Face Your Demons

Chapter six - Boys' Morning Out

As usual, Rin was over ten minutes late, Bon noted after glancing his wristwatch for umpteenth time that morning. He should have gotten used to Rin's lateness already, but he still couldn't shake off the unpleasant feeling churning in his stomach. After all, Rin hadn't been in the best mental condition when Kuro had kicked him out of their room and Renzou had dragged him off to the breakfast. He really shouldn't have left before he had made sure Rin was okay... Who knows what the guy could do while having a breakdown like that? But then again... Kuro was with Rin and surely the demon cat wouldn't let the guy do anything stupid, right?

Five minutes... And then I will go and drag him here by myself.

He sifted on his seat, tugging his sleeves to hide the forming bruises on his arm and looked at the pointers once again. They had hardly moved. He he let out a quiet sigh and leaned back on his chair.

His morning had been far from what he had imagined it to be. He had thought that by telling Rin it was completely okay to be a half demon, the guy would finally have opened up. But no. For a moment it had seemed like Rin truly was going to trust him, but suddenly the half demon retreated back to his shell. Somehow he managed to land them back in the square one, and that was definitely frustrating.

He didn't understand what he had done wrong. He didn't care if Rin happened to be a half demon. He wanted to help the guy any way possible and make Rin trust him. But still, whatever he did, he didn't seem to get through the thick skull of the blue haired Exwire.

And those secrets of his...

Even though the whole half demon thing was revealed to him the previous night, he still wanted to know more. For the fuck's sake... He really was getting tired of Rin keeping things from him. Especially if they concerned him. Of course it was okay to have a few secrets, but enough is enough. At least Rin could tell him why they couldn't be together! The usual "You'd better without me" and "You'd hate me" were seriously getting old. He deserved to know the truth.

And he was going to make damn sure Rin understood that.

"You okay, Bon?" Renzou's voice jolted him awake from his thoughts, making him almost spill his orange juice on the table. Cursing silently he glared at the pink haired Aria-in-training sitting next to him and stuffing food in that large mouth of his.

"I'm fine. Why'd you ask?"

"Because you have barely touched your food ever since we came here!" Renzou stated and pointed at his half eaten sandwich. "And not to mention that you have been staring at a freaking napkin for five minutes straight! Something is bugging you and I want to know what!"

"Nothing's wrong."

"Bullshit", Renzou snorted crossing his arms on his chest and eyed Bon a mischievous grin on his face. "Did something happen between you and your boyfriend last night?"

Bon felt his brows furrowing as he saw Renzou's smirk only widening. The guy just didn't know when to quit. His and Rin's relationship had nothing to do with the pink haired teen or anyone. Why these people couldn't just let them be?

"Nothing happened, if you must know", he said with a low voice and kept glaring at the other teen. "Not that it was your business anyway..."

"That's just cold!"

"...and he's not my boyfriend. Is it that hard to believe?" he finished not caring about Renzou's exclamation and brought his fingers to rub the bridge of his nose. Damn, why did everyone, mainly Renzou, have to remind him how messed his and Rin's relationship was? He surely was getting older every time he had to talk with the pink haired Exwire. The guy was acting like a teenager girl!

"You keep saying that, but at the same time your actions tell otherwise."

Bon let out a frustrated groan and hit his head to the table trying to tune Renzou out. They had had a conversation like that in the bus the previous evening, did they really have to repeat it once again? In front of everyone.

"What I have to do to make you shut up?" he groaned face still planted against the hard wood. Renzou only laughed at the obvious embarrassment and irritation radiating from his voice.

"Let's see... First I'd like you to... Oh, look! Your boyfriend is here!"

Bon sighed knowing that it would be useless to remind Renzou not to call Rin his boyfriend (though he had admit it sounded pretty nice). But when the pinkhead was determined to do something, there was nothing he could do stop that. So instead he settled with lifting his head and looking at Rin, who just had entered the dining room Kuro on his heels.

