Chapter 11 – The weight of the past
DREAM
"We finally meet each other, my host." A voice echoed in Tatsumi`s mind while he was sleeping.
"Who`s there?" The pawn asked in a reply.
"I am the one that resides in you, boy." The same voice answered.
"What do you mean by that?" The devil questioned.
"You and I are connected, just like we were back in the previous world ever since that man gave the key to you." The voice replied, making the boy to raise an eyebrow.
"Incursio?" The former assassin guessed, trying to identify the voice.
"That`s right. I am the same creature that changed many wielders until I finally came in your possession. Your ability to adapt to every situation, every environment has proved that you are the best choice for my host." The danger beast explained. "Upon coming to this world, our existences have merged in one and so we will become the Evolving Dragon."
"Evolving Dragon?" Hyoudou repeated with a puzzled voice.
"We will talk more again, but for now that`s enough." The voice said, while slowly fading away.
"Hey, wait…" Hyoudou called out, but nothing came in return.
DREAM END
It was at that moment, he felt something dragging him up from this place when his eyes shot wide open that showed that he is awake. The boy stood still and stared at the ceiling, which continued for around two minutes when the sound of someone knocking on the door echoed in his ears, followed by a familiar blonde-haired girl`s voice.
"Tatsumi-san, it`s time to get up. President-san and we are waiting you for breakfast." Asia explained.
The green-eyed teen didn`t replay and tried to instantly get up, but felt something holding him up on the both arms. This made the devil turn left first, just to find Akeno sleeping next to him, while holding up his left arm. The arm itself was buried between her breasts as he began feeling warm from the temperature that gave of the girl`s body. Then, the pawn turn right when the picture of a certain blue-haired girl, lying on his right arm jumped right before him as his eyes widened.
"Just what is going on here?" Hyoudou questioned with a louder voice, forcefully waking the two girls up.
"Good Morning, Tatsumi!" The queen greeted, opening her eyes, still not letting his arm.
"Good Morning!" Quarta greeted as well as she got up into a sitting position and yawned.
"Since when did you two get here?" The former assassin asked, while watching at the girls, who were absolutely naked.
"I came somewhere around 3 o`clock, Xenovia-chan must have done the same little latter." Himejima stated. "You were sleeping so wonderful, that I could not help, but want to sleep next to you.
"And I wanted to thank you properly for saving me from that Esdeath woman." The knight quickly put up a reason, while looking down.
"Honestly, I told…" The boy tried to say something, but the sound of someone literally barging in interrupted him.
Turning towards the door, the three devils saw the figure of their fellow brown-haired family member as he entered the room and placed his eyes to the bed. It was then, he noticed the picture in front of him and as if he lost words.
"What? Now you are not only with Akeno-san, but with Xenovia as well? Just what is going on here?" Issei shouted couple of questions.
"And don`t you know how to knock?" Tatsumi defended himself.
"Oh my, something interesting is happening here." Rias commented, standing behind her servant. "Tatsumi, you sure know how to gather attention." She added and giggled.
"I didn`t do anything, though. Now, would you please leave my room?" The boy tried to excuse himself.
"Come on, let`s leave them to fix themselves." The pure-blooded devil said to Hyoudou.
They turned around and followed their master, leaving the former assassin and the two girls to get ready to go down and have breakfast, which they did really quick and left not wanting to be late. The whole house looked peaceful, which was supported by the wonderful weather outside, light blue sky without a single cloud and the sun shining straight down, temperatures around 10 degrees and without the slightest sign of wind. That was so, because it was now July, two months since that battle at Kuoh Academy took place, school has ended for the year and it was now summer holiday. Today the Gremory household was about to leave for a two weeks holiday in Okayama, a city in the south of Japan, roughly in the middle between Kyoto and Hiroshima. There they were going to stay at summer residence of the Gremory family, near the sea`s coast, which was mostly used for a place where the family could take a break from the work in the Underworld.
