God Hunters
Chapter 1: The Fox's Promise

A/N:
This takes place in an alternate universe where things are going to be a little different. I am still probably going to be keeping most of the major characters but adding a few original characters of my own creation as well. I am not sure if this will become a harem later on down the road, but I don't mind having a few love interests. I also have no involvement with High School DxD nor have any stake in this intellectual property. Only thing I can claim as my one is the plot and the few characters of my creation. Please feel free to leave any comments, concerns or reviews.

Issei thought it couldn't get any stranger, but strange things have been happening all around him lately. He tried to think back to when all these peculiar occurrences started. He looked up at the ceiling and drew to the conclusion that it all started the day he joined the Occult Research Club. That must be it, he thought to himself. When he first joined the club nothing particularly strange had happened, well to be quite frank, it was positively boring. All they did was sit around a room in the moldy Old School building that seemed be barely holding together. Dust coated the windows and the wooden floor boards creaked with every step, it was a wonder why such a building was never demolished to make way for a new building in its place. The club room was in no better condition either, all there were was a bunch of old sofas that looked like they belonged in Victorian era Europe and a collection of nicknacks that looked more or less like useless junk.

Issei thought himself to be a bit out of place at the school, but these students looked more so than himself. There was the first year Kaneko, who always seemed to be quietly eating some kind of snacks and staring off into space, her eyes always following some kind of unseen entity. The second year, Kiba, who did little more than look up from his books to acknowledge anyone else in the room. Another first year, Gaspar, who would have been a cute girl if not for the fact that he was actually a girly boy who cross dressed in girls clothes. All he did was sit in his box in the corner and stare at the computer screen all day. Issei never really understood why he had come to this place at all, but his feet seemed to have carried him here.

As he was about to turn around a leave, the president of the club walked in, Rias Gremory. The crimson haired goddess herself. She smiled brightly at him as she walked past, with her vice president in tow, Akeno Himejima. No one would ever believe that these two legendary beauties are members of this strange club. Issei figured he'd have to stick around and try to solve this mystery on his own.

Although strange as it was to have those two be his club's president and vice president, there wasn't anything out of the ordinary about it. In fact, they rarely seemed to talk about anything remotely of the occult at all. It seemed more like a place for people to hang out rather than an actual club.

After a quiet first day Issei begins his walk home staring up at the sky. He grins to himself thinking about how he is going to brag to Matsuda and Motohama about his luck. He couldn't wait to see the dumb looks on their faces.

Wham!

Issei could feel the pain in his knees, telling him that he had fallen on the ground. Realizing that he must have walked into someone he began to apologize and rose his head to find himself staring at what could only be a white pair of panties in front of his face.

It happened so suddenly. A blood curdling shriek followed by a sharp slap to the face, Issie was sitting on the ground tenderly rubbing his cheek.

"Pervert," said the girl standing over him.

Issei looked her over. She was a cute girl with long auburn hair pulled back into ponytail with frosted tips. He recognized the school uniform as his own but did not recognize the girl.

"Sorry for knocking you over," she muttered quietly before running off again.

"Hey wait," he called out to her be she was already gone. Issei wasn't even able to get her name, but he was sure he'd look for at school tomorrow. He dusted himself off and looked around to see if he had dropped anything after walking into that girl. Seeing a glimmer of light on the ground he picked up a small ball. For its size, it was quite light and smooth to the touch. It seemed to be a large pearl, but to his knowledge no such pearl the size of a tennis ball existed. Figuring it was the girl's he would have an excuse to go looking for her tomorrow.

That night, Issei lay in bed staring at the iridescent ball in his hand wondering what exactly it was for. It was warm to the touch and seemed to radiate light of its own accord. It was an odd thing for a girl to be carrying around. Maybe it a sports ball of some kind, thought Issei. He tossed it in the air and held out his hand ready to catch it again. But he was shocked when it didn't fall back down. He tumbled out of bed and stared at the ball which hovered in mid air. What the hell kind of ball is this? He carefully plucked it out of the air as if it were held up by some kind of invisible string. He rolled it in his hands, checking it over once more, but found nothing. Again he tossed the ball up in the air and again it hovered as soon as it reached its highest arch. This time he dropped it out of his hands. It started its descent like it normally would but seemed to slow before landing softly on the ground as if someone or something had just placed it there. This mysterious ball was definitely occult worthy.

The next day Issei walked by the same spot where he had bumped into that girl and sure enough there she was searching all over the ground. She was on her hands and knees searching every bit of the sidewalk. Issei froze in his tracks spying a pair of pink panties peeking out from under her skirt. Feeling like she was being watched she looked over her shoulder and quickly covered them.

"You saw them again didn't you?" she asked blushing furiously at him.

He wanted to tell her that he didn't but his conscience got the better of him. "Just a little bit," he said blushing slightly.

