Disclaimer: I do not own High School DXD. Author's Note at the end of the chapter.

CHAPTER FOUR: I HATE EXORCISTS

Caleb was woken up by his alarm clock, which he placed on the coffee table beside his couch. The previous night, Rias claimed that she would spend the night at his place, in case someone might spur up trouble again. Caleb had insisted that she take the bed, claiming it was his 'servantly duty', forcing Rias to comply. Besides, the couch could be spread out as an extra bed. Caleb reached for his alarm clock, rolling on the couch, only to find out that something was blocking his way. Sighing he sits up and tries to reach his alarm clock by stretching himself instead. As he was getting the clock, he also sees what was blocking the other side of his couch-bed. His grogginess soon turns into full alertness.

Rias.

Naked Rias.

Panicked, Caleb scampers to the back of the couch, climbing over the backrest and falling to the floor, accidentally dragging the blanket with him.

Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit! What the hell? Was all that was running through his head. Why was Rias there? Why was she naked? Why the hell did she move to the couch!? Caleb was just about ready to run and hide when he suddenly heard a voice.

'Caleb? Are you alright?' Speak of the devil. Literally. Rias was looking over the couch's backrest, Caleb momentarily turned around. She was completely flaunting her naked upper body. Blushing furiously, Caleb turned his head away.

'Why are you on the couch?' He asks, completely flustered. Rias simply smiled at him. 'It felt lonely being in bed all alone, so I joined you on the couch!' She says. Caleb, is taken aback. She said it as if it was a completely normal thing to do.

Suddenly, Rias hops over the couch's back rest, landing on Caleb. She was teasing him. That devil. He thought. 'What's wrong, Caleb? Don't tell me you're shy?' She says, giggling. Caleb had had enough. He grabs the blanket he dragged with him, and lunges for Rias.

Soon enough, Rias was completely covered by the blanket, enabling a peeved Caleb to finally face her. He sits across from her on the floor for a few tense seconds, arms crossed. 'Why are you naked?' He finally asks. Rias simply replies, 'I can't sleep unless I'm completely nude.'

Caleb loses his composure. Completely done with whatever else Rias had to say. He was still blushing furiously, so he opted to just get up and make breakfast. '*Sigh* Go put some clothes on. I'll make breakfast.' He says, rubbing his face with his hands.

BREAK

Caleb had had more than enough of the attention he was getting from girls at Kuoh. But now, walking in with Rias and carrying her bag for her. Everyone was going crazy.

'Eeeeeeh? Rias-senpai and Hide-kun are dating?!'

'They're sooo cute together!'

'Nooooo, Hide-kun's in a relationship.'

'Are they really dating?'

Caleb sighs. 'Seriously? Your school is on an entirely different level.' He says to Rias, who just shrugs, smiling. 'It is pretty weird, showing up like we did. Plus, you're carrying my bag.' She says while pointing to the other bag Caleb was carrying.

'Well then. I'll be heading for the old school building now, and it seems like you'll be running into some company soon.' Rias says as she grabs her bag from Caleb and walks off. Caleb just then found out what Rias meant by 'company'.

'Hide, you traitor! How could you?'

'How dare you walk in here with the school's top idol!?' Matsuda and Motohama were already wrestling him, much to the dismay of an injured Caleb.

'Why? What reason would you have for doing this to us?' A crying Matsuda asks. Just then, Caleb sees Issei sheepishly standing by on the side. Caleb gives him a look, immediately; Issei realizes that Caleb still had injuries. He quickly pulls the other two off of him.

'Ugh, thanks, man.' A tired Caleb says.

'No problem.' Issei had a different vibe about him then, and it made Caleb suspicious. Soon enough, Issei momentarily pulls Caleb off to the side, whispering.

'Now, Hide. Did you see them?' Issei asks, his perverted face taking over.

'See what?' Caleb says, completely uninterested in what Issei was asking about.

Issei grabs Caleb by his collar and shakes him, forcing the latter to squat a bit. He was a good seven inches taller than Issei, after all. 'The President's boobs of course! Those big, round, voluptuous...' Caleb was already tuning Issei out when he had heard the word President. Peeved, he hits Issei on the head. 'Ow! What was that for?'

A still peeved Caleb looks at him blankly. 'For being a pervert.' Issei was still nursing the spot where Caleb had hit him, when Kiba walked towards
them.

'Good morning, Hyoudou-kun, Hide-kun.' Kiba greets. Issei makes a face.

