AN: Because we all wonder how Yukio deals with children (or at least people who act like them).

Hot diggity-dog, I'm alive! I've been really busy getting ready for school, so I haven't really had the time to sit down and write something up. I hope you'll forgive me n_n

Once again, a huuuuuge thank you to everyone who's reviewed, favorited, subscribed, and read this story! I can't tell you how excited I get, seeing all those alerts in my e-mail xD

I do urge you to review chapters you read-it's a simple and easy way of saying that you care about a story, or saying thank you. This goes for not just me, but for every writer out there. It gives us something to work from. C:

This chapter is shorter than the others, but I do hope you'll enjoy it!

*If you did not review, then feel free to skip the review response section, lest it ruins your reading experience.

Review Responses:

Yorukifon: Cross isn't a troll, she's a demon! *serious face* Hahah, glad you're getting a good laugh from little Cross :D

pyon-chan: Oh man, I can't even tell you how awkward that's going to be xD Especially for Rin! It's not every day you meet a less intelligent clone-version of yourself, eh?

howlingwinofthestorm: Or... is it? *Cue more dramatic music*

Yami-chan: Oh Yukio, that sly dawg. He gets out of almost every situation-that's why he's one of my favorite characters xD I feel as though I could squeal like a little fangirl after hearing you call my story awesome ;_; Thanks so much!

black strained rabbit: I'm happy hearing that you like Cross n_n I just wanted to make an OC that was really different from the others in the AnE fandom (most people usually don't take a liking to OCs). Thanks for telling me! c:

cloudyskysrain: I'm sure Mephisto is having a fun time watching this play out as well... huhuhu.

xxSweet Memory: Gah, I'm flattered ;_; Hearing people say they like Cross just warms my heart (omg cheesy), but it's true I tell you! :D And well, a cross-dressing Rin. Hmmmm... Wouldn't that be interesting if it were true :P

xZweix: Y-Your favorite? Really? I think I can die happy now! :O Glad to hear I have the canon characters in-character (I've had to re-write scenes a few times because I make them seem OOC sometimes). And here's the next update for ya n_n

Thank you for all the kind reviews, everyone! Now, let's get on with the show!

Dance With the Devil

Chapter 4: Tremendously Troublesome

"Ehh? But I came all this way and everything! You must take it!" Cross pressed, repeatedly shoving the polka-dotted bundle into Yukio's hands.

Yukio glanced around the room nervously, noting the bewildered expressions of his students. This certainly wasn't the most desirable situation for him to be in. He had to come up with an excuse, and a believable one at that. But what explanation could he possibly use?

…Wait, had Takara just called her a cross-dresser?

Yukio widened his eyes. That's it!

"What the hell's going on, Okumura? Like I'd let a cross-dresser kick Satan's ass!" Bon spat, his expression teetering between confusion and rage. "Get out of here!"

Hearing Bon's outcry, Cross turned her head stiffly, realizing after an unreasonable amount of time that there were, in fact, other people in the room.

Human people. "Hieeee!"

Yukio quickly clamped a hand over her mouth to prevent her from uttering any other words and began etching his way to the door. As he struggled, he professionally announced: "I apologize for this disturbance, but it seems as though there is something my brother wishes to discuss. Please excuse us…"

Shiemi stared at the two of them blankly, hand poised above her notebook. "Yuki-chan… Why is—" she started, but was unable to continue. What, was she really going to ask why Rin was dressed like that? In a cat-hooded-sweater-dress? Was he cosplaying?

—Well, she had caught Rin reading shoujo manga once. Pretty awkward… He'd made her swear not to tell anyone about it.

Yukio calmly explained, "As punishment for being unable to lift the weights, nii-san's being forced to cross-dress by Shura-san. I hope this hasn't been too disturbing for everyone. Now excuse us…" He ushered Cross out the door impatiently, crossing his fingers and hoping to high heaven that his explanation was somewhat believable.

Konekomaru gazed at the door trying to comprehend what had just happened. "That's very harsh of Shura-san…" he said absentmindedly, trying to clear his head of all thoughts of a female Rin. This would leave quite an emotional scar on him.

"Poor guy. There goes his manhood," Shima agreed, scratching the back of his head.

Honestly, Yukio couldn't believe they had actually bought it—definitely a zero for common-sense.

