First off, I'd like to thank everyone who left a review. You guys have no idea how awesome it is opening my email and seeing all of your positive thoughts and reactions about my story. It's truly awesome. Secondly, I figured I'd answer a few questions I've been getting.
Q: "Is it going to be a Harem story or just a single pairing?" A: Sorry, harem lovers, this is strictly Issei x Raynare. The Issei of this story wouldn't be able to handle more than one girl, and he can barely handle one.
Q: "Why didn't Sona or Akeno say anything about the bullying?" A: Who said Issei went to Kuoh?
Q: "Will there be fights in this story, or is it a slice of life?" A: There will definitely be fights later in the story, I think. Maybe. Count on some fighting. If I really get into a flow with a slice of life, I might make all the fighting happen off-screen kinda, or something like that, but for now, there will be fighting.
Q: "Isn't Raynare in love with Azazel?" A: Not in this timeline, son.
Q: "Why isn't Just a guy with horns as popular as His Angel?" A: I wish I knew.
Yeah, if anything else comes to mind, feel free to PM me or leave a review. Without further adieu, read on!
Lisa Lisa drove with no music on, leaving the spacious car plenty quiet enough for conversation. Issei and Raynare sat close to each other, or rather, Issei tried to sit to one side in the backseat and Raynare moved as close as she could to him. He fought it at first, but relented soon after. The elderly doctor had a knowing smile on her face as she drove out of the parking lot. Issei wondered how she knew where to go, but figured it had something to do with his address probably being easily accessible to a doctor. The drive itself was only about 15 minutes, as the town they were in, Kuoh, was relatively small.
They drove the first few minutes in silence, and Lisa Lisa had finally had enough. She spoke up.
"So, how did you kids meet? And don't you dare tell me it was something cliche, like 'we ran into each other on the sidewalk,' either!" She said, chuckling. Issei looked sheepish. Raynare was the next to speak.
"I asked Issei out, and he rejected me." She said, without even a second of hesitation. The car swerved slightly, and went back on track. "Issei-kun, could it be that I misheard her? There's no way you rejected someone as amazing as Yuuma-chan, right? Tell me I misheard her." Issei looked to the mirror and saw Lisa glaring at him.
"I, uh...ugh. No, she's right. I thought it was a prank, so I...I turned her down." He said, looking out the window. Lisa Lisa grunted in disapproval, like she didn't believe he could do something so stupid. She sighed.
"Well, do you still think it was a prank? Answer wisely." Lisa said, narrowing her eyes. Raynare also looked to him expectantly. He blushed, and didn't look directly at either of them.
"I...I guess not…" He murmured. Lisa started to laugh.
"You guess not, you guess not! Watch it, Yuuma-chan, he's a sharp one! Bahahaha! You're going to have a grand time trying to get anywhere with this one!" Lisa cackled at his response. Raynare had a smile on her face.
Raynare went to hold Issei's hand again. He stiffened momentarily, then calmed down and let her take his hand in hers. Lisa grinned again.
"Well, I suppose there's hope for you yet. So, have you figured out where you're staying while you recover?" She asked Issei. He looked confused.
"What do you mean? I'm staying at my house, I think…?" He asked, not really getting what she meant.
"Oh, my mistake. Looks like you haven't figured it out yet. I won't ruin your plan, Yuuma-chan. Though, he's so dense you might have a hard time getting him to go along with it!" She cackled again, and Raynare looked down in embarrassment. Issei looked between the two of them rapidly, trying to figure out what was going on. What in the world were they talking about? Wasn't he staying with his parents?
"I don't really understand what you're talking about…" He said, still trying to figure out Raynare's plan, which was to have Issei stay with her so she could personally nurse him back to health. Lisa, with her years of experience, had guessed it within minutes, but it would take Issei a while. In fact, he'd probably be wherever Raynare wanted him before he realized she'd been planning it.
"Ho ho, don't worry about. Just the ramblings of an old woman, darling. Now, which one is your house?"
