A/N: So, who's keeping up with the manga? Yukio, Yukio, Yukio. No, no, no. I'm not sure which one annoys me more, Yukio or Shima. No, wait. Shima. Definitely Shima. And Yukio, stop acting like an Uchiha!

I do seem to enjoy my references. This one has two. One right after another.

Also, Merry Christmas everyone! Or whatever holiday you practice. Personally, my family celebrates Hanukkah, which already ended this year on the 20th

Published: 12/25/2017

Warnings: None for this chapter

Chapter 10

A Student's Choice

Yukio was very tempted to hit something, preferably Rin's mock-innocent face. There was nothing innocent about his brother, no matter how much Rin liked to pretend otherwise. His brother was a demon in human flesh by every definition of the word. Rin was a chaos bringer that took joy in messing with people, particularly Yukio because Rin was just that trollish, and making extra work for Yukio seemed to be Rin's entire life purpose, because why else would Rin exist?

To make Yukio's life more complicated, it seemed. Yukio was completely and utterly convinced of that, no matter how silly dad said it was for Yukio to think that or how Shura stated that he was exaggerating it way too much. Those two had no idea. The pair of them had, unfortunately, fallen for the veil of deception Rin liked to weave before people. Rin was just that good.

Rin himself wasn't exactly that dissuading of the notion either whenever Yukio would bring it up. If anything, Rin would laugh, shrug, wrap and arm around Yukio, and state, "Silly Yuki, annoying little siblings is what big brothers are for!"

If that was Rin's description of older siblings, then Rin was doing a damn good job right now of keeping up with his own personal definition of the word.

Yukio twitched, adding to the indent already etched into his face. He was way too young to have frown lines etched into his face, but growing up with Rin made not having said lines and impossible dream.

"You hospitalized three of our Pages."

Ryuji Suguro, heir to a prestigious temple in Kyoto, and one of the star students expected to make it make it high in the ranks of the Order. Nemu Takara, a puppet wield kid that… Creeped the hell out of Yukio, actually. That one, he could let slide. Renzo Shima, an easy going kid with a weird choice of dyed hair, but to each their own.

Rin had left all of them in the hospital. On the first day. Hell, scratch that. On his first class with them. Before any of them were anywhere near close to being combat ready. Rin, of course, had ignored that and decided to start of his class with a bang after having observed Yukio's teaching methods.

The whole point of having Rin sit while Yukio taught class was to prevent this sort of thing from happening, not to help it move along, damn it!

Rin answered Yukio's rather reasonable statement with a rather unreasonable shrug.

"I was testing their abilities." Rin said in response, as if that explained everything and Yukio should just accept it as is. "That Suguro, he's good, but he's got a big head. Takara is so hiding something, so I went a little harder on him. Same with Shima, although I can't tell if it's something big or if the kid just has lottsa talent and is just lazy." Rin stated his assessments, seemingly missing the point entirely that beating up an entire class of students on the first day was frowned upon.

Yukio's facial twitch returned full force. Rin tilted his head, shooting the taller twin a concerned look.

"Yuki, your face is doing that thing again!" Rin exclaimed, pointing wildly at the twitch, concern emanating from Rin in waves. False concern, Yukio was sure. There was no way in hell Rin didn't do this this kind of shit on purpose. There was no way even Rin could be that stupid, even if Yukio did get all the smarts out of their birth.

"Yuki? Why are you drawing your gun?"

"..."

The sound of a click and a gun cocking bounced off the walls. Wearily, Rin decided it would be in his best interest to back away slowly. He should have moved faster. Definitely have moved faster.

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

"Ah, Yukio, stop trying to blast off my feet!"

Noriko Paku wasn't sure why she had decided to become an Exorcist. Sure, she had decided to follow this path after Izumo had all but dragged her here, but what was it that Paku herself wanted? Did she want to become an Exorcist, did she want to help people, did she want to hunt demons down?

At first, she had thought it was a fun game Izumo had come up with. Sure, games weren't really Izumo's thing, but the whole thing being a game made far more logical sense than demons being real, because really? How utterly terrifying was that, the concept of demons running around, causing chaos and mischief?

It was a scary thought. It really was, because it meant that you couldn't take anything at face value. You couldn't look at the world and just see. You couldn't look at the world and go, oh, that's how it works, or that's how it is.

The world was already confusing enough without adding supernatural forces into the mix, thank you very much.

Politicians lying here and there, news groups trying to influence thought patterns, endless arrays of propaganda, blah blah. Add demons to the mix, and the whole world just kinda tilts sideways.

Not that Paku fell for rumors and deceptions like that easily. If that were true, she and Izumo would have never been friends. Paku hadn't cared what the world had said about Izumo, she had decided to find out for herself. And sure, Izumo wasn't exactly normal and was a lot more freakish than Paku had expected, but Izumo was Paku's best friend. They were so close that Izumo had trusted Paku with this, with this hidden world.

