Everything around him was the brown of dead things.
The grass was dry and dead. The trees poked at the sky with painful-looking fawn branches. The branches also tried to cling to Yukio as he walked determinedly north. The exorcist paid them no attention- his mind was far from the dead vegetation around him.
A crow called. Other than that there were very few animal noises, only adding weight to Yukio's theory that he was being followed. He also had an awful feeling he knew who it was too, although the feeling in his stomach was an odd mixture of fear, anticipation, and excitement. The air had a smell about it- like heat and smoke and that particular hint of mint that clung to the man like a shadow. It was awful. Yukio liked mint. There was a particular kind of mint tea he drank at the Moriyama's shop that was rather tasty…
Yukio swallowed harshly, details of his dream earlier that morning smacking him in the face. He had to stay focused. If he was being followed by Toudou, he'd need to be extra vigilant. The man was a ghastly monster after all. In the current landscape Yukio wouldn't stand a chance- not with the dry air and all the flammable dead vegetation around. But… Yukio had a plan. He was heading north into rather snowy country. There he'd confront the traitor. The snow would weaken his flames and boost Yukio's water-imbued bullets. Yukio let himself smile a bit as he walked. If any Exorcist was to put Toudou it would be him. He had to kill Toudou, if nothing else than to erase the pain-laced memories of burning hot-
Yukio chewed his lip slightly and stepped harshly on a brittle twig. It cracked loudly and startled some nearby birds. So there were animals around, they were just being very quiet. Yukio trudged on. The ground was gradually losing its dry crumbliness in exchange for the cold hardness that came with ice and snow. Cold air tried to seep into Yukio's clothes, but his exorcist uniform had enough layers to keep it out. There was a sort of inner coldness though, a chill Yukio didn't like; it was as if someone was playing on his spine like a xylophone. Snow began to fall.
§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§
Toudou hated snow.
Even as a child, back when he was human, snow was his least favorite thing. It was cold, it was wet, it felt terrible shoved down the back of his shirt. Toudou glanced at Yukio as he briskly walked north, curious as to what was going through the boy's mind. He was most certainly not going in the direction Toudou expected him to, not in the slightest. The train home was south.
The explanation came to Toudou quite suddenly, when Yukio stomped on a fallen branch and jumped slightly (It was cute). Yukio knew he was being followed, and was trying to lure Toudou north, where he'd be weakened. How Yukio knew it was him Toudou wasn't sure. Perhaps the boy was paranoid? Or had him on his mind all the time? That concept was almost sweet. Toudou tried to smother the weird spurt of pleasure he felt in his chest at the thought of Yukio thinking of him (often maybe?) but failed. It was like the feeling he got in college when he found out someone had a crush on him. Toudou smiled softly, ignoring the little pellets of snow that started biting him.
The problem was, that boy Yukio Okumura, he made it all worse. He was too interesting, his reactions were just too amusing, too adorable really. It was like watching a kid play dress up in his father's clothes, except Yukio had obviously picked the wrong father to dress up as.
Toudou shuddered and pulled his trench coat closer around himself. He hadn't really dressed for the weather it seemed. Using his flames too much would give him away- or did he want that? No, Toudou didn't want to reveal himself this early. It was too amusing to watch Yukio flail about after all, what would he do with this chance? Would he kill Toudou? (Doubtful) Would Toudou kill him? (Possibly) Or would something else entirely come of it? The biting snow turned into thick fluffy flakes that reminded Toudou of cotton and brought Christmas carols to mind. Toudou let his flames out a bit to keep warm, moving silently. He was going to soon run out of trees to follow Yukio on which irritated the man. It would be harder for Toudou to follow Yukio unnoticed by foot. That is… unless he stayed a bit back. The wind had picked up, which also would help. Toudou smirked. Who would have thought he'd find snow to be useful for once?
After waiting a bit, the exorcist turned demon jumped onto the snowy ground, his fall muffled by the frozen white fluff that blanketed the area. He accidentally inhaled some snowflakes and cursed quietly. Toudou had always made it a habit not to use curse words around students, but there weren't any of those around so he was in the clear. Glancing around, Toudou started walking.
