Disclaimer.

===AH===

Chapter 2: Rin Meets Akira

It was a few days before Akira spoke to Yukio. She'd been ignoring him all week. She'd even sat next to Ryuji in her advanced classes, who'd told her she could call him 'Bon' after sitting next to him in all their classes for three days.

That was the afternoon Yukio texted her about her order with the exorcist specialty shop. She asked if he could pick it up for her. They agreed to meet up next day. They avoided the topic of Rin when they met up in front of his dorm. The other freshman cram school kids were doing drills with the Horndog, as Akira had labeled him. Yukio was called away by Faust when there was only fifteen minutes left to that class. She didn't ask what it was about. She just told him that she'd see him in advanced Literature.

After Literature, they had an introduction to art course they shared with Rin. Akira thought that art was one of the best brain cleansers. Yukio wasn't very good, but he wanted to keep an eye on his twin. Akira didn't know they were all going to share a class until the first day. After, she invited Yukio to the cram school library for lunch. They studied while they ate, idle chat going between them as well as some questions posed from classes. There was very little time left in the lunch hour when Akira finally worked up the nerve to bring up their fight.

"The last day I was at your house, Shiro asked me to take care of you, ya know," she started. Yukio stopped what he was working on, but did not look at her. "He told me that you wanted to protect Rin, but that you needed someone to do the same for you. I told him that I would always have your back." He looked up at her. Akira smiled when he did, but it didn't last as she continued. "But I can't support the notion that you would kill your own brother. Rin was so important that you started to studying exorcism at the age of seven. You wanted to protect him." She hoped that he read between the lines. He usually could with her.

"I still do want to protect Rin, but I have to protect the world from demons and dark creatures too. It's part of my oath." 'Have I been so busy with my own ability to become an exorcist that I missed a change in him? There's no way. There has to be more to this. I've known him for too long for him to be this far gone without me realizing it.' The anger she had been trying to keep in check caused her to slam her hands onto the desk in front of them.

"Screw the oath! Rin is your twin! He comes before that other crap."

"It's complicated, Ki." Their gazes locked. Hers was burning; his calm. Her right eye twitched in irritation.

"Then explain it! It can't be that complicated; he's your brother," she stressed. He remained silent. "Whatever. I'll drop the subject." She broke eye contact and gathered her things. "Know this:" she started before she left, "there's always a better way to handle difficult situations, especially when Rin's involved." She went to her first advanced pharmacology III class for the year, which she was dreading. It was the last year she had to formally study plants and their healing properties, but it was a four hour block once a week. There was going to be a lot of independent work, she was sure. That did not make up for the fact that she was going to die of boredom in class. Why couldn't it have just been a two hour block twice a week?

"You're just in time, deary," her teacher said from his space right outside the classroom door. "The last one too." He made a sound that sounded like a laugh, but it could have been a 'hmm.' He closed the door behind her and walked to the front of the small classroom. When he faced the class, which was her and two other students, she had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from gasping. His skin was reptilian; scaly, a little shiny, and peeling in some places. His glasses, which she had assumed were normal day to day wear, were not quite clear, but they weren't sunglasses either. She raised her hand.

"Why is this class so small?" She figured there would be a few more students in her class, even though it was advanced.

"Ah, excellent question! Hm." He tapped his chin as he pondered how to answer, though Akira thought it was just for show. "You, Miss. Akira Himura," he pointed to her, "are only taking this and your two other cram school classes because you like the busy work. You are a Doctor and a Knight, Middle Second Class." She shrunk in her seat, which was difficult given that she was already petite. He looked at the other girl in the class. "You, Miss. Cho Watanabe, wish to only work helping repair the damage demons cause. You are a Doctor and Aria, currently Lower Second Class, for this purpose. You don't want to be on the front lines." Cho neither agreed nor denied what he was saying, but she had a fierce glare. "And Mister Sora Ueno is a Dragoon, Lower First Class. This is his last class before being able to go into the field fully." Sora's eye twitched. Akira wasn't sure how she felt about this teacher, but at least he was direct as well as thorough. "You can all call me Nobu." He picked up a huge stack of papers and set a copy in front of each of them. "This is what other teachers call a syllabus. I, however, call it a lifeline." Akira picked up her stack. It was the size of a small book. It was even bound. She groaned internally. She may love to learn, but this was pushing her limit. Cho raised her hand and Nobu acknowledged the girl.

