Rin's training for his powers as the Demon King of Love were going splendidly. He'd been doing very well mastering his empathy intake and emotional output, along with seeing the bonds between people at willa md making them disappear from his vision so they weren't so distracting.

They figured out that if Rin cut someone with the dagger that sealed his Love powers, he could influence their emotions–ramp certain ones up and pull others down. He could do things like make someone's affection for a person clearer than their dislike for that person. He could also do the opposite–He could make people realize that the person they thought they loved didn't actually love them.

There was another thing–he could single out the good, healthy relationships from the bad, unhealthy ones. If he got them to look directly into his eyes, he could influence their thoughts with just a look–he was the embodiment of Love and the humans had no idea that the memory of him gave them a minute of clarity to see their relationships from a different point of view. To literally look at the bigger picture.

Rin was enjoying his discovered powers a lot and he couldn't wait to use them more sometime. For now, they had another thing to work on: Rin's shapeshifting abilities. He could change his body to however he wanted thanks to the fact that Love came in all forms. His relationships with Mephisto, Amaimon, and Bon attested to that, as did his relationships with Shiemi, Izumo, Shima, and Koneko. There were all kinds of Love.

Rin was the most excited about this part of his powers. He could do so many things with it! He'd had to wait so long to try because he had to be able to glamour his horns away first and be able to hold it for long periods of time. Magic came much easier to him now, but it wasn't as if there were any written steps on how to do magic.

"Ready? First, just try switching your body to female. We'll go from there if you can manage it." Mephisto coached. Rin nodded and concentrated. He simply pictured himself as a girl and basically willed himself to look like that. It was similar to when he decided what his anatomy would be when his body was reborn as a demon.

Rin opened his eyes to see Mephisto staring at him, eyes wide, like he'd been caught off guard.

Rin's didn't actually look super different–the biggest difference was that he had breasts and wider hips.  He also had softer curves and more curves. His favial features were softened some and he looked even more like his mother despite the hair and eyes being like his father's.

"You still look like royalty. Beautiful." The Time Lord admitted with a grin, nodding appreciatively to the view. Rin huffed and before he could complain about the ogling, Mephisto snapped. It looked to be one of Shiemi's shirts that appeared on him.

Rin decided to walk around as a girl as long as he could to see when he'd get tired. It didn't feel like this expended energy at all though. Rin wasn't complaining, but he wondered if shapeshifting without using up any energy was a natural thing for him, like his flames were when he was first unsheathed. It was effortless for him to use them and it always would be.

"It doesn't feel like this uses up my power or energy. I'm gonna stay like this for a while." Rin decided. Mephisto nodded, still examining his boyfriend-turned-girlfriend very closely. Rin grinned, sidling up to the man.

"You enjoying the view?" She prompted.

She heard a snap and she was in one of Mephisto's shirts, which covered her to mid-thighs, but fit her snugly. Mephisto walked up to her and fastened a belt around her waist, then he knelt to slide heels on her feet. He stood and backed up a couple steps with a satisfied smile.

"I am a gentleman. I was trying to think of what looks good on you." He stepped closer to her and brushed a piece of hair away from her face. "But everything looks good on you, so it took me a moment to decide.

Rin's cheeks heated. "Come, let me do your makeup so we can surpeise Amaimon and show Ryuji and Shiemi at lunch." Rin followed him to her shared room with Amaimon and sat down at the vanity. He talked while he did her makeup, making Rin think he'd be a great beauty artist the way he could talk and still perfect every detail of the art on her face.

"You don't need foundation or concealer, your skin is perfect, so we'll start with giving you some color–you really are pale as snow, you know." He put a light pink blush on her cheeks and moved on to her eyeshadow.

It was a simple look–browns, tans, a reddish blend added to spice it up some.

"Simple and sweet, but still there." The Time Lord hummed. Black mascara and eyeliner next. "Make those pretty blues pop." He murmured. He put a pinkish-salmon lipstick on her lips to go with the eyeshadow and finally, he added subtle gold highlighter to her cheeks, nose, under her brows, and on her cupid's bow.

"Mh. Perfect." He pulled her up from the chair and pulled her to him, snapping them to the garden where he knew Amaimon was playing with Behemoth and some greenmen.

"Amaimon, Dear, let's go walk around town. There's a new restaurant that's popped up and I want to see if it's any good." Mephisto called for the Earth King. "We can go over the color theme for the wedding while we walk, maybe look for good color combinations on the way to eat."

Amaimon looked up at them and froze. He blinked, mouth dropping open slightly. That was the reaction they wanted and Rin giggled.

