I do not own Ao no Exorcist.
Recap:
Kinzo was about to fall asleep.
XxX
Only to be stopped by the shouts of a certain brunet child, his temple was twitching in irritation wondering what he did to deserve such a thing.
He loved to sleep, darn it!
"Kinzooooo-! Where are ya!? And more importantly, where's RIN!?" Bon hollered not particularly caring if they had any customers, this was his potentially new friend he was talking about.
Kinzo pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to keep his temper in check, it didn't particularly help that he gets moody when he doesn't get his sufficient amount of sleep.
Mentally counting to ten, Kinzo took a deep breathe and was about to shout his response when the door was banged open, creating a huge amount of noise.
Both Bon and Kinzo winced for the same reasons, Bon's mom wouldn't be particularly pleased.
Renzo, Konekomaru and Rin was surprised by Bon's suddden entrance and Rin had to check if her hearing was alright, having sharper ears wasn't all that cracked up to be. One of the reasons why she didn't like crowds that much.
Konekomaru saw how their new friend, because yes Rin is their new friend, no questions, rub her ears gently and needless to say he panicked. "Rin-chan are you alright?"
Everybodies attention snapped at the bluehaired child wondering what happened to her, to ask such a question, and saw how Rin flushed a deep red.
"It's nothing," Rin lied, quite convincingly might she add. "Bon just entered with quite a 'bang' afterall!"
The four boys stopped for a moment at the grin on her face, they had to say that she was quite stunning, Rin was nice and genuinely good that they were worried for her well-being. They could already see her being baited by strangers with sobstories and Rin being well, her, of course she would offer compassion.
Add to the fact that she didn't even particularly care about when the Head Monk told her about the quite true happenings of the Blue Night, Rin already wormed her way to their hearts.
"Yes, it was quite literally a 'bang'." A woman's voice commented dryly and Bon was already sweating bullets at her tone.
"Kaa-chan." Bon said nervously, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. The young child gulped when he saw the dangerous glint on his mother's eyes.
"Ryuuji..."
What followed was a verbal lashing that had Rin laughing uproariously and Bon glaring at said girl in return.
XxX
Shiro Fujimoto just knew something was happening to his daughter at this moment, either good or bad he couldn't particularly say. It just had him more worried and more jumpy than usual, which is to say a bad thing for the Paladin, he can't focus on anything.
That and he decided it was time for Yukio to be introduced to demons, he was young, yes, but Shiro had a feeling that he needed it. To assure the boy he wasn't going crazy.
He knew Yukio should be resting since he was ill, but he quite suddenly got all better when he returned from walking Rin to the school. Shiro had some speculations about that but he didn't really bother Yukio too much, really.
That and there were still remnants of his flu, the Paladin idly wondered if this was because of the demon blood in his veins, but then again it didn't do much when he was sick those other times.
Still Shiro suspected something was going on here, particularly concerning his twins.
But right now, Shiro was more worried for his daughter, he had to stop himself from bashing his head into a wall when he realized how utterly stupid his move has been. He quite literally left Rin in a den of lions, which was the current reason why he was walking around, wondering what the hell he should do!
The Paladin's thoughts wandered through what happened this morning, and he decided to check up on his daughter with a call, afterall there was nothing wrong about that, right?
Right?
Shiro nodded to himself, and Yukio, who was in the same room as his father wondered why he was so nervous, the teachers never did anything bad to him, so why would they do anything bad to his nee-chan?
(In the future, Yukio would be a utterly furious at his own actions, not only because he was the reason why his sister haappened to be lost, it was one reason, but it was also for the fact that it made her meet friends. Male friends.
Like hell he'll just let his sister, his innocent beautiful sister, be familiar with other males.
What? So, Yukio was jealous it was perfectly reasonable if you asked him.
This was his Aneki he was talking about.
His Aneki. His.)
"Ne, tou-san, what were you about to tell me?" the brunet asked innocently, seated on an armchair.
Shiro turned to his son and gave a nervous grin. "About that... I'll have to check on your sister first."
