A/N: Thanks for all the reviews, guys! :D Gawd this story's only been up for like a few days and already over 10 reviews WOW I can't
*Breaks down in tears of joy.* Just... Thanks so much guys!
For now, my update schedule's rather erratic, but from now on I'll try and update about once a week at least, probably on the weekend.
IMPORTANT: For this AU, Rin and Yukio's personalities may vary a bit. For example, Rin will be less friendly and more aggressive due to being raised by Satan. Yukio will be less 'secluded' and introverted because he didnt have to "protect Rin" and all that stuff.
I'm not too happy about how this chapter turned out, but I wanted to put it out sooner, so here's chapter two!
~ Chapter 2: Prince and Pawn ~
"W-What?"
Yukio was the first to regain his wits. Not pleasantly, that is- it came with a dread-filled lurch in his stomach.
The demon boy rolled his eyes, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Well, generally, when someone says-"
"You can talk?" Neuhaus interrupted, recovering too from the initial shock. His stern voice was much firmer and forceful than Yukio's shaky one, though.
"Oi! Listen when someone's speaking to you!" The demon whirled around to face the teacher, a nasty snarl plastered on his face. "Damn right I can talk. What do you take me for? A retarded low-class demon?"
Well, that's definitely what we were all expecting. Yukio resisted the strong urge to sigh at the demon's rhetorical inquiry.
"...If that's not what you are, then... ?" Bon let his unspoken question hang in the air. Yukio could tell from the tense atmosphere that everyone else was asking themselves the same thing- Just what exactly was this guy?
"Hmph." The demon seemed to be studying them each with an appraising eye before a sneer formed on his face. "Why should I tell you? Aren't you going to introduce yourself first?"
When Neuhaus stepped forward, Yukio had to clench his teeth to ignore his gut urge to pull his teacher away from the strange demonic teen, reminding himself that he was a logical person and most definitely did not follow gut urges. Still, the exorcist-in-training could not help but feel that nothing good would come out of this exchange.
"I guess that only makes sense, as we were the ones to summon you into Assiah," Neuhaus started, pausing to look carefully at the boy before continuing, "I am Igor Neuhaus, exorcist teacher. And these are my students."
The demon raised his eyebrow. Sweeping his glance over the loose circle of teenagers, his eyes locked onto Yukio, and the human boy could feel an impending tingle of doom travel down his spine like a storm warning.
"Oi, you- What's your name?"
"... Yukio."
"You're the one who 'summoned' me, right?"
"... Yes."
There was a moment of silence as the demon stared at Yukio, and the page couldn't help but feel like the demon was looking into his soul. With a small nod and a 'fair enough,' the demon turned his attention back to the teacher.
"Right then. My name's Rin. Just Rin. No 'Prince' or any o' that crap."
"'Prince?'" Yukio muttered under his breath. Why would anyone want to call him that? And why does the demon have a name? Unless he's... Yukio didn't want to think about that possibility.
"Who are you kin to? Which king?" Neuhaus asked bluntly. The teacher's voice carried an air of nervousness not usually evident in his stoic tone. Every demon (with the exeption of Satan himself) had to be related to one of the eight demon kings. It would be quite the problem for Neuhaus and company if Rin turned out to be a descendant of one of the stronger kings.
"Which ... king? Oh- Pfft. Those loonies?" Yukio felt the demon's next words drop down his back like ice cubes, cold and shocking.
"Nah, I'm the son of Lord Satan himself."
~ † ~
Welp.
At least Yukio now knew why someone might say that Rin (Yukio still wasn't used to calling a demon by a such a human name) was a 'Prince,' even though it was obvious from the way the demon dressed and acted that he was far from it.
It still took Yukio and the others a few minutes to absorb this. Once that two-minute grace period was over, however, Yukio was instantly hit with a wave of emotions that he didn't even recognize at first. Then he realized. It was fury. Anger. Denial. Vengance.
All these things smashed into Yukio and before he knew it, the careful barrier that Yukio had built up against that corner of his heart was washed away, giving away his feelings through his eyes.
"Y-You... You... Satan?" Yukio's tongue abandoned him halfway through.
The demon- Rin Rin Rin Don't forget his name- seemed unfazed (or oblivious) at Yukio's epic inner turmoil. "Oi, who you callin' Satan? I'm Rin, damnit! Don't confuse me with that crazy old bat!"
Yukio ignored the demon's protests and stepped forward, his right hand lunging out to grab Rin's collar. There was a pause when Rin reached up and easily caught the page's wrist, stopping his motion. Yukio's glasses flashed before he deftly pulled back his hand and prepared to throw a punch.
"What is your problem?"
Not paying any heed to the demon's aggravated cry, Yukio'a fist soared forward- before it was deftly caught by Neuhaus, who'd somehow managed to get between the two of them in the blink of an eye.
"Not now, Yukio. He is your familiar, and if you have problems with his lineage you can sort it out later. Class is not for fighting." Something in Neuhaus' voice sounded off, strained.
