Andrea: So... Too much to put in one chapter when copy and pasting. Split it in two. Enjoy Chapter 11, Part 2

XxX

Chapter 11, Part 2: Back Together

Rin looked up to see his twin. Yukio was no longer dull eyed and lifeless, but standing before him with the edge of a sword gripped tightly within his fist.

"Yukio?" Rin whispered, his voice faded and nearly gone. He had stopped sinking into the sea of corpses below him, though from the waist down he was still completely submerged.

"Why are you here?" Heylal spoke, his voice tinted with surprise. "How do you exist?"

"I am Yukio Okumura, twin brother to Rin Okumura and sworn protector of my Nii- san!" His blue eyes sparkled behind his cracked glasses. "You will not hurt him any longer!"

Rin could hear his brother speaking. A part of him rejoiced at the sight of him, happy that he was here and defending him. That part was lost though, buried under a mound of dead bodies covered in blood and rot.

"Why are you here Yukio?" Rin's voice was vacant as his eyes. With his pale skin and the blood staining his clothes, one could mistake him for one of the innumerable corpses that surrounded him.

"I deserve this. I'm a murderer. A demon. A monster." A spark of pain was heard at the end, causing Yukio's eyes to soften at the sight of his broken twin.

"No, you're not." Yukio put his free hand on his shoulder. "You're Rin, my nii- san who always protects me from bullies. A monster wouldn't do that."

Rin stiffened, and something stirred in him once more, only this time it was stronger, louder.

"A monster would break someone's nose. A monster would bruise someone's ribs. A monster would send someone to the ER after beating them until they passed out!"

Droplets of blood dripped down Yukio's wrist from the slowly deepening cut on his hand. Heylal smirked at the sight, knowing that the boy would not be able to hold him back for long.

"You broke Kusakawa- san's nose because he had given me a black eye, and was about to give me another." Yukio said.

Rin heard the shifting of fabric and saw a small girl in overalls standing next to his twin, her blond hair streaked with blood but her eyes bright and alive.

"You bruised that man's ribs because he had tried to take me away to somewhere bad."

His heart beat faster.

Another shuffling noise and a boy no less than five stood on the other side of Yukio. A small dog slept soundly in his arms.

"You beat up Ryuuji because he killed Inu- chan." The dog whined and dug it's head further into the crook of the boy's arm.

His eyes brightened.

"You're not a monster, nii- san." Yukio whispered.

"You're my son whom I love more than anything in the world." Rin felt tears slide down his cheeks at the feeling of calloused fingers ruffling his hair. Fujimoto smiled and wiped at the boys eyes.

"You're a hero. Like one of those shonen characters you read about so much, ne?"

A thousand pieces swirled within a whirlwind before binding together once more, making what was broken whole again.

Rin remembered who he was, remembered why he would fight through this and return to Assia. He did not, would not kill his family. He would not let the world end like this, littered with the bodies of the dead.

He gritted his teeth and pulled. Inch by inch, he lifted himself from the mound of corpses he had sunk into. Heylal became frantic, tugging harder in order to free his sword from Yukio's grasp.

"Let go!" He screamed. "L͝et̸ ͡G̛̕Ò!̢̛͞"

Rin stood shakily. He put a hand on his brother's shoulder to steady himself before staring straight into his double's eyes with surprise, realizing why Heylal was acting so scared.

"You didn't expect this to happen." Heylal froze. "You didn't expect that I was… loved."

Heylal grew still, no longer trying to free his sword. He looked to the ground for what seemed like hours. When he looked back up, Rin was surprised to see drops of crimson drip from the corners of his eyes.

Heylal was crying.

"TH̨̨̛EY ̴̨̀L̴̡I̕È!̡͢ T̵H̢E҉̶Ỳ ̴̛͟AL͏̕͏W͘͢A͝YS̡ ͢҉L͝I̴̕È!́" He paused, soft sobs shaking his shoulders. "H̛͞ứ̷m͠a̸̕n̢̕͠s̨͝҉ ̷a͟lẁ̷̡a̕y͘s̵̨ li̕e!̴ They're the real demons! They always say such mean things and then pretend that they don't mean anything at all! Monster! Demon! Freak! Devil! It hurts so much and they n̨͟e̛̛v́͞e͠r͘͢͝ ͘cà̕re͠͏! Humans don't love anything but themselves! They can't love us! They C͟͠A̴NT͜͝! They all just smile and lie like t̡h̷͠e͠ ̴͞D͡EMO̷N͠Ś̛ ̡T҉H̸̢E̶̵͝Y ͜͟͡A͠R̢͝҉E͏̴!͟͞"

Heylal pulled his sword once more and this time was successful in ripping it from Yukio's grip. He raised it high above his head, pain etched deep into his blood streaked face.

