S.R: Even though I mentioned it in the note that is the last update for this story, I feel like I should say it again in case someone didn't read it because they thought it was just a note saying I had recovered and would be back soon. Anyway. As I said in that note this story is being changed to a once every other month for updates. In other words this update, is the July update and the next update to happen is the September update. Make sense? Good, though I am sorry to do things this way since I am actually enjoying this story far more than I thought I would when I went into it. But I never really intended for it to be a 'main' story from me where the majority of my focus would be, so I am also glad to be slowing down with it and returning to my focus area. But enough about me and all that jazz. You came here for the story. So here you go.

A few days had passed since Issei's rating game with Diodora. Since they completely overwhelmed Diodora, Issei and Sona decided to take some time to relax. He was the biggest threat out of the other teenage devil peerage kings. But that was only because of his allies, who didn't even show up. Sure the other peerage kings were going to be tricky, but thanks to the intense training they did to be ready for Shalba if he had shown up to help Diodora, none of them felt concerned. After all thanks to Diodora manipulating the game location, it was unable to be aired for the others to watch. Which meant Rias was the only one to know how Issei and his peerage fight, and even then Rias and her peerage didn't know just how strong they'd gotten from their training.

Hence why the two peerage kings were relaxing. Because they could teleport anywhere and didn't have to stay in the underworld for the remaining Rating Games, both peerages returned to Kuoh. Sona had entrusted her queen Tsubaki with running things while she took a mini vacation with Issei. Issei had done similarly except he left his two familiars Tiamat and Tawni in charge. But since they weren't supposed to be doing much during the summer anyway they all had plenty of down time as evidenced by the fact that Issei was in the middle of a swim meet with Garran and Bova.

"Damn..."

Sona muttered under her breath, mad that her alone time with Issei had been interrupted. As the student council president for the school Sona was in charge of several things, but also had a lot of privileges. She had intended to have a surprise date with her fiancee at the school pool. Sure it needed cleaned but with her magic, that was childs play. But the moment she cast her spell both peerages came by to see what was going on and decided to join in on the fun.

"Something wrong Sona?"

Tsubaki asked an 'innocent' expression on her face telling Sona her friend knew exactly what the problem was. The glasses wearing devil just shook her head choosing to stay silent and not rise to the taunt.

"Look. We know that things are going to be crazy and hectic after these Rating Games are finished so we're just trying to have as much fun as we can right now. You were off training on your own so we're here to spend more time with you to make up for it. Issei's peerage was split up so they're taking the chance to stay together as well. It's not that we don't want to let you two have some time, so much as it is we want time with the two of you as well."

Sona understood that. They were all friends. Sure her peerage got to train together, but she wasn't there. Issei's peerage was split into groups and not all together either. So this was just their way of making up for lost time, since they wouldn't have the chance later. It just frustrated the female devil when her plans fell apart.

"I'm not mad. At least not at you all."

"Oh I know that. So do they. But hey, we've got to tease you while we can. Besides, if you really wanted a private moment with Issei so bad you could have taken him to the Sitri families private beach."

Sona felt a smile come to her face as her queen spoke. Her plans weren't ruined, just tweaked without her permission. But she couldn't find it in her to be mad about it since she understood that this was likely going to be the last chance they could cut loose and have fun like this for a long while.

"Not to mention I wanted to join in."

A new voice spoke causing the two to turn. Walking up to them in a very sensual black bikini was Rias Gremory. Her friend and Issei's aunt.

"Not taking every last minute you can before your game with Seekvaira?"

"Nope. After all the results of these games don't really matter. So we decided to just have fun with it. I know you guys couldn't do that with Diodora since he betrayed us and all, but I'd suggest you don't push yourselves with the rest of your Rating Games."

"If you knew just how much of a pushover Diodora was you'd know that we had already decided that anyway. Though Issei and I still plan on winning, but that's because I need to show I can get results if I want my dream to come true."

Rias rolled her eyes at Sona's words. She might not have been able to see the battle, or have been their when Issei's peerage gave their report about the situation to the Four Satan's but she'd heard about it from her older brother anyway… When he got drunk with their father during a family dinner and started praising Issei's victory.

