Yukio left the basement with an uneasy feeling. Rin had looked somewhat shaken when he'd first entered, he'd quickly composed himself though. He returned to their shared room – Rin soon joining him but his twin had said nothing more than a mumbled 'goodnight' before promptly turning his back to the room and going to sleep.

Something was going on and his brother wasn't telling the whole story. They'd awoke the previous morning to Rin having gone missing and the panic around the Monastery was intense. Rin had insisted he'd been at the park the whole time but didn't elaborate on any more than that, even though they had insisted they'd checked everywhere.

But things just kept getting stranger after that.

Yukio had awoken during the night to Rin mumbling in his sleep. It was bad enough Rin slept with his eyes open like some drunken cat. But when he started mumbling in some foreign language Yukio couldn't even place, alarm bells were ringing. At first, he just thought it was Rin slurring words in his sleep. But after listening for a little longer, it occurred to Yukio that it was, in fact, some other language. Rin didn't know any other languages besides Japanese…he could barely understand English.

Yukio grabbed his glasses and spared a look to the digital clock on his nightstand; it was 3 am…

He ran a hand through his hair in frustration, he should tell his father but at the same time, his father needed to rest. He'd been under far too much stress the last few days. He cautiously moved from his bed and over to his brother and shook him gently.

"Nii-san!" he hissed; gently shaking Rin a second time.

This elicited a groan from his brother before Rin shouted out in his sleep.

"No! My Sukiyaki!" flailing an arm out and followed by more mumbling, before returning to quiet snores.

Yukio sat at Rin's bedside somewhat dumbfounded, but overall relieved that the strange talking had stopped. He quietly moved back to his bed sparing one more look back at Rin's peacefully sleeping form before removing his glasses and closing his eyes. He would talk to his father about this in the morning. At least, for all their sakes Rin was being moved tomorrow so that he could hopefully be free of the voices he'd been hearing.

Yukio woke early the next morning, feeling somewhat sluggish from his interrupted sleep. He looked over at the still sleeping form of his brother. He knew it would still be an hour or two before Rin awoke so Yukio decided to speak with his father in private. The last thing his brother needed was the whole monastery looking at him even more strangely than they already had but his father needed to know.

He wandered out of the bedroom; quietly shutting the door behind him and made his way to the main part of the monastery where the others were carrying out their daily duties. His father put down a book and turned to him with a tired smile; he didn't look any more rested then yesterday it seemed.

"Hey Yukio, you look as tired as I feel." Shiro chuckled.

"Yeah, I need to talk to you about that." Yukio gave his father a worried look; his father's smile dropped to a confused look.

"What's wrong?" He asked as they moved away from the others to a secluded room around the back.

"Something happened with Nii-san last night." Yukio started; noting the slight grimace on Shiro's face at the thought of something else going wrong with Rin. It had been a trying few days. "I woke up to Nii-san talking in his sleep…at first, I thought it was nothing but after a while I realised, he wasn't speaking Japanese…or any other language that I recognised."

Shiro's grimace soon turned somewhat fearful.

"That is concerning…" He rubbed a hand over his stubbled face "I'll have a chat with Mephisto after Rin's gone later on. I really hope being under True Cross's seals, he'll be free of whatever this is."

"He seemed off when he finally came out of the basement last night as well." Shiro nodded but remained silent.

"Did you sleep?" Yukio stared at his father; Shiro sighed before he shook his head.

"No…I was listening for Rin all night in case he decided to go on another late-night adventure." Pushing his glasses up he pinched the bridge of his nose squeezing his eyes shut as he rubbed the spot. "I will get some sleep once he's safe."

"Do you trust Sir Pheles with him?"

"Ugh, I don't trust the clown period. But what other choice do I have? I know he won't hurt Rin, but he does have a sick way of entertaining himself. My only concern right now is getting Rin away from whatever is talking to him."

"What if it doesn't work? What if it is Satan and he still hears the voice?"

"I'm sure Mephisto will be keeping a close eye on anything strange, that's for sure."

He gave Yukio a reassuring smile and they both left the room to re-join the others. It wouldn't be long before Rin woke up and they could all have breakfast together before he left the monastery for Mephisto's home in True Cross.

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

Rin's hand smacked down on his alarm clock. Having reluctantly set it the night before so that he had time to get ready for today.

He woke up feeling rougher than usual, his throat hoarse and he felt hot, almost feverish. Since when did he get sick?! It couldn't have been a worse day either, today was the day he was supposed to go live with his father's demon friend. If that could've sounded any weirder. His priest/exorcist father was friends with a demon; a REAL demon. But then again so many revelations in the last few days kind of made that seem minimal in comparison. His father had raised the son of Satan.

He rolled over groaning at the pain he felt throughout his body. Why was he like this today?! What had he done the previous night? He was just messing with his flames in the basement, maybe it was because he drew the sword again. If this was going to happen every time, maybe he should lock the sword away again…

Glancing over to the other side of the room he noted Yukio's bed was empty; not surprising. He tried to push himself up from his bed but everything ached; his muscles screamed. In the end, he flopped back down resigning himself back to sleep.

When he awoke again it occurred to him how silent it was. There was no voice singing in his head. No impulse to follow the call. It was silent. Only the usual sounds of the Monastery could be heard; the silent creaking of the walls and footsteps he could hear down the hall. The sunlight was pouring into his room, he wondered what time it was. If he'd slept in too late, he was sure Father Fujimoto would've woken him up. The demon was supposed to be coming to get him early this afternoon; Rin frowned rubbing a hand through his hair.

He sat up in his bed, his body didn't ache anymore and the fever he was suffering from seemed to have subsided. He sighed, pushing himself out of bed and made his way to the bathroom. He still felt damp and sticky from his earlier fever sweats and decided to wash.

