Α/N: Hello everyone! Wow, the last chapter got plenty of reviews, and I'm so happy I can be seen floating! I think I'll be ending all chapters with a cliffhanger from now on… Just kidding! :P You know, this story was supposed to end in this chapter, but thanks to all of your support and seeing how unexpectedly well it was received, I'll be continuing it further! ;) I've heard from many people that originally they didn't like the base of the story, but gave it a chance and stuck to it. I want to thank you guys again, everyone who reviews and reads this story, because you've made me feel really wonderful. And about some mistakes that have been made, I want to apologize and blame my hastiness for these. As you know, English isn't my native language, but I'm trying really hard not to let it show. Anyway, let's begin!
Neuhaus watched in slow motion as Rin's body was violently thrust away from the bed, due to the impact of the bullet. Blood… Rin's right side was painted all red. It was like someone stopped the time and swallowed all noises. Using the power of the Vow, Neuhaus could have easily held Rin down, but for one terrifying moment, he had thought that Rin had regretted what they were doing, so he involuntarily jerked himself away, afraid that he was forcing himself on Rin once again, without realizing it. Now he prayed that this would have been the case. The bullet that was meant for him had hit Rin on the right arm, forcing him to fall off the bed. Rin tumbled on the floor, clutching his injured arm desperately, letting out small, pained cries. Blood was dripping down, covering his clothes and the fingers clutching around the wound.
Neuhaus turned and saw Yukio at the door, holding the gun by which he fired. The young professor stood there with eyes doubled in size by horror, not daring to believe what he had just done. His mouth hung open and the hand that held the gun was trembling. Now it was Neuhaus' turn to lose it. It didn't matter who Yukio was or what he had tried to do. The only thing that mattered was Rin, twitching on the ground, soaked in his own blood. In two seconds, he stood before Yukio, slapping the gun away from his hand and grabbing him violently from the neck, shoving him against the wall and starting strangling him. "You… You fucking brat! What did you do to Rin?" He growled, trembling in his own anger. He wouldn't forgive him, he wouldn't forgive him! "What did you do to him?" He barked, completely out of control.
Yukio tried desperately to take a breath but it was impossible, the man was crashing his neck, he looked so enraged, so insane… "Nii-san… Nii-san, why did you cover for him?" He managed to choke out. Why would Rin do that, Yukio couldn't understand, he never meant to hurt Rin, why did this happen? There was no way his mind could grasp it. He couldn't even breathe…
"Stop it!" Rin yelled, still clutching at his injured arm, but managing to stand up. To others it might have seemed terrible due to the blood loss, but for Rin and his regenerative powers, it was just a minor injury. Only flesh was hit, and his body would soon kick the bullet out of the wound. He was very lucky at this one. Neuhaus didn't seem to listen to him. "Igor, stop it! Please! Don't hurt Yukio!" He yelled again desperately, in an attempt to save his brother. He knew that Neuhaus wouldn't hesitate to kill the other boy in his anger. Only the sight of Rin's blood had driven him crazy. "Igor!"
The sound of his first name acted like a catalyst. Neuhaus let Yukio, reluctantly the truth is, and stepped away from him. Yukio slid on the floor, coughing hard. Rin ran next to him and kneeled at his side. "Nii-san…" Yukio whispered. His green eyes were all teary. "I'm sorry, nii-san… I hurt you… I didn't mean to…" First name? He calls him by his first name? Yukio didn't like where this was going.
"It's okay, I'm okay!" Rin tried to calm him down. "Such a level of wound is nothing!" Of course, it still damn hurt. Rin did his best to hide the pained expression on his face. He just needed to bear with it for a bit and then it would go away.
"What would have happened if it hit you in the head? Or the heart! Why did you save him?" Yukio didn't waste any time and scolded Rin immediately. He had gotten very scared. His brother always… He always did such kind of things! Jumping in where it wasn't needed and making Yukio worry about him! Only that now, things had crossed the line so badly that Yukio felt his world was out of balance. Suddenly, it seemed like they had stepped on a whole new level, and not a tasteful one. "Answer me!" He glared at him.
