Cale; Hi, this is the third chapter of Niro Case :D And I think it's on time :D
Jace; She's very please with herself – rolls eyes –
Cale; - happily - Shut up and let me bask in the moment. Might be on time but it is about a thousand words shorter than usual because of reason's I shall now explain along with why we are only updating every month.
Jace; You see when we first started this story both of us lived in the same country, now however, I have moved to cypress and Cale has moved back to the UK so cross-referencing things between us is going to take some time.
Cale; this is why we have given ourselves such a big gap between updates. We are only just telling people this because we were not sure if Jace WAS moving. However, the story shall continue despite the sudden seven-hour plane journey between us
Both; enjoy the chapter xx
A/N; Woops sorry, I accidently uploaded the wrong document. O_o. Here is the finished chapter and sorry for the mistake (there are not that many changes or if you have already read it you probably will not notice the difference).
The Staff of Moses – buried in the foundations of The Temple of Golden Monks in Germany – was legend to have driven all the residents of the lower levels of the temple insane thousands of years ago. Turning them hungry for power, the staff broke down their mental barriers until they allowed demons to possess their bodies. Most ripped themselves apart in seconds; the monks that did not die right away festered before moving up through the Temple to torture the other Monks that stayed in the upper temples. It wasn't until they attacked the village bellow the Temple that the head monks intervened, killing all the infected prayers before ordering the Staff to be hidden away for all eternity.
….Apparently, eternity did not last as long as it used to. Either that or some poor sod had uncovered a small part of the Staff giving it room to inflict madness on all those who came too close.
The temple itself was perched on the peak of a mountain range that was near impossible to climb, fly, or drive to. You had to know the path as well as your own face to survive, and even then, you risked death with every step you took.
The more senior Monks had often occupied the towers that reached up in to the heavens on the utmost peaks, their great halls elaborate and stunning and seen for miles around. It was here that they retreated when the demons had swarmed the temple. The great doors falling shut and stories told of the horrors that had befallen those trapped inside, having to turn to cannibalism to survive.
Only the five Head Monks had escaped out of the mountains via a small passage that lead to one of the villages bellow – It was also these five Monks that later founded the True Cross Order but that is a different story for a different time.
The Temples had been a feasting ground for all sorts of demons and ghouls ever since and no sane human even dared to venture past the forest that coddled the base of the mountain.
Rin was not entirely sure he was sane though, and had no issues or restraints about climbing the cursed mountains to look for a bloody stick that had a nasty habit of driving people insane – although he strongly suspected that he should.
This might have been because of the demon blood rushing through his veins, it might have been because the lower demons could not sense him due to the tattoo etched into his left shoulder (A painful experience that had left a burning hatred of Holly Water etched deeply into Rin's memories) and this gave him a sense of invisibility.
He did not know what it was and personally did not like to dwell on his more…stranger skills when it came to being the son of Satan, it made him grumpy.
"Next time, he can get his own damn stick," Rin grumbled to himself as he trudged through the snowy forest, glaring at the dark trees that towered over him like bars on a cage blocking the bright blue of the sky, not that the dark mass of mountain didn't do a decent enough job of that as it was.
Blowing out a cloud of breath, Rin buried deeper into his grey arctic jacket and tucked his hands into his pockets, fighting off a shiver as a particularly cold gush of wind swept through the trees and crashed into him as if it was trying to pry him off the side of the mountain. The cold curled around him and Rin felt a fleeting moment of hunger.
Not the type that could be satiated by food, but rather blood and human flesh, something he could sink his teeth into and rake his claws across, the very thing that he renounced just over five years ago. Irritated, Rin snapped his teeth down on his bottom lip and hissed as the pain brought him out of the Staff's spell.
'Fantastic. That certainly explains why the villagers are terrified of wind' Rin thought as he began to move again, his mood even sour.
"Fuck you Moses!"
Rin had passed through the lower temples and was dancing along to wooded beams that used to be the floor in the upper temple and was singing "I'll make a man out of you*" when he realised he could hear the pounding of roughly five hearts, all of which sounded fluttery as if they were terrified or at least nervous. Humans, his mind provided helpfully before the image of himself sinking his teeth into flesh plagued him and the teen cursed violently and nearly falling off the beams.
"The only time you let my human nature take over and it has to be now?" Rin snarled as he tried to block out the whispering of that damned stick. Of course, the staff would not affect his demon nature but his human side would be flooded. It was just Murphy's Law wasn't it?
Shaking himself like a dog, he straightened himself out of the crouch he had dropped into with the blood lust wave. Rin closed his eyes and tilted his head to the side and tried to determine were about the humans were. It would do no good to cross paths with them if they had succumbed to the Staff's sway, even with his father's skill set, someone was bound to get hurt (or killed) if he accidently ran into them.
