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Too much for trying to act cool

Oneshot

Summary: A lot can changed within ten years, not only in True Coss Academy. And when Shiemi asks Rin and Yukio for an interview to help her with her research paper involving a legend about twins, it results them to reminisce on a memory not too long past.

A/N: Merry Christmas, readers! : ) This is a fluffy oneshot! Enjoy reading! XD

Shiemi took a black-ink pen and a small notebook as she settled opposite the two boys who sat across a table in the True Cross Academy cafeteria.

"Okay, let's start!" the girl said after pulling her long straw-colored hair into a messy ponytail. "Oh wait... Okumura Rin and Yukio, male, December 27, 25 years old..."

"Yeah, yeah," Rin said. He checked out Shiemi's sleeveless peach-and-black kimono that accentuated her curving figure. It ended short above her thighs, showing white skin in net stockings. He grinned mischievously, placing an elbow on the table laden with drinks and snacks. "Why don't we have dinner tonight? Just the two of us — "

Shiemi blushed crimson. Yukio noticed her distress and elbowed Rin slightly on the stomach.

"You're spending too much time with Shima-san," the twin whispered to his older brother.

Rin shrugged. "What? He got Izumo to eat with him with this 'surprise tactic'..."

"U-Um..." Shiemi almost broke her pen with her tense fingers. She looked at Rin with determined eyes, glancing at his long midnight-blue travelling coat held by silver chains. Only that particular blue-and-pink pin was the visible identification of his position as an Exorcist. She took a deep breath. "Can Yuki-chan come with us?"

Rin almost fell off his chair while Yukio can only feel sorry for his brother and his failed efforts.

"I'm sorry but I can't go." Yukio scratched his head, looking down shyly. "I have a meeting with the Upper First Class Exorcists."

Shiemi looked disheartened. "Oh, with Kirigakure-sensei..."

"Well, yes, Shura-san is one of them," Yukio said, clueless.

The girl pursed her lips. "O-One day, I'll be an Upper First Class Exorcist too, Yuki-chan!"

"That's great. Good luck, Shiemi-san," Yukio encouraged, still clueless. And then he felt Rin's murderous glare on him. "We should get on with the interview. Right, Shiemi-san?"

"Oh, of course!" Shiemi took her pen again and began writing while muttering. "Rin — Honorary Knight... Yuki-chan — Paladin... Your mother?"

"Yuri Aegin," the boys chorused.

"Yuri Aegin..." She continued to write. "Your father... is S-Satan?"

"No. Write Fujimoto Shiro," they said in unison.

Surprised, Shiemi just nodded and then said with a wide smile, "Alright! Here's question number one: Do you care for each other? How much?"

"Hey, those are two questions!" Rin complained. "They're Q1 and Q2!"

"Please remind me again why I'm here with these cheesy questions rather than signing Exorcist mission and order forms," Yukio said, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Another blush made it to Shiemi's face. "But there are very few twins in the Academy! And my research is specifically about the relationship between twins, may they be identical or fraternal, and the psychological balance of their lives!"

Rin raised his eyebrows. "Oh, we're guinea pigs."

"Please don't put it that way, Rin," Shiemi said. "Answer the question, okay? So, do you care for each other and how much?"

"No," Yukio answered flatly. "And how much I don't care about him? About 99.7352 percent."

Rin turned away from his twin. "Why the hell would I care for Four-Eyes here?!"

Shiemi blinked. "What?"

"Next question," the two said.

"Oh!" Shiemi scribbled furiously. "Do you share your secrets to one another?"

"No way!"

"We don't, Shiemi-san."

The young lady was frowning by now. The answers of these brothers are very different from the other twins she asked earlier. And as they continued through the list of her prepared questions, their chairs were getting farther and farther away from each other.

She sighed. "Last question: did it at least happen to you once that when one twin is in pain or in danger, the other feels it too?"

Rin and Yukio looked at each other.

The younger twin turned to the girl. "Are you sure this is a research to be passed for your application on Doctorship, Shiemi-san? The questions are subjective and too vague. As a Doctor myself, I advise you to change your topic — "

"I don't know, Yuki-chan," Shiemi said. She looked a bit lost. "I've spent three days on this already and the deadline will be next week..."

