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Hail The Prince of Demons

Summary:

Raised in Gehenna and bred for destruction, all this demon wanted to do was be like everyone else. Why was that too much to ask for?

Undergoing a rewrite: 5 of 11 done before fresh chapters come out!

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Chapter 1: Silver Tongue

Notes:

Rewrite! Only 10 more to go. These first few chapters will remain moderately similar to their first version and the rest will morph into a better version imo.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Silence reigned supreme over the frozen forest. Great firs slicked back their needles with ice, boughs bent from the weight of their snowy loads. The world was strictly black and white, shades of grey dampened the darkness of shadows. An alien landscape to those unfamiliar with the winter months here. 

Beneath thick black boots came a war on the quiet. Snow crunched as the top most layer, a thin sheet of frozen snowmelt broke with the weight of each step. Under the crust the loose snow groaned as it was packed together. Fujimoto groaned at the trek, this was taking too long. At his current rate he would lose his quarry and return empty handed. Chasing after Yuri these past several months had always been fruitless. She’d been evasive, non-confrontational and elusive. She stated her facts and let the consequences be damned. 

A wind stirred up the loose snow and hissed over the crusty layers of white ice. From behind him the Paladin could feel the eyes of the forest watching his every move. In front the demons kept hidden, but from his peripheral vision he could see the snow creatures peek from behind the black trunks. Not one had made any move to stop him. Even as he followed the faint trail of footsteps, the drag of a load that broke the otherwise virgin snow. 

As the trees thinned the wind picked up to a furious pace, as though mother nature cursed his advance. The softly falling flakes turned to daggers whipping through the air, the hiss of snow over icy dunes had turned into a snarl of rage. At the edge of the forest even the trees shivered and groaned at the frigid temperatures. The tracks he followed disappeared into the snow and Fujimoto scanned the clearing. THe only logical place she could have gone now would be the bluff, standing tall and proud, a sheer face that hid its valley from the winds grasping fingers. 

The inside, Fujimoto found, was much warmer than he’d expected. A small cave that he had thought would house a bear or another such dangerous creature was devoid of the rotten smell of decayed flesh and a distinct lack of prey bones made the enclosure more docile. Deeper in still he went and discovered the flickering flames of a small campfire. 

And this was where he found her. 

The fire crackled and popped in the center of little cave, lighting the pale stone and dirt walls with a slight yellow orange hue. Lichen and moss distorted the walls but did not give it an unkind appearance. Two long shadows stood over one corner of the cave, where the woman lied unmoving on a bed of soft plush furs and cloth.

One an exorcist, the other a demon. They stood over the pale woman, a freshly made mother of two small children.. One, already spotted with a few freckles and a small patch of dark hairs atop his small and slightly damp head. The mother obviously had taken care of the delivery herself, as the babies were a tad wet with blood still as they wriggled in their hastily wrapped blankets. The other child however was the center of attention. His body was no different, if paler in tone he was just as small and chubby. However from the babes pale skin emitted a soft blue fire, sputtering and flickering as the babe slept. Though the flames did not burn him, they meant something far worse: an inheritance.

"So you are going to kill them are you?" The demon asked, his get up was odd, as his method of dress always was. A white top hat, round clown shorts with striped purple leggings, a patched umbrella and eccentrically styled bright purple hair to accent forest green eyes. He grinned cheekily at the human beside him, demonic fangs bared though not in an unfriendly manner.

The human stilled, glasses sliding down his nose just a tad, his dinky little cross glasses string jingling slightly as he pushed them back up his face. Fujimoto grimaced at the thought of killing babies, but it was in his job description to do as the Vatican demanded. The black coat crinkled and squeaked with melted snow as Fujimoto crossed his arms. He let out an aggravated sigh, his cigarette nearly blowing from his lips as he looked to the ceiling, as if asking God what would be best to do in this situation.

At his hip and gathered specifically for this mission, was the great demon slayer of swords, the Koumaken. A beautiful deep cobalt sheath, protecting the ancient sword during its inactive moments. The sword had slayed many demons, most legendary of its time was the Impure King, for which the Koumaken had been used to slice the Kings very heart in two thus saving all of Japan. Fujimoto frowned, as he received no acknowledgment from above. 

"Orders are orders Mephisto, you are lucky the Vatican does not turn on you for all of your shenanigans."

