Disclaimer: Blu Rose doesn't own the Blue Exorcist series. Only this fic.

Chapter Summary: Kazuki's progress with controlling his powers is practically nonexistent and his roommate/handler is probably more likely to harm him than help him. What more could put stress on Rin's mind? Probably a sick child.

X-X-X

Part 3: Sick of this

"I told Mephisto about what Kazuki did." Yukio's statement almost made Rin choke on his lunch and glare at his younger brother, which Yukio returned with a hard stare. "I know you're confident that he can get better before he has to confront any demons, but it's better to be safe than sorry." Rin still continued to glare. Today was only Kazuki's second day of school and his third day of living away from home. He didn't need to have the Vatican breathing down his neck from worry over his mentality. Kazuki's mood was already bad enough without needing to go to therapy. "If it makes you feel better, he seems to have as much faith in Kazuki pulling himself together before the promotion exam as you do."

Rin couldn't help flinching. He just didn't want Kazuki to have anything more on his plate. Mephisto on the other hand… His intentions for Kazuki were unknown, other than the idea that he'd be useful. God knows if Rin actually wanted him to be useful. "Just so long as he has no other shit to deal with." He began eating once again while Yukio just looked uncomfortable.

"Speaking of Kazuki, how is his training?"

"Fine," Rin lied. They hadn't had a session since Kazuki moved out, because Rin wanted him to have some time to adapt to his new surroundings and the addition of cram school responsibilities. Rin told himself that they would start again on Saturday, and at some point, he would have to tell Kazuki the same. Maybe tonight at dinner.

"So he's actually got control of his flames now?"

"No."

"Can he use them at all?" The older twin gave no response and continued eating. He could feel Yukio glowering right at him. "Rin…"

"It's not like it's something you get the hang of straight away!" Rin defended his son's progress. "Kazuki just has to get used to everything that's happening first."

"He's had almost half a year! If he hasn't gotten the hang of it by now, he may never be able to." Rin didn't answer and just kept eating. Yukio sighed and adjusted his glasses. "I really think it'd be for the best if Kazuki was dropped out of the cram school program. But I'm worried about what might happen if that were to occur…"

"They'll realize he's harmless and not cut out to be an exorcist, so they'll leave him alone."

"That doesn't feel likely."

"Oh, you just worry too much!" Rin growled before he pointed his chopsticks at Yukio. "I wouldn't be surprised if Kazuki learned to be so gloomy from you! Because he sure as hell didn't get it from me!"

"You're right. He gets his stubbornness from you—he just uses it in a different way."

"What a funny joke. I almost believed you for a second," Rin growled as he gave his brother a halfhearted glare.

"Jokes are funny. That is a painfully obvious truth." Yukio spoke bluntly before he got up from the table. "Anyway, I need to finish some things before cram school begins."

"But that's not for hours!" Rin complained as his twin walked away and waved farewell without looking over his shoulder. "You're stubborn, too, y'know! You spotty, four-eyed jerk…"

X-X-X

Eventually, the first weekend came for True Cross Academy students. On Saturday evening, just before cram school began, Rin sent his son a text message instructing him to come and meet him in the training area after his last cram school class. And despite the fact that he was the one who set up the meeting, Rin was the one who arrived late and to the sight of his son standing around with his arms folded across his chest and an annoyed look on his face.

"You think it's funny to keep me waiting?! Do you have any idea how much homework I have to do?! How much time I have to waste waiting for you, you slowpoke?!" Kazuki complained as he pointed a finger at his father.

"Heh-heh! Sorry. I took a nap this afternoon and slept for longer than I realized." Rin apologized sheepishly as he approached his son.

"Are you for real?!"

"Hey, I've been working myself thin trying to find a part-time job that's flexible enough for my other demands!"

"As if! You're just lazy by nature!"

"You shouldn't talk to your father that way." Rin stopped anymore words from coming out of Kazuki's mouth by ruffling the boy's hair playfully. "Or else I'll make your training even worse!" Just then, Rin finally took note of the sound of dull thuds happening every couple of seconds. Someone was using one of the batting cages on the other side of the room. "Looks like somebody's already here training. Hope you don't mind having an audience."

Kazuki stiffened for a moment, his mouth clenched tightly into a line before it changed to a frown. "It's just my… It's Kuroba," Kazuki spoke, sounding bitter just mentioning the other boy's name. "He's never supposed to leave me alone, so he came along. Now let's get this stupid training over with so I can call it a day."

