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 Eleven: Extra Credit
On their way back from group class the following Thursday the Exwires were frozen at the sight of their dorm. When they'd left just a few hours earlier it had been fully intact, but since then the fourth floor had somehow come to resemble swiss cheese more than a building. They ran inside and raced up the stairs. Rin was first through the door only to stop cold, the other piled into him.
Once they'd unsorted themselves they all took a long moment just to stare. If the outside walls looked bad, the interior ones were worse. There were occasional columns left standing, a few walls retained their top or bottom few feet intact, but almost the entire fourth floor was being turned into a meadow. There was a foot of dirt on the newly opened floor. A smug looking Amaimon was directing Shiemi's greenmen as they scattered grass seed and planted various climbing vines at the base of the surviving columns.
Of the fourth floor bathroom there was nothing left, only a few twisted pipes marked where it had been.
Mephisto was standing in the middle of the destruction, frowning down at his younger brother in annoyance. Then he caught sight of Shiemi's surprised smile and the way Rin's shoulders relaxed upon seeing the abruptly remodeled fourth floor and his expression softened. "Well, I suppose I should be grateful you didn't bring down the whole building," he sighed. "I only had to replace a half-dozen column to keep the roof from caving in."
He pointed his umbrella toward the squeezed off water pipes and they began to grow. They burrowed under the dirt and wriggled across the floor until they formed a sprinkler system. "I've also added waterproofing to the floor and ceiling below," Mephisto announced. "Honestly, a little forethought goes a long way when remodeling," he huffed.
Almost two weeks after the incident with Shiratori Rin trailed behind Shima as they approached the two girls on his list. "You sure you want to do this now?" Shima murmured under his breath. "The bags under your eyes aren't pretty."
Rin nodded firmly. The term was winding down, if he didn't talk to the girls soon then Bon's extra credit would be messed up. As it turned out that Sato Aiko and Kimura Mana had been inseparable since returning from summer break. Rin took it as a good sign, he only had to start one conversation with a strange girl this way, instead of two.
"Hello ladies!" Shima greeted the girls effusively. "How are you doing this fine day? I'm your classmate Shima Renzo, very pleased to meet you, and this is my friend Okumura Rin."
The two girls stared at Shima for a moment, then Aiko leaned around to glance behind Shima. "No tail," she declared.
"Normal horny teenage-boy, not demon?" Mana asked.
"So that's a good thing, right?" Shima asked giving the girls a winning smile.
They looked at him for a moment. In unison they declared, "Wrong!" then dissolved into giggles.
While Shima pouted theatrically, Rin stepped forward a bit. "We see them too," he said nervously.
The two girls stopped laughing.
"How long?" Aiko asked abruptly.
"A year now," Rin said.
"I've seen them since I was little," Aiko confided. "Mana-chan only just started seeing them this summer."
"I almost drowned," Mana added. "When I woke up there were these black things floating around everywhere. No one else said anything about them so I didn't either, I didn't want anyone thinking I was crazy. Aiko-chan saw me flinching away from them when I got back to school and told me she sees them too."
"What about you?" Aiko asked Shima.
"Quite a while," Shima said with a shrug.
"I wish I didn't see them," Mana remarked.
Aiko gave her friend a small smile. "They're not all bad," she said. "I used to live on the edge of forest. Most of them just went about their business. They could be beautiful or fierce, but if you were respectful of them we could co-exist." She smiled wistfully, "There was this one snowman I'd see watching me every now and then. I always thought he looked lonely."
"It was only after we moved to the city that I started seeing so many angry or purposeless ones; demons instead of spirits." Aiko turned to Shima, "So you two noticed we see them and decided to introduce yourselves because…."
Shima grinned. "Well, it's hard to pass up a chance to talk to couple of pretty girls, especially if we've got something in common to break the ice."
Aiko rolled her eyes and Mana giggled. Rin felt a chill go down his spine. He turned and saw Izumo glowering at him. "Izumo-chan!" he exclaimed happily, then he took note of her expression.
Izumo turned and started walking away. Rin ran after her.
Shima chuckled as he and the two girls watched Izumo storm off with Rin in tow. "Well, I'm free to continue our conversation," he offered hopefully.
"Izumo!" Rin called as he caught up to her, "What did I do? Why are you mad at me?" he asked.
