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 Ten: Circumvention
After Bon had put Rin to bed Izumo excused herself claiming she was too tired to bother with dinner. Later that night, when she heard Paku and Shiemi climbing the stairs Izumo crawled into bed and pulled her comforter up over her head.
Even through the covers she could feel Paku watching her. After a few minutes Paku said softly, "If you want to talk…" She waited for several minutes and Izumo considered pretending to snore.
Eventually Paku gathered up her bath supplies. When she got back from the bathroom Izumo remained stubbornly silent until she heard her friend's breathing deepen as sleep claimed her. Then Izumo threw off her blankets and went back to sitting in the window.
She stared out over the moon-lit grounds, lost in thought until the early hours of the morning. With the moon hanging low over the horizon Izumo slipped out of the dorm and down to the creek that ran through the campus. There she summoned her familiars.
Uke and Mike watched her uncertainly.
"Rin's hurt," Izumo said. "I want one of you to look out for him, at least until his eyes heal. If you do I'll see what I can remember of the dance." She gave the two byakko a challenging glare. "Over spring break I'll perform it for you. I may not be any good but I'll do my best."
Uke and Mike exchanged a long look. "We'll take turns," Mike said. "One of us will watch him while the other will wait in the Spirit World for your call. We'll let you know when we want to trade."
"Thank you for assisting me," Izumo replied with stiff formality.
"We were friends once," Uke said quietly.
"We're family," Izumo corrected. "Then and now, but we all know that you can't count on family to be there when you need them."
Rin sighed in sleepy relief as Bon changed the compress over his eyes, but with the valerian running through his system he didn't really wake up.
"Doesn't that feel so much better now?" Yukio asked, there was a hint of warmth in his voice as he rubbed something soothing onto Rin's burns. "Aren't you glad you finally found a way to burn away some of that evil tainting you?"
Yukio leaned down, his arms sliding over Rin's shoulders until he was almost hugging his twin. His breath was warm against Rin's ear as he whispered, "I'm sure Shiratori would do it again if you just asked."
When Rin's dreams woke him the dorm room was dark, except for a pool of light at the desk shining on the head of a figure sleeping on his books. Rin squinted blurrily, for a moment he was certain it was Yukio. For a moment the last few months, maybe even the last year was just a dream. It was him and Yukio and everything was okay. He swung his legs over the side of the bed, grabbed a blanket and stumbled over to the desk to rescue Yukio's glasses from getting bent by being slept on like he had done a hundred times before.
Only it was Bon, not Yukio, who had fallen asleep over his books. Rin blinked, his nose wrinkled up in a puzzled expression. Why was Bon in his room? Where was he anyway? Rin tucked the blanket over Bon's shoulders then stumbled out into the hall. He climbed the stairs slowly, blinking often, up past the girls' floor to the fourth floor. For a moment Rin paused in the doorway, staring at the empty room that used to be his and Yukio's, then he moved on to the bathroom.
Rin had kept a stash of holy water on the ledge hidden behind the mirror. He wasn't sure if his friends had discovered it when they had searched the dorm but even thinking about looking for it triggered the demon-oath he'd been tricked into giving Mephisto.
"I'm sure Shiratori would do it again if you just asked." The remnant of his dream still lingered. Or maybe he was still dreaming. Maybe Yukio was just down the hall getting supplies to patch him up after he was done washing up. Maybe he was still at the Monastery and Shiro was downstairs trying to figure out how to berate him for screwing up yet another job while simultaneously encouraging him to try again. And Yukio, Yukio was gone. He was off studying to be a doctor, his dream. For years Rin had known Yukio would leave him behind. Yukio had a future, he was too smart to be stuck in an endless parade of dead-end jobs. Off at school on his own, not the demon-child's brother anymore, Yukio would be doing great, where-ever he was.
Rin caught sight of himself in the mirror, of the dark snake wrapped loosely around his waist; his tail. In his mind's eye he saw himself wreathed in blue flames, elongated ears and fangs marking him as a demon. The flames, the mark of Satan, coalesced to form horns on his forehead. Yukio stood behind him in the mirror. "Look at you," he accused. "There's nothing left of my nii-san. There's nothing left of you but Satan's son, the son of the man who killed Dad."
"I can't anymore," Rin protested. "I promised."
