"Are you done?" Came his reply, his tone hollow. When Koneko looked up, she noticed he was crying, too. "You know, if you're gonna say something so harsh, you should at least make sure it's true."

Koneko Was instantly taken aback. "..." she couldn't respond to the sheer, twisted agony in his eyes. 'His eyes… their just like mine…"

Ise choked down his tears, and began to talk. "Koneko. Did you know that I have never actually peeped on a girl intentionally?" When she didn't respond, he continued. "Did you know that my parents haven't spoken a civil word to me in the 18 years I've been alive? Did you know that…" he paused. The tears in his eyes redoubled, and were now sliding down his face. "Did you know that in two weeks, on the same day we fight Sitri, it will be two years to the day that the woman I called my everything Left?"

Koneko, thanks to her untamed emotions, enhanced by the nekoshou form, was prone to acting before thinking, not that Ise knew this. So, her next question was completely random. He expected that he would finish talking before Koneko bluntly stated the one statement that would inevitably intertwine their faces together: "where did she go? And why did she leave?"

Ise's eyes grew dark, and he chuckled. The sound of Ise's broken voice laughing sent shivers down her spine. "You misunderstood me. She didn't leave because she wanted to.

"She left me because she was murdered. And it was my fault." Ise's broken voice filled the room with that one whispered statement. He could have screamed it and it would have had less of an effect.

"I don't know what trauma you've had in your life. But one thing is for certain. Never, ever assume that you are the only person with problems."

All of a sudden, Koneko had an upsurge of tears out of the blue. Ise momentarily panicked. "What's wrong?" He said, before mentally calming himself, and pulling her tighter.

Koneko sniffled. "I've been such a terrible person to you Ise, and for no reason. I just assumed because you were always near those pervs, you were one. And that girl… Ise, I'm so sorry, Ise, I didn't know, I swear. I didn't know" she sniffled.

"Don't worry about it." He said, pulling her close. "You know, you're the first person I've ever told about it, to be honest. It… it feels kinda good to let that out."

Koneko looked down. "Why do I always do this?"

"Do what?"

"Why do I always let everyone down? Why do I always make mistakes? Why am I always so… worthless?"

And Ise stopped her right there. "You're not worthless Koneko." she looked at him, confused and distraught. "I think you are the best, most trustworthy person on our team. And to prove my point, I'm gonna trust you with something. Something Rías and the others don't know. I think I can trust you, Koneko. Do you wanna prove me wrong?"

Koneko looked back down, before speaking softly "I don't deserve your trust. All I've ever done is be mean to you, and hide things from you. I have hit you and mocked you and attacked you and attacked your character and all because I thought that I was better than you. But I'm not. You've always been so noble and kind. Even when I thought you were a pervert, even when I berated and attacked you, you always rescued me. And now, you want to trust me?" she ended on a question, disbelieving Ise's kindness. How could she, who had acted so despicable, earn the trust of someone so noble and kind?

"Who says you're not worthy of my trust? Is it me? No. Because no matter what, I trust Koneko, because to me, Koneko is a very trustworthy person. Nothing can change that." Spoke Ise passionately. Despite herself, Koneko blushed.

"Baka Ise. Even after all the lying and attacking and assaulting, you still trust me? You don't even know why I have these cat features, do you? Do you know why I look the way I do?" Koneko asked, still incredulous of Ise's trust in her, and also wanting to know how much of her background Ise knew.

"I don't need to know." Said Ise, smiling, and once again surprising Koneko. "Because I don't care if you look like a cat or dinosaur, you'll always be just Koneko to me, and no matter what, I'll still care for you the same. " And then, he worked Koneko's chin up and looked into her eyes. "And no matter what, I just want you to be okay!" He spoke passionately. He let go of her chin, before reaching for something Koneko had only seen a couple of times. The most recent time she had seen it was the fight against Kokabiel. It was the only time she had ever seen Ise so shaken. The one time where she feared for his life. Koneko had heard Kokabiel ask some questions about a girl named Emma, and that was when the look in Ise's eyes had changed. He had taken out this necklace, which had a picture in it. He had looked at it for a second, and then Kokabiel laughed. Koneko remembered what Kokabiel said, and at the time, it had confused her.

Kokabiel had laughed. "She's dead, because you failed. That's why I killed her. I wanted to see if maybe her death would make you strong. But it looks like you couldn't even do that." he had chuckled, before charging Ise, spear in hand.

When the dust settled, Ise was standing there, unharmed and Kokabiel had a look in his eyes.

Pure, unadulterated fear.

Then Ise spoke two words and everything changed.

"Balance Break." even though it was hardly a whisper, his voice carried for miles.

Ise's rage at Kokabiel was something that Koneko had feared. The devastation Koneko had seen, it terrified her to the core. When the White Dragon Emperor appeared, he had to pick Kokabiel's limbs up separately. Rias hadn't been able to watch that part. As a matter of fact, she had been the only one who watched.

Koneko had very rarely seen him wear the necklace before, but she could sense it was very precious to him. Sometimes when she was really pissed at him, she thought about taking it and hiding it, but could never bring herself to do it.

She remembered the day when Ise had fought Riser Phenex and won. He had looked at it, and spoke softly, Koneko could only hear it due to her fine-tuned senses, and even Riser didn't seem to understand it. Even so, Koneko remembered his words clearly. "And you are the type of person that she despised the most. People like you, who treat women like trophies, and abuse them… to me, and to her, you're the worst type of person, and for that," and here Ise had yelled. "I WILL DESTROY YOU!"

The following fight was something she couldn't forget. Even she, who loved fighting more than anyone, was astonished and not a little scared at the sheer speed and power Ise showed. She remembered something else he said, something that always made her blush.

"If it's for her, or even if it's for Koneko, then I would do anything. Because I will always protect those I care about. And that is why lost, because immortal or not, you don't have the strength or determination to do what needs to be done done. Night night". Those were the last words he said to Riser Phenix's broken, unconscious, body.

And then there was the day Asia died. Ise had grabbed it, without even knowing. Tears had poured out of his eyes and he repeated that broken, sobbing cry. "Not you too, not you too, not you too." Almost like a chant. Koneko could never shake just how broken Ise looked on that day. Almost like someone had ripped him in half, taken his soul, and then left him to die.

Of course, Rías had never seen any of this, always being distracted by something else. But after the Kokabiel incident, she started to get suspicious of Ise, so she started asking questions about the necklace. She wondered who this girl was that Kokabiel was talking about. Ise always expertly avoided the question.

Ise looked at Koneko. "Koneko, do you know why I always carry this necklace with me?" When she shook her head, he continued, "it's a symbol. I carry it to remember my biggest mistake, but also to honor someone I care very much about." Here, tears started coming out of his eyes. But he continued. "This was someone who I cared very much about. After Irina left, you see, I was very lonely, until I made friends with this girl at the park. We were good friends, the very best. We protected each other from everything. Bullies, family... Her father… he was abusive, so one day, when I was 13, I went over to her house to say hi, and I saw that he was about to hit her. I knocked his teeth out and called the cops." Here he tried to crack a smile, but the tears coming out of his eyes ruined it.

"Then, one day, about 3 years later, she was killed. She died trying to protect me. That's the reason Rias could sense the Boosted Gear, was it had already been awakened."