You know, my favorite part of a poptart are the edges. They're so much better than the middle. So anyway, here's the next chapter. I know, I said it's prewritten, and that would usually mean that it shouldn't take this long to get a chapter out, but I was lazy. I need a lot of motivation to sit down and type for a couple hours.
It's pretty fluffy at first. But then… well, you'll see. I was gonna put more detail into the classroom scene at first, but I just couldn't think of anything funny enough that would make Yukio laugh… So you'll just have to use your imagination. I figured it'd be better than having something totally lame and stupid that seemed forced…
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Except- Oh, wait, don't own that either. Damn.
Falsely simple answers to surprisingly difficult questions
The clock chimed, signaling for class to start. Yukio took his place in front of the class, and began to teach. He noticed that his brother sat in the front row today; Shiemi wasn't there, so he had no one to sit next to. Izumo was absent too. Yukio found it a little odd that Rin sat up front in the desk that was closest to his, but didn't say anything.
He read aloud to the class from a textbook, walking around the classroom a little every now and then. When he ended up back in front of his desk and looked up, he immediately regretted it. Rin's desk was in front of his, and let's just say even though he looked completely normal, what he was thinking was NOT. Yukio frowned at his twin, but kept on reading. Then when he stumbled upon that word again, Rin did THAT again, and he glared at him. Rin didn't seem to be bothered; he just stayed with his cheek resting in his palm, in a thinking pose. Yukio sighed, and tried to concentrate on teaching.
Yukio went to the board and began to draw a diagram, but as soon as he grabbed the chalk, Rin did it again. This time, Yukio couldn't help his lips quirking upward, just a little bit. Rin knew this, and did IT once more. Yukio tried to force the smile away, but his lips curved up even more. He continued drawing, glad his back was to the class, but when Rin did it again, a smile snuck its way onto his face. He found himself trying to hold back laughter, and he was even more grateful the class couldn't see it.
I'm going to kill him! But still, he couldn't make the snicker that escaped his curved lips go away. I won't laugh. I won't laugh. I refuse to laugh!
Seeing Yukio snicker gave Rin confidence. He did it again, but his expression didn't change. He didn't want to betray what he was thinking. This was too much fun. And in order for it to work, he'd have to keep concentrating really hard.
Yukio stopped drawing and covered his mouth. He would NOT laugh. He took a deep breath. Rin smirked. Just one more little push…
The last image did it. Yukio burst out laughing. He laughed so hard. He dropped the chalk. He laughed so hard he held his stomach. He laughed so hard tears formed in the corners of his eyes and threatened to fall if he didn't hold them back.
Rin smirked. His plan was a success. He chuckled himself. All the other students in the class stared at their sensei, their jaws all but on the floor. What the hell? They all thought. Had their sensei gone crazy? The normally stoic and stiff and (sometimes falsely) polite Okumura Yukio was laughing! Out of nowhere, for no apparent reason!
"O-Okumura-sensei?" Suguro asked, confused.
"Are you okay? What's going on?" Shima sounded just as confused as Suguro. But Yukio was still trying to stop laughing, unsuccessfully, and now Rin was laughing too. Everyone looked at Rin now. What the hell was wrong with the two Okumura's?
"Hey, do you hear what I hear?" Suguro turned to Shima and Konekomaru. When they only shot him confused glances, he sighed. It was SO obvious to him. "Okumura-sensei and Okumura sound exactly the same when they laugh like that." He exclaimed.
Konekomaru and Shima listened. "Whoa, you're right! It sounds like only one person's laughing! That's so weird." Konekomaru commented.
Finally, after a few more minutes of laughing, chuckling, and wiping of tears in the corner of their eyes, Rin and Yukio calmed down. When Yukio was finally able to catch his breath, he turned and glared at his older brother. "Nii-san! That wasn't funny! Don't ever do that again! There's only a few minutes of class left and I didn't get through everything I needed to!"
Rin smirked. "I'm pretty sure by the way you were rolling on the floor with laughter just now that it was pretty funny. And it's not my fault you lost control."
"Yes it is! You know it's easier for you to do that than me. And you know…"
"Oh, come on, you needed a good laugh!"
