Blend Arc: To Everlast

Shiro Fujimoto was known for many things. He had been a Paladin, he had been a father- a good father, he liked to think- and most of all, he had done his best to help Rin along as much as he could.

Looking back, he could honestly say he was proud of his sons. Yukio- as far as he knew- had been guarding Rin and protecting him, while Rin had been working hard to become an exorcist.

That had been before the latest news. All the Vera Proelium had provided him with were scraps of information, until Rin disappeared from True Cross. Then, they had been given radio static.

Then, he had been told of the recent events.

Rin leaving, Yukio sending him away.

Yukio denying any relation to his brother, cutting him off from any form of association.

His sons were splitting apart, and he had no clue what he could do to bring them back together. He knew the chance either boy would swallow their pride was low- though he had heard of Rin's mature attitude from the year and several months he had spent in the war- and could not help but feel a pain for the both of them.

They were going to lose each other, if they weren't careful.

Looking to the edge of the village, Shima was aware of the time he had spent away from home. As much as he had tried to push everyone away, make them hate him- make himself hate them- it hadn't worked.

His brothers, his friends, his family, they all remained special to him. Nothing was going to stop him from fighting for Lucifer, but he had come to accept that grieving was part of war, as was fighting and living.

He had seen it too often in Rin's eyes not to know. In the eyes of others. There was always going to be a part of him left behind, on every battlefield.

Maybe that was the true definition of the Innobrok. The ones who left too much behind, without having anything returned to them. The ones who could do nothing more, because so much of themselves had been given up already.

It was entirely plausible.

After leaving the barracks for the early training session, Shima was quickly dragged to the mess hall by an irate Sayori.

"Alright, spill," she said, "What really happened while you and Okumura-danchou were involved with the True Cross order?"

Shima paused, "Why?"

"Because, he wasn't always like this, according to some of the demons who played their way through the human world as school kids," as an aerodaemon, her clear-colored eyes could be disconcerting in a moment of anger, "He used to be happy, if a bit violent, and loud. Now, so few people have heard him speak above a library voice! What kind of shit had to happen for that to be the case?"

"He was revealed as the son of Satan, joined the Vera Proelium, and then began working for this war. That's what happened," Shima walked forward in the line, hoping to get some food if he was going to be stuck having a discussion about Rin's personal life, "Why do you care so much?"

She glared, "I don't know what is wrong with your species, but demons look after their own. If Rin has suffered while in the care of his brother, Yukio will face harsh criticism should he contact his brother. Should he come into Rin's care or favor, the majority of the demon populace will shun him, and he will constantly need to prove himself and his loyalty, especially when one considers Rin's position in this community."

"Yukio is the son of Satan, too, doesn't that give him equal position to Rin?"

Sayori scoffed, "Only a human would base status on birthright alone. Okumura Yukio has killed hundreds of our kind, and has pushed his brother aside as one would a misbehaved dog. While Rin has his faults and has committed his sins, he accepts those of us whom your people deem unworthy of existence, and has fought to keep his losses and emotions from making him one of the Innobrok."

Shima listened intently, as the concept of the Innobrok still fascinated him in a morbid way. When she was finished, he noted how careful she was about harshly criticizing the exwires. It was not, in all instances, their desire to destroy a demon for being present. It was, in her opinion, the exorcists who were to blame. However, when one crossed that threshold, they had to be careful not to lose their humanity.

The demons around him, while giving them privacy, had also minded their conversation. They had listened intently as the two of them continued on, and Shima made sure to be careful what he said and about whom he said it.

"So, Rin is like a hero here?"

Sayori looked at him appraisingly. This human seemed to be grasping at the demon culture, trying to blend in with it while not understanding the very basic tenants of it.

"No. He is a Strotea."

