Disclaimer: I do not speak Japanese, possess a Sacred Gear, own Highschool DxD, nor make profit from any fan-written work based upon or derived from it.

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

"Incantation"

('Albion, mental')

(Albion Speaking)

A companion fic to my main story, Holy Inferno Dragon. As such, only the nine women I've explicitly listed as Issei's harem are married to him.

By popular demand, a list of Issei's children in order.

Kurenai Hyoudou - Akeno's son, age five

Ex Gremory - Rias' son, age four

Airi Hyoudou - Asia's daughter, age four

Helmwige - Rossweisse' daughter, age three

Robertina Hyoudou - Ravel's daughter, age three (and a half!)

Zen Quarta - Xenovia's son, age three

Shirayuki - Koneko/Shirone's daughter, age two

Kurobara - Kuroka's daughter, age two

Shin Shidou - Irina's son, 10 months

Remember that while married, Japanese naming typically alters to save the wife's family name, meaning Ex, Zen, and Shin carry their mother's last names instead of their father's. All others carry their father's, don't need/use last names, or have further relatives to keep the maiden name alive. With Irina, Xenovia, and Rias as only child's or heiress, their children continue their family name.

Future Taking Flight: Bright Morning

If there was one thing Issei would always find time for, it was family time. Whether it be foisting responsibilities upon someone else or blitzing through his workload, he was always up for time with his children and wives.

Family movie nights were fun. More often than not, it was Rias who picked as she had the best balance between everyone's interests. Romance, action, intrigue, you name it she knew a film to match the family's movie crazes.

They'd pile into the basement, clustered in front of the giant screen. It was quite frequent that one or two of the children would doze off mid-movie and subsequently need to be carried back to bed at its end.

The reverse was a bit more complicated. Saturday morning cartoons would see a scuffle for control of the remote, underhanded deals and trades for choice of channel, and who sits where, who gets snacks, etcetera. The kids would be up before the crack of dawn to look for an advantage.

The one constant the children shared was that they enjoyed pulling their parents out of bed to watch with them.

Much to said parents' reluctance.

The double doors to the master bedroom flew open with a BANG as Kurenai and Ex made their entrance. The noise woke each of the adults sleeping, though only a few of them graced it with a 'what the hell is my child doing' look. Notably, Issei, Xenovia, and Kuroka kept their eyes closed and pretended that it wasn't an issue.

The kids were filing in now. The eldest brothers leading the charge, followed by a toddling Zen. Helmwige and Robertina followed close behind, while Airi held Shin's hand for balance as he took ungainly steps.

Seven kids accounted for. Kurobara and Shirayuki were either still in bed, or more likely, pressing as many buttons as they could on the tv remote downstairs already.

Issei withdrew the assumption when two right hands started tapping away at his forehead. One eye slid open just enough to see the two catgirls upside down in his vision. Sitting on the headboard, they were trying to rouse him in their own way.

Each child was brimming with the energy and enthusiasm only kids below the age of ten could muster. Consequently, each parent felt fatigue in equal proportion.

"Dad! Moms! Wake up!" Ex cried out as he mantled over the cushioned bench at the foot of the bed. "It's morning!"

"Yes, yes it is," Rias sighed as she sat up from where she lay, giving her son a look of barely concealed annoyance. A look that had him freeze mid air and nearly crash, were it not for her plucking him out of the air and hugging him to her. "Good morning to you." She kissed his crimson hair, causing him to squirm.

As the children made their way to and atop the bed, their respective mothers roused themselves to wake and greet them. Xenovia casually yanked her son to her by the scruff of his onesie, while Irina was more gentle as she lifted her son up, Shin already with his arms wide and squealing with joy.

Issei became more aware of who was on his immediate left and right as his Nekoshou daughters jumped down and embraced their respective mothers. As it was, Koneko and Kuroka and their children resembled each other so closely that sometimes the only way to visibly tell them apart was hair color and height.

Nekomata and, by extension, Nekoshou had peculiar aging processes. To start, nineteen times out of twenty, any child they had was a girl regardless of the sire's species. Were it a son, the physical traits were present but diminished slightly as the boy took after his father in appearance, with the Nekomata genes eventually being overcome by the sired ones over successive generations; unless the father was another Nekomata, in which case the same thing happened but at a slower rate over generations. On the other hand, girls were practically genetic copies of their mothers. Sure, they might inherit a differing eye or hair color, but otherwise were indistinguishable.

While the boys grew up at rates similar to humans, the girls stopped visibly aging around twelve or thirteen. After maybe four or five years, they'd reach their maturity and safely fall into a coma as their bodily functions slowed for maturation. A week would pass, and the Nekomata would find that her body had been transformed to eternally mimic their mother's, which is to say, take the form commonly associated with the Eastern hemisphere's most famous species of sex demon. And since male Nekomata were inclined to sleep with exceptionally beautiful women, beauty among their kind was considered universal.

Because of all this, Shirayuki and Kurobara might as well be identical twins given they were born on the same day. Also because of this, Koneko and Kuroka now shared the same body type and proportions. So again, hair color and height were the only visual cues to those that didn't know them or had a spiritual connection.

