"Don't do this Sera." The voice would have startled her, but the former Sitri heiress had been in a state of high alert ever since she learned that her fellow leaders had been spying on her queen.
It wasn't much bigger of a step to think they might be spying on her as well.
Hearing Sirzechs nearly begging was not something that occurred very often, the man was used to getting his way either through his charming exterior or the frightening power hidden underneath a soft smile.
"You overstepped. All of you did." Turning from her view out of the office window, Serafall was greeted with a clearly distressed man. His face looked only slightly worn, but when the man in question was always pristine, that said a lot. A few strands of hair out place, a bread crumb on his jacket.
"So you would have Rias pay the price of our mistake?" Ah, the infamous temper of the Bael's. Venerana was the most collected in the family by far, and had passed that emotional control down to her son.
Zekram played the calm old man, never losing his cool, but she saw through him easily. A shift in the jaw, the twitch in a finger. There was always a sign.
Aquamarine eyes swirled in frustration, and it would have had almost any other being giving in. But not her, not when it came to this particular subject.
"How many opportunities have you let slip by? How many alternatives did you have to get Rias out of that engagement? Ten? Twenty?" Trying to guilt her back into the plan wasn't going to work, Sirzechs and Grayfia had every chance in the world to save her from what they saw as a horrible fate.
Riser was a prick sure, not likely to love Rias in the way that the girl wanted, but he wasn't going to abuse her in any way. Not with how Sirzechs hovered over anything she did. It would be suicide for the 3rd son of the Phenex family.
There was something else that was bugging her too, something that Serafall should have addressed long before now it would seem.
"And what is with Grayfia's hatred towards my queen anyway? I can understand feeling a little miffed about him being stronger than her, even a little insulted that he isn't of the same renown as the other queens. But the way she spoke was more than just a bruised ego."
Sirzechs didn't answer, he just continued to look at her with that same angered gaze.
"Nothing to say? Fine then." She didn't want to get herself worked up, there were better uses for her time. Like prepping for how to go about the conversation Issei was likely to have with her about the fallen angel she'd met earlier today.
The woman seemed honest and open minded enough, a rare thing between the two species. It would be best to wait before contacting Azazel, if she did at all. Letting it be known that Raynare had come across the queen of the Leviathan wasn't exactly an option, but it could be worded differently to have the same effect.
If there was peace though… that opened up so many doors. While her peerage kept an eye on pretty much any and all factions, the fallen and angels were the key players.
"You should have trusted me Sirzechs, just like I trusted you." She really didn't like maintaining this serious attitude, her job was more fun when she could smile and laugh and joke around.
The silence continued, she wasn't sure what Sirzechs was thinking, but her mind was already hard at work with how to handle a variety of things.
If Raynare truly did bail before anything could come of the relationship Sera felt was just around the corner from starting, the negotiation angle would be picked up once more. It was how they'd been dealing with things so far anyway, so no real progress would be lost.
It wasn't a big secret that none of the three sides could really sustain through another war.
Sera heard Sirzechs release the biggest sigh she'd ever heard from him. Turning to see what might have changed, it was surprising to see the anger fade.
"What was it that you wanted to say back in the meeting?" His eyes were still closed, but his normal tone and expression were back.
An eyebrow quirked up, she wasn't sure what this had to do with the current discussion but she didn't mind telling.
"I've already taken care of it. The pieces and land have been issued. Discreetly of course." Just because she wanted Issei to be recognized as her queen by everyone, that didn't mean she would just trample over the other statutes in place. If she did that, there would be a mess to deal with.
Rias and Sona would be displaced as holders of Kuoh, Issei's status as an ultimate class devil overruling their own. If they wanted to contest it, it would have to be through one of the two established ways. A rating game or an exam on the area in question.
Either way, Issei would win. If the girls teamed up against him alone, that match would only last for as long as Issei felt like holding back. As for the exam… he'd lived there his entire life, and knew that town like the back of his hand.
"I'm sorry." Sirzechs breathed out as he sat in the chair on the opposite side of her desk. It appeared the Gremory side of him was back in control.
'Good. Maybe we can get somewhere.' She thought, letting herself relax and wait for what else he had to say.
"We trust your judgement Sera, we do. But Issei was an… unconventional choice." He raised his hands in defense when her nostrils flared.
"I didn't say a bad choice. To be honest we were all expecting you to take that idol dabbling in spirit cleansing as your queen, but it's hard to say you made the wrong decision when he beat Grayfia at fourteen years old."
The person he was talking about had only been an option up to the point that Serafall met her. Turns out that her prospective queen had taken to watching those mega church shows on tv and felt it was her duty to summon and kill the ones she summoned.
The quirky outfits and persona had drawn Serafall's attention, but the absolute insanity in those eyes wasn't something that reincarnation could cure.
