Ranma's face was covered in sweat as he did one handed pushups with his left hand over a tub of holy water. His other hand was tied to his back with a rosary with the skin around the rosary looking like it had a massive sunburn. As Ranma continued his steady exercise he watched as his peerage members did their own training. Ryu was practicing a kata on a training dummy with several crosses hanging off of him just a meter or two away. Ryoga and Yusuke were exercising almost 300 meters away to avoid the effects of the holy objects. Ryoga was on a series of poles using his Sacred Gear to quickly teleport from place to place as randomly indicated by a blinking light. Yusuke was doing a more basic series of jogs with weights on his back.

Training was interesting for Ranma at the moment. He and Ryu had trained together for so long that they could trust each other to do what they needed to do to improve their abilities. Most of their exercises were similar given that they had the same master. They only needed to spar with each other to see how the other was improving and to point out spots for further improvement.

Ryoga seemed to be a very well trained martial artist which was a bit of a problem. His strength and endurance had skyrocketed from when he was a human which threw everything off for him. Then there was magic and a Sacred Gear to think about when translated into Ryoga's training focusing on controlling his abilities. Being able to break granite slabs with a tap of your hand was not good if you wanted to slap someone on the back safely.

Yusuke on the other hand had to focus on developing his abilities. He had good instincts and some basic physical fitness before he was resurrected. However, he needed to have those traits refined and brought to their peak. Yusuke also needed to have proper hand to hand and other combat skills pounded into his head. Instinct and street fighting only took one so far. To advance to the highest levels of a fighter one needed training and dedication. This left him alternating days between training his limits and developing skill.

Ranma paused at 100 pushups to switch the rosary and start doing pushups with the other hand. It was Yusuke that worried Ranma the most out of all his peerage members. It wasn't the possibility of Yusuke going rogue that bothered Ranma. That was very unlikely as Yusuke seemed to be adapting excellently to his new situation in life. Yusuke now had something that he had been sorely missing in life; people besides Keiko that gave a blessing about him. Sure Yusuke grumbled about having to do so much homework for school in addition to his training regime and devil lessons. But, he was happy that the devils he interacted with all supported him and worked with him to make sure everything was understood.

What worried Ranma was the fact that Yusuke would have to be at Koenma's call in just 14 days. He would have limited ability to help Yusuke on any mission that Koenma gave him due to international politics. There were some safety nets in place in the terms of the agreement for him to help Yusuke. But, there wasn't nearly enough for Ranma's peace of mind. If any harm came to Yusuke he wouldn't be able to live with himself.

It was fortunate that Koenma, or at least Botan, wasn't viewing Yusuke as a disposable asset. She had given Yusuke two Reikai items typically given to spirit detectives and had mentioned a technique that Yusuke was able to adapt to very quickly. The Devil Gun technique of Yusuke's was a good starting range attack option even if he currently only had 2 shots available. Botan had assured Ranma and Yusuke that as Yusuke got stronger he would gain more shots and could even combine his 'bullets' to create a few far stronger attacks.

But the question still remained in Ranma's mind. Was it enough for Yusuke? Would he be able to save his rook if things went straight to heaven? Reikai's track record when it came to Spirit Detectives wasn't the greatest from what Ranma had heard and that was basically the position that Koenma would be using Yusuke for under the contract. Ranma turned his head to look at Botan who was lounging in a chair at the end of the exercise field apparently reading a book. Botan was a friendly person and she seemed to care about Yusuke as much a one reasonable can for someone they've recently met. The problem was that she was just the spokesperson. Who could tell what Koenma would do?

Ranma shook his head and focused on his pushups. That was something he could do something about. He completed his current reps and then checked the time on his Devilberry. A frown quickly appeared and then vanished on his face. Ranma put his Devilberry away and then pushed off so that he was standing and untied the rosary. He looked around and called out to his peerage. "Alright everyone, it's time to put our training gear away and hit the showers. We've got a half hour before its time to start taking contracts."