He didn't know what to expect, maybe even a little sadness in those blue eyes, but instead he got nothing. Rin had tucked his tail securely away and was once again wearing one of those masks of his. Besides the obvious fake smile, there wasn't a single emotion on his face.

The young half demon strolled leisurely to their table and dropped to the seat right next to Shiemi. The electric blue eyes flashed briefly towards Bon, but only for a second, and after that they returned to the other occupants of the table. Bon knew he shouldn't be offended by the lack of attention he got from Rin. It was only understandable that the guy was pretty embarrassed after the episode earlier that morning.

Nevertheless, it still hurt.

"Morning."

"Good morning, Rin", Shiemi said beaming at her friend. "Slept well?"

"More and less", Rin answered yawning and reaching for the bread. "You?"

"I have never slept better! The bed was so soft I didn't want to get up at all!" the blonde told him a dreamy look in her eyes as she looked at something no one else could see. Bon heard Renzou stifling a laughter right next to him, and no doubt the pink head was imagining something inappropriate again. Pervert.

Izumo suddenly snorted.

"And for the whole morning I have been forced to listen to her going on about how soft the beds were", she said shaking her purple haired head back and forth. "I wonder if she actually sleeps on the floor at her home..."

Hearing her words, Shiemi's face turned scarlet and Rin laughed.

And Bon couldn't stop wondering how pretty voice it was. Damn, he really had it bad.

"Alright, class", Yukio's voice cut them off as the young exorcist made his presence known, standing in front of the student group in his full exorcist attire. "I hope everyone is ready for the day?"

Most of students nodded their heads, but Rin only glanced at his brother horrified and started to stuff more and more food in his mouth. Bon tried really hard not to laugh, but there was no way he could have stopped a small smile tugging at his lips. Even though Rin's eating habits were kind of disgusting, he couldn't keep himself from thinking how cute the other teen looked when worry and anxiety weren't painting that beautiful face of his.

"Rin, please stop stuffing yourself with the food, you have all time you need. We still need to discuss a few things before I can let you guys leave", Yukio said shaking his head and rubbing his face under the glasses.

Rin stopped the chopsticks in midair, mouth frozen wide open and eyes looking at Yukio as if he had been caught red-handed for doing something he shouldn't have. Slowly he brought his teeth together, chewed a few times, swallowed and smiled sheepishly at his brother, who responded only by sighing.

"As the four-eyes here told you yesterday, we won't be interfering with you work today", Shura said continuing from where Yukio had stopped. The busty female exorcist dropped to the chair next to Shiemi as Yukio decided to sit on the chair in the head of the table. "So the exorcising is completely up to you."

"However", Yukio continued eying the Exwires and especially Rin with a piercing gaze in his eyes, "for some reason this group of students seems occasionally be attracting even the stronger demons. If you happen to encounter one or if none of you recognize the demon, you will call Shura or me immediately. No one, and I mean no one, is going to risk their lives by playing a hero. Understood?"

Everyone nodded understanding Yukio's point. Bon however noticed how Yukio's gaze lingered on Rin a few seconds longer and how the young half demon seemed to be glaring at his brother back. But that was nothing unusual, after all, they all knew about Rin's strange disappearances in the middle of the fights. They always assumed Rin was fighting some demon off somewhere (like that time in the abandoned dorm in the end of the last semester), but they never understood why Rin would do that without their help, potentially risking his own life in progress.

But now Bon knew, as some of Rin's secrets had come to the light. Of course Rin didn't want them to see him using his demonic powers (which made Bon to think what kind of powers the young half demon did have. At least an inhuman strength, but what else?), he was trying to keep his heritage as a secret, after all.

