I have wanted to do a multi-chapter Blue Exorcist fic for a while now. I just wasn't sure what I wanted to do. And then I wound up starting this during my trip home for New Year's, where there was no Internet. This isn't intended to be a very long series—three chapters at the very least. In fact, I'm wondering if I'll even update it past the first chapter. Well, let's get this train wreck started.
Disclaimer: Blu Rose doesn't own the Blue Exorcist series. She only owns this fic.
Series summary: The approaching death of Rin's sickly wife leads to his son dealing with a demon who ensures unhappy people a happy death in exchange for their soul. Can he protect them both, or do they even want his protection?
Chapter summary: Kazuki Okumura's sickly mother, the one person in his family he considered closest to normal, starts to tell him a story about a girl who made a shady deal for happiness.
X-X-X
Die Happy
#1: A Story of a Girl
"How was your birthday?"
"I wouldn't know. I didn't stay."
"Kazuki."
15-year old Kazuki Okumura, the spitting image of his father at that age, sucked his teeth in disdain and looked out the window. "I told him I didn't want a party, or presents, or cake, and he didn't listen to me—as usual."
"You know it was only his way of trying to make you feel better and get your mind off of things."
Kazuki continued to frown and leaned in closer towards the hospital bed. "That's like saying it's the thought that counts when you give someone you know has cat allergies a kitten for a gift. And anyway," his hand took hold of his mother's as he continued, "nothing could make me not think of you. Especially not that dumb old man." He leaned back. "It's not fair… Why are you the one who has to…? Why can't it be him? It oughta be him."
His mother smiled. "You know you don't mean that."
"Don't say that! I know myself more than anyone else!" Kazuki snapped. "…C-can I just read you this week's Jump? I don't wanna talk about him anymore."
"Actually, I want to save that for a little later. Right now, I want to tell you a story."
Kazuki arched an eyebrow. "A…story? Are…are you really up to it?"
"I know myself more than anyone else, too," she said with a smile. "Will you please listen?" The boy nodded timidly. His mother took a deep breath. "Alright then. Once upon a time, in a little town in the country of an island just off the coast of Japan, there was a girl. The people of the town feared and hated the girl because she was cursed. The girl was cursed because her family was cursed. The family was cursed because many, many years ago, their ancestor performed a sinister ritual. They starved a dog and trapped its demonic spirit into servitude—an inugami, they call it. In exchange for food, the inugami did its master's bidding, no matter how foul. Money, land, and even women—it would give its master whatever they desired. As its master's family grew and he passed away, the inugami began to serve whichever of his descendants it wanted. Some used its power for selfish and greedy purposes, others didn't. But all fed it, because starving the demon would cause it to kill its master and set it loose to ravage the land."
"Poor puppy… Wait, I thought this was a story about a girl?" Kazuki asked, staring at his mother in confusion.
"I'm getting there! So, the girl was hated because of her family's history as inugami owners. She had no friends, except maybe the inugami, and her mother, who was the most recent master of the inugami. And then, one day, the most miraculous of things happened…the cutest guy in her class talked to her!"
Her son stared at her apathetically. "If this is going to turn out to have a plot outta Shojo Beat…"
"It's not! Anyway, long story short: cute boy talks to cursed girl, says he thinks she's pretty and asks her out. Cursed girl is thrilled because all she wanted was to be a normal girl, and normal girls went out on dates with boys. But when she went out with him, he…she…" Kazuki's mother sighed and rubbed her eye. "I can't put this delicately, so forgive me if this disgusts you, honey: the cute boy raped the cursed girl while his friends recorded her being sexually demeaned," she spoke flatly.
Kazuki stared in surprise at her. "WHAT?! You were—?!"
"I wasn't raped! I said a cursed girl was!" The mother held her hand over her mouth as she began to cough. After a few seconds, she stopped and began running a hand through her hair. "Anyway, when the entire thing was revealed to the town, things became twisted around to make it seem that the girl was the villain who used dark magic or something to seduce some poor boys into doing perverse things. The girl's mother did not take that kindly. So she sicced the inugami on them. One boy was horribly scarred from bites and scratches, another was mauled in such a manner that he became paralyzed, and the cute boy responsible for stealing the cursed girl's virginity had been driven insane and put in an insane asylum. A dark part of the cursed girl was happy to be avenged, but another part of her was sad that it had to happen."
"Why? They were bastards and deserved worse than what they got." As his mother sighed, Kazuki stared at her intensely. "Has… Does Dad know?"
"About some stranger he doesn't know getting raped? No. Moving on, sometime after the girl had been avenged, her mother died—found dead in a river, supposedly of drowning. Some people said it was the inugami that killed her, others said it was probably someone connected to the boys who were her victims. The daughter thought that maybe…she did it to herself because she couldn't live with what she had done, or the people in town who hated her, or the stigma of being an inugami's owner. And after a while, she started to feel that way herself."
