XxXxXxX
Awkward.
That was a word that described her current situation nearly perfectly.
As she walked with the green haired boy that she didn't think she would see again in her life, it was clear that their time apart wasn't merciful to the young man, the click-clacking of his cane a reminder of his current state of health.
She was fully prepared for him to not remember her at all, it would be preferable and easier that way too. Instead it took him less than a few seconds when her name was uttered, and only because he wasn't looking her way when she entered the room. Honestly, the rage that rolled off of him just then… She couldn't help but feel a bit happy that he held her, or his memory of her, in such a high regard.
Sneaking yet another glance at her old friend, her heart squeezed a bit from the sigh of a horrific looking, long and jagged scar on the side of his head that was partially covered by his hair. He had a slight limp in his left leg, but thankfully there were no signs that it was painful to him.
"How have you been?" A sudden question from him nearly made her jump, especially that the tone of his voice was surprisingly warm.
"Fine…" She replied, mentally slapping herself in the face for that. "I mean… after that… incident… I was saved by Rias and have lived with her ever since. Her family treats me nearly like their own daughter." She tried to keep up the conversation, desperately thinking on how to proceed.
"Saved, huh…" She felt a shiver down her spine as his gaze turned to her. That strange glow in his eyes more subtle than in the clubroom, barely concealed by his glasses.
"It's… really complicated. Maybe we should find somewhere to sit first?" The raven haired girl proposed, nervously tightening her grasp on her bag's handle.
"Let's just go to a cafe or something, do you know any nearby?" Izuku asked, taking out his phone to inform his housemate that he may be back a bit later.
Nodding, she started to guide him to a small family cafe nearby. It was so nerve-wracking. She had enough power in her pinky to vaporize a low level stray devil, so why did she feel so vulnerable right now?
"So… how have you been, Izuku-kun?" The young girl asked, trying to start the conversation once more. She immediately wanted to kick herself in the face when he just looked at her for a few seconds as if she asked him something stupid.
"Not so bad lately. I even made a friend, the first real one after I lost you." He replied, returning to observing the scenery. "I had to leave a lot behind… but life goes on I guess." He continued. "It's… It's nice to see you, honestly. I'm sorry for how I reacted back at school, I had quite a few situations like that one that ended in an… unpleasant way for me in the past."
"It's alright, really." She smiled minutely at him, gesturing to him that they arrived at their destination. It was a small cafe and a confectionery in one. A few students from their school were already inside, not so discreetly starting to gossip about them when they saw that one of the school idols was together with someone.
Entering, they walked to the furthest place from the entrance, near a large window. It was a diner style booth with dividers in between the tables for a bit of privacy.
Sitting down the green haired teen looked a bit relieved, visibly relaxing into the leather seat. Settling in opposite to him, Akeno straightened up her blouse nervously while stealing a few glances at Izuku.
"Are you alright?" She inquired, once more feeling a slight tickling sensation at the base of her spine when he looked at her.
"I am. I'm just not used to walking so much I guess." He replied, picking up the menu that was lying on the side of the table. A moment later a waitress arrived, taking their orders and leaving them once more in an awkward silence. It continued until the young woman returned with a cup of tea and a dessert for each.
"What did Gremory-san try to do, back there? I'm fairly certain that she was trying to influence me in some way, was that her quirk?" Deciding that there was enough silence for now, the greenette tried to get some answers.
"It's… you could say that it was a part of it. I know her quite well and I'm certain that she didn't have any bad intentions. She probably was trying to calm you down, which didn't really work in the end…" Sipping her tea, the raven haired girl looked out of the window at the busy street outside.
"She could have done that without using a meta ability on me. I had enough of that for a few lifetimes, I don't need more." He stated dryly, drinking from his own cup.
"So, how did she bring you back to life?" He continued, observing her like a hawk.
"Well…She saved me with her older brother when they were visiting the shrine…" She tried to come up with an answer but was stopped by him.
"That's bullshit, both of us know that so spare me those lies." His gaze intensified, unnerving her a bit.
"But…" She tried once more, causing him to sigh and close his eyes for a few seconds.
"I was there, Akeno." He started, looking her straight in the eyes. "I found you and your mother in a burning forest. I found your lifeless body in a pool of your own blood." He continued to her horror, nearly piercing her with his gaze. "I visited your family grave nearly every week before my accident, thinking I lost my only friend in a villain attack. So would you kindly explain to me how it is possible we meet again, on the other side of the country?" He finished with another question, observing how her features shifted into a sad expression.
