On the 1st day of Christmas, my dear fan fiction author gave to me~ 1 fangirl mob in a True Rose story~
On the 2nd day of Christmas, my dear fan fiction author gave to me~ 2 bright wings and 1 fangirl mob in a True Rose story~
(See other stories for days.)
Disclaimer; Don't own.
It is often in the darkest skies that we see the brightest stars.
-Richard Evens
Rin wasn't going to lie. He had been cut, slashed, stabbed, electrocuted and pinned to cross as a sacrifice but he had never gone something so annoyingly tortuous as the demon version of puberty. In comparison, it's human counter was a walk in the park.
A week after Kurikara had been broken Rin had noticed some changes. He had grown taller, still shorter than Yukio but not as much as he had been before when the half-demon was feeling particularly vexed anything flammable tended to suddenly catch on fire. Even his tail would burst into blue flames and come out slightly singed.
Months later he had walked passed a mirror and really looked at himself, his hair was longer and his eyes were sharper but otherwise, it did not seem like he had changed at all.
He had dismissed the nudging in the back of his mind that something was different as paranoia and hoped that he was not going to turn into some kind of conspiracy theorist like Yukio.
That same day he had woken up in the middle of the night, Yukio had been snoring on the bed beside him and Kuro had left the night to go to some kind of moon party. He yawned shuffling towards the bathroom.
Still half asleep he splashed water onto his face in an attempt to wake himself. He looked up and meet his own reflection only to take a startled step backward.
"What the hell?" Rin whisper yelled careful not to awaken the sleeping beast in the next room.
The mirror showed Rin's eyes the red ring around his black pupils sharply contrasting the same glowing blue color as his flames. What was even more startling was the luminescent white strands mixed into his raven black tinted blue hair. He blinked and promptly decided it was an issue that he could deal with when the sun was actually visible.
Over the next few days, Rin found more and more white strands in his hair and he realized with a growing sense of dread that it probably wasn't his mother's side showing through. It was then that the blue-eyed teen decided he needed a haircut.
"Hey, Yukio!" Rin yelled.
The younger twin looked up from where he was sitting across the room a vaguely exasperated expression on his face, "Yes, Rin?" Yukio sighed.
"I need a to cut my hair," The elder twin declared.
The young teacher examined his brother for a moment before nodding at the strangely reasonable request.
"It is getting a bit long…" Yukio commented, "Alright, as long as you promise to be responsible with the money I give you."
Rin gave his twin a giant grin and a thumbs up, "No problem, Yu-chan~" He sang.
That did not seem to comfort Yukio. Although the lack of faith stung Rin supposed the other had reason to doubt him considering he would be coming back to the dorm without a haircut.
Rin woke up before Yuuki as always Instead of taking a train Rin had walked out of the third wig store he had visited. The wig was actually slightly longer than his real hair and had been much more expensive than he had thought it would have been.
He managed to buy himself a pack of hair ties in a nearby shop. Two worried parents passed him along with two security guards. He was already running late and he really needed to leave.
Rin stopped. Guilt tugging at him when the mother started crying. Ruffling his hair, now covered with the wig he ducked behind a corner and tried to focus on what they were saying.
"–Felicia and Regulus will be fine. I'm sure we'll find them." The wife reassured himself.
Rin buried his face in his hands. 'Not children' He inwardly wailed. He always had a soft spot for children. He snorted. Soft spot. More like a gaping hole.
He scented the air and started to shift his flames into his eyes. Almost lazily he started to walk the halls. People shifted away from him. Desperately trying to ignore the teenager with the glowing blue eyes.
He turned and walked into a piercing shop. He spotted two twin children, pale with black hair and silver eyes. A man stood in front of them. The girl was animatedly talking with one of the customers that Rin immediately recognized as being possessed by a demon.
The boy, Regulus shifted away from the man looking uncomfortable. Rin pierced his lips not knowing how to how to interfere. Regulus tried to tug Felicia away from the strange and the blue-eyed teen wondered if the brother could see demons. He shook off the thought when the man offered his hand to the little girl.
All thoughts of how to properly interfere disappeared and he stalked up to the stranger, "Hey, are these two your kids?"
The man grinned, "You their brother?" Felicia frowned suddenly not liking the look on the other's face.
Rin glanced at the children, "Yeah… I am." He lied, "You got a problem with that." Blue flames swelled just beneath the surface of his eyes and the demon possessing the human suddenly felt very threatened.
Of course when most demon's feel threatened they tend to react with violence. "Fuck you." He possessed man snarled.
"Like you could even lay a hand on me. Middle-aged, pathetic, emotionally unstable plebeian." Rin snarked. He needed to stop hanging out with Mephisto he was starting to pick up the man's speech habits.
Regulus had latched onto his leg and started to glare at the man. Felicia was looking from Rin to the man. The demon reeled back, "Oh little boy thinks he's brave?"
The woman who ran the store, an older woman in her late forties, looked at them warily edging towards the nearby phone to call security. For a brief moment, Rin's eyes flickered towards her before remaining firmly focused on the man in front him.
The demon had caught that motion looking back at the woman, now fully enraged the roared in frustration and grabbed the nearest item he could grab, a metal earring stand and swung it at Rin's head.
The half-demon ducked and tackled the man into stand earrings crashed over their heads and Felicia started to dry while Regulus dragged his sister to safety by the store manager.
The possessed man cackled swiping clawed hands at Rin who retaliated by kneeing the other in the stomach. Growling, blue flames sparked to life and the demon shrieked in surprise.