Cross widened her eyes and swished her tail. What was going on? Yukio looked kind of unhappy at the moment, but for what reason she was unable to comprehend. She'd visited him at work and had even brought him food—Octo-sausages. And as Mephisto had put it, his "favorite"!

He'd said people liked receiving presents at work…

Yukio could only sigh at her contemplative expression. She'd only been here for a few hours and look at all the trouble she'd caused. For crying out loud, how far was Mephisto willing to go to make his life miserable? Wasn't putting his life on the line for one demon good enough?

The crazy old coot wasn't satisfied with anything (except cosplaying—and that was only a maybe).

"Mrrf mmph, mm mrr mfph," Cross blurbed, her mouth still covered by the teacher's hand.

"No," Yukio stated. "No, I will not uncover your mouth. You're being very troublesome—not only for me, but for everyone else at this academy."

Cross blinked. Troublesome? "Mrr?"

Yukio hardened his eyes and nodded. "Yes, really. If people found out that you even exist, everything would be cha—" Wait, use childish terms with a childish mind. "Things would become… very bad."

"Mrd?" Bad? Even she knew bad wasn't a good thing, and when things were bad, people were unhappy. Cross wanted people to be happy with her. "Mmph mrrt!"

Yukio furrowed his brow. "If you want to make me happy then make yourself useful for once and stay out of my sight."

His harsh words forced even himself to stop and think. The only way he had been able to get his messages across to others was to be stern, straight-forward, and plainly blunt. He knew that this especially hurt Rin's feelings, but it was the only way to get him to listen.

Most importantly, he was not especially skilled with being sympathetic; he had never learned how to be, what with everyone at school bullying him around and Rin—

"Neef-shwan."

He looked down at the pair of blue eyes below his and shook his head slightly. "Look, Cross-san, just—"

Cross grinned and pulled Yukio's hand away, much to his surprise. The feeble-looking girl was actually quite strong. Then again, she was Rin's clone—and a demon. It made perfect sense for her to inherit that superhuman strength of his.

"I'm going to go home and apologize to you, nii-san!" she announced, saluting to him as a marine would to their commander.

Yukio felt a strong urge to hit his head against the wall. Go home and apologize? "You're supposed to apologize to people when they're right in front of you—and don't go off on your own again!"

"I will go and do something good to make up for this bad idea!" she continued, taking no heed of his words. She was absolutely determined to patch up the holes with her new-found brother.

"You're too loud—"

Cross grinned and placed a finger over Yukio's mouth. "Strewth! I must make haste; night is upon us!"

"It's already night!" He paused. "And since when have you had a large vocabulary?"

"Hmmmm…" Cross hummed, matching her curious eyes with Yukio's incredulous stare. What would he be happy with her doing? She hardly knew anything about him, so it would be difficult to decide on an option…

Ah, wait—was he frowning at her?

Cross stuck her tongue out at him playfully. As little as she knew, she did know one thing: Yukio hardly ever smiled. Maybe Ukobach or Amaimon would be willing to help her… Speaking of Amaimon, where did he go, anyway?

The chime of the old clock tower echoed across the school campus, causing Cross to realize how much time she had spent idling. Panicking, she waved her arms and cried, "I'm going back to that place, nii-san!" all the while preparing to make a dash for it.

"Wait—" Yukio made a grab for the teen as she whipped around to bound down the hall, but was unable to get a hold before she sprang forward, zipping across the walls like a bat out of hell.

She was fast.

With an exasperated sigh, he picked the abandoned bundle of food off of the floor. "I can't stand this…" he mumbled with an irked smile, and returned to his classroom.

Kamiki arched her triangular brows he re-entered the room, noting his stiffened movements and agitated gaze. Were those twins fighting again? Typical. She never fought with her older sister—what was their problem? Sibling rivalry?

—Not that she cared about either of them, anyway. Rin was an idiot, and Yukio was… well, he was just Yukio.

The teacher placed his parcel onto the desk, cleared his throat, and continued as if none of the previous events had ever occurred. "Where were we? Oh yes, earth-demon precautions…"

"What an amazing guy," Shima remarked.

Senri strolled across the school blacktop, game console in hand, occupied with the world of dating sims. Why, he thought. Why did your parents have to meet such a terrible end, Mizuki-chan? I must save you from your misery! He then plopped himself down on a wooden bench and fervently worked on "saving" the heroine of the game.