'Damn, it's pretty boy, again.' Caleb ignores Issei's comment and greets Kiba.

'President wanted me to tell you guys to come by the club after class.' Kiba says, smiling at the both of them. Issei maintains his face, while Caleb just sighs.

'Sure, sure. We'll meet you there later.' He says as he, Issei, Matsuda, and Motohama head for class. Issei starts to whisper something to Caleb as they walk.

'Oi, Hide! By the way, I met this really cute girl on the way here a while ago.'

'Oh yeah? What was this one like?' Matsuda and Motohama were also listening in too. So Caleb decided to go with the flow. Issei seemed to be excited to tell them about it.

'She was this really cute blonde. Foreigner. She got lost on her way to the church, so I helped her out.'

'Hmmm, an entirely innocent story? I think not!' Caleb says, cracking a smile and looking pointedly at Issei, who tilts his chin up in proudly. Matsuda and Motohama share looks.

'She did trip and I was able to see her panties.' Issei says smugly. Caleb scoffs and shakes his head, albeit smiling. 'I fucking knew it.'

'A church?' Rias looked at Issei seriously, even Caleb felt like he was being scrutinized by the gaze. 'Listen well, Issei. Do not go anywhere near that church again. Churches are hostile territories for us devils. Doing so would be like waging a war with God.'

'It's especially dangerous for a devil to be hanging around someone from the church, since even their exorcists can wield sacred gear themselves.' Rias' statement piques Caleb's attention. Could they wield light weapons and Sacred Gear?

It turned out that the girl Issei had met, Asia, was a nun. Perverseness aside, Caleb saw that Issei had been happy to make a new friend. Sadly though, he was not allowed to see her again. Caleb had excused himself from their discussion so he could spend some time alone and stretch his sore limbs, and to contemplate yet another problem that came with his status as a half-devil.

Issei could have gotten himself in serious trouble back there. He thinks to himself. But Issei would be able to tell apart his enemies from his allies, unlike Caleb, who was almost always vulnerable if he was put in such a situation. Akano-san must've done a lot of things to keep me out of harm's way. I could've endangered the people around me.

Caleb continues his musings and sits down on the hill near the old school building, trying to count how many times he could've gotten himself killed had it not been for his sponsor. During this, his thoughts indirectly drift back to a certain person. Caleb suddenly realizes something:

'I wonder how Ma Ri's doing.' He says to himself. His thoughts drift back to his old girlfriend. They had broken up on mutual terms, but Ma Ri jokingly insisted that she was the one who walked away first. Caleb was too hurt to care, but was able to pull off a smile for her sake.

'Hide-kun!' Caleb half-stops his musings and looks over to Kiba, who was waving for him to come over.

'President needs us to do something!'

'This time, we'll be dealing with a stray devil.' Rias says, walking ahead of the others to a magic circle. The rest of the Occult Club follow suit, with Kiba explaining the gist of what they need to know about stray devils, something about them killing their masters, or something. Caleb wasn't listening and was just following, as he was being distracted by memories he'd rather not remember at that moment.

He wasn't bitter or anything. Their break up was just too abrupt, and he moved south the day after so he never had time to think about it much. He now it realized that searching for a stray devil was the worst situation to be feeling sad.

Damn, Caleb, pull yourself together! Now is the worst time ever to be thinking about this. Go get depressed later!

'Caleb!' Rias' call snaps him back to reality. He stands at attention and looks around him, obviously not listening to whatever they had been discussing. His bewildered look immediately tells Rias that he wasn't paying attention.

'You shouldn't get distracted at a time like this.' she says in a serious manner. Caleb apologizes and scratches his head sheepishly, still only paying half attention. Koneko cuts their would-be scolding short and calls their attention.

'It's here.'

'I smell something bad.' A somewhat distorted voice says. Caleb gives his full attention to the voice, finally sensing danger. He keeps his ears open and his senses sharp, waiting for the source of the voice to reveal itself. Suddenly, a large silhouette reveals itself from a corner of the room.

'What the hell?' Was all he could say.

'Stray devil type: Visor, if you were listening earlier, you'd know what it is.' Rias says casually, Caleb makes a face, regretting letting his thoughts fly off.

The devil spouts a few threats to Rias, who brushes them off and prepares herself. Meanwhile, Issei's gushings about the devil's breasts are soon put to a halt when he sees its full form. He and Caleb let out shouts of surprise and disgust.

