A Fragile Heart

Author's Note: Before starting to read this, I want to let you know that this story isn't going to tie in A New Opportunity or my other stories for now and is going to be part of a three part series, where this is part one of three. This story isn't going to harem like for now and its going to be a lot "different" how I used to write since this story is going to be third person rather than first person. Also I don't own dxd or anything connected to it.

"Someone is Talking"

'Someone speaking in Thought'

"Raynare is speaking or Flashback"

"Sealed Spirits are talking (Aka beings like Ddraig and Albion)"

"Chants are being spoken"

Prologue

"….Bu….Buchou, where are you going?" It was the question that Issei wished he could take back. It was the moment after he and his master, Rias Gremory, spoke to the Lady Phenex regarding her daughter Ravel attending Kuoh Academy. After speaking to Lady Phenex, Rias headed straight towards the door, which Issei stopped her by simply asking where was she going.

"….Ise, will you protect me?" Rias asked without looking back at him.

'…Why do you ask such a thing suddenly…?' Issei thought to himself uncomfortably. 'I don't know, but my answer is obvious!'

"Of course, I will protect Buchou!" Issei decided to respond with great dedication.

"…And Asia?" Rias asked.

"Eh? Yes, I will also protect Asia!" Though he was off guarded at first, Issei still replied with the same enthusiasm as before.

"And Akeno?"

"Akeno-san? That is obvious. But….. What happened, suddenly asking me such a thing?"

Issei still doesn't get it. He doesn't get what his master's intention are at all.

"…Hey, Ise."

"Y-Yes…."

"…To you, 'what' am I? 'Who' am I?" Rias asked with a lower tone.

"…" It wasn't that Issei understood the meaning of Rias's question, but he hesitated to answer it. If he answered it poorly, it might have hurt the relationship he has with Rias, but at the same time Rias needed an answer from him. So decided to answer it the best way he could "….Ummm, to me Buchou is Buchou and-"

The moment he said that.

"-! Baka!"

She scolded him mixed with a sound of her crying. Rias rushes away from the spot, and she left the clubroom.

"Rias-oneesama!" Asia goes after Buchou. Asia turns to Issei after she reaches the door. Her eyes…are soaked with tears. She was crying…? "Ise-san! You are horrible! It's too much! Why can't you…..! Why can't you understand Onee-sama's feelings!?" Saying that, Asia goes after Buchou.

Having Asia also say that to him, Issei just stood there lost and dumbfounded.

'…Wa, wait a sec! What's the meaning of this!? Why is Asia also mad at me!?' Issei ponder with a bewildered expression on his face.

"That wasn't right, Ise-kun." Kiba makes a sigh while nodding his head to the side.

"….N-not right as in what?" Ise asked in hope to figure out what just happened.

"That, precisely. Geez, you are so….. I can understand very well what the girls are going through." Kiba put his fingers on his forehead as he let out another disappointed sigh.

"Exactly. It's natural for Rias and Asia-chan to get mad." Akeno-san concurred with frustrated tone.

"Even I, who is dense at these sorts of things thought you were a bit off, Ise." Xenovia looked at Ise with cold eyes that were half-closed!

"Mou! Ise-kun, sure is a no-no! Poor Rias-san!" Even Irina was mad.

"….You are the worst." Koneko said her infamous quote in the coldest way possible.

'I don't know what I did wrong! I just don't know!' Ise began to feel uncomfortable, confused, and pressured from the cold demeanour his friends were giving him. Maybe if he talked to Rias, they could handle things peacefully and resolve everything. But before he could even try to go, he was quickly stopped by Akeno.

"The current Ise-kun will just hurt her more even if you go after her, so don't." Issei felt appalled from the inside from what Akeno just said straight up his face so heartlessly. He never seen this cold side from the likes of Akeno.

"…Hey, Gasper. Am I really bad here?" Issei quickly turned to Gasper for support. Surely Gasper was going to help Issei out. For everything Issei has done for his young junior, Gasper should at least back him up for not being the villain here. But he was wrong.

