A Slow Burn

by Blu Rose

Series Summary: Not everyone reacts well to change. Just because Rin was able to adapt to no longer being human didn't mean his own son would do the same. In fact, he took the new way of life he was forced to follow quite poor. (Warning: Dark, depressing family stuff inside!)

5. Second Chances are Hard (And Unwanted)

Finally! I've had this finished for a while, but I wanted to post it alongside some other chapters from different stories, and real life stuff like classes, illness, summer vacation and sheer procrastination got in the way. Still, this is the second to last chapter of this story, and the next one should be short and sweet…hopefully.

Disclaimer: Blu Rose doesn't own the Blue Exorcist series. Only this fic.

Summary: Kazuki's hopes of being executed are shot down when he's allowed to take a 'make up exam' to determine his fate. What he does in response isn't exactly expected or well-received.

X-X-X

Part 5: Second Chances are Hard (And Unwanted)

The following morning, Rin stood in Mephisto's office. The principal of True Cross Academy sat behind his desk with his fingers bridged together. "I'm sure you know why I called you here. Your son and his roommate were brought back some time last night and have been under house arrest since the end of the pages' exam."

Rin's look of relief quickly became one of anger. "What?! Why the hell wasn't I told sooner?!" He had been worried out of his skull last night, thinking something bad had happened, dreaming of all the awful possibilities when Kazuki was safe and sound all this time. He didn't know who he was angrier at for not saying anything: Mephisto or Kazuki.

"They should be arriving any moment now. Don't be surprised if they act a bit…off. It seems they had a bit of fun last night."

"That doesn't answer my question! And what do you mean by 'off'?! What happened last night?!" Rin's questions went unanswered as the door to the office opened. Kazuki and Kuroba entered the room slowly, looking wary.

"GOOD MORNING, GENTLEMEN!" Mephisto exclaimed. In response, the two boys flinched and stopped walking for a moment to hold onto their heads. "I trust you've had a good night's rest after your day of hooky. Come, come! Have a seat!" He gestured to the pair of chairs that stood in front of his desk. They wordlessly moved towards the chairs, Kazuki sitting in the seat farthest from Rin. Before his father could say anything, the principal spoke up, "YOU MAY NOT KNOW!" He spoke loudly on purpose, causing both boys to flinch once more. "But last night, your fellow pages took the exam to become exwires. Which means that by missing it, you two failed."

"Ugh, it's one blow after another," Kuroba muttered.

Rin walked over to Kazuki and gripped his shoulder tightly. "You see that? Of all the times for you to start acting like a delinquent, you choose now? Knowing what's at risk?!"

"Will you please shut up…?" Kazuki mumbled weakly.

"Excuse me?! Do you have any idea what's going to happen to you now?!"

"I'm going to be killed, thank goodness."

"Don't make it sound like it's a mercy! This is serious business!"

"Oh, yes. Why, an exorcist from the Roman branch sent directly by the Vatican will have surely told them about your absence from the exam," Mephisto added. "However, I will be attempting to defuse the situation."

For the first time since entering, Kazuki looked genuinely worried. "Huh? No, don't do that. I'd be a shit exorcist. I deserve to die."

"Oh, on the contrary, Okumura-kun," the purple-haired demon began as he leaned across his desk, "I believe death is the last thing that you deserve. Which is why I'll be asking them to allow you a second chance at cram school."

"…But that's not fair. I'm no good to you people. I can't fight demons or follow orders. Do you just wanna torture me for the rest of my life? I just wanna die, so why won't you…?" The quarter-demon asked, his voice cracking in the process.

Rin felt his anger fade away and he began rubbing Kazuki's shoulder. "Calm down. This is a good thing." Hopefully. Heaven knows if this little stunt would actually put his head on the chopping block or if Mephisto wouldn't place him in some tough spot,

Mephisto ignored the small breakdown Kazuki seemed to be going through as he hyperventilated. "Till you receive news of your fate, I recommend that you make the most of your summer indoors. Both of you." His eyes fell on Kuroba, who simply looked away from the headmaster.

Kazuki shrugged Rin's hand off of his shoulder, got up out of the chair, and quickly walked out of the room. Kuroba stood up shortly afterwards. "Uh, thank you for your mercy. I'll make sure he doesn't kill himself until the date of his execution," the brunette said with a nod before walking out of the room.

"Both of those kids are just…!" Rin groaned and turned to leave, intending to follow the boys back to the dorm.

