It was a rather boring day for Rin. The rain was preventing Rin from going outside and Yukio didn't have time to visit him. Rin also wasn't allowed to invite someone because Mephisto didn't want two teenagers "to babysit" as he had so nicely put it.

Rin sat with his back laid against the bed as he threw his dagger in the air and catching it again, and again. He threw it with such expertise that he never cut himself, until Mephisto slammed the door open startling his younger brother.

Rin let out a loud swear and held on to his now bleeding finger.

"What the hell, Mephisto? At least knock or give me some kind of warning." Rin complained, licking his wound until it healed.

"Oh cut it out. Just don't play with a knife." The King of Time answered, "I'm here to continue your training," Mephisto paused, "Well, more or less."

"More or less? What's that supposed to mean?" Rin asked, standing up and putting his dagger back in its sheath.

"It's not something essential to learn, it's rather something I'm curious about." Mephisto explained.

The Prince listened quietly, wondering what his older brother meant by that.

"You see, the Baal all have the ability to transform into an animal when they are in Assiah. I was wondering if you are able to do this."

"Don't I have similar powers to Father? If he can do i-" Rin started but was interrupted by Mephisto.

"But that is the point. Father has never been in Assiah for more than 10 seconds. I don't know if Father can transform into another form."

"Does that mean I may be able to do something that Father can't do?" Rin asked excitedly.

"You're already doing what Satan is not able to by being here but yes, I guess you could say that." The King of Time just agreed, not knowing how much this meant to his younger brother.

"Amazing! So you're going to start teaching me right now?"

"Not exactly. Before you can transform, or not, you must know which animal you're connected to." The purple-haired man rolled his eyes. He regretted telling Rin about this. All his excitement now would lead to even more disappointment if he wasn't able to take on an animal's form.

"But I hardly know any animals. I have seen a dog and some birds before; and I know that there are things called raccoons, but that's it. " Rin's enthusiastic look diminished.

"Believe it or not, but I already expected that and that is why," A grin appeared on Mephisto's face, "I got you some cards for the zoo newly opened up as an attraction in MephiLand!" He was holding up two tickets.

"What?" Rin was more than confused, "What's a zoo and what the hell is a MephiLand?"

"You'll see. Just go there tomorrow and invite this blonde friend of yours. I bet she tells her friends about this. I couldn't think of better marketing." Mephisto put the tickets in Rin's hand and turned around to leave his room.

"Wait a second. Is there a reason why you want me to be out of here tomorrow?" Rin was skeptical. His older brother wouldn't just give him something without expecting to gain something else. Rin didn't know him for long but the Prince figured out that much about the King of Time.

"You're not as dumb as you look. Okay, maybe I don't want you to be here tomorrow but why is none of your business. Don't complain and have fun." With that, Mephisto left.

"Well, guess I'll invite Shiemi to this MephiLand-thing," Rin internally decided, "Hey! Mephisto! Come back! I need to borrow the key to Shiemi's house!"

The next day, Mephisto threw Rin out early in the morning. It wasn't that bad since Rin didn't have to sleep much since he became a demon, but now he had to kill time until he could pick up Shiemi. Due to the fact that he still had a few hours until he met up with his friend, Rin was just strolling around the campus of True Cross Academy. He sat down on a bench in one of the many parks and looked around. A little bird flew above his head, making him look up.

"Flying would be fun, maybe I can turn into a bird." He followed the little robin with his eyes.

"Maybe Father would be impressed- No, he would say that I'm wasting my time. He can be so-" He ended his sentence with a groan. A few months ago, he wouldn't have dared to even think about his father like that. Of course, he still wanted to please him but sometimes he would think about what would have happened if he had taken Mephisto's offer that night when he stole Kurikara.

He was so lost in thoughts that he didn't notice how much time had passed. Quickly, he got up and made his way to Shiemi's house.

"Hey, sorry I'm late." These were the first words Rin said when Shiemi opened the door.

"That's okay. Thank you for inviting me." She smiled friendly but still a little bit hesitant.

Looking closer, Rin noticed that she was dressed differently than usual. Her clothes seemed to be chicer. He started to wonder why she dressed up like that when something truly absurd crossed his mind. Did Shiemi think that this was a date? He certainly didn't hope so. Rin considered her a friend, nothing more. Additionally, the heir of Gehenna's throne couldn't get romantically involved with a human. He shook his head to clear his mind. Shiemi probably didn't want to be more than friends with him anyway.