'Told you.' He hears Kiba say. 'I'm gonna have nightmares starting tonight' Caleb comments, shivering. The 'thing' laughs maniacally, before firing at them from magic circles formed on her breasts. Everyone dodges, with Caleb pulling Issei aside with him. 'WHAT THE HELL!' They scream in unison.

'Don't let your guards down. Yuuto!' Immediately after hearing Rias' command, Kiba grabs his sword and disappears from view. Leaving Issei surprised.

'Yuuto represents a knight. His strength is his speed and his sword is his greatest weapon.' Whilst Rias says this, Kiba successful cuts off two of the devil's extra arms, resulting in it screaming in pain. Koneko moves next. Caleb watches the entire exchange intently, seeing Rias' group working together for the second time around. Their coordination was astounding. He would have a hard time adjusting to their pace. As expected, Koneko takes care of the devil easily, and Rias calls Akeno next.

Just then, Caleb notices the devil getting up and heading for Rias. Instinctively, he summons his Sacred Gear and shoots an arrow of lightning towards it, right on target...

If only Issei had decided not to summon his own Sacred Gear, and punching the devil off of Rias. Issei's punch connects, and then Caleb's arrow hits Issei, while his fist was still connected with the devil, and electrocutes them both.

Caleb slams his palm onto his face, and the tension in the room momentarily dissipates because of Issei's scream, looks of bewilderment suddenly adorning the rest of the Occult Club. Caleb calls himself a 'dumbass' with his palm still on his face as to not let the others hear. Rias brings them back to speed and tells Akeno to finish off the devil.

The Occult Research Club members were now back at the old school building, with an embarrassed Caleb and an injured Issei sitting opposite of each other in the room, Rias sitting on her desk, and Koneko, Kiba and Akeno standing on the side. Caleb mentally prepares himself for a scolding.

'Caleb, Issei.' She starts

Crap.

'Both of you did the right thing by following your instincts and helping me, but please maintain your presence of mind. Both of you have to fight with a team now, I'll forgive you this one time since you aren't used to it yet.'

Caleb breathes a sigh of relief, thinking that was all the lecturing that he would get.

'Caleb.'

Damn it!

'Being distracted while on an assignment is unforgivable-'

'Hai.' Caleb says animatedly, completely regretting his actions.

'Especially for a devil of your caliber-'

'Hai.'

'You're other comrades could've gotten hurt-'

'Hai.'

'I hope you understand the repercussions of your actions-'

'Hai.'

'And that you accept punishment.'

'Hai.'

'For this, you will treat us to a restaurant of our choosing and anything we order off of the menu.' Rias says, smiling coyly, baiting Caleb.

'Hai.'

'Good.' The room falls silent for a moment, with the Occult Club, sans Caleb, smiling at the thought of food. Caleb's attention catches on, and his mind processes what he just agreed to.

'WAIT, WHAT!?' Alas, his question was already being ignored by the others and Rias changes the subject.

'Now then, since Issei took care of one of Koneko's extra summon last night, you should handle this one, Caleb.' Caleb looked at the others, mainly as a plea to reverse his punishment. He looks to Akeno for help.

'People who summon devils usually have something they want us to do. It's through those summons that we are able to bind contracts.' Akeno says, smiling sweetly.

They're all avoiding it. He thinks hopelessly.

Caleb gives up, and decides to take what Akeno says in for a second, then nods. 'Okay, let's do it. Where do I have to go?' He says dejectedly, Rias smiles, and then nods to Akeno. The latter opens up a magic circle on the empty part of the room. Caleb looks on in amazement.

'Shouldn't you be used to seeing magic circles, Hide? You've been a devil longer than I have.' Issei asks. Caleb simply shakes his head. 'Nothing as big as this, or intricate.' He says, eyes not leaving the circle.

'Now, now. You're flattering me, Hide-kun.' Akeno says to Caleb, smiling brightly. Rias watches the exchange with amusement. 'Besides confirming that Caleb wasn't paying attention a while ago, we shouldn't waste any more time. We've taken longer than usual because of Issei and Caleb's debriefing; you should hurry along now, Caleb.' Rias didn't need to repeat herself. Caleb quickly ran up to the middle of the circle, still looking at its markings in amazement. In an instant, his image fades into light, with everyone looking at where he once stood. Just then, an idea pops into Rias' head.

'Akeno.'

'Yes, President?'

'How would you like to make a bet?'

Caleb was momentarily distracted by the white light, until it died down. When it did, he found himself in an unlit room of a house. After squinting his eyes for a bit. He realized that the entire house was dark, immediately raising a bunch of red flags.

