Broken Hearts – Death
The dorm had been quiet for quite some time. At least, Kuro assumed it had been quiet. He was able to sleep the entire day without interruption. Normally, Rin and Yukio would wake him up with their arguing or talking, but today, he was lucky. Rin wasn't even listening to music loud enough to wake him!
This wonderful silence could only mean that Yukio was away on some mission and that Rin was... Where was Rin? Kuro sniffed the air. It didn't smell like food, so Rin must not have begun dinner yet. Strange though, as it was already late in the evening. Rin was never late with making food. Maybe he was sick or something?
Kuro decided to look for his friend. First, he checked the bedroom. From there, he moved on to the roof, the kitchen and eating area, the main hallways, the toilets, and finally, the bathroom. It was the last place to check inside the dormitory. If Rin wasn't in this room, then it must mean that he is out for the evening. It wasn't a problem, per se, but Rin would usually tell him before he left for an extended period of time. Maybe he just forgot? Kuro figured that it probably wouldn't hurt to check this room anyways, just in case.
He pushed the door with his nose, but it wouldn't move. Maybe it was locked? But why would it be locked if no one was around? It was suspicious, to say the least. He took another smell of the air. He smelled Rin and Yukio faintly, water, soap, and... blood? Why did it smell like blood?
Panicked, Kuro transformed into his larger self and broke the door. The sight on the other side scared him. Rin was lying in a dark red pool, his face under the water. How long had he been there? Was he still breathing? What happened? There wasn't any time to get answers for the questions. He just had to help Rin.
Kuro pulled Rin out of the water, then broke through the wall to seek out help. Yukio was on a mission, so Rin's classmates would be the next closest, and able to help. Flying to the school dormitories would be faster than walking, and it wasn't as if the ordinary humans could see his demon form anyways.
The flight to the school only took a few minutes, but it felt like a few blurry hours in his rush to find the kid with the weird two-coloured hair. He was the leader, right? He would know what to do. Kuro felt that he couldn't have arrived at the bright pink building soon enough. He broke through the wall of this newer building too, to find the student that he was looking for. Fortunately, walls that explode for no reason tend to attract attention. Students entered the corridor to see what happened. With some stroke of luck, the three boys from Rin's class were there.
The short one's eyes widened when he saw the giant cat, and the boss one whispered to Kuro to meet them outside. The other humans might not have heard, but his cat-demon senses heard it easily.
No! You need to come now! It's important!
The boys took the yowling as a sign of aggression and took defensive stances against the demon cat, unnoticed by the other students in the confusion. Of course they couldn't understand him. In his panicked state of mind, Kuro decided that if they wouldn't listen, then he would find someone else. There wasn't any time for this stupid posturing! Kuro took to the skies again, this time breaking through the roof, to search for the nice girl. She was a tamer and she likes demons, so maybe she would listen to him.
Her house was just on top of the school anyways, so it wasn't too far away. He flew as quickly as he could, while shaking off the bits of roof that stuck to his fur. Within a minute, he spotted the girl in her garden. She was crouched over one of her plants, tending to it. He crashed into her yard, immediately grabbing her attention.
"Oh, Kuro? What's going on? Why are you so big right now?" Shiemi inquired as she stood up, "What's wrong?"
It's Rin! I found him in the bathroom! He was in red blood-water and he wasn't breathing and I need someone to help him! You need to help fix him! Come with me!
Kuro ran towards Shiemi and picked her up by holding her clothes in his mouth.
"Kuro, what are you doing? Put me down!" Shiemi screamed as the large cat ignored her and flew off towards the abandoned boys dormitory, where Rin lay on a cold tiled floor. The girl kept squirming and shaking, making it very difficult to hold on to her. Didn't she understand when Kuro said that she needed to help? Of course not. She was just like the other three boys, but a bit nicer and more patient. Just being a tamer didn't make her automatically understand demons, even if it did give her a different perspective and appreciation for their intelligence and powers.
Whether or not she understood and/or accepted the situation, the cat demon continued flying as quickly as he could. He could only hope that they would make it in time to help Rin. He didn't want to think about the consequences otherwise.
The hole in the wall was easy to spot from a distance. That's where Rin was laying, and that was where Kuro touched down. When Shiemi saw the mess in the room, she paled and fell to the floor.