"This is for the whole course then?" Akira wasn't expecting the strong voice that came out of the other girl. She had glared at Nobu, but she still had seemed somewhat timid.

"Yes." The three students let out breaths of relief. "But this class is only four months," he continued. "I only lecture for one hour each week. Your research papers and the field work you'll be doing together are the only components of your grade. There is a paper due every other week. The outlines for each are in your packet. There is no final. I will either pass you or fail you based on your performance." Nobu turned toward the board to write the current time. "I'm going to let you read it now. I'll answer any and all questions in about an hour or so. From there we'll go to the school's provided library. I'll point out the most useful sections for projects as it is a huge library and easy to get lost in, even when following the catalogue. The rest of class will then be yours to start paper one." He disappeared with a snap of his fingers. 'Fuck,' Akira thought. 'He's some kind of demon. What is this place?' She was going to hate this class. She could just feel it.

===AH===

Akira had fallen into a pretty regular routine with Yukio over the next couple weeks. She kept mostly to herself in an effort to not have attention drawn to her. She didn't raise her hand in class, but had top marks, much to her best friend's annoyance. They trained together when they could. It was comfortable. Then she noticed it. She had looked up to copy some notes from the board, but something caught her attention. Yukio was on a mission, but Rin was in art class. And he had a damned tail! When had that happened?

This was why Yukio had trained so hard; always pushing himself further than he should have. She kept up with him pretty well, knowing that this was important. They had even gotten their Doctor Meister at the same time, a second to follow for each less than six months later, but she wanted to at least pretend she was normal sometimes.

She couldn't ignore the fact that Rin had a tail though. After classes today, her usual study time Yukio might just be pushed off. She was going to suggest combat then proceed trying to strangle him.

AH

She was studying in their spot when she heard the pattern of his footfalls. She tossed a book behind her as he entered the space, standing to turn and look at him as he caught it. Barely. She glared at him.

"Yukio Okumura, what the hell is wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you? Why did you just throw your copy of Great Expectations at me?" He flipped through it. "Sorry, my copy."

"Because you are a great, big jerk. That's why." Her eyes narrowed further. He sighed. This wasn't an unusual occurrence when she felt slighted.

"Why am I a great, big jerk this time?" He sighed again.

"Because you didn't bother to tell me that the reason you were training so hard to protect Rin was from himself." Yukio stared at her. "Why didn't you just tell me he was a demon?" she hissed at him. He went toward her. She backed up slightly. There was still a few feet between them. "Are you a demon, too? Is that why you didn't tell me?"

"No, Ki, I am not a demon," he said softly as he walked around the furniture to stand directly in front of her. She stepped forward and fell into him. "But he and I do share a father." He wrapped his arms around her. "It's Satan, Ki, and Rin has vowed to kill him for murdering Shiro." Akira tried to push away from Yukio, but he held fast knowing she would start freaking out otherwise. She took several deep breaths, saying nothing as the night Shiro died was playing in her head now.

"I'm going to help him." Yukio tensed. "I'm going to help you, too. You aren't alone, Kio." He relaxed and pulled her closer.

"I know." He was skipping over the hard emotions. She let him, for now, as her arms tightened around him.

"My grandfather was a half demon," she mumbled into his chest. He almost didn't understand her, but he was used to her doing this when she didn't want to tell him something. He dropped his arms, stepping back from her.

"Why am I just finding out about this?" He crossed his arms.

"Because I couldn't. Not until it was safe to tell you." Yukio sighed and they were silent for a few moments before either spoke again.

"Six years? You had to wait that long to tell me?" Akira giggled, pushed him away, and hopped up on a desk.

"I did, but you didn't give me any indication that you were hiding the son of Satan. Even?"

"I guess." Yukio sighed again. "Are you coming to my class tonight?"

"Dunno yet. What I do know is we only have," she looked at her watch, "Two hours before then, I'm all caught up with my work for the day, and I'm going to practice keeping form while hitting targets." She shouldered her bag and walked out of the cram school's library. Yukio didn't follow.