"…Umm…. Yes, I think you are very bad….." Gasper said apologetically while twitching his body.

Issei quickly felt down. Then Ravel asks while panicking."U-Umm…..this is my mother's and my fault, right…? I'm sorry…."

'Is it…Ravel's fault?' Issei thought to himself pathetically. 'It seemed like Buchou tried to leave after the communication between the Phoenix mother and child…'

Akeno-san places her hand on Ravel's shoulders. 'Ravel-chan doesn't have to worry about it. Ise-kun's the most at fault here because he never tried to think about the crucial thing between Rias and himself until now." Akeno-san cheers her up like that, and she started to prepare for tea after urging Ravel to sit on the sofa.

Soon enough everyone began to go back to their regular selves while ignoring Issei, who's still not sure what was going on.

"Man, why is everyone acting like that… What do they want me to do…" Issei complained to himself as he sat down on a bench by playground. After what occurred in the club room, everyone but Issei continued to prepare for the school festival under Akeno-san's supervison. The atmosphere of that situation was settled down after Akeno-san took responsibility to find Rias and Asia. Issei himself decided to leave the campus to clear his head on what just happened.

So far it wasn't going well for him. What happened after the talk with Lady Phenex and the night before during the sauna incident. Rias was acting differently all of the sudden and what made things worse for him was that everyone was taking Rias's side and putting the blame on him. But why, Issei wondered to himself.

Lately he began to noticed that not only Rias but her mother, and everyone else that was around is seeking something from him. And he knew it was something that has to do with his relationship with Rias. Well, it was what Akeno told him about how inconsiderate he was about the relationship between him and Rias.

A thought that Issei remembered thinking about before the meeting came back to him. In his head were two major points. He didn't understand what Rias was feeling and he hurt her feelings without realizing it. The other was something he couldn't bring himself to think any further about, but decided to anyway.

The other thing he was thinking was maybe... maybe... Rias might have romantic feelings for him. It would explain a lot. Like why she ended up moving into his house or how she shows him affection differently from Gasper and Kiba, who also her male servants. He thought about the kisses she gave him straight to his lips and the french kisses they shared.

The thought of their kiss brought a warm smile to his face.

He first thought that the love Rias gave him was the same love she shared towards all of her servants and thought she done stuff to him because he was younger than her and thought it was a way to connect her with the guy members of her peerage and it was a special service. But if that was the case, she would have done the same thing she done to Issei to Kiba and Gasper. There was an obvious difference how she treated Issei with the rest of the guys of her peerage.

Ever since the night Issei saved Rias from getting married to Raiser Phenex, she quickly became fixated on love. She had put so much pure and innocent obsession into it, which Issei thought it was normal since she always dream of marrying the man who loves her for herself and not for her heritage.

Another thought came to him. It was the physical contact she had with him. If Rias, who has pure thoughts regarding the relationship between man and woman, would do such seductive actions to him, was it because he was her adorable servant? No, she wouldn't do something like that. Rias has a strong sense towards her chastity.

Then here came the next topic that Issei didn't want to explore the possibility.

The topic was regarding whether or not if Rias actually has feelings for him. If that was the case, then her attitude towards him matched up, but...

'N-No! There is no way! She's my master! I'm her servant! Her servant devil! I'm Rias Gremory's Pawn! B-But. But! I-If Buchou does indeed like me, then...?' The forehead of Issei began to sweat as he goes into deeper thought of the idea of Rias liking him. 'I like Buchou. Also as a master, but more than that as a single girl! During these six months, I have seen many sides of her, the magnificent side, her noble side, her glamorous side, her gentle side, her angry side, the part where she has big oppai, her cute side, the part where she has a smooth skin, her spoiled side, and the part where she is like my Onee-sama yet she acts as the same age as me, and then I started see her as a normal girl and…'

To him, she was the ideal woman. He wanted to go out with her. He wanted to surpass the master-servant relationship, and date her as man and woman. It's what Issei dream of. It's what he wished for. It's what he truly desire. If she truly shared the same feelings as him, then it would bring Issei a greatest joy than being a harem king.

