A/N: To those of you who celebrate: Happy Lunar New Year!
By some miracle, they made it on the last train out of the station. The few people on the bullet train stared at their dirty clothes and bandaged wounds, but they were fortunate to find a car that was mostly empty.
Everyone was exhausted, so it was no surprise when, twenty minutes into the train ride, Yukio was the only one awake. He closed his eyes and tried to let the quiet hum of the train relax him. But the moment he started to drift, pieces of the dream he had had that afternoon would drift to the surface. Flashes of his friends' and comrades' faces decaying, the heart beating and burning in his hands, Rin smiling like nothing was wrong…
He yanked down his face mask as the air suddenly felt too stuffy, and his muscles itched under his skin with the need for movement. Quickly and quietly, he left his seat and exited the back of the passenger car to the small connecting car. He paced the short length for a few minutes before giving up and leaning against the wall next to the vending machine. It was just a dream; he was getting worked up over nothing. He pushed his glasses up so he could press the heels of his palms into his eyelids for a moment and let out a deep breath. In truth, the dream was just a single wave in the sea of thoughts bugging him. Turning towards the window, he lowered his hands and stared. It was too dark to see out of, effectively turning the glass into a mirror.
He frowned at his own reflection. A bruise was forming around his neck. It was darker than the one Shura had given him when he had first told her about his eyes. Amaimon's chokehold had had the same effect as hers though. His vision had gone blue, and Amaimon had said the same thing Tōdō had on that sweltering summer night…
He clenched his fists at the memory. Where was Tōdō hiding? How long would he have to wait to find the demon eater again? How was he supposed to grow if his opponent never showed his face? He couldn't disappoint Rin, he had to find Tōdō and—
His thoughts screeched to a halt when his eyes flickered up from the bruise to his face. He was grotesque. The clenched teeth, the twisted glower, the darkness in his eyes… This was what he had been afraid of. This face was what he had to erase before Rin saw. Rin had seen the lying, the envy, the fear, and the desperation. He couldn't see this hate. Nobody could see this.
Warmth pressed into his back and Shura's face popped up next to his. Before he could spin around in surprise, she pinched both of his cheeks from behind and tugged, stretching his face into a deformed smile. "This is how ya make funny faces, Four Eyes."
He batted away her hands and quickly pulled his face mask up over his face as he turned around to stare at her in shock. How could she stand there so calmly with nothing more than a raised eyebrow?! She had seen it, hadn't she?!
They stood frozen like that, him staring wide-eyed at her and her blinking slowly at him, long enough for it to become awkward. Stubbornness seized him, and he decided if she wasn't going to say anything about it, he wouldn't either.
He scowled and rubbed his sore cheeks, allowing the reflexive annoyance that came with her presence to hide his horror and mortification. "What are you doing here?"
She yawned and dug the tips of her fingers into one of the tiny pockets of her shorts. A moment later, she managed to produce a change purse that should have been too big for the pocket, and he wondered if she had finally figured out how to replicate the dimensional wards in her tattoos. "I'm thirsty an' I learned long ago they don't like it when ya drink beer on the train," she murmured and examined the vending machine's contents.
"You mean when you get drunk," he corrected.
She shrugged. "What 'bout ya? Shouldn't ya be restin'?"
"I rested all evening." He actually had more energy now than he had had that afternoon.
She grinned. "Yeah, Rin was havin' a good time takin' care of ya." He had insisted on carrying Yukio to the station, right up to settling Yukio in his seat on the train.
"Even though I'm perfectly fine."
She hummed and her eyes slid to his neck. "Aside from the coughin'." She snickered. "Can't believe ya gave away yer position like that!"
"I couldn't control it!" he huffed.
She grinned up at him. "Well, I guess it worked out. Ya wouldn't have been able ta stick Amaimon otherwise."
He groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Ani was supposed to take the syringe, but he forgot…"
"Hmmm…" She gave him a side-glance. "Are ya sure ya just didn't want ta let go of it?"
He scoffed and crossed his arms. "What? Why would I want that?"
Her coin purse opened with a pop, and she slid a few coins into the machine. "Ya wanted ta be the one in danger, not Rin."
