This is not exactly a crossover as... I guess you can read this story without reading Makai Ouji, but not Ao no Exorcist...
For those who read Makai Ouji, the reference would be more obvious of course... this is what happen when two series happen to have halfling prince. It would be fun to develop Rin's character... he is unique in my book. He is strangely a good judge sometime, which is apparent with how he know to act right and get his priority in even though at first he seem to be your typical shonen hero, but he know when to pick his fight and not... I really admire how he refused Bon's challenge...
He is not the brightest bulb strangely ^^; Yukio strangely seem to be the one with cool head but can't keep his priority straight. It's my personal opinion, but well... he has shakier foundation in my eyes... AND a warning, this is an EXPERIMENTAL fic, I didn't think it through AT ALL.

Chapter 1: Denial

It was a shady antique shop, which was pretty well known among delinquents as a place where they could sell their grandfather's stuff they raided from their attic without asking too many questions. Okumura Rin had no interest in this place aside from how the owner was looking for a part-timer, although considering the place's reputation, working here was not a good idea in the first place. So why Rin didn't just get the hell away from in front of that shop and to the next job offer?

He couldn't move, his feet were like growing roots that made him stuck on the spot. His eyes were nailed by metaphorical nail to the window display of the shop. Rin was pretty sure he was also in danger of forgetting how to breathe. He also couldn't explain the weird heat on the pit of his stomach, and his mind was in turmoil at the sight of the wretched thing.

It was a ring made of brass and iron, with pentagram ornament on the top. Strangely for something made from iron and belonged to an antique shop, it looked new with no rust and scratch. Rin always trusted his instinct, and for everything that should weird him out about the ring, he was helplessly hypnotize by it.

He barely acknowledged the shop owner coming out and asked whether he was interested to look around. Rin supposed this was the time he should scram and never returned to see that ring again but his feet betrayed him and led him inside the shop following the owner. Once he was inside without a word the shop owner took the ring from the window display and placed it on top of the counter.

"I saw you looking at this ring." The old shop owner confessed, "How unusual for a young boy like you." He eyed Rin's messy uniform, "To be interested to this..."

Rin swallowed, "I am just..."

"And I know you..." The show owner added, "You're the boy called demon by delinquents around here."

At that the dark haired boy stiffened, a growl resurfaced from his throat.

The old man chuckled, "Not so fond of your nickname, huh... do you hate demon?"

Do you really hate demon so much?

A foreign, smooth and gentle voice echoed on the depth of his mind. A flash of memories from his childhood until now resurfaced, pain, rejection and denial. He didn't hate demon, just hate to be called it. After all demon was just a myth right?

How could that priest raise such a child?

He is like a demon!

Okumura-kun! Stop it!

No one wants you here!

Stop it! Stop it! Don't remind him that he had nowhere to belong to!

Then... become... if you do

Whose voice was that? So warm, so inviting and most of all... soothing his pain.

Then no one will deny you,
neither human,
nor demon...

It was like floating away but in the same time caged within a warm embrace.

Not even God.

Not even...

"Oi..."

No one will...

"Oi, kid!"

Will deny...

"KID! Wake up!"

Rin was jostled awake from his daydream and sputtered, "What?! You scares me to death, old man!"

"That's my line." The shop owner shot back, "You went rigid and your eyes looks like dead fish! For a moment I though you died standing!"

Really? He was spacing out that badly? "Oh, sorry then old man... what did you say again?"

He huffed, "I asked, do you want to take this off of my hand?"

Rin blinked owlishly, "I don't have money to buy it though..."

"I said..." The old man intoned impatiently, "Take it not buy it... " He waved Rin off when the teen was about object, "It's not out of generosity, I tell you... it's just... this ring has been stuck on display for years and in those years you're the only one I've seen showing an interest in it." He explained in lofty tone. "I am really glad if I won't see this ring again... in the first place I bought this, thinking it's the real Solomon's ring... but as it looks too new to be thousand years old ring... I feel like reminded of my idiocy whenever I look at it."

"But..."

The old man grunted and pulled a thin chain from his shelf, then he put the ring on it like a pendant. "Here, just take it from me... I am done with it."

