This story was actually written for my personal shits and giggles along with a bunch of other Blue Exorcist short stories, all involving an OC son of Rin's who's appeared in some of my other fics, but I at least like a few enough to post them online.

Disclaimer: Blu Rose doesn't own the Blue Exorcist series—only this fic.

X-X-X

He had stormed out of the house in such a fit, wandered about True Cross Town in an anger-filled daze, and all over visiting a grave. Then again, he always had a bad habit of making a big deal over things that the rest of his family didn't. Not that he would ever say that he was in the wrong for saying the things he said. If anything, he was right. There was no point in visiting the grave of someone you didn't know, let alone someone you weren't related to by blood. Speak of the devil. In all his absentminded walking, he had somehow entered that one graveyard his father was keen on them visiting together as a family. Right in front of that stupid grave, too.

"Shiro Fujimoto… What the hell is so special about you that made the old man flip?" He couldn't help glaring at the cross-shaped headstone. "What am I even doing? It's just a grave. It can't talk back. Stupid…" Then, perhaps because he was feeling a bit too upset still, he gave the grave a kick. Nothing incredibly hard. Just a tap, really. But somehow, that tap had been enough to make a crack along the headstone…and made most of the cross-shaped statue fall down. "Oh…my…god…! It broke! How could it break?! I thought a grave would be built to last!"

"Boy, tell me about it." The sound of an unfamiliar voice being so close by made him jump away from the source. Without him noticing, some priest had appeared at his side. The gray-haired priest looked down at the damage from behind his orange-tinted shades, a frown on his face. "To think some scrawny kid was able to break this. It says something about whoever made it."

"Um… Are you mad about this?"

"Not as mad as the people who have to tend to this grave will be when they see the damage."

Both the priest and the boy stared at the grave for a few more seconds before looking at each other. The boy's expression became one of worry while the priest stared at him with a straight face.

X-X-X

15 minutes later, the priest watched as a teenaged boy struggled to lift the broken off section of the tombstone off of the ground. He looked down at the boy through his orange-tinted shades, not really trying to help out nor admonish him for what had happened. The boy felt uncomfortable under his gaze. Who wouldn't be uncomfortable under a priest's gaze after breaking another priest's headstone? The boy paused to brush aside his dark bangs, then he narrowed his eyes and went back at the fruitless task.

"Kazuki, right?" At the sound of his name, the teenager looked at the priest in fear. Despite that, the man looked more confused than intimidating. "If you don't mind me asking, what the hell are you doing?"

There were a lot of things Kazuki wanted to ask then. How did this man know his name? What kind of priest uses the word 'hell' so casually? Why didn't he seem more upset over what happened? But out of intimidation of the priest, he answered, "I broke it."

"Obviously."

"So I have to repair it."

"With what? Stubbornness and determination? Maybe your spit?"

"It's just a rock. I'll make it stand in place, and when I make enough money, I'll, uh…buy some glue to make it permanent."

"You can't even pick it up."

Kazuki glared at the hunk of rock. "I don't care."

"Ha!" The priest barked before holding a hand to his head. "Oh, geez… Y'know, kid, you really are like your old man." Kazuki stiffened at the mention of his father for two different reasons. One: because he disliked being compared to his father. Two: because it meant this man knew who to tell about what had happened. "Something about that expression you made just now reminded me of him at your age."

"…You know my dad?" Kazuki asked, careful not to let his malice show.

"Him and his brother, since they were babies."

Kazuki gulped. "S-so… You're gonna tell him what I did, huh?"

The priest arched an eyebrow. "What makes you think I'd do that? …It's not a rhetorical ques— Do you know what rhetorical means?"

"Y-yes."

"Good. Tell me. What makes you think I would tell on you for this?"

"Because you're a priest."

"Doesn't make me a truant officer."

"Because you're a friend of my father's."

"True. But no."

"Because…I'm a kid who's in trouble and you're an adult?"

The priest shrugged. "Kid, I wouldn't tell your dad even if I could. Besides, it looks to me like you're punishing yourself enough as it is—and I didn't even force you to pick up the thing in the first place."

Kazuki frowned. "Thanks, I guess…"

More silence followed due to Kazuki focusing on repairing the headstone. After a while, the priest spoke again, "How old are you?"

"15."

"Years old?"

"Obviously."

"You're the spitting image of Rin at that age. Then again, you've always looked like him. You probably heard that so many times that you're sick of it, huh?"

Kazuki paused in what he was doing to sigh. "…You're a priest, right? If I tell you something, you won't tell anyone else about it because I told you in confidence of your silence, right?"

The priest pointed up at the sky. "We aren't in a church, and I'm no therapist." He then smiled in a way that reminded Kazuki of his father. "But one of the expectations of this job is to listen to others. And you look like you've got something on your mind. C'mon, speak your mind."

"I'm an awful person."

"Because you broke a grave?"

"Because I hate my father."

"And you hate him for something he can't control, right?"

"And because he's, like, a perfect human being who can do no wrong and is loved by everyone on the freaking planet with a heart."

"And you broke the grave because you hate him."

"I-I didn't mean to! It's just that I don't see what the big deal is about! Just because that guy raised my dad doesn't make him my grandfather!" Kazuki puffed out his cheeks in annoyance. "He was probably as annoyingly wonderful as dad."