"This is a rather small village, so I think you can explore it while looking for the demons tormenting the citizens", Shura's voice forced its way to Bon's ears and he had to stop his musing for a second. It wasn't like him not to pay attention on the teacher speaking. But a certain someone had just been distracting him lately. "It's almost impossible to get lost. But if you somehow manged to do that, do call someone. I and the wimpy four eyes will be sitting here doing boring teacher stuff, so we'll be free to help you out at any time." The older female exorcist smirked at Yukio, not caring about the the very disapproving look she was getting from him. "That's all, I think?"

"That's all", the younger Okumura twin confirmed nodding his head and turning his eyes towards the Exwires. "But before you leave to exorcise those demons, you need to be divided in a few groups... I think two pairs and one group of three will do. Feel free to pick your partner or partners, and after that you're free to go."

Darn, at the moment Bon really didn't want to spend time alone with anybody. He and Eyebrows (props for Rin for coming up with the nickname) would probably end up killing each other. If Renzou didn't learn to keep his big mouth closed, he would end up killing the guy, a best friend or not. Shiemi seemed enjoy his tormenting too, and he definitely didn't want to have a crazy yaoi fan girl following him around giggling and asking questions (when did the girl get rid of her ridiculous shyness, anyway?). And Takara was... well... Takara, a guy that never spoke anything or if he did, it was only to insult someone.

So that left only Rin and Konekomaru.

"Shiemi for me!"

Forget that. Only Konekomaru.

"Koneko", he said trying to keep his face from showing any emotion. It stung a little to notice Rin was avoiding him, but what can you expect from a guy who had almost had a complete breakdown earlier that morning. No, it'd better if he gave the half demon a little space before pressing the guy once again.

Besides, they surely wouldn't be able to concentrate on demons if they were sent on a mission together.

"Okay, now I know there's definitely something going on with you guys", he suddenly heard Renzou exclaiming and noticed how the pink haired teen was looking back and forth between him and Rin. "Why are you avoiding each other? Did you have a lovers' spat or something?"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"You know exactly what I mean", Renzou answered a mischievous smile on his face and pointed at Rin, who had stopped eating and now looked at them questioningly. "The last months you have been everywhere and done everything together! And only yesterday you were carrying Rin around like a baby! But now you're behaving like you hardly know each other! What the heck happened?"

That was something Bon would have liked to know too, for he had no idea what had happened earlier in the morning. But unfortunately, he was no telepathic. He turned his head slightly to glance at Rin, but got instantly captured by those deep blue eyes as the young half demon gave him a small, apologetic smile. It was only a small gesture, but still it made Bon smile and his heart warm a bit. There definitely was some hope still left.

"Nothing happened."

"Bullsh-"

"Shima", Rin suddenly interrupted the pink haired teen, breaking the eye contact with Bon and looking at the other Aria a somewhat tired expression on his face. No doubt he had also gotten fed up with Renzou's constant questions. "I understand you must feel concerned for Bon, him being your friend and all. But everything is fine."

"But..."

Bon glared at the other teen, daring him to utter another word.

"That's enough, Pinkhead. I think those two are competent on making their own decisions", Shura suddenly cut Renzou off and glanced first at Rin and then Bon. "If they want to go separate ways, they can do that. No one can tell them to do otherwise. Not even you."

"But still... Argh, you guys are so boring!" the young Aria whined, not being even slightest faltered by the hard looks he was receiving from both Shura and Bon. "Fine then... My dear Izumo-chan, will you honor me by accompanying me during this mission?"

"You wan't me to go with you? All alone? No way in the hell", the purple haired girl said scrunching her nose and turning away from Renzou. "I don't want my partner trying to hit on me all the time. I'd rather take Takara!"

"Aw, you're such an ice queen, Izumo!"

"Too bad. Learn to deal with it."

In the end it had been Bon and Konekomaru who had been stuck with Renzou. After Izumo's bold rejection the pinkhead decided it would be nice to join Rin and Shiemi's group (Did the guy never learn?), probably to pester Rin about his and Bon's relationship. While Shiemi smiled happily and said it was okay, Rin seemed to realize what Renzou's real intentions were. But of course, due to his good nature, Rin didn't dare to say anything.