To be honest, Fujimoto wanted nothing to do with this assignment. Killing children was not very high up on the Vaticans' list of things to do, and killing babies was even lower. However this pair of twin babes had made top of that list; the two darling little pasty skinned twins were the newborn sons of a great and powerful demon. In fact, the greatest and most powerful of all demons, the God of Gehenna: Satan. Fujimoto could not help but think back to the last time he had seen Yuri, the teenage woman finally becoming an adult only to be possessed by Satan himself. Fujimoto did not know the details, only that she housed the god of Gehenna in her body for several months before he impregnated her. Of course the Vatican had wanted her killed, but nothing came of it. Just more destruction and negativity. Even now as he rested his gloved hand on the hilt of the Koumaken, there was only more destruction. Yuri had died moments after Fujimoto had arrived, searching after the heavily pregnant woman in a blizzard of all things. Her final words were ones of love for the two bundles in her arms, telling Fujimoto their names before she had slipped away peacefully.

And now once again to try and end the cycle of destruction there had to be yet more death. However before Fujimoto could even twitch the proper muscles to draw the sword and finish his mission; the small sputtering fire came roaring to life. The flames grew tall and wild, their previously warming yellow orange haze morphing into a cold bright blue. The two had to step back to avoid getting burned. The flames licked the sides of the cave briefly before settling down, and in the flames a face of fire glared at Fujimoto, though the features were rather distorted. The fire's blue tone was all that was needed to tell who exactly it was. 

"You dare try to kill my offspring? Foolish human!"

Fujimoto turned his attention from the newborns to the flames of Satan that burned before him. "Satan! How dare you show your face here. It is your fault that Yuri was killed!" Fujimoto drew the sword now, the blade glinting brightly in the fire light.

"Now, now, let’s not get hasty here! Perhaps we can work something out without violence." Mephisto grinned at Fujimoto, "You don't want to kill them anyways, why not just let Satan take care of them? They are his children after all."

Fujimoto stared at Mephisto with an incredulous look, "It doesn't matter whose children they are, they have been ordered to be killed by the Vatican and I have to follow through or it will be my head they have instead!"

Satan rolled his eyes, "The Vatican and its attempts against a God of all things are futile, foolish exorcists, and you are unworthy to even carry my blood in you." Satan eyed the two babes and grinned at the sight of the one burning up in a soft little blue fire.

Mephisto laughed off the stab of his fathers distaste for him, however kept his eye on the ever excitable Fujimoto. "How about this Fujimoto, you don't want to kill them anyways, why not let Satan take the child he obviously wants, and you keep the other one? A proposition!" He clapped his hands together gleefully. "You, Fujimoto, raise your boy to be the greatest exorcist of all! Great enough to defeat any demon across Japan, no, the world even! While Satan takes his favored child back to Gehenna."

Fujimoto seemed intrigued and had never had the time to settle down and make a family, much less find a single woman to call his own. This would be a much more... opportunistic method of going about that, as well as keeping his doors open.

"I only want the boy which carries my blood." Satan glared at Mephisto, he did not push the subject, knowing that the King of Time was a sly fox with the most silver of tongues, Satan would get his way one’ way or another. "Do what you wish of the other one."

Fujimotos lips pressed into a thin line of thought and irritation, he knew he would be chewed out if the Vatican ever found out, but if the normal looking twin was indeed normal after all then all would be well. Sheathing the Koumaken he leaned down to pick up the squirming bundle of freckles. "Yuri had already named them. That boy is Rin, and this is Yukio." The babe in his arms wriggled a little more and then settled, whimpering slightly.

"Rin hmm? Whatever she wished.." Satans voice was fainter as he spoke of his now deceased lover. He grinned toothily at the blue flamed babe named Rin and the little sausage of a boy gave a toothless smile in return.

However Fujimoto was not done as his mind wrapped around one little fact. "Hey hey, now. That boy you've got is a half demon Satan, meaning that he is half human and he will need to be in Assiah for a few days every month to keep his health up." Fujimoto eyed the little baby wreathed in flames immediately pitying the child for not being able to take him with as well. "Let him come visit his brother once a month, I promise that the Vatican will not find out about him."

Satan went quiet as he took this information into consideration, before he could speak there was an unexpected, "Eins, zwei, drei!" A snap of fingers had the little boy’s flames suddenly went out, slipping through the air like a snake of blue smoke and sliding into the sheath of the Koumaken. The sheath glowed blue briefly before returning to its normal state. "Little Rin’s power will be locked into Gehenna, unless this demon sword is drawn of course. That way no one will know of the boy’s inheritance."

The flaming blue face smiled nastily at his son, displeased that his offspring had lost the lovely blue fire about him, however it was simply a necessary evil. "Mephisto, I will be sending Amaimon to you to retrieve the boy. Keep him afterwards if you like, he is far too comfortable here." The demon bowed deeply to the flames before leaning down to scoop up the little bundle that remained in the dead woman's arms. He spared her no words nor backwards glances as he shielded the child from the weather and both Fujimoto and Mephisto disappeared into the white bluster of the blizzard.