"I can't tell you… " She whispered out, looking down at her trembling hands that tightly grasped the still hot teacup.
Predicting that answer, Izuku let out a sigh. "It's alright, I'm sorry. A lot of time passed, a lot of things changed. We aren't the same kids from back then, and you don't need to tell me everything."
"Yeah… but you still are shorter than me." Akeno smiled slightly, remembering the time they spent playing in the forest surrounding her previous home. Somehow, those memories made the pain of losing her mother a bit easier.
"That I am. It's not my fault that everyone decided to grow so large. Nearly all people I have met since moving here are taller than me… I'm going to develop some kind of insecurities at this pace."
"At least you are cute, you have that going for you." The raven haired girl giggled in that ladylike fashion, covering her lips with her palm and all.
"You know… as a man I'm not sure if I should take that as a compliment or an insult…" He quipped back, getting another giggle.
XxX
"Whyyyyyyy…" The red headed president of the Occult Research club groaned into her desk, lying face first on its surface.
"I'm sure we can talk it out with him, Buchou. Akeno-senpai will surely be able to explain to Izuku-kun that you didn't want to hurt him." Yumi tried to cheer up her king, with no visible effect.
"I don't like him… His eyes feel strange…" Koneko commented from her seat at the table.
"I liked that feeling actually, do you think it was because of his quirk? His eyes looked like they were from an anime, it was so cool~." Rias sighed with a dreamy voice.
Her two peerage members shared an exasperated look, returning to what they were doing normally in the clubroom.
"I should go with Akeno… maybe if I apologize properly then he will forgive me?" The red headed girl continued to whine.
"I don't think that would be a good idea. It seems that Akeno-senpai and Izuku-kun have a lot to talk about." Yumi countered, taking out her books and starting to go through homework.
"But I wanted to talk to him too…" Rias pouted like a small child. She rolled her head to look at the wall mounted clock, sighing once more after seeing that her friend was gone for over three hours at this point.
As if on cue the doors to the clubroom opened, the raven haired girl entering with a small smile. Seeing her queen Rias rose up from the desk, a small sticky note glued to her cheek.
"Akeno! How did it go?!" She asked immediately, barely stopping herself from jumping over the desk and tackling her friend for answers.
"Well…" Smiling a bit more she started. "I have good news."
"What is it? Don't keep me waiting like that!"
"Izuku-kun agreed to visit our clubroom tomorrow."
"Yes!!!" Pumping her arm up and down in a victorious gesture, the red headed girl cheered.
"But he is angry at you for trying to use your 'quirk' on him. He also wants to know how you saved me, but somehow he let it go when I didn't want to answer that…" The ravenette continued, setting down her things near the couches.
"Ugh… I just tried to calm him down… How was I supposed to know that he will resist mental magic and think I was trying to harm him?" Rias pouted.
"Yes, that's unusual actually. His magical signature is really small but the flow of it is strange. It's so smooth and stable it's practically unnatural." Akeno agreed, sitting down near the table. "It was surprisingly calming when we were having our talk."
"What is his quirk in the end?" Yumi asked from her place, nibbling at the end of her pencil and trying to think of a solution to a math problem.
"I… I don't know actually, he didn't have one seven years ago…" The ravenette said while trying to remember if he said anything about it. "He had to develop it after… after we saw each other for the last time."
"Wait… wouldn't that make him nine years old? Don't humans develop their powers around four?" Rias asked, curious.
"We do, but sometimes it can take longer. Not to mention that sacred gear users rarely have a quirk to begin with. My Patientia at Infinitum is one of such rarities, but it's a bit redundant with my reincarnation into a devil." The blonde Knight replied.
"Akeno! Story time! Everything you know that can help me here!" The Red headed king ordered. The small yellow piece of paper on her cheek undoing any of her attempts to look dignified.
"Ufufu~, and why would I want to help you? I just met a dear friend of mine after such long time, maybe I should try to rekindle our relationship?~" The ravenette laughed, getting a murderous look from her friend.
"Akenooooooo!!!"
XxX
"Óst min, kyss mik.~" A silver haired girl sang joyfully, working around the kitchen in a cute and frilly apron.
