Prologue
Ao No Exorcist is an original work by Kazue Kato.
Please support the original creator.
. . .
"Nii-san, I said to let me look at your cuts!" Yukio begged, blocking Rin's way. The other twin giggled as he tried running through Yukio's left side only to be blocked.
"I'm serious, nii-san, if you try to cook now, you'll get a disease!" He tried to warn, instead, breaking into giggles like his brother.
Rin continued running from side to side trying to get through the younger's arms, struggling to contain his growing laughter at the situation.
"No way, Yukio! I'm fine!" Howled Rin with laughter.
Then Rin got into a wider stance and squatted for a few seconds before pretending to jump to the side, successfully tricking Yukio into moving his entire weight. Seizing the opportunity, Rin dashed through the opening making it into the kitchen,Yukio chasing closely behind him. Eventually, the older twin tumbled onto the floor, holding his sides and crying from the laughter. Yukio seized the opportunity by sliding into a crouch next to Rin, trying to get him to reveal his wounds.
The previous day, Rin had come home later than usual with a few wounds from an unmentioned fight after school. It wasn't until this morning that Yukio got a glimpse of the few new bruises and openings on his brother's arms and hands. It was Saturday, so it was naturally Rin's turn to cook breakfast, but with those untreated and infectious threats? Not on Yukio's watch. Never under his watch.
Behind the children, a tall figure stood, looming. The twins both slowly stopped laughing to look at the new being. Shiro wrapped an arm around each of the boys and lifted them up.
"Now, now. What's going on here? And why are you two up so early?" He chuckled, yawning at the end. Rin already knew what Yukio was going to say, barely making a sound before Yukio cut in.
"Nii-san got into a fight and won't let me treat his wounds before he cooks breakfast!"
"I said I'm fine! It's not that bad- and for once I didn't start the fight!"
"Rin," Fujimoto's voice cut in, making the boy gulp as he got ready for the lecture, "Let Yukio clean your wounds up. If they aren't treated properly, you could potentially get everyone in the monastery sick. You don't want that, right?"
"No! Of course not! I just.." he cut himself off, only to ask another question. "People can get sick like that?"
The older twin looked over at Yukio only to see him slowly nod a "Yes."
Realisation dawned on Rin and Shiro put both boys down and placed a hand onto the boys' heads.
"Well, now that you know, Yukio, could you help your older brother?"
Yukio nodded again, this time with a small smile. He then grabbed Rin by the wrist and started dragging him along onto an empty table at the corner of the kitchen.
"Oh, and Rin?" Shiro said, causing Yukio to stop to let Rin turn towards their father.
"We're going to have a very serious talk about that fight of yours, later."
Rin made a small "Eek" sound in response to the reminder as Yukio started pulling the twin yet again. The oldest pouted as he sat on the table while the younger of the two quickly gathered the few medical supplies he had dropped from the earlier chase.
While Yukio was off doing so, Rin pulled up his long sleeves, revealing larger cuts and bruises than those on his wrists and hands. He winced at the pain of the larger ones, which were taking longer to heal. In the background, he could hear his father humming a jazzy tune he had heard on the monastery radio days prior.
The younger of the two quickly returned to the table, immediately noticing the wounds.
What particularly stood out was a long gash running along the length of Rin's left arm, surrounded in horrible purple bruises.
"Nii-san!" Yukio gasped, "How did this- nevermind- Why didn't you show me this yesterday?" After Rin arrived home yesterday, he didn't have a single hair out of place despite the damage Yukio was just now seeing. Knowing how much a single school uniform costs, the possibility of Rin having just changed was out of the question.
Rin kicked his legs while sitting on the table, looking away from Yukio for a few seconds before turning to him with an answer.
"I swear I didn't start the fight. A few kids from school decided to gang up on me while I was on my way back and a highschooler decided to join them. The big guy pulled a knife out and.." trailed off Rin, his gaze wandering over to the largest scar on his arm. Yukio wanted to speak up but Rin unknowingly interrupted.
"By the time it was over, the bleeding had stopped. You know me, I heal really fast. I thought it'd be gone by morning. Plus, I thought the old man would have me hanging on the laundry line if he found out I was in another fight, hah!" He forced a laugh while scratching the back of his head.
