AN2: SUPRISE! Finally, after a long-awaited update, I have added more than 1,000 words to Chapter 1! I think it's about time for this story to graduate from being a work-in-progress to a finished piece! The newest chapter will be up, don't worry ^-^ Well, I hope you enjoy this! I also want to say THANK YOU SOOOOOO MUCH FOR ALL OF THE KIND WORDS, SUPPORT, AND LOVE THAT THIS STORY HAS GOTTEN! Wilhelm Wigworthy, fhdkjsafhd jakshfdjkhfk (man, that was a pain in the ass to type! Lol), anacor51, InfinatePanicAttacks33, Kakashi Attacke, Ghostwriter (whomever you are:P), Sora Labyrinth, tanithhh, careless7, ladynarutochan, snowy1219 (you've contribute so much^-^), random person, Anon, SuperiorDimwit (and so have you:D), Otaku1o1, Charred-Bones, and Xiandao, THANK YOU!
AN: Hello fanfiction! This is my first attempt at a story, so don't judge too harshly. ^-^ I have looked for an AnE fanfic that told the story of what happened between the time Father Fujimoto died and when they had his funeral, (because we all know what happened after that.) After a while of searching (and only finding some that didn't correspond with the manga/anime), I decided to make my own! So this is my take on how Rin adjusted to becoming a demon and dealing with Fujimoto's death. I will also probably add Yukio in a little OOC of how he helps Rin adjust (because I love brotherly fluff moments!), but nothing is for certain. (There will be absolutely NO yaoi.) I may decide to make Yukio cold and distant and have Rin try to figure this out by himself. Idk I'm not that far yet. But I have written a few short chapters in advance so don't worry (too much) about updates – I'm not abandoning this story anytime soon! I apologize that the chapters won't be very long, but I am a slow writer so you will have to bear with me ^-^
Summary: What happened after Father Fujimoto died? How did Rin cope with his new identity as a demon? Was Yukio there to comfort him or did he keep a cold distance? Takes place between Fujimoto's death and his funeral (and possibly beyond).
Disclaimer: I do not own AnE, and I'll be damned if I did!
"Screw that!" I threw the duffle bag, which contained a few of my possessions that were roughly shoved inside, to the ground in a fit of anger. I glared at Father Fujimoto, who was holding a blue katana he had called the Koma sword. My chest was huffing in anger and my hands quivered in tight fists by my sides. What the hell is wrong with him?! Demons this and demons that?! Where did this come from! Demons don't even exist! Even though I had concrete proof that this must be something supernatural, I still couldn't wrap my head around this! Then he spewed crap about how I'm a demon!
I remembered what he told me that shook me to my core. He had just saved me from a… demon – yes, I have to start accepting that this is real – that had possessed a teen who was a complete ass. I remembered the absolute terror of seeing blue flames shoot from my body and lick at my fingertips. It had felt like the fire was drawing away the oxygen in the air around me, and my chest ached. Then I remembered how Fujimoto had acted as if he had expected nothing else – he didn't even seem fazed that I was on fire. Without any hesitations, or even any fear, he had quickly exercised the evil spirit out of the other boy, who then fell unceremoniously to the ground with a generous thunk.
I remained trembling on the ground, staring with wide eyes at my dad and the now unconscious white-haired jerk. The strange blue flames had almost disappeared, and it took everything I had not to think about them, lest I freak myself out further.
I pointed to the boy and worriedly asked, "Is he going to be all right?" He hardly seemed like he was breathing.
My dad signed and cast a quick glance in his direction. "Yes, he will be, for now, but he will be prone to demon corruption in the future, since his soul is not pure. Now come, we have to hurry – we'll be safe at the monostary!"
But what had been absolutely mind-numbing was when he said that I was a demon. His exact words will forever remain with me in my darkest memories: "You are a demon born of a human, but you are not just any demon… you are the bastard son of Satan himself."
I was still digesting what he had said, and couldn't find myself to believe it. Hell, I didn't want to believe it. People have called me a demon for as long as I can remember, but there was something about my own dad saying it that really shoved the stake further into my heart. I mean, he couldn't have meant it… could he?
But as I gazed at him standing in front of me, waiting for me to do something, (namely pick up the duffle bag), I could tell he was completely serious about this. His eyes did not waver, whereas I could not get mine to stop.
The pain in my chest kept on rising like a broken floodgate, overwhelming me and drowning my heart. Am I really just a demon, then? To the whole world, including my own father?! Is this what he thought of me this whole time?
