Disclaimer: I don't own BE/ANE or any of its characters!

Beta reader: asteroulik – I am grateful for your creativity and perspective.

Chapter five,

The Girl

Once Rin stepped out into the courtyard, a bright white light immediately blinded him. He squinted against the sun and raised up his hand to block it out. After a few moments, his eyes adjusted.

The courtyard was not nearly as lavish and as well manicured as the ones at the Palace of Assiah, but it still had its own beauty to set it apart from the courtyards of his own home. Those, unlike these both, were barren and always lacking any type of life. In contrast, this courtyard was lush and green with large, towering trees scattered about. Their leaves swayed gently, a warm and calming breeze brushing Rin's face. Sounds of birds and laughter filled the area. In the center of the courtyard, there was a large fountain with water that sparkled like crystals in the sunlight.

For a single second, it dawned on Rin how the entire world had gone on despite everything he'd experienced. He was kidnapped and imprisoned, and even so, life had continued to march on.

He stared for a bit longer until he spotted movement at the fountain. Rin squinted, his eyes just making out the figures of people playing and splashing. They all wore uniforms that looked less formal than those which the adults from earlier did. They looked like… students?

"We're at an academy?" Rin wondered aloud.

Judging by how Shiro's eyes widened, Rin could tell he shouldn't have opened his mouth. He quickly shut it, not knowing what the expression meant but already mentally preparing himself to be thrown back into the dungeon.

Shiro cursed himself, he should have waited until after curfew to let Rin venture outside. Having him outside exposed the students to unnecessary danger, and it possibly gave Rin a clue to their location.

He couldn't take him back into his cell; the kid would probably stop trusting Shiro, and ultimately, everyone else. The chance of him joining the Knights of The True Cross would fall apart, and Rin would become more of a burden to the rebels than he already was in this state.

Where could he take Rin instead? Shiro stared off, thinking.

The supply shop should be empty at this time save for the shopkeeper, perhaps the garden there would be the best option. Shiro placed an arm around Rin's shoulders and led him in a slightly different direction, away from the students.

"You could say that," he replied.

Rin tried to pull away, but Shiro only strengthened his grip.

"Do not stray, remember?"

"Concerned about my safety, old man? I'm touched, truly." Rin said mockingly, sarcasm dripping off every word.

"Of course not. Not yours, that is." Shiro responded, earning him an offended look.

Many of the students here, those whose families were not affiliated with the Knights of the True Cross, were blissfully unaware that True Cross Academy doubled as a headquarters for an underground rebellion group, despite the name. The last thing that Shiro needed was for Rin to kill a student and draw unwanted, prying eyes onto the academy. Especially the eyes of the Empire where their influence was weak at best.

Eventually, Rin gave up fighting against Shiro's grip and instead let Shiro lead him into a less populated area outside the courtyard. The place consisted of different types of buildings that he had never seen before and, for once, no one spared a passing glance at him.

These people really had no idea who he was, did they?

Rin knew that Satan had kept him mostly outside of the public's eye to protect him, but he hadn't realized to what extent. Hell, these people didn't even seem to notice his pointed ears, which Shiro had failed to conceal. Rin grinned slightly, amused at the thought of blending in with humans despite the human's insistence that demons were monsters.

Shiro glanced at Rin and noticed he was smiling. A wave of unease rose within him.

Just what could Rin be thinking now? From his point of view, Rin's smile seemed mischievous which could only mean he was up to no good. Rin was probably planning something.

Luckily for Shiro, they had just rounded the corner to Futsumaya, which was off the beaten path and, more importantly, away from people. They barely made it to the door when they both heard a voice call from behind them.

"Oi! Shiro! Didn't expect to see you here. Have you heard what's goin' on?"

"For crying out loud…" Shiro muttered, glancing over his shoulder.

That familiar voice belonged to Shura who was quickly approaching the two.

Shiro stiffened. He needed to hide Rin as quickly as possible before she recognized him and made a scene. Though Rin's powers were restricted, he was pretty sure having Satan's bastard outside of his cell would not look too good on Shiro's part.

In front of them, the supply store was empty with the shopkeeper most likely busy in the garden. And, again, Rin didn't have his powers, so Shiro would have some time to send Shura away before Rin figured out how to find an escape.

Making the quick decision, Shiro opened the door and shoved Rin inside, slamming the door behind him.

"Who was that?" Shura asked as she climbed the steps.

"Newbie," Shiro lied with ease, adding a scoff for good measure, "Couldn't even find the supply shop on his own. What the Order is doing by recruiting kids like that is beyond me."

Shura smiled.

"I remember when I was first recruited. You didn't even bother tryna help me find my way around!" She looked at the ground before looking back up and nudging him, "You're getting soft, Shiro."

He tried smiling in return, but it faded quickly as his mind lingered. Shiro just couldn't smile when something so important was pending.

"So," Shiro started, "What did you come here to tell me about? You didn't chase me all the way over here to reminisce, I hope."

Shura's smile slipped from her face.

"Perceptive as always, I see, and no, I didn't come here to remember."

Her eyes sharpened as her tone dropped.

"The Gehennian army is on the move. They've declared martial law in the towns closest to the Palace of Assiah so that they can look for the crown prince with absolute authority. Not only that, they've apparently started to send out fleets of airships. God knows what for."

"We'll have to transport him sooner rather than later, then."

"That or kill him like Arthur suggests. Though, I doubt that'll do anything good for us. If anything, it'd probably do the contrary. So, for now, we should squeeze all the information we can out of 'im before we think of doing anything that bold."

"I still think that we can use him, whether that means as a recruit or a bargaining chip, I do not know." Shiro admitted, going quiet as he thought about the days ahead.

