A/N: Kuro's voice is in italics and brackets because I'd rather make it look a little different than include all the typed-out cat noises.

#6.2: A Knight on the Town

"Shiemi! Wait for me!"

"Mana?" The blonde whirled around, eyes wide in surprise. "Is your meeting over already?"

"Yes, it is," Mana panted a little. "I thought it would take longer too… Would you still like to go out?"

"Sure! Are you still okay with Rin coming too?"

Mana held back a little so Shiemi could lead the way and slipped the envelope from Mephisto into the inside pocket of her school blazer. "Sure. Oh, I forgot I still had my sword!"

"How do you forget about that?"

"I guess I'm just so used to it that I adjust it as needed – Sir Pheles didn't comment on it at all either." Mana shrugged with a chuckle. "I'll hold onto it just in case we run into trouble."

-Flames-

["Rin! Rii-iin! Yukio's coming!"] Kuro's yowling was accompanied by padded footsteps.

Crap! His younger brother wasn't supposed to be back yet! Rin hastily shoved Mana's file back into the pile of papers on Yukio's desk and flopped into his own chair just as his twin brother opened the door to their room.

"Rin, did you tell Kuro that I'd died or something? He seems way too happy to see me – what did you do this time?"

"Read up for class…for once…"

"How? You're holding that upside down."

"I am? Haha, thanks, glasses face! I was wondering why I had to keep borrowing your dictionary!" Rin laughed nervously as he flipped his book on summoning right way up. "Guess it's time for a study break! Dinner just needs to be heated up a little."

["He's not buying it, Rin."] Kuro hopped up on Rin's bed to better observe.

"Okay, you got me. I was looking at Mana's file because I wanted to find out why you wouldn't let me spar with her."

"Rin," Yukio sighed after a second or so, "I was going to tell everyone tomorrow before we started on the new mystery since the next part of Mana's exam will be on how she works with the entire group."

"Do you really think that would give me enough time to rethink my fighting strategies?"

"No, but you're not supposed to let your flames do everything for you anyway. Can't you at least try to be as adaptable as Mana?"

"What does she have to do with this conversation?" Rin frowned at the insult.

"She is doing her best to help her groupmates even though she barely knows anything about them. Therefore, we have to-"

"Hey, hold up there! How do you think we feel, knowing so little about her?! The makeup, the constant apologizing, her clan's… Sure, you're going to tell us about her history tomorrow, but have you really seen how we've interacted with her? It's so…" Rin sighed in frustration. "It's like how I was treated before I started controlling my flames better."

"Rin…" While Yukio was still mad about being cut off so abruptly, he realized that his older brother did have a point. "I will ask Sir Pheles about what I can tell the class - and what I can tell Miss Mana - tomorrow."

A knock from the front door broke the budding silence between the two.

"Hello?! Rin, are you there?!"

Recognizing Shiemi's voice, Rin excitedly jumped up and threw his window open. "Hey there! What's up?!"

"Mana and I wanted to eat in town tonight, but weren't sure where to go. Would you like to come help us out?"

"Would I ever! I know some great sukiyaki places that are close by!"

"Whatever happened to reading up for class…?" Yukio commented in such a mood-killing tone that Rin fell flat on his face as he rushed to the door.

"Pleeeeeaase, Yukio?! Can't I put the rest of it off for a couple of hours?! I'll even bring you back something if you want!"

["Ooh, ooh, bring me back some catnip wine, Rin! Or some nice fish!"] Kuro mrowed excitedly.

"Oh all right, but you have to make sure that Shiemi and Mana get home safely."

"Can do, sir!"

Yukio smiled a bit to himself as he closed the window, making sure the trio were safely on their way before drawing the shades. He would have joined them if lesson plans wrote themselves.

-Flames-

"Oh, you brought your sword along too." Mana realized after a couple minutes of walking and Shiemi's occasional attempts to start a conversation.

"It just means that Shiemi will be well-protected if anything happens to us tonight!" Rin awkwardly laughed. "Turn left here."

Mana smiled a little. "Hopefully nothing happens. I'd like a break from being an exorcist."

"What do you mean?" Shiemi asked.

"Oh," The new knight looked away from her companions' curious stares. "It's just that, at home, I always had to be ready to fight something. No one left the village without a plan that included what to do if a demon attacked, and that plan was followed to the letter. Getting to be a bit spontaneous is…nice."

Rin's nose wrinkled a bit. "That sounds horrible. And dating must've been a nightmare."

"Dating was the worst! Sorry – I would get in big trouble for going to the restaurant next door if the one we'd wanted to go to closed early, or we spent so much time getting ice cream so we missed the movie we were going to see."

So you dated?!" Shiemi's eyes grew huge. "Did you have your fist kiss already, then?"

"No; we only saw each other for a week before he got tired of trying to work around my elders' scheduling."

"Well shame on them for not letting you have at least one proper date." Rin huffed. "Hey, there's the food cart I wanted you guys to try! Everything is 500 yen or lower."

The food cart in question was a nice little portable shack set up by the sidewalk next to a small green space with a walking trail and a fountain in the middle. The attendant was currently changing one of the lights hung around the shack's roof but quickly ducked inside the moment he realized he was about to have customers.

"Rin, it's been a while! Welcome back!"

"Hi, Mister Sato! I brought some friends with me tonight. This is Shiemi Moiyama, and this is Mana Tani…"

"Taninaka." Mana finished for him with a polite bow.

"Oh, so these 'friends' aren't just people you've made up, eh?" Mister Sato chortled. "Then I'll help you keep them around by offering a fifty percent discount tonight."