"No. Issei is the best queen I could ask for." She could still remember the day they met. It was purely by chance, a moment alone in a park that was under the control of a member of one of the underworlds more powerful families.
Cleria had been a friend of sorts, and didn't mind if she popped in from time to time to get away.
The young boy, swinging a stick at a tree with all the might in his body, he'd needed a friend in that moment and she needed a distraction. The red rimmed eyes caught her by surprise, he'd obviously been crying but she couldn't have known why that was.
How old had he been then, 8 or 9?
Now that she thought about it, it was almost his mother's birthday. She'd have to put a few hours aside for that, and forge the signature for an excused absence from classes.
Sera knew that he wanted to visit her more often, but he just… couldn't. There were few things she could think of that were more heartbreaking than watching as Issei was once again face to face with the fact that his mother… well, there wasn't a magic in the world that could fix it.
"There are too many ways for things to wrong, experience is the best tutor in many of the ways that would keep it all together. And that can only come with time. I can only apologize for myself for what was said."
For a man so good at dealing with their people, he only seemed to be looking at one side of things.
"And who was it that put all those responsibilities on him hmm?" She asked with a hint of anger. She continued before Sirzechs had a chance to respond.
"Us. We did that. You, me, Ajuka and Falbium. You and I made him swear to secrecy while he went to school with our sisters after the were handed Kuoh. Falbium and Ajuka put Ingvild in his care. We all pushed him to be more than he was ready to be, and he adjusted as best as he could. A 17 year old former human should not have the power that he does, it's corrupted hundreds of pure-blooded supernatural beings, and yet he's still the same gentle soul I met almost ten years ago. He's better than any of you seem to be willing to admit."
For several moments, Sirzechs looked like he was about to admit her point. Just when she thought he would, his expression changed. His eyes started searching hers for something.
Whatever it was, he seemed to find it.
"You love him."
Fuck. Maybe she'd gone a little too hard in his defense. There was no use denying it, she might be the better manipulator between them, but that didn't mean that Sirzechs couldn't read people. Especially those he'd known for centuries.
"I do."
Sera held her breath, ready for what was sure to come next. You can't be with him because he wants a harem, you know the law Sera.
Only, that wasn't what came next. All the time she'd gone over that law written when they took positions as leaders of devil-kind seemed to be useless in this conversation.
"I'm happy for you." The smile Sirzechs gave her wasn't the usual one he used for public appearance. It was the smile she remembered from when they were young. His lips curled up and showed the white of his teeth, the crinkle next to his eyes, the dimples on each cheek.
It was the smile he had before all of the things they were forced to do in the civil war.
"No lecture about the harem law?" She couldn't but ask, still wary that her friend was going to try and shut down her relationship with Issei.
"No. How many times have I tried to convince you to do something Sera?"
She scoffed, that wasn't a question that was able to be answered accurately.
"Too many to count."
"And how many times did it work?"
That one made her think. There was the time he told her that she had to pick some of the flowers in the garden, her mother's garden. She almost did it too. The only time he had actually convinced her to do anything was…
"Just once. I wanted to step aside for Grayfia to be named Leviathan. You convinced me that I shouldn't. We couldn't have your wife being one of the four leaders and expect to be followed."
Sirzechs nodded, but then his smile turned a little sheepish.
"To be completely honest, there was more to it. I couldn't bear the thought of her being swamped with work when that time could be spent with me. So if I wanted to marry her, she had to have opposition for the role. Opposition that had a good chance of winning, and there was only one person I could think of that was already interested."
She breathed out a chuckle.
"So it was for love." He nodded to her statement.
"I'm sorry about the way we presented ourselves in the meeting Sera. Putting aside everything else, I know the chances of you being coerced are negligent. As long as you don't prove me wrong, the others can't really refute any relationship you choose to have with him."
Good, so he was already aware of the little loop hole she'd technically be using. Just because the leaders couldn't have a harem themselves, not that she really had the desire, it said nothing about being a participant.
As much as she didn't want to, it was really going to bug her if she didn't get some sort of answer to her last question.
"Zechs, why does Grayfia hate him so much?" She was already aware of the obvious points.
Issei wasn't a pure-blooded devil like the other leaders' queens. He didn't have the same renowned status for one reason or another. He was incredibly young for a position that dealt with much of the deeper things going on within their society, and his attitude wasn't necessarily professional like the others.
But the way Grayfia spoke at the meeting said something else, and she wanted to know what the cause of it was.
"I wish I could give you the specifics, but she wouldn't say. All I do know, is that after a conversation some time ago Grayfia doesn't trust him. It must have been something personal because I've never seen her that angry before."
