Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It wasn’t the first time Yuri caught him in the act. Normally, she just ignored it. What else could she possibly do in the grand scheme of things? Besides, it had only been a week since the twins were born. Perhaps he was just getting used to them, curious about the new additions to their lives. After all, Rinka was inquisitive when it came to everything in Assiah.

But…it was the way that he looked at them with such concentration, his eyes narrowed and a slight frown tugging at his lips, that made Yuri think it wasn’t something quite as simple as mere curiosity.

Why did Rinka just stare at their children? Every time Yuri left them alone (which granted, wasn’t often, but she did have to shower and eat occasionally), inevitably Rinka would find his way over to sit next to them, completely still as he watched them with unwavering intensity.

Half the time the twins weren’t even awake—seeing as they were newborns and were asleep more often than not—but Rinka didn’t seem to mind. In fact, he only seemed to observe them more intently when they were sleeping.

As such, it didn’t surprise her to spot the demon sitting cross-legged on the floor, gazing at their children as they dozed off in their small padded playmat, maintaining focus as if they were the only worthwhile things in the universe.

However, after the same routine went on for about a week, Yuri decided it might be time to broach the subject with him. “Hey…”

His azure eyes flickered over to her as she lowered herself down next to him, but didn’t acknowledge her any further than that. As soon as she was situated, his attention shifted right back to the twins despite them not having moved at all in that span of time.

“Want some?” She offered him half of the sandwich she’d left the twins alone to make.

“No.”

Yuri shrugged and bit into it, more than used to his callous tone by now. “You know, they are pretty cute, but I have to admit it’s not much fun just watching them sleep.” She reached out to gently wipe away a bit of drool that had dribbled down Rin’s chin, his nose scrunching up as she touched his face, but he didn’t react much beyond that. “You seem pretty entertained by it, though.”

Rinka grunted in acknowledgment, still refusing to take his eyes off the pair.

Sighing, Yuri looked back at the twins. Honestly, she was still getting used to all of this herself. Of course, she’d had the entire pregnancy to get used to the idea of having children, but it was still an unfamiliar world now that they were actually here. And so different, at that.

Yukio could pass as a completely normal infant. In fact, Yuri could not detect a trace of anything demonic within him. But Rin…well, there was a reason he was the one who had been named after Rinka. Even in his sleep the tip of his tail twitched, and occasionally a slight smolder of blue flames would flicker over his tiny body, though they never really seemed to burn anything.

One demon, and one human. Admittedly, she’d never thought that it might turn out that way. She’d been expecting two nephilim children, an equal split of human and demonic traits, not this.

It didn’t make her love them any less, (how could it ever?), but…she couldn’t help but worry over the complications that could arise from it as they got older, especially for Rin. As knowledgeable as she was about demons, what did Yuri truly know about caring for a newborn nephilim? What if she did something wrong and ended up seriously hurting her son?

Yukio inhaled a slightly sharper breath—nothing unusual for infants—but Rinka’s entire body locked up, snapping Yuri out of her thoughts, and the demon did not relax until Yukio’s breathing evened back out.

Oh… Yuri almost smiled as she looked at her partner fondly. She couldn’t deny that she’d had some doubts and fears about Rinka’s potential reactions to their children once they were born. That he wouldn’t feel a connection to him, not understand what they were, would view them as mere objects, something to—

Well, something to be curious about, to learn about.

She couldn’t have been more wrong.

“You know they’re okay, right?” She scooted closer to Rinka, taking another bite of her sandwich as she did so. “Perfectly healthy, even if Yukio’s a bit on the small side.” Yuri may not have been able to take them to an actual doctor, but she had some medical training of her own, and any demons that Rinka had ordered to examine them had given them a clean bill of health; for both human and demon standards.

Rinka’s tail twitched, and he spared her another brief glance. “But what if they just…stop?”

“Stop…?”

“Breathing,” he clarified. “They just stop breathing. You humans do that sometimes.”

“I mean…not usually without a cause,” she teased.

Rinka didn’t laugh. He didn’t even smile, and it was normally very easy to amuse him.

Yuri took a deep breath. “They won’t, okay? They’re too stubborn for that. Are you really forgetting who their parents are?” She and Rinka didn’t flee the Illuminati and the Order for nothing. “Plus, they’re not human—or at least not entirely. They’ll be alright, you don’t have to watch them constantly.”

She understood his feelings, of course. She hated leaving the twins alone, even if it was just for those sparse minutes she had to take care of herself, but she wasn’t absorbed with the fear that they would die if she left them alone. At no point had she been concerned that they would stop breathing like Rinka was.

The demon’s frown only deepened, despite her reassurances. “But they’re so…little.” He reached out, appearing as if he were going to touch Rin, but pulled his hand back just before he made contact. “Weak.”

“They’re babies, Rinka. Babies are like that.” Yuri shoved the rest of the first half of her sandwich in her mouth. “Thaf’s why we have t’ take care ough tem,” she mumbled around the food.

Rinka had never really taken care of anything before. Well, other than Yuri herself, but that didn’t really count because she was capable of surviving on her own, she didn’t literally depend on him like an infant would for survival. While the demon was convinced he knew everything, Yuri knew that wasn’t the case, not when it came to matters like this. Things like love, things like commitment; he still had so much to learn.

And right now, the best way he could conceptualize it was with protection. All he could think to do was watch over their children, guarding them from the dangers of the world. It was the only way he knew how to exhibit care for the time being.

She knew he would adapt (Rinka was nothing if not incredibly smart and clever), but for now…this was the best he could do.

Survey Rin and Yukio while they slumbered, monitoring their health diligently.

And Yuri was proud of him for making that progress; she was certain more would come with time.

Rinka hummed, his posture relaxing a very marginal amount, but he gave no sign that he was going to be giving up his vigil anytime soon.

“Well…” Yuri stretched, grabbing her plate from the floor. “Since they’re sleeping and if you’re keeping watch, I’m gonna go nap for a bit.” She was exhausted, but she’d been expecting that, considering the twins were awake every few hours needing to eat. “If they’re fussy when they wake up, just come get me. They’ll probably be hungry.”

He grimaced at that. “But you’re tired. You should sleep more.”

Yuri chuckled and got to her feet. “Taking care of them is more important. Besides, I’m sleeping enough, it’s just inconsistent.” Rinka had always been overly defensive and protective of her, but it was odd to see that in practice even against their children. He would get over it eventually, but he was going to have to realize that sometimes they would have to put their own needs aside for Rin and Yukio. “I’ll sleep while I can. If they wake up, just talk to them; they like it when you do that.”

“But they can’t talk back,” Rinka argued, clearly confused.

“No, but they like hearing you talk,” she explained. “Just give it a try.”

“Mm…alright.”

Yuri leaned over and pressed a chaste kiss to his cheek before shuffling towards the bedroom.

It was two weeks after the twins were born that Yuri came to her second discovery about Rinka and his…parenting styles. When she first noticed it, she brushed it aside, not wanting to jump to any conclusions. Certainly not the more…uneasy ones. But now that the twins were nearing a month old, she couldn’t ignore it any longer, and knew she wasn’t overreacting or picking up on something that wasn’t actually happening.

Rinka never held Yukio; not unless Yuri deliberately handed Yukio to him. At first, she’d considered that maybe Rinka just didn’t want to pick either one of the twins up. He was wary, nervous, uncertain—something like that.

But he had no qualms when it came to picking Rin up. Rinka was quick to snatch him up if he ever got fussy or squirmy, purring quietly to soothe him, petting his hair, gently scratching behind his pointed ears. It was odd, but it always worked. It must have something to do with demonic instincts when it came to kin, or something along those lines. It was…sweet, in a way.

But Rinka never did anything like that with Yukio. He didn’t even pick him up. Barely ever touched him.

Was it because Yukio was so human? Did Rinka just not feel a connection to him because of it? Those instincts he felt with Rin…did they truly not extend to his other son? Even the mere thought left Yuri with an ache in her chest, a severe disappointment at the prospect. She was doing her damndest not to jump to any conclusions, but Rinka was far from perfect, and unfortunately…something like that wouldn’t surprise her.

But why wouldn’t Rinka even try with Yukio?

Yukio babbled as Yuri lifted him up and nestled him against her chest. Rin was still sleeping, so she didn’t want his brother to wake him up. She needed to shower, and to do some tidying up around the house today. Rinka had been working to fix up the quaint cabin they’d scouted out in the middle of nowhere, but it was a lot of work, and Yuri wanted to help him. It was difficult with two babies to take care of, though, even with how much time they spent sleeping.

“Rinka? Can you take him while I shower?” she asked the demon as she stepped into the living room, carefully rocking her son. “I don’t want him to start crying and wake Rin up. He doesn’t like being alone.”

Rinka blinked, a mild tension appearing in his shoulders. It was nearly imperceptible, but Yuri could read him like a damn book at this point. “Okay,” he agreed as he stepped over and held his arms out, though the movement was stilted, forced.

Yuri did her best to smile as she handed Yukio to him, their child still babbling incoherently as she did so. As soon as Rinka took him, she reached out to wipe away some stray drool that was on his cheek, and his clumsy, pudgy hand tried to grab at her finger.

Rinka just stared at the baby in his arms. He didn’t try to talk to him or purr like he did with Rin. He held Yukio so stiffly, didn’t even put him against his chest like he did with Rin.

Yuri’s smile wilted.

“What?” Rinka demanded, his voice as gruff as ever. “What’s wrong?” Gingerly, he readjusted his hold on Yukio as the infant squirmed.

“Do you not care about him as much because he’s human?” Yuri blurted out before she could stop herself. It would do no good to dance around the issue, Rinka did better when she was being blunt. And this was a conversation they needed to have, she couldn’t avoid it forever.

Rinka’s eyes widened, before a frown began to tug at the corner of his mouth. “I—no.” He pulled Yukio closer as if to emphasize what he said, ignoring the way their son gazed up at him with wide, teal eyes. “Absolutely not. Why would you even—?”

“You never want to hold him or touch him,” Yuri exclaimed, frustration starting to mount. “Even now you’re uncomfortable!” She really was trying not to get emotional, she didn’t want to fight or get something out in the open that ultimately nothing could be done about, but it was heartbreaking to even consider that Rinka might care less for Yukio just because he wasn’t a demon. “You treat him and Rin so differently, and I can’t come up with any other reason as to why that is! I know caring about people is strange for you, I just—”

A loud growl cut her off, leaving her mouth to snap shut.

“I—!” Rinka shook his head, before quickly looking down to Yukio to see if the noise had bothered him at all. It hadn’t, with the baby continuing to stare up at his father with wonder. “That’s not what it is!” He went on, expression becoming almost pained as he spoke. “It’s not!”

“Then what is the issue?” she beseeched. “You can’t treat them differently just because—”

“They are different!” he snapped, his infamous temper beginning to seep into his tone. “He’s human. Fragile and weak and soft. I don’t want to hurt him, I’ve hurt you before! And he’s even smaller than you! What if I break him!?”

“Rinka…” Tears pooled in Yuri’s eyes, but she furiously blinked them away. Crying was likely only going to upset and confuse him further. “You are not going to hurt him. The fact that you’re so worked up about it is proof enough that you won’t. Look…” She crept closer, helping to adjust Yukio in his arms, who had actually started to drift off despite his parents’ bickering. “He’s calm with you, he trusts you. You’re not going to hurt him, just like you’re not going to hurt Rin or me. You need to trust yourself more.”

Rinka’s tail tip began to twitch, his pointed ears drooping slightly. His intense gaze shifted between Yuri and Yukio, but the confusion in his eyes only grew more intense. “I know about demons, not humans. I don’t want to disappoint you and do something wrong with him. I’ve already disappointed you.” He bared his teeth at the thought, still able to get so upset and frustrated when he thought he couldn’t measure up to Yuri’s expectations.

“You are a demon. And so are your sons,” she said, reaching out to cup Rinka’s cheek. “Sure, it might not be as obvious with Yukio, but if you treat him the same as Rin and engage with that side of him, I think it’ll come out.” Not as much as Rin, obviously Yukio was far more human than demon, but it was impossible that there was nothing demonic about him when his father was Satan. “And even if it doesn’t, he’s still your son; human or demon, it doesn’t matter. You’re not going to hurt him, I promise. I trust you, just like I have for a long time now.”

Gradually, the tension in Rinka’s shoulders began to ease, and he looked at Yukio with less confusion, less wariness than before.

“I’m gonna hop in the shower,” Yuri informed him, letting go and stepping back from the pair. She’d said all she could to convince him he wasn’t going to harm their son merely by engaging with him; it was up to Rinka now to figure the rest out.

Though Yuri couldn’t help but feel relieved that that was what the demon’s reluctance with Yukio was rooted in, not a disconnect due to him being human.

“Okay.” Rinka nestled Yukio closer, much more akin to the way he held Rin and turned away from her.

The next morning, Yuri woke up and shambled out of the bedroom, stifling a yawn and wondering what she might make for breakfast when she saw Rinka sitting on the floor. He was watching Rin snooze on the little mat next to him while he held Yukio, soft purrs rumbling from his chest.

As Yuri smiled, she began to think that everything might actually turn out okay for them.

Chapter Text

“Rinka!” Yuri scolded the second she walked through the front door, dropping the load of firewood she’d gone out to retrieve to the ground. “We’ve talked about this! Normal baths!”

Rinka froze and glanced over at her, his barbed tongue pressed against Rin’s messy locks of ivory hair.

Rin chirped as soon as he spotted his mother, a happy noise for demons, and he reached out, making repeated grabbing motions with his tiny clawed hands.

“Mama!” Yukio slid off the couch from where he’d been burrowed against Rinka, observing his father lick Rin clean. He dashed towards her as quickly as he could with only one shoe on (why was he wearing only one shoe?) and clung to her leg. “I want up!”

“Oh, alright.” Yuri relented, bending down to scoop him up and balance him on her hip. He had only just turned three but he was growing like a weed, and she wasn’t exactly the strongest person around, so it probably wouldn’t be long before she would have difficulty lifting him up like this. She never would have expected Yukio to be the bigger of the twins—given he was somewhat younger and also human—but Rin was definitely on the smaller side of things.

“You’re cold,” Yukio pointed out as he patted her rosy cheek.

“Yes, it’s chilly outside,” she said with a bright smile. “Think it might snow later. If it does, we’ll get all bundled up and go out and play in it.” Well, she and Yukio would get all bundled up in their coats and hats and scarves; Rin and Rinka didn’t really need to with their body temperature being regulated by their inner fire. 

Speaking of them…

Rinka had resumed his cleaning of Rin’s hair, their son making quiet sounds in tandem with each lick. “Rinka! He has to learn to take actual baths.”

“He doesn’t like the water,” Rinka argued as he ceased his actions for a moment to debate her. “And this is easier. I’m just getting his hair, anyway.”

“Rin cried in the bath,” Yukio chipped in. “He didn’t want water in his eyes.”

“So your father decided to just lick his hair clean, huh?” Yuri raised an eyebrow towards the demon in question. “He really is such a pushover.”

Rinka narrowed his eyes, but shrugged and went back to licking the top of Rin’s head.

When the twins were born, Yuri never would have expected Rinka to spoil them, to indulge them and give in to everything they asked for, but looking back on it that had been rather foolish of her. He always wanted everything, had always tried to give Yuri everything, so of course he would be the same with their sons.

But so long as he had at least attempted to give Rin a normal bath…she supposed it was okay.

She readjusted Yukio’s weight on her hip and walked over to sit on the couch next to Rinka. “Brought you firewood, by the way. It’s gonna get cold tonight.” With his powers they didn’t have to worry about an actual heating system, which was good, considering they…didn’t exactly have a lot of money (none at all, in fact), and relied solely on Rinka’s authority over demons for resources. It was for the best, all things considered. Seclusion kept them safe, protected, away from the Vatican and the rest of the Order. They could never be allowed to get their hands on Rinka again, or on their children.

So this tiny, sequestered cabin, hidden deep in the wilderness, with the closest town over an hour away was the best place they could be.

Rinka hummed, giving Rin’s hair another lick, her son’s purring only growing in volume.

Yuri chuckled and reached over to pat Rin’s shoulder. “I’m not sure how you can enjoy that so much, kiddo. His tongue’s practically sandpaper.” She would know, she’d been on the receiving end of it quite a few times. Not so much anymore—because Rinka knew she didn’t like it—but it had been an…interesting learning curve.

God, she was married to a fucking cat.

“I don’t like it either…” Yukio mumbled as he wiggled out of Yuri’s grasp to wedge himself in between her and Rinka.

Rin chirped, ears perking up as he wrapped his tail around Yukio’s wrist now that his brother was closer. Yukio attempted to chirp back, and while the noise was much closer than anything Yuri could manage, it still didn’t sound right; not nearly as inhuman as the noises Rin and Rinka were capable of producing.

Sometimes, Yuri worried about Rin. He still had yet to actually talk, even when it came to simple words. Yukio was capable of holding full—though rudimentary—conversations at least, though he’d always been ahead of schedule with that kind of thing. Of course, Rin could communicate just fine with his father, and even Yukio with those demonic noises of his! But…

But he was still part human, and he should have started speaking by now. However, it wasn’t like she could take him to a doctor about it; not when Rin looked the way he did.

“What’s wrong, Yuri?” Rinka tilted his head, scrutinizing her curiously.

“It’s nothing,” she insisted, not wanting to voice her concerns in front of the boys. Because while Rin might not talk, he understood the conversations around him well enough, and he didn’t need to know all of his mother’s anxieties about his development.

Rin squirmed out of his father’s arms, crawling over Yukio and into Yuri’s lap and curling up against her, his purrs never ceasing as his tail brushed up against her arm.

Rinka narrowed his eyes, clearly not believing her hollow reassurances, but not pressing any further. “I’ll go make dinner,” he announced suddenly, gently nudging Yukio over so he could stand up. “Chicken tonight, yeah?”

“Mmhm…” Yuri nodded, her eyes slipping closed as she considered drifting off until dinner was ready, both her children a warm, comforting presence. “Cooked, Rinka. Cook it all the way so me and Yukio can actually eat it this time,” she chided him.

“I know, Yuri, I know,” he huffed, though there was a toothy smirk on his face as he exited the cabin to begin his hunt.

After the twins were put down for bed and actually fell asleep (curled up on top of each other, as they both refused to sleep alone), Yuri delicately shut their bedroom door and tiptoed down the small hallway, rubbing her aching eyes, ready to crawl into her own bed with her living heater. God, she thought she would have gotten used to the nocturnal sleep schedule of a demon that her partner and children operated on, but even after three years her body still didn’t want to function under it.

“Hey.”

Yuri was halted in her tracks as strong, unyielding arms wrapped around her torso and Rinka pulled her close, leaving her back to press against him. “What’s bothering you? It’s something to do with Rin, isn’t it? You kept…staring at him today.”

She snorted. “You’re one to talk about staring at our kids.”

Rinka growled and hugged her tighter, his arms digging lightly into her ribs. “You know what I mean. Tell me what’s wrong.”

Yuri sighed, knowing that there was no point in trying to hide her concerns from him, Rinka wasn’t the type to let things go. She doubted that there was anyone more stubborn than him on the planet. Except for maybe Rin; the stubborn streak he displayed was already frighteningly strong. “I’m worried about why Rin doesn’t talk.”

“Huh?” Rinka released Yuri and circled around to face her, his eerie distorted eyes glowing in the dark hallway. “He talks all the time?”

“No, no, I mean—” She let out a frustrated groan and shook her head. “I mean actual talking. Not the growls and the chirps and purrs and whatever the hell else it is he does right now.”

“Oh.” The corner of Rinka’s lip twitched into a frown. “Why does he need to do that?”

“Why does he—Rinka! It’s not normal for a kid his age to not say anything. He should know at least a couple of words by now!” she insisted, though she was mindful to keep the volume of her voice low so she didn’t rouse the twins. “I would take him to a doctor, but it’s not like I can do that considering his appearance.” It was a damn good thing that Rin had inherited the insane healing factor of a demon, because if he had ever ended up with an injury or illness Yuri couldn’t handle herself they would have been in a world of trouble.

