Kaito, somehow exhausted yet rejuvenated snapped his eyes open, rolling onto his back and staring blankly at the ceiling. Taking a few moments to take stock of everything, the memories of last night returning as he did this. His eyebrows furrowing and his lips pressing together tightly to form a thin line.
Both of his arms slowly raising into the air so he could look at his hands. His fingers flexing and relaxing a few times, watching a brief, barely visible, flash of shadows appear over both hands.
"Yeah I thought so…Well this is interesting. Sorta….How the hell am I supposed to bring this up?...Actually wait, do I even need to?" He asked, blinking in confusion before hearing a screech from Issei's room and groaned in annoyance.
He was content to let it go but when he heard another screech he glared at the wall and grabbed a spare pillow he had in his room. Stomping out of his room and past his mother, who seeing that he had it handled went back downstairs. Kicking open the door to Issei's room he barely even noticed Rias, too busy glaring bloody murder at his brother.
"Hey asshole! Shut the fuck up!" And with a small gust of wind he launched the pillow, smashing his brother in the face hard enough to make the pillow explode on impact.
Before turning around he turned to Rias and pointed at her "And I don't care why you're here, but put some damn clothes on" And with that said he turned around and marched out of the room, slamming Issei's door behind him.
Everything was silent in Issei's room for a few moments before Issei finally seemed to reboot and spat out a chunk of Kaito's pillow that had ended up in his mouth.
"Your brother is….intimidating in the morning" Rias finally commented, the pair of them both staring at the now closed door.
"….You have no idea. Now why are you in my bed?!" Issei whisper shouted while blatantly ogling her.
XXXxxxXXX
At Kuou High, Later that day
"So you knew since yesterday?" Issei asked his brother while waving his arms around.
"Yes. I asked why they hadn't told you but they…changed the subject pretty quickly" Kaito muttered, his face scrunching up in a frown as he held his chin.
"Hey pretty boy. You got any clue?" Issei asked their guide, Yuuto Kiba, as he led the two of them to the club building.
"Unfortunately I don't. Myself and Koneko, one of Buchou's other members, were discussing it yesterday" Kiba confessed truthfully, his face twisting in thought unseen to the brothers behind him.
'I think Akeno may know. She steered me away before I could properly start grilling Rias….' Kaito thought as he walked, both of his hands in his pockets.
As they made their way across the courtyard Kaito could feel pins and needles all over his body, the sensation growing stronger after only a few seconds.
'Someone's watching. But who- Rias' His brown eyes shifted up to stare at the window of the Occult Research Clubhouse where the busty, red haired figure stood, her eyes squarely fixated on Issei.
However while it lessened the feeling didn't go away, instantly putting him on high alert as he pretended to stumble and slowed down, using his spiky hair to his advantage to hide his eyes as they drifted over to see a semi-familiar girl wearing glasses, staring at the three of them as they made their way into the building.
'The student council president. She may be a Devil as well. Or she might not be and she's just interested in the club for some reason? Questions for later. I have answers for now' Quickly catching back up with the other two males he walked into the building with them.
The first thing Kaito noticed upon entering the room was the running shower and his brother's fascination with the small, white haired girl sitting on one of the couches and eating some chocolate on a skewer. Though it wasn't too difficult to figure out what he was thinking as Kiba introduced Issei to the girl, Koneko, and it was even less difficult to figure out what he was thinking when he finally noticed the shower.
With a snort of amusement the spiky brown haired teen moved his attention to one of the bookshelves around the room and started to scour them for certain information. His meeting with the creature of shadows, whatever it even was, fresh in his mind and its words repeating through his head like a chant.
"Woah! Akeno? You're in the ORC too?" Issei asked, Kaito hearing the words but really not paying them too much attention as he bent down to try and find a book that even vaguely looked like it had the knowledge he was seeking.
"Need help finding something?" Kiba's voice asked kindly from beside him and Kaito hummed slightly.
"I'm looking for a book on shadow magic" He finally said after a few more moments of checking the spines of the books on that specific row.
"Ah. Sorry. I'm afraid I won't be too much of a help there" He chuckled sheepishly, the shifting of clothing indicated that he had done an action to accompany the sheepish answer but Kaito didn't care to look up.
"Damn. Look if Rias is telling you to be all buddy-buddy you can drop it"
"Huh? I wasn't told to talk to you?" Kiba muttered in confusion as Kaito shifted to be sitting cross-legged on the floor as he finally found a book that he hoped would have some information on Shadow Magic.
