I am terribly sorry that I took so incredibly long to update! But between a massive writer's block and exams I just couldn't get this chapter done. But here it is. Enjoy! :)
"Normal speech"
'Thoughts'
Disclaimer: I own nothing! Ao no Exorcist belongs to Kasue Katō.
Just as Shiro turned away from the table to retrieve the telephone, the front door opened once more and a small voice called out: "I'm home."
The boy opened the door absentmindedly and announced his arrival, ignorant to the five pairs of eyes directed at him and the obvious tension littering the room, only to be greeted by a loud exclamation of his name. The sudden interruption of his thoughts disoriented the black haired boy, causing him to stumble. It took some time for Rin to catch his bearings. When he finally managed to rejoin reality, he first took notice that he was at home and started to wonder just how immersed he had been in his thoughts that he hadn't noticed he had walked the whole way from the slums to the monastery. But before Rin could sink into his mind once more, the boy found himself bombarded with questions.
"Where were you?"
"Why didn't you come home?"
"What were you thinking?"
"Why are you covered in dirt?"
"Did you get into a fight again?"
"Are you alright?"
Being thrown off balance by the sudden influx of questions, Rin looked from one priest to another confused. The young boy tried to answer the questions, but the priests were all talking at once so he couldn't quite make out what they were saying, leading to him opening and closing his mouth like a fish without voicing anything.
Shiro noticed the predicament his boy was in and the way he was shifting his feet uneasily, clearly uncomfortable with the attention he received, so he decided to cut the chase. He cleared his throat to gain the other's attention and the chatter died down. He then rested his eyes upon the small form of his older son. He frowned slightly when he saw that Rin wouldn't meet his eyes, rather flickering his gaze across the room, looking anywhere but at him. Slowly he approached the boy, crouching down in front of him so they were on eyelevel. He grabbed the boy's shoulders and pulled him into a heartfelt hug.
Rin was frozen in shock. He couldn't respond. The boy just stood there wide eyed. This wasn't at all what he had expected. He'd expected yelling, to be scolded for not coming home in time. Rin thought his dad would be angry, no, that'd be an understatement - he believed that he would be furious! - But instead he'd just hugged him!
Slowly Shiro retreated from the embrace, his hands coming to rest on the boy's small shoulders, while he was trying to make eye contact with his son.
"Are you alright, Rin? I was... no, all of us were worried about you. Why didn't you come home?"
"I'm fine. I just... felt bad about what happened at school and took a detour on the way home and got lost." Rin still wouldn't meet his father's eyes, not having expected such a confrontation.
"I see. While I find it good that you are thinking about your actions. I want to know where you are. I was about to call the police because we couldn't find you!", stated Shiro. But then he frowned and continued: "But still... That doesn't explain why you are covered in dirt. Did something happen to you? Did you get into a fight again? Please tell me, Rin."
Rin gritted his teeth, not sure how to answer his father. "No… I didn't get into a fight. I just- I just tripped and fell into the dirt, nothing to worry about."
"Oh. Are you hurt anywhere?" Shiro asked as he checked Rin for possible injuries, but the boy shook his hands off.
"No, I am fine. Just tired. I am going to bed, okay?" Rin stated more than asked as he made his way through the gathered priests to his and his brother's room.
Yukio had watched silently as Rin arrived. At first he was relieved that his brother appeared to be fine, but he tensed slightly in worry as he noticed his brother's unusually quiet behavior and as Rin so causally brushed their father of, Yukio knew that something was wrong with his older brother. Something had to have happened, but the brunette didn't know what! He could only watch silently as Rin excused himself from the room. Hopefully it was nothing serious and Rin would be back to normal soon.
Rin was lying on his bed, his arms folded underneath his head as he stared blankly at the ceiling. Everybody else was already sleeping soundly, but contrary to his previous claim, Rin was wide awake. He felt bad about lying to his father, but was convinced it was better this way. Trying to reassure himself Rin thought back to the conversation he'd had earlier this day…
"W-Who are you?"
