Chapter Two
This is your second chapter, everyone! Feel free suggest more! Even if its unrelated to this story, please do suggest! I only have two more requests to work on…running out of writing material…
"Whoa…" Rin marveled at the gigantic structure of boiling and roiling boils before them as subtle bolts of pain shot through his leg. Suguro wasn't faring any better either. Their trek through the jungle had lowered his stamina even more, and he was taking quick, shallow breaths. Rin's wound seemed to be getting worse, but without Shiemi around he couldn't say for sure. It hurt worse, that he could confirm.
"It's slowly turning into a building!" Rin would have bounced a little had his leg not been killing him.
"Buildings." Suguro corrected, tired and mildly annoyed. "If we don't hurry up…things are going to go bad."
They turned their gaze back to the massive monster towering over them. "How do we even get in anyway?" Suguro despaired.
A branch cracked. Rin nearly fell over as he spun.
Rin! The small black 'Neko' stepped out from the bushes, a wild eyed look on its face.
"Kuro!" Rin yelled, happy to have his familiar back. Shiro's last legacy on Earth after the twins.
Rin! You have to escape quickly! Kuro yowled, waving its paws around. The mountain god is a terrifying monster and it smells terrible! You have to get out now!
"Huh?" Said Suguro and Rin, Suguro out of confusion and Rin out of defiance. Rin continued to address Kuro. "Do you mean the Impure King? I know, but we can't just run away. If we're going to defeat that thing, we have to get up there."
Kuro's sharp sense of smell noted the tinge of iron around Rin, even if the offending wound was hidden behind a bush at the moment. What-this is absurd! You two aren't a match for it! Rin, you're bleeding! How are you going to defeat it like that?
One could practically see the question marks floating around Suguro as Rin continued his one-sided conversation with Kuro (at least it seemed so to the rooster-headed teen). "But if no one's doing it, things are going to get really bad. More people will die."
Kuro had a really constipated look on its face for a moment. Rin was all he had left of Shiro now, and he loved Rin in his own right, not just because of Shiro. Kuro would always miss Shiro's silver vine sake, but Rin was sukiyaki, new and delicious. Kuro loved both the sake and the sukiyaki, and he'd already lost the sake. He wasn't going to let Rin die too.
Stupid Rin! Kuro growled, turning full size. Dangerous, dangerous, dangerous! Didn't Shiro teach you properly?! Well, at least I'm taking you there!
Suguro's eyes popped out of his head as Rin scrambled onto Kuro's back cheerfully. "Kuro, you're amazing! Suguro, get up here!"
"…EH?" He was going to ride it?!
A few minutes later.
"GYAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHA!"
Rin was shrieking with excitement while Suguro was holding on for dear life and praying that one, he wouldn't fall off and two, that girly voice screaming in fear wasn't his. Sadly, only the first was granted.
"I'm gonna dieeeeeee!" He shrieked.
"Heehee…" Rin was going to have so much fun with that blackmail material later.
Kuro's momentum in the air started to fade, and as he landed to bounce off again, miasma nearly managed to latch onto the cat god's feet. Kuro twisted away from it, disgusted and fearful. It comes after me whenever my feet touch down! It looks like buildings, but it's really the mountain god!
Karura was grim, analyzing the situation before them. With this…there won't be anywhere to start with the drawing of the Earth's power. Without the Earth Mother to sustain you, you would waste away within seconds.
"Forget that, I won't even have the time to chant the kekkai spell properly!" Suguro growled, his fear of falling off momentarily forgotten in the light of the situation.
"Kuro!" Rin called into the gigantic ear in front of him. "Is there anywhere close to the sporangium that you can step on?"
I'll look!
Suguro was starting to lose confidence as he watched Rin and Kuro check out possible spots, then narrowly escape to repeat it again. He'd only heard the kekkai spell once, what if he got it wrong? What if he'd led his already injured friend and his familiar into this hell for nothing? Best case scenario, even if he did manage to contain it, how would they get rid of something like that?
Rin glanced at the sporangium, then paused.
"What?" Suguro noted his friend's unusual behavior.
"Whoa…that really looks like a gigantic meat bun…I haven't eaten since yesterday's lunch…" Rin was starting to drool. Suguro sweat dropped. "You really can act normal no matter what, can't you?" He looked down. "I'm terrified."
"It's not my fault you lost at rock, paper, scissors when we were deciding who was to ride shotgun!" Rin retorted, though he could swear that Suguro purposely lost so that Rin could have the safer seat-that way, he would have better balance even if his leg troubled him.