"Mhm sure. I definitely believe that. Don't think I missed the look that Koneko gave me when I entered. I know what my reputation is Prince and I have no intention of spending time with someone who is only being chummy because their Devil boss told them too" Kiba furrowed his brows, unseen to the newly reincarnated Devil as he flicked through the pages of the book at a steady rate.
"I can assure you that Buchou didn't order or pressure me into talking with you"
"Ok let's say I believe that for one second. Which I don't. You know my reputation. Why even attempt to talk to me? I might just infect you with my scumminess" He bit out, his voice full of vitriol.
"Not very social huh?..." The swordsman chuckled nervously, not used to anger coming from anything except jealous schoolmates.
"Yeah that's what happens when two pricks constantly tank your reputation to save their own skin" Though he must have said it too loud because suddenly Koneko spoke up.
"Don't blame others for your actions idiot"
"Hey how about you shut the fuck up?" Kaito growled as he snapped the book shut and glared at the girl who had just stood up and turned around to glare back at him from over the couch.
"Now now. We shouldn't be fighting. Today's about introducing Issei into our lovely little family" Rias chided everyone gently as she walked behind her desk, now fully dried and dressed.
"..Yes Buchou" Koneko muttered as she sat back down, Kaito just glaring for another few moments before going back to reading the book, having to find the page he was just on.
The following conversation was something that he pretty easily zoned out as he finally found some information on Shadow Magic. Reading through it and the description of certain spells used by prominent Shadow-aligned Devils in the past.
Now, many have tried to understand the intrinsic details of Shadow Magic. And about a hundred times as many haven't even bothered. Shadows, and therefore Shadow Magic, appear to be quite contradictory in existence with minimal thought. They are their own thing, just as intangible as light without Magic, yet just as noticeable as light. And yet Shadows aren't their own thing, categorized in nearly every culture and book imaginable as an absence of light.
Shadows, I believe, are in fact both of these things at once. Confusing I know. However ironic it sounds, nothing is purely black and white in this world of ours, and that is the same for Shadows too. What I believe is important about shadows and light, as they are intrinsically tied together, is that they provide the backbone for all life. Light brings warmth, shadows bring the cool. The Light gifts most species with the power of sight, even us Devils as much as many of us refuse to admit that anything to do with 'light' could be beneficial to us. However the Shadows provide a place to hide and gifts far more unique than the light. Echolocation and creativity being the most prominent (we'll get back to this at a later date).
The most important thing to remember about Shadow Magic though is this. One, Shadow Magic is not intrinsically evil, no more than fire magic or the Power of Destruction held by the Bael family. Two, Shadow Magic works best when utilized creatively. Whether that means using it as a means for stealth and assassination attacks or creating a Kraken made of pure shadows to wipe out an army (You laugh but I've seen it been used and it's fucking terrifying. No really, I think I saw a few Angels drop out of the sky from heart attacks just from the sight of the thing). Because anyone can launch a beam of shadows of something or a volley of shadow balls but the most powerful Shadow Magic user's are always thinking outside the box. So I expect you to do the same if you're reading this book! Do you understand? No stupidly boring and predictable attacks!
Flipping the page over, Kaito was met by a rough sketch of the shadow kraken the author had been talking about. And while the author obviously wasn't a professional artist it wasn't horrible either.
"Who goes into a battle and thinks 'yeah a Shadow Kraken. That's what I'll do today' like what?..." Kaito muttered to himself.
His quiet muttering was cut off as a pair of wings popped out of his back making him jump in surprise before glaring at the rest of the ORC and beginning to try and draw them back in, figuring out the trick about a minute later and sighing in relief when he realized that his clothes were completely fine.
'Wait what the fuck? How does that work!?' His eyes blinked rapidly before he began to try and get a better look at his shoulder blades by looking over his shoulder.
"That's right Issei. Yuuma Amano was real. And she was a Fallen Angel" Rias spoke, clueing Kaito into their conversation, even if only barely.
'Oh great. So those exist as well…..Wait was that what that bitch from last night was?'
XXXxxxXXX
Later that night
"Ok. We're going to send you to the flyer's. You boys ready?" Akeno asked as she created two overlapping magic circles centered on the two brothers, who stood a few meters apart.
"Hell yeah!" Issei chirped with a grin while Kaito just smirked at his brother's enthusiasm and hummed in agreement.
"Remember. You two are there on the behalf of the Gremory family. Don't do anything to sully our reputation and make sure to get a contract from it ok?"
