Haha, so I tried using less quotes this time and this chapter turned out quite terribly, so I'm not sure I want to evaluate what that shows about my writing capabilities. XD

1. "I'm sorry, Nii-san. I want to be strong. ...I don't need your help anymore." This is from Yukio in chapter 94 when he runs off the the Illuminati.
2. "Yes...it was different for you, because you were special." This is also from Yukio in the same chapter.

Oh, also, there's a flashback in this chapter, back from that little scrap I wrote about Yukio overhearing Rin and Father Fujimoto talking. (It's from chapter 5 of this fic.) I made it added page breaks, so I hope it's not too confusing.

"Want to go to Kyoto with me?" Rin asks, letting a hopeful lilt edge by his words as he scoots a little closer to Yukio's futon.

To his surprise, Yukio nods quietly, pulling his blanket under his chin as he stares at the space just above Rin's forehead. He's been doing that recently and it's getting a little weird—like he isn't quite meeting Rin's eyes when they talk a lot of the time, as though he's looking behind Rin for...something.

It's probably nothing.

"Out of curiosity," Yukio poses lightly, "why do you want me to come along?"

"Oh, uh, well you have the key so…" Rin fumbles. It's not like he can say it aloud. It'd be so incredibly awkward, such as: I don't want to go alone, or even worse, you seemed pretty okay with me tagging along today so I thought...

His heart sinks as Yukio furrows his eyebrows, "It's best not to use those ones for now. I have access to the Kyoto Branch Office, but we'd need to pass through headquarters first. Even if no one saw us in between, it'd still be problematic once we arrive."

"Really?"

"I'm sure you can come up with a solution, Nii-san." Yukio smiles. "Good night." He tries to roll over, flailing an arm feebly as Rin yanks him back around by snatching a handful of his pajamas.

"Let's just take the bullet train," Rin insists. "That works too, right? I mean, it's a little expensive but..."

"Certainly," Yukio replies, and it sounds to Rin like he's not really listening, but he agreed so that's good enough for now.

"Great," Rin grins, "let's go in the morning then. I wonder if there's going to be a lot of people. It's almost the New Year, so lots of people are going to visit the shrine, aren't they?"

Rin looks over and blinks as he sees Yukio's eyes half-lidded, gazing blankly at the space above his forehead again.

He seems really tired today.

Yukio is always up before him, so Rin doesn't know what he does so early in the morning. It's not exactly hard to guess at what he's been up to though. Unexpectedly, it doesn't bother him quite as much as he would have thought. At the same time, he's concerned that Yukio's pushing himself too hard again.

He's always worrying, fretting, thinking and Rin feels like he can't keep up, he can't do anything for him.

Where are they supposed to go from here? They'll join the Order, then what?

Rin's been thinking too—really, but he doesn't know what to do. He wants to help; this was his burden in the first place, not Yukio's.

But it's not like Yukio would let him do it alone, even if he asked.

Rin grabs the edge of Yukio's blanket and brings it up a little more, patting his shoulder, "Sorry, you can sleep now."

Rin stays awake for a little longer. He shuts his eyes and listens to the soft sound of Yukio's even breathing as his unease lingers, flapping around the corners of his mind.

It's okay. Ten years is a long time.

He'll figure something out.

There's something wrong when Rin wakes up in the middle of the night. His head is cloudy from sleep and Rin has no idea what's going on, so he instinctively seizes the edge of Yukio's blanket and yanks it up with sluggish movements.

Rin's left arm is numb and tingly, so it really doesn't help his coordination. He manages to wrap Yukio up a bit better, although he's pretty much already a burrito, so Rin's not sure what more he can do.

He doesn't hear the shivering stop though; they're quiet rustles, soft murmurs of the blanket shifting ever so slightly. Yukio has always been a silent, neat sleeper. He's like a dead log most nights, not moving a centimeter the entire night. He's been like that since they were little. Rin's used to that.

He's also used to Yukio having nightmares. Since they were young, younger than Rin can even remember, Yukio was always afraid of things, things Rin somehow wasn't sure how to fight for him.

So, he does what he used to always do. Rin wakes him up as gently as he can, giving him some space to breathe.

Yukio's eyes flutter open and he freezes with a sharp intake of air. He just lies there for a minute or two and he's deathly quiet, as though he's not even breathing. Maybe he really isn't—wasn't, because the next moment he takes a shuddering breath and exhales very deliberately.

He sits up slowly, propping himself on his elbow for a moment, and hugs his arms around himself with careful, stilted motions.

Rin lifts a hand, wanting to comfort him in some way. Yukio turns, meeting his eyes with startling ease in the darkness and there's a glow from the light of the moon that hits his face.

Rin jerks back.

For a split second, Yukio's eyes are incalescent, blurring with the unforgettable blue of Rin's own nightmares.

It's merely a trick of light though, disappearing as he blinks.

