I had just walked out of the bathroom, smoothing the wrinkles on my uniform, when I caught sight of my twin's perplexed expression. I meandered over to my bed, checking my schoolwork to make sure I was prepared for the day. I questioned his expression and he sighed. "I appear to have lost something."

I scoffed, "if it's your sanity, I'm not helping you get it back."

He rolled his eyes, but a small smile played on his lips. "Har har, very funny, Nii-san."

"So what did you lose?"

He hummed and grabbed his exorcist bag, rifling through its contents. "It's a knife. I was going to equip it for our mission tonight, but I can't seem to find it."

A rock settled into my stomach and I became acutely aware that said knife was only a few feet from me, buried underneath my mattress. "Never seen it. I honestly didn't think you fought with something like that, don't you prefer guns?"

He huffed, "firearms are great in a lot of scenarios. But the demons we are exorcising tonight move fairly fast and come into close proximity. I'd rather not shoot anyone." I had to bite back the urge to add 'again' to the end of his sentence.

I sat down on my bed, hovering directly over the weapon in question. "Can't you just order a new one?"

My twin sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Of course, but the old one will still be floating around somewhere. As an Exorcist, I'm responsible for keeping track of my tools, and losing something like that is dangerous." He dropped his hand to his lap, his eyes searching his bag once more, hoping to find the lost item somewhere within the lining. "I'd hate for it to fall into the wrong hands and someone get hurt because of it."

"No one's going to die because you lost a knife, Yukio."

He gave me a pointed look, "You never know. All it takes is one mentally unstable individual to get their hands on it... I couldn't imagine being the one to find a dead body, still bleeding due to my carelessness."

I chewed on my lips, "Well, dead bodies can't bleed, so you're fine."

He scoffed, tearing his teal eyes away from his bag and giving me a flabbergasted expression. "What? Blood is blood, Rin. Once a vessel has been broken, blood will flow, no matter the status of the person. Unless you're talking about the long deceased, in that case, blood would coagulate." He furrowed his brows, "you're the top student in my class, you should know this."

I sighed, unsure if my rambling would cause any suspicion. "I get that. But, without a heartbeat, how can someone bleed? If you poked a hole in a water balloon, you'd call the dripping a leak. Bleeding implies that your heart is functioning. Pumping through atriums and ventricles before making the blood flow through your body and out any wounds. Dead bodies don't bleed, they leak - bleeding lets you know that you're alive."

He was silent for a few moments and concern flashed in his eyes. Great, I should've stayed quiet. "Simply questioning whether or not you're living should give you that answer..." His eyes traced my features, looking me up and down. "Have you been reading poetry lately?"

Relief flooded my system at the possible excuse. I chuckled softly, shrugging my shoulders. "Yeah, my English Lit teacher gets a little dramatic sometimes. Guess it rubbed off on me."

His eyes widened slightly and his lips quirked as if to say; no shit. "Well, it doesn't matter. I'll keep an eye out for the knife, but I'll order a new one, too. Chances are I lost it a while ago."

.oOo.

As per usual, I was the first one to arrive at Yukio's class, a plastic-wrapped platter in my hands. Upon my entrance, my twin turned from the board. His eyes landed on the platter and he dropped the chalk onto the board's ledge. I had barely placed the platter down before he was ripping off the plastic, shoving a cookie into his mouth. "Yukio," I chided, "leave some for everyone else."

He squinted at me, defiance radiating in his eyes as he munched on the cookie. "There's enough here for everyone to get three, I'm sure it'll be fine."

I groaned, "at least keep your mouth shut while eating," He chuckled and continued chewing.

He polished it off, licking his fingers before turning back to me, "could you help me for a second?" I hummed and he gestured to the room behind me. "Mephisto is having the classrooms professionally cleaned today, and since we won't be here, this room will be one of the first. Could you help me move the desks?"

I grumbled but made my way over to a nearby desk. He followed closely behind and we began stacking chairs. After a minute or so, a few others entered the room, noticing our activities, and they joined without question. I glanced over to see that it was Izumo and Suguro-san. She had her back turned to me and my eyes wandered over her small frame. When I returned my gaze forward, Yukio was giving me a curious stare, one of his eyebrows quirked. My cheeks heated with my embarrassment and he shook his head, a small smile playing on his lips.

I almost dropped a table on my foot when the rest of our classmates filtered in. Renzo-san and Moriyama-san were holding hands. A few surprised noises escaped my mouth and Izumo turned to me, puzzled at my reaction. "What?" Her gaze followed mine and she scoffed, "you didn't know?" I shook my head and I flinched when she punched my arm. "Maybe, if you didn't shove your face into your manga every day, you would've noticed, stupid."

I blinked in surprise, my eyes bouncing between Izumo and the entangled hands. "Just when did that happen?"

"Like three weeks ago. You really get into those books. How could you not notice?" I shrugged, feeling my embarrassment from earlier show up. I turned away from Izumo, pushing the last of the desks together. However, I couldn't help but to steal a few more glances at the new couple.

Was I just surprised, or was I jealous? Shima and Shiemi didn't seem like each other's type. But then again, I didn't know them well enough to make such an observation. I guess I just found it unusual that my classmates would like anyone, seeing as how they didn't seem too keen on conversing with me. I held back the urge to roll my eyes as I berated myself. They didn't talk to me because of who I was and what I was capable of. Of course, they had no issues talking amongst other humans, and it was only natural that they'd start dating others at some point. The thought saddened me, recalling Shura's words from long ago. I'd never get such a luxury. I was destined to be alone until my inevitable death.

