It's been about two years since the previous chapter. If you care to know what I've been up to feel free to dm me. I don't promise any regular updates. My desire of writing comes and goes. I hope you can forgive me.

For any returning readers, I suggest rereading the previous chapters. I made some slight changes in dialogue.

"Talking

'Thinking'

Flashback

(Ddraig)

Sunlight began to shine into the Red Dragon's room. In time, that sunlight grazed his eyes. Surprisingly, they weren't closed. No, Issei Hyoudou had been awake for quite some time now. For the past 10 years he had been a victim to detailed nightmares which caused him to violently awaken in the middle of the night. Every night the repeat of that fateful day would occur in his dreams. The blood and cries and pain and fear would all be relived in gruesome detail.

Ddraig made attempts to manipulate his brain to block the nightmare from occurring but they never succeeded. In time Issei grew to accept it as a nightly routine. The day he lost his innocence was also the day he lost his peace.

Arising from his bed, he made way to his bathroom to freshen up before heading back into the living room. On his way, he passed by the guest room and noticed it was empty. Odd. Ignoring this, he made his breakfast then sat down in the dining room table before eating it in silence.

It was too silent. If the events of yesterday evening weren't a figment of his imagination, the cat should've been lurking around somewhere. 'Where is that c-'

"Boo!" A pair of large mounds pressed on his back and hands covering his eyes interrupted his thought. "Nyahaha I got you Ise" Kuroka laughed, clearly amused by her attempt to startle him.

Issei rolled his eyes. "If only you were this good at hiding your presence when I was hunting you. I wouldn't have to deal with you this early in the morning." He continued on with his breakfast, trying to avoid having to heat it up again.

"Mou you're such a party pooper nya." Kuroka replied with a pout. She sat in the seat next to him and slightly leaned on him while twirling her hair with her index finger. "You should learn to have some fun every now and then. Maybe you'd finally be able to under a woman."

Issei choked on his food. While trying to regain his composure, Kuroka, cheek resting on her palm, could only think how cute his reaction was. It was the first of hopefully many attempts her teasing got something out of him.

(I sure wonder how she knew you've never been with anyone) Ddraig snickered.

"Fuck off Ddraig"

Kuroka smiled. 'I could get used to this' She thought. Once he composed himself, he finished up his meal and went to grab his backpack. Ironically, Kuroka followed him like a puppy. "Nya is the infamous Red Dragon Emperor going to be late for school? I don't get why you even bother going"

"Honestly sometimes I wonder that myself." He sighed, now looking at himself through the mirror in his room. Kuroka took a closer look at him. He looked tired, his eyes had a longing look for something unknown to her. He groaned. A part of him felt like he was wasting valuable time going to school for half of his day. The other part of him however felt a desire with this routine. The longing to attempt to live a normal life. It was this part of him he accidentally allowed to slip out. "Maybe I just need some sense of normalcy in the chaos which is my life. Something constant which doesn't involve indiscriminate murder." He looked at the cats reflection. Her face frozen in a shock. He shook his head. 'Why did I say that?'

"I'll be back in a few hours. Don't do anything stupid." Without looking at her, he swiftly left the apartment. Behind he left a still stunned Kuroka standing in his room. After a few moments her stunned look transformed into a warm smile. He had accidentally allowed himself to sound almost vulnerable to her. It was different than the cold, private person she had been speaking to the day before. She liked it.

It looked like there were more shades of him than she originally thought.

[Scene Break]

Meanwhile, Issei walked silently as he and Ddraig recounted the previous events.

(Kukuku I didn't expect that from you partner) Ddraig chuckled. (I haven't heard you be that honest in a long time)

'It's early. After last nights episode and the usual nightly routine, I'm just really drained.' Issei dismissed.

(Ah yes, the two events combined with your new roommate must've cause a great deal of strain on your psyche. You should take a break from your contracts for a few days. Perhaps you should go visit the nun and the other children at the orphanage. It would be a good opportunity to see how the two Belial children are fitting in)

'It's the contracts that keep my and their mouths fed Ddraig.' He sighed, he had done enough missions to have three weeks of funds saved. Though it was unlikely he would take that much time off to relax. Taking that much off would surely be bad for business as the Red Dragon Emperor was known to be quick in both his mission times and response time to new clients.

He continued his walk until he was finally past the gates of the school. As per usual, he was immediately met with the hostile gaze of the rest of the student body. No matter how accustomed to it he grew, it was still incredibly annoying to be center of attention so often.

When arrived to his class he sat in the furthest back spot he could find and failed to pay attention to any lesson being taught. With assistance of both Ddraig and the memories of his predecessors, school was more of a way to get away from his day job instead of any meaningful place of education for him.

It wasn't an uncommon occurrence for his teacher to test him whenever they notice his lack of attention. Once he was quizzed on the anatomy of a nuclear reactor. Funnily enough, one of his predecessors was a close friend to Enrico Fermi so any sense of difficulty was thrown out the window. That particular teacher never tested their luck again.

Usually when he gazed out the window he would get lost in the swaying of the trees in the wind. However this time he noticed something strange about one particular tree. On one of the branches he noticed a little black cat casually laying faced towards him. He wouldn't have thought much of it if it weren't for those familiar golden eyes he was starting to get used to.

