I wanted to write this chapter because I still think Rin's powers have a lot of developing to do. Although I think shooting fire from his sword and having "named attacks" is cool, and an important step in learning to control his abilities, they definitely feel like training wheels for what it seems like he should eventually be able to do. This chapter explores that a little bit, at the same time once again having Rin grapple with his humanity and his otherness.

Thanks as always for reading. :')

Fire

His blood boiled as fire raged through his veins. He didn't even feel the heat of the flames below, wasn't even conscious of the wash of heat that blew up from the street or the flaming cinders and dark billows of smoke that clogged the sky with hellfire as far as the eye could see.

He perched on the edge of the roof, his muscles tense, ready for action. He was fire. He was rage. He was going to kill the person who had hurt his-

"Rin!"

Shura's hand on his shoulder grounded him and some semblance of humanity returned to his eyes as he turned to look at her, even as blue flame still licked across his skin.

"I know ya' want ta' fight, but ya' can do more good from here," she said, "The fire's the real problem. We already got crews in position, so as soon as ya' give the word…"

He nodded shakily. Shura was right. Lily was safe, back at her grandmother's, and as much as he wanted to tear apart the person who'd started this, tear them limb from limb, he had to calm down, to concentrate. Killing always came easy. Everything else? Not so much. Destruction was fire's key nature, but not it's only one.

Ryuuji had given him that—the knowledge.

After a particularly violent bout of self-doubt—after being told for the nth time that he was dangerous, a menace, a threat on human life that needed to be extinguished, culled, as if he was less than livestock, nothing more than a tool, despite the fact that he had never—not even once!—burned a human by accident or on purpose—Ryuuji had taken him aside to comfort him.

Secured in Ryuuji's embrace, his face buried against his husband's chest to hide his frustrated, angry tears, Rin had listened more intently than he let on as Ryuuji explained how fire was an essential part of many ecosystems; how fire paved the way for new life in thick, growth choked forests by giving them the space and the food that was needed.

There was even a species of tree whose pinecones could only release seeds after a fire. Fire—something that normally destroyed indiscriminately, leaving nothing but death and destruction in its wake—was a required stage in the tree's lifecycle.

That thought was… comforting. Humbling.

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, letting those thoughts comfort him even now as he reached out, feeling the heat within and letting his own flames spread. The exorcists around him gasped as blue fire licked across the rooftop, but Shura squeezed his shoulder, reminding him he wasn't alone even as he felt himself drifting away from his body, down towards the fire.

He could taste the stench of another demon on it, but that demon had started the fire and then abandoned it, letting it spread to devour the surrounding city without care. This fire was just that—normal fire—and it gave way to his touch without a fight, drawn to him as if he were fuel, becoming his and turning an intense unearthly blue.

He continued down the path of the flame, claiming it, feeling it, seeing what it saw and feeling what it felt—the crumbling buildings beneath him, turning to ash at his touch—the hunger, the desire to consume, to–

He drew himself back slightly, back to the hand on his shoulder, to the human presence beside him. He was okay. He could do this. He had to. Hundreds of people were relying on him, even if they didn't yet know it. Ryuuji was… He… Rin stopped. He couldn't afford to think about that now.

He reached out again, this time quickly, as quick as fire could spread, racing down the streets and through the buildings—empty, crumbling. He pulled the fire back to the street, snuffing it out so it couldn't spread, and shutting it down before moving on to the next building. He checked the next building and again found nothing—no survivors at least. He ignored the bodies where he found them, but pulled the fire back. There would be time for mourning later. For everyone.

He checked the next building, and the next.

There.

He pulled the fire back to the street, forcing it to abandon the building, and shook himself, forcing his consciousness back to his body.

"I found some," he said after he'd gathered his wits enough to speak, "Survivors. At… 1-Chome 5-3. I've cleared the way."

Shura squeezed his shoulder again and he didn't wait as the exorcists behind him scrambled to radio in the survivor's location to waiting rescue teams. He sped off again, no longer needing further instruction.

Everywhere he went he could feel it, almost taste it, the fear in the air. It was almost palpable. It left a sickly taste in his consciousness, but he needed it, using it to hunt out the survivors. And it went on and on like that, for what seemed like hours, the process of going back to his body getting harder and harder as he lost himself to the flames little by little until…

There…

Not fear; something familiar, warm, but not destructive like fire—something that felt comfortably like home.

Rin brushed up against a magic barrier, recognizing its touch instinctively even as it tried to repel him. Even as fire, Rin felt himself relax as some of the strain he'd been feeling vanished from his shoulders, even if fire didn't have shoulders.

It was Ryuuji; holed up in the corner of a building with a group of survivors, safe for the time being behind the force of his will and his shield. His brow was drenched with sweat and darkened with smudges of ash, and he was visibly shaking under the strain of maintaining the barrier, but even as fire Rin could see it when Ryuuji smiled—that self-confident cocky smirk he wore when he realized that the tides had turned and his gamble had paid off. Rin wanted to cry out to him, but fire was incapable of tears, incapable of hugs and smothering kisses that spoke of fear and relief and joy all at once. Those would come later, after the mission when the demons were exorcised and the fires put out. For now Ryuuji was safe. In the meantime, other people needed him too. He had work to do. He could do this.

This chapter of Domesticia is brought to you by VineTabris, Jaiden, Senem, and Angerawr. Thank you so much for your support. (´∀｀人)

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