Sera remembered that day, only she hadn't thought too much of it at the time. Grayfia, Behemoth, Musashi and herself had been helping train him for a few days. Grayfia had been planning to go over some magical explanations that day when she suddenly blew her top and left. Ever since that day, Grayfia refused to be anywhere near him if at all possible.
A year later, it was required for each of the queens to spar against him, and Grayfia hadn't started slow like the others. She went all out from the beginning. An hour later, with the artificial dimension completely wrecked, there was a new Strongest Queen.
-LineBreak-
His detention had gone mostly as expected, except for the part where Aika decided to stop by and swap dirty jokes as he swept the entire fucking building.
Including but not limited to; What does a perverted frog say? Rub it. What happens when a woman skydives naked? They whistle. What do you call a hooker with a runny nose? Full.
He'd actually had to explain that one to her. And while it did help the time pass by a little faster, though it was weird that she was just walking around with him, some of the jokes were just… wrong. It usually involved kids. Say what you will about his wide range of porn habits, kids were a clear no-go. Anything more than a year younger than him and it was just gross.
So when she asked him, what's the difference between a catholic priest and a zit, he was already expecting it.
The answer? A zit will wait until you're twelve to cum on your face.
Issei could pretty much guarantee no one else in the school had ever seen the angry and disgusted look on his face that was directed towards Aika then.
She had the balls to ask if that one was too much. He didn't bother answering.
[It seems the fallen is still in your home.]
Issei looked up to the building coming into view, pulling away from the thoughts of his after school meetup. Unwanted though it was. Seriously, if the girl thought that joke was okay, he really had to wonder what else was going on in that brain of hers.
He wouldn't be all that surprised anymore if someone told him that Aika was into furry gangbang porn. The shudder couldn't be stopped. He'd been tricked into watching it once… never again.
[Focus damn you!]
'Okay okay, shit man.'
Issei took a breath to rid himself of the filth that was Aika and her probable furry fantasies.
'Seriously though, if we ever encounter a furry, they burn. No if's, and's, or but's. Back to the matter at hand, what is she still doing here? I thought she would have just taken off and met me on the bridge some other day.'
Considering he still had his little kitty devil shadow, Otherwise known as Koneko, he hoped that the fallen was disguising herself. He couldn't feel anything antithetical from here, but that didn't mean she wasn't in all her black winged bikini splendor and had just drawn all the curtains.
It had taken him a few months before Ghost Walker became natural to using 24/7. Issei had to doubt that she had that kind of training under her belt. Or...waist band? Thong? G-string? Shroud of Turin? What's the proper terminology here?
[That girl has left your mind in a haze of filth. And how did Shroud of Turin even come to mind?] Ddraig's voice started annoyed, but his question was asked uneasily, knowing that the answer was likely to be nonsensical and ridiculous.
'Because if you look at it just right, you can see Jesus, or an outline of Jesus. In this case, Jesus = pussy. Just as the Bible says that Jesus was a divine figure, every man will acknowledge that the female genitalia is just as warm and welcoming as-'
[Alright I get it! Never talk to that horrid woman again.]
It was rare for Ddraig to be so antagonistic towards anyone that wasn't Albion. Issei had to admit that his mind had been more in the gutter since the dirty joke hour than it had been in a while. It reminded him of the days in middle school.
'I guess we just take this one step at a time? Can't feel any bad juju from here, so I'm thinking she's back to playing the shy but secretly dirty school girl. If not, pretend she's cosplaying again. Sound good?'
[I still find it strange that she gave up on revealing her true species this morning.]
'Meh. She had literally just woken up, no ones on their A-game in that state.' Issei reasoned with a shrug, walking up to the apartment building. The entrance was pretty generic, white walls, mailboxes, flyers for restaurants and things for sale. Grabbing the keys from his pocket, Issei opened up the mailbox for 3b, and was surprised to actually find something inside.
There was a slip of paper, smaller than average, more like a flyer you'd get out on the street. Opening the mailbox was more of a habit to seem like a normal guy than anything, he never expected anything to be placed in there. So what was the occasion? Why the sudden change?
All Issei could see on it was a few bold black lines, some sort of design that he wouldn't be able to see until he picked it up and turned it over.
But something was off about it.
The very clear feel of magic radiating from this slip of paper. There were a few possibilities of what this thing was, but only made sense with where he lived.
It had to be a summoning flyer. And Issei just so happened to have overheard Rias Gremory mentioning his name when he was in Sona's office.
'I knew she didn't want to marry the guy, but doesn't this come off as a little desperate?'
[Or she thinks that you're the one who's desperate. With how the females in your school see you, she no doubt thinks you'll try to summon a woman for sexual gratification.]
Picking it up, Issei turned it over to confirm his suspicions. The flowing black font was familiar, though the red Celtic design of what one might assume to be a flower gave away the person it came from. It was the Gremory rose, not that he didn't already know who would be watching him.
