Digital x Dragon: DLC (Devil Lovers Chronicle)

A High School DxD fanfiction by Yukikaze101

High School DxD is the property of Ishibumi Ichiei and Fujimi Shobo. If I owned it, Issei and company would already be in space!

Note: This is the continuation of Digital x Dragon: Final Patch. That story is, in turn, the authorized conclusion of KurobaraIto's original Digital x Dragon, but it's best to consider this an alternate universe that forks off from that story's last published chapter. (Just in case KurobaraIto decides to pick it up again someday.)

Fluff/silliness warning. Author's musical tastes warning.

INTERLUDE: Mommy's All Right, Daddy's All Right, They Just Seem a Little Weird

"Have fun, Issei! Be careful!" Hyoudou Rio called after her son, and turned towards her husband. "Think it's a girl?"

"Could be," Hyoudou Gorou said thoughtfully. "He's been spending a lot of time with those Student Council girls lately." The salaryman (so far as his son knew, anyway) smiled faintly. "It's his heritage shining through."

Rio snorted in amusement. "I hope it's that president girl, what's her name - Shitori, that's right. She seems sensible, even if she probably is a Devil." She paused before swatting her husband's arm playfully; this conversation could easily go in melancholy directions, and she didn't want to ruin their mood. "And where are those other girls of yours now, Gorou-kun?"

"The worthwhile one stuck around," he answered, his smile wan but present. He took her hand and rose with a grace his son never would have credited him with. "Feel like dinner out?"

"Sweet-talker," Rio said, her cheeks slightly red. She was inwardly relieved; discussing Daria and everything that had followed wasn't how she wanted to spend the evening. "Let me change real quick. Where were you thinking?" As she was speaking, she waved one hand in a invocational gesture, and her jeans and blouse were replaced by cargo pants and a thick sweater.

"Let's see if that place in Hakodate is still open," Gorou suggested, opening the door to the backyard. He muttered to himself for a moment, a simple noise-suppression spell to ward off nosy neighbors. "I haven't had a good, long flight in awhile…"

"Try and avoid air control radar this time, please," Rio told him dryly. Another wave of the hand, and twenty years fell away from her features. "Better."

"I'll say," Gorou agreed, making a show of looking her up and down. "I do like how you look as a mom, though." He closed his eyes and exhaled, and his own face lost its years and miles. The result was a young man who looked like a slightly older Issei.

"You'd better," she chided him playfully. "Are the wards set?"

"Yep." They stepped outside, and Gorou… changed. Scales sprouted out, his body shifted and lengthened. When he was finished, an Eastern dragon rested on its haunches in the backyard. "Hop on, pretty lady," Gorou's voice boomed out.

"I've never heard that one before," Rio laughed. She settled onto his back with the ease of long practice, though, and her husband sprang into the sky.

"That place in Hakodate" was a teppanyaki restaurant, a place full of bright memories from a happier time. It was, indeed, still open, and now run by an old friend of theirs. The tanuki was from Fukuoka, and his skill behind a stove was only matched by his appetite.

They had also been fortunate in their timing. Several of their other acquaintances had decided to eat there that night as well, and it had become an impromptu party.

Really, it was the best date night that Gorou and Rio had had in several years. So, it was almost predictable when it was ruined.

"Hey, Gorou-kun." Takamichi, the proprietor, poked his head out of the kitchen. "You and Rio-chan still live in Kuoh, right?"

"That's right, why?" Gorou looked up from his beer.

"The Kyoto observer in Kuoh is reporting some kind of dust-up." The normally-jovial tanuki had a cell phone pressed to one ear, and he looked unwontedly concerned. "Something about a Fallen Angel and a Devil getting into it."

"What?!" Gorou was out of his seat before he quite realized it. He looked at Rio, whose expression was equally alarmed. She rose as well, and they both walked over to the kitchen door.

Takamichi held up a hand, listening to the person on the other hand. "Okay… okay, thanks, Shizuku-san… thank you. Yeah, I owe you." He ended the call, and turned back to Gorou and Rio. "Okay, it sounds like things are under control. I guess a Fallen Angel got into a scrap with someone that one of the local Devils has close ties with, and the Devil sent the crow packing."

Rio exchanged glances with her husband, and he nodded. She stepped away from him, fishing her own cell phone out of her purse, and dialed Issei's phone. After several rings, he picked up; the sounds of a restaurant could be heard faintly in the background. "Hello, kaa-san?"