Yukio breathed out in frustration. He really had no idea how to comment on his older brother's fights. He pouted with a feeling of guilt overcoming him. Rin wouldn't be in those fights if it weren't for him, to begin with.
Rin patted Yukio's head with a wide smile.
"Don't feel bad! Those kids weren't anything too bad. In the end, I won!" he exclaimed, raising his other fist into the air. A loud coffee machine went off at the other part of the room, reminding both twins that Shiro was still waiting for them to make breakfast.
That reminder set an evil glint in Yukio's glasses as he raised his hands just enough for Rin to notice the cotton ball between the tweezers. Rin flinched at the sight of the cotton and strong smell which followed. He inched back, "Wait, Yukio, we can talk about this!"-Yukio stepped closer- Y-YUKIO NOOOOOOO!"
. . .
. . .
The entire table clapped their hands together and declared, "Let's eat!" in unison. Everyone's face lit up at the taste of Rin's cooking.
"Mmm, Rin-chan, your cooking's gotten so much better." A priest, Maruta, commented with a cheerful smile. Rin mumbled a quiet "Thank you." while biting down on a bit of food with a sour face.
"Yeah. It tastes great without blood on it." laughed Shiro. Rin tensed up, and did so more at the sight of Yukio using a napkin to hide his silent laughter.
He bit his lip before saying, "Oi, Yukio, did you really have to scare me by pretending that ointment was rubbing alcohol?"
In response, Yukio just smiled sweetly.
"Well, he wouldn't have had the chance to do that if you didn't get into that fight to begin with." replied Shiro, opening up a newspaper, warm coffee cup in hand.
The rest of the table turned their heads to look at Rin, most with a look of surprise upon hearing the news. Their expressions themselves came as a shock considering who they were discussing.
"It's not my fault they picked a fight with me. I didn't even defend myself until later."
Shiro took a hand off the newspaper and rubbed his temples, still holding the now drooping paper in his other hand. From that movement, few of the papers inside fell out. The only one to take notice of the action was Yukio.
Tension at the table thickened as Shiro stopped rubbing his temples and moved his vision up to look directly at Rin.
"And why didn't you just run away? Better, why didn't you call for help?"
Rin thought of his words for a second before he hung his head in shame, silent, pouting at his inability to have considered those options. From right next to Rin, Yukio stood up from his seat and walked over to the fallen papers, full attention on the monochrome image and bold headlines.
"JAPAN'S MOST WANTED: SATAN STRIKES AGAIN."
Following the headline was an article talking about a shootout between a large yakuza gang and police forces in Chiba, Japan. A shiver ran through Yukio at the thought of how close the city was. The article explained how the police had written the event down as a planned attack, originally supposed to be a drug traffic. Hundreds on both sides passed away during the conflict. To end it, the dangerous group kidnapped a large number of people in the area. Next to the report was an image of a burnt vehicle, with bullets scattered about.
Yukio flipped the page to see more information about the violent group, instead finding an image of a man in formal attire: suit and all with a messy comb over with the man's supposed white hair briefly covering his right eye. The ink that colored in the suit was a strong grey, suggesting its color wasn't actually black in real life. He was surrounded by men in similar clothing, most wearing scary masks. A brief caption addressed the man as "Satan", a man with no other name, leader of the Japanese Mafia, and headmind in charge of most crime cases in the world. Looking back at the man, Yukio took notice of the familiarity the man's face gave him; Almost deja vu like.
Before Yukio could think further of it, what was previously the background noise of talking turned into chair legs grating against the floor.
He turned his head to see the clergymen backing away from the table and scattering as hot coffee poured down the side of the table.
"Gah! I'm sorry, I hit the thing with my elbow," said Nagamoto, hurrying over to the kitchen. Another priest, Misumi, approached Shiro.
"Ey, Fujimoto-san, why don't you head out with the boys while we clean this mess up?" He chuckled, handing Shiro some floor chalk, nudging him on the elbow. He examined the box, finding it was brand new. Misumi had probably planned to give it to the boys after breakfast.
Shiro called "Oi, Rin, Yukio, come here!"