"You like?" She twirled, showing off the outfit.

"You look beautiful, Rin." Amaimon murmured, pulling her down for a short kiss. He leaned back and looked past her at Mephisto. "You mentioned food?" He prompted.

The Time Lord laughed and leaned down for a kiss, humming in contentment when he got it from the Earth King.

"All you tall assholes." The shorter demon muttered under his breath, getting snickers from said taller demons.

§~•~§~•~§

"I like the theme of that flower shop over there. Can we check it out, just real quick, please?" Rin requested, pointing to a quaint little flower shop across the street.

"Of course, Darling." They crossed the street and entered the flower shop. Floral scents perfumed the air and flowers bloomed everywhere, mist spraying the ones on the top wracks.

"These are very well grown, for a human." Amaimon admitted, examining a peach colored rose. A woman came up to Rin. "Hello! Welcome to Fleecy's Blossoms, my name is Fleecy, can I help you with anything today?" She asked politely, smiling up at Rin, who nearly towered over her.

"Ah, My finance and I were just looking for a  color scheme for our wedding and I thought your shop looked pretty." Rin explained. The woman raised a brow at Amaimon and shrugged. "My brother is an artist. He picked out the shop colors. Said they looked lively and would make people feel more compelled to come in. I guess he was right." The woman grinned. "When are you getting married?"

"Next Spring, in May. It's a destination wedding since we both love sightseeing so much. Surprisingly, planning this wedding is a lot easier than anything else I have to do right now." Rin answered, falling into an easy conversation with the shop owner. "Oh? Where did you guys meet?" Fleecy wondered. "In highschool. He was a huge asshole and we actually got into a fight once, but we actually ended up hanging out a while after that and started going out. Oh man, my brother was pissed." Rin was a great story teller and Mephisto was thoroughly enjoying how bored Amaimon was by the needless chatter.

"Women talk too much." The Earth King grumbled. Rin's smile twitched as she tried not to laugh at her impatient fiancé.

"Here, I'll go get you an arrangement of colors I think would be lovely for a wedding." Fleecy disappeared into the racks of blooming flowers. Rin turned back to her company and smiled.

"Fleecy loves helping people with wedding stuff, so she's gonna show us a color combo that she thinks would look good." She said.

"We'll go eat soon, Amai. It would be easier for you to do the arrangements with the right colors if we decided now, though. It's called convenience." Rin told the green- haired man. He pouted and Rin pacified him with a kiss on the forehead.

Fleecy came back with a very elegant bouquet of different flowers and leaves. The center flower was pale pink, petals all gathered in a ball but for a row ifo petals that stood around the center, a sprig of leaves that were a dark, matte green and another sprig with paler green leaves, white roses, and another plant Rin didn't recognize that looked similar to wheat. It was actually a very nice arrangement and it was very elegant. Amaimon's eyes locked into the bouquet, judging it for a minute or two before nodding.

"It suits what we want our theme to be. Do you like it, Camellia?" His gold eyes flicked to Rin. She smiled at the endearment and nodded. "I think it's perfect for what we want." She agreed.

"Thank you so much!" She beamed at fleecy, who blushed and scratched the back of her neck, averting her eyes.

"I just like to see people happy." The young woman mumbled in embarrassment. She squeaked when Rin hugged her, but hugged back with a smile.

"Thank you for helping us, Fleecy." Mephisto entered the conversation smoothly. "We'll be going now. Come along, Dears." Amaimon grasped Rin's hand again and they followed the tall man out of the shop and down the street.

§~•~§~•~§

Over lunch, they discussed more wedding plans. Mephisto was handling everything financial, which was a relief because as good as Rin was at saving money and not letting people hustle her, a wedding was a lot of money to deal with and she'd collapse under the pressure if she had to do it on her own.

"So, Rin, I booked you an appointment to go dress shopping next week. I assumed you'd take all your friends, plus me, Shura, and Ryuji. I also scheduled for them to have appointments in the same place for bridesmaid dresses and another place from the same company for the suits. Is that all fine?" Mephisto informed his girlfriend.

"I don't know what I'd do without you. I'm shit at scheduling things and time management." Rin admitted.

"I know, Dearest. You don't know what time it is at any point of the day and constantly ask me whenever I happen to be around." The Time Lord said dryly, a wry grin curling on his lips. Rin's cheeks heated in embarrassment while Amaimon huffed out a laugh.

They discussed what colors they'd like for the bridal party to wear next. Mephisto was having a ball with all the fashion-related things he got to help with. That was incredibly entertaining to Rin, because the man still dressed like a clown with bright enough colors to burn someone's retinas. "What are you laughing about over there, Lovely?" Mephisto wondered.