"If we can't kill them, I͏ ̶̧WI͞L̢L!̵̛̀" The blade raced down to the unprotected skull of Okumura Rin. The half demon raised his hand and did the same thing his twin had done for him. He caught the sword inches before it would have split his head in two. A quick squeeze and it shattered into countless pieces. Heylal backed away, his eyes wide and still dripping red. He tripped and toppled to the ground. Instead of dead flesh however, the floor was once again stainless black tile.

"They'll never love us!" Heylal spat. Rin could see the mix of emotions in his eyes. Hate, fear, defeat, despair, loneliness…

He took a step forward and Heylal scrambled back.

"Humans are all the same! Jiji, Yukio, all of them!"

"No, they're not." Rin spoke with conviction, the words heated with the rediscovered love of his family. "Yes, there are bad humans. Evil humans too. But there are good ones, great ones who love us no matter what. Yukio, Jiji, Nagatomo, Kyoudou, Maruta, Izumi: they're those humans. And I know that we can find more like them. Not just humans," Rin thought of Aglaecia, Cyrus, and Kuro. "but maybe some demons too. I know it sounds kinda sappy and stupid, but it's worth a try, right?"

He held out a hand to Heylal and grinned. Heylal stared at Rin, eyes wide and disbelieving.

"You should know. You're me after all."

The sword froze, then shocked Rin with a roaring bout of laughter. Heylal wiped at his eyes and quieted down. He looked up to the older Okumura and smiled.

"Yeah." He reached up and grasped his new masters hand. "We're Okumura Rin."

XxX

When Rin opened his eyes for the first time in nine days, Kuro immediately sent out for Abadon. After he had done that, he stumbled his way through the kitchen and retrieved a pitcher of water. He set it at his young master's bedside and waited patiently for him to fully awake. Five seconds into his wait, he realized that he had not brought a cup with the pitcher of water.

Kuro nearly cried.

He stuttered out at least five apologies to a half conscious Rin before racing back to the kitchen to get a cup. The first he dropped halfway to the bedroom, and the second was taken by a kitchen maid before he could get it. By the time he got to Rin with a usable cup the half demon was already gulping down the water straight from the pitcher.

"R-Rin- sama! Y-you shouldn't be d-drinking like that!" Kuro was struggling with what to do. Should he take away the pitcher? If he did, he would be taking away something the young master clearly wanted. If he didn't however, he might choke! Oh, he was never good at things like this! He missed his temple in Assia, along with his nee- chan and Neko- baa…

"K-kuro?" Rin choked out. His voice was raspy and almost non- existent.

"Rin- sama! A-are you alright? I have a cup for you! For the water. That you drank…" Kuro blushed and cursed his inability to speak correctly to the young master.

"No, I'm fi-!" Rin was interrupted by a fit of coughing, and Kuro was instantly by his side rubbing circles into his back. "…Actually, some more water would be wonderful."

A loud rumbling noise echoed through the room.

"And some food…"

Kuro was gone before Rin could blink. The cat demon raced through the kitchen, filling the pitcher with water and instructing an Ukobach kitchen servant to make a meal for the young master.

"Sukiyaki, if you can." He said before leaving with the water, some tea, and a small tin. He looked at the hearts painted everywhere on the container and smiled. Nee- chan was always such a sweetheart.

He entered Rin's bedroom and placed the tray back on the small nightstand. Kuro then poured a small cup of tea and opened up the tin to reveal an assortment of cookies.

"I brought you some tea as well. There's a hint of ginger, so it should help soothe your throat." He handed the cup to Rin who gladly took it, blowing gently at it's surface before taking a sip.

"…Tastes good." He said. His voice was still quiet, but not as scratchy.