A lone set of footsteps made their way towards him, and he lazily rolled his eyes up after sensing the presence of another human being, wondering who could be out at this time of night. Who he saw, however, caught him by surprise—and it wasn't a very good surprise.

"You've always got your nose in that useless piece of plastic. It's pathetic, really."

Senri gave her a flat stare, keeping his head raised despite the strong urge he felt to look down at his screen. Well, those certainly were not the most inviting words he had ever heard. "Kamiki Izumo of class 1-B. Good evening," he responded politely.

Izumo placed her hands on her hips and furrowed her brow. "Don't greet me so casually like that, otaku. What's a person like you doing out at this hour? It's past curfew."

She couldn't help but fume to herself as the brunette stood up and walked past casually, ignoring her question and keeping himself occupied with his game.

She hated Senri with a burning passion. That boy was always in his own little world, but still managed to keep up with her in school. Not only that, but his nonchalant and strange attitude irritated her to no end. What exactly was that guy?

"Isn't it suspicious that the class prez is out so late at night as well?" Senri stated absentmindedly, turning his head back to look at her pointedly. "Shouldn't you be more of a role-model?"

During day class, Izumo was known as the classroom president of 1-B—a title that she had fought for vigorously. Izumo's face became flushed and she retorted angrily, "I was actually studying, unlike you—"

Senri poked his head out from behind his screen, staring at her with flat, cat-like eyes. "Sorry, but could you allow me to reach the save point before we continue our conversation?"

"I'm not having a conversation with you, idiot!" the girl nearly yelled, becoming flushed when she realized she almost had.

Senri paused momentarily to contemplate her angry retort before shrugging and continuing his progression through the dating simulation. He allowed himself a small smile and replied, "Sure thing, prez," then began tapping his screen lazily.

Out of the blue, he fished out a pen from his pocket and began doing math on his palm, furrowing his brow and shaking his head. Izumo watched the unusually charming boy from a distance as he attempted to solve his problem, perplexed by every movement he made. Honestly, she had no idea why she was still sticking around.

"This is terrible," Senri stated finally, pursing his lips.

Izumo gave him an irritated glare, not understanding what he meant. "Is math too hard for an idiot like you?"

He automatically shook his head and spoke to himself absentmindedly, "I finished this dating simulation in less than half-an-hour. It was hardly challenging…"

Izumo couldn't believe this stupid, perverted otaku guy. What a pig. "I'm leaving; go back to your room too, before the night watchers find you—unless you want to get in trouble, then I don't really care," she commanded him harshly, stalking off in the opposite direction.

"Oh? Prez is concerned about me, although she calls me an idiot?" the brunette pondered aloud. "How sly you are."

Izumo cringed and nearly froze hearing those words, but forced herself to continue walking. "I hate people like you. Plus, that didn't make any sense at all."

Senri watched as she fumed to herself silently, waiting for her to turn around after realizing she had made a dramatic exit in the wrong direction. "Prez, the girl's dorm is that way," he reminded her.

Damn, he was right. "Sh-shut up. I already knew that," Izumo snapped back, her face red as a tomato. How dare that lowly gamer embarrass her like that!

She mumbled one final insult under her breath before storming off towards the girl's dorm, not taking notice of the slip of paper that fluttered out of her pocket.

Senri eyed the paper placidly as it fluttered in the breeze, making no notion to inform Izumo about it. "Good night, prez," he waved cheerfully, the air behind him almost seeming to glow with moe-moe flowers.

"…Creep."

Returning to his nonchalant expression, Senri saved his game and slid the black console into the folds of his school blazer. He wondered why Kamiki Izumo of all people was constantly out to insult him and criticize him, even though he had tried his best to stay as far away from her as was possible.

Real girls were such difficult creatures to understand. They were so alien—so weird, he could never hope to comprehend them.

"Nothing like the girls in my games," he mumbled, exhaling into the crisp air of night and patting his pocket fondly.

Just as he was about to head home, a flash of white caught his eye. He reached out with his hand to grab the unidentified object as it flew in front of his eyes, and studied it with mild interest. It was the same paper that had fallen out of Izumo's pocket.

