I'm publishing this chapter as a birthday gift to Rin and Yukio, Happy birthday to the most troublesome twins the world has ever seen!

DEMONSDEMONSDEMONSDEMONSDEMONSDEMONSDEMONSDEMONS

Suguro and Lightning had begun investigating the circumstances of Rin and Yukio's birth.

It was quite an interesting collection of information. Shiro Fujimoto was a clone of Azazel and raised in Asylum. Clones were made in batches at Section 13-a whole organization who's dole purpose was to give Lucifer a body so he wouldn't go supernova and destroy every living thing in Assiah. Shiro's twin out of his batch, Goro, was missing from the files. His file was completely gone, ripped out. Suguro and Lightning figured that one was the one Satan possessed to impregnate Yuri Egin.

Since Rin was higher ranked than Suguro, he could tell him all the information and Rin could pass it on to Yukio. It was difficult putting all the evidence together with only bits and pieces of it. Huge chunks were missing in the timeline.

Finally, Mephisto had laughed at their struggle and shown Rin and Yukio the past with the key Shiro had given Rin before he died.

"It was around your neck the whole time?!" Yukio gaped. Rin shrugged.

"He told me it hides things. That's it. I've used to it to store Kurikara several times." The half-demon told him.

They watched the whole sequence of events-From little Yuri playing with baby fireball Satan and calling him Rinka("That's where your name came from...."), to Yuri meeting Shiro, who'd been known as the Yukiotoko("And that's where she got my name."), to Shiro being a heartless douchebag manwhore in his younger years after becoming an adult("Oh God, dad why?!"). And finally, to Yuri giving birth to demon baby Rin shooting around like a pinball and annihilating every witness in the room except Shiro, Satan shooting around in bodies all across the world as Yukio was stillborn and brought to life by Rin's flames, and Yuri dying and leaving the baby boys with Shiro to raise the twins in Southern Cross.

They got back to the present completely mentally exhausted. Even for Rin, it was tiring to watch.

"How was it? Were we right on the parts we knew?" Suguro immediately asked.

"Everything that could've gone wrong.....did." Rin answered, tiredly rubbing his eyes.

Mephisto clicked his tongue. "Oh dear, you two look very tired. Go to sleep and I'll give you a hearty breakfast when you wake. Goodnight children." He knocked them out with a simple sleep spell and laid them on a bed in a spare bedroom in the Manor almost like he cared. Rin was his most prized pawn and Yukio was flourishing under his older brother as well. What a wonderful world.

When he poofed back to his office where Suguro and Lightning still stood, Lightning had a disgusted expression on his face. It was uncommon for him to care but.....

"You almost did that lovingly, gross." He complained. "Please never do that again."

Suguro agreed with fast nodding of his head and the Time King threw his head back and laughed loudly.

"Oh, humans are so entertaining. Go on with your lives, boys. There is still plenty to investigate. Try Shemihaza and her creepish smiley people next. I've never liked them." The Demon King waved them away.

"All that time we spent scouring for information and he had it all the whole time!" Suguro cried. Lightning sighed.

"Let's just go grab a couple burgers and sleep. We'll start a new investigation tomorrow. Starting with your pretty blonde friend." Lightning said, patting him on the back.

§~•~§~•~§

Shiemi had, in fact, just learned of her ancestry and duty. It was why she'd dropped out of Cram School.

"You have no control over your life? That's....cruel." Rin said. Shiemi smiled.

"I'm sad about it, but it's the reason I was born. This is my duty. I'll be Shemihaza and then have a daughter and the cycle will keep passing on." She told them, a melancholy smile on her face.

Izumo unexpectedly opened her arms and Shiemi went to them, hugging the Miko tight. "I....I don't want to be a goddess! I want to be Shiemi! I want to have my friends and go on missions with them and have fun with them!" She cried, fat tears rolling down her cheeks.

"I want....I want to stay with Izumo. I want to have sleepovers and eat dinner with Paku-san's family and go shopping with Kirigakure-sensei." The rest of the group shifted uneasily, unsure of what to do.

"If it makes you feel any better, I'll be here too." Rin spoke up.

They all looked at him. He wore the same expression as always, but the words were about as unexpected as Kamiki willingly hugging Shiemi. He'd said it almost....consolingly.

"High-levels are immortal and I'm half of one, so I'll outlive all of you except maybe Shiemi unless I die in battle." He explained. There was the tiniest bit of sadness in his frown.

Shiemi gave a watery smile while Yukio put an arm around his brother's shoulders. "Thanks Rin. That helps." He spoke for Shiemi.

"I didn't really think about how long it might be until I die before now. It doesn't appeal to me if I have no one to mess with. And I don't plan on being their weapon forever, although I might stick around out of sheer boredom." He continued. They all heard the silent "Or loneliness." At the end of the words. Rin might not understand what he felt deep down, but they could tell by the sadness slowly reaching his eyes.

The day passed by in heavy silence.

