Walk me through the Valley
Disclaimer: Characters and premise are the property of Kazue Kato. I'm just borrowing them for a little non-profit fun.
Chapter Two: Mentors
Saturday evening Konekomaru was doing homework in the old Dorm's first floor lobby when Bon came back from the shooting range. "That guy was worse than shopping with my mom," Bon declared. "I swear he had me fire every gun in his inventory at least a dozen times each. I told him upfront I wanted handgun and he still had me try six different rifles, what would I want with a rifle?"
"I think a sawed-off shotgun would go with your hair," Konekomaru remarked teasingly. "So did you settle on one?"
"Yeah, a Walther PPK," Bon said. "He gave me a shoulder holster to wear under my uniform jacket." He rolled his shoulders at the reminder, uncomfortable with the weight of the gun and the feel of the holster. "My aim was pretty abysmal, I'm going to have to practice more than I thought I would, especially if I'm going to be able to recite while I'm shooting."
While they talked Rin came in, he started to say something then stopped with a nervous twitch of his tail.
"What's up?" Bon asked.
Rin's grin was patently fake. "It's nothing… Just Mephisto told me the school chef is looking for an apprentice. He suggested I interview for the position Monday."
"Sounds like something you'd enjoy," Konekomaru said cautiously.
"Yeah, the cooking sure. Interviewing, not so much." Rin paced across the room. "I always screw up, one way or another." He laughed bitterly, "Right before I turned into a demon I got a job at a grocery because I could cook, then I screwed up and got fired the same day. Disappointed everyone as always. First time I saw a demon."
"Well, it would be something to do, something you enjoy doing, while you're waiting for the next school year to start," Konekomaru said with studied casualness. "If it works out, great. If not, you'll find something else to keep you busy. You know the interview is as much for you as them, if you don't like the guy don't take the job. So go to the interview and see if it's something you want to do."
"I suppose," Rin allowed. "Can't go any worse than my last job. I probably won't get it anyway; the cafeteria is like a five star restaurant."
"Rumor has it the chef here used to run some big fancy restaurant in Nagasaki, until he took a bet against Mephisto. But your food tastes just as good," Bon said stanchly. "You might not waste so much time making it look all fancy, but taste is more important anyway."
Rin smiled gratefully at him but after a moment his smile crumpled. "I wonder if he already knows about me being a demon," Rin worried, he started scratching at his wrist. "Maybe I'll check with Mephisto, so we don't have to waste time with him firing me later when he finds out… Assuming he hires me in the first place. Which he probably won't."
Konekomaru sighed, he walked across the room and pulled Rin's hand away from his wrist. "I heard the one assistant he's kept on so far is Mephisto's familiar, a stove spirit," he said. "I don't think he has a problem with demons."
"Oh, okay, that's good," Rin said. His tail drooped, pulling in close to his thigh despite the hope he tried to inject into his voice.
"What's this?" Rin asked when Nagatomo handed him a fancy looking letter Sunday afternoon while he was studying with Izumo for a makeup exam in Demon Classification.
"I spoke to our Bishop about you," Nagatomo explained as Rin opened and read the letter. "While he isn't an Exorcist himself he is aware of the True Cross Order and of the existence of demons and half-demons."
"It says he invites me back to church," Rin read in surprise. "And says I'm granted special dispensation to not take communion or do anything else that would hurt me. That the Bishop finds that while the rituals are important for remembering and recognizing our faith it's against God's will for me to do harm to myself."
"Are you going to go?" Izumo asked.
"I- I don't know," Rin said. He gave Nagatomo an apologetic look while he absently scratched at the back of his hand. "I- well, I sort of want to and I'm glad you and the Bishop think God 'd want me there, but…"
Rin thought about sitting with his legs pulled back to let other people shuffle past him to take Communion. They'd all be wondering why he was there if he wasn't Christian. Eventually they'd find out he'd been raised in a monastery, then they'd wonder what sin he'd committed that kept him from participating in Communion. Rin thought about walking up and taking Communion; he'd kept up with the Sacraments since his birth, he was regularly going to confession again; he had done nothing to prevent him from taking Communion. But because of who his father was if he did take Communion there was a good chance he'd die right there in the middle of the church.
Rin gave Nagaomo a sad smile, "But I don't think God want me there."
Monday morning as Rin sat at the breakfast table with the other exwires he kept fidgeted with his clothes, adjusting his shirt and jacket to better disguise the lumps where his tail was wrapped around his waist.
