Now did Egyn regret his actions during this first encounter with Father's famed bastard? No, the kid had it coming and the King of Water sincerely doubted any of his other siblings would fare better. It wasn't his fault that the brat had such a punchable face.

But did he regret where this first encounter took place? Maybe a little. Because now there were long, lavender gloved fingers rapping a steady, fast-paced beat against the handle of his stupid umbrella.

Eyes normally a mossy green were now as murky as seaweed and roiling with barely concealed malice. And then there was that smile.

Having only ever inhabited one body, Egyn was well acquainted with Samael's myriad of grins, smiles, and smirks; every one of which conveyed its own, highly nuanced meaning. This particular smile was one Egyn happened to know rather well, and its message was very simple, indeed.

Fall in line, or suffer the consequences

The wisest choice would have been to apologize for wrecking the wall and ceiling. And had his head been just a little clearer, or his mood slightly better, Egyn would have done just that.

Unfortunately, it was not; so instead he said,

"Like hell we are. I'm not done with that piece of shit yet. He-"

"I see first impressions are still not your forte," Iblis noted.

The blue-haired demon froze, turning to the stairs where his sister had appeared.

Iblis descended the last few steps, coming to a halt at the bottom of the stairs. There she made a show of taking in the now open ceiling — bits of which were still crumbling off — then the broken wall, lingering for just a moment on the unmoving form of the teenager outside, before settling on Egyn and giving him yet another look he was intimately familiar with: immense vexation.

Unbidden, the corner of his mouth lifting in a lopsided smile.

"Oops?"

Iblis sighed.

"I'll see to dinner," the demoness declared wearily, before walking off, avoiding debris and disappearing down a hallway Egyn could only imagine led to the kitchens. Spotting his chance, Egyn began edging backwards in the same direction.

"So since it's your school and all, I'll just..."

Samael leveled him with another smile and stare so icy they had even the King of Water freezing dead in his tracks.

Fuck.

xXx

To say that Rin was no stranger to pain would have been the understatement of the century.

The fifteen-year-old could count - and on one hand, no less - the total number of days he hadn't sported at least some scrapes and bruises. Worrying? Most definitely. Especially once you took into consideration his accelerated healing.

And things had only worsened with the awakening of his powers.

In the last few months, Rin had been cut, beaten, stabbed, and, on a more memorable occasion, had his foot literally severed from his body by a ponytailed S.O.B. who could give even Mephisto's garish ass a run for his money in the tacky clothes department.

Seriously, white, white, and oh, you know what would really complete that look? Some more.

Goddamn.

White!

…Where was he going with this again?

Ah right, pain, and lots of it. The one, and probably only, upside of which was that Rin's threshold for it was nothing to scoff at.

So with that thought in mind, holy crap did his face HURT!

Groaning miserably, Rin rolled onto his back, hands instinctively reaching for the source of the pain. Which, as it turned out, was the bloody, mangled up thing he supposed had at some point been his nose.

Wasn't his life just friggin' awesome…

Red-stained fingers prodding as gently as they could - which, sadly, wasn't very - Rin winced at the unnatural angle and the sharpening of pain. Carefully taking hold, the teen clenched his jaw and began counting in his head.

One

Two

On three, he wrenched sideways, his sharp intake of breath mingling with the sickening crunch of bone as he realigned the parts. The vapor, previously rising from his bruised flesh in a small but steady stream, immediately thickened, and within seconds the pain had faded completely.

"Tha's better," he mumbled, sitting up to look around with a dazed expression, absently wiping at the blood still on his face with the back of his hand.

The courtyard was empty save for him. Not unusual, given that this part of the campus rarely saw much, if any, foot traffic. Occasionally, students would wander by, usually lost on their way to somewhere else. They'd stand right about where Rin now sat, take one look at the creepy old dormitory, and make an immediate U-turn, wisely returning to their own, nicer dorms. Ones that didn't have grimy floors, faulty wiring, or unpleasant smells of questionable origins and waitjustonedamnminute!

Eyes widening at the memories that came rushing back, Rin jumped to his feet-

And immediately toppled over, his head spinning round and round like a carousel at a fair.

Grumbling cursus under his breath, the teen waited for the vertigo to pass before trying again. This time he succeeded, and with legs that grew steadier with every step, he stumbled to where Kurikara lay in the dirt.

That blue-haired freak better be prepared for the ass-kicking of a lifetime.

xXx

Someone had fixed the wall. The very wall, Rin noted with confusion, he'd just crashed through.

It wasn't your everyday, run-of-the-mill fixed, either, since no matter how long he stared at it, Rin couldn't find the faintest evidence of it having been damaged in the first place. None of the tell-tale signs, like fresh plaster or bits of debris, were there, and as he got closer, he could see where the material had been worn down by age and the elements.