It hurt. It hurt so damn much. Why? Why me? What did I ever do to deserve this? The lump in my throat was painfully tight. That one question was a scream in my head. Why?!
"What is this all of a sudden?! Demon this and demon that! What about Yukio?!"
My dad dipped his head slightly, answering softly but firmly. "You were the only one who inherited the power of the blue flames. Since Yukio was the smaller twin, his body was too weak and small to sustain it, so it went to you alone."
So that's why I was so much stronger than him? Everything was making sense… Everything was making too much sense, because there are just some truths that are absolute, and questioning them would be lie in of itself. I felt angry, but coating over everything else like a thick syrup, I felt betrayed. I couldn't keep the hurt out of my voice, and I'm sure Dad heard it too. "B-but why didn't you tell me about this sooner? Why wait to tell me now?!"
He looked up at me with steely eyes. "Because I wanted to raise you as a normal human child, Rin, and I couldn't do that if you knew the truth."
My jaw was strained from clenching it. "Oh, so that's it, huh? As soon as I'm not human anymore you just kick me out?!"
He tried to reach out to me, like he wanted to give me comfort or something – or like he was trying to make a vain attempt at quelling my anger. "It was for your protection!"
"Oh, save me the sob story! You never really wanted me! I was too much trouble compared to Yukio… Admit it! You just don't want to put up with this shit anymore!"
"Rin–"
"Don't ever pretend to be my father again!"
A sharp smack echoed throughout the room. My head was knocked sideways, and my cheek stung almost as much as my eyes. Suddenly, all of my anger dissipated as if it were hot steam. Cold – just coldness and numbness was left. Fujimoto was no exception, though – it was as if all of my anger had condensed on him. "Do as I say, and go get your things now!" His eyes could have been reminiscent of glints of frozen steel.
"Fine…" I forced out between my teeth. It was silent briefly as I turned around to sluggishly pick up the damned duffle bag, but it was promptly interrupted by a sharp gasp by my father. I heard his knees thunk against the wooden floor. He was gripping his chest as if he was in pain. "Hey… are you alright?" I asked tentatively.
"Stay back!" He ground out of his throat. Never before had I heard this amount of authority come from him before. My heart beat a little faster. What was wrong with him?
"W-what's wrong?" Should I go get help?
"Get away from me! Go!" I was dumbstruck. Was he an idiot?! I can't just leave him here!
"Hold on, jiji!" I quickly knelt next to him, ready to support him if it was necessary, but as soon as my father looked up at me, my blood started to flow like platinum in my veins.
Because those were not my father's eyes.
Curiously, Fujimoto gazed up at me, before cracking open a malicious grin.
My breath caught in my throat.
"Ahahahaha!" Blue flames – now all too familiar blue flames – burst from his body like a caged phoenix. The brilliant flames swirled and danced as if being released from a long-held prison. My legs felt like cotton, and I collapsed to the ground with the blue-clad figure was now looming over me.
His mad grin almost seemed to split his face. "Ah, my dear son! How I have waited for this moment! How have you been? You should feel grateful that I came all the way here to see you! Ahahahaha!" I had backed up against the wall, quivering like a kitten.
"A-are you… a… d-demon?" Too much. This was too much for one day. Hell, I would gladly choose being hospitalized rather than dealing with this.
"What? Don't recognized me, boy?" He sneered. His eyes, ears, and nose also had a steady flow of almost-black liquid running from them, all of which were altered in some demonic-looking way. "I am Satan, Lord of Gehenna and your true father! But you can call me daddy if you like! Ahahaha!"
My breath was stuck in my throat, as if someone had lodged clay in my mouth.
Satan signed dramatically, then proceeded to grip Fujimoto's fingers with of of his hands. "As much as I love this charming reunion, I'm afraid I'm going to have to cut it short – this body won't last too much longer, I'm afraid." A sickening crunch and a wet tearing noise followed shortly after. A strangled gasp escaped my lips as Satan's – no, my dad's – fingers were ripped apart. Blood gushed from his crushed hand, sloshing and sloppily cascading to the floor. The blood began to boil, as if under immense heat, and black steam began to twist and curl up from the floorboards. Seeming to follow a well-defined path, my dad's blood smoothly and efficiently worked on coating the floor. Chittering from what sounded like beetles or bugs and high-pitched laughing started to echo out from the blood-pool. My eyes darted back and forth as what looked like a giant gate was starting to materialize. The border of this black portal seemed to me alive as well, slowly and lazily blinking open its eyes. I hastily stumbled to my feet as the gate spread.
