Archive of Our Own ^beta

“Demons are selfish, pleasure-seeking beings. Abominations. Unholy.”

Rin sighed and laid down to rest his chin on his arms crossed across his desk, blowing out a deep breath as he listened to the teacher prattle on.

It shouldn’t be getting to him. He was used to it by now, or at least he should be, right? He’d been in cram school for two weeks now, and it was more than clear that everyone here hated demons. Sure, most of them might not realize they were talking about him, but that…that didn’t really make it hurt any less.

Why did they all hate demons so much? Most of the demons Rin saw wandering around weren’t even hurting anyone, and they couldn’t help that they were born as demons. They just wanted to live. Why did they have less of a right to exist than humans literally just because they were different?

“Okumura!” the teacher barked. “Head up! You are not sleeping through my class again!”

“Wasn’t sleeping…” Rin grumbled, but he forced himself to at least sit up, even if he did his damndest to tune out everything else the teacher said.

Rin wasn’t quite sure when or how it had started. He couldn’t pinpoint the exact thought process that led to him doing this, but it had become a sort of routine. After cram school classes, while Yukio was still busy and wouldn’t miss him at the dorm, he found himself sneaking into the buildings on campus that they kept demons locked up in for various exercises and lessons for students. Sure, most of them were demons that were merely summoned by tamers, but they kept a few of them locked up; the lower intelligence once that no one cared to summon when they could just be easily captured and kept alive.

It wasn’t hard to sneak in, after all, no one gave a damn about the demons outside of doing the bare minimum to keep them alive, so the place was always practically deserted.

Today, Rin found himself climbing over the gate into a stable that a reaper was kept in. Ever since the day he’d gotten in between a reaper and Bon, none of them at the school ever threatened him. In fact, they seemed to rather like him.

“Hey, buddy.” Rin reached out to pat the reaper’s nose, smiling as it eagerly leaned into the touch and a sense of trust emulating from the creature. “How you doing today?”

The reaper growled, but it wasn’t a threatening noise. It was almost playful.

“That’s good.” He pulled his hand back and sat down next to the creature to dig the snack he brought out of his bag. “Hopefully they didn’t work you too hard during any of the classes. I’m sure it must suck here.” The poor thing was never allowed to actually do anything fun, even for a demon with low intelligence, chasing students around in circles was bound to get boring eventually.

It chirped and bumped against him.

“Snack?” Rin offered, holding up a piece of the meat he’d prepared this morning for his after class food. When the reaper perked up, he tossed the food through the air, laughing as it caught it and gulped it down.

It was so much easier here… away from all the people, with these demons that didn’t care about anything except the fact that he’d brought them a little extra food.

Rin sighed and let his head thump back against the wall.

The reaper bumped its head against him again, a confused noise building in its throat.

“I’m okay, buddy,” the nephilim assured it. “Just tired.” He reached out to scratch beneath its chin. “You help though, it’s nice here.”

So much nicer…

“Rin, I’ve been meaning to tell you,” Yukio said just before he managed to walk out the door. “Maybe you should stop smiling so much. Your fangs are more noticeable than you think, you don’t want people finding out about your heritage.”

Rin froze. Stop…smiling? “Huh…?” He couldn’t be serious, right?

Yukio sighed. “Don’t make a big deal out of it, Nii-san. But you realize a lot of people are here take classes on how to identify demons? I know you don’t exactly pay attention in any of them, but most people do. Your fangs are a massive red flag, and I’m surprised no one has ever said anything about them before. Unnatural fangs are a sure fire way to identify people that have been possessed, or nephilim.”

“It shouldn’t matter!” he whined, unable to deny that his brother’s words hurt. Just stop smiling? Because he had pointy teeth? Of course, he understood why he had to keep his connection with Satan a secret, but that didn’t mean…Rin himself hadn’t done anything! Why the hell should he have to suffer because of what his father had done? For things far outside his realm of control?

He couldn’t smile, because exorcists hated Satan? Hated demons so fucking much they couldn’t pretend to tolerate even their half-human children?

“But it does!” Yukio snapped, starting to lose his patience, not that that exactly took a lot when Rin was involved. “It doesn’t matter if you don’t like it or not! Your relationship to Satan aside, even just being a nephilim is damning. So stop smiling. Thankfully your hair is long enough to hide your ears for the most part, so that’s the main thing you can do to keep the physical abnormalities hidden for the moment.”

