SPOILERS: THROUGH CH 72. I originally thought the story would diverge after ch 71, but I've decided on after 72 instead. You'll see why (or the beginning of why) in this chapter. More in my A/N at the end of the chapter.

A/N: Finally, I have internet again and can post this!

Believe it or not, this started off as a short, fluffy chapter. And then I had an awful week. You know, the type that makes you want to punch a hole in the wall or curl up under a blanket and never come out? Yeah, so writing this was the bright spot of my week, which made editing and "killing my darlings" rougher than usual. It also grew into something else because I was too stressed to write fluff properly… Let me know if it meanders too much.

You'll also notice that Shura has her dialect back. I had a (probably too) long conversation with SuperiorDimwit about it, and realized I hadn't put it in for rather dumb reasons. One being, I forgot. Sorry. Hope it didn't throw anyone off. I've also edited the first two chapters to reflect the change. Now I'm wondering if I should give the Kyōto trio their Kyōto-ben, but I've never seen it any translations, so...?

"They're not giving up, you know. Just changing tactics."

Shura looked up from the quizzes she was putting away, at the end of the second anti-demon pharmacology class she had somehow gotten suckered into continuing to substitute, to find Shima looking at her expectantly.

She finished stuffing the papers away in the briefcase she was borrowing from Yukio, not caring when she wrinkled some, and straightened up with her hands on her hips. "Let them try."

He blinked at her and then laughed. "Wow! So he did tell you everything! I wasn't sure if he left that part out or not."

Her fingernails dug into the fabric of her shorts as she realized she had walked into a trap, but she kept her face in a well-practiced look of boredom. "Well, he told me. So ya can give up yer little role of messenger between Yukio an' Lucifer an' tell yer Illuminati buddies he's not goin' anywhere as long as I'm around."

"Ah, well…" He rubbed the back of his neck. "I'll let them know, but you really shouldn't underestimate them."

"Oh, don't worry, I'm well aware of how dangerous they are. I'm telling ya not to underestimate me," she said in a low, sharp voice that would have most men shaking in their boots. To his credit, Shima merely laughed nervously.

"Eh? Is something going on?" Rin asked innocently as he joined the two at the front of the classroom. The others had already left for their next class.

"No, I got what I needed." Shima waved goodbye and headed for the door.

"Uh… What's with the glare, Shura?"

She broke her intense stare down with Shima's back. Rin was picking at the inside of his ear, completely oblivious to what he had interrupted. Shura swung Yukio's briefcase over her shoulder so she could lace her fingers in the handle behind her head. The contents rattled around, signifying a complete loss of organization. "He was just seein' where things stand."

"With what?" Rin dug out a piece of earwax and looked at it with more interest than their conversation.

Her eyes narrowed. "Isn't it obvious…?"

"Hm? Oh, was he asking about our final?"

Shura raised an eyebrow. Oh. Yukio hadn't told him. That was… pragmatic, as usual. There's no way Rin could keep himself from acting the same around Shima if he knew. She groaned. If it didn't make so much sense she could be annoyed at Yukio for not telling Rin everything, but of course his logic was perfect. Ugh. The new development suddenly had her questioning if he had told her everything. "An' he calls me annoyin'."

"Huh?" Rin cocked his head to the side in confusion until there was a sudden glint of recognition in his eyes. "Oh! Are you talking about Yukio?"

"Oho? Ya knew just from that? An' here I was actually considerin' helpin' him grade these quizzes. Ferget that," she huffed.

"Is he okay?" Rin asked as if he hadn't heard her griping.

"Rin, ya just saw him last night. Ya know he's fine. Lucky guy is probably sleepin' right now."

"Yeah I guess…" He adjusted his bag on his shoulder. His frown told her he wasn't convinced. "Can I come by again tonight?"

"Shouldn't ya be studyin' or somethin'?" Normally she wouldn't care, but the whole execution-if-Rin-didn't-become-an-exorcist thing was still looming over them. Although Rin was such a carefree guy that Shura sometimes thought he had forgotten about it.

"I'll make dinner," he offered quickly.

"Oh, hell yes, free food will get ya into my apartment any day." She grinned. A bell rang in the distance.

"Ack! I'm going to be late!" Rin yelped and bolted out the door.

Shura snorted and followed at a more leisurely pace. Her mind jumped back to Shima's warning. She wasn't sure what to make of it yet, but she made a mental note to refresh the wards around her apartment.

