A/N: I would like to preface this story by saying that I know no Japanese and very little about the culture. I discovered Blue Exorcist because I have an interest in demons and demonology, and it is my first experience in manga/anime. Rather than make a fool of myself or a mockery of anything else, I use exclusively English terms. However, I do speak German, so Mephisto may use more German than he would in canon. I promise to translate!
Every chapter of this story will begin with a flashback. In the main action, Rin and Yukio are fifteen. It follows (to a point) the action of the anime series. The flashbacks will give some insight into what is happening in the main action, but they will not happen in order. I will try to make it as clear as possible how old Rin is in each one.
Rin tipped his head back and glared at the sun. What right did it have to be happy and shining when the man he had thought was his father was dead? It was a funeral, so the weather should be rainy. That's how it always was in films.
His hat was hot and itchy. Rin wished he could take it off, but then everyone would see the pointed tips of his ears. His shirt was loose, though, so no one could see the tail he had wrapped around his belly.
The nine-year-old looked over at his brother, but Yukio just scowled and turned his head away. That hurt. Rin felt a new wave of tears well up, but he just wiped them away and knelt in front of the gravestone.
"I'm sorry, Shirou," he whispered. "I should have listened to you. I should have tried harder." He could still see the fire when he closed his eyes, a mix of yellow and unnatural blue.
The old man had warned him not to get in anymore fights, no matter what he saw, but he just couldn't help it. The two guys had looked like they were almost twenty and they had been beating up a little kid in glasses. He just had to jump in, because the kid had reminded him of Yukio, and Rin always stood up for Yukio.
Shirou had found him there, being roundly beaten by the two guys. Rin didn't really know what had happened next, but one of the guys had stabbed Shirou in the back. Something inside Rin had broken, and all he remembered was blue flames and screaming in pain.
Then Mephisto had appeared and told Rin to come with him if he wanted to live. So Rin ran with the strange man dressed like a clown, because Shirou told him to go. Shirou told him to leave him behind and live.
Rin missed Shirou. He missed Yukio, too. His little brother wouldn't talk to him anymore. He just glared, like he hated Rin more than anything else in the world.
"Little Brother." Rin wiped away more tears and looked up. Mephisto's colourful clothing seemed unnaturally bright in the cemetery, and he smiled kindly. "It's time to go."
Rin looked over at Yukio again, but Yukio walked away without looking at them. "Ok," he said sadly. He took Mephisto's hand and let him help him up and lead him out of the graveyard.
Maybe someday he would talk to Yukio and understand why his own twin brother seemed to hate him so much.
Rin sat in the shadows in a high corner of the cram school classroom. His tail swung freely below the heavy pipe he perched on. He watched the students gathering below him.
Three boys sat together at one table, two with colourful hair and one bald one. They interacted with the familiarity of long friends, but the one in the centre with the yellow streak was clearly the leader. He heard them call him 'Bon,' an honorific title.
Two other friends, both girls, sat together at another table. Rin didn't think the brown-haired one would last long, but her purple-haired friend was arrogant enough to go far. She also had tiny, stupid-looking eyebrows. Rin termed her Eyebrows, deciding it was better than any name she might have.
Two more sat by themselves. One was a boy with a puppet on his hand that he spoke quietly to. Rin disregarded him. The second was a figure in boy's clothes with a hood pulled down low, playing on a handheld game. Rin knew that aura well. It was Shura Kirigakure. No doubt she was there in case he or his elder brothers tried anything.
"Which are the ones Elder Brother told us about?"
Rin looked up at Amaimon, hanging from the ceiling with one hand. "Those." He pointed at the three boys.
Amaimon dropped to sit next to Rin. "Survivors of the Blue Night," he murmured. "They better not see you."
Rin smirked. "Good thing Satan taught me how to control my flames, then, right?"
"Do they pose a real threat to you?"
"I won't know until I see them in action."
"Would you like to me to create some excitement for you, Little Brother?" Amaimon asked, turning his big, curious eyes on Rin.
