When in Gehenna

I Don't Even Know You Anymore

*With Yukio and the Cram School Students

"Well, that went well." The sarcasm in Izumo's voice was hard to miss.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Bon demanded defensively.

"She means that we lost our first and best chance to try and make up with Rin." Konekomaru replied calmly.

"Rin was the one who was being rude!  All I did was ask where he was." Bon was quick to reply.

"You were rather aggressive when you spoke to him, and you cut him off in the hallway." Shiemi softly mentioned.

"And then Yukio started chewing him out for leaving and wasting the life he should feel grateful to be allowed to live." Izumo added with an accusing glare at Yukio.  "Honestly, I'm surprised Rin remained so civil throughout the conversation.  He certainly has grown."

"Well he certainly doesn't act like it!  He acted as though it were all Father Fujimoto's and my fault that he struggled so much as a child.  And then, even after Father Fujimoto sacrificed and risked so much to raise us peacefully and protect Rin from demons, he goes and makes friends with them.  He called Amaimon, the Demon King of Earth, Big Brother!  Two years ago that same demon tried to kill him and revealed his secret to the Vatican and all of you, and now they are going out for ice cream!"  Yukio was almost yelling at this point.

"See, this is what I was talking about.  Bon, please tell me why Rin left after almost trying to kill himself?"  Izumo calmly interrupted Yukio's rant.

The anger drained from Bon's face to be replaced by pain as he responded to Izumo. "Rin left because we refused to be friends with him.  He almost died because we forced him to trust us, and then betrayed that trust by being unable to see past his father's blue flames.  After being hurt and left alone by so many people he tried to care about, Rin couldn't handle it anymore and had to leave, one way or another."

"Correct.  And why did Rin stop blindly trusting and believing in you and Father Fujimoto, Yukio?" Izumo turned to her teacher as she posed her question, one hand resting on her hip.

"Because he was too blind to see past his own feelings of betrayal and realize that we were protecting him" Yukio was quick to respond.

"And why would Rin have felt betrayed, Yukio" Izumo refused to be cowed by the angry glare Yukio was giving her.

"He felt betrayed because Father Fujimoto and I never told him that he was a half demon." Yukio finally began to calm down as he continued, "It hurt him when he found out that I had known for so long and had even been training to hunt demons.  Then, after Father Fujimoto died, I told him that he killed Father Fujimoto through his selfishness, and that he should go die." At the end of his response, Yukio hung his head in shame, finally able to see how his reaction to Rin's return had only served to further hurt his brother.

"Now you understand.  Unfortunately, I don't think Rin is going to be coming back here, at least not today.  For now, you two should reflect on your actions towards Rin today and decide how you can do better and try to make amends in the future." At the end of her speech, Izumo walked away from the rest of the group, heading back towards the campus dorms.

Shiemi was the next to leave, after giving the rest of the group a sad smile.  Koneko, Renzo, and Bon were the last three to take their leave of Yukio and head back to the men's dormitories.  Finally, after grading papers and preparing for the next day's lessons, Yukio began to make the trek back to the abandoned dorm building that he had never bothered to move out of after Rin's disappearance.  As he entered the dorm building, he heard faint voices coming from upstairs.  He slowly and silently followed the voices until he found their source and saw  his brother sitting with the strange girl and Amaimon.  The odd trio was laughing and eating ice cream, oblivious the the troubles that would soon be surrounding them.  Yukio froze in shock, unsure what he should do.