The ride to Cross Academy was awkward.

Shortly after Rin was released from the hospital, he was 'introduced' to Mephisto since it was decided he would study to become an exorcist. The smug smile Samael kept sending him irritated him to no end.

Rin turned his thoughts away from his annoying older brother and focused them on the brother sitting next to him currently.

Yukio had been abnormally silent since the hospitalization of their father. Rin had expected some sort of speech of sticking together from his twin, but Yukio was persistently pensive.

Of course, Rin hadn't talked to him about what had happened on the night of the fire. He knew he was eventually going to have to tell Yukio the truth, but he was going to wait until he absolutely had to. Before, Rin had wanted to tell Yukio what he had been doing for the past few years, see the shock Rin had felt when he had found out about Yukio on Yukio's face. Now...now they had no father, no family, and no home. Telling his twin the truth would break him.

And despite his negative feelings toward his human brother, he still loved him. He was still the same boy who held him when he was scared and cleaned up his wounds. Hurting Yukio even more at this point was something he wanted to avoid at all costs.

Rin was pulled out of his thoughts when the car pulled up next a towering gate. His eyes widened as he took in the magnificent school. Although he had visited the place before, he had never had the time to appreciate it.

Nervously, he smoothed out his uniform. The expensive material was unfamiliar on his skin. He made sure his tail was tucked away safely ("A gentleman always keeps his tail hidden," Amai-nii said distantly) and stepped out of the car, watching as Yukio did the same.

"Welcome to Cross Academy!" Samael beamed, swinging his arms around Rin's and Yukio's shoulders. Instantly they both grimaced before they caught each other's eye. Rin smiled tentatively and Yukio's eyes softened.

.f.a.t.e.

Yukio was the teacher at cram school.

His brother! Yukio! Was the teacher!

No wonder that creep of a brother was so smug! They were both messing with him!

"All right, settle down everyone!" Yukio called out, eyes looking straight at Rin. Rin grudgingly relaxed his grip on the table, trying to mentally tell his twin that they would be talking about this later. Yukio ignored his intense look and heaved a suitcase on a table.

"It's a pleasure to meet you all, I hope we'll get along for the rest of the year."

The rest of the class, excluding Rin, murmured affirmative answers.

"Now then, how many of you have never sustained a mashou?" his brother asked.

A few hands raised and Rin exhaled heavily. There were people here who wanted to fight demons they had never seen?

The rest of the class period was spent getting the others bitten and Rin shifting constantly from irritation to tiredness.

.f.a.t.e.

"Nii-san, we need to talk."

Rin looked up from the book he had been flipping through out of boredom.

"The night Father was injured...you said it was Satan." The way Yukio said it wasn't a question.

Rin nodded slowly in agreement.

"Father was the strongest exorcist I've ever known. His mental shields were top-ranked. So...what did you say to him, Nii-san?" Rin stiffened. "The father I knew...he would have never let himself get possessed like that unless he was so shocked he couldn't help but lower his guard." When Rin remained silent, Yukio slammed his fist against the wall. "You owe me that! After everything I've gone through, you should be able to tell me how my father almost died!" Yukio's voice cracked.

"Yukio…" Rin watched as his twin's face twisted in anguish. "I...told him something."

"What? What was it? Did you tell him you hated him? Was that it?" Yukio's eyes burned into his. "Because he never told you the truth for your protection?"

Rin stared down at his hands. "No. That wasn't it."

"Then what, Nii-san?" The anger had faded out to bitter resignation.

"I…" Rin stopped. "When the old man told me about demons and everything that day…"

This was it. It was coming out.

He took in a deep breath, looking up at Yukio. "Yukio, I already knew."

Yukio froze. "...Knew?"

"A demon found me a few years ago and told me everything." Rin averted his eyes from his brother's stunned gaze.

"No...that's impossible," Yukio breathed, taking a step back. "This whole time...you've been lying?"

"Only as much as you have. Youngest exorcist ever, huh?" A bitter laugh forced itself out of Rin's mouth.

"Nii-san…" Guilt flooded Yukio's expression.

"The old man was possessed after I told him that." Rin's hands clenched, his nails digging into his skin. "If I had known that would have happened, I would have never told him."

The room was dead silent and for a moment, Rin thought that Yukio had left.

He hadn't expected arms to wrap around his subtly shaking body.

