Yukio had packed his small weekend bag up and finally left the Monastery to return to True Cross Academy early Monday morning. He had just enough time to return to drop his things back at the dorm. He'd been informed that morning that Shiemi had decided to join the cram school, which was pleasant news he wasn't going to deny that. He'd been told that another student would be joining the class as well but had not been told the name of the student yet.

He opened the door to his dorm, Shima and Konekomaru were busy gathering things for their classes for the day. They both looked up as Yukio entered the room.

"Okumura! How was your trip?" Koneko asked with a smile.

"It was…fine, thank you. My father is settling in back at home. Give it a month or two he should hopefully return to teaching again." Yukio returned the smile, hiding the inner turmoil that his trip had not been as 'fine' as he'd have liked. But there was nothing he could do but wait for Rin to return now.

"Where is Suguro? Already left?" Yukio looked around the room noticing his classmate's absence.

"Oh, you know Suguro, he's up at the crack of dawn to go running. He left a little while ago to get to class early." Shima explained. Yukio nodded as he too sorted out his school things ready to leave. Once they were all ready, they left for classes together.

As if cram school couldn't come fast enough, before he knew it, Yukio was stood in front of his class of ready students again. Beside him stood a very nervous Shiemi playing with the belt of her green floral Kimono.

"Everyone this is Shiemi Moriyama, she will be joining you as your new classmate."

Shiemi stiffened as Yukio introduced her and shouted a bit too loudly as her nerves got the better of her "P-pleased to meet you!"

She looked around the room at all the intimidating faces and wondered where to sit. But before long she settled at the front of the class alone. At least she would have a good view of Yukio teaching. Just as she sat down there was a knock at the door.

"Come in!" Yukio answered.

The door opened and in walked Mephisto.

"Sir Pheles? What can I do for you?"

"Ah Mr Okumura, if you recall I said you would have two new students today. The second one was just a little bit late as we had a slight accommodation problem!" He clapped his hands together "You can come in now!"

The first thing that caught Yukio's eye was the white hair on the student's head, for a moment he had a flashback of Rin before focussing and seeing a different familiar face. The boy looked at him also recognising Yukio in return.

"You?!" They said in unison. Yukio had heard from Shiro about the youth that had become possessed and provoked his brother's awakening. Not that Shiratori didn't have a reputation in their home neighbourhood anyway; almost as notorious as his brothers.

"Well well, a happy reunion. I'll leave you all to get acquainted!"

"Sir Pheles what—is this really a good idea?!"

Before Yukio could question further the demon principle snapped his fingers and disappeared in a puff of pink smoke. Leaving the two boys glaring at each other.

All eyes were on the Director as he vanished into thin air before returning to the two at the front of the class.

"Okumura—" Reiji started.

Yukio was the first to compose himself turning back to the class "Everyone this is Reiji Shiratori, your new classmate." He turned back to the boy in question "Please take your seat, Shiratori." The boy glared back but didn't argue, he'd ask his questions after class. He was here for a reason after all and he didn't want to go down that same road again.

When class ended, Shiratori was waiting for the class to clear out before approaching Yukio as he was packing his things away. He stood awkwardly for a moment before Yukio finally looked up.

"What is it Shiratori?"

"Look, Okumura… about what happened with your brother—"

Yukio slammed his briefcase shut, causing Shiratori to jolt back.

"I am fully aware that what happened with my brother was not your fault. A demon had possessed you and you weren't conscious of your actions. But I am also aware of your reputation back home." He said through gritted teeth, glaring at Shiratori. He really did not need another reminder of why his brother was missing.

Shiratori flinched at the cold tone of his voice but moved to make his case anyway.

"Right! But that's why I'm here; I want to change. I don't remember what happened that day and I've been seeing those…things ever since. The headmaster suggested I should join this place and learn to fight them. One because those things are creepy as hell and two as an outlet so I don't go back to my old habits..." Shiratori looked at him; sincerity in his voice.

Yukio looked somewhat taken back by his attitude, it was almost a complete switch to the thug he used to be. Although he was sure it was still there under the surface, people don't change that quickly.

"The only person who knows what happened that day is your brother, the headmaster only told me I'd been possessed and attacked him pretty badly…but I don't know why or what else happened. Even if it wasn't more than that I at least wanted to apologize to him. Is he in hospital or somethin'?" Shiratori looked worried as Yukio scanned his face but traces of guilt surfaced in his eyes.

Yukio sighed and shook his head. A look a dread fell on Shiratori's face.

