Chapter 2

Five years.

Rin had long since given up hope of getting back to Assiah and Gehenna and that whole mess.

It didn't seem too problematic in his mind. His classmates either disliked him, feared him, or were indifferent. And his brother...

He loved Yukio, he did.

But he was scared of him. He really was.

Yukio was just so… cold. He wasn't the same person Rin had grown up with and protected, and it was scary.

Rin sighed as he prepared bread and ale for another customer. At least he had a job.

Butterbur gave him a room and board in exchange for his work, and just enough pay that he had been able to buy some clothes. (They didn't have underpants!) The rest he spent on spices for his food or polish for the Kurikara sword.

But, on the bright side, he had made some new advancements with his … more demonic problems.

For instance, when he really concentrated, he could draw his sword without any flame. And even with flame, without his demonic form.

It was pretty cool.

He'd also found out a whole lot more about this world, which was a relief.

This was Arda, or Middle Earth. (Hehe, the guy that he asked that was so confused.)

An elf was an immortal person that lived in the woods. (Somehow, Rin thought that definition might be a little underdeveloped.)

Hobbits were little dudes that lived in holes. "But don't let that fool you" Butterbur had told him. "You could travel all the land and never find a nicer home than a hobbit's hole." There were also dwarves, little muscle dudes that were really good with rock. And Orcs, things that sounded like a mix between a Naberius and a human, which Rin both really wanted to avoid and test his flames on.

He had even heard whispers of a wizard around the pub, but he wasn't too sure about the reliability of that information.

And the big one?

Satan didn't exist.

Score.

He brought out a bowl of soup and three plates of bread balanced on various parts of his body. It was a pity he couldn't show his tail, because the extra limb would have been really handy for balance.

Hobbits?

Oh. Rin spotted the table with several people that were rather short (shorter than him!) sitting around it. There they were.

A shiver ran down his spine as he approached the table, but the half-demon ignored it despite the fact that there wasn't a drift of cold air to be found anywhere in the inn.

"Here ya are!" He gave the group a bright grin, before spinning on his heel and marching off.

Or at least he would have, if he hadn't noticed the guy in the corner. Staring unabashedly at the hobbits and, by correlation (hopefully) him.

Creepy.

He quickly went to find Butterbur, who was scrubbing down a table.

"Hey, d'ya know who the fella in the corner is?"

Butterbur looked up at him before glancing to the corner and paling.

"That's a ranger, Rin. Best to stay away from his type. I'd say no one knows his real name, but Strider is what we call him in these parts."

Rin frowned. "What does he do?"

Butterbur frowned. "Who knows, really. I've heard most of his type hunt orcs, though, and anyone who chooses that for a living is best kept away from."

-oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo-

Rin woke up in the middle of the night to Kuro pawing at his face.

'Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!'

Rin groaned and fell out of bed before standing up unsteadily. 'What! What is it, Kuro?'

Kuro yowled at him 'We have to go!!!! We have to go!!!!!'

"W-what!"

'Gooooo!!!!' Kuro dragged his coat and Kurikara to him, which he grabbed and put on.

"Okay, okay."

He stumbled into his boots and out of the door, then began running down the hall after putting Kuro on his shoulder.

His face then connected with person.

"A-ahh, jeez, I'm sorry, I-" He broke off when he saw it was the ranger, Strider.

With the Hobbits behind him.

Kuro hissed at one of the Hobbits, who stared back, blue eyes wide with shock at the two-tailed cat.

However, it seemed the ranger had seen stranger things, because Rin automatically moved aside as he continued down the hall, Hobbits trailing behind him.

"Whaaaaaa..." Rin gaped at them.

Kuro narrowed their eyes at the hobbit that he had hissed at. 'That one has something, and I want it very much.'

'We aren't going to steal from the Hobbit, Kuro.'

'Follow.'

'We won't have a place to stay.'

'You have fire, and I'll hunt if we go so you don't have to.'

Rin yawned. He was too tired to deal with this.

Fine.

He went after them.

After all, when the cat wants something, the cat gets something.

-ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo-

As they left, Rin saw something that chilled him to the bone. If he could be, considering he was a half-demon of fire.

What are those!!

The -well, demons, he supposed- were following his group. The group that he was following.

'Oi, this is my group to stalk! Get your own!'

He was so distracted, infact, that he didn't notice that 'his group' had stopped moving and he walked right up to them while they were going through a slightly forested region.

'Shit.'

-oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo-

Aragorn drew his sword and moved to face the young adult who had followed them out of Bree, in the most indiscreet manner he had ever come across.

"Hi."

Aragorn tilted his head towards the -was that blue hair?- blue-haired male. "Why have you followed us from Bree?"

One of the Hobbits, Meriadoc, mumbled "He was following us?"

There was a pause, presumably as the inn-cook tried to think of an appropriate answer.

"The truth, if you don't mind."

"My cat told me to."

There was silence.

Peregrin snorted. Then stopped, when he realized that he was alone in his amusement. "Wait, are you serious?"

The boy, and his cat, nodded.

Aragorn looked at the two-tailed, horned cat. "I have not seen such an animal before. What is it called?"

The two suspects traded glances. "A Cat Sidhe."

-ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo-

This man was way too smart for Rin to keep up with.

'You really need to work on your excuses, Rin.'

'What was I supposed to say?!'

The ranger narrowed his eyes at them when he answered his last question, but could find no lie, thankfully.

"Might your … Cat Sidhe explain to you why they requested you follow us?"

'What a good question.'

Rin turned to the cat. "What a good question, Strider! Kuro, why don't you tell me why we followed these perfectly nice people (excluding the sword) out of Bree, where we live, in the middle of the night."

Kuro gave him a guilty look. 'The black haired one has something that wants me to Protect it.'

Rin narrowed his eyes. 'Like, Protect, protect?'

Kuro nodded solemnly. 'Protect, protect.'

Rin reached back to the information Yukio had shoved in his brain when Kuro decided to be his familiar.

Cat Sidhe, among other things, were specifically attuned to protecting items that they were asked to protect.

So how was this item, that Kuro had no chance of ever encountering before now, calling to his cat.

Rin sighed. "He says that I should protect that one." He pointed to the Hobbit Kuro had referred to.

The ranger (finally) lowered his sword as Kuro yowled in Rin's mind about how that wasn't what he said.

'Shhhh, even I know we shouldn't tell people that we want to steal something that is theirs, even if it is to protect it. '

-oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo-

After some time traveling, they settled down on a hill that the ranger called Weathertop.

Strider left to scout, although he didn't seem completely comfortable leaving Rin with the Hobbits.

'I have never met a human or demon that goes to his headspace as often as you.'

'Thanks, Kuro.'

He realized that the hobbits he was sitting with were staring at him.

Well, two of them. One was cooking on a fire, preparing some food, and another was napping about 2 yards from the fire.

"Hiya."

One of them piped up next. "Hullo. I'm Pippin, an' this is Merry." He jerked a thumb at the hobbit sitting beside him.

"I'm Rin; this is Kuro." He held up the cat demon despite his protests.

"Those are rather odd names. Is that a manish thing?" Merry inquired.

Rin nodded, figuring manish was referring to humans, which certainly seemed like it was the best thing to pretend to be.

Pippin spoke up again. "And that's Samwise, but you can probably call him Sam-" "Hey Sam, can he call you Sam?",he called to the hobbit cooking, who nodded, "-and that is Frodo." He pointed to the blue-eyed hobbit who was taking a nap.

"Umm, it's nice to meet you then."

A drift of smoke from the fire puffed into his face and he coughed.

Smoke from the fire.

Smoke. From the fire.

Wait.

-ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo-

"Put out the fire!!!" He screeched, although he was pretty sure that the damage had already been done.

"Wha-" Someone started, but it was too late.

A cold aura blew through the air, and Rin shivered as he saw the demons from before approaching quickly. He concentrated, and slowly unsheathed the Kurikara sword, without flames, and told the hobbits to go behind him and up to the top of the . They did as they were told.

He could hear Strider in the distance, coming as fast as he could, but it wasn't fast enough.

Even as he attacked the first demon coming up the mountain, several more passed by him. His sword struck the thing's chest, and the demon screeched and burst into blue flame, much to Rin's surprise. It crumpled in on itself and was gone in seconds.

He locked blades with another demon for a few swipes before this one was also destroyed.

Rin began running to catch another one that was bearing a wicked looking knife down upon Frodo.

It struck, and he growled and lept at the thing, his full demonic strength behind it, and stabbed the thing at such force that both he and it were pushed right off of Weathertop and down the hill.

He and the demon tumbled down, the thing screeching as blue flame consumed its body, all the while leaving Rin unharmed.

When, finally, they stopped moving, all that was left of the demon was ash. Rin got up and brushed his hand through his hair to get rid of it, before beginning the run back to the top of the hill.