==AH==

One hour, fifty-six minutes later, Akira was slipping into the back of Yukio's class, hair still wet from her shower. Yua was hiding in the dark red, messy bun on top of her head. She was simply there to observe. It was something she had to do as a freshman taking such advanced cram classes. This class was small, but bigger than all of hers. Only nine students were here, spread out in small groups. Shiemi was sitting at Rin's table. She locked eyes with Yukio and smiled. He nodded to acknowledge her without bringing her presence to the attention of the students. She was to take notes and present improvement. She would have to remember where she was years ago compared to now and go from there.

"I hope you all..." she tuned out Yukio as her eyes caught Rin's tail move. 'How has no one noticed this yet? Though, to be fair, it took me awhile to notice. But I see him in class, where he sits behind me normally, and...Nope. That's it. This is a sorry group of exorcists in training if they can't spot a demon among them.' The main reason she wanted to watch the class today was because she had finally noticed Rin's tail. Sure, her training required her observation, but she'd been putting it off until now. She wanted to see how the other kids acted around him. She shifted around the room to get a better look at Rin, who she'd been pretty much ignoring until recently, careful to make sure the other kids didn't see her. Yukio stopped talking and a few students got up to pair off with other members of their class. Rin clipped his hair back from his face, oblivious to the fact that he was working on his own. He was also the only one that hadn't noticed she was in the room. When Shima tried to come over to say hi, she shook her head, mouthing 'Later.' He shrugged and went back to work with Bon.

'Rin's changed so little since we were kids.' As she watched him take notes, she realized that even though he had been struggling the past few years, fighting, and getting into trouble, he was still boyish. His tail swished once. He stopped writing in order to tuck it up his shirt. 'That's why I didn't notice before.' She felt something stir in her she hadn't felt in quite some time. She hadn't had this chest clenching, stomach fluttering feeling in at least a year. The first time she'd experienced this was a few years ago when she realized that Yukio was a boy and she was a girl. She had told him as much, but he had rejected her. She had pushed those feelings away. He was her best friend. She didn't want to lose him. When she looked away from Rin, Yukio was staring at her. She blushed, which hadn't happened around him in quite some time, and bit her lip. He raised an eyebrow at her. Of course he was curious. She moved through the rest of the room without a care and sat on the edge of his desk. She neither faced the students, nor Yukio.

"You never blush. At least, not since we were kids," he murmured. She knew he was really asking a question. He had a bad habit of doing that with her. And even though his voice was low, it was quiet enough in the room that she was pretty sure they all heard him. She shrugged and then shook her head.

"I'll tell you later, Kio. It's nothing, really." Yukio chuckled and leaned into her.

"Pretty sure that's a lie," he whispered. She met his gaze. He was closer than she thought. She gulped to try to swallow her heart back into place. "Also we seem to have an audience." Her head whipped around, hair flying into Yukio's face, causing him to sputter as he straightened. "Class, this is Miss. Himura. You will show her the same respect you show me." Akira tried to blindly punch his shoulder, but hit mid-chest instead. He didn't flinch, but his eyes narrowed at her. Izumo raised her hand. 'She would be the one to speak up." "Yes, Miss. Kamiki?"

"Are you two dating, or something?" Akira nearly fell off the desk, but hopped up instead. The nerve of her roommate.

"Absolutely not!" she shouted at the same time as Yukio said, "Or something?" She spun onto Yukio. "Or something? Really? That's what you got out of this? You are a stupid boy, Yukio, considering."

"What does 'or something' mean? She's usually more precise than that!" Akira huffed.

"She was trying to be nice and vague. She was asking if we were a.) dating, or b.) not dating but messing around with each other." Yukio's face scrunched up. "See! That's why she was being vague!"

"How could she think that?" Yukio was having trouble wrapping his head around this.

"Because she's a hottie, and you're a good looking guy," Shima piped up. "Plus, you're a high ranking exorcist. Ladies love stuff like that." Akira spun to face Shima.

"I am not a 'hottie,'" was said at the same time as Yukio exclaimed, "Akira's not like that!" She rounded back on him so quickly she had to catch herself on his desk.