It didn't take long for his trek to become excessively unpleasant. The snow was flying horizontally, the air around him mind-numbingly cold and the snow on the ground went up past Toudou's knees. This stalking plan was starting to look like a very foolish venture. Toudou stopped to breathe on his numb hands, letting more flames than usual leak out and flicker merrily around him.
It was time to change plans.
§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§
It was times like these that Yukio was infinitely grateful for his exorcist uniform. It was long, dark, lined and kept his heat in. Still, even with his layers the bitter cold enveloped him, specifically on his face and hands. His inner ear throbbed horribly from the cold and Yukio wished he'd brought a hat. Snow crusted his head and glasses, making it hard to see. Then again, there wasn't much to see. Everything was a blur of white, except for the occasional rock hidden by snow Yukio would stumble on. It was becoming more and more apparent that if he was to fight Toudou it'd better be soon, or he'd run out of energy trudging through the snow.
That is if Toudou was even still following him. Yukio had become so focused on the cold and the snow and the wind that he'd lost track of Toudou. Logically it didn't make any sense for the man to still be following Yukio- if he wanted him dead, he would have either killed him already or just left him to the mercy of this blizzard. Yukio scoffed under his breath, pressing his chapped lips together. Cowardly fucking bastard.
Everything ached. Yukio knew he had to find shelter, and soon. Squinting through the snow and the winds, Yukio almost thought he saw something- a dark smudge on a landscape of pale grey. Yukio lurched for the object- hell if it was a tree or a rock or something he could at least lean on and curl up by that would be something. Yukio's spirits rose as he approached the smudge- it looked much bigger than a tree or a rock, in fact it looked like a small cabin of some sorts. Yukio poured all of his energy into getting there- after he was under a roof he could sort out any sort of frostbite on his ears or nose or hands. Upon closer examination Yukio spotted a curl of smoke coming out of the roof of the small cabin and smiled softly. That meant people, people were fine. Yukio didn't mind people. He had his identification on him after all, most people didn't turn away an exorcist. This area was full of decent people as well, or so Yukio had heard.
The young exorcist staggered to the front door of the cabin, taking a moment to just lean on the door and rest. Even the minute shelter the overhang provided from the wind felt wonderful. Yukio practiced making a fist a few times, his joints sore and stiff from the cold. Once he felt he could do that, he knocked politely on the front door.
At first there was silence. Then, soft footsteps. Yukio's heart leaped. The door clicked and creaked open slowly.
"Hello, could you spare some room-" Yukio's plea broke off halfway as he stared at the man on the other side of the door.
It was Toudou.
The two of them stared at each other for a good solid minute. Yukio could feel the warm air from inside the cabin curl around him invitingly. After a moment Toudou smiled, something that seemed friendly at first but had a healthy dose of predatory intent in it.
"Well, are you going to come in?" he asked simply. "If you continue standing there you'll let all the warm air out. Oh and you'll probably die."
Yukio grit his teeth and glared at the demon before him. Why was he doing this? It would be so much easier to just close the door –oh god don't close the door- on him and let him freeze, but there he was, standing with that maddening smile…
Yukio stepped closer. He could smell it, warm air, smoke and a little bit of mint. Making a face, the exorcist crossed the threshold, keeping his eyes on Toudou. The traitorous monster's smile widened a bit and he let the door swing shut.
"Please, have a seat," Toudou offered politely, gesturing to the smallish table that sat in front of a merrily blazing fireplace. Yukio stiffly obeyed, his face and hands and ears burning horribly. Touching the chair to pull it out was pure agony. As much as he appreciated being somewhere warm Yukio wanted nothing more than to stick his hands under some cold water or something.
Toudou pulled out the chair across the table from Yukio and sat in it comfortably, placing his chin in a hand and watching Yukio with those glittering crimson eyes.
The air was too thick. Yukio couldn't breathe. He wanted out.
The exorcist slowly made a fist with his hands, feeling as if pins were being shoved in all along his skin. His knuckles shone white.