A world of demons and angels, gods and monsters, spirits and ghosts and all sorts of things. Creatures of all kinds, running about the background, causing this and that. Some benevolent, some chaotic, creatures of all religions and backgrounds.

A world Rin-sensei had rather bluntly stated was on the verge of being destroyed.

Paku shivered.

Rin-sensei may have been brash, but he had also been honest. He had been the only honest one so far, now that she thought about it. The other teachers at the Cram School were more matter-of-fact, teaching them this and that, an empty inflection to their voices as they calmly explained things that would make most heads spin.

Rin-sensei, on the other hand, had no qualms about bluntly declaring that their world was literally on the verge of collapse, listing Lucifer himself as the greatest threat to humanity and how humanity had, thus far, only survived because not every demon wanted to see Assiah burn to ash. It was a frightening world they lived in, and now, Paku could see. The veil had been stripped from her eyes, and she could see reality for what it truly was.

Reality was more terrifying than Paku had ever realized.

Yes, she was smart enough to know that things aren't always how they appear, but this drastic change made a shiver run down her spine. She had been tossed head first into this world because Paku hadn't known how to say no to Izumo's pleading expression, and now Paku had been shoved into a world that she didn't really understand and it was so new and unknown and utterly terrifying and-

"Wow, wow, wow! You look like your having a Yuki episode. Deep breaths, 'kay?"

Hands were gripping her shoulders. Hands were gripping her shoulders, firm and warm and strong, grounding her into reality. Paku shook a few more times as she got herself under control before finally looking up. With an eep, she jumped and backed away slightly, bumping into one of the many desks in the abandoned classroom she had escaped into for her little freak out session.

"Rin-sensei!" Paku blurted out in surprise.

Rin-sensei responded with a sunny closed eye smile, those sharp teeth of his poking out of the corners of his mouth as he scratched the back of his head. Paku was glad his eyes were closed. It gave her a bit of time to try and force down the scarlet blush that ran across her face.

"Heh heh. Hi! Do you mind not being so loud? Yuki's kinda mad at me so I decided to hide out in here, he he." Rin explained, eyes opening before frowning slightly. Paku blanched. Was there something on her face? "Hey, why're you all red? Anyways, what's with the freak out, my dear little minion?" Rin questioned, crossing his arms and staring at Paku inquisitively.

Paku twitched. Minion? Oh, this boy had it coming. Paku would make sure of that. High ranking Exorcist or no, Paku would-

Wait.

"Yukio-sensei is mad at you?" Paku asked, having finally latched on to that part of Rin-sensei's little speech.

Rin-sensei gave out a nervous laugh, scratching the back of his head again.

"Heh heh, yeah. He tried to blast my feet off. Something about, 'Rin-baka, you can't beat up the class on the first day', blah blah blah blah blah blah." Rin gave a casual shrug, as if beating up the class on the first day was a perfectly logical and acceptable practice to partake in.

Elsewhere, Sakata Gintoki sneezed. Was someone saying his signature phrase? No matter. With practiced ease, he flung a bugger and Kagura, who responded by trying to shoot him. Honestly. How rude.

Paku twitched.

"Maybe he has the right idea!" the girl exclaimed, before swinging her fist at full force, sticking her teacher in the chest. Can you blame the girl? Her first day in learning to be an Exorcist, marred by Rin's rather insatiable destructive teaching methods. Paku's fist collided against the solid surface of Rin-sensei's chest with a thud, and the results were as expected.

Paku jumped as she retraced her hand, shaking it in an effort to get rid of the pain now coursing through it. Rin-sensei then proceeded to show off his asshole tendencies by smirking at her. A smirk he quickly suppressed, but a smirk nonetheless.

"Ow! What are you made of!" Paku cried.

"I eat my fruits and vegetables and lots and lots of spinach." Rin-sensei flatly stated with all the seriousness of his rather more professional twin brother.

Elsewhere, a dimension away, Popeye sneezed.

Annoyed, Paku turned away. Striding forth, she tossed herself into a chair before shooting her teacher a challenging look as he simple stood there, not moving a muscle. "Well? You can sit. I won't be yelling. I don't want to be caught in the fight between a pair of monsters, after all."

Rin-sensei snorted.

"Oiy! Yuki might be a monster, but I'll have you know that I'm the good twin, all nice and innocent." Rin-sensei lied through his teeth as he took the chair across from her.

It was Paku's turn to snort.

"Yukio-sensei explained plants. You beat the living shit out of us." Paku wasn't sure what had prompted her to be so blunt, but maybe it had something to do with how utterly done with everything she was.

This first day had been exhausting, and she had no doubt that the days and weeks forward would be no different as long as she continued this path. As long as she continued chasing after Izumo, because this was what Izumo wanted and Paku couldn't say no.

Rin-sensei looked offended.

"For the last time, I was trying to gauge your guy's skill level so I know what I'm working with!" the teenage boy whined with all the air of someone who had explained himself a dozen times over only to receive a blank we-aren't-buying-that-bullshit stare every parent seems to have down to a t.