"So you don't think I'm hot." Yukio looked stricken. What was going on with her? She knew that he wasn't trying to hurt her, but the stabbing pain in her chest cavity told a different story. She started backing away while keeping her face neutral.

"That's not what I meant! I meant that you don't go after people in power!" The class was snickering. Yukio blinked and realized that this was not something he wanted to talk about in front of them. "Class dismissed." Every student rushed to get out of the room. "I want those plants known by next class!" Akira was half way across the room. He could hear the clock ticking, but couldn't bring himself to say anything. She couldn't either. Yua was now sitting on a desk, too big to hide in her hair. "Ki, please calm down. I didn't mean to upset you."

"I need to figure out what's going on with us." She crossed her arms over her chest. She couldn't look at him.

"What do you mean? Nothing is wrong with us! You're my best friend." She wiped tears off her face.

"I need some space. Bye, Yukio." She ran from the room. Just hearing him say those words, even though they were true and she'd thought them a million times, hurt. Yukio went to go after her, but Yua flapped her wings at him in warning before she flew after her mistress, shrinking as the threat fell behind them.

AH

It was several more days before Akira talked to anyone that knew about the demon world. At least at first. She had called her mother, but couldn't seem to put into words what she was feeling. She avoided Yukio, again, as much as she could considering they shared nearly every class. She tried not paying Rin any mind, but she would notice his tail and her insides would flip. She didn't know what was going on with her, so she turned to books like she normally did when she needed answers. She started in the cram school library knowing that this wasn't something humans would have any knowledge of.

In the meantime, she had re-dyed her hair to match Yua's dark red feathers so none of the pale blue was showing. Kamiki tried to get to know her more since they were roommates, but she couldn't deal with that. She didn't have the spare minutes to hang out with Kamiki and Paku; not right now. And when Shima had tried to hit on her, she had just rolled her eyes. Since they had hung out a bit over the last few weeks, she smiled at him because he was trying to cheer her up. It only lasted a short while, but she appreciated it.

On her way to lunch on day five of avoiding Yukio, she saw them. Three girls were surrounding him. Then she heard what the girls were saying about Rin and felt her anger flare. She needed to prove them wrong. The half-demon was standing by a tree not far from his brother and the girls. She walked over to him unnoticed until she lightly touched his tail. He jumped.

"What do you think you are doing?" he all but shouted at her. 'Perfect,' she thought. 'We'll have those girls' attention.' She giggled and flipped her hair over her shoulder, looking back at her best friend at the same time. She caught Yukio's eye, but didn't hold it. He looked almost angry, though she couldn't figure out why. Her focus, for once, was Rin.

"I wanted to see if it was real is all," she said quietly, shrugging, as she looked up at his face knowing she wouldn't be heard by anyone but him. Rin blinked at her. This was like...flirting. Was that why Yukio was mad?

"Of course it's real. Why wouldn't it be?" Her hand ran over his tail softly. He let out a low groan. Her stomach tightened. She was suddenly glad she'd found him under a tree. The shade helped hide the heat in her cheeks from him.

"Well, none of the kids at the cram school have noticed it yet. Or they just think it's normal for a ward of Johann Faust V to have a demon's tail." Rin gulped. His hands were at his sides and she felt desperate for them to be on her. However, she was being forward enough as it was. Maybe she'd spent too much time in England with her cousins on holidays.

"What are you talking about?" he asked nervously. His back was nearly against the tree. She ran her hand over his tail again. His eyes darkened when a short nail caught slightly. They weren't as bright a blue and she wanted to push him further against the tree because of it.

"I find it adds to your overall appeal." She leaned toward him. "But I'm jumping the gun. I want to get to know you again, Rin Okumura," she breathed into his ear.

"Wh-" he gulped again as her hand shifted to the top of his tail without touching his butt and she pushed herself against him a little more. "What do you mean 'again'?" She stepped back from him slightly.

"My name is Akira Himura. We met when we were in preschool together, but I moved before I turned five. " She looked up at his face, which she could just tell was not quite red. "I moved back a few years ago. Didn't Yukio ever mention me?" She knew her best friend had done no such thing. It was part of the rules. "We've been training together for over six years now."

