Two weeks had passed since the announcement of Ashley Pyre transferring from the Sacred Heart Order. Arrangements had been made for her arrival at the academy. Things were prepped for a bedroom in the Okumura dorm away from all of the other dorms. This still allowed the boys to maintain a secret from the rest of the student body. During regular classes, Yukio, still being a normal student, was attending a biology class when he noticed out the window, a limousine pulling up to the gate. After closer observation of the picture he had found while researching, he had noticed facial similarities to the demon in the photo and the new exorcist. He didn't want to believe that a demon of that rank had become an exorcist believing that their director was the only one.

A young woman had stepped out of the limousine. She was wearing a traditional exorcist Dragoon uniform consisting of the usual black trench coat with a holster strapped to a brown belt. Her hair was long and black draping past her shoulders. As Yukio watched her, the driver handed her, her bags from the trunk. It appeared that she had thanked him and was waving him goodbye. The driver pulled away and she began to proceed towards the main gate, however she had managed to trip over something. Hitting the ground hard, Yukio noticed something fly off of her face. Glasses had landed on the ground a few feet in front of her. A young blonde haired girl was walking by and picked the glasses up. She helped Ashley up from the ground and it appeared that the two began to talk to each other. After closer examination, Yukio realized that the young girl was Shiemi Moriyama a close friend of his and a Cram student. On edge, he stood up from his desk drawing attention to himself. The teacher yelled at him and told him to stay in his seat. He obediently sat down and continued to watch the girls, however when he looked out the window they were gone.

After classes were completed, Rin had made his way back to the dorm before heading to the Cram lessons. As he made his way to the bedroom he shared with his brother, he heard a noise. The noise came from a room nearby. Without realizing that Ashely had arrived, he quietly grabbed his sword and pulled it off of his back not pulling it out of its sheath. He tip toed his way to the door where the sound had come from making a slight creaking noise in the process. Inside, the room was quiet with the light on. Rin calmly reached for the door knob, only to be surprised with the door opening. On the other side was Ashely in pajamas getting ready to strike a blow to Rin's head using the bottom of her gun. In that same moment Rin went to draw his sword and jumped backwards.

"You know if you are going to try and sneak up on someone, you really need to know how to be quieter when doing it," Ashley said fixing her glasses.

"Yeah, well what are you doing here to begin with?" He yelled.

"You must be Rin that I read about, aren't you?" she asked with a smirk on her face, her sky blue eyes shining through her glasses.

"Yeah….how did you know," he replied putting the sword back on his back.

"Upon my arrival I received a document that had a little bit about all of the students at the Cram School. You really are a fascinating one aren't you Rin Okumura a son of Satan," she said proceeding to point her gun at him.

"Oh crap, you know!" He yelled stammering backwards.

"Yeah, I do, but luckily I'm not here to kill you. I'm here to teach and guide students such as yourself," she replied lowering her gun.

"What is going on here?" Yukio yelled from down the hall.

"Ashley Pyre Honorary Knight Dragoon Exorcist from the Sacred Heart Order the American Branch," she replied holding her hand out.

"Get this Yukio, she knows I'm a demon! I don't have to hide my tail around her after all!" Rin said with a chuckle.

"Yukio Okumura, Middle First Class Exorcist and teacher of Pharmaceutical Demonology here at the academy," He replied returning his hand for a hand shake.

"Now, if you boys excuse me, I wish to turn in for the night. I do have a big day tomorrow for orientations," Ashely said as she closed the door.

Still uncertain about her, Yukio walked away back to his own bedroom with Rin. As the two walked he refused to discuss anything about her. Not until he could trust her at least.

The next morning Ashley was sound asleep in her room, until she heard loud sounds coming from down the hall. She quickly jumped out her bed and opened her door a crack to see what was going on.

"Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap!" said Rin as he was running around, "I'm so late!" he continued to yell.

Ashley closed her door quickly and looked at her own clock. The time said 9:15, indicating that she was also late for the very same thing as Rin. Closer examination suggested that she did not set the alarm the previous night, causing her to not wake up in time for her to be at the orientation. She figured that being late was a bad enough impression, she didn't want to look indecent while she was at it. She skipped her usual morning shower and went straight to dressing in her instructor uniform, making sure that everything was tucked away where it should be. She made sure her hair remained down, her contacts were in, and her uncomfortable retainer was shoved back into her mouth. Quickly she grabbed her trench coat and folders and began to make her way to the classroom. By using one of the keys that were given to her, she unlocked the door and stepped into the Cram School hallway. She could hear voices in one room, the room in which everyone was sitting in waiting for her. She pressed her ear up against the door and could hear a few teachers talking about her. They seemed very skeptical of her. By taking a deep breath, she opened the door and stepped in.

"Sorry I'm late, my alarm clock….."She paused as she looked up from her papers.

There standing before her was the director Mephisto Pheles in his usual white suit and purple shirt. He placed his top hat on top of his purple swirl in his hair and gave a toothy grin. In shock, Ashely dropped all of her papers on to the ground. Her jaw dropped as she just stared.