"Just don't do it ever again!"
"Okay, what the heck's going on? What did Okumura do?" Suguro stepped up and asked the question that was on everyone's mind.
"Oh, nothing that concerns you. I'm sorry for… being distracted." Yukio glared pointedly at his twin. Rin whistled nonchalantly. He was innocent in his own mind.
"Come on sensei, what happened? Tell us!" Shima stepped next to Suguro excitedly.
"Really, it was nothing." Bon narrowed his eyes. He HATED when people kept things from him. And right now, he could tell that their sensei was definitely hiding something.
"We have a right to know why our teacher couldn't teach us." He smirked because he knew he was right, and that Yukio had no choice but to take the bait.
Yukio sighed. He knew Suguro would never let this go. "Alright, if you must know… Okumura and I, being twins, can communicate telepathically, if you will. Basically, if we concentrate hard enough, we can share thoughts, images, or feelings with each other."
"THAT'S SO COOL!" Shima shouted. "I've never met twins before! So, what was Rin doing? Was it something naughty?"
"I was just showing Yukio something really funny." Rin said as he bounced over to the group.
"What was it, what was it?" Shima asked, even more excited than before at the prospect of something hilarious, or some dirt on the Okumura's.
"Ha ha, nothing you need to know. It was an inside joke anyway."
"Hey, can you guys do anything else? Like, know if the other twin's in trouble?" Suguro asked, curious.
"Yup!" Rin smiled. He was happy that his friends were actually talking to him normally for once. It was the first time in a while that they weren't trying to defend themselves from him. So he'd talk about whatever they wanted to talk about.
"What about if the other gets hurt, the other twin feels it?"
"Yes, usually." Yukio nodded as Rin moved next to him. That was one of the reasons he hated it when Rin used to get into fights: he felt the hits that Rin took too. Sure, they were dulled and not as bad as if he had actually been the one being hit, but it still hurt a little and was REALLY annoying when you were trying to do homework and your face kept throbbing from a non-existent punch.
"Oh, can you guys finish each other sentences?"
"Yes-" "-We can."
"Cool! Do it again!" Shima laughed.
"Umm, we're not-" "-sure what you-" "-want us-" "-to say."
"That's freaky! I know, can you guys talk at the same time? Like, as one person?"
"Of course we can." They said together.
"What else can you guys do" Konekomaru asked, also curious.
"Well, we have-" "-our own language."
"Oooh! Show me!" Suguro rolled his eyes at Shima's excitement, but was secretly interested in it too.
"Mo za tokun moska nagats?" "Shotsa don." ("Why do you think they're so interested in us being twins all of a sudden?") ("I have no idea.")
"Man, that's insane! You guys are like, totally in sync! I didn't know that stuff was actually possible!" Shima exclaimed, eyes wide.
In all actuality, there was no secret language the Okumura twins had created. It was just total gibberish. They were really just reading each other's thoughts by looking into each other's eyes or listening closely to the inflection in their voice. Occasionally it was like speaking telepathically thought, if both of them were concentrating hard enough.
"You guys should do it more often. Why don't you?" Shima asked.
"Cuz Yukio's embarrassed!" Rin laughed and patted his twin on the back, who rolled his eyes.
"You know it's mainly because it started freaking people out after a while. They said it was creepy; that we were too close for siblings, or even twins. They said it was too weird, and told us not to do it anymore."
"Really, that's hard to believe. I can't imagine you guys being like that now." Suguro chimed in.
"Yeah, we couldn't be separated when we were younger. We wouldn't let anyone take us away from the other." Rin said, chuckling a little at the memories it brought back.
"Don't say that, nii-san. It sounds weird…" Yukio frowned.
"But it's true! Remember how you used to cry every day when we went to separate classes in kindergarten? And how you had that total freak-out when dad tried to put us in separate rooms in first grade?" Rin laughed.
Yuko glared back and pushed his glasses up higher. "Yes, and do you remember calling me almost in tears when I went on my first class trip because you missed me so much?"
"Do YOU remember sneaking into my bed almost every night while we were kids?" Rin shot back, blushing a little.