-oOo-

It had been decided that Yukio would take Shura up on her offer and stay with her for a few days. Even with Rin's forgiveness, he felt they needed some time apart. A part of him still expected Rin to change his mind and to start throwing angry, hateful accusations at Yukio, so some time apart to make sure Rin was certain was important.

There was also the fact that Yukio was still feverish and weak. He didn't want to burden Rin so close to his brother's exorcist exam. Instead, he burdened Shura, who seemed to have no qualms about letting him know what a bother he was. She didn't give him an eviction date though, so he decided to stay until the exams were over.

Rin, as usual, had different ideas. He showed up every other night with bags full of groceries to make dinner. He was appalled by Shura's lack of pots and pans, but still managed to make all of Yukio's favorite dishes without Yukio saying a word. Then he stuck around until Shura kicked him out. Yukio couldn't find it in him to tell Rin not to come. At least it gave him a chance to help Rin study, which let him feel a little less useless in his current state.

Finally, on New Year's, his fever broke, and he was strong enough to move about on his own. He went to the shrine with Shura and Rin, but declined the offer to meet up with Rin's friends later. Instead, he and Shura sat around her apartment reading and playing video games respectively, eating mandarin oranges, and getting into little fights about the irritating things she did.

The next day, was the final for the anti-demon pharmacology class. Normally the exam would have been scheduled for a few weeks before spring break, but it had been pushed up to match the impending exorcist exam. Yukio was as nervous for the final as he had been for the first day of class. It would be the first time he saw them all since Shura had so brazenly revealed his wounds.

Apparently, the exwires were nervous too. That was the only excuse for the ridiculous sight that greeted Yukio and Shura when they arrived at the forest campsite.

Shura sniggered. "Are they really freakin' out over a frost sprite?"

The exwires hadn't noticed their arrival, for they were arguing with each other over the small snowmen attacking their ankles and springing up from the thick blanket of snow as soon as they stamped them down. Frost sprites were mischief makers that typically hid in trees and enjoyed the show as their enchanted snow attacked stragglers in the forest. The trick was to find the sprite before its fun grew into something more dangerous. Unfortunately, the exwires were too consumed with yelling to organize themselves for a search.

"Kyaaa! So cold!"

"It must be nearby! If everyone could please listen-"

"Can't you melt these things with your flames?"

"Oh, yeah!"

"What do you mean 'Oh, yeah?!' That type of thing should be obvious!"

"See? Situations like these is why we need the sword of Michael."

"Shima! Quit talking about a fairy tale and start helping!"

"Sure, sure. Ah! Izumo-chan look out!"

"Get away from me, you pervert!"

"Um… Kamiki-san, I think he was just trying to tackle the snowman behind you…"

"Nyahaha! Where's my phone?" Shura began searching her tiny pockets. "I need ta record this. They've fried their brains from studyin' so much that they've fergotten how ta work in the field!"

"Seems so…" Yukio watched the scene for a long moment. He had already spotted the grinning face of the sprite, but for some reason he found himself hesitating, watching Rin and his friends argue. Shura suddenly smacked him in the back of his head.

"Loosen up, Scaredy!" she said without sparing him a glance from the phone she had finally retrieved from the tattoo on her stomach.

Exasperation dampened his nerves as Yukio drew his gun with his uninjured hand and fired a single shot into the branches of a nearby conifer. Shura's bottom lip jutted out in a pout, knowing her fun was ruined. A second later, the plump, white form of the sprite fell out of the tree in a heap on the ground before it dissolved into the snow around it. The aggressive snowmen froze in place, their icicle fangs still bared.

The group instantly silenced and whirled around to see their teachers. Yukio holstered his gun with a sigh. He had been debating all day on what to tell them, yet, now that the moment was here, he still hadn't decided. He stepped forward and forced himself to look in their eyes. "Good evening, everyone. Sorry for my absence from your extra lessons the past few days— Ghk!"

He was saved by Shura leaning on him with most of her weight, forcing him into a semi-bow. "Nyaho!" she greeted. "I hope yer all ready ta show Yukio how much I taught ya the past few days. Make me proud!"

Yukio slipped out from under her arm and gave her a blank look. "What you taught them? That doesn't fill me with confidence."

"Aw, c'mon. I've treated ya... What? Four times in yer life? And yer still alive and kicking today."

