Chapter 7: Fight!
A/N: I'm so sorry I've been gone forever! However, it's summer break now, which means I'll try to update more often than… never. I'm so glad everyone that everyone liked the previous chapter! I was in a rush to put out a new chapter, because I'm leaving for camp tomorrow. Anyways, Enjoy!
It's been three days since Rin started to attend Northern School of Academic Excellence, and despite the fact that he's always sleeping in class, never paying attention, and forgetting homework, Rin seems to be doing better academically than ever. Granted, his highest grade is a D+, but even that is an improvement over the F average from middle school.
The fourth day of classes, Rin was much more jittery than usual. This was most likely due to the little sleep he got the night before (he was up late reading the most recent of his favorite cheesy romance mangas; "Love in the Lost City"). In an effort to wake up quickly, he downed three large mugs of black coffee in little time and left for school.
Oh. My. God, thought Rin as he glanced out the window. It was a little overcast, and looked like it could rain any second, but that didn't stop Rin's thoughts.
I gotta sneak outta here while the time is right.
Mrs. Arai was droning on in the background on the different social classes in Gehenna, completely and utterly determined to explain every single detail of the lower-middle class and how most of the demons were lazy, not doing anything. Jessica had fallen asleep, Mikari was doodling, Albert was playing with a coal tar that he had just taken hostage, and Matt left to go to the bathroom 20 minutes ago.
"You see kids," Mrs. Arai began to state matter-of-factly, "Never marry a demon from the lower-middle class or the lower class. They are completely worthless, like my ex-husband. He never once stopped complaining about how awful Assiah was, or how there weren't enough demons…"
Oh my god oh my god I'm gonna try to escape now. Rin's thoughts were all over the place, but he was determined to get out of that building alive.
"Hey Mrs. Arai!" Rin shouted. His sudden outburst woke up Jessica and snapped everyone else to attention.
"Rin," Mrs. Arai sighed, exasperated, "go run a few laps around the school. You're killing me."
Without warning, Rin grabbed his sword, bounded out of his desk (knocking it over along with several others), and bolted out of the room, sprinting to the empty lot behind the school.
The cool and crisp fall air collided with Rin's warm body, instantly sending shivers down the teenager's back. But not even a snowstorm could stop Rin from enjoying this somewhat rare moment of freedom.
The sun was suddenly masked by an off-white cloud, and Rin plopped down onto the dry grass, slamming the Koumaken down on the ground next to him. Despite being so full of energy only moments before, it felt nice to sit on the grass, much better than sitting in the hard chairs that in the classroom. Rin sighed and shut his eyes as the sun started to peek out from behind the cloud.
Just as Rin started to fall asleep, a sharp stinging sensation on his forehead suddenly pulling Rin back down to earth. Opening one eye, he noticed Mrs. Arai and the rest of the class standing in a semicircle around him. Albert threw another small rock at Rin, this time hitting him in the cheek.
Rin started to stand up, disgruntled. "What was that for?" he asked, as he brushed some dirt off of his pants.
"You looked like you wouldn't wake up unless we hurt you," Albert said nonchalantly, picking up another small rock and holding it menacingly, "So I did."
It wasn't a secret that Rin was hard to wake up. If he was tired and needed sleep, Rin could sleep through practically anything. One time, when Rin was eight years old, he managed to sleep through a level five earthquake that hit the monastery. Eventually Rin woke up, only to find that the older part of the monastery had collapsed.
Rin stretched, when a group of about seven people entered the empty lot from the side opposite the demons. Matt, Albert, Mikari, and Jessica all seemed to cringe slightly at the sight of these people, whereas Mrs. Arai just grinned, and walked over to meet the other group.
"Who hired the street performers?" Rin said to Matt, nodding in the direction of Mrs. Arai.
"They're who we jokingly call 'Demons'," Matt said, his eyes never leaving the group of 'Demons', "In reality, they're the exorcist class.'
"The hell is this? There's an exorcist class here?" Rin asked angrily, wondering what other secrets this school, any school, had to hide.
"Yep," Albert chimed in. His gaze, too, never left the group of exorcists, "Every few months the exorcist class and the demon class have a face-off. It's a mock battle, intended to be a real-life simulation of a fight between demons and exorcists."
"Except, every time we come out here to fight, the exorcists have won. They have a whole course dedicated to fight training, whereas the closest thing we have to fight training is gym class," Matt said once again. He leaned in closer to Rin and quietly added, "They don't want to give the demon class any training so that the we are unable to fight. Weak demons equals easier exorcist victory."
Rin looked back at the group across the field. There were eight people in the exorcist class, and all but two were dressed in the same all-black uniform as Rin. The two people who weren't dressed in the uniforms were adults, and Rin assumed them as being the teachers. Mrs. Arai waddled to the center of the field, in between the two groups.
