Disclaimer: I don't own Ao no Exorcist, only the character Yurin! And the plot, of course.

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9. They are more than friends!

Time passed and it was already the beginning of June, marking a moth since Yurin's enrollment in True Cross Academy. The weather had gotten hotter, but, apart from that, nothing much had changed.

"Come on, you can do it, Rin!" cheered the brunette girl from where she was sitting.

Currently it was practical athletics class and once again it was a Rin vs. Bon battle, but this time Shima was also there, the poor boy couldn't compete with those two, he was literately eating their dust. To make things even worse, they had weights on, making them slower, and like always a Leaper was running after them, demon which seemed to be the teacher's favorite.

"Can they really do it?" wondered Izumo, arms crossed over her chest.

"Okumura-kun is capable of running those 28 laps, Bon more or less, and Shima-kun... Let's pray for him," said Konekomaru, assuming a Buddhist praying position.

Rin and Suguro were ahead of the Leaper by at least a meter, but Shima was barely escaping the stomping. He really disliked practical athletics.

"HELP!" cried the pinkette, he had officially given up and resorted to calling for help, however his cries went unheard because the two in front of him were making much more noise.

"AAAHH!" the two shouted, trying to gain an advantage and surpass the other.

"They should save energy instead of using it to shout like that, they are barely through the 9th lap," commented Yurin, sighing to herself at their stupidity.

Shiemi, who was sitting next to the brunette, nodded. She was really worried about her tw―er three classmates.

The three running continued shouting at the top of their lungs, they just wouldn't shut up. One was crying for help none stop, also shouting his dying will, while the other two were just shouting a's.

"Shut up! It's annoying!" Yurin shouted, using informal language. Up until than she had always been careful in using formal language, always trying her best to look polite but whenever Rin was involved, she tended to lose her tempter easily, exploding and reverting to her old rude self.

Everyone stopped what they were doing to stare at the girl, surprise clearly written on their face. It was dead silent for at least two minutes, or maybe it was less.

"I-idiots! Don't just stop in the middle!" the brunette shouted once again, reminding Rin and the other two that they were currently on the run from an eager Leaper, eager because he couldn't wait to stomp them flat.

Quickly the three boys reassumed their running, escaping at the last second from the demon's stomping. Glad to still be alive, the three just continued running like that, the girl's shout still ringing in their ears.

"Oi, Yurin!" Rin shouted, turning his head towards the girl's direction.

The girl merely looked back, not wanting to open her mouth and say something stupid. Again.

"Drop the formal language already! It's annoying!" the boy shouted, shooting back the same words she had said.

"You...!" Yurin groaned, clenching her hands into fists. She wanted to swing them forward and hit the guy in the face. Of course all within the limits of friendship, she didn't want to break his nose or something.

Shiemi observed her friend, then glanced at the older Okumura twin, who was grinning like a small child. They really had a lot of things in common. 'They could make a great couple...' she thought to herself, somehow not really liking how that sounded.

The boys were able to finish their 28 laps without any causalities, just Shima swearing that he would take up jogging every morning. Everyone secretly agreeing that it was not going to happen.

"Kamiki-san, Fujiwara-san, and Moriyama-san," the teacher called, signaling the girls to enter the ring.

The three girls looked at each other, were they even ready to run 20 laps with a Leaper running after them, plus ankle weights of 1 kg/4 lbs each? Not having much of a choice, the girls got ready.

"Ready. Set. Go!"

Right from the go, Yurin gained first position, running at a good distance from the demon. She didn't have much problem with the weights, but she knew she was going to start feeling them soon, she estimated that the weights would start actually weighting her down during the 6th lap, thing which happened.

"Fujiwara-san is probably faster than Okumura-kun," Konekomaru observed, noting that the girl was always at least 10 seconds or so earlier than Rin at reaching the finish line.

"Seriously?" questioned Rin, trying to see with his own eyes if the bald boy was right.

"If I had a chronometer I could verify, for now it's just a guess."

The older Okumura whistled surprised, he knew for a fact that the girl was fast, they had had some running competitions. He was constantly finding out new things about the girl, it was really fun being by her side.

"Give it your best shot, Yurin!" he shouted, deciding that cheering for the girl wouldn't hurt. "You can do it, Shiemi! And you too, Eyebrows!" since he was already cheering, he cheered for the other two girls too.

