Chapter 21 A Meeting in a Burning Mind

Ragna grumbled, feeling the warmth of a soft body against his this time; he played it cautiously after what happened before with Tekken. Cracking his right eye open, he met the sweet sleeping face of Iffy, who was happily snuggling into his chest. Flushing red Ragna couldn't help but reach a hand out to pet the girl's hair,

As his hand gently touched the top of her head, his fingers running through her hair IF gave a small purr of satisfaction. She had even begun pushing her head into his hand, as her own clenched tighter onto his back. He let a small smile slip onto his face, that is until a little giggle came from his right.

Turning his head, he not just saw Vert laying there with a smirk on her face but that he was for some reason on her bed. Before the Reaper could even begin to question her, Vert put her finger on her lips, motioning for him to keep quiet, then she whispered, "Seems your enjoying yourself there, Ragna~."

"Errr, can it Vert."Ragna growled lowly before questioning her while unconsciously continuing to pet IF, "So, what the hell after I fell asleep?"

The goddess smiled while lying to him, "Oh, well, it wasn't anything too much, sweet little IF didn't want to cling to me for long and, in a daze, attempted to cuddle with you on the couch." She put a hand on her cheek, attempting to look endearing, "After she fell off a few times in stubbornness, I guided the half-asleep girl to my bed and brought you over to her."

In truth, she waited till IF was properly laying on Ragna and carried both of them to her bed. Afterward, she may have gotten into the cuddle fest herself and liked what she felt from Ragna and IF's bodies. Looking at her smile, something told the Reaper not to trust her words for a second.

"Yeah, whatever you say." Ragna's voice was a little sharper than before, and Vert held back a laugh at his unconvinced expression.

She giggled again before she cupped Ragna's chin with one hand, getting a dirty look out of him as she asked, "What's wrong?"

The Reaper scowled in reply before telling her, "Tch, you're getting a bit too touchy." turning his head from her grip, Vert gave a small sigh before getting out of her bed with a stretch.

"Well, Mr. grouchy, I'll go get in a shower and freshen up; don't go doing anything too shameful with little IF~." Ragna was about to tell her off but, Vert left the room before he could get a word in.

Ragna, in the end, just looked at IF, which he kept petting throughout the conversation. She had mostly settled down; her face far closer to his than before, resting just below his neck. That's when she grumbled a little bit before her eyes opened in a half-lidded stare and started to pull herself forward.

Ragna raised an eyebrow wondering if she was going to slap him or something, he asked, "Hey Squi..mmm!?" she cut him off.

To IF when she lazily opened her eyes, she could feel the affectionate look Ragna had been giving her. Small shivers rolling down her spine as he ran fingers through her hair, "must be a dream again," was what her mind came up with for an explanation as to why Ragna was so openly loving.

"I wanna kiss," that was the next thing to come to mind; kissing was something couples did and, it was the maturest thing she could do...in another person's bed. She quickly hoisted herself to Ragna's face, not caring for whatever he was saying. She promptly kissed him, noticing something she thought, "Does this feel more real than normal, and he's usually more aggressive."

She compared how her dreams of the Reaper generally went to what was currently taking place. Next, she noticed the pure warmth and comfort added to a level of closeness that her dreams tended to leave empty. Finally, she pulled away from the Reaper, her eyes more awake now as the reality of what she had just done sunk in.

"Kyaaa!?" she shrieked with a flushed face pulling back while turned his away with his cheeks dusted pink.

(With Vert)

After she left the room, she flushed instantly, thinking, "Oh my Ragna is such a gap moe type, petting cute little Iffy like that it just makes me want to snuggle them both." As she headed for the bathroom, she mused, "Though how to go about unlocking the harem route, hmmm, I can't force my way in, especially if Ragna prefers more "compact" frames."

Honestly, she was determined to get them both, because while some would settle for one or the other, she just felt that their little couple needed to happen. "That," she thought, "and I've never been into NTR, anywho I wish I could transform if I could become my goddess form I'm sure Ragna would fall for me." That was the biggest obstacle in her opinion, stealing the heart of the intimidating Ragna the Bloodedge."