After watching him for several minutes Shiemi stood up and started smoothing his hair into a semblance of order.
"You look fine," Izumo told Rin while glaring daggers at the other girl. "Stop worrying."
"Maybe you shouldn't wear the school jacket," Nagatomo said, considering Rin's attire. "You still have your suit jacket don't you?"
Rin flinched. The last time he'd worn that suit had been at Father Fujimoto's funeral.
"The most important thing is that you're comfortable." Konekomaru interjected. "You'll make a better impression if you can relax and be yourself a bit. You're good at this, you just need to show him that."
"Relax? Yeah right." Rin's tail twitched nervously and he readjusted his shirt again. Then he undid Shiemi's efforts to smooth his hair, ruffling it up to better hide his ears.
"If he cares that you're a half-demon you don't want to work there anyway," Bon said frowning.
Rin took a deep breath. "Well, I'm going," he said. Several times on the walk from the dorm to the cafeteria Rin considered turning around and crawling back into bed rather than going through with the interview. But he'd told his friends he'd try so he kept going.
Standing in the doorway to the huge, gleamingly modern industrial kitchen Rin peered inside nervously wringing his hands while consciously willing his tail to not to react to his agitation. "Um, hi? Is anybody here?" Rin asked in a small voice. "I'm Okumura Rin, you're expecting me right?"
A man with cropped dark hair under a hairnet stepped from the pantry. "Okumura-san, well, let's see if you're any less worthless than the last dozen assistants Faust-san sent me," he declared. A scowling demon with large ears and short horns glared at Rin from his perch on the man's shoulder.
"O-okay," Rin stammered. "What do I do?"
The chef gestured to a counter on which a wide array of raw ingredients were laid out. "Impress me," he said.
Rin grinned and shed his jacket. "Ya got more of those hairnets?" he asked.
"You'll do," the chef announced several hours later when he'd finished evaluating Rin's efforts. "Call me Itamae, he's Ukobach. I expect you here at 5:30am every morning and you'll be done for the day when the lunch dishes are done."
"He hired me," Rin was whispering excitedly to Izumo as number of ranked Exorcists filed into the classroom.
Tsuzo grinned and waved at her younger brother, "Guess who gets to put you through your paces?" she asked.
Mephisto scowled at her and cleared his throat noisily. Tsuzo gave him an apologetic bow and surrendered the spotlight. Mephisto leaned on his umbrella. "Your schedules!" he declared producing the documents with a flourish. "As Ms. Shima indicated, she will be mentoring her brother as a Knight, so enough about her. This year, I shall be teaching Contract Negotiation to our two Tamer-Candidates and Okumura-kun. I will expect you in my office, Friday night for two hours after your regular classes end. Father Nagatomo will handle the rest of the Tamer training."
Nagatomo stepped forward, "Given your step-up in the dorm, I think we can conveniently work there. We'll be working both as a group and individually, but I'll go into more detail later."
Professor Adachi cleared his throat. "Aria-hopefuls, you will continue expanding your knowledge of scripture individually. The three of you will be taking advanced classification as a group as well as methods for quickly zeroing in on a particular demon's fatal verse."
"Wait a minute!" Shima protested. "I'm doing Knight training and Aria classes both? Who signed me up for that!" Tsuzo smiled evilly and Shima glared at her.
The door opened and Arthur Auguste Angel walked in with a sour expression on his face. "Okumura, I've been ordered to train you as a Knight," he announced without waiting to be introduced. "I will expect you in the gym on Mondays and Wednesdays at seven for training. If I don't arrive in fifteen minutes you may assume that I am occupied with more important matters. Come along, I intend to evaluate your starting skill level immediately."
Bon stood up along with Rin, adjusting his newly issued handgun as he did so. He was suddenly glad he'd taken Mephisto's advise to acquire it immediately. "Why are you coming?" Rin asked.
"You're going to be my Knight," Bon said with a shrug. "I should be familiar with your fighting style, especially now that I'm training as a Dragoon as well as an Aria."
When they reached the gym where Rin's Knight training was to be held Bon stopped in the door, blocking Angel's entry. He gave the Paladin a cold look. "If you try to hurt Rin again, I'll shoot you," he stated softly, not wanting Rin to overhear.
"As if you could," Angel replied haughtily. "But I have been ordered to train him. I'd never sink so low as to disobey orders… No matter how distasteful."
Rin had continued into the room and was examining a rack of blunted practice swords. "So we're using these?" he asked.
