Alchemist/Exorcist (FMA: Brotherhood x Blue Exorcist) RinxEd)

Chapter 5

               "Rin! Rin!"
               Rin was awoken the next morning by Yukio shaking him hard. He tried to roll over, "Five more minutes."
               "Dammit, Rin, if you don't get up right now I will spray you with holy water," Yukio hissed.
               "Oh, please, no you won't," Rin threw the covers over his head.
               "Try me!"
               In two seconds flat, Rin was out of bed and jumping into his clothes. He tucked his tail carefully up into his T-shirt and swung the Koma sword over his shoulder. He stepped into the rest of the apartment. Ed and Al were in the kitchen, and Ed was already dressed. Something about him bent over pulling on his boots made Rin pause. As he straightened up, Ed seemed to notice Rin staring and the latter burned red.
                Ed threw his blond braid over his shoulder, smirking, "Morning."
                Rin shook himself, "Morning. What's for breakfast?"
                Ed threw him a muffin, which Rin easily caught, "Yukio picked these up this morning."
                "You'll have to eat while we walk," Yukio said, buttoning his double-breasted jacket.
                "Where are we going?" Rin asked, mouth already full.
                "While you were getting your beauty sleep, we looked closer at where the vics were taken and noticed a pattern," Ed said, "Yukio said he can do some voodoo trick to—what was it—?"
                "We're going to perform a ritual to sense demon activity,"
                "And while you two do that, Al and I are going to question some suspects," the four started out the door and down the stairs.
                "Right," Yukio checked his wristwatch, "Let's meet at that restaurant on 4th at one."
                "Sounds good,"

                 "Okay, magic circle—drawn," Rin stood up and set down the chalk.
                Yukio cocked his head to one side, "S'more like a magic oval, but okay."
                Rin snorted, "Like you coulda done better."
                Yukio didn't reply, but as he bent to light the candles around the "magic oval," he asked, "So...what do you think of Ed?"
                 "What about him?"
                 "Oh, come on, Rin!"
                 "Come on what, man?!"
                 "I can see how you look at him. Do you like him?" Yukio asked.
                 "Psh! I just met the guy yesterday," Rin snorted.
                 Yukio's face softened and Rin felt a twinge of guilt for not confiding in him, "Sure, but—"
                 He was interrupted by his phone ringing, "Hello...Shura, hey...It's going alright. We've..." a sigh, "Yes, I'm keeping an eye on him. He's...No, he hasn't drawn his sword."
                 Yukio broke into an evil grin, adding, "He's got an eye on one of our partners though...Her name is Edward...Uh-huh!...Yeah, sure thing. I'll give him a hard time for you...Bye."
                 He hung up and gave Rin a cheeky look, but didn't speak. Instead he began the ritual.

                  "Suspect two's alibi checks out," Al sighed, meeting Ed on the sidewalk outside Suspect three's apartment.
                 Ed yawned, "Yeah, suspect three's not very promising either. I hope Rin and Yukio are having better luck."
                 "Speaking of them," Al said, slowly, as they started down the sidewalk, "What do you think of Rin?"
                 Ed shrugged, "I don't know. Why?"
                 "You can't keep this from me, brother. You're doing the same thing you used to do with Winry. You look and then he looks and then you look again and no one's looking at the same time—it's infuriating to watch!"
                 "Okay, okay, I get it...He's cute, sue me,"
                 "What are you going to do about it?"
                 "Well, what can I do, Al? They're going to back to Japan when this is over. Besides,  I can focus on relationships when we get our bodies back,"
                 They reached the restaurant to find the Okumuras standing outside the door. Even after what he just said, Ed couldn't tear his eyes away from Rin. He was watching them approach from where he leaned against the wall, one foot propped up behind him, arms crossed. He noticed now that a chain hung from his jeans, like the one he wore.
                 "How's it looking with the suspects?" Yukio asked.
                 Ed and Al shook their heads. Ed said, "They all check out. Any luck with your hoodoo?"
                 Yukio held the door to the restaurant for them, "As it happens, yes. There's a lot of demon activity in an old mental hospital right in the center of each of the vics homes."
                 "A mental hospital? Great," Ed rolled his eyes.
                  They grabbed a table and Yukio continued, lowering his voice, "I'm thinking this is where the killings are taking place. We should check it out."
                  "Any idea who the next victim would be?" Rin asked.
                  Ed nodded to the bar where a few teens were working, "One of them likely."
                  "How do you know?"
                  Ed pushed down a satisfied feeling that he had Rin's attention, "They all live in the area, right age range."
                  "Each knew at least one of the victims too," Yukio added.
                  "Wow, you figured this all out when I was sleeping?"
                  "Maybe set an alarm next time so you don't miss—" Yukio started, but Rin hushed him. He was staring at the ceiling.
                 "What is it?"
                 "I can hear it. It's in the ducts above us,"
                 "What is?!" Ed cried alarmed. But Al was looking every which way too.
                 "I hear it too,"
                 "What is it?! I don't hear anything," Ed said, but the two had jumped up from the table.
                 "It's a demon. It's looking for a vessel," Rin said.
                 "Her!" Al cried, pointing across the restaurant.
                 One of the waitresses had just finished speaking with a man at the bar, before striding to the restroom. Rin and Al pushed their way through the other patrons as quickly as they could. Meanwhile, Ed and Yukio set their sights on the man at the bar at the same time. They met eyes with each other and Yukio nodded, getting up from the table and circling around to the other side of him as Ed stood up and made his way directly towards him.

Hey, just wanted to say thank you for reading if you got this far! Let me know what you think!
            ~Liz