"What? You're not going to introduce us?" It had been an entire week now and Rin had yet to see his son's roommate. The boy always went straight upstairs to his room after returning to the dorm from cram school and never bothered to come down at any point when Rin was around. He at least wanted to know what sort of person was responsible for his son—and possibly the closest thing to a friend.

"Trust me: you won't like each other. Candle."

Dropping the subject of his handler, Rin took out a single wax candle from the bag he carried along with him. He only ever brought along a single candle these days because of the number of sessions where nothing happened. At this point, Rin would consider setting the entire room on fire a successful training session. Rin placed the candle on the floor and Kazuki dropped down into a cross-legged sitting position to begin staring at the candle, already looking disinterested mere seconds into the training. Sometimes Rin wondered if Kazuki even tried to call upon his flames during these sessions, because he felt that he looked more determined when he was training back in the day.

Still, if there was one thing these uneventful training sessions were good for, it was getting a chance to talk to his son. It was better than standing behind Kazuki in silence for seemingly forever, waiting for something that wasn't going to happen. "So, how was school today?"

"Fine."

"Nothing interesting happened?"

"It's school. Nothing interesting happens every day."

"Even cram school?"

"I don't care about cram school."

"It's still different from normal school classes."

"Learning bible verses and the uses of plants is just as boring as anything in a normal class and even far less interesting. Oh, and exorcists' idea of P.E. shows how psychotic you people are."

Rin gave a crooked smile behind his son's back. "I wouldn't call us psychotic…"

"You sic giant frogs on children to make them run faster."

"It's training. It's necessary."

"One of them almost killed me. I didn't really try to stop it, but still…it almost killed me."

And just like that, the worrywart papa emerged and turned Kazuki around so he could look him over. "WHAT?! Are you okay? Did you get seriously hurt? Where did you get hurt, anyway?!" As he asked his questions, Rin began tugging at the boy's school uniform so he could search his skin for any signs of a demonic taint.

"CUT IT OUT!" Kazuki roared before falling over to avoid his father's hands. His head landed closed to the candle, which he proceeded to glare at. "I'm still alive, so that means I'm fine. Dumb frog wasn't fast enough to kill me before it got put back in its cage…" He sounded disappointed about that.

"You better not be acting recklessly on purpose. I want that sort of behavior to stop, you hear?"

"Yeah, yeah," Kazuki spoke dully. He continued staring at the candle from his position on the floor, seemingly intending to stay down there for the rest of the session.

"Is this what you call training, Akumura? You look even more pathetic than you usually do…" The voice came from the relative stranger who had been hiding away in the batting cage until now. Kuroba turned out to be a boy with short brown hair and matching eyes. His school uniform's blazer and blouse were unbuttoned, showing off a black wife beater. His mocking tone and apathetic expression didn't really paint him as a friendly guy off the bat.

Kazuki didn't respond with words. He simply sighed and refused to look at the brunette, Rin, however, was eager to introduce himself to the boy. He approached Kuroba and extended a hand in greeting. "Hey there! I'm Rin Okumura, Kazuki's dad. It's nice to finally meet you!" Rin smiled brightly. "Please don't judge me for my son's terrible communication skills! He doesn't admit it, but he's incredibly shy."

"That's bullshit and we both know it," Kazuki commented from his spot on the floor.

Kuroba ducked around Rin, ignoring his offered handshake, and approached Kazuki. "Could you be any lamer? If you can't use your powers, what use are you?"

"Hey!" Rin growled, upset over both being ignored and having his son insulted.

"What makes you think I wanna be of any use?"

"Maybe if you were in danger of dying, you'd use your flames…" At that moment, Rin finally noticed the bat Kuroba held in his hand. The brunette raised the bat, as if intending to hit Kazuki with it while the quarter-demon was staring at the candle. But before he could even attempt to do such a thing, Rin grabbed the head of the bat and prevented Kuroba from swinging it down. "Huh?"

"What the hell do you think you're doing?! You're supposed to be protecting him, not beating him up!"

Kuroba gave Rin an over the shoulder look of confusion, like he was a person who couldn't tell the obvious. "He heals."

"So what?"

"Exactly. If he heals, why care if he gets hurt?" Rin just glared at the boy, his anger reflected in the sparks of blue that seemed to light up in his eyes. Then it was like a light went on in Kuroba's head as his mouth formed an O shape. "Ohhh, riiiight! You're his— Well, no wonder you're upset. Familial attachments and all." He looked down at Kazuki, though he kept talking to Rin. "Have you ever thought that maybe Akumura Jr. could tap into his power if you stopped playing nice?"