She stormed over to him and was about ready to slap him again when she noticed the ball in his hand. "Oh you found it!"

"Just a minute," said Issei holding the ball up high. "What is this thing?"

"Its mine!" said the girl jumping up trying to snatch the ball that was out of his reach.

"I just want to know what this is," said Issei holding her back.

"Give it back!" she said still trying to get to the ball.

This game of keep away continued on for a few more minutes but she refused to tell him what this mysterious ball is.

"It is nothing to you," she said tears welling up in her eyes. "But it means everything to me." She stopped reaching for the ball and turned away from him.

"Are-. Are you crying?" asked Issei feeling guilty for not returning her lost property.

"No…" she mumbled trying to dry her eyes with the sleeves of her shirt. "I'll do anything you want… I just want it back…"

A dirty thought had crossed Issei's mind. But seeing her crying her eyes out over the ball gave him a change of heart. "Here," he said holding the ball out to her. "Take it."

She wiped her eyes one more time before looking up at him. She hesitated, sensing there some kind of catch involved. But she slowly wrapped her fingers around ball and removed it from his hand.

"Thank you for finding it," she said hugging the ball tightly to her chest.

"Don't mention it," said Issei looking away after seeing the ball nestled in between her breasts.

"Why do you want to know what this is anyway?" she asked finally calming down.

"Huh? Oh because I'm a member of the Occult Research Club," said Issei sheepishly. "It's our duty to investigate strange things."

"Oh," she said.

The school bell rang out.

"Oh no," he said. "We are going to be late."

They quickly ran towards the school and changed out of their street shoes.

"See ya," he called out to her before running up the stairs to his classroom.

"See you," she said even though he had long since gone.

In class the only thing Issei could think about was that girl. I'll do anything you want... Issei quickly stood up from his seat nearly knocking over his and Matsuda's lunches to the floor. Everyone around him began to stare.

"What the heck man?" asked Matsuda.

"Ise?" asked Motohama with his chopsticks still in his mouth.

"I forgot to ask her," said Issei not realizing how stupid he was.

"Ask who?" asked Matsuda.

"That girl," said Issei grabbing him by his collar as if he wasn't understanding something so important.

"Speak in complete sentences idiot," said Matsuda trying to shove him away.

"I forgot to ask that girl her name..." said Issei finally.

"Ise..." Matsuda put his hands on his shoulders. "Why didn't you say so! Motohama! Time to deploy the scouter."

"Right now?"

"Nothing is more important," said Motohama adjusting his glasses. "Than girls."

They made their way up to the school rooftop where they began to scan the school for Issei's mysterious girl.

"Do you see anything?" asked Matsuda crowding next to Motohama.

Issei looked on but didn't see the girl auburn hair. Feeling defeated he and the others slowly made their way back to class in time for their next class period. The rest of the day continued on without much incident. No matter how hard he tried to find the girl, she was no where to be found. Even after asking several first years, they all claimed to have never heard of this auburn haired girl with frosted tips. So he did the only thing he could think of, retreat to the safety of the Occult Research Club and bask in the glorious beauty of his seniors.

As he shuffled along down the hallway, someone quickly yanked hard on his collar, dragging him into an empty classroom.

"What the hell?" he protested massaging his neck after being rough handled.

"Sorry," apologized the auburn haired girl.

"Oh, its you," said Issei giving her a small smile.

"I have a name," she pouted. "Oh, I guess we never properly introduced ourselves. My name is Hayami Saori."

"Hyodo Issei," he replied. "Why did you drag me in here?"

"Um…" said Saori rubbing her arm nervously. "I told you I would do anything you wanted right?"

"Oh," said Issei remembering the dirty images in his head. "Forget about that-."

But before he could get another syllable out of his mouth, Saori slowly began to unbutton her top. She was blushing furiously and couldn't bare to look him in his eyes. Issei couldn't believe his eyes, the heart in his chest felt like it was about to burst right out of his chest and bury itself deep within her soft breasts. Just as she was about to undo her next button of her blouse revealing a pink bra hidden beneath he quickly turned around.

"What are you doing?" even though he wanted to keep watching he was too embarrassed to continue.

"I thought that was what you wanted?" asked Saori taking a daring step closer to him. "Isn't this what you were thinking?"

"What I was-." he quickly sup around and looked her in the eyes. "You can read my mind?"

Even though she was still blushing furiously and embarrassed, she continued to stare back into his. "I can. But it is not like it was hard to tell that this was what you wanted."

"Well…" said Issei giving a small chuckle. So true, so true. "But how can you read my mind?"

"Um... " said Saori as it was her turn to turn away from him. "Don't freak out alright."

"Why would I freak out?"

