Phantom yawned. Having to wake up early in the morning was ruinous to his mood for hours to come, and he sure as hell did not share the optimism Okumura possessed. He could understand the joy of finishing the semester, but going on the field trip was a sorry excuse of entertainment in his mind. Atop of that, due to his physical capabilities Yukio was aware of, Danny had to carry twice as much as anyone else. And if Rin was fine with being degraded to a mule, too absorbed in the excitement, Danny was feeling particularly grumpy. Their whole procession was going through the thick forests not so far away from the academy, right under the scorching noon sun. Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Danny looked around himself, and saw the others getting pretty tired.

"Hey, guys, look, a spring!" Rin exclaimed, immediately dipping his head into the water, drinking and washing his face like a dog. All the while carrying a huge backpack with the necessities.

"He sure is bursting with energy," Renzo said with a small laugh, before noticing Danny looking more dead than usual. "What's wrong, Danny-san? You are as strong as Rin, but you seem far worse."

That caught everyone's attention, and it was something the Demon King didn't want at the moment.

"I hate heat. Atop of that, I hate camping trips."

"Why though?" Rin grinned, "It is fun to go out once in a while."

"My last trip, Okumura," the half ghost's eyebrow twitched. "Was when my uncle ditched me in a forest full of demons in a middle of nowhere without any weapons, tools or a cellphone. So forgive me for my lack of jolly mood."

A silence fell on the procession.

"Jeez, what kind of family do you have?" Asked Bon.

"DID have. A very twisted one. Guess that's why I am a sociopath."

"Speaking of, what was that about your sister?" The blonde remembered. "You didn't say anything after you got rid of that demon."

"Funny thing actually," Danny rubbed the back of his neck, "I get worried sick and then out of the blue she calls from a public phone. I hate you, Jasmine."

"Heh, it's nice to know that our prince of gloom actually has a soft side."

"I'm not 'gloomy'. I just have some important things on my mind."

He was quite preoccupied with what Jazz had told him. Knowing that she was safe and sound did not ease his concern, as Phantom knew all too well that eventually the whole Vatican would know everything. And then who knew what would befall upon the small family. It was stupid of him to believe that the family history could simply be erased. Especially since it went all the way to the middle ages. Hell, his own ancestor almost killed him. The main point was that it was bound to be uncovered eventually. All what was left to do was trying to pull the act together and not let the nosy clerics uncover the true secret two Fentons held. Considering that Shura already knew about his ghost side, it was going to be more complicated. She was one step away from learning it all.

And those 'appropriate people' they spoke of didn't leave his mind. Who could they possibly insinuate at? It's almost as if this Egin person expected them to know the guests. As far as Phantom was aware of, the GIW were not affiliated with the Holy See or the Order. They were a bunch of fools who somehow got their hands on funding and weapons from an unknown source. Probably the US government had a hand in this, but Phantom had long since dismissed them as a threat, and not because he now resided in Japan. They were incompetent, their tools were ineffective copies and Danny's parents refused to sell them any. On one hand, Phantom was happy about it. His enemies would not get any stronger. On the other, he would continue to eat meagrely because there wouldn't be any extra money. To sum up, Danny didn't think it was them.

Then who could that be? Danny was left to wonder. At least he could sleep whilst knowing that for now Jazz was safe. But he would take extra safety measures, sending someone to watch over her being among them. Someone with enough brainpower not to attack immediately.

A complicated task.

"Wait, what demon?" Shiemi asked.

"We saw Danny getting attacked by some metal freak who didn't play by the rules," Renzo started, "To think that a demon would use guns."

"And you didn't say anything?!" Yukio approached the teen.

"It doesn't concern you, teach. Skulker has been a pain in my ass for several years. Perhaps he is still mad I took his lover. Yeah...this may be it."

"We are talking about a demon that managed to get through the Headmaster's wards."

"Don't get me started on this shit. That thing works whenever it pleases from the seems. I mean, we have been followed by my acquaintance for quite some time and none of you noticed."

Everyone jumped at the mention of the fact, they began to look around and Shura narrowed her eyes. For someone on technical probation Phantom was really frivolous. After a little mutter Kirigakure looked at one particular tree.

"Show yourself!"

Seconds later the grass rustled underneath the old pine tree. And after Danny's nod the demon revealed herself. Sam's appearance was a bit unsettling, but her face showed real displeasure, as her pupiless green eyes bore into Phantom's.

"I cannot comprehend the way your plans work," she commented.

"What's the meaning of this?" Yukio rubbed his eyes.

"She is here as my familiar. Don't worry, she will be of great help. And I am not going to do anything of the 'sort'."

"That's not the point, Phantom," Shura crossed her hands, "This is in your best interests not to break any rules or this goes straight to Vatican."

Sam stared at the half-naked woman, before glancing down and petting her own chest in jealousy.

