The Love Octagon Venn Diagram
A High School DxD fanfic
By me
Rated M
Chapter 2: I'd Wait for Life
The Occult Research Club gathered in the meeting room for their daily assigning of tasks after school. Azazel was, this time, not present, with Rias now able to finally occupy her chair. Before her were the two sofas that seated her club members. On the sofa to her right sat all eight of the regular servants – all bunched on to one sofa, making for a very cramped living space. On the parallel sofa facing them sat Taro Gin, stretching his arms out across the back of the chair, with a wide smile plastered across his face.
"You know I don't bite, guys," he said to those on the other sofa with a nervous laugh.
They responded by shooting daggers from their eyes at him.
"Damn, tough crowd," Taro muttered to himself.
"Good afternoon, club members. I'd like to take this opportunity to welcome our newest club member: Taro Gin. I know he might seem like a dick, and basically is one, but try to be friendly to him," Rias instructed.
"Thanks for the kind words and support," Taro said to her, giving her a thumbs up.
"Our first order of business is to sort out our present living arrangements," Rias began, "we currently reside in the home of the Hyoudou family. Whilst they remain kind to us in the absence of their son, of whom we are unable to give a truthful answer on the whereabouts of, there is an air of awkwardness surrounding the situation. Does anyone have any suggestions on how we can relieve this awkwardness or temporarily move away whilst we await Issei's return?"
After an initial minute of silence, Taro piped up: "you could come and live with me?"
"I'm sorry?" Rias responded.
"You saw my house, it's massive. There's definitely enough space for more people," said Taro.
"Whilst that is a tempting offer, I'd rather we didn't resort to squatting, in the same way that I assume you are," replied Rias.
"I'm not a squatter. I own the place."
"How can a lone boy afford such a house?"
"When I need money I convince rich men to give me money with my eye technique. A particularly wealthy and generous gentleman donated the money for me to buy my house."
"So you resorted to thievery?" Xenovia weighed in, "we will have no part in your sinful activity."
"I prefer to think of myself as being like Robin Hood – I take from the rich and give to the poor – with, in this case, the poor being me," Taro retorted.
"So you only rob from bad rich men?" Asia said, her face lighting up at the prospect of this fellow not being as dickish as she initially thought.
"No, not quite, it tends to be based on whoever I can find. But I'll start only robbing from bad rich men from now on, if you'd like," Taro responded.
"They'll be no more stealing of any sort on your part, Taro," barked Rias, but with a softer tone she then said "but you have managed to convince me. We will try out living at your place in the short term, as it seems like the simplest solution."
"Great," Taro replied.
After finding a solution to the first order of business, Rias moved on to the usual things – assigning tasks to her club members and sending them away. By the end of this, only Akeno and Taro remained.
"Before I send you two on your way, we need to sort out the binding contract Taro agreed to," said Rias, "and I'd also like to discuss Taro's powers."
"What would you like to know?" Taro asked.
"Your powers are essentially more developed versions of the basic powers of devils. All," Rias hesitated, "most devils are able to teleport themselves from place to place (thinking back to Issei's inability to teleport in his early beginnings), but you've taken the teleporting one step further. In a similar ilk, many high class devils can bend people to their will, but your ability seems like a far more developed version. Is your power set basically just more developed versions of basic techniques?"
"Perhaps," he responded.
Rias tried to hold back her frustration at this inadequate response, "and you demonstrated knowledge of my club that goes far beyond what most devils, let alone strays, know of us, how?"
"I know things."
"What 'things'?"
"Now if I told you that I'd have-"
"Let me guess, you'd have to kill us?" Rias interrupted, with frustration etched across her face.
"No, if I told you that I'd have no air of mystery surrounding me, and I'd lose some my sex appeal."
"Sex appeal?"
"Indeed. Akeno gets it, I can tell that she'd love a bit of this," said Taro, gesturing to Akeno on the sofa facing him, "what can I say? The looks, the charm, it just works."
Before Rias could respond Akeno weighed in: "I would not 'love a bit of this', thank you very much," Akeno informed him angrily, before turning to Rias, "now Rias, what do you need me in here for? I'd like to get away from him as soon as possible," with Akeno turning towards Taro to glare at him.