“He’s not sick,” Rinka bit out, nearly whining. “He’s perfectly okay!”

“No, he’s not! He should speak—”

“He communicates just fine! It’s just not the human way, and what’s wrong with that?” Rinka hissed as he tilted his head, looking at her almost accusingly. “You’ve gone on and on about how they’re not human, and how that’s alright. Why is it suddenly an issue now?”

“Because I can’t talk with him!” she exclaimed, jerking back from Rinka. “I can’t even understand him. I want to be able to communicate with my own son without needing to use you as a translator, or having to guess what he wants. I just—I feel like a horrible mother, okay? Like I’m doing something wrong because I don’t know what it is he needs. I don’t want him to be human, but—but I at least want to understand him! And I worry…well, sometimes when kids don’t talk it’s become there’s some developmental issue, but because he can’t go to a doctor with him looking like—”

“Yuri.” Rinka grabbed her shoulders and leaned closer until their faces were mere inches apart, his gaze intense, ominous, commanding. “Calm down. Rin is fine. You are not a bad mother, and there is nothing wrong with him. He’ll talk when he feels like it, he’s just not ready for it yet.”

“How can you know that, though?” She nervously carded her fingers through her hair, stress overtaking her now that she’d voiced her concerns aloud and given them more attention. “He—”

Rinka let go of her shoulders to seize her wrists and still her fidgeting, touch gentle despite his strength and the fearsome claws tipping his fingers. “Because I don’t like talking. I only talk because of you. When Rin realizes you and Yukio do better with human words, he’ll adapt.”

“He’s not you.” Yuri shook her head. Oh, they were similar. So, so similar. Not just in looks, but even in personality, in mannerisms. Yet despite that, Rin was still his own person, and he wasn’t a carbon copy of his father. “You can’t just assume things like that.”

Rinka’s frown deepened. “It’ll be okay, Yuri. Just give him some more time. And even if there ends up being an issue, we’ll deal with it. What could we even do about it now, anyways?”

Yuri took a deep breath and hung her head in defeat. “Ugh…since when are you the reasonable one?”

“I am perfectly reasonable,” he snarled. “Everyone else is unreasonable.”

“That’s more like the Rinka I know,” she said with a small smile. “But you’re right. I guess I wouldn’t really be able to do anything either way, and you’re right that he is communicating, it’s just…well, it’s just like a demon.”

He let go of her wrists. “Mmhm. So, let’s go to bed, and let Rin decide to talk when he wants to.”

“Okay.”

Rin still didn’t speak. Four more months passed and he hadn’t uttered a single word, still expressing exclusively in demonic noises. Yuri was concerned, of course she was! But ultimately…Rinka was right. She couldn’t do anything except support Rin and do what she could to aid him. She talked to him all the time, hoping to teach him and encourage him, but she also worked hard to learn the more exact meanings of his noises, having Rinka educate her on what they meant, and how to better respond to them.

And it helped. It helped alleviate her worries, and it helped her better connect with Rin.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t the only problem to make itself known. This time, though, Yukio was the cause for her worries.

And Rinka couldn’t rationalize this one away.

Yukio had always been a bit…clumsy. Or at least, that was what Yuri had always assumed. When he reached for things, he missed more often than not, he hands scrabbling for his toys or whatever he might be trying to pick up. Sometimes he clipped the door frames and furniture when he walked, and he usually tripped over himself and ended up crying on the ground. She didn’t think much of it, just expecting it to improve with time, but it never did.

What finally tipped her off to what the problem might be was when she began teaching him the basics of reading.

Yukio had always enjoyed books. He adored listening to her and Rinka read him stories, so she’d requested that one of Rinka’s demons bring them some very simple children’s books, the kind meant for introducing kids to reading, and planned to start going over the fundamentals with Yukio, certain he would love it and take to the pastime quickly.

Except…he didn’t. It didn’t take Yukio long to start bawling with frustration when Yuri tried to teach him his letters, and he never got worked up so easily.

“They’re all the same!” he’d wailed one morning after yet another failure of a lesson. “All the same!”

“I know it might seem that way, sweetheart,” Yuri tried, keeping her voice soft as she rubbed Yukio’s back in an attempt to soothe him. “But there’s little differences, and you’re very smart, so you’ll learn.”

“No!” he sniffled as he furiously rubbed at his face. “I can’t see them, I can’t! It’s hard, mama!”

“Can’t see…?” Yuri echoed, her eyes widening as she came to a realization, all the peculiar things she’d noticed about Yukio suddenly making sense.

Of course, that wasn’t what her son had meant by the words, but they made sense. His clumsiness, a problem with depth perception, and to have so much trouble with learning his letters and how to read…he must be farsighted.

Yukio had vision problems. Thinking about it, it really was the obvious source of the issue.

Her son’s cries only grew in volume, and it wasn’t long before Rinka and Rin rushed into the living room to make sure that Yukio was okay. Upon realizing Yuri was with him, the anxiety fled from Rinka’s expression and he went back to whatever it was he’d been doing, but Rin refused to leave his brother’s side while he was upset. He climbed onto the couch and pressed bodily against Yukio, a low noise of concern building in his throat as he nudged his brother.

Yuri gingerly took the book from Yukio’s lap and placed it onto the coffee table, trying to figure out the best way to handle this while Rin consoled his sibling. If Yukio’s vision problems were already this severe and hindering his life at such a young age, he needed glasses; there was no disputing that. But…then Yuri would have to take him to an eye doctor for the proper prescription, and that meant leaving their getaway for the first time in years. Not to mention she would have to figure out how to get the funds to afford the lens, seeing as glasses could be very expensive.

Maybe Rinka would have an idea.

Yukio’s cries quieted to mere hiccups as Rin distracted him, tugging at his hand and chirping in an attempt to get him to go and play with him. With Yukio having already forgotten about his frustration, Yuri got up to find her partner. Surely he could summon some demon that could help with the money situation, right?

If not, then maybe Yuri should consider looking for a job…

She shook her head; that was something to worry about some other time. The pros and cons of it, the potential risks. Right now, all that mattered was coming up with a way to take Yukio to an eye doctor. The last thing she wanted was for her son to struggle unnecessarily all because they had to keep hidden.

This was well worth the risk.

“Rinka…we need to talk about Yukio,” Yuri prompted later that day while they were both sitting outside on the back porch, watching the twins play in the small garden they’d planted earlier in the year. Well…‘playing’. Yukio had decided he wanted to pick some snap peas from the vine, and he seemed to be having a delightful time doing so, though Yuri noticed that he was struggling a bit more than she would have with finding the ripe pea pods amongst the leaves, only solidifying her fear about his poor eyesight. Meanwhile, Rin had taken to stalking and chasing butterflies through the garden, crouched down low, tail twitching before he pounced, laughing in triumphant glee every time he managed to nab one.

Unusual children indeed…

“Huh? What about Yukio?” Rinka asked as he tore his attention away from Rin and to their other son.

“I think he might have a problem with his eyes,” Yuri began. “He seems like he has trouble seeing clearl—”

“What!?” Rinka snapped as he lurched to his feet, brilliant blue flames flaring to life over his body as he seethed.

Rin’s head shot up from somewhere in the tomato plants, emitting a concerned whine in response to his father’s outburst, while Yukio simply glanced towards them before going back to his quest for ripe pods.

“Keep your voice down!” Yuri scolded. Of course, it wasn’t that she wanted to keep this hidden from the boys (that was impossible, anyways), but there was no point in worrying them over it until she found some way to actually take Yukio to a doctor. “What’s wrong?” Why was he so upset? His tail was lashing, his ears were pressed against his head, but it wasn’t…it wasn’t angry, not the typical reaction Rinka had when he heard something he didn’t like. No, this was almost like fear. “Rinka? Calm down, it’s okay,” she assured him, standing up and reaching out to try and comfort him.

But he shrugged her hand away, baring his teeth. “You think he can’t see?”

“What? No, of course he can see! Rinka, love, calm down, it’s not that serious.” She grasped his hand, carding their fingers together and dragging her thumb across his claws, knowing physical contact could help to relax him. “It’s fairly common for humans to not be able to see perfectly.”

“He’s…okay, then? There’s nothing…there’s nothing wrong with him?” The demon pressed, voice desperate, vying for answers.

“He’s okay,” Yuri confirmed, both touched and a little exasperated by his rampant overprotectiveness. It meant he cared, but it also proved how far he had to go, that he still needed to learn he couldn’t control every little thing, that bad things could still happen, that Rin and Yukio were going to have difficulties and he couldn’t protect them from everything. “He just needs to get glasses.”

“Glasses…?”

“Mmhm.” Of course, demons didn’t really have those. In fact, most of them had better eyesight than humans, and high speed regeneration abilities if their vision did happen to get damaged. “They help us see better if that’s an issue we have. Sometimes people are born with poor eyesight, other times it develops because of strain. Like…like Shiro! He wore glasses, remember?”

A deep, rumbling snarl ripped itself from Rinka’s chest, and yeah, okay, bringing up Shiro probably hadn’t been the best idea. Her partner still loathed the exorcist despite the fact that neither of them had seen him in years.

Yuri didn’t know if he was even still alive.

“Yes, yes, I know you hate him,” she sighed, unable to stop herself from rolling her eyes. “But that’s not the point. Shiro needed glasses and he was a very high ranking exorcist, yet it never hindered him. Yukio is going to be okay.”

Rinka huffed and crossed his arms, but at least his flames began to fade away and his tail had ceased its lashing. “Alright. I’ll send a demon to go get him glasses, then.”

Yuri shook her head at the suggestion. “I’ll have to take him to a doctor. They have to examine him so they can tell us what kind of glasses he actually needs. They’re not all the same, there’s different prescriptions and lenses, so he’ll need to have his eyes tested.”

And just like that, the fire was back. “Yuri! Leaving is dangerous! The Order—!”

“I know! Trust me, I know.” The idea of leaving their small haven after so long practically made her sick with nerves. “But it’s been years now, search efforts have likely died down, and besides: we’re far, far away from any of the nearest exorcist branches. If just Yukio and I go—”

“No. If you go, I’m going with you,” Rinka growled as his lips drew back, exposing pearly white fangs. “I can protect you.”

“The goal is to go unnoticed so there’s nothing to protect us from. If it’s just the two of us, no one will bat an eye. I’ll just be a normal mother taking her very human son for an eye exam. Even if you can hide your tail and conceal your flames and everything else…you feel different, Rinka. You’ll end up setting the humans there on edge. Besides, someone needs to stay behind and watch Rin, because he definitely can’t come. He’s too young to understand that he can’t keep his demonic features out in the open; he can’t leave here.”

“Yuri…” Rinka’s voice was strained and so very, very distressed.

“It will be fine,” she insisted. “Just remember it’s for Yukio’s sake. He needs this.”

“Alright…” the demon agreed, though extremely reluctant. “But when you leave, we’re setting a time for you to come back by, and if you’re not here I’m going to come get you. I’ll raize everything until I find you and Yukio, I’ll—!”

“No—” she poked his chest with a scowl. “You won’t. We’ll set a time and if I’m not back by then, you can come look for us. No killing, no burning, no destroying. We’ve talked about this, Rinka.”

“But if you’re hurt—”

“Still no! You’re not harming anyone else on my behalf or our sons; not unless they are exorcists trying to hurt Rin or Yukio, and even then, only if it is absolutely necessary,” she reminded him. This had been the very first thing they’d discussed when they’d originally run away, back before Yuri even realized she was pregnant. Rinka had to learn to curb his violent tendencies, despite being a literal demon god.

And he was better. So, so much better, but not yet perfect.

Her partner growled and turned his head away stubbornly, but mumbled, “Fine.”

“Great. I’ll work on finding somewhere I can take Yukio for the checkup, and you should have one of the demons bring us some money to cover it,” she said. “Make sure they know not to hurt anyone for it, though. And—! Normal, modern money. No chunks of gold or rare gems or ancient coins.” She was not in the mood to track down the nearest pawn shop to trade that in for something she could use in an actual professional setting.

“Sure.”

“Hey…” Yuri frowned, stepping closer and reaching up to gently cup his cheeks with her hands. “It’ll be okay. This was always something we were going to have to figure out, anyway. It was impossible that we’d just be able to stay here without leaving for anything. It will be fine, just trust me.”

He leaned into her touch, eyes slipping shut, relaxing in her caress. “I do. I trust you.”

Yuri smiled.

Rin tugged at her skirt, his claws sinking into the fabric as he whined, his tail flicking behind him and eyes glossing over with tears.

Yuri’s heart cracked. She hated leaving him here, knowing he would never be able to simply travel into the human world without the proper precautions, but there was nothing she could do about it. She couldn’t take away his demonic features or his odd behaviors, nor did she want to. He wouldn’t be her Rin without them. But that didn’t change that it was unfair, bordering on cruel in a way. “Rin, baby, it’s alright. Yukio and I will be back later tonight. Right, Yukio?” She readjusted him on her hip, keeping him high out of his brother’s reach, urging him silently to reply.

“Mmhm. Mama jus’ said she was taking me to a doctor,” Yukio answered, though his voice wavered with emotion. She knew he was trying to put on a brave face about the whole ordeal, however not only was he being separated from his twin for the first time since they were born, but she was taking him somewhere entirely new. She wouldn’t be surprised if he started crying before they even made it to the nearest bus station, which was about an hour walk from the cabin.

Rin whined again, a high, keening noise that nearly fractured Yuri’s resolve due to how miserable it was. “Rinka, can you please get him?” she requested, her own voice starting to crack. “He’s not going to let me go on his own.”

Rinka stepped forward and scooped the young demon up, delicately detangling his nails from Yuri’s skirt. “Your mother will be back soon, okay Rin?”

Rin hissed and attempted to fight his way out of Rinka’s arms, but there was no chance he was escaping without his father choosing to release him.

“Why can’t he come, mama?” Yukio whimpered, tears filling his eyes, and god, this was quickly turning into a disaster. “Why can’t Rin come? What about dad?”

“They just can’t, sweetie,” she sighed, reaching to swipe at the tears starting to seep from the corners of Yukio’s eyes. One day, she was going to explain all of this to them. Explain to the twins that demons—something that was such a normal part of their lives—weren’t something that the vast majority of the world knew existed, let alone accepted. And then…the even harder conversation of who their father was, and what that meant for how they would be treated. But that was a conversation for another day. “But it’s okay. We’ll be back before you know it, and you’ll be able to see better!”

“I want Rin to come, though!” he wailed, his meager crying transforming into full-on sobbing. “I don’t wanna leave Rin!”

“He just can’t—” Yuri began again, already growing overwhelmed with the situation, considering simply walking out the door and calming Yukio down on the way over.

“Yukio!”

Yuri’s mouth snapped shut, her eyes growing wide as she spun around to face Rin, who had ceased his squirming and was now dangling limply from Rinka’s arms. Yukio was so shocked by his name coming out of his brother’s mouth that he’d actually stopped crying to gawk at him.

“Yukio!” Rin exclaimed again, reaching his hands out and giving his brother a bright smile, his prior anger and confusion at being left behind vanishing.

He’d talked! Rin had just talked! Said an actual word, his first word! …Well, a name, but this was the first time in his entire life that he’d spoken to Yuri’s knowledge.

“Rin?” Rinka prompted, shifting the nephilim to one arm so he could nudge Rin’s cheek with his free hand.

Rin merely chirped in response, not caring at all how significant what he’d just done was. It was like he’d completely forgotten that Yuri was trying to leave with his brother, or that he’d just said an actual word. Instead, he merely latched onto his father’s hand, yanking it closer and leaning forward to bite down on it, animal-like teeth slicing through Rinka’s skin.

Not that he seemed to mind; Rinka didn’t react at all, even as blood oozed from the wound when Rin began to gnaw at his hand. Normally, Yuri would have reminded Rinka not to let him do that, because sure, while it might not hurt him and his wounds would heal almost instantaneously, Rin needed to learn that he couldn’t just bite people or chew on them as if they were his toys since not everyone was as resilient as his father. But in this scenario…she decided to leave it be.

“Go on,” Rinka urged, completely ignoring the feral child nibbling away at his flesh. “I’ll keep him distracted, see if I can get him to say anything else. And seven o’clock,” he reiterated to Yuri with a dark grimace. “If you’re not back by then, I'll come looking. I can assure you of that.”

Yuri shook her head, freeing herself from her shock and relief over Rin finally speaking. “Yeah, of course.” She stood on her tiptoes and awkwardly leaned around Yukio to plant a soft kiss on her partner’s cheek. “We’ll be back soon. You and Rin have a good day, alright?”

Rinka hummed and glanced down at his son, who still had his hand trapped between his jaws. “I think he's teething.”

“He chewed through one of my books,” Yukio said, voice positively sullen.

Rin let go of his father’s hand to glare at him as if he’d been betrayed, just as Yuri scolded, “Rin!”

Rinka snorted with amusement and turned away from Yuri. “Come on, Rin. Let’s find you something better to chew on. Maybe a good bone, like a proper young demon! So the rest of your fangs will come in nice and strong.”

“If you get one from your demons, make sure it’s not a human bone!” Yuri chastised him.

“We’ll see.”

Yuri rolled her eyes and scoffed, but she couldn’t hide the fond smile on her face. “Alrighty, Yukio, let’s get going. You’ve got a big day. Are you excited?”

“No,” he pouted.

Yuri chuckled and nudged the front door open, both eager for and dreading her first interaction with human society in nearly four years.

Chapter Text

Yuri pretended not to notice the squirming, warm weight that had crawled into her bed and climbed over her body to nestle itself in between her and Rinka. There was barely any room for him, but Rin wasn’t going to let that deter him. He wiggled around in the slim space separating his parents, and Yuri’s nose scrunched up as the tip of his tail bapped her in the face.

“Dad…”

Yuri felt Rin shift as he nudged at his father, an eager chirp escaping him, followed by a frustrated growl when Rinka didn’t immediately respond. “Dad!” he attempted again, and Yuri reluctantly cracked open an eye to see him poke the demon’s cheek.

Rinka’s ear twitched, and Yuri could feel his tail tip shifting against her leg. He was definitely awake, he was just letting Rin egg himself on. She fought the urge to roll her eyes, a fond smile beginning to form on her lips.

Rin moved again, his foot digging rather harshly into her ribs as he pounced on Rinka, claws sinking into his chest and jaws clamping around his shoulder, though very gently, no blood at all being drawn even as his little fangs pressed into the skin.

When Rinka still stubbornly refused to react, Yuri kicked against his shin. “Your son wants attention,” she mumbled.

Rinka opened his dazzling blue eyes and pushed himself up with a yawn, exposing large sharp teeth and letting a soft growl rumble from his chest. Rin squeaked as he tumbled from his father’s torso and onto the bed. “He needs to learn how to gauge if his prey is awake or asleep,” Rinka said with a halfhearted glare towards the nephilim, who merely pouted at him. “You should have been able to tell I was conscious from my breathing and heart rate.”

This time, Yuri didn’t bother trying to fight her eye roll. Demons and their ridiculous senses.

“M’hungry,” Rin whined as he crawled into Rinka’s lap, bottom lip stuck out petulantly.

“You know how to make toast,” his father grunted, reaching up to lightly jab a finger against Rin’s forehead and push him away a bit. “And how to use the microwave. There’s leftover pork, too.” Teaching Rin the basics of the kitchen had been a necessity, though it had made Yuri a little antsy for someone so young to use the more…dangerous utensils. He was just so hungry all of the time that it had been easier for everyone involved for him to simply learn a few things so he could feed himself outside of scheduled meal times.

Rin seemed to love being in the kitchen already, and begged Yuri and Rinka to let him help them cook practically every night, but as a five-year-old boy, he still wasn’t the best at it.

