fic
So there's this book, and it's called The Devil's Mixtape, and I think it's really, really awesome. And I happened to read it at this very particular time right in between when I finished watching the anime for Ao no Exorcist but right before I read the 30 available chapters of the manga all in one sitting. I am pretty sure that it was a combination of that book being fresh in my mind and stumbling across some art on Pixiv that made me go "man, shipping Karura with Suguro is pretty great, I'm going to do this forever"
And then I decided I needed to write a crossover about Karura from AoEx and Murmur from Mixtape discussing getting too attached to the recipients of their respective contracts. I'm going to say this is roughly set in September of 2009 (working off the assumption that the AoEx manga started in '09 so that's when it occurs) since I'm figuring that the Kyoto arc is still supposed to be happening during summer break and this is... well, after that. Gen. PG, I guess.
also this is probably terrible and I know I don't do Mary's awesome book justice and I'm awful but whatever
[I get far too much enjoyment of squishing things together and should stop]
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Karura has never quite felt comfortable with hiding what he is to walk amongst the mortals. Perhaps it's because he's too old fashioned, or because he's spent the past hundred and fifty years or more in a single stable contract that mostly involves him being hidden from the world and he's never had to change and blend. Whatever the reason he doesn't quite like it and moving about with actual limbs makes him feel a little awkward and off balance.
(He's practiced walking around for hours in Ryuji's dorm room while the boy was out, well aware of the fact that Ryuji wonders where he gets off to sometimes. Perhaps one day he'll explain it.)
He may not like hiding, but he will never show that discomfort. Seeming perfectly at ease while he leans up against a wall in a dark little corner of some club while the crowd cheers and the girl up on centre stage is showing off her raw and bloody insides through song. It's an interesting sort of spectacle. One he finds himself watching despite being here for completely different reasons.
(Ryuji likes this band. Karura is fairly certain that it was the Shima boy who told him about it, the pair of them sitting side by side on the dorm room floor each with one half of a set of those odd little earpieces and hunched over some tiny bit of electronics, and the odd thought that maybe Ryuji would have liked to see this strikes before he pushes it back.)
Karura can't see Murmur (or whatever ridiculous name he's going by this time around) anywhere, but he knows all the same that Murmur is here. Just as Murmur likely knows that Karura is here and it's shortly after the show ends (the band signing things and chatting with enthusiastic teens and Ryuji might like an autograph but then he'd just wonder what Karura was doing at a concert in the first place, which is a question that Karura isn't quite sure how he'd answer) when Murmur finds him and cocks a brow.
"This doesn't seem like your scene." The words are innocuous enough, but there's a thread of hostility all the same and Karura shrugs in a way that makes him miss having wings. Arms he's never quite sure what to do with, crossing them across his chest for a moment then letting them drop awkwardly back to his sides before settling on jamming his hands into the pockets of his jacket.
(Actually it's Ryuji's jacket, all the clothes are Ryuji's. He had to rifle around for a bit to find something that wasn't yet another school uniform or something more suited to exercise than a night out, and maybe raiding the Shima boy's things would have yielded something better but he won't think too closely about why he chose one wardrobe over the other.)
"I needed to talk with you for a bit. Without your p...." He nearly says "pet" before stopping himself, not needing to make Murmur more hostile than he already is. "Without your girl hanging about."
Murmur's lips tighten into a thin line for a moment, as if he still wants to say something about the word choice (and Karura can't help the irritated sniff he makes at the sight because, really, what does Murmur want from him?) before he shakes his head and asks, "Talk about what?"
"My circumstances have changed and I require your unique perspective."
"Could you manage to sound any more archaic?"
"I've spent over one hundred and fifty years being the familiar to seventeen generations worth of leaders of a remote Buddhist sect, a portion of that time being spent in a sword. Forgive me for not being up on the latest slang."
Murmur finally smiles at that. The expression sharp and almost mocking and Karura can feel his own face crumple into an irritated sort of frown (something else he'd never felt the urge to do before his contract passed on to Ryuji). And for a brief moment Murmur looks as if he's about to start laughing at him before he says, "Fair enough. So talk."
