The name's Hyoudou. Hyoudou Issei. My parents, friends, and usually everyone else at school calls me Ise.

I'm a full-blooded and healthy second-year high school student and currently living that one great moment of my youth.

A common incurrence is that people who aren't that familiar with me, usually say "Isn't that Ise?" and then start to gossip about me. I don't mind it so much but I do mind how they somehow know me.

I'm not popular, far from it actually.

I'm famous really, well…infamous actually.

I'm infamous for being a BIG pervert.

My most recent foray into the dark side of the social circle was getting accused of seeing a peep show of the Kendo Club's room. Funny how I didn't get to see a single inch of bare flesh while my usual buddies of the perverted club got all the eyefuls they wanted. Still, when the curtain dropped on our heads, I was punished and yelled at all the same as my buds Matsuda and Motohama.

And by that, I mean I retreated to a safe distance, raised my voice to a higher pitch, and squealed loudly before proclaiming "Peeping toms!" at them.

Yeah, I know, I'm a treat aren't I?

Which is why I got the biggest shock to my normal highschool guy life when one day, I had the most wonderful experience happen.

"I like you. Will you please go out with me?"

Now if that wasn't a straightforward confession, I'll eat my shoe. The real ironic thing that happened though, was how simple and quick it began. I've known a lot of guys who panic and get these 'nerves' whenever a girl gets involved with their routine. I always see how their common sense gets clouded and a good butt kicking is in order to clear their heads and make them think straight.

How hypocritical of me…I should have heeded my own advice and leveled my head. Maybe then common sense would have been available to help me realize that while this was theoretically how things would usually go if common sense wasn't clouded, I should have realized that this was not normal.

Actually, I'll get back to that later. Right now, I should try reliving the good times.

When that cute girl spoke to my face and told me her feelings, I nearly grew wings and flew to the sky to yell out my happiness. A guy with my reputation and my average looks, I would never have such a wonderful dream come true.

But it did!

The name of the girl who would eventually become my girlfriend was called Amano Yuuma.

I think my favorite things about her was that silky black hair with the hint of flowers and her slender body with just the right proportions of curves. She also had this adorable little face that I just wanted to smother with kisses. I didn't, of course, or well I was biding my time until I could at least.

She was a beauty. A true dream come true. A confession from a gorgeous girl like her? How I could say no? Hell, how could I think of saying no?

Still, I had my suspicions. She could have been trying to trick me. It could have been a penalty or a dare. Heck, it could have been a joke right from the beginning.

But it wasn't.

At least, at first.

Ever since that day where she told me her feelings, my world shaped up considerable. I think my libido died down by tenfold, the stares I got from my peers increased tenfold, and all my brothers in my gang congratulated me or expressed jealous intentions for such a stunning catch.

My cousin Tsukune also seemed to smile more and gave me a sincere prediction of my future happy love life. Coming from a guy dark as him? That had to mean something big and wonderful.

Being on the other side of the fence, I realized just how great life could be. I see now why people carve these relationships and bonds with others now that I was currently with someone. I felt sorry and terrible for ditching my two peeping buddies to be lonely losers but that was how life decided to deal cards and I got a lucky hand.

Then I realized that what life had dealt me wasn't a winning hand. It was actually a big deal of misfortune.

I found out all about this when on our first actual date, Yuuma stabbed me in the gut with a spear after asking me to kindly die for her.

Last I checked, she wasn't Alice.

Then again, last I checked, I was still alive.

That day would forever haunt me as the day that I was caught unaware. Something that most people don't know about me is that I'm actually a really good fighter and captain. Earlier I talked about this gang I was a part of. Well, I'm actually a pretty high up ranker within the gang.

Flag Captain Issei.

Or as I like to call it, the badass who runs in first.

Basically, I trained and commanded the fastest runners of our little family and made sure that each and every one of them could not only do it while under extreme conditions, but while carrying a flag and unrelenting in the face of overwhelming odds. I ran towards danger as a hobby. What most people considered kill zones or death traps, I considered speed bumps or road blocks. Nothing was too big or too scary to overcome.

Such was how secretly confident was I that I planned to try and lose my virginity on a first date.

Okay, maybe it might have been the hormones talking but I was willing to settle for heavy petting but wanted a kiss at the minimum. Course, what I wanted and what she wanted was radically different. I felt ashamed, angry too. I was trained by some crazy bastards to be able to detect some immediate dangers but my happiness clouded my judgment. What I thought was nerves for a kiss or possibly more was actually my gut instinct to take cover and get backup.