Normally – however – It would not be an issue but orders were orders, and Niro was a tyrant for order.
Annoyingly, the beat of his own heart was pounding too loudly for him to pinpoint the exact location any more accurate than to the west of where he stood currently.
"Damn it" Rin cursed, pinched his nose with nimble fingers, and let out a clouded breath through gritted teeth. 'Why does this kind of thing always happen to me?' Shaking his head Rin pushed his irritation to the back of his mind and returned to his singing although it was a little less carefree now what with his mood souring.
The mission was bad enough but having to wake up nearly two hours earlier than usual was a killer. Plus, the 'Grunts' did this type of stuff, the hunting and obtaining of dangerous artefacts that the humans and fellow demons could use to cause mass chaos, but for some bizarre reason they were all on house arrest.
'Well…cave arrest is a much more accurate' Rin though distractedly, still sulking.
Rin abruptly froze, the hairs on the back of his neck prickling like an age-old instinct telling him to run. His legs tensed up ready to sprint on that instinct's warning before blinking in surprise. 'What the…'
Bump…bump…bump…bump…
With a jolt Rin realised that the five heartbeats from before were literally just round the corner from him.
'Oh, shit'. Leaping up on to the higher – less stable – support poles away from the beating hearts Rin crouched down low, desperately trying to hide in the shadows. The murmur of voices sounded just off from where Rin had swung himself up on to the current level, which was just west of the beam that Rin had been standing on…right in plain view. If Rin had not moved in time, they would have had a clear sight of him looking stunned. Grumbling at his carelessness, he turned his head slightly to listen to what they were saying.
"…this is stupid; I say the people down there are just insane"
"You don't know that Idiot! There really could be something up here infecting the people"
"The cold? I have always thought you had to be crazy to willingly live somewhere cold"
"No Shima not the cold. You heard the stories, the-"
"The Staff of Moses"
'Oh this is just brilliant' Rin thought grumpily as he recognised the last voice. 'Just when i was begining to think the day could'nt get any worse'
It was the last person that Rin wanted to face right now, what with his leg throbbing painfully in an unnecessary reminder of what happened last time they met. For even with the healing properties in demon blood, his leg was still injured and tender as hell from when Yukio shot him, the bullet must have been soaked in holly water, because no matter what Rin's master had done the wound still hampered the Halflings movements.
'Wait a second' Rin thought as he looked back down at the group, wrinkling his nose in distaste as he watched his twin brother stride towards the enter of the room with a chilling confidence that almost made Rin smile despite his irritation with the younger boy. Yukio walked across the beams with little trouble whilst his fellow exorcist stumbled after him, moving slowly, and wobbling hazardously.
"I wouldn't fall if I were you, I heard that the trapped monks are still stuck down there" Yukio called over his shoulder and Rin sniggered quietly as the others turned pale. Even the boy who had claimed not to believe paused for a second before scoffing.
'So the Order is after the Staff as well are they? Interesting…wonder what they want that for' the raven wondered to himself as he straightened up and began to follow them from above, careful to avoid the rotting parts of wood, damn from the cold and rain of aeons. 'that would be hell on earth is they ever got that damn stick before me'
Rin knew better than to fail on this mission because whilst this was just a grunt job it was probably the most important one there ever was. The exorcists were humans, and humans could not handle to the Staff. Made to control and force them to believe in the big man upstairs, it was not meant to be left among them. However – of course – there was always one who thought otherwise.
Scoffing to himself Rin danced above Yukio's head for a second before darting head, dodging back into the shadows as the younger twin looked up with narrowed eyes.
"Keep moving, it might not be human but there is defiantly something here," Yukio told his little duckies and in very little time the group was pausing at the end of the room with Rin sat on the joist beams above their heads with an amused smirk as the girl with weird eyebrows flicked one of her pigtails over her shoulder. She glared at Strippy – it seemed they were the same group that was in Tokyo, plus two – who seemed to growl at her.
"Yer, probably one of the villagers that went missing last week" She sneered. Rin was not quite too sure if this was the Staff taking control of their minds…or if this was just normal behaviour for them, exorcists were a crazy bunch of people after all. In fact, Rin very much doubted that unless you were like him and Yukio whose biological father was The Devil you had to be as mad as a hatter to believe in demons.
Strippy spat back "Bullshit. This Staff of Moses driving them all crazy is a load of crap," she snorted and opened her mouth to retort.