He unfolded the perfect, white square and looked over its contents intently, trying to analyze what was drawn on the surface. He thought it to be some sort of intricate circle, although where he had seen it before he could not place his finger on. It certainly was familiar… like a symbol used for some sort of ritual, perhaps?

He smiled helplessly and placed the neatly folded paper into his pocket. "Didn't know prez was interested in black magic."

"All right, Ukobach! We have to work hard for nii-san!" Cross announced, blazing with fiery determination.

"What are you going to do, Cross?" Ukobach asked, carefully setting a tray of freshly baked bread onto the counter.

Cross drooled momentarily at the sweet sugary-flowery aroma before she could respond. Ukobach was such a good cook, it made her heart all happy and warm whenever he'd made something new. Of course she'd eat everything that he'd deliberately asked not her to because it was just so good! Plus, Ukobach said he didn't mind as long as people said that they enjoyed his food anyway, so no harm there.

The little familiar watched as she struggled with her thoughts and loomed of the bread tray hungrily, readying himself with a wooden spoon in case she made any attempts to try and consume his latest creation.

After a moment, she turned around with an enigmatic smile and cheerfully admitted, "I haven't decided yet!"

Ukobach felt as though he could have fallen off his stool because of the sheer idiocy she was emitting by the words she spoke. "You shouldn't just call people to help you when you have no idea what you need help with!" he scolded, waving his large hands at her angrily. "And don't come into my kitchen whenever you feel like it!"

"Ah, but…" She looked around at the walls of the dining hall, noting their faded colors and uncleanly brown mold growing in the long-forgotten corners. "Hieee! It's really kind of gross in here…!" she exclaimed, the fur on her tail standing up on end.

Ukobach's eye twitched; that was too offensive. "If you don't like it then clean it—and why do you suddenly change topics like that?" he replied angrily. Geez, being so rudely blunt like that… this girl… But it was true that the rooms were in a bit of a mess.

"Why are you upset, Ukobach?" a childish voice asked from around the corner. A little black cat with two horns on its head came slinking through the doorway, swishing a set of twin-tails behind him curiously. He lifted his head up at the counter and widened a pair of yellow eyes—one of the most prominent features on his face.

"Oh! It smells like Ukobach's bread!" he exclaimed, padding across the floor tiles excitedly.

Ukobach panicked, taking up arms with a spatula. "Wait, Kuro! It still has to set before it can be eaten!"

"Wah… Ukobach really does make the best bread…" Cross swooned, munching on none other than the sweet bread the little stove-spirit had just made—and deliberately told her not to eat. "I think I've finally lived after tasting this thing…"

Taken aback by being ignored, Ukobach snatched the half-eaten bun away from her, instead replacing it with a light whap on the head from his spatula. "I said not to eat them yet!"

"Ukobach is really a good cook, like Rin!" Kuro agreed with Cross as he chowed down on the other half of the bun that had been placed on the counter by Ukobach.

"You two… You're both idiots…!"

Cross paused and turned to face the demon cat stiffly, blinking repeatedly as she observed him. Kuro seemed to realize this and looked up from his meal, taking in the blue-eyed demon in front of him. The two remained at a standstill for a few minutes before Kuro perked up and gawked at the familiar face.

He widened his eyes and backed up against the end of his chair. "R-Rin! Is that you, Rin?" he cried out, unable to believe what he was seeing.

Cross stared at the cat dumbly. Who was this Rin everyone was talking about? She gestured towards herself and cheerfully corrected him, "I'm not a Rin, I'm Cross." Her eyes then began to sparkle very noticeably as she made an advance towards Kuro. "Is this…"

"It's not Rin? It doesn't smell like Rin, but it's close to Rin," Kuro gasped, flicking his ears.

"I thought that too, but it really isn't Rin. Yukio says it's a look-a-like," Ukobach informed him, shrugging nonchalantly.

Cross pat the cait sith's head happily and asked, "Is this what you would call a dog?"

Kuro's tail twitched, and he glanced up at her wide-eyed. He was a cat—not a dog. Or rather, a cait sith to be precise. Why would she think he was a dog? "I'm not a dog. I'm Kuro!"

"Eh? But you have two ears, fur, four legs, a tail and everything!" Cross replied, gesturing to each part of his body that she'd mentioned.