Usually Rin was no pushover, but the old man was shoving the ring to his hands then pushed him out of his store. He had not time to react whatsoever and found himself in front of the shop with the ring in hand. Losing his mood to look for a job, Rin decided to go home to the monastery. All the way back he was staring at the ring dubiously, but in the same time he felt holding to it was nice. This warm and soothing feeling was almost addicting.

He traced the carving of pentagram, then looked at the back. "Solomon..." He read, how strange that it was not written in katakana or kanji but he could read it. "That's the name of Hebrew King, right? Hm... was he the one who beat the giant or what?" Rin wondered dubiously.

Monastery, Rin and Yukio's room

It was a normal day for Okumura Yukio, as normal as it could be for a young exorcist in off day. He just returned from stocking his ammunition from Moriyama apothecary when he found his older was sitting on bed with a bible in hand. That was the weirdest thing Yukio had ever seen, and considering he had his share of weird as an exorcist that was something. The bible was not a problem, but his book dumb brother won't touch book full of writing with no picture like bible even with ten foot pole.

But Yukio tried his best to not comment about the strange sight, maybe his brother was just in the mood to be religious.

"Ne, Yukio..." Familiar voice, familiar name but it sounded foreign in his ears. He was used to hear his name in whiny, affectionate and occasionally frustrated tone but never like this... his older twin's voice was almost... morose, solemn. It scared him and Yukio knew it was showing in his voice.

"Solomon... he is an odd guy, don't you think?" He wondered out loud.

Solomon? The third king of Israel? "Uhm... odd, why?" That didn't sound like his usual elonquent self, but Yukio didn't feel particularly able to deliver a smart retort. He didn't know why his brother suddenly was interested in bible, and about Solomon of all people. Mentally Yukio recalled all he knew about Solomon and decided he didn't get which part of Solomon made Rin think he was an odd guy. At least not by the standard of kings, prophets and any other character in bible.

"Why such a wise man went against God's will?" Rin murmured in dazed voice. "He was blessed and yet... he turned his back on God."

"Nii-san?"

There was a wistful smile on his brother's lips, his deep blue eyes were losing focus. "Deep and vast wisdom, so..."

His hand shot up and he found himself face to face with Rin's confused face. "Nii-san! Are you alright?"

His older twin blinked owlishly at him, "What? Of course I'm okay, why you look like you're looking at a ghost?"

Yukio swallowed, "You talked... weird..." He decided the closest word he could use to describe Rin's trance just now.

Rin tilted his head to the side in confusion, "What did I say?"

He didn't remember? No, maybe it was Yukio who was hallucinating? "Uhm ... something about Solomon?"

"Really?" He looked down, eyeing the bible on his lap dubiously. "Maybe Dad slipped something in my breakfast this morning, why was I reading this thing again?"

Yukio's left eye twitched, "Nii-san... you cooked our breakfast yourself, how could father slip something in your food? Why did he want to poison you in the first place?"

"Nah... I am just not feeling well, feel a little weird this afternoon. Maybe I am coming down with something."

Okay, this was really odd becaue Nii-san didn't get sick. That was Yukio, the sickly little brother. Even though he was healthier now after his training, he would never be as healthy as Nii-san. His eyes were drawn by something that dangling from his brother's neck. It was... a ring?

He pointedly looked at the ring, scrunitizing the foreign object. "Nii-san? That's..."

Much to Yukio's shock Rin tucked the ring inside his shirt, hiding it from Yukio's sight. "I am not feeling well, go eat dinner and tell Dad I am not going to eat dinner." He announced promptly before he curled to a ball and pulled the blanket over his body.

Yukio's left eye twitched again, shocked to see how flippant his brother was. His brother in fifteen years together had never ever dismissed him like this. "Nii-san, you..."

Rin's only response was soft snoring, "Zzzzz..."

Few days later...

Because of his monstrous strength Rin tried his hands on moving company. It was a pretty reasonable choice as the only thing required for the job was his brute strength. It was the longest job he ever had but since the third day he started to space out, random daydream in the most unconvenient time. He was really sorry for dropping that package of china plate, but he couldn't help it.

