Hello again! I apologize for the long gap between chapter postings this time. I had mentioned last chapter that I was studying to take the American Medical College Admission Test-aka the MCAT. It has consumed my life along with medical school applications, but I'm taking a well-deserved break for the next few days. I cranked out this chapter and maybe we'll see another again soon. Who knows? Anything is possible when you believe/want to stop studying!

Thank you for sticking with this story and I hope you enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 5: Intriguing

Cold. She had gone cold. Her heart was beating too fast and there seemed to be an odd ringing sound filling her ears.

Yukio, her little brother who she had always protected, was an…

He knew.

The thought echoed in her head, clanging against her skull. Yukio had known. Demons, Exorcists, no doubt about her and Rin as well.

Her hands tightened into fists

Dad had his reasons, Kazuki told herself. But goddammit, Yukio was her brother. Her little brother. What right did Dad have to get him involved and leave the older two out? Yukio didn't belong in this world, he was human and he could have remained ignorant. Why would her father do this?

And why would Yukio go along with it?

I will not get angry, she chanted to herself as the shock began to wear off. I will not get angry. Deep breathes, in and out like Father Fujimoto had taught her.

Rin's shouting drew her out of her thoughts.

"I'm trying to talk to you, Yukio!" her brother yelled, already on his feet. "Explain yourself!"

Yukio drew in a short breath and pressed his lips together minutely. Pissed, Kazuki thought. Well, she didn't know what he had been expecting when he waltzed in here and began teaching them like it was the most natural thing in the world. Rin, in general, didn't take well to surprises.

"As I said before," Yukio answered stiffly, "I became an Exorcist at thirteen. I began training at the age of seven."

"That's not what I meant and you know it!" Rin fired back hotly.

Yukio's eyes sought her out. She could read the request in them, the silent plea to please get Rin to shut up. She was tempted to ignore it and let him lie in the bed he had made for himself, but she had promised herself that she would learn from her mistakes. Anger had been her first reaction when Father Fujimoto told them the truth and that had led to her dad dying thinking she hated him.

But goddammit, Yukio hadn't exactly made this easy for her.

She reached up and grasped the collar of Rin's shirt and used all her considerable strength to yank him back down into his chair.

Rin flailed in his seat before turning accusing eyes on her. "Kazuki!"

"Rin," she hissed, hand still on his collar. "Sit down and shut up."

"But Yukio…" he waved his arms in Yukio's direction.

She gritted her teeth. "He's an asshole, I know. We can beat him up after class. But right now you're making a scene. We're supposed to lay low, remember?"

"Yes, something I'm starting to think you may be incapable of," dog-Mephisto sniffed from where he sat at their feet, having fallen out of Rin's lap when her brother had stood.

Kazuki glared daggers at the dog to get it to shut up. She got what she wanted and ignored the offended huff the whiskered mutt let out.

Turning her attention back to her brother she watched Rin's hands clench into fists with wary eyes. She could see how angry he was. He was on the edge of an explosion, his body screaming for a fight. "Please," she requested, her voice tight, her eyes purposefully catching his and holding them.

Rin's eyes bored into her, burning with uncontrollable anger that begged for release. She took a deep breath, pushing down the wave of fury that seeing Rin's own anger sparked in her. They didn't need an explosion. They needed to lay low, to blend in. And they were already failing not ten minutes in. Breathe. She did, like Dad had taught her. "Please," she repeated.

Rin's brow screwed up, but his body began to relax, eventually giving her a tense nod. "Fine." She carefully let go of his shirt, making sure he would behave and not jump right back to his feet. He grumbled and sent Yukio a harsh glare, but slumped back in his seat with his arms crossed, content to wait for the end of class.

"Thank you, Okumura-chan." Yukio gave her a polite nod, his face blank.

"You're welcome, Okumura-sensei," she replied tersely, her body vibrating with held in emotion. Breathe. She met his eyes and did her best to convey to him that they were going to have a talk very soon whether he liked it or not.

His eyes tightened minutely before returning to his lecture.

Determined to give her brother the benefit of the doubt and to control her anger until she knew where it should be directed, Kazuki put all of her focus into listening to the lecture. Yukio was good at teaching; she knew this from the times he had tutored her in middle school. And unlike the math and science classes she had taken back then, she had a feeling this stuff was actually going to be interesting.

"So, as I was saying before, I will be diluting the rotten animal blood in ten parts milk." He turned the board and began writing on it. "Dilutions are common in anti-demon pharmacology and they will be our focus for today's class. You will be expected to perform them often. There is an equation that you will memorize to make diluting easier." He drew said equation on the board with precise stokes.