Issei looked out the window, and sure enough, they were on his street. Raynare followed his gaze, and Lisa slowed down so she wouldn't pass the house up.
"The brown one with two stories, right there." He pointed out what was obviously the nicest house on the street.
"Whoa, fancy. I didn't know you lived somewhere this nice, Issei. I'm happy you invited me over." He sighed at Raynare's comment.
"It isn't as great as it looks." He said, downcast. Inwardly, Raynare was seething. His parents had to be some pieces of work if they made living in a place like this seem so awful.
Lisa pulled the car into Issei's driveway and parked. She turned off the car, and waited for Issei and Raynare to collect themselves.
"Issei, dear, could you stay in here a second? I want to speak with you privately. No offense, Yuuma-chan. Just gotta give him a little talking-to." Lisa said, chuckling at the last bit. Raynare looked a bit taken aback, but complied.
"I'll be waiting right outside the car, Issei. Yell if she tries any funny business." Raynare let go of Issei's hand and stepped out of the car, leaving him with the doctor.
"So what did you want to talk about, Lisa-san?" The doctor sighed. "Issei, I want you to listen to me carefully, okay? No talking, just listen." Issei was kind of weirded out by how fast the doctor's attitude had changed from carefree to deadly serious, but he nodded in the affirmative. She sighed again and starting talking.
"I've seen the symptoms of depression before, Issei." She said solemnly. Issei's eyes widened in shock. How could she have known he was depressed? His parents didn't even know! He didn't say anything, though, per her request. She kept going.
"Issei, it's going to get a lot worse before it gets any better. You're not going to understand a lot of what happens to you or why it happens, but you've just gotta keep trucking. The universe sometimes does things that don't make sense, and we've just gotta keep going and going and do the best we can, whenever we can. That's just how life is. No one knows what tomorrow holds, so make the best of today while you still can, otherwise you'll end up old like me and you won't even have realized it." She chuckled.
"I do know one thing, though." She turned around to face him. "That girl outside this car is your chance. She's your one hope for some happiness at the moment. So don't do anything to mess things up with her!" She said, poking him in the chest.
Issei looked like a deer in headlights. He tried to form words in his mouth, but he couldn't think of anything except for one glaring question. "H-how w-w-will I k-know what to d-do?" He sputtered out. She had a sad smile on her face.
"You won't, Issei. That's what makes living life so much fun. I'll give you some advice I wish someone would've given me when I was your age. Listen up, I'll only say it once!" She said, snapping her fingers in his face to make sure he was listening. He laughed, despite the situation.
"Here's the thing. We're all gonna die, eventually." Issei's face fell. Was that supposed to make him feel better? "But, knowing that, would you rather waste your entire life being sad and second guessing every word that comes out of your mouth, or would you rather live every second of every day doing everything you can to make each and every one of your wildest dreams come true? I think I know what I'd say. Now, that girl out there is one of those dreams. Go take it!" She said, and lightly slapped him on the chest. She turned back into her own seat.
"Right, now go tell her to trade places with you. I'm gonna give her a different talk. Maybe something about making babies~?" Lisa Lisa said, making Issei blush. He rushed to open the car door, and Raynare helped him out.
A few seconds later, Issei was outside leaning on the car while Raynare and Lisa Lisa sat inside. Lisa turned to look at Raynare with a stern glare.
"Yuuma. That boy out there is hurting, bad. He's obviously depressed, which I'm sure you noticed. His parents are abusive too, if what I'm guessing is correct. At the very least, they're negligent. He's broken, right now. But you," she pointed a bony finger at Raynare, "can fix him. What he needs right now more than anything, is to be loved and cared for. To that boy, even if he doesn't know it yet, you are his saving grace, his shining light. If I had to guess, before you showed up, he'd been entertaining the idea of suicide."
Raynare gasped. "I knew he was sad, but suicide?" She said softly.
