Down the Fox Hole

AU Story: The night Rin awakened was also the night he ran away after being told the truth and somehow ends up hiding from everyone and everything he had ever known. What better place to disappear and forget his old life then in the land of Inari and Fox Alley where he lands a job as the new groundskeeper for the Old Inari Shrine.


Down the Fox Hole

Prologue

"The worst thing about being lied to is knowing you weren't worth the truth."

Turcois Ominek


"…You are, the child of Satan…"

Those words kept repeating over and over again in Rin's head, like a broke record, it wouldn't stop. He wasn't even sure when they had reached the monastery, Rin had only broken out of his stupor when Father Fujimoto shoved a duffel bag into his arms, but even then he still couldn't do anything more but just look at his adoptive father in shock. He didn't protest as he was dragged back to the church on the grounds and taken down a set of stairs that he had never even known existed!

This was just too much for the fifteen-year-old teen to take in at once. First he gets into a fight and almost has his eyes gouged out, then he bursts into blue flames, some creepy punk with horns and a tail calls him his 'young lord', and now suddenly everyone in the monastery where he had grown up are suddenly mobilizing like some elite military unit. He had even seen one of the priests pull out several guns!

And now Father Fujimoto was holding out to him, a katana in a beautifully crafted sheath. Even before Rin touched it he could sense that there was something special about the sword.

As Fujimoto explained the significance of the sword one thought crossed Rin mind.

"If I'm supposed to be some kind of demon then what about Yukio? Don't tell me he's one!" Rin could not stand the thought of his younger brother carrying the same curse that he did.

"You and Yukio may be twins but Yukio was too weak in the womb to sustain the power," Father Fujimoto explained. "Only you inherited these demonic powers."

Rin stood stunned for a moment before finally asking what had been weighing in the back of his mind since they had returned to the monastery. "Did everyone know about this, that I'm not human? That I'm the spawn of the Devil?!" There was no way for Rin to mask the hurt in his voice, the way his face had become ashen, or that his hands were shaking.

Fujimoto Shiro could plainly see that his eldest child was hurting; he was scared, confused, and most likely feeling his whole world crash around him. As much as he wanted to comfort Rin and reassure him that everything was going to be all right, that everyone would protect him, now was not the time. Shiro did not doubt for a second that demons from all over had already sensed Rin's awakening and that they were on their way, if they were not already at the monastery's gates. They were short on time as it was. It truly had been rotten luck for the King of Rot himself to be the one to find Rin first, a Hell King who reported directly to Satan himself. They needed to get Rin to a safer and more secure location before the barriers and wards around the monastery gave out. The wards may be strong enough withstand a heavy onslaught of low to mid-level demons but they were not strong enough to hold back one of the Eight Demon Kings of Hell.

Shiro grabbed Rin by his upper arm and hauled him back up the stairs. "Now is not the time for questions." There was no room in his tone for argument. It was an order. "Nagatomo, is the car ready?"

"Yes, Father Fujimoto. Kyodo is waiting for you." The priest said, following the brisk pace as Shiro all but dragged Rin out of the church and towards the garage.

"Good." Shiro nodded.

"But wait—!" Rin's protest died in his lips as the ground shook and he looked behind him in horror to see a large black mass with hellish glowing green eyes ramming repeatedly against some invisible force field at the monastery's gates. Even he could see that there were cracks starting to appear in the defense, and that whatever was keeping the demons out was not going to last much longer.

He was brought out of his hesitation as Shiro practically threw him, along with the duffel and sword onto the backseat of one of the two old cars the monastery owned. Shiro quickly got into the front passenger seat.

"Step on it!" He barked at Kyodo.

Not needing to be told twice, Kyodo slammed his foot onto the gas peddle and with a great screech from the tires, they sped off at a speed that Rin would have never thought in a million years that the old piece of junk was capable of. A few harsh turns had Rin jostled about roughly in the back as they sped through the graveyard that was right behind the main church building. Rin righted himself and glanced back through the rear view window of the car just to look on in horror as the black mass from before had broken through and was now descending upon his home.

"What about the others?!" Rin asked, genuinely concerned for their safety. How were they supposed to fight that?!

