Chapter 3- The Devils You Know

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The demons and humans sat at the long dining table with the paladin taking the head seat. Mephisto sat closest to Shiro on his right, with Amaimon beside him and begrudgingly, an annoyed Rin also on the same side of table. Yukio sat beside Rin and was the only demon who took the time to flash all the humans on the opposite side a smile (although, how genuine was anyone's guess).

Shiemi sat closest to Shiro on the left side of the table with Bon beside her, fidgeting with the hem of her kimono sleeve. Shima sat in between Bon and Izumo, whistling a little tune as the food magically appeared on the table in a puff of smoke. The pink-haired youth immediately stopped whistling, eyes widening comically as he almost fell out of his seat in surprise.

The chosen looked at each other nervously. Shiro stifled a laugh, doing his best to keep his serious exorcist persona intact. He shot Mephisto a glare.

"I was preparing something in the kitchen, you know." He muttered, remembering just then that the water was probably boiling by now. Cursing, the silver-haired paladin excused himself from the table, not bothering to push his chair in. Mephisto saw this and huffed, snapping his fingers. The chair tucked itself, legs screeching against the wooden floor.

He then turned his attention to the humans, who were currently watching Amaimon stuff his face unabashed. With an annoyed sigh, the purple-haired man placed a hand on the impatient demon's shoulder, peridot eyes narrowing.

"Mind your manners, Amaimon! Look, the children are so off-put by your voracious appetite that they haven't touched a thing I've prepared!" He complained, motioning to the silent humans. They all looked to be in some stage of nausea, seeing that Amaimon's mannerisms did not include eating around the bones but... crunching on them. And eating them whole.

Shiemi was the first one to snap out of her sickened stupor. "Ah, it's alright, Pheles-san! We were just... uh, surprised?" She finished meekly, making the statement sound more like a question.

"Put a chain on that animal, why don't you..." Bon muttered, earning him a sharp glare from the green-haired demon king.

"Aniue, can I break his face?"

"No!"

"Can I break his nose?" He asked again, more hopeful this time.

"No, you can't harm any of them! Remember?"

The king nodded, his normal apathetic expression returning to his face. Eventually, he spoke again, more to himself than anyone else, "I guess breaking his arm's out of the question, then..."

At that moment Shiro returned, a frown twisting his features. He took his seat wordlessly, crimson eyes scanning both sides of the table. To his relief, no one had lost any appendages during his absence.

Mephisto grinned, knowing just what to say to provoke a reaction out of the exorcist. "Let me guess, you burned the water~?"

There was a three-second silence before the paladin picked up his knife, chucking it towards the demon king without warning. It missed his cheek by a centimeter, causing a fit of laughter to erupt from Amaimon, Rin, and Shima. For the first time, there was a genuine look of shock on Mephisto's face as he turned around, noticing that the knife had wedged itself handle-deep into the wall behind him.

"Oh, my apologies. It appears that my hand slipped." Shiro mocked.

Rin continued to laugh as Mephisto crossed his arms indignantly. "Maybe my hands will slip and I'll put you in that cuckoo clock... without a chess set!" He added quickly.

The blue-haired king interjected easily, "Can we eat now? Amaimon's already eaten half the dining table."

Sure enough, the greedy demon was already on his fourth plate, ignoring everyone in favor of the bread rolls. Rin's suggestion kick-started the humans' brains as they reluctantly followed the demon's words, each taking a few servings before the green-haired king could get his claws on it.

Shima had the unfortunate luck of grabbing the same bread roll as Amaimon, both holding onto opposite sides of the bread. Neither looked ready to let go.

"Drop it..." The king said seriously, cerulean orbs narrowing.

"You first." Shima gulped, doing his best to not look away in fear.

"For fuck's sake, it's just a bread roll!" Bon yelled, picking up his own knife. Mephisto looked at the boy worriedly, putting up both hands as a sign of peace.

"Suguro-kun, was it? Let's keep this dinner peaceful—"

Ignoring the purple-haired demon's words, Bon reached over the table, bringing the knife down between Shima and Amaimon's hands.

"There! Now shut up and eat!" Bon barked, sitting back down. Both men looked at their hands which contained half of the original bread before giving equal glares.