Every member of Ranma's peerage proceeded to clean up their training gear. Ranma could leave it to the servants to clean everything up. However, Genma had pounded it into Ranma's head that he had to respect training equipment. How can you say that you respect training equipment if you didn't clean and store it properly? Besides, Ranma and Ryu were the only ones who could clean up the holy symbols without a hazmat suit. The holy water and symbols were stored in a separate storage shed marked with a biohazard symbol.

Botan got up and walked towards Ranma. He spotted her just after he had entered the code to relock the shed for holy items. "Hey Botan, how are you doing?"

Botan smiled and replied, "I'm doing well Ranma. I must say I'm surprised to see the thoroughness of your training. Rumor had it that most devils prefer to let time and contracts increase their power."

Ranma smirked, "That's true for most devils. But, I'm not most devils. Why wait when I can get stronger training? Our power increase via aging is based on a percentage of our power and that percentage slowly decreases with age. My grandparents found that this decrease can be halted and sometimes even reversed with proper exercise and diet."

Botan nodded her head and replied. "I see now. By actively increasing your power you get more out of your natural increase in power. You'll also develop habits that will insure you stay gaining power better than your peers will."

"Precisely Botan," Ranma said happy that she had figured things out. He didn't mind sharing the information since it was public knowledge. It was just that most High Class devils didn't act on it unlike the lower classes. It was one of the many reasons why the lower class devils were getting comparatively so much stronger and thus frightening the Aristocratic Faction.

Ranma turned to look at Yusuke who was putting the weights away and called out, "Don't forget to put the weights back in proper order Yusuke."

Yusuke gave Ranma a casual wave and called out as he put the weights back. "Don't get your panties in a bunch. Everything will go back as I got them Ranma." There was no real bite to Yusuke's reply as there would have been if Ranma was a teacher at school before he became a devil. It wasn't nearly as annoying to hear instructions from someone who practiced what they preached. Besides, Yusuke had to respect his king for his hard core workout using those holy items. Just being near them made Yusuke feel as weak as a newborn babe and Ranma was doing one handed pushups over that stuff? If you had to have a devil for a boss it was good to have one that was badass.


Koenma was at his desk in Reikai furiously trying to keep up with the mountains of paperwork that the ogres were constantly putting on his desk. It seemed like every time he got rid of one stack of papers two more would show up in its place. What made it all worse for Koenma is that he had been putting up with a nagging at the back of his mind all day. He felt like he had forgotten something very important, but he couldn't remember whatever it was. Koenma heard the sound of some sort of commotion in the background and tried his best to ignore it. However, the sound just made that nagging feeling worse.

The slamming of palms on the desk shook all of the stacks of paper and jolted Koenma away from the uniform change request form he had been looking at. Koenma let out a cry of surprise and started to look for what had disturbed his work. He immediately came face to face with an enraged Ranma Sitiri who had his nose millimeters away from Koenma's.

Ranma practically snarled as he said, "What the heaven kind of idea is this Koenma? You sent Yusuke after three thieves who managed to break into Reikai, steal three very dangerous artifacts, and you're telling him to complete this task in only three blessed days? You may have the right to my rook's services for a year, but that does not mean you can send him on a suicide mission!"

Koenma quivered for a second from having Ranma so angry at him and so uncomfortably close. The little deity put his hand on his heart and blurted out, "Ranma? How did you get here?"

With a stormy look on his face Ranma said, "Standard retainer contract section 3, paragraph 5 which states: 'In the event that the holder of the retainer contract orders the retainer to perform a task outside of the retainer's expected abilities, the retainer's lord has to the right to a face to face meeting with the holder of the retainer contract. Said meeting is to occur as soon as possible to discuss the extraordinary task given to the retainer.'"