He quickly looked away from her even though she was too busy pressing the corresponding buttons for her drink selection to spare him a glance. He hated when she did that. Seeing through him without even looking.
There was a telltale clunk, and she reached down to fish out her bottle of green tea. "I knew it! Ya planned on bein' bait, right? Draw Amaimon in, stick him, an' if he went too far, yer eyes would kick in, right? Then Rin could charge in an' finish the job."
Was he really that transparent? He really could have given Rin the syringe and Kurikara earlier, but a part of him had stubbornly hoped Rin wouldn't be alone on the battlefield.
"It's really funny though, isn't it?" she said with no humor in her voice. "Yer the one always yellin' at Rin when he does somethin' reckless. Ya should understand what it's like ta be on the other side best of all." She grabbed the cap of her bottle and twisted harshly. It let out a terrible cracking sound, and he winced.
"Sorry," he murmured.
"What was that? Could ya repeat?" She cupped a hand around her ear, but her grin told him she had heard him properly.
His remorse instantly evaporated. "Never mind."
She chuckled. "I guess I'll give ya a pass this time since Rin talked ya out of it." Then she took a swig of her drink and squinted at him. "Though fer future reference, recklessness doesn't suit ya."
Given her lifestyle, he had the perfect comeback, but then his eyes caught sight of the large, purple bruise blooming on her thigh and the words died on his lips. He could still hear her suppressed cry of pain as she dragged him out of harm's way. It was almost as bad as watching Rin take the blow for him, flesh tearing like tissue paper and blood misting from the high velocity of the blow. Yukio had been so foolish to depend on them to pull him out of danger and think they wouldn't get hurt. But then, there was no way he could've sat on the sidelines; he would've never forgiven himself if he did. He couldn't regret his decision to fight, but that didn't stop a familiar hatred for his own weakness from boiling up in his chest. The only way he managed to swallow down the feeling was years of practice.
She was still watching him, so he cleared his throat. "How's your leg?" he asked quietly.
"Hn?" She looked down at her leg as if she had forgotten about the wound even though she was clearly compensating for the pain by leaning on her other leg. She shrugged. "I've had worse." An apology formed on his lips, but before he could say anything he realized she was smirking smugly. "That brings us ta Shura-sama: 18, Scaredy-Cat Four Eyes: 7. Ya have a lot of catching up ta do!"
It had been years since she had mentioned the score of who had saved who, but he immediately recognized it as inaccurate. "There's no way you're up to 18! You're just making up numbers!"
She had the decency to hide half of her smirk behind her hand as she laughed, and he suddenly had the strangest sense that she was trying to cheer him up.
He fiddled with his face mask, pulling it down under his chin and keeping his fingers hooked in the soft material as he smiled. "Shura-san… thank you."
Her eyes widened a little, and he had to admit, he had always enjoyed catching her off guard. But it didn't last long before her smirk was back in full force. "Yer bein' awfully honest all of a sudden. Just what did Rin say ta ya?"
"Huh?" Looked like it was his turn.
"The two of ya were in the forest fer at least an hour. Ya weren't just runnin' 'round in silence that whole time, right?" She took another gulp of her tea.
"Yeah, we talked."
"What about?"
His thumb and forefinger fiddled with the mask, feeling a little defensive. He had said so much to Rin. In some ways, too much. "How is that any of your business?"
She snorted. "I guess it's not. But I did catch ya makin' funny faces. Clearly, somethin' is buggin' ya."
"It's nothing," he said more coldly than he meant to.
"Booo!" Her lips jutted out into a pout. "Bring Mr. Honest back!"
He gave her a flat stare. "Shura-san…"
"C'mon! Ya were bein' honest. Ya were goin' ta let Rin go out on the battlefield without ya." She raised a finger for each of his two achievements of the day. "I thought fer a minute there that it was just like that funny thing Rin was shoutin' 'bout ta a demon: yer growin' up."
"Really?" he blurted out before he could stop himself, and he grimaced in preparation for the teasing.
She looked him straight in the eye. "Well… Yeah."
To his chagrin, warmth rushed to his face, and judging from the amused spark in her eyes, she noticed.
"I still have a long way to go," he muttered to the wall.