Karura is silent for a moment. Not so much because he's choosing his words carefully as it is because he has no idea what words are appropriate. "I'm not quite certain how to put it."
"Then how do you expect me to give you any perspective?"
Despite the indifference he wants to portray Karura's jaw clenches at that, his back teeth beginning to grind a bit and he hates this. Hates that Murmur looks so damn smug, like he already knows what Karura is here for (except he can't because there is no conceivable way Murmur could know about the change in his contract), hates being off balance and unsure, hates having to pass for mortal....
(Hates Suguro Ryuji for being a frustrating, surly, teenage boy whose goals and drive are so fascinating that he can't simply let the contract end and walk away. He has to hang about, growing more and more perplexed by the irrationality his own actions by the day to the point where he winds up asking someone like Murmur for insight.)
"Humans are interesting aren't they? If you find the right kind, that is."
Murmur's non-sequitur is anything but and Karura forces himself not to react beyond the slightest narrowing of his eyes. Not that it matters. They're both old hat at reading every single twitch and reaction a person(demon) might make. Nothing is too subtle and that damnable smile of Murmur's only grows smugger if that's possible. "Don't look so sour. It's not so difficult to figure out. You say your circumstances have changed, that must mean you're not stuck hidden away in the wilds anymore. Now pick a point and start talking, Karura. I don't have all night."
"Fine." He hates the snap of annoyance in his voice (another thing to add to the list of hates) and he wonders if he were in his more natural form if it would be easier to keep his temper even. As things stand he's back to not knowing what to do with his hands, cracking his knuckles then tapping his fingertips against his thigh then back to his pockets all in a fidgety little row. "My contract with the head of the Myouou Dharani is complete. Secrets came to light, as such it ended."
"I will never understand this secrecy fetish of yours."
"We each have our interests. Mine simply happen to involve the darkness men hide away in their hearts"
"Still. That's not why you're here."
"Astute. I had a side-contract." A side contract that should for all intents and purposes be done as well with the Impure King's defeat, except he didn't quite bother to put that particular limit on the Gouhaen when he made the deal with Tatsuma. It was expected that use of the Gouhaen would end the man's life. And now that it belongs to Ryuji....
"I see." Murmur's voice shakes him out of the tangle of his own thoughts. "It's the side contract that's gone and gotten you out in the world all of a sudden and you don't know how to deal with it."
"The current recipient of this particular side contract is sixteen, stubborn, and given his ambitions will probably meet his end quite foolishly before he turns twenty," Karura snaps with a dismissive wave of his hand. Murmur simply flashing an all too knowing grin in response.
"And normally this wouldn't bother you. The fact that it does is something that you're not quite sure how to handle."
"Once again, disgustingly astute." Karura's fingers are back to drumming against his leg in an awkward sort of tattoo and he quickly tightens his hand into a fist the instant he notices. "I know what I should be doing and yet I don't. The terms of this side contract should be considered complete and yet I stay. It's...." He trails off, clearly irritated and silently daring Murmur to comment on it.
"You think he's interesting. You've already realized this and you've obviously been stuck hidden away for too long if you consider this a bad thing."
"That's possible." It's a grudging admission, although given what Karura knows about Murmur it's not at all surprising that he doesn't see any problems with it.
"Then what do you need my insight for? So I can tell you things you already know and you can call yourself an idiot for being far too interested in the recipient of your contract by way of calling me one."
"That... may have been the plan."
"Go home, Karura," Murmur sighs, giving his head a slight shake. "Follow this teenager you find so frustrating around or not, but I think we both know that whatever you decide won't make a difference. You may as well live whatever life you can with him and enjoy it. Because I can't imagine an eternity of 'what if' would be any better."
"That is your suggestion?"
"That's it."
Karura goes still and quiet, not looking anywhere remotely near pleased as he watches the last few teens get their autographs and pictures taken with the band. Murmur eventually cocking his head slightly.
"Are we through?"
"We are."
"Good." Another beat of silence then, "It's not so bad living like this, you know. I could introduce you to them if you'd like. Maybe it would add to this 'perspective' you want so badly."
