AN: Hello everyone! It's about time I've uploaded something to this website. I greatly appreciate constructive criticism and hope you enjoy what I've got so far! Sorry if it's short.

It was nearly unbelievable to the Okumura twins how much time had gone by since they first began attending True Cross Academy. The both of them were improving tremendously through the path of exorcism day by day, but the dark memories of several months ago still lingered in their thoughts. These aforementioned memories are what struck the brothers as they returned to the Southern Cross Boys' Monastery for the school's winter break. It was one of those rare occasions where Mephisto allowed the students to stray from the campus of True Cross and take a well deserved vacation to rest. Exorcism was certainly no easy job as it required massive amounts of strength from the body just as well as the mind to survive.

Nevertheless they were happy to be back in the company of their childhood home and its remaining inhabitants; Seishiro Nagamoto, Naoya Kyodo, Izumi, and Maruta. The priests were also happy for the boys to be back in their presence and greeted them very warmly as they entered the front door to escape from the biting cold outdoors. The snow outside fell like feathers, but a great amount of it had gathered on their shoulders to which they brushed off immediately.

Little was discussed when they sat down for a meal together provided by the master chef himself, Rin. Only small topics were glossed over such as how they were adjusting to the dorms, who were their friends, what was the academy like, and how they were improving their skills. Even the state of Kuro the cat sidhe was mentioned who was currently left back at the dorms. A heavy silence fell over the exorcists when they returned back their food, each of them sensing the odd emptiness that the room held. The cause was obvious but to speak of it seemed taboo and would not have a pleasing outcome neither would want to deal with.

The next day also held the same atmosphere for Nagamoto noticed that Yukio would stare at the most blatant of areas in the monastery as if in a trance before readjusting himself to continue reading his book. Rin would also do the same as he wandered the halls and glanced at the windows to watch the snowfall. Hell, it was every vicinity of the abode that stimulated some sort of memory in the Okumuras' minds. It was where they had lived for the past fifteen years after all. Still, the idle movements due to minor heartache concerned the old chief priest. So he cheerfully suggested, "Rin, Yukio, how's about you two head up to the attic?" The boys stopped what they were doing to bring their attention to him.

"The attic? We have an attic?" Rin echoed with an eyebrow slightly raised. He was completely unaware that such a room existed in their home. It was probably another one of those exorcist secrets kept hidden away from him while he had still been oblivious to the whole ordeal. But then again, he had been a very troublesome child when he was younger so it was probably to keep him from entering the area and making some kind of mischief. His father had been far more secretive than he realized as time went on. Yukio didn't seem as perturbed, which made him realize he already had knowledge of such a place or simply didn't care.

Nagamoto couldn't help but laugh at the older brother's facial expression. "Of course! It would be good for someone to finally get to clearing out the space since no has had the time or effort to do it." He glared at the nearby Izumi who gave a small chuckle in response.

"Come on I'll get it eventually, don't make these boys do it for me."

"Uh-huh. I'll believe that when all those damned coal tar get cleaned from the vents. Anyway, what do you two think? Will you do it?"

Yukio placed a bookmark in his reading material and set it on a nearby desk before answering, "Gladly."

Rin gave a nod along with a smile.

"Alright then. Follow me."

Nagamoto had led them to the second story of the monastery home where he pushed a paneling in the ceiling to reveal a set of wooden steps. "Just head right up these steps and you should find stacks of boxes that need to be sorted out. I think there's also a broom to sweep the dust. Good luck!" He left the brothers to return to his own duties in the monastery.

Rin immediately climbed up the steps to survey the scene of the previously unknown floor in their home. Just as Nagamoto had said, there were several stacks of boxes, but he had underestimated what he had actually meant by "several". There were many groups of the cardboard containers spread about the room that towered high like skyscrapers. The dust was also a major obstacle as it blanketed nearly everything in sight down to the cobwebs the size of tennis balls. This was an impossible task. No wonder Izumi kept flaking out. "What the hell?! How are we supposed to clean all this?!" Rin practically screeched.

When Yukio went up to join his brother he couldn't help but do a double take to the situation before their eyes. He sighed. "Might as well get it over with before it gets any worse." The bespectacled boy caught sight of the faded wooden broom against the wall and instantly set to work on clearing the dust.