"I am the only one capable of making this, you know." His laugh came out as a garbled chuckle. "The Gehenna Gate."
He turned to me, seeming to enjoy my shell-shocked expression. "Well, let's go to Gehenna!" Now I was frantic, alarm bells ringing in all departments of my head. Satan scooped up the Kona Sword, gripping it with a certain degree of hatred. "I should destroy this, and release you from its damnable spell!"
I was shaking, with fear or rage I wasn't sure anymore. Just who the fuck did this guy think he was?! "Stay back!" I cired. Blue flames, akin to the ones Fujimoto was wearing on his skin, weakly blazed on my skin. I couldn't care less, though. This bastard was going to get it!
"Aha – ahaha… Ahahahaha!" His hysterical laughter picked up in speed as my apprehension grew. "What the hell was that?! Did you just piss your pants or something?! Come on – enough of this bullshit! It's time to reclaim your true nature! Ahahaha!" His clawed hand firmly grasped my hood, dragging me behind him.
"L-let me go! I'm human!" My gaze shot to the mirror that was reflecting the utter chaos in the room. Demons of all shapes and sizes were fluttering or squirming around the Gate, the walls were blood-splattered and charred in places, and a raven-haired, fifteen year-old boy was ablaze in blue flames, sporting crimson red pupils and increasingly sharp canines.
Wait… was that… me?! The boy in the mirror widened his eyes in horror, copying what I assume my own expression showed. No… it can't be… So I really am a…
"I am a perfect being as the master of Gehenna! There is a drawback, however – nothing in Assiah is equal to me, so everything I possess is bound to perish! But soon, Assiah will be mine!" With a brute amount of strength, he threw me into the mass of black that served at the middle of the Gehenna Gate. "Even though I made you on a whim, it worked out perfectly! You have the God of Gehenna in your veins, yet you exist here in Assiah! If I am to lay claim to this world, I need you!"
My voice became a shrill cry that sharply cut across all of the other chaos. "Somebody help me!" The moaning of beasts, the cackling of monsters. The black churning mass of the Gate sucked at my arms and legs, willing me to give in and be pulled under. My heart was pounding madly, frantically pumping adrenaline and fear throughout my limbs. I could feel my fingers shaking.
"Ahahaha! The cry of a newborn! Happy birthday, my son!" The dark cackle that tore past my father's lips was inhuman, and the blood that ran in his throat was wildly spit up in dark bubbles.
"No…" The voice of Father Fujimoto was quiet, but it seemed to outweigh all other noise in the room. My vision was blurry as I looked up at his body, which was hunched over and still. "He's my son…" His hand slowly reached up to clutch the red and blue cross charm that hung from a chain around his neck.
"Wh-what are you doing, you damn exorcist!" Satan's marred voice screeched. The exorcist's hand raised in front of himself, and the long, metal spike was positioned above his heart.
"I'm taking him back!" The air was so still I could hear the spike being forcefully shoved into my dad's chest. My heart beat slow and hard, making my eyes hot. A small cry escaped my lips as I struggled to breathe in, while my body instinctively backed away in horror.
The priest crumpled face-first into the same pit he had control over a few seconds ago, and like everything else, it started to suck him in too.
I snapped out of my haze and roughly wrapped my arms around him, trying to pull him away from the sticky mass. "Dad!" Nothing I did was working, and he slipped farther and farther into the Gate. "Somebody help!" What can I do?! What can I do?!
Hesitantly I drew my eyes to the item that has been sitting on the sidelines, waiting, silent, but had a heavy presence.
The Koma sword.
It sat there, innocently. I dreaded looking at it, because inside I knew it contained a demon, but not just any demon, it contained me. I was the demon in the sword. My Dad's voice drifted back to me. "Never draw the sword. If you do, your demonic nature will emerge. Demons of all species will be after you and you will never live as a human again." My bottom lip trembled with fear.
But then I remembered what demons possess that humans don't – strength.
Determination filled my belly with fire, and I stared at the sword as if to say, "Bring it on!"
I gripped the pattern-wrapped hilt in my clammy hands, and used its weight to try to draw myself and Father Fujimoto up higher out of the pit. Memories resurfaced in my mind from earlier today of when I told him I had grown up. "Damn it, jiji." I growled as I gripped the scabbard with one hand and the hilt with the other. "I haven't shown you anything yet!"
Flames erupted around me in a burst of heat and light, melting the world as I knew it in a haze of azure.