Okay, so I got a little bit of time on my hands this week and hopefully I will get this done today 3/29 if not then hopefully by this weekend. For all my readers I appreciate your comments and patience. I won't waste your time with this much longer so without further ado: Chapter 10 of walking candle.

Disclaimer: I only own the idea. All characters and content belong to their rightful owners.

Chapter 10: The escape: Insomnia Part 3

Yukio felt completely helpless. He wasn't sure how to consol his broken brother. There was no way that he could just tell him "Don't worry, everything will be alright" because the situation they were in was far from alright. He had an obligation to protect his brother no matter what and right now at this moment he was lost. How do you save someone when they are so close to self destruction? He feared not for his own life but his older twin.

Rin always had a goofy smile on his face and no matter the situation however dire it might be somehow brought a sort of light to the world. But right now Yukio's world felt darker and less lively as if all happiness had been sucked from it. The dorms felt incredibly drab and quiet. The lack of activity made the entire building feel as if it had been abandoned for centuries like a light breeze might send it crashing down. Yukio could almost swear he saw his breath visible in front of him though that was impossible considering that the temperature was kept at a moderate level and it was the middle of summer.

He had to do something. The Gregori wanted Rin executed today and he'd be damned if he let that happen to his brother. Yukio needed help. Maybe he could ask Shura or maybe Mephisto for assistance, Shura would probably be his best bet out of the two since Mephisto was well…questionable in his opinion. He might try to pull Rin into something even more dangerous and with Rin's condition right now that was the last thing that he wanted. Giving the door in front of him one last look he made up his mind. Rin was on the other side ready to give up and Yukio was not letting that happen.

Yukio lightly knocked on the door and whispered.

"Nii-san, I'm going out for a bit. I'll be back shortly."

There was no answer but Yukio could've sworn he heard a small noise in response.

Yukio quickly got dressed and threw on his exorcist trench coat half hazard and ran out the door. He wasn't concerned about looks or lessons or anything else the only thing on his mind was how he was going to save his brother from his fate. As Yukio ran he quickly dialed Shura's number.

There was a pause for a moment and a dial tone then a very bored voice got on

"Ello?"

"Shura, I need your help!" Yukio was almost out of breath.

"Had a feelin' you were gonna call me. And I'm pretty sure I know what 'bout." Shura stated sounding somehow completely calm while Yukio on the other hand was freaking out.

"Jus' calm down before you have a heart attack. I already told the kiddos 'bout what's goin' on." Yukio heard Shura explain through the speakerphone.

"It's not just that!" Yukio yelled frantically into the phone. "Nii-san, he's-

Yukio stopped to catch his breath.

"Yukio, what's goin' on?"

"Nii-san, he's sick and-

There was a pause on the other line and then Shura spoke softly.

"Where are' ya at right now?"

"I'm at the academy entrance."

"Be ther' in jus' a few." Shura then immediately hung up.

Yukio took that time to try to fix his self up a bit as he attempted to make himself look presentable.

Not even moments after hanging up with Yukio, Shura was walking up in her usual inappropriate attire with the exception of a long black coat over the top.

"The hell did ya do, run here?" Shura pointed out the fatigue plastered on the younger Okumura twin's face.

Yukio didn't need to answer Shura already knew.

"Ya know ya coulda' used yer wonder-key of yers and gotten here a lot faster." Shura snorted.

It had completely slipped Yukio's mind. He had been so frantic to get help that he forgot that he could have gotten to the academy a lot faster if he had just used his exorcist key.

Yukio mentally face palmed.

"So what's the deal with Rin?" Shura asked. "You said he's sick."

It was then that Yukio remembered what he had wanted to talk to Shura about. He straightened himself out and looked at Shura with serious eyes.

"He collapsed this morning."

"Is tha' so?"

Yukio didn't respond to that and just continued

"But that's not only what worries me." Yukio began. "The flames on his head and tail are getting considerably smaller and…"

"And?" Shura urged Yukio to go on.

