Leashed | • • • | Blue Exorcist

Preparations

Yukio's POV:

I flinched, pulling my hand away from my mouth. Assessing my fingertips, and the speck of blood that appeared on my cuticle after a moment, I sighed. My eyes cast outside to the dreary gray road as it passed beneath us. My finger went back to my lips, and my teeth continuing to gnaw on the now broken flesh. The guilt I felt at Rin's outburst hasn't faded. The dull ache in my hand from where he slapped me away still throbbed. Maybe that's why I was chewing my nails, to make the ache go away.

I closed my eyes and let the fresh memory flood back. Even knowing what Rin has just experienced, I couldn't help but to be thrown off-guard by his fear. He's never screamed like that, never screamed at me. Had I just let him be, let him process, there wouldn't have been an outburst. However, I'd been selfish. I'd finally got him back, held him in my arms, and when his presence left, I demanded more; at his expense. I grunted as my canine tore off another section of cuticle.

Suddenly, my hand was ripped from my face. I stared at my aggressor and came in contact with wary fuchsia eyes. She flickered her gaze between my fingers and mouth, finally coming back to my eyes. She stared for a moment before I felt her fingers tighten on my wrist. Just as I was about to get snarky and tell her to focus on the road, she relented. Her sight returned out the windshield and she let go of my wrist. I understood the message she silently conveyed, however; knock it off.

Forming my lips into a thin line, I cast a glance down to my abused hand. Two fingers were bleeding. I took a deep breath, closing my eyes for a moment to steady myself before reaching up and pulling down the sunshade. On the reverse side was a mirror and I checked my teeth briefly for any lingering flesh before angling the mirror so I could catch sight of my twin.

He appeared stiff, his gaze set far off outside the window. I wondered if he was actually watching anything or if his thoughts were preoccupied. Considering my own have been busy, I wouldn't doubt it. But with that aside, he seemed fine. He seemed to be made of out stone, his blue eyes hard as gemstones and his jaw set as if made of marble. Impenetrable. It was the only word that came to mind. At least, that's what he probably wanted to appear as. I could only assume he was tormented under the surface.

I sucked my bottom lip between my teeth as I closed the sunshade. My eyes returning to the highway ahead. We were probably still a good half an hour away from the academy. Another half an hour of the dreadful silence.

However, said silence was broken fairly quickly as Rin's voice broke through the air. "Hey Shura?" I threw a glance in her direction, but she wasn't looking at me. Her eyes were locked in front of her, and if I didn't know any better, I'd assume that she was either ignoring him or hadn't even heard him. But as expected, she hummed after several moments. "Where are we going?" His question hung in the air for what seemed like an eternity before I saw my superior sigh, her shoulders relaxing slighty.

"We're heading back to True Cross Academy, if that's what you were curious about."

"Just the academy?"

Shura pursed her lips, pondering her answer. "Yes, just the academy..." She loosened her grip on the wheel, letting one hand free to push a few locks of hair behind her ear. "I was going to talk to you later about this, when we were back at the school, but I guess now is as good a time as ever."

I swallowed hard, shifting in my seat to set my gaze out the passenger window. Even I didn't know what was to come. To be honest, when I woke up this morning, I wasn't expecting to be bringing my twin back home. I figured our plan was to just go with the flow until things calmed down. That was foolish, however. Shura always had a Plan A, Plan B, and sometimes even a Plan C. I chewed on my lip as I waited to hear her intentions.