"Hmm, when the Author decides to scene cut back to whatever trouble the cuties are up to in my room, I'll have to undermine him somehow hehe." She muttered while giggling.

That's when a narrator esque voice told her, "Hold it, you can't undermind me. I'm the writer here!" she shrugged, opening the door to her bathroom before smiling while replying to no one, "Really? Well, I'm here in the shower now, so unless you want to raise the rating of this fic to describe my beautiful body while we continue this debate, bye-bye~."

"Ack...hey wait for you, uhh damn it!" The narrator's voice groaned before muttering, "you bribe Neptune with a ban on no pudding punishments to keep her 4th wall breaking to a minimum and, another goddess goes dysfunctional to make up for it, anyway back to the fluffiness."

(Back to Ragna and, IF)

IF was sitting on her knees with a flushed face, as Ragna was leaning back, scratching his cheek. There was a looming sense of awkwardness between them, and the silence was far more unsettling than one would think. Ragna decided that he would be the one to break the atmosphere, saying, "Hey, uh...squirt."

"I..it's fine," she suddenly squeaked out before playing with her finger's looking down and, went to apologize, "I...I'm so..." it was Ragna's turn to cut someone off.

With a click of his tongue, he told her with narrowed eyes, "Tch, don't apologize," Ragna started rubbing the back of his head before thinking, "I'm seriously about to say this huh, master would be in tears laughing right now." He closed his eyes, asking, "So, IF how do you...well, feel about me, like really?"

"Um, that is...well," steam started literally rolling from her ears in embarrassment as she continued, "It's complicated like, um well." her hands met her cheeks as she thought, "Why can't I tell him right now, this is the perfect moment for it."

Ragna seemed to grumble something unintelligible before telling her, "IF, if you don't wanna talk about, just don't force yourself." The Reaper sighed before going to leave the bed. IF seemed to shiver for a moment before a flame ignited in her eyes and, Ragna told her, "I'm gonna go see if the others are here yet for that dinner, whoa!"

"You're not going anywhere, you bastard," IF suddenly snarled while dragging him back onto the bed, a stubby tail did it's best to restrain his right leg. IF had transformed and quickly straddled the Reaper with little to no problem since he had been taken off-guard. She scowled out harshly, "You ask a blushing girl who kissed you a question like that and, try to walk-off without an answer?!"

In outrage, the girl leaned in while grabbing the collar of Ragna's jacket, hissing out, "Were you castrated or something and, didn't tell us? You're supposed to be a man act proactively, or my other half'll never admit her love for you damn it!"

"Other half, the hell are you on about?" Ragna growled in confusion as the transformed IF rolled her eyes.

She told him, "Shut it, that ain't important right now, you should be more concerned about making up this embarrassment to me," that's when her scowl turned into a smirk, "and I've got just the thing my dear precious Ragna~."

(Minutes later)

"Ufufufu, your even cuter with animal ears hehe." Vert happily started petting IF's head, her gloved fingers playing with the dog ears coming from her ears. IF smiled at that while walking, holding Ragna's hand tightly as the Reaper himself had a small scowl on his face. Vert noticing this, asked, "Hm is there something wrong, Ragna?"

IF answered for him, "Oh, it's nothing; he's just a bit grumpy because I forced the confession out of him." Vert gave a surprised look at that before coming to the door to the dining room.

"Is that so?" Vert mused while looking at the Reaper, who turned his head, immediately confirming the transformed IF's words. Vert thought, "My this "transformed" IF is quite the different beast, whatever did she do to make a man like Ragna submit to her."

Vert then thought gingerly, "Ah, what if it was like a doujin, I've recently read." She mentally let out a few sharp breaths thinking about what her new favorite pairing could have done while she was gone, needlessly reminding herself, "I'll have to wash the sheets of my bed later, won't I?"

"Whatever perverse things are going on in there better stop or I'll burn you down," IF told Vert as they walked in, just because she liked getting her ears pet, didn't mean she had to be kind. The transformed IF didn't like Vert in the slightest, despite the praise her usual self choked out. She narrowed her eyes, thinking with an obsessive tone, "I'm on to you bimbo bitch, buttering me up so you can rob us of our beloved, I'll return this whole nation to ashes before letting that happen!"