"No problem, I could have asked Yukio but he is always so serious. I thought going with you would be more fun." The Prince said, smiling back.

"You know, Yuki had to go through some hard times and he is the youngest exorcist ever. That's why he's like that. Don't judge him because of it." Shiemi's tone was almost apologizing.

"You like him pretty much, don't you?" Rin asked, imagining Yukio and Shiemi to be a really cute couple.

The blonde girl blushed, looking to the ground in embarrassment so Rin decided to drop the subject.

"So what even is this MephiLand?" He changed the subject shortly before reaching the front gate of the amusement park.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," That was all he could say when he saw the giant statue of Mephisto, greeting them instantly after entering the park, "I'm dreaming, right? Please Shiemi, tell me he didn't open up a theme park about himself."

"You didn't know? MephiLand is one of the biggest parks in all of Japan." She told him, making him shake his head and cover his face, being ashamed for his older brother.

"Let's just go to that new zoo. I hope there are less statues of that show-off." Rin sighed, taking her hand and quickly starting to walk towards the zoo.

"Oh look! There's a pets corner. Let's go!" Rin had never seen Shiemi so excited before. She ran towards a small compound with low, wooden fences and a gate so visitors could get in and pet the small animals in it.

"So a zoo is basically where humans cage up animals and look at them. Humans are weird." The Prince muttered to himself before following the blonde.

Rin saw how Shiemi already sat on a bench, petting something furry with long ears.

When he got closer, it stared at him, starting to panic and running away.

"Oh, too bad," she stood up, "I wonder why it was so afraid, a few seconds earlier, it was so calm."

Rin was looking around.

There had been a lot of animals before, but since he had entered the compound, everything seemed to hide.

"I guess, they don't like me much." Rin read one of the signs, hanging around, displaying the animals of the pets corner.

He doubted that the animal he would connect to was a rabbit, a guinea pig or a goat.

Shiemi just shrugged, leaving the petting farm, Rin following close behind her.

"What's next?" He asked, looking at a map, Shiemi had picked up at the zoo gate.

"There will be a bird show soon, do you want to watch?" She asked, pointing in the direction of the place where the show took place.

"Of course!" Rin immediately agreed, still hoping he could turn into a bird so he could fly.

The bird show was not quite what Rin had expected. He and Shiemi sat in the front row which seemed to make the animals really nervous. It all ended when an eagle almost attacked the Prince instead of catching a piece of meat, its trainer had thrown in the air.

After a whole lot of apologies, Rin and Shiemi left the show.

It didn't take to be a genius to see that most animals reacted either with fear or aggressiveness to the son of Satan.

The lions growled at him and if they hadn't been in a cage, they would probably have charged at him. The monkeys started screaming so loud that Rin felt like his head was going to explode. Having sensitive ears certainly was not always a good thing. Even the insects in the big insectarium didn't even came near the Prince while Shiemi was basically covered in butterflies. Rin wasn't too sad about that. Insects were really more Beelzebub's thing.

The fish in the giant aquarium always swam in the opposite corner as Rin stood.

A horse had tried to kick him and a llama spit at him.

Shiemi was either shocked or laughing at him whenever something like that happened.

He couldn't blame her, he probably looked like a total idiot.

After all that, he started to get really frustrated.

"It's really not your day, is it?" She asked him after the dog of a woman passing by started growling and barking at him.

"Oh no, I just think every animal on this planet hates me." He said, kicking a stone that lay in his way.

"I bet that's not true. We don't know what is going on in their heads. Maybe they had a bad day because they got vaccinated and that's why they are all on edge." Shiemi tried to cheer him up.

"There are just a few compounds left. Let's just get over with it." Rin mumbled, walking towards a large pool of water, containing some seals.

Although Rin really hoped that he didn't turn into an sea creature because Egyn would probably try to kill him, he felt like it would be nice to see another reaction than fear.

Right at the moment when he thought that the seals would be more curious than scared, he was soaking wet from the water they splashed out if their pool.

"Okay, that's it. I'm done. I'm giving up. I've been attacked, almost deafened and spit at. Message received." The Prince growled, clenching his fists.

"Calm down, Rin. Let's just go home." She laid her hand on his shoulder.

