Suggested by Aneki Okumura.
Thanks for the suggestion and the review on the previous chapter!
Ice: The Untold Side
(After that disastrous camping trip, Rin gulped down handfuls of ice. He didn't know what he was thinking at that point either.)
"…and do not, under any circumstances, touch the holy water grenades on the table. Those aren't fully fixed yet, and if you press the wrong thing they'll probably just explode in your face." Yukio finally finished the long list of 'do not's for his brother. He frowned at the vacant look on his brother's face. "Nii-san? Are you even listening?"
"Hmm? Yeah, don't touch the guns, don't forget to study, don't burn the dorm down to the ground, don't try cooking with my flames, don't touch the stuff on the table. Got it." Rin mindlessly repeated. When the flash of Yukio's glasses lowered to reveal a pair of genuinely worried eyes, Rin mustered a smile and scowled good-naturedly at his younger brother who acted way too much like a salaryman for Rin's liking. "What are you, my mom? I'll be fine, it isn't like you're leaving for a month. It's just one night, Yukio. I'm fifteen, almost sixteen. I can handle myself."
Yukio shook his head and sighed in exasperation. "Exactly what I'm worried about. The last time you thought you could handle it yourself you went berserk. Act serious for a while, nii-san, it won't kill you."
"And you're way too serious!" Rin called after Yukio as he used his keys to transport himself to some random spot that was tonight and tomorrow's mission. If everything went as planned, Yukio would be back late evening tomorrow. Since it was a weekend, Yukio didn't have class as an excuse even though he would like to stay home and watch over Rin. Partly to protect Rin from himself, and to protect Rin from others. For example, Arthur Augusta Angel would be positively itching to get Caliburn through Rin's neck. He'd already gotten it through Rin's foot once, and Yukio wasn't keen on that happening again. Shura was going with him on this mission too, and both of them weren't very happy about it, but they agreed that if the worst came down to the worst, Rin could defend himself perfectly fine. Shura's drills were paying off so far.
Rin drooped as soon as Yukio left. He'd told Kuro to follow Yukio on his mission, since Rin was really worried that if Shura, an Upper First class Exorcist was required to go, it could potentially be serious, and Rin wasn't going to take chances with what's left of his family. Ukobach had been taken away by Mephisto for some international Exorcist branch heads meeting that even Mephisto couldn't get away with serving ramen for.
Rin should start cooking too, if he wanted to eat on time.
He switched on the stove and stared at the flames licking the pot as he put the chopped onions in it along with some noodles to stew.
(Blue flames, bathing the sky and the ground, creeping slowly towards his friends, his family, threatening to hurt them and he couldn't stop it-)
Rin stumbled back, hands fumbling to turn it off-off-off. It didn't matter whether his dinner was going to be uncooked, or that he could have burned himself-all that mattered was that the fire was gone.
"Is everyone safe?"
(Desperation, hope, begging, pleading, please don't hate me-)
"Why…" (Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you confess? Why did you try to kill us? Why-)
"Why the hell is Satan's son here in the Academy?!"
(Shock, despair, beading tears-)
(I thought we were friends!)
"There's…there's not much difference between me and a regular human, it's just-" (One more last ditch attempt, trying to claw your way back up before falling again-)
"Why are you laughing like there's nothing wrong about it?!" (Everything's wrong. Everything's gone horribly wrong and twisted-)
Rin backed into the refrigerator.
Rin wasn't stupid. He'd sort of figured out the connection between his flames and ice, being that ice was fire's natural enemy, the sickness was probably just a by –product of his flames combating with the ice.
(Blue flames, Neuhaus-sensei screaming how they had taken everything away from him-)
If he ate enough…
(Blue flames, Fujimoto Shiro dying shrouded in them-)
Rin didn't pause to think. He followed his impulses like he always did.
He opened the refrigerator and started to shovel handfuls of ice into his mouth.
Nothing at first. Rin stood there, waiting, the ice tray emptied. Rin had refilled it with water and put it back into the fridge so that there would be ice when Yukio needed some, and now Rin was sitting on a mattress in another room in the dorm, a blanket wrapped around himself.
A Coal Tar drifted past.
Then massive hobgoblins emerged from the walls of the room.
Shit.
Rin tried to run from the room, but the hobgoblins blocked the door, leering at him.
"Damn it!" Rin aimed a kick at the nearest one then nearly doubled over in pain as the muscles of his leg seized. Hopping forward the best he could on his other leg, Rin glared at the other demons, daring them to attack the son of their King. Apparently they couldn't read glares that well, for they swooped down upon him.