Ukobach smacked his palm against his forehead in disbelief. "Cross, Kuro is a cat—or a cait sith," he muttered, folding his arms and continually shaking his head. Idiots were everywhere around him nowadays.

Cross nodded understandingly. "I understand now—Kuro is Kuro!"

Kuro raised his paw and gave her a fangy grin. "Kuro is Kuro!" he agreed happily.

"What is this…" Ukobach grumbled, irritated.

"Anyway, anyway!" Cross waved her arm, dismissing the current conversation. "Kuro, help me make nii-san happy! I've upset him a lot, so now I'm going to apologize," she said, filling the cat in on the current situation.

Kuro curled up and closed one of his eyes, gazing up at her in surprise with the other. "You mean Yukio?" he inquired, purring contently to himself.

Cross nodded. "Yeah, that guy with the shields over his eyes! I've decided to clean up the dorm, so he's going to be really happy when he comes home from work!" she smiled enthusiastically, bubbling with excitement at the thought.

"But he's a little scary…" Kuro mewed, shivering at the thought. "Aren't you scared of him at all?"

Cross looked up at the ceiling in thought and scratched her head. "I don't think so… Nii-san's very kind and nice to me, and he doesn't hit me like those other people did…" She shook her head. "Nii-san's the nicest person ever!"

"He's intimidating, but he has good manners," Ukobach agreed, approving the thought.

The cait sith yawned and stretched, unfurling his twin tails and perking his ears. "I guess I can help as long as I don't have to talk to him… But you'll have to give me something in return. I can't trust you yet."

"Whaddya want?" Cross asked, leaning on edge.

Kuro thought about all the things he wanted most: a new toy, to go outside more, another play-mate… "I want an offering of fresh fish every day," he decided, his mouth watering at the prospect. A fresh fish every day, just like in the past with the villagers… That really hit the spot!

"What's a fish?"

Kuro gawked at her. "You don't know? Fish is the best thing in the world—besides Shiro's present!"

Ukobach sighed. "I'll show you later, Cross."

This was fine with Cross, so she agreed with it. How hard could getting one fish a day be?

A loud clamor in the kitchen suddenly caught their attention, and Ukobach immediately made a dash behind the counter, ready to viciously attack anyone who intruded his kitchen. "You…! You're the one that's been stealing my food! Oh, if I weren't your brother's familiar, I'd—"

A muffled reply came from the next room over. "Oh, I didn't think you would still be here. Usually you're back with brother by now."

Cross' eyes lit up and she flung herself through the kitchen door, recognizing that ever familiar deadpan voice. "It's Amaimon!" she exclaimed, wagging her tail at full speed.

Amaimon stared at her flatly from the window sill, where he held back the blinds with one hand and gripped the ledge with the other. He recognized the girl as the one who had gotten him a free meal, so he acknowledged her with a simple, "Oh, it's you again."

"Amaimon, you have to help us!" Cross pleaded. She placed her hands on the countertop and struggled to climb on, despite the fact that she could easily leap across rooftops, in hopes of becoming eye-level with him.

"I don't have any interest in helping people…" Amaimon stated bluntly, giving her an odd look. What kind of person just waltzes in and demands a Demon King to help them, anyway?

Cross grinned widely in response to this, making the latter demon feel slightly uncomfortable. "That's great. I'm a demon, so you'll help me!" she announced, using her small sense of logic as best she could.

Amaimon shook his head. "I only like playing games. Work is for my subordinates…" he refused plainly, looking around the room for food.

Ukobach watched as Cross continued to pester the Earth King, unable to believe that someone would actually have the courage to do something so stupid and reckless. Didn't she know that this guy was capable of taking off her head in seconds if he wanted to?

More importantly, why wasn't he? Ukobach was surprised that he was able to keep his cool after being bothered so casually by someone much weaker than him. Normally, they'd have been long-dead.

Amaimon shifted on the window sill after having enough of being pestered, and prepared to make his quick escape. "I'm not helping you, but if you want to play later then that's fine," he announced, giving her a final salute as he turned to leap out the dorm. "Ciao!"

"You dumb Amaimon!" Cross yelled stubbornly, frustrated by his continuous refusal.

Ukobach flinched. Had she really just called Amaimon… dumb? Oh, surely the Demon King would unleash his wrath now that he'd been insulted.