Rin looked and Neuhaus, worried, asking him with his eyes what to do. Neuhaus' reaction was to fold his arms across his chest and turn his back at them. Do whatever the hell you want; I don't give a fucking damn! Rin felt the impulse to kick him at the butt where he was standing, but considering the pain in his arm and Yukio waiting for answers, now it wasn't the time for it. Later! "Come on Yukio, let's go." He told coldly, but the cold tone was directed at Neuhaus. Yukio narrowed his eyes and stood up, supporting Rin, without commenting anything. There would be time for that. They left the place, without saying anything else.
Neuhaus remained alone for some minutes. The reason he hadn't spoken was because he believed that Rin had the right to present everything about them at his brother as he wished. He probably had the brains to not mention that he had been raped. But there was no way Neuhaus could lie about that. If Rin wanted it, he could keep his mouth shut, but he could never lie about how things had happened. He would never speak a word about their relationship, and Rin could freely say whatever he thought would be better for him or for his brother. No matter how Rin would try to picture this, namely, if he was forced to this or if he chose it by his own free will, it was fine by Neuhaus. The truth was in the middle anyways. He had expected that Yukio would try to kill him when he'd find out… But that caught him off guard. And he had just made up with Rin too… Shit! Now all he could do was sit there and worry about Rin and how much that bullet wound could hurt! He wanted to be near him and take care of him, but now that his brother came…
Suddenly, he noticed something at the door of his bedroom. It was small, it was black, and it was moving. Slowly and hesitantly, Rin's demon cat walked in, with its head lowered. Neuhaus understood.
"You brought him here?" He asked, referring to Yukio. The cat's ears fell, and Neuhaus grasped that as a 'yes'. Kuro had only wanted to save Rin, but his decision had resulted only into hurting him more. He felt ashamed and useless. Neuhaus neared his desk and took out a dagger, taking it out of its sheath. "Do you know how many people in this world eat cats as a delicacy?" Stupid cat!
Kuro ran the heck out. It was never certain when Neuhaus was morbidly joking or not, and he wasn't such big of a moron to sit there and find down. Unfortunately for him, the front door of the apartment was closed shut. A cat alone can't reach the doorknob. Neuhaus caught up to him, and grabbed him by the back of his neck, raising him up. Thankfully, he didn't have the dagger with him! Kuro just stared at him with wide eyes and dropped ears.
"On a second thought…" Neuhaus informed him. "You'll follow me and won't make a single noise. Neither will you tell Rin anything about it. I have to know what those two are going to talk about. Understood?" He underlined the last word. Kuro just nodded hurryingly in obedience, afraid that otherwise he would become a first class meal.
As soon as they walked into their room, Yukio sat Rin down and started treating his wound. "This wouldn't have happened if you hadn't jumped in the way." He told him bitterly, as he cleaned the blood and wrapped some bandages around the gash. It would be healed in no time, but that wasn't enough to erase Yukio's guilt. "Why did you?"
Rin looked at him incredulously. "Why? You would have killed him! You would have seriously killed him!" He stared at his brother with wide eyes. He knew Yukio could be ruthless sometimes but…
"So?" Yukio offered coldly. "What's your point?" Of course I would. He got that coming. Yukio knew that he wasn't a match for an upper class exorcist like Neuhaus, but what he had witnessed set him off. His anger still hadn't settled down, and it probably never would. The only reason that he didn't continue firing was his shock from unwillingly hurting Rin.
"My point is that I don't want my brother to become a bloody murderer!" Rin yelled at him and shot up, looking at him straight in the eyes. Yukio seemed plainly stony, without any kind of emotions inside of him. Rin knew that it wouldn't be pretty once he found out, but this bad, he hadn't expected.
"Oh? So you say it would be better for me to kill my own brother by a stray bullet!" Yukio was glaring behind the glasses. Rin was always careless, but this time, he had a reason?
"I… I didn't think about it." Rin answered, somewhat awkwardly. The truth was, that was the last thing on his mind. At that time, all he could think of was that Neuhaus was about to get killed. He didn't think, he acted by instinct to save him.
"I thought so." Yukio cut him off. "Why, nii-san?" Be careful how you will respond to me!