+T+

A loud scream could be heard for miles around. Originating from the local children's playground there were of course several concerned parents, one in particular was attempting to wrestle a black haired boy off of her own. Underneath the boys fist, looking beaten and bloodied was one of the public schools bullies. Rin was yelling and the boy was screaming and the mother was scolding, however it was an endless cycle with Yukio standing off to the side with broken glasses in his hands and some dirt and tears smudged across his face. Rins tiny little fist pumped in the air before delivering a last kick to the wailing bully beneath him as he was suddenly grabbed from the woman and held off his feet.

"Rin! Apologize to that boy right now!" Fujimoto lectured the little half demon.

"He broke Yukio’s glasses! That kid is a bully from school too!" Rin glared back at Fujimoto with all the menace a little five year old could. With the sword sheathed all the little half demon had to do was keep his tail tucked, easy enough to do with a bit of exercise tape. However it didn't stop the locals from calling the boy a demon or monster. His behavior seemed to say it all.

Fujimoto looked to Yukio, who stood off to the side sniffling quietly in his blindness. In his hands were his bent and broken glasses. He looked away when Fujimoto’s eyes caught his and immediately began running away back towards the monastery. Rin yelled after his twin, tail twitching under his shirt as it tried to break free, however the tape held fast. Fujimoto Set Rin down and forced him to face the boy. "No matter how things went, it is never 'OK' to hurt anyone Rin."

Rin frowned, "But big brother Asta says you have to stand up for yourself and beat 'em to hell if they-' ' Fujimoto slapped a hand over Rin’s mouth.

The priest frowned at the young demon charge. "The rules here are different Rin. Now apologize and then we can go find Yukio’s spare glasses and get dinner started."

Rin grumbled but bowed to the mother and the bully of a child. "Sorry, but please don't break my lil’ brothers’ glasses anymore." Rin glared at the ground and then as he stood up broke away from Fujimoto’s grip and ran after his brother. His little legs flailing as he ran, once he spotted the monastery he ran faster, skidding around the corner and into the small gated yard before he was pushing the doors in and slamming them shut behind him. Immediately he griped about his tail being taped, yanking off his shirt and shorts until he was just in his little underwear and socks peeling the tape from his sides and off of his tail. Pulling his shorts back on he ran about the room sniffing for Yukio.

A toothy grin split the boy’s face as he ran over to a confession booth, tail wagging and curling as he plopped onto his knees to sit outside the door. He knew it was locked, Yukio would always lock himself somewhere when he was upset. The grin slowly faded as Rin sat there patiently, staring at the door. He could hear Yukio sniffling on the other side of the door, and could smell the salty tears his twin cried.

Rin smiled brightly and quietly began to hum a familiar tune. Koinobori. He had learned it from Fujimoto a few months ago during his brief stays with his twin. Surprisingly Rin was quite gifted in learning and was eager to watch and learn things first hand, though books and writing were a whole other task.

Yukio’s sniffles quieted as he listened to his twins humming. He scrubbed the tears from his face with his dusty sleeve and listened. The song was about the bond of family and the symbolic nature of the koi’s strength.

Rin smiled as he hummed the same lyrics a few times until he rested his forehead against the door. "Lil’ bro.. come out?" He could hear Yukio’s shuffling as he got up off the floor and the flick of the lock switching undone. The confession booth creaked open and Rin slipped inside to hug his brother. Rin's tail wagged as he rubbed his cheek against Yukios before dragging him out of the confessional. "Yosh! Let’s find your glasses lil’ bro!"

"Rin!" Yukio whined and the two of them walked off towards Yukio’s room. There was a back up pair of glasses he had, the bridge had broken but Fujimoto had glued them back together and taped the bridge. Yukio hated the glasses with passion because of the ‘nerdy’ look they gave him.

Unbeknownst to the little twins, Fujimoto had been watching their little interaction from afar, observing as he always did. It was so strange that such different homes could still raise a demon with a human heart. He smiled slightly and the priest crept from his hiding spot to get dinner ready.

"Oi! Dinner will be ready soon go get clean and ready! We're having Sukiyaki!" Fujimoto’s smile broadened at the exclamation of joy from Rin and the quiet gasp of excitement Yukio made.

Parenting was so easy sometimes.

+T+

Easy-peasy lemon-squeezy? More like difficult difficult lemon difficult.

"Fujimoto-saaan." Rin was at the priest's feet, tugging on his sleeve for attention. The demons tail flicking back and forth while those massive cobalt eyes stared up at him expectantly. "What's school? Why does lil’ brother have to go?"

Fujimoto sighed, setting down the paperwork he had been dutifully organizing for his files in favor of picking up the demon and resting him on his hip. The boy had little concept of Assiah and all of its workings, and he was getting too big to be picked up too. However Rin insisted and those watery blue eyes just couldn't get any cuter. "Yukio needs to go to school because it’s good for him and it’s fun to learn stuff."