X-X-X

Upon returning to the dorm, Kuroba made a beeline for the bathroom, his face looking slightly green as he quickly muttered something to Kazuki that wasn't comprehendible in the slightest. The quarter-demon barely blinked before he went upstairs into the room they shared and laid down on his bed. Seconds later, Ouji crawled out from under the bed and sat down in Kazuki's view, as if expecting something for his appearance. Kazuki reached down and patted the inugami on the head before letting his arm dangle to the floor. "Adults suck, Ouji," was all he said before burying his face into his pillow. He heard the door open and footsteps, so assuming it was Kuroba, he spoke, "Adults suck, Kuroba."

"Teenagers are hardly the greatest, either." Kazuki rolled over onto his side and found himself staring at Rin. His father stood nearby with his arms folded across his chest and an annoyed expression on his face.

"What are you doing here? Don't you have a life?" Kazuki grumbled as he rolled over, turning his back to his father.

Rin narrowed his eyes. "I'm your father. You're part of my life!"

"I won't be any longer. Then you can move on. You'll be able to focus on your work, eat at your house, and maybe even find another woman to spend the rest of your days with. I suggest someone from your line of work this time."

"This isn't a joke! Your life's at risk!" Rin's shouting caused Kazuki to wince and hold onto his head in pain. "So stop trying to play this off as a good thing!"

"I understand why you're angry."

"I don't think you do!"

"It's because you're worried about what everyone's going to say about you after this, right? People'll say 'The great exorcist Rin Okumura must be a shitty dad because of what a failure his son turned out to be' or something like that."

"I don't care about nonsense like that! And I don't think you're a failure! When have I—?!"

"Of course I'm a failure. I'm a failure because I'm a square peg that everyone wants to fit into a round hole. I have a saint for a dad. I got to go to a fancy school that mostly rich kids get to go to. I was basically put in a secret school to be a monster hunter. But I hate my dad more than I feel sorry for him, I hate this school, and I don't want to go around fighting monsters. I don't belong here and I don't want to belong. And if I don't belong in a place like this…there isn't a point in existing anymore."

It took a few seconds for Rin to register everything wrong with Kazuki's statements. Then his face took on an exasperated expression as he snapped, "For goodness sakes, you're 15 years old! Stop acting like you've got nothing to live for! What about your family? What about me?! I can't bear the thought of losing you, much less for something as stupid as missing a test! Don't you think you should consider my feelings before saying things like that?!"

"Once again, you're showing that you don't care if I'm happy. You just want me alive to make yourself feel better, don't you?" Kazuki rolled over once more to give his father a listless look. "I'm sorry, but I can't be the person you want me to be. You can always get married to someone and have another kid that'll be more like you."

By this point, a very obvious vein had been throbbing on Rin's forehead for a while. "I don't want another child! I want you!" The half-demon snapped, immediately silencing his wincing son. "I want to see you grow up and live a happy life pursuing whatever you want!" The boy somehow found it in him to close his eyes and ignore the pain as his father continued shouting, "And I don't care what dumb excuse you come up with, I wouldn't think of your death as something to be celebrating! And you're not a failure! You're just not fit for a job like this as you are! It doesn't mean you aren't good at something! But you won't know what that is if you give up so eas…ily…" Rin trailed off as he noticed that Kazuki was beginning to snore. The half-demon took a deep breath and sighed before giving his sleeping son a vexed look. "Really. What the hell did you do last night?" He moved over to his son's bed and managed to easily scoop Kazuki up without waking him. While cradling Kazuki with one arm, Rin adjusted the bedsheets so he could slip Kazuki underneath them. After a few seconds, Rin snorted and folded his arms across his chest. "I really shouldn't be so nice to you…" He turned around to leave and almost bumped into Kuroba in the process.

"If you're gonna lecture him, could you keep it down to an angry whisper? My poor head can't take anymore yelling," Kuroba told the man.

Rin glared at the brunette. "What did you do to my son?!"

"Why does it have to be me? Why can't you think that your son is capable of delinquent acts on his own?" The teenager asked as he walked over to his bed and laid down to rest. "For your information, we ate some bad food last night and got sick." Kuroba stared at the older man for a few seconds before stating, "Besides, he wouldn't have passed. If you knew how poorly he did in class, you'd know he's a lost cause."