'I guess Sona kept our conversation away from Rias then.' If Sona had filled her in, Rias might have changed tactics. His pride was a little wounded that he was seen as desperate enough to try and contract a woman to have sex with him.
First off, there were specific people who did that, and the payment was ridiculously expensive. Courtesans of the underworld were no joke, he'd met a few. When he heard that there were a good number of men in the field, his stupid 13 yr old brain decided to negate the filter to his mouth and say that he wanted to be one.
Musashi had found it fucking hilarious, and then told him that the guys were almost all gay and took the occupation because the clients were into some really weird shit.
She'd even told him about a stray that had wandered into an orgy with 3 clients and 2 devils. Some kind of cock train the humans had wanted to try.
Now Issei needed a shower. Picturing it just made him feel… gross.
[You've watched more than one video where there are 3 or more men mating with one woman, but the thought of only men disgusts you to that degree?]
'It's different okay! If you're gay, whatever, you do you. What Musashi told us about was a parody of what sex should be! Can you even imagine what those guys had to pay in order to get something like that?!'
He'd seen guys kiss here and there, no big deal, it just wasn't his cup of tea. But… no, he'd really rather not think about it anymore.
[I'll admit that her explanation on how such a thing was accomplished was… off-putting.]
And of course she just had to ask on the logistics of it all after killing the stray!
'Ddraig, please, I don't want to think about it anymore. I'll be good, I swear. No more.'
As Issei walked up the stairs, he had the foreboding feeling that Ddraig was going to use this against him at a later date.
After walking up a few flights of stairs, he had just about forgotten that there was a fallen angel waiting in his apartment. His keys were still in his hand and ready to use, but he gripped the handle to see if she'd bothered to lock the door.
To his surprise, she did.
'She's good.' Not that she didn't have plenty of time to think over every detail, but he doubted that many would think of something so minor like locking the door.
Pretending to be a high school girl rather than the supernatural entity she was meant that a different set of rules had to be followed. A young woman alone in a place she'd never been before? No, leaving the door unlocked would have been a bad idea and a plot hole for him to pick apart if he'd had the mind to do it.
The conversation between them still had Issei guessing on how to act. He'd seen her wings, and instead of calling her out had just played the clueless human. Chances were good that she wasn't in that tantalizing outfit anymore, a shame but he could get over it. Those mental images weren't going anywhere anytime soon.
The key in the lock clicked and turned, his door opening slowly before he pushed it to act like he was expecting to be home alone.
As soon as the door closed behind him, his over sensitive nose was damn near overloaded with magically charged pheromones. The movement of air within the school made it easy to deal with, especially considering the number of humans compared to devils. But this fallen had been in his house all day, no windows open.
She had flooded the place with a non-existent scent that ever so subtly tempted men, making them more malleable to whatever the woman wanted. His comparing her to a succubus hadn't been without reason.
Devils had the same pheromone trick to a degree, but it had to be actively used rather than a passive aspect of their species to have the same effect. It wasn't typically used though, because female devils were prone to the same pride and superiority complex as their male counterparts. Particularly in the case of Nobles.
Fallen were known to use whatever tricks they had in order to get what they wanted. The angels might be the weakest faction of the three in number and versatility, the fallen were the weakest when it came to overall global influence.
"Welcome to your doom!" An old, digital, higher pitched voice was heard from his living room.
'Ah, good ole distorted Sega Genesis sound bites.' He had so many memories of late nights playing those games, created in a time where games were actually difficult instead of the mindless playthroughs so many were like now.
[Aren't you concerned that she's been snooping around?]
Issei scoffed. 'Not really. What's she gonna find? There's a couple of old porn mags in the closet, but I doubt she's unaware of my interests. I don't leave anything devil related in my apartment, so we should be good.'
He hadn't opened those up in a few years, what with the internet sources overflowing as they were. Issei did wonder though, if he hadn't been exposed to the supernatural world, would it bother him if she found those magazines?
Probably. If Issei had to guess, he probably would have struck out with any girl he approached. He could imagine that making the stakes higher. Wouldn't want to blow the first real chance he had with a girl now would he?
On second thought, if Sera hadn't come into his life, there was no way he'd have the time to think about dating. After whatever public school he ended up at finished for the day, he would have to go to whatever job he'd managed to lock down.
Even with that meager source of income, paying for anything beside the bare necessities would have been out of the question.
Sometimes life was cruel to those who didn't deserve it.
"Stupid fucking disembodied heads! Who the hell decided it was a good idea to make a giant living pile of dirt into a boss?" He heard Raynare comment as he walked into the living room, confirming that she was indeed playing Altered Beast on his old Sega.