Rin locked eyes with his brother and looked at him strongly. There was no way he could tell him what exactly had happened between them. Yukio wouldn't be able to handle the fact that someone took advantage of his absence to hurt Rin. And that Rin came to love that someone nonetheless. Yukio might be the youngest brother but he always acted like the older one. He was fixated upon protecting Rin, and who knew what he might end up doing. "Because I like him." Half of the truth would be fine.
Yukio staggered, but he managed to hold his expression as it was. That was exactly what he was afraid that he'd hear. A small part of him wished that Neuhaus was forcing himself on Rin, that Rin never chose such a thing. "You like him." He repeated mechanically. "So… you like guys?"
"No. Not guys. Just him." Rin had thought about that many times. He shrugged. "It's not like I wanted it to happen, it just… happened." He tried to explain, but he had the suspicion Yukio wouldn't hear any of it. "It feels good when I'm around him… when we hang out or sleep together…" Okay, that slipped and in the wrong way. He halted, but the damage had been done. Yukio's eyes had instantly been doubled in size. He fell behind to sit on the edge of the bed in shock.
"You're doing it with him?" He asked, lifelessly in his shock. Sure, what he had seen was the preview of that but he never dared to believe… To suspect… He didn't want to.
Rin's words stuck at his throat. He hadn't meant sleeping in that kind of way, but now that Yukio had directly asked, it would be pointless to lie to him. Yukio always understood when Rin was lying. It might be better if he got it over with. "Yes." He replied, quietly.
Yukio didn't answer for a while. He stayed, sitting on the edge of the bed, looking at the ground. All those pieces of information were just too much, and none of them was good. He had left Rin in one way and found him in another. So this was how it was going to be, huh? That was your answer, nii-san… Slowly, he stood up, his eyes still lowered. When he came and stood right in front of Rin, he looked at his face coldly.
He slapped him hard. So hard that Rin almost fell on the ground. He tottered, didn't let out a noise, but clutched at his stinging cheek desperately, his hair covering his eyes. He couldn't turn to look at Yukio… He heard him talking. "And to think," Yukio spat furiously, "that our Father made all this effort to raise someone like you!" His blood was boiling; he was glaring with all of his might, teeth gritted and hands curled into fists. He started yelling: "You never had any shame to begin with, but now, congratulations, you can even get a medal for this! From all the things you could have done, you chose to go and fuck with an older guy! What would Father say if he was still alive? You wouldn't be able to even look at him in the eye! Or would you have the nerve?" Yukio was so out of control, he just wanted to say things that could hurt Rin. "I guess that no matter how much he tries, a demon is still a demon after all!"
Rin twitched at that. He turned and looked at Yukio with big, watery eyes. "Yukio…" Do you really mean that? He reached his hand towards Yukio, but the other teen slapped it away.
"Don't you dare touch me." Yukio spat degradingly. "You disgust me." He turned and left the room, leaving Rin alone behind. Rin just stayed watching at him go for some seconds, and then he fell on his knees. He started crying quietly. Yukio hated him… His own brother hated him! And he was right… What he was doing was so shameful… Why, when it seemed right? He had honestly thought he had made the proper choice, but he couldn't ignore the fundamentally wrong side. A person of the same gender, a person much older. If his Father was alive… If Shirou…
"Dad…" He whimpered, unable to hold himself back. "Daddy… what should I do?" He sobbed. I love him… I want to be with him! Was it so wrong to love someone? Could it ever be? He didn't know anymore… Even Neuhaus himself had told him it wouldn't work out. Maybe it was a bother to him… Maybe he didn't want anything more from Rin than a fuck. He had turned his back like this… Even though he had told him he loved him minutes before. Rin didn't know what to believe, it was all just so messed up! And he could never forget that Neuhaus had raped him… He was trying to get over it, but such a wound doesn't heal easily, regardless of how much someone could try, especially if it had happened repeatedly and just the previous day. He knew he would probably never get over it… could he really start a relationship based on those feelings?
Suddenly, he felt something soft and furry rubbing against his thigh. He looked down and saw Kuro. All his cat could do was trying to console him. Rin grabbed him and hugged him tightly, like it was the only string of salvation he had left. Kuro accepted the hug and didn't utter a word about what he knew that would come.
