Yoooo… iz me. Been a while, eh?

:Awkward silence:

Okay, so, uh, yeah. This isn't technically a real chapter. It's more of a side story. It doesn't move the plot along at all, just a lil fluffy moment in time. For fluff purposes only. And no, this doesn't exactly mean I'm starting this fic up again. It's more of a 'just to see if you're still interested for future reference' kind of thing. But the real reason I'm writing this is because of Hoshigami Sheia. She was so sweet and asked me so politely to continue that I couldn't resist. She was too cute. The compliments had nothing to do with it. Nope. Not at all. :shifty eyes:

This chapter is dedicated to Hoshigami Sheia!

DISCLAIMER: Even in my absence, I still do not own Blue Exorcist. Dammit. I'd hoped Kazue Kato would let down her guard for the poor little girl who just had surgery, but nope. She guards Rin like a wolf does her cubs. So Rin is not yet mine… yet. YET! YET I SAY!

Rin lay on his bed, motionless, as he had been for the past several hours. It was the middle of the night, but sleep didn't come easy these days. Or at all, really. He and the ceiling above his head were quickly on their way to becoming friends with benefits. Moving for the first time in hours, Rin turned to look at the bed across from his.

Yukio, unlike his older brother, was sleeping soundly. Rin looked on with envy. But staring at his little brother's sleeping face, it reminded him of a time in the past. It was a night a lot like this one, sleepless, when they were children…

"Yukio… Yukio, wake up!"

A ten year-old Yukio blinked his eyes open sleepily to see his brother standing over his bed. He had a glint in his eyes that told Yukio this wasn't going to be good. His brother was up to something again.

"Nii-chan… What do you want? It's… ONE in the morning! Go back to sleep." Yukio said grumpily, hoping to deter his brother before any mischief started. No such luck.

"But I can't sleep, Yukio. C'mon, let's go do something fun together, like go to the park."

"NO. It's way too late for something like that. What if there are creepy people there? And father wouldn't want us to go out at night alone."

"But Yukio… please? Pretty please? I promise nothing bad will happen. We'll just hang out, like always." Rin pleaded, complete with the dreaded Puppy Eyes of Doom. He knew no one could resist it. Especially when he stuck his lower lip out slightly. But that was for emergencies only.

"I don't think so, Nii-chan… father would be really mad…" Yukio could feel his resolve crumbling when Rin made that face, but he wouldn't go down without a fight.

"Pleassssse? I'll even let you have the swing that goes the highest…"

"I don't think this is a good idea…"

Time to bring out the big guns. Rin stuck his lower lip in a pout and looked up at Yukio with wide eyes. "Please, Yukio? For me?"

"…That's not going to work forever, you know. Someday you're going to get old and you won't be cute anymore. And that will be a glorious day." Yukio grumbled, but he stepped out of his bed regardless. He had a feeling that Rin would sneak out even if he couldn't convince him to come along, and he wouldn't feel comfortable letting his brother go out at night alone.

"Thank you so much, Yukio~!" Rin grinned and hugged his brother tightly.

"Yeah, yeah. Let's just get this over with." Yukio sighed.

Rin grabbed Yukio's hand and led him to a window that opened easily, so that no one would hear them sneak out. Rin jumped out the window so easily that Yukio wondered if he'd had some practice with this sort of thing. He really did NOT like that idea. With Rin's careless nature, there was no end to the troubles that he could get into alone at night.

"Nii-chan…" Yukio said hesitantly as he landed outside the house after jumping gently out the window.

"Hmmm?"

"You've done this before, haven't you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Rin said with an overly innocent look on his face that told Yukio everything he needed to know.

"I'm your twin. I know when you're lying."

Rin stuck his tongue out childishly and ran ahead, leaving Yukio behind.

"Hey, wait, nii-chan! It's not safe to be out alone at night!" Yukio yelled, but not so loud as to wake anyone up in the neighborhood, and chased after his older brother. Rin was laughing, apparently deciding that he wanted to play tag.

And so Yukio was forced to chase after his older brother the entire way to the park, leaving him breathless and irritated when they finally reached their destination. Rin giggled at his brother's misery as he climbed a tree. He could tell Yukio was close to his breaking point, and he didn't want to be anywhere close when that happened. Plus, it was simply fun to annoy him.