"Don't worry,"Shiro said, double-checking the ammunition in his shotgun. "They'll be right behind us soon enough." He flipped the barrel back into place with a click and then stuck the gun and his arm out the window.

"Lookout!" Rin cried out, as a new mass of black and glowing green eyes was quickly forming in front of the car's path.

BANG!

With deadly accuracy, Shiro had casually shot down the obstacle obstructing their escape route and continued to do so as more and more black masses seemed to be rising up from the ground or even forming midair. Before the stunned teen had the chance to even think of a coherent sentence he was thrown back against the car side as Kyodo jerked harshly to the right and drove right through a set of locked gates and onto the asphalt of the city. Behind them was another screech of tires as the other monastery car came rushing behind them with Izumi at the wheel and Nagatomo and Maruta in the back passenger seats.

The sped through the streets and it didn't take long for them to reach the outskirts of the city.

"Take the next right, it will take us straight to Kosaten* Passage." Shiro instructed.

"Yes, Father Fujimoto."

"Once there, we'll head to the safe house there and set up the barriers."

'Safe house, barriers…? What the hell is going on…?' Rin's head are spinning as everything began catching up to him and repeating over and over again in a swirling mess of pictures that no matter how he tried to make sense of everything, he just could not wrap his mind around. Everything had happened so fast and now he was in a car with people he thought he had known his entire life heading towards who knows where. All that Rin could be certain of was that everything had changed.

Rin glanced up from his lap to look at his adoptive father. He had never seen Shiro with such a serious, cold, and authoritative expression before. Gone was his stupid grin and the warmth in his eyes. Instead of the man who had raised him since infancy, there sat a stranger who resembled an experience war hawk more than a priest.

It terrified Rin.

Finally Rin found his voice. "Old man, where are we going?"

Shiro didn't respond at first but then answered in a stoic tone. "Somewhere safe…"

Anger swelled in the teenager from such a vague answer. "That doesn't—ARGH!"

Rin was slammed roughly to the side of the car as Kyodo slammed on the brakes and swerved harshly to avoid crashing into another large demonic black mass that had suddenly sprouted in the middle of the road.

"Damn it!" Shiro cursed outloud. "They found us already! How much further to the safe house?!"

"Not much further!" Kyodo responded as swerved again to avoid another demon blocking their path.

"Step on it then! The sooner we get there the better." Shiro was already loading another round of bullets into his gun, unfazed by the car's harsh movements as it gained even more speed and was practically flying on the asphalt. The road soon gave way to dirt as they left the main road and onto a more secluded path. "There!" Shiro pointed to a clearing where a lone old church stood. "Good, we made it." He sighed in relief. "Now we just have to—"

Shiro did not get a chance to finish his sentence as the car was suddenly rammed from the side hard enough to flip it over several times before finally stopping, amazingly, upright. All of the passengers in the car groaned from being tossed around so harshly. Shiro glanced over at Kyodo. It seemed he had only suffered a few minor injuries that were bleeding a bit, but otherwise he was fine. Shiro then looked in the back to see that Rin was also fine, groaning and cursing at the new bruises and cuts on his body.

Shiro opened the passenger door and stepped out, gun cocked and ready to be fire, surveying the area for any movement. There did not seem to be anything in the forest, but the experience exorcist was not fooled. The forest was far to silent for his liking, there was a faint smell of decay in the air, and every instinct in Shiro's body was screaming at him to keep his guard up and gun at the ready.

There was something out there that caused their car to veer off course, and he did not like it.

Not one bit.

Behind him both Kyodo and Rin got out of the car.

Rin rubbed his aching head. There was definitely a bruise forming there along with a small cut right over his eyebrow that was now bleeding thanks to having had hit the car roof several times during their tumble In his other hand he still had his bag and the weird sword, he did not know why he was still carrying the thing. He looked up and saw his foster father on the other side of the car. Gun raised and standing still, like a predator ready to pounce. He looked over and saw that Kyodo was also tensed up. He had even unwrapped his hands—something that Rin could not recalled ever happening before—but now he could plainly see the strange tattoos that the monk bore as he stood there in a boxing position ready to fight.