“It’s not fair!” he protested, hands curling into fists at his side.

“Tough, Rin. Go to class before you’re late,” he said, very clearly not going to accept any arguments.

Rin snarled, a deep, guttural sound that was distinctly not human.

“And don’t do that, either,” Yukio scolded.

The nephilim hissed as he slammed the door shut.

Why the fuck should it matter so much that he was half-demon?

“You’re…going to kill him?”

Yukio frowned, clearly upset by the situation, but that certainly wasn’t upset enough to give up on killing the cat sidhe, even though all he was doing was mourning and Rin had told him as much.

“We don’t have another option, Rin. There’s no one around who could tame a demon like him now that Dad’s gone. So go back with the others while I take care of him,” he said.

“No!” Rin protested, desperately tuning out Kuro’s pained cries, his denial of Fujimoto’s death. “You can’t kill him! He’s just—he’s just sad and hurting, Yukio!”

“And it doesn’t matter! He’s a demon, and demons get put down when they lash out,” he ground out, frustration clearly mounting.

“Humans lash out all the time and nobody kills them for it!” Why the hell was there such a double standard!? Why were humans allowed to do whatever they wanted, but the second a demon so much as slipped up, they were killed without a second thought? Even one like Kuro, who had been loyal for so many years? “Why is it different for him?"

Why is it different for me?

“Because it just is, Rin,” Yukio insisted, his patience all but spent.

“At least let me try reasoning with him! Please! I can get through to him!” he pleaded. He couldn’t watch this demon die; not while it was merely hurting and grieving, and everyone else refused to understand that.

Humans refused to understand that.

“Fine,” Yukio huffed. “But I’m stepping in the second he gets violent again.”

Rin bared his teeth and shoved past him, not even bothering to reply. If his brother tried to kill Kuro, he’d deck him, without a second thought.

He’d thought…he’d thought at least Yukio would be different from the other exorcists, at least a little more lenient, although in hindsight…

That’d been some wishful fucking thinking.

“Hey, Kuro,” Rin said as he approached.

You’re lying! the cat roared again, ears pressed flat against his skull, tails lashing. They’re all lying about Shiro! He wouldn’t die! He wouldn’t!

The nephilim raised his chin, determined to give Kuro the truth without cowering. “He’s dead. Shiro Fujimoto is dead.”

Then you’re a liar too! he hissed as he crouched down low.

“I’m his son. Trust me, he’s dead.” It hurt, so much, but what else could he do but be brutally honest? Lying would only result in another rampage later, and Rin definitely wouldn’t be able to convince anyone to spare Kuro a second time.

The sidhe wailed again, and Yukio called out, "Rin!"  the warning that he was about to take action very evident in his voice.

“Hey, Kuro…” Rin would use force if he needed to, but he’d like to avoid it if at all possible. He…he didn’t think he wanted to hurt demons, especially not ones like Kuro, who were just misunderstood and hurt and unable to meet humans’ impossible standards. “I don’t wanna lie to you, and I don’t wanna hurt you. I’m a demon too, ya know? I’m sorry, I know it sucks. I miss him, too… Can we just try and talk about it? Away from all the damn exorcists?”

Kuro stared at him, green eyes widening and glossing over with tears, before the wailing resumed, harsh and sorrowful as he shrank back to the size of a normal cat.

Hesitantly, Rin crept forward, and scooped up the crying demon, nestling him against his chest in the hope to offer some comfort. “I know…they can’t even let us mourn in peace, huh?”

They couldn’t let demons do anything in peace.

Why do you hide your tail, Rin? Kuro asked, gently pawing at the appendage in question as the tip swayed back and forth. I like your tail.

Rin chuckled and reached around to scratch his new familiar between the ears. “No one knows I’m a demon, ‘cept you and Yukio. So I’ve gotta keep it hidden. Humans wouldn’t really like me much if they knew…”

Kuro’s ears drooped, and he abandoned Rin’s tail to instead cuddle up next to him. Why not? Why wouldn’t they like you? I like you.

The half-demon sighed and ran his fingers along the cat’s spine. Honestly, he hadn’t realized how lonely he was until he had Kuro. It had only been a few days since they’d met, but his companionship had quickly become such an important thing for Rin. “Humans don’t like demons.” He shrugged. “I’ve made myself accept it by this point.”

What point was there in pretending otherwise? Even Yukio didn’t bother to act like he liked demons around Rin, why would anyone else? They would always hate half of him.