As I said before, normal relationships are supposed to be fast and simple if both parties be straightforward. That way, no beating around the bush or anxiety hits about whether the girl or guy likes the opposite happens. I should have realized that while I was thinking with the mentality of a 'normal' high school boy, if I thought truly with the 'abnormal' part of my life, I would have spotted all the signs and ran like hell.

I wasn't supposed to be considered normal. Not by a long shot. Yet I tried to act like I was.

And because of that, it cost me my life.

I should probably recap just what led to the imminent end of my short life.

"I had fun today," She would say with a big goofy smile.

We were just finishing up our first date and I was gearing and raring to go in for a kiss.

"Yeah, today sure was," I would respond in kind.

"Hey, Ise-kun."

"What is it, Yuuma-chan?"

"There is something I want to do to celebrate our first date. Can you listen to my wish?"

I should have paid more attention to my gut than to what was below it.

"Wh..what is the wish you want?" I stated with a rather happy smile.

Being so blinded, being so stupid.

But Yuuma-chan had just smiled at me. She then said it to me clearly.

"Would you die for me?"

I've been hit with literally four hundred pound steel weights before because my jack ass friend thought it would be funny to see how fast I could react. I didn't react fast enough.

Those five words had a much bigger and painful impact.

At first, I tried denying it. I tried to act like I heard her wrong and that my urge to get into her pants was jumbling her words.

"I'm sorry?"

"Would you kindly please die for me?"

It was clear, level, and said with nothing short of clarity.

She was also giggling.

The fight-or-flight response that I refined over years of charging headlong into war zones kicked into overdrive and I immediately started looking around for a weapon or at least an escape route where she couldn't follow.

Then black angel wings sprouted from her back.

The girl I've been seeing was an angel. Not in the figurative sense.

SHE WAS AN ACTUAL FUCKING ANGEL.

If I was sure that she wasn't going to do something dangerous and hurt me, I would have snapped a dozen pictures and sent them to my friends. The irony and hilarity of the situation would be the toast of our world for weeks.

But of course, she did mean to hurt me. Kill me even. Those warm inviting eyes I've lost myself in turned into scary and dark pits of contempt.

"It was fun. The small amount of time we shared. It was like I was taking care of a child learning how to walk."

A large buzzing sound rent the silence and I was suddenly locked onto and aware of the large menacing spear she had summoned into her hands.

She gave me one last cruel smile before throwing the damn thing at me.

Years of experience of dodging kicked into gear and I managed to slowly jump to the side.

I say slowly because if it had been a little faster, I would have lived.

The spear, fast as the light used to summon it, pierced through my liver and went straight through. I collapsed to one knee and choked, coughing up globs of blood as I pressed hard against the wound in my side and did my best to stem the concerning high flow of blood.

"Oh, so the little baby might still have some fight in him. Don't worry, this time I won't miss."

FUCK.

I turned tail and tried to get as far as possible, tried to activate my communicator and get everyone, tried to keep the precious blood leaking out of my side in.

Tried. Tried. Tried.

None of it worked.

I managed to take at least two steps before a second spear of light zoomed through my chest, staking my body to the ground. I opened my mouth to scream but could only gurgle and choke out more blood. The spear disappeared as fast as it appeared and I fell down to the floor, bleeding heavily from two brand new holes in my body that shouldn't be there.

My eyesight was blurring and my body felt numb. I feebly tried to drag myself forward...feeling the stinging burn of my wounds start to disappear along with everything else. My body was shutting down, I was losing too much blood and probably past the point of recovery by even ancient magics or heavy scientific methods.

Heh, at the time, I was making peace. I was saying things like "I'm sorry I can't be there for you anymore Tsukune," and "Mama, papa, are you proud of the son you raised?" while blood starting to pool around my body.

Still, my dulled senses could still feel the foot steps approaching. I could make out a small voice speak just before my mind shut down.

"Sorry, but you were a major threat to us so we all decided to remove you as quickly as possible. If you want to be angry or hold any grudge, blame the God who put that Sacred Gear inside of you."

...Sacred...Gear?

That was the last question I ever asked.

