Title: Faith
Author: Kristen Sharpe
Date: February 19, 2013
Rating: K
Warnings: None.
Continuity: Any
Disclaimer: “Ao no Exorcist/Blue Exorcist” belongs to Kazue Katou, Shueisha, Aniplex, and various other parties.

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Exorcists, Fujimoto Shiro mused as he gently applied bandages, were surprisingly agnostic. Oh, none doubted the effectiveness of holy scripture. Not after the first time it saved their lives. But, they had seen too much of demons and too little of divine intervention to be particularly religious despite existing under the auspices of the Vatican.

For most of his life, he had been no different.

“Dad?” a little voice asked carefully, “did I mess up again?”

Shiro looked up from tending skinned knees to consider his eldest son’s face. Blood was crusted beneath his nose. Blue eyes were bright with concern.

The difference began with those eyes. They had caused a hardened warrior to become a father. A priest in name only to become a man of genuine faith.

“I didn’t start the fight,” Rin continued. “Kumiko was crying, and they wouldn’t leave her alone, and I—”

Shiro wrapped his arms around the boy – this boy who cared so deeply - and pulled him close.

His own faith began with this boy. Because what could it be but divine intervention that the only son of Satan to inherit his terrible flames had also been given a loving, human heart?

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Notes: I'm a little bothered that I couldn't find a way to work in a mention of Yukio here. I certainly don't mean to imply that Yukio was any less important to Shiro or was any less important in Shiro's transformation into a loving father. If that difference began with Rin, it's only because Rin was born first.