"I recall that Mephisto allowed me to act as I see fit as long as nobody is harmed."

"Your parents were heretics, Phantom. Do not make your reputation worse."

"It won't get worse, and thus the borderline between better or worse has already been erased."

"Believe me, if I could leave, I would," Sam grumbled, "I am not eager to be surrounded by the exorcists either."

"Hey, you seemed more eager than me about that forest trip."

"I-I was not!"

It was a sight nobody expected to see — a blushing demon. Renzo nudged Bon and began to whisper.

"Hey, do you think she is just a tsundere?"

"She is a demon, Renzo. Don't even think about it. But why does he keep summoning the demons that look like...this?"

"It is a coincidence, Bonnie," Called Danny, "I could summon someone else. But I reasoned that you won't tolerate the company of a rotting corpse."

"You will drain yourself if you summon a familiar for so long."

"I have a big tank, I assure you."

"Enough! Let's just keep going," Yukio raised his voice, "Phantom, keep it on a tight leash, or I'll personally send your familiar back home."

'"It'?!" Sam's eyes flared, before she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Let it go, Sam. Come now," Danny whispered and smiled.

Just what was he planning, Sam wondered. Two things in this world could not be foreseen — a man's stupidity and a man's ingenuity. Which one she was currently facing — about that the ghost was not sure.

With the dispute settled, the group went further into the forest, finding a place for them to set up the camp. Danny didn't care about how his behaviour was seen by everyone. He never sought the approval. Jazz had figured that his promiscuity had its own reason. But Phantom only scoffed into her face upon hearing those theories. He was not like that due to a lack of parental love. He did not seek to fill the hole with those fictitious relationships. He always knew from the beginning that nothing would work out. Some would say that the wound would only get wider and deeper with how he handled everything, but Phantom himself was not one of them. He just did things, he did them because he wanted and was able to. He was a king, was he not? A just one to a degree, with many responsibilities, so the benefits should have been there in one form or another. And if everyone was so eager then why should he deny them the pleasure?

All of this was but a ramble on only somewhat related topic. After all, his plans for the ghost that was currently walking and balancing on the path of rocks were different. The intercourse was not the priority here. Sam intrigued him. She wasn't very powerful, mind you, but above average. And, perhaps, her stubbornness was the reason behind his attraction. Furthermore, Danny caught himself on the thought that he actually tried to cater to her expectations of a proper king. Be it out of wounded pride, anger, but there was the desire to prove her wrong in a good way. As far as said 'goodness' went.

When the group found a clear spot. Yukio began to explain the situation.

"Listen up. This forest may seem peaceful during the day, but it is a wholly different situation during the night. We will get swarmed by low-levels in no time if we don't prepare. So, the boys should help me prepare the tents while the girls draw the protection circle and make dinner."

"Circle?" Sam muttered, heard only by her king.

"You should be fine as long as you are inside during the process."

Yukio finally took off his exorcist coat. How he had managed to walk around under the blazing sun was a mystery.

Danny dumped his backpack on the ground. And just as his luck would have it, the first thing that rolled out was the battered thermos. Phantom didn't notice this, as his attention was on the tents. He was in a position when even he would feel awkward for not joining in, as everyone else worked. Thus, he simply got down to it with everyone else. Sam blinked, uncomfortable and unsure of what to do next.

"And you."

Sam looked behind and saw Yukio standing over her. She wasn't very tall, was she?

"I am watching you. Don't you try anything funny."

"A familiar doesn't do anything against the summoner. And Phantom doesn't want any harm to you last time I checked."

"Except you are not one, are you?" The glasses on his face shone menacingly.

Sam blinked once again. Oh, yeah, Okumura knew about Danny's identity. She smiled at the teacher mischievously, putting both her hands behind her back and leaning forward.

"I still serve him. Or do you question my loyalty, son of Satan?" She whispered, getting just the reaction she needed.

"Shut it," the boy hissed. "Phantom doesn't really instil loyalty."

"I'd argue. He has his moments. But it's not why I do what he says. My father needs his assistance. I'm here as..."

"A ransom?"

"If you seek to be blunt. This way Phantom can be sure that his men are not harmed. It was his condition."

"And you are fine with it?"

"Am I mistaken or have I stopped being a foul demon that you don't care about?"

"You can talk and that's enough."

"I can do more than just talk, Okumura. My vines can choke you to death," she smiled innocently, "If that's what father needs, I'll stay here. Besides, Phantom is not half as bad as a master, I have to admit. I can live with that. Don't you have a job to do?"

"Yes. You will help us with the tents."

"I obey only one person here."

"And he in turn is currently doing what I asked him to, is he not?"

Yukio pointed at the half ghost, who was trying to hold the tent together. Two other teens were arguing and could not set everything for him to finally let go. And Danny's tired look was almost comical.