"Shit…I didn't…He isn't dead, right?" It was one thing killing vermin on the streets but he didn't think he was capable of more than maiming another person.

"No, he's not dead…Rin ran away shortly after the events that happened with you. We don't know where he is. So, until he comes home again, I can't help you." Yukio dropped his gaze back to his closed suitcase.

"Oh…right. Why—" he started before Yukio cut him off.

"It doesn't concern you. All you need to know is that he left and I don't know how to contact him."

Shiratori had been about to say something but decided it was better to leave it. He nodded and grabbed his things leaving Yukio to finish packing his stuff away. He walked out the door closing it behind him. As he turned, he noticed one of his classmates stood there.

Shiratori stared at him for a moment before muttering a "Later" and walking away down the corridor. The pink-haired page stood there with a suspicious grin on his face as he grabbed a key and made his way back to his dorm room.

When Shima returned to the dorm he was too eager to spill the information he'd just heard only to find Konekomaru sat alone at his desk doing his school work. Koneko looked up to see who had entered the room.

"Shima, where did you disappear off to? When we left class, you were right behind us."

Shima gave a nervous laugh scratching the back of his head.

"Heh-heh, yeah. I couldn't help myself and kinda backtracked to the classroom to eavesdrop on Mr Okumura's conversation with that Shiratori kid." As he said that Suguro returned to the dorm room his interest piqued.

"Oh yeah? What was up with those two anyway?" Suguro questioned; Konekomaru turned from his work curiosity getting the better of him.

"Apparently, Shiratori was possessed before." Gasps filled the room at the words that left Shima's mouth. "That's not all though…whilst he was possessed, he attacked Mr Okumura's brother. From the sounds of it, pretty badly as well."

"Was he OK?" Konekomaru asked.

"So that's how they know each other?" Suguro looked surprised.

"Shiratori was almost under the impression he'd killed the guy." Both the boys looked at him in a state of shock. "Okumura said no. But he is missing. I think they're from the same neighbourhood."

"Wait, didn't Mr Okumura say he was home, just job hunting or something like that?" Konekomaru looked at the other boys for confirmation; they nodded.

"He must've lied. He told Shiratori that his brother ran away shortly after what had happened. They don't know where he is or how to contact him." Shima explained.

"Wait, didn't he say something like that on the phone to his dad last week? Something about contacting him?" Suguro chimed in before going deep in thought.

"This is terrible, poor Okumura." Koneko was shocked "Did he run because of what happened? Or maybe it was to do with the attack on his home?" He looked at the other two boys.

Suguro was silent still processing the information. If his brother was missing why was he at school – why weren't they out searching for him?

"What if the people that attacked his home took him? Maybe he didn't run away he could've been kidnapped?" Koneko suddenly said. Shima and Suguro looked at him thinking the same thing.

"Surely there would be some missing person report somewhere? Shouldn't he be out with his family trying to find him instead of teaching exorcism? Surely someone else could've taken over the class…" Suguro mumbled to the others; Koneko hummed to himself whilst he started up the computer in their dorm, Suguro and Shima watched him curiously as he typed away on the keyboard.

"Koneko what are you—" Before Shima could finish his sentence a picture was brought up on screen alongside a small student profile.

Suguro leaned over Konekomaru's shoulder reading the name aloud "Okumura Rin…" they all gazed at the picture of the messy black-haired middle schooler with a glum expression.

"My curiosity was getting the better of me, I can't see any missing person reports or newspaper articles but I found a student profile for a middle school in Southern Cross. He does sort of look like Mr Okumura, doesn't he?"

The boy in question looked like a delinquent compared to Yukio in Suguro's opinion but who was he to judge based on looks?

"Wait, how old is this kid? He looks our age I thought he was Okumura's older brother?" Suguro asked. They all looked, the profile in question was at least updated within the last year.

"Did he ever specify how much older?" Konekomaru asked.

"No, I guess not…" Suguro replied glumly.

Shima suddenly perked up "Hey! What's that video there." He pointed at the link that read 'Demon of Southern Cross'. Konekomaru clicked the link.

The video started up with two middle school boys yelling at another on his own; the video and audio was pretty poor quality but they made out one of the boys shouting Yukio's name followed by a mass of insults at the one that resembled Okumura Rin. Before a second had passed the boy had launched himself onto the other two with such ferocity he could only be described as demonic. The fight went on for a few minutes before another boy that looked strikingly similar to Yukio ran in and pulled the demonic boy from the other two, dragging him off the screen. The video ended there.