Their son whined at Rinka’s suggestions and flopped back onto the comforters, a disappointing growl thrumming low in Yuri’s ear.

“Fine,” Rinka relented with an exaggerated sigh as he rolled out of bed and scooped Rin up with one arm, leaving him to dangle in his grasp. “We’ll go get started on breakfast. I’m sure your mother and Yukio would appreciate it when they actually get out of bed.”

Yuri nestled further into the warm blankets with a smile. “Thanks, love.”

“Mmhm.”

Rin wiggled and chirped in his hold, eventually escaping so he could thud to the floor and chase after Rinka, tail wagging as he laughed.

After the bedroom door clicked closed, Yuri pulled the blankets over her head and contemplated falling back asleep or just getting up to start the day. Or, well…evening. She did loathe this nocturnal sleep schedule sometimes, and Yukio was starting to dislike it as well, but Rin and Rinka didn’t think there was any other way to live.

It was starting to wear her down, though…

Yawning, she decided to just force herself up to start the ‘day’. After all…she had some important things she needed to discuss with Rinka today. Things she’d been putting off for weeks, but simply couldn’t anymore.

He was happy here, living like this; never once interacting with anyone else aside from the demons he ordered to bring them resources. And Yuri was…well, she was happy. Of course she was. She was safe and content, and able to spend her days with her husband and children without a care in the world. Who wouldn’t be happy with that?

But ultimately, she was restless—as any human would be in this scenario—unable to leave or change routine or interact with others. Happiness didn’t change that.

Rinka…didn’t really understand it. He was timeless, a mere concept who had gained consciousness through sheer will. This time here…well, it probably felt like no time at all. All he knew was that he was happy and content and his most prized possessions were safe.

Yuri did not intend to leave this place, but she would like to start venturing into the nearby town more often. To this day, she’d only gone for Yukio’s original eye appointment, and then for his yearly checkups. And, yes…it really was starting to wear her down.

Not to mention that Yukio was old enough to go to school now. He adored learning, and while Yuri and Rinka were more than capable of teaching him themselves, she knew he would benefit much more from an actual education. Plus, with Yukio as human as he was, he would be fully able to lead a normal life in the human world; there was no real need for him to remain hidden here, and she wouldn’t force that on him if it wasn’t necessary.

But for Yukio to go to school, Yuri had to become a real person again. She would have to forge a new identity with no connection to the Vatican. She would have to have an actual, provable income, not money dropped off on demand by the odd demon.

So of course, this all led to the logical conclusion of Yuri getting a job and sending Yukio to attend the local school while Rin and Rinka continued their days here as they had been.

The issue was convincing her husband that this was a good idea, because he still despised her even taking Yukio to his eye appointments. Which meant there were several lengthy, difficult conversations to be had about the matter.

“Rin? Can you help me peel the carrots, please?” Yuri requested.

Rin chirped and slid out of his chair at the kitchen table to rush over, reaching a hand out for the peeler.

Yuri handed it to him along with several fresh carrots. “Make sure you do it over the trash can,” she reminded him.

“Uh-huh.” He took the items from her to do as he was told, a cheery smile on his face as he scraped the peeler across the carrots, always so eager to do anything to help her.

He still wasn’t talking much; he had far less conversations in Japanese than Yukio did, continuing to revert to his more demonic noises, but he did talk. And that was all that Yuri cared about. Sure, it was usually only a handful of words at a time before he gave up bothering with it, but he was improving every day, not relying as much on the noises, and she was very proud of him! He stumbled over his words sometimes, and his grammar was far from perfect, but she could see the concentration on his face when attempting to have more complex conversations, get the words out in the proper way, so she would do nothing but praise him and assist him when he needed it.

Not to mention she’d practically become an expert on demonic sounds and body language over the past few years; there was very little that Rin did that she didn’t immediately understand.

Over at the kitchen table, Rinka was helping Yukio with the puzzle he’d taken out earlier. It was one of his newer ones, a hundred pieces! He’d been very excited to start it, and Yuri was astonished that someone as young as him was already engaging with something like that, even if Rinka was providing aid.

It just proved her fear that Yukio was going to grow bored with the mental engagement they could provide him with here all too soon…homeschooling was never going to work very well for him. He already had a very high reading level for someone his age, and his math skills weren’t too far behind.

With a weary sigh, Yuri turned her attention back to the onions she chopped. “What does everyone think about Yukio going to school at the start of next term?” she asked, keeping her voice light and airy despite the tense conversation she’d just instigated.

Rin didn’t react at all, every bit of his focus on the carrots he peeled. His tongue crept out of the corner of his mouth, small flames beginning to flicker on his shoulders as he worked to get every bit of peeling off the carrots.

However, Rinka was staring at her with wide eyes, his body tensing up, though his hold on Yukio remained impossibly gentle. “What—” he began, voice strained.

“School!?” Yukio exclaimed as he squirmed out of his father’s lap. “Like, real school? I could go?” He rushed across the kitchen to tug at the hem of Yuri’s sweater. “For real?”

“I’m thinking about it…” she said, shooting Rinka a wary look. “If I can get your father to agree.”

“No,” Rinka growled without an ounce of hesitation. “It’s too dangerous. Why would you even think something like that would be a good idea?” he demanded, tail beginning to flick in agitation behind him.

Yukio’s grip tightened on Yuri’s sweater. “I can’t go?”

Yuri frowned, glancing between her youngest son and Rinka, silently pleading for him to at least consider it, to entertain the idea for an actual conversation about it.

Rinka sighed and crossed his arms, a small admission of defeat. “Why do you think it’s a good idea, Yuri?”

“He adores learning, love.” She leaned down to pull Yukio closer, forgetting all about the onions. “He’ll get bored of what we can teach him eventually. Even you don’t know everything, and your demons will run out of things to bring him eventually, too. That, and…well, he’s human. He’s got to learn how to interact with them eventually, because he can’t stay here forever; so, it would be better if he could start now, about the same time as other children. It’ll make it easier for him.”

Rinka’s steely expression didn’t falter, as he was clearly unconvinced.

Yuri’s shoulders slumped. “Rinka, it’s plenty safe. It’s been six years, they’re likely not even searching anymore, and certainly not around here. So long as my surname doesn’t show up on any of the paperwork and gets flagged somehow, it will be perfectly alright. He wants to go.”

“I do!” Yukio exclaimed, running back towards his father to grab onto his hand. “Please, please, please! I wanna go to school! Me and Rin—”

“Rin can’t go,” Yuri interrupted, needing to make sure both her sons knew that, not wanting to give either one of them a scrap of hope on the matter. “He’ll have to stay here.”

Rin finally tore his attention away from his carrots, his eyes wide with confusion. “Why not? Why can’t—I wanna go where Yukio goes!”

Yukio gasped, tears already welling up. “But I want Rin to come! I don’t wanna go without Rin!”

“Yukio—” Yuri attempted.

“No!” Yukio wailed. “Why can’t Rin go!?” He pushed up his glasses to rub at his eyes, but the tears were already streaming down his cheeks. He’d always been so prone to crying when he was upset… “Why not!?”

“Yes, Yuri, why not?” Rinka prompted with a tilt of his head as he picked Yukio up and placed him back in his lap in an attempt to calm him down. “Because you realize this is a conversation we’ll have to actually have with them if you want to do this.”

“Mom?” Rin whimpered, sensing the uneasiness of the situation.

Yuri chewed nervously at the dry skin on her lip, but she couldn’t deny that she’d backed herself into this corner all by herself. Of course, she knew Rinka was right. Yukio couldn’t go to school until he learned that demons had to be kept a secret, especially his father and brother. Both he and Rin would have to learn and accept that they were different from each other…

But she’d been dreading that conversation since the day they were born.

She really should have brought this up just to Rinka first…getting Yukio’s hopes up, upsetting him and Rin both by so abruptly telling them Rin couldn’t go to school…that hadn’t been fair of her.

But she’d started this conversation, and she wasn’t going to send them to their room so she could talk with Rinka while they were so upset.

Flicking off the stove and taking a deep breath, Yuri walked towards the kitchen table and pulled out a chair. “Rin, baby, can you put the carrots down and come here? Your father’s right. We…we need to explain some things to you both.”

“About why Dad and Rin don’t ever leave?” Yukio sniffled as he wiped at his eyes. “And you tell me not to talk about them at my eye doctor?”

Yuri bowed her head. “Yeah…it’s about that.”

“And why—why Rin can’t go to school?” he continued with a soft sob.

Rin whined and rushed over to Yukio, taking his hand to try and calm him down. He attempted to purr, knowing the noise soothed his brother, but it was rough and broken, like Rin just couldn’t bring himself to actually purr.

Rinka reached out to pet Rin’s hair, which calmed him down a marginal amount, thankfully.

“Rin, Yukio, you know you two are different from each other, right?” Yuri began. “That you’re…you’re not the same.”

“Uh-huh.” Rin nodded vigorously. “I gotta tail. And fire.”

“Right…” She looked to Rinka for help, honestly at a loss for the best way to explain this. Because it wasn’t just Rin’s physical differences (though those were obviously included), it’s just what he was.

Rinka nudged Rin. “You’re a demon, like me. And Yukio is a human, like Yuri. That is why you’re different.”

Both twins nodded, like this made sense, and of course, it wasn’t anything they hadn’t heard in passing before.

“But a lot of humans—most humans—don’t know demons exist,” Yuri continued. “They just don’t know. They can’t even see them.”

“People can’t see Dad and Rin?” Yukio exclaimed, his eyes going wide.

“No,” Yuri hurried to assure him. “They can see them, but they…well, they won’t see their tails, or pointy teeth; that kind of thing.”

“Then why can’t I go?” Rin pouted.

“Because there are some people that know about demons,” she explained. “Not very many, but they exist, and they…most of them really, really don’t like demons. They think you’re dangerous, and they might even try to—try to hurt you because of it. So if one of them ever saw Rin or your father—”

“They would hurt them?” Yukio interrupted, the tears returning in full force. “But why? Why!? They didn’t even do anything!”

“Because I—” Rinka began.

“Because they just don’t understand,” Yuri interrupted, giving Rinka a subtle shake of her head. Yes, it was necessary the twins realized they were different at this age, but they were still much too young to fully know or even understand who their father was and what that meant for them; he didn’t need to explain that yet. “It’s horrible, and it’s awful, but there’s…there’s nothing we can do about it. So, Rin and your dad stay here, where it’s safe for them.”

“But I want him to come to school with me!” Yukio protested. “Rin! Rin, don’t you wanna come?”

Rin stared at his brother before shrugging. “I don’t wanna leave you. But you wanna go, so you should go.”

Yuri furiously blinked back her own tears, not wanting to make either one of the boys even more upset by crying in front of them. It just wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair that Rin had to remain hidden, it wasn’t fair that he had to mature so early and tell Yukio things like that. It broke her heart.

“Yuri…” Rinka’s voice had a soft edge. He still didn’t want to let Yukio go, but she could see in his eyes that he was willing to compromise. He didn’t want to keep his sons trapped either. He knew what being trapped felt like. He was just worried about their safety…

“It will be okay,” she assured him. “Yukio will go to school, and I’ll go to work to pay for his education. You and Rin can hold down the fort here.”

“Work?” Rinka sputtered, alarm creeping into his tone. “You don’t have to work. My demons—”

“Rinka, dear, I want to work,” Yuri assured him. “It will be good for me. Besides, if Yukio’s going to school, we have to keep up appearances somehow. I’ll find a job where hours will let me work from when I drop him off ‘til I have to pick him up. It will work out great, alright?” She smiled, though she was certain her eyes were still glossed over with tears.

“But what if something happens?” he fretted, small flames beginning to smolder over his body as his emotions got the better of him. “I won’t be there to protect you. Or Yukio.”

“Don’t worry, Dad.” Yukio squeezed his eyes shut, attempting to dispel the tears. “The bad people that hurt demons won’t find us. I won’t ever tell anyone you guys are demons, so no one’ll ever know!”

Rin chirped and attempted to climb into his father’s lap next to Yukio, purrs bursting from his chest as he pressed against his father. “Mom wouldn’t let anyone hurt Yukio,” he murmured. “I just know it.”

Rinka wrapped one arm around each of the twins, hugging them close to his chest as he buried his nose in Yukio’s hair. “I know…Yuri would never, ever put you two in danger.” His eyes slipped shut and he sighed. “Fine,” he relented. “We’ll get things sorted out for Yukio to go to school and for you to work.”

Yukio gasped, a bright smile lighting up his face. “Really?”

“Really,” Yuri and Rinka confirmed in unison.

Yukio twisted around to give his father a hug, his excitement practically tangible. Rin slid out of Rinka’s lap to walk over to Yuri and climb into hers. “I wanna go…” he whispered, so softly that his brother wouldn’t hear.

“I know…” She kissed the top of his head. “And I’m sorry, baby.”

Chapter Text

Yuri fumbled with Yukio’s shoelaces, her fingers trembling ever so slightly. She wasn’t sure if it was due to nerves or excitement. Probably some mixture of both. She’d literally only interacted with human society for Yukio’s eye appointments, and then getting him registered for school for the past six years. She was very out of practice, and she thanked god it was such a small town.

“You’ve got everything?” she asked. “Backpack? Lunch?”

“Uh-huh.” Yukio nodded and kicked his feet as she finished tying his shoes. “Rin made it for me.”

Yuri sighed and got to her feet. Despite it being weeks since the discussion of Yukio going to school had happened, she still felt awful that Rin couldn’t go, that he would be stuck here for an indefinite amount of time, until he could learn to pass for at least mostly human.

Which honestly…might not even be doable.

“That was nice of him,” she said with a small smile as she picked him up off the couch and set him on the floor. “Go put your jacket on. We need to get going, you don’t want to be late on your first day.”

“Yes, Mom!” He raced off towards his and Rin’s bedroom.

“Okay…” Yuri snatched her own jacket from where it’d been laid across the coffee table, and patted her pockets with her spare hand. “Wallet, got that. What else do I need?”

“Your paperwork?”

Yuri jumped, before huffing and shaking her head. “I’ve told you not to sneak up on me like that.” But she took the paperwork Rinka held out and stood on her toes to give him a quick kiss. “You’re sure you and Rin will be okay?”

He rolled his eyes. “We’ll be fine. You and Yukio are the ones putting yourselves in danger.”

That wasn’t really what Yuri had meant. It was very difficult for Rinka to be in danger at all, given how powerful he was. She was more concerned about him and Rin being upset over being left here.

Speaking of Rin…

“Where is Rin?” she asked, glancing around the living room, and leaning back to get a glimpse of the kitchen. “I haven’t seen him all morning.”

“I believe he’s hiding beneath our bed. He’s upset, but doesn’t want Yukio to know he is. I’ll take care of him.”

“Maybe this is a mistake…or at least too soon.” Yuri had been so certain this was a good idea when she’d originally proposed it, but the last thing she wanted was to create some kind of divide between the boys, and she still wasn’t certain they completely understood why Rin couldn’t go.

“No.” Rinka nudged her towards the front door. “You said you were doing this. Besides, Yukio will be very upset if we go back on this now, as much as I would like to.” A sullen growl laced the words, but Yuri knew he was trying to keep an open mind about all of this.

“I know…” She flicked through the wad of papers he’d given her. The last few documents she needed to turn into Yukio’s school, as well as what she needed for her new job at the local library. They’d had to create a whole new identity for her, as well as legal identities for Yukio, Rin, and Rinka since they’d never had them to begin with. At first, Yuri had been wary about creating “proof” of Rin and Rinka’s existence, anxious that it could potentially be enough to lure exorcists back to them, but she knew she was being ridiculous and paranoid. Besides, someday they Rin might need a legal identity, since Yuri was holding onto the hope that she might be able to send him to school some day if they could figure out a solution for his appearance, and on the off chance that Rinka had to handle any of Yukio’s school things, he needed to “exist” in the legal sense too.

It had been a pain in the ass figuring all of that out, even with help from various demons under Rinka’s command. But it’d finally been all sorted out, and the last of the papers just needed to be turned in.

They’d had to come up with a surname though. Despite not wanting to, Yuri knew Egin needed to be left behind for safety purposes.

Okumura had been the name she’d settled on. Not quite sure why, but it felt right. And even if it wasn’t the surname she was used to, she could admit that it felt nice finally having a family name that all four of them could share.

“Mom!” Yukio raced back into the living room, jacket on and backpack clutched to his chest. “I’m ready!”

Yuri took a deep breath and squeezed her eyes shut. “Right.” She opened them and gave Yukio a bright smile. “Let’s get going. I’ll see you tonight, alright, love?”

Rinka hummed, and Yuri felt his intense gaze on her until she shut the front door, and took Yukio’s hand. “We’ve both got big days ahead of us. Are you ready?”

Yukio nodded eagerly, and his excitement was enough to chase away some of her own worries. “Uh-huh! Let’s go, let’s go! I don’t wanna be late!” He took off down the path, doing his damndest to drag Yuri with him.

“Alright, alright!” she laughed. “I’m coming!”

Rinka…didn’t know what to do now that Yuri was gone. Mostly, his days consisted of trailing her around the house, assisting with whatever she decided to do, whether that was cleaning, gardening, repair work on the cabin, teaching the twins things, and of course, while somewhere in his head he knew he could do any of those things without her, it didn’t feel right.

What was he supposed to do without Yuri as a companion? To talk to and dote on and enjoy? He hadn’t been without her since—since—

Something warm and small nestled against his side, with a soft sniffle followed by a sad, pathetic whine.

“Yes, I know.” Rinka gathered Rin up and placed him in his lap, petting his hair and gently holding the back of his neck, his scruffing instincts causing him to relax ever so slightly.

“How long are they gonna be gone?” Rin asked, his eyes flicking towards the front door, like Yuri and Yukio would be coming back any second, despite it not even being an hour since they’d left.

“Yuri said they would be back by sundown,” he answered, though he certainly didn’t like that answer. That was such a long time, and Rinka still did not trust that something wouldn’t go wrong and he wouldn’t be there to protect Yuri or Yukio.

“But that’s so long,"  Rin lamented. “That’s all day! And—and Mama said they were gonna do this all the time! They’re not really gonna be gone that much…are they?” He stared up at Rinka with big, tear-filled eyes.

“Five days a week,” he grumbled, tail flicking in irritation and anxiety.

Rin growled in distress, and as Rinka reached to scratch behind his ear, he twisted, catching his wrist with his teeth, baby fangs pricking at his skin.

Rinka sighed, trying to decide if he should scold Rin or not. If it were up to him, he wouldn’t. Biting was a perfectly natural instinct! But Yuri insisted that Rin needed to learn not to do it, lest he bite someone he wasn’t supposed to and genuinely hurt them. Not that Rinka understood her concern. Their son knew better than to bite her or Yukio by now; Rin knew it hurt them, so he didn’t do it. So what point was there in scolding him when he bit Rinka?

Yes, he would leave him for now.

Actually, Rin was probably even more bored than he was. Young demons needed to play, but the only companion he had was Yukio, and without him…

Rinka was going to have to come up with some ways to keep Rin entertained, keep him engaged. It wouldn’t do for him to be bored and…under-stimulated.

Fangs sank deeper into Rinka’s wrist, more distressed whining coming from Rin as he was forced to actually confront that his mother and brother would be gone more days now. Because of course, while he’d known this was going to happen, it was completely different to experience it.

Rinka would know…

It would probably take a couple days for both of them to get used to this, and after that… he could start coming up with things for him and Rin to do together.

“Nii-san! Nii-san!” Yukio sprinted into the kitchen, completely ignoring Yuri reminding him to take his shoes off. “There were so many other kids there! They were really nice!”

Rin tightened his grip on Rinka’s leg, his claws pricking through the fabric of his pants. “You had fun?”

“Uh-huh! Lotsa fun!” He took his backpack off and heaved it onto the kitchen table. “I missed you though…what did you do today?”