Yukio blinks too, but his is rapid like his eyes haven't quite adjusted to the dimness of their room. He raises a hand, swiping at the tears glimmering at the corners of his eyes and coughs quietly. "Sorry," he says without prompting, "you should try to get back to sleep."

"Are you…" Rin's sentence breaks off as Yukio stands, grabbing his glasses off the desk, "where are you going?"

"To wash my face," Yukio smiles. "Go back to sleep, Nii-san." He shuts the door and his quiet footsteps fade all too quickly.

Rin stays awake though, lying on his stomach, eyes pinned on the door, waiting for Yukio to come back.

Is it okay—is Yukio really okay with his younger self becoming an exorcist? Rin doesn't understand. He can't reconcile those words with what he said before. Just when he thinks he's begun to grasp what Yukio might be thinking, he seems to change his mind, veering in the opposite direction.

Standing alone on the bridge, Yukio's voice had been frigid, full of contempt. His dark silhouette was clear amidst the snow, with one empty sleeve waving in the wind as though he'd made his mind up long ago to never come back.

In the end, and even now, Rin still doesn't know anything. His mind wanders back to the conversation he had with the old man just the other day, and suddenly there's a sense of doubt racking his frame, seeping into his thoughts like ink.

Rin comes back to Younger Yukio's room juggling the plush bear, a new bowl of water, and fresh towels so when he gets to the door he has no idea how to open it like this—

"I'm scared...I don't want to see scary things anymore."

There's a pause, or maybe the door's too thick; either way, Rin doesn't hear anything for a couple of seconds.

Something keeps him there though, and he stays at the door, straining to hear.

"Would you like to grow up...to be powerful and protect people, including your brother?"

No, this wasn't supposed to happen so soon—was it? How does he stop it now? What can he do?

Rin narrowly avoids dropping the bear plushie into the bowl of water, setting everything down, yanking the door open, "Uh, so..." he begins intelligently, "sorry, old man, can I talk you to you real quick?"

"Of course, Rinka." Father Fujimoto gives Younger Yukio a pat on the back and Rin shuts the door behind them.

Father Fujimoto takes his time walking to the back of the monastery, and Rin follows.

It's too sudden. He didn't even have time to start thinking about Yukio's training. After running into that demon at the supermarket Rin had been determined to talk to him but he'd forgotten and now this is happening again—

"So, Rin, what did you want to talk about?" Father Fujimoto smiles, like he doesn't already know; why else would he have taken them all the way out here?

Rin takes a breath of cold air in and tries to formulate his thoughts properly, compartmentalize his panic, his fretfulness.

"I don't think Yukio should be an exorcist," he says bluntly. "He's not—it doesn't…" go well, like seriously not well, "suit him."

"Yes," Father Fujimoto sighs, "he's a gentle child. Even so, it should help him overcome some of his insecurities. He needs more confidence."

That's not what Rin means, so he tries again, "There's better ways to do that than making him risk his life to fight." The old man doesn't look convinced in the least bit, and Rin knows he's stubborn, but Rin's stubborn too. He tacks on, "He said he's scared," and it comes out annoying airy, like an excuse, instead of what he wanted.

Father Fujimoto's eyes are hard, impassive, "He needs to become stronger."

Rin's never seen him like this before. He was always gentle, always laughing off problems; he's not supposed to be like this.

Does Rin…really not know him?

I'm sorry, Nii-san. I want to be strong.

...I don't need your help anymore.

Rin has to hold back the wave of blue rippling beneath his skin, breaths coming out short as his frustration silences every other thought, "You never saw what that did to him!" Rin shouts, voice breaking. "He told me—he thought he was raised to be a weapon—"

"He's terrified," Father Fujimoto snaps, "you're asking me to tell him the truth, yet leave him defenseless."

It's not like that; why can't he see? Why does Yukio have to become stronger? What does that even mean? What's the point of pushing him so far, he breaks, throws everything away to pursue something that has no worth by itself?

"Why," Rin asks, voice rising furiously, "why does he have to become an exorcist? Mephisto gave me medicine before—if we give him it, he won't be able to see them. He doesn't have to…"

Have to...what?

Is Yukio being an exorcist really the root of the problem?

Is it?

Father Fujimoto sighs heavily, and there's something in his tone that tells Rin anything he says now won't change his mind. "What would you have me do then?"

Rin doesn't know. He falls back on the that innocent wish he's been clinging to since they were kids.

He doesn't even know if Yukio still wants to be a doctor.

He never tells Rin anything.

Father Fujimoto had always been a doting parent. He was lenient, always too lenient with Rin, turning a blind eye when Rin skipped school, letting him drift through his fifteen years like—

Yes...it was different for you, because you were special.

Back then, Rin couldn't imagine what he meant but now, he thinks they were both mistaken.

Rin hates that the old man was worried, that the lines on his face grew deeper, hollower when Rin accidentally mentioned his execution order. He doesn't want to—that wasn't what he intended. Rin doesn't want him to worry; it's okay, it was okay last time too.