In the corner of his eye he could see her roll her eyes at him. "Well, of course. Ya wouldn't be human otherwise. It's okay ta take a moment ta appreciate the progress ya make along the way though."
He winced. She didn't realize what he had been struggling with all evening. That growth she claimed she saw was just him forcing himself to trust that Rin could handle himself in battle. And, as she had pointed out earlier, he had struggled spectacularly with that one task. "It's not enough," he admitted. "I have to be stronger. For Ani."
"Fer Rin?" she echoed quietly, her teasing smile fading.
He finally released the mask, still dangling under his chin, so he could cross his arms tight against himself. "I keep showing him how… how I really am. He hasn't turned away yet, but… I can't wait for it to happen. I have to become stronger before that ever happens." He stared down at his shoes, and his nails dug into his arms. The pain it caused was strangely relieving. "I've gone all this time with the same goal and it's done nothing! I don't understand how I messed up, but I must have! All these years of hard work and I'm still… I still…" His breath hitched all on its own, so he forced himself to stop and focus on slowing his breathing. There was no way he would lose control for a second time that day.
There was a swish of liquid, and he had the feeling that she was drinking her tea to give him time to calm down. Then she stepped forward so he could see the tips of her boots next to his shoes. "Do ya remember when we first met?"
He swallowed hard and nodded. It was an obvious ploy to change the subject, but he welcomed the opportunity.
He had a very clear memory of wanting to impress her when they first met. She was his senior as an exorcist and, more importantly, Father's student. He had naively thought she could be another role model to learn from and be like. Reality quickly shattered that idea.
Shura hummed softly to herself, and he wondered what she was remembering from that first encounter. "Remember how I asked ya why a kid like ya would want to be an exorcist?"
He finally looked up at her so he could give her a proper scowl. "I remember you laughed at my answer."
That had been the first moment he realized he didn't like her. Actually, the first inkling was when she started trying to give him weird nicknames. The second was when he proudly answered that he wanted to be an exorcist to protect Rin and all the people of the world. Admittedly, it was a naïve and grand, bordering on arrogant, dream for a seven year old, but when she laughed at him, that had stung with humiliation he had only expected from his bullies and not from Father's apprentice.
She laughed in the present as well, and he found that the nine year old wound still smarted. "Yeah, I thought ya were such a ridiculous goody two-shoes." Her laughter subsided as she swirled the tea in her bottle and absently eyed the liquid. "But I also thought it was a good dream. I almost wished I could make goals like that."
Years of experience made him think for a moment that she was making fun of him, but when she met his eye, there was no flicker of humor. He stared openly in surprise, and his face felt warm again.
She broke eye contact first and rubbed the tip of her nose. "There's nothin' wrong with wantin' ta be stronger in order ta protect people. It's what came after that twisted up yer goal."
Yukio quickly looked away to the wall again. He hated that she knew, but somehow she did. She knew that somewhere along the line he had started wishing to be strong to relieve his envy and shame. Rin had called him kind, yet in his goal to be stronger he had become so selfish. If only he could be the person Rin thought he was: a person worthy of respect. If only he could be a person Rin would never be ashamed of…
He shook his head. This gave him nothing new to work with. "I know I need to change how I do things. I know I need to be the person Rin thinks I am instead of doing things for my own selfish reasons."
"Hn." She studied him for a moment, one hand picking at the golden strands at the end of her ponytail. "Damn, ya had me fooled fer a minute there."
"What…?"
"I thought ya were bein' honest with yerself, but it looks like yer only halfway there. Yer still closin' off yer heart." Her face was suddenly serious as she continued to lean over and look him straight in the eye. "Yer still dangerous."
He jerked away, stumbling back from her until he hit the wall, and his back went so rigid the wound in his side ached. His heart was suddenly pounding against his ribs. It was horrible enough having to say it himself, but having it confirmed by someone he trusted was…
"Ah. Sorry. Was that too much after what happened today?" She slowly stood up straight, watching his reaction closely.
Yes, he wanted to shout at her, but he clamped his jaw shut so tight it hurt. He had brushed it off when she had said it before, months ago during one of their bets, but this time was different. This time they had both seen the mountainside, and he had admitted all sorts of things he shouldn't have to Rin, and Amaimon had given such a cryptic warning.