Yukio stopped staring at the newspaper in his hand, and did as told. From the other side of the room, Rin placed a stack of dishes he'd picked up from the table onto a counter within the kitchen area. With both kids in front of him, Shiro led them into the courtyard and then showed them the chalk.
"Be sure to thank Misumi-san for this chalk," whispered Shiro, as he handed the box over to Rin, "Now go make some good use of your free day."
While Rin smiled and hurried off with the gift, Yukio stood still, clearly uneasy. He lifted up the newspaper pieces Shiro had been reading earlier, now having finished the entire thing.
"You read it, didn't you?"
Yukio nodded weakly, then lifted his head to finally look at his father.
Shiro sighed and took the paper of Yukio's hands.
"Don't pay too much attention to the newspaper. It's not that important. Well, it is, but not as much as they make it out to be. It's, uh, exaggerated-" He pinched the bridge of his nose -" Just don't think too much of it. You're not old enough to be worrying about it. Plus, we're safe here in the monastery. That's someone else's chore to worry about."
Despite those words, Shiro knew he couldn't change Yukio's mind that easily. He just put a hand on his son's head and ruffled his hair.
"Go play with Rin. Look, he's been waiting for you this entire time."
Shiro let go of Yukio as he ran off towards Rin.
After a good fifteen minutes, Misumi popped his head through the doorway.
"Time sure does fly by quickly, doesn't it, Shiro-san? Seven years. Felt like nothing," Old man Misumi commented.
"Well, yeah. One second, I'm out solving cases, the next, I'm out here, taking care of her kids."
"Hah! Now that you mention it, have you thought of it? Telling the kids of your glory days? Maybe even introduce them to the idea of going into the-"
"No, it's too dangerous. A job like that would risk the safety of all of us," Shiro half-whispered, half shouted.
Misumi put his hand up defensively.
"Really? Not even Yukio-chan?"
Shiro gave Misumi a death stare, causing him to flinch. He then sighed.
"I don't think Yukio would even be interested. It's too much of an open job, and he's reserved, and you know that."
In that instant, Yukio bolted past Misumi into the monastery.
"IT'S SATAN! I SAW HIM!" he cried as he passed.
There was panic in his voice and movement, Shiro had noticed. He swiftly looked at Misumi then at Rin who was struggling to get off the ground.
"Rin, don't worry, I'll go calm Yukio down. He saw me reading something that scared him. I'll take care of it." announced Shiro before he hurried into the building, knowing Misumi would stay with Rin while he got the situation sorted.
He passed by the kitchen, sounds of running water and voices filling his ears before being replaced by his heavy footsteps on the holy wood as he hurried up the stairs.
Before long, Shiro stood in front of his sons' room. There was faint movement inside.
With a huff, he knocked on the door.
"Yukio? Are you alright?" Shiro called out.
No response.
He sighed, and knocked softly, having already tried to open the door but finding it locked.
The floorboards creaked, a click came from the door, and then it opened slightly.
Yukio looked through the opening, making sure it was his father on the other side.
After confirming, he opened the door. He stood at the doorway, one hand on the door handle, trembling.
Shiro knelt and hugged him, feeling Yukio's pounding heart on his shoulder.
It was beating unbelievably fast and his breathing was way too hard. He let go of Yukio, keeping his hands on his shoulders.
On his feet, Yukio swayed for a bit, dizzy, but stayed standing because of Shiro's grip.
"Yukio-" a pause -"Yukio! Can you hear me?"
He nodded.
"Copy what I do, okay?"
Without taking a response, Shiro took in a deep breath, and breathed out. Yukio did so too. The cycle of breathing deeply continued on for a few minutes until Shiro felt Yukio's shoulders relax. He was still shaking lightly, but that'd go away on its own.
"Yukio, you can't be rushing off like this. If we weren't in the monastery, who knows where you would've run off to. I shouldn't have been reading that newspaper earlier, I'm sorry you had to see that, but like I said, you don't have to worry. We're safe here."
"B-But I saw him! I saw his white hair and the masked men! They were in one of those streets in front of us," cried Yukio.
"I'm sure it was nothing. Maybe they were cosplayers. You know there's lots this time of year."
