DISCLAIMER: -.../.-../..-/. ./-..-/-/.-./-.-./../.../- ../... -./-/- -/../-./. !

(that was International Morse Code, btw. Bet you've never seen a Disclaimer as cool as that, huh?)

Rin liked cooking. He always had. One thing he really liked about cooking was that it was an amazing stress reliever. And Rin had a lot to be stressed about.

He had wanted to take the secret of what transpired that night to the grave. But his friends and family (Satan and his sons were not counted, they weren't family) had not let this happen.

He wondered what his friends would think. Would they get scared of him again? Would they blame him, the way he blamed himself? Rin could hardly bear to think of them hating him again, right after they had all just made up. That pain was something that he wanted to forget. But they were undoubtedly about to remind him.

Yukio had had some sort of an idea of what had happened that night. He had seen the aftermath, after all. He hadn't known the bit about the gate before, though. He briefly remembered his fight with his brother at the cram school. That, he realized now, had probably hurt Nii-san a lot more than he had let on. Of course, he didn't mean any of it. He had just been upset, and he was unfairly letting all his anger out on his brother. He thinks now that it probably wasn't the best thing he could have done. The whole reason Yukio had become an exorcist was to protect his brother. He wasn't exactly doing the best job. He wondered if Rin still believed what he had said then. Due to that Culpa Demon, he probably did. But Yukio hadn't meant any of that. Yukio realized he needed to tell Rin that he didn't mean any of it. They were brothers, after all. Someone just needed to remind him.

Ryuji remembered everything he had yelled at the older Okumura when he was mad at him for keeping secrets. Certain ones kept coming back to him, over and over.

"Those flames can kill people!"

He had said that on the bus to Kyoto. He just discovered Rin knew that better than he had ever realized.

"I'll never acknoledge you as my father, not till the day I die!"

That one had been directed at his father, but then Rin had stepped in. He had told him he should take it back, or else he'd regret it. Ryuji didn't think Rin had any idea what he was talking about, but clearly he did. He knew exactly what he had been talking about. It had been the last thing he'd ever really said to his own father.

Ryuji had never liked secrets. He had never liked when someone tried to carry their burdens and keep them to themselves. He hated that more than anything else. And Rin seemed to keep his burdens to himself all the time.

"Don't try to do everything yourself. Don't forget you have friends!"

Ryuji had told Rin that during the training camp, right before they had discovered he was the Son of Satan. Rin had clearly forgotten he had friends. Ryuji decided it was about time they reminded him.

Sheimi thought back to the day she had first met Rin. The first conversation they had was her calling him a demon. She knew know this had probably been a real sore spot for him at that time. She also thought back to how he had helped her stop being guilty over Granny's death. He had always seemed so strong. That facade was crumbling, and the roles were reversed. He was the weak one, feeling guilty over something that was out of his control. So now she would have to be the strong one and remind him that it wasn't his fault. To remind him, the way he had reminded her.

Shima didn't think of any specific memory or conversation. What he thought of was love; Rin's greatest weakness. Love was what was putting Rin in this funk. He had loved his dad, and now he was gone. He blamed himself, because he missed his father who he loved. And while love was his greatest weakness, it was also his greatest strength. He cared about, loved, all of them, his friends. Right now, what he needed was love in return. His friends needed to go let him know that he was loved. They needed to remind him they cared.

Konekomaru thought of how scared he had been of Rin before. He had been scared of the flames that had killed his parents. The flames that had ruined their temple. The flames that belonged to a cold-blooded murderer. The flames that resided in his friend. He had thought Rin didn't understand their power, their terror. He didn't think he had known the damage and pain they could cause. What he didn't know is that Rin had experienced it all first-hand, and that he could remember it all. Konekomaru didn't even remember what had happened because he had been a baby. Rin had watched his father die in front of him only months ago. Konekomaru realized that his fear of Rin had been very misguided. Rin was his friend. Rin is his friend. And his friend was in pain. It's about time they remind him that he had people who understood the pain of losing someone to the blue flames. Remind him that he didn't have to suffer alone.

Izumo knew thought Rin was being an idiot. How was any of this his fault? Idiot, idiot, idiot. He was probably in the kitchen, moping about all of this, the idiot. Simple fact is that this wasn't Rin's fault. Rin didn't kill Shiro, Satan did. Wasn't it Rin's goal in life to kick Satan's ass? Rin was probably being such a mopey idiot with his misdirected guilt that he forgot even that. Someone needed to point out that it wasn't Rin's fault, it was Satan's. Someone also needed to remind Rin that he was supposed to avenge his father. Someone needed to remind Rin he was supposed to kick Satan's ass.

The Exwires had come to a silent agreement: Rin had forgotten a lot of things, and it was about time they reminded him. After sharing a few glances, they walked out of the room, heading for the kitchen. There were lots of things they of which he had forgotten. Things of which they need to remind him.

Ok so let me just say: THIS CHAPTER WAS HARD TO WRITE. Like I had to ask a friend of mine how I should write a certain character (thanks Jinx-the-fire-queen for your help!), even though I know all about just about all of them. Like jeeze...

Anyway, there should only be about one more chapter left, and then we'll be done.

I'm sorry if I didn't do any character very well. I had a lot of trouble on Shima and Izumo. For Shima, I used the conversation in chapter 56 he had with Lucifer. For Izumo, I texted a friend to ask for a bit of help. Either way, I really hope I did well! Let me know what you guys thought, okay?

- Lew-chan :D