"Still. Relax while you can. I was talking with Sirzechs for a bit last night after dinner, and he said that they've been thinking of trying to bring a few other groups into the alliance. Depending on how things play out we may be guarding the talks like we did at the faction meeting."

"I know. Serafall mentioned it to me while I was training with her."

Rias wanted to taunt her friend about just how overprotective Serafall was, but was silenced by a smirk from Tsubaki. The look on the queen's face said something along the lines of 'I know what you're going to say. But you don't have any room to talk.'

Around this time Issei walked up to the trio.

"Oh hey Rias. What's up?"

"I just wanted to join in on the fun. Xenovia's still changing into her swimsuit. Akeno will be here after a bit. She's having a lunch date with her dad. Kiba and Gasper should be here soon too. I know Gasper needed a swimsuit, and Kiba wanted to finish the puzzle he was working on before he came by."

The moment the red head finished speaking the pretty blonde boy that was Kiba joined them. He was wearing a simple pair of black swimming trunks, similar to Issei's. Except his brown haired friend had a solid red stripe running down the side of each leg.

"Hello."

they all offered their greetings to the blonde knight, who turned to his peerage king after a moment.

"You may want to have a talk with Gasper. he's changing into a swimsuit now and… Well… Nevermind, you'll just have to see for yourself."

Issei, Sona, and Tsubaki looked at Kiba curiously as he groaned at the thought of the Dhampir. It had been a while since they last saw him, so they didn't know what the issue could be. Rias however had a good idea.

"You thought because we finally got him to wear the male school uniform he'd stop cross-dressing didn't you?"

"Not really. More like I hoped he'd stop using the woman's changing room at the very least."

Shaking her head with a smile Rias told her knight not to worry about it. Xenovia and a very embarrassed Gasper joined them after the knight began stretching. Xenovia was wearing a deep green two piece that would have gotten her in trouble had school been in session. Gasper however had a light blue swimsuit. The top was covering enough to be considered a crop top, but considering Gasper was a male there wasn't really anything that needed to be covered. The bottom had frills making it seem a little childish, but it didn't look bad on him. Mostly because his short stature made him seem like a kid anyway.

"It's been a while."

Issei offered as a greeting to the two. The others chiming in after a moment. Gasper nodded shyly. Issei's eyes narrowed at that. He was slowly reverting back to the quiet and timid personality he had when they first met. Normally it wouldn't have mattered to the brown haired teen but when he was training Gasper and got him to open up to the others the timid part of his personality vanished.

Xenovia smiled as she offered her greetings, though she tried very hard to hide her blush when she greeted Issei. She'd been around long enough now to know how Sona handled people flirting with Issei and she didn't want to upset her, especially since Issei and Sona were engaged.

"What's wrong Xenovia? You're face is already red?"

Issei asked, making her sigh mentally as she failed to hide it. But since she was a very honest and open person she couldn't lie to them about the reason.

"Well… The only real desire I've ever had, was to have a child with a strong person and… You fit that description. But I don't want to get between you and Sona. It's hard to hide that I'm attracted to you though. Please don't mind me though. I'm sure I'll meet someone else."

Issei went wide eyed at her words. As did Tsubaki, Rias, Gasper, and Kiba. Sona however just sighed. She had seen the situation coming. Luckily Issei recovered and spoke up.

"I'm sure you'll meet someone else too. Thanks for being a good friend about the situation though. I'm actually a little tired of having girls confess to me. Before we started Summer Break, I had several girls trying to get between Sona and I and it really bothered me."

As he spoke the teen gently intertwined his hand with Sona's. He gave her a soft smile, that made her want to kiss him. The more the desire built inside her the more she wanted to take Tsubaki's advice and flea to her families private beach with him. He could tell that she was plotting something, but he wasn't read to leave just yet. Issei kissed Sona's forehead before stepping back.

"I know you've got something going on in that head. We can do whatever it is after a bit. I want to have another race with Garran and Bova. You want in Kiba?"

"Sure."

The two males left the group with matching grins. Sona couldn't help but smile softly as she melted just a little bit from Issei's affection. Tsubaki was happy for her friend and decided not to tease her for once. Rias smiled, happy to see just how devoted Issei was to Sona. Xenovia had a small smile as well, though hers was because she finally got things off her chest. Despite his habit of cross-dressing Gasper didn't want to risk being caught up in a girl talk about the situation and wondered off to the shade by Koneko, who was napping.