It was always the same scenes, he was standing on top of mountain of corpse with a blood soaked blade on his left hand. He felt so lost, wondering why he kept doing this.

Like how he kept beating that white haired punk up for animal cruelty but, he was the demon. Someone picking up a fight he didn't want, and he was the demon.
The other human was his victim.

It was eerily similar feeling, anger, frustration, and sadness.

Then someone would come up from behind, drawing his attention with the most gentle voice he ever heard.

Do you hate demon that much?
Are you lost, little one?
Be mine, and no one will deny you...

A warm hand would cup his cheek and then he was enveloped in comforting embrace. Then he felt so content...

Another scene would be where he was in a gargantuan library, a place he would never dare to tread but there he was sitting like a good boy. The same person would sit in front of him, with towering books as his throne. Then they spent long and long hours conversing about all sort of topics, even thing he normally found boring. But this mysterious person had something that held his attention in iron grip.

He caused the grass to grow for the cattle, and herbfor the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth

Do you like herbs? I will pour some of this herbal tea for you, it's a perfect companion for rainy days like this.

Then he would comment that rainy days or not, they drank the same tea every day. Speaking of tea, he had to dry the monkshood soon.

Few weeks later...

Few days turned to weeks and Yukio could safely assume that his twin was getting weirder by each day. Rin was weird, but the weirdness surfaced nowadays wasn't Rin. It was not like his twin went out his way to weird Yukio out every day, one moment Rin was being Rin and then out of nowhere he acted like a stranger, quieter, solemn, soft spoken as if he was in trance. Three days after the night he started acting weird, Rin stocked their pantry with herb teas, claiming they tasted great. Yukio had his share of bitter medicine as exorcist doctor but he would never deem it taste nice. Rin in the other hand became addicted to the thing for some reason, especially to monkshood. It got to the point he planted aconite in the garden, and had it not been for his demonic heritage, they would be worried that he was going to poison himself.

There were times Rin curiously tried his glasses, and forgetting to take it off if no one reminded him. Normally that was annoying, but Yukio was more worried that Rin didn't notice with the glasses' precription that bound to make him dizzy.

Yukio could wave those new antics off with no problem but then it escalated to Rin humming Psalm under his breath yesterday. When asked, Rin was completely clueless of what he was doing to boot. It was a strange dilemma, should he be worried that Rin acted so un-demon like? In the end Yukio decided it was not a good sign so he should talk to his father, something he should do weeks ago.

Rin was out for another job hunting, so Yukio had chance to talk with Father Fujimoto in private. He told the Paladin what happened for the last few weeks and the reaction was immediate. Like Yukio, Fujimoto was confused why Rin was suddently interested in the third king of Israel. He didn't seem to be someone Rin would be interested in if his wayward adopted son decided to read bible. Maybe someone like Samson or David, the action kind of guy but Solomon?

As far as Shiro knew, Solomon was a grand magician. The wisest man of his time and the one who brought his kingdom to golden age and their fall. Although in exorcist' point of view, he had been the greatest tamer walking on earth.

Tamer...

In both old and new testament, Solomon was the only human God blessed who was given power to subjugate Demon not just against them. And if some source was to be believed, Solomon prefered demon's company than human. Some demon actually really loved serving the wise man. In fact unlike what written in record about his pagan consorts driving him astray from God, it was believed Solomon loved his 72 pillars too much to betray them.

Wait a minute, it was not a good sign for Rin to be interested in an ancient king who was closely associated with demon.

"And also there is this ring he keep with him." Yukio added, looking rightfully worried after he realized how closely associated Solomon was with demons.

Shiro frowned. "A ring?"

"Nii-san nonchalantly hid it under his shirt from me." Yukio murmured, "He never did that before, I don't even know he can just... hid it and switched topic smoothly..." It reminded him eerily of certain flamboyant demon.

That was not Rin alright, but still... a ring? That was odd, Rin was never fond of accecories.

Ring...

Solomon...

