"Alright, gather you things and we'll all say goodbye, and don't forget to thank them for letting us stay here." We all nodded and got out of the van, the air bright and hopeful. All I needed to do was avoid any contact with Father Naito and I'd be scot free.

I walked as fast as I could to our room, pushing open the door and immediately kneeling down to pack my things. My body was screaming at me to slow down, but the pain was well worth it if it meant we'd leave sooner. I shoved any loose clothes inside my luggage bag and zipped it up, all of my toiletries were already packed and ready to go so I was done the quickest out of everyone.

Yukio finally walked into the room, he smiled at me before dutifully doing the same as I had. A few minutes later, he turned and gave me a puzzled look. "I swear I brought a tie with me..."

"Huh? Why would you bring a tie?"

He shrugged, "I brought formal wear, just in case. But my tie's gone, I swear I packed it..." I wondered dully if said accessory had been used to bind my arms together the day before, but I quickly extinguished that thought, not wanting to dampen my mood.

"I'm sure it'll be on your bed when we get back to the academy." He nodded and zipped his bag, hoisting it on his shoulder. His eyes wandered to the hamper just by the door.

"Oh, we better not forget our dirty clothes, that'd suck. I'll go get a bag from the kitchen to put them in." I nodded and he left, the room growing silent.

Kuro jumped down off my shoulder, "I'm so glad we are leaving."

"I am, too."

"Hopefully, you never see that bastard again."

I smiled sadly, "I hope so, too, Kuro. That'd be wonderful."

.oOo.

Yukio packed our dirty laundry into a trash bag and told me he'd carry it out to the van. Which I was thankful for, I knew I wouldn't be able to lift both my bag and the laundry without serious pain.

We were finally leaving, all of us were packed by the church doors, saying our goodbyes. Sam walked up to me and engulfed me in a hug, "you twins should come back more often; this is your home still, you know that, right?" I nodded and he smiled, "you're a good kid, Rin-kun, Shiro would be proud of the son he raised." It was my turn to smile, albeit a bit sadly.

"Thanks Sam, I've missed you guys." He ruffled my hair and we exchanged our goodbyes. We were just about to go out to the van when he came walking, err, limping in.

"Wait, wait! Don't you guys leave without letting me say goodbye." He chuckled and my stomach twisted in distress. Kuro's chest vibrated lowly and he hunched down on my shoulder. "Yukio, come here, child."

My brother laughed and approached the man, who then shook his hand. "Thanks for letting us stay here, Father Naito. It's been nice to see you again." The priest smiled and gave a warm farewell to the teal eyed teen. I did my best to hide in the shadows, knowing what was to come.

"Where's that little brother of your's, eh?"

Yukio laughed, "he's older than me, Father, but he's over there..." Teal eyes scanned our group and he finally spotted me in back. His eyes flashed with frustration and he motioned me to come out. I shakily took a deep breath and dragged my feet over to him and him.

"Rin, you're so short compared to your sibling, no wonder I always confuse who's older." God, I hated his voice, it never failed to set me on edge.

I forced a smile, "yeah, I get that a lot, sir." Not really.

He stuck his hand out and I nervously shook it, hiding my hands behind my back immediately after. Yukio was growing increasingly upset next to me and I knew he was angry about my behavior. I quickly said goodbye and turned on my heels, but I yelped when I felt him grab my tail.

"Say, would any of you know where my meds went?" I yanked my tail away from him and I reflexively wound it around my midsection in fear. I rubbed the spot he had held, as if he'd somehow tarnished the fine hairs that were standing on end.

"Oh, Rin's tail is really sensitive, Father, I wouldn't doubt that hurt a bit." However, he seemed less worried about the fact that I'd just been assaulted. Instead, he focused on the missing pain killers. "And I could've sworn I saw them in the medicine cabinet last night."

Brown eyes turned to me and I immediately shrunk in on myself. "What about you, kid? Have you seen 'em?" I shook my head quickly and he huffed, shooing us away. "I'll just have to deal with the pain until I get my meds refilled, then."

Yukio seemed apologetic, "back pain?" Father Naito nodded and Kuro cackled in my ear.

"I think he's gotten a taste of his own medicine, finally." I tried to keep my smile inside at his comment, and he cackled even harder.

"Alright, we better get going before it get's too late, thanks again!" Yukio waved and started for the door, all of us following suit soon after.

.oOo.

Yukio was uncharacteristically silent on the way back to True Cross, but no one except me seemed to notice. Well, Kuro did as well, "I think he's mad at you," he whispered in my ear.

