Chapter 19

Shiemi walked into car 4 of the Kyoto-bound train. She knew that all of the exwires would be going to Kyoto to aid the doctor class exorcists in providing treatment for the sick and wounded, but the thought might not have been completely understood. All exwires meant all exwires, including Rin who is still, for now, an exwire.

Shiemi was shocked to see him sitting near the front of the car.

"Shiemi, did you get vaccinated?" Shura asked, appearing behind her.

"Vaccinated?"

"Demons that possess fungi may have infested our destination. They're vaccinating the exwires in car 3."

"Oh, okay..."

"Shiemi! Good morning!" Rin called from his seat.

She couldn't speak. She didn't know what to do. Shiemi stood there silently for a few seconds before turning to walk back into car 3 to get vaccinated. She bumped into the Kyoto trio at the door and said her good mornings.

"Hey guys! It's good to see you this morning!" Rin called to the three guys making their way into the car.

The three just walked by, with Konekomaru ducking his head as he walked by, and Shima poking him to tell him to stop being so obvious. The three took the seats behind Rin, and Konekomaru began talking about how Rin could go wild at any time and hurt them all.

Rin stared towards the floor with a sad look in his eyes.

Why are they acting like I'm a wild beast? I mean, I guess Bon and Shima aren't really saying anything, but they aren't stopping it either. And Bon wants me to trust him, yeah right. I guess it makes sense though, it's a pretty natural reaction. I am a demon after all. I'm just so horrible that Shiemi can't even look me in the eyes anymore. She can't bring herself to even say "hello" or "good morning" when I greet her. Have I really sunk that low? Am I really that awful? I was just trying to be nice, but I guess when you're a demon like I am, it doesn't really matter what you try to do. Whatever you tried to do is replaced with what you are. As a demon, I am less than scum, I am a horrid creature, and I can't afford to be trusted, or even acknowledged kindly.

THUNK!

Izumo is sitting next to me? I can't help but stare at her.

"What?" she asked

"Oh, it's just-"

"Is everyone here? We're leaving now." Shura called, "I am the one forced to lead this group. My name is Shura Kirigakure. The exorcist Saburota Todo has stolen the left eye of the Impure King and has already attempted to get the right eye from a temple in Kyoto. His accomplices, their names and their numbers, are unknown. Many people were injured and/or fell ill during his first attempt to get the right eye. The mission that you exwires are given is to assist the doctor class exorcists in treatment of the wounded, and running errands to help keep the temple operational whilst we are in Kyoto. Now, I want everyone to work together. Make this easy for me..." Shura trailed off at the end, and proceeded to fall asleep in her seat. That was a fairly short briefing. I thought they'd be longer than that...

So why is Izumo sitting next to me?

"Aren't you scared of me?" I asked.

"Ha! Of you? No. Maybe you don't know, but there are tons of people with demon blood, and many are exorcists. It's common knowledge. And I thought I proved to you a week ago that I was fine with you."

"I guess you did... but really? There are lots of other exorcists with demon's blood?"

"The only problem is that you're Satan's child. You just need to prove yourself, so don't flip out like an idiot over every little thing and you'll be fine."

Of course it's because I'm Satan's child. Being a demon is fine, just not Satan. That makes me feel so much better about this. Well, at least Izumo's trying to be nice to me...

"Really, you think so?" I smiled, "Thanks Izumo."

"Right. Just don't chicken out when it counts. I hate cowards like that."

Oh crap. Now Bon's gonna start another fight. They're shouting at each other and I'm right in the middle again. Maybe it's okay this way? They can take they're anger out and the one most likely to get hurt is me. Since I'm a demon anyways, it shouldn't matter. I'm just in the way, but if I can be used for something, then I might as well do it. Even if it's something like being in the way while two people who both try to tell me that I can be their friend are fighting. Even if it hurts me.

In the end, I guess that's the only real consequence. And hurting me is fine. It's normal, it's routine, and even if it's not in the form I prefer, I still feel comforted by it. I know how to deal with being hurt, no matter how much I hate it.

And now we've all got Bariyon demons on our laps. Why did those two have to wake up Shura with their yelling? This is just like before and they still haven't learned. I want to sigh, but I realize that that would be hypocritical. People don't just change because you want them to or because you feel that they're repeating some mistake that you believe they are smart enough to avoid. I don't want to be a hypocrite. What they're doing now is kind of analagous to the mess I got myself into with Yukio. I really hope that he's okay...

"If he acts up, our lives are in danger!" Konekomaru shouted. So it's back to me again? I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

No! Konekomaru's Bariyon just jumped on to Shiemi's back! I've learned how to control my flames now! I can just blast it off and then they can trust me! I'll save her!

