Welcome to the next chapter!

Fujimoto Shiro wasn't sure if he was doing the right thing. Sure, Rin didn't seem like a bad kid, always looking out for Yukio and trying to help him. He had noticed that Yukio had to share everything with him.

Did his family not have the means? Maybe that's why he had the textbook memorized, he must want to remain in the school -even Mephisto had given him a free scolarship!

And now, with the revelations on how his family treated him... Well, it was more of a favor.

Blue eyes looked at him anxiously. Being asked to stay behind in class would cause that to you.

"Say, Rin, do you want to protect Yukio?"

Rin frowned. What an odd question, of course he wanted to protect Len! Rin wanted to be able to protect the boy from the creatures that tormented him. If there was anyone more important to him, the first on his list was definitely Len. "M-me?" he whispered. "Protect Len? Me?... I do want to protect him!"

"You'll need the equipment for that."

Tic, tock, went the clock.

Yukio watched his reflection idly working in the kitchen. It had been three days, and Yukio had agreed to eat Kasai's food yet again. (Eyebrows-cha... sorry Izumo thought he had a ridiculous amount of trust in Rin, but shh, don't tell him that).

He should probably tell him. But then Kasai would worry. But nothing had happened. Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

He took a deep breath.

"I almost fell through the mirror a few days ago."

SMASH, a broken plate. The black-haired boy whirled around, paler than white.

"It was when I was getting you your glasses..." Yukio continued, noting the half-demon's shaking hands. "It couldn't pull me all the way, obviously. But it's actually easy to repel, look-"

He wasn't even sure why he extended his hand to the mirror. Maybe it was because Kasai might not believe him -as had Shiro when he talked about his friend in the mirror and all the ones growing up when he claimed to see things that no one else could- but he still did. It was an impulse.

"NO!" the brown-haired boy startled terribly because Kasai hadn't been there a second ago. The next thing he knew, he was being physically shoved away from the reflective surface. Kasai's eyes were wild, intense, desperate. "You don't get it you're mine you're mine he can't take you from me." Rin gasped, babbled. "You're never going there, you hear me? NEVER!"

For Rin, it boiled down to simple facts. Len was human, and strong but it wasn't enough. Rin was a demon, more physically capable of taking whatever Gehenna threw at him. He both couldn't and wouldn't imagine Len in Gehenna.

He abandoned his world to be with the boy behind the mirror. If they ever switched places, it would mean that his self-imposed task hadn't succeeded. And failure was for the weak, and Rin was so weak already, but he wouldn't fail this time.

He had to protect Len. Thing is, he didn't know how.

When Yukio was woken up at 8 on a Saturdy for his first ever mission, he was excited, imagining all sots of scenarios that could happen. But of course, his father being who he was, didn't tell him that exwires started with missions by doing what basically were glorified chores.

Yukio had to do manual labor, a simple enough task, a supply mission. For what he could gather, the others had similar chores to do. Shima had to do paperwork for five hours, so Yukio counted himself lucky. Shiemi and Bon had cleaned the Leaper's cages. And Rin... his official mission was to go hunt the Coal Tars all over True Cross. When Yukio found him, he encountered Shiro wheezing from how hard he was laughing, and Kasai doing the World's Greatest Coal Tar Pyramid.

But now finally -finally!- they would do a real mission.

After spending a few minutes glaring up at his laughing, sorry excuse for a dad, Yukio tried to focus on the mission. "Sai-kun, where did you get that sword?" he asked with no little amount of interest. He had noticed Bon, Koneko and Shima eyeing it as well.

"Oh, your dad gave it to me!" Kasai said with a bright smile.

Shima almost did a double take. "Wait, the Paladdin himself brought you a sword?!" he half-yelled, "Why can't your parents buy you o- OW! That hurt!" the pink-haired boy shouted out after he was smacked in the back of the head, courtesy of Bon.

"Yeah, I don't have any money so-"

Trusting Kasai to not get himself in trouble, Yukio turned his attention to his remaining classmates.

"Sorry we're late!"

When Yukio glanced up at the sound of Shiemi's voice, he didn't see her at first. Sure, there was Izumo Eyebrows-chan with a peeved expression running behind this blonde girl in the class uniform, but—

And then he focused on her face and holy shit that's Shiemi.

He was on his feet before he even realized it. "M-Moriyama-san, where is—why aren't you wearing your kimono?"

"I kept tripping in it; it's not very good for missions, so the Chairman issued me a school uniform. We're late because Kamiki-san was showing me how to wear it properly!" She fidgeted with her skirt and blushed as everybody remained silent a heartbeat longer. "Does it…look weird?"

Kasai, much to Yukio's dismay, was the first one to respond. "No, Shiemi, you look absolutely adorable!"

"You look very nice today, Shiemi-chan," his Tou-san said, and he was just about ready to smack him when he noticed how genuine and not-perverted his smile was.

Rin was amusing himself watching the male students' reactions to Shiemi. Honestly, had they never seen a girl before? That didn't stop his eyes from being drawn to her skirt, or her boobs or—look at the face, Rin, look at her face. She had a very pretty face. And neck. And that ribbon was really cute, and her boobs were—Rin, face!

"…wait, is my little Yukio-chan actually staring at a woman's breasts?" He heard Fujimoto whisper almost too low to be heard.

SMACK! The sound was Len giving the teacher a smack, looking completely unamused.

"Why would you do that?" Fujimoto cried, the sound muffled behind a hand. "What happened to respecting your elders?"

"Hey, leave him alone!" Rin growled at his teacher. "It's perfectly natural, Len's in an appropiate age in which to mate-!" he would've continued but Len's face was tinted red with embarassment. Rin wondered why. Had he said something wrong?

