Beyond the Outer Gates Lies...The Return of the King?

"I am still not certain I approve of this," Sona sniffed, looking around suspiciously, "Three female members of the student council alone with a boy."

I briefly wondered if she had ever been in the Yura family apartment before. She was studying everything like it was new to her.

'Perhaps she is just looking at everything in a new way,' Lash suggested, 'Considering how comfortable the couch will be for making out…'

"Relax, Sona," I told her as casually as I could, while trying not to blush from the images the shadow in my head was crafting, "We're just a group of friends getting together to watch some movies. And then run a quick one shot dungeon so Reya can get a chance to GM."

'The Pawn,' Lash whispered to me.

"Besides," I took the Fallen's prompting, "What about the hours you all spend alone every afternoon with Saji?"

"That is different," Sona could not seem to decide if she was annoyed or flustered.

"You are the one who vetoed Harry-kun's place and your own home," Tsubasa reminded her, "But if you really don't want to be here, we certainly won't keep you."

"No," the King objected quickly, "I have heard about these Lord of the Rings movies, but have not seen them. And it will also give me a chance to spend casual time with two members of my peerage."

"So you don't care about spending time with Harry-kun?" her Rook teased.

"Of course I appreciate the chance to interact with Dresden-kun," Sona insisted, "But I am dubious about making this an overnight event."

"My parents are out of town," Tsubasa reminded her, "Would you leave an innocent girl home all alone for a weekend?"

She had said the same thing before the Marvel movie weekend. And that time I had taken it as a joke. But I knew the Rook a little better now, and I caught the shadow in her eyes despite her teasing tone.

'Yura Tsubasa was not born a Devil,' Lash mused.

Most of the transformed Devils did not talk about the circumstances of their initial Fall. The pasts of Rias's Peerage kept popping up, but Sona's group had not had that problem. At least not yet. And I caught not only Tsubasa's expression, but Sona's flinch.

'It would seem that the Rook suffered some sort of misfortune during her parents' absence,' Lash continued, 'which brought her into Sitri Sona's care.'

'Yeah,' I tried to keep the frown off my face as I considered my brain-mate's words, 'Something definitely happened to Tsubasa. But was it something mundane, or magical?'

Based on what I already knew, it was probably something supernatural. I also couldn't rule out a perfectly normal accident or crime that Sona chose to intervene in. Heck, despite her non-nonsense exterior, I knew Sona was kind enough that she might have resurrected a sick classmate. Though given their reactions, I was pretty sure that illness was not what brought Tsubasa into Sona's peerage.

"Well, if we are going to do this, we should get started," Sona masked her reaction with a stern declaration, "I understand these movies are all fairly long, and I wish to leave as much time as we can for Kusaka-san to run her adventure."

"Right," Tsubasa smile once again became sincere, "I was thinking we could watch these in the 'machete order'."

"What's that?" Reya frowned. Her confusion didn't surprise me, the book-girl preferred fantasy to sci-fi. Of course, I had never heard of it until I had arrived in Bizzaro World and gained the ability to surf the web.

"It's a reference to a specific way to watch the Star Wars movies," I explained, "You watch New Hope and Empire, then watch Clones and Sith as a flashback to how Vader fell, then finish it off with Jedi."

Reya and Tsubasa both nodded, but I wasn't sure the Bishop knew enough about the films to understand. Sona merely pursed her lips thoughtfully.

"But I've never heard about a machete order for Lord of the Rings," I added.

"It's kinda obscure," the Rook admitted, "You watch the first Lord of the Rings movie up to when Bilbo shows up in Rivendell, then you switch over and watch the first Hobbit movie as a flashback to how he got the ring. Then finish out the other Lord of the Rings movies. What do you think?"

"That sounds a bit tedious, switching out in the middle of a movie," Sona noted.

"Well, Star Wars has a hard core version of the machete order where you switch to Clones right after Vader says 'I'm your father'," I mused, "So I guess it's not that unusual."

"I am fine with either way," Reya said, "I have read the books, but so far have avoided watching the movies. I was worried they wouldn't live up to my expectations."

"So Reya-chan abstains," Tsubasa's eyes locked on me, "And Kai… Sona-chan is against. I guess that makes you the deciding vote, Harry-kun."

"Uh-huh," I drawled, "Do you think I was born yesterday? I'm not going to choose between the two of you, especially over something like this. I abstain, too. We can flip a coin or something."

Tsubasa pouted cutely, Reya let out a sigh of relief, and Sona looked mildly impressed.