His eyes widened the size of dinner plate, those two words together was a recipe for disaster with capital D. "Oh my God... Yukio! We must find Rin! Immediately!"

"Why?"

"No time to explain." The priest roared, "We have to find him, NOW!"

Somewhere else, with Rin

Rin was well aware of the changes in him, and frankly he liked it. For the first time in years he felt content, like something he had missed was found again. He knew he was getting calmer these days, his emotion was not in constant rage, and it was getting easier to be in control. Flashes of dream he saw now and then was a little annoying but... also pleasant...

Very much so...

Rin squinted his eyes as another dream, or perhaps memory flashed before his eyes and he quickly seek a good place to sit down. He found a secluded corner in an alley and sat down with bating breath.

Do you hate your father? The unknown person was sitting in his usual place, throne of towering books. Then he felt his lips moved, forming a question. Answering the question with another.

Why do I ask?

I am his old friend after all...

He opened his mouth again, ready to form another question but his instict spurred him to dodge iron bat coming his way. To say Rin was not pleased to see pigeon murderer gang was stating the obvious.

"Yo Okumura..."

Contrarry to popular belief, Rin was never the first to pick a fight. Not even against punks who kept running their dirty mouth about him. He should feel angry, but after years of verbal abuse... it got to the point their insult was minor annoyance and frankly it was too troublesome to feel anything about it.

He would have leave them alone if only they could keep their hands off of innocent animals. And they called him demon, at least with him they had reason wanting beat him up in return. Those little animals? Just for pure sick pleasure.

Few weeks ago he would just write them off as bastards with a flair for hurting defenseless animal, but now he knew better. This person was mentally sick, he should be in pshyciater ward, locked up and not wandering on the street.

After listening their leader's ranting about bribing him to keep his mouth shut about his sick hobby, Rin held his hand up. "So... in conclusion you want me to shut up about your hobby and you will pay for it?" Rin sighed tiredly, "Not interested, keep your money." " "Don't be shy..." He taunted, "I know you're poor, that's why your nerdy brother need scholarship to attend True Cross Academy... "

Rin rolled his eyes, "Is that a compliment? Yukio earned that scholarship... it's a privellege, what to be ashamed about it?" He wondered out loud.

"He eat someone else's money!"

Rin was getting really tired of this. "Like I said, my little brother worked for it... you in the other hand pay your school with your dad's money." Rin said pointedly, mentally patting himself on the back for the smart retort. "And also... Shiratori, in case you didn't know already your hobby is never a secret, so why the hell you need to pay me to keep it?" He asked in deadpan tone, and Shiratori snarled. "Ask one of your goons to go to nearest market place and ask any random people if they ever heard of mayor's son who has a hobby of torturing animal... I'm pretty sure eight out of ten would know."

The reason Shiratori was not in jail yet for animal cruelty yet? Simply because his parents would get him out of there anyway, so people learned to stay out of his way and turned a blind eye from his crime. Everyone but Rin.

"You! You..." Shiratori growled like a beast and Rin wondered why none of his friends thought that the guy was acting weird. Shiratori was always a pshyco, but acting feral like this was out of weird scale even by his standard. And also if his eyes didn't deceive him, at some point some black weir bugs were crowding around Shiratori. What the hell? "I will kill YOU!"

He was going to dodge Shiratori's punch but the other hand came with iron bat so he was forced to dig his fist to Shiratori's stomach so he escaped bludgeoned to death. Shiratori fell on his knees, coughing as holding his stomach. From the corner of his eyes, he spotted three friends of Shiratori moved to restrain him. He was strong but pinned by the weight of three guys, he stood no chance.

"Oi! Don't you think your boss is acting weird or something?" Rin shouted at them, stopping them on his track. Then he craned his neck at Shiratori who was holding a heated iron bat now. "He was seriously trying to kill me!" Rin shouted in shock.

Now Shiratori was growing horns and tail, but since none of them screaming about it yet Rin didn't. His eyes were getting weird lately. However even thought they saw no tail or horns, the sound of Shiratori's maniacal laugh was enough to convince his goons that Shiratori was going crazy, or crazier. He was also seriously going after Okumura's life, not beating him up. They were delinquents, but there was a line of morality they won't cross. In fact now they were as scared as Rin by how Shiratori acted. Especially now Shiratori had totally lost it and started swingging his bat around. The last swing was missing his fat friend's forehead by a few inches, it was understatement of the century that no one was save from Shiratori.

