Disclaimer - I am not Kazue Kato and do not own ANE

The Death of a Half

Rin noticed right away that he was in fact not alive. Ignoring the memory of his due execution, the fact that he was in, first off, no pain whatsoever, seemed to be floating yet conscious of his surroundings, was a big ringer to that. Of course, maybe the pain overloaded his nerves and he went crazy, but the more likely outcome was that he was dead.

And he was slightly relieved that death meant floating around in nothingness, though he could do without the consciousness part. Had Heaven and Hell been real, well, for one, he wouldn't be sure where he'd go - would he be put in Heaven for being a good human, or would he be put into Hell for being a demon?

Not only that, but as a human, even, he sort of...picked a lot of fights. He doubted that was something a good human would do.

So, yeah, he was okay with this...nothingness rather than being sent to Hell where according to stories, he'd burn for eternity. Yeah, he wasn't quite liking the sound of that at all.

So he continued to float, thinking things about his life. He wondered if perhaps, he wasn't dead yet, and this was right before where your life flashes before your eyes. Who knew?

He sure didn't.

...

Rin wondered how Yukio was doing. Twin telepathy was...something that Rin liked to believe in despite its illogicality. But, if it was true, would that mean Yukio would be affected as well?

Rin gulped before fervently hoping that Twin telepathy was in fact, not a thing.

And with that last thought, strangely, Rin lost consciousness.

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Yukio's mouth moved as he explained the medical advantages of the plants portrayed on the board. He answered questions that the students asked, though, there were very few in that the students asked. They were relatively quiet, solemn, and there was a heavy feeling in the air.

And for a moment, Yukio wondered why, but when he was about to answer his own question of why his mind seemed to blank out.

And then the class ended without so much of a disruption. Without anyone causing trouble. No one seemed to have fallen asleep during class, strangely. Why were they all still awake? Why had everyone done the work? Why did no one complain?

His eyes fell on the empty seat.

Ah, it looks like he was late again. But he couldn't be this late. Why would he be?

As the class watched Yukio pack his things up, Suguro Ryuji walked up to him and asked something, something that Yukio answered with with a fake smile and some fake words, but he didn't quite know what he said.

Suguro said some more, but nothing comprehensible came through. Yukio glanced at the empty seat. He's late. He's really late. I should go wake him.

"I'm sorry." Yukio looked up at that. Suguro looked away, and he walked out the classroom, his friends trailing closely behind. Yukio stared after the Kyoto boy. What ever could he be sorry for?

And before anyone else could say any more meaningless words, sounds from the mouth, Yukio took his key and opened the door to his and his brother's dorm room. He looked over to his brother's side and saw the sheets neatly folded. Strange. He looked at his own side, wondering if there had been a mix up but saw his own the same as he left it.

He looked back at Rin's.

And then he remembered. 'Okumura Rin, son of Satan, ruler of Genhenna, is hereby sentenced to death.'

And the world came crashing down. Suddenly, Yukio's surroundings were blurred - strange - and he found himself on his knees. He pulled something out of his pocket. It was a folded piece of paper. Something was coming out of his eyes - tears - as he unfolded the thing revealing a photo.

It was old but well kept. It wasn't until that moment that he kept the image with him at all times. A week ago. It was a week ago.

Yukio sobbed, and he could barely hear Kuro's meowing, the demon's own tears pouring down like his own as Yukio clutched the picture of him, his father, and his brother, smiling, happy, with nothing to worry about but being a family.

How drastically time has changed them.

And now, it was only him and for the seventh time that week, Yukio cried:

Nii-san.

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The next time Rin woke up, he was on a boat. The first thing he did was sit up straight, rocking the boat and causing ripples in the strange, and highly reflective water.

"Huh?" he voiced as he looked around. "Where..." his voice trailed off when he saw the grandeur of the place he was in. It was a dome-like room, round ceiling so, so high up with intricate designs and patterns that told stories he wouldn't know or recognize, and the most common color seemed to be red, gold, black, and white.

He watched in awe and took in his immediate surroundings. He was in fact in a boat, a row boat, simple and wooden. The water was calm with only slight ripples and was a lake, perfectly round. He saw other boats around him, but they were all hazy when it came to who might have been in those other boats.

They were all lined up in a circle that didn't connect, one end coming out from some entrance and the other end going through a semi-circle shaped gate laced with gold.