Rinka lightly nudged Rin towards his brother, prompting him to let go of him and talk to him. He was probably a little jealous, even if someone as young as him didn’t realize that or know what it meant.

“Nothin’...” Rin mumbled. “Me’n Dad did some stuff in the garden.”

Yuri walked into the kitchen, a tired smile on her face. “Hey, Rinka. How was your day?”

The demon hummed and turned the stove down so he didn’t accidentally burn dinner while he was distracted. “Fine. And yours? How did the job go? Was everything fine with Yukio at school?”

“Yeah, it was great, actually!” Her smile brightened. “Yukio’s teacher was really sweet, she gave me her number in case we ever needed to get into contact with her for some reason. And work was mostly just first day stuff, you know? Filling out some paperwork, meeting everyone. They started teaching me the computer systems. It’s not a very big library by any means, but the system is a little different than the ones Section Thirteen used.”

Rinka forced himself to smile. “That’s great, Yuri.” If it were up to him, she would stay here with him, and they would never leave. He would covet her, and keep her all to himself, but…

But Yuri didn’t want that. And most of all, he wanted her to be happy. And…yeah, part of him was happy that she was happy, even if this still wasn’t exactly what he wanted.

“Thanks for getting the jump on dinner.” She leaned down to ruffle Rin’s hair. “Helping your dad cook, are ya?”

He chirped a soft confirmation.

“He’s been sneaking pieces of chicken when he thinks I’m not looking,” Rinka said.

“Rin!” Yuri scolded. “You know better than to eat raw food!”

He bared his teeth and hissed, causing Yuri to frown. By this point, Rin only stopped speaking when he was genuinely upset about something.

“Oh, he’ll be fine,” Rinka assured her, not really talking about Rin’s taste for raw meat. Clingy, a little grumpy, but…fine.

Yuri’s brows knitted together in concern. “And you? Are you doing okay?”

His tail flicked. “I’m fine.”

“Rinka…”

“I’ll be fine,” he snarled, turning away from her.

Yuri sighed. “I know you’re not happy about this. But it’ll get better, and I…” She took his hand, lacing their fingers together. “Thank you for trying. And thank you for taking care of Rin.”

Though he tried to stop it, soft purrs rumbled from Rinka’s chest, and Yuri smiled knowingly. “You’re such a big softie,” she teased.

“I am not."  He was the demon god of Gehenna! And he was only here, with a child clinging to his leg, cooking dinner, doing as his wife said, because he wanted to be!

Yuri snorted with laughter and stepped forward to wrap her arms around his torso and lean against his chest. “You are…but it suits you.”

How had he ended up here…? With this?

Why did he treasure it so much…?

Rinka pulled Yuri closer, leaning down to press a soft kiss to the top of her head, determined to be okay with this, to learn to be okay with letting her go sometimes.

"Ewww! Rin, tell Mom and Dad to stop being gross."  Over at the table, Yukio stuck his tongue out.

“Gross?” Yuri pulled away from Rinka and offered their son a teasing smile. “You mean like this?” She stood on her tiptoes to give him an actual kiss, and Rinka couldn’t help but snort with laughter when Yukio groaned and slid further into his seat.

“You’re gonna burn the food,” Rin mumbled as he tugged at Rinka’s pant leg.

“Shit!” He reached for the skillet, yanking it off the burner while Yuri laughed at him.

True to Yuri’s predictions, Yukio adored school. No matter how much homework he was assigned, he never complained. In fact, he seemed to rather enjoy it. He absorbed everything he read, was at the top of his class, and Yuri couldn’t be more proud of him.

Schooling for Rin, on the other hand…

Well, it was more difficult to begin with, because he couldn’t actually go to school. There was no real structure to Rin’s life. Of course, he woke up when Yukio did, though he seemed rather sluggish in the mornings now that the whole family wasn’t on a nocturnal sleep schedule, he prepared Yukio and Yuri’s lunches (with Rinka’s help) while they got ready to leave, and he and Rinka spent the day together, keeping up with household chores, the garden, playing (which genuinely constituted rough-housing of some sort, since that seemed to be the main way Rin enjoyed playing), but he needed school. He needed to learn things. While Yukio was already reading rudimentary chapter books, Rin still barely knew his letters.

They’d gotten him some work books, activities, and Rinka was working with him, trying to teach him to read, basic math, things that kids Rin’s age would be learning in school, but he just…

He was having so much trouble. Trouble focusing on the schoolwork, trouble understanding it, no matter what Rinka and Yuri tried.

It brought back familiar, uncomfortable feelings from when Rin wouldn’t talk, Yuri’s concern that something might be wrong.

And unlike with Yukio, it wasn’t something that could be fixed with something as simple as glasses…

Yuri groaned and flipped through the half-burned math workbook. Rin never burned anything without meaning to, but sometimes his temper got the better of him and he burned things without thinking about it.

And this schoolwork was a sure fire way to get him frustrated.

“We got through eleven problems today before he got mad and gave up,” Rinka offered in an attempt to try and make her feel better. “He seems to have a little easier time with math than reading and writing.”

She slid the ruined workbook across the table and ran her hand through her hair. “I’ll try and find him some easier stuff at the library, I’ve been going through the kids books recently trying to find anything that might interest him enough to keep him from getting as frustrated.”

Rinka tapped his claws against the table, a deep frown on his face. “It’s almost like—like he literally can’t handle it. I don’t understand.”

Yuri hung her head. “I have some guesses about what’s going on. Sometimes humans, well, our brains just do weird things, and they don’t necessarily work like they’re supposed to, or differently from most other humans.”

“Okay…?”

“I don’t think it’s any demon thing, I think this is a very human thing,” she said. “Rin just…sometimes those kinds of things can make school hard. Well, it can make lots of things hard but school is usually the first place it gets noticed for kids. Except he’s not going to school, he just has us. And because of his appearance, I can’t take him to a doctor or a psychiatrist or anything like that for treatment or even a diagnosis, and just— ugh, I don’t know what to do! I want to help him! But I just…don’t know what to do…” She had a few guesses for what it might be…dyslexia, ADHD, something along those lines, and her own research in her free time could only get her so far when it came to helping him.

Rinka hummed and reached across the table to grab the half-incinerated workbook. “We’ll figure it out, Yuri. I’ll just have to find a better way to teach him things, that makes it easier for him.”

Yuri couldn’t help but smile, Rinka’s own progress helping her feel at least a little bit better. It was such a far cry from the way he’d reacted at the mere insinuation that something was wrong with Yukio.

He just wanted to help Rin; he wasn’t angry and panicked that something had happened to someone he cared about that he couldn’t control.

“Yeah…” she agreed. “We’ll figure it out.”

It was pure chance.

Pure fucking chance that Shiro had been working a job in the area. No other exorcist would have caught it, would have thought twice when they heard the name Yuri Okumura.

Of course, Shiro would have tensed up and felt a little…odd and on edge just hearing the name Yuri. It was nearing seven years since his best friend had vanished without a trace, along with the Devil himself. Despite numerous in depth investigations (that Shiro had been involved with himself), not a single lead to either of their whereabouts had ever been found. And four years ago, Yuri Egin had officially been declared dead, presumably at the hands of Satan.

As much as Shiro hated the demon, he wasn’t quite sure if he believed that, because damn it all, that monster had cared about Yuri in some batshit way, but of course that would be the conclusion the Vatican would come to.

But either way, whether she was dead, being kept somewhere by Satan, or just didn’t want to be found, Shiro had long since given up on ever seeing Yuri again.

She was gone, and that was that.

Even if he still lost sleep over it some nights, he’d given up looking for her, even if the Vatican still had investigations open involving Satan, Shiro refused to be a part of it. He might never be able to escape the organization, but he’d done his best to just blend back into the ranks of exorcists, take his jobs and get them done without any instances, and work himself into the grave eventually.

What else was there for him to do?

So…he’d been assigned this job, out in some backwoods town, something about demon infestations in the mountains nearby. There had been no real intention to interact with any of the town’s residents, but Shiro didn’t feel like prowling around the mountains with a shotgun and some holy water and hoping that was enough, so he’d gone to the local library, intending to ask about any local legends or beliefs that might clue him into what, if anything, might be out there.

The librarian he’d talked to hadn’t been much help, just directed him to a tiny shelf containing books about legends in the back of the library that he’d quickly deemed useless. Not that he should be too surprised that this was a bust. Normal humans rarely had any useful information, whether it was via books or word of mouth, and he’d been getting ready to leave when he heard it.

“What was that new hire’s name? The one that started, what was it, two weeks ago? Oku…Okumura?” one of the librarians asked.

“Okumura, yeah,” the other confirmed. “She said to just call her Yuri though, apparently she’s not used to going by her surname.”

“Yuri, yeah. Well, we need to figure out how we’re going to handle her paychecks, did she give you any banking information?”

Shiro gripped the bookshelf so tightly his fingers ached, his breath catching in his throat.

Yuri.

He shook his head, attempting to quell the irrational spark of hope that ignited in him. Yuri was gone, and some random stranger having her name meant nothing. It wasn’t even that uncommon of a name.

“I mean, she’s working at the desk right now, you could just go ask her.”

Shiro didn’t even realize he was walking towards the desk. Why was he walking towards the desk? Yuri wasn’t fucking there.

But some treacherous, tiny part of him was telling him to just look, just to see. It could be her, couldn’t it?

Of course it wasn’t her. And all this would result in was him feeling like shit later. And feeling fucking stupid for even considering it as a possibility.

He was going to find some cheap hotel, smoke a pack, and—

And he didn’t even realize he was staring at Yuri Egin for at least a solid minute. At the front desk, right where they said she would be. The same deep brown hair, teal eyes, and—

Very much alive, and not missing.

She stared at him, mouth falling open in shock as she shot to her feet. “Sh-Shiro…?”

Chapter Text

Yuri anxiously tapped her fingers against the desk, and twirled the phone cord around her index as the dialing tone rang. It wasn’t the first time she’d called the house phone since she’d started working. She was always sure to let Rinka know if she and Yukio would be getting home later for whatever reason, usually because they were out getting groceries or something like that, but he still got twitchy when she called, always jumping to the worst conclusions and assuming something was wrong. 

Which… Yuri glanced towards Shiro, who was still just staring at her with wide eyes, like he couldn’t believe what he was looking at. 

Yuri knew how he felt.

So, no, things might not be wrong, but she wasn’t sure if she would call them okay either. 

The dialing cut off, her husband’s gruff voice coming over the line, “Yuri? Is everything okay?” 

“Hey…” She turned away from Shiro, keeping her voice low so he wouldn’t overhear. God, how much should she tell him? Should she tell him anything at all? She wanted to tell him everything, they’d been best friends, but as much as she hated it, she didn’t know if she could trust him. Not anymore. “I’m going to be running a bit late today.” 

“Why? What’s wrong?” Rinka demanded with a soft growl. “You just—” 

“I promise I’m okay, and I’ll explain everything in person as soon as I’m home, but…” She took a deep breath. “I need you to go pick up Yukio from school.” 

“...What?” 

“Something came up and I’m not able to. But you know what time he gets out. You’ll just have to go to the school at that time, and he’ll find you. I’ve already called the school to let them know that it will be you getting him today,” she said. 

“Yuri, tell me what’s going on!” His voice was thick with worry, and she didn’t want to lie to him, but she knew if she told him Shiro was here, he’d… 

Well, she didn’t know what he would do, but it wouldn’t go well for anyone. 

“I said I will as soon as I’m home. Just trust me, okay? Please, Rinka.” She needed that from him right now. She needed him to just trust her and give her space and time to talk with Shiro and get things figured out. 

He sighed, and though the slight snarl remained, he said, “Fine. I’ll go get Yukio and wait for you to come home. But what about Rin?” 

“You’ll have to bring him with you.” It was a terrifying thought, especially with Shiro here. What if there were more exorcists crawling about? But they didn’t have much of a choice. “I mean, you could summon a demon to watch him, but I doubt he would react well to something like that, so just… You’ll have to bring him. Teach him to hide his tail, his flames, put him in a hat to hide his ears.” 

“You’re sure about this?” he asked. “And you’re sure you’re okay?” 

“I’m safe,” she promised. Because Shiro would never, ever let anything happen to her. It was her family she worried about. “And I am. I’ll be back later tonight, hopefully in time to help with dinner.” 

“Okay. I’ll see you tonight.” 

“Thanks, love.” She pulled the phone away from her ear, and hung it up. 

Alright, here goes nothing. 

She turned back to Shiro, grabbing her purse from the desk. “Ready to go? There’s a coffee place a couple streets over we can go to.” 

“I—Uh… Jesus, Yuri.” He ran his hand down the side of his face. “You’re expecting me to just go along with this? Who the hell were you just on the phone with? How did you—” 

“Shiro.” She walked around the desk and crossed her arms. “I told you I would explain best I can. But not here. I’m putting a lot of trust in you just by talking to you. Can’t I ask for a little in return?” 

How desperately she wanted Shiro to understand, to accept that she was happy, that she loved her life and her family, demonic pieces and all, but… 

Unfortunately she wasn’t certain that he would. And now it wasn’t just her and Rinka at risk, but their sons as well. 

She just couldn’t put an old friend above them. Nor did she want to. 

“I’m not going to report you,” he insisted, for what was already the fourth time, and if he hadn’t promised that right out the gate, she wasn’t even sure if she would still be talking to him, instead racing home and planning to relocate for fear of the Vatican finding her husband and children. 

“I know. But it’s still complicated. So let’s go.” She beckoned for him to follow. “We’ve got a lot to talk about.” 

“Damn straight we do,” he said as he followed her. “What happened to you? What about—Where’s Satan?” 

Yuri swallowed thickly. “I promise I’ll explain. Just please… please keep an open mind.” 

Shiro grimaced, but didn’t protest.  

Little claws pricked at Rinka’s back as Rin clung tighter to him, wary growls rumbling in his ear. 

“Don’t growl,” Rinka chided. “Remember? Act like Yukio and your mother do.” Already, the two of them had gotten a lot of strange looks as they’d taken the bus and walked through town. Was it because of their white hair? Or because Rin insisted upon clinging to Rinka’s back, instinctually latching onto a parent as he was nervous and anxious due to the new environment. 

The growls stopped. “There’s so many of them…” Rin whispered as his eyes trailed a person walking down the sidewalk. “I never knew there were so many.” 

“There are a lot of them,” Rinka agreed. He’d never been overly fond of humans, with Yuri and Yukio being the only exceptions, and he could certainly do with a world containing less of them, but Yuri always insisted he should try not to think that way. 

Rin’s lip curled up in distaste. “How does Yukio like this? It’s so loud, and it smells bad, and it’s so bright!” He hid his face in Rinka’s shoulder with a soft whine. “I never wanna go to school…” 

Rinka snorted, glad at least someone understood his dislike for human settlements. 

Children skirted around the two of them as they exited the school building, giving them a wide berth. Perhaps Yuri hadn’t been exaggerating when she insisted that Rinka just felt menacing to normal humans. Though he did eye a few of the louder kids with contempt. 

“Um, sir…?” A middle-aged woman approached him, though her voice was rather timid. “Can I ask what you’re doing here? I’ve never seen you before, and—” 

“I’m here for Yukio. Yuri said she told you I was coming,” he interrupted, already growing agitated with how long this was taking. He just wanted Yukio, and to take him home, so at least he would know that both of his sons were safe and taken care of, even if he was still worried about Yuri, and what might be going on with her, despite her assurances that it was all okay. 

“Oh.” Relief flooded across the woman’s face. “Oh! You’re Mr. Okumura! Sorry, I just—You weren’t what I was expecting from Mrs. Okumura’s husband.” 

Rinka’s eyes narrowed. “What’s that supposed to mean?” 

“You’re very, um, intense?” She shook her head with a forced laugh. “Nevermind. Ignore me. Is this Yukio’s brother?” she asked, gesturing vaguely to Rin, who was observing the woman with wide eyes. “You’re homeschooling him, aren’t you?” 

Rin hissed at the woman, his claws digging deeper into Rinka’s back as he did so.

She started, shock overtaking her features. “Uh…” 

“He’s not much of a talker,” Rinka offered as explanation. “Where is—” 

“Dad!” Yukio rushed towards him, sneakers thudding against the pavement, a bright smile on his face as he gripped the straps of his backpack. “Hi, Nii-san! Look!” He pointed back towards the brick building. “It’s my school!” 

“Uh huh.” Rin finally let Rinka remove him from his back and set him on the ground. “It’s really loud…” 

“Is it?” Yukio tilted his head. “Well, you can hear better than me.” 

Rinka leaned down to nudge the boys down the sidewalk. “We need to go.” They were still far too young to realize what they should and should not talk about in front of humans, and based on the teacher’s puzzled expression and half-open mouth like she was trying to come up with something to say, they’d already been strange enough to warrant questioning. 

“Good-bye, Mrs. Nakamura!” Yukio turned to wave over his shoulder. “I’ll see you tomorrow!” 

“Uh, yes, um—Bye, Yukio!” the teacher— Mrs. Nakamura replied. “And it was nice meeting you, Mr. Okumura!” 

Rinka grunted, opting not to respond to the pointless pleasantries, turning away from her and starting the walk to the bus station. 

“Why couldn’t Mom get me today?” Yukio questioned as he took Rinka’s hand. “Or did you and Rin just wanna come to town? I thought you couldn’t!” 

“Town sucks,” Rin complained. “I wanna go home! My tail is itchy beneath my shirt!” 

“We’re going home,” Rinka assured him. “And your mother just asked me to come get you. She said she would explain why when she got home.” 

“Oh. Okay.” Yukio accepted the explanation with ease, deciding to instead tease and needle Rin about why he didn’t like town. 

And Rinka did his best to accept Yuri’s wishes just as easily as his son did. 

“So how’ve you been?” Yuri asked after taking a small sip of her tea. “Still with the Order, obviously?” 

“Cut the shit, Yuri,” Shiro practically snapped. “You know damn well nothing has changed for me. The Order wouldn’t let me leave even if I tried. This is about you. Fuck! Couldn’t you have called? Written? Something? It’s been almost seven years! I started to worry you might be dead, just like everyone fucking said!” 

Yuri sighed and set her cup down on the table. “Shiro… It wasn’t that simple.” 

“What did he do with you? What did he do to you?” His eyes narrowed. “Satan kidnapped you and—” 

“He did no such thing!” Yuri interrupted, followed by a frustrated groan. “Shiro… Look, I know the two of you hate each other, but if we’re going to—” She bit her lip. Was this a one time thing? Were she and Shiro going to vanish from each other’s lives again after this afternoon? Would that be better for them? “You have to give him a chance.” 

“You’re still with him, aren’t you? He’s the one you called,” he said, a deep frown etched on his face. 

“Yes. I called my husband to let him know I would be late coming home,” she confirmed, bracing herself for the inevitable outburst. 

“Husband!?” Shiro sputtered. 

“Well, we’re not officially married or anything,” she attempted to joke with a small smile. “I don’t think any ordained minister was going to go along with that. But we like calling each other husband and wife.” 

“Oh…” Shiro rested his elbows on the little table and put his head in his hands. “Yuri… What are you doing?” 

“Living a quiet life with my husband. Why do you care? He’s not hurting me. He’s not hurting anyone.” Why had Shiro never been able to accept him? To even try with him? “What did he ever do to you?” 

“He’s Satan!” 

“His name is Rinka. Please don’t call him that.” It wasn’t that Yuri hated the name, but what it had symbolized for her partner… That name, the treatment exorcists had given him because of that name, was all part of the reason he had started straying down that awful path, and she’d worked so hard to get him off of it. 

“He’s a demon, Yuri,” he insisted. “The name doesn’t matter, a demon is a demon.” 

“God, can’t you just abandon the exorcist mindset for once? I’m glad to see you! So, so glad! I missed you, Shiro! You were important to me! But don’t you understand that I can’t accept that? And I can’t accept you if you continue to think like that!” Why did things have to go this way? She wanted to give him a hug, demand to know if he was okay, show him her life, introduce him to her children, but he was being so damn difficult! 

