!
What is even happening?!
Why are they even fighting for him? Him. They could die, don't they know that? Why would they be willing to fight for him?!
- You are a demon Rin. Not just any demon! Satan's son! – his old man's words burn worst than the flames, worst than the mean words of his peers, of being called a demon by anyone else, because Shiro's his old man.
'Didn't you say I'm not a demon?' Rin closes his eyes. His heart bleeds. 'Why?!'
Why was it that nobody told him that before?! Why was this happening to him? It isn't what he wants!
"Rin," father Fujimoto's voice steals Rin's attention back to him. The half-demon opens his eyes slowly, and reluctantly turns to look at the old man, "you need to get out of here immediately."
Did he finish packing already? That was fast! Rin's not ready yet! It's all happening too fast. He can't- the half-demon shakes his head, and his hands clench into fists. Rin's gaze turns into a glare - NO! There's no way he's going anywhere until he'll get some real answers.
"Why?! What's going on old man?!"
But Shiro never answers - too busy making sure his son will have everything he needs.
He can't go with his boy. He has to stay here and makes sure that the demon king won't follow his child. He'll smite this demon, and when he gets rid of the pest, he'll find his son and join him.
Rin will be fine. Shiro is going to bet everything he is on that belief.
"Come, Rin."
"What?! No! Didn't you hear me, you old-geezer?! I'm not going anywhere!"
Shiro smiles at his sons' heated words. He understands where the child comes from, but there's no time for explanations. They have to move fast, or all will be for nothing.
There's one more thing he'll need to give Rin if they're leaving the monastery. The old man fears for a moment that it would be too much for his son to handle. But he can't doubt now - 'I have to believe in Rin.'
The old Kuma sword can't stay where one of Satan's kin can get to it - it is Rin's heart and demonic essence. The boy will have to take care of it.
The Paladin takes out his key of Vanishment and opens the locked drawer of the old red dresser and retrieves the hidden Demon-slaying blade, Kurikara.
Shiro doesn't take his eyes off of the cursed sword. He can't. This thing is the only thing that keeps Rin safe and human. If anyone would ever unseal it, Rin's human life will be over.
Which is why the boy must know the consequences that come with possessing this sword, and what he can lose if he uses it.
"This is the Kurikara, the demon slaying sword." The old man says and holds the blade towards his son, "Never EVER unsheathe it. Once you do, you will never change back."
Rin takes a step back, shaking all over. He's just a boy, still nothing but a little kid, and this is the last thing the old man wants to do, but he places the sword in the young boy's hands.
"Change back?"
He's Rin's father, but he's also the Paladin, and even if it's wrong and he doesn't want to do that, he knows he has no choice. He can't treat Rin like a little boy now. He can't. Not with the demon-king knocking at his door.
Shiro swallowed his frustration and self-hatred at what he was about to do, and explained, "your powers are sealed by the scabbard" at Rin's blank look he adds, "the demon part of you if you will."
"If anyone draws this blade, you will never live a normal life again, because the moment this sword is unsheathed, you will immediately enter your demonic form. The moment that happens – there's no going back."
Handing the boy his bag and the Key of Vanishment, Shiro quickly tells him, "hide the sword the moment you are safe. Never lose it."
'And now for one last thing. If it so happens that I die today', "Rin, I need you to listen to me," Shiro put both his hands on Rin's shoulders and looked at his boy straight to the eyes, "There's a chance that I won't make it out alive today. Take this phone. There is only one number stored inside. Call, and he will be able to help you. He's a close friend of mine." hopefully, Mephisto will be able to hide Rin.
"Now, go!"
Rin doesn't go. Instead, the boy throws all his stuff on the ground, "this isn't funny, old man!" The Kuma sword rolls on the ground and ends up near Shiro's leg. Rin takes a step closer, "this joke ain't funny!", Because this got to be a joke, anything else would mean that all of this is REAL. That all of this is HAPPENING, and this is not real, and not happening otherwise, Yukio would have the same problem too.
Yukio!
How could he forget?! 'I must be the worst brother in the world!' What if this is real and there are demons after Yukio?!
"What about Yukio?!" Rin is panicking, everything he knows turns out to be nothing but a lie, but Yukio's in danger, and instead of thinking of a way to help his brother, Rin is too busy playing twenty questions?!
Shiro instantly knows what Rin seems to ask. He sighs and passes a hand through his hair.
"Rin, you alone inherited the flames. When you were born, Yukio was far too weak to inherit Satan's flames. Yukio is completely human."