Everyone appeared to be excited about it, but for Tatsumi, this was going to be the first ever holiday in his life and on the sea coast at that. In the world from where he came, he was able to get inside the sea only one time and it wasn`t something near a good memory for him. Then, the former assassin together with Bulat were on a mission to find and eliminate the 'Three Beasts', Esdeath`s strongest soldiers back at that time. As a result, all of them were successfully killed, but they weren`t the only one, who suffered casualties. His bro died, passing the Imperial Arm, Incursio onto the brown-haired boy with the belief that he will surpass him in no time. Something that new owner of the weapon tried his best to live up to Bulat`s expectations even now and will continue until the end of his life. All that left his first time going to the sea a painful memory to remember and it would remain like that no matter how much time passed.
In about five minutes, Tatsumi, Akeno and Xenovia entered the kitchen to have breakfast where they found Issei, Rias and Asia already finished doing that and now were enjoying a cup of tea. Their arrival earned them special glares from the pure-blooded devil and the pawn, as if they were trying to ask them about what happened during the night in a silent matter. Only the blonde-haired girl, who wasn`t aware of that, had a cheerful looking face.
"Good Morning!" She greeted first.
"Good Morning!" The three replied together and sat around the table.
"Where is Koneko?" The green-eyed teen questioned, noticing the absent rook.
"It looks like she woke up before everyone again and had breakfast first. She must be at her room at the moment." Rias explained.
"I see." The boy noted and just like that a gloomy feeling covered the entire room.
It was the same thing for the last four days, Toujou would wake up early, have breakfast, after which she preferred to spend the time inside her room. That of course was noticed by everyone else and it made them worry for their friend, but none dared to ask why and just left the girl do as she wanted. Even, the crimson-haired woman tried to talk to her, but she dodged the conversation, saying that it isn`t anything worth worrying for.
Suddenly, the door bell rang, catching everyone`s attention, making them turn towards the house`s entrance.
"It must be Ravel." The heiress of the Gremory family said and got up from her seat and headed to open the door.
Two days ago, the youngest child of the Phenex family went back to the Underworld to pack more luggage for the incoming summer holiday and to talk about something with her mother. After that day of battle at Kuoh Academy, she started accustoming to the whole group and soon became closer to the rest. However, the one who got most of her attention was none other than the former member of Night Raid. She even began calling him 'Tatsumi-sama', much to the boy`s discord, but his words fell on deaf ears no matter how many times he told her to remove that 'sama'.
Suddenly, the same phrase "Tatsumi-sama" echoed in the teen`s ears as he turned towards the direction from it which it came out when the picture of the blonde-haired devil pumped right before him. Seeing him, she ran next to the chair on which he was sitting.
"Good Morning!" The pawn greeted, immediately followed by the rest.
"Tatsumi-sama, how are you doing while I was away?" Ravel questioned, while locking her fingers together.
"I am doing fine." The boy answered. "What about you?"
"I am great! Thank you for asking. P-Please accept this present from me." The pure-blooded devil said and took out a small item from her pocket and handed it to the brown-haired teen.
The item was colored black and looked like a little box with the size of a normal pen. In the middle of the front side there were yellow lines in the form of a jug and the Phenex family`s symbol painted in red.
The former assassin watched at the item for a minute and then decided to accept it, thinking it would be rude to the blonde-haired girl if he refused, so he took it from her hand and putted it inside his pocket.
"Thanks!" He thanked and smiled.
"It`s the least I can do to make you up for saving me." Ravel replied.
"I told you, you don`t have to worry about that." Hyoudou returned. "We are friends after all."
"Still…" She started saying something, but paused as if she was being nervous "…It would be rude of me."
"Why are you being nervous about it?" Issei interrupted in.
"I don`t have to answer the question of a low class devil such as yourself." The youngest of the Phenex replied and left the kitchen all of a sudden.
"Hey, why was that for?" The first pawn asked and leaned backwards, while sitting on the chair.
However, no answer came from the girl and on top of that, the boy didn`t realize when he leaned enough to lose his balance and just like that fell on the ground, along with the chair as the sound of the impact echoed through the entire room, followed by a sound of pain from him.
"Issei-san, are you alright?"Asia questioned.
"I am fine." He replied as he got up and lifted his chair. "Geez, what`s with that girl? She is always like that to me. I just don`t get it."