But Shiro had always been that way, hadn’t he? 

“Why?” he asked, helplessly shaking his head. “How can you care about a monster like that? He took you away! He killed people, and he stole you and—” 

“It was my idea to leave!” she shrieked. “Rinka didn’t steal me from you! I left, Shiro! Because I hated exorcists and what they were doing, because I wanted to be with him!” They’d stayed, just long enough to get Rinka a stable body, and then they’d fled. It was the only way they’d ever be able to be happy. It was the only way for Rinka to learn, and grow. 

And he had. 

Shiro flinched back, almost as if she’d slapped him. 

“You don’t need to save me from some big, bad demon,” she continued, hating that she was upsetting him, but knowing that digging the knife in deeper was the only way to make him feel better, in the long run. “I chose to be with a demon. And he makes me happy. If you’re always going to have that mindset, that demons are bad, and I need to be saved from them, this—” she gestured between the two of them “—is never going to work.” 

“I never thought I needed to save you,” he protested softly. 

“Then what did you think?” she asked. “If you don’t think I need to be saved, why can’t you trust me when it comes to Rinka?” 

“I—” He turned his head away, shoulders slumping. “Dammit, Yuri… How did this happen? Why did we… I’m sorry.” 

“You don’t have to apologize to me,” she said, picking up her cup of tea again, needing to give her trembling hands something to do. “I just… I don’t want this to be the last time we ever see each other. But I’m not going to stop loving Rinka.” 

“I won’t tell anyone about you, or—or him. I promise, Yuri.” He laughed, the sound a little bitter. “Who would I even tell anyways?” 

Tears pooled in her eyes, but she furiously blinked them away before her friend could notice. Because he was still alone, wasn’t he? He had no one, and was still kept on a tight leash by the Vatican. Why else would he still be working as an exorcist? Sure, he might not like demons, but he didn’t like being an exorcist either. He had no family, and now that she was gone… 

No friends. 

“How long are you going to be in town?” she asked. As soon as she got home, she would be telling Rinka that she’d met Shiro today, and damn it all, she wanted to keep her friend in her life. 

Surely Shiro and Rinka could learn to… sort of get along, right? 

He shrugged. “A week or so. Just some rumors of demons in the mountains.” 

Yuri winced. She was going to have to tell Rinka to stop summoning so many demons for little things. Of course the wrong person had caught a glimpse of them one too many times. 

“I can’t take too long or I’ll get my ass chewed out, but no one pays much attention to me anymore. I got, uh… ‘unpredictable’ and ‘rude’ after you, um, disappeared…” 

Yuri chuckled. “You somehow got worse in both those departments? Besides… I thought you were on the fast track to end up with a really high rank. Maybe even Paladin.” 

He shook his head. “They tried a few times. I always refused, so eventually they gave up. Only reason I never just quit was because I don’t think it would work. I can’t ever escape Section Thirteen.” 

“We did,” she told him, reaching across the table to take his hand, giving it a light squeeze. “And we’re happy now.” 

Shiro glanced down at their hands. “Yeah… What’s he up to right now? The Devil himself, if he’s not with you?” 

“Oh…” She checked her watch. “He’s probably just getting home to start dinner now, after picking Yukio up from school.” 

Ever so slowly, Shiro’s eyes grew comically wide as he put the pieces together. “A kid?” 

“Yes, we have children,” she confirmed. “Two boys. They’re twins.” 

“I’m gonna have an aneurysm.” He laid down on the table, burying his head in his arms. “Not his? They’re not—You didn’t—” 

“Whose else would they be?” she asked. “Yes, they’re Rinka’s sons. We’ve been together since before we ran away. Rin looks an awful lot like him.” She smiled fondly. “Takes after him in a lot of ways.” 

“Nephilim,” Shiro groaned. “Unholy nephilim, the spawn of Satan, I think they qualify as the antichrists.” 

Yuri reached across the table to whack him on the head. “Don’t talk about them that way! They’re both lovely, sweet boys!” 

He snorted and lifted his head up. “I’ll believe it when I see it.” 

“Well…” Yuri nudged her chair back and got to her feet. “If you’re here for a week, you’re going to have to meet them eventually. And Rinka will… want to talk to you, I’m sure.” Snarl some threats, but he would come around at Yuri’s urging. “So, come on. It’s quite a ways to our house, but if we hurry, we can get there as soon as Rinka and Rin are done making dinner.” 

“Dinner…?” he echoed. 

“Yeah.” She smiled. “Of course I would invite an old friend over for dinner.”

Chapter Text

“I’m gonna eviscerate him!” 

“Rinka!” Yuri wrapped her arms around the demon’s waist, not that that did anything to deter him. He merely dragged her across the house, despite how hard she tried to dig her heels in. “Rinka! Stop it! He’s not doing anything! He’s not gonna report us! Rinka!” 

Her husband snarled, but halted, glancing over his shoulder at her. “I hate him.” 

“He’s my friend. I missed him, love.” She sighed and shook her head, tightening her hold on him. “I honestly never thought I’d see him again, and for us to run into each other like that…” 

“He hunted us down!” he hissed, his tail flicking and smacking against Yuri’s thigh. 

“He did not! Trust me, he was not expecting to see me.” She rested her cheek against his upper back. “Please, please, for my sake, just don’t try and kill him? It’s Shiro, you know we’re friends!” 

“Mrs. Nakamura says it’s good to have friends!” Yukio supplied helpfully, despite knowing nothing about the situation. “That everyone should be friends!” 

“See? Even Mrs. Nakamura thinks everyone should be friends,” Yuri said with a teasing smile. 

“I am not listening to some random woman!” Rinka protested. 

“Why not?” Yuri finally let go of him and moved around to face him. “Yukio has to listen to her. Why don’t you?” 

“That’s not—That—” He grit his teeth, eyes narrowing in contempt. 

“Come on…” Yuri gestured to Rin and Yukio, who were watching them from the couch with wide eyes and bemused expressions. “What kind of example are you setting for your sons?” 

“I think my sons should know it’s okay to hate Shiro,” he grumbled petulantly as he crossed his arms and pouted. 

“Rinka,” she scolded. 

“I wanna meet Mom’s friend!” Yukio exclaimed as he clambered off the couch to grab Rinka’s hand and tug at it. “He’s outside, isn’t it? Can’t he come in? Don’t you wanna meet him, Nii-san?” 

Rin hissed and pressed himself into the corner of the couch. “Already seen too many people today…” 

Yuri sighed, and she supposed that Rin and Rinka had already had a pretty big day, and had interacted with a lot more people than they were used to, especially when you considered that neither one of them were used to social situations. 

Maybe she was pushing too hard for today… She could try introducing Shiro to them in a few days, she supposed. “I guess—” 

“Bring him in,” Rinka growled as he stomped towards the kitchen. “Guess I’ll put out an extra fucking plate for the bastard since he’s so important to you. If he tries anything, I’m frying him though!” 

Yuri chuckled and shook her head. Anyone else would have thought his response was passive aggressive, but Rinka never bothered with that. If he said something, he genuinely meant it. He was willing to try with Shiro, just because she’d asked him to. 

“Right!” She clapped her hands together. “Boys, are you ready to meet my friend? His name is Shiro.” 

“Yes!” Yukio bounced with excitement, but Rin only growled. 

And well… that was honestly the best she could hope for. Seemed like Rin was going to take after his father in yet another way. 

Shiro held his breath, half expecting the quaint little cabin to go up in blue flames any second now. Satan had been infamous for his temper, and while it was true Yuri had always been strangely good at calming him down, Shiro seriously doubted she would be very successful in this scenario. 

Satan hated him, and Shiro hated him as well. 

Why did Yuri think this was going to work out? Of course… because it was for Yuri, Shiro would attempt to be civil with the demon, but he sincerely doubted that the other would return the favor. 

She’d left him outside to pace back and forth in front of the door while she talked to Satan and explained everything, and if he thought he’d been tense on the way out of town, it was nothing compared to how he felt now. 

Satan. Yuri had married Satan. He hadn’t kidnapped her, she’d gone with him willingly. And of course, Shiro had… considered that to be a possibility, but it was another thing entirely to hear it confirmed. 

Not only had she run away with the demon of all demons, engaged in a relationship with him, but she… 

They had children. Demonic children. Nephilim children. Which… yeah, that wasn’t necessarily all that rare, but these weren’t any nephilim children; they were the spawn of Satan. Children born from the Baal were unusual enough, let alone… 

This.

There had to be next to no human in them! Nothing at all—

The door creaked open, and Yuri poked her head outside, a bright smile on her face. “You can come in now, Shiro. Rinka and the boys would love to see you!” 

Rinka and the boys. Yeah, he was going to lose it by the time the day was over, but he did his best to stop grimacing, and followed Yuri inside. 

Shiro barely made it over the threshold before a little boy ran up to him, a bright smile lighting up his face. Yuri’s smile. “Hello, Mr. Shiro!” he chirped with a deep bow. “It’s nice to meet you!” 

Shiro balked, his mind going horribly blank as he tried figuring out how to respond to that. He didn’t know what to do with children to begin with (Shura being the exception, but she wasn’t exactly a normal child). But… 

This wasn’t a normal child either. This was a demonic child, born of Gehenna. 

Even if he certainly didn’t look it. If Yuri hadn’t already told him her child was half demon, he never would have guessed. This was… This was a perfectly normal, human boy! And he looked… 

So much like Yuri. Her hair color, her eye shape, even a few moles on his face similar to hers. But… 

There were traces of Satan as well. Far more subtle, but unable to be ignored now that Shiro was looking. The boy’s strong jaw, the curve of his nose, and it was… Well, unnerving, to be completely honest. 

“This is Yukio!” Yuri said, her voice far too chipper for the situation, though she was likely trying to cover up his reluctance and discomfort. “He’s the youngest of the twins. He’s a talker though, if you let him get started. Come on, baby.” Yuri patted his back. “You don’t have to be so formal with Shiro, do you?” She shot him a knowing smile. 

“Uh, yeah, no.” He stepped further inside and closed the door behind him. “Don’t—You don’t gotta bother with that, um—” He awkwardly patted Yukio’s head. “Kiddo.” 

Yukio beamed. “How do you know mom?” he asked. 

“Uh…” How the fuck was he supposed to answer that? Did these kids know who their father was? What exorcists did to demonic creatures like three of the four people who lived in this house? 

“We used to work together,” Yuri answered, saving Shiro before he said the wrong thing and caused god knew how many issues. “But I knew him long before then. Since I was a kid myself.” 

Yukio nodded thoughtfully, as if this made sense. “And why does Dad hate him?” 

Shit. Why the fuck was he asking so many damned questions? 

But Yuri merely laughed. “Because Dad gets grumpy sometimes. Go on. Why don’t you go help him get the dinner table set up, eh?” 

“Okay!” Yukio took off for the kitchen, but glanced back at Shiro a few more times, as if examining every inch of him, with far more scrutiny than befitted a child so young. 

“See…” Yuri ushered Shiro further inside. “I told you they were good boys.” 

“I’ve only seen one of them,” he refuted. “And not the… Mm…” 

“Rinka?” she suggested, though her voice carried a dangerous edge, a warning; don’t call him Satan.

So the boys didn’t know the truth about their father. Figures. They only knew him as Rinka. As Yuri’s little fantasy, that they were now a part of. 

“He’s in the kitchen,” she continued. “Finishing up dinner. Normally Rin helps him, but seems he’s a bit twitchy today. Not that I can blame him,” she laughed. “He had to go into town today for the first time since he was born.” 

“I thought you said they went to school?” 

“Yukio goes to school,” she corrected. “Rin doesn’t.” A sadness came over her, shoulders slumping, a tiredness in her eyes, but it vanished as quickly as it had appeared. “Rin!” she called. “You can’t hide behind the couch forever. And I know you don’t want to miss dinner.” 

An inhuman, angry growl came from behind the ratty couch against the opposite wall. It was a truly demonic noise, and that confirmed Shiro’s suspicions. 

What was it Yuri had said? Rin took after Rinka in a lot of ways? That coupled with the fact that he didn’t attend normal human school…

Shiro grimaced. Oh, Yukio might be human, but her other son was far from it, wasn’t he? Probably more demon than human. 

“Rin…” Yuri coaxed again as she walked towards the couch and kneeled down next to it. “Come on. You’ll like Shiro! He’s really nice!” 

Well that was a fucking lie, probably on both accounts. 

Another growl sounded, though this one was much softer than the first. 

“Baby… Please?” Yuri asked, never losing a scrap of patience. “You don’t have to stay out and socialize for long. Just say hello, and get your dinner, then you can go to your room or hide, and I won’t bother you at all.” 

“Okay…” 

“There we go!” Yuri held her arms out, and gathered up the small boy that wiggled out from behind the couch and latched onto her. “Come on.” She got back to her feet with a soft oof, struggling to hold up the child latched onto her. “Shiro, this is Rin. Never would have pegged him to be shy, but well…” She chuckled and ruffled his fluffy white hair. “Like I said, he’s had an overwhelming day.” 

Shiro swallowed thickly, doing his best to ignore the dread causing his stomach to churn. This was a child. This was Yuri’s child, and he was innocent, despite the blood running through his veins, but… 

Rin shifted, squirming his way out of Yuri’s hold and thudding to the floor, his tail flicking, eerie blue eyes studying Shiro. 

He couldn’t help but take a step back on instinct. His eyes told him this was a kid, but every other sense warned that this was a demon, leaving shivers to crawl up and down his spine. 

Rin hissed, the noise befitting a feral cat, bared his fangs and flexed his claws, smolders of blue flame igniting over his little body. 

“Shit!” Shiro barked, resisting the urge to grab for his gun. The thing even had Satan’s flames? 

“Rin…” Yuri scolded, reaching out to touch him. 

“No!” Shiro yelped, expecting the flames to burn her, for the demon to whip around and bite her— 

Yuri offered him a disappointed glare, and delicately grabbed Rin’s shoulder, the flames doing nothing to affect her. “He can sense you’re on edge, and it’s putting him on edge, too,” she explained. “Like any other demon.” 

Shiro squeezed his eyes shut, and leaned against the door. How could Yuri so casually talk about something that was supposed to be her kid that way? Didn’t it bother her how off-putting he was? 

Well, obviously not, considering the brat’s father was about a thousand times worse. 

When he didn’t respond, Yuri shook her head and gave Rin her full attention. “It’s alright, sweetie. He’s nice, like I said. It just takes him a while to get used to things. Come on.” She took his hand. “Let’s go eat.” 

Rinka spent most of the meal glowering at Shiro, despising the fact that he was within a ten mile radius of Yuri and the twins, let alone in his house. 

Yuri attempted to get conversations going, chattering on about anything and everything, but Yukio was the only one who actually engaged, not noticing the intense awkwardness of the situation. Rinka and Shiro merely hummed responses when she was clearly fishing for one. 

Rin refused to reply to anything, and spent his entire time sitting at the table glaring daggers at Shiro. 

Rinka couldn’t help but feel a little proud and smug. He didn’t dare smile or laugh and incur Yuri’s wrath, though. 

As much as he hated Shiro, he wanted her to be happy, and for some bizarre reason, the insufferable man made her so. 

“Mom said she knew you from work,” Yukio said, his tongue poking out of the corner of his mouth as he struggled to get his spaghetti on the fork. “What’s your work?” 

Shiro glanced at Yuri, clearly questioning how he was supposed to answer that. 

“Shiro is something called an exorcist,” Yuri answered slowly, carefully. 

“Exor—Exer—” Yukio frowned, frustrated that he couldn’t get the word out right. “Exerciss?” 

“Close enough,” Shiro said. 

“What’s that?” Yukio pressed, leaning forward with interest. 

“We, uh—” 

“They study demons!” Yuri answered. “That’s how me and your dad met, actually!” 

“Oh…” Yukio nodded thoughtfully. “That makes sense.” 

Study demons. Rinka had to force back a snort of laughter. It technically wasn’t a lie, but exorcists did far more than that, and Shiro had never studied a demon in his life. 

Uncomfortable silence settled over the dining room, save for Rin’s soft growls as he slid further down into his seat, leaving him just barely able to see over the tabletop. 

“Right.” Shiro stood up rather abruptly, his chair screeching backwards. “I’m gonna head back to my hotel, got an early morning tomorrow.” 

“Shiro—” Yuri attempted. 

Rinka got up and followed after Shiro as he scrambled towards the front door, shooting Yuri what he hoped was a reassuring look as he went. 

His wife’s brow furrowed, but she didn’t try to protest again. 

As soon as Rinka stepped outside and closed the door behind them, he heard the click of a gun, and rolled his eyes as Shiro aimed his pistol right at his head. “Fucking seriously? You know that isn’t gonna do shit.” 

Shiro grit his teeth. “Well you really wanna find out? The fuck do you want? I’m not gonna report you. I’m leaving. You’re the reason there’s demons in these mountains, so no point in finishing this damned mission. I’m leaving, and you’ll never fucking see me again.” 

God, that sounded perfect. Shiro would vanish, with no way to contact him, and things could go back to normal. Rinka would have Yuri all to himself. But… 

But that would upset her. 

“Yuri would miss you,” he said, reaching out to nudge the gun away, knowing Shiro wasn’t actually going to fire. Not when Yuri would hear the gunshot and get upset. Because that’s why he was leaving, right? Some stupid response to his feelings and running before there was a confrontation? 

“Why? And why the fuck do you care?” he snarled. “You got her! All to yourself! And those little monsters in there prove it!” 

A violent snarl ripped itself from Rinka’s throat, flames flaring in tandem with the noise. “Do not call them that!” 

Shiro’s shoulders shook with hysterical laughter. “They’re half you, aren’t they!? What else would that make them? I thought you were proud of what you were, Satan!” 

Rinka narrowed his eyes, doing his damndest to keep his temper under control and smother the flames that ached to be released. “I am not ashamed, I don’t hate myself, like you exorcists wanted. I don’t regret what I’ve done, and I can’t change what I am. My sons have nothing to do with any of that, and Yuri would hate that you think so!” 

“You’re playing at having a conscience, but you’re just doing what Yuri tells you to!” 

“And? Does that fucking matter?” So what if he only acted this way because it made Yuri happy? Yuri being happy made him happy, so of course he would go along with it! He might not understand her wishes, her feelings all the time, but he was trying, and she said that was enough. 

Shiro didn’t get to decide that it wasn’t. 

“God, I wanna fucking shoot you,” the exorcist spit. “So goddamn bad!” 

Rinka rolled his eyes. “Whatever. I don’t give a shit what you do, and I’d like nothing more than to never see someone as pathetic and loathsome as you ever again. But…” His tail flicked. “That would hurt Yuri, and I want that even less. So fuck off. Leave me alone, and I’ll leave you alone, so long as you don’t hurt Yuri or my sons. But don’t you dare cut her off because you hate me and our children. I’ll find you, and I’ll rip you limb from fucking limb.” 

“That’s it?” Shiro helplessly shook his head. “Make her happy, or you’ll kill me?” 

“Yes.” Had he somehow been unclear? 

“I can’t—You, and those—those—” 

“Careful,” Rinka warned with a deadly growl. Yes, his children were demons, but not in the way that exorcists spit the word with contempt. They were demons, just as humans were humans. Nothing else. 

“Kids,” Shiro amended. 

“Then just meet with Yuri when you can. Like I said, I don’t like you—” 

“Coulda fooled me,” he grumbled. 

“I don’t want to see you. I just don’t want Yuri to lose her friend, because he’s a goddamn bastard and hates me so much he can’t see any fucking sense.” 

With a heavy sigh, Shiro placed his gun back in the holster on his hip. “Tell Yuri I’ll meet her at the library again within the next few days. I just… I need to think.” 

Rinka grunted, decided that was good enough for now, and went back inside. 

“I want to try.” 