"I love you too," he said with a friendly smile, "I mean how could I not? You're amazing. Our babies would be beautiful. And that goes for you too, Rias."
"You make it very difficult for people to like you," Rias informed him with a bored expression across her face, and then turned back to Aneko, "I need your help binding him to a contract of sorts."
"Very well, I'll do anything to stop him getting up to no good," replied Akeno.
"Does that include me 'getting up to no good' with either of you - If you know what I mean?" Taro asked.
"Whilst, sadly, I do know what you mean, I'm not going to grace that question with a response," Rias said tiredly, she was already beginning to sense that letting this delinquent into her club was going to be a bad idea.
"Don't hate the player, hate the game," retorted Taro.
Rias ignored Taro and began to speak: "Akeno, I need you to help me put a binding sigil on him that will inflict an immense amount of pain upon him if he goes out of line."
Akeno giggled, "that sounds just like my sort of thing. This will be fun."
"How will this sigil be placed on me exactly?" Taro enquired.
"Like a tattoo, but infused with magic," Rias responded.
"A tattoo? No, I'm good actually. Can't I just give you my word on a man's honour? A tattoo sounds a bit needless and painful."
"What, is it our tough little 'player' afraid of needles?" Akeno laughed.
"No, I just don't care for them."
"Your word means nothing, you are no man, and you have no honour. None of those things will suffice," Rias informed him.
"Pretty please?" Taro begged.
"Stop being a baby, if you don't act like a little bitch whilst we give you the sigil, Akeno and I will give you a kiss," Rias told him.
"Deal," replied Taro, his tone becoming far more eager.
/
Later that evening, the company of the Occult Research Club moved into Taro's home. Once bedrooms had been assigned – and after the rejection of Taro's offer for the girls to all share his room – they gathered in Taro's living area. Rias had insisted on the room being arranged to match her office at the club's meeting headquarters. On this occasion, Taro was joined on his sofa by Akeno, who had found a new form of amusement. After having the sigil placed on his left wrist, he had taken to holding it tightly with his right hand and looking at it with tears in his eyes, trying to hold back the pain. Akeno had found it rather amusing to try and poke his left wrist, enjoying how he reacted by crying out and whimpering.
"Come on, let me poke it, stop being a baby – it doesn't hurt that much," she taunted him.
"No, stop it, Akeno," he wailed, which she responded to by giggling. After finally breaking through his defences to give his wrist a strong poke he replied by crying out "ow, shit, you bitch!" which she found intensely funny and almost fell on the floor in her laughing state.
After wiping away his tears – which he initially tried to do using Akeno's skirt, but was faced with a strong objection and an even harder poke to his wrist, which set him back a bit – Taro turned to Rias and said: "I believe I'm own two kisses for being big, brave boy."
"No, you were a little bitch throughout. No kisses for you," Rias responded with a wide grin.
Taro wept even more after this, "I hath been robbed," he cried.
"You shouldn't have worried about losing your air of mystery taking away your sex appeal, as this performance has certainly done it," Akeno told him.
"Really, because it seems to have drawn you in?" Taro replied. In response, Akeno punched him where a man would rather not be punched. "Interesting choice of where to put your hand," he wheezed, with his battle against crying becoming even more intense.
/
As the night drew in, plans for slumber had to be forgotten after Rias was alerted to the presence of a demonic creature in her territory. She gathered her troops and gave them their instructions.
"… Gaspar, I want you to try and freeze this creature to allow us the best chance of dealing with it. My sources tell me it's a big boy," Rias said, giving Gaspar his instructions.
"Yes, ma'am," Gaspar replied.
"Wait, wait, wait. Hold on just one second. Why is there a boy dressed as a girl here? When did he get here?" Taro interrupted.
"You didn't know I was here or part of the group?! But I was the one that froze you, allowing us to capture you!" Gaspar cried, bursting into tears – for he is a sensitive soul.
"Sorry, mate, but I generally only notice females – particularly girls as attractive as these," Taro informed him, "and men of whom I view as competition – like the pretty boy over there," pointing at Kiba.
"It's rude to point," Kiba reminded him blankly.
"Jeez, is there ever a moment when you don't cause an issue, Taro?" Rias said, again feeling tired from having to put up with him.
"I'll have to get back to you," Taro replied.