"You got it"
"I'll get as many contracts as you need me to!" Issei exclaimed, Kaito's knowledge of his brother letting him guess that his staring at her chest was him thinking about a 'prize' for doing well.
"Alright! Off you go!" Akeno cheered as she swiped her hand up, the circles releasing a bright glow and going from the floor to the ceiling in an instant.
However when the light died down, one of the Hyoudou brothers was still within the clubroom. Issei, opening his eyes and moving out of the pose he had taken. Blinking slowly as he looked at the ORC before looking to where Kaito had stood a few moments before, and then back to the ORC.
"…What the fuck!?"
XXXxxxXXX
With Kaito
Kaito blinked as he found himself in the loungeroom of a fairly nice looking house. However immediately something felt off. Looking around he saw nothing out of the ordinary and upon a second looking he still saw nothing. So with a sigh he just let his body relax, swiping a hand through his hair as he saw the teen who looked around his own age who had summoned him.
"Hey there. I'm the Devil you summoned from the Gremory Family" He said somewhat stiffly, trying to force himself to calm down.
"O-oh! Wow it actually worked! A real Devil!" The teen exclaimed, looking at him with a mixture of wonder and…..satisfaction?
With a minute shake of his head Kaito exhaled.
'I'm being stupid. There's nothing dangerous here. I must just be nervous or anxious or something'
"You really are a moron" Kaito didn't even get to react to the voice of the shadow before it continued "The shadows in the corner by the hallway"
'What shadows by the….' Kaito thought, swiveling his head to look over where the voice had instructed him, noticing the teens widening eyes only due to years of habit.
"Is that a cruci-" There was the click of a button and a bright light in the periphery of Kaito's vision before there was the briefest wave of something that flashed over his senses.
With instincts and speed that even Kaito was unaware he held, he pushed off the ground and quickly bumped into the wall of the room, having cleared the entire living room in a single bound. His breathing deepening as adrenaline began to rush through his system and his brain finally caught up with what he was seeing.
"…Why the fuck do you have a lightsaber?" He asked before yelping at the teen dashed forward and created a gash through his own wall trying to skewer the newly-turned Devil who rolled out of the way before stumbling back to avoid another swipe that would have removed his head clean from his shoulders.
"Hold still Devil!"
"How about you calm the fuck down and explain!"
"You should fight back, whelp:
'If I wanted your fucking input I WOULD ASK!' He growled in his mind while clumsily making a tendril of shadow to unbalance the other teen long enough to make a little distance between them.
"Heh. Fine. Don't expect anything else you ungrateful Human"
'I swear to all that's Holy if I survive this I'm going to rip you in half' He growled mentally while glaring down his opponent who took a moment to shake the tendril off before turning to face the brown haired Devil and kicking off the floorboards again.
XXXxxxXXX
At the ORC
"So how goes the brothers, Akeno?" Rias asked, sitting at her desk while Akeno quietly read through a book. Kiba and Koneko having left for their own contracts.
"From the energy signatures I can feel from Issei it seems fairly normal in all honesty" She answered after a moment to double-check and make sure.
"And his brother?"
"Well Kaito…..His energy signature is difficult to read and memorize even while right next to him. So I can't quite find his signature, with him being so far away"
"Really? That's odd. I thought his Sacred Gear would at least give him a noticeable signature…..He did take the Mutated Knight piece my brother gifted me after all" Rias said, resting her cheek in her palm and clicking her tongue in disappointment.
"I wouldn't rule out Kaito having a strong Sacred Gear just yet, Buchou"
"I know but. For it to not affect his magic signature means it's either weak or incredibly locked away. And I can't really afford either option with….him and his "proposal" breathing down my neck" She sighed, rubbing her temples as Akeno's face scrunched up in a rare show of hatred.
"He sickens me.."
"Yeah well I don't exactly have an iron stomach regarding him either. But all we can do is hope that at least Issei has a strong gear. His magic signature seems to be pretty draconic…" The red head mused as she looked out the window, Akeno just humming in agreement as she took another sip of her tea. Her thoughts swirling like a hurricane.
XXXxxxXXX
With Kaito
"Fuck!" The teen yelled out as he stumbled back, a small cut on his thigh joining the multitude of small cuts all over his body.
The spiky-haired Devil's breaths came out heavy and laborious, each cut, despite being cuts that normally wouldn't even scar, draining his stamina and seeming to hurt far more than any cut deserves to.