Rin wished he could've said Kazuki would've been able to pass, but he wouldn't even be able to fool himself. Even if Kazuki had tried and Rin pushed him harder, how would a boy like him react to a confrontation with a demon that, for all he knew, was the real deal? In every possibility that came to Rin's mind, Kazuki was either focused on getting killed or too scared to do anything.

"Just come to terms with the fact that your son's gonna die. He'll be better off dead, anyway. Right now, everyone's got a say in how his life goes but him, and they expect him to want to be like a hero or something despite that. At least in death, he won't have to bother with such things."

Despite there being a whole string of things Rin wanted to say, he found himself leaving the dorm quietly and without a fuss. Instead of sticking around the campus or heading off to work, he decided to go home. The moment he left the dorm, it was as if a switch had been flicked. No, more like something finally gave away as Rin's eyes teared up. He wiped away the tears and sniffed before a more determined expression appeared on his face. He couldn't just let things end like this. He wouldn't.

X-X-X

The following morning, on the True Cross Academy Campus, Kazuki laid in his bed, wide awake and hugging Ouji tightly. The boy and his inugami stared at each other silently for several minutes until Ouji licked Kazuki's face. The familiar cold, dry sensation that felt like being hit by a cold breeze didn't get much of a stimulation from Ouji's master, who kept staring at him thoughtfully. It made the inugami stop and resume just staring at the boy.

"…You understand, right?" Kazuki asked his inugami. "When I die, you'll finally be able to get some peace and move on. Won't that be nice?" Ouji shook his head. "What's the matter? Are you afraid of crossing over? Just look at it this way: you'd probably get to see Mom. At least, I think you will. I don't see any reason why dogs can't go to the same place as humans when they die. You're probably more likely to see her, anyway. I'm probably gonna go to hell for being a shitty son or something…" The inugami made a whining noise and Kazuki shoved him off the bed. Ouji landed on the floor without barking a complaint. "What is your deal? This is supposed to be a good thing, but you and Dad act like it's so awful. Be happy for me! Be happy for yourselves! We're all gonna be so much happier when I'm dead!"

"Now I know you can't be this stupid," Kuroba spoke from his bed, drawing his roommate's attention. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, his hair and clothes a mess. "For reasons I can't wrap my head around, they love you and they'd be sad if you died. And despite that, I'd feel just as bad if you were forced to continue living as they expect you to with your mindset. Geez, I really pity you. You've got guilt trips in the form of loved ones on one side telling you to live for their sake and a nightmare of a job on the other side that'd compel a person of weak constitution like yourself to just give up."

Kazuki sat up and glared at his roommate. "What guilt trip?"

"Whether they intended to do it or not, you can't deny your feelings of guilt. Why else would you be telling your father and your dog how they'd benefit from your dying, rather than just not caring what they thought of it?"

"To make them feel better, of course!"

"And when they felt better about it, you'd feel better, too?"

The look of hostility Kazuki was giving Kuroba intensified. "Shut up. Who do you think you are?! I don't need to care about how they feel! I just don't want them to try and stop this from happening!"

Before any more could be said between the two boys, the door was kicked open, making them both jump and look its way. Rin entered the room, his teeth bared. His eyes fell on Kazuki and narrowed in anger. "You!" He shouted as he pointed a finger at his son. "Bathe and get dressed! I'm gonna train your ass so hard it's gonna fall off!"

"Wh-what are you talking about? I failed the exam, remember? I don't have to train anymo—" Kazuki's statement was cut short by a harsh glare from his father.

"Oh, yes, you do! Miraculously, you've been allowed a second chance to go to cram school!" Rin said as he pointed a finger at Kazuki. "Which means you're gonna train and you're gonna study so that come next year, you'll become an exorcist in your sleep!"

"B-but I don't want—!"

"This isn't about what you want! It's about what you need! And you need to get your shit together!" Rin snapped. He snorted and folded his arms across his chest. "I've been too easy on you since all of this began, all because I was naïve and thought nothing bad would happen to you. No more of that! It's either this or spending the rest of your days locked up and having God knows what done to you!" An unsettling silence fell as the father and son began to glare at each other. It was only broken when Rin spoke, "We're on a tight schedule, so hurry up. The sooner we leave, the better."

The moment Rin left the room, Kuroba gave Kazuki a look of pity. "Well, looks like your misery's going to continue."

"As if I couldn't hate him anymore than I do already," Kazuki muttered as he got up to leave.