"Nii-chan, get down from there! NOW. You could fall!" Yukio shouted.

"I'm not going to fall, Yukio." Rin said indignantly and continued to swing his legs from the branch he was sitting on.

"That tree doesn't look very safe."

"It'sfi-"Just as Rin said that, the branch shook and snapped. He tried to grab onto another one, but it was too late. He was falling.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Rin screamed, and Yukio screamed along with him out of fear for his brother. Thankfully, he had already been underneath Rin's spot in the tree while he was scolding him. He only had to run a few steps and caught his brother just in time.

"Owww…" The Okumura twins said simultaneously as they lay bruised on the ground. Yukio had broken Rin's fall, and now his older brother lay sprawled out on top of him, in too much shock and pain to move.

"I TOLD you the branches didn't look stable." Yukio grumbled, still slightly out of breath. He wanted to punch his brother, but couldn't find the strength to move yet.

"Yeah, yeah, Mr. Know-It-All. Want me to write a formal apology?" Rin shot back.

"In cursive."

"As if." Rin slowly got off his brother and onto his feet, groaning all the while from the pain. He had a few bruises that he knew would look just lovely in the morning. He'd have to be sure to wear long sleeves tomorrow to cover them up so as to not arouse suspicion where they came from.

Rin headed for the swing set. When he noticed his brother wasn't following him, he turned around and gave him an expectant look. "Are you coming?"

"Ugh. Just leave me to here to die." Yukio waved Rin away from his spot on the ground.

Rin rolled his eyes. "I'm not leaving you behind, idiot. Here," Rin held out his hand to Yukio to help him up. Yukio stared at it for several seconds before sighing and taking the offered hand. His older brother smiled widely as he helped him up.

The two brothers walked hand in hand towards the swing set. Although Yukio admittedly didn't want to be here in the first place, he had to say that the night was quite beautiful. The moon was full and shining brightly, giving the two of them plenty of light to play by. He could hear the chirping of crickets hiding in the bushes, making the park seem incredibly peaceful.

"Remember, you promised me the swing that goes the highest, nii-chan." Yukio smiled lightly as he sat down on his designated swing.

"Aw, man, why did I do that again?" Rin pouted as he sat on the swing next to his brother. He didn't stay down for long though. He quickly had a smile on his face and was kicking his feet to go higher on the swing.

Yukio joined him and it wasn't long before they were giggling and engaging in a contest to see who could go the highest. Yukio won of course, having the only swing that wasn't damaged in any way. When Rin grew tired of swinging (and losing) he waited until his swing was as high as it could go before jumping off and landing swiftly on his feet.

"Nii-chan, that was dangerous!" Yukio scolded from his swing.

"Whatever. Now it's your turn, Yukio. Jump!"

"What? No way."

"C'mon, jump! Jump! Jump! Jump!" Rin chanted encouragingly.

Unable to ignore Rin's chants, Yukio gave in. He gulped, closed his eyes, and when his swing was at the highest point he jumped off. Due to the physical training he'd recently begun with his father, he was also able to land swiftly on his feet. This surprised him though, as he wasn't used to being able to measure up to his older brother.

"Whoa, cool, Yukio! You landed perfectly, just like I did!" Rin ran over and hugged Yukio tightly. Yukio laughed and hugged him back.

After another round of tag and searching for lightning bugs but not finding any, Yukio declared it was time to go home. Rin reluctantly agreed because they only had a couple hours before their father woke them up for school.

The twins held hands on their way home, simply because it was comfortable. Rin wouldn't admit it, but since there were no streetlights in this area and the moon was blocked by buildings it was a lot darker and that made him a little nervous. He just wanted to be sure his brother was right there alongside him.

As the siblings passed by a convenience store near their home a shadow suddenly jumped out of a nearby alley. Startled, Rin and Yukio stopped in their tracks. The shadow stepped closer to them and was revealed to be an older boy they had never seen before. But something about his stance and the look in his eyes made the brothers take several steps back.

"Listen here, little brats. I don't know what you're doing out alone at this hour, but I bet you got some candy money with you or something. Hand it over and no one gets hurt."

"We don't have any! Leave us alone!" Rin shouted and stood in front of Yukio protectively.