"No. He didn't." Rin was looking at something over his shoulder. Akira felt another presence before he even spoke.

"I had a good reason for that." She jumped and turned keeping up their charade. Yukio was smiling, or at least that's what it looked like he was trying to do. She stepped away from Rin.

"Yeah, I know. But you could have been preparing him." Yukio raised an eyebrow at her. She sighed. "You have been. Of course." She smacked his arm. It was like nothing had changed the past few days. Was this how her high school years were going to be: fight with Yukio and then avoid it? "And for not telling me, you've got to walk me to class. Come on, Four Eyes." She grabbed his arm, pulling him away from Rin, who was laughing at his brother's misfortune, and his fan club, who she just realized were standing a lot closer than she would have liked.

"Yeah, okay. I've got some things I need to ask you anyways." Akira stopped them, causing Yukio to stumble.

"See you later, Rin!" she called, waving, before she continued to drag Yukio along. He pulled her into an alcove before they could get to advanced biology. "What are you doing? The freshman bio classes are all working together today. We can't skip. Rin's in this hour with us." She dropped her hand from the crook of his arm.

"How do you know that?" He squinted at her, suspicious. She didn't change her stance.

"That doesn't matter. What's going on? We can't skip class," she repeated. He sighed. He'd been doing this around her a lot lately.

"I know we can't miss class. I just didn't want to wait to talk to you. I can't let you run away again." Yukio opened his arms and she stepped into them. She felt warm and safe. It was like coming home. She wasn't sure what it meant, but she was sure it had something to do with her feelings a few days ago. "I'm sorry," he whispered.

"Hush."

"But-"

"Shut up, Kio." He did as told and pulled her closer.

"I missed you." She nodded. She didn't quite trust her voice; tears were threatening to fall as it was. She squeezed her eyes tight to hold them back. "I didn't realize just how much until you were..." he trailed off. She waited until he was ready to tell her what was going through his mind. It gave her time to compose herself. "Until I saw you with Rin," he said finally. She couldn't help laughing. That was his problem?

"Why did it bother you?" His grip loosened. She looked up at him.

"I didn't like it." He looked away from her. She studied him for a moment. They were just close enough that she caught the increased heart rate. His face a mask of stone, but his cheeks were slightly red.

"You're jealous." She was surprised. His eyes flicked to look at her before he focused on the wall again. "You are! Why? You rejected me years ago, Yukio." Her eyes narrowed at him. What was going on? They were just friends; best friends. That's what they'd been telling each other for quite some time.

"Honestly?" She folded her arms across her chest, which was hard to do since they were standing pretty close. " I'm not really sure, but I'm happy every time you turn Shima down; I'm not when you flirt with guys, especially when you don't realize you're doing it. I love being around you; how animated you are when you talk; how kind you are. I missed you."

"You said as much," she whispered.

"Yes, but this week was torture. It was like I couldn't keep my eyes off you." He looked back at her and straightened slightly. "But you needed space, so I left you alone. Not being able to talk to you was the worst." His cheeks were darker, but he seemed to have gained a confidence. One of his hands came up to cup her face gently. She could tell he was about to kiss her and pulled away before his lips could make even the barest of contact.

"You can't do this to me, Yukio. You turned me down before. You can't mess with me like this." Yukio growled.

"I'm not trying to mess with you. I just can't stand to see you with him!" Akira pushed him away from her as hard as she could.

"So because you feel like Rin gets everything, you want me now? That's not how this works! I'm a person!" How dare he act like this! "I haven't seen Rin, really seen him, in years. He'd always been at a distance, even in class. The other day in your class, I can't even begin to tell you what I was feeling. It was the first time I'd really looked at him. But now I don't really know what to do." She backed up against the opposite wall. This was extremely exhausting. "It was similar to the feeling I started to have for you a few years ago, but different as well. I can't tell him though. History will just repeat itself," she finished sadly. Leaning close, Yukio hit the space next the her head.

"I made a mistake! I was thirteen, Ki! I didn't know how to react to you then. But just the thought of you with any guy makes me go crazy. I've seen some of the other guys you talk to in class try to get you to go out with them and I hate it. In art class, I sat next to you because it made sense. But I've never felt like hurting any of the guys that you talk to. Not until you were flirting with my brother. You haven't shown interest in anyone, to my knowledge, since we got our Meisters." He pulled away from her. "But him? It had to be him! I think I could handle anyone but him, Ki." He whispered the last part.

