I love this anime, I love it very much, even though I'm a fan for only a week or so. I love Rin and all there is about him, but still, you gotta get irritated at least once at the total lack of reaction he gives his tail. For Christ's sakes, he acquired a freaking tail! Why wouldn't he be at least a little bit curious about it?

So yeah, if he wasn't going to wonder, then I'm going to do it for him :D Otherwise, this is a fairly boring fanfic, only to sate my curiosity and serve as a (VERY) late B-day present to one of my friends ^^;

Hope you like, and hope you all enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Ao no Exorcist/Blue Exorcist.

Title: Much Ado about a Tail
Genre: General
Pairings: None
Rating: K
Warnings: None
Words: 1291

It was a weird feeling. To have a tail, that is.

Tomorrow was the old man's funeral and right now Rin would have loved to think of anything else but that. Yet he was alone in his room, left by the others to have some time to himself and by all accounts, there was nothing else to do but to reminisce. So he grabbed the best distraction he could find, and that was his tail.

A tail. He had a freaking tail. It was still hard to wrap his mind around that. Actually, forget the tail, he wasn't even human anymore. He now spouted pointy ears, sharp teeth and whenever he unsheathed that sword of the old man's, blue flames would engulf him. And they didn't hurt him at all. He was a demon. The son of Satan. A prediction come true by all the people ever scared of him, and an enemy to every exorcist out there.

He should probably call that number the old man had given him, as soon as possible. He really should, but he still wasn't quite sure what was up and what was down at the moment, and he'd like some time to sort it out. Maybe in front of the old man's grave he would have an epiphany as to how to proceed.

Ugh, he was back to thinking about it. He buried his head in the pillow and groaned in irritation. God spare him and give him a distraction!

A thump on the wall and a shock through his body gave him a start. He jerked, filled with sensation from a place that hadn't before existed and looked back at the cause of the commotion.

His tail stopped midway in its wild swaying, just an inch from the wall it had thumped into earlier. It curled for a moment, reflecting Rin's obvious shock about it, then started moving lightly from side to side again as surprise melted into curiosity.

Finally taking the bait, Rin rolled onto his back and quickly jerked into a sitting position when the place at the end of his spine was aggravated. His tail immediately sprang up from its confined position to slash angrily through the air, consequently thumping the wall again and making the boy flinch. It seemed to only spur the appendage into wilder movements, so he grabbed it out of the air before it could cause him anymore shocks. He held it firmly down in his lap.

It was weird that out of all the changes (sans the discovery that he was the son of the big man himself, nothing could trump that), the most disturbing wasn't his new feral appearance, but the tail that came with it. Because, even though he would have to bear with the new look he would see in the mirror for the rest of his life, and even though he would have to be careful not to bite through his tongue accidentally, nothing compared to the sensation of having an appendage you hadn't had before.

Even now, as he lightly stroked the twitching tail, he was amazed at the ability to feel it, as if it was nothing else but the skin on say, his hand. The whole of it was covered in a layer of short hair, just enough to make it seems black from all sides. Running his fingers along them gave him a soothing feeling, while the other way sent tremors down his spine he wasn't comfortable with. It had a shiny quality to it, as if well groomed by nature.

It was also warm, not any different from the rest of his body. The only real difference was its coloring and that, well, it was a tail, and Rin thought he would do well without ever checking the spot it grew out of. The sight just might overload his scale of weirdness (even though it was already precariously tipped).

The boy ran his hands, half-enclosed into fists, across the whole length of the appendage, his eyelids dropping halfway at the contentment it left him in. He repeated the action several more times, each time getting just a bit more used to it, yet marveling at its sensitivity anew and anew. He tried imagining how it would feel if someone yanked at it, and instinctively his tail jerked out of his grip at the horrifying thought. Okay, so he would have to be careful never to encounter such a situation. He had a feeling he wouldn't like it at all.

He snatched it again out of the air, this time by the tuft of long hairs on the end of it. This part wasn't nearly as sensitive as the rest of it, but he could still feel it being grabbed at, as if someone was holding him tightly by his hair. The hairs were softer there, not as coarse as the short ones, and out of curiosity he brought it to his nose and wiggled a bit.

He sneezed. His tail jerked indignantly at the sudden sound, and he let it free. A small grin appeared on his face. That was fun.

Amused, Rin watched the appendage wave at him from behind, stopping periodically as his thoughts shifted back and forth. With a sudden clarity he realized how much it actually helped him calm down. Having something to slash around with when you were angry or agitated certainly served as a stress relief, and feeling the very air flowing around said object's every hair was much of a distraction as well. It was also nice when before he had wanted to curl into himself and forget everything, and the tail, his tail, had wrapped around him in an attempt to make that happen. Of course, at the time it had more freaked him out than helped him, but it had still been a nice sensation.

Unfortunately, the memory of that brought him back to the dilemma that caused it all, and the smile on his face slipped as quick as his tail dropped to the bed. Per his subconscious demand, it sneaked across the covers (the feeling of the material making him shiver) to curl gently around his crossed legs, the tip twitching in and out of sight behind his right foot.

Sighing, he closed his eyes for a moment and then glanced at the alarm clock. His eyes widened and tail flicked at the early morning hours it displayed and with surprise he noted he had spent precious sleep-time on trying not to think about a certain event tomorrow… err, today.

Groaning, he fell back onto the bed (this time managing to ignore the confined feeling that gave his tail) and rolled onto his side to turn out the light. His appendage felt happy at the freedom it was given back and, as he pulled up the covers in an attempts to get at least some sleep this night, it curled contentedly around his waist, drawing more warmth from his stomach.

It was certainly a weird feeling, Rin thought as he curled into a position not unlike a cat, and it would certainly be a right pain trying to keep it hidden by confining it all day in his pants, but it was also strangely freeing, this new addition to his appearance. Like coming home to something he didn't know was missing, gaining a balance to his steps he didn't know he'd lacked.

'Well, whatever,' he thought. He had some sleep to catch up on, a tongue to keep from being bitten through, and a funeral to attend to in a few hours time.

Damn, the funeral. His tail twitched in agitation. There goes the little sleep he might have had.