Well, a reviewer asked me to be more specific as to whether the priests were in theknow about Rin's secret or not. So here goes:

Kyodo, Nagatomo, Izumi and Maruta were not aware of Rin's demonic parent, though they made a few good guesses, and Shiro warned them that one of the boys had emon blood, so they came pretty close, which is guessing Rin is the son of one of the Eight Demon Kings, which in reality are Rin's brothers. They only found out after Rin's powers were exposed in the forest during the fight with Amaimon, since it threw the whole Exorcist world into uproar and they were dragged in for questioning. They haven't properly spoken with Rin since they found out, and now they're just trying to ct normal around Rin.

Aaaaaaaand my Internet browsers went and crashed on me, so I can't open an Internet browser on the computer without the annoying 'beep' sound and therefore I cannot access the Internet properly. I still have my iPad, but typing on touchscreen is slow (for me), so yeah, slower chapter updates.

Memories and Trust

Chapter Four

"Dinner's ready." Rin called from the kitchen, though with none of his usual gusto. He did sound more cheerful though. Cooking always lifted his spirits. A pity that Ukobach couldn't come though. They were the ultimate cooking team.

Maruta helped Rin carry the steaming pots of sukiyaki out.

"Really, Rin, you should have Yukio take a look at your wounds later, you kept wincing when you tried to carry the heavy stuff." Maruta said in a low voice, but Konekomaru, who sat the nearest towards the kitchen managed to hear anyway.

"No." Rin snapped. "I can take care of myself perfectly well. I know you know, even if you didn't before. Either way the Order will drag you in for questioning. Just…don't shove it all to one side and pretend this never happened, okay?" His voice was starting to rise and everyone could hear, even through the closed kitchen door. "It's a part of me, always have been, and always will be. I'm not glass, Maruta. I can handle it. My earlier experiences with my friends today proved that. Please just accept me the way I am, or don't accept me at all. I've been waiting the whole time I've been here for some sort of explanation, why is everybody just so nice when I am the son of Satan who murdered his father!"

The door swung open and Rin entered, slamming the last bowl of sukiyaki on the table, causing a little sauce to slosh out. He glared at everyone surrounding the table. "So? You say you saw my memories and gave an accurate account. But anyone could have told you that. If someone was able to show you my memories, he could choose to not go to all that trouble and just give you a brief overview after seeing the memories for himself. Who did it? What changed your mind? Tell me why I deserve to stand here yelling at you while preparing to eat sukiyaki?"

The priests were silent.

The Exwires frowned.

Yukio sighed.

"Nii-san." He said, "I hate to admit this, but this is one of the few times when you take my words to heart and I don't approve of it. I merely wished to caution you, so that you don't invest too much in your friendship, since you would only be hurting more if they chose to withdraw. You, the other Exwires, you are supposed to be a team. Teams don't doubt each other's goals like that. And you, nii-san, you deserve sukiyaki, even though I can only afford it once a month. You deserve friends other than me. You deserve a life, a normal one, a happy one with friends and family. And don't you dare go questioning that again."

Rin looked taken aback. "But, father-"

"You didn't kill him. You should stop trusting my words so much without a doubt. I am human, I make mistakes in my judgment. I made one in the heat of anger, I was grieving, nervous and angry that I couldn't protect you and Father, which was what I spent half of my life training for. And you went and disrupted my class. So I took it out on you. I never really apologized for that." Yukio looked Rin straight in the eye and bowed deeply. "I am truly sorry, nii-san. I am sorry that I blamed you for Father's death when in truth it was Satan's fault. It was never your fault."

The room seemed to hold its breath for a moment as Rin stared and Yukio remain frozen in his bowed position.

Then Rin rushed forward and grabbed Yukio's head, yanking it upwards and pressing it to his own forehead, his arms slowly encircling his twin's neck. Yukio responded in kind, slowly, with his eyes closed. Their heads were so close that he could feel Rin's breath on his face, feel Rin's tears.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Rin babbled as Yukio patted his head gently.

"Don't be, Rin." Kyodo patted Rin's back. "It's understandable. The Vatican told you to die, of course you'd be doubting us, those under the Vatican's command. We love you. You'll always be that stupid toddler who actually believed in Fujimoto's watermelon story and looked for babies in every watermelon we cut."

"And the one who drew family portraits with us dancing in the background and Fujimoto wearing a dress because he's both your mom and dad, in your four year old logic." Maruta laughed.