"We'll take it!"

-Flames-

"Mmmm, this is just about as good as your food is, Rin!" Shiemi smiled happily as she wiped her face clean.

"Thanks! I may have given him some tips on how to make it better last time I came," Rin smiled back proudly.

Mana ate the last few bites of her food while rolling her eyes at Rin's bragging. He'd been just as nice as Shiemi made him out to be once he'd gotten to know her a little.

"What do you think, Mana?"

"I think that this is the best sukiyaki I've ever had. Thanks for the recommendation, Rin, and for buying our food for us."

"Hey, it's the least I could do since you both kicked butt earlier! Just don't tell Yukio since it's not in the budget. Don't worry though – I save enough from buying groceries on sale that he'll never notice it's gone! Bwahahahaa!"

"Rin!" Shiemi giggled despite herself.

"Don't encourage him, Shiemi." Mana pretended to scold her. "But seriously, Rin, if Yukio's so bent on budgeting, how do you manage to keep up your sword?"

"Keep up my sword? You mean like maintenance?"

"Yes, exactly that. I'll need to replace parts of my sword care kit sooner or later so I was wondering if you knew of any places that have good quality supplies for decent prices."

"Uhh, I actually just use the academy stuff." Rin shrugged.

"You don't? I can help you get one started for when you're an exorcist – they're great to have if you're not very close to a town while on a mission."

"It's okay, Mana, a few wipes with a wet cloth is all it really needs!"

"A wet cloth? You really should be using some sort of oil on it too. Do you mind if I take a look?"

"Uhh, no! I mean it's not rusting or anything so it must be okay, right? And isn't that kind of like working while you're trying to relax?"

"Not to me," Mana sighed. "I haven't had anyone to talk shop with for a while so I was a bit excited when I learned that you're also working toward being a knight."

Conflicted, Rin looked at Shiemi to see what she thought of the situation but the blonde seemed just as concerned as he was.

"How about if we see yours first, Mana?" Shiemi finally asked. "I'll get to see what a good sword looks like too."

"Okay." Mana nodded as she carefully drew her sword out of its sheath at her hip with a practiced movement. The blade's metal gleamed silver and gold as it caught the park's lights and the glow of the moon above them.

"Whaaa…"

"My grandfather and my great uncle taught me everything I know about caring for it, and they were master swordsmen."

"No contest, yours makes mine look like a rustbucket!" Rin held his hands up in mock surrender. "Oh look at the time! We should get Shiemi home and you to the girls' dorm before moley four-eyes tracks me down!"

"You're right! I didn't tell mom that I'd be out this late!" Shiemi gasped in shock. "Maybe you can show Mana your katana some other time, Rin?"

"Sure, some other time is fine with me." Mana nodded reluctantly as she sheathed her own sword. She couldn't hide her disappointment any more.

"Tell you what," Rin turned to face her with a small sigh. "I'll let you look at it tomorrow after the next mystery. That way you can show me how to clean it since it'll be nice and dirty after I kick some demon butt!"

"But what if I kick butt first?"

"Oh-ho, I accept your challenge! Loser has to –"

"The loser can buy the winner lunch!" Shiemi clapped her hands excitedly. "It's something the both of you would enjoy, and the rest of us can appreciate too!"

"I'm interested." Mana's grin hesitantly grew into a confident smile. "Challenge accepted, Rin."

"I was thinking that the loser would bow down as they admitted defeat, but that works too."

The two knights-in-training shook hands to seal the deal before throwing their trash away and starting the walk back to campus.

-Flames-

"What was that?" Shiemi hesitantly asked as something rustled in a nearby ally. They were just about to cross over the bridge that would deposit them by the academy's main gate so nothing should have been able to get close to them.

Rin moved to stand behind the girls and carefully rested a hand on the hilt of his katana. "What was what?"

"That!"

["There you are, Rin!"]

Both Mana and Shiemi let out huge sighs of relief as a small black tuxedo cat with luminous yellow eyes stepped into the circle of light cast by the lamp they were standing under…and then promptly leapt at Rin's face.

"Heeey, Kuro! Did glasses-face send you out after me?" Rin laughed. "Oh, your sake! I'll try to get you extra fish tomorrow to make up for that, okay?"

The cat humphed but settled on Rin's shoulder anyway. ["Of course you didn't remember – you were out with her!"]

"Is that Rin's cat?" Mana quietly asked Shiemi.

"Yes."

"Well he doesn't seem to like us much right now."

Shiemi frowned as Rin and Kuro looked at Mana with similar surprised expressions.

"Wait, you can understand him?"

"Yes… My clan's familiar is a nekomata so that may have something to do with it?"

["I like that someone else can understand me, but I really wish it wasn't her! She smells like a rival! Fight her, Rin! Make her go away!"]

"Wait, Kuro! No!"

But the damage was already done. The cat sidhe had managed to push Rin's katana far enough out of its sheath to send bright blue flames shooting into the crisp night air.

A/N: This is what I wanted to put up for everyone on New Year's Eve, but I was having some car issues and wasn't able to do so then. However, to make up for it, I'm also putting up a bit of accompanying artwork. I'm a bit of a perfectionist (especially when it comes to Mana and Mephisto) but I plan on linking one piece per chapter.

The image for Chapter 2 is now up! Go to TaffetaRhodes on Deviantart and seek it out if you like, as FF doesn't like outside links much, or switch to AO3 and use the link provided at the bottom of Chapter 2 itself.