Kuro nodded, though internally he cheered at his master's approval.

"Also, since the cook is still making your meal, I brought…" Kuro chewed the inside of his cheek, not knowing if Rin would approve of something so personal. "I-I brought you some of the cookies my s-sister sent me last week."

Rin looked at the small tin of cookies with wide eyes.

"Your sister?" he said before taking another sip of tea. He grabbed what looked to be shortbread with jam in the center and took a tentative bite. Rin quickly ate the rest and grabbed another.

"These are really good!" He ate the next one in just one bite and licked the remaining crumbs from his fingers. "Your sister's got some great baking skills!"

Kuro smiled, happy to see someone else enjoy his sister's talent.

"Our grandmother is the guardian deity of silk spinners, so a lot of times they'd bake sweets and offer them. Nee- chan really liked them, so she started to follow the silk spinners home and watch them cook. She's gotten very good!"

Rin nodded.

"Do you think she'd teach me?" Kuro was surprised by the question. Rin wanted to learn about baking? He couldn't think of a reason why a prince such as his master would want to be taught something so common.

"Why would you want to learn such a thing?" He asked. Rin looked away for a moment, drawn into thought before he answered.

"Well, my dad," He paused and smiled sadly. "the people who raised me in Assia, they were terrible cooks. Nagatomo was so bad that when he tried to make an omelette he didn't even take out the egg shells. He just smashed them all together and cooked it like that. It was horrible. Not to mention the one time Izumi had decided to try his hand at baking a cake. Now that was a disaster… Hey Kuro, you ok?"

Kuro stared in horror at his poor, poor young master. He had heard stories from the servants about how Rin had been raised by humans, exorcists of all things. Some had said that he was tortured daily, or that they had they were attempting to destroy his demon heart, but the cat demon couldn't have even imagined the terrible things his master was telling him.

"T-They tried to p-poison you?!" He squeaked. To make the youngest son of Satan and heir to the throne of Gehenna eat egg shells… Exorcists truly were the monsters that everyone described them as.

"I-Is that how they- they tortured you? By forcing you to eat these- these disgusting Assian dishes? I heard that exorcists eat the corpses of their enemies. Did they m-make you e-eat that?!"

Instead of hearing the terrifying answer he thought he was going to get, Rin laughed as if Kuro had just said the funniest joke ever conceived.

"W-what's so funny?" Kuro was worried now. What if the young master was having one of those fits torture victims often had? The ones where they remembered what had happened and go momentarily insane. Was his master insane now? He felt tears prick the corners of his eyes and grasped Rin's shoulders.

"Rin- sama! Are you ok? Please be ok!" To his relief, the half demon's laughter died down to quiet giggles.

"I-I'm fine, Kuro." Rin said finally. "It's just that what you said was really funny."

Kuro tilted his head and went back to worrying about his master's sanity.

"How?"

Rin blinked.

"Wait, you were being serious?"

"Weren't you?"

"No! Well, yes. But I said nothing about exorcists trying to poison me!"

Kuro whined.

"B-but the eggshells!"

"That was a mistake! Nagatomo did that only because he had no clue how to make something even remotely edible. He didn't purposely try to hurt me with bad cooking, he did it on accident. And not just me, even he was reeling after a bite of that gunk."

"So… They didn't try to kill you." Kuro surmised, though he still had his doubts. "Or torture you."

"Nope, though sometimes I wonder if school was some type of torture. Sure as hell seemed like it…" Before Kuro could ask about how his school was torture, a familiar presence made itself known.

"Rin, I see that you are awake." Abadon looked as neat as ever, his black hair going nicely with the midnight blue of his newest suit; it was older in style by at least a century than the one he had worn previously. He adjusted his bowtie, frowning at how it seemed to perpetually lean to the left. Kuro guessed that Abadon preferred his neck tie.

"So then I assume that you have tamed your heart." Rin nodded.

"Good. I wish that I could give you a moments rest, but I am afraid that that must wait. You have a summons." Abadon looked to Kuro. "Kuro, retrieve a suitable outfit for Rin to receive company in."

"Yes, lord Abadon." The young servant left the bedroom in search of one of the royal tailors. Before he was gone though, he heard Rin ask Abadon whom the summons was from. The answer made Kuro pale as he doubled in his efforts to find a tailor.