Rin unleashed a wave of blue flames that vaporized their front line, and let out an ear piercing scream as he started to choke on his own blood. Rin only knew that his strength was being sapped from him at a surprisingly rapid speed, and there was a horde of hobgoblins ready to tear him apart and he didn't want to draw his sword-
One hobgoblin slammed into him, sending him through the wall and breaking a few bones during the process. Rin lay still, partly because he didn't have the strength and will to move and partly to allow his broken ribs time to heal, as they always did, but nothing happened.
Nothing to Rin's advantage, anyway.
The hobgoblins swarmed through the hole, targeting Rin. Rin had no choice.
He gritted his teeth, grabbed his sword, and ran down the corridor to the warded safety of the room he shared with Yukio, leaving a trail of blood behind him. He couldn't help it that he was whimpering as he ran.
Rin didn't even close the door when he thudded to the ground, Kurikura clattering onto the floor beside him a few inches away.
Rin clawed his way across the floor to the leg of Yukio's table, using it as support to haul himself upright as soon as he regained consciousness. There were blood, saliva and mucus on his face, and he couldn't let Yukio see him like this.
(Get rid of the flames)
Rin was partly blind by then, just managing to process the world of sight by identifying the colors and vague shapes. He couldn't hear anything, not even his own tortured screams as he fell to his knees once, twice, thrice. He wasn't sure whether his vocal chords were working.
Massive organ failure.
The hobgoblins were mostly gone, having scattered after finding no new prey to torment within the dorm. Rin's injuries weren't healing, and he was shivering as he managed to wipe most of the fluids off and crawl into bed.
"Nii-san! Have you done your homework?" Yukio called as he closed the door behind him, freshly back from his mission. He'd expected to see Rin waiting with a goofy smile and a hot meal, even though he'd seemed a bit off before Yukio left, but cooking almost always cheered Rin up.
No Rin. A spotless kitchen. No lights were on.
"Nii-san?" Yukio was starting to have a horrible feeling.
Then he saw the drops of blood at the foot of the fridge and he knew that something was very, very wrong.
"NII-SAN!"
(He was absent from classes for two weeks, but he made sure the other Exwires never knew. Only Shiemi had come knocking by the first week, but he made Yukio lie to her and send her away)
No one spoke about Rin.
No one mentioned how Shiemi tended to avoid the front seats.
No one mentioned how dark and uninteresting class suddenly seemed.
It was as if Okumura Rin hadn't pushed open the door of the classroom that day and announced in typical punk fashion: "Hello, I'm Okumura Rin. Please bear with me."
It was as if Okumura Rin hadn't touched the iron gate to Shiemi's garden that day and broke it.
It was as if they hadn't laughed, talked, fought, made up, cried, yelled, played, ate or drank with Okumura Rin.
It was as if Okumura Rin never existed and Bon didn't know whether that was a good or bad thing.
Rin hadn't shown up at class for three days already, and Shiemi was starting to get worried. Yukio never said anything, he just hurried into class, rushed through the lesson, words spilling from his lips without pause, flowing like a stream. As soon as the lesson ended he whirled past them as fast as he came and left. He ignored the raised hands. He ignored Shiemi's futile attempts to get his attention. He ignored Bon slamming the table with his hands and demanded what their sensei was doing, (just like what Rin had done a few months ago, what Rin would have done if he was there with them) ignoring his students and just reciting like some damn robot.
"I'm going to check on Yuki-chan today!" Shiemi announced to the class after Yukio breezed out of the classroom after yet another hasty session. "Who's coming?"
Izumo turned her face away. She wasn't going to run off on another adventure with that blonde.
Shima and Konekomaru waited for Bon to make a decision. If he went, they went.
Takara wasn't going, at least that much was obvious.
Bon clenched his fists. The unspoken mention of Rin drifted by. Seeing Yukio at his dorm meant having an excuse to check on Rin too.
"I'm not going."
Shiemi went alone that day.
"Yuki-chan?" Shiemi knocked on the door tentatively. She'd never walked here from cram school without using a key before, and it surprised her how abandoned the dorm really was. You could scream as loud as you wanted in it and no one would hear you.
Rustling sounds and soft arguments could be heard when Shiemi pressed her ear to the keyhole. It made her feel naughty, eavesdropping like this, but still, she was concerned for her friend…friends. Shiemi still considered Rin her friend, but still…it made her angry to think of him. Angry in a way she hadn't been before. Angry and sad and disappointed. That she didn't know. That Rin didn't tell…that Yuki-chan didn't say anything…that they pretended that everything was alright while everything was just falling apart with every passing day as the lie dug deeper and deeper and leeched the trust of their friends and Rin just smiled and pretended that everything was okay that he wasn't hiding anything from them that he was just a simple boy who had an unrealistic dream.
