Disclaimer: All rights to Blue Exorcist go to Kazue Kato.
The young half-demon stood at the edge of a cliff, surveying the town below him. He inhaled deeply through his nose, the cool, clean scent of Assiah's air invigorating him. Gehenna smelled of smoke, and dead things. His eyes, used to the dimness of Gehenna, took time to adjust to the light of the land of his birth. It felt good to be back.
Rin had been sent to Assiah to check up on one of the demons in this town – Kyoto, it was called. Satan had been growing curious about the recent activities of Lucifer and had sent Rin, who had just enough of an intimidation factor to bully any demon, yet wasn't old enough to be trusted with his own subordinates. Thus, he was sent to bully mid-level demons and make sure they were doing their jobs properly. Basically, he was Satan's glorified errand boy.
When he thought about it, he had never actually met Lucifer. He wondered what his oldest brother was like. Maybe he likes fashion. Rin laughed aloud at his errant thought. Whatever, he had wasted enough time just standing around. He could waste time in better ways.
He walked to the edge of the cliff. Sixty or so feet tall, he estimated. With most of his powers still sealed in Gehenna, that was pushing it. He decided to try anyway - what Thaziel didn't know wouldn't hurt him. What was life without a little risk, after all? With a flip, because why not, he sprang from the edge. The wind whipped at his face and clothes as the treetops below him approached. There was a moment of confusion as he passed through the branches, twisting violently to minimize any impacts. His feet hit the ground, bam!, the shock wave traveling up his legs and jarring his entire body. He collapsed on to the ground, laughing from the adrenaline. What a rush! He stood and started making his way over to the town.
There were so many interesting things to do! There were at least fifteen different shrines and temples, and knowing about demons and some of the history made them that much more interesting. He visited the Kikaku-ji temple (covered in gold), the Nijo-jo Castle (where some of the Tokugawa shoguns lived), and the Ujigami-jinja Shrine (with the cool spring), to name a few. He also saw a shrine that looked to be in disrepair. How sad, when a shrine gets neglected. He walked around a mall, wishing he had brought some of the Assiahn money Iblis had given him. He passed a couple girls that were giggling at something but blushed and turned away when he looked over indifferently. It didn't matter if they were human or demon, females were indecipherable.
It was starting to approach the meeting time. He found a quiet spot to sit at one of the temples and concentrated. There! A faint trace of demon energy, a couple kilometers from his current position. He opened his eyes, got up, and left the temple grounds, meandering his way towards the other demon, checking occasionally to see if it had moved. After a few minutes he began to look around at the people before him, knowing the demon was close. He saw one 'man' who looked nervous-glancing around every few seconds, sweating slightly, and… aha! licking his lips every minute or so with a forked tongue. Rin sidled up to the disguised demon, approaching from the side.
"Quite different from Gehenna, isn't it?" he asked pleasantly, inwardly smirking when the demon jumped. Who knew that sneaking up behind demons would frighten them? He supposed Iblis's slightly sadistic tendencies were rubbing off on him.
He turned to face Rin. "Pr-prince Rin! Please excuse any rudeness on my part!" He stuttered. "I have nothing out of the ordinary to report. As expected, Lucifer's host body has weakened considerably, but one of our scientists, a human by the name of Gedouin, has been researching an immortality serum to rectify that problem. That is all I have to report." Rin furrowed his brow in thought. An immortality serum? Not good.
"You may be dismissed. Thank you for the information." The demon scrambled away, obviously afraid of Rin. But before the other demon had traveled more than 10 meters, he was hit by a holy-water grenade. The mist billowed out, scalding the demon. A bit reached Rin, and he hissed as a rash started forming on his skin.
"That one's a demon too!" he heard someone yell. That's why I hate these stupid messenger jobs! You'd think that Lucifer, out of all my brothers, would pick better underlings, but apparently not!
He whipped around to see a group of more than fifteen exorcists, led by two young men. One had short black hair, the other longer blond hair. Curses! This was bad, and getting worse. He wasn't about to kill any humans, and so was stuck in what he could do. They surrounded him. He tried to talk his way out, addressing the young male with the longer blond hair.
"Now, wait a minute, it's not what you think, see..." Wait...where was the black-haired one? At that moment, he felt something jar into his skull. He staggered drunkenly, obviously concussed. He collapsed, black crowding his vision until he sunk into the welcoming embrace of unconsciousness.
"So...what do we do with him?" Kinzou asked. "He looks pretty human. I mean, he could be one of Renzou's friends. They look about the same age."