Yukio, who had been observing the dining fiasco with slight amusement, finally spoke. "Well, we're going to be living with each other for some time so we might as well get to know each other better." He explained, adjusting his glasses.

Mephisto chuckled, "That's a splendid idea, Yukio~! And here I thought you were such a killjoy! I actually have a wonderful idea on how we can all get to know each other better~!"

The other demons and Shiro groaned in unison. The King of Time and Space ignored their reactions, setting his now empty plate aside.

"I've heard of a human game called twenty questions! I've made some adjustments, of course, but it's simple!"

"Do we just ask each other twenty questions? That sounds boring." Rin observed, crinkling his nose at the prospect of playing ten rounds of the game. Mephisto quickly shook his head.

"Nope! It's like twenty questions, but... different. I'll start! Let's see... Shiro, I get to ask you a question first and you must answer truthfully."

"And if I don't?"

"The cuckoo-clock threat still stands."

Shiro sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. He could already feel a headache coming. "Fine. Just don't be an idiot—"

"Would you rather make a contract with me or be eaten by a swarm of hobgoblins?"

"...That wasn't a serious question at all." Shiro deadpanned, crossing his arms.

The king chuckled, propping up his head with his palm. "Of course not! We've got to start with friendly questions first or no one's going to answer truthfully or feel comfortable answering personal questions."

The paladin sighed. "Well, considering you'd take my soul and probably make my life a living hell, I'd have to pick a quick death by the hands of a hundred hobgoblins. It's my turn now, right?"

Mephisto nodded. "Yep~! Try to pick someone you don't know much about! Oh, and you can't pick the person who asked you a question!"

Shiro scanned the table, eyes settling on the blue-haired demon. "Rin Okumura, was it? What do you think of your father?"

The king who was just taking a sip of his drink nearly choked, spraying water across the white table cloth as Yukio patted his back in an attempt to help the startled demon. His cobalt eyes were comically wide as he looked accusingly at Mephisto.

"I thought you said to ask funny or dumb questions! What the hell is this?!"

"I did! Shiro-kun just didn't want to listen to me." He pouted before his eyes lightened mischievously. "Now come on, you have to answer, Rin~!"

The demon muttered something unintelligible under his breath but responded accordingly, feeling a bit cheated that he was the first one who had to offer up something personal. "To put it simply: I fucking hate him. Blondie, it's your turn. Can I see your summon?"

Shiemi, startled by his sudden declaration, ducked her head down. "U-uhm, I guess so. Nee-chan, you can come out now."

A happy squeak followed as the baby greenman appeared, walking across the blonde's shoulder to rub her cheek. Shiemi laughed, using her index finger to rub its chin gently. Another pleased chirp followed.

"A greenman… that's a demon under your domain, isn't it?" Yukio questioned, turning to Amaimon.

The green-haired demon king shrugged. "I guess so…"

Rin spoke suddenly, "Can you translate what the familiar's saying? I'd like to know if it likes hanging around her or if it's there out of servitude."

Shiemi had to bite her tongue to keep from speaking her mind, that Nee-chan was more than a tool or demon to her; that he was her closest friend. But, knowing that it wouldn't appease the blue-haired man, the blonde guided the greenman onto the table, pointing towards Amaimon.

"He's Amaimon, the King of Earth. He's like your… leader or something. Anyway, he wants to ask you some questions, alright?"

The greenman chirped in response, shyly turning to the green-haired demon. Amaimon began to speak, the demon language flowing easily from his tongue. The conversation lasted about a minute before the greenman ran back to Shiemi, burying itself into her golden locks.

"The greenman, while infantile, thinks highly of her. She's kind, lets him rest in her hair, and even gives him herbs to eat. He does not want to go back to Gehenna, which is why their contract is not on summoning papers; he is with her by his own free will." Amaimon explained, chewing on one of his darkened nails.

Rin looked angry at first, but sighed before abruptly standing up. With a serious expression on his face, he held out a hand. "I'm sorry for just assuming all tamers were monsters. I-I… I've just seen a lot, okay? Still, it was dumb of me to attack you like that before and, well," Rin paused, nervously rubbing the back of his head, "I hope we can still be friends."

A bright smile flitted onto the blonde's face as she shook the demon's hand. "I'd like that too, Rin."

