Yukio flopped down into his seat with a sigh, rubbing his eyes even though he had been told a million times not to do it because it would thin his corneas – or was it retinas? He got those two muddled up too often. It didn't matter anyways; he was too tired to care right now. He fixed his glasses and took a swig from the flask of coffee he always carried around for morning classes, the hot liquid awakening his senses a little more. He capped the flask and slid it inside his bag, allowing his eyelids to slip closed for a few minutes before the teacher arrived.

A sudden jerk of the desk had him starting up, eyes widening in alarm. "Wha-"

"Oh, sorry 'bout that!" called the pink-haired kid who'd pushed past his seat to get to his own, right behind Yukio's. He flashed a friendly grin and a thumbs-up, which Yukio returned weakly.

"So, what's your name?" the boy continued, and Yukio jumped a little before turning around and smiling a little.

"Yukio Okumura," he answered softly, still a little shy. He wasn't used to people talking to him on their own; he had always been the quiet nerd whom no one wanted to associate with. "What about you?"

"I'm Renzō Shima!" The newly-named Renzō tilted his head to the side and gave a bright grin, and Yukio couldn't help thinking he was kind of cute. Like a large puppy.

But the name, Renzō. Why did that ring a bell?

Almost too late, Yukio realised he was spacing out. He quickly held out his hand, a little embarrassed.

"Nice to meet you, Renzō."

Renzō stared at the appendage before raising his eyebrows in a 'oh' expression.

"You want me to shake it. Of course. I'm an idiot, aren't I?" he laughed ruefully, before grabbing onto the hand and shaking it vigorously. Yukio almost felt his shoulder pop out of its socket, but hid his wince with a smile.

"You're really not. It happens to all of us," he assured Renzō, who grinned.

"You're, like, so sweet, dude. Pure child, that's what you are. Precious."

Yukio arched an eyebrow.

"Precious?"

"Yeah. Like…" Renzō made a few vague hand gestures that seemed to resemble cuddling something close. "You know."

"I'm afraid I don't." Yukio admitted bashfully.

Renzō laughed. "So precious," he said to himself again, shaking his head and smiling. "So damn cute."

Yukio could feel heat rising to his cheeks.

"I… um, thank you?"

"Thank you!" Renzō began to cackle again.

Yukio frowned. "Are you just going to laugh at everything I say?" he asked crossly.

Renzō immediately sobered up, though a hint of laughter still gleamed in his eyes.

"Sorry," he apologised with that smile of his, and Yukio couldn't find it in himself to be mad at him anymore.

"Don't worry about it. I'm not used to being friends with people," he said truthfully. Renzō's eyes widened.

"What? Why not? You're good-looking and such a nice kid," - Yukio's cheeks turned redder - "why wouldn't people want to talk to you?"

"I was always quiet and I would have my nose in a book, so people didn't want to associate with 'the nerd'." Yukio put the last words in air quotes.

"Don't worry about that with me. My only friends are nerds!" Renzō proclaimed. "I must be, like, magnetically attracted to them or something."

He winked at Yukio, who suddenly realised something and narrowed his eyes at Renzō.

"Are you… coming on to me?" he asked suspiciously.

Renzō laughed. "You got me, cutie."

Yukio felt blood rushing to his cheeks again and looked down, trying to hide his face in embarrassment. Once he was sure he didn't look like a tomato any more, he looked back up at Renzō. The pink-haired boy was smiling, and seemed about to say something else, but he was interrupted by the arrival of two other boys. One was tall and dark-haired, the other short and bald. The taller wore an angry expression, whereas the shorter seemed to be trying to calm him down.

"Renzō!" roared the dark-haired boy, who had a streak of dyed blonde cutting through the middle of his hair. Rooster, Rin would've called him, thought Yukio with a small grin.

"Bon!" Renzō jumped up from his seat, sweating a little and giving a sheepish smile. "Uh-"

"Uh what?!" bellowed Bon furiously, the small boy by his side wincing at his tone. "Me and Konekomaru have been looking all over for you! We were almost late!"

"I assumed you left without me," Renzō scratched his head. "It happens a lot."

Bon instantly dropped his furious face, looking apologetic.