"Yet, now that you mention it, I realize all four times I came out of it with a fever." (1)

"Hn? That's not my fault! …This time."

"Exactly. There's no reason a sprained ankle should lead to a fever."

She stuck her tongue out at him. "That's just because my methods are better than usual. It gets the job done quicker."

"At the cost of the patient's health."

"Temporary health," she corrected.

"Should we just come back or something?" Kamiki muttered.

Yukio and Shura stopped bickering and turned back to the exwires. He was loath to admit it, but Shura had managed to relieve the tension in the air. He reached into his pocket and retrieved seven slips of paper. He handed them to Suguro who was closest and instructed Suguro to pass them out in a random order. "Each paper contains a different description of a patient's symptoms. Your job is to diagnose and then prepare a cure for the patient's ailment." He checked his watch. "You have until 2200 hours to finish this task. Every minute after will reduce your score by a respective amount of points."

"Um!" Shiemi raised her hand. "Can we gather our materials from any source?"

They had met in the forest for a reason. The obvious implication was that all the ingredients for their cures could be found in the woods, although it was past sundown so the exwires would have to deal with lesser demons during the collection stage. Shiemi, obviously, hoped to use Nii-chan instead of venturing into the forest.

"Of course. Use any means within your abilities that you deem necessary." He looked around the group and smiled at the determined faces. "If you can pass this test with above a 90, I have confidence you can earn the title of Meister in the doctor class."

"All right! Ya heard the guy! Ya've only got three hours. Get to it!" Shura clapped her hands together and the exwires all tore open their papers to read the symptoms in the firelight. Yukio and Shura moved to sit on one of the logs set up around the fire as all the exwires except Shiemi and Rin dispersed. Shiemi sat down and began to talk to Nii-chan. Rin was still glaring at his paper as if it had insulted him.

"Ya okay there, Rin?" Shura asked, grinning shamelessly.

He glanced up at them, and Yukio was relieved to find that it was still easy to meet his eyes. He knew it was silly to wait for Rin to suddenly reject him, and every time he saw Rin's sure gaze he felt bad for doubting his brother.

"I just don't see why I have to do this. I'm gonna be a knight, not a doctor," Rin whined. "As long as you're around, Yukio, I won't have to worry about this stuff."

"You need it to pass the class," Yukio snorted although the sentiment of Rin wanting to keep him around somehow made the winter air feel a little less frigid. "Just do your best Nii-san. If you get over a 56, you'll scrape by and won't have to retake the course."

"Retake?!" Rin cried. "Ah! Okay, okay! I'll do it." He turned to go before looking over his shoulder at Yukio. "You feeling better? You got really tired yesterday."

"I'm fine. I just need to build up my endurance again." He nodded encouragingly at Rin. "I'll be back to normal by the time of the exorcist exam." In truth, that was overly optimistic, but he couldn't afford to take any more time off.

"Ugh, I have ta put up with ya for that long?" Shura threw her head back and groaned in exaggerated misery. Yukio rolled his eyes.

Rin gave a tremendous grin. "Good! I'm glad!" He looked back at the paper in his hand. "Okay! I'm gonna kick this test's ass!" And with that declaration he sprinted into the woods, crunching loudly through the snow as he went.

They sat in silence, listening to the fire crackle. Shura popped open a can of beer and began to gulp it down happily. Shiemi summoned her materials and was fast at work grinding up leaves in an apothecary bowl. Yukio let his mind wander as he stared into the fire. He felt lighter and more peaceful than he had in months. There was still a lot he didn't know. A lot that he needed to sort out and try to understand, but somehow, despite new obstacles, the task seemed less daunting now.

The experiments would have to stop. Rin would be watching him like a hawk now, and he couldn't stand to see that look Rin had had when he had learned the truth ever again. He swallowed hard at the thought, and the bruise on his neck ached. That was the other reason he couldn't continue. Shura would kill him.

The next step in his experiment couldn't be done easily anyway. He had faced low and mid leveled demons. Logically a high level demon would come next, but they were fairly rare occurrences outside of summoning and even if he did encounter one it would likely be on a mission with several other exorcists around. The only other option to continue with would be to tempt death without a demon present. He could return to the roof…

He shivered at the thought. Shura shot him a look, her eyebrow arched, but he shook his head and pretended it was just the cold. No. He couldn't go back there, and he couldn't continue. He would have to find answers another way.