"And isn't that last quesion for identical twins?" Rin asked. "We're fraternal, you know."

Shiemi sighed again. "Anyway, did you feel something like that? Like a warning similar to those shown in television?"

"Never. Yukio can apply medicine to himself and protect his butt. He's the Paladin, not to mention a Doctor and a Dragoon, remember?"

"Yeah. And Niisan has regenerative abilities. He can heal all by himself."

The twins looked at each other again before turning to Shiemi, who could only laugh nervously.

[Flashback, about three months ago...]

The spacious room was brightly lit and cold with conditioned air. A long oak table with a polished glass glimming on top of it and a dozen carved wooden chairs surrounding it sat in the middle of an intricately woven Persian rug. The occupants of the chairs have serious expressions on their faces as they watched the video projected on the large white screen before them, as well as on the gadgets they held on their hands.

The video ended, turning their expressions more grave.

"So one of the bases fell into the enemy hands..."

"What a show of lax security!"

"It must be an inside job!"

"Possible. We all know how cunning and manipulative demons can be."

"So what are the orders, sir?"

Eleven people looked at the youngest one in the room, who sat at the head of the table. The light from his tablet was reflected on his glasses so the rest couldn't see his expression.

The woman to his his right looked curiously at the boy, her fiery red hair bright in the well-lighted room. "Hey Yukio, everythin' alrighty?"

The bespectacled young man seemed jolted from his thoughts by her words. "What is it, Shura-san?"

The Upper First Class Exorcists were surprised: never had they once seen the Paladin not focusing on any of the meetings before. He was always alert, ready to give orders in a moment's notice after thinking strategically on how to handle even the hardest of missions.

Now, they watched him shake his head slightly with a far away look in his eyes. He held on his right shoulder uncomfortably, and then to his left side just around the area of his stomach, perspiring even with the cold air in the room. And then he sighed, standing abruptly.

"Please excuse me," he managed before turning on his heels to rush his way out of the room. No one dared to stop him — not just because of surprise but because of the urgency radiating from the young man. Shura ran to follow him and none tried to stop her either.

"So, whazzup?" she asked when she managed to catch up with him.

Yukio had grown over the past ten years, especially his legs, which now allowed him to take long and fast strides. He was long way past her height too. His broad shoulders and toned chest were covered by the dark green overcoat and a black shirt and pants underneath that served as his Paladin uniform.

Shura scowled. "Hey, r'you gonna ignore me 'til later or what?"

Still, Yukio didn't speak and hastened his pace into a run when he saw a door leading out to the rooftop. He opened the door and instantly stopped on his tracks.

"Juz whaz goin' on?" Shura asked as she watched him run and lean on the railings of the rooftop, looking around the True Cross Academy grounds. After a moment, his eyes focused on a faint gray glow on a far part of the forest surrounding the academy.

Yukio pulled out a piece of paper and drew a pentacle on it with the blood from the finger he just bit. He muttered something under his breath.

Shura looked at him, startled. "Hey, what d'you think you're doin'? You ar'n't a Tamer!"

A sudden sharp wind lashed. Black smoke curled around the two as a large black dragon with golden eyes spread its wings and roared. Its large wings were leathery and its spiky tail was a beautiful mix of blue and green. Yukio jumped on its back and turned to Shura.

"Are you coming?" he finally spoke, a hand outstretched to her. She looked at him for a moment before grabbing the said hand and riding the huge demon.

They headed for the soft gray glow. Shura noticed Yukio's hand curling against his left side again, a frown crossing his features. He bit his lip as if in pain.

A surprised cry interrupted Shura's observation of the younger Exorcist. She looked down to see a dark-haired young woman, supporting a larger but slim young man on her shoulders.

"Kamiki Izumo! And... Rin?!" Shura exclaimed as Yukio jumped off the winged demon to rush towards the other two.

"Kirigakure-sensei! Okumura-sensei!" Izumo said, exhauston apparent in her voice. Even after she graduated with top marks six years ago and rose to Lower First Class with Bon two and a half years prior, she still addressed the two as teachers.

Yukio helped her lay a passed out Rin on a grassy patch, running a set of keen eyes over his brother's bloodied body.

"Situation?" he asked.

