Rin was considered weird by just about everyone ever since he was small. He had some quirks that were very hard to miss. His strength was the most obvious thing but also the easiest to cover up. All Shiro had to do was give him a lesson on fairness and letting others win on occasion and nobody ever questioned why an 8 year old was able to lift 200 lbs and not even break a sweat.
Sometimes he did things that were just plain odd like not wearing a jacket in winter or avoiding certain places. Those were harder to explain away but Shiro convinced people that his son was living in his own world. A child's imagination can be blamed for many strange behaviors. Rin never seemed to notice he was different from the other children or understood why they avoided him. All the church could do is give the boy love and hope for the best.
Rin understood everything that made him strange when he found out about his heritage. He then took a more active role in hiding things. His tail and ears were harder to hide but his instincts were not. Once he knew what made him strange, he could hide it better. That did not completely stop people from noticing him but it did help.
Bon and the others in his cram school noticed something was wrong with Rin from the start. They had all recognized each other and their families from before school but no one seemed to have heard of Rin except his brother. He would jump up in the middle of class and not get yelled at for the obvious misbehavior. Yukio would just look at him in understanding and continue to lesson.
With how he acted it was no wonder he let the cat out of the bag when he did. It was not long at all and now the cram school knew to look for his odd behaviors. They did not speak to him for a very long time but a few things stuck out. Aside from the obvious, Shiemi noted he could heal extremely quickly and even avoided certain herbs she grew that were good for demon taint.
Shima and Kamiki noticed his strength but did not know why he was so strong until after he was exposed. In the group's mind, it was easier to be mad at the young demon for lying and ignore him and his quirks. The no longer spoke to him and instead observed from afar. Koneko was the one who mentioned that Rin spoke to demons like they were people. Yukio managed to explain that some but did not seem to fully understand it.
Eventually the group came back together around their wayward friend but never questioned why he did certain things. Most of them were brushed aside as demon things. The breaking point between idle curiosity and need to know was when the boy in question went missing. Missing maybe a little harsh. His brother had said he went with the kitchen familiar at the dorms to do some sort of demon bonding.
The class started late waiting for Rin but he never showed. Yukio was so distracted with his own worry, he called the class out early so he could wait at the dorms. "W-wait" Shiemi volunteered "why don't we go with you and wait together." Looking at the frustrated twin, Shima quickly agreed "yeah it would be easier in a group and if we have to look for him, we don't have to call a search party." Bon just grumbled about lost idiots and the others followed Yukio back to his dorm.
Yukio would not admit it out loud but he felt better waiting with the others. It did not take them long to find a deck of cards and start playing in the room. Yukio did not play but watched the door as the sun started going down. The group only stopped playing when they heard the distinct sounds of Rin's laugh coming from the other side of the door.
They prepared to yell and scream at the young demon for his tardiness but were all struck dumb at the sight on the other side of the door. Rin was standing between the two demons he left with covered in blood. He was smiling and licking his soaked fingers. All of the students noticed how much sharper his teeth and claws looked at night. Their was an awkward greeting and Rin apologized for skipping class. Ukabach went to the kitchen to cook for the group while Rin went to clean up. It took over an hour before Yukio could talk Rin into telling them what they had done. The whole room looked green by the time Rin was done explaining.
If Ukabach was upset his food was not eaten that night, he did not show it but it made one thing clear to the group. They would have to find out more about their savage friend. The agreed to meet up before class the next day and think things through as a group. At school the next day, everyone seemed to be perfectly normal. As if last night never happened. Rin was in a better mood and he made his meat in his lunch a little more rare than usual but since he ate alone, nobody noticed the change.
The other students of the cram school, including Yukio, met about an hour before class would normally start. Rin had not yet arrived and Yukio was already standing at the board with three lists on the board. One was a list of things the group had noticed abut Rin, one was a list of traits that demons have, and the last column was a list of traits that needed to be tested. The words were surprisingly clinical while they discussed his weakness and suspected weakness but nobody but Shiemi noticed.
She was soft spoken but tried to speak up when an experiment would hurt her precious friend. She was usually overridden with some excuse about needing to know and was uncomfortable about the entire situation. The first thing on the list was something one of the older teachers noticed but only vaguely mentioned. Was Rin affected by holy water? It was the smallest thing they could test and could do it today in class.
Kamiki was volunteered to be the one to trip and spill it on the boy while they were preparing for class. Bon made a copy of the list on the board and Yukio cleaned up while they waited for their victim. Yukio managed to open a holy water grenade and had an innocent glass of water sitting on Kamiki's table when Rin arrived to class. He slept through most classes but was never late to them. He stopped by Kamiki's desk as he passed by and looked at the glass sitting on the desk.
He glared at it so hard that the others thought the water may catch on fire. Yukio cleared his throat and broke Rin's concentration to ask what the matter was. Bon was taking notes about the odd reaction and Rin tried to explain something felt wrong on the desk. He did not know what it was but it was making all his hair and fur stand up on end. Acting confused, the class ushered him to his seat and Kamiki almost lost her nerve.
Rin's eyes kept going the the glass of water during the entire lecture. He usually slept through class but did not so much as yawn today. Shiemi and Shima were making their own mental notes about how uncomfortable Rin looked. When the first break came, Kamiki grabbed the glass and started heading toward Bon with it. She happed to pass by Rin and faked a trip in front of his desk. The water soaked his right uniform sleeve and he did something unexpected.