But demons aren’t bad… Kuro snuggled closer. We’re not…

“I know, buddy.” Rin hadn’t used to believe it, letting his brother and teachers convince him demons should be hated and feared in his first few weeks in this strange new world. But it just couldn’t be true.

Because Rin didn’t want to hate or fear himself, and he didn’t hate or fear Kuro.

Unfortunately, he got the sinking feeling other humans were going to have that problem when they eventually found out.

Why had he drawn that sword? Why had he pulled the damn blade out of its sheath? He should have just tried to fight Amaimon without it, at least long enough for the other ExWires to get away, out of sight and out of mind. He should have let Yukio and Shura handle it. He should have done anything else.

But he’d been stupid. Naive. He had dared to hope they wouldn’t care.

“Shiemi—” he attempted, reaching a trembling hand out. Surely she would understand, right? If anyone would listen, wouldn’t turn their back on him for something he couldn’t control, it would be her, right?

Tears pooled in the girl’s eyes, something akin to betrayal on her face, even a hint of fear.

“Come on,” Rin pleaded, desperately ignoring the stony disappointment from Yukio, the anger from Suguro, Shima and Konekomaru’s fear, Izumo’s shock. “It’s not that bad! I’m still me!”

I’ve always been me, nothing else. Why do I even have to say that?

He attempted to step forward, more hollow reassurances he shouldn’t even have to make on his tongue, but Arthur’s grip held him back, the new Paladin scowling as he hauled Rin away.

Shura sighed and clicked her tongue as Rin was dragged past her. “Kid…what did I say?” She wasn’t… disappointed, not exactly. For the first time ever, Rin couldn’t get a read on her at all.

“I had to help…” he whispered.

Maybe if he helped humans they would accept him.

Why had he been so stupid?

Arthur’s scowl deepened, and tightened his hold. “Kirigakure, do not engage in civil conversation with an abomination like this."

“I’m not an abomination!” Rin snarled, unable to tamper down the burst of anger despite how exhausted he was. The other ExWires might have died if he hadn’t done what he did.

Shura scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Y’er bein’ overdramatic, baldy. C’mon, let’s just go.” She turned on her heel and marched off.

With little else to do, Rin allowed Arthur to lead him away, not wanting to resist and risk being put in actual restraints because he sure as hell wouldn’t put it past the exorcists to chain him up like a dog.

“Well, well, well.” Mephisto smirked as the nephilim was paraded by him. “Let’s see where this goes now, little Okumura.”

Rin bit back a snarl, a sneaking suspicion settling in his gut that it might not be the way the exorcists wanted.

There were no chains, no executioner’s blade, but the threat of death never went away, and a charmed golden band was put on his tail, for Shura to use to put him in a world of hurt should he ever displease her or anyone else.

And for what? Because he’d dared to fight Amaimon with his true power? One more ‘slip up’, and he’d have his head on the chopping block within a day.

Why the hell should he keep protecting these people, when they could barely deign to keep him breathing?

Shura lightly whacked the back of his head. “Focus, kid!” she exclaimed, gesturing to the mess of goopy, half-melted candle wax. “You just sent another batch of ‘em ablaze! We’re gonna run outta the damn things at this rate.”

Rin grumbled and rubbed at the spot Shura had hit. “Yeah, yeah…I’m trying.” 

But his heart just wasn’t in it.

His flames didn’t want to be controlled. He didn’t want to be controlled.

“Well try harder,” Shura said as she crossed her arms. “It ain’t like we got all the time in the world or anythin’ like that.”

Rin’s tail flicked in irritation, the golden band heavier than it should have been.

Rin ignored Izumo when she sat down next to him, and she ignored him as well. He knew it was a statement for her, proof that she didn’t hate him, and a way to antagonize others in the class (namely Bon), but…

Well, why should he care that she thought he was safe enough to sit next to? Why should he be grateful for something as small and pathetic as that?

(A treacherous part of him was grateful for it, wanted to thank Izumo for doing that for him, even if it was just the bare fucking minimum).

So he just shifted closer to the window, placed his elbow on the armrest, and propped his chin on his hand to watch the landscape. His ear twitched as Bon attempted to start something with Izumo, but it didn’t get very far before Shura was telling them all to shut up and listen and act as professionally as possible on this mission.

Rin didn’t listen to the vast majority of what Shura said. Why did it matter? He’d practically given up on winning over anyone by helping them. Not when it had failed so spectacularly in the past.