Kazuki opened his mouth to say something, but quickly closed it again. "…Wh-what happened then?"
"Well, she was going to jump off of the bridge and into the river to hopefully drown when something disturbing happened: fire. Lots of fire. In the air. Everywhere around her. And then a man appeared before her from the fire. So she screamed bloody murder because after her experience, anything of the humanoid male persuasion scared her, and being on fire made him worse. Burning man says: 'Don't die with pain and regret. An angel has arrived to save you.'"
Kazuki scoffed. "Angels don't exist. They're just like gods. There's only demons."
"Exactly, but the cursed girl, who didn't have any knowledge regarding demons outside of her cursed dog, believed what he said, and burning man was convinced that he was angelic. He introduced himself as Avnas, an angel seeking to regain his place in heaven by helping those with misfortunes to die happy. In exchange, he took the souls of those he helped upon their death. That was his offer to her: 'I'll make you happy to be alive up to the moment you die, and then your soul is mine.'
'What's the difference how I die?' she asked.
Burning man says 'Die with regrets and you'll become a ghost like your dog. Become a ghost and eventually you'll envy the living. Envy will turn to hate. Hate will turn to violence. Then you'll be the monster everyone says you are. But die happy and that won't happen.'
'Then I'll just make myself happy,' she told him. And that made him laugh. Do you know why, Kazuki?"
The teenager shrugged. "I dunno. He probably said 'if it were easy to die happy, why are you going to kill yourself?' or something…"
His mother nodded. "Exactly. Then he went on to say 'I could let you have whatever it is you think will make your life happier. You want money? Fame? Love? Friends? I can give you all that if you think it will make you feel better.' You know what the cursed girl asked for? All she wanted was her mother back, because that was the only human in the world who cared that she existed. But of course, Avnas said it wasn't possible: her soul had moved on and her body was cremated—nothing to bring back at all. But if it was about being alone, he was more than happy to become a guardian angel in the most literal of senses. He even went the distance, changing his shape to something more womanly to make the cursed girl more comfortable about their living arrangement."
Kazuki stared in confusion. "You—! I mean, she lived with a demon?"
"Who knows why she agreed to it? Maybe it was because she was stupid enough to think Avnas was an angel, or she was vulnerable and lonely, and she was always desperate for human contact…well, humanoid contact."
The teenage boy continued to stare at his mother. "How? Why? You of all people…! I thought you were the normal one in our family, but you're no different…" Kazuki spoke dejectedly. "Does Dad know about this? He'll flip if he doesn't…"
"Why would I tell him about a stranger? I figured you'd like to hear my story."
Kazuki groaned and held a hand over his eyes. "Mom… Be honest to me." He lowered his hand. "You're the cursed girl who lived with a demon."
"No, I'm not."
"I won't be mad at you if you say the truth! I'll understand, because…because if it was me, I'd have done the same!" Before his mother could reply, a beeping noise sounded in his jeans pocket. He pulled out a cell phone and stared at it in disdain. "Dad's calling. I thought he gave up already…" Kazuki looked at his mother and held her hand. "You don't want me to leave yet, do you?"
"You should go home before Dad gets worried. I'll be here tomorrow. And I can tell you the rest of my story."
"…Yeah. Sure. If it'll make you feel better." Kazuki got up from his seat and gave his mom a kiss on the cheek. "I'll just read you this week's Jump next time."
His mother smiled brightly. "I'd really like that."
X-X-X
Kazuki opened the front door of his house with one hand, the other grasping the comic magazine he bought along to read to his mother. Not bothering to announce his presence, he quietly closed the door behind him and began to make his way up the stairs. He wasn't even halfway up to stairs before a voice called out, "Kazuki." The teenager sighed and turned around to see his father, Rin Okumura, standing at the bottom of the stairs. His loose hair had been pinned up with a hairpin and he was wearing an apron over his clothes. "Where the hell have you been?!"
"I was visiting Mom."
"You couldn't tell me that?! I've been calling you nonstop since you left—which was rude, by the way, to your family! What sort of person runs out on their own birthday party?!"
Kazuki sighed and rubbed his temples. "The sort of person who didn't want a party in the first place. I told you I didn't want to do anything for my birthday, but as usual, you ignored me and did the opposite of what I wanted."
"You never said that to me!"
"Yes, I did! Ugh, just forget it!" The teenager snapped as he turned around and resumed going up the stairs. Or he would've if his father hadn't managed to come up, grab him, and carry him off to the dining area downstairs. Of course, it wasn't like Kazuki didn't try to break free, but despite his appearance, his father could probably beat up professional bodybuilders three times his size with ten times his muscle mass.