"Shut up. Both of you" Yukio interrupted suddenly, turning back to face them with a stern look about him. The teenagers – including Rin – turned to look at him, even though Rin was still smiling and unseen by all of them. "The Staff – whether you believe in it or not Bon – feeds off negative feelings. If you two insist on having you lovers spat in the middle of this temple then I suggest you go do it somewhere else before you infect us all" they said nothing "Good. Now our intelligence says that the monks buried it in the foundations of the isolation chambers. There are three routes to the chambers so we are split up into two's. Bon and Izumo you take the left door – no funny business, Konekomaru and Shiemi you take the right. Shima you are with me, we will take the center. Meet back here in an hour – do not try being the hero. We all move together"
Instantly – as if someone had flicked a switch – the exorcists scattered, leaving only Yukio and Pinkie standing on the beams bellow the amused raven-haired boy.
'Their information is wrong…the Staff isn't buried in the Isolation chambers, it's in the Main Prayer room'
Not that Rin was going tell them that. If they wanted to go nosy in some creepy chambers were naughtly Monks were sent to, then Rin was of the opinion that they should be left to it, besides it kept them out of his hair and made his escape a whole lot easier. It was logical. Just leave this silly humans, get what he came for, and leave the creepy temple. No mess, no issue. Yes, that would be a very good plan, he should do that.
He followed the other two boys'.
Rin knew he should not and that it would just be more trouble than it was worth following the others but some part of him just could not bring himself to leave his little brother in such a dangerous place. Even thought the little bastard had shot him last time he tried helping out the humans.
'Maybe insanity runs in the family?' Rin wondered idly as he swung into the lower less sheltered supports. 'That would certainly explain a couple of things'
They had not even taken more than five steps before there was a loud crack that bounced off the walls like a flashlight and all three boys' stopped with their hearts in their mouths.
What was that? They all though simultaneously. Rin began to lower into a crouch when he felt the wood bellow his feet shake just before a sound splitting crack shot up again. Fake green eyes flickered down and for the first time with a sense of dread, slowly rising up inside him Rin noticed that the wood all along this section of corridor was rotted and worn-through.
The raven froze as he felt the spar quiver under his feet again and bellow him the humans slowly looked up, what nearly verged on fear in their eyes sending shivers through Rin. Pinkie, very much looking as if he were constipated, muttered something too low for Rin to catch but loud enough for Yukio and the boy reacted immediately by stepping backwards.
"Get back" He ordered Pinkie with a tone that their Father used to use whenever one of his "Home Jobs" went blotchy. The little human obeyed without question and despite himself, Rin smirked.
'Bossy boots'
The beam creaked again and this time a shower of wood dust fell onto the duo bellow, making them cough and splutter, franticly rubbing at their eyes as they tried to get the dust out. Only Yukio had moved out of the way and now he stared up unblinking – trying to locate Rin in the shadows.
The wood rumbled bellow Rin's feet and he held his breath as he watched little cracks expand into larger gaps as the wood began to split in two. Silently he cursed.
If he moved, so much as an inch the wood would collapse and to be frank Rin really did not trust that – with or without demon mojo – he would be able to clear the wood in time to not be caught and pulled down as well. Maybe if his leg was not still healing but even then it would be close. His only chance would be to try to reach another beam just to the left of him at shoulder height. If he just reached out a little…he could just…about…reach the beam. His fingers brushed the wood and Rin felt a smirk pull at his lips 'Yes!' Then the inevitable happened, Rin shifted his weight just a little bit too much on to one leg and…
…the joist abruptly gave way from underneath him in an explosion of rotting wood and mouldy thatch. Now do not be put off, normally Rin would have easily caught a hold of a slightly lower and more stable support beam. He would have swung up and easily concealed himself back within the shadows however; it is significantly harder to do this when you have a semi-healed bullet wound in your thigh and a fuck load of exploding wood caught among your legs. Consequently, the raven teen fell with a sharp yelp, helpless to stop his decent, a cloud of dust hot on his heels.
'Brilliant' Rin thought as he crashed into someone bellow. 'You know Universe, when I asked if this day could get any worse it was a question, NOT A CHALLENGE'
xx-Yuu-Chan-xx;
Ahhhhh that had so much fluff and awewwwwww I can't wate for the update :)
Jace;
Fluff? What fluff?
Cale;
The caring of Rin from Niro of course, thank you for the review :D
Jace;
That was fluff?
Romano;
Enough with the nicknames it's uncomfortable omfg
Jace;
Sorry but until Rin knows their real names the nicknames are staying
Raccoon;
AWESOME
Cale;
I KNOW RIGHT!
waffleirons;
Is it too cliche to offer my firstborn child for another chapter?
Jace;
Yes, give us your third born child and a dog instead
Cale;
JACE!
Thank you to all reviews, they really made me smile and gave me the boost I needed to write whilst moving house
*I'll make a man out of you is from Mulan. We found the idea of Rin singing it funny because it is about how a solider should be, with a slightly flamboyant flare. (Jace; without all the waffle she found the idea so amusing she cried with laughter and pestered me to write it in somehow)
Please give more reviews in return for the next chapter xxx