Fortunately the girls finished without causalities too, they were just tired and sore. Yurin was still quite energetic, though her ankles were sore and her feet still felt heavy even when she took off the weights, she was the one that had come out the least dead.

"I can't... go... on..." whispered Shiemi, dragging herself forward.

"Come on, you can do it, Shiemi-chan," her brunette friend encouraged her, walking by her side.

Next period was break, so they could go outside and eat something. The only problem was walking out there, but they managed somehow and joined the boys, who had taken a spot under a tree.

"Kamiki-san, this is the first time you join us," commented Yurin, sitting next to Rin, it had somehow become her place.

Izumo nodded to her comment, in reality she wanted none of that but she was too tired to go and eat with Paku, her real best friend. Surely it wouldn't hurt to eat with them once? She knew she was going to regret it.

"Thanks for the food!" Yurin happily exclaimed, clasping her hands together and bowing slightly. She took up her chopsticks and began eating. "Delicious!" she was in Heaven from just the first bite.

Rin smirked satisfied, compliments were his weakness but, recently, it had been especially effective if it was the brunette giving them.

"I am the one that cooked it after all," he said with a tone of arrogance.

The girl finished chewing her deep fried chicken before retorting to the guy's statement. "Yeah, yeah," she said, her tone very sarcastic.

Groaning angrily, the dark haired boy turned to glare at the girl, who in turn smiled and continued eating like it was nothing. They soon broke into one of their usual petty, friendly arguments, it was becoming as common as Rin vs. Bon.

"We are trying to eat over here, new wedded couple," commented Suguro as he continued eating his food.

Shima laughed, seeing that it might actually end up like that if they continued they way they did. Konekomaru tried not to laugh, but he couldn't contain himself and chuckled lowly.

On the other hand, Izumo didn't particularly care, as long as they didn't start making out in front of them, while Shiemi seemed to be very conflicted about the situation, she could see that they suited each other but somewhere in her heart she didn't want it to end that way.

"We are not!" the two shouted and looked away from each other, both were blushing lightly.

Everyone else laughed at their antics, even Izumo did, Shiemi was the only one not laughing. The blonde girl was in deep thought, she was desperately trying to understand why she felt so conflicted.

They all continued eating, between jokes and chatter and, before anyone realized, the bell run signaling that break time was over and that there were only a few hours left to school.

"It seems school time goes by faster at times," observed Yurin as everyone slowly began walking out of the classroom.

"Time to have fun!" shouted both Shima and Rin, a second later high-fiving each other because of their similar thoughts.

"They look like old friends," commented Konekomaru, looking at the two boys make plans for that afternoon.

"Don't have time to have fun," Suguro declared before walking away, or at least trying to, seeing that Shima had clung to him when he heard him say that.

Soon the students split up into different groups: Izumo completely ignored Shima's invitation to hang out and went back to her dorm room; the boys went to town to hang out, Suguro was forcibly dragged along; Shiemi and Yurin decided to study together and then have a sleepover at the old dormitory, the blonde girl even tried inviting the other girl of the class, but the latter flat out refused her.

"Then I will see you in an hour Shiemi-chan," the brunette girl sad, waving at her friend.

The other girl nodded before taking out a key and opening a door, disappearing inside.

Yurin smiled, she happily started walking back to her respective dorm. She noticed half-away that it was her first time walking alone to the dormitory, she usually walked together with either Rin or Shiemi, who often stayed for dinner.

The girl frowned deeply at the fact that she was always by the boy's side. "Maybe I should try not depending on Rin so much," she told herself, but the idea made her frown even more. She totally didn't like how that sounded. Most of the time they just found themselves together, and it was nice being in his company, he was also the first person she had felt so close to apart from her family. He was really nice with her, and..

"Such boring thoughts," commented an annoyed voice from next to her.

Turning in an almost mechanical way towards the source, Yurin found none other than her arrogant, uncooperative, antisocial, busy-body familiar Blue. He was a size a tad bit bigger than a wolf.

"Blue!" she yelled surprised.

"The name is Fenrir!" barked the demon angrily, growling menacingly. The wolf rolled his eyes at her, and she was supposed to be his master? Don't make him laugh! She couldn't even pronounce his name correctly, hence how he ended with that horrid nickname.

"I say you have the hots for this guy," he added, smirking.

"Huh? What does that even mean?"

"Naïve!" he barked at her. He hated how idiotic she could be at times, he really just wanted to burn her stupidity like he did with all things that bugged him.

