A/N: Okay, I am officially angry with how the Phillies have been playing lately. They can't score and abandon runners. They even got their butts kicked by the NATIONALS for crying out loud. But once they get Utley and Howard back, they'll be able to score runs again :D. Until then, I'm hoping that Chooch (Ruiz) will remain a beast with hitting. Now away with the baseball talk, and on with the show!

Leigh: Opera only owns me and my overprotective brother. Get it through your head. And check these guys out. They're pretty great. The guy singer and guitarist is Opera's big bro, who Chuck is based off. www. Purevolume element of surprise pa Take out the spaces. DO IT! Listen to the awesomeness.

After the big fight, I called the Mole and put my phone on speaker. I noticed that Muki still seemed creeped out, though, even though she was doing her "Ryuji and Leigh are finally going out" victory dance.

The Mole picked up on the fourth ring. "This is Okumura." I stifled a laugh. He ALWAYS answered his phone like that. Never "It's Yukio." Just "This is Okumura." Don't ask me why.

"Hello, Okumura-sensei. We just finished up our part of our mission. Is there anything else we should do?"

"No, that is all. Your brother and I are waiting for you. May I say that he is disrespectful and calls me 'Four-eyes' and asks me if I have a pole up my butt?"

I covered my mouth to keep from laughing and I heard hysterical laughter on the other end. Once I recovered, I said, "That's my brother. Get used to it. He says what goes through his head. No filters."

I heard some muffled discussion between the two before he said, "Leigh, Smith-sensei wants to talk to you."

Over the phone I heard my brother yell, "Stop it with the honorifics, kid! I'm only twenty-four!"

Mole sighed and said, "Leigh, Charles wants to speak to you."

I chuckled before saying, "Let him on."

My brother wasted no time before saying, "Hey kiddo, how did everything work out?"

"It was hard as hell, but I pulled it off."

Muki yelled out, "Hey Chuck! You'll never guess what Suguro asked Leigh!"

"What?" my brother asked.

"It's nothing," I said, covering my trail. By now, I was so good at lying that I should be a politician. "Ryuji just asked if I could help him with his homework sometime. He's been having trouble in Yukio's class."

I could imagine him rolling his eyes. "Get the skunk head. Now."

Ryuji, who was already listening, walked up by me and put his hand around my shoulder. He was surprisingly warm. "Yes, Mr. Smith?" he asked nervously.

"You should worry more about your gun work than in Four Eyes' class. I only saw you hold a gun, and I can tell you suck. Let Leigh help you out with that instead. And by the way, ask her out already or I'll kick your ass."

"Chuck," I cut in, "Put Yukio back on. I'll see you later." Ryuji left me alone to talk with the others, completely red.

After Yukio got his phone back, I immediately said, "Yukio, are you sure the other groups don't need help? I just heard a scream coming from the west about 2 minutes ago. I think we should go help them."

"No."

I just froze. I was sure I heard a scream coming from somewhere to the west, but he wasn't letting us go down for reinforcement. "What do you mean, 'no'? I just heard a scream and you're not letting us go down for backup? Are you asking for them to get injured or killed?"

"I said no. Exorcists need to fight their own fights. This is training, and they can't be waiting for someone to go and rescue them. Miss Schmal, if you want to stay in the cram school and if you want any secret you could be hiding to stay hidden from the Vatican, you will go directly to the rendezvous point. Do I make myself clear?"

It physically hurt me to say these words, but I choked out, "Yes, sir," with as much venom as I could possibly put into those words.

I took out a bottle of holy water, and sprinkled some on each of the horses' pieces, silently saying, "On the second day, He made the Earth, and He saw that it was good," and making the Sign of the Cross. "Alright, we have to head back to the rendezvous point. I don't like it, but I don't have a choice." I walked over to Muki, who tripped and skinned her knee and helped her up. Turning around, we started walking back to the rendezvous point.

Just as we were about to leave the courtyard, I sensed something, and soon, I figure emerged from the eerie shadows of the tents. Shit, I thought. Not this bastard again. The figure was something from your worst nightmares: black, with an alligator's body, a pair of pinchers, three scorpions' tails, and the head of a bat. It was six and a half feet tall and eight feet long. Its eyes were a glowing beet red. Upon seeing it, I heard in my memory the voice of a little boy, no more than four, crying for me to help him before being cut off by a scream that held all the pain and terror in the world, followed by the sound of ripping. I hated this demon. It could rip you into shreds with its pinchers. I was all too familiar with it, although I've only encountered one once. Suddenly, two creatures followed it, only they had two tails.