But the old man was visibly upset, and Rin had to do everything just to get him to drop the topic.

It was like having another Yukio on his back, nagging about being careful and other things that Rin doesn't know how to do—he's not going to live like that, he…doesn't know what to do about that right now.

He must have fallen asleep somewhere along the line because when he opens his eyes again, he's burrowed under his blankets, squinting away from the brilliant morning sunshine.

Yukio's futon is folded neatly in the corner.

Rin shoves his head under his pillow, resolved to sleep a little longer.

Was Yukio right?

What if they really are weapons?

Even then, that's not all they are, is it?

The glassy buildings and shops shrink to small dots along the road as Rin presses his forehead against the cold window, watching the landscape meld to snowy white evergreens as the train speeds away with quiet rumbles.

Yukio is adding numbers meticulously into his new phone, and for a moment Rin thinks he should probably do the same, but he feels too restless for that right now. His fingers brush against the thin paper envelope in his bag and a trill of anxiousness threads through his him.

The old man had said they were old friends, so, Rin should just show Suguro's dad the letter and everything should be okay. Unfortunately, he'd also said the Kyoto Branch is in turmoil right now, something about being newly incorporated into the Order and mountains of paperwork.

Rin's pretty sure he can get his crap done and over in less than an hour, but Yukio insisted they pack to stay overnight in case anything doesn't go to plan. He has the Mephisto coat too—the black one, just in case.

Not...that there's actually a plan. Rin's just going to go, spill his guts, then show him the sword and hopefully Suguro's dad will see that it's in good hands.

He's not really doing anything else. It was—it'd been bothering him for a while, even though Suguro's dad gave the sword over in the end, technically the old man stole it first. He just wants to confirm it's okay for him to keep it.

It's empty now, even though they'd gotten it fixed for him, and Rin doesn't need it quite like he did before.

That doesn't mean he hasn't grown attached to it though.

He knows it, and more than that, his heart knows it.

Yukio pokes his side insistently, even when he wants to sleep more, and Rin murmurs blearily against his shoulder, "Are we there already?"

"We still have a bit to go," Yukio jerks his sleeve, "but there's suddenly too much snow and the trains have stopped for the time being. They're making us get off."

"Oh, crap, let's hurry," Rin snaps awake, "there's going to be a huge line for refunds."

Yukio piles after him as they squeeze off the train and Rin tries not to lose sight of him as they end up in the mass of business people still trying to get to work. There really is a huge crowd of people in line and Rin's not too eager to squeeze his way in there, so he ends up getting pushed into a little corner beside a pole as people move along around him. Crap, Yukio disappeared. Everyone's been bumping into his sword and by now, Rin's not even apologizing anymore; no one's listening for him to either.

He gets to the front slowly and crams his refunded money into his bag, shuffling out of the crowd so he can finally breathe. As he digs around for his wallet, Rin surveys the few shops he can see, wondering if he should look for some souvenirs.

Wait, first, he's going to call Yukio because Rin can't find him anywhere—

He runs straight into someone as he rounds the corner. Rin pitches forward, stumbling to catch himself as the other person falls in a crash of papers and belongings hitting the ground.

"Crap, sorry," Rin stands quickly, picking his bag off the floor.

"What's your problem?" The girl brushes herself off, flipping her sleek white hair over her shoulder. "First the snowstorm, now this," she mutters.

He looks to the floor and stoops to help gather some of the papers that spilled out of her bag.

Wait.

"Are you an exorcist?" Rin blurts. "These, these are summoning circles."

He's sure, definitely sure. They have the little stars and everything.

She looks kind of like...Rin should know who she is, especially with the red makeup at the corners of her eyes and the black robes she's wearing. Why can't he seem to remember what her name was? She had snakes and…married Shima's brother—or was that her sister?

The girl pales and snatches them out of his hands, "What are you saying?" She asks defensively, picking up her bag, storming away.

Rin swings his sword over his shoulder, watching her disappear into the mob of people.

A prickling unease is bothering him; this snow isn't right. This place feels charged, as though the air is trying to break free, roiling and disturbed.

It's throwing him off.

A hand grasps his sleeve and Rin swivels, one arm raised to—

Yukio lets go just as quickly, something indescribable flashing across his eyes, "Nii-san, is something wrong?"

"Yeah," Rin responds immediately, then, "but I don't know, this storm is...weird," he finishes with difficulty.

Yukio frowns, looking contemplatively out the tall, long windows. "You're right. It's definitely too much for Hamamatsu."

"Do you think it's," Rin waves a hand, "you know."

Yukio shrugs.

The station's speakers are flooded with a typical notice chord, followed by a dry, professional tone.