This left him with two possible explanations:

Option 1, he was currently asleep, probably drooling on his textbook, and all of this was just a weird, hunger-induced dream. One he would awake from the moment his teacher noticed his less than attentive state and smacked him on the head with a ruler. It would be embarrassing, not to mention a pain in the ass once word got around to Yukio or Suguro or Shura or Shiemi - and wow, those were actually quite a few people concerned with Rin's education these days - and they chewed him out, but Rin could deal with that.

Option 2 was a lot less elaborate, a lot more annoying, and could be summarized in one, three syllable word.

Mephisto.

Growling audibly - because screw that guy! - Rin glared at the unassuming front doors. 'Might I suggest apologizing'? The hell kind of half-assed warning was that?! God, but Rin was just so done with this crap.

All he wanted was to sit down and have some damn food - and for his life not to follow the shitty plot of an effing shounen manga but what were the chances of that happening any time soon - and yet here he was; hungry, angry, and once more having to deal with that stupid clown and his stupider stunts.

Well no more.

Blue flames erupted as Rin drew his sword. His demonic features grew more pronounced, and his tail sprang loose, curling in the air behind him. With a swift kick, the door slammed open and Rin barged inside. There he faltered, cat-like eyes widening at a sight so strange, so unexpected, so-

…funny?

Mephisto paid him absolutely no mind, focus entirely taken up by the bedazzled, purple Nintendo DS in his hands.

He was sitting in the middle of the hall, lounging on a ridiculously ornate chair - all plush red velvet and gold ornamentation because why not - his feet up and resting on an equally ornate and only slightly more ridiculous footstool.

The blue-haired guy - and damn, Rin's memory clearly hadn't done justice to how blue it was! Or how dumb-looking. What was up with that freaky wave-curl? - was there, too, hunched over and kneeling on the floor. The guy - Rin was just going to call him Smurf-bastard from now on, both for convenience's sake and plain pettiness - was dressed in a typical Japanese cleaning apron, complete with indoor slippers and bandana, the latter fastened carefully behind the aforementioned dumbass curl.

Held loosely in his hand was a simple wooden brush, which had been scrubbing furiously at the tiles right up until the moment Rin appeared. Now Smurf-bastard just sat there, staring at him with a strange, wide-eyed expression. Thankfully it was only there for a split second, and then the other's face twisted up in a superior smirk.

"Yo, dipshit. How's the fa-blmpf. MGFHR!"

"Quiet." Mephisto didn't bother to raise his eyes from his game, even as Smurf-bastard clawed furiously at the cartoonishly large, pink band-aid that had suddenly appeared and clamped itself over his mouth, cutting him off mid-insult. "And keep cleaning. I want this entire place spotless."

At last he put the game away, glancing down to meet the poisonous purple eyes of Smurf-bastard.

"Understood?"

Smurf-bastard glared daggers at the demon, then huffed angrily - well, as much as he could with his mouth still covered - and resumed cleaning even more violently than before.

"You're to join us when you're finished," Mephisto added, leaving his chair - which disappeared as if on cue, taking the footstool and the game console with it - and schooling his features into an overly friendly expression.

"Now then," he said, sounding and looking pleased as punch. "Shall we go, Okumura-kun~?"

Rin had exactly enough time to get out a hasty "Eh?" before Mephisto snapped his fingers and the teen was falling backwards into a comfortable chair, one that was heavy enough not to topple with his sudden appearance. Hands gripping the armrests reflexively, Rin's surprise turned to alarm as thick, metal cuffs clamped down on his wrists, effectively trapping him. Thrashing against the bindings, his frustration and panic grew with the realization that the metal was a lot stronger than regular steel.

"Hey! What the hell, Mephisto?!" he snarled, hoping to mask the tremor in his voice with anger. Not a difficult task as Rin was practically fuming, blue flames licking at his skin, especially when Mephisto just smiled and sat down on the opposite side of the elaborately set up dining table. It reminded Rin of the 'dinner party' from a couple weeks ago - but with a much more impressive assortment of dishes this time, rather than the cups of ramen - the memory doing absolutely nothing to alleviate the negative emotions raging inside the teen.

"Well I can't have you running off, now can I?" the clown asked innocently, like it was perfectly normal to kidnap people and slap cuffs on them. Crap, maybe the twisted freak thought it was!

The demon lay Kurikara, sheathed once more - and when the hell had he done that?! – on the table next to a very expensive-looking bottle of wine. "But you look uncomfortable-"

"No shit!"

"-so allow me."

He snapped his fingers.

The metal of the cuffs disappeared from sight, now covered by neon pink fluff.

"Motherf-," Rin spluttered, turning bright red. "What is wrong with you?!"

Someone sighed.

Rin's head snapped to the side, realizing for the first time they weren't alone, and ethereal blue met smoldering ruby.

A woman stood before the counter which separated the kitchen from the cafeteria, arms crossed over a red and black dress that fell just shy of the floor on one side. A hairpin with a stylized dragon on the end secured a loose, messy bun, ringlets of which escaped to frame her pretty but stern-looking face.

"Would a summation suffice?" the woman asked evenly, tilting her head a fraction in Mephisto's direction. "Or would you prefer a more comprehensive list?"