The demon made a face, "Like from books?"

"Yes from books for example. The teacher writes on the board, and you get homework to do after school is over." Fujimoto chuckled at Rin's face as it slowly screwed up into an impossibly cute frown of distaste.

"Home... work?" Rin seemed confused and rested his head on Shiros shoulder. "What's that? Is it tasty?"

"No no, you get work and you bring it home to do, then you take it back to school the next day and the teacher checks it to make sure you did it right." Fujimoto grinned, "Sometimes the teachers give you candy if you do all the problems right."

This information piqued Rins interest as his tail suddenly stood up straight and he wiggled excitedly. "Oh? I want to go!" Rins wriggling became too much and Fujimoto had to set him back down. The demon bounced on the balls of his feet as he poked his head over the desk that Fujimoto was organizing. His blue eyes were massive as he stared at the scattered papers. "So is this homework for adults then?"

Fujimoto nodded and as he put the final paper in place, rolled open the filing cabinet and slid it into an empty slot. "This is adult homework, but there is no teacher to check your work. You just have to be so good at doing it that you know you don't mess up."

Rin’s tail wagged lazily as he peeked over the edge of the desk and then ran off suddenly. Fujimoto blinked as his flea of a child suddenly took off. He glanced to his watch and then turned just as the door opened and Yukio walked in with his bag of school work.

"Welcome home lil’ brother!" Rin was right there at the door, offering to take Yukio’s bag -which the twin let him have. The demon then tore off to the kitchen table where he heaved the book bag onto the surface and then hopped onto a chair, eagerly digging through the papers and books.

Yukio toed off his shoes and ran after his demon brother, "Brother wait! No they’re in order! Wait!" The younger rubbed his face as he ran, smudging ink across a cheek before he pulled his bag away from Rin. Rin plopped down and stared at Yukio with huge eyes, waiting excitedly to see what this 'school' had given his brother. A few slim books were pulled out, along with a pencil and a fat red eraser.

Gasps of awe came from the demonic boy, tail twitching eagerly. "Hey! What’s homework lil’ brother? Can I see it?"

Yukio gave his twin brother an odd look but pulled out a printed paper and showed him. "This? I have to do these math problems and then I get to read."

Rin's gasps of awe turned into a confused 'eh?' and he scooted his chair right up next to Yukios. He watched as Yukio maneuvered the graphite instrument about the paper, in child-like writing he wrote several numbers, adding and subtracting a handful of problems before he set the paper aside. Another sheet of homework was pulled out and this time Yukio wrote more, not numbers but sentences.

Rin could not help it as a feeling of confusion washed over him, as his mind spun, and his stomach twisted awkwardly. He didn't know any of this stuff. Rin stared at his hands and then at the papers. He only had two days a month to spend in Assiah, the rest of his time in Gehenna was spent wrestling with demons and mouthing off to Astaroth. He never spent his time with books or pencils or anything. His heart clenched and Rin laid his face on the table, watching as Yukio scribbled on the papers. Why couldn't he spend more time up here and go to school like his brother did? He could barely read, and writing was another beast entirely. When he had begun to talk as a baby he had been mixing up words left, right and center. Being a demon straight from Gehenna there was a huge language barrier for him, even with the frequent yet brief visits to Assiah. Going from mumbling words and answering in irritated snarls or attempting to force your demonic telepathy to work with humans made Rin suddenly realize how different he was.

"Father! I'm done!"

Rin lifted his head as Fujimoto came in and ruffled Yukio’s hair. The priest looked over Yukio’s homework and pointed out errors here and there. Yukio of course fixed them right away and stuffed them neatly into his bag for tomorrow. Rins heart twisted again as Fujimoto smiled down at Yukio. It was a look Rin had never seen before: pride. Pride in someone else. Fujimoto’s pride in Yukio for being so diligent about his work.

Cobalt eyes shifted to the side and he stared at the table, unsure of what to make of everything. He had heard about parents, knew that Satan was his father, but the Demon Lord was rarely around. Rin shivered, and when he was around the Lord had females nearly dripping off his form. When it was just the two of them Satan was more expectant of the young half demon. Besides, Satan never looked at him like that .

A hand patted his back and Rin jumped with a hiss, tail curled neatly to his body while he bared his tiny claws and fangs. However before he could properly fight back Rin was picked up and hugged to a cigarette scented jacket. His tail flicked cat-like in irritation but he did not move otherwise. Later he would figure out that Fujimoto had hugged him, though all Rin had done in return was go limp like an opossum playing dead.

Notes:

Listen and chill for the next update.