Hellhound

By ZAFO

A/N: To start this story, I followed an AoT timeline that someone figured out on Tumblr. Here's part of it below:

847 - Our protagonists and the traitors enter training as part of the 104th Trainee class.

848 - Ilse Langnar encounters a speaking Titan on the 34th Expedition outside the Walls

849 - Ilse's Notebook discovered by Hanji and Levi. Annie begins teaching Eren to fight.

850 - The Invasion of Trost.

- Roughly a week or so after that encompasses Trost cleanup/the courtroom scene/Sawney and Bean's deaths.

- One month (30 days) after that is the 57th Expedition outside the Walls.

As for the timeline in the Inuyasha-verse… well, that's a surprise ;)

—

Chapter 2: Origami

—

Levi Rivaille worked by the book, but there was no official military precedent on how to deal with someone who wasn't either a civilian, a criminal, or titan. In addition, Erwin wasn't there to give him specific orders, and as such, the strange man simply ended up riding beside them. It was a bizarre situation.

The mood, however, was surprisingly at ease. Levi led their little group in front, while Hanji, Petra, and the pervert (Miroku) were clustered in a cramped trio behind him. Following them all was a grouchy Oluo, and following Oluo were Eld and Gunther.

Currently, Miroku was chatting away to Hanji while occasionally diverting his attention to flirt with a flustered Petra. Oluo had taken an instant dislike to the man—as he did with most people—whereas Gunther and Eld were simply busy trying to balance the subdued titan on their horses.

Levi himself was rather ambivalent. The man seemed harmless enough, but they knew next-to-nothing about him, and it was glaringly obvious that he came from Beyond the Walls. His features were, simply put, different, though not unpleasant. There was a rounded, almost feminine curve to his face, and his pitch-black eyes were slanted into unusual almonds. Then there was the fact that he apparently followed a religion (Buddhism?) that none of them had ever heard of, and possessed 'holy' powers capable of taking down a four-meter titan. The Wallists were going to go ballistic with those details…

In any case, they planned to secure him an extra Survey Corps uniform before returning to Wall Rose. The robes he currently wore had a distinctly foreign flare to them, and would undoubtedly draw unwanted attention since purple was an expensive dye reserved for royals. It wouldn't do to have the civilians start spreading outlandish rumors about his origins. Speaking of which...

Levi glanced back discreetly at a laughing Miroku.

Miroku.

Even his name was bizarre. However, Levi had once come across a name with a vaguely similar feel before, while inspecting the 104th Trainee Class roster: Mikasa. Mikasa Ackermann. Her training progress was impressive, and Keith Shadis had maintained she was a prodigy with enough potential to surpass Levi himself. Levi sincerely doubted that, of course, but he still hoped the trainee would choose to enter the Survey Corps later to lend them her strength. In any case, her file also mentioned a more interesting fact—that Mikasa was the last Asian, and that that was why her name was atypical, and why her petite features were so dark and pixie-like.

This man was likely Asian, like Mikasa. Not to mention the fact that he was looking for someone named 'Kagome Higurashi' in a place called 'Tokyo.' That meant that there were still other Asians out there. That meant that there was a whole race of people—maybe even multiple races of people—who had survived the titans and were living Beyond the Walls. Levi didn't even know what to make of the implications of that.

"You." The corporal said shortly, falling behind to ride side-by-side with Miroku. "Why the fuck are you coming with us so easily?"

The man gave a lopsided smile. Levi didn't know it, but the corporal reminded Miroku of a short, dark-haired Inuyasha. Both seemed equally foul-mouthed and irritable.

"Well, you've treated me well thus far," he said honestly "and lovely Hanji here promised to feed and house me!"'

He winked accordingly at Hanji. Levi's lip curled at Miroku's blatant philandering. Hanji herself simply grinned before steering the conversation back to that of titans.

"We should give our titan a name once we get back to base." She babbled. "Would you like to do the honors, Miroku, since you were the one who captured him?"