Rin got Godaiin to hang out with him. He was using the teen for comfort without realizing he needed or wanted comfort. Godaiin just let it happen, though he was incredibly happy that Rin liked him that much.

Rin's liking of Godaiin was different from his liking of Suguro or Shima or any of his other friends. Neither could explain or understand exactly what was different, it just was. Rin liked that Godaiin had never been scared of him aside from their initial first meeting where Godaiin didn't even know Rin was Satan's son. When Rin told him that part, he hadn't panicked. He'd just been curious.

Rin didn't resist when Godaiin wrapped an arm around him in a hug.

§~•~§~•~§

In the following days, Shura decided to have a new demon posses her sword so she could be more useful. She filled the blade with the power and Divine Protection of Mid-level Sylphs.

She reformed her attacks to use more air-based attacks. She helped Rin learn how to fight with Hachirotaro and his ice-based powers. It was hard for the son of Satan to maintain Hachiro's form with his own power because he was born a fire demon.

His adaptive abilities were still good enough for him to adapt to almost any element. They tried Nabarius, but the Rot had crawled up his arm from the cut in his arm and they'd had to disrupt the summoning circle before he lost the entire limb.

The more Rin was sent on major missions, the more he recruited. He made deals with high-level demons, who had control over lower demons. Some demons simply bowed to the half-demon and declared their services. Rin didn't like having loose ends, but he was confident he could hunt them down if they betrayed him.

The Order thought he was recruiting for them and the demons just only responded to Rin, but Rin was building his own army right under their noses. He'd attained his own armour that looked more like the suits from Voltron than greaves and leather.

The armour was all black and made of a tough material from Gehenna. The bottom layer was like a sleeveless bodysuit and there were elbow gloves to cover most of his arms, along with a mask that covered the bottom half of his face.

The armor had swirling electric blue flame designs on the hips, legs, arms, and chest and shoulders. Similar marks were also on the mask. There were gauntlets, armored boots, and a belt, all with poisoned spikes protruding from them. Rin kept the Kamikakushi key inside his belt for whenever he needed to make his getaway.

The armor had been gifted to him from Mephisto and Amaimon, who were, of course, in on Rin's game.

The armour was nearly impenetrable and incredibly useful in the field. Things were going splendidly for Rin.

On Yukio's end, things were surprisingly easy. He'd joined the Illuminati under the guise of wanting to get stronger, to be more powerful than Rin.

Lucifer bought it easily, surprisingly enough. They tested him and told him he was completely human, but had a temptaint from Rin when they were born. Yukio knew exactly how it had happened, but feigned anger and confusion.

"Yes, your brother must have injured you in the womb or some such instance. All the more reason to hate him, yes? He took away the life you could've had as a normal human." Lucifer had a habit of walking around Yukio in a slow circle, telling him lies salaciously.

Yukio guessed the Demon King thought he was getting in Yukio's head, but Yukio was actually internally struggling not to laugh. He wondered how this might affect him if he actually had the problems Lucifer thought he had. It'd probably unnerve him, at least.

But all Yukio wanted to do was go home. He missed his friends and his twin. Missed the days when everyone, even Godaiin and Paku, sat down in the cafeteria of the Okumura Dorm and ate a meal that Rin had cooked up together.

Mephisto seemed to approve of their group and how they supported each other, so he'd given the twins a pay raise and they were able to make plenty of food for everyone with quality ingredients. They ate togeher all the time, laughing and telling stories of their childhoods and talking about things they did in class and tests they had to study for and who did what stupid thing on a mission.

It was a family. Something Yukio had always wanted. Brothers and sisters and happiness and light. He had to remind himself every day he woke up on this Air Fortress that this was for his family. He'd have to deal with it and play the bad guy for a while until he found the perfect moment.

He wished he had a copy of the group shot they'd taken right before he'd left, but if he carried that, it would give him away.

He'd even had to shoot Rin a few times when Rin was fake trying to stop him from joining the Illuninati. Needless to say, Yukio had a few new scars that were definitely knife wounds.....

He'd felt a pang in his chest having to shoot his brother, but the teen had winked at him before he pulled the trigger. Had things been different, would he have shot Rin on purpose? If Rin had grown up with emotions, would he be annoying and outspoken or cold and calculating? Would he have been nice or rude?

Would Yukio have hated him?

Yukio dismissed the thoughts swimming around in his head. They were only what ifs and he was grateful for the Rin he'd grown up with.

For now, he'd carry out his part in this war just like Rin and the others were. The Artificial Gehenna Gate was widening slowly. Mephisto's spell was unable to keep it completely still, so it was only a matter of time until the Gate opened and all Hell broke loose.

Rin had figured he didn't need to plan for what to do when that happened since the Order should already have countermeasures in store for the upcoming problem. Or maybe they didn't and Rin would have to save their asses.

Just a little longer, then Yukio could go home and continue to watch his brother begin to understand emotions and how they felt. He might not be nearly as receptive to things like all of their friends were, but he'd understand the feelings at least.

All in due time.