The trio sat in silence for a moment whilst processing what they had just witnessed. They realised perhaps there was a reason that Yukio didn't talk about his brother very much. Shima was the first to speak up.

"Well, that might explain why he's been calling him a demon in his nightmares." The others thought about it for a moment and nodded. It was still suspicious but having a wildly violent brother when you're an exorcist could cause some wires to get crossed in Yukio's head whilst he's dreaming.

"After seeing that, I would wager anyone that broke in and tried to kidnap him would soon get their ass kicked." Suguro let out a frustrated sigh. "It's possible he wasn't there or ran away before what happened." The others nodded. Konekomaru closing the websites and searches on the computer.

"I really think we should try to back off about this. I feel bad prying into it behind Okumura's back. I let curiosity got the better of me here but after seeing that, I won't be involved further. I'm sure he's going through enough and his family are doing all they can to find his brother if he has gone missing." Koneko stated as he looked to the other boys in the room. Suguro groaned but nodded in agreement, something still felt off but it really wasn't any of his business to go that deep into people's personal lives.

Shima, on the other hand, remained silent.

After their talk, Satan had given Rin a brief glimpse of where he had come from; his original form. A blue flame that sat upon a pillar of corpses in the centre of Gehenna. The exact spot his throne now stood. He had morphed the area around his podium into the castle they now inhabited.

A month had drawn by after their talk. The thought that Rin was only allowed to live because they had no way of killing him in the first place left a sour feeling in his gut which further worsened knowing they had tried to kill Yukio as well. Yukio who had been a weak human baby at the time. He could take that they tried to kill him since apparently, he gave them a good fight fresh from birth; which somewhat amused him and he wished he could've seen it now. But if Yukio had been a defenceless human baby, why did they try to kill him?

In the end, he started spending his free time sparring with Iblis in the arena to vent his frustration. Although most of this time was spent being knocked to the floor or into a wall since apparently, Iblis was one tough bitch when she wanted to be. He also had to fight with the discomfort of keeping his tail hidden, because again Iblis was a bitch and took great pleasure in grabbing it whenever she could just to see him squirm. It was downright unfair how she could hide hers with demonic energy but he was basically stuck with the appendage as a permanent body part.

Rin's control over his flames had jumped leaps and bounds since the successful merge, having his mind in unison seemed to help immensely. Although Satan was disappointed that he couldn't test Rin's ability to summon demons and the Gehenna Gate without him being in Assiah. But Rin could now comfortably choose what to burn and not burn without much trouble; not that there was much Rin didn't want to burn currently.

Satan had employed the use of Astaroth's coal tars for target practice, giving Rin not only many targets to practice on but also moving ones. Eventually, he chose to combine Iblis's combat training and his flame training into one. Rin had to clear the arena of coal tars one by one whilst fighting against Iblis. He'd been forbidden to flame up, to avoid killing more than one at the time during his training. It'd helped him build up his focus in a fight and Iblis was more than impressed with his progress over time.

The more time Rin spent in Gehenna the further into his demonic urges he fell. Nobody there to scold him for losing his temper, even when flaring up and torching whatever demons were closest to him – in fact, Satan had gone so far as to encourage it. The more Rin used his flames the more praise and encouragement he received – they soon became second nature to him.

Much of his spare time was spent sparring with Iblis. He'd finally understood why Amaimon had called it playing because that was what it felt like. The rush of adrenaline he got whilst fighting sent him on a high, he felt free.

Before long 3 months had passed since his arrival in Gehenna. Rin was summoned before Satan.

The large double doors opened to reveal the familiar throne room, Rin no longer on shaky legs when approaching the throne wreathed in blue flame; he'd far gone past that now. Now that Rin had gotten used to being in Gehenna, Satan had taken to staying in his true form whilst at the throne; the throne that had been made from his pillar of corpses.

Once in front of the throne, he knelt on one knee.

"You sent for me, Sir?" Rin's head bowed as he addressed the blue flame in front of him.

"Sir? Still not calling daddy dearest by a more fitting title? Heh heh. I thought we were closer than that now my son." Rin flinched at the booming voice, it sounded even more inhuman than usual when he was in this form.

Satan had protested any time Rin had called him anything other than father since their little chat; much to Rin's annoyance. As much as he was angry with Father Fujimoto, he still didn't feel right calling anyone else by the title of his father. But he had to grit his teeth or Satan would continue to go on until he did.

"Sorry…Father."

"Mhm much better." Rin could almost hear the sniggering grin he would've been making if he had a human form right now. "I have a little task for you."

