'Does he ever sleep,' Bon growled internally. He'd been woken every two or three hours for the past week to 'eat this, drink that, let's change your bandages, move your legs a bit' and so forth. The devil-spawn was just starting to let him stay awake for extended periods of time, withholding that vile tea that would make him sleep.

His classmates had visited, apparently prompted by the half-breed, to check in on him. Sheimi and Yukio had checked his bandages and were happy with what they found, so he assumed doctor-quality treatment, exorcist and non, was being done on him. Shima had seemed a bit apprehensive about his stay, worried for the state of Bon's mind as well as Rin's, but hadn't said much on the subject. Instead, he chose to try and lighten the mood in Bon's sick room, being extra goofy and hyperactive. Konekomaru had given him books to occupy his time and a detailed list of assignments he had missed, and Izumo simply gave him a sharp "Get better soon."

Unfortunately, they couldn't stay forever, and Bon found that, with hours of silence in inactive days, the best story couldn't keep his attention all the time. He found himself wishing for anybody's company, even Izumo's. The abomination never stayed long, and for that he was grateful…at first. Now, it seemed unnecessarily rushed to his socially deprived brain.

Rin, as of now, was busy rubbing a pink-tinted ointment into the bruises or Bon's legs. He was silent, focusing intently on the work ahead of him, and Bon felt the pride that had kept him quiet for so long withering into an empty husk.

"Why are you even helping me," He huffed, truly curious. Rin paused briefly, but didn't look up.

"Because you needed help," He answered shortly.

"That's not what I meant and you know it."

Rin sighed and finally looked at him. He seemed tired, unsure, and appeared to be searching Bon's eyes for something. Whether he found it or not remained a mystery. "Because whether you hate me or not is your problem, not mine. Because, despite your attitude, you don't seem like a bad person. Because, if I had left you like you were, you probably would've been left for dead or further abused by those bastards who hurt you." Rin went back to applying the ointment, now on Bon's arms. "I don't care what you think of me," he began. "In fact, I'm pretty sure I've been almost everything you can imagine. I've done far more than I'll ever be willing to admit, and, at the time, I enjoyed it. Now, though," he stared hard at Bon, connecting their gazes in a way that could not be broken, "it sickens me.

"I don't ever want to experience something like that again. I don't ever want to be someone who finds others' pain a game, a toy to play with." He stopped talking, jaw clenched tightly in sudden emotion. He started in once more, whispering, but the passion was no less evident in his hushed voice. "I want to find something I can believe in, something that can be important to me.

"For now, the only thing that seems to make sense right now is Yukio.

"I want him to be happy. I want him to feel safe. That can't happen if his students pick fights they can't win and end up dead in the middle of nowhere." Rin fixed him with a glare that made Bon feel incompetent. "That is why I helped you. For Yukio… and for me."

He capped the bottle of ointment and stood abruptly. He left the room in the blink of an eye but, just as Bon was sure he'd be alone for another few hours, returned with a familiar cup clutched in his hands. One look at his face and Bon knew it was useless to resist.

He drank the tea and succumbed to blackness.

Rin watched as the boy with the multi-colored hair slept. 'Maybe I should've kept quiet…but I doubt it'll change anything.'

He left the boy's side and walked down the third floor hall of the Devil's Den Dormitory. When Mephisto had jokingly referenced the name that students had taken to calling it after his misuse, he couldn't help but think how fitting the name was. After all, it was currently living up to its title.

A small black cat with a grey face, white chest and upper right arm, and twin tails greeted him with a soft meow when he entered his room, three doors down from Bon's. It looked as did any other dorm room; it had two beds on either side of the room and a small desk at the center of the far wall, just below a window. Rin plopped down on the left bed and gazed at the ceiling. The cat meowed again as it jumped up and onto his chest.

Rin's hand lazily stroked the cat's back. "I'm alright, Kuro," he sighed. "I'm just thinking." The cat purred and stared at him. Rin stared back and let out a breathy chuckle. "You're right. Humans are weird." The cat cocked its head. Rin sighed once more. "Yeah, yeah, 'I'm human too'… I know." His smile disappeared, replaced with a melancholy expression. "I know."

He sat up and Kuro jumped off. Rin pulled the blankets up to his neck and laid back so the cat could once again perch on his chest, which it promptly did. Light began to pour forth from the curtained window before Rin let himself relax.

With a tired breath of air, the demon closed his eyes.