Shiemi got up a while later and approached him, bowl in hand. "Um, Yuki-chan, I finished."

He smiled up at her and accepted the bowl. "All right, let's hear your diagnosis and what you've created here."

Shiemi gave her report. She was correct in her diagnosis of a ghoul bite and her cure was flawless. Yukio was not surprised at all. "Excellent work, Shiemi-san. I couldn't have done it better myself."

"Really?" She took back her bowl and bowed. "Thank you so much! I'm sure I'll earn the Meister title because of you, Yuki-chan."

"You're the one who put in all the work. You should be proud of yourself."

Even in the firelight he could see her cheeks flare red. She shuffled her feet a bit, like she was considering going back to her seat but remained in front of him. "Um… Yuki-chan…" She bit her lip for a moment before finally speaking. "Um… Rin told us not to bother you about how you got your injuries. And… And I'm not going to!" She clasped her hands tight around her bowl and held it to her chest. "But I just wanted to ask… Are you all right?"

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Shura waggling her eyebrows at him. He fought down the childish urge to kick her in the shin. Instead, he looked at Shiemi. "I'm fine. It's just like I told Ani. I'm sure I'll be back to full strength soon."

Shiemi nodded and her tight posture relaxed a little. "Thank goodness! Oh, and I'm not asking for any details, but please let me know if there's anything I can do to help your situation."

Yukio was surprised into silence at the way she puffed herself up in determination. He nodded. She was too kind and good to get mixed up in his problems though.

"Okay. That's all I wanted to say. I'm really glad to see you again," she finished just as Suguro and Miwa returned to the campsite to begin prepping their collected ingredients.

"Ah! You finished already? Just as expected of Moriyama-san!" Miwa said cheerfully from between thick green leaves.

He and Suguro quickly got to work, and soon the rest of the exwires arrived one by one with their ingredients. Rin was last to return, with only an hour left. In the meanwhile, the group began presenting their cures. Admittedly, there was a wide range of effectiveness for each cure, but Yukio was proud to see everyone had been successful in their diagnosis. Shura seemed to be experiencing something other than pride.

It started with suspicious side glances when Suguro announced that his patient had been scratched by a rotting kappa. Then she was staring at Yukio with narrowed eyes and a smirk when Miwa reported his patient had had their blood sucked by a heat vampire. By the time Kamiki stated her diagnosis, Shura was snickering quietly even though there was nothing funny about the poison needles of an archer hornet.

"What are you laughing at?" Kamiki demanded, her chin lifted in defiance.

"It's not ya. I know yer answer's right." Shura waved away Kamiki's concern and looked at Yukio. "Are ya serious?"

He gave her a blank look as he adjusted his glasses. "I don't know what you're referring to. Anti-demon pharmacology is always a serious issue."

Shura seemed to take that as an invitation to laugh freely, so Kamiki, Takara, and Shima all had to give their reports with Shura grinning impishly at them and guzzling her beer with renewed enjoyment. When Rin was finally ready she was on the edge of her seat and fully inebriated. "Don't mess up the punchline, Rin!"

"Uh…" Rin frowned in confusion, but after a nod from Yukio, he began. "So I think my patient was poisoned by a demonic mukade centipede."

Shura fell backwards off the log laughing hysterically. Rin looked back and forth between Yukio and Shura with wide eyes. "Did I mess up?"

"Ignore her. She's been drinking," Yukio said with a perfectly straight face. "Please continue."

Rin scowled. "Okay… So I got this stuff for the antidote." He presented a handful of plants and a bowl of thick paste.

"Aw, yer poor, poor patient," Shura paused her laughter just long enough to comment.

"Huh?! What's wrong with it?"

Yukio sighed. "Well, you did use a species of Corylus instead of Hamamelis. While the two are similar in appearance, Corylus is all but useless in anti-demon pharmacology. So the rest of your cure may have eventually worked, but in the meantime your patient—"

"Yer poor, poor patient."

"Are you saying you could do better?!" Rin challenged, giving into Shura's goading.

"Oh, I know I could. I already treated a guy—"

Yukio chucked one of Shura's empty beer cans at her, which she easily caught, and began talking over the two of them. "Your patient would have had intense swelling which could have serious consequences, such as cutting off their air supply, depending on where the mukade bite was located. Otherwise you had the correct ingredients, and your patient may have lived. The mixture should have been prepared as a liquid however because demonic mukade poisoning causes paralysis in the small muscles first, making it difficult to chew and consume a solid." He checked his watch and then calculated Rin's score in his notebook.