Slowly she ran her hands through her long hair and in their wake two triangle ears seemingly popped out of nowhere. And from under her skirt a large fluffy fox tail the same color of her hair began to emerge. She spun around and said:

"I'm a fox spirit."

Issei blinked several times and began to clean out his ears. "I'm sorry, but I thought I heard you say that you were a fox spirit."

She nodded her head. "See." she twitched the triangle shaped ears on her head and swished her long fluffy tail. "I'm actually a kyuubi though I am not sure what happened to the rest of my tails. Issei?"

"I want to..." said Issei slowly shuffling his feet forward.

"Huh?"

"I want to touch them…" said Issei his eyes looked malicious.

Realizing that her blouse had become even more undone she quickly closed it shut and slowly backed away from him. "Issei. Wait."

She found herself back up against the wall staring at him arms out stretched. She could tell that he wanted to grope her. Dirty thoughts began to form in her head which caused her to blush furiously. But this was what she had seen in his head earlier. She shut her eyes and waited for fingers to spider their way along her body.

"So soft…"

"Huh?" she asked feeling something grabbing at her ears.

Issei was standing over her rubbing both her ears with his fingers. "They are so soft…"

She let out a sigh of relief but noticed that his eyes had wandered down to her tail.

"Can I touch that too?" he asked.

"No! No! No!" she said scooting down the wall away from him hugging her bushy tail closely. "I'm sorry but I don't like anyone touching my tail."

"Oh," said Issei. "Now that I got that out of my system. So you are a fox spirit?"

She nodded her head.

"So that ball that you dropped yesterday..." said Issei.

"That was my magic," said Saori producing the ball from her person. "Without it I am no more magical than you humans."

"I see," said Issei. "Well that explains a lot."

"So you…" said Saori shyly burying her face in her tail. "You aren't freaked out?"

"Huh? Why?" asked Issei. "I think its awesome!"

She smiled into her tail.

"I can't wait to tell the club what I found," said Issei triumphantly. He imagined himself be fawned over by his seniors for finding a real live fox spirit.

"No you mustn't," said Saori interrupting his fantasy.

"Why not?"

"Issei, I want you to stay away from them," she said holding his hands. "They are dangerous people."

"Why not? I mean they may seem a little strange-."

"Promise me that you won't even go near them again," she pleaded pulling his hands to her chest. "Promise me."

"Huh, sure," said Issei feeling her soft skin rubbing against his. He could feel himself blushing again. This was the first time in his entire life he was touching a girl's exposed chest. "But why?" He managed to ask.

"There are people out there who want to hurt spirits like me," she told him. "So you mustn't tell anyone about what I really am. No, not even Matsuda or Motohama. No one."

"Why are there people who want to hurt you?" demanded Issei.

"Because they are dangerous," said Rias standing in the threshold of the door.

"Rais-senpai," said Issei.

"I thought my barrier would be strong enough…" said Saori who hid behind him.

"Move away from her Issei," said Rais taking a step into the room. Issei could hear something like glass shatter in the distance. The room seemed a little less empty now. "She's been feeding off of your life energy all this time."

"No! No I haven't!" Saori pleaded behind Issei.

"Senpai, what is going on?" asked Issei continuing to shield Saori.

"She is a fox spirit," said Rais gliding towards them. "She lures victims into her den to feed on their energy."

"No that's not true!" said Saori. "I haven't done anything."

"We have been monitoring you ever since you stepped foot in school," said Rais as more of the members of the Occult Research Club entered the room. "We know you are responsible."

"That wasn't me! I swear!"

"It is hard to trust the words of a fox," said Rias folding her arms across her chest.

"Senpai," said Issei taking a step forward. "Just who are you?"

"We are God Hunters."

Issei couldn't believe what he was seeing in front of him. Saori feeling like a cornered animal with no other options lunged at them. Her fingernails had turned into sharp claws that sliced through desks and chairs with ease. She slashed at Koneko who deflected a the attack with her arm and landed a kick which sent Saori flying across the room. She rebounded off the wall and lunged forward at Kiba who was now holding a sword conjured from thin air. It looked unwieldy and clumsy but he seemed to be managing on his own. Swinging, parrying and deflecting the fox's attacks. She jumped back and held up her hands which now had ball of fire in them. Throwing them at Kiba, he managed to dodge the first few but seemed unable to dodge the next wave. Which Akeno stepped in deflecting them with her bare hands. She seemed to be enjoying herself as she sent bolts of lightning at Saori who wasn't quick enough to dodge them all.

"This is her true nature," said Rias putting an arm around his chest and hugged him closely. "She would have taken all of your energy and left you for dead."

Issei continued to watch as Saori picked herself up, obviously injured but not giving up without a fight. She did a quick motion with her hand, several copies of herself appeared, all charged forward. Kiba and Koneko leaped towards them slicing and punching a many as they could which dispersed the magic. But they still didn't know which was the original. One of the Saori lunged at Issei and Rias arm out stretched, claws ready to strike. No it wasn't an attack, it was a plea for help. Akeno filled the room with lightning quickly shocking all of the Saoris dispersing them back into air.