Yukio's cheeks were a little pinker as well. "Do YOU remember me finding you half in tears after you found out I'd be going to True Cross and moving to the doors." Yukio replied, smirking.
Rin blushed harder. "I was not! And do you remember saying 'I'm so glad! Now we won't have to be apart, Nii-san' after finding out I'd be going here too?"
The trio watched the twins banter back and forth. They were being completely ignored now and no longer in the conversation, but it was still entertaining as hell. The three of them snickered at the embarrassing comments one twin made about the other.
"Do YOU remember saying a few weeks ago 'Yukio! Don't go on any more overnight missions! It's too much trouble trying to sleep without you'"
Rin's whole face grew red. "Hey! You haven't taken any since then, so must agree!" Yukio's cheeks grew a little more pink, which was all the proof Rin needed. "And how about just last month when it was raining and you had a nightmare because of the thunder? You woke up screaming 'Nii-san!' and reached out for me like a little kid!"
Yukio glared to try and hide his embarrassment, but he felt his cheeks get hot. "Oh yeah? Remember how just last night you had a nightmare about-"
"DON'T SAY IT!" Rin yelled, his face red.
"C-" Rin clamped his hand down on Yukio's mouth just in time to stop him from finishing that word. They glared at each other for several seconds, until they seemingly came to an understanding. Rin removed his hand and Yukio coughed, just now remembering that they still weren't alone in the classroom.
"I apologize for all this… So as you can see, we really are twins." Yukio said.
"Man, you guys can do everything!" Shima laughed again.
"Pretty much. We've never met another pair of twins that could do the things we could do." The Okumura twins said together.
"You guys are a lot closer than we thought you were." Konekomaru smiled. It was nice to their teacher, who was actually the same age as his students, act like a teenager for once. It humanized him.
"You're not that different after all, huh?" Bon nodded, agreeing with Konekomaru.
The twins shrugged simultaneously. It was true, they supposed. In class Yukio tried to be impartial and treat Rin like any other student, and that was the only time the trio had seen the twins interact, for the most part. Although Yukio did his best to not treat Rin differently, he was more harsh with him, and wasn't afraid to call him an idiot when he got the answer wrong to a simple question. This was the first time they had seen the Okumura's act like… brothers. Twins, for that matter. It was quite an eye-opening experience for the three of them. Maybe they weren't total opposites, they thought.
Rin leaned against Yukio slightly, as he grew a little uncomfortable with the stares at aimed at him and Yukio. Yukio immediately moved his body to accommodate Rin's, as he had countless times before. It was something they did unconsciously, with no thought to the action.
The clock chimed, and class was officially done. Yukio sighed, thinking I've failed as a teacher. He felt Rin's hand on his shoulder, patting it comfortingly, saying No you didn't. It's okay. Yukio smiled at Rin, before he remembered, HE was the cause of all this in the first place.
The trio didn't fail to see all this, and smiled to themselves. They gathered their things and said bye to the Okumura's. Before walking out the door, Shima turned around and said "You know, if you guys did things like that more often, I' d probably pay more attention in class!" Rin laughed and Yuko sighed, unsure of exactly how to take that.
Rin waited while Yukio got everything he needed, so they could go home together. He could just use a key and go home alone, but he was feeling a little nostalgic after having all those memories brought back up.
Yukio seemed a little surprised that Rin had waited for him, but shrugged. He guessed it was that his twin was lost in old memories, and he was right. To be honest, he was too. "Ready to go, Nii-san?"
"Of course! I was the one waiting for YOU!" Rin jumped off the desk he had been sitting on top of, and followed Yukio out the door.
"… Clowns." Yukio finally finished his sentence from before as they walked.
"STUPID FOUR EYES!"
"Nii-san, I have a mission I'm leaving for tomorrow." Yukio said as he walked through the door of his dorm room. Rin's face fell slightly from the textbook he had opened. Contrary to popular belief, he did study. Sometimes. Okay, it was only recently that he has started making any effort whatsoever.
Yukio, of course, noticed. "Don't worry, you're coming with me. I can't leave you alone for that long."
"I- I'm not worried! What are you talking about?" Rin yelled from his desk.
