Rain, Rain, Go Away
Thunder and lightning flashed outside the window, pelting at the windows. It created a nice, cooling atmosphere, a relieve from the hot summer days the Exwires had been experiencing until now.
Of course, it was also the perfect time for a nap.
"…Nii-san…" Yukio had already given up on addressing his brother formally in class. "WAKE UP!"
Rin gave a snort, and suddenly leapt up from his seat, eyes flashing about wildly. "What? What? Who's dead?"
"No one yet, but you will be if you don't stop falling asleep in my classes!"
A clap of thunder sounded at Yukio's words, the lightning illuminating Yukio's face ominously. Rin gulped. "Yes, Yukio. I mean, yes, Okumura-sensei."
Yukio walked back to his teaching desk. "Alright, class. I believe that I have already taught you on the Sorblins, the demons that feed off fear during the last lesson? Can anyone refresh our knowledge?"
Two hands shot up at once, Suguro's and Izumo's.
"Shima." Yukio chose neither, opting for the other laziest boy in the classroom.
"Uhhhh? What?" Shima leapt to attention, startled. Yukio sighed. Honestly, the pink haired boy was no better than his brother. He sincerely hoped that Rin wouldn't get it into his mind to dye his hair an obnoxious color one day too.
Yukio pushed his glasses up, just so that it would reflect the dull light emitting from the lamp above them. "Sorblins, Shima-kun. Tell me about them. Or any other demon similar to them."
"Umm…Tempests, servants of Typhoeus? They create storms, thunder, lightning and rain. They feed off the fear that is created, and to enhance that fear, have even possessed priests and claimed that they are signs of God's wrath. Their fatal verse is one of the few not taken from the Holy Bible, though it is a Jewish rhyme, the tune was taken from an English old folks' song."
Yukio was a little surprised at Shima's knowledge. "Go on." He said, checking to see if Shima was reading from the textbook. "Recite the fatal verse."
"Um," Shima's face went red as the whole class swiveled their attention onto him. "Rain, rain, go away, Come again on another day." He sang.
"…what?!" Rin yelped in disbelief.
"That is indeed the fatal verse of a Tempest." Yukio pushed his glasses up. "However, they have more than one fatal verse, and your choice of the verse to present is…interesting, to say the least. Revelations, Chapter Eleven Verse Sixteen. That's your homework for today. Memorize it and I will select two students to present it tomorrow."
"More than one fatal verse…?!" Shima froze for a moment. Then blushed to the roots of his hair. Damn Juu-nii!
Thunder and lightning flashed across the sky, streaking white paths across the stormy, dark sky. Shima Juuzou leaned back against his chair, and casually flicked off a Coal Tar. A demon smashed against the glass, and Juuzou ignored it. Storms were the perfect time for demons to start swarming indoors. Or, at least try to. Believe it or not, they do hate getting their tail furs wet.
Some demons prevail in storms though, like the Red Goblins, their marshes would be flourishing in all the dampness, and the Tempests. Oh, those demon horses would positively be enjoying this.
Lightning flashed and thunder roiled a second later. Juuzou decided to leave his Math homework be and go look for his little brother. Maybe tease him a little about the crush he had on the little girl who sat in front of him in class, the one with twin pigtails.
Then he noticed black shadows darting in and out of his brother's room, and his walk quickened. Was that a Tempest? He'd never been up face to face with one before, they'd only learned about it in cram school two weeks ago…what was that fatal verse again? Think, Juuzou, think!
No sound from the room, which worried and relieved him even more. Either his little brother was unconscious, or he wasn't in the room.
Revelations…definitely Revelations…chapter what? Damn the chapter, I don't even remember the words of the verse!
Juuzou kicked away a baby Tempest clawing at his feet and wrenched the door open, skidding into the room and straight into a mass of writhing Tempests. The Tempests neighed and tried to attack the new arrival too, but when Juuzou saw his baby brother curled on the floor, eyes open and glassy with fear, courage exploded in his heart and the Tempests shrank back. They feed off fear, and a brave Exorcist, even though still an Exwire, would pose a great threat for the low level demons.
Especially if that one Exwire's little brother had almost had his soul sucked out of them with the pure fear of it.
Juuzou growled at the Tempests, making them back away in fear. He picked up a random book on the floor and hurled it at the braver Tempest who was daring another lunge at Renzo. "Stay away!"
A few more minutes of book throwing later, Juuzou realized that he was rapidly running out of nursery rhyme books and textbooks to throw. He considered flipping open one of his last weapons, the Bible, but decided against it. Who had time to sit down for a thorough session with God's Word in the middle of a fight anyway?
And Renzo needed help.
Then he spotted their savior.
A nursery rhyme book, lying open innocently on the floor.
"The Tempests also have another fatal verse, though this is mostly taught to children to teach them how to protect themselves, but it somehow ended up as a well known nursery rhyme. I will not be teaching you this today though."
Could it be…
Feeling stupid, Juuzou started to sing softly. "Rain, rain, go away," He stamped on the head of a Tempest, who refused to die even after having at least three books making contact with it. The fear from Renzo and the rain must have strengthened it. "Come again, another day!"