Rin? Kuro pressed closer to him, staring up at him with wide eyes. Are you okay? You seem really upset…

“I’m fine,” Rin assured him, scratching at his ears. There was no need to trouble Kuro with the dark directions his thoughts had been going recently. He didn’t want to do that to him.

It was so unlike Shura to make a mistake, even such a small one like this one, and part of Rin wondered if it had really been a mistake at all, or if she’d been giving them all the chance to unwind in her own misguided, fucked up way.

But whether it was an honest mistake or not, Rin wasn’t going to question it. He just gulped down another mouthful of the booze she’d given them, already feeling a light buzz.

He’d never really drank before, and god, the shit tasted nasty, but so many people swore up and down that it helped them feel better so…so maybe it would help.

(So far it wasn’t doing much, but maybe he just needed to drink a little more…)

“What?” he huffed as he tossed the empty beer can to the side. “What’re you looking at?”

Shima laughed nervously from his place at least ten feet away from Rin, his dinner still untouched. “You’re really throwing that shit back, huh? Maybe you should slow down.”

Rin growled and grabbed another can in response. What the fuck did Shima know about it? Actually, why the hell was he even still here? Why hadn’t he run off with Bon and Koneko? Sure, Rin had impulsively said something about him staying to eat with him, but really…why the hell hadn’t the guy just run off anyways? “Why the hell do you care?”

Shima squeaked and leaned back, more than a little alarmed by his aggressive tone. “I just—well I mean, you don’t seem like the kinda guy to just go and get hammered, you know?” He reached up to rub the back of his neck. “Plus…you’re kinda a bomb about to go off anyways, so…probably wouldn’t be great for you if you got so drunk you accidentally lit half of Kyoto on fire.”

Rin narrowed his eyes. “I’m not that stupid.” He knew people thought he was—they really thought he didn’t know anything or understand shit about his actual situation—but it just wasn’t true, despite the act he put on most of the time.

“I never said you were,” Shima said with a shrug. “I’m just saying you probably shouldn’t be giving the Vatican anymore reason to hate you, so getting drunk on a mission…yeah, it won’t look great for you.”

Rin stuck his tongue out at him, his mind stumbling a little when trying to come up with a decent counter argument. And shit, maybe Shima was right, because the alcohol was getting to him a lot easier than he’d thought it would, and he’d already drank so much.

Shima snorted. “I dunno why everyone acts so scared of you. I mean…I was scared, at first, but geez…seeing you like this. Even with how pissed off you’ve been recently and how much of a coward I am, yeah…I just don’t get it.”

Rin blinked. “Huh…?”

“You know, I’m not as stupid as I seem either,” he said. “I can tell something’s been…going on with you. You’re angry, and I think I can see why, even if I don’t really get it. But don’t you think—”

Rin’s eyes began to slip closed, Shima’s words blurring into an unintelligible mess as exhaustion washed over the nephilim. Whether from the past few days, or the alcohol, he really wasn’t sure. Probably a mix of both.

“Hey! You can’t just go passing out on me!” Shima exclaimed, setting his dinner to the side and finally deciding to creep a little closer.

Rin’s head lolled forward, and he gave up on trying to stay awake.

He woke up with a headache, a dry mouth, and no memory of how the hell he’d gotten back to his room. He’d probably just stumbled back at some point. Geez, he hadn’t thought he’d drank enough to blackout, but then again, what did he really know about it? Honestly, he’d half expected his demonic side to keep the alcohol from getting to him too much.

But he forced himself to get up and go to breakfast, not wanting to give Shura or anyone else another reason to berate him. It was getting harder and harder to just sit back and take it recently, so it was probably better to just not give any more excuses to go after him.

“Hey, man.” Shima flopped down across from him, his normal, carefree grin on his face.

Huh…it’d been a while since Rin had seen that smile directed towards himself.

“God, you look like hell,” the other boy chuckled as he took a bite of his breakfast, completely ignoring the bewildered looks of anyone in the area over him willingly deciding to eat breakfast with the spawn of Satan. “But it’s not surprising considering how much you drank.”

Rin stared at him, unable to fully process what was happening. Why the hell was Shima being so casual with him? Like nothing had happened? Like he hadn’t turned his back on Rin for things far outside his realm of control?