"I'm not mad at you," Izumo snapped, refusing to look at him.
"It's not…" Rin began uncertainly. "I thought because you had demon blood too…"
Izumo spun on her heel and growled, "How many times do I have to tell you, that evil-aura stuff your brother fed you was a load of crap!"
"So what did I do?" Rin asked. "Why have you been avoiding me?"
"I-" Izumo's expression crumpled. "It was my fault you got hurt."
Rin looked puzzled.
Izumo bit her lip. "I heard you talking to Shima about girls and I got mad, so I didn't let you walk me to class. If you'd walked me class like normal you wouldn't have gotten hurt. And then I found out it was because you were just trying to find out how those two were dealing with having a masho. It was part of being an Exorcist, not…" Izumo stomped her foot. "I know you're not doing anything wrong talking to those girls. I still hate it when you spend time with other girls!"
Rin's jaw dropped. "Shiemi's just a friend," he said quickly. "I sort of had a crush on her, but she only ever liked me as a friend and now I think she's right: we're just friends. I had to talk to those girls, if I mess up Bon's grades he won't like being my partner anymore."
"And it's not your fault Shiratori and I hate eachother," Rin continued sounding less panic stricken once the subject veered away from girls. "It's nothing to do with you, Dad was always on me not to get in fights, but I'd see Shiratori or some other jerk picking on a kid or hurting a stray animal and then I'd be in the middle of it again before my brain caught up with my fists. When the dust settled I'd always be the one in the most trouble but I'm too stupid to figure out any other way to act."
"It's not stupid. You're a good person and you're brave," Izumo protested. "It's other people who are idiots and cowards; they punish you when you're just trying to help because you can do things they can't or are scared to try. Or just because of who your father is. They're the ones with the problem, not you."
Izumo looked away. "And I can't expect you to never talk to another girl again ever. It's not realistic."
Rin chewed on his lip. "Sato and Kimura seem like they're okay. They're in way better shape than Godain anyway; Godain's a guy. But if I need to talk to them again, would you talk to them with me instead of Shima?" he asked. He flushed, "I just asked him because talking to them by myself…" Rin trailed off and shook his head. "I don't think they liked him flirting with them anyway."
Izumo nodded and tried not to be pleased to hear Rin was afraid to talk to girls.
Later that night Bon listened to Rin's report on the two girls. "Sounds like Kimura got her masho from some sort of water demon. It's recent enough that we should try to check it out, make sure the demon's been dealt with."
Rin nodded.
"We already know Godain's masho came from the portrait," Bon continued. "One of my guys got his over winter break. He stumbled across an Akaneme. He's from Kyoto so I had Shima notify his dad about it. Probably all that needs doing is giving his bathroom a good scrub, but they'll check it out. My other three are like your Sato: they've been able to see demons for as long as they can remember. Either they got their masho as a small child or there's a little demon-blood in their family."
Then Bon sighed, "I suppose I'd better talk to Shiratori. Obviously you shouldn't go anywhere near that psycho and I don't really care what happened to him, but if the demon's still out there it could hurt someone else."
Rin looked nervous. "I might know how he got it," he said. "Back in middle school and grade school we fought a lot."
Bon shook his head. "You're powers were sealed then. Breaking someone's arm isn't enough to give 'em a masho, you'd have to have burned him with your flames."
Rin chewed on his lip, "I was fighting Shiratori when my flames broke out the first time," he said. "Shiratori, Astaroth in Shiratori's body I guess, he had a knife. I didn't know if he was going to kill me or cut up my eyes or what. He had his friends holding me down, but even they were getting sort of freaked about how far he was going. And then…"
"It wasn't your fault," Bon stated. "If he was possessed when your flames broke free he already had a masho. Besides, what were you supposed to do? He attacked you."
"But I started it," Rin said, "That time it was the pigeons he was killing the day before. If you want to go all the way back I got in the middle of things in 5th grade when I found him using a magnifying glass to burn frogs. Nobody ever cared what he did, or they blamed me for it. But because of me, because I tried to do something about him he started going after Yukio." Rin slumped tiredly. "It was always like that, I'd try to do what I thought was right and it would just make things worse and everyone would get mad at me. I'm such a screw up."