Rin raised his head "And what would that be, father?"

"I need you to go to Assiah and retrieve some…thing. Its return is long overdue now."

"You need me to go to Assiah?" Rin stood up, looking rather gobsmacked at the Blue Flames in front of him.

"Heh heh, I have your attention now yes?" Rin nodded in response waiting for Satan to continue. "I want you to retrieve Amaimon from Assiah. By however means necessary."

"Amaimon, why? Wouldn't that be sending me amongst the Exorcists?" He feared running into his dad and brother more than dealing with the rest of the exorcists though, to be honest, he had no qualms about giving them a taste of his flames – Yukio and Father Fujimoto were another story, however.

"Amaimon is long overdue punishment for aiding your escape before. And I feel you've earned a treat for being such a good little demon. I'll give you free rein to break and destroy anything of Samael's whilst you're there. Including his little exorcists."

"What if I'm caught?" Rin liked the prospect of destroying some shit but getting caught by exorcists was at the very bottom of his list of things he wanted to do whilst in Assiah – although eating Sukiyaki again was pretty much at the top of it.

"I will send Iblis with you, as back up. If anything happens, she will intervene." Rin nodded.

"How will I get him back here, and how will I return." He really didn't want to go down the same path as before. Letting Satan in his body was a one-time thing and he never wanted to experience that again.

"I want you to test your ability to open a gate. If it works you can throw him down to me, and I will take it from there. If you fail to open a gate, destroying his vessel will be the best way to send him back. As for you, if the gate fails, seek out Lucifer."

"Can't I just take that train like before?" Rin asked.

Satan scoffed "Those trains are kin of Samael, I'm sure he will be watching and have them bring you to him rather than return you to Gehenna." If Samael wanted Rin so much why didn't he just break him out again back when he'd appeared in his room? Or was it because Rin had opted to stay? The clown confused Rin that was for sure.

"How do I even open a gate? I don't know what the hell you were chanting when you summoned it before."

"Sit." His voice echoed throughout the room.

Rin looked curiously for a moment before he realised Satan meant in the throne. Rin stepped forward hesitantly and sat down in Satan's throne. Blue flames surrounded him drawing his own out into the mix, before long he heard Satan's voice loudly within his head. Rin panicked thinking Satan was trying to possess him again and attempted to jump up out of the throne but the blue flames pulled him down and held him in place; Rin struggled to break free.

"Heh heh don't worry kiddo, I will not be taking over you this time. Just imparting a few things for you to use later."

When the flames finally subsided, Rin was free to stand. He jolted out of the throne as if his life depended on it.

"What did you do?!"

"I simply imparted some knowledge that you might find useful."

Rin eyed the flame warily.

"Couldn't you have done that any other way without getting into my head." He shivered as he scratched his fingers through his hair. Satan's laugh sounded more ominous with the disembodied echo that ran through the large throne room.

"Why are you sending me, anyway? Why not just Iblis, or Astaroth? Aren't you afraid I might run away and return to my family?"

"You know as well as I do that you enjoy the freedom that I offer you; you enjoy being a demon. Would you really give all that up to return to those humans and their rules?"

Rin hesitated to answer. It was true, he didn't want to go back to pretending to be human; pretending to be normal. Because he wasn't normal, he was a demon. He didn't want to push that part of himself back into darkness again – he wanted to be able to cut loose with his flame.

If the humans had succeeded 15 years ago, he'd be dead. He'd just been a burden to them his whole life, they had to raise him as they had no other choice. Rin sighed in defeat.

"Heh Heh. I thought as much." Rin glared at the flame.

"When do I have to leave?"

"Whenever you're ready. Find Iblis and prepare yourself." Rin nodded and turned to leave before Satan spoke again. "I'll be watching closely, so do not disappoint me." Rin left the room, doors closing with a loud bang behind him. Now he just had to find Iblis.

Oh my, how long?

Apologies I struggled xD! I was pretty much tearing my hair out after the last few manga chapters and was trying to think of ways so things would still match up with canon aspects. Like Satan's little pillar of bodies T-T But I think I will just have to stop worrying since this is fanfiction and it's going to take a huge diversion at some point...Hopefully the flow of this chapter isn't too choppy - like I said I struggled.
This chapter is more filler/my way of passing time quickly because I will get fed up with too many chapters of Gehenna drabble. Next chapter I've already written/planned half out so should hopefully NOT take me another 3 months to finish~

ILU all! Thank you for sticking with me so far!