That was where Bon decided to step in. The morning had been hard enough for Rin even without Renzou's teasing, and he definitely didn't want the half demon to lose his cool. So in a blink of an eye he stood up, grabbed unceremoniously his friend's collar and dragged the other Aria out of the building, not missing the grateful look he received from Rin.

He felt the corners of his mouth curling upwards at the memory of a slight smile on Rin's lips. Maybe the morning wasn't so bad after all...

So, at the moment, a few hours after the breakfast, the "legendary" Kyoto group was strolling around the village keeping an eye on demons. And while doing that, they realized Shura hadn't been lying when describing the village as a small one. That it really was. There were only a few small grocery stores, bank and a very small school. The main street was surrounded by many different buildings, most of them being old, abandoned business premises, apartment buildings and houses among the still lively ones. No doubt the village was once been very wealthy and lively, but then, apparently the young people started to move away to the bigger towns leaving only elders behind.

"By the way... Am I the only one thinking it's a horrible idea to send three Arias to a wild demon chase all alone?" Renzou, who had been surprisingly quiet ever since Bon had dragged him out of the inn murder blaring in those hazel eyes of his, suddenly piped up eying the buildings, alleys and every possible shadow warily, as if someone was going to jump at him any moment. "Who the heck is going to protect you when you start chanting?"

"That would be you, since Mr. Okumura doesn't let me use a gun on public yet", Bon answered taking a look at a wandering female spirit passing them quickly, her long blonde hair and gray dress swaying in the non-existent wind. For a moment she looked at them with empty white eyes, but soon after she continued her floating along the street before vanishing. "You have your staff, after all."

"Besides, every trained Aria should be able to exorcise low and middle level demons on their own", Konekomaru continued eying the spot where the woman had disappeared to. According to her lack of interest, she probably was a completely harmless spirit, who just had been stuck in Assiah for some reason or another. But you can never be sure. Ghosts were known for being very sneaky creatures. "You won't get the Meister if you can't fend yourself against a demon."

Renzou snorted, finally tearing his gaze away from the dark alleys.

"Well, yeah, but those people are trained exorcists! We're freaking Exwires! Second lowest rank!" the pink haired guy exclaimed throwing his hands dramatically in the air.

"I don't see what's your problem", Bon said frowning slightly. "We're hunting low-level demons. Like ghost and stuff. What could go wrong?"

"That's what we thought about the camp too..."

Bon sighed and shook his head, not understanding what was bothering his friend. First the guy was the most annoying person he had ever known and then the pinkhead was acting like some frightened child. Though, the latter was probably because the camp remained still fresh in their minds, you don't forget a near death experience like that very easily.

Especially Bon, who had almost lost his own life, his friends and the guy he loved more than anything else in the world to Satan's flames.

Damn, he really shouldn't think that now.

"Everything is going to be fine", he assured and chuckled by himself. "And if we happen to encounter some stronger demons, we just leave the place, run like hell and contact the teachers. Easy."

"But still..."

"Guys? Do you smell that?" Konekomaru suddenly asked making both Bon and Renzou quiet down and sniff the air.

Smoke.

"Something's burning", Bon stated and looked around to pinpoint the source of the smell of burning wood. And trash. Was someone burning garbage bins or something?

"Should we call the fire department? Renzou said taking a look at their surroundings too, before noticing a thick cloud of smoke rising behind a nearby building. "After all, we're here exorcising demons, not running around playing firemen..."

Right after the word's left Renzou's mouth a red fire truck (probably the only one the village had) sped past them, sirens wailing, and turned right leaving many confused bystanders staring at its tracks. A few curious people even ran after it to see what was going on.

"Let's go", Bon suddenly said and stepped towards a shortcut they had just passed. But before he manged to set his foot on the dark alley, something small ran full speed past his legs, making him almost lose his balance.

What the...?

