Yukio sobbed as he sat before his Dad on their bed. The young brown-haired Demon was curled into a ball and was sobbing his eyes out. He didn't know if the horrible guilt, that had only grown after what he'd allowed Ernest to do to Rin, would ever leave him. Shiro sighed. He knew that, despite how mature Yukio was most of the time, he was still a teenager, and teenager's were emotional and lashed out. But still, the way he'd treated Rin was deplorable, and as the parent, he had to be firm with this, no matter how guilty he felt about it. "Yukio," he began sternly, making his younger Son flinch. He still wouldn't look at him, head buried in his arms as he cried and tail curled tightly around his legs. Rin was laying on his own bed on his stomach, trying not to listen in, but it was a bit hard when their beds were all close together. "Yukio, look at me" Shiro ordered. Trembling, the young Demon did so, eyes wide and filled with agonised tears.

He looked, afraid. The adult Exorcist struggled not to flinch under Yukio's broken stare. Taking a deep breath, Shiro began, "I am very disappointed in you Son. You told me that you wanted to become an Exorcist to protect Rin, and then you go and do this?" he asked. Shiro never raised his voice, but his words pierced Yukio to the core. He struggled not to let more tears out, his eyes burning with the effort. Looking at him like this, the older man was reminded of the terrified little boy that his Son had been years ago, but he pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind, telling himself that he would comfort the boy after he was done scolding him. "You promised me Yukio" Shiro said, shaking his head, "I understand that you were upset, and sad and hurt, but still- that's not an excuse for what you did to your brother" his Father sighed. He shook his head again, "I was so proud of you when you became an Excorsist, but now I think that maybe it was too soon. That maybe I should have waited until you were more mature before I enrolled you at True Cross, you were only Seven years old after all" Shiro paused, looking over his Son again.

Yukio looked absolutely miserable, and it made him cringe inside, but he pushed those feelings away for the moment, "tell me that you never treated your brother like that again" he almost begged, but his voice was still firm. The young Demon trembled, remembering when he'd been working for Ernest, he'd threatened to shoot both Rin and Kuro. In fact, that whole thing had been the biggest mistake of his life. Yukio squeezed his eyes shut, feeling his heart pounding painfully in his chest, sobbing silently. Shiro sighed and shook his head, "if I am able to stay alive after this, you're grounded. You'll have to find someone else to take over your class temporarily" he said. The younger Demon's eyes shot open in shock. Grounded? But, Dad had never grounded him before! Rin sure, but never him! So much of his life revolved around his jobs and School now, what would he do without them, without even being able to leave the house?! But he knew better than to argue, so he did the one thing that he knew he had to do, "I'm sorry" he whimpered. Their Father sighed again, "I know" he replied, reaching out and gently pulling the boy into his lap.

Yukio resisted at first, frozen in place on the bed, before relaxing and allowing his Dad to pull him close. Practically melting into his Father's embrace, he closed his eyes, allowing himself to forget his stress and shame for just a moment. Shiro meanwhile was staring down at his youngest Son's tail. It was longer than Rin's, and was the same shade of brown as Yukio's hair. Curiously, the man reached out and gently stroked his fingers through the fur. It was very soft. The young Demon froze again when the adult touched his tail, but soon relaxed at the soothing feeling washing over him. Shiro gently stroked Yukio's tail, quickly sending the boy to sleep. Shiro smiled softly at the sight. Yukio hadn't fallen asleep in his lap for years. Rin watched this from his own bed, feeling slightly jealous, but since his own tail was still healing, he would just have to wait. He smiled slightly, glad that that was over. He'd never seen their Dad mad at Yukio before, and seeing his younger twin's tears caused him to cringe. But he knew that it was for Yukio's own good, as much as it was for his whenever the man scolded him for something.

He hoped that things would get better eventually, and that their Dad would forgive him. Rin sighed, looking down. He hoped that their Dad would forgive him for some of the things he'd done too, even if he hadn't meant to do them. Like how he'd almost killed Yukio and Shura when he'd lost control of himself at the Training Camp. He still felt guilty for that, and the previous time he'd lost control at the Amusement Park. Even though both were technically Amaimon's fault, he still felt guilty for them none-the-less. Shiemi, Shura, Yukio, the rest of his friends- he could have killed them all because he couldn't control himself. Another reason that he couldn't wait for his tail to heal was so that he could start that training with Meliodas. After all, the older Demon had promised that he would help him with his rages, and he really wanted to not have to worry about that anymore. He sighed again, his tail was healing faster than an average human bone according to Mephisto, but slower than their kind- and didn't that feel horrible to acknowledge- would normally heal. Mainly because it was his tail bone, and his body wanted to make sure that it was healed right, at least according to the Hell King.