"So instead of telling me any of this, you wait until I start crushing on your brother? I didn't choose this! It's just something that happened."

"I know you can't help feelings, but maybe you liking Rin is because you still like me." He was hopeful that that was the real reason.

"No! How dare you! You are my best friend, Yukio. Act like it. Stop being a jealous arsehole." She was being a little harsh, but they hadn't really talked about what was going on with them and she was just so frustrated.

"How can I support you flirting with my brother? How can you ask me to watch you touch him?" Her whole body hummed at the idea. She really needed to figure out what was going on. Were both brothers actually involved? As his words really sank in though, her anger spiked. It was as if a rubber band snapped within her, but she was calm.

"The same way I watch girls flirt with you all the time," she said frostily as she pushed passed him.

"But I don't return the affections!" Yukio followed her as she sped toward their class. "We need to finish talking, Ki."

"Later, Yukio." He sighed and ran a hand through his dark hair before he followed her into class. Akira raised an eyebrow as he took his normal seat while she sat next to Bon. When they met up with the other freshman biology classes, she caught him glaring to his brother, who remained oblivious the whole hour. She could barely focus on her task, but she made it through class in one piece.

AH

It was hours later while she was working on her cram school work that a chair across from her was pulled out. She assumed it was Yukio so she ignored him. After a few translations though, the person spoke.

"So. What exactly is going on with you and my brother, Miss. Himura?" Her heart clenched. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and willed her body to relax.

"There's nothing going on with Yukio and I, Rin." She continued with her translation as if she hadn't been interrupted. It didn't cross her mind to be proper with him as he had been with her. She was so used to being around Yukio and Shiro that being proper around a member of their family was a foreign concept.

"That's bull shit and you know it. One, you call him Kio. Even I know that. Two, he wasn't angry at me until after lunch. I'm pretty sure he was trying to kill me with his eyes in class today."

"Your brother was not trying to kill you with his eyes." 'He noticed that?' She pushed her work away, knowing that trying to do anything was futile at this point. "He's just working through some things." She shrugged before looking up at Rin.

"Well, most of those things seem to involve you. So, I will repeat: what is going on with you and my brother? Because you can't..." he cleared his throat. "You can't touch me if Yukio is who you want to be with." Akira's heart fell to her feet. She looked back down at the table.

"It's not like that." Her voice was soft. She blinked tears away, picking at a spot on the table for something else to focus on.

"You're obviously close with him. Hell, he's kept you from me until after we were here." Rin was definitely annoyed at being left out of the loop. She didn't blame him.

"He didn't have a choice. Part of my training was that you weren't allowed to know until we were here at True Cross. That was my family's one condition for me learning to become an exorcist at such a young age. I was eight, nearly nine, at the time."

"What made you want to be an exorcist so young?" Akira chirped. Yua hopped out from behind her hair, landing on the table and looking at her mistress questioningly. She stroked her feathers.

"The day I made the choice, Yua was chasing me. She was about ten times her current size, and my mother knew she was a demon. I ended up at your monastery where I was reintroduced to Yukio, Yua shattered through the wards, and I learned my mom was an exorcist. Once I got home, I learned about the truth of my heritage, but I'm not getting into that right now. Not here." She paused; Rin was patient while she gathered her thoughts. This was unusual from the stories Yukio had told her about his brother. "Anyways, I made the decision that I wanted to learn how to protect my family and other people."

"That's basically why I want to be an exorcist. I learned about where I came from and I want to protect my brother and the other priests at the monastery. I'm-"

"I know, Rin. It's okay." Rin blinked at her. "You don't have to explain things to me." She was smiling, though she still wasn't looking at him.

"Really? I don't scare you?"

"Nope. I was there the night Shiro died," she whispered. Akira glanced at her watch. "Let's get out of here. There's still over an hour before you have to be in class with Yukio." She started gathering her things, standing to put away some reference books.

"I think you need to talk to him before I go to class. I don't want him to make me burst into flames because he thinks I'm stealing his girl." She dropped the books back on the table.