They crashed into the phone that was supposed to be used for calling security. The fight was starting to draw attention from the other shoppers. The demon tugged on his hair and his wig and silver-white hair fell across his shoulders. Heat passed through his tail and pain erupted from his back.
"My king…" The demon breathed before burning in bright blue flames.
The possessed body collapsed onto the ground. Rin stood up trying to ignore and brushed himself off. Wincing, he looked around the destroyed store.
Almost sheepishly the half-demon felt his entire spin settle into a dull ache. He picked up the metal stand and gently set it back on the table which promptly lost the battle with gravity and crashed onto the ground. Felicia stared at Rin with wide eyes.
"You're so pretty!" She gasped as she started to hug his leg.
Rin blinked down at her. Regulus walked up shyly nodding in agreement.
The teenager chuckled, ruffling both their hair, "Thanks, kid." He chuckled an amused smile shifting across his face. The girl blushed.
He looked around the room, grabbed his wig from where it had fallen, making a note to make sure to find a way to make sure it stayed on his head and stuck it back onto his head.
"Thanks for saving us from the weird man," Regulus mumbled.
"Your welcome," Rin responded, "Next time be a little more careful especially when talking with strangers."
The two children nodded.
The store manager came up behind them, "Thank you for stopping that man." She said to Rin before turning to the children, "Are you two sure you are both alright? Where are both of your parents?"
It was Regulus's turn to speak up, "Felicia wanted to get her ears pierced but she got scared and I brought her back here since I thought mom and dad might look for us here."
"Smart kid," Rin commented.
Regulus beamed.
Felicia looked embarrassed, "I want cute earring but they it looks like it would hurt."
The woman, Akiyo Natsuki, smiled, "Well it can, but lucky for you I'm a professional. I've been doing this for since I was a little girl myself. I'll do it for you. Free of charge."
The female twin still uncomfortable.
Rin stared at her, "So, you weren't scared when I was fighting off that guy but you think that getting a piercing is?"
Regulus snorted, "Yeah, I bet it's painless."
Rin let a mischievous smile form on his lips, "Well if you're so confident why don't you do it to show her how it's done?" He asked.
The boy looked up at him with wide eyes, "But only girls get earrings!"
The half-demon snorted, "I have a friend who has piercings and he's one of the meanest looking guys I know."
"It's true you know," Akiyo said walking back from where she had been ensuring the crowd that everything was dealt with and closing up the shop.
Rin jumped 'When did she leave?' He asked himself, 'Is she a ninja?'
"–I have given piercing to men of all ages." She continued.
Felicia blinked, "Really?"
"Yep." She confirmed.
"What are you scared?" Rin teased.
If it would work on a small Yukio, one of the brainiest children Rin had ever met then it would work on these two.
"W-Well if you're not scared then why don't you get your ears pierced?" Felicia shot back.
The son of Satan shrugged, "Don't have any money."
Akiyo's face lit into a beautiful smile, "No worries about that. Free of charge." She repeated.
"You really don't have to–" Run started.
"Is Nii-san scared?" Regulus teased. Felicia chimed in her agreement.
"Piercing or cuff?" Akiyo asked.
"Cuff I guess." He shrugged before realization dawned.
The store manager nodded, "Give me a moment to get everything ready."
Rin started to set back up the racks and pick the accessories off of the ground. Having nothing better to do the twins started to help him.
"What's a cuff?" Felicia asked.
Rin paused, "It's a piercing that goes up higher than your earlobe and wraps around. I don't really know how to explain it." He said.
Akiyo walked back, a piercing gun in hand. Rin ignored her hovering as he thought, "I guess you would have to ask Akiyo…"
Both the children both looked up at him in awe. Rin stared at them in confusion.
"What's wrong?" He asked.
"I'll tell you what." Akiyo laughed, "I just pierced your ear twice and you didn't even flinch."
Rin blinked and reached up touched his ear to feel cool metal. Both the children bounced on their feet.
"Me next!" Regulus yelled.
"No fair!"
"Let me finish his other ear," Akiyo laughed, "I must say I've never seen ears like yours before."
Rin looked at the other earring she held up, it was a small flat metal cuff carved with the words 'conquer your demons and where the scars like wings' that would have been linked together with a chain had it not been broken her other hand she held a bright blue wing gemmed, black feathered wing with white jeweled tips. Smiling Akiyo finished piercing his other ear.
"What kind do you two want?"
"How about he picks for us?" Felicia suggested pointing at Rin.
Rin blinked and scanned the room. After a few moments, he picked up two packets.
Felicia's was a long dangling earring, starting with silver and ending with a small dream catcher with a blue gemstone inside. Regulus's was a silver cuff with a small engraved white wolf howling at a blue crescent moon.
The children started in awe and gingerly picked them up. Akiya watched it all with fascination. She started to get to work. They were however interrupted by security guards and the twins' parents.
"Regulus! Felicia!"
"And this bad guy came," Felicia rambled, "And he looked really weird after he got angry–" The two American Exorcists exchanged glances. "–but another guy swooped in and fought him off and he's so pretty, Mom! He picked out these for us!"
Both she and Regulus held up their accessories.
"I'm sure he is." Their mother smiled.
The father turned to Akiyo "Is he still here? What's his name? We'd like to thank him." He said.
Akiyo looked surprised and looked at the spot where Rin once stood, "He never said." She murmured.
"It was amazing!" Regulus gushed surprising his parents as their son was usually more quiet, "For a minute when he was fighting he looked like he had these two giant white wings!"
The parents looked startled, Felicia's and Regulus's earrings glowed with blue flames but Rin was already gone.
Just as despair can come to one only from there human beings,
hope,
too,
can be given to one only by other human beings.
-Elie Wiesel