"You have your point, Okumura. Fine."

Sam strolled forward, her bare feet soundlessly leaving a trail on the grass. Those two were worthy of each other, Yukio thought with mild frustration, before following after her. As Sam appeared near her king, Danny glanced her way, ignoring Bon and Rin. With a silent nod a message was passed between them as the ghost held the metal rods instead of him. In the meantime Danny kneeled and began to fold the tarp under the tent. The argument died off as Phantom barked an order to pin the spikes into the ground for the entire structure to hold. Nobody objected, and neither of them noticed that there was a demon assisting them. Only when she let out a snicker everyone turned towards her.

"What are ya laughing about?" Bon demanded to know.

"To think the exorcists would be at a loss while setting something so trivial. And I heard so many stories about your lot."

"Urgh, Phantom, do you have to let her talk so much?"

"Christ, you too?" Danny grumbled. "I guess we will just dial down on insults and just make fun of them, right?" He threw her a meaningful glance.

"Like you are one to talk. But fine, have it your way...Sorry."

Bon and Rin were surprised to see her actually apologise. The latter could understand it, however. He was her higher up, after all.

The rest of the day was full of preparations. With the circle drawn the girls started cooking. The problem lied in how they weren't exactly skilled in this field. Kirigakure didn't need to be mentioned, because all she did was sit around and drink beer. Danny wasn't judging, he just wanted in on it. In the meantime Rin observed a travesty being committed against the food, so he quickly assumed the role of the chief. Being in his element, the teen quickly concocted a pot of curry and a salad. The smell alone made everyone's mouths water.

"Time to dig in!"

One man once said: "We get three kinds of pleasures from the food: smell, taste and its behaviour once it is in your mouth." Rin's food fit all three categories with its sweet and spicy flavour and how the soft meat melted after savouring it. In one word, it was delicious. Everyone could agree with Danny about it, the half ghost ate three portions by the time the rest ate their first ones.

"Wow, this stuff is amazing!" Bon exclaimed. If even he voiced his emotions like that, the food was really to die for.

"Yeah, you cook really good!"

"Can I have another one?"

"This is delicious!" Shiemi looked at Rin with admiration in her eyes, which embarrassed the teen a bit.

"Oh, you know, it is a talent!"

"The only one he has," Yukio put in with a smirk.

"Shut up, four-eyes!"

Danny couldn't help the smile crawling up his face. He didn't notice himself how it happened. The compliments were not directed at him, but it was more than just that. The atmosphere probably had something to do with this. This warmth of a company of human friends he hadn't felt before. But this feeling was quickly going away, as memories came flooding in.

"Leave him be, Dash."

A crying boy sprawled on the dusty ground was a sorry sight to see. Seven years old, yet covered in bruises of which the clumsiness was not the cause. Danny sobbed and cried, wiping his tears with a slightly oversized shirt. He tried to get up, reassured by the calls of his bully's ever-present companions, only to be pushed down again. The laughter, that stinking, ringing laughter was everything the boy could hear.

"Whatcha worried about? Freaky Fenton can't do shit, see?"

"Didn't you hear what grownups say? He is cursed."

"Well, I just hit him, nothing happened, see?"

Danny wiped his face from all the dirt, sobbing, wishing for those mean kids to go away. It wasn't his fault that people got hurt, he didn't want it. He asked those strange creatures not to do that. They offered to protect him, to bring him food his parents had neglected to buy. They didn't ask for his agreement, they just did it all. And he was too afraid to firmly tell them 'no'. Not because he feared them, they were the only ones who wanted to be his friends. Some were small, like fairies, some were big as a malamute. But there was something that they all had in common — nobody but him saw them. And everyone just thought them to be imaginary or him being crazy. Dash probably thought that it was the latter.

"Just leave me alone," Danny mumbled, "I didn't do anything, why did you hit me?"

"'Cause you are annoying. And we play here, so you can't."

"You coulda just said it. I...woulda go away," the boy lowered his head.

That's what he always did. When someone didn't want him, he went away. He didn't want to bother anyone. Was this not enough?

"Because I am strong, duh. Thanks for yer ball, too. I'll take it as a 'sorry'."

Danny's eyes widened, "You can't! Jazzy gave it to me!"

"So what are ya goin' to do? Curse me, freak?"

Danny noticed a tiny moving sphere of light flying nearby. It rambled quickly, sounding like a bunch of tiny shaking bells. He understood what it said, and the tired, beaten boy's look suddenly darkened. He couldn't hit the stronger boy. He was weak. But it didn't mean that that idiot could take what did not belong to him. After the silent nod the tiny light zapped the neck of the blonde bully with a tiny spike of electricity. Dash yelped, looking around, only to get zapped harder. He cried in fear: "What's goin' on?" Before getting zapped again. The boys turned fearful at the display, as the suddenly emotionless face of the beaten child made them fear even more. They ran off, followed by the tiny sphere and a quiet laughter of the one who caused it all.