Yawning, Rin tried to settle in his bed. The more sleep he got, the faster his tail would heal, according to their "older half-brother". So he tried his best to go to sleep. But his tail was aching and he wasn't able to get comfortable laying on his stomach. Rin sighed. It looked like he wouldn't get any sleep tonight either. "Hey Rin" a familiar voice whispered from nearby. Rin twitched and opened his eyes again, turning to look beside him as his Dad sat down on the edge of his bed, "can't sleep Son?" he asked softly. The Indigo-haired teen stared at the man with almost desperate eyes. Even after several days of Shiro being alive, the young Demon still couldn't believe that he was actually here. He was almost afraid to fall asleep, worried that when he woke up again, this would all have been a nightmare, and their Dad would still be dead. But it never happened. Whatever Yukemi had done to revive their Father was still working. Realising that the Preist had asked him a question, Rin blushed slightly, "not really, I can't get comfortable like this, and most of the time even if I fall asleep, I end up rolling onto my back and hurting my tail" he replied softly.

Shiro stared sadly at his older Son's tail, "I'm sorry that you got hurt Son. Really. You know, when Mephisto was working to fix your tail, and you were in so much pain, it was really hard for me to watch that. But I am proud of how you saved Princess Elizabeth, so it kind of evened out. Even so, please never scare me like that again Rin, okay? Promise me?" he asked. Rin sighed, "I can't promise that I won't try to help or protect someone who's in danger, but I will promise to be more careful from now on, deal?" the Indigo-haired Demon asked. His Dad smiled softly at him, "deal" he whispered, "now, please try to go to sleep" Shiro said, softly rubbing his Son's back. Rin smiled at the feeling, slowly closing his eyes and relaxing on the bed, "that feels nice Dad" he muttered sleepily. His Father smiled, "I'm glad that I can do something to make you feel better Rin" the Priest replied. Eventually, Rin fell asleep too. Shiro smiled as he watched his Sons, his precious baby boys. Yawning, the man slowly made his way to his own bed and got ready to go to sleep. Soon he was laying under the soft sheets. With a deep sigh, Shiro soon fell asleep, exhausted from the day's viewing.

ƁĔ~ŚĐŞ

The next day they didn't watch anymore of Rin's memories, instead everyone had a rest. Well, Rin would have a rest, but first his annoying half-brother wanted to check his tail. Hearing that made the boy whimper slightly, "it's not gonna hurt, is it?" Rin asked worriedly. "It might a little bit. But I need to check that the bones are healing properly. While it will take longer than a Demon would normally take when dealing with bones for your tail to heal, it should at least be fairly healed already. I just want to check it's progress, that's all" Mephisto replied. He bit his lip, he was sure that he could do this- he wasn't a baby after all! He just had to be brave, but still- remembering the agony that he had been in when the older Demon had been fixing his tail made him really nervous for this check. Still though, if he found out that he was closer to having his tail healed completely, then he would be brave.

Even so, both Shiro and Yukio insisted on being with him the whole time. Rin looked gratefully at his family as his older half-brother snapped on his gloves and began gently probing and moving the younger Demons tail down near the base, where it had been broken. Rin whimpered as pain shot up his spine- not as much or as bad as when he had initially broken the appendage, but still enough to have him gripping his little brother's hand tightly, and their Dad to tighten his grip on his Son's shoulder. Eventually the King of Time stepped back and removed his gloves, "alright, I'm done now" he said, making his younger brother sigh in relief and finally relax his muscles. Mephisto turned to the boy's other family members who were looking at him expectantly. "Rin's tail is healing well. It should be fully healed in a few more days at this rate" he said. The younger Demon on the bed sighed with relief, "finally. After everything, it'll be nice to have one less painful thing to worry about" Rin muttered, relaxing on the bed. Shiro sighed, "thank you for this. But still, I hope you know that I haven't forgiven you yet" the man said, glaring at his former friend.

Mephisto smiled toothily, "I wouldn't expect anything less old friend" he replied. Looking down at Rin again, he clapped his hands, "now! Rin should eat something and rest again. Mr Okumera, why don't you go ask Mr Ban to prepare something for our dear little brother?" he suggested. Yukio nodded, "sure" he smiled down at his brother, "I'll be back soon with some food for you, okay?" he asked, before leaving the room. Rin sighed, "awe man, I really miss being able to cook. I might ask if I can cook everyone's next meal when I'm healed" he said, grinning excitedly at the thought. Shiro smiled, "I'll be looking forward to it Rin" he said cheerfully.

ƁĔ~ŚĐŞ

When his meal was brought to him, Rin ate enthusiastically- a bit too enthusiastically. "Rin! Be careful!" his Father reprimanded, knocking the young Demon's back as he choked on his food. "R-right, sorry! *cough* I'm just really hungry, that's all" he replied, before slowing his eating again. After he was finished, Rin sighed with satisfaction, "ah! Can you tell Ban that the food was great!?" he asked cheerfully. Yukio smiled, taking the bowl, "I'll be sure to let him know. Now, get back to bed big brother" he ordered. Rin rolled his eyes but smiled, "yeah, yeah Dr" he replied, before being taken back to their bedroom. Once he was laying on his stomach on the bed the young Demon sighed, "I really hope that my tail really is done healing soon, I'm so bored!" he moaned. Closing his eyes, Rin actually managed to fall asleep relatively quickly this time, and soon he was snoring away on his bed. Yukio entered the room to make sure that his brother was getting some rest, only to find him snoring away.

He smiled, "I'm glad that you're healing Rin. I hope that you can have a good rest today" he whispered. Soon he'd left the room again. Leaving his precious brother to finally get some sleep.

To Be Continued