"Twenty-eight stab wounds!!"

DEMONSDEMONSDEMONSDEMONSDEMONSDEMONSDEMONSDEMONS

The twins sat next to each other for breakfast the next morning. Rin had a talent for not getting hangovers, which Shura hated him for.

She was also annoyed at the fact that Rin still refused to drink with her, but drank by himself instead.

"Mornin' Rin-senpai, Okumura- sensei." Suguro came in and sat with them, Konekomeru trailing not too far behind him. Rin nodded and Yukio grunted in acknowledgement. Rin elbowed his brother. "Be professional, Yukio." He mocked. "Bite me." The teen muttered.

Shima came in minutes later. "Morning guys." He murmured, sitting next to Rin. Rin yawned and they all got a good look at his razor sharp fangs. "Hey, Rin-senpai, is it hard to eat without biting your tongue?" Suguro wondered. Rin shook his head. "Nah. It's easy to avoid it if you're used to them." He answered. The girls were the last to join them at the table.

"Morning, ladies." Rin acknowledged them. God, why did he look hot even when his hair was messy and still down?

Shiemi turned bright red and stuttered out a 'good morning, Rin-san' while Izumo pretended not to notice the pink tinting her cheeks. It was Yukio's turn to elbow his twin.

"Hey, girls, we were thinking of going swimming later. Wanna join us?" Shima offered with a smile. His brothers introduced themselves to Rin and Yukio while Rin punched Shima in the gut. "I didn't even do anything?!" Shima rasped, doubled over in pain. "You didn't need to. All ya had to do was open your mouth." Suguro snickered, patting his friend on the shoulder.

"I'd do just about anything to have a day off, but we have to help with the wounded and shoring up defenses. Have fun for us, will ya?" Rin told the two older men. They said they would and went to their little brother to bully him some more.

"Speaking of defenses...." Yukio mentioned. Rin sighed. "Yeah, I know. That thing is practically shaking the ground. I guess we'll have to fight it regardless. The only question there is about it is when we fight it. The second eye was stolen already. Last night. No one wanted to make a commotion, so we kept it between the Elites. I couldn't catch her. She had help from that Todou guy." Rin explained quietly as the twins left the dining area.

Yukio frowned. "Where was I during all if this?" He questioned suspiciously. "Passed out. I let you sleep. You need it about as much as I do anyways. And I don't like that Todou guy. He's a creep. And he's handsy. Wouldn't let anybody near him ever again if I could help it." Rin shuddered. "Did-Did he try to grope you?!" Yukio gasped incredulously. Rin's scowl deepened. "I don't know what he was trying to do, but he's fuckin' wierd. He's pretty sneaky, too."

They separated to go do their jobs.

§~•~§~•~§

After the announcement about the second eye of the Impure King being stolen, there was chaos. People crowded around the scene of the crime.

And of course, Tatsuma couldn't avoid his son as he was trying to leave to stop Mamushi and get the eyes back.

Suguro yelled at his father, blamed him for their misfortune, told him he didn't want Tatsuma acting like his father ever again. Man, was that a blast to the past! "Talk about deja vú." Yukio had muttered. As entertaining as the scene before them was, they didn't have any time to lose and no one else wanted to stop the raging teen.

Rin stepped in between them just as Suguro was going to punch his dad. What a moron!

He caught the boy's fist and pushed Tatsuma away lightly. "Go get her. I haven't been called in yet. I'll take care of him." Rin ordered. The priest nodded in thanks and left.

"Oi! The hell do you mean you'll take care of me?! Let go!" Suguro was still angry and tried to pull his fist out of Rin's hand. Rin looked down his nose at the ExWire. He'd learned a trick or two from previous teachers. Look disapproving and the student always backs down. It also helped to be taller than them. Kinda hard to intimidate if you were shorter than the person you were supposed to be intimidating....

Suguro stopped once he noticed the disapproving and slightly scary gaze and put his head down. "I know you have a pretty bad relationship with your dad, but you should be grateful. I don't have parents. You're lucky enough to have both. If he can't tell you something, it's because there are secrets that aren't meant for your ears. Stop being such a brat and grow up. You're a mess and you're gonna get all your friends killed if you don't get your shit together." Rin was never one for sugar coating. Get the point across quick and easy.

Suguro nodded and bowed slightly. "I'm sorry." He muttered. "Well Hell, don't apologize to me, apologize to your dad when he gets back. I'm gonna go now. Don't let me hear about you causing trouble again." Rin warned, clapping him on the back.

They parted ways and Rin knew that this was probably the last time any of the students would respect him, let alone go anywhere near him.