My body had taken its beating and the toll had been paid. I struggled to keep my eyes open, struggled to drag my soon to be carcass further. I felt something move against me like crazy while something hissed. I think I was crawling over my intestines or something and something was shrilly beeping. I could only lie down and let my life flash before my eyes as everything I cared about came to me in my final moments. I reached out with my right arm...hand bloody as I feebly reached for anything, something to help me.

My family...my brothers...I'm sorry I couldn't represent the pack as a proud warrior we all are. May we meet again in the next life, with bountiful harvests and virgins aplenty. Where the spirits flow freely and the battles are fought for fun. I'm sorry everyone. I didn't know I would be going out this way but I just want you all to know that I wouldn't if I had a real choice.

I'm...sorry...

...

...

...

Oh wait I'm forgetting something important. Just before I finally released whatever hold I had left and shed my mortal coil, I recall seeing her. This girl with crimson red hair and big breasts. She was a true beauty...someone I wouldn't mind taking a go at and cheating on my first girlfriend with, even before this whole stab me twice and leave me to die thing.

"So you were the one who called me."

I don't know where I got the strength to hear such a beautiful voice but it was clear and music to my ears. I sighed internally, this was something that dying people should hear. I felt my body move and be gently rolled over before my head was placed in something soft and warm.

I couldn't see, the light in my eyes long gone and my eyelids struggling to even remained at a fraction above closed.

"Oh dear, you're going to die very soon," Yeah no shit Sherlock, what was your first clue? The blood? The gaping holes? You may be pretty but don't waste my remaining seconds stating the obvious, "But it looks like something interesting is going to happen. Fufufu, I can't believe it's going to happen but it's really interesting."

I don't know what you're talking about lady but whatever you choose to do with my corpse, I ask that you leave something to be buried with my family.

"If you are dying, then I'll pick it up. Your life that is. You will live for me."

...What...?

With a flash of crimson red hair, I lost consciousness.

D=x=D

I remember the time I first led a group of people into battle.

It was amazing. It was life-changing. It was glorious.

It was a bloodbath.

To be fair, my friends did say the simulation had been cranked up to high time war levels and I was leading a group of rookies, not a squadron of experienced veterans.

As such, it should have been no surprise when they all started dropping like flies as they tried to follow me into the fray.

Course, the only reason I wasn't deferred and sent to a different part of the gang was because of how I handled the situation.

Or well...what I was told on how I handled the situation.

See, I'm going to be honest. When I first started out, I didn't think I would ever make it so high as to become a captain, Maybe a foot soldier or a second-in-command but a freaking captain? That's high tier stuff right there. And well, I wasn't supposed to be cut out for that stuff.

So on my first run, I blacked out. I don't remember when or how but I did.

And in my place...something else took over.

Issei~

Soon~

You will know darkness~

Granted I had experience with darkness before. Hell, my cousin is basically the living embodiment of that damn stuff. I wouldn't go so far as to say the whole family but I do know that the roots stretch back pretty far.

Like Roman civilization far.

But I'm digressing.

See, the reason I'm bringing all this up is because well, I feel like I have to share my story. I don't know who would care to read about some teenage boy that just died but hey, I got a gut feeling things aren't ending here.

I mean, I heard people complain a lot about life and the unpredictable elements it presents.

Well, I never had that pleasure. My life was always unpredictable.

And this is why...I feel like things are about to get real interesting...

Through you I am born~

Let it flow into you, my vessel~

Arise, from the dark~

Issei Hyoudou~

I have no freaking clue who the bloody hell this creepy ass voice is but when I find out, I'm going to kick it's ass.

Just as soon as I figure out where here is...

Oh wait there's some light now...man is that shit bright.

=D=x=D

And when I woke up, I was surrounded by crying brothers, my face set in confusion as everyone thanked what Gods they had for my survival.

Which wasn't possible.

I know what happened. I died alone and in a pool of my own blood that night. I shouldn't have been able to get out of bed and smack people in the face, joking about getting some sleep. Hell, I shouldn't have even been able to joke like that.

The leader saw. So did the tactician. Tsukune had his usual look and the more perceptive brothers noticed it too.

Yet no one said anything. They didn't want to dash any hopes or ruin anything.

And so I remained there, in a hospital bed surrounded by many brothers from different backgrounds and different stories. I waited, knowing that come tomorrow, I would have alot to answer for.

But for now, I'm just going to enjoy what I can. My underlings had the good sense to bring plenty of adult mags with them and I smuggled them under the bed sheets.

I'm still normal in that regard aren't I?