She was hunched over, completely oblivious to his entrance. Tongue peeking out of her mouth, violet eyes set in determination to beat the 'living pile of dirt throwing disembodied heads'.
Glancing to the screen, Issei could see why she was having trouble and almost on her last life. This was lvl 1, so the character was turned into a werewolf once you killed the blue pigs and picked up the three orbs. The rate in which the heads fell made it difficult to move around and damage the boss at the same time, but if you stood in one of two spots this boss was a breeze.
'It's a shame she's a fallen. Beautiful, bit of a mouth, and plays video games? Sign me up.'
[Don't let your guard down just yet, she still might be out to kill you.] Ddraig, ever the skeptic, warned him.
'I know I know. I'll be careful, I'm just saying…'
Figuring that he should probably help her from dying, Issei decided to let her know he was home.
"Step forward two paces, the next few heads can't hit you there."
Her eyes snapped over quickly, she looked startled for a brief second before turning back to the screen and following his advice. She kept punching and finished the boss before she had to move, she must have been on that fight for a while to end it that quickly.
"If you don't like this boss, never play Conker's bad Fur Day. One of the bosses is literally a massive pile of shit with sweet corn for teeth." He smiled at the scrunch of her face.
"How does something like that make it passed a review board?" She asked, pausing the game on the little cutscene between levels that consisted of only a single image.
He couldn't help but notice subtle things about her right now. She'd gone with the younger version that she'd initially met him in. As much as he liked the things that Sera's pigtails allowed for when they were in the heat of the moment, Issei preferred when she let her hair down, like how his visitor's was.
The way her bangs slightly obscured an eye from time to time gave an air of… Mystery wasn't the right word, but it made him want to brush it away to see those eyes in full view.
Issei was having a hard time not letting his eyes settle on her chest, though he figured she was hoping that's where his focus would be. Her red school jacket was in buttoned, letting it slide from her front and settle to her sides.
'Hard for it to cover anything on the front of her body with her tits being that big.'
Seriously, a girl of that stature had no right to be equipped with such traffic stopping knockers. If she were human he'd have thought them fake. The white button down shirt underneath had the top two buttons undone, letting a decent amount of cleavage to be shown, only enough to make it clear that she was gifted but not be so obvious that she was trying to divert his attention.
The blue polish on her nails was a nice touch.
The fallen, Yuuma he believed Ddraig said her name was, leaned back on the couch to stretch. A deadly maneuver. Her legs were almost fully bared thanks to the couch making her skirt ride up to nearly NSFW levels. As her ankle rotated he noticed her toes had been painted as well.
Her arms stretched over and behind her head, a more exaggerated move than this morning. Head tilted back, chest thrust out seemingly as a mere consequence and not on purpose, Yuuma made that same blissful moaning sound from that morning.
He couldn't let himself get too distracted.
"The whole game is kinda quirky. I mean, the main character is an alcoholic squirrel. At one point you fight Nazi Teddy Bears. One of the few games on the Nintendo 64 with a mature rating."
Talking about games was a decent way to keep his mind from picturing the things he'd like to do to make her stretch and moan like that.
'Fuckin' hell, that voice is the stuff of dreams.' The pitch of her disguised voice slipped when she did it, losing the peppy youth and coming out in a more mature, almost raspy and sultry tone.
Her head returned upright, though she stayed in the leaning back position and crossed one leg over the other. A flash of white made his eyes twitch in that direction.
The one eye that was half open clearly saw it too, based on that tiny smirk and shimmer in her violet eyes as they both opened.
"Sounds unique if nothing else." The leg crossed over started to bounce lazily, long smooth legs highlighted by the sun peering through the window. It seemed like fate was trying to fuck with him right now.
Issei was at a loss of where to take the conversation from here, there were too many unknown's. Should he comment on the state he saw her in this morning? Or the fact that she was still in his home? How about the obvious sign that she hadn't gone to school despite how she was making making herself look? If she had gone to school, she must have left his apartment unlocked, which wasn't cool.
"Hey Issei?" His eyes refocused and saw her looking directly at him, lightly biting the left corner of her bottom lip.
"Something on your mind Yuuma?" She blinked at his response, an easy smile coming to her face.
"So you do remember my name." Well not really, a lot of the bridge was still a blank. Thankfully Ddraig had been able to fill him in.
"I wasn't in the best state on the bridge, but I think all the important parts came back to me."
Yuuma quirked an eyebrow at him. "And this morning?"
Issei shrugged.
"I'm not much of a morning person, what little filter I do have is nonexistent until about 10am."
Her smile turned back into that smirk, a lopsided thing that he thoroughly enjoyed seeing.
"So those things you said were just the unrestrained truth as you see it?"
Should he be embarrassed about saying some of those things? Nah, she was a fallen and was probably used to all sorts of compliments, pickup lines or just downright dirty talk.