"Tomorrow morning we leave to go on a mission in Hokkaido. The Vatican doesn't want me leaving you alone for that long, so as your official care-taker, you're coming along with me. Well, we're short on exorcists too. So a couple of other ex-wires from the class might come too." He saw Rin's grin that took up more than half his face and wanted to groan. Rin was excited. Nothing good ever came out of an excited Rin.
"Oh yeah! Now I can finally show off my skills!" Rin threw a fist in the air excitedly.
"Hmm? What skills?" Yukio smiled as he took off his exorcist coat. It was getting heavy.
"Shut up, four-eyed mole-face!" Rin shouted.
"Will you guys be quiet? I'm trying to sleep!" Kuro yelled from his spot on Rin's lap. Of course, only Rin heard this. To Yukio, Kuro just meowed loudly.
"What did he say?" Yukio asked, curious.
"He said to shut up; he's trying to take a nap. So shut it, Yukio, you're annoying him." Rin translated, adding his own bit at the end.
Yukio rolled his eyes. True, he couldn't understand Kuro. The cat was attached to his brother like glue. But even he knew that Rin had paraphrased.
A thought occurred to Kuro, and he opened his eyes wide. "Wait, you're not going to get mad and leave again, are you, Rin? Don't leave, Rin!"
"Don't worry," Rin laughed.
Yukio turned around. He saw Kuro staring up at Rin, his little eyebrows scrunched up in worry. It was still a little odd to hear his brother talk to someone that wasn't there, or so it appeared. It startled him occasionally.
"I'll never leave, Kuro. I'll always be here."
The mission was simple: Destroy all demons in the area they were assigned to in Hokkaido without harming civilians, and minimal casualties of their forces. For an unknown reason, Hokkaido was being overrun by demons, and it was affecting normal people's lives. There would be other teams of exorcists assigned to other parts of Hokkaido, with the same mission.
Yukio was the leader of his team, which consisted of Rin, Suguro, and two other exorcists he had never met before. Kuro was coming with them, as he absolutely refused to be separated from Rin this time. Remembering what happened the last time Kuro went berserk, the Academy obliged, afraid of pissing Kuro off too much.
The amount of demons in Assiah had swelled to numbers never seen before. Exorcists were in high demand, but few in number. Thus the Pages were now going on missions with full-fledged exorcists if there was no other choice. As Hokkaido didn't have anything like True Cross Academy, they'd had no defense when the demons had first started arriving from Gehenna, and now they were completely overrun. Many had lost their lives. They had no choice but to rely on anyone True Cross could send.
So that was how Rin found himself in the middle of another damn forest, killing more damn demons. It gave him flashbacks of last time, and that really pissed him off. He slashed and hacked, but like last time, they were a seemingly endless supply. Also like last time, there wasn't much of a plan, and no reinforcements. They were the reinforcements; there were no more exorcists to spare at all.
Another thing that reminded Rin of his last mission was how the demons spoke to him in their raspy, rough, and downright creepy voices.
"Young Prince!"
"Why do you do this?"
"Let us go back to Gehenna, Young Prince!"
"Why do you rebel?"
"These humans should mean nothing to you!"
"It is not befitting a Prince to associate with humans; much less exorcists!"
"Why don't you kill these pathetic humans, my Young Prince?"
Their horrible voices created a cacophony of noise that invaded his brain. Like bees; their voices bounced around in his head, drowning out anything else. It was hard to think, they were so loud.
He didn't notice the two Dragoons, Maki and Toramaru, standing in front of Suguro, shooting any demons that drew near. Suguro chanted the death verses of as many demons as possible. He didn't notice Yukio a few yards away, shooting demons down with precision.
There was only the voices in his head, buzzing and bouncing around.
"Shut up!" Rin hissed as he stabbed a demon. He spun around and decapitated another one that was saying something like "My Prince, your father-" But it didn't finish.
"Shut up!" Rin yelled now. Those voices were driving him crazy. It was worse than ever before with his sword unsheathed. Go away! Make them go away!
Hearing that, Yukio risked a glance at his brother. Worried, he guessed that the demons were speaking. Of what, he could only guess. The demons were speaking the language of Gehenna, and only demons could understand it.
"Nii-san." Yukio said with concern as he fired his gun at another demon.
