Chapter Text
The smoke swirls above Rin’s head, twisting and dancing every time the man takes a drag of the cigarette, every time he exhales the dirty clouds. Rin watches it lazily as it dissolves into the air, his eyes continue to scan through the stormy clouds above. It might have been his imagination, but it seems to him the sky in this part of the town has always been like that. Cloudy, grey and always threatening with rain. Of course, this is only supplied by the overall atmosphere of the district which is also often cloudy, grey and threatening. It is that part of town where it is unwise for the ordinary folks to walk during the light of the day and straight out stupid to do so while dark. It is also just the right place for Rin with his brute strength and a short fuse. He doesn’t like the place, not at all, but he can’t pretend like he doesn’t fit in. Not that he is involved in something dangerous or illegal, no. He works in a small dingy ramen shop and lives in an even smaller and more dingy and messy apartment above it. The wall of which he is currently leaning on, taking his break and sating his nicotine addiction.
“Hey, Akuma-chan. The break is over, your favourite customer is here!“
Rin tilts his head toward the woman who just spoke in silent acknowledgement and takes one last drag from the cigarette before extinguishing it. The last puffs of the smoke are joined by small black bugs before disappearing for good. Rin watches them for a few seconds, wondering when exactly bugs became attracted by the smoke before dispelling such thoughts and stepping inside the building.
“Do I smell? Smell like I was just smoking kind? Do I stink of the cigarettes?“ he asks his boss, the woman who came to get him, Toshiko Tanaka.
She is a head shorter than him, with long brown hair and dangerous dark grey eyes. She is not someone whom you would call beautiful nor pretty, not exactly due to her being ugly though, but because of her eyes. They were the eyes of someone with dubious morality and a hard personality. In short, the woman looks pissed off constantly. To be fair, nearly everyone in the district has the same mean look. It was the best protection one could have. That and bloody knuckles with a little bit of bad reputation, which is exactly Rin’s case if you are wondering.
“Yep, you do,“ Toshiko smirks at him and then adds “not like it matters anyway. Your lil bro is too smart to figure out what you were doing back there. Besides, I did tell him you went for a smoke.“
Rin curses her and walks inside the shop to meet his very-much-against-the-smoking doctor of a brother. As expected, instead of a normal ‚hi!‘ and ‚how have you been?‘, Yukio greets him with a frown and a lecture because “Nii-san, smoking is really bad for your health!“
Despite that, Rin is really happy to see him. Anxious about him wandering the streets where their shop is standing, but still happy. Yukio, despite working in the hospital pretty much on the other side of town and living not even remotely close to this shithole of a ramen shop, makes it a point to eat here whenever possible just to chat with his brother and to check up on his wellbeing and whether he didn’t get himself arrested or killed, though the later he would deny when asked.
“The usual?“ Toshiko asks, more out of politeness than anything and doesn’t even wait for confirmation. After all, Yukio is painfully blunt like that.
Rin quickly busies himself with the noodles, swatting away a few persistent black bugs which seem to have infested the town in the last few weeks. “We need to do something about the bugs,“ he makes a face. “Wouldn’t want to get closed because of the hygiene.“
Toshiko snorts at that. “As if, no inspection wants to wander to this part of the town anyway.“ Nevertheless, she sweeps the place with a look, her brow furrowed. “You sure they are here again? I don’t see anything. Actually, I never saw them. You are not pulling my leg, are you Akuma-chan?“
Both brothers bristle at that. Rin’s offended by the accusation, Yukio reacts poorly at the nickname.
Rin doesn’t bother to ease his brother’s indignation. True, he hated that name while growing up. Shit, he still does. But it’s the way Toshiko says it, with that particularly mocking tone, that makes it quite alright. That is for Rin knows it is not him she is mocking, but the others who decided to call him a demon and the demon spawn. Rin would never forget her reaction upon first hearing that nickname. Toshiko laughed at it. „A softie like you? Being called a demon? What a joke!“ she exclaimed back then. To her, the nickname was ridiculous. Because how could someone call Rin that? Rin whose grin was sunshine personified? Rin who would sniffle when she sprayed antiseptic at his torn knuckles? Rin who got angry when some jackasses shot a few pigeons? That guy who fed the strays in the back alleys, that would climb a tree to rescue a cat and who would sob while reading a shoujo manga? To Toshiko, it is all quite ridiculous. Rin honestly loves that woman. Platonically, of course. In quite many ways she is the only person who truly knows him, Yukio and the rest of his family being the exception.