"I am NOT his girl. He rejected me. He doesn't get to be all jealous and-" Rin jumped up excitedly. His grin made her stomach flip, but she ignored it.

"Ha! I knew something happened with you guys!" Akira groaned.

"Nothing actually happened. I told him I liked him. He told me he wanted to focus on training. I pushed aside the feelings I thought I had. End of story." She picked up her bag instead. She'd be coming back later anyways.

"Not end of story. Miss. Himura, my brother was a moron." Akira stepped closer to Rin. Rin backed up. They did this until his back hit the library shelves. There was still about a foot between them. "And I don't think you're over him like you want to believe," he whispered before he gulped. That seemed to be all he could do when she was this close to him.

"Then why does my stomach clench when I think about you, which has been a lot recently?" She closed the space between them, bag falling to the floor. They were just barely touching. "Why do I want to touch you and never stop?" She reached out with one hand to trace from his forehead to his chin. He didn't stop her as his breathing picked up. She ran that hand down his neck and torso until it rested on his hip, her other hand already on the other side. "I don't remember feeling like this with Yukio." Her eyebrows furrowed.

"Don't say that," he basically growled. She wouldn't have heard his words had she not been so close. She stepped back from him slightly, hands dropping from his hips. She wasn't going to be rejected by an Okumura brother. Not again.

"Don't say what?" She was terrified. Why was Rin different? Was this that different from with her best friend? She really couldn't remember. 'But then I've never been in situations with him until...well, we've always hugged, and been close that way. Maybe...' Rin's words broke her thoughts.

"Don't say his name when you're touching me." He pulled her back to him, their bodies fitting together in a way Akira was sure only happened in her mother's romance novels. She gasped, her hands going to his shoulders.

"But I-"

"Shh, Miss. Himura." His breath was near her ear. She shivered.

"If you're going to hold me like this, then you need to at least call me Kira. 'Miss' is far too formal for what I'm feeling." His lips lightly touched her neck. He gripped her hips tighter when she sighed at the contact. "Or for you doing that."

"I've never touched a girl before you...Kira." She chuckled. "Why do I feel what you feel?" She shrugged, which made him move his head. "We barely know each other. Is there something wrong with us?" Their faces were so close, but their lips weren't touching. They were just staring at each other.

"I hope not." Her fingers started playing with the hair at the base of his neck, and he hummed, pulling her body closer still to him. "I've never done anything with anyone either, Rin." She wet her lips, and without knowing how it really happened, his lips were on hers. She felt so warm in his embrace. This was definitely not what she felt when Yukio held her earlier. That felt normal and perfectly fine for close friends. And she didn't think this was how it would feel to kiss him, but she couldn't fully think straight as Rin's hands had moved to the hem of her skirt, fingers ghosting over the thin fabric of her tights. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled herself closer to him. When she bit his bottom lip lightly, he groaned and lifted her, pushing away from the bookshelves. She wrapped her legs around him, his sword getting in the way slightly. His hands were gripping the backs of her thighs. After a few seconds she felt the wood of the work desk under her bottom. It startled her away from his lips and she opened her eyes to look into his large blue ones. Only the two of them were surrounded by blue. It took her a moment to realize what had happened.

"I-" She couldn't find words. Instead, she pushed him away, picked up her bag, and fled the library.

"Kira!" Yukio called after her just as she was making her way up the hall. She stopped and looked at her watch.

"You have class soon. What do you want?" He suddenly looked nervous. "Well?"

"I saw you with Rin," he said quietly.

"Don't worry. It's not going to happen again, I'm sure. He's not going to want to touch me again if he can't keep control of his powers."

"I think you're wrong about that, but that's not really want I want to talk about." He glanced around before grabbing her hand and pulling her along until they were in his classroom, which she didn't bother protesting. He closed the door. "I couldn't look away from you and Rin, Ki." She glared at him, but said nothing. "I know that's not something I should be asking you, but please, Akira, just give us a try. Seeing you with him was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do." The use of her first name threw her off, but she shook her head nonetheless.