Attention to all passengers. We apologize for the inconvenience. Due to heavy, unexpected snowfall, service from Hamamatsu Station is suspended until further notice. Snow exceeding a meter has accumulated, blocking all exits. Please remain calm and kindly comply with staff instructions to handle situating guests as comfortably as we can for the remainder of this storm. Thank you for your patience and cooperation.

Almost immediately, all sound in the station—movement, breathing, people speaking—swells uncontrollably, each voice feeding another's distress, escalating into a mob of alarm, of panic. The anxiety spreads contagiously, a blighted cloud of tension overtaking the hundreds of people gathered here.

Rin feels it too, a frightened disquiet in his veins, spreading, branching.

It fades just as quickly though, siphoning away as though the snow falling around them has dampened every emotion.

All around them, people seem to quietly surrender, shifting to lean against walls, sitting down, suspending in their motions, slow as the gathering flakes outside.

Yukio sets his bag down, eyes focused on the murky white creeping up the window glass. "I guess it probably is."

Rin turns, confused for a moment—what were they talking about again?

"I don't think it's likely we'll be able to just wait it out," Yukio murmurs.

A chill runs down his spine, and Rin turns, staring out the long, tall windows into endless snow.

Someone—something is out there.

Find him!

What was that feeling?

As he gazes at the white sky, he loses sight of the horizon. The longer he stares, the quieter his surroundings seem to become.

Find him. Hurry! Find him before he gets away.

Bury him! He shall not leave!

"Here, be careful. It's hot."

Rin blinks, meeting Yukio's foggy glasses. He accepts the steaming bowl of instant ramen carefully, trying to pull the fragments of his thought process together.

"There's tons of them," Rin says, squinting out the window. He can't see the demons but they're loud, brimming with anxiousness just outside the station, "I think they're pissed."

The announcement plays again, the same words over, so Rin stops paying attention.

Yukio tears a seasoning packet deftly, "Really? Once they started handing out free ramen everyone seemed to calm down reasonably. I think they're working on clearing the bus stop so people can use the underground passageway to kill time at the department store. They're giving out discounts for Act City—"

"Seriously? There's an underground passageway?"

Yukio raises an eyebrow, "You didn't know? The bus stop is connected to Entetsu Department Store and Act Tower," he hands Rin a colorful brochure. "They're both popular destinations for tourists."

The brochure looks pretty cool, titled "City of Music" and everything. Maybe when he finishes this ramen they can go too—

Where is he? Hurry, search!

"Wait," Rin shakes his head, throwing the brochure aside, "more importantly," he leans forward, lowering his voice, "I think...I think I can hear them—whatever's causing this blizzard."

Yukio's eyes widen and he nods, switching to the seat next to Rin instead of across from him, "What did you hear?"

Rin frowns, poking at his ramen with disposable chopsticks idly as he tries to think.

"They're looking for someone," Rin says hesitantly. "He's trying to get away? And that's why this..."

"They summoned the blizzard," Yukio confirms. "Did they say what this person looked like?"

"I'm just overhearing them," Rin slurps some ramen and chews, focusing, trying to keep the static in the corners of his mind out. "They're...really fast and there's a lot of them. It's making me dizzy because they keep moving around. I—" he shuts his eyes as his head pounds, fighting back a wave of nausea.

It's not like before, when they were trying to save Izumo and there were zombies everywhere. Those guys were sad and scared but mostly, they were just numb and confused. It's partly why Rin couldn't bear killing them.

This is different. These ones are angry, they're so angry just listening to them makes Rin uncomfortable. His head is going to explode from the sensory overload. They're buzzing back and forth so furiously, frantically searching for something.

It sucks but he should probably give up on eating this ramen. The flavor is really good though, kind of spicy and sour.

Help me, please.

Yukio hands him a bottle of water, and a plastic packaged milk bread roll, "Don't push yourself too hard."

Rin nods, gulping some water down. "Sorry. I can't, I don't know what they're trying to find."

Yukio checks his phone, "There's no service right now but it's possible the Order already knows. They might even have already dispatched a team."

Rin leans back in the seat, slouching against the old squished foam of the armrest, shutting his eyes again. He curls his tail tighter around his chest, wishing he could let it out.

His skin feels too tight.

The frenzied buzzing gradually gets to be more bearable. They must be moving away from here.

Help me...help me, I'm scared.

Rin's eyes snap open and he jerks up, spilling his ramen all over his lap. Ow, hot, that's really hot. "This one's different," he says hastily, pushing Yukio's persistent hands aside as he covers Rin's legs with paper napkins. "I figured it out, I figured it out!" He snatches his sword up, grabs Yukio's arm, pulling him along as Rin breaks into a sprint; listening desperately to that voice ringing in his ears.

Please help me.

Yukio lags for a second or two, something about bags, but he's right behind Rin with noisy footsteps—could he be any louder—searching just as frantically for something neither of them knows yet.

Crap, crap, the voice is getting weaker.

Rin turns on his heel, skittering down the stairs. His own breaths echo harshly in his head as he slaps his hands down on a kiosk, vaulting over the metal rail, rushing down a wide hallway, bursting through two doors leading outside.