"Sorry, man. Still, check next time, okay?"

Renzō grinned and flashed a thumbs-up.

"Will do. Now stop being rude and meet my new friend!"

Bon's head whirled in a comical manner, snapping towards Yukio and wearing an expression of frozen surprise. Yukio lifted his hand, waving a little.

"Yukio Okumura, pleased to meet you." he introduced to spare Bon the embarrassment.

Bon scratched the back of his neck, a light blush dusting his cheeks.

"Sorry about that. I'm Ryūji Suguro, this is Konekomaru Miwa."

Bon – Ryūji – gestured to the shorter boy, who offered a smile of his own.

"Good to meet you, Yukio," he said softly.

Yukio dipped his chin in acknowledgement and gave a polite smile, but his mind was already whirring.

Shima… Suguro… Miwa… these names are all so familiar!

His brows furrowed in a thoughtful frown. What could be the connection? What was it that linked these three names –

A flash of electric blue passed under his hand as Renzō gestured wildly, the navy dial of his watch catching the light. Yukio drew in a sharp breath, the colour pushing everything into place.

"You three are the Blue Night kids," he said aloud, barely even realising that he was doing it.

The air went still, as heavy and silent as that in a graveyard. Yukio lifted his head, wondering what was wrong when he saw his new friends' gazes pinned on him with surprise and shock. Then it hit him, the sound of his own voice replaying in his head.

"You three are the Blue Night kids,"

Yukio felt his ears colouring. Oh, crap. Oh, crap.

"I – guys, I'm so sorry," he started to say frantically. "I… I have this shitty habit of blurting things out, and it makes me a giant jerk at times and-"

"Yukio!" Konekomaru's tone, forceful and so unlike the image he had of the bespectacled boy, stopped Yukio's babbling. Panicked blue eyes met unreadable black ones, and Yukio hoped to God that he hadn't screwed up the first friendships he'd made since Shiemi.

Then the darker eyes softened, and Konekomaru smiled and said, "It's okay. We're all given to that sort of stuff once in a while."

"Besides, you're too precious to be mad at!" added Renzō in a voice so loud it made Yukio's ears ring.

"And hey, you're going to be an exorcist," Ryūji finished with an open and honest grin. "That automatically gives you good points in my book."

Yukio rubbed the back of his neck, thanking all his stars that no other student had arrived yet.

"Thanks, guys," he muttered, looking at the desk.

"Don't be so glum!" Renzō got up and smacked him on the back so hard that Yukio flew forwards, almost spitting his teeth out.

"Ouch," he murmured, sending a half-hearted glare Renzō's way and rubbing his back. "That hurt, Renzō."

"You look like you've murdered someone. It's fine, honestly," Ryūji said with a small smirk. "It's not like you're the son of Satan or anything."

At that, Yukio almost choked again – but this time he didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Oh, if only you knew…

"Y – yeah," he whispered, managing to get himself under control.

In retrospect, maybe these hadn't been the best choice of friends. Yukio was already walking around with the giant weight of his secret, and that weight would be multiplied ten times considering what Konekomaru, Ryūji and Renzō had gone through.

It's okay, he consoled himself. You can talk to Rin tonight, figure out what to do.

While Yukio may have been good at remembering things and analysing situations, Rin was the very definition of a people person. His brother would know what to do.

But despite his diffidence, as the day progressed and his new friends whispered jokes under their breath, Yukio found himself having fun with someone apart from Rin, Father and Shiemi for the first time in a long while. He found himself enjoying their company, enjoying the way Ryūji would obsess over finishing his work and the lewd comments Shima would make and the prim way that Konekomaru would attempt to control himself (he would end up giving in and being the worst of them all).

Maybe this wasn't such a bad decision after all, he decided as he struggled to contain his laughter watching the reserved Konekomaru imitate their English teacher's various facial expressions.

A week passed just like that, and Yukio felt himself warming up to his new friends more than ever before. He learned that Ryūji worried about his resting bitch face, that Renzō cried over romance manga, and that Konekomaru was crazy about cats. And in turn they learned things about him – like how he loved penguins, and how much he sucked at algebra.

In Yukio's defence, mathematics was supposed to be numbers. Not strange letters that had different values depending on the way you solved the equation.