Secretly, he hoped the former would be the case seeing as to how useful Rin could be to the rebels. For now, he wasn't budging which made that chance of him joining look more and more like wishful thinking.

Ever since they successfully captured Rin, they've been in constant defense. It didn't help how they also needed to wait for the Empire to make a bigger move before deciding the next course of action - which Shiro hated deeply.

"You're still convinced he will listen to reason? Heh, I wish I was an optimist like you - I gave up on that chance before we even got him!" chuckled Shura.

Shiro was about to respond to that but he was cut off short when a loud scream emerged from inside of the supply store.

He overcalculated how much time Rin could go without causing trouble.

-~x~-

Initially, Rin thought Shiro had lied to him, and that this building would be the very place he met his demise. One inside, he realized it didn't look anything like a place of death but despite not being greeted by it immediately, he did not relax in the slightest.

Taking a tentative step forward into the shelf-crowded room, the ridiculous coat Shiro had forced him to wear got caught on one of the shelves. He flinched and turned to see the problem, untensing after realizing he wasn't in danger.

Rin's hands were cuffed to his front which made it impossible to remove the coat, so he instead undid the front and finagled the coat free. He scowled slightly at the still-bloody clothing that he was wearing underneath, the blood having dried and become harder to see due to the clothes' black color.

With his coat free from the shelf, Rin stepped forward, his eyes wandering to the rest of the shelves. They were lined with hundreds of different kinds of herbs and there were jars everywhere full of substances that he had never seen before. Curiously, he picked one off and opened it, bringing it to his nose. His face scrunched painfully, the aroma burning his nose, so he resealed the jar and placed it back.

Now that he thought about it, the building looked oddly like a house; which meant there had to be another way to escape. Without Shiro to watch over him, if he could find another exit, Rin would be free.

Pushing past an exceptionally narrow shelf that was just as fragrant as the rest, he accidentally knocked over a small potted plant that was on one of the shelves. Rin stumbled to catch it, failing, but managing to soften its fall. Instead of shattering, it thudded on the floor, spilling dirt everywhere.

"Hello?" He heard a soft voice call out.

'Shit,' thought Rin.

He needed to make his exit, fast.

"Is someone there?" The voice called out again, closer this time.

Rin tried to move quickly, but a small face poked out from around the shelf. A blond-haired girl with great green eyes stared back at him. She saw him and a nervous smile graced her features.

"I-I'm sorry but were closed."

Rin didn't answer immediately, conflicted on what he should do. He didn't know where the exit he desperately wanted was, and he was told to avoid contact with humans.

Could he kill this person if he needed to? Were they armed?

The cuffs were working against him to diminish his flames, but he could use his hands if he needed to.

"Can you hear?"

"What?"

"You didn't answer so I thought you couldn't hear me." She replied, seeming unsure of herself.

"Don't be ridiculous! I can hear just fine," he chided, looking around for another door, "Where's the exit to this place?"

"Is that blood?" She squeaked, pointing to his obviously bloody clothes.

"Does it matter? Answer my question, human, how do I get out of here?"

"Human…?" She echoed, tilting her head in confusion.

"Forget it, I'll find the exit myself."

Stubbornly, she blocked his path and declared, "Not unless you let me give you something for that injury!"

"Oh, for Hell's sake, I'm completely healed."

Tired of this circular conversation, Rin shoved past her, pushing her roughly to the side. As he walked past though, she grabbed his arm and tried to stop him. Something must have happened though because she hastily let go of his arm.

"You're a- you-!" She started to fumble over her words, pointing at his pointed ears.

"Oh, be quiet. I'm trying to leave."

"Help! Someone, please help me!" She cried out loudly, frightened.

Rin sighed and covered her mouth with his hands. Then, he gently led her towards a corner of the room. He looked her directly in the face and whispered, "If you're quiet, I'll let you live. Promise you'll stop screaming?"

She nodded quickly, her eyes beginning to water. When he let go of her and walked off to continue looking for the exit, however, she stumbled towards the door he had initially come from, crying for help louder.

"Oh, for Hell's sake, stop screaming!" Rin said, exasperated with this human's behavior.

He turned and followed after her. She had just reached for the door handle when Rin grabbed her hair roughly and dragged her away.

"I told you that I would let you live if you were quiet, but you weren't quiet, were you?" He growled. To be honest, he didn't actually want to kill this human, but seeing the circumstance, he would do it if it meant his freedom.

The door that she previously reached for slammed open. Shiro and some red-headed woman barged in with weapons drawn. Shiro had some kind of modified shotgun, and the woman had a sword. Shiro took in the situation, his eyes locking on Rin. He aimed the gun straight at Rin's head, his hand steady.

"Let her go."

Rin released his grip on the girl's hair and held his hands up. The girl scrambled away, stumbling while doing so. Rin almost felt bad for her, if she was terrified of him, she stood no chance against the horrors which lurked in the wastes of Gehenna.

"I didn't do anything."

Yet, Rin added mentally.

Shiro shook his head, his gun still trained on Rin's head. He looked at the red-headed woman and jerked his head in the direction of the hysterical girl, the woman followed the wordless order and rushed to her.

"What in God's green earth were you doing?"

"I didn't do anything," Rin repeated.

"You broke every single rule that I laid out for you; and there were only two!"

Not fair. Not at all was this fair. Shiro's two rules? Broken, yes, but not by him, so why was this old hypocrite pointing a gun at him? Why did he set up rules if he was going to break one of them for Rin?

Rin shook his head. He wasn't tired of humans; he was beyond frustrated. No matter how many times he would say that he didn't do anything wrong, the humans would insist on saying that he did. For centuries upon centuries, that's how life was for a demon; always being blamed for circumstances out of their control. Rin stepped forward and pressed his face to the barrel of the gun.

"Go on then, if you feel so strongly about this. I've grown tired of this game."