The Saviour of Assiah. Gehenna's Heir. The Vatican's Weapon. The Son of Satan. Okumura Rin. Her friend.
"Hello?" Shiemi called out again. "Rin?"
It amazed her, how easily the name slipped out from her lips. It was as if nothing had changed. And everything had changed.
Yukio opened the door. "Yes, Shiemi-san?"
"No-nothing. It's just, I came to check on Rin. Why isn't he coming to school?"
Yukio cast a swift glance behind him. Shiemi tried to peek inside but she couldn't see anything as Yukio's tall silhouette blocked the door completely.
"Nii-san is going to undergo special training. He'll be taking different classes from now on if he's going to pass the Exorcist exam and survive. Thanks for your concern, Shiemi-san, but it really isn't necessary."
"O-Okay. And is Yuki-chan alright too? You've been acting strange lately. Is everything okay?"
Yukio nodded and smiled. "I would ask you in for a cup of tea, but if you don't get home now your mother should be worrying. Don't make her worry, okay?"
Shiemi's mother wouldn't worry. In fact, she'd been more than happy to let Shiemi go out later and later after school, if only it got her out of her shell and got her new friends. She smiled and nodded and said her goodbyes and let Yukio close the door in her face. She turned away, wondering.
Why did Rin lie to her? She'd thought that Rin was always straightforward and barging ahead and a hero, and heroes don't lie. Pure and innocent people don't lie.
Then she remembered her terrified screams of 'Demon!' when Rin accidentally destroyed her silver gate, which was now fixed.
If Rin hadn't lied, Shiemi would probably be screaming for his blood by now without giving him a chance.
Shiemi pursed her lips and sat on a bench a distance away, hidden behind a few shrubs. If you weren't paying attention, you wouldn't see her there, but Shiemi had a perfect view of the dormitory Rin and Yukio were staying in. She wouldn't rest until she saw Rin hale and hearty. To pass the time, she practiced with Nii-chan, even managing to get some type of grass that grew only in Gehenna. Shiemi took a sample of it to test later for any kinds of uses.
The sun slowly moved to the west side of the sky and gradually moved downwards. Shiemi was beginning to feel hot and sticky and longed for a bath. Finally her waiting paid off as Yukio hurried out of the dorm, closing the door behind him. He seemed to be in a hurry as he took off at a brisk walk in the direction of the small town within the school. Shiemi seized the opportunity and crept into the dorm.
"Rin?" She called out quietly and nearly screamed when something soft rubbed against her foot. She calmed down to realize that it was only Kuro. She knelt down to see Kuro at his level. "Can you take me to Rin?"
Kuro meowed. The nice and sweet smelling girl who fed me those nasty cookies! She's nicer than the cookies though, so I'm taking her to Rin!
Kuro led her through the kitchen, cat feet padding silently on the tiled floor, and Ukobach turned at the sound of Shiemi's footsteps. Kuro mewed, letting Ukobach know that Shiemi was a friend, and maybe she could help Rin. Ukobach grunted and handed the bewildered girl a bowl of herbal soup.
"These are good for the kidneys…" Shiemi recognized it instantly. "And they can repair damaged lungs, posing no damage to a demon either. But Rin's lungs were perfectly fine the last time I saw him…"
Last time Shiemi saw Rin, he had growled and snarled at her.
She followed Kuro upstairs, toting the bowl carefully as they paused in front of a door, the walls around it cracked and peeled and-was that blood? A stain on the floor, a deep, dark, red. Nii-chan squealed softly and ducked into Shiemi's hair.
Kuro scratched at the door, mewling loudly before quietly creeping away.
"Ah, Kuro!" She called after the Cat Sith as it slunk away. She turned her gaze to the door in front of her. Rin was probably behind it. He could be doing his homework, lazing around, reading manga, sleeping, or eating. Perfectly normal activities. Shiemi would just push the door open a crack, take a look at Rin to ease her fears, and leave with the memory of a healthy and happy Rin intact in her mind to comfort her worries. She pushed open the door.
The sight beyond it magnified her worries instead.
There was Rin, barely being kept alive by machines hooked up to his body. There was a hemodialysis machine to support his failing kidneys, defibrillators just in case his sputtering heart gave out, a machine that fed pure oxygen to Rin to help his lungs, IV drips to keep him hydrated and get the necessary nutrients into his body, and a few other dozen machines that Shiemi couldn't identify, each for a specific organ.
Massive organ failure.
Rin himself was lying on the bed, choking and struggling for more breaths. Tears pooled in his eyes as he scrabbled at the bed sheets for purchase. Shiemi wanted to run in and help Rin, but she wasn't sure if she should. If Rin wanted her to. She had been too harsh towards him that day on the bridge. Maybe that was why Rin was lying there now.