Yukio was walking down the hallway with long strides, trying to get rid of some steam. Sure, he had talked harshly to Rin, but his brother deserved it! He got hurt trying to protect a creep that was taking advantage of him in the most disgusting way, he was such an idiot! That man was fucking with Rin; only the thought could drive Yukio to commit murder. Yes, it wasn't Rin's fault! It was that guy! That guy had corrupted his brother! Yukio tightened his fists so hard that he almost bled. When he'd see him again it would be the last-
"Are you looking for me, Okumura-sensei?" He heard, and turned abruptly. Neuhaus stepped forward, presenting himself from behind a corner. "Do you have something to tell me, perhaps?" Yukio didn't miss his mocking tone.
The boy didn't waste any time. He grabbed both of his guns, brought them up and started shooting. Neuhaus was quicker and his tamed demons deflected the shootings easily. Nevertheless, Yukio refused to give up. He continued firing with one gun while loading the other at the same time. His outright fury and passion for revenge made him almost ignore the fact that the demon parts were gradually overwhelming him. He knew he couldn't win, but he didn't fucking care! Even when monstrous demonic hands fell on him and knocked his guns away, he continued fighting by swinging fists left and right. Of course it was a futile battle, he realized, as those hands tossed him against the wall with such power that it took his breath away. His glasses fell down and shattered, as Yukio was firmly restrained, face down on the floor by the demons, unable to move.
Neuhaus took his time nearing him. Yukio knew he was toying with him. The older man watched intrigued as his loved one's twin was writhing on the floor, trying to free himself. For twins, they were nothing alike, he mused. He kneeled next to Yukio's face. "I'm going to tell you an interesting story." He said, while Yukio was looking at him with eyes full of hatred. "You remember this?" Neuhaus pointed high at his left arm, where the Vow was. "With this, I raped your brother. And he wasn't able to resist at all."
Yukio's eyes widened and his mind emptied. It took him a while to start reacting. "Lies… Rin told me that… He told me…" That wasn't possible! What was that man trying to achieve?
"You're a smart guy. You understand that there was no way he could tell you the truth." Neuhaus observed. "There was no way he could tell you that I raped him as soon as you left. Every day, for about a month now, we've been doing this." He waited, until Yukio could digest the information. Yukio knew that Rin wasn't lying to him when he said he liked that guy, but he just knew that Neuhaus wasn't lying either. He was confused, he didn't know… "You know what he said the first time I raped him?" Neuhaus smiled sardonically. "'Yukio… Help me Yukio…'" He mimicked Rin's desperate voice. "He was calling for you to save him so helplessly…"
"BASTARD!" Yukio screamed on top of his lungs and tried to set himself free from the demonic hands that held him, without success. Neuhaus didn't let him any time to let go of his anger, he stood up and stepped on Yukio's head, pinning it down with his foot. Yukio groaned from the pain and the restrictive feeling. "You… fucking… bastard…"
"Rin was calling for you." Neuhaus told him mercilessly. "He was forced into something terrible and he was calling for you to save him. But when you showed up you decided you'd just hurt him some more!"
"I didn't! I…" Yukio tried to protest, but Neuhaus stepped harder on his head.
"But isn't it better this way? After all, you hate Rin. You always did." Neuhaus wanted to give Yukio a wake-up call, plus he couldn't forgive him for treating Rin like he did. "Isn't it better, that Rin was hurt like this? He got that coming, didn't he? He deserved that. He's so much more beautiful, more courageous, and more charismatic than you would ever even dream of being. He has Satan's power and yet he charms everyone he meets. Everybody is making a fuss about Rin; Rin is always the center of attention. It doesn't matter how clever you are or how hard you try. Rin shines much more brightly and he'll always be one step ahead of you. Isn't it wonderful that he got this hurt? Now you have the chance to prove yourself to be much better than him. Stronger, righteous. He was the one sick enough to fall in love with someone like me after all." Neuhaus delivered the last line with dripping sarcasm. He knew how Yukio's mind was working. He knew how weak he could be.