If possible the girl's smile seemed to brighten even more as she pulled him to his feet. When she spoke, her voice sounded like ringing bells: "You can call me... Destiny."
"Destiny?", repeated Rin.
"Hm", she hummed absentmindedly as she surveyed the alleyway and whistled as she watched the blue flames flicker across the floor and walls, illuminating the shadows beautifully, "You've quite outdone yourself here, haven't you?"
"How can you say that so casually?! Humans CANNOT generate blue fire. They were right! I really am a demon, a monster!", he cried out. His eyes were stinging with unshed tears that threatened to fall again.
"Stop it!", the girl said with cold fury in her voice, "I don't want to hear that from you. You're but a boy. Have you ever harmed somebody simply out of the desire to hurt them? Have you relished in the pain of others? Do you seek violence in order to cause pain?"
"N-No", stuttered Rin, fidgeting nervously.
"Then you are not a monster." The girl nodded to herself, having calmed down again.
"But what about these blue flames?"
"Well, they are obliviously inhuman, but not necessarily monstrous. Tell me. What do you know about your parents, your heritage?", she asked as she looked at the frustrated boy.
"What has that to do with anything!", shouted Rin angrily. 'Why does she ask about my parents? That's not important right now!'
"What do you think? You're flames have to come from somewhere.", the girl said dryly.
The black haired boy shrank back at those words, but they also got him thinking. What did he know about his family? He knew that Yukio was his younger twin brother, that they were adopted and that the old man used to be good friends with their mum, who died shortly after their birth. She lived just long enough to name them. But apart from that, he didn't know much -if anything- about his heritage.
"I guess… you're right. I don't really know much about my family", murmured Rin dejectedly.
"Well we can't have that now, can we?", the girl asked with an amused tone. "But let's go somewhere else for this conversation. I for my part don't want to stand in some back alley for that. Come on! Let's grab some ice cream and go to a park. We can talk there, okay?" Destiny asked and offered her hand to the small seven years old.
Rin hesitated for a moment bevor his curiosity got the better of him and he accepted her hand. He wanted answers. He needed them and this strange girl was going to give them to him - and if he had to go along with her antics for that, then so be it.
They walked out of the slums and Destiny bought both of them an ice cream cone at a stall before leading Rin into a park. Rin recognized it as the one where he often went to play with his little brother, not too far from the monastery.
"Soo... What do you want to know first?", she asked as she sat down on an isolated bench so nobody could accidentally overhear them. She petted the space next to her to signal him to sit down too.
The black-haired boy sat down cautiously and started to fidget with his ice cream cone. He had so many questions, but no idea where to start, not to mention that he felt anxious about the answers.
Destiny watched the boy from the corner of her eye as he seemed to try to melt his ice cream with his eyes alone - knowing who he was, he could probably do just that - clearly irked with himself for not being able to voice his thoughts and questions. After a few minutes of silence the raven-haired girl decided to help the poor boy out.
"How about I tell you a little story?", she suggested with amusement lacing her bell-like voice. Destiny laughed lightly as Rins face flushed a light pink in embarrassment. His shoulders slumped visibly from relief of not having to start the conversation.
"Hm, let's see... Our world has two sides, this side where humans live, called Assiah, and its mirror image Gehenna, where demons dwell. The king of Gehenna is Satan, who used to be an angel called Lucifer, one of the greatest. But he fell from grace when he rebelled against God and was cast out of heaven, but I digress.
Our story starts around eight years ago when Satan tried to possess humans to enter Assiah, but they were all too weak, too fragile - their bodies were destroyed when he seized them. You see demons need to possess something in Assiah in order to move around here. There are only a few exceptions like the coal tar and some demons who were born from human beliefs and emotions, like guardians of forests or mountains and the like. Depending on how powerful the demon is it needs a stronger vessel. In Satan's case he is too powerful to possess anything in Assiah for a longer time and everything starts to decay at a fast pace from the moment he enters it. Because of the number of deaths he caused through spontaneous human combustion - meaning they randomly burst into flames and burned - the Vatican - which is basically the central power of the Catholic Church - sent Exorcists into the woods to investigate. On their way there they were attacked by Satan's flames and burned- with the exception of one. The young lower second class exorcist Yuri Egin was mysteriously unaffected by the flames and could even hear Satan's voice through them.