"Alright, everyone," Yukio stated from his place at the podium. The soft chatters of my classmates died out and we all tuned into his words. "I want to thank you all for your hard work and attention these last few months." His eyes moved across the crowd, momentarily settling on me before moving past. "I expected to have a few struggling students, however, every one of you has a passing grade. I've watched as you've answered each other's questions and gone as far as meeting outside of class to work together." He smiled, the action meeting his eyes. "That's the type of attitude you need to maintain if you want to remain out on the field. Teamwork and communication may seem like trivial skills when amid a battle, but they are mandatory if you want to succeed."

My classmates all uttered their gratitude, thanking our teacher for the effort he has put into the class. My teal-eyed twin motioned over to the platter of cookies and, one by one, my peers grabbed their share. I went to the back of the line, preferring that the other's got their fill first.

A loud bang erupted in the room, and I flinched. I turned just in time to catch on to the situation. I dodged, narrowly escaping the sharpened pencil that had been targeted my direction. My eyes snapped over to its owner, seeing a flash of fuchsia. Reflexively, I ducked down, knowing her first swing would always come from up top. As predicted, her fist whirled through the air. I took my opportunity and grabbed the back of her knees, causing her to fall backward. Her foot shot out just before she tumbled, finding purchase on my abdomen. I grunted, the blow partially knocking the wind out of me. Her ass met the ground, but she didn't let it phase her. With the same leg she'd used to kick me, she threw it over my head, hooking her knee behind my neck and slamming my face into the ground. Searing pain erupted in the front of my skull, but I shoved the aching down, knowing I'd have to deal with it later.

My arm shot up, and I snaked my hand under her elbow and up to her shoulder. I used the leverage and shoved her off of me, laying her flat on the ground. I went to pin her arms, but she was a sly motherfucker. She wiggled from my grip and her fingers found purchase in my hair, pushing my head back. Luckily, her arms were shorter than mine, and my fingers gripped her throat. We stayed in that position for several moments, the only sound in the room was the beginnings of her wheezing.

With my head held back, I was able to glance around the room. All of my classmates were shocked into silence, their eyes wide as they watched the brawl in front of them. My own eyes wandered across their faces, noting the impassive look on my twin's face. I gave him a smirk, and I saw his exterior crack slightly as his own lips twitched upward.

Finally, Shura realized I wouldn't be letting go of her windpipe. And with the current position, she would lose if she called it off now. Her fingers slipped from my hair, choosing instead to pry at my own. I released her and she gasped for breath, but she didn't remain vulnerable for long. She bucked her hips and I lost my balance. We spent the next minute or so trading spots for the upper hand. It all came to an end, however, when I saw my chance. She was hovering over me, but her knees weren't in a stable position. I grabbed ahold of her and used her unsteadiness to my advantage. She toppled to the side and I grabbed her wrists before she could struggle away, pinning them behind her back. I shoved my knee into the small of her back and she grunted in protest.

I was panting and the beginning of a sweat clung to my skin. "Checkmate," I puffed, blowing my bangs away from my face. "I thought you said we wouldn't spar today? What happened to staying in peak condition for the mission?" She struggled against me and I took that as my cue to release her. She glared at me as she got to her feet and I followed suit. Her fingers wrapped around her tender wrists, rubbing the reddened skin. She gave me a half-assed answer, telling me she needed to keep me on my toes. I gawked at her. "So you threw a pencil at me? What if I hadn't ducked in time?!"

She scoffed, "You've got a decent reaction time, I knew you'd move out of the way. And if it had stabbed you in the eye, oh well - you would've healed by the time we left, anyway."

I rolled my eyes, grumbling, "yeah, and I would've had a massive migraine the whole mission..."

"Woaaah, that was so cool!" I felt an arm being swung over my shoulder and I turned to meet Renzo-san's brown eyes. I was surprised he even wanted to touch me. "I would've gotten my ass handed to me. How'd you hold up against Kirigakure-sensei?"

I shrugged, tossing a glance at my mentor, "When you spar with someone almost every day for months on end, you get used to how they fight." I turned my wary gaze back to the boy next to me, "I wouldn't hold up in a fight against anyone else, trust me."

There were a feel giggles from my classmates and the chatter returned to normal. Suddenly, I felt Renzo's breath on my ear. "How the hell did you fight a girl without accidentally groping her?" My face contorted, and he saw my disgust. "I didn't mean it like that!"

I sighed, shrugged his arm off of my shoulder, "I just don't think about it. At that moment, she was my attacker, it didn't matter who she was, or her gender." He hummed, thoughtful, and I cast him a look before walking over to the cookies and finally grabbing my share.

"Oi, Sensei, did you make these?" Suguro-san piped up after several moments. My twin chuckled, shaking his head and pointing his finger at me. The rooster-headed teen turned his gaze to me. "Damn, Okumura-san, who knew a demon could cook?" He elbowed me playfully, "you didn't poison them, did you?" He saw the look in my eyes and jumped to clarify, "I'm only pulling your tail, man. They're good cookies."

I knew he was just messing around, but his words still hurt me. I did my best to bottle them, chucking them far into the back of my brain. I scoffed, "my figurative tail, you mean?" The realization dawned on him and he laughed, clapping me on the shoulder. "And as a demon, I don't need to poison you, I've got far easier methods."

"Ay, now," Shura butted in, giving me a pointed look. "let's not antagonize the dog." She turned her gaze to Bon and I saw him stiffen, "he's trained well, but he knows how to bite."

The teen swallowed audibly before a strained chuckle escaped his lips. He raised a hand, rubbing the back of his neck and giving me an apologetic look. "Sorry, Okumura-san, I didn't mean anything by it."