He placed a hand on Yukio's head. After a few moments, he sighed as he remembered Misumi's question.
"If you were given the chance to become a police officer, would you do it? You'd be less scared if you did because you'd be able to protect yourself."
Yukio didn't answer. He remained looking at the ground, taking in what Shiro said.
Shiro took his hand off Yukio's head and turned to walk down the stairs only for Yukio to grab his arm.
"I'll think about it." He finally said before letting go.
With those words, Shiro's expression hardened for a few seconds before softening. He didn't want it to be an option, but at the same time, if Yukio was aware of the situation, it'd make things so much easier. He bit the inside of his cheek, and said, "Alright. I'm going to head back outside. Stay inside if you still don't feel safe."
With that, Shiro closed the door behind him as he made his way downstairs.
. . .
Earlier
Yukio sat cross-legged, staring into the street, as Rin carefully laid flat on his belly. He was making sure not to apply pressure onto his left arm, given his injuries.
The sound of the chalk being shaken in a box broke Yukio out of his trance. Looking over, Rin offered them without a word, his smile talking for him. He shook his head and Rin placed the chalk box between the two, just in case Yukio would change his mind.
"What happened?" Rin asked, grabbing a red chalk and inspecting it. Yukio looked over at him, surprised Rin could tell something was on his mind.
After a few seconds, Yukio answered "Nothing" and despite Rin glancing over, signaling he knew Yukio was lying, Rin didn't keep asking. He then pulled out a blue chalk and held it in his other hand, eyebrows furrowing.
"Gahhh! I can't think of anything to draw!"
"A police offi-" Yukio covered his mouth upon realizing he was voicing his inner thoughts.
"Huh? That's a great idea. Maybe we could draw what we would look like when we're adults!"
Rin handed Yukio a green chalk, hoping to get him to join in. His face bright as he drew what looked to be a stick figure with a red hat and fire at their feet before noticing Yukio didn't start.
Once Yukio noticed Rin staring at him, he loosened up and said, "I don't know what I want to be."
For a second, Rin rested his chin on his hand, thinking.
"I got it! Why aren't you a doctor? You're really good with bandaging me up and you're super smart."
Yukio stared with raised eyebrows. Him? Smart?
He smiled.
"Okay." said Yukio.
From the porch, another voice joined and commented, "You should both get ready to become priests. We live in a monastery, after all."
Both twins turned and yelled, "Dad!" in response.
Shiro smirked and peeked over at the drawings.
"Phew, shame neither of you want to be an artist. I could've gotten a nice tattoo for free."
"I'd look cool with tattoos!" grinned Rin, thinking off to himself. Yukio stayed quiet, imagining his brother covered head to toe in drawings made by them. The idea made him cringe.
"Rin, don't even think about it. You'd look like more of a delinquent than you already do."
In response, Rin pouted and turned back to his drawings.
Yukio stayed still, next to him, still thinking about the doctor job Rin mentioned. He looked at Rin, noticed he was busy working on his art and turned to look at his dad. Shiro was now talking to one of the priests, Misumi, who put his hands up towards Shiro, almost shielding himself.
A yelp came from behind Yukio, as Rin held his head, noticeably wincing.
"Oww, my head hurts."
Yukio stared at him before noting people at the other side of the street. They had masks; the same masks he saw in the newspaper. His eyes widened as his heart dropped.
"Nii-san," Yukio whispered then repeated, "Nii-san, c'mon. Get up. We have to go."
He tried pulling Rin by the back of his shirt, not having the strength to make much of a change.
"What? Why?"
"Th- Th- Th-" Stuttered Yukio, tears rolling down his cheeks, shaking. He choked a sob, as he turned back to still see the people along the street, one of them staring towards where he was. One with white hair covering his right eye, bright blue eyes. Yukio couldn't take it anymore. He ran off, hearing Rin yell his name, and then struggle to get up. He heard a faint curse at his bruises, and Yukio screamed something as he ran into the building.
"IT'S SATAN! I SAW HIM!"
. . .
Present
The porch door swung open. Since Yukio was inside, he'd expected Rin to have burst into the room while he spoke to Yukio. Hell, Shiro half-expected Rin to arrive to Yukio's aid before he did. Once he opened the door, the answer was tied up to the monastery's cemetery metal fence.