"Yes," Angel stated. "Having seen your 'swordsmanship' it's a wonder you haven't cut your own foot off yet." Rin ignored the unfortunate choice sayings, but Bon's expression darkened furiously at the reminder that Angel had, literally, cut Rin's foot off.
Angel might have missed the change in Bon's expression, but he didn't miss the way the teen's hand drifted toward his weapon. "Why do you care so much?" Angel asked, honestly confused. "He's just a demon, Satan's bastard in fact."
"He's Rin," Bon disagreed firmly. "He's one of my friends and absolutely nothing else matters."
Two hours later Rin dragged himself out of the gym looking thoroughly demoralized. Bon was grinding his teeth and glaring daggers at Angel's retreating back.
Konekomaru and Izumo loitered in the cafeteria as the lunch crowd thinned out. They were starting to worry about making it to their next class on time when Rin walked out of the kitchen. He grinned when he saw them.
"How was your first day?" Izumo asked.
"Itamae's a crazy perfectionist," Rin declared with animation. "He had me chopping vegetables all morning because I don't make the slices even enough in his opinion. He says it affects how evenly they cook, something about heat transfer… I was getting flashbacks to chemistry classes!" He exclaimed. He held up his fingers for Izumo to see a microscopic difference. "I think I'd need a ruler to tell the difference between the ones he likes and the ones he tosses! But it worked and he says I'll get so I cut everything totally even even when I'm going fast like I like." Rin was bouncing on his toes at that.
"While I was chopping everything hundreds of times over to get it right, Itamae explained about planning a menu and using ingredients to tie everything together so the meal has a theme. It was pretty cool." Rin continued. "Tomorrow, I'm beating eggs and practicing more chopping," Rin stuck his tongue out at that and made a rude sound, but even while he complained he could hardly keep the grin off his face.
Izumo tilted her head to the side. "So you liked it?" she interrupted Rin's babbling.
Rin paused for a moment, "Yeah," he said. "It was fun and Itamae really knows what he's doing."
Konekomaru sighed with relief. "That's great Rin," he said. "I was worried you wouldn't like it."
"Naw, it's great. I'm glad you guys stopped me from chickening out of interviewing," Rin replied then resumed babbling. "Itamae complains about losing the bet Mephisto and having to work in a high school cafeteria instead of that fancy place he used to run, but really he likes it. Doesn't have to mess with the business stuff anymore, he just cooks which was what he always liked best anyway. Did you know he studied at Le Cordon Bleu?"
"In France?" Konekomaru asked.
Rin shrugged uncertainly. "It's famous."
Konekomaru smiled. "Remember to read up on Demon Pharmaceuticals this afternoon. You've got a make-up test Friday," he said as he turned toward his next class.
Rin waved to him distractedly while he walked Izumo to her class and continued recounting his morning and what an amazing cook Chef Itamae was.
Wednesday Rin had his second lesson with Angel, as before Bon invited himself along. When they returned to the dorm, Rin was moving gingerly and Bon's teeth were in danger of chipping. "Lighten up, it's training," Rin was telling him as they walked in. "It's not like he used that creepy sword of his."
Bon ignored Rin and continued cursing Angel.
"You know I'm really glad Kurikara doesn't talk," Rin continued on a tangent. "Your sword having a crush on you? That's just wrong."
"He's using training as an excuse to hit you," Bon exclaimed angrily. "You need a real teacher not that asshole."
"Well, when I get better he won't be able to hit me," Rin reasoned. "I just need to work harder."
"That's not how it's supposed to work," Bon said. "Talk to Shima, ask him what his sister does in their training sessions. He should be done by now."
"It's not important," Rin waved off Bon's concern with a look of embarrassment on his face. Still when he saw Shima heading for the restroom, dripping with sweat he decided he needed to clean up for bed as well.
"Hard training session?" Rin asked Shima tentatively.
"Yeah, my sis is a real slave driver and Dad's sending her tips from home on how to make me more miserable," the pink-haired boy whined.
Rin relaxed a bit. "Angel's being pretty hard on me too," he commiserated as he stripped off his shirt.
Shima cringed in empathetic pain at the sight of Rin. There were ugly bruises scattered across Rin's arms and shoulders. One blow had caught him across the stomach leaving a vivid red welt surrounded by dark purple swelling. "Dude, that's not being hard on you, that's a freaking murder attempt!" Shima exclaimed.