She sighed and took a few steps so she could lean against the wall next to him. The path to the door was now open, and some shameful, cowardly part of him wanted to leave before she could say anything more. Instead, he curled his toes inside his shoes and forced himself to wait.
"Yukio, y'always said ya wanted ta protect Rin, but after I came back ta the Japan Branch, ya were sayin' it with a different look in yer eye. What changed?" Her question hung in the air, unanswered, even though he knew the answer was obvious to her.
The corner of his heart that constantly ached with grief, waiting to strike at any given moment, decided this was an appropriate time to swell and smother him with the weight and pain of his loss. Of their loss. He wondered if she had this suffocating ache too or if her grief felt different. And how did Rin's grief feel? Why hadn't Yukio- selfish, selfish, Yukio- thought about this before? He angled his crossed arms just a little lower so he could hug around the wound healing in his side. The resulting flare of pain didn't match what was in his chest, but it was enough to force another breath into his body.
Father had died.
That's what changed. Father had died, and Yukio had taken it upon himself to take Father's place.
But Shura's question ultimately wasn't what but why.
Why had he taken Father's place? Yukio hadn't thought much of it. It was his duty as a son and a brother. That's all there was to it, right?
The five stages of grief came unbidden to his mind. He had definitely gone through anger, throwing blame onto Rin. But now, wasn't he just stuck bargaining? If he did a good enough job teaching in Father's place, protecting in Father's place, then… Then what?
Then he wouldn't lose Rin too.
He was doing it again, wasn't he? He decided to change and just like that, on his very first step, he fell flat on his face. Wanting to be stronger for Rin may have been a fine goal, but that's not what he was wishing for. What was what was spurring him now was the hope that Rin would never see exactly how twisted his heart had become. Instead of envy of his brother, now he was motivating himself with fear of his brother's opinion. What Yukio thought was a significant change was nothing at all.
"I'm just going in circles," he muttered, his jaw aching as he finally released the tension to speak. "I keep wanting to grow for all my own selfish reasons."
Shura leaned over a little so her shoulder bumped his. "Don't get me wrong, Yukio," she warned quietly. "I think ya should be doin' it fer yerself. Just don't do it because of other people's opinions. Ferget what everyone else thinks an' be honest with yerself about what y'alone want." She shrugged, minimizing her own profound statement. "Life's too short ta worry 'bout others' opinions. Ya should just be like me."
Father had always implied that he could learn something from her carefree attitude, but he had only seen the carelessness of it. His shoulders slumped. "Like you?"
"Don't make it sound so horrible!" She swatted at his shoulder, and he smiled half-heartedly.
To him, the thought of giving up on everyone's opinions was foreign and downright impossible. "It may be easy for you, but I don't think I'm wired like that, Shura-san."
"Okay, okay." She waved the thought away. "Ya don't have ta change yer lifestyle or anythin'. But isn't there somethin'? Somethin' that ya want ta do that makes ya happy ta be yerself? Somethin' that ya chose all on yer own?"
Was there something? Was there anything?
So much of what he did lately was influenced by Rin. If he took all of that away… If he took away the duties that Father had left him… What was left? Was anything there that was truly his and his alone?
His hand went over his heart, over where the inside breast pocket of his jacket was. One of the slips of paper in that pocket came to mind. It was old, wrinkled, torn, and smudged with dirt, but it held his first dream: become a doctor.
Rin had seen the slip of paper and happily encouraged him, but what mattered now was Yukio had written it down all on his own, months before Father had offered him a place in the Order. And now, when he helped treat people, helped save lives… That moment when all of his training, knowledge, and hard work clicked, and he knew exactly how to help someone… That felt good. He could live happily just curing patients of ailments, demonic or not.
Maybe, if he helped enough people, he could become someone worth looking at in the mirror.
He looked up, perhaps to thank Shura, but…
She had her head thrown back and was guzzling the rest of the bottle of tea all at once.
He was never going to understand her, was he? Never.
"What are you doing?" he groaned.