'So it's just me. Yukio is going to be alright?'
"Why didn't you tell me?!", Before – 'before all of this happened, and before events forced your hand. Were you planning on telling me at all?'
"I wanted to raise you as a human, Rin" Shiro answered shortly, he wanted to say so much more, but they were short on time. The others wouldn't be able to hold the demons back for much longer, but he needed Rin to understand-
"Everything I've been doing and will do is all for your protection, Rin."
However, Rin can't bring himself to believe Shiro.
"This can't be it." The black-haired boy shakes his head, and his eyes drill holes in Shiro's face, as if searching for something, "There's got to be something more!"
'He fights demons. He told me that he does and now that I know what I am, what? Does he not want me anymore?' Rin bites his lips, and suddenly he doesn't feel like looking at his father anymore,'I'm not perfect like Yukio, but I thought…'
'I thought you love me.'
"Why would you take in a demon? There's got to be a reason! What is it?!"
Father Fujimoto stops, surprised.
"Rin?"
"ADMIT IT! You don't want to be my father anymore!" he doesn't care about me. He has Yukio! "You are not my father! Don't you dare act like you're my father ever again!"
SLAP!
Then, silence.
"We don't have the time for petty arguments. Just do as you're told."
'I… I hit him. I can't believe I hit my son. Rin, I'm so sorry.'
Shiro never had the chance to say any of that. Because at that moment. That specific moment in time, Satan chooses to strike.
It wasn't by luck or any other stupid reason. It was because of the pain in the Paladin's heart. That was all Satan needed to take over.
"Ahh!"
Rin turns towards the old man with wide eyes just as the lights above them shatter. The boy drops to the floor - his anger and frustration gone like mist in the wind.
"R-Rin," Shiro gasps "run away from me!", But Rin doesn't listen. He can't. He's already regretting everything he'd said.
"H-hey, old man, just hold on, I'm going to get someone!" The boy gets up and starts going for the door.
'No. Something like this can't be happening to the old man! Not now!' He needs to find someone, to get help.

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"HA HA HA HA HA HA HA~!", The laughing voice coming from behind him doesn't sound like the old man. It's so alien that Rin stops in his tracks. The sound is maniacal and far-gone. It's terrifying.
Like in a horror film, Rin turns around slowly, and the sight that greets him is horrifying in its' own right.
"I MISSED YOU SO MUCH! MY CUTE LITTLE CHILD!" The possessed man roars with a huge smile. He spreads his hands to the sides as if to say 'come here,' and his tail sways behind him.
Rin tries to back off, but the demon possessing the Paladin snorts in amusement and pulls Rin towards him.
"LET GO OF ME! LET GO! LET GO! LET GO!"
"Don't piss your pants, brat. You should be grateful!" the demon - possibly Satan himself, if Rin read the mood correctly - says with a massive grin on his face. Rin can struggle as hard as he can. He's not going anywhere. "After all, the great Satan-sama has come to greet you in person! YOU CAN CALL ME, DADDY!"
The crazy demon laughs and laughs and laughs. Satan's flames move around the room in disorder, burning, burning, burning - 'Why am I not burning?!'
Satan stops laughing, abruptly, "Ah... this body won't last very long," and most likely it will not. Parts of it are already starting to fall off.
"I guess we've just got to speed things along," and without farther prompt, the demon snaps off several of the human's fingers (much to Rin's disgust) to summon the Gehenna Gate.
Grabbing his son's sword from the floor and tossing it inside, "we will need to break this if you're ever going to make it in Gehenna," Satan notes.
'NO! he can't break it! If he does, won't it mean I will be stuck as a demon, forever?!' In a burst of anger, Rin releases a flurry of flames to attempt to scare off Satan and protect himself, but the demon only laughs at the pitiful attempt.
Grabbing Rin by the collar, Satan drags the boy to the Gate, "now it's time for you to regain your true power as a Demon and one of my kin!"
Rin resists. Kicking and screaming, the boy fights with everything he has, but he's weak, and nothing he does even tickles the demon. The boy's heart aches as he cries, "I'm human!"
I'M HUMAN!

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Right?
His struggles stop as he sees his reflection reflects at him from the mirror in the corner of the room. He looks like a wild beast, straggling and snarling - humans don't act like that!
"You're wrong~" Satan sings songs cheerfully, "you are definitely, 100% demon!" the real demon throws a look at the boy, "well, if you want to be picky, only 50%, but that doesn't make you any less of a demon. The other 50% come from her, so that's not bad." The demon shrugs.