That singer girl is already strolling their way and it doesn't take much for Karura to realize that he only has a few seconds to decide one way or the other. A decision that, at its core, feels far too much like the very issue he came here discuss and for a moment he wonders if it really could be decided so simply. Stay or go.
"Fine."
Karura misses the last train back to the academy, something the entire band apologizes profusely for and they help him arrange a ride back and send him on his way with a signed CD for Ryuji (he doesn't know why he started talking about Ryuji, but he's going to blame Murmur for it) and an extracted promise that the next time he will bring his friend along because: "we always want to meet our fans."
He simply nods and makes all the proper noises to the affirmative while Murmur smirks at him. Things are easier that way. In reality he is far too distracted by his own churning thoughts and questions that haven't been answered satisfactorily. His mind still a humming mess when he steps through the front gates of True Cross Academy although he instinctively hisses a little at the crackling static-like brush of wards against his skin and fights not to glare at the guards that watch him. Officially he's registered as Ryuji's familiar (he recalls Ryuji muttering something about having no intent on becoming a Tamer that day and Karura had been unable to stop himself from leaning in close and hissing that's quite fine because he was not the sort to be an Exorcist's pet) which is enough to give him the right to enter unmolested, but it's still suspicious for him to be coming and going on his own.
He's older, more powerful, more dangerous than most standard familiars, after all. It's only natural that he be mistrusted.
Ryuji will probably be informed of his familiar's movements and although Karura is hardly obligated to, perhaps it would simply be for the best if he explain as much of it as he can before that happens, slipping into the dorm room on silent feet (and Karura assures himself that the only reason he's still in this form is because hands can occasionally be slightly more useful than wings, especially when you have CDs to carry and doors to open) his eyes briefly skimming over the clutter and the curled up lumps of sleeping bodies.
He doesn't think about why he curls up alongside Ryuji's body (not that Karura hasn't done it before, but he's usually in a form that is much more birdlike and small enough to settle on the boy's pillow) and he's not surprised when Ryuji stirs and squints at him in the dark. Hair hanging in his eyes and his voice a little bit rough from sleep when he manages to croak out, "Karura?"
"You were expecting the Shima boy perhaps? Or the Miwa one?"
"I wasn't expecting.... What the hell are you doing anyway?"
There's really no answer to that and Karura simply shrugs. Mumbling, "I'll explain it tomorrow."
And then I decided I needed to write a crossover about Karura from AoEx and Murmur from Mixtape discussing getting too attached to the recipients of their respective contracts. I'm going to say this is roughly set in September of 2009 (working off the assumption that the AoEx manga started in '09 so that's when it occurs) since I'm figuring that the Kyoto arc is still supposed to be happening during summer break and this is... well, after that. Gen. PG, I guess.
also this is probably terrible and I know I don't do Mary's awesome book justice and I'm awful but whatever
[I get far too much enjoyment of squishing things together and should stop]
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Karura has never quite felt comfortable with hiding what he is to walk amongst the mortals. Perhaps it's because he's too old fashioned, or because he's spent the past hundred and fifty years or more in a single stable contract that mostly involves him being hidden from the world and he's never had to change and blend. Whatever the reason he doesn't quite like it and moving about with actual limbs makes him feel a little awkward and off balance.
(He's practiced walking around for hours in Ryuji's dorm room while the boy was out, well aware of the fact that Ryuji wonders where he gets off to sometimes. Perhaps one day he'll explain it.)
He may not like hiding, but he will never show that discomfort. Seeming perfectly at ease while he leans up against a wall in a dark little corner of some club while the crowd cheers and the girl up on centre stage is showing off her raw and bloody insides through song. It's an interesting sort of spectacle. One he finds himself watching despite being here for completely different reasons.
(Ryuji likes this band. Karura is fairly certain that it was the Shima boy who told him about it, the pair of them sitting side by side on the dorm room floor each with one half of a set of those odd little earpieces and hunched over some tiny bit of electronics, and the odd thought that maybe Ryuji would have liked to see this strikes before he pushes it back.)