She finished and wiped her mouth on the back of her hand. "I told ya. I'm thirsty." Capping the bottle, she flipped it over so she could try to balance it upside-down on her finger, catching it every time it tried to fall. "Feelin' better?"
He looked up and caught his reflection in the window again. His grotesque self was gone, and now he simply looked tired. A smile formed on his lips. Finally, he knew where to start. "Yeah."
There was really only one question brewing on the edges of his mind. One he neglected asking three months ago when he was too caught up in his own troubles to consider what anybody else was thinking. But after what had happened that day he needed to hear the answer.
-oOo-
Shura tossed her bottle and was ready to go back to her seat when she realized he hadn't moved. She didn't have to look at him to know he was thinking hard about something. She yawned and stretched, giving him enough time to say something if he wanted to. When he didn't, she turned to the door.
"Shura-san?" There it was. She tilted her head back to look over her shoulder at him and saw him searching her face. The relieved smile she had finally earned from him was quickly fading. "Why are you doing this?"
"Hn?" She looked at him blankly, and he swallowed hard.
"Back when I first told you about my eyes, you said you wanted to share my burden like Father did for you, but…" He shifted his weight from foot to foot when she didn't give any reaction. "You don't owe me anything. So why?"
She shrugged. "I want ta."
"That's not a reason," he objected with a frown. "Shura-san, I'm serious."
"So am I. Why does there need ta be one?" she countered easily. "When it comes to helping someone, why does there need to be a logical reason?" He opened his mouth, probably to object again, so she poked him in the forehead. "If ya stopped getting yerself stuck up here, ya'd realize I'm right."
He shot her a doubtful look as he rubbed his forehead. "Not for this. Not with so much at stake. You know." His voice suddenly dropped to a whisper. "You know what all this means. What those scorch marks on the mountain mean."
She was quiet. He was looking at her expectantly, probably wishing she would make some comment to annoy him or smack him in the head or something to break the tension like she always did, but she wasn't sure what to offer him. The fact that he was even saying as much as he was out loud was a surprise.
He took a deep breath and seemed to be teetering on the edge of something. He stared down at his shoes and, to her awe, continued. "Why are you protecting me? You should turn me in or let me die or kill—"
Her hand shot out, and he visibly braced himself for the smack. Instead, she gripped his shoulder tight. "Don't. That's not happenin', an' ya shouldn't even be thinkin' like that. We don't know fer sure."
A bitter laugh escaped him before he covered his mouth and shook his head.
"Yukio, I mean it. Nothin' is set in stone yet," she said fiercely. "The conversation we just had has ta count fer somethin'. Keep growin' the strength of the lock on yer heart, an' I'm sure in a year we'll be laughin' that ya even thought it was a possibility."
When he kept staring at his shoes, she squeezed his shoulder as if that would somehow help. Finally, he cleared his throat. "I, uh…" He looked up at her. "I'll understand if at some point you change your mind and you have to go to the Order." With all his seriousness about duty, she didn't doubt it.
"I won't." She stuck her fingers in her pockets and looped her thumbs in her belt loops. His face was still pale, but now she knew what she could offer him. "I'll tell ya what: if I'm wrong about all this, I'll take care of it. Okay?"
He seemed to freeze in place as he considered her offer. Then he took a deep breath and released it slowly. "Well…" He gave her a small smile that almost reached his eyes. "Ani did say he'd let you be one of my safeguards too."
"Is that what ya talked 'bout?" That actually made it easy to picture the rest of their conversation in the forest: Yukio worrying and stressing himself out, and Rin being Rin. She laughed. "Does this mean I have ta interview with Rin before I get the position?"
"How about you just answer my question."
"Hn? Oh." Shura crossed her arms and snorted, realizing he had managed to bring the conversation back around to what he wanted to know. "Ya really need a reason? I know ya like ta draw a line between black an' white, but tryin' ta do that with things like this doesn't work." Judging from his stubborn stare, he wasn't going to drop it. She groaned. Honestly, she didn't have a clear-cut answer for why. What had she told Shima the other day? Some story about trust? She settled for listing the first things that came to mind. "Fine, I can list a couple. Take yer pick: Shirō told us ta have each other's backs-" She shrugged as she said the first reason to pop into her head, but he interrupted before she could rattle off the next one.
