I began to anticipate mine and Ryuji's alone time in the trees. I attacked my work, as if that would make the class time go by faster. We decided not to tell the others, since, like I'd pointed out, we'd the butt of too many jokes and we'd never live it down. Plus, we were shy. We were content to sit under a tree together, holding hands or him having his arm around my waist or me leaning against his chest. Every few minutes we'd break for a kiss or two, or we'd peck each other while we studied. Ryuji was a stickler for studying and insisted on doing homework and memorizing for at least an hour a day after school before we decided to do something else. Knowing how stubborn he could be, I agreed with him and we helped each other.

"Argh, I just can't memorize like you!" I griped one day. "How the hell do you memorize so much without half of it leaving your brain in a moment?"

He laughed and nuzzled my hair, a favorite habit of his. "It's simple," he said. He passed me his Bible and pointed. "I associate the lines with something that's familiar to me. It helps me remember everything. Plus being an Aria means you need to know this stuff. You don't have to worry about it. You're going to be a Rogue and a Tamer, right?"

"Not to hear our teachers tell it," I said dryly. "Apparently they think I'm trying for every class in the book and then some. Can you help me remember these lines that Mademoiselle Bonnet gave us for homework?"

"Sure," he said, pulling out the piece of paper we'd all received that had the words on it. "Ok, first you need to associate the lines with something you're familiar with. What are you familiar with?"

"You mean besides you?" I teased, making him blush. I laughed and pecked his cheek. "Let's see, I'm good with technology, but I doubt that would work. How about martial arts? I've been going to a dojo since I could walk."

"Ok then, martial arts it is," he agreed. "Now, pretend you're fighting someone, and you want to win because they'll kill you if you don't. Think of this first line as your first hit, and you're defending your life. What would be your first hit?"

"Wait, am I on the offensive or defensive?" I asked.

"Let's say offensive. What's your first strike?"

"Well, I'd start with basic punch; that would be the best way to kick start the match."

"Ok, so when you read this, think of it as a basic punch and commit it to memory like you did when you first learned the basic punch. Only instead of training your body, you're training your mind. Get it?"

"I…think so," I said slowly, reading the first line. Like a basic punch, huh? Ok, time to train my mind with the same rigid discipline my dojo instructors had. I quickly was able to commit it to memory. "That was easier than I thought!" I exclaimed after repeating the first line to Ryuji perfectly.

"Told you," he said with a slightly haughty air. He kissed my nose and said, "Ok, line two. What would be your second move, if you were still on the offensive?"

"Well, if they'd dodged it or it hadn't dropped them, I would go for a knee kick next."

"Good, so do the same thing with the second line, only think of it as a knee kick instead of a punch."

"Ok," I said, committing the line to memory. After a minute to make sure I had it right, I repeated it to Ryuji. He grinned and gave me a thumbs up. "Now try doing both, first line first, then the second," he said. That was a bit harder. Ok, a lot harder. After my fifth stumble, he shook his head. "No, no, no!" he scolded. "What happened to the basic punch, then the knee kick? The way you're mixing it up, it's knee punch and basic kick!"

"Well, I'm sorry, but I'm not as good at this as you!" I snapped. "I'm a fighter, not a brainiac like a certain someone!"

"If you just took this the way you did a fight, you'd get it right every time!" he snapped back. He pointed down at the paper. "Try again. Memorize them separately, and then repeat them separately, and then do them together."

Growling in frustration, I did as he said. Separately, I did them perfectly. Together, I fumbled and got my ass kicked, as Ryuji put it. He shook his head. "This is going nowhere," he sighed, standing up. He held out a hand to me. Frowning in confusion, I took it and he pulled me up. He stepped back and said, "Ok, hit me."

"WHAT?" I yelped. "You want me to hit you?"

"Not hard," he clarified. "I don't want broken bones, just bruises, if you can't pull your punches well. Hit me like you would in the scenario I told you. Hit me with four moves you think would bring me down and keep me down."

I hesitated. Shrugging, I crouched into a cat-foot stance, my favorite. "It's your funeral," I told him. I took a deep breath, clearing my mind, and set my body to auto pilot.