Koenma quickly typed a few commands into his keyboard and pulled up the section of his retainer contract for Yusuke. Sure enough, it was exactly as Ranma had stated. Further reading of the contract revealed some very nasty repercussions for him if Ranma didn't receive a 'satisfactory resolution to the assigned task being outside the retainer's expected abilities'. Koenma sighed and slumped in his chair. Just when he thought he had a solution to his problems another problem emerges.

The effective current head of Reikai lowered his head and turned to look at Ranma. Koenma silently had his office doors closed and sealed so that the two of them could talk in peace. "Lord Ranma Sitri, Margrave in Clan Sitri and Heir of the Blood," Koenma started in a very formal tone of voice to show how serious he was. "It was neither my intention nor my desire to have Retainer Urameshi placed in such a difficult and dangerous position. However, there are circumstances that forced me to call upon Retainer Urameshi for the task I gave him."

"The three artifacts I tasked Retainer Urameshi with retrieving are very powerful and the thieves can do a great deal of damage with them. However, the real problem is my father. Those artifacts are the proverbial crown jewels of his collection and he constantly likes to look at them. In a week King Enma returns from his vacation and if the artifacts aren't in their display cases in the vault for him to look at he will become enraged. The last time my father became mildly annoyed he summoned a typhoon that killed thousands and left hundreds of thousands homeless. Can you imagine the kind of devastation my father will cause if he finds out that his prized artifacts are gone?"

Ranma had a healthy imagination like any devil and could easily picture such devastation in his head. Absolute carnage filled his mind with millions dead and millions more in absolute destitution. It caused him to shiver and Ranma knew that almost any devil would dread having such a thing happen. This made the situation so much more problematic then Ranma thought and it would have to be handled very delicately. He might even have to call in his mother for some discrete help.

Despite popular opinion, devils did not take delight in major natural or manmade disasters. The Underworld actually took steps to try and prevent such situations wherever possible. Disasters killed people and ruined objects which meant less future clients and current clients couldn't afford devil services. Major disasters also had an annoying tendency to drive humans to seek Heaven's help which no devil wanted. The ideal human condition for devils was actually the proverbial corrupt inner city.

It took Ranma a few seconds to refocus after he got those images of devastation in his head. He then turned to Koenma and said, "Why aren't you using your regular guards and investigative forces to apprehend these criminals? If your father might cause so many problems if he finds the artifacts missing then why aren't you mobilizing your forces?"

Koenma sighed and replied, "Any significant mobilization of Reikai forces, even in Japanese territory not engaging another faction, will cause an automated notification to be sent to King Enma. The notification will contain why the forces are being mobilized which will infuriate my father and likely cause him to commit mass destruction which I'm trying to avoid."

The young looking ruler walked a foot away from Ranma and looked out at the busy office complex he was in charge of with his father away. His shoulders slumped and he wearily continued. "A similar notification will be sent out if I try to divert funds to hire outside help for this situation. Retainer Urameshi is the only asset I have that can hunt down the missing artifacts without alerting and angering my father."

The burden Koenma felt over the whole situation was obvious to Ranma. It was also obvious that Koenma was trying to not let the weight he felt about the situation show. The young devil's face softened and he said, "I can understand the situation that you've been forced into Koenma. But, you have to understand the situation I'm being forced into because of this. Yusuke is my friend and my rook. His safety is one of my top concerns as his King and this mission is extremely dangerous for Yusuke as he currently is in his training. Maybe I can take over this mission for Yusuke? It's rare, but not unheard of for a King to take up a task for a peerage member on retainer that is doing something beyond the peerage member's abilities."

Koenma turned to face Ranma and shook his head, "I wish I could agree to that Ranma. The problem is that calling in any high ranking devil generates lots of paperwork and official notices. You generate an entire order more of paperwork Ranma. After all, you are the only high ranking devil with legal and blood ties to Japan. Unlike other high ranking devils, you have complete freedom to move about the country which means you are monitored by all of the different subgroups within the Shinto Faction. Any direct action you take risks the loss of the artifacts coming to light. That will upset my father and could easily trigger an array of arguments within the Shinto Faction."