The priest fell silent as he bowed his head and folded his arms across his chest. After a few seconds, he gave a sigh of disdain. "Shiro Fujimoto… I heard he was quite the lady's man for a guy that was supposed to be a priest. And your old man tended to come off as a delinquent in his youth."

That seemed to get Kazuki's attention enough to respond. "Yeah, right! He once tried to choke the life out of me because I came home with a black eye a girl gave me at school."

"A girl beat you up?!" The priest laughed and smiled. "What, did she catch you looking up her skirt?" When he caught Kazuki's glare, he cleared his throat and continued in a friendlier tone, "He's probably paranoid about you inheriting his bad traits. When he was a kid, he got into all kinds of fights. He always had good reasons, but he also always went overboard. As a result, he had a bad reputation and tended to be…overly aggressive."

The boy snorted in disbelief. "I refuse to believe that my dad was a delinquent and his father the priest was a pimp."

"He was far from a del— Pimp?!" The priest snapped and began to glare at Kazuki. "I said he was a lady's man! What part of that says he was a pimp?!"

"…So the priest was promiscuous. Seriously." Kazuki shook his head as he spoke in a flat tone.

The priest's eye began to twitch. "No, he was not! He merely knew how to appreciate the female figure."

Kazuki still looked skeptical while the man stroked his beard. "…So he was a pervert."

"…I give up," the priest muttered as he held his head in his hands. "You're as bad as your old man! Lemme give a different example of Shiro: before he started to take care of your dad and your uncle, he used to be a lot less nice, a lot less warm…and a tiny bit more like a prick, but he changed. Your old man used to be a reckless punk, but he eventually became the man you love, whether or not you admit to it. So if you hate who you are, take comfort in the fact that you can always change yourself for the better. …And he was not a pervert!"

"You make it sound like changing who I am is easy."

"Nothing worth doing is ever easy, kid."

"If only changing wasn't worth doing, then I wouldn't have to give a flying fuck."

The priest frowned and pointed a finger at the boy. "Hey! You kiss your mother with that mouth?"

Kazuki stared at the man, arching an eyebrow. This guy, whoever he was, really acted a bit like his father. It was unsettling, really. But the teenager said nothing about that and went back to struggling with the gravestone.

"I'm sure your father won't be too upset if you just tell him it was an accident. Parents may seem stern and scary at times, but it's not like they hate their kids."

"He's not scary!" The teen said with a huff. "I'm obviously trying to make sure I stay outta trouble!"

The priest rolled his eyes. "I admire your spunk and all, kid, but you're not gonna fix that thing on your own before someone notices and actually tells him. Why don't you swallow your pride and tell your old man? Hell, you don't even have to tell him that it was you who broke it if you're that scared of the consequences."

Kazuki stared at the priest in disbelief. "You're suggesting that I lie? Are you really a priest?"

The gray-haired man shrugged. "I'm a priest, not a saint. And ultimately, it's up to you." The teenager huffed, mulling over the consequences of the truth versus a lie. It didn't take long for him to stand up and run out of the graveyard. The priest stared at the boy's back before he disappeared from sight, and started to shake his head.

X-X-X

"I…can't believe it. It's really broken."

"S…sorry…"

Rin sighed as he easily picked up the gravestone and leaned it against its original base. "I know you wouldn't do something like this on purpose."

"I'll pay for the damages! Honest!"

"Minimum wage won't pay for this." Rin patted his son on the head as he said, "Don't worry. Your uncle and I'll get this fixed eventually. I'm sure Gramps won't mind his headstone being like this for a little while."

Kazuki frowned and swatted his father's hand away. "At least get angry! Shout at me! Hit me! Do something!"

The half-demon glared at his son. "The only things I'm angry about are you walking out when I was in the middle of talking to you and you kicking your grandfather's grave! That's like kicking him in the shin! I taught you better manners than that!"

"Forget the stupid grave! Punish me, you crazy old man!"

Rin's eye twitched as he grabbed hold of his son's shoulders. "Alright…!" He turned Kazuki around so that he could face the broken gravestone. "Apologize to Grandpa!"

"Are you kidding me?! I'm not some lunatic who talks to inanimate objects!"

Rin snorted and gave Kazuki a light shove. "This is your punishment! Swallow your pride and say you're sorry!"

"He's not my real—!"

Rin silenced him with a slap to the back of the head. "Don't you dare say it! Apologize!"

"Fine, you crazy…!" Kazuki took a deep breath and forced himself to say, "I'm sorry…Grandpa."

The half-demon smiled. "There. That wasn't so hard, was it? I'm sure Gramps understands just how sorry you are."

"I hate you so much right now," the teenager muttered as his father ruffled his hair from behind before hooking his arm around his shoulders.

"Well, I'm pissed at you for running out of the house again. So we need to discuss your punishment for that…" Rin spoke darkly before dragging his son out of the graveyard.

Seconds after they were out of sight, Shiro faded into existence next to his grave. "It makes my head hurt just looking at those two…" He muttered with a wry smile. "But I'm sure they'll be okay. Rin's raised a good boy, even if he's not aware of it himself." He then looked at his broken grave and narrowed his eyes. "Maybe next time they visit, I'll have a sturdier headstone." He gave the broken headstone a light kick, and despite his foot going through it, another piece of the stone broke off. "Son of a bitch! What kind of cheap grave did they build for me?!"