"I think you should not worry about that. After all, we all have someone like that in our lives." His stepbrother stated.
"Tatsumi, did you have a person like that before coming to this world?" Xenovia asked with a curious voice.
The new devil didn`t answer right away as memories of Night Raid`s self proclaimed genius started floating in his mind. After that, the boy looked up through the window and then smiled.
"I did." He said. "If I compare Ravel and her, our blonde-haired friend is the nicer one."
"Her? So in your case was a girl as well?" Issei questioned.
"Well, in the end, those people have their reasons for being like that. One must try to understand them, instead of acting offended." Tatsumi stated, ignoring the question.
"Tatsumi-san, you sounded so wise." The family`s female bishop said.
"Well, I…" The boy started speaking, but stopped when the sound of someone falling echoed in everyone`s ears.
"What was that?" The blue-haired knight questioned, getting up from her seat.
"It came from above." Akeno noted.
"Then it must be…" Issei started, but didn`t finish, waiting for someone else to confirm it.
"...from Koneko`s room." Tatsumi said for his stepbrother and got up as soon as possible and ran out of the kitchen.
In less than a minute, he was already there, shortly followed by the other pawn, the queen and their master. The pure-blooded devil opened the door and the four saw the white-haired rook lying on the ground unconscious. She wore white shorts and white T-shirt and black gloves with a mark of orange paw per hand.
"Koneko." Rias called, running next to her servant.
"What in the world has happened?" Issei curiously asked as he did the same.
"It seems she overworked herself during training." The other pawn answered. "She has being doing it secretly for the past four days. Do not tell me that you haven`t noticed."
"Ise, take her to the bed." The heiress of the Gremory family said to the teen. "Akeno, bring a cold face-towel. Tatsumi, do you think you can carry Koneko on the way?"
"No problem." The boy replied.
"Okay, we have to be at the train station soon, so get ready." The crimson-haired devil stated.
Thirty minutes later, the group was ready and left the house as Issei and Tatsumi`s parents wished them safe trip and in another ten minutes they regrouped with Kiba and Gasper in front of the club house and headed towards the train station. The rook was still unconscious, so the former member of Night Raid had to carry his fellow family member, while his luggage and that of Toujou were split and given to Yuuto and Issei. Not so long after that, the whole household was in at the station, from which they had to get on a train that will lead them to their destination. Entering the place, Rias and Akeno went to check the tickets and see if there was something else they had to do, leaving the others to wait at the seats that we placed at the train stop.
It didn`t take long for the train to arrive and the group boarded it and went straight to their seats as it turned out that Rias` father arranged them to be in a personal compartment, separated from the rest of the passengers. The compartment itself was a high-class with the latest luxury, which was something Tatsumi, Xenovia, Asia and Gasper had to get used to, since neither of them ever travelled in such atmosphere. They found a place in which each fell most comfortable as the train departed from the station, marking the real beginning of the trip for the household. During the way, the devils did various things, such as playing cards or chess, talking between them, some read books like Kiba, others played games like the male bishop, third preferred to drink tea while having a chat as Rias, Akeno and Ravel. Only the white-haired rook did nothing as she still continued to be unconscious, which suggested to her friends, that she will most probably sleep during the entire way.
Currently, silence was ruling over the compartment as everyone seemed to enjoy it and wandered in their own thoughts. Everyone knew the reasons about it, but no one dared to question it or bring it to discussion.
"I can`t stand this silence anymore." Issei stated as he supported his head with a hand on his chin. "Someone say something."
"Like what, Issei-senpai?" Gasper asked his senior.
"I don`t know. Anything will do." The pawn replied back.
"It can`t be helped. You know why we are keeping this silence." His stepbrother interrupted and just like that everyone`s eyes stopped on their sleeping friend.
"Koneko-chan is sleeping, so it would be rude to wake her now." Asia said. "We must bare it until she wakes up."
"It`s understandable after she overworked herself." The former exorcist said.
And again silence moved in for another minute as a depressing atmosphere moved in, which was noticed by the devils as they felt sorry for the rook.
"I know she overworked herself, while trying to avoid something." Tatsumi broke the silence, catching his friends off guard.
"You noticed?" Rias questioned, as sign of being surprised was all over her face.