Lisa Lisa nodded gravely. "I've seen it all before. They get it in their heads that nothing is worth living for, that even hell would be better than their current situation. Then, they take it into their own hands, and make the choice." She said, shaking her head in sadness. Lisa Lisa then raised her head, and Raynare could see the fire in her eyes.
"You can't let that happen! You are in the perfect position to save that boy, and I think you know that." Raynare nodded softly, and Lisa Lisa continued.
"So, what I need from you, is this: love that boy. I don't mean physically, sex is hardly what he needs right now, I mean emotionally. Love him from when he gets up in the morning to when he goes to bed at night. If he needs a shoulder to cry on, give him yours. If he needs a pat on the back, you'd better hop to it. If he ever starts to think dying is better than living, then show him it's not! I think you'll find that he'll do more than return the favor." She paused for a second and leaned in close to Raynare.
"One might say you'll be his...guardian angel." Lisa Lisa said with a grin. Raynare's eyes went wide with shock, but before she could react, she was forcefully ejected from the car by an unknown force. She stumbled out onto the driveway, and Issei moved to catch her.
Lisa Lisa's car sped off, and she waved goodbye to the two teens. Who'd have thought that two totally different kinds of person would be so fundamentally perfect for each other? It made Lisa's old heart weep with joy. She chuckled to herself softly. "It's gonna be rough for those too, but they'll pull through…"
Issei caught Raynare right before she fell onto the concrete. He caught her in such a way that it would've looked to the outside observer that they had just decided to start dancing the Tango on the middle of the driveway at night time. Both of the teens blushed, and Issei helped her back up. He was feeling much less pain than he had been earlier, and he could walk on his own, but he still leaned on Raynare. She didn't mind. They walked up to the entrance of the house, but the lights were off. The door was unlocked, however, so Issei just opened it and let them in. No one was awake, or so it seemed from the emptiness of the room they entered, the living room.
Issei wasn't surprised, though. His parents were normally in bed at about 9 or 10, and while he wasn't sure what time it was, he knew it was probably well past that. He turned to Raynare, who followed close behind him.
"I've, uh, we've got t-two guest rooms, you can p-pick one, if you'd like…" He said.
"Or…?" She replied. Raynare tilted her head, and gestured for him to keep speaking.
He was confused, but he kept going. "O-or, I guess you could stay in m-m-my r-room…" He managed to say, stuttering slightly and blushing furiously. She blushed too. Even though that was what she wanted him to say, it was slightly embarrassing nonetheless. On the bright side, it was dark enough in the house that he couldn't see her blushing.
"I'd love to, Issei. Lead the way." Raynare said, not looking him in the eyes. Issei gulped, but he lead the way to his room. He opened the door, and let Raynare in. She looked around.
Everything was neat and orderly, like he had way too much time on his hands and enjoyed cleaning. There was a king size bed at the center of the room, and a large couch at the foot of it. The bed had nightstands on both sides, and there were two bookshelves in the room, on opposite ends of one another, so you'd have to walk around the bed and to the other side of the room to go to the other shelf. Behind the bed, there was a large window, and the full moon streamed in from the glass, highlighting the white walls and giving the whole room a white glow. There were three doors in Issei's room. The one they came in, and two more. Raynare guessed they were probably a bathroom and closet.
"I-I, um, I'll sleep on the uh, couch, so make yourself at home…" He said quietly. Raynare inwardly squealed. He's so f***ing cute! How naive and innocent and adorable this boy is! It made her want to just pick him up in her arms and twirl him around and never let go. He excused himself to the bathroom to get changed into his pajamas and out of his hospital smock. So, Raynare planned a little surprise for him.
Issei stepped into the bathroom, and immediately almost fell over. He propped himself up on the sink, and he started to breath heavily. There's a girl in my room. There's a gorgeous beautiful awesome amazing girl in my room. He was acting like he normally did on the outside, but truth be told, being near a girl for so long was weighing on him, mentally. He knew that no matter what, he wouldn't be getting any sleep tonight. He had never been near a girl he trusted, not for years, since when his grandmother died. This was tearing away at his mental state, and his brain kept barking at him to stop getting close to her, to stop letting himself trust her before it was too late. Nothing good came out of trusting anyone, ever. He couldn't let himself form an attachment.