"Wh-what? What happened?" she stuttered as she crept forward, towards the body on the floor. "He's bleeding, and it's everywhere. What's going on?" She placed a hand on his arm and looked towards his face. She noticed that his skin was cool and that he didn't appear to be breathing. She put her ear over his face to feel and watch for breaths. After fifteen seconds, she hadn't felt or seen any signs. She checked the pulse on his neck to be sure, only to feel no heartbeat.
"Rin! Rin, where are you?" a voice called from below, "and why is there a large hole in the side of the building? Mephisto won't be happy about this, you know!"
"Y-Yukio?" Shiemi asked herself quietly. Was he gone? Did he just come back? She started shouting frantically. "Yukio. Yukio! YUKIO!"
She heard rushed steps towards the bathroom she was in. "Who's calling? Where's- Shiemi? What- Rin?"
Yukio stopped short in the empty doorway, face paling as he took in the sight. "Shiemi... Did you... do this?"
"N-no Kuro just showed up and took me and we flew and then I found him like this here just... He's not breathing Yukio. What do we do?" she shouted quickly. Coherence isn't the biggest priority when one is panicking.
"Not breathing? What..." Yukio stared at his brother, and took in the mess all over the room. The tub was stained red, and there was blood on the floor. Some patches and pools, as well as some words?
Friends only exist to break promises and break hearts.
Was this his... suicide note? What did that mean?
"Oi! Teach! Where are you!" a voice called from below.
"Yeah, Rin's cat has gone crazy!" a second voice called.
"I like cats, but he just broke our dorm!" a third voice shouted.
Yukio stood up shakily. "I-I think I should go downstairs a-and s-see what they want." He gripped the wall as he made his way towards the entrance to the dormitory, where his students were presumably waiting, forgetting about the girl sitting on the floor covered in his brother's blood.
As Yukio stumbled down the stairs to the entrance area, Suguro took notice of his teacher's presence and appearance.
"Hey! We've gotta tell you about- Uh... Something wrong, teach?" Suguro asked, concerned. The younger man looked pale and unsteady. It appeared that the only reason he was still standing was because he was leaning heavily on the wall. "Are you hurt? Was it the cat?"
Yukio just stared at his student. What could he say? Why was Suguro talking about the cat when Rin was lying dead upstairs! He just fell backwards on to the stairs, shocked. He couldn't speak, so he just closed his eyes.
"Hey, Mr. Okumura? You need to tell us what's wrong. We'll do what we can to help you." Konekomaru offered hesitantly. If it was a demon that their teacher couldn't handle, what chance did the three exwires have against it?
"Is it still upstairs?" Suguro questioned darkly. He reached a hand towards his teacher, but withdrew it when he saw the younger stiffen. The three took his silence as an affirmative and began to climb the stairs.
Just as the three left his field of vision, Yukio realized what they were doing, and snapped out of his shock. "No! Don't go up there!" However, his calls were ignored by the exwires.
The three students pushed on up the stairs and began the search. It didn't take long to find the broken down bathroom door.
"Konekomaru, prepare the verse. Shima and I will hold it back from you while you chant. Understood?" Suguro instructed. The other two nodded in assent, and they strode in quickly, ready to take down the cat sith.
Upon entering, the three were just confused. Shiemi was sitting on the floor beside Rin. It looked like she was holding his arm while he was just lying there. They took in the room. The blood in the water, on the floor. The cat sith was sitting in the corner of the room, mewling to himself. Just what had happened?
"Shiemi? What are you doing here? What happened?" Shima asked, concerned for his friend. Why was she covered in what looked like blood?
She turned to face the trio, tears streaming down her face. "It's Rin. H-He..." Shiemi trailed off, not being able to say any more.
It looked like their friend had been attacked or something, but focused primarily on the arms. Why was there so much blood everywhere? Especially on the floor...
Was that a note? Friends only exist to break promises and break hearts. Is that why he did it? Because all of them were ignoring him because he didn't trust them? Was it their fault? Did he actually kill himself? What was going through his mind when he tried it?
Konekomaru slumped to the floor, while Shima turned to leave. He could stand to be in there with someone that he had once considered a friend. Suguro, however, just stood there with shock. He was frozen to the spot. This whole situation was basically his fault, since everyone, except perhaps Izumo, was following his lead in ignoring the half-demon.
The seconds felt like hours. He didn't know how much time had passed, when he felt something touch his head. He was vaguely aware of a voice before his vision grew dark, and he passed out.
