A New Normal
Disclaimer: Characters and premise are the property of Kazue Kato. I'm just borrowing them for a little non-profit fun.
Notes: Having caught up with the Manga a while back it becomes harder to work cannon developments in. Since I've already got my Arc Knights as Angel's team, the ones recently introduced in cannon become the Grigori's cabinet in my AU (because they look like neat characters and I hate to pretend they don't exist just because I was too impatient to wait for them to be introduced). The abilities Lightning demonstrates in cannon get added to his repertoire. When I get around to Izumo actually looking for her little sister, I'll probably have Takara show up, since I'd finally have something for him to do.
Chapter Thirty-Six: Final Exam
Yaozo looked around the crowded dinner table with mixed feelings as Tsuzo brought out dessert, offering it to the newest members of his family, Meda and Mamushi before handing the plate to Juuzo to pass around the table. Earlier that day Juuzo and Mamushi had quietly slipped away to register their marriage and adoption of Meda. Gouzo was home from Canada for the holidays, although Sakura's responsibilities with the True Cross hadn't permitted her to get away again so soon after coming home to check on Renzo. And Renzo himself was back, albeit belatedly from visiting his friends at the Academy, for the moment anyway.
"Hey Juu, stop hogging the mochi!" Kinzo complained.
Renzo reached over Yumi and Meda's heads to snag two of the dessert puffs from the plate at Juuzo's elbow. He shoved one in his mouth and tossed the other across the table to Kinzo.
"I swear they do know manners," Tsuzo told Mamushi. She glared accusingly at her father. "And they actually practice them when Mom's around."
Yaozo blinked at his eldest daughter. "I can't say 'boy remember your company manners' now can I? Mamushi and Meda-chan are family."
"We don't have to act like animals in front of family either!" Tsuzo exclaimed. "Meda and Yumi are girls! People will expect them to have manners. You should make the boys set a good example for them."
Kinzo put his mochi cake on the table then leaned down and tore at it with his teeth, giving his table-mates suspicious looks and warning growls as he scarfed it down.
Tsuzo snatched up another cake and threw it at her younger brother. Kinzo managed to catch it in his mouth then started choking. Gouzo pounded him on the back until he coughed it back up. Kinzo caught the doughy treat before it hit the floor, looked it over then shrugged and took a bite. "Thanks sis, I wanted seconds," he said.
"Arrrgh!" Tsuzo shouted.
Meda giggled then clapped a hand over her mouth, a look of surprise filling her eyes at the unexpected noise she'd produced. Juuzo smiled and patted her shoulder. "Your uncles are morons, it's good to laugh at them." He didn't mention Tsuzo, she was sitting much closer to him than any of his brothers and he didn't have Mamushi or Meda obstructing her venues of retaliation.
After the meal ended everyone picked up their plate and a second dish then carried them into the kitchen and stacked them on the counter. While Kinzo and Gouzo started scraping plates into a dish for Tsuzo and Yumi's salamanders to share the others finished clearing the table.
Once they'd finished Yaozo pulled Renzo aside. "You didn't come home for New Year's," he said quietly.
"Neither did Bon. I was having fun with my friends," Renzo whined.
"Until the Exorcist Exam became imminent," Yaozo replied. "Then you started feeling more uncomfortable at the Academy than you felt here so you came home."
Renzo glanced away, not refuting Yaozo's evaluation of his motives.
"The Paladin thinks you should return to Delphi," Yaozo said. "He's coming in a couple of days to escort you back. If you don't want to go I'll oppose him, but…"
"But?" Renzo asked.
"Lucifer might be gone but Todo and a number of other Demon-Eaters are still out there. The Myo'o Dhari have known you since you were an infant, I don't think any of them would ever hurt you, but when the Illuminati start causing problems again-" Yaozo sighed. "There will be others like Hsu in the True Cross who will believe that experimenting on you can provide the key to fighting Demon-Eaters."
"If I stay you're likely to end up in a fight with the Order," Renzo translated. "Okay, I'll go. I would have gone back to Shiemi-chan eventually anyways, she's prettier than anyone around here."