"Because you let them turn you into a demon," Yukio said coldly. "If you'd done more, if you'd listen to me you wouldn't have to abide by demon rules now. But there's still a way… Isn't Mephisto's class all about how to get out of keeping your promises? Shiratori would gladly do what you need."
Rin had never quite gotten what Mephisto meant by third party intervention in class. It had all sounded like a bunch of arbitrary nonsense. It still didn't make any sense, but while he could barely bring himself to look at the place where he'd hidden his holy water, there wasn't anything stopping him from thinking about provoking Shiratori and seeing if he could get the other boy to douse him with holy water again.
"Shiratori wouldn't have any trouble doing what I couldn't bring myself to do," Yukio continued. "If you asked right I'm sure he'd hold you down beneath the water until everything demonic about you burned away. Then you'd be my nii-san again."
Rin shivered, "I can't, I promised."
"Mephisto tricked you."
"I promised my friends," Rin protested. "It doesn't matter if I can figure out a way around the demon-oath. I gave my friends my word, you don't go back on your word to your friends!"
"They'll abandon you eventually. Everyone does."
Amaimon stepped to the side and Rin walked past him without so much as glancing in his direction. He stared after his younger brother, a lollypop dangling forgotten from the corner of his mouth. "Even odder than Big Brother," he muttered to himself. He'd just watched Rin stare into the bathroom mirror for nearly ten minutes while holding a conversation with an empty room.
The next morning Rin woke up to the feeling of being stared at.
"Your face looks healed," Bon declared. "How are your eyes?"
Rin mumbled something incomprehensible then rolled over and buried his face in the pillow. His brain felt muzzy and muddled from his drugged sleep but somehow he had the feeling that he didn't want to wake up, didn't want to lose the fog of drowsiness.
Bon leaned out in the hall and shouted, "He's awake!" Turning back to Rin he added. "You've got an appointment with your doctor today. Shiemi's mentor okayed her treatment but you should still get checked up."
Memories slowly filtered back in: The confrontation with Shiratori. Getting a flask of holy water thrown in his face. Yukio, or some sort of dream-Yukio, pointing out that he could get around his promise to Mephisto if he really wanted to. Rin sat up slowly, his face stung a little from healing burns, but the rest of his body felt like it was covered in slime and crawling with insects by contrast. It had been so long since he's been able to clean himself properly. 'You'd upset your friends,' Rin reminded himself. 'It's all in your head.'
Shiemi poked her head in the door. She smiled gently as she sat down on the bed beside Rin. "How many fingers?" she asked.
Rin squinted a bit before answering, "Three?"
"Still blurry?" Shiemi asked sympathetically.
"It's not bad," Rin insisted, trying to put the feel of evil oozing over his skin out of his mind. He smiled for Shiemi, "Way better than yesterday. Thanks for patching me up."
Shiemi ducked her head shyly.
"Koneko and Shima are taking care of breakfast," Bon reported. Then with a scowl he added, "They kicked me out of the kitchen."
"They aren't dumb," Rin remarked. Thinking about the many, many disasters that befell Bon in the kitchen helped distract him from the stark difference between the feel of his face and the rest of his skin.
"There's no reason I can't cook," Bon exclaimed.
Rin and Shiemi both found themselves wondering if Bon meant that he couldn't explain why his every attempt at cooking turned into such a spectacular failure or if he were simply in denial.
When they got downstairs Rin was surprised to see Mike waiting at the foot of the stairs without Izumo or Uke. "Where are the girls?" he asked.
"Izumo-chan and Noriko-chan had a test first period," Shiemi said. "They couldn't skip."
Rin squinted at the clock, after a moment he gave up and asked Konekomaru. "It's that late? Why aren't you and Bon in class?"
"Hey, what about me?" Shima pouted.
"You'd skip class for a hangnail," Konekomaru said then turned to Rin. "Bon, Shima and I got permission to skip our morning classes. "Izumo and Paku are skipping the afternoon classes."
/And Izumo-chan asked me to play seeing-eye dog until you're better,/ Mike added.
Rin flushed. "I'm okay, really. You guys don't have to." He started itching at his wrist.
Mike gave Rin a toothy smile. /I don't mind. Uke and I want to get to know you anyway./ Rin felt like he ought to worry about that somehow, but he couldn't imagine why.