I hit him with a basic punch in the chest, making sure I pulled back so I wouldn't leave more than a small bruise. He staggered back, flailing his arms in an attempt to regain his balance. I grabbed his head and forced it to my knee, doing a beautiful knee kick that would've sent him to blackness had I not pulled my leg away at the last moment. I shoved him away and hit him with a palm strike to his chest, knocking him back. As soon as he stood up, I whipped him with a back kick, sending him back down to earth.

He gasped for a minute while I realized that I hadn't held back on the last two strikes like I should have. "Oh my God Ryuji I'm so sorry!" I cried, kneeling next to him. "I totally lost control! I'm sorry! Nothing's broken, is it? Oh my God I'm so sorry!"

"I'm fine," he wheezed, sitting back up and rubbing his chest where my palm had struck him. "Damn, girl, you hit harder than I thought you would. I'm just glad I didn't hit my face on your knee, or I'd have a dent in my forehead and some severe brain damage."

"Still, sometimes you can't feel hurt ribs," I said, my hands fluttering around him. "Let me check, please?"

"All right, all right, since you're so worried," he said, tugging off his school sweater. He unbuttoned his shirt, letting it drop to his elbows and I carefully checked for cracked, floating, or broken ribs. I didn't find any, but his chest was starting to bruise where I'd hit him. I frowned and gently rubbed it.

"Ummmm, Safaia?" he said hesitantly. I suddenly realized that I was sitting with Ryuji with his shirt was practically almost off and my hands on his sculpted chest. Feeling the heat rush to my face, I quickly let my hands drop to my lap. "There, you're ok," I mumbled, looking down at the criminals.

"Safaia-chan." His fingers gently cupped my chin and tilted my face up, forcing me to look at him. He stared at my face for a moment, his expression neutral. I flicked my eyes everywhere, trying not to look at him. It was hard, considering his face took up almost all of my field of vision. His lips nipped at mine and I blinked, staring at him. "So…you're not mad?"

I heard a rumble in his chest as he laughed. "Why would I be mad, you idiot?" he said, wrapping me in a hug. I did my best to ignore the fact his shirt was still halfway off, but damn did he make it hard. "You just did what I asked. To quote a girl I know, I'm the one who offered. You're the one who followed through. Why should I be mad?"

"Because I almost hurt you," I said, choking on a sob. Why the hell was I crying?

"Not as badly as you could have," he pointed out, squeezing me. "You held back with the first two strikes, and I'm lucky you did, or that knee kick would've been the end of Ryuji 'Bon' Suguro."

I couldn't help but giggle a little. He pushed me back at an arm's length, still holding my shoulders. "Better?" he asked. I wiped the tears off my face and nodded. He grinned. "Good." He let me go and crawled over to the tree we'd been sitting at, shrugging his shirt back on and buttoning it back up. "Then let's get back to business." He patted the grass between his knees, offering for me to sit against him.

I groaned. "You never give up, do you?" I sat down where he wanted me to, leaning against him hesitantly. He put his arms on either side of me and propped the Bible and the passage we were supposed to memorize on his knees, effectively trapping me.

"If I give up, who'll defeat Satan and restore my temple?" he asked.

"Rin would," I pointed out. "Defeat Satan, at least."

Ryuji growled. "That's my job, not his," he said. "Now, back to memorizing.

I groaned again. "Do I have to?" I whined.

He laughed and nuzzled my hair again. "Yes," he said. "Try doing it all at once, like when you hit me."

I sighed. "Ok," I muttered. I read the passage three times, doing it a fourth to make sure I had it right. I closed the book, keeping my finger between the pages, and recited to Ryuji. He hugged me and cheered, "Hey, you did it! See, I told you it wasn't hard."

I snorted. "Bullshit," I said. "I had to kick your ass just to memorize four lines. How the hell does it make it easy?"

"It gives you a method on how to memorize from now on," he said. "And for when you're reciting. If you go into a battle and need to chant, you can think of it as a battle, too."

"Ok, your turn, Mr. I'm-So-Smart," I said, flipping to a random chapter in the Bible. "Recite all of chapter three of Luke."

He buried his face in my hair and recited it perfectly. I read along just to make sure he didn't make any mistakes. "What the hell?" I cried. "Are you peeking?"