The more sensible thing to do would be to head back for now. He thought, But then, Rias might get upset if I didn't at least check what was going on here. Caleb weighs in on his options. He was okay enough to fight if the situation arises. He had to hold back because he was facing devils. Plus, Rias had told him that another reason for her to sleep beside him was to crack a try on healing him, which did heal him faster than he usually healed, but was not enough.
But then there was the possibility of facing fallen angels, and those things might have backup themselves. Then Caleb would be in a pickle. The chances of that were only slim, but he still had to be careful. Caleb decides to push through, he had more than one trump card up his sleeve, he could handle this. Steeling his resolve, he treks through the house stealthily, as to avoid detection. Just in case.

Soon, he finds himself looking at a faint light emanating from one of the rooms of the house, accompanied by a rather foul stench. Caleb had more sensitive senses than most devils, something that he didn't appreciate at that moment. Distracted by the stench, Caleb foolishly walks into the room. What he saw was something right out of a horror movie.

There was a guy there, at least, from he could tell. It was in pieces, literally. There were a few splatters of guts and maybe brain matter on the floor, some recognizable patches of skin littered the far side of the room.

'*Hurl*' Caleb had to stop himself from vomiting. The sight and stench were almost too much for him. He's quickly snapped out from his notions by a sudden presence beside him. He jumps away, avoiding a sword from swinging.

'Look at this, looks like I have a devil to deal with, now.' A man says. He had blonde hair, and was wearing some white cloak with more white clothing underneath.

'Fuck. You did that?!' Caleb asks. Who the hell is this guy?

The man looks at the carcass, and then back at Caleb. He looks gleeful from what he did. 'Of course! I'm an exorcist! It's my job to get rid of humans who deal with trash like devils.' He says as he lunges for Caleb again, his light sword making a swooshing sound.

Caleb expertly dodges the blows, suddenly the man pull something out of his cloak. Caleb hears a click, then a bang

'Fuck!' He shouts, clutching his right arm. A gun, why did every battle have to have him as an underdog? 'Like it? It's a priest's golden bullet! It's especially painful for devils like you' He says with a maniacal voice.

'Damn Fucker! Sacred Gear!' Caleb summons his brace and runs for the priest, showing of his extreme speed. He wouldn't be able to use his bow, but his brace could double for punching. The priest-momentarily surprised of Caleb's persistence-leaves an opening.

He lands a hit, sending the priest to the wall. He prepares to lunge again, only to be stopped by a girl's shriek. The priest uses this time to get back up to his feet and speaks to the voice.

'Asia, are you done with the barrier?' Sure enough, a head pops up from under a table peeking up at the two men fighting. She nervously nods at the priest. 'Good. That means I can kill this piece of trash, no interruptions. You! Remember the name Freed. That's the name of the priest that killed you.'

Freed smiles again before running towards Caleb. The latter dodges and kicks Freed in the stomach, sending him to the ground. The priest coughs up blood. 'Asia!' He shouts. Caleb looks on as the girl runs towards Freed, putting her hands over his stomach. A green glow emanates from her hands, a few moments later; Freed gets up and lunges again for Caleb.

What the hell? This fucker should be down and out by now. Caleb is forced on the defensive. Freed was moving faster, as if suddenly rejuvenated.

'Pretty neat, huh? Twilight Healing. Can heal any form of wound whatsoever.' Freed says while attacking Caleb.

So not fair. Caleb moves back and lands a punch on Freed's face, but not before the latter is able to stab his sword onto Caleb's left shoulder. He's stunned for a split second, which seemed to be long enough for Freed to send a bullet to Caleb's thigh.

'Shit, HNNGGGGH!' Caleb wills himself to stay up. Freed once again getting healed by Asia. That's it. No more playing around. You wanna fuck with me? I'll kill you, son of a bitch! Caleb summons lightning to his left hand and punches straight for Freedman and Asia, electrocuting both of them, and separating them enough for Caleb to tackle Freed.

Caleb bashes Freed's head straight through the drywall, sending him to the other room. He looks over to Asia, feeling a little sorry for her having to get involved. She seemed like a good kid. He turns around, ready to head for Freed, before he gets cut-off

'Asia?!' He hears someone say.

'Issei-kun?' This time, it was the girl behind him.

Caleb does a complete 180, and sees the rest of the Occult Club in the room, standing on a magic circle. His mind buffers for a moment, before sticking the pieces together.