The Tempests neighed and galloped away, leaving Juuzou standing alone in a messy room, books and various knick-knacks strewn everywhere, Renzo shivering behind him.
"Shh, it's okay now." Juuzou picked up Renzo and started to rock him slowly. "Rain, rain, go away, come again another day," He started to sing again, the sound soothing his little brother. "Child, child, do not fear, your Juu-nii is now here."
Slowly, Renzo nodded off to sleep. Juuzou stood, little brother in his arms. Time to bring him to father, then.
Then a wicked gleam spread across his face. Renzo's scared of storms? The boy who was always going around boasting how big and grown up he was and trying to act grown up too by focusing his attention on the opposite sex a lot more than necessary?
He was going to have so much fun with this later.
"I hate this weather." Rin grumbled, stumbling into class soaking wet. "I had to run from class to class in the rain!"
Ryuji, perfectly dry and fresh, snorted. "Idiot. Do you know that umbrellas were invented for a reason?"
"I didn't have one!" Rin protested. "Mine got snatched away by some stupid horse thingy and I chased it for ten minutes in the rain before losing it!"
Shima snorted under his breath. "Stupid horse thingy?"
"Apparently you haven't been listening to my lesson yesterday, nii-san. That aforementioned stupid horse thingy is a Tempest, which belongs to the group of demons that feed off fear, which are known as…?" Yukio trailed off, waiting for someone to finish the sentence.
"Sorblins." Izumo, Ryuji and Konekomaru chorused.
"Excellent. And the stupid horse thingy feeds off fear of…?" Yukio was loading as much sarcasm as possible into the phrase 'stupid horse thingy'.
"Storms." Shima, Konekomaru, and Ryuji answered.
"And the fatal verse?"
"Um, Revelations! Chapter…sixteen? Verse eleven?" Shiemi tentatively answered.
Yukio smiled kindly at the girl. "Very good, Shiemi-san, but I am afraid that you got the chapter and verse confused. Now, Rin. Aside from Takara-kun, you are the only one who hasn't answered a question yet. Can you please exorcise this demon?"
With that, Yukio cheerfully slammed the window open and a Tempest barreled in.
"Whaaaaaaaaaaat?!" Rin yelped as the Tempest started to neigh, long and steady.
Shima's eyes grew wide. His first encounter with a Tempest after ten years. And no Juu-nii to protect him this time.
Thunder roiled again, and Shima felt like running somewhere, anywhere. He couldn't explain this sudden incomprehensible fear, he only knew that it filled every inch of him and his most primal instinct was to run and scream for his brother.
The Tempest finished neighing, and fell back on all four hooves, turning its glowing yellow eyes onto Shima. Shima backed away. The Tempest's tongue flicked out, gray and colorless, tasting the fear.
Then the pack of Tempests were upon them, summoned by the first Tempest's call. Yukio slammed the window shut on the third Tempest that wriggled to get in and shot the poor demon right in the skull at point blank. Rin smacked the second Tempest with a book, reminding him laughably of Juu-nii ten years ago.
"Nii-san! The fatal verse! Recite it!"
Ryuji started to recite, the star student, but when he finished he only succeeded in weakening the Tempest, which stumbled a little before advancing on Shima again. The second Tempest now had its attention on Shiemi, who was shielded by Rin, who held the Demonology textbook as his main weapon and constantly tried to hit Shima's Tempest as well with any other things nearby he could reach.
"It's being strengthened by fear!" Yukio yelled over the chaos, struggling to keep the window shut with Konekomaru and Izumo's help.
"Shima!" Rin yelled. "Shiemi! Don't be afraid! We're all here!"
Then, amazingly, the tune of the heavens.
"Rain, rain, go away, come again another day; Now, now, do not fear, we are now all here for you," Rin started, strong and clear. Even though it didn't rhyme. The Tempest shrank back.
Shiemi joined in, "Rain, rain, go away, come again another day; Fear, fear, what is that? Friends are here to have your back."
The words flowing into his mind as easily as water, Shima felt Juu-nii's arms around him, rocking him and soothing him, singing that once more. "Rain, rain, go away, Come again, another day!" He finished, Tempests disintegrating into dust. "Child, child, do not fear, your Juu-nii is now here." He continued, more softly.
The Tempests stopped trying to force themselves into the classroom as the fear evaporated and they were drawn to other sources of fear.
"…nii-san, that was not what I meant." Yukio pushed up his glasses. "Nevertheless, a creative…means to fight. Why did you start singing anyway?"
Rin rubbed his nose, embarrassed. "Well…after Shima did it yesterday it kinda stuck in my mind, so it was the first thing that popped up. And if you just recite it robotically, like Suguro does, it would just sound plain weird!"
"OI! When do I sound like a robot?!"
Requested by Elaine Weasley.
Credit for Sorblins and Tempests go to: J.K. Rowling for the Boggart and Dementor's characteristics, Dreamworks for Pitch Black's nightmares, Rick Riordan for the description of horses in The Lost Hero, and the original Greek myth writer.
Originally I wanted to do a small, cozy household scene where baby Renzo is scared and hides under the blankets and Juuzo huddles with him, but demons somehow worked their way into the mix so…
Feel free to submit more requests!