Hi, guys!

Sorry if it took me so long to write this chapter! I've been really busy and I also had lost some inspiration...but don't worry, I've found it again!

So, here goes the party and Rin receive some news...but they don't seem to be good ones!

Thanks to all the reader and for the reviews, it means a lot to me! I hope you will go on following the story!

yaoi-dream153: I'm glad you are enjoying the story so much! You really flatter me with all those compliments! Don't worry, I have no intention to stop before I finish it! I'll go on until I'm done! I hope you'll like what comes next!

rowen raven: Uh, I'm not acutally sure of what you meant to say with the comment 0.0" Sorry!

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Ao no Exorcist or its characters!

Blood, blood everywhere . The ground was slippery under his feet and he continued to stumble on the stones. But was it his own crimson liquid that dirtied the ground? Impossible, there was too much, he couldn't have even stood up if he had lost so much blood, he knew it. He was running, fear and anxiety that burdened his chest, but the determination kept them at bay, chaining them in a tight grip. He was running straight toward the source of all that red, straight towards the horror. He would have looked at it again, he had to do it, he had no choice. Fighting, attacking, defending. Resisting. Going back alive. At any cost.

The pools of blood were becoming more frequent. A stab in the stomach. He was well aware of whose the blood was. His companions, few, many, some, perhaps all. He had seen their faces just in that morning. Nervous faces, some of them a little pale, but still serious, determined, alive. Just as he was now, he noted with bitter irony. But he had to do it, he had a mission, he could not just escape. He knew what he was getting into when he agreed to take the job. And anyway , even if he had refused, he wouldn't have been able to avoid the inevitable for long. It was his fate.

The blood seemed to become gradually more slippery as he approached his destination, as if it was trying to persuade him to desist. But he couldn't give up, even if in that moment he wished he was somewhere else. He shook his head. In the end he had come there to protect the place where he wanted to be, only for it he had thrown himself into the arms of what could be his tomb. He hit rock a little more prominent and he found himself on the ground. Actually part of the blood was his, but it was nothing that he could not handle. He got up quickly, though not without difficulty. No more thoughts about death. He would go back. He had promised.

The end of the path. And there they were, he would have recognized their reflections even while expiring his last breath. Those damned blue flames, everywhere. Back, left, right, up, down. He was wrapped in a ball made of fire. His hands tightened on the cold metal. It was time to see whose would be the blood that would have extinguished them…

Rin awoke with a start, the sound of a gunfire erupting in his ears. He was breathing hard and felt the panic and the adrenaline running through his veins, while the remains of the nightmare fled away from his memory in confused and blurred flashes. What the hell had happened? He looked around for a possible source of the noise he had heard, but in the room everything was quiet. The sun seeped through the window, the light weakened by that blanket of white clouds that covered the sky and that heralded another snowfall, specifically made for Christmas Day. Nothing out of normal. Yet he would have sworn that what he heard was really a gunshot. Was it part of the dream that he was having as well?

He pushed the covers away, more troubled than ever, and took his head in his hands. He didn't like all those oddities at all. Apparently the forebodings weren't enough, now he also had to deal with nightmares without sense that, among other things, he couldn't completely recall. Something told him that if he had had an idea of what he had dreamed he could have understood what was happening to him. But it seemed that fate had it in for him and enjoyed tormenting him. He snorted looking around and saw Kuro curled up on his desk, still asleep. Better that way, he told himself, at least this time he wouldn't have worried his friend.

His eyes fell on the glass of the window. It was really early morning. 'Well, going back to sleep is not an option. I couldn't do it anyway, and even if I could I have no intention to risk to have another damn dream like that one' he thought getting up to go take a shower . 'I guess I'll try to fill the time I earned in a constructive way. I could start choosing the menu for tonight party…' . And he added with a bit of sarcasm: 'Unless some other incident light on me of course!'

Luckily for him no unexpected news followed the bad awakening for the rest of the day. Indeed, after he had reached his friends at the place chosen for the party, time passed quickly among the preparations and the many discussions that broke out, some due to the haste, others to the general agitation. There were some incidents, but they were nothing irreparable. Falling decorations, objects lost in the confusion, some broken dish, a frying pan forgotten on the stove. Izumo enraged every time something wrong happened, scolding the poor unfortunate for his carelessness or stupidity, while Shiemi did nothing but apologize to everyone, at times even for no reason. Bon was very busy arguing with Shima over and over again for one reason or another, and hushing Konekomaru who often began to sing out aloud without notice. Rin was carried away by the general frenzy, too dazed to do anything but the various tasks he was entrusted with, getting him his own dose of blames without complaint. After all that chaos prevented him from even thinking, fact that in those days could only make him happy. The only time he had had to force himself out of that his state of automatism was when one of his companions, he couldn't recall who was, had knocked over the vegetables that he had just finished slicing with so much care, but his only reaction was growling at him some insults and the order to instantly fix the mess he had done.