What if Rin didn't want to be friends with her anymore?
Shiemi tried to slip out quietly, but she remembered the herbal soup.
Well, she could at least keep her sort-of promise to Ukobach. She slipped into the room, certain that Rin would be too distracted by his pains to notice her. If Rin did notice her Shiemi wouldn't know what to do. Was she still angry? Should she forgive the son of Satan?
The bowl made a soft thunk as Shiemi laid it on the table. Rin didn't respond. Shiemi took one look at the door, then back at the bowl of herbal soup. Yukio should be going to the pharmacy just now then…since it was obvious that Rin was using up a lot of Yukio's emergency stash of supplies. So Yukio wouldn't be back for some time, and Rin obviously couldn't feed himself…
Before Shiemi knew what she was doing, she was supporting Rin's feverish head in one arm and spooning the herbal soup into his mouth with the other. Rin moaned a little, eyelids fluttering open. "Yu…Yukio?"
And Shiemi's heart went cold.
Rin looked straight at her and repeated his question in a soft, scratchy voice. "Yukio? Did you send her away?"
Rin couldn't see.
Shiemi finished spooning the soup into Rin's mouth without saying a word. Rin started to frantically feel at his ears, dragging a few tubes along with his arm. "Yukio? Are you there? I can't hear you…I can't hear…!"
Rin started to scream and that dissolved into hacking coughs. Shiemi quietly added some painkillers into the IV drip of nutrients, enough to put Rin back to sleep, collected the bowl and spoon and left.
Suguro hadn't expected Shiemi to return to class more quiet and subdued than ever. It was almost as if she had caught whatever quiet disease Yukio had. Even Izumo was paying more attention to the blonde than usual. He could read it in the subtle flicks of her eyes, the occasional twitching in her direction.
Shima sidled up to Suguro's side. "Hey, Bon. Have you finally let go of your monkly desires? You've been watching Moriyama and Kamiki since the beginning of the class."
Suguro rolled his eyes at Shima's remark. "Honestly. You know the reason I'm looking at them, Moriyama in particularly. Didn't she announce yesterday that she was going to see sensei?" He left the 'and Rin' unspoken. "Now she comes back acting like sensei did."
In the background, Yukio droned on his lesson like a robot.
"Do you think…" Shima hesitated for a while, then decided to just get on with it. "It has anything to do with Okumura Rin-kun?"
The first time Rin's name had been spoken aloud in the classroom after the Incident.
Konekomaru nodded. "For once, Shima-kun, your answer has more than a fifty percent chance of being right. We haven't seen Okumura-kun since it had happened, and Okumura-sensei started acting weird around then. Moriyama –san had been seeing Okumura-sensei all day before but she still retained her original personality until she went to the dorm Okumura-sensei shares with his brother. Therefore it must have something to do with Okumura-kun."
Shima placed a hand over his heart at the fifty percent chance thing. "Why, Neko, you wound me."
Two more days passed in this manner and finally Shima couldn't take it anymore. Seeing the cheerful blonde like that was downright depressing and it was starting to put a damper on his mood too. Plus, she had nice boobs.
The bell rang. Yukio didn't even wait for the class to say their customary 'Thank you, sensei,' before rushing off. Shiemi started to pack her things too, though at a slower speed.
"Moriyama-san~" Shima sang, positioning himself directly in front of her, the better to admire her boobs with. "What's up?"
Shiemi looked up and smiled shyly at him, which nearly made his heart melt had he not remembered his commitment to Izumo-chan. "I'm fine, Shima-kun! How are you?"
"I will be fine as long as I'm talking with such a beauty as you~" Shima sneaked a peek at Izumo, who caught it and snorted, turning away.
Shiemi blushed. "Well, I'm glad if you're fine. But I really need to go, I have to prepare Yui-san, I mean, marigolds, antiwei, raspberry leaves , sesame seeds, gentian, and…" She was rather proud of herself, actually, for being able to remember so many of their real names. She'd been working hard since Yukio last told her that she needed to use the plants' real names if she really wanted to become an Exorcist.
"Whoa, stop. Aren't those herbs for…" Suguro's brow furrowed as he tried to recall. "Major sickness or something? Who are they for?"
"Uh, someone just put in a really large order!" The tips of Shiemi's ears turned red, a sure sign that she was bluffing.
"From your own garden?" Konekomaru asked suspiciously.
"Um, uh," Shiemi floundered.
Suguro's expression softened. "Okumura Rin. How is he?"
Shiemi broke.
"Rin…Rin…Rin!" She started to wail and Suguro jumped, shocked. What was he to do with a crying girl? Should he give her a hanky? Should he hug her…? Should he…should he…what do people do in this situation anyway?!