"I said hand it over." The teenager hissed and stalked toward them threateningly. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pocket knife. He waved it around to make sure the kids saw it.

"And I said we don't have any money with us. Are you stupid?" Rin growled. He tensed for a fight, willing to take on someone much older if it meant keeping Yukio safe. He could feel Yukio trembling slightly at the sight of the knife. Rin put his hand over Yukio's briefly to calm him down but didn't take his eyes off the attacker.

The teenager's eyes narrowed in anger at the remark and swiftly reached for Yukio's arm, to presumably grab him. Rin didn't give him that chance. Fast as lightning Rin punched the mugger in the gut several times. He didn't stop even when the teen started coughing up blood and crumbled to the ground.

"Nii-chan!" Yukio's voice pulled Rin out of his bloodlust-induced haze. He blinked and saw the blood on his hands and covering his shirt. "It's okay now," Yukio whispered. "He can't hurt us. Let's get out of here right now, okay?"

Slowly, Rin nodded. He let go of the teenager's shirt and wiped the blood on his pants. Yukio reached for his hand and he took it, holding it tightly. The two ran as fast as they could the rest of the way home, not stopping to catch their breath.

Sneaking back in proved as easy as sneaking out. The siblings climbed through the window and crept to their room, collapsing on their beds with exhaustion.

"Never again," Yukio groaned. "I am NEVER going out with you in the middle of the night ever again."

"Ditto," Rin whispered back.

Ignoring his fatigue, Yukio forced himself to get off his bed and over to his brother's. He stood in front of Rin's curious figure and said quietly, "Thanks. For saving me. Again." Though his tone was sincere, he didn't exactly seem happy that he had to be 'rescued' again.

Sensing this, Rin grinned and said just as quietly "You too. Thanks for saving me tonight, remember?"

Yukio's eyes widened. He had forgotten about catching Rin from the tree. He gave a rare warm smile to Rin. "You're welcome. Even if I don't save you as much, I'm sure you'd fade to nothing if I wasn't around to keep you out of trouble."

Rin stuck his tongue out, but he knew it was true. "Then let's make a pact. Let's promise to always save each other, no matter what. Agreed?"

"Agreed." The brothers pinky-swore, making it official.

"Good!" Rin laughed. "I'll always have your back, and you'll always have mine." He crawled under the covers of his bed and patted the spot next to him in a signal for Yukio to join him.

Yukio did as he was told and climbed in close next to his older brother. Just as they were about to drift off to sleep he whispered a single word.

"Always?"

"Always." Rin answered back.

"Always."

It had been a crazy night full of unexpected twists that Rin wouldn't care to repeat, but it had been one of the best nights of his life. Even if they had forgotten to close the window so their old man had found out they'd snuck out. Cleaning the entire Monastery by themselves for a week straight wasn't THAT bad…

Rin glanced at Yukio's bed again. He knew his brother didn't get much sleep because of his crazy work schedule, but he couldn't help it. (If asked, Rin would say "Satan made me do it." It was actually half true; Satan wouldn't let him sleep. Damn demon. But at least he wasn't actually present in Rin's head at the moment, which was strange. Rin shrugged. He'd take his breaks where he could get them.)

Bracing himself for what he was about to do Rin padded over quietly to Yukio's side of the room. He took a deep breath for courage as this could possibly be hazardous to his health. Rin shook Yukio's shoulder and whispered "Yuuuukio? Are you asleep? Yukioooo?"

Rin immediately felt Yukio's body tense up. That wasn't a good sign. "Uh… Y-Yukio?"

Yukio slowly, ever so slowly, sat up in his bed. It made it all the more terrifying. Rin took a couple steps back for his safety. When his twin turned his glare on him he had to bite his tongue to keep from screaming like a girl in a horror movie. Yukio was that scary.

"Why?" Yukio hissed. "Why are you waking me up at one in the morning when you know I only get FOUR hours of sleep most nights?"

"Well, uh, you see…" Rin squeaked.

Yukio narrowed his eyes and Rin's fight-or-flight response really wanted him to choose flight. But the damage was already done, so Rin stood his ground. "… I-I couldn't sleep."

"…What?"

"I couldn't sleep okay? I was just lying there and it reminded me of that one time we snuck out in the middle of the night cause I couldn't sleep so I couldn't help myself and woke you up too." Rin spoke so fast Yukio could barely understand him.