The girl covered her slightly pointed ears, which were always carefully hidden under her thick blue hair, as the demon wolf cursed her with his most colorful combination of swear words. 'I was so much better off without him...' she thought, entering the old dorm.

When she arrived to her room, she started putting things in order, not that her room was messy but she wanted it to be more presentable since her friend was coming over. She loved keeping things in order, it gave her the right energy to begin her day.

"Done!" she announced brightly, admiring her sparkling clean room. Not a single speck of dust was spared.

"Yurin-chan!" she heard Shiemi call her from the entrance.

She walked out of her room and opened the window right in front of it, she looked down and saw the girl standing right in front of the entrance.

"Come in, Shiemi-chan," she said with a cheerful voice.

The blonde looked up surprised, then she saw her friend waving at her from a window on the second floor and smiled, waving back with the same enthusiasm as the other girl.

Yurin closed the window and started walking towards the entrance, knowing that it was proper etiquette to greet your guests. 'This will be fun,' she thought, grinning all the way down.

The two girls, as planned, studied for an hour and a half then went out to have some fun, like normal girls do.

"I have been wondering, and I am not even sure if it is alright for me to ask, but why do you want to become an Exorcist, Shiemi-chan?" the brunette asked, currently they were looking around a shop with a lot of handmade goods.

"I want to become stronger," Shiemi answered with a small smile.

"In that case, I think there is no need to do such a dangerous job."

"I want to be of help to everyone, and I've known about demons since I was little. It might be a dangerous job but the fact that I can be together with my friends and lend them my strength, even if just a little, makes me happy," explained the blonde girl, smiling brightly as she looked at her friend.

'Such a selfless reason... On the contrary I... do not have such a noble reason..' Yurin thought, recalling distant memories.

Finally alone in her new room, the brown haired young girl sat on the bed and closed her eyes to think. She had a new family, it was perhaps time to forget everything that had happened and move on again.

Suddenly, she remembered her mother's last moment, when she took up her old status as Exorcist to protect her.

"Mother must have been a wonderful Exorcist..." she mumbled to herself, smiling at how cool her mother looked with her black coat.

Determination shone in her eyes as she decided what she would do in order to move on, and surely she was not going to give up, nothing was going to stop her.

" I'm going to become an Exorcist, to repay mother for everything she's done for me."

"Yurin-chan?" Shiemi's question snapped her out of her thoughts. She really had to do something about that bad habits of her, and soon.

"Sorry, I was thinking about something. What was it that you were saying?"

"I asked why you want to be an Exorcist," the blonde repeated her question, smiling at her friend. It really was amusing to see her lose herself in her thoughts, and make expressions to go with it.

The brunette's eyes widened the slightest bit before they returned to their normal size, reflecting the girl's calm state. She had to see that coming, if she asked something, she should know it was going to come back to her.

"Ah... I want to be... like my mother..." Yurin explained, being honest for once, trying her best to smile.

"Your mother?" Shiemi asked confused, not noticing her forced smile.

"Fujiwara Sakiko, my mother, was an Exorcist. She used to be an Upper Second Class Exorcist, a strong woman with a strong sense of justice. To be truthful, my whole family is made of Exorcists, even my little cousin is working to be one."

"Your mother was an Exorcist, is she not one anymore?" the other asked curious, but suddenly realized that she may have been asking too much about her friend's private life. "Ah! Sorry, I'm asking so many questions!"

"No, no, it is fine... She died eight years ago, and after that her younger sister, Kotomi, took me in."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"Do not worry, it was eight years ago after all," the brunette smiled, trying to mask her sadness. She missed her mother's constant scolding, though her aunt lectured her just as much. Thinking back, she wasn't given any time to be sad because of her aunt's special training and wonderful hospitality.

The two girls started heading back, seeing as it was almost dinner time and they didn't want to get lectured by Rin, who was always acting like a mother to them.

When they returned to the dorm, they noticed right away the presence of both Rin and Yukio, as they could hear them arguing all the way from the entrance.

"They are arguing again," commented the brunette girl with a sigh.

The blonde giggled, apparently the brothers were arguing about homework, Rin not wanting to waste his time doing it and Yukio telling him that it was essential to rise his grades.

"I'm home!" yelled Yurin, loud enough for the two to hear her, hopefully making them stop shouting.

After a while of living there, she had learned that she should tell when she's home or when she's going out, or else mom Rin will have a fit and call the cops. The two stopped arguing, and she heard Rin shout, "Welcome home!"