"Well, I did the same in the past, so that`s why I noticed." The boy explained.
"But what is she trying to avoid?" The other pawn asked next.
Just like that Rias, Akeno and Kiba`s faces became gloomy, that showed that they knew something the rest did not, which in turn earned them special attention from their family members.
"Guess I`ll have to tell you." The heiress of the Gremory family said and turned towards those, who didn`t know the reason. "But that will have to wait, until we arrive in the mansion."
The rest agreed and ignored the subject at hand, changing it to other one as they began the activities once again, while enjoying the ride.
Suddenly, the door to the back of the compartment opened and a hooded figure appeared from it as she looked to be running from something. A second later a man in a police-like uniform with big blue hat, came out from the door and dashed after the hooded figure. In less than a moment they were at the group as the chaser caught up to the chased one and reached his hand in order to grab the person in front of him. However, the hooded figure leaned to the right, nearly hitting the green-eyed teen, who was sitting next to the path. After that, the figure stretched a leg, tripping the chaser in the progress, who just slammed on the ground.
The chased one didn`t waste a second more and restarted her sprint forward, but stopped all of a sudden and turned right towards the unconsciousness Koneko, who was lying sleeping between to the former assassin and the crimson-haired devil. After a second, the person turned again and ran through the front door of the compartment as the moment of the leaving, Tatsumi thought he saw a what seemed to be two black tails coming from the person`s back. Unfortunately, he couldn`t take a better look as the hooded figure disappeared in the next compartment.
"What was that all about?" Issei questioned what was on everyone`s mind.
"That person didn`t have a ticket when I came to check and so he or she ran ahead." The man said while getting up. "My apologies for having you see this scene." He apologized and ran after the hooded figure, leaving the group in wonder.
"Just now, did anyone see the tails that hooded figure had?" The second pawn of the family asked, but received a questioned look from his friends. "Whatever." He said, trying to forget about what he saw.
An hour later, the devils arrived at Okayama and without wasting time headed towards the mansion at which they were supposed to stay during their holiday. Not so long after that, they reached it and immediately scattered around doing something. The household`s rook was yet to woke up, so Akeno was given the task to take her junior to a room and let on a bed to sleep.
The mansion was big somewhere around as the one of Riser Phenex with five floors and total of sixty-six rooms, from which five big rooms, which according to Rias were used for dining rooms or for conference. The style itself resembled the Gremory mansion at the Underworld, but the whole building was dusty, suggesting that it`s been long from the last clean up. There was a bathroom each floor as well as living room. Outside, the mansion was build around two hundred meters from the cliff, having a huge front yard with lots of trees, while the backyard was famous for its pool, ten meters long and five meters at deepest part.
After everyone settled, the crimson-haired devil called the rest in the living room on the floor, thinking it was finally the time for her to tell what the newer members of the family didn`t know about Koneko. And so they sat in the room and waited to hear the story, others like the queen and the blonde-haired knight seemed normal, since they appeared to know that much about their family member. Seeing everyone present, Sirzechs`s little sister let a sigh and her face took on a serious look.
"I am going to tell you this, because you have to right to know as a member of the family." She said and turned towards her servants. "Long ago, there were two nekomata sisters, a white and a black one."
"Nekomata? You mean those Japanese cat spirits?" Issei questioned.
"What happened to them?" Asia asked next.
"They lost both their parents and home at a very young age and lived together, helped each other with everything. That was until a devil took them and eventually reincarnated the older one as a member of his peerage." The pure-blooded devil stated and paused.
"Now that you mention it, I heard about a story like that." Ravel interrupted in.
"Yes, it`s a famous story in the Underwold." The heiress of the Gremory clan stated. "And so the older of the sisters got turned into a devil and lived a good life, but soon she got very powerful and as a result, killed her master."
"So she became a stray devil that way, huh?" Quarta said, reaching to the conclusion herself.
"Yes and so the devils feared that the younger sister could commit the same sin, thus they sentenced her to death. However, Onii-sama interfered and protected her from the devils. After that, he gave the younger sister to me and said to show her the purpose of living." Rias said and stopped, hinting she`s finished the story.