Yukio sighed heavily. "Yes, I remember that night, Nii-san. You almost broke your neck falling out of a tree and I almost broke my ribs trying to catch you. And let's not forget we were almost mugged by a teenager. Good times." Yukio deadpanned.

"They were!" Rin said defensively.

"What about it?"

"Well, since you're already awake…"

"You're not seriously thinking of leaving the campus in the middle of the night are you?"

Rin just grinned and wagged his tail. He'd save the puppy eyes for later.

"…You are, aren't you?" Yukio groaned.

"You know me so well!"

XxXxXxXxXxXx

"I can't believe I let you talk me into this." Yukio grumbled as he walked through the cold night alongside his idiotic brother.

"And you said the Puppy Eyes of Doom would stop working!" Rin laughed.

"Shut up before I change my mind."

Rin smirked before taking off at a dead sprint. "Catch me if you can, Four Eyes~!"

Yukio ran after his twin with a growl. "Nii-san! Get back here! I'm not in the mood for this!"

"Pfft, you're just no fun anymore, Four Eyes." Rin sped up.

Rin and Yukio's impromptu game of 'tag' eventually led them to the local park. How and why Rin knew where it was, Yukio had no idea. When his older brother leapt up a tree, just as when they were children, he was tempted to just get out his guns and threaten Rin and be done with it. But he somehow managed to resist that very tempting urge and just settle for scolding his brother. Again.

"Nii-san, aren't you a little old for this?" Yukio said as he looked up the tree to where Rin was resting on a branch. Thankfully this one looked sturdy so that it would support his weight.

"Aw, come on, lighten up a little. You're just cranky." Rin teased.

"Yes, I am, so can we please leave?" Yukio rubbed his forehead, feeling a headache coming on.

"Nope."

"Didn't think so." He sighed. Looks like he'd just have to wait for his older brother to get whatever this was out of his system.

The younger Okumura was surprised when his brother suddenly jumped down several branches in the tree until he was only a few feet above Yukio's height. Rin gave a mischievous grin and with no hesitation proceeded to slap Yukio across the face with his tail.

"NII-SAN!" Yukio yelled angrily as he dodged a second swipe. There was no force behind the slap, but it was still annoying. His brother's tail continued to dangle lazily around his face, rubbing itself under his noise and atop his head. Yukio got fed up with it and managed to grab the fluffy tail before it could cause him to sneeze. The sound of Rin's laughter was grating on his nerves, so he took the opportunity to squeeze the tail in his hands tightly, putting an end to Rin's fun.

"OOOOWWWWWWW! Okay, okay, I'll step, let go!" Rin shouted.

Yukio gave the tail one last squeeze for good measure before letting it go. Rin immediately pulled his tail up next to him and rubbed the abused spot, muttering about "Sadistic Four-Eyes."

"You shouldn't have your tail out anyway, Nii-san. Anyone could see it, and how could we explain that?" Yukio chastised.

"No one's around at this hour. It's fine. Stop being a worrywart, you'll go grey." Rin shot back. He closed his eyes and abruptly let himself fall out of the tree.

"Whoa!" Yukio caught Rin in his arms just in time. "You IDIOT! What the hell did you do that for?" He snapped.

"I knew you'd catch me." Rin said with a smirk.

Yukio dropped Rin on the ground harshly.

Owwww. I was gonna say thank you, but not anymore." Rin huffed.

He turned to Yukio and with a certain glint in his eyes slapped Yukio across the face one more time with his tail. He was practically giggling as he ran toward the swing set at supersonic speed to outrun his brother.

"NII-SAN! Get back here!" Yukio yelled, once again chasing after his brother. But there was no anger in his voice this time. In fact, one could say that he looked… amused.

Rin jumped on a swing and begun swinging high. The whine of the chains as they swung, the crickets, the full moon just as bright as that memorable night… Yukio felt a wave of déjà vu come over him. But watching his brother laughing and the big, shockingly blue eyes be bright for the first time in a while, Yukio gave a soft smile to himself. Maybe this kind of thing isn't so bad every once in a while.

Yukio joined his twin at the swing set and thus a battle to see who could swing the highest was started. Unexpectedly, the younger Okumura won. After begrudgingly declaring Yukio the winner of the battle Rin jumped off the swing at its highest point, as he did five years ago.

