YO! This is AoL speaking here.

For readers: I had to make certain changes in the story, so I suggest that you go ahead and peruse chapter 7 and 8. This message was put here for those who didn't look at the end note of Chapter 8.

Chapter 9: Second Blue Night II

Pride had returned from his recon mission only to hear disturbing noises.

Someone was groaning...

He focused himself back into the child-like body that he owned and walked towards the corner of the cave that his family members were surrounding.

Ichigo groaned.

Then there was a crack. There was a harsh retort that followed it. And then more groans and moans.

Then another crack.

"Will ... you .. stop ... doing that?" Ichigo shouted angrily.

"It's not my fault!"

At that moment, a black-haired beauty barked furiously at the black-haired Immortal, who laid on top of her operation table with his chest wide open and his ribs sawed off temporarily.

The operation?

Reorganize the crystalline structure of the heart before his "blood" goes and infects animals, turning them into monsters.

"Why the hell did you try something like that?"

"I had to! Lust was dying!

"So? You can always resurrect her afterwards! She doesn't have a kuruk and essentially a part of you!" she growled as she "accidentally" jabbed at his heart, causing him to groan.

This was Kurosaki Karin.

This requires a very detailed explanation.

This was Karin's alternate Karin.

The end.

Very detailed, yes?

That was a joke.

Yes, she was Kurosaki Karin, but it was this Earth and this reality's Karin. She was older in this reality than she had been in his reality on 2012 A.D.

Significantly older, but it would be a bad idea to openly tell her.

"There!" she yelled she released the clamps that held his ribs back. Ichigo groaned as his ribs slowly moved back to their position, much like an old door that hadn't been oiled properly. But even before the ribs were together, his unlimited power was quick to get started on his regeneration. "Now, I know that you've done what you did because it was an emergency. However, that was very risky... Not to mention how drastically it affected your Curses."

Ichigo groaned as his body finished healing itself. Then he slowly sat up and numbly felt his chest and abdomen with his hand. "Good as new...?" he muttered before he grabbed a button-up shirt from nearby and put it on.

"No, not quite," Karin said as she quietly held out her scalpels against his cheek. He looked at her and scowled. "One-third of your heart still needs healing; your organic regen is much faster than your crystalline and other inorganic regen for obvious reasons."

"Take that thing out of your mouth," he hissed as he grabbed the cigarette in her mouth and tossed it aside.

"Hey!" she complained, thrusting the scalpels further towards his neck and face. "Do you want me to cut you up?"

"Che," Ichigo spat before he jumped off the table and walked away from her.

"Stop treating me like a kid!" she shouted as he disappeared into the darker side of the cave.

"You are still a kid," he replied before his foot left the light and his figure disappeared completely into the darkness.

She watched him disappear, and only when he did she began to curse him out.

Pride shrugged at the sight of it. It was a usual occurrance in the family.

About fifteen years ago, Ichigo had adopted Kurosaki Karin, who was then called Vienna. He raised her up and taught her many things like physiology, physics, chemistry... And with all those training, Karin became the unofficial surgeon of the family.

Of course, if an outsider looked at the family, then they would scoff at the surgeon. In a family of superhumans, why was a surgeon required?

They were all superhuman, yes. However, everyone, aside from Wraths and Envy, disliked using their power to heal bones and other inorganic materials, for it costed more in terms of power and pain. The surgeon as Karin was provided a more stable means of regeneration through surgery and medication. It was much slower, yes, but the inorganic material tended to be in better condition. Besides, Greed thought as he approached Karin from behind. The difference is only a day or so.

He put his hand-.

Karin whirled around with her fist incoming at high speed, and his face and her fist slammed.

Greed literally flew across the cave.

"Don't touch me, you old pervert," she hissed at him.

Lust only raised an eyebrow. "Karin, it is unbecoming of you to do something like that."

"But he's a pervert!" she replied.

"Tell me something I don't know. But that fact does not excuse you from a lady's code of behavior!"

While the two argued about the code of lady's behavior, Greed slowly recovered and got the hell out of the cave, lest Lust give him a lecture about code of gentleman's behavior.

So after the surgery, the tense atmosphere disappeared, replaced by the normal crazy yet welcoming shout, laughter, and smiles of the family.