Shima had heard the term Strotea in whispers and hushed conversations. It was a term that the demon populace did not throw around like humans did with 'love', or 'brave', or 'hero'. Strotea was reserved for the fighters whom had lost so much, but still retained the strength of will to not become an Innobrok. In their culture, it was one step behind hero, but one above god. The Strotea within their past had always been humble- a trait Shima had seen Rin develop over the past several months.

Something about the open speaking of the term spoke to a deeper application, though. While Rin was one step below a hero, somehow, Shima doubted he would ever take such a noble title. No, the Rin that had developed over the past fourteen months was too humble, too quiet for that.

Which is just why it seemed appropriate that the term be applied so strongly. For it did not matter what Rin said on the issue, he would always be a powerful figure to those whome(whom) he had rescued from destitution.

Staring out into the general area, Renzou Shima nodded to her words. Okumura Rin was, indeed, a Strotea.

The newest group of exwires was a bit of a puzzle to Yukio, whom had seen the list of meisters. Many of them had chosen Aria, fitting with a growing trend. Ever since the Blue Night, it had been remarkable the number of exwires who chose the fate of an Aria- one who needed defending in battle instead of one who fought.

Due to the lack of variety, he had requested his former students join his class for their mission, as he only had two Knights and a single Dragoon for the group of twelve. The Dragoon- Hamasaki-chan- proved very effective when it came to accuracy. She had worked hard with Yukio over the past few weeks, working as something of an apprentice to the 'genius exorcist'.

Gathering his notes and students' assignments from his desk, he noticed a single paper he had taken from Rin's room. Covered in diagrams and words written in that same strange language he had heard Rin use with Kuro, the paper seemed to make decent sense, if Yukio was reading and interpreting the diagrams correctly. Yukio had run into trouble though, when it came to truly learning the language. It seemed that every word had multiple meanings, and every meaning had multiple connotations. As such, the attempted translations never seemed to fit together correctly.

"So, the genius is stumped by something," Yukio jumped at the sudden appearance of the headmaster.

"Sir, I apologize. I was just getting ready to leave and meet up with my students-"

"That isn't what I'm here about, Okumura-kun," the headmaster's smile seemed to grow coy at the idea of his intentions, "I came here to see these notes I've been told you carry around with you. In a foreign language? One that's 'inhuman', as one of your coworkers put it?"

"I was hoping to understand why Nii-san left," Yukio stated, "He would not have defected without a reason."

"Whatever you like to believe," Mephisto sat in Rin's former seat, as though to taunt Yukio, "But I must say, your brother never seemed very committed to the cause."

"He wanted to defeat Satan! He was willing to-"

"Yes, yes, big words, but did they have any significance? I have found that most times, the ones who talk the largest are the ones who fall the fastest," Mephisto smiled largely at the boy in front of him, "Unless, of course, you happen to have evi-"

"Yukio! It's time to go! The students are waiting!" Shura stood in the doorway, clearly annoyed. The glare she fixed Yukio and Mephisto with was enough to cause them to drop their conversation for the time being.

As they walked toward the bus, Shura suddenly became subdued, "He's safer this way, you know that, right?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, wherever he is, the Vatican can't find him. They would have executed him after he outlived his purpose, you and I both know it."

As Yukio boarded the bus, he let that thought sink in.

Yes, he supposed, He is safer now.

And that was enough to calm his whirlwind mind for the time being.

As Rin ran into the small restaurant his eldest brother had opened, Lucifer couldn't help but laugh in what sounded like a cross between a mewling cat and a vicious bark from a dog.

"Shut up, Nii-san," looking at the boy, Lucifer was glad to see a spark of human in those eyes that had been so dead recently, "I'm on time."

"Barely," Lucifer threw the boy a small watch, "Keep that on you if you have any hope of being on time for these meetings."

"I underestimated the time it would take to travel between the village and Assiah. Can you blame me?"

From the corner of the room, Etsu hopped up from her seat and shouted, "Yes!" before taking her small hat off and combing her bangs back over to the side, revealing a section of her head that had hair so short it had clearly been shaved at some recent point in time.