IF blinked for a moment, her thoughts changing in a panic with a lighter normal tone, "Wait, whoa there I dislike her and all, but that doesn't mean we need to go to war or something?!" that's when a deeper bestial tone whispered out, "Crush, Destroy, Ragna, Ours!"

IF's transformed self then scowled at her "baggage" personalities and, hissed in her mind, "Shut yer damn mouths you whores," she then turned to the IF that represented her rational mindset," I'm in control because of little tsun-normie over there can't speak up about her feelings and, cries in her sleep about it like a bitty bitch." She then glared at the monstrous form, snickering out, "And your nothing more than an arrangement born of intangible thoughts of hate-filled jealousy and pent up aggression from people underestimating us because of our childish figure."

"And then there's you," she looked at a swirling mass of flames that turned into a sizeable wolf-like form. Any intimidation factor it would have, though, was negated by it's shivering and that its towering body was broken into pieces.

The deep voice from when she first went into beast form snarled out, "You...repugnant spawn of desire and distortion how dare you to do this to me, after giving you your wish." It acted as if it was going to attack only for the transformed IF to smirk viciously and, monster's attack stopped with it hissing lowly, "You'd dare not to, the child we are apart of...do you not fear what will come...of splitting her mind into further sections?"

"If it means I'm able to be with my love, who cares if the real IF is lost, and besides the more, I divide from her the easier it will be for her to "transform," right Gwyllgi "The Hound of Dark Flames" ?" the transformed IF said this with a smirk. The rational IF felt nervous at her "transformed." state's words while the beastial IF whined with her head lowered.

That's when a snap woke IF up from her meeting of sorts, looking at Neptune's cheeky grin the transformed IF scowled out, "What do you want now?"

"Awww, is Iffy in her grumpy mode, did I wake you from imagining your beloved Ragna's lips?" Neptune teasingly asked, getting a low growl from Ragna, and the IF gained a small smirk.

She went over to Ragna, who had decided to sit next to Compa at the table. Wordlessly she plopped herself into his lap; her stumpy tail wagged happily and, with a victorious grin, she told Neptune, "Who needs to dream when I've already captured his lips, and he even groomed my ear and tail furr so hah."

"Wooow, really? So that's where you guys were, huh," Neptune said, then she looked at Tekken, who gave a shy eep as several gazes turned to her when Neptune commented, "I'll take my 20 dollars in pudding later."

Compa was just speechless at the turn of events while Yvoire was still stunned at IF's different appearance. Coughing to get everyone's attention he told the group, "First I'd like to thank you for coming to tonight's dinner you may eat to your heart's content, secondly, " he brought a hand to motion at Vert, saying, "Lady Green Heart would like to share a few words before we begin."

"Yes, well, I just wanted to give you all my thanks for...uhm whatever it is you all did to be here," Vert had a sweatdrop rolling down her forehead while saying this as Ragna raised an eyebrow wondering why she wanted even to say anything. After that, she then went on to tell them, "Now, please enjoy tonight's food."

Neptune looked at the pudding she had grabbed immediately with stars in the eyes, taking a spoonful of it into her mouth. Her eyes widened, then her vision blurred and, she thought, "This tastes good."

"Neptune!" Ragna's voice seemed distant as a weird feeling of sickness took over Neptune, and she fell from her chair onto the ground.

Chapter 21 end

Reviews

Kerrowe - I enjoy the teasings as well, and, yeah, I thought that sort of scene would be entertaining glad you liked it.

Wilyman2009 - Yeah, I think she gets considerably weirder in the second game, though, and I don't think Ragna's in the position to do most until we sort out IF's "problems."

RedBurningDragon - I would but, I sort of made a deal with that one, though Vert trying to play me isn't any better. (Vert: Oh, come now. I'm not planning anything too bad~.) Get out of here; this isn't even a part of the story!

ArmantusCummPinae - I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well since it comes with a small idea of what's going on with IF and her transformations as well.

Author's note - I'll give a cookie and Nep's pudding rights to someone who can guess what's really going on IF -note- it has to do with something that isn't really mentioned until rebirth 3/ and the beginning of a particular IF centric spin-off.