"Hah. Hah…Damn. For a newbie you're way too strong" The other teen panted, covered in bruises and red marks to match his Devilish opponent.
"Y-You know I'm new?..."
"Of course….A-All in the Aura" The other teen panted out before dashing forward and doing a 3-swipe combo that cut through a shield of shadows, though the shield slowed the swings down long enough for Kaito to once again avoid them.
"Why are you….even fucking doing this? I've done…..nothing to you" Kaito huffed, yelping as a shock of pain went through his body and he collapsed to a single knee.
"I was just supposed to do reconnaissance you know? Tell the Church about what the Devils running the city were doing. How they're doing. Stuff like that" He said as he languidly twirled his sword in his hand with agility currently not being shared with the rest of his body "Summoning one of you was just the last step. Get a better read on how you guys operated but I never expected one of you to find me out! Woo! What a surprise that was!"
"Why…Tell me this?" Kaito asked, struggling back to his feet, desperately trying to coax his body to replenish his magic and stamina to less-than-successful results.
"Because you've earnt my respect. You may be a sinful Devil but even for a newly reincarnated one you've got impressive battle instincts. And you're remarkably cutthroat. I don't even know if I'm going to make it out of this battle alive" The sword of light spun in his fingers once more as he twisted his body back and forth with a nonchalant sway "Even now you're using this conversation to recuperate!" He dashed forward and Kaito cursed.
The burst of energy proved too much for Kaito to be able to keep up with, multitudes of small cuts appearing over his skin and clothes. The Hyoudou child gritting his teeth to stop the guttural scream that wanted to leave his lips. A burst of energy filling him as he tried to backhand his opponent, missing the physical strike but hitting with the wall of shadows he formed out of the shadow of the now ruined and destroyed couch.
With a clumsy spin the other teen landed on his feet, stumbling back a few steps to stop himself from falling to the ground. Looking up at Kaito and freezing for a moment. A short bark of laughter leaving his mouth and causing his shoulders to shake.
"Of course!" He crowed, almost victoriously "Dragon" Was all he spoke, getting a soft 'huh' from Kaito "Now I really can't afford to die here. Probably won't see you again but good fight Dragon boy!" He commented with a sly grin before quick as lightning whipping his arm up and flinging his sword of light at the Devil.
With the speed it was moving Kaito was lucky that he even managed to stir a half-wall of shadows before it pierced straight through his thigh. Finally getting a scream of pain from him as he hit the ground, causing the hilt to jostle and another scream to leave his mouth. The sound of sizzling being heard as smoke came off from his thigh.
"See ya 'round" His opponent said with a mocking salute before leaping out the window and running off into the setting sun, leaving Kaito in the house with a sword currently stuck in his left thigh and actively burning and weakening him as it did.
"Need….To get…..This….Fucking….Sword out!" He grit out as his body wildly convulsed from another jostle of the hilt.
With a hand shaky from pain he reached down. Desperately trying to keep it still as he tried to grip the handle. Another scream leaving his lips and tearing up his throat as he finally managed to grab the metallic handle before savagely ripping the blade out of his thigh and flinging the blade across the room.
With the blade gone his mind could now perceive more that 'pain' and what it gave him to feel in its stead was the pain from the hole in his thigh. With a roar of pain he gripped the thigh in question, his knuckles going white as his breathing began to pick up, a sheen of sweat quickly beginning to coat his skin.
'T-Too weak….Don't have energy….to move' He thought to himself, his vision blurring around the edges ever so slightly.
"Heh. Is this all you have? So willing to give up. And just when you were getting interesting too. Pathetic." Kaito felt something snap inside him at those words, his teeth snapping together with a loud clack.
'Who the FUCK do you think you are to lecture me? Making me run in circles, refusing to tell me anything, mocking me with every sentence that you speak! If that's all that you're going to do then SHUT. UP!' He thought, a brief, but weak, pulse of magic leaving his body and the pain seemed to lessen somewhat.
"Who are you to tell me to shut up you insolent whelp?"
'I'M THE ONE THAT'S FUCKING STRUGGLING HERE!' He snapped back internally as another brief pulse of magic left his body, a small wisp of light leaving the hole in his thigh as he did so.
With a gurgled grunt he rolled onto his hands and knees, huffing heavily as some sweat dripped off his nose and onto the floorboards.
"Because you're pathetic! A disgrace to my legacy!"
'WHAT FUCKING LEGACY!? You won't tell me! Rias won't tell me! I don't even know if she knows! No one fucking cares! Least of all me!'