"Violence isn't going to help him learn control."

"And staring at a candle will?"

Rin snorted and pulled the bat out of Kuroba's hands. "How about you just go wait over there until we're finished?" He used the bat to point to a corner of the training area. Kuroba walked away, but went back in the direction of the batting cages instead. The half-demon grumbled curses as he grabbed Kazuki and forced him to sit up. "Right! Concentrate! And I mean seriously concentrate! Even if you don't wanna be an exorcist, you need to learn how to control yourself!" He said as he used the butt of the bat to lightly tap Kazuki on the head.

"I haven't burned down anything yet. Isn't that control?" Kazuki muttered.

"Suppression out of fear doesn't count. If anything, that means it'll be far worse when you do lose control. I don't want that to happen to you and you shouldn't want anything bad to happen to you, too! So concentrate!"

For the rest of their time spent together, Rin continued drilling Kazuki on using his flames—an attempt that was in vain. The exorcist swore that when he glanced at Kuroba, the boy was smirking about his failure. All three of them went back to the dorm. Rin made dinner and Kuroba didn't join them—something Rin was strangely relieved about.

X-X-X

The following day, the first thing Rin did when he got onto the campus was make a beeline for Mephisto's office. He barged into the room despite the secretary exclaiming how he couldn't just do that. "HEY! I got a bone to pick with you!" He didn't find himself regretting his entrance even as the frightened schoolboy sitting in front of Mephisto's desk stared at him like he was a maniac. Said boy was quickly shooed out of the room by the headmaster, who still wore a smile on his face as he greeted Rin.

"Good morning, Okumura-san. To what do I owe the pleasure of your presence?"

"Kuroba." The name alone was all it took to make Mephisto roll his eyes. "I'm fully aware by now that you like to use people—"

"Use is such a harsh word. I prefer to think of it as covert aid."

"—but of all the people you could've gotten to stay alone with Kazuki, you chose someone like that?!"

The purple-haired demon sighed and bridged his hands together. "Surely by now you would know to trust in my decisions. Plus, you have no idea how difficult it is to find a candidate for a job like this—someone who would be able to be with Okumura-kun often without drawing attention and still be able to handle him. And on such short notice! After all, he isn't as fortunate enough to have things planned ahead of time for him."

"Just tell me who the hell he is and what got him chosen!" Rin snapped.

Mephisto's smile had most certainly become a smirk now. "Quite rude for a beggar, aren't we? Rest assured that there's no need to worry. He may rough house a bit, but he's much too attached to his own life to actually kill the boy." Rin looked confused, but when he opened his mouth to ask what Mephisto was talking about, the Demon King waved him off and said, "It's really none of your business. Nothing you need to know about."

The half-demon felt his stress build up to its peak. "He's the one responsible for my son when I'm not there! I deserve to—"

A sugary-sounding J-pop song and Mephisto holding up a hand silenced Rin's demand-making. The purple-haired demon answered his cellphone. "I do hope you remembered what I said about calling me too often…" He spoke in an intimidating tone as he glared down at the phone. He then held the phone closer to his ear, looking uninterested in what was being said by the person on the other end. "So I see. That isn't a problem, then. Take some time off if need be, the both of you. …Did you take me for a cruel taskmaster who makes people work when they're unwell? I care about every one of my precious little students. …And you'd like me to play doctor? Oh. Actually, I have a certain someone here who might be able to help you. I'll send him your way." He hung up and looked at Rin, expecting a response to that call.

"What's wrong?" Rin muttered, sounding exasperated as he was blocked off from the truth. "Something wrong with one of the students on campus?"

Mephisto nodded. "It appears that Okumura-kun has fallen ill and Kuroba-kun isn't sure what to do. To paraphrase what he said, he doesn't know how to cure a demon who's supposed to cure himself. I'm certain you know by now how to cure him of what ails him."

"God damn it…! What did that kid do to him?" Rin growled under his breath, clenching his fists tightly. "There's gonna be hell to pay!" He shouted. Before turning around and running out of the office, Rin just barely caught a glimpse of the entertained look on Mephisto's face.

