Title: Aconite
Written: December 15 2017
Characters: Rin, Yukio.
Summary: After a mission goes sour, Rin tries to take care of his resentful but injured younger brother. Spoilers for chapter 96.
Notes: The fic takes place months after Yukio's defection and is going to be three or so chapters long. I originally didn't want to post it before I completed my other multipart story ("In the Hall of the Mountain God"). However, I just couldn't properly continue my other story with this one still in my head. So here we go.
"Let go of me."
Rin could barely hear Yukio over the din of the inferno behind them. He didn't feel the heat anymore from the burning temple, but it was getting darker in the dense forest. He trudged through the brush and dead leaves, supporting his injured brother on one shoulder. He had to get them somewhere safe before the rain arrived. Black-gray clouds rumbled in the skies and the air was damp.
"Let go," repeated Yukio, more forcefully.
"No." Rin secured his hold, blocking his sibling's fifth attempt to slide out of the shoulder carry.
"What are you trying to prove?" snarled Yukio. "That I'm so weak that I need you to protect me? Well, I don't need your help anymore."
Rin rolled his eyes. After having heard that line about a dozen times now, it had just about lost all effect on him. Hell, it was downright ridiculous coming from a guy who didn't have a weapon let alone the strength to stand on his own. To think he used to believe Yukio was the sensible one. Turned out that his little brother was downright stupid when he decided to be a stubborn mule about something.
"You should have left me behind," said Yukio, refusing to let the topic drop.
"Not gonna happen."
"I don't need your pity!"
"And I don't give a fuck! You're getting my help whether you like it or not!" Rin retorted.
"Are you trying to show mercy?" Yukio taunted. "Isn't that what got you into this mess? You refused to use your flames on those disgusting monks because they were human even though they were going to kill you. How many lives did your worthless hesitation cost? Suguro, Miwa, those people you tried to save, they-"
"Shut up!" yelled Rin. "Just stop talking! Jeez, you stupid four-eyes, it's like you don't know there's an arrow in your leg. You can't even walk. Idiot."
"You're putting everyone on your team at risk trying to save an enemy, and I'm the idiot? You never think anything through. Maybe you should try thinking for a change…"
Rin stopped listening as he sidestepped a broken oak branch. He wondered about Bon and Konekomaru. He'd seen them running from the temple before the building exploded. He'd been trying to find them ever since, but he'd lost his cellphone in the fray and had no way of reaching them.
"Hope they're okay…" muttered Rin, pushing bare birch branches away from his face. He couldn't let himself doubt now. They had faith in him. He had to believe in them as well.
He pressed on, no longer able to hear anything over the distant rushing sound that was getting increasingly loud. He followed the trail to the crest of the path encrusted with debris and rocks. He pushed the red-tan fir branches out of his way to reveal the source of the sound: a huge roaring river. The white waters churned up against the carved channel, powered by the melting snows in the mountains. Chunks of snow and ice were on the banks, still present despite how it was late March.
"Holy crap!" Rin's eyes were wide, amazed at the sheer size of the river. "That's huge!"
"It's the Ishikari River," said Yukio, voice strained in an effort to be audible. "We must be… twenty, maybe thirty kilometers from civilization."
"That short, huh?" Rin grinned. "Awesome. I can run that distance in no time. We'll find a hospital and have you patched up in no time."
"What?!" Yukio had a face like Rin had just suggested shaving Kuro. "Haven't you listened to a single word I've said?"
"No, not really," said Rin guilelessly, traipsing quicker through the muddy mosses on the riverbank. "We follow the river downstream, right? It'll take us back to the main road."
He slid down the rocks, landing with a low crunch as as his shoes broke through the wet leaf litter. He felt Yukio jolt and heard a muffled groan of pain.
Damn, he had to be more careful. Even though he could cover ground two to three times faster than a normal human, carrying someone injured meant he couldn't go as fast. But he'd still try.
A light rain started falling.
"What is with you," muttered Yukio. "I thought you finally understood back then… I don't want you to save me. So why? Why… are you doing this again?"
The reminder of their disastrous confrontation echoed painfully in Rin's mind. Even though he had blacked out, his hands shook at the muscle memory of something powerful stopping him mid-swing and then…
Rin clenched his teeth. He didn't want to have this conversation. Instead, he held onto his smile. "You're my brother," he bluntly said, turning to look Yukio in the eye. But he was alarmed to see Yukio's eyes were closed, beads of sweat running down his forehead. He stopped by the river's edge.
"That's not an acceptable answer," Yukio replied bitterly, taking deliberate pauses in a now pointless effort to cover over his heavy breathing. "We're brothers, but we're completely different. That's what… you said."
"Forget all that, what's up with you?" asked Rin, worried and focused on the obvious new problem. He loosened his hold to face Yukio directly. "Tell me."
The rain pattered gently on both of them. Yukio had a distant expression. Then he got that damn irritating smirk that Rin was really starting to hate.
"Why bother? There's nothing you can do about it."
Intense blinding rage struck Rin like lightning. Yukio was sick, and he was still pushing him away?! "Asshole!" His fingers dug into Yukio's shoulder. Stop, dammit. He willed himself to arrest the rage, like trying to gain standing on quicksand. He tasted blood, biting the side of his mouth with much-too-sharp teeth.
"Quit playing games with me!" Rin yelled. "Spit it out!"
Yukio looked away from him, still wearing that stupid smirk. He appeared to shrug, as if there was no point in not humoring Rin's dumb request.
"I've had pain radiating upwards from my leg for a while. Now I can't feel the area. Given that and other symptoms, it stands to reason the arrow was poisoned.
"Poisoned?!" Rin felt like a pit had opened in his stomach. He remembered how one monk yelled something before he angled a bow at him. The arrow that'd been sitting on the altar in a bowl of foul-smelling water was missing.
"That guy… he said something," Rin said. What was it, dammit? "Something about paradise and 'mortal' shells, wolves and fangs…"
"Fangs of the wolf," said Yukio abstractly, as if describing a hypothetical classroom scenario. "Those flowers on the hill..." He shifted his gaze back to Rin, not losing his unpleasant smirk.
"Looks like you won't be able to save me anyways."