Grabbing some clean clothes and a towel he made his way to the bathroom and showered before staring at his reflection in the mirror. It was strange; he'd not looked at himself since the day it had happened. His tail was harder to avoid but he'd avoided looking at his face for fear of looking more demonic as time progressed. He stood there for a few moments examining his fangs and ears and any other facial features he thought might've changed. He swore his ears were poking out further than they had been but he couldn't remember whether they were already like that or not. He'd not taken much of it in as he'd been too panicked at the time. But something had changed last night, he could feel it; he just didn't know what.

He sighed as he turned from the mirror to finally get dressed; packing his dirty clothes into a bag in his room. He'd have to wash them when he got to his destination.

When he reached the kitchen, it was empty for all but his brother who was glaring at the table whilst fidgeting with his hands. Yukio looked up at Rin and his expression changed to one of relief.

"You're finally up!"

"I-uh, yeah? Did I miss breakfast?" Rin looked apologetically at his brother; he nodded solemnly.

"Yeah, we waited for a while but you seemed to be sleeping like the dead. I came to wake you up but nothing worked. I was worried, you felt hot."

"Yeah, I didn't feel too good for some reason. I went back to sleep after my alarm."

"Are you ok?" Yukio looked concerned but also like he was analysing Rin for his response.

Rin nodded "I'm fine, now. What time is it? How long did I sleep in?"

"It's just after midday… your ride is already here so Dad and the others are entertaining whilst they waited for you. Here—" Yukio pushed a bento box towards Rin "—It's leftovers from breakfast. Eat up before you go."

"They're here already?! Geez…I didn't think I'd slept in that long."

Rin sat down at the table with his brother and pulled the bento box towards him, grabbing the chopsticks on top. He felt horrible he'd missed his last breakfast with his family. Yukio suddenly stood up and walked to the door.

"I'll go let dad know you're awake."

Rin nodded before he was left alone to sit in silence whilst eating his food. He could only hear the sounds of voices from down the hall. He was somewhat relieved to not have the 'other' voice calling to him for a change but at the same time, it was lonely. He remembered the last words spoken to him before the voice disappeared.

'Break the seal' it had said, but Rin didn't know what that meant. Did it mean the sword; The seal on his demon heart? What would happen to him if the seal broke?

"Ah Rin, there you are." Rin jerked his head up at Izumi's voice "You okay?"

Rin nodded "Yeah, just thinking." He said as he swallowed another mouthful of rice.

"I know this isn't what any of us wanted, Rin. But you'll be in good hands. And you'll be joining Yukio at high school as well in a few months!"

"I guess." Rin hadn't felt too enthusiastic about his options of leaving school and finding a job being taken from him. Now being forced into not only high school but also a school for exorcists – taught by his father AND twin brother. Izumi left after saying they were ready for him whenever he was ready to go.

He forced down the last few mouthfuls of food before pushing the bento box away and going to grab his bags from the bedroom. He made one last scan of his room to make sure there was nothing he had forgotten. Grabbing his bags and his sword he left his shared room with Yukio for the last time.

Fujimoto and the others were stood outside the monastery waiting for Rin to join them. In front of them a tall demon, dressed in a dark purple pinstriped suit, was waiting by a large pink limousine. He was holding the door to the back seat open but the limousine itself was empty.

After a while, the main doors to the monastery opened and Rin emerged from the entrance, several bags in hand and the sword strapped over his shoulder. He gave a Rin-sized grin as he came out of the door. It was forced, Shiro could tell, Rin didn't want his last day at home to be filled with anger or sorrow. It wasn't like they wouldn't see him again though and before long Rin would be starting his time at True Cross school. Hopefully, he would leave behind all the bad rumours and be able to make some friends.

Rin made the rounds of saying his goodbyes to everyone, receiving knuckles to his hair from Izumi and Kyodo. He hesitated when he reached Yukio but soon bit back a sob and pulled his brother in for a hug. When it was finally Shiro's turn he pulled Rin into a tight hug, one that he didn't want to end. Rin's fingers dug into his uniform tightly as they held the embrace.

This was a good thing, Shiro had to tell himself. This was what was best for Rin, this would keep Rin safe and out of Satan's sights. If Satan was using Shiro as a peephole then his distance would mean less chance of endangering his son. Yukio would also be out of harm's way when he moved to True Cross but he was human. Yukio wasn't in any danger compared to Rin.

The demon god's silence in recent days had been a relief but worrying, it had been steadily getting more and more frequent as time went on. But went strangely silent when Rin had pulled the sword…or was it longer than that? Maybe he didn't notice before or maybe it was a recent development but how long had the god of Gehenna actually been silent in his head.

Before he could think much more on it, Rin pulled away and said goodbye. Shiro followed him to the limo thanking the demon, Belial and taking over at the door. The demon moved to the front of the limo to get ready to drive away.

Shiro pulled a phone out of his pocket and passed it to Rin as he sat in the back seat somewhat distracted by the inside of the limo itself.

"Here, mine and Yukio's numbers are stored. Ring me whenever you need something."

Rin nodded and looked in awe, he'd never had a phone before – but was a little annoyed his brother had one before him. Shiro shut the car door and Rin rolled down the electric window poking his head out with one last smile and pulled Shiro in for another hug.

It wasn't until Rin pulled away for the last time that Shiro saw them, a few white hairs on Rin's head nestled neatly behind his pointed ear. He couldn't help the dread that overcame him at that moment and the panicked look on his face as Rin turned back into the limo and it started to drive away from the monastery.

Shiro watched; not able to say a word. The car turned the corner at the end of the street and Rin poked his head out the window one last time with a wave.