'N-No! I'm not a demon. Father told me! He-'
"NOW!", the flaming demon calls loudly, "are you going to accept the fact that you are a demon, or do I have to beat the knowledge into you?"
For some reason, Rin is far more frightened by the sheer eagerness in that tone than the words themselves.
The boy shakes his head. His whole body doesn't stop trembling, "No?" Satan pouts, "are you sure? You don't want to shout again about how you are not a demon? Nothing like that?"
Rin wants to, he wants to so fucking bad, but instead, he shakes his head.
"I don't think you are telling me the truth~" the mad-demon started laughing again, "you still think of yourself as a human," The mad demon crackles insanely ", but you won't be thinking that for long," Satan stares at the boy for a few seconds, "now that I have you, taking Assiah is no longer a dream."
The blue-red eyes stare into his own and Rin's knees feel so weak.
Rin unwillingly releases a whimper, and Satan's grin grows larger, practically splitting at the seams. The deranged demon loves it, Loves seeing the fear, the Terror adoring his adorable little child's face. Ho, it felt so GOOD!
Satan throws Rin into the pit of skulls surrounding the Gate, "I made you on a whim, you know, but then I came to realize that your existence was just what I needed to secure myself a body in Assiah!"
"Help!", Rin screams. 'No! I don't want that! Please! Someone! Anyone! Yukio', "SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME!"
Satan insanely laughs, "Happy Birthday~!"
"No!", And someone does answer - hearing Rin's plea, Shiro regains control of his body for a moment and stabs himself in the heart with his Exorcist pin.
"Rin i-is, my son! A-and I'm taking h-him BACK!", Shiro says firmly. His eyes are looking for Rin's, "demon o-or not!"
Rin wants to cry. All his life, it was Shiro that told him that he wasn't a demon. When everyone else said otherwise, it was Shiro that insisted that Rin was just like everybody else - 'And now he said it. He said I'm a demon. They- they were right all along!'
"Whatever the Gate touches, it never releases! You have lost, Paladin! I've won!", Satan says with venom. He laughs for a second before he can't laugh anymore.
Shiro's body gave out.
'Dad...?'
Rin feels it like a shock flowing through his body, and he knows his old man is dead. 'NO!' Rin tries to swim through the sea of skulls to reach his adoptive father. "HELP! SOMEBODY HELP US!"
This time there were tears, and while the fear is still there, now there was also a sense of anxiety, of dread. Rin can't reach him. He wouldn't be able to-
Unable to decide what to do, Rin reached for Kurikara and thought back to what his dad told him. Of what Shiro was to him.
"H-hey… I-I promised you. I promised I'd s-show you how much I've grown! You – I haven't shown you anything yet, old man!" Rin's voice grows stronger, "This can't be over like this! I won't let him win! If he wins, it means -" you would have died for nothing.
"AHHHH!", Rin unsheathes Kurikara, thereby releasing his demonic power, and destroys the Gehenna Gate. With the Gate gone, Rin kneels at his father's dead body.
"Dad!" Rin calls out to the man in tears. His body is glowing blue from the flames - they surround him. He feels different.
He doesn't move to close the stupid sword. He doesn't care. 'I am a demon after all,- aren't I? Let them see it! Let everybody see! I don't care!'
Tears. Hot and fat burned before they could even leave his eyes. He hugs the sword close to his chest - it's the last thing that the old man will ever be able to give him. That made this piece of metal special in a way nothing else ever could.
It's all His fault. Satan's fault! If not for Him, the old man would be alive now! Satan killed – but no, Satan wasn't the one that drove the knife into the old man's heart - he killed himself for me. Does that mean- does that mean that I- that I killed the old man? I'm the one responsible?!
Rin wants to scream and shout, to wake up from this awful nightmare. He wants his dad back. He wants –
"Rin?"
Yukio.
Rin turns around, unready to face the only other being other than his dad that he didn't want to see him like this. His little brother. 'Do I look the same to you? Can you even see the blue flames dancing all around me?'
The old man had said that Yukio was human. Yukio shouldn't know. Rin doesn't want his brother involved –
"Father!", The younger twin finally noticed their adoptive father lying next to Rin. Rushing to their side, the younger fell to his knees, his eyes glued to the only father he ever knew. Rin feels his heart burning. It hurt. Rin has to say something,'after all, it's my fault.'
"I… I couldn't protect him…" His voice sounds dead. It matches how he feels right now. Rin closes his eyes, "I… he… I couldn't do anything and –, but I swear I tried!"