Yukio found himself spending less time poring over books of medicine and more time being dragged around campus or participating in a joint study session with his three new friends – Of course, Yukio was terrible at algebra, while Ryuji could not make heads or tails of geometry (it was too simple, he argued), and Shima and Konekomaru just wanted to improve their grades.

Cram school still hadn't begun a week into classes – Yukio was aware that they'd been waiting for Rin to get back from his mission, but it was taking longer than they'd anticipated. He didn't want to admit that he was slightly worried; he knew that Rin could handle himself. Though this was too much time to be gone… and Yukio kind of missed Rin's wisecracks and his twin's general presence.

(Rin was far more vocal about such things, clinging onto Yukio every time that they had to separate for a mission and crying, "I'm gonna miss you, baby bro!" Yukio liked to think he had a little more dignity than that.)

Ryūji had been extremely ticked off that the cram classes hadn't started yet. He was complaining about it even now, slamming his hand into the lunch table and crying, "Damn it, I wish they'd just start training us already! I have to kill Satan…"

Yukio knew that was impossible. Sure, Ryūji deserved his revenge, but the murder of Satan was his and Rin's place. That was their mandate. That was the reason they'd become Exorcists.

So he grit his teeth and forced out for the hundredth time, making his voice as pleasant as he possibly could, "Ryūji, I'm sure that the teachers are just setting up stuff. They'll start soon, don't worry."

"I really hope they do." Ryūji closed his eyes and unclenched his fists. Yukio suddenly felt bad for him – all the guy did was try his level best at everything he did.

Knowing he would regret this, he opened his mouth and spoke.

"Maybe we can start doing some basic training until classes start? I know it'll be nothing like the actual cram school, but it'll keep us in shape," he offered.

Ryūji's eyes lit up, and he clapped Yukio on the shoulder.

"That sounds awesome," he said sincerely. "Thanks for putting up with my shit."

"Nothing to put up with." Yukio said with a roll of his eyes, lifting his bag and standing up. "Now can we get to class? We'll be late."

Konekomaru checked the time – Yukio was right. With a soft squeal, he jumped up and gathered his things, Ryūji and Renzō following suit. The four rushed to class, slipping into their seats just as the bell rang and the teacher arrived. They exchanged glances, breathing sighs of relief at having reached on time.

Yukio was just getting out his things for the lesson when a new and familiar voice called harshly, "Sorry for the intrusion, but I need Yukio Okumura to the med room now!"

Shura?!

Yukio's head snapped up to meet his friend's eyes. Shura wouldn't pull him out of a lesson for any reason other than… other than…

He looked for confirmation, praying to God that he wouldn't get it. But he found it anyways in the grim dip of her chin.

Not wasting another moment, he picked up his bag and ran, shouting a, "Sorry, Mr. Matou!" as he did. This situation required utmost urgency – everything else could wait.

Everything else could wait, for Rin.

He didn't notice the strange gazes being directed at his back from Ryūji, Konekomaru and Renzō as he dashed out.

Hi, after… 10 years? This is the official rewrite of "Devil's Children", the one you've all been waiting for. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I tried to have it make more sense, with the flow of words better and everything. I've gotten far better as a writer (which is something every writer should acknowledge about themselves with every story) and I really love the premise of this fanfic, so it gets to be reworked! I have deleted the old story and reuploaded it as this one. Please read it all to understand the new story; it may get confusing if you don't. The ships will get evident as the story progresses! This story is mainly about the brothers and I would like to keep it that way.

I'm also removing the usage of Japanese honorifics. It's something I've been trying to wean myself off of, and it's been difficult, seeing how much fanfiction utilises them freely, but I think I'm getting there! This is a fanfic in English, after all, not Japanese.

I got the title from Kodaline's song, Brother. It was a total coincidence; I had YT on autoplay while writing, and the nightcore of this song was on next. I recognised it and went to check out the video... and guess who was the picture of that song?! That's right - our darling Rin and Yukio!

(link to the vid: watch?v=1SpAisqmRQc)

Thank you all so much for your patience. It's been a dream having you with me as I rewrite this story.

Much love, Ceru