Guys, my friend wanted me to make Rin wear heels and I have no shame because I want to see him in heels destroying gender norms too. Though, Rin only wears them because he's shorter than the other guys besides Konekomeru. Enjoy!

DEMONSDEMONSDEMONSDEMONSDEMONSDEMONSDEMONSDEMONS

Rin walked into class the next day with burns still on his face and arms. Yukio had to explain what happened after Rin left the scene the night before.

"So Izumo has some connection to the Illuminati, Lucifer declared war on the Order, and Shima's a traitor." Rin summed up. "He's not a traitor! We'll get both of them back safely!" Bon stood up, his chair screeching against the tile. Rin raised a brow. "Seems to me like he's a traitor. Didn't hesitate to try and kill me." Rin retorted, unbuttoning his shirt so Suguro could see the bloodied bandages over the gash in his stomach.

Suguro's glare lessened. "Shouldn't that be healed by now?" He mumbled, sitting back down. Rin gave a one shouldered shrug. "Might have something to do with the black flames on the end of his staff. My healing's slowed down. These burns should already be gone too."

"Yes, that is correct, Okumura. Shima is with the enemy and Kamiki has some significance in all of this. Her file tells us nothing because Mephisto has most of it redacted, though." Yukio answered the statement Rin had made earlier.

"So what are we going to do?" Shiemi spoke up. Rin looked at her.

"Is there something we're supposed to do? We're only trainees. We have virtually no power aside from me. You and Suguro are defense and Suguro needs to be protected. Konekomeru is useless when it comes to physical activity. He's an Aria too, so that's two people I'd need to protect. On top of that, Shiemi, Nii isn't that strong yet, so his defenses don't last long." Rin pointed out.

"Hey!" Konekomeru cried, trembling. He didn't like the son of Satan, but he'd just been insulted!

"What? It's logic. There's no way we're going to rescue Izumo." Rin said.

§~•~§~•~§

"Congratulations, ExWires! You're going to Shimane to rescue Kamiki Izumo!" Mephisto cheered. Rin glared at the Time Lord for proving him wrong. They weren't even Exorcists yet, what the hell? He'd get the demon back later.

"Now, go pack your things and be at the airport in an hour?"

§~•~§~•~§

An hour later, Rin was ready and standing at the entrance to the airport, waiting for the rest of the class to show up. Yukio was miffed that Rin was the same height as him. And no, the half-demon didn't grow. He was wearing heeled combat boots. They weren't that high, but still high enough to look more feminine than masculine.

Suguro and Konekomeru showed up first. Suguro frowned at Rin for a minute before realizing he was put off because Rin was taller than he'd been an hour ago. "Oi, what the hell?" He muttered, backing up. "He's wearing heels." Konekomeru pointed out. Suguro looked down to see that it was true and blanched.

"You're a guy! Why are you wearing heels?!" He cried.

Rin shrugged. "I'm short and it gets annoying, gender roles be damned." He said dismissively.

"He once had to play a girl's part in our middle school play. Everyone was convinced he was a girl when he wore the costume. It took some training to walk in those heels. I still have the video, I think." Yukio grinned. Rin narrowed his eyes.

Don't.

I will.

You'd better not.

I'm going to show them sometime.

I will poison your food.

Jokes on you, I never eat at home anymore.

Fuck you.

Rin looked away from his twin to end their silent argument just as Shiemi arrived.

"Waah! Rin, you're taller!" She gasped. Yukio snickered and they all shouldered their bags. "He's wearing heels." Bon sighed. He was more than done with the half-demon's nonchalant attitude about things that mattered to everyone around him.

§~•~§~•~§

"Fucking crowds." Rin growled, stepping away as a couple with their child passed.

"It's okay, Rin." Shiemi assured him with a giggle, patting his arm.

"We're still way too inexperienced." The teen shook his head.

"Well, we at least have Takara. He's apparently an Exorcist. What we need to do is find where Izumo could be." Yukio interrupted, looking at his map of the shrine.