X-X-X

"You really are the most pathetic demon ever," Kuroba muttered. He stood over Kazuki, who was in bed motionless and pale. His tail, at some point, slipped out from under his clothes, but not even that part of Kazuki moved or twitched for as long as he laid there. He probably would've been mistaken for a dead body if it wasn't for the occasional blink of his eyes and shallow breaths. "All you can do is heal yourself and you can't even fight sickness. Seriously, why do people care about keeping you alive when you're so useless? Maybe they think you'll decide to be like one of those anime heroes who fights monsters despite being one himself. That's such a tired out trope… It figures a bunch of old farts like the sound of that." The brunette bent over his dark-haired roommate and got a dangerous glint in his eyes. "It'd be so easy to put you outta your misery right now…"

The statement elicited a growl from Ouji. The inugami had been sitting at Kazuki's bedside since he had been bedbound, and since Kuroba refused to leave the room, much of Ouji's time was spent glaring at the brunette. The brunette stepped away from his roommate and plopped down on the bed set on the other side of the room. Even then, the dog kept glaring at Kuroba.

As if on cue, the door of the bedroom was forced open—even though it wasn't locked in the first place—and Rin came barging in with an upset expression. "KAZUKI!"

"Well, hell. I thought he wouldn't come here until tonight…" Kuroba muttered. The sound of his voice drew Rin's attention onto him, followed promptly by his rage. In what felt like an instant, Rin had grabbed Kuroba's shirt and lifted him up off the bed. "Hey! What're you—?!"

"What did you do to him?!" The half-demon growled.

"He's sick!"

"Because you did something to him!"

"Why would I do anything to that loser?!"

"You tried to hit him with a baseball bat!"

"I also cleaned up his goddamn vomit earlier and dragged his sorry ass back to bed!" The sound of retching followed by the sound of something splattering onto the floor made the brunette cringe before he glared in Kazuki's direction. "Not again! You haven't even eaten breakfast! Where is all that crap coming from?!"

Rin promptly dropped Kuroba on the floor before whirling around to look at his son. Kazuki's leg dangled off of the bed like he had been trying to leave to throw up. Obviously, from the vomit on the floor, he failed, and now he was wearing a look of pain from the effort. Said vomit wasn't pleasant to look at, either. It fizzed like carbonated soda and the faint tinges of red in it made Rin fear the worst. He approached Kazuki's bed, making sure to avoid what the boy had expelled, and helped him back into bed. "Why didn't you call and tell me you were sick?" Then again, considering how weak he looked at the moment, maybe Kazuki simply didn't have the strength to even pick up a phone. Thinking that was better than thinking he didn't want his help. "You probably picked up some bug or something."

"A guy who can probably heal from having his stomach torn open is susceptible to a stomach virus," Kuroba commented from his side of the room.

Rin looked at him from over his shoulder. "Just leave and let me look after him."

"I'm his handler. It's my job to handle him."

"Well you're not doing a good job of it, so just get out."

"How about you get out? I already called for help, and I'm sure they'll be more capable of taking care of Akumura than his daddy."

"I'm the one Mephisto sent to clean up your mess."

For the first time since they met, Kuroba looked genuinely displeased. "Oh, God, why…?"

X-X-X

Several hours later, Rin stood next to Kazuki's bed. Kurikara and the jacket that made up his exorcist's uniform had been put aside in a corner of the boys' room quite a while ago, right in Kazuki's line of view—a view that was only changed when he needed to throw up. A small bucket taken from the dorm bathroom had been placed beside his bed, but the recently wet spot on the floor showed that Kazuki tended to miss it. It was the vomit that was in the bucket that was unsettling—or rather the amount of it. At least a quarter of the bucket had been filled with the unsettling-looking throw-up, which made Rin worried and confused. What if this was something more serious than a mere illness? Something demonic? Heaven knows how often coal tar and other weak demons of rot had slipped past Mephisto's barrier, but it certainly wasn't never.

"Alright, son. I know you're not feeling well, but I need you to answer some questions for me." Kazuki grunted, showing that he was paying attention, but not so much whether or not he'd cooperate. "Did you happen to come across any demons last night? Maybe while you were in cram school?"

"No." The person who said that was Kuroba, who was sitting at one of the desks set on the other end of the room. While Kazuki was throwing his guts up, Kuroba was doing his homework for Monday. "We didn't come across any demons yesterday. And before you ask how I'd know that, I make sure to keep my eyes on Akumura everywhere. Even the bathroom." His last statement got the brunette a look of suspicion from Rin. "I'm his handler. I'm supposed to keep an eye on him at all times."