"You're not a screw up," Bon insisted. "And you wouldn't be you if you could turn your back on someone in trouble. You wouldn't be the guy who got between me and a leaper even though I was a jerk to you before hand. Maybe you'd get in less trouble if you were different, but I like the way you are."
A small smile quirked Rin's lips up, "You're biased 'cause I saved your ass."
"And now you're stuck with me, Knight," Bon replied and Rin snorted.
After a moment Bon glanced back at Rin. "You were out awful late last night," he said tentatively.
"That new drill Angel gave me; the one with both the wakizashi and the katana; it's impossible," Rin said. "I was up on the roof practicing all night."
"Well, be sure you get some sleep tonight," Bon replied seeming relieved. "And try to find out where Kimura was attacked as soon as possible."
"Hey," Rin called. Aiko and Mana glanced up and smiled when they saw Rin waving. Izumo and Godain stood by him.
"Where's the flirt?" Aiko asked.
"We'll tell him you asked after him, I'm sure he'll find you," Izumo said. "Kamiki Izumo, Rin's girlfriend."
"You didn't tell me she was your girlfriend," Godain whispered to Rin while the girls traded names.
"I didn't know," Rin whispered back, a surprised smile splitting his face.
"So um?" Mana asked uncertainly.
"Yeah," Rin replied. "They see them too."
"I've always seen them, there's demon blood in my family," Izumo stated challengingly.
"Godain just got a masho at the start of the term," Rin interjected.
Mana smiled at him, "It's hard when you don't know other people see them too."
Godain gulped and nodded.
"What's a masho?" Aiko asked.
"A wound inflicted by a demon," Izumo explained. "Once you've had one you see demons."
"So when I nearly drowned, that was a demon?" Mana asked.
Rin looked at the ground, he nodded apologetically.
"I didn't see anything," Mana protested. "We'd gone camping-"
"Where?" Rin asked quickly.
"Near Akigawa Gorge," Mana replied. "We'd been hiking all day, I remember leaning over the water to splash my face… then nothing. My friends said I must have slipped on the rocks and fallen in."
"Well, I suppose this isn't a bad spot," Shima said the next weekend. He stopped in the middle of a long swinging bridge to watch the sun rise over the lush river valley. "Although it would be more fun we weren't here because Bon convinced our teachers to give us extra homework."
"Are you an Exorcist or what?" Tsuzo said, smacking her younger brother upside the head. "Bon and Rin did a good job tracking this demon down and you're on back-up anyway."
"Right," Bon said. "If everything goes according to plan we'll have a nice hike, get rid of a demon that's been attacking people in the area, then spend the rest of the weekend enjoying the park."
"We got out of Saturday's group class," Rin pointed out as they started hiking again. "We could be taking a demon pharmacology test right now."
Shima grinned. "You're completely right Rin; just about anything is better than a test. And if you and Bon don't screw up the rest of us don't have to work."
"Like you can talk," Bon humphed, "We rescued you from the Street Car."
"Ah, but I feel no shame at getting help with class assignments," Shima laughed.
They followed the trail further up the gorge, quickly moving toward the more remote regions of the park. They stopped for lunch in an isolated glade. Everyone made appreciative noises as Rin started unpacking the over-sized backpack he'd been carrying.
"And here I thought you'd brought special gear for your assignment," Nagatomo commented shaking his head as more and more food emerged from the pack.
"We've got everything we need," Bon asserted, but he dug a notebook out of his own pack and began flipping through it with an intense frown on his face.
Konekomaru leaned over his shoulder and saw Bon had listed a number of water demons along with their identifiers, fatal verses and other methods of exorcism. "If it's not on your list or if it's one of the ones where you don't have a fatal verse what are you going to do?" he asked.
"We're counting on Rin's physical strength to get it out in the open," Bon said. "Hopefully I'll have a fatal verse prepared but if that doesn't work I've got a clip of ammo packed with consecrated earth, that should be pretty effective against any of Egyn's Kin. And there's always Kurikara, but Mephisto said if we fall back on Rin's flames our grade'll take the same hit as if we need you guys to back us up."
Over on the other side of the glade Rin fussed a bit with a few last minute details of their lunch, adding a salad dressing and a few garnishes, arranging the dishes on the picnic blanket. "Shiemi's growing a bunch of the vegetables in her greenhouse for us," he commented to Nagatomo and Izumo. "The supermarket isn't bad, but you can't get any fresher than straight out of the garden."
