Fictober Day 30: "I'm with you. You know that."

"...and I was thinkin' about postponing our training till Friday. Ok, Rin? Rin?"

Shura blinked when no response came, and a glance behind her showed no sign of Okumura Rin. Her eyes widened slowly, and she let out a low whistle.

"Uh oh," she said, before facing Yukio. "Oi, four-eyed chicken. We lost yer brother."

Yukio froze, whirling around. When he couldn't seem to find Rin, either, he expelled a long, patient breath. "Of course we did." His brow twitched, and he pursed his lips into a thin line. "Of course we lost Nii-san in this big store, where there are tons of things that he'd distract himself with. Of freaking course."

Shura's lips quirked upwards in amusement. "It's not a big deal. We'll find him. He's not a little kid."

Yukio shot her his most unimpressed look. "Are you hearing yourself?"

"...point taken."

Yukio was already fishing his phone out of his pocket, no doubt trying to call him. Immediately, a look of annoyance crawled over his face. "It went straight to voicemail."

"So his phone's dead," she said easily, deciding she was tired of standing still. Took a step forward, arms folding behind her head. "Big whoop."

"Which means I'm going to have to comb through this whole place just to find him."

"Hey." She glared at him halfheartedly. "Don't try to act like ya have to do this all by yerself. I'm with ya. You know that."

"I wish you weren't," he muttered.

Her amusement vanished and she turned her glare up a notch. Or two. Or ten. "Fine. I'll leave ya to yer own devices. I didn't want to come here, anyway."

"That's not what I meant," Yukio said, rolling his eyes.

"Oh? Then tell me, smart boy, what ya meant by that."

Another eye roll. Eventually, he said, "Let's just get a move on and find him. I don't want to be here all night."

And she did? Shura gave him one last frosty look before choosing to let it slide. The kid was already stressed enough at it was. No need to add to it (no matter how much fun that proved to be).

They circled back around to the market side of the store first to make sure he hadn't just lingered in an aisle for too long. When that didn't end well, they searched the toy section (Shura was almost positive they'd find him there but was ultimately proved wrong). Then they were in the entertainment section. No luck there, either.

"Ok, I'll admit it," Shura said with a hefty sigh. "This is gettin' on my nerves. Where the hell could he be?"

Yukio seemed just as annoyed. "If I knew that, we wouldn't be searching for him."

"Smartass."

She leaned against a nearby shelf, crossing her arms. They'd been looking for the better part of twenty minutes. She'd originally thought that they'd be able to track him down without having to page him, but the damn kid was nowhere to be found. He wasn't giving them much of a choice.

"Hey! Shura! Four-Eyes!"

Shura's eye twitched. She turned her head to see the very boy they'd been searching for walking up to them with big, confident strides.

"This place has everything," he gushed happily as he beamed at them. "Check out this blanket! It's so soft!"

Yukio looked like he wanted to punch something. He and Shura shared a look that bled exasperation, and he deadpanned, "'He's not a little kid,' you said."

"Yeah, yeah, I know what I said," Shura muttered, pushing herself off the shelf. "Well, now that he's here, I'm ghostin'. This was such a waste of time."

Rin looked incredibly confused, still clutching the fleece blanket like it was some sort of charm that was meant to bring him good luck.

Son of Satan my ass, Shura thought.