The 9th

Panic

Shima flinched as he felt Rin glare at him. What did he do wrong this time?!

Rin beckoned Shima over with a flick of his tail. Shima, weeping on the inside, followed Rin's command and walked forward. 

Rin held out a clawed hand and Shima was fully prepared to kiss it. 

Rin placed a small object in Shima's hand. 

"What.....?"

Shima opened it and held in a gasp. It was his mother's ring, he had lost it during his battle with Rin. 

"I sensed it had great emotional value to you, so I kept it safe." 

Shima ignored King Astaroth's glare and hugged Rin. 

He had thought that he would never see his mother's ring again. The thought of losing the one thing that reminded him of the family he loved had devastated him. He searched night after night in the arena and the Holy Water pools for that ring. He asked janitor after janitor if they had picked it up, he even checked the security footage, but he couldn't find his ring. He had thought he would never see it again. 

His eyes filled with tears as he clenched the ring in his hand. "Thank you," he whispered into the demon king's ear. "Thank you, so much." 

"Stop crying, you pink pervert, get over here and help me." 

Shima sat up and watched as Izumo lumbered over with a giant basin of water on wheels. Shima's eyes squinted as he felt Rin's side of the bed tighten.

She rolled her eyes at his expression, mistaking it for confusion, "He needs to bathe but it's unreasonable to have a patient walk all the way to the restrooms. Why else do we have this thing?" 

Shima tried to glare at Izumo, tilted his head towards the door, used sign language, something to tell her to stop. 

Izumo ignored him and turned on the hose. 

Shima jumped out of the way as a large fire erupted right next to him. Astaroth shoved him out of the way to get to his brother. Shima ran over to Izumo and shouted at her to turn off the hose. 

"What?!" Izumo shouted over the roar of the flames, she couldn't hear Shima clearly. She moved towards him but slipped on some of the water that had spilled on the floor. As she fell the hose pointed the water towards Rin, and in her rush of desperation to grab onto something Izumo shoved her finger in front of the opening. A burst of water spurted out. 

Rin screamed in fear and memorized pain as the water made contact with his skin. His tail wiped around and latched onto his brother's arm. 

Astaroth rangled his brother into a hold as the young demon thrashed and hissed about. 

Shima ran forwards and bent the hose away from the demon and quickly shouted at Konekomuru to shut off the hose. 

Even after the water had turned off, Rin was still in a panic. His mind was trapped in the cycle he was forced to learn. 

After the water came the cutting. 

Rin's wrists and ankles glowed in strap-like markings as his eyes bounced painfully from sharp object to sharp object that was in the room. Fear of the inevitable pain crawled through his skin and overtook his mind. He forgot where he was, who he was with, what he was doing, where he came from, he forgot it all. The only thing he focused on was trying to avoid the pain. Sparks of hellfire burned away at the metal instruments sitting on the table and surrounded the windows and doors. He could smell the smell of a temple worshipper, he could smell the smell of a fox god, he could smell the smell of the being who forced him to be put in all this pain. 

Rin's senses calmed down after three minutes, but once Koneko took a breath of relief they sparked right back up. 

Astaroth couldn't figure out what had provoked his brother, the water had been shut off, the metal was burned away, and he was free of any restraints. 

He kept his grip on his brother while his mind chipped and chipped away until it struck gold, but for Astaroth, it was more of a carbon monoxide stream. 

"Brother..." Astaroth whispered in horror and pain as the young prince clawed at his arms. Astaroth flung open the doors and threw himself and his brother outside. 

Rin burned down tree after tree. All while Astaroth was coaxing him softly from behind, trying to bring his brother back into reality. 

Three hours later, Astaroth came stalking back inside with Rin passed out over his shoulder. 

"Speak not if this, do not try to remember it, only remember your faults," Astaroth growled to them as he stalked towards the basement. 

"And.." Astaroth whispered as he began his descent, he gave them a poisonous glance, "Don't touch him." 

Astaroth's tail slammed the door behind them. 

Izumo, Shima, and Koneko were left standing alone in the kitchen. 

Koneko and Izumo looked down in guilt, both ashamed of their ignorance. 

Shima looked down in pain, he recognized Rin's symptoms. His eldest brother had shown them. 

Internally, Shima wished that unlike his brother, Rin wasn't broken. 

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Astaroth glanced down at his sleeping brother in pain as he replaced the wet and burnt bandages. 

The demon king gritted his teeth as a flame of rage trembled through his body. He was happy Rin was asleep. 

Astaroth opened a portal and smiled as he saw the faces of his brothers and father on the other side. 

"Hello," Astaroth said with a smile. 

Egyn nearly flew through the portal as he tackled his brother into a hug. "Where have you been?!" 

Astaroth widened the portal to show them the sleep and bandaged demon. 

Iblis's flames threatened to reach the top of the palace as his eyes trailed up and down his beaten-down littlest brother. 

Astaroth counted all of the kings. "Where's Amai?"

Astaroth stared at his brother's until Satan placed a hand on his shoulders. "Amaimon is in the infirmary, he was recovered from Samael's torturous prison-" 

Satan could barely finish his sentence as Astaroth flew through the castle. 

The other's caught up to him and looked away as Astaroth fell to his knees in front of Amaimon's bed. Sure, they all cared for Amaimon, but Astaroth was the closest to him. 

The demon kings felt a burning sensation ring throughout their stomachs in a feeling that could only be called true, unforgiving, rage. 

Once it spread to them, it grew like wildfire. Each king fueled the burn with their own hateful thoughts and vengeful urges. 

"First, he hurts his older brother," Astaroth said, still bowing at the foot of the bed. "Then he hurts people, then he hurts Gehenna. And now-" Astaroth's tail curled in fury. "Now he's hurting our youngest brothers." Astaroth rested a gentle hand on Amainmon's forehead. "It's his turn to hurt." 

Yah, this, when more chapters are done, might be erased in general. 

The goal of this chapter was foreshadowing, mostly. 

And I've decided to answer whatever questions may be posted in the next chapter. This makes writing more fun.