"Holy damn," Rin whispered to himself. Was he not dead? What was this -

"Holy and damning indeed Rin-kun," a familiar voice said behind him. Rin jumped before whipping his head around to see Mephisto in all his clown-like glory, smiling unnervingly at the half demon.

"Mephisto!" Rin exclaimed. He pointed at the demon king, spluttering before pointing to himself. "I - what happened? I thought I died -"

Mephisto chuckled, stopping Rin who shivered slightly. "Well, little brother, you are indeed quite dead, as you humans would call it, and I must say, that was not quite what I had...in mind." The man shook his head before laughing. "However, it is nothing that I cannot work with, so we shall make due, dear chess piece."

Rin bristled at that. "Hey! I ain't your chess piece, and if I'm dead, why are you here?" Believing he had brought up a pretty valid point, Rin crossed his arms over his chest, looking up at the standing Mephisto.

Mephisto hmphed before leaning back on nothing but air. "Well, I'm not quite human, and I, as a demon, am originally a 'spiritual' entity. I'm just here to see you off in the right direction." A chill ran down Rin's spine, and he wasn't sure whether it was from the words, the glint in his half brother's gaze, or the unnerving sharp smile. Maybe it was all three.

"Tch, what do you mean the right direction?" Rin asked. "And I still don't get why you're here-" he was cut off when the boat jerked into motion - it was before, simply floating still in the same spot - and almost as if it had a mind of its own, it waded forward smoothly on the lake water. He noticed the gate was much closer to him now, and only one boat away.

The boat halted again, and there was silence.

Gulping, Rin asked, "Where...where are we?"

Mephisto simply grinned wider. "Why, we are at the gates to Heaven and Hell of course, or more accurately: Assian Afterlife and, why, Gehenna of course."

Rin's eyes widened and he turned his eyes toward the large semi-circular gate. "*Kuso."

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Ryuji constantly avoided looking at that empty seat, because it made him bristle at the sight of it. He wasn't angry at Rin. He never was. He was angry that Rin died, but that wasn't the main source of the anger. No. He was angry at himself.

That day, fueled with utter shock and confusion about the whole situation, maybe even some denial, and broken trust between friends, he had said those sick words. 'What's the son of Satan doing at True Cross?' The implications were clear. Why was a demon among them? The son of the most despicable. Why?

Why did I say that?

Ryuji's grip on his pencil and the downward force of it increased as he went through his test, almost mechanically. He wasn't sure if his answers were right or wrong. Wrong. It was so damn wrong of him to say that to him.

Ryuji never meant it. He never meant the implications of hating Rin. He just - they were friends dammit, Rin was supposed to trust them. Trust him. But he did that, that thing where he carries some stupid burden too big for him all by himself, without considering the fact that maybe, maybe his friends would be there for him.

And Ryuji, stupid, stupid Ryuji, hadn't thought that maybe, just maybe that would be the last time he'd see that stupid monkey. And that those words would probably the last thing he'd remember of Ryuji.

Of hurt. Of abandon. Of a friend who hated him.

When none of that was true.

Okumura, he prayed, ironically, as he stilled his pencil. I'm sorry.

I'm so damn sorry.

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Rin sat in the boat, the boat that now approached the Gate. During the time of silence and unnerving small talk with Mephisto (who had even seemed to be trying to comfort him, but perhaps that was Rin's imagination), he'd realized that he hadn't been wearing what he had been before, but instead, was wearing a loose yukata. Mephisto had explained that people who died tended to wear something from their origin, or childhood.

Which didn't make a hundred percent sense to Rin, but who was he to say anything?

Especially since his boat stopped right in front of the small opening of the large Gate. In front of him was a bar that looked like one of those bars that would rise to let a car through or something. Except, this time it was to let through a boat that carried a dead Rin.

Rin swallowed a lump in his throat as the woman who seemed to be manning the gate came up to him from the stone pier jutting out from the center of the Gate.

"Hello, you must be -" Rin jumped when he suddenly found the woman's hand on his tail.