After Shiro had regained his composture, he split them up in pairs. Yukio and Konekomaru, Shiemi, Shima and Izumo -Rin laughed at Izumo's look of horror- and Bon and Rin.

His horror to the fact that Len and him hadn't been paired together had to be pushed to the back of his mind as he listened to Shiro. "There have been several reports dealing with sightings and attacks of a ghost on the premises of Mepphyland, the Academy's amusement park. As part of your group training, you Esquires will be participating in the search. If I may have a definition of a ghost?"

Izumo Eyebrows-chan raised her hand from where she stood.

"Kamiki-chan, go ahead."

Hand dropping, she nodded sharply. "Of course. Ghosts are demons that possess the vapor released by dead bodies of humans and animals alike. Typically, they are characterized by the strong emotions that the deceased had in life."

"Very good, Kamiki-chan," Fujimoto praised. "Sightings have occurred all around the park apparently at random, so we have no predictions as to its next location of appearance. However, its form is always that of a small male child, and attacks have been limited to grabbing hands and feet. However, if allowed to continue, its behavior could grow increasingly dangerous. You should spread out," he continued, "in your pairs and try to find the ghost before sundown. Should you find it, inform me via cell-phone."

Rin had been going about his business, searching the amusement park for the troublesome ghost when things went straight to hell.

"There you are." an all-too-familiar voice spoke up from above.

Rin thought he was having a heart attack. "Nii-san, not now." he growled out before fully turning around. Rin shifted so that he was shielding Bon, his right hand cocked and ready to pull his new sword out.

"Who are you?" Bon asked.

"Oh? That's right, I'm Amaimon, a Demon King. You could say that I'm his big brother. Nice to meet you."

Bon sucked in a breath behind him. "The King of Earth," he whispered, and Rin knew without looking that his eyes were wide. Rin's own eyes narrowed.

Amaimon had redirected his attention to Rin. "Is this the 'Len' you were always on about?"

"What? No! Why are you here anyway?!" the boy shouted. "Call the Paladdin." he whispered to Bon.

"Father is pretty angry about you leaving. So I've been tasked with retrieving you." Amaimon shrugged.

Behind Rin, Bon paled at the implications. The King of Earth had said he was Rin's 'big brother'. And he had referred to his father. So maybe Rin had demonic blood in him. Nobody knew who the mothers of the Demon Kings were, and Rin's mother couldn't be a demon, because the likelihood of her giving birth in Assiah was very low. Rin had a human form, and was able to stay in Assiah. Therefore, the only alternative was...

Rin paled. "We both know what's going to happen if I go back..."

"Same thing as me, if I go back without you."

"Hear me out!" Rin shouted before the older demon could try to retrieve him by force. "Stay in Assiah!"

That, at least, got Amaimon interested. "What?"

"Stay in Assiah! With Samael. We both get what we want, in the end..." Rin hated to resort to this, but he couldn't return home. He wouldn't.

"Under one condition." the demon said. At Rin's questioning look, he continued. "Play with me for a while."

The King of Earth and Satan's Son engaged in a battle, leaving Bon with his thoughts. Because how do you react to knowing that one of your friends is the offspring of humanity's worst nightmare?

Iblis, Demon King of Fire, had been very keen on looking for his youngest brother. After Amaimon's little -Playtime with Rin, it was clear that the Exorcists would keep a closer look on him -he almost pitied the boy, first time in Assiah and look where he ended up! Not only the Exorcists headquarters, but training grounds to boot! Apparently, his younger brother had not only inherited their father's flames, but luck as well. Still he could understand why he wouldn't want to return so soon. Assiah was entertaining.

Ah, the number of times he had ended up with one of his many vessels accused of pyromaniacs...

Even so, he wanted to see his youngest brother.

And there he was, walking down a street. Blue eyes, those glasses he had no need for, just a bit of checking... There it was, that little bit of hidden power (it was dim enough for Iblis to worry -had the Exorcists done something to keep his powers hidden, or he was just that good at his mask?).

"Ototo, how are you?"

In retrospect, sneaking up behind him and placing a hand on his shoulder wasn't the smartest idea. The boy jumped. "I'm sorry, you must have confused me with-"

"By the flames, Rin, does Iblis ring any bells?" the red-haired demon asked -he liked vessels with that hair color, it reminded him of his own flames. The boy's face slowly morphed from confusion to recognition.

"How did you find me?" he asked. "How do you even know who I was?" they kept walking side by side, Iblis noted critically, the boy was very trusting as to not keep his eyes on him on all times.

"Once I sense someone, I remember it. I know we haven't properly met before, but... Wait, you don't know?"

"Know what?"

Iblis felt like he was going to explode. "Father didn't tell you? I was the one that took you from Assiah! And here I was wondering why you never kept in contact with me..."

The younger one had stopped dead in his tracks. "You took me from Assiah as a baby?" his voice was shaking. Iblis felt as though he shouldn't have reveled that information, but it was necessary. Rin needed to know his body limits and strengths!

"Why, yes!" he answered. "As a half-human, you are able to exist in Assiah...what, didn't you wonder why you need no vessel?"

"I think...I need to go." well that wasn't the reaction Iblis was expecting, but then again, he had just dropped a bombshell on him. The boy turned back the way he came, before he dazedly turned his head to look at the older demon. "Also, Iblis? If we ever meet again, don't use that name, okay? Call me Kagami Len."

Reflections are reflections for a reason. Even Iblis mixed Rin and Yukio up.

Why hasn't anyone said anything about the Vocaloid reference in the fic?

So their 'fake' names... Rin's is somewhat of a pun in Right Reflection, while Yukio's is one of Left Mirror.

Review please!

H. E. B.