Yet, in spite all, when they were finally finished with the preparations in the late afternoon, the whole group had to admit that it was worth the troubles and the fatigue. The hall was glowing shone with the colours of the light bulbs and the flames of scented candles that gathered on the big tree, among red ribbons, gold stars and silver bands. The decked tables proudly showed their variety of foods neatly arranged and decorated in an original and lively way, while from the walls and ceiling hung garlands of mistletoe and hawthorn intertwined coloured ribbons. In the space that wasn't occupied by the dance floor smaller tables had been set to allow their guests to dine and chat while seated. It would have been a truly memorable party, that was the thought written on the happy smiles the six exchanged admiring the fruits of their labour.

And the evening was a real success. All of the guests made compliments and comments of approval for both the food and the organization of the whole party. Shima and Konekomaru gladly welcomed all those beautiful words and even Bon, while responding politely, in some cases showed to be very pleased. Izumo instead remained impassive while declaring that it was the least they could do as the organizers, while by her side Shiemi blushed stating that it was nothing that special. Rin, for its part, tried to avoid the congratulations without succeeding and had to bear numerous digs by Shura before the woman decided that she was done tormenting him. Then the party began to proceed by itself and the discussions touched to other topics, thus freeing the group from the embarrassment of answering.

At some point the half-demon saw Mephisto hanging around in the crowd and chatting with almost all those who had the misfortune to bump into him. The boy raised an eyebrow, but he wasn't too surprised: the madman was always around, even when no one needed his presence. How could it be possible that he never had anything to keep him busy? Rin was tired of having the demon around. The headmaster turned, feeling observed, and their eyes met, but the boy decided to ignore it and turned away. The last thing he wanted was to talk to that weirdo after he had stunned him with his talkativeness two nights before, preventing him from discovering where his brother had gone. He had no intention of allowing the demon to ruin his evening, not now that he was starting to enjoy it a bit, finally being able to remove his dark thoughts.

Luckily for him Mephisto didn't stay long and less than an hour later he was gone. The boy cheered up at his lucky escape and decided to have a drink to celebrate it. He leaned against the edge of one of the tables, slowly sipping his cocktail and moving his gaze through the crowd, looking for his companions. He spotted quickly enough the two girls sitting at a table near the tree, busy chatting with Shura, while it took him several minutes to find the boys. At the end he saw Konekomaru with other students from their school that he knew only by sight, engaged in a competition of some sort. Bon and Shima were in a corner, apart from the guest, resting side by side against the wall. The pink-haired boy was talking cheerfully with one arm on the shoulder of his childhood friend, who instead was looking at his speaker quite upset, even if Rin couldn't tell if it was because of their location or what Shima was saying. Apparently, after having stressed the whole group to get his dance floor , Shima hadn't even bothered to use it since he seemed to have no intention to leave his classmate, the half-demon observed with an amused grin, even if he felt a little sorry for Bon. At that very moment the pink -haired boy pulled away from the his friend, leaning over to whisper something in his ear with a mischievous smile, and then hurried to point the tables, heading in that direction without waiting for a response. Ryuji waved a bit annoyed and looked up at the ceiling.

"Hey, Rin!" Shima called cheerful as he reached the tables, noticing his classmate. "How are things going to you?"

"Great. It's really a show, we did an amazing job! Not that I had doubts about it!" Rin answered smiling. "It's the best party I've ever seen."

"True, it turned out really well. People are having fun, I can see it. Izumo with her despotic attitude made us do our best! By the way, the food is fantastic. Congratulations to our official chef!" his friend agreed enthusiastically. "I am more than satisfied. But why are you here all alone? Why don't you join me and Ryuji? I was just about to bring him something to drink, who knows, maybe he will softens a bit! He doesn't let go even on an occasion like this one."

"Come on, don't exaggerate. I just tried to give my best. As for Bon, you know him much better than me, and you know how he is. He wants to maintain a certain image of himself" the half-demon laughed. "Thanks, anyway, but I was thinking about going to join Shiemi and Izumo. I haven't had the opportunity to thank them for the help they have given me in the kitchen yet."

"You go with the girls, huh, Rin? That's the right thing!" pink -haired boy said, patting him on the shoulder in a sign of approval. "That's what I should be doing myself, but instead I'm stuck in a corner with Bon! I'm not really honouring my reputation at the moment…But still, you also have to make sacrifices at times! After all even that big-head is not bad as a company, even I would be more pleased if he accepted to come and dance…". He sighed. "So please, make some good conquest for me as well!"

" Shima , what the heck?! It's not what you think!" he protested, blushing slightly. "You idiot."