They were currently in Shimane Prefecture at the Inari temple shrine. It was swarmed with tourists, something Rin couldn't stand. But he was having fun one-upping Suguro by being as tall as him. The wannabe punk was snapping at him every five minutes to "go back to your own height, damnit!"

Rin decided to take it a step farther. "Aw, c'mon, I look good in these." He draped his arms over the usually taller male's shoulders. Suguro still freaked out whenever Rin touched him. "Relax, I'm not gonna burn you." Rin chided them with a grin. Both Suguro and Konekomeru flinched.

Ah.

"So that's it, huh?" He said.

"Excuse me?" Suguro said.

"I won't burn you. You'll be fine." Rin insisted. Konekomeru backed away, seeing what Rin was about to do, but Suguro stood his ground. Rin let some of his flames slip loose, covering his hands in ghostly blue. The taller boy flinched, but didn't back away. Rin walked towards him.

When Suguro finally moved away, Rin reached out and grabbed him quickly. He willed the flames to spread over his comrade. The boy freaked out, trying to get away, but Rin's grip was iron on his wrist.

It took him a minute to realize all he felt was warmth. It was actually almost cold....

Did the flames reflect Rin's emotions? Were they cold because Rin had none? It was sad to think about. This poor guy didn't know what it was like to feel joy or excitement. That meant he didn't know what it was like to really live either.

Suguro watched in fascination as the flames spread up his arm and into his hair. They danced and flickered in his hair. "I wonder if Karura approves of you as a host." Rin hummed. Suguro furrowed his brows in confusion.

"What do you mean?" He wondered.

"I'm royalty in Gehenna and to any demon that knows me. Technically, Karura is in my territory, as well as Iblis'. Do you think he'll get upset over you hating his Prince?" Rin reiterated. Suguro blanched.

"Wh-I don't hate you!" He claimed incredulously. Rin raised an eyebrow.

Suguro sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I don't hate you." He repeated. "I just find it hard to be around someone who can't understand why people are the way they are or why they do things. Whether it's your fault or not, it's hard to be friends with someone who doesn't even know what emotions feel like."

Rin cocked his head to the side. "You're right." He decided. "It is hard to be friends with someone who doesn't feel." He mused.

"But it's also hard to be friends with someone who feels too much sometimes." His eyes met Suguro's russet colored ones again. There was an unexpected calm in hsi blue eyes that wasn't his normal calm. It was almost soft.

An understanding seemed to pass between them and they ran to catch up with the others.

§~•~§~•~§

After hearing Izumo's tragic backstory from the puppet of Mike, the group was more determined than ever to save her.

Even Rin. He had a respect for Kamiki that no one else quite understood. Kamiki liked to cut herself off from things to keep from caring, so she somewhat understood what it was like being so alone in the world.

They sat in the bushes scoping out the guards at the entrance. Mephisto told Yukio to make the decision -basically saying that if they failed, it would be Yukio's fault. He could see how unsure Yukio was about this.

Rin met his twin's gaze.

Trust me.

Yukio made the decision to advance on their own. The guards were easily dispatched by the half-demon and his familiar, who had insisted on coming.

Kuro grew to full size while Rin walked out in front of the guards. "This is no place for students, go back home!" One yelled at him. Yukio walked out behind Rin.

"I'm the Captain. Follow my orders. Especially you, Rin." He murmured.

"I know, Captain Nerd!" Rin grinned menacingly, not taking his eyes off the guards as he unsheathed Kurikara.

"Moeru-Nami!" He slashed his sword twice and set two guards on fire while Kuro crushed some under his huge paws and Suguro swung at them with his bazooka. Within minutes, there was a pile of men off to the side.

Rin scoffed. "Easy victory."

"Anyway, what was that?" Suguro turned to the son of Satan.

"Moeru-Nami. It's literally just Burning Wave in kanji. I'm not very creative with names." Rin answered, sheathing the sword.

Yukio snorted. "Well, at least it's not something stupid like 'Satan Slash.'" He said. They walked inside.