He laughed into my hair. "No, I'm just smart," he said.

"No, you're just good at memorizing," I grumbled, slamming the Bible shut.

"That means I'm smart," he argued, pulling his face away from my hair.

"Does not," I protested. "Just because you can remember something doesn't mean you're smart."

"Does too!"

"Does not!"

"Does too!"

"Does not!"

"Does too!"

"Does not!"

"Does too!"

"Does too!"

"Does not!"

"Aha!" I cried triumphantly. "It doesn't! You just said so!"

"That's a child's game!" he protested. "I can't believe you pulled that on me!"

"Get used to it, Ryuji-chan," I said, folding my hands behind my head and leaning against his chest. "I always win an argument by any means necessary, even with children's games."

"Oh yeah? Let's see you win a tickle match." He started tickling my sides. I shrieked and squirmed, trying to get away from his devilish fingers. "Ryuji, stop! Mercy, mercy!" I cried, doing my best to wriggle out of his lap. He had his legs firmly locked against my waist, keeping me from getting away. One of his hands moved up to tickle my neck. I squealed and hunched in an effort to keep him from tickling me. Somehow he managed to inch his way into my armpits, my most ticklish spot. I yelped and broke free of his barricade, jumping away from him. "If it's a tickle match you want, it's a tickle match you get!" I cried, leaping back at him and pinning him to the tree. I wiggled my fingertips on his neck and he struggled not to laugh, curving his neck to one side. I saw my chance and started to get his other side, but I left myself open and he got my sides again. I fell off his lap, laughing my head off. He started tickling my belly and I cried for mercy again. Laughing, he agreed and let me go, leaning back against the tree. I curled up next to him and sighed happily. "That was fun," I said.

"Mm-hm," he agreed, nodding. He grabbed his bag and pulled out his Demon Pharmacology textbook. "We still have to do the homework your brother assigned," he said, flipping to the right page and pulling out a piece of paper and a pencil from his bag.

I sighed and got out my own stuff and placed it in my lap. I looked at the assignment. "What plant is used for treating burns and ghouls' temptaint?" I muttered. "God, if I don't know that one by now, I haven't been paying attention to all the wounds Shiemi's healed. Aloe." I quickly scribbled down my answer.

"Aloe? I thought she called it sancho," Ryuji said, looking at the book.

"She does," I said, continuing with my work. "She calls the plants by what her grandmother called them. Sancho is aloe. Homairi is turmeric. That's why she did so bad on that test Rin got a two on."

"Oh, so that's why Mr. Okumura kept asking her about her answers," he said, looking at the work. "Number two is frankincense, by the way."

"You're behind, Ryuji-chan," I teased. "I'm done."

"What?" he exclaimed, looking at my paper. "How the hell can you be done already?"

"Pharmacology is my second best subject," I said, closing the book. "The only class I do better in is Magic Circles and Seals. The last one is Christ's Thorn, not hyssop, stupid."

"I thought it was weird having the same answer twice," he muttered to himself. He scribbled down the answer and closed the book, shoving it back in his pack. "What time is it?"

I checked my watch. "Quarter to six. We have fifteen minutes until supper, so, if you don't wanna leave…"

He grinned and lay down with his head in my lap. "Today was fun," he sighed. "Mostly because I actually won against you."

"It was just a tickle fight," I snorted. "It had no real importance."

"Wanna have a rematch?" he threatened, holding up his hand and wiggling his fingers.

I grabbed his hand and twirled my fingers through his. "No," I said, bending down and placing a quick kiss on his forehead. "Not really."

He sighed and closed his eyes. "It feels good to relax," I commented, looking up at the leaves that sheltered us. I started stroking his hair. "Mm-hmm," he agreed, not opening his eyes. "I wonder what our mission will be on Saturday?"

Yukio had briefed us today that we'd be having a mission this coming Saturday and we were to report to the amusement park outside the school that morning. He had hinted about something more than just Bariyon hunting or coal tar catching, which had been our previous missions. They weren't really missions, more like odd jobs that Exorcists didn't want to do, so they left it to the Exwires. Lucky old Rin had had to deal with his father's previous familiar, a Cat Sith named Kuro. The cat god now lived with us in the dorm and got along with Koinu and my other hellhounds, my Brittany Spaniel girl Izanami and the Rottweiler boy Shoki, the two I'd summoned when Neuhaus had attacked us. I found that I could control them without my demonic presence coming out as long as they weren't much bigger than puppies. Anyway, my mission had been to clear out hobgoblins from an unused classroom attic. Fuuuuuuun.