Suddenly, it's crucial for Yukio understands this. Rin has to make sure Yukio understands without telling him about this.
"He –"
"Nii-san, why do you look like this?", Yukio says before Rin, and it makes him freeze. The voice itself was calm, a little too quiet for someone who never saw a demon had the right to be. If Yukio is as freaked out about this as Rin is, it doesn't show.
And even if he had known about demons, which can't be the truth since the old man said he was human, there's no way this cold, closed off response is Yukio's reaction.
Rin knows his brother better than that. Yukio is mostly acting aloof at the moment. Most likely he's trying to keep a level head about all this, and it will be later, in his room that he will freak out, all by himself.
Rin wouldn't let him.
Still, the question fills Rin's body with fear again. He can see. He can see. Rin's about 95% sure that normal humans can't see demons – or maybe the rules are different for half-demons? – And they won't have that look in their eyes, a look that screamed resignation.
Rin has to wonder- 'Did the old man lie to me?'
Why else would his little brother be able to see his freakish appearance?! That has to be it - and it Hurts.
Rin's breaths start coming faster and faster, "you knew?!" he found himself whispering brokenly, "everyone but me knew," and now most of them are dead. The old man is gone - all because I'm a fucking demon.
"I could see from the moment we were born," Yukio's voice is cold, and his words are like knives driving deep into Rin's heart, "now tell me! Why do you look like this?!"
Why won't anyone tell me anything?! Why was he the only one kept in the dark?! Yukio knew! Is it because he couldn't see them? Is that what it takes? 'But seeing them was the worst thing that ever happened to me. Because I could see them because I have this power, the old man, the old man-'
Somehow, everything leads to the old man's death. Rin can't find it in him to start another argument with his twin.
"A demon attacked me," he forced himself to say, "and the old man saved me, but not before… those blue flames protected me from a heated metal poll," and how crazy that sounds, if anyone sane heard them, this would buy Rin a one-way ticket to the closest asylum.
Yukio keeps staring at him, at his tail and his ears, but he's also listening. Rin didn't know how much sense he was making, not much probably, but he decided he would keep on trying, "we ran after that, back here. He wanted me to run away. Packed my things for me" Rin takes a deep breath, "I- I wanted to know why…?" even now it sounds more like a question in his ears, then the sentence it was supposed to be.
"Why what?" Yukio's voice is calm. Cold. It made something in Rin snap.
Suddenly, in his mind, he was thrown back to that moment, when everything started to go wrong – and then they came back, those feelings — hot little vicious things, coiling in his chest, trying to chock him and leave him breathless. His hurt and his fury and his fear, are all suffocating him, and when he answered, he didn't know if it was to Yukio or himself.
"Why you didn't tell me before, about ALL of this? If I knew this wouldn't- just the important stuff, things about me, things that- it felt like dad didn't trust me. But I deserve to know!" Rin huffs "It's my life we're talking about, I wanted to know why he couldn't trust me, and I… when we were kids I got called a 'demon' all the times, and even now, to find out, like this… I got so angry! He was going to throw me away! Now! After I found out, and I wanted- no, I needed to know why – just why" Rin sighs, "when he answered I – I couldn't believe him. I'm still not sure that I do."
There was silence for a long time. The kind that feels like it can tear time apart and destroy everything in its' path.
He feels drained. There's no anger anymore, no rage or hurt left, just plain old sadness. It felt hollow and lacking.
Rin wipes away the tears. His flames are barely there now. There's no danger, so he doesn't need them. The tears fall from his eyes and all the way, through his cheeks, to his chin.
Another memory surfaced, and suddenly it was agony and not sadness that Rin felt.
"Yukio…" Rin was sobbing now. Clenching his body hard against his sword. "I said – I told dad – I told him that I…" he takes a deep breath, "I told him that he's not my father. To not dare to act like my father ever again! It was the last thing I said to him. He looked so hurt, but I didn't care. I guess I – and the worst part was, I meant it-"
SLAP!
Yukio looks enraged. So angry and insulted, so fucking hurt by the words, and suddenly, maybe it was the shock, but Rin starts laughing. Laughing so hard that his cheek stings, but he doesn't care. He hopes that Satan won't-
'NO!'
What if he does to Yukio the same thing he did to the old man?! 'What's wrong with me?!'
Rin stops laughing immediately, and his eyes grow wide. He turns to look at Yukio with a halted breath.
Yukio's looking at his twin brother. The demon had been laughing, but now it just seems like the younger was waiting for something to happen. Yukio doesn't know what for.