'I'm in love with her! I love her! I've always loved her! I just love Buchou and-. I want to confess to her-.' He started to have weird sweat coming form his face. His hands began to shake as well. Everyone in the park began to notice Issei, who looked like he was going to have some sort of nervous breakdown. 'But, what would I do if I'm wrong? The relationahip we currently have will end… I don't want that!'

"Ufufufu..." The park quickly became abandon and Issei wasn't able to detect anyone's presence nearby, but he was able to hear a voice. He quickly snapped out of his train and thought and got off the bench. "Do you really think that that girl really wants you?"

"Who's there!?" Issei asked loudly crossed the park.

"Hahahahaha...! What you desire is nothing more than a fantasy," the voice said."If you ask for more... the precious relationship you have now will definitely end."

Issei widen his eyes from what the voice just said. Could the voice be right? If Ise asked more from the relationship with Rias, could it possible end badly for them, which Rias ends up rejecting him.

"Yeah, it would definitely turned out like that." The voice said with a ridicule tone.

Issei grinned his teeth in irritation. "Shut up! You don't know anything!"

"Oh? Don't I?"

A gentle breeze came by the park as a girl appeared within the thin air in front of Issei. The attire she's wearing consisted of a short black dress with a small, light purple jacket on top. Issei widen his eyes in realization of who the girl was.

"Raynare...!?" Issei gasped.

He couldn't believe it. The first woman that Issei genuinely loved. The same woman who manipulated him with his feelings and attempted to take his and Asia's life. The same woman who Ise hit with his own hands in rage. The same woman who was killed by the current woman that Issei fell in love with. She should dead, but Issei can see her right in front of him.

"What's wrong?" Raynare asked with a sneer on her face. "Don't you miss me?"

"I don't want a filthy low-class Devil like you talking to me."

At times he wondered if it was alright for him to talk with the girls from the Occult Research Club.

"Ahahaha! Yeah, you are right! It was a very royal date! Thanks to it, I was very bored!"

When he goes shopping with the girls, he wonders if they ever got bored being with him.

-"I don't want a rotten brat like you calling my name"

Issei want to say his master's name. He really does, but...

"Ise-kun! Please save me! This Devil is trying to kill me! I love you! I love you so much! That's why, let's defeat this Devil together!"

She begged for her life right in front of him. He could have spared her, but at that time it was proper for Raynare to be killed. She did such horrible things to Asia, and she even killed her once.

"How boring." Raynare frown out of boredom. "I can't believe after all this time, you haven't changed a bit."

'Change?' Issei wondered what Raynare was even trying to say.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Issei asked defensively. He summoned his Boosted Gear and began the counter down to enter his Balance Breaker. "I changed. I'm stronger and smarter than before. I'm more than powerful enough to kill you on my own."

"I wasn't referring to that." Raynare sighed. "Do I need to repeat myself? You haven't changed since the last time I saw you. You are still the same gullible idiot you were even after you were reincarnated by that she devil."

What is Raynare talking about? Issei changed a lot over these months after becoming a devil. He matured a lot physically and mentally-to some extent-for the last six months and accomplished a lot things that Raynare couldn't do on her own. Issei fought against many foes and even defeated an evil god and survived the fight against the True Longinus.

So what do she mean that Issei didn't "change" at all. What could Issei have missed that the last person he wanted alive was able to pick up? What was thing he was so blind to notice.

'What... blind...' The word blind repeated over in Issei's mind multiple times. Okay, Issei admitted that he wasn't the sharpest person and is nothing more than a power idiot who goes with his emotions. There were many times he got lost that he needed someone to help him explain things. Everyone in the Occult Research Club always get mad at him for being slow. Could it be that is the case, no wait it isn't either. If its being slow then, what does it has to do with Raynare? What does being blind have to do with Raynare, why does a manipulative and deceptive bitch who has done nothing more than use people for her benefit.. then it came him.