After breakfast Rin turned to Konekomaru. "Um… Would you?" he stammered staring at the floor, his face flushed with embarrassment.
"Of course," Konekomaru replied without hesitation. He pushed aside his empty dishes and started back upstairs. Rin trailed after him.
"I feel like a nutcase, needing this,"Rin muttered as he rubbed at the exposed skin on his wrist.
"Don't worry about it," Konekomaru replied, catching Rin's hand in his. "It's okay to ask for reassurance."
"You've told me hundreds of times there's nothing there," Rin said. "But I can feel it. I was getting used to it I guess; learning to ignore it. My face feels like it's actually clean, it makes the rest of me feel dirtier." Once they got to Konekomaru's room Rin stripped off his shirt and laid on the bed, he buried his face in his arms to hide his discomfort.
"Your face feels different because it was burned. When you healed you basically grew all new skin," Konekomaru asserted as he started the massage. He kneaded Rin's shoulders lightly trying to communicate care and acceptance through his touch.
Gradually Rin's body relaxed, his hunger for touch and the learned habit of shying away from it both easing under Konekomaru's efforts. When Bon came up to tell him it was time for his doctor's appointment Rin had almost completely forgotten the temptation to seek Shiratori out again.
"Okumura-kun!"
Rin stopped at the sound of his name, for a moment he paused. Bon glanced over at Rin and saw him close his eyes for a moment before his posture straightened and he put on a bright smile. Then Rin turned around. "Godain! How are you doing?" he asked.
The slim dark-haired boy made a 'so-so' gesture but his tired expression lightened in response to Rin's. "How about you? You weren't around after lunch yesterday…" Godain hesitated, unable to decide whether or not he should bring up that Rin's eyes were so red it looked like they'd start bleeding if he so much as blinked.
Rin grinned. "Don't worry about me. I'm always okay," he insisted. He snatched a sheet of paper out of Godain's hand. "These guys giving you trouble or are they just around?" he asked.
Bon took the paper from Rin and scowled. "We weren't supposed to tell anyone about demons or exorcists," he said.
Rin hmphed. "Godain, meet my uptight friend Bon. Bon, Godain Sei, my normal friend."
Bon grimaced. "Suguro Ryuji, pleased to meet you. I've got no clue why this idiot calls me 'Bon'." To soften his words Bon reached over and ruffled Rin's hair.
"Y-you see them too?" Godain asked.
"Yeah," Bon admitted. He threw Rin a disparaging look. "But there are rules."
Rin tilted his face toward Bon with a guileless expression. "I didn't promise… and I didn't tell about being an Exorcist. I just let Godain here know he wasn't crazy and that he's not the only one that see 'em."
Bon held up the list.
"Okumura-kun figures out what they are," Godain said, wanting to get Rin out of trouble. "You see this horrible thing wandering around you homeroom muttering about blood and murder, you want to know that it's not able to rip your heart out!"
"An Uwan, a basic haunt. Just ignore it, they're all talk," Bon said automatically.
"But I don't know that," Godain argued. "I don't know where to learn these things. Okumura-kun's been helping me figure out how I should react to all these monsters wandering around."
"The school's pretty safe," Bon sighed. "Actually that's why there seem to be so many demons around here. They're all low level guys hiding from the big ones, cause the school's a safe-hold. Anyway, nine times out of ten the best thing to do when you see a demon is just ignore it. Most the time paying attention to a demon just gives it more power over you."
Godain nodded, "Okumura-kun told me the same thing, more or less." Then his eyes slid past them. "Um, do you know there's a fox spirit following you?"
Rin grinned and beckoned the byakko over. "This Mike, he's a friend of mine's familiar. She's got him mother-henning me for a bit."
Mike trotted over and stared at Godain who took a step back and gulped. RI\in dropped to one knee and wrapped an arm around the surprised byakko. "Mike's one of the good guys," he assured Godain.
As his fingers slid through Mike's soft fur, releasing the scent of Gehenna's winds, Rin suddenly felt a wave of sadness sweep over him. He sat back on his heels and swiped at his eyes.
"You okay?" Bon asked worriedly. "Your eyes getting worse?"
Godain crouched beside Rin and put a hand on his shoulder with only an uneasy look at Mike.