He turned around only to see Konekomaru and Renzou staring at the small creatures running across the street as fast as their tiny legs could carry them. Their ridiculously big, slightly pointed ears swayed on every step they took along the few hairs on their hideously ugly heads.

"W-what the hell are those?" Renzou cried pointing at the small demons disappearing to the first alley they could see.

"Imps, I think", Konekomaru said slowly, still a little dumbfounded. "They're low-level demons, who live with humans and like to prank them. Like hiding stuff and so on. But..."

"It isn't like them to flee like that..." Bon continued frowning slightly, not liking what he was seeing. Something must have been going on. "Even if their home was on fire. They would only stay to look if it could be saved. Something must have scared them off... But there are not many things that could make an imp to leave its house... Damn, this doesn't sound good."

He turned his eyes back to the alley where the imps had just ran from and took a step further. He knew there were only a handful of reasons for the imps to be so scared, and most of them didn't sound very reassuring. Especially the one with a possessed family member in the house.

But they would never know if they didn't check it out.

"C'mon, let's go to see what's going on."

"But shouldn't we call Mr. Okumura first?" he heard Renzou hesitating before hurrying after him and Konekomaru. "Not that I don't trust you guys, but... You know..."

"We'll call him if we happen to encounter something we would be unable to handle", Bon said taking a look around the alley, just to make sure that whatever had scared the imps off wouldn't be lurking around to attack them. He eyed the dark trash bags, fallen trash bins, soaked cardboard boxes and everything possible in case something decided to jump on them. "After all, we were supposed to work today as our own. So no calling teachers until we have to."

He heard Renzou gulping behind him as they made their way towards the other end of the alley. None of them saw a pair of glowing red eyes and orange lines appearing in the middle of the darkness right behind them. Nor did they hear a faint hiss and a quiet screech, when the sharp nails landed on the hard asphalt. They didn't notice how a nearby paper ball caught on fire. They were completely unaware of the creature walking behind them.

"So, what should we be expecting?" the pinkhead asked, not being comfortable with the growing silence. "A dragon? Someone from the Baal? Bugs?"

"Well, the best scenario would be that there had been an exorcist chasing them away. But most exorcists don't bother with them, since they rarely cause any harm", Konekomaru told him. "Then there are the most of the mid, high or even upper level demons... Usually one of them is possessing a family member and throws the imps out."

"So you are telling me we're going to butt heads with a high level demon?" Renzou shouted shocked and stopped right at his tracks to pull his staff out. "Are you trying to get us killed!?"

"And how are you even going to pass the exorcist exam...? You're almost as bad as Rin..." Bon muttered rubbing the bridge of his nose and turning around to face the pink haired teen. "If you would have listened during the classes you would know that there's also a handful of low-level demons who are pretty good at scaring imps off. For example ghouls, home elfs, evil ghosts..." he trailed off as something bright caught his eye. That dumpster wasn't on fire earlier, was it? But then he saw a pair of red eyes nearing them, and everything around them was suddenly set on fire. "...salamanders..."

The creature following them hissed and narrowed its eyes while crouching down. And then it leaped.

Next time: Hmmm... I wonder how Rin and Shiemi's demon hunting is going ;)

"See ya next week", I said... like two weeks ago... :'D

Let's blame school or something. Or my upcoming finals. Or demonology (btw, it's pretty interesting and addicting stuff D:). Or the fact that I have been re-reading the whole ANEX series... And damn I'm frustrated with the newest chapters, Renzou and the whole Illuminati thing... ._.

There's not much BonxRin in this pretty fillerish chapter... Sorry, but it had to be written. Well, at least the second part, I have no idea where the first one came from... Oh, and we're halfway there, only six or seven chapters left! (And to think this was supposed to be a oneshot...) :'D

Thank you my amazing readers and reviewers~

Unfortunately from now on I won't be able to update weekly. I'll try to, but I really have to study for my final exams, too. I'll try to get back at you (hopefully) soon!