Misumi choked a muffled scream through the cloth tied into his mouth. Arms also tied onto the fence. Shiro bolted at him, eyes widened.
"What happened?!" He practically shouted through clenched teeth, "Where's Rin?!"
Once untied, Misumi wheezed, hunched over on the ground, touching around his neck as if remembering the action done to him.
"They-" he breathed in "Those criminals- Demons took him. Took advantage of you leaving. I-"
Misumi coughed, and then covered his mouth. Shiro firmly patted his back as he yelled for the clergymen to come outside. They helped their fellow priest onto the steps of the porch to sit and question him as Shiro turned his head frantically trying to spot traces of the perpetrators.
His eyes landed on a broken red chalk kicked to the entrance of the courtyard. Marks of chalk trailed. Rin or one of the henchmen must've stepped on it. Earlier, he had noted the cloth to be from a store not too far from where the church stood. Not only that, Yukio had said he saw them near the church. They had been planning this.
How would they know Yukio would freak out at the sight of Satan?
How did they know they were going to come out here?
That scheming bastard Satan with his clues and questions always left behind so cockily, since he knew no one could ever solve cases to do with his involvement.
From behind, he could hear Misumi tell the priests attending him about the masked men, how he'd seen Rin kick and fight while trying to free himself from the criminals' arms like Misumi before his vision was obscured by the large number of people. A familiar cry came from the house part of the monastery. Shiro turned to look at Yukio, who lost all the color on his face.
As if on cue, Nagamoto ran to him, carrying him back inside as he started bawling and screaming, having already read the situation just from those few seconds he was there. Another priest paced about, phone in hand, with the police on the other end of line.
Once he was sure everything would be safe at the monastery, Shiro rushed off. He followed the little bits of red on the ground until coming upon another street. Even with the chalk smudges having ended, Shiro continued walking until he could see the store where the cloth from earlier was sold. Police car sirens rang in the background, before coming to a stop, most likely at the monastery.
After a few moments of silence, there was a painful shriek from a familiar voice. Shiro turned in the direction of the sound, realizing it was close by. He walked about, listening in for muffled cries, which led him to an old, abandoned store not too far from the cloth store and monastery. Cautiously getting closer, he heard Rin's crying clear as day.
Shiro lost his composure. He burst through the entrance of the abandoned building. A bullet passed by his cheek, lodging in the piece of wood next to his head. Several masked men stood around a tied Rin. Only one held a gun while the others scrambled to get up and drop unfamiliar equipment aside.
Rin cried at the sight of Shiro, the men recognizing the man immediately. The man with a gun kept on firing, missing Shiro each time, dodging until he counted the fifth bullet. His revolver ran out of bullets and Shiro dug into his cassock, taking out his own.
"You're a pretty bad aim, want me to teach you how to do it correctly?" He pointed it at the guy that had previously shot at him. Shiro watched as he ran off, the thugs following.
"Wait! The kid!" One cried.
"Boss said to leave him!" another responded as they all ran up the stairs at the far back of the room. Knowing the architecture, they'd go up into the second floor then escape through the roof.
Those gun-shots from earlier weren't silent. Officers rushed through the door. They recognized Fujimoto, who was now holding Rin close, and signaled them to go upstairs. The clergy must've already told them what happened. Shiro picked up Rin entirely as more people flooded into the building. He walked out, still holding him as he sobbed, and kept on walking until reaching the monastery. There was already an ambulance outside with medics rushing at Shiro, already noting something was wrong with the child in his arms.
They set him down on the wheeled stretcher, and pat him down due to his inability to speak. No broken bones were found but screamed at someone touching his right shoulder. The medics raised his long-sleeves to reveal a horrible burn. On that red, blistered and wet skin, there was a symbol burnt onto the shoulder. Its sight struck fear into Shiro, upon realizing what it meant. The medics, of course, didn't think much of it and started treating it. More and more medics were called over to help until Shiro was told to stand back.
The monastery's clergy soon noticed he returned and ran out to check on what happened on his end. All the priests gathered around Shiro, asking where he went and what occurred. He then noticed Yukio's presence between them, holding Nagamoto's hand. Yukio looked deathly pale and swayed slightly but looked a thousand times better than he did earlier.