“I swear to you, I wouldn’t joke about it. They are quite irritating me, really.”
Toshiko looks pensive for a while and then she sights. “Can’t really do anything about something I haven’t seen and you can’t identify. Try catching some for me? We might be able to find out what the buggers are and how to rid of them.”
Rin nods to her, transferring the ready noodles and the broth into a bowl before setting it in front of Yukio. His brother seems to be troubled but says nothing as he picks his chopsticks. Rin lets him enjoy his meal, knowing well that prying wouldn’t get him anywhere. His brother is quite secretive. It stings sometimes. Rin usually tells Yukio everything, but Yukio doesn’t reciprocate such a gesture.
“Those bugs,” Yukio speaks after a while, looking pensively into his bowl, “how long have they been an issue?”
Rin scratches his head, contemplating it. “A few weeks now. Not that they do anything but really, no bugs should be in the kitchen.”
Yukio hums, falling silent for a while before speaking again. “Have you seen them before? I mean this particular species of bugs.”
Rin opens his mouth to respond, turning his head toward his twin but stops when he sees the intense look in his brother’s eyes. He is positive he has never seen Yukio looking at him with such intensity. The stare of his younger twin makes the hairs at the back of his neck stand and he gulps dry. “No, can’t say I’ve seen them before.”
Yukio nods and stands up, placing the money on the table beside his half-finished meal. “Thanks, but I have something I need to do. I’ll see you later. Try to cut out that annoying smoking habit.”
Rin makes some lame promises which they both are aware he won’t keep and then Yukio rushes out. It is not quite unusual for him to do so, as it is for him not to give a reason for his disappearance act. Rin no longer tries to pry. It’s not like his brother will tell him anything. It is sad, but it is a fact.
The rest of the day is relatively peaceful. At the end of the day, Rin does as Toshiko suggested and catches one of the bugs. It wasn’t really that hard. He expected the bug to fly away like a fly but it showed minimal resistance. The weird thing happens when he shows it to Toshiko.
The woman brings the jar where the bug is trapped close to her eyes, squinting at it, but Rin only sees confusion written all over her face.
“I see nothing,” she proclaims. “How big is this bug?”
“Like, a stone,” Rin crosses his arms, wondering what is wrong with his boss’ eyesight.
“That tells me nothing,” Toshiko scoffs.
“Well, it’s this big,” Rin raises his hand and positions his thumb and index finger to indicate the size.
Toshiko’s frown deepens. “You sure your eyes are alright?”
“That’s my line! How come you don’t see it?” Rin scowls.
Toshiko pauses, looking carefully at the jar. “This creeps me out. No matter how I think about it, it’s either that there is something wrong with one of us or...”
“Or?” Rin prompts.
Toshiko shrugs. “No idea. Something strange is happening, that’s for sure. And it gives me creeps. Maybe we should just ignore it.”
Rin, in the end, agrees with her. He keeps the jar, makes some holes in the lid and puts some lettuce inside, wondering whether the bug will eat it. Toshiko looks at him funny when he does that but doesn’t comment on it when the jar ends on the window sill of their shared apartment.
The next morning Rin is surprised to get a call from Father Fujimoto. It’s not like he cut all the ties with his old man, but compared to Yukio, he doesn’t talk with his dad or the priests all that often. Somehow, Rin feels like he is a little bit of a disappointment. It’s not like he thinks his life is all that bad. He has a stable job he likes, a place to live in and even a very good friend-slash-boss. Still, it’s not probably what his dad wanted for him. After all, most of his regulars are quite suspicious individuals. Some of them even became their customers once Rin beat the living shit out of them. Rin has this ominous feeling that they are kind of his fans now. It is a bit creepy and he would do something about it but Toshiko is quite satisfied with the result of his brawls. She won’t turn her nose on any paying customer as long as they don’t cause problems while inside the shop.
“You look like you just received a death sentence,” Toshiko jokes when Rin shows himself after the call.
“Close enough. My old man is summoning me,” Rin says, looking peeved.
“That bad?”
Rin shrugs and scratches his head. “Dunno. But the last time he talked with me with that kind of tone was when I got arrested and he had to bail me out.”
“Beat up someone you shouldn’t have?” Toshiko inquires without much care. The fact that Rin was arrested isn’t all that surprising to her. She would be more surprised if he hadn’t been behind the bars at least once.
