Finally, after months of waiting for a new laptop battery...

I

AM

BACK!

The old one suddenly burned out and I couldn't post anything! Not even an explanation for why I wasn't posting anything.

The Mephesto Arc: Begins!~

Disclaimer: I do not own Ao No Exorcist or -Man.

Chapter 15

Shiro Fujimoto was glad that Yuri was no longer taking lessons from the Dark Matter specialist, yet continued her work as an exorcist. Though, the fact she still loved demons left him irked. He frowned as he walked up the Academy stairs to Mephesto's office. The demon had asked him for help which puzzled him greatly. Mephesto had never asked him for help before so it was probably serious.

"Hey, Mephesto," Fujimoto said as he opened the door, "I got yo-erk," The albino priest stopped talking after he caught a look at the room. Mephesto's office was destroyed beyond repair with the owner of said office was sitting on the only whole piece of furniture which happened to be his desk. The culprit was the white being sitting on the ground with his back to them. The priest figured the Musician had destroyed everything, but what was the hybrid even doing here?

"Ah, thank you, Father Fujimoto! The Musician's caretaker left for a mission in America, and sadly, left his charge in my care," the demon grinned, though Shiro could tell it was forced. The Musician shuffled around the wreckage he had created, and Shiro sighed. The priest didn't know what he was called there to do, but he guess he could try to talk to the Musician.

"Oi, Musician, could you fix this," Shiro asked, "Sir Pheles would like his stuff back together again." The priest was rewarded with a slight huff from the Musician and everything in the office welding itself together with soft golden flames. The man was quite pleased with the outcome he got. Mephesto's grin had fallen, leaving Shiro with the impression that the demon had wanted something different to happen.

"That was not what I meant, Father Fujimoto," the demon clown sighed, giving the Musician an exasperated look, "I would rather not have to watch one of these creatures for the determinate of his mission. If you could watch him instead, I would apprectiate it."

Shiro narrowed his eyes at Mephesto, "What do you mean 'one of these creatures' and why would you even think I would watch him for you!?"

"Simply, I'm curious about Yuri's past residence and I would like to investigate the building she used to live in. Kanda's little friend here would get in the way," Mephesto explained to the priest. Fujimoto wondered if the Musician cared about his home being searched before the demon hopped up, "Thank you, Fujimoto!~"

Shiro blinked before stiffening, "Hey! I didn't agree to watch him and you didn't answer my question!" However, Sir Pheles was gone before the priest could stop him. The priest looked at the 'creature' Mephesto left with him and was surprised to see the boy standing next to him instead of were he was before. He sighed before beckoning to the Musician and began to leave the building. The only way he knew the Musician was following him was from the quiet sounds of footsteps that merged with his own.

The Musician was unhappy at the situation he was in at the moment, since Kanda could not take him to America. But, this was understandable and he chose to make no big deal about it. Kanda would be home soon and then the Musician wouldn't have to be passed around like a collection plate. It was tiresome, though, and he was shocked by Mephesto's declaration. Blatantly saying you were going to search a person's house with them right in front of you was ridiculous and perplexing. The Musician looked up at the priest and wondered why the man who didn't like demons was friends with the clown or even was around one.

Drawing him out of his thoughts, the Musician listened to the priest as he said, "What am I even suppose to do with you? I didn't ask to watch over a 'creature' on the only day I'm not busy."

"I didn't ask to be watched over by a priest," Musician answered to Fujimoto's and his own surprise. He hadn't meant to say anything to the priest, but had done the opposite. Musician figured he'd keep talking and said, "Why do you like Mephesto?"

"I don't like him," growled out the albino, "I tolerate him for your information. What exactly did he mean calling you a creature?" The Musician shrugged, not knowing what the demon had meant by it. Either he didn't like him because he had either Innocence, a Noah for a shadow, or was human. Though, Sir Pheles seemed to like humans or a least find them entertaining. It most likely was the Innocence.

"Where are we going," asked the Musician, hoping the priest would sense he wanted to change the subject.

Shiro grumbled in thought, then answered, "I have to go take care of the monastery." The Musician was shocked into silence. The thought of the man walking in front of him living in a monastery sounded bizarre. The albino didn't remind him of a monk of any kind. The Musician followed him to a door, where Fujimoto put a key into the door and twisted it. The Musician walked through door after the priest, finding himself in a church hall with pews and a confessional next to him. He slowly stepped toward the pews and surveyed the area, only to stop when his eyes landed on a grand organ. It was a beautiful organ with shining brass pipes sprouting from the top and delicate carvings on the wooden console.

Shiro looked at the Musician in confusion before following his vision to the organ. He watched the Musician walk over to it and touch the keys on the great manual or bottom keyboard as he knew it. Shiro didn't know how to play the organ, though it looked complicated with all of the keys, buttons, and pedals. The Musician pulled his finger away from the keys, looked at it, then stiffened before casting a shocked and enraged look at Shiro. The priest jumped at the sight of what looked like a pair of horns sprouting from the head of long white hair.

"What," yelled the Musician, walking over and thrusting his finger into Shiro's face, "is this!?"

"A ruptured eardrum," he stated with a wince. However, this made the Musician even more fierce and attracted the attention of some of the monks around the monastery.

"This is not a joke! How could you let such a beautiful instrument -No, a work of art!- go into such disrepair!? It's inexcusable!"

"No, what's inexcusable is the fact that you are having a cow over a little dust!"

"It's a sign that nobody is taking care of it or playing it! What type of monastery has no organ player!? Besides, I don't own a cow, so I can't be 'having a cow'."

"Oh yeah, then why don't you play it!? You are 'the Musician', aren't you?"

"Would you even listen if I did?"

"I'm still standing here, aren't I!?"

With a huff, the Musician spun back around and began playing the organ, pulling a rising and falling melody from the different keys. The song that arose from the organ was light and playful and brought to the mind images of clowns and carnival tents. Though, Shiro had never visited a carnival, he had heard the classical carnival music before and listened to the rise and fall of brash sounds to softer ones. The general swing of the song caused some of the monks to stop and listen to the music before going back to work with a spring in their step. The Musician seemed too enthralled in the music to look up, even after another figure walked into the monastery. Shiro looked over at the long haired man and wondered why he stayed behind the confessional, before looking back to the organ as the Musician finished the song with its last up beat notes.

"Well," asked the Musician as he spun around on bench, "Can I play or what?"

"It wasn't bad, " stated Kanda as he walking out of his hiding place, "Though, I was expecting Bach or Mozart from you and not this carnival music."

With his face turning pink, the Musician rebutted, "It's called 'Vienna Carnival' and I happen to like it."

"Right," stated the Second Exorcist, "Are you ready to go home?"

"Yeah, but Mephesto's searching our dorm," explained the Musician. Kanda rolled his eyes, as if he wasn't surprised and and spun on his heel.

"Then, we should go home and 'ask' him to 'vacate the premises'."

By the by, I'm sorry I left everyone with no explanation. Can I just tell you how much I loved writing that little spat between Allen and Shiro?

Neah is a part of Allen's personality, so it would only make sense for the Musician to flip a lid over something like a dusty grand organ. I had to use a diagram to even explain to me what a grand organ looked like and I ended up describing the grand console as the bottom of two keyboards. I also looked up the song 'Vienna Carnival' which happens to be a stereotypical carnival song.

I'm glad to be back, guys!