Ranma shook his head, "We don't want that to happen." What Koenma was describing would mean the sharp decline in influence and power of the Shinto Faction. Whether it would be because of internal strife, diplomatic repercussions, or both didn't matter in the end. All that would matter is that a major ally of the Underworld and the only real ally it had in the Far East would become weak and vulnerable. One didn't have to be a genius at international diplomacy to realize the negative effects this could have for the Underworld.

The pint sized prince's eyes widened as a thought came to him. He turned to Ranma and said, "High ranking devil, the key point is when a devil is high ranking. A low ranking devil wouldn't attract too much attention. Retainer Urameshi is your newest member of your peerage and is relatively new to being a devil. It would not raise too many questions if you had another member of your other peerage check in on him from time to time to 'make sure he doesn't besmirch the Sitri name to an important client'. We can't have your other peerage members help him too much or it would draw too many questions."

Koenma then reached into his pocket and pulled out three pearls. He handed them to Ranma and said, "Here take these Ranma. Just crush one of these pearls yourself or have one of your peerage members crush one to send a signal that one of your peerage members is checking up on the situation. I'll be able to guarantee 5 minutes of no monitoring; maybe a bit longer if only low class peerage members are helping Retainer Urameshi. Please keep in mind that crushing multiple pears won't increase the monitor free time. These pearls simply trigger the Reikai sensors to go into a feedback loop. Also, the pearls will shatter if subjected to any form of scanning."

"I wish I could do more to help you Ranma. However, I there is only so much I can do given what we're against right now."


Genma frowned as Botan carried Yusuke in a fireman's carry into his apartment. He had briefly met the girl but he didn't really know much about her other than she was helping Ranma's peerage because of some deal with another supernatural group. Botan bowed her head and said, "Sorry for coming in so unexpectedly Mr. Saotome. Yusuke is in need of help and your house is closer than his mother's apartment."

A frown appeared on Genma's face as he got up to check on his son's newest peerage member. Gruffly the martial artist asked, "Did the boy stumble onto a stray devil?" His eyes were surveying the boy taking note of the injuries. He was also sensing that Yusuke's power level was very low but stable. That was a concerning, but not alarming thing to note about the young rook.

Botan shook her head as she placed Yusuke on the couch. "No sir, this wasn't because of a stray devil. Yusuke was tasked by Lord Koenma to recover three stolen artifacts. One of them is in the possession of a Kyukonki who fought Yusuke. The fight was not going well for Yusuke, but I was able to trick the Kyukonki into thinking a large mob of humans was about to show up. That forced him to flee lettig me take Yusuke back here."

Ryoga and Ranma instantly appeared at that moment thanks to Ryoga's sacred gear. Ranma ran over to Yusuke like all the puppies of heaven were after him. The young king grabbed Yusuke's hand and immediately started to pump as much devil energy into his rook as possible. Ranma turned to Ryoga as he was pumping energy and ordered, "Go get a medic from the clan hospital now Ryoga!"

Botan spoke up, "Wait! Yusuke is in stable condition." All conscious eyes turned to look at Botan and gulped in nervousness for a split second. She then turned to her usual cheerful self and said, "I was able to get Yusuke away from his enemy before any long term damage could be dealt to him. He's bruised up and probably is going to feel sore when he wakes up. But, Yusuke should be fine with some rest and donated devil energy."

Ranma did a quick field check on Yusuke to verify what Botan had said. He soon confirmed her statement and his body relaxed like a ten ton vest had been shrugged off. The teen devil turned to Botan and bowed his head. Ranma then spoke while still bowing, "Thank you for saving my rook Botan. This means more to me then I can properly say."

"No problem Ranma," Botan said with a slight blush on her face. She hadn't been expecting or planning for any sort of reward or recognition when she saved Yusuke. Actually, she hadn't really thought about things other than trying to figure out how to help Yusuke when she wasn't really a fighter.