"No... It couldn't be..." Issei murmured to himself in denial. He put his hands on his head as he shook it while struggling to get the idea out of his head. "She couldn't... could she? No... I don't want to believe it..."

Was it possible that Rias was manipulating him from the every beginning? No, she couldn't. She wasn't the type of person who would deceive others. She isn't one of those snobbish high class devils who treats their devils like there is nothing to them. She and her clan cherish their servants and give them so much love and affection. The love and affection she shows to her peerage wants to make them to push hard and fight for... her.

'No! She wasn't that type of person.' Issei thought. She could never stoop that low, could she? What if all those times Rias has had physical contact and the kisses she shared with him was part of her plan to keep him under her leash? And all those times she doesn't want Issei to get along with the other girls from the Occult Research Club? She always claiming that Issei was hers, along with his chastity, and none of the girls could have him. Did Rias fear that if Issei fell in love with some other girl, he would rather protect and listen to her rather than his own master?

It kind of made sense if he thought about it. Rias had hit the jackpot the moment she realized that Issei was the Red Emperor Dragon. She treated him special because she knew that Issei will do anything for her in return. She doesn't allow him to fall in relationship with other girls because she knew she'll lose her most powerful weapon. She was willing to allow low class devil like Issei to touch her because she knew that it would give him a power up, even if she has to endure the taboo nickname of Switch Princess.

And if Rias was truly manipulating, then could it be that her behaviour lately was nothing more than an act? Could it be possible that Rias only wanted Issei to show his love and she in return "reciprocate" his love in order Issei push harder for his match against Sairaorg Bael?

"No, no, no, no, no..." Issei got on his knees as tears run down his face and fall down to the ground. His heart is filled with nothing more than great sorrow. He wasn't sure what hurt him more. The fact that Rias actually manipulated him or that he fell for the same trick twice.

"Hahahaha! So you finally figured it out!" Raynare sneered. "You've been duped all this time! That bitch is no better than I am! No wait, she's a lot worse than I ever was! Hahahaha!"

Issei grinned his teeth as his blood pressure began to rise. Surge of adrenaline circulated throughout his body as his eyes sharpen into a murderous glare. His body began to emit a red ominous aura as Issei began to pant hazardously. He stood up with the scale mail attached to him.

"Partner! Calm down! You'll go berserk if you keep this up!" Issei could hear the voice of Ddraig, the spirit within his Boosted Gear, but Issei ignored his partner's plead.

"I, who is about to awaken am the Heavenly Dragon who has stolen the principles of domination from God! I laugh at the "infinite", and I grieve at the "dream"! I shall become the Red Dragon of Domination And I shall sink you to the depths of the crimson- Uak!"

Before he had the chance to even finished his chant, Issei coughed out blood as he felt a sharp pain pierced through his chest. His slowly rolled his eyes down to see a tip of a sword sticking out of his chest.

'...What...' His rolled his eyes back up to see that Raynare was nowhere in sight before his body collapsed on the ground. '...Was...' His vision began to go blurry as Issei began to reflect on what he was going to do. '...I...' As everything around Issei began to blacken, last thing he saw was a magic circle coming out from the ground. '...Doing?...'

Okay before I go I want to give out a shout out to the author of the Stray Red Emperor Dragon, IllusionDrawer for giving me the inspiration to write story. I did enjoyed how Issei went into Juggernaut Drive by accident and how none of the members of the ORC tried to comfort him like the LN did. I also enjoyed the interaction that Issei had with the ORC after the juggernaut drive and such.

I usually do a preview for the next chapter, but I won't for multiple reasons and one of the main one is next chapter there is going to be a huge twist that none of you will suspect. so see in the next chapter of A Fragile Heart