"Uwaa!"

"Run!"

"Reiji is going crazy!"

Rin was about to make his escape, maybe call authorities while he was at it since this was not punk on the loose but pshyco on the loose. However one of Shiratori's friends tripped and Shiratori was on him in instant. Rin turned on his heels and ran towards the possesed teen and his would be victim. 'I won't make it in time, damn it! Someone is going to die! No! I will not ALLOW it!'

"STOP IT!" Rin yelled as a wall of blue fire erupted, driving the horned boy away from the helpless victim.

Back with Yukio and Shirou

"This presence..." Yukio murmured, "Tou-san, could it be?"

Shirou nodded grimly, "A big shot for sure." This oppressing presence, one of the eight kings? This was bad, a disaster. "Let's hope whatever it is, it didn't find Rin yet."

"We have to hurry." Yukio swallowed, he knew someday this day would come but no matter how much he prepared for it he would never be ready. Not even the weight of gun on his holster or the sight of his father's back could comfort him. 'Nii-san please... please be safe.'

Somewhere else, with Rin

If Rin had to summarize the last few hours, it would be four letters with capital F. He was pretty sure this was what people called FUBAR. First his body started to spout fire, the good thing was he saved the punk, the bad thing he got called demon again and the punk he saved thought he was the scarier of the two and ran away. The worse thing? Shiratori kept chasing him, and refused to leave him alone. If before Shiratori was adamant to annoy him, this new Shiratori was raising hell for who knows why. He was already running for hours from Shiratori but the delinquent was stubborn. Rin had ran and ran to the point he was no longer in neighborhood he was familiar with.

"Young Lord..." Shiratori called him out.

It took a while for Rin to process that Shiratori was addressing him. He dared not to breathe his indignation, in fear Shiratori would find his hiding spot. Usually Rin wouldn't run from a fight, but chased by a crazy punk with horns and tail was bound to make anyone to run.

"Let me bring you to your father milord... He is waiting for you..." He sang in maniacal voice. "This Astaroth will show you the right path..."

Rin tuned the mad rant out, 'Which father he is talking about anyway? Who cares... he is crazy, first thing first, I have to get away from him.'

The problem was how? He was a sitting duck, and at night it was very unlikely anyone would walk pass this place. He could fight but the problem was, Shiratori seemed to grow thicker skin since his fist was still throbbing from punching him. It was like hitting a brick wall and that hit seemed to make Shiratori crazier.

There was the blue flame, and Rin didn't like how it felt against his skin. He didn't like the feeling of heat crawling on his skin, it sickened him. But should he risk his life just because of that? It worked against Shiratori before.

No...

This power felt wrong... he didn't want it. He was not...

Then, do you want my power instead?

The familiar warmth returned and Rin felt a little light headed. It was not the voice talking to him but he saw this person talking to someone, someone whose eyes he saw throught from.

You do have human blood in you, this is the proof of your humanity...

'My humanity?'

Repeat after me...

"I find you milord!" Rin's eyes widened when he saw the stack of crates he used as barricade was torn to shreds by Shiratori's claws. "Time's up! Let's go back to our home! Your father is waiting in Gehenna!"

Rin gritted his teeth, "I am not going anywhere!" He yelled, clutching the chained ring on his chest.

Astaroth's eyes widened when it locked at the object Rin was holding, "That ring... milord! Don't! Hand over that accursed ring before..." The demon demanded, clawed hand stretched out to reach the ring.

The dark haired youth snarled, backing away as holding the ring protectively. "I will not hand it over!"

"Don't push your luck!" The demon possesed boy roared, "You may be his son, but not even you would escape unscatched if you hold onto that ring!"

Rin had no idea what he was doing, but the ring was important to him and he didn't want it taken away. His lips let out foreign words and his hand shot up towards the demon.