Rin sighed. "You'll do nothing, Amaimon," he ordered. "By the Gate, I should keep you on a chain."
Amaimon's big eyes went even wider and he vanished without a sound.
The door opened and Yukio walked in. His eyes seemed dull behind his glasses, and Rin could pick out at least three guns holstered in and beneath his coat.
"Pleased to meet you," he greeted. "I'm Yukio Okumura, your instructor for Anti-Demon Pharmaceutics."
A few students greeted him, but Rin could see most of them were wondering why he was so young.
"Now, I'm actually the same age as you all, but I've been studying to be an exorcist since I was seven and just passed my test two years ago. I think it best if you all just call me Mr Okumura though."
Rin reached into his pocket and took out the lollipop he had a feeling would be there. Amaimon liked leaving them in his pockets. If Rin didn't eat it, his brother would just take it back from him the next time he wanted one.
"To the first order of business," Yukio was saying. "Is there anyone here who has not received their Temptaint yet?" Three humans raised their hands, and Rin snorted. Such simple little people, wanting to be exorcists without even knowing the terror that was looking a demon in the eye at midnight.
Rin tuned out as Yukio explained the Temptaint ritual and about hobgoblins, the demons they would be calling up. He wrinkled his nose as Yukio uncorked a vial and the smell of rotten blood drifted back to him.
With a series of pops, half a dozen hobgoblins appeared in the room. They all turned to look at him, but Rin raised a finger to his lips and they turned back around. The little round demons sniffed and snuffled around the gathered would-be exorcists. The students jerked and twitched as the hobgoblins bit and scratched at their fingers and ankles.
One appeared with a little puff next to him. It wobbled, holding onto the pipe with one meaty fist and tapping the back of Rin's hand with the other. Rin smiled down at his brother's little familiar, taking the hobgoblin's hand.
"Hello, Behemoth," he whispered.
"Can everyone see them now?" Yukio asked. The few who needed the Temptaint still nodded. "Good."
Behemoth let out a whine as Yukio pulled out a gun and destroyed the other hobgoblins in the space of a heartbeat. He growled as more hobgoblins appeared, bigger and angrier, and Yukio demolished them too.
"Behemoth, no!" Rin hissed, but the hobgoblin was already gone, growling and swelling as he advanced on Yukio. "Amaimon's going to be mad," he muttered, but he knew his elder brother better than that. Amaimon would be happy his little familiar could cause chaos on its own.
Rin let out a put-upon sigh and leapt from the pipe, landing lightly on two feet between Yukio and Behemoth. He snapped two long knives out with a motion only demon eyes could follow. Yukio's guns clattered to the floor, released when Rin slapped the teen exorcist's hands with the flat of his blades and stunned the nerves.
"Not that one," Rin warned.
Yukio gasped, too stunned to even reach for another weapon. "Rin?"
Rin made an expression that somewhat resembled a smile. Yukio shuddered as he caught sight of long, sharp incisors. Rin ran the tip of his tongue over one, just to make sure Yukio knew what he was. "Yukio. Long time, no see."
"Why are you here?" Yukio demanded.
"In the cram school?" Rin twitched when Behemoth nibbled at the end of his tail. It reminded him of what Amaimon and Mephisto always told him: a gentleman never shows his tail.
Yukio's eyes followed the motion of his tail as he wrapped it around his waist. He scowled. "In Assiah," he spat. "The Vatican should have killed you years ago. I should have killed you."
"Years ago they might have let you," Rin replied casually. "Do it now, and you'll find yourself arrested for harming an ally of the Grigori."
"What?!"
Rin decided Yukio was shocked enough to not attempt to attack anymore. "Come here, Behemoth." Rin cradled the once-again-little hobgoblin in one arm. "Naughty little thing. You should have stayed in Gehenna." He ignored the gasps of the would-be exorcists. They had much to learn. "Come see the director when your class is over," he told Yukio.
"I will," Yukio promised, nearly growling.
"Good." Rin turned and walked toward the door. "I should return Amaimon's familiar to him. Try not to get carried away."