Escorted by the demon servant now known as Belial, after his interaction with his new guardian, Rin was too annoyed to appreciate the grandness of his new room. Despite being ten times the size of what he was used to sharing with Yukio back at the monastery, with a huge bed all to himself, all he could think about was that he was stuck here. The luggage he'd left in the car was now in the middle of the room waiting for him to unpack, he threw his backpack and sword on top of the pile and just flopped onto the bed. Belial excused himself to prepare dinner and let Rin get settled in.

A long sigh escaped his lips before he rolled onto his back and examined the ceiling. He just felt like going to sleep right now but he knew he needed to unpack. Closing his eyes for a minute Mephisto's words rung through his head "I'm afraid you don't have a choice" the annoyed feeling returned. Why did he have to become an exorcist anyway? Couldn't he just hide as he had been and live a normal life? He had no desire to kill demons, what did they ever do to him?

Eventually, he found the will to stand up and begin emptying his bags, putting away clothes into a nearby chest of drawers, there seemed to be more room in the drawers than he had clothes to fill them. He checked a nearby closet to find uniforms hung up; on inspection, he realised they were True Cross uniforms and frowned. It looked like there was no escaping this right now, gone were his plans to drop out of school and find a job. He'd now been strongarmed into further education and cram school to be an exorcist on top.

After emptying his larger bag of clothes, he moved to put the sword away, using the key as Father Fujimoto had told him. Finding a locked drawer and using the key to open it, he put the sword - held within its red case - inside. He took a deep breath and closed the drawer – As soon as the drawer clicked shut and Rin turned the key, the voice screamed.

Rin's body convulsed with the screaming in his head, the key still in the lock of the drawer. After a few seconds, he managed to regain control enough to grab the key again and twist to unlock the drawer causing the screaming to stop and his body to stop. Immediately pulling the drawer open and retrieving the sword he held it close as if his life depended on it and sat back on the bed shaking with fear.

The voice had reverted to a calming song now that he held his heart close to his body. His breathing was still erratic and he couldn't shake the tremors running through his body. The sword in his hands beckoned for him to set it free again and in his current state, he heeded the call.

Lowering the red covering and gripping his hand around the hilt he pulled the sword from its scabbard. The feeling of his flames surrounding his body was unlike anything he'd ever felt; it was warm, comforting and it felt right.

The flames weren't burning; they were comforting and Rin soon calmed into the familiar tingling feeling that coursed through his body. It was a feeling he felt he would get addicted to if he let himself. After a moment passed, he regrettably sheathed the sword again; flames dissipating and Rin shuddered at the loss of warmth. He didn't separate from his sword that night and ended up passing out holding it close to himself.

Shiro was sat in the kitchen of the monastery listening to an endless busy tone through his phone. Ten times he had tried to call Rin and no answer. He'd hoped Rin would at least give him a call to let him know he'd arrived safely but nothing, not even a courtesy call from Mephisto. After trying and failing a few more times and ultimately trying the demon king himself with no answer, he finally gave up decided to try again tomorrow.

Nagatomo walked into the kitchen, bringing him over some tea.

"Still no luck?"

"No" Shiro groaned; looking at the clock on the wall "It's getting late, whilst I don't expect Mephisto to give him a bedtime I imagine he's beat after everything that's happened." He sighed "I just wanted to make sure he made it ok but I'm sure Belial got him there safely."

"Shiro I'm sure he's fine, like you said he's probably exhausted with everything that's happened. Try again tomorrow after you've gotten some rest as well."

Shiro nodded and took a sip of his tea, he needed to relax. Rin was now in the safest place he could be, away from him and effectively away from Satan's prying eyes.

Unfortunately, that was the only thing putting his mind at ease; still not getting a restful sleep during the night at all. He was up at the crack of dawn the next morning anxiously waiting by the phone whilst preparing breakfast; he dared not ring Rin this early but he at least hoped Rin would ring when he awoke or at least Mephisto would take pity on him for a change.

Shuffling sounded from the hallway to the bedrooms as the other residents of the Monastery awoke and began to make their way for breakfast. Yukio was the first into the kitchen area rubbing his eyes.

"Morning" Yukio sat up to the table as Shiro pushed a plate of food in front of him, taking it gratefully.