'By the name of Solomon and his wisdom,
I command thee
Thou shalt obey!'

Astaroth was stopped on his track, his vessel was shaking as blue seal circle trapped it. A seal with seven edged pentagram.

"This is... the lesser key of Solomon!" Astaroth choked out with fear in his voice, "It can't be... you are not... one of them, and they are..."

Rin panted lightly and he could feel his energy depleting, whatever power he was using now it was taking a toll out of him. "What... nonsense are you..."

Astaroth writhed, snarling in rage. "Then you're nothing but a pawn of Solomon! Release me!" He roared, trashing wildly to break free of the seal but it didn't bulge. "If you don't, I will kill this human!" His clawed hand reached out to his jugular, drawing a small drip of blood.

His eyes widened in shock, he didn't really comprehend what the demon was talking about but someone was going to die on his watch and Rin didn't want that.

'Those who hold onto ancient tower of Babel!
Hear the anguish from Etemenanki!
Thou shalt forget to speak
And break apart!'

It was the most painful scream Rin had ever heard, not voice of one but two. Inhuman gultural voice and familiar shriek of pain from Shiratori, braiding for a full minute before it ceased. Then Shiratori fell from to his knees and fell face first to the ground.

"Ha ha ha... so you're... pretty human to use this power... heh, you're a Halfling after all..." The demonic voice choked out. "But remember this... you who was born of human and demon." Rin's blood ran cold when he heard the next sentence, "You will never belong... Exorcist... will be the first to reject you, even if they're your... kin... ha ha ha..." Soon the laughter died out and the horns and tail withered away from Shiratori's body.

It took Rin just a moment to decide to risk the danger to check on Shiratori, especially since the horn and tail had disappeared. He placed two fingers on Shiratori's neck and relieved to feel the pulse. He was no doctor but he had a feeling Shiratori was in no danger to lose his life even though he was pretty beaten up.

Now... what should he do? Call ambulance anonymously? He couldn't tell people he knock Shiratori out with magic anyway. Beside... how he could explain the whole mess he made out of this place? Whatever he did, it left a pretty impressive material damage from its blast alone. The worse offense was the crater, demon or not people won't believe he caused this huge crater.

Maybe he should just leave Shiratori somewhere with bigger chance of people walking by? That didn't sound responsible, but that was Yukio's forte not his and in the first place Shiratori was the one who got them in trouble.

The weight on his neck reminded Rin of the ring, his fingers reached out to hold it. "Warm..." It reminded him of comforting embrace he dreamed of. "Solomon... huh?" Was the person in his dream Solomon? He was so... different from what Rin read in bible and heard in his father's sermon. He couldn't describe it well but...

What did that Astaroth guy say again? That Rin was supposed to be what?

Sound of footsteps echoed through the dark alley nearby and Rin almost jumped in fright. Looking around for a place to hide, the dark haired youth found an upturned stack of crates in the corner. It was dark, and perfect place to hide. Darting to his chosen spot Rin quickly crouched down, his heart was beating loudly against his ribcage as he waited for the owner of those footsteps to show up.

He almost let out a gasp when he saw who showed up on the scene.

Tou-san and... Yukio?!

Yukio was no stranger to badly damaged place in need to be cleaned up in aftermath of a demon's rampage. However this was different, the huge crater where the former vessel was found. It as if the demon was slammed by a great force to the ground, and by all accounts the vessel should have died. From his inspection however, the human vessel got away with superficial wound and a bad fever, which was a common symptom post possession.

They were worried about his brother but judging from the scene it was unlikely Rin was involved.

Father Fujimoto crossed his arms, "Have you called the medic?

Yukio nodded, taking his phone off of his ear, "it will take a while for them to get here..."

"This is really strange..." His father murmured, echoing his thought. "This place is pretty trashed and yet this boy is so lucky to escape mostly unscathed..."

Yukio nodded, "Yes... and also, someone exorcised the demon... in a pretty rough method to boot."

"Yeah, but what kind of method? No slash mark or bullet wound so... neither knight nor dragoon, not tamer either... an aria perhaps?" He wondered.