She told him what she'd been thinking and he had the audacity to look offended while Amaimon cracked up, shoulders shaking as he leaned on his fiance for support to keep from falling out of his seat.

Rin sent an apologetic grin to the Time Lord while he sat there  offended and betrayed.

"You have great fashion sense for everyone but yourself, Babe." Rin reiterated. If it was possible for the man to look even more offended, he did. She turned to Amaimon.

"Am I just making it worse?" She asked. The demon nodded, still wheezing. She pouted and sighed heavily, setting her chin on her hand and looking away from the Time Lord.

"Sorry." She muttered, face set in a sour expression as she said it.

Amaimon noticed immediately and sat up, no longer laughing. "What's wrong?" He asked, confused as to why she suddenly seemed upset. Rin heaved a sigh, still not looking at them.

"Most people like the truth until it's theirs being exposed." She muttered, sounding like she'd rather be anywhere but the restaurant they sat in. "And I know I'm not wrong whenever I say it, but they always act so upset over it that I feel like I have to apologize or I'll feel like an asshole for the rest of my life. And then I'm  angry that I apologized even though I didn't do anything wrong." She still refused to look at them and Mephisto and Amaimon exchanged a look.

"Darling, you know I'm a Drama Queen. You are not the first person to judge my fashion choices. It sounds like an impossible thing, but it's happened many, many times before." Mephisto said bluntly

"That doesn't help. That adds me to a list of other assholes that have fashion policed you for your wardrobe, Mephisto." Rin was biting the inside of her cheek as she peered out the restaurant's front windows and watched people pass by outside as clouds slowly floated to block out the sun and the day turned grey outside.

The Time Lord frowned and tilted his head, like he couldn't figure out what to do with the girl sitting across from him. Amaimon tried next.

"Rin, we don't care about things like that. If I cared, I wouldn't be walking around in clothes I found in a halloween store years ago." He snorted. Rin's lips twitched up, but she still didn't feel much better.

"Hm. You're very different from other humans I've observed. Humour usually works." Amaimon noted, also stumped on how to get the girl to be happy again.

"I'm not like most humans. Never was." Rin said, watching raindrops slowly start to drizzle down onto the town.

"I like it. It makes you much better to be around, even if you still behave mostly like a human." The Earth King mused. He wasn't really trying to cheer her up anymore, just speculating on what he observed from normal humans and Rin, who'd been raised like a human.

Rin blinked in surprise, then turned to Amaimon, brow furrowed. "Most people avoid me because of that." She stated, confused at the way Amaimon thought of things. The Earth King shrugged.

"That's their fault. The way I see it, pick out the ones that aren't like the rest and keep them. Nothing will ever be boring or dull with the different ones around."

A smile slowly made its way across Rin face and she hugged the Earth King to her, nuzzling into his neck. He could feel her putting out more heat than she had been a second ago. He wrapped an arm around her and didn't question the embrace. He usually got these hugs when he said things without really thinking about them. He wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth, he loved Rin's affection.

"You're the best at cheering people up when you're not trying." Rin mumbled against his skin. He gave a noncommittal hum, though the words made him feel warm inside. It was nice having people who liked him for just being him. Rin always made sure he knew that, too.

"Leave it to Amaimon. He'll say his piece and if that doesn't work, he can grow flowers in seconds. That's cheating, I think." Mephisto lilted, an amused grin on his lips. Rin snickered and pulled away.

"Sorry. Those kinds of things still get to me even if I pretend they don't. Pretending is a lot easier than being."  She admitted.

"Eh, can't relate. Let's go, I've already paid the check." Mephisto stood and glided out of the restaurant.

"Oh, you asshole!" Rin cried indignantly, following close behind to pinch his side in revenge. Amaimon brought up the rear, watching the two interact with a fond smile.

They walked back to the school, not minding the light drizzle. When it turned into rain, Mephisto brought out his own umbrella and before he could snap to have one provided for the engaged pair behind him to share, Amaimon had reached out to a tree and detached a branch. It grew thick foliage and blooming flowers on the top to keep water from getting through. He held it over him and Rin and they walked along, enjoying the slight chill brought by the cold rain.

Rin was holding onto the crook of Amaimon's elbow like an old fashioned couple as they walked. Nothing seemed out of place–people walked faster, trying to get inside because the weather forecasts hadn't said anything about rain, some expected it and pulled out umbrellas, some shops closed their usually open doors to keep the warmth inside.

So how was it that in the next moment, Rin was pulled away into some dark alley and into nothingness?