With Yukio's back turned, a certain mutt decided that it no longer wanted to be secluded to the floor and hopped up in her lap. Kazuki jumped in surprised and glared down at the headmaster-turned-dog that was currently perched on her thighs, having seemingly decided she was the more reliable half-demon triplet. She happily proved him wrong and shoved him back on the floor, smirking at his offended squawk.

"This equation looks at volume and concentration." Yukio pointed out the corresponding variables. "You always start a dilution with a solution of known volume and concentration. By taking a portion of this original solution and adding more solvent to it, you can make a second solution that isn't as concentrated. This is called dilution."

He began to explain that they would be looking at the protein concentration in the blood since that was what the goblins were drawn to. Kazuki watched as his fingers moved over the glassware with practice skill, and even though she might possibly be very angry with him once she got some answers, she was proud at how well he explained what he was doing. It was clear that the entire class understood.

"Those of you who have yet to receive your mashou please step forward."

The goblins looked kind of like demented basketballs with arms and acted like skittish cats, Kazuki observed. A pair of them slowly made their way to the front of the classroom when a drop of diluted animal's blood was placed on the floor. Yukio caught one with quick hands and had each of the unmarked students hold out a finger to be nipped. Once it's job was complete, Yukio let the goblin go and it, along with its friend, scurried to the back of the classroom, deciding that the meal wasn't worth the hassle of getting man-handled.

"Now," he turned to the class with his lips quirked. "To get to the bulk of today's lesson: dilutions."

An hour later Yukio dismissed them with a worksheet full of dilution problems to be completed by next class period as well as a list of herbs and their uses they were expected to have memorized by next week. As the class filed out and Yukio packed up his equipment, Rin and Kazuki stayed seated at their shared desk.

Mephisto had long ago returned to his original seat in Rin's lap and Kazuki's continued attempts to catch his eyes and tell him to scram were blatantly ignored. It seemed he wanted to be present for the impending talk.

Once the classroom was empty (sans one furry mutt), the only noise that could be heard was the light tinkling of glassware as Yukio dutifully cleaned up after himself. Her little brother's face was completely lacking emotion, but Kazuki noticed he gripped his instruments with more force than was perhaps necessary.

Rin, for his part, had stayed relatively calm during the lesson. He was still angry, that was clear from the deep frown on his face and his clenched hands, but at least he was no longer explosive.

Time to get the ball rolling then…

"So you're an exorcist?" Kazuki asked carefully.

An emotionless nod. "I am."

"And you've been training since we were seven?"

Another nod.

"I'm sorry."

Yukio looked up from his work and blinked at her, caught off guard. Even Rin was giving her an incredulous stare. Kazuki wasn't really sure where those words had come from, but she meant them. Whether her brother deserved her anger or not, he had been asked to keep a secret from them for years. She recognized the difficulty in that.

"You had to deal with this all on your own," Kazuki explained with a shrug. "I'm sorry."

Yukio carefully placed a beaker into his bag, but the emotionless mask he had been wearing before was gone and his eyes looked a little more alive now. "I chose to become an exorcist," he told her, his every word measured like he was wont to do when he was irritated or upset. "I've been able to see demons since I was born, one of you gave me a mashou at birth. When…" Yukio's hands paused before continuing loading his pack. "When Dad realized, he told me everything and he asked if I wanted to become an exorcist."

"Why?" Rin's voice cracked and he stared resolutely at the desk in front of him, arms still crossed. "Why didn't you tell us? We could have protected you."

Yukio's lips pulled up in a humorless smile, he closed his bag and leaned against the front of the teacher's desk. "I didn't tell you because I became and exorcist to become stronger. To protect you. Both of you. Dad said you would need to be protected."

"Because we're Satan's kids," Rin surmised bitterly.

"Yes."

The word sat heavily between them. The confirmation that they were the spawn of a demon. She had often wondered who her birth parents had been, all three of them had; but never in her wildest dreams had she imagined Satan as her father. She didn't know how that was possible, or what it even meant. But everyone, including Father Fujimoto, had made it sound like it was a bad thing.

"What…" Yukio swallowed and studied his hands. "What did you do to him?"

"What do you mean?" Kazuki asked, frowning at the vague question.

He looked at her over his glasses, his expression guarded. "The night father died; what did you say to him? Kyodo said that Satan possessed him. Dad's the only person in the world thought to be able to sustain possession by Satan. He fought Satan off for fifteen years through pure force of will. He would have never allowed the possession unless he had received a fatal blow to his mind. If Dad ever had a weakness, it was you two. So… what did you do?"