Yuri looked up from her paperwork, relief flooding through her at Shiro’s voice. After two days with no word from him, she’d worried he’d left without so much as a goodbye, unable to handle how she’d chosen to live, despite Rinka's assurances that he'd promised to meet her at the library again. “Huh…?” 

“I…” Shiro worked his jaw, clearly anxious. “I’m not sure how often I could come see you. I don’t want anyone to get suspicious and trace me back to you, but I want to try. I want to fix our friendship, and—and get to know your family. If Sata—Rinka. If Rinka can make an effort for you, I can too.” 

Yuri smiled and shot to her feet, wrapping him in a bone crushing hug. “Thank you.”

Chapter Text

“Do I have to go to school today?” 

Yuri blinked, the question throwing her for a loop. In the five years since Yukio had been going to school, he’d never asked to skip school. In fact, he tended to insist upon going, even when he was sick. “Are you feeling okay?” 

“I feel fine…” Yukio fidgeted with the zippers on his backpack. “I just—Do I have to go?” 

“Well… no,” Yuri said. He’d never skipped school before in his life, or course she would let him stay home when he requested to! But why did he want to? “But you’re going to have to tell me why.” 

He ducked his head, wiping at his nose with a frustrated sniffle. 

“Not right this second,” she assured him, reaching out to wipe at the tears gathering in the corners of his eyes. “But you want to skip school because something is upsetting you, so you need to talk about it either with me, or your dad, okay? We can’t help if you don’t tell us what’s wrong.” 

“Okay…” 

“Alright. Well, I still have to go to work, but have a good day with your dad and brother,” she said with a small smile. “And are you still okay with Uncle Shiro coming for dinner?” 

Yukio nodded. 

“Okay. I’ll see you this evening, sweetie. Try and have a good day.” 

He sniffled again, “I will.” 

Yuri frowned, and did her best not to get too concerned. Yukio was very sensitive, and there was nothing wrong with that, but sometimes he got upset over trivial things. But with him wanting to skip school… 

She would just have to talk with him after work. 

“Why ain’t you at school?” Rin asked, reaching over to poke at Yukio’s cheek. “Thought you liked school.” His brother certainly seemed to enjoy all the stupid homework. Maybe he could convince Yukio to do his homework for the day…

“No reason.” His twin scooted to the other side of the couch. “Do your math.” 

Rin groaned and threw his head back. “I hate math. You do my math.” 

“Quit coercing your brother into doing your homework,” their father scolded. “You could work on your reading.” 

Rin snarled and flopped against Yukio, his workbook tumbling to the floor. “Dad…” 

“Rin…” he repeated in the same tone of voice, never taking his attention off the book he read. 

“Can you just read to me?” Rin requested. He didn’t hate books, especially when they had pictures in them! It was just… it was hard, and a lot more fun when someone just read to him. 

“If you get through a little bit on your own, I’ll read the rest,” Rinka offered. 

Rin hummed, considering the offer, eventually accepting it was the best he was going to get. Their father wasn’t known for compromising; not unless it was for their mother. “Okay.” He slid off the couch, but clutched at Yukio with one hand. “You wanna read with us?” 

“Mm mm.” He shook his head. “I’m okay.” 

Rin stared at him for a moment, frowning. Something was obviously bothering his brother, considering he’d stayed home from school, and Yukio never did that, but he usually loved to read with them! “Whatever.” He slunk over to their father, deciding to try and get something out of Yukio later. 

He was getting too big to sit in his lap like he’d always used to do, so he just pressed against him. “What’er you reading?” 

“Nothing you would be interested in,” Rinka said, setting his book off to the side. “Let’s get one of your books.” 

“Do you not like people because they’re mean?” 

Rinka hummed, watching his youngest son move his chess piece, trying to decide if he wanted to let him win or not. Yukio was still learning the rules of the game, and clearly something was upsetting him, so maybe winning a game would help improve his mood. “I don’t like people for a lot of reasons.” 

“They’re mean,” Yukio insisted. 

Rinka shrugged. “Yeah.” He had far more descriptive and unkind words for the vast majority of humans, but Yukio was just as kind as his mother, and mean was probably the worst thing the eleven-year-old could come up with. “Mean, sure.” 

“They say awful things…” he muttered, his lip wobbling as he tried not to cry. “People at school.” 

“About you?” A familiar anger rose in Rinka’s chest, but he forced it down, doing his best to stay calm. If he visibly got angry, Yukio would only get more upset. 

“W-Well…” Yukio ducked his head. “Sometimes, but that—I don’t think that bothers me.” He shrugged. “I mean, I don’t really have friends, none of the kids really talk to me… but I don’t care, ‘cause I come back here and I can just play with Rin. But… I don’t like when they talk about you.” 

“Me?” Why the hell would little human brats be talking about him? 

“Not just you, but… but they talk about Rin, and Mom, and—I dunno, I guess people talk about our family, because the town’s so small.” He gave up on the chess pieces, the tears finally spilling over. “They call Rin stupid, just because he doesn’t go to school! And—And Mom! I heard one teacher say it was terrible she had to work so much because of ‘deadbeat husband’ and—” He let out a frustrated sob. “That’s not fair! They don’t know anything about our family! Why do they get to say things like that!? Nii-san’s not stupid! And you’re not—Mom works because she wants to, and—and I want to say something, but I can’t because you’re demons and it’s not fair!” 

“Hit them.” 

Yukio shook his head. “We’re not allowed to do that. And Mom would be mad you told me to do that.” 

Rinka snorted. “Yeah…” Yuri had never been prone to violence, even if it was a fair response, more often than not. 

“Aren’t you upset that they say things like that?” Yukio demanded. “It makes me mad! It makes me— ugh.” He rested his arms on the table, burying his face in them. 

Years ago, yeah, Rinka probably would have hunted down whoever said things like that about his sons, his wife, but… 

Now, it was trivial. It was irritating, of course, and it made him angry, but more because Yukio had to listen to it. But humans were going to talk; they always did. Nothing Rinka did was ever going to stop them, or prevent them acting like the rats they were! “Sure, I hate when anyone says bad things about Yuri, or you and your brother. But short of killing them, what could I do? So either bite them, or ignore them.” 

“I don’t have fangs,” he muttered, voice muffled as his face was still hidden. 

“You still have teeth.” Blunt, human teeth, that weren’t meant for biting deep and tearing, but they would certainly function well enough for this. 

“I guess…” He raised his head, and at least the tears had stopped. “I don’t care about any of them and their families, I just don’t understand why they care about ours.” 

They always have. “Humans don’t know how to mind their own damn business. Sometimes biting them or telling them to fuck off is the only thing you can do. Don’t fucking let them get to you. Then they win. Get mean back, or just ignore them. They’ll lose interest.” 

Yukio tapped his fingers against the table. “Yeah, okay. I’ll try.” He turned his attention back to the chess board. “And it’s your turn.” 

Clearly the conversation was over, so Rinka gave his attention to the game once more. 

“Trouble at school, huh?” Shiro shook his head. “Well, that kinda shit’s to be expected. Kids are fucking pricks, and Yukio kinda makes himself an easy target, with him being a big cry baby and all.” 

“There’s nothing wrong with crying!” Yuri protested. 

“I never said there was, but kids are gonna pick on him ‘cause of his weird family situation, and then he cries. Hell yeah they’re gonna go after him!” Did Yuri really not get that? She was so certain she liked her different life, but she still couldn’t fathom that other people wouldn’t like it, and as such, were going to talk about it. “Just send Rin to school with him, other kids will quit picking on him real damn quick. That little fucker’s mean as hell.” 

Yuri whacked his shoulder. “Shiro!” 

“What?” He held his hand up. “I’ve still got the damn bite scars from the first few times I came over!” 

“He just takes time getting used to people, he likes you well enough now,” she insisted. 

“Mm… debatable.” And he was pretty damn sure Rinka encouraged Rin hissing and growling at him on occasion when Yuri wasn’t paying attention. “But look, there’s not really gonna be anything you can do about it. Especially if faculty are gossiping about it, too. You’re a weirdo, Yuri. It’s gonna happen.” 

“But Yukio is the one it’s hurting!” She groaned. “I need a glass of wine. You want anything?” 

“I’m not drinking your wine, Yuri,” he said. 

“Yes, and I’m not buying beer just for you, because it’s gross,” she said as she walked to the kitchen. 

“And wine isn’t?” 

“It’s better than beer! I’m pouring you a glass anyways. It’s not like Rinka drinks with me,” she chuckled. 

Shiro rolled his eyes, but accepted the glass when she came back into the living room. “It’s probably a good thing the bastard can’t get drunk. Feel like he’d set me on fire for fun.” 

Yuri sighed, but was more amused than anything. She knew by now that Shiro and Rinka had given up on seriously harming one another at this point, even if the demon still was far from fond of the times that Shiro came over. “Yukio told him about this, you know?” she said. “Told Rinka that he was upset, and that people were saying things about me, and Rin, and… Rinka didn’t immediately try to kill anyone.” 

“Wow. He’s not murdering people. Real upstanding citizen you’ve got here.” The bare fucking minimum, even if Shiro didn’t think he would ever live to see the day that happened. 

Yuri hummed, so used to Shiro’s teasing that she didn’t comment on it. “I think I’m gonna go talk to the school about it. I mean, it’s upsetting him enough that he doesn’t want to go! I have to do something.”  

“I mean…” Shiro shrugged. “I’m not gonna tell you not to do that, I just don’t think it’ll really help much.” 

“At the least, maybe it will embarrass the adults who have been gossiping about me,” she said. “If they know my son’s overhearing and telling us, you know?” 

Despite not being a fan of it, Shiro gulped down a mouthful of his wine. He needed it for a conversation like this. It wasn’t often that Yuri confided in him about issues with the twins, so he didn’t want to turn her down when she did, but truly, what did he know about kids, or anything like this? 

“Did Shura ever have any issues like this?” Yuri questioned. 

Shiro nearly choked on his wine. “Shura? She doesn’t have a family for anyone to bitch about!” 

“She has you,” she pointed out. 

“Not—I mean, it ain’t like I’m her father or anything.” He shook his head. “Besides, anyone said anything to her to piss her off, and all I’d get would be a hospital bill for the poor bastard who said it.” 

“How old is she now? Twenty?” 

“Twenty-one.” And she spent every bit of free time she had bar hopping, not that Shiro had been expecting much different since she was about sixteen. 

Yuri swirled the wine around in her glass. “You should bring her with you some time. I’d love to reconnect with her, and Rin could always… benefit from meeting new people.” 

“Yeah, I’m not sure Shura would be a good choice for that. She’s a fucking asshole,” he laughed. 

“At risk of insulting my son and husband, they’re not much better in that department. I think we would survive. And because she’s so close with you, I trust that she wouldn’t rat us out,” she said. 

“You’re… You’re serious?” She actually wanted him to bring Shura out here? To let her meet Rinka and Rin and Yukio? 

“I think so. I’ve been thinking about it for a while,” she said. “I want Rin to meet more people. Especially people closer to his age, and I mean… I know Shura’s not close, exactly, but at least she’s not middle-aged,” she laughed. 

Middle-aged. Fuck, were they really getting that old? Shiro certainly felt it at times, but he tended to blame it on exorcist work, rather than his actual age. 

“And I think, for a long while, at least,” Yuri continued. “That normal humans aren’t going to be a great fit for Rin. He needs to interact with people who already know about demons and know a little bit more about what to expect. But actual kids are difficult, when it comes to that, so… Shura’s the best fit, right?” 

Well, when she put it that way, he supposed it made sense. Frankly, Rin was awful at even playing human. Even if someone didn’t have a temptaint and couldn’t see his more demonic features, the way he carried himself, the noises he made, they were unusual and uncomfortable to most. 

Shiro had gotten used to it over the years, but every now and then, when Rin’s instincts got a strong grip on him, it could still make him uneasy. 

A snarling eleven-year-old sporting blue flames when he got upset didn’t leave many other feelings up for grabs. 

“I’ll… think about it,” he conceded. “Shura is… Well, she’s a lot, and stubborn, but… I’ll see what I can do. You’re gonna have to tell Rinka to keep it cool though, because she is nowhere near as reasonable as me.” He did not doubt that his apprentice would attempt to deck the demon if he got snappy or threatening. 

“I’ve mentioned it a few times,” Yuri said. “He’s twitchy about more people knowing about us, of course, but I think he understands that Rin needs other people, so he’s open to it. Demons are social creatures, you know! And the older Rin gets, the less all his needs can be met just by us. Rinka and Yukio play with him all the time, but it’s not the same as a friend, you know?” 

“Yeah… Well, Shura certainly likes a good spar.” And considering Rin’s favorite method of play was fighting or tag of some kind… 

Yeah, maybe Yuri really was onto something. 

“I’ll try and convince her to come,” he decided. “Do you want me to tell her about everything beforehand? Or just bring her and see it for herself?” 

Yuri shrugged. “Whatever you think would be best. Just give me a heads up when you decide to bring her.” 

“Sure thing. And I do hope things get better for Yukio at school. Kid doesn’t deserve that kinda shit, and neither do you.” Yuri had fought hard for this peaceful life and her mundane library job, and it wasn’t anyone’s right to badmouth her for those choices. 

“Yeah… Well, Rinka said he’s going to the school with me, and I’m sure he’ll get it taken care of,” she said. 

“Wait… You’re bringing Rinka? You’re bringing—” Shiro didn’t even bother to finish the sentence, instead downing the last of his wine.

Chapter Text

“Is she your daughter, Uncle Shiro?” Yukio asked, staring up at Shura with wide eyes. “Is she our cousin?” 

“Hah…?” Shura leaned down, scrutinizing the kid, the corner of her mouth twitching into a frown. “You think I’m this clown’s kid?” She jabbed her thumb towards Shiro. “Don’t make me laugh. He’s too old to be my dad.” 

“I’m too young to be your dad!” Shiro argued, shaking his head in exasperation. “And I’m not—Ugh, not in front of Rin. He doesn’t need any more material, Shura.” 

She placed her hand on Yukio’s head, keeping him place as she walked past him to inspect the other little demonic brat that Shiro had convinced her to come visit. “Oh, really?” 

“Hey!” Yukio protested. 

Rin hunched his shoulders as she approached, tail lashing and teeth bared, but Shura just rolled her eyes. The kid was just acting bristly because he could. If he genuinely wanted to hurt her, he would have done it already. 

“Shura…” Shiro warned. 

She waved him off. Rin just needed to know who was in charge. He was testing the waters, seeing if she’d allow herself to be walked over, if she would submit when faced with a demon, like most humans would. It was instinct, and Shiro should have realized something like that. “Hey, kiddo,” she said as she squatted down in front of him so they were eye-level. For an eleven-year-old, he was still pretty damn small. “It’s Rin, right? Name’s Shura. And no, I’m not tha’ funny old geezer’s daughter.” Slowly, she held her hand out, allowing him to sniff at her. “I knew yer mom, back in the day. Was about your age when we met, actually, little younger.” 

Rin’s posture relaxed, and he leaned forward to sniff at her knuckles. “Ya smell like a snake.” 

She grinned. “I gotta snake familiar, and I use a cool enchanted sword—” 

Shiro cleared his throat, and Shura winced as she realized her mistake. The twins didn’t know about exorcists. Not really. They knew that some people wanted to hurt demons, but not that that was what she and Shiro did, not that they actively killed demons.

But Rin’s eyes were already wide with awe. “A sword? You use a sword?”

“Sure do.” She stood back to her full height, hand hovering over the tattoo on her chest. “Wanna see?” 

“Yes!” he exclaimed, his tail beginning to wag. “Yes, yes, yes!” 

“If you’re gonna show him, take him outside,” Shiro told her. “And don’t tell Yuri.” 

Shura rolled her eyes. “She asked us to entertain ‘em while she and the Devil were gone. I’m entertainin’ him!” 

“Devil?” Yukio asked. “You mean ‘demon?’ Dad?” 

Shiro wildly shook his head, a clear warning to shut the fuck up. 

Shura certainly didn’t remember Yuri being this naive a decade ago. Surely she didn’t think she was going to be able to keep the truth of the twins’ father from them their entire life, right? They were eleven, weren’t they? Plenty old enough to know who their father was! 

But she wasn’t enough of an ass to expose it. Definitely not during a first meeting with the boys like this. 

“Yeah, yer old man,” she said. “Never mind. Come on, Rin. Let’s go outside, an’ I’ll show ya my swords.” 

“Yes!” He bounced in place, before chasing after her, a big grin on his face, and damn it all, he was kind of adorable. Shit. 

Honestly, she’d thought Shiro had lost his damn mind when he’d told her about all of this, and asked if she would come help him babysit while Yuri and Satan dealt with something at Yukio’s school. Not that she had anything against nephilim, and good on Yuri for getting away from all the exorcist bullshit, but she could admit she’d been wary about the whole Satan thing. While most of the information on him was classified, as she climbed the ranks she learned more and more, and it… wasn’t exactly pleasant. 

But things seemed well enough here, so why bother worrying about it? Fuck, these kids were getting a better childhood than she’d ever gotten, and that was good enough for her. 

Even if she thought Yuri should tell them the truth. 

“How’d you do that?” Shiro caught her upper arm as she walked past him. 

She raised an eyebrow. “Do what?” 

Rin halted next to her, tilting his head in curiosity at Shiro’s inquiry, ears perking up. 

“Get him to like you so fast! It took forever to get him to like me!” he exclaimed. 

“She’s cooler than you,” Rin said as he crossed his arms. “She has pink hair.” 

“What, so I need to have pink hair?” Shiro asked. 

Rin shrugged. “You’d be more fun. She has swords, too.” 

“You want me to bring a sword? You—Never mind.” He opened the front door and ushered them out. “Shura, try not to take his head off though. Yuri will kill us both. And Rin? Don’t set Shura on fire. She’s got a mission tomorrow morning.” 

Shura stuck her tongue out and flipped him off. 

“Yeah, you two are definitely gonna be bad influences on each other,” he grumbled. “Go on.” 

“What’s that?” Rin asked, grabbing her wrist and tugging at it. “With your finger? What’s it mean?” 

“For fuck’s sake—!” Shiro began. 

“Well!” She offered her mentor a shit-eating grin, already deciding that today was gonna be the most fun she’d had in months. “Looks like I’ve got lots of things to teach you, Rin. So come on. I’ll show you my swords, teach you some fun new words, and all kinds of things.” 

“Shura!” 

“Nah, nah, nah.” She placed her hands on Rin’s shoulders and nudged him out the door. “Yuri said he needed ta meet new people, so I’m meetin’ him. Butt out, Shiro.” 

“Yeah, Shiro,” Rin snickered. “I like Shura. She’s cool, ain’t she cool, Yukio?” 

Yukio stared at her, clearly thinking hard about the question. “I dunno. I’ve only known her for a few minutes.” He shrugged and turned to Shiro. “Can we play a card game?” 

“Uh, sure, I guess. If you don’t want to see Shura’s swords?” Shiro asked. 

Yukio shook his head. “Not really. They’re just swords.” 

“Magic swords,” she reminded him, a little irritated that that wasn’t enticing to the kid. It certainly would have been enticing to her at that age. 

He shrugged. “A card game would be more fun.” 

“Whatever.” Rin took Shura’s hand, and tugged her over the threshold with an incredible amount of strength that shouldn’t have been possible for a runt like him. “Come on, lady! I wanna see them!” 

“Alright, alright. I’m comin,’ brat.” 

“Frankly, I don’t care what you believe about me,” Yuri said as she braced her arms on the desk and leaned towards the school's head. “You can think whatever you want, but I do not want my son to hear anything like this ever again, and I expect something to be done when other children go after him.” 

The man blinked, clearly startled by Yuri’s ferocity, while Rinka merely fought back a smirk. This had gone about the way he’d been expecting it to. 

