When in Gehenna

Too Little, Too Late

Amaimon and Rin spent the rest of the day playing with Kuro and Behemoth.  Rin made dinner for their delegation, and the group turned in for the night.

Yukio was left to fend for himself once again.  After he made himself a sandwich, he did some grading before going to bed.  That night, he dreamed that he was the twin who inherited the demon blood.  In his dreams, Rin lived a happy life with many friends.  Although he was not by any means a stellar student, he managed to pass his classes and get a decent job.  Yukio, however, always seemed to be full of rage.  He rarely interacted with any children except his brother.  The worst part was his inability to focus.  No matter how hard he tried, he always felt like his brain was going in a thousand different directions at once.  He eventually flunked out of school and tried to find a job.  At each job he took, strange things happened that invariably resulted in his being fired.  Finally, one night as he was walking home, he ran into Astaroth, the Demon King of Rot, who tried to drag him into a Gehenna gate.  Of course, dream Yukio had no idea what was going on, and was unable to fight back.  Fortunately, Father Fujimoto showed up in time to save him, before dragging him home and talking about how he hoped this day would never come.  Yukio felt overwhelmed as he was told that he was the son of Satan, and had inherited his blue flames.  As Father Fujimoto told him that he would have to leave the monastery now that his powers had awakened, Yukio felt a rage building in him and lashed out at the man who had raised him.  

"Why did you even bother keeping me alive?  You only wanted me so long as I was ignorant!  I hate you!"  At those last words, Satan was able to possess Father Fujimoto and events unfolded the same way they did for Rin.  At the funeral, Rin approached Yukio and asked how he was holding up.  When Yukio asked Rin if he knew about their birth father, Rin admitted that he had, but that Father Fujimoto had made him swear not to tell Yukio.  Unfortunately, Yukio was the only one to inherit the flames, but Rin didn't blame him for their guardian's death.  He told Yukio that he could come visit Rin at his restaurant any time.

When Yukio was given the same options Rin was given, he chose to end his own life instead of living with the guilt and self-loathing.  As his sword pierced his chest, he woke up with a start.

Yukio spent the rest of the night wide awake, contemplating his dream.  He realized that if their roles had been reversed, something similar to the dream would most likely have happened.  As he looked at the choices Rin made in each situation compared to his own choices, he was forced to admit to himself that Rin was the stronger and kinder twin.  Where Yukio had tended to look down on Rin for his struggles with school and his violent tendencies, Rin had always been helpful and encouraging,  taking the time to help Yukio with the things he didn't understand and working to include Yukio with the other children during play time.  Although Rin had also suffered a temptaint  at a young age, he was not afraid of the demons he saw.  He learned the basics of getting rid of demons, and used them to help his brother and other targets of the demons' mischief, but he refused to train as an exorcist, saying that it would be a betrayal of his brother even if Yukio never found out.  

At Father Fujimoto's funeral,  Rin was understanding and supportive towards Yukio.  However, Yukio could still clearly remember how he told Rin that Rin had killed their father and he wished Rin had died instead.  Most importantly, Yukio now understood the weight Rin had been struggling with his entire life.  Although his brother was now a full demon, he could tell that he was still the same Rin, just happier, healthier, and surrounded by people who sincerely loved everything about him.

Looking back at his actions over the past few days, Yukio knew that his relationship with Rin would never be the same.  Although Rin was kind and trusting, when someone betrayed his trust and hurt him the way Yukio had there was no going back.  Rin would never fully trust Yukio again, and Yukio honestly couldn't blame him for it.  All he could do now was try to get back onto decent terms with his brother and support him in the negotiations with the Vatican.  Yukio also determined to try and keep a more open mind about demons in the future, although he would never be truly comfortable around them.

*****Break*****

As Rin and Amaimon joined the other students in the Cram School, Yukio began to pass back the quizzes they had taken the day before.  To everyone's shock, Rin and Amaimon both scored perfect 100's.  Bon had only managed a 99, and as predicted, he began accusing Rin and Amaimon of cheating.

"There is no way Rin got 100.  He is a horrible student and barely paid attention to the lecture yesterday!  And do you honestly expect me to believe that Amaimon, the Demon King of Earth, was able to pass this quiz?!" 

"Are you honestly accusing us of cheating, on this easy quiz?"  Amaimon's incredulity was only visible to Rin.

"What do you mean, easy?  Rin hasn't even come to school in two years, and this quiz was brand new material."  Yukio found himself getting involved in the conversation as well.

"How would you like me to prove we didn't cheat?" Rin calmly derailed the argument before it could get too heated.

"We will ask you ten questions, and you have to answer them all.  If you can do that, it will prove you didn't cheat." Bon was surprised when Rin easily agreed to the challenge.

At first, Bon and Yukio started with easier questions, but as Rin got them right they quickly moved to harder ones.  Finally, Yukio asked a question that was in the curriculum for next year and Rin was still able to ramble off the correct answer.  The class stared at him in shock, forced to reevaluate their opinions of the demon in front of them.

Yukio congratulated Rin on his correct answers, and took the moment to apologize for his behavior.  Although Rin had let go of his anger towards Yukio, he still maintained a cold distance from him, treating him like an uneasy acquaintance.  Yukio knew he would have a long way to go before Rin would view him with anything besides disgust and mistrust, but he was going to keep working at it.

As the students and demons again went their separate ways, Rin and Amaimon went to find Mephisto so they could discuss their plan of attack for tomorrow.  Afterwards, Rin and Amaimon ate dinner and went out for ice cream before retiring for the evening, full of anticipation for the meeting with the Vatican.