§~•~§~•~§

It didn't take long for Rin to catch up to Tatsuma. "So, you're the famed Weapon of the Vatican, huh?" The older man chuckled. "The One and Only. About all I'm good for to them and I ain't dyin' yet." Rin told him. "Fair enough. You seem like a good guy. Watch my son for me will ya?"

Rin nodded and they stopped as they reached the old abandoned temple. It was looking a little worse for wear. Rin winced. He'd forgotten that it was his birth that cause the collapse of the Buddhist Temple here. Not wasting any more time, they charged in. He followed Tatsuma downstairs to the basement to see Hojo Mamushi and Todou Saburota about to wake the Impure King.

Rin leaped into action. He pounced on Todou and left the woman to Tatsuma. The old priest had more luck convincing her this wasn't right and bringing her back safely. Rin had to go head-to-head with this creep.

"Ah, the son of Satan himself has decided I'm worthy enough to fight him! How flattering!" The man looked much younger- maybe in his early twenties now, the gray gone from his hair and wrinkles nowhere to be seen. "What the hell did you do?!" Rin demanded. "On the way there, he forced me down and ate Karura. He has the powers of the Phoenix now!" Tatsuma answered from across the basement as he was dodging the twin snakes that were Mamushi's arms.

"Hah. Yes, I feel much younger and lighter! It's amazing. I wish I could use this fire on you, but it won't work since your flames trump mine." Todou gave him a saccharine smile and Rin scoffed. The man disappeared for a second and rematerialized behind Rin.

He grabbed the long tail whipping about in a fury, matching it's master's mood. Rin gave a shout as pain shot up his spine when the demon man yanked it. He laughed, pulling it harshly again. "The hell are you trying to do, disconnect it?!" Rin shrieked. His sarcastic remark took Todou by surprise so he loosened his grip on the sensitive appendage. Rin spun around with a roundhouse kick to the man's head.

Todou stumbled back–right into the Impure King. He smirked and reached up. Rin cursed as he tried to get the man away from the sack of literal demon sludge, but he wasn't fast enough to stop the man from giving the right eye to the Demon.

"Curse it!" Tatsuma wheezed as Mamushi made a leap. She landed on top of the demon sack and shoved the left eye inside. Rin yanked her down by her hair and shielded her just as the temple exploded. It was filled with goo, spores, and Miasma. Rin choked, losing his grip on Mamushi. He'd been the closest, so naturally, he was disoriented enough to not even be able to see. He'd also inhaled a whole lungful of the demon when it exploded, so that just made it worse.

He couldn't tell which direction was up or down, all he knew was that the Impure King was filling up his lungs with it's spores and he'd die soon if he didn't burn the infection away. He couldn't use his flames inside his own body, but he could burn away what was on the outside. He let out a rasping scream as bright blue flames burst from his body. It wasn't enough to take the Impure King down, but it was enough to get away.

He staggered around outside until he was on grass, not spores. He was still coughing up Miasma and blood and bile. It turned out that Juzo had been following them, so he was taking Mamushi back to the Ryokan. Tatsuma had been stabbed by none other than the rejuvinated Todou.

The fight between Rin and the demon eater was short and ended in Rin also getting stabbed–multiple times, in fact. There was now a deep wound just about everywhere important and he was losing a lot of his blood. His flames grew weaker until they sputtered out and Rin wondered how he'd failed so spectacularly.

What a wonderful day.

He shouldn't be dying like this, it was incredibly embarrassing, but the Miasma directly infecting his lungs was keeping his accelerated healing at bay. He was going to die here next to Tatsuma Suguro on a mountain.

Everyone would die....

Everyone would die soon after him and Tatsuma.

Shima would be alone again.

Rin wondered why that thought bothered him so much. He was just some First Year he'd met a few months ago. Maybe it was because of how deeply they understood each other.

"I'm not Takezo and I never will be."

Shima's fierce expression from that memory surfaced in his mind. Angry caramel colored eyes glaring at the ground.

"Hate the way the treat me like I'm supposed to be their perfect Takezo. He's gone."

Rin wheezed, trying to crack his eyes open, even just a little bit. Trying to find strength in his limbs to move again.

"I don't understand why they think they can force an entirely different person to be their lost son and not see how much that hurts."

Rin forced his eyes open and coughed out more spores. He sounded like an asthmatic who'd just tried to run a marathon when he breathed, but he got up, using trees to support him. First, he had to get Tatsuma out of here. Then, he had to burn this son of a bitch until it retreated back to Gehenna where it belonged so he could live to see the day he could escape the Vatican and live a free life.