'This counts as doing something stupid'

[Scene Break]

After a few hours Issei was sitting under a lone tree in the field across the former abandoned school building now known to house the Occult Research Club. Usually he would spend his lunch time here alone and away from the madness which is high school. This time though, he had his new house mate sitting on his lap, still in her kitten form.

"You're seriously starting to get on my nerves. I hope you know that." Issei spoke, annoyed by Kuroka's continued disturbance.

In her current form, Kuroka did nothing but blink slowly and nuzzle against Issei's chest. He took it to understand she was uninterested to hear any critique he had of her. It was odd to him to see how her flirty personality was represented in her current form.

"I almost prefer you in this form." He added.

"Nyaa" She purred.

Was she unable to speak in this form? In cases he's seen before such as Vampires becoming bats or Werewolves into wolves, speech was consistent no matter the form the individual took. Perhaps for Nekoshou the rules were different.

As long as Kuroka could disturb him any further, Issei allowed her to remain on his lap while he ate his lunch. As he was eating several groups of students walked by him. Staring and commenting as they passed.

"Look at that freak, probably eyeing every girl down as they walk by." One male student assumed.

"Is that his pet cat? Probably the only pussy he gets." Another added.

If not for a moment, Issei swore he heard Kuroka laugh as the hateful comments came in. Were kittens even capable of laughter?

"I swear, one of these days I'm burning this whole place to the ground." Issei said.

(You could, however I don't think the two Devil heiresses would take kindly to the destruction of any part of their territory) Ddraig replied, audible to only his host and his new "friend".

As if on cue, he could spot one of said heiresses and her Queen across the field, exiting their club room. She was a tall, beautiful woman with blue-green eyes and hair as crimson red as his armor. To her right was her equally beautiful Queen with jet black hair with an orange bow tied at the top and deep purple eyes. They both wore the standard female uniform; a buttoned down long sleeved white shirt, black tie, pinkish skirt with a caped black shirt. Their uniforms expressed their large breast, both challenging, maybe even surpassing Kuroka's in terms of size.

"Rias Gremory and Akeno Himejima. The two Great Ladies of Kuoh." Issei said with false reverence. "The heiress of House Gremory and sister of Devil King Lucifer. If there's anyone you want to steer clear of it's her. Wouldn't want Lucifer to know you're hiding in his sisters territory."

Issei stared at the Devils. He was always cautious to mask his energy around them in the off chance they got dangerously close. The last thing he wanted was to have Lucifer's sister find out the true identity of the Red Dragon Emperor. That would cause a complicated mess that he would never be able to get out of.

Kuroka also stared at Rias but for wildly different reasons. Her eyes fueled with a hateful rage. She's known for a long time that Kuoh was under the supervision of the Gremory family. After what happened years ago, the clan both blessed her with a sort of comfort, but also denied her of one of her desires.

While it was true that Lucifer spared her sister from the fate of execution, he also denied any freedom of the two reuniting the moment he classified Kuroka as a SS-Class Stray Devil. Her sister grew up with the lie that Kuroka had lost her sanity with the overuse of Senjutsu. This caused her to not only deny her Nekomata heritage, but to reject her natural gift of Senjutsu.

She hoped to one day reunite with Shirone and reveal the truth. For years she believed this dream to be impossible. But now with the Red Dragon Emperor as her "ally", her dreamed finally seemed within reach.

'Soon, Shirone.'

[Scene Break]

After once again ditching the other members of the "Perverted Trio" Issei returned home with Kuroka and proceeded to collapse on his couch. It was an odd feeling for him to not work on a new assignment for two days in a row. He had gotten so used to doing multiple in one night that it almost felt uncomfortable for him.

"What do you generally do on your days off Ise?" Kuroka inquired, resting on the couch opposite of his. "Don't tell me you're going to watch that awful show again."

Issei rolled his eyes. "Before I ever had to deal with you that's how I spent a few hours. Though now I think I have to keep a close eye on you before you get caught by the two Devil families in town."

"Nya are you worried about little ol me? You're so sweet." She teased.

"If you go down I don't doubt that you'd start singing like a canary to save your neck." He replied, heading to the kitchen.

"Don't worry Ise, I don't kiss and tell nyahaha"

He ignored her claim. Whether or not she would start to spill secrets if she were captured is not something he would like to test.

(Issei, new contract coming in. Looks like they paid for a quick turnaround)

'Weird, hardly anyone pays for that. Must be something good.' He activated his gauntlet and projected the request on the counter in front of him. 'Heaven? They haven't come to me since the Samael incident.' He read through the report and looked at some of the general information related to the job. He finally reached the information regarding the target.

"Target appearance: Mid-30s, bright blond hair, silver armor with white robes on top

Last known location: Merano, Italy

Objective: Eliminate rogue Angel"

I hope you enjoyed my first chapter in two years. If not please leave a review of your opinions. This story is going to be a mix of slice of life and dxd action if that makes any sense.

If you're a fan of my other works I'm sorry to say I am abandoning Black Prison of Supremacy. I starting writing that story when I was 16 or so. I'm 20 now and looking back at it, it's honestly a miracle anyone liked it. It's filled with dumb plot and being honest, teenage hormones. I may rewrite it one day but no promises.

For "Prince of Asmodeus", there might be some minor rewrites. However I do not guarantee anything.