“Are we clear?” she hissed. “My life, my job, my marriage is none of your business, or anybody else’s! My sons need someone at home, to help take care of the house, and handle Rin’s schooling. Why should it matter if it’s me or my husband? We prefer it this way. So if you really must gossip about this, at the least, do it where Yukio can’t hear it.” 

The man’s eyes darted towards Rinka, as if asking him for help. 

Rinka crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes. “I’m just here to support my wife. But…” He grinned, ceasing to smother most of his demonic presence and power. “She is correct, and if my son ever starts crying because of things he heard here about her or his brother again, you’ll have to deal with me.” 

“U-Um…” Sweat beaded on the man’s brow as he scrambled out of his chair and stumbled backwards. “Of-Of course, Mr. Okumura. It’s… It’s unacceptable that—” 

A fearsome snarl ripped itself from his chest. “I mean it.” 

“Oh, Rinka, love, calm down,” Yuri chastised lightly, a soft smile on her face. “There’s no need to threaten anybody!” Her gaze shot back to the man, just as angry as Rinka’s own, though her smile persisted. “Right?” 

The man’s mouth snapped shut as he nodded vigorously. 

“Good!” Yuri clapped her hands together. “Yukio really does love school and learning, it’d be a shame if that were ruined for him. I don’t know what we’d do… Come on, love.” She took Rinka’s hand, lacing their fingers together. “I don’t trust Shiro or Shura to actually cook for the boys.” 

As she led him out of office, Rinka turned to look over his shoulder at the still trembling man. For a fraction of a second, he let his fire flicker over his body. Even a normal human without a temptaint would be able to catch a glimpse of what he was. 

The man yelped, eyes widening in pure terror.

“Rinka!” Yuri scolded as she reached for the doorknob. “You’ll give the poor man a heart attack.” 

“Good,” he growled. “He’s lucky I didn’t kill him. Or the rest of the fucking humans here.” 

She kicked the door shut on her way out. “Hopefully that does something. I just… I really don’t care what they say about us, I don’t, I just hate that Yukio has to hear it. Especially with how sensitive he is… Maybe such a small town wasn’t a good idea. Sure, it’s far away from any exorcist branches, but I suppose it does make it harder to blend in…” 

“You want to move?” he demanded. 

“No! No, of course not!” she assured him as they walked through the empty halls of the school. “This is our home, it’s just… I dunno…” She let go of his hand to rub her upper arm. “Maybe we should look into it when Yukio is ready to go to high school? It’s just something to consider, I suppose… I don’t want him to deal with this for any longer than he has to.” 

“And Rin? He wouldn’t have much room to play if we moved to a bigger city. He wouldn’t have much room for anything. The only freedom he has is in the woods outside the house,” he argued. “You can’t just confine him to one house!” 

“I—” Shit, she hadn’t even thought about that. “Yeah, you’re right. That’s not fair to him. I just… There’s gotta be a better option than this, right? There’s… There’s gotta be something better than Yukio being just too different to fit in, and Rin being so different he can’t even try. It’s not fair for them…” 

Rinka grimaced. “I don’t know, Yuri. I… I just don’t.” The older Rin got, the more restless he was going to get, and people like Shiro and Shura weren’t going to make that go away. And the older Yukio got, the more questions he was going to ask about why he had to keep things hidden from the humans he was around. “Why don’t you just ask them what they want?” 

“Huh?” 

“They’re getting old enough you could just ask them. We could always homeschool Yukio with Rin, or if Rin wants to attempt to… be human, you and Yukio can teach him how to act like it and he could eventually go to school. If that’s what they want,” he said. “You can’t keep young demons in the den forever.” 

“In the—” Yuri sighed and shook her head. “They’re not even teenagers yet, they’re certainly not old enough to leave the den. And they… Rinka, they don’t even know. And if they don’t know everything, how could we ask them what they want? They don’t know the risks, what they’ll be committing to…” 

“Then tell them. They need to know, Yuri,” he insisted. He’d been ready to tell them who he was back when they’d first explained the difference between humans and demons, and he’d been ready ever since. The only reason they didn’t know was due to Yuri’s reluctance. “I think… I think that’s the best thing we could do for them now, because they’re never gonna understand any of it if we keep this hidden. I know how awful it is to not know the truth about yourself…” He shook his head. “And I don’t want that for them.” 

Yuri sighed, and leaned against him as they walked out of the school. “I know. I know they need to know, and I know that would at least help them better understand why we have to hide. It just… It’s a lot for kids so young. I just want them to stay as carefree as they’ve always been…” 

“I guess we don’t have to tell them now,” Rinka conceded as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “Just… I think you should consider it, and think about how you want to do it.” If it were up to him, he would just be blunt and say it, but he imagined she would want to use a lot more tact. 

“Yeah, I will,” she promised. “Let’s just get home and enjoy tonight though, alright? Maybe talking to the school will have helped, and hopefully the boys are getting along well with Shura. We can make a big, nice dinner, and enjoy some time with Shiro—” 

Rinka huffed. 

“And catch up with Shura.” 

“Yeah, okay.” Admittedly, he was intrigued by the snake girl. He’d barely interacted with her before they left the cabin, but she’d talked back to Shiro quite a bit and that was more than enough to get him to like her. 

“Good. And like I said…” She rested her cheek on his shoulder. “I’ll think about telling the boys the truth.” 

“Hey, Nii-san?” 

Rin hummed, and leaned over the side of his bunk bed to get a better look at his brother. It was unusual for him to be awake so late. Normally he was asleep within seconds of crawling into bed. “What’s up, Yuki?” 

“You liked that Shura lady, didn’t you?” he asked. 

“Hell yeah, I did!” he exclaimed with a bright smile. Shura was so fucking cool! Her swords were awesome, she didn’t really seem to care what anyone thought about her, she’d taught him some new, fun ways to get a rise out of Shiro, and she’d actually play fought with him! Rinka was the only other one who really did that anymore, or didn’t warn him against getting too rough or mean. Shura had just threatened to bite him back when he’d managed to catch her hand with his teeth. “She was awesome! Why didn’t you like her?” He bounded down the top bunk’s ladder so he could climb into Yukio’s bed and snuggle up next to him under the covers. 

Yukio shrugged. “I-I don’t know. It’s not that I didn’t like her, it’s just… Mom and Dad don’t like new people coming around, so why did they let her?” 

“I mean, she knows Uncle Shiro, and they trust him.” That was more than enough, right? “Plus I think she’s an exorcist like him.” It was obvious really, her magic swords and knowledge about demons left little up to debate. 

“That’s what I’m worried about though,” Yukio whispered. 

Rin tilted his head, nose scrunching up in confusion. “Huh?” 

“It just… Remember what Mom told us, forever ago, about the people who hurt demons?” he asked, his voice beginning to wobble.

“Yeah… ‘course I do.” It was why he couldn’t leave this damn house. Most of the time it didn’t bother him, but it still hurt watching Yukio go off without him sometimes. Sure, he’d been allowed into town for very short trips on occasion, but it was no more than once or twice a year, and he was practically glued to his parents’ sides the entire time. He didn’t get to actually experience anything.

“I think it’s the exorcists that hurt demons,” he whispered as he burrowed further into his blankets, as if he wanted to hide from the words that just left his mouth. 

“Uncle Shiro and Shura don’t—!” 

“You don’t know anything about Shura!” Yukio interrupted, a surprising ferocity in his voice. “You just met her! A-And Uncle Shiro, he—W-Well I know he would never hurt us, but what about other demons? If exorcists are the only humans who know about demons, who else would be hurting demons?” 

“Mom and Dad would never let someone who wanted to hurt us know about us,” Rin said firmly. “Neither would Shiro. So I trust them about Shura. Besides, she smelled good, my instincts said I could trust her, and Dad always says to trust my instincts.” 

Yukio shook his head. “It’s not really about Shura… because I trust them too, so if they say she’s okay, I know she’s okay, it’s just… I wanna know, you know? If exorcists hurt demons, if they’re the reason we have to hide, why can’t we just know? And what makes Shura or Uncle Shiro any different from the rest of them?” 

“Well geez…” Rin’s ears began to droop. “I dunno, Yukio. If you wanna know, you’re gonna have to ask Mom or Dad. I can’t answer that for you.” Honestly, he’d never much thought about any of this. He didn’t hate his life here, hidden away from the world with just his family; in fact, he liked it, and their mother’s vague explanations had always been more than enough for him. 

But apparently Yukio wasn’t the same way… 

“I know you can’t.” Yukio leaned against the wall, letting his head thump back against it. “I just… I hate leaving you here. I wish you could come to school with me. And I wanna know why we can’t do that.” 

“Yeah…” Rin could admit, that would be nice, even if he’d long since given up on ever getting something like that. Sure, he could cover his ears with his hair, he could hide his tail beneath his clothing, he could suppress his flames and keep himself from growling or baring his teeth, but… 

He couldn’t make himself feel human, and he didn’t think he ever would be able to do something like that. 

He didn’t think he wanted to do something like that. 

“C’mere.” Yukio grabbed his shoulder and yanked Rin closer, petting his hair until he coaxed a purr out of him. “Thanks for listening… sorry if I worried you about Shura, or anything. I’m glad you’ve gotta friend, even if she’s kinda mean.” 

Rin rolled his eyes, but snuggled closer to his brother. “Nah, it’s fine. You gonna ask Mom and Dad about all of this?” 

“Yeah, I think, maybe… one day…” he murmured. “Not right now, I don’t think. Things are okay like this, so long as you’re okay, so…” 

“Yeah, I’m okay,” Rin promised. “I’m okay with Dad helping me with school, and I’m okay being out here with just you guys. But… But I still wanna know eventually, too. So when you finally decide to ask Mom and Dad about it, we can do it together.” 

Yukio’s eyes began to slip closed, more of his weight falling on Rin. “Sure thing, Rin…” 

When the twins were twelve and a half, Rin and Yukio finally asked, and Yuri told them everything.

Chapter Text

Yukio rubbed at his eye, then winced as that only aggravated the itchiness rather than alleviating it. What the hell was wrong with his eye? The itchiness and irritation was only getting worse with each passing day. Maybe it was some kind of infection? Pink eye? Whatever the case, this couldn’t be normal… 

“Yukio…?” Rin leaned across the couch to sniff at his face. “You okay?” 

He blinked, pulling his hand away from his eye and letting his glasses fall back into place. “I’m fine. Why?” 

Rin’s eyes narrowed, looking far from convinced. Though honestly Yukio shouldn’t have expected any differently. His brother had always been uncannily good at detecting when anything was amiss with him, or when he was lying. Probably those insane senses of his. 

“No,” Rin insisted. “Something’s wrong. Tell me what’s wrong.” His tail flicked as he scooted closer, abandoning all interest in the movie they’d been watching. 

“It’s just my eye,” he insisted. “It’s itchy. Maybe I got some kind of infection, or—or I need to go get the prescription on my glasses double checked. It’s nothing.” 

“No,” Rin growled. “It’s not. You smell—You smell—” 

Yukio placed his hand on Rin’s cheek and shoved him back. “It’s nothing. Just leave it alone. If it gets worse, I’ll tell Mom about it.” 

His brother huffed, but returned to his side of the couch and curled back up, though his eyes kept flicking towards Yukio, as if he needed to be watched. 

Yukio squirmed, and resisted the urge to scratch at his eye again as the itchiness only intensified. Why was Rin looking at him like that? Almost like he was confused.  

Whatever, it was probably nothing. He’d always gotten twitchy anytime Yukio got sick or hurt, so it was probably just his normal protectiveness stirring up. 

Because there was nothing wrong. With him, or his eye. 

How could she have overlooked this? How could she never have considered something like this? She should have! She really, really should have. It wasn’t uncommon, after all, for nephilim children to be born practically completely human, and then have a myriad of complications as they got older, especially around the teenage years. 

She should have expected this. She should have prepared for it. She never should have just assumed Yukio would be so human forever… 

And now she had to watch her husband dutifully clean the blood from her son’s fingers and delicately wrap bandages around them, while Yukio did his best to fight back pathetic sniffles. 

“They just felt wrong,” Yukio whimpered, his eyes glued to the bloodied, chewed nails that Rinka had covered with bandages yet. “I-I dunno, they just—I wasn’t thinking and I… I don’t know what’s wrong.” 

Yuri furiously blinked back her own tears, determined not to upset Yukio further. It was just… God, she was never going to forget Rin’s panicked yelling after he found his brother in the bathroom frantically picking and chewing at his nails until they bled, almost hysterical as he went on and on about how they didn’t feel right, they weren’t right.  

“It’s okay,” she assured him. “It’s okay, we’ll get it figured out. Just—If this happens again, try and tell someone, okay?” 

“My eye itches…” he murmured. 

Rinka glanced towards Yuri, but didn’t say anything before he went back to bandaging the rest of Yukio’s fingers. 

“Okay, just let us know if it gets worse. And stay with Rin, alright?” If he ended up having another episode like that, and god forbid scratched at his eye like that, if he was with his brother, at least Rin would be able to stop him before he did too much damage. 

Yukio nodded. 

“There you go, Yukio.” Rinka finished with the bandages and ruffled his hair. “You’ll be okay, kid. Better go tell Rin you’re alright.” 

Looking down at his fingers, Yukio curled and uncurled them, the movement stiff thanks to the bandages. “Yeah, okay.” 

Yuri hung her head, at a complete loss over what might have caused that, or what the hell she could do to stop it. 

“Dysphoria,” Shura said as she picked at the food stuck in her teeth with a fork. “Pretty common for nephilim, actually, from what I ‘ear.” 

“Dysphoria?” Yuri echoed, brows pinching together in concern. “What—” 

“Ya know, when yer body just don’t feel right to ya,” she interrupted, gesturing to Yuri with her fork. “It gets bad enough, sometimes people do drastic things jus’ to try and get it to go away. Normal humans get it sometimes, for a number of reasons, but nephilim experience it ‘cause their body is either too demon or too human. Can be a lot more intense fer them than normal humans, from what I hear though.” She sighed and leaned back, resting her neck on the back of her chair. “Guarantee ya that’s what’s goin’ on with Yukio. He had a bad bout of it, and freaked the fuck out.” 

“Oh god.” Yuri rested her arms on the table and buried her face in them. “He had a breakdown because his body feels too human?” 

Shura shrugged. “Just my guess, but I’d put some money on it, fer sure. You said it was his fingernails he really went after?” 

Blearily, Yuri sat back up, and offered the other woman a meek nod. 

“Yup. Probably felt like he shoulda had claws there or somethin’ and just didn’t realize it or know how ta explain it to you,” she said. “So he tried rippin’ ‘em off. Once worked with a nephilim who had some kinda psychotic break and wrenched one of her teeth out with a pair of pliers ‘cause she said it didn’t fit in her mouth right. It happens.” 

“Oh my god. We have to do something!” Yuri shrieked, jumping to her feet and slamming her hands on the table. “Yukio might—If he—How do I fix this?” What he’d done to his hands had been horrible enough, but if he genuinely hurt himself over this? Yuri would never forgive herself! 

“Ya can’t,” Shura said simply, whilst pointing to her temple. “It’s a head thing. Nothin’ you can do fer that. Has it just now become a problem? Or did it just get worse? He been like this his whole life?” 

“No!” Yuri exclaimed. “Never! It just—It just started now!” Of course, she couldn’t know that for sure, but Yukio had certainly never acted like this before, even in more minor ways. 

“Well… then ya might get lucky. He’s thirteen now, and sometimes nephilim go through certain transformations around puberty,” she said. “Maybe this is just a precursor to that. His body knows what’s gettin’ ready ta happen before he does, and his brain’s compensatin’ for it.” 

Yuri stared at her, unsure how Shura was being so calm about this. “I-I have considered that,” she admitted. “Ever since he was born, and I learned more about nephilim children, I knew it might happen, but… but why does this have to be part of it? Why—Why can’t I do anything to make it easier for him?” She hoped he didn’t end up with any highly noticeable demonic features, because if they had to pull him out of school… 

It would crush him. Sure, he still didn’t exactly have friends, but he loved his actual classes. 

“Nephilim got shitty lives, Yuri,” Shura said, finally scarfing down the last few bites of the dinner Yuri had bought her in exchange for this conversation. “That’s just the truth of it. Vatican doesn’t just let ‘em live normally, and some of ‘em get unlucky enough ta get shit bodies and minds ‘cause of their mashed up genetics. too. Nothin’ anyone can do about it.” 

She shook her head. “I can’t accept that. Not for Rin and Yukio. They deserve good lives, Shura.” 

“I know that. You know that. Everyone else? Doesn’t give a fuckin’ shit,” she said with a shrug, far too nonchalant for Yuri’s taste. “Why do you think I know so much about nephilim? I’m one’a the only exorcists that’ll work with ‘em without makin’ a fuss! That doesn’t treat ‘em like shit! So nephilim exorcists like workin’ with me, get close with me. Confide in me and tell me this kinda shit. The world isn’t kind to ‘em, and yer kids ain’t gonna be treated any different when they eventually join it. I’ve been sayin’ that ever since I’ve met the little fuckers. You and Rinka can’t keep ‘em hidden in that cabin forever. They ain’t gonna go for that.” 

“I know, we’re trying to—We’re trying to come up with something, okay?” She and Rinka had spent countless nights awake pondering that very thing. It was cruel and unfair to keep Rin hidden forever, but what other options did they really have?  And now Yukio might have to be hidden, too...? 

“Thought about True Cross?” Shura questioned. “Sure me and Shiro could swing somethin’ with that Mephisto prick for ‘em. Especially if Yukio really does end up lookin’ more like a demon. They’d have ta deal with bein’ registered nephilim, and the shit that comes with it, but they wouldn’t have to hide. All you’d need ta do would be lie about who their father is. Just say it was some random fire demon.” 

Yuri shook her head. “They’d never buy that. Not if it was me. They would…” She swallowed thickly. “The Vatican would know.” 

Shura grinned. “Not if ya get Mephisto on yer side. He’d cover that shit right up, trust me.” 

“I…” Yuri tapped her fingers on the table. “I’ll think about it. Maybe. If… If things with Yukio get worse, because I’d prefer they have nothing to do with exorcists at all.” 

“Fair enough.” Shura nudged her empty plate to the side. “That all you wanted? I’ve gotta demon that’s supposed to be exorcized by tomorrow that I haven’t even bothered lookin’ fer yet.” 

“I—I guess it is,” Yuri conceded. “Thanks for meeting with me, I guess.” 

“Mmhm.” She grabbed her bag from the restaurant floor. “Sorry none of it was anythin’ you wanted to hear. I do hope Yukio’s alright. An’ tell Rin I’ll try comin’ by soon again. Think I finally found ‘im a good sword. Managed to knick it from this temple in—” 

“Rin doesn’t need a sword,” she protested. She knew he thought Shura’s swords were interesting, but he shouldn’t have to fight. “He—” 

“He will if he goes to True Cross. You think that kid has the focus to be something like an Aria or a Tamer?” She shook her head. “Nah, he’s a Knight through and through.” 

“He’s not becoming an exorcist! That’s not—I’m letting the Vatican force him to kill his own kind!” It had been about a year since she and Rinka told the boys the truth, and while they had taken it surprisingly well, she was not throwing them headlong into that world unless she absolutely had to. 

Shura raised her hands in surrender. “Whatever ya say, Yuri. I’m just sayin’ the option’s available. Good luck with Yukio. I’ll see ya around.” 

Yuri groaned and ran her hand through her hair, but knew by now that she wasn’t going to sway Shura’s opinions on anything. 

Rin’s tail flicked, unable to tear his focus away from Yukio as Shiro gently pulled his jaw open to examine his teeth. “Well, they look normal. Nothing like your brother’s terrifying chompers,” the exorcist chuckled. 

Rin rolled his eyes and crept closer, worrying gnawing at him from the inside out. 

Yukio wasn’t supposed to be a demon. This wasn’t supposed to happen to him! How would he go to school, if he started to look like Rin did? Why was his mind trying to trick him into thinking his body was wrong? 