"If you want to stay-" Yaozo offered.
Renzo grinned, "Naw don't start worrying about me now."
"What brings us all here today?" Mephisto asked, with a knowing look as he took his seat among the Grigori's advisory committee. "We haven't even begun the final day of the Practical Trials."
"As if you weren't aware," a tiny, wrinkled old woman said. "Suguro Ryuji was able to channel Satan's blue flames."
"Okumura's flames," Angel corrected.
"One in a hundred Tamers are capable channeling their familiar's power without intermediary," a large man with feathers in his hair pointed out. "To have a bond with a Fallen, demons untamable even by God, strong enough to enable a human to call on their power at need..."
Mephisto smiled to himself at the advisor's description of the Fallen. "I still do not see why we are here. All I see is evidence that I have more than fulfilled the terms of the bet you made with me eighteen months ago. I stood before the Grigori and promised you a weapon. Today you see before you a Knight/Aria partnership capable of wielding the blue flames, which were Satan's sole province only seventeen years ago, for the Order of the True Cross. The test results complied thus far confirm that Suguro-kun is quite the prodigy. And, until he scared the pants off them, the practical examiners were quite impressed, Neve-chan never talks to the candidates. As for Rin-kun, you haven't allowed him to complete his test yet. However, I believe the Paladin has given quite a vote of confidence, requesting that he be tested against one of the Order's top-ranked Knights."
The third advisor, a thin man with a monocle, turned to Angel. "Is this true? You aren't simply intending to humble the demon-child?"
"I find Okumura more than adequately humbled by the circumstances of his birth. And he has shown a strong aptitude for the Knight's discipline," Angel said.
Casper raised a hand. "The opinions of Sir Pheles and Paladin Angel are so noted. Have our other advisors had their say?"
The old woman shrugged. "As Sir Redarm says, a demon granting a human the freedom to channel their power is rare, but not unheard of."
"I find it disquieting to think that we may have a stronger hold on the demon-child than on the Myodhan heir, the man with the monocle said.
"Sir Pheles has correctly pointed out that the Exam is not yet finished," Redarm said. "We should see what accepting his gamble has bought us."
"Okumura, Suguro and their classmates were instrumental in Lucifer's defeat and in the Impure King's earlier this summer," the old woman said. Mephisto and Angel both nodded in agreement. "Not insignificant accomplishments for Exwires. It seems to me that we should not be discussing whether or not we want them, but how best to bind them to us."
The man with the monocle nodded. "Beyond the demon-child's inheritance of Satan's flames the Myohdan familiars have become the last remaining faction of the Flame Kingdom which has not declared war on Assiah. We can't afford to lose them."
After the meeting was closed Angel was annoyed to discover Mephisto walking along beside him. For several minutes he strove to ignore the white-clad demon then he spun on his heel and demanded, "What do you want?"
Mephisto contrived to look injured. "I merely wished to ask if it were truly so inconceivable that a demon would share what power he could with a human who had gone to the effort of befriending him."
"Inconceivable that a demon could be a true friend and not simply using the human for his own ends," Angel snapped. Then he stopped and sighed, "I know that Okumura wears his heart on his sleeve," he gave Mephisto a distasteful glance, "but he is not the norm."
"Rin is very young, by my standards impossibly young," Mephisto replied. "The openness you prize in him will be lost if it's abused. The Grigori and their advisors regard his every action with suspicion he hasn't earned because of his blood. But I have seen human duplicity in age after age. From that I've learned, painfully, to guard my heart and my autonomy."
Angel grimaced, not wanting to accept what Mephisto was saying but incapable of rejecting it out of hand.
"I promised the Grigori a weapon against Satan." Mephisto shrugged. "I need a weapon against Satan," he admitted. "It would have been easy enough to arrange to have someone browbeat Rin with Satan's evil until he was eager to do anything to make up for the crime of being born. But he wouldn't have loved Assiah, he simply would have loathed himself. Shiro was one of the only humans I could trust to love Rin, to raise him to see the beauty of Assiah even through it's many horrors instead of seeing with Kay's eyes."