"Why?"
'Because I have to make sure she's still safe and in one piece, most importantly not lost.' Shiro shivered at the last word he thought of, Kyoto was a big place and the teachers could easily give Rin the slip, and for the nth time Shiro cursed himself.
"I just want to know if Rin's safe." Shiro replied with a grin and noted the way how his son seemed to glow.
"There's no need to worry, tou-san," Yukio gave a small smile to his father, hoping to give him some comfort. "All the teachers nice."
'To you, maybe.' Shiro grimaced at the thought but hid it with a cough and gave his son a half-smile. "Yeah, just want to make sure."
Yukio nodded seriously, there really was nothing wrong with making sure, it was what he does when he finished a test, he makes sure that he got everything right!
The Paladin checked his pockets to see if he had his phone inside of them, and seeing as his phone was not on his person he sighed.
Yukio tilted his head wondering why his father sighed and Shiro provided an answer.
"I don't have my phone." He grumbled and turned his red eyes at the brunet. "I'm just gonna go get it, Yukio don't move too much. Heavens know that Rin would blame me if you get more sick."
Yukio nodded his assent and tried not to sweatdrop at that, his nee-chan would probably do that. Well, probably, Yukio's twin sister was too unpredictable sometimes.
Shiro nodded and headed to his room, vainly hoping that nothing bad happened to his daughter, and his red eyes darkened, because if something did happen well, his actions would be justified.
There is a reason why he became a Paladin, and he'll be damned if he just let's someone off when said person messes with his daughter.
Adopted or no.
This was his daughter.
XxX
"What are you talking about!" Shiro said sharply, ignoring the way his stomach churned with worry, and he was barely stopping himself from crushing his phone.
"It's as what we said Fujimoto-san," the woman, no, Shiro was most certain she was a monster, disdainfully. "Your daughter does not seem to know how to follow instructions and therefore made an utterly foolish mistake of displacing herself."
'Displacing herself, my ass!' Shiro seethed internally and he had to stop himself from shooting something when the monster said the word 'daughter' full of disgust and venom, 'it' was already acting way out of line.
"You and I know that Rin is not to blame!" The Paladin replied hotly. "There is a reason why they have teachers in the trip!"
Shiro loathed to call 'it' a teacher, it was a disgrace to every good teacher out there, but he was angry, no, furious, was the right term, they left a child, a child! Stranded in the middle of Kyoto! Not knowing what to do nor where to go! Shiro's heart broke when he realized that Rin might be deathly afraid right now, and the Paladin almost had enough, if not for the voice that seemed to be whispering in his ear.
'Rin's not like that,' a voice that reminded Shiro of somebody long gone said softly. 'You raised my daughter right, Shiro. She'll know what to do.'
The Paladin stilled and gave a sigh, what the voice said was right, Rin's first instinct wasn't to cry but he's a father, and with or without reason a parent will always worry.
The other line went silent, probably not knowing what to say next, and Shiro had enough of the monster's stupidity, he ended the call.
Now, he needed to talk to a certain purplehead.
And if Mephisto cared at least a little bit about Rin. Well..
Shiro needed to ready his children's transfer papers, it seemed that a school was about to be gone or more precisely, stomped out of existence.
The grayhaired man smiled darkly.
Wrong move.
Xxx
Rin shivered, oddly feeling sorry for her teachers at the moment before she shrugged it off, it was probably just due to the scary but nice woman that was Torako Suguro.
She could give quite the verbal lashing, Rin had to respect that.
And apparently Torako Suguro was already done talking, coughscoldingcough, her son and turned her attention to the new face in the room and smiled warmly at Rin. Rin in return tried not to freeze up, the woman was scary when justifiably angered, and tried to grin back.
"Hello, Rin-chan," Torako greeted the young bluenette, and instead of scowling like Bon thought Rin would she blushed with a small smile instead, Bon wondered why.
Rin in return tried not to burst into tears, here were people in Kyoto accepting her and greeting her with smiles, not snarls or sneers, and Rin savored it all, not knowing if they would still feel the same way if they knew everything she's done.