"Yup. Not a fan of lying, don't see the point. Hasn't helped my reputation at school unfortunately."
She chuckled. "That and the peeping with your friends."
"Say what you will about them, those two are the most honest guys in that place. Though they might want to consider hiring a PR guy, at this rate they'll die alone from the news spreading beyond the boundaries of Kuoh and killing any chances they have."
Even then, if Matsuda and Motohama didn't start easing up on the lechery the chances of being single and a virgin forever were pretty high. Unless, of course, they lowered themselves to girls even freakier than Aika Kiryuu.
'Not possible. No such woman exists.'
But desperate situations did call for desperate measures.
"Duly noted. I'll be sure to wear a turtle neck and a parka if I ever meet them. Anyways, wanna go out?"
Issei had to admit that he liked hearing that, even if he knew it was likely false. Meeting his friends meant they could be together for a least a little while, a relationship instead of just a booty call. It sounded nice, normal.
Normal hadn't been something that Issei could call any part of his life in so long. The last time was probably him and Irina playing in the park as kids or having sleep-overs.
"Didn't we establish this on the bridge?" Issei knew what she meant, but he was enjoying this conversation. Talking to her was easy, even if all of her part was likely just a facade.
She stood from the couch, the few steps she had to take towards him were with a sway to her hips, making her short skirt swish from side to side.
"We did." When she reached him, standing nearly toe to toe, her hands slid into his jacket and linked around his back. Issei had to look down to meet her eyes. He wasn't a very tall guy, but with her so close he felt like he was.
"But what I meant, was for us to head into town. Get to know each other, have some fun, grab some food. Y'know, date stuff." She widened her eyes to make herself look innocent, even though this position was nothing of the sort.
Her hips were pressed into him, no doubt she did that on purpose. Her head had to tilt back some for her to look up to him, which meant he could practically see straight down her shirt. The view was appreciated.
"Sure. Lemme just set this stuff down and we'll head out."
-LineBreak-
The date was going pretty well. Raynare honestly hadn't expected much with how she just sprang it on him.
They walked through the town, popping into a few shops here and there. Issei surprised her when he took the initiative to hold her hand, but she pushed it further by lacing their fingers together.
He was warm, not in a nervous and sweaty kind of way, more like his body ran slightly warmer than normal. It was a calming feeling really, like sitting before a fireplace on a cold night when the heat didn't beat off the chill.
She hadn't been sure how things would go when he got back from school, and had been a little miffed when he showed up significantly later than she'd expected. He'd told her while walking around that he'd been just a few seconds too late on entering the school grounds, and so the student council president had given him detention and said they'd be watching him.
Raynare could tell that meant more than just watching his attendance and habits. The devils were watching him more closely now. That was apparent by the summoning flyer she saw him place on the counter with his bag.
That devil she met, what did she say her name was? Sarah? Stella? Skyler? Samantha? Something with an S she was sure. Raynare wasn't too concerned about her, not with the minimal power she could feel. The woman probably came from one of the more progressive and lower standing families if she was shacking up with a human like Issei.
"Gold. Pure, brilliant gold." The she-devil had said.
Issei was a pervert, there was no denying that. But that devil had obviously seen something that nobody else had, and Raynare was starting to catch a glimpse of it.
While they were in one of the shops, a wide variety of clothes, media and jewelry on display, Issei had slipped away for a few minutes while she looked at shoes. She hadn't questioned why he walked off, saying he'd be back in a few minutes. He probably just had to go take a piss or something.
She was wrong.
Issei had come back with a necklace on a simple silver chain. It wasn't anything extravagant, but the diamond shaped gem in the center was pretty, the color of indigo just between blue and purple.
"I can't let you do that Issei, I'm sure you need that money for something more important." She'd said, trying to play it off.
Raynare had been touched that he'd even offered, more so that it was something more than just a stuffed animal or a scrunchy or something simple like that. Plus the necklace was pretty and tasteful. She didn't know the name of the gem or how much it might have cost.
"That's a shame, I thought you might like it. It goes well with your eyes, and if you like blue it goes with that too." He'd said glancing from her hands, to her eyes and back to the necklace in his hand.
Her heart had done something funny then, a twist or a turn she wasn't sure. No one had ever bought her anything without it being either just a show of wealth or the complete opposite of something she'd actually like.
"It's beautiful, but I just can't. Return it, save the money." She'd never in her life refused a gift. But the honest gesture was more than enough to make her smile stupidly.
"Hmmm…." Issei looked right into her eyes for a good ten seconds before turning to the man at the register.
"What's the return policy for jewelry?" She didn't know why, but him admitting defeat and submitting to her request actually hurt a little bit. Why couldn't he just push her a little more into taking the damn thing?! She wanted it!