-W-

Harry Potter sighed. He was tired, yes; the rigorous teaching method that this school employed on its students made Hogwart's curriculum look like shit. Yes, he was tired, but he was also worried and homesick. True Cross Academy had become a home-away-from-home, but he still longed to be in Hogwarts. The urge was small but consistent. Then he set those thoughts aside and began to clean his gun again. It was a Steyr TMP, a fully automatic pistol that was also classified as a submachine gun. Its black plastic "hull" hid a lethal set of mechanism underneath. When he chose the gun to be his weapon during a tour with Father Fujimoto in True Cross Order's armory, Fujimoto told him that it was a good choice. Unlike the original, it had a recoil shock absorber, which drastically reduced the recoil but at the same time, increased the weight of the gun. But despite the weight increase, Fujimoto said that it was better to have less recoil, since beginners handling weapons would not be able to withstand the recoil for long during training. Harry took that as both a compliment and a comment. He was a beginner, even after all these years in the Order. That was no good, but it had to start that way.

Harry sighed as he set the black gun quietly on the wooden desk where a small desk lamp lit the room dimly.

The soft thud stirred Ron awake. He rubbed both of his eyes while trying to sit up on the bed. "What time is it?"

Harry looked at the clock at the corner of the desk. "1:02."

Ron grumbled before he went back into the blanket.

Harry chuckled lightly.

Next morning, Harry and his gang were sweeping through their books and bags. Why?

Mid-term.

"I give up!" Harry shouted in English before he let himself fall backward slowly on his chair. Then just before he tipped over, he used his foot as a leverage on the desk to push himself forward.

"You're not going to take the test?" Ron asked in English.

"No, no. I am taking the test! But this is ridiculous!"

Hermoine sighed when she looked at the two. "You should've been working on those assignment. I have. See?" she said as she waved her stack of lined papers. There were writings all over it, and a lot of mathematical and logical work, charts, and diagrams.

"When?" Ron asked. Unlike Harry, who had absolutely ignored the paperwork, Ron had done some of it, and thus the work was not as pressing it was to him as to Harry.

"When both of you were on the training fever."

Which was ... a month ago when they got their first weapons.

"...Ah," Ron muttered before turning his attention back to his share of work.

Harry groaned. He knew that these paperwork was important, but he hated it. There was so much stuff that he didn't understand. Still didn't understand despite the fact that he's been at it for at least most of the first semester! He let his head droop and sighed. Was there really no way to do something about this?

Then with a slam, the classroom door flew open and everyone jumped in their seat.

Yukio slowly walked in, his face pale and gaunt, as if he had seen some sort of nightmare. Everyone stared at him, his unusual behavior, and his unusual looks. He stood in front of the class. "No test. No paperwork," he said and then walked out. While the classroom burst into cheers, Harry was curious as to why Yukio just abruptly cancelled both the papers and the exams. So he went after the guy. Ron and Hermoine remained behind, though Hermoine was slightly thrown off by the no test and Ron was just happy to have heard what the entire class heard. Harry opened the door and went out, closing it behind him. Then he chased after Yukio, who had over a rather short time, walked quite far away from the classroom. When Harry caught up to Yukio, Harry was shocked to see tears coming down his cheeks. "What happened?"

"...Father's dead."

Harry stopped, fearing that he had heard something wrong.

"What?" he said.

"Father's dead..." Yukio repeated as he shed more tears.

Harry stumbled backward a little, recoiling from the shock. "W-What happened? Did he die to a -?"

Yukio shook his head. "Satan possessed him. Father's b...body ... couldn't hold itself together.. and he died."

Satan.

The once archangel and the right hand of God.

The fallen angel?

THAT Satan?

Harry blinked, unable to think or act. Father Fujimoto had been close to him, not because he was a foreigner in constant need, but because Fujimoto helped him become stronger. Then when the fact that Fujimoto died hit home, he shed a tear. The two stood there, mourning for someone they cared for and looked up to.

The next day, he and Yukio attended Father Fujimoto's funeral.

It was raining and while he, Yukio, and most of the attendees used umbrella to shield themselves, there was a boy, about his own age, who did not. He looked very similar to Yukio but at the same time, very distinct from Yukio's own appearance. He had sharp ears, almost pointy, and his teeth, which showed every time he grinned to stop himself from crying, was jagged.

When the funeral attendees left, he and Harry were left, staring at the grave.