Yukio looked down for a moment and sighed.

"They flickered for a moment before he passed out."

Yukio scrunched his face in discomfort.

"They flickered…" Shura brought her fingers to her mouth as if she was contemplating something.

"Like a candle." Yukio stated. His eyes were cast in shadow. Yukio seemed to be recalling something.

It was a memory of when Yukio and Rin were little. The two boys had been sound asleep when the oldest brother Rin suddenly got up and left the room. Yukio who had been enjoying the warmth just moments ago looked over and saw his brother walking to the door.

"Nii-san, where are you going?" Yukio asked groggily.

"Just to get some water, go back to sleep Yuki." Rin replied.

Yukio knew something was up. Rin only ever seemed to call Yukio "Yuki" whenever he was troubled by something though Yukio doubted that Rin knew he had that habit. Despite this Yukio tried to do as his brother had said and go back to sleep but without his brother's company Yukio found himself wide awake.

He'd finally had enough after awhile and got up. He wandered all over the place looking for his brother when he spotted his father in a candle-lit room. Yukio was just about to say something when he noticed his brother sitting on their father's shoulders. He pushed the door just enough to see what was happening inside. Rin was lighting a big candle in the middle of smaller candles.

"Rin, what do you think happens to the unity of the candles when one of them goes out?"

"I dunno…" Rin rubbed his eyes and yawned.

Yukio could barely hear what was being said except for one thing:

"Be the brightest candle."

Rin by this time was sound asleep. Father Fujimoto turned and noticed his other son in the doorway.

"Can't sleep either?"

Yukio nodded. Fujimoto walked over and patted his son's head.

"Dad, one of them is going out." Yukio pointed to a flickering candle.

"Hmm?" Fujimoto turned to find one of the first candles he had lit starting to flicker.

He closely observed it for awhile then turned his attention back to Yukio. Yukio just stared at his father in silence.

"Yukio."

Yukio looked up at his father.

"I don't know if you heard what I told Rin but could you promise me something."

"Dad?" Yukio got an uneasy feeling in his gut but his father's tone told him it was something important.

"Don't let the flame go out."

"Dad? I don't understand."

"Listen Yukio, I know your brother can be a handful sometimes and gets into trouble but he carries with him a sort of fire that I admire, a fire that we all possess but sometimes lose track of through life. However, like a real fire it needs to be tended to or else it burns out."

"Um, Dad I still…"

"It's okay if you don't understand right now. It's just an old man's rambling after all." Fujimoto smiled. "Just remember this, don't you or your brother ever lose your fire."

"O-Okay." Yukio was still confused but he promised his father none the less.

"Yukio!"

Yukio broke out of his thoughts. Shura was staring intensely at him

"What?"

Shura sighed and placed a hand on her hip.

"Ya spaced out."

"Sorry." Yukio apologized for his dazed demeanor.

"Well anyway we'll talk more inside. I get the feelin' we are being watched right now."

Now that Shura mentioned it he started getting that feeling too it was just like at the Vatican, someone was definitely watching.

"C'mon Spacey let's get inside." Shura grabbed Yukio's arm and drug him away.

Meanwhile somewhere close by a pair of eyes watched on. A large smile stretched the length of their face.

When Yukio and Shura got to the exorcist cram school classroom the place was in an uproar. Most of the exwires were huddled in a group discussing something loudly while Izumo and Mr. Ventriloquist (honestly can't remember the name I think it was Takara or something) were off doing their own thing. Despite this Izumo seemed to be listening in on the group's conversation.

"Are they really going to kill Rin?!" Shiemi was almost hysterical. She looked like she was on the verge of crying.

"Seems like it." Suguro stated bluntly. "I mean they were going to kill him before when we were in Kyoto so I wouldn't put it past them."

"But they postponed it before didn't they?" Shiemi asked.

"True, but that was also because he helped get rid of the Impure King, remember? And we don't have some giant monster to fight this time around that would change the Vatican's mind."