The frigid air nearly forces the breath out of his lungs and Rin's sneakers skid on the layer of slush out at the shuttle stop, trying to turn every direction at once.

He scrambles in a confused loop, breaths coming out in frantic huffs—didn't he just come out that door—dashing down into a tunnel of some sort. The voice is louder, this is right, he's going the right way.

People are staring at this point and Rin stares back, piecing their faces together in a sort of blur as he runs, afraid he's not going to find—

There. A cold prick dances along the back of his neck just as Rin spots an old man—he's holding a cage, there's a—

A hand wrenches him back by his sword sleeve, pulling him into an adjacent corridor. "Wait, Nii-san," Yukio pants, setting their bags down with a soft clink, "wait a minute."

Rin grimaces, "Sorry. I didn't mean to forget about them," he motions at the bags.

Yukio shakes his head dismissively. "I think I saw a Jack Frost," he says shakily, catching his breath, "in the cage."

Rin nods curtly, hands shaking a little as forces himself to stand still. "That old guy," he whispers, "he's not a demon."

Yukio holds a hand to his chin, taking another peek. Rin squeezes next to him, poking his head out too. The old guy is sitting on a bench, leisurely sipping a cup of coffee. The Jack Frost looks tiny, not really like the ones he saw before in Shura's unit. The color of its coat is a messy, downy grey instead of sleek white, and its eyes are huge compared to the rest of its head.

"It's a chick," Yukio says, a hint of awe hiding in his voice. "The entire flock must be searching for it." He crosses his arms, "The question is, how should we subdue that man?"

"I'll beat him up," Rin hisses, "he's obviously a piece of trash, stealing a baby."

Yukio sighs, pinching his nose bridge, "As much as I'd like—"

"Why's there another one?" Rin interrupts, "There's another bird."

Yukio frowns, "There's another bird?" Then he does something weird, covering his right eye and looking back. Is his prescription higher in one eye or something?

"Oh," he mutters, "because...without a Temptaint, you can't see it." He takes his hand off his eye, explaining before Rin has the chance to process that he's confused, "It'd look strange, right? If he was carrying an empty cage around?"

"Oh. Right. Then how do we steal the bird back?"

Yukio crosses his arms, "I have a hunch he's not the one who abducted it."

"What? Why?"

"He felt more like a middleman to me. I don't think he even knows the Jack Frosts are searching for him."

He unzips Rin's bag, "Put your coat on and hide. I'll distract him, then, you open the cage and run away with the Jack Frost. If he doesn't react, we'll know he's not the real perpetrator. If he does, we'll have to figure out some way to detain him until the Order arrives."

Rin considers it for a minute, "Are you sure you'll be okay? I don't want to run off and leave you here."

Yukio smiles, "Chances are, I'll be right behind you. If you're worried, why don't you wait for me at the entrance of Act Tower?"

"Okay, sounds good." Rin grins. "Let's do this."

"Excuse me?" Yukio smiles politely, walking up to the bench the old man's waiting at, "I couldn't help but notice, you have an interesting friend there."

Rin cringes inwardly, checking for the fourth time that his hood is up properly. Yukio's supposed to be distracting the dude from the birds, not drawing attention to them. What is he doing?

Rin studies the clasp of the cage diligently, watching as Yukio and this old guy continue to talk about the bird.

The Jack Frost is curled in the corner, stubby little arms held close to its small body, chest rising and falling nervously.

Please help. Please?

Its wide glossy eyes latch onto Rin's, pleading sadly. He gives it a little wave and the best reassuring smile he can muster.

The Jack Frost flaps a little and the other one, a perplexed looking songbird, hops from one foot to the other as the old guy sets the cage on the ground.

Rin hasn't been paying attention to the conversation but when he checks, Yukio seems to be exuberantly promoting some store coupon—oh, he's got another one of those brochures.

Seizing his chance, Rin pries the cage door open, hoping the old guy won't notice the shrill creak of the hinge. The Jack Frost perks up, waddling over—

The songbird bobs its head in the way, trilling merrily as it sticks a leg out, perfectly dignified as it prepares to escape.

Rin crams a hand into the cage, nudging the songbird back a little, somewhat sorry he can't free it too. Except, the songbird starts to viciously peck at his hand and then Rin doesn't feel so sorry—so much for thinking this one was normal.

Eventually, he maneuvers the Jack Frost out. It's really tense, almost vibrating in his hand, so Rin pets the Jack Frost twice, and proceeds to shove it down his coat apologetically. It'll be okay in a minute. Rin doesn't have time to calm it down right now. He locks the cage door, poking the songbird back in, walking away as quickly as he can.

Yukio had moved onto the last panel of his shiny brochure, so Rin assumes he'll be here soon.