Karura can't see Murmur (or whatever ridiculous name he's going by this time around) anywhere, but he knows all the same that Murmur is here. Just as Murmur likely knows that Karura is here and it's shortly after the show ends (the band signing things and chatting with enthusiastic teens and Ryuji might like an autograph but then he'd just wonder what Karura was doing at a concert in the first place, which is a question that Karura isn't quite sure how he'd answer) when Murmur finds him and cocks a brow.
"This doesn't seem like your scene." The words are innocuous enough, but there's a thread of hostility all the same and Karura shrugs in a way that makes him miss having wings. Arms he's never quite sure what to do with, crossing them across his chest for a moment then letting them drop awkwardly back to his sides before settling on jamming his hands into the pockets of his jacket.
(Actually it's Ryuji's jacket, all the clothes are Ryuji's. He had to rifle around for a bit to find something that wasn't yet another school uniform or something more suited to exercise than a night out, and maybe raiding the Shima boy's things would have yielded something better but he won't think too closely about why he chose one wardrobe over the other.)
"I needed to talk with you for a bit. Without your p...." He nearly says "pet" before stopping himself, not needing to make Murmur more hostile than he already is. "Without your girl hanging about."
Murmur's lips tighten into a thin line for a moment, as if he still wants to say something about the word choice (and Karura can't help the irritated sniff he makes at the sight because, really, what does Murmur want from him?) before he shakes his head and asks, "Talk about what?"
"My circumstances have changed and I require your unique perspective."
"Could you manage to sound any more archaic?"
"I've spent over one hundred and fifty years being the familiar to seventeen generations worth of leaders of a remote Buddhist sect, a portion of that time being spent in a sword. Forgive me for not being up on the latest slang."
Murmur finally smiles at that. The expression sharp and almost mocking and Karura can feel his own face crumple into an irritated sort of frown (something else he'd never felt the urge to do before his contract passed on to Ryuji). And for a brief moment Murmur looks as if he's about to start laughing at him before he says, "Fair enough. So talk."
Karura is silent for a moment. Not so much because he's choosing his words carefully as it is because he has no idea what words are appropriate. "I'm not quite certain how to put it."
"Then how do you expect me to give you any perspective?"
Despite the indifference he wants to portray Karura's jaw clenches at that, his back teeth beginning to grind a bit and he hates this. Hates that Murmur looks so damn smug, like he already knows what Karura is here for (except he can't because there is no conceivable way Murmur could know about the change in his contract), hates being off balance and unsure, hates having to pass for mortal....
(Hates Suguro Ryuji for being a frustrating, surly, teenage boy whose goals and drive are so fascinating that he can't simply let the contract end and walk away. He has to hang about, growing more and more perplexed by the irrationality his own actions by the day to the point where he winds up asking someone like Murmur for insight.)
"Humans are interesting aren't they? If you find the right kind, that is."
Murmur's non-sequitur is anything but and Karura forces himself not to react beyond the slightest narrowing of his eyes. Not that it matters. They're both old hat at reading every single twitch and reaction a person(demon) might make. Nothing is too subtle and that damnable smile of Murmur's only grows smugger if that's possible. "Don't look so sour. It's not so difficult to figure out. You say your circumstances have changed, that must mean you're not stuck hidden away in the wilds anymore. Now pick a point and start talking, Karura. I don't have all night."
"Fine." He hates the snap of annoyance in his voice (another thing to add to the list of hates) and he wonders if he were in his more natural form if it would be easier to keep his temper even. As things stand he's back to not knowing what to do with his hands, cracking his knuckles then tapping his fingertips against his thigh then back to his pockets all in a fidgety little row. "My contract with the head of the Myouou Dharani is complete. Secrets came to light, as such it ended."
"I will never understand this secrecy fetish of yours."
"We each have our interests. Mine simply happen to involve the darkness men hide away in their hearts"
"Still. That's not why you're here."
"Astute. I had a side-contract." A side contract that should for all intents and purposes be done as well with the Impure King's defeat, except he didn't quite bother to put that particular limit on the Gouhaen when he made the deal with Tatsuma. It was expected that use of the Gouhaen would end the man's life. And now that it belongs to Ryuji....
"I see." Murmur's voice shakes him out of the tangle of his own thoughts. "It's the side contract that's gone and gotten you out in the world all of a sudden and you don't know how to deal with it."