"Come on, don't lie to me! Not if we are talking about two beautiful young ladies such as them. Well I should say three, counting Shura. Who would not include her in his goals? Sure, maybe she's a bit too old for you, but, trust me, mature women are often the best! So don't tell me that you just want to talk to them innocently! I don't believe it. Especially with Shiemi…". Shima gave him worrisome grin, starting to fill a glass. "I know how these things work! And, come on, it is a party, Rin! You must to let loose a bit!"

"Yeah, yeah, great. Think whatever you want…By the way, I have something to ask you since you state to be so experienced in that area…" Rin muttered, hurrying to change the subject. "In your opinion, if a person kisses you what can it mean?"

"It depends on how she kisses you" the other answered stressing the adverb.

He blushed, more embarrassed than ever. "Er, well, you know…on the mouth" he stammered uneasily. "But nothing extremely…elaborated…I mean, just a peck!"

"What idiotic questions are you asking? It obvious! It's because she likes you, Rin. How much exactly I can't tell, it depends on the passion that she put in the kiss, but at least she has a nice crush on you. If you want to get serious, you always try to make the first kiss more feeling than act. It's the best way to express what you really felt in a way better than with words. Come on, you can't be so naive and not understand that!" the pink -haired boy teased. Then he leaned toward him. "So, tell me…Who is the brave damsel?"

"No-one!" Rin cried with far too much of a hurry . He pushed his friend, looking away. "The reason of the kiss cannot be that, there must be another one. This is serious, Shima" he went on, lowering his voice, uncomfortable. "This…this person would never, ever had done such a thing. Yet they did. But it cannot be because they feels something for me, simply because they cannot feel that way! But I can't understand how such a thing could have happened."

Shima looked at him intently for a moment, the smile vanished from his face. "You can't say that this person did not mean it, Rin! You can never know what goes on inside people's head" he stated seriously after a moment of silence. "I honestly don't know what else could be associate with a gesture like that if not a feeling of love. If it was a kiss on the cheek it could be many other things, but I doubt you would you have even raised the issue in that case. So I keep my opinion. And ,if you want me to tell you what I really think, well, you're so much disturbed because they know I'm right but you don't want to admit it. Besides, if the person who kissed you really should have never done it, the what they feel for you is not something common. If they have had the courage to do it despite all the risks it mean that they must really love you."

"But…But…No, it can't be!" the half-demon exclaimed, shaking his head stubbornly. "Come on, there must be another reason! If it is not…it is too…wrong."

"Rin, can you tell me who this person was to make you upset? Calm down, maybe it's not so terrible as you see it!" the other insisted. "What, was he a guy? Come on, it's not exactly what one would expect, but it is not the end of the world! And then…"

"No, no, Shima, you can't understand. I never asked, just forget it!"

"But…"

"I said leave it alone!". Rin realized that he had almost screamed the last sentence and quickly lowered his eyes, troubled. After all Shima was just trying to help him, he knew it, but couldn't tell him that the person who had kissed him was his twin. And it wasn't just to protect himself, he also didn't want to cause troubles Yukio. "Shima, listen…" he spoke again, more calmly looking for an excuse to end the conversation in a peaceful manner, but he was interrupted by the ringing of his phone. He hurried to take it out, mentally thanking whoever was calling for saving him from that damn conversation. "Okumura Rin speaking."

"Rin?". Mephisto's voice reached him from the other side of the line, with a serious and almost severe tone that didn't suit it at all. "Sorry to bother you, but you should come immediately. It's a quite urgent matter."

The boy felt shivers of anxiety run down his spine. "Has…Has something happened?" he managed to ask in a faint voice, hoping not to hear the answer he expected.

"Your brother has returned from his mission. It seems that there had been some…complications. But I'll explain better in person. Join me at the hospital" the demon said trying to sound reassuring, but it was clear that he was also in a hurry.

Rin froze. Hospital?! Complications?! No, no, no! "Mephisto, no tricks. What the fuck…" he began, ready to pour out on his interlocutor the desperation that had begun to burdened his breath.

"Not on the phone, Rin. Trust me, I do it for your good. And I've never been more serious. I need to talk in person. Come here. Now." And communication was abruptly cut off.

The half-demon stood completely still for a moment, his ear pressed on the phone, trying to process the new information, but it all seemed to lead to only one thought: run to the hospital and see Yukio.

"Rin , are you okay?" Shima asked noticing his agitation. "Who was it?"

"I'm sorry, but I have no time now. I'll explain another time, it's an emergency" he said quickly shoving the phone back in his pocket. "I must go, tell you to others!". And without waiting for an answer he turned and ran away, leaving his friend dumbfounded with his mouth open in an attempt to argue. His heart was pounding loudly and he could hear the blood running in his ers. It would have been infinitely better having to keep on that uncomfortable conversation with Shima rather than being saved by the damn phone call.