“He mentioned they were hurting,” Rinka said, watching Shiro with just as much intensity as Rin. 

Shiro’s eyes narrowed in concern. “Are they, Yukio?” He let go of his jaw so he could answer. 

“W-Well…” Yukio shifted his weight from foot to foot, averting his eyes so he didn’t have to look at any of them. “I mean, sometimes, they get kinda achy. But… But Rin said his teeth do that sometimes, so that’s normal, right?” 

Rin nodded. “That’s right, they do. But only when…” He trailed off, his eyes widening as he realized why that confirmation had Shiro worried. 

His teeth only hurt right before rounds of teething, when they fell out, and new fangs came in. 

But Yuri said humans only teethed twice; once as a baby, and then when the baby teeth fell out, and that’d already happened for Yukio.

“Kid…” Shiro shook his head with a heavy sigh. “For humans? No, it’s not normal. That only happens to Rin because he goes through multiple sets of teeth, before his ‘adult fangs’ finally come in. They’re not loose, are they?” 

“I-I—” Yukio glanced to Rinka, but their father looked just as lost as Shiro did. “I mean, not really, they—” 

“Yukio,” Rinka growled. “We cannot help you, if you don’t tell us what’s going on.” 

“Yeah.” Yukio hung his head. “Yeah, a couple of them are getting loose, like they’re gonna—like they’re gonna come out.” 

Rin winced, and Rinka’s frown deepened. 

“Okay, okay.” Shiro firmly grabbed Yukio’s shoulders. “It doesn’t mean anything bad. Your teeth are gonna fall out, there’s not much we can do about that. But for all we know, they might come back in completely human! Or fangs so little it’s hardly noticeable. It isn’t the end of the world, kid. And maybe a few little things like this will help with the… episodes that started a couple weeks ago.” He smiled, though it appeared a little strained. “I highly doubt you’re gonna end up with a tail, or horns, or anything big like that, alright? Things like that? If nephilim aren’t born like full demons, like Rin, it’s extremely rare for them to end up with features like that. Alright?” 

Yukio sniffled. 

“Alright?” Shiro prompted again when he didn’t get an actual response. 

“Alright…” 

“Good! Let’s check your eyes now, see if we can figure out why they’re bothering you so much,” he said. 

“You really think it won’t be anything drastic?” Rinka questioned. 

“Nah.” Shiro shook his head. “I’ve seen nephilim go through this kind of thing before, and trust me, this is a really mild case. The dysphoria, and the signs of physical changes. It’s just his loose teeth, and one of his eyes seems to be slowly changing. The way he went after his fingers that one time, though, I’d keep an eye out for potential claws, too.” 

“Good.” Rinka crossed his arms and leaned against the kitchen counter. “Yuri’s worried sick about him, and he doesn’t need to be in any more pain.” 

“Have you thought about what to do about school?” Shiro asked. “Without a temptaint, I doubt anyone would notice the changes, but… There’s always the risk someone in this town could have one. Hell, now that Yukio’s going through this, he might even be capable of giving a temptaint, like Rin can.” 

“We don’t know.” Rinka’s glower intensified. “It’s… only getting more complicated with time, and though Rin says he’s fine here, I think the solitude and unfairness of the situation is starting to get to him.” 

“Yeah…” Honestly, Shiro was surprised that a kid as impulsive and hyperactive as him had ever been okay with this in the first place, but his contentment here certainly wasn’t going to last more than another year or two. He was thirteen now, and that was much too old for a child to be confined somewhere with no friends, and nothing to do but schoolwork. 

Especially when they didn’t even like schoolwork. 

“Um, Shura said she mentioned this to Yuri a couple weeks ago, but… have you two considered an exorcist school?” 

Rinka’s body went taught, his tail tip twitching as a light smolder of flames ignited over his body. 

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Fucking awful idea, you hate the damn bastards and for good reason.” At this point, Shiro had long since given up any sort of dislike of Rinka. It got him nowhere, and was a waste of energy, and after spending so much time around the demon for Yuri’s sake, maybe Shiro had come to understand him more than they’d ever expected he would. “But maybe registering the boys as official nephilim would be better, in the long run. They wouldn’t have to keep living with the fear of being discovered, and if they’re registered now, it would be far better than them being discovered by exorcists. They could end up prisoners, experiments, fuck, if an exorcist runs into them and things go south, they might just be declared hostile and exorcized. None of us want that.” 

Rinka’s lip curled up in a snarl. “You think Rin doesn’t know how to defend himself? Shura’s not the only one teaching him how to fight.” 

Shiro hummed. “Yuri know you're up to that?” 

“She knows I play with him,” he said. “But she doesn’t want him or Yukio having to fight. I just want them to be prepared when they have to.” 

“Yeah, I think me, you, and Shura are all on the same page when it comes to that.” None of them wanted the twins to be in scenarios where they would have to defend themselves, but it was practically inevitable, considering who— what they were, so it would be better if they at least knew how to defend themselves. “So just… You know they’re gonna get caught up with exorcists eventually. I know you know that. So you might as well let me and Shura pull some strings, and it will be on your own terms. It’ll be so much better for them that way, and you know it. I’m gonna go tell Yuri bye, and I’ll see you around, Rinka.” 

“Whatever.” 

“You’ll be okay,” Rin was promising him. “Just chew on ice, it really helps! It’ll be over before you know it! It doesn’t even hurt too bad when they fall out, I promise.” 

Yukio laid on the floor of their bedroom, staring up at the ceiling and ignoring Rin’s restless pacing. 

Of course, somewhere in his head, he’d known it wasn’t normal that his teeth were aching and loose, but to hear Shiro confirm his suspicions had been jarring… left him confused, and… 

Relieved. Why did he feel relieved? Was it wrong to feel that way? 

“I never told anyone…” he murmured. “‘Cause it felt wrong, I felt guilty just feeling this way.” 

Rin leaned over him. “Yuki?” 

He squeezed his eyes shut, not wanting to look at his brother as he admitted to the guilt and jealousy that he’d buried years ago, so deeply he would never acknowledge it. 

Except now his heritage was betraying him, and he had to. 

“You could never even leave here, because you weren’t human. I got to experience so much more than you. If I wanted to, I could just be normal. You never got anything like that, not even a chance,” he continued. 

Slowly, Rin laid down on the floor next to him, just close enough that their shoulders brushed. “I don’t care about that, Yukio. And even if I did, it ain’t like any of it’s your fault.” 

“You don’t understand! I got everything you couldn’t have, and I still—I still wanted—Some stupid part of me wanted to be a demon too! Just like you and Dad, so I could understand, so we could…!” He pressed his hands against his face, desperately fighting back tears. “So we could be the same…” 

“You don’t gotta feel bad about that!” Rin protested. “There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be a demon!” 

“But I get so much more than you! I feel bad that I don’t care about that!” he argued. “I just… I…” 

“Hey…” Rin reached over to thump him on the forehead. “I’m never gonna be mad at you for feeling certain ways. You don’t have to hide shit like that from me. And hey! Looks like you’re getting what you wanted!” 

“That’s why it’s not fair. You don’t get anything, why do I get everything?” he asked. 

“Stop talking that way!” This time, Rin whacked him with his tail. “I said don’t blame yourself for anything to do with me! ‘Kay, Yukio? Human or demon, we’re both gonna be alright.” 

“How are you always just okay with everything?” He moved his hands to his chest so he could look at his brother, and damn it all, he was really smiling, wasn’t he? “Just accept everything as it happens?” 

“I mean, what could we really do to change it?” Rin shrugged. “I dunno, Yukio. Mom and Dad fought hard so we could have a good life, so I wanna just try and be happy for them, I guess. No matter what happens.” 

“God, I wish I could be more like you,” Yukio said. “Just not think.” 

With a soft snarl, Rin pounced on him. “You callin’ me dumb?” 

Yukio shoved him off with a grunt. “Screw you, that’s not what I meant!” 

Rin snorted with laughter. “Yeah, I know. You are too smart for your own good. Circles right back around to you being dumb.” 

“Wha—Shut up! Idiot.” 

“You’re the idiot.” 

“Idiot!”

Chapter Text

Yuri glared at the paperwork scattered around the kitchen table, hating every new piece of information it asked for. Every single way to possibly identify her sons, any potential weaknesses that could be exploited in the scenario that they become a threat. She didn’t want to do this. No one should have information like this on her boys, least of all the Vatican. 

“Ya know you can put ‘unknown’ on a lotta this shit,” Shura said. “I mean, unless ya really wanna try and find out Rin’s…” She picked up the nearest paper and squinted at it. “Bite force. Shit yeah, no. I ain’t helpin’ you with that.” 

“That’s not the point…” Yuri tapped her pen against the table. “It’s the fact that they even have the right to demand information like this about children. They can’t help what they are!” 

The exorcist shrugged. “Told ya it’d be like this when I brought the forms over. I helped a friend fill out this shit couple years ago. They’re not as stingy with what information you provide as ya’d think. ‘Specially since we’ve got Mephisto on our side. He’ll get this pushed through without anyone else even thinkin’ about it.” 

“You still haven’t told me how you and Shiro managed to get him to agree to this.” And truly, that had become her biggest concern in all of this. She didn’t know much about Mephisto, but she knew Shiro didn’t trust him as far as he could throw him, so why was he so confident he wasn’t going to double cross them? 

Rinka certainly wasn’t a fan of him either, but also seemed strangely confident that Mephisto wasn’t going to immediately rat the boys out. 

Shura waved her off. “Don’ worry about it. We got it under control.” 

“That’s not what I meant. You made some kind of deal with him, didn’t you? I don’t want you or Shiro getting screwed over for this.” Their lives were already difficult enough as high ranking exorcists raised in the life, and as much as she cared about Rin and Yukio, she didn’t want it getting worse for her friends just for their sake. 

“It’s fine,” she insisted. “And makin’ deals with Mephisto is the only way ta get the bastard to even halfway do what ya want. Ya got enough on yer plate as it is. Don’t worry about us, we ain’t doin’ anythin' that’s gonna fuck us over too badly.” 

That was far from reassuring, but Yuri supposed she couldn’t do anything about it now. 

This plan… it felt so desperate, and she’d been so anxious she’d almost felt ill a few times as she thought about it, but what other options did they have? Short of keeping Rin and Yukio here forever? Sure, it was possible, but Yuri didn’t want them to live their whole lives trapped and lonely and miserable. 

They’d fled to get Rinka away from a life like that; they didn’t want to condemn the twins to one. 

And if being registered nephilim was the safest way to give them a chance at an actual life in the world, well… 

She supposed it was a risk they had to take. 

“I don’t like that we have to lie about Dad,” Rin grumbled. “Stupid exorcists. Who cares if they think he’s Satan?” 

“Yeah…” Yukio reached for another onion to dice. He wasn’t allowed to help much more than that when it came to making dinner (Rin’s rules, because apparently he was bad at it). “But I understand why they’re making us do that.” 

“It’s still fucking stupid. I don’t wanna lie about him, he’s my dad.” He stabbed rather violently at the stir fry in the skillet with his spatula. “I don’t wanna lie about him, or Mom, or who we are.” 

Yukio shrugged. “I mean, you get used to it after a while.” After all, he’d been doing it his whole life, even if it wasn’t quite as elaborate as the story they’d be selling at this exorcist school. “But yeah, I get what you mean.” 

Their parents, Shiro, and Shura had gone over the coverup with them countless times now. Their father was a random fire demon, was never around, and they didn’t even know the identity of. Their mother had been a normal woman who Shiro had met several years ago on a mission, and he’d been trying to convince her to register him and Rin since then. 

It made sense, and was apparently common for nephilim to come from similar situations, so no one would really bat an eye, so they’d just have to deal with the normal distrust and dislike of nephilim amongst exorcists. And again, Yukio didn’t really care about that. He’d never been great at getting along or fitting in with normal people. 

He could only hope it didn’t get to Rin too badly when someone inevitably decided to make a fuss about their heritage. 

Especially because everyone had stressed so much about how he should never let anyone see his blue flames. If he let his emotions get the better of him and flared up at any point… 

“Are you nervous, though?” Yukio asked with a tilt of his head. “About—Just the normal stuff? Going to school?” 

“No!” Rin denied immediately, but he couldn’t disguise the anxious flicks of his tail. 

“Oh, really?” Yukio leaned over with a smug smile. “‘Cause you look nervous to me.” 

“Okay, yeah! Are you forgetting that I’ve only ever met five people in my entire life? And that’s counting you! How the fuck do humans work!?” he exclaimed as he threw his arms up. 

“Language,” their mother scolded half-heartedly from the table, still completely engrossed in the copious amounts of paperwork she had to fill out for them. 

Rin rolled his eyes but muttered an apology. “Never get onto Shiro or Shura or Dad.” 

“They’re adults, sweetheart,” she reminded him. 

“I’m fifteen!” 

“Still not an adult.” 

Yukio poked his side. “Don’t burn dinner.” 

“I’m not gonna burn dinner!” Rin maneuvered the stir fry around the skillet again. “Geez. And yeah, I am nervous. So what? It’ll be fine! At least they’ll know I’m a demon so I won’t have to hide anything. And I can finally put the sword fighting Shura’s taught me to good use! I’m getting really good with that katana she gave me.” 

“She said its name was Kurikara,” Yukio reminded him. “It’s from a temple in Kyoto, she said she—” 

“Yeah, yeah, whatever, sword’s a sword. Hurry up with the rest of those onions or they’re not gonna cook enough,” he said. 

Yukio huffed, not sure why he expected his brother to listen to the actual interesting things about the sword Shura had given him. “Yeah, I know. Here.” He tipped the cutting board over the skillet and scraped the onions into it. “Just go ahead and cook it with those.” 

“Oh god.” Rin’s eyes widened. “We’re not gonna have to eat school food are we? Don’t make me eat school food!” 

“You can bring your own lunches, sweetie,” Yuri assured him. “Just like you’ve been packing Yukio’s lunches for years.” 

Rin’s shoulders slumped in relief. “Oh yeah…” 

Yuri chuckled and shook her head. “What are you boys going to do without me? God, the house is going to be so quiet. What are me and your father going to do without you around constantly?” 

“I dunno, relax,” Rin suggested. “You always say I’m a handful.” 

“Well, yes, but I love that about you,” she said. “Oh… I don't know, maybe we’ll travel.” 

“Please, Dad hates even going to town,” Yukio pointed out. 

“I’m sure I could convince him to take a few trips,” Yuri laughed. “He would for me, and if it was something interesting, he would love it. Is he still asleep on the couch? Yukio, why don’t you go wake him up and tell him dinner’s about done.” 

“Yeah, okay.” He nudged the last, half diced onion towards Rin. “Here.” 

“Yukio! Hey! I need that onion!” he protested. “Yuki! This is why I never let you help!” 

“You really think they’ll be okay?” Yuri asked. 

“Since when did you become the worrier?” Rinka asked with a small smile. “You’re the one who insisted Yukio go to school back then.” 

“I know! It’s just—This is different! That was just hiding amongst normal humans, and now they’re going to the exorcist world… They’re gonna have to… They’re gonna learn all the awful things exorcists do to demons,” she fretted. 

“They were going to learn either way. They weren’t going to go their whole lives unnoticed,” he said. “It’s better they learn like this, rather than because some bastard exorcist tries to kill them.” 

“I know…” She rolled onto her back, staring at the ceiling. “It just… I never wanted this for them… They think they’re excited, but even if the exorcists never find out who they really are, once they learn more about what exorcists do, how they treat demons and nephilim… I’m so worried about what that will do to them. I don’t want to see them become jaded or angry or—” 

“Yuri.” Rinka reached to pull her closer. “I used to want to control everything. I thought if I did, nothing would ever go wrong, but controlling everything means trapping everything, nothing interesting would ever happen, and Rin and Yukio, and you… I don’t want that for you. Because even if it could be dangerous, you deserve to do what you want, see what you want, and I’m not going to stop you.” 

“I know…” No parents ever knew for sure that their children would be safe, and sure, their situation was riskier than most, but she couldn’t be scared of the world just because of that. 

She didn’t want her sons to be scared of the world. 

“They’ll be fine. And even if we can’t go with them, Shura will be with them,” he reminded her. 

“And Shiro.” 

Rinka hissed. 

“Rinka.” Yuri shook her head. “He’s doing a lot for us right now!” 

“Doesn’t mean I have to like him.” 

Yuri flicked his ear. “I know you don’t actually hate him anymore. You’re just too stubborn to admit it.” 

His ear twitched and he huffed, but knew better than to argue with her. 

Yukio smiled, his small, barely noticeable fangs glinting in the sunlight, corners of his mismatched eyes, one human and one demon, crinkling with the grin. “We finally get to go to school together!” he exclaimed as he grabbed Rin’s wrist. “It’s gonna be so fun!” 

Rin’s tail began to wag, even if he kept glancing back towards the cabin, uncertain, despite how much he tried to hide it. “I know. I’m excited! I think, I—” He looked to Yuri and Rinka, forced smile falling. 

“Go on,” Yuri coaxed as she took Rinka’s hand, her fingers trembling as she did so. “Better get all moved into your dorm today, so you don’t have to worry about it tomorrow when classes start. Just listen to everything your uncle Shiro tells you.” 

“Yeah, hurry up!” Shura snapped. “Rin! Get over here and help me get yer shit!” She heaved one of the boxes into the trunk of a car, making a big show of how difficult it was, despite the fact that Shura was plenty strong herself. 

“Your mother’s right,” Rinka said. “You’ve got to go eventually. No point standing around and putting it off—” 

Rin shook himself out of Yukio’s hold and dashed towards him, wrapping his arms around Rinka’s chest and squeezing him tight. “I’m gonna miss you… I’ve spent every day with you, and now I’m—I’m gonna—” 

Some horrible, choked emotion left Rinka breathless. His eyes were burning, vision blurry, and—

Oh…  

“You’ll be fine, kiddo,” he said, holding Rin tight and tipping his head back as he attempted to blink away the tears. “Promise.” 

Rin sniffled, claws pricking at Rinka as he clutched him tighter. “I-I know, I just… I’m gonna miss you…” 

“We’ll always be here when you need to come back,” Rinka promised with a soft purr. 

Rin purred in response, his smile much braver as he looked up at him. “I know. I—Thank you.” He reached out to yank Yuri into the hug. “Thank you both.” 

And Rinka let him go. 

“Shura’s gonna be your teacher,” Shiro said. “So you’ll be able to get away with a lot of shit, but you’ll still need to do your best to keep your heads down.” 

Rin was barely listening, instead staring out the car window with wide eyes. He’d never known that the world was so big. Was this really only one city? Buildings went on forever! And there were so many people! Hundreds, thousands, bustling down the sidewalks. 

What if he got lost? How would he ever find his way back to where he was supposed to be in a place like this? 

“What about you?” Yukio asked. “Aren’t you going to be around?” 

“Ah…” Shiro glanced at them in the rearview mirror. “I’ll be around as often as I can. But to get Mephisto’s help with covering all this up, I… made a sort of deal with him, so I’ve been bumped up the ranks a bit, so I’ll be gone on missions pretty often.” 

“Oh…” Yukio shifted uncomfortably next to him. 

“Don’t worry.” Shura twisted around in the passenger seat so she could face them, no regards for the seatbelt at all. “I’ll keep an eye on ya. Why I got stuck with this teachin’ gig anyways.” 

Rin winced, finally tearing his attention away from the passing scenery. “Sorry.” 

“S’fine. Gettin’ a pay raise,” she said with a grin. “All I give a shit about.” 

Shiro reached over to smack her shoulder. 

“And keepin’ y’all safe, ‘course.” She settled back into the seat the proper way. “We’ll all be fine, and you’ll have a great time here.” 

Rin took a deep breath, determined to calm his jittery nerves and just be excited that he was finally getting to experience things. That he could go to school, meet new people, make friends.  

Yukio nudged his shoulder and smiled. “It’s gonna be fine, Rin.” 

“Yeah, I know.”