But, for now, Rin would enjoy the warmth she was being covered with.
"Hello," Rin greeted back shyly, peeking through her blue bangs and offering a small, bashful smile.
Torako in returned tried not to hug the child to death, it's been a while since she's seen such innocence and shyness, but she had to remain professional because if she didn't the poor child might not be able to go home anymore and would legally be a Suguro.
Torako was sure that she'll recieve no complaints from her family, but she wasn't sure with Rin's parents, so she needed to remain professional.
"I'm Torako Suguro, it's nice to meet you Rin-chan."
"I'm Rin Okumura, ma'am, and it's a pleasure to meet you."
At Rin's introduction Bon had an eyebrow raised, wondering where the sudden influx of manners came from, and pondering if this was a temporary thing. Torako in return smiled wider at the girl and idly noticed that Rin probably wasn't used to being polite to others.
But frankly she didn't care, she saw something in her, something warm and Torako knew that Rin would be a good friend, the kind of friend that would go through hell and highwaters just to make sure her friends were safe.
From then on, Torako adopted Rin, no papers, no anything, she just acknowledged the girl to be family.
And Torako had a feeling that, that was what Rin really wanted.
"You can call me Okami-san," Torako said firmly. "Everyone does."
Rin nodded her agreement, yet the blush on her face still wouldn't go away, not knowing the effect this had on the four boys.
Renzo, Konekomaru, Kinzo and Bon watched the scene with wide eyes, seeing for the first time that Torako Suguro was taken by someone entirely, which was near impossible if you weren't with her for years, but glancing at Rin they could only smile and realize that the reason was because she was Rin.
And nothing could change that.
"Oh ho, nice to see you're getting along with others already Rin." A monk peeked inside and Rin realized that it was Bon's father.
"Dear! Look Ryuji's making friends!" Torako fussed. "Our delinquent son is making friends."
Bon used to the namecalling just huffed and the Head Monk just laughed nervously in return, but everything stopped when Rin spoke.
"But ma'am!" Rin protested. "Bon's not a delinquent!"
Everything went still for a moment and Rin's blushed grew redder by the second, it didn't help that both Shima brothers were now in hysterics tears leaking out their eyes. Konekomaru in return just gave a small smile to Rin, hoping that the girl would realize everything was alright.
Tatsuma Suguro laughed jovially, ignoring the heated glare his own son sent his way, which was quite intimidating if you didn't count his red face and matching red ears.
But Tatsuma didn't blame his son, Bon was probably embarassed somebody actually defended him from his mother like that, that and Rin called him Bon, even if his son didn't look the part he could be quite shy if he wanted to, not that he'll ever say that outloud.
Torako, in return, was full of glee and one thing was for sure, she would talk to her son about this, you rarely see people like that, but here she was. Torako mentally frowned, there was something about Rin that reminds her of someone...
Torako shrugged, it probably wasn't important.
Tatsuma decided to save the blushing children from anymore humiliation after he laughed his heart out, and directed his attention to their guest.
"Sa, Rin are you sure that the number you gave me was your teacher's? She didn't seem to be answering my calls..." The monk trailed off, seeing the bluenette's face darken.
Rin gave a huff and crossed her arms, giving Tatsuma a face that seemed to say 'I told you so'. "They don't care about me, I'll just find my own way home."
Both adults frowned at that, what kind of school was the child going to? Even Bon who was called 'The Child of the Cursed Temple' didn't go through anything like that.
"But Rin-chan," Torako said worriedly. "Traveling alone is not safe, especially for a girl as adorable as you!"
Rin blushed at the praise and muttered under her breathe, something along the lines of her not being adorable.
All males in the room had to shake their heads at that. The words 'Rin', 'not', and 'adorable' in the same sentence was just nigh improbable.
"I'll be fine," Rin grinned, after she stopped her blushing. "I'm tough!"
"Tough or not, you are a child and most importantly a friend of my son. Like I would let any of my son's friends be in danger." Torako said sternly.