Rin grabbed a towel to cover up his injuries. "Come on, it's not that bad, I'll heal by morning."
"You look like someone tried to beat you to death," Shima disagreed. "You gotta complain."
"To who?" Rin asked. "The Grigori assigned the guy who cut off my foot instead of putting me in handcuffs to teach me to fight. I heal, it doesn't matter if I get hurt; it's not the same as hurting a human."
Shima frowned. "It matters," he said.
"No," Rin insisted, becoming agitated. "You weren't in that courtroom. No one even blinked when he cut off my foot, not even Mephisto. Mephisto only got worked up when I wouldn't let him unseal my powers to speed up healing. The rules are different for demons."
"Speaking of… Why haven't you drawn your sword yet?" Shima asked. "Because if you're this banged up after unsealing Kurikara then, seriously, Angel was trying to kill you and I've got no idea why your so-called lesson didn't end with Bon shooting that creep."
"Mephisto finally decided I'm healthy enough I don't have to unseal my powers every day anymore." Rin said, his face scrunching up with distaste. "This is no big deal. I don't wanna draw my sword unless I have to, 'specially now."
"Because you can't scald yourself with holy water anymore?" Shima asked darkly. He forced a smile and tried to put a teasing tone into his voice. "I thought you finally got it that your powers don't make you evil. Do we gotta lock ourselves up with ya again?"
"I just don't like it," Rin protested. "It makes my skin itch. Koneko's massages help, but I hate bugging him."
Tsuzo was waiting for the Exwires the next day when they arrived for their group class. "For the next few weeks Thursday's group class will be spent clearing up the Seven School Mysteries," she announced. "This should give you some practice functioning in your new teams. So we've got seven demons to exorcise and three teams to do the job. You can split up the work any way you choose, the two teams who aren't assigned to a mystery will serve as backup for the team that takes point. If the lot of you fail I'll be around to bail you out and then mock you mercilessly while I give you a bad grade."
Konekomaru raised his hand tentatively, "What information do we have on the mysteries?" he asked and Tsuzo produced a list for them.
"The mysteries are a bride who wanders the school at night," Tsuzo began. "The bride only appears to boys. The statue of Johann Faust at the center of Mepphyland moves at night. There's a toilet Mayuko in the girl's dorm; obviously a difficult spot for any of the boys. A picture of yourself dead that appears between the portraits in the high school. An empty Tram that travels the streets at night. A wunderkammer that appears in the chemistry lab and a mansion you can never reach."
"Okay," Bon said decisively. "For the girl's toilet Shiemi and Izumo will partner up then Koneko and Shima could deal with the Bride that only appears to boys. Rin and I will take the next one."
Tsuzo shook her head. "The whole point of this exercise is to get used to working in your assigned teams. No trading partners."
"So Rin and I are the obvious choice for the Bride. Koneko, Shima, one of you is going to have to dress up as a girl to support your teammate in the girl's bathroom," Bon revised.
"No way in hell," Shima declared. "You and Rin shouldn't get a free pass on the girl's toilet just because you're both guys. I say we draw lots for all the jobs, whoever gets the toilet dresses up as a girl and if Shiemi-chan or Izumo-chan end up with the Bride... Well, they'll have to dress up as a guy I guess. If someone's gonna have to cross-dress then everyone should have to risk it."
"Actually, we should evaluate the different demons then assign teams based on skills," Konekomaru said, but Shiemi was the only one who heard him. The rest of the Exwires were too busy arguing about who should have to cross-dress.
Eventually they settled on Shima's plan as being fair. Bon assigned numbers to the different mysteries then they drew lots out of a hat. "We'll leave the last mystery unassigned," he said. Which ever team is doing the worst can use it as a chance to redeem themselves."
"Ladies first," Shima declared nudging Shiemi toward the hat. She drew the empty tram.
Izumo drew the bride next, she wrinkled her nose when she saw her task. "Rin, I'm borrowing your clothes," she declared. Rin gulped then flushed.
Then it was Rin's turn to draw, he picked the statue. "Yes! No cross-dressing!"
Bon took the next draw and picked the wunderkammer. Then Konekomaru pulled the portrait.
Shima gulped and reached into the hat, "No fair!" he exclaimed as he pulled the toilet.
"This was your idea," Konekomaru and Bon reminded him gleefully.
"Alright kiddies," Tsuzo said. "You've got your assignments, I suggest you start planning now. Izumo-chan, Koneko… get ready, first up will be the Bride."