"Stop that." Rin's voice was muffled as he opted for nuzzling his face in Yukio's shirt, but his voice was more indignant than hurt.

So cute. Izumo thought, smiling a little. She did bring one extra teddy bear…Okumura could have it, as something else to hug if Yukio wasn't around, but she would have to do it discretely. God forbid anyone find out that the teddy bear was from her.

"Remember how he wouldn't let anyone play with Yukio because," Izumi raised his voice to a higher decibel reminiscent of Rin's childhood tone of voice. "Yuki's mine! You can't take him away because he's mine! Mine! Mine! Mine!"

By then Ryuji was bent over laughing, and Konekomaru was chortling along. Rin's pointed ears were bright scarlet. Yukio patted Rin's head endearingly. "There, there, nii-san. After all it did happen."

"And remember the time where-" Nagatomo started, but was cut off by Rin.

"JUST EAT YOUR DAMN SUKIYAKI!"

"Though seriously, Rin, we really need to sort out our issues." Nagatomo said seriously as Izumi and Kyodo started to clear away the plates. "I know you have been feeling scared of rejection lately, and you did get rejected."

At this, Izumi shot a hard glare at Ryuji and Konekomaru but continued wiping the oil stains off the table.

Ryuji flinched hard. Konekomaru tried to remain steady.

Rin looked sullenly at Nagatomo, Maruta and Yukio. "I'm not weak."

"You are the farthest thing from weak, Rin." Maruta promised. "Excluding your temper and not tending to think at times-"

"-rushing headlong into situations without thinking, bad grades and a constant inability to stay awake during my classes-" Yukio took the opportunity to complain.

"-and doing the most idiotic things ever which means lots and lots of fights-" Kyodo chimed in.

"You are actually very strong." They finished together.

"Are you triplets with physic abilities or something?" Ryuji stared.

"And that's not just fighting abilities with your blue flames or Kurikura." Nagatomo said. "You are kind, you protect your friends, you find the best in every situation, you keep going even if everything crashes down around you. Out of everyone here you'd be the least likely to be possessed by a demon. Satan himself could be trying to chip away at your defenses right now and you wouldn't even notice. You have a vibrant, shining mental strength."

"…thank you?" Rin wasn't sure how to respond.

"You shine, Rin-kun. You can't just not shine one day. If you stop shining, you won't be Okumura Rin anymore." Konekomaru said. "I've always envied that you could shine so brightly, be so happy."

"That you could be so innocent like a child…the way we can't be, that everything makes you happy, all of us wants that." Ryuji admitted. "So trusting of people, so unbelievably naïve and gullible. Like a child."

Rin finally dared to look into their eyes.

Yukio couldn't help smiling. Nii-san, his beautiful soul and personality, his angel like love for everyone. He would turn everyone's impression of the blue flames upside down in no time.

After all, those blue flames were originally possessed by an angel.

"Ow ow ow ow ow!" Rin whined as Izumo poked at his slowly healing ribs. "Lemme go! I'll be fine after some sleep!"

"No you will not." Izumo retorted, jabbing at the fading scar on his abdomen, earning another wince from Rin. "I daresay that Moriyama will say the same when she comes down with Shima tomorrow. Your healing abilities have a limit, you know. Every immune system falls apart after being attacked frequently enough. So you stay right there, don't move, and don't give Okumura-sensei any trouble. From what I can tell, Amaimon gave you at least two broken ribs, one of which is healing the wrong way that we'll have to break again later-"

Rin paled at the thought of that.

"-numerous scratches and bruises all over, that goes without even needing to be observe, one serious gash on your abdomen, another two on your left thigh, and a lot of yanks on the tail. From his fighting style I'd say that some of your internal organs suffered damage too, since he likes to throw people around a lot but not actually cut them, but you aren't throwing up yet so they should be healing fine." Izumo finished, wrinkling her brow. "Of course this is just an estimate, given that you heal so fast."

"Just wait and see how Shura will beat you up when she comes back from…wherever. She's disappeared somewhere after you left and hasn't come back." Kyodo said.

Rin paled even more.

"Come. Breaking bones and setting it right before it heals completely isn't going to be easy and I think that all of us present would prefer to get it over with quickly." Yukio said, coming into the room with a black doctor's kit, the Exorcist one, glinting ominously in his hands. He set it down on a nearby desk and opened it, revealing several injections, scalpels, gauze, scissors, herbs that made Rin feel woozy and other unidentifiable tools, polished beautifully and glinting wickedly at Rin. Izumi came in too, pulling on gloves.