Nagatomo watched Rin lay out the dishes, "You've gotten a lot more conscious of presentation," he said. "You're becoming a real professional under Itamae-san's tutelage."
Rin flushed with pleasure. "If I hadn't drawn Kurikara, if I'd just done what Dad told me to that night… Well, I think, if I were human I'd really love to be a chef."
"You don't have to be an exorcist you know," Shima said.
"I kinda do," Rin said with a shrug. "If they can't use me the Grigori will kill me."
An unhappy pall fell over the gathering. "It shouldn't be like that," Izumo said, her red eyes flashing angrily.
"It all works out," Rin declared with a brittle smile. "'Cause I'm gonna kick Satan's ass whether the True Cross helps or not. I owe him for Dad."
"Your meal looks wonderful," Konekomaru said. "Maybe there's some way you could do both. Like Bon said, once his mother sees what you can do, she is going to want to steal you for the Ryokan. Maybe the two of you could occasionally let her."
"Itadakimasu," Shiemi said and the others echoed her. For a time enjoying their meal ended all conversation. After they were finished and their trash had been packed up they resumed the hike. A short while later they reached the small waterfall pool where Kimura Mana had been attacked.
Rin handed Kurikara to Bon then took off his back-pack and set it aside. He walked up to the side of the pool. "Ready?" he asked Bon.
"Don't get pulled in," Bon replied. He took the Koma sword out of it's bag and held it ready to draw. "We don't know how well your flames stand up to water."
"Yeah, yeah," Rin waved him off as he went to kneel beside the water. "Don't you get tongue-tied."
Rin reached down. The moment his hand broke the surface of the water spindly, green arms reached up to drag him under. But Rin was ready, he grabbed the surprised demon and rolled backward, pulling it out of the water and pinning it on the bank. "Not a kappa!" he shouted as it thrashed madly beneath him.
"Tell me something I don't know!" Bon shouted back as he tried to get a look around Rin at the demon. "Grindylow, long way from home. Haggai 1:11," he muttered to himself. Then his voice rang out clear and strong. "And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labour of the hands!"
As Bon recited the Grindylow withered and dried up. It's shell turned to dust beneath Rin's hands and blew away. Rin stood up and dusted himself off. "Pretty smooth huh?" he asked.
Bon tossed Kurikara back. "Like clockwork."
"Yeah, yeah, you did good, but don't get a swelled head," Tsuzo said. "Father Nagatomo and I will report back. You're instructors will review your performance and it'll get averaged in with your other scores. Now lets get back to our camp at Ina before it gets dark."
It was very late that night. Through the wall of the girls' tent Izumo saw a shadow pass in front of the smoldering fire. She picked up one of her summoning papers and peered cautiously through the flaps.
Rin set another couple sticks of firewood over the embers left in the pit and the fire blazed back up.
"Why aren't you in bed?" Izumo asked softly as she tucked the paper back in her sash and crawled out of the tent to join him.
Rin shrugged. "Not tired." He sat down on one of the logs near the fire pit and warmed his hands. Izumo went and sat beside him.
For a time they sat together in silence then Rin glanced nervously at Izumo. "So um, when you said… to Aiko and Mana?" he stammered. "About um, being my girlfriend?"
Izumo blushed. "Did I mean it?" she asked. She thought for a moment, "I should have asked you first probably," she admitted. "But yeah, I'm not taking it back." Maybe she'd only said it because she didn't want those girls getting any ideas, but... "I meant it. I mean, if you want to go out?"
Rin nodded quickly; smiling but at a loss for words. After a moment he shifted a bit closer to Izumo, "It's nice, watching the fire. We could just sit here for a while," he managed.
The tension ran out of Izumo's shoulders, she shifted over a bit herself until their arms were brushing. "The stars are really bright out here."
"Put your arm around her!" someone hissed from the direction of the guy's tent. It was followed by a thump then a muffled "Ow!" and a muttered, "Aren't you supposed to be a grown-up, not to mention a priest?"
Both Rin and Izumo turned bright red. "The wind's really loud tonight," Izumo said with a dark look in the direction of the voices. "And nosy!"
"Yeah," Rin agreed. "Wind." He did put his arm around her shoulders though and smiled a little wistfully, because Shiro would have done the same thing.