He wrote the number on a slip of paper and handed it to Rin, who was staring at him with pleading eyes. Rin brightened immediately upon seeing the result. "I did it! I passed the class!"

Yukio couldn't help but smile at Rin's enthusiasm despite the fact that his score had been only two points above what he needed. Yukio stood and the rest of the exwires looked at him expectantly. "Good work everyone. You've all officially passed Anti-Demon Pharmacology Fundamentals." Rin and Shima gave whoops of excitement before he continued. "I believe this was your last final, correct? You can all concentrate on the exorcist exam now. I wish you all the best of luck."

He bowed respectfully to them and they bowed back, thanking him as they left for celebrations (according to Rin and Shima) or studying (according to everyone else). Rin invited Yukio and Shura along, but Yukio politely declined, so soon it was just the two of them left. They walked slowly back to her apartment, listening to the snow creak softly underfoot.

-oOo-

They were almost halfway out of the forest when Shura suddenly laughed and nudged Yukio in the side. She was still tickled by the examples he had chosen for the exam. He had to have known she would recognize the injuries as the same ones that she had found on him a few days prior. The injuries themselves were not amusing by any means; what had her laughing was the fact that he had put them out there in such a nonchalant way. And the way he sat there with that ridiculously straight face as she put the pieces together, she knew he was waiting for a reaction. He was making himself the joke, admitting that the wounds he had sustained were advanced enough to be used as final exam questions.

"Y'know, ya really have everyone fooled into thinkin' yer a salaryman (2), but then ya go and pull that an' my faith that ya have a sense of humor is restored."

"Glad you got a kick out of all my injuries," he said dryly, but she could see the corner of his mouth twitch into a smile. "I couldn't find the exam questions I prepared weeks ago because someone went through my briefcase like a typhoon." He raised an eyebrow at her, but Shura gave him a wide-eyed look of pure innocence. He sighed. "Fortunately, I realized I had a dozen examples right under my nose."

"Literally!" She cackled. "Seriously though, the fact that ya can even joke about it already… It must feel good ta have the weight of secrecy off yer chest. I'm proud of ya."

"When you say it with such a smug look on your face, the sentiment is completely ruined."

"Well, I can't help it if I did an amazing job." She grinned unabashedly.

He shook his head, and his lips twisted into a half-smile. "You attacked my bruised ribs, kidnapped me from my home, guilted me into talking, and then choked me. Amazing job."

She shrugged. "Unconventional, but effective. I wouldn't have had ta take such extreme measures if ya weren't such a troublesome, stubborn, idiotic, obsessive—"

"By all means, don't hold back, Shura-san," he grumbled.

"—scaredy-cat, four eyes," she finished with a nod.

He glared at her, but didn't fight it, knowing she wouldn't let that nickname go until they were old and wrinkled.

They continued onwards in silence for a while. A few snowflakes drifted down languidly from the dark sky. Shura fought off a shiver. Even with the warmth of alcohol thrumming through her veins she was freezing. Maybe she should have worn a thicker jacket. Or maybe she could steal Yukio's, like she had stolen his briefcase earlier in the week. The one she had been using when Shima confronted her… She wrapped her arms around herself and glanced at Yukio. His long stride was slowing down probably as a result of exhaustion and the cold air doing no favors for his chest.

"Hey…" She wrinkled her nose against the biting cold as she watched his reaction closely. "Ya told me everythin', right?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Where's this coming from?"

"Don't dodge the question."

"I'm not trying to dodge…" he trailed off when he looked at her and saw no hint of humor in her eyes. "I told you everything important."

"Everythin' important isn't everythin'."

"What did you expect? I wasn't about to rehash every detail I could remember."

She hummed, not convinced.

He crossed his arms and began tapping his fingers against the crook of his arm. "Really? You mean you wanted to hear about every failed experiment when my eyes didn't awaken, every demon I encountered that did awaken it, every word of my conversations with Toudou, every detail of how Lucifer disarmed me and cornered me, every thought that crossed my mind when I thought I had finally messed up and was going to die?"

"All right, all right. I get it." She puffed out her lips and considered what he had just said. "So… When did ya have more than one conversation with Tōdō?"

He froze in his tracks. "What?"