In the end, it was Konekomaru who came to his rescue. "Moriyama-san." He said softly as tears started rolling down the blonde's cheeks. "Can you tell us what's wrong? Maybe we can help you."
Izumo snorted from a table over as Bon waved his arms in a futile attempt to get her to shut up for once. "You know it's about the son of Satan. Would you really willingly help him, even for Moriyama Shiemi? Either you hate him too much or you're scared stiff of him."
Shiemi started to bawl even harder with those words. Shima cautiously crept nearer to the desk they were all now gathered around except for Takara, who never really took part in their group endeavors anyway.
Feeling very, very unequipped to handle this situation, they could only wait for Shiemi's sniffles to die away.
Rin would know what to do. He would take the idiot way out and somehow miraculously solve the problem and make Shiemi laugh again.
"Rin…Rin." Shiemi repeated the previously forbidden name like a mantra. "He…He's sick. Rin…Rin couldn't see. He thought I was Yuki-chan."
"He's blind?" Konekomaru tried to wrap his brain around that thought. He had glasses himself, and without it the world would just be blurred blobs of color, but to be deprived of even that color…
Shiemi grew indignant. "I'm telling the truth! Rin couldn't even move!"
"Sick." Izumo repeated. "Sick. He's a half demon. Demons don't get sick."
Suguro grew very, very quiet. "Actually…Okumura does get sick. We were all there, remember?"
Ice.
Shiemi's eyes widened, bit by bit, and Shima put two and two together.
"Unless someone was stupid enough to slip him ice and face risking Okumura-sensei's wrath…" Izumo began.
"Or the idiot forgot about his allergy…" Suguro muttered.
"Okumura was trying to kill himself." Shima finished with completely no tact at all.
"Shima-kun!" Konekomaru hissed, too late.
Shiemi's eyes brimmed with tears again, and she fled out of the classroom.
"Do we go after her?" Shima asked.
"We go after her and check up on that stupid idiot." Bon decided, already taking the first step. "Baka baka baka boku ne…" He muttered the whole way as they trailed after Shiemi, whose tears drifted away in the wind.
They reached the boys' dorm and just barged in without even knocking.
Yukio looked up, startled, nearly dropping the numerous vials of medicine he was carrying upstairs to Rin.
"Yuki-chan!" Shiemi stopped dead in her tracks.
Yukio was caught off guard, and he let it show. Izumo didn't expect that. Yukio would never be caught off guard, as an Exorcist. Besides, they'd made enough of a ruckus, what with Shiemi's breath still hitching, Shima's loud footsteps, Suguro's curses, Konekomaru's prayer beads clacking together as he moved and her own pigtails swishing through the air.
Even if he was caught off guard, one of the first rules you learn in the Exorcism world is you don't show your weaknesses. Demons target weaknesses in the soul, or in the body. To wear your heart on the sleeve like they thought Rin did would be suicide. That's why most of the Exorcists learn to hide their emotions or put on a false façade. Shura-sensei was using her overly-exposed body to divert the attention of others. Izumo was pretty sure that Arthur Auguste Angel's confident demeanor was just something else to throw people off guard.
So when Okumura Yukio actually yelped and nearly fell over trying to save the vials from cracking on the steps, Kamiki Izumo knew that something was very wrong. And for once, she actually took Moriyama Shiemi at her word, and that was saying something. Kamiki Izumo did not trust lightly. Not after the Illuminanti.
"What are you doing here?" Yukio recovered his senses fast.
"I, uh," Shiemi stuttered. "I've come to see Rin!"
Yukio raised an eyebrow. "Rin? Didn't you just come yesterday?"
"Yesterday?" Konekomaru questioned, a bit worried. "Sensei, today is Monday. Moriyama-san came last Saturday, after cram school."
"It's Monday already?" Yukio mumbled to himself. Then he realized that his students were still present, and straightened, trying to look as dignified as one could while holding a box of vials contained with expensive medicine for his sick brother upstairs who probably tried to commit suicide and doesn't want anyone to know about it, said anyone currently surrounding him, imploring to answer their questions.
"Nii-san isn't home yet. He's probably still training with Shura-san." Yukio lied smoothly and quickly. He would have gotten away with it if Shura hadn't burst in the dorm at the moment, furious.
"OI! Yukio! Where's the idiot? I gave him two days rehabilitation rest for his foot to heal completely-A knight without a good foot isn't going to be of much use if he can't dodge or keep his balance-and the third and fourth day I was on that stupid mission with you! Then he skips class for half a week and I thought that maybe he was just learning how to cope with his friends all tossing him aside like trash and that I can understand but honestly, where did he even find the guts to skip for an entire week?! Drag the brat out! I'm going to kick his sorry ass and-" Shura paused mid rant as she banged through the doors of the kitchen.