Rin sat Kazuki down at the table, directly in front of a cake. The phrase 'Happy Birthday!' had been written in frosting above a cartoonish face that appeared to be the birthday boy. The son glared at the cake while his father began placing candles on it. There was just enough space for both the message and the drawing remained unmarred by any candles to Rin's delight. He lit the candles, then clapped his son on the back. "Alright, now make a wish! Sooner you blow 'em out, the sooner the cake gets cut!"
"…I hate cake."
"…Fine. You don't have to eat the cake. Just make a wish." Kazuki took a deep breath and blew out the candles. He stood up abruptly and began to leave when his father grabbed him by the shoulder. "Wait a second! What'd you wish for?"
"I wish Mom was here instead of you." After saying that, the teenager hurried upstairs and left his father staring at a wall sadly.
X-X-X
"Alright… That's the last of 'em." Rin gave a breath of relief as he wrapped up the last piece of sliced cake in foil paper. He figured that he may as well give some of the cake to those who bothered to come to the party—a way of saying 'I'm sorry for the crappy behavior of my son'. The blue-haired man growled under his breath as made his way over to the table, the tail behind him curling up in irritation. He looked at the hunk of cake that remained for his family, staring hard at the smiling face made in the frosting. "…I wasn't in the wrong here," he muttered as he picked up the plate the cake was on and walked over to the fridge. "Even if he didn't want a party, he could've respected the trouble I went through for this instead of running off like that!" He opened the fridge and slid the cake inside. Rin stared at the cake for a long while before he decided to close the fridge door and head upstairs to his son's room.
Luckily for Rin, when he went upstairs, Kazuki's door was unlocked. He usually locked it when he was upset. That was a good sign, right? The blue-haired man opened the door and stuck his head inside. Kazuki was nowhere to be found. Was he in the bathroom or something? Rin stepped inside and took a look around. His son was on summer vacation, which he usually spent most of his time indoors to his father's annoyance. But since his mother went to the hospital, his room became frighteningly tidier since he spent a lot of his free time with her, the rest at his part-time job, and hardly any at home…or rather, with his father. Rin noticed the laptop sitting open on top of Kazuki's desk, and enlarged on the screen was an odd-looking symbol. The respectful father in him wanted to respect his son's privacy and not get him any angrier than he already was. His curiosity, however, won out over that, and he soon found himself walking over to the desk.
On the screen was an odd-looking symbol inside of a circle. He didn't know what to call the marking, but the letters A, M, and Y were within the circle. His curiosity still not sated, Rin clicked a button and went back to the previous page. "The 58th Spirit in the Ars Goetia is Amy, or Avnas. He's a Great President of Hell, who appears first in the form of a blazing fire, then in the form of a man. He teaches astronomy and liberal arts, gives excellent familiars, incites positive reactions from rulers, and reveals treasures. He rules over 36 demon legions. According to one source, he was of both the order of angels and powers, and hopes in vain to return to the seventh heaven after twelve centuries. …Why is Kazuki reading stuff like this?"
"None of your business."
"Ah!" Rin jumped and spun around to see Kazuki. The teenager's hair was wet and he'd changed into his pajamas. "H-hey! I wanted to ask what you want for dinner."
"I'm not hung—" Kazuki was interrupted by the growling of his stomach.
The father smiled. "Since you don't want cake, I'll make you a birthday dinner."
"Enough of the birthday crap! Don't change the subject!" The son snapped. "Who do you think you are, looking at my stuff like that?!"
"I'm making sure you aren't looking at anything dirty or perverted!"
"So you think I'm a pervert?!"
"No, of course not! A-anyway, why are you reading about demons?!"
Kazuki snorted. "People don't have to be exorcists or demon-worshipping weirdoes to wanna read about demons."
Rin looked skeptical. "Says the kid who says he hates anything related to demons."
"Just stay out of my business, okay?" The blue-haired boy asked as he walked around his father and turned off the laptop. "What does it matter to you what I like to read?"
"Just don't do anything stupid like trying to summon a demon from 'how-to' steps on the Internet. Sometimes they get it right." And he'd worry if his son wanted to be involved with some demon president—whatever that meant. Rin stared at his son for a few seconds before wrapping his arms around the boy in a hug. Kazuki shouted in surprise and began to fight against Rin's embrace, but the older Okumura's strength allowed him to keep a firm hold on the boy. "I know it's been hard with Mom in the hospital. But I'm here for you when you need me, Kazuki. We'll get through this together, okay?" He let the boy go and smiled. "I'll make you your favorite for dinner, alright?" He left before his son could even make an argument.
Kazuki frowned and narrowed his eyes. "You're not the one I want to be here…"