He screeched like he was being burned and started tearing his uniform off of his body. Bon started to say something about drama before Kamiki began frantically helping Rin strip. "Guys, come help us, he bleeding." she screamed desperately running to the back for her gym towel. By the time the group had surrounding Rin, Kamiki returned with a towel and now noted there was blood on his right arm and left hand. It was like he attempted to wipe it off and the burn had spread.
By this point, his screams had died down to whimpers and his brother was wiping the towel along his arm. It looked like someone had poured acid straight onto the skin. It was blistered and not healing like it normally would have. Rin was in so much pain, he could not think straight and had no clue what was happening. His tail curled around his leg as he picked them up off the floor. He wrapped the towel around his right arm and held down pressure with his injured left hand and curled around it.
It looked like an animal guarding a wound as he shook so back the desk started shaking with him. The others looked at each other horrified at what they had just done while Shiemi tried to comfort the injured demon. When Rin calmed down enough, Shiemi offered to take him to the nurse's office while the others stayed in the classroom. With an abnormal docile nod from Rin and an even more abnormal glare from Shiemi, the two went to the nurse.
The rest of the group could not understand what they had done. Koneko broke the silence of the classroom when he ran over to the trashcan and puked. Bon silently went back to his desk and pulled out the list of things from his desk. Looking at each person, he slowly started tearing the paper apart and they all came to an agreement. They would not try to hurt their friend again. "We owe him an apology when he gets back" Shima stated this fact. "Indeed" Yukio was solemn. "Next time, why don't we just ask him" Kamiki added.
They were all in agreement and waited for Rin to return. It did not take long for the nurse to wrap Rin's arm and hand up and send him back. Most of the damage on his left hand was on the palm so his fingers would be fine for writing. His right though was wrapped from halfway up his arm to the wrist. He fingers tingled when he moved them too much and the nurse had to call Mephisto about the incident. Rin explained when he got back that holy water was very difficult for demons to heal so he would have to redress the bandages every day.
Yukio knew that duty would fall to him as a Doctor. The bandage the nurse put on was already starting to speckle in blood but he was trying to comfort them. Poor Rin did not question what had happened but felt bad because his friends saw it happen. They all felt horrible with the guilt eating away at them. They would not let him believe it was an accident though.
Yukio took his brother to the front of the classroom and lined up with the others to face him. He was the teacher and felt it was his responsibility to have said something before someone was hurt. He explained that they had intentionally hurt Rin to test his abilities. Rin's horrified face said more than any words would ever convey.
By the time Yukio and the others were finished with the apology, Rin was sitting with his back pushed into the chair he was sitting on and leaning away from the group. He accepted the apology with averted eyes. It was hard to blame them for their actions because Rin had thought himself nothing but a monster not too long ago. Did he really deserve to be angry about this? He was confused and never thought he would be afraid of his family and friends.
They told him that he did not have to forgive them now but they felt like they needed to apologize. He nodded along with what they said and Yukio dismissed class for the day and walked his silent brother home. His gentleness told Rin all he felt he needed to know. This was his brother, his own blood and he would never be able to hold a grudge against him. He could stab and betray him and Rin would still trust him with his life because family was the most important thing to him.
By that own reckoning, he could not stay angry at the others either. If he were to forgive Yukio so easily. Tomorrow was a weekend, so Rin would have plenty of time to think and rest. Mephisto did let him know he would feel exhausted tomorrow with the work his body would be doing to fix itself but it would not last longer than about 3-4 days. It would not even scar. So why did Rin still feel afraid.
Kuro met the two at the door and was ready to fight. He smelled the blood on his master and wanted revenge for those who hurt him. Rin silently told him he would fill him in later and the three had an awkward dinner. Rin could not help but chuckle with how often that was happening lately. After dinner Yukio apologized again and did everything he could to let his brother know he was being sincere. Rin knew and did not hesitate this time to give Yukio his forgiveness as he went to bed early that night.
He told Kuro about what happened as the two lied down for bed. Kuro was nothing but supportive for Rin but could not completely hid his anger at Those who called Rin their friend. It was talking to Kuro that made Rin see that they did not mean to hurt him, they were young just like him. They had apologized and Rin knew they were sincere as well. He always knew when he was being lied to.
He went to bed early that night and actually slept in quit a bit the next day. Yukio must have still felt bad and shut off Rin's alarm because next thing he knew, the clock said 1000 and the sun was shining through the window. Rin was also feeling ravenous and the most delicious smell was coming from downstairs. He did not bother getting dressed and wondered downstairs to see what Ukabach had made.
He was met with another surprise. Ukabach was sitting at the table in the dining area and his friends were the ones in the kitchen. They were cutting up some of the best smelling meat Rin had ever had the pleasure of smelling. Ukabach was the one who explained what it was. When the others left the night before they went straight to Mephisto and asked what they could do to make him feel better. He led them to a swampy area with a super rare creature in it that only fed on female flesh. They used Kamiki as bait and caught this creature and was cutting it up now.
They were not going to cook it because Ukabach told them the best way to eat it was raw but they did want to eat lunch with their friend. So the winner by popular vote was sushi that Yukio was picking up now and the others would cut the monster up to look like that. It was not an ideal solution but they were trying. With tears in his eyes, Rin told them that he would forgive them as they set the table. Yukio came with the food and they had a lively discussion.
Now that Rin knew they were only curious and not malicious, he held nothing back about what he knew. If he did not know, he told them as such and they talked about it as a group. Some things, like hurting Rin for durability were out of the question. Others like if he could sense negative emotions were talked about. They had a few harmless ideas they could try with his permission and were happy to gave gained his forgiveness.