"Whoops."
Shura had already seen their discarded shoes at the threshold. She stopped, knowing that her yelling earlier would easily have been heard by them. Goddamnit, what were they doing here?
Suguro quietly stared Yukio down. "I repeat Shura-sensei's question for both her and us. Where is Okumura Rin?" Yukio started to reach for his gun with his free hand. Suguro realized how that must have sounded, coupled with his murderous expression. He tried for a softer tone. "Is Okumura okay?"
Yukio's eyes flashed and he actually grabbed his gun. "Is Rin okay, you ask? You ask if he's okay?" His voice rose to a scream, and Shura's eyes widened. She had never seen Yukio truly mad like this before. Pissed off, maybe. Disappointed, annoyed, all of these she had successfully drawn out of him before. But this was a whole new level of Okumura Yukio that you didn't want to see, and if you did you might not just come out alive.
Everyone sensed the waves of anger and danger rolling off their young teacher and was wise enough to back away a little, giving the steaming fifteen-year old some space. All except Shiemi, it seemed.
"Yuki-chan!" She persisted as Izumo mentally called her an idiot for the thousandth time. "Please, we need to see Rin! We know Rin isn't okay, and-"
Yukio started up the stairs. "If you care so much," he asked furiously, heaving breaths. "Then why did you hurt him? You gave him looks of hatred, now he's blind; you told him words he didn't want to hear-couldn't hear, nii-san's always been so stupid and sensitive-and now he's deaf. You looked like you wanted to break every bone in his body, he did it for you. You want him to die, he's dying already! So why can't you just leave. Him. Alone?!" Yukio was shaking as he reached the second floor of the dorm. Spots of tears dotted the floor, like tiny flowers of sadness had bloomed right there.
"He's the only family I have left!" Yukio screamed at them, shaking so hard that the vials clanked against each other. "And you-him-idiots! All of you!"
Yukio fled into Rin's room and shut the door.
For a long time, no one spoke. Heavy sobs echoed through the dorm.
Then one sentence.
"Yukio? Are you…are you okay?"
"Nii-san!" They could hear Yukio's excitement and worry in his voice.
Shura kicked open the door, nearly knocking Yukio flat on his back, shaking her fist at Rin, who was just trying to sit up despite the many tubes dragging him down.
"YOU STUPID IDIOT!" She cursed, giving him a slap on the head, enough to send him reeling back into his sheets again. Rin frowned, pulling a face.
"Shura? Is…is that you? How…"
Shura's eyebrows furrowed. "Is this me? Idiot, of course this is Kirigaruke Shura at your service. What, you misplaced your eyes in the back of your head?"
Yukio elbowed Shura out of the way, glasses flashing dangerously. "Out. You will not be disturbing nii-san's rest. I will tend to him and you will stay outside without making puns that are not funny in the slightest."
By that time Shiemi had already managed to squirm into the room, Shima following after, then Bon, then Konekomaru. Izumo stayed outside, tiny brows furrowed in a deep line as she watched Rin grope around for his brother. Yukio discreetly placed his hand on Rin's arm, reassuring and placating him.
"Rin!" Shiemi dashed forward, and Rin smiled uncertainly in her general direction. "Are you okay? I've got herbs…they're all at home now though, but I have herbal cookies…do you want them right now?"
Rin nodded slightly, hair flopping over his eyes. He made no move to brush it away. "Yeah…thanks."
"…Rin?" Shiemi reached for him but Rin instinctively flinched away. Shiemi drew back, hurt.
Suguro moved closer, emitting a growling sound deep in his throat. Rin backed away further, hunching and wrapping his arms around himself. "Bo-Bon? I'm sorry…I really am…"
"You should be sorry, you dumb monkey!" Suguro roared, rattling the IVs. "What were you thinking? Ice? Really? You made us worry! You should be more careful! You even made Shiemi cry!"
Rin was starting to cry too, soft, hitching sobs of his own. "I'm sorry…I'm sorry…I only wanted to make them go away…"
Yukio sighed, pushing up his glasses, having finally unceremoniously kicked Shura out from the room. It scraped at his heart, his invincible, cheerful nii-san who was always so confident and happy and just plain unbreakable was crying softly, with heartbreaking sniffles. Tears trickled out from his unseeing eyes.
"Make what go away?" Shima asked, causing Rin to stiffen more. So they were all here?
"The…the flames." Rin mumbled.