'A wise move my host,' Lash agreed, 'No sense in annoying the King, even I expect you would like to watch them in the order the Rook suggests.'

'Well, depending on how the flip goes, I can just watch them like that another time.'

"Okay, Harry-kun," Tsubasa called out to me, "It's all yours."

"Finally," I said softly, pulling at the damp, sticky sleeves where they stuck to my arms.

We had ordered pizza like the last time, but we had discovered the Tsubasa's parents had taken the Coke she bought for us. That was simple enough to fix, we just had them send a couple of two-liters along with the pies, Coke for me and root beer for the Sona; the other two girls claiming they fine with either.

Except that the delivery guy was apparently none to gentle with them. When we opened them, they sprayed all over the Yura family's kitchen, thoroughly soaking me, Tsubasa, and Sona. Reya had fortunately been in the living room, so she was spared.

My two original pursuers had taken first shift in the bathroom, at my insistence. It wouldn't be fair to make both of them wait for me. I had cleaned up the kitchen, already being a mess. With Reya's help it went quickly, and then I had toweled myself off the best I could while waiting for them to finish.

Now that I had been given the all clear, I headed straight for the bathroom, carrying my bag. But I stopped outside the entryway to the Yura family's large bath. Even though they lived in an apartment, their bath was as big as the main bathroom in my house. I hesitated, expecting the Rook to be waiting inside for me. Maybe it was just all the anime Lash had been making me watch, but I fully expected Tsubasa to take advantage of the situation to arrange an 'accident',

Then she stuck her head out of her room on the other side of the hall, the strap on her otherwise naked shoulder indicating she at least had her underwear on.

'Is that disappointment, my host?' Lash invisibly jabbed my ribs, 'I'm sure the little Devil would be willing to let you watch her change.'

"Harry, if you put your cloths in a bin and set them outside the door, I will wash them for you," Tsubasa told me, ignorant of the Fallen's suggestion, "And I set out soap and shampoo for you."

"Okay, thanks," I told her. She noticed my eyes drifting to her bare shoulder, and she grinned but also blushed, and then vanished back into her room.

"I'm coming in," I said a little more loudly than normal, knocking on the door.

'Do you think Tsubasa is somehow in two places at once?' Lash asked with a chuckle, 'Or maybe you are hoping for that?'

'Yeeah, don't mix me up with you,' I told her.

I locked the door, relieved and a little surprised that the room was empty.

'Why did you lock it?' Lash asked, bemused, 'you will just have to unlock it to put your clothing outside for the Rook to launder.'

"Yes, but I'm not giving her the chance to peep while I undress."

I snagged a basket, and stepped to the center of the room, so I wouldn't brush up against anything. As I pealed the long sleeves off, I gained a new respect for just how sticky Coke could be. It was worse than some glues. As I deposited my shirt into the basket, all concerns about the hairs pulled out of my arms vanished as the inner door to the bath and shower slid open without so much as a sound. I froze as Sitri Sona walked out.

Fortunately, she was holding a towel in front of her. Unfortunately (or not, depending on your point of view), it only covered from just below her collarbone, to the top of her thighs, and only the left two-thirds of her body. Which meant her right breast and the swell of her right hip were in full view.

And it was a very nice breast, too. A little on the small side, not that I cared about that. But the shape was…

I cut off that train of thought, and realized I was still staring at her body. As I forced myself to turn away, I saw that she was staring my naked chest too. But given her expression and where her eyes were focused, it was not for the same reason. My move to look away made her blink. She turned bright red and shifted the towel to fully cover herself before she was out of my field of vision.

"Sorry," I said quickly, "Tsubasa told me it was my turn."

"I'm sure she did," Sona said dangerously, and I also heard a rustle of cloth.

"I also knocked and asked if anyone was still in here," I added, "because I thought she might try something like this. Though I thought she would be the one in here."

"Ah," I could hear embarrassment in her voice, "This may be partially my fault."

Surprised by the admission, I turned back towards her. She had her back to me, and she had put on her panties. But the thin layer of cotton did not hide much, and I found that my previous use of the adjective 'sweet' was remarkably accurate…

My, that is a nice shelf. Well built, and such high-quality baskets…

"I am used to a certain level of peace and quiet when I bathe," Sona continued, not noticing my slip, "the bath at my home has a various privacy measures, both magical and mundane. So when I am away, I have become accustomed to using a silence spell to keep out noise. So though you may have asked if anyone was in here, there is no way I could have heard you."