"You were saying about how late you were because of your alarm clock. It didn't go off did it? You didn't even set it last night did you Miss. Pyre," he replied holding his hand to his top hat.

"I….uh….." tears began to stream down her face, "is it….really you?" she asked. "I finally found you again!" she yelled as she ran towards him.

She grabbed him in a tight hug and cried on his shoulders. Unsure of what to do, he looked towards the other exorcists in the room for help. He looked back down at the crying woman who seemed to be holding on to him tighter and tighter. Eventually he pulled her off of him and placed his hands on her shoulders.

"I hate to break it to you, but I really don't think we've met each other before. Although you do look awfully familiar," he responded looking into her tear filled eyes.

"Yes, I suppose a lot has changed since the last time we have seen each other, but it's me! You have to remember me, you practically saved me….." she said dropping her head down.

In that moment, things began to click in Mephisto's head. He grabbed a hold of her chin and responded.

"The little one in the cage?"

She looked up at him as tears welled up even more than before. Her lips began to tremble as she nodded.

"It really is you! My, my, have you changed," he said returning the hug which she had originally initiated.

The two of them embraced each other as the others in the room stood in complete confusion at what they were witnessing. Mephisto pulled her away and wiped the tears from her eyes with his purple glove. She held onto his hand and smiled.

"What happened to you, what made you make such the change?" he asked as she pulled away.

"It was the Sacred Heart Order. After the trial I was sentenced to death, I was supposed to be burned at the stake. Whatever you did saved my life and I could never thank you enough for that. They gave me a secondary trial and agreed to let me live on one circumstance. They feared that you and I were going to plot against them in some way, well mostly me. So what they did was send me as far away from you as they could. I joined the Sacred Heart Order and was then forbidden to reveal to anyone who I was. I was even given a new name. So I began to learn to be a dragoon exorcist as per the agreement. Eventually I worked up the respect as an Honorary Knight….or Honorary Dragoon rather. It didn't take me too long to work my way into the order like that. But eventually I learned that you were stationed here at this order and so I continuously tried to put my transfer papers through in hopes that they would allow me be with you again. Ta da," said Ashely.

"I see, well you're home now," he replied pulling her back in for a hug, "I want you to come into my office afterwards," he said pulling her away again, "but until then, you have an orientation to attend."

Mephisto walked out the door as Ashely was left alone at the front of the room. Her papers were still scattered everywhere. She quickly gathered her things up and walked up to the front desk. She glanced up to see the rest of the Cram School teachers leaning up against the back wall while the students sat in the desks in front.

"My name is Ashley Pyre and I will be the new councillor for any student and even teacher who feels the need that they need help coping with the things we face every day. For students, I will be holding individual lessons to work on specializing each student's unique fighting style and techniques beyond that of their regular provided lessons."

As she continued with the orientation, she looked up and made eye contact with Yukio. He stared her down hard, the look on his face was enough to send a shiver up her spine. She tried to lose eye contact, but she always found herself staring back into the deep blue eyes that were staring at her. She continued to go over her history with the Sacred Heart order and her position as an Honorary Knight Dragoon.

Once the orientation was completed the teachers began to leave the room along with the students. However, one student remained in the room. She sat at her desk with the largest smile on her face. Her green eyes shone big and bright. Curious as to why she wasn't leaving with the others, Ashley approached the desk.

"You're the girl who helped me yesterday morning aren't you?" Ashley asked.

"Yes, I am!" Shiemi said excitingly.

"If you don't mind me asking, why are you sticking around?"

"I…I just wanted…."she began to blush," I just wanted a chance to talk to you again," she replied holding her head down.

"Oh, that's all?"

"Yeah, I think you're really cool. Your hair is really pretty and I never knew there was an exorcist as sweet as you are and I just wanted to get to know you!" Shiemi responded looking up at Ashely with her great big green eyes.

"Well, I'm just about to head to the director's office. I guess I don't have to use the key he gave me and take the long way if you really wanted to talk and get to know me," Ashley responded holding the key in her hand and putting it in her pocket.

Shiemi began to smile a great big smile and stood right up from her desk. Ashley grabbed her papers from the main desk and the two began to make the walk to the director's office. As the two made their way out the door, leaning up against the wall was Yukio. His blue eyes stared at Ashley just as they were during the orientation. Shiemi smiled and said goodbye to Yukio but Ashley refused to say anything to him. She knew that something was wrong with him, almost as if he couldn't trust her. Almost as if he knows something about her that the others may not know.

Instead of walking straight to the director's office, Ashley had walked Shiemi all the way back to her house at the herbal shop. Along the way the two were talking about all kinds of stuff that they could do together for their special lessons. Ashley really enjoyed Shiemi's enthusiasm and really hoped the two can work well together. Instead of making the long walk to Mephisto's office, Ashley pulled out the key to his door and walked up to the shop door. She put the key inside the key hole and gave it a turn. The key made a latch sound as she opened the door. Inside was not the shop but the office. Sitting at his desk was Mephisto sound asleep. Seeing her opportunity, she slammed the door shut in order to wake him.