Yukio shook his head, "Aria won't make this much damage, it will just drive the demon out... what kind of exorcist did this?"

"Regardless... it would be a headache for the cleanup crew to sort this mess out."

Yukio grimaced, "Well... at least Nii-san is not involved like we feared."

There was a familiar glint of weariness in his father's eyes whenever they discussed his brother's demonic heritage. Maybe he shouldn't bring it up. "Yes... it's a relieve Rin is not involved, we have to keep him safe from this as long as possible..."

"Tou-san..."

He took a deep breath, "It would be nice if he can just stay the way he is... I don't want him to be involved in this world." No matter how impossible it was.

Once upon a time Yukio thought it was unfair that Rin didn't have to deal with this, but all his life his brother had to deal with something he couldn't control. A little more time to stay innocent, believing he was normal was just a small reprieve from what waiting for his brother in the future.

As the two exorcists were deep in their thought, neither noticed someone sneaked out of the scene.

Back in monastery...

It was pathetically easy to sneak in unnoticed and made his way to bathroom. The onely greeting he got was a reprimand from one of the priest that he should tell them he was back and don't hog the bathroom for too long as he had missed dinner tonight. Rin groaned his respond and focused his attention back to scrubbing himself raw.

He could still feel the eerie heat of that blue flame and it was making him uncomfortable.

That was the least of his worry though as tonight he was faced by a revelation that his family was keeping a secret from him. Demon was real and they were exorcist. It was not hard to put two and two together even though he was not a genius like Yukio. All the clues were laid bare before him tonight, and not even he was that dense to miss it.

In fact he felt really stupid for not realizing that Yukio went missing a lot with their father for years, they always had this and that to excuse their disappearance and now Rin knew why. He felt hurt and betrayed by them. He was their family and yet he was kept out of the loop. It was so painful, so much to the point he want to disappear.

Maybe that was what he should do?

He felt like this too back in the dream before that person found him...

Nowhere to belong, neither here nor there...

Wait a minute? Where was this here and there anyway?

That was his last thought before darkness claimed him.

"Nii-san! Nii-san!" Yukio was shouting and it reminded him eerily of their childhood where Nii-san got scratches and bruise all over him to defend Yukio. It was nothing new for Yukio to worry himself sick over his brother, but he never imagine fearing for Nii-san's life after his older twin almost drowned himself in their bathtub. He was a doctor, an exorcist doctor but he knew enough that Rin didn't faint, he fell asleep! In bathtub!

And God, why the water was so damn cold?! May was not the perfect month to soak in cold water, what was his brother thinking?

Then Rin abruptly sat up, startling Yukio. Rubbing his temple as if he had a headache not just almost drowned himself. "So sleepy..." He murmured.

"Nii-san!" Yukio hissed as Rin trotted to where he hung his towel, and started to dry himself as if nothing was wrong. "You fell asleep in out bathtub! That's dangerous! You could've drowned!"

"Hm..." His brother had the nerve to yawn, and started to put his clothes on.

Yukio narrowed his eyes, "What were you thinking? This is the end of winter, not spring yet and you take a bath with cold water! You will get sick!"

"Worrywart..." Nii-san's voice was muffled as he put on his shirt.

"Never mind! Just answer my questions! You've been acting weird lately Nii-san!" Yukio snapped, his tone was demanding as all his frustration bubbled to the surface. Usually he was not this impatient with his brother, but it had been weeks of restrain and this was the last straw.

Yukio was not prepared to hear his brother's cold voice in respond to his question. "I don't want to talk about it, so please don't bother to ask." His brother's familiar voice felt so alien to him, like he was talking to a stranger.

"Nii-san..." Yukio swallowed, "What are you hiding from me?" The question spilled out before he could stop himself. Whatever reaction he expected from his brother, this was not it.

Nii-san's eyes widened for a moment before it narrowed dangerously,

"Isn't that suppose to be my line?"

Should I continue? I am running out of juice for my older story... I deleted a number I KNOW are below the cut to be published. I have my doubt for this one too though DX This is an experimental fic in the end...

One more question, should I let Shiro survive or die like in canon?