"He's still a demon, Kinzou. He'll have to be taken care of, one way or another. Let's think about this logically." replied Uwabami Hojo, the head of the Hojo clan.
"He must be a high-level demon," offered Mamushi.
"Why is that?" Jinzou enquired.
"It's obvious, really. First off, he has a humanoid form. That's common mostly among mid-level to high-level demons. Also, do you remember why we were there in the first place? We were going after a demon connected to the Illuminati. That has to be some pretty important information. The high-risk demon he was in contact with and his physical form lead me to believe that he's a higher-level demon." she answered.
"Oh. I guess that makes sense. It's a good thing you're here, Mamushi-chan!"
"Don't be so familiar!" she shot back. Her face grew serious. "I do have one question though. He responded to holy water, but we haven't been able to exorcise him. Why is that?"
"I actually don't know the answer. I believe that due to the particular situation surrounding this demon, we'll have to take him to the higher-ups, probably to Mephisto Pheles himself. If anyone could tell us who this is, it would be him." Uwabami responded.
"I guess that settles it, then," Jinzou remarked. "He's tied up, and still unconscious, so we'd better get going. Kinzou, you're coming with me."
The two Shimas used a key to go directly to the Japan branch building. Juuzou led the way as Kinzou walked behind him, carrying Rin.
"Man, this guy's heavy! You want a turn, Juuzou?"
"Just deal with it. I have to find Mephisto."
The brothers heard a groan. Juuzou turned and looked back, and Kinzou stopped as Rin started shifting around. He set Rin down, holding his torso upright. Rin blinked as he became more aware of his surroundings.
"Where are we?" He recognized the two as the two who had knocked him out, but thought that as he was been tied up and was seemingly harmless, they might actually answer some of his questions.
The taller one with black hair spoke first. "You're in the Japan Branch Exorcist Building. We're taking you to see Mephisto Pheles-"
"Who's that?" Rin interrupted.
"He's the leader of the Japan branch. He knows a lot about demons. He'll decide your fate," the blond one responded. He then thoughtfully added, "Can you walk by yourself? You're getting kind of heavy."
At Rin's incredulous nod, he smiled. "Excellent!"
Not seeing any way out of his situation, he decided to go along quietly until he was in a position where he was able to escape. They trio made their way to a large door set into the hallway wall. It was quite a strange door, he had to say. It had very interesting workmanship, swirls and such. The colors were quite unexpected too, mostly different shades of pink and purple. Whoever lived behind that door was probably very...eccentric.
Juuzou knocked three times on the door, and a voice answered.
"Come in."
The door slowly opened, and the three young males walked apprehensively into the strangely decorated room. The inhabitant was an otaku. There was no other explanation. Paraphernalia from various anime and manga littered the floor, were placed on shelves all around the oversized room, and were even on the ceiling. Geez... was the collective thought of the three visitors. Their attention was finally drawn to the figure sitting behind the desk in the center of the room. He was beyond strange, looking like he had just stepped out of Lewis Carroll's Wonderland. A white suit (including a top hat) went over pink and purple tights and shirt. It was evident that there were only three sane people in the room, if fashion sense was any indication.
"Hello!" the strange person greeted excitedly. "Why if it isn't Shima-san and Shima-san. And, my goodness, is that Rin I see? How you've grown, baby brother!"
Rin's jaw dropped. "Samael?!"
The stranger winked conspiratorially. "I go by Mephisto Pheles these days to exorcists, or Johann Faust the Fifth to the students of my Academy."
Kinzou interrupted. "What the- what's going on, because I have no idea just what is happening right now."
Juuzou returned to reality as well. "We captured this demon contacting another we believe to be part of the Illuminati. He is high-level, and we aren't able to exorcise him. Therefore, we have been tasked with bringing him to you to take care of."
Whatever the Shima brothers were expecting, it was not Mephisto's laughter. A few moments later, still crying tears of mirth, he decided to take pity on them. "Rin is a special case, he isn't just any demon! He is half-demon. His father is very powerful, but he was born here in Assiah. What you see here, boys, is his true body. It's impossible to exorcise one's own soul, of course. As for the Illuminati...please, enlighten us, Rin."
Rin figured that as Samael was in Assiah and was friendly with exorcists, he could be trusted with the basic information. He'd determine how trustworthy Samael was at a later date.
"He said that the Illuminati was trying to create an immortality serum, which from what I gleaned is to help demon host bodies last indefinitely. Most of the research was done by a scientist by the name of Gedouin."
"Oh dear, I had no idea things were quite this bad." Mephisto mused to himself, putting on a serious frown.