Miroku rubbed his chin thoughtfully, one hand still gripping a leather rein.

"How about… Jinenji?" he suggested, eyes settling, for some reason, on his beast of burden.

Oluo nearly snorted, galloping jauntily into their growing group to harass Miroku.

"These names of yours," he jeered. "Why are they such a mouthful?"

"Now that's just mean." Miroku chided, unperturbed. "Jinenji is actually the name of a friend of mine!"

"You want to name a Titan after your friend?" Petra asked, in disbelief.

Miroku shrugged.

"Why not? That demon could barely speak, but from what I saw of his personality, it was similar to that of Jinenji's: guilty, insecure, and constantly distressed. Well—he isn't like that anymore, but when we first met he possessed the textbook half-blood disposition. I figured it was fitting!"

Levi Rivaille finally stirred at this. Something was off—had actually been off this whole time.

Friend? Half-blood?

The corporal narrowed his eyes. It didn't make any sense.

The first thing they asked Miroku after the whole bear-my-child fiasco was what exactly he had done to subdue the Titan. In his answer, Miroku had continuously referred to the titan as a 'demon,' but Levi had assumed at the time that his word choice had been based on opinion rather than definition. Yet, Miroku's tone when referring to Hanji's new test subject as 'that demon' suggested its new namesake—Jinenji—was of the same species.

But how could Jinenji be a friend if he was a titan? Titans could not be 'friends.' They were not sentient beings. Moreover, Miroku could not have been referring to titans when he spoke of 'half-bloods' because titans had no reproductive organs; the copulation between humans and titans was physiologically impossible.

That meant that they had been speaking about totally different entities the entire time.

Hanji caught onto these discrepancies as well, furrowing her brows.

"Wait… half-blood?"

Team Levi looked focused on the two in interest. Miroku merely cocked his head to the side.

"Yes?"

"As in a 'half-demon?'"

"Yes."

Gunther looked up at that.

"What do you mean?" The soldier asked. "A half-Titan? Like a three meter class Titan?"

"Three meters? No… Jinenji was certainly big, but I doubt that he was more than two meters." Miroku chuckled. "Horses aren't that large."

Oluo clucked, annoyed. "Horses? What?"

"Oops, I forgot to explain... Jinenji's father was a horse demon. Horses are such a domesticated species, I guess it should be expected then that he was so mild-mannered!"

This particular statement left most of Squad Levi rather stunned. Their little riding group had simply stopped, now.

"I'm… confused." Eld said plainly.

"I'm not sure I'm following." Petra confessed.

"Obviously, we're not talking about the same fucking thing here." Levi said impatiently.

Miroku looked bewildered as well.

"…I'm talking about half-demons." He offered hesitantly.

Hanji motioned back at the unconscious Jinenji.

"Yes, but this is a Titan…"

"So that's your people's word for a full demon."

The researcher shook her head.

"No," she replied "because there's no such thing as a half-demon. Titans cannot mate with humans."

Understanding of a misunderstanding seemed to filter quickly through the monk. He glanced quickly at Jinenji, then back at Hanji, wearing an unsure expression all the while.

"A different being?" He murmured. "No, I don't think so. This thing killed someone—and look at its form! It's certainly not a shikigami, or a specter, or a holy deity. It's a demon, no doubt about it."

"We aren't talking about the same fucking thing here." Levi repeated, his infamously stony gaze locked onto Miroku. "Titans have no reproductive organs. Ergo, titans and humans cannot cross-breed."

'That would be filthy.' The corporal added mentally.

Miroku remained resolute, though the obvious question—what is a titan?—nagged at the back of his mind.

"No. Jinenji over there is a demonic entity." He argued. "Even if his full form wasn't humanoid, many demons with speaking capability have the ability revert back to human form. I assure you, Jinenji is a demon."

"We'll see." Hanji supplied immediately, a fearsome gleam bouncing off her glasses. "Once we get back to Wall Sina, we'll see."