"Hey, lay off -"

The lady completely ignored his outcry and continued, "- ah, a demon I see, high level at that. Lost your vessel I'd assume. I suppose you'll be heading to the right canal, but..." She took notice of Rin's clothing and her eyebrows raised into her orange hairline. She tapped her chin with a nicely painted nailed finger. "My, my, now this is interesting. You originate from, what seems to be Japan, yet you're clearly a demon, and -"

She continued to ramble, and Rin was slightly grateful that he had been dressed in the yukata if it would save him from heading to Gehenna. He glanced up at Mephisto, only to find the clown to not be there. For a moment, he felt a sense of panic rise from inside him.

Despite Mephisto not being the best of company, he was still the only one familiar to Rin in this unfamiliar place and not to mention this was where his fate would be decided. Before Rin could fully panic though, he heard Mephisto's voice and he turned back to the lady who was now conversing with the demon.

"Ah, sir Samael," the woman said with a raised brow. She gave him a look. "You haven't quite lost your vessel yet, it seems, yet for some reason, you are...here."

"Ah, dear Gatekeeper, it seems you haven't quite missed me, despite the fact that I haven't come by here since millennia ago," Mephisto replied with a drawl.

The Gatekeeper crossed her arms before gesturing to Rin who stiffened at the attention.

"So? What's so special about the Japanese Demon kid here that you're here with him?" Before Mephisto could answer, her eyes widened. "Wait, no way, is he your child-"

"The heck I am!" Rin interrupted immediately, quickly denying that false assumption. The Gatekeeper blinked at him as Mephisto chuckled before she simply turned back to the clown.

"If not that, then why are you with him?"

"Well, I am here to explain his very ...special circumstances," Sir Pheles explained with a sly smile. Rin suppressed the urge to flinch at that.

"I'm listening, though I doubt how special these circumstances are," the Gatekeeper said, gesturing for the man to continue.

And so he did. "Okumura Rin-kun is a half demon -"

The Gatekeeper rolled her eyes. "That's not very uncommon -"

Mephisto tutted, slight anger flashing quickly behind his venom-green eyes. "Now now, you haven't quite heard me out." He pointed at Rin. "He is a half demon with a very human twin. The other child, too weak to inherit the demonic heritage had been born completely human, and has grown up completely human, unlike this boy here."

There was a moment of silence where Rin clenched his fist behind his back, gritting his teeth.

The Gatekeeper had a look of recognition before turning to Rin who looked at her with slight nervousness. She spoke.

"A twin, huh," she muttered. "Well, then choose, Okumura Rin: Assian Afterlife, or the Kingdom of Gehenna? Which will be your eternal fate?" Rin almost missed the large grin that spread across Mephisto's face as Rin asked, hesitantly:

"I can choose?"

The Gatekeeper nodded nonchalantly. "That's right-"

Mephisto interrupted, making Rin's blood (he was dead, so did he have any?) freeze. "You can choose, Rin-kun, but keep in mind, you are one half of a set of twins whose lineage is cut in half. Twins are interconnected. Similar to how you became the demon and your brother the human, if you choose the human afterlife, your twin will have no choice but to follow his demonic lineage and go to the demonic afterlife."

And Rin felt like he died a second time.

He blinked. "Oh." Rin looked down at his hands, hands that were surprisingly still. He wondered if his life, even after death, would always be so unlucky. He wondered...if it was alright to be selfish. Just once. Just today. Just today. Just...

Yukio. Rin smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. "Ha, I see," he said, clenching his hands into fists. There was no way he could do that to his brother. Not his sweet brother, the brother he guarded against bullies, the brother that cried when Rin got hurt for him, the brother that became an exorcist to protect him, the brother that was still alive.

And more human that Rin could ever hope to be.

He looked up. "Gehenna," he said quietly, hands falling to his sides. He didn't watch as Mephisto's smile grew and as the Gatekeeper nodded, as if expecting the answer.

"Lift the Bars and let the Current flow!" she shouted and there was a grinding as the bar lifted and a current started to pull Rin's boat forward. He nearly toppled from the jerk of the boat but managed to stay where he was. Mephisto stayed on the pier and as Rin slipped through the Gate, Mephisto grinned, and Rin knew that he had expected as such.

But at least Yukio would be alright.

Rin closed his eyes as darkness enveloped him.

Hope you enjoyed. The whole thing with Rin in a boat is completely based off a dream I woke up from today and I thought WOAH THIS IS PERFECT FOR A STORY but anywho yeah. It was the first dream that was actually comprehensible and made some sense. More of the dream will come out in future chapters that'll be updated very very slowly since I'm focusing on another fic more.Peace.