I turned around to the others, their faces frozen in terror. "Guys, you need to run. Go directly back to the rendezvous point, and don't stop for anything. Stay with Yukio and my brother, and I'll catch up. Right now, I have to take care of this thing."

Muki drew her eyes away from the monsters. "But what about you?" she asked quietly.

"I'll be fine," I said, trying to convince her as much as myself. I barely won against one. There were three here. I stopped. "Ryuji." He looked at me. "I'm counting on you. Don't let them get hurt. Lead them to the rendezvous point and tell the Mole that I'm just checking for any more demons." He nodded. "Now go! Run!"

They sprinted to the rendezvous point, Muki sending one last worried look my way. I turned around, saying the most horribly American line ever, bad New York accent and all. I pulled my sword out and said, "SAY HELLO TO MY LITTLE FRIEND!" I sprinted towards the first one, and it took three slashes until I cut through its thick hide and felt the hot black spray on my face and chest.

After that, the demon saw me as a threat and grabbed my left arm with its pincher, drawing blood. I reached for my belt and pulled out my dagger. I stabbed it at the joint, where the armor was thinnest. It hissed in pain, releasing my sword arm and rearing back the leftmost tail. It struck, grazing my waist. It prepared to attack again, so I slid underneath the monster, emerging from its back. I had to be silent now as I knew that the slightest sound would ruin my chance at killing this thing. I stood up and jumped to the top of the nearest tent. Unsheathing my sword, I jumped, the sword behind my head, held in both hands as to maximize the force. Landing briefly on the middle tail, I jumped again, bringing the sword further behind my head before bringing it forward, splitting the head nearly in half.

Taking a long breath, I realized just how much energy that this maneuver took. I looked at the second one, grinning. "Come at me, bro," I said before launching myself at it. This time, I realized that the armor on the underside was thinner than on the back. I slid under the next creature's armor, before being pulled out.

I saw a new figure emerging from the woods, only this one was definitely human. It ran at the third demon and I realized who it was. I returned my attention to the demon's appendage tightening itself around my waist. It was getting harder to breathe. Arms pinned to my sides, I realized I had to use brute force to get out of this one. I started pulling my arms away from my sides, using some of the reserved 'special strength', and I finally freed myself from the pincher. Not wanting to go through that again, I pulled out my sword and cut off the arms that the pinchers were attached to. I slid under, finally stabbing the thing in the heart.

"Thank you," I said grudgingly to Yamada who killed his (maybe her?) demon. I hated admitting that I needed help, but I would have died.

"No problem," he said in a strangely feminine voice before taking his hood off to show… a she, with pink hair with blond tips, and violet eyes. "Leigh Nicole Smith, granddaughter of Gerald Schmal."

"Yamada?" What the hell? Yamada was a chick? Why was she covering her face and dressing like a dude?

She smiled slightly and took off her hoodie and undid bindings around her chest. For the first time in my life, I felt flat-chested. I mean, I don't swing that way, but you can't not notice how massive they are. Oh, Shima would love her. "My name is Shura Kuragukure, Upper First Class Exorcist. I'm here to evaluate risk factors, and you're about as dangerous as they come, so you're coming with me." She reached for my wrist.

I pulled it away. "I don't care who you are. Nobody is taking me anywhere, so screw off, Implants." I called her that because let's face it: there is no way in hell that those things were real.

"That's a shame. I was ordered to get either you or Rin Okumura. But I suppose that that older brother of yours could do, as well."

I closed my eyes, trying to contain my anger. "That was a cheap shot, even for Vatican scum like you." Her cocky smirk disappeared. "But I won't let you hurt my friend or my brother, so I'm coming with you."

XXXXX

At the rendezvous point, my group and Serena's were the only ones there. Yukio's eyes widened. "Shura?"

"Four-eyed Chicken! You remembered me! Well, I have to go. But first," she grabbed the front of Rin's shirt and flung her hand over her shoulder as though she was carrying a purse rather than a human being, "I have to borrow your brother for a minute."

Chuck stepped in front of Shura. "And what do you think you are doing with my sister?"

Never mind that I was stronger than him from age eight, the idiot felt that he had to protect me. I rolled my eyes. "I'm gonna interrogate them, so get out of my way, Curly." I had to resist the urge to laugh, but then I realized that she took Rin, too.

I snatched my wrist out of her grasp. "What the hell! The only reason I agreed to go with you is because you said you wouldn't take him if I went with you! We had a deal!"

She considered it. "Well, Rin has priority, so I can leave you alone for now." She shrugged as she started walking again.

"Wait," she stopped. "I won't leave you alone with Rin because if I don't watch out for him, you'll probably torture him, so I'm coming with you."

She smiled as if this was exactly what she wanted. "Well, if you insist, you can come with us."