"Mun þú mik,man ek þik.~" Stirring one of the pots, she couldn't help but smile at the heavenly smell that wafted over. It was going to be so ideal.
"Unn þú mér,ann ek þér.~" Hearing the doors to the house open, she happily skipped down the hallway to greet the one she was waiting for.
"Izuku-kun! Welcome home!" She called, hugging him from behind when he still was taking off his shoes. The black suit accentuated his broad shoulders as she lovingly nuzzled her face into the crook of his neck.
"I'm back." He replied, clear mirth in his voice at her antics.
Stepping away, she couldn't help but giggle. Twirling in place she allowed her apron to flutter in the air, exposing way more than such an article of clothing should.
"Would you like your dinner first? Or maybe a bath? Or maybe… me?" She asked bashfully but with a wide smile.
"Ro-san." She heard from him, making her heart flutter with anticipation. Opening her arms like for a hug she waited to be swept from her legs by her man.
"Ro-san!" With a sudden jolt, Rosseweise woke up with a yelp. She tumbled out of the couch she was laying on and fell to the ground.
"Mmmmpphhh!" A muffled voice from under her woke the girl immediately, causing her to prop herself up. Looking slightly down she saw a madly blushing Izuku, taking deep breaths after he was deprived of air for a few moments.
Locking eyes, the two of them remained in that position for a few more seconds before the silver haired girl shot up with yet another yelp. Her face burned red as she covered it with her hands in embarrassment.
"Are you alright, Ro-san? I just wanted to wake you up for dinner." The greenette asked, managing to gather himself first.
"What? Dinner?" She asked, a bit dumbfounded. Looking at the clock it was nearly eight in the afternoon, which shocked the Valkyrie. The TV that she was watching to pass the time until Izuku returned was still playing the soap opera channel, making her blame it for the weird dream she had. "Why didn't you wake me up? I would help!" She asked with a pout. How was she supposed to take care of him like she promised to his mother when he was doing everything by himself?
"You looked so peaceful and happy that I didn't have the heart to wake you up. Besides, I'm feeling really well so I wanted to prepare something by myself. Sorry if it isn't that good." He replied sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. Picking up his cane, he started to hobble to the dining room with her following after. She couldn't help but notice the blanket she was snuggled under, one that she definitely didn't have before she fell asleep.
Entering the room, she could already smell the stir fried vegetables and freshly cooked rice. The large table set up for two greeted her, making the Valkyrie feeling a bit flustered when she remembered her dream.
"Is something wrong?" The greenette asked, sitting down and leaning his trusty cane on the chair beside him.
"N-no! W-why do you ask?!" She stuttered, in a much higher tone of voice than she intended. Sitting opposite to her host, the silver haired girl suppressed her wild imagination that stubbornly focused on her dream and started to eat. She could feel Izuku's eyes on her, that strange tingling sensation easily identifiable to her.
Giving out an amused sigh, the greenette started to eat too. His eyes focused down on his food, making him look as if he was contemplating something.
After finishing their meal, the silver haired Valkyrie was about to clean up the table but was stopped by her host.
"Ro-san, please wait a minute." He started, causing her to sit back down with a curious gaze directed at his conflicted eyes. To her surprise he took off his glasses revealing his deep green eyes that had two, small, white dots on the rim of his irises that slowly traveled along.
"A few days ago… when I fell out of the bed and you raced to check on me… my quirk changed, in a sense." He started, getting her full attention. Whatever he was trying to say had to be important with how hard it was for him to find proper words.
The fact that she was so close to exposing herself to him that day caused the young Valkyrie to blush slightly.
'Damn it Rosseweise! Stop imagining such things about him! He is your friend!' She chastised herself, nervously pushing a lock of hair behind her ear.
"Okay… that may sound strange… but it shows me that you are an Asgardian." He said sheepishly, scratching the back of his head and looking down to his lap in embarrassment. "Yeah, I know. It's dumb. It just started pinning labels to the people in school like devil or fallen. I also met a friend that… I lost a long time ago. I thought that she died but it turns out she attends Kuoh academy, what's strange is that my quirk labeled her as a hybrid between human, fallen and devil. I don't know what to think about all of that…" Looking back up at his friend, she looked like a deer caught in the headlights of a speeding car.
"Ro-san?" He asked once more, seeing that she was starting to panic a little.
"I… uh… didn't want to hide it from you, but…" She stuttered out.