He gets lost though, and there are so many people everywhere, it's making him stressed, trying to avoid bumping into any of them. He ends up finding a deserted space under the grimy stairwell, pushing his hood off with a breath of relief. Pulling the squirming Jack Frost out, he sits cross-legged on the floor, relaxing as he sees it's mostly okay. "Sorry," Rin smiles, cradling it in his hands, "I'll bring you back soon. I just need to wait for Yukio."

The little ball of grey fluff shivers violently, puffing all of its feathers up as it shakes. It hovers for a minute, weaving a slow circle around Rin's head, then darting away.

Oh, this is bad. He'd expected this might happen and technically it's okay. Rin slumps against the wall, suddenly exhausted. He rummages through his pockets and withdraws the smushed milk bread roll Yukio gave him earlier. The plastic crinkles loudly as Rin tears it open, but he's a bit too tired to bother with discretion at this point.

Rin's stomach growls indignantly, demanding he scarf the roll down this minute.

He peels the plastic back—his hands are dirty but if he keeps it in the plastic, he's all good—and takes a satisfying bite.

Something soft lands on his head and Rin pauses in his chewing, confused.

The weight leaves though, and Rin watches as the Jack Frost settles in a quaking ball on his knee, blinking liquid blue eyes at him.

Rin blinks back a few times, not knowing what to do.

His hands aren't exactly clean but, whatever, he dusts them off as best as he can, pinching a chunk off the bread roll.

He's fed tons of pigeons, and a few ducks, bread before and none of them cranked it the next day, so he's pretty sure this one's going to be fine too.

He grins happily as the Jack Frost gives the bread a nibble, then gulps the entire piece down.

Thank you! This is good.

Where is Yukio anyway? It's been a bit but he's still not here. Maybe he shouldn't have holed up here without figuring out where he is. Yukio's probably not going to be able to find him at this rate.

Eh, whatever. He's tired. He'll go find Yukio in a minute—maybe three.

In fact, Rin manages to feed the entire roll to the Jack Frost—it has puffed up a bit more, but maybe that's just Rin's imagination—and Yukio is still nowhere to be seen.

Rin scoops the Jack Frost up, throws his plastic wrapper in the nearest trash can, and heads back in the direction he came from. Or, at least, he thinks he came from here?

The Jack Frost doesn't seem to like being held and Rin tries putting it on his shoulder a few times, but it keeps nuzzling into his hair, insisting on sitting on his head. He even pulls his hood up and it just huddles there still, squished between the hood and Rin's head.

It's actually a small ball of warmth, which makes no sense to Rin.

Maybe they get colder as they grow up?

Rin gets back to the bench and Yukio's still there, chatting with the old guy about real estate in Nagoya or something. It's not even interesting, so Rin's just going to leave him to his conversation, then.

He and the Jack Frost wait under the stairs for another twenty minutes, when Yukio finally shows up.

Rin wants to know what miracle led him here. Did he get lost too?

He feels kind of bad, seeing Yukio hauling both of their bags and Rin's sword with him. "Sorry," Yukio smiles, "he just wanted to keep talking, and I had to check to see if he could see the Jack Frost was missing. He couldn't, which is good."

"Then what do we do about him?"

Yukio's expression turns grim, "After we pass the exam, I'll file a report. Either he isn't working alone, or he's being manipulated. He doesn't seem to have a Temptaint after all." He sighs, "I don't want to risk confronting him by ourselves."

Rin wants to object but Yukio looks almost rattled. It's not like him, to leave hanging ends.

"Okay. So, how do we get this little guy home?" He grabs his sword and bag from Yukio, shouldering them carefully.

"Where is it?"

"On my head," Rin points. "I don't know why it likes it there so much."

"That's rather adorable," Yukio laughs, "I figured it would like you." He heads away from the station and Rin follows.

"Why?"

Yukio smiles, "It's nothing really."

"Because I'm not—"

Yukio turns back, a trace of amusement still lingering on his lips, "Not necessarily," he says, glasses glinting faintly in the busy hallway. "We'll need to head to the roof. They're creatures of air, so they prefer heights. Luckily," he gestures to the building, "Act Tower is perfectly sufficient."

Rin looks back and forth anxiously as they step into the elevator. He's not used to it anymore: people not being able to see demons.

In the end—of their time—everyone could see them, even before the gates opened completely.

Yukio goes the wrong direction a few times and it's Rin who finds the stairs leading to the roof. Of course, it's locked.

Yukio pulls Rin into the restroom and he shrugs his Mephisto coat on too. He holds Rin's hand, leading him slowly and they shuffle out of the restroom with clumsy, tripping steps, trying to avoid people coming in.

At first, Rin is confused, because Yukio heads down the stairs instead of up. There's no way he's that bad with directions though, so Rin keeps quiet. The last thing they need is people hearing disembodied voices.

Yukio comes to a stop at the largely deserted floor just below and there's a sharp click as the doorknob turns.

"You have the key to this place too?" Rin asks incredulously.