Soon after, the four of them were sitting at the dining table eating, like always the food was made by the dark haired boy, who took a lot of pride in the small feasts he prepared them every day.

"How can you make food so good? It's unbelievable," the teal eyed girl commented, eating her second portion happily.

Rin grinned. Yes, if she was the one complimenting him, he felt extremely happy and his heart would just warm up in a strange way whenever he saw her smile like that.

"You are praising him too much, Fujiwara-san," Yukio interjected, it was his usual comment to the girl complimenting his older brother. Always.

"Whatever, Yukio/Okumura-kun," the two answered in unison, even rolling their eyes at the same time.

Surprised, the two looked at each other and laughed. No matter what or when, they could synchronize perfectly without even meaning to. Especially when answering the four-eyed boy.

Shiemi observed their exchange, they were so awfully close for being just friends. 'Maybe they are closer than friends...' she thought but dismissed it, she didn't want to think of such a thing.

Though dinner time was very pleasant, it eventually finished and the two girls headed back to Yurin's room. Arrived there, Shiemi took out her pajama from her bag, thinking they were going to sleep.

"What if we go stargazing?" Yurin proposed, her teal eyes shining like the night sky.

The blonde couldn't find it in her to refuse, and it sounded like a very good idea too. She liked the idea of watching the sky together with her friend, something she had never done before.

Meanwhile she wasn't looking, the brunette had changed herself into more comfortable clothes. She now sported a black short-sleeved hoodie and dark blue sweatpants, her tail tucked away safely.

"Let's‒" Shiemi finally noticed that her friend had changed while she was distracted.

"Let us go!" the brunette exclaimed excitedly.

While walking down a corridor, as they were chatting like good friends, they bumped into Rin, who was walking towards them shirtless. Surely it wasn't like they hadn't seen a shirtless guy before, it happened a lot during training but, for some strange reason, an awkward atmosphere settled down as they met halfway down the corridor.

"Why... are you not wearing a shirt?" inquired Yurin, pointing an accusing finger the black haired boy.

"While cleaning the dishes my shirt got dirty, so I took it off," the boy explained with a sheepish grin, his right arm going behind his back to hold his tail in place and prevent it from being seen.

"That... that's no reason to walk around shirtless, Rin!" for some strange reason, the brunette was fuming with anger.

The boy made the beaten puppy look, it wasn't like he wanted go around shirtless but he couldn't possible walk with a dirty shirt, that would have been even less cool. "I was going to get a new shirt now."

"Then hurry up!" the girl urged him, quickly bypassing him and continuing down her path.

Shiemi chuckled lightly at the exchanged. "I don't think she saw your tail, but you should really hurry up and put on a shirt," she whispered to the boy as she walked by him. A faint blush decorated her cheeks, by now you could say she was used to seeing him like that, but he was still a boy so the embarrassment was still present.

"Yurin-chan.." she said catching up to her friend, "I don't think he did it on purpose."

"I-I-I know that much..!" the other girl suddenly exclaimed, quickening her pace.

It was only for a brief moment, but the blonde was sure that her friend's face was completely red from blushing, and that she wore an expression she had never seen before, something that was the mix of embarrassment and confusion.

'Yurin...-chan...?' Shiemi was puzzled by the girl's actions. It was like she had seen that way of acting before somewhere, but she couldn't quite remember to what emotion it was related.

The weather outside was pleasant, it wasn't awfully hot but neither horribly cold, just the perfect temperature. Everything was perfect, even the sky was as clear as white canvas.

"Ah, what a nice breeze," commented the brown haired girl, walking further out and bathing in the moonlight. On the other hand, her friend stood standing next to the open door.

"Nee, Yuri-chan..." started Shiemi, her tone different from usual, it was devoid of her usual cheerfulness while calling out the girl's name.

The brunette turned around and faced her friend, giving her a confused look. She couldn't quite see the other's face because she was still standing inside the building, but something told her, that whatever was up, was going to brew a storm. "Is something the matter?" she asked curiously, smiling.

"Are you... in love with Rin?"

The minute those words left her mouth and reached the brunette's ears, Yurin's smile dropped and the shock of the words spoken became apparent in her face. It was like she could no longer understand Japanese, what was it that the girl said again?

"Eh?"

A cold breeze blew between the two as the tension began to rise. The faint sound of something breaking was heard by neither of the two were paying attention to that, but in their heart they knew that something was going to change following that conversation.