"The current recipient of this particular side contract is sixteen, stubborn, and given his ambitions will probably meet his end quite foolishly before he turns twenty," Karura snaps with a dismissive wave of his hand. Murmur simply flashing an all too knowing grin in response.
"And normally this wouldn't bother you. The fact that it does is something that you're not quite sure how to handle."
"Once again, disgustingly astute." Karura's fingers are back to drumming against his leg in an awkward sort of tattoo and he quickly tightens his hand into a fist the instant he notices. "I know what I should be doing and yet I don't. The terms of this side contract should be considered complete and yet I stay. It's...." He trails off, clearly irritated and silently daring Murmur to comment on it.
"You think he's interesting. You've already realized this and you've obviously been stuck hidden away for too long if you consider this a bad thing."
"That's possible." It's a grudging admission, although given what Karura knows about Murmur it's not at all surprising that he doesn't see any problems with it.
"Then what do you need my insight for? So I can tell you things you already know and you can call yourself an idiot for being far too interested in the recipient of your contract by way of calling me one."
"That... may have been the plan."
"Go home, Karura," Murmur sighs, giving his head a slight shake. "Follow this teenager you find so frustrating around or not, but I think we both know that whatever you decide won't make a difference. You may as well live whatever life you can with him and enjoy it. Because I can't imagine an eternity of 'what if' would be any better."
"That is your suggestion?"
"That's it."
Karura goes still and quiet, not looking anywhere remotely near pleased as he watches the last few teens get their autographs and pictures taken with the band. Murmur eventually cocking his head slightly.
"Are we through?"
"We are."
"Good." Another beat of silence then, "It's not so bad living like this, you know. I could introduce you to them if you'd like. Maybe it would add to this 'perspective' you want so badly."
That singer girl is already strolling their way and it doesn't take much for Karura to realize that he only has a few seconds to decide one way or the other. A decision that, at its core, feels far too much like the very issue he came here discuss and for a moment he wonders if it really could be decided so simply. Stay or go.
"Fine."
Karura misses the last train back to the academy, something the entire band apologizes profusely for and they help him arrange a ride back and send him on his way with a signed CD for Ryuji (he doesn't know why he started talking about Ryuji, but he's going to blame Murmur for it) and an extracted promise that the next time he will bring his friend along because: "we always want to meet our fans."
He simply nods and makes all the proper noises to the affirmative while Murmur smirks at him. Things are easier that way. In reality he is far too distracted by his own churning thoughts and questions that haven't been answered satisfactorily. His mind still a humming mess when he steps through the front gates of True Cross Academy although he instinctively hisses a little at the crackling static-like brush of wards against his skin and fights not to glare at the guards that watch him. Officially he's registered as Ryuji's familiar (he recalls Ryuji muttering something about having no intent on becoming a Tamer that day and Karura had been unable to stop himself from leaning in close and hissing that's quite fine because he was not the sort to be an Exorcist's pet) which is enough to give him the right to enter unmolested, but it's still suspicious for him to be coming and going on his own.
He's older, more powerful, more dangerous than most standard familiars, after all. It's only natural that he be mistrusted.
Ryuji will probably be informed of his familiar's movements and although Karura is hardly obligated to, perhaps it would simply be for the best if he explain as much of it as he can before that happens, slipping into the dorm room on silent feet (and Karura assures himself that the only reason he's still in this form is because hands can occasionally be slightly more useful than wings, especially when you have CDs to carry and doors to open) his eyes briefly skimming over the clutter and the curled up lumps of sleeping bodies.
He doesn't think about why he curls up alongside Ryuji's body (not that Karura hasn't done it before, but he's usually in a form that is much more birdlike and small enough to settle on the boy's pillow) and he's not surprised when Ryuji stirs and squints at him in the dark. Hair hanging in his eyes and his voice a little bit rough from sleep when he manages to croak out, "Karura?"
"You were expecting the Shima boy perhaps? Or the Miwa one?"
"I wasn't expecting.... What the hell are you doing anyway?"
There's really no answer to that and Karura simply shrugs. Mumbling, "I'll explain it tomorrow."