"Oh god, why did I have to be noble and become an Exorcist? I should've just picked suicide." Rin groaned as he lifted the priest. He looked up. There was a clear space through the trees. He could calculate the distance between here and the Ryokan. Sort of.

Good enough. He crouched, built up the energy in his legs, then launched them into the air. Tainted air blew his hair out of his face. There it was. He could see people running about in a panic down at the Ryokan. Good, they were aware.

The landing would have been spot on if he hadn't been carrying a man twice his size and if he'd been at full strength. He stumbled on the landing and rolled over several times. He cauterized Tatsuma's wound quickly before dragging the unconscious man to the building. Some servants gasped at the sight and ran for help. Rin spotted Shura amongst the Exorcists trying to organize a summoning fire. "Shura!" He called. His throat was sore and raw, but he talked nonetheless. There were more important things to deal with right now.

"Rin?! Holy Hell, you look like shit! What happened to you?!" She blanched at his appearance. Instead of answering, he pulled off his ruined overshirt and threw it into the fire. It blazed even higher and he grinned, despite being in immense pain and a high chance of death hanging over his head.

"Listen, I have to go back up there. I'm going to summon a familiar, you guys summon a fire demon and I'll get them to help me too. I need enough power to be able to purify the entire mountain." He told her, taking off as soon as he was done talking. "Wha-okay, but the ExWires are all up there, looking for Tatsuma!" Shura cried after him. He growled and ran faster.

§~•~§~•~§

Kuro was a good cat. He'd found a clear spot near the top of the mountain to land and protect while Suguro kept the shield up after learning it from his dad before the old man passed out again. Rin had been holding off this thing for about and hour and a half. He was dead tired, but that wasn't anything new, so he just pushed through it like always.

Suguro now knew of Rin's parentage after a quick explanation of the blue flames. He wasn't too happy about the flames that killed his Temple actually saving the Ryokan. Rin knew he shouldn't get his hopes up, but he really hoped these kids didn't hate him after they found out about him.

On another bad note, the Miasma inside his lungs was slowly killing him from the inside. Also not new, but still bad. His veins were turning russet colored and the skin of his arms was turning a sickly yellowish color. So far, it had reached from his fingertips to his elbows.

"Sensei!" Suguro called.

"Yeah, kid?" Rin answered. "Why did you do it? Why did you let them make you their weapon?"

Rin sighed with a dry smile on his face. "I wasn't done yet. This was the only way. Satan killed my Dad. I'll repay the man that raised me by killing Satan." He responded simply. Suguro nodded. That was respectable.

"Alright. So after this, you gotta tell everybody else! I'll take this as a peace offering after your dad burned down my temple!" Suguro told him. Rin turned to look at him, surprised. "You gotta think things through first, don't ya?" Suguro threw him a tired grin, knowing Rin would recognize the words he'd said to the teen once. Rin returned the smile, nodding.

A short while later, Suguro was down. Rin was afraid he was dead, but just in case, sent Kuro to guard him.

Rin didn't have the energy to summon a demon, but little things like that had never stopped him before. He'd pull power that he didn't have to save the mountain and he'd deal with the consequences. He'd done it before.

He chanted the words as they popped into his head–Something in Ancient Gehennan, a spell. Blue Fire gathered. He pulled it from all the living energy around him. His breathing was strained now, barely able to hold the fire in place.

Fire burn and fire take

Protect the heart, do not let it break

Bring back this ancient art again,

In exchange for power hidden within.

A winged demon ignited in front of him, an ancient dragon. It's scales were hues of blue and white, matching it's Master's appearance.

"Shobo-shi, help me. We have to purify the mountain and get rid of the Impure King." He rasped out the order. The dragon nodded and watched as Rin gathered power slowly. His hair turned pale blue at the roots and faded to white at the ends, as did his tail. His eyes changed to match the blue of his flames. Curved horns sprouted from his forehead and reached upwards, curling over his head as if to guard it.

Honestly, for something as simple as the Impure King, he shouldn't need to use his most powerful form. But, because of his slowly dying body, this form granted him the firepower(ha)
that he needed to kill the Demon. Of course, he'd probably be in a coma for a week after this as a toll for using power he didn't have, but fuck it all, it was kill or be killed now.

Uchusma appeared to him and helped Rin gather even more flames by using Kashō Zānmai.

I'm gonna be so fucked when I return to normal....

With that last thought, Rin blasted the entire mountain with blue flames, purifying every inch of it and then some. The demon was blasted straight to Hell where it belonged and Rin was left passed out on a normal flat rock near the top of the mountain.

Blood oozed from his body and ran down the stones, staining them. Miasma coated his insides and he wheezed out one more breath before giving in and closing his eyes.