X-X-X

Ordinarily, Kazuki's training sessions were only a few hours spent staring at a candle that he tried to ignite while his father tried to make civil conversation with him. But Rin's new attitude towards training led to a new regimen: jogging laps while being chased by Kuro and always getting pounced before ever finishing a lap, doing pushups while Rin had his foot on his back and asked him exorcist-related questions he didn't know the answers to, being forced to play dodgeball and getting knocked out often… It all seemed like a P.E. class from hell, and as far as Rin was concerned, that was perfect.

It may sound brash to anyone else, but Rin attempted to strong arm his way into the proceedings Mephisto had been attending, all so he could try and reason with the Grigori to lighten up and convince them that Kazuki wasn't exorcist material. He probably would've gotten in major trouble for overstepping his boundaries if it weren't for the fact that the meeting had finished by the time he even found Mephisto. And perhaps it was because he did something so amusingly outrageous that the Demon King had decided to let him in on the results of said meeting:

"Our dear Okumura-kun has had three fates before him from the very beginning," Mephisto began, "#1 is obviously to become an exorcist of the True Cross Order. #2 is to be executed, should he prove to be a hostile, uncontrollable danger to humanity. #3 is to be contained within the Vatican for the rest of his days to ensure he doesn't wind up falling into the possession of some unsavory people should he not be capable of 1 and 2. I'm sure I don't need to tell you which is the best option for your son, Okumura-san. Which is why I was able to get him granted a second chance: he'll be allowed to attend cram school next year and this time, he has to pass. Or else."

So that's how it was. Rin was in danger of losing his son because he wanted to feed both of their delusions that he didn't have to be an exorcist. But Kazuki needed to be one so he could live some semblance of a normal life and so Rin wouldn't lose his son because of a bunch of paranoid exorcists. In the future, Kazuki would grow to tolerate it all or he'd find something to keep him going despite the pressure, so having him hate Rin right now would be worth it in the long run…or so he told himself.

Surely the thing that would get his son to hate him most would be the new regimen made to prepare him for his second shot at cram school: jogging laps while being chased by Kuro and always getting pounced before ever finishing a lap, doing pushups while Rin had his foot on his back and asked him exorcist-related questions he didn't know the answers to, being forced to play dodgeball and getting knocked out often… It all seemed like a P.E. class from hell, and as far as Rin was concerned, that was perfect. It served as training and punishment for whatever the stunt he pulled the other day was.

"Can I just fail? I don't care if they put me in demon jail or whatever for the rest of my life! That would be better than this!" Kazuki cried out from underneath the enlarged Kuro's paw. The cat sidhe looked particularly friendly as he crouched to nuzzle his face against Kazuki's back and lick his shirt. "St-stop that! I'm not a human being, but I'm also not a cat toy!"

"What sort of sick man rubs their child's shirt in silver vine and sics a giant cat demon on 'em?" Kuroba commented from far away. Unlike the usual training sessions, this one took place in the stadium that the pages in cram school used for their P.E. classes.

"I'm not his father. I'm his trainer," Rin replied.

"Aren't there exorcists with desk jobs or something? Can I be one of those—? Kuro, he didn't put anything on my pants, so stop sniffing 'em!" Kazuki snapped. At this point, Kuro had changed back to his smaller form to better nip at Kazuki's shirt and bury his face in it. "Gross! Stop drooling on me!"

Rin sighed and walked over to the boy and cat. He pried Kuro off of Kazuki and held the cat sidhe out in front of him. "Nnnooo! I wanna play with Kazuki s'more…!" Kuro drawled as he pawed at the air.

"All exorcists have to do field work. No exceptions," Rin spoke as Kazuki got on his knees and began dusting himself off. "That's why you have to train hard and get fit so you don't die out there!"

"I'd rather die than go through this hell to go through another hell" Kazuki whined to the sky.

"And cut that out! This is the best option you have, so no whining! Now let's move on to using your flames." Rin put Kuro down and gave him a small piece of cloth. "Here you go. Go nuts." Kuro sniffed the cloth and smiled before he nuzzled into its silver vine-scented goodness. Rin walked over to Kazuki and placed a candle in front of him. "Alright, concentrate. Just picture the wick of the candle lighting up with your flame. Be calm. Don't force it or you might cause it to go up in flames."

Kazuki gave the candle a blank stare. "…This is stupid."

"It looks stupid, but you still have to try."

"This is all stupid." Kazuki stood up and kicked the candle away angrily. He then started to glare at his father. "None of this will make a difference! Why don't you people understand that I'm just not good at this job?!"