"I wasn't asking you, Sake-chan!"

"Don't call me sake! For one, it's Hamasaki, and for another, it makes me sound like an alcoholic!"

"See, I knew there was a reason you and Anfisa were best friends," Rin threw a small Geneisan fruit her way, "I bought that before leaving."

Her eyes lit up before hardening once more.

"Jackass."

"Love you too, Sake-chan!"

As the two continued grumbling insults at each other, Lucifer pulled Isamu to the side and began watching the two.

"Oi! You two! Stop flirting and get back on topic!"

Anfisa could not help but smile at the antics of the two as she shouted at them, causing Lucifer to smile as well. It was a rare talent, he knew, for someone to make others smile and laugh, no matter their own pain. It was one Anfisa carried well.

As the group stood around the table, they began their meeting. Many things were discussed, but there was one major thing brought up for discussion.

"If you are so sure about the village being impossible for Mephisto to find, why are we fighting his foot soldiers off on a weekly, near daily, basis?"

Rin's outrage was understandable, especially given the number of comrades he had lost due to this war, no matter how early they were into it.

"Otouto," Lucifer was careful when speaking to his brother, he was building a delicate relationship with the boy, "Keep in mind, we are doing our best to hide you and the others of the village. However, Isamu-san, it is true. Our current defenses are not enough. The village is definitely going to need something more."

"Nii-san, as honorable as your intentions are, I'm not just requesting better or more defenses. I'm requesting more a stronger defense. I'm requesting permission to add my own runic defenses to the borders of the Village," he turned to Isamu, "And the only one I can see obliging is standing right in front of me."

"I'm not going to oppose it, so long as you have Anfisa oversee the addition and allow her to add some runes of her own."

Rin nodded. Deciding to distract everyone from the gravity of what they had just discussed, Lucifer quickly addressed Rin once more.

"So, how is Shima-kun doing? I know you are extremely busy in the Central Defense, but surely you have checked on him?"

"Yeah, as far as I know, he is doing well. I know he has definitely become a close associate of several tricksters, a few fiends, a hallucos, and an aerodaemon."

"Ah, really? I wouldn't have expected him to befriend a hallucos, especially given his avoidance of dreams. And the aerodaemon, which one is it? They tend to be rather particular about whom they associate with."

"I don't know the hallucos, I tend to avoid them as well, but the aerodaemon is a girl by the name of Sayori. She was the one to teach him Kastori."

Lucifer laughed again, "I can't believe it. That kid has not luck gambling, but he is playing Kastori? How badly has he been burned?"

"The worst I've heard of had him admitted to the infirmary," Rin smiled at the memory, "He was really stupid when using his glyph, and ended up being trumped most epically. I watched that match, but had already stopped playing when Lucas began to play."

"Lucas? I know him! He's an old friend!" Etsu laughed at the idea of Rin playing Kastori with a luck demon as well known as Lucas, "No wonder he lost so horridly!"

"Yeah, keep laughing. First time I played him, I had no idea what he was and got suitably creamed. I suck at that game enough without him throwing an aerosimae down after my every turn!"

The rest of the evening passed smoothly, causing Lucifer to smile gladly. While Isamu had managed to push the training of fallen angels onto Rin's already full plate, he understood why. Rin was quickly becoming a disciplined fighter, someone that could train just as well as fight. Looking to everyone else, he knew no one else had the level of skill or the ease of access to training equipment that Rin had, and even if Rin did not have the time, no one else did either.

But they were, for this infinitesimal moment, happy. And that was enough for now

[END CHAPTER]

Sorry about updating a day late, but I was very busy yesterday evening. I'll try to keep up, but I will admit- I'm in the middle of the the Luminous Arc and am a bit stumped. However, I should be able to get something together. You don't need to worry for a while, though. I have two months worth of chapters by following the current weekly schedule.

Thanks, and have a great weekend!

~endlessnotebooks