Only the original was left curled up in pain in front of Issei. She still had claws and fangs but Issei couldn't help but feel sorry for her. Her attacks seemed more like acts desperation than attacks of a killer. He knelt down next to her and looked her in the eyes.

"Why did you chose me?" he asked.

"Why… Because you found my magic-."

"I want the truth."

Feeling defeated she frowned and looked down at his feet. "You have something that I need," she said, her ears drooping a little.

"I thought so," said Rias kneeling next to him.

She looked up at him, tears streaming down her face. "I never meant to hurt you. I really didn't. But you have something I need to save my mother."

"What? I don't have anything," said Issei shaking his head. "I really don't. All the stuff I have is junk."

"It is not something you own," said Rias. "You are special. You have something called a Sacred Gear."

"Sacred Gear?"

Rias held up his left arm for him to see. "Sacred Gears are objects that God has put in humans to help defend themselves from all sorts of things."

"I do?" asked Issei. "I don't feel any special."

"Most people don't realize they have it until much later," said Rias intertwining her fingers into his own.

"So what is it?" asked Issei beginning to blush as this was the first time a girl was holding his hand.

"I don't know which one you have," said Rias smiling at him. "But I know you have one. Otherwise you wouldn't have found your way to my club."

"Do you know which one he has?" asked Kiba but still had his sword ready.

"Not exactly," said Saori shaking her head. "But its power is what drew me to it."

"I am sorry Issei," said Rias, "But this is not the way that I intended for you to find out. Let's return to the club room."

"Oh," said Issei helping her back up to her feet. "Wait, what about Saori?"

"Don't worry," said Akeno licking her lips seductively. "I can take care of her."

"I'm sorry Issei," said Saori looking up at him. "Come to think of it. We haven't even said goodbye properly. Goodbye, Issei."

Rias lead Issei out of the classroom where Akeno and the others stood over Saori who continued to lay on the ground defeated. "Promise," he heard Koneko say softly which seemed to trigger something in his head.

"Wait," said Issei spinning back around. "You said you would promise me that you would do anything."

The others stared at him.

"I found your magic," said Issei standing over her. "And you said you would promise to do anything for me."

Saori sat up to look at him better. "I did."

"You didn't fulfill your promise," said Issei who seemed to be filling with rage.

Saori began to blush furiously. "Now?"

Issei nodded his head.

"I… " said Saori looking down at the tattered remains of her clothes. She realized that she had barely anything left. "Sure…"

She closed her eyes and lifted her head waiting for Issei to come at him. She could feel his body getting closer. Her heart was beating faster and faster. Thought that this was the least she could do before she was to be executed. She could feel his breath on her skin, the smell of his body so close to hers. She figured it was a fitting end to offer him his promise before the end like how she was about to before ending him. For the second time today, she was surprised by him. He wrapped his arms around her body and hugged her tight.

"Issei?" she asked.

"Promise me that you will always stay with me," he whispered into her ear. She could feel the tears rolling down his cheeks and onto her bare skin. They felt so warm to her.

"I promise," she said hugging him back, nuzzling his neck.

The two became intertwined with a halo of golden light. That illuminated the entire room for a moment before dying away.

"What a pity," pouted Akeno.

"Looks like you won't be getting to play around today," said Kiba sheathing his sword which disappeared into nothingness. They left the classroom leaving the two of them alone.

"What happened?" asked Issei pulling away from her.

"You're promise," said Saori wiping her eyes. "I have to fulfill your promise. One thing that foxes don't take lightly, it is promises. Humans and others may take it lightly, but foxes never do, it is the strongest magic that we know."

"So does this mean…" said Issei sheepishly. "I mean can I…"

She pushed him away and quickly covered herself up. "One promise only," she said sticking her tongue out at him.

"I knew I should have said to be my sex partner for life…" groaned Issei.

"What?" asked Saori glaring at him.

"Nothing. Nothing." said Issei waving his hands.

"I can read minds you know…" she said.

"Don't you think we should head to the club room now? Senpai is probably waiting for us," said Issei changing the subject.

"You know you're promise said I had to stay with you," said Saori. "It said nothing about the condition which you had to be in."

"Are you really okay with this?" asked Akeno to Rias as they walked down the hall.

"There isn't much of a choice we have in the matter," said Rias shrugging her shoulders. "It was his decision. She is the least of our concerns anyway. There are only going to be stronger foes who will want his power."

"I wasn't talking about his safety," said Akeno winking at her. "Sounds like he wants to make her his bride."

Rias continued to walk past her, but looked back towards the classroom as they turned the corner. Her heart dropping a little.