Yukio's keys jingle a little, "No. This is a link key. All intermediate second class exorcists have link keys. It allows you to pass between doors of the same type."

He pushes to demonstrate but the door doesn't move.

"Oh," Yukio says, "I forgot about the snow."

Rin taps his shoulder, "I got this. Hold it," he sets the Jack Frost in Yukio's hand as best as he can, trying to differentiate his wrist from his fingers. "It should be easy with my flames."

Okay. He needs to focus. The—

"Are you sure you can do this?" Yukio asks, tone offensively doubtful. "It sounds highly inefficient—"

Rin rolls his eyes but it's too bad Yukio can't see him, "I've gotten better," Rin preens gleefully.

Yukio lets go of Rin's wrist and takes a step back, all quiet scuffs and displaced dust. "Be careful."

Something occurs to Rin though, "What if there's a camera? Won't it look weird?"

Yukio scoffs, "There's one right behind you. Let's not worry about them for now. As long as no one can connect us to this," Rin imagines he makes a gesture, but he can't see. This is harder to deal with than he thought. "We should be fine."

"Go ahead," Yukio says finally.

Rin grins, and something incredibly warm settles in his chest; he imagines his flames are right under his skin, just waiting to be let out. He breathes out and gathers them to him, reaches out and creeps them up the other side of the door.

It's unnerving because he can't see them, so it's hard to differentiate what to touch and what to burn.

He keeps it up for a minute or two, then five or maybe even ten, continuing to push on the door. It's more tiring than he thought. He's sweating at this point and he can tell his concentration is slipping. He needs to be careful; keep it in, slowly, slowly.

The door creaks, then gives, swinging out widely. The wind outside is strong and it sweeps snow in eagerly as Rin steps out.

Rin stares in disappointment, looking at the miserably tiny circle he's made.

He shuffles out, shutting the door to the roof after Yukio makes it out too. Yukio removes his hood and Rin does the same, sending him a questioning look before Yukio points to the snow-covered camera.

Rin's lucky he didn't melt all of that.

The Jack Frost squirms from Yukio's grasp and bounds onto Rin's head, snuggling into his hair promptly. It doesn't seem to mind his flames, oddly.

Then again, Kuro always liked them too.

Still, there is too much snow for them to do much, so Rin sends a wave of fire out, focusing on pushing instead of heating this time. It doesn't work though; the snow sits there stubbornly as the wind continues to berate them with fat, heavy flakes. Honestly, he's never seen snow pile this high before. It's practically up to his chest now.

His flames quiver and fade until all that's left is the two specks on his head and three patches along his shoulder and arms.

He wanted to show off in front of Yukio. This sucks.

"It's alright," Yukio assures, "This is enough. The rest of the flock will be able to sense it, now that we're outside."

He cups the Jack Frost off his head, setting it on the soft layer of snow. Rin marvels that it doesn't sink through, waddling around the cool white powder obvious delight, waving its stumpy arms back and forth.

So pretty. You are so pretty.

Yukio covers his mouth, doing that half snort, half giggle thing he likes to pretend he's above.

Rin laughs a little too, collecting a handful of flames to mold into...ah, he's tired, so it's not working that well, but he does his best, making a wobbly blob of fire shaped like a wispy version of the Jack Frost.

The puffball's eyes widen comically as it circles around Rin's flames, zipping through the air excitedly.

Where—keep searching! Search!

The baby Jack Frost swivels its little arms, hovering higher in the air until it's high above Rin's head.

Here! I am here!

The wind rises abruptly, and Rin's teeth begin to chatter as the temperature dips dramatically. Specks of hoarfrost crystallize, standing like white fur, covering the door, the small space in the snow Rin melted away.

"Look," Yukio breathes, "they're here."

Rin nearly takes a step back as he sees the enormous cloud of white, shivering, descending with the snowflakes like one asomatous entity, drawing overjoyed arcs in the air, spinning around the baby Jack Frost.

A thousand voices buzz collectively, and Rin's feels their relief like warmth brushing his cheeks, throbbing in his fingertips.

Thank you.

The blizzard fades to a few sparkling flakes swirling in the air, leaving in a spiral as the cloud of Jack Frosts depart. He continues to hear their voices for a minute or two, humming gently by his ears.

"Jack Frosts are notably long-lived demons," Yukio says as Rin finishes waving goodbye. "Records show they live for up to five or six centuries, but many believe they could persist for much longer. Because of that, they rarely have offspring," he smiles faintly, "which is why each chick is treasured by the entire flock."

"It has a huge family then," Rin grins, "that's neat."

"Yeah," Yukio whispers, pulling his hood up as they duck back into the stairwell, "Jack Frosts are quite special. They're snow sprites, and, like golems or snowmen, they are spontaneously created from human intent."

Rin can tell Yukio's smiling from the soft curls in his tone, so Rin listens, walking slowly, very slowly down the stairs.

