Luminescent

Aomori

Mephisto called Rin, Bon, and Amaimon in his office to tell them about Shura's disappearance on a Friday. Rin had noticed her absence, but she'd been pulling away from him recently, so he'd barely seen her lately.

"I need you to go retrieve her for me, starting from Hachinohe station." The Headmaster told them. Rin shook his head. "I feel like I'm just visiting all my friends houses. We went to Kyoto. Then Shimane. And now we're going to Shura's hometown. Please tell me the next one isn't the Monastery." He complained. Bon laughed and pulled the shorter teen to him by the waist. "You saw my childhood home, now we should all go see yours." He reasoned, snickering.

Rin snorted. "Good luck. Last time I saw it, there was a semi-truck in the sanctuary and the whole second floor was collapsed." He smirked. "Damn, that's rough." Bon winced. "Meh, it's okay. Place was old and shitty anyways." He shrugged, wrapping his arms around Bon's waist comfortably.

"So when do we leave?" He turned back to Mephisto. "Now." The Time Lord answered as he raised a gloved hand and snapped them away before the two could protest.

Suddenly, Rin and Bon were at a train station with bags packed and winter gear on. "That asshole...." Rin growled into his scarf. Bon chuckled and pulled him towards the edge of the platform to wait for their train.

§~•~§~•~§

"Of all the places to grow up, and it's Aomori." Rin sighed. "What's your deal against Aomori?" Bon wondered. "Kyoto had a lot of great tourist attractions. Aomori is known for apples. Literally, just apples." Rin answered. Bon scoffed. "I see your point. I like melons more." He conceded.

"Aw, but I thought you liked me?" Rin teased, laughing even as the bigger teen punched him on the arm. "You're terrible!" He grumbled, pulling the half-demon to his side to cuddle on the way to find their missing comrade.

§~•~§~•~§

After asking around the station, they got a lead that Shura headed towards Lake Towada. They looked around town for a while before finding an Inn to stay at since it was getting darker and colder by the time they got to town. The Inn was pretty much deserted except for the creepy lady who identified herself as the Innkeeper.

She zeroed in on their clasped hands quick and gave them a room together, no questions at all. "Thank you~" Rin waved as she left. She'd suggested the outdoor bath(a private one for them so they wouldn't disturb the other guests).

"What other guests?" Suguro snickered. "The skeletons in her closet?" Rin joked. They laughed and set to go relax in their private outdoor bath. The air was cold and bit at Rin's skin, but the water was sufficient to keep him warm enough. He was still trying to learn how to not automatically steal heat from things and people around him. It was an effort not to suck all the heat from the water and his boyfriend.

"I love outdoor baths! But this is very different now that I'm a fire demon with pretty much no self-control when it comes to stealing heat...." Rin pointed out. "You'll get the hang of it." Bon assured him.

"Seeing you surrounded by snow makes you look....delicate. Like a flower." Bon mused, cocking his head to look at the half-demon from a different angle. Rin blushed and looked down at the water to hide the smile the words brought.

"It took me a while to let Mephisto and Amaimon treat me like I was delicate rather than just dealing with getting thrown around all the time. I... I don't think I've been treated like that since I was a toddler." He remembered, letting his hair down from the braid it and been in. The black silky locks reached the top of his back now.

"I had to learn how to control my strength and the fighting started very early because of that and my temper. So I ways got treated more like I was a stone wall, or an obstacle for people to try and to overcome, though no one ever did. Not even me...." He looked out at the fresh layer of snow as he spoke quietly.