"I'm sorry, Nii-san…" Distantly Rin felt a wetness on his shoulder, but the tears blurring his vision weren't much better than Yukio's. "I guess we've all been pretty stupid."

Shakily, Rin returned the hug.

And even though he had told Yukio part of the truth, he knew he would never be able to tell him about Amai-nii.

.f.a.t.e.

"What's wrong, Amaimon?" Mephisto asked amusedly.

The scowl on Amaimon's face gave Mephisto way too much cheer.

"Rin is with that human." The petulant answer made Mephisto raise an eyebrow.

"'That human?' You mean Yukio?" Mephisto grinned as the frown deepened. "Don't tell me you're jealous?"

"..." Amaimon turned away from Mephisto. "I'm Rin's favorite, not him."

Mephisto patted his younger brother's back sympathetically even while he snickered.

Amaimon watched with darkened eyes as his youngest brother was embraced by the larger figure.

.f.a.t.e.

The girl named Shiemi was sweet and overwhelmingly kind. Her enthusiasm about her garden made Rin smile and the constant blushing from the shy girl was adorable. Her cheerful attitude was refreshing and her clumsiness reminded Rin of Yukio from when they were kids.

When the demon that was feeding from her was discovered, he was glad when Yukio ruthlessly killed it.

After the whole mess was cleaned up, Shiemi announced she would be joining his class to become an exorcist. Her hesitant smile caused Rin to grin.

.f.a.t.e.

"Okumura-san….Okumura-san! Wake up!"

Rin's head flew out of his arms in shock. "Huh?"

The elderly teacher frowned in disapprovement and turned back to the class to continue with the lesson.

"Why the hell is that guy here anyway?" a voice muttered, causing Rin to tilt his head to the side slightly to catch sight of the multi-colored hair and sharp glare. If Rin remembered correctly, the guy's name was Suguro.

He caught Rin's eye. "Beat it!"

Rin rolled his eyes, slouching and turning back around. It wasn't his fault the lesson was so boring - he had already learned about all of this from Amai-nii years ago.

After the next few classes, it slowly dawned on Rin that he knew most of the material already.

For the first time in his life, he was ahead of the rest of the class! This place was truly a miracle!

Rin rewarded himself with a nap in the middle of Grimoire Studies. After all, it wouldn't do to fall asleep in Yukio's class next period.

Half an hour later, he was nudged awake by Shiemi as Yukio walked into the room, a stack of papers in his hands.

"I'll be handing back the results from the test we had last class," his twin announced, shuffling through them to look at the names.

"Shima-kun." The pink-haired monk laughed nervously as he was handed his paper.

"Moriyama-san."

"Y-yes!" Shiemi took back her paper, staring at the large 41 glaring back at her.

"Next time, please use the correct names," Yukio gave her an encouraging smile. Shiemi blushed in embarrassment, staring down at her shoes.

"Suguro-kun, excellent work!" A bright 98 was written at the top of his paper. The thug-looking boy flashed a smug glare at Rin, making him blink in confusion.

"Okumura-kun…" Yukio hesitated, staring at the paper as if he still couldn't believe it. "A perfect score. Congratulations." A proud smile appeared on Yukio's face as he ruffled his hair in a moment of unprofessionalism.

"No way!" Suguro immediately exclaimed, grabbing the paper. "That's impossible!"

"Wow, that's amazing, Rin!" Shiemi smiled at him, making Rin swell slightly in pride.

'Truthfully, that's the first time I've ever gotten a perfect grade on anything...I'll have to thank Amai-nii later.'

Suguro scowled, shoving the paper back at him after examining it for any signs of cheating.

"How the hell did you manage that? You never pay attention in class!"

Rin shrugged. "I guess this kind of subjects just comes to me easy."

In all honesty, it was because Amaimon, the King of Earth, would never let his favorite brother go without memorising all of his realm.

Rin wasn't looking forward to the smug grin he would have once he told him.

extremely late chapter, sorry everyone! hopefully i'll be updating more quickly now
also guys I have a problem, mainly that you guys keep asking about pairing. as i've said before, this will be GEN. so no pairings in this! also please do not bash other pairings! this has been a major problem with me because i've gotten reviews telling me certain pairing are disgusting and awful. it's okay to tell me you don't like it, but please respect the fact that some people have different ships that you. there's no need to say rude things about them. and there's no problem with telling me about your favorite pairings! i like seeing positive reviews, whether it's about ideas or pairings or whatever!
thanks for everyone's support! please tell me what you thought!