Nun. Lost. Blonde. Church. Exorcist. Priest. Asia. Ah, shit! Caleb mentally kicks himself. Duh! The girl's name was Asia. How could that have slipped his mind? He frantically looks over to Asia, then to the club, then back to Asia. He furiously runs his hands on his face.

'Crap! I'm sorry!' He shouts to the girl, who crawls away from Caleb. For a moment, Issei looks to have been ready to kill him then and there. Rias stops him from it.

'It looks like you were able to take care of things on your own, Caleb. But for now, we'll be retreating.' She says with an authoritative tone. Caleb looks to the spot where Freed was laying, still alive. 'Our first priority is getting you out of here Caleb, now come on.' He clenches his fist, but walks towards his friends. His loyalty and service belonged to the Gremory House, he promised her that.

Meanwhile, Issei complains about leaving Asia behind. 'She's injured. We can't just leave her, President!' He shouts, but Rias is having none of it, and drags Issei into the magic circle, the latter shouting Asia's name. A wave of guilt builds over Caleb. The girl had looked completely harmless, and probably couldn't fight. Caleb electrocuted her, because he got pissed off at the priest, not her.

The Occult Club safely find themselves back in their club room, a bleeding Caleb in tow. Akeno sets him on the couch and instructs him to take his outer clothing off so she could tend to his wounds. He obliges, not even caring that the others were there, leaving him in his boxers.

A quiet Rias sits down on her swivel chair, pinching the bridge of her nose. 'I didn't actually think you'd run into trouble tonight.' She says.

'Hey Hide! Did you do that to her? Did you hurt Asia?' An angered Issei shouts, already marching towards Caleb. Kiba and Koneko immediately move to stop him, holding him back. Caleb doesn't make any notion that he's listening to Issei, prompting the latter to shout louder to him.

'Issei, that's enough. There is no reason for you to be shouting at Caleb!' Issei shuts up, and a startled Caleb looks at Rias, surprised that she would shout like that. She leans back in her chair and sighs.

'Your friend is a nun that just so happens to be in the same fight that Caleb was in. He was fighting for his life.' What Rias said seemed to have made sense to Issei, who yanks Kiba and Koneko off of him and looks away.

'Let's all just talk about this tomorrow. Everyone needs some rest. You can all go now.' Kiba and Koneko grab their things and say their goodbyes, but not before dragging Issei along with them, leaving Caleb, Akeno, and Rias to tend to his wounds. Akeno looks over to Caleb and Rias.

'President.' Akeno says while finishing up Caleb's bandages.

'Hmm?'

'Looks like I won our bet.' Caleb's ears perked up. What bet were they talking about? He suddenly had a bad feeling about it, and hurriedly put his clothes back on. Meanwhile, Rias and Akeno continue their conversation.

'Looks like you have.' Rias says.

'Should I tell him or should you?' Akeno asks. Uh-oh, who's this 'him' they're talking about? Caleb started looking around for his bag, a slightly panicked look on his face.

'No need for that, I'll tell him.' The entire while, both girls were watching Caleb's frantic searching with amusement. Rias then pulls out a bag from under her desk. The sound of leather hitting the desk was enough to make Caleb pay attention to her. Rias gives him a sweet smile.

'Now, Caleb.'

Oh no. He thinks to himself.

'Due to you constantly running into trouble with both devils and fallen angels. I discussed a possible solution with my father and Akano-san, they both agreed that my solution made sense and approved of it. Also, as a last source of approval, I made a bet with Akeno here.' Caleb sweat dropped. Whatever this 'solution' was, he was not going to like it. Still, he didn't make a move, prompting Rias to continue.

'I'll be living with you to make sure you're safe at all times!'

CHAPTER FOUR END

A/N: Hey-oh! Chapter four is here! Once again, thank you guys for reading this story, I really do appreciate the reviews that you guys send.

ApathyZero: Thank you for the nice comment, I didn't think that line would actually make a reader laugh; it just made me laugh so I put it there.

Guest: Whoever you are, thank you for the comment. I know the story is progressing slowly right now, but all of this is preparation for the story that I have been painstakingly waiting to write. Please be patient, and if you have any more comments on the story, just say it, I appreciate it when you guys take initiative to say what you want about the story.

Another thing, I'm going to take a little break after this mini arc, as I have to move my stuff to my new dorm, and my training and classes will be starting soon. So an advance warning that the chapters might be released every two or three weeks instead of the usual weekly ones. The good news is, I pre-wrote most of the chapters for this arc and the last chapter is almost done, so this arc will be updated regularly.

That is all, thank you all for the support, Kai Out!