Kazuki stared Yukio, her body going cold once again.

You are not my father.

The words she had spoken in anger came back to her in an instant. Had she not already been agonizing over them for the past few days? The last words she had said to her father had been ones of hate and she could never take that back. But Yukio implied that…

"No." The word left her in gasp and her whole body began to shake. She looked at Yukio's resigned face with growing horror.

Shocked numbness began to creep over her as her eyes filled up with tears once again. It couldn't be true. She hadn't meant them. Her father had known she loved him… hadn't he?

Kazuki drew in a shaking breath to answer her brother's original question, because Yukio deserved to know and Rin was remaining silent. "The…the night Dad died, Rin and I told him that… that he that he wasn't our father." She bowed her head, shame and grief filling her.

"You…?" Yukio's voice was shocked, disbelieving. But it quickly turned venomous. "Why the hell would you do that? I knew it! I knew it was you two."

Beside her, there was a sound of rushing air as Rin surged to his feet and erupted into blue flames. Kazuki was on her feet just as quickly. However, her target wasn't Yukio. She stood between her two brothers, standing closest to Rin in case she had to hold him back. She didn't know what he would be capable of if he let his anger take over while his flames were summoned. Yukio had taken several steps back the moment Rin moved. His pistols were drawn, though they remained at his side.

Kazuki put a hand on Rin's chest, pushing him back. Her brother resisted so she pushed harder, forcing his feet to move. "Calm down," she ordered in the no-nonsense voice that had always worked on him in the past. Rin glared at her, but she held his gaze, daring him to misbehave. They had gotten themselves in a dangerous situation. Blue fire and guns and grief-ridden hearts that were waiting to erupt at the right spark. She had already lost one family member. She wouldn't lose another.

Rin looked away first, his flames flickering out as he did so.

Emotions rolling beneath her composed exterior, she looked back a Yukio who was currently staring at his siblings with wary eyes. "We were scared," she said with forced calm. "We were stupid." And we got Father killed.

His hands clinched, but thankfully not on the triggers of his pistols. "And you think that's some sort of excuse?" he asked harshly.

Something in her snapped. So much for calm. At least she wasn't a blue kerosene lamp. Yet. "No, I don't very well think it's an excuse but it happened!" she snapped at him. "You weren't there, Yukio! We had burst into flames, found out demons were real, told we were Satan's bastards, and then we were ordered to run, all the while being attacked by demons. We didn't know what was happening and we reacted. Badly."

"That's what you always do," Yukio returned hotly, veins appearing on his forehead, his eyes bright. "You two never think! You should have listened to Father. You should have run!"

"And I wish we had!" Kazuki shouted with so much feeling her voice cracked.

Because then their father would still be alive.

A silence followed her words, loud in its lack of sound. She blinked and a few tears escaped. She turned her head so her brothers wouldn't see them.

"We didn't kill him."

Rin's oddly quiet voice drew her attention. She slowly turned her head to see Rin looking determinedly at Yukio. He was still standing, his hands clench as he blinked away his own tears. "We were stupid," Rin admitted. "But we didn't kill father. Satan did."

Yukio blinked in surprise. "I-I never said you did."

"But you were thinking it." Rin always had a knack at pointing out the exceedingly obvious, maybe in a different situation she would have smiled. Yukio shuffled his feet uncomfortably and clenched his jaw. "I don't know what you're thinking about us," Rin went on. "But don't insult us by saying we killed the old man. It wasn't us."

"No, your other dad took care of that pretty well, didn't he?" Yukio spat darkly. Then he grimaced and gave them a pained look. "I… I didn't mean that. I'm sorry."

"It's okay," she forgave him, all the fight having gone out of her, leaving her drained.

Silence reigned between them. They stood, not meeting each other's eyes, blinking away tears so the others wouldn't see. Yukio slowly holstered his pistols, seeming embarrassed to that he had drawn them in the first place.

"Father's last moments," Yukio looked at them, his voice thick. "What were they like?"

Rin answered, a sad smile on his lips. "He was damn cool. He died protecting us."

"He even used a shotgun," Kazuki added. "Never knew the old man had it in him."

"There was a lot you two didn't know," Yukio told them softly.

"Were you ever afraid of us?" Rin asked. Kazuki wasn't sure if she wanted to know the answer.

Yukio let out a sigh and ran a weary hand over his face. "I… no." His shoulders slumped and he wouldn't look at them. "I was never afraid of you two. You're my older brother and sister, you'd never hurt me. But there were times…" he shook his head. "Dad never knew what would happen to you two. If you would grow into your powers or if you would stay human. He was scared. And I was too. Not of you, but for you."