Finally able to return to the task at hand, the Occult Research Club found their way to an old warehouse – the supposed home of this stray creature.
"I suppose this is one of the only places that's tall enough to house such a creature," Rossweisse proposed.
"The best route of entry is to go round and go through the backdoor entrance," Rias informed them.
"Whey," Taro laughed, "backdoor entrance."
"You might actually be worse than Issei," Koneko muttered, holding her head in her hands.
"Shut up," Rias told him bluntly.
"You're so hot when you're angry with me," Taro told her.
Rias ignored him and led to the team to the backdoor entrance of the warehouse. The door was locked. Rias gestured to Koneko to come over and bust the door down. Koneko came over and, with a surge of power, smashed the door open.
"Okay, let's go," Rias whispered to her team.
"Good idea, let's whisper. Just in case the loud bang that probably woke up half the town hasn't alerted the creature to our presence," said Taro.
They entered into a pitch black room. Whilst their eyes adjusted, all they could sense was movement around them, based on hearing rustling in the background.
"Oh no, I'm scared. I don't like the dark!" Gaspar whispered, tears flooding his eyes.
"Stop being a little bitch and grow a pair, you're meant to be a boy," Taro shouted at him, which only proved to cause Gaspar to cry even more. Taro's feelings of guilt, however, were interrupted by a low growl in the background.
"What was that?" Asia asked.
"My stomach. Sorry, I forgot to eat before we left," Taro replied. Then an even louder growl filled the room. "I can categorically confirm that wasn't my stomach that time," Taro informed them.
Out from the darkness came a long than it is wide (so phallic shaped) piece of flesh that sent Asia, Koneko, Gaspar and Irina flying through the air. It was a tail. Obviously, what else would it be? A penis? Get your mind out of the gutter, please.
Just as the club's compatriots seemed to be heading for a mighty thump against the wall, they disappeared and appeared firmly on the ground on the opposite side of where the group stood to where they'd been sent flying.
"Don't worry, girls," Taro began, "and Gaspar, I've got your backs. I've got everyone's backs," finishing by giving them a wave.
The creature hurtled through the darkness at them, its teeth bared. This wretched being was quite the menacing site. It looked like a giant Komodo Dragon - with it being the size of three elephants, length wise – but twice as menacing, due to it possessing crocodile like mouth, which they could only imagine what hid inside. But their imagination was soon given answers, when its' jaws opened wide, as it threw itself in their direction, showing off a full set of sharp and pointy teeth, that looked like they could pierce through your body with little effort. The club members thought they'd have enough time to ready themselves for the beast, but they were wrong – it possessed an unnatural speed for its size and proportions. As it's opened lower jaw attempted to scoop them into its mouth, many found themselves closing their eyes and waiting for the inevitable crunch. But it never came.
Instead, as they finally gathered the strength to open their eyes, they found the welcomed sight of the creature being on the other side of the room. Upon the realisation of what had happened they looked to Taro with admiration somehow slipping into their gaze.
"To reiterate: I've got your backs. But, please, come on; get your shit together, people. I'm not a one man team, I can't do this alone," Taro said, clasping his quenched left fist into his opened right hand in an attempt to be motivational. And it seemed to work.
Rias' club members found a new source of strength in this close shave with a gruesome death. They unearthed a new sense of courage in this time of adversity and found themselves prepared to take this monster head on. The sword wielders led the charge. They drove their blades into the sizes of the beast, and the creature replied with screams of pain. Every time they monster tried to swipe them away with one of its massive feet they were teleported to the other side of the creature, allowing them to attack a different side, inflicting it with pain on multiple fronts.
Koneko followed suit and used her low centre of gravity to move swiftly under the beast, attacking it from below where it was unable only able to swipe for her blindly. Whenever the creature's wild swipes got too close for comfort, Taro teleported her elsewhere to a safer location.
Gaspar continued to cower in fear, unable to focus enough to freeze only the beast. Both the loss of Issei and the sharp tongue of Taro had resulted in a loss of confidence on his part. And the terrifying qualities of what faced them also didn't help his nerves.