"Fine." He grunted, following her to the exit.

While walking towards the gate, he heard a small boy calling out for his father in excitement.

"Look Daddy! It's finally moving! What's the the big kitty doing?" The high voice screamed.

Rin turned around to the compound they had just walked by.

The big black cat inside was exactly mimicking his steps when he came closer.

"See? The panther doesn't seem to hate you." Shiemi stated optimistically.

"Well, it's not a bird, but I think I can accept that." The Prince's mood was lighting up slightly. In astonishment, he looked at the dangerous looking claws and fangs. "That's way cooler than turning into a stupid dog." He muttered, hoping he wasn't too hasty assuming he could turn into a panther.

Shiemi didn't really understand what he was talking about, but she was glad that he wasn't sulking anymore.

"Hey Mephisto! I'm back!" Rin shouted when he finally came back after bringing Shiemi home.

"What happened to you? You look slightly more awful than usual. Stop right there. You scatter dirt all over my new carpet!" The King of Time greeted his younger brother.

"Okay, okay." Rin rolled his eyes when he took off his shoes.

"But now you finally show me how to transform." The Prince demanded confidently.

"Forget it. Take a shower first. You look like you've been attacked by a bird." Mephisto didn't even look up from his paperwork.

"How would you even know?" Rin grumbled, walking towards the bathroom.

The fastest shower later, the Prince was back still dripping water,"Come on, put away your work and teach me!"

"Quit your whining, I'm coming." Mephisto gave in, following Rin to his room.

"Okay, just stand before me and watch. First you have to focus on the animal you believe you can turn into. What is it anyway? You didn't tell me." The King of Time started explaining.

"You'll see." The younger brother grinned, crossing his arms.

"Alright, if you want to make a mystery out of it. Just focus and-" After a silent poof and a puff of pink smoke, a small white Scottie with a pink ribbon around his neck stood before the Prince.

"And that's it." The little dog said before turning back to the King of Time.

"I just have to focus?" Rin was skeptical concerning Mephisto's teaching methods.

"Basically. Now go on, try it."

"Okay, if you say so." The Prince did as his older brother told him.

After a few minutes of concentration, he already was about to give up when suddenly his blue flames started engulfing him, blinding Mephisto who had to turn away.

The King of Time would never admit to be impressed, but the amount of energy that went in the transformation let him assume that Rin would be something bigger and more dangerous than a terrier or a hamster like Amaimon.

When the blue light faded, the first thing Mephisto heard was Rin's voice bragging, "I did it! Look at me! Ha! I bet you're jealous!"

"Wait, why are you so tall?" The Prince asked right after that.

Mephisto turned around, expecting a tall predator, but when he saw the end result he burst out in laughter.

"Oh little brother, this is just adorable." The King of Time picked the small animal up, holding it before a mirror.

"What the hell? Why am I so small? And let me down, you creep!"

"Well, I didn't consider your age. I'm always forgetting that you're only 16 years old, a baby for demon standards. After a few hundred years, you'll probably be able to turn into a fully grown panther." Mephisto explained, slowly starting to pet the little panther's head.

"Hey! Cut it out!" Rin started to struggle, resulting in falling down on the floor.

A few moments later, he was back in his normal form.

"At least, we know that your are even able to do something like that." The King of Time grinned.

"If the Baal can do it, why shouldn't I? We are all sons of Satan after all." Rin grumbled, standing up.

"You don't know the difference between you and the Baal? Right when I thought that you were at least a little intelligent."

"Don't be such a smartass and just tell me."

"What do you think? What demon would be worthy to, how do I put it, to bear Satan's children? Exactly, none. You, and technically Yukio, are the only ones of Satan's offsprings to be born naturally. The Baal, myself included, were created by Satan himself." Mephisto clarified, trying to make it sound as easy as possible.

"So we're not really brothers?" It was the first question that popped into Rin's head.

"Yes, but no. We share a father but no genetics," Mephisto immediately recognized that Rin wasn't following him and sighed, "We are brothers."

"Then why are you telling me something I know?"

Mephisto shook his head in disappointment, "It's already late so just go to bed."

Hey guys!
I hope you like the new chapter even if it is a bit filler-like.
I don't want to "run" through the story and bring every important plot point right after another.
There is going to be a more story in the next few chapters.