"Watch your tongue before I remove it for you!"
"I'd like….to see you fucking try!" He huffed out physically, his words full of enough vitriol to give half of his schoolmates a heart attack.
"Yes well as much as I would love to. I'm trapped in your sacred gear. But even so if i got the chance i would gladly take it"
"If you can't then shut the fuck up…..and leave me alone. Because I'm not dying anytime soon"
The loud, arrogant laughter that met his ears caused another thrum of fury to rush through his veins as his magic began to physically flare around him instead of just a simple pulse, seeming to draw the shadow's of the ruined furniture and appliances towards him.
"Not dying anytime soon? Hah! You're on your last legs. Oh sorry. Leg. As you speak! It took all you had just to pull out that little blade on the ground. Face it. Just like all of my previous wielders. You're pathetic"
"I already told you. If I wanted your opinion. I WOULD ASK FOR IT!" He shouted as he made his way to his feet and the floorboards beneath him cracked from the force of his magic output.
As his purplish-black magic surged out of his body the sword of light kept them at bay for only a few moments before the shadow's seemed to surge towards the blade, attacking it as if it was a sentient force. And by the time the magic output had lessened, where once sat a blade of Holy Light. Used by the exorcist's of the Holy Church. Now sat a hilt emitting a blade of pure shadows, small wisps of what looked like smoke wafting off the blade before dissipating into nothingness as a low hum left the blade.
"You purified an Exorcist's Blade? You? With so little experience?" The voices shock got a pained bark of laughter from the teen as he half-shuffled, half-limped over to the blade and picked it up in one of his hands, dropping it the first time he tried before getting a good grip on it.
"Hah! Bet you didn't expect that did you!...You stupid, arrogant ass…voice" His vision began to blur and clear periodically.
As his eyes blurred once again he managed to see the bright flash of red light and a figure was suddenly in the room with him, a startled gasp coming from the figure.
"Kaito?" Ah, so it was Akeno. With a snort and a wave of fatigue Kaito felt himself beginning to tip back.
"So now you appearrrrrrr" He slurred as he fell back fully, already unconscious before he could register Akeno managing to catch his falling body.
And as she gently lowered his body to the floor to begin another teleportation spell to bring him to his room for healing, her eyes widened minutely when she caught sight of the blade of shadow's currently in his grip.
"…..What a naughty boy. Getting into so much trouble on his first contract. Oh well. I'll get the story out of you when you wake up" She muttered to herself and the two of them disappeared in a flash of red light.
XXXxxxXXX
Meanwhile, with the exorcist, an hour later
"So you're saying that as a whole the two Devil peerages in charge of the city were completely unknowing of your presence as well as the other factions agents within the city?" A voice asked through the communication orb that the injured teen was using.
"Yes Father. Some of them have even loosened up on their energy suppression in recent months, including myself, and none of them caught on. Save one of their newly reincarnated members"
"Ah yes. The Dragon child of Shadows. Correct?"
"Yes Father. He was on edge from the moment he stepped into the apartment. Even with everything neutralized and only a single crucifix on sight…as well as my blade. Which was deactivated at the time"
"I see. Both items give off only slight Holy energy in the states you spoke of them in. Yet you say he was on edge? Was it an involuntary reaction?"
"I'm….not certain. Sorry Father. He did seem to be searching for whatever was giving off the signatures and found the crucifix however"
"Hmmm. So even if it was an involuntary sensory effect his instincts were still good enough to make him cautious. That's…..interesting. But what made you attack him so early? Was ignorance of the supernatural not an option?"
"I, may have forgotten, i apologise Father…..B-but he's also remarkably skilled in shadow magic for his experience as a supernatural! He nearly took me out a few times in the fight and if it had gone on much longer I….I honestly wouldn't have put my chances too high" Everything was silent for a few moments before the other male spoke.
"How new did you say this reincarnated-one was?"
"From my knowledge only about…..a few days? I couldn't give you an exact date. I apologise"
"Do not apologise, child, but…such skill with so little experience is worrying. And with your being found we'll need to send some other operatives on site to keep an eye on him. He looked around High-school age, correct?"
"Yes Father. And he wore the uniform of Kuoh Academy. I could….send through the information I have on him and his appearance? If that would be a help?"
"…Yes it would. Please send them through immediately. I need to speak to some of the Church higher-ups. Please move onto Kyoto. The members on site will be notified of your arrival"
"Of course father"
"Dear God, watch over this child as he travels and help him in his journey"
"Amen/Amen"