"Why did it take me liking Rin for you to realize you liked me?" To be fair, she'd been crushing on Rin a little bit before school started, but 1.) Yukio didn't need to know that, and 2.) she'd been trying to push said crush away. 'That worked out oh so wonderfully,' she thought bitterly.

"Would you stop that? I never told you I didn't like you!" She threw her hands up.

"You told me you would rather focus on your training! What do you call that? Because I call that rejection!"

"You told me right before we were about to take our Meister exam! That was terrible timing!"

"I was a nervous wreck, and I knew if I didn't tell you then, I would never tell you!" Yukio sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I didn't get to see you before you left to celebrate with your family. You didn't mention it after getting back, so I thought you had just gotten over me or something. I never rejected you, Ki." He whispered the last part. "Please believe me." She studied him for a few moments before she went to sit at one of the desks. She put her bag on the table and then indicated for him to take the seat she had moved to face her.

"I believe you, but I can't just jump into your arms, Kio. I need to figure out what's going on with Rin and I, first and foremost." Yukio reluctantly agreed as he sat next to her and they spent the rest of time their time chatting, filling one another in on what had been going on in their worlds. Rin was the first person into the classroom, which was odd. "Hey, Rin." She smiled broadly at the boy in question. He just looked away from her. She bit her lip. She looked at Yukio, who was glaring at Rin. She looked back at Rin. She sighed. "We'll be right back, Kio." She stood, grabbed Rin's arm, and pulled him from the classroom.

"What are you doing, Miss. Himura?" Rin took his arm back from her. The other kids had started filing in. She moved across the hall and rounded on Rin.

"I wouldn't have been able to sit there the whole time without you at least saying hi. And why are we back to 'miss'? What did I tell you?" She put her hands on her hips.

"You ran away from me and straight into Yukio's arms." He was oddly calm, not even looking at her. It was as if he'd been expecting something like this.

"I did not!"

"Yes you did! His glare is worse! He knows something happened." Rin turned away from her and closed the classroom door. At least they seemed to be on the same page about keeping this conversation between them.

"Okay, fine. I didn't go running into his arms though. He saw us in the library." She made sure to lower her voice, not trusting the door fully. He rounded on her this time.

"So to make him feel better, you what? Let him kiss you? Touch you?" Rin didn't have time to react before her hand connected with his face.

"I've only ever kissed one person and you're it." She looked down at her feet. Rin glared at her, not quite sure what to believe, as he cupped his cheek.

"Well, you guys seemed pretty cozy in there."

"You're making assumptions," she growled. He didn't have the first clue about how things were with her and Yukio.

"No. Something happened when you left the library. He wouldn't be acting like this if you hadn't said or done something to make him think he stood a chance with you." He stepped closer to her. "Tell me: were you just telling me those things so that I would touch you and you could pretend it was Yukio? Because, apparently, all you had to do to get his attention was show a little interest in me. You didn't even have to let me kiss you. You could have left it at that tail tease at lunch and then told me to-" She lunged at him, but he anticipated it, catching her arms before her hands could make contact with his body. What he wasn't expecting was her lips meeting his. She pulled back quickly, her arms falling to her sides.

"Sorry." She leaned against the wall next to the classroom door. "I should control myself better. I'm not even sure what we are or if we're going to be anything." She took a few calming breaths. He just stood there, shocked. "But you need to know that that's not why I wanted to kiss you. I like you, Rin." He pushed her further into the wall and locked their lips again. She felt that warmth again and pulled away. "Why do your powers do that when we kiss?" she whispered.

"I'm not sure." The flames faded completely when Rin let her go. The door to the classroom opened, and Yukio stepped out. His face was set in a mask, a recently common occurrence Akira was not happy with.

"I need to start class, Rin. Akira, you are welcome to stay and observe my class." He didn't wait for a response before he spun on his heel and went back to the front of the room. She groaned since he rarely called her by her full name,and he'd done it twice today. She needed to observe this class for real. She couldn't help thinking, yet again, that this was going to be an incredibly long year.

tail touching scene was the beginning of this plot bunny. I'm not done yet! Akira is really confused right now. She's going to be researching why Rin's powers react to her like that. Especially since Yukio decided that he likes her. Or at least he decided to let her know AFTER she started crushing on Rin. Silly boy .

~Tori