Which Paku herself had mastered long ago, and a look she shot to him now. Upon spotting it, Rin-sensei actually groaned, slamming his head into the desk.

"You too? Why you? I only bopped you on the head!" Rin-sensei complained, tossing aside the image of a professional teacher figure and instead opting to act closer to his own age, rather than the badass I'm-better-than-you-because-I-have-more-experience attitude he had portrayed in class.

Paku all but growled.

"Because! You showed us how weak and helpless we all are! Do you have any idea how demoralizing that class was?!" Paku cried out.

It had been demoralizing. Sugoro-kun had a broken leg. Shima-kun had a broken arm from just blocking a blow from Rin-sensei. Izumo's fox summons had ended up shredded easily enough by their rampaging teacher.

Rin's eyes darted up to hers in surprise.

"What? No! That wasn't what I was intending!" Rin let out a startled shriek, seemingly shocked by what his actions had caused. "I just needed to know how good you guys are, so I could see what we have to work on in class." he attempted to explain himself.

Paku was having none of it.

"You were showing off! Besides, I think you made it pretty clear that someone like me shouldn't be an Exorcist! That world will eat me alive, from what you stated!"

There. Paku had said it. She'd said what had been worrying her the entire time. She'd stated the truth. This world was going to eat her alive. It was going to chew her into pieces before spitting her out, leaving nothing but a smear. That's how easy Paku would fall. After all, she hadn't been able to do anything against Rin-sensei.

He'd tapped her. Once. On the forehead. That had been enough to take her out of the fight. Just a tap. Just a tap and-

"Hey, hey, you're going into Yuki-mode again! Nuh uh! I put up with that enough from him, I will not have my cute little minions emulating Iceman!" Rin-sensei's voice cut through Paku's thought process rather effectively.

Paku responded with a glare, ignoring the rather earnest expression Rin-sensei was shooting her, before her eyes darted away, looking off into the corner. She couldn't meet that gaze. She couldn't. It was just too hard. Instead, she hissed out several words, tears burning at the edge of her vision.

"What's wrong with my thought process, huh? It's the truth! I'm not fit to be an Exorcist, I'm not strong enough, not brave enough, not-"

Hands gripped her own, squeezing them softly but firmly. Paku froze.

"You aren't weak. You're inexperienced. My job, Paku-san, is to teach you how to unlock your own potential, which is exactly what I'm going to do. So, please, have some faith in me, neh? Have faith in me, and I'll have faith in you. How does that sound?"

Paku looked up.

His expression was so honest. Not a single sign of deception. Not a single sign of a lie. Rin-sensei was being serious. That shouldn't surprise Paku. From what she had seen so far, Rin-sensei wouldn't be able to lie to save his life. Rin-sensei actually believed in her. He really did.

Paku pulled her hands back.

"What if I don't really want to be an Exorcist?"

There. Paku had said that part too. The truth. She didn't really want this life. She hadn't wanted it before, and she definitely didn't want it now. It scared her more now, more than anything. The truth was far more frightening than she had realized. Rin-sensei hadn't bothered beating around the bush like the other teachers had. He'd been blunt and honest and that's what terrified Paku most of all.

Rin-sensei had demolished them.

Rin-sensei had demolished them, after stating that a single Demon King, should he wish it, could level the entire True Cross Order by himself. That was the threat they were facing. This wasn't a war. This was a one sided slaughter.

A tapping alerted her to Rin-sensei's presence again. Paku hadn't noticed, but he had let go of her hands. Or, maybe she had yanked them away. She wasn't sure.

"If this life isn't for you, then so be it." Rin-sensei shrugged, and Paku's heart gave a lurch. Ha! She knew it. Even Rin-sensei didn't believe in her. Rin-sensei wasn't going to beat around the bush. He was going to be blunt with her, because that was just the kind of person Rin-sensei was. He was going to tell her she should just give up, right here and now and-

"That's your choice, Paku-san. Only you can decided that. But… Whatever route you choose, it's always good to know self defense. So, please… Let me teach you. What you do afterwards? That's your choice, and yours alone."

A choice. He was giving her a choice. Paku could turn away. She could walk away and not look back. Eventually, Paku knew that she'd end up leaving the program. She just wasn't cut out for this, and she was currently walking this path because that's what Izumo wanted and Paku was her best friend and best friends stick together, but Paku wasn't sure if she could.

But, Rin-sensei was offering her a choice. No strings attached. Stay, and learn. Stay, learn, and choose what she wanted to do, what path in life Paku wanted to follow. A hand extended towards her, and his eyes still held that same honesty. That same earnest glow.

It was a no brainer, really.

With a firm nod, Paku took the hand, expression determined. Rin-sensei's sunny grin could have lit up the stars.

Outside of the classroom, Yukio couldn't help but snort as he turned away, leaving his brother and his student.

"Rin, Rin, Rin. You always… Always do the things I can't. Maybe you'll be a good teacher after all."