"Well, if you actually tried in cram school—!"

"I didn't try because you made it sound like I didn't have to try! And why would I try to succeed at a job I hate?!"

Rin growled under his breath and began to glare at his son as well. "Because the people who love you want you to keep living! Because you're 15 years old and it's not the end of the goddamn world that you think it is!"

"How the hell can I be happy living the life of a freak like you?!"

"And you'd be happy while being kept in some prison for the rest of your life?! If you spent time in one of the Vatican's cells, you'd consider being an exorcist a blessing!"

"I'd be happier than I am now! But what would make me happiest is if you and everyone like you just left me the hell alone, because I hate all of you! Especially you! The reasons why I'm in this mess in the first place all link back to you, you bastard!" The boy was silenced with a slap to the face that had enough strength to make him falter.

"You can hate me as much as you want. This is what's best for you in the long run. You'll thank me for this someday."

Kazuki held a hand to his face and shuddered. "Thank you? You think I'll thank you for ruining my life? You…!" He glared at his father as tears welled up in his eyes. "I WISH YOU'D LEAVE ME ALONE, YOU INHUMAN FREAK!"

The second his vision turned blue, Kazuki thought he was angry enough to have done damage to his brain. Blue fire danced in front of him, bewitching him with the movements of its flames. It almost seemed like a living creature trying to communicate. The sight was so soothing that he didn't notice how exhausted he felt until he finally heard the screaming of his father, who was covered in that wild blue fire.

X-X-X

"Let me get this straight…" Yukio began as he stood next to the hospital bed. "Kazuki finally decided to use his flames…and he used them on you? That's not good. If it were anyone else, he'd have killed them."

Rin sat on the side of the hospital bed, fully dressed. He looked alright for a man who had been set on fire not too long ago. Whatever had been burned away had regenerated, and while it wasn't the worst thing he'd been through, being burned by his child shortly after he shouted how much he wished he were dead was quite disheartening. "Have you seen Kazuki? Is he doing alright?"

"He's with Sir Pheles—" The mention of Mephisto made Rin bury his face in his hands and groan. "—who's attempting to seal his demon heart. Hopefully Kazuki is cooperating."

"That's not an answer to my question!" Rin ran a hand through his hair as he sighed. "It must've been terrifying, losing control like that. Now he's stuck dealing with Mephisto, alone, while he's vulnerable…"

"You think he didn't harm you on purpose?"

"…And what are you trying to say? That he harmed me on purpose?" Rin clenched the sheets of the bed as he began to glare at his younger brother. "He didn't! Kazuki doesn't have control of his flames yet! And you know he'd never hurt someone with them intentionally!"

"I hope so. With the way he's been as of late, it's getting hard to tell what he's willing to do. But whether he did it intentionally or not, to someone who doesn't know him, he seems dangerous!"

"It was an accident! Accidents happen!"

Yukio opened his mouth to retort, but closed it quickly. He pinched the bridged of his nose and bowed his head. When he looked up again, he suddenly became aware of Rin staring down sadly at his lap. "Don't be distraught. I'm sure he regrets what happened. Kazuki will probably come to see you as soon as possible and start apologizing left and right."

As if on cue, the door of the hospital room opened. Rin and Yukio looked at it, thinking it might be Kazuki. Instead, it turned out to be Mephisto. "How is our patient doing?" He asked as he walked into the room, ignoring the disappointed look on Rin's face.

"He's fine," Yukio said as Rin leaned over to look behind the headmaster. "As usual, he recovered quickly. Probably due in part to Kazuki's own inexperience with controlling his flames. Speaking of Kazuki…" The younger brother trailed off as Rin got out of bed and walked over to the door, past Mephisto. Neither he nor Yukio paid much mind to it as the half-demon man looked out into the hallway. He saw no sign of Kazuki, to his disappointment.

"It took some prodding, but I was able to get him to show his heart to me," Mephisto explained. "All in all, it was quite easy considering how he's currently feeling."

Rin pulled his head back in to glare at the demon king. "What prodding? What did you do to him?"