"He meant on the battlefield. He didn't mean a situation like this."
"Ya kiddin'?" she scoffed. "I'm sure he meant exactly this." For a moment, she pictured the satisfied grin Shirō would have on his face if he could see them now.
Yukio opened his mouth, probably to argue, but then sighed. "Next reason."
She gave a triumphant smirk, knowing he couldn't deny she was right, and earned a scowl. The second reason was easier to think up. "Ya didn't go runnin' when I told ya 'bout my past-"
Again, he interrupted. "You don't owe me anything for that. Your past doesn't worry me because that's not who you are."
She blinked. He said it so easily without a clue of how she hungered for words like those when she was little. She buried the tight feeling in her stomach under a grin to rival Shirō's. "Oh, so there is a family resemblance!"
"Huh?" His oblivious confusion completed the picture.
"Ya sound like Rin!" She chuckled and then corrected herself. "Or I guess I should say ya sound like ya did as a kid. I thought ya grew out of sayin' such funny things!"
"Shura-san…" he grumbled and crossed his arms. "Next reason," he said flatly.
She laughed at the reemergence of the scowl. That expression was something that had definitely stayed the same over the years. "Okay, how 'bout this: if I were the one who needed help, are ya sayin' ya wouldn't do the same fer me? I mean, yer horrible at takin' the first step," she teased, "so I'd probably have ta ask fer help first, but once I did?"
"That's not a reason. That's a hypothetical," he objected, conveniently leaving out his answer. "Next."
"It is a reason," she argued back, her good humor beginning to slip away. "If ya stopped an' thought 'bout what ya would do if things were reversed, ya wouldn't need ta ask fer my reasons."
"Next," he insisted flatly.
He could be so stubborn! She waved her empty palms in the air, signalling the end of the game. "Sorry, I'm out!"
"There's no way that's it." The edge in his voice told her that he was frustrated. "You're not being serious; you're just saying whatever you think of off the top of your head."
"Just because ya don't like my answers, doesn't mean I have ta come up with somethin' more." She puffed out her lips in a pout. "I mean, the rest is the obvious."
"What's obvious?" he asked a little too quickly.
And that's when she realized, he wasn't being irritating in some plot to be contrary or annoy her. He wasn't accepting any of her answers because, while she kept turning her answers into reasons to tease him, he was genuinely concerned. He thought that if she didn't have a serious, definitive reason, if she had any doubt about protecting him, that she might wind up regretting her decision.
What he didn't understand, however, was that their ways of thinking were different. He had to have a clear reason while she was fine having every reason that occurred to her in that particular moment or no logical reason at all. She didn't need to analyze her own motives to know she wouldn't regret helping him. As a general rule, she didn't regret anything.
Shura looked him in the eye and hoped it would be clear this time that she was serious about every reason she had listed. "We're friends."
Yukio's wide eyes gave her pause, and she considered what she had just said. She supposed she should have been embarrassed to admit she had made friends with a scaredy-cat or to think that, until she had become his self-appointed confidant, he had probably only thought of her as the annoying woman that gave him weird nicknames, but it didn't faze her. No, something else was starting to click in the back of her mind that made her unsettled, but she kept her confident tone. "Wipe that dumb look off yer face. I know a lot of it was just circumstance, an' if it weren't fer our connection with Shirō it wouldn't have happened, but that's how things wound up."
It's not like she had followed Shirō to the Order looking for friends. In fact, she had purposefully kept all of her classmates at the cram school at a reasonable arm's length away from anything more than an acquaintance or teammate. The habit continued today. She had colleagues, comrades, and drinking buddies, and that was it.
And she was fine living like that. She didn't need a support system like a certain four eyed idiot. Living life for fun and her own happiness came easily, and maintaining a group of friendly acquaintances worked just fine for her. Her unspoken mantra of avoid pain ranged anywhere from avoid boredom to avoid heartbreak, so this was preferable. Especially when she was running from her so-called fate.
But somewhere along the line…
The rest of that something in the back of her mind clicked, and she realized what was wrong with the last reason she offered him.