"You father has called for you."

XxX

Shuko nearly cheered when Tsubaki- sensei released the class from their first day of cram school. She hadn't expected it to be so boring. Yes, some of it was interesting, like when he talked about the major battles in exorcist history (the one with the impure king was the best by far), but everything else was scripture and lame facts. She sighed and shared her thoughts with her newest friend.

He was displeased to say the least.

"Those 'dumb facts' are very important, Getsuga- san!" He argued. "Knowing the difference between monkshood and devils weed can save lives!"

"So can kicking demon butt!" Shuko didn't even know why she had to explain this to Yukio of all people. He was pretty much the smartest person she knew.

"Yes, but you can't 'kick demon butt' without knowing the facts! Let's say you were up against a salamander. How would you defeat it?"

"Um…" Shuko struggled for the answer. She tried to remember what her auntie had told her about one of her missions involving salamanders. Something about holy water and…

"Pachysandra and thyme! You mix it in with holy water and throw it at the salamander! Then you just punch it in the face and 'bam!', dead salamander."

She was sure she got it right. She even added a sound effect for good measure.

"Yes… That's correct. How did you know that?" Yukio asked. She didn't understand why Yukio was so surprised. She could be smart too sometimes.

"My auntie taught me." She answered simply.

"Your aunt? Who's she?" Shuko grinned, happy to tell her friend about the person who had been caring for her for more than a year.

"Midari Getsuga. She's an exorcist of the True Cross order, but instead of the Japan branch she's part of the American branch." Yukio's eyebrows rose at the mention that her aunt was nearly halfway around the world. Shuko smiled sheepishly, explaining why Midari was so far.

"She's trying to transfer so she can look after me more, but theres a lot of paperwork to do in order for that to happen. She's almost done though. Say's she'll be in Japan by the end of the year."

Yukio nodded, seemingly appeased by the explanation.

"So who watches you while she's gone?" He asked.

"Usually she gets one of her co workers to babysit. Like I remember a guy called Lightning or something looking after me for a month." She cringed, remembering the safari hat wearing weirdo who constantly smelled like he hadn't bathed in at least two weeks. "But lately she's been letting me look after myself."

"Really? But you're only nine! You're too young to be by yourself!" Shuko frowned.

"I'm not nine, I'm nine and three quarters! That makes me," She held up her fingers to count. Yukio was born in December, and she was in January…

"Nine days older than you, megane- kun!"

"Don't call me that, Rin!"

She froze, watching Yukio do the same before shrinking into himself, his eyes not willing to look at anything else but the floor.

"Yukio, are-?"

"I should go home now." She could barely hear him. "My dad'll worry if I don't get back home soon. Bye, Getsuga- san."

Shuko reached out for him, opening her mouth and hoping the right words would tumble out and keep him from leaving, from looking so broken.

"W-wait!" It was all she could say to the retreating back of her best and only friend. She wanted to tell him that she knew what he was feeling, that he wasn't alone, but he was gone before she could say it. For a moment she thought of just heading home and forgetting what had happened; it seemed easy enough. The moment passed and she walked forward, hoping to find someone who would know where to find the home of the paladin and consequently, Okumura Yukio.

She was Shuko Getsuga, and she'd be damned if she let a friend cry without her.

XxX

Andrea: This bottom note is gonna be super fast guys. It's almost three o'clock and Gary Stevens is already out. *pauses to yawn* And the only reason Anonymous is still awake is because she's watching the episodes of Gravity Falls she missed.

Anonymous: I don't understand why Bill does not just kill everyone! He is a chaos demon, right?!

Andrea: Yeah... So anyways, glad you all read the chapter and hope you liked it! Leave some reviews, some favorites, some follows, whatever you want! Next chapter should be out before Christmas, so hold on until then. For now though, A out!

Anonymous: *pauses show and looks around* Well, now that Andrea is gone, I can tell you all what is in store for the next chapter. Rin meets his blood father, Shuko confronts Yukio and his adopted father about Rin, Mephisto's thoughts on Rin's fate are shared, and the castle of the Lord of Gehenna is explored. Enjoy the wait. A out.