"That's not what I meant, idiot!" Suguro would have face palmed if he had not been clinging to Kuro's back for dear life. Time to get serious and quit playing around. "If you can't draw your sword…then you're just a really strong guy with a stick! Aren't you even just a little bit scared?"
"…" Rin turned away from Suguro just as Kuro spotted a rock. Hold on tight! Rough landing, incoming! This is the only place where the mountain god's fingers haven't touched!
"Okay! Let's settle this right here!" Rin whispered more thanks into Kuro's ear while Suguro slid off, a little dizzy and glad to be off the air for a while.
Suguro glanced at the surging miasma around them. "Hey…you're not going to give in again, are you?"
Rin started, then smiled slightly. "No way. Not now." He took Suguro's offered hand and cautiously dismounted too. "And you! Don't be scared or piss your pants either!" He ignored Suguro's protests. "Right now…everyone is doing what they can do." Yukio, firing his guns into the miasma, brain whirring at a speed that most people couldn't follow. Shura, bossing people around as she had her own familiars chipping away at the wall of miasma. Shiemi and Izumo, trying to get Tatsuma back to safety. Shima and Konekomaru, headed towards the main force with precious intelligence. "So we're gonna do what we can too! So…just focus on your barrier building…" Rin flashed a cheeky smile and Suguro, who was about to marvel at the pep talk that actually made sense when Rin finished his sentence. "…Princess Suguro."
"What?! Who are you calling Princess? I'll beat the shit out of you!" Suguro roared.
"Well…you were the one whimpering! I don't like being the knight of a rough-looking princess either, you know." Rin shrugged, smirking evilly. Suguro was speechless, for once. As Rin hobbled away, he regained his senses and roared after the other teen. "Damn it all, I'll do it! No matter what you say! Just keep your eyes peeled and see!"
Keep your eyes peeled, huh. So that was the right expression, then? Rin smiled inwardly, remembering his father on the day he left for that interview, tying his tie for him. Clear as morning dew, fresh as green grass. The face of his father smiling was etched into his mind. He wouldn't forget. Shiro's voice rang out once more. If you're an adult, prove it to me then!
"Alright! I'm counting on you!"
Suguro felt a little relieved-at least his friend was back to normal, joking around like the world wasn't about to end for the two of them. If he could act like that, they must have a decent chance of making it out alive.
"We're gonna beat this thing, Suguro!" Rin had mounted Kuro again, turning to face the Impure King, towering above them with spires and turrets.
Then he noticed that Rin's hands were trembling.
"Let's go, Kuro, my trusty steed!" Rin whooped as they charged into the fray, almost doubling over in pain when he was flung off Kuro's back. Kuro wasn't going to let the 'steed' comment go just like that though, and growled back at Rin, who laughed in return as he batted away the long fingers of miasma that tried to claim the rock Suguro was using as a base.
This guy…I know he's not just an idiot. Suguro knelt down, getting into chanting stance. I know that! He started to chant. But I…
I…
Yukio hesitated, feeling something stir at the bottom of his mind.
You hate your brother, don't you?
The poised gun started to shake.
Ever since I was little…
That dog. Oh, that dog. Yukio had forgotten it. It was before his training to become an Exorcist started. Rin'd found an abandoned dog and brought it home, stubbornly insisting on keeping it. Fujimoto had relented after a few half hearted attempts to change Rin's mind, which, as all of them knew, was as firm and unmovable as a mountain.
They'd played with it, fed it. Even though Yukio wasn't the one to push for the dog's stay with them, he was the one that prayed desperately that Shiro would see just how essential that dog was and let them keep it.
But then one day…
"Nice dog you have there." The woman smiled, patting its head. She was a foreign tourist, coming to their town to visit a relative. She frowned, looking at the hyperactive Rin and Yukio hiding behind Fujimoto's cassock and the church's empty pews. The empty offering bags on the altar. "I was wondering…do you need me to take it off your hands?"
Rin stopped bouncing, glancing quizzically at them.
Fujimoto considered this. "Yukio, can you take Rin to your room? I believe you have homework to do."
Yukio, of course, had completed it but Rin obviously hadn't, a look of shock and horror showing on his face. "But, daddy!"
Yukio, the poster child, the obedient son, led Rin away, the dog yapping after them but choosing to sniff the lady's feet and lick her hand.
It was then when he knew they'd lost the dog.
When they took the dog away, which they'd just named Dog, Yukio was sobbing so hard that he had to sit down on the church's steps. Fujimoto was looking a little guilty for making his sons go through this, but he was really tight on money.
But when Yukio looked up, Rin was waving goodbye to the dog cheerily, calling for it to visit whenever it can.