The old man turned from where he was stocking some of the useless items stores put up at the register for a quick add on sale.
"14 days with a receipt."
The man must have seen her expression by the disapproving look he gave Issei.
"Oh, well then." Issei reached into his pocket, taking out the unnecessarily long proof of purchase.
He folded it once, twice, three times before he looked at her with a smile.
And ripped it to shreds.
She heard the employee snort out a laugh, but Raynare didn't care.
Why was it so fucking hard to breathe right now?!
"Damn. I don't have the paperwork to get my money back." He held up the necklace again.
It felt like she developed a case of vertigo, an almost out of body experience from a strange giddy feeling spreading through her body.
She relented with the most honest smile she'd felt in decades, turning around and pulling her hair away to offer her neck. In the direction she was now facing, Raynare could see more than one young woman looking on with absolute jealousy. Two of them seemed to be with their boyfriends, who looked away and tried to pretend that they hadn't just been upstaged in a major way.
'That's right, mine's better than yours.'
The urge to kiss him till they were both blue in the face almost took over. But she couldn't. Getting too attached wasn't something she could allow, already Issei was making that pretty damn hard.
She'd never expected to enjoy this, but she was. Issei was interesting, a puzzle she wanted to unravel to its naked core.
'He keeps this up and I just might, rules be damned.' She wasn't supposed to actually feel for her targets. But the only beings that could lie well enough for her to pick up on it were people whose name she'd recognize, or Azazel would have been able to pick up on a supernatural signal of some kind from him.
Since that hadn't happened, she felt it was safe to assume that wasn't trying to lull her into a sense of security just to ambush her later.
Raynare thanked him quietly, the blush on her cheeks not at all faked, and they left the store hand in hand once more.
They were both getting hungry and wanted to grab some dinner somewhere, but Issei had them taking a detour. He said there was something he wanted her to see first.
The sun had almost been completely gone by the time she heard the sound of water, walking through a nice path in the forest.
When the trees and bushes and plants gave way, she was met with the sight of a calm lake reflecting the changing colors of the sky. Further out in the still waters, the orange left in the sky was reflected, making it look like the sun was directly in front of them.
Above that, the deep orange faded into blue, darker and darker until it was the same color as the necklace adorned on her skin.
"Heaven's evening daze." Issei said, getting her to turn her head and tilt it ever so slightly. What was he talking about?
They had talked about a vast number of things as they walked through town, but Issei had never mentioned anything that made her think he was into landscapes or nature.
Hobbies, favorite foods, music, games, movies, sports, friends… they'd covered a large number of topics.
"Your name." He smiled towards her before looking out over the water again.
"The first thing I remember about meeting you, was how the sun was setting right behind you. Orange, black and purple were the only things my brain could really recognize for a moment. I remember thinking the colors were beautiful."
'Stupid blushing face… Stop it!' She yelled in her head, but she couldn't look away from how the sun was being cast on his eyes. They almost looked like gold right now.
"I used to come down here a lot as a kid, a lot of memories." He scratched at the back of his head with the hand that wasn't being squeezed tightly by her, a smile at his lips.
"I don't think a scene like this will ever be associated with anything other than you now-"
He needed to stop talking. If he didn't shut up right now, or say something absurdly stupid then she might have to do something she would immediately regret.
Like leaving.
How was it possible for him to go from infuriating her to having her heart beat like it was being kicked by a death metal drummer?
Gold. Pure, brilliant gold.
That's how.
He was too good for her, someone who'd killed just to get some fucking recognition. Someone who lied as easily as she took a breath.
"- I don't want to say this, but I think it has to be said." She didn't like the way his face shifted.
It felt like an eternity for him to take a breath and prepare whatever it was that he had to say.
"I'm not the kind of guy that gets the girl." He gave a sad chuckle then. "I bet if pretty much anyone from my school saw us, they'd think I blackmailed you into just being within arms reach of me."
He let go of her hand, and it felt like she'd been taken from the fireplace and dumped into a pool of ice water.
'What's happening?'
It was only then that she noticed that they were completely alone, not a soul standing on the water's edge or even within the distance of her superior hearing. Completely isolated from the world around them and bathed in the beautiful light of the setting sun.
"We just met yesterday… And this morning didn't get off to a great start."
Raynare couldn't argue the point, but for some reason she really wanted to.
Her eyes darted around again, almost desperate for something else to look at.
"There's so much we don't know about each other." That statement almost seemed like it he was referring to her, which wasn't without cause. It set her more on edge.
Sand, grass, trees, water, and the light of the sun were all that surrounded them. If she were her old self, this would have been the perfect place to kill him in that search for glory.
And it had all been orchestrated by him.
"If this is a trick, some sort of dare or prank or something…"
'Mission.' Her mind added without consent.