"My brother's rapist has no business telling me that I hate him!" Yukio barked at him desperately. "What could you possibly know about us? About me!" It was all lies, lies, lies! Yukio loved Rin more than anyone! This son of a bitch had no right to sprout all that bullshit! Were his insecurities really so profound? "You're the one you hurt Rin! It's your fault! You're responsible for everything that happened to him!"
Neuhaus took his foot away from Yukio's head, freeing it from the painful pressure. "Yes… That's true." He couldn't deny that. "I hurt Rin badly. I hated him, really. With all of my heart. I even tried to kill him again. I didn't manage. You know why?"
"Kill him?" Yukio repeated, horrified. "What…" What the hell had happened while he was gone?
"I fell in love with Rin." And with that, Neuhaus' tamed demons disappeared, setting Yukio free. Yukio tried numbly to get up, as he raised his head to look at Neuhaus. The older man's face was serious and composed. "I'm willing to disappear from his life if that would benefit him. I'm willing to stay if he wishes. I'll do whatever he wants. He owns me." His gaze hardened. "But no matter how jealous you might be of him, his sexual preferences are nothing of your concern."
With slow movements, Yukio picked himself up. He took his glasses from the ground and put them on, even if they didn't have any piece of glass on, just the skeleton. "Even if that is the case…" He stated, hoarsely. "There is nothing you can do that will erase your sins." They were both Exorcists, members of the clergy. They knew very well the rules of the church. "My brother was hurt by you, and no matter what you might feel now for him, emotion alone can't make your actions disappear. I don't care what you think about me or what you believe I feel. Never touch Rin again. You're only harming him." And with those words, he walked away and disappeared. Neuhaus stayed in the darkness of the corridor alone, without moving an inch.
Yukio had to get back to Rin. If Neuhaus' words were true, Rin had been raped and tortured… and he had told him that he was disgusting! This was the worst… The worst! What kind of deranged relationship was this? Rin had told him he liked Neuhaus… If Neuhaus didn't like Rin, he wouldn't bother to overhear them and make a fuss over their fight. He had to ask Rin.
He stepped into their room, only to see Rin crying, fallen where he had left him. His twin brother was curled on the floor, sobbing quietly and hugging Kuro. Yukio's heart could take no more, it broke. He fell down and hugged Rin from behind. "Nii-san… Nii-san…"
Rin jumped a bit in surprise. He saw Yukio clutching at him desperately, calling at him, sobbing. His own tears stopped falling and he let Kuro, who slowly got out of the room, choosing to leave them alone. Rin tried to turn to face his brother. "Yukio… I don't disgust you…?" He uttered, disbelievingly.
Yukio shook his head and hugged Rin again tightly, this time from the front. "There is nothing in the world you could do and would make you disgusting to me, nii-san. I'm sorry… I'm so sorry for what I…"
Rin hugged him back just as tightly. "Hush. It's okay, Yukio." He whispered, his heart now in peace. Thank God, Yukio didn't hate him!
"Nii-san… I'm sorry I wasn't here to protect you when you needed me!" Judging from that line, Rin guessed that Yukio had run into Neuhaus and had learned the whole truth. He lowered his eyes sullenly. He felt Yukio's fingers running through his hair. "I love you nii-san…" Yukio sobbed harder. "The only thing I want is for you to be happy! Trust me, if I believed that you could find happiness with that man, I wouldn't object, even if I wouldn't like it! But I really don't think…"
"Stop it Yukio, enough!" Rin interrupted him. He would take the decisions for his own life. "I know what I'm doing!"
Yukio broke the hug, so he could look at Rin straight in the eye. He had stopped crying. "Him or me, nii-san? Who is it going to be?" Rin looked at him incredulously. Yukio proceeded on elaborating. "If you had to choose one of us and lose the other, who would it be?" He swallowed hard and waited.
"Yukio, what are you saying?" Rin almost glared at him. "You're my brother! My family! There is no one in the world that I would choose over you! Don't say that ever again!"
Yukio's eyes widened. He hadn't expected that answer, yet Rin had so simply given it, like it was a token. "I see…" He smiled. "Thank you, nii-san." He still was the most important person for Rin. That was enough for him.