"Can everyone leave please? No offense, but you'd be in the way." Izumi informed briskly, slipping into his professional role.

Izumo left the room first. (To hide the teddy bear while everyone was distracted and wasn't looking)

"I know that you can heal at a demonic speed, but I bet it still hurts like hell. Take care of yourself next time, eh?" Ryuji said to Rin with a scowl. "You do know that if you come right out and ask us why we changed our minds we wouldn't have lied to you, right?"

The corners of Rin's mouth pulled upward in a smile. "What, you want me to go, 'Sup, guys, how are you doing? By the way, I was wondering whether you saw my memories or something?' What idiot would have thought of that anyway!?"

Ryuji grinned and left the room with Konekomaru, who gave Rin a tentative smile before leaving.

Kyodo, Maruta and Nagatomo exited too, after patting Rin and trying to hug him without doing any damage.

Yukio and Izumi didn't waste any time giving Rin a small dose of antiseptic and one audible 'snap' was heard moments later. Rin didn't scream, hopefully due to the fact that the anesthesia had put him under for the moment.

However, when the two Doctor Meisters didn't emerge from the room twenty minutes later, Nagatomo was compelled to yell through the door.

"What's going on? Is it done yet?"

"He isn't healing!" Came Izumi's frantic voice. "We expected it to heal right away, after we snapped it and adjusted it the best we could, but I think it got stuck in his lungs-we are going to have to cut him open. We don't have enough anesthesia. Can you take my doctor's license and get to the nearest pharmacy-oh."

"Yours is an Exorcist license, Izumi. We don't have Exorcist pharmacies here. The closest one is Moriyama's shop. I think Yukio has a key." Nagatomo tried to remain calm. Suguro heard it too, and eyes widening, he tore up the stairs with Konekomaru following b ehind, that same glint of understanding showing in his eyes.

"What-" Maruta called after them.

"Shura-sensei's beer!" Konekomaru called down as Suguro started trying to unlock the door.

"Wha-Rin's a minor!" Kyodo said, then after a thought, "You know what, never mind."

Suguro forced the door open and grabbed all the beers he could find, Konekomaru helping. Both of them ran down the stairs, and shoved the bottles into Maruta's waiting arms. The door opened, and Izumi stood there, hands covered in blood. Yukio was beside Rin, caressing his brother's forehead and whispering encouraging words. Rin himself had his eyes wide open, fists clenched, body taut as a wire. His chest was cut open methodically with a scalpel, the glint of bone visible. Already the flesh was trying to knit itself back together.

"It's okay, we've got something. Hang on, hang on…" Yukio took the first bottle and uncorked it. "Okay, nii-san, we need you to open your mouth. I'm going to pour this in, so try to swallow, okay?"

Izumi put down the rest of the beer and rushed to Rin's side, preparing to continue the surgery the moment he went under.

Rin opened his mouth, breathing harsh and screamed.

"Rin would be so surprised to see us there early!" Shiemi grinned happily at Shima, her escort. "Now, where's the map Yuki-chan gave us again…"

Shima pointed in the direction of the huge monastery that loomed over the other houses. It would look okay during the day, but now, at night, it was positively creepy.

A scream rang out through the darkness, giving Shima the shivers. "What-Is it haunted or something? The Okumuras never warned us about this! Wait, Moriyama-chan-you don't run towards the ghost!"

But Shiemi wasn't listening, running as fast as her legs would take her. At least her kimono didn't hinder her this time, as her mother had figured that she'd better get some normal clothes if she was going into town, and gave her money. Shiemi had begged Paku-chan to take her shopping, and the kind girl was only too happy to oblige. Now the blonde currently wore skinny jeans and a T-shirt. It was the middle of summer, after all, and simple clothing would do. A few teenagers smoking in a dark alleyway whistled appreciatively at her curvy figure, but spotted Shima running to catch up to her and sighed in mild disappointment. A priest sprinting out from the monastery shot them a look from the corner of his eye and they cowered into the shadows, but the priest didn't attempt to discipline them this time, disappearing around the corner.

The screaming slowly faded to a low keening, barely audible and finally stopped just as Shiemi banged open the front door of the monastery. She heaved some breaths, shyness taking over for a moment when faced with two startled priests that she didn't know. Then Shima came in, and she spotted Suguro and Konekomaru, so she plucked up her courage.

"Rin!" She demanded. "That's Rin's voice. What happened to him?"