Levi accepted her resolution with resignation, and the expedition team was left both confused and thoughtful the whole ride back. Meanwhile, Jinenji remained at peace balanced atop of Eld and Gunther's horses, breathing deeply.

—

Miroku was a foreigner from Outside the Walls. The titans were also from Outside the Walls, and Miroku not only knew how to handle them, but displayed absolutely no fear in doing so. So what if he was superstitious and thought they were "demonic entities?" Hanji couldn't justly discredit anything he said simply because her own repertoire of knowledge didn't correlate with his: the whole reason she wanted to capture a titan in the first place was to find out more about them, after all. She had to get Miroku under her jurisdiction.

Regardless, that was ultimately up to Erwin. The commander had been presented with their guest immediately upon their return to base, and needless to say even he was somewhat surprised at the unusual turn of events. Miroku was polite enough though, and bowed to their leader deeply when they met. Shortly into Erwin's subsequent mini-interrogation, however, the monk remembered something he had found on Ilse's body before Jinenji had charged into the clearing, and handed Erwin a tattered notebook stained with blood.

"It is disrespectful to take items from the dead," Miroku admitted "but I had been planning to leaf through it after securing some food. I assumed that the body was from an empty village nearby, and that her journal might hold clues to what had happened..."

Erwin Smith took the notebook into his hands with an unreadable expression.

"Thank you." He said calmly.

Miroku beamed while the others watched on with bated anticipation. Instead of continuing, however, Erwin flipped though the notebook in silence, taking caution with every delicate page corner he touched.

Minutes ticked by as their commander skimmed through the diary, finally stopping on the last sheet holding text. Levi, who stood by Erwin's side, noticed that the scrawl on this page was unfinished, barely legible, and seemingly panicked: it was also the page splattered most with blood. A rare expression of sadness flickered over the commander's face as he read the writing. Then, that sadness was gone, replaced by his usual taciturn mask. Erwin closed the notebook and shifted his gaze to the sleeping titan by Eld and Gunther.

"It seems you've helped us capture Isle's killer." He stated.

"Ah," Miroku said casually "So that's what she was called. It seems I have a name to pray for now!"

"And that is kind of you to do so." Erwin responded smoothly. "Despite your help in identifying one of our deceased, however, I'm afraid I'll still have to take you in. You are an unknown to us. Nonetheless, I assure you, that you are not being taken in as prisoner—"

"—oh, that doesn't matter," Miroku waved flippantly. "I've already agreed to come with you all. Though, if I may add one condition…"

"Which is?"

"...that my overseers are either lovely Hanji or lovely Petra." The man grinned shamelessly. "Or both."

"I'll do it!" Hanji volunteered immediately, as Petra blushed a violent red.

Levi and Erwin shot simultaneously blank looks at Miroku before the latter sighed, then handed the notebook to Hanji. The researcher was practically bouncing with delight at this point.

"Come," Erwin motioned to Miroku. "I will explain why I wish to take you back with us..."

—

The soldiers who had not gone on Hanji's little sub-expedition made no attempt at hiding their curiosity as their superiors trudged through base, bringing with them a startlingly cheerful foreigner. He smiled at them until they reached Erwin's impromptu office.

Erwin opened the door of the abandoned cottage and waved the monk inside.

"Such a gentleman!" Miroku quipped.

"Quite." Levi muttered sourly, as he entered the room.

Once settled, Miroku and his new acquaintances sat on opposite ends of a wooden dining table. The door had been locked and the windows had been shut; Miroku found it flattering that they considered him important enough to keep the exchange confidential.

"To start," Erwin said finally, leaning his back to the chair "Where do you come from?"

Miroku had long anticipated that question. This wasn't Tokyo, that much was obvious. Thankfully, unlike Inuyasha, he rarely spaced out when Kagome babbled on about her homeland. Her favorite stories to tell them were of her family vacations to a region called 'Hokkaido,' back when her father was still alive…

"Hokkaido." He answered easily. "It is a region far from here; it snows in the winter and rests along the sea."