Koneko laid back into Issei's side, Shirayuki trapped between them but looking incredibly pleased with herself. Issei couldn't help himself, he brought his other arm across his chest to caress his daughter's ears and smirked when they twitched in response.

Koneko herself smiled and accepted the good morning kiss Issei gave her. At least, he was sure she was Koneko.

There had been that time when the sisters had alternated magically dyeing their hair, giving him the novel experience to bed apparent twins.

But when she rested her head on his shoulder he knew it was her. "Ise-nya, can we stay a little longer-nya?"

Ah, that was Koneko, who usually asked politely. Kuroka used fewer words and more lewd action to keep him in place.

"I'd like to, but the little devils won't give us even that much." He fake groaned in response, earning a round of laughter from the kids.

A tiny weight settled on his chest. He looked forward to see Kurobara sitting on him, tracing his chest with a finger. One habit shared by all of his daughters.

The physical scars from Tartarus had long since faded from time and intensive healing. Even with their absence, he did retain several from more recent fights, and his daughters seemed prone to do as their mothers, to trace the lines and marks to form some unseen pattern.

"Enough, you!" Issei sat up suddenly, causing Kurobara to squeak as she fell backwards only to be caught in one strong arm. Issei moved his head from side to side, enjoying the cracks as his neck stretched. "We'll never get to cartoons at this rate."

Every child suddenly lost interest in their mother's affections to stare pointedly at their father. "Cartoons!" Eight of them shouted.

"Ka-hoons!" Shin joyfully shrieked but the message and enthusiasm was clear.

"Up, up!" At his insistence, the kids jumped off the bed running for the door and down to the basement. Issei took Shin from Irina, giving her a kiss, as well as giving one to each of his wives as well. "Rest a little longer," he smiled. "I've got this."

"Mou," Ravel whined as she sank down, resting her head on Rossweisse' toned stomach. "This is your fault you know. The excitement, the energy."

"Them being little dragons, struggling to keep up," Irina agreed, resting beside Xenovia. Parenthood took its toll no matter the species, none of the women had the strength to deal with their children so early.

"You'd never give it up," Issei kissed the former Phenex once more, after which she smiled.

"Never."

Laughing, Issei pulled a pair of sweatpants from the dresser, as well as a light shirt. With one hand holding Shin, he dressed with one hand, displaying such skill acquired over years of practice, then marched out to follow their young.

By scent alone, Issei knew they were assembled, with toast, orange juice and milk set to the side. They would have already been watching, but the remote was sealed away the previous night.

"Okay, what are we watching?" He called out as he walked in.

"Magical Levia-tan!"

"Maou Rangers!"

"Holy Inferno Dragon!"

"Ya, Holy Inferno Dragon!"

Issei made an executive judgement. "Maou Rangers it is then." He unsealed the remote to his free hand, before looking to find a place to set his son.

That decision seemed to have been made already. Shin was leaning from his grip, arms outstretched for someone. "Ai-Ai!" Airi scooted to the side for her little brother, so Issei set him down beside her. Instantly, Shin started leaning to the side. Young as he was, he could take some steps, sit up, but his balance needed work. He ended up partly in his sister's lap, but she didn't seem to mind. "Ai-Ai!"

And that was how he talked or differentiated names. Dada, mama, Ai-Ai, Ko-Ko, and so on, using the butchered first syllable of one's name to address them. Which was always interesting for newcomers when Ravel, Robertina, Rias, and Rossweisse were in the same room.

Issei opened up the fridge in the room. Passing over the fruit juice and economically healthy snacks Rossweisse kept stocked, he selected a wrapped strip of meat, unsealing a wooden skewer at the same time. Washing his hands before and after shredding the strip further and skewering it, he entertained himself by using his own flame to appropriately grill the pre-breakfast snack.

Meal and remote in hand, he sat down in their center, where he found himself fast becoming a personal jungle gym. "Alright then, let's get started."

The program started and the children hushed each other as the theme song began to play. Even Issei found himself humming along with the childish tune. He shrugged silently and shamelessly continued doing so.

The show itself was a release of a long pre-recorded episode. Issei had no idea where he Maou had had the time to make years of quality children's programming ahead of time and still keep up with their daily responsibilities.

He was aware the women had gotten out of bed and were showering, changing. It was for the best, too much tv wasn't really a good thing after all. Despite Rias claiming that he spoiled them rotten, Issei wouldn't let himself allow them too much overabundance in privileges.

As the episode neared its end, Issei's phone buzzed in his pocket. Retrieving it, he expected to see a notification from Kiba about last night's mutual deployment, or from one of his wives summoning them all to a proper breakfast.

It was neither. Issei shifted and blurred across the room silently, not disturbing the kids as the end theme and credits began scrolling across the screen. He smiled wistfully. To be young and carefree.

He lifted the phone and dialed the number that had alerted him. The phone was picked up by the receiver after the first beep.

"I thought I told you not to disturb me for a few days," Issei calmly stated. Unhappy as he was, he was above ranting to one of his sworn subordinates.

"I'm really sorry, boss," a voice rasped from the device, clearly apologetic. "You know I wouldn't be calling if it didn't need your attention."

He did know. "You have it. Enlighten me."

AN: Merry Christmas!