Rin looked back down at Kazuki. "I can't know how to help you if you don't tell me anything. You can't be so weak that you can't say anything." Still no response.

"Y'know, considering that he wants to die so badly, he's probably not saying anything on purpose," said Kuroba as he kept his eyes on his schoolwork. "Dying of a stomach virus… What a lame way to go. Though I guess it's more natural than dying of starvation…"

The sound of Kazuki throwing up into the bucket once again made Rin ignore the young brunette and set about trying to help him. "I don't know any demon that makes a person's body react like this," The half-demon spoke as he rubbed his son's back, talking more to himself than either of the boys. "I think I need another opinion on this…" He muttered as he checked his watch and pulled his phone out of his pants pocket. Rin dialed a number and after a moment of waiting, he got through. "Hey! Listen, I kind of need your opinion on something and Yukio's off on a mission right now, so…"

X-X-X

Shiemi had a meister as a doctor and was also the teacher of this year's entry level demon pharmacology class for the exorcist cram school, so naturally, she was the next person Rin would call after Yukio for a situation like a demon patient. Of course, she also had her own responsibilities—to her role as an exorcist, a wife, a mother, and now a teacher—so Rin was worried she would be too busy to be able to help. All he wanted was advice and an opinion, but Shiemi was more than willing to come by the dorm to take a look at Kazuki herself.

Moments later, she arrived dressed in one of the kimonos she usually wore at home, her long blonde hair held in place to the back of her head by a pin and a comb bearing a floral design. She was carrying a first aid kit for exorcist-related means, her hands gripping the handle of the box tightly. She had a serious look on her face and she spared little time with pleasantries. "Please take me to Kazuki-kun."

Rin guided her upstairs and to the sole occupied room in the building. Kuroba's reaction upon seeing Shiemi was a mixture of confusion and unpleasantness. "Huh? What's Fukui-sensei doing here?" Then he muttered to himself, "And what the heck is she wearing?"

Kazuki also reacted to Shiemi's appearance. His body shuddered for a moment, his tail twitched, and his pupils shrank all at once as he took in a short breath of air.

His teacher paid little mind to her healthy student and crossed over to the ill one. Her serious expression had become one of concern and she began to check him over the same way Rin had moments ago, even wiping away the sweat on his forehead and speaking to him softly and sweetly. She looked more like a mother than a doctor before her attention fell on the bucket of vomit on the floor. She sniffed its contents. "I smell rosemary…mugwort…" Shiemi listed several more plants whose scents she somehow managed to get from smelling Kazuki's vomit. It was hard to believe that the crap he threw up probably carried faint scents of something similar to the garden at Shiemi's home. It certainly stunned Rin once she was finished listing about seven types of plants that she had been able to identify. Then Shiemi's expression became serious once more. She looked down at Kazuki and placed her hands on her hips. "You didn't. Where is it? Where is it?"

Kazuki's looked in the direction of his book bag. Shiemi moved over to it and searched its contents.

"Uh… What're you doing, Shiemi?" Rin asked, unsure what looking through Kazuki's things would do for him.

The blonde woman pulled out a small plastic bottle. It held some murky-looking water inside with bits of green and purple collected at the bottom in a heap. She looked over at Kazuki to give him a look of disappointment before standing up and looking at Rin. "I think we need to talk outside for a moment…"

X-X-X

"At our last class…I instructed the students on how to make a certain concoction that could be used to exorcise demons. I allowed them to take what they made with them after class was done, but I…didn't think…" Shiemi sighed and buried her face in her hands. "I didn't think for a second about something bad happening to Kazuki-kun because…" She wasn't used to the idea of him not being human anymore and being affected by things like a homemade equivalent to holy water. "I am so sorry about this, Rin. Th-this wouldn't have happened if I—!"

"It's not your fault! Besides, it's not like you knew he'd drink it, considering…"

"Why on earth would he do such a thing after my demonstration?"

Rin forced himself to smile despite the pain and anger twisting knots inside of him. "You know teenage boys: they do a lot of dumb things. He probably didn't think it would do anything at all to him," he told Shiemi. Maybe also to himself in a vain attempt to ignore the more likely possibility.