"How does that benefit you?" Angel demanded. "Okumura may not be typical of demons but you certainly typify everything I despise about them."
"Living weapons are so very frail," Mephisto replied distantly. "And, although you may not believe it, I do have a conscience."
As final day of the Exorcist Exam drew to a close and the number trials dwindled a crowd of Exorcists gathered in the Academy's largest arena, where Okumura Rin, the half-human son of Satan was scheduled to take his practical exam against one of the Order's Upper Class Knights.
In the hallways below the audience, Rin adjusted the straps on his sword harness. He reached for the handle to the double doors then turned to his friends, "Wish me luck," he said with a nervous grin.
"You'll do fine," Bon told him. Konekomaru, Godain, Mana and Ito nodded in agreement.
Izumo went up on her toes and kissed him firmly. "For luck," she said, her face cherry-red.
Once the Exwires stepped back Angel took his turn. "I will be among the spectators," he told Rin. "I fully expect your performance will be a credit to my teaching."
Rin nodded jerkily.
"Don't be nervous," Mephisto added transforming from his terrier-form. "And don't get distracted. You've become an excellent swordsman, it is time to show everyone that, little brother."
Rin took a deep breath and pushed open the doors. Across the room a young woman perched on the low wall separating the arena from the spectators. Her open True Cross jacket revealed nothing more than a well-filled bikini and a tattoo that ran from her chest to her stomach before disappearing beneath her low-slung pants. She flicked a long red ponytail tipped with yellow flames over her shoulder and hopped down to saunter over to Rin. "Kirigakure Shura, the Order asked me to come test you," she introduced herself. "And I thought, 'Why not?' Gives me a chance to find out if you're worth the hell you've put your brother through."
"Yukio?" Rin's breath caught.
Shura shrugged, "I've known Scaredy-cat four-eyes since he was a little brat just starting training. We shacked up since he transferred to Brazil."
Rin scowled at Shura. "You're way old for Yukio," he informed her critically.
Shura twitched. "What do you mean? I'm eighteen."
Rin rolled his eyes, "You've got to be around Angel's age. Way too old to be doing anything with my little brother."
"Okay kid, I'm probably going to enjoy this way more than I should, but…" Shura put a hand to the upper half of her tattoo. "Devour the eight princesses," a sword hilt emerged from her chest, "slay the serpent!"
Rin quickly drew his katana and wakizashi, leaving Kurikara sheathed. He waited just long enough for Shura to finish drawing her sword then went on the offensive. Shura countered. With their swords engaged, Rin lashed out with his wakizashi. Shura kicked him in the chest, using the momentum of her blow to leap back when Rin didn't give ground.
"Shiro didn't teach you to fight," Shura said, sounding puzzled, after several more exchanges.
For a moment Rin's eyes were shadowed and sad, "No, Dad didn't think I could handle it."
He pivoted on his heel to avoid Shura's lung, bring his elbow around in hopes of catching her back unguarded. Shura ducked under his arm and brought her own sword to bare only to find it blocked by Rin's short sword.
Shura leapt back, crying, "Dabo." She cast a flurry of wind cuts off the edge of her blade.
"Whoa!" Rin exclaimed leaping over the attack. He considered drawing Kurikara, Angel hadn't told him that the other guy might have a demon sword too, but decided against it. He'd been told to fight as a knight. He pulled a trace of his flames passed the seal, infusing his blade with enough of his power that he was pretty sure he could cut Shura's attacks and set himself for the next barrage.
Shura's eyes widened when Rin's blade sliced through her snake fang. 'He's using his powers without unsealing his blade?' she thought as Rin closed, forcing her to go blade-to-blade again. Shura swept Rin's legs out from under him.
Rin rolled to the side, dodging her downward lung.
"Dabo!"
Barely on his feet, Rin planted his sword in front of him and let his demon powers cut through Shura's attack.
With Rin occupied, Shura ran her hand down the length of her blade, "Hebiransu!" Her sword shifted, gaining length and becoming more snake-like, an eye blinked open on the tip of the blade.