She stopped a few steps ahead of him and looked back over her shoulder. "Ya had one in Kyōto an' one before that, but we're talking 'bout yer eyes. I thought ya only had one conversation 'bout yer eyes with him, but just now, ya said 'conversations.'"

He crossed his arms even tighter in front of himself and took a step back from her. "I did not. You misheard."

"Ah, ah! No getting' out of this one." She turned to face him full on. "C'mon, Scaredy. I know I said that secrecy is a tough habit ta break, so if ya tell me now, I promise I won't get mad that ya didn't tell me before. An' given all the trouble ya've been fer me lately my anger would be justified," she said with a teasing lilt, hoping to ease the tension that had suddenly descended between them. He didn't respond. Dread snuck into the base of her stomach. It seemed this was really serious after all. She crept forward, closing the distance between them as if he might bolt, and leaned over to interrupt his eye contact with the ground. "Yukio… Let me help."

"You can't!" he hissed through clenched teeth. "This is something I have to do on my own."

"Okay," she backed off immediately, trying to avoid having his anger silence him. "I have the unfortunate honor of sayin' I understand revenge. I understand wantin' ta kill the reminder of everythin' that yer fightin' not ta be."

"I'm nothing like him!"

She hummed. So that was it. She had read Tōdō's file and could take an educated guess of what type of things the man might say to try to build a rapport with Yukio. "I know yer not. Not in the ways that matter."

His head jerked side to side as if he was disagreeing with her, but his brow was creased in thought so deep that she doubted he was aware of the action. She straightened up and stuffed her hands in her pockets in attempt to avoid frostbite while she waited for him to sort his thoughts.

"It was…" he started softly. He began digging the toe of his shoe into the snow and stared blankly as he revealed black dirt under the pure white. "The second experiment I did. I realized I couldn't be halfhearted about invoking fear in myself, so I went to the roof—"

"Wait. Ya said ya only tested against demons!" She objected out of shock more than any form of anger. Then she recalled her own words to Rin a few days before and bit down the rest of her accusation. "Sorry. Go on... Please."

He took a deep breath, and his face twisted in pain. She had a feeling the memory was more painful than his ribs though. "I didn't hit the ground. Tōdō caught me." His lips curled up as if the words were bitter in his mouth. He took a shaky breath to steady himself and then spat out the rest. "He said I would die if I tried something like that. He said my power only worked against demons, and if I was to continue searching for the truth I should start there. And if I wanted the full truth…" He grit his teeth.

She took that as her cue to jump in. "Let me guess: Lucifer knows."

He nodded.

"So… ya listened to what Tōdō suggested?" she asked slowly, disbelief coloring her tone.

"Of course not!" he bit out. "I searched for him for a full week. Every free second I had, I scoured Campus Town, but I found nothing. But then I realized he'd come back. He had been spying on me for... I don't know how long! I figured if I played along, he'd return."

"An' then ya could catch him." She nodded and cocked her head to one side. "Why wouldn't ya tell me that? I don't like the idea of goin' along with what he's says, but it's not a half-bad plan. I could've helped, so why-"

"Because I need to defeat him myself!"

The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. She had never seen him with such a cold expression before. She had seen him scowl, glower, glare, and seethe in anger, often aimed at her, but this was on another level entirely. This was the expression of a man with the intent to kill. She had seen it on others in the heat of battle. She had seen it on herself when she was young. But she had never seen it on Yukio, the master of self-control. She didn't like it.

This was why she insisted he be honest with himself. This was the result of bottling up his negative emotions for years. Now he had found an outlet for them, a scapegoat to direct every ill intent towards. It was an incredibly dangerous thing to do and exactly the type of thing demons looked for. If he killed Tōdō like this, she had no doubt he would become a demon.

She swallowed hard and found her voice again. "Yukio…"

He stirred at the sound of his name, as if coming out of sleep, and the tension in the air instantly lifted. He blinked at her as if just now realizing she was there. "Sorry, Shura-san. Did you say something?" He smiled that polite smile, and she had the urge to punch it off of his face.

Instead, she sighed heavily. "Yer walkin' a dangerous path. I can't talk ya out of it, can I?"

The smile slipped away as quickly as it came. "No. Not about this."

She groaned and stretched out her arms. "How'd I get stuck with such a stubborn guy? If I ever meet Shirō again, he'd better apologize."

"Sorry I make your life so troublesome," he said, voice heavy with irony.