"He got into a fight and injuries are worse than expected. Being that the opponent was Amaimon, I'm surprised that he got away with so little." The larger sized priest gave her the condensed version. Then he smiled suddenly. "You were looking for Rin?"

"Y-Yes!" Shiemi answered nervously.

The priest chuckled. "My, my, Rin certainly made some good friends." He put a strong emphasis on the word friends, and the other priest started to laugh too. "My name is Maruta, and that one is Kyodo. Nagatomo is trying to get sedatives, so he's not home at the moment. He just went out, in fact."

"Will Okumura-kun be okay? That was some pretty intense screaming we heard earlier." Shima asked, eyeing the door on the side of the hallway.

Kyodo closed the front door that they had left open. "Yeah. We just ran out of sedatives in the middle of cutting him open to reset his rib properly. His demon side burns through sedatives fast, and we didn't have much to begin with. Yukio and Izumi are working on him. We got Shura's beer to put him under for the moment, but I don't know how long that will last before his system burns through them too. And do demons get hangovers?"

He stopped, realizing that he was ranting out all of his worries onto two bewildered kids who may or may not know about Rin. A look of horror flitted across his face.

"It's all right, we all know." Suguro was quick to reassure Kyodo, recognizing the pause for what it was. "And he'll be fine. He'll survive. He's strong. Much as I hate to admit it, stronger than me. Both mentally and physically."

Maruta chuckled. "He's half demon. Don't compare yourself to him physically."

Suguro opened his mouth, wanting to elaborate more on the mental part, but the door finally opened to reveal Izumi standing there with a wide grin on his face.

"I don't think I've seen my hands move so fast. I might just try to go for Middle First class already. So can Yukio. We finished just as the beer wore off. Rin's okay. Tired, but fine. At the rate he's healing, we can pull the stitches after a couple hours, but the rib may not be healed until tomorrow so take no chances."

Inside, they wanted to whoop with joy, but they just sagged with relief. Izumi stepped out of the doorway, and everyone saw Rin, hugging Yukio fiercely while Yukio shook on his brother's shoulder.

"Just one stupid broken bone." He was muttering. "It's okay, really. You did a real good job. I'll be fine tomorrow."

"It was misaligned so badly! For a moment, when we tried to reset it, and something just felt so wrong but we did it anyway-we could have punctured your heart!" Yukio clenched his fists. Rin rubbed Yukio's back soothingly. "You won't let that happen. You're the best doctor around, Yukio."

Shiemi slowly shuffled into the room and Rin's eyes widened when he saw her. Yukio didn't, as he was still facing the other side.

"Shiemi! Aren't you supposed to be here until tomorrow?"

"I wanted to give you a surprise." Shiemi said. Look what he had gotten himself into within a few days of not being with them. "Ano, Rin, I have something to tell you."

She had never agreed with keeping it a secret from Rin, she felt he deserved to know, plus she was terrible at lying. But like this, it seems that everyone had only just realized how easily Rin could be taken away from them. He deserved to know.

"It's okay, Shiemi. I know." Rin smiled, finally letting go of Yukio who had squirmed to get out once Shiemi entered the room. He still had a teacher's reputation to keep up, damnit.

Everyone else had also entered by then. Konekomaru smiled. "Izumi-San and Yukio-sensei are really amazing."

"Guys!" Rin raised his hand. "I have an announcement!"

Everyone looked quizzically at him. "What?"

Rin blushed a little then declared. "I love you guys! I'm trusting you all with my life from now on!"

Nagatomo dashed through the door hurriedly, plastic bag swinging. He was drenched in sweat. The anesthesia had been hard to wrangle out from the old pharmacist, and he practically ran all the way back. He hoped Rin was okay. Then again, he wasn't sure how long he had been gone.

"-you're the best younger brother and you're the best chicken ever and you're the best monk ever-"

...the beer must have made Rin loopy.

He turned to leave the medicine, now unneeded on the living room table and nearly tripped over a blue teddy bear lying on the ground.

For Rin. Said the attached note. Nagatomo blinked once, twice. "What the-?"

Okay, I did some research into broken ribs. Strong blows crack them, and they heal on their own and are not displaced. Really strong blows fracture them, where they are slightly displaced and are in the danger of poking into something. Amaimon gives freakishly strong blows which, in my opinion, can crush them into tiny tiny splinters. Rin heals fast, so the tiny splinters fused together when they checked, but it's completely displaced. And they had no X rays so they just assumed it was a normal displacement and reset the bone right into Rin's lung. Ow.