Mephisto was unfazed by his glaring and smiled. "No need to worry. I only used words to compel him to reveal it. It was all so easy. As for this whole nasty incident, it's nothing worth talking about. Training accidents aren't unusual in our field of work, and it wasn't as if you were seriously injured. By the way…" The demon held out his closed hand. "Since you're the one who's responsible for training your son and he's hardly a trustworthy figure at the moment, it may be best for you to hold this rather than him." Mephisto opened his hand to reveal a small ring box, which he held out to Rin. "The vessel of his demon heart. I thought it may be best to not place any weapons in the hands of someone with his state of mind. Should he wish to unleash his true power, all he has to do is slip it on."

Rin stared at the ring box thoughtfully before he took it out of Mephisto's hand. He opened the box to check out its contents: a simple silver ring with a simple-looking blue stone in the center. The gem had an unnatural light to it that flickered every once in a while, but it could probably be played off as a trick of the light. Rin wondered how expensive the thing was, or if it was strong enough to contain a demon's heart—even a quarter-demon's.

"Sir Pheles, I still don't believe that Kazuki is fit to be an exorcist…in any way."

"So would you rather your nephew get locked up for the rest of his days? I'm shocked at you, Okumura-sensei!"

"His demon heart has already been sealed. If we simply keep a close eye on him and ensure he doesn't wind up in situations where the seal may break—"

"The Vatican would decide the best way to do so would be to either keep him locked up or make him into a vegetable. And I know neither of you want that."

Rin completely ignored the conversation in favor of staring at the ring. It was his son's heart, and holding it in his hand felt like the closest thing to intimacy with Kazuki that Rin had felt in months. The more he stared at the ring, the more he thought about what Kazuki said and did, and the more heartache he felt. Verbal abuse from his son he was used to, sadly enough, but he couldn't accept the idea of his own son hating him enough to try and kill him. How could things have gotten so out of hand? Rin closed the ring box and muttered, "I'm going to see Kazuki," before leaving the room, not bothering to respond to Yukio's calls.

X-X-X

When Rin arrived at the old boys' dorm, he could make out Kazuki on the rooftop. Standing on the edge. Staring down in an unsettling way. Before he could even shout at him to stop, an arm hooked around Kazuki's neck and his son was pulled off of the edge by Kuroba, who pulled him out of sight. But the sound of Kazuki wailing and shouting to be freed and be allowed to die was probably loud enough to be heard by anyone on campus in the newer dorms. It all just added to Rin's heartache at the moment.

By the time that Rin entered the dorms, Kuroba had succeeded somehow in dragging Kazuki back into their room. The brunette had Kazuki pinned on his own bed, face buried in a pillow where he screamed like he was dying. Kuro and Ouji, oddly enough, just stood off to the side and stared at them both, as if there was nothing wrong. "There, there, Akumura. Just scream and you'll feel better." Kazuki's shouting turned into crying and he stopped struggling under Kuroba's grip. "I can't afford to get into trouble anymore by letting you do what you want. If it could make things better, I'd let you die, but I can't. So do what most people do: just bottle it up and vent your anger on demons so it's productive."

At that point, Rin had had enough. He marched up to Kazuki's bed and snatched Kuroba up off of his son, holding him a few inches up off the ground by the collar of his shirt. "What the hell is wrong with you?! You don't tell someone to do something like that!"

"Unless you have access to some antidepressants, I don't see any other way of getting him to cooperate."

Rin couldn't stop his eye from twitching before dropping the boy. "Just give us some privacy, ya little creep!" Without another word, Kuroba left the room. "Kazuki. Kazuki. I know you're awake and I know you're not deaf, so sit up." He wasn't trying to be stern, but he couldn't help the tone in his voice. Kazuki didn't make an effort to sit up. He just continued crying and saying things that had been muffled by his pillow. "We have to talk about what happened!" When Kazuki still refused to move, Rin attempted to pick him up and place him in a sitting position, but he was surprised when Kazuki started to flail and got a hit on his crotch. Regardless of the pain, he succeeded in making his son sit upright. In response, Kazuki grabbed the pillow and smacked Rin upside the head with it, but it was taken away from it when he went in for another blow. "STOP THAT!" Rin bellowed. Kazuki began to stare across the room. "Look at me."

"Leave me alone," Kazuki responded just as sternly as his father as he stared across the room. He tried to scoot away from Rin, but his father hooked an arm around his body held him in place. "I swear, I'll actually kill you this time if you don't get out of here!" The boy snapped as he finally looked at his father. His eyes were red from crying and his cheeks were stained with dried tears.

"No, you won't! Your flames are no different than mine! If you wanted to sincerely kill me, you'd have done so!"

