Demons and Ghosts, Hell's King and King of the Dead

Impure King

Danny hummed as he tapped his pencil against the sheet of paper on his desk.

He struggled with the quiz, frustrated that his ghost hunting had taken away his time to study.

He glanced over at Sam and Tucker, who, while having a hard time, were doing exceptionally better.

His eyes made their way to Rin's form, watching as the half demon simply sighed every ten seconds, his bangs fluttering every time. His lips were pursed and he was glaring at the sheet of white material with an odd look of burning hatred.

Rin seemed to squirm, closing his eyes and scribbling on his paper. It was obvious Rin was having a hard time as well.

Danny figured it had to do with all the conspiracy shit going on.

__________________________

Rin hated school and anything to do with it.

That included tests.

While Rin had matured massively over time, he never grew any type of fondness or eagerness for homework, not even willingness to get it done and over with.

When Rin was young, he skipped school because there hadn't been any reason to go. No friends and everybody hated him, which meant that school was just a metaphorical Hell.

Thus, when he went to True Cross, he had a hard time reading or trying to get homework done because it was boring, and he just didn't understand.

Keeping up with everyone else was also a challenge in itself. Bon didn't make it any easier, granted the prodigy didn't know, but it was still annoying and slightly outputting.

Thankfully, after explaining to Yukio his trouble, Yukio used any free time to help Rin catch up to the other exwires, and even helped him with the normal school work he didn't understand.

Even after all of this, Rin never appreciated homework, and while he was sure nobody else particularly liked it either, Rin didn't really have the heart to try.

Don't get him wrong, Rin could try, and if he did, it would have made the test a lot easier, but Rin couldn't be bothered lately, not with all of the drama and crap going on.

As he turned his head to look at Danny, locking eyes with the half ghost, Rin knew Danny felt the same.

They stared at one another for another couple of seconds, and if anyone were to see, it probably would have looked a bit too intimate.

This wasn't the case, though. Both of them could understand, staring straight into the other's eyes. They both knew that whatever emotions they felt, whatever had just transpired, no one else could possibly ever understand, because it was so impossibly inhuman and only they could ever know what it really was.

Rin and Danny realized in that moment that they were connected in more ways than one, just not any way you could possibly understand.

__________________________

It wasn't even an hour of school later when screams sounded outside.

Teachers told them to calm down, that the whole town was going into lockdown, but the kids didn't know why.

Until they looked out the windows.

It was big, it was dangerous and creepy. It seemed to have polluted smoke billow around it, its eyes were slitted lines on its face, three going horizontally stacked on each other on each side of the face, making the total six.

It was bigger than any building in Amity, bigger than Pariah Dark, and it was definitely not a ghost.

The trio's eyes widened at it, Rin following. Tucker squeaked at the sight of it. "What is that?!"

"The Impure King," Rin murmured loud enough for the trio to hear. "It's a dangerous decay demon and is a kin of Astaroth. Its main ability is its Toxic Miasma. It's a demon poison, but I'm lucky enough to be immune. Humans, however..."

Danny narrowed his eyes, determined. "And what about half ghosts?"

"Danny..." Sam warned.

"I'm not sure if that's a good idea." Rin shook his head. "I won't allow you to risk your health like that."

"You can't tell me what to do." Danny glared.

Rin, in a fit of desperation, allowed a taste of his demonic energy to build up and invisibly hover above Danny's form.

Danny froze, fearful shudders racking him. "What...?"

"That's only a lick of it, Danny. Don't challenge something you can't hope to defeat." Rin hissed.

"I can't stand by and do nothing! This is my town, my haunt! I've gotten stronger every day, and I won't let you do this by yourself!" Danny retaliated.

Danny didn't seem to care where he was at the moment, his obsession to protect overriding any logic or reason. "I stand a hell of a lot better chance than anyone besides you, Rin! Let me help! Why can't you?!"

Rin snapped, whipping around so quickly, it was a surprise he didn't catch whiplash. "Because I don't want to be responsible for my friend's death! You know how many people died when I battled 'daddy dearest'?! More than I can count, so many that I could swim in their blood! I almost lost my little brother in that battle, and I'm so very lucky I didn't! You're not prepared for this, Danny! Even if you were, I refuse to let you fight!"

Sam and Tucker didn't move, staring at Danny's shocked and guilty expression.

"Maybe I will die, maybe I will get hurt, but for me, it's worth it," Danny said quietly.

"But not for me." Rin argued. "Not for your friends and not for your family."

"I refuse to sit on the sidelines. Let me help, please!" Danny begged. "If you refuse, you know I'll find someway to help anyways, no matter what you do."

Rin was silent for a minute, scrutinizing Danny. "If you're going to help, then you give it your all, no playing around. This isn't like fighting ghosts, this isn't like at school when you pretend to be the loser, the wimp who can't fight back."

Danny narrowed his eyes in determination and slight annoyance. "You think I don't know that? Don't treat me like a child."

Rin sighed heavily, turning his head to look out the window again. The sky was already beginning to cloud with miasma, darkening the city. He turned back to Danny, arms crossed. "If you do this, you realize it might be the end of both our secret identities, right?"

"Does that really matter anymore?" Danny asked blankly.

Sam and Tucker wanted to protest, tell them that they were in it together, but they both knew it was a death wish and neither boy would hear it.

"How do you know you'll be okay?" Rin asked softly.

"I don't, but let's hope being half dead increases my chances of being immune." Danny sighed.

They were out the window and into the chaos before Sam or Tucker could blink.

Chapter Thirty-Eight complete! Yes, I know the Impure King has to be awoken, and I will not explain it in the book, but someone from Rin's universe woke it, and it somehow got into Danny's universe. Bye my doggies!