There was a strange silence in the air that raised all of the hairs on the back of Rin's neck, his fight or flight instincts was screaming like a siren in his brain that there was something dangerous out there, he just didn't know what. There was a faint smell of rot and death in the air that was slowly growing stronger with each passing second. Rin lifted his arm up to shield his sensitive nose from the stench.

"Rin…"

The teen's attention was suddenly turned to his foster father's back.

"Get behind us and stay there."

Rin's confusion over the whole situation came back full force, "What's going on old man?"

"Now is not the time," Shiro responded, completely dodging the question. "Just do as you are told."

Anger swelled within Rin's chest. He was bruised and tired of not knowing what the hell was going on. Suddenly, a figure emerged from the woods.

A familiar bleach white haired teen stepped into view, same clothes and piercings as earlier when he had confronted Rin with his gang. Shiratori Reiji stepped out of the shadows but it wasn't the same delinquent that Rin usually beat up, there were ram-like horns coming out of the side of his head, a black tail swishing lazily behind him, clawed hands swinging casually as he walked towards them, stopping just at the tree line. Behind him were disgusting looking dogs and several of the black masses with glowing green eyes that had attacked them earlier.

"I have come for the young prince." Shiratori said, but it was not his usual voice. It was much deeper and darker, with an edge to it that sent a chill down Rin's spine.

Shiro took a stepped forward, gun aimed straight at the possessed teen's heart. "You're not taking him anywhere."

The possessed teen grinned maliciously. "I believe that I am." He then extended his arm towards Rin and addressed him. "Come now, young lord, it is time for you to return to Gehenna, your father has been awaiting you."

'My… father…?' Rin took an involuntary step back away from the posessed human. His view of Shiratori was blocked as Kyodo stepped in front of him to act as a human shield.

"Rin," Kyodo whispered. "Stay close…"

"But—"

Rin never got to finish his protests, as weak as they were, for the next moment a gunshot broke through the tension in the air and all of hell broke loose.

The possessed Shiratori dodged the bullet and charged straight towards Shiro as he fired round after to round from his shotgun, only to have the demon evade each one. The horde of demons that Shiratori had brought along also charged forward towards the humans. Shiro pulled out several grenades and threw them towards the advancing demons. Holy water exploding out of them and filling the air with the stench of sizzling burns at the holy water took out the first wave, making the other demons pause long enough for Shiro unload another round, forcing the demon in Shiratori's body to retreat in order to avoid being shot.

"You damn exorcists!"Shiratori snarled, barring his sharpened and elongated teeth, as he dodged more bullets. "Don't think that this will be enough to stop me. The young prince is coming with me, you filthy humans!"

"I don't think so." Shiro responded coldly. "You will not be taking him."

"We'll see about that exorcist." The demon sneered before turning to the demons that flanked him from behind. "Attack! Tear these pathetic pieces of shits to pieces!" He commanded.

The demon's charged forward once more, even more than before, forcing Shiro to throw the rest of the grenades he had on him and then retreat back to where Kyodo and Rin were.

"Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits." Shiro's voice rang strong as the words started to take effect, causing the demons to stop and back up in fear. "Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, Who redeems your life from destruction." The demons began falling to the ground withering in pain, some of them already disappearing. Shiro continued to recite while he quickly drew a circle on the ground with strange symbols inside. "Who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies, Who satisfies your mouth with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle's!"

The demons that had been descending upon them cried out in pain as they were all forcefully exorcised and sent back to Gehenna.

Shiratori growled in fury. "How dare you!" He smashed his fist into the ground causing it to quake and crack. "KILL THEM! KILL THOSE FUCKING EXORCISTS!"

"For I will pour out water on the thirsty land And streams on the dry ground; I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring And My blessing on your descendants!" Shiro slammed his hand over his drawing on the ground and geyser of water erupted from the earth and head straight towards the demons as they all either retreated to higher ground or were swallowed up and eliminated by the water.

Shiro turned, grabbed a hold of Rin's upper arm, and started running towards the church. "Come on! We have to get you to safety!"

"But why—Why are they after me?! What fuck is going on old man!?" Rin cried out.