"Wait… so it's true? You are from Asgard? One of the nine Norse realms, Valhalla, Bifrost. That Asgard?" He asked, visibly bewildered by her admittance.
"... Surprise?" She replied with nervousness, trying to turn it into a joke.
"... You are a Valkyrie." He summed up to her surprise, his eyes wide. The white spots on his eyes started to rotate much faster, as if to indicate that he was thinking hard about something.
"I am… how do you know that?" She asked this time, desperately trying to figure out how to proceed.
"You told me yourself. I just thought it was rambling from a drunk person." He replied, taking his chin in between his forefinger and the thumb and starting to mumble to himself in such speeds that she couldn't hope to follow.
"I'm sorry, Izuku-kun. It's not something that could be just brought up like that. The supernatural world is really dangerous, I was hoping that you wouldn't need to interact with it in any way…" She started, bowing to her host.
"... That would mean that other pantheons are real too, with their respective…" Hazarding a look at the green haired teen, Rosseweise could only watch with open mouth as he seemed to dissect the whole situation, moving from one thing to the other and doing it with horrifying accuracy.
"Izuku-kun?" She called him trying to get his attention back, without any success.
After a moment of thought, she decided to get his attention in a different way. Reaching her hand over the table, she raised it between them with her palm up. With but a thought a small runic circle materialized over it, immediately getting the greenette's attention who silently started to stare at the slowly rotating magic circle.
"Izuku-kun. I know that it's a lot to take in, but please calm down. I'm sorry that I didn't tell you before, but even only knowledge about the supernatural world can be dangerous in itself. I didn't want to burden you with something like that." She spoke softly, retreating her hand after dismissing the simple illumination spell.
Looking at her Izuku could see the sincerity in her eyes, together with sadness that didn't fit the girl in front of him in the slightest.
"I…I'll understand if you want me to leave, it's only natural that you wouldn't want someone like me to be in your home." She continued, looking down at the dirty dishes that remained after their dinner.
"Rosseweise." Hearing him say her full name, probably for the first time, she couldn't help but feel butterflies in her stomach. "You still are my friend. Nothing changed in that regard." He stated firmly but with definitive warmth in his voice.
"Aren't you mad at me? I lied to you, I'm not even a human…" The silver haired girl asked, once more casting her eyes down.
"If I remember correctly you didn't even bat an eye when I told you about my quirk." He countered, sending her a small smirk.
"That's different!" She said back, nervously playing with her fingers.
"I don't think it is. To be completely honest I'm not shocked about the existence of the supernatural world, mildly surprised at best." He confessed, getting a strange look back.
"Ro-san. We live in a world where every town and city has a few dozen heroes straight out from a comic book. More than 80% of people have a meta ability. Some of them are already regarded as Gods by others. It's not that surprising to learn about the existence of supernatural beings when a lot of the people living normal lives look like creatures taken out straight from a fairy tale." He continued to explain his point of view, smiling at his friend.
"That's… something I didn't take into account to be completely honest…" She deflated a bit with that thought, smiling back at her host.
A comfortable silence fell over then for a few moments, giving the greenette some time to digest the new information while the silver haired Valkyrie was thinking about how to proceed.
Playing with his glasses in one hand, Izuku tried to wrap his head around the whole idea. His mind racing with one thought after another, some more wild than the others.
"So Akeno, my childhood friend, wasn't a human either?" He asked, deciding to push the rest of his thoughts aside for now.
"Well… you said that your quirk labeled her as human, fallen and devil right? My only guess is that she is a Nephilim, a child born from the union of a fallen angel and a human. She then was probably reincarnated by a devil into a peerage, so she has the defining traits of all three races that your ability can inexplicably identify. How DOES it do that? How did it even know how to label then properly?" She started to wonder, feeling a bit better when she could openly discuss such things with her green haired friend.
"Reincarnated?" He chose to ask about that, as it was probably what the raven haired girl couldn't tell him about back in the restaurant. The way that Gremory-san 'saved' her.
"It's… a bit complicated…" Rosseweise started with a contemplative look on her face. "You know what, let me take care of those dishes and I'll make us some tea. If I'm going to tell you about the supernatural world's history then let's do that properly and comfortably." She smiled, getting up to do what she just proposed.
Smiling back at her, the greenette put his glasses back on. "Thank you, Ro-san."