"Big beds and creamy milk!" He yelled, forgetting that the dog didn't drink milk.
I'd always looked up to my brother.
Yukio scowled, firing a few more shots as Toudou somersaulted out of the way, showing off as he dodged the bullets that were meant for the ground rather than him.
But…
As they'd grown, Yukio had started his Exorcist training. He though that meant that it was his time to start protecting his brother. But still, it was still Rin who beat up the bullies who still picked on Yukio. Shame and a feeling of worthlessness came over Yukio, and he batted Rin's hand away. Hurt, Rin yelled at him, and it evolved into them fighting. Yukio always won. It was a battle of words, not fists, and Rin would never lay a hand on him.
While I looked up to him, at the same time I've actually…
But Rin always managed to forgive and forget. It came so naturally to him that he wondered whether the boy they called the 'Demon's child' was another person instead of his brother.
Always…
Unseen signs of affection, misdirected thanks…
And his brother, giggling at a manga.
Always...!
He met Shiemi first. He liked to think that he was the one whom Shiemi made exceptions for, who was the first person her age to actually talk to her and give her lessons.
But then there was Rin. Yanking her by the collar and somehow, in that brash way of his, handled the delicate matter of her relationship with her mother with such a straightforward way that it was almost laughable. He drew Shiemi out of her shell, made her come to cram school, and finally turned her into the laughing girl in front of the fountain with her friends.
Always found it hard to accept…
Yukio's eyes were squinted with the effort as he finally understood.
That he both loved and hated Okumura Rin.
Suguro was halfway through the chant, sweat beading as miasma roared and surged at the tiny island that was yet to be covered in miasma, held back by a cat and an injured boy with a stick.
Both him and my old man, always trying to look cool and aloof and do everything on their own…
His chant didn't falter one bit as more miasma lunged for him and was beaten back by Rin.
And that,
"Utarata," he chanted, preparing for the final stance that joined his body with the Earth, using himself as a conduct and director of Earth's power.
Has always pissed me off!
"KANMAN!" He roared, pressing his fingers down to the ground, beads clattering around him.
For one terrifying second, nothing happened. Maybe he got the chant wrong. Maybe something was wrong in his pose. Maybe his father forgot something else.
He saw Rin, the scar snaking up his arm like a worm jerking and flashing about as the muscles of his hand rippled as he struggled to protect Suguro from the miasma he had led them into. Kuro, providing support for Rin subtly whenever necessary.
Then Karura lifted from his back. Suguro Ryuji. He said, spreading out his wings. I hear and acknowledge your Barrier Spell.
A thin haze of shimmering vapor spread over the miasma, enveloping it, flickering with the occasional red tongue of flame. Suguro had channeled the energy of the oldest and most primal god on Assiah existing and with Karura's help, turned it into a fire element barrier that burned anything harmful that tried to get out from within it.
A strange silence fell, almost peaceful, even as the Impure King roared and shook with rage.
He'd done it.
"Whoa, Suguro, that's so cool!" Rin paused for a moment, shading his eyes and pushing his bangs out of the way to admire the hypnotic, warm bubble they were in. Miasma licked at his feet and he kicked it away. Kuro meowed in awe too.
Suguro looked around him. His gaze couldn't stretch that far, beyond the barrier, but beyond it, he imagined that he could see his mother, his father, the rest of his friends, safe.
Yukio lowered his gun, exhausted but triumphant. Toudou misread his little smile though.
"Oh, what's the matter? Is our little boy tired already?" Toudou jeered, but when Yukio lifted his head with a confident look in his eyes, Toudou faltered. Following Yukio's line of sight, he noticed the various marks and furrows drawn in the ground by Yukio's bullets that were constantly missing…then noticing that it formed an array of seals around him. Yukio started to chant, and light shone from them. Sudden fatigue overtook Toudou and he realized what the young Exorcist was doing. Despite not having the Tamer Meister, he had realized the need to fight Toudou with the opposing element.
Yukio…at least, be true to yourself.
It was time to speak it out for the world to hear. "I both love and hate my brother! But most of all…I hated my weak, younger self." The one who had depended so much on his nii-san. Useless brat, always getting nii-san into trouble. "The one I really hate the most…is myself!"
With this final admission, the Naiads acknowledged Yukio's will as dominant and created a shimmering water prison, suspending Toudou far above the ground and drowning him.
Toudou started to choke a little as Yukio crouched, trying to regain his breath. He never thought that his first try at summoning would be in such a dire situation, and taxing him of so much energy.