"Does Tsubasa know that you do that?"

"I don't know," I could hear the frown in her voice, and more fabrics noises, "Do you honestly think this was a mistake on her part?"

"I don't know," I purposely mimicked her statement, "I was just trying to figure out how this helps her. Me potentially seeing you naked isn't good for her. If she was hoping you would get pissed at me and this would drive a wedge between us… She knows us, and knows we know each other. You're smart enough to know this wasn't my fault, and not blame me."

'Unless she was hoping you two would take it further,' Lash prompted, 'Awakening your urges and letting the Rook take similar action under their rules.'

That… that was frightening. Mostly because I could actually see Tsubasa trying it. If they really intended to share, letting Sona go first if it meant she got her chance sooner…

"You have a point," Sona agreed, "Maybe it is an accident."

I let out a gentle sigh of relief that Sona had not followed Lash's line of thinking.

"And Dresden-kun, about your chest…" she changed the subject tentatively, "I thought I understood why you refused to let your injuries be seen, and are having Argento-chan remove them. But I appear to have underestimated the extent of your injuries."

"Well, at least none of them killed me," I quipped, trying to put her at ease, "Which is more than Ise can say, right? I've just taken a few more hits and didn't have healer handy."

"Yes," she said slowly, "I suppose that is true…"

"You are thinking about your own peerage," I deduced, "after Tsubasa's comment this morning, you've been a little on edge. I'd ask if you want to talk about it, but Tsubasa probably wouldn't be too happy about that. The others, either."

"Yes, until they tells you for themselves, I should probably not say anything. It is safe for you to look now."

I glanced over my shoulder briefly to verify she was fully clothed. And then I gave her a wry grin.

"Yeah, but it's probably better for both of us if I don't," I tried to keep my voice light. I felt her fingers gently brush the exit wound on my back. From when Kincaid failed to assassinate me.

"Well, then, enjoy your bath, Dresden-kun," she said, and I could not make out her tone, "I will have Kusaka-chan keep the pizza warm, while Yura-chan and I fetch more drinks. She and I have some things to talk about."

Then I heard the door unlock and close again. I finished undressing, and quickly went into the inner room. I needed a good, cold shower on at least three levels.

I threw the twenty sider lightly in front of me. It rolled for a second then stopped with the '2' facing up.

"That's only a 7," Sona scowled, adding in my bonuses.

"Yup," I half inclined my head as I agreed with her.

"I am sorry, Harry-san," Reya said hesitantly, "That's 14 points of damage."

"So, I'm dead," I confirmed, "Congrats on your first TPK, Reya."

"I am very sorry," she bowed deeply to all of us. Sona suppressed her annoyance, while Tsubasa just shrugged.

"D&D is a lot less forgiving than FATE," I reminded her again, "And the module was meant for a bigger party."

"You did a fine job of running the adventure," Sona comforted her Bishop.

"It's a good time to wrap it up, anyway," our host noted, "My parents will be back soon."

"Right," Reya nodded, starting to gather her books, "Thank you for letting us come over again."

"We all had a good time, right?" Tsubasa gave me a slight smirk as she said that, "That's what matters."

She pushed my dice she had been borrowing back over to me, as did Sona. We finished packing our gaming supplies, and Sona went to get her bag.

"Do you need any help cleaning up?" the King asked dutifully.

"Only from Harry," the rook grinned broader, "so I don't have to break out the step stool."

"Such is my lot in life," I teased in mock dismay. But I also caught Sona giving her friend a thoughtful look.

"In that case we will see you tomorrow," Sona said, "Do not keep Dresden-kun too long, Yu… Tsubasa-san."

The other two girls stepped into the entryway and then vanished in matched sets of instant runes.

"I still need to learn how to do that," I told both Tsubasa and Lash, then added, "so what's up?"

"You noticed?"

"Semi-professional private investigator," I reminded her. And then snagged the bowl that had served as her excuse.

"Kaichou and I were talking last night, when we went to get more soda," she started, "Thank you for not getting mad about that, by the way."

"Was it an accident?"

I wasn't really expecting an answer, and she only offered a mischievous smile.

"And she told me that you two talked, at least in general terms, about how I died," she continued, instantly growing much more sedate.

"Tsubasa," I said gently, placing my ungloved hand on her shoulder, "If you don't want to…"

"No, I don't want to. But I think I need to."

I nodded and listened quietly as she explained how she became a Devil.