"There's no time to explain!" Shiro snapped, startling Rin. He had never spoken to him like that…

They had almost made it to the church when large mushrooms suddenly sprouted from the ground in front of them. Shiro, Rin, and Kyodo skidded to a halt just before they ended up slamming into them. Shiro shoved Rin towards the other priest causing Rin to stumble back, almost falling but was caught and steadied by Kyodo.

Shiro pulled out a handgun from within his priest's cassock and shot straight into the demons without mercy, but despite his deadly accuracy it just seemed as if there was no end to the demons coming at them. "Get Rin inside!" Shiro ordered as he dealt with a pack of large undead dogs that had darte out from the treeline.

"Right!" Kyodo nodded, turning to Rin his gestured towards the church. "Come on, this wa—ARGH!"

"Kyodo!" Rin cried out in alarm as the priest was hit from the side and sent sprawling a good ten yards away. Rin ran to his side and crouched by his side making sure that the older male was still alive. Relief washed over Rin as he could feel a pulse and the priest had already started to groan. Rage then filled Rin and he turned and glared at the offender.

The demon possessed Shiratori just stood there grinning. "Pathetic human, come now young lord. It is time to return." He noticed Rin glaring at him and his protective stance over Kyodo's fallen form. "Do not waste your time with such inferior beings—"

"SHUT UP!"

BAM!

Rin's fist suddenly connected with Shiratori's face as he landed a solid punch, similar to the one he had thrown just mere hours ago. Only this time Rin's fist, his whole body, was covered in blue flames that danced agitatedly as they responded to Rin's emotions.

The blue flames coating Rin's fist combined with Rin's own super strength sent the demon flying back into a tree with enough force that some of the bark caved inward.

Kyodo began stirring behind him. Rin rushed to his side, the flames completely gone now as helped the priest sit up and then stand.

"Are you ok?" Rin asked worriedly. There was a bit of blood sliding down the older male's forehead.

Kyodo let out a groan. "Yeah… don't worry about me. W-We have to get you out of here…" He hissed in pain as he tried to stand on his own. Rin held on to him to help him stay steady on his feet. Kyodo looked around, "Where's the demon?"

"I punched him and he went that—Where'd he go?!" Rin cried out as he looked back to where he knows he had sent that demon flying towards but was no longer there, there was just an indention on the bark of the tree where the demon had hit.

Both of them started looking around trying to find where the demon had gone but it was still dark out and the moon's light only gave them a limited visual field. Somewhere to their left they heard the sound of gunshots and scripture verses being recited as Shiro dealt with the majority of the demons pursuing them as quickly as he could.

"Rin…"

The teen's attention snapped back to Kyodo.

"Get your things…quickly!" Rin nodded and did as he was told, bending down to grab his bag and slung it over his shoulder. He never let his gaze lower though, alert as ever and constantly looking around. Rin had the very strong suspicion that the demon was waiting for them to lower their guard, he had been in enough gang fights to know that this was an ambush.

SNAP!

Rin immediately turned towards the noise in time to see a clawed hand burst out from the tree line and grab him from the neck, lifting him off the ground, and before pulling him towards the forest.

"RIN!" Kyodo cried out.

Rin struggled against the grip blocking his airways, trying to pull the fingers off his throat so he could breath. Despite Rin's own strength the demon possessing Shiratori was proving to be even stronger.

"Forgive me my prince but time is of the essence."

Rin could feel his vision blurring and his struggles began to wane, as the demon constricted his windpipe. Rin could barely register Kyodo engaging the demon in combat, but even with one arm keeping Rin restrained, the demon was still able to block and keep Kyodo at bay, almost as if he was playing with him.

"AHAHAHA! Just give up you stupid human!" Shiratori taunted as he struck Kyodo and sent the priest sprawling to the ground again. The demon smirked cruelly as he watched his opponent struggling to get up, that last hit had most likely cracked, if not broken, several ribs. As much as the demon would have loved to spill exorcist blood now was not the time, he had to get the prince somewhere far away from these thrice damned humans. He turned his attention to Rin, who was just barely clinging to consciousness. "Now then young lord… it is time for to—ARGH!"

Rin suddenly found himself dropped to the ground, with the pressure no longer around his throat he could finally breathe. Coughing and rubbing his abused neck to help replenish the depleted oxygen supply in his lungs. He looked up to see Shiratori's body struggling to get, what looked like some weird scarecrow biting down on the paled-haired teen's shoulder, off of him.