"I hope it's something halfway interesting, at least," I grumbled. "All I did was get rid of a hobgoblin nest. I didn't even get to go anywhere."

"Guess we'll have to wait and see, huh?" He sat up and grabbed his bag, throwing his sweater over his shoulder. He offered me a hand and I took it, grabbing my bag. "Time for supper. Let's go." He held my hand up until we had almost reached the edge of the forest. It felt good.

As I was headed out to the forest on Friday, I felt the presence of a powerful demon. Since I'd first sensed that demon and Ryuji had dumped me in the brook, my sensor had been a little weird. I barely felt coal tars and other low level demons now, and the more powerful ones didn't hurt as much. But this one was a close second to the one I'd sensed before.

Grimacing in pain, I looked around and checked to make sure no one was watching. Satisfied that no one else was there with me, I let my tails out from under my shirt, curling my lip at the pain my fluttering shirt brought as it settled against my back. I looked at my prehensile tail. It was straining to the left. Frowning, I followed the way in pointed until the burning had become almost unbearable and my tail was pointing up into a tree. I searched the leaves, trying to find the demon I sensed.

"Hello."

I jumped as Amaimon practically materialized out of the tree. "Do you remember me?" he asked, pulling a lollipop out of his coat pocket and shoving it in his mouth.

"A-Amaimon," I stuttered, reaching into my pocket for my circle papers. I already had my familiars summoned, but I could talk to them and call them from my room by touching their papers and thinking what I wanted to them to do. It had come with my demon telepathy and I found it very useful, especially at this moment.

Koinu, Izanami, Shoki, I thought. Come to the forest, now. You can sense where I'm at. Hurry.

"I wouldn't do that," Amaimon said, spitting out the stick and pulling another sucker from his pocket. Seriously, where did he get all this candy? "A fight's no fun if all I get to play with is your familiars, even if they are hellhounds."

I froze. How did he know about my hellhounds? Doesn't matter, I decided. They're already on their way in case I need them.

Amaimon pulled a miniature Reese's cup and offered it to me. "Want it?" he asked. I hesitated. First he wants me to fight him, now he's offering me candy. I carefully took the candy and unwrapped it, sniffing it before popping it in my mouth. "Thanks," I said. "Now what the hell do you want?"

He tsked. "Is that anyway to talk to your older brother?" he scolded. "I treat Nii-san with more respect, and you should treat me with more respect, since I am kind of your older brother."

"Rin's my older brother," I snapped, folding my arms across my chest. I bit back a moan from the painful contact. "I don't care what you say. I refuse to acknowledge Satan as my father. So you can take your 'brotherly respect' and shove it up your green ass."

He blinked slowly at me. Then he grinned. "I like snarkiness," he said. "Maybe you won't be boring when we fight."

"I'm not fighting you," I said, letting my arms down and turning on my heel. "I have somewhere else to be right now. Besides, you asked me to play with you, not fight."

He landed in front of me and I yelped, stumbling backwards. "Fighting is playing," he said. He cocked his head to the side and spit out the stick and popped yet another lollipop in his mouth. Did he have a thing for sweets or what? "And you promised to play with me. I studied up on some Japanese games." He grabbed one of my knives from my belt and leaped back. He turned around and smacked his ass at me, clapping his hands and shouting, "Imouto-chan, follow the sound of the clapping!" With a final wiggle he took off through the trees.

"Argh, you asshole!" I howled, following him. "Give that back!"

He stopped on a thick branch of a tree and I landed just below it. "Give. It. Back," I said slowly, grounding my teeth together in an attempt to keep myself from snapping.

I burst into flames as Amaimon pulled my dagger from its sheath. "Interesting," he said, sliding in back and forth, making my flames come out and leave. It was kind of annoying to feel my teeth grow and shrink inside my mouth while I grounded them together. "So I was successful in creating a small portal to Gehenna. Yay for me."