Erwin nodded.

"We are not familiar with that region, not yet. How did you make your way to this area?"

His years as a wandering conman had left Miroku a flawless, convincing, and even charming liar.

"I don't much remember." He responded. "I was engaged in battle with a demon, lost, then woke up in that village. Demonic abilities sometimes have far-reaching consequences—in my case, quite literally."

Well, that was only a half-life, if you stretched the truth a little. Miroku had been in a (one-sided) confrontation with Koga, which had led to him being thrown down the bone-eater's well…

"So you have no idea as to how to reach your homeland?"

"None whatsoever." Said Miroku. "But my friends should come looking for me soon. If your soldiers should happen upon them, their names are Inuyasha and Kagome."

"Dully noted." Levi intoned.

"What do they look like?" Hanji asked eagerly.

Miroku gazed at the trio of soldiers before him. He knew what she had meant when she asked that question; they all looked very Western, unlike him. Judging from the curious, even awed looks he had received from their comrades earlier, he gathered that they had never actually come across an Asian before.

"Like me." He answered readily. "Inuyasha and I have similar bone structures—though he has silver hair and golden eyes—while Kagome is a pretty young girl."

"No harm will come to them."

"Thank you. In any case, you mentioned that you would like to tell me your reason for taking me in?"

"Yes." Said Erwin. "Our civilization is under attack from the beings which you call 'demons' and what we call 'titans.'"

"They are one and the same."

"Perhaps." Answered Erwin, this time with a hint of amusement tugging at the corner of his lips. "That will be up to Hanji to deduce—with your help, of course."

"I've already agreed to that." He quipped, winking at an oblivious Hanji. Levi rolled his eyes.

"It is appreciated. Moving on, our civilization resides behind three walls, the outermost of which has already been destroyed. The Survey Corps—the military division I commandeer—is in charge of expeditions to the 'outside world,' to gather beneficial information for humankind. These expeditions are dependent on funding from royalty and nobles within the first wall. As of late, however, they've become hesitant to fund us due to the lack of new knowledge we've brought back in recent years. But this has changed with the discovery of your existence, as well as Isle's notebook and the Titan you've subdued." The conversation took a sudden turn. "You are an Oriental."

"That I am." Miroku conceded.

"Our civilization has long considered your people extinct." Erwin said seriously. "There was one Asian we knew of before you proved us wrong today, and she is only half-blood."

Miroku raised his brows to the ceiling at that. That definitely wasn't true, if Kagome and her family were any indication of reality. Unless…

Miroku felt his stomach lurch. Unless the well had brought him further into the future? That was a scary thought. Though he and Kagome would long be dead by then, the concept that their entire race of people would be wiped out was highly disturbing, especially after all the trouble they were going through to save Japan from Naraku.

He blinked these thoughts away and focused back to Erwin's narrative. Never mind. He couldn't obsess over something like that just yet; he had no idea what place or time he was even in at the moment.

"In addition," Erwin continued "Isle's notebook indicates that there is more to titan behavior than we initially thought possible. Her killer was a highly abnormal, and there may be others like him. Now that—thanks to you—we have a living, breathing test subject, we have physical proof that Scouting Legion's expeditions yield tangible results. You are also a valuable example of this."

"I'm glad." Miroku said, sincere. It seemed as though these people were in rather desperate straits.

"Unlike that titan, however, you are capable of prolonged, intelligent speech. You are capable of supporting our mission and stating in court that, indeed, there is an outside world worth exploring."

"Wait a minute—court? I believe you stated that I would not be taken prisoner..."

Hanji gave a heavy sigh.

"We won't." She admitted. "But to appeal to our superiors, we'll have to bring you back to the city, back within the first wall. There, the Military Police has complete authority. Knowing them, they'll probably arrest you, even if we do call for your relative harmlessness."