Bon looked at Rin's expression wondering to himself if they were already friends, and based on the girl's wobbly smile and matching tinted cheeks. Bon knew without a doubt that they were, indeed, friends.
And Ryuji Suguro swore to himself, that he'll do anything to keep being friends with her, no matter the distance, nor circumstance, he will always stay by her side.
Because Bon knew that Rin needed some and he'll be happy to be called her friend.
XxX
In the office of the Chairman of True Cross Academy, Johann Faust VII? Or the V? Bah, who cares. Let's just say Mephisto Pheles was facing the ultimate conundrum.
Should he spend his time satisfying his otaku needs? Or should he do his paperwork?
The ultimate conundrum, indeed.
Mephisto gave a sigh, his cheek resting on his right hand, pondering on his choices. When the ringing of his phone reached his ears.
"Moshi, moshi. State your name and reason for calling." Mephisto said smoothly, his voice not showing any of his earlier conflict.
There was a long silence in the other line, and Mephisto was contemplating whether to wait for the person to speak or to end the call, now.
But then again, it was helping stop from facing his conundrum.
Choices.
"...Rin's missing."
Two words and a half. That was what all it took for Mephisto to freeze in anger. Anger at the beings that dared to call themselves teachers, but there was this little thing gnawing him.
One thing he never, ever felt before, guilt.
But now was neither the time nor place to wallow in it.
"What do you mean Shiro? And I swear if you're kid-"
"I would never joke about this, you know that Mephisto." Shiro cut in, noticing the lack of '-chan' in his name, and immediately knew that a school was about to be gone.
Good thing he already prepared Rin and Yukio's transfer papers.
"I'll handle it," Mephisto said evenly, doing everything he can to keep his anger away from his tone. "I'll even rope in Amaimon to search for her."
A beat passed and Shiro, in the other line, seemed to sigh. "I don't even care anymore, I just want Rin safe and accounted for."
Mephisto nodded, not caring that Shiro couldn't see it, they needed all the help they could get.
"I'll make sure of it."
Shiro paused at the purplehead's words, hearing the promise and determination in it, and replied. "No killing, as much as I want to, the sudden appearance of corpses of teachers in the same school would bring unneeded attention."
Mephisto had to hold a humorless chuckle. "But Shiro," the King of Time purred. "There won't be any corpses left."
The Paladin had to stop from shuddering, oddly comforted that Mephisto wouldn't be going after him soon, this was the first time he actually felt terrified of the demon. And Shiro, somehow, along the years already forgotten that the man was a demon from Gehenna, a son of Satan himself.
"Alright, just try to not arouse suspicion."
With that Mephisto gracefully closed his phone, ending the call, not even listening to the man's last words, not like he'll follow it anyway.
Now, how to contact his little brother.
XxX
A lone figure stay unnoticed on top of Kyoto Tower, a hood covering his hair and absentmindedly chewing one of his long black fingernails.
"I wonder why brother has become entranced with our little sister?" Amaimon, the King of Earth, asked himself. "Right now she's still human, how did she catch brother's eye?"
An air of excitement seemed to cover the greenhead and something akin to bloodthirst seemed to appear on his face. "Don't worry, imouto-chan. Amaimon-nii will break your curse and then you'll can come back home, to Gehenna. Will father be pleased I wonder?"
Amaimon shrugged not caring, and continued in his usual monotone voice. "Well, one way to find out."
XxX
I'M SORRY! That and I don't think I projected Amaimon right. Nonetheless I have no excuse for making you guys wait, please forgive me!
Oh, and I'm looking for a beta reader, anyone want to volunteer? Somebody that wants to see another chapter faster raise your hand! I need somebody pushy actually or a friend at least that will push me to make a chapter. Please!
That and starting now Yukio will be entering the poll! So vote! Either by review, PM or on the poll on my profile!
May the best man win! That and I was wondering should I genderbend Shura?
It will make things more... interesting.. thoughts please!
Good? Bad? Review!
-MJ