"No, you're only alive because I'm weak and you're inhumanly durable! I wanted you dead because I wanted you to stop bothering and just leave me alone—!"

"You didn't even keep it up long enough to burn my skin off."

"B-because you're a freak of nature who can heal in a day, and I had a headache, and I'm weak!" He was faltering and starting to look more distressed than angry.

Rin slapped his hand over his son's mouth to silence him. "That's enough lying. I'm sure you hate me for everything that's happened, but I know you're not the type who'd try to seriously kill someone." Sad to say, Kazuki was more likely to try and kill himself these days than somebody else. "You only burned me because you were angry, okay? You stopped when you realized what was happening. If you actually liked it, you'd have kept the flames going. You don't have to beat yourself up over something you didn't mean to do."

"Shut up! This is why I hate you!" Kazuki shouted as he tried to pry himself apart from his father. "I hurt you! I wanted to hurt you! But instead of getting angry at me, you're trying to make me feel better?! Normal people don't do that!"

Rin started to smile as he said, "Well, I'm an inhuman freak, aren't I?" He gave a laugh, trying to make light of the insult, but he still had to force himself to do so, of course. It reminded him of the incident a while ago, and thinking about his son hating him that much made Rin feel awful.

"See?! You're supposed to say something like 'I am normal! It's you who's an inhuman freak'! Not act happy about it! Stop acting like a goddamn saint!" It was amazing how quickly Kazuki had flipped sides. He'd gone from blaming his father to tearing into him for being so understanding.

"I will if you do. Stop saying bad things about yourself, I mean. But I'd love it if you started acting like a saint!" Rin exclaimed with a smile that wasn't shared with his son. He patted Kazuki on the head. "And you're not a freak or inhuman. You're just…not in a good situation for someone like you. And I'm sorry that you have to do this because I'm your father."

Once again, Kazuki looked upset, tears starting to well up in his eyes. "Why are you apologizing?!" He shrieked—his voice seriously hit a higher pitch than usual, causing Rin to flinch in surprise. "I'm the awful person here! Stop being so nice to me! I swear, you're the worst—!"

"C-calm down!" Rin's grip on his son tightened as his free hand reached over to ruffle his hair. "But it is kinda the truth. No one would care if you awoke your demon powers if you weren't my kid. I can understand why you'd hate me. You shouldn't be put into situations like this because of me!"

By this point, Kazuki's face had turned red. "You're unbearable! I'm trying to apologize for being awful to you and being uncooperative and being a dick, and you're here trying to make this all about you! Let me say I'm sorry and punish me, okay?!" Rin stared at his son in confusion. "Don't look at me like that! Punish me for burning you up, or skipping cram school, or winding up in jail, or drinking, or—!" Kazuki was immediately silenced as Rin grabbed his shoulder and began to squeeze it tightly.

"What…did you say…?!" Rin growled as his expression became dark. "You were in jail?! You were drinking?!" His grip on his son's shoulder tightened and his eyes narrowed. In an instant, Rin had Kazuki pinned to the bed with one arm while the other had him in a headlock. "Are you out of your mind?! Where the hell did your mother and I go wrong?! Your mother—your sweet mother in heaven! What would she say about you doing this stupidness?! Seriously, are you trying to break my heart and ruin my view of you?!" Rin screamed as he dug his elbow into his son's back and tightened his grip. "Because it's damn well working!"

"Yes! I deserve this! Hurt me more! Break my bones! Give me a black eye! I deserve this punishment!" And just as quickly as he grabbed his son, Rin let him go. Kazuki rolled onto his back to stare up at his father. "What are you doing?!"

"What am I doing?! You're trying to turn this into a case of child abuse!" Rin snapped as he got off of the bed and began straightening his clothes. The father glared at his son as he pointed a finger down at him. "Your punishment is to not be punished! You're gonna have to live with the guilt and let that be motivation never to do anything like that again." His expression then lightened up. "Now, are you hungry? Have you eaten yet? Using your flames for however long on top of the training you did today had to wear you down."

"I'm not hungry." Kazuki's statement was contested by a light growling sound coming from him. He blushed, but his exhausted expression didn't change aside from that. "I don't want food."

"Like hell you're gonna skip out on meals! You're not gonna get stronger that way!" Rin grabbed hold of Kazuki and guided him out of the room, saying, "A healthy diet leads to a healthy body, which will help you become big and strong!"

"St-stop acting so nice, please!"

"If it makes you feel guilty, then no, I'll never stop."