"Ya better be." She turned and started walking again. He followed suit. She hummed to herself as she thought. "I guess now I know who Shima's contact in town must be."

"You think he knows where Tōdō is now?" Yukio asked sharply.

"Nah," she said a little too quickly. She didn't actually know if it was true, but the more time she had to work on erasing that killer intent from his heart, the better. "If he's avoiding ya, he's probably layin' low for a while. Although, when I talked to Shima he seemed to be in contact with somebody. Could've been a trick though. That kid is sneaky."

"When did you talk to Shima?" His brow wrinkled in uncertainty.

"Oh, right. That. Well, I had a little talk with Shima the other day, an' now he knows I know."

Yukio froze in his tracks for a second time. "What?! Shura-san, what were you thinking? You shouldn't have said anything! You just painted a target on your own back!"

"Oh? Are ya sayin' I can't handle myself?"

"You know how dangerous they are! We're not talking about a horde of goblins here; we're talking about an organized group of people!"

She watched as he paused to gasp for air, trying to hide a wince through the small white puffs of breath curling up into the winter sky. Then, after he caught his breath, she punched him in the shoulder. Hard.

He grunted in pain and glared at her as he rubbed his arm. "You know the goal is to heal, not hurt, your patients, right?"

"Ya just said it didn't ya?" She reached out as if to hit him again, but telegraphed the move so he could skitter a step back out of her reach. "Yer the patient. Ya need ta worry 'bout yerself fer a change. At least until ya get better. I got ya covered 'til then, okay?"

He remained stubbornly quiet, but his scowl softened a little. As they began to walk again, he gradually drifted back to her side.

She blinked at his change in demeanor and then decided it was time to cheer him up. "Nyahaha!" She flipped her ponytail over her shoulder and struck a pose. "Yer finally looking at me with the gratitude and admiration I deserve!"

"What?!" He recoiled from her smirk, but quickly found his footing as the straight man in their duo. "There's no way that would ever happen. This must be Stockholm syndrome from being stuck with you for nearly a week."

She snickered. "Aw! Don't pretend! Ya just don't know what it's like to have a friend lookin' out fer ya."

"Yeah, right…!" He fumbled for a comeback, and she could see his shoulders stiffen. Perhaps that jab had been a little too close to the heart. If she hadn't seen that murderous face, she may have let it pass without comment, but clearly it was time to knock some sense into the guy.

"Wow, Scaredy-Cat Four Eyes. Yer face is super red." She knew it was just anger and embarrassment, but she reached out a hand to check his forehead for fever anyway. He batted her hand away and then dodged the other hand and swatted away her counter attack and soon Shura had no choice but to put the idiot in a headlock.

"Let me go!" Years of experience should have told Yukio that fighting her grip was no use, but he always tugged against her, much to her amusement.

"Hm. Yup, just as I thought," she said in a grave tone as she placed her palm on his forehead. "Ya've got the horrible condition of takin' everythin' too seriously. Ah! Even right now! Yer thinking somethin' dumb an' givin' it serious thought!" She gasped as if she could hear his scandalous thought. "Yer thinking ya don't have friends or somethin'."

"I never said that!" he snapped. All she could see was the back of his head, but she could feel him tense under her arm. She knew Rin's strength wasn't the only thing he envied. She had seen the distant look on Yukio's face when they had first approached the exwires arguing amongst themselves. He probably hadn't even been aware of the look, just like she hadn't been as a kid. She remembered watching a group of other children hungrily before Shirō snapped her out of it with a smack to the back of the head. He hadn't pushed her at that point, since she was still feral in many ways, but she knew that smack was to remind her she was no longer alone. And Yukio, whether he was aware of it or not, was definitely not alone.

"Yer lucky. Ya've got decent teammates that ya can get ta know. Everyone on that Legion I'm supposed ta be a part of are all bald."

"Bald…?" He finally stopped fighting against her, so she released him. He straightened up and opened his mouth to say something, but then seemed to think better of it. Instead, he smoothed out his disheveled clothes and gave her that polite smile again, so she knew he wanted to change the subject. "Isn't Angel-san the opposite of bald?"

"You'd be surprised," she said with absolute seriousness, but refused to drop the topic. "Y'know, those guys managed to make friends with Satan's son, so I'm sure they'd be okay with someone like ya."

"Gee, thanks."

"Hell, they probably consider ya a friend already."