Ranma straightened up from his bow and then turned to his father. "Pops, I need to use the phone to make a call."

Genma blinked his eyes in surprise and scratched his head. "Why would you need to use the phone boy? Don't you have a cell phone of your own? Besides, don't you usually use a spell to communicate to someone down in the Underworld?"

Ranma held out his Devilberry so that his father could see it. "This is on an infernal phone plan. That plan does not cover mortal phone calls. Such calls are outside the plan and they have absolutely brutal per minute costs. I need to contact Yusuke's mother and let her know that Yusuke is alright, but staying with me. Yusuke doesn't want his mother to know he's a devil now so I can't use any supernatural means to contact her. The apartment phone has unlimited free local calls so can I use it to save some money?"

That was good enough for Genma. It was a virtue for Ranma to be trying to save money where he could. If the boy was free with his money then he'd get lazy enjoying easily paid for comfort. Genma gruffly said, "Alright. Just make the call quick." He watched as his son nodded his head in agreement and walked into the kitchen where the apartment's phone was at. The sole human in the apartment then turned to look at Yusuke. The middle schooler was getting a supply of devil power from Ryu and Ryoga to help him heal.

Genma turned his gaze to Botan and fought back the urge to frown. Yusuke and the rest of Ranma's peerage were the future masters of Anything Goes once Ranma became the grand master. He didn't want to see one of them cut down before their time. Besides, Yusuke was growing on him. The brat was a decent kid; he just lacked any sort of proper male guidance growing up. He probably would have to take up role of uncle figure for him since Ranma seemed to be becoming Yusuke's big brother figure. There could be worse people for that role.

Ranma walked back into the room a minute later with a satisfied look on his face. He turned to his father and said, "Thanks Pops. Everything is taken care of on that end."

Ryu turned his head towards his king and said, "So what did you tell Yusuke's mom?"

The young king shrugged his shoulders and said, "Some creative editing of the truth. Yusuke stumbled upon a fugitive who managed to land a lucky blow where Yusuke was still a little sore from his car accident. A friend spotted the altercation and created a ruckus to scare the fugitive away thinking that the authorities were on the way. Said friend then carried Yusuke to me knowing that I'd keep him safe."


A devil teleportation seal appeared on the roof of the apartment complex Ranma was staying at. The light quickly vanished and Sona blinked her eyes to deal with the slight disorientation she momentarily felt. She then started to look around with a determined look on her face. Soon enough she spotted Ranma and then Sona frowned. Ranma was lazily sitting on the roof of the maintenance door with one foot lying off of the roof and the knee of the bent up. Her nephew's arms were wrapped around the upright leg and his devil wings were out.

The fact that Ranma had his devil wings out was very surprising and worrying to Sona. Ranma sitting on a roof was a bad enough sign on its own. Sona knew that Ranma always tried to relax in a high spot when he was worried or frustrated about something. Having his wings out while on a roof was Ranma's tell that he wanted to fly away from whatever was bothering him.

Sona looked up at Ranma in the dying sunlight and softly spoke, "Ranma." The young devil turned his head to face Sona an instant after she said his name. Sona fought back the urge to blush and continued to speak. "Would you mind if I came up there with you?"

Ranma snorted and gruffly replied, "Why the heaven not? It's not like I own the roof." He then watched as Sona casually jumped up into the air and daintily landed on the roof next to him. A casual onlooker who was aware of the duo's heritage might have thought Sona had used magic to get up onto the roof. That was not the case as she simply needed to use some basic martial arts training. Many of the basic aspects of the Saotome Branch of Anything Goes had been incorporated into the main Sitri family's training even if it hadn't spread to the Sitri Clan yet. Being able to casually leap several stories and not burn magical energy was nothing to scoff at. Ranma asked as Sona sat down next to him. "Why are you here?"