"We managed to exorcise the cave demon and its army but a ghoul bit Okumura when he wasn't looking," Izumo explained. "He exorcised the ghoul but was hit a second time because..."

Her voice quivered as her red eyes drifted its gaze away, looking ashamed.

"Could'it be that your summoning paper was torn?" Shura asked, landing gracefuly from the flying demon.

"Y-Yes," Izumo shyly admitted. "How did you know?"

"Didn't use your familiars to bring you two 'ere," the older woman reasoned.

"And when your familiars disappeared, you got defenseless and Rin came to save you, only to be wounded. He resorted on using the dumbest escape plan from a horde of demons, which is to let a holy water grenade splash its contents all around you two. He didn't think that that will cause his regenerative abilities to stop working. How just like him," Yukio said as he looked at the slight-to-grave burns upon Rin's usually pale flawless skin. He unbuttoned his brother's coat and observed the ghoul chest wound. It oozed with a disgusting lime-colored sticky substance and drying blood. And then Yukio tore Rin's right sleeves with a knife from his pocket to look at the deep cut on his brother's shoulder.

Rin groaned, opening his eyes slowly.

"Yukio...?" He coughed, shivering. "What are you doing here?"

"We're taking you to the infirmary, Niisan," Yukio said, smiling. "It's alright. Go back to sleep."

"Yeah yeah, Four-Eyes..." Rin closed his eyes again.

Using Yukio's familiar, they flew through the cold night air. They reached the school building in a matter of seconds but it took them quite a while to call for nurses and bring the heavily wounded Rin to the infirmary.

Ryuuji, Renzo and Konekomaru ran in front of the operation room, where the other three waited for Rin who was inside. Renzo has a bandaged hand while Konekomaru got a large band-aid on his right cheek. Ryuuji sported scratches along the length of his arms but otherwise they looked unhurt from their recent mission.

"What happened?" he asked. Ryuuji had discarded all his piercings when a demon pulled on his earrings during a mission eight years and two months ago but kept his blond-and-black hairstyle.

Shura gave a short explanation as Renzo approached an irritated-looking Izumo. Over the years, Renzo had let his hair grow and only left pink highlights on his naturally dark hair. Izumo changed her pigtails for an elegant bun, not unlike those of a meiko's. She shot a glare at the approaching boy and his bandaged hand.

Renzo just scratched the back of his head with the unbandaged hand. He explained softly even without being asked to. "A demon broke my fingers when I messed up with a chanting..." Izumo continued to glare and Renzo immediately said, "Yes, Ma'am. It won't ever happen again."

"Okumura-sensei," Konekomaru's still small voice called, catching the attention of everyone. All that changed in him in the past decade was the color of the rim of his glasses. "Are you alright?"

Yukio was leaning against the wall, breathing laboriously. A slight blush crept to his face.

"I'm fine," he said. His lie was betrayed by his legs when they gave out beneath him. He gasped as he held on his left side in pain.

Shura ran to his side, placing a palm on his forehead. "Fever. You 'ave to rest, Four-Eyes."

"But... N-Niisan is — "

Before finishing, Yukio whimpered and collapsed against Shura.

It was bright the next morning.

"Yukio."

"What, Niisan?"

"What are you doing here?"

"Resting."

"This is my hospital room. Go to yours."

"Shura-san and the others placed us in the same room, Niisan."

For a while, there was silence. And then the twins were laughing, silently at first, before it turned uncontrollable. Suddenly, Rin groaned as pain shot from his side.

Yukio gritted his teeth. "Ouch. I felt that."

"What just happened?" Rin asked, holding on his pained left side. It was starting to bleed through the bandages again.

"Niisan, don't laugh too much."

"Shut up, Four-Eyes."

[...]

A hand on each of the twin's head ruffled the black and the brown hair.

"These brats 'are liars," Shura said, interrupting the "interview". She hasn't changed in ten years, though she borrowed — or say, stole — Yukio's old black Exorcist coat and wore it on her over-exposed skin. She kept it unbuttoned though. Now, she grinned and pinched a cheek of each boy. "Don't you think so too, Shiemi?"

The younger woman nodded, smiling. "Yes. I think they care for each other very much!"

Rin and Yukio sighed inwardly to themselves. Too much for trying to act cool.

END!