Disclaimer: I do not own Blue Exorcist or its related characters. Such is the property of Kato Kazue, Shonnen Jump, and Funimation. I'm just borrowing them for some non-profit entertainment.

(A/N: This story was originally a oneshot titles "Wondering". No sooner had I posted it, however, than I decided maybe I wanted to extend it into a full blown story instead. So, I changed the title, turned the oneshot into the first chapter and used the oneshot title as the chapter title. Sorry if you end up rereading something you've already read or get frustrated. But I hope you enjoy.)

Shadow of Maybe

Chapter One: Wondering

"Its not a bad idea."

"What's not?" Yukio didn't look up from his desk when he asked. He was used to Rin blurting things out randomly as if they were in the middle of a conversation. If he wanted Yukio to know then he would elaborate, if it was a private conversation with himself then he wouldn't. It was as simple as that. Besides, Yukio had more pressing things to worry about than his brother's arbitrary outbursts.

It wasn't that long since the debacle on the Academy roof. And while he had resumed his position and duties as an exorcist, Rin returned to his studies, and everything else around them seemed to have settled back into business as usual, Yukio was still waiting for the other shoe to fall. The Gregori were restored and trying to put together a picture for what happened. Once they were satisfied with whatever accounts they managed to put together, they would come to a decision about him and Rin and Yukio had a bad feeling that it would not be in their favor.

"Just something you said while you were possessed by Satan. Or, I guess something Satan said while he was possessing you." Rin elaborated. He said it so casually. Laying on his bed, starring up at the ceiling, gently stroking Kuro whom was curled up contentedly on his chest. He looked perfectly relaxed, his statement having the tone of a comment on the weather and not the blasphemous suggestion that it was.

"Excuse me!?" Yukio shot to his feet, knocking his chair over in the process. He stood over Rin's bed, starring down at his brother as if he'd just grown a second head. "How can you say that!?"

Rin paused in stroking Kuro, moving the cat sidhe off himself so that he could sit up. "Its something I've been thinking about. What Satan was trying to do -combine Gehenna with Assiah- I thought about it the other day on the bridge when we were fighting that thing that kept possessing cars and trucks. And then when I look back on what we were being made to do after Ernst took over the order." He explained. "You were so intent on destroying the spirit possessing those trunks you didn't even want to consider finding out what made it a malicious spirit and actually exorcising it. And then back when everyone was hunting demons indiscriminantly… Hell, Yukio! You even pulled your gun on Kuro!"

At the mention of that, the small cat sidhe looked up at him with wide golden eyes but said nothing.

Yukio avoided the cat's eyes and instead focused on his brother. "What does any of that have to do with Satan's plan to combine the worlds?"

"Until a second ago, nothing." Rin admitted. "But I've ben wondering why everyone seems to hold the idea that all demons are inherently evil just because they're demons. Kuro's not bad."

'Yeah!' The sidhe chimed in, readjusting his position on the bed.

"Niether are Kamiki's foxes or Shiemi's baby greenman. We're not evil either. Hell! Even the Academy's director is a demon! He's a little shady some times, but I don't think he's evil either. Its just… there seems to be a lot of discrimination going on that no one else seems to even notice! I didn't even notice it until recently. But it got me thinking 'why?' Why all the hate and distrust for anything even remotely demonic for no other reason other than the fact that it is demonic?"

With a sigh, Yukio flopped down on the bed next to him. Kuro glared at the disturbance and jumped off the bed to leave the brothers to their conversation. He would continue his nap elsewhere.

"Its the age old cliche." Yukio explained. "People fear what they don't understand and what they fear they seek to destroy."

Rin nodded as if he were the teacher and Yukio the student whom had just given the answer he wanted. "And that got me thinking why demons are so poorly understood. They've been around since, like, forever. So why don't we understand demons any better now than we did back in the Dark Ages? I think its because they're from a completely different world from us. They come from a place we can't even imagine and so we couldn't possibly guess what its like to be them. There's no way to empathize with something you can't even begin to guess about and if you can't empathize with them, you can put forth the effort to get to know it better -or even tolerate it for that matter. I think that's the problem. The reason for all the intolerance towards demons. They're not from around here, so they must be bad."

Yukio did not want to admit it out loud. He did not want to encourage this train of thought. Especially since he already knew that it lead Rin to the conclusion that Satan's plan 'wasn't a bad idea'. But, even so, he had to admit that that did make a sort of logical sense. It was xenophobia plain and simple. They're not from around here, so they can't be trusted. All anyone had to do was look back on human history, any country, any culture, any time period, to see that this was a common and reoccurring trope of the human condition.

"So then that got me thinking, what if that weren't an issue?" Rin continued. "What if we lived in a world where there was no Gehenna or Assiah and demons and humans walked the world together? Its not actually a bad idea. Satan went about it the wrong way. I'm not arguing that. There's no excuse for his actions. His methods are evil. But put that aside for a sec and just think about what he was trying to do. No Assiah, no Gehenna. Just one world. Its not a bad idea."

In theory, it really didn't sound all that terrible. But not all demons were friendly and helpful like Kuro, or Shiemi's greenman. Most demons, even if not directly malicious towards humans, were still dangerous to them. Take the coal tars for example. They were ambivalent, not malevolent, but not benevolent by any means either. They didn't mean people any ill will. But they were creatures of rot, possessing fungi, mold, and other microbial spores. Even without meaning to, they could cause an otherwise healthy person serious, even fatal harm. This was made all the more apparent by the swarm of coal tars that erupted out of the Gehenna Gate that Satan tried so hard to protect.

"Your idea sounds nice." Yukio admitted. "But it just isn't real. It neither would nor could work. Its not just a mater of culture shock, Niisan. Demons and humans are just to different from one another."

Demons and humans just could not coexist.

"And what about us?" Rin flicked his brothers newly pointed ear. Since the incident, Yukio's demonic abilities had finally awakened. He gained pointed ears and a tail, and could now hear Kuro's voice and understand other demons that were incapable of human speech. "We're neither demon nor human. Where do we fit in?"

Yukio bit back the automatic and bitter response of 'we don't'. Instead he said, "I don't know. We might not have a place. But we can't can't be worrying about that right now. The Gregori still haven't made up their minds about us. After the part I played in everything, I can't imagine their decision turning out to good for us. So, for right now, Niisan, no more talk of Satan having good ideas and demons living hand and hand with humans, okay?"

"T'ch. Yeah, okay." Rin scoffed but agreed all the same.

Thinking that was the end of it, Yukio stood back up. Picking up his fallen chair, he once again sat down at his desk.

Rin sprawled back on his bed, arms behid his head. Once again staring at the ceiling in thought. "Those sure were a lot of coal tars…"

"Yeah…" Yukio agreed. More out of reflex than anything else.

"I wonder how many people got Temptaints that night…?"

That was an excellent question. And much more deserving of thought than the idea of combining the worlds. When the gate was opened, and the swarm of coal tars emerged, how far did they reach? All of Japan? Beyond Japan? China? Korea? Russia? The Philippines? Farther east? Midway? Hawaii? How many people now carried Temptaints and could see demons? Enough to bring their secret war out into the open? And if the rest of the world now knew of demons, exorcists, and their constant battle, how would the Vatican handle it?

Thanks to that night, the world was changing. What it was changing into, however, was another question entirely.

…