"'M fine," Rin mumbled. "Just… the scents on his fur, it's the same as Kuro."
"Rin's familiar," Bon explained quietly to a confused Godain. "He got killed protecting Rin."
"I'm sorry," Godain said. He squeezed Rin's shoulder sympathetically.
Rin forced himself to smile. "It's - I'm okay. Just wasn't expecting it." He carefully slipped out from under Godain's hand. "I'll be back to my normal in no time," he promised. "Don't worry about me."
Bon and Godain shared a concerned look but didn't press Rin any further.
Mephisto raised an eyebrow as he observed the two boys being escorted into his office the next day. Shiratori Reiji had two black-eyes and was probably having more trouble seeing than Rin now. The way he cradled his side indicated bruised or fractured ribs. Bon's knuckles were split and dripping blood on Mephisto's carpet. "Principal Faust, these two were found brawling in the dorms," his assistant declared.
"As if that wasn't readily apparent," Mephisto remarked.
"It took three instructors to pulled Surugo-san off him," the assistant added.
"Did it?" Mephisto asked sounding vaguely impressed. Bon glared definitely but offered no defense. Mephisto made a shooing gesture. "I will see that this serious matter is appropriately addressed," he promised and his assistant left, closing the door behind him.
Then Mephisto turned to the boys. "Two of the True Cross Academy's distinguished students brawling like common thugs?" he tsked. "Well I hope you've learned something from this." He walked over to Bon and picked up his hand. "What a mess. Whoever taught you to make a fist? We should definitely add some sort of unarmed combat training to your lessons."
Shiratori's jaw dropped. For a moment Bon looked equally shocked, then he grinned. "Sounds good to me," he said.
"This charity case attacked me!" Shiratori protested. "How can you take his side? He doesn't even have enough money to pay his tuition!"
Mephisto turned to him, "Ah yes, it all comes down to money and influence with you," he said lightly. "I suppose it never occurred to you that Rin-kun is my ward?"
Shiratori stuck out his jaw mulishly.
Mephisto held up a hand to silence him. "Shiratori Reiji, do you remember our little talk when you began classes last April? A few days earlier my old friend Father Fujimoto Shiro saved your worthless hide and so I decided to give you a chance. I told you that I would shelter you from the consequences of the life you had led for a year and a day and that if you had any sense you would change your ways before Asteroth took you forever. The year is almost up and I see little evidence of change in you."
"Like I care about what you say," Shiratori snorted. "You're just some administrator. When my parents hear you let this pauper attack me, completely unprovoked…"
Mephisto smiled. "I have already had several lengthy conversations with your parents," he said. "It's so sad, but sometimes these things happen. It's really no one's fault, no matter how well raised, how many advantages a child is given, even with the most respectable of parents sometimes the genes just combine wrong. Eventually even the most dedicated parents have to admit they've lost the battle and cut their losses. It's unpleasant but sometimes institutionalization is really the only answer. You don't have to talk to your parents Reiji-kun. I already have, this is your last chance. If you don't straighten up, there will be no-one to bail you out."
For a moment a look of fear crossed Shiratori's face, but stubborn denial quickly reasserted itself. Mephisto looked unperturbed as he escorted Shiratori out.
Once Shiratori was gone Bon's gaze dropped to the floor. "I had a plan," he said. "I was going to plant test scores in his room, get him kicked out without it coming back to Rin. But when I got there… It was just sick. He had cages in his room, five low-level demons he'd caught somehow. You couldn't think for their screaming. I'd just finished sending 'em back to Gehenna when he came in. He saw I'd gotten rid of them and he started complaining about how they were his to 'play' with. It hit me, that's how he sees Rin; something he can get away with hurting… I sort of lost it."
"Torture as an end to itself is an unattractive hobby," Mephisto remarked with a small shrug. "Still even if you had stuck to your plan, I wouldn't have allowed him to be expelled."
"What!" Bon exclaimed.
"I did promise him a year and a day," Mephisto said. "Besides, don't you want to know?"
"Know what?" Bon asked suspiciously.
"What Rin will do now," Mephisto replied. "Unintentional or not, he's discovered a way around his vow. Don't you want to know if he'll take advantage of that?"
Bon opened his mouth, then he hesitated.