Rin blushed. "Idiot. You have nothing to thank me for." He looked away, a bit embarrassed. He mentally noted that he needed to speak to Neuhaus the next day. Sort it out. For now, he had to stay with Yukio.
At the same time, in Mephisto's office, a sound of glass cracking was heard. Mephisto, who was sitting on his chair behind his desk, had dropped the cup of tea he was holding, along with the saucer. He only stared at his – somehow - student in shock. "You did WHAT?" He finally squealed.
"…And given the circumstances, I would like to submit my quitting request." Neuhaus concluded, standing in front of him. Confessing his sins to a demon was unorthodox, but Mephisto didn't count for one. He had told him everything; he knew Mephisto would never tell a soul. He always preferred gathering private information for himself, so he could manipulate the subjects later. Whatever, it wasn't Neuhaus' business anymore. There was no way Mephisto would like to keep him around after knowing what he had done.
Mephisto shot up. "Preposterous! Such a huge deal going on under my nose and I didn't notice anything!" He started paving around the room in circles. "I must be losing my touch… Maybe my abilities rusted! I'm getting old?" He muttered to himself. He knew that something was happening between Rin and Neuhaus after the Vow, but even his wildest imagination couldn't picture something of that size. And he had lived for a long time, he had seen much! This one surpassed them all… And that meant…
Interesting! Yes, that meant it was damn interesting! Mephisto was suddenly feeling like a kid being gifted candy unexpectedly.
"If you decide on a punishment, I'd be glad to take it." Neuhaus tried to catch his attention, as Mephisto seemed lost into his own little world. "I know I have to pay for what I did to one of our students-"
"You humans are so bizarre!" Mephisto suddenly exclaimed, almost making Neuhaus jump. "You go on and on about the evil deeds of demons, but you relish in doing much worse things than they could ever do, given the chance! You're such hypocrites!" He laughed. "Really, such hypocrites! You like so much being demons it's so weird!"
Neuhaus curled his fists and lowered his head a bit, his black hair covering his eye. He felt like he had to defend himself. "I know that what I did was terrible! I regret that…"
"You don't and you know it!" Mephisto cut him off, pompously. "Even if we were to turn back the time, you would still do the same and with great pleasure! Don't try to mess with me, my pupil. I've learned about humans well enough all those years. You'd fuck the kid again and love every second of doing it!"
"NO! I don't want Rin to hurt!" Neuhaus yelled desperately. He understood that Mephisto was trying to manipulate him into something, but some things needed to be said. "If, as you said, I could turn back the time, I would never… I would never do that to Rin! If only I could… If only Rin would never get hurt like this!" Neuhaus' knees could no longer support him, he fell on the floor, hiding his face in his hands from the intense despair. "If only Rin would never lose his innocence this way… If he could still be unaware of those horrors and smile as wide as he used to…" He whimpered. "If only I could erase all the mistakes…" He shuddered, unable to control the pain and the guilt. If only Rin had never loved me… He would be happy…
Mephisto stood and looked at the broken human being in front of him for some moments. Humans could also be so self-destructive. "Well…" He finally said. "I can't turn back the time." He smirked. "But I can do something that will possibly be akin to your wish." Neuhaus slowly took his face out of his hands and looked up and Mephisto, who was now grinning wolfishly. "Do you wish to make a bet with me?"
One with your life on the line… I just love those!
Rin woke up the next morning. He yawned and stretched. Yesterday Yukio had returned from his mission… oh no, did that mean he'd have to go to school soon? He groaned in displeasure. He wanted to sleep some more… What classes did he have? First hour with Yukio, next with Shura, then with Tsubaki-sensei and last but not least, with Neuhaus-sensei. He groaned louder. Damn, that guy was always giving him the chills, even worse since when he had tried to kill him… Was that three months ago already? Ok, he had to say that had gotten used to it by now.
He got up reluctantly, scratching his belly. He stumbled towards the bathroom and looked at his sleepy face in the mirror. Did he have something to do today? He had such a feeling. Someone to meet? Something to tell? Nah. He quickly dismissed the thought and took off his clothes, stepping into the shower.
For Rin no longer remembered a thing.
Not a thing about him and Neuhaus.