"Have you heard anything from Rin yet?" Yukio stared expectantly at his father who just shook his head solemnly.

"If I don't hear anything soon, I'll be paying a visit to that clown myself."

There was still just over two months left of school before Yukio would head off to True Cross Academy. He still had his entrance exams to take but he knew better than anyone Yukio would get through those no problems; Mephisto had already guaranteed his scholarship on passing.

It brought his thoughts back to Rin, Mephisto had said he would be home-schooled in preparation for his entrance exams but would have to take them at the start of the school year to give him time to study. He wasn't even sure if the entrance exam mattered for Rin, Mephisto wanted him in his school studying exorcism so he was sure the demon would pull something and put him in regardless of his scores.

Before he knew it the breakfast was over and everyone was cleaning up; Yukio paused in the kitchen before turning to his father.

"It feels too quiet, doesn't it?"

Shiro nodded "It'll be fine. Once the new school year starts, we'll be seeing Rin all the time again. If it keeps him away from him, then I can suffer a few months of quiet meals."

He smiled at Yukio as he left the room; he once again stood alone in the kitchen staring at his phone.

Another hour of failure went by and Shiro finally grabbed his keys – if Mephisto wasn't going to answer then he was going to see for himself. He strode down the hallway to the locked closet and put in the key but when he opened the door, all he found was a closet. He tried again, locking the door and unlocking again…it was still the closet; the key wasn't working. He tried Mephisto's office with the same result. He punched his fist against the door and slammed it shut. Yukio and a few others stepped into the hallway.

"Dad? What's wrong?"

"My keys to Mephisto aren't working. I usually have direct access to him but he's cut off my ability to get to him now."

"Why would he do that now of all times? You've had those keys for years." Yukio looked just as confused as Shiro.

"I don't know, the only thing I can think is that he's trying to keep me from seeing Rin…why else would he be ignoring my calls and now this? What I don't understand is why…" Shiro had a bad feeling, he would need to travel either to the damn clown's mansion himself or wait till he was in his office and corner him there. Surely, he was just messing with him, right?

Rin opened his eyes to the sunlight streaming into the room, still gripping his sword tightly in his hands. He groaned as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes sitting up to look around at the strange surroundings, it took him a moment to remember where he was and why he was there. He groaned again before flopping back down onto the bed. He felt hot again, not as bad as the previous day but still in a feverish sort of way.

The sound of his stomach growling loudly echoed in the grandiose room; he'd fallen asleep before eating anything. Had the servant brought him food in the end or did he just find him asleep and it went to waste? He sat up again and looked around the room, finally a trolley caught his eye. Getting up from the bed his body felt weak but he managed to make it to the small table and chairs by the trolley.

The food was freshly made, the servant must have brought it up recently which Rin was thankful for as he indulged in his breakfast.

When he checked the time, it was already gone midday; he must've been tired…he was surprised he hadn't been woken up. He'd forgotten to phone home after that episode the night before and his dad was probably wanting to know he made it ok. Rin picked up his backpack and dug around for the phone gifted to him by Shiro.

When he finally felt the small device, he pulled it from his bag only to be met with a cracked screen. Confused, he inspected the rest of the phone trying to turn it on with no luck, it was busted.

"How the hell?" Rin voiced out loud.

He groaned and threw the phone back onto the bed, maybe the demon guy could help or replace his phone, he would need to call his dad somehow.

After finishing breakfast Rin headed to the bathroom to shower and freshen up. Glaring at his tail in the shower, he'd refused to acknowledge its existence the last day or two trying as hard as possible to keep it hidden, but God did it feel better to have it out. He turned off and exited the shower, grabbing a towel to wrap around his waist.

He'd not checked his reflection since the night he pulled the sword, feeling it was about time he checked for any more abnormalities to his appearance before he shocked himself later. Standing in front of the nearby mirror his face morphed from shocked to confused to worried as he pulled at various white hairs dotted around his head. His hair was black, he'd never had any sort of white there before or was he just so stressed with the current events he was going grey? He was too young to start looking like the old man now!

He pulled one out, examining it for a few moments before a flash of blue caught his eye, he snapped back to the mirror as a tiny blue flame attacked one of his perfectly black hairs and turned it white. This was going to be a problem…what the hell was happening to him?