"-ujimoto!" called Kyodo, patting Shiro on the shoulder to break him out of his trance. He turned to look at Kyodo who pointed at a medic waving at the group. Now aware, Shiro rushed over to the bed where Rin sat.
"He suffers from a third-degree burn, but we found little to no infections or openings. There is a staph infection but we're treating that now," told a medic, pointing over at someone applying bandages to Rin. "The redness is severe but should go away after a while. Just make sure to clean the infection with warm water."
Rin was eventually left off the bed, and he immediately ran over to Shiro to hug him.
"Are you okay now?"
"Mhm."
"Did those men from earlier do anything or say anything?"
"No, they just kept talking about how they couldn't make the metal hot and-" Rin started giggling, "They were angry I smudged chalk on their clothes."
"I didn't notice they were dirty, but that did help me find you - That you fought back."
"So my fights ARE good!"
Shiro forced a chuckle then poked Rin on the side of his stomach, causing him to yelp.
"But," the medic started talking again, reminding the two that they were still there, "To get rid of the burnt tissue would cost about two million yen. Though it doesn't look like it'll be necessary, I doubt you really want whatever that symbol on the kid's arm is, on him."
"I see, thank you very much," Shiro Fujimoto replied. His eyes trailed over to Rin who was next to him as the medics packed up their equipment. Soon, the entire monastery clergy stood by, waving while the ambulance drove towards the area police force was still investigating.
The vehicle turned the corner, and everyone slowly stopped waving, now on their way back to their home.
Inside, Yukio burst into tears, glad that his brother was okay.
"Wah?! Yukio, I'm okay now! See?" Rin desperately waved his arms around in an attempt to reassure him, "Nothing bad happened!"
After seeing no stop to Yukio's sobs, Rin tore off the bandages on his arm, revealing the mark.
"I just got this tattoo." He grinned. "Told you I'd look cool with one."
Yukio stared up at it in curiosity. Few of the clergy gazed upon it fearfully, glancing over at a distraught Shiro.
"Boys, go get cleaned up. Yukio, could you re-bandage Rin's shoulder? It still looks red to me. Use a warm and wet cloth to clean it too. Your equipment should be back in the bathroom," Shiro edged.
"Yes, dad."
With that, Yukio wiped away some tears then he and Rin ran off, out of the dining area.
Just then, Kyodo entered the room to inform Shiro of a visitor in a white suite and poofy-polka-dot tie.
Upon seeing who that visitor was, he asked everyone in the room to leave the two to speak.
They sat at the empty dining table, across from each other.
"Sir Pheles," Shiro started off.
"Well, Fujimoto-sama. I didn't expect to have to come here so soon."
"Cut the shit, Pheles. You know what happened, don't you?"
"My team informed me of what they saw. Those demons on the other hand, were caught just as I got here. However," the gentleman now deemed Sir Pheles rested his chin on the back of his hand, "You do remember what that thing on his shoulder is, right?"
"Of course I do! It's the damned plague's mark. Yuri had it before him."
"Great! Dearest Shiro, that's why I'm here!"
"You knew this was going to happen, didn't you?"
"It was only a matter of time. Logical to believe it would. I assumed the only time we'd get a call from this monastery would mean an incident to do with him."
Shiro grit his teeth. He didn't want to believe it'd come to this. He thought he could hide Satan's bastard son away from his biological father forever.
"It's quite problematic having him run around with it. Especially since we know the danger it is for him as well as everyone around him. Removing it would only mean this incident's repetition, probably in a worse manner than this. I've come here to offer you the solution of leaving an emergency number to call in case anything happens."
There was a moment of complete silence and confusion, purely from Shiro. Pheles sighed.
"It's a number that will reach directly to my higher teams as well as myself, and which will prompt forces to arrive twice as fast as regular forces. If we were to believe another incident occurs, backup would arrive instantly and I'd take him under my wing where it's much safer."
"What about Yukio? Won't Satan come after him as well?"
"Only one of the two has the mark on them. I can't be sure what will happen to the other. Because the oldest has the mark, the younger may be safer with you. For now, they can both stay since we still need to test if these are shark-infested waters or not."