Akeno and Rossweisse took to the air to provide a more long distance method of combat. They shot beams of lightning at the creature, causing it a great deal of distress. It particularly took exception to one of Akeno's lightning bolts hitting it right in the face. Diverting its intention from that which was on the ground, it raised itself so that it now stood on its hind legs, raising itself to Akeno's level. Whilst those on the ground continued to strike at its lower legs and tail, it ignored them and gave all its attention to Akeno, moving towards her, its eyes transfixed upon her. Rossweisse attempted to divert attention away from Akeno with various elemental attacks but it maintained its focus on the girl who hit it in the head.
Rias decided this was her moment to intervene but Taro, who was just to the side of her, raised his across her to stop her. "Wait, anything you do might catch Akeno in the crossfire, I've got this." Rias nodded and gestured for him to do what was necessary.
Akeno tried to get the monster to back away by firing lightning bolts at it but it proceeded without caution, and however much she threw at it the monster remained intent on getting to her, never breaking from its step. It wasn't as quick on two legs as it was on four, but its slow pace and heavy steps made it all the more menacing a prospect for Akeno. "Oh, shit," she cried out, as she began to feel helpless. The monster drew closer and opened its jaws wide, before lunging at Akeno in an attempt to swallow her whole. Akeno screamed and closed her eyes, again finding herself waiting for the inevitable crunch and sweet release of death, but again it never came.
"Have you got something in your eye, you seem pretty intent on keeping them closed?" a familiar voice said to her.
Akeno turned and saw she had returned to the safety of the other side of the warehouse, alongside Rias and Taro, who was gripping her back.
"That was a close one for the both of us there, by the time I'd made it to you I almost found myself swallowed too," Taro began, "for I deemed it necessary that I teleport over in person as I find my abilities more predictable when I'm teleporting myself."
"Thank you," she said quietly, blushing.
"Don't worry, baby doll, as I've said previously: I've got everyone's backs. In your case, quite literally," Taro told her, gesturing to the hand that was still on her back.
Akeno couldn't help but laugh at this, "have you left it there just so you could make that quip?"
He nodded, "of course. My dedication to humour is unrivalled."
"Now, Akeno, let's obliterate this fucker," Rias said with a determined smile.
"Yes, let's," replied Akeno, with a matching smirk.
They turned to the beast and shouted to their comrades to back away, no more pissing around - they had weakened it enough to make one powerful strike enough to eliminate this foe. Rias and Akeno unleashed a great burst of power upon this creature. The monster let loose a bloody curdling scream, but this was its last action. When the smoke cleared, nothing remained where it once stood but ashes.
"Yes, go Team Taro!" Taro cried in jubilation.
"That's not what we're called," Rias informed him.
"It is now," Taro informed her.
/
Rias looked across the living room and towards her newest member, glowing with a new sense of pride. No longer was he sat alone, but instead amongst his new peers – finally a part of the group, and not on the outskirts. They no longer look at him with disdain as the one who made fools of them whilst objectifying them, but as a teammate who provided them with cover and moral support when they needed it.
"Gaspar, I'd like to apologise to you for my comments earlier," Taro said to Gaspar, "I shouldn't have been so rude to you. I know what you've gone through, both in the long term and immediate past, in terms of what you've lost, and yet I thought it right to be cruel to you."
"Oh, well, it's alright, Taro," Gaspar replied shyly.
"No, no it is not. I need to make this up for you. I have been postulating ways to help you get more confident, and I believe I have come up with a situation," Taro told Gaspar. "Wearing girl's clothes makes you feel more comfortable, doesn't it? Well I have used this logic to come to this conclusion, I want you to try wearing these pair of high heels," said Taro, pulling out a shoebox from under the sofa.
"How exactly will this help his confidence?" asked Kiba, a doubter.
"It's just a theory at present, try them on and let's see how you feel," said Taro. He handed the box to Gaspar, who slowly opened the box and pulled the heels out. He laid them out on the floor, where he slipped out of his present shoes and slipped his feet into the heels. "Try walking in them," Taro instructed.
Gaspar did so, almost falling over at first, but Koneko caught his arm and pushed him back upright. He continued with his attempts, eventually developing a system to it and becoming more able to walk in his shoes. "Yeah, I do feel strangely more confident in these," Gaspar said.
"It is as I expected," said Taro, "high heeled shoes are often considered to be for those who are confident enough to wear them, and for those who feel more confident when wearing them – perhaps because it allows them to stand a couples inches taller."