Shiro coughed, causing the pair to automatically let go of each other's hands. "Now that we've got that out of the way… It's your turn, Shiemi. Pick someone who hasn't gone yet."

She nodded, studying Mephisto, Amaimon, and Yukio. "Uh, Amaimon, what do you like to do in your spare time?"

The demon put a finger to his chin, looking upwards. "…I like eating. And killing things. That's about it, I guess." He replied honestly, looking towards the silent purple-haired girl.

"Pigtails," Amaimon called, earning him a glare from the woman. "Have you ever killed anything?"

"W-what type of question is that?" She retorted, angrily flicking a pigtail behind her shoulder. "And my name is Izumo Kamiki, not Pigtails!"

"I would have just called you eyebrows…" Rin muttered as the whole table erupted into laughter.

"S-shut up! Anyway, for your information, I don't go around killing things. I accidentally killed a frog once when I ran it over with my bike, but other than that I can't think of anything else."

She then turned to Mephisto. "Why do you dress like a clown?"

This earned a chuckle from Shiro. "Yes, Mephisto. Why don't you explain your wardrobe? It's something I'd like to know."

The demon responded smoothly, "Well, this is all a charade, after all. We are all actors playing on some grand stage. I just want to look the part~!" He grinned, turning his attention to Bon.

"Suguro-kun, I'd like to know just what you think of demons."

"Wait, didn't Mephisto already get to ask a question?" Shima spoke, looking at his friend's shaking hands.

"I did, but I rigged the game so I'd get to ask two questions~"

Bon stood up, an angry retort coming from his tongue, "I fucking hate them. Satan burnt my entire home down! Killed hundreds of people! There's no way I could think that demons of any kind could be anything more than monsters." He stalked out of the dining room, with a worried Shima trailing closely behind.

The table elapsed into silence before Shiro cleared his throat, crimson eyes observing the scene. "It's about time to go to our rooms to rest. I'll look for the kids; everyone else can pick any room they want, since I imagine Mephisto made enough rooms to fit an entire army."

"Hehehe, something like that~!" He grinned wider, peridot eyes narrowed in amusement.

Wordlessly, the group left the room, the demons subconsciously drifting to the west wing of the mansion while the humans took to the right wing.

A silent figure swept into the paladin's room, stopping to rest against the plain white wall. Shiro adjusted his glasses, letting out a sigh.

"What do you want, Mephisto? It's late. I'm going to leave tomorrow morning to report to the Vatican and—"

"So you'll spare no time for an old friend? I'm hurt, Shiro-kun!" He mock cried, bringing a hand over his eyes theatrically.

Shiro snorted, not even turning to look at the man, continuing to write his report. "I can spare a few minutes, I suppose. I meant to ask about dinner, anyway."

The demon blinked. "What about it? Was it not to your liking?"

"It's not that. You said you hadn't had any sweets, but you knew how to prepare an entire human meal. Isn't that a bit… odd?"

Mephisto did not respond immediately, the grin he had on his face slipping to a frown. "You should be careful, Shiro. It's better not to think about such trivialities. Anyway, did you find Suguro and Renzou?"

Shiro nodded, grunting. "Yah, they were in the garden. Why did you provoke him like that? It was obvious that he didn't have a good opinion on demons."

But the clown was already gone, his laugh the only sign he had been in the room at all. The chuckle brought a worried frown to the paladin's face as he put down his pen, leaning against his chair to look up at the ceiling with tired eyes.

His worst fears had come to light; even Mephisto, the one demon he considered a true friend, had an agenda other than peace and coexistence in mind. He just hoped it didn't correlate to whatever Satan wanted.

Just as Shiro felt the spindles of sleep tugging at his mind, there was a sudden high-pitched scream that ended with a muffled thud.

A

A/N: So. Much. Dialogue. Sorry guys about taking so long w/ this update; I hope it was amusing, at the very least. And poor Shima and Yukio, they didn't get to ask any questions XD Looks like while one relationship has been repaired, two others are straining. Next chap should be a lot more action and a lot less dialogue.

Review?

-Isis

P.S. I almost forgot! As for pairings in this fic, I'm trying to keep the story without it and focus more on friendships than anything else. But, we'll see XD The group has to get along first before anything else can happen!