"You've won. You can go back and say that you got the Pervy loser to like you in 24 hours." The emphasis stuck out to her.
Another smile bloomed over her face before it quickly fell.
Issei had known something was off about this situation the entire time. She should have taken those predatory glances of his surroundings more seriously, especially after he'd picked her apart that morning.
Had he truly left her alone in his apartment on purpose, or was it some ploy to make turn tail?
"That shy voice I heard on the bridge… That's not you. I'm as sure of that as I am of anything." She'd fucked up. Raynare had royally fucked up.
"Confident, determined, a little hotheaded if how you glared at me this morning is anything to go by, and maybe even a touch of a romantic… that's you."
He faced her then, his smile becoming uneasy, guarded. Raynare felt it too. She didn't know what was happening, what to do, or how to think.
"And I like you." He took two steps back from her, the distance too much in her mind. She wanted him to come back.
"Issei.. I.." Her mouth was dry and didn't seem capable of forming whole sentences.
"It wouldn't be the first time, but you certainly had me hooked a lot quicker than the others."
Her nostrils flared and a red hot rage attempted to burn throughout her entire being...
'Who hurt you Issei? I'll skewer them!' ...Before she realized where her mind was going and knew that things had already gone too far.
"You can sneer and mock to your hearts content. And then we can walk away, go back to our daily lives."
She should say that this was all a ruse, just like he seemed to suspect. She had her answers for Azazel. Issei wasn't endangering anyone, nor was he recruitment material. There was no gain for the fallen here.
He was giving her a chance to walk away without any questions asked. It was the right choice.
But…
Even thinking about doing that was… painful.
Raynare idly touched the necklace he'd given her, her mind racing through a thousand things.
Did he know that woman was a devil? If so, how would he feel about her being a fallen angel? The two weren't in an official relationship, otherwise that blue haired woman would have said so, even if she gave her acceptance of them seeing each other.
Not that it was likely to happen if that were the case. The woman would have probably thought she was in his apartment to get to her through a third party.
'Fuck it.'
It might be the wrong choice, it might end quickly and painfully, but it was hers to make.
Raynare closed those few steps between them, her hands reaching up to take hold of each side of his face. The guarded expression left him.
"We all have our secrets, and reasons for them, but I'm not here to hurt you."
She gave him no time to think or respond before pulling him down slightly while edging up on her toes to kiss him.
It was light, hardly more than a glance of her lips against his. She held it for a few seconds, wanting to just sink into the feeling he gave her.
Raynare had known Azazel for so long, lusted after him for almost the entire time. But never in those years of yearning had she imagined that just a kiss could bring such warmth to her heart, a lightness to her body.
Warmth turned into a near blaze when she felt his hands slide against her hip and latch on, pulling her into him and deepening the kiss. She wanted to fight back, take control of it.
But giving in just felt… Good.
-LineBreak-
Issei held the door open for her, gesturing with a hand for her to enter first.
Yuuma smirked as she walked by.
"I'm starting to think you're only opening doors for me to stare at my ass."
He smiled unrepentantly.
"Chivalry has to have some perks."
That earned him a chuckle, and an even more exaggerated sway of her hips just for his viewing pleasure.
[You're playing with fire, Partner.]
'I like her Ddraig. I gave her every chance to kill me or recruit me. I couldn't have been more open about it without disregarding Sera's orders.'
Yuuma told the host of the restaurant they wanted a booth for two, and motioned for him to follow.
[And how do you expect this information to be received by your king?]
'I can't have her Ddraig. At least, not in the way I want. A night together here and there is all we'll ever be. Don't I deserve a chance to be happy?'
[That doesn't answer my question.]
Issei sat in the booth located in a near hidden corner of the establishment, a good place for a couple wanting some privacy.
'I'll figure something out.'
[You're a devil. A secret like this WILL come out. I do not foresee it being a pleasant experience either.]
'Maybe I can use some sort of old school peace treaty logic. Y'know, like some Middle Ages shit. If things get to that point without being found out, we can bring peace through marriage to the table.'
[I highly doubt this will stay in the dark for that long. Things have been picking up lately, I've told you time and time again what that means.]
Issei didn't want to listen anymore. He just wanted to watch as Yuuma's eyes scanned the menu. The side of her he saw today sucked him in.
The chance he gave her today was as much for her as it was for him.
The swearing, the banter, the way she was obviously trying to keep herself from blushing and being affected by him… it was all just… captivating.
He had no doubt in his mind that her name wasn't Yuuma. It was too perfect. Meeting a girl on a bridge during sunset, and her name just happens to represent that very thing? No… not a chance in hell.
But the girl he saw today… that was real.
She said it herself. They all had their secrets. It was just a matter of time for them to be opened up.