"So then that means…" Shiemi's green eyes formed tears

"Ugh, damn it!" Suguro clenched his fist in anger.

"Is there nothing we can do to help Okumura?" Koneko asked. He too seemed a bit frustrated.

"What are we going to do?" Shima fidgeted with his pink hair.

"Tha's what we need to figure out." Shura opened the door still dragging Yukio behind.

"Teach! Kirigakure-Sensei!" Suguro addressed the two as they walked in.

"Yuki-chan!" Shiemi squeaked as Yukio pulled his arm free from Shura.

"I'm glad you're all here." Yukio stated.

"Yuki-chan!" Shiemi ran up to Yukio with tears filling her eyes. "They aren't really going to kill Rin are they?!"

Yukio gave a strained smile. "I'm not going to let that happen." He wasn't too convinced himself but it seemed to have helped lighten the mood a bit.

Shiemi wiped the tears with her palm, her face seemed paler.

"What can we do Teach?" Suguro spoke up. He was usually the best-behaved of the group but when it came to his friends he was a bull in a China shop.

"I think we all agree we need to get Rin somewhere safe first right?"

The exwires all nodded their heads in unison.

"So now, does anyone have any ideas where we can take him? His execution is scheduled for this evening so we need to move him before that time."

The exwires all discussed their opinions and whatnot.

"I would say take him back to my home" Suguro stated. "However I get the feeling that's the first place they would go to look for him."

"Most likely." Yukio agreed.

Everyone seemed lost. How were they going to hide Rin? Where would they hide him? No one seemed to have an answer. Finally when they were just starting to lose hope Shiemi spoke up.

"Um, I don't know if it would work or not but mother told me of a location."

Everyone looked at Shiemi. She seemed a little uncomfortable with all attention on her.

"Um, it's sort of a get- away place for my mother and I. We go there for vacations and it's secluded. I'm sure if we ask her she wouldn't mind."

Shura who was sitting on the front desk with her legs crossed looked over to Yukio.

"What do ya' think?" Shura continued to wait for the younger Okumura to respond. When he didn't right away she decided to break the silence.

"C'mon Spacey, it's wortha shot don't ya think?"

Yukio was a little irritated by Shura's new nickname for him. He decided to drop it just this once.

"Alright then that's settled. Now on to our other issue." Yukio began.

All exwires were paying close attention. They couldn't imagine there being another issue but at the same time they didn't seem too surprised either.

With all their eyes on Yukio now he cleared his throat and began.

"On top of all this…Rin is sick."

*(Why do I feel like this whole scene is a Walking Dead moment? Glenn: There's walkers in the barn and Lori's pregnant lol)*

"…"

There was nothing other than silence.

"You mean besides his out of body experiences?" Suguro asked.

"Yes." Yukio replied. "He has been refusing to sleep and now he has a fever."

"Rin's sick?" Shiemi sounded worried.

"And…" Yukio began his sentence and stopped when he realized how incredibly stupid and pathetic his next lines were going to be.

"Go on." Shura urged.

Yukio pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation.

"Apparently he has locked himself in one of the dorm rooms and refuses to come out so I need help coaxing him out."

"Pfft!" Shura laughed.

"It's not funny! It's childish and stupid and…" Yukio stopped as his irritation started boiling over and tears started forming in his eyes.

"Um Yuki-chan I can- Shiemi was cut off.

"I'll do it Teach!" Suguro volunteered standing up from the desk he had been leaning against.

*(Glenn has volunteered to go down the well lmao…sorry I couldn't resist :P)*

"Suguro…" Yukio was at a loss for words but instead bowed. "Thank you!"

"Teach, that's really not necessary." Suguro scratched the back of his head feeling a little embarrassed.

"I'll leave it to you then."

"I have one request though."

"What's that?"

"That you let me go alone."

Yukio seemed a little confused reluctant but he was too worried about his brother to care.