"I said, give my dagger back, damn it!" I yelled. He looked down at me and said, "Um…no. If this is the only way I can get you to play with me, then I'll hold onto this for just a little while." He waved and hopped from branch to branch, my dagger in one hand, the sheath in the other. I snarled and followed after him, drawing my other dagger.

"Come on, imouto-chan, you're faster than this!" he taunted, throwing a handful of leaves in my face. I burned them up with my fire and jumped up, catching Amaimon by the foot. He yelped as I yanked him down and tried to wrestle my other dagger and its sheath from his grasp. "Oh no, this won't do," he said, and tapped the ground with his hand, making it shake and throw me off him. I had my other sheath but he still had my dagger. "Hurry up, imouto-chan," Amaimon called, taking off through the trees again. "You're gonna lose!"

"Damn it, quit leading me on a wild goose chase!" I howled, running through the trees.

Amaimon cackled gleefully and waved his hand. A Bariyon rolled out of a nearby stream and jumped at me. Seeing the danger, I pointed my dagger at it and engulfed it in flames. "You wanna fight?" I screeched, waving my dagger like an insane person. "Then get your dirt-filled ass over here, Amaimon!"

He cackled again and taunted, "You gotta catch me first, imouto-chan!"

"Fine!" I leapt at him, reaching for his neck. He saw it coming and sidestepped me, snatching my prehensile tail as I went past him. "You should really keep this hidden," he said, studying it. "Only girl demons have this kind of tail, plus the normal furry one. Sometimes it's the only way we can tell if a demon is a boy or a girl. But any demon's tail is their weakness." To prove his point, he placed on foot on my butt and pulled on my tail, hard. I yowled in pain and whipped my hand around and managed to grab his ankle. I pulled hard and he slipped, sending us tumbling to the ground. I wrapped my hands around his neck and pressed.

"Yeah! This is more like it!" Amaimon cheered, punching me in the gut. I took it and reared back the hand with my dagger, bringing the sapphire-studded hilt down on his forehead. I would've made more progress if I'd hit a rock. Amaimon just laughed and grabbed my wrist, twisting it so my dagger fell from my grip. I kneed him in the groin and he let me and my second dagger go, doubling over in pain.

My world was consumed in the blue of my flames. I had no control over my actions or feelings. I began punching and hitting Amaimon, not even vaguely realizing he was hitting me back with just as much force and laughing his ass off in glee. I snarled like an animal and bit his hand as it came up to block my fist, my sharp teeth drawing blood. He howled and smacked the ground, sending a giant crack going down the cliff we'd somehow fought our way to. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched the gap as it reached towards a tree that Ryuji was walking toward, on his way to our area in the forest.

"Ryu…ji," I formed, fighting my flames. I absently let Amaimon go and he disappeared in the trees, shouting, "That was fun! Let's play again sometime, imouto-chan!"

I trembled with power as I watched the crack Amaimon made creep its way to Ryuji. "Ryuj…Ryuji," I growled, forcing my flames back. I scooped up my daggers and shoved them into their sheaths, strapping them to my belt again. "Ryuji!" I howled, making my flames retreat back inside me. I jumped from the cliff and hopped from tree to tree, trying to find my boyfriend. "Ryuji!"

I found him just as the crack hit a tree, making it fall towards him. "RYUJI!" He turned around, his eyes widening as he saw the danger. I jumped from the tree and shoved him out of the way, feeling something hitting the back of my head before blackness took up space in my memory.

I cracked open my eyelids just a fraction. A familiar white roof graced my eyes and I shot them open, sitting up abruptly and regretting it. I moaned and put my head in my hands, waiting the swirling of my mind out. "What happened?" I murmured to no one in particular once my brain regained some semblance of gravity.

"You were hit on the head by a tree branch," said a voice I recognized. I looked up to see Yukio sitting in a chair across from the bed I was in. "Ryuji said he saw you get hit by a tree branch while you were walking into the forest. He brought you back here when you wouldn't wake up. How do you feel?"

"Like shit," I said simply. "My head is pounding." I rubbed my forehead, trying to make the pain go away. It was like tiki dancers had decided to have a jamboree inside my head and wouldn't shut up.

