Chapter three: Hell
Burning. Scorching heat. melting skin. Desperate hands claw at raw flesh. Screams. Blood. Torture. Rin tries to scream but it is covered by the shrieks and sobs of others. People hang on silver blood-stains hooks still alive, writhing, wiggling, choking.
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!
Rin gasps for air as he jumps up from his bed. Breathing deep heavy breaths his heart races in his chest. Rin looks to the screeching alarm and slowly, almost hesitantly he turns off the obnoxious clock. He sighs and rubs his temples.
"What a nightmare…" Rin mumbles to himself. He gets up from his bed and lethargically makes his way to his closet where his clothes were. He wore his normal uniform, sliding his sword on his shoulder Rin got ready for the day.
"Hey Okumura!" Rin stopped and turned towards the voice. Bon walked over to the half demon with Shima and konekomaru walking behind him. Bon stopped in front of Rin a small frown forming on his face.
"You look terrible. Didn't you get any sleep last night?" Bon asked.
'No' Rin thought to himself, but would never say it out loud. "I guess I lost track of time and was up late hehe." Rin replied sheepishly hoping it was enough to get Bon off his back. But because of his luck this only made Bon a little more skeptical and dare Rin say it, possibly…worried? The emotion was foreign on the scholars face, maybe Rin really was sleep deprived.
"Was it the arm? You should really make sure to change the bandages on it." Bon said, his eyes traveling to Rin's wounded arm. Rin, wanting the conversation to end took the excuse and nodded his head.
"Uh yeah. It's been bothering me but I'm sure it'll start to feel better." Rin spoke, walking to the school. Shima and Miwa followed as Bon walked next to Rin.
"Hey Okumura, what were you doing at the library yesterday? I thought I saw you." Miwa asked casually. Rin began to panic, out of the corner of his eye he saw Bon looking over at him, waiting for a response.
"I just had to stretch my legs. After the leaper incident I wanted to take a breather so I went to the library." Rin explained. Miwa nodded his head accepting the answer while Bon furrowed his eyebrows In suspicion.
"Hey Rin, are you sure your arms okay? Today Yukio wants us to go on a mission. I wouldn't want you to get more hurt than you already are." Shima reminded Rin, his tone sounding quite concerned for the half demon classmate. Rin waved it off and shrugged his shoulder.
"I'm fine! Plus, my demon healing already kicked In so…" Rin trailed off. His demon healing. He bit his lip as he remembered his dream from before. Before Rin could get lost in thought he felt a weight on his shoulder anchoring him back to reality.
Blue eyes met brown as Bon stared at him with concern. It still was such a foreign thing to see on the older teen.
"Hey. You alright Okumura?" Bon asked. Shima and Miwa looked at Rin with worried looks of their own. Rin snapped out of his haze and shook it off, giving a light hearted laugh.
"Yeah, I guess it's just the lack of sleep that's getting to me. Come on, Yukio would kill me if I'm late again." Rin said as he walked to the cram school, trying to ignore the hurt and confused expression on Bon's face.
Rin walked in class for once on time. Bon, Shima and Miwa went to their normal desks and sat down while Rin sat next to Shiemi. Shiemi smiled widely at her half demon classmate.
"Rin! How are you?" Shiemi spoke, gesturing to his arm. Rin smiled and shrugged off his shy classmate.
"It's fine, feeling a lot better." Bon looked at his and scoffed. Rin glared at him and went to snap at the other until Yukio walked in.
"Good morning class. Rin, its good to see you listened to me." Yukio said, noting how his brother was on time. Rin nodded and smiled. "Today we're going on a mission. Since we've been learning about demon Deals for the last few days, we are now going to fight a lower class demon dealer, a succubus." Yukio explained to the others as they nodded their heads in understanding.
"There has been witnesses of people having symptoms of these deals, our job is to question the people and get rid of the succubus. Questions?" Bon raised his hand. "Yes Bon."
"How do you know it's a succubus instead of a higher level demon?" Bon asked.
"Different demons give different symptoms when a Deals been made. The reports have shown people being isolated and acting introverted which leads to a succubus. Also, all the victims are young men who have hung around the same bar recently." Yukio explained. Bon nodded his head. "Alright, lets head out, I will meet you all at the train station in an hour, Rin I've already packed your things so I expect you to be their sooner." At this, Rin fell out of his seat in shock.
"You went into my room! Don't you understand the meaning of privacy!?" He whined mostly to himself. Yukio laughed sheepishly.
"Guess I'm still getting use to it." With that the class walked out of the room heading to their dorm. Rin was walking alone where his thoughts could follow him.
'I wonder if Yukio found my book. If he had he didn't show it. I should take it, just in case ya know. Man, why am I so concerned about this! It's not even that big of a deal! Still…' Rin shuddered as flashbacks from his dream stirred in his head.
'The thought of going to hell….it makes my skin crawl.' Rin looked up at his dorm room building and let out a long sigh before entering.
He walked lethargically up the steps to his dorm room. A duffle bag sat on the floor, packed and ready for him. Rin grabbed it and set it on his bed before grabbing his book from the library. He went to place it on top if his clothes but stopped.
'Too obvious…right? What if Someone opened up the bag and saw it?' Rin then put the book at the way bottom, covering it with his clothes. He sighed before grabbing any other miscellaneous supplies. He made his way out the door and to the bus station.
"Wow, we still had to wait for you even when you were already packed!" Bon yelled at Rin made it to the group. Rin, glared and pouted at the smarter one.
"So! I had to get a few things!" Rin childishly argued.