Rias held her head in her hands at this incident, whilst he may finally be gaining acceptance from the group, he still maintains the same character flaws. Rias drew her mind back to when she first laid eyes upon him in class. She remembered the feeling of familiarity she had regarding him, which she still hadn't shaken off – she felt that they'd met before, but she couldn't put her finger on when. The name 'Taro Gin' meant nothing to her. Regardless, there were still things that left her uneasy regarding Taro, and she needed to uncover why. At least, uneasiness was the feeling she thought she had regarding him.
/
The group began to disperse and return to their night chambers, as Taro got up to do likewise he found a hand wrap around his arm and pull him back down. He turned to find that this hand belonged to a nervous looking Akeno. "May I help you?" he asked her.
"No, you've helped me more than enough and I've still not really thanked you for it," Akeno replied.
"No 'thank yous' necessary, making sure that you're still alive so that I get to see your beautiful face and figure is more than enough, my dear."
Akeno blushed at this. They were alone now, everyone else had returned to their rooms.
"I'd just like to properly say 'thank you' for saving my life. I'm not at my best currently, and that almost proved costly, but you're the reason I'm still here right now. In spite of your flaws, you're not a bad guy," said Aneko, who then leapt across the sofa to hug Taro.
Taro grimaced, 'oh my days, I can feel her tits pressing against me. STAY CALM, Taro, you pride yourself on your composed disposition. Don't get a boner, don't get a-…'
"Is that your gun or are you just happy to see me?" Akeno whispered into his ear seductively. He grew.
"Well it can't be my gun, as I had my gun license suspended after I shot a guy in the ankle after I'd had my first alcoholic beverage. He looked at me funny, you see. It was a particularly sad moment as I lost two recently acquired items that day – my gun and my fake ID. A very sorry state of affairs, I must say," Taro informed her.
Akeno chuckled at this and then kissed him on the cheek, before getting up and making her way to the staircase, "good night, Taro," and with that she proceeded up the stairs and was gone.
"Yes, yes it has been. A very good night," Taro murmured to himself.
/
Taro stared up at his bedroom ceiling, holding on to the lingering memory of his previous interaction with Akeno. 'Who knew that just telling a girl she was clearly gagging for you would actually make them start gagging for you? It's like reverse-reverse-psychology. If only I'd uncovered this earlier in my life.'
His trail of thought was interrupted by a knock on his door. He reluctantly got out of his bed and dragged himself to the door. He opened the door to find the welcomed site of Rias Gremory in her nightgown. 'Nice.'
"Hello, Taro," Rias began, "may I come in?"
Taro nodded and stepped out of the doorway, giving her entry into his room. She strolled in, with Taro closing the door behind her, and she sat herself on the edge of his bed. "Come, sit with me," she said to him, gesturing to the space next to her on the edge of his bed.
After he sat down and turned his head towards her, she began to speak.
"I'd like to start off by thanking you for your efforts. You galvanised an out-of-sorts team and gave us the fighting strength to win this battle. It was very pleasing for me to see that you seem to have finally been accepted by the rest of the club. Issei gave everyone a sense of protection, as he always seemed to pull it out of the bag. You seemed to have gone some way towards restoring this feeling, even if your style is more defensive than Issei's heavily offensive way of going into combat.
"However, there are two questions I'd like to ask you that I need answers to."
"Ask away," Taro replied.
"The first question relates to when we apprehended you. Since meeting us you have the made the bold claim that you 'know things.' When I told Gaspar to freeze you hesitated and watched on in anticipation. For your bold claim to have merit, surely you must have known what his power set is, yet you didn't teleport. Furthermore, even if you didn't know his power set, surely my instruction for him to something was enough of a prompt for you to move, but you remained, standing in one place like a statue. Which brings me to my question, were you holding back when we captured you?"
"Yes," Taro replied bluntly.
"Why?"
"Now, now, you only get two questions – your words, not mine. Is this really the second question you wish to ask me?"
Rias groaned with frustration, "no, I have another question I'd like to ask you too."
"Well what's more important then? The 'why' question or this other one? If you're lucky, maybe I'll be able to answer both questions in one," Taro responded. "If you're about to ask the question I think you are then you'll get an answer to both," he added.