"Alright, everyone," Mrs. Arai shouted, grabbing hold of everyone's attention. The two other teachers had magically transported from the group of exorcists to where Mrs. Arai was standing, each one looming over the stout demon teacher like a skyscraper.
"Welcome again to the semi-annual Exorcist class-Demon class fight," The man on Mrs. Arai's left said in a loud, booming voice. He was dressed in all black, but had on a long, flowing grey coat as well, which appeared to have at least twenty pockets. With slightly graying hair that matched his coat, his face was very chiseled, and had a scar from a burn covering part of his face.
"I am Jirou-sensei, and this is Jun," He gestured to the other man standing next to him. He was dressed similarly to Jirou, only in a camouflage-green color with the sleeves rolled up, exposing multiple scars on his forearms. Messy red hair framed his soft face, and made his wise green eyes stick out even more. He quickly added, "And this is Mrs. Arai," nodding towards the stout teacher in front of him.
"Today, we fight. Of course, it is just for fun and for practice, so without any further ado, let the training begin!" Jun's boyish voice rang out, a hint of excitement poorly masked.
Jun pulled out a crumpled sheet of paper from one of his many coat pockets, unfolded it, and started once again. "First up to fight today are," he paused for a moment for dramatic effect, "Albert and Nigel!"
Albert sulked to the center of the field, meeting there a tall and lanky boy with spiked brown hair. Nigel held a sheet of paper in his right hand and a bottle of clear liquid in the other. He seemed completely unentertained by the idea of fighting.
"You ready to get bea'en to a pulp?" Nigel said though a thick cockney accent, grinning. Albert turned around to face Mrs. Arai, his face pale white with fear, "Mrs. Ar- Arai, can I opt not to fight?"
Mrs. Arai snorted, and responded, "Everyone has to fight the person or people they are assigned. No dropping out, no quitting. Competitors, are you ready?"
Nigel cracked his knuckles, "Bloody Hell I am."
Albert managed to squeak out, "Nope."
BANG.
A starting gun was fired by Jun, causing everyone standing at either side of the field to jump. Immediately, it was apparent that Albert was far in over his head.
Nigel started to chant mantras, with a paper in his mouth and the bottle clasped tightly between both of his hands. Albert was paralyzed with fear, not knowing how to respond or how to fight the looming exorcist. Suddenly, Nigel came out of his trance-like state and dumped the liquid on Albert. A blood-curdling scream resonated throughout the field, as Albert collapsed on the ground, writhing. Nigel turned to walk away, but then stopped, and kicked some dirt into Albert's face, before walking away.
"Tha' was disappointin'," Nigel scoffed as he sauntered back to the exorcists. Everyone (except Rin, who had gotten distracted by a butterfly) rushed over to Albert's side. Mikari, Jessica, and Mrs. Arai carried Albert off, while Matt, Jirou-sensei, and Jun followed close behind.
Leaving Satan's son alone.
With a group of exorcists.
Having finally become bored with the butterfly, Rin turned his attention to the empty space that his class once inhabited.
"Where the hell did everyone go?" He wondered out loud, quickly scanning the perimeter for any signs of Jessica, Mikari, Albert, Matt or Mrs. Arai.
The circle of exorcists suddenly broke, when Nigel turned towards Rin and responded, "They all went to help your mate."
"None of those people are my 'mates'. Hell, I barely even know most of them." Rin responded shifting around the red bag slung over his shoulder. Something in his gut was telling him that this was a terrible situation to be in, and that he should run away as soon as possible. Then again, that could have been the four cups of coffee from earlier.
"Yo, Demon spawn," a shorter, blonde girl in the exorcist class said, strutting towards Rin.
"Whaddya want, Exorcist scum?" Rin responded, trying to appear as tall and intimidating as possible next to the little girl.
"You don't look like a demon." She stated as she walked around Rin, pausing a moment to inspect Rin for any signs of his demon heritage.
"That's because, well-"
"I don't care, Blue Eyes. You got the ears, the teeth, that's all the evidence I need." The short girl stopped circling Rin like a turkey vulture, and just stood still next to him.
For once, Rin was speechless.
"Anyways, I don't recognize you. You a new demon here at Northern School for Yadda Yadda?"
Rin took advantage of the fact that she was standing still, and used her as an arm rest, "Yes, I'm new, Shorty. Transferred here three days ago."
A loud gasp came from the exorcist group, as Shorty swatted Rin's arm away, "I get it, I'm short." She reached for the waist of her skirt, and managed to produce a full length sword from seemingly nowhere. She pointed the shining tip at Rin's heart, "But I'm not joking around when I say I'm going to rid the world of demon scum."