"Harmlessness?" Miroku asked, with mock hurt. "Why, I assure you, Miss Hanji, I am a man of many dangers!"

"To titans and to women, apparently." Levi muttered. Hanji laughed. "Anyway," said the corporal "I'll personally make sure that they don't fucking touch you. They might throw you into jail, sure, but as soon as you talk off your ass in court they'll let you out… and then we'll take you in."

"Until my friends come to get me." Miroku corrected.

"Until your friends come to get you." Erwin nodded.

"Well then, that's settled!" Hanji declared happily, standing up to stretch her arms.

"So it is." Erwin said quietly.

A wave of satisfaction settled over their little group. The three officers would never admit it, but none of them had felt this really, truly hopeful in a long, long time.

—

Their procession back to Wall Sina went as predicted, sort of.

Levi had made Miroku strip and don the standard military garb, while Hanji had helped secure a forest green Survey Corps cloak around his neck—much to the pervert's delight. Then they told him that he was not, under any circumstance, to take off the hood until they arrived to the Police headquarters.

...of course, Miroku didn't listen, and lifted his hood up to wink at a particularly pretty noble in the Ovrud District. His blatantly exotic features had sent ripples of murmurs throughout the surrounding crowd, and Team Levi ended up forming a protective human-horse bubble around him the rest of the way.

Levi had given Miroku a cold, scathing earful for a good twenty minutes until they met the Police Brigade. As expected, the bastards threw him in jail, though Levi stayed true to his world and kept the men from roughhousing him too badly.

A day passed.

And Miroku was due in court.

—

The wandering monk thought, idly, that the amount of hostility and tension in the room was somewhat stifling.

His pleasant, even enjoyable interactions with the Survey Corps had left him with a favorable first impression of these people. Now that Miroku found himself tied to a post in the middle of a courtroom, however, he realized that he had been rather lucky to run into Hanji and the others first. They reminded him of his friends, especially a certain dark-headed shortie...

Miroku glanced nonchalantly at Levi in the audience. The corporal was doing his best to ignore him.

Meanwhile, the judge's voice boomed:

"Should we trust this man to run amongst our people? This foreigner from outside the Walls, of whom we have nothing but his word that he stands no threat?"

The room erupted in a flurry of opinion, ranging to neutral to antagonistic to outright murderous. Miroku made faces at those who pointed. As the threats grew in intensity, however (especially from the Wallists, which was no real surprise) the monk decided he needed to speak up.

"I think you should!" Miroku called out cheerily. "I bear no ill will to your civilization, even now as you're treating me like a criminal!"

"He's lying!" cried a woman, from a seat near the back. Miroku squinted, and realized that it was the attractive noblewoman he had winked at upon entering Ovrud. "He tried to accost me!"

"That's a lie!" Hanji snapped loudly, before Miroku could even react.

"Silence!" The judge bellowed, as the noise in the room intensified. "Order in the court!"

The heckles only became more deafening; some brave souls even began to throw things at him. When a rotten tomato hit his head, however, Miroku's saintly patience dissipated, and the holy man took things into his own hands again. After all, that was what Erwin more or less wanted him to do, albeit in a slightly less insolent manner...

He cleared his voice once, twice—and when that didn't work, resorted to loud, hacking coughs accompanied by visible spittle flying from his mouth. That got everyone to shut up. An unknown man with a seemingly unknown illness usually left people afraid to breathe the air, after all.

Miroku wiped his lips on a shoulder.

"Just kidding!" He shouted merrily. "I'm healthy, I swear! In any case, while your xenophobia is understandable, these conjectures against me are all baseless. I'm an innocent man; my only crime seems to be that I'm from Beyond the Walls. If you kill me for that, my friends would not be happy!"

"Is that a threat?!" someone snarled, outraged.