It was this subtle difference cause snapped Yukio out of his rage. He reluctantly shrunk back, sill glaring at Rin, who didn't seemed bothered at all. The rest of the class watched awkwardly, as the majority understood Yukio had some past complications with Satan, although most weren't aware to what degree. Only the Kyoto trio could possibly understand how Yukio was feeling at the moment- Bon looking at Rin as if he wanted to personally put some silver bullets between the demon's eyes.
Clearing his throat, Neuhaus reached over and grabbed the blood-smeared paper with the summoning circle drawn on it from Yukio's shaking hands. With a clearly defined rippppp, said paper was torn into two. Neuhaus' past words echoed faintly in Yukio's head: "When the summoning circle is destroyed, the familiar will be dispelled."
If things were going bad before, then what happened now could equate to something rivaling the apocalypse.
That is, nothing happened.
Nothing.
Rin was still standing there, completely clueless to the multiple laws of exorcism he'd just broken.
Yukio found himself absolutely dumbstruck for the second time in one day.
Their teacher looked down nervously at the two halves of paper in his hands. He tore them into fourths for good measure.
Still, nothing happened.
Yukio heard a distant laugh, cold, hard, and burning. He wasn't quite sure if it was in his head or if it was actually Satan, mocking them.
"W-What is this...?" Yukio hated himself for the way his voice had suddenly become very small and very scared.
"What is what?"
"You were summoned by this circle... So you have to go back to Gehenna when the summoning circle is interfered with, r-right?"
"..." Rin looked absolutely blown away. (As in, he didn't understand a word Yukio just said.) After a moment, his eyes went wide. Though apparently not from the revelation that he'd just done the impossible. Lifting his head, he sniffed once, twice- each time his eyes growing narrower. Yukio wasn't sure whether he should laugh at the rather animalistic actions, or run for his life.
"Is that... Amaimon? No, wait..."
There was a moment of silence as the students stared, most of them still open mouthed, at Rin as if he was crazy. Apparently, the spawn of Satan had some strange ability to smell or sense other demons, if his muttering of the Earth Demon King's name was anything to go by.
Yukio could practically see the '!' appear over Rin's head as surprise painted itself onto the demon's face. He saw the corner of Rin's mouth move, as if he was whispering something, but his words were lost to the sharp sound of whistling air.
Rin's tail shot up in shock as the demon crumpled to the ground, his cyan flames fading and his eyes losing the vibrant crimson that previously dominated his pupils. The reason for his sudden collapse was none other then a very familiar figure in bright cream-colored clothes who was now standing nonchalantly on Rin's flailing form.
"Greetings, Rin. And hello, students." Stepping off of Rin's back, Mephisto mocked a dramatic bow and added, "Chairman Faust at your service."
Too (third time in the span of less than half an hour) surprised to realize that Mephisto somehow knew Rin's name without asking, Yukio just stood in shock, staring at the man who had seemingly fallen from the ceiling.
"... Mephisto." Getting up, Rin's eyes seemed to flare with something just short of recognition. "What've you b-"
Rin's train of speech was aruptly stopped as Mephisto brandished his patchwork umbrella at him. The demon seemed to have trouble moving his mouth- it was as if he was chewing on caramel, or something of similar consistency.
"Now then, let's get down to business." Turning to face Yukio and the rest of the students, Mephisto continued, "Since this... demon here is technically Yukio's familiar, and he seems to be trapped in this world,-" Mephisto's dark sneer showed that he knew more than he let on about that- "I'll have him stay with Yukio in the abandoned boys dormitory. Yukio, you are in charge of managing him, and oh- you can take him to your cram school classes to keep an eye on him."
Although Yukio was left just short of absolutely flabbergasted at the chairman's straightforward dump of information, the glint in Mephisto's eyes told him that nothing was up for discussion.
"I should probably have a chat with Satan's spawn here about our school now, eh?" Taking advantage of Rin's dazed state, he grabbed the demon's arm and dragged him into the hallway. Once the two were out of the room, a weighted silence fell upon the students, broken only when Neuhaus told them shakily to open their textbooks to page sixty-four.
~ † ~
"It's nice to finally meet Satan's most valuable pawn, little brother." Mephisto studied the boy up and down, carefully observing the new addition the playing board. How was this young prince going to affect his oh-so-meticulously planned game?
"So you're Mephisto? Satan wasn't kidding when he said you'd gotten yourself into some deep shit in Assiah, then," Rin snorted, ripping his arm from Mephisto's grip. "What in hell's name are you doing here in an exorcist school, of all things?"
"Ah. I perceived that I'd be running into this problem one day. 'Why,' you ask? This place is like a playground for me, so I wish to stay. Soon Satan will understand my reasons. In fact, I'll probably be back to visit dear Father again very soon."
"I don't think the old man's gonna take to that that too much," Rin answered with a grim smile. He understood the hidden meaning behind Mephisto's words: You're useful to me for this plan. Don't tell Satan anything, and I won't betray your motives to him.
"... But I like it," the demon prince added. With a conspiratorial grin, Rin burst into flames and dissapeared, leaving only a smirking Mephisto the smell of ashes.
"What a troublesome little brother. He will do very nicely."