"Anyway, even if Kazuki-kun's awakened his demonic power, he's still more human than demon and a lot stronger than a mere coal tar. His stomach's most likely been agitated by what he drank and it's resulted in him getting sick. It probably didn't help the rest of his body, either… I'm sure he'll be okay by tomorrow, but I'd still like to make some tea for him. It won't cure him, but it will help ease his stomach." But even after making enough tea to help Kazuki get through the night, Shiemi stuck around to help Rin make a dinner that Kazuki hopefully would be able to eat and prepare the bento he would take to school tomorrow. Though really, it seemed like she only stuck around for a surprise parent-teacher conference. "I'm a bit concerned about how Kazuki's adjusting to boarding school life," the blonde said in the midst of cleaning up. "I'm sure it's very difficult considering everything that's happened, but I was hoping that he would at least…try to participate. I mean, it must feel a tad strange when someone you know is your teacher, but he's spent most of his week in my class not even paying attention to me. It's a bit insulting…"

"D-don't worry! Kazuki has nothing against you!" Rin assured her. "Like you said, he's just having a hard time adjusting to things. And he was never interested in exorcist stuff, so it's no surprise that he isn't putting effort into his classes." Not that he wanted Kazuki to do well. Rin had totally convinced himself that the worst thing flunking out of cram school would get his son was the Vatican's belief that his son was incapable of being an exorcist. He doubted Shiemi would see things the same way, though.

"I would really like it if he tried to cooperate and paid attention so something like this can be avoided in the future."

"I'm sure he'll learn to not put anything in his mouth that you teach him to make. Or…anything used to harm demons. Thank you for being concerned for him. I'll give him a good scolding over this."

X-X-X

"So you drank something made to destroy demons." Kuroba gave Kazuki a lopsided smirk from across the room on his bed. "What? Were you dumb enough to think you were only possessed by a demon and that you could exorcise your demon bits away? Or were you sincerely trying to kill yourself again? Well…at least death by poison is a lot less lame than starving to death. And it probably would've worked if you were more demon than human."

Even while in pain, Kazuki managed to cast a glare at his roommate before allowing himself to be distracted by Ouji. The inugami had jumped up onto his bed and squirmed his way into his master's arms. Kazuki held Ouji close and whispered to him in a small voice, "I was so sure it would work. For once, being human got in the way… Nothing ever goes the way I want it to, does it?" Ouji's reaction was to lick Kazuki's face in an attempt to make him feel better.

"Why don't you just face facts and let those old church farts use you like the thing you are? I mean, it seems pretty impossible for you to die—unless your next method's gonna be finding a way to destroy your demon's heart." Kazuki looked at his roommate in confusion. "You know: that thing that's ironically a demon's greatest strength and biggest weakness." Kazuki maintained his confused look. Kuroba began to look annoyed at the quarter-demon's ignorance. "If you reveal your heart, you'll awaken the full force of your power—those blue flames people make a fuss over? But at the same time, you'd expose a major weak point. Destroy a demon's heart and they die instantly." Despite being a piece of morbid news, Kazuki's eyes lit up at the mention of it.

And then that light died the moment Rin entered the room holding a cup of hot tea. The look on his face was stern as he approached Kazuki and held out the cup. "Drink it." The quarter-demon stared at the tea with his lips twisted in disgust. "It'll help you feel better. Unless you want to keep throwing up?" With hesitation, Kazuki took the cup of tea and began to drink it. He shuddered a bit from the bitter taste, but kept drinking it. Rin looked at Kuroba. "Could you leave us alone for a moment?"

"Is this the part where you beat sense into him?" A sharp glare from the half-demon made the brunette boy roll his eyes before leaving the room.

Rin turned back to Kazuki, looking upset. The boy just kept drinking his tea, having been expecting a lecture from the moment Shiemi found his demon-purging concoction. "I'm moving in here." But he hadn't been expecting to hear that, and wound up spitting the tea back into the cup from surprise. Rin's stern expression didn't change a bit as he continued, "I obviously can't trust you to take care of yourself and that Kuroba kid didn't even notice what you did."

"I don't need you—!"

"You haven't proved that! All you've proved is that you need a-a babysitter to make sure you don't do stupid things like that! What on earth even possessed you to do such a thing?! Were you trying to kill yourself or did you just think you could purge your demon blood out of you like it was some goddamn illness?! Damn it, Kazuki, I thought you'd accepted this by now! There's no going back, so just face reality and stop doing stupid crap!" Kazuki remained silent and began drinking tea once more to ignore his father and the way his eyes teared up during his complaining. "I'm going home to get some things and Kuro. Don't you dare do anything while I'm gone." He walked out of the room, unaware of Kazuki glaring at his back.