When Rin sees that nothing happens, he smiles thinly, "dad slapped me too after I said it," he explains, "it was then that Satan possessed him."
Rin didn't need to wait long for a horror-filled look to cross Yukio's face.
'He was waiting for me to get possessed!' Yukio understands. 'He was afraid. He's shaking, even now.'
"He's crazy, Satan, I mean. Batshit crazy. He used the old man's f-fingers to – to summon this Gate to the demon world. Yukio, he tore them right off, and he wanted to break my sword."
"I couldn't do anything. Satan was too fucking strong! Like a damn Super-Saiyan, only super crazy too. I never felt so weak in my life," Rin shudders, "nothing I did help. No one came when I called, no one" Rin wraps his hands around himself, "and then, the old man stabbed himself – I'm sure it was him."
"He was trying to protect you," Yukio says painfully, and Rin nods.
"Yes. Dad fell to the gate thingy too, and then Satan said, he said - Whatever the Gate touches, it never releases. That dad lost." Rin grits his teeth, "I tried calling for help again, but there was no one, and I couldn't get to the old man in time!"
"So you unsheathed Kurikara." Yukio finishes for him.
"I couldn't let him win!" Rin begs Yukio to understand, "if he won, dad would have died for nothing!"
"Rin…" Yukio turns to look at his brother thoroughly, and he seems sad, exhausted, and depressed, "father had died for nothing. You are a demon now."
Again with this demon stuff! Rin doesn't want to hear it. Dad died for him, to protect him! "I'm here! It wasn't –"
Yukio shakes his head, "Nii-san, you are not listening! You are a demon now! What do you think dad was? Why was he able to fight all those demons?"
Rin stares. What was he? What, no, who can slay demons? Rin knows the answer - Exorcists.
"He was an exorcist?" the older twin asks. Yukio nods. Good, his brother was thinking.
"And was he the only exorcist?" he leads on.
Rin thought back. No, his father was giving orders. The other guys… they are also...?
"Yes, Nii-san, they are," Yukio says softly, "and there are a lot more. They hunt demons. They kill them, you understand?"
'And I'm a demon now,' "are they going to kill me?" Rin asks fearfully. His heart starts beating faster. 'I'm not ready yet. I can't die before- before what? What do I have left to do?' Rin tries to answer the questions, yet finds nothing, 'I want to beat Satan, but I'm far too weak. And it's my fault that the old man is dead. And Satan said he needs my body to take over the world.' Maybe it would be better just to let them kill him?
"I'm not going to let them."
Rin looked up towards Yukio's eyes. 'I do have something to live for - Yukio, I have Yukio. As long as he needs me, I… can't die just yet.' A smile. A real, painful, hope-filled smile bloomed on the older twin's face before it turned sad again, "But… how? You said so yourself. They are exorcists and-"
"Because I am one too" comes the simple answer, "father had me trained from a young age to be one because I could see. I'm an exorcist Nii-san."
Rin looked at Yukio in shock. Since when…? How long has this been going on?
"But you said…" Rin was starting to get confused - exorcists kill demons, and Yukio is an exorcist, but Rin is a demon. So, by that logic, Yukio kills Rin. So why did he say, 'I'm not going to let them.', and how being an exorcist would help them save Rin?
"I guess you wouldn't know Nii-san, but sometimes an exorcist can take a demon as his familiar. There are two ways for that to happen – the first is a summoning cycle. The second, befriending a demon and forming a summon or a tamer relationship with them."
"Wha-?"
Rin didn't understand. At all. Summon? Tamer? What the hell was that? Can he eat that? And what's a familiar job in the first place?!
"Sorry, for a second I forgot I was talking to Nii-san," Yukio jabs playfully, making Rin puff his cheeks, "a demon who's completely loyal to a human, and does whatever his human tells him to is called a familiar. Exorcists don't kill familiars, so if you become my familiar, I will be able to protect you."
Rin halted, thinking.
"Would that mean I'll have to do my homework when you tell me to?" Rin shuddered in fear. Yukio smiled happily and nodded.
"And listen in class, not get into fights unless it's self-defense and study~" Yukio sing sang.
'I'm not sure who's scarier, Satan or Yukio.'
"Lots and lots of studies ~."
'Yukio. 100% Yukio.'
Rin finds himself smiling - 'And I would choose my little brother every time.'
"Rub it in, why don't you…", Rin grumbles half-heartedly.
"What was that?"
"I said fine. I'll be your damn familiar!"