"Your turn! Jump, Yukio!" Rin beckoned.

"And why should I?"

"Cause it's fun! Just do it. Jump! Jump! Jump!"

Yukio rolled his eyes, but jumped off the swing landing gracefully on his feet. Rin cheered for his brother, still not quite used to the idea of him being a fully trained exorcist perfectly capable of physical exercise that most people couldn't do.

After that the Okumura's played "tag" again (Rin enticing Yukio to chase him by slapping him with his tail) and even searching for lighting bugs (Rin enticing Yukio to help him search by slapping him with his tail). This time, Rin actually found one. He didn't have a jar though, so he couldn't capture it. He stared it in awe until it flew away.

When Yukio declared that it was time to leave because he had to get ready for work in a couple hours Rin went willingly. Which meant Yukio only had to drag him a little.

As they passed by a convenience store on their way back to their dorm a big, hulking man covered in tattoos came out of an alley.

"Okay, shortie, this is how it's going to go. You hand over your money and no one gets hurt. You too, glasses." The man said as he stepped towards Rin

"…Are you having déjà vu too, Nii-san?" Yukio said, totally unaffected by the burly man's threat. His hand twitched towards where he kept his gun out of instinct though he would never use it on a civilian. It was an intriguing thought at the moment, however. He really must be grouchy.

"Yup." Rin nodded.

"I said hand over your-" He was cut off when Rin punched him in the gut. The man doubled over in pain, moaning. Rin kicked him in the same spot for good measure effectively knocking the guy out.

"Well, that takes care of that." Rin grinned.

"Nii-san, are you sure that was the best idea? And put your tail away! You're lucky he didn't see it because it's dark." Yukio sighed.

"Hey, what's going on out here?" The shop keeper ran out and saw the man lying on the ground. "What did you do?!"

''He attacked us first!" Rin yelled. He grabbed Yukio's hand and they ran in the direction of their dorm. He didn't want to be here if that guy called the police.

When they got to their room Rin threw his hands up triumphantly and yelled "Yeah, we made it! A successful trip!"

"Yes, Mr. Master Escape Artist. You can let go of my hand now."

"Huh? Oh yeah, sorry." Rin dropped it like it was on fire. He hadn't realized he was still holding it. Strange. Must be a left over habit from when they young.

"Now let's go to sleep." Yukio's tone left no room for argument.

"Fine, fine." Rin changed into his sleep clothes and climbed into his bed. Just as Yukio was about to get into his own bed Rin waved Yukio over.

"What is it, Nii-san?" Yukio said in a curt tone. He wanted to get what little sleep he could in the time he had left until work. The park must have done the trick as his brother already seemed half asleep. He was surprised when Rin grabbed his hand again.

"Hey… do you still remember that one promise we made that night?" Rin said sleepily.

"Of course. I don't forget things easily like you do."

"It still… applies, right?"

Yukio's eyes widened. Whatever he had been expecting Rin to say, this wasn't it. His expression softened. "Yeah."

"Always?"

"Yes, always. Now go to sleep or you won't be able to wake up for school."

"Good…" Rin whispered and then he started lightly snoring.

Yukio sighed and turned to leave. But then he realized Rin's hand was still holding. Rin had a strong grip even in sleep, apparently. No matter how much he struggled it wouldn't loosen one bit. Yukio was tempted to shake Rin awake for revenge, but when he saw how peaceful his face was it was no use. He hadn't seen his brother's face that peaceful in a long, long time.

Groaning loudly in a last-ditch attempt to wake Rin up 'accidentally' he made himself comfortable on the side of Rin's bed. Before he drifted off to sleep he whispered one more time.

"Always."

I would LURVE it if you would let me know what ya thought? Please? Pwetty pwease? I shall give you the DREADED PUPPY EYES OF DOOM! So please review! But be gentle with me. I'm nervous about putting this out there, so… :Puppy Eyes of Doom:

:Shrugs: And hey, I'm open to the idea of starting this up again in the near future. But only if y'all want me to. I don't know if I can recover from the last real chapter, but I might be willing to try. So please let me know what you think.

Tee hee, sorry about all the long Authors Notes. I had a lot to say this time. I'll shut up now. :D But only if you REVIEW.