Instead of unleashing a full-scale natural disaster, Amaimon responded by turning back and giving her tail a quick yank, then fleeing through the window. He returned for a brief second later, but only to quickly snatch a bun from the counter.

Ukobach fumed, shaking a fist towards the window. "You—!"

Cross yelped after having her tail pulled and followed with a flurry of incomprehensible babble aimed at the sky. Eventually she finished with one last "Dumb-head-Amaimon!" before turning away to begin her cleaning process.

"You're not very smart," Ukobach sighed, wiping the beads of sweat off of his forehead. To be honest, he was relieved that Amaimon had decided not to help him, being the no-good thieving pointy-head he was.

Cross flashed Ukobach a quick smile and tied on one of the frilly, pink aprons hanging from the coat stand around her waist. "You don't have to be smart to make people happy. Now then, let's get started, shall we?" she asked, grabbing a broom from the dusty cleaning closet.

Kuro grabbed one of the dust trays in his mouth and said that he'd hold one of these for Cross to put the things she swept up in, while Ukobach grabbed his own janitor mop-bucket combo and rolled it into the dining hall.

If they were lucky, things wouldn't become hectic. There was only an hour left before Yukio and Rin would both come home though.

"Yukio, you didn't save any of it for me?" Rin whined, looking over the empty contents of a polka-dotted food container. "I'm a growing man, you know!"

Yukio's brow twitched in irritation as he and his brother walked together towards their dorm. "I don't recall seeing a man anywhere around here," he responded dryly, snatching the cloth away from him.

Taken aback, Rin raised a fist defensively at his brother and retorted, "I'm more of a man than you, spotty-four-eyes!"

Yukio decided to ignore any further conversation after that and stared at the pink cloth in his hand. That whole ordeal had really caused a lot of trouble for him today, and then he'd been worrying for the rest of his classes about whether or not Cross was at the dorm or causing trouble for him.

He shoved the cloth back into his coat and frowned. Either way, she would have to be dealt with seriously. A rampant demon was not going to stay with him or his brother unless he could mend its attitude.

What bugged him the most though was the fact that she was a clone. Cloning was a practice banned by the Vatican decades ago, and heavy punishment would be placed upon anyone who broke that law.

So then why did Mephisto make a clone of his brother? What was he really planning to do? This all had to be part of a bigger picture—Shiro Fujimoto's death, Mephisto conveniently sheltering them both, Amaimon appearing at the Academy, the gamble with the Vatican, and now…

"Oi, Yukio, are you having a bad day or somethin'?" Rin asked, holding the wooden doors open effortlessly.

Yukio snapped his head up and walked inside, putting on a forced smile. "No… It's nothing—just a lot of marking to catch up on."

Rin flashed him his signature toothy grin and swished his tail. "Right! Hey, Yukio, give me an A and I'll do something nice for ya!" he exclaimed, hoping for a way to somehow boost his marks.

"That's not up for me to decide. Really, nii-san, cheating… I don't see you becoming the "best exorcist ever" like that." He smiled enigmatically, adding, "You're really a disgrace, nii-san."

Rin was prepared to retaliate against the statement when he noticed something was a little bit off. "Hey…" he started. "Kuro's not here… And Ukobach is pretty quiet too, don't you think so?" He ventured further down the hall, sniffing here and there as he went along. The sight would have been quite odd for anyone other than Yukio. "Someone else was here earlier…"

Yukio forced himself to swallow and hid his expression behind his pair of glasses. "Since when are you so observant, nii-san?" he inquired, hoping to take his brother's mind off of the matter.

Rin immediately scowled and hunched over. "Shura was…" he muttered, but was interrupted by a loud crash in the kitchen and the sound of a girl's outcry. Concerned, he made haste down the hall and burst through the dining hall doors, sheathed sword in hand.

His brother hurried after him, praying over and over to heaven above that what was happening was not what he thought was happening. To fail a task after only a few hours was shameful—especially to an exorcist such as himself.

He paused beside a rather stiff Rin, who stared unmoving at the sight before them.

"What…" Rin choked, blinking several times to make sure he was seeing correctly. Yukio echoed his reaction with a chorus of blank stares.

"Yukio, what is… going on… here…?"

Yeah Yukio, what's going on here?

Questions? Comments? Criticism? If so, please leave them in the review panel!

Thank you very much for reading (and sticking with) Dance With the Devil!