Rin Okumura was a free man. The teenage boy strolled through the maze of streets in True Cross Town with caution. He was on a MISSION, one of extreme importance and grave need of skill-YES! Indeed the young man was looking for something! Something big! Something vital! Something that no one can live without! Something that, if were to disappear from the face of the earth, all would erupt into chaos! Yes he was searching for something-he was searching for-
-The grocery store.
"Damn it where is it, where is it, where…"
As mentioned earlier, Rin was a free man. But it was not mentioned that he was free for only twenty minutes. Despite this crap, the short time interval meant a lot to him. It was much considering… considering it had been four months since they found out his secret (A secret that he himself did not know until this year)
AND – well-er-lets just say he's been sorta-on a twenty-four-hour watch since then-
Confused? Sorry….Long story short….Rin was under guard-HEAVY guard and the fact that he was walking outside by himself was a big deal. Even if he did sneak out behind Yukio's back and he SHOULDN'T be out in the first place..
You see, out of all the people who watched him, his brother Yukio was the WORST-always telling him to "not touch anything" or "stay where you are" or the infamous "you-better-study-for-that-test-or-else-you-are-going-to-be-in-a-world-of-trouble-and-if-you-think-you-know-what-trouble-is-then-think-again" SERMON. The thought struck a nerve –
"Arrrrggg! He thinks he's so cool! Just because he's my teacher, AND Sheimi (along with a whole bunch of other girls) obsess over him, AND he's thousand times smarter than me, AND…" Rin slouched, his head hanging low "….And…I'm a total complete loser….." He jolted up, "Still….Yukio may be SMARTER, but he's still MY little brother….Honestly, I can handle getting groceries! What the hell's gonna happen?"
Rin went into a fit imitating Yukio this morning, "No Rin, you're dangerous! You can't go outside – blah blah – you're not cool enough to go to the market! You'll get lost – blah blah blah – you're not smart enough – blah blah – Geez…Well, he'll be surprised when he gets back from that mission…" Rin turned and yelled over his shoulder as though his brother was right there "I THINK I can handle F*CKING GROCERI-AAARG!"
He slammed into a pole.
"Ooooowwww…..geeeezzz…" Rin rubbed his nose, balls of tears formed into his eyes due to the pain. He blinked them back and took a look around-
"Oh-SH***********T!" Rin kicked the pole with frustration. He had absolutely NO IDEA where the hell he was-guess he can't handle groceries after all, huh?
The area where he now stood looked nothing like the ritzy part of town. The streets were narrow, each house looked like some ran shackled apartment with ill-painted walls, broken windows, and shattered beer bottles on the floor. Some of the doors were busted open. Rin stared up coolly to see the sign on that pole graffitied 'F*CK OFF OR DIE.'
"Not the most friendly of folk huh?" Rin did not feel the slightest bit of discomfort. The truth of the fact was that he was more familiar with places like this then back at the academy. Rin used to get into fights every other day of the week back at home, now THAT bothered him. It wasn't that he was afraid to get hurt – no – if anything he should be afraid he didn't hurt people he fought – Rin didn't know his own strength. What bothered him was that, no matter how hard he tried, Rin could not seem to become a respectable person. Even so, those days of beating jack $$es on the streets were over – he was going to be an exorcist –no – not just that – but PALADIN. Just like the old man.
"GAH!" Rin gritted his teeth and rubbed his head – I gotta pay attention! Don't wanna get lost again-
At that moment Rin heard a cracked yelp from behind-"N-No-" Rin whipped around to see three tall, raggedy punks in an alleyway. They sneered with crooked smiles and broken glass bottles in their hands, between them sat a shivering curled up figure-defenseless-helpless-bloody.
"YUKIO!"
Like all the other moments in his life, something inside of Rin snapped. Time, common sense, and consequences no longer registered in his mind-his kid brother was in danger-he was being HURT again- THEY WERE HURTING HIM AGAIN-He came bolting towards the three crooks.
"GET-AWAAAAAAAAAAAAY!"
Rin grabbed the middle bastard from the back of his collar.
"HEY WHAT THE-AAAAAGGG!"
The thug was flung into the side of the alley, breaking his left arm, left leg, and spraining his right ankle.
The second raised his fist and grabbed Rin's collar. "H-HEY! WHAT THE HELLDOYA THINK-uh…uh…" His face dropped-Rin caught the thug's punch midway-unintentionally crushing his wrist. By this time, the third crook ran away…but the second stared in fear at Rin's demonic expression-his eyes were stricken in a crazed state of hatred, and his teeth-his gritted teeth were razor sharp-fangs. The words of taboo escaped the man's lips-his voice cracked and dry.
"Y-you're n-n-not h-human.."
At that, Rin's eyes further stricken-with painful surprise more than hatred. "Shut-the hell-UUUUPPPPPP!" his fist drove a blow in the thug's chest, knocking all the wind out of his body and most likely cracking five of his ribs. The jack $$ fell on his back holding his stomach gasping for air, blood spurted from his mouth. Rin stood over him and spoke in a deep intimidating voice. "Get the hell out of here." The moment he heard those words, the crook attempted to stumble to his feet and limp away as fast as he could.