Rin continued to grumble before giving in to their task at hand. "Fine." He went over to a nearby box of items and began to dig through it. This particular box was filled to the brim with photos, so Rin set them outside the box to stack in neat piles before placing them back in. The next one he went through had some of the boys' clothes from when they were younger. They clearly didn't fit either of them anymore but Rin still had fond memories from the certain pairs. An example was the uniforms he and his little brother had worn from when Shiro had made them be a part of the church choir. He gave an inward chuckle at those times which quickly turned into a small frown. He really missed his father still, but it almost helped by cleaning out the memories of the past so to say.

Yukio himself had now begun to go through the stack of cardboard boxes on the other side of the room. They had contained some of Shiro's old exorcist supplies to which the boy had decided he would set aside to eventually use in his own exorcist missions. It arranged from rare sets of holy bullets to powerful firearms. One had their perks as paladin after all.

Without noticing, he had lifted the lids to one of the boxes a bit too forcefully causing a cloud of dust to sail in his half-demon brother's direction. The action greatly tickled his brother's sensitive nose to which he let out a powerful sneeze, collapsing the stack of photos he had just arranged.

"Yukio! Look what you made me do!"

"My apologies, brother." It was clear by the younger twin's tone of voice that he did not harbor as much concern as the other did.

Rin grumbled at his reply and moved to sort through the pictures again when he suddenly stopped. A certain photograph had caught his eye. There were three people in the frame outside of some sort of gate post. On the left was Shiro, slightly hunched over and gesturing a peace sign in his left hand. The old man gave a crooked smile as a cigarette hung out of the corner of his mouth. He displayed the same happiness that always seemed to radiate off of him. On the right was a little a little girl in a skirt and down jacket with fiery hair. She was resting her arms on the shoulders of the man in middle while averting her amethyst gaze with a pouty expression. But the look she gave seemed to be a mere tease therefore not genuine. The hair and eyes was a clear sign that this little girl was Shura to which Rin snickered. She actually looked cute and non-threatening for once. And finally, the man in the middle. He was completely hunched over on his knees to allow little Shura to lean on him. He also wore a black exorcist jacket just like Shiro and glanced up at the camera with bright crimson eyes. A message had been written in the top right corner, but was unfortunately smudged to the point it was now illegible.

Rin continued to peer at this man, but he had no recognition of who this person might be. Eventually, he turned to Yukio for answers. "Yukio, do you know who this is?" He pointed at the picture for emphasis.

The young exorcist adjusted the brim of his glasses before peering at the certain specimen in the photo. "I think I remember seeing him briefly a few times when I was just starting exorcism . . . why do you ask?"

"I don't know. I guess I'm just curious." The next thing he knew, he was tucking the photo into the pocket of his hoodie.

To Rin's surprise, the whole attic had been cleared of any clutter and dust in just two hours. He was sure it was going to take up the rest of the day. As a reward for him and his brother's efforts, Nagamoto decided to make dinner for them on that night.

Soon they had both gone to bed and the day was over. Rin lay in his bed awake for a few hours before sleeping, contemplating the contents within the photo that now lay in his drawer by the bed. Just who was this person? And why was it bothering so much? It seemed like he had a feeling of some sort that if he got to know this person, it might help him discover more things about his old man. Ever since he had found out that Shiro was the paladin of all things, Rin had a hidden desire to find out more about what he did so that it may help him along his journey to become a great exorcist. Maybe, just maybe one day he could surpass Yukio and become the paladin like Shiro was. He could just imagine it, wearing his own full-length black exorcist jacket and receiving praise from all those around him about his effortlessness in slaying demons. But of course such dreams weren't going to come easy with the massive amount of training left ahead of him and the Vatican keeping an eagle eye on his every move.

Many still believed he was irresponsible, but he was working on fixing that. It was also possible that meeting this mysterious red-eyed exorcist may help him. He really hoped it did. As Rin drifted to sleep, he made a mental plan to find Shura once he and Yukio returned to the academy. She was in the picture so she just might know who he is.

Little did Rin know, this exorcist was making his plans to trek back to True Cross soon.