Rin was then suddenly hauled up onto his feet and was about to take a swing at whoever had grabbed him but stopped when he saw that it was Shiro. Behind his adoptive father were the other priests of the monastery. Izumi was tending to Kyodo's wounds while Maruta was keeping the sea of demons at bay by breathing fire!

"We'll distract them and hold them off as long as we can," Nagatomo said as he pulled out several knives.

Shiro nodded. "Right. Come on!" He grabbed Rin by his upper arm and pulled the teen behind him, running as fast as he could towards the church while they still had a clear opening. Shiro only slowed down a bit to scoop up Rin's bag before setting off once more.

"B-But…we can't just leave them to fight that—those monsters!" Rin protested. He had seen how strong those things were and despite his confusion and all the emotions bubbling and swirling inside him he did not want to see the people that had raised him for fifteen years get hurt, not if he could at least help.

"That's not important right now! Right now all that matters is making sure that you are safe and as far away from here as possible." Shiro snapped as they kept running, shooting the occasional bullet to disperse any black masses growing in their path.

Finally they reached the church. Shiro pulled out an old looking key and inserted it into the lock and chanted as he made the sign of the Holy Cross. "I pray the Lord my soul to keep. See me safely through the night, and wake me with the morning light." The key turned on its own and there was an audible click and the door unlooked.

He then turned to Rin and shoved the bag into the teen's arms and a cellphone into his palm. "The demonic activity should taper off come morning, if we haven't come for you by then call the number in my phone, it's the only one in there." Shiro instructed hastily; ignoring the scared, hurt, and panicked look in his adoptive son's eyes. "A friend of mine will then come get you and take you somewhere safe. You are to go with him."

"No way old man! You can't just pass me off to some God damned stranger! If you think—"

"There's no time! Just do as you are told!" Shiro yelled, he then opened the door and threw Rin inside. Rin landed roughly on the duffle bag, the strange sword digging painfully into his back.

Rin shot back up to his feet and ran to the door that had been slammed closed as soon as he had been pushed through. "Don't you dare old man! I want to… know…"

Rin had thrown open the door but all that was there an empty storage room filled with broken furniture and cobwebs. "What the hell…" Rin closed and open the door several more times to make sure that this was real. He then looked around to be certain that there weren't any other doors that he could have come out of and there weren't. The only other doors in the building, that looked to be an abandoned and rundown church, were on the other side, far away from where Rin had entered.

There was no mistake that Rin had gone through the storage room door but now it wasn't the same door. It was different. He ran to one of the broken windows and looked outside and saw that the entire forest had changed as well, there were now tall pines and he could see mountains in the distance.

"No way… this… this isn't real…"

Rin may not have paid that much attention whenever his teachers yammered on and on about boring and useless shit in school but he knew enough that there were no mountains anywhere near Southern True Cross District. A person would need to be at least a hundred and fifty kilometers or so from the city before they started seeing mountains.

So how was it possible for Rin to suddenly be somewhere where there are mountains in just two seconds?

It wasn't, this all had to be some sort of crazy dream. There was no way any of what had just happened was possible…

Right…?

"Demons don't exist…" Rin murmured, backing away from the windows and back to the center of the church. "None of this is real. Demons aren't real. Demons aren't—"

Rin suddenly stopped his panicked thinking as memories upon memories flooded him. Small things that he suddenly remembered throughout his whole life but had always dismissed as unimportant, memories of all the times people had looked at him with fear or whispered demon behind his back when they thought he wasn't listening anymore. His classmates looking at him as if he was some sort of monster and staying away from him, teachers silently judging him and already deciding he was not worth their time to try and tame the 'demon child'.

The constant niggling feeling that he did not belong and that his very being was… wrong.

All of these bits and pieces came together to start forming a clear picture and an undeniable truth. A truth that Rin wasn't sure he wanted to face…

Demons were real.

Exorcists were real.

He was a demon.