"That's fine." Yukio agreed.

With that said the plan was put in motion to get Rin to a safer location asap.

Yukio asked all the exwires to gather their belonging and prepare for an extended stay at the secret location Shiemi had mentioned. Of course Yukio gave them the choice whether to help or back out if they wanted to. In the end they all still ended up deciding to go.

True to his word Yukio and the rest hung outside the dorm while Suguro went alone.

When he entered the building he immediately noticed an almost eerie silence. It was way too quiet. Suguro had only been to the dorms a few times in the past but even he found it hard not to notice the deadness. If he didn't know better he'd have mistook it for being a haunted location. It was so strange to him. It was as if the life of the building had been sucked out and he was just stepping into the remnants of it.

Was it even possible to get this quiet? As Suguro stepped further in he heard a small noise and looked down to his feet to see Kuro; Rin's cat familiar nudging his head against his leg. Suguro had been told by Yukio that Rin was in a room a couple of doors from theirs. The exwire made his way to the door and stood in front of it. He sighed a couple times as he thought about how ridiculous this all was then knocked on the door a couple of times.

"Okumura, you in there?" Suguro knocked a couple more times.

"Go away…" he heard a hoarse voice on the other side. Suguro almost could have mistook it for someone else with how muffled it sounded.

"I'm not going anywhere until you get your ass out here." Suguro stated.

"Ughhh…" He heard a grunt. "Just leave me alone."

"Sorry, not going to happen."

"Why?"

"Don't ask such a stupid ass question you know why! If you don't hurry and get out here you'll be dead not just metaphorically."

"Who cares…" Suguro could tell from Rin's tone that it seemed like he had completely given up.

"I do dumb ass! Look I get that you are freaked out and you're not feeling your best at the moment but what do you think locking yourself up is going to accomplish?"

Rin didn't respond but Suguro could hear coughing coming from the other side.

" If you stay in there any longer without treatment you're going to get worse, your brother is worried about you and so is everyone else so let us help you."

Again there was silence for awhile until Rin spoke.

"I hate myself. I can't believe that something so stupid has caused so much trouble."

Suguro kept quiet and listened.

"All this trouble because of my stupidity."

"Well now you know next time not to let it happen." The sassy exwire snorted.

"If there is a next time." Rin whispered.

"Don't give me that crap! No one is going to let you die. I can tell you are scared, just like in Kyoto you are afraid to let people know that you need help. Look you cared enough to tell me in depth what has been happening to you so trust me now. Let your friends help you."

Rin decided not to fight it anymore and Suguro could hear the door being unlocked. When Suguro pushed the door open he saw just how bad Rin was getting. His complexion was pale, his face was flushed with heat and he had his mouth covered with one hand probably as an attempt not to spread any germs. Suguro also noticed that the flames covering Rin's head and tail were even smaller.

"Damn man, you look like hell."

"Thanks for noticing." Rin coughed.

"C'mon let's get you some help."

Suguro was leading Rin into the kitchen when he noticed that Rin's body was shaking.

"Okumura, are you cold?" Suguro looked concerned.

Rin tried to play it off as if were nothing.

"No, I'm ok."

It was clear that he wasn't. The older Okumura kept rubbing his arms as if in an attempt to warm up.

"I don't believe you." Suguro stopped and placed a hand on Rin's forehead it was definitely warm to the touch. "Damn. Your fever is getting worse."

"Wait how did you-

"Your brother told us."

Rin couldn't deny that he was in bad shape anymore; the spike in his fever was a dead giveaway.

"Sorry…"

Suguro looked over to his sick companion.

"What? sorry that you're sick? It happens to everyone it's one of the things that we all as humans have to deal with, although…I'm not sure if the same could be said about a half demon." Suguro stated then smirked at Rin.

Rin smiled back then immediately cringed. Suddenly the dark haired teen fell to his knees and started panting.

"Okumura what's wrong?!" Suguro sounded panicked.