Everyone was quiet for a second, a second too long, enough for Rin to start thinking that they'd all left because that wasn't enough, he needed to do more, he should try harder-
Then…
"A-Ano-Group hug!" Shiemi said, then enforced it by dragging everyone-Yukio, Konekomaru, Suguro, Shima (who was almost fainting with joy), Izumo and of course Rin into an awkward group hug on Rin's bed.
Shiemi had her head on Rin's shoulder, his tears dripping onto her hair and then she was crying too, one hand carding through Rin's hair and the other wiping Yukio's tears for him, in a tangle of arms, legs, tears and tubes and Rin was still crying and he got louder and louder and Shiemi guessed that it was good because that meant Rin was healing and she was still angry at him but not so much anymore because it seemed like Rin was angrier at himself than Shiemi was at him and that only made Shiemi cry more because she hadn't seen that he was a son of Satan and she hadn't seen how sad Rin was. And Yukio was sad too-both of them were sad and Shiemi was stupid-baka baka baka-for not seeing it sooner and that she couldn't help because that was what friends did. But as Yukio and Rin started their full out bawling-Rin's being quieter and more strained because he was still weak and Yukio's coming in loud, short bursts because he would have short moments of clarity-Shiemi started laughing as well because they had moved beyond the boundary of normal friends and were crying openly in front of each other and that had to mean being very special friends, right?
Yukio smiled. He should be protesting, that Rin was already over exerting himself and that he was still blind and that his nii-san needed rest, but…what Rin needed most was being offered to him right now and Yukio was not going to deny him that.
Head pressed against Suguro's chin, arms squashed between her own body and Shima's, Rin's feverishly hot body squished against her face, legs folded in an awkward position because one of the objects of their hug was still in bed and they had to be careful to avoid jostling the tubes or Rin too much, Izumo sighed.
She should feel annoyed. That stupid Moriyama Shiemi, always dragging her into situations like this.
But instead, she felt happy. And contented and silly and light, like when she had Tsukomo.
She had found a new family after all.
Yukio closed the door quietly behind them.
Shura waited, hands on knees. "Well?" She demanded. "What happened? Why didn't you tell us?"
The Exwires were staring at him too, waiting for an answer. Shiemi was still looking at the door to Rin's room, where Rin was now under a heavy dose of sleeping drugs. Konekomaru was looking determinedly at Yukio's boots, Shima at Izumo, Izumo's head turned pointedly in the opposite direction, and Bon's eyes drilling holes into Yukio's own eyes. Not to mention that Shura's interrogating mode was turned on.
He sighed. "Nii-san…refuses to explain. And I will not push him any further now, and neither will you. I did not inform you of nii-san's possibly self-inflicted sickness and injuries because he didn't want me to, and for once, I think that nii-san actually used his brain and knew that tons of questions would be forthcoming from you. Now. If you will excuse me I have a mission to attend to."
"A mission." Izumo scoffed. "You aren't even trying. We know you wouldn't leave your brother alone like that, you're way too protective of him to do so. My guess is you're trying to hide from our questions."
Yukio sighed, frustrated. "I'm not the one hiding! I'm just respecting what nii-san wants! You want the story? I came home from that mission with Shura to find nii-san shivering in bed, blue, with massive organ failure and face covered with blood and limbs twisted the wrong angles. I had to give him emergency CPR, rush to rent the equipment and invent an excuse for it, and not leave nii-san alone for too long. And he's been getting worse until the day I had no choice but to leave him alone and go to the pharmacy for more medicine!"
The day Shiemi made her visit to Rin. They abruptly recalled.
"And now, now, he's getting better, he doesn't need all those machines, and he can hear again, but his eyes-he still can't see! At least you've proved that he has no problem crying…but blind…"
Blind.
Of course, of course they should have noticed sooner, how Rin's eyes were always closed, how he left his bangs long enough to hide his eyes from sight because he was blind. But they just couldn't comprehend it. Rin, Okumura Rin, son of Satan, dear friend/nemesis to all, blind.
This is unacceptable. How do you imagine someone suddenly go blind? All brightness and fire (blue flames, the kind they once shunned him for) and all of a sudden just blind. Darkness.
Rin knocking over chairs when he tries to enter the classroom.
Rin tripping over every little stone.
Rin being unable to cook anymore.
No one being able to tell whether Rin was nodding off in class.
No more life in those azure blue eyes.
"Sensei." Izumo spoke. "If my deductions are correct, Okumura-kun is suffering blindness because of damage to his optic nerve during the fever."
Yukio nodded in confirmation. "The other parts of his eyes are healthy, so maybe…"
Izumo frowned. "Is it damaged beyond repair?"