"I don't need any more friends," he said stiffly and began marching away.

"Ah!" She jogged after him while she rubbed her ears. "I think I'm hearin' more dumb thoughts! Ya keep this up, an' yer ribs be damned, I will kick yer ass."

"I'm serious, Shura-san. I can't drag anybody else into this. It'd just be more people I'd have to lie to."

"Or more people ya'd have to trust." She crossed her arms and gave him a hard stare.

"Trust them not to tell anyone else? I can't do that with some of them, and I can't ask that of the others." He pressed a hand to his forehead. "I can't even believe that you convinced me to tell Ani. Now he has to keep this from his friends, and I know that can't be easy for him."

Without missing a beat, she punched him again.

"Are you trying to give me dead arm?"

"Quit worryin' so much, an' I'll quit punchin' ya." She shrugged. "Rin's fine. He's a whole lot better now that he knows. He would've burst from worry otherwise. Hmmm… Though now that ya mention it, he's not very good at lyin' is he? Wonder how long before he lets somethin' slip."

Yukio's eye twitched.

"I'm jokin'! Relax, Scaredy." She waved away his worry. "Rin kept his flames secret fer a full three months."

"It could have been longer if you hadn't interfered..." he admitted.

"Exactly," she said, ignoring his jab at her. "An' that Moriyama girl said they weren't gonna bug ya 'bout it, so far as I can see, yer in the clear." She scratched the tip of her nose, testing if she could still feel it. "I wasn't sayin' ya need to tell everyone. All I'm tryin' ta say is that ya don't need to isolate yerself. An' if they do find out, I don't think it'll be as bad as ya think. Okay?"

They lapsed into silence. She looked up at the night sky. The only patch of light was where the moon illuminated a curtain of clouds from behind. The silver light glittered prettily off the impressive snow drift they were passing. She considered pushing him into it, but before she could, he nodded.

"Good. Now, c'mon. Yer walking too slowly, an' I'm gettin' cold. Do I need ta carry ya?"

"Maybe if you wore clothes, you'd stay warm," he muttered.

The familiarity of the argument made her grin. "Y'know, I'm not hearin' a no to the carryin'." She turned to him with open arms, ready to scoop him up.

His hand jumped to his gun. "Stay away from me."

"Suit yerself." She sped a little ahead of him, but kept each step measured so she wouldn't leave him in the dust. Judging from the sounds behind her, he was doing his best to pick up the pace. Always trying his best and getting nowhere. What a pitiful guy. For a second, she considered ignoring his pride and carrying him the rest of the way. Or, if she hadn't just tried to make a point about friendship, she could jog back to her apartment on her own.

Instead, she gave each step a little more force than was necessary, letting the jolt of her feet against the frozen ground send shockwaves through her numbing legs.

Damn, she was cold. She hated snow.

Warm, heavy fabric suddenly descended on her head. She stopped in place and drew the cloth away from her head to find Yukio had thrown his jacket at her. It was still warm with his body heat. She turned to him with a fist raised. "What'd I say 'bout worryin' 'bout yerself?"

"Just take it," he said without looking up from his gun belt, which he was readjusting over a thinner jacket he had had on underneath the coat in her hands. "Your shivering is annoying."

He hadn't said thank you, and he owed her a lot more than his jacket. But she recognized the gesture for what it was, so she slipped the coat on and enjoyed the warmth as they continued forward.

(1) Someday when I have more time, I'll write a one-shot about this. Maybe as one of those "Three Times Something Happened and One Time It Didn't" fics. Do people still write those?

(2) The typical Japanese salaryman has a life that revolves around work, which results in a serious, robotic persona. It's a stereotype, of course, but also the reasoning behind the title of the spinoff manga.

A/N: Next chapter I won't have Shura manhandling the twins. I'll let someone else do the beating up.

Okay, so the conversation about the roof was obviously about ch 72 and my AU version of 73. (We'll get to see exactly how much of an AU next week. Yay!) Honestly, I wish I could have presented it as the actual scene instead of a summary in the middle of a conversation, but a flashback would have been jarring smackdab in the middle of the chapter. Maybe if you guys are interested and I have enough time, I'll write it out as a one-shot. (EDIT: After reading ch 73, I can happily report that, although what was recounted in this chapter was AU, the theory I'm using to explain Yukio's eyes is still not AU. Yet.)

Here's hoping next week will be better, not just for me, but all you readers as well!