His family had known…

They had lied to him…

They had known the truth this whole time and they had lied to his face for his whole damn life…

It was like the air had been stolen from his lungs as Rin fell to his knees. The entire weight of everything that had happened in the last few hours, along with his own realization that his whole life he had been lied to by the people he trusted the most was just too much for the fifteen year old to deal with. Tears started to leak out from his eyes, sliding down his face and falling onto the dusty floor as emotions hit him to fast and too hard to process until finally a choked sob escaped his throat.

The dam was breaking and Rin just let it break, not even bothering to hold it back. It just hurt too damn much.

Rin just let himself cry.

He didn't know how long he stayed on the floor crying out in anguish as he let out years of pent up anguish and hurt. All the years he had turned a blind eye to his family's lies and the little voice inside of him nagging him that he wasn't normal, that he wasn't human… everything was finally coming out.

Rin cried until no more tears came and then he just sat there on the floor, staring at the spot where his tears had practically washed the floor where they hit.

The sounds of rolling thunder and the soft patter of rain is what finally drew Rin's attention and broke him out of the trance he had been in.

He looked to one of the windows that was missing its glass and saw that the sky had gotten even darker. A storm was coming.

Wiping the remaining tears and snot from his face with his sleeves, Rin moved to get up when he felt something in his pocket. He reached into his jacket's pocket and pulled out the cellphone that Shiro had shoved into his hand before pushing him through the door.

Rin paused, staring at before opening it. The dim lighting illuminating his face as he scrolled down to contacts and saw there really was only one number listed there. Not even a name just a number.

Rin's finger hovered over the call button for a minute before he suddenly snapped the phone shut. He glanced over to the door that he had come in through, then at the duffle still on the ground, then back at the phone in his hand.

"…You are, the child of Satan…"

"That's not important right now! Right now all that matters is making sure that you are safe and as far away from here as possible."

"There's no time! Just do as you are told!"

"Sorry old man, but I'm done with your bullshit…"

Rin gripped the phone hard enough that it smashed under the pressure and let the broken phone fall to the floor where it laid in pieces. He grabbed the bag off the floor, and after a moment of hesitation the sword as well, and made his way to the front of the church. The doors were locked but the old and crippled wood proved no match for Rin's inhuman strength as with one solid push the doors gave way and opened.

By now the rain was starting to come down harder but Rin didn't care as he threw up the hood of his jacket over his head to keep some part of him dry and ran out of the church. It didn't matter where he was going, he just didn't want to be there when or if someone finally came to get him. He just had to get away.

He ran as fast as he could, mud and water splashing up, as the rain was now a complete downpour that soaked Rin to the bone but he didn't care. The wet and cold actually felt good, it helped to numb him from his own inner turmoil raging inside him. And if the rain also happened to erase any stray tears and all remnants of his past break down then so be it.

After all, he was finally fulfilling everyone's wishes for him since he was six years old and had broken his classmate's arm.

Okumura Rin was disappearing from everyone's lives.


Kosaten= Crossroads

There you have it. The very first chapter to my new AoE AU story. Obviously I am a bit rusty since I have not written anything in… years… but I am hoping to get back into the game by writing this fic up. Obviously Rin is in a lot of pain right now because he had some time alone to realize that his family has lied to him for his whole life, no one is explaining anything at all, they are all just 'here's your stuff you need to leave now'.

I don't care who you are, if a 15 year old who has been shunned for most of their life over something that they cannot control and has had to just deal with that while living in the shadow of a much more successful sibling and then being told that they had to leave because they are a danger... That would be really messed up. It is something from the manga that really pisses me off was that they waited until shit hit the ceiling for anyone to explain ANYTHING to Rin, and even afterwards not one of the priests at the monastery, who CLEARLY knew about Rin, stepped up to try and explain things to Rin. Yukio sure as hell didn't and still didn't say anything until he had no choice, but again, he still doesn't tell Rin everything.

So yeah, I wanted to show a story where Rin runs away and he is angry and hurt at his family for keeping all these secrets from him, and you know what, he has the right to be angry. Obviously, Rin is not going to stay mad forever but I want Rin to be on his own for a bit just so that he can process things on his own and come to terms by himself about who and what he is without any judgments from anyone.

Also, on a more important note, I am going to need a beta-reader for this story so if anyone is interested please let me know. Obviously this chapter did not have one because I am using it to advertise for one.