"Oh yeah! Like what!?" Bon yelled back but with a small smile on his lips. He was glad Rin was acting like his usual self. Rin went to respond but was stopped by Yukio.
"Enough. Our trains here." Yukio cut off Rin. Just as the smarter twin said, the train pulled up to the group. They made their way inside. Shiemi and Izumo sat down next to each other with Miwa. Rin Bon and Shima sat in the seats in front of them with Rin in the middle, Rin was not happy about that. He unconsciously held his duffle bag tightly to his chest. He felt the book dig into his side.
'Damn it, why did I put the book at the way bottom.' Rin thought to himself. Bon put his bag on one of the luggage shelves and looks at Rin.
"Here, give me your bag I'll put it up here." Bon offered as he took shima's as well. Rin blink once then twice, he slowly released his tight grip that clutched to his bag before giving it to Bon. Bon took and placed it in with the others. He sat down and the train began to move.
Rin sat silently between his two classmates, his posture tense. Shima looked at Rin and raised an eyebrow at his tense friend.
"Hey Rin? You okay?" Rin looked at Shima, before he could shrug off the pink haired esquire Bon spoke up.
"To be honest you have been acting weird ever since yesterday. Are you sure-" Rin inturrupted Bon with a warning look.
"Drop it Ryuji." Rin's voice cut like ice. Bon wiped off his shocked expression and narrowed his eyes at the half demon. Shima looked between the two and then at his phone to check the time. They still had around two hours left. Shima looked around for an escape route, his eyes landing on the seat next to Yukio.
"Uh…I just realized I have a few questions I want to ask teach so uh, see ya." Shima's nervous explanation went to deaf ears before he darted over to Yukio a distant shocked noise coming from the studious twin.
Bon and Rin glared at each other for a little longer before Rin quickly turned away, wanting the ride to be over. Bon's narrowed eyes soften as he looked at the curled up half demon facing away from him.
'What the hell is wrong with him.' Bon thought to himself. He sighed before turning his gaze out towards the window. Halfway through about an hour in Bon felt a weight land softly at his side. He turned his head to see Rin sleeping soundly next to him. The studious classmate sighed and decided to ignore the curled up sleeping teen. A light shade of red sweeping across his cheeks.
Screams of agony echo in his ears. The deafening shrills send goosebumps drawing through his skin. Burning flesh and raw skin. It hurts, it hurts so much. Rin tries to scream but blood clogs his throat. The hands that grab him feel so real…too real. The touch burns. It burns so much…
"Rin!..Rin….hey.."
He wakes up with a startled scream. His heart beat thumps heavily in his chest. He's on the train. Well, it looks like the train, everything's a little blurry. He places his hand on his chest, trying to regain stability.
"Rin…hey." Rin looks into brown concerned eyes. Bon, Shima and Yukio look at him with concern. Rin, shakily, takes a breath and stands from his seat trying to hold a sheepish smile.
"Hey, uh hehe nightmares huh?... Must be the train hehe." He tried to shake it off with a nervous laugh as he grabbed his bag off of the shelf. "We should get going." Rin said as he moved passed his three friends.
Bon look at him, his eyebrows furrowed in concern. Shima and and Yukio gave each other a concerned look. Rin made his way off the train out onto the stations platform.
Shiemi saw Rin and smiled at her friend.
"Hey Rin! Where's Yukio and the other two?" Shiemi asked as she looked over Rin's shoulder, hoping to spot the trio that were left on the train.
"They should be coming out soon." Rin looked around his surroundings. Not a lot of people were around. "Hey where are we anyway?"
"We're in a small village on the outskirts of the city." Miwa explained when he walked up from behind Shiemi. Rin felt a hand on his shoulder he turned around and saw Bon, Shima and Yukio standing behind him. Bon smiled casually.
"We're going over to the towns monastery, the owners allowed us to stay there." Bon explained. Rin looked down at Bon's hand as it sat unwavering on his shoulder. Warmth spread through the cloth to his shoulder, warming the skin underneath. Everyone began making their way to the monastery before Rin could join them he was pulled back by Bon.
"Look Rin, about the train-"
"It's nothing! Just drop it." Rin said. When he was about to leave with the others, Bon pulled him back once again, this time intent on keeping Rin still.
"It's not nothing! I'm sticking with you on this mission got it, even if it means dragging you kicking and screaming. And maybe you might even tell me what the hells wrong with you." Bon said. Rin sent an annoyed glare at Bon. Bon just returned the challenged glare back at him, daring Rin to do something. Stubbornly, the half demon looked away and crossed his arms.
"Happy now? We lost the others." Rin said. Bon rolled his eyes and dragged him by the hand.
"The monastery's this way. Now stop complaining." Bon said. Rin glared daggers at Bon, trying to keep a big gap between the two. Rin turned his head as they passed a man juggling two torches as a street show. People clapped and cheered as the wild fire twirled around in the air. Time stopped for Rin. The cheers turned to screams as his dream replayed in his mind.
The gap between him and Bon closed in milliseconds, Rin stuck to bon's side like glue, his head down and blue eyes shut tightly as he used Bon's movement as a guide. Bon looked at Rin in surprise.
'What's wrong with you Rin.'
A/N: hey guys! I'm sorry for not updating! I really hope you had a happy thanksgiving. I'm on break so I will try to update more, I'm going back to school on Tuesday so I'll try to update every week depending on how many reviews I get per chapter, but overall I'm happy with the review response! Five reviews and only two chapters yay!
P.S: I just started watching Yuri on Ice and I'm obsessed so I'm sorry if updates begin to get a little slow because…I love this show lol. I get easily distracted by it when I'm writing so I'm sorry lol!