“Basically.”
And that was the end of the conversation. After the workday Rin left to go to the monastery, wondering what exactly his dad wants with him. He sounded rather serious over the phone, which could mean any number of things.
Rin manages to find a seat on the train but soon gives it up for a little old lady so he stands there, watching the setting sun and the weird black bugs floating around the city. It might be just his imagination, but they seem to be somehow multiplying. Weirdly enough, once he steps on the grounds of the monastery, the bugs disappear. Or more accurately, there are none on the grounds, but he can see them flying around on the streets. Do the priests know some kind of effective pesticide? He needs to ask.
“Hey, Rin!” Izumi greets him with a big smile once he sees him and wrestles him into a hug.
“Long time no see! We were afraid you forgot all about us,” Naoya chastises him but still greets him with a smile and a hug like the rest of the priests. Rin feels a little bit guilty.
After he greets everyone he notes the evident lack of Father Fujimoto.
“Where is the old man?” he asks.
“He and Yukio had some things to take care of,” Seishiro tells him and wait, he and Yukio?
“They should be back soon.”
Rin nods, wondering what exactly the two of them do together. As he thinks about it, it occurs to him, the two of them used to vanish somewhere together a lot even back in middle school. Back then though Rin didn’t pay much attention, opting to spend his time outside wandering about or in the kitchen. After all, it was in middle school when the old man started breathing down his neck, lecturing him about the fighting and responsibility and whatnot.
So Rin sits down with Izumi and the others, Maruta makes them all tea and they talk. Even though the old man sounded rather serious on the phone, the atmosphere is actually relaxed and Rin gets a little bit loose. That changes as soon as the door opens revealing Father Fujimoto and Yukio, both with grim expressions.
Rin has to take a double-take when he sees Yukio dressed in a weird black long coat and... are those guns?
“Rin,” Father Fujimoto says, and Rin’s good mood evaporates. “We need to talk.”
Rin follows his dad and brother, not feeling brave enough to speak up when the two of them are looking so grim. They lead him to an altar and suddenly Fujimoto draws a key and inserts it into a hole in the altar, pushing it aside and revealing a staircase Rin had no idea even existed.
“What the hell is this?!” Rin yells then because no matter how he looks at it, secret passageways just aren’t normal.
Fujimoto gives him a considering look, then starts talking.
“Rin, listen carefully, there is something we- I must tell you. Something I cannot keep away from you anymore. This world, you see, consists of two dimensions joined as one, like a mirror. The first is the world in which we live, Assiah. The other is a dimension in which demons reside, Gehenna.”
“The hell, old man?!” Rin exclaims again, interrupting the priest. He expected a lot of things coming here, but this was not quite anything that he was prepared for.
“Shush, let me talk. Demons exist, Rin. They can pass over into this world by possessing anything that exists within it. They cannot exist here on their own though. But there are certain exceptions. You are one of them.”
“No, no, no, stop, back up. Come again?” the young man shakes his head. He throws a quick glance at his twin, though his expression is like stone, not betraying anything, so he refocuses on his father.
“Rin,” Father Fujimoto takes a step toward him, placing one hand on his shoulder and squeezing. “You are the son of a demon, born to a human woman. And not just any demon. You are the son of Satan.”
The words do not properly register. Because Rin is not a demon. That’s absurd. He might be Toshiko’s Akuma-chan, but he is not a demon. No sir. But... the look in his father’s eyes...
Rin, utterly bewildered, looks to his brother again, searching for something to hold onto. Something to support himself. A little smile or a sympathetic look maybe. He finds a stone mask.
“And Yukio?” he manages to ask, trying to wrap his head around the absurdity.
“The two of you are fraternal twins. Yukio was weak in the womb and the demonic powers rejected him. It passed to you alone,” Fujimoto answers his question, putting more pressure in his grip.
“Demonic powers?” Rin feels in a haze.
“Yes, the satanic blue flames,” the priest nods at him and starts pushing him down the stairs. Rin goes without much resistance and Yukio follows them, still silent.
Father Fujimoto stops in front of the chest of drawers that occupy the tiny room and inserts the key into the top one opening it and revealing a katana. There is a talisman wrapped where the scabbard meets the hilt, it is scorched and the priest rips it from the sword.
“The demon-slaying blade, also known as Kurikara. This blade has been passed down since time immemorial. Your powers have been transferred into this sword and sealed there by the scabbard. If you draw it, then you will return to your demon form and most likely never again be able to live a human life. Take it.” Fujimoto offers him the sword, Rin doesn’t move to take it.