Two seconds after the incident, Rin realized he lost it again. The teenager stared into space with shock. His stomach turned and his shaky hand clasped over his right eye. "Oh man…oh man….did I just...did I…? Yukio's gonna….! YUKIO!" He frantically kneeled before the hunched figure, arms outstretched as though he was going to place his hands on his shoulders. "Hey! – Are you –!"
"N-n-noo!" The frail boy stumbled back, horrified, he lifted his head ever slightly to expose blond locks and tormented amber eyes. "N-no….g-g-g-go…"
It wasn't Yukio-…it's some kid-no wait-I think he's MY age…
Rin shuffled closer, the figure yelped, "NOOO!" Rin lost his patience, "Hey! I just saved you from those guys! Be a little thankful!" His angry tone only further troubled the frail teen. He curled back into a ball, hands clasped over his head.
"No..no..no..no..no.."
There was something about this kid that made Rin think of Yukio when they were little, a defenseless crybaby. He couldn't help but to protect someone like that..
"H-hey….sorry…those punks are gone…you ok?..."
"….."
"You ok?..."
"…"
"Ok?..."
"…..Oh-o-o-o-okay?..." the blonde boy squeaked.
"Yea are you ok?..." Rin asserted, yet again.
"…..Okay….." the stranger breathed, eyes faraway beneath his fingers.
"YEA-are you ok?..."
"….Q-quoi?...P-pourquoi…..?"
Rin's brain turned off…This guy…..doesn't speak a word of Japanese…..
He knew he had to think of some kind of way to communicate – er –
CHARADES? The option wasn't a very reassuring. He always sucked at these types of games back when he lived at the monastery – Why do I freakin' suck at EVERYTHING?!...Well not today! If I can take down demons – then I'm sure I can get this guy to understand me!
Rin got up with ambition, he pointed to himself and said in a loud voice. "RIIIN!" The boy stared, confused. Rin repeated the action –
"RIIIIIIIINN!"
"…"
"RIN RIN MY NAME IS RIIIIIIN!"
"…..R-R-i-i.."
"Yea! Yea! RIN!"
"R-Rin…"
"Yea! I'm Rin! Now tell me your name! What's your name! YOUR NAME!"
Rin now pointed at the coy teenager, the boy looked down at his chest….then back at him…..he said something that sounded like ee-dun.
"Eedon?"
"A-A-Aidyn…"
"Er-yea-uh hey-Aidyn….you lost…..?"
Aidyn once again stared back confused, Rin flailed his arms wildly – "LOST! –
y'know…..LOST-LOST! –like – you don't know where ya going?.."
To Aidyn, it looked like he was imitating some sort of troubled, diseased-rabid chicken…."Eh…e-eh….?"
Rin closed his eyes with defeat and rubbed his head. "Uhhh…This isn't working…..hm?" He noticed a crumpled piece of paper in the kid's hand. Rin kneeled over and held his hand out. "Hey, whatcha got there?"
With a shaking hand, Aidyn timidly handed over the piece of parchment. Rin glanced at it and noticed the words printed across the top: True Cross Academy. It was a pamphlet for his school. Rin's faced beamed with excitement.
"YOU'RE GOING HERE?!"
"UUWAAAHHH!"
"UH-sorry…..you're going here?"
"G…g-go?"
"Yea! You're going here?!"
"….U-uh…er-u-uh…"
Rin held up the pamphlet and tapped it with his index finger. "HERE-You go here?"Aidyn stared at the paper and realized what he was asking. "G-go-ah-q-qui! Qui..."
"We?...OH! Your speakin' FRANCE, I get it!" He meant French. Rin held out his hand and pointed behind him smiling, Aidyn jolted. "I go to this school too! I'll take you there!"
Aidyn stared bewildered by Rin's kind expression. Rin repeated his words. "I'll take you there!" With extreme hesitation, the frail teenager lifted his hand; Rin took hold of his wrist and pulled him up off the ground.
As they passed through the streets Aidyn clung onto his arm from behind, trembling. It was sorta awkward…but the kid was completely freaked out, Rin could feel him shaking. And this neighborhood- Rin's eyes flickered from side to side. There were people from inside their homes glaring at the feeble boy through cracked windows….some even had the nerve to call out – but Rin would immediately retaliate.
"Hey you!-PISS OFF!"
"HEY! SHUT-UP! YOU PISS OFF!"
"F*CK YOU!"
"WHY YOU-!"
The screaming matches would only last, at the most, fives minutes. After a while the person would notice the look in Rin's eyes…and they'd grow silent, or stumble away- disturbed. Why does everyone hate this kid so much? Each block Aidyn would grip onto Rin tighter and tighter. There was even a point when he buried his face into Rin's back, which was EXTREAMLY awkward-and WEIRD. It made him uncomfortable….
"ER-UH-Hey-uh-are you ok?..."
"….."
But was it his fault? Aidyn was so weak – so HELPLESS. Rin would NOT abandon someone like that. It made him think too much of his brother…. And big brothers protect their little brothers-
Even bastard children of Satan get that….