Damn. She had walked right into one of Shirō's 'This Will Be Good for You' traps, hadn't she?
"There you are…" They turned to find Rin standing in the doorway, voice heavy with sleep as he rubbed his eyes. "Don't disappear like that," he grumbled through a yawn.
"Sorry, Nii-san," Yukio said softly. He had that small, grateful smile on his face again, probably because of what she'd said, and unknowingly confirmed that she was ensnared in the trap. Damn it, Shirō.
Rin finally blinked himself awake and looked between them. "Uh… Am I interrupting something?"
"No," Shura murmured, and Rin shuffled his feet a little, seemingly recognizing her moodiness. She wasn't one to mope, but when she realized Shirō was still pulling these stunts on her she allowed herself a moment of self-pity.
Yukio opened his mouth, obviously racking his brain for something to say to cheer her up, but Rin beat him to it.
"Oh, uh… Hey, Yukio! I'm an exorcist now!"
Silence hung in the air for a moment.
"Congratulations. Glad you finally realized. It only took you three months." Yukio clapped at the achievement, somehow managing to keep a straight face.
And there was no way Shura could sulk properly after that, so she clapped too while laughing shamelessly.
"Huh? No! Stop it you guys!" Rin yelled. When their round of applause died away, he crossed his arms and slumped into a pout. "I meant you promised to tell me stories of your missions with the Old Man when I became an exorcist! So let's hear some!"
"Oh." The distant look of nostalgia softened Yukio's eyes. "Right…"
Their choice in topic made it clear that they had no clue why she had been sulking, but Shura couldn't pass up the perfect opportunity to tease Yukio. She put on a mischievous smirk and added a bright tone to her voice. "Ya should tell him 'bout the time ya were nearly eaten by a ghoul, nya!"
"Wha-?! That's not how it happened!"
"Here, I'll get ya started. So one day, Old Man Four Eyes brings Scaredy-Cat Four Eyes—"
"Just what type of story are you trying to tell?!"
"Are ya sayin' ya can do better?"
"Of course I can! Anyone could!" Yukio crossed his arms and began setting the scene. "It was back when I was an exwire and had finally been approved for field missions. Some disapproved because of my age, but since I was with Father, the paladin, I got a special exception. This was the first field mission I had where I saw battle. We were charged with clearing a mansion haunted with several types of demons. Shura-san was preparing for her exorcist exam—"
"Wait. Doesn't that mean…" Rin scratched the side of his head as he tried to put something together. "You were exwires at the same time?"
Shura shrugged. "I was content just hangin' around the cram school an' livin' in the dorms. Unlike some people, I like ta take my time with things. Stop an' smell the roses. Enjoyin' life instead of buryin' myself in work an' becomin' a salaryman."
"Slacking off," Yukio corrected.
"Relaxin'," Shura insisted.
"Ah! Who cares?" Rin groaned. "Hurry up and continue!"
So Yukio continued the story of their first mission together. Shura inserted a comment here and there, particularly when Yukio would describe her and mix up the words for 'annoying' and 'awesome.' But for the most part she sat back and watched Rin grin with eagerness and Yukio smile wistfully.
Don't get attached.
Somewhere along the line, she had broken her own rule, hadn't she? Shirō was supposed to be her only mistake, a child's mistake. When she met that scrawny kid with the big dream and trained alongside him for five years, she knew she was in danger of another slip-up, until she had gone to the Vatican and was safe again. But of course, Shirō had other plans. Asking her to teach Rin had not only brought her back into Yukio's orbit, but introduced her to a funny guy like Rin as well.
Shirō must've known what he was leaving her with. Maybe it wasn't a favor he was asking of her when he requested she teach Rin. Maybe it was his apology for casting her away. Maybe it was his way of looking after her too.
He must've known she would try and protect it.
The question now was if she could do so while she continued to run.
A/N: A thousand points to whoever can tell me the manga I borrowed one of Shura's lines towards the beginning of her section from. Although perhaps my username makes it obvious…
I'm going through a sharp increase in my workload starting… Well, it already started! Unfortunately this means updates will slow significantly in the following months. Unless I use this as a procrastination tool… Which I really shouldn't. But you won't judge me if I do, right? ;)