Yukio shrugged. "I am not a specialist in this, and I was planning to take him to see a specialist as soon as he is strong enough, but since his auditory nerve was damaged and it healed too, I presume that it can be healed. However, since it has shown no signs of healing, I simply assumed that nii-san's eyesight would be permanently affected. A permanent reminder for him to never touch ice again."
Shiemi narrowed her eyes. Konekomaru spoke up. "I-I'm sorry to interrupt, but allow me to offer my hypothesis. Okumura-kun has accelerated healing abilities because of his demon side, yes?"
"True." Yukio confirmed, starting to come to the same conclusion three of his students already have.
"Therefore, what would happen if we unlock his blue flames and let them do the healing?" Suguro suggested.
Yukio hesitated. "Nii-san wouldn't want that."
"Why?" Shura interjected.
"From my observations…" Yukio cast a cautious glance around the room. "It appears that nii-san has made the connection between his flames and his ice allergy, and somehow made the stupid leap of logic that he would be able to exterminate his blue flames by gulping down tons of ice. As if Satan's power could be exorcised like that." Yukio let out a bitter laugh. Shima imagined forcing ice down the throat of someone who has been possessed by Satan. "Therefore, letting him see his blue flames right now might not be the best idea…"
Shima twisted his staff in his hands. "Um…not to be self-centered, but is Rin trying to kill himself because of us?" He asked bluntly. "If that's so, we can always just go with you when you unseal the sword and we get another group hug, preferably this time with my head nearer Izumo-chan dearest~"
Izumo blushed red and smacked Shima. The rest of them were nodding though.
"I will stay!" Shiemi declared, not unlike the night they first found out about Rin's allergy.
A glance at the rest of the group told them all that no one would be excluded from this important event.
Well, all except Shura, that is.
"Well~I wouldn't want to ruin your little party with a teacher around~Though it seems that moley four eyes here would turn this into a lesson as soon as he can. Enjoy yourselves~" Shura turned and left, ponytail swinging behind her.
("Shiro, I know that the little monkey you entrusted to Mephisto, of all people, and me must have you turning in your grave. But you don't have to worry anymore. I think that it's time for you to hand over the worrying. Moley four eyes is doing enough of that already, and Rin has made friends. It seemed like they would abandon him at first, but maybe they just needed time to sort everything out. They will do their best to give Rin a happy life."
Shura looks at the blossoms sprouting around Shiro's grave. Tiny periwinkles. How appropriate.
"And…I guess that this may be a little too late, but your funeral was quite a little event…no one even heard of it. Blame yourself for leaving so little money. And maybe I just needed some time to sort my own feelings out. So…rest in peace. Chicken.")
Blue flames flickered around Rin and he slowly opened his eyes, hoping and yet not daring to hope.
Brilliant yellow. Rin almost wept with relief as his vision sharpened and focused when he saw the top of Shiemi's head, her arms wrapped around his middle. Suguro had a hand on Rin's arm, so did Shima, Konekomaru, Izumo and Yukio. The physical contact between his blue flames and his friends made Rin feel just a tiny bit better. Then a warm feeling started to spread. From his heart, then to his entire body.
"Thank you." Rin whispered. "Thank you."
And Shima started to shudder as he claimed that the situation was a little too cheesy for him and was Rin okay now?
Suguro started testing Rin's vision with a textbook. Shiemi had brought over two weeks' worth of herbs that were good for the eyes and filled with Vitamin A. Konekomaru brought carrots. Carrots.
Izumo left the room when Rin's vision was confirmed to be healthy and perfect. Later, no one would claim the mysterious yellow plushie in the living room with big eyes, a ribbon on its head, and the message get well soon.
(Strangely, the strange ice allergy disappeared on the day his friends accepted him as a son of Satan)
"…NII-SAN!"
Rin stopped halfway in the motion of drinking his Coke. "Waa?" The drink gurgled in his mouth for a moment before he swallowed it and managed to speak more clearly. "What?"
Yukio's glasses flashed dangerously. "Ice, nii-san, ice."
Rin froze. "Um, oh no?"
"Oh no sounds just about right." Yukio started to drag Rin back to the dorm. "Let me get a thermometer in you and you! Cancel all your plans for the evening!"
"…"
"…"
"I'm bored."
"You do not go to cram school until the danger is confirmed to be past." Yukio didn't look up from the paper he was marking. "Read a textbook or something."
"Urghh." Rin whined. "It's been a day and a half and I feel perfectly okay! Honestly, Yukio."
"Meow." Kuro sympathized with Rin.
Riippp.
"Nii-san, that'd better not be what I think it was."
"…sorry…"
"You did not just rip a page out of my Jump manga."
"…sorry…"
Sigh.
"Go to cram school, nii-san."
"…YES!"