She was a special woman. Even though she was an exorcist, the natural enemy of demons, she believed in the possibility of demons and humans living side by side in peace and harmony. She saw this strange occurrence as a chance to get to know the king of all demons. Yuri made a bargain with Satan. In exchange for letting him possess her body, he wouldn't take over her mind- like a symbiotic existence. Satan got to experience Asshia and Yuri would teach him about humans, life and love. Eventually they fell in love with each other and two children were born from this union."
"Well… that's nice and all… but why are you telling me all this?", interrupted Rin.
Destiny smiled down at him. "You really can't think of a reason? Let me give you a hint: All of this happened roughly eight years ago."
After a moment of contemplation Rin's eyes widened in shock. "You… you don't… you can't mean… but… but you said that I'm NOT A MONSTER!"
"And I stand by it. Just because Satan is your father doesn't mean that you're a monster.", She stated firmly.
"But… but… Satan is evil! The bible says so. Everyone says so!", Rin exclaimed.
"Yeah, that may be so,… but you aren't your father. So why does it matter?"
"I… I don't know… but… just today, I got into a fight with some boys at school, I even almost broke Nishi-kun's nose! And… I always react violently to any insult, everyone calls me a demon child because of it… and they are right!" His voice was thick with emotion, and his eyes were swimming with tears.
"We already discussed this. Stop putting yourself down. No child has their own strength fully in check yet. You just happen to have more power than an average kid. You just have to learn how to control it, just like everybody else."
"And you think that will be possible?", he asked meekly. She nodded encouragingly. "But what about the flames?"
"Clearly you have to master those too and that as soon as possible. They are already rather strong as you proved with that little stunt earlier -NO. Don't look down. It wasn't your fault. - And in their sealed state too…"
"Sealed state? What do you mean?"
"Most of your powers were sealed away shortly after your birth, but we will go into the details of that at a later date."
Rin looked a bit disgruntled at that, but said nothing, since he already had enough to wrap his mind around and she did promise to tell him later after all.
"They will only continue to grow and the longer you wait the more difficult will it be to control them."
"But how? I don't know how I did that earlier and I don't know how to do it again."
"Hm", Destiny hummed to herself and stood up from the bench. "Maybe I could be persuaded to help you.", she said slowly as she turned to face him with her arms behind her back.
"Really?! You can do that? How?", he asked excitedly.
"Of course I can. I wouldn't have offered it otherwise. And how? Let me worry about that. "She looked up at the slowly darkening sky contemplatively. "It's getting late. How about you head home and think about everything I told you today in peace. Take as much time as you need and when you have reached a decision come back here. I'll be there."
Even after going over the conversation again Rin still wasn't too sure what to think about that girl. He really didn't know anything about her besides her name. At the same time she seemed to know an awful lot about him and he had a feeling that there was still a lot more that she hadn't told him yet. The young boy didn't know if he could trust her, but he didn't believe that he had much of a choice if he wanted to learn more about himself and how to control his powers. While the old man probably could answer him too, he had kept all of this from him until now and Rin wasn't sure how he would react to his new discovery…. No. He would keep this to himself for now. Destiny didn't seem to wish him any harm and readily provided answers to all of his questions. His decision made, Rin resolved to return to the park the next day after school. He wanted to learn more about himself, but more importantly he needed to get stronger. After all how was he supposed to protect his little crybaby of a brother if he couldn't even protect himself?!
Well that's it for now. The next chapter will be a summary of the next few years of training.
Please tell me whether you want Shiro to live or not. Just write it in a review or PM me.
I won't make any promises on the next update, but I try to update as soon as possible.
Please review any critic and plot ideas are appreciated and I will see if I can incorporate them in my story. ^.^