Why was he remembering that particular day? Maybe because the metaphorical slide downhill began back then. He distanced himself from other humans more and more, going into the hands of demons lurking nearby. They basically raised him, and the only good things about the teen were probably because of his loving sister. Why were the demons so caring about him? It turned out much later that they served one particular ghost, the one who somehow knew what the boy would become. It wasn't in vain, the king was highly sympathetic towards him and his servants. Besides, some ghosts were humane enough on their own to cordially treat the boy.

And now there was this spectacle. Danny's mood quickly soured at the thought of how everyone present here would hate him upon figuring everything out. Humans always treated him like a freak. It wouldn't change, this deception was going to be uncovered one day. But why was he sorry? From the start he knew it all, they were his enemies, they trained to kill the likes of the half ghost, a mistake of nature even by their standards. Perhaps he did get attached to them. And Danny did not like it, it had its own stupid repercussions.

With a sigh the demon king once again looked around, seeing Sam sitting aside, in the grass, all on her own. Slowly rising from his seat, he picked two plates with food and walked up to her. Sitting nearby, he called her attention.

"You shouldn't miss on it," he smirked, "It really is good."

"I don't eat this stuff, remember?" Sam sounded genuinely befuddled.

"It's not about filling the stomach. Just enjoy it."

She honestly could not understand that man. She took the first plate from the ground and silently ate, enjoying the bliss just as mutely. Her confusion was shared by the teens, who had never seen him treat anyone with as much attention. He really liked demons more than humans. To think that he was in an exorcist school.

Soon after, with the dinner over, Yukio got up and called for everyone to come closer.

"Alright, everyone, let me explain what we are here for. As you know, this is a training camp."

"In other words," Kirigakure giggled while shaking a can of beer, "This is a test of yer strength!"

"Someone sure follows a working etiquette," Danny crossed his hands.

"Kirigakure-san, we are working here," Yukio hissed, before the above mentioned can flew right into his head.

"Oops. Slipped."

Yukio's eye twitched. "Anyway...the task here is simple. First you all go in different directions from our base. Somewhere in the forest is a lantern you have to light and bring back. During the next three days only those who manage to do it will be qualified to take part in real missions. However, there are only three lanterns spread in the radius of 500 meters from here. Simply put, there are only three spots left. Moving on..."

He picked up his bag. "Inside each of your own there is enough food and water for this amount of time. There are also sleeping bags, lanterns and other basic necessities. Aside from that, you get a match, a firework to ward off demons. If you feel that you are not up to the task, ignite the fireworks and me and Kirigakure-sensei will come to help you."

Danny raised his hand, "Did you say 'A' match? As in, a single one?"

"Yep. If you ignite a firework, you won't be able to do the same with a lantern. So, think carefully about what you do. If the lantern's light is extinguished, you are disqualified. Same goes for the firework, of course, so don't think about other conventional means of getting fire. Also, don't think about cheating," and for some reason he gave a pointed look at the half ghost, "They will warn us if you ignite it close to the camp instead of right there."

"It doesn't sound that hard," Rin said.

"Except I can smell that thing from here," Sam suddenly emerged near him and caught everyone's attention. "It will get worse once you ignite them, I think I know what those lanterns are."

"You...do?"

"Yes, father has them all around for protection of his domain."

"And what a wonderful coincidence that someone familiar with them happened to be in our midst," Danny smirked. "If someone was to exploit it there would be such an unfairness. I'm so glad that it is not the case."

"Hey, isn't that cheating?" Renzo asked.

"I summoned her," Phantom shrugged, "Thus I merely utilise my abilities. Speaking of which..."

Rin was pulled over by Kirigakure, who, as Danny assumed, gave him a lecture on not using his flames. Well, saves him the trouble. Soon after everyone was set to go, they stood at the different parts of the protection circle. Sam tapped her companion on the shoulder, and Phantom turned away from the darkness between the trees to face her.

"Yes?"

"We both know that it was a lie. You never asked me about lanterns. Besides, you can sense demons just fine yourself."

"Perhaps. But let's just say that if my powers are to be used, I will have someone to put the blame on. Essentially, you are here to be just that."

"Great, I'm degraded to a status of a scapegoat."

"Nobody is going to judge you for that. They think you are my familiar, after all. And those are summoned to do just that. It's to ward off the suspicions, just in case. Besides, your powers will come in handy."

So it was also a test of her own power. The conniving fox. Through this he could learn about her father, too, as they shared the abilities. She didn't like it, but he wasn't stupid, so it brought some confidence that this while operation won't end in disaster. Yukio raised his pistol in the air.

"Ready. Set. Go!"