Warily Rin fell back into a guard position. When Shura pressed an attack, he found her blade was not only longer now, it seemed to curve around his sword like a living thing. He continued fending off her attacks but couldn't regain the offensive.
"Sorry kid," Shura said after several minutes showed they'd found a new stalemate. "Gara Gara! Dabo!" Her first attack forcibly stripped Rin of his demonic abilities, the second came so quickly on it's heels he wasn't able to adjust to his sudden inability to cut through Shura's wind cuts. The attack tossed Rin across the arena, smashing him viciously into the wall. Shura sauntered over and pointed the tip of her sword at Rin's throat. "Yield."
To her surprise Rin grabbed the blade and yanked it forward. He twisted to the side as it's tip was buried in the floorboards and kicked her ankle out from under her.
Shura let herself fall. Her elbow drilled into Rin's chest with her full momentum behind it. The sound of breaking bones was clear across the arena. She chanted a quick phrase, her hand coming up beneath Rin's chin and a blast of energy slammed his head against the floor with a loud crack. Shura stood up. "Spar's over," she told the Examiner.
She knelt down beside Rin. "You are bat-shit crazy kid," she told him as he blinked up at her muggily. She grabbed his injured hand and turned it over to reveal dark purple lines radiating out from where he'd cut himself grabbing her blade. "If the snake theme didn't clue you in that my sword's venomous then you ought to know that nearly half the demon blades that consume their wielder's blood can do damn nasty things with an opponent's. And after I knocked out your powers you didn't have any more resilience than a baseline human." She took a small vial out of her pocket and smeared the contents across Rin's hand. Immediately the purple streaks began to fade.
"Ouch," Rin said after a moment. He reached up and rubbed his head.
Shura pulled him upright and helped him wobble out of the arena. "Yeah, go see a doctor. You've probably got a concussion and at least three broken ribs," she said. For a moment Shura studied him, "You aren't exactly the hopeless idiot your brother makes you out to be."
Rin grimaced. "Just cause I'm not as smart as him and Dad trained him and not me, Yukio thinks I can't do anything."
Shura leaned him up against a wall while she shut the door to the arena behind them leaving them in the deserted quiet of the hallway. "You're not exactly the weapon I had reason to think you might be either," she continued. "But you are a tough, pig-headed little brat. And for your information, I am eighteen."
"In that case, you were disrupting the Order with your drunken antics when you were in diapers," Angel snorted dismissively as he appeared at the bottom of the stairwell leading down from the spectator's boxes. He stalked over to Rin, reached over his shoulder and yanked Kurikara free of it's sheathe.
Shura yelped and leapt away from the burst of flames enveloping Rin.
"Change your form to flames," Angel order bruquestly.
Automatically Rin complied. When he shifted back to flesh his head was clear and his ribs didn't hurt anymore.
Shura looked startled. "He had that much power not five minutes after I used Absolute Emptiness on him?"
Angel replied with a smug smile. "He was testing as a knight, you're the one who made it about brute force rather than skill."
Rin gave Shura a worried, disapproving look. "Yukio isn't as old as he tries to act," he told her seriously.
Shura's expression softened. "I know. He's staying with me because he needs a place to stay that he can be sure is secure. I flirt with him to tease him. Being a little less emotionally constipated would do him a world of good."
Rin chuckled reluctantly at that.
"But you know, once Yukio puts himself back together again I don't think he be a kid anymore." Rin frowned but Shura kept talking, "Well anyway, I'm still not sure what to make of you, but for what it's worth, best of luck on your test. And next time have the good sense to know when to yield! No one expects you to win a fight against an Exorcist six ranks up from you."
"No one expected an Exwire to force a Upper First Class Exorcist to pull out all her tricks, but he did," Angel pointed out proudly.
"Yeah, yeah, you've got a good student there, Baldly. Probably in spite of you," Shura called over her shoulder as she saunter away.
Notes: "Kay's eyes" refers to the boy in Hans Christian Andersen's "The Snow Queen". In everything he saw whatever was good or beautiful shrank away to nothing, but whatever was worthless or bad was magnified.