"...Are you a Okumura?"

Rin looked at him with lifeless eyes. Then he turned his slumped head back at the grave. "Yes..."

"I see..." Harry replied.

"..." Rin watched the grave. There was nothing he wanted to do. He wanted to say sorry. Sorry because he had done something stupid. Sorry because he had exposed his father to Satan. Sorry that he couldn't save him.

"Well, I don't want to do anything about this scene right now, but you gotta answer my question, Okumura Rin." Both Harry and Rin looked up to Mephisto... and his colorful outfit. They also noticed that they were surrounded by a ring of exorcists. At least Harry did. To Rin, they were just man in black. Harry looked at Rin to see his reaction. Rin was glaring at them. Well, it was closer to staring, but there was fair amount of determination, hate, and sorrow within that stare to make it a glare. But the glare was not directed at the men and Mephisto surrounding them.

"Ah, you were still here, Mr. Potter!" Mephisto exclaimed as he twirled the umbrella in his hand. Despite its outlandish looks -instead of spanning out, it was shaped more like a dome curving inward from the bottom in- the said object was doing quite a fine job in keeping rain from drenching the Headmaster of True Cross Academy.

"Yes, Headmaster Mephisto... But may I know what is about to happen here?" Harry asked.

Mephisto nodded vaguely. "You see that boy beside you, Harry? Yes, him. He's Satan's son."

Somewhere not too far away, Yukio sneezed and wondered why.

Rin cringed, confirming to everyone who he was.

"So what if I am?" Rin shouted. "It's not like I wanted to be Satan's son!"

Mephisto raised an eyebrow. "Whether you want it or not, the fact that you are his son possesses a threat against us," he said. "And if possible, we'll make your death painless."

"Death?" Harry shouted. "Wait, you're not going to kill him!" It wasn't a question but a statement.

"It's not a matter of my choice, Mr. Potter; the Grigory ordered me to."

Harry stood between Mephisto and Rin, surprising both of the half demons. "I won't let you," he said and as he dropped the umbrella, he pulled out

Ever since he came to us, Mephisto thought. The boy has been growing a lot of guts. It's evident to everyone who knew him. Before, when he would run first and get the thinking going later, but now, he would hold his ground, think rapidly, strategize and act out his plan... A very dangerous boy. I wonder who his father was.

"Let me be a exorcist!"

Everyone, including Harry, looked at him.

"I want to fight him!"

"Satan? Are you mad?" one of the men asked. "He's just trying desperately to live-."

"The path of an exorcist is a very harsh one. Once you take that path, you will be stained. You will never be able to leave that path. You will always be somehow attached to it."

"I don't care," Rin said as he drew his sword. With a swipe, he pulled the sword out and his tail appeared as well as the two blue flames on top of his head. "I will defeat Satan!"

Everyone watched in shock.

Was this boy crazy?

He's insulting us...

"He's funny."

That phrase was unexpected, even to Rin and Harry, who expected some kind of response along the line of "Okay. You're in."

"Alright then."

Rin stared at Mephisto numbly. "Really?"

"Yeah."

"Well... that's kind of good to hear," Rin said as he sheathed his sword, sealing both his flames.

But awkwardly, his tail remained.

"It looks like your a step closer to becoming a half demon, though," Mephisto said as he walked away.

Rin swayed his tail side to side.

"F**************K~~~~~~~!"

"Just wrap it around your waist to hide it," Harry suggested. Suddenly, the dramatics died away. Rin did so. And smiled sheepishly.

"Heh heh..."

-W-

Half way around the world, Ichigo cursed just after Pride disappeared with his message.

The South American Branch of True Cross Order, situated somewhere in Brazilian jungle, was overrunned by the demons. As to who led them is a mystery, even to Pride, since the commander of the demons left before anyone could identify him.

"Casualties?" Ichigo asked.

"Three hundred humans," Pride said. "That's only the casualties from the Order. The bystander count is almost several thousand."

Ichigo slammed his fist unto the table.

"...Send the older Wrath to dispatch them."

Pride nodded and disappeared.

Ichigo was stressed out to the max. Humans were constantly bugging him for help, demons were running around, and he still didn't have a solution to this near-Rapture fiasco. He was sure that this was not going to be THE Rapture, but it come close. But even that, Ichigo was not sure about.