An Hour Later

"You know. I'm only just now noticing you aren't in a swimsuit Sona."

Rias spoke, having an idea as to why her friend was still in regular clothes. But she wanted to make Sona admit it since teasing her was so much fun. However, the glasses wearing devil knew what the red head was trying to do. Even though she was embarrassed, Sona spoke calmly and without blushing as she tried to ruin Rias's fun.

"I was going to show Issei my new swimsuit. But it's for his eyes only, and everyone else came by before I could get changed… Speaking of. I'm going to take my chance now. We'll see everyone later."

Standing up she wondered over to Issei who was toweling off. He had raced with the other guys a couple times, before coaxing Koneko into the pool. He knew she was still a beginner when it came to swimming so he wanted to help her out, and the rest of the hour had been spent coaching her as she doggy paddled through the water.

With a smile Sona put her hand on Issei's shoulder before activating her magic and teleporting them away. Since everyone was expecting it to happen at some point they didn't make a big deal about it and let the two do their own thing.

"Where are we Sona?"

"Well since they interrupted my original plan I figured I'd let them have a bit of fun before making things private again."

Sona answered as Issei looked around at the beach they'd arrived on. Pure white sand and amazingly clear water were his clues that it was a very luxurious beach. Which meant it was a private beach. But He put that to the back of his mind as he asked what her original plan was.

"I wanted a private pool date with you. I even bought a new swimsuit just for you. But I didn't get to show it off."

She said as she walked towards a small little shack. Issei followed as he noticed the shack was built to be dressing rooms and showers to rinse off the sand. But he was polite and waited outside of the shack while Sona changed. When she came out he couldn't help the blush that came across his face as his heart skipped a beat.

A simple two piece ocean blue bikini was what she had chosen. Except, the top covered less that he'd expected. It provided no side coverage, instead being two triangular pieces of cloth with a string connected them from one corner. The other corners had strings, the top two running up and over her shoulder, while the two remaining sided wrapped around her chest to tie together in the back. A faint light green stripe on each split the triangles in two. A water proof and slightly sheer sarong blue skirt was tied on her left hip. As he studied it Issei noticed little faded white stars decorated the skirt. She had a red bracelet, that was patterned to look like flowers despite being plastic on her left wrist. A red Lily was tucked into her hair to finish the look.

Being blue and green, it was her signature colors when outside of her school uniform. But he appreciated the red bracelet and flower, as they were a subtle nod to his signature color of red. Issei struggled to swallow as he tried to find the words to describe just how beautiful she was.

"Sona you're so… so beautiful… That swimsuit is exceptionally gorgeous on you."

At his words Sona couldn't help but go bright red, the color in her face matching the lily in her hair. Which was a surprise addition that she hadn't been expecting to show off. But when she entered the changing room there was a vase fully of lilies, and she thought adding a bit more red to her look would please her boyfriend.

It took both of them a moment to calm themselves after that. Recovering enough to move about again, but not enough to speak without the fear of stumbling over her words Sona just stepped close to her boyfriend and kissed him on the cheek before tugging on his hand as she lead him towards her favorite spot on the beach. Silently she thanked Tsubaki for suggesting the private beach as a location for the two of them to be alone, Sona had Issei sit down before snuggling into his lap as they looked out over the water at the sunset. Together they sat, unaware of the fact that they had a few giddy adults watching them with smiles as they secretly took photos.

"This date might not have been what you originally planned, but I think this is much better than it would have been with the school pool."

Issei mumbled into her ear, though Sona also felt his chest rumbling as he spoke. She shivered at the feeling, as she pushed her body into his hoping to feel it again.

"Yeah. This is way better."

She replied, tilting her head back and sideways to kiss him once more, except on the lips this time.

S.R: I'll admit. At first I wanted to have them sitting on the sidelines and commenting as they watched Rias's Rating Game with Seekvaira, but I scrapped that idea when I realized that it would be a lot more fun to do a lighthearted date again. Anyway, I'll see you guys with the next update in September.