"So, you're telling me that if this serum is completed, Satan might be able to come to Assiah?" asked Juuzou.
"Exactly," agreed Mephisto.
"Well, crap." Kinzou summed up.
"So, not that I've told you what I know, what's going to happen to me?" Rin queried.
"You're going to join the cram school, of course!" Mephisto answered.
"You're letting him be a part of the cram school?!" Kinzou asked incredulously.
"What's the cram school?" Rin asked impatiently. This was all happening way too fast, and he'd just woken up from being knocked unconscious.
"It's the school that students go to learn how to be an exorcist," Juuzou replied.
"You're gonna make them try to kill me? 'Cause it's not gonna work. Probably only an Upper First Class or higher could take me down as I am now. I could always just go back to Gehenna…" though I'd rather not if I can help it at all. Thaziel should be fine with Iblis looking after him.
"You misunderstand me, dear little brother. I'm letting you join the cram school, meaning you will take classes with the humans about your age and make new friends. In turn, you will protect them if they need it. And since it would be suspicious otherwise, you will be rooming with some of the boys." Mephisto explained.
Well, I guess it could be worse, Rin thought. At least it would give him something to do while he figured out his next move.
"Hey, Rin," Juuzou said, "our little brother is in the cram school. Look after him, all right?"
"And make sure he doesn't do stupid stuff in public...he's kind of a pervert," Kinzou added nonchalantly.
"Well, we have to get back. It was nice meeting you. See you around, Rin." Juuzou said.
"Umm, yeah...see ya." Rin replied, dumbfounded.
The two human brothers exited, Juuzou closing the door softly behind him, leaving Rin and Mephisto alone. Rin took the opportunity to study his older demon brother, doing his best to ignore the clothes. The pointy ears, the slightly enlarged canines and slitted pupils all reminiscent of the rest of his non-human family members. "So, Samael, what's up with you being here? Why are you running an exorcist school?"
"Well," Mephisto answered, smiling brightly, "I just love human culture, especially Japanese! They have all the best TV shows, anime you know, you should be familiar with it. It's just all so beautiful!" he cried, wiping a tear from his eye. Jeez, he's so dramatic, Rin thought. It's hard to believe we're related. "Another thing of great import is this." He pulled out a sword, now deadly serious. "This is the Koumaken, also known as Kurikara. It was what had been sealing your powers when you were a child. When you disappeared, Fujimoto entrusted it to me. When you draw it, your powers will be released. Take care in using it." He paused.
"One other thing. In the cram school, you might see some familiar faces. Just so you know," he said winking. "Here's your schedule, and a key to your dorm. You can put it in any lock to go straight there, but I think I'll lead you there today. You should get settled in today, tomorrow is your first day of class." With that, there was an explosion of pink smoke and a white terrier appeared, wagging its tail. "Follow me," Rin heard, and realized the dog was Mephisto.
"Samael, you're so lame. A terrier?"
Mephisto didn't deign to bestow an answer on Rin's question, but instead turned tail and strutted out the door. Rin felt a bit ridiculous, following a dog through the grand hallways and then through the streets in True Cross town and the Academy grounds. The small white dog finally stopped at a large brown building. "Here it is, my young brother. Good luck!"
When Rin turned around to ask which room he was staying at, all he saw was a fluttering paper that read 'Your name will be written on the door. Have fun! 3 Mephisto'. Rin growled, muttering curses under his breath. Just my luck, for Samael to love messing around. The building looked like it was about four stories, with probably at least twenty rooms on each floor. What a pain.
He walked into the building and started down the long hallway. No, no, no, no...well, one floor down, three to go. Time to try floor two. No, no...not the second floor either. Floor three! No, no...not the third floor either. He made his way up to the fourth floor, and to the end of the hallway. On the last door, he saw a sticky note. It read, 'Congrats on getting this far and not blowing up! Good job, little bro! And actually, your room is room 14 on floor 2'.
Brothers, he decided, were a grade-A irritant. Time to go set up. He jumped back down the two flights of stairs, and made his way over to his room. He opened the door cautiously, but there wasn't anyone inside. It was alright. Two beds, a window, a desk, two closets, tiled floor. Rin propped the sword up against the wall by his bed, and collapsed face down onto the mattress. He turned his head to face the wall just enough to breathe, then slept.
A/N: This was actually the first chapter I wrote for this story. And then I realized it made no sense, so I created a back story. Yep indeedy.
Also, I am now an official adult. I have to do stuff now. Like taxes. And voting. Ooh, fun!