I sent the flames around both of them. I can feel the Bariyon burning up. I'm doing it! I'm burning it, but Shiemi's still fine! She isn't screaming, so it's okay. A hand grabs my shoulder and I'm startled out of my thoughts. My flames disappear in an instant.

"Stop it! What do you think you're doing?" Bon shouted at me.

"I was doing fine! You just gotta trust me!"

"Like hell! Whaddya call all this?" Bon spread his arms, gesturing for me to look around. I see the train seats burning. Shit. I fucked up.

"Don't overreact! Rin didn't..." I stopped listening to what Shiemi was saying. I fucked it all up, so what does it matter anymore. Izumo's putting out the fire with some demon wine that she summoned, and I just get to stand here and feel like crap.

These are the same pants I was wearing yesterday, right? I feel my pocket. Yeah, these are the same pants. I can just forget all of these shitty feelings shortly.

"I think I've gotta go..." I said as I walked towards the end of the car with the toilet.

The Bariyon's started jumping, and Shura came out of nowhere and smashed them with her sword. Her hand clamped my shoulder a bit too tightly.

"You are not going where I think yer going. Got it?" Shura whispered in my ear.

"Just the toilet." I whispered back.

"Bullshit. You are staying here if I have any say in the matter."

"You lot're a rotten bunch, ya know that? Ya can't even handle a pipsqueak like this! Learn to work together or yer all gonna get yerselves killed in the field. We're gonna be there soon so just sit tight. No more fighting, and think about how yer gonna handle yerselves when we get there. If you can't be a team in a safe setting like this, how can we expect ya to do anything different when we're in a life or death situation?" Shura scolded us. We deserve it all. And I wish I could sneak off to the toilet to use the new friends that I have hidden in my pocket. I guess it's not so great to have people know your secret bad habits after all.

Tracking down Todo hasn't been going so well for Yukio. While he is assigned to watch the exwires, that is not until after they arrive in Kyoto. Until then, he is with the team that is tracking Todo with one of Shura's snake familiars.

They had managed to track down the van that Todo had been travelling in, but the only thing to be found in that vehicle was an excess of the miasma and fungus that results from contamination by the Impure King. After all of that time the group had spent tracking, following, and searching, the efforts were worthless. He had failed to accomplish the mission, and now he has to go back, report it, then deal with the never-ending problems that are the exwires. Today is just a bad day.

But maybe he could make it right? He could still do the tests that he needs to do today, to keep up with his research. And maybe this whole chase wasn't a waste of time after all. Being in a team of three members for the tracking means that one person sits behind the other two while they drive back. So long as he is quiet and careful, he figured that he could get away with experimenting literally behind their backs.

So long as he sits in the back seat, of course.

And this opportunity could provide an insight into his research. He can attempt the experiment in a less controlled setting with a significantly higher stress level, as well as other reasons for feeling upset at the moment. A hunter is never satisfied when his prey escapes. Yukio is never happy to fail a mission. This small experiment in the back of the car is just an exercise in what happens when such a task it attempted in anticipation of events to come, which are extremely unfavourable to the person involved. Instead of attempting this in after the events, he can attempt this beforehand. There might be a difference. After all, one of the worst parts of giving failure reports is not the fact that it is a failure, it is the anticipation of having to tell superiors that you have failed.

Time to test this out. "We've found nothing here. It's a dead lead. We should probably head back to the inn and the temple so regroup and discuss further plans, as well as report our findings." Yukio stated to the other two members of his team.

They agreed and the group was quickly on their way.

Almost smiling, Yukio sat in the back as his teammate started the car and they headed back. He carefully and quietly lifted the short blade out of the pocket that he had hidden it in. He didn't really know why he had decided to put it in his pocket. Maybe because he felt safer with it on his person? Nonsense when he has two pistols. He decided that it was probably likely that he just didn't want anyone else to have the chance of finding it with his belongings. No one has a valid reason to search his person, after all.

With the small blade poised in between his fingertips, Yukio traced a thin line that went halfway around the outside of his arm, almost looking like a bracelet or tattoo. Blood welled up slowly in the wound, and Yukio felt a little bit of the pressure in his chest lift. It rose slowly until he felt that breathing was easier than it ever had been before.

Slipping the blade back into his pocket and rolling down his sleeve, Yukio breathed in deeply and let it out.

Even if it didn't make sense, he felt a little better. His teammates didn't think twice about the sigh-like breath coming from the member behind them.

Just releasing like that, it was easy. Did he really think releasing? Why? Where did the thought come from? How could that be explained?