"So that younger sister is…" Issei wanted to ask something, but got interrupted middle way.
"…is me." A voice came from the door entrance.
Turning towards that direction, everyone saw the subject of the topic, Koneko, standing, wearing pyjamas. But what made most impression was that there were a pair of two cat-like ears on top of her head as well as a tail at the back.
"Koneko, are you alright?" The crimson-haired ruin princess asked her servant.
"I am sorry for worrying you all." The rook apologized.
Silence moved in as no one dared or knew what to say. Everyone stared at their friend and felt sorry for her. However, only one of them actually understood how the girl felt and that was none other than the former member of Night Raid. That was so, because this story reminded him of the one between one of his best friends, Akame and her sister, Kurome. It wasn`t exactly the same, but still very close to what the best assassin of his previous group and her sister had went through.
"Koneko, you don`t need to apologize." He spoke up, catching not only her, but everyone else at present. "We all have a past that we try to avoid and forget as soon as possible, but no answer will come that way. Accepting it is just one of the steps to be able to move forward."
His friends stood in amazement of what the green-eyed teen just said and couldn`t believe something so wise was coming from a boy on such age. This continued for around a minute as the latter felt the weight of every single eye staring at him as if he was the center of a show or something, not knowing that the rook wasn`t the only one so much touched by these words. Akeno, who was sitting next to Rias couldn`t help but release couple of tears, but hurried to wipe them as fast as she could.
"Did I say something I shouldn`t?" Tatsumi asked, letting out a sigh.
"You did not at all." Rias reassured the boy.
"Bro, that speech was awesome." Issei stated and started clapping, shortly followed by the rest.
"I agree with Issei-kun." Kiba stated, giving him fellow male friend his support.
"I am really moved by those words." Xenovia showed her impression next.
"Tatsumi-sama, you were so brilliant." Ravel couldn`t help, but be really impressed.
"Are you not overstating things?" The first pawn questioned the blonde-haired girl, but once again left ignored by her.
'Honestly, what did you just go through in your world, Tatsumi?' Akeno thought to herself.
"Thank you, Tatsumi-senpai!" Koneko thanked her senior and smiled at him. It was the second smile he saw from the white-haired girl for the past three months.
"Alright, let`s get ready for dinner." The heiress of the Gremory family said and just like that everyone started moving around doing something.
After dinner, the group talked a bit more before wishing good night to each other as they went to their rooms. As expected the household`s master and Asia went to sleep together with Issei as the rest in their own rooms. The former assassin`s room was on the fourth floor at the east part of the mansion, next to the bathroom of the floor. He quickly fixed himself and went to bed. The bed itself was too big for what he used to sleep in, which was something he couldn`t get used to and will remain like that in the future. Just when he was about to lay down, a knock on the door caught his attention and shortly after that the door opened, reveling the black-haired queen of the family, wearing a night-gown. It wasn`t the same as the usual one, but had the exact same effect as it, which was perfectly fitting Akeno`s buxom figure. The girl closed after her and went next to boy and lied sat right in front of him, confusing him even more. It was then when he felt the depressed look in her face and decided to ask away.
"Is something wrong?" Hyoudou questioned.
But instead of answer with words, he received a hug from the woman as her grip began tightening by the second as if she wanted to stay like that forever. Time seemed to have stopped as no sounds, no movements, absolutely nothing disturbed the silence, which was ruling over the atmosphere.
"Thank you for your kinds words today." She spoke up and it was that moment, the feeling of tears going down his right shoulder got to the boy`s senses.
Tatsumi thought about asking what she was talking about, but stopped as he remembered his little speech earlier the day when he encouraged his fellow white-haired friend. He did say everyone has a past that they try to forget and was sure Akeno had one too, yet decided to not ask about it right now and continued to remain silent. Her body warmth spread completely through his own as he began feeling extremely hot. After a minute, she pulled back, grabbed his right hand and placed it in the center of her bust.
"I want to tell you my past, so will you listen to me?" The queen questioned with a sweet voice, instantly grabbing the second pawn with it.
"Of course I will." He replied.
Hearing that, the black-haired woman pushed him on the bed, leaned over him and spoke up.