“You want me to draw it?” he asks, apprehensive.
“Dear Lord, no!” Fujimoto scowls. “You must never draw it!”
“Then why are you giving it to me? If I should never draw it, shouldn’t you just leave it locked here, hidden and never even touch the damn thing? Or better yet, throw it into the ocean or something!”
Fujimoto purses his lips and scowls.
“Demons will feel the sword and your powers hidden inside now that the seal has broken. It is also the reason why you can see the demons now. Throwing it into the ocean or hiding it won’t do much good anymore, I’m afraid. The demons will still reach for it.”
“I can see demons?” Rin asks disbelievingly. Did he see any monsters like that recently? He doesn’t think so.
“Those bugs you suddenly started to see, the coal tars. They are a low class of demons,” Yukio speaks for the first time and Rin immediately whips his head toward him.
“It made me realise when we talked yesterday that it must have been because of the seal breaking and asked Father to check it,” he adds, his stone mask still on his face.
“The demons will feel your awakening and they will seek you out. You and the sword and they will try to use you for various purposes,” father warns but Rin is not listening to him now.
“You knew?” Rin asks his brother, desperation colouring his tone of voice. “You knew about all of this? How long?”
Yukio is quiet for a little while, then levels his brother with a cold stare. “I’ve always known. I have been able to see demons for as long as I can remember. Because Nii-san injured me at birth, gave me a mashou, a wound inflicted by a demon that made me capable of seeing monsters all my life.”
Rin feels sick. He eyes the guns strapped to Yukio’s belt and his brother answers the unspoken question. “I am an exorcist. Just like father is. I have been battling with demons ever since I was 13 years old. Though my training started at 7.”
Now, Rin is sure he will puke. Scratch the will, he is puking right now. He places his hand against the cold wall to hold himself up while he doubles over and heaves. No puke comes forward though. He feels a warm hand on his back, making slow soothing motions. Rin wrestles with a tiny panic attack before he finally calms down and looks over his shoulder, expecting to see his father’s worried look. But instead of the old man, there is Yukio, hand on his back and for the first time that evening, the concern is etched into his features.
“I’m fine now,” Rin says and shakes his hand away. Yukio takes a step back.
“This is really a lot to process. Can’t say I actually believe all of this bullshit though. Just, give me time to wrap my head around it,” he says and takes the first steps toward the stairs before his father grips his hand painfully, halting him in his attempt to leave.
“Where do you think you are going?” the father asks him.
“Home, to sleep this off,” Rin answers, struggling a little bit to free his hand. It is just for a show, really. He would be able to easily not only free his hand but also break his father’s.
“You haven’t been listening to me Rin!” Fujimoto admonishes. “You cannot go back to that place. The demons will start to seek you out. You will place that sweet lady who lives with you in danger.”
Rin has quite problems believing that. “Why? Why now? I’ve been seeing those black bugs for weeks and nothing happened. You sure you aren’t paranoid? I just ask for one day of normalcy again and tomorrow we can talk. I just need to wrap my head around it, dad!” he screams those last words. It is too much for him. He needs to get out. Maybe he will get drunk tonight. Sounds awesome.
His father mellows a bit but still pushes the sword into Rin’s hands. “I can’t look after it much longer. You must take it. But remember, never draw it! And don’t put it away even if you go to sleep. But you are right, one more day should not make a difference. Come back tomorrow, we will talk some more.”
So Rin leaves. With the sword in his hand and an enormous headache building up. He feels like a doll as he travels through the city, the movements all subconscious.
He gets home to see Toshiko, apparently just stepping out from the shower, her hair wet and her nightgown not leaving much to the imagination.
“Oh, so you’re back. So how was it? Did you daddy dear smack your butt or what? Hey, what’s up with the face? Is everything alright?”
Rin doesn’t hear her. He falls to his knees in front of her and hugs her stomach, burying his face into her fluffy gown. He doesn’t realize it immediately, only when she forcefully pulls him away, but big fat tears are running down his cheeks, his nose is runny and his throat is sore.
“What happened, Akuma-chan?” she asks him softly and he only breaks down more.
Rin doesn’t remember much from the night afterwards. Only Toshiko’s warmth and her soothing voice, as she caresses his hair, lulling him to sleep.
When he wakes up, it is to the smell of rot assaulting his nose.