"He's pissed at how strange I acted before we left, it'll blow over soon." He nodded and I continued to talk with my peers.

.oOo.

"Ooh, I used to love going to the circus when I was little!" Shiemi gushed and a few people laughed.

"You still are little, Moriyama," Shima chuckled and everyone laughed again, the blonde girl blushing.

"Alright, where should we go first?" Yukio put his wallet back in his pocket, eyes scanning over our group.

"My family and I used to go through the booths first before going to the main event." Shiemi added in once more, obviously she's been here many more times than some of the others.

Yukio nodded, "that's a good idea, seeing as how there's still twenty minutes before the circus starts." He pointed to a line of booths, "let's start here."

The first booth we gathered at was for a palm reader, which I wasn't really interested in, but forced to go through anyway. Apparently, I'll marry at twenty-seven and have two kids. I had to laugh at how ridiculous some of our answers were, but that was half the fun, I guess.

The next few booths seemed to have similar results, "why do you always laugh at these, Rin?" Koneko fell into step next to me and I shrugged, scratching Kuro's head.

"It's all a scam, they tell you the most basic facts and the national averages, and you freak out because, drum roll please, you're all normal people." I shook me head, laughing lightly, "I'm not considered normal, though, so their predictions never fool me."

He seemed to understand my reasoning and suddenly lit up. He pointed out in front of us, "hey, Sensei, let's stop here!" I heard Yukio agree and my eyes read the banner of the booth.

"A medium? Really?" I sighed, begrudgingly walking over to the table. A man with a long beard and a neck tattoo was sitting there, his clothing reeking of cigarette smoke.

"Welcome, welcome! And who may I be assisting first?" I rolled my eyes and moved over to let Izumo sit down.

"First of all, are you really a medium?" I kept my laughter in check, but it was hard when she was so blatantly accusing him.

He smiled, "of course, but I'm more than a medium, I'm a little bit of a psychic as well." Dear lord, he was everything wasn't he? Izumo just huffed and sat back in her chair.

When he began reading her, my faith in her logic deteriorated. Her face growing shocked, "there's no way you could have known that!" She proceeded to accuse him of some sort of fakery, but he continued to spew his words of innocence. That it was a gift from the gods and it was his duty to help other's with their grieving process. I kept my face neutral the entire time, whatever, he was making a quick buck, it was none of my business.

"Who's next?" Yukio pushed me toward the chair and I gave him a backward glare. He shrugged and I rolled my eyes once again. "Ahh! You're a troubled soul, aren't you?" Everyone has issues at some point in their life, so he wasn't off to a very good start.

I shrugged my shoulders and he hummed, "I'm getting a message from the other side..." He tapped his fingers against the table and rubbed his lips together, something I say him do when he was reading Izumo. "Ah! I sense a father figure, am I correct?"

I tensed, even though he couldn't possibly know anything about Dad, it made me uneasy just hearing him say it. He didn't wait for my answer, instead, he gripped his chest, a deep sigh filling the air.

"He wants you to know that his passing wasn't your fault, that there was nothing you could do to change it." My eyes flashed over to Yukio, but I wasn't shocked, I was growing agitated. He knew nothing about my life, but he was playing me in order to pay his bills.

He suddenly drew a quick breath, eyes wide, "is there something you wished you would've told him before he died?" I shot out of the chair, turning on my heels and walking away from the booth. "Hey!" He called, "that's five hundred yen!!" I heard Yukio calmly tell him that he'd pay for it and I took a deep breath, leaning against a nearby telephone poll.

"What was that about?" Bon inquired when the group walked over by me. I was still seething slightly, but I took a deep breath to calm myself further.

"They were the run-of-the-mill questions, but that didn't make them any less true," I admitted, my anger dying out, leaving only a small ache inside my chest. Yukio walked up and laid a comforting hand on my shoulder. I gave him a sad smile, letting him know that I was okay.

"Lets head over to the tent, it's almost time for it to start anyway." We all nodded and my brother lead us over to the striped circus tent, memories of previous years flashed through my mind. I had to suppress my emotions when I realized that this would be the first time Yukio and I came here without Dad.

I tried not to let my grief ruin my night when the show began, the laughter and entertained smiles of my peers helping to ease the pain. It was fun, and I was probably the happiest I'd been in weeks. When the show died down and the group and I roamed back to the van, I couldn't hold back my smile. Arguably, the misery of the past few days heavily outweighed the laughter. Yet, the air was light and filled with mirth on the drive home. My troubles abandoned me and I knew these would be memories I would cherish. I guess even the darkest days can have beautiful nights.