He fumbled around in his chair, "Now why on Earth would you do that!"

"You wished for me to come see you once the orientation was completed. I'm a little late though, I made a detour on my way over here. The young girl Shiemi is such a sweetheart."

"Mmm, yes….It's good to see you again." Mephisto replied leaning forward on his desk.

"Sam…." Ashley replied walking towards him.

"Uh, uh, uh," he responded with his finger in the air, "I am Mephisto…just as much as you are Ashley….correct… Fera?"

"Sorry sir," she replied with her head down.

"Now, on that. You really have changed. The Sacred Heart order forbade you to from using your abilities, is that right? And let me guess, you needed to take all precautions to keep you identity a secret from the entire order that you went to great lengths as to even hide your eye color, teeth, and even the reason why you grew your hair out….isn't it?"

"Yes, sir."

"Well then, how much longer are to keep this up?" He asked standing up from his chair.

"I…I can't anymore. Everyone here is already on edge enough as it is. After all, how would they respond to a teacher being a…demon like me. Besides I have a contract."

"Ash….you are home now, you are free to be yourself. Your contract was only established with the Sacred Heart Order, not with us here at True Cross. Besides, it shouldn't matter that you're a demon, I mean we have a Son of Satan as a student here at the school," he said with laugh.

"No, if they learned that I was a demon things can only go wrong. After all I'm already sure that the one Okumura brother knows already. The smart one..."

"Ah yes, the young Yukio Okumura. It is possible he came across your original file," Mephisto replied stepping up to Ashley's side.

"No matter, I will remain like this…Hiding so to speak. I don't care what you say, I feel that if they knew that I'm a demon it will end badly."

"Well, suit yourself then, I don't really care what you do," Mephisto replied sitting back down in his chair.

"You, never really changed much have you Sa….I mean Mephisto," Ashley responded with a smile.

Back at the dorm Yukio and Rin were in their room. Rin was in his bed reading a manga while Yukio was at his desk writing some papers.

"Hey Yukio, what do you think of Miss. Pyre?" Rin asked putting his book down.

"I don't like her," he responded without even looking at Rin.

"What!" Rin yelled quickly sitting up, "But she seems so cool! The way she was telling us how she earned the respect of her order, saving a whole town from a high level demon! Don't you think that's so cool?"

"Rin, don't you think it seems a little odd that she just comes out of nowhere and quickly wins the hearts of everyone?" Yukio responded turning around in his chair to face Rin.

"No…but"

"Something isn't right here…" Yukio said while turning back to his papers.

"Oh I get it! You're just jealous because she is dragoon exorcist who is better than you!" Rin replied laying back down in the bed.

Furious, Yukio broke his pencil and glared at Rin. The two continued to argue back and forth about how Yukio didn't trust Ashley and her background story. In the midst of their argument, Ashley had returned home and walked by their bedroom. With their door wide open she couldn't help but to stop and peer into the room. At that point she saw the two boys wrestling on the ground arguing about who knows what anymore. She shrugged it off and made her way to her bedroom. She made sure the door was closed and sat down on her bed after throwing her trench coat on her chair. With a big sigh, she placed her head in her hands sliding her glasses so that they were on her head. She reached over on her nightstand and grabbed a contact lens case. As she reached into her eye she pulled out her blue contact to reveal her true golden yellow eye color. Her retainer was next as she forced the uncomfortable piece of plastic out of her mouth to show her canine like teeth. Slowly she loosened her tie and threw it along with her trench coat and untucked and unbuttoned her shirt. Along with her shirt, she had removed her pants and thrown them in a dirty laundry pile she had started. In her room was a full length mirror which allowed her to gaze at her true self. She walked up to the mirror wearing nothing but her underwear and stared. Her long black tail was gently wrapped around her slender athletic body. Slowly she unravelled her tail as she tucked her long hair back behind her ears to show her unusual elongated ears. As she stood there, she couldn't help but to think about what the others might think if they knew what she was. She was still haunted by her memories of the last time she was discovered as a demon in hiding. The torture she went through, the loneliness of the cell she was thrown in, all because she used her powers on accident on an exorcist during her mission to find Mephisto. If it wasn't something Mephisto had done, she would have died at their hands. Instead only a handful of people were given access to her identity and a contract was made with her at the Sacred Heart Order. The contract stated that she was forbidden from ever using her powers or revealing to anyone who she was. However, as Mephisto had stated earlier, the contract only listed the Sacred Heart Order as the order to enforce these rules, any other order allowed her to have freedom. Although this was stated in the contract, every time Ashley had applied for a transfer she was denied. Until one day an exception had been made and her transfer was accepted. The Vatican granted her access to a different order which would in return allow her the freedom to be who she was. However, she had grown accustomed to her new identity fearing that no matter what, any exposure would result in the same fate. A separate trial for treason with a death penalty. She locked her bedroom door and had made her way to bed.