He must have missed this, teaching and stuff.

"I read a paper before," Yukio adds, "proposing that they're born from particularly well-crafted snow angels."

"Seriously?" Rin sputters, "From snow angels?"

"Yeah," Yukio smiles, "it's a nice thought."

Unfortunately, just because the blizzard has stopped, doesn't mean the meter of snow on the ground can suddenly evaporate, so they're still stuck in the station.

Rin makes a beeline for the restroom, changing into a new pair of jeans. There. Now he doesn't smell like he does his laundry in hot and sour ramen broth, and—

"Ahh," Rin groans, "I got it on my sword sleeve."

Yukio rubs one eye tiredly, "You can wash it, can't you? Just use the hand dryer afterwards."

"Oh, good idea," Rin murmurs, setting his sword on the counter.

He wipes it off with a damp paper towel gently—no one ever told him how to clean it really, plus, every time he used it, the flames cleared any gross crap off anyway. Now that it seems reasonably cleaner, Rin moves onto the sleeve, dunking it in the sink, pumping some soap out and scrubbing like crazy.

The soap smells pretty nice, a frail scent like a mix of aloe and herbs that Shiemi would probably like.

Rin rings out the sleeve decently, letting it flutter under the whirling hand dryer as he checks his phone. Still no service though.

The door creaks open slowly, and someone scoots past them, muttering, "Excuse me," quietly.

Rin stares idly as Yukio washes his face, darting a hand out to save his glasses from falling into the sink. His sleeve is taking a while to dry though and—

The guy who came in a minute ago comes out of the stall, stepping over to wash his hands.

"Ah, sorry," Rin says, quickly moving his sword out of the way. Crap, he shouldn't have left it out. Now he's going to get questions about it.

"No, you're fine," the guy smiles brightly. "That's a beautiful—"

He stops and Rin looks up from where he's still drying the sleeve, curious.

Wait.

This guy...the flat slant of his eyes or something; he looks a lot like Shima.

Wait, wait, wait—

"Wait a minute," the guy says, voice rising, "that's Kurikara!"

Rin swallows, tensing as the guy steps closer.

"Where did you get this?"

Notes:

Hello!

Thank you for reading!

Aww, I'm so sorry for this terrible chapter. It's been so long since I posted my last one and this one is atrociously patchy to be considered any good. The characterization is off on some parts too, especially with Shiro. I wanted to convey some of that frustration Yukio felt when he wouldn't answer any questions in chapter 44 of the manga, but it didn't turn out like how I wanted to. OTL I will come back and fix this someday, but for now, I need to move the plot along. T.T

Anyway, the train station that featured prominently in this chapter is Hamamatsu Station! :D I did a lot of research on this, so in case you were confused, here is the explanation. ^^

Hamamatsu is in Shizuoka Prefecture and it is kind of known as the "City of Music" sometimes. The only skyscraper in Hamamatsu is the Act Tower which has a lot of concerts and events. The building was made to look kind of like a harmonica, so it's rather neat. Basically, Rin and Yukio are taking the Tokaido Shinkansen which goes from Tokyo all the way to Shin Osaka. It's really fast! :) So, Hamamatsu Station is in the middle of that route.

Then, the thing I was talking about with the underground passageway: I'm not super clear about this either, but basically there's an underground walkway that takes you from the mall to the bus stop and to Act Tower too, so people can get around really conveniently. All three are super close to each other, like less than 0.1 km, so it's really nice.
In case anyone is curious, the Jack Frosts are from chapter 92 of the manga. Also, in chapter 54, Rin vaguely mentions that he can sense demons. I remember he talks about it again somewhere but I find where. (So sorry. :'( I need to read the manga again. It's been too long and that's probably why this chapter was so bad too.) Then, the link key is from Bonus Story 1 - Phantom Train. It's pretty similar to the mission in the movie and Shiemi's there too, but they fight the train a little differently.

Ahh, I'm not sure when I'll be able to update this again but hopefully it won't take quite so long next time. I'm starting classes next week (T.T) and I think I need to reevaluate some of the things I have planned out, otherwise the next chapter is going to suck too.

Sorry :'( I just felt like this chapter wasn't any good but I'm kind of stuck and some disappointing things have happened to me recently, so I'm kind of sad.

That cliffhanger was kind of impolite, wasn't it? It's not that I wanted to do that specifically, I swear, but I inherently don't know how to end chapters well. XD

Haha, all that crap aside, thank you so much for your support! Recently I'll get up in the morning and have an email for a kudo or two every day and that just feels so incredibly warm and fuzzy. I'm so grateful to have people reading this and I really love seeing all of your comments and kudos and other support.
Please let me know how this chapter went if you have time. :) I know it's not very good, so it'd be nice to get some feedback on parts that were weird or stuff that could be better written.

I'm going to work harder on the next one, I promise. ^^

Thank you so much for reading! You guys are the best! :D

- bluewindfall