Then Toudou started to clap instead as the prison started to turn into steam and he slowly descended. Yukio looked up in alarm. "Impressive! To summon this many Naiads without having obtained the title of Tamer…You did well! An Exorcist protégée indeed! But you're still a novice…" He lunged at Yukio, flinging him far backwards, toppling against the ground and catching him in a chokehold. Yukio was completely powerless, being tossed around like rag doll. His glasses flew off. "So I have your answer…really, you're more interesting than I could have ever imagined. A pity, really…for you will die here now. Now…how long will it take to reduce a single human to ash? I need to get the timing just right…it's my first time too, after all. I can't be blamed if you aren't killed on the first try."
Yukio froze up in fear, his instincts reducing to his most primal, his automatic, dependable fallback. A habit built up after years of facing the wild, thrashing animal they called fear, Yukio's subconscious had learnt that usually just saying that word would drive off any immediate danger.
Nii-san!
Rin stopped cold.
Nii-san!
A tearful little Yukio, reaching out to Rin with fat little arms, screaming about unseen monsters as his brother's equally pudgy arms beat down the bullies.
Nii-san!
A defiant Yukio, trying and failing to stand his ground as fists stronger than him pummeled him, raining blow after blow as Rin rushed to his rescue.
Nii-san!
A sharply inhaled breath as Yukio ran to Rin, then froze up as he saw Fujimoto Shiro's bleeding body.
Nii-san!
"Yu…kio?" Rin, momentarily distracted, nearly lost his sword had it not been for the hastily shouted warning by Ryuji. He could have sworn that he heard Yukio's voice, clear as day, ringing in his head like warning bells. Yukio was in danger. Rin couldn't go to him now, but he needed to help his little brother, somehow. Whatever it took.
Rin darted from one miasma wave to another, beating them back the best he could while desperately trying to see beyond the city of the Impure King. While he possessed enhanced sight and hearing, the Miasma King stretched too far, so far that Rin could barely see the edges of it with the majority of his demonic powers locked within his sword. He saw flashes, gunfire and demonic fire alike, but no sign of the telltale flash of glasses. Or maybe Yukio was there, just blocked by something else-
"OKUMURA!" Ryuji roared at him and Rin had to twist into an awkward position to avoid the miasma that crashed down atop him. He cried out because he twisted his ankle when he instinctively tried to shift his weight from his injured leg, and the position that resulted was simply unnatural.
"For heaven's sake, at least look where you're going, won't you?" Ryuji huffed a sigh of irritation when the immediate danger was over. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"Now, now," Rin smirked, hiding a wince. "Don't go around getting your royal panties in a bunch, Princess Suguro. Your manly knight here is just fine."
Ryuji turned bright red. "Enough of this princess crap!" He yelped.
"Kuro?" Rin called, looking around, absent mindedly stomping on a small stream of miasma that tried to curl itself around his leg. Then Kuro burst out of the fray, covered in miasma and gasping for breath. The Impure King must've tried to choke the unfamiliar object within it. It just keeps coming!
Rin nearly jumped out of his skin at the sudden appearance. "Y-Yeah, I guess…"
Ryuji drew in a deep breath and had to abruptly let it out as Rin wasn't concentrating once again. "OKUMURA, behind you!"
Rin turned in time just to block the long, thick fingers of miasma that reached for him with his sword. "Got it!" He grinned, and let blue flames flicker across the scabbard. The miasma dissolved immediately at the slightest touch of the azure flames. His flames could destroy the miasma.
Except he still couldn't draw his sword!
"Damn it…!" Rin cursed under his breath, his thoughts travelling to Yukio in his unknown danger.
NII-SAN!
He's going to kill me. Yukio thought, frighteningly calm as he watch the ball of ruby flames grow closer.
Stop. Rin screamed desperately, knowing that he had no way of getting to Yukio in time. STOP!
Something flickered within Yukio, smoldering, and burst to life. Toudou instinctively cowered before the royal flame and leapt backwards. Yukio shakily sat up, holding his cheek, touching his eyes. His vision had gone blue for a moment, and in that wondrous second, he thought that his brother had somehow managed to hear his call, break out of prison and rush to his rescue, just like old times. But Rin was nowhere to be seen.
"What was that?" Toudou asked, knowing the answers but wanting to needle Yukio. "For a moment there…I was taken aback, moving instinctively. I merely thought you were interesting before, but it seems I may have underestimated you." He smiled, infuriatingly.
"Wha-What do you mean?" Yukio scrabbled backwards as Toudou moved towards him, one slow, steady, evenly spaced step at a time.
"Those are not your eyes."