"Issei? Is everything okay? You're not up to any trouble, right?" She kept her tone light, faintly teasing.

She could hear the embarrassed exasperation in his voice. "What… yes, yes, I'm fine, I'm having dinner with friends, remember?"

"Ah, yes, that's right. You didn't hear about anything weird happening tonight, did you?"

"No, I don't know anything about weird stuff happening tonight." Issei's voice had the right notes of confusion and mild indignation.

"You're sure?" Rio repeated.

"Yeah." He was starting to sound agitated. Those friends he was eating with? At least one of them had to be a girl. Probably the girl; Rio knew how to tell when her son was crushing on someone.

"All right, just wanted to make sure. Be careful on your way home, all right?"

"Yeah, okay, I'll be careful on the way home." Issei sounded like he was starting to settle down now. "It'll probably be late, we're talking about seeing a movie."

"Try and make it home before midnight, then," Rio said, then smiled evilly. "I'm sure your date's parents want her home at a reasonable hour, too."

She could hear the blush in his voice. "It's people from the Student Council, kaa-san, it's not a date!"

Rio had to suppress a giggle. "Are you sure it's not? A friend of mine met her husband when they were working on the Student Council together. Lots of time alone, talking intensely..."

"No, kaa-san, last time I checked, the school's eLearning site doesn't make for romantic conversation…" His tone was plaintive, begging her to change the topic.

"All right, Issei. I'll let you get back to your friends. Try and keep it down if you get home late."

"Yes, kaa-san. I'll keep it down when I get home. Love you, bye…" He sounded relieved to end the call. Rio let the giggle out this time. Her son was too cute not to tease sometimes.

Gorou looked back over at her. "Issei's all right?"

"Yes," Rio told her husband. "He's probably neck deep in whatever happened, but I doubt he was the instigator. That's one kind of trouble I've never worried about from him."

Gorou nodded, looking resigned, and turned towards Takamichi. "Can we settle up?"

"Sure," Takamichi answered. As the debit card was running, he added, "Oh, Kuroka-chan was in here last month."

The Hyoudous froze again. Rio found her voice first. "Was she?"

Takamichi hesitated, then reached under the register and passed her a folded slip of notebook paper. "She left this in case you came by again."

"As opposed to actually calling us?" Gorou said darkly. "That's just - "

"Gorou-kun, that's enough," Rio said, softly but firmly. She took the paper. "Thank you, Takamichi-san."

"Are you feeling better now?" Rio asked as they landed in the backyard. A roundabout trip skimming the Sea of Japan had once been Gorou's preferred way of cooling off. Rio didn't mind it, despite the chill and the sea spray; a few minor incantations were enough to stave off the ill effects of those.

"Yeah," Gorou admitted, waiting until his wife had dismounted before returning to his human form. "Thank you for sitting through that, Rio."

"It's all right," she assured him, opening the back door. "I wasn't much happier to hear about it. Between that, and what almost happened to Issei…"

"I know," he agreed. "Let's check on him. It's after midnight, he has to be home."

Rio nodded in agreement.

Issei was, indeed, in bed and asleep. That much was as expected.

The fact that he and a girl were curled around each other, though, that was… well, it was less expected. The fact that it was the Student Council president herself wasn't that surprising, though.

"At least they're both still dressed," Gorou said philosophically, sounding like he was trying to suppress a belly laugh.

"So she's the girl, hmm?" Rio said, smiling genuinely. "She's probably the one who saved his life tonight."

As if to confirm this, their son mumbled "Sona-chan" just loudly enough for them to hear, and tightened his arms around her. For her part, "Sona-chan" just burrowed deeper into his embrace.

There was a brief flash of light, and Rio shot her husband a mildly annoyed look. "Did you just snap a photo?"

"Yes, I did." Gorou tucked the phone back into his pocket. "Shall we let them sleep?"

"It'll be more fun to wake them in the morning if we do," Rio agreed, and started pushing Gorou towards their bedroom.

Notes:

I'm gonna start incorporating a few ideas from the more serious/dramatic "Issei joins Sona's peerage" idea I had (since, honestly, that'll probably never get written). Issei's parents, and the references to their past, are central to that. Expect to see some familiar faces showing up in unexpected contexts.

The interlude's title is, naturally, from Cheap Trick's "Surrender." Appropriate, given the context, no?