He nodded. "That's normal." He pulled a bottle of pills out of his coat pocket. "Take one of these every two hours until the pain is gone," he instructed, handing me the pills. "The swelling should go down and they'll keep the pain away."

"Thanks. Where's Bon?" I asked, looking at the pills.

"He's waiting outside," Yukio said. "Do you want to see him?" I nodded after a slight hesitation. "I'll let him in then." He checked his watch. "I have to go to a teachers' meeting, so I won't be back for a while. If you need anything, call Rin or ask Ryuji if he's still here. I'll see you later." He left and let Ryuji in.

"Hey," I said after a small awkward silence.

"Hey," he replied, leaning against the door.

"You ok?" I asked.

He gave me a surprised look. "I'm fine. Aren't I the one who's supposed to be asking if you're ok?"

"You're the one who was stupid enough to walk under a falling tree," I said.

He snorted. "And you're the one stupid enough to push me out from under it!" he pointed out. "Besides, you're the one that got hit. Are you ok or not?"

"I'm ok," I said, leaning back. "Nothing but a couple of Native Americans having a powwow in my head."

He chuckled and moved away from the door, sitting down on the edge of the bed. "That's good," he said. "I—I mean, that you're ok, not the uh, Native American thing…'cause, you know, that's not good…"

I laughed and took his hand. "You sure are nervous when it's just you, me, and a bed in a room," I teased, squeezing his fingers. He turned bright red. "I can leave," he threatened. He started to stand up.

I clutched his hand tighter and pulled him back down. "Don't," I whined. "Stay. Life's boring when you have to stay in bed for getting knocked out by a tree and no one's around to banter with."

He chuckled. "You can handle demons just fine, but when it comes down to it, a tree is all someone needs to take you down."

"A falling tree with you under it," I corrected, closing my eyes. "Stupid. Why didn't you move as soon as you saw it?"

"You pushed me out from under it before I could," he said, brushing my hair out of my face gently. "That's three times now."

"Hm?" I opened my eyes and he looked down at the floor.

"That's three times you've saved my life now," he said. "Once with the ghoul when we first met in the forest, second with the Naberius from the test, and third time from that stupid tree." He dropped my hand, resting his elbows on his thighs so his hands were between his knees. "I'm bad at this."

"Bad at what?"

"At being an Exorcist. I came here to become an Exorcist so I could defeat Satan, restore my temple, and protect people. So far I'm failing at all three."

I sat up and forced him to look at me. "Ryuji," I said seriously. "Do you know how long it would take me to defeat a demon like a Naberius or something higher ranked without you saying it's Fatal Verse?" He shook his head. "Too long. I'd die. I'm a Rogue, remember? Rogues have high fatality rates because they get into close combat with demons. Even if I summoned Koinu to help me, I most likely wouldn't make it. Yukio said it best: Exorcists can't fight alone. I need an Aria by my side when I fight. I can't think of any better Aria than you. You're strong, you're smart, you've got half the Bible memorized, and…and I love you. You're the Aria for me. I want to protect you, too. This goes two ways, Ryuji."

He stared at me, wide-eyed. "You…you love me?" he stammered.

I kissed him. "Duh, silly," I said. "Why else would I date you?"

That left him speechless. Slowly he wrapped his arms around me in a hug. "Thanks," he whispered, squeezing me tight. "I needed that."

"Yeah, you did," I said, hugging him back. "Now can you let me go? You're constricting the blood and air flow so my head is feeling funny. I think I need to lie down."

He abruptly let me go and I rested my head on my pillow. He leaned down and kissed me. "I'll see you tomorrow, if you're ok by then," he said, standing up. "Want me to send in Rin?"

"Yeah, go ahead," I said. I felt his fingers brush my hand lightly as I closed my eyes. "Bye."

"Bye." I heard the door shut quietly.

I sighed and enjoyed my moments of peace. I had to warn Rin about Amaimon, though. I was sure I wasn't the only one he wanted to "play" with. Rin would most definitely be next. I had to warn him not to use his flames, and, more importantly, not let Amaimon take his sword like the bastard had taken my knives.