"N-Nothing I'm fine."

"No you're not whats- He bent down on his knees to check on Rin.

That was when Suguro noticed the flames on Rin decreased in size and then flickered.

What was happening? The young exwire had no idea what was happening to his blue-flamed friend but from what he saw it was sheer agony. Rin was fighting with all his might to keep conscious but it was starting to waver.

"Damn it! Hold on!" Suguro pulled out his phone and quickly dialed a number.

"Teach! Get in here now!" He didn't wait for an answer and quickly hung up the phone.

Rin was panting but managed to keep conscious with Suguro there helping him out.

There were rushed footsteps and soon Yukio's and Shura's images came into view.

"Nii-san!" Yukio rushed over to his brother. "What's wrong?!" Rin's overprotective little brother sounded panicked.

"His flames flickered." Suguro explained.

"…!"

Yukio didn't need to be told anything else. He rubbed his brother's back as he coughed heavily.

"I-I'm fine Yuki." Rin was having a hard time talking.

Yukio immediately caught on. He helped his brother up and with the added effort of Suguro and Shura led him into the kitchen. Yukio would have liked more than anything to let Rin lie down and rest but time was not on their side right now.

In the end Shura was left carrying Rin on her back.

"Rin!" Shiemi who was sitting down just moments ago rushed over to him. His eyes were closed but he was not asleep.

"Don' worry he's just restin' but damn is this kid heavy so we better hurry up." Shura stated trying to readjust her hold on the young teen. Rin was wearing some sort of cloak with a hood.

On the table were camouflage cloaks.

"Remember jus' like before." Shura stated. Without much explanation the exwires all put on their gear.

With all members with their gear on Yukio pulled out his "wonder-key" as Shura had put it, into one of the doors and turned the key. When the door opened a wide bridge spread out before them.

"I can't believe we are going to Moriyama's house!" Shima sounded delighted.

"Hush will you. This isn't a joy trip." Konekomaru scolded Shima.

"All of ya keep quiet!" Shura spouted.

The group made their way across the bridge with what seemed like little difficulty. As they were crossing though Rin peeked open his eyes a bit and saw fire colored hair in his view.

"S-Shura.." Rin whispered.

"Hmm?" Shura looked over her shoulder at him. She could feel him shaking on her back, most likely cold chills.

"Someone is watching us."

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF Cliffhangers! Love when I write them, hate when they happen in anime and manga.

Duh Duh DUHHHHHHHHHH! Lol oh geez took me two almost three days to write this chapter I hope it's to your liking. Anyway I feel it's a little jumbled but whatever as I said before I was originally going to stop writing but for the sake of my readers and followers I decided what the hell, why not! Anyway apparently I am kinda abusive towards Rin, first losing his soul and now horrible colds…damn…SORRY RIN LOVE YOU!

Oh god Walking Dead references just beautiful! LOL. Wait a minute…Walking Dead…Walking Candle…OMG LOL I didn't even mean to do that. I think I knew about Ao No Exorcist before I even knew about Walking Dead.

If you didn't quite understand the conversation Fujimoto had with his children try to think of the will of fire from Naruto.

That might still not make sense so here:

In the previous chapter Fujimoto was basically telling Rin not to try to do everything alone that it's alright to ask for help from others and rely on them at times but don't let them do all the work. He also said be the "brightest candle" meaning be the force that drives people together, be the one that everyone looks up to.

In this chapter when Yukio recalls the same event Fujimoto tells him "Don't let the flame go out" and "Don't lose your fire" Basically don't let your passion, happiness and anything that makes you "you" get lost on the road of life. It's also kind of a double meaning in my story since Fujimoto knows that Rin possesses Satan's power. It's His way of telling Yukio to let his brother know that just because Rin is treated like a monster don't let him think that he has to live like one.

Anyway hope you enjoyed. Please feel free to leave reviews and suggestions. Love reading reviews they always make my day . Next chapter will be up soon so please be patient. Thank you!