"My mother`s name was Shuri, a priestess of the Himejima clan. One day while on her duty she found a wounded person and took care of him when she learned that he was one of the leaders of the fallen angels, Baraqiel." She stopped for a second and then continued. "It was then, love birthed between them and as a result I was born in this world."
"So you are a daughter of a human and a fallen angel?" The green-eyed teen asked to see if he followed correctly.
"Yes. At first everything seemed peaceful as I lived happily with both my mother and that man. However, having both a fallen angel blood and that of a human, I was feared by many and so it came to that the Himejima clan tried to dispose of me. My mother protected me with the cost of her life, while Baraquiel was nowhere to be found until I was the only one left of us."
She stopped once again and took a look at the boy to whom she was letting everything out and knew she had to finish it, since she has started it herself. Tatsumi on the hand remained silent and listened to what was the one in front of him saying.
"As a result, I blamed Baraquiel and cursed the fallen angel blood inside of me. After that, I ran away and started traveling Japan for a year and a half, while purifying evil spirits with the skills I learned from mother. Then, I arrived at our city in which we now live and accidently saved a human that had formed a contract with the Gremory clan." Akeno said and paused once again. "Fearing that the devils will come for me, I tried to leave the town, only to be attacked by a person from the Himejima clan, but got saved by Rias and a member of her father`s peerage. They talked the person out of killing me in return I was said to never set foot on Himejima ground and serve Rias by her side."
"So that`s how you got reincarnated as a devil?" The brown-haired pawn asked and bowed his head down.
The story itself got him shaking and even though he wanted to keep strong front, it still got to him. The fact the woman in front of him had to suffer this much just because of her origin was making his anger raging from the inside. It was that moment something hit him in the head, which kind lowed the level of the upraising anger. He remembered that he knew someone with a very similar situation and past to Akeno, someone that was very precious to him in the world from where he came. Someone that helped him realize many things in life, even thought he didn`t want to admit it at first. That someone was the pink-haired girl that responded to every insult, every challenge and still survived with all her might, the one and only, Mine from Night Raid. She had to suffer on the streets and beg for someone to help her, but got nothing due to the fact that her parents were from different countries.
Meanwhile, silence continued to rule in the room and again nothing disturbed it. The two teens exchanged stares between each other and waited for the other one to make a move.
Suddenly, Tatsumi shot up and hugged the girl with all his might, yet remained cautious and didn`t tighten his grip much.
"You shouldered much more than it was needed." He spoke up, whispering to her left ear. "However, I will be your side from now on and help you the best way I can. You just need to accept the past and move forward."
"Do you promise?" Akeno weakly asked as her feelings got the better of her, after hearing the boy`s words.
"Yes, I promise." Tatsumi replied.
The two broke up the hug and just like that kissed passionately for the next one minute, after which they went to bed feeling tired from the trip earlier today. No words were spoken as Akeno was the first to fall sleep in the arms of the brown-haired boy. She had a child-like smile on her face, while happiness was ruling inside her and that was because she let all her pain and sorrow out to the man that meant everything to her now. The former assassin shortly followed his lover and fell into sleep, while thinking how cruel the world is sometimes, but even so the sun will always shine and bring the hope as long you believe in it.
And so that was chapter 11 – The weight of the past. I am sorry it took so long, but I didn`t have the chance to write much in the past month. Anyway, nothing to special to say here, other than that I used this chapter to write the problems Koneko and Akeno had with their past, while trying to avoid it, turning more attention to Koneko, since I got couple of good ideas for what to write next. You may think it`s a bit too fast, hence neither Kuroka nor Baraqiel have made their appearance, but it`s all according to the plot, so yeah… be patient.
Also, to make things clear, don`t you think that after Tatsumi saying such words to cheer up Koneko that there will be something like TatsumixKoneko. The main couple is clearly noticeable to all with the possibilities of some TatsumixXenovia moments or TatsumixRavel and fourth option for him is there, but it`s a secret for now.
Thank you for sparing some time to read my work. Feedbacks are always and gladly welcomed, but please be mindful and no hate or strong language while commenting.
With that said, I am off for now.
~See you around!