"I'm fine, I'm fine." Rin said casually as he killed one more demon and its blood splattered on him. He began the process of moving across the forest, cutting down demons in his path, so he could look for Suguro. He hadn't seen him since they got here, and was a little worried.
After a couple minutes, he spotted Suguro about five yards away, still chanting death verses. The only difference was one of the exorcists lay on the ground, dead. Both Suguro and the remaining exorcist, Maki, looked weary and defeated. Toramaru's death weighed heavily on their shoulders, it looked like.
Out of the corner of his eye, Rin saw something small and brown move. He quickly turned to see the same little boy from last time running straight at Suguro. Or something behind Suguro. Rin followed the child's gaze and saw a man with red hair in odd spikes, dressed all in weird red clothing. No, not man, Rin quickly realized, demon. A high-level demon, if it can possess someone. The red demon raised its arm, and it started to glow. With a small flash, a ball of what must be energy appeared in his hand. The demon rolled his arm back, like a pitcher, aiming it at Suguro and Maki.
He's gonna throw it. Rin didn't know what it was, but he knew it wasn't good. He willed all the energy in his legs to move faster. Run! Faster! I need to get there in time! RUN! I gotta stop it!
All of this happened in the span of about ten seconds, and by now the little boy was almost to the point where Suguro and Maki were, who still hadn't noticed the demon behind them. He seemed to be running towards the demon.
Please let me make it in time.
And he did make it in time, thank god. Just in time to take that ball of energy to his chest. Through his heart, to be exact. The red demon's arm ran straight through his chest, coming out through his back. As he was about to pull it out, thinking Rin was dead, Rin grabbed his arm tightly, stopping the demon's action.
Black spots were appearing in his vision, but he raised his sword anyway. He rammed it into the red demon's chest, in retaliation in the blink of an eye; the demon too stunned that Rin was actually alive to react. He concentrated all his power, every last little bit of it, all of his waning life force, and into that sword.
But he barely heard that demon's screams as it went up in blue flames. He barely heard a garbled "Bro-" and then a thud.
He barely felt himself fall to the ground when the red demon's hands suddenly disappeared from his chest as it was turned to ash from the blue flames.
He barely felt the ground beneath him becoming wet with blood, staining everything in sight.
He barely heard his brother's cries of "Nii-san! Nii-san!"
He didn't hear Suguro yelling "Okumura? What the-"
He didn't hear the little boy's screams of terror.
Everything just felt so… distant. It was all far away; in another time and place. The only thing he could see beside the blackness was blue. Blue flames. The only thing he could hear was his slowing heartbeat. The only thing he could feel with perfect clarity was his strength leaving him and an iciness replacing it in his veins.
Going… going… gone.
The black overtakes the blue, and that's all there is.
'Tsk tsk, my son. You let yourself be killed too easily.'
Huh? What's going on? Am I… dead? What… what was I just doing right now? I can't remember.
'Unfortunately, yes, you are. Pathetic, really. One of MY own sons being killed… But you haven't reached your full potential yet. I can help with that.'
The voice… inside Rin's head?... boomed loudly. Almost painfully.
'I can help you. If you'll let me. You need to take care of your little brother, right? You can't leave him all alone; you're all he has left. You need to protect him. Isn't that the job of the big brother?'
… What's in it for you, you old bastard?
'I'm helping myself by helping you. That's all. Besides, what kind of father would I be if I didn't help my precious son in his time of need? Now I'll ask but one more time: Do you want to live?
Typing this after just painting your nails probably isn't a good idea, especially while eating a poptart, but oh well. Oh yeah, before I forget, twins can't actually do that stuff. I just made most of it up. My justification is that because they're sons of Satan, their psychic connection is a lot stronger than normal humans. So their abilities are because they do technically have demon blood in them, and Satan's no less. That accounts for a lot.
How was it? Did it suck as much as I think it did? Either way, please review! I really want to know your thoughts. I'd really appreciate it and I'd love you forever! So please please please please review! I need motivation to type up the rest of the chapters! Gimme some motivation! I got half the amount of reviews for the last chapter than I did the first one… You guys really did spoil me that first time. Could you do it again, pretty please?
