"It" Can't Be Helped | ✔️ | Blue Exorcist

At a Loss

Yukio felt tears run down his cheeks, and he tried to look away, afraid might lose his cool. Yet, he couldn't, moving forward, he ran his fingertips up Rin's arm. The skin wasn't smooth, it was anything but, with hills and divots along the entire length of both of his arms. Silvery-pink lines covered almost every square inch, while healing lines scattered themselves in between. On his right shoulder, multiple deep, angry looking lacerations cross crossed each other.

The room was silent, struck with the biggest shock they'd ever experienced, the students were at a loss for words. All of them were wide eyed with their mouths gaping. A strangled sob escaped Yukio's chest and he reached out, avoiding touching any fresh wounds as he shook his brother's shoulders.

"Nii-san...?" He swallowed hard, "Nii-san! Snap out of it!" The boy blinked, his eyes finally starting to focus. He grunted and Yukio shook him again. "Nii-san! What the fuck!" The younger twin, understandably, lost his sense of formality in front of his students. "Why..?"

Rin blinked a few more times, his vision clearing, "W-wha?"

Yukio was growing agitated, his grip on his brother getting tighter, the other boy flinched in response. "What the fuck, Rin?! What...? What have you done?" He whispered, tears still falling.

Rin looked confused, glancing around at his classmates standing before him. Did he pass out or something? He blinked a few more times before looking down, and he noticed his bare skin. There was a sharp intake of breath, and it was the only thing filling the silence. He looked back up into his brother's eyes, not sure how to react.

"Why?" was Yukio's only question. Rin opened his mouth, but no words followed, so he shook his head. Yukio grew angry at this, however. "Dammit, Rin! What the fuck?! You can't expect me to understand this, can you?" He let go of him, leaning back on his heels, sighing.

Shura put a hand on Yukio's shoulder, giving him a look, to which the boy stood and switched places with her. Shura gazed into Rin's eyes when something sparked in her own. She grabbed his good shoulder and yanked him to his feet, ignoring his grunts. She let go and promptly slapped him, his head staying to the side. "What are you thinking, Okumura? And I expect an answer," she seethed. The black haired boy looked back in her direction, still unable to form a coherent answer.

She slapped him again, the students behind her starting to mumble their protests, asking her to take it easy. "No! I'm not taking it easy. I need an answer, right fucking now. What the hell are you thinking, Okumura? What is the meaning of this?" Her finger poked at the fresh cuts on his right shoulder and he winced, breathing deeply.

"I-I..."

"Come on! Spit it out!"

Rin closed his eyes, trying to unknot his tongue. "I'm sorry..."

Shura seemed to hesitate, her posture relaxing ever so slightly. Her voice remained cold, however. "That hasn't answered my question."

Rin nodded, he knew that. "No matter my answer... it won't.... be good enough."

"Any answer is better than no answer."

He could follow that logic, "you... w-wanna know why?" His voice was meek, nothing like the Okumura the others knew.

Shura nodded.

"It keeps me grounded. Helps me stay... sane, I guess," was all he could manage out. He kept his gaze downcast, and his hands instinctively tried to cover his wounds, as if keeping them out of sight would make it better somehow.

There were a few exchanged looks before Yukio piped back in. "Let's get back to the Academy, we can discuss this more when we are in a safe environment."