It lifted her heart to know that even being the spawn of Satan, their little brother still loved them, that he had never been afraid. Suddenly Yukio's disapproving looks after they had gotten into fights made sense. How he must have viewed their violent tendencies and what he feared they meant.

She reached out and pulled Yukio into a headlock, fondly ruffling his hair as he struggled against her hold. "Love you too, 'lil bro." A kick Yukio landed on the instep of her ankle caused her to let him go. He straightened and gave her a flat look, but the corners of his lips were slightly tilted up.

He gave Rin a gauging look, no doubt remembering the blue flames that had sprouted from him earlier. Rin met his gaze and nodded at him. Yukio nodded back. Kazuki snorted. "Boys," she muttered.

She gathered bravado she didn't truly possess and clapped them both on the shoulder. "Next time we have a family discussion, let's leave the flames and guns at home, agreed?" They both nodded and allowed her to guide them out of the classroom.

Things were far from fixed between them, but Kazuki hoped their talk today would get the ball rolling. They were a family. Maybe not a perfect family, but at the end of the day they all loved each other. They just needed help remembering it.

With a grimace, Kazuki recalled the information Yukio had helpfully provided them about their father's death. If she had felt guilty before… no, things were far from fixed. But in the coming days the three of them would have to work together to hide her and Rin's true heritage while continuing to cope with their father's death. Now more than ever they would have to draw strength from each other.

As they left the classroom, Kazuki looked behind her and tried but failed to find Mephisto. She was sure the mongrel had been present for the entirety of their talk—fight—and she would have noticed him opening the door and leaving. Frowning, she let the empty classroom be.

"So what did you think?"

Mephisto smirked in the phone. "Well, you seemed a bit stiff, but considering it was your first time teaching…"

"That's not what I meant," Yukio's replied, unamused.

Rolling his eyes at the boy's consistent lack of humor, the headmaster answered the original question. "Rin's display of power was impressive, but whether or not it will be useful still remains to be seen. He doesn't seem able to control it and is currently wielding it out of pure emotion."

Rin's blue flames were intriguing. They were Satan's flames and no offspring of Satan had inherited them until now. He had felt the power they had radiated, but he wouldn't know how useful they would be for a while. And considering the boy's current level of control, it was likely he wouldn't be useful for even longer.

"Your sister on the other hand…"

"She's always been the more levelheaded of the two," Yukio told him.

"Yes, it would seem that way," Mephisto agreed. Kazuki hadn't burst into flames, though he wondered if it were a result of her better control or if she was simply less powerful then her brother. Time would give him his answer. But there had been something else that had caught his eye today. "Tell me, when your sister does get angry, is Rin often with her?"

This question seemed to throw young Okumura. "Um… yeah, I guess. They were always getting into fights together, but she's gotten into some on her own." Mephisto could hear the suspicious frown coming from the other end of the phone. "Why?"

He grinned. "No reason." The boy didn't really expect him to answer, did he?

But what he had seen…it was quite possibly even more intriguing than Rin's blue flames. Twice she had made eye contact with her eldest brother when he was angry and twice Rin had calmed, his anger seeming to vanish…only to appear in his sister. It bespoke of a power far more useful but just as rare as Satan's flames.

The Okumura triplets had more secrets to uncover than he had expected. Mephisto found himself looking forward to the days to come.

I have thought really hard about how I wanted this chapter to go. I hate rehashing the same thing from the manga, so I decided to change it up. 1) I really hate Rin's instinctive need to create a scene. There is a reason Bon hated him from the beginning, and his outburst here was no doubt a contributor. 2) I could never get past Yukio saying that Rin should just die. That's harsh, especially from your brother. I feel like Yukio said it in anger, but he never apologized for it and in real life, words like those mess with your head long after they'd been said.

Insert Kazuki, and I had a way to change the two things I disliked. Maybe the siblings can walk away a little less scarred and without too much suspicion being pointed towards them.

Also, I had to stop myself from making Yukio's teaching part longer. I'm a Chemistry tutor at my university and I've been elbow-deep in the sciences for the past two months studying; needless to say, I was excited to see Chemistry/basic lab techniques actually apply in my writing for once. I hope to apply it more in the future, but I'll have to limit myself to what's actually relevant and what is me just having fun for the hell of it.

And what could Mephisto possibly be alluding to? I guess we'll just have to wait and see, won't we?

Please review! I love hearing feedback! I haven't had much of a chance to respond recently, so I'll be getting back to all of my reviewers soon!

X Cheerfully Blue