"It's a fact." Miroku retorted bluntly. "I've said it before: I'm an innocent man. To kill me would be a blight on your justice system!"

"Shut his mouth!" a Garrison solider yelled.

"Yeah!"

"Such disrespect!"

"Judge, sentence him already!"

Miroku continued, undeterred:

"To kill me," he said in a more serious tone, "would undermine the survival of your race."

The cacophony hushed down. Erwin and Levi were smirking internally; Hanji was smiling from ear-to-ear.

"And what," the judge said dangerously "makes you say that?"

"The fact that your people have so much trouble subduing these...titans. I don't. I can help."

On the other side of the courtroom door, Petra lifted her head, signaling for Team Levi to wheel the titan in. It had been one hell of an ordeal trying to get the giant into the building without too many questions asked, and this was the opening they had all been waiting for.

The wheelbarrow they built overnight creaked as they shoved it through the doors, and the courtroom's reaction was borderline disastrous upon sight of the sleeping Jinenji.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Eld and Gunther were the ones to pry the sutras off Jinenji, while Petra and Oluo were the ones who rushed forth to release Miroku from his bindings. Screaming ensued, and soldiers began to climb over the railings with their swords drawn out.

Before anyone could enter the defendant's square, however, Jinenji woke up with a monstrous fit. The titan's caricature-like features were alright with confusion and fear as he screamed, shaking violently in the wooden wheelbarrow they had chained him in. None of the civilians, Wallists, Garrison soldiers, nor Royal Police had ever come face-to-face with an active Titan before, and so the room stilled accordingly, frozen with terror. The Titan's wide blue eyes darted in panic around the room. It began to hyperventilate once more.

"YMIR'S…PEOPLE…" it gasped.

The horrified atmosphere was mixed with astonishment now. In the midst of it all, Miroku merely stood up and rubbed his wrists, unperturbed. As their little group had planned meticulously before entering Wall Sina, this was the moment Miroku was going to whip out fresh sutra seals from his pants pocket—and so he did.

The sutras crackled and glowed with spiritual energy before he threw them again at Jinenji. The heaven, earth, and hell seals fizzled as they hit their marks. Jinenji screeched, Miroku set a hand under his chin and commanded "Rest now," and just like that, the titan fell back into dormancy.

The crowd was rendered speechless.

Eld, Gunther, Oluo, and Petra stood resolutely beside the monk. In the audience, Hanji was practically cheering, while Levi and Erwin stood expressionless, proud, waiting for the judge's reaction.

In the end, the Survey Corps got what they wanted. Miroku fell under their full jurisdiction, and the department received ample funding for future expeditions.

Miroku ate to his heart's content in their mess hall that night, and no one admonished him when he went back to skirt-chasing the female soldiers.

—

(One week later)

Mikasa Ackermann was a striking girl, and until now, her unique features had only invited positive reactions from their fellow recruits.

Case in point: Jean Kirstein. He was the one who rallied to her defense now that the trainees had suddenly decided to brand her an anomaly.

"What the hell is wrong with you guys?!" the blond snarled, hauling a short soldier up by the collar of his shirt. "What's your problem with Mikasa?!"

"Calm down, Jean." Armin pleaded anxiously. "Don't make a scene!"

Jean shook his head. "No! These bastards need to tell us what's up!"

"Nothing's up!" the young man answered, panicked. "We—we were only curious is all!"

"About what?" Eren said dangerously, now inching to Jean's side.

The doctor's son hated the horse-face—that much hadn't changed—but even Eren had been growing steadily irritated by the hushed whispers and mutterings that accompanied his sister seemingly overnight. Mikasa herself was unnerved as well, though she tried hard not to let it show.

"We—err—well we heard—"

"—spit it out." Mikasa said calmly.

"—we heard that your family can kill titans with paper!" he blurted.

Eren, Armin, Jean, and Mikasa blinked.

"What?" Eren said, finally.

—

A/N: Seemed like a good place to end or now. Hohohohohoho~