Sure, he vaguely remembered having a conversation with Shima the night before, but he doubted they’d actually gotten over their issues with each other. Or at least, Rin knew he certainly hadn’t forgiven him for everything.

“What’s that blank look for?” Shima teased, before his eyes widened and he threw his head back with a groan. “Oh don’t tell me you forgot! I carried you back to your fucking room and you forgot! Why did I even bother…” He shook his head and gestured to Rin with his chopsticks. “God, you could be at least a little thankful. You’re not exactly light, you know.”

“I didn’t ask you to do that.” The words slipped out before he could stop himself, because had…had Shima really carried him back to his room? Honestly, anyone else probably would have just left him to sleep outside. Except maybe Shiemi, but she would have just woken him up. So it was just hard to process that Shima had actually done that.

Shima raised an eyebrow, before laughing. “Eh, really wasn’t a big deal. I was coming back here anyway. Besides, you would have done the same for me.”

Would I have? Once upon a time, sure, without any hesitation. Rin would have carried any of his classmates anywhere they needed to go. But after everything? After they’d turned their backs on him after he nearly gave up everything just to protect them? He wasn’t so sure anymore…

“Damn, you must really feel like shit, ‘cause you’re awfully quiet this morning,” Shima continued, either not noticing or just not caring about Rin’s conflicted feelings with the situation. “Well, whatever. Just be a little more careful next time you decide to get plastered.”

“Yeah…” Rin finally said. “Sure thing.”

And maybe Shima was right. Maybe Rin would at least carry him home if he ever found him just a little too drunk to get there by himself.

Honestly? Rin wasn’t completely sure why he’d gotten involved. Why he’d dashed forward without truly thinking about the consequences of such a thing. But seeing Bon fight with his father like that…

It’d clawed up old memories, none that Rin wanted to dwell on. So he’d done what he’d always done, and acted first without thinking about it.

He hadn’t thought about (or maybe just hadn’t cared), that all anyone would see was a feral demon attacking a human, regardless of the reasons or even that it wasn’t truly to cause any harm to Bon. He just wanted him to stop saying such awful things, to stop ruining his relationship with his father, before it was too late. Too late.

(If Fujimoto were still here, would any of this have happened?)

Shura activated the band on his tail before he even realized what was happening, his entire mind going white as excruciating pain shot up his vertebrae, leaving him to crumple onto the floor, crying out so harshly his throat began to burn. 

Bon stumbled back, his eyes going wide as he watched Rin writhe.

Rin curled in on himself, claws digging into his own skin. The pain only grew more intense, the charm ensuring it caused the most harm possible.

Why? Why had they done this to him? They decided they would force him to obey. They found the weakest point of his body, the most vulnerable, and made sure they could make him hurt there, just in case he didn’t do exactly what they wanted.

Just in case he did more than sit still and quiet until they tugged on his leash.

Tears pricked at his eyes, the screeches of pain morphing into something closer to a sob as he covered his head with his arms, just wishing it would end.

“Outta my way!” Shura barked, and the pain finally, finally began to subside as she kneeled down next to him and laid a soft hand on his back. “Kid, you okay?”

Rin snarled, twisting to snap his teeth at her hand, just barely missing as she jerked back, her eyes narrowing.

She did that to him. Oh, it might not have been her decision to put the band on his tail, but she was still the one who activated it. She could have just grabbed him, told him to stop and calm down and think for a moment, but instead she had—

“Listen.” She leaned down to hiss into his ear. “S’not like I wanna use that thing, but when ya lash out like that in front of so many people, I ain’t gotta choice. Now come on, you good? Or are ya gonna try and bite me again?”

“I’m good,” he snarled, the last of the pain finally fading away. He shot Bon one more glare, and considered going after him again, but Shura was already heaving him to his feet, not giving him the opportunity as she hauled him away.

Better get used to this, he thought as he curled up on the floor of the cell. It’s where I’m bound to end up eventually.

That was, if they didn’t just kill him this time around. All because he’d gotten a little rough with Bon. Was this seriously all they had to do right now? Debate his execution again? With everything else that was going on?

He couldn’t help but bare his teeth. People were at risk of dying, and all they cared about was killing him because he called Bon an idiot.

At least demons had their priorities straight…

Rin sighed and flopped down against the ground. What else was there to do in Mephisto’s weird prison dimension? There was no way for him to get out, and why should he risk his life to go after the Impure King? Nobody would thank him for it. Hell, there was a chance they might not even keep him alive for it.