The Sitri heiress looked out at the city skyline to help hide how nervous she was. She then said, "Ryu contacted me. I've requested that he notify me if ever there was something seriously bothering you Ranma that I might be able to help solve."

An annoyed look crossed Ranma's face. "I'll have to have words with Ryu later. He shouldn't be going behind my back like that."

"He hasn't gone behind your back Ranma. One of a Second's responsibilities is to look after their King. It's his duty to seek out aid for you if there is someone else who can help you better than him with a problem. I've merely made it known to him that I am willing to help on this matter if I am able to help. Now, what has Ryu so worried? He didn't tell me when he called for my assistance."

Technically, Sona was correct when she said that Ryu hadn't told her about why he called. Ryoga told her when he went to go get her. This way Sona wasn't going into the situation blind while she and Ryu could truthfully say he hadn't told her a thing.

Ranma's wing extended itself and then protectively wrapped around Sona practically cloaking her. The usual concealment spell on the wings wasn't applied allowing their true state which looked like utterly massive and powerful bat like wings as seen in older western art to be shown. These abnormally large wings were the result of constant training by Ranma in developing the muscle power needed to use his wings to fly without magic. This fact was hidden with a concealment spell by Ranma so he could catch enemies unaware. Magical flight in combat took a fairly significant amount of magical power to be usable.

Sona resisted the urge to snuggle into Ranma's wing which was enthrallingly dark, concealing, and radiated a sense of power. She listened as Ranma related the situation Yusuke was in to her and she took note of the facts that Ranma was adding that Ryu didn't know about and the facts that Ranma was omitting. Finally and yet all too soon, Ranma had finished explaining things to Sona. He turned his head to look at her with an obvious question on his face.

The young heiress took a second to think and then said, "There are two problems with your current situation which is leading you to be in such a terrible state Ranma. First there is the fact that one of your peerage members is in danger because of having to do a mission he is not really ready to handle. Sadly, there really isn't much that can be done to solve that problem. Maybe you can find some information on the trio that stole the artifacts to give Yusuke an edge. However, you have to be hands off in this situation and let Ryu or Ryoga help Yusuke out if things get too dicey."

A twitch appeared on Ranma's face and that caused Sona's eyes to narrow slightly to drive the point home. "That leads into the second problem you're facing Ranma. You have a very hard time not being in the heart of the action."

"What?"

Sona gave Ranma a knowing glance and continued on. "I've seen the battle feeds of your stray devil hunts that you keep for study. You are always leading from the center and you almost always take point. Twice you've even called Ryu off of fighting a stray in order to fight it yourself."

Ranma's cheeks started to blush and he nervously said. "Well, um, you see," he stopped at that point as embarrassment overtook him.

Sona smiled gently at Ranma and reached out with her hand to place it on Ranma's shoulder. "It's alright Ranma. You are a devil of pride and you work hard at the things your pride is focused on. That's more than what most pride devils can say. I'm a devil of pride myself remember? But, one thing we both need to be aware of is when our pride is influencing our actions."

A sheepish smile appeared on Ranma's face. "I guess you're about that Sona."

"I know I'm right Ranma. You take pride in your combat abilities while I take pride in my intellectual abilities. One thing we both need to do is to remember to take pride in our peerages and our peerage member abilities. I might not have an answer to a problem, but my queen or another member will. You may not be the best person for a task, but your peerage members can like Yusuke is doing now."

With that said, the duo quietly turned to look at the almost completely set sun with determination and anticipation. A new night was falling with seemingly endless possibilities for both of them.


Author's notes: Sorry this chapter took so long. Life, other hobbies, and questions about pacing delayed this chapter. One of the main points of this part of Ranma Sitri is the building of the peerage. All too often in High School DxD crossovers if the character crossing over is made a high class devil on introduction they come with an almost full peerage. Said peerage is almost always filled with women from different anime series who serve as the core of the character's harem. One of the questions I'm exploring is how does one get different characters from different series to join the peerage and grow together as a group.