Rin grinned, and took the red bag off of his shoulder, pointing it in the same way as Shorty was, "And I'm the person who's going to defeat Satan."
Shorty started to cackle, followed by a chorus of laughter from the exorcist students, "You? But you're a Demon! That's hilarious!"
Rin quickly jabbed her in her stomach, pushing her down onto her back, "Say whatever you want Shorty, but I'm being serious. Satan killed my fa-" Rin caught himself, and quickly recovered, "He killed someone close to me. He fucked up my life. I'll never forgive that bastard."
Another person from the group of exorcists ran over to help Shorty up. He, too, had blonde hair the same shade as the girl, only was about as tall as Rin. Shorty stared at Rin in disbelief as she stumbled to her feet, "You pushed me. You pushed me." She quickly stood up and grabbed her sword. "Yun," she said to the person next to her, "Help me beat the crap out of this little piece of Demon shit, alright?"
"Of course, Riku," Yun pulled out a sword in the same fashion as Shorty, er, Riku did. The two stood back-to-back, swords pointed at Rin.
"Go." Riku snarled, not hesitating to attack Rin.
Rin took the Koumaken out of the bag, being careful to not unsheathe it. Using it to defend himself from the pointy swords, Rin dodged the blades with bulldozer-like precision, yet ballerina-like grace. Riku was much more offensive than Yun; attacking Rin whenever she got the chance. It took a lot of effort, but Rin was able to dodge most of her attacks. Yun seemed to just stand to the side, occasionally jumping in to take a beating in place of Riku if Rin decided to attack.
Soon enough, Riku was out of breath, "Damn it Blue Eyes, you got me. But good luck standing up to my brother; He's got the strength of a demon and is pretty good at wielding a blade."
Riku stumbled into the waiting arms of the group of students across the field and collapsed.
Whoa, Rin thought, She's already that tired? We haven't even been fighting for five minutes.
"You ready, Blue Eyes?" Yun asked teasingly, swinging his sword like a pendulum.
"I'll beat any ass that's handed to me," Rin responded, slightly mesmerized by the swinging blade in front of him.
Once again, Yun took advantage of the hypnotized demon and attacked, jabbing Rin in his upper-left arm.
Rin winced, underestimating the speed and strength with which the blonde teenager moved. "The fuck was that for?" Rin shouted angrily, grabbing his arm and trying to stop the flow of blood. The would quickly began to heal, however, and the pain slowly went away.
Yun stared, wide-eyed at this self-healing wound, "How the hell can you do that?"
Rin grinned, and let go of his arm, "I dunno, but now I'm ready to kick your ass."
And so, Rin charged at Yun with the sheathed Koumaken pointed forward. Yun was nimble enough to dodge most of Rin's attacks, however, occasionally he would drop his guard, allowing Rin to quickly jab Yun. Eventually, Rin gave up on using the Koumaken to attack, and instead started to throw punches whenever close enough. This proved to be a better tactic, because Yun was unable to dodge the attacks as well as when Rin was using the Koumaken.
Rin was able to land a few punches, but that didn't stop Yun's barrage of attacks. The two separated, slightly out of breath and tired. Yun quickly jumped Rin, and pushed Rin onto his back, blade dangerously close to Rin's throat.
"You feel like giving up now, before I slit your throat?" Yun asked, his voice raspy and breathy.
Rin struggled to get his arms onto Yun's shoulders, and pushed Yun away as hard as he could, Sending Yun flying at least twenty feet, destroying most of the wooden shed in the corner of the field and a good portion of the fence in the area as well.
"I'll never give up," Rin smirked managing to jump the same distance and landing right next the Yun's crash site.
Yun pushed away the rubble, and struggled to get up. However, his stamina was admirable, and Yun managed to pick up his sword once again and land a heafty blow on Rin's arm once more. Rin stumbled backwards, not expecting to get hit again. Infuriated, Rin and Yun once again started fighting furiously.
At some point during the fight, Rin's class and all of the teachers returned, and were watching the fight unfold. Jirou-sensei finally snapped to his senses, and walked away from the scene of the fight, dialing a number into his phone.
"Yes, It's Jirou. We have a rogue at Northern School of Academic Excellence."
Back to the fight, Rin and Jirou had managed to destroy more of the fence and a small portion of the building on the property behind the school, which turned out to be a noodle restaurant. Rin had once again sent Yun flying into a building, and was about to land a punch on Yun when he felt a hand grab his collar and pull him away.
"What the hell do you think you're doing? I'm just about to beat his ass-" Rin started to say, turning around to face his captor.
"Yu-Yukio? What the hell are you doing here?"
I won't be able to update again for a while, because I'm going away. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, feel free to leave a comment!