He lifted his hand to his mouth, nibbling at one of his nails, dimly noting that they seemed sharper than usual, inching closer to the claws he had had in his more demonic form. 

“Rin!”

He let his hand fall against his chest, blinking in surprise at Shiemi’s voice. What the hell was he doing here? He figured he’d be stuck here until either the Impure King was dealt with, or the Order crumbled and there was no one around for Mephisto to pretend to listen to. But if that was true, how the hell had Shiemi even gotten in here?

“Rin! You’re okay!” She skidded towards him, barely keeping her footing amongst all the junk. “I’m- I’m so sorry!”

He pushed himself into a sitting position, his tail tip beginning to flick in irritation. “Sorry about what?” he grumbled.

“I—” Shiemi cut herself off with a squeak, tears pooling in her eyes. “I-I should have trusted you, stayed by you, I—”

“It’s whatever.” Rin waved her off. He didn’t need apologies. He didn’t expect apologies. And at this point, they felt cheap, pointless. He’d had to prove he wasn’t going to hurt anyone, that he wasn’t a monster, but he shouldn’t have had to do that, because he’d never hurt anyone! He’d only ever helped them.

“Rin—” she attempted again, the tears beginning to drip down her cheeks.

“I said it’s fine,"  he hissed. “You just want me to go deal with the Impure King, huh?” Because that’s all he was good for being; a weapon against his own kind. So he grabbed Kurikara. “So let’s go.”

Shiemi reached out, like she wanted to touch him, maybe grab his wrist or hold his hand, but she seemed to think better of the action and let her hand fall. “Okay…”

Rin drew his sword, an ease that he’d never had before aiding the motion. His flames burst forth, greedily burning up any spores and sickness that spread out from the Impure King. Bon’s barrier was still holding strong, with Rin to protect the Aria and keep him safe, he could pour all his focus and energy into maintaining the spell.

It was easy…burning up the Impure King and anything associated with it. Feeling his flames rage, eating up and incinerating. He couldn’t hold back his laughter, the sound bubbling up, almost as uncontrollable as his fire.

Let it out, let it out, let it out…!

It would be so easy. Just letting his fire burn, letting it rage…it would raize everything and everyone within this barrier, it would set him free, from the worry, the threats, free from having to kill his own kind for literally just existing…protecting the humans that weren’t faced with the same consequences when they hurt someone, when they hurt Rin.

Why should he be their faithful dog? Do as the Order said? Why should he be forced to obey when he didn’t get anything? Nothing but hate and distrust and betrayal.

Rin bared his teeth, his fingers curling even tighter around Kurikara’s hilt, claws biting into it.

No…

He forced himself to reign his flames back in, containing them to only the Impure King and its spores.

Not yet…

He couldn’t turn on them, turn on the Order, not right now. They would kill him, and damn it all, Rin didn’t want to die.

Besides…Izumo and Shima were on this mountain, and they—they had—

Rin didn’t know how he felt about them, but he didn’t think he wanted to see them hurt by his flames.

So he did as he was told, instructed by Shura and other exorcists, burning up the Impure King.

At least one more time…

He would do what he was told.

Rin caught Yukio’s wrist, just before his fist made contact with his face.

His brother’s breath caught in his throat, and stunned silence fell over Shura and the other students.

“What the hell was that gonna be for?” Rin asked, tilting his head to the side. Of course, he’d given up on winning with Yukio. No matter what he did, his brother was always going to be disappointed or convinced it was the wrong thing to do.

“You can never just listen!” Yukio snarled, wrenching his arm out of Rin’s grasp. “Don’t you understand what you’ve done!? They could kill you for this!”

“All I did was help,” Rin replied, keeping his voice steady, soft. “All I did was keep more people from dying. I used my fire to help."

“They don’t care!” Yukio shouted. “God, why can’t you just understand—"

Rin lunged to grab Yukio by his coat, yanking him closer and baring his teeth. “I understand everything perfectly fine, Yukio.” Actually, I think I understand it all better than you. “I chose to use my fire against the Impure King and nothing else."

Yukio’s eyes widened, and he did not attempt to escape Rin’s hold this time.

“I fought a demon for you today,” Rin growled, shoving his brother back and turning on his heel. “So don’t patronize me because you’re lucky I did it.”

“Nii-san—” Yukio attempted. 

Rin ignored him.

And you’ll be even fucking luckier if I decide to do it again.