"Well, it certainly is easy for you to remember...." Suguro grumbled. Rin narrowed his eyes. "Are you making fun of me?" He wondered. "Noooo.....you are so trustworthy." The older teen teased. Before Rin could argue, Shiemi gasped.

The lobby of Inari Dream Town looked like a shopping mall.

"Do the people who got in that bus earlier really live here? For an enemy base, there's not even a soul." Suguro asked, looking around.

"No, there is. Something's here, don't lower your guard." Rin ordered, slipping his knife from the sleeve of his shirt.

"What, you feel something?" Shiemi looked around nervously. She tried to grab Rin's arm, but he grabbed her, turned her away, and placed Nee–who'd been on her head–on her shoulder. "Don't come running to me. Be ready to defend." He moved to his other comrades and classmates, moving them into a formation with their backs to the door, facing out at the mall with their weapons ready. "We'll move forward, but go slow. I don't trust this." He commanded.

"You don't trust anything." Yukio said. Rin elbowed him in the side.

The half-demon glanced around the room and caught movement. He sent Kuro to sneak a look at it and report back. The cat looked shaken when he returned. "It's a monster, Rin!" He shivered.

"What the hell does that mean, cat?" He hissed.

"It looks like one of those things, oh, what do humans call them....the undead! And it has a collar with numbers on it." Kuro reiterated. Just as the cat stopped speaking, the thing turned towards them. Rin cursed quietly and sent a flaming knife through the thing's head. Blue fire silently consumed the monster. Before it stopped moving completely, it muttered "Hnnn....gryyyyy."

"That is a zombie. I thought it was a ghoul, but it talked just now. It's rare, but only zombies are capable, as long as the brain and vocal cords are unaffected by the necrosis." Yukio told them.

"What's the difference, just tell me how to kill it already." Rin huffed, another flaming knife already in his hand.

"We learned this in class, you idiot!" Suguro barked. "Zombies are much more difficult than Ghouls. Ghouls are slow and don't eat humans, just mild aggression towards everything. Zombies are also slow, but they eat humans and are very aggressive when hungry."

"You have to destroy the brain to take them down. Zombies are demons that parasitize the body of humans affected by necrosis." Konekomeru explained.

"So if you exorcised the demon, the hosts would be saved?!" Shiemi gasped.

Yukio shook his head in dismay at her naive hopefulness. "There isn't a single case where a body in a stage of necrosis this advanced ever regained their humanity. All we can do for them is put them to rest."

Rin walked over to the body, seeing a tag through the flames. He yanked it off, causing half of the now crispy corpse to crumble onto the floor. "Experiment Body No. 6411. What kind of experiments were they conducting? And that number rid frighteningly big." Rin muttered.

As soon as he finished talking, the half gone zombie lurched onto Rin, surprising the half-demon enough for him to nearly fall over. A bullet to the head from Yukio and the half corpse slumped against Rin. He pushed it off, walking back over to his class.

"Well, that was a half-baked attempt." He pointed out. Suguro groaned, meanwhile Konekomeru looked sick.

"Come on, that one was fire." Yukio snickered.

"Yuki, not you too...." Shiemi whined.

"Hey. Don't take away my claim to Flame." Rin said seriously.

"You must think you're hilarious." Suguro glared at the twins.

"I was hoping I'd at least get a good job. You brought this upon yourself when you didn't reward my efforts." Rin stated.

"You don't care about anything, why are you asking to be congratulated?" Yukio rolled his eyes.

"Because I'm trying to annoy you. Is it working?" The teen gave his twin a lazy grin. Yukio glared at him before turning towards the sound of bare feet shuffling on the tile floors.

Dozens of undead bodies advanced from all around them, leaving only the tunnel in front of them to escape through. The one they'd just killed got back up again and started dragging itself towards them.

"The hell is happening?!" Suguro cried, batting some away with his bazooka. Rin's sword was drawn again.

"Immortal zombies?" He offered, taking to slicing and dicing them so they were incapable of moving as a whole body.

"We need to find the underground entrance, now!" Yukio ordered, leading the group down the hallway.