"Have we met before? When I first saw you in class I felt a sense of familiarity regarding you. Was this feeling misplaced or have we met before?" Rias demanded.
"Bingo, that was the question we wanted," Taro said with a smirk. "And, yes, we have met before. Over the years I have adopted many names in my attempts to escape the grasps of exorcists, fallen angels, angels, the chaos brigade and devils. But my first name, my original name, was Taro Tokushumono. I hope that rings a bell with you."
It did. Taro Tokushumono was the first person she ever approached about becoming one of her servants and the only person to reject her offer. Rias came to him as he fled his home in the wake of his parents' assassination. The Tokushumono family were made up of generations of leading devil generals – well regarded military tacticians. Taro Tokushumono's father, Hose, was one of those in line to become a leading devil after the great war, but instead he and his wife found himself to one of the first casualties of the developing Chaos Brigade. Their son escaped, but still pursued, and Rias came to him to offer salvation – but he rejected the offer.
"At the time, I felt a deep mistrust for my fellow devils, as devils had murdered my parents - hence why I rejected your offer. Since uncovering the truth regarding this matter, that it was by a separate group of devils, I have deeply regretted my decision. I have spent many a night thinking about what could've been if I had accepted your offer.
"I grew tired of running from those who wished to stop a stray devil causing mischief as a means to a living, and those who wished to just plain eliminate devils. I came here with the set plan of becoming part of your team, as I should've years ago. I held back so that you could capture me, but I did enough to allow you to see that I was worthy of being part of your squad."
Rias found herself welling up at this tale, but still felt some resentment towards him for having the audacity to reject her.
"You were beautiful back then, but I had no idea you'd blossom into something so amazing and develop such a fantastic set of breasts. If I'd had that knowledge then I definitely wouldn't have rejected your offer. If I'd known who you go on to recruit I definitely would not have. Pretty girls like Akeno, Koneko, Asia, Xenovia, Rossweisse, and Irina. And now that they don't hate me anymore, they seem like great girls too. They have a 'great pair of personalities' in both senses of the word when referring to a woman. Who knows what could've become of me if I'd accepted the offer. I could have been your husband – I am a pure blooded devil from a well-respected family after all – or, even better, by now I might have a harem!"
Rias' heart sank at this statement, as memories of Issei came flooding in. She couldn't help but smile through the tears.
"I know that I'm a cunt," Taro added.
"Yes, you are a bit," Rias replied with a smile.
"But I've always wanted to be your cunt," said Taro, "wait, no, that came out wrong," with Taro becoming rather sheepish.
Rias laughed at this, and appreciated the sentiment nonetheless.
'This is going to be difficult. I need to break from my usual character and get really emotionally deep. Here goes,' Taro thought to himself before turning back to Rias to speak.
"For me, Rias Gremory, you are the one that got away – in a sense – and presently my life's biggest regret. To hold you close tonight, I'd wait for life."
And with those beautiful words, Rias' heart melted. She lunged at Taro and kissed him passionately.
'Who knew that getting in touch with your feelings was a sure-fire way to make a girl crave you? Again, if only I'd know sooner in life.'
"I'm so sorry, Taro, that you've had to spend your life on the run. I should've come back for you, but I let my ego get in the way. How has the thought never crossed my mind that the loss of your parents at the hands of devils caused a deep mistrust of them? Oh, how sorry I am," Rias cried, pulling him into her bosom in a deep hug.
"No, it's alright. Like myself at the time, you were a child and such things rationale was beyond the simple mind of a child," Taro responded, pulling Rias in closer to him and his face deeper into her breasts. This was exactly the kind of reward he wanted for breaking out of character and losing his normally light hearted manner.
Rias spent the night with him in his bed, allowing him to not have to wait for life to get the opportunity to hold her close tonight – unaware of the unoriginality of his words (Google it) – with Rias wrapped tightly in Taro's arms, whose hands may have accidentally strayed one or two times, with Taro emphasising the 'accidentally' each time. Rias forced herself to overcome her guilt regarding Issei over this. She wasn't willing to accept he was gone for good, but she knew she needed to move on. Maybe she could have a harem of her own too? She smiled at this thought as she was swept over by sleep. 'That would be nice.'