"No, I should be the one to thank you. Thank you for accepting me for who I truly am." Feeling much lighter, the young woman replied with a slight bow and continued to the kitchen while thinking about how to start the whole story.
XxX
"Okay… keep calm… don't make a fool of yourself…" A beautiful, black haired woman mumbled to herself while walking through an office-like building to meet with her superior.
Straightening her jacket, the young woman suppressed the instinct to transform it back into her normal attire. Fallen angel she may be but even fallen had standards. It felt suffocating to wear a full suit but sauntering up to her faction's leader with tits out in the open and supported only by a physics defying leather strap wouldn't end well for her reputation among her peers.
"Raynare, Azazel is already waiting for you." A stern voice caught her off guard, even when she somewhat expected it.
Sitting behind a large desk was a tall and gorgeous woman with dark violet hair. She was typing on her computer, not even giving a glance to the young girl that entered.
"At once, Penemue-sama." She replied with a bow, immediately moving to the large wooden doors that led to the office of her boss.
Rapping her knuckles on the magically reinforced wood, she entered just after as she was already expected. To her confusion and surprise, the normally immaculate office was strewn with papers, whiteboards and empty coffee mugs all around. A pile of old looking tomes was on one of the desks, looking as if someone went through them in a hurry and just left them discarded like that just after.
"Azazel-sama?" She called out, not being able to spot the man in all this chaos.
She barely suppressed a yelp when a shadowy figure emerged from between the mess, moving so quickly that she didn't have any time to react.
"Oh, here you are Ray-chan!" A dark haired man with blonde bangs greeted her, catching her shoulders and starting to look at her as if in search of something.
"Y-yes. Raynare reporting for duty." She answered, taken aback from her superior's close proximity.
"What? Ah, yes! Let's see!" Releasing her, the dark haired man walked up to his desk and started to rummage through the mountain of papers, not minding that quite a lot of them slid to the floor and joined the already impressive mess. "I could have sworn that it was somewhere here…" He muttered to himself, starting to search in the drawers too.
Being somewhat used to Azazel's antics, Raynare didn't move from her place or voice any questions that were starting to form in her head. She just looked around, trying to at least understand what her leader was doing.
It was a commonly known fact that the leader of their organization was nearly obsessed with sacred gears, and to nobody's surprise the whiteboards all around were full of scribblings and formulas regarding them.
"Here it is!" He suddenly exclaimed, bringing her attention back to him. In his hand was a manilla folder labeled Midoriya Izuku.
"This is your next target. He didn't show any signs of awakening so we don't have any definitive proof that he is a holder. He does have the defining traits though and one of my old acquaintances confirmed that he has a faint draconic aura. You are to confirm if he is a holder and observe for any awakenings." He ordered, giving her the documents.
Opening the folder, she set her eyes on the photo of her next target. Looking back at her were dull green eyes that seemed to belong to a dead person, possessing only the barest of shines that could indicate that he was indeed alive. Black and dark green hair adorned his head, shaved from one side to reveal a long and jagged surgical scar. Reading the summary on the first page she idly noted that the target moved to Kuoh, looks like a new base of operations would need to be established.
"Do we have the permission to operate in Kuoh?" She asked, but the mischievous smile from her leader only made her sigh.
"It's only a scouting mission, maybe a recruitment attempt if it goes exceptionally well." He smiled in a mildly infuriating way. "Besides, you guys have been doing it for a long time already, it'll be like a breeze! You can even slack off on duty a bit if you want, take it easy and relax!" He started to laugh, clapping her on the shoulder.
"We will set off after resupplying." Sighing, she closed the folder and started to walk back out of the office. There goes her hope for getting a better assignment, it seemed that more babysitting awaited her at this rate. Her team wouldn't be too pleased about that.
"Good look Ray-chan~!" Azazel called after her while sporting a grin. "Now… where was I…"
Closing the doors behind herself, the last thing she saw was the leader of her faction diving back into the chaotic mess where he emerged from just before.
XxXxXxX
Author's Note: Hello! I recently tried to get into the original novels of DxD and it was a horrific experience. I don't know if it is because of the translation I found but I couldn't go any further than lettuce thirty pages and couldn't muster any more strength to force myself past the cringe :d
Okay, maybe it isn't thaaat bad. But I need a few drinks before I'll continue with reading… that…
Have a good day! :D