"Mephisto," Shiro cut in as soon as Pheles stood up from his seat, "What's the likelihood of Satan attacking anytime soon?"
Mephisto's expression went dark.
"That's the big mystery of it all. Considering Satan's behavior, anything and everything is possible in this situation. He's simply unpredictable."
Shiro stared at the table momentarily, thinking of ways to keep their situation as it was, and to never let it worsen. Mephisto placed a phone on the table.
"Now, if anything happens. The phone number I mentioned will be on this device."
Mephisto turned to leave and waved a hand.
"I bid you adieu, dear Shiro."
With that, he left the dining room to join the squad of officers awaiting outside.
Shiro rubbed his temples. He got up from his seat, striding towards the monastery entrance. Shiro opened the main doors and stared out at the few police cars waiting outside the monastery, lights on, while sirens were off. He leaned on the doorway as he took everything that happened with a deep frown.
Then, a quiet voice broke him out of his thoughts.
"Dad?" Yukio spoke, causing Shiro's gaze to jump at his son's figure.
"Is nii-san in danger?"
He sucked in a breath. Yukio knows. He found out. He heard them.
"You're always poking your head into matters you shouldn't, don't you?" Shiro chuckled. He was truly Yuri's son. Always getting involved in things like this.
Yukio tensed but quickly relaxed as his father knelt down and placed his hands on his shoulders.
"How much did you hear?"
"That man is going to take nii-san away if Satan comes here again."
Shiro could see tears start building up at the corners of Yukio's eyes. The sight made him ache in guilt. He could've kept this from happening. Kept it away from Yukio. Shiro had to admit, though, he was impressed Yukio could understand Mephisto's way of speaking despite his age.
"I-I've made up my mind," Yukio stuttered, "I want to become a police officer! To protect nii-san! So that man won't have to take him away, and I can be strong enough to protect others."
Shiro looked Yukio in the eyes. He hated to hear those words coming from him. Hated it now felt necessary on both of their ends to turn Yukio into a cop. He closed his eyes, then smiled at him.
"I'll start training you on Monday. I should warn you it's not going to be a walk in the park, and there will be a great chance your training could stop at any time. Though, if I am able to turn you into an officer, you'll be able to protect everyone."
. . .
Author's Notes
I'm alive, I'm alive, I am so alive, and I feed off the fear that's behind your eyes~
Ello, yes, I wrote a thing, first time in a whole year. I'm trying to bounce back into the habit but have lots of planning to do before doing so.
I'd like to thank Nightmare-Taichou for looking over this chapter and commenting on what to fix and how to rewrite sentences. (Thank you so so so so very much. I can't thank you enough for your help.)
Before I end this chapter, I'd like to list the warnings for this story since they're very serious.
Please, thank you, and good day/night.
(!) I have a very busy schedule and am very likely to put this story up for adoption if I feel I cannot continue it. It is currently not up for adoption but will inform you if and when it is. Let this not stop you from making your own police au with aoex. I encourage anyone at all to try to write their own version to their liking. Good luck with it too.
(!) Updates will roll in slower than snails slither. I have to do lots of research for this story, study the characters, remake the storyline, plan, and manage a personal life. Please forgive me for these slow updates. To add, the nature of this story is extremely long (If you couldn't tell by this prologue's length.) and will take lots of time to actually write.
(!) Also to do with research; not everything I write will be 100% accurate since I have no connections to the police field. If you do have personal connections / experience, corrections on my research (and/or) suggestions are greatly appreciated.
(!) Protagonist role falls upon Rin next chapter and will follow like so, head-hopping in moments done only in moments in the manga, hopefully.
(!) I'll avoid using OCS as much as possible. If there are any, I'll make it my job to make them temporary. Their role will usually be to fill in minor roles.
(!)This story will dive into dark subjects in future chapters. I cannot say what or when, but please be aware and proceed with caution. Language too, but I assume that was obvious by the M rating.
(!) Lastly, not all the ideas for this au are mine. This story was originally supposed to be a collaboration with me and another writer. Though most of the ideas are my own, I will not take credit for all. Not only that, I'll probly brainstorm with more people in the future.