Three hyperactive barrels of fur and blue fire eyes landed one after another on my chest, yipping and barking and saying a jumble of words in my head that I couldn't make out. As soon as I had my breath back, I shoved my hellhounds off my chest and scolded them. "Shut up!" I yelled. "I can't hear myself think, literally!"

"That's about how they were earlier," Rin said, walking in. "I couldn't get a word in edgewise and neither could Kuro. The most I got from them was 'Mistress' and 'forest.' Kuro thought he heard 'danger' too, but I wasn't so sure." He stared at me for a long second, his arms crossed. "Safaia, what the hell happened to you?"

I reached down and stroked Shoki, making him wriggle with glee and making Izanami and Koinu growl in jealousy. "Amaimon attacked me," I said.

"Who?" Rin asked, confused.

"Amaimon," I said. "You know, one of the Demon Kings? He's the Demon King of Earth. He really likes sweets."

"You got pummeled by a Demon King?" Rin yelped.

"Actually, he's more of the one who got pummeled," I said, pulling my hand back and looking at the wall. "He…he took my knives, Rin." I'd told Rin that most of my flames had been sealed in my knives, like how his had been sealed in his sword. "He took one of them and unsheathed it. I…I lost control for a moment. I kicked the crap out of him and he put Ryuji in danger by hitting the ground and almost making a tree fall on him." Something wet trickled down my face and I brushed my tears away. "I—I was so scared. I can understand why Satan is how he is. That much power…it's not something you can control."

I felt a firm hand on my shoulder and looked up at Rin. His face was so serious it was almost scary, but he somehow managed to assuage my fears. "You're not the only one with this power, sis," he said. "It's like you said: the flames chose us both because their power is too much for just one. Control over them isn't something that will come easily."

"But this is the second time I've ever lost control!" I yelled, making my head pound louder. I ignored my pain. "The first was when you drew the Kurikara for the first time, but that was for an instant, not for as long as my battle with Amaimon! I've had them all my life, Rin. I've managed them for fifteen years, almost. They've never raged out of control and taken me over like this before!"

"Not directly," he mused, looking out the window.

"What?" I asked softly. Shoki wormed his way up into my lap while Izanami put her paws on the bed, resting her head on my knee and Koinu worked his head under my hand. Kuro even came over and rubbed against my cheek, purring softly.

"When I was little," Rin said, putting his hands on the window sill, "I had a lot of anger-management issues. Whenever someone hurt Yukio, verbally or physically, I'd get overwhelmingly mad and hurt them. And I'm not talking just throwing a little-kid's punch at them and giving them a bruise. I would break bones. Crack skulls. Draw blood by just scratching them on their arms and faces. I even snapped a spine, once. Other people just thought I had a bad temper and I couldn't control my strength. They called me a demon's child."

I blinked. It was like he was describing my life, not his.

"I'm betting you had the same problems, too," he said, looking at me but not moving from the window. "Or at least similar ones. But since you never had your half of the flames sealed before now, you learned at a young age to control them, so you kept a level head and did your best to never get angry. I think our anger stems from the flames. If we get too angry, they get beyond our restraint and more or less take us over." He came over and put a hand on my shoulder again. "Don't worry about me, Safaia. I may not have you're militaristic reign over my half of our fire, but I can control my temper fairly well. If Amaimon attacks me, I'll keep my head."

"It's not your temper I'm worried about," I said. "It's him taking your sword. He took my knife like it was nothing. You absolutely have to be careful, Rin. You can't let him get your sword."

He reached down and gave me a brotherly kiss on the forehead, shocking me a little. "I promise," he said. "Now get some sleep. You've got to be ready for our mission tomorrow. I'll see you later." He shut the door quietly on his way out, Kuro trotting after him.

Sleep sounded wonderfully good, even after my long time being unconscious. Yawning, I snuggled into the pillow on my side, putting an arm across Koinu as Izanami and Shoki curled up at my belly and back. It wasn't hard to drop off into the wonderful realm of dormancy.

For those of you who don't know:

Izanami-Primordial Japanese goddess of earth and darkness

Koinu-puppy

Shoki-Japanese god of afterlife and exorcism

If I'm wrong on the names or the martial arts moves, please correct me! I hate being wrong :(