Mephisto showed up at the old boys dormitory shortly after most of the exwire class had arrived. The spells he had on the building had notified him when the cat sith had put a large hole in the wall. As headmaster, he would naturally have to check it out, and then figure out who to punish for the replacement of the wall. Upon arrival, he knew that the situation was much more serious than a simple broken wall. He took the liberty of forcing the students into a time stasis, or sleep, so that he wouldn't have to deal with their... emotional reactions. At least not so soon.
With his time magic, he was able to preserve the body of his half brother so that it could be properly prepared for incineration. No sense in letting the Vatican get their hands on such a sample. Sometimes, their research methods are just a bit too brutal, even for a corpse.
He brought the "sleeping" teenagers downstairs to rest in the first floor rooms while he went to make funeral preparations. He hadn't expected this at all. All of the work he had put into helping this child were wasted and gone now, but his game must still continue. Otherwise, what was the point in living?
The funeral was held a few days after Rin's body was found. It was a small affair, with no more than twenty in attendance. The exwire class, a couple of teachers, the monastery staff, and a few students from Rin's regular school classes showed up. The cram school students weren't even aware that he talked to people in his regular classes. Through the entire ceremony, no one could speak. Everyone was lost in their own thoughts about the young man who had left them far too soon, presumably for no reason but a misunderstanding.
Izumo felt a small amount of guilt, along with a lot of regret. Why had she not said something to the other teenager about demonic heritage, and how it didn't make one a horrible person. If he had trusted them, they would have accepted him, although the thought might be hypocritical. The others didn't know about her own heritage yet, but the situation was entirely different. Why couldn't she have sucked up her own feelings and just told him once about how common demon blood is among exorcists? She was a coward, and she would have to live with that for the rest of her life. She could have helped him, but she didn't.
Shima felt some guilt about this situation. He didn't actually dislike the other teen at all. It was all just too much work to bother trying to help out. He just did what people expected, followed Bon, and did nothing. He didn't really care about humanity, and he had given up on people a long time ago, but for some reason, he still felt guilt. He still felt hurt. Why? If he had asked himself whether he cared about the younger student or not, he honestly would have said that he did not. If he didn't care, then why the guilt? Why did he think that he could have helped just a little bit if he'd actually tried? Some questions will never be answered.
Shiemi was in tears. Rin was so nice to her, even after she accidentally called him a demon when they first met. He had barely known about his powers at that time, and he was still trying so hard not to give up on himself, just because he wasn't born the way he thought. She had left him alone to feel horrible about himself, just because she was scared of talking to him. This shyness had already ruined most of her own life, and now it had destroyed the life of her her second ever friend. Rin was the reason that she would leave her garden and attend school with other people. He gave her so much, and she never properly thanked him, or helped him when he truly needed a friend.
Konekomaru was torn. A few tears slid from his eyes when he thought about how horribly he, and all of them, had treated the teenager. He was scared because Rin was a demon, but was that really an excuse? Rin had never really hurt them. And didn't Shiemi say that his flames didn't hurt when they touched her? That didn't makes sense, if the blue flames were supposed to consume and destroy anything they touched. He looked so out of control that night, but he still didn't hurt anyone. He had felt scared, but, was that feeling worth someone's life? Even if it was the person that he was afraid of? Rin was part demon, but also part human. Did he really have the right to treat someone else that way? Was it his fault that Rin did what he did?
Yukio could barely think at all. He just felt lost without his older brother. Was he such a terrible brother that he couldn't even see the pain that Rin was in? Was it his fault for being ignorant? For not telling Rin about his exorcist training sooner? For attempting to kill his brother when school started? All of those things he did to hurt his brother... Could he really say that he was a good person? That he deserved the liberty of grieving and forgiveness that he would surely receive from everyone? None of this was fair. At the same time, he felt absolute hatred of himself, as well as nothing at all. He was lost.
Suguro looked angry. It was not just a front. He was angry with himself for his part in Rin's death. Some might say that it was Rin's choice to do what he did, but he knew that it was entirely his fault. HE tended to adopt a leadership role (forcefully or otherwise) within the class, and it was his actions that led everyone else to avoid and shun the younger teen. If he had just put aside his pride and stubbornness, could they have saved him the despair? They were still friends, at least in Suguro's mind. Did Rin not think the same? Suguro was just waiting for an apology for not trusting them enough to be honest. Friendship meant honesty, and Rin had broken that rule. Suguro waited, and now he would be waiting forever for what will never come, just because he didn't talk to his friend. Did Rin not understand?
No, he must have understood. His note described that understanding perfectly.
Friends only exist to break promises and break hearts.
Not a single heart in the room that day remained intact.