"No, no, no. This is wrong! She saved me from Matsuda and paid for my hospital visit. She's helped me and comforted me for this long, I at least owe her some trust..." Issei whispered to himself, in the bathroom. Lisa Lisa's voice echoed in his mind. "Don't you dare get her hopes up because you 'owe her,' okay?"
Issei forced himself to calm down. He stopped breathing so hard, and his pulse went down, slowly. He started whispering to himself again. "No. I'm going to trust her. I'm going to let myself get close with her. And, if she turns out to be like all the rest...I'll just kill myself and be done with it, simple as that. Not like anyone would miss me, anyway..." Issei looked at himself in the mirror, and he wasn't shocked to see tears in his eyes. He started changing into his pj's, and said no more.
Raynare slid down the other side of the bathroom door, shocked. The doctor had been right. Issei was ready to end it all if she screwed it up. Issei thought he'd been talking to himself, but in reality Raynare could hear him clear as ever, due to her enhanced senses as a Fallen Angel. Raynare touched her face, and was surprised to feel hot tears falling down from her eyes. Could he really be so sad that he'd want to throw his life away? It made Raynare sick to think of someone as sweet and kind as him killing himself because the world did him wrong. She made up her mind. I'll protect him, I swear it. I swear on my life that this boy will never be sad again. She was resolute. Nothing would harm him again, not if she could help it.
She'd be his guardian angel, indeed.
A few moments later, when Issei stepped out of the bathroom in black flannel pajamas, he was shocked to see Raynare, who was in nothing but a black silken nightgown.
"Y-Y-Y-Yuuma-san! W-w-what a-are y-you wearing?!" He whispered loudly at her. He blushed like mad and turned away as fast as he could. It made her smile, how innocent he was. So, she snuck up behind him while he turned away from her, and hugged him from behind. He could very clearly feel two reasons why they shouldn't be hugging like that, but he couldn't even form words in his mouth.
"What's wrong, Issei? You don't like it?" She asked him, still hanging on his back.
"N-no! It's not that I don't l-l-l-like it, you're beautiful, I just...I, um...I can feel them…" he managed to spit out.
Raynare blushed. Raynare blushed harder than she ever had in her life. Her face turned scarlet red, and she was pretty sure he could see it even with how dark it was, so she buried her face in his back.
"You...you really think I'm beautiful, Issei?" She asked, softly. He stiffened, and Lisa Lisa's advice from the car suddenly made sense to him.
"I-I do! You're gorgeous...I-I mean, not in a weird way, I just...um...I...ugh. Yes, I think you're really p-pretty, Yuuma-san." His word made her face burn. If she was blushing before, she her face was on fire, now. She let go of him, much to his relief, and turned away so he wouldn't see her face.
"G-good! I'm really glad you think so, Issei. Also, you already called me Yuuma in the hospital, so don't you dare start calling me 'Yuuma-san' now!" He sighed.
"Of course, Yuuma." Issei climbed on the couch. Raynare stopped before climbing on the bed. She decided to tease him some more.
"How are we going to sleep together on a couch? Wouldn't it be easier on the bed?" Issei face went beet-red at her words.
"S-s-s-s-sleep together?! We met a day ago, we can't s-sleep together…" he said, shocked that she'd even say something like that. She sighed, and smiled.
"I guess you're right. Goodnight then, Issei." She laid down on his bed, her head facing where he was on the couch.
Unbeknownst to her, Issei was having a mental battle with himself. It was his timidity versus his very-rarely used bolder side, which had been enriched by Lisa Lisa's words. The bolder side won, and his hand snaked up to the bed from his spot on the couch. He intertwined his fingers with hers, shocking the fallen angel. She didn't resist, of course, and she gladly held his hand. They were both asleep in minutes.